Jim Ross Looks Back At His Talks With Dixie Carter To Join TNA

TNA head Dixie Carter tried to recruit Jim Ross back in 2009, which the legendary announcer discussed in his latest podcast. Ross spoke on Grilling JR about the discussions he had with Carter at the time, and you can check out a couple of excerpts below (h/t to Wrestling Inc):

On meeting with Carter and her family: “I was staying in Norman [Oklahoma] and Dixie Carter’s family has a beautiful ranch in North Texas. They flew to Norman and picked me up. It was a 20-minute flight in a little jet, and I met the whole family down there. I was interested, and I would have taken [the job] but I had to have my terms — and my terms were I need to run it [TNA]. I used the old Bill Parcells line, ‘If you want me to cook dinner, you’ve got to let me buy some groceries.’ So, I wanted to have control over the talent — totally. Because some guys had to go, they were killing the budget.”

On Carter being concerned about backlash from the roster: “So, she didn’t pull the trigger. And I’ve seen Dixie many times since then, we get along fine — I like her. But, if she wanted to change the course of TNA, there was a chance. She didn’t have the conviction to step away from a lot of her incumbents because they had built a little power struggle. It was pro wrestling. The con men had taken over, and sometimes she didn’t see it.”