ROH

X-Pac 1, 2, 360 Recap – The Ball’s Appearance on RAW, Joe vs. Lesnar, X-Pac Almost Stars on GLOW? More!

X-Pac opens today’s show speaking about Cody Rhodes’ recent ROH World Title victory. He says that he’s very proud of Rhodes, who took a huge risk and left the safe surroundings of WWE in order to bet on himself. It’s safe to say that Rhodes’ bet is paying off right now. X-Pac says that he heard a lot of friends criticize Rhodes’ decision, some even calling him a mark for doing this, but X-Pac was happy to see Rhodes follow his heart.

X-Pac mentions that he was lucky enough to be backstage at RAW this week in Los Angeles, where a lot of interesting things were happening. He was able to sit and talk with guest star Josh Duhamel for a while, and he was able to experience the backstage reaction during the MizTV segment featuring LaVar Ball and his two sons.

He says that WWE should have known that this was going to be a disaster and they very well might have, but they obviously didn’t care. He says that LaVar Ball went off script nearly right from the start and was jumping all over everyone else’s lines. In spite of all that, and even after the youngest son used derogatory language, McMahon was still urging cameramen to follow them to the backstage area and through Gorilla, because he didn’t want the cameras to miss anything good.

Talk is Jericho Recap w/ Baron Corbin – Money in the Bank Win, Transitioning from NXT to WWE, Getting Yelled at by The Undertaker, More!

Jericho welcomes Baron Corbin to the show.

Corbin informs that he lives just down the street from Jericho, in a house that was previously owned by both Big Show and The Undertaker. He says that the house was definitely built for a big man as the doorways are enormous and the ceilings are 18-20 feet.

Jericho congratulates Corbin on his big Money in the Bank ladder match victory, and Corbin thanks Jericho for coming up with the idea many years ago. Jericho informs that he and then-writer Brian Gewirtz were brainstorming ideas on how to utilize a bunch of talents who were getting a push within the company.

Jericho suggested that they have a ladder match where they’d fight over a contract for a Title shot the following night. Gewirtz took that idea to McMahon who adjusted it so the talents could cash in the contract at any point during the next year, and he also insisted that the contract be in a breifcase.

First Match Announced for WWE Battleground

The New Day challenged The Usos to a shot at the SmackDown Tag Team Championships on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live. Usos accepted the challenge and will defend their titles on the card. No other matches have been announced for the show yet.

Battleground takes place on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Another Match Announced for WWE Battleground

Shane McMahon announced on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live that Randy Orton will get a rematch against Jinder Mahal for the WWE Title at the upcoming WWE Battleground event. Jinder would later announce that the match is a Punjabi Prison match. Here is the updated card:

WWE Title: Punjabi Prison match
Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal

SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The New Day vs. The Usos

Battleground takes place on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Battle Royal & Rap Battle Announced for Next Week’s SmackDown

Daniel Bryan announced on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live that an Independence Day Battle Royal to determine a #1 contender for the United States Championship will take place next week.

Also announced for next week’s show is the return of John Cena and The New Day will compete against The Usos in a rap battle.

Tyson Kidd to Receive Non-Wrestling Gig with WWE

Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Tyson Kidd will be moved into a non-wrestling role with WWE.

According to the report, it’s too early to determine if the role will be a backstage one such as a producer or an on-air personality. Kidd has been out of action since suffering a career-ending injury during a match against Samoa Joe back in 2015.

Speaking of Kidd, he is also set to return to Total Divas next season after sitting out the previous one.

Bischoff on Wrestling Recap – Working as a Guest Referee, Bret Hart in WCW, Why Was Bischoff Hired in TNA? More!

Bischoff is joined on today’s show by his co-host Nick Hausman. Today’s show will be a question and answer session with Bischoff.

One listener writes into the show and asks Bischoff what he considers to be the new key performance indicator for professional wrestling, since television ratings are starting to become out of date. Bischoff thinks that’s a great question and he’s not really sure if the answer. There’s no denying that television ratings were his main consideration in WCW in the late 90s, but today’s promotions don’t seem to be nearly as motivated by ratings alone.

