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JR's Blog: Friday's BBQ'ed Random Thoughts....

Posted: Apr 17th 2009 By: mikeiles

Thanks for stopping by our website. Even more thanks to those of you that ordered from our store this week or stopped by JR's BBQ in Norman at exit 109 off I-35. I am spending a fair amount of time in our Norman store and hope to see you there. In the meanwhile, let's get started.....

Nice to see Art Crews honored at the Cauliflower Alley Club Banquet this year. Art was in the first bout I ever refereed in 1974 when he faced Treach Phillips as the two fought to a ten minute draw in the Tulsa Convention Center. Art was one of the good guys who has found success in administration of a correctional facility in Texas.

WWE sold out two nights in the same arena in Dublin to the tune of over $1.4M for the doubleheader.

Cologne, Germany this week did a whopping $800K at the box office with over 10,000 fans in attendance.

Matt Hardy had to have some stitches thanks to his brother Jeff at the Cologne event.

Please check out www.wrestlersrescue.org and participate in the effort to raise funds to allow Dr. Death Steve Williams to be able to have a surgery that would allow him to talk hands free. Great cause for a great guy.

Todd Grisham and your truly, to a lesser degree, have been taken to task by some fans of Tommy Dreamer for remarks made Monday night on Raw. I had mentioned that Dreamer was a legend and particularly an ECW Legend when Todd with tongue in cheek said if Tommy was a legend then so was the Brooklyn Brawler of which I agreed. Brawler has worked for WWE 26 years without being fired once which is in wrestling is astonishing. Bottom line is that I have great respect for Dreamer and for Brawler. It isn't just guys who have headlined major PPV's or have toured the world as NWA Champion back in the day that deserve to be called a legend or who have earned respect from their peers. Both Dreamer and Brawler have made significant contributions in their own way to wrestling and my hat is off to both of them. Many times on TV things are said for entertainment purposes only and are merely attempts at humor and, honestly, some times our best efforts fall short. Please take attempts at wrestling humor and tongue in cheek remarks with a grain of salt or, better said, "Lighten Up Francis."

We are in the process of repackaging all our sauces in plastic bottles including a new HOT, BBQ Sauce. These new, plastic bottles should help reduce the cost of shipping as plastic isn't as heavy as the glass bottles.

I am pleased that no changes were made in the announcing teams during Draft Week. I enjoy the schedule that Friday Night Smackdown provides me on a personal level not to mention that I love the challenge of elevating the perception of the Friday night broadcast as it relates to the "pecking order" of WWE TV programs. I'm not naive enough to think that Raw will never be any thing but the #1 TV priority in WWE but I do think that SD can and has closed the gap. The SD roster is dotted with some extremely athletic and young talents who have the opportunity to enhance their WWE stock on MyNetworkTV's highest rated broadcast.

I'm getting a fair amount of positive feedback on the WWE DVD release "The Greatest Stars of the 90's" and I liked it too so you might want to check it out. It is loaded with some excellent bouts from that decade featuring a wide variety of stars.

The plan is that WWE Superstars will continue to feature top WWE stars Thursday nights on WGN America. The first show was certainly solid inside the ring and I hope that trend continues. It was a quick, one hour wrestling show.

Speaking of in ring action, Friday Night Smackdown this week is one of the stronger in ring wrestling broadcasts that Smackdown has featured in a while. The fans in Knoxville, where the show was taped, did their share to help the cause even after seeing ECW and some WWE Superstar bouts taped.

WWE Superstar bouts will be taped next week in London on both Monday and Tuesday nights at the O2 Arena. The UK fans are some of the best in the world and don't mind being loud and rowdy which makes every thing in the process better.

Some are writing us about both major titles in WWE being on Raw. That was the case last year after the Draft except it was Smackdown who had both titles. One would assume that matter will work itself out in time but if not the show will still go on.

Watch for new J.R.'s Family BBQ Billboards along I-35 just south and north of our Norman store. Photos will be accepted here on the website.

My weekly blog is posted at WWE.com's Smackdown page where I review the Smackdown draft.

Glad to see Oscar De La Hoya retire with his brains seemingly in tact. Boxers, MMA fighters, and wrestlers who stay too long and put their health at risk is a sad turn of events. Wrestlers who stay too long and try and sleepwalk their way through their matches simply based on their reputation can be troubling as well. As long as the crowd is entertained is and always will be the bottom line but old timers who back up to the pay window can become a sad story.

Why isn't Hulk Hogan's friends telling him to simply "lay low BROTHER" and stop making statements to the media? Hulk should consider apologizing for his "O.J. remarks" and then get off the radar for a while. Might just be me and I could be wrong but It almost seems as if Hulk's attorney is looking to become a "star" in this unfortunate divorce case that seems to become magnified weekly.

Questions of the week not making the Q&A section of the site.....Does J.R. speak Hindi? No I don't and as many have expressed that I have a difficult time with English much less learning a "second language." Has J.R. ever vomited at ringside while broadcasting a match? Uh, no I haven't but I have seen a few in ring developments over the years that have made me a little nauseous.

Thanks for stopping by and I will be blogging again before I leave for London on Sunday. Everyone at J.R.'s Family BBQ appreciates your business. Be well.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, Art Crews, Treach Phillips, Steve Williams, ECW, NWA