Jim Ross Blogs: Last Night's RAW, UFC 115, Jericho, & More
Jim Ross has a new blog entry up at https://www.JRSBARBQ.com/ Here are the highlights?
On Last Night's Raw: For me to stay hooked for any three hour broadcast, unless perhaps it's an exciting, College Football Game, NFL game or a strong, UFC PPV, is challenging for me. Monday night's Raw was a three hour edition where the conclusion of the show made the three hour investment worthwhile. The NXT wrestlers collective assault on all that is WWE including wrestlers, announcers, the ring announcer, time keeper, security, etc was a complete shocker. Raw's ending from Miami was one of the best conclusions of any Raw episode in years. This incident was completely out of the blue and poses many more questions than answers which is the life's blood of producing episodic TV. The follow up to this matter certainly has my interest and I am more than curious to see where this NXT issue goes. I can only assume that it will be addressed tonight in some form on the 2nd season premier of NXT on Syfy. I agree with some emailers of this site that the NXT invasion and beat down was somewhat NWO-esque but I have no idea if that's the direction this is headed which is another reason that this matter is so intriguing....we don't know its destination.
On Taker's New DVD: The Undertaker's 'Deadliest Matches' is out today on DVD and is a really fun DVD to watch. It covers the true evolution of the Undertaker persona through multiple eras and with a wide variety of opponents and unique matches. I enjoyed it and think that it's a must have for all Undertaker fans. It certainly brought back plenty of fun memories for me as a broadcaster.
On Chris Jericho: Emailer... yes, Chris Jericho is without question one of the top five pro's in the business right now and there is nothing that the Winnipeg veteran can't do well. Jericho's value on TV and at live events is immeasurable.
On UFC 115: It's hard to pick a winner in Saturday's UFC PPV in Vancouver in the Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin main event which is another reason that UFC PPV's are so much fun to watch. I'm an 'Iceman' fan but one always wonders how much fuel is left in the tank of a veteran like Liddell. We know that Chuck's passion and his will to compete will always be in place but are his physical skills still in tact to win an other UFC main event? Insiders speculate that Franklin is nearing the end of his run and that he has confided in some folks that he's about ready to call it a career. That's merely hearsay as far as I know but it certainly adds to the intrigue of this fight. It's arguable that both Liddell and Franklin won't be fighting that much longer as neither athlete strikes me as the type of fighter that will allow themselves to stay too long. There is no way that the judges will influence Liddell vs. Franklin Saturday night from where I sit. Vancouver is a great city, one of my favorite places to visit from my days of weekly, WWE travel, but their politicos seem to be having a knee jerk reaction to UFC/MMA regarding what I've read as being ridiculous requirements for insurance, etc. It's too bad that uneducated politicians often times perceive UFC to be something that it isn't and that these decisions then adversely affect the fans who live in the community. I can assure you that the many businesses in Vancouver will covet the UFC being in town this week.
Be sure to check out the full blog now at https://www.JRSBARBQ.com/