Ross opens today’s show speaking about the Women’s Royal Rumble match. He likes that the rules for the women’s match will be the same as for the men’s match, because he thinks this will make things a lot easier for fans to follow. He gives credit to WWE for continuing to build women’s wrestling, and he thinks this makes the wrestling business a better place for female competitors as a whole.

Ross welcomes author Pat Laprade to the show. Laprade is the author of “Sisterhood of the Squared Circle”, and he’s recently completed his latest book, “Mad Dog: The Maurice Vachon Story”. In this book he takes a look back at the life and career of WWE Hall of Famer “Mad Dog” Vachon. You can purchase the book on Amazon and trough all other major retailers.

Ross welcomes X-Pac to the show.

X-Pac informs that he has his own podcast, X-Pac 1, 2, 360, which has episodes released each Wednesday. He feels very blessed to have had this opportunity and although he felt like he was always a pretty good guest on other people’s podcasts, he wasn’t sure if he’d be a good host. He thinks he’s learned fairly quickly and has a great time hosting the show each week.

X-Pac was famously released by WCW during the attitude era and FedEx delivered his release papers to his home. He was very angry about being released in that fashion, but he was so fired up to go to WWE after that and prove WCW and Eric Bischoff wrong.

The post The Ross Report Recap w/ X-Pac – Women’s Royal Rumble Match, WCW Release & Finding Success in WWE, 25th Anniversary of RAW, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Ross informs that AXS TV is going to have a 3-hour WrestleKingdom 12 Special on Saturday, Jan. 6th. Ross mentions that the highly anticipated match between Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega will be one of the matches that will be presented during the 3-hour special. Ross says he’s really looking forward to calling these matches with Josh Barnett.

He was quite excited to see ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy make his debut on WWE programming this week. He says that this is a very original, compelling character and Hardy should be very proud of what he’s accomplished in creating this character and successfully brining it to Monday Night RAW. Ross says he’s very proud of what Hardy has accomplished in the business, and he compares Hardy to Chris Jericho in the sense that he continues to successfully redefine his character.

Ross says he has heard rumours that Alberto El Patron is planning to retire in the next couple of years. He points out that El Patron has had a very long, successful career and he’s made a lot of money so he should be able to retire comfortably. However, he adds that wrestlers say they’re planning to retire all the time only to continue working for another decade, so he’ll wait for the official news before believing that El Patron is actually hanging up his boots.

The post The Ross Report Recap w/ Matt Riddle & John Morrison – “Woken” Hardy’s WWE Debut, Riddle’s UFC Release, Morrison on “Wrestling’s Purpose”, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Ross welcomes Santana Garrett to the show.

Garrett informs that she had a terrific time participating in the Mae Young Classic. Ross mentions that he was very impressed by her in that tournament and he had a great time calling the action in that tournament as well. He showed up to that booking in Orlando prepared to treat it like just another gig, but after speaking to all the women individually and seeing how much passion they all had, he knew he was a part of something important and he became enthralled in the action.

He congratulates Garrett on her rise through the indie ranks as of late, but he warns her to take care of her money because taxes never stop and eventually your wrestling career will. Garrett mentions that she’s taking care of her money and luckily she has another income to fall back on. She studied sleep medicine and works in that field, but she admits that she has focused a lot more of her time on wrestling recently.

Garrett mentions that things have come a long way on the indies in terms of booking possibilities as well as financial payoffs. She recalls working for experience early on in her career and she’d be paid pickles – literally, she was paid a jar of pickles. Nowadays, she’s grateful to be earning more than that and she never takes that for granted.

Ross points out that if anyone is interested in booking Santana you can reach her at santanabookings@gmail.com.

The post The Ross Report Recap w/ Santana Garrett & Jerry Lawler – Mae Young Classic, Rock Vs. Hogan at WM 18, Ditching Production Meetings, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Ross opens today’s show speaking about this past weekend’s wrestling shows.

He says he really enjoyed NXT: War Games. Many people have asked him why he didn’t call the War Games match, but he informs that he wasn’t asked. He thought Aleister Black and Velveteen Dream had an incredible match, and he’s really high on both those performers. He also really liked the Kassius Ohno/Lars Sullivan bout, and he thinks Sullivan has the ‘It’ factor.

He liked the NXT Championship match between Drew McIntyre and Almas, but he was shocked and saddened that the finish came as sudden as it did due to McIntyre’s injury. He points out that McIntyre has overcome much more than an upper arm injury in the last couple of years, so he’ll return from this stronger than ever.

He thought Ember Moon shined in the Women’s Title match as she should have, but all the women played their parts well. The War Games match was a unique display in Ross’ opinion and while he didn’t dislike it, he admits that he had to adjust to the new rules. He informs that Roderick Strong and Adam Cole are two of his favourite performers in the world right now.

The post The Ross Report Recap w/ Jerry Lawler & Batista – Survivor Series Analysis, Ross & Lawler at RAW’s 25th Anniversary, Batista Returning to WWE? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Ross comments on the news that Jack Swagger has signed with Bellator MMA. He’s happy for Swagger and he hopes he has a long, successful MMA career. He believes Swagger’s success will depend on his eagerness to get back in wrestling room and get himself into top notch shape, but he assumes Swagger will do exactly that. He also urges Swagger to hire good striking coach.

He points out that this week marks the 12th anniversary of Eddie Guerrero’s death, and he sorely misses him. When he worked as WWE’s Head of Talent Relations he’d often have chats with Guerrero, who could be moody from time to time. Those talks meant the world to Ross, and he looks back on them fondly. He says Guerrero was a spectacular performer who loved the business and his family.

Ross welcomes Chris Jericho to the show.

Ross informs that he’s going to be a guest on the upcoming Jericho Cruise and Jericho mentions that business is really starting to pick up as of late. He believes the cruise will sell out, but he’s more worried about building this into an annual event that fans can look forward to each year. He points out that this is an all inclusive event which also gives you the chance to meet and socialize with some of wrestling’s biggest names.

Ross asks Jericho if Vince McMahon knew about his upcoming match against Kenny Omega before it was officially announced. Without getting into the fine details, Jericho says that he’d never jeopardize his relationship with McMahon by surprising him with this news.

The post The Ross Report Recap w/ Chris Jericho & Dave Bautista – Batista’s Latest WWE Run, Triple H’s Advice, Did McMahon Approve Jericho vs. Omega? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Ross opens today’s show speaking about Sunday’s TLC PPV.

Ross says if he was booking WWE, he wouldn’t book Asuka to lose until there was a defining angle in place to do so. If he was to criticize one thing about the match, he’d say that Emma had too much offence in that bout. He felt that Emma, or whoever Asuka’s opponent was, needed to take one for the team because someone who was promoted like Asuka was needed to have a much more convincing win.

He says he enjoys Elias’ character, but appearing in front of the live audience three times in one night is the kiss of death in his opinion. He believes that Jason Jordan is a natural heel in the making because he’s so athletic and handsome. Ross feels that Jordan will be a great heel someday.

Ross says he was very pleased and excited to see Mickie James have a great showing during her WWE Championship bout. He says Alexa Bliss should buy James dinner after the favour James did for her on Sunday. He also mentions that he hasn’t been a big fan of the ‘age’ storyline between these two women because that’s been done a million times before.

The post The Ross Report Recap – TLC Analysis, Which Match Stole the Show? Ric Flair’s 30 for 30 Documentary, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Ross opens today’s show by sending his thoughts and prayers to the friends and family of Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan, who passed away this past weekend. He says Heenan’s passing caught him by surprise and it really hit close to home.

Ross welcomes Gene Okerlund to the show, who also says he was very surprised to hear that Heenan passed away. Both Ross and Okerlund were obviously aware of Heenan’s health issues over the last decade, but there didn’t appear to be any pressing health issues at this moment in time. For this reason, his passing caught both men by surprise.

Okerlund says Heenan was a very intelligent, bright, creative man. He was a tremendous athlete, actor and overall performer. Ross says that many people also forget that Heenan was an above average in-ring performer early in his career. He was a main event level heel, a fantastic manager and commentator, and one of the best overall performers in the history of the wrestling business.

