Category: Wrestling Television Musings

ECW on SyFy (August 1st, 2006): The Show That Killed ECW

At least one guy paid to see CM Punk. Is that a good thing?

We’re switching gears by looking at an episode of WWE’s rebooted ECW show. Extreme Championship Wrestling was a promotion that gained a cult following until its closure in 2001. WWE would later release a DVD on ECW in 2004 that sold big numbers, prompting them to book a reunion PPV the following year that would also prove successful. This resulted in WWE deciding to revive ECW as a third brand.

“Hooray!” everyone thought, “ECW is back, baby!”

Except it really wasn’t. Oh, sure, it started off on the right foot with another One Night Stand that saw Rob Van Dam defeat John Cena in ECW territory to win the WWE World title, and later getting the revived ECW title. But then that first episode hit and it took place after a Smackdown taping. It was largely poorly received. WWE’s third brand was off to a bad start. Then RVD got busted for weed and he’d lose the the ECW title to the Big Show before getting suspended.

Eventually, ECW would hold a live show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York; one of the old ECW strongholds that held a strong ECW following. So what does WWE book as a main event for this return to New York? The reigning ECW World Heavyweight Champion BIG SHOW would defend the title against Dave Batista… the furthest thing from an ECW main event that you could get.

What could possibly go right?

Continue reading “ECW on SyFy (August 1st, 2006): The Show That Killed ECW”

RAW (Nov. 21st, 2022) – Michin. It’s Bitchin.

So apparently, they resigned Mia Yim a week or so ago and then changed her name to Michin, which is apparently Korean for “crazy.” The only good thing about this name is the header I used for this RAW Bytes post. Other than that, I’ve heard worse.
For some reason, I watched a bit of RAW. Opened with Kevin Owens cutting a promo on Roman Reigns, reminding us that he used to challenge for the title and if not for the Bloodline, this history making title run would’ve ended sooner. Then the Bruting Brawls shows up and talks for a bit, then the Judgment Day geeks showed up and weesa haz a match.
So in the six-man tag match thing, Sheamus pinned Dom Mysterio and the place popped, because nobody likes Dom for leaching off the Mysterio name. After all, we all know he’s Eddie’s kid. This is followed by Johnny Gargano against Miz, except not really because Miz hurt his arm and so he sends the big dude, Omos, to replace him. Gargano gets his ass kicked faster than Kevin Nash can scarf down a piece of ravioli.
And then giggling idiot Seth Rollins showed up on my TV and I turn the show off.
I didn’t even get to see Michin. Not so bitchin.

AEW Dynamite (Nov. 2nd, 2022): Global Force Gold Invades All Elite Wrestling

Good lord… where to begin?
Darby gets tricked by a guy in a Sting mask, who reveals himself to be… some guy. Nobody gives a shit, nor should they.
Then Sting’s music hit and out comes… Jeff Jarrett, who smashes poor Darby with a guitar. Is Global Force Gold making a comeback in AEW?
Mox beats up some dude, but then the Karate Man shows up and beats up Mox to challenge for a Title Eliminator or whatever the fuck they call it.
Chris Jericho retains the ROH title over the returning Colt Cabana… so I guess Punk isn’t coming back.
Jade Cargill and that Marina person had a thing that happened… that’s as diplomatic as I’m going to get.
And our main event is Samoa Joe retaining his ROH Television title over some guy, only to get beat up and saved by Wardlow, who gets beat up by Powerhouse Hobbs, who wants Wardlow’s TNT title. Hey, at least the show ended with an AEW guy closing the show.
This Dynamite sure fizzled. Wake me up when something interesting happens.
I might not even bother with the PPV this month.
On the bright side, I finally got a Sega Genesis mini 2… Sonic CD runs like ass, though.

AEW Dynamite (Oct. 18th, 2022): A Quick Word

Only saw the last hour-ish of Dynamite, but I got the important bits. There was a really great exchange between MJF and William Regal, there was a pretty good match between Chris Jericho and Dalton Castle that saw Mr. Wizard retain his ROH title – this Dalton fellow seems a bit out there, but he’s certainly a unique cat and I certainly appreciated the video package telling me what this guy was all about. I hope to see more of him in the future.
And then we have the main event match between AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and Hangman Adam Page that ended abruptly when Mox hit Page with a lariat and Page somehow landed on his head, prompting the ref and doctors to check on him and call the match off. Page was stretchered out and diagnosed with a concussion. A bit of good news is that he was discharged from the trauma center that he was taken to, but still under protocol. All I can say is “Get well, Hangman.”
With time to spare, Mox calls out MJF, who teases cashing in his chip – basically a Money In The Bank type deal – but decides he’s going to actually earn his keep and cashes in for a title match at the upcoming Full Gear PPV. Nice to see that they’re going along with the people cheering MJF by having him do this babyface thing of “earning his keep.” It’s going to make it difficult to get people to hate him now, but you knew this was going to happen sooner or later, so you may as well just go with it.
Okay, so we’ve actually got a main event World title bout for the PPV to look forward to… and all it took was an impromptu segment after a guy got concussed to do it. At the very least, they’re trying to fix their issues, but it’s a process.
Show was alright… somewhat tainted by the Hangman spot. Hope he pulls through.

