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JR's Blog: Monday Update..Strikeforce..Wrestling Wish List for 2010..Q&A's Updated..Hitman or Not?

Posted: Dec 21st 2009 By: CMBurnham

Happy Monday for what I am sure will be a busy week for many right here smack dab in the middle of the holidays and leading into Christmas this Friday. Unlike me, I hope that you have completed your holiday shopping but more importantly that you are able to spend a few quality days with friends and family during this wonderful time of the year. The Mrs and I are laying low and will be in Norman for the holidays. We're likely going to purchase a new refrigerator for each other this year for Xmas. Is that heart warming or what?

Many thanks from our family to yours for shopping with us here on line and I hope that you continue to do so as time marches forward. We sincerely appreciate your business and the feedback we get on our two BBQ sauces, the Chipolte Ketchup and our Beef Jerky has been outstanding. Plus, our personalizing of our cookbooks, which we now plan on leaving on our site, has been a big hit.

Here's some random thoughts....

The Strikeforce show on Showtime on Saturday night was a damn entertaining broadcast. The show moved well and felt significant as I caught the replay late Saturday night. It was one of the better MMA televised events that I have seen in a long while. Congrats to all involved.

The three man broadcast booth on the show Saturday night was good but at times got a little cluttered. Mauro Ranallo does a really good job of keeping one engaged into the proceedings and he has natural enthusiasm which comes thru the TV. Frank Shamrock is an intelligent analyst and is articulate yet he speaks to the average Joe more often than not. That's important for all MMA broadcasters as their sport is still relatively new and is gaining new viewers all the time. Educating the viewer is imperative and that goes for pro wrestling announcers as well. The third voice wasn't offensive but I'm not sure what's added to the overall presentation with a third man in the booth on these MMA shows at this time. This is merely an observation and certainly not a hill on which I choose to die.

All MMA presentations can do a better job of mic'ing the live crowd so that we TV viewers can better, audibly invest in the presentation.

Melendez vs. Thompson was one of the more spirited fights of the year as both men left it all in the cage. Strikeforce can help build their brand with more fights like this one. Why didn't I see Fedor highlights or something Fedor on Saturday night or did I just miss it?

Steve Smith's stunning knockout of Cung Le shocked me as it looked like Le was essentially coasting to a victory but it was another illustration that fighters who can strike always has the "puncher's chance" of winning any fight.

King Mo Lawal was once recruited by Jerry Brisco for WWE and came close to signing a few years ago as best as I can recall. The former OSU wrestler had/has lots of charisma and one can assume that Mo will end up in pro wrestling once his MMA days have concluded.

The Bobby Lashley interview needed more of a presentation which might have included some b-roll footage but Lashley looked great in a suit and is much more natural in a sports environment than he appears to be in a pro wrestling environment. Smart marketing would have seen Lashley in a clip so that the new viewers could have seen Lashley's physique.

We have updated our Q&A section of this site as of Monday afternoon.

Yours truly saw the Sooner men play hoops Saturday afternoon and then went to a closed, OU football practice at the indoor facility as Stoops Troops prepare for their Sun Bowl showdown with Stanford. It was a nice afternoon for a sports fan.

I'm still working on details regarding my Sun Bowl travel. Getting out of El Paso and back home for New Year's Eve is the issue. The Mrs won't be traveling to the game so that IS one hill that I won't die on.

Great time of the year for us football freaks...thank goodness Mrs JR is a football fan.....and her Steelers won Sunday.

WWE TV personnel and the talents should feel proud of their efforts and the finished product of the "Tribute to the Troops" presentation that aired Saturday night on NBC. It was really a classy broadcast and without question had a powerful message of support for our fighting men and women.

More rumors of my friend Bob Stoops being a person of interest to become the next coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Rumors re: Stoops is getting to be insanity and some pro football journalists are reminiscent of some of the beginning, wrestling internet folks that like to take a thread of a story and fabricate it into a major issue. I personally talked to Bob multiple times on Saturday and he's interested in two things, beating Stanford and recruiting. Plus, I did not know that the Cowboys' job was open. Last I looked Wade Phillips was coaching the Dallas Cowboys or at least he was Saturday night down in New Orleans. Plus, Stoops likes his bosses at OU as they are positive and supportive of Bob's efforts and appreciate the head football coach's work. I can assure you that point alone can sway one's decision as to where one wants to work. Trust me. Jerry Jones is a tough cookie to work for.

If I had a holiday wish list for the year 2010 for the wrestling business it would include; more bell to bell content, the efficient use of time limits in wrestling bouts, the better utilization of tag teams, the re-introduction of wrestling managers if the proper individuals are selected for those roles. What is old becomes new again to many fans and for baby boomer's who actually have the money to spend for PPV's. I feel these Boomer's want to relive the glory days of wrestling when the bulk of the stories were told in the ring and not with poorly executed backstage scenes with athletes attempting to be either comedians or dramatic thespians with any formal training or preparation time. Talents should be encouraged to be enhanced versions of themselves but that's just one guy's opinion.

How will Johnny Damon do as the guest host o Monday night Raw tonight from Damon's hometown of Tampa? That's anyone's guess but the Guest Host role is and always will be a crap shoot. Some Hosts "get it" and deliver while others find out quickly that they are in somewhat over their heads or in another "world." I still like the Guest Host concept for Raw and think that it is unpredictable, which is a good thing, and it provides for a significant amount of media stretch outside the normal bounds of the genre.

I will be interested to see how, or not, the Bret Hart returning to WWE issue will be addressed on Raw, or not, or if it actually occurs as many of us hope. I think it is a lock that we see the "Hitman" in early 2010 but that could simply be my wishful thinking.

Check back with us this week when your schedule permits. I will be addressing more Q&A's this week plus blogging a fair bit. Thanks for the well wishes regarding my health which is improving daily but we still have a ways to travel to get back to where I need and want to be. Also, lots of emails about me signing a three month extension with WWE thru mid March. I will be largely working from home, or so it seems at this time, and the goal is to meet with WWE officials about the possibilities of signing a long term contract that will likely have a different job description than I had before I took ill in October.

We'll be shipping right up until Wednesday so keep that in mind. Thanks again for stopping by and come back and visit us.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE