Russo is joined on today’s show by his Glenn Gilbertti (Disco Inferno), NWA World Champion, Nick Aldis, and his co-host, Jeff Lane.
Russo says that while sitting there talking to Nick Aldis – who’s dressed very well for the show with his NWA World Championship in the background – the only thing that he can think about is questioning why Sami Zayn is on his television every week and Aldis isn’t. Gilbertti points out that as NWA’s video views continue to increase, Aldis may be able to work himself into a prominent NJPW wrestling match in the future, perhaps against someone like Kenny Omega.
Lane mentions that after negative reaction from the WWE Universe, WWE has changed the name of the Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal. Gilbertti mentions that he wasn’t really interested in this story, but he was confused about WWE choosing Moolah as the name for this match strictly from a marketing perspective. He points out that WWE could have chosen one of several sexy women who has worked for the company in the past to use as the marketing tool for this match, to plaster all over billboards and other marketing materials, but they chose Moolah instead.
Russo points out that he’s only heard one or two people criticize Moolah in the past, and he adds that Moolah worked in the business over 60 years ago when times were very different. He says that this reminds him of Bill Demott’s firing from the Performance Centre a couple years ago, and he sarcastically jokes that WWE should change the name of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal because Andre was an alcoholic.
Aldis notes that there’s a big difference between having personal drinking problems and some of the things that Moolah has been accused of. Regardless, Aldis agrees with Russo and Gilbertti in the sense that the World social/political landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade or so. Gilbertti adds that with WWE’s anti-bullying efforts, the rumours surrounding Moolah is something they needed to distance themselves from.
Aldis talks about the ongoing rise of sexual harassment allegations. He points out that he’s been assaulted by women multiple times over the last several years, mentioning the women would often grab him when he was working as a Gladiator. There really is a double standard when it comes to these things and Gilbertti agrees, pointing out that a woman can grab his ass and it’s no big deal but if he were to grab her, there’d be an uproar and he’d be ridiculed online.
Lane mentions that even though Rich Swann wasn’t proven guilty of any domestic abuse charges from months ago, he’s recently cancelled his last few indie bookings prior to retiring because he’s received such abuse from fans. Russo says he wishes he could talk to Swann because this will probably follow Swann around for the rest of his life, and that’s really too bad.
Aldis also mentions that bigger, stronger men have been ridiculed even more than Swann under similar circumstances, and Gilbertti thinks that’s a great point. Gilbertti points out that wrestling fans don’t like strong, good-looking guys, and that’s why someone like Roman Reigns continues to get booed. He adds that these fans can live vicariously through someone like Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, but they reject the tall, strong, good-looking guys.
Lane mentions that Jeff Hardy was charged with a DUI last week. Russo points out that both Hardy brothers worked so hard to clean themselves up and he couldn’t be prouder of them, so he hopes this was just an isolated incident and Jeff can figure this out. Gilbertti says he doesn’t believe anyone should judge Jeff for the way he deals with the amount of pain that he must live with on a day-to-day basis, after the years of stress he’s put on his body.
After WWE released a statement a couple of weeks ago saying that Ronda Rousey will be appearing on every episode of RAW leading to WrestleMania, WWE has now changed their story, saying that this statement was sent out by a staff member who made a mistake. Gilbertti says he’s not sure what’s going on in this case, but he doesn’t believe the story that WWE is trying to tell.
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!
