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The SmarK Rant for Memphis Wrestling – 01.11.86

Taped from Memphis, TN

Your hosts are Dave Brown & Lance Russell

“Who Wants To See That” – WWE Veteran Blasts Hulk Hogan’s Return Talk

A wrestling veteran has questioned why fans would want to see Hulk Hogan get back in the ring.

“F*ck This” – Jim Cornette Blasts AEW Double or Nothing Championship Match 

Jim Cornette delivered a whithering assessment of one of the biggest matches from AEW Double or Nothing.

WWE Hall Of Famer Discusses Possible Goldberg Retirement Tour 

A WWE Hall of Famer has shared their thoughts on Goldberg’s rumoured retirement tour.

Vince McMahon moderates tonight’s panel of Gorilla Monsoon, Slick, Bobby Heenan, and Mr. Perfect.  Monsoon does some revisionist history, saying that Sid Justice spent more time eyeing Hulk Hogan in the SummerSlam main event last year instead of serving as the special guest referee.  Heenan contends that Sid did nothing wrong in the Rumble so people need to get off his back.  Slick argues that people lost respect for Sid when he acted like a crybaby after not getting the WrestleMania title shot.  After showing video footage of Sid’s heel turn, Monsoon gives faint praise to Sid for outwitting WWF President Jack Tunney and getting him to change the WrestleMania main event so he could face Hogan.  Perfect concludes the segment by ranting about how he was not consulted by Tunney before rebooking Flair’s WrestleMania title match.

The standard “AJW Rookie Match”, made unique by the fact that it’s pretty much the only time we’ve seen one of them. AJW’s training was HARD.

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- AJW’S FAILED ROOKIES:
* So this is a slightly unique one- a look at the various FAILED wrestlers of AJW’s rookie classes! As a promotion with a strict system of training and elevation, All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling had a system where it would take however many applicants there were, narrow it down to a handful, train a group all at once, and then debut them around the same time.

These “Trainees” would be pared down by rookies quitting, the office deciding they weren’t going to work out, etc., but eventually we’d get small debuting classes of 4-6. As the years went on, they’d go from “opening match losers” to getting focus on TV shows on occasion, then slowly pick up wins, finally get elevated, and eventually they’d start getting real pushes and be at their peak by Year 6-7. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut along the way things can happen and the wrestlers fail. And I wanted to write a column devoted JUST to the wrestlers who failed. Some of the reasons I know, some I don’t, and oftentimes I don’t even recognize the names in general or have never seen them. So naturally I can’t write full columns on THEM. But this is a tiny bit devoted to those people who fell through the cracks.

Of particular note are the infamously bad Sontitham sisters- a pair of girls from Thailand who were in only a handful of taped matches before disappearing. And I actually review a couple of them down below!

ECW On Sci Fi
Date: May 6, 2008
Location: Labatt Center, London, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Mike Adamle, Tazz

It’s a special night as this is the 100th episode of ECW. That is quite the accomplishment, especially given how messy the early days were around here. The big story continues to be Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero, because that feud just can’t end already. Other than that, hopefully we get another big time story around here. Let’s get to it.

Current WWE Veteran Has “No Intentions” Of Retiring Any Time Soon

One WWE veteran won’t be retiring anytime soon.

“Bret Hart Just Moans All The F*cking Time” – Will Ospreay 

Will Ospreay is officially done with Bret Hart and Canada as a whole.

Darby Allin Explains How AEW Partnership With Sting Started 

Darby Allin opens up about how his partnership with Sting began.

Here’s a good one from a relatively low-key uploader, with the tracking all over the place, but we would’ve watched through a snowstorm when we really loved it. Late 1987, running up the inaugural Survivor Series.

The SmarK Rant for World Championship Wrestling – 03.28.87

All the kids are talking about the return of the Crockett Cup this weekend, but back in 1987 we were building up to the real thing.  Also all the kids are talking about the return of wrestling to Saturday nights this month, so this is a double whammy of zeitgeist.  I’m even more in tune with the youth of today than the Outrunners are!

Taped from Atlanta, GA

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & David Crockett

Kenny Omega’s Forbidden Door Opponent Confirmed

At NJPW Dominion, Lance Archer and Will Ospreay clashed to determine the next challenger for Kenny Omega’s IWGP United States Championship.

Eric Bischoff Sings Praises Of One Of WCW’s Most Valuable Stars

Eric Bischoff praised a specific wrestler for being the ultimate utility player that did whatever was needed in the ring.

