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JR's Blog: New, JR's Blog, NXT Take Over & Royal Rumble feedback,Cena-AJ Steal the Show, Stop Kicking Out of Finishers, @Ryback22 joins Ross Report

Posted: Jan 31st 2017 By: Jim Ross

Greetings everyone and thanks for stopping by our site. Really getting nice feedback on our latest Ross Report podcast with old pal @RealMickFoley along with broadcaster Matt Striker. It's a free download at podcatone.com and iTunes plus it's on the homepage of this site. Let's not burn any more daylight...

Thanks to everyone in San Antonio for the hospitality this past weekend while I was there for our Ringside Show and the Friday night River City Wrestling event. We were close to sold out for our Ringside show Sunday afternoon and I thought the fans who attended brought some terrific questions for our Q&A portion of the show. I enjoy these shows more and more every outing.

Our next RINGSIDE Show is during Wrestlemania weekend,Saturday April 1 and Sunday April 2 both at Plaza Live in Orlando. The VIP meet and greets both days will start at noon and our show starts at 2:30 and wil be over by 4ish which gives everyone plenty of time to make Saturday's NXT event and of course Sunday's 'Mania event. Tickets are available now including a limited number of VIP tickets for both shows at ticketfly.com. Tickets start at $25 while they last. ticketfly.com

We are working on a RINGSIDE, guest list much like we did last year in Dallas at the House of Blues. Looking to provide all attending quality infotainment.

Watched the NXT Takeover show in my hotel room, Indigo Riverwalk, in SA on the WWE Network via my iPad. Thought it was a helluva pro wrestling TV show headlined by a classic Bobby Roode vs Shinsuke Nakamura main event that told a terrific story. Excellent booking and execution by the two talents. Nakamura's selling was a key to the match and added the necessary drama that put the match over the top. Roode has the look and feel of a legit, main event star on any roster for any company.

The NXT Take Over presentation was an excellent, TV show.

I did not watch the Royal Rumble live as I was traveling home to Oklahoma from San Antonio after our RINGSIDE show. I've since reviewed the event and will include my thoughts with those of Pro Wrestling Dot Net's Jason Powell for this week's podcast that we record tonight after RAW.

I enjoyed the show overall. This was a strong Royal Rumble.

In today's marketplace with a legion of contrarians influenced by multiple, social media outlets, it seemed that most fans enjoyed the show but there is no way to please everyone especially those who feel that they have enough high level product knowledge to be a better booker than those who are actually doing the work. The bottom line regarding the Rumble is how much did it set up Wrestlemania and we likely won't be able to judge that until the Wrestlemania card is publicly finalized.

The John Cena vs AJ Styles bout stole the show in a major way and was one of the better pro wrestling bouts that I've seen on TV in a good while. Enjoyed the submission theme that was utilized. Cena wins his 16th World Title tying Ric Flair's 'record' which is memorable, without question, but I'm a tenure guy and not a multiple time guy as it relates to pro wrestling titles.

Cena certainly dispelled those who thought that John's best days are over as he had one of his best ever bouts n WWE and obviously a large part of that success can be attributed to AJ Styles who again proved to be what I've said for months and that is AJ is the best in ring talent in the wrestling biz for my money. Heard a pundit way that Cena was not a good athlete which is laughable.

I enjoyed seeing both Shawn Michaels and Jerry Lawler on my TV.

Can't understand why Roman Reigns kicked out of a brass knuckle-loaded punch. Things like that snap many of us back to the reality that we are watching show biz and not sports.

Owens and Reigns worked hard, of which I greatly respect, and had a physical brawl loaded with unforgiving props. Seems to me that WWE is perhaps positioning Reigns to become a villain and if that is true Roman Reigns can be one of the biggest stars in WWE which is always the goal no matter if one is 'fish or fowl.' A great, 'heel run' will obviously do more for Reigns to be eventually become a major fan favorite than any thing that WWE can seemingly do at this time.

If Reigns were to defeat Undertaker at WM in Orlando, it would propel Reigns to the next level of villainy and a star would be born one has to assume.

If allowed to wrestle through multiple storylines, Neville has the tools to evolve into a great Cruiserweight Champion but he needs to enjoy tenure as he's not 'over' yet and nor is anyone else the division. As I have said before this weight class has loads of potential for quality bouts but it takes time to get the public to buy into the wrestler's personalties. I'm a Neville, heel fan for sure.

By the way, and not to belabor the point, but too many talents are still kicking our of way too many established finishers which is an ill fated, shortcut that needs to be addressed IMO.

I don't perceive that the two, Lesnar vs Goldberg interactions have been 'squashes' but merely a unique way to set up their blow off match which I assume will be at Wrestlemania. I do not see this process making Brock look 'weak' as some do.

Surprised that Randy Orton won the Rumble match and seemingly from the feedback that I've been receiving the key word here is "surprise" as that seems to be what most fans needed to see Sunday night than some felt fell short of what was expected. I love surprises too but I don't feel that the Rumble match was a let down because the rumored, usual candidates did not make a surprise appearance.

I expect that the automatic title opportunity, the current titleholders, etc will be basically a hot potato between now and Wrestlemania on April 2.

Samoa Joe was a frequently discussed name being in the Rumble match but my theory on that is for a talent as highly regarded as Joe, creatively, I would have wanted Joe to make his debut by winning the Rumble match and that did not seem to be on the radar. There are better places (RAW or SDLive) to introduce new talents to the main rosters thn the Rumble, IMO.

At the end of the day one has to ask themselves did WWE advance many younger talents farther up the ladder, did they strike a chord for main event level bouts for Wrestlemania, and did they ask ample questions to motivate viewers to watch Monday night RAW and SD Live this Tuesday night?

Check out the new shirt designs we have now at www.prowrestlingtees.com/jimross. I had the newest two put on sweatshirts and they got some positive feedback this weekend in Texas.

Check us out on Facebook at JimRossBBQ.

Talking to @Ryback22 tonight for a future Ross Report. The Big Guy has a lot to say. Should be a compelling converstion.

Have a great day and come back and see us. The Q&A's are updated for those who partake.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