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

It’s been another big week in the WWE headlined by some Friday Night Smackdown Superstars spearheading Monday Night Raw to a MASSIVE TV rating, no I’m not talking about large, flat screens but the number of people actually watching Monday Night’ Raw, the announcement of the 2010 Wrestlemania heading to the desert, Ricky Steamboat going into the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame, and one of the best bell to bell, MyNetworkTV Friday Night Smackdown broadcasts in several weeks on tap Friday night.

Seriously, congrats to the Monday Night Raw brand for earning an awesome TV rating this past week as fans tuned in big time to see HHH confront Randy Orton. Raw blew away ESPN’s Big Monday college hoops doubleheader that actually featured the Kansas at Oklahoma Big 12 battle that yours truly attended. Also, loud talking heads who might have been wrestling managers in another life, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, saw more viewers watch Raw than both the O’Reilly Factor and Hannity COMBINED. How fair and balanced is that?

Stone Cold Steve Austin once told me that Ricky Steamboat was Steve’s all time favorite wrestling opponent so I find it ironic that both Steamboat and Stone Cold will both be inducted on Saturday night April 4 in the Toyota Center in Houston. With Dusty Rhodes slated to induct the amazing, Funk Brothers and now hearing that Ric Flair will induct Steamboat, the inductees had better be on their games or they might get upstaged by their inductors!

The post HOF party is shaping up nicely. I can already hear Mrs. J.R. say, with firm conviction, “Give me the car keys, J.R.” Smart woman my wife.

I hope I enjoy the trip back to Phoenix, o.k. officially Glendale, Arizona better than my last experience at the exquisite stadium where WM26 will be held. That would be the trip to the wood shed my Oklahoma Sooners took at the hands of the West Virginia Mountaineers in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl.

Just in case you didn’t notice it, Chris Jericho, whose book “My Life in Spandex” is a must read, has a big mouth and has verbally done all he can to “steal the show” the past several weeks on Monday nights. Jericho may follow only Randy “It’s Not My Fault” Orton as the most disliked athlete in WWE.

By the way, whose fault is it Randy, your cousin’s?

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