Jim Ross on Randy Savage: ‘He was a little bit of a bully’

The legendary announcer wasn’t a fan of the Macho Man.

Jim Ross snapped into “Macho Man” Randy Savage during a recent episode of his podcast, Grilling JR. Ross was asked why he thought Savage wasn’t brought back to WWE following an interview Savage had with WWE’s Smackdown Magazine in 2002. It was there that Ross shared his feelings about Savage.

“I didn’t get along with him, but that don’t mean nothing, don’t mean a thing, other than we had different philosophies,” said Ross. “And he was a little bit of a bully and unpredictable, and maybe that’s what made him a star. If it did, more power to him.”

Unlike other stars such as Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and the Ultimate Warrior, who each returned to WWE after an abrupt split with the company, Savage was the only star who never returned to WWE in an onscreen role. Ross, who was running talent relations at the time, said Savage was very close to Vince McMahon, who was still running the promotion in 2002. Ross figures Savage’s asking price might have been too high, especially if he wasn’t going to perform in the ring.

“I don’t know what the MSRP is going to be on that deal, but it’s going to be a lot of money, and he’s not going to wrestle, or we didn’t think he was going to wrestle,” said Ross.

In 1993, Ross and Savage worked commentary together, most notably at WrestleMania IX, where Ross debuted with the then-WWF. He says that in one interaction with Savage, Gorilla Monsoon had to intervene after Savage felt that Ross was trying to bury him.

“I couldn’t even relate to that,” said Ross. “Why would I want to bury you?”

Ross praised Savage for his star power and says he would have been happy to assist the former two-time WWE Champion from his position in talent relations, though he didn’t see eye-to-eye with the Macho Man.

“If I can help him, if there’s things I can do for him, airline tickets or days off or whatever, I’ll be happy to accommodate him, but he wasn’t my favorite guy,” Ross said.