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Official Indy DVD Thread

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#1 ·
#1,617 ·
Ring of Honor has promised a revolution when they head up north, just seven days after MMA was revolutionized in Toronto in front of 55,000 fans. Although the arena will be smaller, the warriors in the ring a little less famous and the fans a tad more cynical, a quiet uprising could take place in the bowels of Canada’s most famous city. Over the past few years, the Philadelphia-born promotion has evolved and progressed into something of an internet phenomenon in the lexicon of wrestling fans, emerging as a true alternative to the sports-entertainment on TV. As Ring of Honor heads towards their biggest show in company history in June, their revolution for pro wrestling (ironically) is not to change what they’ve been doing but to continue bringing the best pro wrestling in the world to cities across the globe, converting new fans and inspiring old ones. With a promising card that includes two Championship matches among a wealthy amount of other promising match ups, can Ring of Honor keep their promise?

For comparisons sake, I gave Fate of an Angel II (somewhat controversially) a 56/100 and Death Before Dishonor VIII a 98/100. So, there’s the spectrum. The intro was written before the event and any errors or changes in the card will be reflected in the body of the review. Please do not personally attack each other in my review threads as some have been locked as a result. Thanks.

Format: Easy star ratings, breakdown of what I hated, liked and loved as well as a final show rating out of 100.

Rock & Roll.

-Kyle O'Reilly vs. Claudio Castagnoli (***1/4)
-Steve Corino vs. Mike Bennett (**1/4)
-Double Danger Scramble: Tomasso Ciampa vs. Adam Cole vs. Michael Elgin vs. Andy Ridge vs. Grizzly Redwood vs. Rhett Titus (***1/2+)
-Davey Richards vs. Kenny King (***1/2)

Intermission

-Colt Cabana vs. Delirious (N/R)
-El Generico vs. Christopher Daniels (***3/4)
-Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championships: Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin (c) vs. The Briscoes (***1/2)
-Ring of Honor World Championship: Eddie Edwards (c) vs. Chris Hero (**** - ****1/4)

What I hated:
-No return date. I don't know how RoH can't set a date for their 2nd biggest market. Let's hope it's a venue problem and not one that runs deeper.

What I disliked:
-The crowd. There seemed to be more people concerned with standing out than enjoying the wrestling. The "list" guys in the main-event were especially annoying. They were eerily quiet for some matches (such as Davey/King, too).

What was meh:
-Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championships: Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin (c) vs. The Briscoes (***1/2)

I wasn't the biggest fan of their match in Chicago but I have to say that this one fell short of that bout. For their 1st Championship match, I thought Haas & Benjamin would've tried for an epic but the match ended just as it was picking up steam. The ending left a lot to be desired as the ANX distracted the Briscoes allowing WGTT to retain.

What I liked:
-Kyle O'Reilly vs. Claudio Castagnoli (***1/4)
This was a good opener with the classic story of speed vs. power. O'Reilly was crisp in his leg shots and Claudio worked the crowd for a good opener. I would've liked to have seen this go a bit longer for O'Reilly to truly break out but I was satisfied with both performances.

-Steve Corino vs. Mike Bennett (**1/4)
You're as surprised as I am. Corino did a great pre-match promo explaining his absence and foreshadowing the return of Kevin Steen. As for the match, Corino had the crowd in his hands and they did the best that they could given both competitors styles. I was surprised at the length of this (16-17 mins? Around the same time as the tag title match) but the partisan crowd loved it.

-Double Danger Scramble: Tomasso Ciampa vs. Adam Cole vs. Michael Elgin vs. Andy Ridge vs. Grizzly Redwood vs. Rhett Titus (***1/2+)
This exceeded my expectations greatly. Although the rules of the match are slightly convoluted, (guys were tagging to get out, jumping to the ring floor to get out) and the action resembled any multi-man match at the end with wrestlers coming in to break up pins, this was good for a few wrestlers. Titus and Ciampa showed off their prowess by getting pins while Cole delivered the spot of the night with a super Canadian destroyer on Elgin (!). Speaking of Elgin, he was absolutely on fire tonight, dominating the match with power but also showing great agility for a big man. My rating might be a tad conservative for such a fun bout.

