Ross opens today’s show by discussing the rumours that Hulk Hogan may be returning to WWE. Ross says he can’t excuse the terrible words Hogan used in the past, but he believes in forgiveness. Ross thinks Hogan knows he did wrong and is remorseful, and he believes Hogan should return to WWE. Hogan’s image and skill can help WWE and the wrestling business as a whole.
Ross thought Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins had a great opening match on RAW this past week. He likes both of those talents a lot and he thinks they’re both very close to taking the next step in their careers. He thinks they’re both more than capable of making that jump to next level very soon.
He liked the tease of Braun Strowman versus Drew McIntyre in the main event, and he thinks that big matchup will occur at some point in the future. He still thinks Strowman will be the top guy in WWE in the near future, but he wouldn’t make that happen until WrestleMania next year.
He thought the Women’s division had a great night on RAW, and he’s particularly interested in the announced Title match between Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey. He thinks those two women will have a surprisingly positive match, and he doesn’t have any issues with them not being on every show leading up to Money in the Bank.
Ross thought Daniel Bryan got back on track on Smackdown Live this week. He says he likes Big Cass, who has a lot of great, natural skills. However, he thinks Cass needs to be much more aggressive, and although Cass has a lot of potential in his mind he thinks there are some subtleties that Cass needs to improve upon.
Ross thinks A.J. Styles and Nakamura are starting to find their groove again now. He recalls the match that these two men had in New Japan a couple of years ago, and he suspects they’re finally starting to lock into that magic again now. He thinks their Money in the Bank match is going to be great.
Ross welcomes Cody Rhodes to the show.
Ross informs that he got emotional when he heard that “All In” sold out in under an hour, noting that Dusty Rhodes would have been so proud of Cody if he was still alive. Rhodes says he was blown away by how quickly the show sold out. He was initially hoping/planning on selling 4000 tickets in the first week and then they’d go from there, but selling out that quickly was an amazing feeling.
Ross asks Rhodes about the development of All In. Rhodes informs that he had an idea and ran it by The Young Bucks. They all agreed it was something worth pursuing if they could find a date that worked. They all put their calendars down on the floor in the airport one day and picked out a date that worked for them as well as Ring of Honor, and All In was born.
Rhodes informs that Matt Jackson’s wife is known as the “Queen of All In” because she’s taken care of so many small details since this project began, specifically the legal stuff that they didn’t even know about. He also informs that they haven’t decided whether they’re going to stream the event live yet but if they do, one of him, Matt, or Nick will have to be in the production truck. He also wants one of them to be running Gorilla throughout the show.
Rhodes informs that Conrad Thompson reached out to him with the idea for “Starrcast”. Rhodes was intrigued right away but wanted to make sure that this event could stand on it’s own and for that reason he didn’t want there to be any wrestling matches at Starrcast. He adds that this event is about bringing wrestling personalities and legends together for the fans.
Rhodes notes that the Bullet Club train doesn’t show any signs of slowing down anytime soon. He informs that he’s definitely the leader of the Bullet Club and he does his best to be a good leader each and every day. However, he adds that Kenny Omega hasn’t been excommunicated just yet, and he’s still part of the Bullet Club.
A listener writes into the show and asks Ross what he thinks about the upcoming best 2 out of 3 falls match between Okada and Omega. Ross thinks this is going to be phenomenal and something people will talk about after the fact. He notes that these two men will have to tell a different type of story here since there’s basically 3 chapters to this story. This type of match requires a different psychology and he’s interested to see how they lay it out.
Another listener writes into the show and asks Ross if he believes there’s still value in a babyface/heel dynamic. Ross thinks that dynamic still works and he’d prefer that most matches work that way. He doesn’t like neutrality because he thinks the fans need to have someone to cheer for. He notes that all sports leagues work this way, with the home teams being the babyfaces and the away teams being the heels.
Lastly, Ross is asked if he thinks Charlotte will be regarded as the best female talent of all time by the time she retires. He says there’s a very good chance Charlotte might be regarded as the best ever by the time she’s retired, and she’s getting close to that status now. He notes that she has a big leg up athletically over a lot of her peers.
That sums up this week’s episode of The Jim Ross Report. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
