Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Commenting on Paige/Del Rio Situation, Mahal’s Championship Run, Fatal 4-Way at SummerSlam? More!

Russo opens today’s show by commentating on the recent drama in the relationship between Paige and Alberto Del Rio. He says that he met Paige and her family before, and they’re all very nice people. He has also met Del Rio in the past and he was very nice as well. In other words, he likes both of these individuals and he really just wants both of them to be okay.

He says that he doesn’t put any weight into the headlines written by wrestling ‘journalists’, but the tweets that were sent out by Paige’s brother really caught his attention. Some people forget that Paige is still just a kid, and her family are obviously very concerned about her. He believes that there is love in that relationship and he thinks they’re both good people, so he hopes they can figure this out.

Lane mentions that there has been some criticism from dirt sheet writers, Bryan Alvarez in particular, over the fact that Billy Gunn worked the recent NJPW show from the United States. Russo says he’s glad that Gunn wrestled on that show, and he’s glad that he’ll continue to wrestle for the foreseeable future because he’s able to make money doing that. This is a business, and each time Gunn wrestles he gets paid, so what’s the problem here?

Russo says that Gunn is still a machine at his age. He adds that in a shoot fight, Gunn would give Brock Lesnar a tougher bout than Samoa Joe or most other performers on WWE’s roster.

The Taz Show Recap – Great Balls Analysis, A.J. Styles Wins Gold, Reigns Attempts Murder, More!

Block 1:

Taz says he was shocked to hear that Austin Aries was released by WWE over the weekend. Aries is a great talker who takes great care of himself and is a terrific worker in the ring, so it’s too bad that things didn’t work out for him in WWE. He’s sure that Aries will apply his craft elsewhere in the very near future, such as Japan or in ROH.

He was also surprised to hear that A.J. Styles defeated Kevin Owens to claim the United States Title at the Madison Square Garden house show over the weekend. He likes that WWE did this, because it keeps fans guessing at live events. Switching a Title at a house show from time to time ensures fans that anything can happen at any WWE event. He’s sure that those two guys tore the house down in that match, and he’s happy for Styles.

Taz gets into his analysis of last night’s Great Balls of Fire PPV.

Taz was surprised to see Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt open the show last night. There’s nothing wrong with guys with star power opening the show like that, but Taz would have preferred if Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss opened the show. Nonetheless, Wyatt picked up a much needed win in what was a fine opening bout.

Dixie Carter Congratulates AJ Styles

After it was reported that former TNA President Dixie Carter will appear on WWE 24 – Kurt Angle: Homecoming this Monday night after RAW on the WWE Network, Carter offered her congratulations to TNA alumnus AJ Styles on winning the United States Championship from Kevin Owens Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Carter tweeted the following in response to Matt Hardy congratulating Styles.

Here is footage of Styles capturing the title Friday night.

Rumored Card for WWE Battleground

The following card is being rumored for the upcoming SmackDown-brand WWE Battleground event:

Punjabi Prison Match for the WWE Championship
Jinder Mahal (C) vs. Randy Orton

Tag Team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships
The New Day (C) vs. The Usos

WWE the United States Championship
Kevin Owens (C) vs. AJ Styles

SmackDown Women’s Championship
Lana vs. Naomi

Rusev vs. John Cena

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin

Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis

WWE Battleground takes place on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. As always, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage of the event.