Well, it’s time for another installment of the Blog of Honor, and this week is a pretty big milestone for ROH on HDNet.  Not only will tonight’s episode kick off the tournament to crown the first ever ROH World Television Champion, it’s also the 50^th episode of ROH on HDNet (this show STILL doesn’t have a name?).  Actually, the whole name thing is something I’ve come around on over the course of the past 49 episodes, as I feel it’s smart for ROH to work on branding ROH, and not another name as well.  TNA has to push TNA, and Impact!  ROH is ROH, and that’s all they have to push.  It’s smart.  OK guys, with that said, I’m anxious to get into this week’s episode, so let’s move on to this week’s Poll of Honor, and then into show coverage.

Will you be purchasing The Big Bang iPPV?  Why or why not?

Another show started by footage of the 8^th Anniversary show, and Tyler Black’s big win.  This is interesting that they’re hyping it so much, and Tyler has yet to defend the belt once, on or off TV.  Granted, there’s only been one set of TV tapings in the almost month that Tyler’s been champion, but still, that’s a long time to go from your title win to your first defense.

Tonight we actually get a bit of new footage (well, it hit the internet a couple of days before the show’s airing, so it’s not all that new.  Basically, Cornette is pissed at Tyler for superkicking him, so he interrupts a huge celebration in the back where all the face wrestlers surround Tyler and cheer him on.  Tyler says he would have superkicked anyone that got on the apron because he was so focused on getting the title, and he didn’t know what Cornette or Roddy were doing, but he knew what he had to do to win the title.

We also see Kenny King bringing the cameraman to the back where Aries waits.  Aries says he wants a rematch.  Tyler got 167 rematches, he just wants one.  He doesn’t care where or when, but it needs to happen soon.

We finish off footage from the 8^th anniversary with Roderick Strong complaining to Cary Silken (ROH’s owner) about Tyler’s actions.  Cary says Strong needs to talk to Cornette and walks off.  Roddy yells and complains a little bit, but he comes off as more whiney than anything else.

All of this was just a lead up to Cornette plugging the next iPPV, The Big Bang!  This will also be ROH’s first show in Charlotte, NC, ever.  The main event will be revealed later tonight on this episode.

Hog gives us a proper welcome to the show, and he and Prazak immediately begin hyping the World Television Title Tournament.  Hog picks Colt Cabana to win the tournament, unsurprisingly, while Prazak backs Kenny King.  Rayna Von Tosh brings out the new title belt, which I still don’t really like.  I’m also noticing that the entrance ramp seems to have undergone another upgrade (although I may be wrong about that one), and ROH is looking more and more professional all the time, although I think I’d still like to see them hold shows in different locations from time to time, if only to get a different crowd.

Match #1: Kevin Steen def. Rhett Titus by submission with the crossface

I know I may be getting on some of you guys’ nerves when I keep talking on and on about how much Rhett Titus has improved over the past few years, but honestly, it’s matches like this that continue to prove my point.  I mean seriously, you can see a difference in Titus’ skills just from the first episode of ROH on HDNet up until now.  The fact that he was able to hold his own against Kevin Steen, while Steen is being built up as such a monster, speaks volumes about Rhett.  This match was a solid outing.  Like I said, it was good to see Rhett continue to prove that he’s become a very competent wrestler.  It’s also been fun to see Steen become even more vicious.  The cannonball while Rhett was hung up in the tree of woe just looked brutal, and the crossface has always been an especially painful looking submission hold.  I’m looking forward to seeing Steen in the second round of the tournament, and I think it was the right call to put him through over Titus.  B+.

We go backstage to Prazak and Hog, who talk about the TV Title Tournament getting off to a “Big Bang” which just so happens to segue perfectly into a Big Bang hype piece.

Cornette is sitting with Tyler Black, Roderick Strong and Austin Aries.  Cornette says both Strong and Aries think they deserve the next title shot, and even though he’s still upset about what happened in NYC, he knows that Black thinks Strong should get the first shot.  Cornette says they need to put on the best match that will sell the most tickets, and the most PPV’s, and they’re not going to do it Black’s way.  The Big Bang will feature Tyler Black vs. Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries.  Strong gets all pissed off, complaining that he’s not getting a one-on-one shot, and now he has to beat two men.  Cornette calls Roddy a whiner, but Roddy storms off.  Aries talks to Tyler, saying that they should team up and take out Roderick first.  Tyler says to f*** off, and that he’ll take out Aries first, and then Roderick.  Roddy comes back in, and things break down from there, Strong hits Black with a sucker punch, but not too much else as people are in quickly to break things up.

Match #2: The Kings of Wrestling def. the Bravado Brothers by pinfall when Chris Hero pins one of the Bravado’s following a KRS-One

This was one hell of a fun squash match.  I’m loving the Kings of Wrestling reunion, and Claudio and Hero have both grown so much since their first stint as a tag team, they’re even more fun to watch now.  The double bicycle kick, the crazy flip up and over sidewalk slam, the KRS-One; it’s official, the Kings of Wrestling have the absolute best double team maneuvers in the absence of the Young Bucks.  The Bravado’s got in their obligatory two or three seconds of offense, but this match was all about the Kings, and it was a treat to watch.  I’m really hoping we can get a nice long KoW ROH World Tag Title run in the near future, and we get fighting champions, taking on all comers.  SQUASH +.

Following the match, Hero gets on the mic.  He says if you think that was a Big Bang, they’re going to show you a real big bang in Charlotte when they take the titles that are rightfully theirs.  Claudio speaks in foreign tongues for a bit, and they close with “Kings Reign Supreme”.

Prazak and Hog let us know that apparently Necro Butcher has been suspended from ROH for punching out the timekeeper in his brawl with Erick Stevens last week.  Apparently Stevens was fined, but Necro will not be on the show for a little bit.

Kyle Durden is backstage with Prince Nana.  Nana says it took three years to get the Kings of Wrestling back together, but with Nana’s good work, they’re coming for the ROH Tag Team Titles.  Nana turns his attention to Necro, saying the Butcher should stay out of his way.  Finally, Nana closes by saying all he sees in Rasche Brown is dollar signs, and that Brown should join the family.

Match #3: Skullkrusher Rasche Brown def. Caleb Konley by pinfall following a torture rack/burning hammer combination

So normally I like Rasche Brown squashes, but I think a combination of a couple of small things may have hurt this a little bit for me.  First of all, two squash matches in a row is never a good thing.  It just seems like it’s stalling for time, and with the level of talent that ROH has on their roster, it’s pretty unnecessary to fill for time on this show in any way.  Also, Brown’s burning hammer, doesn’t really look like a burning hammer.  If you want to see a real burning hammer, check out KENTA Kobashi execute it to perfection.  Finally, Brown is quickly falling victim to the same thing that happened to DCFC at the beginning of their ROH run.  They ran through a ton of tag teams, but it wasn’t until recently that they’ve really established themselves in the upper ranks of the tag team division with a win over the American Wolves.  I don’t want to see Brown squash jobbers for the better part of a year, even if they were the best squashes I’ve ever seen.  Brown should be competing at least in the mid-card, putting on competitive matches.  If the issue is that Brown can’t wrestle matches longer than a couple of minutes without getting blown up, maybe he shouldn’t be taking up valuable roster space.  SQUASH.

Kyle Durden is backstage along with Colt Cabana.  Cabana says he thinks the TV Title Tournament is a great idea.  He says he’s made for TV, and the fact that he could be the Champion of TV is something he loves.  Durden asks how El Generico is doing.  Cabana says he’s not doing the best, but he’s getting better day-by-day.  Cabana says he’s trying to add a bit of pizzazz to Generico’s life.  Steve Corino interrupts from behind, gloating about Steen’s win in the tournament earlier tonight.  Corino says Cabana hasn’t had a match yet, and he’s worried about Generico.  Corino tells Cabana to watch out who he sticks up for before walking away.

More re-cap of Big Bang stuff that happened earlier in the show.  If you really want to know, scroll up a little bit and read the Cornette sit-down part over again.

Prazak and Hog talk a little bit about the American Wolves, who have suffered a couple of tag team losses since losing the ROH World Tag Team titles to the Briscoe’s a couple of months back at Final Battle 2009.  They wonder about the future of the Wolves as a unit.  Their losses against the Young Bucks and the Dark City Fight Club, as well as post match arguments between Edwards and Richards are shown.

The TV Title Tournament first round will conclude next week when the American Wolves will be in singles action.  Davey Richard will take on Delirious, while Eddie Edwards will be going up against Hog’s pick to win it, Colt Cabana.

Main Event: Kenny King def. El Generico by pinfall following an avalanche Royal Flush

I keep waiting for Kenny King to have that breakout match, and it just won’t come through.  I thought it might happen at Final Battle 2009, but not even Roderick Strong was able to pull out that next level performance from King.  In his second match against El Generico, an opponent who he should be familiar with, he still couldn’t find his way to show why he WILL be the future of ROH.  I’ve seen reasons why he could be the future of ROH; there were even flashes in this match, like the double knees to El Generico’s chest, but King can’t seem to pull out that one real show stopping match.  I know King has the ability to break into the main event scene in a big way, and compete with the likes of Davey Richards, Tyler Black, and maybe even Austin Aries one day.  I’m not saying this wasn’t a good match, on the contrary it was rather solid.  King and Generico both brought their best to this match.  In Generico’s case, that means continuing to play up the little things to perfection.  His head just doesn’t seem to be in the matches lately, and that’s just perfect, as Generico is able to remind the fans that Steen is still in his head, even when the big man is not ringside.  King was good, he just needs to find an opponent to break out against.  I have no doubt King will put out a match that wows us all and shuts me up, and I really hope it’ll happen sooner, rather than later.  As for now, two A+ talents are putting on a match that I’d categorize as a B+.

Report Card

In Ring Action: Well, two squashes in a row doesn’t do this show too many favors, but one of those squashes being a Kings of Wrestling makes this show an immediate must see (being a huge Castagnoli and Hero fan though, you had to see that coming).  The Rasche Brown squash was without a doubt the weakest match of the show, but comparing squashes like his, squashes like KoW/Bravado’s, and the tournament matches is like comparing apples and oranges.  Both tournament matches, by the way, were very good.  Kenny King and Rhett Titus have both been fun to watch in their climb up the card, but I have to admit, it’s been a while since I’ve seen both of these guys in a tag match, and I’d like to see that soon.  With the tag division taking a couple of hits recently, it’d be nice to see the Up and Comers make a strong return onto the tag scene.  Steen has been great to watch in his maniacal heel turn, but I’d be ok if Corino didn’t accompany Steen to the ring, especially if he’s going to do nothing but cheer Steen on.  Steen doesn’t need a cheerleader, and he’s a great wrestler who’s probably focused enough to do this heel turn on his own.  Cabana and Corino feel kind of tacked on just to extend the feud with endless tag matches before Steen and Generico finally step into the ring one on one.  I will admit that Corino and Cabana seem like logical additions, just because of ROH’s great booking, it’s just that Cabana is only there because Generico needed a mouthpiece, and Corino is only there because he needed something to do in ROH.  Steen doesn’t need a mouthpiece, he can cut a fantastic promo, and Generico doesn’t need words to get over (something he’s proven time and time again).  Let the two guys do their thing.  Don’t extend the feud artificially.  And if Cabana has to be involved, don’t let him goof it up.  OK, that rant is over.  The main event was the strongest match of the show, and that avalanche Royal Flush to end the match looked like it killed Generico.  Sure, the matches, and especially the main events, have been noticeably weaker in the past few months, but they’re still consistently featuring great wrestling.  This episode is definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in watching the tournament to crown the first Television Champion in ROH, from start to finish.  So even if it wasn’t the strongest, it’s one that will lead directly to a fairly historic moment for Ring of Honor.  B.

Out of Ring Action: The first thing I want to mention here was Hog (or it may have been Prazak) shouting out that ROH has the most wrestling per hour on all of television.  Truer words have never been spoken on a wrestling television show.  The stuff surrounding the fallout from the 8^th anniversary and the lead up to the Big Bang was a little much.  Roderick really did come off sounding whiney, and annoying.  Really, why is he bitching so much about having to compete in a triple threat match when he still gets a shot at the title.  Roderick has had more ROH World Title shots than anyone else in company history, so he really can’t complain about Cornette screwing him, and the brass at ROH “never giving him a chance”.  Maybe it’s just Roddy’s high-pitched voice, or his penchant to storm off and them come back in pouting, but this whole complainer angle is making Roddy very dislikable to me.  The Colt Cabana interview was OK, but the only reason it was really there was so Corino could interrupt it.  The American Wolves promo was interesting, but I think it would be stupid to even entertain the idea of breaking up the American Wolves right now.  They’re the best tag team in the U.S. right now (with KoW a close second), and the strongest tag team that ROH has, and it would just be a shame to see them split.  Finally, Prince Nana is G-O-L-D, but who doesn’t know that?  B-

Overall: So there’s nothing jaw-droppingly amazing on this episode, but there is the beginnings of the Television Title tournament, and who doesn’t love a good tournament?  The squashes were fun, but they probably should have come in reverse order, simply because the KoW squash was so much more fun to watch.  The promos were a little ‘meh’ this week, not really being impressive, and seeming a bit like an infomercial, trying too hard to sell the iPPV.  Yes, I’ll be buying the iPPV, no matter how much I’m bombarded.  I’d just prefer it if they didn’t bring it up every couple of minutes.  So for the 50^th show, I feel like I was expecting a little bit more, but the opening two matches of the TV Title tournament was good enough.  B.

Next week the Wolves will be in singles action, which should be interesting, and will surely lead to more teasing of dissension.  I look forward to watching Davey and Eddie hopefully break out of their funk.

Alright guys, you know the drill.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  Until next week…

DID YOU JUST QUOTE JERRY MCGUIRE?
Non Wrestling Related Media O’ the Week

NetFlix is freaking amazing.  It’s movies sent to your friggin’ mailbox.  And if that’s not good enough for you, you can watch stuff on your computer as well.  They have loads of stuff, more than you could ever be able to watch in a lifetime, and they’re helping me and my wife slowly work through The 1001 Movies to See Before You Die.  Fast, great, reliable service has impressed me so far, and will continue to pull me back in for more.  Check it out if you haven’t already.

Boo-yah, it’s time for another installment of the Blog of Honor.  This week before the show I want to touch on a couple of topics really quickly, then we’ll do the trust PoH, and finish it off with what you came to see, a review of this week’s HDNet episode.

So I’ve been able to dive back into watching wrestling again, with work on my house nearing the finishing stages.  I’ve really been enjoying Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.  I know I hyped them in my 2009 wrap up piece, but there’s not enough good things I can say about this little Southern California promotion.  From match quality, no one is even close to matching them right now, at least no one on this continent.  They’re pulling in so much star power, hell, at their January show, they had the Great Muta, Super Crazy, Jyushin “Thunder” Lyger and Rob Van Dam.  That’s in addition to their already strong roster, which features mostly ROH guys, along with a couple of notable SoCal performers.  They’re also great at reading the current crowds in wrestling, as at their last show, Davey Richards beat Kenny Omega for the PWG World Championship.  PWG beat ROH to the punch, as Davey as World Champion is something that a lot of fans want to see right now, and they can get that in PWG.  I recently re-watched The Secret of Guerrilla Island and Threemendous II in my catching up before watching their last two shows of the year the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles.  If you haven’t checked out PWG yet, I urge you to go to their website and get any 2009 show (although Guerre Sans Frontieres, DDT4 and 99 are my personal recommendations, in that order), and at $15 a pop, it’s less than a WWE DVD, and a lot less than a WWE PPV, and more worth the money.  Give it a shot, and if you’re a fan of wrestling, I’m sure you’ll find a lot to enjoy.

I also want to comment on Bryan Danielson Daniel Bryan’s WWE NXT debut.  I’m interested to see where it’s going, but I’m not holding my breath at this point.  I understand they’re trying to paint Bryan as an underdog, and a rookie, but we all know how underdog angles can end up (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston say hi).  Bryan honestly has far too much talent not to shine through and attain huge success in the WWE; I just think it might take him a little while.  I see Bryan’s career going a lot like Bret Hart’s; starting slowly, but gaining the fan’s acceptance and love through constant, solid in ring work, and steady improvement on the mic.  Bryan is a great wrestler, and a great person, and he will find a way to make it in the WWE.  If he doesn’t I place full blame on the WWE, and I may have to give up on them entirely, because an organization that can’t find pure gold with Daniel Bryan doesn’t deserve success in the wrestling world.

OK, now with that out of the way (prepare for a lot of rants this week by the way, watching a lot of great wrestling recently has increased my expectations), let’s move on to this week’s Poll of Honor:

What do you think about the ROH World Television Title Tournament brackets?

We start the show off with a series of still pictures from the 8^th Anniversary show where Tyler Black finally overcame the odds and won the ROH World Title.  They’re definitely going to milk this for all it’s worth.

The tag match featuring Tyler Black and Roderick Strong taking on Austin Aries and Kenny King is hyped, and we go into the opening package.

Match #1: Dark City Fight Club def. The American Wolves when Chavis pins Edwards following Project Mayhem

What a way to kick off the show.  I think this match may have leap frog-ed all others to become my favorite opener of ROH on HDNet, ever.  I could sit here and talk all day about how great the American Wolves are as a tag team.  I was in attendance for one of their first matches together in ROH, and even though they were incredibly solid then, they’ve grown by leaps and bounds.  Richards has hurled himself up to the top ranks in ROH, and many are calling him the second coming of Bryan Danielson, the next “Best in the World”, if you will.  And Edwards proved himself a true competitor after coming back from a broken elbow in a match with Kevin Steen, and wrestling in a Ladder War the very next night.  The Wolves are such an entertaining and cohesive unit that I hope Davey’s eventual lust for singles gold doesn’t bring them down.  As much as I love the American Wolves though, one man stood out in this match, and that’s DCFC’s Jon Davis.  Davis is an incredibly strong wrestler, and I think he regularly outperforms his partner, even though Chavis has considerably more experience.  Davis plucking Davey Richards right out of a back handspring and planting him with a sit out powerbomb was the true highlight of the match here for me, and I really like when stuff like that happens.  When someone gets caught out of one of their signature spots, it just makes sense; like Davis had studied tapes of Richards and knew what to expect as soon as he saw him go for the back handspring.  Another note here, Davis’ pounce is downright murderous.  He makes Monty Brown look like a joke, and certainly not the Alpha Male he claimed to be.  Dark City Fight Club picking up the win with their sit out powerbomb/neckbreaker combo was definitely unexpected, although it was great to see.  The crowd was just about as shocked as I was, responding with an almost confused silence.  I don’t think the crowd necessarily agreed with this one, but I certainly did.  It’s about time DCFC started working their way up the tag ranks, and a big win like this will do a lot for their standing.  I still contend that my favorite DCFC tag match was from their first weekend in ROH against Steen and Generico.  Giving them more opportunities like this will make them an even bigger threat in the tag team division, and maybe even one day we’ll see them holding the tag titles.  This match here was hopefully just a pre-cursor to more down the line.  And if they’re like this, I’ll continue to be pleased.  A.

