 What's good Josh the Bull rocks back again with another video. So this video was requested to me by silent Johnny one on Twitter You wanted me to check this out good old JR the Jim Ross story full career documentary. We got to check this out man JR I I'm gonna stand on this. He is the voice of wrestling He has always been in my opinion the voice of wrestling, you know, you think of some of your favorite WWE moments for me personally He was the guy now. I know some people say, oh, you know, they prefer WCW commentary or what night or whoever's commentary But when you really think about it, man, he was the guy that made some of these legendary moments That much better because of his commentary and how he delivered what he was saying on the microphone He made you believe in their feud and JR is a legend is a goat Love you JR. So this should be a good one, man. So appreciate all love and support man. Let's get right into this video I'm excited about this If in ring wrestling is the music we listen to his fans then commentary is what provides the lyrics and Arguably no one in the history of the business has ever been better at this than Jim Ross Well, there have been many greats of the past and present like Dornan Soli Bobby Heenan or moral Ronaldo It's pretty safe to say that no one single announcer has achieved as much behind the booth as good old JR With him providing some of the most iconic calls in wrestling history all while giving a real sports Like feel to the often pantomime mask proceedings But how did he get to this level of greatness? Well, join us today as we take a deep dive into his entire career journey So far in good old JR the Jim Ross James William Ross was born on January 3rd 1953 in Fort Bragg, California But would move to Westville, Oklahoma at a young age And it was there that he would find an early passion for sports as a member of both his high school baseball team and football team But that wasn't to say it was As he would also do well academically while studying at Westville High being at points a member of the National Honor Society, the president of the student body and vice president for the future farmers of America In fact, so highly regarded was he by the FFA that in 1970 They would award him a state degree after which James would successfully run to be the vice president of the entire northeast district Damn said farming was never going to be a career He would fall into for long as by then he had already fallen in love with the world of pro wrestling And while he didn't want to step in the ring himself exactly the broadcasting experience He'd picked up while at college was enough to see him get an in with the local NWA Tri-state territory as an announcer as well as that though Jim would also do some work as a referee Okay, carrying out dual roles up until the point that Bill Watts purchased the territory in 1977 and decided to rebrand it as Mid-South Wrestling and Upon realizing how much savvy the Oklahoma had for the backstage side of the business then Watts would promote him to the roles of both lead play-by-play announcer and vice president of marketing Very like he you can tell he was like he was destined for greatness, bro And whatever he wanted to do, that's that's awesome to see bro You can tell just his upbringing and how he's making moves. That's awesome or how he was making moves Wanting to prove he was worthy of the position Jim I like that set to work on trying to put on the best performance He could every night something he was able to show when soon after this he got to call his first NWA world heavyweight title match Featuring Rick flair and Ted D. Biassi Wow After that the commentator would get an offer of a job with Jim Crockett promotions with him jumping ship Then and providing color commentary alongside David Crockett and Tony Shavani He would continue to keep up as JCP later morphed into world championship wrestling And of course for most men having a full-time job as a wrestling announcer as well as the many backstage hats He was beginning to carry would be enough not for Jim Ross though because in 1992 Right as his career was reaching new heights with WCW He would spend a season working as a radio announcer for the Atlanta Falcons. Wow Particularly hard transition for him to make because as a sports aficionado He'd always called wrestling as such giving any match He was there for a sense of legitimacy that few others could match and with him continuing to work his way up the corporate ladder Well, he was doing this Jim would soon find himself in the position of head of broadcasting at WCW a role Which often saw him butt heads with the company's newest commentator and future executive vice president Eric Bischoff That was why despite having a solid position in the company when Bischoff got the top job in 1993 Ross would request his release feeling then that the heat between the two men would surely stifle his progression going forward So needing to find new work quickly, especially as around this time Rick flair had introduced him to Jan the woman He would later marry Wow Out from his Turner broadcast in contract and went right over to WWE to start a new chapter of his career and