Okerlund also mentions that he did a lot of travelling with Heenan back in the day. There’s no denying that Heenan’s mood could swing from one day to the next but no matter what, he was always the funniest guy in the room. Heenan’s relationship with Gorilla Monsoon was something worth envying, and Ross agrees saying that those two were an irreplaceable pairing.

The post The Ross Report Recap w/ Hurricane Helms – Remembering Bobby Heenan w/ Gene Okerlund & Tony Schiavone, Working With The Rock, Return to WWE? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Ross welcomes PWI’s Senior Writer Dan Murphy to the show.

The 27th annual edition of PWI 500 will be released very soon, and it’s already a highly debated list. Murphy says this is a history making list for PWI because for the very first time ever, the number one choice is a wrestler who’s not working for WWE, WCW or TNA. The number one wrestler this year is NJPW’s Okada.

He says the list is normally selected by seven editorial staff members who create their lists based on a number of criteria such as match quality, in-ring technicality and influence on the business as a whole. When deciding the number one selection this year, Okada certainly checked all of those boxes and more.

Number two on this year’s list is A.J. Styles, and Ross loves this pick. He says if he was starting a promotion today Styles would be his number one selection because he’s a star. Ross also considers him to be the best bell-to-bell talent in the business today.

Number three is Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns is number four. Reigns was number one on the list last year, but Murphy points out that Reigns took a bit of a step backwards this past year before returning to the main event picture.

Kenny Omega rounds out the top five, and Murphy admits that Omega was a big part of Okada’s success this year, resulting in him finding the number one spot on this list. Omega was unable to pick up a win over Okada this year, and that’s a big reason why Okada tops this list and Omega slots in at number five.

The post The Ross Report Recap w/ Jason Powell – Discussing PWI 500, Build to No Mercy, Sexy Star’s Unprofessionalism, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Ross says that while this past Sunday’s Battleground PPV has been widely criticized by fans and critics alike, he doesn’t believe any of that should be placed at the feet of the talent who he thought worked very hard on Sunday night. He believes we’re living in a society where the glass is always half empty, when in reality it could be half full as well.

He says that sometimes WWE has the tendency to book themselves into a corner, and that might have been the case this past Sunday. With a Flag Match and a Punjabi Prison match, WWE removed the drama of false finishes and this might have been a negative to the show’s overall presentation.

He thought Kevin Owens and A.J. Styles had a very good match, but there was an intangible missing and that prevented it from being great. He says that if he was booking a territory today two of the first individuals he’d want to sign are Owens and Styles. Ross also thought Cena & Rusev worked hard in their match despite the live crowd being somewhat uninterested.

Ross thought all the women worked hard in their match as well and while Natalya winning was a surprise, Ross thinks this was a great booking decision by WWE. Charlotte is obviously the alpha female in WWE right now but she needs opponents, so Ross thinks it’s only a matter of time before this Natalya win results in a positive situation for Charlotte.

The post The Ross Report Recap w/ Bruce Mitchell – Battleground Analysis, Fatal 4-Way Sure to Deliver, Are There Too Many PPVs? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Ross congratulates new ROH Champion Cody Rhodes on capturing the Title by defeating Christopher Daniels last weekend. He says that he’s sure his old friend Dusty Rhodes would be so proud of Cody if he was still alive, and Ross couldn’t be prouder of Cody as well for everything that he has accomplished since leaving WWE.

Ross welcomes Jim Cornette to the show.

Ross asks Cornette if he still enjoys doing his podcast and Cornette says that for the most part he does. Some days he has to really grind in order to get through a two hour show if there isn’t a lot to talk about or if he’s just sick of his own voice, but for the most part it’s still very fun for him.

Cornette and Ross talk about the changing landscape of the professional wrestling business. Ross thinks that modern fans simply know too much about the business, and Cornette agrees. Cornette says that fans can’t just sit back and enjoy the product anymore, they need to overanalyze and criticize everything. He says that just because he watches Family Guy doesn’t mean he thinks he can write that show.

The post The Ross Report Recap w/ Jim Cornette – Cody Rhodes’ Success, Samoa Joe vs. Lesnar Hype, Cena A Star From Day One, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.