Jim Ross was recently interviewed on the latest 'Talk Is Jericho' podcast in which he discussed Vince McMahon and the infamous Dr. Heiney segment which J.R. revealed upset his late wife Jan Ross.
"Heās a different breed of cat. And look, people have thought that, āBoy, JRās gonna really ā heās out of WWE, heās with AEW now, he doesnāt have to cross that bridge anymore.ā Well, Iām not a bridge burner. Iām not gonna do that. And the thing about it is, for both of us [him and Jericho]. We have so much in common on this topic, that he made us both a lot of money. And thatās kind of what we got ā I got in the business to be in the wrestling business, not knowing what rewards may lie ahead because I was never going to be a wrestler. How could I earn a good living, a significant living, in another facet of our business? And I found a few things that I thought I was decent at, and I wanted to capitalize at those things. So, he was a ā heās just an interesting guy, man. It wasnāt a hatchet job, Iām glad that you saw the balance. It was a balance there. I put him over as much as I said, āWell, here we did this, I didnāt like it but I understand why they did it, but it didnāt suit me well."
"The Dr. Heiney thing was a sticking point for me because ā look, I didnāt see Dr. Heiney when it aired live because I was on a morphine drip getting out of ICU that morning ⦠Iād been sick, and I didnāt want to admit illness. I didnāt want to admit it because ā or pain, or discomfort, because I didnāt want to be perceived as weak. And we both know in the wrestling business, weak personalities, weak character gets gobbled right up. And so I didnāt wanna be perceived as a weak guy ⦠I was insecure, all this other stuff, sick, you know, losing my spot. All the regular wrestling cliches.
"So Iām sitting at home, I was in intensive care for nine days. I had a perforated colon, and I was poisoning myself. I was about 30 days away from dying. But these stomach aches man, I mean, I was drinking Pepto Bismol and all these things, these little homemade remedies like it was water. But the pain would never go away. And then I started doing too many opiates, and masked my pain and all of this other crap."
"So they do a thing ā Vince calls me on Monday morning. Jan answered the phone and she says, āItās Vince.ā I said, āOkay.ā So heās in LA getting ready to do Raw later that day. He said, āHey pal, uh hope youāre feeling better. I got a little something for you on the show tonight, youāre really gonna like. Hope you watch.ā That was about it. So I was drugged, you know, legally and by the doctorās orders for this stuff Iām enduring. So I said, āOkay, thanks,ā whatever it was. You know, I was buzzed. So I end up falling asleep later in the day and I didnāt watch the show.
āSo then I wake up to Jan crying. And Iām thinking, āWhat the hell has happened while I was asleep?ā She had older parents, it could have a death, or tragedy, I didnāt know. So I said, āHoney, whatās wrong?ā She said, āYou didnāt see what Vince did, did you?ā I said, āNo, I slept right through the whole show.ā So she says, āWhy does he do these things?ā And I said, āI donāt ā what did he do?ā So she told me. We rewinded the DVR."
"And I never understood that punchline [in the segment], I never understood the creative. Iām not sure who all wrote that. I think Brian Gewirtz was involved. Iām not mad at anybody about it. He was ā Brian was doing what he said, that heās supposed to do. Heās a talented guy. Itās just a ā I thought a waste of time. And I thought it was a little, it borderlined on too personal. It wasnāt business, and it wasnāt funny. So what did we do it? And it made my wife cry, so it pissed me off."
"God, who knows? You know, you probably had as good an assumption as I do. I donāt know why he did it. He thought it was entertaining. Everything ā itās like ribbing on the square in wrestling. You know, wrestlers are famous about not wanting to face up to the truth sometimes, and make everything convenient for them. And theyāre ribbing on the square becomes, āI forgotā so they say this, this, this. Then someone will say ā itās like a woman. Insulting a woman or coming onto her. āHey honey, Iām just teasing. Come on. You canāt believe Iām serious about that, can you?ā Well, yeah. I can. So thatās kind of what it was. I never did understand it. He thought it was entertaining, and that scared me because it wasnāt."
Thanks to 411Mania.com for transcription.