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

It’s good to be home after venturing to St. Louis and the Quad Cities this week. I always consider it a successful mission if I make it back to Norman safe and sound. St. Louis is a special wrestling city and it is always an honor to work there as I have in the past. I missed the John Deere museum in Moline, again, dammit, as King hit the mall in the rental car and I stayed behind at the hotel to get ready for Raw, which “might” be code for taking a nap.

From our household to the Jarrett household, my wife Jan and I want to wish our heartfelt condolences to Jeff Jarrett and his family for the loss of Jeff’s wife Tuesday night who was suffering from cancer. God Bless them and I think that all of us saying a prayer regarding this tragedy and loss of a Mom and Wife and Friend would be most appreciated.

The King’s commentary has received a lot of response; are folks just now recognizing that Jerry is not the antagonist he was years ago when he first started doing commentary for the WWE? This is simply an organic sort of thing that over the years Jerry has continued to become a popular superstar in the WWE, just as he has been in Memphis for decades. Jerry and I don’t always agree and sometimes those arguments spill onto the air, which is often times entertaining–or so some say. We like the occasional fireworks. However, neither of us wants to get into some sort of staged bad guy/good guy formula for commentary, as that is not where our hearts are and it comes off as contrived. We never discuss what we are going to say beforehand backstage and instead rely on our instincts, for better or for worse, to help us entertain you. For both of us, the less info we know about a given broadcast, the better. I do plenty of prep on the wrestlers, but usually on their backgrounds or recent match histories, etc. If neither of us don’t do anything more than simply say “hello” to the superstars competing on Raw or a PPV prior to the event, we are happy as we both like to be surprised by what we see.

I do think that the volume of pay-per-views available to fans is challenging for anyone to purchase them all. I am sure some do, but I can also easily see that some folks financially can’t afford the volume of PPV’s that are available on such a regular basis. One a month is a tough hill to climb and time will tell if the current number of pay-per-views will remain. This sort of thing is always about what the market will bear and that matter will be addressed as time goes on.

Many have inquired about this, but I have not followed to any significant degree the current issues between The Warrior and the Iron Sheik. Who’s to blame for this verbal altercation? I don’t know and I don’t care. It’s none of my business and I wasn’t there to witness the situation nor have I talked to anyone who was. Bottom line, it was unfortunate that it happened in the first place. Situations like this are one reason I have never appeared at any “wrestling reunions”.

I have also been asked by some of you why I am “hated” so much by The Warrior? Hate is a really strong word and I am not sure Warrior “hates” me, but it has been made abundantly clear by him that I am not on his Xmas card list. I do think there have been many times the Warrior has been misunderstood, and his uniqueness has probably not done him any favors within his former peer group at times over the years. However, that’s the same uniqueness that helped him sell lots of tickets and merchandise back in the day. I say live and let live – and would suggest that how the Warrior feels about me probably affects me about as much as how I feel about The Warrior affects him.

Some of you have evaluated the sale of Crockett’s NWA Wrestling library to the WWE and accurately mentioning the UWF being a part of the Crockett list of assets that the WWE now owns in its massive and ever growing library. However, Mid South Wrestling was NOT a part of that particular sale, even though the UWF was. Bill Watts’ former wife, Ene and her children, own the Mid South Library and are planning on releasing a DVD series of some of the best moments from that great territory.

Some of you have asked what you should order food wise from our store. I think our customers are best suited to recommend which of our food products to buy better than I, because I am biased. I like them all or I wouldn’t want to sell them to you in the first place. Both our Bar-B-Q Sauces are top notch with the Original Sauce being the sweeter and milder of the two. However, our ketchup and honey mustard have become two of our biggest sellers, too. At the end of the day, it all depends on your personal taste and needs. Nonetheless, we are probably selling more Beef Jerky than anything in the store right now. The Original Jerky is flavorful, but has less “kick” to it, but all the others have varying degrees of spicy flavor and “personality.” Chipotle is my personal favorite flavor of Jerky.

I absolutely encourage any of you who grill with charcoal, which I prefer over gas, to soak some wood chips, such as hickory, mesquite, etc. and then put them on your hot coals, preferably in a small metal smoke box especially made for this use. Or you can simply spread them over the hot coals. This will increase the flavor of grilling or smoking, for that matter. I have also used pear and apple wood, which are both really good, but prefer hickory. We also get asked quite often regarding grilling, gas or charcoal? The real deal is charcoal and MAKE SURE you allow any starter fluid to thoroughly burn off before cooking anything. Plus, turn your steaks as seldom as you have to and don’t use sharp objects to puncture holes in perfectly good steaks, which allow the natural flavors some place to go other than your mouth. If you do use propane, I heartily endorse using the soaked wood chips in a metal smoking box as well, as it does add some smoke flavor to the food. Just put the little metal smoke box on the grill when you turn the fire on, and it will soon start smoking real good. Keep the lid closed as much as you can to hold the smoke in.

I endorse the box sets of complete seasons of TV programming, but I am not sure I am in the majority. For instance, I would love to see the complete “season” of Raw, let’s say from 1999, etc. Same goes for the Clash of Champions series from the TBS days. I do know the WWE is thoroughly evaluating and strategizing on the countless ways to use their library, which seems to grow on a regular basis.

For those wanting to know when the WWE is returning to your area, I encourage you to check out WWE.com for that info. Since I am not in the executive offices any longer, I am not as informed on the long term touring plans as I was back in the day and essentially only focus on the Raw TV schedule and the PPV schedule. I especially stay on top of the schedule during football season for obvious reasons, I.E. The Oklahoma Sooners schedule.

Some have enquired why I don’t refer to certain matters from the past, such as DVD interviews, etc. by using the term WWF instead of the using the term WWE. There is no particular reason, but to avoid any potential legal B.S. down the road, I just stick with what the company is today and that is WWE. I have not forgotten the WWF or the WWWF for that matter. Legal issues with the World Wildlife Fund just seem to have reconditioned me on this matter. Personally, I thought the Fund’s law suit was laughable.

We have a ton of your comments to get to, and I will venture to do so in the next day or so. We have Bar-B-Q business meetings this week and I have THQ voice-overs for the upcoming video game to do on Thursday and Friday nights. Then I leave Sunday for Toronto for an ambitious Monday night of WWE activity in the ACC, including Raw and Saturday Night’s Main Event. A great thing about Toronto that I love is that the Canadian WWE fans are so motivated, they will make plenty of noise to keep all of us properly excited about what's going on. You got to love ‘em!

Thanks for visiting our site. I hope you tell a friend and that you have time to visit our store. We do appreciate your business.

BOOMER SOONER!

J.R.