Jim Ross reveals why the booking committee in WCW turned against him

During a recent episode of his Grilling JR podcast (h/t Wrestling Inc), AEW commentator Jim Ross talked about his time working in WCW. Jim Ross specifically talked about working with Jim Herd, the executive producer of WCW at the time. Ross went on to talk about how Jim Herd had an underserved reputation in WCW, due to some wrestlers like Ric Flair who had spoken out against the booker.

There was a time when Ric Flair was in WCW and Jim Herd wanted to change his name to Spartacus, which was obviously a ridiculous idea given Flair's fame and the value of the name Ric Flair. Flair has spoken out against the idea before and belittled Herd for wanting him to change his name.

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Jim Ross on Jim Herd and WCW

Jim Ross talked about his relationship with Jim Herd and WCW, talking about how Herd knew that he was in a position where he was in over his head.

"He was a colorful character. He's been made the villain by being lambasted by many of the more prominent names in wrestling. He had a caustic personality and a caustic sense of humour. He knew he was in over his head."

Ross went on to add that he felt bad for Jim Herd and when he was in WCW, became friends with him. As a result of his friendship with Jim Herd, he attracted the ire of the WCW booking committee.

"I felt bad for him sometimes. He just wanted somebody to talk to - he was lonely, he didn't have many friends. I became a friend in that respect, which got me a lot of heat with the booking committee because they thought I was colluding against them."

Jim Ross said that he felt that the time had come to move on and the wrestling scene is changing.

"We all got to move forward, including my old school self," Ross said. "With AEW, I've been motivated to move forward and look at wrestling in a little different perspective because that's the way it's presented now. I don't expect to wave a magic wand and make it the '70s or '80s again. It's not the attitude era."

Jim Ross is currently the AEW commentator on Dynamite and their pay-per-view events.