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JR's Blog: Taker Retirement Nonsense..Batista/Strikeforce @ $$ Impasse?..Hodge vs. Bruno..Austin's Villain Turn..Changes Coming to Store

Posted: Oct 11th 2010 By: CMBurnham

It's a beautiful day in Norman, Oklahoma and we thank you for stopping by our website. Please visit as long as you like and enjoy your time with us.

Lots of random thoughts on a variety of topics....

Huge Monday Night Football game this week with the HBO-made 'Hard Knocks' New York Jets vs. the Minnesota Vikings with tabloid headline QB Brett Favre and controversial wide receiver Randy Moss coming to Jersey. I hope that Monday Night Raw, which I will be watching, gets off to a hot start because this NFL game is loaded with a multitude of provocative storylines and some of them even concern football. Too much turmoil for the Vikes who feature several Oklahoma alums on their squad, the Jets have one, as I see new York winning a nasty, physical game where Rex Ryan may attempt to do a run in and sack QB Brett Favre as if the not so large Rex was channeling Captain Lou Albano.

Read the New York Post this morning where Jets DB Antonio Cromartie has 9 children, all under 5, with 8 different women who live in 6 different states. Cromartie is endanger of being dubbed 'The Father of our Country' and should utilized in Trojan Condom commercials. Cromartie will be paying child support ,or will be in jail, at some point for most of the next two decades. Some how some one will blame the Jets defensive back's childhood for his lack of common sense. Cromartie might be a great football player but he's obviously not class valedictorian.

When I visit wrestling websites, I enjoy seeing how fans vote on a variety of polls but one that always sort of stumps me is the "Best Wrestler' polls featuring a grocery list of stars of which one can vote. What criteria is utilized to determine the 'Best Wrester?' Legitimate wrestling skills, show biz skills, box office appeal, longevity at the top of the card, etc?

With that said, an emailer said that if Dan Hodge ever wrestled Bruno Sammartino that Sammartino would likely win. If it was show biz rasslin' and the event was held at MSG or the old WWWF territory then I concur. If it was a legit wrestling bout then picking against Hodge isn't a wise decision. Hodge was a take down machine and when a bigger, stronger man is taken down much of his offense is taken down with him. For you Bruno purists out there this isn't an indictment on the great Sammartino's abilities but Hodge was in a different league when it came to legit athletic wrestling and not strictly a show biz presentation. For the record, I have the utmost respect for the Italian strongman from my wife's hometown of Pittsburgh but any pro wrestler beating Hodge for real isn't too likely.

People ask me all the time to critique TNA which is a no win situation for me. First of all I don't watch TNA regularly so for me to act as if I do and make across the board judgments of the brand would not be fair nor accurate. Secondly, I work for WWE so any thing I say good, bad or indifferent about TNA will be looked at as a biased opinion. Let it be known that I hope TNA becomes very profitable some day and wish them well. They have a nice, talent roster that needs to wrestle more and talk less but that could be said about the majority of pro wrestling entities over the past decade or so. Bad acting is simply bad acting no matter what show it appears on.

The TV spots for the movie 'Red' appeal to me because of the hook line from John Malcovich that says, "Too old my ass." The retired, former CIA agents storyline looks interesting.

Watched Strikeforce on Showtime Saturday night and thought the show was average or so-so as I answered in a Tweet. I picked Diaz to beat Noons which Diaz did in a non controversial, unanimous decision in a good main event. All striking for the most part. At times the event produced by CBS/Showtime was somewhat oversold by the broadcasters but I've been as guilty of doing the same on many, many occasions. Strikeforce's TV presence is controlled by Showtime which puts the MMA promotion in a precarious position in my view. Showtime produces the fights in a formulaic fashion much like they would any other sporting event on their schedule, or so it seems, while UFC handles their own TV production and UFC doesn't have to answer to any broadcast entity on how their product should look or its basic content.

I am not anti Strikeforce but feel that they will be challenged to show exponential growth as long as a TV network dictates so much to them or until the network more embraces the genre.

Batista fighting for Strikeforce is a big deal if made such by the promotion and the network. Parlaying Dave's global name identity and overall look can pay dividends if done throughly and with a big picture game plan. It seems that the former WWE Champion and the promotion are not exceptionally close on money as of yet based on how I interpreted a recent Batista interview. I actually don't know if a Batista vs. Bobby Lashley bout is the best for both fighters as each man seems to have viable marketability and one beating the other only forward one man as a rule. MMA insiders say that Lashley is at a career crossroads and if that is true then that theory will be validated if Strikeforce signs Batista vs. Lashley for Batista's first fight. If CBS/Strikeforce promotes a MMA contest between Batista and Lashley like another day at the office then my theory that the network doesn't know how to properly promote a major fight is accurate. That's akin to NFL legend Herschel Walker not fighting on Showtime or CBS during the NFL season so that Strikeforce can be promoted on CBS's NFL games. Perhaps the pending December, Walker fight will make CBS air on their coverage of the National Football League.

Where are all the rumors coming from regarding the retirement plans of the Undertaker? Some emailers are contacting us as if these rumors are fact and are etched in stone. These are the same, unfounded rumors that begin making their rounds after each Wrestlemania. My take on this matter is that Undertaker isn't retiring after WM27 in Atlanta. I can easily see the Deadman competing for another three years or so if his schedule is well managed. If forced to speculate, and that's all I'm doing, wouldn't calling it a day after, say, Wrestlemania 30 make more sense? Bottom line is that Taker will retire when he's damn well ready to retire plus I still stand by what I have always said that he will never lose a match at Wrestlemania.

Speaking of 'bottom lines' an emailer took me to task when I said that Steve Austin's turn to become a villain was, in hindsight, ill conceived. Why? Well, it didn't work, plain and simple. I thought it was akin to making John Wayne a Nazi after seeing how it all played out and again that's looking at something ala a Monday morning quarterback when one's vision is 20/20.

Have you seen the new, Legends Roundtable that premiered on some cable systems on Friday? If so shoot us your feedback. I have yet to see it as Cox Cable in OKC hasn't included it to WWE On Demand. From what I've heard, fans have enjoyed the look at Wrestling Families and the only complaint that we've read is that the show is too short which is usually a good sign that the production/subject matter was good.

Answered a slew of Tweets from many of you Sunday morning. Follow us on Twitter @JRsBBQ as we are shooting to get to 100,000 by the end of the year.

Keep an eye on what changes we make to our on line store over the next few days. We hope that you will keep us in mind for your holiday shopping needs.

Helluva Saturday for college football fans. Remember this, it is a long season and a team having one loss doesn't end their year by a long shot. There is tons of football to be played and there is also a great deal of parity within the game. At least college football doesn't have any more ties and provides their fan base with actual winners and losers rather than the conclusions that we often get when watching our favorite pro wrestling TV shows.

Gotta go as the NFL is gearing up and I'm all in. Have a great day and check out the updated, Q&A's here at the site. We'll also gladly take your order for some great products in our on line store. Thanks for all the well wishes and let it be known that I am feeling fantastic.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, Dan Hodge, TNA, WWE