Jim Ross has updated his blog over at JRsBarBQ.com. Below are some highlights:
– Broadcasting in Madison Square Garden never gets old. The Garden crowd was hot as usual and any time a live audience emotionally invests in an event it infinitely helps that event be perceived as being more exciting and successful. It seemed that ECW, WWE Superstars, and Friday Night Smackdown largely kept the sold out MSG group engaged which resulted in a fast paced night that had few slow spots.
– Tommy Dreamer, who grew up attending wrestling events at MSG and who is from Yonkers, New York, had a memorable night Tuesday night in his "hometown" arena. Tommy is a warhorse who loves wrestling and is also a man that will always vividly remember his bout against Christian this week in the Garden especially if it is Tommy’s last one there. More young wrestlers need to tap in to Dreamer’s passion and not try to act so non plussed about being a wrestling fan and if they aren’t wrestling fans management should assist said talents in finding other endeavors. Tommy Dreamer is a credit to wrestling and I am proud to say I was at the Garden that night in April of 2009 when he gallantly tried to win the ECW Title.
– After staying step for step with John Cena on Raw a couple of weeks ago and having a really solid title bout at Backlash, more people are seeing that my fellow Okie Jack Swagger is the real deal and in time could evolve into a major, PPV headlining WWE star. Any one with a brain can see that Swagger is an amazing athlete which still means a great deal to me. Swagger may never become an accomplished "song and dance man" but then again he might but Swagger will always be able to wrestle and as time goes on Jack Swagger, from Perry, Oklahoma, may well become of of the best hands to come along in WWE in quite some time. I will also, in the spirit of full disclosure and honesty, admit that I am not totally unbiased when it comes to this young man from Oklahoma University and from my boyhood hero Danny Hodge’s home town.
– Gregory "Hurricane" Helms is now doing backstage interviews for ECW and he should bring added entertainment value to the program. Helms isn’t 100% physically and this assignment can keep the North Carolinian on TV and in the publics eye. I don’t know what Helms’ wrestling future is one way or another.
– Rey Mysterio told me he was elated to be back on Friday Night Smackdown. Rey is arguably the most popular Superstar to ever appear on the Friday night broadcast. I can only imagine the # of masks, etc that WWE will sell with Rey’s imagine via the Friday night show.
– From what I can ascertain, the brand separation is going to truly become three, separate entities which was the original concept. I like the concept as it allows many wrestlers to get a chance at the big time that one roster would not facilitate any where near as quickly. I do know that at Judgment Day in Chicago that all three brands announce teams will be at ringside broadcasting their respective bouts. I look forward to the competition between announcers but not to the degree of all that "A" show, etc B.S. that encourages dissension and too much conversation between announcers about things that have zilch to do with embellishing the skills of the wrestlers.
– I was really sorry to hear of Buddy Rose’s passing this week at the age of 56. When you get to my stage of the game, I’m 57, deaths of one’s peers can bring on a variety of emotions. Buddy Rose was one of the most underrated wrestlers of his generation and could literally have a solid match with virtually any one. Buddy’s weight became an issue but also encouraged the infamous "Blow Away Diet" that was featured on WWE TV programming on a semi regular basis back in the day. Buddy wrestled as the "Masked Executioner" in the first bout of the first Wrestlemania. Buddy was a funny guy from my dealings with him and had a good head for the business. I always enjoyed the rare opportunities I had to visit with Buddy usually when we were in Portland. I told Tazz on our ride down to Portland from Seattle a few weeks ago that I hoped that Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskowski would show up at the Rose Garden to say hello to the "boys." They never came to the Rose Garden on our last trip there, as best I know, and now Buddy is gone. Our condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Playboy Buddy Rose.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
