If I Could Be Serious For A Moment 07.28.09: Serious Honor

Posted by Chris Lansdell on 07.28.2009

A look at my weekend of wrestling overload in Toronto.

Greetings, humanity! Welcome back to If I Could Be Serious for a Moment, your weekly dose of intelligent wrestling discourse with me, Chris Lansdell. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer, and having more of one than we are out on the extreme east coast of North America. I don't have much to put here this week, so let's get right to it shall we?

BANNER!

A Serious Weekend of Wrestling

After a week I'd sooner forget, I had a weekend I always want to remember in Toronto. Long-time readers will know that I went to last summer's RoH show in Toronto and found it absolutely amazing. Having followed RoH on TV and through fan reports online, I was slightly sceptical about this year's shows in terms of in-ring quality. What tipped the scales for me was the chance to meet 2 of my 3 favourite wrestlers of all time. I really wasn't prepared for just how awesome the entire weekend would end up being. I tried as far as possible to take some notes for you, my readers, but sometimes the excitement got the better of me. Excuse me, therefore, if there are some gaps in the following live event diary.

Death Before Dishonor VII, Night 1 - Arrival

I didn't manage to get to the Markham shows in the fall, mainly because it's just too much money to spend in one year. From what I hear it's not ideal in terms of transportation, which makes the Ted Reeve Arena that much better. From downtown Toronto you can get the subway to Main Street station, about 20 minutes from the Yonge/Bloor station, and you're within a 5 minute walk of the arena. You can even take a bus or streetcar from the station to the intersection opposite the arena if you're really lazy. I took the former option. As I was doing interviews and such before the show, I had been asked to show up around 4pm, which I duly did. The arena looked bigger than I remembered, but my eye was soon distracted from that dubious observation by the huge, fenced-off field of garbage behind the building. Toronto was (and still is at time of writing) in the midst of a city worker strike, which included garbage pickup. The strike had been going on for about 3 weeks at the time of the show, and as I'm sure you can imagine it doesn't take long for the garbage to mount up in a city of almost 5 million people.

While waiting for the RoH brass to let me in, I had a chance to listen to some of the conversations taking place around me. As you might expect there were an awful lot of smarks around, but there was a surprisingly large number of marks there too. Amidst the conversations about HHH sleeping his way to the top where a few about CM Punk being a real ass all of a sudden.

I was surprised to see that 4 hours before showtime and 2 hours before they were going to open the doors, the ring was already up and the seats were all laid out, numbered...basically they could have started the show right then. In the ring, Grizzly Redwood and a guy I don't recognise (who, it turns out, is Andy "Right Leg" Ridge) are warming up in the ring. Man, Redwood is SMALL, but that beard is EPIC. He looks like someone took Mike Knox and washed him in hot water. The two go at it for about 10 minutes while I'm thinking up some questions for the interviews, and it was captivating. I didn't see Grizzly afterwards, but I made a point of going up to Andy after the fact. There aren't many people I can watch exchange holds for 10 minutes, but these two made it interesting.

While I'm watching these guys, RoH alum and Toronto bar owner Jade Chung came past to paper the arena with flyers for Champions' Den Sports Bar, site of the after party. She is orders of magnitude hotter in person. Random guys in RoH Staff shirts keep coming up and asking me if I need anything or giving me updates on who's arriving. Friendly bunch, which is more than I had hoped. As an aside, it's not easy coming up with questions when you don't know who you'll be interviewing.
I'll settle for anyone of course, but I'm hoping I don't get stuck with Ninjas Pink and Yellow.

Nigel and Kenny Omega are in the ring now stretching. Some of the things they do with their necks are not human. That explains how they survive the head bumps I guess...

Once the guys got done, Alex Payne came over to tell me that Cary Silkin was getting some guys ready to talk to me. We had a good little chat about a number of things and he seemed a very genuine guy. We discussed how huge it was having Bret in the building and you could tell that Alex was as much in awe as I was.

Throughout the whole process I found Cary and the RoH guys to be very accommodating, but when he came over to me with former WWE standout D'Lo Brown, I wondered if all my Christmases hadn't come at once. You can read my interview with D'Lo here. He was very chatty and friendly, and also revealed that he reads 411! After we finished chatting, he went down to chat with some of the first fans to be admitted for Bret's autograph. He was at it for a good half hour before he got free, and never once looked irritated. There's a guy who appreciates the fans who keep him employed.

