If you haven’t heard by now, Jim Ross has been fired from WWE! What makes it worse is that WWE’s media and PR people tried to cover the shit up! Explain that one to me. Earlier today, news broke that Jim Ross was retiring from WWE to focus on “outside personal projects”. It sounded legit, right? The man had been in the wrestling business since the mid 70’s. That’s almost 40 years, so I am not going to think much of him retiring. Jim Ross is one of the greatest minds in professional wrestling, and quite possibly the greatest wrestling commentator of all time. I have been hearing his voice calling matches since I sat in front of my mom’s floor model TV and watched episodes of NWA Wrestling on TBS Saturday and Sunday nights. The ability to commentate and sell the product in the ring to the audience is such an amazing feat to me. Eric Bischoff said that commentary is one of the hardest jobs in wrestling, and I tend to agree with him. Jim Ross made it look simple. But I digress... Later in the day, word comes out that Jim Ross didn’t retire! The truth was that WWE basically fired him. I mean how else do you describe a “forced retirement”? Or as we call it “being future endeavored”. And why was he fired? Because of something that had absolutely NOTHING to do with him. The man who has worked in WWE as a wrestling commentator, a VP of Talent Relations who had his hand in recruiting some of the top superstars of our generation, and he has worked as a top executive in the greatest wrestling promotion of all time. He does all of that shit, only to be relegated to babysitter for Ric Flair. Ric Flair starts going off script at the WWE 2K Sport Panel, and it is all “Good Ol’ JR’s” fault. Bah Gawd Vince! RIC FLAIR IS A GROWN MAN! He’s practically a senior citizen! Why should another man in his 60s have to be responsible for him? If you know that Ric Flair is going to act like an idiot to the point where he needs someone to babysit him, then don’t have him for any panels! If you want someone to babysit Ric Flair, I know of a Senior Care Plaza right down the street from where my mom lives. I am a fan of Ric Flair, and I think he is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. I had a chance to meet him back in 2008, and I will be honest and say that I was in awe of the guy. When I look at the photo that I got to take with him, I think about how the smile on my face couldn’t have been bigger because I was meeting the 16 time World champion! But we are talking about right now, in the past three years what has Ric Flair done? He has had a forgettable run in TNA that was full of unintentional comedy such as Hulk Hogan pushing Flair around in a wheelchair and having a negative 4 star match with Sting like it’s 1990 again, heck like it’s 2001 again! He has gotten divorced for a 4th time, been going through a bunch of legal issues and financial problems, and the worst thing has been having to burying his son, Reid. At the WWE 2K Panel, Flair talked about his deceased son and joked about John Cena drinking six packs every night throwing WWE’s top star who “all the kids look up to” under the bus. Not very PG if you ask me! And because of Ric Flair acting like a damn idiot, he has to leave WWE. It makes no sense at all. Jim Ross is a man who just a few weeks ago said that he wasn’t retiring anytime soon decides to just up and retire? Sounds fishy, doesn’t it I wonder what JR is going to do next? Focus on his BBQ products? Actually take some time off? Or is there that slight possibility that his mind for wrestling could be used somewhere that truly needs it? Dixie, I suggest at some point you pick up the phone and make a pitch to the man. Give him absolute power, the power to have his own team run things and the power to hire and fire whoever he wants. Then maybe his blueprint can help with turning things around. I know this probably sounds like a pipe-dream folks, but I was just making a suggestion now that he is available. Vince McMahon always humiliated JR because he was jealous of the fact that Jim Ross knew more about him; can you imagine if Jim Ross got the last laugh by making the TNA product watchable and got fans interested in that product? He had flirted with the idea before, but has the ship really sailed on? As for Ric Flair, that man needs to go to rehab. He should have been hanging out at AA meetings with Kurt Angle. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that session! I think that it is clear that Ric Flair needs some help, but it is also clear that he doesn’t want it. If this keeps up, he will continue to fall into the realm of self-parody, wrestling’s next punch line. Whoooo! Or he could end up much worse than that. There comes a time when you have to stop being “Nature Boy” Ric Flair and start being Richard Morgan Fliehr. Handle your business and get what’s left of your life back together. Fans out there don’t want you to end up as another wrestling tragedy. Time to live by your own words “To be the man, you gotta beat the man.” Only you can stop yourself from a collapse. A collapse that has caused for someone you have worked with for years, someone that you call a friend, to be fired from a job that he didn’t want to leave. I hope both Ric Flair and Jim Ross both land on their feet soon. Vince, I hope that you give JR and big retirement package because the man deserves it. After all, you had the guy make his WWE debut in a toga for crying out loud! As always, you can follow me on Twitter @whosantcox, and I can be reached by email at invidwarriorz@gmail.com. Enjoy your day, wrestling fans!
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