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Red River Kickout...Wrestling Conventions...The Spoiler...Text This!

Posted: Oct 13th 2008 By: mikeiles

Getting ready to head to Las Vegas where Friday Night Smackdown will be taped at the Thomas and Mack Center headlined by a Jeff Hardy vs. Vladimir Kozlov bout.

If you are in the Vegas area, I understand that great seats are still available for the event Tuesday Night. Here we go with random thoughts.....

Other than the outcome of the football game Saturday the Mrs. and I had a great weekend in Dallas. The Oklahoma-Texas college football experience is amazing and one that any true sports fan should try and enjoy in person at some point in their life.

Texas is now the #1 ranked college team in the nation but I still feel it will be a daunting challenge for any team to "run the table" and finish undefeated this season with so many good teams out there especially in the Big 12 and the SEC.

UT displayed great will Saturday and won the game, that featured poor officiating affecting both teams, fairly and squarely. Texas' Colt McCoy is a great QB and leader and without question the 'Horns deserved to win. My hat is off to Texas for winning the 103rd meeting of the two rivals.

With all that said, there is a ton of college football left to be played and I am still solidly behind the Sooners who have a great squad but must regroup to play a talented and nationally ranked Kansas Jayhawk team in Norman this Saturday afternoon. OU is still ranked #4 and can stay in the hunt if they win their remaining games, again which won't be easy.

The only negative experience in Dallas, other than the score, was the amount of disrespectful young men who feel compelled to get as drunk as they can as quickly as they can including being drunk for an 11 a.m. local kickoff. This goes for OU fans and Texas fans. Naturally, after winning, the UT, young drunks were particularly classless just as the young 20 something Sooner fans would have been if OU had won. Sad state of affairs in my book. I had no personal issues to deal with there but I sure saw plenty of foul mouthed punks showing their ass to their elders including ladies who only wanted to get to their vehicles and leave.

I have read of recent wrestling fans conventions and the bravest promoters in any genre might be the folks that promote these autograph conventions, reunions, whatever they are called. Why some wrestlers are brought in who the promoters know will be cause more harm than good is beyond me. I have often been asked if I would ever promote indy wrestling if I was in a position to do so and I always answer, "Hell No." Babysitting individuals who don't have respect for themselves or the fans and might not even show up to begin with and if they do they could likely be in an altered state isn't my idea of a good business investment or a fun time.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for wrestling conventions where the fans can meet the "stars" and I truly appreciate promoters like Michael O'Brien who do a great job of promoting independent wrestling but they never have to worry about me becoming the "opposition."

I have never appeared at a Wrestling Fans convention but I certainly have no issue in doing so but just to show up, collect a payday, and be a part of a side show with undisciplined former "stars" doesn't trip my trigger. Actually, I love interacting with the fans, signing their memorabilia, etc and may make the attempt to do selected appearances in the future. Bottom line if I am booked, I will be there and I will be there in the proper state of mind.

The wrestling business was built years ago on respect and somewhere along the line, which seemingly has mirrored our society in general, that respect has slowly begun to erode. Sad.

I got a call about 15-20 minutes before kickoff Saturday in the Cotton Bowl from Steve Austin who has become a quasi OU fan even though he grew up in Texas. Stone Cold is a big hit in Norman and the OU coaches really respect Steve who had planned on attending a game here this fall but his new movie production schedule in Vancouver will likely necessitate a change of plans. The Sooners could have used 'Ol Stone Cold running north and south on Saturday as OU's running game was somewhat anemic.

I have yet to read one bad review on the upcoming film "The Wrestler" which I am really anxious to see. If some enterprising webmaster reveals the beloved "Spoilers" for "The Wrestler" and I read them I will kick myself in the ass.

Scoop this, Mr."Spoiler" man.

Speaking of "spoilers", Don Jardine was wrestling's "The Masked Spoiler" and was an amazing big man for his generation and a superb, masked wrestler who could show more facial expression even wearing a mask than many wrestlers do today without one. Jardine also was the first man I ever saw do what we refer now as "old school" from the Undertaker. I traveled with Jardine back in the 70's and he really schooled me on wrestling psychology and, believe it or not, classical music which he loved. Plus there was never any smoking, drinking, or eating in his spotless vehicle. I also heard about how and why to save money from Don. Skandor Akbar also was a great mentor when it came to saving a buck or two. I do know that the Undertaker watched the Spoiler wrestle on Paul Boesch's Houston Wrestling show back in the day.

Speaking of Taker, he sent me a classy, text message (standard text messaging rates apply) after the Texas victory Saturday which is more than I can say for some of my other dear, Texas based pals.

I got so excited last week when I read of my pal Terry Funk stepping back into the ring another time that I wrote about it and even commented on how I felt like the Funks should be in the WWE Hall of Fame. Then I found out Terry knew nothing of the booking. What's up with that? Why do wannabe wrestling promoters continue to false advertise and shaft the fans? For the record the Funks still deserve to be in the WWE Hall of Fame in my humble opinion.

I expect the string of strong main events to continue on MyNetworkTV for the foreseeable future, as in the next several weeks, as the WWE continues to work hard in attracting an audience to a network that isn't necessarily easy to find.

Friday Night Smackdown's promotion regarding the move to MyNetworkTV was devoid of one single mention of the announce team. Where's the love? And "MY TAZZ" just turned the tender age of 41.

We are having a radio remote with OKC classic rock powerhouse KRXO (107.7) this Thursday at our J. R.'s Family BBQ Restaurant in Moore from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. If you are in the area, I hope you will come by and enjoy our $5.99 lunch special and say hello. We will also be giving some stuff away, taking photos, and signing your memorabilia, etc.

Please take a moment to stop by our store and do a little shopping for the holidays or just for the heck of it.

For the record, I was NEVER on suicide watch after the Red River Rivalry game no matter what you may read on obscure, wrestling websites.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, Don Jardine, Spoiler, Skandar Akbar, WWE