Wrestling

Sunday Night Reset: October 13, 2019

No PPVs tonight, thankfully.

NFL gives you Pittsburgh facing the LA Chargers.  Baseball has the Yankees (1) against Houston (0) in the ALCS.

Enjoy the night.

ECW on Syfy 08/25/2009 #168

It’s two days after Summerslam, we’re in Phoenix, AZ and I’ve had no sleep thanks to babies teething so I’m definitely reading for a ten year old C-Show episode.

Read moreECW on Syfy 08/25/2009 #168

Jericho all in with AEW?


Has it been established if Jericho is all in with AEW or is this just something he is doing until the next Fozzy touring cycle comes up?

Far as anyone knows he's ALL IN with FULL GEAR and betting DOUBLE OR NOTHING on the company.  

Mailbag – Lust

Scott,

What's behind all of the strange sex storylines in WWE right now?  Maria-Mike; Lana-Lashley; Spud-Renee. Did Vince just discover Pornhub? Or is this Heyman's influence?
Maybe we've finally discovered Bischoff's job description?  "Come up with weird sex storylines"

It’s A Little Thing, But…

Hey Scott–

I know in the grand scheme of WWE's issues, this is way down on the list, but can we take a moment to acknowledge how insane that draft was?

A draft in any legitimate sport is meant to get the most elite players onto your team. However, in "The Universe", let's take a look at who does not currently have a home brand:

The WWE Champion

The Universal Champion

The Smackdown Women's Champion (the one who walked in or walked out with the belt; take your pick)

The Intercontinental Champion

The Raw Tag Team Champions

Can you imagine working for a sports organization on draft day, and running up to your GM to say, "Boss! This guy is projected to have a mediocre career where he spends the majority of it on the bench! We GOTTA take him in the first round!!!"

Lord knows I'd pass up the Viking Space Lord so I could get my hands on Heavy Machinery...
It's such a weird fake draft because they spent a bunch of time coming up with wacky skits in the war room that are apparently referencing the NFL draft, but they couldn't actually come up with a set of rules that made any sense and had internal logic. 

Desparate Vince and Owen Hart

Hi Scott, 

Couple of random questions for you:

1. What's the craziest thing that Vince would be willing to do if AEW starts beating him in the ratings? Bring back Russo? 

2. How do you think things would have played out differently had they stopped Over the Edge after Owen fell? Do you think things would have played out the same? 
1.  He's tried to bring back Russo before, apparently.  It didn't take.  Hell, I'd say announcing Heyman and Bischoff as executive creative VPs or whatever the fuck they do was pretty desperate.  
2.  A lot of it would have likely played out the same, but it would have been slightly more classy.  

Smackdown – May 12, 2005

Smackdown
Date: May 12, 2005
Location: Sovereign Center, Reading, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 3,700
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz

We’re on our way to Judgment Day and that means we should be in for Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio. Most of the time you have to worry about how the big match is going to go but how bad can a Mysterio vs. Guerrero match go? Other than that, we continue the build to John Cena vs. JBL II. Let’s get to it.

Read moreSmackdown – May 12, 2005

Mike Reviews: Ring of Honour – “Japan’s Finest” – Disc One

Hello You!

Back with something else in my “to watch” pile, as we take a look at a compilation DVD that ROH put out covering some of the best matches from the company’s history that featured Japanese wrestlers.

Obviously ROH isn’t what it once was, but throughout the years the company has featured some truly excellent wrestling and one of the reasons why was because they were able to bring in wrestlers from major Japanese companies like All Japan, New Japan, NOAH and Dragon Gate to compete on their events.

The main reason I picked this one up is because it features the excellent main event from the first Supercard of Honour Show (An event I did have on DVD but sadly lost during a house move back in the day) as well as some cool sounding matches that I’d never seen before. We’ll just do Disc One today and I’ll try to get to Disc Two when I can (There’s a lot of matches on this here collection)

You actually can still buy this DVD on eBay, but golly gosh is it pricey! Still, if you like the sound of these matches then the option is there (Although it might be better possibly just to cherry pick the individual shows as that will probably set you back less in the long run)

And yes, I spell “Honour” with a “U”. I also drive on the left hand side of the road, drink copious amounts of tea and have terrible teeth. Deal with it!

Read moreMike Reviews: Ring of Honour – “Japan’s Finest” – Disc One

Back to Zodiac

Hi Scott,

It was great to go back and re-watch the amazing Zodiac and Jason promos. For me, what makes them effective is something you don't see at all today in WWE — Zodiac is always calling out the entire Stampede promotion. It's never one guy (although they REALLY hate Owen Hart), but the Harts, Bad Company, Pillman, etc. You know these are bad dudes because no one is safe and it builds to multiple matches down the road while also putting over the faces.


Flair, Dusty, Magnum commonly did this in NWA, and even Intercontinental champ Macho Man always reminded everyone that big picture he was the #1 contender for Hogan. I'm surprised that with HHH such an NWA fan that we don't see more of that even in NXT.


What happened to this style – did it just die with territories/WWE monopoly?    

Thanks.

Oh man, Jason was so scary at the time!  Even Mr. Hito wore boots for the first time because he didn't want to have his bare feet stomped on!  I loved that character.  

Anyway, yeah, that was a very territory thing.  Nowadays the guys don't call people out, but rather the announcers have to tell us that "they're putting the locker room on notice" on their behalf.  That's the new version of saying you want the title, I guess.  Or you could be like Kofi and lose the belt in 6 seconds and then be back happily throwing out pancakes in the midcard the next week and never even say anything.  

