WWE Hall of Famer was back on his “Grilling JR” podcast this week. Ross gave an update since his fall the night before the first AEW Collision:
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Ross said. “I think I’m getting better every day. I’ve just had a string of bad luck, health-wise, which is very unusual for me because knock on wood, I’ve been very blessed with good health, but when you get to be 71 and you’re trying to live a young man’s life in a young man’s business and going on the road every week, it can get very challenging. So that’s kind of what I found myself from that situation.”
“What happened was, you know, it’s a hell of a story, at least it was for me. I got up and not unlike a lot of other people, I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. So I hopped out of bed to go to my bathroom and apparently, I tripped over my CPAP cord, and when I did, I fell face first into the end table next to my bed and the corner of it hit over here. So I had a huge knot immediately. My eye swelled shut almost immediately. But I was so sleepy and so out of it that I just got back in bed. I actually went to the bathroom. Mother Nature won that match. I got back in bed, and then the next morning when I woke up, that was my flight out to Chicago to do that first show that we’re talking about here, Collision. That was all I was thinking about. I woke up and I had a badass headache, but you know, a headache ain’t going to keep JR out of work, but I had a bad headache, which was a result of the concussion. My only thought was, you know, I gotta get finished packing and get on the road. That’s kind of what I did, but I was very unstable. Everything was very foggy. I would have been better off staying at home, period, but, you know, hardheadedness and being stubborn, and I felt like I had a commitment I’d made that I wanted to fulfill.”
“So I got dressed rather slowly and my driver, I have the same driver that drives me to the airport and picks me up and brings me home every week, he knows if I’m not standing there ready to go, to come upstairs where I live. But I was downstairs waiting on a little unsteady ground and flew to Chicago. As the day went on in Chicago, my voice kept going in and out and I didn’t know what the hell that was. I thought, well, I’ll get over it. I’ll drink a lot of hot tea or hot coffee or whatever, hot something, and make that work for me, but it was just too much to overcome. I apologize for how I sounded. I didn’t intend to sound that way, I didn’t want to sound that way, and I know it disappointed a lot of people. It disappointed me. I don’t think it made anybody at AEW really happy with how I sounded, but you know, I was doing the best that I could.”
“After that show was over, I went back to the announcer’s locker room where we all dress, all of us collectively, a little community place. I sat there for a little bit and thought, man I can’t keep doing this. I don’t feel good. Something’s not right. I got here, I did the best I could, but boy, I need to get home.’
“So good ole Rafael Morffi, who’s taken care of me so much on the road over the years, helped me get back to the hotel. I took myself in. I didn’t get undressed that night. I wanted to make sure that I would not waste any time making that flight the next morning. So I flew home, headache and all, and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve been out of the house a few times to go to the Publix grocery store, maybe two or three times in the last several weeks. Other than that, I’ve got people that are helping me get groceries or whatever I need, prescriptions, things like that. I was just too unsteady to drive and sure as hell too unsteady to walk around the grocery store.”
“I had my housekeeper buy me a little cane, which I’m embarrassed to say I’ve used a little bit, not outside, but in here in the house to help me get around so I don’t have any more falls. I got all kinds of messages from people that have had issues in their life, falling. Well, I don’t have an issue falling. Maybe my issue is just landing. I’ve fallen twice, but I just look at them, I just tripped. Middle of the night, that CPAP chord was hanging down and I just stepped in it and like a noose, took a step out, boom, down I went. I was very lucky. I was very, very lucky. I was very lucky I woke up. I was very lucky I didn’t bleed out because I had a lot of blood on my pillowcases. I just had to fight through it, and I’ve been fighting through it ever since.”
“You know, the concussion was one issue. I’m working on our book, which may be called, ‘Business Has Picked Up.’ I’m not sure yet. We’re still working. We’re still debating that title, but I got a manuscript here that we’ve written and I’ve been trying to get to it to read it, but I haven’t been able to see, not good enough to read out of one eye. I’m getting back on that track. It’ll be a big week this week to finish doing some writing. So I’m trying to get caught back up on that deal, but as far as going back on the road, you know, I don’t have a return date. Tony Khan’s been very nice as far as, take all the time you need, and if you want to take several weeks off, or the summer off, or whatever you’d like to do, just get healthy. So I appreciate the fact that he’s being patient with me and that he is encouraging my good health because that’s really the main thing and it gives us all an eye opener. There’s nothing more important than our health. So many times we take it for granted. I have for years. So I’m gonna be a little bit more aware of my health. I’m gonna be a little bit more aware of how I take care of myself.”
“In the meantime, I’ve been here at home and I kind of caught a lucky break because there’s been a lot of real good wrestling on television in the last few weeks. Being a wrestling fan of all genres and all brands and all companies, I’ve been able to entertain myself with a business that I love. So that’s kind of where we are. I wish I had better news. I will be back. I will continue working. My arrangement, my contract, with AEW is still in place. I don’t have a lot of time left on it, but I got enough. I’m not concerned about that. Either I’m retained or I’m not. I’m just going to take it a day at a time and see how it works out, but I enjoy working AEW. It’s fun to be a part of a startup. I said that when I was hired. It’s great to see all these young guys start to come into their own and I would love to be there for the rest of the journey to help guide them along the way almost in a talent relations type situation. I enjoy helping these kids.”
“I can tell you what’s heartwarming is not only the outpouring of affection and support from everybody in our audience, AdFree network, and everybody else, is how many kids in AEW and WWE have reached out to contact me and to talk to me and wish me encouragement and you know, hurry back, and things of that nature. So that’s kind of where I am at this point.”
If Jim Ross feels he got a concussion on the fall:
“I’m pretty sure I did. Yeah. Headaches, blurred vision, you know, just unsteadiness, just kind of out of like, like getting your bell rung in a football game. I wasn’t right for a while. My mistake I made was just being hard-headed and stubborn and getting on that airplane on that Saturday morning and flying to Chicago. I should have backed off. I should have stayed home and I didn’t. I just thought I was doing the right thing for the company and the fans and myself, but it was the wrong thing for all of us. I should have stayed home.”
You can listen to the entire podcast at AdFreeShows.com.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit AdFreeShows.com with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
