Ross opens today’s show by confirming that he is speaking with AEW. He notes that they’re a young company and he thinks he can help them either by calling matches or by working behind the scenes. He thinks there’ll be some resolution to their talks by next week. He adds that life is good, and when one door closes another opens.

Ross is intrigued by the first-ever Women’s main event at WrestleMania. He notes that if this motivates the guys or other women in the locker room to work harder then that’s a good thing. He adds that he didn’t really understand the “Beat the Clock Challenge” on television this week, and notes that there was no prize for the winner.

Ross thought Aleister Black and Ricochet had a great match with The Revival on RAW, but it’s unfortunate that it didn’t mean anything. Black and Ricochet defeating the Tag Team Champions – who aren’t over – does them little good moving forward.

Ross notes that Michael Che and Colin Jost being involved in WrestleMania helps get media attention from the outlets that were going to cover it anyways. Other than that he’s not sure how big of a story this is.

He wonders what Andre would think about those two being involved in the match named after him. He points out that in years past a wrestler would give those guys a stiff chop or two to show them that this isn’t as easy as they might think.

Ross thinks Drew McIntyre is primed for a big year in WWE. He thinks McIntyre will have a Title by WrestleMania next year because he has everything McMahon looks for in a main event Superstar.

Ross thinks Kurt Angle’s retirement match needs to be a big deal at WrestleMania. He has heard some people speculate that McMahon is embarrassing Angle by having him face Baron Corbin for leaving for TNA years ago, but Ross thinks that’s a ridiculous thing to think.

Ross was shocked to see Charlotte pin Asuka for the Smackdown Women’s Title on Tuesday night. He notes that this had to be a last minute decision because the match wasn’t promoted at all. Maybe having Charlotte hold this Title adds more clout to the ‘Mania main event, but it makes him wonder if those in power in WWE realize just how big of a star Asuka is. He points out that if he was still working in Talent Relations in WWE he’d make sure to speak to Asuka about learning English.

Ross says he had no problem with Randy Orton interrupting the Angle/Styles match on Smackdown Live. He doesn’t think enough people are talking about the Orton/Styles match at ‘Mania, as he thinks that match can steal the show. Ross loved the handshake at the beginning of the match between Angle and Styles, adding that it was very memorable.

Ross thought the highlight of the tag team Gauntlet match on Smackdown was The Usos forfeiting to The New Day. He liked this a lot, noting that it made a lot of sense.

Ross doesn’t think the Women’s main event at ‘Mania is a one-off. He notes that this should motivate the other women to work harder because they know now that if they get hot with the WWE Universe, they’ll be in that spot in years to come.

Ross didn’t like the racial undertones to Big E’s recent social media video. He notes that this type of thing wouldn’t happen without WWE’s approval, but he didn’t see the need for it. He doesn’t think race, religion, etc. have any place in a wrestling show because it brings up too much negativity.

Ross doesn’t think WWE is even considering bringing Conor McGregor in for WrestleMania – at least they shouldn’t be. He notes that McGregor is dealing with some legal issues in Ireland, and Becky Lynch doesn’t need him in her corner anyway.

Ross thinks Rob Gronkowski is a perfect candidate for a one-off match in WWE. He doesn’t see Gronk passing up on other opportunities to pursue a full-time training and work schedule in WWE.

Ross points out that Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion will be involved in an upcoming video game. Ross notes that there is big money in video games if they sell, adding that he made “6 figures” on multiple occasions for his voice-over work on WWE 2K video games.

Ross welcomes Tony Schiavone to the show.

Schiavone informs that he recently did a live show with Conrad Thompson and Eric Bischoff and it was a lot of fun. They will be doing another show the Monday after WrestleMania in New York, starting at 4PM in the afternoon.

Schiavone notes that he speaks with Cody Rhodes quite frequently and thinks that he has great business sense. He confirms that he won’t be signing with AEW because he has too much other stuff going on in his life right now and he doesn’t want to complicate things further by working for AEW. He thinks that company is going about things the right way, and he thinks they’re going to do great things.

Speaking about the all-woman main event at WrestleMania, Schiavone says the timing is right for it. These three women are big stars, arguably the biggest stars in the company right now, and they deserve it. He thinks this was the right decision.

A listener writes into the show and asks Ross if he and Jerry Lawler ever had to deal with hecklers behind them at shows. Ross notes that he and Lawler were always pretty popular so they didn’t have to deal with much of that, other than the odd “Puppies!” chant for Lawler.

Another listener writes into the show and asks Ross if he agreed with the creative decision to have Kane remove his mask years ago. Ross says he didn’t agree with that decision because he thought there was lots left for them to do with the character creatively. He informs that he actually owns the last original mask ever made or worn by Kane in WWE.

Ross welcomes Kenny Omega to the show.

Omega notes that AEW’s audience is a young, emotionally-invested audience and he loves that. Ross notes that Chicago audiences are always “honest” and that’s about all you can ask for from your fans.

Omega notes that AEW is in a “trial period” right now and they’re going to try some things. Some might work and some mightn’t, but they’re going to try them. He notes that the work never ends as they try to get AEW off the ground, but this break away from the ring has really helped his body. He informs that he was getting pretty beat up towards the end of last year, adding that the G1 tournament really took a toll on him.

He has a new documentary premiering on TSN in Canada, and Ross saw an early copy of the film. Ross loved it, adding that the undertones of equality in wrestling across race, religion, etc. was really great to see.

That sums up today’s episode of The Ross Report. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!