Russo is absent from today’s show, so Jeff Lane and former WWE Superstars, Bin Hamin and Stevie Richards will handle the RAW25 and Smackdown review show without him.

Beginning with their thoughts on Smackdown, Hamin points out that he has no idea who’s writing the promos on Smackdown Live recently, because they’ve been absolutely brutal. He feels that the creative team has taken great performers such as Kevin Owens and A.J. Styles and turned them into ‘D’ players with some of the content they’ve provided them.

Hamin also wonders what Sami Zayn is supposed to be right now. They’re trying to make him a main-event talent by pairing him with Owens and having him jump up and down during his entrance, but it’s just not working. He says that Zayn is just an annoying heel right now, and not in a good way.

Richards points out that WWE continues to book Nakamura in strange positions. They had him cut another uncomfortable backstage promo during this show, and he wasn’t able to understand a word that Nakamura said. He also didn’t understand Randy Orton attacking Nakamura during his match with Baron Corbin because it was only a couple of weeks ago that those two guys were tagging together.

Moving over to RAW, Hamin thought The Manhattan Center looked great and he had high hopes for the event until roughly 10 minutes into the show. He thought WWE really paid respect to old school programming with how much effort they put into the decoration of The Manhattan Center but after the Austin segment the show took a nose dive rather quickly.

The post Vince Russo’s the Brand Recap – RAW25 & Smackdown Analysis, WWE Already Ruining “Woken” Hardy, Reigns Set to Win Rumble? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

While speaking to Hollywood Life, Lana talked about the latest season of WWE Total Divas. Here are some highlights:

Thoughts on the new season: “It is going to be a really exciting season! I would say that you are going to see my in-ring journey, and you’ll actually see everything that is happening to me from not knowing when I was going to debut to my in ring journey basically not knowing when I was going to be wrestling to all of the sudden be given my first singles match. And to add to that it was title match, and all the ups and downs that came from that.”

How she would get sick before her first match on PPV: “I was feeling I was going to throw up the entire time when I was getting ready for my first match on pay-per-view, then having three title matches in a row, it was a crazy experience.”

Being open to getting her own spin-off reality show: “Of course, me and Rusev talk about it all the time, and I would love for the show to be called Total Rusev… But Total Lana would be even better! But with this entire season of Total Divas and my adventures with Nattie, she is like the older sister I never had because in my family I am the oldest so I am used to bossing everyone around, and to see someone like Nattie boss me around and just be the way she is will be fun to see.”

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Newsweek recently spoke with NXT Women’s Champion Asuka. Here are some highlights from the interview:

Asuka on how she wanted to break records in WWE: “When I decided to sign a contract with WWE, I decided two things. I was determined not only to win, but to leave [breaking] records. That is something I feel like I can do as a return to WWE [for hiring me].”

Thoughts on helping to change the face of women’s wrestling in the promotion: “I wanted to change women’s wrestling in WWE. In wrestling, men and women do the same thing, but sometimes the men look more powerful and more impressive. I am trying my best to fill the gap between men and women.”

Asuka on the adjustment to life in America: “It was my first time living in the U.S., but they were so supportive. The language was a big wall for me…I’m still struggling. Driving is an issue. When I was in Japan, I didn’t have to drive all the time, but here in Florida, you have to drive all the time. But American people are very friendly, cheerful and kind to me. So I’m really thankful to the American people.”

The post Asuka Says She Wanted to Change Women’s Wrestling In WWE appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Finn Balor recently spoke with The Orlando Sentinel. Here are some highlights from the interview:

Missing the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania: “I was obviously heartbroken not to be included at WrestleMania. There was talk about putting me in the Royal Rumble [in January] but when I missed that deadline by a week or 10 days, everything was put on hold [creatively]. WrestleMania just wasn’t meant to be.”

Thoughts on Bray Wyatt: “Bray is an interesting cat. I’ve admired him for a long time. I think he’s one of the most underrated talents we have in the ring and on the mic, if you can ever get the mic off of him. He’s a huge man – it’ll be hard to get a hold on him when I can’t get my arms around him – but I look forward to adapting my style for him. I’m a big fan of seeing smaller guys vs. big men.”

How his goals have changed: “When I first broke in, I wanted to be the best technical wrestler on the planet. That was what I enjoyed, being in the ring in the moment and being the best athlete. When I was about 12 years in, something clicked and I realized there was more to it than that, the performance side of it. We all grow and change as people; that was just when my goals shifted and my career changed. That’s where I am now as a performer. One day, it may shift again and I’ll be doing backflips all the time like [fellow wrestlers] Ricochet or Neville, but this is where I am now.”

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