TNA

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.

Mike Tenay Turns Down Offer for Impact Wrestling Return

Mike Tenay has reportedly turned down an offer to return to the announcers booth for Impact Wrestling.

According to the Wrestling Observer, with Jeremy Borash and Josh Mathews competing at the upcoming Slammiversary event, Impact wanted to have Tenay and Don West reunite and call the show. Tenay apparently turned the offer company down, which led to the Impact bringing in Robert Flores to work alongside West.

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.

Eva Marie Not Done with WWE?

It was reported back in March via PWInsider that Eva Marie would not be returning to WWE, however those reports appear to be false.

Eva Marie appeared on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live and indicated that she could still pop up on RAW or SmackDown Live at anytime. She mentioned that her return may not be in the near future as she is still working on two filming projects, but the door is still open for her return.

When asked about reports that Lana has received her gimmick on SmackDown, she said that she couldn’t confirm that but hopes that’s not the case.

New Match Added to WWE Great Balls of Fire

WWE announced that Seth Rollins will face Bray Wyatt at the upcoming WWE Great Balls of Fire event. Here is the updated card:

WWE Universal Title Match
Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar

Ambulance Match
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

Cruiserweight Title Match
Akira Tozawa vs. Neville

Bray Wyatt vs. Seth Rollins

Great Balls of Fire takes place on July 9th from the American Airlines Center in Dallas. As always, we will have live play-by-play coverage of the event.

Steve Austin Spotted at Arena for Tonight’s RAW

Our correspondent at tonight’s RAW sent word that Steve Austin has been spotted at the Staples Center. He passed along the following photo:

As mentioned earlier today, WWE is printing “Los Angeles 3:16” t-shirts for tonight’s RAW. It’s being speculated that Austin could possibly be making an appearance on tonight’s show. Austin lives in the area and sometimes attends WWE shows and conducts interviews with the wrestlers for his podcast.