Jim Ross

[Jim Ross GALLERY]

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FanJam: The Special Jim Ross Fan Jam
Article: Good Ole J.R. – A Dying Breed
Article: Plane Trip From Hell

Career Highlights

In The Beginning:

• 1975: Jim Ross graduated from Bill Kinnamon’s Umpire School..
• Jim Ross worked as a referee for the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference..
• Jim Ross later became a commentator for college football..
• 1982: Jim Ross spent one year as a color commentator for the Atlanta Falcons and was co-host of the Jerry Glanville Show..
• Jim Ross worked his way up the ladder of success, scoring a job with the Mid-South, UWF & NWA..

Getting into the Business:

• Jim Ross started in the NWA territory as a ring announcer and interviewer..
• ~~~His primary duties where to say, “Welcome everyone, here’s Cowboy Bill Watt’s”..
• 1986: Jim Ross became head play-by-play man and called his first World’s title Match between Ric Flair & Ted DiBiase..
• Jim Ross continued to hone his skills and build his legacy until his falling out with the NWA..

World Wrestling Federation:

• Jim Ross made his first World Wrestling Federation appearance at WrestleMania 9 — dressed in a Toga!
• 1993: Jim Ross joined Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler on WWF Monday Night RAW and PPV events..
• October 1996: Jim Ross became an on-air heel character and introduced a “Fake” version of Razor Ramon & Deisel..
• ~~~Jim Ross had a War-of-words with WWF President Gorilla Monsoon. Ross was suspended but lawyers got him reinstated..
• Late 1997: Jim Ross became the head play-by-play man when Vince McMahon became a heel character..
• Jim Ross is the Senior Vice President of Talent Relations win the WWE..
• ~~~Job description: signing, releasing, scouting, and advising WWF superstars young and old..
• December 1998: Jim Ross suffered a tragedy in his life when his mother passed away..
• December 1998: Jim Ross suffered a second bout of bells palsy, which is a form of facial paralysis, and is replaced by Michael Cole..
• March 1, 1999 – RAW: Jim Ross returned to RAW and confronted Bart Gunn about knocking out Steve Williams in the Brawl4All..
• ~~~Jim Ross claimed Bart Gunn was responsible for his bells palsy and ordered Steve Williams to attack Bart Gunn!
• March 8, 1999 – RAW: Jim Ross confronted Michael Cole and kicked him in the crotch and rejoined the commentary position..
• ~~~Terry Taylor was ordered by Vince McMahon to get rid of Jim Ross and sit in on commentary for the night..
• ~~~Jim Ross called Terry Taylor the “Red Rooster”, a glorified mid-carder with a poor win-loss record!
• March 15, 1999 – RAW: Jim Ross had his own little announce table constructed at ringside so he could do commentary on RAW..
• October 11, 1999 – RAW: Steve Austin & Jim Ross vs Triple H & Chyna ended in a No Contest after a brawl!
• Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler are the full-time Broadcast Announcers on WWF/E television..
• Jim Ross is best known as play-by-play announcer for WWF RAW and Pay-Per-View..
• Jim Ross makes his own world famous BBQ Sauce..

World Wrestling Entertainment:

• November 26, 2001 – RAW: Vince McMahon tried to force Steve Austin to be the next member of the “Kiss My Ass Club”..
• ~~~Steve Austin attacked Vince McMahon until Kurt Angle made the save and brawled with Austin threw the crowd..
• ~~~Vince McMahon saw Jim Ross laughing and called him into the ring to be the next to join the Kiss My Ass Club..
• ~~~The Undertaker came to Jim Ross’ rescue, but turned heel and forced JR’s face against Vince’s ass!
• December 23, 2002 – RAW: Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross def William Regal & Lance Storm with help from the Dudleyz and some brass knux!
• February 10, 2003 – RAW: Jim Ross is fired by Eric Bischoff but is rehired by Vince McMahon later in the show..
• February 17, 2003 – RAW: Eric Bischoff beat Jim Ross after Chief Morley interfered, and Bischoff smashed a cinder block on JR’s face..
• March 31, 2003 – RAW: Eric Bischoff fires Steve Austin, Jim Ross makes some aggressive comments towards Bischoff’s leadership..
• April 7, 2003 – RAW: Eric Bischoff confronts Jim Ross about some comments he made last week, and JR gets pissed off and QUITS!
• May 5, 2003 – RAW: Jim Ross gets his job back, thanks to Jerry Lawler, who had to defeat Sean Morley to get JR his job back!
• July 14, 2003 – RAW: Kane snaps during an interview and douses Jim Ross in Gasoline and lights him on fire!!!
• August 11, 2003 – RAW: Jim Ross returns to his announce position on RAW, unceremoneously kicking The Coach out of the spot!
• September 15, 2003 – RAW: Jonathan Coachman & Al Snow took over RAW for one match to show how much better they are..
• ~~~Jerry Lawler challenged Al Snow to a match, and defeated him, and The Coach cheapshotted Jim Ross afterwards!
• September 21, 2003 – Unforgiven: The Coach & Al Snow beat JR & Jerry Lawler to win the right to announce RAW on Mondays!
• September 29, 2003 – RAW: Jim Ross beat The Coach in a “country whippin” match to reclaim the announce position with The King!
• November 24, 2003 – RAW ROULETTE: Jim Ross was the inadvertant winner of the “Capture the Midget” contest..
• April 9, 2004: John Laurinatis officially replaces Jim Ross as the Vice President of WWE Talent Relations..
• ~~~JR’s internal position is now as Executive Vice President, Business Strategies — working more closely to Vince McMahon..
• June 14, 2004 – RAW: Jim Ross tries to initiate a handshake between Triple H & Shawn Michaels after their Hell in a Cell match..
• ~~~Kane showed up and attacked Shawn Michaels (HHH ran away) and put HBK’s head between a folding chair and stomped it!
• ~~~A bloodied HBK was stretchered out as is out of action with a “crushed larynx” (storyline)..
• December 27, 2004 – RAW: Muhammad Hassan & Khosrow Daivari accuse Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler of broadcasting propaganda!
• January 3, 2005 – RAW: Muhammad Hassan & Khosrow Daivari attacked Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler during a political debate!
• January 9, 2005 – New Year’s Revolution: Muhammad Hassan w/Khosrow Daivari defeated Jerry “The King” Lawler w/Jim Ross..
• January 24, 2005: Today was declared Jim Ross Day in the state of Oklahoma by Governor Brad Henry..
• January 24, 2005 – RAW: Jim Ross is honored with Jim Ross Day and a special appearance by the Legendary Danny Hodge..
• ~~~Of course, Triple H & Ric Flair interrupted and assaulted Danny Hodge and Stacy Keibler until Randy Orton made the save..
• April 18, 2005 – RAW: Jim Ross defeated Triple H in a NO DQ match when Batista knocked HHH out and placed JR’s arm on his chest!
• ~~~Jim Ross took a hellacious beating during this match and ended up with a crimson mask and a black eye..
• October 10, 2005 – RAW: Vince, Linda & Stephanie McMahon collectively fired Jim Ross and Linda kicked him between the legs!
• October 14, 2005: Jim Ross underwent a medical procedure to his colon in hopes of alleviating pain he has been enduring for weeks..
• ~~~They found something massive in his intestines that will need to be extracted through surgery next week in Oklahoma..
• October 17, 2005 – RAW: Steve Austin called out Vince McMahon to confront him about Jim Ross getting fired the week before..
• ~~~Stephanie McMahon came out instead and set up a match between Austin & The Coach on PPV for JR’s remployment..
• October 18, 2005: Jim Ross underwent surgery to remove part of his colon..
• October 24, 2005 – RAW: Vince McMahon stooped to new lows, airing a skit featuring himself performing surgery on JR’s butt..
• ~~~Vince McMahon (Dr. Hiney) and his assistant (Nurse Slobberknockers) pulled object after object out of JR’s posterior..
• ~~~The final punchline came after Vince pulled a bust of JR’s head out and said “JR, you had your head up your ass!”.
• March 18, 2006 – SNME: Jim Ross returns for one night as commentator along with SD!’s Tazz and RAW’s Jerry Lawler..
• March 2006: Jim Ross returned as the host of a WWE 24/7 program featuring round-table discussions with various wrestling legends..
• March 26, 2006–Live Event (SD! crew): Jim Ross interviewed Steve “Dr. Death” Williams (interrupted by Mr. Ken Kennedy)..
• April 2, 2006 – WrestleMania 22: Jim Ross returned to the announce booth calling RAW matches along with Jerry “The King” Lawler..
