Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap w/ Kristian Harloff – Writing for WWE, Relationship with Roddy Piper, WWE Limiting Their Talents, More!

Russo welcomes former WWE writer Kristian Harloff to the show.

Harloff says that he was always a huge wrestling fan, and his favourite performer was ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage. He moved to Los Angeles to become a writer and a stand up comedian, and he met Paul Heyman through a WWE event one evening. He asked Heyman how to get a chance to write for WWE and Heyman told him to write a letter. He told Heyman he already did that, so Heyman told him to write another one.

He wrote the company again, this time including his take on an in-depth ‘Invasion’ angle. This caught the attention of Stephanie McMahon and she flew him into Stanford for an interview.

Russo asks Harloff why he’d want to make the jump from being a stand-up comedian to writing professional wrestling. He says that he always wanted to work for WWE and he had to take the chance. Unfortunately, shortly after arriving in WWE he realized that it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows behind the curtains.

Harloff informs that he got on management’s radar quick, but not in a positive way. During his first pre-show production meeting which was led by Vince McMahon, Harloff raised his hand to ask questions on multiple occasions. Coach came up to him after that and told him to settle down a little bit, because you don’t want to be ‘that’ guy.

Rumored Stipulation Confirmed for WWE Battleground

PWInsider has confirmed speculation that WWE is planning on bringing back the Punjabi Prison match for the upcoming WWE Battleground pay-per-view event.

PWI claims that their sources have informed them that the match will indeed taking place on the card. The match is expected to see Jinder Mahal defend his WWE Title against Randy Orton. This will be the 3rd Punjabi Prison match in WWE history.

Punjabi Prison Match Returning Next Month?

It looks like the Punjabi Prison match may be making a return to WWE very soon.

There has been speculation that the upcoming match that is rumored to take place at July 29th WWE Battleground event between Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal will be a Punjabi Prison match. It’s being said that staff workers at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia did measurements in the arena to fit a large bamboo structure. Word also going around is that employees of WWE have been instructed to take the Punjabi Prison structure out of storage.

Pro Wrestling Sheet’s Ryan Satin mentioned on Twitter that Orton is expected to take time off but he will still be around for the Punjabi match at Battleground:

Betting Odds for Tonight’s Money in the Bank Event

Here are the betting odds for tonight’s Money in the Bank event:
(the lower the number, the higher their chances of winning are)

WWE Money in the Bank Match
Baron Corbin -350
Sami Zayn +1200
Kevin Owens +2200
AJ Styles +1300
Shinsuke Nakamura +500
Dolph Ziggler +5000

WWE Women’s Money in the Bank Match
Carmella -265
Becky Lynch +1050
Natalya +750
Charlotte Flair +400
Tamina +6000

WWE Championship Match
Jinder Mahal(c) -900 vs Randy Orton +500

WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship Match
Naomi(c) -270 vs Lana +190

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship
The Usos(c) -185 vs The New Day +145

Bischoff on Wrestling Recap – Orton’s Tweets, Wrestling’s Changing Landscape, Are There Too Many Titles in WWE? More!

Eric Bischoff is joined on today’s show by his co-host Nick Hausman.

Bischoff opens today’s show speaking about the tweets sent out by Rip Rogers and Randy Orton last weekend. He says that for the most part, he agrees with the points made by both men. He says that he has always liked Orton and he has a lot of respect for Orton personally and professionally.

On the other hand, for as long as Bischoff can remember, veteran performers have had an issue with the young wave of performers that were making their way into the business.

When he was working in WCW, veteran performers in their late 30s and 40s at that time were complaining about guys like Chirs Jericho and Rey Mysterio Jr., because those guys were bringing a new element to the wrestling business and it was different compared to what the veteran performers were accustomed to. Bischoff says that this cycle appears to repeat itself in 5-7 year cycles.

Dinner with the King Recap – Thoughts on Rip Rogers/Randy Orton Tweets, Stiff Punches, Why Does Lawler Still Work the Indies? More!

Lawler opens today’s show speaking about this past weekend’s tweets from Rip Rogers and Randy Orton. First off, he says that he’s obviously a fan of Randy Orton and his work, and he’s been a fan of Rip Rogers for years. He thinks both of those men have a point in their concerns regarding the state of indie wrestling.

He believes that the issues lie in the fact that a lot of young indie performers are trying to get their foot in the door in the wrestling business. When they have an opportunity at an indie show, they try to do whatever they can to show the promoter that they’re worth hiring again for a future show.

Lawler agrees with Rogers in the sense that there’s no ‘kayfabe’ anymore. Performers work their match, shake each other’s hands and then go on social media and thank each other for the match. Lawler’s not sure that the performers are even to blame, because it’s the way the business has developed over the last number of years.

He also points out that competitors in all other sports often shake each other’s hand after their match or game, so perhaps it’s not the most ridiculous concept for wrestlers to congratulate each other and put each other over at the end of a match or a feud.

Randy Orton Issues Sarcastic Apology to Indy Marks & Indy Guys

Randy Orton took to his Twitter account and issued an apology to fans that were offended after he re-tweeted comments made by Rip Rogers. For those not aware, Rogers was very vocal about how independent wrestlers perform in today’s wrestling and focused on how too many of their matches consist of flips and dives.

Orton wrote, “Sorry to the Indy marks, Indy guys and old timers who do DIVES took offense….. just having a good time over a few drinks in Denmark closing the Smackdown Live tour….while beating Raw in making over 5 million dollars in the last 11 shows. Now I know to some that doesn’t equate to a standing room only crowd of 150 people paying $8 at an armory somewhere…. but in the big boy world that’s called putting asses in seats. So enjoy your flips, dives, and 20 superkicks per match. To each their own. I will go “dive” back into my 13th title run and get ready to “flip” when my bank statement comes this month…………headlock”

Prior to that, he posted the following: