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JR's Blog: Bragging Rights and BBQ....Football and Friends. Life is Good.

Posted: Oct 26th 2009 By: CMBurnham

Just watched Bragging Rights and enjoyed the presentation especially the show closing 60 Minute Iron Man Match.

Having a little "J.R.'s BBQ" during the festivities certainly added to the moment on an event that I would have loved to have been a part.

Random observations:

The production values in HD on a 65", flat screen TV is a cool way to watch the show. The Mrs made a great choice a few weeks ago to replace our ten year old TV.

The audio, especially the natural sounds from the wrestlers and referees , makes one feel like they are more a part of the event.

Surprising night for Smackdown. I would have lost my bet in that I was suggesting that one take Raw and lay the points. Shows what I know.

The announce team, working together for the first time in a challenging, three man booth did themselves proud. On live TV and with no net is a tough place to establish rhythm and continuity. I was proud of Michael Cole, The King, and my partner, the newlywed, Todd Grisham.

Miz defeating Morrison mildly surprised me and the former tag team partners had a solid start to the show and it put Raw in a dominating position with SD having to win two straight which I felt like added to the underlying story of Bragging Rights. Miz can now tell the world that he carried the banner for Raw while the "other guys dropped the ball." Nice.

The Divas got some much needed TV time which will hopefully lead to something for them all. I am awfully high on the in ring abilities of Natalya Neidhart and feel she can add quality match time to the Smackdown Diva bouts. In any event, the addition of Beth Phoenix and Mickie James to SD can't do anything but help SD.

Several young talents got some viable exposure no matter how succinct some fans may have perceived it. Again, I'm about quality of minutes and not quantity of minutes. Guys like Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, R Truth, etc got a chance to make verbal and or physical contributions that will hopefully lead to bigger and better things for them and who they step in the ring with in the coming weeks.

WWE getting younger at the top is imperative and I felt that Bragging Rights helped forward that movement.

Chris Jericho will likely continue to be the most despised man in WWE which is apropos and befits his ample skills. The SD team winning the 7 man tag, as I mentioned, surprised me but not in a bad way.

Hey, I'm on the "Blue Team" even though I still have a little, Raw red still running through my veins.

Fans can choose to nit pick any 7 man tag all they choose but with 14 bodies in one, one fall match these massive tags are tough to navigate. The follow up, or fall out as it were, should make for some potentially intriguing TV. For any one who may think that 14 athletes are going to get "equal time" in a bout such as this isn't realistic. The things that were top line issues got the focus they seem to need/warrant. I thought the 7 man tag delivered as expected, again in a challenging format.

A Jericho/Big Show vs. DX issue looms one would assume.

Fatal 4 Ways can only have so many agendas and the biggest thing to come out of the World Title Match was the Batista-Mysterio issue which should make for some interesting Friday Night Smackdown. The big, disgruntled bully against the smaller underdog seems to be a dog that will hunt.

I throughly enjoyed the 60 Minute Ironman Match and that was the match that I would have most loved to have participated in from an old school perspective. Cena and Orton rose to the occasion, in a physically demanding environment and told a magnificent story to bring the PPV to the close it needed. Loved the physicality and intensity as "going the hour" is a challenging piece of business. Cena is unquestionably and obviously the "Face of WWE" which is no revelation but was certainly reaffirmed Sunday night. Orton has raised his game to an extraordinary level and he's still not nearly as good as he is going to be considering his age and what lies ahead for the third generation wrestler. That's a scary thought.

The mental and physical demands of wrestling for an hour are beyond comprehension and after having talked to guys like Jack Brisco, Ric Flair, Harley Race, the Funks, Ricky Steamboat, Bret Hart, etc about these marathons, it has made me appreciate even more what these guys put themselves through to accomplish this feat.

My hat is off to both John Cena and Randy Orton with much respect.

The crowd looked and sounded great on TV which is a big thank you to the Pittsburgh folks especially after the Steelers had a home game earlier in the day that I watched from start to finish. Mrs J. R. is a major Sixburgh fan so I had to be a little laid back when my boy Adrian Peterson was doing his thing for the Vikes. Nonethless, the Pittsburgh faithful had a full day and still came to the Mellon Arena and helped make the show better.

On a personal note, I am scheduled to get my MRI results late Monday afternoon of which I feel exprememly confident that I'll get good news.

For those that have done any sort of Goggle, etc searches re: Bells palsy, you know that the time-line for healing is not an exact science not to mention the odds of having the damn affliction three times. I look at it as just a part of my journey and after rebounding from it twice I have no doubts that I will do so again.

Life is good. I got to see my Sooners get an important, road win Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas, spend quality time with some good friends, hang out with Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford on one of his last days on the Sooner sideline before his season ending surgery Wednesday, eat some J. R.'s BBQ and watch WWE's bragging Rights on Sunday night.

So what would I have to complain about? Not a thing.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

P.S. BTW I don't want to neglect to thank those of you who are doing business with us in our store as your continued support is really appreciated.

Tags: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Beth Phoenix, Jack Swagger, Jack Brisco, Ric Flair, WWE