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Column of Honor: 09.04.10: Raw Memories
Welcome to the Column.
Fellow 411Mania writer Kevin Ford and I are doing somewhat of a column crossover over the next few weeks, beginning right here and right now. Ford attended last week’s Ring of Honor show in Richmond, Virginia and was kind enough to write about it for inclusion in this week’s edition. Meanwhile I’ll be attending my very first CHIKARA show right here in Brooklyn, New York in just a few weeks and after that I’ll be writing up my thoughts about it for Kevin’s CHIKARA Special column.
I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive going into Ring of Honor’s Richmond, Virginia debut this past Friday night (August 27th). The main reason for this was due to the quality of the latest Virginia shows that Ring of Honor ran in Manassas, VA. For the record, I attended every Manassas show live except for the last one (Civil Warfare in May). While there were many good to great shows (specifically the first two, “Southern Navigation” and “Fueling The Fire”), but Virginia could not shake the “B-Show” vibe. Heck, you could argue the last couple of shows were C or D shows. It makes sense, as Virginia is normally paired with New York City shows in a doubleshot, meaning the primary focus is on that show. While I usually had a very enjoyable, positive experience at the Virginia shows, it is sort of annoying when all the shows in your town are essentially inconsequential. When I heard the Manassas market was going to be replaced by Richmond, I was pretty mad, mostly because Manassas is a 10 minute drive for me while Richmond is 2 hours. Still, I have buddies willing to take the hike with me, and I wanted to be their for the inaugural Richmond show.
The building for Richmond as compared to Manassas is much better. It’s much larger in every conceivable way; the bathrooms, the general floor space, and the area to walk around. The Manassas shows took place on an indoor soccer field, leaving little room for movement both in and out of your seat. This venue was a much more comfortable experience all around. Both the main ROH merchandise table and Jim Cornette’s personal gimmick table seemed to have consistent traffic all night long. There was a loud response when Cornette asked how many people were there for their first ROH show, and many of the Manassas regulars turned out as well. It goes to show you how dedicated a lot of these ROH fans are. It’s also a good sign that a return date was already set (January 14th) as we walked in. My presumption when I see that is that ticket sales were strong enough to warrant a return, but who knows for sure?
There were no dark matches, which I found a little perplexing when you consider there was tons of local talent in the building. However, it was made clear when the show opened with a speech from Jim Cornette that some of these guys would be getting a shot on the main show due to Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens not being in attendance for the show (damn Floridians). The show also started with a 10 bell salute for Luna Vachon, which I thought was a nice move. A lot of fans actually didn’t know that she had passed until Bobby Cruise made the announcement.
Tag Wars 2010 opened up the show with all three semi-final matches occurring back to back. The first was The All Night Express of Kenny King & Rhett Titus taking on El Generico & Colt Cabana. I had a lot of fun watching this, and I think King & Titus have grown so much as wrestlers and as a team overall. They really more synchronized than ever, and the matching tights are the icing on the cake for me. Generico and Cabana are also a wonderful team and a really good next step for both guys since Steen and Generico’s break-up. Both teams worked really hard, and the fans were hot for most of this. Corino ran in near the end, causing Cabana to chase him to the back. While Generico did what he could by his lonesome, it was no match for the double team onslaught the All Night Express had, advancing them to the Ultimate Endurance match. After this was The Dark City Fight Club taking on the Bravado Brothers, in which I expected a 2 minute squash. It wasn’t, and I was actually surprised with how much offense the Bravados got in. This isn’t necessarily a negative though; for the amount of experience they have, the Bravados are quite good. There look is a little weird, and I don’t understand why a leaf is their symbol, but I digress. It’s always nice to see them actually try with students who work hard. I was surprised this didn’t have more heat, considering Chavis is a Richmond boy, but then again when you’re announced as hailing from “The Dark City” the hometown hero vibe is lost on most people. All was right with the world though, as the Project Mayhem sent the DCFC into the Ultimate Endurance as well. Finally we had The Briscoes taking on The Embassy, with Prince Nana (replacing Erick Stevens) teaming up with the Necro Butcher. This was about what you would expect. Not great, but nothing offensive either. Nana did a fantastic job playing the coward on the apron while Necro tried to take out the Briscoes by himself. The fans loved the Briscoes, and especially loved when they would actually get their hands on Nana. Again, all was right with the world when The Briscoes defeated The Embassy. Three matches deep into the show and I was having a good time.
