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

Russo opens today’s show by saying that Renee Young looked like she “…just came in from out of the freakin’ rain” on this past Tuesday’s episode of Smackdown. He doesn’t understand why WWE is trying to take these beautiful women and make them ugly for television, especially when they have world class hair and makeup people at their disposal.

Speaking about the current state of the United States Championship on Smackdown, Vito suggests that Dolph Ziggler return in a few weeks with a new gimmick, wearing a mask. He’d book Ziggler to win the Title and then he could take the mask off, proving that he’s indeed the greatest in-ring worker in WWE. Russo doesn’t like that idea at all.

Russo isn’t sure what WWE is doing with the ‘Rusev Day’ gimmick right now. WWE probably thinks it’s over because one town started to chant it, but they still haven’t told their audience what ‘Rusev Day’ is. They haven’t explained anything about this to us at all, and all we know is that Rusev wears a shirt with the words on it.

Lane mentions that Smackdown was filmed in Chicago this past week, and those audiences are always louder than the average audience. If we start hearing ‘Rusev Day’ chants all around the United States, then WWE might be on to something. Lane also thinks that this entire thing revolves around Rusev’s ability to entertain people.

The post Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Smackdown Live Analysis, Roode Vs. Mahal for US Title? What is Rusev Day? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

When Dolph Ziggler seemingly vacated the United States Championship, Daniel Bryan knew what he had to do. He booked one of WWE’s rare tournaments. You don’t see those too often. I know we had the Mae Young Classic and the Cruiserweight Classic recently, but I’m talking about one for the main roster dudes. They could happen a bit more.

Obviously they shouldn’t be overdone, but they could be used every once in a while, and here’s why.

Tournaments Showcase The Midcard

Remember the tournament WWE held for the vacant WWE Championship back in 2015? I know most people don’t want to. In case you do, you most likely remember the big names such as Roman Reigns, Dean Ambose, and Kevin Owens advancing in the tournament. But did you know that men like Kalisto, Ryback, Stardust, Neville, Titus O’Neil, and Tyler Breeze were also there? Granted, they didn’t last very long, but they were there. And those aren’t your main-event names.

Even with the Smackdown tournament for the vacant US Championship, they have the ability to showcase some of their less used talents. Though Tye Dillinger didn’t win, he had a strong showing against Jinder Mahal. Unless WWE decides to have big names such as Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura compete, they’ll have to use Sin Cara, Zack Ryder, Mojo Rawley, and Mike Kanellis, who are all talented performers. They have the chance to show off what they are capable of.

They Provide a Reason for Matches

Too often we see matches happen just for the sake of having a match. That’s it. No storyline advancement. No interference or anything. Nothing happens. A guy wins and the other guy loses. If WWE did more tournaments, this would happen less often. Now two guys can fight, and there’s a valid reason for them to fight. Therefore, the audience gets invested in the match.

Qualifying matches also do this quite well. Just last Survivor Series, the members of Team Smackdown (except for John Cena and Shane McMahon) all had to fight for their spots. Randy Orton beat Sami Zayn. Shinsuke Nakamura beat Kevin Owens. Bobby Roode beat Dolph Ziggler. At last year’s Money in the Bank, all the performers in that match had to qualify.

This doesn’t specifically apply to tournaments, but when you give a match a reason for happening, people will care about it more. Tournaments and qualifying matches provide an easy reason for two people to be fighting.

It Kills Time

Sometimes the gaps between PPVs can be as long as five or six weeks. For a company that often has trouble booking a story for four weeks, this can be a problem. Look at Raw right now. They’re far away from the Royal Rumble, so it’st just kind of happening. Last week’s episode was a whole episode of nothing. There are times when the shows feel like they are just spinning their wheels.

If there are five weeks until a PPV, instead of having the challenger decided in one and having him fight in tag matches against the champion for four, how about have the challenger decided in two or three weeks, and spend the others building the match? There are only so many promos you can cut, so many time you can stare down your opponent before it gets old. It may build interest a bit, but there is a better way.

