Under the Black Hat

Under the Black Hat: My Life in the WWE and Beyond by Jim Ross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Under the Black Hat is the second volume in the biography of wrestling commentator and personality Jim Ross.

While I was a little let down by Slobberknocker, thinking it was a little insubstantial given Jim Ross's career, I was open to reading the second book. My wife got it for me for Christmas and I breezed through it the following Monday.

Under the Black Hat starts with Jim Ross becoming head of talent relations and ends with him leaving the WWE after calling one last Wrestlemania less than two weeks after his wife of 25 years was tragically killed and hits a lot of high and low points in between.

Vince McMahon sounds like a real mother fucker to work for but the WWE was pretty much the only game in town for almost 20 years so I guess Jim didn't have much of a choice other than to come back whenever they called despite being fired a few times.

Anyway, events like the death of Owen Hart, exodus of Jeff Jarrett, and retirement of Steve Austin are explored from Jim Ross's point of view. Ross gives an inside view of the pressures of working for the WWE during the Attitude boom. It sounds like it was a continuous dick measuring contest between Vince McMahon, the wrestlers, and good old JR.

There are topics I wish he'd spent more time on but overall I thought this was a much better book than Slobberknocker, with more emotion showing through. I could feel Ross's sadness and frustration at times. It had to be hell to have your dream job but constantly be in fear of someone yanking the rug out from under you.

Under the Black Hat is a great closing chapter to Jim Ross's WWE career. Four out of five stars.

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