Mecca

And we're back to the limo...

He is gonna bitch at Paul London for smiling.

Uh what an odd start so far...

Going down under By Elijah Burke Written: August 6, 2007 “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” — Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, 1939 Your Paragon Of Virtue has successfully returned from touring Thailand, Singapore and Australia. It’s no secret that even the world down under needs YOUR Guiding Light to shine his light upon such a dark nation. I mean, you know me; I’m always on the move to expand my global congregation that is the New Breed! Speaking of which, when it comes to My New Breed, I will admit, we’ve had our share of weirdoes, which includes an ex-teacher who has no sense of fashion, a guy who thinks he’s a vampire, another whose animal instinct gets the best of him at times, and even a tattooed PUNK named Charles Montgomery, but never have I seen folks any stranger than the ones down under in Australia! There’s one in particular that comes to mind so allow YOUR Host of Hosts to take you on a quick journey: It’s two hours before show time in Perth, Australia, and there are hundreds of fans gathered outside, waiting to get a glimpse of yours truly. However, I really need to get to the gym. So I take my trusty hand towel, throw it over my head, and with two security escorts, head through the massive crowd to get to the gym, which is adjacent to the hotel’s parking garage. Once inside the gym, I have about an hour to workout. Security (Australia’s version of Men In Black) guards the door for any suspecting fans that may be trying to sneak in. Then, it happened. Out of nowhere comes this kid who is about 18 years old, about 6-foot-2, 85 pounds soaking wet, and gets on a treadmill next to me. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this kid had no intentions of working out. I mean, Stevie Wonder could clearly see that this kid has never trained a day in his life. Now, do I have a problem with that? Of course not! However, my problem was that the kid, who looked like a rocker, was wearing a KISS shirt and um, no pants. That’s right, the kid was in this gym wearing only his white (dingy, might I add) BVDs! WTH? How did this happen? So, of course, the kid starts telling me how great I am, and how I should be the ECW Champion. “Thanks,” I said. “But how did you get in here?” This is the funny part: “Oh, I’m staying here at the hotel and I tried to come in when I saw you, but they wouldn’t let me in because I was wearing leather pants and no workout clothes, so I took my leather pants off so I’ll be allowed in the gym.” Are you kidding me? I felt like running straight up to the front desk and hitting someone with the Elijah Express. Do I blame the kid? Nah. He seized the moment, even though I would’ve liked to work out in peace. I do remember him telling me that he wants to be a rock star, and currently plays in a local band. My advice to him: Cut your hair (it looked like a mop in a night club’s restroom), hit the gym when there aren’t any famous people around, get a tan (the kid was whiter than my teeth), keep your pants on, and for crying out loud, GO TAKE A SHOWER… multiple showers! The kid smelled so bad my eyes started burning! He smelled worse than Balls Mahoney on a city bus in 120-degree Arizona weather without any working air conditioning. Just gawd awful! Well, being that I took up a considerable amount of space, I’ll include only one question this week for Face 2 Face. I chose this certain question(s) because I know a lot of you are curious about my “Redneck Brother” Gary and his Bullfrog CM Punk. Well, here’s Gary, in his own words: My Redneck Brother Gary writes: Hey Elijah, I just wanted to update you on my toad (CM Punk). He is getting a big head, but he is still green behind his ears. He has some really weird markings on him; I actually think one of them looks like a Pepsi symbol? I also noticed that his knees are really sticking up high, so my question is, why are CM Punk’s knees always kicking you in the face? I would think after the third time, you would just stomp on the toad and continue on with your pursuit to become the ECW Champion! Thank You, Your redneck brother, Red P.S. By the way, yes I know how to use spell cheek! ECWHOH writes: LOL. You know how to use spell cheek? Lol, ya gotta love a true redneck!

is it really to much to ask to put Derrick Thomas in the HOF? This is getting stupid that he hasn't gotten in yet.

