Jim Ross On His Friendship With Pat Patterson, How Patterson Was One Of His Mentors In Wrestling

In a recent edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed his friendship with Pat Patterson, how Patterson was one his mentors in wrestling, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Jim Ross on his friendship with Pat Patterson: “Pat was a very unique guy. He was funny, he was intelligent. He had the sixth sense of what, in his view, pro wrestling should be. He was always steadfast in that belief. When I first moved to Connecticut, Bruce [Prichard] was working with Pat a lot. They were joined at the hip, and they even dressed alike more often than not. Vince hired me, and I don’t know if he knew exactly what to do with me at that time. So, I hung out at Pat’s house with Louie and their band of friends……when I got to WWE, I got a great education on Pat and Louie of being tolerant and judging people on their own merits on not on their own lifestyle. It’s not business. So, that really helped me a lot going forward. Pat and Jan and Louie cooked together. Jan thought her spaghetti sauce was the best I’ve ever tasted, and they would always have their arguments and debates about whose sauce was the best. And ironically, Pat in his own way, he called Jan ‘Jane’ for 10 years. I said, ‘Goddamnit, Pat, her name is Jan.’ He said, ‘Jan, Jane, it doesn’t matter.’ We had a great time with them.”

On Patterson being one of his mentors in the wrestling business: “He had such brilliance in how he approached the wrestling business. The simpler the better, telling a good story, and quite frankly, the matches Pat laid out were oftentimes the best matches on the card and withstanding the fact that they were the best stories to tell for guys like me. I had a hell of a time with him. Pat was a terrible ribber, and if he saw that it pissed you off, he would just do it more. And it did piss me off sometimes because I didn’t have the tolerance for the ribbing. When your briefcase is chained up to the ceiling or somebody takes your car keys – he did that one time in Maine and it took me hours to finally locate my car keys. He was a lovable guy who loved to laugh and loved to sing and loved to drink and loved to tell his stories.

“He’ll really be missed because he was a big, big part of how I look at wrestling. Pat was a big part of how I perceive the business should be bell to bell. I had two great mentors in the business – Cowboy Bill Watts and Pat Patterson. I’ve had a lot of people help me, but those two are strong influences. I felt bad for Bruce, and I heard Vince took it really hard too. He’s really gonna be missed. So many guys could say how much Pat helped them, and he did. He helped everybody a lot. He was a hell of a guy, and we had very little in common except for wrestling. I felt I lost a family member. Bruce and Vince were a lot closer to Pat than me because they worked hand-in-hand. I felt especially bad for those guys. It’s just hard to believe I can’t pick up the telephone and call him and just shoot the breeze. It’s a part of our life, and we’re all gonna go some time. But I just wasn’t ready for Pat to go.”

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