-Davey Richards vs. Kenny King (***1/2)
These two had a very physical match with great counters and exciting action for close to twenty minutes. However, this one had two glaring problems. Despite Richards working on Kenny's leg the majority of the match, he showed virtually NO signs of it and even nipped up after being in an ankle lock for a long period of time. The second was the horrible ending. Kenny King was on the top rope and Davey went to run the turnbuckles to deliver a german suplex but he slipped on the bottom turnbuckle, nearly fell to the ground and King just kind of fell off in a very sloppy spot. Richards then went immediately to the ankle lock (which Kenny tapped out to) and promptly left the ring without acknowledging the fans.

-Bravados Promo
The oblivious douchebag gimmick is fantastic. They were the biggest heels of the night (by far!) and cut a good promo about beating Cole + O'Reilly and their loss record. This lead to the young guns coming out and challenging the Bravados to a match. They politely declined due to their grandma not wanting them to wrestle in their sunday clothes. Awesome. Cole + O'Reilly eventually beat them down to a big ovation from the crowd.

What I loved:
-A Sweet & Sour Tribute (N/R)
Todd Sinclair doing Larry's signature strut while his music played was the highlight of the night. These two had a hilarious match with antics outweighing moves about 8:1. The crowd was extremely receptive and positive with "Sweet & Sour" chants ringing throughout the building. Absolutely awesome.

-El Generico vs. Christopher Daniels (***3/4)
El Generico is the best "good guy" in all of wrestling. He is universally loved, can muster up an unbelievable amount of sympathy and has an exciting move set to boot. Daniels provided a good foil, embracing his new character while complimenting Generico's style in the ring. Elgin came out to destroy Generico but Corino made the save allowing the generic luchador to brainbuster Daniels for the win. A tense stand off followed as Generico didn't know whether to trust Corino. Just as he was leaving, the HoT showed their dominance by destroying Corino. No complaints here.

-Ring of Honor World Championship: Eddie Edwards (c) vs. Chris Hero (**** - ****1/4)
Chris Hero out in Sweet & Sour garb is simply tremendous. This bout was polarizing for the people I went with. I loved it as it started off slow before building to an exciting conclusion while my buddy thought it dragged. In any event, it went 35ish minutes with Hero targeting Edwards' arm and neck with Edwards zeroing in on Hero's back. These two went all over the ring, using the apron to deliver big moves and a ringside table to crash through. For a defense with very little suspense, Claudio's interference and subsequent Ricola Bomb had the crowd believing that Hero might escape Canada with the belt. I can see some taking issue with how many elbows Edwards kicked out of but I thought it demonstrated the toughness of our new Champion.

Conclusion
This is a hard one to grade. On the one hand, I didn't dislike any match on the card with the Double Danger Scramble and Bennett/Corino greatly surpassing my expectations. At the same time, Davey/King left a sour taste in my mouth and the tag team match was pretty underwhelming. Ring of Honor promised a revolution (to keep bringing the best pro wrestling to cities across the globe) and I'd say they accomplished their goal.

Recommended.
76/100.

Any questions or comments would be appreciated.
Thanks,
SxECanadianFanSxE.
 
#243 ·
Has anyone told you that you were awesome lately? You need to make that Final Battle cover so it can look good in my collection.


Just watched BOLA 2008 Stage One and is full of good matches although some overrated ones. Richards/Danielson was good but not as great as people were saying. McGuinness & Aries was clear MOTN and was just freaking great. Hero/Necro may be one of the worst matches that happen that year though. Sometimes, it's just good to call a audible and end the match early instead of dragging it out for 40 F^#%ING MINUTES!
 
