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

Somehow we have survived a chaotic, three-hour Monday Night Raw marathon in Philly, an unpredictable night of Friday Night SmackDown in Bridgeport, Conn., Tuesday evening, a late-night trip to a LaGuardia Airport area hotel Tuesday night where I wouldn’t want to take a leisurely walk after midnight without weapons, AND riding the “loop” with the “World’s Angriest Announcer” Tazz who is in full Long Island Baseball mode smack dab in the middle of winter.

Oh yeah, I also took a side trip driven by the dominating, former ECW Champion, the Human Suplex Machine, by the original ECW Arena in Philly and had not one but two Philly cheesesteak sandwiches from the world famous Tony Luke’s in Philly after Raw which felt like we had just broadcast the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon in terms of time.

The WWE crew that traveled to Iraq for the annual “Tribute to the Troops” should be commended for their dedication, time and efforts for making this year’s journey another successful venture. My hat is off to every man and woman who participated, and I am anxious to see the TV special that will air on NBC on Saturday Dec. 20 at 9/8 CT.

Dr. Joe E. Styles and Michael Cole, who both made the trek to Iraq, both had some interesting stories to tell about their experience, with Mr. Dot Com especially having some unique experiences considering that this was his first trip to Iraq while Cole is a veteran of this long and challenging journey.

I can tell you that there were many WWE stars “dragging” a bit on Monday afternoon after most of them arrived at their homes at various hours on Saturday before having to report for work for the “Gone with the Wind-like” Raw in Philly. Much coffee was consumed on Monday in the City of Brotherly Love.

Friday Night SmackDown was taped Tuesday in Bridgeport at the Arena at Harbor Yard, and is headlined with one of the most intense confrontations I have seen in quite some time between Jeff Hardy and Triple H. These two held nothing back considering that Armageddon is this Sunday on PPV in Buffalo, N.Y. (Ahh, balmy Buffalo in mid-December, the perfect booking if one wants to break out one’s new, winter outerwear.)

Matt Hardy is Edge’s guest on “The Cutting Edge” this Friday night, which is a volatile situation to say the least. Edge is still trying to sell the bill of goods that it was Triple H who assaulted Jeff Hardy in the infamous Boston hotel stairwell Survivor Series weekend, which is about as likely as Olympian Michael Phelps not looking dorky even though he is allegedly dating a Vegas stripper.

Read the rest of J.R.'s column at WWE.com »