Did Jim Ross Almost Sign With TNA Wrestling?

According to long time wrestling writer and former TNA Wrestling creative consultant Vince Russo, TNA almost had Jim Ross running their company in 2010. In a blog post on CSRWrestling, Russo details a story where Ross had meetings with TNA's owners Bob and Janice Carter, who are Dixie Carter's parents.

Prior to Eric Bischoff coming into the company, there were serious talks of Jim Ross joining TNA. I know, because I personally spent a couple of hours with Jim on the phone at the time. During those discussions JR even visited the Carter Ranch in Texas, where Bob and Janice Carter absolutely fell in love with him. Unfortunately, the marriage of JR and TNA never took place. And, looking back in hindsight€”that one missed opportunity may have been a crucial factor of where TNA is today. In the end, I think Dixie€™s ego wouldn€™t allow JR to come in and run her company€”even if it meant her company gaining credibility and becoming healthy.

The timeline on this meeting would have been around late 2009 because that's when Bischoff joined TNA with Hulk Hogan. Ross was still working for WWE on television as an announcer, but he was starting to be phased out since WWE wanted to use Michael Cole more. While Russo has been known to say some outlandish things that are far out there, he is definitely a credible source on this as he said he talked about it with Ross personally. Ross isn't the only big name that TNA had discussions with around that time as it's been previously reported that they were close to hiring Paul Heyman in 2010. A big reason why that didn't happen is because the owners didn't want to give him full control, so he balked at going there. For his part, Ross said on Twitter that he was never that close to going to TNA. https://twitter.com/JRsBBQ/status/626504395858034688 A guy like Ross could have turned TNA around. Instead, they are in a position today where they are barely hanging on with a future that is in doubt.