Impact Wrestling – April 12, 2019

Impact Wrestling
Date: April 19, 2019
Location: St. Clair’s College, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Don Callis, Josh Matthews

We’re down to two shows before the pay per view and again, it’s not the most interesting main event scene in the world. There are some good things going on but at the same time, the main event scene really isn’t inspiring. Hopefully the final two shows before Rebellion get better, but I’m not getting my hopes up. Let’s get to it.

Read moreImpact Wrestling – April 12, 2019

Shield’s Final Chapter

Shield’s Final Chapter
Date: April 21, 2019
Location: Taxslayer Center, Moline, Illinois
Commentators: Renee Young, Corey Graves, Michael Cole

Welcome to your weekly “WWE must have fresh content” show as we get a special look in at a house show where the Shield is teaming together for THE LAST TIME EVER WE PROMISE AND WE’RE NOT CHANGING IT AGAIN FOR REAL THIS TIME. This would be at least the third farewell moment for the team, but this time it’s televised. Oh and we get an Intercontinental Title match for a bonus. Let’s get to it.

Read moreShield’s Final Chapter

Sunday Night Reset: Easter 2019

I hope you all had a safe and happy Easter.

Your NBA playoffs tonight are Raptors (2) at Magic (1) and Blazers (2) at Thunder (1).  Meanwhile, in the NHL we have Sharks (2) at Golden Knights (3).  Your MLB Game of the week is Atlanta against Cleveland.

I’m off having a business meeting that I hope will lead to big news down the line.  I may be back by the time this goes up.  I’ll see you then if I am and we can watch the baseball together.

Enjoy the night.

What If? Chris Benoit


If Chris Benoit never loses his mind and does what he did in the Summer of 2007, how do you think the rest of his career would have played out?  He was just moved to WWE's 3rd brand at the time, ECW, and presumably would have gotten a run with the ECW Title.  Do you think he would have gone back to Raw or Smackdown and given another big push before he would retire, or do you feel him being put in ECW was a way of putting him out to pasture?  

He was being transitioned into a role as a trainer, although he would have won the ECW title and had a run with that for a while. Oddly, one person who got a shot as a result was CM Punk.  So there’s that. 

Hogan and Hall


Did Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall ever have an actual singles match against each other at any point in their career (not counting one of those Nitro bait-and-switch deals)? Maybe I'm crazy but it seems like their styles would have been a pretty fun fit if the opportunity had presented itself for Hogan vs. Razor Ramon in 1993 WWF.

Not as far as I’m aware.  Definitely would have been an interesting match!

Wrestling dream I had I like to share with the blog


I know it's not 4/20 but I had a weird wrestling dream Friday night that I want to share with the blog in honor of baking them this weekend:

I'm at a flea market, and I find a video "WCW and the Masters of Evil", which has a bunch of guys dressed up like the Masters of Evil (the original Jack Kirby version, with Black Knight, the first Baron Zemo, Executioner, Melter, Echantress) and in the background, members of the NWO (Hogan, Hall, and Nash) in the shadows about to attack the costumed villains.

I buy it and put it in my VCR and instead of something about the NWO fighting super villains led by a Nazi and his costumed goons and Asgardian allies, it's all about Brett Hart. Starting with him, older and surrounded by various WWF stooges, in a behind the scenes documentary about his rise to being the booker/head writer of the WWE.

After watching Brett, Steph, Jim Cornette, etc talking and planning out a John Cena/Randy Orton match, the video cuts to Brett talking about the fall of 1996 and how his career changed that year. He talks about how after his brief program with Steve Austin, he used his creative power from his big contract to push Austin down the card to the midcard and began his "masterpiece" plan that saved the WWF from the WCW juggernaut.

First he talks about getting rid of "that blasphemous Austin" and then making Vince job out Shawn Michaels to Undertaker and kick him out of the WWF. Undertaker then shows up on camera, and talks about the 5 star classic match he and Brett had at the 1997 Wrestlemania. How the match saw Brett "slay" Undertaker and reclaim the world title and how it kicked off "Undertaker the White"; as Undertaker came back a heel with an all-white version of his Undertaker costume and declared war on Brett and his family. They then show a version of 1997 Undertaker in an all white version of his costume (his facial hair/hair is still red, not dyed white to go with his white variant costume)

I then woke up though, so I don't know how this saved the WWE and how this feud with the Hart Foundation somehow did what Austin vs McMahnon did and beat WCW. But between the NWO/Masters of Evil cover and this bizarro "What If" version of WWE lore, I thought I would share it with you and the blog so everyone can psychoanalyzes this wrestling dream of mine

Well, 4/20 might be done, but we all got Bake’d.  

