Hello You!
Well, the world’s gone a bit mad hasn’t it? Here’s a review of ECW Hardcore TV to hopefully distract you all from it. Good tidings to all.
Let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!
Read moreMike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #363– 08/04/2000
Stupid ridiculous Tag Team Title Lineage
Hey Scott,
Was wondering if you've been keeping up with WWE's Tag Team Championship lineage. It looks like in 2010 they actually deactivated the original championship lineage (these would be the belts held by Demolition and The Hart Foundation.)
In 2002, they launched exclusive tag team belts for SmackDown! (the tournament won by Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit) and somehow…wait for it…the SmackDown! tag team championship lineage morphed into the current RAW tag team championship lineage. So the RAW Tag Champions (The Street Profits) are holding the same belts Angle & Benoit held? What the fuck?
And then the current SmackDown belts are pretty new, being created in 2016 with the newest brand split. So the RAW belts only go back to 2002, the SmackDown belts go back to 2016, and the real tag team belts were deactivated in 2010.
I mean…Why? How? Who? What the fuck? Anyone have any insight into any of this?
The logic, dumb as it is, is that Carlito and Primo were Smackdown champions when they beat Miz & Morrison to unify the titles, so that was the lineage that continued on.
Now, this is all well and good, but what REALLY frosted my preservatives was when the New Day were chasing Demolition's reign, because they were two different titles! You can't have it both ways. So if they're saying "The New Day is trying to beat Demolition's record" then that should be WWE's way of saying they're part of the same lineage, too. But it's not and they continue only recognizing the original belts up until 2010.
Great Khali Vs El Gigante
Who do you think was better?
I'm going to have to go with Khali, because he at least had some decent matches with Cena and Triple H (Summer Slam 2008 in particular was nothing short of a miracle)
I don't know if Gigante ever had a good match aside from his mythical *** outing with Ric Flair (which may not even have happened)
Yeah Khali at least knew the basic mechanics of working a match and could mostly pull them off. Gigante's deal was mostly just to stand there and occasionally choke people. Khali wins by a landslide.
The SmarK Rant for NWA Houston Wrestling – 06.20.80
The SmarK Rant for NWA Houston Wrestling – 06.22.80
Oh man, if NWA Powerrr is gonna be delayed for a long while, I’m totally fine with Billy Corgan posting THESE instead every Tuesday night. Houston is actually one of the few territories where someone OTHER than Vince bought up the footage, so hopefully they keep pumping these out. I seem to recall the NWA trying a streaming service with this footage before Corgan took over, so obviously there’s lots of it.
Read moreThe SmarK Rant for NWA Houston Wrestling – 06.20.80
Daily News Update – April 8, 2020
Hey yo.
DATELINE: New Japan has gone and cancelled another whole batch of shows all the way through May, as the situation in Japan is getting bad again. Despite the shows not taking place, the Observer is still going to award the main events six stars.
DATELINE: The UFC will be running shows from reservation land in Lemoore, CA for the next couple of months while they finalize plans to BUY A GODDAMN ISLAND. Guys, I’m no doctor, but I’m PRETTY sure that Covid isn’t going to respect the wishes of the Native American owners of the casino and stay away despite not technically being part of California.
DATELINE: Not to be outdone, WWE is just straight up ignoring Florida’s shutdown order completely and is taping a month’s worth of shows at the PC this Friday. Must be nice to live in Vince’s world.
The Tuesday Night Streaming Thread – April 7, 2020
Oh now, this is INTERESTING!
Now the NWA has moved onto showing old tapes of Houston wrestling, which Billy Corgan bought along with the NWA name, starting with an episode showcasing Andre the Giant. I’m all in for this one tonight.
Also, you’ve got AEW Dark debuting tonight.
RAW ratings for the post-WM show were a complete disaster, but there’s not much they could do about it.
I just got one of these in the mail today so I can add it to my pile of toys that I probably don’t need: https://retromimi.com/products/retro-game-350-rg350-game-console
In two days I’m on vacation because I had booked Easter holidays way before all the shit went down, back when that week off meant something. Now, it’ll just be a chance to review a shitload of wrestling.
