• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

JR's Blog: Wednesday Update..Cornette..Russo..Thesz..Lane Kiffin..Big Mac..No Ketchup War

Posted: Jan 14th 2010 By: CMBurnham

Busy day here today so we won't burn any daylight and will get this show on the road....

We have updated the latest Q&A's from many of you here on the site and invite you to check them out. We enjoy the many emails we receive and encourage you to keep 'em rolling.

We've been asked where fans can obtain Mid South Wrestling, Power Pro Wrestling, and UWF Wrestling tapes and DVDs and that would be on the Universal Wrestling Archives website. They have all the masters and their duplications are professionally done and are high quality. If you are a true or long time fan of the business then I'm sure that you will really enjoying reliving the days of Mid South, etc which featured excellent, weekly episodic TV with some of the biggest stars of that generation and the next. The announcing was just so-so however.

Before someone emails me again...I do not know why WWE has been unable to buy the Mid South library other than WWE simply can't come to terms with ownership of the library. I know that WWE would love to have the collection but it takes two to tango.

I've been watching the top 10 bouts of the decade in WWE on WWE 24/7 On Demand and the producers put together a fabulous program for 24/7. I highly recommend that you watch this multi-part program.

Jim Cornette is in the news a great deal here lately with his "stinging" comments about the wrestling biz in general. I've known JC for over 25 years and over that length of time I've discovered that most folks either really like Corney or they really dislike him. He is outspoken and controversial which are two of the traits that made him one of the greatest, wrestling managers to ever live. Plus he likes to create controversy as it creates traffic for his website, www.jimcornette.com. I have not always agreed 100% with some of Jim's assessments but I have never doubted for one second his passion and love of the business. Ring of Honor is fortunate to have Cornette on their team.

Wrestlers over 60 who I can recall still being good at that age obviously include Jerry Lawler and Ric Flair but let's not forget that Lou Thesz was still a solid hand when he was north of 60. I don't recommend every wrestler performing when they reach the age of 60, obviously, but a few guys have been able to pull it off on occasion especially "Naitch" and the King. Several men have returned to the ring in their 60's for "one off" appearances, more often than not in tag bouts, and many times these "returns" drew good money. It was the 2nd and 3rd "return from retirement" that usually didn't work so well.

Yes, my wife is from Pittsburgh, the home of Heinz ketchup, and we use both Heinz and J.R.'s Chipotle Ketchup in our home. Heinz makes a great product but they don't make a smoky, spicy Chipotle Ketchup. Order some 's Chipotle Ketchup and give it a try and I think that you will love it.

Got some interesting emails about announce teams and what teams I liked and what teams I didn't like. I'm not big on listing things that I don't like as that usually comes off as too bitter and too negative. I loved Monsoon and Heenan, however. I could watch and listen to them for hours. Mean Gene Okerlund and "The Brain" were also great together on All American Wrestling back in the day. Funny, funny stuff that was largely ad libbed. I thought Tony Schiavone was really good before Atlanta's WCW sucked the passion out of Tony who had a distinctive voice and a tireless work ethic when we were together in Charlotte and Atlanta. I also felt that Mark Madden could have been a superb analyst if he had been provided a the right opportunity as he was intelligent, very witty and caustic all in a good way. Lance Russell and Dave Brown had the best chemistry of any duo I think ever saw. The Memphis based duo were excellent in their tenure for many, many years. I don't know Dave Brown personally but Lance Russell is one of the classiest and most talented men that I have ever met in the wrestling biz. I choose to refrain from discussing today's wrestling broadcasters because no matter what I say I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.

One of the truly weird things in my life was actually playing Lance Russell on the film "Man on the Moon" starring Jim Carrey while Lance was the ring announcer on the film. There were no auditions and when we showed up for work we were told what we were doing and given our scripts. It felt strange but being the class act that he's always been, Lance never said a negative word.

Yes, I agree that Lane Kiffin is a tool for abruptly bolting Tennessee in the dark of night, so to speak, for Southern Cal and especially for deserting the high school players who had verbally committed to the Vols after Kiffin and his staff had recruited them. Losing a coach this close to the February 3 National Signing Day for college recruits can be disastrous. It's all about the money folks. There is no magic philosophy or ulterior motive. It's all about the money.....and at the end of the day....one can make an argument that really isn't a sin and is truly the right thing to do.

