When the names of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, Junkyard Dog, the Fabulous Freebirds, the Von Erich dynasty, and Jerry “The King” Lawler are mentioned, some might instantly label them as fan favorite “rasslers” from the South, who once worked for the former Chairman and CEO of WWE, Vince McMahon. And while some believe that southern born or popularized wrestlers in that region weren’t treated as equally as their counterparts from the North by McMahon, “Double J” Jeff Jarrett disagrees entirely.

“I don’t personally believe Vince, like, gave two strikes against you if you were southern,” the former six-time WWE Intercontinental Champion said on his “My World” podcast. “I just don’t…And when you look at everything to go with it, I mean, you can’t say Hulk [Hogan], the biggest box office attraction he ever had, he’s certainly not a New York City slicker. I’m not going to say he’s a southern guy, but he’s Tampa…I just don’t ever look at Vince as having that crazy kind of bias. I never did.”

Several of the names listed above went on to become focal icons for the company, even winning the grandest championships imaginable. Despite the turbulent flaws McMahon had that eventually cost him his career, no matter where a wrestler came from, if they had the “It” factor, McMahon was the first to jump in head first to capture and hone their talent into unbeatable heights.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “My World with Jeff Jarrett” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Despite his reservations, The Miz eventually made his way into WWE through “Tough Enough.” The journey began when he got a call from WWE personally to do a tryout for the show with 50 people, which he still had reservations about. He reached out to WWE star and longtime industry veteran Simon Dean.

“I was like: ‘Would you do this? Like, I want respect in the business,” he said. “I don’t want people to look at me as ‘the Tough Enough Guy’ … Because if you watch the Tough Enough people back then? They got it!” he recalled.

The Miz added that other names from Tough Enough were not respected in WWE and when the locker room wanted them out, they were eventually ousted.

“So I knew I needed people to teach me inside the ring, and I knew I needed the respect, and if I went on ‘Tough Enough,’ I wouldn’t get that.” he added. However, Dean reminded him that the opportunity was for a million dollars, and Miz’ previous experiences trying out for WWE outside of reality TV hadn’t worked.

Recalling the first ever day of ‘Tough Enough,'” The Miz claimed he had to take around 500 bumps on the first day, and that one of the other would-be competitors (a military veteran) quit immediately afterward. On top of this, he survived an 18-person firing.

“They put us through the ringer on Tough Enough; but you had to earn it, right?” he added. “You had to see who wanted to be there.”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

As a severe winter storm continues to move through North America, many people have faced delays, cancelations, or re-routings in their travels. For “WWE Raw” ring announcer Alicia Taylor, it has resulted in her being stuck at the airport and unable to make it to the January 26 edition of WWE’s red brand.

“Currently at the airport with all canceled flights to Canada soo… tagging in sister Lil for the fill,” Taylor wrote on her Instagram story, confirming Lilian Garcia’s imminent return as the “Raw” ring announcer in her absence. “Thanks @LilianGarcia #RAW.”

While no longer a full-time ring announcer, Garcia is in the midst of a two-year deal with WWE that sees her working Saturday Night’s Main Event specials and other select shows for the company. Most recently, Garcia lent her voice to the January 24 edition of SNME, which emanated from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. With Taylor’s flight to the fallout episode of “Raw” canceled, Garcia will now also make her way to Toronto, Ontario.

Taylor isn’t the only WWE on-screen personality affected by the ongoing winter emergency. During Saturday Night’s Main Event, Stephanie McMahon revealed that Joe Tessitore was unable to co-host the event due to being stranded at an airport in Detroit, Michigan. As of this writing, it’s unknown if he will be back for his other scheduled appearances this week.

On tomorrow’s episode of “Raw,” the teams of the New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), American Made (Brutus Creed and Julius Creed), Alpha Academy (Otis and Akira Tozawa), and Los Americanos (Bravo and Rayo) will compete in a four-way match to determine the number one contenders to the WWE World Tag Team Championships. Elsewhere, AJ Styles and GUNTHER will appear ahead of their Royal Rumble match.