As Jim Ross continues to battle colon cancer, Dave Meltzer would like to see WWE publicly recognize its former announcer.
On Sunday’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, the longtime pro wrestling journalist and co-host Bryan Alvarez recapped AEW’s Double or Nothing and WWE’s NXT Battleground shows. And after Alvarez noted the amount of time that AEW spent sending its best wishes to Ross, who revealed his diagnosis earlier this month, Meltzer didn’t mince words while sharing his belief that WWE should follow suit — even if he currently works for the competition.
“I’m very strong on this one, because they haven’t done it yet, they could have done it on Friday [on SmackDown], they could have done it tonight, that the WWE announcers should [acknowledge Ross] as well,” Meltzer said. “I know that there’s incredible level of tribalism that goes on and there’s a wrestling war going on. But this is above a wrestling war and Jim Ross is every bit as big a name to WWE fans as he is to AEW fans.
“He’s actually more a part of WWE history than AEW history, even though he works for AEW right now. But he worked for WWE for decades. And I felt it was a real slight that they didn’t mention him on Friday. I felt it again on Saturday [during Saturday Night’s Main Event].”
Meltzer went on to state that this is a situation that’s unique to pro wrestling and that “this would not happen in any sport.” He also noted that in addition to being one of WWE’s most legendary broadcasters, Ross played a key role in WWE’s talent relations department and helped the company identify and recruit high profile talents such as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar.
“Don’t forget about Jim Ross just because he happens to be with the other side when he is undergoing surgery for cancer and it’s obviously a very serious situation,” he said.
It’s worth noting that WWE has publicly acknowledged AEW in a positive manner before, so there isn’t any reason to think that there has been malice in the company’s decision not to pay tribute to Ross. Rather, it’s more likely that it’s the result an oversight, which to Meltzer’s point, likely wouldn’t have happened if he wasn’t currently employed by the competition.
With Meltzer calling attention to the omission in such a public manner, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see WWE acknowledge Ross’ health battle as soon as Monday night’s episode of Raw. More importantly, however, here’s to hoping that the 73-year-old pro wrestling legend is able to overcome his latest health challenge.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.