Dark Match: - Chavo Guerrero LOST to The Unknown Wrestler after a modified Scorpion Death drop, in a dark match. Seriously this was what he was announced as. Unknown had a Gladiator/300 look, and the crowd actually got behind while it was 50-50. Chavo missed a frog splash to give Unknown the opening. His finisher kinda looked like Goldust's finisher SmackDown! Opener: - Teddy Long and Kristal announce the wedding will take place on September 21st on SmackDown. Long sweet talks his lady and starts locking lips when Khali interrupts. Khali speaks a ton of gibberish that nobody appreciates and scares Kristal to the back. His translator guy complains that Batista ruined Khali's celebration. Long then announces Batista vs. Khali at Summerslam. -Kane immediately came out and Khali left the ring (don't know how that will look on TV since there was no staredown). Kane vs. Chris Masters Masters comes out for a match versus Kane. Kane immediately came out and Khali left the ring (don't know how that will look on TV since there was no staredown). Masters comes out for a match versus Kane. Masters attempts the Masterlock several times and had an advantage as they enter a rest hold. Messy spot with Masters attempting a swinging neckbreaker. Another resthold and Kane powers out with a suplex. Masters tries to suplex Kane, but Kane reverses it. Sidewalk slam by Kane who then attempts his flying clothesline but masters reverses into a Masterlock. Kane reaches the ropes and hits Masters with a chokeslam for the 1-2-3 Winner: Kane Deuce & Domino cut a promo on their match against Flair and Batista. Chuck palumbo promo. Mark Henry vs. Jobber Henry dominates with a huge backbreaker, club against the back and bear hug for the quick victory. Winner: Mark Henry Afterwards, Henry grabs the mic and says nobody can beat him and shows a clip of him taking out the Undertaker. Promo for Jessie and Festus about clothing & style. Matt Hardy vs. MVP - Arm wrestling Match MVP does the stalling and tapes up his hand before taking the tape off, much to everyone's dismay. They finally lock up with MVP with the early edge. Hardy suddenly comes out with a victory. MVP then says he wasn't ready and challenges Hardy to a match here which Hardy accepts. Hardy opens up attacking the hand/arm of MVP. Continuous armbars by Hardy. MVP gains the upper hand with a stun gun over the top rope on Matt. MVP with a modified full Nelson resthold, which Matt reverses with punches. Matt misses an elbow and MVP hits a yakuza kick to send hardy outside. MVP brings Matt back in and applies a front face lock. Then goes back to it after a nearfall.. Matt gets MVP on the top of the rope and hits a superplex. Matt tries a small package for and running bulldog for a nearfall. Matt hits a side effect and 2nd rope legdrop for nearfalls. Matt goes for the twist of fate, but MVP ducks out and leaves the ring, title in hand. Winner: Matt via countout. - Deuce looks for Cherry and finds her coming out of Batista's locker room. They leave, but Batista walks to the door and Flair opens up laughing and enjoying himself. Noble is backstage and is getting teased by Shannon Punk and Funaki. Promo for Rey Mysterio. Chavo talks about Rey returning to Vickie and Vickie makes Rey vs. Chavo at Summerslam. Another Chuck Palumbo promo Shannon Moore vs. Jamie Noble Noble with the early advantage. Moore gets in some offense before Noble hits his finisher. Winner: Jamie Noble After the match, Hornswoggle comes to the ring and runs under it, surprising Noble with a pie to the face and a shot from the fire extinguisher before heading to the back. Kenny Dykstra (w/ Victoria) vs. Jimmy Wang Yang (w/ Torrie) Yang got in a hurricanrana and splash to the outside before Kenny got the upper hand. Back and forth action until Yang hits the top rope moonsault for the pin. Winner: Jimmy Wang Yang Michelle McCool promo. Deuce & Domino (w/ Cherry) vs. Flair & Batista Batista and Deuce open up with Batista having the early advantage. Domino and Flair go in and Domino gets the edge with a running elbow. Flair tags in Batista who gives Deuce a nasty knee to the side. Flair tags in and puts on the figure four on deuce. Domino breaks it up and tags in and gains the offense on flair. Deuce tags in and Flair battles back with chops before getting hit in the face. Domino tags in and applies a rest hold on Flair. Tag back to Deuce. Flair fights back with chops and Deuce applies an arm lock. Flair fights back against Deuce and Domino. Flair makes the hot tag. Batista hits a spear and black hole slam. Batista sets up a Batista bomb, but Khali comes out. Khali squeezes Flair's head like a grape and leaves as Deuce & Domino beat up batista and leave the ring. Winners: Ric Flair & Batista After the show Batista grabs the mic and tells Khali to come out. Batista tries to gain the upper hand, but Khali overpowers him with a clothesline. Khali squeezes the back of Batista's neck as the crowd rallies behind Batista. Batista hits a spear and spinebuster and Khali heads to the back. Flair runs out and hits Khali from behind with a chair, causing the ref to call a DQ. Flair and Batista then pose for the fans. Ah, the old days of Evolution. Chimel then tells everyone goodbye and that they will return to Phoenix in the future. - Sources say the wrestler who beat Chavo Guerrero in the ECW dark match last night was none other than Seamus O'Shaunessy. Seamus, who is from Ireland, was rumored to have recently signed a WWE developmental deal. He has the "gladiator" look that was described in the spoiler report and his finisher, The Irish Curse, is basically a Scorpion death drop as described in the spoiler report. Seamus was described by Jim Ross earlier this year as a "superstar of tomorrow."

Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter Bobby Lashley has picked up tremendous heat in the locker room, with many comparisons being made to Brock Lesnar in his last few months in the company. One wrestler who was considered one of his running buddies on the road claimed Lashley's head was all messed up by girlfriend Kristal Marshall and he's no longer the same. Mr. Kennedy would refer to him as a "Diva" (locker room jargon for a guy who thinks he's hot stuff) and once called up Steve Austin for advice because he complained Lashley wasn't wanting to sell for anyone in the weeks leading up to the John Cena match at the Great American Bash.

They could probably get rid of a few guys they have now and it wouldn't hurt them, but if they only had one roster...even over three shows they should only have like 50 guys tops. And even out of those 50 you know every show would be booked around the same 15 to 20 every week. Basically, and the reason it gets worse is it will be build around the usual suspects......also you won't see them fire the shitty dudes like Chris Masters or Snitsky....they'll fire guys like Jimmy Yang who have talent.

Ending the brands will honestly result in more of things that are a major problem.......overexposure will be even more. John Cena is already on enough without seeing him even more. They'll burn through fueds even faster....not to mention a ton of guys will lose their jobs. If you only have 1 roster they will have no need for the 100 wrestlers they employ they could legit fire 35 guys if not more.

The Raw team would become the major team because Raw is the WWE baby. Vince makes fun of Michael Hayes backstage and now they want Smackdown to be like Raw. And as far as that "oh they don't have to work every show" how does Raw book? Oh yea they use the same 5 people over and over and over.......a guy like Nitro couldn't even get onto Raw at 1 point. Brian Gerwirtz and his teams idea of booking isn't about rotating guys. Smackdown rotates guys so everyone gets on with something to do....Raw revolves around the same core of guys beating everyone while a bunch of other people have no direction and/or struggle to even get TV time.

TNA's You Tube Page Removed? For some Reason all official TNA Youtube videos have been pulled off the Youtube site. I just noticed this. If you had any TNA posted videos in your Youtube favorites,they are gone now. If you manage to find any official TNA videos on Youtube and click on them, you'll notice each link sends you to a message that reads "This video has been removed due to terms of use violation." TNA Today was the most watched daily internet show in the world and TNA was the number one (partner) channel on Youtube. I have no clue whats going on. It should be interesting to get more news about this in the next couple of days. X Division title to be Phased out? There were rumors last week that the X Division Title would soon be phased out. With the recent addition of Andrew Martin and Matt Morgan along with reports of signing Rikishi and A-Train, it would appear that the X Division is going by the way side. Current story lines right now only focus on the heavyweights such as Angle, Cage, Sting, Jarrett, Abyss, Tomko, and Steiner. At this time, it is believed that Kurt Angle will defeat Samoa Joe in the Winner Takes All Match and Angle will form an alliance with a yet to be named partner and carry the TNA Tag titles while the World Title and X Division Title will then be unified there by phasing out the X Division title. This is similar to what WWE did years ago when for a short time they phased out the IC title by unifying the World Title and the IC Title. Drug Testing In TNA It is being discussed right now in TNA to begin Random Drug Testing Effective in September. It is believed that the wrestlers will be notified of this new policy at the Hard Justice PPV to give the wrestlers 30 days notice. There are concerns how this will effect the talent. Some believe that while TNA is not under investigation at this time, it would present them in a good light despite no allegations of substance abuse in there company specifically. While the recent news of WWE's Wellness Policy has been being accused of being to relaxed and not as stringent as it could be, TNA is making this move because it affects the Wrestling Business as a whole. Others share concerns with how the drug testing will effect big name talent within TNA. WWE has been accused of favoring talent such as Triple H and Batista while rumors run rampant about the possibility of similar actions being taken on stars such as Kurt Angle. While it's abundantly clear many within TNA's roster are not taking anabolic steroids given the size and stature of many of it's talent, there are still concerns of recreational drug use among those in the locker room. Looking at the bigger picture of TNA, Dixie Carter herself stated months back that there is no problems with Drugs in TNA. She did however state that the only problem or run she had with substance abuse was with Raven but she later stated that the situation was under control.

