Monday Night Raw – November 19, 2018

Monday Night Raw
Date: November 19, 2018
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

It’s night three in Los Angeles and we’re on the side that won. Last night at Survivor Series, Raw completely swept Smackdown in the battle for brand supremacy. Therefore, you can expect a heck of a lot of bragging this week, which likely means Stephanie time. We’re less than a month away from TLC, while likely means no Brock time. Let’s get to it.

Read moreMonday Night Raw – November 19, 2018

Monday Night Open Mic

Howdy Blog O’Doomers!

I hope everyone had a good weekend and those of us celebrating this holiday I hope everyone stays safe and has plenty of time to enjoy their families (or NOT being around their families).

Had a great week of Network Specials. Takeover was expected to deliver and it did in spades. Personally I would have pulled the trigger on Velveteen Dream at this point because the Gargano/Black/Ciampa thing doesn’t necessarily need the belt. It’s all right that they didn’t pull the trigger but I would have been in favor of them doing it. Sometimes you have to know what you have and there’s no reason to wait.

The expectations for Survivor Series weren’t as high and they shattered them. The Ronda-Charlotte match and Brock-Bryan were exceptional and the whole card felt fun and fresh because of a boisterous crowd and it only went three and half hours. RAW tonight is very interesting because do they just chalk up Ronda to being a victim of a smark crowd or do they acknowledge the massive heel heat she had on her. If the crowd cheers Nia tonight after booing the shit out of her last night then there might be some decisions to make.

Smackdown is curious to me too. They need some faces. Apparently Miz is headed there but I also think a turn wouldn’t hurt someone else (Samoa Joe?).

Of course RAW is going to get CRUSHED in the ratings by the awesome Chiefs-Rams Monday Night game. And frankly if you’re watching sports you’re likely watching that.

Keep it clean!

Rock Star Gary reflects on WCW Clash of the Champions XXIV

Live from Daytona Beach, FL

Airdate:  August 18, 1993

Attendance:  8,903 (2,400 paid)

Hosted by Tony Schiavone & Jesse “The Body” Ventura

Will Vader retain against Smith? Can the Blonds keep their titles against the Horsemen? How will Steamboat fare against Orndorff for the TV title? Who will be Rhodes’ partner against Rude & Equalizer? What other shocking things will happen? Let’s find out!

Read moreRock Star Gary reflects on WCW Clash of the Champions XXIV

AJ’s contract



So there’s massive rumours that AJ Styles contract talks aren’t going great and his contract is due to end in a month or so. One of the (apparently) main reasons is his wish for less dates. There is also (again apparently) an offer on the table from NJPW.

Now whether that is all true or not, if it was true what should he do?

Would Kind of money would he get in Japan?

Do they still do the 6 – 8 week tours for silly money that people used to do in the 80’s? Where LOD we’re getting $12,000 a week even back then.

If they did he’d get plenty of time at home and excellent money. But what kind of money would he have earned this year? I’m guessing it would dwarf his possible earnings overseas.

I think AJ would be silly to leave at a point where he's making more money than he ever has in his entire life, but at the same time he's got a TON of leverage right now.  He's the guy who just carried Smackdown for the past year, with New Japan known to be ready to throw money at him and Vince in desperate need of people to fill the endless hours of content he's obligated to produce for the next decade.  Not to mention that the other #1 babyface is on the shelf for the long-term and maybe forever. Considering how Brock was able to manipulate things into monster contract extensions for himself multiple times, AJ should be able to easily do the same when all is said and done.   

Rock Star Gary reflects on WWF Monday Night RAW 08-16-1993

Live from Poughkeepsie, NY

Airdate: August 16, 1993

Attendance: 3.000 (sold out)

Hosted by Vince McMahon, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan

Can DiBiase show the Kid who’s boss by beating him on RAW? Will Jannetty survive and conquer the big Booger? What could Savage have in store for us this week? Let’s find out!

Read moreRock Star Gary reflects on WWF Monday Night RAW 08-16-1993

WrestleMania plans for Daniel Bryan

Hey Scott,

Wanted to know what you think they have in store for Bryan at WrestleMania. Will he still be WWE Champion? Who will he be facing?

Outside of AJ Styles, the only top faces on Smackdown are Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy. I don't think his program with Styles will last to WrestleMania. They could always turn Nakamura or Samoa Joe which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Or they could have Seth Rollins, or someone else, win the Rumble and face Bryan. Let's pray they don't have a babyface Miz go against Bryan for the championship thoug.

What do you think?

I think they've got big plans for that Shane McMahon kid.  He could probably carry Bryan to something watchable.

Bryan Complex

Was I the only one rooting for Lesnar to beat Bryan tonight?

I never thought I’d say this a year ago, but I’m not really a fan of his character at all right now.

He wrestles too much like a face to be a heel and doesn’t have the body for a heel anyway.

Maybe it’s his smugness where he thinks he’s better than everyone else, his outspoken politics, and pretending his wife isn’t a dangerous horrible wrestler.

Either way, they would still have had a better story building up to his title win after his big comeback instead of a last-minute out of nowhere move dulled by a heel turn.

What say you?

So he's a bad guy now and you don't like him any more, you say?  Interesting.

The People’s Network


After they made smackdown look like a complete afterthought tonight, do you think they pay The Rock some of that Saudi and Fox money to take over the brand and lead it into the pay window? It would make quite the splash for the fox debut. 

I'm pretty sure Rupert Murdoch has better things to do than watching Survivor Series, so I think they'll be fine without The Rock.

