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JR's Blog: Waterloo @wrestlingmuseum, @Randy_Couture, WWE Battle Ground, Subscribe to Ross Report Podcasts for FREE, AJ Styles debuts Tues, Book Update, WWEShop Selling JR's

Posted: Jul 22nd 2014 By: Jim Ross

Good to be back in Oklahoma after three, great nights in Waterloo, Iowa for the annual, Tragos-Thesz banquet and induction ceremony @wrestlingmuseum. It was a 1200 mile round trip drive that reminded me of a Mid South Wrestling booking back in the day. Let's grill.....

It's always a great time in Waterloo at the Tragos Thesz induction ceremony and all the affiliated events that go along with the weekend in Dan Gable's hometown and at the museum named in his honor. I remain steadfast when I say that if you are a real, wrestling fan that some day you will venture to Waterloo and to Stillwater, Oklahoma to visit both the wrestling museums that await you.

It was wonderful re-connecting with the Steiner Brothers who I had not seen together in way too many years. They individually went into the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame at the museum Saturday night in a moving ceremony especially when Scott spoke of his family, friends and career. Rick and I had a great time catching up on the old UWF days both working for Cowboy Bill Watts who Rick said he loved working for and respected the structure and professionalism that Watts demanded. Rick is now a successful real estate broker in the Atlanta area and also serves his community on the local school board.

Meeting MMA legend and former 3X Oklahoma State Wrestling All American and UFC Champion Randy Couture was very enjoyable while sitting at his table at the banquet. I had the pleasure of MC'ing the banquet and introducing Randy for the George Tragos Award. @Randy_Couture was a gem all throughout the weekend and seemed to genuinely enjoy himself.

DDP had a moving acceptance speech and, as always, was a positive, high energy guy to be around and is the all time over achiever that I've seen in the pro wrestling biz considering Dallas journey to the top began very late in a wrestler's life. His work creating DDP Yoga has helped so many which is heart warming considering how some people have literally regained control of their lives thanks to DDP Yoga. I'm personally very proud of DDP and what he's doing to help others.

Larry 'The Axe' Henning received the Lou Thesz Award and gave everyone in attendance a very cool photo of Larry wrestling Lou Thesz from back in the day. I made it home with my copy. Larry is a true character and a loving, family man who had many of his family in attendance which helped make the banquet that much more special.

Larry Matysik was unable to attend to to heath issues but he did send a video accepting the Jim Melby Award. I missed seeing Larry and my thoughts and prayers are with him in hopes of him getting a break in his back issues.

Karl Lauer, representing the Cauliflower Alley Club, presented the @wrestlingmuseum with a $1000 check in the name of the late, Jack Brisco to be used to help with operating costs of the facility. The CAC does wonderful work and I encourage all fans to join the non profit organization and for more info check out caulifloweralleyclub.org.

Being able to see so many old friends and meet wonderful fans is always a treat for me plus we hauled lots of JR's products to Waterloo and was able to sell virtually every item that we took. Let's put it this way....I came back with an empty load in my vehicle.

Kyle Klingman, who is the director of @wrestlingmuseum, is a wonderful young man who does a terrific job in managing the Gable Museum with his friendly and talented staff of life long fans.

If you can ever make it by the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

I did not watch the WWE presentation of Battle Ground live as I was in the midst of a 600 mile drive home from the cornfields of Iowa but it got me to thinking that WWE might want to consider selling the radio rights to their PPV events to Sirius, for example, for those of us who are travelers to some degree. I'd have loved to have heard the event on radio. It would be new money for WWE plus it would keep more people connected to the brand. And no I don't think that it would harm the WWE Network whatsoever with the once a month PPV's airing on radio.

Upon taking a fast look at the PPV I can tell you that I enjoyed the tag title bout and enjoyed the 2X3 fall stipulation. Both teams worked hard and seem to have good chemistry. Hopefully, WWE will get other teams ready to engage in the Tag Title picture as I know that there are many who are specifically fans of tag team wrestling which is not dead by any means but it's not exactly the picture of health within the business as a whole either.

I was ready to enjoy Ambrose vs. Rollins but that did not happen but the angle that replaced the match was good and it should build more anticipation for them to work at Summer Slam if not too much is given away for free on Raw and/or Smackdown. If this match is kept somewhat clean prior to Summer Slam it will add more to the card.

Overall, the show appeared to be somewhat of a place holder with a great deal of potential Summer Slam content within it which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I may have more to say about Battle Ground if I sit down to watch the entire event in real time later in the week.

I'm hopeful that you will take the time to subscribe, for free, on iTunes to our Ross Report Podcasts so that you don't miss an episode. It's the easiest way to handle our podcasts of which a new one drops every Tuesday at 9 pm eastern time on podcastone.com and iTunes.

Tomorrow night the AJ Styles episode debuts and I must tell you that I had a fantastic visit with the hottest, free agent in the business and one of the most talented performers working today. If I were an indy promoter, AJ would be my #1 most wanted talent to book in today's market. The Georgia and UGA fan can help any company with which he's associated. I hope that you will enjoy this podcast as much as I did conversing with AJ.

Our two part @RealKurtAngle interview is racking up major numbers and is one of the most critically acclaimed podcasts that we've done to date. Check it out if you haven't.

I'm working on some very interesting guests for some upcoming Ross Report Podcasts. Let's see if I can "spin the wheel and make the deal" so to speak.

I just received my first WWE Alumni newsletter as all my contractual/legal obligations to WWE end in two days. It was by far the best professional move that I ever made going to work for WWE in 1993 and I am grateful for the quality of life that they helped facilitate for my family and me. By the way, the newsletter was very well done. Hopefully, those alums in need take advantage of the opportunities that WWE is presenting them.

We got about 6 hours of content recorded while I was driving Thursday and again on Sunday for our book project. My writing partner and I will be spending a great deal of time here in Oklahoma working on the book over the next several weeks. The beauty of hands free calling is a blessing on long trips when one has commitments to keep. There is no target date to finish the book but only that it will be finished when we feel that we've done the very best book that we can write. I'd guess it will be ready to shop to publishers in early 2015. We will have it done before any potential publishers ever see it.

Going to head over to the Ask JR section of the site and attempt to catch up on your questions.

Great business being done with our delicious products by http://www.wweshop.com with some terrific packages just in time for the grilling season.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