Jim Ross On If SummerSlam Panel With Ric Flair Led To His WWE Departure

Grantland.com has a great interview with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross at this link. During the interview, JR was asked about the WWE 2K14 panel before SummerSlam last year, where a seemingly inebriated Ric Flair took over the panel and upset WWE officials to the point where they stopped using him until a couple of weeks ago. It was believed that JR's WWE retirement was forced onto him by the company for allowing Flair to hijack the event.

"I don't think you have to be a Mensa member to figure out that it had an influence on decisions that were made," Ross told Grantland. "I was working with the developmental kids [in NXT] and enjoying that, and got called in for that job.

"It was a very unique night, to say the least. Ric was coming off maybe the most traumatic time of his life. [Flair's son Reid had recently died of a drug overdose.] In hindsight, it might not have been the most timely booking, to get him in that environment. And then you can look at the other side and say maybe it's a good thing to get him out around friends. As it worked out, you'd probably lean more to the former than the latter. But here's the deal: Visit Wrestling Inc.I was conductor of a runaway train. I was supposed to keep it on the tracks and that didn't happen. So I don't have any issues taking responsibility. Did I envision that it would help facilitate my exit? No. But I could see the thinking behind it.

"But honestly, people might not believe this, and I don't want to give one of those eye-rollers, but it really came at a good time. My health is good, I just celebrated my 62nd birthday, I got a lot of projects going. I'm going to start a podcast soon with the same company that does Austin and Jericho. I'm excited about that. I got Live Nation working with me on one-man shows and, of course, we start out the way we want to start out, in New York City, Saturday, March 1, at the Gramercy Theater."

Ross also discussed WWE commentary getting less technical, memorable matches he's called, the most famous match he's called, being fired and re-hired by WWE several times and much more. You can read the full interview by clicking here.

Source: Grantland