Jim Ross On How WWE’s Success Helps AEW
On a recent episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross talked about finally catching up and getting the chance to watch WrestleMania 37. Ross created WWE for their ability to put on a hell of a show, saying the company was dealt a bad hand by the weather but overcame it.
"I thought it was a hell of a production quite frankly considering the inclement weather," Ross said. "You can't beat mother nature, she doesn't do any jobs. She proved that once again, especially Saturday. I thought with a bad hand dealt to WWE, they came through it as good as they possibly could considering the conditions. I didn't watch all of WrestleMania both nights, but I did watch it sporadically.
The AEW commentator went in depth on the matches he enjoyed the most on the card. Ross spoke about both main events and Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley, saying McIntyre is really good.
"I thought it was good," Ross said. "I thought the booking of Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks, I thought they did a phenomenal job, had a great match. I wasn't sure that Bianca was going to be WrestleMania in-ring ready to be fully transparent but they did a phenomenal job. Bianca Belair is probably in the top 2-3-4 raw athletes on the roster, male or female. She's a great athlete.
"I liked McIntyre and Lashley, McIntyre is just really really good. Not to say Bobby Lashley isn't quite frankly, but McIntyre really was the straw that stirred the drink in that match. I thought the triple threat match on Sunday Night was exceptional, I enjoyed that a lot. Overall I admired the hard work everyone put in. I thought they did a good job for WrestleMania and I'm glad that it went off as well as it did."
Ross also explained why WWE and WrestleMania being successful benefits the company he works for and makes the wrestling industry as a whole more valuable. He said there's a trickle down effect that helps everyone below WWE and gives the other companies a chance to capitalize on that momentum.
"The deal is this, the best WrestleMania does is recapture the imagination of the wrestling fan, it trickles down to everybody else," Ross said. "If people are against us and AEW, or against WWE, that's their call. In the big picture, the better events like that do, the more everybody can attach themselves to that momentum.
"I thought they did a nice job and congratulations to them for putting on two nights back to back. That's not easy to book, you got all these politics. You got to keep the matches unique and different, but I thought they did a nice job."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.