Kyle Durden is standing backstage with Skullkrusher Rasche Brown.  Durden asks him about the bidding war Brown has found himself in, in the middle of Shane Hagadorn and Prince Nana.  Brown says we make choices every day of our lives.  Do we want to be good or bad?  Do I want to wrestle the Skullkrusher tonight?  Brown says someone made that choice, and tonight, pain is coming.

Match #2: Steve Corino def. Bobby Dempsey by pinfall with a quick roll up

I’ve introduced a lot of friends to ROH over the past few years.  I always try to pick a match based on people’s interests.  If they’re more hardcore leaning, I say check out the Ladder War between Steenerico and the Briscoe’s, or Cage of Death between ROH and CZW.  If they’re more technical wrestling fans I usually suggest something like Danielson vs. Nigel at Unified.  If they’re work rate snobs, I’ll toss on KENTA vs. Davey Richards from Supercard of Honor IV and watch their jaws drop.  My point is, ROH provides a lot of different types of wrestling for a lot of different types of fans, and usually, they’re great.  I can’t tell what kind of fans they’re aiming for with a match like this.  Steve Corino is old, and out of shape.  He was ok back in his ECW days, but even then, he wasn’t spectacular, and not many people knew who he was.  Fast-forward to today, Corino is still not a great wrestler, but now he’s also slow and fat, and my interest in seeing him is gone.  Put him in the ring against someone like Dempsey, who can be entertaining in short bursts, but should really be relegated to the pre-show, and I can’t believe I didn’t fall asleep during this one.  There were several things wrong with this match, first and foremost being that it wasn’t a squash.  If they’re really trying to build up Corino as a big deal, they should probably do more for him than have him barely win a match over Bobby Dempsey.  How will Corino ever be expected to compete with someone like Aries, or even Black, when the only way he can put away Dempsey is with a surprise roll up.  The fact that Corino is supposed to be mentoring someone like Steen, who is so on top of his game right now, is laughable.  Now that I’ve got my rant about the match out of the way, let’s turn to the goings on after the match.  Things got 1000% better as soon as Steen made his way out to defend his “mentor” (a little piece of me dies every time I have to type that).  Steen absolutely dismantling Dempsey, and then Sugarfoot, who foolishly tried to save Dempsey, was crazy.  Steen is really selling his whole new demented heel persona, and I for one, am buying it hook, line and sinker.  Steen delivering two package piledrivers (when one is already so devastatingly dangerous) and rubbing Payne’s blood all over his face like war paint was ridiculous, but in a good way.  If Steen is doing stuff like this to Sugarfoot, I can’t imagine what will happen in his eventual meeting with Generico.  F (for the match). A (for everything involving Steen).

Sara Del Rey is finally back on ROH TV, and she gets a video package, which I believe is the first time she will be speaking for herself, ever, on the HDNet show.  Del Rey says people don’t know she loves training in the gym and the ring, maybe even more than performing in front of a crowd.  Del Rey says she’s two different people in front of and behind the curtain.  Del Rey says she’s happy, but when she gets in the ring she gets mad.  Del Rey says she thinks about all the models and pretty girls just trying to break into the business for exposure and that doesn’t make her too happy.  Del Rey is an athlete, and she’s not there to look pretty, she wants to be tough and fight.  She wants wrestling as a sport to be respected, and she wants to be the female representative of that.

Match #3: Skullkrusher Rasche Brown def. The Set (J-Sinn and Lance Lude) when Brown pins J-Sinn after hitting a burning hammer on Lance Lude, launching Lude on top of Sinn

Holy goodness it’s fun to watch Rasche Brown.  I really, really like this guy, because he’s just an old school monster who only wants to destroy the people that he wrestles.  This handicap match was a lot of fun, but I would have preferred to see maybe Cheech and Cloudy instead of The Set.  That’s a pretty selfish thing though, because I just really like The Set, and I want to see them succeed, and at least stand a chance in ROH’s tag division.  I thought when ROH gave the Set a win over Adam Pearce and Matt Classic (in his ROH debut!) at Eye of the Storm II, that maybe things were looking up for the Virginia duo, but I guess not.  That said, this was a damn fine squash match, and Rasche’s displays of power are exactly the thing that “monster” matches are made for.  His spinning clothesline to J-Sinn, who is a big guy in his own right, was impressive; and Lance Lude is the kind of wrestler made for throwing around like a crash test dummy.  The post match angle was pretty interesting as well, as Brown seemingly rejected both Nana and Hagadorn’s contract offers.  This is another reason I like Brown, he just seems like a guy who wants to wrestle, just to wrestle.  Like he just wants to beat people up, and he’s happy with nothing more.  Rasche Brown is someone who I’ll be watching over the course of his ROH career with a lot of interest.  He’s definitely someone I can get behind, and I hope he’s on the next Manassas show, possibly for a rematch the Set?  SQUASH+.

Match #4: Sara Del Rey def. Portia Perez by pinfall following a piledriver

So, I hear the argument for Awesome Kong and everything, but I honestly think Sara Del Rey is the best women’s wrestler in the world right now.  I would be entertained watching her against any number of opponents, and this match was a bit of a squash, but it was still enjoyable.  I guess I can say Perez got in just a smidge more offense than would be normal in a squash though, so I’ll rate it as such.  Perez was good here as a plucky underdog, and she’s a good seller.  Del Rey was really the star of the match though, and that’s how it should have been.  Her offense is so crisp, and great looking, I wouldn’t mind seeing her take on a couple of the guys in ROH in a singles, or maybe intergender tag team match.  Also, good God, I think that may be the first ever piledriver I’ve seen in a women’s match, and damned if it wasn’t impressive.  It’s also funny to hear Prazak try so desperately plug SHIMMER (he owns and operates the promotion).  This match puts anything that WWE or TNA’s women’s divisions are currently kicking out, to shame.  B+.

We get a glimpse at the brackets for the tournament to crown the first ever Ring of Honor World Television Champion.  First round matches will see Kevin Steen vs. Rhett Titus, Colt Cabana vs. Eddie Edwards, Delirious vs. Davey Richards, and El Generico vs. Kenny King.  We also get our first look at the belt, which is not really that great in my opinion.  There’s too much stuff going on with it.  The thing I like about ROH’s World Titles is that they’re all fairly simple in design, and I just tend to think simple, more ornate designs look better than busy, complicated ones.  Let’s face it, the old school Eagle WWF Championship looked way better than the crap Spinner Championship belt looks.  Also, I think it’s a bit funny that the TV Title, for a company who’s show is only shown on an HD Channel, to feature a television with rabbit ears.  Little thing, but I just thought I’d mention it.  At least the tournament looks like it will be good.  The King/Generico match, and possible combinations beyond the first round, look to have a lot of potential.  It’ll be fun to watch, that’s for sure.

They’re really trying to sell DVD’s as we get the same picture package from the 8^th Anniversary that we got to open the show.  I guess it also pertains to tonight’s main event, but you wouldn’t know it since the only thing the promo says is that THE DVD WILL BE ON SALE SOON!  Seriously though, I’ve heard good things about the match between Black and Aries, so I’ll probably be checking out this DVD when it comes out.  And in this economy, I can’t blame ROH for trying to talk itself up and move some merchandise.

Main Event: Austin Aries and Kenny King def. Tyler Black and Roderick Strong by pinfall when King pins Strong following an accidental superkick from Black

I think if there’s something that’s truly amazing about this match as it shows a brilliant amount of foresight.  This match was taped over a month before Black won the strap from Aries, and it could’ve worked either way.  It works now that Black has won the title, and it would have worked even if he hadn’t won the match in NYC.  That’s what’s amazing.  No entrances were shown, so no one walked in with the belt.  No one left with the belt either.  Roderick and Tyler getting into a fight works in the wake of the 8^th Anniversary, because Roderick was superkicked during the title match, and even though he was promised first crack at Tyler, he’s not getting it in a singles match.  It would have worked had Tyler not won the title, because maybe he and Roddy would have been at odds for another reason (i.e. Roderick going against Tyler and voting for Aries if it came down to the judges, or Strong costing Tyler the match in some other fashion).  A casual fan would have no idea that this match was taped over a month before “the Champion” won the title.  Outside of that, this match led a lot to be desired.  No false finishes, or really any signature moves, except for a sick kick from Roddy to King, and no one really seemed to kick it up a notch.  The opening tag was much, much better than this match, and that’s a disappointment, considering this match revolved around three men currently competing for the World Title, and a fourth who many feel should break into the main event scene any show now.  Hopefully when this match takes place (again) in Ontario later this month, they’ll produce on a higher level than this.  This match wasn’t really bad or anything, but it didn’t really seem up to the standards of most other ROH on HDNet main events.  C+.

Report Card

In Ring Action: So, in one of those rare, once in a blue moon occurrences, that the main event is one of the weakest bouts of the whole show.  I think this is also the first time where the opener is the strongest match, and the main event is the weakest (outside of the abomination that was Corino/Dempsey).  Also, to the people that may argue that Corino/Dempsey was a squash, it most definitely was not.  Watch it again; Dempsey got in way too much offense for this to be considered a squash, and the only reason Corino was able to win was because of an out of nowhere roll up.  I reiterate: not a squash.  The women’s match featured talent that is rarely featured in the big two (and even when it is featured, rarely utilized well).  Rasche Brown’s squash was great fun, and it made me look forward to his eventual matches with more established stars in ROH.  Like I said, the tag team main event may not have been the best match we’ve seen in the main event slot, but the Dark City Fight Club/American Wolves tag sort of made up for it.  Check out this week’s episode for the opener, and if you’re up for a potpourri of other short, fairly good matches, and one terrible match, keep watching.  If not, watch DCFC vs. the Wolves, and skip the rest.  Either way, the Wolves tag is really the only thing you need to go out of your way to see, but the rest of the card has something to offer if you’re willing to look hard enough.  B.

Out of Ring Action: This episode wasn’t too heavy on promos, like recent episodes have had the tendency to be lately.  Even though that may be the case, they were still able to cram in a lot of out of ring, and non-match action, and it was all good.  I really liked the Rasche Brown promo, and I’m quickly becoming a fan of his whole gimmick.  The Sara Del Rey video package was well put together, and I like her openly acknowledging that she’s portraying a character, and she’s actually very happy outside of the ring (having met her I can vouch that she’s extremely nice).  The stuff after the Corino match was awesome, and I don’t know if that’s just because the Corino match was so bad, or if it’s because Steen is so awesome, but either way, it made for good TV.  A.

Overall: This was a pretty average episode.  There was nothing that really blew me out of the water, but this episode did feature some great promos, a couple of good squashes, as well as the second best DCFC match I’ve seen in ROH thus far.  It wasn’t anything you really need to go out of your way to catch, but it’s good wrestling to check out the next time you get an hour.  B+.

Well, in the coming weeks, we have the Television Title Tournament to look forward to, and even though spoilers for pretty much the entire thing are already up, I’m still looking forward to it, and I’m hoping the competitors are able to impress with some solid matches.  It’s back to some Pro Wrestling Guerrilla DVD’s for me, as I think I’m going to re-watch Guerre Sans Frontieres, and then start off on the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles.  Good times are looking to be had, by me.  Alright guys, you know the drill.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  Until next week…

HUGE DOUBLE AX-HANDLE, OOOOOHH YEAH!

Non Wrestling Related Media of the Week

So, last week since I didn’t provide an NWRMotW item, this week I’m supposed to provide two.  Well, I’ve had a listen to the new Gorillaz CD, and it was ok, but my two items this week are the Gorillaz first two CD’s, the self-titled Gorillaz, and Demon Days.  I know, I’m cheating a little bit, but both of those CD’s are absolutely awesome.  Going even further, particularly great songs include “5/4 FiveFour”, “Clint Eastwood”, “Kids With Guns”, and “Feel Good Inc.”.  I’ve been listening to them throughout writing this review, and it, along with it being a beautiful sunny day, has put me in a great mood.  If you’re a fan of offbeat, slightly experimental, highly catchy music, give this band a listen.

We’ve been having trouble in the region where I live with ice dams, where basically people’s gutters end up clogged, and the water has nowhere to go but back up into the house.  This led to the water leaking into my fuse box and coating the wires in a block of ice about an inch thick.  This, compounded with the fact that the drywall in my living room was pretty much soaked through, has lead to an interesting series of events.  Needless to say, I’ve been a little busy dealing with Electricians, Roofers, General Contractors, etc.  I currently am missing about 20 square feet of the walls of my living room, as well as the insulation behind them, and a nice big chunk from the ceiling.  It hasn’t been the most fun process, although it has been extremely time consuming.

It’s not all bad though, as I’ve been able to discuss some things with Richard, and we just may be debuting a new feature to the site very soon that would be a great and interactive.  Hopefully you all will enjoy it.  I’ve also been able to keep up with the live results for WWE and TNA PPVs, but that’s been all the wrestling I’ve been able to catch over the last few weeks.  I hear we have a new ROH Champion though, and with that, let’s get into this week’s Poll of Honor.

What are your feelings about Tyler Black’s ROH World Title win?

With explanations, formalities and the PoH out of the way, I hope you guys can forgive my absence, and let’s go into a tonight’s show.

We start off the show with footage from ROH’s 8^th Anniversary show.  Hog says that if you weren’t in NYC for the show, you missed history, then they cut away before revealing what that history is.

We go right into the action and down to ringside for the first match of the night.

Match #1: Rhett Titus def. El Generico by pinfall with a surprise small package

Well bravo Rhett Titus.  I know I’ve said it here several times, but I’m so impressed with how far Rhett Titus has come as a wrestler in the past few years.  Titus is definitely a student of the game, and he seems like he tries to hone his skills whenever he has the chance.  I know a lot of people like to talk about how much the Miz has improved, but seriously, Rhett Titus’ progress blows his out of the water, and he just keeps getting better.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Rhett is one of the strongest members of the ROH roster or anything, I just think he’s a damn solid wrestler who continues to improve week in and week out.  Now that I’ve got my praises for Titus out of the way, let me move on to Generico.  I really think that El Generico is one of the best “silent” wrestlers of all time, behind maybe only Sabu.  Yes, I know he speaks Spanish, but c’mon, he needs a mouthpiece, he only speaks three or four words at a time, he’s basically mute compared to most other wrestlers.  That said, Generico throws in a lot of little things in his actions that speak much louder.  Watch his ring entrance again, yeah, he runs around, but it’s only about ¾ speed.  He’s got his head slightly bowed.  He’s shaky going up to the top rope.  He just can’t seem to focus and stay on Titus.  All of these are just little things that add up to a big package in terms of selling the overall storyline with Steen.  I really like that Generico even tried to get himself fired up several times, but his heart just wasn’t in it without the big guy in the corner.  It’s matches like this that remind me why I’m such a big fan of Generico, and why I’m really looking forward to this slow burning feud with Steen.  This was one of the better openers since this show started, in my opinion.  A.

Kyle Durden is backstage with Colt Cabana.  Cabana talks briefly about how the situation between Steen and Generico is affecting himself, but Durden interrupts to send it to a camera out back.

Necro Butcher is MAD.  He’s looking for Erick Stevens.  He grabs some dude by the throat and tells him to go inside and get Erick Stevens and bring him out to the parking lot to face him.  This whole thing was just a bit too goofy for my tastes.

Match #2: Colt Cabana def. Bobby Shields by submission with the Billy Goat’s Curse

It’s a damn shame that ROH can’t find a spot for Bobby Shields, even in the under card somewhere, because I’ve seen him go before, and he’s a damn good wrestler with a good bit of potential.  This was kind of a weird squash.  Bobby was made to look foolish, then was able to get in some decent licks, but then was made to look foolish again.  The whole match was maybe three minutes long, and that might even include Cabana’s ring entrance.  I don’t know.  I guess it wasn’t really a flat out squash, but I can’t say it was long enough to be a real match.  I guess the only thing I can say for sure is that it wasn’t very good, and I didn’t like it very much.  Cabana has become far too goofy and jaws around with the crowd and his opponent too much during a match.  Also, one last quick thing; the Billy Goat’s Curse is one of the silliest and least painful looking submissions I’ve ever seen.  The Boston Crab looks so much more impressive.  D.

After the match, Steve Corino comes out to give Colt Cabana a warning, saying be careful who you stick up for.  Cabana looks confused, and then just shrugs it off.

Hog hypes the amazing ROH tag division, which somehow still manages to remain amazing despite the fact that Steenerico are no more and tonight will be the final appearance of the Young Bucks on HDNet.  Next week we’ll get to see the American Wolves take on the Dark City Fight Club, a match I’ve been itching to see ever since DCFC started working their way up the tag ranks on HDNet.  Should be interesting.

The tag match from tonight, featuring the Briscoe’s taking on the Young Bucks, in the Young Bucks final ROH appearance (for the foreseeable future) also gets hyped.  And we’re also going to get more footage from the ROH World Title match in NYC between Aries and Black.  Hog is interrupted, just like Durden (suspicious?) and Necro Butcher is beating down on Ernie Osiris.  Erick Stevens jumps him from behind and he and Necro fight while Nana yells in the background.  They make their way all the way back into the arena.  Necro and Stevens fight all the way around the ring and referees attempt to break it up.  Stevens tosses a ref into one of the barricades, Necro pushes a couple more off and punches the timekeeper.  The brawl continues and Necro grabs a chair.  Lance Lude from the Set is out to try and help break it up, but since he’s about 150 pounds, soaking wet, he eats a fist for his troubles.  Necro rolls Stevens into the ring, and we go to commercial.

