5/31/07
Hi, It's been a little while since my last update...a few years actually...Myspace came along and made it easier to post blogs so all of my recent thoughts and pictures are posted there! Feel free to take a look... www.myspace.com/announcer
9/22/04
1.Me and BBM around 91
2. Ray, Bull Buchanan, myself, Greg Valentine, and Tito Santana
I just received an email that Ray "Big Bossman" Traylor passed away today. We were doing well for a while with not having any wrestling deaths, but today we lost another good one. I was always a fan of the Big Boss Man growing up as you can tell by the first picture. It was just last year that I ran a show with BBM on the card. We had a lot of fun and many good conversations on what seemed like an incredibly long day and night. A lunch with the group of guys pictured above, followed by a lengthy road trip, show, another road trip, and a fun night out. I experienced quite a few unforgettable moments on this day and stories that I can tell for many years to come. We kept in touch for a while and I am very glad that I got to know Ray Traylor, the man behind the Big Bossman. Ray was a great guy and I am very sad to hear of the news. I, probably along with anyone who ever got to know him, will miss him. My thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Traylor and her two daughters.
9/2/04
April to September. Wow, that has to be the longest I have ever gone without updating my commentary. Every other section has been updated many times since then, but I didn't have much to say and now all of the little things have added up.
I have been working a lot with Arizona's Impact Zone Wrestling and we have run shows every other Tuesday night in Tempe, AZ. Our shows are a lot of fun and with the current contest going on as well as the appearance by MTV's Mike The Miz Mizanin...we should continue to grow. There is a lot of great talent here so we might as well offer a stage for these guys and girls to show off their talent. For the full scoop on The Miz and our contest, check out www.ImpactZoneWrestling.com .
One of may favorite shows is 24. I love that and I am very addicted to it. I got the opportunity to be on the show this season as an agent at CTU. Right now I am enjoying all of the action in AZ way too much to head back to LA, but if anything changes I will let you know.
I also met with The Harlem Globetrotters this week and discussed announcing for them, however their schedule would keep me away from wrestling for too long and that's not a good thing.
I did work for World Extreme Cagefighting's sold out August event and I really enjoyed the production. It's something a little different from wrestling and Toughman and I will be returning to Fresno, CA for their next date in October.
I went to Japan with Smackdown in June for the first time. What an awesome experience. The fans were so respectful and polite that it was overwhelming, We had two sold-out shows back to back at the Budokan in Tokyo. I hope to go back there in the near future!
This past week was a really good one, announcing for the Raw non-televised live events in Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City and Stockton, with a Heat taping in San Francisco. They have a great group of people and the whole week was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. I got some really good advice each night and that's the only way to get better! The only downside of the trip was that I was filling in for Howard Finkel, meaning that I didn't get to see the legendary announcer as I normally do when I am at Raw. Howard always helps me out and shares his expertise. His absence Monday night was the only element missing from the experience. I look forward to returning to the Raw brand September 17 in Bossier City, LA for the WWE tribute to Mid-South wrestling.
Thank you for reading, and if you are stopping by-please sign my guest book by following the link on the left side of the page...Follow your dreams! Justin (Jason has officially been dropped!)
4/25/04
Hello. I hope everyone who is reading this is doing well. Things have been going well for myself in Los Angles over the past couple of weeks. Let's see, starting with this weekend-I met Adam Sandler who is by far my favorite actor. I spoke with him for a few minutes and I am happy to report that he is as cool in person as you would think from what you see on tv. I thought it was cool to meet Natalie from the Facts of Life...and Bea Arthur from the Golden Girls...but being a huge fan of SNL, just about every Sandler movie and comedy in general-meeting Adam was huge.
I also shot a tv pilot this past week for ABC. It's called Full Circle and stars William Devane (Knots Landing-a favorite of mine growing up), Thomas Everett Scott (That Thing You Do, Van Wilder, Dead Man on Campus, lot's of things), Annie Potts (Again-a lot of things-see imdb.com for full list), Nicole Sullivan (Mad TV), and Missi (I can't think of her last name but she was in 50 First Dates). Thomas was raised by Potts as his Father, Devane left while he was young. When Thomas has a baby, Devane shows up at the hospital-out of coincidence as Devane just had a second child the same day. After this, Devane tries to make things right with his son, new baby, and new grandson. I am a student in Thomas' college classroom. Check it out when it comes to ABC-it's a great show.
I have also been chosen for a wrestling movie set to film this summer in LA. More details will be released later on. The weather out here is perfect and I am glad to finally be able to spend some time in my new city. I will be around until June when I head out to Florida for a new independent wrestling promotion and then the next week when I return to WWE.
