Jim Ross Speaks On Hogan Drama, UFC, RAW, More
Posted by Ashish on 06.19.2008
New blog from JR...
Jim Ross has a new blog entry up. Highlights are below.
On the Hogans drama: I have great empathy for the entire and unfortunate situation especially for the young man who was so severely injured in the car crash but for the media to bring Hulk's divorce and personal life into this tragedy seems like piling on to me. I still think Hogan got bad advice going on the "Larry King Show" last week but that's just one man's opinion. I certainly would suggest that Hulk lay low and let the process play out but the same can be said for the media that wants to exploit all aspects of the Hogan family.
On becoming a UFC/MMA fan: I am becoming a great fan of the UFC and MMA in general as you might have gathered if you read this blog regularly. Look for the UFC to begin to make significant inroads in marketing and international growth as time goes on and this will happen much sooner than later. Some of the monies I have heard that the Affliction folks are paying their fighters is extraordinarily high, to be kind, but I am all for fighters/wrestlers, whomever making all the money they can. However if the numbers I have read are accurate then Affliction is going to be operating at a significant deficit for the foreseeable future which might be their strategy. Nonetheless there is no organization that is even close to the UFC in public perception which reaffirms my thoughts that UFC officials would be much better off continuing to improve their product and letting the other groups mismanage their way to obscurity. It is all about building stars and building a brand identity and that, whether it be MMA or pro wrestling, isn't going to change. Much like watching CBS's coverage of Elite XC, the brand Elite XC got less mentions or so it seemed than CBS which isn't in the MMA business….yet. Elite XC missed some opportunities to build their brand on CBS which is certainly not say that I did not enjoy their presentation because I did.
On Monday's RAW: With a three hour Raw on tap Monday in San Antonio, one of America's great cities, I expect major movement among the top stars on the three WWE brands. I can't see how the WWE could make the desired impact to what is hoped to be a huge TV audience and not really shake things up. Non main event stars won't make the impact that I suspect the WWE is seeking. It would be interesting to know the draft format but perhaps that is part of the mystique. USA Network is expecting big things Monday night and that seems to mean that some of the WWE's biggest names will get new addresses. This is purely personal speculation as I would be willing to beat a bottle, hell a case, of J.R.'s BBQ Sauce that this matter will be discussed internally all the way up to show time of 8/7central or close to it. It should be an interesting night plus there is no reason we should not see some big time wrestling bouts with every WWE wrestler required to be in attendance.
ross being long winded on every topic he writes about = EPIC FAIL!
Posted By: chico santana (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 04:22 PM
another thing that just came 2 mind was WWE have made it blatantly obvious that this brand bullshit makes NO sense, whats the point of having one great show (raw) and one terrible one (sd) to make things worse, SD rarely has any themes like this money give away on raw, plus every now and then raw gets three hours?? bring back one roster, one show
Posted By: nemz08 (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 04:40 PM
If you're not interested in what the longest standing commentator in the world's biggest wrestling promotion has to say, you're an idiot.
Jim Ross is one of the most honest people in the wrestling business, and it's a shame that he doesn't have more influence backstage.
Posted By: TAT (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 04:50 PM
VINTAGE JIM ROSS~!
Posted By: jackdespenser (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 04:52 PM
I don't write on here that often, nor do I like to start fights...but I'm getting so sick and tired of opening up every article and the first thing I see is someone claiming whatever bit of news was in said news post is an epic fail...I thought Epic Fail was funny about a month ago, but seriously...let's find someway else to bash wrestling...on second thought why are people bashing wrestling on a pro-pro wrestling website...you young fans make my head want to explode.
Posted By: Smo (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 04:56 PM
JR knows a lot more about wrestling than you ever will Chico, and i'm glad he summarises everything he has to say
Posted By: Calobar (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 04:58 PM
"Epic Fail" is pretty much the online version of Urkel's "Did I Do That?"
It will die soon, don't worry.
Posted By: Ry (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 05:01 PM
ross being long winded on every topic he writes about = EPIC FAIL!
Posted By: chico santana
You Are A Sheep. Go Somewhere And Eat Your Grass...
Posted By: Jake (real) (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 05:04 PM
"You Are A Sheep. Go Somewhere And Eat Your Grass..."
careful now, when you call them sheep they usually counter with 'Cena Sux'
not that the smarks are predictable or anything...
Posted By: Darth Mortis (Registered) on June 19, 2008 at 05:22 PM
cena sux
Posted By: chico santana (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 05:37 PM
if people would stop commenting on this EPIC FAIL bullshit then maybe it would stop. if you show them its getting on your nerves then they will keep at it. be grown and ignore the kiddie bullshit.
Posted By: George (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 05:53 PM
"You Are A Sheep. Go Somewhere And Eat Your Grass..."
careful now, when you call them sheep they usually counter with 'Cena
Sux'
not that the smarks are predictable or anything...
Posted By: Darth Mortis (Registered) on June 19, 2008 at 05:22 PM
-----
Darth Mortis, I find the irony of this comment very amusing, considering you are the biggest, unfunniest, pathetic douchebag smark loser of them all.
Posted By: The Big Dawg (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 05:55 PM
This "epic fail" crap doesn't dissipate the theory that wrestling fans are stupid.
Anyone who uses it probably gets bullied at school/work.Just a theory..
Anywho,what's the point in a draft,if all the top stars like HHH,HBK,Cena and Jericho are exempt.
Smackdown and HBK are made for each other in my opinion..
Posted By: Propagandhi (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 06:01 PM
i wanna see chavo guerrero traded from smackdown to raw for a bag of peanuts.
