Jim Ross shoots on how hard it was to be head of talent relations as WCW folded
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- Опубликовано: 1 май 2021
- For over forty years Jim Ross has been the Voice of Wrestling. From starting as referee in the regional territories to becoming the Executive Vice President for WWE, nobody has a story quite like Jim Ross. From recruiting and hiring some of the biggest superstars in the industry to providing the soundtrack for the most important moments in wrestling history, “Good Ole JR” was there for it all. Join us every Thursday morning as Conrad Thompson grills JR like you’ve never heard before, uncut and uncensored!
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I love listening to good ole j.r.
I'm loving Jr's new catch phrase "Bullshit" lmao 😂
I love JR. It’s always fun listening to his perspective.
Shame we didn't see Sting in the Invasion. As a kid I was always hoping Sting would show up during that angle.
I’m glad he didn’t, they would’ve just buried him like they did DDP, Booker T & every over WCW wrestler who would only ever gain any advantage in a match by cheating.
Me too. Sting v Taker dream match
@@SRPC21Yeah it sucked making all the WCW wrestlers heels. Totally wrong way of doing the storyline
Why were buff and booker even fighting each other if they were invading?
U know what, ive never even thought about that 🤔
Hey wait....
The Invasion storyline hadn't started yet.
They did WCW again but within WWE
The initial idea was to give WCW Raw while the WWF had SmackDown!
Unfortunately the negative crowd reaction by the WWF fans made Vince change his mind and WCW were merely a heel group shortly afterwards.
The “Invasion” PPV was still going to happen regardless, as pitting WCW vs WWF stars was money in the bank.
I would have thought that Buff Bagwell was on Vince’s radar also. I think Buff had the presence, looks, better mic skills than some, and could wrestle. I’m either wrong or gay. Please let it be the former!
Buff was super unlucky; his contract was about to end in wcw and Vince actually met up with him to try and persuade him to sign with the WWF instead.
Once WCW was purchased though, Buff only had a few months left on his deal which meant Vince was in the driving seat.
@@SRPC21 Yeah obviously some ego or attitude problems didn't help him but I agree Buff wasn't Shawn Michaels in the ring but could have been a decent heel. Imagine if he was thee earlier and Vince was able to push him then. I always think about what if with Scott Steiner in the 90s
Good ol JR wisdom
The WWE blew it with DDP, Buff, Kronic, Sean O'Haire, Chuck Palumbo, and then a year later they blew it with the NWO.
Vince continues to blow "can't miss" prospects to this very day.
The more I think about it was gonna happen either way. Let's be honest did you really think Vince would give WCW or anyone in that company a fair shot especially knowing how much he has blatantly hated WCW and the rest of his other competition over the years. Not only that we know how fucking petty Vince is and I wouldnt doubt that whole Angle was shit on purposely. As someone who is still a WCW fan it is unforgivable how they were all treated, obviously Booker and DDP got it the worst. Booker T is the only star from that shit angle that actually survived. The same thing can be said for Sting. You really think it was a fuckin coincidence he ended up getting buried by Triple H of all people?! Dont think so. Same could be said about that horsehit Retribution angle. Look how they have shit on the Fiend character and he is one of the best things they have had going during this bullshit PG Era! That's Vince's MO, destroy as many fucking wrestlers and story angles as possible. That's why their ratings are in the fucking cesspool and aren't getting any better. Yeah Smackdown is doing better but Raw sucks ass and has been for awhile.
Vince couldn't really do much with that 2000-2001 wcw roster only big name they got was booker and then they blew it with DDP ......if they would have got the big name wcw guys we would have had great invasion storyline 💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿
@@jaleelfelder5031 It wouldnt have mattered. Vince wasnt going to let those guys get over. It still pisses me off.
@@jasonfowler420 that's true even with the big wcw stars he would have buried them on raw and smackdown 🤦🏿♂and made them mid carders or jobbers smh.....but a 2001 sting would have probably got over and wcw probably would have won at invasion 2001 ppv but lost at survivor series 2001
WE LOVE YOU JR !
