Random thoughts from hither and yon including useless trivia, personal opinion and an attempt to garner more customers to J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q and our online store, which never closes. Baby needs new shoes, you know.
The WWE is holding a big time press conference in L.A. Monday at noon at the Staples Arena to officially announce the Big Show vs. Floyd “Money” Mayweather bout to be held, duh, at Wrestlemania 24 wouldn’t you think?! I’m wondering what type of match it is going to be. Will it be the old wrestler vs. boxer fight, like the 1976 Andre the Giant vs. Chuck “The Bayonne Bleeder” Wepner outing which was on the under-card of the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki debacle. I remember that one well, as I invested 10K in it, as a 24 year old novice promoter for the closed circuit broadcast at the Tulsa, Oklahoma Fairgrounds Pavilion. Surely, I know, don’t call you “Shirley”, Show vs. Mayweather won’t be a wrestling match, one would think for “Money’s” sake. Perhaps this matter will take on an entirely new look, all together, but without fail the attraction will provide ample photo ops and perhaps the beloved “SportsCenter” moment where all the cool anchors can put tongue in cheek, or not, and take a few more shots at the business.
What’s the over/under on WWE announcers and wrestlers saying “the Grandaddy of them all” over the next few weeks when referring to Wrestlemania 24?
Yours truly was reading about Black History Month on WWE.com recently I couldn’t help but think of my late friends and WWE Hall of Famers, The Junkyard Dog and Ernie “The Big Cat” Ladd, both of whom I got to know while working for Cowboy Bill Watts in the Mid South Wrestling Territory. Ernie’s suspicions of the Dog occasionally smoking “demon weed,” as Ernie called it, were essentially confirmed when Ernie busted Dog’s driver and friend, the late referee Randy “Pee Wee” Anderson. Pee Wee used to have to lug around a huge sack of coins, that must have weighed 10 pounds, to feed the candy and soda machines late at night at the hotels where Dog and “Pee Wee” were staying when JYD got the “munchies”. I once kidded JYD about the matter and he turned the tables on me and nicknamed me “The Junk Food Dog”. Touché, Sylvester.
Speaking of the WWE Hall of Fame, tickets become available to the general public this weekend if I am not mistaken and I strongly encourage all wrestling fans who can to attend. Seeing Ric Flair inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame will be a once in a lifetime moment and hearing Ric’s acceptance speech will be a life time memory for many of us. Who do you think will end up presenting “Naitch?” Interesting question. Stone Cold inducting yours truly last year created memories that I will never forget and we have a cool Hall of Fame, framed display at J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q to memorialize the moment.
Tommy Dreamer was reportedly seen at a non WWE wrestling event recently…..gasp…. that made Internet headlines.
The WWE completely sold out their two events in Santiago, Chile with over 24,000 tickets sold for two events.
Not that I wouldn’t pay big MMA/PPV money to see it, but the likelihood of a Kurt Angle vs. Randy Couture fight is about as likely as yours truly being included in Mr. McMahon’s will. This fight is another attention grabber on the ‘Net which will never happen.
While in Scottsdale for the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona and as I wrote about in one of our blogs, I had a social beverage with Eric Bischoff, who briefly mentioned a potential wrestling project that he and Hulk Hogan were involved, but it surrounded what I thought was more of a reality TV show than starting up a company that produces a weekly TV show and then tours. Eric has a ton of viable projects on his plate that he and partner Jason Hervey are churning, but I don’t see him or anyone else getting back in the business of building and managing (babysitting) a talent roster, producing weekly TV, touring, etc. Could a reality based TV show about wrestling work? Of course it could. People watch and even file reports on shows like “Celebrity Rehab” so why not wrestling??
However, I have always thought that if done properly, a legends sort of wrestling tour a la the Harlem Globetrotters traveling show might do OK in some parts of the world. The problem is that the available talents who have adequate name identity that “might” sell tickets are largely now so old or broken down that their in ring performances are apt to be somewhat embarrassing. Perhaps it is not such a good idea after all.