After the commercial break, we get a recap of what happened immediately before the break.  We also get what happened during the break though, which was Erick Stevens hitting a running powerslam on Necro into a pile of chairs.  Eddie Kingston came out to break it up though, so Necro doesn’t have to endure any more damage.

We get some more of that sweet, sweet footage from ROH’s 8^th Anniversary show.  This match looks pretty damn good, and apparently the crowd in attendance thought so as well, or at least that’s how it comes off on this footage.

Kyle Durden is standing backstage with Jim Cornette.  He asks Cornette about his reaction to what just happened in the arena.  Cornette says he’s disappointed in Necro, and that not fans, and bystanders can get hurt during Necro’s tangents.  Cornette says he’ll deal with Necro in his own way in his own time.  Cornette then turns his thoughts toward the tag team situation he’s signed for next week’s show.  Cornette says after NYC, it’s going to be Austin Aries and Kenny King vs. Tyler Black and Roderick Strong.  Cornette then storms off, saying he needs to take care of things before ROH ends up getting sued.

Main Event for the ROH World Tag Team Titles: The Briscoe’s defeat The Young Bucks to retain their titles by pinfall when Jay Briscoe pins Matt Jackson following a doomsday device

This is the kind of match that’s going to make me miss the Young Bucks a lot in ROH.  Who knows though, with Hogan in TNA, there’s tons of potential for the Young Bucks to end up in ROH sooner rather than later.  A lot of people say that the Young Bucks are just spotty wrestlers with a contrived finisher.  Well, I’m sorry, but wasn’t the Rock Bottom one of the most ridiculous and contrived finishers in wrestling history?  But did that stop it from getting humongous pops?  How about Hogan’s leg drop, seriously, what a joke, but the crowd goes wild when he busts it out.  Contrived spots are a big part of wrestling.  It’s part of the fun.  So to the naysayers, I just say enjoy the ride.  There was a ton of innovation in this match.  The ace crusher from the top, countered with a simultaneous powerbomb was insane.  Or the insane chain wrestling from Matt Jackson.  Or the crazy double team springboard neckbreaker that looked like it killed Matt Jackson, and still didn’t put him away for the three count.  Pro Wrestling has a spot for Matt and Nick Jackson, and boy do they have a ton of spots for Pro Wrestling.  The Briscoe’s were solid, as always.  You don’t get to be 6 time ROH Tag Team Champions without being an extremely talented duo and honing your craft over many years.  This match is an example of the things that WWE and TNA should strive to do with their tag team division.  Fun, fast paced, solidly wrestled tag team matches are unendingly fun to watch, and ROH’s tag team division just seems to get it right again and again.  This match is no exception.  A.

Report Card

In Ring Action: Thank goodness Colt Cabana’s match was only three minutes long, and thusly won’t really figure into tonight’s ratings.  And that’s all I’m going to say about Mr. Cabana’s match from here on out.  This was a show that had a good bit of solid wrestling.  El Generico and Rhett Titus put on one of the better openers that’s taken place on HDNet in a while.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Titus hold some sort of belt (either the Tag Team, or TV title, not the World Title though) at some point over the next two years if he continues to grow as a wrestler at this rate.  El Generico is gold in his current program with Kevin Steen, and the two haven’t even laid a finger on each other yet.  With Corino/Generico set for ROH’s debut in Phoenix, I can’t wait to see Generico regain his fire, and I know the fans will pop huge when it finally does happen.  The main event is the reason to watch tonight’s show however.  The Briscoe’s and The Young Bucks effectively said, “look at us” tonight, to the collective wrestling world, and proved that they are some of the finest tag team wrestlers on the planet.  Teams like the Big Show and Miz, or DX are interesting pairings, and they’re dominant tag teams, but in terms of traditional tag team wrestling, it really doesn’t get better than what ROH is offering.  A-.

Out of Ring Action: This show was really chock full of promos, and people being interrupted during promos, and hype for next week’s show, and interrupting during said hype.  There was also a brawl, which while it made it’s way to the ring, took place mostly outside, plus it wasn’t a sanctioned match or anything, so I’ll count it here.  I actually want to comment on that brawl first.  It felt really out of place to me here on this show, almost like it was plucked from an episode of Raw 10 years ago or something.  Necro stalking out in the parking lot, telling someone to go find Stevens, then a little break, then a brawl that goes out to the ring, only to be cut off by a commercial break.  It just seemed out of place and odd.  And why cut away to commercial before the biggest spot of the brawl?  There was one highlight though, and that was when Nana screamed “ERNIE!” and went to tend to Ernesto Osiris.  That certainly had me laughing.  I really enjoyed the footage from the 8^th Anniversary show, and I hope ROH continues to do this, provide us of video packages showcasing the big events that happen at non-televised shows.  The promo from Cornette was fun, but it always is whenever he’s in the proximity of a microphone.  The tag match he set up for next week was a lot of fun, but my guess is we won’t see Tyler or Aries with the belt since I believe it was actually filmed before the 8^th Anny (could be wrong there, though).  The Cabana promo was really too short and interrupted too quickly to factor in here, although I’m tired of hearing him bitch and moan about the whole Steen/Generico situation when it really should be between Steen and Generico.  I know Generico needs a mouthpiece in the absence of Steen, but couldn’t it be anyone but Cabana, or couldn’t he just be silent?  The Corino promo was also really too short, and I was expecting an attack from behind on Cabana, and honestly was a bit disappointed when we didn’t get it.  The one thing that really let me down about tonight’s show is that there was no promo or video package time devoted to the main event.  Two of the biggest tag teams that ROH has, one of them in their final ROH match, for the ROH World Titles, and we don’t even get a video package?  What’s up with that?  All in all though, tonight’s episode was decent in the out of ring department.   B.

Overall: Tonight’s episode deserves your viewing if only for the Tag Team Title match.  That’s where tag team wrestling should be these days.  It shouldn’t be floundering, like it is in the WWE, who for some reason can barely seem to be able to produce a compelling tag team division, no matter how many nonsensical pairings they make.  You get a great tag team match, a solid opener, a pretty terrible semi-squash match, the always-great Jim Cornette on the mic, and footage from ROH’s title change.  Even though one of those things is not like the other, it’s a small portion of the show, and hopefully it won’t ruin your viewing experience.  It didn’t help mine, but I was able to look past it pretty easily (again, it’s only three freaking minutes).  B+.

I’ll be back next week, barring my house falling down of course, and I’ll be watching the American Wolves take on the Dark City Fight Club.  Like I said before, I’ve been waiting for this match for a while, and I’m very excited to finally see it after about a year of waiting.  Alright guys, you know the drill.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  Until next week…

HE’S CRAZY AS A RAINBOW TROUT IN A CAR WASH

Non Wrestling Related Media O’ the Week

Sorry, I don’t really have anything here this week.  I haven’t had too much time to watch, read or listen to much with the recent goings on at my house.  Have no fear, however, next week I will be back with two, yes TWO, count them two (2) Non Wrestling Related Media (Items) O’ the Week.

What do you think about the current legal landscape of Professional Wrestling?  Are people being too litigious, or do Sapolsky/ROH have every right to utilize the legal system?

We start off the show with a re-cap of last week’s big events, namely the making of the main event at the next NYC show, Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries with a panel of judges to make the decision should the match end in anything other than a clean win.  If you didn’t catch the show or my blog last week, Black picked Roderick Strong as his judge, Aries picked Kenny King, and Jim Cornette picked himself.

Jim Cornette says that Black asked for Roderick to be his judge, but tonight they’ll face off against each other, at the request of both men.

Match #1: Delirious def. Rhett Titus following a Bizarr-o driver

So this match happened.  There was nothing particularly wrong about it, but I’d be lying if I told you I was more interested in the match than I was in the text crawl going across the bottom of the screen.  I just couldn’t get into this match because I just couldn’t understand why it was going on.  Delirious and Rhett feuded over whether or not Rhett slept with Daizee a good while ago (before Delirious joined the Age of the Fall), and since then both men have moved on.  Rhett has grown into a much more talented and capable wrestler in his own right, teaming with Kenny King and even being part of a stable with the ROH World Champion (not bad for someone who was working security during the first Ladder War).  Delirious just recently got back from a tour of Japan, and while his ring work looked a little better here than before he left, I think it’s going to be a while before we see any real results from his time spent overseas.  My point is, both men are beyond this, and the inclusion of Daizee Haze just makes it seem even more like well-worn ground.  ROH fans are not dumb, most have a good idea of past storylines and know that this angle happened in 2008, and while I don’t expect this to turn into any big storyline or anything (especially not with Delirious already feuding with Sonjay Dutt… if he is still feuding with Dutt), it still just doesn’t make too much sense to me.  I would have rather seen Delirious against someone like Roderick Strong or Kevin Steen; someone who he could have a good competitive match with and showcase his skills, while also someone he wouldn’t look weak taking a loss to.  Many ROH on HDNet matches have the feeling that they’ve kind of been pulled out of thin air.  This match feels more like it was pulled off of an old DVD.  And while the quality is a little bit better than it was two years ago, it’s not so much better as to warrant writing a new chapter.  C+.

Roderick Strong gets a little bit of promo time where he states his opinion on Aries/Black.  Strong says that he has no doubt that Black can beat Aries, and when that happens, he’ll be the first man in line to get the title.  He says after NYC, no one can deny him what he deserves, a shot at the ROH World Title.  See, it’s funny because Roddy has so much conviction here, you’d almost forget he’s had a whopping 11 past shots at the title.

We get another re-cap of the Steen turn and attack on Generico, and that leads nicely into a promo from Steve Corino who is backstage with Kyle Durden.  Corino says that the opinion of the locker room does not matter, but in his opinion, the footage of Steen turning on Generico is one of the greatest things he’s ever seen.  He says that Steen always had the potential to be ROH World Champion, but he’s always had a leech in El Generico hanging on and holding him back.  Corino says Generico got what he deserved at Final Battle.  Corino asks Durden to give him names, and he calls “Sugarfoot” Alex Payne in.  He tries to get Payne’s opinion on what happened at FB.  Payne says that it was sick, Steen turned on his best friend, and Payne says that Steen should be ashamed, but he doesn’t see Steen right behind him.  Steen takes down Payne with a hard lariat, and asks if he should be ashamed of this.  Steen asks Corino, and Corino says of course Steen shouldn’t be ashamed.  Steen gives Payne a couple more good shots before walking off with Corino.

Match #2: Colt Cabana def. Sonjay Dutt by pinfall following the Colt 45

My expectations were exceeded here, but when you’re not really expecting anything, it’s pretty easy to top.  Cabana did a lot of his comedy stuff at the beginning of the match; using the referee to assist in his antics was a fun touch.  Of course he pulled out some of his fancy pins and roll ups.  Toward the end though, the match did get a bit more competitive, and that made it somewhat worthwhile.  I don’t know about anybody else, but it’s still weird for me to see Sonjay Dutt in an ROH ring.  The guy is still a “TNA guy” to me.  He just doesn’t fit the style I guess.  Colt Cabana is fun, but he’s still missing that spark that he had pre-WWE.  I don’t know if Cabana is jaded, or if he’s still trying to break free from the WWE-style, or what, but he’s not the same as he was before he left.  I’d like to see Cabana in a more serious feud in the future, and maybe that’s upcoming with this whole Steen/Corino/Generico issue.  I think a serious feud would do Cabana good and maybe help him bring back a little more of that “Pro Wrestler” he’s been claiming to be since he returned.  This match was serviceable; it was better than the first match of the night, but again it just really didn’t’ deliver.  B-.

Tyler Black gets a bit of promo time himself.  Tyler reiterates that when he wins the title, Roddy will be his first opponent because he’s proved himself time and time again.  Tyler says he knows that he can beat Roderick, and he’s going to prove that tonight.

The Kings of Wrestling get some face time, with Sara Del Ray on interviewing duties.  Hero says the fans may be asking why the KoW are back together, and it’s because at one time they were the most dominant team in tag team wrestling.  Hero says he and Claudio have both matured, and they’re stronger and better than ever.  Claudio says this time they’re back with a purpose, the ROH Tag Team Titles, and they will get what they want because Kings Reign Supreme.

In our third interview segment in a row, Kyle Durden is standing in the ring with Prince Nana and Shane Hagadorn.  Durden references the Kings of Wrestling getting back together, and wonders how the two men were able to bring about a reunion since Claudio is an associate of the Embassy, and Hero is part of Hagadorn’s stable (it doesn’t feel right calling them S’n’S).  Hagadorn says the Kings have proven themselves a dominant force in wrestling.  Hagadorn says that Hero has proven himself with his strikes, and Nana calls Claudio the very European God.  Durden says they didn’t really answer his question, and he talks about how he never sees Nana or Hagadorn talking or hanging out.  Nana says it’s about the connection, the money and the power, and that’s all that Durden needs to know.  Eddie Kingston’s music hits, and Kingston grabs the mic.  Kingston says that he doesn’t care who the KoW are with, he just wants to hear that the Kings are the one’s who jumped him from behind, and he wants to know where they are.  Kingston continues to threaten Hagadorn and Nana, and insists that it had to be Hero and Claudio who attacked him a couple of weeks back.  Nana says that it wasn’t the Kings of Wrestling, it was these guys.  Joey Ryan, Erick Stevens and Mr. Ernesto run out to the ring and beat down Kingston.  Necro Butcher is out to make the save with a big traffic cone and the heels scatter.  Looks like the makings of a Kingston/Necro vs. The Embassy feud.

Main Event: Tyler Black def. Roderick Strong by pinfall following a superkick

Hands down, match of the night.  Although the competition wasn’t too stiff, this match blew all of the others out of the water, and it wasn’t even the best Black/Strong match I’ve seen.  Both of these guys are just so impressive for being fairly young, and I’m very excited to see where these two guys end up further down the line in their careers.  I liked Aries coming down to the ring during this one with his bucket of popcorn and bottle of wine.  I even have to admit I popped when Tyler hit the superkick on Aries, just as he was taking a sip of his wine.  Aries has his pretentious gimmick down pat, and I really think he’s the best “character” in ROH right now.  I think we’re going to be seeing the ROH World Title scene revolve around these three guys for the foreseeable future, and that’s not a bad thing.  Black and Strong are the kind of guys that seem like they could have a good match against each other in their sleep.  Aries is the first two-time ROH Champion for a reason, and he’s been having some top-notch spectacular matches for that belt in the past few months.  A program built around these three guys could one of the strongest programs, in terms of wrestling, that we’ve seen in years.  Mark me down as someone who’s interested to see where this one will end up going.  I’d have never expected to be such a big fan of this angle when the first seeds were planted about a month ago, but they’ve made a believer out of me.  A-.

Report Card

In Ring Action: Thank goodness for that main event.  Even though it wasn’t quite as good as the match I saw them have at Eye of the Storm II in December, it was enough to turn this show from something skippable, to something that warrants checking out.  The opening match was the weakest of the night, with neither Rhett nor Delirious being able to get the match out of first gear.  The Cabana/Dutt match was a little bit better, but still nothing to write home about.  I think Cabana/Dutt could have actually benefited from a bit more time, and I think it may have been better had Cabana gotten serious earlier in the match.  His goofy shtick is a lot of fun, but not when he pulls it out in every single match.  Cabana made such a bit deal about coming back to ROH to get back to professional wrestling, and it seems like he’s just phoning it in; hit some goofy spots, do some crazy roll ups, confuse and anger the other guy.  Cabana’s matches have almost become a paint-by-number affair, where it’s not done until we’ve seen x number of spots x number of times.  He broke out of that a little bit in this much, just not enough for my tastes.  Cabana needs a feud like he had with Homicide back in the glory days of ROH, I think it would do him a lot of good to break out of the silly wrestler mold he’s backed himself into.  The main saved this category tonight, but it’s still below what I expect from ROH.  B-.

Out of Ring Action: Well this show was just full of promos, and thankfully, the bulk of them were really good.  Roderick Strong and Tyler Black both had decent video packages to highlight the main event, but the “live promos” were much stronger.  The Kings of Wrestling promo was absolutely great, and it’s such a great thing to see these guys back together.  It definitely got me hyped to see the Kings back in the ring.  The Nana/Hagadorn promo was pretty neat, and it will be interesting to see if their working relationship leads to some huge monster heel stable with everyone from the Wolves, to the Embassy, to the Kings.  The Nana/Hagadorn promo also did something that I didn’t really think was possible; it goes me interested in what ROH is going to do with Eddie Kingston.  I know, I didn’t think it was going to happen either.  The idea of Kingston in a team with Necro is intriguing, and the fact that this feud will most likely not feature Chris Hero makes me happy.  The last thing I want to address is what I feel was hands down the strongest segment of the show.  The Corino/Steen segment was just great, and the new, monstrous heel that Steen is just has me chomping at the bit to see him in the ring.  Corino has improved more and more each time he’s been in front of an ROH camera, and if he continues improving at this rate, it won’t be long before he’s the best mic guy in ROH.  Finally, I want to say that I’m glad Corino’s focus seems to have shifted from getting himself an ROH Title, to helping Steen win the ROH World Championship.  I have a lot more interest in watching Corino manage Steen to the belt, than I would watching Corino making a run at it himself.  I don’t think there was a weak link in this category tonight.  The Strong/Black promos were the weakest, but for two guys who aren’t great talkers, both did an admirable job.  There were a lot of guys who were good at promos before ROH made this HDNet deal, but I feel that a lot of guys have improved leaps and bounds since ROH got their weekly television deal. A+.

Overall: In terms of wrestling, this show was far from the best, but if you’re a fan of promo work have I got some good news for you.  The main event and the promo work on this episode are the reasons to tune in this week.  Heck, I would honestly recommend tuning in just to watch the Steen/Corino segment (but then it’s always fun to watch Sugarfoot catch a beat down).  This isn’t one to go out of your way to see, but if you’re a fan of ROH, there’s not reason to not catch this episode.  Like I’ve said before (and will probably end up saying again) a mediocre ROH card still produces more quality matches than most WWE pay-per-views, so as far as wrestling goes, look no further.  You’ve just got to learn that they won’t be able to deliver the moon every time.  The attempts are still a hell of a lot of fun to watch though.

