The Best Of The Rest: 10.31.07 Volume 19 - Cyber Sunday, Glory By Honor VI and More!
Posted by Alex Mattis on 10.31.2007
Spookier than Cyber Sunday's booking, it's the Halloween edition of "The Best Of The Rest!"
Welcome back one and all. Oh we are now entering that wonderful time of the year called fall, or "blazer weather" as I call it. The leaves turn brown, the air gets cooler, the big angles of the year start to pan out, and MMA set up some of their biggest match ups. Well on this Halloween edition of the "Best Of The Rest" big angle and MMA's big match ups. With Cyber Sunday in the books the E has definitely left much to talk about, not all good. Glory By Honor is this weekend and is easily one of the biggest shows in Ring Of Honor's history. Chuck and Wanderlei are bah gawd finally set to collide. And the fate of the lightweight champ is to be determined this week. Well enough with the previews, let's get to the feature presentation.
Cyber Sunday Thoughts:
Rey beating Finlay... that's believable. I was really surprised the Miz was the one voted on by the fans. I'm sure that caught alot of people off guard including Miz. It's always a good thing when the fans express their interest in a new wrestler. True the Miz sucks, but hey the fans are beginning to accept the new crop. Triple H beating Umaga, shocking. Kane defeated MVP in a match that left me in... indifference. Hopefully the win over Jeff Hardy is just the beginning of a tear for Miiiiiiisssssssssstttttttttter Kennedy to go on... Kennedy. Well nothing like establishing a new champ, than in his first title defense make him look weak and get DQ'd by a low blow. Honestly with the tear Orton has been on lately how could it be a bad thing for him to beat HBK? I suppose this does fit in the "chicken shit" character of Orton, but really this guy best Triple H in devastating fashion what would three seconds of Shawn on his back have hurt? Finally, far be it for me to like anything Batista does but I did like the match with Taker and the finish. The finish made both guys look good as Dave got the pin, but Taker took everything he had and finally was finished off after a second Batista Bomb, a move that has put many foes away. And when is it ever bad to see Steve Austin on TV, please don't condemn that statement. I guess an E for effort should be given to those involved, but much like previous Cyber Sunday's and Taboo Tuesday's the show just kinda left me with some confusion.
Glory By Honor VI Weekend:
In the tradition of ROH, GBH weekend has been set and is going to be two of the biggest independent wrestling shows this year. Mitsuharu Misawa comes to the US for two enormous matches. ROH has gone all out to put on a loaded card, and after setting the bar so high last year many eyes will be looking at ROH to see if they can live up to the hype.
Night 1 will kick off the weekend and definitely has some interesting pairing's for the card. In a grude tag match, the team of Brent Albright and BJ Whitmer will battle the dynamic duo of Kevin Steen and El Generico in what should be an interesting match with The Hangmen's Three trying to establish themselves and Steenerico trying to get their feet back under them. In other tag action The Age of The Fall will take on The Vulture squad in what should be an absolutely insane tag scramble. I demand a 6-way dance off, Necro can cut a rug. The best of three series will come to a head as Austin Aries faces AmDrag to see who will face Nigel for the ROH title the following night. As a bonus the loser gets Morishima. Man it would suck to lose this one. In a special attraction match "Lighting" Mike Quackenbush will square off with Roderick "I can't grow thick enough facial hair to look like a serious heel" Strong. This one should be something. These two try to steal whatever card they're on, and stealing this one would be a MAJOR feather in the cap. Nigel McGuinness will defend his ROH World title against a "top challenger." Don Kernodle anyone? And in the main event of the evening, in one of the most epic tag matches to happen in this country in the past few years, KENTA and the legend himself Mitsuharu Misawa will take on Takeshi Morishima and Naomichi Marifuji. This should be something. Just these four standing in a ring at the same time gets three stars. If an lariat or a stiff elbow is to take place we're talking ****1/2. But seriously, ROH and the US should be honored to have this professional wrestling match on American soil.