Emailers also frequently ask about Amy "Lita" Dumas who is traveling with her band and living in Atlanta the last I heard being a Guest Host on Raw. For the umpteenth time, I do not have any prior knowledge of who will be guest hosting Raw or what else may or may not occur on Raw or any other broadcast. I like it that way, for the record. Amy had a great run in WWE, was a pleasure to work with and one of my favorite hires.

Amy is prominently featured in JR's Cookbook which we are still personally autographing with your requested inscription here in our on line store for less than $20 and that includes FREE SHIPPING.

Tickets for the March 1 Oklahoma City Raw go on sale this Saturday at Ticketmaster outlets and the Ford Center box office. Again, I don't know who the guest host will be but I know it won't be Bob Stoops, he's one who likes to stay out of the spotlight, but one might not want to rule out Toby Keith who is a fan and a huge star with global appeal who has attended WWE events in the past. But, bottom line, is I don't know who will be handling that role on March 1 or whoever is being considered.

For the record and contrary to what some have speculatively written about the subject, I was never angry or any thing else of a negative vent at Dr. Death for his role with "Oklahoma" on WCW TV many years ago. Obviously, that particular creative won't rank high on my list of all time favorites but it's certainly water under the bridge and I'm far from "bitter" about it. That includes not being angry at Vince Russo or Ed Ferrera for the record. Nonetheless, no wrestling storyline could ever adversely affect my friendship with Doc who I met for the first time in 1979. The wrestling business, as Stan Hansen said at Doc's funeral services, is long on acquaintances and short on true friends and Doc was a true friend and actually more like a little brother to me than any thing else. I still really miss Steve and have a hard time accepting that he is gone. As Stan also said, "No More Suffering!" when he spoke at the services about Doc's battle with throat cancer.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson appears on the maligned Jay Leno Show tonight on NBC to promote Rock's film "The Tooth Fairy." I still get emails from fans asking when Rock will next wrestle and if I had to say one way or another I would say that Rock will never wrestle again but I will also add that I hope that I'm wrong on that guess.

BTW...one of the great bouts on WWE 24/7's Top Ten Bouts of the Decade was the Three Stages of Hell match featuring HHH vs. Stone Cold that emanated from Vegas the night after I broadcast an XFL game in Chicago. I had forgotten how good this match was and it was awesome. Physical as hell. Great story. A superb piece of business.

Enough of Mark McGwire's teary eyed confessions of his use of steroids. I admire that McGwire finally came clean but his admission was no shocker. Same would go for Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa, both alleged/rumored to have have used PED's, unless they both had extraordinarily, unique growth spurts when they were in their 30's that increased even their cap size. McGwire will be forgiven, Hank Aaron has already blessed Big Mac's apology, and the American public will move on proving that we Americans love to forgive people which actually isn't the worst trait in the world.

Got a funny as hell email asking if I was interested in the USC head coaching job prior to young, Lane Kiffin urinating on Tennessee and taking the post. I said, jokingly, "perhaps" but only if Snoop Dogg would accept the role of offensive coordinator.

Would any of you be interested if we offered a close out on our Black, White, and Gray JR's BBQ T shirts as we have a handful left and don't plan on restocking them any time soon. These shirts would likely be less than twenty bucks and include shipping. I might even sign 'em. Any thoughts?

Follow us on Twitter...I mentioned Tuesday night that Ezekiel Jackson was a cross between Sonny Liston and Ray Lewis. Some younger readers will likely say who in the blue hell is Sonny Liston?

Have you joined our crew on Facebook? You're personally invited and I go on the site daily to look around and enjoy the email posts that we receive. Check us out at http://facebook.dj/jrbbq/.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to Houston tomorrow which means that I might be doing some Twittering from there where I will be attending the Bear Bryant national Coach of the Year Banquet. Flying down with Coach Barry Switzer on Thursday morning which is huge for me as Coach Switzer is one of my "heroes." (This won't further endear me to some of our Longhorn readers but such is life.)

We appreciate your business and please tell a friend about our site. Count your blessings.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.