Then we got the best match of the night by far right before intermission; Davey Richards vs Kevin Steen. Steen came out with a microphone, doing his own ring introduction. He then talked about his feud with the American Wolves in 2009 and how brutal it was. He said he had one favorite moment that he wanted to share with Davey face-to-face. This brought out Richards, and Steen told him that breaking Eddie Edwards’ arm the night before their Ladder War was his favorite moment. After this verbal discourse, these men beat the crap out of each other for roughly 20 minutes. There was a lot of stuff in here that was also in their PWG Kurt Russellmania match i.e. Steen powerbombing Richards on the apron, but this had the crowd going insane. People were cheering loudly, chanting “This is awesome!”, and buying into almost every nearfall. It’s one of those matches that make this a must see match. I’d say on DVD it will be ***3/4 to ****, and is certainly one of the best singles matches Steen has had in ROH. This is one of the most matches that is so hard and intense that even watching it you can feel worn-out (in a good way). In that sense, it was good that this came right before intermission.
The first match back from intermission was a tag match of local guys and Bobby Dempsey. Dempsey teamed up Cedric Alexander to take on Kaleb Conley and the current FIP Florida Heritage Champion Jake “The Manscout” Manning. There’s really not too much to say about this, except it was fine and good for the local fans (believe it or not, a lot of the local talent is well known by the crowd).
The next match I thought was done to perfection: The Kings of Wrestling open challenge, answered by The Set of J-Sinn and Lance Lude. The Set fought hard early on, but it wasn’t too long before Lude (who is tiny compared to everyone else in the match) got murdered by Claudio and Hero. Claudio gave him one of the easiest pop-up European uppercuts ever. The big moment of destruction is when Hero gave Lude a running Liger bomb into the ring post outside. He was taken out, and Hero and Claudio proceeded to beat down J-Sinn for awhile. They would beat him down to the point of defeat, and then Hero would pull up Sinn’s head and pretend to be mad at the referee for making a slow count. The fans were eating all of this up. Finally, Jay Briscoe runs down in his t-shirt and jean shorts and gets the tag to beat up the Kings. With Sinn all beat up, it was essentially another handicap match with the Kings getting the easy one-up on Jay. Mark Briscoe ran in and that is when the match was thrown out as a no contest. I don’t know why that didn’t happen earlier when Jay ran out, but I digress. The fans loved it, and it built to both the Charlotte show and Glory By Honor IX really well.
Steve Corino was supposed to face Roderick Strong, but since Strong wasn’t there he took on local talent Jeff Early. Corino made short work of him and won with the Sliding D. Corino brought a chain with him to the ring and looked to beat on Early. This brought out Colt Cabana, who brawled with Corino for a bit. Suddenly, Roderick Strong’s music hit and he ran through the crowd (in his jeans/short sleeve button up plaid shirt) and defeated Corino in about 2 minutes (with some help from Cabana behind the referee’s back). It was a fun brawl while it lasted and furthered Cabana and Corino’s issues as well.
The main event was the long-awaited Champion vs. Champion battle, as ROH World Champion Tyler Black took on the current Television Champion Eddie Edwards. Mixed reactions for Black as he came out, and Edwards was accompanied by Davey. Cornette came out to talk to Tyler, and said he thinks since Tyler is on his way out he should put his title on the line tonight against a worthy contender in Edwards. Tyler stated that the contract he signed said nothing about putting his title on the line and refused. Cornette couldn’t believe Tyler could be so selfish, and Tyler then added that the contract said nothing about Davey being ringside for the match. Cornette begrudgingly kept the match non-title and asked Davey to go to the back, but added that he hopes Edwards tears him apart.
The main event was definitely good, don’t get me wrong, but after the awesome Steen/Richards match it was a bit of a letdown. ***1/4 would be about the rating I would give it. They both did do a good job, but it was pretty forgettable. Not to mention it ended with Black pinning Edwards with his feet on the ropes, just so the fans could roll their eyes. Black continued his beating after the match, bringing out Davey to make the save. The show closed with Davey cutting a very nice promo putting over Edwards and talking about how much he had grown. The show ended with the American Wolves posing to the fans applause and cheers.
