The SmarK Rant for TNA Impact – 02.28.13 Live from Orlando, FL, for the last time, right? Your hosts are Mike Tenay, Todd Keneley and Taz.

The Hardcore Diaries: Book Review. http://marianosaves.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/full-book-review-mick-foley-the-hardcore-diaries/

This week, we get to see the teams that will face off at Lethal Lockdown. Plus, Gut Check is back, with the rumor being that it will feature a former NXT Diva. Also, we get an interview with AJ Styles, making his first apeparance on television in two months.

NXT Date: February 27, 2013 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Commentators: William Regal, Tony Dawson Reviewed by Tommy Hall Back for another week here and we now have a new challenger for Langston in the form of Corey Graves. This is a good idea as Graves never got to have his title match due to the Shield interfering the first time. Other than that the main focus has actually been on the Divas division which works far better here than it does in WWE. Let's get to it.

Monday Nitro #108 Date: October 6, 1997 Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota Attendance: 14,357 Commentators: Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay Reviewed by Tommy Hall We’re about three weeks away from Halloween Havoc and the card is starting to take shape. We’re also less than three months away from Starrcade and the biggest match in company history. As for tonight, the main event is Benoit vs. Hennig, presumably for the US Title. Tonight is likely going to be all about building for the PPV, which could stand a bit more work at this point. Let’s get to it.

Speaking of this game, I used to play Touken Retsuden for HOURS on the modded PS1.  Good times.

Why not a tag-team tournament every year?  It puts the spotlight back on the tag titles and existing tag teams, and it also gives the writers lots of opportunities for wacky combinations where it actually has some consequence beyond a Raw or Smackdown match.  Plenty of possibilities there.  Maybe one guy in an established team decides to screw his partner and find a new one.  Maybe there's a superstar nobody wants to team up with because he's a jerk.  Maybe you do randomly selected teams to fill a couple of spots.  It just seems more interesting than another PPV full of rehashed stuff from the last three weeks of TV. I would lose my shit if they ever brought back the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament, but I honestly don't think they'd have enough teams to fill out the field unless they used thrown-together singles guys.  But holy shit, could you imagine a tournament with this field with say the winner declared tag champions, thus forcing Hell No to...

Hi, Scott.  I had a question that I thought might make an interesting topic on conversation for the blog.  I was recently watching the Randy Savage Anthology on Netflix, and around the time he became the Macho King he transitioned from the short trunks to long tights, which he kept for the rest of his career.  It got me thinking about wrestling tights in general.  Some wrestlers make a transition from trunks to long tights, like Savage or Hulk Hogan, others switch the other way, like Triple H or Chris Jericho.  Still others keep the same look for an entire career, like Edge, while others seem to constantly be changing, like the Undertaker, Kurt Angle, and more recently CM Punk. So my question(s) are: Who makes the call on switches like this?  Does Vince or whoever tell a wrestler what to wear, or do they have some input based on what they prefer to wrestle in?  The second part of my question is, which wrestler do you think had the best costume/tights?  My own vote would be for the ...

Topic for Blog: Assuming Benoit *doesn't* go batshit crazy... what was in his future? 1 yr, 5 yrs, ..10 years? HOF?  Immediate plans were winning the ECW title at that PPV, and then he was going to be phased into a role as a trainer and agent.  Obviously with the years of surgeries and injuries, WWE and Benoit himself had to know that his time was coming to an end one way or another.  You could make a pretty strong argument, and I recall doing so at the time, that he should have been moved into that part-timer role long before that even for his own good.  That being said, given what we know about his personality, I don't feel like he'd make that kind of transition as gracefully as someone like William Regal has done, because he was such a hyper-competitive guy.  But especially with the Wellness Policy weeding out medical problems like it was, I think his in-ring WWE career would have come to an end, whether or not by his own choice, very soon after that last title win.  I...

For those not offended by head and neck trauma, Masato Tanaka defending the Openweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii from New Japan, 2/3/13. Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW) by Jahmale_Hepburn How Tanaka is still going like this after 15+ years is a total mystery to me.

I know that CM Punk is now at a clear main event level right behind Cena as the company's number 2 guy, between the long title reign and getting to work two main events with The Rock. However, he lost both of those main events, lost last night against Cena on RAW for the WrestleMania title shot, and if he is indeed Undertaker's opponent at WrestleMania, that is four very high profile losses in a short span. Do you think that will damage CM Punk somewhat? And also I know after a long title reign you should do some jobs to return the favor, but aren't they then waisting that by using his losses on Undertaker and The Rock? (The Cena loss made sense storyline wise as he had to get over the hurdle of CM Punk on his way to overcoming The Rock at WrestleMania) Yeah, but losing two title matches to the Rock is the equivalent of beating Sheamus 18 times, or Dolph Ziggler 142 times.  It's just simple math. That being said, yeah, it's not ideal to beat Punk a bunch of times ...

