Daily News Update – January 19, 2021

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It’s time for WRESTLING CHALLENGE today!

Randy Orton Is Wearing A Mask

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/video-randy-orton-drastically-changes-look/

Four More Royal Rumble Names Confirmed

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/watch-entrants-confirmed-royal-rumble-matches/

Goldberg And Drew McIntyre Are Back Next Week

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/two-top-wwe-stars-returning-monday-night-raw/

Monday Night Raw – January 18, 2021

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Monday Night Raw
Date: January 18, 2021
Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Samoa Joe, Byron Saxton

We’re less than two weeks away from the Royal Rumble and that means it is time to start adding in some new names to the lineups. There are several spots still available and that means we can fill in a few more of them over the next two weeks. And there’s the whole Randy Orton getting hit with a fireball deal. Let’s get to it.

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Wrestling Empire

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Hey Scott,

I saw the post the other day about the review of Wrestling Empire. Figured you and the gang may enjoy this interview The Wrestling Estate did with MDickie, the game's creator. 


Thanks as always,
Oh, they'll enjoy it.  IF THEY KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR THEM.
I was checking around on the Switch store but $25 seems a little steep for my tastes.  Plus I'm still waiting on the copy of Retromania Wrestling I pre-ordered back in July. 

Monday Night Open Mic

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“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Howdy Blog O’Doomers!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. It’s a pretty slow Monday and there’s a good chance tonight’s RAW will once again be a little different thanks to COVID and some other injuries. I see there’s an Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss match and that’s a surprise because I didn’t think Alexa was working many matches, if any, these days.

No football out there. A full slate of NBA and NHL games started this afternoon and continue into the evening. The Nets-Bucks and Lakers-Warriors games are on TNT, while the Sabres-Flyers and Coyotes-Golden Knights are the nationally televised games for the NHL.

Here’s a Memphis brawl to keep you entertained.

Keep it Clean

Joshi Spotlight: AJW TV (Feb. 27- Manami/Yamada vs. Aja/Sakie)

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AJW TV (Feb. 27th, 1994):
* Here’s another AJW TV show, though I could only find two matches from it, making this a shorter review. One match missing off of what was taped is Bull Nakano beating Etsuko Mita- another thing is Numacchi’s retirement. So Saemi Numata had been jobbing throughout most of 1993 and engaging in some pretty horrible matches (and one miraculously “pretty good” match by Mayumi Ozaki), including jobbing big-time to both Akira Hokuto & Reggie Bennett, losing in 10 seconds and 3 minutes, respectively (in a promotion where it can take ten minutes to kill off a rookie). Her last bunch of bouts were in Oct. 1993, and one match in Jan. 1994, so I dunno what happened. Either injures or “you know what? There’s no future as a comedy jobber in AJW” and she was done. A few years later we’d get Tanny Mouse in a similar role.

Other, unaired matches: Chikako Shiratori & Kumiko Maekawa d. Rie Tamada & Tomoko Watanabe (that’s kind of a shocker- Tomoko way outranks everyone), and Suzuka Minami d. Mima Shimoda.

YUMIKO HOTTA & TAKAKO INOUE vs. KYOKO INOUE & KAORU ITO:

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What the World Was Watching: ECW Hardcore TV – October 10, 1995

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Steve Austin cuts his famous promo that denounces his treatment in WCW and puts over how he is now in an environment where no one can hold back his wrestling abilities.  The segment marks the end of the “Stunning Steve” character as Austin promises to reach new heights because no one can stop him any longer.  And what makes this promo so great is Austin would later become one of the most famous wrestlers in history and helped bring down the company that cast him aside.

Amid terrible camera work that keeps shaking, Lance Wright hypes the October 28 ECW Arena show which will feature the Sandman defending the ECW Championship against Mikey Whipwreck in a ladder match.

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Hard To Kill 2021

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Hard To Kill 2021
Date: January 16, 2021
Location: Skyway Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Matt Striker, D’Lo Brown

We’re back on pay per view with this one and that means it is time to step things up. This time around, the big story is AEW’s Kenny Omega coming in to team with the Good Brothers against Rich Swann/Moose/Chris Sabin (as Alex Shelley is out due to some personal circumstances). The card isn’t looking great but Impact can do some good pay per views. Let’s get to it.

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What is the deal with the ECW mole story?

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They sort of go over it on the Rise and Fall of ECW, but they try to like it half kayfabe it. What actually happened? Who did they actually steal if anyone?

I don’t know if “steal” is even the right word and a lot of it is based on Heyman’s POV but I think Raven and Richards going to WCW were the biggest acquisitions through Tod Gordon. Others can probably tell the story better because as always ECW is not really my area of expertise.  