The SmarK Rant for WWF Sunday Night Heat–05.09.99

The SmarK Rant for WWF Sunday Night Heat – 05.09.99

Last week on RAW: Shane tells his mother to SHUT HER MOUTH and reveals that he was the mastermind behind Stephanie’s kidnapping, and meanwhile Big Show forms a Union as this storyline spirals out of control and somehow makes less sense every week.

Brought to you by…

Two Days ONLY! Tees as low as $12 at shop.wwe.com. Valid 4.20.19 through 4.21.19 at 11:59 PM PST.

Read moreThe SmarK Rant for WWF Sunday Night Heat–05.09.99

The Cheap and Lazy Sunday Thread!

Good morning!  If everything goes according to plan, yesterday should have been Superstars from 08/15 and today should be Sunday Night Heat.

It’s Easter Sunday!  Hippity hop around and look for hidden eggs, and then head back here and chat about your weekend.  I’m not likely to have internet access this weekend, but I’ll do my best to throw some questions up as I can.

Every-bunny have a great day!

ECW on Sci-Fi 03/31/2009 #147

Christian & Finlay vs. Mark Henry & Kane

Finlay qualified for MITB by pinning The Brian Kendrick on Smackdown, which seems a tad unfair given Christian had to win a battle royal to earn his shot.

Read moreECW on Sci-Fi 03/31/2009 #147

Smackdown – November 18, 2004

Smackdown
Date: November 18, 2004
Location: Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Attendance: 5,500
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz

We’re done with Survivor Series and unlike Raw, there isn’t much to go on at this point. Team Guerrero won the big match on Sunday and World Champion John Bradshaw Layfield retained the title by cheating to beat Booker T. There is one big match set up for this week though, as United States Champion Carlito defends against John Cena. Let’s get to it.

Read moreSmackdown – November 18, 2004

JYD Blinded For Life



Scott, this is footage of the famous Freebirds/JYD blinding angle from

1980 Mid-South.  https://youtu.be/oEmIIIfShVo  The video quality is

bad and you'll want to turn the volume way down because the audio is

extra loud for some reason, but this is still some amazing video and I

can't believe those guys weren't murdered half a dozen times during

that period. Hopefully this is OK to share with the blog.

Yeah, as long as I’m not directly posting videos that are owned by WWE on a non-WWE channel, it’s not my problem.  WWE’s issue was stuff like random matches from JCP shows that are available on the Network or their YouTube channel. I’m sure Maffew could tell us some stories about copyright issues with them.  

Reigns at Mania


Had WWE held off on Reigns's announcement until Mania, we'd have been spared another heatless, mediocre match on an already stuffed show, and the show starting with Reigns's music as he surprises the crowd by returning and delivering his "I'm in remission, y'all" speech at Wrestlemania would have been a legitimate Wrestlemania Moment.

…so why didn't they do it that way?


A very legitimate question.  Or he could have interrupted Elias and combined two segments.  

Finally updated!!


I’ve finally updated the reference site for your ****+ matches. I think a lot of people (including yourself, IIRC) use this pretty regularly to see what you’ve given and haven’t given the honorable number of snowflakes. It only took me four years to get it updated, but I came into a wife and two kids…so you know… Maybe a re-plug on the blog for old times sake?


I'll probably add a perma-link at the top of the screen again for this one.  Let the overanalysis and arguments commence!  

The Strong Style Easter Weekend Saturday Thread!

Good morning!  This is being written way in advance because I’ve got stuff going on this weekend, but obviously today is a packed sports day, with NHL and NBA playoffs continuing, plus baseball.

I want to give advance warning to Rant Archive purchasers:  The work account I use for Office / OneDrive is finally expiring in June after many years of prepaid service come to an end, and I’m switching to a different account when that happens.  My goal is to migrate everything over and leave the old account alone for people with archive subscriptions, but my life is rarely that uncomplicated so if you suddenly lose access in a month, just shoot me an e-mail and I’ll get you a new link.

And hey, if you want to buy access to the Archives and get everything I write as I write it, plus everything I’ve got archived over the past 25 years or so as well in a OneDrive link, just shoot me $20 via PayPal and I’ll send it out to you.

Enjoy your Easter weekend and eat lots of chocolate eggs.

WM 35


Jesus balls.  I've been watching WM35 off and on for the past week and I just passed the Kofi title win.  Not only was Joan Jett still in The Runaways when this PPV started but I think Jesus was planning the menu for the Last Supper during the pre-show.  This show makes WM4 look like In Your House: Beware of Dog Part 1.

