October 6, 1984 Side note: Last week, I said I was going to review Tuesday Night Titans but the version on YouTube was incomplete. I have the next several shows of Maple Leaf Wrestling, which was the Canadian version of All-Star Wrestling, to review. I do not have any Championship Wrestling episodes left for 1984 besides the 10/21 show, but I do have some TNT shows and the November and December MSG shows too. I have all of the Championship Wrestling shows from 1985 and 1986 with all the PPV's, Saturday Night Main Events, and various house shows and episodes of Prime Time Wrestling to review as well.   Your hosts are Angelo Mosca and Jack Reynolds, truly a dream combination.

by Logan Scisco - Jim Ross and Jim Cornette are in the booth for tonight’s show.  Location of the taping is not given. - Ross interviews Shawn Michaels, who brings out the dented chair he hit the Undertaker with eleven days ago on RAW.  He says that the WWF pushed him into a corner so he had to respond with radical methods and he will not lay down and die for the Undertaker at Ground Zero.  He then claims that if the Undertaker does knock him down at Ground Zero that he will take down everyone with him in a blaze of glory.  After the crowd gets on him about his sexuality, Michaels threatens to go into the crowd and do some vile things to people’s girlfriends and mothers.  This was a solid promo that hyped the Ground Zero match and explained Michaels recent motivations.

Scott, The "Randy Savage banged Stephanie McMahon" thing has become a bit of an urban legend in internet circles, but do you know where the story originated?  Is it something that just sort of took on its own life as a rumor, or did a specific person/story start the whole thing?   As a random Macho-related bonus, what do you think was Randy's last great match?   I don't think any one person in particular started it, and I know it wasn't around as a rumor until well after he was retired.   I'd call the Flair cage match at Superbrawl 6 his last great one, although the DDP matches in 97 were really really good.   We'll just go with the DDP one.  Everything after that was pretty worthless, especially once he got into the Macho Pimp era and couldn't hit the flying elbow without breaking his opponent's ribs.  

Hey Scott, Any idea why King Kong Bundy never appears for any WWE nostalgia shows? Apparently, he's not even in the HoF? I dunno, because he's a REALLY funny guy and would probably fit in well with their wacky backstage skits and would do a hell of a HOF speech to boot.  He absolutely would warrant inclusion.  I don't think there's any bad blood, either.  Maybe he's reading this and can enlighten us.

The SmarK RAW Rant – 04.29.13 I’ve noticed that my “Worst of Wrestling” Kindle book at 99 cents is by far the most popular one, so I dropped the price on almost all the other ones to 99 cents as well in case you want to give them a go. As a special promotion, the 2003 compilation will be FREE from May 1 – May 5, and the Worst of Wrestling will be FREE from May 5 – May 10, so you can try either of those out without shelling anything out. I’m probably going to try this as a pricing model now, where I’ll give them a few months at full price and then drop them later on. The new prices and promotion should come into effect tomorrow, and the full list of what’s available is here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Scott's+blog+of+doom&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3AScott's+blog+of+doom&ajr=0 Live from Columbus OH Your hosts are Michael Cole, JBL & Jerry Lawler

Hello Blog O'Doomers. I always enjoy a fight that Chael Sonnen loses. It was especially funny because Chael was deep into his antics as Jones is patiently doing his thing...stretching, praying, kissing his family and then he walks in the octagon and beats his ass. That's what I want out of my top fighters, no frills, no time for your games, just wait until the bell and I'll break my toe while kicking your ass. I'm sure Dana White the huckster promoter was hoping Sonnen survived the last 30 seconds for the controversy of gifting his biggest loudmouth a title he didn't deserve, but Dana White the guy that works hard to promote UFC as more legit than boxing is happy things finished the way they did because it was clear from the first take down that Jones v. Sonnen was an epic mismatch. That being said I'm shocked Vince hasn't tried to talk to Sonnen already. He seems to envision himself as a sports entertainer. I mean sure his shtick is mostly regurgitated from...

---------- Forwarded message - > Hi Scott, > > I hope that all is well. I know this isn't your bag, but currently working on re-launching a roleplay based online promotion, focusing on wrestling during the 1980s and 90s. > > I hope that you might plug it on the blog - perhaps some of your readers would be interested in participating. The (still bare) site is here: theuwa.blogspot.com > > A little info on our goal: > > > 'We are currently working on re-launching the famed United Wrestling Alliance that dominated online roleplay wrestling in the late 1990s. >   > The UWA is a roleplay based wrestling fantasy league. There is a weekly television show, as well as a calendar of ten pay per view events per calendar year. Roleplay is the key to the UWA, and your participation relies on sending one 'promo' per week as your selected wrestler. These promos are then 'scored' on a scale of 1-10, and your points f...

---------- Forwarded message -------- > Hi Scott, > > I hope that all is well. I know this isn't your bag, but currently working on re-launching a roleplay based online promotion, focusing on wrestling during the 1980s and 90s. > > I hope that you might plug it on the blog - perhaps some of your readers would be interested in participating. The (still bare) site is here: theuwa.blogspot.com > > A little info on our goal: > > > 'We are currently working on re-launching the famed United Wrestling Alliance that dominated online roleplay wrestling in the late 1990s. >   > The UWA is a roleplay based wrestling fantasy league. There is a weekly television show, as well as a calendar of ten pay per view events per calendar year. Roleplay is the key to the UWA, and your participation relies on sending one 'promo' per week as your selected wrestler. These promos are then 'scored' on a scale of 1-10, and your p...

