AEW commentator Jim Ross has refuted the long-standing claim that he rigged the infamous ‘Brawl for All’ tournament in the favor of his friend ‘Dr. Death’ Steve Williams.
The 1998 tournament saw Superstars of the time face off in legitimate fights and they would receive points based on several factors.
For years, it has been claimed that Ross tried to rig the tournament in Williams’ favor, an accusation JR denied on a recent edition of his “Grilling JR” podcast. He said,
“Many of my detractors thought that I had loaded the tournament so ‘Dr. Death’ Steve Williams could win it, and that’s total b******t. I had nothing to do with the bracketing and who fought who or whatever. But it’s good a story, but it’s just not accurate.”
While JR didn’t load the tournament in Williams’ favor, he did admit to wanting to see the former All-Japan Triple Crown Champion win to start a feud with Steve Austin. He said,
“We just looked at it as a unique way of introducing Doc. The goal, if we could get there, was to get a one-off with Doc vs. Austin. But we never got that far down the road. It blew up on us.”
The Brawl for All would be won by Bart Gunn, whose ‘prize’ would come months later; losing to legitimate fighter Butterbean in a second at WrestleMania 15.
