Jim Ross enjoyed much of WrestleMania 42 but had a clear issue with the pacing of the show and the approach TKO has taken toward celebrity involvement.
Speaking on Grilling JR, Ross shared his overall impressions of the two-night event and reacted to TKO president Mark Shapiro’s comments suggesting that fans who do not like celebrity involvement in WWE can simply look elsewhere.
On the show itself, Ross praised the effort while expressing frustration with the commercial structure.
“Similar experience. I admire the in-ring efforts of a lot of people and they hustled. They busted their ass, and they’re following a game plan that’s been established. But I, like you, it’s too many starts and stops. Yeah, it didn’t flow as well as I needed for it to flow. But you gotta remember, I’m an old bastard. I got no patience. I’m cranky. Get out of my yard type thing. I want to watch wrestling, and all those commercials interrupted my flow. I admire there were a lot of great efforts. The production team did a magnificent job. The venue looked great, it sounded great. But it was a big time wrestling show in a dome at the biggest event of the year. How could you not get somewhat excited about it?” Ross said.
On Shapiro’s essentially public acknowledgment that WWE is willing to lose hardcore fans in pursuit of a broader audience, Ross pushed back firmly.
“That’s not a good statement to make. Take it or leave it type deal. Nobody likes take it or leave it in any aspect of your life. I don’t think that’s the way you market a product. It’s very iffy. You’re liable to run off more than you gain, and that’s not the goal. The goal is to add new, more new, and more new, and then hope that you can meld this whole scenario. But they shouldn’t overthink it. Get a bigger face or two over that people really believe in. And same with the heels. I’ve been impressed with Gunther. I’m a big Gunther fan because he works snug, he works logically, he looks like a wrestler. He conducts himself as a pro wrestling villain. They need more Gunthers,” Ross said.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
