Jim Ross' Cageside Evaluation

What you loved:

1. G.O.A.T. - Many of you said he was the best wrestling announcer ever. He was a true fan of the game, and was a master at storytelling. Great at play-by-play, something that's really missed these days at the announcer table.
2. Catchphrases - You guys didn't say "catchphrase"; instead you listed off the following: "Oh my God!", "Bah God!", "Slobber knocker!", "Stone Cold! Stone Cold! Stone Cold!", "Hellfire and brimstone!", and "Business is about to pick up." I know I missed some, but the point is he had some really classic one-liners.
3. Wrestling IQ - Being around the business for so long, he's been in plenty of different roles, learning a lot along the way. These days he's looked at as someone who really understands the business and is often asked his opinion on the big wrestling stories.
4. Greatest Calls Ever - "Good god almighty, good god almighty, that killed him! As god is my witness, he is broken in half!"
5. Passion - So many of you mentioned this or "enthusiasm", I had to give it #5. He made everything feel like such a big deal, the man sold the product that's for damn sure.

My favorite comment comes from (no surprise) Sandow's Superior:

"Someone gave him a 1? YOU SON OF A BITCH. THE MAN HAS CHILDREN. LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE HERE. WITH GAWD AS MY WITNESS, THIS POLL IS BROKEN IN HALF!"

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What you loathed:

1. Not Announcing - It sucks we can't hear him call matches anymore. Micheal Cole could put on a call of a lifetime, but it's just not J.R.
2. Anything that took him away from announcing... - "Hey, J.R., you should dance." Dumb. "Hey, J.R., you should rap." No. "Hey, J.R., you should feud with Cole." Stop.
3. Bell's Palsy - Kept him away to recover, and hurt his announcing skills a bit over time. Amazingly, he was still the best announcer around.
4. J.R. Impressions - WCW had a character based on Ross named Oklahoma. If you click the link, you can see this was extremely tasteless. Let's not forgot Vince McMahon's stupid impression either.
5. Club Member - ...of Vince's "kiss my ass club." Poor J.R.

Favorite comment goes to R Reg for putting his name on it:

"Loathe – While he was good, there are still a lot of rose colored glasses going on from my fellow CSSers. Unfortunately, the quality of his voice really began to decline as time went on (I’m assuming a combination of age and Bell’s Palsy). More importantly, he still messed up quite a bit on his calls. The guy couldn’t distinguish Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit for a good two years (at least). He tries to play off his "Aww, shucks" persona in real life, and I don’t really buy it. I know there are a lot of dumbass smarks out there, but JR is extremely condescending online. Regardless of content, anyone outside of THIS BUSINESS is obviously as an idiot. Time to stop the outrage on the internet when someone uses an insider wrestling term in the aughts, Jim. Even with his most recent heel talk, the guy comes off in a major passive aggressive way. Of course, you don’t get to be a main player for 10 years in Vince’s company without being a bit of a kiss ass, suck up. He absolutely buried his best friend Austin on WWE Confidential and his comments on Warrior’s DVD speak for themselves. He may or may not have strongly implied for a talent to get on the gas in Beyond the Mat. Oh, and he implied that Debra probably deserved to be beaten. Yeah, okay, pal. Finally, his heel persona was an absolute disaster. For whatever reasons, JR kept coming back under Vince’s wing, when common sense would dictate you stay the eff away from that madness. No more JR dancing, either, por favor."

Finally, the poll! With 393 votes, Mr. Ross' average score is 4.81. He is tied for 3rd, with Macho Man Randy Savage, in this series.

Thanks, Cagesiders! Tomorrow's pick is totally new.

Until then!