The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 10.28.20
Taped from Jacksonville, FL
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross & Excalibur
Holy cow it’s DVDs! Yeah I can just watch the PPVs on demand via Fite, but I’m still putting those on the Xmas wish list.
Dynamite – October 28, 2020
Dynamite
Date: October 28, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross
We’re getting closer and closer to Full Gear and tonight we will find out the finalists in the #1 contenders tournament, with the match taking place at the pay per view. Other than that we have a town hall meeting with the Inner Circle and Maxwell Jacob Friedman to see if he can join the team. Let’s get to it.
The Wednesday Night War Thread
TONIGHT! We got SPIN THE WHEEL MAKE THE DEAL on NXT and the semi-finals of the World title contender tournament on AEW.
Hopefully no one catches Covid from being at NXT.
Very sad about Tracy Smothers. I imagine we’ll get a word about him on both shows tonight.
Anything else going on tonight? Don’t think so.
Enjoy the shows!
DC Showcase Animated Original Shorts – Superman/Shazam!: Return of Black Adam!
Mentioned I’d take a look at this after the Death in the Family review the other day, so no need to waste time, let’s get to it!
Four reviews in a day! Have I mentioned it’s my week off?!
Monday Night Raw – May 29, 2006
Monday Night Raw
Date: May 29, 2006
Location: Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We’re on the way to One Night Stand and the top of the show is starting to take place. Given that it isn’t a traditional show, there is a good chance that we won’t be seeing much more than just the two main matches. I’m not sure what we’re going to see on the way there, but Rob Van Dam vs. John Cena needs some build. Let’s get to it.
What the World Was Watching: Smoky Mountain TV – August 12, 1995
Chip Kessler and Les Thatcher are calling the action and they are concluding the tapings from Jellico, Tennessee. This is also the go home show for Fire on the Mountain.
Jim Cornette tells Kessler and Thatcher that Brad Armstrong has no chance against his militia in a gauntlet match.
Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling!
James Fabiano asked for this when Scott posted an email about the show recently, and when I say he asked for this he really asked for this!
RIP Tracy Smothers
Farewell to the wild eyed Southern Boy. 2020 claims another victim.
Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #392 (28/10/2000)
Hello You!
We’re 8 days out from November to Remember, the event that traditionally acts as ECW’s version of WrestleMania/Starrcade as the big show of the year. This year’s show doesn’t feel like it’s on that level, but neither did last year’s either if I’m honest. Let’s see if they can speed up the hype train this week to really get us jazzed for the pay per view.
They’re Fighting Over Shampoo!
I was pretty excited to see Miro show up in AEW after years of being underutilized in WWE… And then his first feud winds up being over a broken video game? Just seems like a pre-show match with Best Friends coming off their feud with Santana & Ortiz is something that’s going to do nothing for any of the parties involved, especially considering why they’re fighting.
But it got me thinking… Is Edge vs. Booker T still the standard bearer for stupid reasons for guys to have a rivalry? What else since has made you roll your eyes and think “They’re Fighting Over Shampoo!”?
There’s been a lot lately. The “feud” between Sheamus and Jeff in particular was eye rolling stuff but Covid-19 excuses a lot of nonsense. I think the worst one that was supposed to be something major was the Cena vs UT deal from a couple of years ago where the entire point was Cena wanting a WM match and somehow unable to get one.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Heroes in a Half Shell!
I think it’s inevitable that I’ll be reviewing the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie soon, so I thought I’d review some episodes from the first few (good) seasons of the cartoon, which I took a minute to get into, but when I did I was into it I was REALLY into it!
World War 3 Match
As is generally recognized, WCW's “World War 3” 3 Ring battle royale match is a disaster on many levels. Do you think WCW could've benefited from telling fans that they were going to change World War 3 into a more “modern format” or some such excuse, and simply start using WWE's Royal Rumble format, but just retaining the name “World War 3”? Obviously WCW wouldn't be able to use the “Royal Rumble” match name due to copyright issues (nor should they want to), but the match format itself is so effective at creating entertaining spots, dramatic moments, and selecting a number 1 contender that I suspect many WCW fans would have welcomed this change. What do you think?
Thanks for reading!
Literally anything would have been better than the stupid three ring format.
The SmarK Rant for WCW Halloween Havoc 1990 – 10.27.90
The SmarK Rant for WCW Halloween Havoc 1990 – 10.27.90
Well, I give up waiting for the WWE Network to upload the full PPV version of this show, so let’s redo the Turner Home Video version that they put up there because it’s very due for a redo and of course Halloween Havoc returns tonight, and ‘tis the season and all. Plus I’ve always liked this show anyway.
