He says that Russell never went out of his way to perform for the audience. He was such a genuine guy, and that’s why his broadcasts always felt believable. Lawler says that when he started doing colour commentary alongside Jim Ross for WWE years later, he always tried to remember and emulate how Russell executed his broadcasts.
One thing about Russell’s work as a commentator that often goes unnoticed is the fact that he rarely got physical on the air with other talents. Lawler points out that in the rare cases when Russell would get involved emotionally or physically it was a huge deal because he was such a believable performer, and fans weren’t accustomed to seeing him get involved.
Lawler believes that although it happened rarely, Russell really enjoyed getting involved physically from time to time. He recalls one night when Jimmy Hart really pushed Russell’s buttons and Russell became very emotional in character on air. The audience ate it up because it wasn’t something that they saw regularly.
Russell also had the unique ability to tell a story with a limited amount of words, and his facial expressions were always on point. Lawler’s not sure if it was even a learned talent or not, but he believes it was just Russell’s natural ability.
