J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q

One of the great things about being a wrestling fan myself and interacting with wrestling fans is their passion. Passion is a great thing when it is pointed in the right direction. As many of you who read the comments can see, some of the folks who communicate with us start making assumptions, become psycho analysts, become the unofficial flag bearers of their favorite wrestlers who are allegedly being scorned or feel their favorite wrestling promotion is not endlessly lauded in this space. I have been accused of “hating” people and of being “dishonest”. Plus I am still thought of as someone who can pick up the telephone and speak with decision makers to change whatever a specific fan doesn’t like. Stop the hallucinations. Put down the crack pipe, please. Let’s set the record straight one more time. 1. I live in Oklahoma and do not attend creative meetings or executive meetings in Connecticut any longer. I chose to move to Oklahoma and am no longer an Executive Vice President of the company or the head of Talent Relations by choice. 2. I do not meet regularly with the Chairman of the WWE as I once did for many years. I do not have “the Chairman’s ear”. This is not a complaint. 3. If one wants a job with the WWE for goodness sakes please remember to check out the company’s corporate website and work thru HUMAN RELATIONS just like any other public company functions. 4. If one wants to become a broadcaster of the WWE then put together a demo reel and get it to the HUMAN RELATIONS DEPARTMENT. 5. Vent all you want, but if you perceive that wrestling is in a “slump” then either ride the slump out or not. I have been in the business for over 30 years so how many “slumps” do you think I have perceived the biz has had and that I worked through? How about dozens of them? I still hung in there and watched the product because I love the business and take the good with the bad just as I do when my OU Sooners lose a college football game. At the end of the day what appears on a wrestling TV show is not nearly as important in one’s life as about 100 other things I can name. Now let’s address some of your comments: Monty Brown debuted as Marquis Cor Von because the publicly traded WWE wanted to own the character’s name and intellectual property. I strongly suggest that the WWE will own the vast majority if not all their performer’s names in the future. Yes, I know it did not used to be that way, but that was then and times have changed. Protecting the company’s intellectual property is an obligation to the stockholders. Personally, I like the name Monty Brown, but this decision apparently wasn’t made based on like but on need and to legally protect the WWE. Bottom line, it is what it is and all the bitching in the world isn’t going to change it. Al- I found your comment to be disturbing. No one is recommending that today’s young wrestlers endure hard ship for the hell of it. “Walk 2 miles to school in the snow barefooted…” What are you smoking?? It is really simple Al. It is all about experiences and not hardships. I can assure you 100% that if today’s wrestlers had the opportunity to ply their trade in a variety of regional territories prior to debuting on global TV for the WWE or any other company that the in ring product would be better and that there would be many more top stars in the hunt for main event spots which would strongly benefit the fans. Andrew in the UK- You blamed me for withholding what Vince McMahon thinks of TNA. You, too, sir are dead wrong. I don’t know what McMahon thinks about this matter. Do you know why? Because I have not asked McMahon his thoughts on TNA because I don’t happen to care what his thoughts are on this subject. As busy as the Chairman of the WWE stays, I doubt very seriously if he even watches the TNA product, but again I don’t know. Nonetheless, your comments are off target and disrespectful in my opinion. Ask all the tough questions you choose, but don’t question my integrity or honesty. David in the UK/Wales- Do you know me well enough to profess my dishonesty? Are you a mind-reader or an expert in human behavior? What if I called you an idiot? Would that be wrong? Of course it would, but that’s how you came off with recent comment. I have NEVER blasted TNA. I did not like the VKM story line but that doesn’t mean I hate the brand! The WWE has story lines I am not crazy about either, but I don’t plan to march on Stamford and I seem to have no issues in cashing their checks. Fans have asked about Stacey Keibler and the lovely young lady from Baltimore is no long under contract to the WWE and is out in Hollywood trying to start an acting career off the heels of her amazing performances on “Dancing With The Stars”. I doubt if Stacey ever returns to the biz, but stranger things have happened. For the Indianapolis fan, Raw returns to Indy on Monday