Wrestling Observer Flashback – 09.09.96
This week: Plans change. Creatively and contractually. But nothing that is Vince McMahon’s fault, I cannot stress that enough!
Morning Daily News Update
Mandy Rose Drops Major Tease For Toxic Attraction Main Roster Debut
NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose has hinted on social media that toxic Attraction could be heading to the main roster in the very near future.
Ric Flair “Very Happy” With Last Match Performance
For the first time since last Sunday’s Last Match pay-per-view, Ric Flair spoke about his performance, saying he was very happy with it.
Vince McMahon’s Reaction To Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon At King Of The Ring
Kurt Angle has opened up on Vince McMahon’s reaction to his and Shane McMahon’s brutal match at WWE King of the Ring 2001.
Road Warriors WWF Question
Scott,
I hope you have recovered from the gravel roads of Calgary.
If Vince McMahon had given The Road Warriors a destroy all tag teams in the company heel push when The Road Warriors debuted in 1990 could The Road Warriors vs. Hogan and a partner have sold out the LA Coliseum for Wrestlemania VII?
Which partner would have best match/best chance to sell-out teaming with Hulk Hogan in LA?
Roddy Piper: If he had been healthy. Piper in LA would still have been big.
Ric Flair: If Vince had wanted it enough Vince would have found a way.
Randy Savage: If Vince wanted nuclear heat end with the Road Warriors retiring a MegaPower.
Ricky Steamboat: A Steamboat hot tag to Hogan.
Ultimate Warrior: The match would suck unless Hogan channelled Ricky Morton.
Andre The Giant: If only it was 1986 instead of 1991.
They barely sold tickets for the LA Coliseum even with a rumoured Hogan-Warrior match. No chance that a tag match does anything close. That being said, Megapowers vs Warriors would have been pretty boss.
WWE’s coup d’etat on Vince
The sudden return of released stars & creative changes should make it clear that Vince McMahon was taken out with a coup d'etat. It had to be HHH & Steph, right?
You’ve got a funny definition of “clear”.
Tony Khan Giving Bigger Pushes
After hearing Tonys interview recently, he seems a little more nervous now about losing some guys to WWE with Triple H now gaining power so do you think this leads to Tony giving even bigger pushes to former WWE talent? Like now does Adam Cole win the World Title in the next few months for example as a reaction from Tony to make sure none of these guys want to leave. Or does he give bigger pushes to homegrown talent to keep them example Sammy Guevara, Darby, Wardlow, Britt Baker ect..
Let’s be honest, they could stand to lose a good chunk of the roster right now anyway.
Herb Abram’s UWF Fury Hour #43 08/19/91
August 26th, 1991
Taped July 20th, 1991
War Memorial Auditorium
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Commentators: Craig DeGeorge & Bruno Sammartino
Rock Star Gary reflects on WCCW 11-23-1985
Taped from Dallas, TX
Airdate: November 23, 1985 (taped 11/15)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Bill Mercer
Can Kerry get the better of Gang this week? How will the newcomer fare against the Texas champion? What’s going on with Kevin and Lance, and how are the Dynamic Duo involved? Will Sunny and Missy confront one another? Bear down and let’s enjoy some ‘rasslin’!
Smackdown – December 21, 2007
Smackdown
Date: December 21, 2007
Location: Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, New York
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole
We have a new World Champion around here as Edge defeated Batista and Undertaker in a triple threat match at Armageddon. That is going to be a big change of pace as we head into the new year but now Edge needs a new challenger for the Royal Rumble. I doubt we find out who that is tonight but maybe there is something else out there. Let’s get to it.
Evening Daily News Update
How Often Will Edge Appear Following His Return At WWE SummerSlam?
Edge returned at SummerSlam and set his sights on The Judgment Day, but how often will we see him as he attempts to exact revenge on his former faction?
Ric Flair Gets Into Brawl At Puerto Rican Show Just A Week After Final Match
Despite wrestling his last official match only a week ago, Ric Flair was back in action this weekend, brawling with a fellow legend in Puerto Rico.
Former WWE Champion Wants To See An M-Rated Monday Night Raw
WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash has discussed the changes he would like to see in the company and says he would love Raw to become M-Rated.
G1 night 12
Scott,
Hope all is well in bod land
I’ve got to recommend night 12 from this years g1
Not all the tag matches just the last 3 tournament matches, they are everything that’s right with wrestling. So If you find the time check them out. Not even saying you should review them just watch for entertainment.
To be honest, I've been on vacation for the past three weeks and I haven't even been following along because generally I catch up on all that stuff via the Observer radio show on the way to work.
Afternoon Daily News Update
WWE Star Seemingly Suffers Head Injury During Live Event
It seems that Carmella suffered a head injury during a WWE live event and was unable to wrestle in her scheduled Triple Threat match.
USA Network Pitched Interim Raw World Title During Roman Reigns’ Reign
An interim WWE World Champion could be on their way to Monday nights to compensate for Roman Reigns’ part-time status if USA Network gets their way.
Triple H Aiming To Push “Wrestling Instead Of Sports Entertainment”
Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque is looking to take WWE in a completely different direction from Vince McMahon now that he heads up creative.
If Warrior doesn’t get fired in 1992
Does Flair drop the belt to Warrior instead of Bret?
Does Vince still bring Hogan back?
Does Yokozuna defeat Warrior @ WMIX?
Do we eventually get Warrior vs The Narcissist?
Yes, rough plan was always Warrior getting the belt from Flair. Warrior v. Luger is a fascinating dream match that I guess we never got and probably would have fueled Vince's wet dreams for months if it had happened. We'd probably still be getting blog questions about it today!
