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JR's Blog: Reduced Shipping Costs on Specials....Lashley vs. Shamrock...Hulk vs. Jericho...'Mania Show Closer?....Q&A's Updated

Posted: Mar 5th 2009 By: mikeiles

Working on no sleep from Tuesday night, here's hoping all are well and thanks for dropping by our website. After getting back to my room around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday night and having to rise at 3 a.m. for the trip to Bradley International Airport from the Mohegan Sun for Wednesday morning's first flight back to OKC via Dallas, I am looking to get my second wind at any time now. Mrs. J.R. and I are attending the final home game of the season Wednesday night for the Oklahoma Women's Basketball team as it is Senior Night and the Paris twins will be playing in their final game on the OU campus.

I have updated several questions on our Q & A section of our website. I hope that you will check out a gambit of questions that range from excellent to absurd. Nonetheless, keep your questions and comments coming. I am not the most gifted writer or speller as we have all determined but one suggest I will make to prospective emailers in addition to keeping the emails succinct but also trying that magical device called spell check. Oh yeah, for the one person who keeps wanting me to provide him backstage passes.....let it go.

Hard to believe that Ken Shamrock will fight Bobby Lashley in a MMA contest later this month as I understand it. There was a time that I could see the veteran, 45 year old Shamrock, a former WWE superstar, schooling the MMA rookie Lashley but that ship has long since sailed. I have great respect for Ken but he's outstayed his welcome in the octagon, cage, whatever and needs to teach and coach and stop fighting. I look for Lashley to completely dominate Shamrock in this fight. Kenny is fighting for one more pay day while Lashley is fighting to help establish what he hopes will be a long term, lucrative, MMA career.

I read on the internet where Hulk Hogan is dropping hints that he "could" face Chris Jericho at WM25. Hey, that would be fine with me and I'm sure that match "could" be a possibility but for some reason I just don't see it happening. Obviously, Jericho is treading in Legend's territory and his WM25 match will like follow that theme especially this late in the game but I have yet to hear one conclusive name that will wrestle Jericho in Houston. I do know or strongly suspect it will NOT be Ric Flair. One has to surmise after what Jerry Lawler said about Jericho on Raw Monday night that a Lawler-Jericho confrontation is a distinct possibility at some point but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be at WM25. Chris Jericho and this entire Legend's issue has been one of the highlights of Monday Night Raw for this viewer for the past several weeks. Bottom line here is that Hulk is a great promoter and does as good a job as anyone in keeping his name out there to the wrestling public which is better than living and dying on TMZ.

Don't forget to check out WWE.com for all the info on who is scheduled to appear at WWE Fan Axxess during Wrestlemania week in Houston. I know that I will be appearing at some point and may even be doing the "Broadcast a Match" function at Axxess. That is still to be determined. From what I have seen of the lay out, Axxess is going to be a great deal of fun, family friendly and affordable.

I'm doing a little research on all the stars that Cowboy Bill Watts either discovered or gave their break and it is an impressive list. Even though Watts headlined several wrestling territories, set box office records at the old Madison Square Garden against his former tag team partner Bruno Sammartino, was part owner of the Atlanta territory and the Florida territory, I think, it seems that Bill's biggest contributions to the business were as an administrator and TV producer. I'm sure my introduction speech of the Big Cowboy into the WWE HOF will have significant time restraints but that's the lay of the land when a TV show is being produced to air later in the same evening.

I don't expect Steve Austin to speak overly long at the WWE HOF Ceremony as Steve is a man that tells one what time it is and not how to make the watch. Knowing Stone Cold, he won't write a complete speech but will likely have a few notes and then allow his natural instincts to take over and then simply be himself which has always been good enough for me as more of today's wrestlers should practice Austin's philosophy. As you could probably understand, I am really excited about the 2009 WWE HOF Induction Ceremony as a limited number of tickets are still available for the Saturday April 4 event from the Toyota Center in Houston.

What will be the last match to go on at WM25? Several emailers to this site have suggested it should be the Undertaker vs. HBK match. While I am looking forward to this Texas sized presentation involving two of WWE's most prominent icons ever including Taker's "Streak", and would LOVE to call this match, I see WM25 ending with either the WWE or the World's Title Bout. No one has told me and it's a nice problem to have but I'm thinking title when thinking of a show closer on April 5. There could be many "right ways" to end WM25 as it relates who gets the distinction of closing the biggest show of the year.

So tonight it's women's hoops, then even later tonight it's Friday Night Smackdown voice over work from my home as this Friday night's broadcast is packed and is a challenging undertaking from a broadcast perspective. I think the show will air "hot" but I'm not at all unbiased either.

We are close to making some major announcements regarding the future of JR's Family BBQ, our growth, long term direction, and some big news on our sauces. Don't let any one kid you, this economy is brutal and smart management and strategic planning is essential to survive in today's business environment of which we have been working over time with our team. In the meantime, your business in our on line store keeps this site a float and that business is greatly appreciated by all of us.

Thanks again for stopping by and please tell a friend about our website. Don't forget to check out my WWE Smackdown blog every Thursday on WWE.com's Smackdown page.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Bill Watts