Jim Ross has had a 2017 that none of us can imagine. His wife, Jan, passed away just before WrestleMania weekend after being injured in a vehicle accident, and then he returned to WWE with an emotional appearance at WrestleMania 33 to call the Undertaker’s final match. Since then, he has called matches for WWE’s United Kingdom Special and NXT TakeOver: Chicago, while continuing to be the voice of New Japan on AXS TV and run his blog, podcast, and assorted one-man shows.
The whole while, the Hall of Fame announcer and voice of a generation has been ramping up to release his first book (shockingly, he somehow had never written a book before). The memoir will take fans through Ross’ legendary career, and it appears J.R. will reveal some secrets that were not public knowledge until now.
In a new interview with the A.V. Club discussing the memoir, Ross gave a sneak preview of the book, saying that it will go into detail about how he was addicted to Xanax and Ambien for a decade.
“You’re going to hear about my addiction to drugs. I was addicted to Ambien and Xanax, together, with Crown Royal. I was on Uranus, and Pluto, and Neptune, and everywhere else late at night. [Because] I had severe sleep apnea – and still do – I stopped breathing 99 times in an hour in a sleep test. So I wasn’t in real great shape with that deal …
“Ambien is a temporary medication for insomnia. Temporary. Not ten years. … It’s not a [revolutionary] story, it’s eye-opening, and shows it can happen to anybody. It was like smoking, I just decided one day to quit smoking, and stopped. Done, I’m done.”
This is a stark reminder that the pro wrestling life is hard on everyone who has to adhere to WWE’s wild schedule, not just the men and women in the ring taking the bumps. It’s wonderful that Ross was able to put the addictions behind him, and now we’re even more looking forward to reading his memoir.