On to Night 2. HEEYYYYY, Claudio Castagnoli will face Marifuji in and ROH Vs. NOAH match. These two constantly improve their skills and these two will look to outdo each other in this one, which will be a reward for we the fans. Morishima will attempt to decapitate either Aries or Danielson. If Nigel is still champ he will defend his crown against the Aries/Danielson winner. With the AmDrag and Nigel setting the bar already this year, I think that we are going to see another classic, but this time Austin Aries will be the one opposing McGuinness. And in the main event of GBH: N2, Misawa will defend his GHC heavyweight title against his Night 1 partner KENTA. Words can't really say how big this match is. For the second year in a row the GHC title will be defended on US soil and ROH is housing the match. Not to mention that this is the first time these two are meeting in a singles match. All the elements are right for an amazing match and one of the most important matches in Ring Of Honor's history. This is a huge weekend for ROH, and one that could raise the value of their company even more. For those going to the shows enjoy them, and for those like myself, I can't wait to get them on DVD.
The Stoppage:
-Finally, finally, finally, FINALLY!!! Chuck Liddell Vs. Wanderlei Silva is set. However I, like many, will not actually believe this is going to happen until I see the two face to face in the octagon. This fight has been one of the most demanded fights in the sports history and has been on-again off-again more times than Britney Spears' career. While I'm jakked as can be for this fight, and UFC 79 in general, it's still two months away. I'll talk more and more about it as the time draws near.
-The war of words continues between Randy Couture and the UFC. Is it just me or is it really upsetting to watch these two have such a nasty fallout when the did some much for one another? Anyway, I'm not really sure what Randy wants to achieve from here and what he thinks is going to happen with his career. But I know what he COULD do. If it were about the money he could really clean up with companies that are looking for big names to put on their shows. As long as he and Fedor are alive talks of the two fighting will be there, so that is still a possibility. The man is still the UFC heavyweight champ in many peoples minds so he could always figure things out with them and return to defend his title. It is a situation where no one can say what's going to happen expect for Randall Couture.
-The UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk will have his fate decided by the CSAC this week. Sherk will be fight a steroid case, after testing positive for Nandrolone following his fight with Hermes France at UFC 73. He's has been fighting this things since day one which leads me to believe that he may actually be innocent. It's not like mistakes are never made. Nate Marquardt had a false positive that was later cleared up. Dana White has even said that Sherk passed a lie detector test. I suppose it is possible to injest steroids without knowing it, but we'll have to see how the NSAC feels about it. If Sherk Vs. Penn is not to happen, I can't help but feel robbed.
Feedback Frenzy:
This week Alex has some feedback to post and respond to regarding last weeks talk of Fedor and Couture. This comes from Ludwig Parlade, and he writes:
"My name is Ludwig, and I happened upon your column while trying to google any new information from Fedor's M1 press conference on Monday the 22nd, and it seems that you might be missing some important information from it. Fedor's contract with M1 is tailored the way he wanted the UFC to make it, he's allowed to fight in other organizations like the UFC if the other organization cooperates with M1. So a Couture and Fedor fight could happen, but it's up to Dana White; also M1 is willing to add 1million dollars more to the purse for a fighter from the UFC. These tidbits of information were given in response to accusations of Fedor being afraid to fight and tarnish his record. I can't remember where, but I read Fedor was quoted in saying that he wasn't afraid to fight anyone."
Ludwig, I was aware of these stipulations on Fedor's contract, so I should have elaborated more. He CAN fight in the UFC, but Dana and co. like to have their fighters tied to a deal. What if Fedor were to come in and smash a top name UFC guy. Then M-1 could forever talk about how their guys are the best, etc. The UFC knows how things like this work and didn't want him going elsewhere to fight. I know Fedor would be down to fight anyone and I respect the fact that he has these things in his contract, showing that he is willing to fight anyone, anywhere, anytime but the UFC just wouldn't partner up to something like that. They wouldn't do it while he was in PRIDE, so why would they do it now? And I did read about the $1 million purse for a Couture-Fedor fight, I'm not sure if that would go for anyone. But something like that has to be appealing to the eye, and something Randy might heavily consider.
Well...
Keeping in the Halloween spirt of things I give to you: *This Week's YouTube Sendoff*
Remember feedback, as always, is welcome at slash_632@hotmail.com
Everyone have a great Halloween and a good week, and I'll see you right back here next week.
