WWE News: Jim Ross recalls his part in the Fake Diesel and Razor Ramon storyline

What's the story?

Jim Ross has witnessed a lot of the best, worst and even the strangest moments in the history of wrestling.

411mania.com carried transcripts from his Grillin' Jim podcast where he spoke about one of the weirdest storylines from the 1990s when he was involved with the creation of the Fake Diesel and Razor Ramon characters.

In case you didn't know...

Ross was both an on-screen commentator/character as well as a backstage talent scout during his time in WWF/WWE.

Razor Ramon and Diesel were leaving the WWF for WCW and a storyline was discussed backstage where fake versions of those two characters, portrayed by different wrestlers, would appear in WWF. Ross would be their manager.

The heart of the matter

The mid-'90s was one of the most tumultuous times in WWF/WWE company history. Two of the biggest stars in Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were leaving for bigger deals in WCW and WWF was still transitioning from the steroids' scandal.

WWE still had a lot of occupational gimmicks for wrestlers like the Repo Man, Duke 'The Dumpster' Droese, Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS and the Goon. Another idea that was thrown around during one meeting was the creation of fake versions of the former Razor Ramon and Diesel since both men had recently left for WCW.

The whole debut and reveal of the characters were supposed to include Ross cutting a heel promo 'where he took credit for running key superstars out of the company as a source of revenge for how he had been treated.'

It backfired as fans rejected the absurdity of trying to pass off two new wrestlers as two of the biggest stars in the company at that point. Ross talked about the exact meeting where the possibility of his new heel character managing the two fake superstars was discussed.

"I always wondered why those decisions were made. I was very, very content to continue to improve as a broadcaster and to hopefully earn more significant minutes on the TV doing my work as to what I came there to do. And then it was given to me that this is what we’re gonna do, and ‘You’re gonna be the guy.’ I was never told — I thought I was gonna become like a heel announcer. But I never got the discussion I was gonna become a manager. Because that was never in my plan whatsoever. I didn’t think I’d be good at it."

He had some familiarity with Glenn Jacobs, the man portraying the new Diesel due to his time as a commentator in Smoky Mountain Wrestling but was unaware of the new Razor Ramon, Ric Bogner.

[Jacobs’ other gimmick] Doctor Yankem was never gonna work out. It was another stupid gimmick! Made no sense. So eye-rolling, nobody could attach to it, because they don’t wanna be embarrassed that they’re a fan of something so bad. And it wasn’t Glenn’s fault, the gimmick was so bad.

What's next?

Hopefully, a situation like the fake Diesel and Razor Ramon will not ever happen again in the WWE.

The company was in a desperate situation with its talent back then, but the WWE currently has the deepest roster it has ever had.