News to Start Your Weekend 5.25.07
Posted by Nick Marsico on 05.25.2007
It's a long one this week, with a Ring of Honor DVD review, thoughts on the current state of WWE and last week's pay-per-view, a run down of the upcoming month of June for Ring of Honor, the news of this week and more. No Bobcore Holly or Mark Madden jokes, though, sorry.
God damn it got hot. It got here quick, too. It's been between the mid-50s and mid-70s for a while now, and all of a sudden it's 83 degrees out here, and it's 7PM as I'm currently typing this out on Thursday evening. It's a Thursday evening in which out of nowhere I'm once again listening to K-Rock here in New York, which is a flip backwards out of the all talk format, and out of that, only Opie and Anthony remain, keeping their morning spot before the music begins at 9AM. When they went off the air Thursday morning, the station looped a weird hour and ten minute long piece of oddness, with clips from songs, TV shows, movies and other stuff that promoted the 5 o'clock format change in a very thinly veiled way. I assume it looped from 9 to 5, at least, since I listened to the first hour and a half or 2 hours and it was the same thing a couple times in a row, and then I fell asleep and when I woke up it was almost 6PM and K-Rock was back. I can't say I'm not enjoying it, because once again New York finally has a true rock station for the first time in a year and a half, and it's been running commercial free, at least up to the point where I'm writing this out on Thursday evening. It sucks that Ron and Fez are gone from FM radio, though, because I enjoyed that version of their show. Their XM one is better, but it was great to get the contrast.
It's a weird time to be a fan of that pair of radio duos, as the Opie and Anthony show has been in turmoil for a while now ever since the Imus debacle. They were suspended from their XM show for a month due to some harmless comments from a hysterical homeless gentleman in a ridiculous and overall stupid move for XM, which has since suffered a bit for it, losing multiple advertisers for it's channel 202 that plays home to the O&A show, as well as up to or more than a loss of 50,000 subscribers depending on who you talk to. Some people were knee-jerk enough to destroy their XM receivers, which is just a ridiculous notion to me, because now if they intend to eventually re-subscribe to the service, they'll have to pay the 15 dollar activation fee, once again start paying for their monthly subscription, and shell out some cash to buy a new receiver unit. Yeah, it was a bullshit move by some douchebag executive within XM to suspend them, likely to try to aid in the XM/Sirius merger since they don't need the bad publicity the little sound bite may have gotten them, but in the end, destroying a radio hurts the person that did it much more than it hurts XM. A big enough statement was made by the many people who canceled their service destroying the radios was a knee-jerk reaction done by a lot of people who generally criticize big companies like XM for doing things due to knee-jerk reactions. Just something to think about.
On the Ron and Fez side, for a while now the show has basically been the Ron show with Earl, Dave and some interns on the side adding to the show now and again. Fez has been having health problems stemming back to his heart attack last year, and he has been in and out of the show, and outside of a short few days a week or two ago where he sounded really good, even when he was on the air he was very quiet and let the rest of the guys pull the weight of the show. Of course Ron and the boys (mostly Ron) are true professionals and great broadcasters (once again, mostly Ron, who in my opinion is the single greatest, funniest and most clever radio personality in the history of ever ever), so they have continued to put on a very entertaining and great string of shows even with the problems they're dealing with personally.
In the end, as it goes for both shows, right now the times call for every fan of both or either show to just lend their support. Do it in your own way. If you feel that canceling your XM subscription is the way to go, do that. If you feel calling and writing various companies and government places is the thing to do, go ahead and do that. If you feel, like I do, that the best thing for you personally is just to keep listening and to support the show by enjoying it and writing in an instant feedback, email, or calling the shows and talking about them with other fans on the message boards, then do that. Support Opie and Anthony and Ron and Fez however you feel comfortable doing it. There are plenty of ways to hear the shows without even having a radio, and sometimes I also choose that option when I can't listen on a radio. I'm not putting down the people who chose to destroy their radios, because it was a statement those people were trying to make because they are passionate in their fandom and support for some really funny and entertaining and nice guys, and that is admirable. The idea is to just support in any way you feel comfortable doing it, because no matter how you show it, it's important, especially now.
And now back to what you hopefully came here for, the wrestling talk. I spent a few hours last night to watch the Ring of Honor Reborn: Completion show, a show I watched for the first time a couple years ago, but that was before I began filling out my collection of DVDs and started watching the company from the beginning forward. This show is of course the final show in the short series that began the transition of ROH leaving behind a lot of its past, especially co-founder and former owner Rob Feinstein. The company had also lost Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles to TNA for the first time, due to the Feinstein incident, and Ring of Honor also began to bring in new talent to really signify change and a new evolution for the company. One of the most noteworthy occurrences at the time was CM Punk's decision to stay loyal to ROH and thus leave TNA, where he had basically been a Raven flunky anyway.