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/18763/wwe-power-rankings-john-cena-climbs Not nearly as bad as I was expecting, as usually big market sites stick guys who are at best casual fans of the product into coverage like this.  This actually seems to be coming from a Smarky Smark.... one of us!  Hey, I'll take what I can get I somehow don't foresee the same level of nerd rage over these rankings as there has been from the MMA hardcores.  Like really, Dana White basically admits he just makes this shit up as he goes along and ignores rankings anyway.   By the way, Ronda Rousey is officially a bigger draw than anyone in WWE with the exception of the Wrestlemania name.  By about 200,000 buys, in fact.  Perhaps women's wrestling might make a comeback next.

July 28, 1984 Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Tony Garea The hosts run down the show, which includes the Iron Sheik, Tito Santana, Piper’s Pit, and the featured bout, Tiger Chung Lee vs. Jimmy Snuka

Hey Scott, Was bored on Friday night and watched The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling on  Netflix for a second time. Had a question  I  figured you could surely  answer. Why was Kerry Von Erich chosen to wrestle and beat Ric Flair for the NWA title on the David Von Erich Memorial show? Was Kevin too smart to put himself in a position to know he would be a lame duck champion (Flair won the title back 18 days later)? Or, was Kerry just that much more over than his brothers at the time?  Kerry was basically the backup plan for Hulkamania in Vince's mind, so yeah, he was that over.  That being said, I get the feeling that Kevin didn't particularly want it anyway.  Kerry could have totally carried the belt for a while if he was clean and dependable, but he wasn't, so c'est la vie.

Hi Scott, Been reading you for ten years. Thought you and the BOD might enjoy this: My wife met Adam Copeland here in Calgary yesterday at some meet and greet thing. He was incredibly nice and actually had a mini conversation with each person in line. My wife (who had given off no hint of smarkiness) was telling him that the night he money-in-the-banked Cena was one of her favorite moments as a fan. He then told her that although Vince supported his first title run, others in power did not. He proceeded to make a gesture indicating a person with a huge nose. Pinocchio?  Karl Malden?  Pete Townsend? I'm stumped.

http://marianosaves.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/full-book-review-ric-flair-to-be-the-man/ WHOOOOOO. I'd hate to be the guy duped into paying his bar tab tonight.

The SmarK RAW Rant – 02.25.13 Happy 8 th anniversary to me! I guess I have a very patient wife for putting up with 3 hours of this show every week. Live from Dallas,TX Your hosts are Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler

“For The Man Who Has Everything”

Some of you love to hate him. Some of you hate to love him. But he was the best thing going for a long time. Happy Birthday to Ric Flair! The champ turns 64 today. Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Well what a difference a week makes? Undertaker returns for house shows this past weekend and Jack Swagger gets popped for pot. The former has me intrigued. Was this a test run to see if his body could handle a physical match? Was all the talk about him being broken down just talk? How did the crowd respond (I am assuming they went ape shit)? If he is involved at Wrestlemania do they go ahead with the Punk match or go in a different direction (Mark Henry maybe? I know they have faced before but it seems like both guys would be a better fit this time around.) The latter has me intrigued too. This is a spot where the WWE could easily slam the door on Swagger but the outside heat the Swagger/Coulter package has received might force them to see it through. Either way I don't think they can put the title on him because he's just not a reliable guy. Of course it's just as easy to dump the pothead and go with Mark Henry in the same role. Mark Henry is American...hell he's an O...

> Hi Scott, > > Since you have been gracious enough to plug all kinds of things, I was wondering if you could plug my new mobile game Beam-Out!!!.  I can best describe the game as Star Trek meets Punch-Out!!.  The object of the game is to beam people out of bad situations.  I would be curious to see what the folks on the Blog of Doom think about it.  I'm also open to suggestions. > > It is available in the following stores: > > Apple iPhone, iPad: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beam-out!!!/id593765118?ls=1&mt=8 > Android (Google Play): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.grantster.beamout > Android (Amazon Appstore): http://www.amazon.com/GST-Computing-LLC-Beam-Out/dp/B00BHACNEI > Windows Phone: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/beam-out/c1100fc9-829e-4e26-a726-b107511ec7f8 > > I have also posted a lame YouTube demo at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liyLmrU45GE > > Thanks for your ...

I just noticed that the counter is almost at 8 million.  You know the deal, send me a screenshot if you hit it, and you can pick the next rant or “2013 Scott sez” deal. Morning Edit:  There were THREE people to e-mail me screenshots of the 8 millionth pageview counter, so presumably Paul Heyman paid off two of them, or else there's people even more desperate for attention than the Fuj.   Or Blogger is wacky, but the Heyman thing seems like the most likely. First one in was Vintage Gamer with a request for the first TNA weekly PPV, so maybe we'll go with that for the moment.

Hey Scott, I had an interesting take on something. I've been watching a lot of WWE PPVs lately from the month of December, and a lot of it is pretty darn good. I mean, December seems to have the reputation of a filler month PPV, and while there were some stinkers in there like 1998, 2003 and perhaps one of the worst PPVs of all time in 2004, I think it has delivered a handful of quality shows, moments and matches. For example: 95 - Bret/Bulldog 97 - Beginning of Rock/Stone Cold rivalry 99 - McMahon/Helmsley era begins, Jericho's first title win 00 - Six pack Hell in a Cell 01 - Undisputed title match series 02 - HBK/HHH 3 Stages of Hell, Benoit/Guerrero 05 - Taker/Orton Hell in a Cell 06 - Fatal 4 way tag team ladder match 07 - Edge/Batista/Taker, Jericho/Orton, HBK/Kennedy 08 - Edge/HHH/Hardy, Cena/Jericho, Orton/Batista, Mysterio/Punk 09-12 - I feel all 4 of the TLC PPVs have been very entertaining top to bottom cards and have provided a slew of great matches. In my opi...

