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Jim Ross “Stepping Away” After AEW Collision Appearance

By John Canton • Published 18th June 2023
jim ross aew jacket

Jim Ross has issued a statement after appearing on AEW Collision as part of the commentary team.

It was announced by AEW’s Owner/President Tony Khan on Friday that the commentary team for their new Saturday night show Collision would be Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness and Jim Ross.

Even though JR spent the majority of his 50-year career in pro wrestling as a play-by-play announcer, he would be in more of an analyst role on this team with Kelly as the main play-by-play guy similar to Excalibur on other AEW shows.

However, if you watched Collision on TNT on Saturday night you would have noticed that Jim Ross wasn’t on commentary for the majority of the show.

Earlier on Saturday, Jim Ross posted a photo of a nasty black eye on his right eye while noting he suffered a fall. Despite that, JR still made it to Chicago for Collision.

The main event of Collision saw CM Punk and AEW Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) defeat Jay White, Juice Robinson & Samoa Joe when Punk pinned Juice to win the match. JR was on commentary for that match with Kelly and McGuinness. It was a lengthy match that went nearly 25 minutes.

During the broadcast, there were some harsh comments from fans on social media complaining about JR’s commentary because he didn’t sound very well and he was inaudible at times. It was likely that the fall he suffered might have affected him to some degree.

After Collision ended, JR issued a statement apologizing for how he sounded while stating that he would step away to heal.

I apologize for the way I sounded tonight. Going to step away to heal. Thanks for your support.

Everybody at TJRWrestling wishes the WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross good health moving forward. We would also encourage fans to be kinder and more understanding toward a man like JR, who has dedicated 50 years of his life to pro wrestling and entertaining us.