I am not prepared to deal with 5 hours of Cena a week.....and the characters thing is the WWE's fault. They'd have solid characters if they'd work on building some. Smackdown has done it over and over and over again, it's Raw that has this problem building characters. It's because they feel all they need to do is job the whole roster to Cena, HHH and HBK. Smackdown has a hell of a nice fued going with MVP/Matt Hardy. That would never happen on Raw they're to busy focusing on what Cena is doing to be concerned with anything else on the show, it is the Raw booking at fault here for the lack of solid undercard characters there...hell they stole Smackdowns and still can't do shit. They took Londrick and they're lucky to get on TV now.

I like how they have this kneejerk reaction........how about they look at things logically....the booking fuckin sucks change it.

that would be THE smartest idea WWE has had for quite sometime Yea because I wanna watch guys I like get burried........or fired, or not used. I'm sorry they rape Smackdown make it suck and they could give a shit. Raw starts to suck and they feel they have to change everything. If they end the split a lot of guys will be let go...and people who are being built up now will go into being jobbers...... Oh well more guys for John Cena and Triple H to beat I guess, that's all that matters.

This is what I'm going to tell you, you may enjoy watching the NFL with your young son on TV. But if you take him to a game to watch in person you know before you ever set foot in there what he will hear and what will go on. Same thing applies to wrestling.

That station wants you to pay to watch the feed.....

They'll all have fun jobbing to Hogan.....Hogan can have all these ideas about how own promotion and whatever but he honestly knows nothing about the business. He probably thinks him and Big Show can bring it down, stuck in the 80's mindset.

What exactly is he striking back against anyway?

Also if we are discussing this kinda stuff what about the fact that both of John Cena's finishers have the term FU in them? Or that shirt he was wearing that said "ruck fules".Or the Steve Austin "F*ck Fear" shirt with the middle finger replacing the U. That's lovely for the kids. As far as the whole hey maybe JR just personally thinks this.....But seriously Stone Cold was JR's best bud and his entrance involved holding up his middle fingers at all four corners of the ring. It seems to me that JR should take the log out of his own eye before he advises fans to do the same And it's not what is said, it's WHO it's said to. JR addressed Cena haters as if that's the only group. Sure it's the most vocal, because a lot of people don't care for him and we're making it known in any way possible. But there would be no problem if someone dropped an "F bomb" about Khali or something. In fact I've heard a lot of kids use the same sorts of vulgarities because that's the kind of families who come to some of these shows, the ones who have no moral standards to begin with. The kids or parents aren't upset that you used a swear word, they're upset that you made fun of their favorite guy. I've gone to several shows where people will say nothing more than "Cena sucks" and the kids will respond in the same way as if you kicked their puppy. This isn't a show to cater to children, so if they can't take the situation of going to a show where they serve alcohol and are most likely going to cater to rowdy fans, then the parents are responsible enough to not take them to the show. That's what being a parent is all about.

I think it's basically hypocrisy, they encouraged and have encouraged people to chant asshole at Vince for years. Also you know what you are gonna hear, it's like the football game. I also don't think your kids are gonna be scarred because they heard some guys say fuck. But if it bothers anyone that much, don't take your kids. Basically reading it I thought to myself "Stop swearing and booing Cena you might influence the kids to think it's cool and then they'll do it" and well without kids Cena loses a big part of his base.

I'm not sure how many fans realize Victoria is that old, she doesn't look it.

