Ross opens today’s show by speaking about Becky Lynch, who continues to gain momentum on Tuesday nights. He thought Lynch and Charlotte had an outstanding verbal in-ring outing on Smackdown this past week, where he thought Charlotte got the better of the mic work. He also notes that Asuka is a star that somehow got lost after WrestleMania, and he thinks this 3-way Title match should be terrific.

Ross sends his regards to Edge on the passing of his mother, Judy. Ross informs that he bonded with Judy many years ago after signing Edge and Christian to their first WWE contracts for $210-250 week. Judy did everything she could to help Edge live his dream, and he did just that.
Ross admits that he’s struggling to invest in certain WWE matches lately because he tends to focus on watching for a run-in, and that tells him that there are too many run-ins overall. He also points out that WWE has always been a babyface promotion, where their focus was on building fan favourite superstars. That doesn’t seem to be the case right now, given all the double and triple team heat we’re seeing on WWE programming lately.

Ross thinks the TLC card is shaping up to be a good one. He thinks both Women’s Title matches are going to be good, but he wishes Nia Jax would stop smiling so much. He doesn’t think heels should smile and he doesn’t need heels to entertain him; he wants to think “heel” when he looks at Jax.
He says he’s seen some complaints about Dean Ambrose’s new character direction. He hasn’t seen enough from this new character to determine whether it’s good or bad, but he does believe the mysterious, silent Ambrose was a superior television character to the Ambrose we’ve seen the last couple of weeks, where he cuts typical heel promos like every other bad guy.

He also thought Ambrose’s comments about Roman Reigns’ health were uncalled for and he didn’t like it. If he were part of a creative team, off-colour humour about health would never make air. He doesn’t think that type of content draws any people or sells any tickets, and he doesn’t see the point of it.
Ross comments on Alexa Bliss’ new authority role on RAW. He points out that Bliss is a great talent but how many authority figures does one show need? Regardless, he thinks Bliss has a lot of potential and talent, and he can see her in future WWE film roles, or perhaps transitioning to Hollywood at some point. Her verbal delivery is very natural and while she may not be able to wrestle right now, there are other ways that WWE can use her.

Ross is not a fan of the Drake Maverick “pee pee” angle. He notes that he likes Maverick, who he feels is very easy to dislike, but he doesn’t think this angle is doing the Authors of Pain any favours. He adds that more people are talking about Maverick right now than the tag team he represents, and that shouldn’t be the case.
A listener writes into the show and asks Ross about WrestleMania 21. Ross says that is one of, if not his favourite PPV, partially because the Houston Astrodome was a very special place to him. He would go to sporting events there with his fathers many years earlier, so it was cool to work in that building. That was a neat event to be a part of with Steve Austin turning heel, and Ross looks back on that PPV fondly.

Another listener writes into the show to ask Ross for his opinion on WWE’s brand split. He points out that with the amount of performers under contract with WWE there almost needs to be a brand split in order to get everyone on television each week. He does admit that sometimes he forgets which superstars are on each brand.
A final question is centered around WWE’s usage of Bobby Roode. Ross thinks that Roode is definitely underutilized at the moment. He thinks Roode and Chad Gable could still be a good heel team, adding that working with Roode could be very valuable to Gable down the road.

Ross welcomes Dave Meltzer to the show.
Meltzer points out that he enjoys some comedy in wrestling, but it’s not supposed to be a comedy show. WWE’s audience is also older now, so there’s no need for all the childish humour. He notes that he’s seen a number of up-and-coming talents who’ve had charisma, but once he saw them on television it didn’t translate. He points out that wrestlers aren’t actors, and it’s tough to succeed when they’re over-scripted. When they’re allowed to be themselves they have a greater chance to flourish.
He admits that it’s very difficult to book a 3-hour show, but there are certain things that are just not thought through. He doesn’t understand why 205 live performers aren’t showcased on RAW or Smackdown, adding that those performers work very hard but when they’re showcased on PPVs only a very small portion of the audience know who they are.

Meltzer thought the booking of the tag team title match on this week’s RAW was “so ridiculous”, and made the tag team titles look very weak. He thought it made the babyface, Roode look like a goof, and there was no great heat on the heels for winning. It turned into a comedy segment and the show never recovered from that.
Ross asks Meltzer about the rumoured Elite wrestling promotion. Ross notes that any new promotion needs television and talent, in that order. PopTV is not a viable television option for Impact, and if these guys don’t get a better television deal than that they cannot be a viable company. Meltzer points out that until there is a viable media outlet involved, this is nothing but talk. He probably wouldn’t have even reported it, but once they registered for certain trademarks it became a viable story.
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!