Tag: podcasts

Featured Independent NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

The Taz Show Recap – Aleister Black Impresses, Importance of Earning Opportunities, WWE Producing Too Many PPVs? More!

Block 1:

A listener calls into the show and asks Taz if The Undertaker ever returns to WWE, will he return as The Undertaker or as Mark Calaway. Taz says that it’s a no brainer that he’ll return as The Undertaker gimmick if he ever returns. He says that there’s no reason for Undertaker to give up that gimmick and return as ‘Mark Calaway’ if he ever comes back.

The caller also asks Taz when he thinks The Undertaker will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Taz says he wouldn’t waste any time, and he’d induct The Undertaker next year. Undertaker is a first ballot Hall of Famer, and it’s only a matter of time before he takes his rightful place in the Hall of Fame.

Another listener calls into the show and asks Taz about the differences between cutting a promo in a small gymnasium versus a large arena. Taz says that no matter the size of the building, everything changes when there’s a camera in front of your face. Regardless of how many people are in the building, there might be millions watching at home so your promo needs to be more generic and more relatable to a larger group of people.

Another caller mentions that he doesn’t think The Miz has been booked as well since moving to Monday Night RAW. Taz says that as long as Miz is getting screen time with the mic, he’ll be okay because he’s a great talker. Taz does admit that Miz’s feud with Dean Ambrose has been dragged out, so after their next Intercontinental Title bout hopefully Miz will move on to a fresh program.

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Smackdown Analysis, Mahal’s Celebration, Where’s Randy Orton? More!

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

Russo says that he switched brands this week, and he’s going to review Smackdown Live instead of RAW. He points out that it’s probably a good thing that he didn’t watch RAW this week because it hit a new low rating. Unfortunately, after watching Smackdown Live, he assumes that Smackdown Live’s rating this week is going to be poor as well.

If Russo was writing this week’s episode of Smackdown Live, it would have been Jinder Mahal’s show. From the beginning to the end, this entire show would have been based around the new WWE Champion. He feels that WWE dropped the ball in this area.

In the opening segment of the show we saw a prime example of WWE’s lack of roster depth. This comes as a result of the brand split, and WWE has no other choice but to use the same 5 or 6 performers for every big match such as Money in the Bank. Dolph Ziggler, A.J. Styles and Baron Corbin all lost at Backlash, but now they’re rewarded with an opportunity for some reason.

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

The Taz Show Recap – Smackdown Analysis, Mahal’s Celebration, Ed Nordholm Goes Rogue, More!

Block 1:

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

He says that he liked last night’s show, but he has a few criticisms as well. He says that Nakamura should have came out to the ring first in the opening segment of the night. Having Nakamura do his full entrance while all the other performers were standing in the ring felt incredibly long and awkward to Taz.

He understands that WWE wanted Nakamura to come out last because they’re building him as the biggest star. However, having him come out last put heels like Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler in a bad situation, because Taz expected those guys to just attack Nakamura while he was finishing his entrance in the middle of the ring.

Taz also points out that it was strange for Shane McMahon (a babyface authority figure) to give Kevin Owens (a heel) his way, after Owens complained about not being an entrant in the Money in the Bank ladder match. If Shane was a heel authority figure that would have made sense, but heels are supposed to complain, and it’s strange when babyfaces succumb to heel demands.

Taz says A.J. Styles should win the Money in the Bank ladder match in his opinion, because Styles is a top babyface who can surprise the Champion at any moment and have a terrific match. Styles is also good on the mic and can back up his briefcase win with believable promos.

Featured NEWS ROH TNA WWE

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap w/ Shawn Hernandez – Dixie Carter’s Crush, Legal Issues, Russo Sucking up to WWE? More!

Russo welcomes Shawn Hernandez to the show.

Russo says he doesn’t understand what happened with Hernandez during his most recent run with TNA, but there’s no denying that LAX is not the same without Hernandez. Hernandez informs that there was a contract situation between Lucha Underground and TNA that has left him in a world of trouble and legal problems. Unfortunately, he’s not at liberty to discuss any of the details at this moment.

