Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that it was Vince McMahon who put together this year’s men’s Royal Rumble match. Jamie Noble and Michael “PS” Hayes also assisted the WWE Chairman with putting the match together.

WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson, the individual that created the Rumble match, was also backstage at Sunday’s event to offer his expertise.

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

Russo begins today’s show by speaking about Vince McMahon’s newly re-launched XFL. He says there’s no doubt in his mind that Donal Trump is a part of this. He points out that the McMahon family are very close with Trump, and Trump has had a long-standing rivalry with Roger Goodell and the NFL. In addition, Trump likely won’t be President when the league kicks off in 2020.

Gilbertti doesn’t disagree with that point, but he also mentions that it’s going to be tough for McMahon to find quality football players. All the great players are going to go to the NFL for bigger money, and the XFL will always be left with the scraps. He’s just not sure how this is going to work, because everything that’s ever competed with the NFL in the past has failed.

Russo mentions that there were a lot of upset fans who attended RAW25 at The Manhattan Center this past Monday. Apparently there were only 25 minutes of live action at The Manhattan Center, and this made a lot of fans feel like they didn’t get their money’s worth, especially since a lot of them paid upwards of $800 to attend that event.

Gilberti points out that it’s stupid to pay $800 to watch professional wrestling in any era, and those fans shouldn’t be upset that the show sucked, because the shows have sucked for the last several years.

The post Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Trump Involved in McMahon’s Re-launched XFL? Enzo Amore Released, Thoughts on RAW 25, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

WWE announced today that Vince McMahon will be making a “major sports” announcement today at 3PM ET. Many are speculating that the announcement will be the re-launch of the XFL in 2020.

BREAKING: @VinceMcMahon to make major sports announcement TODAY at 3 p.m. ET. Follow @AlphaEntLLC, and watch the stream live on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. https://t.co/G7vqTI40Ea

— WWE (@WWE) January 25, 2018

The re-launch of the XFL has been rumored for several weeks now but isn’t expected to kick off until 2020. We heard ramblings of a possible announcement earlier this week and it appears that it this could very well be that announcement.

The post Vince McMahon Announcing Re-Launch of the XFL Today? appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

It doesn’t appear that the XFL will be returning to television anytime in the immediate near future.

PWInsider reports that the current plan is to have the league return in 2020. This will give them time to build the proper infrastructures for a proper launch. This would include the hiring of coaches, players and other jobs needed to successfully kick off the league.

When the XFL launched the first time, it was done within a year’s time. It appears Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment wants to make sure all the bases are covered this time around to prevent any disasters.

The post XFL Not Returning Anytime Soon appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Triple H spoke with ABC News. Here are some highlights from the interview:

WWE’s TV rights possibly going to another network: “I can tell you that WWE is uniquely positioned so whatever way it goes, whatever way our fans are telling us to go, we’re there.”

Vince McMahon’s influence on RAW’s creative direction in the Attitude Era: “He doesn’t like to take credit for it, but Vince is the guiding force of [being a top bad guy]. He’s never afraid to take that risk. He never feels like he knows the answers.”

McMahon possibly relaunching the XFL and if it will get in McMahon’s way of running WWE: “I don’t think there’s any sense of change. If anybody thinks they’re going to push him out or take this thing, there’s going to be a hell of a fight.”

The post Triple H Believes The XFL Won’t Get in Vince McMahon’s Way of Running WWE appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Hulk Hogan recently spoke to APNews about not being at the 25th Anniversary of RAW this upcoming Monday but mentioned that he would still like to have one more match in WWE.

“Brother, if I’m not there, I’ll definitely be there in spirit,” Hogan said. “One way or the other, Hulk Hogan influenced each and every one of those guys you’re going to see on TV Monday night. And that includes Vince McMahon, too.”

“I don’t know if they want me back. I think the fans want me back. I think that I’m part of that company from the ground up. Triple H I know is a huge fan of the guys that gave their blood, sweat and tears and their personal life to make this happen. I know Triple H would love to see me back on the inside again.”

“I’m 64 years old and right now I could go out and tear WrestleMania down,” he said. “I might have that one more match where I really beat the hell out of Vince. I’ve still got one in me.”