The reaction from everyone was pretty much the same: the first half was a lot better than the second, but the show overall was very good. I believe this show pumped life back into the Virginia ROH market. The good matches and the storyline components made this feel like a show that was integral to the ROH storylines and it seemed like the office actually tried to put together a good card. Being partnered with Charlotte may have helped, as the Richmond market is much closer to that in importance than New York City. At the same time, the first Manassas shows were fantastic as well, so we will wait and see how the Richmond market develops. Needless to say, while I do not have a ticket in hand, I do plan to make it back to Richmond on the 14th of January to catch the next show. Thumbs up show, definitely check out Steen vs. Richards on DVD.
I also received another in-depth report from reader Jim Carson, who was kind enough to provide some in-depth thoughts and reaction of his own about the show. Thanks to Jim and hopefully this should provide some interesting comparisons and contrasts to Kevin’s report above.
I’ll try not to repeat much of what has already been posted by Andy Clark through Chris Lansdell.
FYI, don’t try to sneak anything in (drinks, camcorders, etc.) to a Ring of Honor show, because an attendant gives you a quick patdown after you buy and/or pick up your tickets. Obviously this was my first ROH show.
The show began with a 10-bell salute for Luna Vachon. Both people on either side of me went “Who?” I’m hoping it was because they didn’t understand the announcement, because it took a little while for the microphones to be adjusted properly. Jim Cornette was easier to understand than Bobby Cruise early on.
I’ll guess 400 for the crowd. Nearly all the folding chairs that were set up were filled, but more people could have easily fit into the Old Dominion Building at Richmond Raceway Complex and had good views.
1) Rhett Titus & Kenny King over Colt Cabana & El Generico. No Austin Aries (dang). This match got the crowd going very quickly and rightly so. All four men looked really big, so the things that commentators say about the wrestlers being larger-than-life in person are true. Chant of the night, led by the Bald Guy In One Corner BGIOC): “Hepa-Titus.” Cabana also solved the acoustics problem, because everyone could hear the “TAG ME!” and “FIGHT IT!” that he yelled during Generico’s face-in-peril moments (and a “Keep It Clean, Unlike Rhett Titus’ Crotch!”). I could have lived without seeing Cabana’s hip gyrations to mock Titus, but then I could have lived without seeing Titus do it also. Generico’s chops on King were the loudest of the night until the deafening ones later by Chris Hero. Plenty of near falls before Cabana’s distraction with Corino, but once the All Night Express had their time to double-team a solo Generico, everyone figured Generico wasn’t kicking out.
2) Dark City Fight Club over the Bravado Brothers. Entertaining squash.
3) Jay & Mark Briscoe over Necro Butcher & Prince Nana. No Ernesto Osiris. Nana accused some folks in the crowd of working for Delta Air Lines and thus screwing up Erick Stevens’ travel plans. This was really the night’s only disappointment for me, because I thought Nana had more in-ring ability and history than this, but his offense was about as effective as Jimmy Hart’s. The Briscoes didn’t have much to work with in Necro, but Necro is probably my least favorite ROH wrestler (before and after the heel turn).
4) Davey Richards over Kevin Steen. The “This is Awesome” chants got going, and the match still went on for 10+ more minutes. Fine with me, because it was fantastic. Steen gave a couple of great wolf howls from the apron. Then he hammerlocked Davey and rammed his shoulder into the ringpost, then yelled “This is how you play fair, kids!” Awesome. This match also produced the night’s first and also the only sustained dueling chant: “Davey Richards/Mr. Wrestling.” Near the end they got to spitting on each other in between moves. I hope they cleaned the mat a bit afterward, and I’m also glad that the barefooted Necro Butcher didn’t go on right after this. The near falls fooled a few fans sitting around me … but I was fooled when Davey kicked out after a Package Piledriver. Then it was kicks aplenty. Davey’s my favorite anyway, but This Was Awesome.
During the intermission, Cruise read some announcements, but the only one I made out was the Richmond return January 14. It won’t do me any good because I’m not from Virginia; it just worked out with a scheduled work trip and visiting family in the area that I could take in ROH this time.
A still-sweaty Davey Richards was at the merchandise table during the break, autographing programs and posing for photos for anyone who asked. Let’s just say that not everyone knows how to do Davey’s American Wolves point-to-the-camera pose. Cornette was also at his table, where his DVDs and Midnight Express scrapbooks were on sale. Cornette took time to talk to anyone at the table. My apologies for not buying the MX book, but in the last year I’ve acquired Jericho’s and Regal’s books and haven’t had/made time to read them yet.
I must also point out T-shirts worn by two fans, and I had to tell them “nice shirt” during the intermission. One was Latino Heat Tabasco design, which IMHO is the best wrestling shirt of all time and 20 times better than “I’m Your Papi.” The other interesting shirt, obviously worn by a fellow at least age 40, was of Bruiser Brody.
