AEW announcer and Senior Advisor “Good Ole’ J.R.” Jim Ross took to an episode of his “Grilling Jr” podcast to talk about a number of topics including how there was nobody in the wrestling business who was more respected than Bret Hart and how Hart had a huge role in Adam Copeland (Edge) signing with WWE.
Ross said, “We were aware of Adam’s abilities. He had a great personality, he was a total team guy — ‘Yes, sir. No, sir.’ He was very polite. His momma raised him well. God bless her. But Bret calling me to speak up in a positive way for Adam was really the cherry on the sundae. I mean, nobody in the business of wrestling was more respected than Bret Hart, so he was very effusive about Adam’s potential… Bret definitely did a great job of recruiting and selling him, and I’m sure glad he made that phone call.”
WWE decideding to pay off Copeland’s student loans:
Ross said, “I looked at my [WWE] budget and the right thing to do was paying off Edge’s student loans. So you start your career debt-free, and that’s what we did. I’m glad Vince thought it was a great idea. At that time, Vince was sold — this kid had something.”
You can check out Ross’ complete podcast in the video below.