#5,588 ·
PWS "WrestleReunion VI" - 28.01.2012
1. Adam Page vs. Arik Royal (1/2)
2. Special Referee - Mick Foley: The New Age Outlaws (BG James & Kip James) vs. The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) (*1/2)
3. World Of Sport Rules Match: Fit Finlay vs. Colt Cabana (***1/2)
4. The Unholy Alliance (Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri) vs. 7OH!4 (Caleb Konley & Cedric Alexander) (***)
5. Mascarita Dorada vs. Demus 316 (**3/4)
6. Street Fight Match: Tommy Dreamer vs. Kevin Steen (***)
7. Roderick Strong vs. Jake Manning (**1/2)
8. Davey Richards vs. Harry Smith (***3/4)
9. El Generico & The Great Sasuke vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (***3/4)
10. Legends Battle Royal Match (*)


IPW "Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament 2009" - 11.07.2009
1. Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament - Round 1: Marion Fontaine vs. Dustin Rayz (*)
2. Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament - Round 1: Ryan Rich vs. Tim Donst (**)
3. Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament - Round 1: Aaron Williams vs. Ricochet (**3/4)
4. Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament - Round 1: Chrisjen Hayme vs. B-Boy (**3/4)
5. Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament - Round 1: Flip Kendrick vs. Chuck Taylor (***)
6. Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament - Round 1: Billy Roc vs. Louis Lyndon (**)
7. Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament - Round 2: Dustin Rayz vs. Tim Donst vs. Ricochet (**1/4)
8. Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament - Round 2: B-Boy vs. Chuck Taylor vs. Louis Lyndon (***)
9. Survivor Series Style Match: Team Irish Airborne vs. Team Faith In Nothing (***1/4)
10. Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament - Final: B-Boy vs. Dustin Rayz (***1/4)


EVOLVE 1: Ibushi vs. Richards - 16.01.2010
1. Bobby Fish vs. Kyle O'Reily (***1/4)
2. Qualifing Match: Chuck Taylor vs. Cheech (**3/4)
3. Arik Cannon vs. Ricochet (***)
4. Dark City Fight Club vs. Aeroform (**1/2)
5. WSU World Heavyweight Title: Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Niya (SQUASH)
6. Silas Young vs. Brad Allen (***)
7. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Kenn Doane (**1/4)
8. Johnny Gargano vs. Chris Dickinson (***)
9. Munenori Sawa vs. TJP (***3/4)
10. 6 Man Tag Team Match: Team Frightning (Hallowicked, Frightning & Mike Quackenbush) vs. Akuma's Army (Gran Akuma, Icarus & Brodie Lee) (***1/2)
11. Kota Ibushi vs. Davey Richards (****1/4)


EVOLVE 2: Hero vs. Hidaka - 13.03.2010
1. Brad Allen vs. Chris Dickinson (**)
2. Brodie Lee vs. Gran Akuma (*3/4)
3. Aeroform vs. Up In Smoke (**)
4. Kenn Doane vs. Caleb Konley (**1/4)
5. Kyle O'Reilly vs. Hallowicked (**1/4)
6. Chuck Taylor vs. Ricochet (***)
7. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Bobby Fish (***1/4)
8. WSU World Title: Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Sumie Sakai (*)
9. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Johnny Gargano (**3/4)
10. 4 Way Elimination Match: Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Hallowicked & Frightmare vs. The Osirian Portal vs. The Colony (***1/2)
11. Chris Hero vs. Ikuto Hidaka (****)


EVOLVE 3: Rise of Fall - 01.05.2010
1. Sami Callihan vs. Adam Cole (**1/4)
2. Johnny Gargano vs. Ricochet (**)
3. WSU World Title: Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Brittney Savage (SQUASH)
4. Three Way Match: Up In Smoke vs. Aeroform vs. Team Beyond (***)
5. Jon Moxley vs. Drake Younger (**3/4)
6. Chris Hero vs. Bobby Fish (***1/2)
7. Four Way Match: Gran Akuma vs. Brodie Lee vs. Chris Dickinson vs. Hallowicked (**)
8. TJP vs. Kyle O'Reilly (***1/4)
9. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Brad Allen (**1/2)
10. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chuck Taylor (***3/4)


