AEW analyst and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross spoke about why WWE should consider building a “physical” Hall of Fame during the latest edition of his Grilling JR podcast. He also went into detail as to why he believes the Tough Enough series was a success.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Jim Ross on WWE potentially building a physical Hall of Fame: “It wouldn’t surprise me. I think that was a goal when I was there. We looked at a lot of real estate in the Orlando area. I haven’t heard anything lately on it, but I would be surprised if WWE didn’t have a brick-and-mortar Hall of Fame at some point in time as a tourist attraction and have it built in an area where tourism is a big deal. So, Orlando does seem to be a little bit logical. I haven’t heard anything on that in a long time, but again, if they said tomorrow they are gonna build a Hall of Fame, I would not be surprised and, as a matter of fact, I would be happy.”
On why he considered Tough Enough a success: “I think we made a few new stars. I didn’t dislike it, and I thought it was a good idea. I’m all for having organized systems like NXT, at one time, and things like that to help get your talent over. Our business is always about developing new talent. Who’s gonna stick? Who’s gonna attach to the audience? Who’s gonna connect? I was a big fan of Tough Enough, and I was managing the talent roster. I was involved in contracts and talking to the young people and then we loaded it up with some real good instructors from time to time. I had no issues with it and thought it worked out pretty well. Look, if we got one star out of the whole process, it was worth it. And we got more than one. I definitely thought it was a success. Could it have been a bigger success with a tweak here and there and hindsight being 20/20? Sure. But I never thought it was a failure whatsoever and still don’t.”