• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

JR's Blog: Travel Hell...Indianapolis Smackdown...The Wrestler...GSP-Penn...J.R.'s Rumble Highlight

Posted: Jan 29th 2009 By: mikeiles

Thanks to Mother Nature it took me "only" 14 hours to eventually fly from Indianapolis to Oklahoma City via Dallas in one of my more forgettable travel days in years. So, because I can't find Dr. Phil's cell number I will therapeutically blog. Here goes...

The highlight of the Royal Rumble was seeing RVD's wife Sonja who looked absolutely amazing especially in light that she just finished several weeks of chemotherapy in her battle with cancer. I am so thankful that Sonja, with her husband's support, is winning her fight with the Big "C" as this native Oklahoma lass is one of the nicest wrestler's wives in the business.

Speaking of the Rumble, I especially enjoyed the Rumble match when it got down to the last 6-8 men. Just prior to that it was almost impossible to keep up with the happenings as there were just so many men in the ring at the same time. The last few minutes of the Rumble match told a viable story and, along with RVD being a surprise entrant, was the highlight of the annual 30 man match in my eyes.

A friend sent me a link to something some idiot said about me essentially saying that I only went to see the film "The Wrestler" because WWE management told me to. That's one of the more stupid things I have read in a while. The Mrs and I watched the movie twice, at home on a DVD provided to me, if it matters. I still plan on going to see "The Wrestler" at a theater to enjoy it in that atmosphere as well and I encourage any fan to check out this compelling drama.

Mickey Rourke seems like a likable guy as depicted on The Larry King Show on CNN this week. I caught the replay while in Indianapolis and was entertained by Rourke's laid back banter and mild rebuttal to Chris Jericho as the two of them discussed various possibilities at Wrestlemania 25. If Rourke and Jericho were ever to meet in a wrestling ring, I wonder how many die hard wrestling fans would boo the Golden Globe winning actor and cheer the controversial Jericho? Second question is, does it matter if there is a backside every 18"?

A tip of the black hat to the loyal and brave (plus courageous and true....part of the lyrics to an old TV western's theme song) fans in Indy for braving terrible weather to watch two Friday Night Smackdown's be taped Tuesday night. I assure you that the crowd did all they could to help make the presentation from Conseco Fieldhouse a positive experience.

I felt both TV shows were solid and some new issues were addressed while others were started. I have to admit that I read on the 'net an account of a fan in attendance who generalized the hell out of the evening and suggested that this Friday night's show was "skippable." This person has a right to their opinion but don't you think that any TV show is sort of hard to judge without hearing any of the audio or seeing and hearing all the video packages that will be included? That's why "spoilers" are often misleading and any fan should watch whatever they choose and then judge for themselves. My favorite "spoiler" is still the Masked Spoiler aka the late, Don Jardine the man who influenced the Undertaker walking the top rope ala "Old School."

Hopefully the commentary of the "World's Angriest Announcer" and myself can add a little something to the proceedings as I felt we had one of our better overall nights since we've been a team. Of course, it doesn't matter what I think as it only matters what the viewers think but we were able to garner over 4,000,000 of them last Friday night which is another MyNetworkTV record.

Another fan commented on my spelling which obviously works best when I can utilize "spell-check" but I did a blog earlier this week on a hotel's computer and spell-check wasn't an option on that computer when I went to my site to write the blog. I missed spelled some words without question but that's why people call me "J.R." and not "The Brain." Or "The Speller."

GSP vs B.J. Penn is this weekend and should be a great UFC battle. Not being a MMA expert but merely being a fan of it I suggest that you don't take my predictions to a sports book in Vegas but I see St. Pierre winning. It is a known fact that GSP will be in impeccable, physical condition but for some reason in the past it seems as if Penn hasn't always been in the best shape. That's just an observation and I damn sure could be wrong because B.J. can fight. Obviously, this is the fight for both men to be at their best and if Honolulu had a new arena and the fight was being held there I might go with B.J. but in Vegas I see GSP winning a war. The smart money is also on the fact that this won't be the last time these two tango.

Apparently Brock Lesnar will fight Frank Mir in May in Vegas with Saturday May 23 being the most likely date but that is not official from what I have read lately.

Several MMA fans I have talked to recently, remember I had a 9 hour day in the Indianapolis Airport Wednesday think Lesnar can beat Fedor. There's no need to debate the point any time soon as the way the politics of the MMA world seems to work, Fedor vs. Lesnar isn't likely to happen for a year or two if then. If Fedor only wants a one fight deal with the UFC, why would the UFC management even consider signing such a one sided document? They won't and neither would I in a similar situation.

There are lots of rumors floating around about who's being inducted in the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame class in Houston especially who's inducting who, etc. I mentioned this recently on one of our blogs and that is if you have a chance to be there live I strongly urge you to do so. I will leave it at that right now. I think this is going to be a truly extraordinary night for more than just the obvious reasons that it is the WWE HOF Induction Ceremony. BTW the HOF event has already exceeded last year's event headlined by Ric Flair as it relates to dollars of tickets sold. Saturday night April 4 is the date with, I think, a 6 p.m. start.

Umaga returns to Friday Night Smackdown this week which will add an addition spark to the broadcast. It also appears that Matt Hardy likely will be joining the SD roster which adds much needed, main event depth to the show as well.

Be leery of laying the 7 in this Sunday's Super Bowl and taking the Steelers. I think and I hope that Pittsburgh wins but something tells me this one is going to be really close. Vegas lost a ton on the Patriots last year and I don't see them losing big again this Sunday which means that the 61/2 or 7 points the Cardinals are getting is there to get people to bet on the Steelers who many casual fans feel should be a heavier favorite and will bet accordingly. Wife Jan and I are really excited about seeing our first Super Bowl in person.

Wrestlemania Fan Axxess tickets become available this Saturday morning at 10 in Houston. I haven't heard of every thing that will be available for WWE fans to enjoy, especially kids or people who like to act like kids, but there will be many Meet 'n Greets, Fans can broadcast a bout like a WWE announcer, visit the Undertaker's Graveyard, visit Hornswoggle's house, and re-enact your favorite Superstars entrance among many other family friendly events. Hopefully, there will be some representation of J.R.'s BBQ there too but that one is still TBD.

Before we leave for Tampa I will be helping organize our next big sales event here on our site so stay tuned for that one.

Finally, we are honored and happy to host a book signing with the legendary Dan Hodge at our JR's BBQ in Moore, Oklahoma (on the west side of I-35 at exit 116) on Saturday February 7 from noon until 3 p.m. Dan will be there signing his new book, "Oklahoma Shooter: The Dan Hodge Story" and I will be there as well so I hope you can come by and join us. This is a must read book of the most extraordinary athlete to ever wrestle for money and can be purchased by calling Culture House Books at 641-791-3072.

Thanks for stopping by and for telling a friend about our site.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, Spoiler, Ric Flair, Danny Hodge