Hulk Hogan recently suggested that it should be him wrestling Ric Flair at Wrestlemania 24 with both their careers at stake. As Gorilla Monsoon used to say, “highly unlikely”…..BROTHER! (That was me adding the “brother” part)
I read on the Internet that the Monday Night Raw of March 10 was going to be a three hour show. Could I request a “Port-A-Potty” now for that marathon?
Sebastian Coe, the Chairman of the 2012 London Games, was a great athlete once upon a time, but he comes off as an idiot based on a recent statement he apparently made. Essentially, Coe said he did not want the Games to “end up like the WWE where everyone knows it is fake and that they don’t care about drugs.” What a dumb-ass. Last I looked the injuries were real, the surgeries were real and the concern about drug issues was damn real.
Why is it that most “wrestling weddings” I have ever seen on TV over the years end up being trainwrecks and embarrassments to the business or is that even possible any more?
I spoke with Cowboy Bill Watts this week and he is closer, perhaps, to getting his own daily radio show on the Sports Animal in Tulsa where Watts currently does a midday show on Mondays. Watts greatest gift as a performer was his ability to talk and he hasn’t lost that skill over the years.
Speaking of radio, yours truly is a guest every Friday morning at 8 eastern time on the highly rated and popular “Buckethead Radio Show” out of Florida which can be heard live or archived at www.bucketheadradio.com. When I hear the term “Buckethead” I think of The Junkyard Dog who used to call Bill Watts that behind the big Cowboy’s back, obviously referring to Watts rather ample sized dome. To Watts face, JYD called him “The Hat.”
Paul Heyman’s “Heyman Hustle” is a riot on the UK Sun website. Never a dull moment around “Happy Heyman.” I should send Paul some Slobber-Knocker Heat Beef Jerky that is on special right now along with our Peppered Beef Jerky. Heyman has never shied away from “heat.”
I finally saw the Kimbo Slice massacre of Tank Abbott a night or two ago on Showtime. BTW, Bill Goldberg is improving as a color analyst. Nonetheless, Slice is an attraction made for sports entertainment, but I am not too sure how he will fare with an experienced submission fighter, even though Kimbo is a specimen and can punch like a mule. And I mean that in the nicest of ways. Tank’s performance was sadder than Jeff Conaway crying on Celebrity Rehab, as the legendary street fighter seems to be nearing the end of his long and controversial career.
Interesting photo in SI.com this week of John Cena and Lindsay Lohan. The next thing you know John and Ms. Lohan will be “romantically linked”.
We have some personally autographed copies of “J.R.’s Cookbook” with not only easy to execute recipes but also some unique top ten lists and some of my personal experiences from the road. I hope you will check it out as they make great gift ideas.
I have read on several Internet sites this week that there may be a partnering of resources on a Mixed Martial Arts venture between The McMahons and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Cuban even made a comment about such a collaboration this week as it being “a possibility.” This is all new news to me, but I could certainly see a significant and marketable dynamic between the two entities, if it were to occur. MMA fans should stay tuned on this matter. It may be simply speculation but one never knows these days.
We are doing our dead level best to ship your orders from our online store within 24 hours of receiving them at the latest and appreciate everyone’s patience when orders are delayed due to either the shipper or the local authorities. As frustrated as some of our loyal customers have been you can only imagine the level of frustration the hard working folks on our end experience. Nonetheless, we sincerely appreciate your business and your feedback on the experience. We can’t get better if we don’t hear from you.
Please keep your questions and comments coming and to check out our new Q&A section here on our site that is regularly updated. Speaking of that new feature, you will at times see questions on there that are dated but it’s unavoidable as I usually sit down and devote several hours to answering many, many questions and then we put them up over a few days period. Again, this site is a work in progress and it isn’t like we have a huge staff and this is my only iron in the fire.
Finally, our new menu is being used in our Norman restaurant and you can check the new menu out here on the site to wet your taste buds!
Come back and see us.
Boomer Sooner!
J.R.
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