WWE — page 79

The SmarK Retro Re-Rant for Wrestlemania VIII

– Live from Indianapolis, IN.

– Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan.

The SmarK Retro Re-Rant for WWF Wrestlemania IX

– Figured we might as well go whole hog and redo this one, since the buildup on the RAWs I’ve been doing has been towards this show. Plus I wanted to work in all the Anthology versions of WM anyway. Can you believe it’s been ten years since I last did this one?

– Live from Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas.

– Your hosts are Bobby Heenan, Randy Savage and introducing…JIM ROSS! In a toga.

The SmarK Retro Rant for Wrestlemania X

– Live from Madison Square Garden.

– Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 27, 2003
Location: Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Attendance: 5,500
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Evolution is back to full strength and Goldberg is down to one ankle after last week. Batista made his return from a long injury layoff to collect the bounty on Goldberg. That sets HHH up very well as we head towards Survivor Series, though we don’t have much set up for the show just yet. Let’s get to it.

Smackdown
Date: March 27, 2018
Location: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

We’ve got two episodes of Smackdown Live left to go before Wrestlemania XXXIV and that means two episodes featuring Daniel Bryan. It’s not clear what he’s going to be doing in New Orleans but if the Shane McMahon health issues are true, a lot of things could be up in the air. Let’s get to it.

The SmarK Retro Re-Rant for Wrestlemania XI

– Live from Hartford, CT

– Your hosts are Vinnie Mac and Jerry Lawler

– Sure, this is one of the lesser Wrestlemanias, but of course the untimely death of Bam Bam Bigelow made it a natural tribute to him.

Monday Night Raw
Date: March 26, 2018
Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman

We’ve got two shows to go before New Orleans and WWE is still dragging its feet to get to John Cena vs. the Undertaker. Tonight we have Cena vs. Kane though, which is likely the next step on the way to the big showdown. Other than that, we might get a few more names added to the battle royals. Let’s get to it.

The Netcop Retro Rant for Wrestlemania XII

– For those who have read the original rant from 1996 and cringed as much as I do when I read it, here’s a version that DOESN’T suck…

– Live from Anaheim, CA. Original airdate March 31, 1996

The Netcop Retro Rant for Wrestlemania 13

– Here’s an interesting bit: Before Zen’s copy of WM13, there’s a copy of Bret Hart’s tirade from Albany where he loses to Sid and then goes off on a curse-filled rant about getting screwed while Vince looks on. Eerily prescient of what would happen at Survivor Series later that year.

– Live from Chicago, Illinois. Original airdate: March 24, 1997

– Your hosts are Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Vince McMahon.

Smackdown
Date: October 23, 2003
Location: Pepsi Arena, Albany, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz

We’re past No Mercy and that means it’s time to get ready for Survivor Series. Thankfully it also means that Stephanie McMahon is gone after having been beaten by her father in an I Quit match. Since that’s going to get some focus tonight, we’ll move on to Brock Lesnar successfully defending the World Title against the Undertaker. Let’s get to it.

The SmarK Retro Rant for WWF Wrestlemania XIV

– Live from Boston, MA, 03/29/1998

– Your hosts are JR & The King.

The Netcop Retro Rant for Wrestlemania XV

Over the years WWE has aired a lot of pay per views and major shows. You’ve probably seen most of the big ones, be it Wrestlemania, the Royal Rumble, Summerslam or Survivor Series. Those shows are always hyped up and treated as the biggest shows of the year but what about the other shows? Just because something isn’t treated as something very important doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be looked at again as there is almost always something hidden in there worth checking out.

In this book, I’ll be taking a look at forty WWF/E specials airing over a period of over thirty years. These shows include pay per views, big time house shows that were taped for TV and live WWE Network specials. I’ll be including play by play and analysis as we take a look at a long series of shows that you might have forgotten about as some of them weren’t the biggest shows in the world but they’re certainly worth checking out. These are all new reviews that were specifically done for this book.

The paperback sells for $10.99 and is available through Amazon. If you’re not big on the physical book, the e-book is still available as well. In case you don’t have a Kindle or device to read an e-book, there are plenty of FREE apps you can get from Amazon for pretty much any electronic device, all of which are available at this link.

You can pick up the paperback from Amazon here.

From the UK Amazon here.

If you’re in another country with its own Amazon page or want the e-book, just search “KB Grab Bag” and it should be the first thing to come up.

Also you can still get any of my previous books on the WWE Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, Monday Night Raw from 1997, 1998 and 2001, Monday Nitro from 1995-1998, In Your House, Summerslam, Starrcade, ECW Pay Per Views, Royal Rumble, Saturday Night’s Main Event, the WWF and WCW pay per views from 1998, Wrestlemania, NXT and Clash of the Champions at my author’s page here.

I hope you like it and shoot me any questions you might have.

Thomas Hall

The SmarK Retro Rant for Wrestlemania 2000 (XVI)

– Live from Anaheim, CA.

– Your hosts are JR & King.

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 20, 2003
Location: Casey Plaza, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s still all about Goldberg and the bounty but this time he has a slightly better opponent with Shawn Michaels getting his shot. We’re also getting ready for Survivor Series in a few weeks, meaning things should be picking up in short order. Then again, that’s never stopped WWE before. Let’s get to it.

The SmarK Retro Rant for WWF Wrestlemania X-7

– Live from Houston, TX

– Your hosts are Jim Ross & Paul Heyman

Smackdown
Date: March 20, 2018
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

And then, Daniel Bryan was cleared to medically return to the ring. I’m really not sure what else there is to say here as now we wait to see what this means for Bryan at Wrestlemania. There’s a good chance that he gets the spot in a tag match with Shane McMahon against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn but maybe it’s something else. Let’s get to it.

The SmarK Rant for WWF Wrestlemania X-8

– Live from the Center of the Universe.

– Your hosts are JR & King

Monday Night Raw
Date: March 19, 2018
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman

We’re down to three weeks left before Wrestlemania and there’s a lot left to do. One such thing is Ultimate Deletion, which takes place tonight instead of at Wrestlemania in a smart move. The problem is that’s going to be a lot of TV time that could be used for something bigger, though I’m curious to see how this translates to WWE TV. Let’s get to it.

The SmarK Rant for Wrestlemania XIX

(So this was one where I was really wanting to redo it for the countdown, because it’s very underappreciated and I still feel bad that it flopped so badly that Seattle will never get another one.  However, real life is what it is, and I just don’t have 3.5 hours to dedicate to re-reviewing it in time for this.) 

– Live from Seattle, WA.

– Your hosts are JR, King, Cole & Tazz.