JR's Blog

JP Liz

Does anyone check this out?


Some parts of this week's blog

contains SD Spoilers

The uproar regarding Mike Adamle being named as the new G.M. of Monday Night Raw seems a little like overkill to me. Firstly, I am not sure how prominate a role the Raw G.M. will have going forward. Does any one as of today? The object of any creative endeavor should be to establish wrestling stars and all those that are involved in the process should focus on that particular matter. Secondly, Adamle has yet to have one complete Raw episode under his belt but he has apparently already been deemed a disaster by many fans and some pundits. It would seem reasonable, unless some one has a crystal ball, that one would allow Mike a few weeks to settle into his role and to see what individuality and entertainment content Adamle can bring to the game. Personally, I think it wold be easier for a newcomer like Adamle to successfully pull off the General Manager role easier than doing play by play.
We fans focus on the damnedest things at times. The Raw G.M. role has been at times a major character on the weekly, cable TV show while at other times the role was down scaled. One could assume that the position of Raw G.M. will evolve based on Adamle’s skills in a new role. It seems like the least we can do is give the guy a fair shake at creating is own persona before websites start polls and more editorials are written damning Adamle’s selection.
As a fan, I am much more surprised to see John Cena face Batista at Summerslam this year than I was seeing Mike Adamle moved to the "front office" of Raw. Point being, I wasn’t expecting to see Cena battle The Animal until maybe even WM25. It certainly adds a marketable match to Summerslam but, no matter what is scheduled, Summerslam will be headlined and dominated by the Hell in a Cell match pitting the returning Undertaker to face Edge. If any thing else closes Summerslam, I would be shocked.
Speaking of Cena, the look on Cena’s face when Adamle was announced as the new General Manager of Raw was priceless.
When I walked out to help with commentary on Monday night, which was an 11th hour decision BTW, many of the veterans told me that they "just knew" that I was going to be the next Raw G.M. That would not be a role that would interest me but I won’t die on that hill for fear of being "promoted".
Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s views on the MMA world concerned me when they were originally made and I hope that the veteran, Arizona politician has changed his views. McCain once made some bold and uneducated remarks about the genre many years ago that seemingly we not researched and appeared to be lip service and made McCain be perceived as being completely out of touch. Picking a presidential candidate in this United States Presidential election is challenging. Neither major candidate has distinguished themselves to me as of yet and a third party candidate wouldn’t stand a chance. At least the candidates appeared on Monday Night Raw once upon a time but one has to wonder how much arm twisting, no pun intended, did that take to get them to do their cameos. How in the name of sanity can this country get so deeply in debt? No matter who is elected in November, that individual will inherit a spending deficit that is frightening. How can our public officials be so irresponsible? The drift of this non wrestling diatribe is that I hope everyone registers to vote and goes to the polls this fall. No matter who one votes for, I hope that those that are eligible exercise their right to vote.
Chris Jericho’s verbal skills are at the front of the class right now which makes Jericho one of the most exciting talents to keep one’s eye on in the future. One has to wonder that when Jericho has finally finished his business with HBK, if that is not already the case, who’s next for Jericho, C.M. Punk? Jericho defies the antiquated concept that a wrestler has to be over 6 feet tall and north of 250 pounds or so to be able to sell tickets and be a main eventer. Jericho, who is writing another book, really took the knowledge he learned from writing his first book and has turned those creative visions into some memorable promos on TV the past several weeks. Jericho could always verbalize but he has definitely raised his game to a The Rock-like level.
Speaking of the World’s Heavyweight Champion, I felt like C.M. Punk did a solid job in providing commentary for the first two segments of the Saturday Night’s Main Event that airs this Saturday on NBC at 9/8 central. Punk is an intelligent competitor who "gets it" and is a quick study. Punk is a legit tough kid who doesn’t drink, smoke or do illegal drugs.
My take on Todd Grisham’s first outing as the new play by play voice of ECW was that Todd was successful. Todd has been around 5 years or so and he has the product knowledge and the quick wit to be a nice fit on the Tuesday night broadcast. Todd does a mean impersonation of the late sportscaster Harry Carey and unlike many of those who try to replicate the former Cubs’ announcer, Todd can do it sober. Todd should improve and I predict that some day, if Todd dedicates himself to his commentary work, he will be moving on to bigger and better assignments.
Monday’s Raw from D.C. delivered 5.2 million viewers which is stout. Raw was the #1 broadcast on all of prime time TV Monday night in men 12-24 and 18-34 which are two demographics that advertisers covet. If the fans had been building anticipation for weeks about the announcement of the new Raw G.M., the TV ratings likely would have been even higher.
Friday Night Smackdown did well last week in the ratings department too as it was the #1 program on prime time TV Friday night in virtually every male demographic. I know we were watching it on multiple screen at our J.R.’s BBQ in Moore.

