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JR's Blog: JR in Florida, Austin DVD, WWE Network, John Morrison, JBL, Slammies, Order JR's Products Today @ WWEShop.com

Posted: Dec 11th 2011 By: CMBurnham

Nice Saturday in Oklahoma to sit down and hammer out a blog. Hope all are well and preparing for the holidays. WWEShop.com has daily specials for JR's Products that I hope you will check out including some FREE USA Shipping options as of today. Let's kick this off...

This blog is a collection of random thoughts that come from your questions here and via Twitter @JRsBBQ:

My most recent trip to FCW in Florida was good. WWE has several, potential main eventers that are being groomed as we speak. No one candidate sticks out head and shoulders above the rest but there are many athletes that I feel will be in the hunt for a WWE roster spots sooner than later.

The process is a long one and can take years to achieve much to the chagrin of some. Back in the day many wrestlers worked in territories for years before making it to WWE so why should today be any different? I realize that times have changed but calling a wrestler up to the main roster too soon is the kiss of death more often than not it seems. The athletes that come from organizations such as ROH have a little faster track to travel or so it seems.

Many of the athletes need to focus on slowing down a knotch or two from bell to bell and to continue to dedicate themselves to the strength and conditioning program which I feel should be 100% mandantory.

Being around the prospects is always a refreshing time for me as they all seemingly want an opportunity to live their dream by becoming a WWE star.

I tell them to set their sights on headlining Wrestlemania and not to settle for simply earning a spot on the roster.

I hope to get more involved in WWE developmental as it's an exciting time with which to be involved in the process. Nothing is more important for WWE's long term success than developing tomorrow's stars and then being ready to fully utilize them once that they are called up to the big time.

Going with Bones Jones tonight in Toronto on the UFC PPV. Unless Jones makes a careless mistake, any thing can happen when men wear four ounce gloves, he should continue to build his rep and evolve as a big time star. UFC PPV's, not unlike WWE, come at the consumer at a rapid paice which makes it hard to build the needed anticipation for a specific fight/event.

Attractions/stars sell PPV's and any company that is in the PPV business must have a deep roster of PPV selling stars to build, much less maintain, their PPV revenue streams.

No idea who will be inducted into the WWE HOF in 2012 other than the unofficial announcement in Mexico City of Mil Mascaras who is the uncle of Alberto Del Rio and one of the biggest, masked stars in the history of the business.

Yes, to those that ask, I feel that Ron Simmons is deserving of a WWE HOF nod. Among many.

Apparently so many fans bombarded the nice folks at Skittles with JR soundbytes via You Tube that the Skittles people sent us a huge box of the FRUITY, DELICIOUS, OH THEY'RE GOOD, snacks. Those ad lib, sponsor billboards were fun to do back in the day. I was just having fun and trying to give the sponsor more bang for their buck.

I've been asked by many fans about going on the road to do Q&A's. I'd like to do a Roundtable-like Q&A's ala Mick Foley's standup comedy but honestly I'm not sure that the concept would sell. I assume if the right participants were involved in the Q&A's that it might. It's an interesting concept nonetheless.

Every time the 'JR' TV character gets dissed on WWE TV some fans feel that 'JR' should bolt the company that I've been with since 1993. That isn't going to happen. If my WWE tenure ended tomorrow, I'd likely consider writing a book and making a few appearences but re-engaging in a weekly, wrestling TV show is 'highly unlikely' as Gorilla Monsoon used to say. Agreed that some comments are ill advised at times but it's silly for me to invest emotion into a fictional process that is meant to anger many fans. It's obviously working to some degree.

Getting a kick out of the Tweets we receive about JR being a downloaded character in WWE12 and asking me if I did my own 'motion capture.' Uh, nope but it's a funny question.

We're getting tons of questions on the WWE Network. Sorry I don't have the answers for you but I honestly don't. I do know it's obviously a high priority project, that WWE has HUGE expectations for the Network and that many ideas are being considered for content. For any network, content is king including producing new shows of which I understand WWE is considering. I hope to have a role on the WWE Network down the road but that has yet to be determined. Nonetheless I think a successful, WWE Network has the chance to be a game changer. Obviously, launching a new TV Network is an all hands on deck, 24X7 committment by all involved. The WWE Network is scheduled to debut on Sunday April 1, 2012 which is also WM28 on PPV. Perhaps the WWE Network will have portions of its programming that day live from Miami. Just an idea.

The new, Steve Austin DVD is getting outstanding reviews by those that hit us on Twitter @JRsBBQ for its honesty and for being able to take a closer, personal look at, arguably, WWE's great star of all time. @steveaustinBSR was extremely hands on with the production of this DVD which I personally feel is one of the best productions WWE has ever done in terms of getting feedback from the primary subject and telling a compelling story.

