The Princess Rant for NXT 8-26-2015

I’ve been looking for a writing project to get me back on the site regularly instead of just doing the Monday night threads and posting in the daily discussions. So after scanning through the Network for a couple of months I finally settled on picking up NXT around the third quarter of 2015. Mainly because this seemed to be right about the time that NXT started to find their stride. They had turned over some of the roster with Neville, Kevin Owens, Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Sasha Banks either moving to the main roster or in roster transition and working on the main shows while tying up loose ends in NXT. Meanwhile the next NXT roster was starting to take shape and Triple H was beginning to get much more aggressive in signing talent.

So we are going to pick this up after the first NXT Takeover: Brooklyn show.

Read moreThe Princess Rant for NXT 8-26-2015

Smackdown – February 12, 2019

Smackdown
Date: February 12, 2019
Location: Huntington Center, Toledo, Ohio
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves

It’s the go home show for Elimination Chamber and we have some big matches to get through. As was the case last night on Raw, we’ll have some kind of a match to determine the other team starting the women’s tag team Elimination Chamber match. On the opposite end, there is also a gauntlet match to determine who will enter the men’s Elimination Chamber match last. Let’s get to it.

Read moreSmackdown – February 12, 2019

Big Brother future endeavors


I know you're a Big Brother fan. What'd you think of Eva Marie getting future endeavored by Tom Green on the show? I found it interesting he used that language.


She was a lot more interesting in that role than her WWE one.  I was cheering for Tom, though, because he was playing a GAME and everyone else was doing reality show drama stuff.  In fact I don’t even care who wins now.  Probably crazy Braxton.  

Becky, Charlotte, and Ronnie


Hey Scott,


  Why the hell are people getting so pissy over the ending of Raw?  It's called storyline.  Vince used to fuck over Austin every chance he got and we went crazy for it.  Have they been this stale and paint by numbers for so long that everyone has forgotten that Wrestling isn't always point A to point B.

Is everyone actually getting worked up about it?  This is the first email I’ve gotten about it. We knew Charlotte was getting put into the match and using deus ex McMachina is usually the way they do things.  

Impact Wrestling – February 8, 2019

Impact Wrestling
Date: February 8, 2019
Location: Fronton Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Commentators: Don Callis, Josh Matthews

Things are starting to pick up around here with one of the biggest matches we’ll be seeing in Mexico as LAX defends the Tag Team Titles against the Lucha Bros. That could be a heck of a match with four guys who can work well together and tear the house down with the right amount of time. It’s likely to be better than the World Title feud, which still isn’t doing anything of note. Let’s get to it.

Read moreImpact Wrestling – February 8, 2019

What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – May 6, 1995

–WCW Prime did not feature any original bouts so we head into WCW Pro where Gordon Solie, Dusty Rhodes, and Larry Zbyszko are on commentary.

Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – May 6, 1995

Mystery partners / villains.

Hey Scott,

 

It seems that almost all of the 'mystery partners' or 'mystery heels' are decided upon at the last minute – and certainly long after the commencement of the angle in question.  Eg – Hogan as the third man, the Black Scorpion,
the Higher Power etc.

 

Has there ever been a 'mystery partner' (or 'masked villain') that ended up being (a) a genuine surprise (b) got a great reaction and (c) was actually part of the initial plan?

 

About the only ones I can think of that MIGHT qualify is Ricky Steamboat  as Eddie Gilbert's partner at the start of his 1989 NWA run… and Dean Malenko disguising himself as Ciclope in the Cruiserweight battle royale.

 


Rick Rude as the payoff for the Shane Douglas angle in ECW was pretty badass.  

 

The Authority

I legitimately don't understand the rationale of this on-screen authority character development. HHH is a babyface because he runs NXT, but he's otherwise been the Attitude era typical corporate heel against every top face on Raw for years. What the hell is he now? He wants to control the babyfaces to the point of submission and deference, but he's not….totally unreasonable or cruel, I guess. Should I hate him or not? Then Stephanie has been the most straightforwardly evil heel on the show for almost a decade and the biggest Attitude era ripoff of the evil Mcmahon figure, but now  she's…… a heel who has mellowed a bit? I mean, she's clearly not a face. Vince wants to shake things up and listen to the fans, so he's kind of a babyface…who just screwed over the top face. Now he's a full heel again too, I guess? 

