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Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Balor’s Promos Need Work, Meltzer Disrespects Al Snow, When Will Corbin Cash in? More!

Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host Jeff Lane.

Speaking about the new Elias Samson/Finn Balor feud, Bruce Mitchell from PWTorch recently said that Samson needs programs like this, because he can learn from Balor and Balor can carry him in the ring. Russo says if we look at it from a promo perspective, he hasn’t seen Balor cut a good one yet, and Samson has been cutting great promos ever since he arrived on the main roster.

From a promo perspective Samson can ‘eat Balor alive’, but all these ‘journalists’ just look at things based on the in-ring product. Russo still wonders where Balor’s ‘Demon’ character is, and if the ‘Demon’ isn’t going to be a regular part of Balor’s presentation, Balor is going to have to show us more on the mic.

Russo also comments on the notion that perhaps Finn Balor doesn’t want to cover his face with paint every night because he’s a mark for himself and he wants to build his own brand. Russo says that this can happen when talents start to buy into their own hype from the niche audience. Today’s Superstars will never get over like Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin, because they don’t even understand what it takes to be a star in the wrestling business.

Best Potential Summer Feuds for John Cena

On the July 4th episode of Smackdown Live John Cena will make his anticipated return. Absent since his memorable moment at Wrestlemania 33, Cena will likely start the build for his summer feud. Big Match John’s feud is likely to be a high profile one which is equally as high in quality. The interesting caveat to Cena’s return however, is his status as a free agent.

What exactly this means is still up in the air. However logic dictates it means Cena will begin to appear on not only Smackdown Live, but also RAW. This sets up a plethora of exciting feuds and matches which are sure to create buzz this summer. Fresh rivalries and dream matches always on the mind when you talk about John Cena. With his return imminent, the buzz within WWE through July to Summerslam will be huge. Undoubtedly superstars would love to take the opportunity to collide with the Face that runs the Place. Whether it be at the Biggest Party of the Summer or beforehand.

With that, this article takes a look at the best possible feuds for the Summer for John Cena from both Smackdown Live and RAW.

Apollo Crews Becomes a Father

WWE has made an announcement on wwe.com stating that RAW Superstar Apollo Crews and his partner, Linda invited their first-born this week. Here’s the official announcement made by the WWE:

“Titus Brand member Apollo Crews has become a father, WWE.com is happy to announce.

The powerful Raw Superstar and his partner Linda have welcomed their first child, Sade Sofiya, into the world.

Join WWE in congratulating the proud parents!”

Crews’s friend and Impact Wrestling star, Moose posted this photo on Instagram, congratulating his friend and welcoming the baby to the “family”:

I’m absolutely happy for My Twin Brother @apollocrewswwe And his Partner @itsmslinda absolutely stoked…… welcome to the Family SADE #KillaCam #KinG #Sade

A post shared by Moose Moose Moose Moose (@moosenation69) on Jun 22, 2017 at 7:38am PDT

Kurt Angle Rumored To Be The Legend Attached to WWE 2k18

It’s being said Kurt Angle is rumored to be the playable legend character attached to the new WWE 2k18 video game. As unveiled earlier this week, Seth Rollins is going to be the poster-boy for the video game.

Traditionally there’s a pre-order exclusive character attached to every WWE 2k game every year. Some of the names that have been featured as pre-order bonuses are Goldberg, Sting and The Ultimate Warrior.

Adding Angle to the 2k18 roster will be extremely fruitful for the WWE has the former Olympic Gold Medalist has immense stardom attached to his name.

Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar Moved to SummerSlam?

There is speculation that the Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar match that was previously scheduled to take place at WrestleMania 34 could be taking place at SummerSlam this year instead.

This move is being taken to increase the presence of the Universal Title on weekly RAW shows in order to increase the poor TV ratings. The speculation holds a lot of relevance since Reigns announced that he was next in line to challenge Lesnar for the title on this week’s Monday Night RAW episode.