Ronda Rousey Pushing For “Heated” Programme With Fellow WWE Raw Star

Ronda Rousey has only one person in mind for her next big feud.

Darby Allin Wants To Plant AEW Flag On Mount Everest

Darby Allin really wants to represent All Elite Wrestling when he climbs Mount Everest.

Super World Sports The Battle Of Kings 04/18/92

Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
Tokyo, Japan
Broadcast date: 28/04/92
Attendance: 9,019

Previously In SWS…

After losing their TV deal with WOWOW, SWS are now airing on TV Tokyo for a monthly one-hour show.

This would end up being the last bit of positive news the company would receive.

Rampage
Date: June 2, 2023
Location: Viejas Arena, San Diego, California
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

This is an interesting one as it’s more or less Battle Of The Belts but none of the titles are AEW championships. Instead we’re seeing Ring Of Honor, AAA, New Japan and New Japan Strong, which should certainly make for a big mixture of stuff. Other than that, we could use something being announced for Forbidden Door, which is about three weeks away. Let’s get to it.

Major Update On Creative Plans For CM Punk’s Return

Who’s in the frame to feud with CM Punk when he makes his return to AEW?

Seth Rollins To Defend WWE World Heavyweight Championship On Raw 

Seth Rollins will be putting his newly-won World Title on the line on June 5th.

Backstage Update On WWE’s Plans For Gunther 

WWE has massive plans for the Intercontinental Champion.

Ronda Rousey Pushing For “Heated” Feud With WWE Star 

Ronda Rousey pushing hard for a feud with a current WWE star.

ANATOMY OF A DISASTER: SID VICIOUS vs. THE NIGHTSTALKER:
-One of the early infamous “worst matches of all time” was a business-exposing nightmare featuring rookie Sid Vicious & Bryan Clark on a Clash of the Champions show in 1990. I reviewed this ages ago for “Dream Matches” but I needed an easier one after the HHH/Steiner mess (thanks for the great response it got, though!).

Two “Body Guys”, neither Sid nor Clark went through the all-important “Jobber Phase” of a young rookie’s life, and were immediately put against each other when Clark was still a brand new guy, ten days into his WCW run. The result… stuff like “Sid slowly runs into a big hug from the Nightstalker”. It’s a 3-year vet having to lead a 1-year giant through a match. But hey- it’s only scheduled to go under three and a half minutes. How bad could it be REALLY?

THE STAGE: WCW Clash of the Champions (Nov. 20th 1990)

THE PERFORMERS:
Sid Vicious: Sid Eudy was a monster of a man who had debuted in 1987, but could still work only a little as of 1990. He was a member of the Skyscrapers, but showed so much innate charisma that crowds would chat “We Want Sid!” and get excited for the two moves he knew how to do really well- the chokeslam and the powerbomb. By this point, he was one of the Four Horsemen, and WCW started booking him in a lot of of Big vs. Big matches. And he’s all of three years into the business, having spent most of it as a tag team wrestler, and is expected to carry a match against an immobile green giant rookie.

The Nightstalker: Bryan Clark was green as absolute grass at this point, having debuted only the year prior, feuding with The Trooper (The Patriot) in AWA in its dying days. With his 6’6″ height and HUGE muscles (he was even bigger here than he was as Adam Bomb, with babyfat on his face and not as much definition as he’d get later on), he was obviously seen as money from day one, and was too big to just be used as some regular job guy, so he skipped a lot of important training in jobber matches and was simply pushed in his first couple years. With AWA dying, he joined WCW, and for some reason, ten days after his debut, he was thrown into this match against a guy just as big as he was.

Happy Saturday Everyone!

We’ve got some matches from Jakked/Metal this week, which was WWF’s Saturday syndicated show for a while. We’ve mainly got this one today because it features Perry Saturn Vs Mike Bell in quite an infamous bout. Some of the other matches looked fun though so we’ll review them all as it shouldn’t take long.

I’ll list which episode the matches are from if you want to hunt them down.

Ring Of Honor
Date: June 1, 2023
Location: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman

We’re back to what is considered a normal length show this week at just under two hours after last week’s almost three hour Super Sized show. Following last week, Athena is defending the Women’s Title against Kiera Hogan and the New Japan TV Title will be on the line as well. Just like it will be tomorrow night on Rampage. Let’s get to it.