WWE

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Joe Going Off Script Against Lesnar, Cena Putting Over Styles, Samson’s Botched Guitar Shot, More!

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

To open today’s show, Lane plays a clip of Dave Meltzer who’s discussing Jason Jordan’s upcoming push. Meltzer says that while having the spotlight on you is good, WWE is a tricky spot to receive a big push because if Vince McMahon decides you don’t get over during your big push, you have a black mark on you for the rest of your career.

Russo says that this can be said about any profession because if you have an opportunity at your workplace and you don’t succeed, you’re going to be taken out of that spot. Meltzer and these other dirt sheet writers mightn’t understand this because they’ve never worked in the real world. He also says that if you don’t want to have the spotlight on you in the biggest promotion in the world, you’re in the wrong business.

A clip of Wade Keller presents him discussing the Brock Lesnar/Samoa Joe angle. Keller says that Joe came off as someone that could kick Lesnar’s ass during the entire program, and we haven’t really seen that before. There were a couple times when Keller thought Joe might get in trouble, specifically when he told Lesnar to ‘look at me when I’m talking to you’, because that wasn’t scripted.

Why Brock Lesnar Must Become A Free Agent

Rumours have been circulating this week that Brock Lesnar will return to UFC. There is also an accompanying rumour that Lesnar will not resign his contract after Wrestlemania 34. Even if these are simply rumours WWE and Vince McMahon must be scared. Lesnar is sports entertainment’s biggest draw bar none. He is a mega star and a huge asset to the company. However, his career is winding down and there is still infinite value in Lesnar over the next year or two. His value will be used best though if he becomes a free agent and here’s why.

More Dream Matches

Samoa Joe vs Brock Lesnar was a legitimate dream match. WWE capitalised on this feud and booked it perfectly from Extreme Rules all the way to Great Balls of Fire. This feud proved Joe to be a superstar and also that Brock Lesnar dream feuds are a necessity. Dream matches with Brock Lesnar create superstars. They give wrestlers a career defining match as well fans exactly what they are desperate for.

That said, there are not that many dream feuds left for Lesnar on RAW. The only real one is Finn Balor which is as dream worthy as Samoa Joe was. Behind Balor is – at a stretch of the word dream – Bray Wyatt and even Braun Strowman. These feuds must happen in Lesnar’s time left in WWE without a doubt, particularly with Balor. On Smackdown Live however there are more. Three legitimate dream matches face Lesnar on Smackdown Live. Kevin Owens, AJ Styles and of course there is also Shinsuke Nakamura. On a smaller level there is also stars like Corbin and Zayn who would likely be excellent opponents for Lesnar.

Heyman can simply announce the Beast Incarnate will do what he wants and go where he wants. This opens the door for so many feuds and matches that WWE must capitalise on. Especially now that Lesnar is likely in the very end of his WWE career. With Lesnar fighting only a limited number of times a year, now is the time to do this. If not for the wrestlers opposite Lesnar, then for us the fans.

Favorites to Win at Sunday’s WWE Battleground Event

Here are the current bedding odds for Sunday’s WWE Battleground event, courtesy of Bet Wrestling. These betting outcomes will most-likely changed several times between now and Sunday.

(Note: The lower the number, the more favorable they are in winning the bout)

WWE Championship – Punjabi Prison Match
Jinder Mahal (c) -333 vs. Randy Orton +220

WWE United States Championship
AJ Styles (c) -300 vs. Kevin Owens +188

Smackdown Tag Team Championship
The Usos (c) +163 vs. The New Day -227

Flag Match
John Cena -1000 vs. Rusev +500

Fatal 5 Way for the Smackdown Women’s Championship #1 Contendership
Charlotte +120 vs. Lana +200 vs. Becky Lynch +230 vs. Tamina +350 vs. Natalya +1000

Shinsuke Nakamura -250 vs. Baron Corbin +175

Aiden English +150 vs. Tye Dillenger -200

Sheamus Talks About His Relationship With Cesaro

On the recent episode of Talk Is Jericho ‘Sheamus And Cesaro’, one-half of the WWE RAW Tag Team Champions Sheamus spoke about his relationship with Cesaro and how they got close after their team of Sheamus and Cesaro came together and how they found great mutual respect for each other:

“We had a lot of respect for each other. I don’t think we were super close or anything, but we’re both Europeans, kind of the same background, and we get here. From wrestling each other enough, we both definitely had a lot of respect. Do you know what I mean? I think there has always been a competition between us and that’s a great thing because you always want to try to one up each other.”

