Jim Ross's voice was removed from the opening tonight that precedes all WWE TV programs. The opening used to include Ross saying: "My god, what a fight!" and "It's not over!" and "The World is Watching!" He was replaced by Freddie Blassie, "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, Gorgeous George, and Michael Cole, in a reworked opening.

Ross responded on Twitter moments ago: "While @ gym got messages my voice was removed from Raw show open. If it matters, that's news 2 me. Been nice 2 have been informed. Oh, well"

Ross was taken off of WWE TV when he suffered another Bells Palsy attack that paralized his face. When his announcing contract expired, he engaged in protracted negotiations with WWE including several short-term renewals, but never signed another contract. Instead, he declared "home is where the heart is" and announced he was staying with WWE as an employee in charge of payroll. He has not received any mentions on TV since Smackdown cohost Todd Grisham promised updates on his situation shortly after he was removed from the show for medical reasons. He was at WrestleMania, but not visited by Vince McMahon while he was there, although McMahon was probably quite busy that day.

It also may have been seen as disloyal for Ross to be in attendance at UFC nine days ago for the Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin fight. Yes, Steve Austin and The Rock ("Friends of WWE") were present, along with Bill Goldberg, but so was Paul Heyman. He also didn't wear his WWE gimmick, to which PWTorch senior columnist Bruce Mitchell writes in his VIP-exclusive "Mojo Mitchell" Raw commentary tonight: "I knew Ross would pay a price for taking his hat off."

Keller's Analysis: The relationship between Jim Ross and WWE, and in particular Vince McMahon (but Kevin Dunn is not to be excluded here, as he and Ross often rivaled each other during the Attitude Era for the top deputy position despite very different roles, and Dunn is the guy more into cosmetics than grit and credibility in virtually every recommendation he makes to McMahon), is odd and continues to be odd. Ross not being informed ahead of time can be written off by McMahon and Dunn as Ross being oversensitive about something silly and showing signs of an overblown ego and being mark for little things. In reality, it's a head game, something Mick Foley learned about when he returned to WWE after flirting with TNA. Ross may be in for more headgames for that reason, or perhaps WWE is preparing for or anticipating the possibility of Ross joining Paul Heyman in trying to take TNA to another level as a national competitor to WWE.

[Jim Ross photo by Wade Keller (c) PWTorch]

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