Jim Ross gives update on upcoming brain surgery, AEW contract status
Jim Ross will be undergoing brain surgery in the coming days.
On this week’s episode of his Grilling JR podcast, Ross shared that his surgery date is this coming Wednesday (August 12). The operation is a “shunt,” which is done to remove excess fluid from the brain. Ross was scheduled for this August surgery date after having to spend more than a month in the hospital during May-June.
“I’m good, man. I got a big week coming up,” Ross said. “My surgery is this Wednesday in Norman (Oklahoma). I don’t want to say I’m looking forward to it, but I guess I really am to get to that point and to get it over with. I have never had brain surgery before. So they’re going to put a — what do they call it? A shunt? So I’m getting a shunt put in my brain. They said I’m only going to be in the hospital a day. That surprised me and made me happy, but still I would have guessed longer.”
Conrad Thompson, the co-host of Grilling JR, expressed optimism that Ross will be back to normal after this surgery improves the memory and balance issues he’s been dealing with.
“Well, let’s hope so. We’ll see,” Ross responded. “I hope so too, Connie. Quite frankly, I hope so.”
Jim Ross’ trip to WrestleCon —
Before surgery, Ross, 74, made a trip to Minneapolis for an appearance at WrestleCon’s SummerSlam week convention. Ross said that, while he had a blast at the event, he’s come to the realization that working 3-4 hours at a time is not something he can do at his age.
“I hate to sound soft, but, you know, you gotta be a character and you gotta be nice to people, because that’s the only way to do it,” Ross said. “It puts a little pressure on you, but I had a good time. But I’ve come to the conclusion that doing four-hour shifts is a little more than I want to handle.”
Jim Ross’ AEW contract status —
Ross has said he hopes to recover from surgery quickly enough to be in the United Kingdom for AEW’s All In pay-per-view on August 30. His AEW contract is set to expire at some point this month, so that will need to be worked out. Ross noted on Grilling JR that he has not signed a new deal yet.
While discussing Adam Copeland’s wrestling bucket list, Ross said he’s already accomplished pretty much everything in his own career that he could hope to achieve. The one thing Ross hopes is that his time on commentary has a planned ending. He does not want things to end abruptly.
“I hope that my ending, my career ending, is planned. And so I don’t just show up one Wednesday night on Dynamite and say, ‘Well, I got some news for you folks, I’m done.’ That might sound cool and edgy, but I would like to be able to know that I’m leaving,” Ross said. “I think that’s important for my psyche. And I don’t know, maybe I’m looking at it wrongly, but in any event, that’s where I’m thinking — just have a good, clean ending. And if I could pull that off, then I’ll be — I’ve done everything else. I’ve done every major event for every major promoter the last how many years? 40.
“And I’ve had a blessed career. You know, I’ve been battling some health issues. I’m getting a [shunt] put in my brain on Wednesday. So we’ll see how that works out. No pun intended.
“I’ve had a unique life [in wrestling], and I realize that it’s coming to an end. I get it. If you ask me, ‘JR, how much longer you think you’re going to do announcing?’ Well, I think my contract’s up this month. So I’m done, pretty much. I don’t want to be done, but if Tony Khan said, ‘You know, JR, thanks for the efforts and thanks for being here and all that stuff.’ Then I’d have no problem with that. Because what else? How could I be such a greedy bastard and want more in my career than I’ve already received?… My career as a wrestling broadcaster has been nothing but wonderful.”
Ross joined AEW when the promotion was founded in 2019. The announcing legend started out in a full-time role before moving to his current part-time duties helping out with commentary at PPV events.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.