Written Podcast Recap: The Jim Ross Report – The Bright Future Ahead Of Jeff Cobb, ROH World TV Champion
Release Date: October 24th, 2018
Running time: 1:59:17
Recap by: Joe Aguinaldo
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
0:00 – Intro
Welcome back to another week of Slobberknocker audio. J.R. is in LA where he recently did voice overs for AXS TV calling the Triple Threat Match with Omega vs Cody vs Ibushi.
1:30 – What’s On J.R.’s Mind
- Rumors about J.R. getting involved in a new promotion are false.
- J.R. and Jerry Lawler will be at Hilarities in Cleveland on December 8th. Check out www.hilarities.com for details.
- J.R. and the King will also be at Wrestlecade on November 24th. Check out www.wrestlecade.com for details
- The Chris Jericho Cruise is around the corner (this weekend). Some of it will be covered by the FITE app. On Sunday, J.R. and Lawler will be recording a Talk Is Jericho podcast from the pool deck of the cruise.
- J.R. is getting some cancer surgery on Thursday to get some skin cancer removed from his shoulder.
- Jeff Cobb will be on today’s podcast. J.R. first saw him at one of Dylan Bostic’s shows.
- It was a big week in college football. Purdue beat Ohio State.
- This Friday on AXS TV, they will be airing Tanahashi vs Okada for the Wrestle Kingdom wrestling rights.
- Wrestle Kingdom will be on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome.
- Chris Jericho defends the IWGP IC title against EVIL on November 3rd (Power Struggle event)
Around the Wrestling Horn
- MLW will have TV tapings in Miami Florida on December 13th and 14th. Tickets are on sale. They will also be in Chicago on November 8th. Check out www.mlw.com for details
- Impact Wrestling will have TV tapings in Las Vegas for 3 nights, November 11th to November 13th
- ROH will be presenting the Sea Of Honor tournament on the Chris Jericho Cruise.
- J.R. tried to watch the NWA 70th anniversary show. He really liked the card but couldn’t get the FITE app to work.
- The House of Hardy Halloween Special airs on the WWE network this weekend
- Evolution is this Sunday night. If J.R. was booking the show, he would close with Becky vs Charlotte. However he thinks the show will close with Rousey vs. Nikki Bella. He says the WWE are trying to make Rousey an Austin like character. Charlotte and Becky will be one or two matches before. The show opener should be Bliss/James vs Lita/Trish
- RAW and Smackdown were completely overwhelmed by Roman Reigns announcement that he was suffering from leukemia. The fact that Roman was allowed to make this announcement in his own words was admirable. Fans loved that. J.R. didn’t know Roman suffered from that illness. All we can do is hope and pray in our own way and send positive thoughts to Roman.
33:22 – Slobberknocker Of The Week
Candidates include:
- Patrick Mahomes, QB for the KC Chiefs.
- Nick Aldis who regained the NWA Championship at the NWA 70 Anniversary Show
- Jamie Lee Curtis who is in the new Halloween film
- Trey Young from the Atlanta Hawks
This week’s winner is Tyler Trent, Purdue Superfan who watched the Boilermakers beat Ohio State. His interview after the game was beautiful and makes you proud that there are people on Earth who have the balls to fight through adversity.
39:03 – Pet Coon Goofy Award
Candidates include:
- Whoever was responsible for the production of NWA 70 on FITE.
- The Cleveland Browns who need to be able to close a game out.
- The Jacksonville Jaguars who are having QB issues.
This week’s winner is Rajon Rondo. He spit in the face of the Houston Rockets’ Chris Paul.
44:44 – This Week In Wrestling
29 years ago – October 28, 1989 – The very first Halloween Havoc – The main event was the Thunderdome match with Ric Flair and Sting (with Ole Anderson) defeating The Great Muta and Terry Funk (with Gary Hart). Bruno Sammartino was the special referee.
20 years ago – October 25th, 1998 – MSG – Ken Shamrock was in a three way match against Vader and Mankind. The New Age Outlaws retained the tag titles against D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry, X-Pac beat European champ Jeff Jarrett by DQ. This was also the first time the Hardys worked at MSG.
20 years ago – October 24th, 1998 – The NWA’s 50th anniversary show. Lots of talent was on that card. Steve Williams won a Battle Royal. In the main event, Dan Severn retained the NWA title against Steven Regal.
16 years ago – October 26th, 2002 – Manchester Arena in Manchester England – Rebellion 02 – Gerry Brisco, Pat Patterson and J.R. walked to Chinatown and found the greatest Chinese restaurants. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman retained the WWF Championship against Edge in a handicapped match. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit retained the tag titles against Chavo and Eddie Guerrero.
