Jim Ross reveals the truth about his WWE firing

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Jim Ross made an appearance on Raw 1000 on July 23, 2012, commenting on the opening match. On June 20, 2012, Ross assumed the role of commentator on the NXT, alongside Byron Saxton and William Regal. After Jerry Lawler's heart attack on September 10, Ross returned to Raw to work as an interim commentator while Lawler recovered.

The episode of October 1st was dedicated to Ross, held in his hometown. On December 17, 2012, Jim Ross appeared alongside Gene Okerlund and Ricky Steamboat to announce the Slammy Award winner for Match of the Year. On March 1, 2013, Jim Ross returned to SmackDown to interview Jack Swagger, and his manager, Zeb Colter.

Swagger began by provoking Ross, saying he was not a "real American". Alberto Del Rio ran down the ramp and into the ring and gave Jim Ross his cowboy hat, which Jack Swagger had initially thrown. Del Rio then told his WrestleMania 29 opponent that he wasn't a Jack Swagger, but a donkey, and then Ross left the ring.

On April 7, he appeared to comment on the WrestleMania 29 pre-show and post-show along with Dusty Rhodes, Kofi Kingston and Scott Stanford. In 2012, when Triple H took control of the talent relationship, he gave Jim Ross the role of advisor and scout within the department.

In 2013 Jim Ross also began training new announcers at the WWE Performance Center in Florida. On September 11, 2013, he officially announced his farewell from WWE, after the contract expired. Speaking on this week’s episode of his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross admitted that he had too much to drink before the panel discussion.

Jim Ross’ WWE return

“Well, that was bad decisions on my part,” Jim Ross said. “‘I had a couple of drinks but I wasn’t drunk.’ That was the story – that was a lie. That was cover your a**, s***.

When I got to the shoot, I was the host, moderator, whatever, and I went to the ‘green room’. The liquor was flowing like water. I thought, ‘Oh, this is gonna be interesting.’ A lot of the guys that did drink had drunk too much.

Naitch [Ric Flair] and I, I guess, were considered two of those guys”. Jim Ross commentated for various wrestling promotions between 2013 and 2017, including NJPW and World of Sport Wrestling. He then made his return to WWE in 2017 to commentate on the main event of WrestleMania 33 between Roman Reigns and The Undertaker.

After leaving WWE in March 2019, Jim Ross agreed on a three-year deal with AEW to become a commentator and senior advisor for the company. Speaking on his Grilling Jr podcast, Ross gave details on what he was told about Brodie Lee’s condition.

“I haven’t seen or heard of an autopsy,” Ross said. “All I know is he had double lung failure and his lungs were so bad that he didn’t qualify for a transplant. As I heard the story, whether it’s totally accurate or not, I don’t know, they took him off his machines to see if he could kick out himself because that’s about the only chance he had. It obviously didn’t work, so it’s a sad, sad time for all of us”.