Instead of reviewing this, I thought I would post the video for everyone to see.

(OK, last of the reposts from 2011, as they’ll start putting the March 1994 RAWs up on the Network tomorrow and I’ll pick it up here in the present…in the past…whatever.  You know what I mean.) The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - February 28 1994 - Taped from Poughkeepsie, NY. - Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Harvey Wippleman.

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/36757-wwe-makes-developmental-cuts I dunno if this has anything to do with the investor's call tomorrow, but they decided to drop Mason Ryan just to be on the safe side.  Which is weird because they have been literally not firing anyone ever and just letting guys ride out their contracts (JTG, Tatsu, Ryder) no matter how much of a lost cause they are.  Ryan in particular got a million chances and was even talked about as replacing Roman Reigns in the Shield when the split was going to happen.  Oliver Grey got SQUASHED by Camacho in his big return after months off, so obviously they were getting rid of him.  Either way, weird timing to just suddenly jettison a bunch of super-cheap guys like that.  

Thanks to the sharp eye of fellow BoDer BretHart1987, I can confirm that Clash of the Champions XXII has been uploaded. Go to Search, type in Clash of the Champions, and at the bottom of Page 1, you will find it. I am unable to find where it is via any other method. The show has a one hour and forty five minute running time, so it should be the entire card. Check it out!

Monday Nitro #166 Date: December 7, 1998 Location: Astrodome, Houston, Texas Attendance: 32,067 Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko Reviewed by Tommy Hall We're less than three weeks away from Starrcade and Nash vs. Goldberg hasn't really started to heat up yet. If I didn't know better I would think Goldberg would be squashing Bam Bam Bigelow at the PPV based on what we've seen in recent weeks. Other than that we're getting ready for Flair vs. Bischoff which I'm sure will be a classic. Let's get to it.

Everyone loves Lightning Rounds, but how bout something with a bit of a twist to them. Best matches for people who weren't having them or having them with only a select group of talent (a.k.a Shawn or Bret).... Davey Boy Smith - Singles Match, Post-Bulldogs Era, Not vs. Shawn, Bret, or Owen That's pretty specific.  Probably I'd say one of the Hennig matches on Coliseum video.   Andre The Giant - Heel run of 1987 and later. 　 Against Bret in Milan? Brutus Beefcake - Singles Only. I won't be cruel enough to say "WCW Only". 　 The Dream Team blowoff against Valentine was good, and I recall him having a really good one against Savage in late 89. The Undertaker - Pre-Attitude Era, Not vs. Mick Foley, Shawn, or Bret. 　 I'm gonna say Warrior because they were decent enough.   And how bout some not-so-good's for the hell of it with the obvious choices of "great" workers: Worst Bret Hart Match Any of his shitty Dino Bravo abominations on Coliseum video...

WWE RAW Rating RAW scored a 3.3 rating this past Monday http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/36746-wwe-news-raw-rating WWE Stars Appearing at NXT Takeover Rob Van Dam and Ric Flair have been announced as appearing on the show. Credit Mike Johnson, PWInsider.com Top Japanese Star Leaving Pro Wrestling NOAH Kenta has announced that he is leaving the company, with his final appearance being 5/17. Kenta, who has been with the company since it started, worked out at the WWE Performance Center for a week this past January, fueling speculation that he might be leaving for a WWE contract. Credit Mike Johnson, PWInsider.com WWE Network Now Available on X Box One and X Box 360 http://www.wwe.com/inside/wwe-network-now-available-on-xbox-one-and-xbox-360-26263169

The Network live stream schedule for today: 9:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 2/7/94 - Marty Jannetty vs. IRS. 10:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 2/21/94 - Razor Ramon & The 1-2-3 Kid vs. The Quebecers; Bret Hart vs. Tom Prichard. 11:00 AM ET - Extreme Rules 2013 - 5/18/13 - John Cena vs. Ryback in a Last Man Standing Match; Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar in a Steel Cage Match. 2:00 PM ET - Wrestlemania Rewind - 4/29/14 - The Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather at Wrestlemania XXIV. 3:00 PM ET - WWE Countdown - 4/23/14 - Top Ten greatest tag teams. 4:00 PM ET - Legends' House - 4/24/14 - The Legends play a polo match. 5:00 PM ET - Best of Hall of Fame - 4/22/14 - Hulk Hogan/Bobby Heenan/Trish Stratus. 6:00 PM ET - Beyond the Ring - You Think You Know Me: The Story of Edge. 8:00 PM ET - Best of RAW - 9/22/97 - The MSG RAW! The WWF debut of Cactus Jack; plus, the beginning of the Steve Austin/Vince McMahon rivalry. 9:30 PM ET - Best of Smackdown - 4/27/00 - The go-home episode before Backl...

Hi Scott, Hope all is well. Check out Foley's comments on last night's Cena/Bray segment: http://wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0429/574620/mick-foley-shares-his-thoughts-on-john-cena/ "But, as good as it was, I could not fully enjoy the brilliant, chilling segment - one of the most memorable things I've seen on Raw in tears, because of ...because of...because of those WRISTBANDS! Because of those wristbands...and the HAT! AND the bright green FLUORESCENT SHIRT! .... I couldn't help but feel that  "He's trying to sell me something". Every time he waved his cap, I thought, "he's trying to sell me a hat." Every time he walks through that curtain, I get the feeling he's trying to sell me something."     Foley is right! How can anyone take this storyline (or any Cena storyline) seriously when all you ever think when you see Cena on screen is that he's become a neon sign for new merchandise.  Your thoughts??? ​He...

