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JR's Blog: Friday Update..Hitman..Brock..JR's Contract Status..WWE 24/7 On Demand..Order JR's Products Today

Posted: Dec 19th 2009 By: mikeiles

Hi everyone and Happy Holidays!

BBQ'ed Random Feedback....

My weekly WWE Smackdown blog is up at http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown and it covers a variety of topics including TLC, Raw, Michael Cole and more.

Don't forget that you can also find us via our Facebook site which is relatively new and growing every day.

Our on line business here on the site has been excellent and we are still aggressively shipping your orders but time is running low. Please order today if you are wanting to get your orders by December 24 which is now going to be a photo finish.

There is tons of speculation regarding WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart signing an agreement to return to WWE in the near future. Let me make this clear, I have not personally talked to Bret in months but have exchanged a few emails since I took ill in October but that was about his and my health issues and we never discussed a potential return to WWE for him. Also, I have not talked to one person in WWE about this issue either as I rarely talk to any one within WWE about any thing that doesn't involve my contractual issues.

I do know have a few, somewhat educated opinions on this matter. Firstly, having Bret Hart return to a WWE locker room and be able to mentor young talents is awesome. Young wrestlers need more positive role models who have made it within the business and Bret would no doubt be a great mentor and coach. I have often wondered why Bret has not been asked or arrangements made for Bret to do be a "reoccurring professor" in WWE's developmental program, FCW.

Secondly, Bret would not come back to WWE without a game plan and a strategy. Just as his wrestling matches had a beginning, a middle and an end so would the "Hitman's" return to WWE especially considering the controversy of Montreal 1997 which is an issue that seemingly won't die to wrestling historians and aficionados much like the President Kennedy tragedy in Dallas in 1963 to conspiracy theorists.

Bret is too smart that, IF, he's coming back to WWE that he has a sound strategy in mind with a predetermined destination. It doesn't take the class Valedictorian to make an educated guess that destination might logically be Wrestlemania 26.

Thirdly, if it is physically possible for Bret Hart to have a physical confrontation with his "arch nemesis" Mr. McMahon that attraction could be significant for WM26. When I last saw Bret at the Cauliflower Ally Club function a couple of years ago in Vegas he looked great. Pulling off an entertaining, say, "Street Fight" would not require the participants to have a traditional, wrestling bout of which Bret was the master back in the day.

I find it hard to believe that if Bret "Hitman" Hart's name was mentioned so prominently on Monday Night Raw that there is more than simply smoke but also some fire as it relates to this matter and I hope that I'm right as the return of the "Hitman" would be great for the fans and would add a new, fresh and much needed creative element to Monday Night Raw. not to mention enhancing Monday Night Raw's build to WM26. USA Network should be ecstatic is this matter comes to fruition.

Some have emailed me about what the potential of Bret returning would mean to the Hart Dynasty and I don't know that answer. My guess is that the Dynasty would naturally get more exposure but I see this matter as being much more about Bret and Mr. McMahon that any thing else with the goal to create some exciting, new TV moments from its inception through WM26.

Again, this is purely personal speculation and only one guy's opinion as I have, as previously mentioned, not spoken to any one in the Hitman or WWE camps about this matter.

Bottom line is that if Bret Hart returns to WWE that, in my opinion, it will be on Monday Night Raw, it will commence on Monday January 4 and that it will culminate in something big at WM26.

Speaking of WWE TV, I am planning on sitting with various family members and watching the WWE/NBC production of "Tribute to the Troops" Saturday night. Check your local listings for the most important TV program that WWE produces annually. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are "calling" matches on the show but it isn't a wrestling show as you will see and I mean that in the best of ways.

The coolest, Holiday greetings card that wife Jan and I have received is one from ZZ Top's Billy F. Gibbons as it was designed by my friend himself. Really cool.

Don't forget for all you fans of the "vertically challenged" that apparently there will be a congregation of such this week during a courtroom scene on Monday Night Raw. O.K. here goes.....will it be a "short" segment...will anyone apply a "short arm scissors?"....will the script be dotted with "succinct, soundbytes?"....will a vertically challenged attorney file any "briefs?"...you get the picture. Or not.

UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar looks like, because of his on going issues allegedly with diverticulitis, that he will be stripped of his title soon. If Brock is lucky enough to dodge the surgeon's knife on this matter it will be miraculous. Having had diverticulitis, diverticulosis, a perforated intestine and a tumor removed from my colon I can identify with some of what Brock is currently going through. (Thank God I had the skilled Dr. Heiney to help pull me through.) He will have to change his diet to a significant degree for the rest of his life but I still see Brock most likely returning to the Octagon. Perhaps not in 2010 and, if so, it would be late in 2010. If Frank Mir wins the interim title, expect Lesnar to be even more motivated to return and physically destroy Mir as Brock did in their last encounter. To Mir's credit, he has talked and fought his way back into relevancy and into the title picture. Lesnar is seeing skilled, astrologist's and his physical snapshot will be evolving over the next few months. Obviously, UFC honchos feel Lesnar will be out an extended period of time or they wouldn't attempt to crown an interim, paper champion in Brock's absence.

For the record and because so much has been made of the matter from hose of you sending emails to this website, if Mickie James is "overweight" and she doesn't fit the role of what some folks feel a "diva" must resemble then I am an anorexic aviator and, by the way, I can't fly a kite.

When I see that many wrestling companies are promoting events past December 15 it reminds me of the many changes within the business over the years. Back in the 70's when I first got into the wrestling biz, most territories shut 'er down on or around December 15 and produced best of type TV shows and geared up for their Christmas Night Spectaculars with shows that they taped in advance.

Come to think of it, lots of things have changed within the wrestling business, many for the better, but even to the point that some don't feel comfortable with the genre being referred to as pro wrestling. Rasslin, ' in particular, has become a dirty word in some circles which I find somewhat laughable.

I watched WWE 24/7 On Demand last night, love the VOD service that I enjoy on Cox Cable here in the OKC area, and thought the latest Legends Roundtable featuring a discussion about Southern Wrestling to be excellent. Many have seen it feel the same way but you check it out for yourself and let us know your thoughts on that program. I thought it was really interesting and loved being a part of it.

My contract status with WWE has changed somewhat. We have agreed to terms on a contract extension for a few months to allow me to completely heal from Bells palsy #3. I don't expect to go back on the road until, at the earliest, March but that is an approximate time frame. The story making the rounds that I'm targeting WM26 to return to the airwaves makes for a good story but it is not accurate as I am hoping that I heal quicker and can get back in the game in some form sooner than March 28. That particular issue isn't up to me.

I have plenty of WWE responsibilities to keep me busy until I get back to an announce desk. I feel loyalty to WWE and, perhaps selfishly, feel that I have made significant contributions to the company over the years.

My long term career plans have yet to be discussed or finalized but for the short term I am staying on the team that I have played for since 1993 and that inducted me into their Hall of Fame in 2007. I am pleased to have this matter addressed and behind me at this time. Hopefully, WWE and I can facilitate a long term contract during this extension period.

Thanks for your on line business and Happy Holidays.

Boomer Sooner! J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, Jerry Lawler