Jim Ross On His Failed "Booger Red" Nickname For The Undertaker, If Dean Ambrose Should Turn Heel
Recently on The Jim Ross Report, WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross weighed in on a number of topics including whether he will be commentating WWE's Mae Young Classic 2, how he came up with The Undertaker's failed 'Booger Red' nickname, and whether the injured Dean Ambrose should feud with Braun Strowman when he returns to WWE.
According to Ross he has not been contacted to do MYC 2, so there is a good chance that he will not be involved in the tournament. While 'J.R.' claimed to have put in a good effort at last year's event, he did not perform to his satisfaction.
"Somebody asked me if I would be working on the Mae Young Classic." Ross continued, "I don't have any idea. I would assume that if I were going to be involved again that I would have already been contacted and I've got plenty to do. I'm very busy, but I don't think I did my best work in that project. There were a lot of things that were challenging to do one's best work, but the effort was there. Just the results weren't as good as I would've hoped it would've been on my end. So people saying, 'he didn't have a very good outing,' they were probably right."
Ross suggested that a young commentator in need of experience should get the MYC2 gig.
"WWE has got a lot of good young guys that need work and they're not going to get any better if you don't put them in a position to sink or swim." Ross professed, "you've got proven commodities there, but also some depth issues. I mean, Tom Phillips would be a great choice to do the Mae Young Classic. He could use more reps. Mauro [Ranallo] doesn't, but he'd do great, by gosh! So the guys that are there, I think, they're stacked. They don't need me to help and I understand that. And I have no problem with it. I really don't. I'm staying busy enough."
On the subject of the 'Booger Red' nickname for The Undertaker, Ross recalled that he came up with the nickname as a tribute to 'The Deadman”s demonic persona, red hair, and Texas heritage. 'Good Ol' J.R.' went on to suggest that the nickname "s–t the bed".
"Of all the names that I threw out there, some stuck and some didn't." Ross explained, "this one did not, obviously. If it did, it stuck in a bad way. But the Booger Red definition is very simple and this is a very often asked question. Booger Red was in reference to the great Texas linebacker, the late Tommy Nobis. Tommy Nobis wore number 60. He had a 20-inch neck. He had red hair. And so all through school, because he was such a fierce hitter, at 6'3", probably 245 [lbs.], linebacker, he was huge for that position in that era. He unhinged people. His nickname was Booger Red. Well, if you look in the dictionary for what a booger is, it's not something that you go look for with you index finger in your nose. Booger means a goblin or something like that, a scary person or a scary entity specifically, so I thought, 'well, this might stretch out there and make something.' Taker is that macabre type of figure and Booger Red was kind of a tribute to his Texas heritage. And, basically, what happened is that it s–t the bed and so that's where we are. And that's who Booger Red was. It was trying to use a little football and Tommy Nobis was the baddest of the bad. There was nobody like him. He'd tear you apart, blah, blah, blah. Taker's the same way in his world. And Taker, of course, had red hair. Anyway, the more you explain it the more crappy it is."
When asked whether Dean Ambrose should come back to WWE as a heel to feud with Braun Strowman, who is responsible for the injury to Ambrose in WWE storylines, Ross indicated that the idea makes no sense, as Ambrose will return much to the delight of fans and he would come out of that feud on the losing end.
"Dean Ambrose is going to come back to a hero's welcome because he [has] been missed." Ross added, "everybody wants new again. And, secondly, I don't know how much momentum Dean Ambrose would have in a program with Strowman unless you believe losing in 10, 15 minutes is getting momentum. That's probably what would happen. So I say you bring him back, let him get reestablished as a fan favorite in that kind of a crazy character that he is, and then let it evolve. But he's going to be a babyface coming back because he [has] been missed. He [has] had surgery and the whole nine yards. He [has] missed a big part of a big year for him, so I don't think him coming back as a villain makes any sense. But we'll see. Stranger things have happened."
?Bah gawd! If you use any of the quotations that appear in this article, please credit The Jim Ross Report with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Jim Ross Report