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

JR's Blog: Wednesday Update...Wrestle War '89...Best Tag Teams Ever..Twitter..Red Hot Tag

Posted: Jan 28th 2010 By: CMBurnham

It's "hump day" here in Norman as we prepare for a significant, statewide snowstorm Thursday and Friday. Business has been great in the on line store with the Triple Threat, 6 Pak Powerslam, and the Red Hot Tag specials all selling well. All those packages come with FREE SHIPPING.

Random thoughts about nothing in particular...

Older wrestling stars who have name identity are usually best served for the company for which they work as "facilitators." In other words, they help the younger, deserving, talented wrestlers with the proverbial "rub" in hopes of elevating the younger talents but they do it over time. That doesn't mean that the talented vets need to become perennial, door steps either. There is always a fine line to walk when orchestrating a TV show of any flavor especially wrestling.

Been asked by many emailers who I want to see win the Rumble Match this Sunday in Atlanta. That would be Shawn Michaels because I want to see HBK vs. the Undertaker at WM26. However, are we all assuming that 'Taker walks over Rey Mysterio in their World Title match at the Rumble PPV? What if Rey wins the title and HBK doesn't win the Rumble? Do we still get the rematch many of us want to see? I love the intrigue and will be tuned in to the PPV Sunday considering that I won't be any where near Hotlanta....unfortunately. I love that city and lived there many years while with WCW .

Yours truly broadcast the very first football game ever in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta back in 1992.

Raw is emanating from Nashville this week for the "vintage" and likely epic confrontation between Bret Hart and Mr. McMahon. I will never forget the 1989 Wrestle War PPV held in Nashville that featured an Oak Ridge Boys performance that wasn't needed but was highlighted by a 30+ minute NWA Title bout between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat. The two WWE HOF'ers put on a clinic with former NWA champions Lou Thesz, Pat O'Connor, and Terry Funk serving as judges. The Flair-Dragon bout was only topped by a hard core piece of business between "Naitch" and Terry in the post match. Terry took his game to another level when many insiders questioned whether he could or not being at the age that he was at that time.

Terry Funk wrestled the best matches of anyone north of 40 years of age, along with Flair, as I can ever remember seeing any one perform in my career. Terry essentially reinvented himself after age 40 and then again later in his tremendous career.

I refereed a bout in New Orleans in the mid 70's between Terry Funk and Ken Mantell that was one of the best bouts that I have ever seen on any level in any era. Funk was a "bounty hunter" for Colonel Buck Robley who was trying to eliminate Mantell. Awesome stuff.

BTW that '89 Wrestle War had an amazing array of talent on it including the incomparable Gary Hart, the Great Muta, the Varsity Club, Sting, Dick Murdoch, Bob Orton, Jr., the Samoan SWAT Team with Paul E. Dangerously, among others.

Last night I Twittered, http://twitter.com/JRsBBQ, the reason that I watched portions of the Australian Open. Check out our Tweets as I think that you will get a kick out of them.

My WWE.com/Smackdown blog is up with Ten Questions.

John Cena is on USA's Psyche tonight on their season premier. Cena is a real work horse and seemingly never stops. Loved John's passion when confronting McMahon on Monday night. Let's just hope that the horse that Cena is can stay in one piece with the pace he keeps.

I think it has been really cool how mega stars like the Undertaker and Cena have "talked up" Hitman Hart over the past couple of weeks.

Been reading various accounts of how many days a year wrestlers now travel. The old timers have great abilities to embellish how many days a year they used to be on the road while some of today's wrestlers like to do the "poor me" routine as well and bemoan how much they are away from home in the profession that they selected. WWE Superstars travel, at most, on a regular basis, 4 days a week if they are on the road full time. This is the best schedule that any pro wrestler has had on this level that I can recall. With all that said, do I think that wrestlers in general need more time for R&R? Absolutely. There will never be a "season" for pro wrestling especially as long as TV is first run, 51 weeks a year. Nonetheless, travel nowadays isn't easy but it's better than it ever has been but still needs to be throughly monitored so the "horses" that carry the load can hold up longer and remain as healthy as possible.

Some of my buddies went to the OKC Farmer's Market last weekend to watch "Extreme, Midget Wrestling" and they told me that there was a midget "J.R." there, black hat and all. Wish he had been selling some BBQ Sauce....the little son of a gun.

Two, highly successful businessmen of my age group are so stoked about Cheech and Chong coming to OKC on March 1 to host Raw. Yep, you guessed it, I got hit up for more tickets just last night.

BTW on Monday March 1, I plan on being at JR's in Norman pretty much all day. I have no specific Raw plans other than to hopefully make it up to OKC and say hello to my friends. I would like to meet Cheech and Chong though I have to admit.

We are working on some new packages for our on line store that you are going to love. We are in the midst of a record setting January in sales here on line for which we are really appreciative.

William "Call me Bill" Shatner who will host Raw on Monday is one funny dude. Captain Kirk inducted the King at the 2007 Hall of Fame Ceremony and was a blast to be around. I love his show "Raw Nerve."

We are working on some really interesting, non wrestling projects that are still on the drawing board. They could make 2010 even more interesting.

Seems like the "serious money" is on Randy Orton winning the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble this Sunday on PPV or so my Okie friends think. I have to pull a Lee Corso and say, "not so fast my friends" on that one. I need to see it and I can't wait to do so at one of my favorite events of the year and encourage everyone to make sure they enjoy the Rumble on PPV as well.

Who's the best tag team of all time? That's one of the most arguable points in the biz. For my BBQ Sauce, I would have to include the Masked Assassins, the Kentuckians, Pat Patterson and Ray Stevens, the Brisco Brothers, the Funks, the Fabulous Freebirds, the Von Erichs, the Horsemen, the Rock-N-Roll Express, the Horsemen, the Hart Foundation, and the Midnight Express. Yes, I know that there are many other great teams that I didn't mention when addressing such a subjective topic but those are pretty solid "starters." Who do you think belongs on this list?

I'm heading to the Oklahoma vs. Iowa State mens basketball game tonight. Gotta hit the gym first though. I'm doing all that I physically can to be ready to participate in WM26 which is a huge, personal goal. There is nothing in my professional career that I have been lucky enough to participate in that remotely compares to Wrestlemania.

BTW...our Hot BBQ Sauce is NOT habernaro or Tabasco hot but does have ample "personality." Try our Red Hot Tag package and you'll see what I mean.

We have a large company interested in our Beef Jerky and they have told me that it "tests" as well as any Jerky product that they have experienced in a long time. If you've ordered our Jerky Mania package, then you already know this.

The line is going up on the Colts-Saints Super Bowl showdown. Seems like most folks are thinking that if a team gives Peyton Manning two weeks to prepare that Manning can't or won't lose the big one. It's hard to argue that point.

Thanks for stopping by and for all your support. Be well.

Boomer Sooner!

J. R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WCW, Ric Flair, WWE, Lou Thesz, Pat O'Connor, Terry Funk, Ken Mantell, Buck Robley, Gary Hart, Sting, Dick Murdoch, Samoan SWAT Team, Assassins, Kentuckians, Pat Patterson, Brisco Brothers, Fabulous Freebirds, Von Erichs, Rock-N-Roll Express, Mi