Jim Ross reacts to Tony Khan-Shane McMahon meeting

Jim Ross thinks Shane McMahon would be a positive addition to AEW.

Earlier this week, news broke that Tony Khan and Shane had met together in Arlington, Texas. It was reported that the meeting was to discuss possibilities moving forward. Shane later issued a statement confirming the “great” meeting. In his statement, Shane said he and Khan spoke about many things, but mostly about their “shared love for the [pro wrestling] business and the rewards and challenges of working with family.”

A photo of the meeting was published by WrestleTalk. On his Grilling JR podcast, Ross reacted to seeing the picture for the first time and discussed what he thinks Shane could bring to AEW if he were to join the promotion.

“That’s pretty cool, actually,” Ross said. “Shane, he could add a lot. He could do some physical things, within reason. He has great name identity. People know who he is. You don’t have to stop and explain, ‘Well now, this is Vince McMahon’s son. This is Stephanie McMahon’s brother. This is Linda McMahon’s son.’ All that stuff goes without saying. But if Tony [Khan’s] an entrepreneur, and if he thought that Shane could help us in AEW, and if Shane thought he could have some fun, make a couple of paydays — I’m sure Shane is not in need of a significant cash influx — but [if] he wants to have fun and contribute. Look, the wrestling business is in Shane’s blood. Where else does he go if he wants to stay in that vocation? Where else does he go?”

The 72-year-old Ross said he’s a fan of Shane’s. They’ve known each other since Shane was in high school. Ross doesn’t have any inside info that Shane is AEW-bound, but he believes Shane would be an entertaining television character.

“I think he could help us in a lot of ways, strategically,” Ross noted. “As a TV character, obviously the main thing. So we’ll just have to wait and see how that works out. I don’t have any outstanding hope or any inside info that he’s the guy, but he might be a new addition at some point in time. And if so, between both their creative abilities, it would be entertaining.”

Shane potentially joining AEW has been a talking point online since Ross and Conrad Thompson first discussed the hypothetical idea on Grilling JR several weeks ago.

Ross, the “Hall of Fame Voice of Wrestling,” has been with AEW since 2019. This March, Ross announced that he had signed a new one-year contract with AEW. His role is contributing on commentary at AEW pay-per-view events.