Friday Night Smackdown has one of the most compelling endings that I can recall in years. The show, as a whole, has a fair amount of wrestling, some many of you will enjoy and, naturally, some that some of you won’t….same as always. I do know that Kennedy vs. Benjamin was a solid, two segment wrestling match while "The" Brian Kendrick continues to impress. Jeff Hardy vs. The Great Khali certainly had its moments between two wrestlers with completely opposite styles. But back to my original point, the build to the last segment of Friday Night Smackdown is intriguing and the payoff is one of the most memorable moments on WWE TV in a long time.
Speaking of Jeff Hardy, his one on one bout vs. Edge that closes the Saturday Night’s Main Event this weekend on NBC is an exceptional piece of business.

Freddie Prinze, Jr. is going to be involved creatively in the Smackdown brand from what I gather. Freddie is a big time wrestling fan and seems like a respectful and intelligent individual in the brief moment that we had to say hello a day or two ago . It will be interesting to see Freddie’s future contributions within the unique, WWE community. Freddie has achieved some great success in Hollywood but the WWE is a much different animal that most perceive until they enter the "WWE Universe". I just hope that Friday Night Smackdown continues to feature more wrestling than not which is what I feel is still the WWE’s most uniquely, marketable asset, in ring wrestling.

Mr.Nice Guy

It's a good blog. He answered two questions of mine in the past. One was about who he'd like to induct him if he got inducted in the Hall of Fame (he said he didn't think he'd be inducted but he'd like it to be Austin). The other was about whether he thought the WWE would do a Monday Night Raw episode from Dublin.

I would be shocked if the Monday Night Raw show doesn’t emanate from Ireland some day. I spent an eventful St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin once and had a ball!

I see he doesn't take questions any more, probably because of the huge volume of traffic he gets now.

JP Liz

http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/observations-monday-night-raw

Stephanie McMahon will be a significant upgrade over former GM Mike Adamle. Good move for Raw.
Love the team of Miz and Morrison in an otherwise lackluster tag team scene. These 2 young talents have significant upsides.
I am intrigued as to the "deal" between JBL and HBK.
Getting Kennedy back on TV is a positive. Seeing how he is utilized until he gets healthy is a key.
Building focus on the IC title is a good thing, especially if it leads to Champ William Regal, a viable contender, which will help the title and the broadcast.
Batista's promo made me feel as if the Animal is losing his patience re: the World Title picture.
Santino is gold on the mic. Very entertaining.
Randy Orton's relationship w/ young male fans is noticeable. RKO has "it" equating to "presence."
Mike Knox has my interest, especially if he can deliver verbally. He's a big, young, rugged kid. Opportunity may be knocking for Knox who reminds me of a very young Bruiser Brody.
Chris Jericho is great in his role.
John Cena coming through the crowd and genuinely interacting w/ them worked. A more aggressive, more physical Cena should help John in the long haul especially w/ young male fans.
I liked Cole and Lawler's work Monday night. Their chemistry is evolving.

Randy Orton's relationship w/ young male fans is noticeable. RKO has "it" equating to "presence."