Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host Jeff Lane, Big Vito and Kenny ‘Starmarker’ Bolin.
Bolin thinks we’ve lost the feeling of what a PPV really is. He thought it was best when there was four PPVs, but he’s well aware that they’ll never return to that format due to the business side of things. He’s glad that the WWE Network exists because people would go broke trying to pay $60-$70 twice a month for these PPVs, which aren’t really any better than RAW or Smackdown.
Getting into their thoughts on RAW, Russo says that four guys should never run away from three, like we saw during the opening segment of RAW on Monday night. He says that Vince McMahon has no idea how to book logical situations anymore and he’s driving fans away from the buildings. Big Vito agrees and says that you’d never run away if you had the numbers advantage.
Kane called out Braun Strowman later in the show, saying that he was the only monster on RAW. Russo says that Kane appeared to be telling the truth because Strowman was nowhere to be found. Vito says that WWE has failed Strowman lately and they’ve taken the ‘Stone Cold’ mystique away from him. Vito thinks Strowman is done, and he needs to go to Smackdown Live where he can be repackaged.
Russo saw Asuka wrestle for the first time on Monday night, and he has no idea what the big deal is supposed to be about her. He knows that the marks love her because she’s the female version of Nakamura, but there’s really nothing special about Asuka. He says Asuka couldn’t touch WWE Hall of Famer, Alundra Blaze with a 10-foot pole.
Bolin says that he fell back in love with wrestling due to Nakamura and Asuka’s work in NXT. The production was great, and the creative team really cared about those talents down there. He thinks the main roster has ruined Asuka in two nights by failing to emphasize the things that made her popular in NXT.
He also points out that Nakamura and Asuka may have been told to tone down the ‘strong style’ once they reached the main roster, but if you take away their style – the style that made them very successful all around the world – it’s impossible for them to be as effective.
Vito says the highlight of RAW was Alicia Fox’s win over Sasha Banks and Bayley, earning the opportunity to captain Team RAW at Survivor Series. He thinks having a crazy captain could result in some terrific and unpredictable television leading into Survivor Series. Bolin agrees and says he considers Fox to be just as good physically as any of the women on WWE’s roster.
Russo says he’s so sick and tired of hearing the ‘genius’ of Paul Heyman. His wife watched some of RAW with him on Monday and she’s a very casual viewer who grew tired of Heyman’s promo rather quickly. In addition, Russo says that Heyman verbally assaulted Jinder Mahal during his promo on Monday, relegating him to just a bump in the road on Lesnar’s road to WrestleMania.
Bolin agrees, saying that he was very dissapointed in this promo by Heyman. By making Mahal out to be a jobber, even if Lesnar wins now the win means nothing. He says that Heyman knows better than this, and whoever booked this promo should be ashamed. He adds that he’d book Jinder Mahal to beat Brock Lesnar in three minutes at Survivor Series, unifying the Titles, because Lesnar doesn’t need that Title and Mahal desperately needs a decisive win.
Russo says he absolutely hated the ‘under siege’ angle that ended the show on Monday night. He feels that something like this should have been booked over a three month period, but instead WWE rushed this angle at the last minute and it turned out like crap.
Bolin agrees and says he hated the angle as well. He points out that all of RAW’s big stars were nowhere to be found and even when the women matched up equally four versus four, the Smackdown women plowed through the RAW women in less than 10 seconds. The RAW women were actually dressed in their ring gear ready for a fight, and they still couldn’t put up a fight. It was just all bad.
Moving into their thoughts on Smackdown Live, Russo says he would have saved himself two hours if he had known that Sami Zayn was going to open the show in a main event position.
None of the guys were impressed with the Fashion Files segment this week. Russo thinks this whole thing is a joke, and now they’ve incorporated The Ascension into this nonsense as well. Bolin agrees and even though he tried to enjoy the segments, he simply isn’t entertained by them. Vito says he’d rather be watching David Arquette as Champion than this stuff.
Vito thinks WWE is setting up Baron Corbin to have one of the most embarrassing Title runs of all time. He thinks WWE was forced into giving him a Title run after the concussion controversy surrounding him. He points out that WWE always finds a way to get back at people who speak out, and this will be their way of telling Corbin to keep his mouth shut moving forward. Bolin says Corbin looks like an average indie worker and not a star. Russo says he actually likes Corbin’s look, but WWE isn’t doing anything with him.
That sums up today’s episode of Vince Russo’s The Brand. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya tomorrow for another recap!
