Jim Ross Looks Back At Working For Vince McMahon, Talks Paul Heyman And Eric Bischoff's WWE Roles

WWE Hall of Famer was a part of Vince McMahon's inner circle for the better part of 26 years. J.R. recently spoke with Busted Open Radio about Vince giving him leeway and the creative hires of Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff by WWE.

"We moved into the Attitude Era, one of my jobs was to book live events," Ross recalled. "Vince and I would meet every Saturday at his home and go over the booking, I had it pencil in, I stress the world pencil because it has an eraser. The eraser, the most powerful tool in professional wrestling. Eventually, he got confidence in my abilities, he enjoyed my house show bookings.

"About that time, I got some autonomy in that regard. Depending on the people he is surrounded by depends on how much leeway he allows them to have. He has done an amazing job of doing that on the corporate side. He has to find that same level of confidence on the wrestling side."

Ross has since taken a position with AEW as a senior adviser. While he is now working for the competition, Ross only had positive things to say about his former boss.

"I do know Vince well and had 26 great years there," Ross stated. "Anytime you are in a territory for 26 years is a nice run. Me leaving there was not a sad day, Vince is responsible for how nice my bank account looks, and I appreciate that. Jan (his late wife) appreciated that. Whenever I got pissed off at Vince she would say, 'Take it easy tiger.' I would breathe and exhale, I would get through my personal stuff and we were all good."

Bischoff and Heyman were recently announced to be the Executive Directors of SmackDown and RAW, respectively. There is a belief that the hires were to shake up what many deem to be a very stagnant and stale on-air product. Ross feels that they will only be as good as Vince allows them to be.

"I do not know what Paul and Eric are going to be allowed to do," Ross mused. "Until their roles are clearly established as to what they are going to be allowed to do, then I have no idea how it is going to eventually work out for them. I think it's a splendid idea if it allowed being fully utilized. Let's say Paul wants to switch the title off of Rollins on a pay-per-view, is he going to be able to do that without going through channels, discussions, because sometimes the bloom can fall off the rose and timing is everything.

"Sometimes when you wait a month, six weeks or whatever, the buzz is over. I wonder what Vince is going to allow those guys to do. How much he allows them to do is going to dictate how successful this move is going to be. They are both smart, both are good organizers, but they manage differently. Heyman is more of a rah-rah guy, Bischoff is more professional. Paul is a little erratic, I love him, I'm happy to say I gave him his break into the business when I put on TBS to be my partner. If he allows them to make changes, you can start to see a much-improved product."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit SiriusXM Busted Open Radio with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.