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JR's Blog: Vince Russo Brings Controversy to Ross Report Podcast, RAW & NXT Thoughts Roman's Week, Enzo, Are New Day Villains or Does it Even Matter?

Posted: Dec 18th 2015 By: Jim Ross

It has been a busy week here especially as it comes to communicating with folks about the latest Ross Report Podcast that features the controversial Vince Russo as my guest. Some say that they are boycotting the podcast because of their intense dislike of Russo. Others have Tweeted that they love this podcast and that Vince bought up many good points. You be the judge for FREE at podcastone.com and via iTunes. Russo is straight forward and is certainly opinionated but that makes for a strong guest whether one agrees or doesn't with the guest's mindset. I fully expect this to be one of our most downloaded shows when all is said and done.

Lots of work getting done on our book that we hope will be released for the holidays of 2016. We hope to use some of the material, that will not make the edit, here on our site as excepts. Stay tuned for that.

Feedback inside the literary world on what we've submitted thus far has been positive.

Roman Reigns had two stellar days of TV this week including Sunday at TLC and Monday on RAW where Reigns finally won the WWE World Title.

Even though I'm not predicating it, Reigns suddenly aligning himself with The Authority would be a massive shocker and cast an entire new, long lasting light on the WWE Champion who needs to adopt the 'Dirty Harry' philosophy of speaking less and not more.

Roman doesn't need to be a Stone Cold or Rock remake but instead allow his natural personality to be put on display, organically. Reigns was great on the WWE2K video game symposium simply being himself. I'd suggest trying that plus Roman becoming more invested in the creation of his own verbiage.

Rightly or wrongly, many fans will expect more next week. Reins being forced fed to the fans is a slow, painful death for all involved an may not be so slow.

Sheamus deserves a great deal of credit as well. Not only for his unselfishness but also gritting his teeth and putting his body on the line to try and provide the proper presentation to facilitate the WWE Title business.

Th return of Vince McMahon to RAW was imperative to the TV rating rising. I know he is not overly crazy about being on TV any longer but a short run providing 'rub's' to other talent who need it is good business. Short haul yes but definitely necessary even if McMahon's only focus is Roman Reigns. Too many stories water then all down.

The Q&A's elsewhere here ont h site are updated.

The Ric Flair 30 for 30 feature that is being produced currently is going to be brutally honest about all phases of Ric's life. Hes a braver man than am I. My interview Wednesday took about three hours. The director is big time, @RoryKarp, whose resume is amazing. Rory has produced some of 30 for 30's best shows plus he was the guy who got the movie 'Dale' made about the life and death of NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt.

Got back to my hotel Wednesday in time to watch the NXT take over show from London on my iPad via the WWE Network. It was a really good show on many fronts not the least of which was it was a two hour special and I stress TWO hours. Thought the final two matches really fulfilled their roles of closing a major show with quality.

Samoa Joe losing to Finn Balor helped both talents in my view. It isn't a death knell to lose but it can't happen regularly and it's how one executes the loss that's critical too.

Logical story featuring Nia Jax and Bayley that parlayed on several basic human emotions to deliver a believable presentation. Having a 'monster heel' submit did not bother me whatsoever. Any and all talents should be able to lose, in today's market, in an opponents finisher if said submission hold is over.

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy are really over. Love their entertainment value and hope they can be as equally as successful when it's time for them to be dead serious. Their tag match vs. Dawson an Wilder was enjoyable to watch. Enzo definitely has 'it.'

The three man announce booth got a little busy for my tastes which is not to say that anyone of the three had a terrible night because that was not the case. Even with three announcers no one should feel compelled to talk when sometimes laying out and allowing the audience to process the info that they've been provided isn't a bad thing.

New pet peeve...between bell to bell to let me know something is trending when the graphic on the screen tells me the same thing isn't necessary. I think that the bell to bell time should be used to get talent over and letting me know something related to Twitter, etc that's unrelated to what I'm seeing during 'the game' is a turn off. Respect the game enough to find a better spot for the required extemporaneous info to be presented which is a function of the format the announcers have to follow and the company adopting the philosophy of keeping the matches 'clean.'

All in all, the NXT London show was well done from start to finish and was, with the exception of the Roman Reigns content at TLC and on RAW, the best TV material of the week that I've seen.

Hoping that WWE doesn't try and completely overhaul the announcing talents fo Mauro Ranallo who will become the new voice of Smackdown when the show moves to the USA Network in January. Mauro is a self professed pro wrestling junkie and will bring a ton of energy to Smackdown if he's allowed to do so. This may be a mute point but why would anyone want to change Ranallo after hearing his work that got him hired by WWE? I see Mauro Ranallo to WWE as being one of WWE's best hires in years.

One of most cerebral podcasts we've done n a good while drops this Tuesday night at 9 pm when Bill Eadie, a favorite guest, joins me to talk about the life of a masked wrester, his unique way of getting into the business, working for many famous promoters, his multitude of trips to Japan to work with the likes of all the Japanese greats plus Andre, Hansen, Brody and Murdoch and so many more pus what in Bill's view the wrestlers of today should be working on.

If New Day is selling a ton of unicorns as has been reported, then why are they still being positioned as villains? Or does it not matter any more to a large part of the fan base?

Sounded like the crowd in London had a great time which is has to always be the goal of any promoter who is selling tickets to their event. As long as the fans don't try to become the show, I say have at it!

E Network is promising more drama on the new season of Total Divas. Surely they jest. Drama in the Divas's locker room and generally in their world is unheard of....or perhaps not.

Check with www.wweshop.com as they are restocking on several items that they sold out of within our line of delicious products.

www.amernsoda.co.uk is also in the process of restocking many JR's items that they mail to the UK, Ireland and Europe.

Send me photos to @JRsBBQ on Twitter of you with your JR's products and also include www.prowrestlingtees.com/jimross.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