Ramblemania Rewind 23 – WWE Wrestlemania 23 (2007)

Date: April 1st, 2007
Venue: Ford Field, Detroit, MI
Attendance: 74,287

In 1987, Wrestlemania III took place at the Pontiac Silverdome and provided the template for every Wrestlemania going forward… even if it took us a few years to actually follow that template.

Twenty years after that landmark event, we have Wrestlemania 23, where the big headline event is the supposed “Battle Of The Billionaires” between then-WWE chairman Vince McMahon and future President of The United States Donald Trump. The battle would pit McMahon’s chosen avatar – reigning Intercontinental champion UMAGA – against Trump’s chosen avatar – reigning WWECW Champion Bobby Lashley – in which the losing billionaire would have their head shaved. No doubt there was an appeal in wondering which of these heads would meet the razor blade… well, for some people, at least.

The fact that Wrestlemania 23 is known primarily for THAT encounter above all else paints a pretty grim picture of the overall WWE landscape. And unfortunately, that branding has inadvertently tainted this show somewhat, given how the reputations of both men are somewhat tarnished in recent years. And I’m going to be honest; I wasn’t too keen on revisiting this one for that reason alone. Watching the battle of two long-since disgraced individuals is about as appealing as watching a match between Jimmy Snuka and Chris Benoit in a Woman On A Pole match. If that very thought disturbs you, then good. I’m sharing the misery with everyone reading this thing.

In any event, I did watch the whole thing… and… well…

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Ramblemania Rewind 22 – WWE Wrestlemania 22 (2006)

Date: April 2nd, 2006
Venue: AllState Arena, Rosemount, IL
Attendance: 17,155

Fun fact: The theme song for this year’s Mania was Peter Gabriel’s hit song, “Big Time.” Which is a bit ironic because if there’s anything that Wrestlemania 22 felt like the least, it was “big time.”

I can recall this show not doing much for me back in the day. The card on paper was a bit lacking, they had just bumped the PPV price tag, and honestly, I was more excited for the returning Saturday Night’s Main Event show that was taking place… which ended up being a bust, but that’s another story, entirely. Now I do recall in the original Ramblemania posting saying that I felt this was a pretty good show in spite of the lack of anticipation, even if it did feature a couple things that bog it down a bit. This was also the first Mania after Eddie Guerrero passed away and… well, that’s relevant in our Smackdown World title match, which is a three-way.

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Ramblemania Rewind 21 – WWE Wrestlemania 21 Goes Hollywood (2005)

Date: April 3rd, 2005
Venue: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Attendance: 20,193

Wrestlemania 21 Went Hollywood in 2005… which meant we got a bunch of WWE Guys re-creating classic scenes from classic movies in order to promote this Wrestlemania 21 PPV, which is emanating from the Staples Center in LA… not quite a big stadium setting and not only that, but these trailers – and there were some good ones – did the biggest mistake any movie trailer can do; they show off all the best parts and so by the time you watch the movie, you’re going “That’s it?”

I don’t know where I was going with that, but in any event, we have Wrestlemania 21, which is notable for kicking off the next era of WWE by way of crowning two new champions who would carry the company for the rest of the 2000s. Just in terms of seeing new main event talent being coronated and established, this serves as an important show in that regard. It also helps that this show

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Impact (March 14th, 2024) – A Step Above The Rest

Part of me wished I had done this on 3:16 day, just so we can talk about something that isn’t WWE-related or even Stone Cold-related… oh well, maybe next year.

Then again, maybe next year, I’ll have more than these weekly Impact postings to see a “regular” occurrence. To tell you the truth, I’m still shocked that I’ve been keeping up with these shows for as long as I have. I figured the dumping of D’Amore would’ve lead to a drop in quality (or at least the return of that fucking owl logo), but thus far, the show has been somewhat pleasant, if not uneventful.

In any case, this is the post-Sacrifice edition of Impact, which means we can start building towards TNA’s other PPV offering for this year, Rebellion.

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Review #1043 – Hat Trick (Atari 7800) (TAKE 3)

A video review of Hat Trick for the Atari 7800… and as the title indicates, this is the third time this particular version is being reviewed. Why would anyone do this? That’s a good question and maybe some day, I’ll have a good answer for you, but until then, enjoy the video and let’s hope there isn’t an fourth take.

 

AEW Revolution 2024

Normally, I’d be holding this off until after the Ramblemania business is done, by after finally watching the show this weekend (via replay), I’d figure that we’d get this out of the way now and be done with it. For context, this is the first AEW show that I’ve seen since All Out 2023. While I’ve been keeping privy of what’s been happening on the programming, I’ve probably only watched a handful of episodes at MOST… and only bothered to post musings on ONE. (For those wondering, I may or may not post thoughts on tonight’s Dynamite show, dubbed BIG BU$INE$$ and eminating from Bo$$ton… maybe.)

That is then and this is… well, also then. But let’s get this one out of the way because I’ve got… far less to say than I thought I would.

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Ramblemania Rewind 19 – WWE Wrestlemania XIX (2003)

Date: March 30th, 2003
Venue: Safeco Field, Seattle, WA
Attendance: 54,097

(Note: This was the first Ramblemania post that I wrote after word broke of the McMahon lawsuit in January 2024. All the rest would follow afterwards.)

Wrestlemania XIX returns to America and baseball stadiums… which would’ve been the perfect time to bring back the Macho Man… or at least, have Sid show up and make an appearance or something… but yeah, this is a show that I don’t hear people talk about all that much outside of maybe one or two things; it would be the show where Steve Austin would have his last match (until 2022, of course) and also the botched BORK LAZOR shooting star spot… and yeah, this is not as top-tier stuff as Wrestlemania X-Seven… I don’t think anything came close to that, quite frankly. But XIX has its moments. And we’re going touch on these fast, fast.

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