Making his an auspicious debut there at April 4th WrestleMania 9 he would be introduced to this new audience while wearing a toga something Which was in keeping with the Roman theme of that particular show Still silly outfit or not Ross did get to do what he did best that night Calling the matches as they came and proving to fans that he was just as good as Bobby Heenan who he was sharing the booth with And that's awesome be taken off the commentary desk for paper views with Vince McMahon at this point believing that his accent was To Southern Jim would continue to work alongside Heenan on wrestling challenge up until the point that his announced partner would leave the company in December of that year So looking for something new to do then the Oklahoma would suggest the idea of radio WWE to his boss a broadcast that would call the action of WWE paper views for those who didn't have a chance to see it themselves Unfortunately though this never really took off and so by February of 1994 Ross would be fired from the company for the first time After he'd suffered his first bout of Bell's palsy. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, I do remember that being Being something that's been brought up Plenty of times. Yeah, they they let him go. That's all man. They Visit the time didn't realize Who he had on commentary, but he he ultimately realized in the end, bro The voice of wrestling. I'm gonna keep saying that condition that causes temporary paralysis on one side of the face But refusing to let this keep him down He would jump over to Smoky Mountain wrestling where he would work for a while supplementing this by returning to his radio announcer duties with the Atlanta Falcons and When Vince McMahon was indicted by the US government as part of the steroid trial in 1994 and was no longer able to continue on as a commentator for raw He would call JR up and asked him to return to the fold something which the announcer did for the next few months Teaming up with Randy Savage on the booth up to the point that Vince Randy Savage man at that point However, JR would find himself fired for a second time after he'd allegedly been caught leaking information to wrestling journalists such as Dave Meltzer Damn luckily, this wouldn't stick for long and after another brief tour of that jacket is wild Jim would return to WWE in 1994 though this time largely being relegated to working on syndicated WWE programming a position He would stay in over the next two years Yes, it wasn't until 1996 that he would return to the main announce team alongside Vince McMahon and Jerry the King Waller and around that point He would actually become more of an on-screen character too as he would infamously turn heel getting into heated segments with the boss That's all the Oklahoman claimed to still be in contact with Kevin Nash and Scott all former WWE superstars who had recently jumped to WCW and After spending weeks telling everyone that he was about to bring them back into the fold under his management Then something he was apparently doing so as to get revenge on McMahon for firing him in the past JR would reveal the new and improved version of the duo on the September 23rd episode of raw Of course as soon as they came out to the ring though It immediately became clear to fans that this wasn't the haul and Nash that they remember No, this was two entirely different wrestlers trying to portray their gimmicks of diesel and razor-move the great value versions I'm feeling that as he owned the IPs and could simply recast the gimmicks if he wanted The boss had tried to pull a fast one on fans But yeah, we're having none of it Of course and as the on-screen agent behind this storyline Ross took the brunt of their booze going forward Thankfully, then the fake diesel and razor storyline wouldn't last long and by the end of the year the two copycats played by Glenn Jacobs and Rick Bogner respectively would largely have been dropped from TV Recognized how quickly the whole thing was failing. I don't know how they thought that was gonna work That's yeah, you you own the the IPs, but you really thought that was gonna work Who really was gonna buy into that that that's that's funny, bro So trying to recover from this Ross would return to the commentary desk as he became not only the play-by-play announcer for raw But also for shotgun Saturday night superstars and action zone, too And how lucky this was then as it was right at the point the company was beginning to explode in popularity Something which was largely down to stone-cold Steve Austin the anti-hero every man who had captured the hearts of fans everywhere Yeah, and who Jim himself would form a close friendship with in real life And this would often show itself on screen as Ross became something of a cheerleader for the rattlesnake Yeah in this period delivering now iconic calls such as he's stomping a mud hole and walking it dry Yeah, he's tougher than a two-dollar steak and the ever-popular stone cold stone cold But that wasn't to say it was just Austin who got the benefit of Ross's shine Because everyone on the roster was happy to have him calling their matches as alongside his broadcast partner Jerry