The Independent Mid-Card 12.18.07: One-Year Anniversary Column
Posted by Samuel Berman on 12.18.2007
Not only is it the one-year anniversary of the IMC, but it's the 50th edition as well, so I've decided to celebrate with exclusive match reviews from Brad Garoon, Bayani Domingo, Mike Campbell & Ari Berenstein. Oh, and star ratings and statistics. Everyone loves star ratings and statistics.
Welcome to a very special edition of The Independent Mid-Card. On December 13, 2006, this column made its debut on 411mania, and now, a little over one year later, it seems only appropriate to take a minute and look both forwards and backwards at where this column is going and where it has already been. The fact that this anniversary coincides with the 50th installment of the IMC series is somehow fitting and just serves to add an additional milestone to celebrate. Joining me this week will be a quartet of 411mania's best columnists and reviewers, each of whom has taken the time to analyze and discuss an Independent Mid-Card match that impressed them in recent years. Also, I'll be doing a bit of analysis of the matches that have been featured in this column over the last year as well as discuss some of the things I'm hoping to bring to the IMC in 2008. Why delay any further when there's so much to get to. Welcome to the IMC.
One Year Anniversary and 50th Column Spectacular
411Mania – The Independent Mid-Card – Milwaukee, WI – December 18, 2007
The Writers: Brad Garoon – Though he started on 411mania in the Summer of 2004 doing tandem Ring of Honor reviews with Jacob Ziegler, Brad came into his own as a solo reviewer a year later when he posted his review of Full Impact Pro's Emergence event. Since then, Brad has tackled diverse companies like Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and SHIMMER as well as continued his work reviewing ROH and FIP. He has also recently begun doing Special Edition columns to look at strings of matches rather than individual events, an interesting and innovative twist on the traditional review format.
Bayani Domingo – The self-proclaimed ‘Rant War-rior', Bayani Domingo earned his spot as a 411mania columnist by surviving the 2005 Rant Wars. Since his Truth B Told column debuted in late-2005, Bayani has gone on to develop a cult following, helped no doubt by his weekly picture of an ‘Asian Bitch Lookin' Good'. Still, Bayani is one of the most talented writers on the site, and one willing to tackle issues from across the wrestling world with an honesty and frankness that few writers are willing to muster.
Mike Campbell – Widely considered 411mania's toughest reviewer, Mike is a holdover from the pre-Inside Pulse Split era of the site. His in-depth analysis of companies like Ring of Honor, All Japan Pro Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling is almost legendary for its high standards and controversial stances. Notably, Mike was one of the more vocal dissenters to the greatness of the Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi match in Ring of Honor, laying out a reasonable and thoughtful analysis to support this minority view. In addition to his reviews, Mike also authors The Tiger's Take, using it as a platform to discuss his feelings on the more general issues in the wrestling business.
Ari Berenstein – Though he is now best known for his notoriously comprehensive Column of Honor, Ari actually began his 411mania career in 2003, writing for the Music Zone. During that early period, Ari wrote a variety of columns including The Other Side of the Galaxy, which he retired in late-2005. Since leaving the Music Zone, Ari has gone on to become one of the site's foremost authorities on Ring of Honor as well as dabbling into a number of other Independent companies and making his voice heard in Roundtables for both World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action. Recently, Ari began a podcast dedicated to discussing the latest news and results from ROH, putting him on the cutting edge of 411mania's newest style of coverage.
The Matches:
Each of the four writers above has chosen a match to discuss, using a basic version of the traditional IMC format to discuss their thoughts and impressions.
THE INTRODUCTION
In 2006 I knew nothing of Pro Wrestling NOAH's junior tag team division. As a matter of fact until the beginning of 2007 the only junior title match I'd seen from NOAH was Naomichi Marufuji's GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship win over Tatsuhito Takaiwa from late 2001.
Then the Briscoe Brothers debuted in NOAH. In their debut match they defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takeshi Sugiura for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. However, it wasn't the title win that caught my attention, but rather the title loss a few days later. In a stunning match that caught me completely off guard the Briscoes dropped the straps to Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin. Not only did this match make me a permanent fan of NOAH's junior division, but it also forced me to jump on the Ricky Marvin bandwagon (and begin to believe in the power of the Mushiking).