What Wrestler Do You Work With?

Hey Scott. Let's say you're a wrestler – who do you think would fit the following criteria in terms of who you have to work with when it comes to long term angles?

1. Who is going to be the most miserable pain in the ass?
2. Who is going to be cool the whole time you're working with and then really try to bury you come match time?
3. Who will be the biggest push over and let you do whatever you want?
4. Who has the most baggage – drugs, booze,etc – but you're willing to babysit them the whole time because it will be a good angle? 
Like, today?  Or historically?
I'm gonna go all-time.
1.  I guess it depends on what the level of push and money involved is going to be, but I think historically Bam Bam Bigelow had that kind of rep.  
2.  Hulk Hogan was the master of that, especially in his WCW days.  
3.  Sounds like Tommy Dreamer.
4.  I'm gonna say Raven.  
This should be a fun list of comments.  

End of WWE Authority Figures?

With Shane McMahon gone from T.V.,(at least for now), and the fact they had "execs" from FOX and USA Network choosing draft picks, do you think Vince McMahon has finally broken away from the long held trope of having authority figures running Raw and Smackdown?  

Wasn't Shane just running around Smackdown as the guy in charge for the past couple of months?  

But no, Vince will go back to it when he wants to pop a rating, like he always does.  

Smackdown – October 11, 2019

Smackdown
Date: October 11, 2019
Location: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

So since we’re starting things new around here, it’s time to reset the roster with the annual Draft. Now that could be interesting this time around as well, with a bunch of non-wrestling celebrities and a big question of who is going to be brought over from Raw. This is only going to be the first half though as things keep going on Raw. Let’s get to it.

Read moreSmackdown – October 11, 2019

WWE Friday Night Party Thread, Episode 2 — DRAFT TIME

We made it!

Tonight, it’s Day 1 of the WWE Re-re-redraft!  According to the reports, 30 “acts” will be taken tonight — 18 to Raw, 12 to SmackDown (since Raw’s a longer show).  Now, this isn’t Day 1 of the Draft in the NFL sense; only about 40% of the roster is available here, meaning this and Raw are essentially two different drafts.  Here’s who is eligible in tonight’s draft:

AJ Styles, Akira Tozawa, Alexa Bliss, Angelo Dawkins, Becky Lynch, Bo Dallas, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Cesaro, Chad Gable, Curtis Axel, Dash Wilder, Drew Gulak, Drew McIntyre, EC3, Eric Young, Erik (Viking Raiders), Gran Metalik, Heath Slater, Humberto Carrillo, Ivar (Viking Raiders), Kalisto, Karl Anderson, Kevin Owens, Lacey Evans, Lince Dorado, Luke Gallows, Montez Ford, Natalya, Nikki Cross, Randy Orton, Ricochet, Roman Reigns, Sasha Banks, Scott Dawson, Sin Cara, Tamina.

Now, some wrestlers are pledged to groups: Bullet Club, Bliss/Cross, Viking Raiders, Revival, Street Profits, Lucha House Party, and B-Team are all listed in groups.  If no splits occur, the 30th pick would be vacant as there’d be no one left, so expect some of these groups to go their separate ways.  If individuals only are drafted, there would be EIGHT free agents; don’t expect that extreme either.

As with 2016, it appears that the draft picks will be in groups of five — 3 to Raw, 2 to SmackDown.  I’m not entirely sure what order they’ll be drafted in within each set, and neither is anyone else: the first pick of the night (and probably of each set) will be decided by a match.  If Seth Rollins defeats Roman Reigns, Raw goes first; if Reigns wins, SmackDown goes first.  And if they end in a draw, Vince Russo’s in charge again.

The neatest twist is that both Fox and USA are being presented as controlling the draft.  Fox even tweeted out a picture of their “War Room” with former 24/7 champion Rob Stone as their lead analyst!  And yes, the silly football robot is in the room.

If you’re not interested in catching it live, there’s a lot on today!  TBS has the start of the NL Championship Series as Washington visits St. Louis.  ESPN is showing Virginia at Miami of Florida in ACC football; CBS Sports Network has Mountain West action as Colorado State faces New Mexico; ESPN2 is showing some World Series of Poker; and ESPNU has the deep DEEP cut of football as Lafayette faces Princeton!

Oh, and there may be some non-sports on, too.  Who knows?

Enjoy the night, but keep it clean, folks!

Joshi Spotlight- Chaparita ASARI

Image result for sky twister press gif

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- CHAPARITA ASARI:
Stats:
Real Name: Masami Watanabe
Billed Height & Weight: 5’0″ 123 lbs. (she doesn’t look any more than 100 lbs., though)
Career Length: 1992-2003
Trained By: Unknown

-I think Chaparita ASARI (sometimes its capitalized; sometimes it isn’t) may be one of the most well-known lower-tier Joshi out there. I feel like her name is more commonly brought up than many more notable, top-tier figures like Shinobu Kandori, Dynamite Kansai, Harley Saito and others, largely because her style of flashy high-flying was so popular in the West during the dawn of the mass Internet Wrestling Community- someone whipping out a Sky Twister Press was going to draw a lot of attention, no matter what her position on the card was!

Read moreJoshi Spotlight- Chaparita ASARI

What the World Was Watching: WCW Monday Nitro – October 16, 1995

–Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, and Steve McMichael are in the booth and they are live from Albany, Georgia.

Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Monday Nitro – October 16, 1995