Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler can never forget what they witnessed inside Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.
J.R. spoke on his "Grilling J.R." podcast about the time the legendary WWE commentary duo returned to the venue for the WWE Backlash 2002 pay-per-view, and how it was the first time they were inside the building since the tragedy that took the life of Owen Hart.
The AEW announcer also spoke about how hard it was for he and Lawler because they had to relive the tragic moment.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the episode of "Grilling J.R." where Jim Ross touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On remembering when WWE ran Kemper Arena for Backlash 2002 marking the first time he and Jerry Lawler were there since Owen Hart's tragic passing at WWE Over The Edge 1999: "Kemper [Arena] especially. I don’t know why we [WWE] went there. I’m not… because of what happened prior, the Owen [Hart] situation. I mean of all the arenas in America that we could have run, we ran Kemper and I don’t — I never have quite figured that one out but in any event, the crowd [at Backlash 2002] was responsive, it was representative, you know, got over 10,000 folks there, they were pumped up. I remember the crowd being involved."
On how hard it was for he and Jerry Lawler because they had to relive the moment: "But I also know that behind those tearful eyes sometimes in the crowd, that they were thinking about the last time they were there for a WWE event and it’s just challenging to get those thoughts out of your — and those images out of your mind… and for [Jerry] Lawler and I, nobody gives a sh*t about us but bottom line is-is that we had to relive it again too and considering I was the one that made the announcement that Owen had died, I carried those with me from all the way when it happened to going back. So, I don’t know. I just… selfishly, I wish we would have done it at another building."
Check out the complete episode of "Grilling J.R." where Jim Ross talks more about these topics and others by visiting Apple.com. H/T to POST Wrestling for transcribing the above quotes.