So another week is in the books and we survive to talk about it.  I hope all of you are doing well, and if you, like me, are stuck in the midst of a HUGE snowstorm, stay inside, and stay safe.  Alright guys, you know the drill.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  Until next week…

KINGS REIGN SUPREME

Non Wrestling Related Media O’ the Week

My wife and I just picked up a book called 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.  Our goal is to slowly work our way through the list and see every movie on it.  The book spans movies from the last 110 years or so, and includes Academy Award winners, silent films, westerns, dramas, comedies and more.  At the very least, it should make deciding what to rent a whole lot more difficult.

What are your feelings on Davey Richards signing with ROH?  Do you see it as a betrayal to Gabe, or just a smart business move?  Why?
There’s also a new title coming to town in the form of a TV Title.  This is nothing but good news, but I feel we can probably save discussion about that for a later date.  On that note, let’s go ahead and get to the show.

We get a recap of the main event from Final Battle 2009, before the question “Will there be one more fight” (obviously between Black and Aries) is asked.

Jim Cornette opens the show in the middle of the ring.  Cornette references the video package we’ve just seen and apparently both men are going to get the opportunity to address the situation, and that’s going to happen right now.  Cornette brings out Black first, who’s out to a nice pop from the crowd.  Aries is out next to a mixed reaction, but mostly jeers.  Cornette says their match was controversial and polarizing, and now both men are going to get their chance to express their opinions, and Black is first.  Black says that anyone that saw the Final Battle match knows as well as he does, that Aries cannot beat him man to man in a wrestling contest.  Black says that essentially Aries ran out the clock like a coward.  Tyler says that because of Aries’ tactics, his fans lost a little faith in him, but he knows that all he needs is one more chance to prove that Aries is a ‘punk bitch’.  Aries says there are lots of kids in the building, and we don’t need Black’s potty mouth.  Aries says it’s a new year, but some things haven’t changed, and that’s the fact that the ROH World Title is around his waist.  Aries says that he made a New Years resolution that he wouldn’t have to worry about Black any more.  Aries says that in order to be the man, you have to beat the man, and Tyler didn’t get the job done.  Aries says that he’s already proved that he’s better than Black, so he doesn’t need to give him a rematch.  Cornette says when he first got the job with ROH, he heard he was getting a franchise ball player in Tyler Black, but his franchise player has to be the ROH World Champion, and Black failed.  He gives Black his due though, saying that Black signed up for a wrestling match, not a track meet.  Cornette says that Black still has a lot of ability, and Aries should be able to get in the ring and face him.  Cornette says Tyler Black fans are ROH fans, and Cornette doesn’t like it when the fans end up feeling screwed out of a ball-buster of a match.  So in order to correct that situation, Black will end up getting a re-match the next time ROH returns to NYC, but this time there’s going to be some special rules.  Cornette says if there’s anything other than a decisive winner, there will be three judges at ringside to determine who wins the Championship.  Cornette says both Tyler and Aries will get to pick one judge each, and they need to pick them by the end of the show, and Cornette will pick the third judge.  Cornette says the NYC fans are going to get the match that they deserved and there will be a winner.

Match #1: Jay and Mark Briscoe def. Cheech and Cloudy by pinfall following a JayDriller on Cloudy

Well color me surprised; this match was a lot better than I thought it would be.  Cheech and Cloudy (thankfully) weren’t simply relegated to jobber duty, and they were actually able to get a pretty solid amount of offense in.  The Briscoe’s still did a lot of no-selling, but that’s not as much of an issue with me in this match, and they looked impressive in their first tag-team match since winning the titles at Final Battle.  There were a lot of fun spots in this match; Cloudy reversing a doomsday device into a near fall had the crowd on their feet in surprise, and Jay’s gorilla press into JayDriller combination was really nice, and I hope he continues to pull this out from time to time.  There was a weird moment where the lights went out, and when they came back on the action in the ring was going on like nothing ever happened; Hog tried to explain it away, but I think I’m just going to chalk it up to technical difficulties.  I hope Cheech and Cloudy continue to grow and become more credible opponents in ROH’s tag division (especially with the recent loss of Steenerico, and the inevitable exit of the Young Bucks).  C&C are one of several tag teams (including the Super Smash Brothers and possibly even the House of Truth) that I’d like to see step up into full time roster status.  ROH’s tag team division is undoubtedly the hottest thing they have going for them right now, and they need to continue to build up steam, and provide new and fresh combinations of teams.  Sorry to get a bit off topic here; this match was a lot of fun to watch, and even though it was nothing spectacular, it’s still worth checking out, even if just to see how far C&C have come since entering ROH.  A-.

Post-match, Kyle Durden is in the ring to interview the Briscoe’s.  Jay says New Year, same story, the Briscoe’s are still the best tag team in the world.  Briscoe says he doesn’t like that the Kings of Wrestling broke up their celebration after winning the belts at Final Battle.  The American Wolves’ music hits, and Richards and Edwards make their way out to ringside.  Richards says Hero and Claudio may be the Kings of Wrestling, but if the Briscoe’s are looking for the team that tears it up every night, welcome Richards and Edwards, because the Kings are here.  Edwards says that the Briscoe’s are either dumber than they look, or they’re avoiding their true challengers.  Edwards says they’re entitled to a rematch.  Edwards says to take a good look at the belts, because the hunt is on.  Dark City Fight Club make their way out and head straight into the ring, where they get into the Briscoe’s faces.  The Wolves are in the ring next and things start to break down between all six men.  Staff, referees and students are out to break things up.

Kyle Durden is backstage with El Generico.  Durden asks how watching the footage of what happened at Final Battle makes him feel.  Generico won’t answer any of Durden’s questions and he looks very upset.  Cabana comes in from the side and walks off with Generico.

Match #2: Skullkrusher Rasche Brown def. Bobby Shields by pinfall following a torture rack into a burning hammer

There’s something special about Rasche Brown.  I’m never really that big on big men.  Most big guys just don’t have a great track record (I’m looking at you, El Gigante, the Great Khali and Kurrgan), but most big men don’t have the speed and agility that Brown has.  He reminds me of a way more jacked up Bam Bam Bigelow (which is a very good thing).  Sure, this match was just a squash, but there was more to it than just that.  I liked Nana and Ernesto at the top of the ramp, salivating over the possibility of recruiting Brown into the Embassy.  I liked the fact that Brown just mauled Shields, and I liked the fact that Brown was able to get his hands on one of the bigger jobbers.  Beating up Grizzly Redwood and Sugarfoot can really only get you so far, so hopefully Rasche will continue to challenge better and better opponents and continue his streak of dominance.  SQUASH +.

Hog and Prazak are in the commentary booth(?).  Hog reminds us of the Title match that was made earlier tonight.  Prazak lets us all know that there’s a new ROH app for the iPhone, which is pretty damn cool in my opinion.  Hog lets us know that as a result of a fan poll, in one of their last ROH matches, the Young Bucks will be taking on the American Wolves in just two weeks.  Just a little bit of a slip up to note here as the Wolves are shown with their titles in the promo picture, but the Briscoe’s have the belts according to storyline continuity.

Pick Six Main Event:  Kenny King def. El Generico by pinfall after a Coronation

Well, that was more disappointing than I thought it would be.  El Generico is one of my favorite wrestlers in ROH right now, but he just seemed a little bit off tonight, even botching his signature DDT through the ring ropes on the floor.  I’m a big fan of King, but I’m still waiting for the guy to have his breakout match here in ROH.  I really feel like King has the charisma and the athletic ability to go far in this business, but he hasn’t really come through with a truly amazing performance in the ring just yet.  I think we will eventually see King’s breakout match in ROH, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes champion one day down the line, he strikes me as someone who could be that good.  As of right now though, I just see a lot of pretty good Kenny King matches that struggle to make it to that next level.  The problem with this match was that there were peaks and valleys, but not in a good way.  Good matches have a natural ebb and flow to the action, but it just seemed like in this match, when King stopped to gloat, or heel it up, or just slowed things down, it seemed like things just ground to a halt.  I enjoy watching King be cocky, but he does enough of it in his promos that I don’t need to see it in the ring after each and every successful completion of a move.  This match was OK, it just wasn’t what I would expect out of either man.  With how long King has been under the tutelage of Aries, and his inherent athletic gifts, I would have expected much more improvement from him over the couple of months.  Hopefully he’ll be able to step up his game soon, because I’d honestly love to see him in the World Title hunt one of these days.  Matches like these won’t be what get him there though.  C.

It’s time to find out who the judges to the NYC Black/Aries rematch will be.  Cornette, Aries and Black are standing in the middle of the ring.  Cornette runs down the whole deal, with the Final Battle happenings and the rules for their upcoming rematch.  Cornette goes to Aries first for his decision as to who will be a judge during their match.  Aries says he’s been calling some of his many contacts, but neither Judge Judy, nor Joe Brown gave him a call back, so he went to get some royalty in Kenny King.  King makes his way down to the ring.  Cornette says that’s no surprise.  King says that he’s a fair and impartial man, and come NYC, King is going to call the match down the middle.  Cornette then goes to Black to ask who his pick will be.  Black says it’s someone he’s been at war with in the ring many times, and someone who he respects very much, Roderick Strong.  Strong makes his way down.  Strong shakes hands with Black, and tells Cornette that if you look at the two guys in question, he trusts Black, and Aries is a weasel, that’s why he’s backing up Tyler.  He’s also acting as Tyler’s judge because Tyler said he would refuse any challenger that’s not him, so win he wins the belt, Strong will be the first challenger.  Cornette says they need one more judge, and he’s thought about who it should be, and it will be himself, Jim Cornette.  Cornette says he’ll be ringside to make sure the fans get the match they were entitled to the first time.  Cornette says the only way to be in control of their destiny is to try and beat the other man, because if it goes to the judges anything can happen.  Cornette says may the best man win, and Aries and King jaw with Strong and Black to end the show.

Report Card

In Ring Action: Well, we didn’t get as much wrestling as is usual for an ROH show, but that’s due in large part to Cornette setting up the main event for the 8^th Anniversary show.  The opening tag was very good, and honestly was the best match of the whole damn show; the post match antics between DCFC, the Wolves and the Briscoe’s was great too, and has me looking forward to a three way tag team match, or round robin tournament.  The Rasche Brown squash was well done, and hopefully Brown will be challenged by someone more formidable (although someone who he can still beat handily, someone like Delirious) in the near future.  The main event was my least favorite bout of the whole show, but in all honesty, a mediocre ROH match is still some of the best wrestling you’re going to find on television, at least in North America.  Hopefully Kenny King will find his groove in ROH sooner rather than later, maybe in the upcoming TV Title tournament we’ll get to see a little of that come out.  This was far from the best show in terms of overall wrestling presented, but again, when it’s the best wrestling on TV, bad is all relative (and still nowhere near as bad as Raw).  B-.

Out of Ring Action: The angle with setting up the Tyler Black/Austin Aries match in NYC was well done, and it’s an interesting, old-school concept that hasn’t been done in a long time.  The only real problem with it is that a lot of fans have given up on Tyler Black winning the World Title and have moved on to people like Richards, Strong and Omega.  For those people, the announced match is pretty much the last thing they want to see, and lots of vignettes and in ring promos leading up to the match, probably won’t change that.  The Generico promo didn’t get much done in the way of talking, but it really pushed forward how upset Generico is after the attack at the hands of Steen.  It seems like there wasn’t really a whole lot going on in this category either, but the Black/Aries/Cornette segments took up a good bit of time.  That’s not a bad thing though, as any time Cornette is on the mic is a good time.  Like I said though, when you’re spending so much time building toward a match that a lot of people could care less for (even if it is good build), what’s the point?  B-.

Overall: This was definitely one of the weaker episodes in general since the start of the show.  The wrestling ranged between pretty good to so-so, and the promos category kind of breaks even because build is cancelled out when no one cares.  It’s funny though, because even at their worst, ROH manage to pull off a respectable B-.

Well sorry for the lateness this week guys.  Between shoveling snow, and providing live updates for the Royal Rumble (which was exhausting during the actual Rumble match by the way), it’s been hard to sit down at the computer for any extended period of time.  I’ll do my best to be better next week.  That’s it for this week.  Alright guys, you know the drill.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  Until next week…

NO SOUP FOR YOU

Non Wrestling Related Media O’ the Week

OK guys, so I’m cheating here this week.  This week’s media is totally, and undeniably related to wrestling.  Fire Pro Wrestling is a long running video game series that has only seen a couple of releases on American soil, and this past week, I finally discovered it.  Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for the PS2 is a solid buy, most definitely.  I picked up the game for about 7 bucks at a local video game store, and have been playing it quite a bit.  The game features about 300 different wrestlers that all look vaguely familiar.  It’s as if someone didn’t want to get sued, so they slightly altered appearances and changed people’s names to avoid that bit of potential nastiness.  The result is a video game where you can pit Bret Hart, Bryan Danielson, Kevin Nash, Sting, Mitsuharu Misawa and Katsuhiko Nakajima against each other in a Battle Royal.  Or if that’s not your taste, how about a barbed wire death match between the Great Muta and Andre the Giant?  The graphics are nothing wonderful, but the gameplay is amazing and incredibly varied.  The best thing however, is that there are all sorts of re-naming and creation guides out there on the web, and the game allows you to create pretty much any wrestler who ever lived.  You can do anything you want.  Relive the WCW/WWF invasion angle, but this time bring in all of the key players and do it up right, or add ROH to the mix, or start a war between the Legion of Doom and the American Wolves.  I highly suggest that you check this out if you’re a fan of wrestling, and are in possession of a PS2.

If you could elevate one member of the ROH roster to the main event scene, who would it be and why?

We open with a re-cap of the Pick Six rules, as tonight will be the final match up to determine the original Pick Six.  We also get a re-cap of the Pick Six victories of Tyler Black, Colt Cabana, and Roderick Strong.

Hog and Prazak welcome us to the show and immediately being hyping up the Pick Six.  Prazak says tonight we will find out the next man in the Pick Six after the match between Kenny Omega and Chris Hero.  The send it down to the ring, and it’s time for our first match.

Match #1 No DQ: Joey Ryan def. Necro Butcher by pinfall following a choo choo with a chair from Erick Stevens

Well, a little bit of explanation is probably needed here.  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome the newest member of the Embassy, Erick Stevens.  After a run-in where it looked like he was going to save Necro, Stevens turned heel and actually added a bit of depth to his character.  This match was full of fun, unorthodox spots like Ryan hitting a front flip senton on Necro’s leg, which was hung up in a chair.  The plastic bag spot was crazy, but it felt a little out of place here, just because it seemed like something that would have been pulled out in a blood feud.  It might have made sense for Necro to save that for a little bit down the line in this feud.  Necro’s entrance was even a lot of fun, coming in with a big sign for “Bare Foot Shoes”.  The big story of the match though was Stevens’ heel turn.  I think this can only help Stevens, as he’s been buried in the mid-card for what seems like forever.  He was far too sugary as a babyface, and he just didn’t seem to have personality.  This match-up is great for someone like him, because now Prince Nana can do all the talking for him.  The only downside I saw in this match, was that it was done about six months ago in PWG with much, much better results.  Granted, that match was given more time, as it was the main event of the evening, and wrestlers seem to have a bit more freedom in PWG; but still, as I just recently watched their PWG match, I can’t help but compare the two.  All in all though, this was a really well done match, and as much as I complain about their not being enough storyline development in ROH, it seems like we just got a big shot of it here.  B.

We get a video package highlighting the high-flying abilities of Kenny Omega.  I really wish they’d just let this guy have complete freedom in ROH, because he almost seems like a neutered version of himself when he’s in an ROH ring; not necessarily in terms of wrestling ability, but definitely in terms of personality.

Kyle Durden is standing backstage with Colt Cabana to get his reaction to Kevin Steen’s heel turn at Final Battle.  Cabana says he had to get in the middle of Steen and Generico because he didn’t know what Steen was thinking.  He says what Steen did blew his mind, because after Ladder War II it seemed like Steen and Generico were even closer as a team.  Cabana says he’s got a match to focus on tonight, but before he leaves, he asks “why, Kevin, why”.

Match #2: Colt Cabana def. Tony Kozina by submission with the Billy Goat’s Curse

I don’t know what it is about Colt Cabana, but he’s just nowhere near as good as he was before his WWE run.  I don’t know if Cabana’s lost some of his spark for the business, if he just hasn’t recovered from the WWE-style, or what, but all of his matches seem be the same.  Cabana hits his crazy pinning combinations, a couple of elbows, and finishes people off with the Billy Goat’s Curse.  It just seems like there’s a formula to Cabana matches, and the match isn’t done until every variable is in place.  Tony Kozina was pretty good here, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him get a more serious shot in ROH.  I don’t expect Kozina to ever be in contention for the ROH World Title, but I think he’d be a good addition to the lower mid-card, and it’d be nice to see him score a win at least once every so often.  The other problem that I have with this match, is that if Cabana is supposed to be so distraught with the actions of Kevin Steen, why does he look as happy-go-lucky as ever?  Cabana has been a part of a serious feud before (vs. Homicide) and while this issue isn’t near as serious as that was (yet), I would still expect to see something, no matter how subtle, to show that Cabana is at least a bit pre-occupied with the Steen/Generico issue.  I guess the real issue that I have with it is that Cabana shouldn’t be cutting very serious promos, right before he comes out and wrestles a goofy, fun-filled match.  I know that Colt is a comedy guy first and foremost, but he’s shown in the past that he can be so much more, and I guess that’s what I’ve been waiting for ever since he returned to ROH.  I guess it’ll still be a few more weeks.  C+.

