On a recent episode of his podcast, “Grilling JR,” Jim Ross discussed a wide range of topics, including Bryan Danielson beating Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Heavyweight Title at AEW All In and more. Here are the highlights:
On first signing Danielson: “He wants to slow down, Conrad. He’s got two young little kids, he wants to be around them. It’s no mystery, there’s no secret or game plan, no covert action. I signed him to his first contract, which a lot of people don’t realize. I signed Daniel Bryan to his first contract. He and a handful of others, we sent to Shawn Michaels School in San Antonio. That’s where he got his first training. But I signed him for not much money, but he didn’t have any money, and he wasn’t making any money. So I signed him, and we got into a place where he could afford to live in San Antonio. He got great training from Shawn [Michaels]… so I signed him 25 years ago. And that’s a lot of miles, a lot of bumps.”
On Swerve’s performance: “He came to play. Yeah, Swerve came to play and he came to impress. And one way that you — when you come to play, you come to play the game. And that means sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. The great workers know how to lose to where it hurts them the least, but it means the most. And they had that, that was something I thought was really cool. As best I know, he didn’t say, ‘Well, I don’t want to do that move. I don’t want to do this. This is not protecting me, blah, blah, blah.’ So he was just a pro all day long, and I talked to him for several minutes during the day. Again, you kind of get forced into these conversations, because they’re the only people you’re around. You know, that Wembley is obviously a huge stadium… But I enjoyed the hell out of the show. Those two guys stole the show. They were the main event for a good reason. Swerve did everything he could to make the transition to Bryan Danielson believable and smooth and effective. That’s the mark of a pro.”
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.
