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JR's Blog: Great Weekend At J.R.'s BBQ...On Line Specials Starting to Move...Lots of Random Thoughts

Posted: Sep 22nd 2009 By: mikeiles

We had a good weekend here in Norman as OU got a break in the rainy weather and found a 45-0 win over a talented, Tulsa University team Saturday afternoon. Plus, J.R.'s Family BBQ was hopping this weekend. Thanks to all of you that came in and paid us a visit. Let's kickoff our random thoughts for Monday September 21, 2009.

Tonight will be Lilian Garcia's last night as the ring announcer on Monday Night Raw. Lil, a South Carolina native, has been a mainstay on Monday night's since 1999 and will be missed. Lilian told me that she was going to be forming a band and I can see her staying busy with, potentially, a multitude of music oriented projects plus she's getting married next month, as I understand it. Lilian has traveled thousands of miles for WWE and was a fixture on the "Tribute to the Troops" broadcasts over the years. I wish her the very best and she has been preparing for this exit from Monday night for quite some time. (At least she knew when she was leaving the WWE's Flagship broadcast.) I wonder if Lil will ever contemplate writing a book? That would likely be an interesting read from a female's perspective of life on the road in the wacky world of wrestling.

We produced about 15 TV spots Friday night after J.R.'s Family BBQ closed and finished up at around 1:30 a.m. which was after I started my day at OKC's Fox 25 with my regular Friday morning football picks which saw me pick 4 winners out of 4 picks. When these spots are produced and approved, I hope to get them on line so that you can see them. We were going for humor as you, hopefully, will see. However, these 20 hour days have got to go.

Nice to see UFC not featuring fighters whose major sponsors include, "Condom Depot." I'm just saying. No, I'm not against condom use but as a prominent sponsor I think it lowers the perception of the product.

Vitor Belfort knocked out Rich Franklin Saturday night in a fight that I did not see but have since seen highlights. Belfort has had a unique career and seems to have reinvented himself in recent months. Many experts say that a Belfort vs. Anderson Silva fight is on tap which I feel would be an extremely intriguing confrontation. UFC is finding out just how challenging it is to do monthly PPV's and have a strong attraction or two on every show. Monthly PPV's for any sports or entertainment company are tough to pull off but the financial considerations are such that it's almost impossible not to produce these monthly PPV events.

One of the great selling points for UFC is their brand name and the quality matchmaking that they present not to mention that UFC fights are so unpredictable.

Kimbo Slice is like the proverbial car crash that elicits rubber necking. The Ultimate Fighter scored a super rating for Spike TV last week which I think was largely due to the curiosity factor surrounding Slice who is far from a skilled MMA fighter but he is a fantastic attraction with a bankable look and personality.

What's next for Floyd "Money" Mayweather? I hope that its Manny Pacquiao in early 2010 and not on a night that it's against any other PPV events.

We received another email that bit the dust saying that my topical remarks on Friday Night Smackdown about Kanye West were "racist" in nature. Good grief, stop the pain, will ya? Kanye West made an ass out of himself on national TV recently and many people have been talking about the talented artist's undesirable behavior. According to this individual, the comment became "racist" because I mentioned it during Cryme Tyme's match. I also mentioned Cedric the Entertainer so I guess I really stepped over the line in the Cryme Tyme match didn't I?

I even saw on the 'net that it was alleged that WWE had offered Kanye "$10M" to step in the ring and wrestle which is so outlandish and ridiculous that it's insane. I can see why some wrestling websites do all they can to distance themselves from other sites as I read recently where I was in another state having a clandestine meeting with a company which was totally untrue. There was no meeting nor was I in the city that I was, according to a wrestling website, seen by eye witnesses.

To the best of my knowledge, the WWE hasn't pulled the plug on the Jeff Hardy DVD as of yet. With so much legal maneuvering still ahead I can see this project become slowed until more info is available or postponed. However, as has been said many times in this and many other businesses, controversy creates cash. As I understand it, and this is certainly subject to change, the Jeff Hardy DVD will be released prior to the holidays around the first of December.

The 2010 WWE Hall of Fame class has yet to be finalized and made public but one name that I am hoping to see be inducted is Ron Simmons. Ron is in the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana and recently was inducted to the State of Georgia Hall of Fame. I could theoretically hear JBL inducting Ron and that being an entertaining piece of business.

The Reverend Al Sharpton is guest hosting Monday Night Raw next week for the show that emanates from Albany, New York. Reverend Al is a charismatic individual who definitely elicits a response out of a wide spectrum of individuals. It will be interesting to see how Reverend Al defends himself when the main stream media comes after him asking Sharpton why he's appearing on Monday Night Raw. Hey, I think it's a fun idea as Sharpton has a quick wit and can be awfully entertaining at times and I will definitely watch Raw to see how things go but you can bet your last rib that Reverend Al will be raked over the coals by some near sighted good on one of the seemingly endless news programs because of next Monday's Guest Hosting role.

I've been, in respect to Reverend Al, spreading the gospel of WWE's first ever appearance in Tulsa at the BOK Center, which stands for Bank of Oklahoma if you're keeping score at home. It's said that the only newspaper in Tulsa, the Tulsa World, likely won't write a single line about the event Tuesday night because of, I assume, their pro wrestling bias. It's irrelevant to them that thousands of fans will descend upon downtown and spend money in Tulsa which helps many in the community. The media's bias toward pro wrestling isn't going to change and no matter if it is called sports entertainment or pro wrestling the mass media still looks at it as the same.

I am suffering from "flu-like" symptoms and if this weren't Tulsa and it being a drive, I might have missed a rare TV obligation this week. Nonetheless I will make the trek to T-Town and we will hopefully produce a kick-ass version of Friday Night Smackdown. Plus, J.R.'s BBQ is being served at the catering table so I have to be there to represent, right?

Raw is in Little Rock Monday night which always brings up my memories of making the 500 mile round trip to Little Rock every Tuesday night and making no more than $40 a day as a rule. Plus we paid all our own expenses. I also met former President Bill Clinton in LR one night at an Elvis Presley concert that I attended with the then Arkansas Secretary of State. There's much more to this story that might find its way into a book some day. Nonetheless, it is all about paying one's dues which I feel that I've done. Being able to be a part of a wrestling territory was the best thing that ever happened to me and helped prepare me for a long, productive career in one of the most unique genres going. Young people who will never experience what it is like to wrestle in a territory or for companies around the world don't know what they are missing or how much better those experiences make them.

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Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE