The SmarK Rant for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – 08.07.82
Okey doke, I’m over the Covid and survived two weeks of Starrcades, so let’s get back to some normal TV reviews again for a bit. I am quite relieved that Starrcade 99 kind of blew up on the blog after putting myself through the 3 hours of hell watching it. If it had only gotten like 20 comments that would have been somehow worse.
The SmarK Rant for WCW Starrcade 99 – 12.19.99
As you might imagine I have blocked this entire period out of my memory and I literally only remember the main event. So this should be interesting.
AAAAAAAAAH! SCARY SPIKY LOGO IS COMING AFTER ME!
The SmarK Rant for AEW Rampage – 12.02.22
Taped from Indianapolis, IN
Your hosts are Jim Ross, Excalibur & Tony Schiavone
The SmarK Rant for NWA Starrcade ’87: Chi-Town Heat: Glory Bound – 11.26.87
(Final Covid update: Mostly recovered, at least enough to go back into work again unfortunately, but we’ll finish off the last couple of Starrcades I have left to repost and I think I’ll redo 1999 because I haven’t watched it since the original airing.)
So this was of course Jim Crockett’s first big attempt to break into the PPV market, which was immediately scuttled by Vince McMahon with the creation of the Survivor Series on the same night Even two subtitles couldn’t save this one. Given I haven’t watch this one in forever, and only the home video version at that, I figured it might be worth giving it another look on the Network to see if Meltzer’s hatred of this show is justified.
Live from Chicago, IL.
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 11.30.22
Covid update: Symptoms are basically gone, leaving me with only a crushing sense of tiredness all day and congestion, which is apparently normal. So back to work tomorrow, still alive for another week. Overall, I will give Covid a STRONG RECOMMENDATION TO AVOID. Thumbs down.
Live from Indianapolis, IN
Your hosts are Taz, Excalibur & Tony Schiavone
Since the repost of Starrcade 87 is coming up right away and this has been ratting around in my Tylenol-addled brain for a few days now, let’s try to rebook one of the less-rebooked Starrcades and see if we can fix it, because I’ve always been massively disappointed in how the debut PPV for Crockett turned out.
The SmarK Rant for WWE Survivor Series Wargames 2022 – 11.26.22
I’m fighting off the flu tonight while my wife covers from Covid, so this may be a couple of days after airdate before I have a chance to finish the show.
OK getting Ozzy to do “War Pigs” for the opening is pretty cool, I’ll give them that.
Live from Boston, MA
Your hosts are Michael Cole & Corey Graves
The SmarK Rant for NWA Starrcade ’86: Night of the Skywalkers
(Hey great, so now I have Covid. Thank god for sick time at work. Carrying on with the Starrcades in the meantime. This was written in 2016.)
What the hell, let’s do it. People have been bugging me to do the full version on the WWE Network forever now anyway, and since we’re at that point in the Observer Flashbacks now is as good a time as any. As a note, I would once again like to compliment the amazing production department of the Network for cleaning up the master and making it look pristine again. Given what they frequently have to work with, they do an astonishingly great job.
Discuss the world this Monday morning!
The SmarK Rant for NWA Starrcade 85: The Gathering – 11.28.85
(Hey, I’m still fighting through a lung infection that is thankfully not related to Covid, but I feel like hot buttered crap and I’m thinking Survivor Series is gonna be on the backburner for a while. So let’s continue the Starrcading! If I feel better my plan is to redo 97 and 99, by the way. This was originally written in 2018, by the way)
Hey, why not. I had originally done all the World Championship Wrestling rants leading up to this one, but never got around to doing the full show. It still blows my mind that I can just wake up and have someone suggest I watch Starrcade 85, and then just go “OK” because it’s right there on the WWE Network whenever I want to watch it. Who cares if the current product is shit, you have more awesome wrestling then you could ever watch in one lifetime for $9.99 a month!
The SmarK Rant for WCW Starrcade 1996 – 12.29.96
(I’m currently fighting off some form of the flu, although at least it’s not Covid despite my wife having it for the past couple of days, so I was only able to get about halfway into Survivor Series before I had to call it a night and save it for another day. So this morning we carry on with Starrcade instead.)
It’s actually been 15 years since I did this one, so let’s give it another look. This was almost literally a one-match card as far as buildup goes and I remember very little of the undercard, even watching all the Nitros leading up to it on the Network.
Live from Nashville, TN
Your hosts are Tony, Bobby & Dusty
The SmarK Rant for WCW Starrcade 1995
(I was asked by a reader to hold off on the Starrcade 85 repost until Monday, so we’ll move back to the 90s again with 1995 instead. “Vox populi” or whatever the hell it is that Elon Musk is saying on Twitter.)
Live from Nashville, TN
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan & Dusty Rhodes
The SmarK Rant for AEW Rampage – 11.25.22
“Black Friday”
Thanks to whoever recommended Tulsa King to go along with Yellowstone. I didn’t realize it was part of the Taylor Sheridan Cinematic Universe and I flew through the first two episodes, and it was GREAT. This is a role that Stallone is born to play. Although I did try Mayor of Kingston and I found the first episode kind of slow and confusing and it didn’t hold my attention, but Tulsa King speaks to my two loves: Westerns and gangsters.
Taped from Chicago, IL
Your hosts are Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone & Excalibur
The SmarK Rant for NWA Starrcade 84 – 11.22.84
True story: Some guy actually went to the trouble of finding my home number and called my house in 2004 asking me to review this show. I didn’t have a copy of the tape back then, but now there’s the Network and I’ve been on an old school territorial kick anyway, so the time is right!
Live from Greensboro, NC, drawing 16,000 in the building and a shitload of people on closed circuit.
Your hosts are Gordon Solie & Bob Caudle
The SmarK Rant for NWA Starrcade ’83 (11.24.83)
(Hey, it’s Thanksgiving down there, so we go back to the beginning of the tradition with a repost of the very first Starrcade!)
Live from Greensboro, NC, drawing 15447. This was of course the first “supercard” as we know them today, broadcast on closed circuit to a bunch of locations and starting a Thanksgiving tradition for the NWA.
Your hosts are Gordon Solie & Bob Caudle. If there was any introductions or talk beforehand, it’s all cut out on the Network version because we go TO THE RING post-haste.
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 11.23.22
So my copy of Office 365 stopped working this afternoon, thanks to the supposed “lifetime” license that I bought from a guy on eBay 6 years ago, which suddenly stopped working because the guy running the company probably got arrested or whatever. Man, you just can’t trust anyone these days. So now I have to PAY for it, like some kind of common schnook. $11 a month Canadian for the Family plan! That’s almost one and a half Twitter checkmarks! Or it would be if Elon hadn’t screwed it up already so that no one could subscribe anymore. But enough about him, what about ME? So yeah, GoFundMe is being set up as we speak. Give until it hurts! I’ll even use some of the funds to investigate election malfeasance in Arizona. Honest.
Live from Chicago, IL, complete with updated intro and new champions.
Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Taz
The SmarK Rant for WCW Starrcade 94 – 12.27.94
Well, in for a penny, in for a pound with these I guess. Here’s another one I haven’t watched in more than 20 years. And there’s good reason for that.
Live from Nashville, TN, drawing a sellout of 8200
The SmarK Rant for WCW Starrcade 93 – 12.27.93
Been a hot minute since I’ve reviewed this show. WCW was in a bit of a tumultuous state at this point, to say the least.
Live from Charlotte, NC, drawing 8000 for a legit sellout.
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura
The SmarK Rant for WCW Starrcade 1992 – 12.28.92
Tonight! The 10th annual Starrcade ’92! Well, at least they understand the concept of an anniversary. Oh, also, the graphics in the opening video package have Barry Windham and Brian Pillman mixed up. Because they apparently look SO MUCH alike.
Live from Atlanta, GA, drawing 8000 people and a 0.5 buyrate.
So I finished up Longmire this morning because I wanted to get it wrapped up before starting the fifth season of Yellowstone, and I have thoughts! Big huge spoilers for the ending below, so if you haven’t watched it yet, stay clear.
