On a recent episode of his podcast, “Grilling JR,” Jim Ross discussed bringing in Chris Jericho and Paul Wight to WWE in 1999, the importance of those hires, and more.
On bringing in Chris Jericho and Paul Wight: “I thought it was a great get for us. You know, Chris was experienced. He was a veteran. He understood all the little nuances of becoming and maintaining stardom in a professional wrestling environment. One of my best signees, without question. I just remember how astonished Vince was about how Jericho was, and that he was just a great gift for us. And he has had a state of great gift for a long time. He was very productive by the company a lot of money. Just like he’s doing now with AEW. And, you know, he’s still wrestling a lot. So I like that aspect of his game. He had never turned down an assignment. He always loved to wrestle with anybody. You can have a good match with anybody, Conrad, and you don’t mind doing it. Whether he won or he lost, he just didn’t. Made it by doing it. So that’s a team player for you. And Chris has certainly been a team player. So I thought that was one of my Vixa was a great hire, but he’s an attraction guy. Big Show should never have been an everyday wrestler. You don’t put those Andre the Giant types statistics and not say, ‘Well, this guy’s, you don’t want to see him every night.’ And that’s not a knock on the Big Show or Andre (The Giant) or anybody else. But they’re better kept special when they’re an attraction, and some fans get it, some fans don’t. It’s not a great deal to overexpose an attraction guy. Just not. And I thought that over time when we overexposed, it showed a little bit based on his attraction status. So, but he was he was ….those are two big hires. I remember recruiting both guys; Jerry Brisco was very much involved in both of them, especially Big Show because Big Show lives in the Tampa area where Jerry Lee is. And it was fun being on a row with Jerry, taking these guys to lunch and things of that nature, and talking about the business. So, we locked up a Big Show pretty quickly. Big Show was a special project for Shane McMahon, to the point that Shane gave him his name. That was two good stars to get that at that point in time. Two main event-level stars that had longevity, and I enjoyed working with both those guys.”
On bringing back Jesse Venutra to be the special guest referee of the 1999 SummerSlam: “It was controversial, to say the least, Connie. Jesse had a lawsuit against WWE. That infuriated Vince. And over time, and this lesson is funny how time can heal a lot of wounds. And it did on this occasion. I saw those pictures last week of Jesse at the WWE event (Raw) in St. Paul. As you mentioned, that was a full house that did really well. And he looked like he was so casual. You know, blue jeans and a ballcap, so to speak. And I felt good about that. It kind of reasserted itself that anything can happen…So it made me feel good, to be honest with you, Conrad. I thought it was nice. Jesse was happy. He and I are the same age. He’s quite the character. It’s all good. I’d like to see reconciliations, and I’d like to see peace in the valley.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the Grilling JR podcast with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.