This show featured a short three match, 8 man tournament of sorts to crown a new Pure Champion, since at the time, AJ Styles was the holder of the belt after winning the original tournament a few months back to become the first champion. He, of course, was gone, so they needed a new champion, and some of the matches that took place at this show were booked in order to do that. A pair of four corner survival matches featuring some of ROH's top talent were put together with the winner of each facing off one-on-one with Pure Title rules to crowd the new champion. The eight men were Matt Striker, Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, CM Punk, Doug Williams, Nigel McGuinness, Jay Lethal and John Walters.
Pure Title Tournament Jay Lethal vs. John Walters vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Doug Williams
The first of these two matches saw the newly dubbed Jay Lethal, who until this show worked Ring of Honor as Hydro, a member of Special K. That group had seen a lot of highs and lows (no pun intended) and at the time of this show was on a cold streak, and some of the members had been thinking about cleaning themselves up and refocusing. The first guy to really do so was Hydro, who had been breaking out and showing himself to be the star of the group for a couple months. It was in an odd fashion, though, as he rarely ever wrestled, and when he did, it was almost as though he was barely a part of the group at all. On the show prior to this one, the first annual Survival of the Fittest, CM Punk wrestled without a partner in a 4 team tag scramble match and defeated, among others, the Special K team of Dixie and Hydro. When Punk basically made fun of them and the lack of good competition in the company, Hydro bowed up and took exception, challenging Punk to a match. It turned out to be a damn fine match in which Hydro put up a very good fight, almost defeating Punk on a number of occasions before falling just short. This was the penultimate stage in the rebirth of Hydro into Jay Lethal. At the beginning of the Reborn: Completion show, he found himself in Samoa Joe's locker room upon a personal request from Joe, who grabbed him by the throat and set him straight, telling Hydro that he saw a lot of potential in him and that if he were to focus and stop hanging around with the Special K guys, he could really turn into something special. That of course led to Hydro coming out during the show as Jay Lethal, fittingly in his home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey, for the first time in his stay at Ring of Honor. It also set in motion the beginning of what would become the Joe/Lethal feud over the Pure Title later on.
Also in this match was the returning Doug Williams, making his first appearance in ROH in just two days short of a full year. He spent time back in England as well as a tour of Japan with Pro Wrestling NOAH during his time away, and now was back to challenge for the newly vacant Pure Title. John Walters was a player in the beginning of the Generation Next group, being one of their first foils, as he was attacked by them on the show of the same name and then partook in the incredible 40+ minute 8-man tag team match on May 22, 2004. He also appeared on WWE Velocity on the same night as the Reborn: Completion show, losing to Bobcore Holly, thus making him the only other man in professional wrestling with the ability to be in two places at once; the first being Rick Rude. The final participant here was Nigel McGuinness who had been with Ring of Honor since only the beginning of 2004, on and off. He had previously gotten a chance at a shot at the Pure Title, but he lost a match to Jerry Lynn, who thus got a shot at AJ Styles, but that match never took place because both men were TNA guys who left before it could.
As for the match, it turned out to be one of the better ones of the night. It was a classic style ROH four corner survival match with very few willing tags made from the men inside the ring. The focal point of the match was on the match up of the two British wrestlers, McGuinness and Williams, who up to this point had never been in a one-on-one match. This was also their first meeting in a match period, and they made us wait a good while before the two men could actually lock up. What we did eventually get from them was some very good European style chain wrestling; it was just enough to be satisfying within the context of the match, but little enough that it made for a full match between the two men something to look forward to. In the end, the Chaos Theory, Doug Williams' roll up German suplex finisher got the fall for him over Jay Lethal, and he moved on to the finals, where he would face the winner of the other four corner survival.
Pure Title Tournament CM Punk vs. Alex Shelley vs. Austin Aries vs. Matt Stryker
Let it be known that I'm very much not a fan of Matt Stryker, and I don't think many people who were also watching around this time would disagree with me. He came into the company as a good pure wrestler, basing everything on competition, and had some fun pure wrestling matches with Chad Collyer among others. He got into the first and only ever Field of Honor and ended up winning it, and that led to a bit of a heel turn, based mostly on the fact that a lot of the fans had become tired of him. He also got a shot at Samoa Joe's World Title in what were a pair of Joe's worst title defenses. I haven't seen Stryker since he left ROH in October 2004, nor have I seen the four matches he had in the spring, summer and fall of 2005. I don't miss him, either. The man was a black hole of entertainment and generally quite boring. At the point we're at with this show, he's in the role of a sympathetic babyface after being attacked by Alex Shelley and Generation Next, but people weren't really buying it, as Shelley and his boys were much better overall than Stryker, and he and his silly unibrow had really run their course. It got to the point where I dreaded his matches. It's not to say he wasn't technically sound or anything, but he was just boring as fuck.
