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JR's Blog: Sunday Update...Monday Insanity...Women's Wrestling Comments Causes Stir...Houston ..WEC ..FREE SHIPPING Available

Posted: Mar 8th 2010 By: CMBurnham

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Thanks for dropping by and paying us a visit. We appreciate all your support especially those that order our products from our on line store.

Big 12 Wrestling tourney hit Norman Saturday. OSU upset Iowa State to win the conference title. Saw a few prospects but no one jumped off the page at me ala an Angle, Lesnar or Swagger.

WWE's Gerald Brisco was in Iowa scouting the Division 3 college wrestling tourney this weekend. Smart, long term planning by WWE to look far and wide for future stars. As I wrote this week, if the independent wrestling scene becomes the primary source for the stars of tomorrow then the business is in trouble. Same theory applies for those brands who are trying to catch a quick fix using older stars as the thrust of their shows. Using bona fide legends to gather viewers to only see the younger guys featured is a viable concept but if the younger wrestlers aren't made to be perceived as special then success will be hard to achieve.

Big, Bedlam hoops game today in Norman as the OU women play the OSU women in a game that is sold out. Might be "black hat worthy" later today. I just hope the officiating isn't as inconsistent as it has been most of the year. Several officials get assignments because of their gender which is obvious by watching them work. The best officials should get the assignments regardless of color or gender. Pro wrestling referees miss less action than some Big 12 Womens Hoops officials.

Wife Jan tried to buy "Damage" starring Steve Austin this weekend but it apparently isn't out until March 23. One would think that I would have an advance copy to view, review, and push DVD sales wouldn't one? Seriously, we are anxious to see "Damage."

Irony regarding Houston Wrestling....Promoter Paul Boesch died on this date at the age of 76 while Houston native, budding stand up comedian, and the performer formerly known as Brother Love, Bruce Prichard, was born on this date in 1963 according to wrestling internet data. Bruce went to work with Boesch as a young kid selling programs, etc. Paul was a good hearted man who did many benevolent works in the Houston community but like many old school wrestlers turned promoters Mr. Boesch had a healthy ego. Some of the heated conversations between Bill Watts and Paul Boesch when they were business partners in Houston were classics. Those were TWO, healthy egos. Doing commentary with Mr. Boesch wasn't one of my favorite things to do but that doesn't diminish my respect for his civic pride and the fact that he was a wonderful promoter ala Sam Muchnick in St. Louis. Today's market reps/promoters could learn a great deal from how Boesch and Muchnick promoted their towns.

Enjoyed the fight card Saturday night on Versus featuring WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) as the smaller athletes rarely fail to have fast paced, exciting fights loaded with action. Even though many of the competitors were not household names to casual, MMA fans, the fights were generally compelling and fun to watch. MMA, in general, needs to do a better job of introducing their fighters to the casual fan in hopes that the casual fan will evolve to become a die hard fan via making an emotional attachment to the fighters. Plus, too many TV announcers within MMA assume that most viewers know most of the nuances of the fight game including the most commonly used insider terminology.

Must be something in the water in some parts of the world as in hallucinogenics as I received emails that swore to me that WWE was going "out of business" after WM26 and that TNA was going to dominate WWE in the TV ratings "war" within a matter of weeks. You won't find many of these acts of delirium in the newly, updated Q&A's but there are some classics that I invite you to check out.

I have to see a "wrestling war" to believe it but if that theory does come to fruition then I will be the first to admit mistakenly saying that no such "war" will happen. There is a huge difference in being owned by a media conglomerate such as WCW Monday Nitro being owned by Time Warner and being owned by a private entity that is in the pro wrestling biz. Plus, Spike TV doesn't have the chops right now that TNT had back in the day of Monday Nitro. The lay of the TV landscape is totally different that it was in the mid to late 90's.

With all that said, I wish no ill on any business but my opinion remains the same. All entities should control what they can control and that is their own product. Don't fixate on other businesses especially the one's that are perceived as "competition." Just as in main stream sports, one wants to be in a position to control one's destiny and one does that by getting better every week, improving what one does, offering alternative concepts to their fan base, and not living and dying on every tenth of a rating point on a network that is still way back in the hunt.

Those that are writing us, some of these fell by the wayside too BTW, about what they can't stand on a variety of wrestling TV shows are beating the wrong mule here. Most of those emails from people who obviously have too much free time on their hands have been deleted but you will get the general idea if you check out the Q&A's. I don't want to come off as a tool here but if ANY television show causes one as much consternation as some have written to this site complaining about then for goodness sakes....change the damn channel.

These are pro wrestling, TV shows we are talking about here. Yeah, I love 'em too and have been watching wrestling on TV for 50+ years but give a brother a break! If what you see angers you and causes you mental misery then why watch it. I don't get it. Can someone clarify my consternation on this seemingly common sense matter?

We have many emailers that are curious to see what kind of match Bret Hart has at WM26 vs. Mr. McMahon. I am extremely anxious to see what I perceive will be Bret's last ever venture into the ring as a competitor. This is a big moment for this fan of the Hitman I can assure you. I don't expect to see any thing resembling a traditional wrestling match but I do expect this encounter to be one of the most dramatic and memorable moments on the PPV and will be a lasting memory of Wrestlemania. Not knowing what to expect makes the anticipation for this bout even better for me but for those who love to read the "spoilers" not knowing how this long awaited endeavor will go is driving some nuts.

One thing that I missed Saturday night watching WEC on Versus was that the commercial breaks took away the ability to hear the corner men work with their fighters between rounds. Applicable info should have been factored back into the broadcast either via a recorded, sound byte or the announcers telling us what they heard during the break.

Lots of good feedback from many of you on what I wrote about women's wrestling. Women's wrestling has not been featured on any national brands or even on successful regional companies in recent memory. Will a match involving two females ever headline a major PPV event? I don't think so. This doesn't mean that I don't think that women competing/performing in pro wrestling can't be more viable and contribute to the success of their respective teams. I am a fan of women's athletics/entertainment. It's just the simple fact that, like announcers, women wrestlers are support, role players. I hope that all the women's promotions that are popping up here and there are successful but I do feel that we will be challenged to speak of their relevancy one year from now. I hope that I'm wrong on that assumption, for the record.

Business is good in the on line store and next week I have a meeting with my friends at the Homeland Grocery store family to hopefully become more a part of their plans for "BBQ Season." Our products are selling really well in the four, Norman, Oklahoma, Homeland stores.

BTW I've been feeling great and I look forward to getting back to ringside sooner than later even if it happens to be for one night only.

Hit the Q&A's, keep your feedback and your orders coming and thanks, again, for paying us a visit.

Boomer Sooner!

JR

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, Bill Watts, TNA, WCW