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JR's Blog: Lots of Ross Report Podcast News, Dixie Carter; Come on Down, E&C on RAW, Lucha Underground, Wrestle Kingdom 9, Go Sooners!!

Posted: Dec 29th 2014 By: Jim Ross

Getting ready for a huge week of travel as the days draw near to Wrestle Kingdom 9 on PPV via all cable and satellite providers throughout North America on Sunday Jan 4. Check your local cable and satellite providers for all the info. If you can't watch on cable/satellite or if you live outside North America you can watch the show on the @FlippsTV App. Let's grill.....

We had a successful holiday season with all the partners that are helping us with online shopping including wweshop.com, americansoda.co.uk and beyondtheropes.co.uk. Plus, our pals in Chicago at prowrestlingtees.com/jimross had a huge holiday season as well. We are grateful to all that support our ongoing efforts with our various projects.

Really fun conversation with @itsvadertime aka Big Van Vader aka Leon White this week on the Ross Report Podcast on podcastone.com, iTunes, and here on the homepage of the site. The mastodon was raised in Compton, California which is a fascinating story unto itself.

Tuesday I will visit with TNA President Dixie Carter and that show/podcast will drop on Tuesday January 6 at 9:30 pm ET.

This week's show is a double header as I talk with Bryan Alvarez who co-wrote 'The Death of WCW' which was recently re-leased with a ton of new material along with Karl 'Machine Gun' Anderson who will wrestle at Wrestle Kingdom 9 from the Tokyo Dome on PPV January 4 as a member of the IWGP Tag Champions along with Luke Gallows. Both Bryan and Karl were excellent guests and they comprise a show that I truly feel that you will enjoy. This show, as all our shows, drops on Tuesday night at 9 pm ET on podcastone.com and via iTunes.

For those asking, I will not be in Orlando for the Russell Athletic Bowl pitting my Oklahoma Sooners vs. the Clemson Tigers. Simply too much travel to balance as I need to be back in Oklahoma Tuesday morning to finish prepping for the Dixie Carter conversation for the Ross Report and then I have a short window to finish my prep work for the Wrestle Kingdom 9 PPV on Saturday Jan 4. Oh, yeah there is that flight from OKC to Tokyo in that mix too.

The decision makers for New Japan have done a marvelous job in getting the key players hot and ready for the January 4th show as few have lost a one on one match since August. Internationally, fans respond to winning no matter the sport or presentation and no matter the time zone. Creative types have to commit to specific talents and "take them all the way" before going abruptly to plan B. No matter if one is a fan favorite or a villain, every fan understands the concepts of getting on a roll.

With that said, simply in my opinion, 50-50 booking means next to nothing when utilized too often. Long term planning and booking can eliminate some of the issues that go along with the many creative challenges.

Just found out that hotel rooms in Japan take a regular 110 volt plug in which is a God send for old dudes with sleep apnea. Same thing on my Delta flight from the States to Tokyo.

Two of my favorite signees, Edge and Christian, will be the co-hosts for Monday night RAW this week. Two great talents who were always total pros and a credit to the business. Any promotion is well served having athletes of high character in their locker room like these two Canadian lads who are both appearing on the SyFy production of Haven these days with Adam Copeland a regular. Both Edge and Christian had excellent instincts, were students of the game who kept their heads in the game and worked diligently to evolve into major, long term, main event stars in WWE.

Enjoyed talking to Chris DeJoseph of Lucha Underground last Tuesday night for a future Ross Report that will air in February. The former 'Big Dick Johnson' of WWE fame and a former WWE Creative team member provided an inside look at the unique philosophy that is Lucha Underground especially the excellent vignettes that they produce. As I told Chris, I like their format a great deal but I'm not sure if I like it because it's really good or because I was simply ready for someone to try something different. We also talked about the potatoes that I gave him, accidently, of course, during his BDJ days. I apologized. :)

More and more folks that I speak with about MMA feel that Brock Lesnar will head back to UFC when his WWE obligations are fulfilled which will be after WM31. I have no dog in the hunt nor do I know any thing but I'd lean that same way. Bellator will likely make Brock a significant offer but UFC is home for Brock in the MMA world and I know that Dana White and Brock have a good relationship. With that said Lesnar is all about the money, so who truly knows but Brock? All this gossip is why I can see WWE possibly doing some bold things with the WWE World Title come the Royal Rumble to get folks buzzing and to increase the viewership at WrestleMania 31.

I was told today that few New Japan wrestlers strike with a clinched fist. But they do use palm strikes. Plus, there are rarely any disqualifications or count outs. Sounds like my kind of business.

According to the IWC, the tag team of The Ascension will debut as early as this week on WWE TV. The pair had a quasi, Road Warrior look in some of their vignettes. I've seen them in action and they have a chance to help the WWE tag team scene. My biggest concern if that if the fans think that the new duo is trying to recreate the LOD, today's vocal fan base might not approve....but then again.....

If anyone has questions for Dixie Carter please tweet them to me @JRsBBQ and use hash tag #AskJR.

Tickets are on sale now at www.axs.com for my two shows coming Royal Rumble weekend beginning on Friday January 23 in Sayreville, NJ at 8 pm at the Starland Ballroom. The VIP meet and greets start at 6 and everyone who is a VIP gets a FREE bottle of JR's Original BBQ Sauce from yours truly. Then we move our show to Philadelphia on Sunday January 25, the day of the Rumble, at 3 pm with the VIP folks doing their meet and greet at 1 pm plus they each receive a FREE bottle of JR's Original BBQ Sauce as well. Tickets for both shows start at only $20 at www.axs.com. The Philly matinee will be over in plenty of time to allow those with tickets to be at the Rumble.

Thanks for stopping by and please tell others about our website as it is one of wrestling's best kept secrets.

Q&A's are updated here too. Got some dandies this go around!

Go Oklahoma....Beat Clemson...

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