March 19. Good luck to the Colts as even with the home field advantage Sunday in the NFL playoffs, beating Tom Brady’s Pats won’t be easy. For some reason, however, it feels like this “may” be the Colts time. It is hard to go against Belichick and Brady and the Pats playoff successes. This is not a weekend for yours truly to place a friendly wager or two as I am way too conflicted over these games to wager on them. C.M. Punk fans- I don’t judge anyone’s career over wins and loses and especially not over the short haul. Punk has excellent potential and seems to still be a work in progress. I like to watch him wrestle and would love to see him on Raw. Nonetheless, enduring one loss to Bob Holly won’t kill Punk’s career whether the masses agreed with the loss or not. I remember Steve Austin winning hardly any matches for a year or more and his fans hung with him until Austin finally got his break. Punk is one of the reasons I watch ECW every Tuesday night. Flair-Foley 2006 rivalry? I really liked it largely because of the verbal skills of each participant. Ric and Mick can verbally hang with any one in the business which is what made this matter so personal and fun to follow. Personal issues draw money but before any personal issue can take off the fans have to have made an emotional investment in the participants. I get lots of questions about a “new” Hart Foundation, etc. I don’t even know if this is going to happen or is even under consideration. I also don’t know if the younger Harts want to travel down that road. I am not sure I would if I were them, but would instead want to establish my own legacy. Teddy Hart has significant in-ring skills but has made some errors in judgement over the years that have cost him some opportunities. I think I remember hiring him twice when I was in charge of WWE talent. Perhaps Teddy has matured now to where he can handle the responsibilities of being on the road full time because there is no question that physically, Teddy is gifted. Someone compared Bob Holly to Stan Hansen as far as aggressiveness is concerned. That may not be fair because Stan was 300 pounds worth of toughness while Bob is around 60 or 70 pounds less of toughness. Both are tougher than $2 steaks but Hansen gets the nod here because he is simply a bigger dog in the fight. Yoyo Pogo- Coming all the way from Ireland for Wrestlemania 23! Congrats! I hope you have a great time and enjoy the USA. I am afraid HHH will be unable to wrestle at ‘Mania this year do to his quadriceps surgery but nonetheless it is Wrestlemania and it will be a helluva event to witness no matter who is in the main event. Your girlfriend did well with scoring the tickets! Kelvin- I have addressed Kevin Kelley’s announcing before, but I always felt like KK was an excellent announcer with passion and product knowledge. He was enjoyable to work with and was a true student of the game. Why didn’t he make it in the WWE? I certainly don’t think it was because he was a bad announcer. But, I don’t know all about the behind the scenes issues he may have encountered which are not foreign to the WWE of any other large company. Kevin was always professional to me and we seemed to get along just fine. I wish him well. Samuel etoo- No Samuel I don’t “hate” Luger or Savage. Sorry to disappoint you. Savage belongs in the WWE HOF while I feel Luger does not at this time. That’s my OPINION which is my right and it is not based on “hate”. I can honestly say I don’t “hate” any one in this business even though there are people I would prefer to not be around and, no, I am not going to provide a list of their names. This isn’t the “National Enquirer”. I totally agree that the WWE should have a separate building to house the WWE Hall of Fame. I know this has been discussed. I don’t know where it would be located but if you build it they will come…so to speak. And yes, one of the great ribbers, flying villains and long time superstars, Mr. Fuji will most likely be in the hall of fame in the future. No, I don’t know when. ECW- This subject always strikes a hot button with many of ECW’s long time fans. The closest these die hard fans, who I do have great respect for, will ever get to the old ECW is by watching WWE 24/7. That is where I get my “fix” of wrestling from back in the day more often than not. The product has changed and many of us traditionalists have to either change with it or wait until the current trends change again. And they will. The fact that the ECW wrestlers are on the road with the Smackdown wrestlers as they make their way to the Tuesday TV day makes it cost prohibitive to shoot the ECW show in South Philly or the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. I have actually seen the numbers and it unfortunately will not work. I was a fan of the old ECW and watch every Tuesday night the new ECW to see how it is going to evolve and who the ECW stars of