Jim Ross Says WWE Doesn’t Have Anybody ‘White Hot’ Right Now

On a recent episode of his podcast, “Grilling JR,” Jim Ross gave an honest take on WWE’s current standing amid soft ticket sales, arguing that the company has plenty of talent but nobody is catching fire. You can check out his comments below:

On WWE’s Situation:

“I would say WWE doesn’t have any one wrestler that’s just white hot. You’ve got to have somebody hot, somebody people are talking about, and they don’t have that right now. They’ve got a lot of great talents — I’m not saying that — but it’s always been a matter of how they’re utilized. And I think they’ve got to do a better job of utilizing their talent and seeing where that takes them. You’ve got to get somebody hot. Wrestling has always been, at least in my opinion, an attraction-driven business. Back when Austin was on fire, he’d come out, they’d do a run-in or something, and it worked. They got ratings, people loved it, they cheered. Right now, WWE doesn’t have somebody in that role. It seems like they get somebody quasi-hot.”

On His Belief:

“If you can get them all hot, it’s a good thing — the more the merrier, as the old cliche goes. But I don’t feel, just in my opinion, that they have anybody hot or close to being hot on that national or international level. Somebody has got to catch on fire, somebody’s got to get people talking, and it’s a matter of continuity. You can’t be hot this week on TV and disappear next week. There’s got to be consistency. It’s better to have some star depth, and right now they don’t have it. Nobody’s had enough time over a significant length of time to create that magic. I may be wrong as hell on this deal, but it doesn’t seem like we’re talking about them as much as we were, and I think that’s bad.”

On WWE Needing a Great Heel:

“It’s a creative issue. Creative drives the ship; creative’s got to be spot on. Here’s the other thing about this: to have a red-hot babyface that people are talking about, paying money to come see, and buying merch, you’ve got to have a great heel to play off of. What heel right now is so hot and so full of angst that you can’t get around them, that they’re a big part of the story? Right now, it doesn’t seem to me that any heel on that roster is a big part of the story, and I might be wrong on that. I’m not going to be a Negative Nelly here today, but it just seems to me like that’s kind of where they are. You’ve got to have stars to make stars, and I don’t know what stars they have on the hillside positioned to get over in a big way and make the company and themselves money.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the Grilling JR podcast with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.