Evolve 125
Evolve 125
Date: April 4, 2019
Location: La Boom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Lenny Leonard, Rob Niemi
This is another one of the shows that I was hoping to see last year but for one reason or another it never happened. That’s where a free month of Club WWN (plus the company putting the show up for free on YouTube) can be handy and that’s why I’m here today. This show seemed to be pretty well received so hopefully it holds up. Let’s get to it.
TNA Special
TNA Special
Date: March 31, 2020
Location: Coca Cola Roxy, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: David Penzer, Scott D’Amore
Now this is interesting as the idea is to help get things ready for the There’s No Place Like Home special. However, the show, which was scheduled to air over Wrestlemania weekend, has been canceled. Therefore we have this as a stand alone show, which could go a bunch of ways. Let’s get to it.
Impact Wrestling – March 31, 2020
Impact Wrestling
Date: March 31, 2020
Location: Coca Cola Roxy, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Madison Rayne, Josh Matthews
The company is running out of tapings but what makes this more interesting at this point is having to get ready for the TNA There’s No Place Like Home show. That’s kind of a problem as the show is not taking place, but we still need to get ready for it. I’m not sure what we are going to be seeing, but they don’t have many weeks left. Let’s get to it.
The SmarK Rant for NXT – 09.19.12
The SmarK Rant for NXT – 09.19.12
Back to these again. Honestly, Covid is destroying the average pageview numbers for the blog so badly that it’s gonna be a while before I have to worry about what’s doing numbers again anyway. So hey, I like doing these, unexciting as they can be sometimes. But seriously, sharing the links to these rants on social media really helps me out.
Quickfire Questions
Hi Scott
Some quick questions for ya:
1) Do you think they missed a trick not having Otis hoist Mandy on his shoulder a la Miss Elizabeth? Would have been a better visual than what we got, imo.
2) Should the Boneyard have had a Kane cameo, or at least a reference, somewhere? Like when the roof exploded in fire?
3) Why the hell did they make Aleister Black look such a chump who only won because Lana interfered with Lashley crushing him?
4) Do you think we'll ever see clips of this WM in future once the lockdown stuff has passed, or will it be faded into obscurity deliberately?
5) I know you didn't like it, but if you had to pick one moment from the Funhouse match that gave you a genuine laugh or happy reaction, what was it?
6) And an AEW-related one to finish; if Vanguard-1 were to turn on Matt and side with Jericho, would it be the greatest heel turn of all time or what?
1. The whole thing was a bad idea without a crowd.
2. In a world where Kane wasn't busy running a city, perhaps. But not now.
3. I thought it was fine.
4. No. I can testify that interest in this show CRATERED after Saturday. This is going to go down as the biggest failed experiment in their history, albeit with many asterisks, but definitely into "never speak of this again" territory once we're back to relative normal.
5. I didn't like it as a MATCH. Because there was no actual "fight" and it was all arthouse nonsense. As a vignette, yeah, it was brilliant, and I popped for the SNME reference bigtime.
6. I'm thinking it's gonna happen, actually.
Vince’s Short Attention Span
Do you believe that, among other things, Vince McMahon has a short attention span, or do you think he is the product of the pro wrestling environment? I just look at all the concepts/ideas and wrestlers pushed and dropped over the years after short periods of time, and it just screams short attention span.
What was the question again?
Jerry Lawler
Hello Scott,
Having time to watch and catch up on some classic wrestling stuff on the Network/YouTube…i get the impression that Lawler had so much impact on psychology in the business. No matter his on screen persona, tombstonig the hell out of Funk or some real great matches…i got the feeling he is way too much underrated or is it just that much of the last 10+ years of sports entertainment has that impact on me.
Oh yeah, Jerry Lawler is very underrated these days. Probably a result of him being portrayed as such a clown in his last wrestling days with the WWF in the 90s, but he's the guy that Hulk Hogan owes his entire "hulking up" routine to! Also he pioneered the art of doing programs with big monster heels that Hulk made millions from. Watching the older Memphis stuff on YouTube, especially the cage match with Austin Idol, makes you appreciate how he could get so much out of so little, which is why Hogan ended up with a crippled body and Lawler was still able to work the same matches into his 60s.
