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JR's Blog: Monday Update...On Line Business Booming...Lesnar...Expect a HOT Raw

Posted: Nov 17th 2009 By: CMBurnham

Happy Monday to all. I watched a bunch of football and wrestling this weekend which wasn't a bad thing. Our business in J. R.'s Family BBQ has been good and I spent a fair amount of time there both Friday and Saturday. I really enjoy talking with our guests who are usually long time wrestling fans or football fans which are two subjects with which I enjoy conversing.

Many of you are being proactive and are ordering now for the holidays. Good thinking. We have a good supply of inventory and are actively shipping your orders as quickly as possible. Many times within 24 hours of receiving them here on line.

If you live in our area, we have signed bottles of sauce in the store for only $3.99.

For those of you ordering personally autographed JR's Cookbooks, I encourage you to order early as we will have to stop taking orders for the holidays to be able to get them to you. I try and write a little something extra in every book sold so I can assure you that I'm not going through the motions. I have so much respect for each of you and sincerely appreciate your business that words can't describe it. Hopefully, a simply "thank you" will do.

So let's kick off this blog with some BBQ'ed random thoughts......

Brock Lesnar's health is one of the things that I am thinking a great deal about these days. As former OU and Dallas Cowboy coach Barry Switzer once told me, "You recruit a kid for life" and that's how I feel about all the guys I signed for WWE including Austin, Rock, Orton, Batista, Cena, Lesnar etc. Management and the talents may not always see eye to eye, such as the case during Lesnar's exit from WWE, but that has zero to do with how I feel about Brock personally. Business is business and personal relationships are something entirely different to me. It's not always that way in wrestling by the way. Brock is a gifted athlete who, like me, was a country boy who made it to the bright lights of the "big city." I do not know his diagnosis other than what I read. Dana White intimated that Brock had intestine issues. Gosh, can I relate to that or what? Losing 13 inches of one's large intestine and having a tumor removed from one's colon qualifies me to have empathy for any one with these types of issues. (Thank, goodness I had the benevolent, lovely and talented Dr. Heiney in my corner.) I read that apparently these issues are fixable as in not life threatening, or so we are told, which is a huge relief to me. Brock should only be concerned about his quality of life and regaining his health and try to not fixate on when he's going to be able to fight again. That's in the Good Lord's hands. Those are really good hands, too, as a matter of fact. No one should rush to judgment on the long term future of Brock Lesnar until the doctor's, hopefully in the Mayo Clinic, have their say. What we all should do is keep Brock and his family in our thoughts and prayers.

Speaking of MMA, apparently their message boards are "going crazy" about the alleged meetings with former wrestling personnel meeting with UFC officials in the past week or so. I don't know the nature of these alleged meetings nor is it any of my business but the knee jerk reactions of MMA message board people because these folks have backgrounds in pro wrestling indicates that there are some ignorant, insecure people hiding behind screen names on these boards. People with promotional experience, experience in selling tickets and PPV's, opening new markets, promoting live events, utilizing existing business contacts, etc can potentially prove to be invaluable.

Hypothetically that would be like me going to work in MMA working with talent and people thinking it would be a travesty. Those folks can kiss my ample, Oklahoma arse as I feel that if one has the ability to work successfully with athletes that it doesn't matter whether they are wrestlers, MMA fighters, football players or whatever. Athletes, as a whole, have many of the same personality traits no matter their sport. It always will come back to communication, developing trust and being honest in the one on one relationships that are built. I feel that I can successfully manage any athlete but based on what is being said on the aforementioned boards, a "wrestling guy" like me would be the kiss of death in MMA. For the record, MMA is not on my radar but, please, MMA purists stop the pain.

Nice to see WWE extend their relationship with USA through 2014. In my opinion, they both need each other equally as Monday night is still "wrestling night." Plus USA is in a battle with ESPN's high collar sports programming. Hopefully WWE got HUGE money for the extension. I miss my Monday night's sitting at ringside and occasionally day dream what it would be like to return to Mondays in a three man team with Cole and King. I stress "day dream." I wonder if I could do that gig from home?

Jesse Ventura returns to Raw next Monday for the three hour broadcast which provides the former Governor of Minnesota and WWE Hall of Famer plenty of opportunities to plus his new TV show coming to cable soon. Jesse discussing historic conspiracy theories seem to be a nice fit. I wish him well on his new venture. I do know that Ventura and McMahon were a better broadcast team than JR and Ventura. Back in the XFL days Ventura's security staff from Minnesota strongly suggested that I call The Body "Governor Ventura" in our production meetings. That never happened. I always considered Jesse and me to be associates and former wrestling, broadcast partners plus I never lived in Minnesota.

I expect Raw Monday night to be chocked full of surprises especially with Roddy Piper as the "General Manager." How many more main stream MSG appearances will the Rowdy one have in NYC? I expect him to turn it on Monday night and if Roddy's on...."its" on.

Anxious to see how the DX/Cena dynamic continues to evolve just 6 days before Survivor Series.

Word has it that several recognizable personalties will be attending Raw tonight in New York City including some New York Yankees.

The Hulk Hogan DVD has 27 bouts on it going all the way back to 1979. I read a review on the DVD and the reviewer was very kind to King and me for our narrations on three, long Hulk bouts. Again, if you like old school wrestling with an old school atmosphere then most will enjoy this DVD that's available in most places Tuesday.

Happy Birthday to Randy Savage who is 57 today, same age as Ol J.R., and here's wishing him many more. Yes, I still do not accept Savage for WWE HOF emails as they are always from the same people saying the same thing but I personally absolutely feel Randy should be in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Waiting on some blood work results today or tomorrow. I feel in my heart that they will be good results. Facial nerves, nonetheless, regenerate at their own pace and so here I sit. I'm better though and will not miss a beat when I sit back in an announcer's chair when and on whatever program that may be.

Be well and thanks for dropping by our site. Please tell a friend about us and don't forget that our products make great stocking stuffers including when you buy our products by the case and, remember, that we still offer FREE SHIPPING, for now.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, Roddy Piper