The post Reasons Why WWE Should Do More Tournaments appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Dolph Ziggler’s recent actions have led to loads of speculations being made throughout the wrestling community. One of the notable ones came from his close friend and former WWE Superstar Ryback.

On the recent edition of his podcast, Conversation with The Big Guy, Ryback revealed his thoughts on the recent turn of events.

The former Intercontinental Champion voiced his concern over his friend’s uncertain future, advising him to take a vacation to the Bahamas:

“I personally think he should take a little break. I think he deserves a break. Whether he resigns or not I think he should take some time off, at least 6 months. I want to see him in the Bahamas just drinking. I say take a year off. He is still young enough.”

Ryback also said that taking a break from wrestling helped him get to a better place physically and provided the reason why Ziggler needs to take a break:

“When you are there for quite some time it’s okay to take a little break, whatever your reasons are. I always say that you work so hard in life and that everyone wants to talk about the grind, but you have to enjoy life. What is the point of making money if you can’t enjoy it? You are going to get to a point when you are 50 and realize you missed out on your best years. Not to say that you have years ahead of you, but stepping away and getting out of the bubble will open your eyes and see the light that is out there. There are always ways to make money and wrestling is always going to be there.”

The post Ryback Believes Dolph Ziggler Needs A Break From WWE appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

WWE heads to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ for tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live. Here are the highlights from tonight’s show:

Daniel Bryan opens the show talking about the Women’s Royal Rumble match. Bryan talks about the main event of tonight’s show before Shane McMahon comes out. Shane talks about what transpired at Sunday’s WWE Clash of Champions where Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn one their match with the assist from Daniel Bryan. Bryan said he did it to protect Shane from himself. Bryan and Shane talk about the vision for the SmackDown brand. Bryan says if he has a problem, he can fire him. Bryan says he doesn’t want Shane to turn into Vince McMahon. Shane says he turns Bryan before telling him “Good luck with the show tonight.”

Bryan and Shane talk about the vision for the SmackDown brand. Bryan says if he has a problem, he can fire him. Bryan says he doesn't want Shane to turn into Vince McMahon. Shane tells him Good luck.#WWE #SDLive Results – https://t.co/o5468sCc7H pic.twitter.com/V3wCOSBPNc

— Ringside News (@RingsideNewscom) December 20, 2017

Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin defeat The Usos.

Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin defeated The Usos#WWE #SDLive Results – https://t.co/o5468sCc7H pic.twitter.com/klvLIyITab

— Ringside News (@RingsideNewscom) December 20, 2017

Charlotte in-ring promo. She talks about her win at WWE Clash of the Champions and the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble match. Charlotte says she will be waiting to defend her championship to whomever wins the Women’s Royal Rumble. Naomi comes out and announces herself as the first women in the Women’s Royal Rumble match. The new NXT rookies come out and Naomi calls them “chicken heads.”

Naomi & Charlotte defeated Sarah Logan & Ruby Riott.

Backstage segment with The New Day, Rusev Claus and Aiden English. Rusev Claus puts everyone on the naughty list before a challenge is issued. The New Day accepts.

Dolph Ziggler in-ring promo. Ziggler talks about all the championship titles he had won. He then drops the United States Championship Title and walks to the back. It appears that he just forfeited the title.

"YOU'RE NOT WORTHY OF MY PRESENCE!" –@HEELZiggler pic.twitter.com/0yXxtBbzeH

— WWE (@WWE) December 20, 2017

(Note: Ziggler’s contract was rumored to be expiring. We will keep updated)

The New Day defeat Rusev & Aiden English.

Randy Orton, Nakamura & AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn.

Goodnight, @SinghBrosWWE!#SDLive @RandyOrton pic.twitter.com/G7T4C7dvgL

— WWE (@WWE) December 20, 2017

The post WWE SmackDown Live Highlights – December 19th, 2017 appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

The whole point of Clash of Champions is that every champion must defend their title. The chances of a title changing hands are quite high. Multi-man matches such as the triple threat for the US Championship and the fatal four-way tag team match almost guarantee a change in champions.

