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

JR's Blog: Saturday Night Update...Cheech & Chong..'87 Starrcade..King on the Road..Hot BBQ Sauce a Hit!

Posted: Jan 24th 2010 By: CMBurnham

Here's hoping that everyone is having a good weekend. Let's fire up the grill....

Ran into WWE HOF'er Cowboy Bill Watts Friday night at the Oklahoma vs. Iowa State wrestling duel in Norman. The decade of the 50's of Oklahoma University Wrestling was being honored. Watts wrestled and played football at OU in the late 50's. Cowboy played football for Bud Wilkinson, who had 31 and 47 game winning streaks at OU, but more often than not Cowboy was not on Bud's "good list" because Bill was a wild man who loved to fight and raise hell. Watts also had the distinction of being disciplined by OU wrestling coach Port Robertson and being forced to run 10,000 stadium steps at the football stadium. Watts, as it was noted by the PA announcer, was the only man to sell out Madison Square Garden among the All Americans and Olympic champions on hand.

The greatest of them all, Dan Hodge, was in Tulsa handing out trophies at the Tulsa Nationals Youth Wrestling Tournament and was unable to attend the function.

Back to Cowboy who did not attend Dr. Death's funeral, he and I talked about Steve a great deal Friday night and I could see in Bill's eyes the reason that he did not travel to Colorado for Doc's services. I've often heard parents say that the worse thing in the world is to have to bury one's own child and that's the look that I saw in Cowboy Bill Watts eyes as we talked about the toughest man that either of us ever knew.

Jerry Lawler and I had a hilarious telephone conversation Friday night while King was in Alabama doing a couple of indy wrestling dates Friday and Saturday night. The King was in great spirits, he must have been winning, (that was a joke) as nothing that we can talk about on this site makes him happier than wrestling in a match. I remember the days that we broadcast entire PPV's alone and while I would be preparing my backside off, he would be relaxing and doodling on a piece of paper or talking on the cell phone to his significant other. That's why Jerry will likely outlive me by at least a decade and maybe two. However, King's passion for wrestling at the age of 60 is simply remarkable. I hope that the ultra talented Hall of Famer gets his wish to wrestle at Wrestlemania but that's not my hill to die on nor can I affect that decision one way or another.

King was in a crowed locker room on Friday night when we talked and was preparing to wrestle Dennis Condrey of the legendary Midnight Express. I'd bet a case of Hot, BBQ Sauce, which is becoming one of our most re-ordered items, that Lawler and Condrey told a helluva story in that Alabama indy show on Friday night.

The Mrs. loved Larry the Cable Guy's show Friday night at the Riverwind Casino which is not too far from Norman. Larry got a care package from JR's BBQ of Beef Jerky and some Chipotle Ketchup.

Our Chipotle Ketchup is taking on a life of its own and the orders for it here on line are super. We are getting more and more reorders which mean folks love our products.

We had an emailer ask if Rick Rude was really a tough guy and that one was easy to anser...hell yes. I never saw Rude bullied in any locker room and the few times that Rick was challenged it never lasted long as best as I recall. Rude was unusually strong and known as one of the best arm wrestlers of all "the boys." Rick Rude was also one of the more underrated villains ever in the biz, too. The native of Minnesota had "it" and embraced being a bad guy and did it naturally. What you saw in the ring or on TV was largely who the man himself was but not all that he was.

The Q&A's were updated Saturday night so I invite you to check them out.

Our 6 Pak Powerslam Special, which includes FREE SHIPPING, is our #1 best seller here on line. You get 2 bottles each of Original BBQ Sauce, Hot BBQ Sauce, and Chipotle Ketchup plus a FREE autographed photo of your favorite Okie, 'rasslin announcer.

Damn, I can't believe that there are only three NFL games left this season. I don't count the Pro Bowl and likely won't watch it as I have always felt that the teams essentially phone it in during this game that should have it to where the winning team makes a helluva pay day and the losers earn nothing.

I'm still hanging my hat with the Vikes -4 and the Jets -7 1/2 but please don't use this info to wager because I know what the home field advantage means and I'm out on a limb thinking the visitors will get it done. maybe I just like cheering for the underdogs.

Our Twitter experience is getting really amazing support and we add fans to our Twitter account every day it seems. You can check it out at http://twitter.com/JRsBBQ. I Twitter about wrestling, sports, pop culture, food, etc.

We've gotten several emails about Cheech and Chong being the guest hosts for the March 1 Oklahoma City Raw with some folks complaining that the classic comedy duo are not PG rated. I have not seen C&C in concert lately so I don't know what their humor is like these days but they are pros and all pros know the one cardinal rule, know your audience. I don't think anyone expects to see the Cheech and Chong that many of us enjoyed when we were younger as I'm thinking that their humor and certainly the times have changed. My friends in Oklahoma are still bugging me for tickets and now that Cheech and Chong are hosting the tickets requests are pouring in even more. Too bad that I can't help them. I made a deal with WWE...they don't do BBQ and I don't do tickets. What's next...my ATM number??

Bottom line is that Cheech and Chong are comedians who are legends in their field. They will come to OKC and appear Raw on March 1 to entertain. It's really that simple. Some viewers will like them and some won't. Next.

FYI I'm deleting the emails that we are getting asking me repeatedly if I'm going to be a future, guest host on Raw. The answer is, no, as I do not fit the "outside the box celebrity"profile of that role. I am not a candidate for this particular role plus I enjoy seeing others who are not in their comfort zone do live TV especially on a program like Raw.

The Gran Torino blog has created a stout amount of feedback regarding who, from the wrestling world, would play Clint Eastwood's role of Walt Kowalski in the film. I originally suggested Ole Anderson but two other great suggestions are Bill Watts and Terry Funk.

Remember that our Facebook info is http://facebook.dj/jrbbq/.

Good question on the Q&A about the '87 Starrcade of which I broadcast with Tony Schiavone. I was asked what I remembered of that event and answered that it was a new era with Jim Crockett Promotions after the UWF buyout. I also remember that Doc wrestled Barry Windham in a match that should have been better than it was as both Barry and Doc were excellent hands inside the ring.

I also painfully recall that the UWF guys were basically an afterthought after the buyout which wasn't smart at all and was a classic example of egos getting in the way of sound decision making.

That show was also like so many wrestling TV shows before and since inasmuch as often times they are over produced and contain too much content. That issue isn't a new one and has been around since the beginning of live TV wrestling or at least since I've been doing it for the past three decades. It's not the case every time the red light comes on but it does happen more often that is necessary.

The good news is that you can see many of these classic events such as the 1987 Starrcade on WWE 24/7 On Demand. I'm going to be watching 24/7 tonight as a matter of fact on Cox Cable.

I've been getting some great ideas on the book that I may or may not write some day. Fans have asked me to name the greatest match that I ever broadcast and thus far I have been unable to answer that one and likely won't be able to any time soon. I do think that the Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 25 in Houston would make a short list. When one has had the privilege of broadcasting thousands of bouts, it's hard to sit down without doing a little research and name the best matches that I have seen in a career that started in 1974. Perhaps some of you have suggestions of bouts that you have hard me call that stand out to you. Plus, if anyone has any ideas of what they would enjoy reading about please send it along.

Be well everybody. Now get to ordering....and thanks!!

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, Bill Watts, Dan Hodge, Steve Williams, Jerry Lawler, WWE, Rick Rude, UWF