411’s WWE Bring It To The Table Report: Phone Hacking, JBL Goes Off on The IWC, More

411’s WWE Bring It To The Table Report: 03/30/17

-WrestleMania week continues for me as I get to do the 3rd installment of Bring it to the Table. This is a special edition as they are doing the show from the home of WrestleMania 33, The Citrus Bowl.

-Back for this edition is Peter Rosenberg, who is our host, and he is joined by JBL and Corey Graves. Again for this coming to this late and haven’t seen the show this is WWE’s version of ESPN’s First Taker or PTI.

-Rosenberg welcomes us to the show and wants to start off with Graves and something he said on the last show they did. They show Graves saying that the idea of AJ/Shane wrestling at Mania does nothing for him. Graves says his opinion hasn’t changed and Roseberg asks him if he has talked to Shane. He says they have meet and he will keep the conversation they had private. Nice!

-Moving on to the “Hot Start” segment and the first topic is the news that Shawn Michaels broke when he said he turned down having a match with AJ this year at Mania. JBL knows the match would be amazing and talks about the spectacular match Shawn had with Undertaker at Mania XXV. Graves says he is a bit heart broken and wishes he could have seen the match, but understands why Shawn didn’t want to do it. Nobody doubts they would have torn the house down even with Shawn’s age.

-Next they talk about New Day hosting Mania and mention they have to follow Hogan and Rock who were hosts in the past. JBL talks about Mania XXX and the amazing opening with Hogan, Rock, and Austin. He talks about how being the host is a better opportunity for New Day than working one match. Graves knows they are going to kill it and how it will improve their brand.

-Mixed Tag talk next and Rosenberg mentions it may have started slow, but the program is white hot now. He asks JBL what it is like when people working together have real heat with each other. JBL says that these guys do have legit heat with each other and it is great as it blurs the line. Graves piggybacks off that and says that guys backstage love seeing it as well, and they can feel the tension as well. They show the end of Cena’s promo this past Tuesday when he torched Miz and Maryse while they walked away without saying or doing anything. Rosenberg says Nikki is a friend and he has tried to get inside dirt on the feud. Nikki and Maryse just have major issues with each other.

-Discussion of what brand has the better Woman’s Roster. JBL thinks RAW has the edge athletically, but SmackDown division is better and is being featured better. Graves agrees with JBL as he says that isn’t meant as an insult to the RAW women, but SmackDown has a deeper roster. He says that it seems like it is the same 4 women on RAW and there is more depth on SD. Rosenberg agrees, but is looking forward to the RAW Woman’s match more than SmackDown’s.

-Yay or Boo: The first topic is Neville and Graves gives him a 1000 Yays. The guy is money says JBL and he is so much better as a heel. He was thrown into his element with the CW division. He draws money with his character and is more than just the guy who does flips. Graves thinks the rest of the card is going to have a hard time following Neville/Aries.

-Yay or Boo: SmackDown Tag Champs being left off the card. JBL boos it as it sucks and he feels the Usos would have put on a hell of a performance. Graves is okay with it as he feels the timing isn’t right and it is going to be a long day Sunday so he is fine with something being left off for timing reasons.

-Yay or Boo: Social Media: Rosenberg mentions people’s phones are getting hacked (hmm) and spoilers are being posted. Graves hates people who post spoilers, but thinks Social Media has been a benefit to the business. JBL agrees as it has been a benefit and mentions that phones being hacked are criminal. I guess that is the closest we will get to them discussing the Paige incident.

-We take a break as they show a commercial for tomorrow nights Hall of Fame Ceremony. Join me tomorrow for live coverage of that as it will be a long night.

-Back to the table and JBL wants to give Graves a Bobby Heenan award for the insult he crushed Saxton with on Monday. It was during Bayley’s entrance where he said that Byron relates to her because the most meaningful relationship both have is with inflatable people. Sick burn!

-Back to the rundown as they had a poll out to The Universe of who they wanted in the Hall of Fame and the choices were: 1) Miss Elizabeth: 15 % 2) The Rock: 60%, 3) Vader: 15%, 4) Eric Bischoff: 10%.

-Well that wasn’t really a fair fight, and would have made for a better poll if the Rock was not on it. Rosenberg even says the results weren’t shocking and asks for reaction. JBL says The Rock is a given for the Hall of Fame, but makes a case for Vader. He should be in just for what he did in Japan and then add on his WCW run and the matches with Sting. Graves thinks all 4 belong, but personally he wants Miss Elizabeth (Yes!). Liz was part of the fabric of the WWE and brings up the Warrior/Savage match at Mania VII. He just watched the match and was choked up when they reunited. My vote would go for Liz as well because nothing would make me happier than seeing her take her place in the Hall of Fame.

