A Must-Read Jim Ross Interview – WWE Stars In UFC, Tons More

The following are highlights of a new Submission Radio interview with WWE Hall Of Fame announcer Jim Ross:

On which WWE Superstars JR believes would have done well in MMA: “Well obviously anytime you’re a gold medallist, Kurt Angle’s name pops up. If he had been able to go into MMA right after the Olympics in 1996 he probably would have had a very good career. He could have fought at 205 very effectively, even though he won his gold medal at 220lbs. He didn’t have to cut much weight to be at 220, so he would have been exceptional at 205.”

“Swagger would have been unique if he would have gone into it right after college instead of going to WWE, with his college background. I think Dolph Ziggler (was) another one. If he would have gone in right after college he would have been a real viable and colourful competitive MMA fighter.”

“WWE is recruiting a lot of outstanding amateur wrestlers to come to their performance centre, and any of those guys if they had chosen the MMA route as opposed to the show business route probably could have made a decent showing, just simply because of their outstanding collegiate wrestling background; same thing that Cain Velasquez has. He was a great amateur at Arizona State and they were recruiting the same kind of guys that Cain was, coming out of college; same qualifications – you know sometimes maybe more accolades, but doesn’t mean they’d be better then Cain – but those are some of the guys that I could think about off the top of my head.”

“Jack Swagger thought about MMA, had a chance to go do it. A lot of guys he knew from amateur wrestling were in it. He could have gone in it, but he decided to go another route, and I don’t think he has any regrets, because the travel is more strenuous but the toll on your body is arguable a more rapid decline in UFC then it is in WWE, simply because of the nature of the presentation. Even though a WWE guy will go through their body pretty quick too if they didn’t take care of it.”

On if Brock Lesnar’s injuries in pro wrestling contributed to his MMA career being short along with the diverticulitis: “I think the big issue in Brock’s UFC career was Diverticulitis and Diverticulosis, his stomach issues where he almost died. I think that was the biggest culprit of all. The only concussion that I’m aware that I can recall – and I hired Brock Lesnar, and I recruited Brock Lesnar, and I managed him his entire run in the WWE – was at Wrestlemania 19 where he tried to do the shooting star press and he landed on his head while wrestling Kurt Angle. That was a very serious miscalculation. He should never have tried the move in hindsight. Those who gave him advice to do it were wrong and he had been nailing it off-Broadway so to speak, but I don’t think the alleged litany of concussions or his WWE injuries had any bearing whatsoever on his UFC run.”

If JR believes the WWE and the UFC are competitors in any way: “I think that they are two entirely different genres, but I think there is competition. I disagree with the other assessment (Vince’s and HHH’s views on the products not being competition). When both are in the Pay Per View world and the WWE is not in the traditional Pay Per View world as much as they used to be with their WWE network launching, but when you are looking for disposable income and all of us only have so much of that to go around, and you have to decide, of your disposable income, how much are you going to spend on entertainment; let’s say a Pay Per View for example, and you’ve only got so much money to go around. Which Pay Per View do you buy? Do you buy a WWE event, or do you buy a UFC event? If you’re going to go to a live event, again go back to the disposable income issue. You’ve only got so much money to go around to take your buddies, your mates, your family, your whatever to an event. Do you go watch WWE when it comes to your city? Or do you go watch UFC. You know some people are fortunate enough that they can afford to go to both, a lot of people aren’t. So consequently I think in that respect, there is competition.”

“I think a lot of old school pro wrestling fans – when wrestling was a little bit more steak then sizzle and had a different presentation – I think that a lot of those fans are now UFC fans and are more devotees to the UFC then they are of Pro Wrestling as they were back in the day.”

“So I think a lot of displaced wrestling fans that are not as much fans of ‘Sports Entertainment’ but they like the old school pro wrestling, I think a lot of those fans have faded to the UFC-MMA side and occasionally sample pro wrestling, but more often than not they’re in the UFC.

