– Two WWE Stars Told To Tone Down Their In-Ring Style? Vince Russo Rips “Genius” Paul Heyman For Burying Jinder Mahal
During a recent edition of “The Brand” podcast, Vince Russo & former WWE wrestler Vito LoGrasso (along with the co-hosts of the podcast – Jeff & Kenny) discussed last week’s episode of Raw.
Below are the highlights of their discussion regarding Asuka’s Raw debut & Paul Heyman’s promo regarding Jinder Mahal:
On Asuka’s Raw debut:
Russo: This is the first time I ever saw Asuka wrestle. Are you effing kidding me? This is the great Asuka that I’ve been hearing about for the last……. “Here’s a big move I’m gonna do with my big fat a$$”. Can I tell you what pi$$es me off? This is why the marks, they get under. She’s a female version of Nakamura.
And to the marks, all the marks led by leader Dave Meltzer, it’s cool to like Asuka because she’s from Japan. Bro, freakin Madusa….. ten times better than than what I saw this Asuka doing in the ring. This is the premiere, the preview of somebody that was undefeated for seven years because she’s thrown a big fat a$$ at people? Are you kidding me?
Kenny: The other thing I’ve heard is that they said that Shinsuke and Asuka were hurting people with their strong style of wrestling. And that Asuka was told to tone it down or you’re not gonna get an opportunity up here. And the same with Shunsuke Nakamura. They told him to tone it down or you’re not going to be here long.
When you’re toning down what they do best, they can’t perform. When the booker’s don’t care about them the way they did down in NXT, now you’re taking another percentage away from them. They are a half of what they are here.
Russo: Bro, this girl could not touch Alundra Blayze in her prime with a ten-foot pole. Vito, we worked with her. This Asuka could not touch Debrah Miceli with a ten-foot pole and that was 25 years ago.
Vito: Guys, what everybody’s forgetting here is there’s a process in the WWE. You go from the independent wrestling to NXT, they teach you the NXT way. NXT is like the old cult of ECW where they have their own brand. They have their own crowd. It’s a cult following. When you go up to the main roster, you have to follow certain rules and you have to change your game.
So you change from Indy wrestler to NXT wrestler to WWE main roster wrestler. So they take away a lot of your aura. You’re wrestling in front of a smaller house and a small crowd, you’re able to get over. They favor what the indy wrestling is and that’s what NXT is – a version of Indy wrestling.
I said this and everybody laughed at me. I said Emma has future championship pedigree in her. I was laughed. On the two nights that she was fighting the best woman’s wrestler, who asserted themselves and who looked like a championship material? Emma. And I couldn’t have been happier.
That girl Asuka, she brought nothing to the table. She was a Nakamura-knockoff. This girl’s debut was nothing. She’s gonna wind up like Sasha Banks at the end of the line opening up the next pay-per-view in two months.
On Paul Heyman’s promo on WWE Champion Jinder Mahal:
Russo: I swear to you guys, my wife does not watch wrestling. She came down in the basement yesterday when I was watching the show. She sat with me for a few minutes. About six minutes into Paul Heyman this is what my wife said – “Okay, enough already. We got it. We got it.”
I am so sick and tired of hearing the genius of Paul Heyman and here’s where the marks and a lot of other people don’t have a freaking clue to what they’re freaking talking about and know nothing about wrestling and know nothing about psychology.
The “great” Paul Heyman buried Jinder Mahal. He made Jinder Mahal sound like an absolute jobber. You’re gonna tell me this is the guy that’s a freaking genius? That Brock is going into a pay-per-view with a guy that he literally makes the guy out to be a jabroni?
If Jinder Mahal does not beat Brock Lesnar, which he won’t, then somebody explain to me the genius of Paul Heyman. I thought the guy in that spot is there to get the boys over. What did he do to put over Jinder Mahal?
Vito: I was totally disappointed with Paul Heyman. For the last few guys that…. they build up Goldberg, they built up Samoa Joe. They did a tremendous job with Braun Strowman. They needed to put the extra icing on the cake to Jinder Mahal to think he had even a slightest bit of chance.
Now unless Jinder Mahal comes to Raw and drops Lesnar, whether it be with the two guys, with The Great Khali, there is no way in hell that this is going to be a believable match. And if I was the guy in charge I would have Brock and Jinder Mahal put their titles on the line. Have a “Title for Title”. Let Brock take the title. Go to WrestleMania. Have whoever’s the next heir apparent take it over from Brock. And then you start over from scratch.
Because this brand thing with the two separate champions, it’s not as strong. The only SmackDown caliber champion you might have there is AJ Styles. But on Raw, you have a couple of different caliber guys who can carry the ball.
Everybody out there if you’re listening like a mark and you’re thinking about it was great, it wasn’t great. It wasn’t good business. When you beat somebody, you have to beat somebody. And if you beat somebody with no credibility, you have beaten nobody.
He’s a great champion. He represents India. He’s got an amateur background. He’s a professional bodybuilder from the Maharaja School of Maharaja. Something to build the guy up…. You made him look like a jobbber from four years ago.
Kenny: I would do a little bit opposite of what you said. I’d have title for title. I’d put them up and I would have Jinder beat him. I’d have him beat Brock Lesnar in about three minutes. That’s what I would do because #1: Brock doesn’t need the title.
The guy is gonna draw a huge crowd no matter where he goes or what he does. Jinder on the other hand needs the title. I would have Jinder beat him in about three minutes, unify the titles because like you said it doesn’t mean anything anyway. Raw is gonna get the edge on that.
– Two Returns Expected On Tonight’s Episode Of Raw
Former NXT Champion Samoa Joe, who has been out of action with a knee injury since late August, is backstage for tonight’s episode of Raw and he’s expected to make a return.
Another return that is expected on tonight’s episode of Raw is that of Nia Jax.
ALSO READ: The Undertaker’s WWE TV Return Announced – Click Here.