EVOLVE 11: Finlay vs. Callihan - 13.04.2012
1. The Super Smash Brothers (Player Dos & Player Uno) vs. The Gentlemen's Club (Drew Gulak & Jake Manning) (**3/4)
2. Josh Alexander vs. MK McKinnan (3/4)
3. Mike Rollins vs. Ashley Sixx (*1/4)
4. Alex Reynolds vs. John Silver (**1/4)
5. 3 Way Elimination Match: Chuck Taylor vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Samuray del Sol (***)
6. Caleb Konley vs. Adam Page (*1/2)
7. Low Ki vs. El Generico (***3/4)
8. Dave Finlay vs. Sami Callihan (***1/2)
 
#6,390 ·
Rest of Hero shoot. Some taken from another forum as it would of been what I said anyways.

- Super Dragon is legit and is how you think he is in real life. Doesn't take shit from anyone and tells it how it is. Hero thought he was a dick at first but came to like him over time.

- He tried to get into DG through Horiguchi when he wrestled him at the 2006 BOLA but nothing came of it.

- Lots of good words about Human Tornado. He said the hardest thing about their fued was trying to get Tornado real heat because he was still getting cheered while beating up on Candice because he was so popular. Tornado also blew his knee about before their cage match and still gutted it out.

- Him and Necro have been friends for years but had a falling out of sorts in 2007 when, long story short, Necro thought there was something going between Chris and the girl he was seeing. Necro tried fighting him at a show, then just avoided him for months after. Necro then started suffering from a staph infection and it was Hero who convinced him to go to the hospital for it, and they were fine ever since.

- Ki was pissed at him a couple times over dumb shit. One time Ki's ribs were injured and they worked a match where Hero worked them over and Ki thought he was legit trying to hurt or injure him. Another time they worked a show and Ki got mad because Hero did a double stomp in his match.

- The ASW show where he wrestled Ki, Kingston and Necro in a fourway made for a good story. At this point in time fans were begining to turn on him for his title reign and all three dudes kinda disliked him at this point (the Kingston heat is 100% legit or they are the biggest bullshitters in the business). Hero won in underwhelming fashion then tried to cut a promo after to get the fans back on side, but Kingston was sitting in the corner of the ring mocking him. They exchanged words and then had a brawl which I'm pretty sure is on the DVD, which was totally legit. After the show Hero went to the merch table instead of the lockerroom so that he could sell some DVDs and give Kingston time to cool off. he then got told that Low Ki had "requested his presence". He went to the lockerroom and Ki had pretty much held everyone there waiting for him so Ki could yell at him and give him a dressing down in front of everyone. Ki then had words with him after and basically said Heo was disrespectfl and unprofessional blah blah blah. Ki quote "I've been around the world, motherfucker".

- 2008 BOLA finals vs Ki: Ki was an asshole and him punting Hero's nose open was not cool, and he never bothered to ask Hero if he was ok. But overall he sucked it up and he thought the match was great. Good words about Ki as a worker, but he's a "weird dude". Takes himself too serious and is a bit of a mark. We all knew that though.

- PAC: awesome worker and guy, but way too hard on himself and pushes himself too hard.

- Joey Ryan: fun to wrestle, but can never get the right heat - always cheered as a heel, always booed as a face.

- The title switch with Danielson before Danielson went to WWE: Danielson's one of his favourite guys to work and the match was great. Didn't give a shit about the booking, was just happy to be a part of a great moment.

- Tozawa's breakout match: Hadn't seen much of Tozawa before he came to PWG. Generico legit KO'd him the night before so Tozawa was nervous, but the match was great and the crowd helped a lot.

- He really likes PWG because it has a fun atmosphere. Shows could be shorter but that's his only complaint.

- WrestleReunion was a great experience for him. Apart from him and Steen seeing Mean Gene naked.

Him and Ki don't have each other at all (he said they are civil), and they only had a handful of matches together.

ROH section of the Hero shoot:

- He wrestled Danielson at TPI 2005(?) while Danielson was ROH champ. Gabe didn't want Danielson to lose and put up a huff about it, but Ian wanted Hero vs Cannon in the second round, and Danielson had no problem putting Hero over.

- ROH wasn't doing great business in 2005, even with the Kobashi shows. Gabe brought in Hero for a one shot match with Danielson as he had a win over him and they were trying to bring in outside guys for Danielson to defend against in an attempt to draw more. Never planned on it being anything more than one match. He never wanted to go to ROH and be lost in scramble in an undercard scramble match or whatever, so he took the match with Danielson.

- Sadly the story about Zandig throwing Mike Burns down a flight of stairs it not true. Zandig did however get pissy over working with ROH after he had already agreed to the doubleshot with them.

- Hero vs Danielson drew more than the Kobashi shows. Believe it. Adam Flash, Nate Webb and Necro escorted Hero to the match on their own back. Match had a great atmosphere and generated a good enough response Gabe wanted to bring Hero back for more, which lead to the CZW fued.

- They hadn't planned Kingston as the mystery man for Cage of Death until that week. Gabe initially thought about Justice Pain and Nick Gage but Hero didn't think that'd be good and suggested Kingston instead.

- The angle with the Kings stealing Aries & Strong's tag belts happened because either Aries or Strong legit left their belt at home by accident.

- Him and Claudio were tag champs in ROH, CZW and Chikara all at the same time and almost became PWG tag champs too. But then there was the deal with Claudio and WWE and they had to drop them all. The reason Claudio didn't get signed at that time was not because of VISA issues like most thought but because one of the doctor's who ran the tests fucked up with the paperwork. Hero feels that Claudio became better for it, though.

- He was nervous about working the Briscoes due to their rep despite knowing them for years, but turned out they were great to work with.

- Sweet N Sour was some of the most fun he had in wrestling. Wishes they had TV for it. They were never able to blow off the Dempsey angle the way they wanted, though.

- The Young Knock-Out Kid gimmick was inspired by Mike Tyson, he wanted to start using a moveset where fans could buy it ending at any moment from a big shot, rather than relying on a formula of finishes and fals finishes. The gimmick didn't really get over at first with the Strong matches, but he was committed to it.

- Gabe was fired from ROH at the Homicide returns weekend with the fourway tag ironman clusterfuck. The talent were never told about it by management, but they put it up on the messageboard. Apparently ROH were losing money and Gabe had been threatened several times to change his booking or it'd happen, but he never did. Hero called Cary about it and questioned why he never told the talent and Cary got mad at him.

- Hero and Pearce get along well and Pearce was always cool with Hero voicing his grievences to him. Those grievences were bookings getting cancelled on short notice and eventually him and the rest of the East Coast guys (Claudio, Sweeney, Del Rey & Jig) cutting cut from the roster despite them always driving to shows instead of flying to save the company money. Hero's only problem with Pearce was that his attitude whenever they had a bad crowd was "fuck the crowd, you guys worked hard and were great". Hero talked to him about it but Pearce blew him off and seemingly soured on him after that.

- Cary was watching his Lights Out match with Strong and, because Roddy spent most of the match selling, thought Hero was being an asshole, trying to take advantage, only concerned with getting himself over, etc. Hero then got taken off more shows and the combination of Perce and Cary not liking him eventually lead to him going altogether.

- Albright was an asshole who tried to get Stevens to no-sell and take advantage of Hero when they had a singles match.