From Wrestlefest 88, one of those “lost” supercards that doesn’t really get much love in the DVD era either.  I wouldn’t really call it a “great” match as such, but I liked it well enough and this was the Demos at the height of their powers as heels, fo shizzle.  Feel free to keep sending interesting Youtube links, everyone.

Mr. Keith,  Long time reader of yours. Just thought I'd share this with you if you didn't see it.   "Bruno Sammartino is expected to be a character in the WWE 14 video game in an attempt to draw from an older audience." From the 2/25 Observer   This is the funniest thing I've ever read in my life!     If you're gonna sell out, go all the way with it.  Just wait until Vince does something to piss him off again and then the lawsuits start, though.  

Hi Scott, Two questions. 1. I know that we all know that Cena/Rock 2 doesn't matter all that much - it's Mania and people but tickets for the brand name. My question is if they went Brock vs. Rock, with an entirely undefeated Lesnar for the year (no Cena loss) and Cena/Taker, how much would it effect the ppv buy rate? I just don't see this year performing as well based on the current matchups. 2. What matches do you really want to see as a fan? 1.  According to Meltzer, Brock v. Rock is already penciled in for Wrestlemania XXX, so there you go.  I think the buyrate is going to be the same either way, to be honest.  There's no real "superfight" to pop the buyrate massively higher, like the proposed UFC champion Brock v. Undertaker's streak match would have done.   2.  Of the current guys?  Cena v. Undertaker would have some awesome drama attached to it.  I want to see Batista come back and see him and Brock beat the living fuck out of each oth...

Hulk Hogan makes his return to television. Plus, Rick Rude continues to get under Jake Roberts skin.

Look at me, sharing Touts like a member of the WWE Universe.

Hey Scott,   Long-time fan, occasional commenter on the site, and have sent in some questions before. I've also bought a couple of your books in the past. And SPEAKING of books...   My first novel has just been released by Pro Se Pulp Press. They specialize in pulp-style stories like Doc Savage and The Shadow.   My novel, the first in a series I call The Armadillo Mysteries, is called The City of Smoke and Mirrors. Its star, Dilbert Pinkerton, is a mutant armadillo private detective. He digs for the truth. His first adventure takes him to Nevermore Bay, home of the mysterious vigilante, The Buzzard. The book is superhero detective fiction, heavily inspired by my favourite author, Simon R Green (who wrote the fantasy detective series, The Nightside). I've also been told that fans of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files will also like this.   Here's the Amazon link for the book, available both in print and digitally: http://www.amazon.com/The-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1J8NDGBrh4 Not terrible.  Nothing botched.  Nothing funny.  Just a very, very odd two minute match... Nothing that odd about it to me, aside from Zarda not really selling anything.

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/29933-wwe-undertaker-house-show-waco-texas-damien-sandow-wade-barrett-wrestlemania-cm-punk Well there you have it then.  Bet that crowd was going crazy.

Regular reader on the blog Was wondering your thoughts on Japanese Pro Wrestling. You rarely speak about Puro(aside from the occasional Tanahashi match) More specifically I was wondering your thoughts on Japanese Wrestling in the 1990's. Were you a fan? Did you like AJPW or NJPW better? Or do you think it's overrated?   Also where would you rank some of the top Japanese stars(Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, Jumbo, Liger, etc.) in terms of the Greatest Wrestlers ever? I'm not asking a numbered list or anything too crazy, just wondering your opinions on them. Thanks for (hopefully) answering my question, looking forward to hearing your response on the blog. My interest in Japan in the 90s was a pretty narrow subset consisting of New Japan Juniors and Michinoku Pro.  I was never a big fan of the AJPW "strong style" stuff, which was generally characterized as guys taking a piledriver and then seemingly hitting three clotheslines before selling the original move like ...

Latest book review on Chris Jericho's "Undisputed." You don't know what you are missing, Scott. Outstanding memoirs. http://marianosaves.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/full-book-review-chris-jericho-undisputed-how-to-become-world-champion-in-1372-easy-steps/ I'm sure I'll get around to them sometime, fear not.  

Thankfully that magician just showed the audience how he sawed his assistant in half, so I don't ever have to pay to see it again. — CM Punk (@CMPunk) February 23, 2013

OK, I think the Montreal Screwjob was a work. See, I think they're gonna reveal that John Cena was in on it all along, as he was part of the ring crew, and wanted Bret Hart out of the picture so he could start his rise. Now, when they bought WCW, they should have had Cena come out then as part of WCW's B-Team. So, a few months before the big Survivor Series blow off, John starts running through a ton of WWE's guys, and then turns around and says that he's the leader of of WCW now. When they get to SS, he takes out everyone on the team by himself, and that establishes himself as the top guy, but then turns around and says he's been WWE the whole time. Right there that makes The Invasion worth it. Now, with the up-coming WM29, they turn John Cena heel, and says that's REALLY been WCW all along, and taking out the Rock and winning the WWE title at WM will be his ultimate revenge, along with taking out their top champion and such via the Montreal Screwjob. Perfect w...

