AEW’s Jim Ross Undergoes Back Surgery

All Elite Wrestling’s Jim Ross alerted fans back in late October that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer. In his various update on the Grillin’ JR podcast since then, Ross has confirmed that he’ll undergo medical treatment and isn’t expected to miss any TV time as a result. On Tuesday, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that Ross went under the knife for surgery on his back but is still expected to be in Chicago for this week’s AEW Dynamite. 

Ross gave his latest update on the situation a little over a week ago — “I don’t like dealing with this skin cancer. I don’t like dealing with that either. But that’s the hand I’ve been dealt, and the only thing I can do is to get healthy and go through all the procedures to ensure that can happen. I know on the 22nd of November I’m having — The doctor found two more places on my back and he’s going to cut those out in one appointment and then earlier in the day, I’ll have gone to my cancer doctor and had to build a boot for me to do the radiation accurately, which I’m all for. So, two different processes. One is my back. Two places on my back that I didn’t know I had and the other is that big one on my ankle. Ironically, the one of my ankle’s healing up real well. It’s almost —You still see that there’s an issue, but it doesn’t look as gross, as gruesome as I had displayed in that picture, which I wish I had not done, quite honestly. But I did. I really believe in sharing with the fans. Maybe to a faulty degree, to be honest with you.

“So I got a big month of November,” he added. “It’s going to be an aggressive month and unfortunately, you know, as I said earlier, I wanted to make sure I can still do my stuff. I’ll know more about that after November 22, but you know, if I can’t, I gotta put my health first. I think that’s the right thing to do. Ego wise, you know, people say, ‘Are you worried about getting replaced?’ Oh, hell no. I work for Tony Khan. I work for a different man than I worked for in the past. He has been nothing but amazing in this whole process to the point of whatever you need, we’ll take care of you. Whatever you need to do to get you healthy again, that’s what we’ll do. We’re ready to take every step of the way with you. The irony of this is, that unlike a lot of wrestling bosses, I believe him. I trust him. I can’t tell you how much that takes a load off your chest, where I can go back and focus on the business I love, that’s pro wrestling.”