- He hates working out and going to the gym, always tried to have a Barry Windham-esque physique, which is why he wore the shitty ring gear for so long. Then he had the big NOAH tour where he started working out more so that he could wear trunks instead and he hasn't looked back since

- Quack has OCD and that comes out in his wrestling and booking with how meticulous and perfectionist he is.

- He met Quack at an IWA:MS show and they quickly bonded over their love of Toryumon and Johnny Saint. Quack actually tried to bring Saint in to the States in 2004 but it didn't happen. Soon after he started working Chikara, Quack asked him to be the second trainer at the school in 2004. He says being a trainer also helped him get better as a worker because he had to adapt to other guys. His first student was Hydra.

- The CZW Chikara school came about as CZW's school became non-existant and Chikara started using the Arena for their school. It ended eventually though because the CZW guys felt they were "losing their identity" and didn't need to learn lucha or whatever. No funny Quack-Zandig stories unfortunately.

- Lots of good words about Milano Collection AT. Great to work with and a really cool, respectful guy. When he came to the States he wanted to learn and work the US style, so he attended the Chikara school for a while. Milano would get involved and do all the basic shit with the other students and Hero said it was surreal being the one teaching him stuff.

- He thinks Hallowickid is the most underated guy in the business. Calls him a "wrestler's wrestler" and says he's so easy to work with. "If he didn't have the gimmick he'd be massive".

- He says Chikara somewhat handicaps a lot of the guys who work there. Quack doesn't like his guys working for other promotions. Lots of guys join up wanting to be pro wrestlers and end up just being "pro wrestlers for Chikara". Quack wants what's best for him and Chikara over what's best for some of the guys in his company. Lots of guys (like Hallo) kind of get held back by not being able to adopt other gimmicks or work elsewhere. If guys tried to break out elsewhere Quack would stop booking them or just make them feel bad for it. Only guys who were able to do it were Kingston and Sweeney because they were big enough personalities and not afraid to stand up to Quack, guys like Jigsaw or Hallo not so much.

- There's a notable difference between guys who learn lucha in Mexico and "white boy lucha"

- The Equinox gimmick bombed hard but because Gerard worked so hard and was so dedicated, Chris took it upon himself to come up with the "fake luchador" angle where he de-masked. Quack didn't like the idea but Hero talked him round.

- Jigsaw could have trained more and attended more classes, but he had a job and long drive, etc. But still think he has a lot of potential to be a star.

- UMB: Also bonded with him over Johnny Saint fandom. Very charismatic guy who was a great moutpiece that helped get the most out of the guys he worked with

- Blackjack Marciano: could have been big if he'd stuck around, but became a victim of Chikara. Quack pretty much forced him into working one of their touring matches even though he didn't want to go, he blew out his knee in the match, and never returned.

- Frightmare was his last student, started when he was 16. Another guy who could blow up if he went elsewhere as something else, though.

- He admires Quack for building Chikara to what it is, but doesn't like nor dislike him.

- To add to what FM said, by the time he was working ROH, ROH would pay him 4 times what Chikara would for one show. After Hero asked Quack for a raise, Quack sent him an angry e-mail and agreed to give him a raise if he got more students, promoted Chikara more, got them into ROH, signed up on message boards to promote them, etc.

- Quack would review every show they ran and email his review to those on the show as a way of giving feedback. Often he would bury the living shit out of guys not on the mailing list (mostly guys who weren't active roster members).

- He had to cancel the '07 KoT because he got booked for his first NOAH tour. Quack was very upset when he told him because he felt it really fucked up his whole plan for the shows. Basically he didn't care about Chris's big moment or whatever.

Hero does a good Mad Man Pondo impression. He talked about how he got his number and Pondo said say it back and Hero went "567 5309" then Pondo went now sing it. Just a quick fun story. Was also ammused at how he said he didnt want to quit wrestling but quit life in the Kenta HD net match do to his kicks

Hero on CZW:

- His first couple of matches against Ruckus sucked as they blew up or whatever

- He got brought back for Cage Of Death and was really up for redeeming himself after the Ruckus match, but ended up just getting the shit beat out of him all match by the H8 Club and B-Boy. This included Nate Hatred legit KO'ing him with a clothesline.