Hi Scott, Discussion for the blog: With the subtle hints that Bully Ray is just using Brooke to get to Hogan and then Hogan to get to the title, if he reveals that he's the mastermind behind A&8's  and that everything has been a big swerve just to get them control of the title, do you think that it would make all (or at least some) of the mediocrity worth it?  You could actually do some interesting things going forward, such as push Joseph Park to a more prominent position and really explore his moments of aggression.  His whole motivation would be that Bully Ray tricked him, which he doesn't like.  As simple as that seems, it fits perfectly with Parks' character (though I do fear that with the whole politicking thing, they're in danger of making him a caricature).  You'd obviously have some rematch stuff with Hardy, and then maybe Storm could get more involved in the title picture again.  I really think having Bully Ray be a strong heel champ till Bound for...

Welcome to This Week in the PTB Podcast! Episode 199: Survivor Series 1998 In this new episode of the PTB Podcast Vintage Vault, Scott and Justin are joined by Jay Hinchey to play the Deadly Game with a review of Survivor Series 1998. They talk about the Mankind, Al Snow, Ken Shamrock, Undertaker, Rock, Steve Austin and much, much more. So fire up this action packed episode, don your crown and join Scott, Justin & Jay for another edition of the PTB Podcast! Episode 200: PTB Variety Show Retrospective Scott & Justin have made it to Episode 200! Join them in a bit of self indulgence with this two year anniversary celebration as they relive their favorite memories, moments and episodes from their first two years on the air. They share some touching and funny comments from members of the nation and are joined by a few guests along the way as well. Finally, a heated long time PTB feud boils over with an epic battle. So, for longtime and brand new fans alike, enjoy th...

Smackdown Date: February 22, 2013 Location: Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, Mississippi Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield Reviewed by Tommy Hall Elimination Chamber is over and we've got our world title match from Smackdown set. Jack Swagger will be facing Alberto Del Rio, assuming he doesn't do something stupid like get arrested for driving under the influence and have marijuana found on him between now and then. Other than that.....actually there isn't much else confirmed right now. Let's get to it.

February 19, 2003 We see video clips of Raven in TNA starting from his debut. “Quoth the Raven, Nevermore” appears in red letters across the screen. They then switch over to AJ Styles and is focus on getting a shot at the Heavyweight Title. It then focuses on the never-ending feud between Jarrett and Russo. The package was lengthy and they use the worst music possible for the videos but it did a good job summarizing the key feuds in the company. Your hosts are Don West and Mike Tenay

Links New Swagger/Colter promos released (WrestlingInc.com) 'WWE has released three new promos from Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter via Zeb's "We The People" YouTube channel' -- Ryback heel turn..? (Wrestlezone.com) 'If WWE does in fact go through with the Ryback heel turn, he would likely feud with John Cena after WrestleMania.' -- WWE officials high on the Shield (Wrestlezone.com) 'Ambrose has been compared to the likes of Terry Funk, which considered a high compliment.'

Scott,     I'm watching old Clips of Raw and noticed Bastion Booger' old character Friar Ferguson. Now call me  crazy   but I thought this gimmick had wheels for a decent midcard act, and why would Vince cower to the Catholic Church the way he did? Vince challenged God to a tag team match and WON!  How can you say he was cowering?   Anyway, I think it might have had more to do with USA having issues with the character, but I'd have to pull up the WON from the time to tell you for sure because I didn't get RAW in 1993 and barely even remember the character before the switch to Bastion Booger.  Was he on those episodes I was reviewing on the online version?  

Scott, Hope all is well.  I needed to vent and would like yours and BoDs feedback on this.  I'm so sick of hearing about a Cena heel turn.  Yes, he sucks.  Yes, he's boring.  Yes, his poopy jokes and smirk/no selling is awful.  However, he's still their top full time face draw, moved a shitload of merchandise, and does all the company stuff required from a top star. Yea, a turn would draw money and open up endless feuds but who then becomes face 1?  Ryback?  Sheamus?  Everyone stop comparing it to the Hogan turn, the reason that went over so well is because (a) it was 2 DECADES in the making (b) Hall and Nash were the hottest act in wrestling. My question to you is...am I way off base on this?  Do you think Vince ever pulls the trigger on this in say the next few years?  Thanks Didn't you get the memo that we're not allowed to talk about Cena heel turns, Montreal conspiracies or Invasion rebooking anymore?   Anyway, yes, it will undoubtedly happen and ...

http://marianosaves.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/full-book-review-chirs-jericho-a-lions-tale-around-the-world-in-spandex/ My second full book review. Cannot wait for feedback. Thank you again for everything. Never did read this one, but my agent almost got me the job of ghostwriting it for Jericho.  Honestly, that would have been terrible for all involved.  

