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

Another great weekend here in Oklahoma even though the rain put a damper on the Sunday Easter egg hunts. I attended the Oklahoma Spring Football Game Saturday along with approximately 30-40,000 fans which was a good time. As we speak, I am preparing to pack to fly EARLY Monday morning to Atlanta to be front and center for Monday night's three hour Raw which starts one hour early at 8/Central. There will no doubt be some that won't have a peaceful, easy feeling Sunday night when they put their heads on their pillows wonder what the "Draft" holds for them.   more »

I enjoyed Monday Night Raw watching it from my hotel room in San Diego. It was a solid show with a nice balance of wrestling and entertainment.

The Cena feature was first class. Loved it. Cena’s return in his hometown of Boston at the sold out Survivor Series will be impactful.

Young men like DiBiase, Rhodes, Punk, Kofi, and Manu represent a potentially viable part of the WWE’s future. Who will step to the head of the class. Who will not make the Dean’s list? more »

MY Network TV in OKC which is channel 43 recently did a video restaurant review with J.R.'S in Moore which is our newest store. Please check out the short video. Thanks.

Leaving Saturdays and returning Wednesdays isn't my idea of a great travel schedule at this stage of my game. Nonetheless this last road trip to the northeast was good and started with an autograph signing in Franklin Park, L.I. Saturday with Jerry Lawler and Mick Foley. Nice folks at Franklin Square Video and what a selection of wrestling swag they have!

This was my first Smackdown PPV and then being off on Monday before taping Smackdown on Tuesday in Philly. So Monday was essentially a travel day from Long Island down to Philadelphia and once I arrived I had a chance to finish some time-sensitive office work which got done. Thank goodness for fax machines....and room service. :) more »

The 2nd J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q opened Wednesday July 16th in Moore, Oklahoma with a steady steam of guests joining us for our opening day. All went well as yours truly arrived there about 11:30 a.m. after flying to OKC from Charlotte EARLY Wednesday morning. I stayed until around 3 before going home to recharge my batteries and then went back around 7 and stayed until closing time which was a little after 10. We had fans from many areas make the trek including a great fellow I met who drove up from Houston, about 8 hours, to dine with us on our first day. That sort of support and appreciation is greatly appreciated. We have added 8 ounce Angus burgers to the new menu along with smoked, not fried, chicken wings and both new items are main eventers. We also debuted some new T Shirts and Caps that retail for $9.99 plus we have reduced the cost of our autographed, "J.R.'S Cookbook" as well. This info will soon be featured on our new website which will be up and running at any time now. Be sure and check out our store for specials on Beef Jerky and many more items. The new J.R.'s is bigger than our original store in Norman, it seats approximately 200 while the Norman location seats 120, and both stores are located on I-35 south of OKC, the Moore store is 11 miles from downtown and can be found at exit 116 while the Norman store is located at exit 109. With my new Smackdown schedule I plan on being at both stores a great deal especially on non PPV weekends. more »

It has been another great weekend to be at home here in Norman and not have to run to the airport Sunday to fly to the city hosting Monday night Raw. As I have mentioned in the past, being able to stay at home on football weekends or travel to OU road games is going to be a blessing for this gridiron fan. Plus, not having a clear cut favorite NFL team, I will get to enjoy the NFL Sunday ticket, except for PPV weekends, virtually the entire season. Life is good.

Our new J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q opening is just around the corner and the excitement is growing. If you are in our neck of the woods any time soon please stop by and check the new place out. Again, we are located on the west side of I-35 at exit 116 in Moore, Oklahoma. We will open at 11 a.m. daily. I plan on trucking over to the restaurant after returning from Charlotte Wednesday morning. Let's hope American Airlines is running on schedule. more »

Have you ever heard the term “busier than a fruit merchant”? That would be ‘Ol J.R. these days, as we prepare to open our second J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q Restaurant in Moore, Okla., this coming Wednesday, July 16 at 11 a.m. This bigger version of our original store is located at exit 116 off of I-35 on the west side of the interstate.

Between helping get this new place ready, working with new staff members, traveling to and broadcasting SmackDown and fulfilling my other WWE responsibilities, I am plenty busy. For the record, fruit merchants who used to set up along busy highways found they were not selling enough product and had to move quickly to other locales because of the perishable nature of their products. I just wanted to clear that analogy up for you city folks. more »

 Firstly, I hope everyone had a safe and fun July 4th weekend. The Ross' certainly did here in Norman, Oklahoma as it was HOT and the BBQ was EXCELLENT. My 5 and 2 year old granddaughters got right with the program eating both brisket and ribs....chips off the old block. :)

I read a lot about "spoilers" for future events based on live event bookings. This is one of the biggest misnomers in the biz as the folks that come up with the live event cards 99% of the time have no clue as to the creative direction, say, 2-3 months out. This isn't just theory as have I not only "been there" but I still consult on matters such as this upon occasion. This isn't a big deal one way or another but it seems that some folks put more stock in "spoilers" than the info might merit. more »

By GREG OLIVER - Producer
SLAM! Wrestling

To hear Jim Ross talk about the art of smoking meat just right is to have one's mouth water. Just as he is an expert on describing what's going on in a wrestling ring, he's damn good at explaining what makes his barbecue joint so special.