Another listener asks Bischoff if he thinks finishing moves are beginning to become obsolete. Bischoff says that the style of professional wrestling that we see today requires different things from the performers, and finishing moves aren’t nearly as ‘effective’ as they have been in years prior. Fans seem to enjoy multiple false finishes in matches, and this devalues finishing moves. He believes the devaluation of finishing moves is a result of the change in the in-ring product over the last two decades.

The next listener asks Bischoff what it was like to be a guest referee. Bischoff says that he hated it, and he always felt very uncomfortable. Being a professional wrestling referee is an art within itself, and it takes a lot of time and practice in order to master. He points out that a good referee does more than count to 3, they direct the match and are as important to the match’s execution as the two talents involved.

The Taz Show Recap – LaVar Ball Invades RAW, Enzo & Big Cass Swerve, How to Hold A Title, More!

Block 1:

Taz opens today’s show speaking about the MizTV segment from last night’s RAW, which featured guest stars LaVar Ball and his two sons. LaVar Ball is a lightning rod in the sporting world right now, and WWE knew that they’d garner the attention of the mainstream sporting media if they had him make a guest appearance on RAW.

Taz says he’s sure that Vince McMahon knew this was going to be horrible, but he was definitely laughing his ass off in the Gorilla position. The positives outweighed the negatives in this situation, and that’s why McMahon loves to do these things from time to time. Regardless of all this, Taz was incredibly annoyed by Ball’s antics and wanted to jump through his television to beat him up.

He adds that he feels very sorry for Lonzo Ball, son of LaVar, who was recently drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers. His father’s heat resulted in him actually getting booed by the WWE audience in his hometown of Los Angeles, and he now has a huge target on his back as he enters his rookie season in the NBA.

WWE Writing Sheamus Off Television Soon

Dave Meltzer mentioned on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE will be writing Sheamus off television in the near future.

The story is that Sheamus has a role in the upcoming “Buddy Games” film and shooting for the movie takes place sometime in August. It’s believed that Sheamus will be written off television around that time. Meltzer indicated that Sheamus could be off of television for around six weeks or however long the shooting for the film is.

We will keep you updated if we hear anymore details.

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Ranallo Returns, Snow vs. Meltzer, Ellsworth’s Heat Leads to Rise in Smackdown Viewership, More!

Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host Jeff Lane, Glenn Gilbertti (Disco Inferno), and Konnan.

Russo opens today’s show by discussing the rise in viewership for Smackdown Live this past week. The blue brand’s viewership increased by 500,000 last week and he believes that was a direct result of the booking from Sunday’s Money in the Bank PPV, specifically the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match.

Konnan agrees and although he thinks the finish could have been done better, it accomplished its goal of drawing attention to the brand. Russo points out that when you tell stories and leave viewers wondering, they will tune into the next show to see what happens.

Gilbertti says that the fan backlash over that finish was silly to begin with. He says the problem with the wrestling industry right now is that there are too few experts, and the actual experts are criticized and ridiculed by people who consider themselves experts simply because they’ve watched a lot of wrestling.

The Taz Show Recap – Bryan Teases A Return to the Ring, Ranallo Back in WWE, Women’s MITB Rematch, More!

Blocks 1 & 2:

A listener calls into the show and asks Taz if he thinks WWE would throw us all a curve ball and have one of the Money in the Bank winners emerge on RAW to cash in their briefcase against Alexa Bliss or Brock Lesnar. Taz admits that would be a very shocking and surprising turn of events, and would make for a very memorable moment.

However, he doesn’t think cashing in on RAW (especially the day after the PPV) is a good idea. He has always been a fan of the Money in the Bank creative, and more often than not the goal is to get as much longevity out of that angle as possible each year. The briefcase holders can use that contract to boost themselves up throughout the year, and the constant threat of cashing in adds intrigue to the product throughout the year as well.

A listener calls into the show and says that he purchased the ROH PPV this past weekend, and this was the first PPV he purchased since 2014. He’s very happy he decided to spend the money on this PPV because it was a great wrestling show. Taz says that he’s a big fan of ROH, and there’s a lot of hard working people who make that company work on a daily basis.