As always at JRsbarbq.com I hope this blog (insider, internet term which means I am hipper than I was last week) finds everyone well, in great health, happy and relatively sane. Things are great in Norman, Oklahoma USA as J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q continues to stay consistently busy not only in our restaurant, but also with catering jobs as we had three alone on Thursday, one for 750 people. Next week we feed the OU football team, which is one of my more favorite nights of the pre-season. The Sooner Football program bought several cases of J.R.’s Beef Jerky for their players and coaches consumption as it is a great snack for those on the go and has little, if any fat, plenty of protein, no carbs and seems to give the athletes a nice lift prior to their challenging practices in the Oklahoma heat. OU started practice Wednesday with high expectations, as usual, for another great season after last year’s unlikely Big 12 Championship year that started with the QB being kicked off the team and ended with the exciting Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State. Nonetheless, in between the start and the end of the 2006 college football season, Coach Bob Stoops’ Troops had a magical year and without a doubt, it was Bob’s best coaching job to date at OU in the eyes of many, including his second year when he guided the Sooners to a National Championship. I would have to think about that one as National Championships are special, but there is absolutely no doubt that what the Sooner coaches did last year with a QB controversy and losing Adrian Peterson for several games with a broken collarbone that Stoops proved once again why he is college football’s best coach. Yours truly had dinner with Bob on Tuesday night and he is excited about this season, especially with so many talented players returning, 17 starters, and the fact that the summer, voluntary workouts, which began in Norman on June 1, went the best that they ever have. Many pundits are making a great deal about the OU quarterback situation and who will start between 3 players. According to Bob, that position is going to be earned and not willed to someone and a decision might not be made until the week of the North Texas game on September 1. Without question, more than one QB will be ready to play and facilitate a Sooner offense that is loaded. I always say it starts up front with the big eaters and the Sooner O-Line has the chance to be one of the school’s all time bests, which is saying something. As you can see, I am “mildly” excited about the potential of this years Sooner Football team and plan on attending every game, home and away. Turning to wrestling, much has been made of my on air mistake misidentifying Jillian Hall and Beth Phoenix Monday night from Tucson on Raw. I am guilty as charged. I even had a premonition about this matter before the show and went up to the ladies to confirm what they would be wearing. Not simply because of my error, but it might serve each of them well to better distinguish themselves as it relates to look and attire which might lend to their individuality. Bottom line is I made the mistake, which isn’t my first one nor will it be my last, but I will work on correcting this matter in the future. I did get amused at the knee jerk reaction of many wrestling websites who made my “grievous error” out to be a bigger deal than I perceived it to be. The Monday Night Raw rating, when it was released early this week, was not good. When I saw the rating I felt that it was an abnormally large drop and after reviewing the other programs on against us it seemed that none of them experienced an abnormally large increase for the night. So what happened? Where did the viewers go who failed to watch Raw? What TV show did they tune to Monday Night? All valid questions, but there are few answers except that Nielson, the rating service that provides the all important numbers/ratings for TV shows has stepped forward to indicate that there was technical errors in reporting for multiple shows, as I understand it, on Monday night. I don’t know what the Raw rating will end up being, as I write this, but it was a much better rating than was released on Tuesday that began a “sky is falling” approach by many in the wrestling media, some who almost sounded gleeful that the WWE was being faced with more challenges. I have had the same philosophy for year and that is that I never get to euphoric regarding the high ratings nor will I allow myself to get to low on the bad ones. I adopted that philosophy during the Monday Night Wars when WCW kicked our backside 83 weeks in a row even though I thought on many of those weeks the WWE produced the better TV product. That’s akin to a football team playing a great game and still losing. The bottom line is wins and losses and we lost….83 weeks in a row, so I decided to make a conscious effort to not put my self in a position to stay in a funk or depressed for those 83 weeks. I am not Dr. Phil, but that just doesn’t seem healthy. