WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross Recalls Contentious Backstage Relationship With Randy Savage

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross spent a total of 23 years with the promotion from 1993 until 2019, and came in at a time when the "Macho Man" Randy Savage was one of the company's top stars. But, by his own admission, JR had a strained working relationship with Savage, as he would discuss during the "Grilling JR" podcast. Ross recalled a backstage dispute with Savage after advertising him for a spate of commercials. Savage took issue with the fact he had been placed in commercial breaks in non-live event markets. "I told him, I said, 'You're a star. It adds to the value of the program, that's why,'" said JR. But Savage did not trust this, and, as JR would recall, accused him of trying to bury him. 

"I couldn't even relate to that," he said, "Why would I wanna bury you? ... It makes no sense. But that's the words of a very insecure guy."

JR and Randy Savage would only work together until Savage departed in 1994 for WCW. The commentator recalled WWE not being interested in bringing Savage back to the company in 2003, but he affirmed that he would never let his perception of him get in the way of decision-making. He said that it was known that Savage was a star and had great name identity, maintaining that it didn't matter if they didn't see eye-to-eye but elaborating on why that was the case. 

"He was a little bit of a bully and unpredictable, and maybe that's what made him a star. If it did, more power to him," he said. 

Randy Savage retired from wrestling in 2004, leaving TNA after just one match over creative issues surrounding a proposed bout for Jeff Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In 2011, Savage suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 58. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015.