Thank you very much for reading and I hope to have more news in the near future. Please sign my guestbook off of the left column and feel free to send any questions or comments my way through the email address in the contact section. Take care! JustinJason
4/1/04
What's up everybody...It's been a busy couple of weeks and the action hasn't stopped yet. I am on a plane right now from LA to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for this weekend's boxing shows. I was able to go home to LA for almost a full day after going to AZ from Mexico, where I announced for the AWA. We had a great crowd and a fun show. Unfortunately, just like in December-I got hit with the same bug and had some kind of flu. My throat really took a beating from the constant coughing and Friday's show didn't help. From there I flew to LA to change suitcases and head out later that night for a red eye to Tampa. I worked the WWE Smackdown tour in Tampa FL, Louisville KY, and Columbus OH. As I type this, Smackdown is airing...and I am missing it. I was running on fumes again as my throat was shot by the time we started the taping Tuesday night. I'm hoping that it turned out ok! Surprisingly with barely having any speaking voice, my announcing voice only cracked once...it was embarrassing, but it could have been a lot worse. I look forward to heading back home after this long weekend so I can finally see a Dr. after being away for 3 weeks.
The WWE tour was a lot of fun and the shows were really entertaining which is obvious from the reaction of all the fans in attendance. I love seeing the reactions of fans who get to see their favorite wrestlers in person...and the look on their faces when they get to take a picture with the guys or get an autograph...I watched Eddie Guerrero hug a group of fans in wheelchairs after he won his match, and the fans looked like they were on top of the world and could start walking at anytime. I give credit to all the WWE Superstars for putting their bodies on the line and working vigorous schedules week after week to provide entertainment and happiness to fans all over the world. It's an honor to work with them...
Things in LA are starting to roll and hopefully I will have some projects to list here in the near future. I'm going through one of those periods where I have a lot to talk about since the last writing, but I can't remember what I wanted to say. The guy sitting next to me kind of looks and sounds like Smykowski from 'Office Space'...so that's cool. Since he inquired about my Milton computer wall paper I am going to show him a clip of Office Space.... I will post this asap and add to it if I remember what I wanted to say :) Thanks for reading and please sign the guestbook-J
2/21/04
Well...This is probably the longest I have gone without updating my commentary. I apologize, but two months isn't so bad--and at least I updated the other sections in the two months :). There are new dates up in the schedule section, new articles up under articles and new pictures up in the pictures section. The BIO section is new and it has a lot of random info.
So the last time you heard from me, I just came off a long WWE tour and was pretty wiped out. I spent some time in Chicago and as always gained a lot of weight while I was there. Surprisingly, the weather was really mild, which made for a cool trip. I'm now back in California and getting used to the California way of life. It's different, but growing on me.
Toughman in Jackson, TN marked my 4th year with the company and for a dry arena (they don't allow alcohol), we always seem to have a good time. WWE's Test came out for the weekend events and was even challenged by the winner of the middle-weight division. I think Test could sneeze and knock the guy out, but I still give the guy credit for winning this years tournament.
Although I have seen the show once, I am going to be a contestant on Street Smarts. There is no explanation for why I am going on, but it's one of those things I'll do to keep myself entertained.
I was at Raw and Smackdown this week. Monday was the first time I really talked to Mick Foley, and everything he does impresses me--he's awesome. If you haven't gotten his DVDs, I definitely recommend them. How great was Shawn Michaels v Chris Benoit? On Smackdown, I was happy that Eddie Guerrero won the championship. I look forward to returning to Smackdown in March.
Tonight I worked the UPW 5th anniversary charity event in Anaheim, CA. I announced the UPW Women's championship match between Erica Porter and Ivory. They had a great match and in the end, Ivory was robbed of a victory by Babi Slymm and Big Schwag. Also on the card were Scott Hall and Kevin Nash who are INCREDIBLE performers. They know how to control the crowd and do so very very well. Their guest referee was Evan Marriott-Joe Millionaire-and their opponents were Tom Howard and Christopher Daniels. Ken Shamrock, Evan Karagias, MTV's The Miz and "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka were also on the card. I remember trying to get on a UPW show years ago in hopes of getting exposure to WWE, and I couldn't no matter how hard I tried. Surprisingly I did not hold a grudge against the group and I enjoyed working there tonight. There are a lot of good people working hard to keep the company going strong.
I have a good number of shows coming up and as always I look forward to all of the adventures that come along with them. If I can recommend a movie, I would like to mention how great 50 First Dates was. It's Adam Sandler's best movie in a long time, although I'm pretty much a fan of most of his movies. I went to the Comedy Store in LA this week and saw some great comedians including Harland Williams (search imdb.com if you can't place the face). That was very cool...almost as cool as seeing Josie Davis there from Charles in Charge--not Nicole Eggert, the sister. Man she has changed (for the betttttter)! I also saw one of the Olsen twins here as well. I think I would rather hang out with the Powell girl. Anyway, I'm not sure what else to say, but thank you very much for reading and please sign the guestbook, thank you!
12/19/03
You may have noticed that this section was down for a while...and now you may notice that it's back, minus my last loooong entry. Let's just say it was not my decision to pull that, but I did what I had to do.
So moving on, I'll say that looking back it has been fun the past few weeks working so many dates in a row. I got through my 1st International tour and learned a lot in addition to experiencing a lot. The past two television tapings I worked were awesome shows and I had a lot of fun working those too! It only went uphill from there as the live events I worked this past weekend in Chicago and Indiana were awesome. The crowd in Chicago, my hometown proved once again to live up to their reputation and Indianapolis showed much enthusiasm as well.