- Ian gave him shit for working CZW and jobbing there, but then went and worked CZW himself anyway.

- The second stint there he became a regular, won the belt, etc and it became his second home after Chikara at the time

- Alex Shelley: fun to work with and puts in a lot of time

- Sabian/Blk Jeez: Cool guy, but not when talking about wrestling because he's hot heated and gets upset easily over it

- CZW became a mess once Mike Burns left, no real authority figure. Zandig was pretty absent when in charge. Hero became miserable working there during this change.

- Justice Pain: could be cool, but thought he was above everyone. One of the "CZW original" dicks who buried everyone and thought who came into CZW after him sucked. Terrible wrestler, didn't know shit about putting moves together and building a match. Pretty much a glorified backyarder who could be unsafe to work with. The combination of his attitude and him sucking made him the worst guy Hero's ever worked in his opinion. Funny story - he had a three way title match main even with Pain and Kingston. A few minutes in Kingston legit breaks his ankle and has to be eliminated, but instead of just pinning him or putting him in a safe submission, Pain grabs the broken ankle and Kingston tapped before he could even apply a hold because he was worried about what Pain would do. Pain then shit a brick and told Hero they needed to "take it home" despite it being only a few minutes into the main event. Hero then tried to do an up-and-over spot in the corner and Pain actually ended up flipping over the rope to the floor by accident. After the match Pain asked Kingston if he was Ok but walked away before Kingston even finished answering.

- The show after that threeway, Hero worked Gage and Hero pinched a nerve which messed up his arm after Gage gave him a stiff elbow which jerked his neck. Didn't ask Hero if he was ok and moments later threw him through the ropes without Hero being able to grab the ropes or land properly, so Hero took a hard, unsafe bump onto his back. Basically the H8 Club guys are morons and clueless in the ring. This lead to Hero challenging Kingston to the LLT match totally improptu one show because Hero was so fed and wanted to leave.

- There was one show which was mained by a Gage vs Pain match which Hero decided to watch from the balcony. Basically the wrestled for like 5 minutes with the crowd not giving a shit and Pain decided to end it. He did this by wrecklessly dropping Gage from the ring through a table on the floor with the Painthriller that had Gage land on his head and neck. Even though Hero didn't like Gage he thought it was really shitty of Pain to be so wreckless and unprofessional to a guy he was supposed to be best friends with. The crowd shat on it hard and were chanting for refunds, so Younger (who was the most over guy on the roster at the time and the nicest guy who'd do anything for anyone), decided to go out and have an improptu match with Pain in attempt to send the fans home happy. This despite Younger being scared shitless of what Pain might to do him. Pain gave Younger nothing and didn't sell for him. This inculded throwing a bucket of thumbtacks straight into Drake's face and then botching an Awesome Bomb out the ring through a table that could have broke Drake's neck.

- Just before the Kingston LLT match, which they both put all the work into, Zandig pulled Kingston aside and told him they were going to do an angle afterwards with Zandig laying Kingston out. This was because of rumours that Kingston was going to leave anyway and Zandig was insecure about it. Hero and Kingston then talked and said fuck that. After the match Zandig came out for it but Kingston just left the ring. Zandig thought this was Kingston leaving and just fired him on the mic like an idiot

Hero talking about the Misawa death was bad. Not in the way he told it but if yoyu just picture it being a gaijin over there. He said they took all of them into a room and told them what happend and Hero and the rest of the gaijin coulds tell what was going on because they couldnt speak the language.

The Necro story about him tackling Hero out his chair in full Necro mode yelling 30 paces away this was coming was funny.