"Smoking is kind of a lost art in the restaurant world, ostensibly because it's so darn time consuming," he explained to SLAM! Wrestling recently. At his restaurant, J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q, located on 353 Interstate Drive in Norman, Oklahoma in a refitted Krispy Kreme Doughnuts shop, a few employees arrive at 4 a.m. to get the outdoor smoker started each morning. The pulled pork, for example, made from pork shoulder or pork butt, is a 12-hour process.

Thanks to his travels as a wrestling announcer, particularly as the play-by-play man for WWE Monday Night Raw, Ross has been able to hit barbecue restaurants big and small the world over. The one thing he brought home with him is the challenges of not running out of the prime attractions.

"One of the worst things in the world is you go to a barbecue place and they say, 'Well, we're out of ribs.' That's a cardinal sin," he said. Yet he also acknowledges that running out is generally proof that the restaurant serves good ribs!

Open since July 2007, J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q hasn't run out of ribs too often, Ross said, but the rotisserie chickens are another matter. It's a popular item for take-out, with families buying whole chickens to take home.

Read the rest of this article here »

It was a long travel day Tuesday, but American Airlines got yours truly home safe and sound and on time. It is always fun to travel to the UK and I keep telling myself that on some of these international tours I am missing a great opportunity by not traveling a day or two earlier and enjoying the sights more. I am sure one of these days I am going to look back at all the trips I will have made abroad over the years where I essentially flew in, worked and left. As usual, the UK fans were awesome and they are so knowledgeable. For the record, I watched "No Country for Old Men" twice on the plane and still don't "get" the ending. Helluva movie though.

The WWE's international growth is pretty amazing, especially when one has the occasion to meet many of the ever evolving "business partners" the WWE is establishing around the world. I could see broadcasting many more Monday NightRaws outside the USA as times goes on, which will be important to global brand building.

Joey Styles, who, in my opinion, has been an excellent television announcer for years, has left ECW, as many of you know, and will be taking his skills to www.wwe.com and will be involved in providing content to the site or at least that's how I understand it. I think it is imperative that for theWWE's website to continue to grow, that more people with product knowledge and "wrestling in their blood" be involved and Joey certainly fits that criteria. If Joey's job description is close to as mentioned here, Styles will remain attached to the product by attending the Monday and Tuesday television events, not to mention the pay per views. Joey joining the www.wwe.com team is really big for that group, as Joe will being great passion and a through understanding of the product to the table.

I spoke with Mike Adamle, who replaced Joey, at length Monday night after Raw about his new assignment. Mike is a former world class athlete who played in the NFL so Mike's natural, competitive nature will help the former running back in his new venture. Wrestling fans can be tough to please at times and there is no doubt that Mike will have to earn the audience's confidence, which will be a work in progress. Hopefully, wrestling fans will giveAdamle the opportunity to settle in and develop his wrestling broadcasting skills. Broadcasting wrestling has never been more challenging, especially considering there are so many masters to serve in today's marketplace, including promoting magazines, the Internet, sellingPPVs , calling shorter bouts, DVD sales, etc on virtually every broadcast. This business is not about what one has done in the past and any broadcaster is only as good as his last outing. I still get nervous before every show and feel it is my responsibility to get better every week at what I do for a living. "Next week" is guaranteed to no one.

The King of the Ring Tournament was one of my favorite events in years past as I like one night tournaments. I like to see an event start and finish the same night as that is fundamental, episodic television. This will be, as I understand it, a single elimination tournament, which is easy to follow, the winners advance and the losers hit the showers. My firstKOR was in 1993 in Dayton, Ohio and Bret Hart won the honors that night. The KOR has been defining moments for several WWE superstars, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, Owen Hart, HHH , Kurt Angle to name a few. I don't know what Superstars are entered from the 3 brands that will be represented in Monday's competition, but I could theoretically see someone coming from out of nowhere and winning the tournament to be held inGreenville, South Carolina. What about a Lance Cade from Raw ,for example?

Would you like to know where Ric Flair weighs in on the HBK/Batista conflict? Me too, and perhaps that would be a great exclusive for WWE.com considering that Ric is the center of thecontroversy. Ric being mentioned by the former Mayor of Charlotte, Representative Sue Myrick , on the floor of the United States Congress, was damned cool this week. Usually when Congress mentions wrestling it isn't so positive. Just from talking to folks in airports and on planes, more are talking to me aboutMichaels vs. Batista at Backlash than any other bout.

While on the subject of politicians, even though few sane people actually think that Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will ever step into a Monday Night Raw ring, both the Democratic candidates could do much worse, and they have, by recording a short address or speaking via a live, satellite hookup to the wrestling fans of America. That certainly would make both candidates be perceived as less elite and more down to earth. As a voter, that's how I see it.

WWE kingpin, Randy Orton, dodged a big time bullet Monday night after landing mostly on his head and neck at the hands of a nasty suplex, executed by William Regal.

Our online store has been experiencing excellent growth, thanks everyone who has been shopping with us, and the latest on the new J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q coming to Moore, Oklahoma is that it should be ready to go just prior to Monday Night Raw rocking the OKC Ford Center on Monday June 30. Raw tickets go on sale Saturday morning, May 17.

We will be back with another blog soon and will have more Q&As up soon as well. Hopefully, the improvements to the site will be finished in a few days so thanks for your patience.

Boomer Sooner
J.R.