Jim Ross Talks WWE Possibly Doing More Love Story Angles, Advocates For Solo Chyna WWE HOF Induction
During a recent episode of the Grilling JR Podcast, Jim Ross talked about Chyna and if he believes she'll ever receive a solo WWE Hall of Fame induction. Ross mentioned why he believes she hasn't been inducted yet, citing a comparison to Chris Benoit.
"I think she deserves it, I hope so," Ross said. "If I had a vote, I'd say yes. It's the same basic concept to why Chris Benoit won't be in the Hall of Fame because the last 48 hours of his life were tragic, I'm talking about the porn. She should've been in the Hall of Fame yesterday, last year, whenever. Look at the list of Hall of Famers and what they've accomplished. A lot of them were really good, some of them not so much, some were political inductees. She certainly should be in the Hall of Fame by herself without question.
"If nothing else, for being the trailblazer for women who she preceded. All I'm saying is, you can't use the 'Go back and Google someones name,' and they had some negative verbiage on their wikipedia page. How did she do in the wrestling business?"
During a recent interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols about his recent Adidas shoe collaboration with NBA star Damian Lillard, Ric Flair said that WWE was planning to create a physical Hall of Fame in Orlando, Florida. Ross commented on Flairs' remarks while also advocating for Chyna to be inducted.
"She is not in the Hall of Fame because of either political issues involving Hunter and her back in the past, or her pornographic career," Ross said. "I don't care about that, she's a Hall of Famer. I saw the Naitch said the WWE is going to build a physical Hall of Fame in Orlando. If so, that's good news, and if so, she should be in it. I had a lot of long days with her, but all the time I still maintained respect and empathy for what she had gone through in her life. Hall of Fame? No brainer to me."
Ross discussed Chyna's career and her time spent alongside Eddie Guerrero. JR said the two were a fantastic fit together and he believes she was best suited with Eddie over anyone else during her time with the company.
"Eddie was more invested in it," Ross said. "Eddie went along with it better. Eddie was magic. It was obvious Eddie Guerrero was one of the top, whatever small number you want to anointed, workers in the world. He was at the top of his game in the sports entertainment aspect. [Chyna's] business was all sports entertainment, it had no basis in old school pro wrestling. Eddie had come into that world and really started doing well, Eddie pulled it off.
"Him and [Chyna] liked each other, they enjoyed working together. As far as all the stuff that Chyna did, Eddie was her best benching partner for me."
Ross also mentioned how he has heard that WWE is looking to bring back more love story angles to today's programming. He also said they need to do whatever it takes to be able to start getting people more over and stop with the constant 50-50 booking that won't benefit anybody.
"Sooner than later," Ross said. "They've got to figure out some things, get somebody hot and get people talking. What does that really mean? Is that a good thing? Not always. If they're talking good its good, if they're talking 'I'm never watching this sh-t again,' that ain't good. Vince always liked that sexual element, especially when we were T.V. 14 in the Attitude Era. He had the poetic and artistic license to do whatever the hell he wanted.
"That might be a return to their repertoire there. It's so simple as getting somebody hot with consistent booking and getting those people on a roll. You got to earmark and designate who's getting on a role and not be talked out of it tomorrow. That doesn't work for me or anybody. It's a short term fix. That won't work any longer. Get somebody in a role that I can attach to and hitch my wagon too and let's see where it takes us. I can't do that every other week thing, 50-50 booking."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.