End of an Era for JR

[nightrain]

THE man widely recognised as the best commentator in the history of wrestling says he will probably never announce another match.

Jim Ross made the comments on his blog, adding that he is in talks about a new role within WWE.

He also confirmed he WAS healthy enough to announce at WrestleMania 26, despite not being used on the PPV.

Many fans feared JR's recent bout of Bell's Palsy had got worse after Michael Cole, Matt Striker and Jerry Lawler called the show — including the main event of Shawn Michaels v The Undertaker.

But Ross said: "Life is good and I am healthy and happy.

"For those that have erroneously written or assumed the reason I did not announce at WM26 was because of health concerns, that assumption is incorrect, I'm happy to say.

"Broadcasting wrestling in WWE is likely history for me.

"But there are many other areas to which I can contribute in WWE and those options, among others, will be weighed over the next month."

Michaels, who lost a career-ending match to Taker at Mania, paid tribute to JR during his retirement speech on Raw — calling him the greatest of all time.

And Ross repaid the compliment, blogging: "The highlight of WrestleMania was Undertaker v Shawn, which was obviously the match of the night.

"I've answered a few emails regarding this matter and it is obvious that I would have loved to have broadcast this bout but that wasn't in the cards.

"At least I was in Phoenix and saw the event live and was then able to spend significant time with both HBK and with Taker after the event in private settings.

"Those experiences became my WrestleMania Moments. "

He added: "Shawn's farewell message Monday night on Raw was from his heart and not something he read on a TelePrompter.

"What fans saw Monday night was legitimate, organic TV from arguably the greatest in-ring performer, certainly of his generation, and perhaps of all time.

"I sincerely appreciated Shawn's shout out to me on Raw which was, symbolically, a fitting end to my own WrestleMania tenure."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2914948/WWE-commentator-Jim-Ross-says-hell-probably-never-announce-another-wrestling-match.html

[Hammy]

He'll be missed, I was gutted he didn't call Taker vs Michaels

[BlowUpYourVideo]

That's a shame. I know he may not have been as good as he was in the past, but he was by far the best annoucner they had. I think he'll announce again, even if it's not for a long time.

[Izzy]

He'd been frankly awful for years - totally disinterested

The pure energy he was during 'attitude' gave way to resignation

I would love him in TNA - a new challenge might kick start his passion for the sport

[James Lofton]

He's definitely one of the all time greats, regardless of whether or not he's been "awful" for years. I knew back when I first saw him in UWF in the late 80s that he would eventually leave a huge mark on the sport. He just had one of those 'magical' voices that very few have for this, and as already mentioned his excitement always seemed genuine.

I liked how JR could work both sides. Call the match down the middle but also be really opinionated. Like  a Heenan/Monsoon rolled into one.

 I always felt Lawler wasn't worthy of sitting next to him calling matches, and JR would have been even more effective had he been paired with someone else during his WWE career. They had terrible chemistry and not sure why a change was never made. I guess with ratings so high there was no point in **** with success.

Tony Schiavone(during his prime in the 80s) is my all time favorite commentator. A voice for the ages. He would have been amazing as an NFL broadcaster.

[Hammy]

Tony Schiavone (during his prime in the 80s) is my all time favorite commentator. A voice for the ages. He would have been amazing as an NFL broadcaster.

I'm glad you said that, because I heard very little of his 80s stuff, but his 90s stuff, well I love it but in a hilarious kind of way...

- Tony "The greatest night in the history of our sport" Schiavone

- But Tony, it's Thunder, it's Vampiro vs. Horace Hogan!

[James Lofton]

Yeah he was too over the top during that Nitro/Thunder era of his career. In the 80s, he was like a legitimate broadcaster. The equivalent of someone like Bob Costas calling a match and interviewing wrestlers.


Sucks that not a lot of the NWA saturday programs from the 80s are not on youtube. Over the years I have seen people selling DVDs(obvious VHS **** quality) on various wrestling sites. One of these days I should just bite the bullet and buy a couple years of it and take a trip down memory lane. The footage from that era on youtube simply doesn't do it justice.

[Hammy]

Sucks that not a lot of the NWA saturday programs from the 80s are not on youtube. Over the years I have seen people selling DVDs(obvious VHS **** quality) on various wrestling sites. One of these days I should just bite the bullet and buy a couple years of it and take a trip down memory lane. The footage from that era on youtube simply doesn't do it justice.

WWE owns it all.

If you used a wrestling torrent sites you could get a good quality version, WWE puts them up on their online "WWE Classics on Demand" service, so via torrent sites you can get the very good quality versions of them WWE puts out.

[Izzy]

When i first got into WWE he was quite literally the soundtrack and as important as the Rock or Austin

Odd that WWE seems to have left him behind

[Hammy]

Odd that WWE seems to have left him behind

I'm surprised it took so long, Vince has been trying to replace him for years, it's just something has always prevented it, the replacement not signing, or the replacement being beyond awful, fan support etc.  Vince just seems to have it in for the guy, the amount he has mocked him on tv.