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

Good to be back in Oklahoma after a 5 day road trip. The Mondays after a Sunday PPV are the toughest days for me now that I am not broadcasting Raw. Monday is now a travel day for me and I made my way from Indy to the Quad Cities on Monday.

BTW whoever won my cash in the Texas Hold 'Em tournament yours truly played in on Monday afternoon, don't spend it all in one place. My Aces and Jacks, with me calling an all in bet, did not hold up when a gentleman hit a 4 on the river to go with his pocket 4's and send me to steppin'.  

I did get to see Monday Night Raw from Chicago nonetheless as the All State Arena holds many great memories for me. No, I am not specifically talking about the infamous "Country Whipping Match", and I use the term "match" loosely,  that Jonathan Coachman and I had once upon a time. Chicago was the location where my induction into the WWE Hall of Fame was announced. It was one helluva moment for me and was overwhelming. I felt like Sally Field must have felt at the Oscars one year when she emotionally said, "They like me...they really like me."  Enough of that.

Speaking specifically for the Smackdown bouts and the PPV in general, I enjoyed Summerslam. The Hell in a Cell match felt like an instant classic. The Undertaker and Edge waged a physical war. These two syperstars told an epic story and it certainly ranks near the top of any HIAC match I have ever broadcast. For me a great match needs a strong storyline and effort and this match definately had those elements in place. Not sure when we might see Edge again after this conflict but his star is brighter than ever. As far as 'Taker is concerned, who's been better for the long haul? No one in the WWE for my money. The WWE Title bout far exceeded my expectations. HHH wrestled a smart match and prooved again why he is the WWE Champion. Khali is an unique opponent and the match was better than many expected all things considered. Jeff Hardy vs. MVP was an excellent start to the PPV. Hardy now has issues w/ MVP and U.S. Champion Shelton Benjamin. We might even see MVP vs Benjamin some day. Jeff is without question one of the top tier most popular stars in all the WWE. Sure glad these men are on S'Down. Now is their time to continue to raise their games. The HBK/Rebecca/Jericho business as hellaciously compelling. Amazing stuff. Reminded me of a big time, old school incident. Just outstanding.

From the land where people love’s J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q Restaurants more than they adore Olympian Michael Phelps, your resident Okie has a weekly helping of SmackDown and some delicious “side dishes” for your sports-entertainment taste buds.

Raw’s John Cena and Batista are now not on the other’s holiday card list. There’s a significant physical confrontation between these two this Sunday at the 21st SummerSlam. This one won’t resemble a Funk vs. Brisco mat classic from the 1970s, and my best guess is that we are going to see a slobberknocker of a brawl along the lines of those of yesteryear in my hometown tavern on a payday Friday night.

Prediction: I’m taking Batista and the points.

As a MMA fan and a customer of UFC PPVs, I recently shared a few thoughts of the Minneapolis event. These were simply my personal thoughts as a fan. Nothing more and nothing less. However, it seems that my long term association with sports entertainment with the WWE is a problem for a handful of vocal MMA devotees. I prefaced my comments that I was not an expert, but simply a fan. Apparently that wasn’t good enough for some. I loved the presentation and look forward to the upcoming Atlanta event. How I referenced B.J. Penn inaccurately can be attributed to attention to detail and writing in the middle of the night. My bad entirely. I still think 2009 is the right time for the Penn vs. St-Pierre fight. Die hards would buy the fight tomorrow, but new fans would benefit from a solid build so that they too could emotionally invest in the matchup. Any one with an ounce of common sense knows that the show biz presentation of pro wrestling knows the distinct difference between MMA and ‘rasslin. Nonetheless, after being a MMA fan since its inception and being around TV production including pro wrestling and football for many decades, a slick television production of any PPV event is an important element of any event with which big money is charged.

Most MMA fans are level headed fans of MMA and other sports but the handful of those that rip a guy because of one’s professional background are near sighted and need to get over themselves. I made a few personal observations/suggestions that I felt had merit largely as it relates to TV production. I also made it clear that I really enjoyed the show not that it seemed to matter to some. To the best of my knowledge, no MMA fan was forced to read my blog which was more intended to invite my core audience to sample MMA if they already had not. Upgraded TV production has zero to do w/ pro wrestling but everything to do with broadcasting. Sorry if I offended anyone but I am still under the impression that the 1st Amendment is still in place and one man’s opinion is just that. I like to write about things that I like including football, pop culture, and, of course Bar-B-Q, and will continue to do so. That includes MMA, which I truly enjoy as a fan...not an expert.

