Jim Ross Recalls Key Commentary Lesson From Vince McMahon, One Of His Favorite WWE Characters

In a recent edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed an important commentary lesson from Vince McMahon, one of his favorite WWE characters, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Jim Ross on one of his favorite WWE characters: “I’ve always been a big fan of Dan Spivey. His rendition of Waylon Mercy was one of my favorite characters ever in WWE. I loved it. The promos were riveting with can’t take your eyes off type of verbiage. A big guy like Danny – his reputation in Tampa preceded him. Legend has it, he didn’t lose many street fights as a kid growing up. And he’s left-handed, so most guy were looking for a right-handed fighter, and all of a sudden, he knocks your ass out with his left because you’re not looking for it. I loved his physicality, and he was a smart guy. I thought he made Waylon Mercy what it was. He borrowed and amended and so forth, but I loved Dan’s work in that regard. I compare Dan to Vader in WWE. I wish we had been fortunate to sign them earlier in their career. The toll on the beloved Japanese wrestling broke their asses down because of the stiffness. Dan was just excellent. He had great leadership and so forth. “


On working with Dusty Rhodes on commentary in WCW and an important commentary lesson from Vince McMahon: “I know he wanted to stay involved and keep his TV presence established. I had a variety of partners in WCW, and all of them were good, quite frankly. I think he liked that rub. He sat in a good chair, and that chair facilitated a lot of guys to get exposure and so forth. Our first outing was not good because he talked too much. That sounds really, really shitty for me to say that because I talk all the time, but I’m the play-by-play guy. I’ve gotta set the table and stay between the lines. I have a big issue with commentary to this day – one is talking through false finishes. How do we know the false finish is not the finish unless we know the finish? So, all of a sudden we talk through a false finish because we know that’s not the finish. It takes the edge off.

“The other thing is the use of pronouns. I know we make fun of Vince with that, but one of the things Vince taught me on commentary was not to overuse pronouns – ‘He hit him. He did it again!’ Who the fuck is he? If the TV is on down my hall and I’m in my kitchen and I hear ‘He did it’, I’m wondering who the hell they’re talking about. It doesn’t stick…..a lot of announcers do that today, and I catch myself doing that. I hate it. The best way to get talent over, and that’s the only job a broadcaster has is to get talent over – you do it with their names and nicknames……I tried to explain that to Dusty, and he got it quite frankly. Our second broadcast was better than the first broadcast, but still with too many pronouns in my opinion. He did fine. Dusty had great charisma.”

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