"He was very underrated" - WWE Hall of Famer shares honest opinion on Vince McMahon's commentary

Before becoming the iconic Mr. McMahon character, Vince McMahon was a commentator on WWE TV for several years, and his work in the commentary booth has often been overlooked.

Jim Ross shared his opinions about Vince McMahon's commentary during a recent edition of the Grilling JR podcast, which featured a special Ask JR Anything session, with host Conrad Thompson on AdFreeShows.com.

Jim Ross said that Vince McMahon was a much better commentator than what people made him out to be. Ross explained that Mr. McMahon's rise as a character overshadowed his previous work as a commentator.

"Better than people give him credit for being. Much better than people give him credit for being. His heat in subsequent years, due to the popularity or lack thereof, depending on your perspective, of the Mr. McMahon character, brought forward the fact that "Well, he was an a******, or he was mean to this guy, or he was tough," blah, blah, blah. All the stories over the years. But I don't think that he wasn't a good announcer."

Ross explained that Vince McMahon did a good job, and the AEW announcer recalled working with the WWE Chairman on a three-person team alongside Jerry Lawler.

Jim Ross explained that Vince McMahon took the lead while Jerry Lawler chimed in with his unique inputs. JR only had to come in if "anything was left over," and the veteran had no problems with his role.

"He did a good job. I've always said that, until now, I'd never been a fan of three-man teams. I'm still not overwhelmed with it. It has nothing to do with the two guys I work with. The two guys I work with now is the best three-man team I've worked on, and I enjoy it a lot with those guys, with Excalibur and Tony (Schiavone). But, Vince and Lawler and I had a good little thing going. You know, Vince is going to be the lead; he was going to do the play-by-play. Lawler was going to, you know, get his Lawler stuff in, and if there was anything left over, then JR could pop in, which was fine with me. I'd provide far less content. And so, I didn't have to be good as many times."

JR said that Vince McMahon was an underrated commentator, and the WWE boss' body of work as an announcer was quite impressive. However, it all happened before Vince McMahon rose to become one of the most despised TV characters.

Jim Ross on the flaw in Vince McMahon's commentary

JR also highlighted a flaw in Vince McMahon's commentary. Ross himself committed the mistake of trying to interact a little too much with a commentary partner. JR said that Vince McMahon also dwelled on communicating with his broadcast partner, which was the only negative aspect of McMahon's commentary that JR could pinpoint.

"So, Vince did a good job. I think he was very underrated, and if you go back and listen to some of his old stuff, hell, he did a good job. He did a real good job. I think sometimes he dwelled on, like I've done, he dwelled on interacting with his partner too long, too much, or you shoot a soundbite, but you've got more than that."

Jim Ross stated that while he liked Vince McMahon's work with Jesse Ventura, he wasn't a fan of McMahon's pairing with Randy Savage.

"I enjoyed his work with Ventura. I wasn't a big fan of Savage's announcing, but Vince made it palatable. Vince was better at working with Savage than I was. But, I was a better worker with Lawler than Vince was. I thought he was underrated, Conrad. Bottom line. Underrated."

What do you think? How good was Vince McMahon as a commentator? Let us know in the comments section below.

---

Please credit Grilling JR and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.