The SmarK Rant for WWE Smackdown – 09.26.02
Last week: Unforgiven 2002 happened. I reviewed it and a lot of people read it. You must like me or something.
Taped from San Diego, CA. I believe the Spanish named it for “a whale’s vagina”.
Your hosts are Michael Cole & Tazz. It’s driving me crazy to alternate between “Tazz” on WWE shows and “Taz” on AEW shows. PICK A NUMBER OF Z’s, MAN!
Mandy Rose Isn’t Ruling Out A Return To Wrestling
Fans could yet see Mandy Rose back in the ring.
Bron Breakker Compares His Spear To Roman Reigns – “I Know Mine Is Better”
Bron Breakker had some fighting words for Roman Reigns.
WWE Dismisses Report Linking The Rock With In-Ring Return
The Rock won’t be wrestling at Elimination Chamber — or at least according to WWE.
Last Man Standing Match Announced For WWE Fastlane
The card for Fastlane is beginning to take shape.
Monday Night Raw
Date: September 25, 2023
Location: Toyota Arena, Ontario, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Wade Barrett
Things are getting interesting around here again as we are almost up to Fastlane, and this week might actually see something added to the card. Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura should be announced this week, though I think I’ve been saying that for the better part of a month now. Let’s get to it.
WWE SmackDown Ratings Down After 9/15 The Rock Appearance
SmackDown ratings took a dip on September 22nd.
Sheamus Seen Wearing Neck Brace, Dealing With Injury
Sheamus is out of action with a serious injury.
Will Ospreay’s Next IWGP UK Title Defense Announced
Will Ospreay is set to defend the IWGP UK Heavyweight Championship at NJPW Royal Quest III.
WWE Has “Long-Term Plans” For Jey Uso
A new report sheds light on WWE’s plans for Jey Uso, including why he moved to Monday Night Raw.
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary, starting a new cycle of tapings in Cincinnati, Ohio. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on May 18 and drew a crowd of 9,160 with almost half of the tickets given away for free.
Unfortunately, the only video I can find of this show on YouTube is totally silent, which kind of wrecks a lot of the impact. I found the opener & Aja/Omukai with sound, at least.
HYPER VISUAL FIGHTING ARSION- VIRGIN:
* And now it’s the start of ANOTHER new promotion, as the other third of the “AJW Split” takes form in Hyper Visual Fighting ARSION, which was formed when AJW office dweeb Rossy Ogawa and Aja Kong got some backers and formed their own company. Along the way, they decided to do something a bit unique, altering the traditional Joshi styles (which was quite varied, but typically went “Shoot-Style”, “Monster”, “Brawler” and “Traditional Style” by this point) into a more grappling-heavy one that was closer to what Mariko Yoshida, who was a rising wrestler in AJW, was doing. Yoshida was thus tapped to be quickly elevated as the new “Ace”, and here we are.
ARSION Roster: Aja Kong, Mariko Yoshida, Rie Tamada, Yumi Fukawa, Michiko Omukai, Reggie Bennett, Jessie Bennett, Mikiko Futagami, Candy Okutsu
(this means that ARSION effectively has only one top wrestler, and it’s the former Ace of AJW, whose own star power has taken a bit of a hit. Reggie was an upper-midcarder in AJW a couple years back, at least. Yoshida was mid-ranked and not even at the 1989 kids’ level, really. Tamada and Candy were at-best “pretty decent” sometimes and Fukawa has potential, but it’s really not a lot of stardom. Futagami & Omukai from LLPW and Candy from JWP, having “retired” months before this)
We get like 15 minutes of interviews, training bits and I think training in Mexico before the show opens, as I struggle to remember what everyone looks like without their gear (not helped by a lack of familiarity with Omukai). Everyone does the “Shield/Moxley” entrances, coming from all parts of the arena in their training gear. Nice to see Reggie Bennett again, and she’s brought a “Clone Buddy” in Jessie Bennett (Bionic-J/Jessica Soto, and no I don’t know who that is). Yoshida is… wow. Aja comes out last and thanks everyone for coming, bowing to all four corners.
Looking to see if you and the blog can help me out if i got this count right. Jericho's match at Wembley got me thinking, has he wrestled in the biggest variety of stadiums/dome shows? Let's say 40k plus attendance is my starting point, as really anything between 25 & 40k really comes up as low attended shows in big venues. Also not including if they wrestled the same venue more than once.
After doing some research, i actually think Randy orton holds that title at 15!:
Including Rumbles, Greatest Rumbles, Manis and any supershow: King Abdullah Sports City, Alamodome, Chase Field, Minute Maid Park, The Dome @ St. Louis, Camping World Stadium, Reliant Stadium, University of Phoenix Stadium, Georgia Dome, Sun Life Stadium, Metlife Stadium, Nawleans Superdome, Levis Stadium, Raymond James Stadium. AT&T Stadium
Jericho w/ 14: Georgie dome(Nitro!), Wembley, Tokyodome, Astrodome, Skydome, Safeco Field, Reliant Stadium, University of Phoenix Stadium, Sunlife Stadium, Metlife Stadium, AT&T Stadium, Camping World Stadium, King Abdullah Sports City, Alamodome.
