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JR's Blog: RAW Thoughts, AJ Styles on Ross Report Tonight, Stan Hansen today, No Summer Slam for JR, @HeymanHustle Perfect Promo, Grill w/ JR's Products

Posted: Jul 22nd 2014 By: Jim Ross - JRsBarBQ.com

Busy Tuesday with the A. J. Styles podcast dropping at 9 pm eastern time tonight on podcastone.com and on iTunes. To not miss an episode of the Ross Report podcast, I suggest that you subscribe for FREE via iTunes. Talking with the legend Stan Hansen tonight for a future, Ross Report and I'm very excited to talk to the 'Bad man from Borger, Texas.' Let's grill....

Raw Thoughts....

I enjoyed the vast majority of Monday Night RAW from Miami. No three hour RAW is ever going to be perfect or satisfy the masses but this show had enough 'moments' to make it a solid broadcast.

Stephanie McMahon arguably stole the show with her interaction with Brie Bella and subsequently Steph getting 'arrested.' Her facials were priceless as was her timing and her natural ability to be a heel. The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree. Steph wrestling at Summer Slam is a gimme as it should be.

Enjoyed Paige's heel turn on AJ Lee but it was a week late as Sunday's Divas Title bout had no identity. Nonetheless, I like the pairing.

Bo Dallas has the chance to be a disingenuous, sappy heel who has no issue in retreating or forcing his overbearing personality on all that will listen. It likely won't be this year, or perhaps better said, it shouldn't have to be this year but 2015 could be a banner year for Blackjack Mulligan's grandson.

It's somewhat insane for some fans to think that Bray Wyatt losing at Battle Ground to Chris Jericho was disastrous to Bray's career which is actually laughable. Working with Jericho, who arguably should be the heel in this marriage, will do nothing but help Wyatt improve and Bray will undoubtedly win the blow off down the road.

The IC Title is ice cold and the way the championship is being booked is a head scratcher. The IC and US title holders the past year have likely had some of the worse won-loss records on the broadcasts of any talents on the roster. That's no way to build a title. Why there is no long term, thought out program for both the IC and the US Champions is an unacceptable mystery.

It makes perfect sense for Brock Lesnar to challenge John Cena for the WWE Title at Summer Slam and for Lesnar, as I've outlined on the Ross Report podcast the past couple of months, to win the title and then lose it to Roman Reigns at WM31. I love Lesnar as champion and his infrequent, in person schedule of making Monday Night Raw shows doesn't bother me at all especially if the creative team has their thinking caps on and the booking is territory-like as in where the world champion was never on regular, weekly TV.

Many fans just want to bitch because of Lesnar's contract which is actually none of any of our business.

Paul Heyman @HeymanHustle promo to close RAW was one of the best that I have heard in years. Even though I am WAY out of the WWE loop, I am still proud that I was able to help Paul early in his career and hope that his DVD that's released soon will be a huge hit. Listen to Heyman's promo again and see how he covered every base and will have the Summer Slam crowd in LA loudly cheering for the 'Angry Viking' vs. ' The Dr. of Thugonomics' as Paul described Cena. In other worlds, the main event at S'Slam will be loaded with emotion especially if Cena takes it dead serious in his promos between now and then.

HHH's choice to stay at RAW for the big reveal of Cena's Summer Slam opponent will obviously have consequences as it relates to his wife Stephanie going to jail.

Zack Ryder and Dolph Ziggler both winning on the same night on RAW is miraculous. Ryder should be a heel and Ziggler should be in the upper tier of fan favorites in WWE. Two, no brainers.

Flo Rida at the top of the hour.....why?

Rusev vs. Khali=Bowling Shoe Ugly.

Wasn't wild about the finish of Cesaro vs. Ambrose but the match was a good one. Ambrose's 'Loose Cannon' persona made need to be reeled in a touch but not much. He's an enigma as he's unlike anyone on the roster. Cesaro's been due for months. If Cesaro executed better promos, he likely would already be in the main event mix.

Enjoyed Xavier Woods, Big E, and Kofi Kingston seemingly attempting to form a faction. Lots of Nation of Domination references on Twitter @JRsBBQ on this one but that doesn't bother me. All three talents, and who knows if they don't add another member, have potential and perhaps this will get them quality TV time and get all involved in the game. It's main event or bust for all three who should look at this as crunch time as it relates to getting to the next level.

Not a fan of the overbooked handicap matches and that includes what I saw last night with Reigns vs. Orton & Kane. Nothing wrong with the talent's efforts but the handicap thing is SO tired.

Brock Lesnar is the ONLY recruit that we ever brought to a TV taping that Vince McMahon went out of his way to want to meet. McMahon saw that night in Minneapolis what Jerry Brisco and I already knew....that we had a potential big time player on the line and we had to do what we could to reel him in and close the deal. Thank goodness for all involved, we were successful.

I know that many Tweeter followers of mine @JRsBBQ are looking out for my best interests of which I appreciate but when WWE announcers allegedly take shots at me I don't need to be reminded because it's a non issue. I'd suggest that 9 times out of 10 they are merely following orders or attempting to ingratiate themselves to the higher ups which is fine by me. In a perfect world, they could mention JR's products that are sold at WWEShop.com which would help everyone but that doesn't seem to be on the agenda. Or, they could leave it alone and focus on getting talent over. In any event, I'm happy that the RAW team has work and are doing what they apparently love to do. I sure as hell can't fault them for that. I consider all three friends.

BTW...no, I haven't been invited to Summer Slam to be involved in the WWE2K15 video game presentation. Yeah, it's a funny question but you wouldn't believe how many people are asking. I have no plans to be in LA during Summer Slam time unless I'm there to do work for Fox Sports or Podcast One. That weekend will be an interesting read when I write about it some day. It could be embarrassing for some.

Visit http://www.prowrestlingtees.com/jimross and check out all our custom designed Tees. They are in virtually every size and can be shipped worldwide for one low cost.

http;//www.wweshop.com is doing a fantastic job of marketing JR's products online and their customer service is impeccable. We need and appreciate your support.

Have a great day...back to work on podcast prep for Stan Hansen.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