He also talked about how their characters evolved their relationship through time and the ‘odd couple’ kind of fighting their team did:

“It [has] definitely been an evolution from when we started, but even when we were tagging, there was that thing of like the odd couple kind of fighting each other and we wanted to push it. We didn’t get the opportunity to push it as much as we wanted because you have a segment and it’s taken away. Do you know what I mean? And so, like, people were enjoying it. Do you remember the boo/yay stuff? The boo/yay stuff was great!”

You can check the rest of the podcast here.

Bischoff on Wrestling LIVE Recap – Talking Smack’s Cancellation, Favourite nWo Member, Lesnar Returning to UFC? More!

On this special ‘1 Year Anniversary’ edition of the show, Bischoff and his co-host Nick Hausman go live in order to answer fan questions.

To start the show, Bischoff says he’s very grateful that Shane McMahon emerged without injury from a forced landing in a helicopter yesterday. He says he doesn’t know McMahon well, but he knows how much McMahon loves his wife and kids and he was certainly thinking about them during that situation yesterday.  In typical McMahon fashion, Shane didn’t really sell anything during his news interview, and Bischoff says that only Shane could top his Hell in the Cell leap by falling out of the sky in a helicopter.

A listener calls into the show and asks Bischoff how WWE can get back to the days when they were doing 6.0 and 7.0 ratings. Bischoff says that things have changed so much in the world of entertainment since those days, and there are so many alternative ways to consume programming these days. He doesn’t think we’ll ever see those types of numbers again, and with respect to the current television landscape, Bischoff thinks that WWE is ‘blowing it out of the water’.

Another listener calls into the show and asks Bischoff who his favourite member of the nWo was. He says that Hulk Hogan is his best friend, but he also really enjoyed Scott Hall’s performance as a member of the nWo. Hall brought a lot to that group, and then his pairing with Kevin Nash resulted in a terrific tandem. Hall and Nash’s pairing is a perfect example of 1+1=5.

Vince McMahon Not the Primary Reason for Talking Smack’s Cancellation

It was reported last week via Sports Illustrated that one of the reason’s Talking Smack was canceled was because Vince McMahon was not a fan of the format, however those claims appear to be false.

Dave Meltzer received word from a source within WWE that the cancellation of the weekly show had nothing to do with Vince McMahon not liking the format but to do with the viewership numbers the show was receiving.

“Despite all rumors, Vince doesn’t hate Talking Smack. Also, he does not watch it but gets a weekly report about it every Wednesday. The one thing he didn’t like was when the New Day appeared right after Kofi (Kingston) got cleared (the 5/23 episode). That was technically their Tuesday night debut and Vince felt the first Tuesday appearance should have happened on Smackdown.”

As previously noted, the Talking Smack episodes will still air after SmackDown-brand pay-per-view events, as those numbers seem to perform well.

New Match Added to WWE Battleground

WWE has announced Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis for this Sunday’s WWE Battleground event. Here is the updated card for the show:

Punjabi Prison for the WWE Title
Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal

WWE United States Title Match
Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles

SmackDown Tag Team Title Match
The New Day vs. The Usos

Flag Match
Rusev vs. John Cena

Fatal 5 Way Elimination Match to Crown a New #1 Contender
Charlotte Flair vs. Lana vs. Becky Lynch vs. Tamina Snuka vs. Natalya

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin

Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis

Kickoff
Aiden English vs. Tye Dillinger