Jim Ross: WrestleMania 27 Was The Tipping Point Where I Was Cool Never Calling Another WrestleMania

Jim Ross didn’t have a fun experience at WrestleMania 27.

Ross was brought in to call the final four matches, beginning with Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler.

Cole vs. Lawler marked Lawler’s first match at WrestleMania and the match that turned Cole into a WrestleMania legend.

Speaking on his Grilling JR podcast, Ross reflected on his WrestleMania 27 experience.

“Lawler and Cole had their ‘epic’ match. I use that tongue in cheek. I always thought Lawler deserved more than a gimmick match with an announcer. He seemed to be happy, but what choice did he have but to be happy? It’s what he’s booked to do. I called that and was already being phased out. I had to stay an extra day because Michael Cole had to ‘get his heat back.’ I remember him squirting me in the face with BBQ sauce and of course, nobody told him not to squirt in my eyes, and he did. I couldn’t see shit and it was burning. I was temporarily blinded. It also ruined my $1,000 hat, which they paid for. It was a unique weekend, to say the least. I have never had the feeling of unwelcome than I did with that show. I had no joy from working WrestleMania 27. None. I didn’t phone shit in. I worked hard, based on what I had to work with. It’s hard to make Lawler and Cole a Funk-Brisco classic. It was an interesting weekend,” said Ross.

Ross continued the story by saying he had a great time in Georgia and as he was at the airport to head home after WrestleMania 27, he took a phone call that he knew he should’ve ignored.

“The next day, I got a phone call. My intuition said, ‘Don’t answer it,’ but trying to be professional, I answered it. ‘We need you tonight.’ Didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew Cole was knocked down a peg creatively with Lawler the night before, so they had to re-enhance him. Who better to be made to look like a fool than me? I went there, and my instincts were right, they just had me there to be embarrassed. It was unnecessary. When the show was over on Sunday and Monday, even though it was a big success, it was just not fun. Of all the WrestleMania’s I got the privilege to work, this was not fun. It was my own personal situation. The Monday experience taints what I did at WrestleMania. That was the tipping point where I said, ‘If I never call another WrestleMania, I’m cool,” he said.

Ross would return the following year to call the End of an Era match between Triple H and Undertaker at WrestleMania 28. He also returned for WrestleMania 33 and WrestleMania 34.

Ross currently worked for AEW where he provides play-by-play commentary for AEW Dynamite and pay-per-view events.

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