Due to request, Caliber's 2013 Tour of the Classics is making a stop at Halloween Havoc 1989.

April 16, 2003 Your hosts are Don West and Mike Tenay A video recap of last week’s events start things off. This includes the alliance between Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes, the conflict between AMW, the feud between AJ Styles and Glen Gilbertti, David Young turning on Athena and joining SEX, Conflict between Kid Kash and Trinity, and Jeff Jarrett acting paranoid and accidentally knocking out Dusty Rhodes to close the show.

Via the Torch He's so REAL and Vulnerable and shit like that.

I'm a longtime reader and I have a question about television ratings. Why does the WWE care so much about ratings for Raw? Now obviously I know that higher ratings equal higher advertisement dollars. But let's say that Raw averages a 3.0 rating over the last 12 months. When a big show like the 1000th episode of Raw or the night after the Royal Rumble and The Rock's title celebration pops a big number, everyone acts as if the WWE should be so excited. But surely one big rating can't affect the amount the WWE can charge to advertisers for spots in subsequent weeks right? It seems to me while although the days of 6.0 and 7.0 ratings are long gone, Raw is still one of the highest rated cable programs. Especially in the coveted 18 to 49 male demographic. So with the days of the Monday Night Wars long in the past and no danger of Raw being canceled, why are high or low ratings met with such discussion? WWE basically makes all their revenue off TV...

Hey Scott, In light of Bret's recent comments about Triple H not being a great wrestler, how about a blog topic on the dumbest/most ludicrous things to leave a wrestlers mouth outside of the show. Hogan probably wins this one easily, since you know he slammed That 950 pound stinky smelly wart infested Andre at Wrestlemania 3, killing him dead before Andre had a chance to shoot on him and take the Title brother! What's your favorite line/ who is your favorite fibber? My "favorites" tend to be the ones these days where guys try to sell WWE as wholesome entertainment, untainted by drugs or partying because the guys are most interested in playing video games in their hotel rooms instead of scoring blow like in the bad old days.  You know, the bad old days of the early 2000s.  I have no doubt that the atmosphere is much less toxic now, and for the better, but as long as guys are paying the "pot tax" and working with two strikes, they're basically ...

Heya Scott, Happy Superbowl Sunday!  Anyway, coupla blog related questions that I think could be mighty interesting. 1. I was watching the rumble BEFORE MY FUCKING FEED CUT OUT RIGHT BEFORE THE MAIN EVENT, and noticed in one of the packages that the WWE is now doing Comic-con esque "Shoot" panels (I can't remember the name). Personally I think this is a great idea, but is also sorta killing Kayfabe (not that it exists that much anymore, anyway). Anyway, what are your thoughts on these sorta panels, and have they been going on for awhile and I've just missed them, or are they new? I certainly had never heard of doing them before the Rumble ones. It's a great way to undercut the guys who are doing SHOOT INTERVIEWZ on DVD so I'm surprised WWE hasn't tried to get a piece of that pie sooner.  So now of course we'll never get another one.   2. So it seems like the WWE is doing what it did in the pre-attitude era, trying to indoctrinate kids with cartoo...

> Scott, > > Can we get one tonight? > I'll think about it.

Worry not, it's spoiler free.

> Hey Scott: It's been a while since you've talked about UFC. Have you given up your MMA fandom or are you dialed back to casual fandom? I would have figured that you might have something to say about the fight tonight: Jon Jones vs Chael Sonnen promises to be an interesting fight, if only to see Jones kick the crap out of Sonnen and hear how he'll try to spin it to keep his career going. > > -- Promotion for this one has been pretty low key by the standards of both guys.  I'm not really into this one as a result.  Especially considering you've got the shit-talking triumvirate of Bisping, Sonnen, and Roy Nelson out there. I think Chael can still talk his way into one last big fight win or lose. 

Hey Scott. This was tweeted by The Rock earlier today: " Mania may have been my last match. The 3 year goal was to come in & elevate the @WWE. Then proudly "do the honors". #RockTalk" So, yeah. Rock's probably done. Again.  Any thoughts? I made my peace with him leaving in 2004 and everything else is just gravy anyway.  

Hey Scott, it's PeteZahut from the blog comment section. I was curious if you have watched any episodes of Big Brother Canada? There was a contestant that got evicted recently named Peter. Peter is an avid Pro Wrestling fan and references CM Punk multiple times throughout the show including his exit speech by sitting Indian style, drawing in the sand, and even calling him and his friend from the game Alec (also evicted) the Shyled (spelled that way for some stupid reason). They even use the phrase "believe in the Shyeld.  Keep up the hardwork man. We love you! It's Shyeld with a "Y" because Y Not, Bro?  No, really. Yeah, I've mentioned this season of BB a couple of times on the blog now, but I'm a hardcore Big Brother fan and I've been watching BBCan, of course.  Although the ENDLESS Jillian and Emmett HOHs (they've literally alternated something like 5 or 6 times now leading up to the finish) has sucked all the drama and entertainment away.  ...

