Jim Ross Says Some Fans Wanted Him To Die For "WWE Dynamite" Flub
On the June 30th episode of AEW Dynamite, Jim Ross accidentally referred to the show as "WWE Dynamite" when closing the episode.
Jim Ross responded to the comment on Twitter, stating that there's no excuse for the mistake he made, but that he's not quitting anytime soon. Former AEW Champion Chris Jericho, and others came to the AEW commentator's defense, noting that Ross is still the greatest wrestling commentator of all time.
On the latest episode of the Grilling JR podcast, Ross went further in depth on the mistake he made and mentioned some of the harsh criticism he received from fans online.
"I don't know much more I can say when I addressed it," Ross said. "I made a mistake, it was inadvertent and I'm very sorry I did it obviously, it's embarrassing. All of a sudden out of that one or two second bite, here's what comes out of that for some wrestling fans and I say some wrestling fans because I'm still a devotee of our business, I have great respect for the fans. They have supported my efforts undeniably for years, through Jan's death, leaving WWE. Whatever it may be, they've always stood fast. I think the criticism I've received has been from a vast minority of defiant young males and some females who ascertain these points.
"[People said] I've had a stroke, by the way I've never had a stroke but that's been diagnosed on the internet from my faupaux, I've had a stroke. I've had a battle with Bell's Palsy, I've actually had three bouts with Bell's Palsy. That I have onset dementia, which wouldn't surprise me, it's going to happen to everybody some ways or another. But man I got everything on that thing from people wanting me to die. Here's what's sad about that deal, it's not about my mispronouncing, this is a much bigger issue in my opinion. That's all this is folks, my opinion. It's the flavor of the country right now, it's just where we are and it's sad, I don't even know what you call it, the cancel culture. It was a little rugged. The thing about it is people misquote information, without any thought, there's no conscious involved. It's not the fact that I might get this right if I say JR has onset dementia, but then what if you're wrong? How do you pull that back in? Well, it's out there so you don't pull it back in."
Ross continued to talk about the week as a whole, saying he thoroughly enjoyed the main event of the show which featured MJF defeating Sammy Guevara. Following the loss, Guevara took to Twitter to say that he would be back and eventually be AEW World Champion someday. The AEW commentator also put a close to his "WWE Dynamite" mishap.
"It was an interesting week," Ross said. "Bottom line, guys I've been doing this a long time, I still work every week to get better at my job.
"But I can tell you this was all on me and we had a hell of a show. That [Sammy] Guevara MJF match was outstanding, one of the better matches I've called in years and years but the whole show was strong. The close of the show, those two young kids, both in their mid 20s, knew the responsibility of closing the show and how important it was. For everybody surrounding them, for our fans to deliver. I had the sense that leading into that last match, I thought that we had a really strong show leading up to that main event. People were expecting greatness and I think that's what those two guys delivered."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.