Wrestling

AEW DARK: May 11, 2021

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The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 88 (“The Two Eights Show How Many Matches We’re Putting On One Show”), May 11, 2021.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Excalibur and Taz. It’s Casual Tuesday, given the outfits of the guys on commentary!

TONIGHT! Bear Bronson steps into singles competition against Brian Cage! Marty “The Moth” Casaus gets a callback, now facing Jungle Boy! Will Hobbs looks to toss around AEW’s resident Yoga Master, Mike Sydal! The Acclaimed stare down the wild and wacky barrel of Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss! And JD Drake hosses it up with the Dark Order’s Preston Vance!

PLUS: Varsity Blonds, Dante Martin, Diamante, Nemeth and Bononi of the Pretty Picture, Swole and Velvet, a Dark Order trios match, Nyla Rose, Kris Statlander, Lance Archer, Team Factory, and the combination of Eddie Kingston and GYAAAAAAAN MOXLEY!

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Tuesday Night Streaming Thread

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Tonight!

We got AEW Dark, NWA Powerrr, and NXT. NXT is lacking a match due to COVID, apparently.

RAW was mostly steady in the ratings.

And finally, look what showed up in my mailbox today from Inside the Ropes magazine….

Beat that, nerds!

The SmarK Rant for USWA Main Events – 01.07.91

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The SmarK Rant for USWA Main Events – 01.07.91

I…don’t know where this came from.  I was checking the Territories section of the Network and all of a sudden there’s another 3 random episodes of 1991 USWA shows that have been added at some point with no notice to me.   I’m assuming it was related to something with Steve Austin matches because there’s a lot of them here.  I’ll take it.

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Some quick-hitters

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Self-explanatory topic.  Be as brusque with the replies as your heart desires:


1) Approximately when did the WWF split its house show business into various tiers (A,B,C, etc.)?  Were they doing it during the Vince Sr. WWWF days, or did it start after the national expansion?


2) Is the primary purpose of stipulation matches (escape rules cage matches, “four corners” strap matches, Last Man Standing, etc.) to prevent people from having to take actual falls (submission/I Quit and Texas Death matches being obvious exceptions)?


3) Did Bret pour an oil slick into his hair to get it so greasy, or did he just never wash it?


4) Does Hogan become Hogan without the mustache?

1.  That was an innovation of the Hulkamania era so they could get double the touring revenue.  
2.  Yup.  That’s why the WWE style of cage match was invented.  
3.  I haven’t asked him lately. 
4.  Well Bradshaw had the moustache and he didn’t get over, so I’d say yes.  

Question

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Scott,


With enough blood, sweat and tears, can Jinder Mahal eventually hope to become the modern day Dino Bravo? 

He’d have to get a lot better first.  

Prince Iaukea TV Title win

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Rumours abound that Prince’s win was a direct response to Rock winning the IC Title over on Raw

Was this ever officially confirmed or was it all just a coincidence?

It was never “officially confirmed” but COME ON. 

Monday Night Raw – May 10, 2021

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Monday Night Raw
Date: May 10, 2021
Location: Yuengling Center, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Adnan Virk, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

It’s the go home show for Wrestlemania Backlash and that means it is time to push the rest of the card forward in a big way. There are currently two Raw matches set for the pay per view so in theory we are going to need some more stuff announced tonight. You can probably guess those matches from here and now we get to see how dull they can make the show that announces them. Let’s get to it.

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AEW ELEVATION: May 10, 2021

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The PG Era Rant for AEW Elevation Episode 9 (“Watch Out For That Cardboard!!”), May 10, 2021.

TONIGHT! We got Tay Conti looking to climb back up by taking on Madi Wrenckowski! Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy Perry of Jurassic Express face the Chaos Project! The HFO and Dark Order keep at it as Isaiah Kassidy battles Alex Reynolds! And Danny Limelight faces his toughest challenge yet as he faces GYAAAAAAAN MOXLEY!

PLUS: Matt Sydal, Lee Johnson, Leyla Hirsch, Jade Cargill, Hardy teams with Quen, Ethan and Scorpio, Eddie Kingston, Thunder Rosa, and Britt Baker!