Conrad is a mark.
Clearly not for Bischoff. I've heard them get into really heated arguments where Conrad tells Bischoff to his face that Eric is a failure and a Hogan mark.
You just figuring this out? What gave it away? Was it the $30k+ in belts behind him?
Imagine the mark on his seat
People seem to never realistically contemplate what JR is saying about the big name talents that didn’t move to the WWF right away when WCW closed down. I think a lot of fans have either never thought about the business realities or chosen to ignore them because of the disappointment that we didn’t get to have the true invasion story that fans wanted to see. Could it have been possible to convince the big names to make the jump right away? It’s definitely possible to have done in theory but wasn’t ever a realistic thing for them to have done. People always tend to just say “pay them more money” to get them to move over right away but I’m not sure they ever fully appreciate what that would’ve meant if the company had decided they were going to do that.
If you look at Hogan his deal paid him essentially $4M a year guaranteed with an upside incentive schedule built into it that allowed him to make more if business did well. Nash was being paid mid $1M a deal. Goldberg was being paid over $3M a year for his final year. Goldberg is even more notable considering his contract had two years left when WCW folded so he got to spend a long time home. Nash and Hogan both had about a year left to make a seven figure sum to take a break before they went back. People need to seriously think about how much money you’d have needed to pay those guys to make it worth it to them to return to work right away instead of taking a year off and still collecting a seven figure sum of money while they did it, knowing full well that a job would be there for them once the contract expired. If you’re Hogan let’s say and you’re going to collect around $4M to stay home at an older age of your life how much would you need to be paid to make it worth it to you to return to work right away when you can take time away and still make a ton of money? It’s not like they could come in and offer him the same amount and he comes back. You’d probably have had to pay those guys seven figures minimum more then what they were going to make but even that is probably less than what it would’ve taken. Realistically for older guys who can stay home and make seven figures you’d probably have had to pay them double what they were going to already make for it to be worth it to come back immediately.
People really do have to think without a sizeable pay raise to return right away why would you want to return early when you’re already going to make a ton of money anyways? The guys you did see take buyouts of their deals were either old enough they didn’t want to lose the time like DDP or wanted the opportunity to elevate themselves over what they currently were like Booker T. They had something to gain from making they jump. For established stars like Nash or Higan they didn’t have anything to gain by returning early and would’ve come with a huge price tag to be convinced. And then on top of the simple cost it would’ve required to get them to do it you have to consider how it would impact the rest of your roster when you did it. The pay scale of the day was that too guys had a $1M downside but made much more in the end based on business performance. Think of a stone cold as an example. He was a guy who as big of a star as he was only had a downside of $1M but obviously has been told that he blew past the downside because of how business did with him at the top and his merchandise checks and the like. I believe Bruce has even pointed out that in the late 90s he made in excess of $10M one year in merch alone.
But one has to think if let’s say you could get Hogan to come in right away by giving him a downside of $4M and a chance to earn more (unlikely but for sake of an example) how does something like they go over to people like stone cold, HHH or the rock? Sure maybe they made well over that in the end but how would they have reacted to someone coming in and having a guarantee of 4x what they had? Would they have felt disrespected? I think they likely would have. I think other people in the locker room wouldbe also been upset to see people who left during wwfs struggle yesrs, and largely caused even more struggles, come back and get deals well above what anybody had received before. That would’ve probably resulted in having to redo your deals with your top guys to be on par with the deals these guys would get and wouldbe elevated the pay scale moving into the future. The way the pay scale and downsides worked at this time was good for the company because it made sure top stars earned well but still required them to do big business to make a bulk of money. The change they would’ve been required to get WCW names in right away would’ve killed whatever benefit them coming in right away may have brought. Imagine how it would’ve been in the coming years when business wasn’t booming like it had been. Top stars may have made $2M on the current scale but if the downside suddenly went up a ton they may have been paid double what they would’ve earned. That would’ve been good for the wrestlers but bad for the company. Sure it would’ve been cool to have gotten the true invasion but the reason it never happened makes a lot of sense from a business point of view considering all of the factors it entailed.