We get a re-cap of the attack on Eddie Kingston from last week (apparently Hog has his own theories) and Durden is standing backstage with Kingston.  Kingston won’t even wait for Durden to finish, he just tells him to hand over the mic and leave.  Kingston says he came to ROH to get rid of someone, and he thought he did, and finally he could move on, but last week he was jumped from behind.  Kingston says that a coward jumps people from behind.  Kingston says the King of Diamonds calling card was funny, but everyone knows who it was.  Kingston insinuates that it was Hero who jumped him because Hero is jealous that Kingston beat him at Final Battle.  Kingston says that it’s not over, and this is not a game.

Match #3: Kevin Steen def. Alex “Sugarfoot” Payne by submission when he locks in the Sharpshooter

Well this match was just vicious, and if this is what the “new Kevin Steen” has in story for us, I am looking forward to it.  Steen just absolutely destroyed Payne in no time.  He just kept punishing him.  Pump handle neckbreaker, not enough.  Package Piledriver, still not enough.  Finally he locked in the Sharpshooter and made Alex Payne say “I Quit”.  Everything Payne threw at Steen just wasn’t anywhere near enough, as Steen took it in stride and just spit it back, ten-fold, at Payne.  This is one of those rare cases where a squash is more that a squash.  Mr. Wrestling is indeed back.  SQUASH+.

We get a video package of the Briscoe’s, who will be facing off against each other in a Pick Six match next week.  Both men, sitting together, talk about how they fought against each other as little kids.  The package is light-hearted, which is a nice change of pace, as the brothers laugh at each other while they talk about beating the other down.

Main Event: Kenny Omega def. Chris Hero by pinfall after he reverses the Golden elbow into a pinning predicament

Hot damn, what a great match!  I had to go back and watch Richards vs. Strong from last week before I could say this, but this is the best Pick Six match we’ve gotten so far, and not only that, it’s the best match since Hero/KENTA.  Hero had a counter for almost everything that Omega could throw at him, and Omega, in turn, pulled out some new moves (like the 2K1 bomb) that we haven’t seen from him before (at least not in ROH).  Omega hit a couple of spots on the outside that were just insane; the facebuster to the chair, the flying double knees to a seated Hero, and even the stop sign enzugiri were all used well here.  Hero’s elbows were just as hard-hitting as ever, and thankfully the interference from Hagadorn was kept to a minimum.  This was definitely a big win for Omega, and I hope it leads to big things for him down the line.  As for Hero, I don’t imagine he’ll be out of the Pick Six for long.  If this continues to be the quality of Pick Six matches, and main events in 2010, wrestling fans are in for a big treat.  A.

Report Card

In Ring Action: This week’s series of matches (with the exception of the Cabana/Kozina bout) were really good, and did a lot to push forward a couple of different storylines.  The opening bout between Joey Ryan and Necro Butcher introduced a new member to the Embassy, and actually gave Necro a reason to be fighting them.  The Steen/Payne match introduced the new, more vicious Mr. Wrestling; and it’s always fun to watch Sugarfoot get destroyed.  The main event was just absolutely phenomenal, and it was a bit of a coming out party for Omega.  This was without a doubt the best Omega match that’s been put forward on HDNet.  The Cabana/Kozina match missed the mark in a couple of different respects.  Since Kozina has been used as nothing but a jobber since this show started, it didn’t make sense that he got in as much offense as he was able to.  Also, since Cabana cut a very serious promo before the match, he shouldn’t have been so goofy during the actual match.  Luckily, the Cabana/Kozina match was just a small aspect of the show, and even though it wasn’t great, it wasn’t so bad as to affect my enjoyment of the rest of the show.  B+.

Out of Ring Action: Well, the video packages in this episode were great, but the lone interview certainly left a lot to be desired.  I’m not a huge Eddie Kingston fan; I did enjoy his match with Chris Hero at Final Battle, and I was very much impressed with Kingston during that match, but outside of that one encounter, Kingston just doesn’t do anything for me.  His interview here was more of the same from him, only with him yelling at the producer and cameraman to sell his “tremendous” anger.  Kingston’s interviews are formulaic to the extreme; yell about Chris Hero, talk about being from New York, yell about Hero some more.  The video packages on the other hand, were well put together, and great at getting across their respective points.  Kenny Omega’s video package highlighted one of the most impressive aspects of his wrestling arsenal.  And the Briscoe’s video package showed that the two Briscoe’s are friends as well as brothers; it was really nice to have two guys talking about having a match with each other in the context of having a good match, and not one trying to kick the other’s ass.  The video package recapping the past few Pick Six matches was a good idea, though I hope they make a bigger effort to synch up the Pick Six with the current goings on in ROH (The original Pick Six hasn’t even been established on HDNet, and it’s already been shaken up several times since the original taping).  It’s hard to get too excited about this Contender series when it’s so out of whack with what’s currently going on.  Overall though, this was a pretty strong category this week that was only hurt by Eddie Kingston continuing to be the same old Eddie Kingston.  B-.

Overall: This week’s show was strong, but then again, most of them usually are.  The wrestling alone is enough to make this show ten times better than other sports entertainment programs, and now that storyline development is coming more into the forefront, this is looking to be one of the strongest wrestling shows in years.  There were a couple of missteps, but there’s no such thing as a perfect show (but for the record, ROH is as close as it comes in this current wrestling climate).  B+.

Another week, another Pick Six match in the books, and this week we got what I assume will be the strongest of the initial round of matches.  Next week’s show should be interesting, not only for the Briscoe v. Briscoe match, but also the tag team match pitting Tyler Black and Colt Cabana against Austin Aries and Kenny King.  As long as Cabana either steps it up, or spends little time in the ring, next week’s main event should be a solid contest.  Alright guys, you know the drill.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  Until next week…

HE LOOKS LIKE A BOWLING BALL WITH SHINY SHOES!

Non Wrestling Related Media O’ the Week

Hulu.com is one of the best, and worst things to ever happen to the world.  Being able to watch television on your computer is nothing short of amazing.  It’s also extremely easy to find yourself distracted, so remember: use with caution.  With great power comes great responsibility.

Match #1: Claudio Kingston def. Eddie Kingston by submission by locking in a modified single leg Boston Crab

Claudio Castagnoli is a freak of nature, but in a good way.  The guy manhandled Eddie Kingston, someone who’s not known for being a featherweight type of guy.  I was shocked when he got Eddie up and executed the UFO (the no hands, spinning torture rack), and even more so when he hit the single leg big swing, launching Kingston like he was a much smaller man.  Castagnoli is incredibly entertaining and an all-around great wrestler.  I hope ROH starts to use him in a better role now that he’s reformed the Kings of Wrestling with Chris Hero.  Castagnoli could be a great part of the main event scene if given the right opportunity; I just hope ROH realizes it before one of the bigger two companies come calling.  Kingston did what he was supposed to do here, act hurt, act plucky and full of heart, and ultimately, lose.  I know I’m beating a dead horse, but I just can’t get behind Eddie Kingston.  I thought his match with Hero at Final Battle was great, but I attribute more of that to Hero, but it doesn’t seem like he’s got anything to do now.  Kingston can’t go back to killing jobbers again, and he’s nowhere near ready to touch the main event scene.  I hope that his next program doesn’t follow Chris Hero into the tag team division, although with this match against Claudio (and the pre-match beat down), I could see a KoW/Kingston feud, with Kingston finding a partner and possibly bringing on Julius Smokes as a manager (hinted at on the Glory By Honor VIII DVD).  That’s not what I want, by any means, but I really could see it coming.  This match was pretty good, although with Kingston playing up the injury, it wasn’t much more than a chance for Claudio to exhibit some of his impressive moves, and a chance for Eddie Kingston to show he’s got a lot of heart.  But since that’s what they were going for, I think can get on board with this match.  B.

Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak are onscreen to welcome us to the show formally.  Prazak hypes Final Battle 2009, and they recap some of the events of the night.  Steen’s heel turn (one of the best executed turns I’ve EVER seen), the Tag Team Title match, and the King of Wrestling reunion are all featured.

Match #2: Steve Corino def. “Right Leg” Andy Ridge by pinfall after a reverse pile driver and sliding lariat

Well, that was a little odd.  After Corino’s first appearance, where he absolutely crushed Lance Lude, I would have thought it would have been more of the same here, but I was really surprised by the amount of offense that Ridge was able to sneak in.  I’m getting a little tired of this formula to introduce (or in this case, re-introduce) talent to the audience.  I mean, I understand the need for jobber matches in professional wrestling, and when used sparingly, and done right, they can be a lot of fun.  ROH is using jobber matches to try and get over new talent though, and that doesn’t always work.  I would rather see a new debut lose their first or second match in a hard fought contest to an established star, than destroy a string of jobbers.  I think if Corino were to take a hard-fought loss to someone like Roderick Strong, it would do more for him and make him look more impressive, than this match.  Nothing against Ridge, I enjoy the guy when he’s let loose in pre-show and under card matches, but he shouldn’t be putting up this much of a fight against the “King of Old School”.  I just didn’t really understand the logic in this match.  Also, Corino had “Mr. Wrestling” written on the back of his tights, and I know he’s used the moniker in Japan, but in ROH, Mr. Wrestling IS Kevin Steen.  Now I know (this is a bit of a spoiler) that Steen and Corino are going to be linked together as a unit following Steen’s heel turn, and maybe then it might be appropriate to have the Misters Wrestling, but he shouldn’t have been wearing them here.  That may be a bit nit-picky, but whatever, I’m a blogger.  Gotta find something to write about.  C-.

Kyle Durden is backstage with one half of the former Tag Team Champions, Davey Richards.  Durden asks Richards about his match with Roderick Strong later tonight.  Richards says he likes fighting Strong because his fists do the talking.  Richards says he likes to fight and wrestle against the best in the world.  Richards references his history with Roderick in the No Remorse Corps.  Richards says Strong gave him a platform to perform, but he created a monster.  Richards says he has dominated everyone this year, and he’s the best wrestler in the world.  Richards begins to say the Hunt is on, but he stops, instead saying, No Remorse.

We get a re-cap of the World Title match between Austin Aries and Tyler Black at Final Battle.  This is honestly one of the most polarizing matches I’ve ever seen.  A lot of people hated the match; a lot of people loved it.  Count me in the camp of the latter, because I was a big fan.  The match featured Aries playing the ultimate heel, doing everything to stall and/or lose the match but keep the title.  This match kept me on the edge of my seat, especially the last ten minutes.  People may have thought the draw was a cop out, but I saw it as great, old school booking.

Match #3: El Generico def. Rhett Titus by pinfall following a Yakuza kick and brainbuster

It’s really impressive how far Rhett Titus has come in a few short years.  I was watching Man Up the other day, and I had to laugh, as Rhett is still just a student, working security during the ladder war, and now he’s in a singles match against one of the men from that very match.  The fact that Titus was able to hold his own in this match, and actually look like he stands a chance, is a testament to how far he’s come since his days in pre-show student matches.  El Generico was a lot of fun, as always, he’s just such a great wrestler, I’m pretty sure he could put on an entertaining match with just about anybody.  I like how they played up the whole rift between Steen and Generico, but the fact of the matter is that this was taped in advance of Final Battle, so fans in the know are aware that Steen didn’t come out because it was just a single’s match.  They played it off well though, and since Steen didn’t accompany Generico it worked.  This was a good match, the only problem that I have with it is that it doesn’t really advance anything.  The whole thing would have worked better, at least in terms of Generico being pre-occupied with Steen, if Generico had taken the loss here.  That would not only have played up the Steen/Generico storyline, and it would have made Rhett look like a million bucks, giving him his biggest ever singles win in the process.  I really can’t fault the booking though, as like I said before, this was taped before Final Battle, and it’s extremely easy to book things in hindsight.  This is just yet another reason ROH has to work a little bit better to synch these shows up with the house shows and PPV’s going on from this point forward.  They especially need to be synched up to the PPV’s, I’m sure that would do nothing but help the buy rates.  B+.

Kyle Durden is standing backstage alongside the Executive Producer for ROH on HDNet, Jim Cornette.  Durden brings up the Pick Six.  Cornette says it’s great to see, and it’s going to be exciting to see the match tonight between Davey Richards and Roderick Strong.  Chris Hero interrupts and says that Cornette has forgotten something.  Hero says that Cornette should be addressing is next week’s main event between Kenny Omega and Chris Hero.  Cornette says Hero will advance IF he can beat Omega, but he wants to ask Hero something.  He pulls out the King of Diamonds card and asks Hero if it looks familiar.  Cornette says if he can connect Hero with the card, he’ll have an excuse to let Hero go.  Hero says his issues with Kingston are done, and if he wants to discuss it further, he can talk to Hagadorn.

Main Event: Roderick Strong def. Davey Richards by pinfall following a Gibson driver

Well that was just a hell of a contest.  These two have a lot of history, not only in ROH, but also all around the country in different independents.  Strong and Richards were a team in ROH in the No Remorse Corps, and they were a team outside of ROH as recently as January 2009 in PWG.  These two have a lot of chemistry, they’ve proved that time and time again, and I’m sure there are a lot of fans out there just like me who’d like to see this feud with the ROH World Title at stake.  These two men put on a really good match here, but with the extra motivation of being for the World Title, and given more time and a couple months build, these two could put on a spectacular match.  This Pick Six idea has been a lot of fun so far, and almost everyone who’s made it in so far (with the exception of Delirious and Tyler Black) is someone that I’ve wanted to see in the main event scene for a good long while.  Hopefully this whole experiment will lead to a string of great matches for Aries, and whoever it is that de-thrones him.  I very much enjoyed this match, although to be completely honest, it didn’t really live up to my expectations.  Let them go at each other for a longer period of time, and really build up a feud and these two could tear down any given venue in any city that ROH runs.  Don’t get confused or anything, even though this match didn’t quite live up to my expectations, it was still a really good match.  I just know that these two guys are capable of so much more.  A-.

Report Card

In Ring Action: Let’s go ahead and start with the main event.  Great wrestling from two great athletes, but hopefully it was just an appetizer, for an even better confrontation down the road.  The Generico/Titus match was fun, just for the hell of it, but if things had been slightly different, I think it could have done a lot more for each guy.  The match did however, go a long way in showing how far Rhett Titus has come as a wrestler in the past few years.  The Kingston/Castagnoli match was pretty good, and it played out how it should have, but I have to question how far Eddie Kingston is going to go in ROH when his angles rely so heavily on Chris Hero.  Will Kingston be able to be successful in ROH when he’s finally booked in a program that has nothing at all to do with Hero?  The only real downer this week was the Corino match.  Corino just didn’t look all that impressive to me, struggling to beat a jobber, and Prazak and Hog played up how much this guy wants the World Title.  I just can’t see him as a credible contender, and I don’t think that’s what ROH wants me to see.  Get Corino in the ring to have competitive matches with established talent; if he’s having a hard time putting away Andy Ridge, how in the world is he ever going to be able to take on Austin Aries, or Roderick Strong, or even someone like Kenny Omega?  Hopefully we can move away from introducing new talent in jobber matches, especially when they have such high hopes for the talent right off the bat, like in the case of Corino.  Minus that one misstep though, and it was really a small misstep, this was an impressive show in terms of in ring action. B+.

Out of Ring Action: I want to say first and foremost how much I really enjoyed the re-caps of Final Battle 2009.  They were really able to distill the major angles coming out of the event, and get me excited for what 2010 will bring.  The Richards promo was damn good, and I really liked Richards referencing the past as much as he did.  The ending, “No Remorse” line was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed seeing Cornette on screen, which isn’t really that surprising, and watching him clash with Hero was great.  It’ll be interesting to see where Cornette falls in the next few months; whether he’ll be a stern face, or a dastardly heel as he can so comfortably play.  Hero was good in his short interruption, but as much as I want to believe he’s truly done with Kingston, I just can’t (PROVE ME WRONG ROH!).  There wasn’t much in the way of promos, but I’m still excited to see Omega/Hero next week, and I’m looking forward to re-watching Final Battle, so mission accomplished ROH.  B+.

Overall: Well what in the world could the overall grade be?  This was a strong show, but ROH really need to work on developing more storylines.  The Kingston attack was a good attempt, but it just leads us into a program that’s really similar to one that just ended.  The Pick Six is a good innovation, but it almost seems like everything else is taking a back seat to establishing contenders.  There need to be more than one or two things going on per episode.  It’d be nice if we could have several different running feuds and storylines going on all at once.  Great wrestling is a great thing, and I’ll no doubt be watching the show week in and week out no matter whether the out of ring storytelling gets any better or not; but a lot of fans are going to tune out if there’s no other hook to keep them there than great wrestling.  This is one aspect of the show where I think a little tinkering would do a world of difference.  Overall this was a strong show, but longer, better-developed programs would only make ROH on HDNet even stronger.  B+.

Another week come and gone, and another week of ROH is in the books.  Next week’s match of Hero vs. Omega should be a lot of fun, and hopefully you guys will be watching right along with me.  Alright guys, you know the drill.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  Until next week…

WHAT ARE YOU, MATLOCK?

Non Wrestling Related Media O’ the Week

Well, it’s not really too current, and it’s actually been taken off the air, but King of the Hill is a show that’s hard not to enjoy.  A lot of the characters ring very true, especially if you’ve ever spent a lot of time in the South.  Mike Judge was definitely more subversive with Beavis and Butthead, but I think KotH hits the mark even more often.

ROH Quick Results

Chris Hero def. Kyle O’Reilly by pinfall

Necro Butcher def. Joey Ryan by DQ

Colt Cabana def. Claudio Castagnoli by pinfall

This week’s episode wasn’t very impressive, so it’s a good thing we’re going to move right into the top ten list of 2009.  Starting with #10…

Tag Team Wrestling

Goodness gracious, this year was incredibly strong for a lot of promotions.  In WWE, Jeri-Show was supremely entertaining and it turned out so much better than I thought it would following the Achilles tendon injury to Jericho’s initial partner, Edge.  I think Jeri-Show was actually more entertaining than Jericho and Edge would have been, due to the fact that Jericho and Big Show are so much more different than Jericho and Edge.  In TNA, tag teams weren’t spectacular, but they were good enough to warrant bringing in a tag division for women.  ROH and PWG both had absolutely stellar tag team divisions, and I can think of a half a dozen matches to prove that point. Men of Low Moral Fiber vs. The Young Bucks (at DDT4 2009 or Against the Grain), Tyler Black and Bryan Danielson vs. The American Wolves, The Young Bucks vs. The Motor City Machine Guns, Ladder War II, The Young Bucks vs. Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong; all of these matches were fantastic.  If six man tags are more your speed, Chikara held a three night tournament devoted to six man tag teams featuring a lot of fun, and well wrestled matches with talent from all over the independent world (as well as a lot of former WWE talent).  All in all, this year was very promising for tag team wrestling, and speaking as a big fan, I hope this trend continues on into 2010 and well into the future.

