Dixie Carter Wanted To Sign Jim Ross, Val Venis On Vince McMahon Pitching His Adult Film Gimmick
Former TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter made an attempt to recruit Jim Ross back in 2009, which the WWE Hall of Famer discussed on his “Grilling JR” podcast.
Good Ol’ JR revealed the discussions he had with Carter at the time, and you can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On meeting with Carter and her family: “I was staying in Norman [Oklahoma] and Dixie Carter’s family has a beautiful ranch in North Texas. They flew to Norman and picked me up. It was a 20-minute flight in a little jet, and I met the whole family down there. I was interested, and I would have taken [the job] but I had to have my terms — and my terms were I need to run it [TNA]. I used the old Bill Parcells line, ‘If you want me to cook dinner, you’ve got to let me buy some groceries.’ So, I wanted to have control over the talent — totally. Because some guys had to go, they were killing the budget.”
On Carter being concerned about backlash from the roster: “So, she didn’t pull the trigger. And I’ve seen Dixie many times since then, we get along fine — I like her. But, if she wanted to change the course of TNA, there was a chance. She didn’t have the conviction to step away from a lot of her incumbents because they had built a little power struggle. It was pro wrestling. The con men had taken over, and sometimes she didn’t see it.”
On the latest edition of the “Stories With Brisco and Bradshaw” podcast, Val Venis reflected on his adult film star gimmick from the Attitude Era.
Venis noted that it was Vince McMahon who pitched the character that made him famous, and you can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Vince McMahon pitching the character to him: “I had just returned from a two-week camp [WWE tryout] back to Mexico. It was 7 am in the morning in Mexico City, my phone rings and it was Vince McMahon. He says, ‘I got Vince Russo on speakerphone with me, we have this character for you, and we want to run it by you and see if you’re comfortable with it.’ Vince McMahon says, ‘This character’s name is Val Venis.’ When he spelled the last name, I was like, ‘That’s kinda odd.’ He says, ‘Val Venis was a former film star-turned-pro wrestler.’ In my head, I’m thinking Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura had already done [movie star gimmicks], and how the hell was I to play a Hollywood actor better than those guys?.. Actually, Val Venis was a former adult film star-turned-pro wrestler. Now he’s got my attention! I’m like, ‘This s**t ain’t ever been done before.’ He laid out the basics of the character, but he didn’t have to twist my arm — working with hot chicks on a massive WWE stage … are you kidding me?”
On McMahon giving him time to think about it: “[He said] ‘Take at least 24 hours [to] contemplate this character. I need you to feel comfortable with it. Because if you don’t feel comfortable with it, it’s not going to work.’”
On shooting the vignettes with Jenna Jameson: “The Jenna Jameson vignettes were shot in Bruce Prichard’s house. I don’t think his wife was too pleased about having Jenna Jameson in her house, but it is what it is. I didn’t know about any of this until after the fact.”
On McMahon pushing him to use innuendo in his promos: “Vince would constantly push the idea to me that, ‘When you create these jokes, they have to be constructed in a way where the adults will understand it, but the kids will be like, ‘Why is everyone laughing?’ What’s so funny about it?’ To me, that’s a little bit [an example] of Vince exhibiting morality in his product, which I didn’t think about until several years after the fact. That was something that constantly stuck in my head.”
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