Russo says that there’s no doubt in his mind that Dixie Carter had a crush on Hernandez during their time working together in TNA. Hernandez says that in 2007 and 2008 Carter started to communicate and converse with him more regularly, but in 2009 after he broke his neck things got really strange.

Carter flew him to Nashville and had $2000 worth of clothes laid out for him to try on. She told Hernandez that they were going to do a photoshoot and the photos would be utilized for an upcoming push when he returned from injury. Hernandez tried on all the different clothes and took the pictures, but those shots were never used on TNA programming. Russo laughs and says there’s no doubt Carter had an obsession with Hernandez.

Featured NEWS ROH TNA WWE

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Meltzer’s Strange Obsession, Owen Hart’s Mindset After the Montreal Screwjob, Bray Wyatt’s Promos, More!

Russo is joined on today’s show by Jeff Lane.

Earlier this week, Dave Meltzer tweeted out that RAW’s rating last week was low due to the fact that the show wasn’t taped live since they were overseas. Russo doesn’t understand why these guys can never admit that a show sucks. The ratings are going down every week, and this week’s ratings weren’t an anomaly. Meltzer needs to stop making excuses for WWE.

Lane also points out that a fan asked Meltzer if WWE had given any thought to the Tag Team Title match main eventing the Extreme Rules PPV. Meltzer answered by saying that those meetings haven’t taken place yet. Russo says that it must be nice for Meltzer to be invited to all of WWE’s meetings. Russo says that Meltzer doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.

Russo points out that this is the same guy who said that A.J. Styles would be moving to RAW in the latest Superstar Shakeup and that obviously didn’t happen. Meltzer didn’t issue an apologize to his error, and for the fact that he’s ripping off all of his subscribers. He says that all these dirt sheet writers just talk out of their asses.

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

The Taz Show Recap – Backlash Predictions, New Champion Will Be Crowned, How Would Taz Get Heat as A Heel Today? More!

Block 1:

A listener calls into the show asking Taz how he’d get heat from fans if he was still wrestling as a heel today. Taz says that first and foremost, it all depends on the type of push he’s receiving. His approach as a heel all depends on whether he is getting pushed as as ‘killer’ heel, a ‘comedic’ heel or a ‘cowardly’ heel. Braun Strowman gets heat in a far different way than someone like The Miz.

The listener also asks Taz if he thinks it’s a good idea as a performer to get some intentional heat backstage, as a way to show your confidence and move up the roster’s depth chart. Taz says that you’ll never see a new talent come into the locker room like a hotshot because quite frankly that would be career suicide. Some veterans can give their opinions and that may result in some heat with another talent, but it’s never intentional.

Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English – Tye Dillinger
* Taz doesn’t see Dillinger losing this match. The NXT call-up is still getting established on the main roster, and Taz would be very shocked if English picked up the win here.

Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan – Erick Rowan
* Taz thinks WWE is going to get behind Rowan for a push. He points out that Harper was the recipient of a small push for a period of time, but that has apparently slowed down. Taz isn’t sure why WWE gave up on Harper, because he thinks with a few changes to Harper’s look, he could be a gamer.

Featured NEWS ROH TNA WWE

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Pitching A New ‘Attitude Era’ Show to the WWE Network, Indie Workers Shortening Their Careers, More!

Russo opens today’s show speaking about the notion that WWE’s stockholders wouldn’t want WWE to return to attitude era-like programming. WWE consistently uses the excuse that they’re a publicly traded company now, so they can’t produce that type of programming. Russo doesn’t understand that at all, because wouldn’t their stockholders want WWE to produce whatever type of programming that makes them the most money?

Russo says that he’s bored with all the political correctness on WWE’s programming today, and he wonders what happened to all the sexiness. It’s not like they were showing women strip naked during the attitude era, they just embraced their beautiful female roster. He doesn’t understand why WWE can’t continue to do that type of thing today.

