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CM Punk never really got round to finishing that story about why Vince McMahon was a hypocrite for running an anti-bullying campaign that he was cutoff from finishing in his first of many worked shoot promos seven weeks ago. The perfect payoff would have been Punk publicly complaining about Vince's long term hazing of his former Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and lead television announcer Jim Ross. Ross was brought back as a full time announcer on the July 25th edition of Raw to put over that WWE would be different under the benevolent Triple H's onscreen leadership than Mr. McMahon's dictatorship was, but behind the scenes nothing has changed. WWE management are still treating Ross like dirt.
For those that were wondering why WWE's best announcer by far wasn't announcing at SummerSlam, it was because Vince McMahon decided to mess with Ross' head for what seems like the millionth time. As Dave Meltzer gossiped on yesterday's Wrestling Observer radio show, Ross was told that he was commentating all day until Vince pulled the rug out from underneath him at the very last second with the flimsy excuse being that Booker T had to replace him as otherwise there wouldn't be a Smackdown announcer on the show. By this point I think it's clear that Jim Ross expects to be treated as a walking doormat by WWE and doesn't mind as long as their cheques clear.
At least he got to announce on Monday, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't let in on the fact that Vickie Guerrero was going to steal his trademark cowboy hat and Dolph Ziggler was going to destroy it at the end of the match between Alex Riley vs. Jack Swagger. Even if he was, the mouthpiece of Vince McMahon, heel Michael Cole, made sure to rub it in that Good Ol' J.R.'s boy Jack Swagger, who he recruited into developmental from the University of Oklahoma, botched his Doctor Bomb finisher even though his opponent Alex Riley was to blame for sandbagging him. Just another day at the office for the downtrodden Ross.
Here's a brief rundown of some of the most embarrassing things Ross has had to endure over the years:
- Tiger Ali Singh and a fan Singh paid $500 to impersonate Ross (played by Ed Ferrara) mocking his Bell's palsy in an angle in the spring of 1999 at a time when Ross was being portrayed as a bitter heel for being outraged at being permanently replaced by Michael Cole in his absence.
- Always being booked in humiliating angles in his hometown of Oklahoma City, most notably being booked to be forced to join Mr. McMahon's Kiss My Ass club by The Undertaker in late 2001.
- Triple H giving him a black eye and damaged vision during a match together allegedly as payback for lowballing him on contracts and stiffing him on payoffs.
- Mr. McMahon making fun of his real life colon surgery in a mean spirited skit.
- Being given a surprise birthday present of being soaked in champagne by a dancing Big Dick Johnson, ruining his suit which he had to fly back home in.
- Not being told in advance that he was being drafted to Smackdown in 2008 in what was an intentional snub.
- Being removed from the WWE TV opening video without any warning as punishment for giving a gushing interview with Ariel Helwani at UFC 116.
- Somehow getting legitimately injured by an "overexcited" Jack Swagger on Raw earlier this year when he was put in a basic ankle lock.