When should they have retired? Extra Quick
With big-time wrestling retirements (We're serious this time, we promise… pinkie swear!) being all the rage, if you had to pinpoint a year when the following individuals should have retired, what year should that be / have been?
McMahon
2010. He should have taken the L in the Bret feud and it would have been a perfect way to bow out of the company and let his doofus son-in-law and idiot daughter run things.
Triple H
Also 2010. We really didn't need that last World title reign or pair of Undertaker matches, even though I'll fully grant they were great matches.
Ric Flair
2002. By the time he was doing the bloodbath stuff with Foley it was just embarrassing.
Undertaker
The Brock loss. Lose the streak, ride into the sunset. Everything after that was DRASTICALLY diminishing returns and didn't help anyone, himself included.
Stone Cold
I think he picked the right time.
Hogan
2003. There was just nothing left in the tank for drawing power or in-ring ability after that, aside from special cases like Shawn Michaels working an entire match on his behalf.
Macho Man
1999 was a really sad time for him and he should have packed it in.
Orton
He's still doing fine and relatively young. I wouldn't make him World champion again but the RKO stuff showed that he still has juice as a character.
Rock
Rock will retire when he's damn well ready.
Edge
I think 2010 was way too early if not for the neck injury, but on the flipside his comeback has never really lit my world on fire so in a perfect world without crippling injury, I'd say 2015.
…and what would you say the Mt. Rushmore of legit final wrestling retirements is?
I like the meta nature of you doing a fake retirement question and then sneaking in another question at the end. I'm not gonna ANSWER it because I don't do Rushmore questions anymore, but I admire your moxie.
Pop Preference
Hello Scott,
There's many ways a wrestler can debut or return to a company. If choosing between the surprise or the built up anticipation (like weeks of promo packages beforehand), which do u personally prefer?
And take (for example) something like Kenny Omega coming back? Think it should be the surprise return, or establish a specific date like the PPV? Which gets the best pop?
I really liked the CM Punk debut, where you could figure out that it was him with a minimum of detective work, but no one actually came out and said he was debuting. Kind of the best of both worlds, and it gives you plausible deniability if something falls through.
Karrion Kross the Tribal Chief slayer?
So Scott rumor has it Karrion Kross was added to the Reigns/McIntyre feud to split up the world titles cause the USA Network is not to happy not having a world champion on Raw (shocking I know). While I think we can all agree that having a champion on each show is the best way to go, my question is will they really have Karrion F'N Kross be the one to give Roman his first loss as the Tribal Chief/HOFT? I know he is Triple H's boy but Kross beating Reigns seems pretty far fetched.
Yeah Kross's NXT title reign was so bad that it pretty much drove me away from reviewing the black and gold version of the show at the end, and I don't think he's magically gotten better since then. He's got a cool entrance and hot valet and he's good in a midcard “destroying geeks” level, but I don't see a main event player.
The SmarK Rant for AEW Battle for the Belts III – 08.06.22
The SmarK Rant for AEW Battle of the Belts III – 08.06.22
Taped from Grand Rapids, MI
Your hosts are Excalibur, Taz & Tony Schiavone
Morning Daily News Update
Update On Kevin Owens’ Recent WWE Absence
After Kevin Owens missed the latest edition of Monday Night Raw a new report has given an update on the former Universal Champion.
Sasha Banks Shows Off New Look Ahead Of Rumoured WWE Return
Has Sasha Banks just given the clearest indication yet that she could be about to make a sensational return to WWE?
Ex-WWE Star Discovered Tag Team Partner On Twitter
Claudio Castagnoli has recalled finding out he was being paired with another WWE Superstar on Twitter before the pair went on to huge success.
The G1 Climax 32 Night 13 Thread
Night 13 of the G1 Climax 32 from the Osaka Prefectural Gym for the second consecutive night. The full card can be found here. Five block matches tonight:
- C Block: Aaron Henare (1-3-0, 2pts) v EVIL (1-2-0, 2pts)
- A Block: “Filthy” Tom Lawlor (1-2-0, 2pts) v Bad Luck Fale (2-2-0, 4pts)
- D Block: Juice Robinson (1-3-0, 2pts) v El Phantasmo (1-2-0, 2pts)
- B Block: Tomohiro Ishii (1-3-0, 2pts) v Chase Owens (1-3-0, 2pts)
- A Block: Kazuchika Okada (3-0-0, 6pts) v JONAH (2-1-0, 4pts)
Complete updated standing can be found here.
The show starts at 14:00 local (Japan) time, 6:00am BST, 1:00am EST and 10:00pm PST (7-August).
The show is as always available on New Japan World. Talk about it all here!
Battle Of The Belts III
Battle Of The Belts III
Date: August 6, 2022
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commentators: Taz, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone
It’s time for another of these specials and I’m not sure what to expect from something like this. AEW does not seem to be the most interested in running these shows but that very well might have a lot to do with the shows being network mandates. At least we should get some good action so let’s get to it.
WCW Saturday Night – Jan. 01, 1994
A while back I had a look at the WCW Saturday Night show from 1991, with the return of Dusty Rhodes and the imminent departure of Ric Flair during a particularly dry reign. It was hard to continue due to availability of shows, but the Network has luckily uploaded some episodes from three years later, at the beginning of 1994, so I’m going to have a look at them. They’re missing three episodes in January, which I might or might not locate elsewhere, but for now here’s a slight return to WCW Saturday Night.
