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JR's Blog: JR's Weekend Plans, Kane Mask, Regis, Penn State, WWE12, Austin DVD, Hendo-Shogun, Order JR's Today!

Posted: Nov 19th 2011 By: CMBurnham

Thanks for stopping by our site and for telling friends about our efforts to build our family brand of products at http://www.wweshop.com/Category/JimRoss. Our products make excellent holiday gifts and we hope that you will visit the site and look at the new packages that are available. Here's some grilled, random thoughts....

Busy weekend for yours truly that includes a trip to Waco, Texas to sideline it with the Oklahoma Sooners vs the Baylor Bears in a key, Big 12 game for OU. Kickoff is Saturday night at 7 central time on ABC. Look for the black hat wandering OU's bench area.

I'll be back Sunday in Oklahoma in time to catch some NFL action and then watch WWE Survivor Series on PPV from our home.

For the record and because some asked, No...I don't get the PPV's for free and pay retail just like any other fan.

Madison Square Garden (MSG) has been newly renovated and is, without question, the World's Most Famous Arena for many reasons. I've had many bucket list type professional memories in MSG over the years and working in MSG seemed to always elevate my work.

For example, WM20 in the Garden was memorable for many reasons but none more than victories that night by Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit in main event, title bouts.

The return Sunday on PPV of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has many in the sports entertainment world buzzing. @TheRock will jump start PPV buys for this Survivor Series in my opinion as the build to WM28 in Miami seems to be physically launching if you smell what I'm grilling.

Rock vs. @JohnCena on April 1. 2012 has WM28 being a hot ticket with over 43,500 tickets already sold and with some projecting that this mega event could gross around $9M in ticket sales when all is said and done in South Florida.

Will Rock have noticeable ring rust this Sunday after coming off a 7+ year absence away from the ring? Possibly to some degree but Rock is such an excellent, natural athlete who stays in top condition that most won't detect significant ring rust.

I expect some Rock/Cena fireworks at some point Sunday night but have no idea when, where or how that might occur. I also expect Rock/Cena to win vs the Awesome Truth.

Potential show stealer Sunday in my view is CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Title. Two, prideful men who have the opportunity that they will most certainly embrace and take deadly serious in a professional manner. I'm predicting a @CMPunk WWE title win Sunday BTW. Every wrestler with pride in what they do should want to create their own 'MSG Moment' as those live in one's heart for a lifetime.

Also thinking that Shogun defeats Dan 'Hendo' Henderson Saturday night in the UFC event in San Jose. Hendo is 41 years young and one has to wonder if he 'peaked' when knocking out Fedor in his last fight. Youth vs age is how I see this main event and even though I have immense respect for Henderson I think Rua needs the win most and will prevail.

UFC on Fox got amazing TV ratings for a 64 second fight in a one hour window and accomplished all that UFC likely set out to do and that was to introduce UFC to new fans around the world. Mission accomplished. Too many Monday morning QB's like to second guess @DanaWhite on not having more bouts on this broadcast but I find that argument laughable. There were no significant 'missed opportunities' for UFC on their debut on Fox in my view other than I would have liked to have seen a slick, Fox produced highlight package of memorable moments in UFC history including some of their biggest stars and a few knockouts and submissions.

Is Kane coming back with his mask? No idea here but I have always felt that the Kane TV persona was more memorable as a masked man. We still have Kane's last mask in storage that he wore back in the day that was on display at our now closed restaurant.

Thoughts on Penn State scandal? Horrid...pray for the kids involved...more heads will roll...tip of the iceburg type lingo...sadly, don't bet the farm that Sandusky will be locked up and the key thrown away either. Lots of money will be at play in this tragedy and the bulk of the public blame shouldn't be heaped on JoePa. Paterno deserves some blame but there are many in State College that seemingly have dirty hands.

Good bye to Regis Philbin who stepped away today from his syndicated TV show after a helluva, long and successful run. I have great respect for Regis, a huge Notre Dame football fan, and he was so gracious to me when I cooked for him and Kelly one hot, summer day on their show. You Tube that one if you can find it. We spent most of our off camera time talking college football.

THQ's WWE12 video game rolls out next week and it going to be a huge hit. I hear that advance orders are rocking. The game has received amazing reviews from those who do that sort of thing for a living. I'm grateful that 'JR' is a playable character in the game.

For the first time outside the USA, WWEShop is making our autographed, JR's Cookbook available in one of their packages of our products at http://www.wweshop.com/Category/JimRoss. I personally signed these books that include easy to do recipes and a ton of wrestling, road stories and photos. The book can also be purchased individually at WWEShop.

The Stone Cold Steve Austin DVD will be available to the masses on November 29. Got my advance copy and this one is another hit for WWE. The highlight of this must see DVD for me personally was doing alternate commentary with Steve on Wrestlemania bouts against HBK, Bret Hart and the Rock. We had a blast on those three, epic bouts and it's an exclusive feature that you're sure to enjoy.

Long time fans know how great the late Killer Karl Kox was inside the ring but if younger fans have not seen Killer perform/compete I'd suggest that you hit You Tube or WWEClassics.com. I will say this, Killer Karl Kox was arguably the most underrated wrestler that I can ever recall. His ring psychology was extraordinary. I refereed many of his bouts with Dick Murdoch and I couldn't detect any of the show biz elements that are often times so blantantly obvious in today's marketplace. RIP Killer Karl Kox and thanks for helping me better understand the crazy world of pro wrestling. A true master of his craft.

Finally, I had a Hollywood type contact me to ask if I was interested in trying to get on Dancing With The Stars coming off the heels of Monday's Raw in Boston. I said, no thanks and to stop the maddness. The purely-for- entertainment skit that we did last Monday on Raw should have proved to any one with sight that I have no dancing skills. However, I am grateful to those that commented on Twitter @JRsBBQ that they were entertained and got a laugh out of the craziness.

It was all done for entertainment purposes and it did earn a nice TV rating for Raw which is the primary objective of any TV broadcast. Has the JR/Cole never ending story finally come to a conclusion or is there more juice to squeeze out of that berry? TBD.

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for supporting our family's efforts at WWEShop.com. Be well and count your blessings.

Boomer Sooner!

JR (@JRsBBQ)