Russo says that everything old is new again, and some of the biggest sitcoms from the 90s are making a return such as Full House and Rosanne. The attitude era is 20 years old now, and he knows for a fact that there are a lot of fans who enjoyed that era. He has heard from numerous fans that they only subscribe to the WWE Network to watch the old attitude era programming.

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA UFC WWE

The Taz Show Recap – Raw Analysis, Rollins’ Set For A Big Year, Presentation of Finn Balor, More!

Block 1:

Taz opens today’s show by discussing Braun Strowman’s elbow injury. Taz says that he believes WWE made a mistake by showing Strowman in the hospital bed on RAW last night, as he thought it made Strowman look too ‘human’. He also doesn’t think that Strowman will be out for 6 months like WWE has announced.

He doesn’t think that Roman Reigns will win the Fatal 5-way match at Extreme Rules, because he believes Reigns will go right back into another match with Strowman when he returns from his injury. Taz thinks Strowman’s recovery time will be closer to 2 months than the 6 that WWE announced.

A listener calls into the show and says he enjoyed Goldust turning on R-Truth on last night’s show. Taz says that this is a ‘C’ angle, and WWE needs to have those angles in order to keep everyone relevant. He says that having captivating angles throughout the entire roster is what made the attitude era so successful in his opinion.

Another listener calls into the show and says that both Alexa Bliss and A.J. Styles had good years last year as rookies, and he wonders if that gives WWE the confidence to push talent quicker. Taz says that wrestling  is a work, and Bliss and Styles had good years last year because the company pushed them. If WWE has faith in a performer, they’re going to book them to win more matches than they lose.

Featured NEWS ROH TNA WWE

Jim Cornette Experience Recap – Vince McMahon Biopic, Reigns and Strowman Sightseeing in Rome, More!

Cornette opens today’s show by mentioning that two of his 2017 appearance dates have been cancelled. He also mentions that a recent booking he had stirred some controversy, after Austin Idol reportedly demanded an extra $100 on top of Cornette’s pay in order to appear at the show as well. Idol wanted to be paid more than Cornette because he was the biggest star on the show in his own opinion.

Cornette was always a fan of Idol throughout the years but he thought that was a very disrespectful move by Idol. He hopes to get some clarification on this in the coming days, because he felt like this was a personal slap in the face by Idol.

Speaking about the script for Pandemonium (the Vince McMahon biopic), Cornette says that a child must have written it because it’s complete rubbish. He has a strange feeling that the writer, Craig A. Williams, and the Producers were simply out to make a quick payday from Vince McMahon, who they must have known would never okay that script, and therefore would buy it from them.

Cornette comments on the idea that today’s wrestlers may actually be their own worst enemy. He says that some of today’s performers do things from time to time that really make you scratch your head, and the recent picture of Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman sightseeing together in Rome is one of those things.

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Dave Meltzer in the Guinness Book of World Records, Asuka Compared to Goldberg, How Much Did Russo Make Writing…

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

Russo points out the Meltzer reported this past week that Alberto Del Rio and Paige had an argument somewhere in Florida. Russo says that this is not news, and it’s just another example of a wrestling ‘journalist’ who is making up a story when there’s no story to be told.

Lane points out that someone tweeted Dave Meltzer this past week, asking him for his opinion on Russo. Meltzer’s response was, “Life’s too short to worry about people desperate for attention”. Russo says that Meltzer’s responses to these fans are so lame. Russo adds that for someone who’s starving for attention, he’s doing a poor job because he just moved into a cabin in the woods.

Lane reads some comments from a recent Reddit thread, where fans discuss the differences between the attitude era and the today’s product.

One fan says that this era’s product is superior to the attitude era because there are better stories, promos, and matches. In addition, the attitude era was a racist, sexist product which was overly aggressive in an attempt to appeal to the ECW fanbase.

Russo says that he can’t even name one storyline that’s occurring on RAW at the moment. RAW was drawing a 6.0-7.0 rating back during the attitude era, and the notion that they were trying to copy ECW which was drawing a 0.8 rating doesn’t make any sense to him.