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

JR's Blog: UFC..Edge..Jericho..Ump Jim Joyce..International Shipping going to Happen..Grilling Chicken..FREE SHIPPING

Posted: Jun 4th 2010 By: CMBurnham

It's another red hot day in Oklahoma with a great deal going on as the on line business is keeping us busy as well as our continued efforts to place our products in more grocery stores. WWEShop will have our Original BBQ Sauce, our best selling product, and our top of the line J.R.'s Beef Jerky in stock next week and they will be SHIPPING INTERNATIONALLY. I hope all fans who have emailed us repeatedly over the past few years wanting international shipping will take advantage of this offer. It would mean a great deal to our on going efforts to grow our business if this goes well through WWEShop.

For those that are asking WWEShop will start out carrying our Original BBQ Sauce and Beef Jerky only at this time but I'm sure that they would be willing to stock our other products if there is a viable demand for them. Hopefully, when our products go live on line at WWEShop.com there will be a 'run' on them next week especially from our supporters who live abroad.

World on the street has it that UFC 114 Evans vs. Rampage did over 900,000 pay per view buys which is an amazing number when one takes into consideration a couple of factors. The month of May was an extremely busy PPV month with the Mayweather fight, a TNA PPV, a WWE PPV, and a UFC PPV all occurring prior to Evans vs. Rampage which, by the way, aired on Memorial Day weekend. when many people were traveling or away from their TV sets for a variety of reasons on the holiday weekend which had to have affected PPV buys to some degree. Common sense says that there is only so much disposable income to go around and getting north of 900,000 buys is big time no matter the event, the month or any of the aforementioned existing circumstances. Rampage vs. Evans 900k buys would rank this fight as one of the top UFC PPV's ever. Secondly, the main event wasn't for a title and titles mean more in the UFC than they do in any of the aforementioned PPV's that occurred in the month of May. Evans vs. Rampage was built on a personal issue that saw the participants genuinely not like each other and they freely expressed those emotions that the public felt and emotionally invested.

Bottom line is that making an emotional investment in a personal issue that is based in believability generally equates to success.

MLB Umpire Jim Joyce messed the bed and likely his legacy when he blew a call during a perfect game Wednesday. Being a high school and college baseball umpire for approximately twenty years back in the day I can relate to blowing a call. I've missed plenty of them as has anyone has who ever officiated sports. Sports are much about the human element that's involved and without question Joyce will be branded as "the Ump who blew the perfect game" for the rest of his career which is unfortunate. Will the pitcher who failed to strike out the hitter who hit the grounder live with the same distinction? Of course not.

Have you tried the new, Montreal Chicken Seasoning for grilled chicken? It's terrific and I suggest adding a little liquid smoke of your own choosing, seasoning the chicken throughly with the Montreal flavor, use, preferably, skinless breasts, and then leave them in the fridge over night before firing up the grill. You won't be disappointed. As always one key to grilling is marinating what it is you're grilling over night if possible.

Checked out 'Half Pint Brawlers' on Spike Wednesday night. I hope the show makes it and it might if the producers allow the viewers to get to know the 'Brawlers' away strictly from the 'Jackass-like' antics that are featured. Through character development will help encourage viewers to watch the show. If this show is more about the characters, their lives, their travel, challenges of being a little person and less about wrestling it might make it. I'll watch it again.

Interesting article in an Asheville, N.C. newspaper on Edge where he said he could see retiring in two years. I think many in Edge's generation who have made big money, and he has, and have wisely saved and invested it, and I suspect that he has, will not hang around the business too long simply so that they can preserve what physical health that they can. Edge has had significant injuries in his illustrious career specifically his neck surgery and if asked, and I haven't, I would advise him to call it a career sooner than later if he can financially afford it. Too many wrestlers have to stay longer than they need or should because of financial issues but I would be shocked if Edge even remotely comes close to that syndrome. Guys in Edge's generation can easily take a look at previous generations of wrestlers to learn what NOT to do as it relates to their career and personal life style. Smart wrestles who work hard, get a break, and plan for their future by using a professionals help can often times comfortably retire from in ring wrestling by the time that they are in their 40's.

It still amazes me that the wrestling biz often times gets the lion's share of the blame when egocentric, immature performers who do inadequate financial planning run into 'Randy the Ram-like' problems. They lament of the '300 days a year on the road' and the multitude of injuries they miraculously endured which necessitated them to abuse prescription pain meds which has become a worn out tale.

