Scott Keith

Triller PPV – Jake Paul vs Ben Askren

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Hi Scott


I'd be interested to hear your take on this show. Meltzer wasn't far off when he compared it to Heroes of Wrestling or some Howard Stern special. The production seemed to be deliberately chaotic and was bizarrely entertaining. It sold like hotcakes, too.

Cheers
Alex
Dammit that wasn’t on my radar at all and then Dave went and called it a cross between Heroes of Wrestling and Howard Stern’s New Years Eve special and now I might have to watch it.  

Redoing the Flair/Savage “She was mine first” storyline in NXT

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With the recent rounds of cuts, can we all collectively hope that Santana Garrett doesn't get cut so we can have her and Indie Hartwell fighting over Dexter Lumis? 

Bonus points, they can re-enact the whole “he was mine first” storyline Flair and Savage did decades ago by bringing up how Santana (as Brittany) was with Dexter in Impact until she up and quit/left Dexter and maybe build up towards a Dexter/Karrion Kross showdown with regards to fudging continuity to establish Dexter and Santana as former friends and allies of Kross/Scarlet, until Dexter renounced evil after dumping Santana? 

And perhaps work in a face turn for Gargano as he gets roped into helping Indie save Dexter from Santana and Kross/Scarlet? Especially if a jilted Santana gets her mitts into Tommaso Ciampa, corrupting Tommaso back to the side of evil and into an alliance with Kross/Scarlet and having him hurt Candace and Austin Theory, just to further torment Indie by attacking her loved ones? 

Given Dexter's popularity and Gargano finally embracing sports entertainment regarding developing a character and personality, it would be a great way to further their storyline and give Dexter a backstory and feud with Kross that will put the belt on Dexter/allow them to move Kross to the main roster when he loses, push Indie as a top face, and give Gargano a redemption arc as he has to return to the side of the angels to fight a villainized Ciampa as far as giving new fans an actual reason to care about Gargano and Ciampa fighting?
Dexter’s popularity?  With who, the fake wall of fans?  

Huge flops during a hot period

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What are memorable massive misfires (storylines, pushes, concepts) during a promotion's hot period? My nominees:

– Jeff Jarrett's strange heel/face/tweener storyline with the 4 Horsemen in 96/97 in WCW. NWO was red hot and no one cared about this weak oldschool crap.

– Brawl 4 All in mid-1998 during one of the greatest and most entertaining times in WWF history

– young up-and-comer Sam Houston getting a hard push in 1986 NWA/WCW, with some of the worst promos ever. Gone soon after

– The brutally bad hillbilly stuff in 1985 WWF with Uncle Elmer's wedding and co. Vince = Vince

What do you say?

The hillbillies did big ratings and Jim was hugely over.  In retrospect yeah it fell apart when he got injured but you always need midcard gimmicks.  Brawl for All was a stupid idea on every level though.  And what was so bad about Sam Houston in the role he was playing?  

Bret’s first title win

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Hello,


Bret's title win over Ric Flair was famously done seat-of-the-pants.  The video wall at the entrance way prominently displayed the Coliseum Video logo, which suggests it was always intended to be a “Coliseum Exclusive,” but what's interesting is how long it
took to finally come out: I don't know the exact release date, but the “Smack 'em, Whack 'em” tape was clearly produced during the lead-up to WM9, several months after the title change happened.  I don't know what the production schedule was on these videos
and how much lead time was needed, but did that lag , not to mention the fact that it was never televised to begin with (despite the Prime Time Wrestling banners) have something to do with the haste in getting the title onto Bret, in order to prevent the various
politicians backstage from nixing it (so the story goes)?


Incidentally, Bret has slagged the match, but it actually is terrific.  One could give it **** 1/2 without feeling any shame.  The only thing I'd really mark against it is that it has an ending, but not really a *finish*.  Bret does his stuff, then just slaps
on the Sharpshooter, and Flair gives up, almost like how Bret would wrap up a TV squash.  I was hoping for something a little more intricate, especially given that creative finishes were a speciality for Bret.

I don’t think there was any malice with the release schedule, it was just a messy period for the company and they didn’t have it together.  And you’re right, it was a great match!  

Wrestlemania No Stars

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Scott,

This is the first WM in a while without any of the following wrestling:

– Brock Lesnar

– John Cena

– HHH

– Goldberg

– Undertaker

– Batista

From the women’s side, there was no Rousey, Charlotte, Becky, or Bayley as well.

Do you think the lack of star power was evident this year?

Have they finally gotten to the point where they realize they didn’t sincerely push the people they have now hard due to the part timers above and now they’re where they are?

They don't care, ratings are what they are and income is all guaranteed for years to come and will only get higher as TV networks get more desperate. 

Darby Allin under pushed?

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Based on the ratings bump whenever he wrestles, Darby seems underpushed as TNT champion. Surely he should be world champion with those numbers?

He's already the face of the TNT channel in his role as champion, not sure how much bigger of a push you can give the guy.  It's a whole TV channel!

Goodbye and good riddance to Wednesday Night Wars

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They were a stupid cynical thing and both shows will be better off without the other chewing into their ratings

Hopefully the toxic WWE Vs AEW discourse might ease off a bit now the “war” is over

That’s all I got

Go whichever sports team is local to the readers geographic area!



What?   No way, screw the sports team local to their geographical area, they SUCK.  Mine is much better.  

Letting the best in the world go

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Hi Scott,

I wish all the best to everyone who got released, but I wonder if WWE even realise that in Samoa Joe they have just fired the LINEAL CHAMPION.

