Block 1:

Taz opens today’s show speaking about last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW.

Taz thought last night’s show was very entertaining in the sense that there were several big, surprising returns. However, Taz would have changed the way WWE presented the entire running theme of the show, with RAW setting up security to prevent another Smackdown Live invasion. He would have preferred if Kurt Angle opened the show with an angry promo, issuing an open invitation to Smackdown Live.

He thought it was nice to see Stephanie McMahon back on WWE programming, and he thought she did a terrific job with her in-ring promo. He also liked that Kurt Angle snapped in the backstage area after Stephanie threatened his job in her promo. He believes that this is the side of Angle’s character that people love and he thinks we should see more of it.

Taz was very happy to see Samoa Joe make his return from injury last night as well. He thought Joe looked great and he had a good match with Apollo Crews. However, Taz thought Joe should have been brought back in a much more significant spot, with higher stakes involved. The way they did it last night was fine, but there just didn’t seem to be a lot of effort put into that creatively.

Block 2:

Taz wasn’t sure if he liked the way WWE presented Braun Strowman’s return or not. It definitely had his attention, but from a production standpoint it came off a little hokey. In Taz’s opinion, WWE almost wanted this to look a bit hokey, similar to how they’ve shot several other Strowman segments in the past. In either event, Taz thought the segment worked fine.

He thinks WWE’s 25th Anniversary of RAW is going to be a massive show. For the first time ever, WWE is going to broadcast RAW from two buildings simultaneously and Taz thinks that’s very creative. He doesn’t think WWE will have any issue selling out both of those buildings because this will be a huge event and the New York area is a wrestling hotbed.

Taz believes that WWE announced this event yesterday morning so Stephanie McMahon could tie it into her promo last night. She mentioned how much RAW means to her family and her company, and this is why she was so angry at Angle for letting down the RAW brand. Taz thought the commentators missed the mark here by not making a point of this.

Block 3:

Taz welcomes Mike Johnson from PWInsider to the show.

Johnson informs that NXT Superstar Hideo Itami is set to join 205 Live in the coming days. They weren’t really investing a lot of time in him on NXT as of late and he’s been treading water there for a while. Taz thinks that bringing Itami onto 205 Live will help that show and it will certainly help Itami as well.

Johnson also informs that Lio Rush was training at WWE’s Performance Centre yesterday as if nothing happened. He’s fairly certain that someone from management spoke to Rush concerning the tweet he sent out regarding Emma’s release over the weekend, but there doesn’t appear to be any further repercussions. Taz says that he knows for a fact that Rush was spoken to by an NXT official, but he won’t name that person.

Johnson points out that WWE has brought in people in the past to talk to their talents about how to effectively use social media. He thinks that perhaps another one of those sessions are in order because it’s essential that their talents avoid causing issues for themselves and the company with their actions online.

Block 4:

Taz points out that things seemed to get a little heated between Booker T and Corey Graves on RAW last night concerning last week’s Smackdown invasion, but Booker T forgot to point out the most obvious thing – Graves is currently working on both shows. Taz thinks that Booker T should refer to Graves as a ‘double agent’ who has no strong ties to RAW and that’s why he’s not as concerned with protecting the RAW brand’s interests.

Taz felt that during Braun Strowman’s big return at the end of RAW we should have seen Kane in some form. Either Kane should have gotten involved physically or he should have been shown backstage watching Strowman’s return on a monitor. Taz thinks that would have really drove home the upcoming feud between both men.

A listener calls into the show and says that he thinks The Miz is having a terrific run as of late. Taz agrees entirely and says that Miz has taken the ball and ran with it lately. He knows how to get heat, he’s a bumping machine and he knows how to get people over. Taz would have no issue whatsoever if WWE strapped the rocket on him and pushed him to the moon.

That sums up today’s episode of The Taz Show. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya tomorrow for another recap!