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JR's Blog: Jericho DVD..UFC 119..WWE in OKC Friday..Wrestling Relationships (Ugh)..Dream to OU vs. Texas..Divas in Oklahoma Thurs Nite

Posted: Sep 28th 2010 By: CMBurnham

It's a great day in Norman, Oklahoma as the weather is ideal. Lots of random thoughts upcoming and hoping that we get some on line orders from you this week.

Good to be home from a long week of travel that included stops in Tampa and Cincinnati after leaving OKC on Tuesday and arriving home on Sunday morning. Our American Eagle flight from Cincy to DFW Sunday morning EARLY resembled a OU team plane flight with all the crimson on board. No chit chatting as most everyone slept on the 6 a.m. departure. I might have gotten two hours of sleep prior to the flight so I had no issues taking a much needed nap.

After all these years, even with sleep apnea, I have little trouble sleeping on an airplane which is actually a blessing for a frequent flier.

The Q&A section of our site was updated Monday morning so I invite you to check them out. I still find it amazing that either on our Q&A section or Twitter, @JRsBBQ, that some folks still feel that I took myself out of 'the game' of broadcasting for WWE. Nonetheless the weekly travel isn't desirable and I honestly don't know what else I would have had to accomplish in wrestling that I haven't done. Please, no more when are you coming back to WWE questions. I'm tapping on that one. There is no 'coming back.'

Evaluating one's options and becoming involved in new horizons within one's business is a good thing from my perspective and that's what I've been doing.

I have two book deals on the table and am evaluating both. Not sure I'm ready to sit down and do the research necessary to write a definitive biography just yet but I have another idea in mind that I do like. I need to fish or cut bait on something in the book world much Sooner than later.

I'm not sure what Oklahoma University is going to do regarding finding a replacement for retiring OU Football voice Bob Barry, Sr but I feel that even though I would love to fill the role as it has been a lifelong dream job that it will be a long shot at best. However long shots to occasionally come through so we'll just bide our time and see what happens.

Didn't see the UFC 119 PPV Saturday night as I was standing on the OU sideline at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati while the event was on going. I've talked to some who either watched the PPV or were there and they thought the event was 'fair.' Any time a main event disappoints when closing the show it generally leaves a bad taste in the mouths of fans who paid good money and took the time to invest in the event either in person or on PPV.

UFC is seemingly running into the same dilemma that plagues all companies who do regular PPV's and that is coming up with monthly, marketable attractions and then hoping that the overall cards live up to the hype of a discerning audience who is forking over fleeting, disposable income on an event that might not be 'must see.'

WWE has the same issues with the regularity of PPV events as many fans have to pick and choose what PPV' s that they want to invest as there seems to be an endless sting of PPV events coming at fans from a variety of sources.

By Frank Mir's own admission his approach to and performance in the main event Saturday night in Indy wasn't ideal, in hindsight. Cro Cop is near done and was likely paid a handsome sum of money to take the Mir fight on such short notice. If Cro Cop was paid well up front, then his motivation to win the fight could have been compromised to some degree and that's not saying that the veteran 'phoned it in' but merely being realistic. If fighter's are paid within their 'comfort zone' financially then it's merely human nature for some to take their foot off the gas to some degree. Frank Mir feels he is still in the 'hunt' for the UFC Heavyweight Title some day but I don't get that same vibe from Cro Cop and haven't in years.

I do know that UFC will hit a home run with 'Brocktober' when Brock Lesnar fights Cain Vel?squez in October in Anaheim for the coveted UFC Heavyweight Title. One could surmise that many UFC fans are waiting to invest in the Lesnar fight and may have passed on the Mir-Cro Cop event. It's somewhat akin to the WWE PPV prior to Wrestlemania. It's a tough sell.

Promoters in general, many of who live a much different life styles than do their target demos, perhaps don't realize that disposable income is still an issue despite economists saying that the recession is over. I'm not buying into the 'being over' aspect of that declaration.

In Oklahoma City this Thursday night, WWE fans can meet Kelly-Kelly and the Bella Twins from 6-9 pm at the Lucky Star Casino. The meet and greet is free of charge. It will be a fun atmosphere and a super chance to interact with three of WWE's most popular divas. This is in conjunction with the WWE Super Show in OKC's Ford Center this Friday night. The OKC event is 'loaded' to say the least and is the most significant, live, WWE event ever promoted in OKC.

I will be doing some radio shows in OKC this week promoting the event Friday night. Plus I will be doing my weekly gig with my friends Sean and John on www.1560thegame.com in Houston around 5 pm Wednesday talking OU vs. Texas and some WWE.

The Chris Jericho DVD 'drops' Tuesday and is must see stuff. There are some 'lost gems' included on this presentation and Chris never fails to entertain and his extra work done on this DVD, along with WWE's talented production staff, really makes this three disc set stand out. I would have loved to have been interviewed for it.

Jericho faces WWE Champion Randy Orton Monday night on Raw and even though Orton is the top dog in WWE right now, everyone who competes with Chris Jericho is a better performer for it.

It shouldn't come as a shock to any one that when Friday Night Smackdown moves to Syfy this week that it will begin much more cross promotion with Monday Night Raw which is still WWE's far and away top TV priority. Syfy and the USA network are owned by the same people, NBC Universal, and being able to cross promote both shows is not only needed but also a no brainer.

One thing that I would encourage any trainee/young wannabe whether it be in FCW or elsewhere is to attempt to refrain from having a 'wrestling relationship' with another trainee. That likely sounds archaic but men and women have all they can say grace over simply learning the ropes and investing the required time outside the training facility to accelerate their maturation within the business to then complicate things by dating another trainee. There is no rule, nor should they be, against it but if one uses common sense and simply takes a quick look at history one can easily determine that relationships between performers rarely last even though I realize that there are obvious exceptions to the rule. I would suggest that it is hard, almost impossible, for a young person to emotionally invest themselves totally in their profession and, at the same time, attempt to balance a committed, serious relationship with another individual/performer with the same aspirations.

Oklahoma plays Texas for the 105th time this Saturday in the Cotton Bowl with a 2:30 pm kickoff on ABC. WWE HOF'er Dusty Rhodes is slated to attend and his tickets are in the section next to where my 6 are on the fifty. I'm not sure that I will be sitting in my seats but I'm sure that I will see The Dream in Big D prior to the Red River Rivalry game. For the record, Dusty is a die hard UT fan and I'm not even though I have great respect for the Longhorns and appreciate that they have named their stadium after a former Oklahoma football star, their former coach Darrell K. Royal. Texas losing at home Saturday to UCLA did not do OU any favors and I feel Oklahoma must run block and tackle much better to have a chance of winning Saturday against a very PO'ed Texas team that is loaded with high profile recruits and in a game where won/loss records actually mean very little.

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Thanks for stopping by and come back and see us.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: JIm Ross, WWE, Dusty Rhodes