Let’s move on to #9

Matt Striker

Is there anyone more enjoyable than Matt Striker when it comes to professional wrestling commentary?  I enjoy his fun facts (even though a lot of them aren’t quite correct), and his ability to sound like a real person.  It’s always funny when Striker helps out on Raw, since he has the clear-sightedness to actually call out Cole and Lawler on some of their more ridiculous calls.  I think one of my favorite WWE moments of the year was Striker on camera after the tables match between John Cena and Sheamus.  While Cole and Lawler were just absolutely shocked, Striker simply shook his head and laughed, acting like Cole and Lawler were saying the most ridiculous things.  The fact of the matter is, they were saying pretty ridiculous things, since they had been selling Sheamus as a destructive force who had “run roughshod over ECW”.  Striker was apparently the only one who could remember the build to this match, and sold Sheamus as a credible, and not just a fluke, champion.  Plus, he called Michael Cole out for using “vintage” twice in one match.  How could you not love the guy?

From extensive knowledge of wrestling to extensive knowledge of anime, #8

Kenny Omega

Man, I used to really dislike this guy.  Like, to the point where his goofiness almost ruined matches for me.  Now that I’ve seen him get a bit more serious in ROH, and a lot sillier in PWG, I can’t help but pop for the guy.  I think seeing him live in Canada also helped my perception a bit.  The guy has been on absolute fire this year, tearing it up in PWG with Chuck Taylor as one half of the Men of Low Moral Fiber and winning the PWG World Title in the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles.  He’s put on some dynamite matches in ROH as of late as well, against Davey Richards at Clash of the Contenders, and reportedly against Austin Aries in a recent match in Missaussaga, Ontario.  His match against Danielson at PWG’s 100 and his match with Chuck Taylor against Scorpio Sky and Human Tornado at DDT4 were both extremely funny, and just enjoyable to watch, while also being pretty solid wrestling matches.  Here’s to hoping that Omega can continue to evolve in 2010, and keep his funny and serious sides in check, and use them where they prove to be useful.

Something that he excels in, #7

Comedy Matches

Mick Foley said in one of his books, (to be honest, I just can’t remember, and I don’t really have the time to look it up), that wrestling is kind of like a three ring circus.  If you don’t like the lion tamer, maybe you’ll like the clowns, or the human cannonball (keep in mind I’m paraphrasing here and this may not be the exact quote).  While I assume that most of you are like me, in that you probably enjoy it all, something has been missing for a while.  When was the last time you remember WWE, or even TNA putting on an honest to goodness, straight up comedy match.  Even though they’re a little more difficult to find, comedy matches are still alive and well, they’re just more likely to be found at your local wrestling shows and on ROH and PWG DVDs.  The Colt Cabana/Joey Ryan match from Death Before Dishonor VII: Night Two was a great little gem that featured Cabana beating Ryan with big bags of trash (there was an ongoing sanitation workers strike in the weeks leading up to the show and the venue’s parking lot was completely filled to the brim with bags and bags of garbage).  I know I mentioned it earlier, but Danielson/Omega from 100 was just a great match, and if you watch it without a smile on your face there’s something wrong with you.  Hopefully we’ll see WWE resurrect this tradition and add another ring to their circus in the future, but as for now, the Indies are as good a place as ever too look.

Now for something completely different, #6

Kota Ibushi vs. Jigsaw vs. Nick Jackson vs. El Generico

Holy crap!  I’m not usually one for matches that consist mainly of big MOVEZ, but I’ll be damned if this wasn’t one of the most entertaining matches of the year.  This match took place during the Rey de Voladores tournament (a cool little tourney within a tourney at Chikara’s King of Trios weekend), and featured four great young wrestlers.  A couple of things happened in this match: Nick Jackson proved to me that he can be an entertaining wrestler without his brother, El Generico was amazing (as usual), and Kota Ibushi blew my freaking mind with some of the craziest flippy action that took place in the U.S. all year.  There’s footage of this match on YouTube, and Chikara released a DVD sampler with this match on it that was a steal at $1.99, but to be honest, it would be worth it to buy the whole DVD (King of Trios 2009: Night Two) for this one match.

For a more technical stand on things, let’s move to #5

The Final Countdown Tour

Bryan Danielson, in my view, is the single best wrestler in the world right now.  The Final Countdown Tour was a wonderful farewell to him (and to a lesser extent Nigel McGuinness), and it did absolutely everything it should have.  Danielson put over every single person he faced, barring McGuinness in his very last match, and the great thing was that everyone loved him more for it.  It’s a wonder, that in this day and age of wrestling prima donnas (coughTripleHcough), someone like Danielson, who is so legitimately good, could be so humble.  And not only did he put over wrestlers like Davey Richards, Roderick Strong and Chris Hero, but he did so in some damn good matches (one of which may be found a little higher up on this list).  It takes true class to go out like Bryan Danielson did, and here’s to hoping that the WWE doesn’t take all that talent and screw it up.  Hey you know what else was great about the Final Countdown Tour?  There were a ton of other really good matches too.  Boston featured a great street fight between Kevin Steen and Eddie Edwards where Edwards actually broke his elbow.  The craziest part of that whole thing is that Edwards wrestled THE NEXT NIGHT in Ladder War II at Glory By Honor VIII.   Chicago had a really fun tag match with the Dark City Fight Club taking on the Young Bucks.  All of the cards were fairly strong (Dayton was definitely the weakest show in my book, but the Hero main event more than made up for it) with the Boston and New York (GBH) shows being the strongest.  All of these DVD’s are worth buying, if only for the fact that it’s Bryan Danielson’s last four matches in Ring of Honor.

One of Danielson’s greatest opponents is also one of the subjects of #4

Davey Richards vs. KENTA

A lot of ROH fans argue that this match was the best that took place during WrestleMania weekend, and while my rankings say different, I can see the argument for this match.  I liked the story that these two told at Supercard of Honor IV, with KENTA representing the master and Davey representing the student.  Not only the story was great, but the action was also top notch.  These two guys beat the holy Hell out of each other, and it should be illegal to kick people as hard as these two.  What made this match better was the fact that the crowd was molten lava hot.  The ending of this match, on DVD, was a bit butchered.  Live, KENTA attempted a reverse Go To Sleep twice, but he never connected with the knee to the back of the head.  While some people thought this was a botch, I thought that with the right commentary it probably could have come off as a great moment.  Think about it, KENTA, as Richard’s teacher, could have been played up as sympathetic, and the reverse G2S could be played up as extremely dangerous.  If that were the case, maybe KENTA wouldn’t have wanted to risk hurting Davey, no matter how disrespectful Davey had been in the past.  The DVD sees Davey magically transition from reverse G2S position into a straight up G2S.  I’m all for suspension of disbelief, but this just isn’t possible.  The ending of this match hurt it just a bit for me, but even with that one, glaring error (and not even necessarily by fault of the competitors) this was still the third best match of the year in my book.  This is another DVD that is worth every penny based on this match alone (bonus: the rest of this DVD is full of great matches).

That other match from the WrestleMania weekend, #3

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

What could I potentially write about this match that hasn’t already been written before?  This match is simply one of the best that the WWE has put forth in years, maybe the best in a decade.  This match was also a testament to two men who are sure to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as soon as possible.  It was also a testament to the fact that the “WWE style” isn’t necessarily the best.  Both of these men wrestled in territories all over the U.S. (Taker even spent some time in New Japan Pro Wrestling), and all that seasoning, the melding of different territorial styles, came together to create the two wrestlers that we know and love today.  Nowadays, wrestlers are picked up just because they have good bodies, and they’re sent to FCW, where they are all educated in the same style as every other person.  I can sum up why this is detrimental to the WWE in two words: Drew McIntyre.  Seriously, this guy hasn’t even pulled out ten different moves yet in his tenure in the WWE.  In his match against John Morrison where he won the title, he locked in the same submission hold about five times.  I’m all for working over a body part, but there needs to be at least a bit of variety.  This, more than any other reason is why I urge you guys to support your local wrestling scene, as well as promotions like ROH and PWG, because the more seasoning these guys can get outside of the WWE system, the better.  We need wrestlers who are world-traveled before they get to WWE, that way we can hope to have matches as good as this at WrestleMania 50, long after Taker and Michaels have retired.

My MOTY, #2

Bryan Danielson vs. Davey Richards

The second to last match on the Final Countdown Tour was undoubtedly the best of the bunch, and my individual pick for Match of the Year.  2009 was a banner year for Davey Richards, he put on some of the best matches in the independent world, not only in singles matches, but also in tag team matches as the partner of Eddie Edwards in ROH, and Roderick Strong in PWG.  But this match tops all others in a year that was unparalleled for Richards.  This match was just full of intensity, and both men played their roles well.  Danielson was great as the fiery babyface, and his facial expressions when he gets amped up are just awesome.  Davey played the chicken-shit heel for the beginning of the match, bailing to the floor and jawing with the crowd at the beginning of the match, and focusing on Danielson and trying to tear him apart toward the end.  What I liked about this match, more than the Undertaker/Michaels encounter was that this match was a real passing of the torch.  Michaels and Undertaker put on a hell of an exhibition match between two legends, but neither really had anything to gain outside of extending Taker’s WrestleMania record.  But this match was one man at the top of the Indie ladder basically endorsing his replacement.  Davey Richards may not be the best wrestler in the world right now (even though Danielson has yet to debut in WWE, I’ll still reserve that distinction for him), but he’s on his way.  The post-match speeches from Davey and Dragon were great too (even though Davey has been doing a bit too much of the “I don’t believe in good guy/bad guy” thing lately), and just added to the match.  One note though, to anyone that’s interested in purchasing this DVD: what this match with the commentary off.  Chris Hero and Dave Prazak are awful with Hero playing the full-blown heel, but still doing all in his power to sound smart on commentary, and Prazak sounding lost between being a heel commentator and an indifferent commentator.  It’s just kind of weird to hear Hero run down Danielson for losing the last two matches heading into this and then have no one defend Dragon.  So what this match with no commentary and the sound turned way up, listen to the crowd and enjoy, it will definitely go down in ROH history.

And finally, the number one… thing… in Professional Wrestling in 2009

PWG

Professional Wrestling Guerrilla is a promotion based in Southern California that shares a lot of talent with Ring of Honor.  Even though PWG doesn’t put on as many shows as Ring of Honor does but in this blogger’s humble opinion, the shows that PWG has been putting on this year have just been absolutely stellar.  Seriously, every show this year has put forth a really great card with blow-away action; and even if every single card hasn’t been a home run, they’ve been damn close.  Don’t believe me?  Well, that’s why I’m here, to do my research and put forth my facts.  Let’s take a look at every single PWG event from this year (don’t worry, it’s not really that many and I’ll be brief).

The Gentle Art of Making Enemies

This was a great card that featured the return of So-Cal talent “Shooting Star” Bobby Quance against Joey Ryan.  Quance retired from pro-wrestling to serve in the military, but his time off from the ring doesn’t show as he puts on a hell of a match with the ever-entertaining Joey Ryan.  The main event is the really impressive part of this card however.  The Young Bucks came into 2009 having recently won the PWG World Tag Team Championships from the Age of the Fall in August of 2008, this being the Bucks first title defense, they came in with something to prove.  The team that they took on, Roderick Strong and Davey Richards, had a lot of history in PWG and other promotions.  The match was a barnburner with both teams coming out looking impressive.  This was one of the best tag-team matches of the year, and it happened on the 10^th day of 2009

Express Written Consent

Not only did this card feature the return of Paul London to in-ring action after being released from the WWE, but it also featured the surprise return of Colt Cabana The day after he was released from the WWE!  Cabana’s return in a triple threat PWG World Title Match against Chris Hero and Human Tornado was much better due to the fact that London looked incredibly rusty, botching a bunch of moves during his match with the Young Bucks against Karl Anderson, Joey Ryan and Scott Lost.  El Generico vs. Kenny Omega was also a very good match and the storyline of El Generico vs. The Men of Low Moral Fiber (Chuck Taylor and Kenny Omega) began to heat up here with the post-show vignette.

99

This was one of the absolute best top to bottom cards that any organization put on this year.  Joey Ryan acting like the ultimate sneaky heel in his match against B-Boy, Kenny Omega and Davey Richards in an awesome match with comedy tinges and references to the awesome 9-man tag team match that took place at Battle of Los Angeles 2008.  El Generico and Tyler Black in a very unexpectedly fun match, Chris Hero defending his title against Austin Aries, and the Young Bucks defending their titles against the Motor City Machine Guns in a jaw-dropping tag-team match.  The Bucks recently got hired to TNA off a tryout match with the Guns.  I guarantee you they didn’t get half the time they had here, and that makes me hopeful for TNA (as long as they use them the right way), but it means if that match was good enough to get them hired to TNA, imagine how much better this title match that was given even more time is.

100

This was definitely one of the weaker PWG shows of the year, but it still had some great moments.  The opening Tag Team Title match was a fun sprint pitting the Bucks against the So-Cal team of Brandon and Dustin Cutler.  The Match between Omega and Dragon was absolutely hilarious, and the last five minutes or so were just a great wrestling match.  The London/Ryan match was a bit hard to watch with London botching even more moves than in his return match and Ryan doing everything to try and make him look good.  The Davey Richards/Tyler Black match was good, and a little faster paced than their match in ROH early in the year.  The main event was OK, but Chris Hero vs. Colt Cabana did not make for one of the better main events of the year.

DDT4

Simply put, this is some of the best tag-team wrestling you will see all year, conveniently located on one disc.  Seriously, look at the line up of matches, Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong (The Hybrid Dolphins) vs. Scott Lost and Joey Ryan, Men of Low Moral Fiber vs. Human Tornado and Scorpio Sky, The Young Bucks vs. The Cutler Brothers, The Young Bucks vs. Men of Low Moral Fiber, Hybrid Dolphins vs. The Motor City Machine Guns, and Hybrid Dolphins vs. the Young Bucks.  Really, do I need to say anything else?  This night was also pretty amazing as the Young Bucks went from fan favorites to hated heels in the course of three matches.  The only misstep on this DVD is the debut of Malachi “CK” Jackson, “The Youngest Buck”.  The Bucks prove that nepotism is alive and well, even in PWG, by debuting their still way too green younger brother.

The Secret of Guerrilla Island

Kenny Omega vs. Roderick Strong is probably the best match on this card, from where I sit, but the Necro Butcher Rules match between Joey Ryan and (who else) The Necro Butcher, was a really good brawl.  Chuck Taylor and Human Tornado also had a really strong match.  One of the biggest revelations of this card was the introduction of a lot of local talent that would become more and more prominent over the next few shows, names like “LTP” Robinson and Johnny Goodtime.

Threemendous II

PWG’s sixth anniversary show was a good card on paper that also delivered some really fun matches.  Both Alex Shelley vs. Scott Lost and Chris Sabin vs. Bryan Danielson were good matches, and a nice reminder that both the Motor City Machine Guns are great singles wrestlers in their own right.  Davey Richards and Roderick Strong had an incredibly athletic and competitive match.  2 Skinny Black Guys (El Generico and Human Tornado) had an amazing match with the Bucks and proved to be an even more entertaining tag team than Steen and Generico.  The PWG World Title Guerrilla Warfare match between Joey Ryan and Chris Hero was really good, and the storyline building up to it, Joey Ryan doing everything in his power to stop Chris Hero from breaking his record as the longest reigning PWG Champion.

Speed of Sound

Another PWG show, another return to the Indy scene as Brian Kendrick made his first wrestling appearance after being released from the WWE.  Kendrick wrestled Bryan Danielson in a great match, not really surprising considering some of the matches they’ve had in the past.  The Young Bucks have a very good match (as per usual) against Joey Ryan and Karl Anderson.  Chuck Taylor and El Generico continue their feud in a great Reseda Street Fight, and Roderick Strong and Chris Hero have an impressive match as Chris Hero puts on yet another amazing PWG World Title defense.

Guerre Sans Frontieres

In one of the best matches of the year, and his final match in PWG, “American Dragon” won the PWG World Championship from Chris Hero, ending his streak as the longest reigning champion in PWG history.  The match was a hard-fought, fantastic contest that was hard-hitting and unbelievably entertaining.  That wasn’t the only great thing about this card though, as involvement of talent from Dragon Gate helped make this card that much more exciting.  A dream tag team match featuring CIMA and The Motor City Machine Guns taking on the Young Bucks and Brian Kendrick blew the crowd, and myself away.  Shingo Takagi and El Generico had an insane contest, and Naruki Doi and Joey Ryan put on a nice little match.  It was also good to see the continued use of the So-Cal talent, bringing in and establishing new stars.

Against The Grain

With the World Title being vacated by a leaving Bryan Danielson, the Young Bucks step up into yet another main event match, defending their titles against The Men of Low Moral Fiber in an absolutely brilliant tag team match that had the entire crowd on the edge of their seat.  Roderick Strong continued his impressive streak in 2009 in a match against Brian Kendrick.  Scott Lost continued his crusade against former PWG World Champions, taking on his former partner, Joey Ryan, and Kenny King makes his PWG debut in a match against Davey Richards.  Plus, Brandon Gatson continues to impress and move up the ranks of the new So-Cal talent, earning a spot in the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles.

I didn’t include the Battle of Los Angeles in these shows since it wasn’t on DVD at the time of this writing and I haven’t gotten a chance to catch it, but apparently it was really good with Brandon Gatson solidifying himself as a real talent on the independent wrestling scene and Kenny Omega proving that he’s a star and winning the PWG World Championship.  2010 is looking to be even bigger for PWG, with the first show of the year featuring Rob Van Dam in one of his first wrestling appearances on the independent scene in North America in years.  He’ll be taking on Roderick Strong and Chris Hero in a triple threat match that should be interesting to say the least.  In addition to RVD, Jushin “Thunder” Liger will be making his PWG debut to take on El Generico in what is sure to be amazing.  But that’s not even it, even though there hasn’t been a match announce for him, the Great Muta will be there!