The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - February 21 1994 - Live from Poughkeepsie, NY, after two weeks off for the dog show. - Your hosts are Vince & Macho. Vince introduces him as someone who will undoubtedly be in the Hall of Fame someday. Well that's 17 years and still waiting. Never say Vince can't hold a grudge.

Scott Watching Raws from 1994 and just saw the coin toss to decide who faces Yokozuna first out of co-Rumble-winners Bret Hart and Lex Luger... Luger calls the toss and wins the right to face Yoko first meaning that Bret has to face Owen in 'suitable competition'. If Luger would've lost he'd have had to face Crush (who had a thing going with Savage at the time). Was the plan always going to be Bret/Owen, Luger/Yoko (1st) & therefore Savage/Crush or would they have honoured the coin toss if it had had the opposite result? Surely Bret/Owen had to have the Wrestlemania moment as it did? What was the talk around that time?  ​Sorry to shatter any illusions you might have, but they switched to a fake two-headed coin before the coin toss.  ​

Greetings! I got a lot of shit last week for hating on the Short People Match. Or Midget Match. Is it "little people" or is it "midget" these days? I can never be sure what's acceptable. I had heard one guy tell me "midget" was "unacceptable" and "offensive". Another person "of that stature", he told me, "Little people is degrading because we're ALL people!" I can't win. So, I must say I apologize if I have offended anyone. Yes, I'm pandering but this is more emotionally confessional and apologetic than Donald Sterling will show in the next week or so before everyone forgets about that guy because playoffs and fake outrage and 15 minutes. Suffice to say, I will try not to let me my "bias" for "well-mannered shorter people matches" taint my reviews... And now for something completely different...

http://whatculture.com/wwe/wwe-investors-want-learn-thursdays-q1-update.php Yeah, what IS up with the TV rights announcement, anyway?   You'd think if they got their big money deal they'd be shouting from the rooftops by now.  Awesome column by @mookieghana as usual.  

March 1, 1986 Your hosts are Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon Tonight, Don Muraco will face Hulk Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship. Other matches include Mr. T vs. Bob Orton in a Boxing Match, King Kong Bundy vs. Steve Gatorwolf, Adrian Adonis vs. Junkyard Dog and much more. Plus, we will see the premiere of Hulk Hogan's "Real American" music video.

by Logan Scisco - Jim Ross and Michael Cole are in the booth and they are taped from Chattanooga, Tennessee.  This is the go home show for Over the Edge.

Hey Scott, The Rougeau Brothers, once they turned heel in 88, really seemed to get over and got alot of crowd heat, and always cut hilarious promos, and promos that at least to me, made you want to see the babyface team wipe the mat with them. Were they ever considered for a tag title run during that time?  Or did the heat from the Dynamite Kid incident haunt them the rest of there run?   Well the heat was all on Dynamite for that.  Most people seemed to think that Jacques was justified in finally putting Kid in his place.  I think that Ray was wanting out by that time, however, due to age and injuries and such.   So there wasn't gonna be much of a long term place for them anyway.  I think that today they would have at least gotten a Too Cool cup of coffee with the belts, but it was a different time in the 80s.  

Submitted for your approval is the greatest moment in broadcast television history:   With the recent announcement that Call of Duty is going to be played at the X Games this year as an official 'sport' I figured it's a good a time as any to poll the ottiance.     What's your favorite X Game? Ever skateboarded or motocrossed or did a sick flair on a Mongoose bike? Would it be a good place to try out that "Pro Wrestling as an Olympic Sport" model? What about those classic X Games video games: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Agressive Inline, Dave Mirra's BMX 2, and that ESPN Snowboarding game that better than it had any right being - Ever play those? 

Backstory:   I was reading Scott’s Monday Night RAW Season One on Kindle, and he mentioned the lack of hype for the main event of WrestleMania IX. That seemed peculiar and very un-WWF-like. I wanted to find out the scoop on this; therefore, I started watching the 1993 episodes of RAW and noticed a missing week between March 22 and WrestleMania on April 4.

Marc Clair wrote up a neat piece on time limit draws in wrestling, thought it could stem some discussion. Whatever Happened to The Time Limit Draw? A couple of other notes... Roger checked out the Undertaker/Shawn Michaels feud from 1997-98 PTB reviewed Backlash 2002 Also, DDP joins Kevin Kelly this week, that will be posted Wednesday night! If you have any questions for either, post them here too. Thanks!

Hey Scott, I graduate in two weeks so this is my final plea for publicity on the Blog. I just want to thank you for promoting my stories over the past year and letting me know people actually care about what a college kid thinks of wrasslin's weekly shenanigans.  Obviously I'm a daily reader of the Blog so it's been really cool being featured in any capacity. http://temple-news.com/arts/corrigan-time-ring-bell/ Thanks for helping me live my dream. John Corrigan

