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What's the story?
All Elite Wrestling announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently did a Q&A, during which he revealed why he didn't accept Vince McMahon's invitation for the Raw Reunion.
Ross stated that he didn't want to stir up Internet rumors about him bailing out on AEW, and also didn't want to take advantage of Tony Khan's generosity.
In case you didn't know...
Somewhere around the Extreme Rules PPV, WWE announced that the July 22nd edition of Monday Night Raw would be a special Raw Reunion edition. Over the next two weeks, the company announced names of dozens of Hall of Famers and legends who were coming back for the show. This list included a who's who of wrestling greats. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Booker T., and several others were scheduled to appear on the show.
On the other hand, a handful of legends rejected the offer. WWE Hall of Famers Bubba Ray Dudley, Bret Hart, and Jim Ross didn't accept the invite.
Also read: 5 biggest WCW mistakes AEW needs to avoid
The heart of the matter
Now, Jim Ross has spilled the beans on what made him reject Vince McMahon's invite to Raw Reunion. According to Ross, he isn't angry at Vince or WWE in the least and took the decision after thinking over it for a while.
Ross stated that accepting the offer would have stirred up rumors about him wanting to bail and come back to WWE, which he didn't want to happen one bit. Additionally, Ross stated that despite Tony Khan allowing him to go, he didn't want to take advantage of his generosity.
There's a couple of things that led to this decision, and the main thing for me was if I had gone there, there would be a certain segment of the social media society that would've said, 'Uh oh, there's trouble in paradise, JR's looking to bail already, he's already back with WWE, something's wrong with AEW.'
The reason was, I didn't want to send a mixed message to the young kids I'm trying to mentor and get them in a locker room mentality, and even though Tony was trying to accommodate me, Tony Khan, I didn't want to take advantage of his generosity. It just didn't seem to be the right fit.
What's next?
Jim Ross will be a part of AEW's weekly prime-time show, starting October 2nd.
What are your thoughts on Ross' reasoning?