Boomer Sooner!
JR

The all star tandem of John Cena and Batista imploded Monday nite and lost the World Tag Titles back to Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase after a 7 day reign. Then Cena and the Animal had a predictable brawl... predictable in the sense that the 2 popular superstars obviously were not on the same page. The brawl certainly increased my interest in Cena and Batista’s Summerslam bout. It will be interesting to see what role the live crowd in Indy plays, if any, when these two have their alpha male battle. This one could go either way and if Batista’s wheel is good to go I’m leaning toward the Animal. That probably guarantees a Cena win.

C.M. Punk is fighting for respect and to retain the World’s Title against the dangerous JBL. I see Punk winning but it won’t be easy. Interesting clash of wrestling styles also. The question here is where does a loss put Punk? Fluke? Overachiever? Back to the drawing board? Punk has never been in a match in his life this important all things considered.

I am not an expert on the world of MMA. Let's get that straight from the top of this piece of business. I am, however, a fan of MMA and I paid retail just like any other fan to watch the UFC presentation Saturday night that emanated from Minneapolis.

These are observations from, first of all, a MMA fan but also from a guy who has been in the sports entertainment biz for a few years who has been a part of many pay per view presentations since the basic inception of the pay TV. Some of my comments are as a MMA fan and some of my comments regarding the television presentation might be from my background from my "day job".

So be it.

Saturday night is a big night in Minneapolis for the UFC and for former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar as Brock meets dangerous Heath Herring in an important fight for Lesnar to win. Lesnar weighed in Friday at 265 pounds which seems like a great weight for the former NCAA Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. Lesnar is still bigger than his veteran adversary (Herring weighed in at 250) but at 265 Lesnar will likely be cat quick which will make his single leg take downs virtually unstoppable. Lesnar needs to fight in "controlled rage" mode against Herring who is far from a "push over" or a "Palooka", as my dad used to say. The 12,000 plus that are slated to attend the fight in Lesnar's present hometown will definitely be pro-Brock which can't hurt a thing as it relates to Lesnar's chances of not going 0-2 in the UFC. Lesnar can easily morph into a beast and a rah-rah, college-like atmosphere may facilitate that transformation which some might consider to be costly for Brock if he takes any unnecessary chances or tries to accomplish too much too fast. Being a Lesnar fan, I have plenty of concerns regarding this fight but I do think he will win and demonstrate how much his technique has improved since his debut.

It's really hard to see this fight going to the judges.

As much as has been said about the Lesnar-Herring fight, it isn't even the main event. The 170 pounders meet in the main event featuring Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch in a UFC Welterweight Title Bout in what will be a physical piece of business. One of the things that I like about MMA is that a talented athlete of a buck seventy can earn his way to big money and being on top of the card. That certainly doesn't happen very often in pro wrestling. Fitch is an overachieving athlete and has been since his days in the Purdue wrestling room and shouldn't be intimidated. St. Pierre is simply awesome and has to be considered one of the best, half dozen fighters in the world. So sit back and enjoy this one and I'll be right there with you watching from Norman, Oklahoma on pay per view.

Thanks for taking a moment to stop by our space here on WWE.com. Things are great in the land of J.R.’s BBQ here in Oklahoma and with that said let’s get this show on the road as we are “burning daylight.”

Friday Night SmackDown emanates this week from Atlanta, once the home of multiple, regional wrestling promotions including WCW, which much like the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL, had many more “losing seasons” than winners. With that said, I still have many fond memories of working and living in Atlanta in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s before coming to WWE and lovely Connecticut in 1993.

Whatever one does, do NOT, play any sort of drinking or eating game Friday night based on a litany of Olympic Games’ references during the opening match of the night which features six SmackDown Divas in a variety of Olympic garb. This match will never be confused with a Triple H vs. HBK mat classic, but it was uniquely entertaining. Yours truly may have even channeled the late, great Jim McKay for a few seconds.