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Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Kurt Angle Controversy, Billy Gunn Criticism, Was Shawn Michaels A Draw? More!

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

Russo says he usually gives WrestleZone and WrestlingInc. a pass when he rips apart dirt sheet opinions, but this past week both of these sites published stories that they simply shouldn’t have. Nearly a decade ago Kurt Angle was involved in a very troublesome relationship, and he has spent the years since getting over that time in his life.

This past week Angle’s ex went on a Twitter rampage, bringing up things that have been buried for years, and for some reason these wrestling sites thought it was a good idea to publish stories on this. Russo thinks this was an embarrassing thing to do, and he’d love to get an explanation as to why either of these sites chose to publish those stories. By publishing these stories they’ve given this women attention, and have jeopardized Angle’s position in WWE.

Lane plays a clip of Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez from this past week, when they were discussing who Alvarez would be able to have a good match with in NJPW. Meltzer says that Tanahashi would be a good choice because he can have a good match with anyone, except for Billy Gunn evidently.

Russo says that Billy Gunn is a legend in this business, and at 53 years of age he looks better than ever. Russo says he’d love for Meltzer to run into Gunn in the street someday, because he’d run away like a scared little girl. Russo adds that Alvarez is an independent wrestler because he’s not good enough to have great matches with anybody.

WWE Changes RAW Superstars Name

It appears that WWE has decided to shorten Elias Samson’s name to just “Elias” moving forward.

In his bio section on WWE.com, the last name has been cleared away. This would be an indication that they have decided to shorten his name. WWE has done this in the past with Superstars like Big E Langston, Antonio Cesaro and Adrian Neville.

Mike Kanellis Knocks Global Force Wrestling Over Pay Issues

Mike Kanellis knocked Global Force Wrestling over their pay issues in a Twitter exchange with a fan.

The fan pointed out how Mike was a joke in Global Force Wrestling and is also a joke in WWE. That is when Mike decided to point out that he’s getting paid now. You can check out the exchange below:

Predicting the Next Three United States Champions

AJ Styles just defeated Kevin Owens to become a two-time WWE United States Champion. With Styles looking to begin an open challenge, he will have many fresh challengers. One of these challengers will eventually dethrone Styles. Someone will dethrone the one who dethroned Styles. So on and so forth.

Who will be the next person to hold United States gold? Who will become a champion soon? Only time will tell, but here are some bold predictions. Who will become a United States champion before 2017 ends?

3. Kevin Owens

Styles is supposed to defend his championship next week on Smackdown. Given WWE’s recent fascination with nonsensical booking decisions, expect Owens to regain the title and become a four-time US Champion.

The match, if it’s anything like their last few matches, will be a mostly okay match. It will be good for a TV match. Eventually, though, some weird booking decision will work in Kevin Owens’ favor. Maybe the referee won’t see a weapon shot, or won’t see a rope break. Maybe Kevin Owens will pick up the whole announce table and hit AJ with it and the referee won’t know if he should disqualify Owens. At the end of a hard-fought match, though, Owens will walk away with the gold.

The next week, he’ll cut a promo saying he’s hosting an open challenge. Styles will answer, and Owens will deny him. Either Daniel Bryan or Shane McMahon will book  the match for the following week, because ratings or something. Whatever. Styles will get his rematch.

What will happen after Styles gets his rematch? It’s easy.

2. AJ Styles

At the rematch, AJ Styles will channel the strength of his home state of Georgia. With the weight of 10 million people squarely on his shoulders, Styles will vanquish that dastardly Canadian Kevin Owens and become a three-time United States champion. Ideally, the match would be a no holds barred street fight. The Atlanta Falcons will all be at ringside (despite the show being held in Providence, Rhode Island), and they’ll all attack Kevin Owens. Then the Montreal Canadiens will show up and attack the Falcons. Styles will then perform a Styles Clash to Kevin Owens off the top rope, outside the ring, and onto both teams, who are conveniently brawling near the turnbuckle. Amidst all the strewn bodies at ringside, Styles will roll Owens’ lifeless body into the ring and get the three-count.

Next week, AJ will announce that he’s holding an Open Challenge. John Cena will answer, because reasons. Kevin Owens will also appear, along with Jinder Mahal. They’ll have a tag team match, and Owens will face Styles at Summerslam for the United States Championship.

What happens at Summerslam? I think you know.

1. Kevin Owens

At Summerslam, Kevin Owens will defeat AJ Styles in a 60-minute 6-pack Iron Man Elimination match that will also feature Sami Zayn, Tye Dillinger, Aiden English, and Mike Kannelis. Owens will eliminate Styles by fighting with the weight of 35 million people on his shoulders. Styles will be fighting with the weight of 323 million people on his shoulders, but since his burden is heavier, Owens capitalizes on that and wins.

Owens will once again proclaim that he will be hosting an open challenge. Styles will demand a match, but Owens will deny him, saying he’s fought him too many times. Styles moves to the back of the line, and Kevin Owens faces new challengers.

Kevin Owens will then hold on to the United States Championship for the rest of his career. He’ll retire 10 years later, still the United States champion. At his last ever match, it will be for the championship. The match will end in a DQ, and Owens gets to retire with the title, forever the New Face of America.

Who’s Idea Was For AJ Styles to Win the US Title at Madison Square Garden?

While appearing on Edge & Christian’s podcast, AJ Styles revealed that it was actually Vince McMahon’s idea for Kevin Owens to drop the United States Championship title to him at the Madison Square Garden event a few weeks back.