5) Bobby Dempsey & Cedric Alexander over Caleb Konley & Jake Manning. I had never seen the Manscout before; when he first came out I had a flashback to Lt. James Earl Wright of the State Patrol (the one who didn’t train Goldberg). Dempsey was over huge; I’d say the pop for him was as loud as for anyone other than the Wolves and the Briscoes (maybe equal to Cabana’s/Generico’s and definitely louder than DCFC’s). Dempsey came through after Cedric’s face-in-peril moment, hitting Konley with a decent dropkick and a fallaway-slam-into-a-bridge (! – haven’t seen one of those in 20+ years) before ending it with a DVD.
6) Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli over J-Sinn & Lance Lude. No Sara del Rey. I didn’t know about the Set’s Richmond history, so most fans were more excited to see them than I was. Seeing the Kings of Wrestling in person was the second these-guys-are-bigger-than-they-look-on-TV moment of the night. Hero was awesome here, yelling “I think I killed him!” after powerbombing Lance into the barricade. Shane Hagadorn’s bonkers reaction when Jay Briscoe hit the ring apron was also enthusiastic. Good but short brawl afterward with the Briscoes.
7-8) Steve Corino over Jeff Early (that’s the name that I heard), then Roderick Strong over Corino. By this time I was having enough of the streamers, then one hit Corino in the head. Once Strong hit the ring, I was hoping to see at least one backbreaker, but they had to have Cabana’s chain shot in there.
9) Tyler Black over Eddie Edwards. Surprisingly little noise for Black, even with his time in ROH winding down. For most of the match, a middle-aged woman near BGIOC tried to start Black chants or at least get a dueling chant going, but I think only one other person joined her side of the chants. Black followed “you can’t see me” by coming off the ropes and making a fist, but instead of a five-knuckle shuffle he delivered a stomp. I thought about yelling “Have Fun Facing Primo on Superstars” but I refrained (I applauded for everyone except Necro Butcher, but my only real yelling was for Davey Richards). A fan near me almost walked out when the out-of-ring count on Edwards reached 10, because he didn’t know that ROH counts go to 20. Of course, this dude also had to say “who’s this guy?” about freakin’ TYLER BLACK. Nice top-turnbuckle rana by Edwards, then there were two extended periods where Edwards had the Achilles lock on before Black reached the ropes.
After the match and Davey’s mic time to boost Edwards, they had already taken down Jim Cornette’s banner behind his merch table, but Cornette still came over to chat with some fans. That’s when I had my chance to shake his hand and ask two quick questions. He said that Bobby Eaton is doing better and will be well enough to attend a Cornette roast in New Jersey in October, and that ROH is working on securing a location for a show in Columbia SC when I asked about the possibility of the Upstate, my home area.
I have my ROH favorites (Richards, the Briscoes, Hero, Kenny King), but I left with greater appreciation for a few others that weren’t my favorites going in (Edwards, Steen, Cabana, Titus). It would have been great to see Austin Aries and/or Christopher Daniels, but it didn’t take away from the enjoyment. And I still have the American Wolves’ theme song stuck in my head … not that that’s a bad thing.
Reader and frequent commenter James Westmoreland was nice enough to send the results of the ROH show the next night in Charlotte. It’s bare bones until the final two matches, but I appreciate it anyway.
El Generico defeats Eric Stevens
Steve Corino defeats Bobby Dempsey
Necro Butcher defeats Grizzly Redwood
Eddie Edwards defeats Colt Cabana
6 man tag with mostly people only a few people knew
Roderick Strong defeats Kevin Steen – Steen tried to hit him with the chain only to be foiled by Cabana and then Generico
Tag Wars -1st fall is a Four Corner tag – Nice spots with the Briscoes facing each other and the Kings of Wrestling facing each other, before the All Night Express eliminate the Dark City Fight Club. 2nd fall is Tornado Tag – Briscoes pin Rhett Titus, One of the Briscoes was bloody as hell.
3rd fall….I have no idea what it was…..but it ended quick. While the Briscoes were finishing off the All Night Express, Hero loaded up the elbow pad, and as soon as Titus was pinned, he nailed a Briscoe and pinned them.