Scott, Thought you and the readers would like this. Best and Worst of WCW Publicity Shots There's another DVD right there.  

The SmarK Rant for TNA Impact – 02.21.13 Taped from London, England. Your hosts are Mike Tenay, Todd Keneley & Taz. What the heck was the point of the Taz turn, anyway? He does nothing outside of commentary and even that is basically the same.

NXT Date: February 20, 2013 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Commentators: Tom Phillips, William Regal Reviewed by Tommy Hall We’re back in Florida and we finally have some tag team champions in the form of Neville and Grey. The main story for tonight is the title match between Conor O’Brian and Big E. Langston which has been built up for weeks. Also I believe we find out who Sasha Banks’ secret admirer is, which would have been better suited for last week around Valentine’s Day but it’s not too far off. Let’s get to it.

Demolition Vs. The Legion Of Doom. Taped on: November 20th, 1990. City/State:  Syracuse, NY. Arena: Onondoga War Memorial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbqY3U8_Wn4 thehistoryofwwe.com lists the event as a Wrestling Challenge/Prime Time Wrestling taping, so I don't know if this match aired on Wrestling Challenge, and/or Prime Time first, or if it was filmed as a Coliseum Home Video exclusive match that never aired on TV (probably the latter).  I also don't know if this is the only taped match between these two teams (I'm guessing it isn't?). 

This week, the Womens and the X Division Titles are on the line. Plus, Hulk Hogan will name the #1 contender for the Heavyweight Title.

Links Court date set for Swagger (Wrestlezone.com) 'According to SunHerald.com, WWE star Jack Swagger, real name Donald Jacob Hager, is scheduled to appear in court on March 12th to face misdemeanor charges of speeding, driving under the influence, and possession of marijuana.' -- Take Two taking on some THQ staff, teams up Yukes with Visual Concepts 'As we have been reporting for the past few weeks, Take-Two has officially purchased the rights to the WWE Games franchise following the bankruptcy of former partner, THQ. The following is the official WWE press release on their partnership with Take-Two, and specifically with their 2K Sports Line.' -- Scott Hall's first message since arrival in Atlanta (WrestlingInc.com) "We took the video down because we wanted Scott to see it," Page admitted to me during a phone call this morning. "Scott has said to me that he's 'a low tech redneck' and doesn't get on the internet, and he...

http://gameological.com/2013/02/more-more-morehow-do-you-like-it/ I'm sure Microsoft will end up being no better, but this is a REALLY funny takedown of Sony's unveiling of nothing.  John Teti always brings the snark ("If your game as a colon in the title, it's probably not a new experience.") and this is no exception.  

http://www.wwe.com/inside/the-making-of-the-new-wwe-title-26092146 Pretty interesting story behind the new bel...er, *championship*, and why it took a year and a half to see the light of day. Two things stand out to me here: 1)  STAN STANSKI IS A REAL PERSON?!  I thought it was just a goofy name they came up with for that jobber. 2)  How is "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" an "inexact" term?  And yet "WWE Champion" is somehow more exact?  Only in the WWE Universe, I guess.   I also think it's funny that they spent $50,000 trying to find great concepts and thinking out of the box, but no one stopped to ask fans if it was something they'd like or even if the belt looked good.  Because if there's one group of people who understand wrestling belts, it's a bunch of middle aged marketing directors and toy executives.   But hey, better than the spinner belt at least.

Hey Scott, We just created a debate on the WrestleCrap.com daily survey question, and I'm curious as to how you and the BODers respond. Given all the bitching we do about WWE and their sanitized, kid-friendly form of entertainment, the product does seem effective in getting kids to cheer Cena, Santino, Hornswoggle, and the broad bathroom humor. Of course, we all have our childhood guilty pleasures, stuff we couldn't believe we found entertaining at that age. So the question: if you, Scott, were 8-10 years old today, and you watched WWE as it is now, given your sensibilities at that age, who would your favorite wrestler(s) be? For me, in 1991-93, I cheered for the spot monkey heels, like Perfect and Shawn, so my answer would have to be Dolph. I always cheered for the badass heels like the Four Horsemen and Randy Savage, so it’s likely that 10 year old Scott would be deeply into CM Punk and Brock Lesnar, although he’d probably be a little scared of Brock.  I’m sure Tyson Ki...

So obviously, the landscape has been littered with angles and feuds that went on for far too long. Cena/Orton, Kofi/Dolph, Ross/Rachel...but I wanted to ask: A) what great angles were the perfect length? For me, that was Batista and HHH; first, the slow six-month build to Wrestlemania, where they had small hints of Batista being disenchanted with HHH, then brief bouts of rebellion ("Now YOU are starting to piss me off!"), then the awesome thumbs-up, thumbs-down contract signing. And even with the shitty WM21 and Backlash matches, they had an AWESOME Cell blow-off that cemented Batista as a legit star. Perfect story arc that created a new main eventer in a great slow burn fashion (instead of deciding to do it out of nowhere just 'cause a la Miz). B) what potentially great angles did you wish panned out longer? The easy one for me is CM Punk winning the title in 2011. I agreed with bringing him back for Summerslam and not having him off TV for too long lest the momentum ...

