• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

JR's Blog: Samoa Joe Ross Report Podcast Getting Great Feedback, RINGSIDE/BALTIMORE Tkt Update, Mr. McMahon & JBL Best TV WrestlingVillains?, E60, Why So Many Injuries? Grill w/ JR's from WWEShop.com

Posted: May 8th 2015 By: Jim Ross

Our first ever RINGSIDE w/ Jim Ross Show in Baltimore is one week from this Saturday, May 16, at Rams Head Live and has only SIX VIP Meet/Greet/Photo Op tickets left but plenty of general admission tickets still remain.
All tickets can be purchased at ramsheadlive.com starting at $22.50 and you save by buying the GA's in advance. Tickets will also be available at the venue the day of our show. We're expecting a full house and I can't wait to get it kicked off. Looking forward to attending the Orioles game the Friday night before the show, too.

Lots of random thoughts to share:

Enjoyed the E60 piece on ESPN Tuesday night and Ben Howser did a great job producing this one hour story that he worked on for parts of two years. It was an intriguing look behind the scenes and proved that wrestlers are better "cast" or "booked" when they are as close to the real person as possible. The Adam Rose character is a great example of that opinion. The real life person is much more compelling than the fictional, TV persona that the South African portrays. Casting or "booking" is a delicate matter but any "booker," if that role even exists in today's world of TV wrestling, has a better chance of finding the next, viable or big thing if the TV personas are closely related to the individual portraying the TV character.

Nonetheless, the story told on ESPN was excellently done and all involved should feel good about i as I believe it helped WWE and certainly added more credibility to the value of the Performance Center which is truly the heartbeat of the WWE and the key driver to the future of the company. Fans pay to see stars and developing stars as stars make every championship viable, or not, and are the key components to any storyline written.

One reason boxing isn't where boxing fans want it to be is because they have done a poor job of developing stars and stars drive any sport. UFC has learned how to do features on their fighters and consequently UFC is being more successful in creating new stars such as Conor McGregor, among others.

For example, WWE did a fantastic job on the recent, Roman Reigns feature on the WWE Network. This show was excellent and did as much for Reigns as any thing WWE has done for him to date IMO. One has to wonder how much it would have helped Reigns if something like this show aired prior to WM31 and, specifically, on a three hour RAW before if aired on the Network. With the popularity of these close up look shows at various fighters and MMA stars, I would consider putting a shortened version, 10-15 minutes, of these types of shows within the three hour RAW's as it would greatly enhance getting talents over and creating the emotional investment the fans must have for a talent to become a star and do it in front of WWE's biggest audience plus serve as a great promo to encourage fans to see more of it on WWE Network.

Thanks to all the folks who checked in via Twitter @JRsBBQ on the recent tornados that passed within 3-5 minutes of our home Wednesday night. We are fine but others were not so lucky. Lives have been lost, homes destroyed and many more catastrophes in our area including near our neighborhood.

The class action lawsuit against Manny Pacquiao for not revealing his shoulder injury prior to his Mayweather fight isn't without merit. Pacquiao apparently lied on his application to the Nevada State Athletic Commission regarding his health status as he knew ,from what many are saying, that he was injured. That's why this fight, and not a good fight at that, was essentially a money grab. That's unfortunate for boxing as this mega fight had a chance to help reinvigorate the sweet science but it did not even come close to doing so. Remember, when anyone says that "it's not about the money" that it is usually "all about the money."

Our Ross Report podcast with Samoa Joe is getting rave reviews and I've received more text messages from my friends within the wrestling business than on any show that we've done. I hope that you will check it out as it's FREE to download at iTunes, podcastone.com or you can listen here on site by going to the home page of this site.

Next week, Taz will join me on the Ross Report Podcast which is a hilarious show that drops Tuesday night at 9 pm ET.

The current rash of injuries hitting the NXT roster is obviously problematic. Can they be considered 'fate' or is it simply the high risk style of leaving one's feet multiple times in virtually every match and the lack of applying wrestling holds that's beginning to catch up with the talent? This is far from a WWE only issue but because they are the biggest dog in the yard, WWE gets the most attention. Plus, I'd surmise some indie wrestlers perform out of necessity and put off surgeries that they need but can't afford to undergo.

Were the last two, great TV wrestling villains Mr. McMahon and JBL? I've given this matter ample thought and it's hard to argue against this theory considering the productivity each had and how each impacted their company's business. As I've said on the Ross Report, being a truly great, TV wrestling villain in today's landscape is more challenging than ever before or at least in the 40 years that I've been in the business.

I will be giving away a pair of Summer Slam tickets at my NYC Gramercy Theater RINGSIDE w/ Jim Ross Show on Saturday night August 22 which is the night before Summer Slam which will take place at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn. Tickets are currently available for our show at www.ticketmaster.com. Summer Slam is sold out.

Talked to my mentor Cowboy Bill Watts, WWE HOFer this week, as he turned 76 on May 5, and we will be getting him back for another podcast in a few weeks as Bill's fst and only appearance on our podcast was one of the most listened to shows that we've done. Some folks listened to it multiple times. At 76, Bill's philosophy regarding the wrestling business is still spot on, iMO.

Thanks to all are shopping online at www.wweshop.com for JR's products and grilling away. Many orders are shipped the day that they are received.

Same goes for our friends in Chicago at www.prowrestlingtees.com/jimross. They stock sizes up to 5X and ship any where in world.

Working on updating the Q&A's elsewhere here on the site.

We appreciate you stopping by our site and please let others know that it's mobile device friendly and that we exist.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