All this adds up to PWG looking strong from here on out, and if they can continue, and somehow improve on 2009, PWG will be sure to find themselves at the top of this list again next year.  As much as I love ROH, if PWG can continue to gain exposure and build a fan-base, there may be a new number three promotion in town.  One thing is for sure though, we fans are possibly looking at a new Golden Age for independent wrestling.

Well, that’s the year in review from where I sit.  Next week’s show on HDNet is a “Best of” edition, so I won’t be covering it here.  I look forward to the New Year, and continuing to provide coverage of Ring of Honor wrestling on HDNet for you readers out there.  I’d love to hear you guys fire back on the message board with your own personal top tens.  Alright guys, you know the drill.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  Until the week after next…

IT’S 100% MY VIEW AND NO ONE ELSE’S DAMMIT

Do you think Hulk Hogan going to TNA will have any effect on ROH?

Well, I look forward to your responses and rationalizations on the board this week, now it’s onto the action.

We get an update about Jerry Lynn who was injured on last week’s show at the hands of Kenny King and Rhett Titus.  Well, not so much an update, as it’s just footage replayed from last week.

Austin Aries’ music hits and he’s on his way out to the ring with Kenny King in tow.  Aries says that last week, the people were treated to a main event of truly epic proportions when he took on Bryan Danielson.  Aries says that Dragon calls himself the best wrestler in the world, but you’re only the best until someone comes along and beats you, and that’s exactly what A Double did to Dragon last week.  Aries says that it doesn’t exactly make him the best wrestler in the world, it just solidifies his position as the greatest man who ever lived.  Aries says that last week King also did something amazing.  Aries says that even he had to applaud King when he took an un-retireable man, and retired him.  King takes the mic and says that no one sees Jerry Lynn anywhere, because the last time he was in the ring, he put Lynn down like Old Yeller.  King says if people are looking for Lynn, try the hospital because he may still be there.  King says since he retired Lynn, everyone wants to be Kenny King, but there’s only one King.  Tyler Black’s music hits and he’s out on the entrance ramp with a mic.  Tyler says everyone may turn to look at King, but they look at him with disgust because of what he did to Jerry Lynn.  Tyler says tonight he’s going to steal a page out of Aries’ book and have lottery tonight.  He’s going to have a “who wants to kick Kenny King’s ass” lottery.  Black says he got the names of everyone in the back that wants to beat King, and we’re going to find out who King is going to have to fight tonight.  Black pulls Eddie Kingston’s name out of the hat, and apparently King has found an opponent for tonight.

We go to Hog and Prazak who are quick to discuss the main event.  They move on quickly though and introduce the new Executive Producer for ROH on HDNet, Jim Cornette.  Hog says he can’t wait to see what Cornette has in store for ROH, and you can add me to that list, too Hog.

Match #1: Sonjay Dutt vs. Delirious vs. Joey Ryan vs. Necro Butcher

Ryan attacks Necro as soon as he tries to get into the ring, but Necro isn’t having is and he chases Ryan around the ring.  Sonjay and Delirious square off in the ring with Sonjay getting the upper hand with a shoulder block.  Delirious fights back with a leg lariat while Ryan and Necro continue to fight on the floor.  Ryan gets a hold of Delirious and Sonjay charges.  Delirious moves out of the way and Ryan eats a right hand that sends him down to the floor.  Delirious sends Dutt to the outside, goes up to the top turnbuckle and hits a big somersaulting flip to the floor on top of both Ryan and Dutt.  Delirious sends Sonjay back into the ring, but he gets hung up on the top rope when he tries to follow.  Necro pulls Ryan’s feet out from under him by yanking on the ringside mats.  Necro climbs up on the apron, but Ryan grabs his feet and Sonjay executes a sunset flip powerbomb all the way to the floor.  Sonjay tosses Delirious back into the ring and tries to go to work but he gets caught by a reverse Manhattan drop.  Ryan attacks Delirious from behind and he and Dutt continue their double team strategy.  Dutt and Ryan pound on Delirious in the corner, choking away at him with their boots.  Delirious is able to fight back, but it doesn’t last long as Ryan hits a beautiful dropkick.  Ryan charges Delirious with a running forearm in the corner, but as soon as he hits the move, Sonjay rolls him up.  Sonjay only gets two, but it’s obvious that they’re working relationship in this match is over.  Ryan tries to catch Dutt with a roll up of his own, and when Dutt kicks out, they surprisingly work together until Necro makes his way back into the match.  Necro cleans house on Dutt and Ryan, hitting Ryan with a big right hand and a tiger driver, but Dutt is in to break it up.  Dutt hits a big leg drop on Necro before following it up with a springboard dropkick that sends Ryan to the outside.  Dutt goes up to the top rope but when he goes for the diving splash, Necro gets his knees up.  Delirious hits a panic attack on Dutt and Necro hits a somersaulting dive to the outside on top of Ryan.  Delirious goes up top and hits shadows over Hell on Dutt.  Delirious pins Dutt and this one is over.

Winner: Delirious by pinfall

Well, this was a pretty damn good match with just a couple of missteps here and there.  First off, since the only real feud going into this match was Delirious vs. Sonjay, why exactly were Joey Ryan and the Necro Butcher even a part of this match?  I mean, I popped for Necro’s crazy bump to the outside during that sunset flip powerbomb, but other than that and his punch/tiger driver to Ryan he was kind of just laying on the floor for most of the show.  Also, I just want to go ahead and say this here, FIND JOEY RYAN SOMETHING TO DO!  The man is far too talented to be relegated to matches like this.  I mean, his last match on HDNet was a super quick win over Roderick Strong, which I was really hoping would lead to some sort of a push, but seeing where he falls this week, I guess that was just wishful thinking.  Sonjay and Delirious were pretty good here.  I definitely enjoy Sonjay more when he isn’t ripping off every major wrestler’s shtick (Flair’s strut, etc.).  Dutt is definitely a talented performer in the ring, I’d just like to see him work on his gimmick a little bit more; he’s a playa, but he also holds his hands together in prayer, and he rips off other wrestlers taunts, it’s not so much a gimmick as it is three or four half gimmicks all mashed together.  Delirious has been more fun to watch lately, and thank goodness for no Daizee Haze this week.  Kudos to Delirious for his crazy dive to the outside on top of Ryan and Dutt.  I’d have to say that this is definitely on the short list of best openers for ROH on HDNet yet.  A-.

Skullkrusher Rasche Brown, a man who’s been doing the ROH pre-show thing for a little while, looks to be the newest addition to ROH’s roster.  He actually gets a little bit of interview time in the back.  Brown is standing next to a big truck and he says that what people don’t know about him, is that he cares about nothing, he hates everything, and there’s nothing better in life than to hurt a man and watch him squeal.  Before we leave, Brown makes sure to let us know that the pain is coming.

Kyle Durden is standing backstage with Eddie Kingston, the man who was chosen earlier tonight to take on Kenny King.  Durden introduces Kingston and Kingston says that he should be happy being in the main event but he’s not.  Kingston says that anyone who’s been watching the program knows that he wants Chris Hero.  Kingston says that King is going to be an unfortunate victim of how King feels about Hero.  Before the segment is over, Eddie says that King is going to pay for what he did to a man that Kingston considers a legend.

We get an interview with the man who’s leaving in a few weeks (well, in reality he’s already been gone a couple of weeks) Bryan Danielson.  Dragon talks about the history that he has with Aries.  Dragon talks about the 70-minute match that he had with Aries at Testing the Limit ’04.  Dragon says it was so much fun to be able to go out and do whatever they wanted to for as long as they wanted.

Match #2: D-Lo Brown vs. Brent Albright

Before the match, we get some of D-Lo’s thoughts on the whole Jerry Lynn situation.  D-Lo says that he’ll give his thoughts on his Twitter account, and you’ll know exactly what he thinks about Jerry Lynn.  Both men follow the code of honor at the beginning of the match, but D-Lo uses it to try and surprise Albright with a clothesline.  Albright ducks and catches D-Lo with a backslide into a pin, but it’s only good for two.  Albright tries for a couple more quick pins, but he can’t keep D-Lo down for more than two.  Brown rolls to the outside toward the entrance ramp, but Albright follows him out and slams him into one of the ringside barricades.  Albright tries to throw Brown into another barricade, but Brown reverses and sends Albright in instead.  Brown slams Albright’s head into one of the barricades, and he gets in the referee’s face, telling Todd Sinclair not to tell him what to do.  Brown hits a big suplex on the outside before tossing Albright back into the ring.  Albright and Brown trade blows in the middle of the ring with D-Lo getting the advantage with an eye poke.  Albright surprises D-Lo with another quick roll up, but D-Lo pops out and hits a big shining wizard to retaliate.  D-Lo throws Albright out to the floor.  D-Lo tries to hit Albright with a big cross body, but Albright moves out of the way and Brown connects with the barricade.  Albright hits a big exploder suplex on the floor and makes his way back into the ring.  D-Lo makes his way back to his feet and he’s immediately blindsided by Albright who connects with a big suicide dive through the ropes.  Brown and Albright trade blows on the floor and Brown takes Albright down with a snap mare.  Brown goes to the top turnbuckle and leaps all the way out to the floor on top of Albright with a big cross body block.  Brown sends Albright back into the ring at the count of 13 and he stalks Albright, teasing a big clothesline.  D-Lo goes for the clothesline, but Albright connects with a rock bottom (which is incorrectly called a uranage by Prazak) and starts to get himself fired up.  Albright takes D-Lo down with a flurry of offensive strikes, ducks a clothesline from Brown and hits a big powerslam that’s good enough to keep D-Lo down for two.  Albright charges D-Lo in the corner but Brown gets his knees up.  D-Lo hits a beautiful second rope moonsault but it’s only good for a near fall.  Albright surprises D-Lo with a DDT out of nowhere and he goes up to the top turnbuckle.  Albright leaps off with a cross body but Brown is able to roll through into a pin, Albright kicks out at two.  Brown hits a big time clothesline on Albright and he connects with a big powerbomb, but Albright turns the pin attempt into the crowbar.  D-Lo tries to fight out but Albright will not let go of the hold.  Albright cranks back on Brown’s arm and D-Lo is forced to tap out.

Winner: Brent Albright by submission

Well, this was a hell of a lot better than I thought it would be.  I think Albright is at his best against opponents of his own size, but since so much of the ROH roster is smaller guys, it rarely happens.  I’ve always thought that Albright would do well in WWE (and I’m honestly surprised he didn’t make a bigger splash in his first WWE run).  D-Lo has been very impressive since his debut in ROH earlier this year and it’s a shame that we won’t get to see a rematch here with D-Lo joining TNA as a road agent.  I have to say that I love the “ROH-style” of small guys having incredibly athletic matches, but sometimes it’s just fun to watch two huge guys wail on each other, and that is exactly what this match was.  I have to give respect to both Albright and Brown for taking huge suplexes on the outside of the ring.  This was just a lot of hard-hitting fun, and it just makes me wish that D-Lo hadn’t left so we could’ve been treated to a couple more return matches.  B.

Kyle Durden is standing backstage along with Colt Cabana.  Durden asks Cabana how it feels to be in the main event next week against Nigel McGuinness.  Cabana says it’s fantastic, and with great responsibility comes great actions.  Cabana says he’s going to make a stand, a stance, a stain, and a little bit of everything.  Cabana tells Nigel to get ready before closing with, “Spiderman, I’m ready”.

Main Event: Kenny King vs. Eddie Kingston

King looks a bit reluctant to start things out, trying to use his quickness to stay away from Kingston.  King leaps frogs Kingston and ducks out to the floor to catch his breath.  The two men lock up and Kingston backs Kin up into the corner and breaks clean.  King ducks a lock up attempt and Kingston looks to be getting a little frustrated.  Kingston backs King up into the corner, but when he tries to break clean, King catches him with a right hand to the face.  King laughs at Kingston and bails out to the floor, but Kingston is quick to follow this time and he launches King into the ringside barricade, twice.  Kingston beats on King around ringside for a bit before throwing him into yet another barricade.  The fans chant, “one more time” and Kingston is more than happy to oblige.  Kingston rolls King back into the ring and stalks him for a bit before hitting a big exploder suplex.  Kingston beats on King for a bit in the corner, chopping away at King’s chest.  King turns it around on Kingston though and hits a chop of his own.  This only serves to make Kingston mad, and he chops King with so much force King ends up on the mat.  Kingston hits a fisherman suplex and he tries for the pin but King is able to kick out.  Kingston kicks away at King’s head, but when he goes to pick him up King tries to fight back.  Kingston chops away at King and King begs off, but when Kingston charges, King pulls down on the top rope and Eddie Kingston sails out to the floor.  King pounds on Kingston on the floor, slamming his head into the barricade and choking him with his boot.  King throws Kingston into the barricade and repeatedly slams his head into the barricade before tossing Kingston back into the ring.  King connects with a suplex and he floats over right into a mount position, rocking Kingston with some huge forearms.  King locks in a rear chin lock and rips away at Kingston’s nose, but Kingston is able to fight his way out with a series of elbows.  Kingston bounces off the rope but he’s immediately caught with a spinebuster from King.  King slaps Kingston across the face but that only fires Kingston up.  Kingston slaps back, but King puts him down with a duo of shoulder blocks.  King tries to send Kingston across the rope, but Kingston holds on and executes a beautiful uranage.  Kingston knocks King down with a couple of chops before launching King with another overhead suplex.  Kingston hits a nasty lariat and he tries for the pin but King kicks out at two.  Kingston goes for the spinning back fist, but King pulls referee Paul Turner in the way and Kingston is forced to stop himself.  King picks Kingston up and hits royal flush, but again it’s only good for a near fall.  King catches Kingston with an enzugiri before snapping his neck across the top rope.  King goes for a springboard move, but Kingston catches him and hits a big overhead suplex.  Kingston goes for the pin but King is able to grab the rope and stop the count.  Kingston hits the backdrop driver and Chris Hero makes his way down the ring and up to the apron.  Kingston is distracted as he stares down Hero and he quickly falls victim to the shotgun double knees to the back from King.  King follows it up with the coronation, and pins Kingston for the win.

Winner: Kenny King by pinfall

I’ve been saying, pretty much every single match that Eddie Kingston has had, that he needs to be given more credible opponents.  Now that he’s had a credible opponent, I can see a little bit more why people can get behind Kingston.  With that said, I still don’t see him becoming anything more than a one-note kind of guy in ROH.  This is the second time that Kingston’s cut a promo talking about how the guy he’s going to be wrestling tonight is going to have to deal with being a Chris Hero stand-in.  I realize that Kingston has a ton of history with Chris Hero, but the problem is that most of this feud has been built in other promotions and to the more casual fan, they’ve got to be wondering why this guy has such a huge problem with Chris Hero.  All that aside, the one thing that made me happiest about this match was seeing Kenny King in the main event.  King belongs in the ROH main event scene, and in the wake of Nigel and Dragon leaving, King is ready to finally break onto the main event scene in ROH.  These two definitely were able to put on a serviceable match, but Kingston really needs a more diverse offense if he’s going to stick around for any length of time.  Chops and suplexes aren’t a move-set unto themselves.  Necro has been able to build a huge fan base using only big right hands and the occasional tiger suplex, but he’s got a ton more charisma, and he’s not quite as whiny as Kingston.  King needs to move on toward bigger and better things soon.  Kingston needs to hurry up and finish this feud with Chris Hero so he can become something more than just a one-dimensional brawler.  B-.

Report Card

In Ring Action: This week has fewer matches than most normal shows, but the action in those matches more than made up for the lack of a weekly squash.  The King/Kingston match was probably the weakest (which is surprising, because I think this is the first time that I’ve rated the main event the lowest of the week), but it was still a good match.  King performed admirably, but it just seemed like every time the match was starting to get really good, Kingston would be in to slow it down again with one of his overhead suplexes.  The D-Lo Brown/Brent Albright match made me remember that Brent Albright can be somewhat entertaining when he’s not being relegated to squash matches and a somewhat lackluster feud with Castagnoli.  The opening four-way was surprisingly the match of the night, and that’s even a little more surprising considering the recent string of great main events.  I think this was one of the most solid wrestling shows that ROH has put together since the show on HDNet started.  I still do have to say though, find something worthwhile for Joey Ryan, please. B+

Out of Ring Action: Kingston was definitely the weakest link in this category too.  He just sounds like a broken record talking endlessly about his feud with Chris Hero, and how even though they’ve already had a match, Kingston still needs to get his hands on Hero.  This is just one of the most boring feuds that ROH has put forth in recent memory; Kingston constantly talking about wanting to have a match with Hero, and Hero constantly talking about how Kingston isn’t good enough to have a match with him.  The only difference between the two is that Chris Hero cuts some crazy good promos, and he talks about subjects other than Eddie Kingston (what a novel idea).  I know some of you out there probably just think that I have my mind made up about Kingston and nothing’s going to change that, and maybe you’re right.  I’m just saying that I won’t have a chance to truly decide how I feel about Kingston until he’s moved away from this (what seems to be pointless) Chris Hero feud.  The promo with Colt Cabana was entertaining, and even though I don’t think he’s quite back in his stride just yet, I think he’s still cutting some of the most entertaining promos in professional wrestling today.  The Dragon segment was a little weird, since it didn’t really further anything and it was mostly just him talking about how much fun he’s had in ROH, but I think I’m OK with that.  The man has devoted almost 8 years of his life to ROH, and if anyone ever deserved promo time just to shoot the shit, it’s Dragon.  It was nice to hear him talk about one of his favorite matches from his career, and I hope that we get more little promo pieces from him in his final few weeks on HDNet.  The in ring segment to start the show was pretty entertaining, and I’m looking forward to the eventual Kenny King/Jerry Lynn match upon Lynn’s return.  Finally, the Skullkrusher promo was a bit interesting.  Rasche Brown reminds me of a really old-school psycho heel, just in the way that he talks and bugs his eyes out.  I don’t know if I like it yet, or if I just think it’s goofy, but I guess I’ll get a chance to decide for myself when he makes his HDNet debut in two weeks.  B+

Overall: This was a very strong episode of ROH on HDNet (this show is in dire need of a name change), and even though it was one of the more top-to-bottom solid wrestling shows, there were really no storylines furthered outside of Dutt/Delirious and Kingston/Hero.  If you’re looking for a fix of good wrestling this week, then of course you know that this is the place to turn.  But if you were looking for a little more of a story driven episode tonight, you’re out of luck.  I’d have to say though, that this one is worth going out of your way to catch.  B+.

