Jim Ross On Why He Thinks Vince McMahon Is Brining Back XFL

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross was recently interviewed by Busted Open Radio in which J.R. discussed what went wrong with the original XFL and what he would do if he were in charge of the brand and why he thinks Vince McMahon is bringing it back. Below are the highlights:

On what he would change about the XFL product:

“You’ve got to be very selective of your cities and how those cities and franchises are going to be managed and promoted. You need to sell tickets, and generally local promoters have a better handle on getting tickets sold vs outsiders, so local promotion is important. Stadium selection is important. The LA Chargers are playing in a soccer stadium and no one seems to care. It will hold the costs down in that regards. There was no kickoffs. I like punts and kickoffs because there’s a chance for a big play. Another issue is where do you get good officials from? The NFL sure as hell doesn’t have a monopoly on them, because you see what they’re using.”

On the importance of talent:

“It would be a good move (referencing signing RG3, Tim Tebow, Tony Romo) if you’re creating a football league from scratch. We had Tommy Maddox. He was a UCLA QB, got drafted and cut from the NFL, got picked up for the XFL and was resigned to the Steelers. I think those are the kind of stories he would be looking for. For me, any player that plays in the XFL would want to eventually end up in the NFL. To me, that’s a great selling point. The NFL won’t admit it because they will say ‘we get our players from college football’. The XFL doesn’t have to follow those rules.”

On what went wrong the first time:

“The teams didn’t have enough time to practice, gel and develop chemistry. They had very little time to practice. There was very little quality football. This will be interesting to see, to see who Vince brings together. This, I’ll bet, will be a who’s who in Vince’s inner circle.”

On why he thinks Vince McMahon is bringing the XFL back:

“He loves taking calculated risks. I had the first meeting with him after the first XFL went down, and I think we lost 50 million or something like that. We had a regular meeting and we talked about the XFL for a minute or two. He said ‘JR I took a calculated risk and it didn’t go down. I still believe in the concept.’ I don’t have an issue with the concept. I don’t know if he’s bored or he just loves the challenge. I know that was a challenge that went unfulfilled, didn’t succeed at it, and maybe there’s something to be said about his competitive nature. I can tell you that he sees something that is different than the last go-round. It should be exciting as it progresses.”