Alex Shelley and Austin Aries were the two top members of Generation Next. Shelley was in the midst of a feud with Stryker, claming he could beat him in a best of 3 series two straight, thus only signing on for 2 matches with Stryker. That second match never happened, however, due to Shelly and Gen Next beating him down at the World Title Classic show where the second match was scheduled to take place. It became a six man tag that saw Shelley, Aries and Roderick Strong defeat Stryker alongside John Walters and Jimmy Rave. In a side note here, that was also Jimmy Rave's final match with Ring of Honor for the time being. He was in an angle in which it had become do or die for him. After looking impressive but never getting on a hot streak and winning matches, ROH management set an ultimatum that if he didn't get on track, he would be done with the company. Rave took the fall in that six man tag, and thus was gone for about a month (which only actually translated into him missing a single show, although on the internet it became a bit of an angle, as he announced that he was told that he was no longer needed in the company). Rave returned as the Crown Jewel of the Embassy on the show we're now talking about here, Reborn: Completion.
Shelley was also a participant in the first ever match in Ring of Honor under the Pure Wrestling rules, losing to Matt Stryker of all people on January 10. Would that put their best of 3 series tied at one apiece? Aries' claim to fame thus far in ROH was taking Bryan Danielson to the limit in the first ever Survival of the Fittest match, making it through the other four men in the match and falling just short of winning.
CM Punk did the commentary for this show alongside Jimmy Bower in a much needed deviation from the monotone, boring Mark Nulty (or Nutley as Punk refers to him). The shows with Punk and Lovey/Bower on commentary were always very entertaining, as they had some good chemistry. At this point Punk is one half of the tag team champions and is feuding with the former Prophecy of Dan Maff and BJ Whitmer, who split from Allison Danger not long after Punk and the Saints took out their leader, Christopher Daniels (aforementioned as one of the Feinstein casualties). His boys Cabana and Ace carried the load but fell short to Maff and Whitmer on this show, but Punk and Ace are set for the absolute classic that would take place the following weekend in Chicago at the great Death Before Dishonor II Part 2 show. As far as Punk's involvement in the match at hand, he had been complaining about poor treatment from the referees in ROH, including Ricky Steamboat, who he was feuding with as well. Punk lost to AJ Styles in the finals of the original tournament for the Pure Title, as he felt the referee cheated him out of a rope break which led to him not winning the match and the belt. He now has another shot here.
The match played out kind of like a tag match in which one of the teams occasionally wrestled each other. Punk and Stryker played the faces, although that didn't necessarily work out on either of their parts as the match played out. Shelley and Aries were on the same page and worked together in effort for one of them to eventually get the win. That happened, as both Shelley and Punk got roll ups (Shelley got a victory roll on Stryker, Punk countered an Aries victory roll), and the referee counted Stryker's shoulder's down, thus moving Shelley on to the finals with Doug Williams and pissing Punk off even more with the referees.
Pure Title Tournament Final Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley
I loved this match. Punk referenced on commentary during the first 4CS that the European chain wrestling style had caught on in the American indies and that a lot of guys did it quite shitty, but Williams and McGuinness, two guys who learned to wrestle over there with that style, could actually do it well. Shelley, a Detroit native, is one of the American indy guys who is very proficient at the style as well. That lead to a great exchange of holds and counter holds for the majority of this match. It is a style, that when done right, like these two men did, I can sit and watch for hours. Shelley came into this match with a bum elbow from the previous contest. Williams was fine, so Shelley picked on his neck, which worked toward his signature Shellshock and Border City Stretch. Williams proved to be the better man this night, forcing Shelley to use all three rope breaks, and when he couldn't hold on to the BC Stretch due to the bad elbow, Williams took advantage and locked on a submission hold in the ropes that forced Shelley to submit and allow Williams to claim the vacant ROH Pure Title. Williams only successfully defended the belt twice, however, before going back overseas to wrestle in Europe and Japan.
Six Man Tag Samoa Joe, Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Homicide, Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero
The only other really notable match on this show was the main event. Homicide and Samoa Joe had been feuding for a while over the ROH World Title which, dating back to mid 2003, Homicide just could not defeat Joe to win. It escalated to Homicide throwing a fireball in Joe's face at the end of a match in which he thought he won. The referee counted to three but then reversed his decision, putting Homicide over the edge. The lights went out and a flash of fire was seen before the lights came back on, as Homicide fireballed Joe, solidifying his heel turn and him going crazy. That took place at the Reborn: Stage One show. After the classic 60 minute draw between Samoa Joe and CM Punk at World Title Classic, Homicide came out, hit Joe with a chair and stole the new (and very shitty looking) ROH World Title that had been awarded to Joe by Les Thatcher earlier on in the evening. Homicide defeated Jay Briscoe on the next show, Survival of the Fittest, to get into the main event that evening, and also demolished Jay Briscoe post-match. That led to a confrontation between Mark, who had advanced into the match earlier, and Homicide in the main event. Mark and Homicide were both eliminated when both of their shoulders were down from a German suplex. This all lead to the main event of this show, as Homicide brought in the Havana Pitbulls to form the Rottwielers group along with Julius Smokes, and Samoa Joe chose the Briscoes to flank him. Joe had a lot of history with them, feuding with the two in 2003 into 2004. Joe failed with multiple partners to take the ROH Tag Titles from the Briscoes, but was able to successfully defeat both men in singles competition to retain his World Title. Included there was the classic bloody cage match between Joe and Jay at the At Our Best show on March 13, 2004. With that history, as well as Mark and Jay having a score to settle with Homicide, this match was set to happen.
