Russo opens today’s show by informing that he’s going to be a Grandfather for the first time. He’s very excited about this news and he thanks all of his fans for sending him so many kind messages on social media. He points out that news like this really helps you put life in perspective.

Russo mentions that a lot of his fans accused him of “working” them over the last couple of weeks as he refused to speak about RAW25. These fans assumed that Russo was invited to attend the event all along and he was refusing to speak about it in order to keep it a secret. That way, when he arrived at RAW25 it would be a huge surprise.

He says that this was never the case, and there were never any conversations between him and WWE about returning to the company for the one-night-only event. He points out that he hates to leave his house to travel these days, but a part of him really hoped that WWE would do the right thing in this case by extending an invitation to him and Ferrara.

Russo says that whether you like it or not, there would have been no attitude era without him and Ed Ferrara. He knows that Superstars such as Steve Austin and The Rock played a huge part in WWE’s success at that time as well, but the fact that he and Ferrara were the ones writing the lines for those stars made them an invaluable part of the company at that time in his opinion.

Russo says that he’s not even sure if he would have accepted an invitation to attend RAW25 because it would have been a very uneasy environment for him backstage, surrounded by people like Eric Bischoff and Bruce Prichard who he has no motivation to be around anymore. He does admit that he always tries to do the right thing, and if WWE invited him he probably would have had to accept the invitation since it would have been the right thing to do.

Russo says he tries to put people over as much as possible because he knows that makes people feel good and appreciated. He expects other people to react the same way he does – doing the right thing and helping to uplift others. Unfortunately, with WWE it’s always about them and they rarely make their employees feel appreciated.

He admits that this toxic environment resulted in him having heat with some of the higher-ups in WWE that still lasts even to this day. He had carried around that baggage for many years and he hasn’t been able to let it go. He points out that we all carry around baggage, and there’s at least one part of all of us that’s still living in the past and can’t let something go.

Russo believes that forgiving and forgetting is the hardest thing to do in life, but until we do that we’re unable to move forward. Russo mentions that purposely getting shunned from RAW25 was a blessing in disguise for him because it put a bow on his relationship with WWE.

He knows that real wrestling fans know the value he and Ferrara brought to WWE during the attitude era, the most successful time in the history of professional wrestling. Just because WWE chooses to ignore them and fails to give them any credit, that doesn’t discredit what they accomplished and he refuses to let that get him down any longer.

He suggests that all his listeners take a look in the mirror and find a way to let go of whatever’s been dragging them down over the years as well. He adds that you don’t need to become best friends with the people who wronged you in the past, but if you can find a way to forgive them and learn from the situation, you’ll be all the better for it moving forward.

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!