JR Blog: Swagger/Gail Kim/RAW, Sheamus On Tour, & More
Jim Ross is back with another blog at jrsbarbq.com. Some of the highlights:
- The WWE is doing HUGE biz in Australia as we speak as the Raw brand is on tour "Down Under." Brisbane had a near capacity crowd in attendance and grossed over $650K at the box office. Sydney had 18,543 in the arena which is a new WWE record for the facility. The event Monday in Adelaide was also close to capacity and sold over $550K in tickets. This international tour is going to be highly successful for WWE which should come as no surprise as Australia is one of WWE's hottest territories. Even though the trips are all early morning flights and some of the flights are not short ones, the large crowds always motivate any performer and the live events have been really solid from what I have read and from the emails we have received here on our site.
- The Smackdown/ECW group had a minute to gather their thoughts on the beaches of Honolulu over the 4th of July holiday. My sources tell me that ECW Champ Tommy Dreamer was quite a "hit" on the sandy, Hawaiian beaches but I won't share the rest of the story as that would be like the "pot calling the kettle black." Anyway, it's called wrestling and not body building the last time I looked. Be sure and check out Tommy as a guest on the "Abraham Washington Show" this week on ECW which I think airs on Thursday this week. Check your local listings. Tommy made an excellent, verbal accounting of himself and it will be interesting to see how much of it makes air. I am a Dreamer fan who wishes that more of the young wrestlers looking to get their feet wet would tap into Tommy Dreamer's passion and love of the biz.
- Sheamus, the Celtic Warrior, is earning good reviews while touring with WWE. Sheamus is a big, tough, Irish kid who has a discernible up side and could be a future star if he stays healthy and sane along with getting a little good luck. Sheamus formerly played rugby which isn't for the faint of heart and speaks for the young man's toughness.
- After looking more throughly at the recent 15 person trade announced on Raw last week, I think that two WWE Superstars will contribute in a big way to Raw, Gail Kim and Jack Swagger. I am a big Gail Kim fan and feel she can become, arguably, the hottest Diva on Raw which could well mean another championship for the young lady who grew up in Toronto and who now lives in Tampa. Swagger is a future PPV main eventer and even though that might be a year or so away from happening I think that it will happen. Swagger has the youth, size, and athletic ability to evolve into a great asset for WWE if he keeps working hard, learning his craft, stays out of trouble and off the injured list.