It was a very good match with non-stop action and a lot of great stuff (it also features the spot that many people have seen in the botch videos with Mark Briscoe landing on his head in a SSP attempt). If you have seen the Punk/Joe shoot interview, it also has a spot that Punk mentioned, noting that Homicide had learned how to be a better heel, citing the spot in this match where Cide built up big to his somersault senton tope only to say screw you' to the fans and not do it, a move that he would have done earlier on in his career, heel or face. The big story here wasn't the very good match but rather a phone call from Homicide at the start. J-Train handed him a phone and Homicide spoke to an unidentified person on the other end the match finished when Homicide missed Joe and hit Mark Briscoe with a fireball (well, he tried it wasn't as bad as Hogan's attempt in the Warrior rematch). That caused a DQ, and the Rottwielers proceeded to lay a beat down on Jay and Joe until out of nowhere, Low Ki's music hit to a giant pop. That led to the famous line from Low Ki after a promo against Homicide (this isn't exactly verbatim) "Nobody will disrespect the ROH World Title except me" and then he hit Joe with the belt and joined Homicide and the Rottwielers, and god damn if they weren't a frightening group of people.
The Final Confrontation CM Punk vs. Ricky Steamboat
The other big happening on this card was the Final Confrontation between CM Punk and Ricky Steamboat. I don't know exactly why they never had a match. I know that Foley never wrestled Joe because he was contracted to WWE in a way that, although not an active wrestler at the time, he was not allowed to wrestle elsewhere. Steamboat didn't start working for WWE until about 4 months after this show. I know Steamboat had bad back problems, but that that didn't keep him from having multiple exchanges with Punk over the course of their feud, including a flying crossbody from the top rope. I'm guessing it had to do with the fact that the Steamer didn't want to sign on to do a match if he couldn't work a full length one and do it great, so they settled to have him and Punk fight each other for short lengths on multiple occasions. The feud began with Steamboat being the special guest referee for the rematch of the original Pure Title Tournament finals between CM Punk and AJ Styles. Punk felt Steamboat wasn't a fair official and the two came to blows for the first time that night, on the At Our Best show from March 13. Punk's next match was once again refereed by Steamboat, and this time he lost to Bryan Danielson. Steamboat showed up again at the third edition of the Round Robin Challenge (May 15, 2004) and forced Punk and Cabana, who were defending their Tag Titles, back into the ring as they tried to walk out on their match with Maff and Whitmer. That ultimately lead to the Saints dropping the belts to the two men who at the time were still members of the Prophecy. This caused Punk to go crazy, attacking Steamboat and taking him out with a leg drop through a table, causing further distress to the already injured back of the Dragon. At the end of the night, thanks to the Round Robin rules, Punk and Cabana were able to get their Tag straps back, but after a brawl broke out, Steamboat returned from the hospital to get revenge on Punk, and did so to close out the show.
The very next week, the ante was upped even more, as a scheduled verbal confrontation between the two men at the Generation Next show broke down into another brawl, this time with Colt Cabana interfering and Punk mimicking the attack from 1986 when Randy Savage came off the top rope and destroyed Steamboat's throat with the ring bell. Steamboat was not seen again for two months until he returned for Reborn: Completion's Final Confrontation, which leads us to what we're talking about. Steamboat ended up getting the best of an entertaining punch and chop exchange after hitting a top rope flying crossbody, and stood over Punk. He lectured Punk about his attitude, talking about how talented Punk is, but if he keeps up with the way he's currently headed, eventually he will be in for a big wakeup call from somebody who will put him in his place. He laid it out what's it going to be? An attitude change or staying with his current ways? Before getting a chance to answer, Generation Next, who promised something big earlier in the night, came out to blindside and attack Steamboat. Punk made his decision and defended Steamboat, and it led to Steamer extending his fist, and in a gesture of solidarity, they connected fists and Punk received a huge ovation from the crowd.
The Rest
Elsewhere on the card, we saw Generation Next beat the shit out of Special K members Izzy & Dixie in a tag match where Roderick Strong and Jack Evans prevailed. Post match saw Roderick take out Becky Bayless with one of his many backbreakers. At the end of the show, Izzy & Dixie, very beat up, blew off the rest of Special K who wanted to party, seemingly ready to follow a path similar to that of Jay Lethal, only as a tag team.
The feud between the Original and the "New and Improved" Carnage Crews ended here, as Loc and Devito beat Danny "Worst Lisp in the History of Lisps" Daniels and "The Winner of the Rattiest Pubic Hair Beard Contest Three Years in a Row" Masada. It was a standard decent Carnage Crew garbage match with a pretty cool finish, seeing Loc and Devito put Daniels into a garbage can and bashing it with metal baseball bats. It was a great visual and the bats made great sounds. It was a really good finish to a decent-at-best match that finished the feud over the crap in the bag incident, and split up Masada and Daniels as the new Carnage Crew. This marked the final ROH appearance for Masada, and Daniels worked the two shows the following weekend, losing to Chad Collyer on Death Before Dishonor II Part One and losing in a 6 Man Mayhem that Trent Acid won at Part Two.