Jerry Lawler has certainly experienced a lifetime in the last seven months. It was an absolutely surreal moment when "The King" suffered a near fatal heart attack on air at the September 10, 2012 Raw. He defied the odds, pulled down the strap, and made a remarkable recovery. With all those fuzzy feelings fostering inside me for the King, I felt I would be inclined to give Jerry Lawler's biography a good rating, figured I would enjoy the book and the remarkable journey of a remarkable wrestler and personality. I was wrong.

Smackdown Date: April 26, 2013 Location: O2 Arena, London, England Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield Reviewed by Tommy Hall We're still in London and still in the 02 Arena for the blue WWE show. The main event tonight is a rare singles match on free TV for the Undertaker as he faces Dean Ambrose of the Shield. Other than that we've got Swagger vs. Del Rio in a No DQ match which should be good if it's anything like last week's match. Let's get to it.

Hey Scott, Knuckleberry Pinn from the blog here. I just have a specific question about Bret that surprisingly doesn't involve politics or Montreal. Bret's pinfall covers involved him usually laying across the shoulders, but on many occasions, the commentators (especially Gorilla Monsoon) would talk about how nonchalant and uncharacteristic of Bret this was. Was there never any communication where one party could say to the other "your covers are coming across as lame, can you hook the leg?", or "this is how I've been taught to pin a guy, mind changing the commentary up?" Thanks for the insight, and keep up all the great work. That is a frighteningly specific question.   OK, here's the deal with pinfalls, because Lance Storm was raging about the subject a few months ago.  Basically guys develop their own style from training onwards, and someone like Lance always tries to instill a sense of "realness" by getting his trainees to ...

Hey Scott, Been reading since the 90s, first time writing… So I just got back from day 1 of the Calgary Comic Expo,  and I paid $20 to meet Bret Hart and get his autograph. I'm just wondering if you or any of your blog readers have had any interactions with Bret. Because I wasn't very impressed. He seemed completely disinterested and unengaged. Now I'm not asking to be best friends or anything, but I just paid money to stand in line to meet you, so at least acknowledge my presence. Are my expectations way off here? I met a number of other "stars" at the Expo, and they were all very pleasant and had smiles and met the eye of the people who were paying their hard-earned money to be there. Has anyone had a different experience with Bret, or is he just plain miserable in life? Thanks! Well, when I met DDP at the Comic Expo a couple of years ago and he was VERY chatty and accommodating, even for the 15 seconds or so that I was around.  Bret's always b...

> So I was just watching For All Mankind when I saw that Shane Douglas appears as a talking head early in the doc. It's obviously a new video, too, shot for the documentary. Is this his first appearance on a WWE release aside from old footage? Yup, dude's been basically blacklisted since he tried to jump with the Radicalz and then "changed his mind."  I'm pretty surprised actually.

Waiting for the Trade   by Bill Miller   Avengers Assemble by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley collects Avengers Assemble #1-8 Why I Bought This: Created in the wake of the film, this features the team from the film taking on Thanos. Despite my distrust of Bendis, I couldn’t wait to read this and as soon as it was collected in trade earlier this year, I ordered it from Amazon. That it also features Mark Bagley’s art and the Guardians of the Galaxy is just gravy. The Plot: Thanos hires the Zodiac to steal items of cosmic power found on Earth and it’s up to the Avengers to stop him.

> Welcome to This Week in the PTB Podcast! > > Episode 211: Christopher Daniels > > In this new episode of the PTB Podcast, Scott & Justin are joined by the great Christopher Daniels of TNA Wrestling. > > Chris chats about his early days in the business, his time training, travelling the world, his time in WWF, WCW, ROH and his current run in TNA. He also shares his thoughts on Vince Russo, Kurt Angle, Curry Man and much more. > > So kick back and join Scott, Justin and Christopher because it is time for another edition of the PTB Podcast! > > > Episode 215: Backlash 1999 > > In this new episode of the PTB Podcast Vintage Vault, Scott & Justin head to JR's home office of Providence with a review of Backlash 1999. They discuss the Ministry, Al Snow, New Age Outlaws, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, Rock and much more. > > After the review, they run through the rules of the Second Annual PTB Trivia Tour...

The SmarK Rant for TNA Impact – 04.25.13 Live from Indiana, PA Your hosts are Todd Keneley, Tazz and Mike Tenay

NXT Date: April 24, 2013 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Commentators: Tony Phillips, William Regal Reviewed by Tommy Hall If my memory is correct tonight we've got the Clash of the Champions, which means four title matches and I don't think anything else. We've got Maddox challenging Langston for the NXT Title, Kaitlyn defending against AJ Lee, Cesaro (no longer champion) defending against someone and Barrett defending against Bo Dallas. Hopefully the show isn't horrible like the last time it was mostly main roster guys. Let's get to it.

Hi Scott, This might be the only televised one-on-one match between both wrestlers. This looks like a it took place at the Boston Garden in 1987. Hulk Hogan vs Ravishing Rick Rude-WWF Title by TSteck160 Pretty sure I reviewed this one on a Coliseum Video rant, but yeah, they only had a very few matches because they had heat or something.  Maybe Rude airbrushed Brooke onto his tights and Hogan got jealous, one never knows.

