• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

JR's Blog: JR & the King in Memphis..Wrestling All Stars Builds Momentum..JR Confirms May 7 Appearence..Email from the Rock..Beef Jerky!!

Posted: Feb 17th 2011 By: CMBurnham

It's going to be 78 degrees here in Norman today which is a far cry from the sub zero temps we had a few days ago along with several inches of snow. The grill is hot so here we go with some random thoughts......

I enjoyed my short visit with Jerry Lawler, his family and friends in Memphis this week as Jerry's 90 year old mother, Hazel, was laid to rest on Wednesday morning. Mrs. Lawler was a truly wonderful lady who was full of life and personality. She had been ill for the past several years after been afflicted with Alzheimer's disease and passed away Sunday.

Several from the Memphis wrestling community attended the viewing on Tuesday evening and/or the funeral services on Wednesday. I saw Bill Dundee, who was a big star in Memphis and did an excellent job working with Cowboy Bill Watts in the UWF back in the day. It was the first time that I had seen Dundee in many years.

Former Mid South referee Carl Fergie, who lives in Jackson, TN where he is in management at a health club, hasn't changed at all. Carl is Jerry's first cousin and was a professional, talented referee/wrestler back in the day. Carl was one of the good guys who found a viable career after leaving wrestling.

Others on hand included WWE HOF'er Koko B. Ware, Buddy and Kenny Wayne, former promoter and announcer Randy Hales, Doug Gilbert, and of course Jerry's sons Brian Christopher and Kevin Lawler, among many others. I know I'm leaving out some folks, I apologize for that, but the day was a little hectic.

When I arrived Tuesday night the first person that I met was legendary broadcaster Dave Brown who still does weather in Memphis and who was the great Lance Russell's broadcast partner forever on Memphis Wrestling. It was the first time that I ever had the privilege of meeting Dave who was a class act all the way. Really nice man who has meant so much to the Memphis community over the years.

Lance Russell was unable to attend the services but he and Jerry had a really nice phone conversation after the news broke of Mrs. Lawler's passing. Lance Russell is one of the few men in the wrestling that I have never heard anyone bad mouth. That fact is very rare within the pro wrestling biz.

I stayed at King's house on Tuesday night and we sat outside and visited for hours until finally calling it a day about 2 a.m. Laughter was no stranger to the two of us even under the circumstances of the visit.

We tried to go to Central BBQ for dinner Tuesday night and arrived with 6 hungry folks, including the King and me, at 8:50 pm but we were refused to be seated because of the lame "We close at 9" excuse. That's not good business practices where I come from.

Jerry is genuinely excited about being in the main event of a WWE PPV which will be this Sunday in Oakland at the Elimination Chamber vs. the Miz for the WWE Title. Personally, I feel that Jerry needs to get away his recent heartaches and get back on the road that he is so comfortable with and, more importantly, get back in the ring which is like a second home for him. King is much more refined and skilled than is the younger, less experienced albeit talented Miz which may bode well for the #1 challenger for the WWE title come Sunday. I would not miss this PPV for the world because I believe that shocks and surprises from WWE will abound over the next few weeks leading into WM27 and no one can argue that Jerry Lawler upsetting Miz to win the WWE title wouldn't be a HUGE shocker.

Yes, I know that Jerry Lawler at age 61 on the week that he buried his beloved Mom winning the WWE Title is a long shot but sometimes long shots come through. I can dream on his behave can't I?

BTW....I did finally get some BBQ in Memphis and it was while I was at the airport waiting to fly back to OKC. I dropped by Jim Neely's Interstate BBQ near gate B14. Got be a big, Ol pulled pork sandwich....just wish I had some of our JR's Original or Hot BBQ Sauce to put on it but nonetheless it was a nice dinner for the short flight home.

Confirmed this week that I will be appearing on Saturday May 7 at the Legends of the Ring function in Monroe, N.J. at the Crowne Plaza hotel. Not sure of the times that I will be appearing but assume it will be Saturday morning for three hours. More details to follow but you can keep up with this big event at http://www.legendsofthering.com. I hope that you plan on attending as the line up assembled for this event is extremely impressive. I don't do too many of these types of functions and am looking forward to seeing you all while in Jersey.

