WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross tweeted the following on Tuesday:
“Thanks for the outpouring of support regarding my upcoming brain surgery. A hole will be drilled in my skull and a small tube will be inserted reachinto my stomach to better manage/drain excess brain fluid. I’m optimistic. Thanks to all.”
The surgery is scheduled for Wednesday in Norman, Oklahoma. On this week’s episode of Grilling JR, Ross said doctors will be putting in a shunt and told him to expect a hospital stay of just one day, a timeline he admitted surprised him.
Ross, 74, first revealed the need for the procedure in July on Grilling JR. “I’m getting ready to have another surgery, brain surgery this time, and that’s going to be an adventure, because I don’t think they’re going to find much, oh God, my brain,” Ross said.
He explained what led to it: “I gotta get it addressed. I couldn’t live my life the way it was, you know. I forget sh– and just couldn’t remember things. It’s just horrible. I felt horrible, but that all started with me passing out in my house and being discovered there, and we began an almost 40-day hospital stay.”
Ross made it clear at the time that this was not a procedure he could put off. “It’s not optional if I want to get better, and I want to get better for sure,” Ross said. “This is a whole new ball game, and it’s a little scary to be honest with you.”
Ross previously noted that his AEW contract expires this month. There is no word yet on whether Tony Khan will re-sign him, but Ross has spoken warmly about Khan in the past. Ahead of his colon cancer surgery last year, Ross said on Grilling JR, “The Khan family has done an amazing job at taking care of JR since I signed with the company. He’s very talent friendly.” Khan has a good track record of taking care of legends, so it would not shock me if Ross gets re-signed, at least for another year, even with his limited presence on AEW shows in recent years.
Ross has dealt with numerous health issues over the last few decades. His battle with Bell’s palsy goes back to January 1994, during his early run with WWE. His second attack struck on the air during the Capital Carnage event in London in December 1998, days after the passing of his mother, and Ross continued working. A third bout followed in 2009. He has also beaten cancer twice, announcing a skin cancer diagnosis in 2021 and a colon cancer diagnosis in 2025, and confirming after treatment in both cases that he was cancer-free. In 2014, he was hospitalized with stroke-like symptoms that doctors ultimately attributed to medication for an unrelated issue.
Ross is considered by most fans to be the greatest pro wrestling announcer of all time, from his work in Bill Watts’ Mid-South/UWF territory through Jim Crockett Promotions, the NWA and WCW, his long run in WWE, and his time calling New Japan Pro-Wrestling in English. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 and has been with AEW since the company launched in 2019, calling both the promotion’s first pay-per-view and the first episode of AEW Dynamite in Washington, DC. Ross has indicated on his podcast that he has no desire to be done announcing, and that he would like to do more regular work behind the desk once he is fully recovered from his health issues.
Ross has said he hopes to recover in time to be at AEW All In in the United Kingdom on August 30.
Best wishes to JR.