The Network live stream schedule for today: 9:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 1/31/94 - The Bret Hart/Lex Luger coin toss episode. 10:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 2/7/94 - Marty Jannetty vs. IRS. 11:00 AM ET - Best of Hall of Fame - 4/22/14 - Hulk Hogan/Bobby Heenan/Trish Stratus. 12:00 PM ET - Best of Hall of Fame - 4/23/14 - Pete Rose/Ric Flair. 1:00 PM ET - Best of Hall of Fame - 4/24/14 - Gene Okerlund/Shawn Michaels. 2:00 PM ET - Best of Hall of Fame - 4/25/14 - Jerry Lawler/Bruno Sammartino. 3:00 PM ET - Best of Smackdown - 2/1/01 - Smackdown Xtreme!; Triple H vs. The Rock vs. Kurt Angle for the WWF Championship. 4:30 PM ET - Best of RAW - 4/9/12 - John Cena/Brock Lesnar confrontation the week after Lesnar's return. 6:00 PM ET - WWE NXT - 4/24/14 - Sami Zayn/The Usos vs. Corey Graves/The Ascension. 7:00 PM ET - Legends' House - 4/24/14 - The Legends play a polo match. 8:00 PM ET - WWE Main Event Live. 9:00 PM ET - Wrestlemania Rewind - The Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweat...

Hey Scott. Just watching some classic tag team wrestling on the WWE Network and wanted to know the best matches of the following: The Midnight Express Condrey & Eaton:  Against the Rock N Roll Express, really take your pick.  Eaton & Lane:  Against the Southern Boys at Bash 90.  The Rock 'n' Roll Express Again, they had dozens of near-***** matches with the original Midnights.  I don’t think any are archived on the Network as of yet.  For the definitive Ricky Morton, check out RNR v. Andersons at Starrcade 86, where he gets the everloving fuck beaten out of him by the Andersons for like 20 minutes and it’s just awesome.  Road Warriors Great matches were not really their thing.  To say the least.  Their title match against Tully & Arn at Starrcade 87 was damn good.  The scaffold match against the Midnights is pretty legendary, although not really my cup of tea.  I could wuss out and pick a Wargames, but I’m gonna ...

Hey Scott. So some of us were talking a few days ago about The Blog and the community that sprang up from it. A few questions were brought up. Did you think that a community with in depth discussions about all topics would develop on the blog? Or did you think the comment section would be filled with "nice rant" or "you suck"? Do you hate the community? Do you hate the emailers? Do you like us? Are you indifferent? Or are we just a way to make tables full of money? Also, there's rumors around the water cooler you like me (Magoonie). So....do you like me? Or do you like like me? Check yes or no. ​Really, is this a thing we're doing now?  Because I'm not a huge fan of the metatextual stuff, but I'll give it a pass this time.   I definitely did not think discussions would spring up outside of the wrestling topics, mostly because I live firmly in the bubble that WWE does and tend not to pay attention to the outside world.  My hopes for ...

This is not about the current WWE Product. The following piece is dedicated to my friend, Brawsome

When last we left our heroes, the times were changing. A man who seemed retired and off to the front office found his inner demons and unleashed them. The hero began to wonder if he'd been alive long enough to see himself become a villain. And two men found themselves a step away from gold, but the one who got away was the biggest story of them all. As we enter the home of the Viper, the previous champion, what will the current champion do? And what will everyone else get ready as we prepare to go extreme? The PG Era Rant for Raw, April 28, 2014. Live from St. Louis, MO. Your hosts haven't changed since I started this gig.

Thanks to WWE Network I've been able to catch up on some of the 2004-2012 stuff I missed due to disinterest and pretending like I was a grown-up and all of that. There are a number of wrestlers I've seen from that period who were clearly popular with the fans and/or with WWE management, but for whatever reasons didn't become main eventers or last as main eventers. So whatever happened to... Umaga Died of a drug overdose a couple of years ago, sadly.  Heidenreich Mostly retired, does occasional indy dates and has a son in developmental.  Shelton Benjamin Doing reasonably well for himself in New Japan and ROH on occasion.  Great Khali (I know he's still around, but how did he go from unstoppable champion to comedy act?) Very quickly, basically.  Chris Masters Don’t even get me started.  He was in the news a couple of years ago for ripping a goddamn tree out of the ground to save his mother from a burning building, and I don’t think anyone even called h...

Howdy Blog O' Doomers, Holy shit it's getting hot in Florida. For most of the "winter" it's been nice with the occasional cold front busting in for a couple of days to break up the monotony but late last week the hot season official began. So there's hope for you guys stuck in the never ending stretch of cold and snow. Anyway, this talk of finishers got me thinking what else is out there that could be recycled and used again. So many good finishers, like the DDT, have become transitional moves and it makes reprogramming the crowd to look at them as finishing moves again quite difficult. Anyway my small list. Jackhammer -- Someone mentioned this one and it's an easy one for any of the power guys to do. It would probably need a good secondary move to set it up but if Reigns tires of using the spear, and given the potential of a neck issue that could happen, I could see him using this move effectively because it looks good and is pretty simple. Running Powe...

The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - February 7 1994 - Taped from Bushkill, PA. - Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Bastion Booger. Mike Shaw is a funny guy, but I don't see this turning out well.

In our crazy, bustling, always-on, always connected, always dialed in world, solitude is a commodity. Funny then, that most folks find solitude in their commode. Because you asked for it, let's talk about poops! Are you a bathroom reader? web-browser? Ever had a profound thought or idea or life changing revelation while on the John?  What's the worst thing you've done to your poor, poor porcelin god? I have one story. I woke up on highschool graduation day with a splitting headache. Having no idea was food poisoning was, I figured I was out of the woods once I puked - well I was out of the woods and into the bathroom with the runs.

