Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Returning to WWE, Meltzer Argues with Stephanie, Bischoff & Cornette Scared? More!

Russo opens today’s show by saying that some people within the wrestling business have reached out to him and said that he really needs to start sucking up to Vince McMahon because WWE needs Russo more than Russo needs WWE. Russo refuses to kiss McMahon’s ass in order to get re-hired by WWE so that he can help them. If McMahon wants his help fine, if not that’s fine too.

The scary situation is that for five weeks now WWE has drawn less than three million viewers. There are no more excuses for McMahon and WWE, and they need to do something to combat their plummeting viewership. For a while they’ve been saying that their viewership drops are as a result of new ways to watch programming (social media, DVR), but these things have been around for years, not just the last few weeks.

Russo says that he will never suck up to WWE like Jim Cornette and Eric Bischoff did recently. Speaking of those two men, he says that both of them need to man up and have a face-to-face conversation with him because he’s sick of both of them talking behind his back. He assumes that they’re both afraid to have a discussion with him because he will expose all of their lies.

Jinder Mahal Says Dream Match Would Be Against Brock Lesnar

Jinder Mahal recently spoke with nishant.jayaram of sportskeeda.com for an interview. Here are some highlights:

WWE’s Plans to Expand The India Market: Yes, definitely, WWE is looking to expand in India. It already has a huge presence in India. So I believe, alongside other Indian Superstars like the Singh Brothers, Akam in NXT, Lovepreet (Kishan Raftar), I think the more Indian wrestlers come, the bigger the Indian audience becomes, the bigger the WWE Universe in India becomes, which I think would be a great thing because our Indian fans are very passionate.I would love to do more live shows in India – because I know the last two shows in Delhi last year were a huge success, they were both sold out. I would love to see WWE all across India, in Punjab, Mumbai and Delhi.

How US Fans Treat Him: Actually, it’s a very unique dynamic because the American fans boo me – and sometimes in my promos, I say that America doesn’t accept diversity, which is all character stuff. But I like this unique dynamic of how Indians really like me, even American Indian fans like me. In shows here in the USA, a lot of the crowd has Indian fans who are cheering for me, but the American fans are booing for me.I think it’s very unique. It reminds me of the time of Bret Hart, who was a huge and successful star in Canada – Canadian fans would cheer him, but when he was wrestling in the USA, they would (fans) boo him out of the building. I think it is a very similar situation.

New Finishing Move The Khallas: To be a WWE Superstar you’ve to constantly be evolving and improving. I study a lot of tapes, I watch a lot of old wrestling matches and see moves that work and moves that don’t work. I watch guys that are similar to my size, frame and body shape and the moves they do. Because it’s pointless for me to watch high-flying moves or guys that weigh 300+ pound power moves. I’m a unique blend of speed, size and light – I’m only 230 pounds but I’m very strong. I watch guys who are similar to my body type and see what kind of moves they do, and see what works and doesn’t, and based of that I try new stuff on live events. So, if they’re not successful I can scrap it and take it out of my repertoire.

The Success of 3MB: We’re proof – me, Heath and Drew (former members of 3MB) – are proof that anything is possible, it doesn’t matter where you are on the card. You could be the opening match, it is possible to get to the top of the card, through hard work. WWE is great, it gives people opportunities who deserve opportunities, Vince rewards hard work, WWE rewards hard work, so it motivates the rest of the locker room – they’ve seen me go from the bottom of the card to the top.

Dream Opponent: I think my dream opponent is Brock Lesnar. Imagine that match – Champion vs Champion, WWE Champion vs Universal Champion. He is my dream opponent because if I can knock off Brock Lesnar that would truly solidify me… I’m the best and let the world know that the WWE Champion is better than Universal Champion.

Major Update on WWE’s Plans for India

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that according to the WWE, when one includes all forms of WWE Product related consumption, India comes out as the number one market surpassing even the United States of America.  According to them, on the basis of product consumption, India is at the first position followed by the USA and South Africa.

However, since consumption and income are two different things, there arises an issue when it comes to India. WWE doesn’t really earn much from the Indian market. Therefore to tackle this obstacle, WWE has opened a brand new office in India in order to garner more revenue from the Indian market.

This sudden increase in attention towards India comes at a time when the Impact Wrestling’s tour of India ended. Both the companies are allegedly looking to widen their markets in India as the sub-continent has a colossal wrestling fandom.

It is also being reported that because of this very reason, Jinder Mahal’s title reign will not be short lived. Plans can always change because WWE doesn’t have any tour plans for India anytime soon.

Chris Jericho Explains Why He Would Never Be A Part-time Wrestler

Uproxx recently interviewed the Ayatollah of Rock n’ Rolla, Chris Jericho himself. Jericho talked about a number of things, including how he balances his music career with his wrestling schedule.

When the interviewer, Brandan Stroud, asked Y2J if he would ever wrestle as a part-timer in the WWE, the self-proclaimed “G.O.A.T” had a great response and I quote: (quote credits to iwnerd.com)

“No, I won’t do it because that’s not the way it should be. When you’re there, you should go on the road. That’s how you help guys to learn. That’s how I got better. This whole year I got way better because of working with the younger guys, who then were learning from me as well. They need that. And it was a great year with just an awesome locker room, great people, lots of fun. I had as much fun out of the ring as I did in the ring. And in 2015, all I did was live events. I didn’t do TV at all. It’s like the anti-type Brock Lesnar. I wouldn’t have a problem doing that either. Maybe I’ll never go back on TV again. Maybe I’ll just do live events”

This response alone proves why Jericho is so widely respected by the wrestlers, bookers and fans alike. A legitimate legend indeed.

Former WWE Diva Cameron Hopeful to Return to the Company

Former WWE Diva, Cameron has expressed her wish to return to the promotion in the future and also called it “definite”. Cameron was the former tag partner of current SmackDown Women’s Champion, Naomi. However, her last run didn’t work out and she was released by the company last year.

Regardless Cameron told Extra, that she is still on good terms with the WWE and would not chalk out a future return. Here’s what she said in the interview: (quotes by stillrealtous.com)

“As far as I am concerned WWE and I parted on good terms. I have no ill will towards anybody there. I am grateful for my time as a WWE talent. I appreciate all of the love and the hate I have received over the years from the WWE Universe. No matter what was said about me I appreciate their candour and their passion for the business. I would definitely love to come back in the future to show the WWE Universe my full potential. I like to say this isn’t goodbye but more like see you later. There will forever be a chip on my shoulder. Maybe one day I will be able to prove myself to the WWE Universe.”

Would you like to see Cameron back in action in a WWE ring once again?

Possible Spoiler for the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match

As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, Shane McMahon announced the first-ever Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match that will see 5-women fighting for a chance to win a briefcase that allows them the opportunity for a shot at the Women’s Championship anytime they want. Those names include Carmella, Tamina, Becky Lynch, Natalya and Charlotte.

Dave Meltzer indicated prior to the announcement that the match would see only four competitors because there was expected to be two women matches at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event. With the announcement of five competitors, it is very unlikely now that two matches will take place on the card.

Bryan Alvarez suggested on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE may have changed it to five competitors because the winner of the MITB ladder match may cash it in later in the night. This could be the reason why the Women’s championship match isn’t being defend on the card now and the number of competitors was switch from four to five.

Lana Wants Included in the Women’s Money in the Bank Match

Lana apparently wanted to be added into the first-ever Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match. She took to her Twitter account to publicly ask Shane McMahon for the opportunity.