Jim Ross recently shared insights on his podcast Grilling JR, reflecting on WWE's "New Generation" era, key booking philosophies, and specific matches from the mid-'90s. His candid thoughts provided a glimpse into the challenges and successes of that time.

Discussing the creation of WWE's New Generation philosophy, Ross explained, “Yeah, yeah. I pitched it, and I got cooperation from the rest of the guys. It’s good stuff. You know, I just believe that you can’t become one-dimensional. What you’re looking for, Conrad, is, you get these guys on TV, you use them in a positive manner, and you see who gets over. If you’re given the opportunity and the TV time in a positive fashion, who’s going to get themselves over? They got their break.

“‘They’re not doing anything with me. They’re not pushing me. I’m getting futured, blah, blah, blah.’ And that’s how I looked at that deal. We had talents that we should be using to see if they could get over. And if they got over, then we would win. If they don’t get over, then we move on to the next guy. And that’s kind of how Cowboy [Bill Watts] booked. That’s how Eddie Graham booked. I learned a lot from both those guys. That’s all I did. We were one-dimensional or two-dimensional.”

Ross highlighted how important it was to maximize opportunities for talent and adapt to what was working. He noted, “The chemistry between Backland and Diesel, and all due respect to both guys who are friends of mine, wasn’t good. They didn’t have the chemistry, the natural chemistry, that you would like to bet on. So to me, it was a no-brainer. And apparently when I made my pitch, everybody seemingly agreed that it was, well, let’s try it. And that’s kind of what I told Vince. ‘What the hell you got to lose? Why don’t we try it?’ And he agreed. And it worked. Diesel got over more. Razor got over more, for example. All those guys found something; they found an opportunity. They were excited about their opportunity. So now my pitch to them was, ‘It’s up to you to get over. We’re going to put you on a platform where that’s positive.’”

Ross also spoke about how Shawn Michaels stood out during that period, calling him “another Ric Flair,” adding, “Big-time talent, babyface or heel. He was just tremendous, and we weren’t using him very well. And so we changed that.”

Regarding Kevin Nash’s WWE Title program against Bob Backlund in 1994, Ross didn’t hold back. “It wasn’t going to draw a dime [but not his fault], no. Kevin’s a very bright guy, but he endured it and went with it because that was his job. But it was a horrible booking. It didn’t do him any favors whatsoever, and certainly didn’t do the business any favors whatsoever. One thing, he’s a seven-foot babyface, and we had the same conundrum with Undertaker.”