Matches announced for this week are: Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez vs. Austin Aries & Bobby Roode for the Tag-Team Titles Velvey Sky vs. Mickie James for the Knockouts Title Plus, Bully Ray calls out Hulk Hogan

> http://www.examiner.com/article/actor-tommy-lister-aka-tiny-and-zeus-charged-with-mortgage-fraud?cid=db_articles&goback=%2Enmp_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1 > Man, first Mike Samuda and now Zeus.

> Apparently the preliminary buyrate for WM is around 1.2 million and well below the record-breaking number expected from Celebrity Tweeting (c) and Compelling Story Factor.  > > Thoughts? Still nothing to sneeze at.  The record is 1.25 so it's not far off that.

Variety stated that WM29 brought in 1.2 million buys. The WWE has announced that this was their most profitable WM ever, bringing in excess of $72 million dollars.

The Masked Reviewer counts down his favorite wrestling cartoons.

Monday Nitro #116 Date: December 1, 1997 Location: Knoxville Civic Auditorium, Knoxville, Tennessee Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko Reviewed by Tommy Hall We’re less than a month away from Starrcade and Hogan is running out of time. Last week the NWO got to beat up another Sting mannequin because they have nothing else to do anymore. As for tonight we’ve got DDP vs. Hennig again which will likely set up the US Title match for the PPV. Let’s get to it.

Diamond Dallas Page is a unique character, and the opinions on DDP as a wrestler tend to vary greatly. Some see him as nothing but a hack and shameless self promoter who only ascended to main event status because of friends in high places (or in this case, next door). Some see him as the ultimate underdog, a man who started wrestling relatively late in life and, through sheer effort and work ethic, ascended to the top of the industry. Some see him as an overwhelmingly positive influence who is willing to do anything to help anyone, particularly his friends. So who is the REAL DDP?

The SmarK DVD Rant for Star Trek The Next Generation: Season Three So because Paramount is awesome, they have resumed sending me the Blu Ray seasons of Star Trek The Next Generation again after skipping season 2 (and if there was any season to skip, it’s THAT one), and I even got a little bonus with this set! I love these remastered sets SO MUCH, especially when you watch an episode on Blu-Ray and then switch over to Netflix to compare, and the difference is amazing. The original version looks washed-out and grainy, whereas the new one could fit onto TV today aside from the aspect ratio. I really wish that the series had originally been shot with 16x9 framing, but as has been explained by the directors several times now, there’s just too many light stands and makeup artists standing in the open matte frame to make it work, plus all the effects shots were composed for 4x3 and you’d have to basically redo them all from scratch.  

Now that the rumors are swirling that Rock might have wrestled his last match it got me thinking about the "bigger picture" that Rock alluded to in interviews. What was it really? Was it to simply "pass the torch" to Cena (one that many argue wasn't Rock's to pass anyway)? Or was it to boost business short term under the guise that it would reap benefits for the long term? Lastly do you think that this last run soured people on The Rock because as you put it "people saw through what he was doing?" Is this like gang up on the Rock day or something?   I think the bigger picture was supposed to be boosting business by, as you noted, passing the torch to Cena, which is like Andre "passing the torch" to Hogan three years into his World title reign.  The torch was already taken long ago.  If anything, Rock passed the torch to Brock Lesnar in 2002, and then Brock pawned it to fund his lawsuit against WWE.  Credit to Rock for wanting to d...

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Director_Michael_Bay_Says_The_Rock_Needs_to_Grow_Up_and_Stop_Wrestling.html He has a point. Rock needs to decide which he wants to do- wrestle, or act.   Pick one, and stick with it.  I hope he just stays of WWE TV for good and goes back to doing crappy-but-profitable movies. I'm beyond sick to death of his tired, worn-out late-90's/early-2000's mad-libs promos and mediocre in-ring work when we could be seeing younger talent being pushed instead of a part-time novelty act.  Hogan never learned to just bow out gracefully and apparently The Rock can't either. Just go the fuck away, Dwayne and take your tired schtick with you. Hey now, let's not say something we can't take back.  Rock's return was disappointing, but a disappointing Rock is still better than 90% of the roster.  That being said, if he's tearing muscles off his bones, he shouldn't be wrestling anymore, and he certainly shouldn't be wr...

Hey Scott,   I don't know what to say about this. I'll just say it involves pictures of the Fabulous Ones. If you still want to click, you do so at your own risk.   http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-10-greatest-wrestler-glamour-shots-all-time/ You know what's sad/funny is that I got about halfway through that list and I was thinking "Man, if this guy thinks these PICTURES look gay, he should see the VIDEOS they used to put out." and then we got to the end of the list and I laughed even harder as a result. Just think -- Skinner used to be half of a cheesecake babyface team.  

I've decided to take a trip through the classics. First stop, The Great American Bash 1989.

The SmarK DVD Rant for The Best of WWE In Your House (Blu-Ray) As a warning, this may be the laziest rant I’ve ever done. For those wanting to skip ahead to the new material, I’ll be redoing the No Way Out 8-man tag, the Final Four four-way match, Ken Shamrock v Mankind from Judgment Day, and Austin v. Bret from Revenge of the Taker. I figure that if WWE can’t be more imaginative than including the same matches they put on all Shawn Michaels compilations, why should I? I mean, I know it’s a hell of a match, but how many times do I NEED to watch Shawn Michaels v. Mankind? It has to have set some kind of record for appearances on DVD sets by this point, perhaps only rivaled by Bret v. Bulldog from Summerslam 92. Thankfully, they didn’t include that match here. Although they did include Bret v. Bulldog from In Your House 5. Anyway, this is an interesting collection, because the “In Your House” concept was very much of a time, that being the late 90s during the WWF’s biggest downturn. The...