Lawler He provided the soundtrack to some of the most memorable moments of the 90s and early 2000s. I said this at the beginning of the video his voice Set the tone for a lot of the matches Imagine some of our favorite matches without his commentary. It wouldn't hit the same You wouldn't remember it the same but because his commentary Elevated the story and what was happening in the match. It made it something that you'll always remember Mankind falling off the cage for the love of mankind like that That is something we will always remember because of JR's commentary. You killed him. He's he's dead You know I'm saying like that's what we're thinking as he's watching fantastic moments such as his hilarious delivery of son of a bitch Mysterious higher power in 1999 His call of climb the ladder kid Famous as Jeff Hardy was on the verge of winning the undisputed title from the undertaker in 2002 And of course his commentary work during the dead man and Mick Foley's Helen They probably have to at the blur for YouTube reasons probably most memorable quotes included by God They've killed him as God is my witness He is broken in half and will somebody stop the damn match Yep, sadly though this period wouldn't be all positives for JR as for a period at the end of 1998 and leading into 1999 he would have to leave the commentary booth temporarily when he suffered a second bout of Bell's palsy following the death of his mother When he finally did return to work after that in March of 1999 He would have a new enforcer by his side that being Dr Death Steve Williams a figure who'd long been feared in the wrestling world for his legitimate tough guy credentials And so hoping to manage Williams career path going forward Ross had convinced McMahon to position him as a potential next top challenger to Steve Austin something which seems to be progressing just fine up until Vince Russo created the brawl for all one of the worst ideas Which saw a group of competitors Dr. Death included take part in a series of shoot fights on TV But despite hoping that their newest signing would win this Williams would end up getting legitimately knocked out by Bart gun in the second round With this pretty much killing his aura as a monster dead and causing any plans for him to get a run with Austin to be nicks Yeah, pretty much some shoe fights Didn't didn't really plan out paying out too. Well So after that JR would settle back into his old role of primarily being an announcer Working on both raw Smackdown and even in regional broadcasts of Vince McMahon short-lived XFL in 2001 As well as this Ross would occasionally hit the ring himself Usually alongside his real-life best friend Steve Austin as part of whatever angle the rattlesnake was involved in that month Mm-hmm And further using his notoriety as the voice of the Attitude era Jim would branch out from there when he got the role of Lance Russell a wrestling announcer in the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon around this time On top of that he would also release two WWE themed cookbooks Can you take the heat the WWE is cooking and JR's cookbook as well as releasing a range of his own barbecue sauces, too But for all his forays in the movies football literature or food It would be wrestling where his main focus continued to lie and by the time the Attitude era was drawing to a close in 2001 Ross was already being considered by many to be the greatest wrestling commentator of all time And this was a reputation. He would continue to keep up heading into the ruthless aggression era Even if by this point it was clear that McMahon was looking to replace him still feeling that his southern accent made him sound to Rastlin for his tastes. So as Michael Cole gradually became the voice of WWE TV I'm not gonna lie to you. I did enjoy Michael Cole's like when he started getting into commentary You know Michael Cole. I definitely did enjoy it. It was it was interesting. I enjoyed it I enjoyed Michael Cole in tasks on commentary was actually pretty cool. I enjoyed that a lot on SmackDown it wasn't until like I Want to say right when the Miz was getting like getting his push That's when he started to get real cringe and annoying and anonymous general manager I get it probably wasn't his idea But he was definitely getting mega cringe and annoying and you can tell the lines. They were force-feeding him was Awful like annoying and not memorable, but as of later years Michael Cole has he he's settled in his place He's not as cringe. He's definitely more enjoyable as Delete commentator now. I will say that JR would begin to segue back into corporate backstage duties as he became the executive vice-president of talent relations around here and often thankless role that saw him have to deal with the issues of all the performers on the roster and bear the brunt of their frustrations So thankless was the job in fact that come 2005 Ross would have stepped down from the role and not long after that He would be kayfabe fired from the company again when Linda McMahon sent him packing this time on the October 10th 2005 edition of raw the reason for this as it turned out was because he was taking time off to undergo colon