Hogan ’92


If we disregard what actually happened in the WWF in 1992 and Hulk Hogan had been willing to turn heel after his petty elimination of Sid Justice at the Royal Rumble (and had Vince been able to bring himself to pull the trigger on such a turn), do you think it would have dramatically improved WWF's business during that time period? 

How would a heel Hogan been received by WWF fans at that time — maybe against babyface Sid at WM VIII, a face Savage or Warrior at the 92' Summerslam or Survivor Series PPVs, and possibly even a babyface Luger in 1993? How big of a deal would that have been, or was Hogan too stale or too entrenched as a babyface to make it work in WWF?

Thanks

It wouldn't have worked.  Hogan's turn in WCW was because it was the right place and the right time.  People were already getting sick of Hogan in 93, but he needed a long sabbatical more than anything.  In WCW, the fanbase was actively rejecting him as a character on the show itself, which is why the heel turn worked so well as a meta-textual thing and on every other level.

The SmarK Rant for WWE Network Hidden Gems–Survivor Series Showdown 93–11.21.93

The SmarK Rant for WWE Network Hidden Gems – Survivor Series Showdown 93 – 11.21.93

Taped from whatever high school gym they were taping TV at that week.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan, plus Gorilla Monsoon & Jim Ross. TWO HIGH SCHOOL GYMS. That’s a big show!

Read moreThe SmarK Rant for WWE Network Hidden Gems–Survivor Series Showdown 93–11.21.93

Impact Wrestling – November 15, 2018

Impact Wrestling
Date: November 15, 2018
Location: Sam’s Town Hotel & Gaming Hall, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Don Callis

Last week saw a big show with Johnny Impact successfully defending the World Title against Killer Kross, plus Brian Cage going to Sami Callihan’s promotion in Ohio for a fight. That earned him a beatdown, meaning a title match is likely imminent. Other than that, we’re getting ready to head towards Homecoming in January, which could be interesting. Let’s get to it.

Read moreImpact Wrestling – November 15, 2018

Impact, Indies, and Insanity: November 15, 2018

Greetings from snowy DC, where once again we prove to have no clue how to handle a little white stuff.

Tonight on Impact, Sami Callihan challenges Brian Cage for the X Title, while Matt Sydal has a non-title match with Johnny Impact.

Your NFL Game of the Week of the Day is Green Bay/Seattle, while Tulane and Houston battle for control of the AAC West in the college football appetizer.

Up next, a look at the wrestling scene for the weekend.

Read moreImpact, Indies, and Insanity: November 15, 2018

BoD Daily Update: November 15, 2018

New Plans for Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania

Rousey is now planned to face Becky Lynch at WrestleMania. The decision was made by Vince McMahon after Becky was ruled out for her scheduled match against Rousey at Survivor Series.

Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter

 

WWE YouTube Free Match

You can watch John Cena & The Rock vs. Awesome Truth from the 2011 Survivor Series

 

Impact Wrestling Free Match

You can watch Monty Brown vs. Jeff Hardy from the 2005 TNA Genesis PPV

 

 

The SmarK Rant for WWE Network Old School–Maple Leaf Gardens 04.21.85

The SmarK Rant for WWE Network Old School – Maple Leaf Gardens 04.21.85

Hey, my special “Not RAW or Nitro or Smackdown” week continues as I explore the territories in the mid-80s. This morning it’s a show from Maple Leaf Gardens in the thick of Hulkamania.

Taped from Toronto, ON

Your hosts are Jack Reynolds & Jesse Ventura

Read moreThe SmarK Rant for WWE Network Old School–Maple Leaf Gardens 04.21.85

Best Fink Calls


What would you say would be Howard Finkel’s best “NEWWWWWW CHAMPION” calls? Ricky Steamboat at WMIII and Piper at Rumble ‘92 come to mind (oddly both IC)…any others in the Fink Pantheon?
The Piper one is hard to top.  Savage at Wrestlemania 8 was a particularly good one as well.  His comeback for CM Punk at Survivor Series should have been epic but he's drowned out by Bucky Beaver cutting away from him and playing the music over top. 

Nia Jax


She almost broke Charlotte and Asuka's neck. She's injured Sasha, Bayley, and Alexa. She concussed Zelina Vega at Evolution. And now she's broken Becky's nose and concussed her. So basically the top six women + Vega injured or almost injured because of Nia. At what point is being related to The Rock not enough to keep you employed?

Once she accidentally potatoes Stephanie in a melee and breaks HER nose.  She really does need to go away for a while and do something else, though.  It's not like they can't afford to just pay her to do PR work and modeling stuff or whatever.

Brock and Becky

Scott,

Who's bright idea was it to throw a guy who's had multiple, near career ending concussions into the ring with the guy who's moveset pretty much consists of tossing guys on their head?

Also, do you think that Becky being removed from the Survivor Series match means that she
A) Gets to main event at Mania with Ronda, or
B) Gets tagged with the "injury prone" label and gets the Finn Balor treatment? 

The fact that their solution to the Ronda match was to have Becky tearfully hug arch-enemy Charlotte and let her have the match tells you everything you need to know about where they still view Becky on the pecking order, I think.  

