12 Things We Learned From Jim Ross: Under The Black Hat

10. The Car-Crash Debut Of SmackDown

Jim Ross Under the Black Hat
WWE

For wrestling fans, the debut of WWF SmackDown was absolutely fantastic. When the company opted to launch a second batch of major weekly television, the fresh look and feel of SmackDown instantly grabbed fans' attention.

Unfortunately, what we fans weren't aware of, was the chaos that surrounded that SmackDown premiere.

From Jim Ross, the creation of SmackDown was something that so many people were largely in the dark about. As Ross puts it, "Most people in the company hadn’t even known we were in talks for a new show, but out of nowhere we were live on the air."

The deal for SmackDown was rushed through by UPN and WWF brass, yet the rapid nature of putting this agreement together meant that there was plentiful uncertainty going in to this new TV show. In particular for Jim, Vince hadn't even suggested to J.R. that he wanted something different from him in terms of commentary style - yet he proceeded to spend a large chunk of that initial broadcast bellowing such instructions to Ross.

As written in Under the Black Hat, "'This is a whole new audience, J.R., goddamnit,' Vince shouted. 'Talk to them, tell them who we are.'”

By the time that first SmackDown was even half-way through, Jim Ross knew that he was going to be relieved of his SmackDown announce duties.

That would indeed come to pass, with McMahon giving Ross the news later that night on Vince's private jet - and this was something Jim was more than happy with, given how he was also being tasked with announcing Raw and heading up Talent Relations, while not receiving any additional pay or benefits for his SmackDown gig.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.