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

Thanksgiving has come and gone and the Ross' had a super holiday with our two, young granddaughters being the stars of the show followed closely by Mrs. J.R.'s amazing Thanksgiving dinner. We watched our share of football, the NFL really needs to address their scheduling on turkey day, and even watched Big 12 South rivals Texas and Texas A&M play Thursday night which made the Mrs. extremely happy after sitting thru football all day. We compromised and left the game at half time to watch what she and my daughter wanted. Contrary to what some critics may say, I am smarter than I look (insert joke here.) 

But I know that no one really wants to hear about any of this stuff and would much rather talk 'rasslin so here we go on a variety of topics.

Friday Night Smackdown seemed to be a decent, 2 hour broadcast that aired somewhat quickly. I am not a huge fan of the "Beat the Clock" matches as much as I am a big fan of time limits period. I didn't dislike the "Beat the Clock" contests whatsoever as the inclusion of the clock and a "time to beat" adds a little something extra to the matches in my view or at least it does as far as broadcasting them. 

In my last blog I wrote about the vocal minority of internet educated wrestling fans who over imbibe and like to let every one within ear shot know just how versed they are in the comings and goings of the wrestling business. There was a  fan like this in Albany who sat near Tazz and me and made an ass of himself that even had his peers rolling their eyes. The overall crowd in Albany was great especially including making ample noise in the Big Show vs. Undertaker Steel Cage match that ended the approximate 4 hour evening. I was emailed a link to a site, perhaps in the Albany area, which said that I allegedly called all the Albany fans "jackasses" which is absolutely NOT true. At no time did I infer this nor was I rude to any fans in Albany of which the many fans that I spent time with at the Albany Crown Plaza Hotel after the event posing for photos and autographs can attest. I was damn tired after a long day but was never rude and signed every autograph and posed for every photo that was requested.

I liked the fact that overall Friday Night Smackdown featured competitive matches even though I am still a quasi fan of the occasional "mis-match" which occasionally spawns the jaw dropping upset which can help put an "unknown" on the map. 

Nonetheless announcing  and working in 22 segments of television and processing all the info the announce team is provided isn't easy during these cost saving,  Friday Night Smackdown double header tapings. I do think that on these double header nights, of which many are coming up between now and WM25, that the fans in attendance will see more in ring action, less, marginal in ring talk, and less back stage elements which should make fans of in ring wrestling elements of the presentation happier. I got a kick out of reading where "J.R. and Tazz went to the back for about 5 minutes" between shows. Keen eye indeed and we weren't attending any meetings or getting a "pep talk" but would have created a scene if the men's room had not been available. And to think that I can remember the day that I could damn near put away a 12 pack before mother nature came calling.

Can you imagine the mood changing if the "World's Angriest Announcer" had to wait to take care of his business during our brief but imperative half time?   

Seems as if the WWE is looking to get Mr. Kennedy some TV exposure in preparation of his return in hopefully January or February and for the DVD release January 6 of "Behind Enemy Lines" by the looks of Kennedy's role this past week on Raw and Smackdown. I don't think Kennedy-Kennedy's long term future is anything but wrestling and perhaps doing some entertaining interviews, etc will help him display his personality. I'm willing to give it a shot as Kennedy's verbal skills are excellent. 

I did mention that I did not enjoy the persona of the Spirit Squad on a recent WWE 24/7 Roundtable but please don't take that as an indictment of the individuals in the group as they were merely doing their jobs. The group had several athletic young men in it but I simply never thought that male cheerleaders would ever be taken seriously by the large, defiant male demo that watches the product. That's simply one guy's opinion and certainly doesn't make it Gospel. However, I could be wrong as our current Commander in Chief George W. Bush was a cheerleader at Yale and he ain't so popular these days is he? 

Even though the Eddy Guerrero DVD is currently a #1 best seller it is really hard for me to watch. I became very close with Eddy during some really trying times of his life and like many of his fans I made an emotional investment in the human being, not just the wrestler, and his death was another passing that was tough on me as a man and in my role as the head of talent for the WWE. It is one heck of a DVD as evidenced by how it affects many of Eddy's friends who I have spoken with about the recently released DVD. I envy no man who has the head of talent for any wrestling company for a variety of reasons because if one does that job correctly it will take a little out of said individual every single day.   

I will see Big Van Vader's son Jesse White tonight on the sideline of the OU-Oklahoma State game in Stillwater as Jesse is still affiliated with the Sooner Football program and is still on scholarship after sustaining a career ending injury and has lost to around 225 pounds down from close to 300 when he first came on campus.

Stone Cold called me Friday and finished his movie project up in Vancouver and is looking forward to doing some hunting on his Texas ranch over the next few weeks. Steve is driving himself and his dog from near Los Angles all the way to South Texas beginning Saturday morning but is planning on stopping to watch the OU Football game Saturday night with his chocolate Lab.  

Reading recently about the Great Muta, it reminded me of the time when I was on the WCW Booking Asylum, Er, Committee and I suggested that the handsome, young and talented Kenji Muta might make a great protagonist at some point in his WCW run. The look on the faces of many of my peers reminded me of what it must have been like when it was suggested to Caucasian wrestling territory owners that African American wrestlers be put into positions of prominence in the territory. I was passionately reminded that American wrestling fans would NEVER support a Japanese protagonist thanks to December 7, 1941 and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Forget that moment occurred almost half a century before as the idea wasn't embraced and never fully materialized. I just know that Muta was a star and without the face paint back in the late 80's the ladies in the CNN Center in Atlanta loved the guy.

I spent a fair amount of time Friday night personalizing several items that many of you have purchased from our site for the holidays. Our shirt/cap combo and our personalized autographed cookbooks are selling well and feature FREE SHIPPING.

The WWE running Sunday matinées works for me as it allows more families to attend and not adversely affect tomorrow's "school day", it also provides for safer travel (not driving at night) for the fans, and allows the talent to get to the next city earlier especially for those who have to compete on Monday Night Raw.

It is amazing how topical Jeff Hardy is at this time with my friends who watch Smackdown and that Jeff seems more popular to ever to them even though he hasn't "won the big one." Most of my friends are simply casual wrestling fans who don't over analyze the product and watch the 2 hour Friday night show and then call it a week for their wrestling "fix." 

I hope everyone has a great weekend and thanks for reading our blogs. With no road travel next week I plan on blasting through a ton of your Q&A's next week. Just warning you...

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.