The Briscoes left Japan but Suzuki and Marvin remained. After the awe-inspiring win over the Briscoes they would go on to defend the titles in a myriad of entertaining matches. They defeated youngster Taiji Ishimori & stateside independent star Rocky Romero in a thirty-minute spot-fest. They held back the Dragon Gate team of Taku Iwasa and Kenichiro Arai in a difficult challenge. In a non-title rematch they went to a draw against the Briscoes during the Nippon Television Cup tournament. They then defeated the KENTA & Ishimori, the winners of said tournament, in one of the best matches of the year. Unfortunately for the champions no matter who they defeated there was always one team coming back to challenge them again and again.
Dragon Gate's Muscle Outlaw'z received their first shot at Marvin & Suzuki early in their reign. The GHC champions traveled to Dragon Gate to put the belts on the line against Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino. The match wasn't a classic (and only half of it has ever been released) but in the end Marvin & Suzuki put down the team with little difficulty. A few months later Doi came to NOAH to challenge for the belts again, this time bringing along teammate Genki Horiguchi as his partner and putting Yoshino in the corner. Sadly this match sputtered along slowly and failed to deliver outside of Yoshino's funny corner-man bit.
Not to be deterred Doi returned to NOAH with the faster-than-lightning Yoshino and a whole lot of momentum. The two Muscle Outlaw'z had won become the first Dragon Gate Open the Twin Gate Champions by defeating Ryo Saito & Susumu Yokosuka, and then later united those titles with the IJ Tag Team Championships by defeating Iwasa & Arai. It seemed nothing could stop them as they charged in for their third shot at the GHC titles.
THE MATCH
The match went second from the top on a smaller show during NOAH's Winter Navigation Tour. As such the crowd is rather quiet. The top of the match sees Doi controlling Suzuki's arm. Before long Yoshino gets involved illegally, prompting Marvin to take him to the floor. An errant dive leaves Marvin without the use of his left foot. The bulk of the match sees Suzuki try in vain to fight off both opponents. The exchanges between Suzuki and Doi are rather dull while those between Suzuki and Yoshino are more exciting. The first of two commendable spots in the match occurs during a Suzuki comeback and sees him place Doi on Yoshino's shoulders and trip Yoshino so that he is forced to powerbomb Doi. The second comes when Marvin returns to the match. After hobbling to the ring (and getting a mild reaction) Marvin tags in and hits a one legged dropkick and a one legged vertical suplex, selling beautifully during both. In the end the injury was too much for the champions to overcome as Yoshino is able to easily keep Marvin at bay while Doi hits Suzuki with the Doi 555 off the top rope and the Muscular Bomb for the win and the titles.
The match as a whole is rather dull and features a huge blight; at one point Suzuki is on the business end of a Vertebreaker and is fully recovered less than fifteen seconds later. There is no excuse for that kind of no-selling. The only solace I take is that the Muscular Bomb (a Storm Cradle Driver) was enough to keep Suzuki down. I know that this is a team that took three shots to win the titles, but enough is enough when it comes to kicking out of and no-selling ultra-dangerous moves.
THE AFTERMATH
I can't say much more about the aftermath as not much has happened to either team since this occurred less than a month ago. To my knowledge line ups for NOAH's next tour haven't been fully announced yet, leaving the former champions' futures in limbo. Doi & Yoshino were both eliminated in the first round of Dragon Gate's King of Gate by Austin Aries and Susumu Yokosuka, respectively. As such Yokosuka now awaits a shot at Yoshino's Open the Brave Gate Championship. Five days later Yoshino will have another title defense, as he and Doi will square off against NOAH's Kanemaru & Atsushi Aoki for the GHC belts.
El Generico vs. PAC
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla – All Star Weekend IV, Night 2 – November 18, 2006
Analyzed and Discussed by Bayani Domingo
THE INTRODUCTION
El Generico is a PWG fan favorite and regular by way of Canada and Tijuana, Mexico. Despite spending time in CZW, IWS, and JAPW earlier in his career Generico is best known for his work in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Generico is a former three-tine PWG Tag Title Champion, and a former PWG Heavyweight Champion in defeating Human Torando and eventually losing the belt to Bryan Danielson. Generico was able to parlay his reputation for being a fan favorite and a hard worker into a regular Ring of Honor gig along with long-time partner/rival Kevin Steen. Steen-Erico then entered into what has been arguably the "Feud of the Year" with the Briscoe Bros over the RoH Tag Titles. Generico's Top Rope Brainbustaaaaahs remains one of the most popular moves in the Indys and Generico recently finished a 2nd tour of Dragon Gate in Japan with another tour lined up next year.
