Jim Ross Recalls Memorable Sit-Down Interview With Mankind, Vince McMahon Reacting With Famous Line

In a recent edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed his memorable sit-down interview with Mankind, Vince McMahon’s reaction, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Jim Ross on his memorable sit-down interview with Mankind: “We didn’t know Vince was gonna be there. We had no idea. He wasn’t booked to be there. None of that. We had no rehearsal. We had discussed the ground we wanted to cover – we had a beginning, middle, and end to our story. The beginning was what it was, the end was JR getting the Mandible Claw, and this is sadistic dude taking liberties with good ‘ol loveable JR. So, we knew the beginning, middle, and end like every story has gotta have. We knew our finish and what the finish was gonna be. Some of the crew did the screams and stuff, but that was unsolicited. They just did it because it fit and made sense. I’m not so sure some of them were totally smart.”

On Vince McMahon’s reaction to the interview: “That’s where the famous line came from Vince where we got to a certain starting point, and we hear this voice that’s unmistakably Vince saying, ‘This is good shit.’ At that point, Mick is made. He just sold the old man. I don’t know what his thoughts would be if you asked him today, but at that point in time, he had turned the corner because he had gotten the blessing of the most powerful man in all of pro wrestling. So, Vince being there was a pleasant surprise. When we were done, he was ecstatic. He saw then what I felt because he wasn’t familiar with Mick to any degree. Vince doesn’t watch other wrestling shows. You’ve heard that from a lot of guys. He’s not gonna go watch more wrestling. That was a real big deal.”

On the intention behind the interview: “We needed to facilitate him attacking me at the end and doing that off of one set of furniture was probably most logical. It was just a little studio that was purposely darkened. The atmosphere needed to fit what we perceived the persona of Mankind should be. Then, we rock and roll from there. It was one of those good days where you feel good about what you’re doing. It goes to show you if you have the feel for your content, you can do it without a zillion rehearsals. We had no writer write anything. How do we do that? We did it the same way wrestlers did it for generations and generations. We went on our instincts and what felt right with the piece of business we were trying to transact. So, it was pretty cool.”


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