Quotes from Jim Ross

The adrenaline of performing live in front of an audience is a feeling that's hard to replicate.

WrestleMania is a major event and that's an understatement obviously, but it's a major event from the standpoint that many other companies use WrestleMania as a source of creating new revenue.

Wrestlemania is big, and I'm glad that I got to go on a real interesting 21-year ride on the road to and out of Wrestlemania.

For my money, Dan Hodge is the greatest amateur wrestler ever produced in the U.S.A.

I've always thought Wrestlemania is a special event that brings the best out of everybody, whether it's the wrestlers or the broadcasters or whomever, and I still believe that.

Tough wrestlers have never been uncommon. Competing and performing through injuries, enduring crazy travel schedules and wrestling with no offseason just lends itself for one to have to be tough to make it long term and with success in sports-entertainment.

In the early 1900s, wrestlers who attained main event success were largely all tough men who could handle themselves in any environment whether it be in a wrestling ring or a tavern.

I'm a wrestling fan with a phenomenal journey.

My first broadcast partner provided color commentary even though he was totally blind. Leroy McGuirk was a former NCAA Wrestling Champion at Oklahoma State University and long time kingpin of the NWA Junior Heavyweight Division before losing his sight in a car accident in Little Rock in the early 1950s.

Without question, Jerry 'The King' Lawler is my most recognizable partner and my favorite to work with over the years. We endured several things together that reach far beyond merely signing on and subsequently saying 'good night everybody' at the end of the show.

Two men that did treat me well from day one were Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon. Thanks to them being old pros and having the class of a pair of WWE Hall of Famers and true gentlemen, I was given a chance to prove myself to them as a human being.

Most fans don't realize how challenging it is to broadcast live TV, especially in a hybrid genre such as WWE.

I was lucky to have been able to work so closely with Vince McMahon as he was able to see up-close what I could contribute to WWE, which lead to some amazing years not only at ringside, but also in the boardroom.

When I first arrived in WWE after having a somewhat high profile on-air role in WCW, it was WrestleMania season. In a way, I was perceived to be the voice of WCW after the Ted Turner/TBS buyout of Jim Crockett Promotions. That 'claim to fame' did not endear me to many WWE personnel.

Unlike the on-air talents in the NFL where they have producers figuratively joined at their hip, providing them with info and tidbits of data, we WWE announcers are responsible for getting ourselves ready for every broadcast.

I've heard Jerry do mini concerts while driving, especially when the music of The Beatles or a handful of other 'British Invasion' bands aired. Hearing Jerry Lawler sing with a British accent is quite an experience.

Cena, love him or not, connects with the ticket buying public better than any one in the biz. End of story.

I'm a big fan of Lance Archer, Jeff Cobb, Luke Harper.

We live in a very defiant society, especially among young men in the WWE's target demographic. So sometimes when you're really trying to promote somebody and build them, the audience can easily take it as you're trying to force somebody upon them.

The Heisman Trophy equivalent in collegiate wrestling is named the Dan Hodge Award, which illustrates just how Dan is perceived within that culture.

I've been selling things all my life. I sold wrestling for a long time. I sold the talent and sold the matches.

Walking away from a problem is never a solution. Never. Solve the problem.

I've been a wrestling fan my whole life, and for so many years a lot of us have been, for lack of a better word, bullied. We've been teased, kidded, eyes rolled from our peers and family members. 'You watch wrestling?!?' I see my shows as a safe zone, a safe haven.

One of my biggest fears, in both my personal and business life, is residing too long in my comfort zone.