I believe that we’re going to see new champions come Sunday. Who do I believe will be a champion after Clash of Champions?

United States Champion: Baron Corbin

The whole point of booking a Triple Threat is so that the champion can lose their title without being pinned. However, I think that this Sunday, Corbin retains, but not by pinning Bobby Roode. I’m not a betting man, but I’d bet a considerable sum on Dolph Ziggler eating the pin.

It’s far too early to take the title off Baron Corbin. He’s found his groove as a character and as a champion. To take it away from him now would a a tad odd, to say the least. Besides, a babyface chasing the title is a much more compelling tale. A chase would provide Bobby Roode with some character other than “glorious is my word of the day.”

The strange addition of Ziggler to the match pretty much means he’s there to protect the loser. It’s sad, but it’s true. Corbin is pinning Ziggler, and this extends the feud to at least another month.

Smackdown Women’s Champion: Carmella

Carmella’s been holding the Money in the Bank contract for an awful long time. It’s not unlikely that she cashes in. In fact, I think it’s quite likely. The lumberjack match stipulation pretty much ensures that the Riott Squad will be involved in the match at Clash of Champions. Should Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan interrupt the match and decimate both Charlotte and Natalya, who should pick the bones but Ms. Money in the Bank herself?

This frees up Charlotte to team up with Naomi to face the growing threat that is the Riott Squad. This leaves a possible dearth of challengers for Carmella should she become champion, but it is what it is. The absence of Becky Lynch is affecting the division, but I honestly believe Carmella is walking away from Boston with the Smackdown Women’s Championship.

The post Predicting the Champions After Clash of Champions appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Dolph Ziggler recently spoke with NBC Sports to promote tonight’s Tribute To The Troops show. Here are some highlights from the interview:

His gradual downward spiral in WWE: “It was very gradual. It went from ‘Wow, we have something special here with Dolph. The crowd is feeding off of him whether he’s a good guy or a bad guy.’ But after a while, a really good match here and there or a special moment here and there is not enough to create a star. So after a big match and then just going back to being Dolph, it’s hard to not be Dolph.

“I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve been able to make the most out of those situations. Anytime people see me or the character, you can kind of see how they mesh together and I’m pretty sure there’s nobody who blends that gray area with the character better than me. And that’s a fact.”

Things he is looking to explore with his meta-type character in WWE: “We’ve opened the fourth wall a lot with this business and we’ve let reality become a huge part of it, which is awesome. Being able to interact with fans every single day gives them the ability to know what’s going on behind the scenes a little bit and you can actually use that as part of your character.

“It would be stupid to let them in on all of these different aspects of the show and then pretend that I win every night because then we’re basically calling them stupid for believing that. But if I go ‘Hey I don’t win all of the time, but I’m really good and you know this and I know this’ and one of the nights could be the time that we go with it and that’s very realistic in this world. It’s one thing to joke around with fans, but to disregard huge aspects of a career would be a mistake.”

What he would like to change about his current character: “Yeah I’d be about three inches taller, so I could be a 10-time world champion (laughs). I’m a big 80s hair metal guy, like a David Lee Roth or someone like Nikki Sixx or Vince Neil to where I could put on a big show and be awesome at wrestling, but in this character right now where I focus on throwing that all away because I see the transparency in characters and my character hates on them.

“It’s a special place that I get to go and I walk to the ring with disdain for the fans knowing that they sit there and bury everything that we do, but then they cheer for who their supposed to because they’re such hypocrites it’s so great.”

