From legendary wrestling announcer Jim Ross, this candid, colorful memoir about the inner workings of the WWE and the personal crises he weathered at the height of his career is āa must-read for wrestling fansā (Charleston Post Courier).
If youāve caught a televised wrestling match anytime in the past thirty years, youāve probably heard Jim Rossās throaty Oklahoma twang. The beloved longtime announcer of the WWE āhas been a driving force behind a generation of wrestling fansā (Mark Cuban), and heās not slowing down, having signed on as the announcer of the starry new wrestling venture All Elite Wrestling. In this follow-up to his bestselling memoir Slobberknocker, he dishes out about not only his long career, which includes nurturing global stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and John Cena, but also about his challenges of aging and disability, his split from collaborator Vince McMahon, and the sudden death of his beloved wife, Jan. The result is a gruff, endearing, and remarkably human-scale portrait, set against the larger than life backdrop of professional wrestling.
Rossās ascent in WWE mirrors the rise of professional wrestling itself from a DIY sideshow to a billion-dollar business. Under the Black Hat traces all the highs and lows of that wild ride, in which Jim served not only as on-air commentator, but talent manager, payroll master, and even occasional in-ring foil to threats like Paul āTriple Hā Levesque and Undertaker. While his role brought him riches and exposure he had never dreamed of, he chafed against the strictures of a fickle corporate culture and what he saw as a narrow vision of what makes great wrestlersāand great story lines. When suddenly stricken with Bellās palsy, a form of facial paralysis that makes it impossible to smile, he started down his greatest fearābeing cast out of the announcing booth for good.
Picking up where Slobberknocker left off and ending on the cusp of a new career in a reimagined industry, Under the Black Hat is the triumphant tale of a country boy who made it to the top, took a few knocks, and stuck aroundājust where his fans like him. Not only being one of the greatest wrestlers of the WWE, Ross is also āa master storyteller, and this book is the perfect forum for his forty yearsā worth of talesā (Chris Jericho, former WWE champion).