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 WWE’s decision to make Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit World Champions in 2004.
Ross said, “Well, there were casual discussions about it but nothing confirmed. That was a decision Vince made late in the day, so to speak. But I agreed with it. I thought it was the right thing to do. It just was, like you said, a changing of the guard. And I thought it was timely and deserved. Talents deserved it. You know, Eddie and Benoit certainly paid their dues.”
On his relationship with both of those stars:
“And I know we don’t talk a lot about Benoit nowadays because of how his life ended, and his actions in his last days were not good, obviously to say the least. But I thought it was time, and I thought it would made sense. And I signed both those guys, so I had great belief in Guerrero and Benoit, even though neither one were six feet tall. And somebody’s just starting our shows for the first time today might not understand, height is a big deal in WWE, it’s a big deal. But I thought they shouldn’t be judged by how tall they were, but by how well they worked in the ring. And they were both amazing performers. And it’s just amazing to me to think that neither one are no longer with us, and they were young guys when they passed away. So I thought it was timely, but I was so surprised that Vince pulled the trigger on it that way. But those guys delivered big time at that preceding WrestleMania I thought, and did a great job. So, good stuff, man, it was good.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
