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AS I SEE IT 3/7: Jim Ross, "The Voice", and New Japan Pro Wrestling

Posted: Mar 7th 2016 By: Bob Magee

Speaking of hell freezing over...it happened for the second week in a row, or at least Hell got a fall nip in the air as Jim Ross began with AXS TV doing voice overs of New Japan Pro Wrestling.

The evening began with a ZERO kayfabe interview with Ross the debut of a new series of interviews by Michael Schiavello in "The Voice Versus", a lead-in to New Japan on AXS TV. For those who haven't heard of him, Schiavello is an Australian sports commentator for AXS TV, calling K-1, Dream, Maximum Fighting Championship, King of the Cage, and The Contender Asia. "The Voice Versus" is a no-BS series of interviews with MMA, boxing and pro wrestling stars. The interviews are kayfabe and BS free, even to the point in his preceding season where he got Hulk Hogan to do as close to truthful an interview as you can get.

This interview with Ross was revealing, too; to the point where Ross talked about blading for the first time in a match with HHH (a story I'd never heard), and took on other subjects ranging from his history in the business, his role in talent management, why he thought WCW turned into an "asylum", the challenges of having dealt with Bell's Palsy, and his preferences in ring style versus some of what he sees today.

If Vince McMahon didn't let this side of Jim Ross come out on WWE Network, DVD, or the like...he was an idiot. Jim Ross is a great storyteller, which I guess shouldn't be a shock given his history. But Ross also didn't do what some people do in interviews and spend all of it putting himself over. Ross admitted that he and Jesse Ventura should have been a better commentary team, but HE let his ego get in the way.

Ross talked about it being hard at the beginning at WWF, and how much Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan were the ones who helped his career continue. He told funny stories about Monsoon carrying around large wads of cash, estimated by Ross as $10,000. Ross asked him why once. Monsoon replied "What if I want to buy something?" Ross said he thought "A ranch?"

Ross also suggests he understood why Vince McMahon fired him after the infamous Ric Flair video game promotional debacle, discussed why he considered retiring, and reconsidered...and is now as busy as he ever was; between New Japan Pro Wrestling, The Ross Report podcast, Ringside with Jim Ross and Friends, CBS Sports's "Knockout Night at the D" boxing series, and the new FITE TV app.

In the Schiavello "True or False" segment, Ross said (among many other things): he was in negotiations to do commentary for UFC 4 and that he believes Brock Lesnar was the wrong man to end The Undertaker's streak.

If your cable/satellite provider has on demand (some providers have limited online or "to go" availability), see if they have this interview. (Xfinity doesn't, at least yet). I can tell you that it's worth searching for. The True or False segment, at least, can be seen at here.

Then at 9:00 pm, Jim Ross started calling New Japan Pro Wrestling. The show featured matches from May 2015; including an edited version of CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi) vs. Bullet Club (AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi) and a main event NJPW Intercontinental title match of Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto.

In a certain way, it seemed bizarre hearing him do it, given how great Mauro Ranallo has been at it, and being used to the years of Ross doing WWF/E with its very different style. But in another way it wasn't. Ross was perfectly fine....which shouldn't surprise if you think about it, given that New Japan Pro Wrestling is an athletic product like Mid-South/UWF...and the best of Flair-Steamboat era WCW early on.

Ross clearly loves Kazuchika Okada (what fan, even the most casual, of New Japan doesn't?) and puts him over like crazy. In typical Ross style, he stresses the legitimate athletic background of Okada to do it. I can't wait to hear him call a Tanahashi-Okada match.

It's pretty clear that one thing Ross likes about New Japan was shown in something he said in his Schiavello interview, about wrestlers not being protected (to the degree they are in North America), and wrestlers actually sell moves to get over matches and storylines.

Some satellite and cable providers do allow access to this show online or to go access if you didn't DVR it. Check with your local satellite and cable provider.

To close on a different subject, Mick Foley has launched his yearly WrestleMania Dream Vacation sweepstakes in benefit of RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, the largest anti-sexual assault organization in the United States.

The grand prize is a trip to Dallas for this year?s WrestleMania which includes two air tickets to Dallas,
transportation to hotel, five nights hotel in Arlington, $1,000 spending money, an original 20?32 Rob Schamberger wrestling art, a dinner with Mick Foley, two ringside seats to WrestleMania, two tickets to the Hall of Fame, Axxess, Raw, NXT, and Ring of Honor events.

100% of the proceeds will go to RAINN with tickets starting at $2 each or less if you are buying multiple ones. The sweepstakes close on Tuesday, March 15, at 11:59PM EST. You can purchase tickets at this link

Until next time...