The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.08.23
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Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Taz
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.08.23
Latest Wrestling Blogs
Evening Daily News Update
Jerry Lawler Expected To Make Full Recovery
The latest update on Jerry Lawler’s recovery is great news after the WWE Hall of Famer suffered a stroke on Monday.
Tony Khan Talks The Future Of AEW
With AEW’s media rights coming up for renewal soon, Tony Khan has discussed the future of the company.
Yet Another Law Firm Eyeing Legal Action Against WWE
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Seth Rollins Includes Current AEW Star On His Mount Rushmore Of Wrestling
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Dynamite – February 8, 2023
Dynamite
Date: February 8, 2023
Location: County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz
It’s a title themed show this week as we have two title matches plus a pair of eliminator matches. That should be enough to make for a good night as AEW tends to treat its titles seriously. The build towards Revolution continues and we should be getting some more added to the card. Let’s get to it.
Jey Uso
Mr Keith – long time reader, enjoy your work!
Question – has the Bloodline/Sami Zayn story over the past several months affected your opinion of Jey Uso? For me he’s gone way up because of this angle. I think his promos have been great and felt very “real” and he’s really looked like a star throughout this entire angle. Just curious to know your thoughts?
Thanks!
Sent from my iPhone
I thought he was pretty Ucey during the pandemic era and it’s kind of a fascinating storyline that shows how Roman can be such an evil bastard that he could gaslight his cousin into switching core beliefs.
How about this for Sami?
Ok, Sami and KO dethroning the Usos at Mania is the obvious deal, but, BUT, what about the idea of Sami vs Gunther? Zayn gets beat into putty for 15 minutes then pulls off the upset and wins the IC Title. Sami gets a huge “standing on his own” win, gets to slay a monster, and a genuine WrestleMania Moment is born.
As far as the Uso’s, I’d be fine with the Bangarang Brothers winning the belts, and you could stick Kevin Owens with Solo in a No Holds Barred Match to get HIS revenge and that’s seems like a decent line up…thoughts?
I want Gunther v Brock and I will not accept anything less.
Elimination Chamber Blog Question
Hi Scott. Gonna keep this question pretty simple.
Is Sami going to get the “ Montreal Screwjob” treatment at Elimination Chamber?
Thanks for reading.
He should just beat Roman and split up the titles.
What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – November 2, 1991
Vince McMahon, Roddy Piper, and Randy Savage are on commentary, concluding the tapings from Wheeling, West Virginia. McMahon announces that Savage’s second attempt at reinstatement failed.
Do Fixer vs. Blood Generation at ROH Supercard 2006 (and other Dream Matches!)
Called “Wrestling’s Most Influential Match Ever”… and that just might be true. For better or worse.
Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This one has an amazing match to start us off- “The Flair/Steamboat of MOVEZ Matches” as I’ve heard it described, as two Dragon Gate teams face off at Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor 2006! Come watch the match the U.S. indie/AEW style has been chasing for the last 17 years, and come listen to me ramble about just WHY they can’t quite seem to catch it!
And of course I follow it up with matches featuring the Beverly Brothers and Well Dunn! This time, it’s the Beverly Brothers versus BABYFACE Nasty Boys, during Knobs & Sags’ latter period in the WWF. After that, it’s Well Dunn being fed to the new babyface duo of the Allied Powers- Lex Luger & The British Bulldog! And finally we end with a request from my “Wrestlers Slaughtering Jobbers” column, as it’s Rob Van Dam accidentally splattering Kurt Angle’s mouth all over the place, leading to Kurt being out on his feet and bleeding buckets.