AEW Rampage (Oct. 14th, 2022): This Show, However, Did Choke

Well, they did a separate Rampage taping in Toronto and much to my surprise, TSN actually decided to air this on their actual network rather than relegate it to their shitty, shitty app. And what did AEW give the wider Canadian audience who would rather watch their wrestling on TV than on a shitty app?
They gave them Ring Of Honor… or rather, the husk of a promotion that was once Ring Of Honor before it shutdown, got bought by Tony Khan, and now “kinda, sorta” exists for some reason.
They brought in another ROH alumnus in Dalton Castle to challenge Chris Jericho for the ROH World Title, as if I’m supposed to care about this. On top of that, FTR, after disposing of another ROH stable act, gets a challenge for their ROH tag titles from something called the Kingdom, which comprises Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis, and some other dude whose name I don’t recall, but they did this act in ROH. All well and good for those who still care about ROH, but I sure as hell don’t and I’m still struggling to find a reason to care.
I get why they keep ROH on the air; to give the impression that it’s still alive despite not having a TV show to call their own. Honestly, the brand would’ve been better off if it were put on ice for the foreseeable future and when the stars align and you secure a TV slot for that product, you could bring it back then. All this is doing right now is souring me on the AEW product, which is the thing that I tune in to watch. And maybe if you focused on the AEW guys you already have – talented people that once had big runs but are now sitting on the sidelines because you’re too busy bringing in new guys and not doing a sufficient job of making people care about them – maybe the ship would be run a little better.
It’s a shame, too, because the show opened with a great tag match that saw Mox and Claudio beat the Butcher and Blade in a great match, Nyla Rose is actually starting to grow on me, and it was nice to see Shawn Spears get a feelgood win on TV in the main event tag, even if it’s involving some ROH guys that I care little about. And this is not a knock on the talent, but rather on the booking, which has been pretty spotty as of late. I’m sorry, but one little thing that has persisted ruined the whole show for me and ended up pulling a Leafs or Jays… I honestly don’t know which is worse.
Not even the Bunny could save this Rampage show.

AEW Dynamite (Oct. 12, 2022): Unlike The Leafs Or The Jays, This Show Didn’t Choke

Well, AEW finally held a show in Canada. And of course, they pick Toronto to make their big debut. And what better way to kick off your Toronto show than having Renee Paquette come out to a huge pop as she is now #AllElite. She then brings out Christian Cage who immediately goes for a Leafs diss, which draws the boos. But is the crowd booing because Christian is going to the cheap heat or are they booing because, well, he’s not wrong?
This leads us to Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus beating the crap out of each other in a pretty fun opener that ends with JB getting distracted by Christian, allowing the dinoasat to burning hammer his former partner for the win. Fun stuff, this match was… and then we get Wardlow and Samoa Joe teaming up to beat up the Factory people, which brings out some ROH guys, which brings out FTR (hey, they finally got booked!), which brings out the Ten guy, Shawn Spears, to a big pop. Wardlow powerbomsba a guy and he and Spears make up. Yay.
Swerve and Billy Gunn has a match… it’s fine, Swerve wins via pinfall while holding onto the ropes like a dastardly heel. Then the lawyer guy comes out and claims to own the rights to Scissor Me… why the fuck would you take away your hot act’s big thing? It’d be like telling Steve Austin he can’t give people the bird, for fuck’s sake.
Jon Moxley and Hangman Page trade barbs with each other. Mox is his usual brilliant promo self and even Hangman shows some fire with his words while also busting himself open for good measure. Sadly, the Toronto folks would rather chant for MJF, who’s in the crowd. One of these days, people in AEW need to realize that having MJF in the rafters takes attention away from the thing in question. And yes, they did this sort of thing in WWE. And yes, I hated it there too.
ROH World Champion Chris Jericho defeated Bryan Danielson when Daniel Garcia, playing the role of Ric Flair, turned on Danielson, playing the role of Sting. By the way, Jericho got a pop for being Jericho and Canadian, but Garcia turning on Danielson (after weeks of Danielson trying to court Garcia because he shares the same last name as his wife) also got a huge pop. Sadly, who is not popping are the people at Warner, who are sad that they’re not getting their Total Daniels reality show any time soon.
And then Orange Cassidy beats THAT TWO-TIMING MOTHERFUCKING GODDAMNED BASTARD PAC to win the All Atlantic International World Global Big Gold Western States Heritage 24/7 Ironman Championship. It was fine.
Good show, this Toronto show. Probably the only thing in Toronto that was a winner this year… because I have no hopes for the fucking Raptors.