Additionally, Dave Meltzer mentioned in a recent installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that plans may have changed because Braun Strowman returned from injury much earlier than expected. With his early return, some planned matches have been switched around.

What are your thoughts on this match-up? Sound off in the comment box below…

Ryback Talks About Teased Feud Against Triple H

On the latest episode of his podcast, Conversations with the Big Guy, Ryback revealed some interesting details about a teased feud between him and Triple H. Here’s what the “Big Guy” said: (Quote credits: wrestlinginc.com)

“I had a weird deal with Hunter. Did I ever tell [podcast co-host Pat Buck]? Do you remember that, where they had a thing where it looked like they were teasing a program with me and Hunter? They had us face off in England after I wrestled Kane. I think I broke my finger wrestling Kane one night. We were doing something and our hands hit and my finger went sideways.”

Ryback then continued:

“so I get through this match with Kane. I think it was the main event on SmackDown. Then, they have this big stare [down] with me and Hunter and they teased it for a couple of weeks with different things and then it just went away. It was nothing. And even he came up, ‘the plan was never for us to work, just so you know.’ And I go, ‘Oh, okay. I don’t know.’ I’m not in the creative meetings. I don’t know why. I just do what I’m told. He would always explain things weirdly, but, yeah, that never happened. It would’ve been nice, so he could f–king know that I could wrestle.”

Would you have liked seeing Hunter go at it with The Big Guy? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Matt Hardy Praises Kenny Omega

Matt Hardy recently held a Q&A session on Twitter where he answered many questions and talked about a lot of topics. On being asked about the “Cleaner” Kenny Omega by a fan, Hardy had some big words for him. Here are the tweets:

Pretty sure the Cleaner will find the comments extremely DELIGHTFUL!

Triple H Invites Mayweather & McGregor to RAW

Triple H recently spoke with Sky Sports. Here are some highlights from the interview.

The announcement of Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor in a boxing match: “I think that is the – look I’ll go a step further and say all sports is entertainment, the news is entertainment today, it’s just the way of the world. This is what people do with their time. It’s no different. I think there is an interest level there. Can a world class boxer, probably the best ever, can he stand in the ring with an MMA guy and can that MMA guy bring his striking skills up to the level of someone, like say, a Floyd Mayweather? The one thing it will be, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is entertaining. One thing Floyd Mayweather is, is entertaining. One thing Conor McGregor is, is entertaining, and it’s funny that you say it’s sports entertainment. I’d invite both guys, that really want to showcase what they do, I invite both guys to come to Monday Night RAW because there is no bigger platform that they can have to show the world, and tell the world, who they are and why they’re the man.”

Previously Working With Mayweather: “Yeah, Floyd got involved then. I trained Floyd to step into the ring with The Big Show, which was a big highlight for me, and he did. He got it the ring at our Super Bowl, Floyd is a big fan and has a huge respect for what we do, we have stayed in touch over the years, and here he is getting thrown out of the ring by the Big Show. At the level of athlete that he’s at, for Floyd to agree to that kind of stuff was amazing for us, but you know he’s a huge fan and couldn’t have been more engaged in what we do. The Mayweather / McGregor fight, people can say what they want, but it’ll be entertaining.”

Possibility of doing a match with boxing star Gennady Golovkin (GGG): “It would be the perfect fight, we have a little beef over the three letter thing going on, maybe. It’s funny you should – we had a date at Madison Square Garden for GGG’s last fight and we made an arrangement to allow GGG to have that date for his last fight – there’s a little bit of history there. I’d love to get in the ring with him and see what we can do.”

Enzo Amore & Big Cass Out Ranking Peers In Merchandise Items

Big Cass and Enzo Amore out rank anyone on the roster in terms of number of merchandise items. At the time of their split, they apparently have 54 items available on the WWE website. This is more than anyone on the roster including John Cena, Roman Reigns, The New Day, AJ Styles, and Seth Rollins.

PopVinyls.com noted on Twitter that the new Enzo and Cass figures are scheduled to come out in August: