Jim Ross Recalls His Reaction To Katie Vick Storyline, WWE Introducing ‘HLA’ Segments On Raw

In a recent edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed WWE introducing HLA segments on Raw in 2002, his reaction to the Katie Vick storyline, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Jim Ross on WWE introducing HLA segments on Raw in 2002: “It would’ve been another short creative meeting. ‘Here’s what we want to do,’ and my vote would have been no. I’m not a big fan – there’s certain things in wrestling that creatively, somebody can say ‘all is fair, it’s just wrestling.’ But you’ve still gotta have some sort of integrity, some sort of creative continuity. I often wondered this in response to your question. How does a mom and dad explain to a kid what the hell HLA is? If I’ve got an eight-year-old kid, I might not be ready to talk to them about the birds and the bees. It just didn’t fit. We were trying so hard to emphasize the entertainment aspect of sports entertainment and deemphasize the sports side of this equation. I wasn’t a big fan of it.”

On his reaction to the Katie Vick storyline: “I don’t know [if that was always the plan]. I don’t recall any more decent ideas. There may have been. Somebody may have said, ‘Well, that’s not outlandish enough, that’s not sensationalistic enough.’ But it was an attempt to become more entertainment. For Raw anyway, the entertainment side of that show became the HLAs and all that shit. Lawler and I did our best to make some sense out of it, narrate it, or lay out. I found us laying out of it more than anything because sometimes when you’re not sure what to say, or an angle is being introduced and you don’t know how the audience is gonna take it, you lay out….some of that content was hard to lay out. What do you say sometimes? The only thing I will say about that stuff is it was different, it was unique, it was new. But none of those things were good. It wasn’t good new. Nothing. This show was a great example of us getting way out of our lane.”

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