Jim Ross Recalls Vince McMahon’s Reaction To Vince Russo Leaving WWE For WCW

On a recent episode of his podcast, “Grilling JR,” Jim Ross discussed Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara leaving WWE for WCW. Here are the highlights:

On first hearing that Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara were leaving WWE for WCW: “I think Vince said they were taking off, gonna move to Atlanta and do their business there. I can understand Russo’s logic. I mean, they were working a lot of time. They should have added more staff; he should have added more staff, I think in hindsight, to his staff and his group. It would maybe ease the burden of his workload. But those guys did work — they had a lot of they had a lot of balls in the air. So I think Vince told me. But you know, we didn’t miss a beat. We just kept on rolling, and it worked out fine at the end of the day. I mean, look where WWE is today, and they’re doing very well, obviously. So at the end of the day, things generally work out if everybody’s on the same page. And I think it got Vince more engaged, and I think that was a good thing at that point in time.

“So it was still a little bit surprising. You know, I would have thought that they would have come to some sort of happy compromise prior to the final decision being made that both Russo and Ferrara left. But you know, we had a lot of people on staff who could do their job. They might not do it as well; I don’t know, it’s all subjective. But it was an interesting time, to say the least. But I thought that the company reacted positively. And I thought that the results of this show we’re going to talk about today is evidence of that. That we had some depth, and we had some — you know, we had people there. Patterson and Bruce, myself to a lesser degree. And Vince, of course. So it was pretty good. And we had some talents coming into their own. You know, the tag match of the Hardys and Edge and Christian was extraordinary. So that bailed our ass out of that show. So it was good. It was good.”

On Vince McMahon’s reaction to Russo and Ferrara’s exit: “I think he was surprised and not in a pleasant way… They did a nice job. They got — you know, the results speak for themselves. But they just were burned out. And they tagged out too late. I mean, they got to the end of the rope, unfortunately. And a lot of the talents were concerned, because they had built relationships with Russo and Ferrara. They had a source for creative. They had a resource, I should say. So it was surprising, you know. Surprising that they left. I didn’t see them on the way out. I just know that it was a surprise and not a pleasant one. Because there were two main players that we had to replace in key roles. And we didn’t have any time to regroup because we had another show today, which we’re going to talk about today. So it was an interesting time for us there at WWE.”

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