September 29, 1984 Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon This week’s feature matchup is Roddy Piper vs. Jimmy Snuka from the 8/25/84 MSG show. Also, newcomers Brett Hart (Yes, it was spelled that way) and the Dynamite Kid will be in action. Kamala and Sgt. Slaughter will also be in action.

Just bought your worst ppv book on kindle and you HAVE to 2013 Scott sez one of these ppvs. -GAB 91 -GGW/WWE (literally 3 spittakes from your review. All Snoop Dogg comments) or  An ECW PPV you don't like. I vote N2R 98 The #1 Draw OK, you bought a book, so I owe you an e-mail response on the blog. Bash 91 really needs a redo and if I can track it down on Dailymotion I'll do it up sometime soon, promise.   The Girls Gone Wild thing is such a product of the time.  Can you even imagine them having their name associated with something like that today?  2003 was a strange time in a lot of ways.  And yes, Snoop Dogg was the only thing saving that show. Is there any ECW PPVs I liked?  I forget, but I'm thinking no.  I can certainly Scott Sez a few of them for a theme month, though. 

by Logan Scisco - Vince McMahon, Jerry “the King” Lawler, and Jim Ross are in the booth and they are in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  There are lots of ECW fans in the house and you can see their signs everywhere in the audience.  There are so many signs that they practically coat the floor audience. - McMahon interviews Rick Rude, who claims that he is a mercenary and is willing to provide insurance to anyone willing to pay for it.  He pledges that once he is paid he makes sure to give the intended victim a “Rude Awakening.” - Owen Hart and the British Bulldog deliver a taped promo against the Legion of Doom, where they promise to deliver some punishment in advance of the Ground Zero Fatal Four Way. - Commissioner Sergeant Slaughter is shown arguing with Shawn Michaels in the locker room, but no audio is provided .

Been following you since before the yellow TheSmarks message board, I always enjoy your rants.  That being said... I just got a gig writing shoot interview reviews for an upstart website, and I'd like your opinion or even a plug if possible. http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/kayfabe-lies-and-alibis-shoot-interview-reviews/ This one covers Barry Windham reflecting on WCW in 1991. I also have a Lanny Poffo review that coversp why Randy isn't in the HOF. It's linked at the bottom of the page above. Hope you enjoy - from one fan to another! Yeah, Barry is one of my favorite wrestlers ever from that era, but he's a guy who lost ALL passion for the business a long time ago, so I can see why an interview like this would be a disappointment.  He really should have been a WWE producer ala Michael Hayes by now because he had a brilliant mind for THIS BUSINESS and all the right connections.

What are the legacies of the current and former promotions from the last 30 years?

The SmarK RAW Rant – 04.22.13 Don’t forget that you can now read my entire 2012 RAW rant archive via Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/Scotts-Blog-Doom-Presents-ebook/dp/B00CF4445G/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1366696264&sr=1-4&keywords=scott%27s+blog+of+doom    Only $2.99 for literally MINUTES of reading entertainment! Taped from London, England. Your hosts are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL.

This card is taped so you guys can discuss the results here now. Otherwise after a weekend out of town I am catching up on the readings of the blog. I really disagree with Scott on what WM 2000 could have done at a big stadium because the product was so good at that point people were ready for an epic Wrestlemania. In a lot of ways Wrestlemania X-Seven was what Wrestlemania 2000 should have been, especially when you look at how good the first two cards of that year were. Beyond that I never had a chance to talk about this past Wrestlemania. The Punk-Taker match was tremendous, just great stuff from Punk. I didn't hate the HHH-Brock match or the Rock-Cena match but I didn't like them either. They were there and as Scott said of Rock-Cena, it was fine for a big stadium main event. It could have been better and frankly it would have just taken a couple of adjustments to take it there. But that's often the difference between good but forgettable and great and memorable. B...

---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Hey Scott, I'm watching Savage/Flair at Wrestlemania 8 right now, and just wondering.. why don't all professional wrestlers these days just quit? At their best, they're terrible compared to this, and this is smack dab in the middle of the mid card. Why don't they all just find another occupation?  This guy gets it.

The cable network is rolling out an intriguing slate of new projects, including a reality series following the lives of seven WWE rising starlets (think Stacy Keibler pre-George Clooney), the anticipated new series following music sensation The Wanted, a fan-driven talk show with überfan Ross Mathews, an innovative new interview show produced by Ashley Tisdale, a new "investigative" series from The Soup hosted by Joel McHale, a stereotype-busting show from producer Jack Osbourne and a look at Nick Cannon making over his grandma's house because...why not? Source So apparently the Divas reality show being mentioned for the WWE Network is going to an actual network instead.  I won't be watching it but it'll likely bring in a bunch of 13 year old boys.

