Hall Of Famer Discusses Brian Pillman Being Unable To Catch A Break During WWE Run

WWE

A Hall of Famer has discussed Brian Pillman being unable to catch a break during his WWE run.

After years as a babyface in WCW, Brian Pillman slowly became a more unhinged performer and transitioned into “The Loose Cannon.”

After leaving WCW and making a pitstop in ECW, Pillman eventually made his way to WWE where Jim Ross was able to sell Vince McMahon on the idea of signing the smaller performer.

Speaking on Grillin JR, Ross recalled signing “The Loose Cannon” and called it “an easy sell” to McMahon who Pillman won over at a wrestling convention. JR said:

“When Brian was released from WCW, there were a lot of options, with WWE as the top candidate.”

“Vince thought Brian was cool and had balls. I helped him negotiate the deal. Brian had another chance of getting back in the game, and Vince was going to give him a good shot at getting over as a main event-level guy.”

“That was all well and good until he suffered a hummer accident. That didn’t help the cause very much. I felt so bad for him because that was a serious piece of business.”

Ross continued on to recall that Pillman’s run became a series of things just not going right for the star, saying:

“He couldn’t catch a break [in WWE]. That [accident] added to his consternation, attitude and stress.”

“I really wish we could have [seen] a healthy Brian Pillman for an extended length of time, so we could have really seen what he was like. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Recalling that Pillman never lost his confidence despite dealing with injury and believed he could work through any pain, JR said:

“He never lost his confidence, but he was also becoming more dependent on pain medicines to try and get around — and even just to walk.”

“All the damage the [car] wreck had done was really daunting. But, he kept fighting, that’s what was amazing about him. He wouldn’t say, ‘I quit’ or ‘I can’t do it anymore’ no matter what.”

Jim Ross concluded by reflecting on Pillman’s attitude throughout the series of injuries, saying:

“When I suggested that, he got angry. The writing was on the wall — people just didn’t believe he was healthy enough to pull this off in the ring. He had all the tools needed, but if Brian wasn’t wrestling, Brian wasn’t happy.” 

“I wouldn’t say he was frustrated, but it was heading in that direction. He was like, ‘It doesn’t look like this is going to pan out.’ But the more [we] talked about it, the more Brian tried to make it happen. He was in so much pain just to get around — it was sad.”

Jim Ross currently works for All Elite Wrestling where he called the first half of their recent AEW Double Or Nothing pay-per-view.

Here are full results from WWE Night of Champions 2023:

World Heavyweight Championship – Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins def. AJ Styles

Trish Stratus def. Becky Lynch after interference from Zoey Stark

Intercontinental Championship – Gunther (c) def. Mustafa Ali

Raw Women’s Championship – Asuka def. Bianca Belair (c)

SmackDown Women’s Championship – Rhea Ripley (c) def. Natalya

Brock Lesnar def. Cody Rhodes

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship – Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (c) def. Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa after the Usos accidentally superkicked Sikoa, and Jimmy Uso purposely superkicked Reigns

Transcription via Wrestling Inc.

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• Brian Pillman
• jim ross
• AEW
• wwe

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