“Yard Work, Spring 2008: Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” continues as we welcome legendary play-by-play announcer Jim Ross with his preview of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 and is also a great cook.
With Opening Day less than two weeks away, tensions are running high, tempers are beginning to flare out of control, and expectations are reaching a fever pitch!
Welcome everyone, I’m Jim Ross and we’re counting down to the start of the biggest season of all-time for the Tampa Bay Rays — the 2008 season! Opening Day will be brought to you on March 31, but one day earlier on March 30, just on down the road from Tampa in nearby Orlando, the WWE will bring you the grandaddy of them all, WRESTLEMANIA XXIV, the biggest sports entertainment extravaganza all time — LIVE from the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. Thank you for inviting me onto your computer screens, I wish you could all be here to feel the excitement that is the Road to Wrestlemania XXIV and the Road to Opening Day 2008 for the Rays!!
This year, the newly-named Rays are putting their legacy on the line against the rest of the American league, as they look to finish above .500 for the first time in team history. The Rays are a perfect 10-0 when it comes to finishing below .500, and they’ll put that streak on the line this year, just like the Undertaker — the PHEE-nom of the WWE — will be putting his 15-0 record at Wrestlemanias on the line when he faces the Rated R Superstar, Edge, for the World Heavyweight Championship, only on Pay-Per-View! If you’re not sure how to order Wrestlemania XXIV, call your cable company to make sure that you don’t miss out on seeing perhaps the damndest World Championship match that we will ever see!
With the Rays, this ain’t the seniors’ tour folks, these youngsters are the real deal. These guys are so young, they could be the younger brothers of the drive-in dates of my friend and broadcast partner Jerry “The King” Lawler! They might be the youngest World Series Championship team in baseball history, and they’ll be looking to prove themselves just like the youngest WWE Champion in history, Randy Orton, will be looking to prove himself at Wrestlemania XXIV when he faces John Cena and the Game, Triple H, for the WWE Championship. If the Rays have even a fraction of the heart and determination that John Cena and the Cerebral Assassin, Triple H will bring to the ring on March 30, then the Rays are in for one slobberknocker of a season, let me tell you.
Carlos Pena capped a remarkable comeback with a scintillating 2007 season. When Pena strode to the plate, it was safe to say that business was about to pick to up, especially when this 220-pound hoss blasted any one of the 46 home runs he hit last season. After being damned near out of the league for a few years, Pena has picked up his game and is one of the best in the business. Along with the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels, who missed four years of action following back surgery, both men’s amazing comebacks are darned near unprecedented. Can Pena defeat the legendary three-time MVP Alex Rodriguez and take the award for himself this year? And can the future Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels defeat legendary 16-time World Champion Ric Flair on the grandest stage of them all? The stakes have never been higher, folks.
Scott Kazmir and James Shields made good on the promise they showed as youngsters and finally developed into top-line performers. These young studs form the damndest 1-2 punch that the league has seen in a long time, and let me tell you folks, it don’t get no better than these two hosses. These guys are money in the bank players who are climbing the ladder of success to superstardom. But that’s nothing compared to the heights that eight WWE Superstars will attempt to scale in order to pick up the big prize in the Money in the Bank ladder match at Wrestlemania XXIV. Speaking of hosses, closer Al Reyes surprised a lot of people by becoming one of the league’s best firemen, but the big 240-pounder has nothing on the 454-pound Big Show, who made his own surprise appearance at our last Pay Per View event, No Way Out, to challenge boxer Floyd Mayweather to a match at Wrestlemania. Ten days ago on Monday Night Raw, we saw the Big Show launch Mayweather onto a crowd of wrestlers like Rays speedster Carl Crawford launches triples into the gaps in Tropicana Field. Folks, you have no idea how fast Carl Crawford is until you see him in person. The television doesn’t do him justice. Not even in HD! At Wrestlemania XXIV, Mayweather said he’d break Big Show’s jaw — will he deliver on that promise, or will he swing and miss more than blue-chip prospect B.J Upton did in 2007 when he struck out 154 times? Find out this March 30, when Wrestlemania XXIV comes to you LIVE, only on Pay Per View!!
The rich and famous will be turning out to Tropicana Field this year, beginning with Tampa resident and WWE Hall of Famer, that’s right, the Hulkster, the legendary Hulk Hogan! Also look for John Legend, Kim Kardashian, and Raven Symone be among the celebrities taking part in Wrestlemania XXIV this year, and don’t forget about hip-hop star Snoop Dogg who will be on hand as Master of Ceremonies in the Playboy Bunny Mania match featuring the WWE Divas. Rays fans will have to wait until the New York Yankees’ come to town to see this many divas in one place, but why wait that long when Wrestlemania XXIV is less than two weeks away?
I’m not gonna make predictions about who will win the AL East, but I like the Rays versus the field. I swear to god folks, this division could go either way, I swear to god it could. Mark your calendars folks, because in thirty-five years in this business, I have never been this excited about a Wrestlemania — or an Opening Day — ever in my whole career like I am this year! When you put clubs like the Rays in the same division with superheavyweights like the Red Sox and Yankees, anything can happen. They’ll be fighting for team supremacy much like the battle we’ll see for for brand supremacy between Raw and Smackdown when the Samoan Bulldozer, Umaga, hooks up with the Animal, Batista, at Wrestlemania . The smashmouth style of the Red Sox might not be pretty, but you can bet on some physically intense games when they face the Rays this year.
The Rays look like the team to beat in 2008 from where I sit, but that’s just my own damn opinion. This team is gonna be tougher than a two-dollar steak, and the Red Sox and Yankees will discover that the hard way when they get whipped like a government mule all season long by the Rays deep and talented roster. Summer in Tampa is gonna be hotter than a down-home Oklahoma BBQ cookout with a plate of beef ribs smothered with JR’s own Original BBQ Sauce, and the Rays are gonna be a big part of it folks, I can promise you that. But if you can’t wait for Opening Day on March 31, then you’re in luck, because Wrestlemania XXIV will be coming to you, LIVE, one day earlier on March 30, only on Pay Per View folks, make sure you don’t miss out on the biggest event in sports entertainment history or the biggest season in Tampa Bay Rays history! See you two Sundays from now on March 30! Boomer Sooner!