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JR's Blog: Q&A's Updated....Too Much is Being Made About Who Presents Who at WWE HOF...More Random Thoughts

Posted: Jan 19th 2009 By: mikeiles

We have updated our Q&A section of the website and I invite you to check it out. Your questions seem to be becoming more succinct and more compelling.

Way too much is being made about who presents who in the WWE Hall of Fame. I think some fans are losing sight that the Hall of Fame is about those that are being inducted and not those that are presenting them. For example, this is Steve Austin's well earned and deserved night in Houston on April 4 and not the presenter's. This goes for any one who is presenting a Hall of Fame inductee. Good grief, does it really matter who does a 2 minute or so intro as long as it is the person the inductee wants to represent them? Let's stop the pain, as Michael Cole would say.

I receive many questions from Natalya fans asking about her future. I don't have a crystal ball but I feel that Natalya hasn't scratched the surface of her potential in the WWE and her best days are yet to come. She is fundamentally sound and has a great gift of gab which is a good thing for a talent in wrestling today. I could see her being the Diva or WWE Womens Champion very easily in the future. She's one of my favorites so I hope that I'm not jinxing her.

Back to the presenter thing, someone emailed me a Q&A question suggesting that if Brian Pillman were still alive today that he would be a great presenter for Stone Cold and I couldn't agree more. I actually had not thought of this particular matter but Brian would have been great and would have taken us all on an adventure with a live mic.

An Omaha fan wanted to know if I thought the 'Huskers were going in the right direction and I can say without question, yes. Coach Bo Pelini is another of the Youngstown, Ohio guys who have evolved into becoming great coaches. Nebraska is in great shape with Pelini. BTW I got to meet former Nebraska coaching legend Tom Osborne last week and that was very cool.

Some want to know why the WWE doesn't do DVD's from the Memphis or Mid South Wrestling territories. Simple reason is that the WWE doesn't own the libraries. The Memphis video library situation is a mess which is really too bad as they had some great weekly TV shows for years and years but unless someone cares enough about organizing this library it is likely fans will ever see that period of wrestling be shared with today's fans. Mid South is owned by Bill Watts' ex-wife and she has not demonstrated an interest in selling the library as best I know but I am not nor do I want to be involved in that negotiation which I assume is dormant at this time.

Check out many of the lost classics including a tag match between Ricky Steamboat/Shane Douglas vs. Barry Windham/Brian Pillman on the new WWE produced Starrcade DVD. What a helluva match and there are more where that came from.

Someone asked me about cooking venison. My Mom did it the best but she usually marinated it over night in either milk or Italian salad dressing to take the gamey taste out of it. We ate venison a great deal at our home because Dad was a dedicated and talented hunter. We even had Venison sausage which was really good especially when processed with Jalape?os.

"The World's Angriest Announcer" signs have been popping up at Smackdown TV tapings which I quickly point out to my partner who is indeed the angriest man in the world, Tazz. Thanks for having some fun with this and thanks as well for the JR's BBQ signs. Hey, a man has to build a business and prepare for the future, right? Brother needs some help!

Tazz is rapidly becoming the "King of Long Island Baseball" and certainly would seem to me that his post wrestling life might include baseball in some shape, form or fashion. The man knows baseball as I have discovered from traveling with the "Tony Soprano" of LI hardball.

Several questions this past week regarding Rick Rude for some reason. The Minnesota native was one of the legit tough guys in the biz and was underrated as a protagonist in the wrestling business. Perhaps one of the most underrated bad guys in the business in recent memory. Rick had great, natural timing and believability. The injury bug bit him at a truly inopportune time. Rick also apparently had drug issues perhaps as a result of his injuries. Rick was a guy from the old school of wrestling who really never fully trusted anyone or so it seemed and always was cautious of people. I always got a long with him well but one could tell that Rude was never going to really trust any one who worked in a wrestling office. Perhaps he had good reason but it never affected the way we personally interacted. Most fans might never appreciate just how good Ravishing Rick Rude truly was but Rick going back to WCW seemed to not work for him but I could be wrong on that one.

Will the WWE ever do a Reality TV Show has been asked here recently also. I have no idea is the answer. However, if the WWE could manage and vet the production of such a show I could theoretically see it happening as it give the brand more exposure and might help embellish existing stars or create new stars. I know of nothing on the "drawing board" but reality TV is cheap to produce and seems to be the current trend on many TV networks.

Someone asked about the possibility of Brock Lesnar fighting in the UFC at 205 and that's not going to happen. For Lesnar to compete at 205 he would have to be deathly ill which I wish on no one. Lesnar is as natural a 280 or so pounder as one will ever see but he is so quick and athletic that we often lose track of just how big he is. Heavyweight is Lesnar's home for the long haul and the better he gets at his overall MMA game the tougher it is for any one to beat him. However, inevitably some one will in the future. I'm not saying the near future but no one will ever go undefeated in all likelihood in the UFC as there's too much competition and unpredictability which makes it fun to watch.

Head on over to our Q&A section and check it out. We also thank those of you that shop with us. We are hoping to have a JR's BBQ presence at WM25 but there are many, many details to work out and right now it looks extremely iffy. More on that when I know more. Be well.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, MSW, Bill Watts, Shane Douglas, Rick Rude, WCW