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JR's Blog: Happy Labor Day! Great Day to Order from our On Line store..Orders Shipped tomorrow FREE!

Posted: Sep 6th 2010 By: CMBurnham

Happy Labor Day to all. For those that celebrate this holiday, we hope that your day is a great one. Here are some random thoughts from hither and yon.

The recent arrest of Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart came as a surprise. The 55 year old Neidhart was arrested in Tampa for alleged possession and conspiracy to distribute pain meds, as I understand it, not to mention alleged burglary of said items. It certainly sounds to me that Jim may well have a n obvious drug issue that needs addressing in the form of a long term stay in a rehabilitation center. If my assumption is accurate, then 30 days likely won't do the trick but be that as it may one thing is for sure and that is that recovery always starts with the individual truly wanting to want to stay clean and sober.

I can't see Jim Neidhart being a 'burglar' but I can see him having drug and alcohol issues that may have manifested themselves to the point that Jim needs to seek help and, more importantly, truly want to stay clean and sober.

I've known Jim for years and years and first met him in Mid South Wrestling back in the 80's when Jim's father in law, the late Stu hart, sent Jim to Bill Watts' territory to wrestle full time. Jim Neidhart is not a bad person whatsoever but like many people he apparently has issues that he needs to address. Jim was a world class shot putter in his collegiate days and even won the anvil toss at the Calgary Stampede many, many years ago. I actually think that we gave him the 'Anvil' nickname one he arrived in Mid South.

Jim teamed with Hacksaw Butch Reed for a time in Mid South and they were a rugged, imposing duo that was hard for any team to handle. Seems like I recall some Neidhart/Reed vs. Murdoch/Killer Karl Kox bouts at one point.

Certainly, I wish Jim Neidhart my best on this unfortunate matter and hope that he takes the necessary steps to correct any issues that he may have and begin to live his life one day at a time with the daily goal of staying clean and sober. Addiction is a sickness and certainly not a sign of physical weakness or being 'less of a man' and for the sake of Jim and his family, let's keep him in our thoughts and prayers that he seeks and responds to the help that is needed.

Even though I have been off the air since last October, I still have to get used to being at home on these 'holiday Mondays.' Not that I'm complaining but for so many years I would often totally forget that many Monday's were holidays for most folks.

Speaking of work, travel, etc it's still amazing that so many Twitter followers continue to ask if I'm still with WWE or when I'm returning to the air. Some have just noticed recently that I'm not on Smackdown any longer and I left SD October 2009. Yes, I'm still a WWE employee and, No, there are no plans for me to return to weekly TV for those just tuning in. With all that said, I love my new role and am very happy with life in general.

Hell, it's football season!

We got a run of questions over the past few days for some reason on whether I missed the old days with WCW. I loved living in Atlanta and multi tasking with Ted Turner's organization, WSB radio and the Atlanta Falcons. Living in Atlanta was especially fun as I miss the city as we always lived inside the loop including living for a long while in Buckhead and then near Emory University. The restaurants in Atlanta are 2nd to none.

Many wonderful friendships were forged in Atlanta which remain today and which, at the end of the day, is the best part of the entire WCW experience. However, when I look back at the inept infrastructure and the multitude of management blunders at WCW those days don't make me long for them again. Some periods of time in WCW were among the most frustrating of my career as too many cooks in the kitchen simply can't make the 'soup' taste better.

No company can succeed without having a clear cut boss who throughly understands the product in which they are involved. WCW rarely had that. Bill Watts knew the product, by and large, specifically the fundamental aspects of it, but his corporate communication skills were not his forte. Plus, Bill had become disconnected from the genre over the years after stepping away from it. Many of the other head honchos of WCW simply had little or no product knowledge. Wrestling, not unlike other businesses, demands that the primary decision maker have keen product knowledge so that they can't be erroneously influenced by individuals with their own, personal agendas. Pro Wrestling has been notorious for these types of shenanigans for years. The genre, in general, is very subjective on many fronts and viable reasons can always be provided/created to make a specific argument sound logical.

Please take the time to make a quick stop in our on line store and take a peek at the new packages that we are now providing. 'The Sampler' seems to have particularly caught folks attention. We have never tried to hide the fact that the reason that we spend as much time as we do on this site is to, in a perfect world, increase on line sales.

We offer FREE SHIPPING in the USA on all packages.

Getting ready for the not so annual Labor Day cookout. Looks like it's gonna be chicken unless the Mrs wants burgers. Skinless Chicken Breasts are healthy and one can eat as many grilled chicken breasts as one likes and not kill their diet. Plus, grilled breasts keep good in the fridge for the next day. I often take the left over grilled chicken breasts and make home made chicken salad. (Yes...JR'sOrginal BBQ sauce is lightly added to give the chicken salad a little 'personality' and precludes the over use of mayo. I like celery, ground pepper, sweet pickle relish, sweet onions IE Vidalia or purple, and boiled egg whites in my homemade chicken salad.