Still better than the spinner belt, though. 

I tuned out post-Attitude Era, and after watching some unimpressive PPV's from the following years on the Network, here are some lighting round questions for 2002-2009: 1) Bigger detriment to the product: "Booger Red" Taker, or Reign of Terror-era Triple H? HHH, because he’s smart enough to where he should have known better.  Plus Taker was at least trying to put new guys over.  2) Biggest bust as a potential  new main-eventer: Hendreich, Kozlov, Kennedy, Lashley, or other? Lashley by a country mile.  They gave that dude the PRIME spot in the biggest drawing PPV in history and he was all “derp derp derp, maybe I’ll do MMA instead and suck at that.” 3) The brand split: good idea, stupid idea, or just the only option at that point? (I personally hate it.) Only option at that point.  They had too many guys and needed some sort of illusion of competition.  4) Best non-WM PPV of this era? The one with the Rock-Angle-UT 3-way title match is the only o...

Hey Scott, Brian Piccolo/foeaminute here - I have done the Legend's House recaps (all two of them).  A good friend and fellow stand up comic passed away this morning after battling cancer.  35 years old.  Anyway, I've put together a campaign where you can buy a shirt or just donate a couple dollars to his wife and kids to help with his medical bills that he unfortunately leaves behind.  If this isn't appropriate to share here, it's completely fine, but I'm just trying to figure out what I can do to help. Here's the link, if it is fine: https://www.booster.com/seanwebb?share=8221398616650628 Thank you, and do what you can to make today count.

(Once again, a reminder that these are NOT new rants.  They would have been written about five years ago.  Once the Network starts showing the RAWs from the end of Feb 94, I’ll pick them up again from there.)  The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - January 31 1994 - Live from Bushkill, PA. - Your hosts are Vince & IRS. - We're two weeks removed from Royal Rumble 94, and yeah it's been a while since I've done these so hopefully I can get back into the groove again with them.

The Network live stream schedule for today: 9:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 1/24/94 - Men on a Mission vs. The Headshrinkers. 10:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 1/31/94 - Bret Hart/Lex Luger coin toss episode. 11:00 AM ET - WWE Superstars - 4/26/14 - Big E vs. Damien Sandow; Kofi Kingston vs. Titus O'Neil. 12:00 PM ET - WWE Main Event Replay - 4/21/14 - Sheamus vs. Titus O'Neil; El Torito vs. Hornswoggle; Jimmy Uso vs. Ryback. 1:00 PM ET - WWE NXT - 4/24/14 - Sami Zayn/The Usos vs. Corey Graves/The Ascension. 2:00 PM ET - Wrestlemania Rewind - The Rock vs. Hollywood Hogan at Wrestlemania X-8. 3:00 PM ET - Best of RAW - 4/9/12 - John Cena/Brock Lesnar confrontation the week after Lesnar's return. 4:30 PM ET - WCW Spring Stampede '99 - 4/10/99 - Ric Flair vs. Hollywood Hogan vs. Sting vs. DDP for the WCW Championship. 7:30 PM ET - RAW Pre-Show. 8:00 PM ET - Beyond the Ring - You Think You Know Me: The Story of Edge. 10:00 PM ET - ECW Hardcore TV - 5/3/94 - The Sandman...

WWE.com RAW Preview http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2014-04-28/five-point-preview-26262855 Who Compiled the WWE.com "50 Greatest Talkers in Wrestling History" List? The list was compiled by Joey Styles, who is taking some heat for it by those in the business. Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Radio AJ Lee Scheduled to Return to the WWE AJ will be returning to the WWE and is scheduled for the European tour in May. She asked for time off in order to settle in with her fiance, CM Punk. Credit F4WOnline.com

I hadn't been following his career or anything, but he found himself as the voice of Tony the Tiger. Those Team Challenge Series reports in the AWA were my own fondest memories of him. Also, the time that he got legit kicked in the head at World War 3 by The Faces of Fear. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0427/574561/former-wcw-announcer-lee-marshall-passes-away/

Sacrifice 2014 Date: April 27, 2014 Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz Reviewed by Tommy Hall This is one of TNA's rare PPVs and it's actually coming on the heels of another. That being said, there's not a ton of interesting stuff happening in TNA at the moment. The big stories are Bully Ray vs. Bobby Roode in a tables match and Eric Young vs. Magnus II for the World Title, which isn't doing much for me as a main event feud. Let's get to it.

“Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art.”  - Frank Lloyd Wright The Hitman Series is a weird one. The first game came out over a decade ago, and there’s been four sequels since, all with interchangeable subtitles like “Absolution”, “Blood Money”, and “Silent Assassin” that conjure up a mind’s eye view of generic power fantasy blech. In reality Hitman games are pretty heady - or at least want to be. From all kinds of religious subtext and orchestral arrangements, to trippy content and no-win plot scenarios, Hitman’s failing seems to be one of half measure. It can’t be the post-modern, dour, slow-burn thriller like the movie “Drive” is, and it doesn’t want to be the ballsy over-the-top campy game like “Max Payne” either. As a result the games live somewhere in the middle; truly bizarre titles with a variety of interesting - if not completely compelling, narrative ideas. I bring this all up because despite what you may ...