I was ready to go out and start the Chicago wrestling show when I realized my dressing room door handle that sits in the wall when closed-was bent and prevented me from opening the door. Someone walked by and I knocked-which must have seemed weird to them...but the next thing I know, a 500lb, 7 foot tall hero came and kicked the heavy door in so I could get to ringside. It was like something out of the movies....some Family members and friends are all in attendance at my favorite arena to work (since I grew up attending all of the shows there-and the crowd is THAT good:) )...I had been looking forward to it, and it was just about showtime----and I get stuck in a room. A screwdriver would have been good to try to push the metal in, but I didn't have one in my suitcase...so the next best thing was the big guy's foot and it worked :)
The next night in Indianapolis the guys who are Too Cool were busting a move after their match and invited me in the ring to dance with them. I thought that was very cool, although everyone would soon find out that I don't know how to dance.
And they did. They also found out that I don't know how to do the worm. I also enjoyed announcing the 'tiny teddy' contest especially when I was used as a prop...and just knowing that I was in the ring with 4 very cool girls, 2 of them Playboy covergirls :)
Overall, I had an AWESOME few weeks working all the shows on the tour and will miss seeing everyone on a regular basis. Not only are they a talented group-which is an understatement, but they are a great group of people.
I left the tour in Indianapolis and now I am spending some time eating well in Chicago. My Birthday is coming up on the 29th and I thought it would be cool to spend it back in Chicago. With that, I am going to get back to eating and I will be back soon with more updates, hopefully! I would appreciate if you please sign the guestbook, thank you!
11/8/03
Well it hasn't been that long since the last commentary, but I have enough to discuss to add another. What I have witnessed in my 7 years working in the wrestling business is a mixture of the best, the worst, and everything in between. People outside of the business wouldn't believe 90% of my stories because they are SO out there. I treasure the memories I have since breaking in at age 16 in 1996. I enjoy sharing my stories with those who know where I'm coming from and who have stories even farther out than mine. One of the craziest, worst parts of this business is the amount of good people dying too early. I like to take pictures every once in a while when I'm on the road, just to capture the memories. I have an album filled with pictures from over the years and it is RIDICULOUS how many of the guys in my album have passed away. Last night I came home and found out that Michael Lockwood, 'Crash Holly' as I knew him, had passed away. At this time I have only heard rumors surrounding the cause of his death, but regardless-Crash was another young guy...good guy...talented guy, who I am sad to see go. The guys at Pro Wrestling Iron knew him better than I did and wrote a great tribute on their site, but I will share what I can. Crash was on the majority of WWE shows I've worked. Whether it was Velocity, houses, or Smackdowns-I always had to try my best to get the Craaaash out. I told him from the very beginning that his name was kind of hard to announce so he would come up to me like he did in London, Ontario and tell me that I sounded like I was introducing Crush. He would joke around about my bad Crash intros, until I finally perfected it and then he told me it was good...while that sounds incredibly dumb in writing on this web site, living it was funny. Not as funny as Crash taking a light forearm from Billy Kidman in Tucson, AZ and flying off the apron onto my lap at ringside as if he was hit with a baseball bat. Crash was a character on and off TV. Has anyone entered the ring in a more entertaining fashion than Crash climbing up AND down the turnbuckle? I don't think so. I picture him walking around backstage with his backpack...like a little kid going off to school. It's hard to make it into the wrestling business when you're 6'3." Crash was like 5'8"! He was a very talented man who made it to WWE and did well there. I briefly spoke to him in June when we were at a California Smackdown, and before that I had lunch with him in Nashville. While I hadn't talked to him in a while I was happy that he was working around the country and appearing on some of the NWA programming. When I had lunch with his friend Stevie Richards last month I asked how he was doing and was glad to hear that he was happy. When I heard the news last night I was devastated. I had to check with a few people before I could believe it. You get to live once and when someone's life is cut off so early, it's very sad. I really hope this trend of wrestlers dying young stops soon, because I'm sick of it. I guess that's all I can say. If anyone reading this is a friend or family member to Crash-I'm very sorry about your loss, he was a great guy. The people I've worked with in this business for the most part are all AWESOME people and it frustrates me to hear about their early deaths.
It's kind of hard to go onto other things after that, but I'll keep it simple. I moved out to LA last week and want to thank Navajo Warrior for his help and especially for the company on the way out. Nav has a great mind and memory for the business and comes up with some really clever ideas. You can catch his IZW wrestling on tv in Phoenix. His website is navajowarrior.com.
Before I could finish unpacking, I had to pack up for Oklahoma where we had a fun weekend with The Toughman Contest. I love doing shows in Oklahoma, the towns are always fun and filled with good people. I must thank Yeo for my quality rental car :). Last time I was at the Tulsa airport I met Lou Ferrigno from The Incredible Hulk, and this time-the same thing kinda...Al Roker from the Today Show. I talked to him briefly and then went to sleep for a long day of traveling. I always liked the movie 'Camp Nowhere' and Andrew Keegan from CN was sitting behind me on the layover plane, but I was too tired to say anything...
