Jim Ross reveals what Vince McMahon told him about releasing WWE stars
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has a big say in the wrestlers the company hires and fires, and sometimes he can be ruthless in his decision to sign or release a Superstar.
There have been numerous ins and out in WWE over the years, with only a few Superstars spending their entire career in WWE. Vince McMahon often has to make the uncomfortable decision of firing Superstars, especially when they have committed a mistake away from the ring.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently touched upon the career of the late Umaga, who was with WWE for a while before he sadly passed away in 2009.
Jim Ross on Vince McMahon's decision to release Umaga; what the WWE Chairman's strategy is on releasing wrestlers
Ross spoke about Vince McMahon's decision to let go of Umaga in 2003 after an incident that happened in a bar. The AEW commentator stated that he did the firing when he was the head of talent relations. He revealed what Vince McMahon told him about handling Superstars who have had issues away from the ring. Here's what Jim Ross said on his Grilling JR podcast:
"But Vince [McMahon] would earmark it and sometimes it was brought up by others in the company how, ‘Well, this guy’s putting our company in jeopardy, he’s out of control and he can’t control his habits,’ etcetera, etcetera and then you get all these little indications like I said earlier, the small things start accumulating, and cumulatively, it’s bad business and so he would say, ‘We gotta fix this problem and unless you can tell me differently JR, the only way I know how to fix it is to let him go and let him mature and because we’d sure as hell like to bring him back.’" (H/T Post Wrestling)
Ross stated that Umaga understood the mistake he had made which resulted in WWE releasing him. Umaga had a stint with TNA and then wrestled in Japan, before returning to WWE in 2005. He was let go by WWE in 2009, and he sadly passed away later that year.