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JR's Blog: JR's UK Tour on Sale, New Cardiff venue, @CMPunk, Fandango, NXT Call Up's, Order JR's Today Online for Fathers Day!

Posted: May 31st 2013 By: mikeiles

Tickets are on sale now in the UK for my first, Spoken Word tour in London on Sunday August 25 and in in Manchester on Monday August 26. The Cardiff date had issues with the venue and a new, third date has been finalized. @PSI_Events has more details on this.. Let's Grill!

Apparently tickets started very briskly Friday morning when they went on sale in London and Manchester for the first ever "Evening with Jim Ross" events...my first foray into the Spoken Word world.

Just got word that the Cardiff date will be held on Saturday August 24 at the Hilton Hotel Cardiff and tickets are on sale as of 7 PM UK time at jrcardiff.evenbrite.co.uk.

I will take the live audience on a journey that starts when I became a wrestling fan growing up as an only child in Westville, Oklahoma through the early days of my career in the territories, the corporate years in the wrestling business, overcoming a few hurdles along the way and up until the present day. These events will also feature a healthy, Q&A session and will conclude with a VIP, personal meet and greet, photo and autograph session.

If our concept works in the UK we hope to schedule more dates there and there's been talk of doing a tour in Australia, where I've never traveled, and in North America as well. Time will tell but It's something that has me excited as I feel the presentation has potential.

I've updated the Q&A section of the site and appreciate many submitting good, succinct questions. I hope that you will check them out and leave your own questions if you choose.

For fans attending our Spoken Word tour we are trying to work out with @americansoda to have JR's BBQ Sauces, Ketchup and Mustard on sale at the events for those asking.

This Saturday morning I return to yahoosportsradio.com with @seanpendergast at 10:30 am central time to talk a little WWE and more. Listen on your radio or online. Great, 30 minutes of radio.

One of the most frequently asked questions that we get here is when a NXT wrestler is going to be brought up to either a RAW or Smackdown roster. Firstly, I am far removed from the creative loop that makes those decisions so I generally hear later in the process. Secondly, the NXT talents should NOT want to be called up until there is a definitive plan for them such as we are seeing with the Wyatt Family. I like the idea of doing several weeks of vignettes on the talents so that when they do appear their debut has more significance and the audience has been somewhat preconditioned to the TV personas of the talent featured. Just to show up on a TV show usually doesn't move the needle in my view.

While some fans have issues with the TV persona of Fandango, I find him to fit within the flamboyant, sports entertainer category of which there have been many predecessors. Obviously, Fandango's exclusivity comes from his dancing. Great talents like Gorgeous George, the Honky Tonk Man , exotic Adrian Street, Nature Boy Ric Flair and countless others come to mind when one uses the word flamboyant or colorful to describe a wrester. The jury is still out, in my view, whether Fandango will be a fan favorite or a villain as it seems, at least to me anyway, that the fans haven't fully made up their mind on that distinction. I like Summer Rae, who is essentially a valet, working with Fandango as I feel she has a significant up side based on her work that I've seen in NXT. The good news about this pairing is that both talents are hungry for success and Fandango has proven to me on various occasions that he can get the work done bell to bell.

Good to see that @CMPunk has been able to take some time off and decompress before he returns to the grind of the road in his hometown of Chicago at Payback. Going on nothing but my own gut instincts, I'd suggest that we fans don't see Punk until the night of the PPV in Chicago. He's going to receive a massive ovation from the always rabid All State Arena crowd and will arguably be the most popular wrestler in the arena that night. I might be wrong but it seems as if the fans enjoy cheering Punk more than they do jeering him.

Planning on attending the Softball World Series in OKC where my Oklahoma Sooners are the #1 seed,

Too many sports types bitch about the officiating in the NBA playoff and the umpires in MLB for that matter. It's all a part of the game. Get over it. Players make turnovers, errors, and coaches soil the sheets with lame brain decisions....it's all a part of the game. Be creative sports people and come up with something more compelling than the officiating storyline. It's old. Next.

I do the same thing in NCAA Women's Hoops but normally with tongue in cheek and in an attempt to find some humor in their ineptness.

Anxious to see an advance copy of the Mid South DVD that is to be released in September by WWE. Those that are familiar with Mid South seem as if they can't wait on the release while others, likely younger fans haven't a clue as to what , when, who, Mid South was. I expect to preview the DVD in early to mid June.

Getting lots of questions on Bob Holly's book especially as it relates to the ill fated Brawl For It All but I haven't read the book so I can't speak to Bob's opinion on what occurred. I do hope that Bob does well with the book and I enjoyed working with him in WWE and always kept my word with Bob and treated him fairly and like a man. We certainly supported Bob during his injuries and would do it all over again if given the opportunity. Bob was a tough, old school guy who was likely underrated by many which is unfortunate.

Keep JR's products in mind for Father's Day gift packages from http://www.wweshop.com and in the UK, Ireland and Europe from http://www.americansoda.co.uk.

Thanks for stopping by and please follow me on Twitter @JRsBBQ where we have exceeded 800,000 followers.

Boomer Sooner!
J.R. @JRsBBQ