The SmarK Rant for WWE Survivor Series 2018–11.18.18

The SmarK Rant for WWE Survivor Series 2018 – 11.18.18

Oh man, everyone is so pumped for this one! The one time of year that RAW and Smackdown superstars collide! I was walking the mean streets of Saskatoon today and people were literally getting into fistfights arguing whether Stephanie or Shane would emerge victorious tonight. One dude in a red shirt straight up shanked a guy in a blue t-shirt, swear to god. I actually saw him whittle a toothbrush into a weapon and puncture the guy’s kidney. You know like in Anchorman when they have the big rumble with all the newscaster teams? Like that. But combined with the riot episode of Oz, with a touch of The Purge. It was pretty hardcore. I was fearing for my life at one point, but I think everyone understood that I representing for NXT and thus was neutral. Really, they need to scrap this show because honestly it’s becoming too intense to be around people during the buildup.

Live from Los Angeles, CA

Your hosts are Michael Cole and cast of thousands. Plus Corey Graves, twice.

Read moreThe SmarK Rant for WWE Survivor Series 2018–11.18.18

Survivor Series 2018

Survivor Series 2018
Date: November 18, 2018
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Renee Young, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, Tom Phillips

We’re finally here after what felt like the longest, most eventful two week build I’ve ever seen. The theme of the night is Raw vs. Smackdown and that likely means a lot of bantering between the commentators about the scoreboard and brand supremacy, which is all that matters around here. Let’s get to it.

Read moreSurvivor Series 2018

Sunday Night Survivor Series Thread

Tonight!  It’s the battle for sports entertainment supremacy!  The only time of year that you see RAW superstars taking on Smackdown superstars, unless you’re counting all the other times it’s  happened this year.  But who’s counting?

I may or may not watch tonight.  But by all means keep refreshing until I decide!

various wrestling manuvers



Hi Scott,

Is there any samoan wrestler that does NOT use the samoan drop? Every samoan I can think of does.
Who invented the moonsault? I remember Mike Graham said great muta was the first to do it or the first to do it in the United States but I think he is lying.
Speaking of the moonsault who invented the tope? I love that move. I have seen everyone from seth Rollins to Daniel Bryan to Roman Reigns do it. I saw Owen Hart do it back in the day. I'm figuring the moonsault and tope were invented by some luchadores decades back.
Thanks,
Craig


Every wrestling move was invented by Mike Bucci in 1998 and then distributed back and forth through time with the New Breed’s time travel technology as needed.  

Ric Flair in the WWF in ’98


So assuming Flair did leave WCW in '98 with all the stuff with Bischoff and joined the WWF in '98, where exactly would he have fit in the Attitude Era, a feud with Austin would've been a given but other than that I couldn't picture Ric fitting in during
that time frame, when they were pushing young new stars and with the risqué direction the promotion I just couldn't see Flair fitting in at all and also keep in mind they were constantly mocking WCW for being the "senior's tour", did you see Flair fitting
in the Attitude Era and what would've been the best use for him outside of a short term program with Austin? Putting younger guys over?  Give him silly "Commissioner" role like they did with HBK?

Two words: Corporate Champion. 

Ambrose vs. Rollins



In this era of theme and special shows controlling the direction of the company or certain storylines, has any feud in recent memory suffered more than Ambrose vs. Rollins?  Here you had a well built and logical turn where an over babyface was betraying another over babyface that he has a long and storied history with, on the night that their stablemate just annoyed he has cancer.  It was a huge moment that got the desired reaction.


And yet a week later, the angle appeared midway through the show so that Raw could close with DX vs. the Brothers of Destruction in order to build to Crown Jewel.  And then following Crown Jewel, the storyline had to continue to take a backseat so that they could focus on the Raw vs. Smackdown matches for Survivor Series.  After such a big turn that could have changed the main event scene on Raw (especially with Roman's absence), these two won't really see any forward momentum until 3 shows after it happened.

Doesn't it feel like this potentially major storyline suffered because WWE was so insistent on focusing on stories that would not have any long term impact (like DX vs. Brothers of Destruction and Raw vs. Smackdown)?

The whole timing of this last four months since Summerslam is really bizarre and off-putting in terms of story momentum.  With the Australia show, Crown Jewel, Evolution and now Survivor Series all functionally  “out of continuity” to the main stories it makes it really hard for the main TV to build anywhere.  And the next show is a gimmick one so we’ll immediately get the hardcore or ladder match between Dean and Seth before they have even started to feud!  
It’s just really strange timing that came about in the name of government money.  

Get the F Back In


Not that they ever would, but if they really wanted to, isnt WWE now leagally able to change back to WWF or are they just allowed to say it again when it comes to their archives? 


After 16 years, I still hate saying WWE. It just doesnt look and sound right. 

I get it, that to their newer fanbase, WWE is all they know, but to a long time old school fan like me, WWF is what I still wanna call it.

Short answer, no they can’t just do that.  
Longer answer, they’d be suicidal to do it even if they could.  The WWE branding is worth BILLIONS of dollars.  But if you want to call it WWF, go ahead.  

Rock Star Gary reflects on WWF Monday Night RAW 08-09-1993

Taped from Alexandria Bay, NY

Airdate: August 9, 1993

Attendance: 1,000 (sold out)

Hosted by Vince McMahon, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, & Bobby “The Brain” Heenan

A contract signing, the debut of the Heavenly Bodies, and Tatanka versus Mr. Hughes. What else can you ask for? Let’s find out!

Read moreRock Star Gary reflects on WWF Monday Night RAW 08-09-1993