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

Greetings from college football crazed Oklahoma, from your BBQ selling, SmackDown talking, Unforgiven prepping, resident Okie – who is ready for Friday Night SmackDown – and for the kickoff of the college football season in Norman Saturday night.

Random thoughts from hither and yon….

Friday Night SmackDown arguably offers the best in-ring wrestling of the week on WWE TV, headlined by a Champion vs. Champion bout between WWE Kingpin Triple H and United States Champion Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin has shown flashes of brilliance in recent weeks and it will be exciting to see him pair up with The Game in a WWE Championship Scramble preview. No one in the WWE is more athletic than Benjamin, and I mean no one, which has been serving Shelton well in recent weeks.

I have said many times that Triple H reminds me of WWE Hall Of Famer Harley Race. Interfacing the physical with the mental part of the game was one of Race’s greatest traits, in addition to being able to recuperate faster than most athletes from injuries. Triple H has demonstrated many of those same qualities over his illustrious career. The 12-time WWE Champion may be an underdog at Unforgiven, but what reigning champion isn’t in those unpredictable Scrambles?

We announcers have driven that point home relentlessly, haven’t we?

Great to visit with John Cena Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, just a few hours after his surgery. As you know from reading WWE.com, Cena’s surgery was successful and John “might” be back in action down the road.

It seems like it has been so long since we all last saw Edge inside Hell in a Cell at SummerSlam, that I expect his face to show up on a milk carton at any time. I hope he is still enjoying his condo in Hell, but seriously, friends and neighbors, I hope Edge is back on Friday Night SmackDown Sooner than later. The newly battered and fried Canadian is one of the most talented Superstars on any WWE roster. Somehow though, I don’t think we will be seeing the Rated-R Superstar any time soon.

What if Edge’s estranged wife, Vickie, still Smackdown General Manager, offers up Edge for a trade? One has to assume that the multi-time champion would bring a heck of a bounty. Personally, I hope that doesn’t happen.

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