Jim Ross Popular Books

Jim Ross Biography & Facts

James William Ross (born January 3, 1952) is an American professional wrestling commentator, sports announcer, podcaster, and occasional professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jim Ross (often shortened to JR). He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he serves as a commentator as well as an analyst and senior advisor. Ross is best known for a long and distinguished career as a play-by-play commentator for WWE. Known affectionately by WWE fans as "Good Ol' JR", Ross has been labeled as the greatest wrestling commentator of all time. After years of working various jobs in the professional wrestling industry, Ross became the primary play-by-play announcer for Mid-South Wrestling in the early 1980s. He went on to do commentary for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s World Championship Wrestling territory, before jumping to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), making his first appearance for the promotion at WrestleMania IX in 1993. During his tenure with WWF/WWE, Ross was widely regarded as the voice of the company, particularly during the Attitude Era of the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was also the lead English-language announcer for New Japan Pro-Wrestling on AXS TV from 2015 to 2018 and has occasionally done play-by-play for boxing and mixed martial arts fights. He has been inducted into the WWE, NWA and Wrestling Observer Newsletter halls of fame, and has been honored by the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame twice. Outside of wrestling, Ross is known for his barbecue sauce and beef jerky brand, J.R.'s Family BBQ. He also hosts his own weekly podcast, Grilling JR. Early life James William Ross was born on January 3, 1952, in Fort Bragg, California. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. His family came to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. He sold his great-great-grandfather's original land allotment from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2022. His maternal grandparents owned a general store in Westville, Oklahoma, and his paternal grandfather, Dee Ross, owned an off-sale beer store and was a carpenter. While attending Westville High School, Ross played first base on the Westville baseball team. Ross was a two-time all-conference football player for the Westville Yellowjackets in 1968–69. Ross was also President of the Student Body, a 4-year letterman in basketball, and State Vice President of the Future Farmers of America (FFA). He was the FFA Oklahoma Speech Champion in 1968 and 1969 and runner up for the FFA National Speech Championship in 1969. He was awarded the FFA State Degree in 1970, the organization's second highest award. He ran for and was elected vice president of the FFA Northeast District in 1970. Ross was also named Honorable Mention on the 1969 High School All-State Football team by the Tulsa World as a center. In high school, Ross did well academically, reaching the National Honor Society his sophomore year. He received an award for maintaining a 3.6 grade point average his junior year. In 1969, Ross was nominated by Representative Wiley Sparkman to serve as a page for the Oklahoma House of Representatives. That year, Ross served as the treasurer for Oklahoma Boys State. For 18 years, Ross officiated high school and college baseball, football and basketball games in Oklahoma. Broadcasting career Professional wrestling NWA Tri-State/Mid-South Wrestling/Universal Wrestling Federation (1974–1987) During his tenure at Northeastern State University, Ross had spent some time commentating on college radio. With this experience, Ross was given the opportunity to fill a broadcast position in the local NWA Tri-State territory, after an announcer was unable to appear at one of the territory's events. After his arrival in the promotion, Ross first worked as a referee starting in 1974. Ross remained as a referee until 1977 when he then transitioned to the promotion's broadcast team. After Bill Watts' purchase of NWA Tri-State in 1982 and the subsequent re-branding to Mid-South Wrestling (MSW), Ross was promoted to the promotion's lead play-by-play position and also became Mid-South Vice President of Marketing. During this time, Ross was able to call his very first NWA World Heavyweight Championship match which featured Ric Flair and Ted DiBiase. Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling (1987–1993) When Jim Crockett, Jr. bought the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and merged it with his Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) group, Ross joined JCP and began doing color commentary alongside David Crockett and Tony Schiavone. With his new position, Ross became the head play-by-play man for the National Wrestling Alliance. Ross continued to hone his skills as JCP became World Championship Wrestling (WCW), following the purchase of the regional promotion by Ted Turner. In 1991, WCW left the NWA and Ross was teamed with former NWA broadcaster Bob Caudle. In 1992, he also spent one season as a commentator on the Atlanta Falcons radio broadcasts. Ross worked his way up the WCW ladder to become head of broadcasting, but had a contentious relationship with WCW's newest commentator and future executive Eric Bischoff. According to Ross, Bischoff, who reported to him, did a really good job of "selling himself" to executives of WCW's owner Turner Broadcasting. According to Bischoff, Ross mistreated him and others (mostly in deference to Ross's then-supervisor Bill Watts), and when Bischoff was promoted to executive producer in 1993, Ross demanded and received his release. Ross had a three-year contract with Turner Broadcasting, but he took an immediate buy-out for fear that he would not get work elsewhere due to being taken off television for a long period of time. Mick Foley claims that Ross resigned from WCW's booking committee. Ross left WCW after being taken off the air by Bischoff. World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE (1993–1994, 1994–2013) Ross was hired by the World Wrestling Federation and made his on-screen debut at WrestleMania IX at a specially constructed outdoor venue at Caesar's Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. He took over for Gorilla Monsoon on WWE Wrestling Challenge the following weekend. Ross worked alongside Bobby Heenan on the show until Heenan left the WWF in December 1993. Ross was originally the main voice of the WWF's pay-per-view events when he was first brought in, calling both WrestleMania IX and the King of the Ring with Heenan and Randy Savage in 1993. Vince McMahon took over his position at pay-per-views starting with SummerSlam 1993. Ross suggested the idea of Radio WWF to McMahon, the idea was given a try and Ross was made host alongside Monsoon. In this role, Ross was joined by co-hosts such as Johnny Polo, and talked to various WWF wrestlers and fans. Ross and Monsoon called SummerSlam and Survivor Series at the end of 1993 and the Royal Rumble for Radio WWF. Ross was fired on February 11, 1994, two weeks after suffering his first attack of Bell's pal.... Discover the Jim Ross popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jim Ross books.