tomorrow are going to be. I wish wrestling shows of today were more like the Mid South shows of the 80s but that is not going to happen either. I will continue to watch the product because I am a fan….of what I individually perceive to be good wrestling and what I perceive to be bad wrestling which boils down to only one man’s opinion. To the Finley fan out there, I don’t think Finley is too old to be a champion. Finley can wrestle and is so fundamentally sound that the Irishman can beat anyone on a given night. So Victoria wanted to be in Playboy but it didn’t happen. I don’t think I ever talked to Victoria about this matter but I do know it takes two to tango and if Playboy was more interested in another Diva then the magazine’s decision weighs heavily on who ultimately appears in the magazine. With that said, I would enjoy Victoria’s presence in the publication if it were to happen. I am a big fan of ESPN’s Bill Simmons who writes for their website and their magazine and has mentioned the WWE and wrestling in general on numerous occasions. I have heard from other sources that Bill is a long time fan as is Stephan A. Smith of ESPN. To the fan who asked about travel, the WWE has a full time travel department who have the responsibility of making sure all the folks that need to be at a specific place get there safely and on time. These individuals have a thankless job but do a helluva job in moving so many people around the world 51 weeks a year. Yes, all the announcers wear headsets so we can hear ourselves, the crowd, our partners, and the individuals who provide info, instructions, direction, etc into the headsets. These headsets can be a blessing or a curse…trust me. For fans who want to get autographs, I suggest you either hang out at your local airport’s baggage claim, a hotel you may think the wrestlers are staying or get to the arena early and try and get access to the wrestlers as they arrive. These are some of the things fans do but there is no guarantee as it all comes down to timing and good fortune. How much longer am I going to announce? That all depends on my health and desire to continue to travel weekly. I am taking it one year at a time and will make a decision as to whether I will stick around another year by this fall. I have casually said I would like to make it until Wrestlemania 25 but who knows? The WWE may not want me back this fall when my contract expires so there are many variables involved in this matter that I cannot address with total certainty. I know this. I still love the business and look forward to going to work every week and broadcasting on the most watched and influential and successful wrestling TV show in television history. When things stop being fun, that is when I stay at home. That time has not arrived yet. I am often asked to comment on Vince Russo. I have spoken to Vince a few of times over the past few years especially when I was ill and had colon surgery. We have no lingering issues between us. There is no “hate” that exists which I know will disappoint some “hate mongers”. When I broadcast wrestling with Vince he was nervous and inexperienced but he did his best. Announcing wrestling wasn’t Russo’s calling at that time and it is not an easy job. Did I like all his creative ideas when he was writing? No. Does that make Russo a bad or a stupid person? No. My tastes in wrestling are more sports/athletic based while Russo liked shock TV a la Howard Stern’s radio show or “Crash TV” as it were. Bottom line is that Russo wrote some shows that got big numbers and that was what he was paid to do. We both have moved on from any issues we have had in the past. Isn’t that the healthy thing to do? Another title run for HBK? Is this possible? Hell yes it is possible. HBK is still one of the best 2-3 in-ring performers alive for my money and has proven on many occasions he can have a classic match with a wide variety of opponents. I am a huge believer in Shawn Michaels. Due to the 911 tragedy in the USA there are issues shipping liquids to the UK and beyond. We are working on it as we speak but there is tons of red tape and political issues we have to deal with in order to ship our delicious sauces to the UK. We can ship our shirts, caps, and books nonetheless. We are trying to work with a UK company to become our distributor there and I will keep everyone posted. As far as having our Bar-B-Q trailer in Detroit for Wrestlemania we are not planning for it at this time. I do think it is a good idea though. Thanks for visiting our store and for becoming a customer. If you haven’t become a customer we encourage you to do so. The feedback we are getting on our merchandise and sauces is heart warming and much appreciated. Our first restaurant opens in Norman, Oklahoma in the spring of 2007 just off I 35 and Main Street. Exciting times lie ahead! Thanks and we will have more blogs this weekend. J.R.