"Talented kid" – Jim Ross says ex-WWE star should have achieved more
Jim Ross was a WWE commentator and talent relations executive for over two decades. In a recent podcast episode, the current AEW announcer addressed why Paul London did not achieve as much as he initially expected the latter to.
London worked for WWE between 2003 and 2008. The 44-year-old won tag titles with Billy Kidman and Brian Kendrick. He also held the Cruiserweight Championship.
Ross told Grilling JR host, Conrad Thompson, that the high-flyer was a "talented kid" and should have gone further in WWE, based on his ability, but never really managed to get going.
"He was a talented kid. Talented kid. High spots, offense, et cetera. That was kinda his calling card. But, yeah, he never realized his total potential. I don't know what the reason for that is. Normally you can generalize the reason being he just did not connect with the audience to the level that they're gonna make an emotional investment in his TV persona. But he didn't find the magic space, if you will," he said. [51:44 – 52:20]
London's last match at the Stamford-based promotion ended in defeat against Lance Cade at an untelevised live event on August 2, 2008. He was then released from his WWE contract later that year.
Jim Ross on Paul London's in-ring work
In the mid-2000s, Paul London was widely viewed as one of WWE's most exciting in-ring competitors. He featured regularly on SmackDown and held the World Tag Team Championship with Brian Kendrick for a then-record 333 days.
Jim Ross reiterated that WWE's decision-makers should have used London's skill set better:
"Everything he did in the ring was solid. Maybe he did too much. Hell, I don't know. You can go back and analyze it to death. I'm with you. He had more potential than we got out of him," stated Ross. [52:22 – 52:33]
In the same episode, Ross gave his honest take on Matt Hardy spoiling a WWE match result online.
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If you use Jim Ross' quotes from this article, please credit Grilling JR and embed the video, with an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.