Matches on the card tonight include: Magnus vs. Eric Young for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship Willow & Kurt Angle vs. ECIII & Rockstar Spud Bobby Roode vs. Bully Ray in a Tables Match American Wolves vs. The BroMans in a Handicapped Match for the TNA Tag Team Titles Angelina Love vs. Madison Rayne for the Knockouts Championship Tigre Uno vs. Sanada for the X Division Championship James Storm vs. Gunner in a "I Quit Match" Mr. Anderson vs. Samuel Shaw in a "Committed Match"

Thunder Date: December 3, 1998 Location: Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall Reviewed by Tommy Hall It's the last month of 1998 and things are starting to pick up for Starrcade. The main story coming out of Nitro is kind of hard to pin down. Hall seems to be going to war against the NWO while Goldberg vs. Nash is just kind of happening in the background despite being allegedly the biggest match of the year. Let's get to it.

Apparently there's a TNA PPV tonight and this is a thing that is happening.  I guess there's a funny bearded guy as the World champion and he's feuding with a former corporate suit who is once again a masked monster.   God bless Vince Russo.  Discuss the show here if desired.  

Just hanging out and watching the Network today, so I decided to check out the ECW episode added most recently, the infamous NWA tournament final one.  And man, this would have been a much better starting point than the shit they’ve been putting up from 93.  You get the famous 911 “kill the clown” angle, Sandman caning Tommy Dreamer in the hard to watch “thank you sir may I have another” angle that put Dreamer over the top as an ECW guy for life, a decent Douglas-Scorpio tournament final, and of course the famous speech where Douglas throws the belt down.  And then from there the promotion becomes Extreme Championship Wrestling.  Soon after this we’ll start getting Raven and Stevie Richards and all that good stuff as well.  Definitely check this one out if you want to see where the real beginning of their hot period started. 

The SmarK Rant for WWF Smackdown – 02.01.01 It’s SMACKDOWN XTREME. The Network is picking some really random stuff for their “classic” selections. When I saw the description was initially thinking this was the deal with Tazz and HHH, but nope. Taped from Columbus, OH Your hosts are Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler

I just watched WWE Countdown's Top 10 Tag Teams and a couple of things bothered me. First of all: how can there be a top ten list on the greatest tag teams and it not include either The Midnight Express or The Rock-N-Roll express? Hell, WWE's entire tag team formula has been based off of Rock-N-Roll express matches for ages.  And secondly: why is it that when WWE talks about Demolition they always have to be called a Road Warriors ripoff, yet they never mention how The Rockers are a more blatant Rock-N-Roll Express ripoff? ​Because the Rockers aren't constantly suing WWE and badmouthing them, whereas Bill Eadie certainly is.  Plus Countdown is not exactly the most well thought-out or well researched show they offer.  It's great when it's doing goofy shit like the Worst Gimmicks or Biggest Fails or stuff like that, but everything else seems to be recycled DVD footage.  ​

Hey Scott,  I was wondering if you knew if there was any truth to the rumors that  1. HHH was supposed to beat the Undertaker at WM X7, thanks to interference from Shawn Michaels, and  2. the plan was changed at the last minute because when Shawn showed up, he was in no condition to perform. As I recall the UT win over HHH at WM X7 was flushed down the memory hole almost immediately, as Trips joined up with Austin the night after Mania, and there was really no attempt to build upon Taker's win over him. Or... maybe my memory is faulty, I dunno.  ​That's more or less it, although it wasn't really "last minute". He had been getting worse and that match was kind of HHH's attempt to keep Shawn from getting fired.  And it proved to be rock bottom for him and prompted him to change, so good for him and all of us.  ​

March 1, 1986 Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon Tonight, the Funk Brothers will be in action. Also, we will see the Mr. T training video as he prepares to box Bob Orton for "Saturday Night's Main Event." Plus, the British Bulldogs, Ricky Steamboat & King Tonga and  much more.

The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - January 24 1994 - Taped from Richmond, VA. The night after a major PPV? - Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jim Ross.

Shut Up, I though it was a good book. Hey lets talk about comics some more! As previously stated I'm a casual / esoteric buyer, who spent three years living with a buddy who had a MASSIVE collection of DC stuff from weird periods of time. So I read a lot of Kyle Rayner Green Lantern, All-Star Batman & Robin (good grief!), All Star Superman (So good!), and then a lot of the prestige stuff like Watchmen, the one drawn like people ("Kingdom Come?"), The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, and then some other stuff like Wanted, and then I'd start collecting Ultimate Spider-man up until the panel where Gwen and Peter are super forlorn looking on the last panel splash page. Also is anyone incredibly impressed by how well the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going? This thing has been going on for YEARS and the movies have been pretty good to great, with Captain America being simply incredible.    So, talk about comics / comics movies / comic documentaries, or...

My goodness, the live stream is filled with rerun laziness today. You've got Spring Stampede '98 at 2:00 PM ET; the weekly Superstars/Main Event/NXT combo beginning at 5:00 PM ET; then it's all four episodes of Best of Hall of Fame....again....at 8:00 PM ET. So you have the all clear to talk about anything you may be watching from the vault; but also, Sunday means a lot of daytime baseball, NBA playoffs and NHL playoffs.