If JR says anything like, "being head of talent relations was soo hard and I didn't like it", it would be the most blatant lie ever told out of his mouth. Every single one of Conrad's questions about a wrestler is answered with, "well, you know I signed him/her." I'm not even kidding, JR must have one of helluva fragile ego. All he does is talk about his contributions, or what stars do for him, notes to JR in superstars books, blah blah blah.
He deserves the right to brag IMO. If it were left up to Vince Mcmahon he'd have a roster full of wrestlers that look like Brian Adams. Think of what we would've missed out on if JR hadn't hired Mick Foley. Vince was never going to sign him.
Ur father not wanting to abort u was the biggest lie ever....... Junior
Great... As if there werent enough ads breaking up these videos 🙄
Conrad can squeeze a nickel till the buffalo farts
Shut ur fucking pie hole
@@DirtyDeeds403 stop crying
Bro, this is coming from someone who has worked in digital advertising and from someone who has worked very closely with Google among others. Advertising revenue is so important to these channels to keep them going, Ads are annoying yes but dont think of the ad, think everytime I'm watching this ad I'm supporting this channel I'm watching , I'd say it's a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.
Why didn't Vince just wait a year or so to start the invasion?
Bischoff, Flair, Goldberg, Steiner, the nWo were all there within a couple of years.
Just seems like with a bit of patience (and luck. Easy to say in hindsight) this could have been a multi year big money storyline
but then people would be complaining that wcw superstars were buried by vince and wwf just as they do today anytime a monday night war star have a match with each other. for example triple h vs sting. goldbergs late 03 run where eveyone kept saying he was buried by triple h. how i remember it is not one big name wcw star beat any big name wwf stars from the monday night wars
@@nwodxoriginal People complain. Who gives a shit. I'm saying even if they didn't change their philosophy on how they booked WCW guys.
They could have buried em just as bad and this angle still could have extended the boom period for years.
From Vince's point of view, he could have used all of WCW's leftover star power to put over his up and coming main eventers.
I think only 2 people came from WCW that were still under contract with Time Warner: Booker T and DDP. Those 2 were soon very brutally buried in WWE: WM 19 with the extremely racist story and stalking Taker's wife and getting destroyed
Booker T has defended his stuff in WWE so I’m not sure it’s fair to ridicule something happening to him if he doesn’t have an issue with it. The worst thing WWE ever did with Booker T was the King Booker angle, that shit was death.
@@juliandavidhoffer2022 I agree that after a while WWE did right by him but it wasn't a good sign for people that came to WCW after the buyout
@@juliandavidhoffer2022 Booker's like Angle and others, they still have those relationships and try to slip around those topics so they don't cause an issue
@@InvisibleHotdog my point was that if Booker T wasn’t offended and doesn’t actively have a problem with it then there is no reason to get offended on his behalf.
Booker debuted in June of 2001. By WrestleMania 19, he had been in the company for almost 2 years. I wouldn't consider that "soon."
Goldberg wasn’t 40
Preface: I like JR. He's wise and truthful.
But.
He is always towing the line how downside guarantee plus appearances/bonuses will make you more money than a guaranteed contract. Sure. But every time someone steps into the ring, they are taking a risk. Every bump they take. Hell, the weight they're pushing to get/stay in that shape. Accidents happen. Injuries happen. I don't blame guys for wanting to take guaranteed money. Because guess what? The mortgage is still due, whether you're injured or not. Car payments, kid's school stuff, etc. Plus, creative can be fickle as hell. If they don't like ya, don't book ya. Then all you get is your downside, with no hope to make money elsewhere. So it's JR's job to pitch it that way. But don't get mad at the talent who balks at it, because they have damn good reason to do so.
Before JR wants to lecture anyone about "clickbait", he may want to take a look at his own videos. No small amount of clickbait there.
I guess they as doing good these days paying millions to a boxer for one match
Why is JR always so upset over questions?
He's not
Lol WCW invasion is just a watered down version of WWE