9 years ago – October 25th 2009 – Bragging Rights – J.R. had just had his 3rd bout with Bell’s Palsy and was on the IR thinking he was done. He missed the event but was given the Bragging Rights trophy from Team Smackdown as a get well gift. It may have been a prop but he thought it was kind of cool. The Fatal Fourway match was amazing with Undertaker defending the World Title against CM Punk, Batista and Rey Mysterio.
Birthdays:
The late Sapphire (Juanita Wright) would have been 84, Superstar Bill Dundee (75), Too Cold Scorpio (53), Rosa Mendes (39), the late Ron Wright would have been 79, Austin Idol (69), Kevin Sullivan (69), Taka Michinoku (45), CM Punk (40), Bobby Fish (39), Marla Maples (55), Harvey Wippleman (53), Iron Mike Sharpe would have been 67, MVP (45), Christy Hemme (38), Rocky Romero (36), Paul Orndorff (69), the late Danny McShain would have been 106 and Edge (45)
1:05:17 – Mailbag
Send questions, comments and suggestions to thejimrossreport@gmail.com.
Q: If you could pick a dream announce team to call WrestleMania with who would you have in the booth?
A: Jerry Lawler and Paul Heyman. The backstage interviewer would be Jim Cornette.
Q: With the debut of the new NWA championship title, do you have a design or championship that is your favorite?
A: J.R. likes the old vintage NWA title belt but he’s not a belt guy.
Q: Suggestion to J.R. to rebroadcast and review of a match that J.R. called
A: J.R. doesn’t think it would be legal to do this as all the audio is owned by WWE. But he likes the idea.
Q: How does J.R. see WWE using Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate?
A: There is nothing to hold either of these wrestler’s back. One of the biggest thrills in J.R.’s life was going to NXT to call Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate. That match stands out among thousands that he has called. He thanks HHH for that booking and thinks those kids are going to be stars. He thinks one of them will be a WWE champion.
Q: What kind of advice would you give to someone trying to make it in the wrestling business in 2018?
A: Experience is the way to go. Get experience in any way in whatever role you want to be in and get as much as you can. Figure out what you want to do and try to find practical experience.
1:13:40 – Jeff Cobb
J.R. welcomes Jeff to the show.
Jeff is living in Las Vegas and is of Filipino descent. He was a big fan of Hulk Hogan and got into amateur wrestling because of pro wrestling. In high school he saw a flyer for wrestling practise but thought it was for pro wrestling. In school he was a smaller kid and got picked on. He says he was a late bloomer. You can find him on twitter @realJeffCobb.
Q: What kind of traveler is Jeff?
A: He’s an ok traveler. He noticed the more he travels the more he keeps to himself.
J.R. says one of the factors of being happy and successful is not travelling with people who are ‘downers’. Wrestling has a lot of peaks and valleys and you want to stay away from people who are in the valley. They talk about doing laundry on the road. On Jeff’s first trip to Japan he underpacked and had to do laundry a lot. J.R gives Jeff a little pointer on how to dry your clothes using a towel if you wash them in your hotel room.
Q: How has working at NJPW been?
A: Overall, it has been above and beyond his expectations. He had heard good stories about NJPW but they have been surpassed. The fans, company, employees, wrestlers and even the food are great.
Q: What makes the New Japan Locker Room different?
A: Everyone is on the same page and on board to steer the ship in the right direction
Q: Who would he love to work with at New Japan?
A: Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuo Naito
J.R says he would love to call a match between Omega and Cobb. The story would be Jeff needs to ground Omega or he may have some troubles with Omega’s speed. J.R brings up Omega’s v-trigger move and has heard unique reviews from people that have taken it. It is a devastating looking move
Q: What’s the atmosphere working at PWG?
A: PWG is on another level when it comes to indies. They bring in the big names and it’s like a super card every show. Fans are rabid and some will sit in line for hours drinking and when they get in the building the intensity gets turned up by 1000.
Q: Omega and Tanahashi will be wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom. Is that the kind of match Jeff will watch?
A: If Jeff is there he will definitely watch that match at gorilla or in the crowd to feel the buzz. If he’s not on the card he’ll stay up to watch that match.
Q: How is working in ROH and how much of his time will he devote to ROH?
A: Jeff’s time has been fantastic. Everyone from the staff, the talent and Joe Koff have been cool and he will be there for the foreseeable future
J.R. says it’s great that NJPW and Roh are cooperating and taking care of the fans.
Q: ROH has an old school vibe similar to ECW and NWA. Does Jeff get that feel?
