Jim Ross does not want to stop calling wrestling, but his AEW contract runs out this month and he says he would understand if the company chose not to renew it.
Ross was asked on Grilling JR whether there were any buildings left on his bucket list, after Adam Copeland had posted one of his own following his Arena México debut. Ross said he has called them all, and then went somewhere else with it.
“What I would like, I hope that my ending, my career ending, is planned, and so I just don’t show up one Wednesday night on Dynamite and say, well, I got some news for you folks, I’m done. That might sound cool and edgy, but I would like to be able to know that I’m leaving. I think that’s important for my psyche.”
“Just have a good, clean ending, and if I could pull that off, then I’ll be. I’ve done everything else. I’ve done every major event for every major promoter.”
He then brought up the surgery he is having next week, and the contract, without being asked about either.
“And I’ve had a blessed career. You know, I’ve been battling some health issues. I’m getting a shunt put in my brain on Wednesday, so we’ll see how that works out, no pun intended. It’ll have had a unique life, and I realize that it’s coming to an end. I get it.”
“If you ask me, JR, how long do you think you’re going to do announcing? Well, I think my contract’s up this month, and so I’m done, just pretty much. I don’t want to be done. But if Tony Khan said, you know, JR, thanks for the efforts and thanks for being here and all that stuff, then I’d have no problem with that.”
“Because how can I be such a greedy b**tard and want more in my career than I’ve already received? So, you know, sometimes you stumble onto a great job and a great career. My career as a wrestling broadcaster has been nothing but wonderful.”
Ross first said his deal expires in August back in May, when he told the same podcast he had spoken to his agent Barry Bloom, was leaving the decision to Tony Khan, and had passed the stage of worrying about it. He said then that he hoped to stay and spoke warmly about Khan and the people around him, adding that he had put a new book on hold until his schedule was clearer.
AEW has said nothing about his future, and nothing in his answer suggests he has been told anything either way.
Ross has been with the company since its launch in 2019, and has appeared on commentary sporadically in recent years because of his health. His most recent appearance was at Double or Nothing in May, calling Jon Moxley against Kyle O’Reilly for the Continental Championship, on a weekend where he also had a fall.
His surgery is next Wednesday in Norman, Oklahoma. He is due to be in the hospital for a day.