Davey Richards defeats Tyler Black…..Richards comes out with Edwards, Black comes out and the crowd rips into him. Cornette comes in and tries to get him to defend the title tonight, like he did in Richmond, Black teases putting the title on the line before saying no, and demanding that Edwards go to the back. This was the match of the night, the crowd was all over Black. Lot of back and forth punches with the crowd cheering Richards’ punches and booing Black’s. Richards makes Black tap out to the Texas Cloverleaf. Richards puts over ROH as the best wrestling company as Black retreats to the back.
1. CM Punk: Once again, Punk makes his mark on a WWE show, this time with an awesome heel promo that cut in on everyone not affiliated anymore with WWE but also advanced his program with Big Show. Punk had numerous memorable lines, including his nonchalant dismissal of Brock Lesnar when showing a clip of the ring-breaking superplex from Smackdown and his “no one likes you” cut-down of Show. Still, nothing beats “go get me Jared from Subway”. Punk gets the kind of heel heat from the crowd that most dream of and he makes it look easy to boot.
2. Kaval: The former Low Ki won the second season of WWE NXT. For whatever that is worth considering the low ratings of the show since the middle of the first season, it certainly goes to show that Kaval had the right stuff to make it all along. Not only can he flat out go in the ring (which many who have seen him on the Indies, in ROH and in TNA have long known), but he has also expanded his abilities by adapting his promo skills and fitting in surprisingly well with LayCool as their mentee. Kaval’s celebration after winning by jumping up to the top rope and holding their in a triumphant pose in one fell swoop was pretty special. Even though he was jumped by the other NXT II rookies to close the show (in a horribly messy angle), the win and the success remain.
3. NXT DIVAS Season: I am highly anticipating this upcoming short-run season of WWE NXT featuring six prospective WWE Divas. I mean come on–this is going to be train wreck television that is actually so bad it will be entertaining, as opposed to the past season of NXT which was so bad it made me turn-off the channel. I mean-the Bella Twins and Kelly Kelly as Pros? Goldust (awesome!) as a Pro? A six-foot-nine Amazon of a woman in the competition? The announce girl who we never saw? I don’t usually enjoy this kind of sports-entertainment, but count me in! (Late edit: it seems that Aloisha, the six-nine giantress won’t be on the show after all).
4. Tyler Black: Yes, he’s doing the CM Punk leaving ROH gimmick, but he’s doing it very well. His promos have stepped it up a notch since then and no doubt because his words reflect the reality of the situation. Plus, its fun watching him hit back at ROH fans who have complained about him being champion. It’s very cathartic.
5. Randy Orton: His back-to-back RKO sequence on Raw was actually the most thrilling ten seconds of wrestling television this week. God bless Randy, because by doing almost nothing but being the rebel bad-ass he has somehow gotten himself thiiiiiissss close to the almighty “Stone Cold” level of being over with the crowd. It’s just that whenever he is about to breach that mark, WWE for some reason pulls it away from him. They did it two years ago when he was a heel who destroyed Vince McMahon with the punt and then savagely attacked Stephanie in front of her husband and then they did it again this past week on the 900th edition of Raw.
Orton RKO’ing two members of Nexus back-to-back had the fans in a frenzy, but then Wade Barrett beat him with the Wasteland finisher (which somehow is able to look even less imposing than the Attitude Adjustment) and muted the crowd. I know that Barrett needed to go over here to keep heat on Nexus and that it was a rare case of WWE actually treating the heels with seriousness and keeping them dangerous. However, I actually think Orton going over here would have been monumental for his popularity.
It seems obvious to me that Orton is capable of being the top face and the wrestler who takes over from Cena. As Cena’s fan base of children is growing up, they’ll move on to someone who is more of a mature character—and I think Orton can be that guy who replaced Cena as their hero, in much the same way that Steve Austin replaced Bret Hart. Hero begets Anti-Hero.
