Monday Night Raw
Date: April 19, 2021
Location: Yuengling Center, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Adnan Virk, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
Things should be a bit more back to normal this week as Wrestlemania season is over. That is probably a good thing after last week’s show was not exactly worth bragging about. This time around we have Asuka vs. Charlotte in a match that has been done quite a few times before so let’s get to it.
The PG Era Rant for AEW Elevation Episode 6 (“The Champ Is Here!”), April 19, 2021.
TONIGHT! Austin Gunn steps up in singles competition against QT Marshall’s trainee Aaron Solow! Madi Wrenckowski tries out for the Vicious Vixens as she teams with Nyla Rose against Leyla Hirsch and Ryo Mizunami! Fallout from the Darby/Hardy match continues as Private Party get their hands on Alex Reynolds and Colt Cabana! And in the main event, AEW Champion Kenny Omega teams with DDT star Konosuke Takeshita and M.T. Nakazawa to face the Sydal Brothers and Danny Limelight!
PLUS: Best Friends, Jurassic Express, Sky and Ethan, Cage and Starks, Abadon, Hangman Page, The Hybrid 2, Thunder Rosa, Orange Cassidy, and Dr. Britt Baker!
From the AEW Arena.
Howdy Blog O’Doomers!
Ahhh what a day. Sometimes you’re just happy to be home. Sorry this is late.
Check out Stephanie on Bill Simmons’ podcast.
Keep it Clean
July 2, 1995
From the Marts Center in Wilkes Barre, PA
Your hosts are Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon
Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura are in the booth and they are live from Orlando, Florida. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, this show drew a sellout crowd of 16,000 fans. It also drew a buyrate of 2.0 (an estimated 260,000 buys), an increase from the 1.5 number the Rumble did the previous year. This would also be the last pay-per-view that Schiavone would call for the WWF.
Crane is on the right, Dump Matsumoto on the left.
JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- CRANE YU:
Real Name: Yukari Honjo (aka Masked Yu, Dynamite Jack)
Billed Height & Weight: 5’8″ 220 lbs.
Career Length: 1980-1989
-So on the famous Atrocious Alliance bouts of the 1980s, you’ll see a pretty wild assortment of punk rock girl characters backing up the legendary Dump Matsumoto. Most notable of these is a baby Bull Nakano, but there’s also this HUGE, muscular woman with curly hair, and one that’s effectively a “Clone Buddy” of Dump (like how WWF would add Typhoon to Earthquake and Phineas to Henry Godwinn). That’d be Crane Yu, the former “Masked Yu”, who continues to befuddle Westerners as to the naming theme of the group, as according to our own Manjiimortal, they are named after CONSTRUCTION VEHICLES, not animals- Dump Truck, Bulldozer and Crane. So the “Crane” in her name isn’t the animal, nor is Bull’s “Bull”. That there is a Grizzly on the team confuses this further, though.
July 1, 1995
From the Stabler Arena in Bethelem, PA
Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix
The show starts off with the video package on Diesel appearing at the celebrity softball game in Oklahoma to benefit the children who lost parents during the Oklahoma City bombing.
This week, we will get the world premiere of Jeff Jarrett’s “With My Baby Tonight” music video. Plus, the debut of Waylon Mercy, featured match of Adam Bomb vs. Henry O. Godwinn, and the Allied Powers in action.
Tonight it’s a double elimination as WWE continues to pour caustic soda down the NXT drain. But never mind that, check out Percy Watson’s new shirt:
The SmarK Rant for WWF Wrestling Challenge – 11.29.86
And so we come to an end of the original 13 episodes on the WWE Network, and who knows if and when more will follow. I’d assume they will though.
THE RECOGNIZED SYMBOL OF EXCELLENCE IN SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT
Taped from Rockford, IL. Oh sure we finally get to a new taping cycle and we’re out of episodes.
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?
Taped from St. Paul, MN
Airdate: September 17, 1985 (taped 09/08)
Attendance: 4,000
Hosted by Larry Nelson, Ron Trongard, & Verne Gagne
Can Hennig, Hall, and Greg overcome the vicious combination of Bockwinkel, Stevens, and Zbyszko? What happens when Slaughter challenges Flair for the NWA World title? Can Zumhofe defeat Roberts, or will the wily Freebird prevail? Let’s find out!
Tonight’s baseball Game of the Week is Atlanta and Chicago Cubs. Both teams are… disappointing so far, shall we say.
But first: Hello, I’m Andy PG, B-show recapper for Scott Keith. You can see me on IWTV with Nova Pro and with CRAB Wrestling. You’re watching BOTCHAMANIA! (I always wanted to do that.)
FEATURING: Mad Man Pondo, Terry Funk’s book, WrestleMania hiccups, rain, rain, more rain, lots of endings, Tazz on commentary, Paul Wight on commentary, and DC legend Jim Vance (RIP) making his return.
Enjoy the night.
Acid Cup 2021 Part 1
Date: April 8, 2021
Location: Cuban Club, Ybor City, Florida
Commentators: Kevin Gill, Various
This is another show from GCW’s the Collective and as you might have guessed, it is part of a tournament called the Acid Cup. While I’m not entirely sure, I would assume that it is held in honor of the late Trent Acid, which I’m sure will be confirmed during the show. Tournaments are about as easy of a concept as you can get in wrestling so hopefully this works out. Let’s get to it.
June 26, 1995
From the Whitey McCloskey Center in Danville, PA. The arena this took place in is not listed anywhere but after a minute of searching on google, saw the roof of this building exactly matched the roof in the photo of the McCloskey Center, which is part of the Danville Area High School so another set of RAW tapings from a high school gym.
Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels, who is subbing for Jerry Lawler who is suffering from the effects of losing the Kiss My Foot match last night to Bret Hart.
The SmarK Rant for WWF Monday Night RAW – 04.24.00
OK then! It’s time for a random Patreon request, in this case someone wanting the go-home show for Backlash 2000, which I can easily accommodate. I had been kind of doing the 2000 shows again off and on but lost interest a while ago. And hey, if you’d like to become a Patron and earn the ability to influence my reviewing decisions, head on over to the PATREON OF DOOM at https://www.patreon.com/blogofdoom and check it out.
Live from Raleigh, NC
Your hosts are JR & The King
Smackdown
Date: November 17, 2006
Location: Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester, England
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
We’re over in England here too and that means it is time to continue pumping up the build to Survivor Series. We know most of the card, including the World Title match with King Booker defending against Batista. Odds are that gets built up this week, as it always needs to be. Let’s get to it.
