JIm Ross Turned Down Vince McMahon's Invitation to Appear on WWE's Raw Reunion
WWE announced during the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on Sunday that the July 22 episode of Monday [...]
WWE announced during the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on Sunday that the July 22 episode of Monday Night Raw would have a special "Raw Reunion" theme, bringing in more than a dozen of WWE's top stars from the past to make an appearance. The list of names that were announced for the show included Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michales, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Eric Bischoff, Ted DiBiase, Sgt. Slaughter, Christian, Jimmy Hart, Shane "Hurricane" Helms, D-Von Dudley, Satino Marella and Jerry Lawler.
One name that did not appear in WWE's announcement was WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross. That didn't come as a surprise given Ross' new position as commentator and senior advisor in AEW, but Ross revealed at a live "Grilling JR" event over the weekend that McMahon had actually asked him to appear on the show. What was even more surprising was that AEW president Tony Khan actually supported the idea.
.@JRsBBQ reveals that Vince recently pitched to him to do a reunion show in July. Tony Khan was all for it, but JR still turned it down. #GrillingJR @WRESTLEZONEcom pic.twitter.com/USip6X2IKM
— Dominic DeAngelo of WrestleZone.com (@DominicDeAngelo) July 13, 2019
Ross joined AEW back in April, explaining in interviews after the fact that he wanted to do more work as a commentator and was barely being used in his latest WWE deal. He recently appeared on The Steve Austin Show, where he explained to "Stone Cold" why he took a backstage position as well.
"My role there, Steve, my official title, is senior advisor. And the reason I wanted to name myself senior advisor and not one of the EVPs is I felt like we had plenty of EVPs — Young Bucks are EVPs, Cody's [Rhodes] an EVP, Kenny Omega's an EVP, sure as hell didn't need my sad fat a— to be one of them. I've already been an EVP, so I'm good."
Ross said at one point Khan asked him directly why he wanted that particular position.
"Because it's real simple, man. This is the wrestling business. The senior advisor gets to take credit for all the good stuff and disavow any knowledge of things that suck," Ross said.
He made his AEW debut in May at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view alongside Alex Marvez and Excalibur. The company's next pay-per-view, All Out, will take place on Aug. 31 at the Sears Centre outside of Chicago.