Russo is joined on today’s special Christmas edition of the show by his co-host Jeff Lane.

Lane mentions that he and his girlfriend decided not to get each other Christmas gifts this year. This was actually his girlfriend’s decision but he knows it was a risky proposition. If she would have gotten him a small gift anyways he may have found himself in a world of trouble. The same could be said if he would have gotten her a small gift, after she made it known to him that she didn’t want to exchange gifts. It really was a lose-lose situation.

Russo says he enjoys to wait until 3 days before Christmas to start his shopping. That’s all part of the Christmas experience in his opinion, mingling within the crowds and hunting for the specific gifts that he’s looking for.

Russo mentions that one of his sons did good with this year’s Christmas gifts, while the other son did not. One son did well by getting him a book and a DVD set that he was looking for for a long time. On the other hand, the other son failed miserably.

Russo informs that he went shopping for this son, and while trying to save some money he made a big sacrifice at the record store by putting back records that he wanted in order to get the records for his son.  In return, this son gave him a $10 gift card for Dunkin Donuts, a $1 Batman action figure that he’s seen at dollar stores in the past, and a final gift that Russo appraises at $6.99 at most. He quickly realized that his son had a $20 budget for his Christmas gifts.

He understands if his daughter can’t get him something good for Christmas because she’s going to College, but his son and his son’s wife both have great jobs, and they were clearly just too cheap to get him something good and expensive for Christmas.

Russo thanks Lane for all the work he has done on The Brand. He says it’s a joke how little he’s able to pay Lane compared to the work he puts in, but Lane’s devotion has never wavered. Lane and Russo had some heat about a year ago, with Lane accusing Russo of treating him poorly because of fear that he’d screw Russo like everyone else has over the years.

Russo admits that Lane was right when he said that, because he’s been screwed countless times over the years and he has a hard time trusting anyone. He says that he hasn’t screwed anyone in his entire life, but he has been on the receiving end of a lot of screwjobs over the years.

Russo informs that he’s been unfollowed on Twitter by Dash or Dawson of WWE’s The Revival recently, after his recent comments in which he said they’d never be the Steiner Brothers. He admits that this would have upset him in the past, but now he couldn’t care less. These guys have only been in the business for a few seconds and he’s been in the business for 30 years, so if they want to unfollow him they can go right ahead.

He admits that Shawn Michaels unfollowed him recently and that actually did bother him a bit. Michaels was a guest on his show not too long ago and they had a great conversation. Russo also publicly says that Michaels is the greatest talent he’s ever worked with, but as soon as Michaels started working at WWE’s Performance Centre he unfollowed Russo. That bothered him but he knows it wasn’t a personal issue.

Lane mentions that some people can’t separate business issues from the personal issues. For example, he says that Kurt Angle is one of Russo’s best friends, but Russo constantly criticizes the way Angle’s character is presented on WWE television. This hasn’t resulted in any heat between Angle and Russo because Angle can understand that Russo is just criticizing the character and not the person.

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!