Jim Ross was with the WWE for the majority of the company's first brand split, and even had his life turned upside down by a draft. Now, he has his fair share of thoughts and advice regarding the WWE's newest incarnation.
WWE announced on this week's episode of Raw that not only were Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon serving as commissioners of Smackdown and Raw respectively, but that they'd also be selecting general managers.
Good to see WWE tweaking the authority figure presentation on RAW and Smackdown starting with next week's WWE Draft,” WWE Hall of Famer Ross said in a blog post. “The presentation is in need of a 'new coat of paint' and this is good timing IMO. Curious to see who is cast as the new, figure heads and how they interact with the talents and into the new, storylines.”
Ross poked fun at cynical wrestling fans, saying that the brand split is a good opportunity for the audience to question WWE's decisions.
“The upcoming WWE Draft and band separation/talent redistribution is drawing near and, as I have predicted, this exercise, of which I am optimistic about, will be likey be heavily second guessed by many hard core pro wrestling fans just because it is seemingly many fan's favorite pro wrestling experience these days. I jest, somewhat, but you get the point. WWE will likely be 'damned if they do' and 'damned if they don't' regarding this major development that could potentially be one of the most dynamic developments in WWE in years. I think the brand separation jury will be out until Orlando in April and I'm patient enough to give it that long before I pull my my soap box and "judge" it,” said Ross.
'Good ol JR' closed his thoughts on the draft by saying he hopes talents utilize the chance to the best of their abilities. Ross himself was shockingly drafted to Smackdown in 2008.
“Hopefully, the talents will realize how important an opportunity that this brand separation is as it will provide many with new, TV minutes that they can maximize and turn into cash if they're on their game,” said Ross.
You can see Ross' full blog at this link.
By Sean Ross Sapp