I'd seen Bison Smith on NOAH DVDs, and for some reason I'd always thought he was British. I knew he was big, but...damn, dude is huge. I asked him how he had to change his style to work in the US. "US fans are much more into the story behind the match. Because of that I just go out there and try to be a real asshole. US fans don't like me, they have a problem with bigger guys. I try to play on that emotion they already have, like I did in Puerto Rico." He also mentioned that he really doesn't like US wrestling. He thinks there's a lack of Bruiser Brody-style bar-room brawler types who can provide a break from the non-stop spotfests. "I'll tell you who I like is that guy Kozlov. He's raw but he's different, he stands out. You take those three Legacy guys and take their heads off, you can't tell 'em apart. What happened to the days of people like Big John Studd, Nikolai Volkov, the Iron Sheik...big tough guys who looked different?" Pointing out that he had got over as a heel very quickly, I asked him if the fact that he squashed RoH icon Bryan Danielson the first few times he appeared on an RoH card was a big help. "Powerbombing Danielson sent a message to the fans, basically saying: "Look what I can do to your so called 'best in the world'. He's nothing."

The conversation moved to Japan. Bison revealed that he was handpicked by Misawa, along with Donovan Morgan and Mike Modest, to go to AJPW. This led to some degree of jealousy among the other gaijin and even some of the young boys. Misawa took Bison under his wing and was his mentor, so much so that he is now worried for the career. "Misawa was the law, man. When he said something, that was the law and everyone respected it, even if they didn't agree with it." He echoed what D'Lo Brown said about conflict backstage in the aftermath. I asked if he thought the strong style in Japan that people like Misawa practised would be toned down. "I think they have to. You have people like Kobashi who is put together with pins and needles right now. Misawa worked hurt a lot. They never took a night off though." Bison admired their work ethic, and told me that "even though he was a millionaire, Misawa still rode the bus with the boys if we were going from, like, Tokyo to Sapporo. He mingled, he always stayed one of the boys." For those not familiar with Japanese geography, that's a long bus ride. At least 16 hours.

Bison closed off the chat by saying that there a lot of smart guys in RoH, people like Danielson and Aries, which makes it easier to work his style. He also said that he'd love a shot in one of the bigger two promotions, but it would mean playing politics and that's just not his style.

Following the interviews I had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet one of my first "favourite wrestlers" in the form of Bret Hart. Because I'm a complete idiot, I forgot to bring his autobiography with me (I also forgot Ric Flair's...), but just shaking hands and chatting with a bona fide legend was enough for me. One thing I always try and do when meeting a wrestler is to thank them, and most of them appreciate it, but Bret seemed more genuine in that appreciation. I'm not one to stir the shit so I just asked him how it felt being at a wrestling show again and if he missed the atmosphere. He made a joke about not missing the small arenas with no air conditioning but otherwise put over the guys in the back. This would be something of a common theme all weekend. As the man had a ridiculous lineup forming even then, I left him to the ravages of the Toronto fans.

I made my way to my seat and made sure my disposable cameras were set up. At this point, my notes get a bit spotty, so we're going to switch to bullet points for a while...

There are waaaay too many fat, neck-bearded guys with long unkempt hair in this building. I'm no Chippendale, but at least I cut my hair, shave, and wear appropriately-sized clothing. Nobody wants to see your stretch marks. About 70 minutes from the start and I'd estimate we're at about 10 per cent women. Wait...no, make that 9 per cent. Those aren't tits...

Bret's line is still wrapped around the cafeteria, he's been there for an hour. Everyone is coming away smiling, so I presume he's not cutting people short. The lineups at the merch table, the beer table and the cafeteria are far shorter.

A white dude with dreadlocks down past his waist just came in. No lie. Ring of Honor fans: fashion plate of the wrestling world.

We're 50 minutes from bell time, and it's already unbearably hot in here. At least this year they have vending machines with drinks on the floor instead of up in the cafeteria. Of course me and my 3 cans of Arizona iced tea (honey, red apple and lemon flavours) will be juuuust fine.

There are two guys here in Cena shirts, a dozen CM Punk shirts, an nWo shirt and even a couple of HBK shirts. I wonder if Bret signed anything for those two. Given that he signed the dual action figure pack of him and Shawn, I'd say yes.

I'm trying to decide two things. One, should I blow a ton of money on shirts, or on DVDs? Two, should RoH replace the rusty barricades first, or should they get new ring ropes and replace some of the bowed boards in the middle?

