On a recent episode of Grilling JR Podcast , Jim Ross discussed the 2001 Royal Rumble, where Stone Cold Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble match. Ross also spoke about the Big Show at the time and how he had to convince him to lose weight.
Jim Ross discussed him conversing with Big Show about losing weight because it could impact his job:
“I thought his weight and his obesity would shorten his life. I’m thinking that he’s a step or two away from being non-licensable. All of the states were still adhering to the licenses, athletic commissions. He’s such a sweetheart of a guy, god damn it’s like you’re going to pull a William Perry on my ass, you’re going to eat yourself out of a job. I was concerned, I don’t think he took it seriously. The only way you can get talent to take you seriously is to affect their money. That’s it. Now look at him today, he looks great. He doesn’t look to be unhealthy, he’s probably lost 100 pounds. He looks excellent. He could always do it, but I think he got influenced. He listened to the last guy that talked to him sometimes and some of the guys that talked to him, it was all about size, getting bigger. [They’d say] look at Andre, by the way, Andre died at 46.”
Jim Ross commented on his role backstage as head of talent relations during the Attitude Era:
“It’s our job to make sure he is represented as he would want to be,” Ross said. “We can never let him inadvertently go back on his word if we can or at least bring it to his attention. ‘Remember Vince, we told this guy blank.’ You couldn’t imagine how many times I’ve told him that and it wasn’t because he was trying to screw them, he would forget. I would like to think everybody that was working under him might not have been as diligent as I. I loved working under him, I didn’t like being produced by him [on commentary], he probably made me a better broadcaster though. That was our job.”
Jim Ross lastly spoke about Drew Carey entering the 2001 Royal Rumble and the decision behind Carey being booked for the match:
“He probably had as less of an impact from a guest star as anybody I can recall off the top of my head. He was hot on television, he was getting a lot of media attention. The reason Drew Carey was on this card was to get outside pro wrestling media exposure. He wasn’t a fan, maybe he was just the biggest star available, I don’t know. He was a nice guy, but I don’t think he really knew why he was there other than to promote what he was promoting. He didn’t have a big impact on what we were doing. Just didn’t connect as I thought it should have. I wasn’t real high on the execution of Drew Carey in the match but they got him in and out, at least that was painless. He seemed like he had fun, he knew why he was there, to promote his product and let us promote his products. But he didn’t understand the very basics of wrestling, he probably never had seen a Royal Rumble match in his life.”
Credit to Grilling with JR and a H/T to WrestlingInc for the transcription.
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