The new, THQ produced WWE All Star Video game is getting more and more play as the anticipation builds to it's release the Tuesday of WM27 week. There will be a tie in with JR's Family BBQ on this exciting new game so please watch for details.

http://www.wweshop.com now carries all our products and they have developed a way to ship our products much more economically internationally and domestically. WWEShop.com ships to the UK, Canada, and Germany at this time and the feedback that we've gotten here is that the cost of shipping to those areas has decreased significantly. If you live outside the USA, please check out http://www.weshop.com to order JR's products. We do not plan on shipping outside the USA at this time and will leave that to WWEShop.

Friday Night Smackdown airs their 600th episode this Friday night on Syfy. Most won't remember but the King and I were the original broadcast team for SD #1 many moons ago. Getting traded to SD in June 2008 is still a head scratcher to me as Monday Night Raw became my TV home in WWE and I wasn't ready to 'leave home.'

Emailers...of which there have many many...Why is it that so many people think that it's going to be Rock vs. Cena at WM27 in a wrestling match? Rock has said publically that his in ring wrestling days are history. End of story. It was made clear Monday night that Rock was going to HOST Wrestlemania. Is it possible to see some sort of physical interaction in Atlanta's Georgia Dome between 'the Great One' and Cena? Of course, any thing is possible....except Rock wrestling in an official match but that doesn't mean that the potential for physicality doesn't exist.

Twitter followers @JRsBBQ.....I have no idea what Rock's plans are as they relate to WWE after WM27. I haven't given it much thought but many fans are seemingly obsessed in knowing what the Rock's plans are for the future. I don't see Rock emotionally ever leaving the WWE Universe but I also don't see him appearing as a 'regular' on WWE programming in the future either which is why this Wrestlemania event is so intriguing and is such a must see pay per view. We are attending the event AND buying and taping the PPV.

Speaking of Twitter, we are over 90,000 followers @JRsBBQ and any help that you can provide to push us over 100,000 is appreciated.

Chris Jericho is pounding the pavement promoting his new book 'Undisputed' which I finished last week and now my wife is reading. She's enjoying it too and, as I mentioned last week, I STRONGLY urge you to buy Chris' latest but only if you want a candid, honest look behind the scenes at the challenging, frustrating albeit rewarding and crazy life of a big time WWE star. Chris was really good on 'Red Eye' and on my wife's favorite, The Wendy Williams Show this week.

We are getting AMAZING reviews on our JR's Beef Jerky particularly over the past few weeks. I will put our Jerky up against anyone's and if you order our Jerky and don't think that it 's bad ass good then all you have to do is email me at Contact Us on the home page of our site, let me know what's on your mind and I will do all I can to make it right. That's how confident I am that you too will love this 97% Fat Free, high protein, low carb snack.

Got a great email when I returned home from Memphis from Dwayne Johnson who was still pumped about his MNR experience in Anaheim. I had emailed 'The Rock' late Monday night about how proud I was of him for his amazing performance on RAW and he hit me back and indicated that I would love what he was planning on doing at WM27. Big time players play their best in big games and there's no bigger game in WWE than Wrestlemania and no bigger game day player than the Rock. He always did his best work at major events including his WM17 bout vs. Stone Cold and Rock's memorable W'Mania bout in Toronto vs. Hulk Hogan, among many other stellar performances that I was lucky enough to broadcast.

My WM27 Axxess appearances at this time are Friday night at the THQ function which, I think ,starts about 8 pm, Saturday morning from 10-noon with the King at the WWE HOF booth, and Sunday at noon for a Q&A. Don't forget that our products will be available at the main merchandise stand at Axxess and I sure would like to see us sell out what was stocked as I don't think there's enough inventory to make it through the first few hours but that's just me being optimistic.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the business in our store.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

I'm hearing that the Georgia Dome will be sold out for the event even though tickets are STILL available but moving briskly.