It is great to be back in Norman, Oklahoma after spending 3 days in Cambridge, Mass speaking at prestigious MIT University. I had a great time and met some brilliant young people from a wide variety of backgrounds who are studying an extensive array of subjects, but who all took the pro wrestling course taught by a brilliant young man by the name of Sam Ford. This was a really neat experience and I was honored to represent the WWE for this function.

I wish I had the foresight to ask who was going to “report” my presentation to “wrestling media/websites”, but that thought never crossed my mind. I did not cover any off-color issues, but I did read where I was misquoted or perhaps more specifically misinterpreted a few times, which may have been a function of my particular sense of humor or my presentation skills or lack thereof. Nonetheless, I should have addressed that matter so that I could have done follow up questions with those that felt compelled to communicate with wrestling websites, but no one asked for this opportunity and the end result is that some of the things that I said seemed to have been taken out of context. For some reason, no one mentioned to me that they were there in a “reporter” role during this lecture in a MIT classroom.

Still, I had a helluva good time and appreciate all those that attended and again want to thank MIT and Sam Ford for inviting me.

Our four flavors of beef jerky have become a big hit here on our site. We are selling a ton of it and the feedback many of you are sending us is awesome and much appreciated. It is also great that we are find out that many of you like the different flavors of the jerky and that not one particular flavor is head and shoulders above the others. As it relates to the shipping of our products, all I can tell you is that we ship several days a week via Federal Express, usually, so all I can encourage those that are impatiently waiting on their products to arrive is to be patient as we are doing the best we can. You will not get the products over night, but you will receive them as quickly as we can get them to you. In other words – be patient and please don’t send annoying emails to our webmaster and staff about why your order hasn’t arrived unless it has been a week or 10 days since you ordered.

I am really happy with the inclusion of the Wild Samoans and The Sheik (Original) in the 2007 class of the WWE Hall of Fame. These men took their work seriously and perfected their craft over the years which lead to long, productive careers in the wrestling biz. These inductions are well deserved and the business today would be a better place if we had more competitors with the mindset and skill set of Afa, Sika, and Sheik. I look forward to the Hall of Fame Ceremony just as in past years and I feel this particular class is another strong one with every individual deserving the distinction of being a Hall of Famer.

We get plenty of questions about when is the WWE coming to your city or area. Even though I appreciate you communicating with us on any subject you choose I think you should know I can’t answer those questions simply because I don’t have the info. When I worked in the Stamford, Ct WWE office I had access to the calendars, but I don’t nor do I want access at this point in time. Point is I suggest you stop writing me about when a WWE event is coming to your area because I can’t answer the question. This also goes for the question, Will the WWE ever have a PPV in the UK, etc.” I hear your messages loud and clear and do not disagree with you about the fact that the UK, among other foreign markets, would be a great site for a WWE PPV or perhaps even a Wrestlemania, but I can’t affect that decision. I agree with you nonetheless – but let’s move on and not address these matters going forward unless you don’t read this entry, have ADD, or simply can’t help yourself.

That’s akin to me addressing potential rain in Florida in 2008 regarding Wrestlemania outdoors in Orlando. Think about it, we worry about weather, something none of us can control and we start worrying about the weather a year or more in advance. Does that really make any sense?

Do our Bar-B-Q sauces work on grilled chicken? Is pulled pork from a pig? Oh, hell yeah! Grill your chicken and then brush on the sauce with about a minute to two to go until your chicken is finished. Don’t soak your chicken in sauce and then throw in on the grill unless you want to potentially start a bigger fire than one can handle.

I appreciate all of you that email us with suggestions as to great Bar-B-Q spots to try in the various cities we are traveling, including red hot Chicago this Monday and Detroit, the home of Wrestlemania 23.

Some one emailed me I should visit Dreamland Bar-B-Q in Alabama. Are you kidding me?! Do you think that old J.R. hasn’t visited one of America’s great Bar-B-Q eateries? I have been to Dreamland on numerous occasions and try to eat there every time we are in the area for the WWE. I enjoyed Dreamland “Q” on multiple occasions when OU played at Alabama a few years back.

It was brought to my attention that I “go out of my way to defend Melina” which I completely don’t get. Can someone help me with this one? Have I inferred such? Mick Foley seems to still like Melina, based on what I have read in “The Hardcore Diaries” which is eyebrow raising.

Yes, we are considering adding a J.R.’s Honey Bar-B-Q Sauce to our family of sauces.

Word has it that Lilian Garcia suffered a torn ACL in a skiing accident a week ago. I am not sure when we will see Lilian back ring announcing on Raw but it would not surprise me to see her back this week in Chicago. Lilian’s mental toughness is legendary within the annals of the WWE Diva locker room. O.K. so maybe I embellish a little at times. But Lil is a trooper as evidenced by her being on every WWE tour of our military bases abroad featuring non Marriott accommodations.