Losses on contracts

Hey Scott,

 

Obviously assessing things like profitability of individual wrestlers is an inexact science, but which contract with a wrestler or tag-team (not counting 'celebrities' like Rodman, Master P etc) was the biggest money-LOSER
for :

 

(1)   
WWF/E

(2)   
NWA/WCW

(3)   
Any other federation.

 

1.  It's gotta be Lex Luger in 1992.  They paid him a shitload of money in hopes of getting the WBF going and then spent hundreds of thousands in marketing on the Lex Express and never saw a dime back out of it.  Well, obviously a FEW dimes, but you know I mean.  I'd also nominate Brian Pillman, but he was never supposed to be a main event guy or anything, despite his big price tag.  


2.  I'm gonna go with Bret Hart in 97.  Huge money to lure him away from the WWF, and then they barely pushed him near the top.  Sting also had a monster guaranteed deal or seven over the years and never came close to justifying the money they were paying him.


3.  The answer has to be someone from TNA, right?  I can't think of who specifically, but they never really made money and paid lots of guys redonkulous deals, so we can probably safely say Kurt Angle. 

Monday Night Raw – June 14, 2004

Monday Night Raw
Date: June 14, 2004
Location: Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

We’re past Bad Blood and Chris Benoit is still Raw World Champion. At the same time though, Shawn Michaels vs. HHH had the most epic finish to the most incredible, long running rivalry involving Shawn Michaels and HHH this year. Like really, the best thing ever and nothing will ever approach them. Let’s get to it.

Read moreMonday Night Raw – June 14, 2004

AJ vs. Brock


Hi Scott,


I admit I've only been half-following this entire saga, but it seems like they didn't want AJ to job to Brock two years in a row, so that is why they moved the AJ's title to Daniel Bryan. But my understanding is that the match is non-title, so why not just have AJ win the match?
Someone should communicate that to Vince.  You are exactly correct.

Bryan & Heyman & Lesnar


Two questions, one about in ring, one out of ring:

1) On SDLive Heyman shows up out of nowhere and name drops Bryan as the best guy on SD. This leads to Bryan challenging Styles, and WINNING the WWE Title while turning heel just before Styles date with Brock at Survivor Series.

Could this be a not so subtle way of setting up a Heyman/Bryan alliance. Bryan is the mold of a Heyman guy, it gives Paul access and the top guy on each show and they could even say it was Paul getting Brock away from AJ who was his biggest threat (possibly leading to Styles winning the Rumble and challenging Brock at mania)…

2) What is the real deal with Brock and Paul? Are they friends? Is Paul really his business manager? They’ve essentially worked together for 16 years on and off and he’s the only guy who is consistently around Brock?

1.  It was a thing that Bryan wanted to do because the babyface character was going nowhere.  I don't think there's any more thought or planning that went into it.
2.  Heyman was 100% his legit business manager as of Brock's initial UFC run.  As with everything related to Brock these days, I don't think anyone knows the real truth any more.  For instance, Meltzer has noted many times in the past few weeks that for all the leverage that Brock is using between UFC and WWE, the only thing he's actually done is enter into the drug testing pool.  He's signed no UFC contract and really it's only the Jon Jones and Daniel Cormiers of the world calling HIM out.  Brock has never actually said who or when he wants to fight.  Heyman might be smart, but Brock is a freakish super-genius.

NXT – November 14, 2018

NXT
Date: November 14, 2018
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Percy Watson, Nigel McGuinness

It’s the go home show for Takeover: WarGames II and the card seems to be mostly set. This time around there might only be four matches, but one of them will be 2/3 falls and another is WarGames so things should be fine. Tonight is the big final push towards the show and that should make for a fun show. Let’s get to it.

Read moreNXT – November 14, 2018

NXT UK – November 14, 2018 (Second Episode)

NXT UK
Date: November 14, 2018
Location: NEC Arena, Birmingham, England
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness

It’s tournament time as last week’s big announcement saw the creation of the NXT UK Women’s Title, which we do actually need around here for the sake of keeping things a little more interesting. We’re getting two tournament matches tonight so they’re certainly hitting the ground running. Let’s get to it.

Read moreNXT UK – November 14, 2018 (Second Episode)

Mike Reviews: WCW World War 3 1997

Seeing as I’ve just finished Six of the Best for this event, I decided I’d go back and watch this one as there’s some pretty decent matches on it and the main events of these shows are usually at least somewhat interesting, even if that interest has a somewhat car crash quality to it.

Let’s venture onward and see what we find!

Read moreMike Reviews: WCW World War 3 1997

NXT UK – November 14, 2018 (First Episode)

NXT UK
Date: November 14, 2018
Location: NEC Arena, Birmingham, England
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness

We’re finally to the second set of tapings as WWE continues to try and catch up with the past. The big story tonight is some kind of announcement from Johnny Saint, which likely means a new title. With only one around here, they kind of need to bring one in at some point. They’ve teased a Women’s Title and Tag Team Titles so either one is possible. Let’s get to it.

Read moreNXT UK – November 14, 2018 (First Episode)