-Rosenberg asks the guys if they know who was the first inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame. Graves and JBL look at him in disgust for even asking and he says it was a rhetorical questions. JBL answers it was Andre The Giant and he wishes he was here to hit Rosenberg on the head.

-That leads to The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He thinks people sleep on the match and complain when guys get put in the match. JBL brings up that it is a opportunity for the guys to get a chance to shine. They have to take advantage of being on the card and JBL says the pre-show did over 5 millions views last year. He would kill to work on a pre-show that is seen by that many people.

-Rosenberg hypes up that anyone can appear and throws out Rob Gronkowski. Graves craps all over that idea, but JBL is open to it. They show video of Mojo and Gronk getting each other fired up. Graves says it would be ok if he got to see Gronk go face to face with Braun Strowman.

-Don’t get hot is JBL’s chance to spout off and he talks about Jim Cornette. He calls Cornette a close friend and says that everyone is expecting Cornette to go off and he basically guarantees it will happen. He can’t wait to hear what he has to say.

-Next JBL talks about working the last time Mania was in Orlando as he opened the show with Finlay. He calls Finlay one of the greatest heels ever, but he loves that he was able to throw garbage cans at a leprechaun (Hornswoggle). Finlay asked, “Did you hit him?” Nice! He loved the moment as it was a rib on Hornswoggle, who loved it as well because he was just happy to be part of Mania.

-JBL goes off on the IWC for booing Roman Reigns. He calls them all cry babies who say they boo because they don’t like Roman. He says Roman is a star and gets a superstar reaction. Rosenberg gets in on the action as he talks about the debut of The Shield. He says the fans chose Roman Reigns first over Ambrose and Rollins. Then the minute the WWE chooses him everyone hates him. Oh come on! Please show me when the fans were all in on Reigns over Rollins or Ambrose? He was cheered in Pittsburgh at the Rumble, but only because everyone hated Batista.

-Talk next is of the RAW after Mania. JBL says it is fine if the fans hijack the show. It is there right and it is fun. That gives them a chance to plug the WWE 24 episode that focused on the Monday after Mania. You can find my review of that show here. JBL and Graves both want Nakamura on Monday night. JBL has always been a fan and talks about how much charisma the man has.

-We take another break to show a commercial for NXT Takeover: Orlando, which airs live on Saturday. They also show a commercial to hype Reigns/Taker.

-Dig It (which is their Savage tribute) segment. Rosenberg shows off the shoes he is wearing which are a special edition that become available from Foot Locker. They are Pumas that are inspired by various WWE Legends. Rosenberg is wearing ones inspired by The Ultimate Warrior.

-The music talent is discussed next as Pitbull and Flo Rida are performing.

-They discuss the heat between The Rock and Vin Diesel. Graves buries Diesel and calls him a movie tough guy. He says the only reason Vin has a name is because The Rock saved the Fast and The Furious franchise. That is not far from the truth as Rock being added brought new eyes and new life to the franchise starting with Fast Five. JBL says The Rock would kill Diesel and puts over the Rock having movies doing over $1 billion in sales in a calendar year.

-They discuss the 30th anniversary of Mania III and Hogan slamming Andre. They even put up the tweet Hogan put out about the moment and joke that Andre seems to get bigger every year when Hogan talks about it. Graves calls it the greatest moment in the history of the business and 30 years later they are still talking about it.

-NXT Special is discussed next and Graves talks about how it set the tone for the weekend last year. JBL says he never got to see ECW as he working all the time, but knows what the energy was like when he did the ECW One Night Stand show. He compares the passion for ECW to what is happening with NXT. They are going to try to steal the show this weekend and the guys working on Sunday better be ready to follow them.

-Big Finish: What match should close WrestleMania. Graves thinks it should be Wyatt vs Orton because Randy won the Rumble. The story has been fantastic and it deserves to have a blow-off that closes the show. JBL thinks that is a valid argument, but his vote is for Taker/Reigns. He admits he will be emotional because there is nothing like Taker making his entrance at Mania. I was there for 3 of them and it is quite amazing. Rosenberg thinks it should be Goldberg/Lesnar because of the story they are telling, and it also has a big match feel to it.

-That wraps up this episode. They do seem to be getting better with each episode and I am a sucker for shows where guys talk about the history and current state of the business even if I don’t agree with what they are saying.

-Join me tomorrow night for live coverage of The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.