The Netcop Rant for WCW Mayhem 99 (I thought I already did this one, but Adam says I did not.  Who am I to argue?  I recently tried to watch this one again, recently as in a few years ago when it was on 24/7, and I would classify it as “nigh-unwatchable”.  The bloom was off Russo’s booking FAST in 99.)  - What, did you think I’d actually let Sean steal my thunder for trashing this show? Dream on, fanboy. Props to the guy who had a www.rantsylvania.com sign in the front, much appreciated. Next time use a bigger sign and darker color, though.  (Also, plug a website that still exists.)  - Newsflash: Someone with too much time on their hands has started a rumor that I missed Mayhem because I was donating a kidney to my brother (who of course is on dialysis according to the story). 10 points for style, minus several million for accuracy.  (Given that my brother is a former associate of the Hell’s Angels, that wacky rumor wasn’t even a 10th as interestin...

by the Fuj The Man Movie Encyclopedia Vol. 1 gets… THE SALT IN THE EYE! I said to myself if I ever was going to review anything, I’m not going to be positive. There’s too much positivity in the world (go fig) and I want to rip people’s life’s work to shreds. It’s what I do... It’s who I am. I am a living, breathing, pessimist and hater. I’m from Cleveland, Ohi0,  the most depressing city in the world.  Sports teams suck. Girls vary between “half-way decent” and “butt-fucking terrible”. Weather is set on “cold as fuck” 8 months out the year. I’m pretty miserable…

The Netcop Rant for WCW/nWo Spring Stampede 1998. (Movin’ right along with 98 WCW…this was written in 1998 and probably deserves a redo someday, but for now that’s what we have to work with, so we’ll deal with it.) Live from Denver, Colorado. Your hosts are some guy, another guy, and his dog Spot.

Here's my suggestion for match of the day.  Kenta Kobashi and Go Shiozaki vs Kensuke Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima.  This is the first encounter of Kobashi and Sasaki after their epic match at NOAH's 2005 Tokyo Dome show with their proteges teaming up.  This match is all kinds of amazing with Kobashi and Sasaki rekindling their chop war and the two young rising stars fighting with everything they have to prove themselves against each other and the two established vets.   Thanks for the suggestion!  Keep ‘em coming! 

Cornette deliberately throwing the tennis game to maintain his character while doing the interview is pretty amazing.  Plus I always loved the old stadium shows where they’d do the ring right on the grass, which meant guys could take bumps on the ground without killing themselves. 

This is the first in a series of reminders that El Dandy is objectively and undoubtedly the Greatest Professional Wrestler of all time. No other individual performer comes close his level of real jam up and extremely underrated performances, innovation and working attitude. - El Dandy was one of the first wrestlers to study the tapes from japanese UWF promotion and incorporate it's shootstyle into the regular lucha libre, roughly 15 years before Bryan Danielson , Davey Richards and other assorted goons received lots of attention fo r using sloppy ankle locks and weak looking "MMA" elbow smashes - El Dandy is the greatest single match worker of all time excelling at a variety of styles including long, technical masterpieces working with matwrestling skills several leagues ahead of anyone else at the time, or right now, epic bloodfeuding payoff brawls as well as a mixture of all the above. - El Dandy is the greatest multiman match worker of all time, alw...

Hey Scott, Really enjoy the blog. I always find myself watching things from the Attitude Era, which I love, but has been overrated based on nostalgia. I was wondering--for all that gets made of the popularity of wrestling at the time, why didn't the WWF/WWE take advantage by booking a huge stadium show ala current Wrestlemanias? Was the company still trying to get its confidence back after a rough patch? Or does this shed some light on the era as being more about television ratings? Thought a wrestling guru like yourself might have an answer. Thanks Well they did do huge stadium shows for Wrestlemania 17-19   If you're talking for the 99 and 2000 versions, I think they thought they couldn't pull off those kind of ticket sales because, as you say, they were still a bit gunshy from the downturn.  And given that it's better to sell out than have tons of empty seats, it's fine that they didn't run a stadium show.   Plus at that point Wrestlemania wasn't th...

Maybe Zack and Curt can reform the Edgeheads?

Just been watched Royal Rumble and Raw and it's the first time I've watched WWE for a while. One thing I noticed is just how not-over Alberto Del Rio is as a baby face considering he is the World Heavyweight Champion. It got me wondering if there has ever been a World champ LESS over than ADR is now. So, my question is, who do you think is the least-over world champ in WWE's history? I'm gonna have to go with Jack Swagger on that one.   Usually by the time people get to that kind of level they've done SOMETHING to justify it, but Swagger basically got the briefcase as a swerve for everyone who had already guessed the correct winner that year. Just thank the heavens that Ken Anderson fucked up his push in 2006 because otherwise we'd have to remember "Former World champion Mr. Kennedy", too.  

Hi - long time/first time etc I get the hatred that Schiavone gets as a caller - especially when he was shilling and admittedly horrible product in '99. But that was his job, yeah? However, as a basic play-by-play guy, I wonder why he cops SO much criticism. It's ironic that part of that criticism is based on his obsession with calling wrestling a "sport". I was watching the DVD of the best of WCW and, when it came to telling a match story, focusing on a relevant injury, or busting out correct move-calls like "right scissor" or "Le Majestral", or never confusing a neck-breaker with a jaw-breaker, he was pretty much flawless. So much of what gave WCW that air of 'it might be real' was his ability to name each maneouvre flawlessly. But then again, I think WCW was always a little underrated and overrhated. Schiavone was a totally fine PBP guy up until Bischoff got the Executive VP job over him, at which point he completely ch...

