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JR's Blog: Tenay Returns to The Ross Report, @JohnCena Signing, @BrockLesnar,@6:05Film Needs You, @CMPunk the Underdog, GRILL with JR's!

Posted: Jul 1st 2016 By: Jim Ross

Greetings everyone and welcome to our site. Exciting week on tap as I welcome old friend Mike Tenay to The Ross Report that drops Tuesday night, as usual, at 9 PM ET on podcastone.com, iTunes and here on the homepage. Today I will also speak with Terri Runnels for our show that drops on Tuesday July 19. Plus, we will volunteer to help Headlock on Hunger and Ingles Markets with their annual food drive this week in Asheville, N.C.

Elsewhere here on our homepage you can see the updated schedule of our guests that are soon coming to The Ross Report podcast. The schedule through July is listed if you are interested. We appreciate all of you that are subscribing for FREE to The Ross Report on iTunes as it insure that every show will be automatically downloaded into the device of your choice as soon as they drop. This service costs you nothing but it helps us greatly. Thanks for subscribing to The Ross Report on iTunes!

@JohnCena debuted in @WWE 14 years ago today which is a proud moment for yours truly as our talent relations team signed John while he was working with Rick Bassman in Los Angeles at UPW Wresting. I recall flying back from LAX to NYC on a redeye and going straight to the WWE headquarters and going to see Vince McMahon to tell him that we just signed "A Wrestlemania Main Eventer in five years" which would have made it 2006. John debuted at WM in 2004 versus The Big Show so I was close. In 2005, John won the WWE Title at Wrestlemania 21 in a career defining match with JBl. I remember Vince looking at me incredulously as I was an unshaved, red eye flying, wrinkled clothes wearing VP and telling me to "Go home...shower and shave." I guess I did look a little rugged and my declaration about John Cena was a bit bold to say the least.

Our team made a great signing on the then, 'Prototype' who reminded me of Sting in many ways in those days and it was one of the most dramatic and significant signings ever in WWE. I always had a great belief in John and no one we ever signed has ever worked harder at their craft than has John Cena who still continues to so so all these years later.

It's hard to go wrong when one is able to sign a former, college football offensive lineman who was his team's captain and who loved to lift weights notwithstanding the fact that John was a legit, life long pro wrestling fan who would eventually out work everyone on the roster.

Not shocked to see Brock Lesnar on the cover of WWE 2K17 because Lesnar 'sells.' No matter the outcome of his UFC 200 fight with heavy handed Mark Hunt, Lesnar is arguably 1 or 1A as it relates to the top stars in WWE. Why? Because Brock is 'real' and doesn't portray a TV character as so many in the world of TV Wrestling do. By being real, Lesnar doesn't have to 'act' like a pro wresters on TV character and can focus on being authentic which enhances his image within the show biz oriented pro wrestling genre.

Any promotion that can build their business around an athletic presentation of pro wrestling would be traveling the right road in my opinion. No company can find exact replica's of Lesnar but they can damn sure encourage the talents that they have to be more reality based, be less of a stunt person, and to approach their work as if it were a legit sport without those efforts becoming eye rolling.

IMO nothing turns a wrestling audience off more than 'bad acting' from untrained thespians within a pro wrestling presentation. That;s why there are rarely sell out's at a sophomore drama class play.

Just one man's two cents.

Enjoyed the ROH PPV Friday night that I watched while sitting on our patio while watching the broadcast on my iPad. Solid in ring wrestling show from start to finish. Great effort from the talents and crew across the board.

Thought the audio mix was somewhat out of sorts and to improve it will enhance the viewing experience for fans watching ROH PPV's. For my taste, I'd pull back on the number of 'false finishes' executed throughout the entire show and certainly scale back on the number of traditional finishes being kicked out of.

All small, fixable issues but overall it was a fun, wrestling show to watch. Congrats, ROH! ROH returns to PPV in August on a dynamic card from Las Vegas.

I have two, unique movie opportunities being presented to me that would see me producing and likely have a small, manageable roles, as well. They are both pro wrestling oriented. Hopefully more to come soon.

Going to get Ricochet on The Ross Report this summer of which I'm looking forward. I'm a big fan of his work especially his fearless innovation.

Love all the amateur sleuths who are also die hard wrestling and who are seemingly scurrying after a litany of rumors to attempt to mine a 'spoiler' out of something, anything regarding the WWE Draft.

Here's a 'spoiler' for you, no matter who goes where in the Draft, many fans will second guess and criticize the process come hell or high water. That's a lock and it is simply the social media frenzied world that we live in today.

Plus, it will take several months to see how the Draft is shaking out and creating new stars who can move the needle in other words sell tickets, merchandise and create reasons to watch WWE broadcasts.

Back to ROH, their weekly TV show airs every Monday night at 7 pm ET on the FITE Tv App. This is a great move for ROH because anyone in the world can now see the ROH weekly TV show if they have a smart device and WiFi.

Please consider helping us fund our movie project @6:05Film and you can get all the info at www.nwalegends.com on that amazing project that will chronicle the legendary TV broadcast that dominated the ratings for two decades on Super Station TBS and that launched the careers of numerous pro wrestling performers including yours truly. We need your ideas and suggestions notwithstanding any donations no matter the amount that you can afford to contribute. This documentary will be terrific as it will feature many of the wrestlers, support personnel, TV people, fans and many others whose lives were touched by this TV show.

Remember that we will be appearing in Charlotte at the NWA Fan Fest August 4-7 and tickets are available via www.nwalegends.com. It will be the most fan friendly event of the summer and you're invited to attend.

@CMPunk is the betting underdog for his fight at UFC 203 vs Mickey Gall but hasn't Phil Brooks been an underdog all his life? I'm not predicting this match just yet but I do believe that Punk will do every thing within his power to put on a great fight that, win or lose, will make fans want want to see him fight again.

I hope that Brock Lesnar's training camp is going well and that striking defense is being emphasized. If Lesnar can protect his chin against Hunt, then Brock's chances of winning greatly increase. I still see this fight having to hustle to make it out of the first, five minute round.

Tickets for our RINGSIDE Show with Jim Cornette on Friday night September 23 in Baltimore at Jimmy's Famous Seafood are on sale now at MissionTix.com. Only 300 available for this intimate show that should e a blast to attend. JC and I will do our part that's for sure.

We hope to provide more details of our RINGSIDE shows coming to Wrestlemania 33 in Orlando in the near future. Our presence will be prominent in Orlando as we are looking to create some new 'winkles' in our show's presentation for our fans enjoyment. Ticket wil go on sale this summer or early fall at the latest.

Have a great day!

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