• April 17, 2006 – RAW: Jim Ross Interviewed Chavo Guerrero about his decision to QUIT WWE and he stood by his choice..
• May 8, 2006 – RAW: Jerry “The King” Lawler welcomes “Good Ol'” Jim Ross back to the job to resume his announcing duties..
• June 7, 2006 – WWE vs ECW: Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler (for WWE) and Joey Styles & Tazz (for ECW) bickered all night long..
• September 25, 2006 – RAW in Oklahoma: Jim Ross thanked the fans for coming only to have the male stripper from ECW interrupt..
• ~~~Wearing an Oregon shirt to offer his condolences for beating Oklahoma-U, he did a striptease until JR bashed him with the mic!
• September 26, 2006–ECW on Sci Fi: Jim Ross made an appearance on ECW to endorse The Sandman and share some beers with him!
• Jim Ross won the Best Announcer Award in the 2006 OnlineWorldofWrestling.com Awards…
• March 26, 2007 – RAW: They announced Jim Ross would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame (huge standing ovation)..
• March 31, 2007 – Hall of Fame: Good Ol’ Jim Ross was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Stone Cold Steve Austin..
• April 1, 2007 – WrestleMania 23: Jim Ross and the other HOF inductees were introduced to the audience at Fords Field in Detroit..
• June 11, 2007–RAW: The Mr. McMahon “character” was tragically killed when his private limousine exploded into a ball of flames..
• August 20, 2007–RAW: King Booker bullied Jim Ross and Queen Sharmell pushed JR and forced him to kiss Booker’s ring!
• June 23, 2008–WWE Draft: In a shocking twist, Jim Ross was drafted to SmackDown!, and Michaels Cole was drafted to RAW!
• June 27, 2008–SmackDown!: Jim Ross debuted as a SD! announcer and joined his good friend, Mick Foley, at the announce table..
• June 30, 2008–RAW: Jim Ross gave a farewell speech in front of a live crowd in his hometown of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma..
• November 3, 2008–RAW: Jim Ross made an appearance on the Record-Breaking 800th Episode Celebration of RAW..
• Jim Ross won for “Best Announcer” during the 2008 Online World of Wrestling Year-End Awards..
• January 25, 2009–Royal Rumble: Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler were reunited to call the 2009 Royal Rumble Match!
• April 4, 2009–WWE Hall of Fame: Cowboy Bill Watts was officially inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his friend Jim Ross..
• Mike Aldren wrote (On October 20, 2009): Jim Ross suffered a Bells Palsy attack last night on a flight from Oklahoma to South Carolina for the Smackdown TV tapings. He said he called the WWE doctors in Jacksonville and they arranged for special medication to be couriered to him which will help slow down the paralysis. He was planning to work tonight’s show but WWE said no way and are arranging a flight to send him home so he can see a neurologist on Wednesday.Ross wrote on his blog this afternoon: “Life is about facing the challenges we encounter so I am going to do all I can to get better and back at the announce desk asap. I wish I had more answers but I simply don’t at this time. I want to be a part of Bragging Rights but only time will tell if that will be physically possible. My passion and love for the game is in tact but I have to do what’s best for my long term health. WWE has been tremendously supportive of my situation of which I am very grateful. Never count me out of the game as this isn’t the first mountain that I have had to climb. Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole will handle SD from Columbia. My thanks to every one for understanding this matter. Better days are on the horizon.” Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are expected to announce Smackdown this week in place of Ross and Todd Grisham, who is on his honeymoon.
• November 15, 2010–Old School RAW: Jim Ross returned for one night to call one match; Daniel Bryan vs. Jack Swagger.
• January 21, 2011–SmackDown!: Jim Ross was brought in as a surprise guest for the live crowd in Tulsa (Oklahoma)..
• ~~~He interviewed Jack Swagger backstage for the fans in the building and was also guest referee in a post-show dark match ..
• March 14, 2011–RAW: Michael Cole did commentary inside of a glass box to protect himself from Jerry “The King” Lawler..
• ~~~LATER: Michael Cole brought back Brian Christopher (The King’s real life son) to berate and humiliate Jerry Lawler on live TV..
• ~~~Eventually “Good Ol’ JR” Jim Ross arrived to put Michael Cole in his place! Then Jack Swagger attacked Jerry Lawler at ringside!!!
• ~~~Jack Swagger assaulted Jim Ross… then Swagger put the King in an Anklelock while Michael Cole put Jim Ross in an Anklelock!!
• October 17, 2011–RAW: John Cena & Jim Ross defeated Alberto Del Rio & Michael Cole.
• 2012: Triple H took control of the talent relations and hired Jim Ross to work as an adviser and scout in the company.
• September 11, 2013–Jim Ross officially announces his retirement from WWE.
• January 22, 2018–RAW: Jim Ross was a special guest ring announcer for the 25th anniversary show.
• March 29, 2019: Jim Ross announced that he is officially done with WWE and is now a free agent.