We're now 20 minutes out and Bret's line doesn't seem to have moved. The sound guys are playing some music now, and apparently they downloaded every song off the Guitar Hero series. At least I get to hear Knights of Cydonia.

Matches! Yay!

Night 1, Part 2 – The Show

Tyson Dux defeated Rip Impact. Pretty standard match, if this was a tryout then Dux shouldn't be back while the Impact certainly should. Dux got the, errr, duke off a DDT that was nicely done. Shame I can't say the same for the rest of his offence.

Bobby Dempsey and "Sugarfoot" Alex Payne defeated The Flatliners when Payne pinned one of the 'Liners after an Alabama Slam 'n' Jam combo. For our newer fans, an Alabama Jam is a top rope leg drop. The Flatliners looked the part, big guys with a great look for wrestling, but didn't show me anything in the ring. Normally the tryout guys get a little more offence. I'm not sure why Sugarfoot gets all the adverse reactions, but Dempsey really seems to have improved since I last saw him. He looked slimmer and really got the crowd behind him, interacting with them perfectly. Sugarfoot surprised me, having heard nothing but how much he sucks. He was actually very good in my view.

Rhett Titus defeated James Storm via pinfall with the Razor's Edge. Nothing special here either. Jobber looked decent but not decent enough to be brought back. I figure these matches were just to run the local guys out there.

The line is finally dying down, and almost everyone is in their seats now. We're not even close to full. The floor seating is, but one whole side of the GA seats is virtually empty. I guess the economy and the garbage strike put off a few upstate NY fans this year. Ooh, the lights went out!

MAIN SHOW

El Generico drew with Sonjay Dutt: The first 8 or 9 minutes were pretty slow and routine, but they shifted gears for the last few. The shift did seem a little sudden but it was definitely appreciated. Dutt looked great with scarcely a trace of bacne. I've seen Generico look better but that's not to say he was bad. Crowd wanted 5 more minutes, which of course Dutt declined. The still wanted him to come back. Crowd is hot in more ways than one tonight. Dutt spent a lot of the match imitating guys like Jarrett, Nash, Batista and DDP.

The Briscoes defeated The Super Smash Brothers Mark got the welcome back chant as you might expect. SSBs got a ton of crowd support and some hilarious chants (including "Man Up!" vs "1-Up!"), not to mention a section of the crowd (including me) singing the music from Super Mario 1throughout the opening few minutes. With the Briscoes being ultra-serious and the Bros being a comedy act, I have to ask if this was the right choice of opponent. It was an OK match, Mark was understandably a few steps off and it seemed to affect the whole match. The Bros really had the crowd though. Briscoes won with a standard Doomsday Device which will probably looks awesome on the DVD. From my angle, not so much.

D'Lo Brown defeated Frankie the Mobster: Frankie is a Montreal guy who looks like Tomko after being washed at a high temperature and stealing Rey's contacts. Apparently he had a really good showing in Montreal in November so they brought him back. He did not have a really good showing here. D'Lo seemed willing to give him offence but Frankie didn't seem to have any. D'Lo won with the Sky High in an extended squash.

The Embassy (Jimmy RAVE~!, Joey Ryan, Bison Smith and Claudio Castagnoli, with Prince Nana) defeated Colt Cabana, Brent Albright, Necro Butcher and Grizzly Redwood: This was an interesting one. Redwood got busted open early from a whip to the barricade. Smith is a monster and threw Redwood around like a twig. Well, everyone did, but Bison got the most out of it. Although Grizzly put up a bit of a fight, it wasn't gonna do it. Bison pinned him after a powerbomb into a Bison-tennial. He went to throw Redwood out of the ring but Colt low-bridged him and pinned him for 3. Rave was next to be busted open, although not as impressively as Grizzly who was Flair-esque in his crimson. He (Rave) managed to get a rollup on Necro for 3, but Necro chased him out of the ring to a brawl outside. Rave was counted out to even the sides. Albright soon killed Claudio with a half-nelson suplex but he ate a Joey Ryan superkick and got pinned. Cabana got rolled up with a handful of tights by Ryan after a shot with Nana's crown for the win. Bison looked big and nasty, which is exactly what he wanted, and Grizzly wasn't horrible. Didn't see enough of Joey Ryan to comment, however.

INTERMISSION. I spent the time chatting with fans ringside, with the general feeling being that the show was off to an OK start.

Bret Hart came out after intermission to say a very brief few words. The fans drowned out some of it, but he essentially said that ROH is what wrestling should be. He shook hands with the whole front row and left. Kind of disappointing really. He put over the company but could at least have told a story or two, especially given the reception he got.