Maff & Whitmer beat Cabana & Ace Steel in a falls count anywhere match that I missed the majority of because my DVD skipped. It was really no different from any of the brawls between these guys for the entire year of 2004 leading up to this point, though.
Jimmy Rave, as I mentioned earlier, returned and became the Crown Jewel of the Embassy. He defeated Trent Acid in a decent match, and for the first time used the Rave Clash, as CM Punk dubbed it on commentary, which would be the impetus that eventually started the feud with AJ Styles when he returned from TNA. Before this, Styles had taken Rave under his wing in Ring of Honor, trying to give him some guidance.
Overall
This was quite a long show, actually, but the stuff that should have delivered did just that. It wasn't a blow away show, but a week later in Chicago they did have one with DBD II Part 2. The Pure Title tournament was rushed, but I can't blame them so much for that, as the departure of the champion was short notice. It did produce one very good Four Corner Survival and a very good final match with the title on the line. Generation Next continued to have a big presence, and this show definitely began to solidify and signify some change within Ring of Honor. The final angle especially, with Low Ki's return and subsequent heel turn, which was done fantastically and led to some really great stuff in the following 12 months plus. I will recommend this show based on:
- McGuinness vs. Lethal vs. Williams vs. Walters
- The finish of Loc & Devito vs. Masada & Daniels
- Shelley vs. Williams
- Punk vs. Steamboat
- Punk on commentary
- Joe & The Briscoes vs. Homicide & The Pitbulls
- Low Ki's return and heel turn
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- WWE releases 2007: Part Two has thus far seen the releases of Scotty II Hotty, Ariel, Henry Godwin, Too Cold Scorpio, Rob Conway, Sabu and Nick Mitchell. I think that's all of them. None of them will really be missed, although it is a shame that Conway was so criminally misused and then released via another lie from Johnny Ace. Yeah, the guy is in a tough position, especially since he isn't even the Head of Talent Relations any longer and just has to fire who he is told to, but for a long time now all we've heard are stories about how he is never straight with the guys as to why they're being let go. It's bad enough to do it over the phone (and I think Spike Dudley was actually called around 9 or 10 at night on a Tuesday), but the least the guy could do is be honest with the guys. Ace's favourite excuse has been "creative has nothing for you", even though that's often not the case, as holds true this time with Rob Conway, who had, in the same week he was fired, received his new gear for the La Resistance tag team. A lot fewer people would dislike the guy if he would just be honest with the guys. Especially now, since it isn't his decision to get rid of people and he's just the messenger. I understand that it isn't easy to fire people, but those people don't deserve to be lied to as they're being told they no longer have a job. I'm just confused as to why Conway needed MORE La Res gear. He was a part of the team for years; he already has tons of different pairs of trunks. Ah well. Hopefully he'll do better elsewhere in a place that doesn't go by the acronym TNA.
- Instead of finishing up his WWE career with a DQ victory over Snitsky on TV, it appears that Rob Van Dam will likely take a pinfall loss to Snitsky on PPV. It is now being reported that Van Dam's last appearance for the company will be at the One Night Stand show a week from this Sunday, where he seems to be getting set up to take on Snisky.
- In injury news, Gregory Helms will be out for a year following successful neck fusion surgery on Monday. Shawn Michaels had knee surgery on Wednesday, and it is possible that he may be back in action before the end of the summer, which is good news, considering that early reports were saying that internally WWE was hoping for a November return in time for the Survivor Series. We just may get Cena/Michaels III for SummerSlam.
- The June 11 edition of Monday Night RAW (2 weeks from this upcoming Monday) will be three hours long. I believe it's the Night of Champions edition that was talked about a few weeks back.
- Deep South Wrestling will continue to run shows even though they are no longer a part of WWE. This statement was released from them on Tuesday:
"To: All Deep South Wrestling Fans!
I want to take this opportunity to once again thank all the Deep South Wrestling Fans for their past support. We are in the process of re-organizing the Company, and we at Deep South are eagerly looking forward to seeing all the fans once again very soon. Please spread the word that Deep South will return soon at a location to be announced, watch the Deep South website for dates and times of the next Deep South Event. Thanks again!
Management: Deep South Wrestling LLC"
- Konnan may be receiving his new kidney soon, and it is possible that he will be having transplant surgery in June.