The post Dolph Ziggler Says If He Was Three Inches Taller He’d Be A Ten Time World Champion appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

On this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW, we saw SmackDown Live invade RAW where SmackDown Superstars attacked a majority of the RAW roster. One thing you might have noticed was that heels and faces from SmackDown were working together, seemingly forgetting about their rivalries. One such case is of Dolph Ziggler, who was seen standing alongside Bobby Roode, cheering on Rusev together, as if they were best friends. Ziggler responded to fans who brought up Ziggler working with Roode even though they’re supposed to be rivals:

@HEELZiggler and @REALBobbyRoode standing next to each other, cheering Rusev on… Yep, their feud is REAL personal @thewadekeller #Raw pic.twitter.com/B6X6QzuFxu

— A.. Wrestling Fan (@RingGeneral) October 24, 2017

Smackdown was a unit sending a message. Somehow every week we all wait until we're in the ring, the music hits and bell rings to fight. Why wouldn't this apply here? I didn't high five or even talk to my sd opponent, nor have I been seeking him out backstage to jump him

— Dolph Ziggler (@HEELZiggler) October 24, 2017

I have nothing against shane. I called out the fans for liking wrestlers that are smoke & mirrors. So, it was fun to bust up a show built on masks, fire, smoke & facepaint & chest protectors. Sorry that YOU didn't see that.

— Dolph Ziggler (@HEELZiggler) October 24, 2017

What do you guys think? Tell us in the comments below.

The post Dolph Ziggler Reveals Reason Why He Was Working Alongside Bobby Roode on RAW appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Here are the final betting odds for tonight’s WWE Hell in a Cell event:

WWE Championship
Jinder Mahal (c) -300 vs Shinsuke Nakamura +220

Hell in a Cell (Falls Count Anywhere)
Shane McMahon +300 vs Kevin Owens -420

Smackdown Tag Team Championships – Hell in a Cell
The New Day (c) +135 vs The Usos -175

WWE United States Championship
AJ Styles (c) -130 Baron Corbin -110

Smackdown Women’s Championship
Natalya (c) +300 vs Charlotte -420

Randy Orton -420 vs Rusev +300

Bobby Roode -1500 vs Dolph Ziggler +700

Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin -2000 vs The Hype Bros +1000

The post Final Betting Odds for Tonight’s WWE Hell In A Cell Event appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Below are the betting odds for Sunday’ WWE Hell in a Cell event. These numbers will most-likely change over the next few days.

(Note: The favorites have the “-” symbol and the underdogs have the “+” symbol)

Falls Count Anywhere: Hell In a Cell Match
Shane McMahon (+225) vs. Kevin Owens (-350)

WWE Title Championship
Shinsuke Nakamura (+150) vs. Jinder Mahal (-200)

WWE United States Championship
Baron Corbin (+150) vs. AJ Styles (-225)

SmackDown Women’s Championship
Natalya (-150) vs. Charlotte (+110)

Hell In a Cell Tag Team Championship
The Usos (+110) vs. The New Day (-137)

Rusev (+110) vs. Randy Orton (-150)

Dolph Ziggler (+175) vs. Bobby Roode (-250)

Kickoff Pre-show:
The Hype Bros (+500) vs. Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin (-1200)

The post Early Favorites to Win at Sunday’s Hell in a Cell Event appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Ross informs that his book, “Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling” is now available wherever books are sold. This has been a long, interesting journey for him with a lot of twists and turns. The initial co-author, Scott E. Williams, passed suddenly away as they were in the middle of the project, and Ross’ wife, Jan, passed suddenly away as he was cluing up the project several months ago.

After his wife died he almost halted the project but he’s glad he changed his mind and decided to continue work on the book; he thought he owed that to both Williams and his wife. He’s very proud of the finished product and he can’t wait for his fans all around the world to read it.

Ross says he’s very much looking forward to Hell in A Cell this coming Sunday. He thinks this is a very deep card, and there are multiple matches that should be potential show-stealers. The Tag Team Championship match will take place inside Hell in A Cell, and Ross feels this definitely has a good chance to steal the show.

He suspects Jinder Mahal will emerge victorious in his WWE Title match against Nakamura, and he’s looking forward to the Baron Corbin/A.J. Styles match. He points out that Corbin’s about to enter the ring with the best in the business so he urges Corbin to bring his ‘A’ game and listen to Styles in the ring. He also thinks Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode are set to have a great match, and he feels the only way this match will fail is if the live audience starts to crap on it for some reason.

The post The Ross Report Recap w/ Paul O’Brien – Hell in A Cell Preview, Heyman’s Admiration, “Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling” Officially Released, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.