WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has posted a new
blog entry. Here are the highlights…
On the death
of the territories and developing talent: The erosion of the wrestling
territories and the aftermath of their disappearance is starting to rear its
ugly head within the business as it relates to the next generation of wrestling
stars. Where will the stars of 3, 5, or 10 years and beyond come from for any
company producing pro wrestling? The NFL has college football, the NBA has
college hoops, MLB has a minor league system dotted with great high school and
college players, and the NHL has an organized feeder system to make sure that
the continue to add new, talented YOUNG athletes to their mix annually but the
business of sports entertainment/pro wrestling has what? The biz has nothing
that even closely resembles the in depth level that the other aforementioned
entities have notwithstanding what show business has as it looks for talented
young actors, etc on a daily basis. While many love to second guess today’s pro
wrestling creative, often times rightfully so, my biggest concern about the
continued growth and overall health of the business lies within where are
tomorrow’s stars coming? Finding the stars of tomorrow is the wrestling biz’s
greatest concern. WWE, for example, actively recruiting the amateur wrestling
scene is a Godsend but for one to think that will be enough over the long haul
and for the generations to come is being highly naive.
Updates
on his podcast: Big Ross Report Podcast week…..our Gail Kim
interview drops Tuesday PM USA time and it’s a great one. Gail is so smart and
aware of the business and has some very pointed and intelligent things to say. I
have great respect for @gailkimItsMe. I will also be working on the blockbuster
Shawn Michaels podcast that has so much info in it that it will be a two parter
beginning next week. Shawn’s take on Undertaker’s Streak ending is fascinating
as are his thoughts on CM Punk leaving WWE as many remember that HBK left WWE
for approximately four years at one point in his amazing career. These are just
two of the many topics we discussed in depth with, arguably, the best to ever
perform for a living inside the 20 foot squared circle. Tuesday night I will be
speaking with Bill Goldberg for a future Ross Report and if you have questions
please Tweet them to me @JRsBBQ and use the hash tag #AskJR. We have some
fascinating guests booked well into July for our podcast. For those that
continue to ask me about booking WWE talents, I am certainly willing but WWE has
to approve such bookings and they are going to get back to me soon with their
decision. Ross Report Podcasts are FREE to download via pocdastone.com and via
iTunes and at this time we have no plans to expand to multiple podcasts a week
but that could change in the future. Thanks for everyone’s support of our
efforts.
On Tonight’s WWE RAW broadcast: RAW should be
interesting tonight. I can’t see WWE World Champions Daniel Bryan wrestling
after taking THREE, Tombstone piledrivers last Monday from Kane but who knows?
One thing that I do know is that St. Louis is a terrific wrestling city and the
night that we had all the NWA Champions back as our guests there was SO special.
St. Louis was also the city that we were in when we found out that my dear
friend Brian Pillman passed away the night before. Mixed memories of St. Louis
without question but it’s a great city nonetheless. If it hadn’t been for KMOX
radio’s coverage of Cardinal baseball with Harry Caray and Jack Buck I may never
have been a broadcaster.
On Lee Marshall’s passing:
Condolences to the family, friends and fans of the late, broadcaster Lee
Marshall who passed away over the weekend. Lee was a big time radio voice in Los
Angeles among other markets before ne ventured into pro wrestling, a former AWA
and WCW broadcaster who was brought to Atlanta by Eric Bischoff who I assume
Eric met in AWA while working for Verne Gagne. Lee was also the voice of Tony
the Tiger. I never worked with Lee that I recall but mutual friends always spoke
highly of him. RIP Lee.
You can read Jim’s
full blog by clicking here.