Brock Lesnar was dominant in 2017, but he finally lost to Roman Reigns at Summerslam 2018. Reigns then went undefeated for almost a year (including his time off for illness) before losing to Shane McMahon in June 2019, and there's no shame in that. McMahon was downed by Owens a couple of months later, and then Joe beat Owens, got injured and has never lost a match since. He's the holder of an unbroken lineage that includes Hogan, Flair, the Rock, Austin, Jinder and so many more, and WWE has let him slip away.

What's more, by beating Shane, Joe also claimed the lineal Best In The World title. Surely they can't let that go to AEW?

Oh damn, Kenny could unify ALL of the belts then!  

Pat McAfee BAYBAY

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He is the new play-by-play guy alongside Michael Cole on Smackdown.


I get that hiring a new commentator usually doesn't move the needle one way or the other, but he has a ton of fans, clearly respects and loves wrestling, and is a fresh younger voice to help the presentation of the product.

Your thoughts?  Good hire, bad hire or meh?

I guess if he wants to do that, more power to him. Seems like a waste of his talents though.  

Jericho on Broken Skull

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Piggybacking off the post from a few days ago about Jericho/Goldberg how come nobody is talking about just the premise of this episode?  Jericho, an AEW guy, on WWE Network.  Nevermind how incredible the episode is itself and how entertaining Jericho is but again….CHRIS JERICHO, now an AEW guy, ON WWE NETWORK.  How is this not huge news?  If you haven't watched it yet the 2 hours flies by like it's 10 minutes.
Is it any stranger than anything else 2021 has had to offer thus far, though?  We’re in a new world. 

The Can-Am Connection

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Your Wrestling Challenge review today got me thinking of this one.  We never did get a definitive answer as to why Tom Zenk quit, did we?  I know Zenk said it was because he found out Martel went behind his back and negotiated his own higher paid deal.  Martel (who to my knowledge has never denied what Zenk alleged) said it was because Zenk couldn't handle the pressure.  Hindsight being what it is and assuming Zenk was right, he should've accepted Martel's contract and kept going.  Who knows?  Maybe Zenk could have  gotten a decent singles push down the road. 



I agree and I think Zenk threw away a lot of future money over petty nonsense.  

Bret vs. Macho

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Hey Scott,
We're about the same age and, like you, I was a big fan of Randy Savage and Bret Hart when I was growing up, and I thought that the only real Savage-Bret matches were the SNME match in '87 and the terrible match in WCW. I feel like I've paid pretty close attention through the years, so I was shocked to find — literally today — that there is a fan video of Savage challenging Bret for the WWF title in Japan shortly after WrestleMania X in 1994. Was this a pretty well-known match that I just totally missed for nearly 30 years?!? I know WWF has filmed pretty much everything they've done in some way or another for decades now, so why has this never ended up on a DVD? Are these types of shows that took place in Japan or overseas promoted in a way that muddies the rights issues? Because it seems like a WWF vs WWF match for the WWF title in a WWF ring with a WWF ref and a WWF ring announcer would be WWF content no matter where it actually took place.

That’s why the Network has been such a botched opportunity, because they have thousands of hours of crazy shit like that and never utilize it anymore.  And no, there’s no rights issues, it’s all WWF footage.  

Brock/Savage

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Hi Scott,

I can only assume that prime Brock vs prime Randy Savage if both were healthy and motivated could be nothing but awesome? I’m thinking something roughly along the lines of Brock/Eddy from No Way Out. Macho would bump and sell like a maniac for
him, and I think Brock would do the same when the time came. Sucks that it never could have happened!

I dunno, it doesn’t sound like a great match to me.  Now prime heel Savage and cheating babyface Eddie trying to out-cheat each other, there’s a great idea.  

What if WM was always two nights?

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Hey Scott,


The more I think about it, the more I think WrestleMania works better as two nights and probably would've since the beginning, I'm curious what you and the blog think would've closed Night 1 of each show? And what opens Night 2? Given how often there's a double main-event, many WMs lend themselves so easily to this format:

WM3: tricky – do you close Night 1 with Piper/Adonis or Savage/Steamboat?
WM4: Hogan/Andre closes Night 1 (but maybe not if it was a non-finish?)
WM5: No idea other than Rude/Warrior
WM6: Again, nothing unless you close with the mixed tag
WM 7 Night 1 would close with Savage/Warrior.
WM 8 Night 1 closes with Flair/Savage
WM9: Money Inc. vs. Hogan/Beefcake
WM10: Yoko/Luger
WM11: Diesel/Shawn

You get the idea…and I think the magnitude of the matches would actually be better if they closed the show. 

Kind of fun to think about and imagine what if…


Wait, you want Wrestlemania IV to be LONGER?!? You damn maniac.  

Moss & TBag headlining WWE

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So the RAW after Wrestlemania historically has given us classic moments like Brock Lesnar's return, Ric Flair's farewell celebration, & significant debuts. 


The RAW after Mania 37 featured zero debuts, Charlotte overshadowing the women's division again, and the big ending was jobberific Retribution castoffs Moss & TBag attacking Drew McIntyre and apparently aligning with MVP. 


Could there have been a worse possible way to followup a pretty good Wrestlemania? nd how would you build off this foundation?
Don’t drag me into this, PAL.  

AWA Champions

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Scott,

When you factor in workrate, promos and all other factors, who was the best overall performer to hold the AWA World title?

Nick Bockwinkel. He could hang with Verne in the ring and got all the extra gaga of the position that Verne never really did.