Vince Russo heard Road Dogg’s claim about being denied an AEW opportunity over his political beliefs, and this one genuinely pissed him off. Russo didn’t even start with AEW or the wrestling-media drama. He went straight to Road Dogg’s past in the military.
Speaking on Coach and Bro, Russo brought up Brian James serving during Desert Storm and said there’s a side of that story Road Dogg rarely talks about publicly.
“Road Dogg served at Desert Storm. When I’m talking about serving, Coach, because he don’t talk about this. I’m going to talk about it a little.”
The former WWE writer has apparently heard some of those stories directly from Road Dogg, and they stuck with him.
“Road Dogg served on the battlefield. Because Road Dogg told me certain stories that I’ll never forget. And I looked at him—you talk about looking at somebody like, ‘Brother, you’re my freaking hero.’ Like, I am so Mambi Pambi. The stories Brian James was telling me.”
That’s why Road Dogg’s allegation hit a nerve. Russo’s position was pretty simple: after serving his country like that, Road Dogg has earned the right to believe whatever he wants politically.
“So this guy literally went hand-to-hand combat for this country, bro. He has earned the right to have any freaking belief he wants to freaking have. This dude was on a battlefield, for crying out loud. And to use something like that, bro, that sickens me. That absolutely sickens me.”
Russo was bothered enough that as soon as he read about the situation, he knew it was going on the show.
“When I read this whole thing, I said, ‘We’ve got to talk about it on the show.’”
Jonathan Coachman wasn’t exactly shrugging it off either. His issue was less about which political beliefs Road Dogg holds and more about the allegation that someone in wrestling media potentially helped cost him a job over them.
“But why, as a wrestling personality or a reporter or a journalist, would you ever want to do anything but just talk about wrestling and go after somebody like Road Dogg? It makes no sense to me. None whatsoever. And if it cost you a job, it’s hard enough to get a job as it is.”
This all traces back to Road Dogg’s August 19 Twitter meltdown after his praise of Austin and Colten Gunn turned into an argument with Dave Meltzer. When a fan warned him that publicly fighting with people probably wasn’t helping his chances of getting into AEW, Road Dogg dropped the much bigger claim.
“Actually, I was turned away because of my political/ core beliefs That happened IN AMERICA I didn’t donate to or vote for Trump, BUT his old man did, why was I punished?”
Road Dogg then pointed the finger at David Bixenspan, claiming the wrestling journalist screenshotted his conservative posts and used them to get his AEW opportunity killed.
“This is the guy that screenshot my social media Post (I am conservative) and then used it to get my opportunity canceled. I feel differently than a lot of you. Im not sorry for who I am and how I was raised.”
There’s still an important line here: Road Dogg hasn’t produced evidence showing Bixenspan actually caused AEW to cancel an opportunity, so that remains his accusation.
Russo clearly doesn’t need any more convincing about the bigger issue, though. Road Dogg says his politics helped cost him an AEW job, and after hearing that, Russo’s reaction wasn’t subtle — he called the idea of using those beliefs against a Desert Storm veteran “sickening.”
Do you think Russo has a point here, or do you want to hear AEW’s side of what actually happened with Road Dogg? Let us know in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
