Interesting week in WWE on many fronts … Raw’s Chris Jericho gets fired … Mr. McMahon is on his way back to Monday Night Raw … Shawn Michaels beat World Champ John Cena Monday night in “HBK’s WrestleMania”… WWE roared into chilly Omaha, Neb., to tape Friday Night SmackDown, which felt more like a NASCAR event … Oklahoma quarterback & Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford is not opting for the NFL but is returning to OU … and, most significantly, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is going into the WWE Hall of Fame during Wrestlemania XXV weekend.

Austin will no doubt be the star attraction at the WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony that will be held at the Toyota Center in Houston on Saturday evening, April 4, with tickets becoming available this Saturday morning at 10 a.m. CT.

In all my years in this biz, 35 this year, I have never encountered an athlete who demanded more of himself than did Austin. Austin won three Royal Rumble matches but if you asked him he would probably curse a blue streak and bemoan the fact that he didn’t win all that he entered.

Going into the WWE Hall of Fame in the city that Steve watched TV wrestling as a kid has got to be special for him, not to mention the fact that Steve’s family and many Texas friends will be able to attend this historic occasion.

Steve has been like a family member to the Mrs. and me for many years, through challenging times for all, both personally and professionally, and my wife Jan even named her cat Molly 3:16 in honor of Steve, who was one of the few people Ol’ Molly would have anything do with when he would pay us a visit. Molly left us at 17, in 2007 but she was a fighter just like her namesake.

If the young wrestlers who are trying to make the WWE rosters would observe the passion and drive that Austin brought with him every day to work they would be well-served. There were better technical wrestlers, and high-flyers for sure, perhaps better brawlers and maybe even slicker talkers, but no one ever brought more intensity and toughness to the squared circle than did The Texas Rattlesnake. Or sold more tickets, T-shirts and pay-per-views. 

The WWE Hall of Fame will be better with Stone Cold Steve Austin in it. Congratulations, Steve, for this well-earned honor.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming brought to you this week by Stocky Balboa’s Barber Shop and Deli where Italian cold cuts and a close shave are a way of life.

WWE Champion Jeff Hardy is definitely snake bit. How can he not be? Has all the mysterious and unusual occurrences that have come Jeff’s way been nothing but coincidences?

Jeff’s luck can’t get any worse … can it? I suppose it could, he says answering his own question, if Jeff loses the WWE Title to Mr. Vickie Guerrero, I beg your pardon, Edge at the Royal Rumble. 

Has anyone ever compared Edge’s eyes to those of the late thespian Marty Feldman’s rather large, saucer shaped baby blues?

In case you haven’t noticed, Triple H is a defiant son of a gun and I fear his defiance is going to cost him dearly. It’s obvious that SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero is bound to get the last word in any conflict that the two of them may have. Because of his interactions with the G.M., Triple H’s chances of winning the uber-prestigious Royal Rumble match and punching his ticket to the main event at WrestleMania XXV is about as likely as nude photos of Hillary Clinton appearing in Playboy.

ECW invades Friday Night SmackDown this week when the “Quiet Man” Finlay and the former ECW Champion Matt Hardy face the new ECW Champion Jack Swagger and the World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry. Legend has it that this summer somewhere near Norman, Okla., Mr. Swagger came very close to humbling the New Orleans Saints’ tight end, one Jeremy Shockey, who is one of the toughest men in the NFL. Swagger is as good a newcomer as many of us have seen in WWE in years. Swagger reminds me athletically of Brock Lesnar when Lesnar was a rookie. 

This Friday night WWE Diva Victoria has her last bout in WWE, and is retiring from grappling from what I am told. Victoria made her first appearance on WWE TV along side the Godfather, WAY back in the day and then decided to learn to wrestle. Over the years, Victoria has evolved into one of the most reliable, fundamentally sound Divas ever in WWE and she will be sorely missed by all of us that are used to seeing her lovely smile and her mischievous grin away from the cameras. Victoria is a two-time WWE Women’s Champion who now resides in Louisville, and where she is a successful business woman. 

I read with great interest the Top 25 Managers of all-time elsewhere here on WWE.com and was amazed at some of the selections. The list is extremely intriguing and controversial thanks to the omission of some prominent names, the inclusion of some that shouldn’t have made the Top 25, in my view, and the ranking of some of the great’s too low such as Gary Hart at #24.

Why does Ezekiel Jackson act so supportive, almost obedient, to THE Brian Kendrick? Is there a story buried on TMZ or in WWE Magazine that we are not aware of that would support this Oliver Stone-esque conspiracy theory?

The Best of 2008 edition of WWE Magazine is really spectacular. That’s not hyperbole on my end as I don’t work for the magazine and yours truly obviously isn’t in their demographic because I’m more likely to show up on the side of a milk carton than in the magazine, but I strongly encourage you to get your copy today.

Just so everyone understands … this is Michelle McCool’s world and the rest of us are just passing through. Got it?

In my never-ending quest to appear young and hip, much like “The Fink” on disco night at his favorite haunt in New Haven with his sidekick known only as “The Heater,” I ask you, “Whassup?!”

On this Friday Night SmackDown’s award-winning and top-rated broadcast, I challenge you to spot the “World’s Angriest Announcer” sign devoted to my beloved and long-time broadcast colleague Tazz. It’s there. Tazz and I had a lovely 160 mile drive to Kansas City from Omaha Tuesday night and indulged ourselves with a delicious assortment of gut bombs and artery blocking food from a Skelly Station along I-29. Yes, kids, we SmackDown broadcasters do live the high life.

I hope you will check out SmackDown this Friday night on MyNetworkTV as the countdown to the Royal Rumble in the Motor City, I do have ample Bob Seger tunes on my iPod, is on in a serious way.

Thanks for checking out our Web site www.jrsbarbq.com where I write several blogs each week, answer your questions, and sell the best BBQ Sauces on Planet Earth along with our 97-percent fat-free beef jerky.

Boomer Sooner!
J.R.