Not much was known about "The Man Gravity Forgot" PAC in the States. Originally scheduled to make his US debut as part of the short lived WSX as Teddy Hart's original partner in the "Filth and the Fury" tag team, a visa problem forced him to miss the taping, he was however able to make PWG's ASW 4, facing off with AJ Styles in a somewhat disappointing effort as the strength of his matches against AJ is what got him booked in the first place. A veteran of several European companies including IWF and IPW, PAC was able to parlay his work in PWG into further bookings in CHIKARA, RoH, and most notably Dragon Gate where he is currently on his second tour in Japan as part of "Typhoon". PAC's biggest win in the states thus far was along side Roderick Strong as they beat the Briscoes in the finals of PWG's DDT4 Tag Tournament.
THE MATCH
Spotty and chaotic at times, but the match came off as one of the biggest surprises of the weekend and made both men look like stars. The "Face vs. Face" aspect of the match came off pretty well as Generico was the clear crowd favorite going into the match, but the crowd turned and began chanting for Pac around the middle of the match. While a lot of people don't like the idea of not having a clear Face/Heel split set up going into a match I think this worked based on one wrestler (Generico) being so well known and loved in the match that it was clear who the crowd was behind from the get go. What the match felt like was a slow build to get Pac over rather than a squash for Generico. Most people would have assumed that they wouldn't have brought a guy in from England just to job twice so having Generico win the match wasn't a sure thing, although most of us who follow PWG and RoH know that newbies very rarely win their debut matches or even there first few.
Generico worked the match as the "base" while Pac flew around the ring and flew through the arm hitting all manners of Hurricanranas and top rope moves. At this point Generico wasn't getting enough recognition for being a fairly good technical wrestler while actually working some power moves and Pac's motivation here wasn't as much to show off his technical skills (which he does have) but rather to hit "spot" after "spot" and get the crowd in his corner. The match was littered with counter after counter, various kicks and strikes, and more Hurricanrana variations than an entire AAA show. While the match could easily have gone a few minutes longer it was smart to have keep the match fairly short as Pac was still not a known commodity. It was hard to know what to fully expect out of Pac at this point as he could either be a Jack Evans like spot artist and high flyer who could be as much "hit as miss" or might end up as a fairly more versatile
and cleaner flyer like Matt Sydal.
This match was basically set up to show case Pac and give him the best competition possible. While it didn't work for him when he battled a more familiar opponent in AJ Styles, this match helped put Pac on the road to stardom at the states. Which still remains to be scene. Oh yeah, and Generico brought his usual brand of awesomeness as well and really Generico is one of the most unselfish and consistent workers on the Indy scene in my opinion and not only is one of the best "bumpers" in the biz but also one of the most unselfish when it comes to putting over his opponent big time. what I think really worked well with this match were the number of big "near pinfalls" that came out of it for Pac. Because hardly anyone in the crowd knew anything about Pac they had no idea what his "Finisher" was and after his top rope rewind hurricanarana and standing corkscrew SSP many people thought the match was over. In fact his standing SSP senton also seemed like it might finish the match, but both were only a close 2 count. Because of the unfamiliarity with Pac's moveset it made the pinfalls even more exciting as it wasn't as predictable to figure out where the match was going to end. Even at the finish when Generico hit the top rope Brainbustaaaah people thought the match might not be over since Pac fell the wrong way out of the ring and Generico had to pull him back in for the pin.
The match overall was fantastic due to the surprise nature of the British import as well as the great job of Generico selling him as a real threat. When you consider how far each men have come after the match happened I think you can consider this a real turning point in both of their careers. Generico proved he was more than just a tag wrestler and Pac got the recognition he needed to break onto the US Indy scene and eventually Japan. The use of the various arm drags and hurricanranas in the match also brought a very unique twist on the match as Generico got out-lucha'ed by the British wrestler. When I think of European wrestling I think either technical big man or sloppy 120 lbs wrestlers, luckily Pac was neither. The match really did accomplish what it set out to do and in my mind it elevated both men into the spotlight and almost single-handedly stole the entire show.
