"It's illogical" - Jim Ross gets brutally honest on today's wrestling psychology
Jim Ross has made no secret of the fact that he does not like certain aspects of today’s wrestling psychology. The AEW commentator believes current wrestlers are risking their bodies by performing too many high-risk moves in the same match.
In December 2020, Jim Ross’ comments about modern-day wrestling becoming a “trapeze act” caused a stir online. He was particularly critical of the spot where one wrestler dives over the top rope and lands on a group of wrestlers at ringside.
Speaking on his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross told host Paul Bromwell that wrestlers gained more experience in past generations due to the territory system. He also claimed it is “illogical” to perform as many moves as some current wrestlers do.
“Because you learn differently, Paul, you have different strengths and you have different weaknesses, and now it seems like our kids are just trying to get their s*** in sometimes. That’s distressing to me. They put their bodies at risk unnecessarily with more accumulative moves. If one hurricanrana’s good, let’s just do three. If one tope suicida is good, let’s do three or four in a show. It’s illogical, it’s illogical. It lessens the sizzle.”
Jim Ross clarified that he is having fun in AEW and, at the age of 69, he has no plans to stop commentating in the near future.
How the wrestling world reacted to Jim Ross’ comments
AEW's Darby Allin told SK Wrestling’s Riju Dasgupta that he agreed with Jim Ross’ thoughts on acrobatic moves in wrestling. On an episode of SK Wrestling’s UnSKripted, Disco Inferno told Dr. Chris Featherstone that the acrobatic spots are often “very cartoonish.”
WrestlingNewsCo reported that one unnamed AEW star took issue with what Jim Ross said. The wrestler apparently felt that Ross had “buried” the roster by criticizing the spot on his podcast.
Please credit Grilling JR and give a H/T to SK Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.