Well, another week, come and gone.  I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks of ROH programming.  Nigel McGuinness vs. Colt Cabana next week should be an interesting match to say the least, and Dragon/Strong vs. The American Wolves in two weeks should be a blow-away match.  Alright guys, you know the drill.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  Until next week…

YOU MESS WITH ANOTHER MAN’S WOMAN, YOU AT LEAST GOTTA LOOK HIM IN THE EYE!

Non Wrestling Related Media O’ the Week

OK, so I’m double cheating a little bit here because not only have I used this before, but this time around it’s just a little bit wrestling related too.  Whatever, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want.  It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one of the most consistently funny shows on television right now, so if you haven’t watched it, go watch it.  For even more incentive, this past week’s episode featured the gang trying to put on a wrestling show “for the troops” and it even featured Roddy Piper.  So seriously, go watch it.

Do you think Nigel McGuinness made the right choice by going to TNA instead of WWE?

Now, since I don’t have pre-show notes, and this is such a great question, I’m going to go ahead and give my answer up here this week.  Just one week ago, I would have been less than happy about McGuinness joining TNA, but after the spectacular Bound for Glory PPV last week, I’m OK with it.  TNA really looks like they’re beginning to realize that their younger talent truly is their bread and butter.  That alone is good news for Nigel, but the news gets even better.  Nigel has been thrust into a main event level feud in his first week on Impact, and the fact that he looked rather dominant over Kurt Angle bodes very well for McGuinness.  Now, Nigel vs. Kurt is a bit of a dream match to indy wrestling fans out there, and I for one, can’t wait to these two lock up.  Let’s just hope that TNA doesn’t drop the ball on Nigel, because we, as ROH fans, know what Nigel is capable of doing, and it would be a shame if he wasn’t able to showcase his talents properly.

Well, with that, lets get on to the action.

We get a really nice video package even before the main credits, that hypes the main event title match tonight between Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries.  Aries/Danielson from the third week of shows is still one of the strongest main events ROH on HDNet has put forward, so tonight’s match has the potential to be great.

Hog and Prazak welcome us to the show proper and Hog talks about how Aries has his first legitimate ROH title match on HDNet.  Prazak says it doesn’t get any better than this.  Hog throws it down to the ringside area where the first match is set to begin.

Match #1: Kenny King vs. Jerry Lynn

King makes fun of Lynn’s age before the match, miming Lynn with a walker, but Lynn surprises King with a quick roll up right off the bat.  King fights back and takes down Lynn with a shoulder block, but he falls victim to a quick hip toss before Lynn hits an arm drag that turns straight into an armbar.  Lynn slides to the outside and King tries to follow with a dive over the top rope, but Lynn simply walks out of the way.  Lynn goes up to the apron and dives off with a forward somersault directly on top of King.  Back in the ring, King surprises Lynn with a chin breaker and he follows it up by snapping Lynn’s neck across the top rope.  King continues to pound on Lynn for a bit, jawing to the camera and saying, “This one’s for you, Hog!”  Lynn chokes King in the corner, but Lynn turns it around and chops away at King.  King fights out with a back rake, and he follows it up with the shotgun double knees to Lynn’s chest.  King hits a snap suplex and he floats over into the ground and pound before locking in a submission focusing on Lynn’s shoulder.  Lynn fights out, but King quickly pulls him back down to the mat, and when Lynn makes it back to his feet, he’s caught by a nasty leg lariat.  King locks in a rear chin lock, but Lynn fights out of it.  King tries to snap Lynn’s throat on the top rope again but Lynn blocks it this time.  Lynn hits his fancy jumping leg drop on King, who’s coming back in the ring, and he follows it up with a Thesz press and some big right hands.  Lynn goes for a splash in the corner but King moves.  King goes for his shotgun double knees, but Lynn gets out of the way and is able to deliver a sunset bomb to King, but the pin is only good for two.  Lynn calls for the cradle piledriver, but King fights out and delivers a modified TKO to Lynn.  King sets up for the coronation but Lynn fights out and gets King in piledriver position.  Lynn goes for the piledriver, but Rhett Titus is out to the ring apron and he pushes King’s feet down.  King goes for a quick pin, holds the ropes, and gets the three count.  After the match, Titus and King gloat for a little bit before Lynn attacks Titus.  The numbers game catches up to Lynn and King gets Lynn in piledriver position.  Titus picks up Lynn’s legs and the two execute a spike piledriver. The ref calls for help from the back, and Lynn looks to be in pretty rough shape.

Winner: Kenny King by pinfall

So, these two had a lot of nice interactions during this match, and I liked the story they were trying to build, with King being the cocky young lion who has to cheat to win over the seasoned veteran.  Lynn was good in this match, and it was fun to watch him calmly walk away from King’s over the top rope dive.  King is pretty awesome, and him jawing with the camera and fans was a lot of fun.  On a side note, it was kind of neat to know that Hog commentated on Kenny King while King was in college, just a neat little coincidence I guess.  The spike piledriver was pretty damn scary to watch, but I know recent newswires have said that apparently Lynn will be coming back sooner rather than later, we still probably won’t see him for a while on this show though.  All in all, this was a good match, and I really hope it pushes Kenny King more into the main event scene.  I realize he can’t really go for the title with his “mentor” Austin Aries holding the belt, but King should be the guy everyone else has to go through to get a shot at Aries’ belt.  I could eventually see King turning face and feuding with Aries for a little while, but hopefully that’s a year or more down the road.  Cocky, heel Kenny King is just a little too much fun right now.  B.

Hog throws it back to Kyle Durden while Lynn is tended to in the ring.  Durden calls over Tyler Black, and he asks if Black knows anything about Lynn’s condition.  Black says he doesn’t know anything but he’s on his way out to check on Lynn.

Back at the ringside area, staff (including Bobby Dempsey) carries Lynn to the back.

We get a video package from Bryan Danielson talking about his main event match against Austin Aries tonight.  Danielson says that Aries is incredibly quick, he has the brainbuster, and he has some nasty kicks and submissions.  But Danielson says Aries doesn’t have as many ways to beat him as he has to beat Aries.  Dragon says that he’s in the best shape he’s ever been in and tonight, Aries is in for the fight of his life.

Match #2: Sal Rinauro vs. Nigel McGuinness

Sal Rinauro actually gets an entrance tonight (good for him), but I still smell a huge squash.  Rinauro bails to the floor immediately and McGuinness grabs the mic.  McGuinness tells Rinauro not to be worried about getting hurt like Lynn.  McGuinness says they’re just going to have a very basic match because he’s not going to appease the people in the crowd tonight.  McGuinness locks in a wristlock right off the bat, and Rinauro is actually able to reverse it.  Rinauro’s advantage is extremely short lived though as Nigel locks in another wristlock and yanks Rinauro down to the mat by his arm.  Nigel launches Rinauro with a suplex, but when he charges Rinauro in the corner, Rinauro bails to the floor.  Rinauro grabs the mic and says that this isn’t what they agreed upon, it hurts!  Sal distracts Nigel long enough to be able to snap his throat across the top rope and score a quick springboard cross body that actually scores a two count.  Sal goes up top but Nigel is quick to catch him.  Nigel teases a tower of London, but he flips off the fans instead.  Nigel locks in the London dungeon and cranks back, forcing Rinauro to tap.  Nigel refuses to break the hold as Rinauro screams and continues to tap.  After he lets go, Nigel grabs the mic and says he doesn’t want to draw attention to what happened to Jerry Lynn earlier tonight but he feels obligated to.  Nigel says that Lynn wanted to please the fans, and now he’s on a stretcher in the back.  Nigel says that all of the fans are responsible for Lynn’s injury before heading to the back.

Winner: Nigel McGuinness by submission

Normally, I wouldn’t comment too much on this kind of match, but I did want to say that I enjoyed this more than I usually enjoy squashes.  I liked both Nigel and Rinauro on the mic, and it was really kind of cool that ROH gave a little mic time to Rinauro, even though he was pretty much squealing about how bad it hurt.  It was more fun than I thought it would be, so I guess it’s time to break out a new grade.  SQUASH +.

We get the retaliatory video package from Austin Aries this time around.  Aries calls Danielson one of the forefathers of ROH.  Aries says he has a better title though, the greatest man that ever lived.  Aries says that Dragon is only the best in the world until someone better comes along.  Aries says that as long as he follows his plan in the match, and not Dragon’s he should be fine.

Durden is back to give us an update on Jerry Lynn.  He says that trainers have been in and out, but he’s yet to get an update.  Kenny King interrupts, and starts spouting off names: Michael Jordan, Brett Favre, Roy Jones Jr., Jerry Lynn.  King says that all four men in their day were great athletes, and champions, but the problem is, sometimes they don’t realize when they’re not so great anymore.  King says he heard Lynn says that no one really retires in pro wrestling, but maybe they just need a little bit of help.

Match #3: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Colt Cabana

Claudio has a black glove on one hand, which he takes off and uses to smack Colt Cabana across the face instead of shaking hands.  Cabana shakes hands with Paul Turner instead.  Castagnoli and Cabana start off with some nice chain wrestling and a couple of goofy little spots (courtesy of Cabana of course), Cabana even gets in one of his crazy pins for good measure.  Cabana utilizes some crazy submissions, and he lifts Claudio up with his feet before dropping him straight down into a body scissors.  Cabana and Claudio trade forearms, with Castagnoli getting the upper hand with a big European uppercut.  Claudio slams Colt down hard and he tries for several quick pins, but he can’t get more than a one count.  Claudio hits a big head butt to Colt’s midsection before connecting with a dead lift gut wrench suplex.  Claudio locks in an arm bar, but he can’t hold onto it for long. Cabana tries to roll Castagnoli up with a sunset flip, but Castagnoli will not go down and instead he locks in a submission hold.  Colt fights out with a shot to the side of the head, but Claudio goes right into a rear chin lock.  The crowd gets behind Cabana and he’s able to finally fight back against Castagnoli with a flying cross body.  Cabana and Castagnoli exchange near falls before Cabana gets one of his crazy pinning combinations to hold Castagnoli down for the three count.  Claudio disputes the outcome of the match, saying that Cabana held his tights.

Winner: Colt Cabana by pinfall

This one was a little odd, and it never really clicked for me here.  I mean don’t get me wrong, both of these guys are fantastic athletes, and I very much enjoy watching both of them wrestle, but this match just didn’t really work.  I think there was a bit too much of a focus on submissions in this match, which is a bit odd since neither of these guys are particularly known for their submissions (outside of Colt’s Billy goat’s curse, which he didn’t break out here).  Colt was very vocal during the match, which was funny in a few spots, but it did get a little bit old.  I know he’s very funny, but it’s wrestling, not stand-up comedy.  The wrestling was solid, and Colt’s outbursts were funny (at least, about half the time or so), but they just couldn’t seem to get this one out of first gear, and I just can’t figure out why.  C.

Main Event for the ROH World Title: Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries

Prazak mentions that Danielson is on the Final Countdown tour, and it’s sad to remember that Danielson is finished up with ROH, so this will be one of the last couple of times we see Dragon on HDNet (good luck in WWE, Dragon).  Dragon and Aries lock up with Dragon being able to lock in an arm bar.  Aries takes Dragon to his back though ties up Dragon’s leg, but Danielson kicks Aries away.  Dragon takes Aries down with a shoulder block, but he’s caught by two arm drags that lead straight into an arm bar.  Danielson and Aries trade more submissions culminating with Dragon locking in the ankle lock.  Aries grabs the ropes to break the hold and he bails to the outside for a bit to regroup.  Back in the ring Aries buries his knee in Dragon’s midsection, but he gets caught by a dropkick from Danielson.  Aries bails to the outside again and Danielson teases a dive; when Aries moves out of the way, Danielson slides onto the apron and dives off with a running knee to Aries’ face.  Dragon sends Aries back into the ring and goes to the top rope, but Aries catches him, dropping him across the top rope and hitting a rope-assisted neckbreaker.  Aries continues to focus on the neck with some calculated strikes and a nerve hold.  Dragon fights his way out of the hold, but he falls victim to a back elbow/elbow drop combination.  Aries locks in a rear chin lock, but Danielson is able to fight out and lock in a sleeper hold.  Aries locks in a sleeper of his own, but Dragon hits a chin breaker.  Aries locks in a dragon sleeper, but Danielson makes his way to the corner, climbs up the turnbuckles, and flips over Aries, locking in another sleeper.  Aries tries to do the same thing to Dragon, but Dragon turns it into a belly to back suplex.  Dragon wails away at Aries with some forearm shots and a big kick to the chest.  Danielson hits a stiff kick to Aries’ back and he goes for cattle mutilation but Aries fights out of it.  Aries catches Dragon with a running forearm that sends him to the outside, but when Aries goes for the heat-seeking missile, Dragon connects with a forearm instead.  Danielson goes up to the top rope and hits a big missile dropkick.  Dragon hits a big forearm in the corner, follows it up with a German suplex and he bridges for the pin but it’s only good for two.  Danielson puts Aries on the top turnbuckle, but Aries fights Dragon off and sends him down to the floor.  Aries tries for the heat-seeking missile again and he connects this time.  Aries sends Danielson back to the inside and he goes to the top rope where he hits a missile dropkick of his own.  Dragon locks in the triangle choke but Aries fights out.  Aries goes for the brainbuster but Dragon hits a knee strike to block it and he locks in the triangle choke again.  Aries tries to get out of the triangle choke, but Danielson breaks it to lock in an ankle lock.  Aries is able to kick his way free with his other foot and the two men fight it out from their knees.  Dragon hits a nasty rolling elbow, some stiff kicks to the chest and he tries for a tiger suplex but Aries lands on his feet and hits a stiff kick to the head.  Aries locks in the last chancery, but Dragon is able to make his way to the ropes to force a break.  Aries sends Dragon to the floor and he pulls the turnbuckle pad off while Sinclair’s back is turned.  Aries tries to send Dragon into the turnbuckle, but Dragon fights it off and is able to connect with a tiger suplex.  Dragon locks in cattle mutilation, but Aries is able to turn it over and make his way up to his feet.  Aries connects with his shin breaker/suplex combo, and he tries for the corner dropkick but Dragon catches him in the ankle lock.  Aries fights out by sending Dragon into the exposed turnbuckle.  Aries hits a nasty dropkick to Danielson’s head, which is resting against the exposed turnbuckle bolt.  Aries pins Dragon and gets the three count and the win.

Winner and STILL ROH World Champion: Austin Aries by pinfall

Wow, this was, pretty unsurprisingly, really good.  These two have had fantastic matches in the past, and as Prazak mentioned, Dragon helped put Aries on the map in ROH with a spectacular 70-minute match toward the beginning of Aries’ ROH tenure.  I don’t know what else to say other than this match was exciting, and it was really, really good.  I think this match may even be better than the excellent 4 way match for the belt (the only other real ROH World Title match that’s taken place on HDNet), but I’ll have to watch that one over again before I can fully make that call.  I know I’ve said this about the past couple of main events, but it’s worth it to go out of your way to check this match out.  It’s not quite as good as the KENTA/Hero match from last week, but it’s still a damn good match in its own right.  A.

Report Card

In Ring Action: Well, the only match that I wasn’t really a big fan of was the Castagnoli/Cabana match, and like I said above, it’s nothing to do with technical proficiency, I just feel like they couldn’t get out of first gear.  The Aries/Dragon match was really good, and the Kenny King/Jerry Lynn match showed that King is ready and able to hang in the main event division.  Even the squash had a little something extra to it.  This week was a fairly good top to bottom episode.  B+.

Out of Ring Action: I have to say that I thought both video packages featuring Aries and Danielson were really well put together, and I enjoyed them.  The running thread through the episode of Jerry Lynn being hurt was interesting, and although it was under some pretty unfortunate circumstances, it did a good job of tying the show together, especially when Nigel mentioned Lynn in the ring twice, before and after his match.  Kenny King cut a damn good promo, once again, it was a little distasteful under the circumstances, but it was still a good promo.  The only thing that didn’t really fit in this week’s episode was the appearance by Tyler Black.  Why have Black be shown in the back for two seconds, only for him to say, “I have to get out there.” and then he doesn’t even go out to the ring.  It just seemed a little odd to me, and it seemed like an excuse to give Tyler Black some screen time, even if it was only for two seconds.  That one little awkward moment aside, this was a strong category this week.  B+.

Overall: Well, I don’t think there’s much to explain with this grade.  If you look at the in ring grade, and average it with the out of ring grade, I’m pretty sure you’ll come up with the same grade that I do.  Strong episode.  Not the greatest, but definitely one of the better ones.  B+.

Well guys, that’s it for this week’s installment, but you can catch me doing the live results for Bragging Rights this weekend.  Have a great weekend everyone.  Alright, you know the drill.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  Until next week…

THIS ONE’S FOR YOU HOG!  EASY MONEY!

Non Wrestling Related Media O’ the Week

This one’s for all you comic book fans out there.  I’m not sure how many of you may remember the comic book and television series (both were relatively short lived) The Maxx.  This show/comic was really interesting, and I’ve recently started re-reading the series.  I read it as a kid, and now that I look back on it, there was no way I fully understood what was going on.  It’s a crazy story about a guy, named The Maxx, who drifts between worlds, the subconscious, and the conscious.  In one, he’s homeless and living in a box, and in the other, he’s the king of the plains.  It sounds weird, and it is, but it’s also pretty damn awesome.  There are a couple of episodes up on YouTube, how long they’ll be up for, who knows?