–Tyler Black defeated Austin Aries & Roderick Strong in a Triple Threat Match in Phoenix, AZ on 3/27/10
–Tyler Black defeated Austin Aries & Roderick Strong in a Triple Threat Match in Charlotte, NC on 4/3/10
–Tyler Black defeated Kenny King in Dayton, OH on 4/23/10
–Tyler Black defeated Chris Hero in Chicago Ridge, IL on 4/24/10
–Tyler Black defeated Roderick Strong in New York, NY on 5/8/10
–Tyler Black defeated Davey Richards in Toronto, Ontario on 6/19/10
–Tyler Black defeated Kevin Steen in Chicago Ridge, IL on 07/24/10
–Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin by DQ after The Briscoes interfered in New York, NY on 5/8/10
–Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in a No DQ Match in Toronto, Ontario on 6/19/10
— Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in Philadelphia, PA on 8/21/10
— Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe, The All-Night Express and Dark City Fight Club in Ultimate Endurance in Charlotte, NC on 08/28/10
–Eddie Edwards defeated Colt Cabana in Philadelphia, PA on 3/6/10
–Eddie Edwards defeated Petey Williams in Mississauga, Ontario on 3/20/10
1. Roderick Strong
2. Christopher Daniels
3. Davey Richards
4. Kevin Steen
5. Colt Cabana
6. Chris Hero
This past week’s WWE Monday Night Raw was the 900th episode of the series. I can’t say that I never missed a show, but I was there for a great many of them over the past seventeen years, as I’m sure were many of you out there reading this column. And sure, while WWE’s claims of Raw being the “longest weekly episodic blahdeblah in television” are largely overstated, there must be a large measure of pride from Vince McMahon in knowing that the show has lasted all of these years. In fact, WWE has maintained a weekly show presence in primetime television far longer than seventeen years if you go back and count the “Prime Time Wrestling” and “Tuesday Night Titans” series that ran in the 1980’s.
I actually did watch the first episode of Monday Night Raw when it aired (January 11th, 1993). I can’t remember everything that happened minute for minute, but I can recall enjoying the show and understanding this was the start of a weekly live show that was rough around the edges, unpredictable and, well, raw.
Of course, even then WWE (then known as WWF) would include plenty in the way of sports entertainment, as appearances by Undertaker, Yokozuna and (later) Doink the Clown underscored the character side of the promotion. Meanwhile, Bobby “The Brian” Heenan’s elaborate attempts to enter the Manhattan Center in order to see the show concluded with his attempts to impersonate a rabbi and a woman, with Sean Mooney calling him out on the overly-obvious ruses.
Yet the spotlight, as if often would in the early years of the show (and then once again in the late 2000’s) belonged to Shawn Michaels, who wrestled Max Moon. Shawn Michaels was a major fixture of the program at the time, including the “impromptu” brawl with Mr. Perfect outside the Manhattan Center on 34th Street where he was slammed into a limo and quite the intense feud with former tag partner Marty Jannetty for the Intercontinental Title.
WWE ran many of those first shows in the Grand Ballroom of the Manhattan Center, where ROH runs its major New York City events. It’s interesting to note that the same kind of raw energy that ran through the arena during the tapings of Monday Night Raw still permeates that space during Ring of Honor events. It’s one part the atmosphere of being in New York City and one part the participation of the fans; however a major part, shared by both WWE in 1993 and ROH today, is the willingness to go out there and do something different in that space. WWE put on a live weekly show and ROH puts on the best wrestling card possible given its roster. The Manhattan Center was WWE’s home base for Raw and they treated it that way. ROH does the same now that the building is their headquarters for the best of their product.
One of the most exciting and unpredictable moments of the early years was when WWE returned to the Manhattan Center in February 1997 for what was the original ECW Invasion. It was a crazy moment—in my viewing experience the first official and condoned “crossover” between WWE and another promotion. There were discussions I had with my cousin and my other friends about what would happen if WWF and WCW ran a co-promotional show and who would win in the dream matches. At the time I didn’t know much about ECW, but having read a little about it from the wrestling magazines I was excited (not to mention willing and ready) to be exposed to new wrestlers and a new product. Actually, the ECW Invasion angles that followed in 2001 and 2005 were some of my favorite Raw moments, because each one continued to capture my attention and make me newly excited about the wrestling product.
There was a clear and striking difference between the ECW segments and the WWF matches—ECW’s presentation was truly raw and unpredictable and most importantly, captured the fans’ interest and imagination. The changes to Raw that were already beginning really picked up at that point. Bret Hart became a whiny complainer who cursed and pushed down Vince McMahon, while Steve Austin became an anti-hero who was truly gaining steam with the fans’ despite wearing the black hat. Times were changing, and so did WWF, leading to their Attitude era and Raw would never be the same.
