Jim Ross reflects on his experience at last Sunday’s AEW All In pay-per-view.
The Hall of Famer spoke about the historic event during the latest edition of his Grillin JR podcast, where he revealed that he was lucky enough to call all the matches he had hoped to call during the show, as he was eventually replaced by Tony Schiavone.
I got to the stadium on Sunday afternoon, our call was at 11, I went over at about one. Shortly thereafter, I got my assignments on what I was going to do, and it was the first four matches, but it included Punk and Joe, which I was really excited about. It included Kenny’s match, it included FTR and Young Bucks. It was great. I got lucky and I got to call the matches that I specifically hoped that I would. If I picked all the matches, the only thing I would have added was the main event [MJF vs. Adam Cole] because I love those kind of matches with strategy, counters, gameplans. I did my matches, I hopped into a car, went back to the hotel and I had a link to the show and I watched the rest of the show in my hotel room on my iPad.
Ross would go on to praise the production team for the setup of All In, then added that he CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe was the bout he wanted to call the most because he knew both men would tell a great story.
I talked to everybody that I could about ‘don’t lay down on this opportunity. This is the night that you want the very best of your work on display.’ I didn’t talk about finishes or ‘are you going over, brother?’ It didn’t make a shit. What made a difference was the bell-to-bell performance. Then you add on the entrances, pageantry, and ambiance of the arena. It was an intimate feel, even with 80,000 and change, paid, it was a special feeling. I thought Tony Khan’s team overachieved in every area. I was supposed to get a full entrance down the ramp. Timing got mixed up, there was a few little hiccups right before we went on the air, apparently, I was told ‘we’re going to get you over here.’ I got a half-entrance, then when I got to my seat, I got another wave. It was cool. I got a great pop. Announcers or performers, we live for those pops. The fact that they had a car waiting for me to leave, I didn’t get caught up in any traffic. Maybe took me five minutes to get back to my room. It was so unique.
Regarding the Punk and Jack Perry scuffle backstage, Ross says he was unaware of it until after the show.
I didn’t see it. I didn’t know anything about it until after the show. I heard there was a little skirmish, a difference of opinion.
You can check out Ross’s full thoughts on the show by clicking here.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)