WWE Hall Of Famer and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) commentator Jim Ross was recently interviewed by 411Mania to talk about several professional wrestling topics.
Here are the highlights:
His memories of WrestleMania X-Seven and if it was the peak of the Attitude Era:
Well, it was a major moment of the Attitude Era. Peak, I don’t know if it was the peak or not, but it could be arguably said. I thought it was a mistake to turn Austin heel, I still do. But nonetheless, that’s what he wanted. We owed it to Steve — as I write in the book, Vince said, ‘We owe it to Steve to give it a shot.’ And we did. But I never thought it was a strategic idea, especially doing it in his home state, in his home market area of Houston at the Astrodome. But I was amazed by the crowd that we drew. I wasn’t surprised, because the product was red-hot then, you know.
How the Undertaker vs. Triple H match was booked:
The irony of that is that, I remember when we were booking that card, and then you know, I think I mentioned to Vince that ‘You know, it’s a hell of a card, but what are we gonna do with Triple H and Undertaker?’ Because they weren’t booked. And he said, ‘Well, we’re gonna book ’em.’ So they had a match, and that was the quote-unquote ‘Get them on the card.’ If you wanna look at that logic, that’s a horrible way to put it because they’re two of the very, very best that we had. But they weren’t involved in major stories at that time, for whatever reason.
That’s not a good answer either. But I just thought that the card was loaded. I thought the Dudleys, Edge and Christian and the Hardy Boys made themselves famous and a lot more money by their performance in the TLC match. I thought that Rock and Steve had a hell of a match, no doubt about that. But I just wasn’t prepared for the change in persona of Austin. To me, Austin turning heel was like John Wayne becoming a Nazi. It didn’t fit the script.
Fans not accepting the Austin heel turn:
There were small victories in that scenario with Steve as the heel. But the fans just did not want to boo him. He could do no wrong in their eyes. He was what they wanted to be: defiant, blue collar, honest and all the things that you kind of want in your heroes. He was still that person. He didn’t start pulling hair, he didn’t start poking eyes. He didn’t do all the heel things. He still was his same self, and I just think they were ready to forgive him of any moment of him aligning with Mr. McMahon. But yeah, there were small wins, no doubt about it. But I just think in the long haul, it didn’t have a lot of validity.
If Austin’s heel turn falling short had any influence on WWE keeping John Cena & Roman Reigns as babyfaces:
Unlikely. I think it has all to do with common sense, and you learn from your journey. And when you’ve got a guy who’s selling that much merchandise and selling that many tickets, and sold PPV after PPV become the biggest star in the world, with all these outside ancillary contributions to revenue, why would you want to tinker with that? If you’re a real villain, why would I want to display your shirts? Now today’s society being more defiant and a little bit more, you know, a little edge here, I guess, they don’t have any issues wearing heel shirts which is a good thing for the talents especially. But no, I don’t think it had anything, I just think it’s logical.
John Cena staying babyface:
John Cena was at one time being considered for a heel turn. I think John was even willing to try it. But the question comes back to, why are we taking a guy that’s selling more merchandise by far, and making more money for the company by far than anybody else on the roster and making him a villain? What logic is that? And I found no logic in that, and it’s all about market research, man.
The crowd loved the guy, or he was polarizing, but they gave a damn. So I just didn’t see the issue of a big change in his persona, because you [have audience members] booing because out of defiance they like to hijack shows and be little wise-asses. And you’ve got some guys who are locker room leaders, and guys that are pulling the wagon. And nobody works harder than John Cena in WWE when I was there. So changing that is, for what reason?
I mean, are we changing it for change’s sake? Or do we have valid reasons? Have his merch numbers dropped drastically? Is he losing his popularity, is he losing his edge? The answer to all of those questions [is] no, no, no you’re not. So change for change’s sake, oftentimes wrestling booking is done with that spirit in mind, and it’s not a healthy way of doing business.
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