Former WCW and WWE Superstar, Big Vito is joined on today’s show by Jeff Lane.
Vito opens this show by pointing out that Fastlane was a filler PPV in his opinion. He thought the show was very predictable, noting that even Orton/Roode was predictable because Roode’s babyface run was very bland and it was time for a Title change.
He goes on to say that Nakamura/Rusev shouldn’t have opened the show. He thought this match fell flat by relying on several wrestling holds, and fans were chanting for Rusev when WWE surely wanted them to chant for Nakamura. Vito thinks this show should have opened with The Usos versus New Day. He also adds that if WWE was determined to have Nakamura/Rusev open the show, they should have put Rusev over to shock fans because as it was, this match did nothing for Rusev or Nakamura.
Lane thinks WWE really dropped the ball with Roode’s United States Title win. His entire run was flat and Vito agrees entirely. Vito likes that Orton won on Sunday, poiting out that this will probably lead to a Bobby Roode heel turn, putting Orton in a tough spot at WrestleMania having to tackle two heels in Roode and Jinder Mahal. He predicts that Orton will retain in that match, and Mahal will be the one to take the fall.
Lane agrees with Vito that WWE seems to be heading for a triple threat match for the United States Title, and he notes that WrestleMania seems to be filled with multi-man matches lately. He understands that WWE tries to include as many performers as possible on the WrestleMania card, but WrestleMania would be a great place to showcase a couple of great one-on-one bouts as well.
Vito points out that WWE didn’t have enough action to fill the time on this PPV, and that’s why they included several long video packages. Lane notes that it was useless to promote WrestleMania during this PPV, because anyone who was watching was already a WWE Network subscriber. It’s evident that these long packages were shown simply to fill time.
Speaking of filler, Lane notes that the Women’s Tag Match was exactly that, and he thinks it’s time for WWE to start teasing Carmella’s Money in the Bank cash-in. Vito thinks Carmella has cooled off significantly as of late, and he doesn’t believe she’s ready to win the Title right now. He’s sure that’s why WWE hasn’t pulled the trigger on a Carmella cash-in just yet.
He thinks that WWE should wait until WrestleMania to have Carmella tease a cash-in, and he’d have her tease a cash-in three times during the show. He’d even have her tease a cash-in during the Universal Title match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, just to spice things up a bit. He thinks the live audience would go insane if Carmella teased a cash-in during a men’s match.
Vito thinks The Bludgeon Brothers are set to win the Smackdown Live Tag Team Titles in the near future. He also thinks their Title run will be a transitional run, as they’ll be passing the Titles to the Authors of Pain rather quickly. He notes that NXT’s Authors of Pain are another big team who can challenge Bludgeon Brothers, and he expects we’ll see that program soon.
Vito doesn’t think Ruby Riot was ready for the spot she was placed in against Charlotte on a major PPV. He wouldn’t say that she didn’t deserve that spot, he just doesn’t think she’s ready. He also doesn’t think the other members of the Riot Squad have presence in the ring at this point. Rather, they look like young girls who could be seen on Dukes of Hazzards.
Vito thinks the outcome of the WWE Title match was very predictable. He points out that all the competitors in that match already have WrestleMania plans in place, and it’s evident that WWE wants to give fans Styles versus Nakamura at WrestleMania. Unfortunately, Vito thinks this WWE Title match is going to disappoint at WrestleMania.
Lane thought it was strange that we didn’t see Daniel Bryan make an appearance during the main event, especially with Shane McMahon being heavily involved. Vito points out that maybe WWE is phasing Bryan out of Smackdown’s storylines because they know that he’s not going to renew his contract with them.
Vito points out that it’d be a shame if Sheamus/Cesaro aren’t able to defend their Titles at Wrestlemania. He notes that WWE has killed most of their tag-teams, and that has resulted in a very weak tag-team division.
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!