Will There Ever Be Another Boom Period?

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Hey Scott–


So Vince- with Hogan, the territorial stars, and tapping into the pop culture of the 80s- cultivated a huge collection of casual wrestling fans that stayed with the product until the scandals of the early 90s hit the WWF.

Then in '96, because of competition, use of mainstream sports icons like Dennis Rodman and Mike Tyson, and the rise of Steve Austin and The Rock, we had another mainstream period that lasted until about 2001.

Do you think we're ever seeing another one?

Use of mainstream celebrities doesn't work any more (for either WWE or AEW), and ever since John Cena, Vince McMahon has shown absolutely no interest in creating a star that can become bigger than his company and then leave.

AEW meanwhile, while a great success so far, is a success with baked-in wrestling fans. They haven't presented anything that has run the fanbase off to this point, but they haven't really grown it either. We're in this period that Dave Meltzer has often described as “the fewest amount of wrestling fans ever, who are willing to spend the most money on the product ever.”

So with WWE uninterested in creating the next megastar, and the very legitimate question of whether AEW can create one (I like watching Omega and Moxley work, but they 'ain't Austin or Rocky) do you think we ever see an explosion of casual fandom again? Or is the wrestling audience the size it will always be in perpetuity? 

Wrestling is, as always, the snake that consumes its own tail to survive.  Every time we say “Man there’s no more Hogan and Savage to save the business” then suddenly some crazy new guy comes from the indies or football or a jobber tag team and gets over.  I think the boom will come again. It might not look the same and might not be what we want as fans but it’ll come.  

Ways to improve Raw

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With how badly Raw's ratings have declined over the last several years, what do you think of my ideas to improve their ratings


1. Create a legends division where all the legends compete in a Brawl for All tournament with the winner getting health insurance. 

2. Have Goldberg develop schizophrenia where he keeps thinking the nWo is interfering in his matches but we the audience and everyone else can't see anything. 

3. Replace Raw with an NFL game of the week but have Kevin Dunn still in charge of production. Could you imagine all the camera cuts during a pass play? 

4. Have Teddy Long return as the GM of Raw where at the end of the show he is hit in the groin with a football as the show ends no matter what is going on during the show. . 

5.  Replace the outside mats at ringside with moats filled with alligators. Man eating alligators. They are indifferent towards women. 

6.  Have Vince McMahon finally admit on air over the course of 2 years how Lex Luger slamming Yokozuna on the U.S.S. Intrepid led to 9/11. 

7.   Live Horse Fucking. 

8. Fire all the Hollywood writers and replace Vince with someone more in tune with what fans want. 

Your thoughts? 

You had me at #1.  

AWA All Star Wrestling – Jan. 25, 1987

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Continuing on with the Network’s limited AWA run, the only listed TV episode from 1987, featuring an introduction from Rodger Kent against what sounds like the disco version of Star Wars. I have to imagine they’d had this for about ten years or so by this point. Introduced by Larry Nelson and Gary Ron… I’ve never heard of him, either.

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Sunday Night Reset: January 17, 2021

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The Doomies have been tabulated!  Please stop stuffing the ballot.  And while I could (with my powers of posting) get a sneak peek myself, I choose to avoid spoilers much like you have to.

It will be Buffalo at Kansas City in the AFC Title Game.  Green Bay still awaits their opponent.

BOTCHAMANIA is in play!

And now, here it is, your Moment of Zen.

Enjoy the night.

Iron Sheik

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It's been talked about for twenty years since Bobby Henning's comment during the Gimmick Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 17.  Doesn't an Iron Sheik appearance at Wrestlemania 37 need to be a highlight this year?
I'm gonna say…no?

Question on All-Time Great Wrestling Promos

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Greetings, El Jefe, Oh Wise and Majestic One. Detective Munch from the Blog.

Had a question on all-time great promos from different promotions/territories/eras. Obviously there are certain examples that most fans agree are all-time great promos – Dusty Rhodes and his “Hard Times” interview, Jake Roberts at WrestleMania VI, etc. My question for you is, how long does it take for a promo to go from “that was really good” to “that was an all-time great”?

Would people watching WrestleMania III know that Randy Savage's promo was an all-timer when they were watching, or did it only become apparent months/years after the fact? I'm curious if there's a time window on when fans recognize that what they've seen is truly epic, or if there's just that “It” factor that resonates with fans immediately when a classic promo is delivered?


I don't think there's any set amount of time.  Hell, I didn't even know about Randy Savage's “cream of the crop” promo until many years afterwards, long after it had become a meme.