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JR's Blog: TKTS Still Available for Zanies Rosemont, Mauro, Madusa to Ross Report, AXSTV/NJPW, @WrestlingMuseum, Superstar Shakeup

Posted: Apr 12th 2017 By: Jim Ross

Hello again folks and thanks for the visit to our site. Please consider bookmarking us and visit often. We're a free site with no pop up's. Let's roll as we're burning daylight...

Tickets for our RINGSIDE with Jim Ross Show in Rosemont, Illinois at Zanies went on sale this past Saturday and we sold out the VIP tickets in a matter of minutes but there are general admission tickets still available for only $30 at www.ticketfly.com. Show time is 2 pm and will be over by 3:30 pm which give everyone plenty of time to get to the All State Arena, three miles away, for WWE Backlash.

www.ticketfly.com

Heading to LA this week to voiceover seven NJPW broadcasts for AXSTV. Always enjoy working with @JoshLBarnett and the great staff at @MCuban network. To clarify, again, I will be fulfilling my contractual obligation with AXSTV while under contract with WWE so my 2017 is going to be an exciting and busy year. I have had no interaction with NJPW regarding this matter as I don't work for that organization but instead my contract is with AXSTV who are happy, as am I, that I am able to honor my contract.

Big week for WWE talents as the Superstar Shakeup will be in place both Monday night on RAW from the Nassau Coliseum and on SDLIVE Tuesday night in Boston. The healthy way of looking at this if you are a talent is that you're getting the opportunity to hit the reset button and take what you've learned from their WWE experience and put that info and motivation to use.

I love fresh starts for talents especially if they seize the moment and refuse to 'settle.' Competitive athletes generally embrace these fresh chances and new opportunities and those that don't are often times prisoners of their own comfort zone which means that they have essentially stopped growing and are happy to remain status quo.

Comfort Zones are an enemy to us all no matter what we do for a living. Comfort Zones are hazardous to one's career and if that specific problem can't be solved it has to be eliminated. Case Close (Ernie Ladd voice)

The annual, National Wrestling Hall of Fame of the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa is set for July 20-22. This is a fabulous weekend that I can't recommend to fans high enough. Some of the game's top, all time stars will be there in person and I hope that you will be too. Checkout www.dgmstaff@nwhof.org or by calling 319-233-0745. Touring the museum is worth the trip.

Don't know what to add regarding the situation that apparently exists between Mauro Ranallo and WWE other than it's regrettable. Mauro is a friend and a talented broadcaster who continues to be an advocate for mental illness as he suffers from bipolar disorder. I wish him the best and know that he will stay busy as he wants to be broadcasting boxing for Showtime and likely getting back into the MMA world. Who knows, Mauro might even get back in the pro wrestling world as time marches on.

Seems as if Tom Phillips is settling in on the SDLIVE show and is likely being looked at as a long term solution for that role. Tom is talented, Penn State alum and is still evolving but has a viable upside. Announcing the genre is daunting these days for a variety of reasons not the least of which is the never ending weekly travel that is required to do the gig.

Many have asked but I have zero interest in returning to the road full time for anyone on a weekly basis at this stage of my career.

Happy to welcome Madusa to The Ross Report this week on our show that drops Tuesday night, as usual, at 9 PM ET at www.podcatone.com, iTunes and here on the home page of our site. Our most recent show with Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer has done great business and received positive feedback. Please take a minute to visit iTunes and leave comments and a five star rating for The Ross Report podcast.

Cant wait to call the Okada vs Shibata bout of this past weekend which I heard was tremendous. Okada is arguably and easily one of the top handful of pro wrestling stars in the world right now and the legit, 'ace' of NJPW. With AXSTV beginning to edit their own Friday night shows, the delay time from the live event until their airing will be greatly reduced.

If AXSTV broadcasts either or both of the July NJPW Long Beach shows, I will be on the broadcast duo with Josh Barnett.

Happy to announce that Jeremy Borash will be joining me in Rosemont at Zanies as our MC on Sunday May 21. Again, general admission tickers are still available but going fast at www.ticketfly.com.

Really needed the one hour plus phone call Sunday night from my friend Steve Austin who has been in regular contact with me since wife Jan's death. Danny Hodge and Scandor Akbar told me in 1974 that at the end of my wresting career that I'd be lucky to have five friends from the biz that I could really count on. At that time I felt that their opinion was being cynical but they were both on the money on that one. Stone Cold and I have endured so much together personally and that has galvanized our friendship of which I deeply value.

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Have a great day and count your blessings.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