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top fame, a genuine legend in the world of Rock ‘N Roll, and his crew visited J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q Thursday night and had a great time consuming large quantities of Bar-B-Q and COLD beverages. Mrs. J.R. and I will be attending the ZZ Top concert in OKC this weekend as guests of the band. Billy is a class act and a long time wrestling fan from his days of growing up in Houston and attending Paul Boesch promoted bouts as a youngster. Billy’s wrestling trivia expertise rivals Mike Tyson’s from the celebs I have met over the years. It saddens and greatly disappoints me that Jeff Hardy will be absent from the WWE for the next month or so. Nonetheless, I am happy that Jeff isn’t suffering from a serious injury as has plagued so many wrestlers recently. The WWE could have certainly utilized Jeff’s services during these challenging times and no one can dispute the fact that Jeff’s individual popularity wasn’t building toward an all time high if it wasn’t already there. Everyone is human and as the old saying goes “to err is human” but the timing of these unfortunate circumstances are extremely untimely. The “good news” if one chooses to look for some positive in this situation is that Jeff will be back in time, as I understand it, and he will have an opportunity to still make a big impact in the WWE and then move continuously in a positive direction in his career and finally live his dream of becoming the superstar he was meant to be. For some reason “The Simpsons” movie has been a topic of discussion here lately and “no” I haven’t seen it yet, but I have been a fan of the show for years. I used to day dream about “J.R.” being a recurring character on “King of the Hill” back in the day as I always felt I had a face for radio or animation. Pacman Jones questions seem to abound. I think this is a joke to even consider Jones to be on anyone’s roster and is a knee jerk attempt to garner attention/publicity. Contrary to popular belief I am of the mindset that all publicity is NOT good publicity. It might have been in the P.T. Barnum, days but not in the days of Nancy Grace and her cronies. Seriously, that theory defies common sense in today’s marketplace. Jones has proven to have character issues and is living large in the age of entitlement so why would anyone with any intelligence want this man in their locker room? Wrestling locker rooms are challenging enough places with all the diverse ego and personalities that are seemingly running rampant without adding a known malcontent, non-dues paying, untrained wrestler to the mix. I am doing some writing for www.ouinsider.com these days and generally have one column a week there concerning…guess who…the Oklahoma Sooners. Check it out if you are a college football fan. Will Mr. Kennedy become a top hand on Raw? I hope so, but that is largely up to Mr. Kennedy and him getting a few breaks along the way. There is no magic wand that can be waved about a talent’s head that anoints them to be a star. It takes natural talent, really hard work, timely and well executed creative, and a little luck. I still say great talent overcomes average creative but many disagree with me on that one, but that’s fine, too. For those of you that write asking about WWE Over the Edge of 1999, the event Owen Hart died, I have little recall about that event that I care to remember at this time. I have not seen that PPV ever on tape and have said on numerous occasions I “may” watch it again, if I ever decide to write a book about my career. That was one of the saddest days of my life, professionally or personally. Sitting mere feet from seeing one’s friend die is not a memory I enjoy recalling and I have discussed it enough already. Will Kurt Angle ever return to the WWE questions have been popping up lately. Last I looked, Kurt had a job with a lesser schedule, which I feel fits him better than being on the road even though the WWE schedule is 4 days on and 3 days off, if one is booked full time. The days of the “I worked over 300 days a year” song and dance have long since passed which, honestly, is a really good thing. I am not in charge of WWE bridges so for me to say if Kurt has burned his bridge or not with the WWE would be a guess and not my place. Personally, I would say he has not, but again, I am down in Oklahoma selling Bar-B-Q and not managing talent relations of which I am eternally thankful. With the upcoming release of the World Class DVD by the WWE coming soon, many have asked my memories about the World Class promotion. I only worked there a few times as a fill in for a vacating announcer but was close from an administration standpoint working with Bill Watts in the Mid South and UWF organizations. The company had amazing talents, especially and arguably the most famously controversial family in the biz, the Von Erichs. Lots of talent wanted to work the “Dallas Territory” for pappy Fritz because the travel was manageable and their TV production was top shelf, thanks in a large part to Keith Mitchell and their TV aired literally everywhere so the wrestlers had an opportunity to get great exposure. I did have issues with how the company was managed at times and the lack of discipline that some talents exhibited should not have been tolerated. The tragic deaths of the Von Erich brothers is almost too bizarre to be believed. The story of World Class Championship Wrestling is mind boggling and I am sure the DVD will be special. I am anxious to see it myself. There was great wrestling, and ample amounts of sex, drugs and rock ‘roll-like lifestyles within that talented, profitable albeit seemingly haunted wrestling company. Cena haters, adults especially, but any one dropping “F-Bombs” at John Cena or anyone else at a wrestling event is a classless, gutless, jerk. Using profane language in the presence of women and children is unacceptable in my view. Violators should be tossed if they are heard spewing such garbage. If parents allow their kids to have dirty mouths because they think their kids