ITV Made a Very Strong Offer to Sign Jim Ross Prior to WWE’s Deal

Prior to signing a deal to return to the WWE for Wrestlemania 33, Jim Ross came very close to signing a deal with ITV according to this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Impact Wrestling, who has a partnership with ITV, claimed Ross was on board to join ITV’s upcoming World of Sport Wrestling show before backing out last month. ITV supposedly had a very strong offer on the table which got the WWE’s attention and they joined the bidding war to prevent it from happening.

While the WWE’s deal was likely less in terms of money, they still managed to sway him to sign with them instead by offering more dates and a two year guarantee. Ross’ main issue with ITV’s deal was job security since only ten dates were guaranteed and him feeling ITV was still unsure about the future of the show.