Thanks for taking a moment to stop by our space here on WWE.com. Things are great in the land of J.R.’s BBQ here in Oklahoma and with that said let’s get this show on the road as we are “burning daylight.”

Friday Night SmackDown emanates this week from Atlanta, once the home of multiple, regional wrestling promotions including WCW, which much like the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL, had many more “losing seasons” than winners. With that said, I still have many fond memories of working and living in Atlanta in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s before coming to WWE and lovely Connecticut in 1993.

Whatever one does, do NOT, play any sort of drinking or eating game Friday night based on a litany of Olympic Games’ references during the opening match of the night which features six SmackDown Divas in a variety of Olympic garb. This match will never be confused with a Triple H vs. HBK mat classic, but it was uniquely entertaining. Yours truly may have even channeled the late, great Jim McKay for a few seconds.

Hawkins and Ryder, along with most of “The Family” had interesting nights in Atlanta as the WWE Tag Team Champions are still looking to establish themselves as bonafide WWE Tag Champions, whose names belong with some of their more noteworthy predecessors. Just one man’s opinion, but ECW’s Morrison and Miz just might be the best tag team in the entire WWE as I write this. Ryder and Hawkins are a talented, young duo and I love their upside, but they need to step out of Edge’s shadow, including the Edge-like haircuts. The Long Island-bred duo also might want to study WWE 24/7, especially when tag teams such as Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, the Midnight Express, and the Rock ‘n Roll Express are featured. Knowledge is power. 

Yours truly mentioned last week that Triple H will achieve the most success at SummerSlam when he defends the WWE Title against The Great Khali if The Game is able to destroy Khali’s 7-foot 3-inch vertical base. The WWE Champion makes that point abundantly clear to the most popular Indian athlete ever in WWE. I have never seen an arm wrestling contest like we featured Friday night including shards of glass on the arm wrestling table. In this contest, one can see the amazing size difference that Khali holds over Triple H and The Game is 6-foot-4!

United States Champion Shelton Benjamin faces Jeff Hardy, or is it Jeff “Harvey,” this week on SmackDown, and these two put on quite a wrestling display. It’s another strong SmackDown one-on-one match that surpasses any other bout on WWE TV this week in my biased opinion.

It looks as if Jeff Hardy and MVP will finally get their one-on-one match at SummerSlam, and this match has the potential to steal the show from where I will be sitting. Both these two athletes have glowing skills and both truly need a victory at a major pay-per-view such as SummerSlam. One of these two will likely be very disappointed in Indianapolis come Aug. 17.

In doing research on the still-undefeated-on-SmackDown Vladimir Kozlov, it seems that the Moscow Mauler started his physical training to wrestle and compete in the Russian submission style, hand-to-hand combat known as Sambo, while he was still in elementary school. The big Russian wants more competition and I am sure he will be accommodated regarding that request soon enough. Kozlov has the chance to be the most dominate Russian grappler ever in WWE, and that includes former WWWF Champ Ivan Koloff.

Friday night on SmackDown, The Brian Kendrick continues his campaign to reinvent himself, which is working in a strange sort of Pillman-esque way AND we find out Ezekiel’s last name for those of you that are keeping score at home and, no, it isn’t Ezekiel Finkel.

Edge seems to once again “steal the show” on Friday night which is getting to be habitual for arguably, in the eyes of many observers, the hottest Superstar in WWE. I don’t know if Edge is the hottest WWE Superstar or not, but he certainly seems to damn sure be the most controversial. 

Edge vs. Undertaker at SummerSlam inside Hell in a Cell may be the most compelling Cell Match any of us have ever seen, and speaking from personal experience, yours truly has seen them all and has called the action on the vast majority of them. I fully understand, as sure as Joe E. Styles loves a nice, black suit, that Edge/Taker will have to go the extra mile to overshadow Undertaker vs. Mankind from back in the day, but that is a distinct and viable possibility. I look for the Undertaker to win at SummerSlam, but if anyone thinks it is going to be a slam dunk or that Edge doesn’t have a fighting chance to beat the Deadman at his own game then think again. I would not even wager one bottle of J.R.’s Original BBQ Sauce on this one – which, BTW, one can find at WWEShop.com or at www.jrsbarbq.com. 

Did anyone notice new Raw General Manager Mike Adamle’s new haircut? It looked as if Adamle, who did a nice job on his first full night in charge of Raw, was looking to emulate the previously mentioned Dot Com Guru Styles’ classic “fade.” Suggestion for GM Adamle … don‘t lose your index cards with your notes on them. Then you might start sounding like Mike “W” Adamle.

Bravo to the new broadcast duo, at least for this past week, of Todd Grisham and Matt Striker for their efforts on ECW Tuesday night on Sci Fi.

Finally, I regularly address a variety of sports including football and MMA and wrestling topics on my blogs at www.jrsbarbq.com several times a week and I also write blogs on a regular basis for the WWE Fan Nation, which you're reading right now.

Thanks for checking in and I hope to see many of you next Tuesday night in Norfolk, Va., which is the city that I first met the legendary wrestler Lou Thesz when he attended a WCW pay-per-view at the Norfolk Scope of which I was a part. Be well everybody and count your blessings. Enjoy Friday Night SmackDown.

Boomer Sooner!
J.R.