Thoughts on TNA Wrestling: “Well they have to find a North American cable television partner. They gotta find it by the 1st of the year because that’s when there extension with Spike ends. So they have to find that partner that pays them enough rights fees to help pay their bills. They can’t make, it I don’t think – that’s my assumptions – I am assuming that TNA Impact wrestling cannot survive long term, simply on the money they earn outside the United States or outside North America. It’s just not there to pay their bills, and other than that, they’re gonna have to do some retooling on their business model and they’re gonna have to work on their budget. So if they don’t have that money, I think it’s imperative that they get an North American cable outlet that pays them enough money to help them keep their doors open. And I hope that they succeed. They have a potential to be a good brand. I think they have a very variable talent roaster, but I would put it in terms this way, some of them are cast wrong if you wanna use a showbiz term. They’re in the wrong rolls, and using an American Football term I think they’re running the wrong system. Their talents aren’t being used to fit the talent’s strengths. But I have a lot of friends that work there and I hope they get a second chance and that they succeed in the future.”

“TNA’s gotta change the way they present their product if they do get in a new environment, and if they do, they have to become the alternative to the WWE and not be compared as a ‘WWE lite’ comparison.”

On Ken Shamrock and if he had a rough run due to heat in the WWE: “Kenny was just coming into his own when he left, but Ken had not gotten the MMA out of his system. He was ready to re-engage and wanted to have some more fights and that’s why he left the WWE. There was no underlying controversies or anything along those lines. He wanted to leave to go back to MMA because he thought he had unfinished business there and had some more fights in him and that was his first love. So that’s why he left, but if he had stayed he would have been a major player during the Attitude Era, and my thought was that he was evolving very, very nicely. Ken is a really good, focused, tough guy and was just coming into his own when he decided to go back to the MMA world. So I enjoyed working with him. He was a tough guy and he didn’t have to sit out because of a little nagging injury, he was always ready to roll. So he’s the kinda guy you want in your locker room. Good guy but no controversy when he left, he just wanted to go back and take care of some unfinished business and go back to his first love, and as it worked out he just never made it back to the WWE. You know father time has a way of addressing some of those issues, but I enjoyed working with him.”

On who wins an amateur wrestling match between Cain Velasquez and Jack Swagger: “Oh gosh that would be an interesting match because they’re both, I’d say their skill sets are very, very comparable. I would probably have to lean toward Velasquez simply because of his higher finishes in the NCAA tournament then Swagger had, and that would be the only reason. Swagger was a two time all American, but he didn’t in the nationals as high as Cain did, so based on that I would probably give Cain the nod over my fellow Oklahoman. I think it would be a very competitive contest without question.”

JR talks about the truth on if the WWE wanted “Dr Death” Steve Williams to win the Brawl for it All and that Bart Gunn ruined their plans: “First of all, the Brawl for it All was a ridiculous creative idea. It should never have happened. A lot of guys got injured. It cause dissension amongst certain pockets of talent in the locker room which wasn’t there before. The Brawl for it All was not designed for Dr Death to get over, it was designed for whoever won it to get over more, until someone had the brilliant idea that they wanted the winner to fight Butterbean – who was a professional boxer and a 4 round specialist – and then whoever would have won the Brawl for it All would have been knocked by Butterbean no matter who it was. It just happened to be Bart Gunn who was a reliable, good, dependable guy, and the tales of my leading his demise and him out of the company are somewhat misguided and exaggerated. You never want to run off someone that is no problem, that is a good performer, that is a great team player. You can’t get too many of those guys, so it makes absolutely zero sense that I would ever wanna run Bart Gunn off of WWE.”

“It was a creative idea that went awry, and a lot of guys got hurt, and at the end of the day it didn’t mean a damn thing. It was absolutely a waste of time. And did we think that doc would have won it if it had been more MMA style? He had no experience at boxing, he was a wrestler. And when you put gloves on a wrestler – boxing gloves on a wrestler – you somewhat slow down their game. So that’s kinda how I look at that deal.”

On his opinion if Sting will ever wrestle in the WWE: “Yeah I do. One time. Wrestlemania 31.”

If Kurt Angle would be back in the WWE before he retires: “Only if he can pass a full physical that satisfies the WWE medical team because of his neck.”

If Jim believes Steve Austin will come back for one last match at Wrestlemania: “I’d like for it to happen, I don’t think it will”.

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