Jim Ross gives credit to Steve Austin and Kevin Owens.
With the exception of Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell, there aren't too many athletes and broadcasters as synonymous with one another's careers as Stone Cold Steve Austin and Jim Ross. Jim Ross, who was also a major part of talent relations for WWE during Steve Austin’s tenure with the company, is the dominant voice present over a majority of Stone Cold Steve Austin's most heralded moments in WWE. Jim also had the pleasure of calling “Stunning” Steve Austin matches in WCW. Eventually, a brotherhood was formed and both men remain close to this day.
Stone Cold returned at WrestleMania 38 for his final match against Kevin Owens and even though Jim Ross was not on the call because of his contractual obligations to AEW, JR recently stated that he did speak to “The Texas Rattlesnake” ahead of WrestleMania and gave his thoughts on what when down at WrestleMania 38, a segment which he called “a masterpiece”
“I wasn't gonna let the WrestleMania event pass by without checking out Stone Cold,” Jim said on the latest episode of his podcast, Grillin’ JR. “You know, he and I talked going into that thing and we communicated on Saturday after the show. He seemed to be real happy and really almost relieved that they pulled it off. He and Kevin Owens deserve a hell of a lot of credit for what they did, and it shows you what kind of ballplayer Austin is. He hadn’t been on the field, what was it? 19 years, something like that. He didn't look like he missed a step and they kept the match in their lane. I thought that was really smart. How they strategized and laid out that match, it was just absolutely a masterpiece, in my view. Kevin Owens deserves a lot of credit, as well. You gotta have a dancing partner to make these things work, and Steve had a great dancing partner.”
Jim Ross also revealed that he didn't know Steve was going to appear on the Sunday show and he prefers it that way.
“Why would I need to know that? If I want to go see a John Wayne movie, why would I need to know how many people he killed, how many bullets he took, or whatever? Just let me watch it. Let me form my own opinions. That's kind of what it did. So I thought the production values of that WrestleMania event were nothing short of epic. You know, the camera shots, the audio, the look of the building, it was amazing," said Jim, who has called over a dozen WrestleManias.
Kurt Angle, who was backstage at WrestleMania, was captivated by Steve Austin’s ability to still stays so in the zone after 19 years away. Learn more about that here.
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