WWE issued a statement to The Associate Press and indicated that they have no plans to bring back Hulk Hogan.

“At this time, WWE remains committed to its decision,” WWE said in the statement.

The post WWE Says They Aren’t Bringing Hulk Hogan Back appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

While speaking with Peter Rosenberg for Rosenberg Radio, Daniel Bryan talked about his retirement from WWE and revealed that he initially refused to retire from WWE when Vince McMahon asked him to do so.

“I get the call from Vince McMahon on a Saturday and I retire on a Monday in Seattle, Washington. And I got a call on a Saturday from Vince McMahon and said, ‘I would like you to retire Monday in Seattle. I just think it would be the best for you,’ that sort of thing. At first, I said, ‘I don’t want to do it.’ And then, I talked to Brie and called him back and I was like, ‘hey, if I’m going to have to retire, my mom can be there, my friends can be there, there can be this support system around me.’” Bryan noted, “I was very thankful that WWE gave me such a platform to retire on, but it was just a hard day.”

Bryan continued, “They asked me to do commentary for a thing that they did called the Cruiserweight Classic, which was on the WWE Network. And they asked me to do that, and I said, ‘yeah, that sounds great!’ It’s only 10 episodes and I only have too go do it a couple of times, and I get to help this young, independent talent because they were all unsigned talent at the time. And I thought it was great, but then, they told me, ‘you’re coming back as the General Manager.’ That wasn’t a question. That’s not an ask. And I was like, ‘argh, I don’t know if I want to do this.’”

“One of the hard things about what I do now is that the entrance is the best part. And then, I go out there and I talk. And, like, I’ve gotten better at this whole thing. I used to be someone who is very bad on the microphone. But now, I’ve developed into being more comfortable with it, finding myself with it, and that sort of thing. But it’s still not my passion. I’ve learned how to do it because that’s what my job required.”

You can listen to the full interview here.

The post Daniel Bryan Reveals He Initially Refused to Retire When Vince McMahon Asked Him To appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Austin welcomes Al Snow back to the show for part two of his interview.

Austin recalls trying to prepare for his debut in WWE as well as his WrestleMania 13 match against Bret Hart by attending Snow’s training school for submissions. Austin was out of action for a while before that match, and he wanted Snow’s help to knock some of the rust off. Vince McMahon thought it was a great idea and flew Austin to Snow’s school.

Snow recalls rolling around the ring with Austin at that time, attempting to teach him some submissions. Unfortunately, every time Snow would roll Austin in a certain submissive position Austin would fart. Austin beings laughing, admitting that he remembers that very well. He points out that he was probably living solely on beans and alcohol during that time.

Speaking about his introduction to the wrestling business, Snow informs that he had been watching wrestling from the very early age of 4 or 5. He watched shows from the original Sheik’s territory, but ultimately that territory fell apart due to Sheiks inability to pay talents.

The post Steve Austin Show Unleashed Recap w/ Al Snow – Today’s Matches Too Scripted, Keeping Kayfabe Alive, Dinner Date With “Head”? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Lawler is joined on today’s show by his co-host Glenn Moore.

Lawler opens today’s show speaking about WWE’s plans to host shows on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. He says he’s sure they’ll put off some great shows but he feels bad for the guys and girls who have to work on Christmas Day.

Lawler talks about the origins of the term ‘dirt sheet’. He informs that the term ‘dirt sheet’ originated from the fact that the initial news was written on old dirty sheets of paper. He was never a fan of the dirt sheet writers because they profited from exposing people’s private lives.

He adds that nobody in the wrestling business liked Dave Meltzer back in the day. As the years have passed the writers have become more accepted and there are hundreds of people doing it now so there’s no point in singling out Meltzer and hating him.

Lawler says he had a lot of fun working on XFL broadcasts back in the day. He still thinks that the XFL could have worked if Vince McMahon was allowed to run it on his own, without the interference of Dick Ebersol and NBC executives. The XFL needed to be different than the NFL, and McMahon tried to accomplish this by combining the worlds of football and sports entertainment.

The post Dinner With the King Recap – Thoughts on Dirt Sheet Writers, Hall of Fame Class of 2018, Return of the XFL? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.