Smackdown (Sept. 23rd, 2022) – Stuff Happens, I Guess

Well, I’ve decided to give Smackdown a shot. Normally, this isn’t seen as a big deal, but I want to see if this becomes a regular viewing thing on Friday nights or deserving of a spot on my DVR alongside Dynamite and even the occasional episode of Impact that I might sit down and watch.

Of course, the episode that I choose to jump on board for is following the announcement that Youtube star and moonlighting boxer Logan Paul is slated to challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Championship… in Saudi Arabia. That means I can expect a build towards a main event that doesn’t interest me in the slightest on a show that I have no intention of watching. For the record, the only Saudi show I’ve seen was the first one from back in 2018 with the Greatest Oil Rumble or whatever it’s called and I’ve made a point to never watch these shows, no matter how important they are.

Honestly, they should’ve saved this main event for when they end up doing a show in Japan. I hear Logan Paul has done great things for the dead community there… but I digress. How was this Smackdown show?

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AEW Dynamite (Sept. 21st, 2022): The Most Important Night In The History Of All Elite Wrestling

Well, there’s a bit of ground to cover regarding this episode and I feel we need to establish the backstory before we get to the main show. Let’s take care of that after the break.

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AEW Dynamite (Aug. 31st, 2022) – How To Care About A Challenger Who Got Demolished By Mox

So last week, Jon Moxley destroyed CM Punk to become the undisputed AEW World Champion. And when I say destroy, I mean brutalize the motherfucker in less than three minutes. Showing no mercy. All indications would suggest that a rematch would be in the cards, but the question remains; how do you get an audience to care about a rematch when the challenger had already been beaten quite decisively to boot?

Well, the answer is to have Jon Moxley leave out an open contract for a World title shot at All Out in Chicago that would be signed by the former champ Punk, who contemplated failure until his spirits were lifted by his best friend and coach, Ace Steel, which prompts Punk to rally the Chicago crowd behind him. Well, Chicago seems to want this match, but will anyone else?
It’s a bit of an interesting problem with this World title picture. On the one hand, it’s All Out, it’s Chicago, and all indications point to Punk winning the title back and resuming the run that would cut off by a foot injury. On the other hand, though, you have this absolute madman in Jon Moxley who had been on a tear through the summer that it could’ve been called the Summer of Mox and nobody would’ve complained about it. And honestly, given how strongly he’s been booked, I don’t think Moxley should lose that World title anytime soon; doing so would be a disservice to the hard work that the man has put in.
Like I said, it’s an interesting problem. And perhaps the least perplexing one to have at the moment.
Danielson defeated Hager in a hell of a match while the Elite overcome the Will Ospreay empire to advance to the finals. Hangman Adam Page decides to fill in for whoever Dark Order member got injured this week and it’s not hard to imagine what the finals of this Trios title tourney is going to look like. THe Elite winning is the obvious choice, but there is something to be said about throwing the Dark Order a bone for once. There was also a fun women’s match between SHIDA and Toni Storm going over Dr. Britt and Jamie Hater while FTR and Wardlow killed a bunch of jobbers.
All in all, a perfectly entertaining edition of Dynamite. Not sure if I’m going to be catching the PPV this weekend, but if not, there’s other stuff to look forward to, I suppose. There’s a WWE PPV that actually looks good (for once) and even the big Worlds Collide end of NXT UK Saturday afternoon. Stuff to consider.
P.S. Apparently Bobby Fish’s contract has expired and AEW is not re-signing him. So much for that Elite vs. ReDragon trios feud, bay bay.

AEW Dynamite (Aug. 24th, 2022): That’s Why…

Last week, I expressed my befuddlement (or something to that extent) in regards to the Punk/Mox unification match being booked on a Dynamite rather than at the PPV that’s about to take place in two weeks. Well, turns out that Jon Moxley beat CM Punk to officially become a two-time AEW World Champion and in just under three minutes. Holy shit! AEW can actually do short matches where one guy dominates the other guy and kicks his ass quickly…

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