Scott, continuing with WCW ppvs on network and a few things I'm pondering: What was the deal with Ron Simmons title reign?  I've heard stories of Watts "proving he wasn't racist".  But it totally sabotaged Vader's reign.  Vader absolutely murdered Sting at the Bash and a month later jobs it to Simmons who holds it for 4 months!   Both Simmons win, and Vader's eventually second title win happen off ppv.  Vader basically, minus a week to Sting, held the belt all year in 93.  And was Simmons supposed to job to Rude at Starrcade?   If Rude doesn't get hurt does Vader get the epic reign in 93? Vader was apparently hurt pretty bad after the Sting match and they just needed to get the belt off him for a while before resuming the mega push. But yeah, the racism deal was kind of a bonus for Watts so that he could refute the charges, I think.  I don't think Rude was ever supposed to get the belt, though.  I'd have to check the WON from that time.  ...

Quite a few cage matches take place during the month. Hogan and Savage meet with a boxing champ as the referee.

April 27, 2002 Your hosts are Steve Corino and Donnie B.   The show was named "Night of Appreciation" as this was Eddy Guerrero's last show before he made his return to the WWE.  

Lots of stuff going on tonight UFC 172 NBA Playoffs NHL Playoffs MLB Action Also, the Vader 1993 WCW Timeline won the poll and will be reviewed Thursday

It was Homer who said the best inventions typically just stick a clock into another, already working invention. But the best stuff always seems to try and do something new - and suffer for it. Before the Oculus Rift there was the Virtual Boy, before the DVD there was the laser disc, before the Flesh-light there was your cat Meowzers. Thus: What are devices, characters, movies, bands, or machines you enjoy and see potential in, but find infuriatingly annoying - thus suffering from the '80 percent' problem? I'm generally told to move my non-wrestling thoughts off this blog, so feel free to click here and read my thoughts on the Xbox One's endlessly infuriating nature.

WWE Talent Told to Come up With Names For Their Finishing Moves There is a push for everyone in the WWE to come up with names for their finishers. Apparently, Daniel Bryan came up with the name "knee plus" for his finishing move months ago but no one in the company has used that on television. Even still, they are asking wrestlers to come up with names. Credit Bryan Alvarez, Figure Four Weekly  Newsletter Wade Barrett Update Due to his promo at the WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony, Barrett's stock has went up a lot in the company. His promo was unscripted too. Credit Bryan Alvarez, Figure Four Weekly Newsletter News on Global Force Wrestling GFW, Jeff Jarrett's promotion, is planning on scheduling their first live events in October. Credit Mike Johnson, PWInsider.com

The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - January 17 1994 - Taped from Richmond, VA. - Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Crush. God, this is gonna be a trainwreck.

The weekend edition means talk about what's on the Network, talk about baseball, basketball, hockey, farming, scuba diving, gastronomy or the medical condition that's slightly embarassing. The Network highlights today are: Best of Smackdown from 2/1/01  at 1:00 PM ET which features a triple threat match between then WWF champ Kurt Angle, The Rock and Triple H; Best of Hall of Fame marathon beginning at 4:00 PM ET, and then Beyond the Ring at 8:00 PM ET which features You Think You Know Me: The Story of Edge.

The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - January 10 1994 - Live, FINALLY, from Richmond, VA. - Your hosts are Vince & Macho.

Hey Scott, Longtime reader/fan. After reading on your blog about cutting the cable cord, I decided to take the plunge today. I was so excited to call Comcast and cut the cord. I bought a Roku and signed up for Hulu Plus. I set everything up and everything is working great. However, I am freaking out a bit now after finding out on the FCC website that a digital antenna will be useless to me because all the signals for the broadcast networks are either weak or no signal at all in my area. I want to be able to watch the NFL in the fall! I really don't want to call my cable back and have to renew my cable just to get the big broadcast networks. I hoping my fellow BOD readers can help me with this? What should I do? I thought for sure I'd be able to get HD broadcast channels for free using an antenna. I live in a city, its not like I'm out in the backwoods somewhere. Please help with some suggestions anyone. Crawl back to Comcast and get just basic cable? Any...

February 22, 1986 Your hosts are Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon Tonight, we will see the Intercontinental Title match from the Boston Garden between Randy Savage and Tito Santana. Also, Adrian Adonis and Paul Orndorff are in action. Plus, Hulk Hogan will make an appearance and much more.

Upon reading your comments about Dolph Ziggler in the "killing finishers" topic, it got me to thinking that he's really a guy who would benefit from having a better finishing move. The Zig Zag is fine, but it often looks sloppy and just seems like it's a move that lends itself so well visually to missing, that Dolph almost goes into his matches with the intention of not connecting with it. There seems to always be that one spot in a Dolph match where he'll try for the Zig Zag, his opponent will grab the rope to casually block, and Ziggler will crash backwards to the mat like a doofus. I'm no expert, but consistently building to spots where you whiff on your signature move doesn't seem like the best way to get over (although he certainly managed to, in spite of it). I remember listening to a Big Show interview a while back where he said that there were a number of people backstage who were campaigning for Ziggler to get the superkick as his finisher. ...

Hey Scott, Do you think NXT is going to eventually hinder wrestler debuts? Depending on whether or not WWE goes to outside talent which it doesn't debut on NXT first (Hopefully that statement doesn't seem laughable in the coming months). Which means there will never be a real situation where a wrestler will be able pop up on WWE or show up in vignettes without everyone already knowing about that wrestler long before he shows up. Example: If Rusev had shown up on Raw wtih Lana on any random day prior to showing up on NXT, I would've said, "huh, that's something new." Now I feel like I've seen it. And the more exposure NXT gets, the less any real surprise is going to arise through debuts. Is this just the nature of the current WWE beast and/or do you think this will be a problem? ​Depends on the character, I guess.  Adam Rose is still a pretty fresh character and didn't get overexposed on his three appearances in NXT, even if we already saw every...

