The SmarK Rant for AEW Rampage – 02.24.23
Well this show has a high bar to clear if they want to beat last week’s HYOOGE 287,000 viewer rating.
Taped from Phoenix, AZ
Your hosts are Jim Ross & Excalibur & Chris Jericho & Tony Schiavone
Rampage
Date: February 24, 2023
Location: Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: Jim Ross, Chris Jericho, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone
We’re still in the desert and Rampage is still searching for a more viable formula. I’m not sure why AEW seems to punt on this show so often but it does produce some enjoyable results. If you can get by without the star power after the first match, you should be in for a fun one and hopefully that is true this week. Let’s get to it.
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.22.23
For some reason the DVR has this one titled “Another Round” in the show description.
Live from Phoenix, AZ. I assume anyone who loses a match tonight will just lie about it and solicit funds from the fanbase to sue the winner.
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Excalibur & Taz
Dynamite
Date: February 22, 2023
Location: Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz
We have two weeks to go to before Revolution and that means it is time to start finalizing the card. That is a little tricky when one of the matches is going to be a sixty minute Iron Man match, but AEW does know how to throw in a few surprises. Tony Khan has promised a big surprise for tonight so let’s get to it.
The SmarK Rant for AEW Rampage – 02.17.23
“Slam dunk!”
Taped from Laredo, TX
Your hosts are Jim Ross, Excalibur, Chris Jericho and Tony Schiavone
Rampage
Date: February 17, 2023
Location: Saves Auto Arena, Laredo, Texas
Commentators: Jim Ross, Chris Jericho, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur
It’s a special show this week with the show on at 7pm instead of the usual 10pm due to the NBA coverage. Therefore the show is call Slam Dunk as AEW stacks the card because it might be able to draw a good bit more fans this week. Hopefully that is the case as Rampage hasn’t felt important in a few weeks now. Let’s get to it.
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.15.23
Live from Laredo, TX
Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Taz
Dynamite
Date: February 15, 2023
Location: Sames Auto Arena, Laredo, Texas
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz
We are less than a month away from Revolution and as of last week, we officially have a main event. Bryan Danielson earned his title shot against MJF, which will come in the form of a sixty minute iron man match. With that out of the way, the rest of the card needs to be built up so let’s get to it.
Rampage
Date: February 10, 2023
Location: County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas
Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Chris Jericho
We are still in Texas with less than a month to go before Revolution. That should make for a few interesting weeks but this week’s lineup doesn’t exactly offer much in the way of hope. The Blackpool Combat Club is here though and that is one of the better things Rampage could do. Let’s get to it.
The SmarK Rant for AEW Rampage – 02.10.23
I wasn’t particularly paying attention when Excalibur did his rapid fire rundown of Rampage on Wednesday so I’m mostly going into this one blind. I’m sure if there was anything notable I would have perked up though.
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.
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 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
Rampage
Date: February 3, 2023
Location: Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators: Chris Jericho, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur
Rampage continues to be a bit all over the place as you know most of the card/lineup in advance but it still feels like a show that could go in a bunch of different directions. That could be the case again this week as there is some star power with the Elite around to defend the Trios Titles. Let’s get to it.
The SmarK Rant for AEW Rampage – 02.03.23
Still taking me a bit to undo the muscle memory of “control-V” and switch to “command-V” for pasting and such, but day 2 of Macbook life is going fine. I LOOOOOOOOOVE the screen-switching with control-arrow.
Also thanks to the hard behind-the-scenes work of the site overlords for dealing with the various nonsense that was affecting the blog on Wednesday night. We now have a new custom Disqus script for the blog that seems to work much nicer, and things are working smoothly and efficiently again on the dashboard, which is much appreciated. Best of all, I get to have ZERO STRESS over the server getting attacked with a DDOS because someone else gets paid to deal with it now. It’s a good feeling. I highly recommend selling out if you ever get the chance.
Taped from Dayton, OH
Your hosts are Jim Ross, Excalibur and Tony Schiavone
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.01.23
Hopefully the site will be back in working order again by the time you’re reading this.
Live from Dayton, OH
Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Taz
Dynamite
Date: February 1, 2023
Location: Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz
We are about a month away from Revolution and that means it is time to start hammering down the card. You can probably guess a good bit of it from here and that is a strong sign for the show. This week will feature a pair of title matches, including Jade Cargill’s latest conquest and Samoa Joe getting his rematch for the TNT Title. Let’s get to it.
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dark Elevation – 01.30.23
“100th Episode Anniversary Celebration Spectacular!”
TAPED FROM LEXINGTON, KY
YOUR HOSTS ARE PAUL WIGHT, IAN RICCABONI & MAGIC MATT MENARD
I’M AS EXCITED TO REVIEW THIS ONE HUNDREDTH EPISODE AS YOU ARE TO READ IT! I KNOW EVERYONE LOVES THESE AND LUCHA UNDERGROUND SO LET’S GET TO IT!
Dark: Elevation
Date: January 30, 2023
Location: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Matt Menard, Paul Wight
It’s the 100th edition of the show and I happened to be in the house for it so let’s take a look at this show. Thankfully this is now just the series of dark matches before Dynamite and not the insane marathon sessions this/Dark had back in the day. If nothing else we should get a nice main event so let’s get to it.
Rampage
Date: January 27, 2023
Location: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Chris Jericho
We’re still in Kentucky and in this case that means it’s time for Hangman Page to face Wheeler Yuta on his way to next week’s showdown with Jon Moxley. Other than that, Jamie Hayter is in a Women’s Title eliminator match and we should be in for a treat there. The show continues to be up and down, but maybe they can make it work this week. Let’s get to it.