Cena Heel Turn Post #697
Seriously, why didn't they turn Cena heel during his most hated
period? That would have been such good shit.
It did almost happen but then Vince suddenly remembered that Cena made millions in merchandise and pulled the plug at the last minute. They had evil gear ready for him and everything, too!
Daily News Update – April 7, 2020
Oy vey.
DATELINE: Yes, in a twist so ridiculous that people would normally think you’re making it up, Dana White has BOUGHT A GODDAMN ISLAND to continue his ridiculous need to host UFC events, despite doctors and every major branch of government telling him to shut it down already. Seriously, at what point does a person officially cross the line into full-on supervillain? Does he also have to build a private fortress in the side of a volcano with his head as a giant statue like Dr. Evil?
DATELINE: AEW announced the signing of Anna Jay, who looked like a future star on last week’s Dynamite.
DATELINE: Michael Cole got promoted to Vice President of Announcing. Insert your own punchline.
Monday Night Raw – April 6, 2020
Monday Night Raw
Date: April 6, 2020
Location: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton
We’re finally past Wrestlemania XXXVI and that means it’s time to start getting ready for presumably Money in the Bank, assuming they actually get to run the show. I’m not sure what they’re going to be able to do long term but they got through Wrestlemania and that’s what matters. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Open Mic
Howdy Blog O’Doomers!
Ahh the day after Wrestlemania…It’s so exciting and I can’t wait to see what surprises they have in store…does anyone have a clue about tonight’s show. I am assuming it was taped, but when? Are they just going to have the participants cut promos?
But I guess RAW is happening. Much like UFC 249. I want to go on record by saying I believe that’s a bad idea.
Lots of sports that has already happened is on tonight.
If you have a chance to check out the Edge: Second Mountain documentary on the WWE Network, it’s a good watch. Speaking of the Network, if there was a time to do an ultra-dump of old stuff now is the time. Give us something nutty, like all the episodes of Shotgun Saturday Night. Or maybe update the WWF All-Star Wrestling a few more years. Or connect the gap between World Championship Wrestling and WCW Saturday Night. Plenty of options.
Keep it clean.
Joshi Spotlight: AJW Tag League THE BEST ’92 (Part 1)
AJW TAG LEAGUE THE BEST ’92- PART ONE:
(17.10.1992)
* Yes, it’s really called “Tag League The Best”. This is pretty much the tag team equivalent of the “Grand Prix”, with multiple teams operating in a round-robin tournament that gets released over three VHS tapes. The shows operate very much like the Grand Prixs as well, with a few random bouts, one or two big fights, and then some tournament matches. In this tourney, the tag champions (Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada) are naturally expected to do well, but their challengers include top-tier squads like Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue, plus Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami. Also, Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) throws in its own candidates, as a team of their lower-tier stars has entered! The Interpromotional Era debuting with FMW is always very odd to me. Up & comer Mariko Yoshida has been injured, leaving a big gap in the midcard- now who’s gonna leap up and fill that slot?
NOTE: YouTube is apparently missing Part Three, so I only have two parts to post. Looks like the YouTube set is missing the WWWA World Midget Title Match between Little Frankie vs. Tomezo Tsunokake. I can only assume Frankie defeats his foe, like in 900 other matches.
“TL;DR- Why Should I Care?”: Ever wanted to see a bad, uncoordinated brawl get the Rock/Hogan reaction? Look no further. Also some interesting combinations of wrestlers having some good matches.
Read moreJoshi Spotlight: AJW Tag League THE BEST ’92 (Part 1)
What the World Was Watching: ECW Hardcore TV – February 14, 1995
A video package hypes Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko, with more focus paid to Benoit’s recent wave of destruction through ECW.
Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: ECW Hardcore TV – February 14, 1995
Now that it’s over
Hey Scott
I think that a lot of people will agree that WM way over delivered for what everyone was expecting.
Do you think that 2 nights was the reason or the fact that the matches were taped, probably edited to cut out mistakes and the match order could be tweaked for best flow, or a combo of both?
Lastly, could they ever pull this off again?
I hope they don’t have to do it again. But 2 nights definitely helped make the show more digestible. Really I was expecting an all time train wreck and it was mostly fine.