Smackdown Date: April 25, 2014 Location: Giant Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield Reviewed by Tommy Hall Things have started to pick up for Extreme Rules with Kane attacking Daniel Bryan on Monday and Shield throwing down the gauntlet to Evolution. Other than that we have a lot of the card set or obvious as we head into whatever they're calling PPVs now. Hopefully something actually happens tonight. Let's get to it.

Discuss Smackdown, sports, or anything else here

I was thinking before I sat down and wrote this, "I wonder why WWE doesn't follow the Netflix model and allow you to sit and binge watch the entire season, instead of having to wait a week between episodes."  Then I realized, that, deep down, the WWE really does love its fans.  That's why.  Let's do this shit show.

There are some surprises in here.

Big week at PTBN as we added some new shows to the mix, including the brand new Steve Corino Show . Enjoy this selection of pieces and podcasts and enjoy your weekend as well! Wrestling CRZ analyzes the Top WWE Network shows:  The Most Watched Shows on the WWE Network Steve & Glenn cover the big news of the week, including Austin's comments on gay marriage, Mick Foley & more:  The High Spot: Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Impact Wrestling, and the Other Top Stories of the Week Dan & Scott recapped episode one of Legends House:  Inside The Legends’ House – Episode #1 Miscellaneous Tim Capel continues to make the case for Captain America:  Philosophy of the Shield: The Case for Cap – Part 4 Andrew Riche previewed the NBA Playoffs:   2014 NBA Playoffs Preview: Western Conference First Round Roger Morrissette previews this weekend's big UFC PPV: UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira Russell Sellers delivers his weekly comics picks:  New Hotness:...

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From the WWE Network Vault, it's episode #36 of Eastern Championship Wrestling. Original air date was December 13, 1993. So the Network Vault skips about five episodes from the last one from 11/2/93, and a lot has happened. At November to Remember '93, Terry Funk's mystery partner was King Kong Bundy, who promptly turned on Funk during the match, allowing Sabu to capture the ECW TV title, making Sabu a dual champion with the ECW Heavyweight title on the other shoulder. The team of Johnny Gunn and Tommy Dreamer walked out of November to Remember with the ECW Tag Team Championship, with a nine-second victory over Tony Stetson and Johnny Hotbody. That's probably not the first time that Johnny Gunn was finished in nine seconds, but that's a story for a Missy Hyatt shoot video, I'm sure. But I digress, so continue reading!

The Network live stream for today: 9:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - Randy Savage vs. IRS. 10:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 1/24/94 - Men on a Mission vs. The Headshrinkers. 11:00 AM ET - Wrestlemania 2 - 4/7/86 - Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy in a Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship; Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper in a Boxing Match. 2:30 PM ET - Legends' House - 4/24/14 - The Legends play polo; Tony Atlas and Jim Duggan attempt to co-exist. 3:30 PM ET - Best of Hall of Fame - Gene Okerlund/Shawn Michaels. 4:30 PM ET - Extreme Rules 2012 - 4/29/12 - John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar in an Extreme Rules Match. 7:30 PM ET - Smackdown Pre-Show. 8:00 PM ET - Legends of Wrestling - 10/31/06 - The careers of Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan. 9:00 PM ET - Old School - 3/17/75 - MSG - Bruno Sammartino vs. Spiros Arion for the WWWF Championship. 10:00 PM ET - Best of Hall of Fame - Inductions not listed. 11:00 PM ET - Legends of Wrestling - 10/31/06 - The careers of Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan. Rec...

Hi Scott, I'd been waiting until after Wrestlemania to write up a review for the WWE Network and I finally got around to posting it today. It's nothing ground breaking but I am sure it can probably stir up some debate on your site if you want to plug it. Thanks as always. http://getridofcable.net/streaming-media/wwe-network/ ​Good stuff, thanks.  ​

Ric Flair Returning to RAW? According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, who was confirmed with multiple sources in the company, Flair is scheduled to appear at RAW this coming Monday. Credit Mike Johnson, PWInsider.com WWE Announces Another NXT Special "NXT Takeover" will air live on May 29th at 8pm http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/nxt-takeover-wwe-network-may-29-26260442 Rumored Matches for the NXT Takeover Special As of now, the top two rumored matches are Natalya vs. Charlotte for the NXT Women's Championship and Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd for the NXT Heavyweight Championship Credit Mike Johnson, PWInsider.com

Scott, If Honky Tonk Man plays ball in 1988 and agrees to drop the IC title to Randy Savage at Wrestlemania 4, how different do you think things play out?  I believe you mentioned before that Hogan vs. Dibiase in some form was a plan?  I'm thinking you can still get to Hogan-Savage at WM5 easily enough by having WWF Champ Hogan and IC Champ Savage still form the MegaPowers to take on Dibiase & Andre.  Do you think Hogan-Dibiase headlines WM4?  Or did Hogan-Andre II have legs?  I'm assuming that if Savage is winning the IC title from HTM, then there doesn't necessarily have to be the Hogan/Andre/Dibiase shenanigans and title tournament. ​Yeah, I'm not 100% how that would have played out.  I believe the idea was that Savage gets the IC title and Dibiase cheats to win the tournament and then drops the belt to Hogan at Summerslam?   But the logistics of having a heel win at Wrestlemania and not having either Hogan or Savage be the champion during their hottes...

