Jim Ross says Diesel and Ramon are WWF bound
WWF attempts to boost interest in WWF product and help cable ratings with deceptive on-air reports
In what could go down as one of the more ill-conceived publicity stunts in a long time, the WWF had their most credible announcer Jim Ross
announce on their Sept. 6 USA Championship Friday special that Diesel and Razor Ramon were returning to the WWF. Ross said he was basing
his report on “his most trusted sources.”
After that deceptive report garnered a hugely disappointing 1.8 rating for the heavily hyped Friday special and after a weekend of criticism from fans who were aware of the nature of the report, the WWF continued to stand by the story, but attempted to save Ross’s reputation by having it appear he is fighting with upper management to bring the fans continuing updates regarding this breaking story.
For the record, Diesel and Razor Ramon are character names owned by the WWF. Ross was careful to not say that Scott Hall and Kevin Nash
were actually returning. Hall and Nash, unaware of the comments ahead of time, had neither any plans nor even the ability to jump back to the
WWF. In fact, the night of the announcement by Ross, Hall and Nash were wrestling for WCW at a house show.
The WWF’s goal apparently was to get people talking. They did, but it wasn’t pretty. The instant feedback from reporters on 900 lines and from
fans on the internet was negative.
As Steve Austin walked to the ring for his match against Marc Mero on USA Championship Friday, Ross said, “I’ve been in this great sport over 20 years and right here tonight I am going to the biggest story of my broadcasting career. Certainly the biggest story of the year in the WWF. This is going to be shocking and we’ll have it right here.”
Later in the show Ross said: “The breaking story we talked about earlier in the show that I really believe will be the biggest story of the year here in the World Wrestling Federation is this. Big Daddy Cool Diesel and the Bad Guy Razor Ramon are on their way back to the World Wrestling
Federation. I have that on good authority from some very reliable sources.” Kevin Kelly responded, “Unbelievable news, J.R. What a huge story
that would be.” Ross reiterated: “My sources tell me, and they’ve been very reliable sources, I’ve had them for years, and that is the fact that Big
Daddy Cool Diesel and the Bad Guy Razor Ramon are on their way back to the World Wrestling Federation.”
Once again, later in the show, Ross said: “When you’ve been in the business as long as I have, there are some sources you really rely on. And they tell me Diesel and Razor Ramon are on their way back to the World Wrestling Federation.”
Ross said they’d have more info on the story the next day on Mania and the WWF 900 line.
Behind the scenes the WWF discussed all weekend how they would follow up on the situation. They entertained the idea of bringing wrestlers in to play the Diesel and Ramon characters, an idea that has been floating around for a few months. They did contact independent wrestler Big Titan over the weekend to see if he was available to play the Razor Ramon character. Big Titan wrestled once in ECW as Slice & Dice Ramirez, a take off on Ramon. They may have contacted others for the Diesel and Ramon roles.
The WWF then appeared to change course by Monday. They posted as their lead story on America On-Line that Titan Sports CEO Vince
McMahon asked Ross to apologize for his report and that Ross would have more to say on Monday Night Raw. On Raw, though, Ross milked his “apology” for much of the show, plugging that he’d have more on the Diesel and Ramon story later in the program. Those plugs strategically were stated just after Nitro went to a commercial break. (They did Raw voice-overs live from the studio on Monday.)
Later in the show Ross reported that his comments on Friday may have caused a “snag in the negotiations” with Ramon, but the differences could be easily worked out. He essentially added more fuel to the story by sticking to it three days later.
On his 900 line as recently as Tuesday, he also stood by the story. “I take full responsibility folks for this error in judgement if one was made,” he
said. “However, I stand steadfast in my story and in my sources. I do know that negotiations between Razor and Diesel and their representatives
more specifically and representatives of the WWF were ongoing this week.” He acknowledged the criticism he received over the weekend. “All I
was trying to do was provide the WWF fans with some interesting, timely information and again I stand steadfast behind my sources and I will
continue to report on this story if I am allowed to.”
WCW vice president Eric Bischoff appeared live on the Prodigy wrestling service before the Sept. 9 Monday Nitro went on the air and said Hall
and Nash are under contract with WCW and aren’t going anywhere. He said Ross’s report is an example of how desperate the WWF is for
attention and the 1.8 rating shows the WWF did not succeed. He said it is an idea that is blowing up in Vince McMahon’s face.
WCW has not addressed the situation either on the air or on their 900 reports, in part not to play into the WWF’s storyline, but also not to fall into a legal trap of somehow giving the impression that indeed Hall and Nash are Diesel and Ramon – because they aren’t. WCW did briefly consider playing into the Ross report by having Hall and Nash not appear on Nitro, which might cause people to buy the pay-per-view to see if Hall and Nash would actually no-show. They chose to not play into it at all.
