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JR's Blog: Randy Savage...A-Rod...Christian to ECW??...Beware of the Draft...Toby Keith Can Fight

Posted: Feb 13th 2009 By: mikeiles

Thanks for stopping by and visiting our website. I hope you will take a moment to stop by our store and place an order. We also appreciate your emails and we have updated the Q&A section of the site earlier today as well. There's a fair amount of ground to cover including some info on Randy Savage, A-Rod, Bret Favre, the WWE Draft and more with these random thoughts.

"Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection" will be released by the WWE on June 9 and as of today the match selection process was still on going. Obviously, some of Savage's bouts are no brainers to include on this upcoming DVD including Savage vs. Steamboat from WM3 but there is so much excellent content to pick from that making a final decision on this particular DVD won't be easy. Of course this will create the obligatory and predictable concerns as to why certain matches were not included. It's obviously a conspiracy of the Oliver Stone magnitude. BTW Macho Man would be a great candidate for the WWE Hall of Fame some day and I wonder why no one has ever suggested such in the past? I think Matt Striker may be penciled in to host the Savage DVD....dig it?!

It seems as if I may be on A-Rod overload. Here's what I think about this matter....steroids have no place in sports or in entertainment....A-Rod is smart enough to know what he was injecting into his body....the term performance enhancing appears to be a synonym for the term ego enhancing....there, unfortunately, seems to be no fool proof drug tests currently available in America including the United States Olympic Committee's (see Marion Jones, etc.)....testing by all entities that do test should continue....Congress should truly study this matter before they start any further investigations so that they actually know of what they are speaking.....and we would all likely be shocked at the amount of steroids being used in high school and college sports in America.

Sad to see the great Brett Favre retire, for good this time it seems, from the NFL. I got to know #4 when he was with the Falcons in '92 and he is one helluva guy who is a stand up dude who's great to be around. Brett grew up in Mississippi when Mid South Wrestling was one of the highest rated, syndicated TV shows that aired weekly on local TV. Favre who always played on the edge and with swagger (no wrestling puns intended) on the gridiron used to reminiscence about the Fabulous Freebirds' exploits in Bill Watts' Mid South Wrestling territory. Luckily, the 1st ballot NFL HOF'er never adopted a Michael Hayes/Dog the Bounty Hunter hair style while playing close to 20 years in the NFL. I wonder what network will gobble up Favre for their NFL coverage this fall. Hell, he might be in the WWE Draft come April 13, who knows?? Now THAT would be an "Adamle", a healthy announcer contract.

My friend and country music superstar Toby Keith got in the face of an unruly fan in Kentucky recently at one of TK's concerts. Toby is a big, raw boned man who stays in great shape and it makes no sense to me for a likely drunk fan to want to tangle with Toby. For the record, Bullet Bob Armstrong once taught Toby how to apply a suplex that the elder Armstrong said the country singer executed in "textbook fashion." Toby, who is friends with Ron and Don Harris, once did a cameo on TNA years ago and has attended many WWE events.

Some day there is going to be a tragedy in the MMA world when one of the fighters goes too far to "make weight." The hypocrisy of this matter is that the weigh in's are the day before the fight and the fighters usually put significant pounds back on before they fight the next day. GSP allegedly put back on 18 pounds from Friday's weigh in until Saturday night's UFC fight with B.J. Penn. I know weigh in's are necessary but there needs to be some thought given to this matter on how it can be done without jeopardizing the fighter's health as drastically as it currently seems it does.

I have to admit that I was surprised to see Christian return to the WWE Tuesday night on ECW. Christian returning to the WWE at some point wasn't a big secret in many circles but Christian going to the ECW brand was. Personally, I was hoping that "Captain Charisma" would have joined the Smackdown team. ECW got a nice addition to their roster and because they only do one hour or 6 segments of TV weekly, the ECW show should feature solid, in ring wrestling more weeks than not. I think fans want to see more bell to bell action and ECW seems to provide that most weeks.

Tuesday in Fresno lots of WWE talents were speculating and discussing the upcoming WWE Draft on April 13 from Atlanta when, I assume, every one and their Mom, will be required to be front and center for the annual "let's shake up the WWE night." This Raw broadcast will likely garner a healthy TV rating. After last June's night of surprises in San Antonio, any thing can happen and likely will. I am prepared for whatever unlike last year when I wasn't expecting to leave Raw. Change can often times be effective and I personally think it is a good thing to shake up the rosters and create new rivalries and issues. Plus, it is a great time to provide some young talents a nice "jump start."

No matter what happens, I can assure you that this year I will not "throw a shoe" with a post- Draft blog. Where ever I hang my black hat works for me. I like what I am doing now with Tazz but, who knows, I could end up working again with the King or perhaps even with Matt Striker. The unpredictable thing is that only a handful of people will know going into that evening and I won't be one of them.

From what I can ascertain, there likely will not be a full, Smackdown TV show taped in Houston during Wrestlemania Week. Friday Night Smackdown may have elements that emanate from WWE Fan Axxess, which I hear is selling well BTW, but I don't think an entire SD will be broadcast from that site. This matter may still be a work in progress but I can say that a SD TV event has not been on any calendars that I have seen.

We have received some good emails from fans lately and I especially appreciate the succinct ones. I also request that fans refrain from using "insider" terms as quite often they are used incorrectly which does, however, provide for some accidental and inadvertent humor.

Recently I have been asked if I preferred to broadcast with a color announcer that I verbally "battled" with or not. I like for announcers to have differing opinions and for both announcers to not always be on the same page. However, when the show becomes about the announcers and the broadcaster's opinions and not about what the viewers are seeing on their TV screen then you've lost me. Color commentators with a bit of an edge and that are somewhat antagonist keep play by play guys honest and away from the dreaded, career threatening comfort zones. However, for announcers to rag on each other for two hours each week would get old in a hurry. I guess what I am trying to say is that there needs to be balance and hearing two differing opinions isn't a bad thing.

It's going to be a busy week with flying from OKC to Seattle on Saturday, broadcasting a single bout albeit the PPV Main Event at No Way Out, driving with my less than jovial "World's Angriest Announcing" partner to Portland on Monday and then handling the Tuesday night doubleheader Smackdown taping there will make me more than ready to take my Southwest Airlines flight back to OKC on Wednesday.

Thanks to those of you who checked in with us earlier in the week when tornadic activity hammered the Sooner State. My family was spared any hardship which wasn't the case for many of our fellow Oklahomans as there were several fatalities near us due to the storms.

Take care and come and see us at JR'S Family BBQ. I hope to see some of you in Seattle and Portland. Eat more "Q!"

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.