From the AEW Arena.

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Monday Night Open Mic

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Howdy Blog O’Doomers!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I appreciate Andy PG with the early Mother’s Day shoutout on Friday and I thank you all for the nice comments yesterday. Much love to all of you who were able to celebrate with your moms and wives or celebrate the memories of your moms.

Back to the sports entertainment tonight. Lots of multi-man tag matches on RAW along with buildup to Wrestlemania Backlash.

AEW Less Dark Elevation is streaming.

It’s the regular-season finally for many NHL teams tonight, unless you’re in the Canada Division where Vancouver has to make up a week’s worth of games.

Keep it Clean!

What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – February 10, 1990

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Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura call today’s action and kick off a new round of television tapings at the Miami Arena in Miami, Florida.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on January 22 and drew a crowd of 15,063, 10,500 of which paid to attend.

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Joshi Spotlight: JWP Stars on Tour

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JWP IN 1994 (Sept.-Dec.):
* 1994 is by far JWP’s best-represented year on YouTube, owing to Rico Kasai’s channel. 1995 and on are barely there at all, so this might be the last big update. We start off with a pair of interpromotional matches with GAEA Japan, as Chigusa Nagayo was on good terms with JWP, and a stop at an interesting-looking small arena that features one of Devil Masami’s first title defenses as JWP Openweight Champion, as she recently beat Dynamite Kansai (as reviewed here: https://blogofdoom.com/index.php/2019/12/11/joshi-spotlight-devil-masami/ -the YouTube clip has since been taken down, however) while in her “Super Heel Devil Masami” persona (wrestles like Taker, looks like Demolition Crush).

CHIGUSA NAGAYO & KAORU (GAEA Japan) vs. CUTIE SUZUKI & HIKARI FUKUOKA (JWP):
(Sept. 1994)
* And so Chigusa Nagayo, biggest star of ’80s Joshi, is returning to full-time, but is having disagreements with AJW management (who, to be fair, don’t need an extra person clogging up shows), and is so working for JWP as she prepares to start up GAEA in early 1995. Already my mind is blown because Chigusa is wearing black and GREEN. I have literally never in my life seen her wear anything that didn’t have red in it. She wore that in the goddamn WWF! KAORU’s in black, Cutie’s in white & gold, and Hikari’s in the Tarzan gear. The expressions in the staredown here are great, as KAORU has this “fuckin’ right us vets are gonna kill you kids” death glare, Chigusa’s very calm and serious (with a taped arm), and the idols are doing this big “I’m nervous and I respect you, but I’m trying really hard to look confident and defiant”.

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AEW back on the road in July

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https://mobile.twitter.com/AEWonTNT/status/1391766455067111426


First 3 shows in Florida & Texas so I assume they could have full crowds if they want.

This is pretty exciting I must say. As someone who is fully vaccinated, I cant wait to go back to an AEW show when they come near me again. 


Wrestling going to surge when crowds are back, don't you think? 

Surge with more cases of Covid probably.  I just don’t feel like it’s time yet.  Maybe if the tinfoil hat nutcases in those states would take the fucking vaccine I’d feel better about the idea.  

When should these Reigns end?

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Good morning Mr. Keith, hope the family is safe and well. As riduclous the title count some companies have, there are a few reigns/championships that i think still have value and hope the time and energy is taken into account when its time for them to switch hands.  Your thoughts on who should conquer the few i still think are important out there:

WALTER: this is the hardest for me to figure out, and it should wait until the crowd can witness it:

Roman Reigns: even if they get a Rock match at WM, he won't or shouldn't be the one to dethrone him.

Kenny Omega: storyline dicates Hangman Page one day but i feel thats a long way off based off where theyre at now.

Will Ospreay: i didn't agree making him champ but if your gonna make a hated champ, then you better have a feel good blow off, and Shingo shoulda been it but theyve already blown through that match.

