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WHY JIM ROSS IS GONE FROM WWE, WHY THE COMPANY STATED HE RETIRED AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2013-09-11 19:32:40
The word making the rounds within WWE is that Jim Ross' retirement was actually the company's way of announcing that he had been let go without causing any major uproar among fans, since Ross is so beloved. This way, Ross could depart a hero who left of his own accord.

We are told that the decision for Ross to leave the company is at least partially due to fallout from the WWE 2K14 videogame event that took place the night before Summerslam in Los Angeles, CA last month.

As you may remember, that was the event where Ric Flair took control of the festivities and a media event that was designed to promote the new WWE videogame and it's "30 Years of Wrestlemania" theme instead turned into the Flair show with stories about how he turned John Cena into a drinker, etc.

At the time, WWE officials were embarrassed by Flair's behavior and literally walked him out of the event. The fallout and anger over the event spread to Ross since the company felt that as the host, he should have been able to control the situation and instead joked about "Grey Goose" vodka sponsoring the festivities and how they had lost the script. It should be noted that during the Q&A, Ross initially tried to stay away from Flair, but Mick Foley pointed out that Ric hadn't said anything, which sent things spiraling in that direction.

WWE was furious with Flair that weekend and sources have indicated that Flair was told that without major changes to how he had been acting, he would not be welcome to work with the company going forward, in any fashion. Flair has not made any public appearances since.

According to one high-up source within 2K Sports, they were not upset in the least with Flair's antics and if anything were "entertained by the spectacle of it." WWE, however, were upset that they were having their first presentation with a new licensee and it went to hell.

It is believed that the call for Ross to depart was made by Vince McMahon and that Ross was informed in the last day or so.

Ross had been working as a talent scout and helping with WWE developmental. He had also, from time to time, laid out commentary for WWE licensed products, such as DVDs and videogames.

It obviously stands to reason that the company could still call upon him to do additional voiceover work, if Ross was willing to do so.

We are told Ross has already received at least one major offer to sit down and do shoot interviews about his career. Ross recently took part in his first speaking tour overseas, and has been looking into additional speaking engagements as well.

Ross has not commented publicly on his departure.

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