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JR's Blog: Football Talk..RAW Challenges..Taker vs. Sting..@MarkMaddenX..Stan Hansen on Ross Report Tuesday Night @ 9 Eastern..Grapplerbook.com..Grill Like A Champion Today!

Posted: Sep 2nd 2014 By: Jim Ross

Happy Labor Day to those that observe the holiday. For years it was merely just another Monday Night RAW for me but I have to admit that not being on the road any longer on a weekly basis and enjoying these holidays is nice. It's a great grill day but what day isn't?

Enjoyed my @Oklahoma_Football teams win over La. Tech Saturday night in Norman in front of another sell out crowd of 85,000+. OU has the opportunity to have a great year if they can avoid the injury bug and to legitimately be in the hunt for the first ever, Final Four college football playoff to be help at the end of the season. You can mark it down that when the 4 team format runs its course that the field will expand to 8 teams because more teams, more games and more games equal more money from TV Land.

I will be traveling with the OU team over to Tulsa Friday afternoon for the Sooners ABC TV game Saturday morning at 11 am or noon eastern vs. the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

Some promoters, etc find it incredulous that I turn down well paying gigs so that I don't miss any OU games.

We have had amazing success in the podcast world as of late with the Sting podcast being downloaded well over a million times which should bell any one doing market research that the wrestling public, in a large part, want to see the Stinger in a WWE ring. I'm still of the mindset that Sting only needs to do one match, a retirement match vs. The Undertaker at WM31 of which Taker wins and then faces the WWE Champion at WM32 in a title vs. retirement match in AT&T Stadium aka Jerry's World in Arlington, Texas. Taker wins that one too and then retires the next night on RAW leaving the WWE Title vacant which would see a tournament utilized to determine the new champion.

This bit of fantasy booking that I first dropped on our Ross Report podcast weeks ago is obviously dependent on Taker's health of which I do not know the status.

We received some of our most favorable feedback on my recent conversation with @TonySchiavone24 on our podcast which I truly appreciate but most of all I enjoyed reconnecting with Tony after all these years. We've bowed to stay in contact with each other as our tomorrow's aren't guaranteed.

Tuesday night at 9 eastern, my conversation with the legendary Badman from Borger, Texas Stan Hansen drops on podcastone.com and iTunes. The former West Texas State football linebacker became one of the biggest wrestling legends in Japan notwithstanding having a very successful career in the USA as well. This conversation is approximately 90 minutes long and I try to cover as much ground with Stan, who doesn't do too many of these things, as possible. Honestly, I could have talked to him for three hours and not covered all that I wanted. It's a helluva listen and I hope that you will check it out.

One thing that I did not address with Stan on the podcast with the aftershock of his program with Bruno Sammartino where Bruno was hospitalized with a broken neck. The folk lore on this was that the NYC mafia wanted to "take care of" Stan while defending Bruno's honor. This, according to Hansen, was not accurate but he did get ample death threats after the incident but none that he was aware of from the Mafia.

Who had a more devastating clothesline in the business than Stan Hansen? Nobody! It was a finish that anyone could easily take but today it's merely another 'finish turned high spot' which speaks volumes to how talents are being taught and what is considered acceptable in today's mat game. The DDT is another example of a finish being used as a high spot. At times, it's embarrassing as one knows that many talents actually feel what they are doing is good. Same lame theory of striking a man in the face 10 times and not leaving a mark.

Speaking of the DDT our best get well wishes go out to WWE HOFer Jake Roberts who's hospitalized in Las Vegas with double pneumonia. Here's hoping that Jake makes a full recovery. His podcast appearance on the Ross Report was one of our best down and dirty, tell it like it is shows we've done.

WWE has some work to do and needs a hot show tonight on RAW to build some needed momentum for their next PPV Night of Champions. I'm not sure that with the Lesnar-Cena return match for the WWE Title that any thing will come close to rivaling that main event in any event.

Neither the IC or US Titles are topical at this point in time and won't be until the champions get 'hot' and involved in a personal issues based around the titles. A long term commitment must be made within the company for this to occur.

Regarding Cena, I'd love to see him begin to have a mat metamorphous as he prepares to go to battle with Brock again. That could come in the form of dead serious promos, ring attire tweaks, in ring actions which could be as simple as getting himself disqualified by physically abusing a referee or even confronting his biggest ally Michael Cole. A sit down with Cole and Cena with Cena going off would get fan's attention.

I do feel that a change in Cena's persona leading into NOC is needed and to not do something would be a mistake.

Enjoying reading Len Denton's book 'GRAPPLER, Memoirs of a Masked Madman.' It's a great look at the territorial system in pro wrestling and can be purchased by going to grapplerbook.com. Len was one of the most underrated in ring stars that I was around back in the day. He's also been a promo influence to MMA great Chael Sonnen.

Tuesday night I will be catching up with @MarkMaddenX for a future Ross Report Podcast. The 'Super Genius' of Pittsburgh radio and former WCW broadcaster is as outspoken as there is and I expect a wild ride on this one. We'll cover a variety of topics and I'm curious to hear mark's opinion on many things regarding today's wresting scene, his days in WCW, and his unique friendship with Brian Pillman.

Business has been brisk for JR's products especially at http://www.wweshop.com which has a new, 5 item package that is our best one yet. http://www.americansoda.co.uk is re-ordering already again as they have been on a roll with our products at their website that ships to the UK, Ireland and Europe. Plus, http://www.beyondtheropes.co.uk is also doing a great job marketing our products, too. Our thanks to all for working with us.

We are going to be adding some new JR's tees to http://www.prowrestlingtees.com/jimross so check in with the website occasionally. I wore my crimson 'Slobber Knocker' shirt to the OU game Saturday night.

For those asking, I subscribed to the WWE Network on day one and plan on renewing when my notice comes. I need to get the gimmick that allows me to watch it on TV. @steveaustinBSR has one and is high on it. Steve's Broken Skull Challenge on @CMT Sunday night was a helluva episode. Straight forward competition with no frills and no convoluted rules or a contrived format. Good stuff.

Simple little reminder when booking a pro wrestling TV show, 50/50 booking no matter the form that it takes, is generally a waste of TV time except for the exposure the talents get by merely being on camera. Fans want to see talents get on a roll but not to the point to where said talents are being force fed to them. There's a delicate balance between building talent and getting them hot and cramming them down one's throat. Today's fans are more apt to spit the over pushed talents back at the promotion than in any other era.

NFL football tip....inmy experience I've found more success making the occasional wager on NFL games on week one by taking the points especially when one can invest in the 'home dogs.' This system is by no means a lock but it's simply one philosophy that worked well for me the first weekend of the college season.

WWE getting in rarified air with the combo of @BrockLesnar and @HeymanHustle...they are almost too damn good to boo. I suggested on the Ross Report that if a significantly developed fan favorite can't be on the radar by the Royal Rumble that it could be that Lesnar/Heyman could go into WM31 as more than quasi, fan favorites. This is going to depend on how wisely/strategically the pair is booked. There is no magic formula on how or when a new hero can be developed, specifically speaking of when Roman Reigns will be ready to assume the leading man role.

The Q&A's at Ask JR are updated here on the site.

Have a great Labor Day and grill like a champion...send pics to @JRsBBQ.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