Jim Ross On Vince McMahon’s Initial Reaction To The Rock Joining WWE, Pat Patterson’s Impact On Rock’s Career

In a recent edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed Pat Patterson’s impact on The Rock’s career, Vince McMahon’s initial reaction to The Rock joining WWE, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Jim Ross on Pat Patterson’s impact on The Rock’s career: “Any experienced main event talents or talents that had worked on main events were always willing to talk to Rock because he was so respectful and willing to listen. He was one of those young guys who didn’t mind listening. He realized he didn’t know everything, but he wanted you to teach him everything you knew so he could take that with him down the road. Patterson was probably the most influential guy there in Rock’s career as far as little subtle things and in-ring things. Little nuances and things of that nature. I’m sure there are a lot of other guys, but if you just looked at one person that was always consistent in Rock’s formative years, Pat Patterson would be that guy.”

On Vince McMahon’s initial reaction to The Rock joining WWE: “Vince was cautiously optimistic in the beginning because he’s seen that these beautiful packages sometimes don’t play out. But in time, Vince became a huge Rock supporter. Anybody that was around him – you don’t have to be an expert. You could just see it. If you were around [Rock], you could feel his enthusiasm, and he also had a background being in the family business that he understood things that a lot of guys took time to assimilate. It didn’t take long for Vince to become a huge Rock fan.”

On Rock and Steve Austin’s chemistry together: “Once in a lifetime. Rock was a once-in-a-lifetime talent, just like Austin. We were just blessed and lucky we had them at the same time. They liked each other, and they were professional. Those two guys are as responsible as any other two guys you could name that helped the WWE forward into a publicly-traded company.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Grilling JR with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.