In comparison, i have Hogan at 6: Silverdome, Skydome, Hoosierdome, Georgia dome, Safeco Field, Tokyodome @ Battlefield 94 at least.
Let you and the blog know if i missed a few.
Man wrestling fans focus on some weirdly specific stuff.
The SmarK Rant for Getting Rowdy: The Unreleased Matches of Roddy Piper
So this one caught me off guard, to say the least. I was saying they should do another Unreleased set after I had the reviewed the original one and the Savage one, and they DID. I found it at my local Sunrise Records yesterday, and it turns out that it was released in 2019, which shows you how dead the DVD market is now for WWE because I had no idea about it. I don’t think this one was even released on Blu Ray. Apparently this was some kind of tie-in with Ronda Rousey’s debut and a sequel to the original set.
This is 2 discs, covering about six hours total.
Booker T Believes Ilja Dragunov Can Be A Standout WWE Star
Booker T believes Ilja Dragunov heading to the top.
Cody Rhodes’ Next Opponent Revealed At WWE Live Event?
Who’s up next for Cody Rhodes?
Tony Khan Claims “A New Era” Of AEW Will Begin At WrestleDream
Tony Khan claims AEW is about to enter a new era.
Chris Jericho Addresses Possibility Of Edge Joining AEW
Chris Jericho has given his thoughts on Edge potentially heading to AEW.
Taped from Dallas, TX
Airdate: July 19, 1986 (taped 07/11)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Bill Mercer
Can Adams and Adias topple the notorious team of Sawyer and Borne? How will Kevin fare against Brooks? Who does Pringle have up his sleeve to conquer Brody? WCWA’s the place to be! You’ll never know what you can expect.
ECW On Sci Fi
Date: June 17, 2008
Location: HP Pavilion, San Jose, California
Commentators: Mike Adamle, Tazz
Things are still kind of sluggish around here, as we have Big Show set to challenge for the ECW Title but he has barely interacted with champion Kane whatsoever. Instead, Kane and CM Punk are still feuding with Miz and John Morrison, which isn’t exactly interesting stuff. Maybe they’ll find something new in next week’s Draft but that is still a long way off. Let’s get to it.
(photo courtesy of X)
Ospreay claims WWE low-balled RevPro and was summarily rebuffed
Boogs screwed Boogs?
Sunday night means Sunday Night Football with the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Las Vegas Raiders, family gatherings, and sometimes a wrestling PPV. Unfortunately, not this week.
Have a great night!
The SmarK Rant for AEW Collision – 09.23.23
Live from Grand Rapids, MI
Your hosts are Kevin Kelly & Nigel McGuinness
Happy Sunday Everyone!
Everton actually managed to win a game yesterday, so if you see any pigs flying past your window whilst making your morning coffee then that’s probably why.
Onto today’s news; courtesy of the fine folk at ITR!
Cody Rhodes to open up Raw this week
What’s the over/under on him getting attacked/accosted by Judgement Day?
Top Dolla Vs Michael Cole was discussed
One of the rare occasions that Cole might have been the babyface in a match
Eddie Kingston stepping away from the indie scene for a while due to injury
It’s a loss for the scene, but also understandable. Dude’s been battering his body for years
And that’s the news for now. Have a great Sunday ya’ll!!
Matt Riddle “Burned Through Too Many Chances” With WWE
The writing was on the wall for Matt Riddle after a recent incident.
John Cena Set To Wrestle At WWE Fastlane
John Cena will be back in the ring for tag team action at Fastlane.
Eddie Kingston To Stop Working Independents, Confirms Back Injury
Eddie Kingston plans to scale back his schedule.
Ric Flair Shares Touching Tribute To Dolph Ziggler Following WWE Release
Ric Flair has shared his thoughts on the recent WWE releases, including the end of Dolph Ziggler’s run in the company.
Pro Wrestling Crusaders
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan
City Gymnasium
Attendance: 1,791 (lol)
PWC’s first show was overshadowed by actual dogs so let’s see if this one is any better. George Takano isn’t wrestling so it’s already looking like a “no.”
We start off and I take it back THERE’S MORE DOGS.
Collision
Date: September 23, 2023
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness
It’s time to wrap up another very busy week for AEW and it’s going to get even busier next week with WrestleDream. For now though, we have a big card with Ricky Starks vs. Bryan Danielson in a Texas Deathmatch and a triple threat match for the TNT Title. That should make for a nice night so let’s get to it.
