Ross opens today’s show by congratulating Glenn Jacobs (Kane) on winning the Knox County Mayoral race. Through all the years Ross spent in WWE, he doesn’t think the company hired a more reliable, stand-up human being than Glenn Jacobs. Ross points out that Jacob is going to be an honest public servant for the people of Knox County, and he thinks Jacob will be great at the job.
Ross talks about the rumours surrounding Matt Hardy’s future, and the notion that he might be considering retirement due to lingering back issues. He points out that there’s only so many bumps on your bump card, and it appears as if Hardy is approaching the end of his in-ring career. He points out that Hardy is quite versatile and skilled, and he’ll be able to make a living in the business in a number of different ways if he chooses to do so.
Ross is a big fan of the current feud between Daniel Bryan and The Miz. He points out that real-life problems presented in a sensible way allows the audience to connect to the product easier. He thinks these two guys will have a terrific match at SummerSlam.
Speaking of SummerSlam, Ross wonders which match will close the show. He assumes it will either be the WWE Title match between A.J. Styles & Samoa Joe, or the Universal Title match between Brock Lesnar & Roman Reigns.
Ross says he’d normally pick Lesnar/Reigns to close the show, but he points out that fans might hijack that bout and turn it into a negative experience for everyone. There’s no doubt that Styles and Joe will tear the house down, so maybe that’d be the better closing match. Overall he likes the card and he’s excited to see how it all plays out.
Ross mentions that he watched RAW this past week, and Paul Heyman’s sit-down interview with Renee Young really stood out to him. He calls Heyman a genius, and also gives credit to Young for the role she played in that presentation. Ross hopes that someone else will come along at some point and take the mantle from Heyman as one of WWE’s top talkers, but he isn’t going to hold his breath on that happening.
He also gives a thumbs up to Alicia Fox, who took a hell of a beating on Monday night at the hands of Ronda Rousey. He’s sure that she was produced to do exactly what we saw, and she did so perfectly. Rousey continues to steal the spotlight on RAW and Ross is thrilled with how she’s taken to the wrestling business thus far.
A listener writes into the show and asks Ross when he thinks The Rock will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Ross points out that The Rock will obviously be inducted at some point, and he wonders if 2019 in New York City would make sense. He also notes that perhaps WrestleMania will be returning to Miami at some point in the future, and Rock could be inducted in his hometown.
Ross welcomes Nick Aldis to the show.
Ross admits that when his good friend, Billy Corgan, took over the NWA he didn’t have much hope for the brand. The NWA was a dead brand and he didn’t think anyone would be able to make it truly relevant again. Now within a few months the NWA Champion, Aldis, is main-eventing ALL IN. Ross is thrilled for the success of Aldis and the promotion as a whole.
Aldis points out that this isn’t his first time in a high pressure situation. He was the TNA World Champion for a while, and his experience with that Title has made his NWA Title reign much easier. He points out that sometimes every professional wrestler needs to step back and think about why they got into the business in the first place. Scott Hall told him one time, “I just wanted to be a big time pro wrestler”, and Aldis thought that was just perfect because it was so simple.
Ross points out that it’s a great time to be in the wrestling business because the industry is so healthy. Non-WWE guys like Aldis can make a hell of a living nowadays working for independent promotions and one-off events like the upcoming ALL IN event.
Ross asks Aldis if he thinks he and Cody Rhodes should close the show at ALL IN. Aldis says that’s not his decision to make. Given some of the other matches on that card he’d understand if they didn’t go on last, but he appreciates all the fans who’ve made it known that they think he and Rhodes should close the show. Aldis assumes that Rhodes will receive a hero’s welcome in Chicago that night.
That sums up today’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!