THE AFTERMATH
El Generico's career seemed to have stalled after this match as he was known as a wrestler who "brought the goodness" but just wasn't taken very seriously as a real Championship threat. That all changed after this match as he went on to win his second PWG Tag Title with Quicksilver, beating the "SoCal Dream Team" Super Dragon and B-Boy and then went on to capture the PWG World Title in 2007. Generico was also able to parlay his success into a spot on RoH's roster and the famous feud with the Briscoes and a strong performance in the "Race to the Top Tournament". Despite Generico's limited vocabulary and his seemingly limited ability to work anything but "plucky babyface" he has been able to find a niche on the Indy scene and now in Dragon Gate as a temporary/honorary member of "New Hazard".
You could argue that this match made Pac's career in the states as this performance was a "make it or break it" match for him in PWG. Had he not been able to secure more bookings in PWG he probably would not have made his way to the East Coast to compete in RoH and CHIKARA. On the heels of his performance PAC became a regular in PWG as well as in Dragon Gate and was able to win his first major US title the PWG Tag Title with Roderick Strong, going over a very competitive field at DDT4. While Pac's last performance in RoH was disappointing to many, his support in PWG has been well documented and he is currently finishing up a 2nd tour of Dragon Gate. Chances are in 2007 after PAC comes back to the states you will be seeing him even more around the Indy circuit.
PAC's debut in PWG was much talked about as no one had really heard much about him other than he was another high flyer in the Jack Evans mold and he had a great match with AJ Styles. While that match on Night 1 was okay, his "second chance" match with Generico was amazing. A spot lover's dream match and it cemented Pac as a high level high flyer. While this match further proved that Generico was a "Go to worker" that could put on a good match with a mop, chair, or RoH student. Well, for sure the mop or chair.
Austin Aries & Jack Evans vs. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal
Ring of Honor – Supercard of Honor – March 31, 2006
Analyzed and Discussed by Mike Campbell
THE INTRODUCTION
This stems out of a competitive rivalry between the leader of Generation Next, Austin Aries, and fellow Generation Next member Matt Sydal. AJ Styles asked Matt Sydal to be his partner to challenge for the ROH Tag Team Titles (held by Aries and Roderick Strong) and the rest of the Generation Next wasn't pleased, feeling that Matt was being selfish, and thinking about himself before the group. Sydal stated that he felt like his stablemates were holding him back, so they backed off and agreed to the title match, which was on ROH's Fourth Anniversary Show in February. Aries and Strong won, but it was a very close and competitive match, although that was mostly due to Styles. Sydal didn't feel like he'd proven himself yet, and challenged Aries to a singles match at Arena Warfare on 3/13 but again came up short. Sydal has requested one last chance to prove himself, and with Strong challenging Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Title, Aries is teaming with Jack Evans, who'd more or less stayed out of everything. It's important to note here that the rivalry between Aries and Sydal is strictly competitive, and there isn't any bad blood between them.
THE MATCH
Minus the finish, this is everything that the Styles/Sydal ROH Tag Titles match should have been. It's hard-hitting, fast paced, and at times it seems hate filled, despite there being no actual hate. Without question, the highlights of the match for me, would be the early exchanges between Sydal and Aries, and their constant attempts to one-up each other. At one point Sydal traps Aries in a head scissors and anyone who has seen more than a couple of Austin Aries matches will know what that means, and so does Sydal, but not this time! Aries changes things up, and counters by putting Sydal in a head scissors of his own, which Sydal escapes with the typical Austin Aries escape. That's my favorite of their exchanges, but it more or less sums them all up. Aries challenges Sydal to step up and prove himself, and Sydal does so.
There's no question that the Aries/Sydal storyline is the showcase of the match, but AJ certainly makes his own contributions, namely by giving Jack Evans huge amounts of abuse. Evans should probably have been finished after the Military press into a spine buster, let alone that Muta lock, and the standing variation. Thankfully, it wasn't all AJ, and Sydal didn't hold back in going after Evans, stablemate or not. With Evans being punished so bad, it gave the fans that much more excitement when Aries tagged in, and you knew that it was on! It'd have been nice to see Sydal's broken nose play more of a factor into things. It's understandable that it didn't, but given Generation Next's heelish origins, it'd certainly have not looked out of place to see Aries hit one of his big kicks right in Sydal's bloody nose, just to prove the point, and it'd have made the finish that much better. I did have a small issue with the finish, as AJ more or less gift wrapped the win for Sydal, Jack attempts a Sasuke Special and gets caught and Styles Clashed on the floor. AJ just rolls him back in and Sydal hits his SSP for the pin. However, unlike the Tag Titles match (IMO) this wasn't just Sydal along for the ride, he'd held his own with Aries and he'd also helped to work over Evans, so it comes off more like AJ letting him have the spotlight since he's the one trying to prove himself. The great moments continue afterward. Sydal is sitting in the corner trying to clean up his nose a bit and Aries walks over and makes sure he's OK, all four of them then shake hands and Aries raises Sydal's hand, giving him the props that he'd wanted and that he'd earned. There's no question that on this night, Matt Sydal became a man.
