On the most recent episode of the ‘Ross Report’ podcast, Jim Ross and Dave Meltzer talked about WrestleMania weekend, including Ross calling Undertaker’s final match and you can listen to the podcast in its entirety at this link. Below are a few highlights:
On His New Contract with WWE:
Some of you may have read the stories on Sports Illustrated, also Fox Sports. I signed a 2-year deal last Friday evening and I’m going to do a handful of dates this year as scheduled. Obviously, if they need me for more I am ready to go back to work. I will also be maintaining my role with Axess TV. I am under contract to them—I wanted to, it’s also the right thing to do because I really enjoy their product and I wanted to honor my contract. I wanted to honor my contract and Axess TV is very cooperative and working with me expertly. I will be working with WWE here and there as well as have time to do Axess TV with New Japan Pro Wrestling. We will see how that works out and I believe it will work out fine. I’m a wrestling fan and I love to talk. I’ve been doing this Podcast thing so why not? I can call more matches which make me a lot happier.
Dave Meltzer on Making WrestleMania a Two-Day Event:
Those matches wouldn’t be tedious in a 3-hour show if you look at the actual quality. The matches were high but there was just too many of them. I don’t know if that’s the thing, but the reality is within 2-3 years of Independent stars who are going to be ready, or NXT guys, the talent in WWE is going to be significantly stronger than it is now. What happens at WrestleMania in 2-3 years is that you may need to do a two-night thing. You have all those fans. Those fans aren’t going for one day anymore. Filling the stadium for 2 nights, I’m not saying will happen overnight but I do believe they will go through with doing it.
Jim Ross on Making WrestleMania a Two-Day Event:
How many of us thought WrestleMania would go from a Sunday event to a 5-6 day activity and draw fans from all over the world. An Entrepreneur like me, would I have gone to Orlando that particular weekend? Hell no! You follow the money, and the money is at WrestleMania.
Dave Meltzer on What Stood Out At WrestleMania 33:
I think the big moment into a lot of people was the Hardy’s comeback. I think everyone knew they would be back but not exactly when. It was set up really well with the Ladder Match. They didn’t go too long—it was an 11-minute match. If anything, I wouldn’t say it was too short because nothing was too short, so that was well done. Shane McMahon for what it was and what he did really overachieve, even though AJ Styles is the best performer in the business, if not top 2 or 3. Still, that match was really good. You [Jim Ross] coming out was terrific. The symbolism of you calling the Undertaker’s last match was a big deal and anyone who watched that show, the retirement of the Undertaker in hindsight was really the big story. When you talk about the Hardy’s are going to be around for a while, had a tremendous pop, with John Cena’s proposal getting a lot of Press, good for Total Divas, and congratulations to them. I think a lot of women loved it and I’m glad the fans didn’t trash it, but Undertaker is a legitimate living legend in this business.
Jim Ross on Calling Undertaker’s Final Match:
Undertaker is Andre the Giant level. I signed my contract Friday evening at my WrestleCon adventure, so I didn’t know what I was going to do. I think Saturday someone told me I was going to do this match. I still didn’t know because they know I don’t like to know the finish so they didn’t tell me. I get there on Saturday and put two and two together and thought, wait a minute, this is Undertaker’s last match, Jesus! Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I didn’t put all the pieces together until I got to the stadium because I would have gone crazy after that. Here’s the deal—I would of had to think about that while doing my own shows and I didn’t need that during the time.