Kenny Omega defeated Kenny King Titus accompanied King. A good, strong match. It is scary how athletic and natural Kenny King is in that ring. That boy is going places. Omega looked good in victory if a little shaky, and made his challenge to Aries for tomorrow night after the match. Finish came with a hadoken punch from Omega. Didn't get to see as much of his moveset as I would have liked, but that's neither here nor there. Lots of crowd-pleasing spots in this one. Post-match Omega got on the make and cut a decent promo against Aries to challenge him for the title on Saturday night.

Lance Storm and Kevin Steen defeated Chris Hero and Davey Richards: Storm looked fit but not ripped. He didn't even break a sweat (in the AC-less arena) for about 10 minutes. The man is a machine. He did a good job here I thought, and Steen was on form. Davey had a cut on his neck behind the ear to start with, and it got worse as the match went on. Some popular spots including a double Sharpshooter by the faces.. Finish came when Storm hit a superkick on Hero, followed by the Hart Attack. Prior to that Hero used the loaded elbow but connected with Richards. As with a lot of the matches tonight, something felt wrong. Still, it got me interested in tomorrow's singles match, for sure.

Austin Aries defeated Nigel McGuinness, Jerry Lynn and Tyler Black: A very strong match here, unfortunately marred by the finish. More on that in a second. It's obvious why these 4 are at the top of the card, they all worked well together and the match was much smoother. Aries and his EPIC tights cut a promo to start saying he was fighting under protest. Everyone got their big spots in, including a double Tower of London from Nigel, a Tower of London on Lynn on the apron, numerous London Dungeons, and some cradle piledrivers. Aries pinned Nigel after a 450 splash to retain. Probably match of the night.

Now, to the injury. On the cradle piledriver that came in the finishing sequence, Nigel appeared to be hurt. As I normally do, I hung around after the show to chat with whatever wrestlers came out. I managed to speak with D'Lo again, Jay Briscoe and Kevin Steen. Having decided nobody else was likely to come out, I went out to catch my train...and saw an ambulance drive up. I felt guilty hanging around but I didn't want to miss whatever was happening. I resisted the urge to take pictures, that would have felt WAY too National Enquirer. When they brought Nigel out, with Adam Pearce, Sugarfoot and Jerry Lynn trailing, it was clear what had happened. Nigel was clenching his hands, which told me it was likely his neck. Jerry had clearly seen me talking to wrestlers earlier and was nice enough to answer me when I asked what had happened. He told me that after the cradle piledriver Nigel lost feeling. Lynn was visibly distraught but there didn't seem to be any ill will towards him.

After that, I had no inclination to go to an after party. Seeing everyone so down and knowing that Nigel could be seriously hurt, perhaps in danger of not walking let alone wrestling again, was far from conducive to partying. I haven't seen any accounts of the party yet, so I can't comment on how it went.

Twitter Break!

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Death before Dishonor VII, Night 2 – Arrival
I got to the arena on Saturday just after 5:30, mainly because I wasn't expecting any interviews, but also because I was taking my wife and son and had no intention of submitting them to a 4 hour wait before we got any action in that sweatbox. I was lucky enough to arrive minutes before a certain Ric Flair, and just to continue being awesome the RoH guys let me have first crack at the signing. It's amazing how meeting a legend can tongue-tie a man. Bret was awesome and probably did more to encourage my wrestling fandom than Ric did, but Flair just exudes awesome. Like I said to him, I feel like I should be bowing at your feet. The picture I had for him to sign was of him in his favourite robe, which helped me relax once he pointed it out. My wife and son fared a lot better than I did.

I was surprised on entering the arena proper just how many of the staff and RoH students not only remembered me, but came up to me and shook my hand and were receptive to my comments. They also seemed to be even more in awe of Ric Flair than I was. Throughout the weekend I was impressed and pleased to see the way the students acted towards the guys with more experience and the legends in attendance. For those who don't know, RoH students double as ticket takers, ring crew, bouncers and general gophers during the shows, and you can see them being almost magnetically attached to the older wrestlers whenever they have a chance. They are sponges for wrestling knowledge, not just of RoH.

There seem to be more women in the audience tonight. I guess they all want to ride Space Mountain. It also seems fuller, which is good for RoH but bad for Bret Hart's ego.

Night 2, Part 2 – The Show

Rip Impact defeated James Storm with a sitout TKO. Both these guys looked a heck of a lot better tonight than last night. I don't know much about either guy, but maybe they are more familiar with each other? The match was pretty fast-paced and that also could have contributed.

