Vince Russo’s THE BRAND which could be both SEEN and HEARD daily on the RELMNetwork.com and PodcastOne.com, was highlighted this week by the second part of my SWERVE interview with Aaron Stevens, aka Former WWE Superstar Damien Sandow and Creative Leader of TNA Wrestling, aka current founder of the Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan.
Here are some excerpts from both interviews:
AARON STEVENS on the In-Ring Revelation he had at last year’s WRESTLEMANIA:
“You look at the angle when Miz and I turned on each other at the Battle Royal (WRESTLEMANIA 31). All the people said, ‘Damien, you should have won’. Well–who had one of the loudest reactions of the night? In that moment I realized (pause) it’s funny, if you’re going to have a revelation in the middle of 83,000 people, being broadcast all over the world with the camera on you, it’s probably not the best moment for introspection, but I said–look–this is it. There are top guys in our industry, guys who had been pushed, who had actually had the creative machine behind them, and I just took a stunt double thing and because of being constantly creative, it turned into this. There is nothing more I can do in the industry that will equal this. Who gets this kind of reaction without the machine behind him? And, it was genuine, it was not forced. Everyone was cheering because they wanted to.”
BILLY CORGAN on the Shift in Professional Wrestling:
“They (today’s younger talent) see it as a generational shift on how they want to portray professional wrestling. It’s not ignorance, for them it’s a creative, or conscience. As an old school guy, I totally disagree with that. So the question I would ask from an existential point of view–is the future of wrestling generationally speaking going in that direction and it’s too late and there’s nothing you can do? And, do you then tie the lack of casual interest to that style? I know you and I personally do.”
BILLY on Where He Thinks This Style is Heading:
“I think you are going to see wrestling companies come forward, and I hope TNA would be part of that, that are going to go back to the traditional things that enhance the business and build up the talent in the long term in the way that yields real numbers and also is adaptable to the culture that is coming down the road with over-the-top networks and the internet. Then I think you are going to have that sort of style be persuasive with a certain hardcore fan base which is totally fine. But, I don’t think it is going to be able to rise out of a niche culture because it doesn’t speak to the casual fan.”
You can listen to Vince Russo’s THE BRAND on PodcastOne every day FREE Monday through Friday, while having the option of enjoying the videos on The RELM Network where for the entire month of June you can subscribe to THE BRAND and get your first month FREE! All the information is at RussosBrand.com.
