Jim Ross On What Kind Of Deal He Wants After AEW Contract Expires Next Year
Legendary wrestling commentator Jim Ross has found himself at AEW's announce table since the company's inception in 2019, but his time as a regular may be winding down.
Speaking with DAZN, JR noted that he does see a "light at the end of the tunnel," but he's overly focused on it.
"I do. You have to," Ross said. "Like, yeah, I'm not John Wayne where I can take an arrow by the stick and pull it out of my own arm or something. We all got a shelf life. I started my third year with AEW recently. I don't really pay a lot of attention to that stuff. You're having fun. You're not thinking about it."
Regardless of what the future holds, Ross emphasized he wants to continue to make AEW his home.
"I hope that in a perfect world, I would like to stay working for Tony Khan and AEW and take it a year at a time," Ross said. "The contract I came in here was three years because that's what [Tony Khan] wanted. He wants stability. It made Time Warner happy because they're used to my work in their company for many years and the WWE stuff as well."
With JR's current contract coming to an end next year, he says he'd like to start inking one-year deals.
"I would say I'll do this year, and then let's evaluate and see where we are health-wise, motivational-wise. Then if I come back, I'd like to come back for a year at a time," Ross said. "That way, it doesn't put Tony in any unnecessary stress. Because by the time my contract ends, I'll be 70. So some young dude like you that's 40 is going to be like 'Jesus Christ, he's old, dude.'
"But I'm having fun doing this. I'm not going to work every day. We do four shows a month. I'm required to be somewhere four times a month. It's not bad. I'm not complaining. It's just a matter of getting back in that travel groove. I'm a good packer. I have this saying, 'I don't have any room in my carry-on for negativity.' But I think a year at this stage of my life to be realistic and not be egocentric, a year at a time is smart money for me."