DRAGON GATE RULES (no tags necessary)
DO FIXER (Ryo Saito, Genki Horiguchi & Dragon Kid) vs. BLOOD GENERATION (CIMA, Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi):
(Ring of Honor, Supercard of Honor 2006)
* Okay, so here’s another request, and it’s said to be a MOVEZ match from Dragon Gate (the former Toryumon)- you have been warned!! I know jack shit about any of these people but one so bear with me- I’m on the Pro Wrestling Wiki copying movesets so I at least know what’s what (jesus CIMA’s moveset is like a mile long). Saito’s a pretty “typical puro heel” with the dyed hair, toned body and bisected shorts. Genki’s got long tights in black & yellow and wears a shirt in the ring. Dragon Kid looks like Ultimo Dragon shrank in the wash, and was the “flippy guy du jour” in the business for a while. He’s in lime green and is skinny with no definition whatsoever. Yoshino’s got a ridiculously toned body with a weirdly skinny waist, like he’s sucking it in so he’s all ribcage- he’s in long black shorts. Doi’s just like Saito, but with black trunks. CIMA’s a pretty famous dude, having wrestled all over (even as a jobber in WCW)- his black shorts have tons of tassels and he gets by far the biggest reaction.
Mike Books ECW Living Dangerously 2001
Happy Wednesday Everyone!
Back with another one of these where I book a show that never happened, in this case the ECW Living Dangerously 2001 event that was originally due to take place on the 11th of March but ended up never happening due to ECW going out of business.
This week I’ll try and build from the Guilty As Charged event in January 2001 in an effort to keep existing storylines moving whilst also creating new ones. ECW doesn’t have the biggest of rosters but we’ll see what I can slap together and we might even bring some fresh faces in.
I’m assuming the reality we’re living in is one where ECW seemingly got another TV deal and thus managed to survive a bit longer. This would have put them in the interesting position of being the defacto second company in America what with WCW soon going southward.
“But I still got Up…”
Hi Scott.
What are some of your favorite hype video packages or vignettes in wrestling history? Mr. McMahon's Utopia from Over The Edge '98 is still a masterpiece. The original nWo paid announcements were amazing and so ahead of their time. Sean O'Haire's vignettes are still awesome. Austin/Rock at WM 17. Undertaker/Kane at WM 14. So many to choose from but man, I still get chills hearing Austin say, “But I still got up,” from the famous WWF Attitude Promo. That one went through a couple of changes, but the very first one that had Bret in it that played at Survivor Series '97 is still the best one.
Oh yeah, Mr McMahon’s Utopia is the gold standard. They were hitting on all cylinders with that one.
Return of the Kish
Hey Scott
In spite of the clamour from almost all the WWE audience, Rikishi failed to gatecrash the Roman v Brock
match at Wrestlemania last year.
match at Wrestlemania last year.
I have an idea on how to salvage the situation this year, and I still think there’s time to make it happen
if you’d be willing to indulge me.
if you’d be willing to indulge me.
Have Cody v Roman v Sami announced for the main event. As ‘Mania opens, show Sami writhing around in the
back, vomiting and going full Ultimate Warrior after Papa Shango got to him that time. All the while there’s a curious brown substance on Sami’s face.
back, vomiting and going full Ultimate Warrior after Papa Shango got to him that time. All the while there’s a curious brown substance on Sami’s face.
Later, have Cody suffer the same fate.
Roman then triumphantly declares himself the winner of the main event by forfeit until Rikishi’s music hits
and no doubt the roof will come off, the ‘Kish reveals he stink faced Roman’s opponents out the main event and throws down the challenge. The match is made, Rikishi forces Roman to tap to the stinkface in 10 seconds. He celebrates be cajoling Roman and Heyman
into doing the 2Cool dance as the show goes off the air.
and no doubt the roof will come off, the ‘Kish reveals he stink faced Roman’s opponents out the main event and throws down the challenge. The match is made, Rikishi forces Roman to tap to the stinkface in 10 seconds. He celebrates be cajoling Roman and Heyman
into doing the 2Cool dance as the show goes off the air.
Everyone goes home happy and Rikishi finally gets his world title run and could maybe defend against The
Rock next year.
Rock next year.
Do you think any of these 500 writers could come up with such a simple yet brilliant finale for the biggest
show of the year?
show of the year?
I would welcome your thoughts.
