Steve Carrier on September 5, 2018
Ross opens today’s show by speaking about his experience at last weekend’s ALL IN event. He points out that he really enjoyed himself the entire weekend, and he thought the show was amazing. He notes that the show hit huge numbers on the FITE TV app, and ProWrestlingTees sold over $500,000 in t-shirts at the event. He thinks those numbers are pretty special.
He thinks there’s been too much grief over the fact that CM Punk didn’t show up at ALL IN. He points out that we all enjoyed Punk’s work for a long time, and we should all move on now and let Punk do what he wants. Punk was never advertised for the event, and therefore we shouldn’t be too disappointed about the fact that he didn’t appear.
Ross points out that fans are really behind Becky Lynch right now. Much like Stone Cold Steve Austin’s rise in the late 90’s, fans can sense an organic build around Lynch’s career right now and they seem eager to be a part of that. The Smackdown’s Women’s Title match at Hell In A Cell with reportedly take place inside the cell, and Ross warns that WWE needs to be careful as to not have too many cell matches on the same show.
Ross thinks The Shield will sell a lot of merchandise now that they’ve been reunited, and he hopes that they stay together for a while because he doesn’t see any point in stopping and starting their reunion multiple times. He thinks being a part of a successful faction like The Shield will only help the individual careers of Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose.
Ross thought the Shawn Michaels/Undertaker segment from Monday Night RAW was one of the best things he’s seen on television in a long time. The segment almost made him want to see Michaels versus Undertaker more than Triple H versus Undertaker. He notes that some people might be critical of a potential HBK/Undertaker match since they’re both not in their prime. Ross says, “No shit” they’re not in their prime, but mentally they might be in the best shape of their careers, and he thinks they could tell a terrific story.
Ross was happy to see McIntyre and Ziggler win the RAW Tag Team Titles, noting that they feel like more of a main event attraction compared to The B Team. He points out that WWE has a lot of great talent in their tag team division, but they need to devote more time and energy into building that division.
He notes that the division really needs one team to get hot, and he thinks a heel team of Bobby Roode and Chad Gable might be one way to accomplish that. He thinks that Gable is a diamond in the rough in terms of being a great heel, and he thinks Roode is more comfortable as a heel than as a babyface.
Ross taped the next portion of the show at a live Ringside With JR show, which occurred on Sunday night. He welcomes Rey Mysterio to the show.
Ross asks Mysterio about the rumours that he might be returning to WWE. Mysterio informs that this whole thing started when he received an anonymous phone call to return for last year’s Royal Rumble. From that point on he’s had an open dialogue with WWE and he’s just waiting for them to call him with a solid return date at this point, whether it be this month, next month, or further down the line.
Mysterio remembers talking to Ross about joining WWE when WCW was bought out many years ago. Ross told Mysterio to go home and collect his guaranteed money from WCW, and when the time was right they’d call him about coming to work for WWE. Mysterio admits that he thought Ross was just blowing him off at that time, but that wasn’t the case at all.
Mysterio points out that Konnan does a lot of his booking and management work now. He notes that Konnan is a friend for life who really helped him learn the business early in his career. He’s proud to be able to help Konnan by having him earn a little piece of the pie whenever he makes appearances nowadays.
An audience member asks Ross about the possibility of the ALL IN main event being cut short. Ross notes that the match was apparently cut from 28 minutes to 12 minutes, and this was due to talents wanting to “get their shit in” earlier in the show. He thought that was selfish and unprofessional because those main event guys were in that slot for a reason, and their time was robbed.
Ross welcomes Cody Rhodes to the show.
Ross congratulates Rhodes on the success of ALL IN and his NWA World Heavyweight Title win. Ross tells Rhodes to enjoy the next 24-48 hours because after that he’ll be diving right back into planning for the next show. He points out that this stuff is in Rhodes’ blood, and he won’t be able to stay away from it. Rhodes says, “Well maybe we’ve already started planning”.
Ross asks Rhodes about his plans for the NWA World Heavyweight Title moving forward. Rhodes says he wants to represent that Title as well as the icons who’ve held it in the past. He notes that he’ll be bringing that Title with him everywhere, and he doesn’t care what some promotions might have to say about that.
Ross says he felt the presence of Dusty Rhodes during ALL IN. Rhodes says he felt his father too, not during his match, but rather when he put on the headset in the Gorilla position. He thinks his father would have been really proud of him producing the second half of the show.
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!
September 5, 2018 4:06 pm
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