Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Ryan Satin Angers Another Superstar, WWE Fields Criticism Over Saudi Arabia Show, Does Stephanie McMahon Care About Women’s Revolution? More!

Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host, Ryan Satin, and Glenn Gilbertti.

Lane opens today’s show by mentioning that Pro Wrestling Sheet’s Ryan Satin got himself into some more hot water with a former Superstar this past week. Former WWE Superstar, Val Venis reportedly found himself in trouble with the law for filming inside of a post office recently, and Satin wrote a story about this which got Venis’ attention.

Venis said that Satin was sprouting fake news, and added that if Satin didn’t retract the story and apologize Venis was going to make sure Satin felt the wrath of the law, noting that defamation of character is illegal. Russo points out that if Satin keeps making enemies within the industry like he has over the last couple of years, he’s eventually going to be at odds with the wrong guy.

Former WWE Superstars, Bin Hamin and Stevie Richards join the show.

Lane points out that WWE Superstar, Alexa Bliss recently underwent breast enhancement surgery. Gilbertti wonders if we’re supposed to respect her in-ring work more now, because he can’t say she’s hot because he’ll get in trouble.

Hamin doesn’t understand why Bliss would mess with perfection because she was one of the hottest women on the roster anyways. In his opinion, this is just another step back for the women’s revolution because this is the type of thing that happened during the Divas era consistently. He believes it undercuts the work WWE has done to present women’s wrestling in a better light. He doubts WWE would make Nia Jax get weight loss surgery to have her fit their image, so why would they have these other girls get breast enhancement surgery?

Lane points out that WWE has received some criticism for running the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia, given the country’s controversial laws against women and the LGBT community. Gilbertti says, “when in Rome you do what the Romans do”. Saudi Arabia is not america, and they’re unbelievably rich. They overpay for everything, and that’s why all those businesses do business with them.

Russo just wishes WWE would say that if that’s their reason for going, but Gilbertti doesn’t think the majority of fans care what Triple H says. He notes that Triple H is a wrestler after all, and wrestlers work their fans.

Gilbertti adds that WWE is a global company that’s looking to make money. It’s not like Vince McMahon is running for President and needs to worry about this stuff. Hamin points out that the LGBT community has disposable income and WWE took a short term payoff here instead of thinking long term. He also thinks WWE would have been respected in North America for saying no to Saudi Arabia’s money and this could have potentially drawn back some casual fans.

Gilbertti disagrees entirely, saying this is a business and if a country offers them hundreds of millions of dollars to come wrestle while leaving the women at home, they’re going to leave the women at home and go wrestle. He also points out that WWE could be thinking long term here as well, as they may have plans to go back multiple years and they’ll make a fortune doing so.

Russo just wishes WWE wouldn’t speak out of both ends of their mouth. Lane also points out that Gail Kim spoke out recently, saying Stephanie McMahon doesn’t really care about the women or the women’s revolution. This type of thing definitely adds credibility to Kim’s claims.

Hamin wonders what WWE will do with the feminist groups rise up against them for this decision. Gilbertti doesn’t think WWE will lose one single fan over this decision, adding that hardcore fans are going to continue to watch the product anyways. There might be a handful of fans who’ll complain about this decision, but those fans will keep watching as well.

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 next week for another recap!