Jim Ross Talks Return To Announcing, Miz As Champ, Memorable Moments Of 2010 & More

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross was one of the featured guests on this week's live edition (11/29/10) of the award-winning Monday Night Mayhem. You can feel the "MNM Fall Tour '10" every Monday evening (at 7PM ET/6PM CT), exclusively on The Monday Night Mayhem Radio Network (MondayNightMayhem.com, AudioWrestling.com, Hybrident.tv, iTunes.com, Facebook.com/MondayNightMayhem, & Twitter.com/FeelTheMayhem).

JR joined The Big Mosh & "The Chairman of the Board" Todd Vincent for his highly anticipated return to "Your Home of Wrestling Radio," which is now available in Windows Streaming Media or via the official MNM Podcast on iTunes:

Jim Ross/Monday Night Mayhem Interview (MNM Streaming Audio): mondaynightmayhemarchives.com/waxfiles/112910.wax

Jim Ross/Monday Night Mayhem Interview (MNM Podcast on iTunes): mondaynightmayhemarchives.com/nov10/112910.mp3

Interview highlights courtesy of The Mayhem's official correspondent, Paterson from New Jersey:

Returning to the WWE announce table for Monday Night RAW's three-hour "Old School" special, keeping his return a surprise, & what his main concern was that night in Hershey: "It was 13 months between wrestling matches that I had worked, and I think no matter who you are, if you really care about your work, and you want to do well for the fans' sake, there's a degree of apprehension. I knew I was going to be a little bit rusty, so you just hope that you don't stink the joint out when you go out there, but I had great anticipation going into it. I was looking forward to it. It was kept secret, which I thought was really cool. It didn't leak out. I thought the surprise element was nice. The feedback subsequently to that night has been really heart-warming and tremendous. It made me pause to give thanks for a lot of things in my life and career during the Thanksgiving holidays. I was really pleased that I had the opportunity to go back, and call one more match, and to work with Jerry (Lawler). Michael (Cole) was there, so that added a little bit of spice to the presentation, but my only concern was can you still go out and get the job done, so hopefully we did that. It was a lot of fun. I had a blast seeing all the guys from the past that were there, and the new guys that have come since I've been gone, and some of the incumbents. It was kind of like reunion-like atmosphere to me. It was a really enjoyable day. A long day, but a really enjoyable day."

Why he personally endorses The Miz as the new WWE Champion, why he feels the WWE made the "smart move" in having The Miz cash in his Money in the Bank contract successfully, & which WWE Hall of Famers he mirrors The Miz to right now: "I am of the philosophical belief that having a champion that is resourceful, that is physically beatable, that has excellent verbal skills are good combinations. I go back to "Nature Boy" Buddy Rodgers was that sort of competitor. He wasn't overwhelmingly large in stature, he was wily, he was cagey: all of those adjectives. He had a great mouth, he had a good look, but he was beatable. You knew that on any given night in your city that Buddy Rogers may lose to your local hero. I think that moving forward Ric Flair was much in that mold. He was a very charismatic, very beatable guy, because he wasn't 6'6, 300 lbs. I think even moving forward, the earlier versions of Shawn Michaels. You knew Shawn wasn't the biggest dog in the fight, but he would had great skills, some great talent, he was resourceful, he did whatever it took to win. All those guys, no matter now their outcome was last week, when you got them on TV this week, and they had the opportunity to verbalize, they put themselves back into a real good position. Having said all of that, whether Miz achieves the success of any of those men that I mentioned, or comes close, or approaches it remains to be seen. None of us know. But if Miz can approach reach that certain level of success with his current personality and current persona, I believe it is a very strategically sound move by WWE. It shook things up, it changed the perception of things, it created some new matches, it added a freshness to it, and now we are going to see if The Miz can develop the legs and the legacy that he needs to as the WWE Champion. I personally believe it was a smart movie, a good move, and certainly a play that I would have endorsed calling. Now it's up to Miz to get better every week and to accept responsibility of being the champion."