- The NWA World Heavyweight Title tournament begins next Saturday and the first round will continue throughout June on different cards throughout North America. It features 16 men, and the favourites at this time are the biggest names, Bryan Danielson, Brent Albright and Claudio Castagnoli. Danielson and Albright are the two guys who seem to have the best shot, with Claudio and Adam Pearce as longer shots. The first round of the tournament looks like this:
Saturday June 2, 2007
Cornelia, GA www.nwa-wildside.com
CHAD PARHAM Vs. "MR. MID-ATLANTIC" DAMIEN WAYNE
Thayer, MO www.cswwrestling.com
AARON AGUILERA Vs. "SCRAP IRON" ADAM PEARCE
Salyersville, KY www.nwabluegrass.com
"SHOOTER" BRENT ALBRIGHT Vs. OSAMU NISHIMORA
Saturday June 9, 2007
Phoenix, AZ - www.risingphoenixwrestling.com
FRED SAMPSON Vs. GLAMOUR BOY SHANE
Saturday June 16, 2007
Vancouver B.C., Canada www.eccw.com
"THE BOMBER" NELSON CREED Vs. "THE AMERICAN DRAGON" BRYAN DANIELSON
Danvers, MA www.necwwrestling.com
PEPPER PARKS Vs. CLAUDIO CASTIGNOLI
Saturday June 30, 2007
Lebanon, TN www.nwatop-ropewrestling.com
ROUGHNECK RYAN Vs. SICODELICO, JR.
Quincy, MA
MIKEY NICHOLLS Vs. FERGAL DEVITT
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- Ring of Honor is featured in a short piece on VH1's "Where Are They Now?: Reality Stars" show thanks to the goodwill of one Jonny Fairplay, who is a big fan of the company. The piece shows parts of the Chris Hero vs. Nigel McGuinness match from the Supercard of Honor II show in Detroit at the end of March as well as Larry Sweeney. The piece also allows us to see the big jawbreaker clothesline from Nigel to Fairplay.
- SHIMMER will be taping Volumes 11 and 12 of their DVD series next weekend in Berwyn, Illinois. From what I've read, Volume 11 will feature the entire tournament, taped on both next Friday and Saturday, and Volume 12 will be taped next Saturday after the completion of the tournament. The tourney to crown the first ever SHIMMER Women's Athletes Champion features 16 of the top female wrestlers in the country, including 15 current roster members and one surprise entrant. The 15 regulars have not been announced, however some of the women advertised for the show include Lacey, Daizee Haze, Allison Danger, Sara Del Rey, Nikki Roxx, Cheerleader Melissa and MsChif, all of whom I can only assume will be involved in the tournament. Go to SHIMMERWrestling.com for more information.
- Apparently, every city ROH runs is trying to get Death Before Dishonor V at their venue. There was supposed to be an announcement as to where it is taking place this week, but it is being delayed.
- The summer will be packed with great Ring of Honor action. Here are the lineups thus far for some of the events coming up:
Friday, June 8th, 2007 Roxbury Crossing, MA
- Takeshi Morishima vs. Jay Briscoe (ROH World Title)
- Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave
- Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen
- Nigel McGuinness vs. Chris Hero vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quackenbush
The last time we had a World Champion as big as Takeshi Morishima, Jay Briscoe put up a hell of a valiant effort against him inside a cage. This time there's no cage, but once again Briscoe is on a big roll. And not the kind Morishima can eat a lot of in a single sitting. Well, maybe. Last summer when Danielson was the World Champion, Jimmy Rave gave him a run for his money with the belt on the line. Will he fare better this time with no titles on the line? The rivalry between the Briscoes and the team of Steen and Generico has continually heated up can Mark get some revenge for the cheap shot Steen took at him in April in Edison after Mark's early surprise return from a concussion? Hero and Castagnoli split up as a tag team back in December, and will team once again one night after they are pitted against each other in a Four Corner Survival. Will something happen in the Boston area that puts their title shot on the next night in jeopardy? Look out for Quackenbush in the 4CS with all of the other issues going on in this one, he just may be overlooked by the other men and might surprise somebody with a victory.
Saturday, June 9th, 2007 Philadelphia, PA
- Takeshi Morishima vs. Roderick Strong (ROH World or FIP Heavyweight Title)
- Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli (2/3 Falls, ROH World Tag Titles)
- Bryan Danielson vs. Matt Sydal
- Nigel McGuinness vs. Larry Sweeney's Mystery Opponent
- Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw
If Morishima successfully defends the ROH World Title on June 8 against Jay Briscoe, Roderick Strong's FIP Heavyweight Title is safe and he will have nothing to lose and everything to gain in Philadelphia. However if Briscoe is able to upset the monster champion, Strong will have a beast in a bad mood coming right for him, and the FIP Title may be in jeopardy. In the third and final meeting between these two teams, the ROH World Titles will be on the line as the Briscoes will defend against the former Kings of Wrestling in a 2 out of 3 falls match. The teams have split the victories thus far, with the KoW taking their match on December 22 and the Briscoes getting a victory on December 23. We may see the final appearance for Claudio and Hero as a tag team in Ring of Honor if they can't win this match Sweeney already has it in for Claudio, and surely he won't want to associate with the Most Money Making Man if he can't bring in some more dough by winning the World Tag Team Titles. Matt Sydal better be prepared to get some extra stretching time on June 9 it won't be voluntary, however. Who does Larry Sweeney have in store for Nigel McGuinness? It looks like we're all going to find out at the same time Nigel does a week from this Saturday. Quackenbush and Jigsaw impressed in the Midwest a few weeks ago, and they will be teaming up to take on the very hot team of Steen and Generico in Philly. Steen and Generico are out to make an example of everybody they face leading up to their shot at the Briscoes at the end of the month, but QuackSaw does have the hometown advantage in Philadelphia. I don't know if that will help them much against the Generic Luchador and Mr. Wrestling, though.
