Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host, Jeff Lane, Stevie Richards and Bin Hamin.
Russo opens today’s show by mentioning that this week’s RAW opened with a magnificnent tribute to Bruno Sammartino. He thought WWE did a great job with this tribute, adding that it brought back lots of memories for him and made him cry.
However, after that stunning tribute to Bruno, nothing happened for the next 25 minutes of RAW. He notes that this was simply a house show that doubled as an advertisement for this Friday’s Greatest Royal Rumble event. Russo adds that WWE could have talked about this event for 50 hours and he still wouldn’t give a s**t about it.
Lane agrees with Russo, adding that while RAW was a long advertisement for the Greatest Royal Rumble, WWE failed to do anything to create interest in the show. Russo thinks this is a great point, saying that instead of just shoving this event down our throat for 3-hours they should have did something storyline-wise that made people want to tune into the show on Friday.
Richards thinks the buildup for the Universal Title match at the Greatest Royal Rumble has been strange, noting that the physicality simply hasn’t been there ever since Brock Lesnar busted open Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. He adds that it’s almost as if WrestleMania was the buildup to Greatest Royal Rumble, and if Lesnar retains here again he’s not sure where WWE will go creatively from there.
Russo points out that RAW ratings dropped again this week, and in the three weeks of RAW since WrestleMania WWE has long 800,000 viewers. He points out that you almost have to try to lose that many viewers so quickly. Hamin thinks RAW will dip under a 2.0 rating in the weeks after Greatest Royal Rumble, and then he thinks heads will begin to roll backstage.
Russo doesn’t understand what WWE is doing to Bobby Roode right now. He points out that you can criticize TNA all day long if you want, but a talent like Bobby Roode always had great storylines in TNA. WWE is booking and treating Roode like a “fart in church” when he should be the furthest thing from that. Russo notes that Roode is a great performer and a great guy, and he’s very confused by WWE’s booking of him.
Richards also points out that fans of Elias shouldn’t get excited right now, especially if they think that WWE might finally be ready to give him a push. Instead, Richards thinks this Elias/Roode program will result in 50/50 booking where nobody will get over and nothing positive happens.
Russo points out that at this point money can’t be a motivating factor for the McMahon family. If the money is not a motivator for them, shouldn’t their product be a motivator? He adds that if the McMahon’s aren’t motivated to have the best wrestling show on television, why are they even doing it?
Hamin thought the “Kami Show” segment was absolutely brutal. He points out that Zayn was making silly jokes during this segment and then had to wrestle Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman later in the show. He notes that when Zayn stood next to Lashley later in the show it was quite evident who looked like a star and who didn’t.
Russo points out that two weeks ago Owens and Zayn were fired from the company and now they have their own talk show. He has no idea how that happened and he doesn’t think it makes any sense. He doesn’t think anything that ludicrous would happen on any other television show.
Russo adds that WWE could have done so much creatively with this ‘firing’ angle, but they just “don’t give a s**t”. Hamin agrees, pointing out that they could have had Owens and Zayn selling merchandise for one show, which would have made for very entertaining television. In addition, WWE probably would have sold a bunch of merchandise that night because all the fans would have wanted to buy something from WWE Superstars.
Richards says if WWE was going to pair Bobby Lashley with Braun Strowman, they should have done it at WrestleMania and had them win the Tag Titles. Russo thinks that’s a great point.
Lane didn’t think it made any sense to have Jinder Mahal lose to Chad Gable just a few days before he challenges Jeff Hardy for the U.S. Title at the Greatest Royal Rumble event. Russo thinks that’s a great point, noting that it didn’t do any good to have Mahal “jobbing to Clark Gable” just a few days before his U.S. Title match.
Russo says the “Moment of Bliss” segment was the best thing on RAW this week. This segment and the Bruno Sammartino tribute were the only things worth watching on RAW in his opinion, adding that there was 7 worthy minutes of programming during this 3-hour show.
After the Bruno and “Moment of Bliss” segments, Russo says the third best thing on the show was Bayley refusing to hug the guy in the front row. What really annoyed him is that Bayley went on Twitter today and apologized for that. He doesn’t believe she should have apologized for refusing to hug some sweaty dude in the front row.
Russo gives WWE credit for allowing Ronda Rousey to grow naturally, instead of throwing her off the deep end creatively after her debut role at WrestleMania. However, he doesn’t think the spot she’s in right now is the best option for her. Richards agrees, pointing out that WWE should have protected her creatively instead of throwing her right into a generic wrestling storyline immediately after WrestleMania.
Russo thinks the IIconics are awful, pointing out that they look like indie workers. Hamin agrees, saying they’re “f-ing rotten” and adding that they can’t execute simple wrestling moves such as a hip toss. Lane mentions that he’s never really cared about how good the women are in the ring, and while Russo agrees with, he’s just concerned about them killing themselves or someone else while they’re working.
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!
