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JR's Blog: J.R. Back from K.C.; Flair/JR Reunion?; Manny Pacquiao; O.J.'s a Dumbass?; WWE Announcer Rivalry?

Posted: Dec 7th 2008 By: mikeiles

Thanks to having friends who have access to private aircraft, yours truly made a day trip to Kansas City Saturday returning to Norman by midnight and loved watching OU win its record setting, 3rd straight Big 12 Title to set up a National Championship Showdown on January 8 with Florida. I will spend Sunday signing items for many of your orders via our on line store for the holidays. We have priced our gifts suggestions affordably and offer free shipping on selected items which I encourage you to check out. Let's get started with random thoughts.....

While in K.C. Saturday several people including many media members quizzed me about my thoughts regarding the film "The Wrestler." It seems a significant amount of former wrestling fans and non fans have set their sights on seeing "The Wrestler" when it is released nationally and the reviews, trailer, etc has created a great deal of interest. I know I am anxious to see the film as I am sure it will remind me of many of my peers over the years who, for whatever reasons, either made bad decisions or simply were "snake bit" and did not enjoy successes or enough happy times in their post wrestling careers.

Today's wrestlers have to realize that their careers can't and won't last forever and to save their money, invest wisely utilizing qualified, reputable people who know what they are doing, pay their taxes on time and in full and throughly and realistically plan for their post in ring lives. I have always advocated that the wrestlers of the future should have a college degree before getting in the business. Also, wrestlers can put in the extra effort to work on learning other trades for when their head locking days are concluded.

One of my biggest heartaches in life is reading about or seeing photos of wrestlers who are still taking Indy bookings because of serious, financial needs because they did not plan for their future. One can see the same thing in the NFL, etc as players from a different era did much of the same things that many wrestlers did in the corresponding time frame.

I met Ricky Steamboat's son several months ago and thought at the time, simply by his look, the kid might be special. I know that the younger Steamboat is athletic and was an outstanding high school athlete. The son of the "Dragon" will hopefully be scarfed up by the WWE at some point and sent to FCW to train with many other second generation competitors. The elder Steamboat was an amazing hand in his day and Ricky's bouts with Ric Flair are still talked about today and were some of the best I ever had the privilege of broadcasting. The Flair vs. Steamboat rivalry and series of bouts should be required viewing for any young person who wants to be a wrestler. And yes I advocate Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat for induction into the WWE Hall of Fame some day, without question.

Manny Pacquiao defeating Oscar De La Hoya was not a surprise to me but Oscar not being able to finish was. De La Hoya has essentially carried the waning, boxing business on his back and the combination of the hellaciously relentless Pacquiao and Mother Nature was too much for the "Golden Boy" (not the late Arnold Skaaland) to overcome. Oscar has invested well, prepared for his future and seems to be financially set for the balance of his life which is refreshing to know. Boxing, however, in general is so diluted that I can't even name all the heavyweight champs and I consider myself a decent boxing fan...or at least I used to be before the UFC came along.

Read a nice story where some fans enjoyed meeting Kevin Nash at a recent Indy event. Kevin is one of the wittiest, most engaging guys around and when I had my radio show on AM750 WSB in Atlanta on Sunday nights I had Kevin on as a guest many times. As a matter of fact he was probably my best guest and his glibness helped get him noticed by WCW decision makers (is that an oxymoron??) as until then Kevin was just considered a huge, jacked up former bouncer from the Cheetah and former Tennessee hoopster. Kevin could easily do talk radio if he ever chooses to and would be damn good at it. Smart guy who has invested well and won't have to be wrestling Indy dates when he is north of 50 unless he simply wants to.

Big weekend in Charlotte for the Flair's as Ric's youngest son Reid made his in ring debut Saturday night. One can only imagine the "after party" and without question "The Naitch" would be my guess as the celebration's MVP. Following his famous father won't be easy for Reid and hopefully he will develop his own style and his own approach to the game and not try to emulate his Dad's every move. I do know that Reid is athletic and has a solid amateur background and I wish him the best. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to see Ric head to South Florida around January 8 to catch the OU-Florida BCS National Title Fame as Ric is not only a great friend of mine but also of OU Coach Bob Stoops who Ric met when Bob was the defensive coordinator for the Gators. Enjoying some social time in South Beach with Ric and attending the football would definitely be blog worthy....to say the least. But no cameras, please.

I wonder what the announcer assignments will be Monday Night for the 3 hour Raw that starts one hour earlier at 8/7 central? Raw is now Cole and King's show from a broadcast perspective but I assume that all the teams will be used to some degree or why would we be all told to be there? There are some provocative interpromotional matches on tap with which I hope Tazz and I can be a part. Hell, Monday's Raw feels PPV-like on paper and I know the fans in Philly will do their part to make the show special.

My black hat's off to all the WWE travelers who made the Iraq trip and who will be asked to turn it on Monday night on Raw.

Rumor has it that the WWE thought about leaving their resident dot com guru Joey Styles in Iraq but the military intervened. Well, that's what "they" say and we all know "they" usually know what "they" are talking about.

Is O.J. Simpson extraordinarily stupid or just overwhelmingly arrogant with a super sized sense of entitlement? I don't have the answer but it seems as if "The Juice" will have plenty of time to figure it out over the next several years. I met O.J. once in an airport and he came off as aloof and not like the guy I had enjoyed watching on TV running thru airports on the Hertz commercials. It will be interesting to see what sort of prison accommodations Simpson receives as one would assume he wouldn't survive long in the prison's general population.

Speaking of "prisoners", I recently saw the cable documentary of Tommy Chong's incarceration for selling bongs to a customer in Pennsylvania and encourage any fan of documentary films to check it out. Aside from one's personal philosophy on the use, or not, of marijuana, the fact that the United states Federal Government allegedly spend $12M on the proscectuion of the comedian is another brick in the wall of the United States government's overt lack of common sense which has resulted in bail outs and other embarrassingly stupid financial issues.

Read where someone speculated that Tazz might be "jealous" of Matt Striker and that's not accurate. Tazz likes to "break balls" as it is in his DNA and Striker is such a "wrestling nerd" that Striker himself facilitates these confrontational opportunities for the enjoyment of all of us who hang around "the back" and in catering at WWE TV tapings. I assure that it is all in good fun as all three WWE announce teams get along very well.

But my partner is still the "World's Angriest Announcer" who I am having a lot of fun working with and traveling with as well. I enjoy learning new, creative curse words directed at our fellow man and especially other drivers.

Tickets are still available for "Armageddon" in Buffalo which I think has the chance to be a "sleeper" PPV and could set up some interesting scenarios for the 2009 Royal Rumble. I hope to get into Buffalo to enjoy some of the best Italian food in the land at Illio DiPaulo's Restaurant. I hope we fill the house on December as a packed arena of fans wanting to have fun sure makes the process more enjoyable.

I got a pleasant surpirse when looked at my January 2009 calendar as the week of the BCS National Championship game is a week that there is no Smackdown being taped, there will be two shows taped December 29 in the Continental Airlines Arena, which is a huge break for me. Hopefully the Mrs. and I can get down to Miami early in the week and enjoy the R&R and warm weather for a few days which comes right after my birthday on January 3. (No gifts, please.)

Here's hoping every one has a great week. Thanks for the business and I gently encourage you to order your holiday goods from JR'S Family BBQ today so we can make sure and ship them to you in a timely fashion. From our family to yous, we thank you.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, Ric Flair, WCW