April 9, 2003 Your hosts are Don West and Mike Tenay The show opens up with a video recap of last week’s show. It did a good job of making the show look a lot less horrible than it actually was.

"Superstar" Billy Graham may be the single most influential figure to ever grace the squared circle. With a combination of stunning physical attributes and fantastic promo abilities, the Superstar was a wrestler who took wrestling by storm in the 1970's, a man who was quite literally ahead of the curve.

Smackdown Date: April 19, 2013 Location: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield Reviewed by Tommy Hall Back to the blue team again as we're starting to set up Extreme Rules. The main stories around here are Ziggler vs. Del Rio vs. Swagger and Henry vs. Sheamus which were both furthered on Raw. We're still in that limbo period between the aftermath of Wrestlemania and the build to Extreme Rules so it's kind of hard to guess what's coming tonight. Let's get to it.

Since we've established all the ones that were awful (although no one's mentioned Judy Bagwell, WCW Tag Team Champion yet), what do you think were some of the best instances of awarding a title without a match? Some of the ones that jump out at me: - Andre to Dibiase, WWF Title: Duh. Perfect sense for the Dibiase character, and as much of a disaster as the Wrestlemania IV tournament was from a match-quality perspective, the storyline was certainly hot enough. - Vince McMahon to Mankind, WWF Hardcore Title: Great for furthering the Mankind-Vince storyline, and played beautifully by Mick and Vince. - Lance Storm to Carl Ouellette and Elix Skipper, Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title and whatever they renamed the cruiserweight title: I don't know if you can say that anything in the last two years of WCW actually *worked*, but I was amused by the renaming of the titles more than anything else. - Kevin Nash to Ric Flair, WCW title: Again, crappy as the last y...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CF4445G $2.99 for 51 RAW rants!  All the snark you can handle and then some!   By the way, is there interest in having a digital "book" version of the blog in some form?  Because there's sites that will allow me to archive and sell it as an e-book, albeit without the comments included.  

  Alert the villagers. Grab your pitchforks and torches and head to Castle Winfieldenstein. Because I am LOVING this show. 

The SmarK Rant for TNA Impact – 04.18.13 Taped from Corpus Christi, TX Your hosts are Todd Keneley, Taz and Mike Tenay. Plugs! First up, I have a brand new Kindle book: “Scott’s Blog of Doom Presents: The SmarK RAW Rants 2012” covering all my RAW reviews for the past year. Check it out on Amazon! It was supposed to have been live as of a few hours ago, but I haven’t seen it up yet. Also, I did a one hour podcast on shiningwizards.com today, covering my online career, the current product, and a bunch of other fun stuff. Check it out! I switched from my beloved Office 2010 Starter to the fancy new Office 365 because amazingly you can’t insert a table of contents in Starter, and I kinda need that for creating Kindle books. So basically I’m renting Office from Microsoft for $10 a month now. It’s pretty swank, though. I love my shiny new toys, what can I say?

-- Saturday, April 20th, marks Squared Circle Wrestling's live streaming debut with Living on the Edge 8 from Watertown, NY. The main event features Kevin Steen, defending the 2CW championship against John Hennigan, better known to you as John Morrison. This show is streaming live and FREE through www.livesportsvideo.com/2cw at 8pm Eastern. Here are 5 good reasons why you should be watching:

http://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/the-10-worst-title-awardings-in-wrestling-history/ Saw the shoutout in your SuperBrawl VIII rant, loved the challenge. You called #1, obviously. I am nothing if not inspirational, I guess.  Spot-on with the list, too.  

http://www.shiningwizards.com/ So I did an hour-long interview with the Shining Wizards podcast tonight, and it was a lot of fun!  Tony really knew his history of my online career and we talked about everything from RSPW to today's product and what would happen if the current brain surgeons were trying to book Flair v. Steamboat in 1989.  Definitely something I'd do again if I was asked. I even bought a Box of Wizardry.  I'm a good guy that way.  Check it out a bit later when the show is up!  

Tonight, AJ Styles will go up against James Storm. Also, Kenny King defends the X Division Title against Zema Ion and Petey Williams. Plus, Kurt Angle vs. Wes Brisco & Garrett Bischoff and Miss Tessmacher vs. Mickie James in a #1 contender's match for the Knockouts Title.

NXT Date: April 17, 2013 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Commentators: Tony Dawson, William Regal Reviewed by Tommy Hall We're kind of at a new starting point in NXT with the end of the Regal vs. Ohno feud last week. Granted that's just in theory because a clean win rarely ends anything in WWE anymore. We also need a new challenger for Langston and the NXT Title. As for tonight though, we have Corey Graves vs. Seth Rollins in a rare singles match for a member of the Shield. Let's get to it.

Hi Scott,   Never minding my earlier e-mail, here's the complete listing for the Wargames DVD. Looks like their getting everything in, good and bad.   http://www.wwedvdnews.com/match-listing-wcw-war-games-wwe-dvd/39302/   Take care.   Jon That's exactly what everyone wanted:  The complete collection, as originally presented.  Good on them.