LA is pretty cool so far, thanks to Shane Ballard's friend Shellie I enjoyed a day at Universal Studios and even a night at the taping of the Tracy Morgan show. I'm a huge Saturday Night Live fan and I've always liked Tracy's work on the show---especially Brian Fellow. His new sitcom which will air on NBC in December is hysterical. I met Tracy after the taping and may even go back-it was that good. John Witherspoon from Friday is in it along with Heavy D and some really talented people.
Last night I met up with the owners of KPX, my favorite motor sports shop in Arizona. It is never a normal night when I hang out with them and last night I found myself in the middle of a business meeting between all these people who had come in from China. I seem to adapt pretty easily and talked with the race car driver, largest toy maker in China, and a few other people at the dinner table about things I knew nothing about until the Kpx people got there. I think their website is KPX.com...check it out if it works-you can get quality scooters at a good price and the owners are good people---tell 'em I sent you!
I'm all set legally and shots-wise for the upcoming WWE Asia tour and I really look forward to going overseas as well as announcing some Smackdowns in December along with some non-televised live events. If you live where I'm announcing(see schedule section), check out the show-otherwise catch what you can on tv. It's late, I'm tired, I'm ending this! Thank you for reading and PLEASE, since I typed all this, be a lamb and sign the guestbook! Thanks J
10/11/03 started and completed/posted 10/23/03
Whattup...It's been an interesting and unpredictable past couple of weeks. I am currently on a plane in the middle of a WWE RAW tour and I will explain that one in just a second.
When I decided to move to LA to pursue my acting career, I packed up my stuff and headed out the next day in search of a new home. I have to thank everyone in Cali who has and is helping me get situated in this new adventure. A huge thank you goes out to Movie Director Andy Davis, Kenny, Adam, Seth, Jodi, Kristi,Vern, Chris, and everyone else whose name I can't think of right now. I apologize, but when I was in LA I did not sleep very much however I did find a home!
Towards the end of my pre-move I received a phone call to work WWE RAW house shows that upcoming weekend. I was also asked to work RAW that Monday, but that was scratched (the same thing happened the first time I was supposed to debut on RAW). I got situated in Cali and then drove back to Zona. After a few hours of sleep I had to get up and get ready to head out for the tour...and by the time I was finally ready, I got an hour of sleep and headed out to Louisville, KY. I was looking forward to working house shows for WWE since it has been about a year since I did those (house shows are non-televised live events). I've basically covered Smackdown/Velocity tv shows for Tony Chimel in the past year, so I was looking forward to this weekend. Right before the show started I got a call that once again I was set to announce RAW Monday night. By the time I post this I probably will have been cancelled off again :) The crowd in Louisville was awesome, large and loud! The Raw guys are all very cool and I've enjoyed this experience so far. Referee Mike Chioda has joined RAW so it was good to see him and all the other guys I knew from Smackdown like D-von, Val Venis, Randy Orton etc...
Last night could have been the highlight of my seven years in this business as I was introducing the legendary Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair...with referee Earl Hebner in the ring. I grew up watching these incredible performers and it was an honor to not only introduce them, but to also sit and watch these guys wrestle their hearts out the same way they did when I was growing up. They are unbelievable and have not lost a step in the past 10 years.
Since I am on the road, it was another night of maybe 45 minutes of sleep (once I could fall asleep) before I had to get up and drive to Cincinnati for a plane to Norfolk, VA---total WCW/NWA town. Sitting next to me as I type is whacko Stevie Richards, Stevie Night Heat World-Wide-Excluding-Two Planets-Heavyweight-Champion. I've always been a gadget guy (and Inspector Gadget fan), but there's no competition with the champ, he wins. Stevie got on this plane because the guy who had to be straight out of 'Office Space' is a big fan of his. He was told by the counter lady that there were no seats available, but because of his star-power some other non-WWE superstar was kicked off the plane and SR is sitting comfortably watching his DVD's. Before the 'Office Space' guy (who had pull at Delta) began kissing Stevie's ass I was sitting with Hurricane and betting that we were going to see a Stevie kick...but it never happened......anyway...
I'm eager to work in the Scope tonight and tomorrow in Wheeling West Virginia, followed by Monday night live in Pittsburgh. I just hope I'm back in time on Tuesday to work IZW's first tv taping in Phoenix and so I can watch Joe Schmo on Spike...JS could be the best show next to 24. Well, that's it for now, I will continue before I post this!....10/21/03...ok so it took me a while to finish this commentary, but I'm glad I didn't end it here....
Some things to talk about-Stu Hart passed away this week. He made a huge impact on the wrestling business not only from his training of some of the greats, but also bringing guys like Bret and Owen into the world. He was a very respected man in and out of the business and I was able to meet him just one year ago. All of the great Canadian and some American wrestlers today learned a thing or two from Stu and the rest of the Harts and for that he will never be forgotten.
Unfortunately as it goes in this crazy business, we also lost another 'superstar' in the same week. Road Warrior Hawk was one of those guys I really looked up to growing up watching wrestling. I was a huge LOD fan and was eager to work with them later on as I got into the business. I had a few indy shows with Hawk and enjoyed all of them. I remember going into the dressing room before a show to see if I could bring in a special fan to meet the guys. Hawk immediately jumped up and said "Yes, bring him in!! Where is he!!??" When I did, Hawk greeted this young kid like he was his best friend. He took pictures with him and signed 8x10's. That kid told me later in the evening that this was the greatest day in his life and I know that Hawk was a huge part of that. Mike Hegstrand was a good person and a helluva talent. I will miss working with him.
