Jim Ross Could Be Done With WWE When His Current Contract Expires

Jim Ross’s current two year WWE contract expires on March 31, 2019, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He also is currently under contract with AXS TV and that expires on December 31 of this year. WWE will reportedly not allow him to re-sign with AXS while he’s under contract with them, meaning that JR would not be on commentary for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 in January.

Dave Meltzer said that the belief right now is that Jim Ross will be done with WWE and will re-sign with AXS TV when his WWE contract expires, which would allow him to do commentary for NJPW on AXS TV again. However, it’s always possible that WWE may make him a big money offer, simply to prevent him from going to “the competition.”

Ross has barely been used by WWE recently, with them choosing to not use him for this year’s Mae Young Classic, or for NXT UK. He also wasn’t at SmackDown 1000, while Jerry Lawler was. His last WWE TV appearance was as part of the Kickoff show panel at the Greatest Royal Rumble on April 27.

Last year, Vince McMahon reportedly personally gave Jim Ross the OK to sign a one year contract extension with AXS TV while Ross was still under WWE contract. However, this year WWE didn’t allow him to re-sign, possibly due to the NJPW/ROH show at Madison Square Garden on WrestleMania weekend. Ross was also offered a spot as an analyst for Quintet, a submission tournament on UFC Fight Pass, but WWE didn’t allow him to do it.