We received an interesting email about WWE Superstars being the victim of “dirt” as it relates to their private lives and other personal matters that the average Joe doesn’t have to contend with. I cringe to see some things reported on the internet especially when I know full well them to be dead wrong and/or a little cruel and uncaring. However, that is the unfortunate price one pays as a public figure. It sort of goes with the territory which doesn’t make it any more palatable but should not surprise those that are the subject of personal info being made public.

I mentioned at MIT that I thought that Vince Russo would have liked to have had my job as the head of Talent Relations at one point in our tenure together in the WWE, but that was not framed to be an assault on Russo. We buried the hatchet, and not in each other’s heads, a long time ago so any bad blood that may have existed between us is history. Why live one’s life filled with negative B.S.? What good does that do anyone? Seriously, it is crazy to carry bad medicine with you when it can easily be purged which can then better allow one to focus on the positive things in life. I used to be that way as in staying P.O.’ed at people who “crossed me” or “did me wrong”, but as I have gotten older I see how stupid I was to live my life in that manner. It is not healthy I assure you and I am MUCH happier now that I live every day as positively as possible and I count my blessings on a regular basis. Try it for yourself and see if you don’t agree. The world does not and should not revolve around wrestling “dirt” and negativity. Sorry to break this news to some of you.

A visitor to our site asked about Paul Heyman and to be honest with you I have not talked to “Happy Heyman” in months but the last time I did he was working on some movie scripts he wanted to shop around Hollywood. Paul is one helluva creative guy and I would not be surprised if he wrote some screenplays that “made it”. Paul also seemed to be in a place in his life where wrestling was not the epicenter any longer and he was pleased to be moving on to other creative feels of endeavor. I had a lot of fun broadcasting with Paul in WCW and the WWE over the years as his TV persona was caustic and easy to dislike which is the trait of a great antagonist. Many people think to this day that I “hate” or strongly dislike Paul but that is simply not true – but it does make for better gossip.

Thanks to all you spell checkers out there for correcting my spelling of former Detroit Piston Coach Chuck “Daly”. You guys don’t miss a trick, unlike our crack staff led by yours truly.

Mrs. J.R. is pumped that Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, will apparently sing “America the Beautiful” at Wrestlemania 23 in her home town of Motown. Let’s just hope that a cat fight doesn’t break out between Lilian and Ms. Franklin! At least Joey Styles will be on hand to scream “Cat Fight!!” if it does.

There are lots of erroneous reports that King Jerry Lawler is unhappy about going into the WWE Hall of Fame and by who is inducting him. According to my conversations with Jerry and what he has said himself on radio interviews this is NOT true. William Shatner is going to induct Jerry into the HOF and all along Jerry wanted a “Hollywood type” to handle this chore. Names like Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, and Sheryl Crow were all casually mentioned to induct the King on March 31. William “Please call me Bill” Shatner is every where on TV these days including Boston Legal and the Priceline commercials and “Bill” has a great sense of humor and will no doubt do a super job putting the “King of Memphis” in the WWE Hall of Fame. Who knows, perhaps “Tony Clifton” will show up too.

Since you asked, Hoops coach Tubby Smith leaving Kentucky is the Wildcats’ loss and Minnesota’s gain. Tubby, who used to coach at Tulsa back in the day, is a class act who got fed up with the way he was treated by a handful of fans who still yearn for the days of the legendary Adolph Rupp who resisted recruiting African American athletes for as long as he could for the obvious reason that Rupp did not want to willingly coach a black man. Tubby is a black man and I think, and unfortunately so, that there is still a vocal minority of Kentucky basketball fans who resent the color of Smith’s skin. How sad is that?

An Okie asked why, if Bill Goldberg was from Tulsa originally, why he was always announced as being from Atlanta? Bill left T-Town after graduating from Tulsa Edison High School, attended the University of Georgia and then played in the NFL for the Falcons so Billy adopted Atlanta as his “hometown”. I saw a helluva fight one day at Falcon practice between Goldberg, a defensive tackle, and offensive guard and badass himself Bill Fralic. I would deem the fight a draw before Coach Jerry Glanville and crew broke it up.

Believe it or not some one asked about Bruce “Brother Love” Prichard’s shirts that he wears when he appears on many of the WWE DVD’s and video packages. I never noticed that Bruce wore “ugly shirts” but they do have plenty of personality just like “Brother Love” who I have known for well over 20 years.

It is a busy weekend for yours truly as I have to travel Sunday up to the Windy City to prepare to broadcast the final Raw prior to Wrestlemania 23 after only arriving home Friday afternoon. What a busy time of the year but I am grateful to be a part of it all. We will try and get another blog up in a few days so check back with us soon.

And thanks a bunch for shopping with us for our merchandise, sauces, and our DE-LICIOUS Beef Jerky, the healthy snack!

Boomer Sooner!
J.R.

The link is above, check out JR's merchandise