Jim Ross Announces He Is “Stepping Away” From AEW To Heal

Written by Craig Ballantyne • Published 18th June 2023
Jim Ross

Following the debut episode of Collision, Jim Ross has announced that he is taking time away from the commentary booth.

On June 16th, Tony Khan announced that Ross was announced to be part of the commentary team alongside Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuiness. The legendary announcer hit a stumbling block on the day of the show as he posted on social media that he had suffered a bad fall. Despite this, he still made his way to Chicago for Collision.

On the night, McGuiness and Kelly performed announcing duties for most of the show as a duo, with JR joining them for the main event clash between CM Punk & FTR and Samoa Joe, Jay White & Juice Robinson.

During the bout, it was apparent that Ross wasn’t at the top of his game as he helped call the action. Following the show, he took to social media to apologise “for the way he sounded” and announced that he would be stepping away to heal.

“I apologize for the way I sounded tonight.

Going to step away to heal.

Thanks for your support.”

CM Punk and FTR victorious in first AEW Collision main event

The main event took place in front of a hot Chicago crowd who were firmly behind hometown hero Punk. Things reached a frenzy when Joe and Punk stood face-to-face in the ring for the first time in almost two decades and began hitting each other with heavy strikes.

After a 25-minute war between the six competitors, CMFTR were able to isolate Robinson for punishment, first dropping him with Shatter Machine before Punk hit his first GTS since September for the win.