Starting next week, it’s the WM 36 pregame show!  

The Good Friday Night Thread: April 19, 2019

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness covered the land until the ninth hour.

Your NBA games tonight are Portland (2) at Oklahoma (0), Toronto (1) at Orlando (1), and Boston (2) at Indiana (o).

“Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?”

Your NHL games tonight are Toronto (2) at Boston (2) and Colorado (3) at Calgary (1).

“It is finished.”  And bowing His head, He handed over His Spirit.

May God keep you safe on this most holy weekend.  Now talk, my brothers. I’ll see you after Good Friday services.

What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – May 27, 1995

–Gordon Solie, Larry Zbyszko, and Dusty Rhodes are doing commentary and they are taped from an undisclosed location.  Zybszko congratulates Solie and Rhodes for getting into the WCW Hall of Fame before comparing today’s Brad Armstrong-Sergeant Craig Pittman main event to an electromagnetic field.

–Gene Okerlund narrates pictures that recap the events that transpired on Slamboree and the pre-show that aired on Main Event.  Attention is brought to the big man who was interested in the main event but was not identified during the broadcast.

Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – May 27, 1995

TJR Retro: WWF Raw Deal 05/15/00 Review (Shawn Michaels Returns)

This was the go-home episode of Raw heading into Judgment Day 2000.  The main event of Judgment Day 2000 was The Rock defending the WWF Title against Triple H in a 60-Minute Iron Man Match.

The synopsis for this episode on WWE Network is: “Commissioner Shawn Michaels drops a bombshell about his career and the upcoming Iron Man match between The Rock and Triple H.”

Read moreTJR Retro: WWF Raw Deal 05/15/00 Review (Shawn Michaels Returns)

Bye Bye Brock?


I was as big of a Brock Lesnar fan as anybody and even traveled to Chicago to see his return match against John Cena.  I even was a fan of the decision to have him break the Undertaker’s streak as it solidified him as an unstoppable monster on a different plane than the rest of the roster.  But even I stopped giving a shit by the time he got the big red belt and obviously I wasn’t alone.

With Brock Lesnar jerking the curtain at Mania and basically being squashed by Seth Rollins, do you think we’ll ever see him again in a meaningful capacity?  I could see him still doing the $audi shows, but even Vince by now has to realize that nobody else wants to see Brock get millions to have the same five-minute match anymore, right?

He’ll be back by Summerslam to con Vince out of another million with vague rumours of a fight with Daniel Cormier that will never happen.  Maybe another couple of million to work the Fox debut. 

Comics for beginners?

Hey Scott,

I’m a huge fan of the comics genre – love all  the Marvel movies and Netflix shows, some of the TV shows, all of the old cartoons, even most of the DC movies. I read a lot of trivia/history of Marvel/DC stuff so feel like I have a solid base of knowledge. That said, I’ve never really gotten into reading actual comic books.

Do you have an opinion on the Marvel Unlimited online subscription library? Is it a good place to go for someone in my position?

Thanks


I've always found it way overwhelming the times that I've subscribed to it.  There's a lot of stuff there and it's not very well organized as far as directing the reader to stuff if they don't know EXACTLY what they're looking for.  Plus chunks are randomly missing, like for example I wanted to read the X-Force and X-Statix runs and it ended up that the first few issues of the X-Statix weren't added.  I'd really be interested in seeing what DC Universe has to offer in comparison, but it's not yet available here in Canada.  

Usually my recommendation would be to check bookstores, because everyone has a section for graphic novels now, and pick up a collection from a character you like and give it a try.  Stuff these days is very geared towards 4 or 5 issue story arcs that can be put into trade paperback form a month later so it shouldn't be hard to pick up.  Hey, even my local library has up to date stuff, so it won't even cost anything if you don't want to pay! 

Viking Experience as Vince’s parting shot at Verne Gagne

What if this seemingly stupid name, the Viking Experience, is an elaborate troll job on Minnesota sports fans? It would make sense, given Vince's penchant for ruining Verne Gagne's life. They could do just like the NFL Vikings and always choke in big matches, miss easy moves that would have won them championships, pin their own teammate in a throwback to Jim Marshall's infamous wrong-way touchdown… There's tons of material there.

Cultaholic sez that the team was going to be called the Berzerkers until the literal last minute, when Vince changed his mind.  So I doubt he'd have time to craft that kind of elaborate trolling backstory for them.