Bobby Dempsey, Andy "Right Leg" Ridge and "Sugarfoot" Alex Payne defeated the Flatliners and Alex Page when Ridge pinned...ummm...one of the other guys after a stiff superkick. Dempsey played face-in-peril in this one, which was surprising, but even more surprising was that he was very good at it. As a consequence the local guys looked better than the night before. The Flatliners, as I said in the previous show, have all the physical tools and if their performance tonight was more indicative of their skill than was the Friday one, they have a future. Ridge also looked good, very crisp and active and really warmed the crowd. He's small though, about the same weight as Payne only taller.

MAIN SHOW

Right away Bobby Cruise announces that Nigel was hurt in the main event last night and has not been medically cleared to wrestle. No kidding.

The Super Smash Brothers defeated Steenerico in what has to be considered a huge upset. It was also a tremendous match and a great choice for an opener. Steenerico's ability to ham it up comedy-wise and still wrestle was a far better match for the skillset of the Smash Brothers. The match went back and forth between the teams, with comedy always an undertone but not dominating the match. Words don't really do some of the spots justice, but I laughed as much as a slapped the very rusty barricades.

Frankie the Mobster defeated Bison Smith by DQ in a finish that should please most RoH fans. After a very good stiff brawl which included Bison Smith diving over the barricade and into the crowd onto Frankie, they ended up back in the ring. Frankie tried to hide behind referee Todd Sinclair (an easy feat unless you're Akebono) in the corner. Frankie wouldn't let go and, in the only instance of a crowd cheering him ever, Bison was encouraged by the fans to just obliterate Sinclair. So he chopped him, causing the DQ. This pissed off Bison who thought about powerbombing Sinclair, which could possibly have blown the roof off the Arena. Alas, he thought better of it.

Davey Richards wins the first-ever Toronto Gauntlet, last submitting Jimmy Rave with the 14:59 kimura. 3 matches in and this show is already better than last night's. Jerry Lynn and D'Lo started off, and Lynn eliminated D'Lo fairly quickly with a crucifix bomb. D'Lo looked pissed at this result. Sonjay Dutt was next out and continued channelling other wrestlers before falling victim to the cradle piledriver. He looked like the old Sonjay Dutt here, and if he can keep that up he might have a regular gig in RoH. Jimmy Rave was next out, and he too looked good in picking up the pin on Lynn with Ghana-rhea. This brought out Necro Butcher, which really slowed down the match AND reduced the quality. Mercifully he was counted out fairly quickly due to Prince Nana preventing Necro from getting back in the ring. This brought out Davey Richards, who was crazy over. Rave and Richards had a really good match which was enhanced by the reactions of Hagadorn and Nana on the outside. Although they never interacted with each other, their theatrics really helped sell the many near falls. My son was very into it.

Ric Flair came out to address the crowd, and surprised me at least by saying that this wasn't goodbye. He told some stories about Canadian women, Toronto and The Sheik, and then put over the locker room. On leaving he too shook hands with the entire front row, which made my son's day.

Claudio Castagnoli defeated Brent Albright in a European Rules match when Jimmy Rave interfered to break up a Crowbar, allowing Claudio to get the tights-assisted schoolboy for the win. This match was NOT good, they spent too much time trying to avoid closed fists (and failing, though none of them was called) and trying to make the fans care about the stipulation. The rounds idea was horrible. For the couple of minutes in which they actually wrestled we got a glimpse of the match we could have had, and it would have been enjoyable. Post-match Albright tries to go nuts but The Embassy get the better of him, until Cabana, Necro and a bandaged Grizzly Redwood ran in for the save.

During intermission some jackass in the same section as me decided he was going to dance to that song Jump On It by Sugar Hill Gang. For some reason the PA guys were playing it. Bobby Cruise basically told him to sit his ass down, but the guy got up and danced again every time Cruise turned his back. This would become a running joke for the rest of the night, as the crowd wanted the refs, Cruise himself and the timekeeper to "Jump on it". What's that? You don't know the song or the dance? Here:

Tyler Black defeated Tyson Dux with the Small Package Driver in a very exciting match that didn't quite make up for the lack of Nigel but did wonders for Dux's chances in RoH. Black gave him a ton of offence and as a result Dux looked good in defeat, while Black didn't look like he just beat a jobber. Nice job all around.

