The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.08.23
“Championship Fight Night”
Live from El Paso, TX
Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Taz
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.08.23
“Championship Fight Night”
Live from El Paso, TX
Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Taz
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
The legal issues stemming from Vince McMahon’s return to WWE show no sign of slowing down.
Seth Rollins Includes Current AEW Star On His Mount Rushmore Of Wrestling
Seth Rollins named his top picks for his Mount Rushmore of wrestling, and he included a current top AEW star!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
I’ve had other problems but never that one. Have you tried moving to a real country?
Bonus Round: Hart-Diesel Survivor Series ‘95 or Shawn-Diesel at Good Friends, Better Enemies?
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