are cute when they curse, are not good parents. I feel fans should be able to boo who in the heck they want and even write posters indicating such, as I think that makes for good, organic, TV but overt profanity in a public gathering dotted with families is not the place to use foul language. Sometimes I think that some arenas over serve the fans with large beers which compounds the problem. Greg Oliver written wrestling books. Yes I have read several books written by Greg and he does a super job, does his homework and had passion for what he does. I would endorse any book that he writes. His book on Canadian wrestlers was especially informative and an easy read. I am anxious to read Chris Jericho’s new book, which will be out soon and the book co-written by Frank (Bruiser Brody) Goodish’s widow, Barbara about my late friend’s life. Big 12 North? I am picking Nebraska, even though the media has selected Missouri to win the Big 12 North. We will be in Omaha, Nebraska for Monday Night Raw during football season, as a matter of fact, the Monday after OU plays at Iowa State and I expect to be booed significantly by the Nebraska fans when they hear “Boomer Sooner” played in the Cornhusker state. However, I will tell you that the Nebraska and Alabama football fans are the most classy fans I have ever met since attending OU games for many, many years. It is hard to believe how may fans have driven AMAZING distances to eat at our restaurant. We have had fans from Virginia, Illinois, New Mexico, south Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, California, and Connecticut that I have actually met there, that have made the trip from their homes to visit us in Norman, Oklahoma. That is amazing to me and I am eternally grateful for all the folks that are helping make our place a huge hit and will enable us to continue to grow outside Norman and Oklahoma as time goes by. Lots of folks asking about HBK. I have been in email communication with Shawn over the past few weeks and he seems to be feeling much better, but my sense is that he is still a few months away from returning to in ring action. I expect he will start training in a more aggressive way around September 1 and will likely make his return sometime this fall. I know we all miss him on Raw and he is one of the most influential leaders in the locker room. The young wrestlers should always listen when HBK talks and I have always stressed that every young talent thoroughly study Shawn Michael’s DVDs, etc if they truly want to master their craft. I do not believe that because a guy simply looks good in an 8X10 that he has a chance to be a star. Size is a non issue in the way I judge talent and HBK is a testament to that personal philosophy. Skill, passion, and charisma far and away outweigh big bodies. That is my story and I am sticking to it. Is Terry Funk WWE Hall of Fame material? Are you kidding me. Do I love Bar-B-Q? Do I have “Boomer Sooner” as my cell phone ring? Absolutely, Terry should be in the WWE Hall of Fame as should his brother Dory. And what about the Briscos? Definitely. All 4 of these men deserve to be in the WWE Hall of Fame over many that are in the hallowed halls, especially yours truly. The best way to cook a beef brisket, or at least the way we do it at J.R.’s, is to slow smoke it on indirect heat (not over fire) at 225 degrees using hickory wood for around 6-8 hours, depending on the size. If I were a new smoker of brisket, I would suggest that one start off slow, select a smaller brisket and essentially practice before you have company over and “show off” your new skills. We have a chapter in our J.R.’s Cookbook that explains how to smoke brisket, among other popular meats. If you haven’t checked out our store recently, I invite you to go by and visit. We appreciate your business and are happy to say the Beef Jerky biz is booming. I sincerely believe we make the best Beef Jerky available anywhere and I encourage you to try it today. Our Hall of Fame offer includes personally autographed T-shirts and Jerky but they won’t be available much longer. We will address selected, specific comment feedback soon… before I leave for Buffalo, if all goes well, so keep your comments and questions coming. We look forward to seeing you one day at J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q Restaurant. Be well and thanks for stopping by and especially for your business. BOOMER SOONER! J.R. That Cena part is laughable, way to make it sound like serious sour grapes that you are upset your chosen guy isn't universally over. It's cool for DX to make jokes about their dicks, oral sex and homosexuals but gosh darnit don't cuss at John Cena. Wrestling is like going to a football game you know long beforehand what you are going to hear while there, if you don't want your kid to hear that, don't take them.

Interesting, given that's not really what they did. They had an in-depth discussion of the Benoit tragedy and why Simmons stopped watching and why he felt other fans had to. But Meltzer is the suck though! One man's burial is everybody else's fair appraisal of the facts. Well it wasn't my words it was just a C and P, I didn't listen to it I'm not a fan of ESPN's site or ever going to it.

If you don't think McMahon was ever a draw for them I got some serious news for you....

Dave Meltzer joined Bill Simmons on "BS Report" podcast on ESPN.com today. If you want to hear two guys bury WWE for 45 minutes and then hear The Sports Guy talk about Eric Gagne & Wilson Betimet, head over to web site of the Worldwide Leader.