There have been moments where I have absolutely loved and enjoyed WWE Raw and there have been times when I have felt the exact opposite about it. There have been moments of real frustration of watching the program, especially during the past decade: 2002 with Triple H’s unrelenting dominance and control and the horror show that was the nWo resurrection; Eric Bischoff’s “Hot Lesbian Action” which was neither “hot” nor really qualified as “lesbian action” and yet still became one of the more offensive moments of the promotion; 2005-2006 with Raw trying to recover from the trauma of Eddie Guerrero’s passing and coming up with very weak programming and lame angles as well as the insufferable D-X vs. McMahon feud; 2009 with Hornswoggle vs. Chavo Guerrero and most of the celebrity GMs (with the obvious exception of the awesome Bob Barker). It has been very difficult to watch Raw during those times when WWE overloads its show with variety fluff and there have been those moments where I have shut the show off for weeks at a time and not looked back.
However, the positives of the show do convince me to return eventually: that it is a dependable weekly dose of WWE, which I was raised on pretty much all of my life; that for the most part it is live, which means when the creative team and agents are on the ball and inspired that they can create some very compelling and dramatic television; that occasionally WWE remembers that it’s alright to be a wrestling product and present a longer match with plenty of in-ring action; that the next generation of wrestling talent can be given a chance to truly make their name in the industry—just ask CM Punk, Sheamus, The Miz and Nexus.
-Ring of Honor has locked up Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli for the foreseeable future, as Hero signed a contract extension for the one he previously agreed to earlier in the year, while Claudio signed a new contract. The length of time for these deals was not specified in ROH’s press release. However, the new deals mean that at least for now, ROH’s top two teams, The Kings of Wrestling and The Briscoes, will remain with the company as it once again looks to rebuild and fortify itself in the coming year.
-New matches for September 10th in Plymouth, MA include Tyler Black versus Christopher Daniels (number 2 on the Pick 6) in non-title action, The Kings of Wrestling defending the ROH World Tag Team Titles against El Generico and Colt Cabana, Eddie Edwards defending the ROH TV Title (finally) against Erick Stevens of The Embassy and a First Blood match between Steve Corino & Kevin Steen against The Embassy of Necro Butcher and Shawn Daivari. The latter match was signed as a “preparation” match for Steen and Corino as they ready themselves for their September 11th double chain match bout against Generi-COLT. Nana okayed the match so long as ROH agreed to some concessions, which included Stevens wrestling for the TV Title on this show. Black versus Daniels should be an outstanding effort and likely the most heated match of the night given the ROH fans’ reaction to him during the shows in Richmond and Charlotte.
-New matches signed for the Glory By Honor IX internet Pay Per View September 11th in New York City include Austin Aries versus Christopher Daniels (2) and Edwards vs. Daivari for the TV Title if Stevens comes up short the previous night. Aries vs. Daniels will be the first time that match has happened in some form since 2006 when Daniels and Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne) defended the ROH World Tag Team Titles against Aries and Roderick Strong.
-Jim Cornette revealed Terry Funk’s role at the show during the latest episode of ROH on HDNet. He will serve as a “ringside vigilante” during the No-DQ ROH World Title match between Tyler Black and Terry Funk. No doubt this means he shows up in a Batman outfit doing the Watutsi with his satchel ass.
-Ring of Honor will run another tryout seminar on Sunday October 3rd, 2010 from 10 AM – 7PM at their school in Philadelphia. More information can be found through this link.
-This coming week’s episode of ROH on HDNet will be pre-empted due to Labor Day programming.
-Former ROH booker Adam Pearce was injured sometime during his match with Bryan Danielson a few weeks ago. According to PWInsider.com, “NWA Champion Adam Pearce has been having shoulder issues for some time now, and was recently diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff. Pearce is going to try and rehab the injury and then have it reevaluated in a month. If the rehab doesn’t work, he will have to have surgery.” Here’s to a speedy recovery for Pearce.
-In a update to the delay on the Bluegrass Brawl show, ROH posted the following on its message board: We expect to have a new ship date for this title by the middle to end of next week. I would estimate the date to be sometime between the 23rd-30th of September.
