Jim Ross discusses how he would handle a situation similar to the backstage altercation between CM Punk and The Elite at AEW All Out 2022.
Jim Ross was previously the head of WWE's Talent Relations in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As a result, Jim has seen his fair share of talent altercations stemming from the highly competitive environment the professional wrestling industry produces.
In 2022, a backstage altercation between CM Punk and the members of The Elite, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson, led to multiple suspensions and discussions of lingering tension among those that work in AEW.
Without ever addressing Punk, Omega, or The Young Bucks by name, Ross has commented on how he would have handled a situation like this if it had taken place during his time as the head of Talent Relations.
"My protocol would be to get all the involved parties into a room and settle it and settle it as quickly as soon after it happened as you possibly could and communicate. That's hard to do," said Ross on the latest episode of his Grillin' JR podcast. "Sometimes, guys have their feelings hurt, or they're angry, or they feel like they have an issue. I'd say, you know, getting the crew together that's involved in this atrocity is what I would try to accomplish and talk it out. Talk it out and keep cooler heads should prevail, and communicate. As simple as that. Boils down to that, quite frankly, at the end of the day, how well do we communicate on this matter? You want to do it while it's still hot. You want to do it while it's still fresh in everybody's mind and let people express themselves in a civil and professional way. Because, you know, [Bill Watts] told me years ago, there's more than one right way to do a wrestling angle or storyline, and I believe that. So, you know, everybody's got their cause. Everybody's got their reasons for doing what they did. Whether the results are right on the money or not, or what have you, I don't know. It's the individual who's looking at it."
Ross went on to further emphasize the importance of communication in a tense situation, noting that at the end of the day, the goal should be to have everyone come together for the company's betterment.
"You got to communicate, you got to get everybody together and communicate, and when you leave, hopefully, you'll have a resolve. Hopefully, you'll have people prioritizing the company first. If any of these issues occur that don't promote the company and make it better for the company, then you're on the wrong road. The company has to come first. I said this many times to talents. We have to take care of the goose because this goose that we have access to lays golden eggs that we deposit in the bank. So to me, that's the bottom line. Communication is the key thing, and doing so in a timely basis is also important," he said.
Our premium service, Fightful Select, recently reported that CM Punk had sat down and spoken with Chris Jericho, as there are reportedly plans for CM Punk to return to AEW in June 2023.
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Elsewhere on this podcast, Ross spoke about Cody Rhodes potentially dealing with his brother Dustin in the future. Read more here.
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