JR’s appearance is in conjunction with his Slobberknocker Sessions show going on in New Orleans on April 6th. You can get your tickets HERE.
We have included a highlight from Jim’s interview below. You can listen to the full audio, via WrestleZone Radio, on iTunes or embedded in the audio player at the top of this post.
WrestleZone will be releasing more transcribed highlights from Jim’s interview throughout the week.
On fans who were critical of his commentary for NJPW’s Strong Style Evolved:
JR: I read some of the criticisms about my work and the broadcast in general but essentially people want, the die-hards who follow New Japan World, they want their team. They want Kevin Kelly and Don Callis to do the show. I don’t blame them. I don’t even get mad about it. The only thing that gets frustrating is when you’ve got wrestling fans who’ve got like 40 followers on Twitter that tell you, “your career sucks,” and that you should be dead or not allowed to be on television. That’s kind of crude, I think. Does that really feel necessary for not knowing the certain name of a certain hold?
I have a pet peeve about that deal, to be honest with you. A bodyslam is a God damned bodyslam. You can give it 18 different names to sell t-shirts, that’s fine and I don’t care but to me it’s a bodyslam. We find ourselves talking about this variant or that variant and worry about not pissing off the talent because we didn’t give their hold a name or use the name they use in their niche marketing. I find it almost embarrassing to be quite frank about it.
I enjoyed the show, I enjoyed working with New Japan, I love working with the guys who produce AXS TV. They produce a really good.