We've received more orders from military families who are buying our Beef Jerky by the case and we are using the United States Postal Service to mail their orders to their soldier's APO mailing addresses. The Jerky weighs 1.75 ounces per bag and is a great fit in a soldier's back pack and is a super taste of 'Americana.' It also has a shelf life of one year.

Speaking of orders, we are including signed, Topps Trading Cards in many orders now instead of signed 8X10's. Bottom line is that these items are FREE even though some raise hell when they might not get what they want as it relates to a FREE item. We will always try to accommodate all our customers and pride ourselves on such but when it comes time to tap because of a handful of overly obnoxious people we will do so.

Emailer asks...is TNA becoming WCW? What in the hell does that question mean?

Emailer asks...why was Barry Windham never NWA Champion? I can assure one and all it wasn't because of his lack of in ring ability because at one time BW was one of the best in the game. I think it had a great deal to do with timing as in who else was in the chase or hunt for the NWA Title at the time plus some power brokers may have had lingering questions about Barry's commitment to the road/business. Have you seen the Flair-Windham TV bout from Worldwide Wrestling from years ago? Classic. Barry was a tremendous wrestler. Just think, Barry Windham is Husky Harris' uncle.

Emailers are congratulating me on my new 'contract' with WWE....I do not have a 'contract' but am a regular employee like many people who are not TV talents. That arrangement works just fine with me BTW. Plus, no one should feel badly that I'm not on weekly TV any longer. I don't feel bad about it and neither should you. I feel confident that I will do selected, talent work with WWE in the future but just not on a weekly basis.

As egocentric as I am, I will likely always believe that I can still kick ass at the announce table with the best of them no matter the genre and particularly in the pro wrestling world. However, team players help the team and that's still my primary goal just like it's always been which has helped my career endure many ups, downs, and cyclical times.

An emailer says why do the Usos remind him of 'Three Minute Warning' and why is Ms Snuka their 'spokesperson?" The Usos are Samoan which might remind some of other prominent Samoan wrestlers but they personally don't remind me of 'Three Minute Warning.' I did not know that any one officially appointed Ms. Snuka as the 'spokesperson' of the Usos. They've only done ONE interview on WWE EVER so how in the hell can any of us judge them on ONE INTERVIEW? Can't these young competitors be given an opportunity to evolve and develop? Why are some wrestling fans seemingly willing to pass judgment so quickly?

The Ultimate Fighter on Spike was a compelling broadcast Wednesday night with the departure of Tito Ortiz as coach of the red team. Chuck Liddell's drawing power will be on display in June when he fights Rich Franklin in Vancouver on PPV. Many UFC fans are already pointing to the Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin Heavyweight Title fight in Vegas on July 3 and the Iceman-Franklin contest might not be the priority that it should to many consumers. It will take a concerted effort by UFC too create adequate awareness for this PPV especially considering that the May cable/satellite bills will be in our hands by then.

Personally, I am becoming a big fan of WEC, too. I like the action the smaller athletes provide and I quickly forget that they are not as big in size as some of their UFC brethren. An athlete's heart and passion can never be judged by pounds.

Congrats to Chris Jericho for apparently signing a deal with ABC to host a game show and here's hoping that it is a huge success, is picked up and Y2J lives happily ever after. Chris is a true Renaissance man who I remember recruiting while sitting at the Bombay Bicycle Club in Tampa with Gerald Brisco way back in the day when Chris was trying to decide if he wanted to stay in the dysfunctional WCW or try his hand in the challenging WWE. Chris is one of my favorite, all time talents that I've worked with in my career. Jericho, like Edge, will be another talent who will never over stay their time in the ring.

The Big 12 should stay in tact until they can get a new TV deal done and then consider adding or subtracting teams that don't carry their weight. However, what happens if the economy continues to flat-line and the networks have to cut back on what they can spend for college football packages. Don't think that can't occur. The NFL may even experience some of that in the future. CEO's have to turn a profit for their companies and 'image' shows like NFL are cool but in today's world losing big money isn't. One could afford to lose a few bucks when every thing else was good. Every thing else isn't good, financially, in the TV world thanks to advertisers having to reevaluate the spending of their promotional dollars.

Please consider keeping our products in stock during the Grilling Season which, BTW, around here is a 12 month cycle but for many novices it ends around Labor Day. Thanks for all your business, for regularly using our products as gift ideas, for sharing cases of our Sauces, Ketchup and Jerky with pals, and for generally recommending our products to others. Your support is sincerely appreciated.

Be well. Count your blessings daily.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, TNA, WWE, WCW, NWA