Posted By: sepulcher (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 06:42 PM
It is always worth seeing what JR has to say. I'm always critical of his commentary but his blogs are always a great insight and there is no denying he knows the business (sometimes I think better then his bosses).
The draft poses interesting problems. The main being that many of the top Raw stars are unlikely to move (willingly at least). HHH and HBK are unlikely to budget. Jericho is fueding with HBK so unlikely to move. Cena is Vince's golden boy and while a move to SD may be good for him I don't see it happening. Randy Orton is out for a while so wouldn't make an impact in moving and is unlikely to go. Umaga will probably go to SD, but I do fear SD will be screwed as always.
I agree about the brand extension being a failure. With combined PPV's the brand extension just creates meaningless titles and wrestlers lost in the shuffle.
Posted By: Fenris (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 07:13 PM
chico santana
being that you make a comment then you return to investigate whether someone has commented on your comment, then in-turn you reply...indicates to me that you are lonely and seek active interaction, do you need a freind? I will be your friend. We can exchange email discuss wrestling and life. Of course I won't know if you accept my invite because i'm not sad and lonely enough to check back and see if my comment was well recieved.
(to save you the keystrokes heres your most likely replies "EPIC FAIL" "screw you, i wont reply"
Posted By: LJR (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 07:25 PM
JR can't go one time without plugging his BBq sauce. His BBq is an EPIC FAIL. Noway has spoken, you can put it to bed
Posted By: noway (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 07:49 PM
Ross probably called Hogan and told him "Go on Larry King. He goes easy on Vince and the boys all the time!"
Posted By: Joe K. (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 08:48 PM
the draft could well be good. i hope HHH goes to SD. he's buried the RAW roster enough now, so he maze well go to SD for awhile. and get the Undertaker on RAW.
Posted By: R9 (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 08:57 PM
I also don't post often - only my second - but will comment on the "brand split". If they really wanted to split brands and make something, then they need to quit the cross-promotion of showing what happened on Raw on Smackdown & ECW Shows and so forth. Why keep talking about all the brands being different and separate and yet then go to all the trouble of hyping stuff from other shows. If and when I am watching Raw - not so much anymore - I really don't want to see what happened on ECW or Smackdown. Just like I don't want to see someone who is on one Brand show up on another show.
'nuff said
Posted By: Stonk (Guest) on June 19, 2008 at 10:34 PM
I really wish people here would stop saying epic fail. Let it stay on 4chan please, it's really become very lame here and people complaining about it because they don't understand its origin (hell, most of the people that USE IT don't know where it came from I'm betting.) doesn't help.
To the 2nd poster who says Raw is a 'great' show, you must be watching old 1998 episodes, because Raw is absolute SHIT now. Did it not bother anyone that this week's episode had FIVE matches and ONE OF THEM WAS ALL OF FIVE SECONDS LONG? If you enjoy watching Raw these days, something is either wrong with you, or you're very easily entertained.
Smackdown's not much better. They don't have a Main Event. They have Edge and Batista. That's IT. TWO main eventers. Rey is injured and nobody wants to see Khali in the main event. Big Show could easily provide some new blood in the WAY too stale main event picture on Smackdown but he's too busy dicking around on ECW despite being a member of the Smackdown roster. I like how Chavo, Kane, Big Show, and Mark Henry have all jumped ship from Smackdown to ECW apparently.
The only good WWE program right now (and if you told me a year ago that I'd be saying this, I'd laugh and say "No fucking way") is ECW.
Now trust me, I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to see another go around of Show vs Henry or Kane vs Henry, but a show that has Miz and Morrison, quite possibly one of the best tag teams to hold the WWE Tag belts since the Smackdown Six, CM Punk who will likely turn heel when he cashes in MITB which would be AWESOME, Kofi Kingston and Shelton Benjamin, whose feud is growing a tad stale, but the two of them are tremendously gifted athletes (Elijah Burke as well, but we haven't seen him for months), Mattvan Bournedal, and the still technically employed Tommy Dreamer and Stevie Richards, is a good show indeed. The meaningless promos are cut to a minimum because it's an hour long show, and that means more actual wrestling.
I just pray that Morrison and Sydal aren't drafted to Raw to get buried by Triple H and Snitsky (respectively)
Posted By: m8 (Guest) on June 20, 2008 at 05:28 AM
No more EPIC! My god could you over use A phrase any more? Oh and yes NOT EVERYTHING IS FUCKING VINTAGE!!!! How is Jim Ross talking about UFC Vintage?, they haven't been around to be VINTAGE!
Posted By: Funaki (Guest) on June 20, 2008 at 06:45 AM
the draft is probably going to be a big dissapointment. if they do it like the last draft maybe 5 or 6 wrestlers will change brands and thats it. if they wanted to do it right they would put all the names in and start fresh on each show ,but i dont see that happening
Posted By: gutter (Guest) on June 20, 2008 at 07:03 AM
EPIC BBQ!
Posted By: CheeseOnToast (Guest) on June 20, 2008 at 07:50 AM
anyone who still uses EPIC FAIL and VINTAGE is just an unoriginal sheep.
Posted By: FuckYouAssholes (Guest) on June 20, 2008 at 12:47 PM
I actually like the concept of the brand splits, too bad WWE has no intention of keeping the brands balanced. It's also a shame some of these stars let their ego's get in the way of business. for guys like Jericho and Micheals a quick move to SD would put them in the main-event each week make them the top star they wish to be before moving right back to raw the following year after Vince and Co. realize they are useful. Now however we'll get Umaga sent to SD to feud with Batista and Rey and Matt Hardy, while MVP goes to Raw to feud with Jeff Hardy, Kennedy and jobbing to Cena and HHH.
Posted By: Guest#8853 (Guest) on June 20, 2008 at 12:58 PM