VA Tech vs. Boise State is a great booking, made for TV, kickoff classic between two compelling programs with great coaches and so much riding on this first game. I have no dog in the fight but I do know from experience that Boise State is resourceful, talented and well coached but, for that matter, so are the Hokies and 'Beamer Ball.' I've met BSU's Chris Petersen a couple of times and he's a helluva guy.

I still vividly remember missing the Boise State upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl a few years ago, arguably one of the greatest college football games ever played on TV, while being in Miami on a Monday night where the main event was John Cena vs. K-Fed. Missing a bowl game because of Raw won't be an issue going forward. for me. Going thru the airport in Miami the next day after the BSU upset and then connecting in Dallas all while wearing my OU gear was a 'unique' experience as some had a good time with my 'misery.' Was I really miserable after that game? Damn right.

Saturday night OU did not play well against an underrated Utah State team, who has a dynamite, mobile quarterback, and the Sooners must improve significantly if they want to beat Florida State this Saturday. Luckily, the game is in Norman where Stoops Troops have won 30 in a row. OU vs. FSU is a game pitting two of the great college football programs ever against each other in an early season showdown that will undoubtedly have an impact on both squad's BCS rankings later in the year. FSU's new defensive coordinator is Coach Bob Stoops younger brother Mark Stoops. Ah, the plot thickens.

On this day in 1996, yours truly introduced the faux Diesel and Razor Ramon on a special, Friday night edition of Raw. Not sure how that video was omitted from my 2007 Hall of Fame video. Just kidding. Not a tremendously stellar, or shall I say 'vintage,' moment in my erstwhile illustrious career. Ugh.

Monday night RAW tonight really needs to rock as the viewership on the Labor Day holiday will likely be down as it relates to households using TV. Perhaps not but Monday holidays where there is generally good weather nationwide usually sees many folks away from their TV sets. There are two RAWS left prior to the 'Night of Champions' in Chicago where I will attend as an interested fan. Many folks disposable income has lessened for the past few years, thanks to our incompetent federal government, so any entity that is selling products such as a discretionary PPV has to do all they can to make each presentation special, fresh and a 'can't miss' experience.

The Q&A section of the site has been updated if you seek fresh reading material.

You're invited to join us on Facebook at http://facebook.dj/jrbbq/

Our Twitter address is http://twitter.com/JRsBBQ. We're approaching 60,000 followers on our way to 100,000+.

Emailers are hitting me with the rumor that WWE is preparing to unify ALL their titles. I have no idea if that is accurate or not but I doubt it. I see the WWE Title and the World Title remaining as well as the Intercontinental and United States Titles. I could be dead wrong on the latter two. Perhaps having only one tag champion and one womens champion will allow those two, specific title to mean more and earn more focus. Time will tell on all this 'net gossip as I certainly don't know the long term direction of any of the titles.

I do think that fewer titles will make the one's that are being utilized mean more. I recall the days of Jim Crockett Promotions, among other wrestling promotions, when it seemed that there was a glut of titles many of which meant nothing....or less.

New York Jets star defensive back Darrell Revis has ended his holdout and will sign a new, long term deal with the Jets asap. Jets management said that they wanted Revis to remain a Jet 'forever' as well as go into the NFL HOF as a Jet, the guy has had one, great year, and all that sounds well and good until the shutdown corner loses a step or two or has an off field incident. Then the Jets will fall out of love w/ Revis Island just as quickly as they have embraced Revis' return. It's simply business.

An emailer asked me if I had any suggestions for a replacement for Vince Russo? What the hell?? Why would I even be thinking about that particular topic? And, what business of it is mine? This matter is not my professional or professional hill to die on and I choose to wish no ill will to anyone who is trying to simply earn a living.

Also in regards to this matter, I have serious doubts that JBL would ever come back to the wrestling biz and work full time in a front office capacity as some have asked. John seems very happy with his life and folks there are no guarantees that any of us are going to be here tomorrow. Bottom line is, enjoy today and what you're doing because the good Lord doesn't guarantee that any of us will be around tomorrow. John Layfield has a great life and if I were him then one couldn't dynamite me back into the wrestling biz no matter how much one loved it back in the day.

Another emailer suggested that WWE Legends be used to be mentors for future NXT shows. I don't like the idea and feel that the active wrestlers who serve as mentors can use their exposure on NXT to help them get to the next level just as the rookies earn the opportunity to develop name identity and to jump start to their WWE careers. Hopefully the 'mentors' realize that they are obtaining valuable, TV minutes and to maximize each and every one of them.

One of the new premiums that we have begun to add to some of the packages in our on line store are signed, Kids Menus from our now closed JR's Family BBQ Restaurant. We feel that are packages make great gift ideas.

After the OU game concluded Saturday night, I came home and had a bowl of Campbell's beef/ vegetable soup and added some of our JR's HOT BBQ Sauce to it to give it some added 'personality.' Big time hit. I've used our Chipotle Ketchup in various soups many times and it always enhances their flavor.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, Jim Neidhart, MSW, Butch Reed, Dick Murdoch, Karl Kox, WWE, WCW, Bill Watts