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JR's Blog: Royal Rumble Predictions/Thoughts, Solie, RINGSIDE An Evening w/ Jim Ross tickets selling fast, Rumble Challenges Broadcasters.

Posted: Jan 27th 2014 By: CMBurnham

Beautiful mild Sunday here in Oklahoma as we thank you for visiting our site. Elsewhere here the Q&A's are updated as well. They are quick, easy reads....much like this..

No WWE PPV is as strategic to the overall creative year than is tonight's Royal Rumble. The Rumble kicks off WrestleMania season which essentially fuels the company for an entire year from a creative standpoint.

The winner of the Royal Rumble match gets to punch his ticket for the main event at WM30 in NOLA which means a great payday awaits along with being deeply involved in the company's biggest marketing effort of the year.

I'd expect no less than 6-8 talents to have 'memorable moments' tonight in Pittsburgh. If not, then something's wrong.

The individual matches provide what every talent seeks and that's 'opportunity.' Do you have the ability and the desire to "steal the show/PPV" when you take the ring in a non Rumble match? There are no excuses in being merely average of which most people are proficient.

Throughout the Rumble match, talents will be provided specific opportunities to make themselves stand out and become more marketable thus making them more valuable to their employer. At no time of the PPV year does 'maximize one's minutes' ever hold more true.

If, for example, Roman Reigns eliminates a dozen men, which would be one more than Kane's record of 11, then Reigns can notch his gun even if he doesn't win the Royal Rumble. Big E Langston is another young talent to keep an eye on tonight.

One of the best matches of the night will likely be on the pre game show when the Rhodes Brothers face the New Age Outlaws. I will watch this match with great interest. Cody and Dustin win...."if you weilll." The grandsons of a plumber will have a good night.

I've got Daniel Bryan beating Bray Wyatt but if it goes the other way I won't be shocked. I can see an argument made for each participant to win in this match. As a matter of fact, the more I think about it, the more I see Wyatt grinding out a physical victory.

It's official...Bray Wyatt will be the winner vs. Daniel Bryan.

Part time superstar and full time badass Brock Lesnar has to get on a roll to monetize his obvious upside so I've got Lesnar beating Big Show. Brock using a fan favorite finisher, the 'F5,' on the near 500 pounder would be impressive. Something tells me that if Lesnar wasn't aligned with the masterful Paul Heyman that the former Golden Gopher would be a MAJOR fan favorite in WWE. What is there to detest? Exactly....Heyman! (That's a compliment by the way.)

Randy Orton will retain his WWE World Title with a victory or a non finish decision over John Cena. I'd be very surprised if Orton leaves Pittsburgh without the championship. One thing about this matchup is that these two have had multiple opportunities to develop chemistry. This match should be very good.

It would be a great story for #1 entrant CM Punk to go door to door and win the Rumble match but wait, doesn't that also apply to the #2 entrant?

Punk's issues are seemingly with the authority figures within WWE which usually end up biting a fan favorite like Punk in the backside. Just remember back to many of the predicaments that Stone Cold Steve Austin found himself in back in the day with 'authority figures.'

With that said, like many others, I've got Batista winning the Rumble match especially if he enters at #20 or above.

Curious to see what is provided the viewers from the impressive, Hall of Fame panel of Shawn Michaels, Jim Duggan and Ric Flair on the pre game, etc. Will we get "filler" or will we get some substance and opinion? I'd prefer the latter. (Panels can be controversial I'm told. :)

Visit ticketmaster.com for tickets for 'RINGSIDE: An Evening with Jim Ross' in NYC on Saturday March 1 at the Gramercy Theater and in NOLA at the House of Blues during WM30 week on Thursday night April 3. I'll be doing two shows each night and VIP tickets include a meet and greet and photo op. The venues themselves have more info and tickets as well.

The home page of our site has ticket info and a link to every show.

Solid, #UFCONFOX10 Saturday night from Chicago. The presentation was a little short on star power but I enjoyed the fights as did CM Punk who was sitting in a primo, ringside seat.

I will be signing more thank you, art work for WWE and the JR's packages at WWEShop.com this week. This has been one of the best offers that WWE has created as the signed art is valued at $20 while some of the packages, including with the legit signed art, are less than $10. Great deal!!

Good luck to my friends @MichaelCole, @JerryLawler and @JCLayfield broadcasting tonight's show on the birthday of the late, great Gordon Solie, the greatest wrestling broadcaster ever.

The WWE broadcast crew's ability to tell multiple stories during the Rumble match is critical on how the match will be perceived.

The Rumble match was the most challenging PPV to call during my tenure in WWE. A one hour plus match...30 different talents....multiple storylines...the "moments" that one must embellish...and the intensity that must be maintained for the duration of the match can be tough to pull off. With Cole steering the ship, I'm thinking that the first PPV of the year will feature a winning effort from the announce team.

I will be Tweeting LIVE during the Royal Rumble PPV @JRsBBQ. Please join me.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