Colt Cabana defeated Joey Ryan after a nasty chair shot in a hilarious match that was almost all comedy. These matches have their place and this wasn't a bad spot for one as it got the crowd interested again. Before the match started Colt told Joey that if he was going to use weapons, he could at least say so beforehand. This led to the match being made into a No Rules match. Joey Ryan kept trying to take Bobby Cruise's chair, only for Colt to take it and give it back to Bobby. The match also featured something you may never see again: a crowd chanting FOR Todd Sinclair. Cabana made Sinclair hit the Flying Asshole on Joey, causing said chant, and giving Cabana time to go backstage and fetch two bags of garbage with which to beat on Joey. Top that. Colt Cabana is now my son's favourite wrestler, and this is a boy who wanted to know if John Cena was wrestling when we first arrived.

Austin Aries came out to address Omega's challenge. He called Kenny Omega out immediately and put him over as having a lot of potential, and saying he would give him a title shot here in Toronto...just not tonight. That is, unless Omega could give him a good reason to do so. Before Kenny could respond, Kenny King and Rhett Titus ambushed him, leading to a Briscoes run-in. Omega got on the mic and verbally assaulted Aries, including telling him that his tights were sponsored by Skittles (and as you can see in the photo, he was bang on). This would lead to some "Taste the rainbow!" chants later in the evening. This lead to a 6-man match.

Kenny Omega and The Briscoes defeated Austin Aries, Kenny King and Rhett Titus when Omega rolled up Aries. The crowd were hot as hell for this one, and with good reason: it was probably the best match of the weekend. Everybody got a chance to look strong, it had a load of false finishes and we all erupted for the win. And hey, Austin got thrown into my lap. How can that be bad? I know it was a "hometown" crowd (Omega is from Winnipeg), but we all bought into the win and were going nuts for it. If RoH keep building Omega through until November when they return to Canada, the title shot could be even more convincing. The Briscoes looked much better here, and it makes me seriously question the booking decision to put them in with the Super Smash Brothers the previous night. Interestingly, last year The Briscoes and Aries were involved in a 6-man tag, but on the same team.

Chris Hero defeated Lance Storm in the main event after 2 roaring elbows with the loaded pad. It was a good match, lots of mat wrestling and back-and-forth exchanges, but nothing spectacular. Storm looked great for a guy who's been retired for a while, and Hero really stepped up his game to get the important win. Unfortunately the last few minutes of the match were marred by some assholes in the crowd deciding it would be cool and funny to throw garbage in the ring. The thing is most of it went on Lance, who was about to make a very emotional speech. I asked a few people about this afterwards and they all agreed that it was meant to be his goodbye speech, but the reaction of the crowd made him second guess his decision. He got the requisite "Please don't go!" chants as well as the standing ovation, and it seemed like he plain didn't want to leave the ring.

My son and wife thoroughly enjoyed the evening, to the point that my wife prefers it to WWE now and my son is asking when we can watch it again. Cary Silkin and the RoH team were very accommodating to me and my family, and did everything I could have wanted. We stuck around a while after the show for a few pictures, giving me a chance to chat with a few students (some of whom knew me when I mentioned where I wrote, which was awesome) and some of the wrestlers. Jerry Lynn was nice enough to pose with my son, which made him even happier, and then was obliging enough to tell me that Nigel was doing fine. Turns out it was just a stinger, and he was kept off the card more as a precaution. He mentioned that the heat in the building was making everyone really sweaty, causing Nigel to slip in the piledriver. He said he felt awful after the fact, and I pointed out to him that he's hit that move safely probably a thousand times or more, and that it wasn't anything he could have avoided or done differently. Like he said, he had just hit it on Austin and it went fine. Because I couldn't resist, I asked him to do whatever he could to convince Lance Storm and the RoH bookers to let Lance have one more match with him before he hung them up for good. They both still have it.

Beofre leaving we were able to meet Tyson Dux, Frankie the Mobster, Austin Aries, Kevin Steen, Adam Pearce and Bobby Dempsey, all of whom were very pleasant (even Aries, who has a bit of a reputation...). I can't thank the staff and wrestlers enough for making us all feel welcome, and I can't wait for November!

That's about it folks. I need to get some sleep before going back to work tomorrow. I highly recommend buying the Night 2 DVD if you can, and even the Night 1 DVD isn't a bad buy.

Moment Over.

I'll be back next week with a look at the guest host idea. Stay Cool, Rock Hard. Lansdellicious – Out.

All photos from the show taken by Mike Mastrandrea of Slam! Wrestling.