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JR's Blog: 'Big Thunder Remembered'..Cornette's Rant..Get The Facts Straight..Extreme Scaffold..FREE SHIPPING for BBQ Sauce!

Posted: Apr 16th 2010 By: CMBurnham

Beautiful day to be above ground here in sunny, Norman, Oklahoma. Be grilling virtually every night and loving it. Healthy, tasty eating is a good thing. The grill is ready and here we go.

The great Gene Kiniski passed away from cancer this week and the business lost one of its all time greats and a true pioneer who had a dominating career in the ring. 'Canada's Greatest Athlete' had an awesome motor and was an aggressive, athletic big man who stood 6'5"-270 pounds. The former college and CFL football player turned pro wrestler was NWA Champion from 1966-69 and won the title from the truly immortal Lou Thesz in St. Louis. Beating Thesz in Lou's home town was no small task. 'Big Thunder' could be described as relentless, intense, and aggressive and his cardio was beyond reproach. I loved the few times that I got to visit with the colorful Kiniski who was a skilled verbalizer and an entertaining man to have a beer with and engage in conversation about a variety of topics. Gene Kiniski will be missed and I send my family's heartfelt condolences to Gene's family and friends. Thanks, Gene, for making wrestling better for all of us who followed you.

I loved the Hart and Soul DVD, as I have mentioned, and I consider it a must see but I could not watch the on camera that King and I had to do to announce the news of Owen's death. I just wasn't ready for it when it came on and I hit the FF button. I know some day that I will watch that event but not now. Too many memories come flooding back of that catastrophic night in Kemper Arena. It's hard to explain but those that remember that night know the proximity of where Jerry Lawler and I were sitting to the accident and the fact that we were doing a live, TV show which became, even more in hindsight, an amazing challenge.

Someone asked me if the famous, Scaffold Match pitting the LOD vs. the Midnight Express was the first 'extreme' wrestling match and it obviously wasn't. Violence and blood have been around the wrestling biz for years and years. I even remember in UWF a 20 man, First Blood Battle Royal, where 19 men had to bleed in order for a winner to be declared. In this match, when you bled you were eliminated. That's just a little bit too much Wild West for the Cleaver's.

Another emailer asked where many of the wrestling fans have gone as it relates to various TV ratings data, etc. I'm not privy to the market research that's available that tracks displaced wrestling fans but it's obvious that many pro wrestling fans are now watching MMA or other programming of which there are endless options. The bottom line, without going into a bunch of psycho babble, is that if any TV product ceases to be what the target audience wants to see then the audience leaves and samples of forms of programming. There are simply too many options to view in today's world unlike in the day when there were only three or four stations in a local market and no cable. Between digital cable and DirecTV the Ross' must get 300 or more channels in our household.

BTW our on line business is good as it seems as if folks are really gearing up for grilling season. I hope that you are too and that you'll check out our specials that include FREE SHIPPING.

I have been dong some preliminary work on potential chapters and other content for our book project. This process reminds me why I have resisted writing a book for so many years. The wrestling business, for better or for worse, has essentially been my life since I turned 22 years of age. After 36 years of various experiences, some good and some not so warm and fuzzy, it becomes challenging to bring back certain memories that one would rather keep suppressed. Perhaps this whole process will be cathartic when all is said and done.

It's amazing how some wrestling websites simply cannot be accurate with they report what someone says. For instance, the media trades reported that Syfy was paying WWE approximately a $30M annual rights fee for Smackdown. If that number is close, that means that WWE will earn a ball park figure of $575K per week for the Friday night program, domestically. None of us know if the $30M is the official number but if it is all one has to do is divide the contract # by 52 and you get a pretty close answer to the weekly tab. One website quoted me on a numer as if I would know and it was an estimate based on the media trade info. In any event, it sounds like WWE did o.k. and Syfy got a program that should easily double or triple their station average rating.

Jim Cornette's recent comments regarding his personal feelings on Vince Russo are regrettable and unfortunate. I am sad that this turn of events occurred and wish that they hadn't. Corney has always had a helluva temper and is an emotional guy but it seems that this time he allowed his emotions to get the better of him. For his own good, my suggestion would be for Jim to simply enjoy the many projects that he is working on, his happy home life and his rewarding, Ring of Honor work and let his lingering animosity toward Vince Russo go. I've known JC for well over 25 years and will remain his friend but for his own good he needs to 'let it go' and focus on all the good things in his life. Take it from someone who has been there as it relates to anger and hurt feelings.

I think that I know somewhat of what I speak regarding this topic when I say that it's easy to allow the negatives or unpleasant occurrences in one's life to occupy more space and time than they deserve. I've been dealt a few 'bad hands' that I simply choose to not dwell on and as a result I am living a happier and more stress free life than I have in years.

Honestly, at the end of the day my life has been blessed to have been in the wrestling buisness. I just hope that when all is said and done that my life isn't singularly defined by the wrestling business.

Back on other another email topic, yes, I think that nationalism storylines are still viable on a TV Wrestling show. Yes, this concept is old school. But so are having heroes and villains in one's life, real or fiction. Chris Jericho made a relevant point a week or two ago on NXT when he mentioned the TV rating the USA vs. Canada Olympic Hockey final earned on NBC. For long time fans, the Bret Hart vs. USA oriented issue of the 90's in WWE was extraordinary and made for some awesome TV. Nationalism has been effectively utilized on TV shows, wrestling and otherwise, for decades and it's generally worked if properly executed meaning that the persona's invovled have to have some equity.

Check out my blog at www.wwe.com on the Smackdown page for an entertaining, quick read.

Q&A's are updated so check them out and keep those orders coming. Grilling time is here!

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.