-The new Embassy “Ghana Flag” and “In Roddy I Trust” shirts that were on sale at last week shows are now available for order in the ROH store. In addition, Hate II, Salvation (7/23 and 724) and The Best of ROH on HDNet Volume 3 are now available for pre-order. Best of HDNet Vol. 3 will be released on September 16th and will have the following matches:
1. Davey Richards vs. El Generico- Episode # 20
2. Nigel McGuinness vs. Tyler Black- Episode #21
3. Non Title: Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong- Episode # 22
4. Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Kenny King & Rhett Titus- Episode #24
5. Tyler Black vs. Jerry Lynn- Episode #24
6. Dark City Fight Club vs. Young Bucks- Episode #25
7. Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe- Episode # 25
8. KENTA, Bryan Danielson, & Roderick Strong vs. The American Wolves & Chris Hero- Episode # 26
9. Jerry Lynn vs. Kenny King- Episode #30
10. ROH World Title Match: Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson Episode #30
11. Chris Hero vs. KENTA- Episode #29
Lots of excellent matches in this one, especially the two KENTA bouts. The six-man tag was a blistering pace and KENTA vs. Hero was very intense with some terrific striking sequences. The Aries vs. Danielson title match also deserves some attention—it was one of my favorites from the first thirty shows and I believe it just gets swallowed up by the sheer mass of Danielson’s final matches at that time. Steenerico vs. Briscoes was also one of the better tag team matches, at least until the HDNet Special finish. This one is definitely worth the pick-up, so add it to your “to buy” lists.
By the way, is it me, or are these two DVD covers really impressive? This is like a one-hundred percent improvement on DVD artwork for these two shows and I can only hope it continues.
Kings Highway & Selected Poems, an e-book of original poetry and photographs is now available through AriBerenstein.com and the “BUY NOW” button directly below (you don’t need to have a PayPal account to purchase).The e-book is twenty-eight original poems (34 pages total) in a .pdf format, for $7.50.
-With PayPal Account: After signing in and completing the purchase, you will be returned to ariberenstein.com to the download page. You will receive an e-mail within 24 hours with a password for the download page. Enter the code and you will be able to open and download (right click, save as) the file (.pdf format).
-Pay with the Credit Card Option: After entering your information (DON’T FORGET YOU MUST INCLUDE AN ACCURATE EMAIL ADDRESS), you will be taken to the receipt page where PayPal gives you the chance to print out a receipt. This is a legal requirement. After that, you must click on the “Return to Merchant” link in order to return to the site. You will receive an e-mail within 24 hours with a password and link to the download page. Enter the code and you will be able to open or download (right click, save as) the file (.pdf format).
The poems explore the life and scenery in Brooklyn and Manhattan, from the famous Times Square to the Kings Highway train station. The route is homeward bound to the neighborhood of Old Mill Basin in Brooklyn, from childhood to adult life and back. The poems range from dramatic verbiage to light-hearted humor, but they all represent my experience in the city I love and call home. Sample poems from that e-book are already available for free on my website. More information can be found on the purchase page, which will go live on Monday. Thanks in advance for your support!
Wrestling fans and Column of Honor regulars can find some extra content through my personal website AriBerenstein.com. Column of Honor: Reborn is a redux version of the first-year of my columns covering Ring of Honor and the rest of the world of professional wrestling. These are updated editions, edited for content and appearance. I’ve re-written or added to some of the features and improved the look and flow from the early days to more closely match the contemporary style of the columns in 2010. The next three editions of Column of Honor: Reborn (covering the August 2005 events and James Gibson’s ROH World Title run) are now available through this link, including August 13th, 2005 Reborn (with a BRAND NEW addendum to my article on Gibson), August 20th, 2005 Reborn and August 27th, 2005 Reborn.
Head on over to TwitterNation and follow me at: http://twitter.com/AriBerenstein.
If you’re interested in getting into MMA or any strength / conditioning program, then visit MMAprofightshop.com for your fight gear and equipment needs. The website is run by my good friend Dave Maswary, who is a wrestler, martial artist and aspiring MMA fighter. He’s trained and prepped with accomplished MMA guys in Brazil and is overall good people. Check out the website and join his Facebook Page.
Meanwhile:
Larry Csonka provides a retro repost of his take on the first-ever WWF Monday Night Raw.
This week’s 411 Buy or Sell features Steve Cook and J.D. Dunn discussing PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles 2010 (that’s this weekend!) and Tyler Black in comparison to the Summer of Punk angle from 2005. Steve Cook has his excellent News From Cook’s Corner while this week Dunn FINALLY unleashes his review of The Best of Raw 2009 Disc Three.
Aaron Hubbard writes the 4R’s of ROH on HDNet for last week’s episode featuring Kevin Steen vs. Jerry Lynn.
Pro Wrestling Ponderings is back live and hopping with new columns, podcasts and more. Visit them through this link and enjoy some more wrestling writing and discussion.
Thanks again to Kevin Ford, Jim Carson and James Westmoreland for their contributions to this week’s column. I’ll be back next week with results from Plymouth and a preview of Glory By Honor IX.
BROOKLYN!
–Ari–
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