surgery Something which WWE would host segments making fun of in the weeks that fall Yes, Vince McMahon would carry out a number of examples of antagonism against his top dancer over the years and for Ross's part He would try his best to ignore it and get on with his job a job Which by this point mainly saw him balance producing commentators from backstage Well also returning to the booth for shows like raw Saturday night's main event and occasional pay-per-views such as WrestleMania 22 So to thank him for all his years of service to the industry then in 2007 he would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by none other than Steve Austin himself Rightfully so after that he would open up his own restaurant J.R.'s family barbecue in his home state of Oklahoma All well back on TV. He would be drafted over to Smackdown in 2008 Something which Ross himself was not happy about and didn't know was coming ahead of time Damn and come October of 2009 things would get worse as after suffering a third bout of Bell's palsy He would be removed from his role as a regular TV commentator all together with him from there Only making the occasional guest appearance behind the booth for shows such as old-school raw November 2010 and WrestleMania 27 in April 2011 the ladder of which he'd been specifically requested for by Triple H in the Undertaker as they were having their end-of-an-arrow match Yeah, they if that match doesn't work as well if J.R.'s not calling it. I'm just being honest with you I'm getting goosebumps. Just thinking about that match that match should have been the end of the era It obviously wasn't but that match does not work. Let's J.R.'s calling it. Just it just doesn't work very show doesn't work By 2012 Improvement would come though as with Triple H having then taken over the job of head of talent relations He would hire J.R. to work as an advisor and scout within his department going forward Sending him out from there to scour the indies and the colleges for the best up-and-coming talent that could become future WWE superstars as well as this in 2013 Jim would add to his many hats when he started coaching and producing new Announcers who were learning the craft at the WWE performance center Imparting his decades of wisdom onto these recruits there in the hopes that they one day may be able to fill his large shoes Of course that wasn't to say he'd been gone from TV all together by then because when Jerry Lawler suffered a heart attack around this time Ross would fill in for him as a commentator during his absence on top of that He'd return once more in January of 2013 as well to call the steel cage match between John Cena and Dolph Ziggler Sadly though, this would be one of his last appearances as at a panel set up to announce the roster of the then upcoming WWE 2k14 video game soon after he would get into trouble when he allowed Rick flair to start telling drunken stories about the death of his son Oh, that said when you see the actual footage It's clear that it wasn't J.R.'s fault and there's no way he would have been able to regain control of the situation Even if he tried yeah, and it wasn't exactly as if 2k seemed upset about the whole incident either Still Vince McMahon would fire Ross once again following the incident with many believing that he had just been looking for an excuse to Do so as he felt the Oklahoman was getting a little too long in the tooth by that now and if true What a silly decision this was yeah Arguably the greatest commentator of all time But one of the most savvy men backstage to J.R. Still had a wealth of value to provide to any company And so with WWE's doors being closed He took these skills over to the world of other sports next calling a boxing event for Golden Boy promotions in May of 2014 a battlegrounds MMA show alongside Shao Sanen in October of the same year and Taking up a role as a contributor for Fox Sports.com's coverage of NCAA football on top of all that as well It's this he would enter the burgeoning wrestling podcast world when around the same time He teamed up with the dawn of wrestling podcasts himself Conrad Thompson to create the Ross report with this being renamed grilling J.R. And following much the same format as Thompson's other shows with the likes of Bruce Prichard Eric Bischoff and Tony Shivani But even with all the success he was finding the in-ring wrestling world wasn't ready to let him go just yet And so in January of 2015 the Oklahoma boy would make his new Japan pro wrestling debut when he acted is one of their English Language commentators for that year's Wrestle Kingdom show a couple of weeks after this and it was announced that Ross had Signed a contract with the company to announce the weekly access TV show in America going forward with this allowing him to put on some great work Again as his legitimacy perfectly fit in with the more sports style presentation of NJPW If this doesn't motivate you when one door closed you open up another one that's the personification of J.R Doesn't matter how many times the door was closed in his face. He opened up another one He made opportunities for himself because of the work he put in He's a legendary commentator