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Jim Ross Explains Why He Turned Down Raw Reunion Appearance, Whether Creative Plans Were Pitched

July 27, 2019 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

– On the latest Grilling JR, Jim Ross went into more depth about why he declined an offer to appear at Raw Reunion. Ross revealed last week that he was offered a change to appear and that Tony Khan gave him permission, but he said no.

Speaking with Conrad Thompson, Ross said that he appreciated the offer and was glad they did it, but that he didn’t want to send a “mixed message” about where his loyalties lie or give a sign that AEW might be in trouble. Highlights from the discussion are below:

On turning the offer to appear on Raw Reunion down: “Well, it wasn’t in anger that I refused, or turned it down. I appreciated the opportunity to come back to Tampa to see all my buddies and so forth. There’s a couple of things that led to this decision. And the main thing for me was, if I had gone, then there would be a certain segment of the Social Media Society that would’ve said, ‘Uh oh, there’s trouble in paradise, JR’s looking to bail already. He’s already flirting back with WWE, something’s wrong with AEW.’ Well, first of all there’s nothing wrong with my relationship with AEW.”

On being given permission to go by Khan: “I have a great relationship with Tony Khan, who owns the damn thing. Tony said if you want to go to the RAW Reunion, I think you should go to the Raw Reunion if you want to. But I got to thinking about it. I didn’t want to approach the issue of ‘Well, there’s trouble in paradise, JR’s looking to bail.’ And I’ve taken on this role, Conrad, with these kids in AEW where — that I really embrace, and I love it. I’m an old coach at heart. But there are a lot of kids there who are trying to learn how do we get from being somewhat of a hidden, or not mass-appeal, indie star to going to the next level and becoming a star on a live, weekly, national TV show in October on TNT. I’m wondering what message that would have sent to these younger guys. ‘I thought JR’s our guy. He’s been preaching unity, he’s been preaching teamwork, and he goes back to the big evil empire and for a one night stand, for a payday.'”

On people who say he should have gone back: “People said, ‘Well you really should have gone back, because you and Jerry [Lawler] could have called a match.’ Jerry and I could’ve been calling matches a long time there that we haven’t done. There was no guarantee, the creative for JR on that Monday night was never established or discussed.”

On his primary reason for declining: “The reason was, I didn’t want to send a mixed message to these young kids I’m trying to mentor, and get them in that locker room mentality, that feel thing. And even though Tony was trying to accommodate me, I didn’t want to take advantage of his generosity. It just didn’t seem to be the right fit. I wasn’t angry about it, I really, really appreciated Vince taking the time out of his schedule to contact me. Because he didn’t have to, could’ve had a million minions that could’ve done it. And a lot of them would’ve liked to because if I had said no, then they could run back to Vince and say, ‘Well he’s not coming, he’s not coming. JR turned us down, let’s pile on the son of a b***h, let’s make the — let’s get the dirt going.’ Whatever. So that’s the reason. I thought it was sending a mixed message to the locker room that I am currently in, and I didn’t want that to happen. Young guys have strange thoughts, and so forth.”

On appreciating the Reunion show and the offer: “I’m glad they did it, it was cool. And I appreciate Vince thinking of me. But it just didn’t seem like the right thing to do in my current role, even though my current boss said go. I just didn’t think that it was the right thing to do for that locker room and those young kids that are looking up to me to give them advice and guidance.”

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

article topics :

Jim Ross, RAW Reunion, WWE, Jeremy Thomas