Friday, June 22nd, 2007 Dayton, OH
- Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness vs. Takeshi Morishima & Naomichi Marufuji
- Matt Sydal & A Partner vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe or Hero & Castagnoli (ROH World Tag Titles)
- KENTA vs. Rocky Romero
Marufuji and Nigel McGuinness tore the house down at the Manhattan Center back in September 2006 in the first ever GHC Heavyweight Title defense outside of Japan. Former World Champion Bryan Danielson wants to get in the ring on the opposite side of current World Champion Takeshi Morishima. It's gonna be a war in Dayton. Matt Sydal is ROH's resident tag whore, and after being chosen as a partner at the first ever ROH PPV, he will get to choose his own partner for another Tag Title shot in Dayton. He will have a new partner to once again challenge the Briscoes if they can retain the straps in Philadelphia, or Sydal and his partner will take on Sydal's last partner in vying for a title shot, Claudio Castagnoli and his partner Chris Hero with the belts on the line. Either way, Sydal will get another shot at ROH Tag Team gold. Romero put in a hell of an effort in a loss to KENTA's partner in crime Marufuji on May 12 in NYC, and on June 22 in Dayton, he will take on KENTA in what will be a very hard hitting and kicking contest.
Saturday, June 23rd, 2007 Chicago Ridge, IL
- Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA
- Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (ROH World Tag Titles)
- Nigel McGuinness vs. Chris Hero
This is scheduled to be the taping of Ring of Honor's second pay-per-view event. Danielson and KENTA had a classic on September 16, 2006 in NYC. As the newswire often claims, this one needs no hype. If the Briscoes get past their challengers in the rest of the month of June, they will defend against the men that many see as the top contenders for the ROH Tag Titles, Kevin Steen and El Generico. The Briscoes are going to have to man up big time in this rematch from FYF: Philly. Nigel McGuinness has been having problems with Larry Sweeney and Chris Hero, and Jonny Fairplay even got involved. On June 23, Nigel will look for some revenge.
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- I'm going to continue to praise Candice Michelle's in ring work until she puts on a bad match. I'm really digging the improvement. As JR and King wonder every week, who is training her these days? Finlay is busy doing his own thing. Maybe it's Steve Keirn.
- Lashley's quick matches against Masters (who also seems to be improving) and Viscera were quite fun. The storyline is actually pretty decent as well, with a well done turn of events at Judgment Day as Lashley won in a sprint of a match but didn't pin Vince, thus didn't get the belt. The crowd was molten for the whole 2 minutes worth of the match at the PPV, and I have confidence that Vince will be able to pull an entertaining brawl out of Lashley at One Night Stand.
- I dig the Nitro/Dykstra tag team, and unlike seemingly a lot of people, I prefer Nitro in a team. He's good, but right now I think he's better off having another guy in there with him as he continues to improve. It would be nice if the tag teams could get some mic time, though. Haas & Benjamin were sitting at the announce table but weren't even given headsets, so whenever King would ask a question, all we'd hear was a barely audible grunt followed by King responding vaguely to what I guess we can assume was an answer. I'm a bit wary of where this is all leading, though. Chances are, given WWE's recent tag team track record, WGTT and Nitro/Dykstra are being built up quickly just so they can be used on the PPV next weekend and then they'll be forgotten again. It would be great if that wasn't the case, though. I also hope they don't go with a four way tag team match. WGTT and Nitro/Dykstra have done nothing to earn a title shot, and with them seemingly being on the same page and Cade & Murdoch trying to win over the Hardys, an 8 man No Holds Barred clusterfuck of a match will be a better match and do much more for everybody than a four way match for the titles will. It prolongs the Cade & Murdoch/Hardys friendly feud and can help build the other two teams as legitimate contenders and give the Hardys some more challengers.
- Cena's promo on RAW was awesome. When he gets serious and delivers promos like that, there's nobody in the company right now better than him. Believe it. I'm enjoying the Khali/Cena feud, too, and actually have some high hopes for the Falls Count Anywhere match at the PPV. The Judgment Day match wasn't half bad. Plus, KHALI SPIN KICK~!
