Jim Ross Reveals Vince McMahon Used A Fellow Announcer To Bully Him On Air

WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross has revealed some of behind-the-scenes dynamics during his tenure with WWE. On a recent episode of his podcast “Grilling JR,” Ross detailed how WWE Chairman Vince McMahon allegedly used fellow announcer Jonathan Coachman as an unwitting tool to undermine and bully Ross on air during WWE Monday Night Raw broadcasts.

Jim Ross, known for his iconic voice and passionate commentary, explained that McMahon would feed lines to Coachman during the times they were paired together at the announce table, with the apparent intent of belittling Ross. Despite the challenging circumstances, Ross emphasised that he held no grudge against Coachman, recognising he was just doing as he was told.

Oh yeah, absolutely I was never angry at Coach. He was in a different world, a different universe that he was not comfortable being in, but he did the best that he could. I had no issues with Coach whatsoever, never did, don’t today.

Instead, Ross squarely placed the responsibility for these actions on McMahon himself. The veteran announcer didn’t mince words when describing McMahon’s motivations, suggesting that the WWE Chairman’s position allowed him to engage in behaviour that others found difficult to challenge.

But, it was Vince. He for whatever perverse reason had in busting my balls he took advantage of because he could and nobody could do anything about it.

Despite the challenging circumstances, Jim Ross knew he had to just deal with it if he wanted to stay working for the company.

So I realised that early on and I just accepted it. This is how it is, so you can either deal with and survive or you can revolt and not survive. I chose surviving and earning those pay checks.

Which Former WWE Announcer Did Jim Ross Struggle To Work With Behind The Mic?

In another recent edition of his podcast, Jim Ross said that despite getting along great with former WWE announcer Todd Pettengill, the two were not a great pair to work together on commentary, with JR partly blaming that on himself for not loosening up his work to fit Todd’s unique style.

H/t to ITRWrestling.com