Monday Nitro #107 Date: September 29, 1997 Location: DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko Reviewed by Tommy Hall We’re getting closer to Halloween Havoc and to the best of my memory, nothing has been officially set for the card yet. Hogan vs. Sting is starting to heat up as Piper is trying as hard as he can to get the match set by the end of the year. Other than that tonight we’re likely to get another appearance by Goldberg who debuted last week. Let’s get to it.

The Masked Reviewer recaps Elimination Chamber and discusses Wrestlemania XXX heading to his hometown of New Orleans.

Source Update: According to TMZ, the arrest was for DUI and marijuana possession.  There goes his push I'm guessing. Apparently Swagger was pulled over on an undisclosed traffic issue.  No word on if alcohol was involved or not and it appears to be a legit arrest rather than storyline based.  Also no word on what this means for Wrestlemania.

> People seem to be clamoring for FULL reviews of rasslin Bio's. Why not start with the best? http://marianosaves.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/full-book-review-bret-hart-hitman-my-real-life-in-the-cartoon-world-of-pro-wrestling/ Obviously one of my favorite wrestling books ever and an awesome reference material as well.

Links WWE gets a bashing for Colter character (HollywoodReporter.com) 'Conservative site Breitbart.com also noted several other videos online of the pair “talking about freeloading immigrants and welfare recipients in front of the Gadsden flag, which has become symbolic of the Tea Party.”' -- Austin gives update on Jake Roberts, praises DDP (Wrestlezone.com) 'Jake is in there, doing the DDP Yoga, cleaned up, and he's been sober for I don't know how long. His mind is back.' -- Santino undergoes procedure for neck injury (Wrestlezone.com) 'WWE Superstar Santino Marella, who has been sidelined recently with a minor neck injury, Tweeted this morning that he had undergone a successful procedure.'

A new wrestler makes his debut and several feuds heat up as the WWF enters the month of June in 1988.

http://shop.wwe.com/WWE-Championship-Replica-Title-Belt/W05070,default,pd.html?utm_source=WWE%20Shop&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=New%20WWE%20Championship%20Belt&utm_content=Spot%20A&utm_campaign=WWE%20Championship%20Belt I haven't actually had a chance to watch RAW yet, but I think the final version of the new belt could grow on me.  It's certainly not as horrific as the ugly spinner piece of crap, and the interchangeable plates are a clever idea.  And hey, $450s is a pretty reasonable price for an official replica belt.  Hopefully it won't clash with Cena's jorts too badly. Addendum:  As noted, I haven't watched either the PPV yet, but given they wanted to debut the new belt and Punk had possession of the old belt, am I the only one who can put two and two together?   Why did we not have a Curt Hennig tribute angle with a hammer or a Steve Austin tribute with a bridge?  Seems like it would fit perfectly with Punk's character right now....

July 23, 1984 Just wanted to say that I have received some copies of older house shows and TV shows besides Championship Wrestling that I will be incorporating into my reviews. This show, taking place 6 months after Hogan won the title from the Iron Sheik, is best known for the “Brawl to End it All” special that aired on MTV. That was a special with multiple interviews and clips. They also showed the Moolah vs. Richter match on the show too. The rest of the card was broadcasted on the MSG network. I watched the WWE 24/7 copy of this so Hogan’s and Richter’s themes were replaced. Your hosts are Gene Okerlund and Gorilla Monsoon

> CM punk and Brock Lesnar versus triple H and the Undertaker > > I know they will never do it but this is the perfect solution. If the undertaker is not up to a match you can  mask his problems in a tag team match. This one match has a lot of relevance. Continues HHH/Undertaker story, both Heymans guys tag up. Can set up Brock/taker for next year and Brock/punk down the road. Also takes care of us fans who have no interest in seeing triple H Brock one on one again. When was the last time we saw great tagteam match between four top guys that had a lot of relevance to the storylines. They really need to do this. > > Oh!  And Teddy Long can come out at the beginning of the show and be like "Hold on playa, we gonna have a tag match!"  It'll be AWESOME.

Apologies for this being late today, folks. Big personal issue went down today and i've only just remembered.. Links Scott Hall makes it to Atlanta (Wrestlezone.com) 'Scott Hall did in fact make the trip to Atlanta to begin living with DDP and Jake Roberts.' -- New WWE 'title belt' without Brahma bullshit (Wrestlezone.com) 'WrestlingSuperstore.com has posted a photo of the new WWE Title belt debuted on Raw tonight, and the belt is featured without the personalized Brahma Bull side plates.' -- Positive vibes after Elimination Chamber (Wrestlezone.com) 'According to PWInsider.com, the backstage feel after WWE Elimination Chamber was nothing but positive responses.'

