Last Monday night on Raw, there was a Jim Ross Appreciation night where the show was dedicated to Good Ol’ JR. Even though CM Punk tried to ruin the festivities, an appearance by Ryback halted those plans. Since the show was devoted to JR, I think it’s appropriate to have a Jim Ross edition of “Remember When”.

Do you remember when JR turned heel?…Twice?

Of course we all know the heel turn of one, Michael Cole but he wasn’t the only play-by-play Wrestling commentator to make the sudden turn of evil. JR’s first heel turn was in September 1996. It all started when JR was fired in February 1994 after his attack of Bell’s Palsy. He would then go on to Smokey Mountain Wrestling and even did some play-by-play work for the Atlanta Falcons. When Vince McMahon got indicted by the U.S Government, he had to step down as the head commentator of WWF TV. They brought back JR in the summer of 94 until all the legal allegations was completed. Once it was, JR was right back in the unemployment office.

He was brought back in early 1995 right before Wrestlemania 11. A year and a half later, he cut a promo stating that since the releases of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, he’s been keeping in touch with Razor Ramon (Hall’s WWF character) and Diesel (Nash’s WWF character) and he would be bringing them back soon. A couple weeks later, JR cut another promo this time about all the firings and his Bell’s Palsy condition. He would then introduce the new Razor Ramon (Rick Bognar). After the new Razor and Diesel flopped, JR went back to being a face announcer.

His second turn came in March 1999. It started after JR took a break in late 1998 after the death of his mother and another BP attack. When he came back he had his own announce table and brought in Dr. Death Steve Williams as his enforcer. JR would do pretty much the same thing he did in 1996. He even brought in the man he took under his wing, Michael Cole, and basically embarrassed him on live TV. JR went as far as to kick Michael Cole in the crotch, however that got more cheers than jeers and the heel turn was soon dropped and JR was right back to being the head commentator of WWF by Wrestlemania 15.

Here’s JR’s first heel turn

Here’s JR’s second heel run

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