Jim Ross Discusses His Talks With Dixie Carter About Joining TNA in 2009, WWE Wanting to Replace Him Then

– During the latest edition of Grilling JR, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross talked about having talks with Dixie Carter about potentially joining TNA back in 2009. JR said the main road block that kept him from pulling the trigger on the deal is that he wanted more control than Dixie and Bob Carter were willing to give him. It sounded like Ross wanted more control over who he could hire and fire in his role with the company. Below are some highlights.

Jim Ross on having a meeting with Dixie Carter about joining TNA: “I’m trying to think. I think it was after that [Memorial Day]. I think it was after this, but I did have a meeting with Dixie [Carter] and her family; actually, her entire family: her brother, her sister-in-law, her mom, her dad, her children, her husband, and me at their ranch in Texas. And they picked me up here in Norman and flew me down in a jet. The flight was 20 minutes, 2-0, 20 minutes. And I spent the day and most of the evening with ’em, and I found I had a phenomenal, truly Conrad, a phenomenal relationship right off the bat with Bob Carter. I could see myself working for him, but we could never past the hump of ‘If you want me to cook the dinner, I gotta be able to buy the groceries.'”

Ross on how much control he wanted to have in TNA: “In other words, if my ass is on the line for improving ratings and revenue in general, then you gotta let me do that. And if I can’t do that, like I told him, I remember saying clear as day, ‘Bob. What would Jerry Jones do if he hired Bill Parcells, and Parcells didn’t win? He’ll fire his ass! That’s what I expect you to do to me if I don’t succeed. That’s what you should do. Replace me!’ He kind of liked that. If I’m going to be held solely accountable on how well we do financially, and I’m not able to facilitate all the financial assets that we can lay our hands to make this happen, then you can’t hold me wholly responsible. I want total responsibility, so that was the issue.”

“I want to come in and say, ‘If I want this guy gone, you’re gone, you’re gone, whatever. It wouldn’t be done that way, but you know what I’m saying. So, but that never got [done] — and they flew me back home that night. I had a great time. I remember Dixie and I went on a like a four-wheeler deal looking at all the deer. They had raised these trophy deer, so that was good. And look, I still communicate with Dixie to this very day. I like her. I like their family. We’re southern people, Conrad, you know how that goes, man.”

Jim Ross on why he was having talks with TNA: “I was contractually in a tentative situation. Are they going to offer me another contract. Am I gonna be turned out to pasture? Because the fact was once I had my third bout of Bells Palsy that the writing was one the wall that the WWE would do what they needed to in a legal and ethical sense to replace me. A TV announcer that’s jolly, southern, and can’t smile ain’t got a place on my TV. So, that’s kind of where we were there, and I understood that. And that’s something that’s sobering, but you gotta understand, sometimes the hands that were dealt aren’t the goddamn best hands, folks. And so you got the option of laying on your ass in a fetal position, or stand up like an adult, or a man or a woman and take some positive steps forward. That’s all you can do. And I admit that’s the choice that I made.”

“In any event, I enjoy the Carters, but they didn’t want to give me total control. And I didn’t total control of every facet of the business, but I had to have total control over the talents available to me and how I utilize talents who I let go and who I brought in within the parameters of the budget. ‘Oh, there’s not a budget. Maybe we should create that.’ Now, I had some more issues. Like I said, I still talk to Dixie…[plugs live show].”

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