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JR's Blog: JR's NYC Trip..Shane McMahon..Hulk to WWE?? RAW Thoughts..UFC166..OU vs KU Trip..Order JR's Online!

Posted: Oct 18th 2013 By: CMBurnham

Greetings all! Thanks for stopping by our site. Both http://www.wweshop.com and our friends in the UK, http://www.americansoda.co.uk have great deals right now on JR's family of products. Both offer safe, online shopping with quick delivery. The FREE, signed TOPPS trading card have a $20 value and are all legit signed by yours truly. No stamps, etc. We need and appreciate your support with our online business and thank all those that do. In honor of #UFC166 on PPV this Saturday...it's time!

Busy week with a quick, two day trip to NYC to discuss multiple projects for 2014.

Several, viable promoters are interested in promoting my one man show concept next year on an organized, well marketed tour. I hope to have more info to share by year's end. Nonetheless, this is an opportunity and a project in which I am emotionally invested and I look forward to touring in '14.

My autobiography is being seriously discussed within the literary world with some major publishers and I hope to have more info on that long anticipated project within the next month or so too. Trying to determine a primary focus on a 40 year relationship with the genre is daunting. Lots of concepts and ideas on what to focus on and on what to leave out. I don't want to author a weighty tomb as they are intimidating on a book store shelf and that adversely affect sales.

Great hooking up with Shane McMahon for a few minutes while I was between meetings Tuesday in NYC. Shane looks great and honestly has seemingly never been in better shape. He's head of a company in China working in the cable/satellite TV world and affiliated projects so he is staying busy notwithstanding having a lovely wife and three healthy, strapping sons.

Funny how one remembers things of significance in wrestling jargon but it was 17 years ago when Shane and his wife married which marked the week that JJ Dillon abruptly left WWE and Bruce Prichard and I were in South Africa producing a TV show for WWE's TV affiliate there. I think that was the show that I worked on commentary with Honky Tonk Man.

Damn....17 years...man, how things change and time flies.

Thought RAW was a better show this week than last which is good for WWE who's trying to sell another PPV, Hell in a Cell, to their customers this month.

The last two segments of RAW were specifically good as the Rhodes boys won the tag titles from the Shield thanks to the Big Show's holiday ham sized right hand. Arguably not the greatest method for the Rhodes family to win but, the bottom line, the grandsons of a plumber became WWE Tag Champions in a division that until recently hasn't had much cache.

I've been impressed with how the Big Show TV persona has evolved and been rehabilitated over the past several weeks. Show is special and should be booked as such and cannot be utilized like an every day player or as he has the majority of his WWE career.

The added HIAC stipulation added some much needed sauce to the Punk-Heyman issue that was beginning to wane. Perhaps it's merely a trend or the way things are these days in the genre but long term programs/issues are challenging to keep hot in today's landscape without small, additions being included somewhat regularly.

The audience has a short attention span, by and large, and constantly need "new."

I made a comment on a recent Q&A here that I felt that Ryback was still 'green' and some took it as me 'knocking' Ryback which shows the level of knowledge of many fans who follow today's product. Saying someone is green isn't a knock. It's merely a statement that a specific talent is still evolving and has a ways to go before they are a polished worker. That's not a sin, by the way, and if it was it would arguably affect the many men and women currently in the business full time time and working on a wrestling, TV show.

Either some fans have memory lapses or they simply can't accept my answer when to comes to Undertaker wrestling at WrestleMania. First of all, I do not know if Taker will be a part of WM30 but I'm guessing that he will. Secondly, I don't know who Taker will perform with there and I'd venture to say that most within WWE don't know either. Lastly, no matter who it is, no one is going to break 'The Streak' unless those in charge completely lose their mind.

The philosophy of someone breaking 'The Streak" to become a 'made man' is laughable to me.

One thing that hurts pro wrestling today is the elimination of all time limits and a logical set of rules that cause matches to end. The elimination of time limits, on TV and at live events, eliminates a long established conclusion to a match of which many things can spin off.