All of this just feels like the Attitude era without the same clear commitment to the heel personas of the authority characters (or originality or momentum, but I digress). 

You should just be grateful that the McMahons grace us with their presence on TV, pal!  Look at how Vince shook things up and brought in all those new people, like the guy who jobbed to Dean Ambrose on Monday or the girl who stunk up the Rumble and then disappeared!  Those people!

Bryan vs KO


So, after seeing Kevin Owens vignette on Raw, he seems to be returning as a babyface and possibly on Smackdown. It's gotta be Bryan vs Owens at Mania, right? And you can even have Sami return, torn between his best friend and the fact that he agrees with everything Bryan is saying and doing. That's a storyline you can run for a while. 

I don't know if I'd be feeling that particular storyline.  Owens was such a flop as Universal champion that I don't really think sticking him into a World title program immediately upon his return would be something that people would buy into.  

The SmarK Rant for WWF Monday Night RAW–01.02.95

The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 01.02.95

Finally, we hit 1995 and get away from the dire ugliness of 1994. I have no idea how I slogged through these shows live at the time. At least there’s a slight visual change as the year starts, with the graphics and motif switching from red to blue to at least change things up a bit. Speaking of change, the Roku WWE app has now randomly switched to reverse chronological order for the archives, which now matches the other platforms. Just to keep me on my toes.  (2019 Scott Sez:  I don’t even watch on Roku anymore.  Now I’m strictly a laptop user and watch on PS4 on the rare occasions when I actually need to have it on the big screen.  Of course, who would want to, since it looks like crap on my massive 42” 4K TV anyway?) 

Read moreThe SmarK Rant for WWF Monday Night RAW–01.02.95

Rock Star Gary reflects on WCW Clash of the Champions XXV

Live from St. Petersburg, FL

Airdate:  November 10, 1993

Attendance:  6,000 (1,700 paid)

Hosted by Tony Schiavone & Jesse “The Body” Ventura

Can Flair regain the WCW World title? Will Hawk become World champion? What will be the result of the explosion of the Hollywood Blonds? Let’s find out!

Read moreRock Star Gary reflects on WCW Clash of the Champions XXV

Monday Night Raw – February 11, 2019

Monday Night Raw
Date: February 11, 2019
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

It’s the go home Raw before Elimination Chamber and, thanks to some announcements made earlier in the day, we now have some matches for Sunday from the red side. As for tonight, Becky Lynch has been invited to the show and Seth Rollins is ready to respond to Brock Lesnar after the beatdown from two weeks ago. Let’s get to it.

Read moreMonday Night Raw – February 11, 2019

Monday Night Open Mic

Howdy Blog O’Doomers!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Seemed like a pretty nice relaxing weekend and the weather was beautiful here.

Onto the shows. The build for the Elimination Chamber continues along with doubling up on the Road to Wrestlemania and there is so much left to be solved on both fronts. Becky is supposed to return and face the McMahons because the one thing this match needed with the McMahons. And Ronda Rousey is going to be defending her women’s title about Ruby Riott.

Mustafa Ali is out of the Smackdown Elimination Chamber with various injuries.

Three games in the NHL and nine in the Association round out the sports.

New episode of Arrow, new episode of The Bachelor, new episode of America’s Got Talent. All kinds of new episodes of TV for you to rot your brains with.

And this fun little video from about 20 years ago when Roddy Piper, Sting, Medusa and Bobby Heenan on Politically Incorrect.

Keep it clean!

Njpw what


After the absolutely stellar 2018 Njpw put out we now have Jay White as IWGP champion??? Really??? Gedo has to be telling one heck of a long form story to put the belt on White so soon…Okada redemption? Naito Ascension? 

I assume Gedo just REALLY wants to elevate someone to replace Omega at this point.  

Bryan vs. Miz


Without many options for Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania, why can’t Bryan vs. The Miz be an option?  How is Shane McMahon vs. The Miz possibly a better idea?

They’ve spent literally years building to Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz and now that they can actually do the match, they don’t.  Say what you will about Miz, but that’s at least a match that should have great heat and it just seems like a waste to not do it.


They already did that match last year.  Several times.  It wasn't great.