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JR's Blog: HBK '96..UFC Abu Dhabi..Bart Gunn vs. Butterbean..Chris Adams Daughter Writes Us..Get Ready for Grilling Season with JR's!

Posted: Apr 12th 2010 By: mikeiles

Hope every one is having a great weekend. Beautiful day in Oklahoma and I'm enjoying our Sunday. Been busy this weekend but it's all good.

UFC in Abu Dhabi was a stinker. Too bad, too. Only one opportunity to make a first impression in a new market. Not sure what's up with Anderson Silva but it sure sounds like it's attitudinal and ego driven. Fighters. wrestlers, ball players, etc have a responsibility to always give the fans their monies worth and Silva hasn't done that too many times lately. Helluva talented guy but he appears to becoming a 'head case' and I assure you that after being in pro wrestling for 36 years I know a 'head case' when I see one. I would not have confidence that Anderson Silva can be 'the guy' and headline PPV events until he regains the trust and the confidence of UFC/MMA fans.

B.J. Penn losing surprised me as he is one of my favorites but it was obviously a close fight and I've said before that MMA judging is often times some what schizophrenic. Penn will be back and this loss doesn't devalue him remotely close to what Silva's win did for "the Spider."

We are getting some really cool book ideas from a multitude of fans of which we appreciate. I'm going to be speaking with a literary agent early this week as we strategize a grocery list of ideas regarding my potential foray into the book biz.

We've updated a long list of new Q&A's on the site of which we invite you to check out. Here's some of the highlights:

Did I think that in 1996 that HBK would eventually wind up his career as arguably the greatest in ring performer of his generation? Honestly, no. Shawn's life style was rather controversial at that time and did not lend itself to having a long, illustrious career. Thank goodness that Shawn made dynamic and distinctive changes in his life which then propelled him to the rarefied air of greatness in the pro wrestling biz. More importantly than re-establishing himself as one of wrestling's greats of all time, Shawn Michaels became a much better man which is more important that being anyone's show stopper.

Does it bother me when some former WWE talents bad mouth me in 'shoot' interviews? Not really. Disgruntled talents in the world of sports and entertainment are a dime a dozen. I will readily admit that I was not perfect in a 'can't win for losing job and in a job where one could never make every one happy' but it's not my fault that guys who made big money did not save it, pay their taxes or act like responsible adults. When one hears the proverbial 'shoot interviews' and people go on their manufactured, soap boxes and take pot shots at a variety of people or, even more ridiculously, take credit for other's successes in a manner where the disgruntled, self promoting underachievers are almost breaking their arms patting themselves on the back, then I suggest that you take most of what they rant about with a grain of salt. Most are trying to regain relevancy and to sell a DVD to justify a pay day.

The role of being in charge of a talent roster dotted with talented, hard working, egocentric, well paid men and women isn't an easy one and one will never make all that comprise the roster happy. Obviously, just as any one else in varying aspects of their lives, I would love to go back and change a few things that went down but that's hindsight and hindsight is always 20/20. I will go to my grave knowing that I worked diligently on a daily basis for years, was fair and that several men and women had their biggest, financial years on my watch.

Will TNA ever become a TV ratings threat to WWE? What is the definition of a ratings threat? Does it mean, will TNA ever beat Raw on Monday nights? If that's the question, then my guess is "No" but I don't think that's TNA's goal. The USA Network provides Raw with a great advantage on cable TV in exposure and over all network ratings considering that USA is generally the #1 rated cable network. Small example but many hotels that I have stayed at over the years almost always have USA Network whereas few generally feature Spike. Point is that USA is a much stronger network than is Spike, no offense intended to Spike. My suggestion is that both WWE and TNA need to focus on what they do and build their own new stars that are involved in intriguing and compelling personal issues and let the chips fall where they may. TV wrestling is 'star driven' and 'storyline fueled' in which long term planning is a key component in order to facilitate, fun and easy to watch, episodic TV. It's also WAY over thought in many circles.

What did I think of the 'Hardcore Title?' Generally it was o.k. but became too gimmicky and watered down therefore devalued.

Yes, Curt Hawkins is in FCW working on his game in hopes of making it back to the primary WWE roster. I admire the veteran Hawkins essentially starting over to do all he can to attract positive attention and regain a position on WWE's primary roster. If work ethic and desire have any thing to do with it, Hawkins will make it.

No....TNA President Dixie Carter did NOT die, thank goodness, it was the aging actress of the same name who starred on "Designing Women" many years ago and, I think, was married to actor Hal Holbrook.

Even though most people have moved on from Bart Gunn's 'mistreatment' by WWE after his Brawl for it All experience some just won't "let it go." Bart was a great puncher/fighter and dominated the Brawl for it All without question. Because of my friendship with Dr. Death, who Bart beat, I will always be personally implicated in Bart's WWE demise which is such a stupid, uneducated assumption that it's embarrassing. The match with Bart and Butterbean had on PPV was the blow off of the Brawl for it All. Bean, like Bart had success in Tough Man fights, and had turned pro boxer with moderate success but Butterbean did have marketable, name identity at that time. It was a unique attraction on PPV that Bean dominated. For whatever reason and reasons unknown to me, Bart was devalued by creative and stopped being used with any significance. If Bart had not lost to Butterbean it might well have been a different story as it relates to Bart Gunn's WWE career. That's my guess. Nonetheless I have always found Bart Gunn to be a respectful, good guy who caught a bad break. If he or others want to blame me for that facet of history then so be it.

Another emailer asked me to name the 'one defining moment in my career' which is just a little challenging. I'm not even sure that I've had my 'defining moment' yet. Spending every day above ground is a pretty defining moment when one stops and thinks about it.

Struck a chord with some fans about saying that I would not vote for Chris Adams into a Hall of Fame. I could easily be judged with comparing apples to oranges on this matter and only offered a personal opinion. Perhaps I should not have factored in Adams' personal behavior as it relates to in ring accomplishments but I did. Chris was a vital part of WCCW's success back in the day and had a unique style that was fresh and entertaining plus Chris Adams was a legit tough guy. Highly skilled without question so if I offended some with my opinion I apologize but I still believe in what I wrote. I received a really great email from Chris' daughter which you can read in the Q&A section of the site. I appreciated her thoughts and respected her opinion enough to not run from the email or delete it.

Read on line where fans saw Ezekiel Jackson get apparently injured at a WWE event this past week in the UK. Sounds like it may have been a quadriceps injury. Ugh.

Another emailer wrote me who attended a WWE event this weekend where Ted DiBiase had to have medical attention on a cut he suffered on his head. Likely stitches or staples but unlikely that young Ted will miss any ring time or at least I hope not. From what people tell me, the current, WWE International Tour is doing well.

We see more people sharing cases of our products which save one ample monies, still comes with FREE SHIPPING, and one can mix and match if need be. For those that use our Original BBQ Sauce, the case price of that product makes it less than what we sell bottles for it in our restaurant. Nonetheless, we encourage you to consider placing orders for 3 Packs, 6 Packs, and our awesome J.R.'s Beef Jerky as they make great gift ideas for a variety of occasions.

Plus, with grilling season upon us, why would you want to use some prelim, BBQ sauces when you can go with the main event stuff including the world's most dangerously delicious ketchup, J.R.'s Chipotle Ketchup?

If you order today, we will get it out tomorrow via Federal Express Ground.

Thanks for the visit and come back and see us. Count those blessings every day.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, TNA, Steve Williams, Chris Adams, WCCW