THE AFTERMATH
Generation Next didn't last much longer, being disbanded the following June. Matt Sydal and AJ Styles teamed up a couple of more times, but never again challenged for the titles. Sydal challenged for the titles with a couple of other partners but never got the win over Aries and Strong. He would eventually though, unseating the team that defeated Aries and Strong, The Kings of Wrestling.
Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson
First Match in Best-of-Three Series
Ring of Honor – Honor Nation – October 5, 2007
Analyzed and Discussed by Ari Berenstein
THE INTRODUCTION
In what has become an annual tradition in Ring of Honor, perennial contenders Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson took it to the ring to determine the better man between the two. There is a lot of prestige and honor at stake like with any competitive rivalry game contested in a sporting association, but in this case there is far more up for grabs. This would be the start of a three match series to determine who would challenge for the ROH World Title.
"Rivalry" is a great word for the pairing of these two. Aries vs. Danielson is not a blood feud, but rather a competitive series based upon respect and mutual admiration. Danielson admits as much in a pre match promo on the Honor Nation DVD, differentiating this series from his current issues with Morishima. Here there is respect on both sides, while Danielson has lost respect for Morishima because he attacked his injured eye when he claimed that he would not do so.
Up to this point both Aries and Danielson had fought against one another a total of five times, beginning with the first annual Survival of the Fittest Finals in 2004. Danielson submitted Aries in the SOTF finals with a painful high angle Boston Crab (think Walls of Jericho with added torque), but Aries would come back and win a breakthrough, 74 minute, two-out-of-three falls match that became his calling card. Danielson had three wins (adding onto the total with two ROH World title retentions in 2005 and 2006) and Aries had two (defending the ROH World title against Danielson in his title run in mid 2005).
THE MATCH
Lenny Leonard and Dave Prazak make sure to mention that Danielson is wrestling this match without the eye patch he had been wearing for protection, but the eye was not yet at 100 percent. Why no protection for the eye? Danielson had said it wasn't going to be an issue here—there was just too much respect between the two for Aries to take unfair advantage of the injury. A spot early on where both men go for a leg grapevine at the same time proves this as much—while the move spills out to the outside of the ring, forcing a break, Danielson does so willingly, even offering a handshake to Aries, free of charge. The Code of Honor is not only upheld before the match, but during and afterward as well, such is the respect between both men.
It turns out that this match is in fact not based upon the eye injury, but rather who is the better wrestler and who can take advantage of situations falling into their favor. Surprisingly it is Austin Aries who has the consistent advantage in terms of chain wrestling and hold-for-hold grappling, both early on and throughout the match. Aries's attack focuses on the head, arms and neck. Meanwhile Danielson doesn't have a specific body part that he focuses on, but rather his goal is to counter wrestle Aries and use holds and stretches from the positions in which he winds up. The crowd is hot and responsive to all of the chain wrestling, showing appreciation for both the new moves, the variations of old moves and even the traditional Aries vs. Danielson spots that have become standards (effective standards, but standards nonetheless).
As Aries pulls the advantage with holds and his traditional moves, Danielson decides to vary his attack and use moves that Aries has not seen utilized by Danielson in their previous battles. At different times in the match, Danielson incorporates the Haas of Pain (!), a snapmare biel, a torturous rocking abdominal stretch / facelock variation and a flying knee strike, moves Aries is unable to prevent or contain. Aries, for his part, throws in some new sequences as well, including a Japanese arm drag series where he holds onto the arm and from which Danielson just can't shake free. Aries has also found a new and cool way to get to his "Heat Seeking Missile" tope to the floor—he throws Danielson, who is on the ring apron, to one turnbuckle pad and then to another, hits a snap mare hotshot, sending Danielson sprawling to the floor. THEN he unleashes the tope to great effect.