- The PPV last week wasn't exceptional, but there was solid wrestling on the whole. I wish Carlito would have won, similar to how Eddy Guerrero dismantled RVD at Backlash 2002. Not as awesome, but in the same vein, since Carlito dominated the entire match until the final minute. It was still a decent match and a fine opener for the show. Punk and Burke would have benefited from having a few less minutes in their match, but it was still good. Even at 17 minutes, though, the match didn't seem full it was like 10 minutes worth of stuff stretched out an extra 7 minutes. I really liked the finish of the Edge/Batista match. The first fall of the US Title match was good and had a very good finish. The second fall was decent, but nothing that great, and the finishing sequence was a bit off and quite heatless. Disappointing, but not bad by any stretch.
- I'm enjoying WWE overall right now. ECW is lacking a little, but if I only pay attention to whatever Punk is doing, it's fine. RAW has some good story stuff going on and everything is building to the PPVs which is much better than the situation leading up to Backlash. There's also some decent wrestling on the show. SmackDown has shaped up after a bad month and a half or so, and the wrestling quality has gone back up to being very good, with multiple good, long TV matches a week. The Edge stuff is interesting, but this continues to be a wrestling heavy, storyline light show that tells the stories in the ring, which I'm fine with. The shows are all very different, which I like a lot, but they all have good things about them. I really have very little problems with WWE as a whole right now, although they still don't have my confidence as far as spending any money on them right now.
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Ideally, with everything that has gone down thus far this week on TV (beware of the SmackDown spoilers momentarily), I'd like to see this as a One Night Stand card:
One Night Stand June 3rd, 2007 Jacksonville, FL
- John Cena vs. Great Khali (Falls Count Anywhere, WWE Title)
- Vince McMahon vs. Bobby Lashley (Street Fight, ECW Title)
- Edge vs. Batista (Cage Match, World Heavyweight Title)
- Hardys and Cade & Murdoch vs. Nitro, Dykstra and Haas & Benjamin (8-man Tornado Tag)
- MVP vs. Chris Benoit (No Holds Barred, US Title)
- RVD vs. Snitsky (Chair Match)
- Chavo Guerrero vs. Jimmy Wang Yang (Extreme Lucha Libre, CW Title)
- Carlito vs. Ric Flair (Anything Goes)
- London & Kendrick vs. Deuce & Domino (Iron Circle, WWE Tag Titles)
The first three matches are confirmed. The rest all fit into the Extreme Rules idea of the PPV without going overboard. It's basically a WWE PPV card in the spirit of a regular ECW card. I like the No Holds Barred name for the US Title match because it says there are no rules while incorporating the fact that the guys have been having some hard fought wrestling matches against each other. Yang has more than earned a title shot and this feud with Chavo had its beginnings made all the way back in February, and over the past few weeks has begun to pick up. Snitsky got fed up and had to use a chair on Van Dam. Some of RVD's signature offense involves chairs. It's simple and a little different even though it's very much the same. Just start them in the ring each with a chair in hand. In a nod to the Mysterio/Guerrera matches, they could bring out the Extreme Lucha Libre name for the match and let the guys go a little bit crazy. Carlito and Flair is self explanatory, I just wish I could come up with a better name. It's tough to get more variations without just saying "Hardcore match".
I voiced my opinion already on the RAW tag match. An Iron Circle match, if you're wondering, is a Parking Lot Brawl, just with a much, much better name. The only Iron Circle match WWE has done with that name was between Shamrock and Blackman about 8 years ago, and the only difference between the two matches (a recent PLB was between Cena and Eddy in 2003), is that the PLB ends with a pinfall and the Iron Circle ends by getting out. I'd just use the Parking Lot Brawl pinfall victory rule and the Iron Circle name. A match like this works out because of Deuce and Domino's entrance with the car at least that's where I got the idea for the match. It deviates from a lot of the other matches on the card that are basically the same exact thing with different names, and it allows the big brawler tag team to have a tough guy match while giving the daredevils some cars to jump off of, and also can lead to a regular match where London and Kendrick can get their belts back.
It's not perfect, but I like it. I have 9 matches on there, even though it's a regular length show because I figure that the WWE, ECW and CW Title matches don't have to exceed 10 or so minutes, and neither does the Van Dam/Snitsky match, which can go 7 or 8 minutes even, as long as it's filled with some good brutality. That leads to plenty of time for all of the rest of the matches to get decent lengths and for the PPV to go a little longer than the 2 hour and 45 minute mark. I wish there was some room for Punk in there somewhere, but RVD's last match trumps Punk furthering his feud with Burke that can wait a little longer. This card is just something I'd like to see, though I don't expect a lot of this to actually take place. We'll see very soon where they're actually going with all of this, though.
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Finally, I return with some plugs! I figured that if the column is this long, I'd be remiss to not lengthen it a little more and tell you to read some of the great stuff we have here on 411.
This week, we MAY OR MAY NOT be joined by RD Reynolds from WrestleCrap.com. Joined, of course, on the super fabulous wonderful, exciting, awesome, piece of greatness that is RocketBusta Radio. Last week we had 411's own Larry Csonka on, and this week is Episode 98, leading up to the big triple digit celebration on June 9.
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I think I've said enough for one week. With this, I bid you adieu until next week.