Finally, I want to complete the posting I started from the plane last week. The tour was a lot of fun, the Raw crew was awesome, and announcing Monday Night Raw last week was huge! I averaged about an hour of sleep each night and after taking 2 months off from announcing, working 5 shows in 5 nights was a great way to jump back into the scene. We did the show at the Scope and then drove to Richmond VA for an early flight to Pittsburgh, PA for a drive to Wheeling, WV. When that show ended, we drove back to Pittsburgh for Raw. I really hope to do this again in the near future. I may not have moved to CT yet, but considering how much I love working for WWE I wouldn't be surprised to see myself moving out there down the road. I was contacted last week about an upcoming WWE overseas tour and I will post more information as it becomes available. The 5th show that week was for IZW's tv taping and I had a lot of fun. There is some good talent that has a great opportunity to be exposed with the tv show airing once a week. Tonight is the season finale of Joe Schmo, as I mentioned before-an awesome show...and next week is the premiere of 24 season 3-the most addicting show on tv for sure. If you're in the OK area, check out the Toughman Contest Oct 31 and Nov 1st. We'll be having a good time in Bartlesville. I love working in Oklahoma and look forward to the trip. Thank you for reading and please sign the guestbook!
9/23/03
Whattup everyone...there's not a whole lot to report here so I will keep this simple. I receive lots of emails saying that WWE should use me more often and while I appreciate that, WWE has three ring announcers that have been there for quite some time and probably are not going anywhere soon. A couple of weeks ago WWE offered me a full time 'non-talent' position in Connecticut that would have me working at the studios doing random talent and announcing work as it came up, but I chose not to accept the offer. It was a rough decision with many pros and many cons... I had my childhood 'me' on one shoulder yelling at me to take it and I had future 'me' on the other shoulder saying that I should probably hold off on the move. I was very flattered when they called with the details and hope to work something out with them in the near future.
While I won't be moving to CT at this time, it looks like I may be moving to Los Angeles to pursue my acting career, while announcing for WWE as they need me. I have talked with some great people out there that are willing to help me get started and if I can't be announcing full time, then acting is the next best thing. I assume that I will have some news in the near future so keep an eye out for an update. Thank you to everyone that checked out the contact section and wrote me for 8x10's...I appreciate the support. It's too bad life doesn't come with a manual, but hopefully I'm making the right decisions... Thank you for stopping by and please sign the guestbook!
8/29/03
Wow, I didn't even plan this. I am updating on 8/29 for the first commentary since 7/29. Goldmember: "ISHN'T DAT WEIRD?" Ok, now that I got that out of my system...I last wrote after a lot of traveling and right before I was off again to WWE headquarters in Stamford, CT. The trip was cool, I liked the job that was open, and I got to come home the next day! Since then I have enjoyed some time off and I have been able to think about a lot of choices that I may have to make in the near future. A lot of new 'options' have popped up recently and when something is confirmed I will get more specific here.
Speaking of the WWE trip, I took another one downtown last Sunday to SummerSlam. I think the last ppv I was at may have been when Austin won King Of The Ring in Milwaukee, or was it Wrestlemania-Taker v Sid....I dunno...I do know that the last SummerSlam I was at was in Chicago the summer of '94. SS '03 totally blew that one away. As always it was great to see everyone from Raw and Smackdown and everyone involved in the production from the pyro guys to the sound and merchandise guys. They are all very cool and do a hell of a job all around.
There were a lot of great highlights from the show, one being Coach turning on Shane McMahon which I thought was awesome. Angle/Lesnar-Benoit/Guerrero/Tajiri-Rhyno-the chamber match---just SOME of the highlights....and just when the crowd thought the event was over, the entire back area came to the ring with Stone Cold and Vince McMahon for a birthday celebration. The guys all had a great time in the ring and therefore the crowd did too. Austin put Vince on the spot many times and Vince in return put Undertaker on the spot who put Big Show on the spot and got him to dance and spin like Booker T. Later on when Vince was put on the spot again, HHH and Pat Patterson helped him out by singing 'My Way', dedicating it to Vince and renaming it 'His Way'.
From all I have seen at various shows in the past 15 months or so, those commercials are so true...there's nothing like seeing WWE live. You never know what's going to happen. I love seeing something backstage that I know will make the crowd happy when it takes place later in the night and it happens almost every show I am at!
The night before SummerSlam I attended the Diva Search party at Jillian's in Phoenix. I don't know how much footage they will show on Confidential, but if you missed the live webcast-you missed a great show. the judges-Chris Jericho, Bubba Ray Dudley, Trish Stratus, Stacy Keibler, Hurricane, Dr. Tom Pritchard, and Test were awesome. The night was a lot of fun...
I apologize since I don't have much that I could talk about at this time, but as soon as something is confirmed about my future, I will write about it. Thank you for reading and please sign the guestbook! JJ
7/29/03
Hello. I have a bad habit of thinking of what I want to add on future commentaries, but then I don't write them down and I forget. This time, I got smart and added the topics onto this pre-loaded page and figured I would be set when it was time to write the next one. It was a great plan until my computer crashed and I lost everything. This is the 3rd time that I have lost everything and it's always a pain to get back on track, but I did and I'm ready for this commentary.
