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JR's Blog: JR's Monday Blog..Philly RAW..JR at WrestleMania Plans..JR's Prodcuts Available at WM29 Super Store at MetLife Stadium

Posted: Mar 26th 2013 By: CMBurnham

Good Monday everyone. Let's roll with some random thoughts prior to tonight's Monday Night RAW live on the USA Network at 8/7 central.

Got my WM29 travel handled for the Mrs. and me. We're both excited to be going to the 29th WrestleMania at Met Life Stadium. Great time to reconnect with old friends and meeting fans from all over the world.

Doing a drive by at the giant, WWE Super Store at MetLife Stadium inside the west gate (MetLife gate) Thursday afternoon at a time TBD. I will officially be at the Stadium store on Friday from 1-3 pm. All our products will be available at the Super Store ONLY Thursday-Saturday with the store opening at 11 am each day. I hope those attending will consider stocking up and saving the shipping costs while taking JR's Products home with you. This is a great time for fans who live outside the USA to scarf up on JR's awesome Beef Jerky which is unable to ship to some countries.

JR's products will be fully stocked at the WWE Super Store but will NOT be available inside the IZOD Center at AXXESS. However the stadium is near the IZOD Center and a shuttle will be available to transport those who don't care to take the short walk from one facility to another.

My only appearance at AXXESS will be Saturday morning 8-10 at the Legends Booth.

I was able to score two tickets to the WWE HOF and we are excited about enjoying that very special event.

I'm generally damned if I do and damned if I don't when it comes to predicting what I feel with be the tenor and feel of Monday Night Raw. If I said that I feel that tonight's show will be hot then I'm a shill and prone to hyperbole. If I describe that a RAW broadcast, as I did last week, was perplexing then I'm going 'cryptic.'

I look at tonight's RAW very simplistically. I feel the show is in a 'must win' situation as it relates to the road to WrestleMania but the same can be said for every Monday Night Raw broadcast since the Elimination Chamber PPV occurred.

A heightened sense of urgency, from everyone, some timely surprises and a renewed and enhanced focus on the money match aspects of WM29 are imperative to nail tonight in Philly where the arena is sold out.

Hopefully, the broadcast starts off hot and engages the live audience early so as to sustain momentum and build upon it throughout the three hour broadcast.

Obviously, what ever closes the show needs to leave fans talking and create some "water cooler talk."

It's humbling to get tweets that reading something like "thanks for making my childhood better" or "thanks for being such a large part of my childhood." Sometimes I read those Tweets @JRsBBQ and think that many feel that I'm done with broadcasting. I never wake up feeling that way and choose not to remove that element from my DNA.

WWE has really been on a roll in recent weeks in their live event business with multiple shows selling out. I hear big plans are on the drawing board to make these live event experiences even more memorable which will start sometime after WrestleMania.

I'm predicting that WM29 will be the most lucrative event ever produced by WWE from a live gate standpoint, I'm guessing the live gate will be approximately $12M, and over 1M PPV buys.

As a fan of reality TV and one who likely spends too much time watching a variety of reality programs, it's obvious that after a show has a good first year or two, think @DuckDynastyAE, that the creative people seemingly attempt to become a bigger part of the process by over scripting the characters and storylines.

The best promo guys that I have ever heard in the sports entertainment biz were those that were natural extensions of their own, real personalities and they had the ability to take specific bullet points regarding said promo, make it their own, and deliver in a organic, captivating, memorable genuine manner.

If I were producing @DuckDynastyAE, I'd turn Si Robertson loose and use what he gave me.
Over producing reality show elements lessens the effectiveness of any program whether it be Duck Dynasty, Swamp People, two of my favorites, along with Redneck Island or a sports entertainment program. However too much blame is place on the producers rather than sharing it with the talents who are obligated to execute the plan no matter the material.

Case in point, I watched the Phil Spector movie Sunday night on HBO and although I thought the movie was o.k., Al Pacino was spectacular in his role as Spector. So, Pacino did a marvelous job on what I perceive was with marginal material. Pacino made the role his own.
Just saw on Twitter that Arnold Schwarzenegger @Schwarzenegger will be inducting Bruno Sammartino at the WWE HOF inductions at Madison Square Garden on April 6 which is sold completely out. I couldn't get a ticket for a family member if I had too as this one of the hottest tickets ever. Great 'get' by WWE and a fitting inductor for the great @SammartinoBruno.
Gerald Brisco scouted the NCAA Wrestling Nationals over the weekend and has some intriguing prospects interested in WWE. We feel that next year will be a banner year with many of these recruits because several have another year of eligibility remaining. The last thing that we would do is encourage a kid to leave school and not finish their commitment to their team and to cease their efforts to earn a college degree. Plan B is imperative because most prospects will not make it as it has been demonstrated over the years. It's the same way in the NFL or on Broadway.
The link to ordering JR's products in the UK and throughout Europe is http://www.americansoda.co.uk and @american soda is located in Manchester, England.
American Soda also has JR's in some of their retail locations such as American Candy.
JR's products are only available on a retail basis in North America in the four, Norman @HomelandStores and they carry all our products at great prices and, of course, no shipping. We hope to get into all the @HomelandStores some day along with other retailers around the country and not a day goes by that we don't address the matter.
Hope to see many of you at the CAC Reunion in Las Vegas to be held at the Gold Coast Hotel April 15-17. Check out all the details at http://www.caulifloweralleyclub.org. Edge and Beth Phoenix are coming along with other, surprise guests. This is a great, fan friendly event that we look forward to annually.
As I write this, there is lots of online speculation as to who may be appearing on RAW tonight. I hear that the "potentials" could be an impressive gathering. Time will tell and I don't have that info and if I did I wouldn't ruin the surprise with 'spoiler' info. Another good reason to tune in.

It will be interesting to see who from NXT are called up to the main roster of WWE after WrestleMania. I don't expect it to happen right away because the key to introducing any talent is having a viable, long term plan which is why The Shield have become difference makers and why I feel Big E Langston will have a breakout year in 2013 as well. I'd much rather stay in NXT until my game plan was set than not. First impressions and the subsequent follow up are crucial to the success of any new talent.

Follow me on Twitter @JRsBBQ.

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Boomer Sooner!
J.R.