That’s some GOOD SHIT, pal.
Splitting Tag Team Titles
Assuming that the current plan is to have Sami and KO take both sets of titles off the Usos at WrestleMania, a fun way to split the titles could be for Sami and KO on RAW after, decide that since they've always been so up and down and can't 100% trust each other, they should each go their separate ways with one set of belts, and find a new partner. Sami can choose Jey Uso, and a mega babyface team is born, KO can choose a debuting Bron Breakker.
-kungfool
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dark – 02.07.23
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dark – 02.07.23
Normally I would review Elevation but this week was a special one for Dark, so the main YouTube show gets my attention instead!
Taped from Orlando, FL
Your hosts are Excalibur & Taz
Morning Daily News Update
Mandy Rose Fired Despite Complying With WWE Over Subscription Service
Mandy Rose has revealed that she was fired despite following WWE guidance over her subscription service.
“It Was A Good Exit For Me” – WWE Hall Of Famer Confirms Retirement
A WWE legend has confirmed that their in-ring career is over.
Austin Theory Hilariously Warns Brock Lesnar To Stay Away From “Dangerous” WWE Star
Austin Theory jokes that one particular rising WWE star might be too much to handle for Brock Lesnar.
NXT – February 7, 2023
NXT
Date: February 7, 2023
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Booker T.
We’re done with Vengeance Day and just shy of two months away from Stand & Deliver. It looks like we have a title match set up, as Carmelo Hayes stared down Bron Breakker, who retained the NXT Title in the main event. That should give us a clear path to Los Angeles so let’s get to it.
Evening Daily News Update
Positive Update On Jerry Lawler Following Stroke
Dutch Mantell provided good news about Jerry Lawler’s condition after the WWE Hall of Famer suffered a stroke on February 6th.
WWE SummerSlam 2023 Date And Location Announced
Fans now know when and where the 2023 edition of SummerSlam will take place!
Mandy Rose Fired Despite Complying With WWE Over Subscription Service
In a new interview, Mandy Rose revealed that she followed WWE’s requests regarding her exclusive content site before being fired with “no warning.”
MJF Passionately Takes A Stand For Disgraced Former WWE Star
The AEW World Champion took to social media to defend former WWE star who was fired amidst controversy.
Judy Bagwell
Dear Scott,
How do you think Judy Bagwell would have fared during the current WWE WOMENS REVOLUTION era?
How do you think Judy Bagwell would have fared during the current WWE WOMENS REVOLUTION era?
She’d be headlining Ring of Honor in a heartbeat.
AEW Sound
Hey Scott
Wanted to throw this out there to you, and the blog to check if this is just me, or lots of people.
Does anyone else have an issue with sound on AEW shows?
For weeks now I have found that the commentary is pretty much unintelligible as it seems like the ring and crowd is mic’d up too high. I can hear loudly and clearly the slaps, chops, grunts, slams on the mat and crowd screams and chants, but the AEW commentary team are too low in the mix and hard to hear.
Now if this was Michael Cole and his chums I wouldn’t mind, but I’d love to hear (clearly) Excalibur, Taz and Schiavone.
(For completeness I am in the UK, watch on ITV channels, recorded on a Sky Q HD box, on a good quality TV with sound bar, I have no problem with anything else I watch on the same setup.)
Cheers
Nick
I’ve had other problems but never that one. Have you tried moving to a real country?
Better Match?
Hart-Austin Survivor Series ‘96 or Hart Austin Wrestlemania 13?
Bonus Round: Hart-Diesel Survivor Series ‘95 or Shawn-Diesel at Good Friends, Better Enemies?
Gotta go with WM13. And Hart-Diesel was great but Shawn-Diesel was iconic.
The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 09.25.82
The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 09.25.82
No Dark Elevation tonight because my boys in the Outrunners are on original recipe Dark on Tuesday night and I want to review that instead. So you get Mid-Atlantic and you like it.
Taped from Charlotte, NC
Your host is Bob Caudle