(Since they’re just about up to the point where I originally was forced to abandon my RAW rants years ago, I’ll start reposting the 94 rants and then I can seamlessly jump back in when the Network catches up next week.)  The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - January 3 1994 - Taped from Poughkeepsie, NY, for the fourth week in a row. Now I've been to some brutal TV tapings in my time, so I can imagine how bored and burned-out the poor crowd would have been by the 18 th hour of programming. - Your hosts are Vince & Johnny Polo. Now THERE'S the money combo.

NXT Date: April 24, 2014 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Commentators: Jason Albert, Alex Riley, Rich Brennan Reviewed by Tommy Hall We're getting closer to the next live special which has been announced for the end of May. That makes me think we're going to get done with Brodus challenging Adrian for the title soon as he feels like little more than a placeholder challenger. Other than that it's hard to see what's coming as NXT jumps around a lot. We should be getting Sami vs. Graves soon though. Let's get to it.

The SmarK Rant for WWE NXT – 04.24.14 Taped from Orlando, FL Your hosts are Rich Brennan, Jason Alberts and Alex Riley. I literally could not tell that it wasn’t Tom Phillips until they showed the announcers on camera.

Impact Wrestling Date: April 24, 2014 Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida Commentators: Taz, Mike Tenay Reviewed by Tommy Hall It's the go home show for Sacrifice and we have most of the card set up if you can remember some of the matches we've heard discussed here or there. Things are being set up for the TV show week to week, which defeats the purpose of having monthly PPVs but it's TNA so you know they have to screw up something every now and then. Let's get to it.

Read this article about the impending tv deal and figured it was something to yap about. Personally, I don't know what any of this stuff means. ​ http://msn.foxsports.com/college-football/outkick-the-coverage/why-doesnt-fox-cbs-or-nbc-buy-the-wwe.php ​ ​It could never happen.  Vince controls 90% of the shares of the company and it's nearly impossible for him to actually sell it.  I doubt it would ever happen as long as Vince is alive, either.  Now if he dies and the investors don't have confidence in his doofus son-in-law running a billion dollar business, that's another story.   ​

Here are your choices: 1963-69 WWE as told by Bruno Sammartino 1984 WWE as told by Roddy Piper 1993 WCW as told by Vader Vote by clicking on the link below. Voting ends Saturday at 7pm http://poll.pollcode.com/55325683

Tonight, Kurt Angle returns to Impact for the first time in three months and will face off against Rockstar Spud. Other matches include: Beer Money vs. Gunner & Bully Ray MVP vs. Austin Aries

The Beer & Coffee Rant for NJPW’s “Road To Dontaku” PPV Live from Kōrakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan – 4/19/14

Let's try an evening network thread, shall we? 7 PM, it's Legends' House, 8 PM with NXT and 9 PM has Best of Hall of Fame. It's either this, or TNA.

Hey, Scott here's the Super Sunday match between Hulk Hogan and Nick Bockwinkel complete with pre and post-match promos. I still cannot believe that Verne had the guts to do another false finish after all this build-up. Oh well hope people enjoy it: http://youtu.be/xFVWro5_umM Mark Boomer

This was released January 2014. This disc runs for two hours and thirty-one minutes long. The interview was not conducted by Rob Feinstein, but he was present for part of the interview, chiming in a few times.

The Network schedule for the live stream today: 9:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 1/10/94 - Marty Jannetty & The 1-2-3 Kid vs. The Quebecers for the WWF Tag Team Championship. 10:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 1/17/94 - Randy Savage vs. IRS. 11:00 AM ET - WCW Spring Stampede '98 - Sting vs. Randy Savage in a No DQ Match for the WCW Championship; Roddy Piper & The Giant vs. Hollywood Hogan & Kevin Nash. 2:00 PM ET - Wrestlemania XXX Fallout Part 1. 3:00 PM ET - Wrestlemania XXX Fallout Part 2. 4:00 PM ET - Wrestlemania XXX Fallout Part 3. 5:00 PM ET - Wrestlemania XXX Fallout Part 4. 6:00 PM ET - Best of Hall of Fame - Pete Rose/Ric Flair. 7:00 PM ET - Wrestlemania Rewind - The Rock vs. Hollywood Hogan at Wrestlemania X-8. 8:00 PM ET - Legends' House - The legends play polo; Tony Atlas and Jim Duggan try to co-exist. 9:00 PM ET - WWE NXT. 10:00 PM ET - Best of Hall of Fame - Gene Okerlund/Shawn Michaels. 11:00 PM ET - Legends' House - The legends play polo; ...

Updated Information About the Undertaker Losing at WrestleMania Here is an excerpt from today's Wrestling Observer: A major misconception, which we got into a few weeks ago, regarding the end of the streak is that it was Undertaker’s call to end it. It is almost surely true that if he didn’t want to have it ended, he could have put up a fight and it most likely would not have happened, so to an extent, that’s true. Undertaker was scheduled to go over in the match until some point a few days before the match, when Vince McMahon changed his mind, based on Undertaker’s physical condition and the feeling that there was a good chance this was his last match. At that point the decision was made. The mentality apparently was that if the streak was ever going to be broken and they were going to have that shock moment people will talk about forever, it’s either now or never and he chose now. Lesnar just happened to be the opponent at the time, even though Undertaker apparently in 2...