There's no way you don't let that voice be heard in any promotion in any sport if he knows about it He's well informed about it. He can do it. That should be our motivation, man When they close a door in your face, you open up another one You drop kick open another one and you do what you got to do man. I love it, bro Love this and while he wasn't doing this He would be providing commentary for the likes of what culture pro wrestling and world of sports wrestling in the UK, too Working the former alongside his old friend and colleague Jim Cornette Come March of 2017 However, tragedy would strike as Jim's wife Jan would be involved in a head-on car accident With her immediately being put on life support as a result of this and dying two days later So sad this was a devastating moment Losing the love of his life so abruptly So wanting to help him through this hard time the wrestling industry rallied around him with both fans and industry Insiders offering support and well wishes in the days that follow Oh, they're so sad For us the best way to deal with his grief was to throw himself back into his work and recognizing he needed this WWE would bring him back to act as play-by-play announcer for the main event of 33 the following month with this one seeing the undertaker take on Roman Reigns in what at the time many felt would be the dead man's Retirement match. Yeah, I thought it was gonna be that it was announced The gym had signed a new two-year deal with the company from there as he would periodically return to the booth for things such as the May Young classic raw 25 and WrestleMania 34 Once his contract ran out in March of 2019 JR would choose not to resign believing then that he still had it in him to be a full-time announcer and that by staying with WWE He would be missing out on the opportunity to do so Thankfully, then there was another company starting around this point Who would agree with him and that would be all-elite wrestling A.W. Yes in April of 2019 The upstart promotion announced that they had signed Ross to a three-year contract to act as part of their commentary team where he would now be working alongside Excalibur and his old colleague Tony Shavani and There Ross has managed to find a second lease on life and introduce himself to a whole new generation all over again Sure, some have criticized him for not being as sharp as he once was and for the most part He now tends to take a step back and let Excalibur handle play-by-play Yeah The fact remains that he's right about still having a lot to offer as for any lapsed fans tuning into TBS on a Wednesday night your sound of his voice alone could be enough to draw them in Mm-hmm And it looks like he's going to remain in that position for the foreseeable future as after recently going through a health scare That saw him have to undergo radio therapy. So it's a treat skin cancer He's been given the all-clear again with this allowing him to return to doing what he does best Yes, when it comes down to it Jim Ross probably is the greatest wrestling commentator at all time Said it facts remained that well Gordon solely was fantastic He never had the iconic calls that JR did and while Bobby Heen and his a legend Mm-hmm can't quite match up to the work that everyone's favorite Oklahoma has given us over the years He has the ability to make average matches feel good. Yeah matches feel great Yeah, and when he gets the chance to call a great match He makes it sound like an instant classic every time Every single day like any other one that weaves you into the narrative of about as if you were right there with him And that's a role that spot on underestimated as spot on the day without him The wrestling world might never have had the lyrics it needed when it needed them the most Well, guys, this is awesome, bro. Let us this was this is so damn awesome. I'm made a I'm subscribing to the channel. I'm liking this video. I definitely got to check out some more wrestling Russell with Andy. This is awesome. I think some of you guys have been asking me to check this out like his channel out Bro, this is cool. This is so cool the type of working dedication he put into this video Y'all go subscribe right now to wrestle with Andy. I'm definitely gonna be checking out some more I may want to check out this bottom line with the Steve Austin story. This is it got me hype man. This was great JR I don't care what nobody says. He is the voice of wrestling That's what I'm gonna put as this thumbnail the voice of wrestling himself JR without his commentary Out his voice a lot of the matches we love do not work. I'm sorry They they're great on their own, but they don't they don't hit as well without his commentary without his voice Selling the match. Ah, man. We love you JR. I will always say this JR is the best to ever do it, bro. He is the goat comment down below. Let me know. What was your favorite? Commentary from JR on it doesn't matter which match with segment. Let me know, man Let's just celebrate what he's done for the business and continue to celebrate what he does Going forward man, but appreciate all love and support bro to ADK. Appreciate y'all kicking me. See y'all next week. Peace