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: < amarone007@verizon.net > Date: Feb 8, 2013 2:33 PM Subject: Ghostwritten Wrestling Biographies To: < skeith@gmail.com > Cc: Hi Scott, this is the author of marianosaves.wordpress.com . I wish to thank you for all the plugs you have given me in the last couple of weeks, as it has really "Strapped the rocket" to my fledgling little blog. The last plug you gave, my articles on the best and worst wrestling biographies, seems to have struck a nerve with a good many of the readers of your blog, so, as a followup piece, I have written an article on my personal five favorite wrestling bio's with the aid of a ghostwriter, which can be found here: http://marianosaves.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/the-5-best-ghostwritten-wrestling-biographies/ I wish to thank you again for the plugs, and I hope this article can stir up similar interest as the last.

> Scott, > > In the same vein of Match of the Day may I present Skit of the Day with Mene Gene, Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji going out to dinner at Benihana's. I can only imagine the tab for that! > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i90q3SpMdFc

Well I hope everyone had a good weekend, for many of us it was of the three-day variety. I saw most of the Elimination Chamber and it was all right I guess. The six-man was obviously the highlight as it was brilliantly booked and I like the ring generalship of The Shield. After one big double-team move Rollins slid out the ring and gave a premature celebration. A minor thing but it's that sort of enthusiasm for ass kicking that I enjoy. My husband actually called a Ryback heel turn during the match but the after match walk off all but spells out John Cena's opponent at Extreme Rulez. The chamber match was fine although a little slow in spots. I was starting to warm up to a Orton-ADR face-on-face clash because I think they could work a pretty good match with each other but instead we get Jack Swagger v4.1 or so. Maybe Dutch Mantel is going to be the difference. I don't mind the fact that someone smarted up and got Jack a mouthpiece. Rock-Punk was watchable. They actually did...

Front page of the Tampa Bay Times website. http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/food/dining/hogans-beach-restaurant-in-tampa-needs-some-heavy-lifting/1275626 My love of train wrecks had me curious enough to beg my better half to check this place out several times but he refuses to go. Sadly this review won't change his mind.

Waiting for the Trade by Bill Miller   Fear Itself: Deadpool and the Fearsome Four by Christopher Hastings and Brandon Montclare collects Fear Itself: Deadpool 1-3 and Fear Itself: Fearsome Four 1-4   Why I Bought This: I was buying Fear Itself tie-in trades from the discount bin of my favorite local comic store and this one had an unusual team-up story, which can be fun when done well.   The Plot: When Deadpool learns about the magic hammers in Fear Itself he decides to play a trick on D-list super-villain the Walrus. Howard the Duck assembles an unlikely group of heroes in a bid to prevent the Man-Thing from exploding since the Man-Thing normally absorbs fear to empower his mystic energies.

Links Big Swagger/Dutch promo set for Raw tonight (Wrestlinginc.com) 'Colter talked about how Swagger had one of the greatest matches of his career in the Chamber. Zeb revealed that they will give a President's Day State of the Union address on tonight's RAW.' -- Madden on 'B+ wrestlers' (Wrestlezone.com) 'Bret Hart’s blistering critique of Triple H is ironic considering Triple H is exactly the same as Hart: A B-plus wrestler.' -- JR full of praise for Dolph during Elimination Chamber PPV (Wrestlinginc.com) 'Jim Ross had high praise for Dolph Ziggler during last night's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, comparing him to Curt Hennig, Billy Gunn and Shawn Michaels'

People always say that, in his prime, Ric Flair could carry a broomstick to a *** match, but was that really true?  Let's find out with this NWA title defense against Sam Anoa' (Siva Afi) from 1986. Is it better than the Bryan/Punk borefest from Over The Limit?  Judge for yourself! Punk-Bryan was a fantastic match that drew me in even knowing the result months later and one which I would easily give *****, so I don’t think this was better.  But Flair is still miraculous most of the time.

http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2013/02/wrestlemania_30_coming_to_new.html  I'm sure many of you disagree. But being a New Orleans native, I'm really damn excited for this.

Waiting for the Trade by Bill Miller   Villains For Hire: Knight Takes King By Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning Collects Villains for Hire 0-4.   Why I Bought This: It showed up the discount bin of my favorite local comic shop. I tend to like the occasional limited series from the villains’ perspective anyway, and this one is written by DnA, who earned a lot of points with me for their work on Guardians of the Galaxy.   The Plot: When Misty Knight learns the Purple Man is putting together a crew of super-villains in a bid for underworld dominance she decides to secretly put together a rival crew of villains to muddy the waters and foil his plan.  

I’ve been pre-posting to the blog with some stuff, including this thread, because I’m actually out of town for what is a long weekend here in Saskatchewan and I won’t be around to review the PPV or RAW on Monday, so feel free to discuss the show here!  And hopefully no one dies while I’m gone.

It’s the first show from a new round of TV tapings, and the last taping from Baltimore for a while, as starting next month ROH will be doing TV tapings the night after the PPVs in the same arena.

Scott, Do you think Dusty Rhodes could have been something more during his WWF run?  Vince obviously had it in for Dusty and saddled him with the polka dots and general goofiness, but do you think he could have had a greater impact?  Feuding with Savage made sense, but he never really did anything else. I think he pretty much exceeded what his potential should have been given his age and Vince’s hatred of him.  Dusty was never going to be a top guy given his look and history, and he almost was, so good for him.  I don’t think that realistically anyone in 1990 was going to buy him as a serious challenger to the WWF title or anything, but headlining C-shows against Dibiase or Savage?  Totally fine.  Dusty made a shit-ton of money from merchandise and got to rub it in Vince’s face before getting fired, so everyone was happy.