Hey Scott, Great discussion of 50/50 booking the other day. This is a real issue in WWE, but I think they have shown when they really, really want to get behind somebody they will scrap it.  Look no further than Sheamus, Triple H's good workout buddy. Sheamus dominated 2012. He was pinned by Mark Henry on Raw in April 2012 then did not lose a singles match by pinfall or submission until CM Punk did it six months later.  WWE built up Sheamus strong, established that he was a serious force and he got over. After the bad taste that was left in fans' mouths following WM28, the only way to get him over was to have him beat everybody and he did that. Fans bought into him as a result.  We've established that there's a rhyme and reason why guys aren't allowed to look too strong, but for a company that is so starved for star power that they have to pay out millions and millions for part-timers, why not just do what every damn promoter has done for the past 60 yea...

Source Some repeats but some fresh matches as well.

Today we discuss what needs to go in the World of Independent Pro-Wrestling, biggest pops, and there's Trish vs Mickie in the VS. Dig it.

The Netcop Retro Rant for Uncensored 98 - No Meltzer on Monday = I watch more wrestling. In this case, we go back and redo a show that I did without my notes the first time, way back in 1998. (Since this is still a “Netcop” rant this would have been written in 2000, by the way.  The font of the original Word document gives it away for me as well, because I was REALLY into Verdana for some stupid reason at that point.)  My feelings on the show then were that it sucked for the most part, but then I was getting more pissed off at WCW’s booking by the day at that time and my judgment was thus clouded  (There’s an understatement.) , and I had about 10 other people who were bitching about the show hanging over my shoulder, so I wasn’t in a position to be objective.  (And you KNOW how important objectivity and journalistic integrity is to me!) I wanted to go back and watch it again, but my copy of the show ended up looking like shit, so I never ended up watching it again ...

(2013 Scott sez:  Ah, what the hell.  Let’s continue through the fascinating trainwreck that is 1998 WCW.)  The Netcop Rant for WCW Uncensored 1998. - Live from Mobile Alabama. - Your hosts are Huey, Dewey and Louie. - I'm working without my notes tonight because my copy of the show was too fucked up to watch again. If anyone has an EX quality copy, preferably off a satellite dish, I'd like to acquire it. I have ECW out the wazoo to trade for it, along with other stuff. I need a better copy of Superbrawl VIII as well. So this'll be an abbreviated version.    (Having an anal retentive ECW mutant roommate meant that as much as I disliked the promotion, I always had TONS of trade-bait for stuff I actually wanted to watch.) 

Monday Nitro #115 Date: November 24, 1997 Location: Wendler Arena, Saginaw, Michigan Attendance: 5,879 Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko Reviewed by Tommy Hall With World War 3 out of the way, we're down to five Nitros left before Starrcade. Scott Hall won the battle royal last night after there was yet another fake Sting sighting. That sets Hall up as #1 contender for Souled Out in January, which would be like winning the Rumble for a shot at Extreme Rules today. Anyway, all eyes are on Sting vs. Hogan now which means the drama is going to be cranking up. Let's get to it.

(2013 Scott sez:  It occurs to me that I never actually posted this followup to the original drunk version.) The Netcop Retro Rant for Superbrawl VIII Quick background: I originally did a rant of this show from the live PPV broadcast, and I was both somewhat drunk and very annoyed at the time, so I gave it a bad rating. To make matters worse, the review was HORRIBLE, done in an experimental format that proved to be one of the worst reviews I’ve ever done. (Re-reading it now, it’s not so bad.  I count my revamped RAW reviews in 2005 as worse than that.)  So I felt I always owed this show a second look, and here it is… - Live from San Francisco, CA. Original airdate, Feb. 22 / 1998. - Your hosts are Tony, Bobby and Iron Mike.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2013/0417/562101/backstage-news-on-cm-punk-wwe-status/ Thoughts on this? Seems like Punk might be pushing his luck a bit backstage. If he wasn't an Internet darling and so damn good I have a feeling a lot of your readers would be starting to compare him to other malcontents. To me, the real question is: How long does Vince put up with this? Until Punk stops making him money.  And given the downward trend of the ratings after Wrestlemania and touchy investors, that puts the ball firmly in Punk's court.  Plus the dude is SERIOUSLY banged up and needs time off, so good for him.  I wish more guys would stand up for themselves like that instead of (rightly) being so terrified of getting buried and forgotten if they take two weeks off to heal a broken arm.   By the way, according to the last issue of Figure Four, those who bet the "under" on Wrestlemania's buyrate might be celebrating.  So there's that too.  

Have you ever pondered your retirement from this very blog?  Do you have an end date set in mind where you ride off into the sunset? Are you just gonna write and blog and make snarky comments till the day you meet your maker?  Will there be a passing of the torch? Perhaps some sort of epic confrontation (with fancy video package of course) putting sole ownership of the Blog Of Doom on the line in a retirement match?  I shudder at the thought that's there's the faintest chance that one day  this could become The Fuj's Blog of Doom..... What's your End Game SK???? Suckas got to know!   Ready.  Set. Book it! I don't foresee an end date, but I'm sure if the worst suddenly happened The Princess could run things for me or find someone else who could.  And given how I feel about retirement matches in wrestling, there's no way I'd ever pull that stunt.  Maybe I'd fail a Wellness test due to concussions after bashing my head into the keyboard after on...