I think I left off at my Chicago trip. Long story short, the food was great and so was spending time with my family. While I looked forward to hanging out with my friends, I guess things change when you're not around anymore. I'm the type of guy who is happy to see others do well and succeed in the world, but some of my old friends are not. So I had a great time with the friends who are not affected by my life and career and the ones who are jealous of it, well I guess that's just the way they were brought up- in a competitive lifestyle. Pretty sad, and I hope that they can one day grow up.
I had the opportunity to work for Ian Rotten's IWA Mid-South in the Clarksville IN/Louisville KY area. It was an interesting night and a huge test for me. The fans there are regulars and I was informed that they're a pretty anti-sports entertainment crowd. I figured that they would boo me out of the building, so I was surprised when I realized they liked me and responded well to my announcing. I rode up with Dave Prazak, Danny Daniels, Brad Bradley, Nate Webb, and Steve Stone. It was good to work with my old friend CM Punk, Chris Hero, Tracy Smothers, and all of the guys who worked their bums off to put on a good show. I have to add that it was a LONG show-we didn't finish until after midnight-that was pretty weird.
After being in Chicago for nearly a month, I finally came home to Phoenix for a couple of days. Before I had a chance to breathe, I went with AWA's Dale Gagne to Las Vegas where we had an awesome time hanging out, gambling, going to shows, and of course watching Cook E Jarr at Harrah's. If you go to Harrah's you MUST see Cook E. What a character!!!! At the end of the Chicago trip I started getting sick, and Vegas didn't help much. The day we left Vegas, we went to California for the show in Lemoore which was a make-up from May's rained out event. By this point bronchitis kicked in and I wasn't feeling good at all. I did the show and had a lot of fun with Dale, Jim Duggan, Jimmy Snuka, Honky Tonk Man, Evan Karagias (who has cut off his hair and can now pass for my tag team partner), Steve Turbo, Keith Blackjack, Gangrel, Eric Priest, Hardkore Kidd, and my old friend Adam Pearce. It was a great trip, but I looked forward to going home, getting medicine, and resting!
The trips are usually fun, but traveling isn't. When you travel a lot for shows, it is VERY common to run intro problems such as delays, long lay overs, and lost luggage. I achieved all of those in the Vegas/California trip. The uncertainty really takes a toll on me, but in the end-everything worked out.
While I was laying in bed trying to recover I got a call from WWE about working Smackdown/Velocity in Fresno a couple of weeks down the road. I was booked for a long tour of Toughman, but was able to leave for the day and a half for the tapings.
On July 17, I flew to Oklahoma City-drove to Lawton, OK-worked shows that Friday and Saturday for Toughman---Sunday sprained my foot and drove to Muskogee, OK for the night and even got a flat tire on my rental car! So I could barely walk OR drive...Monday I drove all the way back to OK city, and flew to Dallas TX. I took a plane with The Basham Brothers, Linda (Shaniqua) Miles, and Orlando Jordan to Fresno. What a great group of people. We hung out and had dinner the Monday night before Smackdown and attempted to watch Raw. Doug Basham wasn't wearing sleeves so we couldn't eat at the snobby place that only showed 'real' sports on their tv's and the satellite was down where we had dinner so we missed Raw. I think Smackdown the next day went pretty well as did Velocity(see a clip here-Jason's videos!). I got to introduce Ultimoooo Dragooon, but it was not televised. I did however get to introduce Rey and Eddie on tv which is always fun, because they're cool names to announce. It was good to see everyone and I went back to the hotel right after the show as I had a long, early day the next morning. As I left the hotel, the rental car I was returning had a dead battery, so Billy Kidman called a cab and we got to the airport on time. From there I flew to Dallas where of course there was a problem with the a/c on the next plane-so finally we got on and flew to OK city once again. From there I drove back to Muskogee and worked Toughman Friday and Saturday nights. Sunday morning I never slept, I just left my hotel at 4:30am to catch an 8am flight from OK city. I had been gone for 10 days and had encountered so many problems, and long hours on the road-I just wanted to get home. Well-I got lost on my way out of town which is rare, and Sped to get to the airport on time. That's when I got pulled over and received a $200 speeding ticket. I got to the airport 10 minutes late and spent the next 4 hrs on standby to catch the next flight out.
