WWE Reportedly Pulls Jim Ross from NXT Booth, Will Not Bring Him Back Full-Time
By Bleachers report 1 Feb, 2013
Michael Cole, left, welcomes Jim Ross to a recent Raw broadcast. (WWE.com photo)
After experiencing a bit of an on-air resurgence, Jim Ross apparently will not be returning to WWE’s broadcast booth full-time this year.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via ProWrestlingScoops.com) reports that Ross may call an occasional match at the company’s major shows such as WrestleMania 29. But there are no plans to put him back in the booth on a regular basis.
The report says WWE has even gone as far as to remove him from NXT broadcasts:
WWE recently made the decision to remove him from the announcing team at NXT because it’s a developmental show and they want to groom new announcers.
On his Twitter account, @JRsBBQ, Ross hinted at a change in the broadcast booth, but did not come out and say it. In a tweet posted late Thursday afternoon, the WWE Hall of Fame broadcaster says that he and Michael Cole were “coaching up the young announcers tonight” at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., where NXT broadcasts originate.
Ross joined the NXT broadcast team six months ago alongside Byron Saxton and William Regal.
The 61-year-old former WWE executive is considered among the greatest wrestling announcers in WWE. With Jerry Lawler as his color commentator, Ross called some of the most memorable matches over the last 20 years of WWE’s history…including the 1999 Over the Edge pay-per-view where Owen Hart fell to his death.
Ross started at WWF/E in 1993 following a successful broadcast stint at rival promotion WCW. The following year, he was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis that he still suffers from today.
That started a string of firings that Ross has endured during his time with WWF/E. He also has been subjected to several storylines, including a brief time as a heel announcer and most recently as Michael Cole’s foil during the latter’s heel turn.
But following Lawler’s on-air heart attack last year, Ross filled in for him, and he and Cole appeared to have buried the hatchet.
Ross’ most recent national TV time came earlier this month when he called a steel-cage match between John Cena and Dolph Ziggler on the Raw anniversary show.
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