The SmarK DVD Rant for Jake Roberts: Pick Your Poison
- This was one that I skipped when it came out because it didn't really appeal to me for $25. But for $6, hey, why not?
We start with a poem, written by Jake Roberts, so I'm already getting a bad feeling going into this.
One of the most revered shows in wrestling history and its not for the Main Events but rather a terrific undercard where everyone busted their behinds in front of an active crowd. This was also the first Wrestlemania without an appearance by you-know-who and the last one for Randy Savage, closing the book on the WWF's golden era.
I didn't do the Ladder match because I had to save up energy for the Ironman but on a re-watch I gave it ****1/2. I liked their Summerslam match better. Savage-Crush and the Mounties-MOM matches age pretty well too.
Enjoy.
Few things have captured my attention in wrestling like the Shawn Michaels saga. Being a huge HBK mark I'm always interested in the battles he's fighting but he's really sucked in the crowd this time. As I said in a comment on that thread, I watched the Royal Rumble with a large group of people and they were PISSED when he got eliminated. And they've backed this thing into such a corner that there has to be a major payoff. My idea was to have Shawn hijack his way into the MitB match knowing that's his only shot and cashing it in later that night but that could be a hard sell and I'm not sure if Shawn wants to do a bunch of ladder spots.
Moving on.
This Wrestlemania was dubbed "Megapowers Explode" as Hogan and Savage continue their on-again/off-again feud that spanned 15 years in the ring and a horrible rap album. Some people claim that Savage has a bullet in his gun with Hogan's name on it. If that's the case it's pretty sad, but not surprising because Savage is batshit crazy.
I hate to see former friends battle like this. It breaks my heart actually. And to see it come to the point of where one guy is threatening to kill another. It's not where we need to be in society. So Hulk, Savage...right here, right now on Scott's blog I'm asking both of you to squash it. Just move on. The Madness and the 'Mania can live peacefully together again.
It was someone's bright idea to schedule a 14-man tournament for the Heavyweight title. Unless that guy's name was "McMahon", I'm sure he doesn't work for the company anymore.
This was one of the perils of the old days and the two hours of WWF television (four if you were lucky enough to have the USA Network and a little more if you had USA and MSG), they couldn't par the 14-men down to 8 or better yet four because you just don't give that many good matches away on free TV.
In hindsight six would have worked perfect -- Andre, Hogan, Savage, DiBiase...who else, maybe keep Steamboat and Valentine. This way you had Steamboat-DiBiase and Savage-Valentine in the first round, still do the Andre-Hogan double DQ in Round two and have the same final.
Now there's room on the card for Rick Rude and Jake Roberts to have better match and probably boost up that Cheryl Roberts-centered feud. Could have still booked One Man Gang vs. Bam Bam Bigelow for some clash of big men. It wasn't that the tournament idea was bad, it was just boring because common booking made sure that the first round matches were wrestled conservatively because every guy wanted to preserve their energy.
Anyway, time to move on.
This is the first in my multi-part series of rants on the Main Events at Wrestlemania. I'll do one every couple days until we reach the big show. The full list of matches I'm doing is on my previous post. I took all opinions under consideration and looked up some of the historical nature of the promotion of the card.
Now some of you are going to be mad I'm not doing Rock-Hogan. And because of that I'm willing to cut you a deal. I'll do Rock-Hogan but I will replace another scheduled rant...and you can guess which one that is (here's a hint, it features Chris Benoit). I understand that sounds unfair and a little like a cop out, but it's my project...my rules. We all make tough choices in life. This is one of yours. So it depends on how much you want me to watch Rock-Hogan. Otherwise there's plenty of other Rock and Hogan matches to review.
So let's get this ball rolling!
The Original Wrestlemania
From Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 31, 1985
Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
Hey Scott,
I've enjoyed re-reading your Rumble rants. I had forgotten how much I hated the '99 Rumble until revisiting it. Thanks!
Anyway, this week the Cru Jones Society is dedicated to professional wrestling. We've got wrestling themed articles all week, and I especially enjoyed writing today's offering: 5 Pro Wrestling Matches Even Non-Fans will enjoy.
http://crujonessociety.com/2010/01/26/5-pro-wrestling-matches-even-non-fans-will-enjoy/
Each match was chosen for a different reason, and I'm interested in your take. I realize trying to get someone who's already made up their mind that wrestling is stupid to change their mind is largely a pointless exercise, but this was fun to write anyway. If you feel so inclined, I'd love to hear your thoughts on my choices.
Also, if you feel like giving this a plug, we'd always appreciate it. Otherwise, hope all is well with you and thanks again for the re-posts.
E Dagger
Definitely an interesting list, although I find that non-fans are non-fans for a reason. Royal Rumbles tend to be really good at sucking people in, and I also found that old school ECW attracted curious eyes as well among casual viewers. I think Hogan-Savage from WM5 is a better choice than Flair-Savage, though, because it’s a similar storyline (in reverse) and the players are big and cartoonish enough that you don’t have to be a wrestling nerd to “get it”. Or even one of their older, shorter MSG matches where Savage is arrogant super-heel and Hogan is super-face.
WWE Classics 24/7 recently debut a show called "10 Count" where host Matt Striker counts down a Top 10 on whatever the topic is that month. This month was "Top 10 WWE Matches of the Decade." They were selected based on crowd reaction, historical impact, excitement, and in-ring skill. They were:
The SmarK Retro Rant for WWF Royal Rumble 1994
- I'm stuck with the Anthology DVD version, which at least has much better video quality than my original VHS dub, so blame that for any inconsistencies with the original review. At least that means the full PPV version and not the Coliseum edit.
- Live from Providence, Rhode Island.
- Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Ted Dibiase. This actually now makes more sense to me given the rotating color commentators on RAW after the departure of Bobby Heenan. Back in the day, it was totally random to me because I only got to watch Superstars.
The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - January 17 1994
- Taped from Richmond, VA.
- Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Crush. God, this is gonna be a trainwreck.
Before I get to the recap of the first Raw of 2010, I'd like fulfill the obligations of losing a bet by including a little poetic recap of the Year That Was for Monday Night Raw in 2009. Which you may want to skip if you hate that kind of stuff. The other day a friend was over and asked me to write something in about twenty minutes on the subject of Raw in 2009, so I spat this out pronto.
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