Needless to say, it's great to be home in sunny, AZ. (Even if my bronchitis came back) Oh wait, tomorrow I leave for Stamford, CT where I will see about possibly working at WWE in CT full time. I guess we'll find out what happens and I'm sorry for the abundance of topics causing me to leave out good details. Thank you for reading and thank you to all of the great fans I met at Toughman and WWE recently-I appreciate all of the kind emails. Please let me know you read this by signing the guestbook, Thanks! JJ
6/11/03
And Thennn...What's up everyone...I am writing this from my hometown of Chicago. As always it's great to be back here so I can eat like a champion. It's been pizza and Italian beef almost every meal since I have been here, but if I can't gain 15lbs while in town then what's the point of coming here? It's definitely not for the weather, but probably so I can see my family and friends. Anyway, right before I came back to Chi-Town I was in San Diego and Anaheim, California for WWE Raw and Smackdown. I thought both shows were awesome and it was great to see everyone and meet some new people I hadn't met yet. Since I don't work on Raw, I hadn't seen The Rock since I worked with him at a Bally's show in New York a few years ago. People ALWAYS ask me what the Rock is like and I am happy to report that besides being one of the top guys in the business and in Hollywood, he is also one of the nicest guys. From the first time I worked with him through this past week, he makes time for everyone and always sends the fans home happy which is huge in my book. I even took a new picture with him since the last was pretty outdated (see Pictures section).
Backstage in Cali was a pretty happening place. It's kind of weird to sit back there the first night and see The Rock, Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, HHH, Ric Flair, and Kurt Angle all at one show. There is a lot of great talent on Raw, don't get me wrong, but those names really stick out in my mind. Angle was there, but did not appear...and this past week Mick Foley was added to the lineup-unreal. Besides all of the great talent on Raw (Val Venis, Dudley Boyz, Rico, etc...) Jason Hervey of the Wonder Years was in the back and on Tuesday, Rob Reiner, and MTV Real World's the Miz were at Smackdown. For someone who watches mostly re-run shows, that was cool to see Jason and meet Rob. In addition to ALL of those names, WWE.com's Phil Speer was spotted signing autographs nonstop!
Smackdown on Tuesday was the return of Kurt Angle. I went out to watch 2 segments...Kurt and Billy Gunn's returns (non-televised) against Jimmy 'Solo' Snuka jr. I also caught Ultimo Dragon's dark match...I can't wait to introduce him! Anyway, Kurt is a phenomenal talent. One of the greatest 'bad guys', soon to be one of the greatest 'good guys', and an awesome guy. I am a huge Angle fan. It was sad on Monday when JR announced the passing of "Classy Freddie Blassie". I never met him, but always thought he was an awesome performer. The tribute video that they played Tuesday was very touching and it ended with the respectful fans of Anaheim chanting 'Freddie Freddie!' Very cool. FB was 85 and will be missed in this industry. Geez this list is getting way too long. There's a heck of a roster up there and hopefully no one else will be added any time soon.
Instead of flying to California, Navajo Warrior and I drove. On Monday, I had gone 36 hours straight without getting any sleep, and almost 24 hours on Tuesday...with MANY hours and miles of driving straight through. Nav did manage to grab the wheel...one time when I was dropping re-wetting drops in my eyes :) Thanks Nav! At least you slept like a champion and didn't snore. Wouldn't want you to keep me up or anything when I'm trying to drive without falling asleep. Nav's the man-check out his site on my links page...I want to thank Hollywood Yates for supplying me with Red Bull for the trip home after San Diego. Dude hooked me up royally and I downed the RB like it was caffeinated water with flavoring. Wood cracks me up and is a great talent in rodeo and in wrestling. I also need to thank Kanyon for all the jokes @ Smackdown. He and I couldn't get valet parking gigs if our lives depended on it.
I'm taking a break from announcing for a few weeks and look forward to my debut June 27 in Louisville, KY for Ian Rotten's IWA Mid South. Dave Prazak has sent me enough tapes, and now I can see a show in person. I also look forward to AWA in Lemoore, California for another attempt at a show-hopefully this time it won't be cancelled. Traveling with Dale Gagne (Awastars.com) is ALWAYS interesting and I look forward to a weekend of good conversation and a few bud lights!
In closing, I'd like to share my feelings about last week's Golden Girls reunion which almost kept me from going to Raw, but when I remembered that I set the VCR--it was ok. Anyway, It was a good show. They showed some great highlights of the phenomenal series. It was too bad that Estelle Ghetty/Sophia could not be there ( I heard she is very ill :( ) and it was also a shame that the girls cut promos separately and they were edited together. There wasn't one shot of them together looking back...and reuniting! BOOO. Anyway, the Golden Girls rule regardless...and so far I have met 1/4 (see pictures section) of them and I HOPE to meet the other 3! Thank you for reading and don't forget to watch Raw Monday night on Spike TV. If u read any section of my site-- please sign the guestbook-thanks-JJR
5/10/03
Whattup...Just like old times, I haven't updated this column for a month so now I have to remember what has happened since early April...It was great going back home to Chi Town and announcing WWE Velocity at the All-State Arena in front of my family and friends. I couldn't help looking over at the section of seats where I sat for my first WWE live event back in '92 while I stood in the ring. The show went well and my family and friends definitely had a great time, I think the experience turned a lot of them into fans now...well at least my Dad as he called me Monday night and Thursday night to tell me what would happen on Raw and Smackdown before they aired in the West.
At the show, I got a call about running my own show in Tucson, so while I was spending some extra time in Chicago I put together a card and ran it less than two weeks later. I used MSPW/IZW talent such as Navajo Warrior, Hollywood, Jackbull, James Lucash, and the Ballard Brothers--along with Mike the Miz from Real World NY, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Tito Santana, "B2" Bull Buchanan, and even a special appearance by the Big Boss Man. We had a lot of fun and I was definitely entertained by hanging out with Boss Man and friends.