When pro wrestling is over thought and common sense is lessened, it adversely affects an already over the top entity which then hampers one's ability to suspend their disbelief and invest into the storylines. IE...why in a No Disqualification tag team match are tags even a necessity. What's the referee going to do if a participant doesn't' tag? Escactly....nothing.

I'm expecting training partners Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cromier to win their fights Saturday night in Houston on PPV for @UFC next big event. Cromier is a former Oklahoma State wrestling star who wrestled for the legendary OSU Coach, John Smith. Smith is also working with Johnny Hendricks as the former Cowboy readies himself for Georges St. Pierre later in the year.

Don't see Cromier vs. Roy Nelson going the distance in what will be an entertaining fight. Big Country never fails to deliver a fun fight to watch. It's unlikely that Cromier who's moving down a weight after this fight will fear the beard of the burly Nelson.

Heavyweight Champion Velasquez is a cardio machine and has one of the great 'motors' in all of MMA. The former Arizona State wrestling star manhandled Brock Lesnar back in the day to win the UFC Heavyweight Title but then abruptly lost it in prime time on Fox to Dos Santos.

The Brazilian has a great standup game which generally translates to exciting fights for those paying big money for tickets or for the PPV.

Velasquez finishes Dos Santos Saturday night which will eliminate any issues with judges who can completely ruin a fight with their dubious decisions.

UFC head honcho @DanaWhite is an cut to the chase executive who casts a large shadow over his fighters, or at least the one's that aren't overtly ignorant and defiant. With that said, all the fights on the PPV should be action packed and each fighter that makes it onto the PPV should 'know their role" and deliver the goods. Hopefully their 'people' are conveying that most obvious of messages.

The venue in Houston has been sold out for weeks which will should guarantee a lively show on PPV. The natural ambiance is something I hope that UFC fully captures via their audio set up as it greatly enhances the experience of the event for the fans who are watching on TV. When it's crunch time, the announcers should have to fight to be heard.

It still amazes me the volume of work that UFC's excellent duo of Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan do on 'game day.' Do the math and see how many hours that they have been on the clock by the time the main event rolls around. My hats off to them.

I will be watching the show after the fact as I'm going to Lawrence, Kansas with the OU Sooners to hopefully see Oklahoma rebound after an embarrassing loss last Saturday to the Texas Longhorns.

The Sooners played without an edge or aggression last weekend in the Cotton Bowl vs. the Steers. Not a good experience for a Sooner fan including not having any coupons to be able to buy a corndog. I have complete faith that OU will rebound on the road this weekend.

I'll be making the trip on the team charter flight which certainly makes the travel more accommodating.

The Mid South Wrestling DVD is selling well from what I can determine. I told people before it came out that many would be disappointed that some of their favorite memories would be left out as it is impossible to make everyone happy in one release. Hopefully, WWE will someday do a volume two but only if volume one sells well. The famous Freebirds blinding JYD tape may not exist for the record.

I have no dog in the hunt and nor do I know any insider "dirt" but for my two cents Hulk Hogan would be better off re-signing with WWE in a limited role that would put him back in the global, WWE mix and add a jolt to his career which never hurts anyone than re-signing with TNA. Even though Hogan says he has "one more match left in him" that fact, if true, is irrelevant to my way of thinking. Hogan's opportunity to do PR work, appear occasionally at live events and on a timely basis on TV and to have his likeness on more, sellable products is logical to me. If it is the dollars holding this matter up as in a bigger guarantee now and not willing to wait on the WWE business model to generate more, new Hogan bucks, then the deal may be simply and only about the immediate cash which isn't a sin either.

Again, none of this is any of my concern but it's something that either on Twitter @JRsBBQ or on our Q&A section here that I get asked virtually daily.

Thanks for stopping by and remember that JR's products are just as effective on in your kitchen as they are on the grill....GUARANTEED!

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Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