A: ROH has a great way of blending old school and new school wrestling where different generations of fans will enjoy the product.
J.R. likes the talent roster but doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt. The human body is not built to land on concrete. He brings up how guys do things that take the viewer out of the moment. J.R. likes Jeff’s style because he doesn’t do anything overtly fancy. He does everything realistically and powerfully. He doesn’t need to do high spots to get over. Jeff tries not to do many high spots because he can’t defeat gravity and it would be a lot of weight coming down on his body. He’d prefer not to do that
Q: Has Jeff worked with Okada?
A: Jeff did a run where he worked 9 nights in a row against Okada in multi person matches.
J.R talks about NJPW on AXS and says he loves the brand. He compares it to Mid-South.
Q: Would Jeff have liked to go through the old territory system?
A: From the stories he’s heard, he would have loved to work the territory days. He recently did a 2 hour car ride with Ricky Morton and they talked about the territory days. Being able to wrestle new guys in front of new crowds would have been a blast.
Q: Does it bother Jeff or younger talents to see veterans like Undertaker and HBK wrestling at the top of recent cards?
A: It doesn’t bother Jeff because to him they are the draws. He looks at it as needing to step up his game. If these guys are the main event, he can’t sit back and complain, he needs to improve his game and get to that level.
JR says that’s a healthy attitude. Younger guys need to constantly reinvent themselves to get to that level.
Recently Jeff heard a quote that ‘comfort is the enemy of progress’. He doesn’t want to be comfortable. He doesn’t just want to be happy at the top drawing x amount of people but wants to draw 10 times more people.
Q: JR says people with athletic backgrounds often make the best pro wrestlers. Does Jeff see himself that way? How does he look at his leadership and how does he share his experiences to the roster?
A: He doesn’t necessarily see himself as a leader because guys like Jay Lethal who have been at ROH longer are leaders. Jeff tries to bring the things he’s done to be successful and brings different aspects to the game. He hopes he can help everyone elevate their games and is willing to help other wrestlers when he can.
Q: Is the WWE somewhere he wants to work?
A: He would be lying if he said he didn’t want to go to the WWE because that’s what started his love for wrestling in the first place. It would be the ultimate test and is definitely on his bucket list.
JR says there a ton of guys that Jeff could work with in the WWE like Brock Lesnar
Q: Is there anyone Jeff would like to work with in WWE?
A: Samoa Joe and Cesaro.
Q: What’s next for Jeff Cobb?
A: His immediate goal is to get booked for Wrestle Kingdom. He’s currently the ROH TV champ but would like a shot at the ROH World Championship.
Q: What are Jeff’s thoughts on the upcoming ROH/NJPW MSG card?
A: Even though the Knicks play at MSG, he considers it a wrestling venue first. In 2003, he wrestled there for the amateur world championships. His second immediate goal after Wrestle Kingdom is to wrestle professionally in the Gardens. If he does, his list will be pretty complete.
JR hopes he gets on the MSG card and gets to experience that as there’s nothing like it. He wishes Jeff safe travels, thanks him for being on the podcast and the sign off
1:52:01 – Show Wrap
JR goes through some 5 star ratings, plugs the Westwood One wrestling podcasts. Next week they will have Slobberknocker Audio from the high seas from the Jericho Cruise. And that’s a wrap.
Rating – 8/10
I really liked this show. J.R. did a really good job with the Jeff Cobb interview and they covered a bunch of topics. I love Jeff’s attitude regarding the veterans coming back and being at the top of the card. It shows he has his head on straight when it comes to being successful in wrestling. Definitely rooting for this guy. One thing I noticed was that J.R. was much more ‘animated’ during the normal segments compared to previous podcasts. Then again, that could have been due to the fact that I listened to the podcast at 1.5 x speed (kudos to www.pwpodcast.com assistant editor Jeff Rush for that suggestion). Over all though, solid podcast and a definite thumbs up recommend, especially the Jeff Cobb interview.
Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro
1:30 – What’s On J.R.’s Mind
33:22 – Slobberknocker Of The Week
39:03 – Pet Coon Goofy Award
44:44 – This Week In Wrestling
1:0517 – Mailbag
1:13:40 – Jeff Cobb
1:52:01 – Show Wrap
About Joe:
Joe is a long time wrestling fan from Toronto. He is a co-host on the Pull Apart Podcast with Jeff Rush and Caitlin Lavelle as well as a contributor to www.pwpodcasts.com. One of his life goals is to be a guest host on one of Wade Keller’s post show podcasts. He doesn’t consider himself any sort of expert, he just likes wrestling. Check him out on twitter and instagram @ja113.
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