Legendary wrestling commentator Jim Ross took a look back at the glory days of Jim Crockett Promotions. Good Ol’ JR recalled how Tully Blanchard wasn’t all that happy, what it meant to lose Big Bubba Rogers to the (then) WWF, and the Bunkhouse Stampede match between Ric Flair and Road Warrior Hawk.
You can read highlights from his Grilling JR podcast below:
Tully Blanchard being unhappy: “Yeah, he became very withdrawn in the sense that he didn’t feel, or want, to be part of that NWA team. It was over, and anytime you have an issue of money… I remember some good advice Vince gave me back years ago when I was doing the payroll: ‘You know the one thing you can’t allow to happen, JR, is to be late.’ So even when I had Bell’s Palsy, even when we’re on these long trips, we’re overseas, wherever we are, the payroll got done. And whether I was sick or not, I made sure that the talent got paid on time. Because, if you want to start unrest, have the checks be late. It ain’t cool. Quite honestly, that’s not a revelation. It’s the same in any business, isn’t it?”
Bubba Rogers jumping to WWF to become Big Boss Man: “That was a big loss. Bubba got over and you know when he was with Cornette, that was a great pairing. Isn’t it ironic that so many guys, when they get with Cornette, they get better? That’s fact. So, yeah, that was a loss. Bubba, at one time when his back was okay and he was healthy, he was as athletic a super heavyweight as I ever saw. The fact he was a legit prison guard was added to the story. But he was such a sweetheart of a guy, really a cool guy. I got to know him working for Cowboy [Bill Watts] in that territory. I just thought he was phenomenal. He was booked with One Man Gang and sometimes those big super heavyweight matches, one big guy against another big guy, leave a little to be desired.”
Ric Flair vs. Road Warrior Hawk in the Bunkhouse Stampede match: “I was really looking forward to that match. I thought it’s going to be fun, different. You know it’s going to be very interesting to see how Ric lays it out, and you know Ric’s calling the plays in that match. He called the plays in all his matches, that’s what great heels do. They lead the way. There’s nobody better than Flair in laying out a match and making sure that his adversary got shine and looked good. The sad part of that, to me, which always aggravated me, was the fact that so many of Ric’s matches would end up in a non-finish. But the problem was, as I was going to say, he never got closure on some of these big matches because it was always, not always but it was more often than not, a non-finish. I don’t know who that helps, quite frankly.”