YahooSportsRadio.comww.WWEShop.com]WWEShop.com[/url] changes the specials daily on their website including our page at http://www.wweshop.com/Category/JimRoss. If you hurry, you can still get your JR's goods in time for the upcoming holidays. Individually our products make great stocking stuffers and the Packages are big hits, too.

Off topic but any talent who might complain about performing on the Tribute to the Troops special should be relieved of their post w/o exception. For the record, I've never heard of any one who ever has complained and WWE doesn't do a more important event all year than entertaining our fighting men and women.

Doing a weekly hit on Saturday mornings at 10:30 central time with my pal @seancablinasian. You can listen online and the show airs in approximately 200 markets. Sean and I will spend about 30 minutes talking about a variety of topics including WWE.

Not much buzz around Norman for the Sooners trip to Arizona for the Insight Bowl versus Iowa. Spoiled Soooner fans disappointed over a 9-3 record and for not fighting harder in Bedlam versus Oklahoma State.

WWE doing a nice job building anticipation for the 1/2/12 vignettes. Wrestling fans love to anticipate and I'm surprised that more of this sort of promotion isn't done. One of the positive, by products of long term planning is to be able to do these types of vignettes, etc.

No..I don't think that Sting will ever wrestle in WWE but I do think that he will be inducted into the WWE HOF some day when he hangs it up.

Is Kurt Angle serious about trying to make the US Olympic Wrestling team? Absolutely serious according to Jerry Brisco. Kurt visited Jerry Brisco while Jerry was in a Pittsburgh hospital recently and re-enforced such with Brisco with who Angle is still close. Jerry was a coach/mentor to Kurt during Angle's WWE run. BTW, Jerry is feeling MUCH better after having two stents put in his neck area for two, seperate blockages that had previously gone undetected.

Enjoying seeing hard working Zack Ryder start to get more TV time. However, the issue of over exposure for fickle, TV viewers always exists. Hopefully, other WWE talents who are unhappy with where they are currently positioned will be as aggressive as Ryder in changing their own, professional perception.

We have approximately 300,000 Twitter followers and rarely a day goes by where someone doesn't Tweet me bitching and moaning about me not getting back to them. Amazing that some are unable to read the timeline of @JRsBBQ and see that their questions have been addressed numerous times.

Cooking question...what would I put on venision? I'd use JR's All Purpose Sesoning, it's new, ala a dry rub and allow it to sit over night in the 'fridge. Then grill, pan fry, or broil as desired. Another Twitter follower frequently prepares wild game and uses our BBQ Sauces and Ketchup with his fare successfully.

@CMPunk should win WWE Superstar of the Year. End of story. I may even try to attend this Monday's show in Norfolk. Or simply watch the three hour special from home. Reminds me, I need to adjust my DVR for Monday.

Do I think that Chris Jericho and Dave Batista have wrestled their last matches in WWE? No...but that may simply be my personal, wishful thinking. Few performers want to walk away when there's gas left in the tank and with good paydays to be earned. Plus, being on WWE TV is a global marketing tool that furthers other endeavors. Just my two cents and, again, because I like both men's work it may be simply wishful thinking on my part.

Had to opportunity to call a fantastic match Wednesday at Full Sail University between Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus/Daniel Bryan. Not sure if it ever airs on TV, unlikely actually, but those four tore it up in a very unique and intriging environment. They wrestled approximately 20 minutes and rocked the place. Better than many TV main events and PPV bouts that I've seen.

It's amazing that we get questions about Matt Hardy returning to WWE, must be from really young, immature fans, when it's obvious that Matt needs to successfully finish drug and alcohol rehab or face serious, jail time or worse. Matt can turn his life around if he chooses to and that's infinately more important than wrestling.

I'm not bothered by John Morrison leaving WWE and choosing to step away from the day to day rigors of the business to allow his body to heal and to recharge his creative batteries. No one can predict when Morrison will return to the ring but I suspect it will be serveral months. I think stepping away from weekly travel in a demanding business that has no off season is a wise thing to do if one has the ability to do so especially if one has had injury issues. John is still a young guy and I will be surpised if he doesn't return to WWE better than ever and in a much better position.

Saw @JCLayfield on Fox this morning and John does a helluva job talking finances and politics. Smart guy. I don't expect to ever see JBL wrestle again but I do feel that he could be utilized on the new, WWE Network and other non combat roles. I will always regret that JBL and I never got to broadcast a PPV together.

Hope you check out the specials at http://www.wweshop.com/Category/JimRoss and consider our products for a portion of your holiday shopping.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. (@JRsBBQ)