Jim Ross Set To Take Time Away From AEW, Shares Update On His Future

The legendary commentator is temporarily stepping away from the booth on doctors’ advice.

WWE Hall of Famer and current AEW commentator Jim Ross was diagnosed with skin cancer in October 2021, and whilst he was cancer-free and back at the commentary desk by December, the recovery and treatment have been ongoing since then, and it now appears as though this will result in him stepping back for a period.

During a recent episode of the Grilling JR podcast, Ross revealed that he will be taking some time off from AEW to heal his leg, with this seemingly beginning immediately as he noted he’ll be absent from this Saturday’s episode of Collision.

“I’m gonna take some time off starting this week. I’m not going to be at Collision this week. My doctor believes that if I take a couple or a few weeks off, I’m not sure how many, we’ll see, it’s got to heal, that being off the airplane for a few weeks would be good for my leg to heal. So that’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna take a few weeks off. Every Tuesday I go to the doctor, wound doctor, and he scrapes my wound. He gets rid of all the dead tissue, which is not a fun thing. They do it with a scalpel and they just slice it off, slice off all the bad stuff. So that’s what I do on Tuesdays. If we get down to where we’re slicing off less than we’re leaving, we win. So it’s really that simple. So I’m not going to be on TV for a while until I can navigate the waters a little bit. I love what I’m doing. We have a unique roster. There’s so many guys that we need to help as much as possible to get over, but that goes for any TV wrestling TV show. That’s their objective. You have one goal when you’re on television doing pro wrestling. Get the talent over. Simple as that. End of story. I love doing that. I love that role. I love helping these young kids who ask questions, ‘Did you watch my match? Would you watch my match? What do you think about this? How is this for a transition spot? What do you think of the finish’, blah, blah, blah. So I want to take some time off to get my leg to heal. Folks have been following me, goddang, I’ve been suffering with this sh*t for almost two years. How much good barbecue can a country boy eat? So somewhere along the way, man, I gotta turn the corner and get better. I’m not in a great deal of pain except when I get to the city I’m flying to. My leg swells up like a cantaloupe and it hurts like hell. So I want to try to not travel, see how that affects me, and go from there. So I’ll be missing for a couple of weeks. I’ll keep everybody posted here. You’ll find out first right here. I appreciate everybody’s concern. I’m feeling good. You know, I feel strong. I feel motivated. I feel like I’m lucky that I’m working for TK, because he’s the one that brought up the fact that we want you healthy for the long run and so he’s been taking very good care of me. For a young guy like that to have that concern, and maybe it’s because he has parents that are the same basic age as me, I don’t know. You understand it better when you’re in it, when you’re dealing with it, so he’s been dealing with it very well. I really do appreciate what he’s doing for me and that he’s paying attention. That’s really, really important. I’m not concerned about finishes, or booking, or this guy should have worked with this guy. I ain’t going there. When I get back in the saddle, and you can bet your ass I’ll be back in the saddle, I’m going to do what I need to do to help get these young kids over. This is really a fun roster to be around. They are like fans and they are fans.”

-Jim Ross

Over the past few months, speculation has increased over Ross’s future with AEW, with it having been noted by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his contract was supposed to be up in September.

Speaking on what the future holds for him, JR revealed that he still has a few months left on his current deal, adding that AEW President Tony Khan has informed his agent Barry Bloom that he intends on retaining Ross’ services.

“I have a contract that’s in place. I intend to honor it. It still has a few months left. Tony Khan has indicated to me as early as this week, at least to my representative, Barry Bloom, that he’d like for me to stay. I’m not looking to go anywhere, it’s just I need to heal. That’s all. Simplistically as that. My leg needs to heal and the good news is that the wound is getting much better and so I am healing. So that’s the story. I just got to get better and it’s not a matter of pain tolerance. The pain comes when I get to the city I’m flying to. Flying is the enemy right now. So if I can heal a little bit more, then flying becomes less of an issue, and with this job, I can’t do it without flying. So flying is a necessary evil if you want to use that term and that’s kind of how I’m approaching it. So I have no plans on leaving AEW. I like working for Tony. Tony has been good to me, he’s taken great care of me, and you know, we just have a very unique relationship. I’m not high maintenance. Even with a bad leg and stuff, I don’t want to be high maintenance. I managed high maintenance when I was in charge of talent for WWE. I understand the mindset of what you gotta deal with when you’re dealing with a talent that can’t or isn’t 100%, and I’m not 100% right now, but I will be enough to go do my job and with my ego as it is, people are gonna say, ‘Well, here it comes.’ I’m not gonna let somebody be better than me, at least in my view. I worked too many years to build a work relationship with our audience, an audience that I love and that love me, and it’s very emotional for me to talk about that, but I’m a big believer that things are gonna get better. I’m 71 years old. I’m not ready to be turned out to pasture. Now for a young guy listening to this, they’re gonna say, ‘Jesus Christ. That’s old.’ Well, hopefully, you’re gonna find out someday how old that is. So that’s how I look at that deal, man. I’m blessed to be alive. We all are. Count your blessings. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, you know? So anyway, it’s all good. So JR and Tony Khan are going to do business together for the foreseeable future and I want to be a part of this company. We got challenges. We’re a new company trying to build an audience and trying to make sure the audience can find us and so forth, to get new stars over, to get some people hot, and so I want to be a part of that, and my plans are to be a part of that.”

-Jim Ross

AEW recently grabbed the headlines across the wrestling world as they revealed that Ric Flair had signed a multi-year deal with the promotion, with the fan base being largely divided on the controversial Hall of Famer.

Whilst he doesn’t expect Flair to lace up the boots one more time in AEW, JR revealed he was pleasantly surprised with the announcement, highlighting the level of star-power the 74-year-old will bring to the promotion.

“He’ll be fun to be around and he’s always entertaining. There’s only one Naitch and he’s it and Tony Khan’s got him. So I was pleasantly surprised that Ric signed. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do because I really believe, and this is gonna sound negative and I don’t want to sound negative, that his wrestling days are essentially over. He’s 70-something. I’m 70-something. I get it. I’m glad he’s with us. You can’t get a lifetime talent daily. You just can’t. They’re not out there. They’re not available. I’m glad for Ric’s sake he’s got a good sponsor, a good backup guy. Tony Khan is a huge Ric Flair fan and who isn’t? So, pleasantly surprised that he’s with us. Don’t look for any matches out of him, but I think he can contribute more than the vast majority of the populace in his world in his vocation and never wrestle. That’s just me. He’s a star. Ric Flair is a star and when he’s on your TV, he brightens that star.”

-Jim Ross

Jim Ross has been with AEW since April 2019 and has featured across all three weekly television shows, with his current role seeing him provide commentary as an analyst for the main events in the second hour of AEW Collision.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Jim Ross and his AEW status, and we wish him all the best in his recovery.

H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.