Hi Scott, Super longtime fan of your work, love reading and rereading your PPV rants in the years I wasn't an active Wrestling watcher.  Been talking with my brother about Triple H whom he never really liked as a wrestler or from what we've all heard backstage.  I admit to enjoying his run as you did in 2000 putting on phenomenal matches with Rock and Foley. Is it fair to say Triple H is this generations Hulk Hogan?  Definitely a more able bodied wrestler with the right worker but I can't recall another wrestler in the last 25 plus years who so thoroughly put himself over any and everyone as a heel AND face.  Had programs with both Randy Orton and Chris Jericho and dominated them on both sides of the spectrum, put himself over Rock at 'Mania, and just tons of other examples I can't remember.  I'm aware there was a time he was the only top name left after Austin and Rock departed but that's time he definitely should have been willing to give certain up and ...

Links JR predicts 'major upset' for Elimination Chamber (Wrestlinginc.com) 'Jim Ross posted his latest blog at JRSBBQ.com giving his predictions for tomorrow's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Ross went out on a limb and picked a dark horse to win the Elimination Chamber match.' -- Christian cleared for return (Wrestlinginc.com) 'Christian has been medically cleared to return to action.' -- TNA rating drops again (Wrestlezone.com) 'This week's episode of TNA Impact Wrestling saw an 8% drop in viewership.'

You ever seen this? Just came across it myself on YouTube. It was apparently taped for the Japanese audience by NWA-JCP. YouTube blows my fucking mind on a regular basis.  Kind of like that awesome ****1/2 Punk-Bryan match blew my mind.

question for you or the blog:   Why does the E continue to use those ooollld CRT monitors at the announcers' desks when I'd imagine it's now easier/cheaper to use a small, flat-panel monitor?  I'm surprised that they're even still produced. That is a darn good question.  Maybe they have a huge supply of them from years ago and they're just really durable and haven't needed to be replaced yet?  Or maybe it's for visual impact when they tear up the table?  I don't know, even TNA uses LCD ones now.   Anyone have insight on that one?

> I might've missed something, but is there a reason why Madison Square Garden is not being mentioned as a potential site for Wrestlemania 30? I mean, from the first Wrestlemania, then Wrestlemania 20, I would think the "tradition" would continue. My guess would be that Vince would rather make 50 bazillion dollars on the stadium gate, but I'm no financial wizard.

From: "Matt Brown" > Home gym equipment specifically advertised as his: > > http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales/391659.aspx > > Same auctioneer, same "home" location, so maybe his stuff as well. Seems likely, especially based on the DVD and game collection: > > http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales/391635.aspx > > He's finally tired of flying out of St. Louis' shithole airport, I guess. Hope he isn't selling used gym bags. 

 Taking a look back at CM Punk's first and only ROH World Championship run.

In this day and age, are PPV payouts still at the whim of Vince McMahon or have guidelines ever been given to the wrestlers? On a similar note, what is the most lopsided payout you are aware of in a main event (I remember Rick Rude quit over his 1990 payout vs. the Warrior's) Some of the payouts are written right into contracts (like the tippy top guys), most are at the whims of the WWE machine.  Notably as of late the company has been playing games with the numbers to take payoffs away from guys and move the money to other divisions that are losing money.  Even when guys like Punk and Bryan put on a **** classic at Over the Limit, they can get screwed out of a main event payoff.   As for lopsided payouts, I think Hogan-Earthquake was pretty much weighted only in Hulk's direction.  Rock-Cena was I think also pretty lopsided in that Rock made MILLIONS for one match and Cena probably just a single million for it.    

Links Porn star denies Cena fling (Wrestlezone.com) 'Adult film star Kendra Lust, who was rumored to be having an affair with WWE star John Cena for a year while he was still married, has denied the rumor by issuing a statement to CageSideSeats.com.' -- DX/HOF update (Wrestlezone.com) 'We had reported prior to the announcement of Bruno Sammartino going into the Hall of Fame at Madison Square Garden that D-Generation X was the front-runner to join Mick Foley on top of this year's class.' -- Nash gives fans his thoughts on the Hall situation (Wrestlezone.com)

Hey Scott, long time reader, love your work. I got a question about Mohammed Hassan. He debuted in the WWE around 2004 or so, they introduced the character & I seem to remember he got pretty over, but then I guess the character or storyline got too controversial or too out of hand. They felt pressure from I guess the media or whoever, so they pussied out and killed the character. My question is do you know what the original plans or goals were with him? What were they exactly trying to do with him, what was their motivation?   My biggest problem was that they made him a heel when to me he should have been a face or at least had all the workings of a face. Seriously he was an Arab AMERICAN (they even billed him from Detroit Michigan) living in a post 9/11 World where he gets discriminated against & hated JUST BECAUSE he's of Arab descent. Now he's upset & frustrated by the way he's treated in society, because now he's paying the price of some Arabs that...