The week before Tucson I was in Nashville, TN for WWE Smackdown and Velocity. As always I had a great time and ate like a champion-gotta love the catering. The night before the show I was at a little country bar across from the arena where I just about became a fan of country music. I was impressed that Josh Mathews and Michael Cole knew the words to almost every song the band played (I think Josh just made some lucky guesses).
On Tuesday, I rode to the arena with Ernest The Cat Miller and Johnny Stamboli, in the back of a pickup truck with one of the folding squares that you squeeze into behind the passenger seat. The arena was right down the street, but we couldn't find the backstage tunnel so it took forever and all I could do was sit back and think of how uncomfortable that square was and how it would not be cool to be late for the production meeting. Luckily we made it into the building, and I got to the meeting on time...and I didn't have to sit on that square again for the rest of my trip. When Tony Chimel isn't there and I announce dark matches, Velocity, and Smackdown-it's a long night with a lot of introductions to memorize. Despite drinking too much water again before the show, I think it was one of my best WWE shows and I nailed just about every intro as it was written on paper. I would have been a lot more comfortable if I knew there were port-o-potties at ringside to I could get rid of the Aquafina before Smackdown ended.
Again I think the shows went really well and we'll see what's next at WWE land. May 3 was going to be my return to AWA for the 1st time in about a year, and it would be my 4th Anniversary with them and my 4th Superclash. Unfortunately it rained on our outdoor event, so the show was cancelled, but we still got paid and made the most of our time in Lemoore. Dining with Dale Gagne for 4 days is always interesting and even more entertaining. Throw in meals/drinks with the Honky Tonk Man, Jim Duggan, Konan, and Road Warrior Animal and you have many many stories. It was also good to see Steve "Turbo", Eric Priest, Jonnie Stewart, Evan Karagias, and everyone else again since it has been a while. I feel bad for the America West first class cabin lady for putting up with Dale and I screaming HOOOOOOOOOO, Tough Guy, and USA USA the entire trip back.
It's been a very busy month and as of right now July is starting to fill up with the AWA makeup date, and a couple of Toughman weekends in Oklahoma which include me staying out there for 10 days to announce 4 shows and do promotional work. Last year was a blast in OK and I look forward to July 2003. Thank you all for reading--please sign the guestbook-J
4/6/03
Movie extras/WWE tv return/stuff
I usually mention something in every commentary along the lines of-I don't remember what else I wanted to talk about, so this commentary will make up for all of those. I wanted to put a different twist on this and cover random issues.
For instance, I need to vent. Not about anything serious, but just about movie extras. I used to be one, they are almost as interesting as carnies (not wilson or craig though). You get your unnoticeable extras, and then you get the ones that stand out. In that category you have good extras who look believable and the extras that are overacting and look awful. Throughout the years I have noticed many extras, and I feel strong enough about two of them to count them as my favorite and least favorite extras in a movie. The 'award' for favorite extra in a movie goes to the lady in the picture below, behind Steve Martin in 'My Blue Heaven'. She is by far my favorite extra in a movie. I wish she was credited so I could find out if she has demonstrated her extra expertise in any other film. I am very curious to find out where her career has taken her. My least favorite extra in a movie is from probably my favorite movie, 'Office Space'. Dude's overacting and it kills me when he pops up during the meeting where the Bob's are introduced. He stands out like a sore pinkie finger and does not fit in with the other Initek extras. Boooo the movie people for not editing him out.
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Over Steve Martin's left shoulder is one of the top extra legends of all time. |
AAAARGGHHH-the guy holding the mug who nods at EVERYTHING. One of the worst ever. |
Anyway, I'm glad to get that off of my chest-so thank you. Moving on, I was watching Fox news and heard a mention of 29 Palms California and the marines who came from there. It got me thinking about all of the base shows I have done throughout the country including 29 Palms, and a lot of the people who I met are the ones out fighting in Iraq. I hope they are successful and can come back home soon!
You know what's really fun during a time of war? To hear an explosion outside of your house. And even more fun, to hear another one a minute later. O wait--that's not so fun, as I learned the other day when I heard two explosions outside my house. It turned out that the construction workers used explosives in their project (thanks for the warning).
Moving on again, I came back last week from two very fun Toughman shows in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We had great crowds and good bouts in the two nights we were there. As I always say, Toughman events are exciting and unpredictable-definitely a great time.
I got a call last week with a couple of WWE dates, one which brings me back to Nashville, TN for Smackdown on April 22 (airing 4/24) and Velocity and one that brings me home to Chicago, IL for Velocity. I grew up attending all of the 'WWF' shows at the Rosemont Horizon and now I get to live out my dream of performing there in front of my family and friends. It is now the All State Arena and regardless of the name change, I have a ton of memories stemming from there, including where I saw my first 'WWF' show. While I'm leaving 80 degree weather for snow, I'm looking forward to the show and seeing everyone...and especially getting to eat good pizza for the first time since July.
That should do it for this commentary, thank you for reading and please send me any questions or comments you might have...and let me know who's out there, please sign the guestbook!! JJR