Daily News Update – October 28, 2020
It’s HALLOWEEN HAVOC time again, so I figured I’d celebrate with the 1990 show this morning. A bunch of others need redoing so we’ll probably continue in that direction because I love me some old classic WCW.
WWE Considering Changing Lars Sullivan’s Name
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/wwe-considering-changing-lars-sullivans-name/
Chaos Backstage At This Week’s Smackdown
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/weeks-smackdown-chaos-backstage/
And if you’re got TWO AND A HALF DAMN HOURS to spare this morning, here’s AEW Dark.
Flash Gordon – Remember, He Save Every One Of Us!
So, I compared Masters of the Universe to Flash Gordon and someone loved the reference and said “Do Flash Gordon!” – you don’t have to tell me twice!
Filmed in 1980, there’s been a 40th anniversary Blu-Ray release of this recently, but I’m looking at the silver anniversary DVD from 2005, including an awesome Mike Hodges (director) interview, which I’ll make reference to after the review of the film.
AEW DARK: October 27, 2020
The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 58: Get Me Some Caffeine, October 27, 2020
From the AEW Arena.
Your hosts are Excalibur and Taz, with special guest boxing Olympian Anthony Ogogo!
TONIGHT! Fifteen matches, a few of which may actually be competitive, as we determine if anyone is bothering to watch this during election season! The Hybrid 2 will face SCU’s Daniels and Kazarian, Hikaru Shida faces Leyla Hirsch in non-title action, and Brandon Cutler and Peter Avalon finally see who can avoid being winless longer! Really! Would we lie to you?
PLUS – Ivelisse and Diamante, Jurassic Express, Matt Sydal, Best Friends, Sonny Kiss, Ricky Starks, Darby Allin, Brian Cage, Preston Vance, Anna Jay, Uno and Grayson, and Will Hobbs!
Typhoon & Shinja vs. Genichiro Tenry & Ultimo Dragon AND Koji Kitao & El Gigante (and other Dream Matches)
And we’re back with more of wrestling’s weirdest side-matches. This time some stuff Maffew showed me- possibly the greatest disparate bunch of dudes ever, all from a one-night tag tournament in Tenryu’s WAR promotion in Japan! Even better, there’s Buddy Rogers vs. Haystacks Calhoun from 1961, and Antonio Inoki versus the famous “Fat Motorcycle Twins”.
KOJI KITAO & EL GIGANTE vs. TYPHOON & THE GREAT SHINJA:
(One-Night Tag Tournament, Wrestle Association R, Japan, 12.08.1995)
* Maffew got this one for me, so you can blame him, lol. Gigante you know as the most hopeless wrestler ever; Kitao is infamous for the 1991 match where he & Earthquake shot on each other, and was a failed yokozuna-level sumo (promoted just to “have a native Sumo at the top level”), retiring in disgrace after never having won a tournament and feuding with his stable bosses (sumo is dirty as FUCK, though). Typhoon is from the WWF, and… Earthquake’s partner, so that’ll be interesting. The Great Shinja is Akio Sato of the Orient Express (in the shittier original version), and was also Hakushi’s manager Shinja in the WWF. Gigante’s in red shorts, Kitao’s in a white gi, Typhoon’s in his WWF gear (and pretty much exactly the same size as Kitao), and Shinja’s in a white shirt & pants that just make him look like someone’s dad who just wandered into the ring.
DC Showcase Animated Shorts – Batman: Death in the Family!
Just picked this up and thought I’d watch and review it – the main feature is an adaptation of a classic Batman story with a twist to match the original. The rest are shorts that appeared alongside previous DC animated movie releases, and in some cases were better than those main features!
RVD’s cash-in
The MitB contract match on HitC lead me down the rabbit hole to
watching Rob Van Dam vs John Cena for the WWE title at One Night
Stand. In that match, Edge did a run-in, the ref got knocked out, Paul
Heyman made the count, and RVD was announced as the new *ECW*
champion.
But then on the following RAW, it was announced that RVD was both WWE
and ECW champion.
Was the original plan to actually keep the WWE title on Cena, before
they realized how lame that would be?
I don’t believe so but I was WAAAAAAAY out of the loop at that point.
Dustin and Barry 1992
Why was there no blood feud between the two after Windham’s turn?
Barry took time off for injuries and apparently married a super rich sugar mama while he was out, so he had zero motivation to do much he didn’t want to. Besides, when were they supposed to do that match? It’s not like there was some “big PPV” in December where they could blow it off. That’s crazy talk. When would they do the Battlebowl tournament then? I ask you, sir, WHEN???