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JR's Blog: Payback Opportunities Await, Tebow in Tights, Dream Health Update, JR's UK Tour Updated, Big Sale on JR's at WWESHOP.com

Posted: Jun 13th 2013 By: CMBurnham

On Easter Sunday morning a massive hail storm struck our home and destroyed our roof and gutters. Because we have had so much bad weather including a great deal of rain, the roofers are here today and started hammering incessantly at 6:30 this morning. Nails and shingles particles are everywhere. I'm essentially under "house arrest." Sadly, I can't even access my grill but "one can't grieve forever" as the King used to espouse so, here we go..

The more I peruse the WWE Payback PPV card slated for this Sunday in the All State Arena in Chicago the more intrigued I am. Several matches have the opportunity to be really good or better and several talents have the opportunity to stamp their own mark on the PPV.

Competition amongst talents is healthy. No one should be 'grandfathered in' as it relates to being a main eventer but should be required to earn it in an ongoing basis. At least, that's my opinion. We had great locker room competition among the talents during the Attitude Era because the roster was so deep with experienced, main event level talents who all wanted a taste of the big money.

No one rested on their laurels. The advantage then over now is that WWE had more top hands who could carry a main event than they currently do. The good news in that assessment is that the roster today is getting younger and I can see very soon down the road where the competition component is going to return in earnest because everyone can't go on last and everyone can't earn the top money on a given show.

I spoke with WWE HOFer Dusty Rhodes Tuesday night and I'm happy to report that 'The Dream' is feeling much better and is looking forward to attending the NXT TV taping next Thursday at Full Sail University near Orlando. Big Dust is already back at work down in Tampa and was in great spirits when we spoke.

Take solace in this Miami heat fans...the way the San Antonio Spurs shot the ball Tuesday night the Eastern Division All Star NBA team would have lost too. Now the big storyline will be how resilient the Heat have been all season after losing a game. The two teams play again in San Antonio Thursday night with the Spurs up two games to one.

I've discovered that the Steve Austin Podcasts are great traveling companions on fights. I've downloaded them to my IPad and listen while flying. You can follow @steveaustinBSR on Twitter. Steve's interview skills are unique and fun to listen to.

Yes, it was the old promoter in me that suggested that Tim Tebow would be able to earn his keep quickly if he ever came to WWE if for nothing else a one off PPV shot. Think of the outside the box publicity that Tebow would garner if he were to ever step in a WWE ring as a performer which is, granted, a long shot at best.

Realizing how much some talents want to make the NXT roster and to subsequently 'graduate' to the next level of WWE, it's not so hard to understand the dismay some talents have when they are either released or not signed following a tryout. I only suggest that they all take the high road and continue to work toward their dreams. The selection process is a subjective one and no one ever said it was infallible.

Enjoying working with the young broadcasters in NXT including veteran William Regal who is actually highly skilled at this aspect of the business. It is my opinion that every announce desk should have a degree of contrasting opinions all traveling in the same direction that should be entertainingly expressed but never at the expense of telling an accurate story of what is being displayed on the monitor.

Brad Maddox has an opportunity to evolve into an entertaining albeit abrasive color commentator if his early work in NXT is any indication. Both NXT broadcast teams are doing really well as of late.

I've updated the Q&A section of the site as of Wednesday morning and invite you to check them out.

Tickets for my first ever Spoken Word Tour which will take place over four night in late August in the UK are selling quickly but a few VIP seats and regular seats are still available. For ticket info, please visit http://www.psievents.eventbrite.com/

Portions of this presentation will be largely autobiographical but my instincts tell me that the Q&A aspect of the nights will be a blast as well. Many fans have never heard stories of the territory days and how a non wrestler, non relative with no business contacts can essentially enter the back door of the guarded pro wrestling fraternity and parlay that into a near 40 year career.

Great savings on several items on the JR page of http://www.wweshop.com including our JR's Cookbook which is loaded with wrestling stories and is authentically and personally autographed by yours truly on sale for only $12.99. WWEShop ships these books to any location in the world. With this sale going on, it's a great time to stock up on JR's products for the grilling season.

http://www.americansoda.co.uk will be selling JR's products at all our UK events in August.

Thanks for stopping by and I invite you to follow me on Twitter @JRsBBQ.

Boomer Sooner!
J.R.