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JR's Blog: JR/Boxing 2017,RINGSIDE to Phoenix & San Antonio, Cornette to Ross Report, ROADBLOCK Feedback, Q&A's Updated

Posted: Dec 20th 2016 By: Jim Ross

Greetings a from a COLD, Norman, Oklahoma wishing that everyone is healthy and happy here at the Holiday Season. If you're not then I hope that you realize that matters of good health and being happy are often times up to us. We all need to look in the mirror occasionally. It's our obligation to keep ourselves 'honest.'

I finished my last booking of the year Saturday night in Las Vegas at Knockout Night at The D series on the CBS Sports Network. As we await what's next on the boxing front for 2017, up to 24 fights are being discussed at various locations, I had a great time working in a new genre this year and look forward to doing more boxing and improving my game. Working with The D Hotel and Casino along with the great people at Roy Jones Junior Boxing has been a rewarding experience for sure.

Next up will be a trip to LA for AXSTV to voice over the NJPW Wrestle Kingdom shows that debut on Friday night January 13 airing the main event of Okada-Omega in prime time. @JoshLBarnett and I are ready to kick some ass on these voice overs I can assure you. Big time stuff to us and we will provide a big time call to these bouts for @AXSTV.

Remember, the wrestlers make the music and guys like us provide the lyrics.

Then it's on to Phoenix for the RINGSIDE with Jim Ross Show Thursday night January 12 at Stand Up Live and tickets are going fast at www.standuplive.com starting at only $25. Some VIP, meet/greet/photo op tickets are available too.

Somewhere in all this recharging of my batteries in December, I am hopeful to attend the Sugar Bowl in NOLA where my Sooners face the SEC's Auburn Tigers. Should be a terrific game and one that will see OU be hard pressed to come out of NOLA with a win. Slobber Knocker football..

As WWE turns their focus now on the 2017 Royal Rumble in San Antonio at the cavernous, Alamo Dome, we do as well as RINGSIDE with Jim Ross will be at the Improv at River Center in San Antonio on Royal Rumble Sunday afternoon January 29. www.rivercitycomedyclub.com has your tickets for our one show only that will see the VIP ticket holder mini event from noon-2 PM, the show starting at 2:30 and ending by 4 PM. The Improv is a short, easy walk to the Alamo Dome where the Rumble will go down.

ROADBLOCK: End of the Line Thoughts:

A solid show that apparently did not adequately motivate the live audience in Pittsburgh.

Big Cass/Enzo have the verbal aspect of their game at a main event level. Not wild about having two, fan favorites versus one villain, in essence, especially when today's fans seem to not always cheer, or boo, for those positioned to receive such.

The WWE Tag Title bout was better than expected for me and it delivered significantly. Great way to start the show but unfortunately some of the bouts that followed did not live up to the opener. Nonetheless this was a hit.

Liked the concept of the Sami Zayn-Braun Strowman match where to win Zayn had to last 10 minutes with the massive, new villain. Execution was OK but something here was a disconnect for me. Some could argue that essentially stopping the match with Mick Foley was, in hindsight, stopped the flow of the bout.

Strowman should be enhanced/built and kept as unscathed as possible until he is ready to work on top of the card and he certainly seems to have the potential, in say, one year, to challenge a Lesnar, Cena, etc at Wrestlemania 2018. Hey, it's just an idea and someplace to start.

Enjoyed the execution, by and large, of the Jericho vs Rollins match and Chris did well by Seth in the manner that the match concluded I.E. a big win for Rollins. I would have preferred, in hindsight, to see Jericho be relentless in working on Rollins back as a thread to take me through their match while setting up Jericho's Walls of Jericho finisher but I enjoyed the presentation nonetheless.

It concerns me that often times in today's presentation of sports entertainment, pro wrestling, whatever you choose to call it, that creating a bona fide, main event hero or villain is becoming more challenging and as a result of that many bouts fall short of how good they can actually be as they are strategically laid out to feature one talent as the fan favorite for example but the audience will then have a different idea which often times causes a disconnect.

First of all, I am a fan of Cruiserweight competition and I feel that this division, when WWE sorts out who they will eventually go with as this weight's nucleus, will be good TV. However, the talents currently involved have not yet connected with enough of the audience to move the needle and therefore this is an area of which the fans need to have patience and hope that talents like Neville and others can contribute in a big way and capture the attention of the fan base. Plus, it's hard to incorporate so many submission attempts in a match where talents aren't emotionally invested to the audience.

There was lots of pressure on Sasha and Charlotte to have some sort of history making match in the 30 Minute Ironman Match. I enjoyed the match but how the finish was executed was perplexing to me unless it is going to lead to a persona change for either women. The live audience, arguably, harmed this match more than any on the card considering the stipulation and positioning on the card. I had no issue that this match did not close the show either.

Tough situation to be in for both Roman Reigns, who is cast as the fan fav but he's actually not, and for KO who is cast/booked as the villain but he's cheered versus Reigns. These two worked hard of which I truly appreciate and respect but the run-on finish seemed to fall a bit flat but that may be just me. That matter will obviously be addressed Monday night on RAW so I'll 'stay tuned' as they say in TV Land.

I'm happy that I watched WWE ROADBLOCK on the WWE Network. However, it also reminded me that there are some less than positive trends within the business in general as it relates to in ring execution and logic/psychology that are perplexing.

Like us on Facebook at JimRossBBQ.

Q&A's here on the site are updated.

Did you kow that you can listen to all our podcasts here on the homepage of the site by making one, simple click?

This week on the Ross Report I will be joined by the incomparable Jim Cornette on an all new show that drops Tuesday night night at 9 PM ET on www.podcastone.com, iTunes and again, here on our homepage. JC never fails to deliver even when he is talking politics!

www.wweshop.com and www.americansoda.co.uk, in the UK, Ireland and Europe, have JR's products ready for immediate delivery. Happy Holiday gifts for sure.

Remember that I will be joining the fine folks at River City Wrestling in San Antonio on Friday night January 27, two days before our RINGSIDE Show there on Sunday Jan 29. For more info on the @rcwforever event. visit www.rcw-wrestling.com.

If you haven't, please consider subscribing for free to The Ross Report Podcast at iTunes and iTunes will automatically download every new show into the device of your choosing each week.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