Steve is the Founder of RingsideNews, AllWrestlingNews, and Wrestling dot News. He has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He first got into website development at the time and has been focusing on bringing his readers the best professional wrestling news at it’s highest quality.
Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host Jeff Lane and Glenn Gilbertti (Disco Inferno)
Gilbertti discusses WWE’s steadily dropping ratings. He says that wrestling is a star-driven business, and until WWE finds another Austin or Rock, their business is going to suffer. It’s pretty incredible to think that the biggest star in Hollywood was actually a professional wrestler on WWE’s roster for a number of years. Since Rock left, they haven’t been able to fill that void.
Lane points out that WWE might be turning away the next Austin or Rock because they’re too busy looking for the best ‘workers’. Gilbertti says that today’s promos are all heavily scripted and none of the competitors are able to deliver the promos believably. He says it’s almost like all the talents are in a library because none of them even raise their voices while delivering a promo.
Lane informs that Al Snow was arrested late last week because of a typo in the police’s systems. Lane thinks it’s ridiculous that all the dirt sheets posted a picture of Snow’s mug shot, taking advantage of this unfortunate situation.
Gilbertti says that whenever anyone with any notoriety gets arrested their mug shot is going to be posted on the news and online. That’s simply the way it is. Russo says that he does agree with the heart of Lane’s point, in that the dirt sheets continuously post these stories as ‘news’ when they’re nothing more than errors and lies most of the time.
Taz opens today’s show speaking about the online fan criticism directed at Jinder Mahal after he captured the WWE Championship at Backlash last night. A lot of fans seem to be angry at Mahal’s meteoric rise to the top of the WWE roster, along with claiming that he must be taking steroids to have a body like he does.
Taz points out that steroids don’t make you a better professional wrestler, and he says PED use means nothing to him in professional sports. He’s not suggesting that people start using PEDs, but he couldn’t care less if people do choose to use them at a professional level.
He says that he doesn’t know Jinder Mahal at all, but he’ll defend any wrestler who has paid his/her dues over the years, and Mahal has certainly done that. After dealing with a plethora of terrible gimmicks and then eventually getting released, Mahal worked his ass off and made it all the way back to the top and he deserves a lot of credit for that.
As far as fans’ criticisms that Mahal came out of nowhere to win this Title, Taz says that’s not the case at all. Mahal has been wrestling for many years, starting in Canada before getting signed by WWE initially many years ago. He was released from WWE in 2014 and worked around the world at indie events before being resigned by WWE. His hard work paid off, and this win certainly didn’t out of nowhere.
As seen at Sunday’s WWE Backlash event, The Fashion Police faced The Usos in a losing effort for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Titles. This match saw a lot of comedy and overall got a lot of negative and positive feedback from fans on social media.
Dave Meltzer discussed this match on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer indicated that The Fashion Police are just a comedy act and shouldn’t be taken seriously. Meltzer also added that the only reason they received a shot at the tag team titles is because the company is trying to buy some time for the next challengers, The New Day.
WWE has been keeping The New Day off television while Kofi Kingston recovers from his injury. PWInsider reported earlier today that they are expected to return to SmackDown this coming Tuesday to promote a WWE Network special. It is unknown if they will actually be returning full-time on this show, or if it is just for a one-time appearance until they are ready to return.
PWInsider reports that The Drifter will be making his in-ring debut on tonight’s episode of RAW.
Also on RAW, the stipulation for The Hardy Boyz vs. Sheamus & Cesaro at the upcoming Extreme Rules event will revealed on tonight’s show. Matt is scheduled to face Sheamus with the winner naming the stipulation for the upcoming Extreme Rules match.
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