Orton Proposes, JR On Big Show Heat, Origins of Damn!
Orton Gets Engaged
Randy Orton recently proposed to his girlfriend Kim Marie Kessler. She confirmed that she said yes on Twitter. The two have been on vacation, a rare treat to Orton from WWE:
He asked and I said YES 😍💍❤️ @RandyOrton pic.twitter.com/zNTrlp9OQ1
— Kim Marie ❤️ (@KimKlro) July 5, 2015
JR Responds To Big Show
Jim Ross has responded to comments made by Big Show on Chris Jericho’s podcast, where he said he was “never a Jim Ross guy.” JR wrote on his blog:
One question I’ve been asked many times regarding the Big Show apparently saying on a podcast that he was “never one of my guys” while I was in charge of talent roster in WWE. That’s news to me. It was Jerry Brisco and who I who made the first contact in person with Show to begin recruiting him to come to WWE which was the smartest thing that Paul Wight ever did. It was my wife who invited Show and his former manager into our home where she cooked him a meal fit for a king including home made biscuits and apple butter which we have given him as a gift occasionally through the years. I have always thought the world of Paul Wight and still do. Yes, Vince McMahon and I decided to send Paul to developmental to help him with his fundamentals and to give him the opportunity to lose some needed weight to improve his overall health and to help us maximize our significant investment. If that was being unfair, then so be it.
The role that I fulfilled in assembling our talent roster as EVP of Talent Rations was a thankless one but I knew that when I took the job. Tough decisions have to be made and if encouraging someone to lose weight is a bad thing then I was guilty. Show wasn’t the only performer with who we addressed this matter. Plus, how many 500 pound men do you know that live long, healthy lives? We also addressed these issues with Yokozuna and Vader who we both wanted to achieve optimum health.
Our system of scouting, signing and developing talent seemed to work pretty well because, in the opinion of many, the best roster that WWE ever had or will have was during the time around the Attitude Era. I hope that roster is surpassed some day but only time will tell.
Ron Simmons Explains “Damn!”
In a recent interview with SLAM! Wrestling Ron Simmons explained how his catchphrase DAMN, organically caught on:
“Let’s just say I’d jump off the top rope and I’d sprain an ankle or I would miss a move or something, and the first thing I’d yell out was ‘Damn!’ and the people in the first few rows could hear me say that. Every time I was coming back to a city, the fans would notice that every time something would go wrong, I would say ‘Damn!’ and as I kept coming back to each of the cities, I noticed that they would all start chanting ‘Damn!’ One day I asked Bradshaw what they were doing.
“I think they’re talking about you,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, every time you do something and it’s not right you say ‘Damn!’ and that’s what they’re saying.”
“The writers picked up on that too. So we were in Chicago and Booker T and John Cena were doing something and they asked me to just walk on stage and after Cena was done talking just to say ‘Damn!’ and see the response. And it got over with the fans. You never know what people are gonna like, right?”