They still don’t need to take the belt off WALTER.  There’s no point. 
I still don’t see anyone who could justify beating Roman yet either.  I think when it happens it’ll be a three way deal so they don’t have to beat him.  
Omega should definitely be Hangman Page but they’ve gone so deep into this belt collecting gimmick that they almost need to start getting belts off him soon.  

Royal Rumble performances

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Disqualifying Chris Benoit, for reasons of murder, who has produced the best individual performance in a Royal Rumble match?

Depends what you’re after.  For best work, Flair obviously.  For getting over I’ve gotta go Austin in 97 or Diesel in 1994.  

Primes

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Hey Scott,

I’m on my 3rd lockdown being a service industry kinda guy. So if you could humour me, I’d be interested to know if you could pick any 10 wrestlers in their “primes” to start a promotion—-who would they be?

1987 Savage

1994 Bret

1996 HBK

1997 Austin (…..pre-Summerslam)

2000 HHH

2000 Rock

1985 Piper

1989 Flair

1995 Sunny (…….)

1998 Vince

Those are my wacky picks.

That's a good list.  I'd actually switch out Vince and Sunny and HHH put in 1982 Sgt. Slaughter and 1983 Jerry Lawler and maybe 1979 Terry Funk, but I can't argue with the rest of it. 

What If’s Galore!

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Good day, Mr. Keith,

Here are a couple of “What if's” that I thought might make for some fun blog discussion. Feel free to split them into separate blog posts if you prefer.

What if…

1) …Thunder in Paradise had become a runaway smash hit, stayed on the air for 12 seasons and Hogan never goes back to wrestling, but retires in 2006 with truckloads of syndication money in his pocket? No nWo, no WWE nostalgia run, no Rock-Hogan / Shawn-Hogan… What's the wrestling world like with no Hogan anywhere after King of the Ring 1993?

2) …Yokozuna manages to keep his weight in check, lives a longer life and remains an active wrestler? He finished up at Survivor Series 1996, right before the Attitude Era took off, but I was surprised to realize that he was actually only released from his WWE contract in May of 1998. So, without his weight issues, where do you see his place in the Attitude era/during the Monday Night Wars, up to possibly well into the 2000s? Would he have fit in anywhere? Does he go to WCW instead?

3) …Vince had already been true to his “I won't ask you to do anything I wouldn't do myself” adage in 1999, and he subsequently had tried the harness jump before asking Owen to go through with it…and the harness had snapped during the practice run the afternoon before Over the Edge? What would've happened to WWE if Vince had tragically died in May of 1999 instead? Who takes over? How does the wrestling world change? Would WWE still exist today?

4) …WCW had succeeded in putting WWE out of business in 1996-1997? What would the wrestling landscape be like today? Do you think WCW would still be there today? Would it have benefitted ECW somehow? And where would WWE's wrestlers end up? 

5) …Ric Flair had listened to the doctors after the infamous plane crash and ended his wrestling career in 1978?

6) …Shawn hadn't injured his back in 1998?

7) …Bret and Shawn don't become mortal enemies, Bret stays with WWE through his 20-year contract, and the Montreal Screwjob simply never happens?

8) …Trish Stratus hadn't retired in 2006 and kept going for another 5-10 years? How would it have impacted the “Women's Wrestling Revolution”?

9) …Kurt Angle had chosen ECW when he was visiting there in 1996? Or alternatibvely, what if he had chosen UFC instead of wrestling? Do you think he would've become an MMA superstar?

10) …Brock Lesnar had made it into the NFL in 2004-05 with the Minnesota Vikings instead?

11) …Wrestlemania I hadn't been a success? Would they really have had to close up shop in 1985? I've always found that claim to be a tad exaggerated. Surely there would've been a way to keep going, given you've got cash cow Hogan on hand?

12) …Becky hadn't gotten pregnant? Who'd she have feuded with over the last year? Would she have kept the title for 2 years?

13) …COVID hadn't happened? What would the 2020 wrestling year have looked like in WWE? Would they still have pushed the same people and done the same storylines? What would WM 37 have looked like?

That's all I got for now. 🙂

Cheers!

Honestly the mailbag selection has been pretty ass this morning so I'll put this up and see if it'll generate some discussion.