Steve Carrier on December 2, 2017
Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host Jeff Lane and Glenn Gilbertti (Disco Infern0).
Russo opens today’s show by informing that he had several Twitter arguments over the last week with people (WWE’s Pete Dunne in particular), arguing that the wrestling business has lost the suspension of disbelief and that’s why the business is struggling. He was also arguing that performers need to work safer in the ring because it’s only a matter of time before someone gets killed.
He points out that former WWE Superstar and current road agent, Fit Finley tweeted back at him, calling him an idiot and ridiculing his impact on the business. Gilbertti was surprised to hear that Finley said those things to Russo, but he was certainly just trying to defend WWE.
Russo says that performers like Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate have ‘half a clue’ when it comes to knowing how to work in the ring, so they need to figure out the other half before someone gets seriously hurt during a match. Gilbertti agrees and says that until these guys draw some money, they can’t be considered successful professional wrestlers.
Lane informs that WWE appears to be developing a ‘Broken-esque’ character for Matt Hardy, which will apparently be referred to as ‘Woken’. Anthem’s Ed Nordholm spoke with Sports Illustrated this past week, basically informing that they’ve reached an agreement with Hardy, allowing him to use the character. If that’s the case, Russo wonders why WWE wouldn’t just use the ‘Broken’ character that everyone knows from TNA instead of trying to alter it.
Russo says he was sad to hear that Jim Johnson was released by WWE this past week, citing the incredible library of music that Johnson has created over the years as WWE’s main musical composer. Gilbertti agrees, saying he was shocked to hear that Johnson and WWE parted ways. He’s a big fan of Johnson’s work, and he says that he prefers the old style of theme music compared to a lot of the themes we hear today.
Lane mentions that WWE sent out a survey this past week, asking people why they aren’t watching 205 Live and giving them several options to choose from. Gilbertti points out that 205 Live and a lot of WWE’s current product is basically small arena wrestling. On RAW this past week, Roman Reigns and Elias had an actual old school ‘wrestling’ match and it was great, yet a lot of the first sheet writers appeared to dislike it.
Speaking about Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks’ plans to self-finance a huge wrestling event in 2018, Gilbertti thinks that those guys definitely have a chance to sell out a 10,000 seat arena, especially if they hold it on WrestleMania weekend when there are plenty of wrestling fans all gathered in the same city. Russo thinks that these guys deserve credit for self-financing this event and trying something new, and if they sell 10,000 tickets they’ll be rewarded with a great payday.
Russo accuses Gilbertti of sucking up to dirt sheet writers like Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez. Gilbertti says he doesn’t even speak to those guys other than when he’s on a podcast with them. He does admit that he tries to be respectful towards them at least, unlike Russo who spends most of his shows bashing them.
Speaking of marks, Gilbertti thinks it’s ironic that Russo continues to make fun of marks when he booked himself to win the WCW Championship while writing for WCW. He says that’s one of the biggest mark moves in the history of professional wrestling.
Lane mentions that Kurt Angle did an interview this past week in which he informed that Vince McMahon did not book the winner of his WrestleMania 21 match against Shawn Michaels. McMahon told him and Michaels to decide between them who would win, and Michaels suggested that Angle win because Angle was preparing to enter a big program with Batista after ‘Mania. Russo says that this is very interesting but it doesn’t surprise him that Michaels acted that generously.
In the same interview, Angle went on to say that Jason Jordan is one of the top three workers in WWE right now, in spite of what fans might think about his character. Russo says he actually likes Jordan a lot, and he believes Jordan’s doing a great job with the terrible material that WWE creative is giving 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!
December 2, 2017 9:03 am
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