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JR's Blog: Old School RAW Tonight is Must See TV..Bruno..WrestleMania Sites..It's Grilling Time in Oklahoma!

Posted: Mar 4th 2013 By: CMBurnham

Huge night tonight for the WWE with the Annual Old School RAW. It's one of my favorite, WWE broadcasts of the year to watch. Love that it's in the heart of the Road to WrestleMania, too. Let's roll with a quick list of random thoughts....

WWE.com released an impressive list or names earlier today that are slated to appear on tonight's Old School Raw. Happy to see them all especially guys like the Honkytonk Man who hasn't been involved in WWE programming in quite some time. Always good to see my old Mid south Wrestling buddy Hacksaw Jim Duggan get a call as well as Nature Boy Ric Flair who I'm sure the Buffalo, live audience will embrace. I know that Mean Gene Okerlund has been looking forward to this night for quite some time. The Million Dollar Man will be on RAW tonight with two, newly replaced knees.

MDM Ted DiBiase and Ric Flair, along with the late, great Dick Murdoch, were involved in one of the best, most dramatic and compelling TV storylines ever in Mid South which again speaks to the genius of Bill Watts as a TV producer/booker.

Check out WWE.com for the complete list of talents being brought back for tonight.

It's always intriguing to me to see how the older stars are factored into this broadcast as they provide an unique opportunity to interact with today's stars with the hope of forwarding the current talent's TV personas.

I wonder if Michael Cole will rediscover his old 'stache and if Jerry Lawler, who's as old school as they come, will don his crown and cape along with his Tarzan styled wrestling tights as he wore back in the day on RAW? Come on Jerry, lose those T shirts.

Getting far too many questions about the design of various championship belts. I have stated that the design of any title isn't a hill that i choose to die upon as I have little expertise in design. I will only say that the simpler the better and titles should be in a gimmick free zone. Much like entrance music, the design of a title belt isn't something tat I spend much time thinking about.

This is a pivotal night for WWE as, in my view, it's time to accelerate the drive down the Road to WrestleMania. Last week's broadcast had an auspicious start with the McMahon, Heyman, HHH and Lesnar business and how tonight's show starts is imperative as it, like the opening match at a PPV, sets the tone for the evening.

Big start....big finish.

One could realistically expect some sort of confrontation between The Rock, the WWE Champion, and his number one contender and WM29 opponent, John Cena. If this confrontation does occur, I'd guess that both men will be compellingly serious. The responsibility that they carry in closing the show at WM29 is massive. The top guys always carry the heaviest load but with that comes the greatest rewards.

Some guys can handle the pressure and some fold like a cheap shirt....and often blame the promotion for their lack of push or general success.

It's also a huge night for @CMPunk, arguably WWE's MVP for the past year and change, as he has to re-position himself for WM29. There's lots of speculation on this matter and we'll hopefully know more conclusive info during tonight's three hour broadcast. @HeymanHustle will be knee deep in whatever happens, as well, one can assume.

I'm guessing that we come out of tonight's Old School RAW with a much clearer picture of what we can expect to see from an upper card level respect at WM29 on April 7 at MetLife Stadium.

It's sad when fans Tweet me @JRsBBQ and 'demand' to see a specific wrestler on Old School RAW who has already passed away or they are appalled that a specific wrestler isn't in the WWE HOF when they were inducted years ago.

@SammartinoBruno is the Living Legend Bruno Sammartino's official Twitter handle. Congrats to the Pittsburgh great for being recognized this past weekend at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio. I can't wait to see Bruno inducted at the WWE HOF in his house, Madison Square Garden on Saturday night April 6. It will likely be the most emotional WWE HOF
ceremony ever based on the crowd reaction that I expect to make a lasting memory.

Do any of you remember the time that Bruno and I did some broadcasting together in WCW during the Bill Watts regime? It was a one off as I recall and I felt like I was calling a baseball game with Babe Ruth. Huge thrill for me. I wonder if that's on You Tube?

Beautiful day here in Norman, likely to be 70 degrees, and a busy day at that. Spring football starts this week plus I'm attending the Bob Stoops Charity Bowling Tournament Thursday night as well.

Check out the Thursday, archived edition of the Tulsa World online to read about my start in the biz via the now closed NSU Field house in a great article by @JimmieTramel. I promoted my first wrestling event there in 1972 headlined by Dan Hodge and that's where I was 'discovered' for the lack of a better term by Cowboy Bill Watts. I was a college student at the Tahlequah, Oklahoma university.

I set my DVR to go 30 minutes past the hour tonight for Old School Raw just in case. This is one show that I will watch live and then rewatch it again later tonight or tomorrow morning. Yes...once a fan always a fan.

It's so warm here today that I'm firing up the grill later and am making burger patties, as we speak, with both JR's Hot BBQ Sauce and JR's Chipotle Ketchup mixed with a little of our All Purpose seasoning. Three ingredients equate to as good a burger as you will ever have and that goes for beef, turkey or chicken. Hell, if I can do it anyone can.

Check with WWEShop.com regularly to see their specials on the JR page of their site. Big things are coming from @WWEShop regarding our family brand. BTW, WWEShop ships our signed cookbooks any where in the world.

We're really happy with @americansoda in Manchester for their efforts in distributing JR's products throughout UK and Europe plus in their American Candy stores. Hit their website for all the great deals including a package that contains a personally signed, collectable trading card.

As of midday Monday I've updated the Q&A section of the site. One interesting question concerned future WrestleMania sites. It's a simple matter in that cities that feel that they want to host a WrestleMania, much like a Super Bowl or Final Four, submit proposals to WWE in an attempt to become a host city. Several cities are in the running for future 'Mania events. The new monies generated from a WWE WrestleMania are significant which is obviously why so many markets are interested. I've read so much online about a specific city being a front runner, etc which is a head scratcher especially at this point while looking ahead at WM31 and beyond. In other words many websites take a small piece of info and run with it as if the entire story has been told. Trust me....for WM31 and beyond the race is only beginning. Many warm weather markets and cites with domed stadiums are "in the hunt."
Thanks for stopping by and for supporting JR's Family of products.

Boomer Sooner!
J.R. @JRsBBQ