The finish is at a frenetic pace, a trademark of all Danielson matches. It begins with a roaring elbow from Danielson that flattens Aries to the mat. Dragon hits a Tiger Suplex for two, floats into the Cattle Mutilation and then nails the MMA elbows. Aries retaliates by rolling away and pushes Danielson into a turnbuckle, exploding with a flurry of back elbows. Danielson never saw them coming and in fact this is a brand new flurry for Aries. Danielson is now woozy, which allows Aries to go for his own roaring elbows. They both hit at the exact same time, but Danielson's strike gets the elbow to elbow contact and out of that advantage he locks on the Crossface Chicken Wing. Aries counters into the shin breaker / side suplex and then hits his patented running dropkick. The brain buster is blocked with knee strikes, so instead Aries comes at him with a flying enziguiri from a low angle and connects full on with the neck and head. Aries nails the sick kick and the brain buster, but the 450 Splash gets knees. Danielson then springs his secret weapon, the triangle choke! The referee holds up Aries hands and lets it drop twice and on the third drop it looks like it goes all the way down, but Aries waves it off and fights back…that is a very big judgment call on the part of the ref there. Danielson goes back to the triangle choke, adding on elbows to the head. Aries rolls through the choke and then when Danielson goes for it again, Aries springs on Danielson his secret weapon, a brand new submission maneuver that Danielson has never seen Aries execute in their series of matches! Aries rolls out and locks on the front chancery for what some are referring to as "The Horns of Aries". Aries floats back to a front face lock and lands vicious knees to the head, nearly knocking Danielson out. The reverse face lock submission is reapplied and contorted all the way upwards at a high angle and Danielson has no choice but to tap out, giving the first match of the series to Austin Aries!
THE AFTERMATH
The aftermath of the match has the clearly exhausted competitors shaking hands once more. Aries has one finger extended, to indicate he has one win under his belt and needs just one more to win the series and earn the ROH World title shot. Danielson, meanwhile, holds out two fingers, silently and subtly reminding Aries that it takes two wins to finish the series, and that Danielson will get the next two in a row for the win. The final call though is for Aries as Dave Prazak calls out "Austin Aries—victorious!" Bryan Danielson walks out and to the back, frustrated but not discouraged by this match. He needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out what he must adjust in order to win match number two in the series.
The Analysis:
I figured that this week would be the appropriate time to look back at a couple of statistics about the matches that have been featured in this column over the last year.
First, in the 49 previous editions of the IMC, sixty different wrestlers have been featured in this column, including exactly 30 who have appeared only once. Of the remaining half, exactly half of those have appeared twice, including both Jack Evans and Roderick Strong, who were featured in the debut column.
Of the remaining 15 wrestlers who have been featured, nine have appeared three times, leaving six wrestlers who have had four or more of their matches discussed in the IMC. Those six men are Jimmy Jacobs and Claudio Castagnoli (4 appearances each), CM Punk (5 appearances, including a three-part series in April), Jay Briscoe (6 appearances, including a five-part series over the Summer), and Mark Briscoe and Colt Cabana (7 appearances each, including participation in the aforementioned series). Cabana has probably been the most ubiquitous IMC wrestler, appearing in the largest variety of matches, most often not as the intended subject of a given column.
The IMC has featured 9 tag team matches and 2 Four Corner Survival contests, with the remaining 38 matches being singles affairs. In all, six columns have featured title defenses, while matches have taken place in a total of 8 different companies (ROH, FIP, ECW, IWA Mid-South, PWG, FSM, OVW and CHIKARA). Additionally, both the Battle of Los Angeles and Ted Petty Invitational Tournaments have been discussed, with the former being the subject of the column on 2 different occasions and the latter being featured 3 times.
As one final inclusion for those of you who are true completists, I've decided to finally share my star ratings for the various matches that have been featured over the last year. This list is in order that the matches were discussed and my ratings reflect my current thoughts, and not necessarily the rating I would have given the match when it was originally featured. This is not the start of a weekly star-rating inclusion in the IMC, as I want the column to continue to be about analysis rather than ratings, but I thought there might be some readers out there curious to see how my subjective analysis lines up with a rating system.
Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans ****1/4
Colt Cabana vs. Spanky **3/4
Homicide & Samoa Joe vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe ***1/2
Delirious vs. Matt Sydal **
Delirious vs. Matt Sydal ***1/2
CM Punk vs. Brent Albright ***
Christopher Daniels vs. Alex Shelley ***3/4
Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave ****
Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson ****1/2
AJ Styles vs. Jimmy Rave ***1/2
Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong **1/2
Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Jacobs ****
Davey Richards vs. Jack Evans ***
Kikutaro vs. Tank Toland *1/4
Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles ***1/4
Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer ****
CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Raven & BJ Whitmer ***1/2
CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. Raven & Christopher Daniels ***1/2
CM Punk vs. Raven ****1/4
El Generico vs. Chris Sabin ***1/4
Davey Richards vs. Scott Lost **3/4
Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Psicosis ***3/4
Bryan Danielson vs. Azrieal *1/2
Colt Cabana vs. Matt Sydal vs. Chris Hero vs. Adam Pearce **1/2
Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe ****1/2
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes ****
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Jake & Dave Crist *1/2
Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe ****1/2
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin *****
Shingo vs. Ricky Reyes **3/4
Amazing Red vs. Xavier **1/4
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Tank **
James Gibson vs. Spanky ***3/4
Shane Hagadorn vs. Pelle Primeau *
CIMA vs. M-Dogg 20 **1/2
CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana **1/4
Colt Cabana vs. Delirious **3/4
Erick Stevens vs. Sal Rinauro ***
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kevin Steen ***1/4
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quackenbush ****1/4
Nigel McGuinness vs. TJ Perkins ***
Mark Briscoe vs. Alex Shelley ***1/4
Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Dunn & Marcos *1/4
Nate Webb vs. Drake Younger ***
El Generico vs. Austin Aries **1/4
Homicide vs. Kevin Steen vs. Azrieal vs. Dixie **1/2
Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw ****
Spanky vs. Jimmy Jacobs ***1/4
Chuck Taylor vs. Billy Roc **
The Aftermath:
In the coming year, I'm hoping to further expand the IMC's horizons, as I look forward to featuring more matches from companies like CHIKARA and PWG as well as taking first looks at promotions like UWA Hardcore and Combat Zone Wrestling. Surely there will continue to be a fount of columns featuring Ring of Honor, but 2008 could see the IMC's first ventures overseas as well, with companies like Pro Wrestling NOAH and wXw getting their first tastes of IMC analysis.
The Final Word:
I want to take a moment to thank Brad, Bayani, Mike & Ari for their contributions to this week's column. When I began this column a year ago, I decided that I wanted to make the IMC's voice uniquely my own, and that if I ever had to miss a column, I would simply take the week off rather than have another writer fill-in. These four have done me proud in this, the first edition to feature another writers' words. Please do take a moment to check out each of their individual works, as they are truly four of the finest writers here on the site.
The two Ring of Honor matches featured in this week's column are available at rohwrestling.com, while Pro Wrestling Guerrilla shows can be purchased at prowrestlingguerrilla.com. The match from Pro Wrestling NOAH is as-yet unreleased, but is viewable on youtube here and here.
This week's Buy or Sell features Bayani & Jake Ziegler in the beginning of our year-end wrap-up. The ROH Roundtable is on the shelf a little while longer in the lead-up to Final Battle weekend, but rest assured that it will make its return in a little over a week.
TV is still the same old story, with more and more shows falling by the wayside with each passing week, but at least Notes from the Underbelly still has new stuff coming out every seven days. I do have Mind of the Married Man, Greg the Bunny and Dexter coming on DVD, though, so don't be concerned that I'm without good stuff to watch.
Also, I cannot recommend the new DVD chronicling the Dispatch: Zimbabwe concerts from this past July enough. It contains both an incredible show and a fascinating documentary about the plight of the Zimbabwean people. Please go here to get the advanced Special Edition of the DVD. All proceeds from the DVD sales go directly to benefit the Dispatch Foundation and its attempts to aid poverty in Zimbabwe.
As always, please feel encouraged to check out The Cool Kids' Table for our most recent podcasts. If all goes as planned, this week will feature the first appearance of Bayani Domingo as The Cool Kids' Table's West Coast Correspondent.
Again, thank you for taking the time to read this week's anniversary column. Next week will return to the more traditional IMC format, but I hope you enjoyed this week's departure from the norm.
