WWE to Make Changes to 205 Live?

While talking about the cancellation of Talking Smack on Friday’s episode of Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez indicated that the company may be making changes to some of it’s programming on the WWE Network.

It was previously reported that WWE decided to cancel Talking Smack because it wasn’t getting the viewership that the company was hoping for. Alvarez indicated that 205 Live could possibly be getting a change as well if fans don’t tune into the show. The general feeling right now is that not enough people are watching 205 Live, which could ultimately led to some changes before the year ends.

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.

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Charlotte Struggling on Smackdown, Wrestling Needs Gimmicks, Does Enzo Have Heat Backstage? More!

Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host Jeff Lane, and they will attempt to ‘castrate the marks and their dirt sheets’.

Russo points out that this is all in good fun for him, and he doesn’t hate any of these men. Unfortunately, there seems to be some real hatred on the other side of the fence from guys like Wade Keller, Ryan Satin and Mike Johnson. To show his respect to Dave Meltzer, whose father passed away this week, Russo will not be discussing Meltzer’s comments this week.

The first clip of the day presents Bryan Alvarez ranting about the fact that WWE broke up Enzo and Big Cass. Alvarez says that there’s no wonder WWE’s ratings are declining when they decided to break up one of the more popular acts on their roster due to their constant search for ‘heat’.

Russo says that there’s something political going on in the background. He’s heard rumblings of Amore’s backstage issues stemming back to his time in NXT and that probably carried over to the main roster. Quite frankly, Alvarez is right in this case because Enzo and Cass were over, and the fans loved them. However, Russo’s smart enough to understand that heat draws money, and since Cass turned on Enzo the fans have been chanting Enzo’s name with more passion than ever before.

Possible Spoiler for Tonight’s Episode of RAW

As previously noted, Roman Reigns will be kicking off tonight’s episode of RAW to make his SummerSlam announcement. It’s being speculated that Roman will announce that he wants to face the winner of the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view match of Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar.

With Braun Strowman now being cleared to return to action, Bryan Alvarez speculated on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live that Strowman will return on tonight’s show to continue his feud with Roman Reigns. It’s expected that this will lead to another match with between the two, with the winner getting a shot at the Universal Title at SummerSlam.

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Mahal’s Inability to Have 5-Star Matches, Dreaming of Wrestlers, Lucha Underground Talents Want Out? More!

A listener sends in a clip of Dave Meltzer, where Meltzer criticized The Drifter’s segment at Extreme Rules. Meltzer said that this was clearly just thrown into the show to kill time, and he wanted Samson off his television. Russo says that this proves that Meltzer has no experience in the wrestling business, because The Drifter’s presentation is a prime example of character development. WWE is being consistent with him and they have to be because he has a good look and they have a chance to do something cool with him.

Bryan Alvarez said this week that RAW has a great main event scene, where all five guys from the Fatal 5-way can be considered a legitimate threat to Brock Lesnar. Russo says he hates to break it to Alvarez, but wrestling is a work. In a real life environment, Russo thinks that Roman Reigns is the only guy in that group who could give Lesnar a run for his money, and he’d still get beat up.

Mike Johnson sent out a tweet this past week which you can read above. Russo says that this has to be the best line he has ever heard. He says that Johnson and these other ‘journalists’ are the biggest marks he has ever seen and comments like this just prove it. If you’re a grown man who’s dreaming about fake fights, you’re definitely a mark.

Botched Finish on This Week’s Episode of SmackDown Live?

As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, Dolph Ziggler defeated AJ Styles cleanly in the main event of the show.

Bryan Alvarez speculated on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that the finish appeared to be botched. It’s believed that the finish was supposed to see a three-count with Styles having his foot on the rope, however Ziggler screwed it up when he grabbed Styles foot as he went for the pin. The announcers even played into this finish by making mention of his foot being on the rope but quickly re-worded as they processed what had happen.

Dave Meltzer also mentioned on Observer Radio that with Ziggler defeating Styles clean on the show, he expects the two to have another match on either next week’s show or the week after so that Styles can get his win back. The company would have used the foot on the rope as an excuse for the rematch, but because it was botched that won’t be the case.