AEW commentator and senior adviser Jim Ross recently spoke with Bleacher Report to hype his new book Under The Black Hat. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
What to expect in his new book:
There’s a lot of topics I didn’t cover in that first book because of the chronological nature of it: the Attitude Era, the Monday Night Wars, the XFL original launch, WWE going public, more bouts of Bell’s palsy, being relieved of my post another time or two,” Ross said. “The story wasn’t finished, so Under the Black Hat takes us all the way through those WWE years right up to me leaving WWE last year and going to work with Tony Khan and AEW.
Tony Khan telling him to say home due to COVID-19:
Tony Khan called me two weeks ago and said ‘You need to stay home. If you get sick, I’m going to be feeling horrible,'” Ross said about his boss. “My problem of being home and isolated pales in comparison to the deaths and tragedies people are enduring today. It’s bigger than wrestling, obviously. I love what I’m doing, and I can’t wait to get back in the game.
Thoughts on the hit Netflix series Tiger King:
He’s a crazy person he seems to me like,” said the Oklahoma native about Tiger King star Joe Exotic. “He reminds me of a guy trying to be a wrestler and he never makes it past the opening match on an independent show. It’s crazy. It’s such a train wreck.
Thoughts on Chris Jericho and Tony Schiavone on commentary:
I thought he and Tony Schiavone were really entertaining,” said Ross. Wrestling fans like new and they like different, but they also like consistency and stability. Chris Jericho is one of the most talented guys in a variety of ways I’ve ever worked with in my entire career that started in 1974.
Working with Schiavone and Excalibur:
All three of us get along and don’t have agendas. We’re team players, we like working with each other,” Ross said. “You can tell by our broadcast that we’re having fun and that we’re not being dominated by overproducing or [someone] telling us what to say. We’re creating our own content, and I love that.
How he would grade himself in AEW so far:
It’s a stark reality for some of us and we all have to remember that it’s just some people exercising their opinion. They have a right to their opinion,” Ross remarked. “My issue, if any, is that we seek out these half-empty glasses rather than the half-full glasses, so it’s a somewhat cynical, defiant culture. I’d probably give myself a B.