“To me, it’s smart. It’s something that hasn’t been done in a long time and to do it at Madison Square Garden and everybody with WWE knows that’s a big deal. I think it was awesome. I think it was very clever and I loved it.”

Styles recalled, “there was a pop, ‘he won! Yes!’ but, ‘well, who’s going to walk out there?’ and then, there was another pop because nobody walked out there. It was really cool, but it was smart to not do that every year, but every couple of years to do something like that. I think it just came down to doing something different and it was Vince’s call and no one else’s. And yeah, it was great.”

Styles went on to explain how he wouldn’t be surprised to see the WWE Championship change hands at a SmackDown Live live event.

“You never know. And who knows? When the guys wrestling, whoever it may be wrestling Jinder Mahal, they may switch it. If you’ve got John Cena working Jinder Mahal on the main event or whatever, it could possibly happen. That’s a good idea. That’s a business move to some extent.”

Anthem Sports Refusing to Negotiate with The Hardy Boyz

It doesn’t look like you will see the “BROKEN” gimmick being used by Matt and Jeff Hardy on WWE programming anytime soon, as Anthem no longer wants to negotiate with The Hardy Boyz anymore.

While speaking to Sports Illustrated, Anthem’s Ed Nordholm touched based on the on-going issues between Anthem Sports and the rights to the “BROKEN” gimmick. When asked if The Hardy Boyz initial investment of $3000 into the gimmick would change the dynamic of the ownership, Nordholm explained why he doesn’t think it does.

“No. The company spent millions of dollars producing television last year, including all of the shows that incorporate the various aspects of the “Broken Brilliance.” I don’t know whether Jeff and Matt had some out-of-pocket expenses that they might have had on the volcano and the like, but that would not change, in any way, shape, or form, what their contracts say about who owns the IP. If they had some out-of-pocket expenses, they certainly never brought them to my attention. To suggest that they somehow funded the show is absurd.”

When asked about the possibly selling the intellectual property, Nordholm revealed that the door has been shut on The Hardy Boyz and they never plan on negotiating with them again.

“I’ve stopped thinking about this. We have a show to put on, and a company and a brand. We’ve got things on our plate that are more important than sorting out the “Broken Brilliance.” I made a genuine effort to resolve something to benefit the Hardys as a goodwill gesture to Matt. It didn’t reach a conclusion and we’re moving on. We’re not going back to it, I’m not interested in opening a new dialogue, I’m not interested in opening another conversation about it. We made our best effort, it didn’t happen, and I’m not going to negotiate all over again.”

Reby Hardy Continues to Blast Jeff Jarrett — He’s Burning Through Karen’s Alimony Money

Reby Hardy responded to a remark made by Twitter user @KingCrump83 that if it wasn’t for her recent trash talking the legal battle over the “BROKEN” gimmick would have been resolved by now.

“Some people say that if it wasn’t for @RebyHardy talking trash all the time, GFW would have signed off on the contract already. I dont know.”

Hardy responded to these remarks with a series of tweets on Twitter. Here is what she wrote:

“If they were going to, they would have LONG BEFORE I ever said anything again. My recent speaking out was after the last straw for us… after weeks of staying quiet, as per our verbal agreement that was made once Billy & our lawyers reached out to them on our behalf… Apparently they couldn’t hold up their end of it, with Jeff, Ed & Dutch continuing to give interviews & lie to anyone would who listen… For what ? EGO; that’s what this is all about. TNA gains NOTHING they didn’t already have by putting us through this mess… attempting to prevent us from making money ? Trying to shut down an entire ROH PPV ? Yeah, we haven’t forgotten about that… but they want you to, as they gloat of ‘building bridges’ to detract from the fact that they can no longer fund their own programming… Lets keep it real; Jeff Jarrett burns bridges like he burns through Kurt Angle’s alimony money. They were never going to cooperate… regardless of how many chances we gave them to do things amicably/the right way. And there were MANY… Jarrett himself said they were going to ‘drag it out as long as possible’ because ‘they’ll get tired of spending money’… Easy for a failing company & someone whose lifestyle is supported by his wife’s ex husband to say. You weak AF, little man… The ONLY thing we’re tired of are the blatant lies & we will NEVER back down. Even tho we’ve ALREADY WON. #NoCredEd #f***ThatOwl”

The Taz Show Recap – RAW Analysis, Angle & Jordan Storyline Feels Strange, Tweaking Cass As A Heel, More!

Block 1:

Taz opens today’s show speaking about last night’s episode of RAW.

Taz thinks the progression of this Kurt Angle/Jason Jordan storyline is getting a little strange. The storyline as a whole doesn’t bother him, but he way Angle and Jordan are performing is really weird right now. Taz thinks there’s another part of this story that hasn’t been revealed yet, and a part of him thought Jordan was actually going to turn heel during his debut RAW match last night.

Taz also thinks that WWE should change up Jordan’s ring gear. He doesn’t think Jordan should be using the red, white and blue colours for his entrance or for his ring gear. Instead, he should use gold as his primary colour, so there’ll still be a connection to Angle while he establishes his own brand as well.

A listener calls into the show and asks Taz how he’d fantasy book a Shield reunion. Taz says he wouldn’t book a Shield reunion at all, and he wishes WWE would stop teasing it. He wouldn’t have even had Ambrose and Rollins team up last night, because he doesn’t see a reason to reunite those three men. They’ve all gone out on their own and have become singles stars, so there’s no reason to reunite them right now.

Another listener calls into the show and talks about how good Roman Reigns is at selling, especially for a big man. Taz agrees entirely and says that selling is just another thing that Reigns does not get enough credit for.