I attended the afternoon show of RINGSIDE: An Evening With Jim Ross yesterday, at the Gramercy Theatre, in Manhattan. Here’s a recap of the show:
Attending the afternoon show were ECW alumni Tommy Dreamer, & Joey Styles. Also in the crowd, was comedian, & star of NBC’s 30 Rock, Judah Friedlander. He lives in the area, & is a big Wrestling fan.
The attendance was pretty good for an afternoon show. While it wasn’t a sell out, most of the floor seating was filled.
The show was hosted by ESPN New York radio host Robin Lundberg. He mentions he has been a wrestling fan for years, & tell a story, how he & his friend, would create their own Royal Rumble match. He said they would write 30 names on pieces of paper, then when a name got picked, he would play the respected wrestler’s entrance theme, from the WWE CD’s. He then goes on to say, that many times, he imitated Jim Ross’s wrestling calls. He then welcomes Jim Ross to the stage. In classic Jim Ross fashion, he comes out to “Boomer Sooner”
Jim Ross welcomes the crowd, & thanks them for coming out. He mentions he’s on his third 14 hour day, which his difficult for him at 62 years old. He saw there was a child in the audience, which he said he’ll try to watch what he says. However, he said he can’t make any promises. He said he’s been doing interviews yesterday, including an appearance on Opie & Anthony. He was scheduled for 14 minutes, but they ended up going over an hour, which he enjoyed. However, the downside for him, was that he had to go to the bathroom really bad. He then made a joke, that he was glad he was wearing dark pants.
The first half of the show, he went over some of the highlights of his life, with stories told along the way. He said he was born in California, & that somewhere along Route 66, he was conceived. When he was in the 3rd grade, he moved to the farm, in Oklahoma. He mentioned that at an early age, he had chores around the farm. He said that if he had finished all his chores, his father begrudgingly let him watch Wrestling, every Saturday at 4:00 A.M.
He vividly remembers an angle, involving The Assassins of Jody Hamilton, & Tom Renesto, & The Kentuckians of Grizzly Smith (Jake the Snake’s father), & Luke Brown. He mentions The Assassins got the idea for the name, due to the Kennedy assassination. Ross then proceeded to make a joke, about the name being “family friendly.” He remembers how The Assassins had hit Grizzly Smith in the eye, making him bleed hard way. He then explains what “hard way” was in Wrestling. That was the angle, that got him hooked on Wrestling.
Then, Ross tells the audience, that in college, he was in a fraternity, & they needed to raise money. One thing they did, was to put on a Wrestling show, which Ross booked. He said he when to the radio station, to record ads. Since the fraternity was a non-profit organization, he was able to record them for free. He also had the weekly newspaper print photos promoting the event. The night of the match, was when he first met Bill Watts. Watts was impressed on how advanced his promotional skills were. Ross said, at the time, Wrestling promoters weren’t advertising in the mediums that Ross used. Watts advised him to finish his college education, because he needed to have a “plan b.” He continues to use that line today, with the young wrestlers.
Ross said he learned under Leroy McGuirk, & Bill Watts. When he first started he was McGuirk’s “gopher.” Ross’s duties included buying Cigars for McGuirk, picking up his dry cleaning, & driving McGuirk in his car. Ross said that he learned a lot during the car rides with McGuirk, something today’s talent don’t have the opportunity to do. Due to Ross knowing how write legibly, he was invited to the booking meetings, which Ross described it, as being the Mafia, without the murders. He was sworn not tell the Wrestlers any information, or he would be fired. At the time, he was making $120 a week. He then moved up, to driving the Wrestlers to & from the shows. He then eventually became a referee, which earned him more money.
He then got to his time in Crockett. Not much time was spent on this part of his career, but he did talk about how messed up WCW was, once Turner took over. He mentioned that the executives didn’t care about Wrestling, or its fans, & that they looked down at the genre. He said there were too many cooks, in reference to the booking committee. He said that after he was fired, he got an offer from Vince McMahon, to go work for WWE. When he went to meet Vince, at some point, his tires were slashed, presumably by disgruntled WCW workers, who were upset they were jobbed out, durning Ross’s time in WCW’s booking committee.
He talked about debuting for WWE, at Wrestlemania XI, which of course, he mentioned that he wore a toga. Bobby Heenan tried to convince Ross to “go commando.” When he told Gorilla Monsoon, he advised him, not to do anything Heean asked him to do. He then briefly talks about commentating on RAW with Randy Savage, which was very difficult to work with him. He said he was a “very interesting” person.
The last part of the show, was a Q&A session. Ross mentioned that it was “no holds barred,” & he would answer any question. Some of the questions asked included, Ross explaining what is Bell’s palsy, asked by Judah Friedlander, & whether he though CM Punk leaving has hurt WWE. The toughest question, came from a girl, age 12-15, asking Ross how he felt, when he heard Owen Hart had died, during the Over The Edge 1999 PPV. You can clearly see, this was a tough question for Ross to answer. He said he was looking at the monitor at the time. At the same time, he saw Owen fall in his peripheral vision. He said Jerry Lawler took off his headset, & ran to Owen. As people started to come out from the Gorilla Position, at some point Lawler return to the announcer’s table. Kevin Dunn said in Ross ear, to give an update to the fans, when they went back on the air. The announcer’s table had a talkback button, which Ross pushed, & said he had no updates, because he didn’t know what was happening. Dunn then proceeded to tell Ross, “Jim, Owen is dead. 10, 9, 8.” With 10 seconds until they’re back on air, Ross didn’t really know what to say. He doesn’t remember what he said, only that this wasn’t apart of the script. He said he has never watched that show since. He then said, if he ever writes a book, & get to the chapter on Owen Hart’s death, then, & only then, will he go back & watch the show. If he doesn’t write a book, then he never watch that PPV again.
After the Q&A, there was a meet & greet, for VIP ticket holders, & those who bought meet & greet tickets. It was held downstairs at the lounge. The line reached from the entrance to the area, where the bar was, to almost the last stairstep. Jim Ross had merchandise for sale, including t-shirts, photos, & BBQ sauce. Ross came down about 15-20 minutes later. He was very accommodating to everyone, from signing autographs, to taking pictures. He asked everyone their names & shook their hand. It was getting close to 8:00 PM, when the doors where schedule to open for his next show, but he made sure to see everyone on line. As I left, there weren’t many people on line, so I would guess he finished by the time doors opened. A true classy guy, who was so nice, & friendly to everyone.
Overall, I had a really good time at the show. He made everyone laugh with his stories, & jokes. If the show is in your area, I recommend checking it out. I think you will enjoy it.
