Wrestling Reviews and Opinions

Hello there.

Here are the big stories in wrestling courtesy of ITR.

Sting Reveals Original AEW Retirement Date: “I Wanted To Finish Earlier”
Sting intended to wrap up his legendary career before AEW Revolution 2024.

Why Is Ronda Rousey Wrestling At An Upcoming Independent Show?
Ronda Rousey is set to return to the ring outside of WWE.

Matt Riddle’s First Post-WWE Match Announced; Set To Face Hall Of Famer
Matt Riddle returns to action.

WWE Crown Jewel 2023 Update; Top Executives Expected To Attend
Big names are travelling to Saudi Arabia.

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 11.01.23

Interestingly, they actually recap what happened on Collision in order to tie the shows together.

Bryan Danielson Undergoes Surgery; AEW Return Update Given
A new report details Bryan Danielson’s status after undergoing surgery.

NXT’s Gigi Dolin Announces Engagement To Released WWE Star
Congratulations to Gigi Dolin and her new fiancé!

News On WWE TV Deal Potentially Impacting AEW
Television deals are in the works, and WWE negotiation could affect AEW.

Former WWE World Champion Returning To Action At AEW Full Gear [SPOILER]
A longtime veteran is set to lace up his boots once again at AEW Full Gear!

Live from Philly.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Roddy Piper.

Dynamite
Date: November 1, 2023
Location: KFC Yum Center, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

We’re less than a month away from Full Gear and the show tonight is looking a bit different. There are a pair of title matches but MJF is also needing three people to team with him to face Bullet Club Gold. Other than that, Tony Khan has another important announcement and that could be just about anything. Let’s get to it.

Vince McMahon runs tonight’s panel.  Hacksaw Jim Duggan returns to join Hillbilly Jim, Bobby Heenan, and Mr. Perfect.  Duggan says he wanted to bring Jim a backscratcher back from Japan but could not get it through customs.  He also said he wanted to bring “fish heads and rice” back for Heenan and Perfect.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This time around, I have one of the most bizarre, cartoonish matches you’re likely to see- Andre the Giant vs. Gorilla Monsoon in a BOXING MATCH in Puerto Rico from 1977! Come see how much of a cartoon villain ol’ Gorilla was, doing knee strikes and stuff, plus doing some incredible bumping for such a giant dude.

Then it’s over to 1993 WCW as a newbie Steve Regal takes on Barry Windham for the NWA World Title! Then 1998 WWF as the Headbangers face the thrown-together babyface team of Faarooq & (2 Cold) Scorpio! And I’ve decided to gaze into the abyss that is DANGEROUS DANNY DAVIS matches, as I take a look at his run as a bottom-tier JTTS heel, starting today- his opponent is one Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake! And finally, Mike Tolbertmania continues as the WCW Power Plant graduate gets fed to Greg “The Hammer” Valentine of all people in early 1998. Yes, the Attitude Era is in full swing, and WCW is putting Valentine on TV.

BOXING MATCH:
ANDRE THE GIANT vs. GORILLA MONSOON (w/ Hugo Savinovich):
(WWF, Puerto Rico, 1977)
* hahah oh my god look at THIS. Monsoon, 40 years old and looking like your fat, bald uncle, is a heel and is facing Andre the Giant himself in a boxing match at a stadium show in Puerto Rico that has apparently never been shown in the U.S. until this ’80s showing. Lord Alfred points out that Monsoon is the only man to have wrestled Muhammad Ali and boxed Andre the Giant. There has just been a tropical rainstorm, soaking ringside, and you know a pro like GORILLA is gonna do something with that. Monsoon does some little Ali shuffles like a champ, too. Andre’s in red trunks, while Monsoon’s got a black shirt on (thank god) and red shorts.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I’m bringing back some fantasy booking stuff for the next few weeks, as I try and write a regular weekly show and keep it interesting. I decided to create a fictional scenario where upon Vince McMahon goes mad and allows me to hold the reins on Shotgun Saturday Night at the start of 1999, with my brief being that Shotgun is going to be the show where I ideally give the less booked members of the roster some chances for minutes in the ring whilst also doing some smaller storylines that might be separate from Monday Night Raw and Sunday Night HeAT. Raw and HeAT are going to remain focused on Sports Entertainment and Crash TV, but I’ll be allowed to go at a more relaxed pace with Shotgun if I want to, so I can focus some weeks just on the matches with little additional gaga etc, which I wouldn’t be allowed to do on the other two shows.

I picked Shotgun because it gave me some self-imposed limits to what I can and can’t do, which in-turn will require me to approach things differently than I might normally be allowed to do so. For instance, because I’m booking Shotgun, it’s not like I’m going to have access to all of the top stars because they will be appearing on Raw and HeAT (HeAT was still a major show in the pre-Smackdown days) so that will mean I will have to get the best out of the mid-card and lower card talent.

Because Shotgun was a syndicated show, it’s not like I’m going to be able to do major angles or have Title changes on it, so that will also limit what I can and cannot book for the show. The WWF would sometimes book Raw, HeAT, Shotgun and their Super Astros shows all at the same tapings sometimes, so at best Shotgun is the third on the totem pole there. That means that if someone is already booked for Raw or HeAT in a major role, then it’s going to be less likely that I can also have them on Shotgun, just because the crowd could get sick of them if they show up too many times and we’re also running the risk of injuries etc. That means that I’ll have to look at what’s booked for those other shows before putting together my own cards. If I desperately have to then I WILL occasionally double book people, but I’ll do my best to avoid it if I can help it.

The challenge will be to take those limitations and still put together a fun 45 minutes of wrestling each week. Can I take a limited roster, along with limited scope for putting together storylines and angles, and still put on an entertaining episodic television show? Well, I’ll give it a go at any rate!

It’s Wednesday, you know what that means.

Here are the big stories in wrestling courtesy of ITR.

WWE Hall Of Famer Begs Rhea Ripley For A Fight: “I’ll Let You Kick My Ass For Free”
A Hall of Famer calls out Mami.

WWE Returns To The UK In 2024
More shows have been announced for UK fans.

New Japan Issues Statement Regarding Fans Harassing Wrestlers
New Japan has issued a warning to fans.

The Undertaker Was Terrified Vince McMahon Would Give Him Bizarre Character
The Undertaker narrowly escaped being assigned an embarrassing gimmick.

NXT
Date: October 31, 2023
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators Vic Joseph, Booker T.

It’s week two of Halloween Havoc and this time it’s actually Halloween night. The main event this week will see Carmelo Hayes getting a rematch against Ilja Dragunov for the NXT Title. Other than that, we’ll probably hear from Chase U following their title win last week. Let’s get to it.