Steve Carrier on January 2, 2018
Ross opens today’s show speaking about the Women’s Royal Rumble match. He likes that the rules for the women’s match will be the same as for the men’s match, because he thinks this will make things a lot easier for fans to follow. He gives credit to WWE for continuing to build women’s wrestling, and he thinks this makes the wrestling business a better place for female competitors as a whole.
Ross welcomes author Pat Laprade to the show. Laprade is the author of “Sisterhood of the Squared Circle”, and he’s recently completed his latest book, “Mad Dog: The Maurice Vachon Story”. In this book he takes a look back at the life and career of WWE Hall of Famer “Mad Dog” Vachon. You can purchase the book on Amazon and trough all other major retailers.
Ross welcomes X-Pac to the show.
X-Pac informs that he has his own podcast, X-Pac 1, 2, 360, which has episodes released each Wednesday. He feels very blessed to have had this opportunity and although he felt like he was always a pretty good guest on other people’s podcasts, he wasn’t sure if he’d be a good host. He thinks he’s learned fairly quickly and has a great time hosting the show each week.
X-Pac was famously released by WCW during the attitude era and FedEx delivered his release papers to his home. He was very angry about being released in that fashion, but he was so fired up to go to WWE after that and prove WCW and Eric Bischoff wrong.
X-Pac jokes that McMahon and WWE knew he wasn’t going back to WCW after that as well, and that’s why his contract’s downside guarantee was so low. Ross laughs and points out that X-Pac probably made much more than that in merchandise sales and PPV royalties during that time, and X-Pac confirms that. He says that he made triple his downside guarantee during some of his years in WWE, hovering around 7 figures for a couple of those years.
Ross informs that he’s very excited to be attending the 25th anniversary edition of RAW later this month, and X-Pac mentions that he’s been invited back for that show as well. Ross has been asked by people if he wants to call a match during that show and he certainly would love that, but he’s just excited about flying to New York and seeing a lot of old friends.
Ross asks X-Pac what he thinks about all the social media sparring between Jim Cornette and indie wrestlers like The Young Bucks. X-Pac feels that a lot of people within the wrestling industry are taking all these things too seriously. He goes on to admit that while he’s a big fan of the Young Bucks, he can understand why spots like the 6-man missed dropkick spot can rub some people the wrong way.
Ross likes Vince McMahon’s chances of succeeding if he decides to revive the XFL or start a new football league. X-Pac is a little more hesitant in predicting success, but he points out that it’s hard to bet against McMahon. Both Ross and X-Pac agree that if McMahon pursues another venture, WWE will be in good hands under the guidance of Triple H.
X-Pac informs that when he was coming up through the business a lot of veterans warned him that none of his peers will be there for him when he’s home injured. He says that he’s lucky to have proved that theory wrong throughout his career because he has made countless life-long friends from the wrestling business. Whenever he’s been hurt, sick, or injured, plenty have people have been there for him.
Ross informs that he has loved the work that Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho have done in building towards their Wrestle Kingdom 12 match. X-Pac agrees entirely and points out that this has been such a simple build, yet it has been amazingly effective. Ross believes that we might see a part two to this feud if the first match is a success.
Ross asks X-Pac to name his Mount Rushmore of professional wrestling. X-Pac approaches this question differently than most people, trying to include names from other wrestling markets outside North America. He lists Ric Flair, Mil Mascaras, Antonio Inoki, and El Santo as his Mount Rushmore of professional wrestling.
That sums up today’s episode of The Ross Report. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
January 2, 2018 10:37 pm
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