Jim Ross recently talked about a wide range of topics on his Grilling JR podcast.
During it, the WWE Hall of Famer discussed the original WWE NXT that launched in 2012. Here are the highlights.
On what he thought of the original vision of NXT:
“I like the concept a lot. Hunter and I did talk about it. We both are big proponents of the Performance Center and getting more ring time for these talents and getting them involved, getting them in the ring, getting good teaching and coaching, coaching them up, adding some discipline, and, you know, just a whole scenario, a whole feel. And you know, I think the NXT is one of the best things that WWE has done because where are you going to get talents that are trained, You know, where all the big news about Jade Cargill? Well, Jade Cargill needs to hang in that Performance Center for an extended length of time to help improve her game. And not that she’s not a good talent. She is, but she can get a lot better with more in-ring time and coaching. And they’ve got great coaching in NXT and then that whole performance center area. You know, a lot of guys have really contributed well and they’ve made it. They’ve helped make them think better. So I’m a big proponent of interpolation obviously as the brains were the driving force behind getting them. The Performance Center is up and running and producing talent. That’s the whole bottom line. How many stars did you produce? Right. And that’s the bottom line of that deal. And they produced a lot of stars.”
On calling NXT shows with Bryon Saxton and William Regal:
“Well, I was a little surprised that I got another dance. The music was playing, and here I go. So, of course, my history with William Regal goes back years and I’ve always had great respect for him. Still do. Byron was young, you know. He added a lot of diversity with his ethnicity and was a smart kid. Good kid. So, I had no issues with it at all. It was just like a new chapter in a new book, and I was anxious to read it.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit with an h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.