Justice Pain is a backyard wrestler

My favorite story has to be the one where Hero, Cabana, and Danielson were main eventing a one off show in Detroit and Hero did his moonsault into the ring but the anouncer (wore a black leather vest, had a handle bar stache, and was 50-60 years old) bends down to pick up a peice of broker table so Hero doesnt land on it and in the process as the anouncer is coming back up Hero moonsault curbstomps on the top of the head. The anouncer left a perfect chalk out line and Hero legit pissed his pants laughing. After the match he went to the back and asked the anouncer if he was ok and the anouncer went "Yeah, brother. Did you like that sell? We got em" Hero "That wasnt part of the show" Anouncer "We still got em, brother"
 
#7,115 ·
Necro Butcher vs. Samoa Joe “Something to Prove” 2005:****1/4

WHAT.THE.FUCK!!! I am not sure if I just saw what I thought I saw. It seems like a blur of stiffness and pure brutality. This match isn’t long. If you have 15 minutes to spare you have enough time for this match. In that time though there is complete and utter destruction. It is a violent symphony. There are two “botches” it seems which don’t really hurt the match but make you feel terrible for Necro Butcher. I know I at least felt horrible for the guy. To put that in perspective I don’t feel any emotions to the go when he has his head stapled or he is slammed onto thumbtacks or he is being stabbed with light tubes. I do feel bad for him when he gets power slammed on his forehead. Yes, POWER SLAMMED ON HIS FUCKING FOREHEAD! The commentators aka CM Punk, Dave Prazak, and Eddie Kingston try and put that into words and a power slam onto the forehead is what they decided it was so I’m going to call it that instead of a botched power slam. Then there is a particularly brutal apron to floor spot that doesn’t go quite right. How Necro had as long of a career as he did I don’t understand. That mother is crazy. And I wish TNA would randomly decide to do something real awesome with Joe. This will now be the match that I shall measure all stiff brawls.
 
#8,660 ·
Well I figured I would just post this here as this thread basically serves as a general indy wrestling discussion.

I got home earlier today and I have to say that WrestleCon was amazing. It was so cool being in the same area with so many shows going on and so much going on. It was really an amazing experience. I knew it was going to be amazing when Larry Legend and CZW ref Nick Papagorgio recognized me at the arena and we exchanged head nods. I was the on the phone trying to get my brother and friend to the convention center before Evolve so I didn't say much. About 10 minutes later I saw one of the Christ brother at Chipolte with both members of the Sumerian Death Squad. Amazing how different wrestling is today. Seeing goes eating together at 3PM when they have a match that night is something that would have been unheard of in the past. Yeah so I had these two encounters before I even set foot in an arena.

Evolve was OK, some good matches but nothing that was too amazing. My friend Mike who is new to indy wrestling wasn't all that impressed. I probably shouldn't have told him and my brother that AR Fox did gay porn as that made them root against him all the way to finals. If they hadn't hated Sami Callihan even more they would have been really pissed. So in the end they rooted for Fox and cheered him but before that everyone they rooted for lost.

CZW was pretty amazing. Ariel Assault was a blast, the hardcore matches on the undercard were fun, and Colt/Excellent was hilarious. The 2 matches after intermission weren't amazing because at this point the crowd was burnt out but the main event kicked so much ass. The most brutal thing I've ever seen. It was an awesome experience. I got Masada's blood on my t-shirt and jeans (which I sent home with my younger siblings and my mom got the stains out!) which was pretty insane, that's not something many people can claim.

So yeah Friday was fun. Saturday we saw Shimmer which was a big let down. I had sold up the show as being awesome and it didn't deliver to my brother and friends.

We skipped Chikara and that ended up being a great idea. Instead of taking in 3 shows in a row we went with some friends out to Chile's had a nice big meal with drinks, appetizers, and desserts. It was nice just being able to relax for a few hours instead of seeing another show. After that we got a giant bottle of vodka. I was the designated driver so I remained sober but damn it was fun anyway.

I ran to the bathroom at a hotel and I waited while everyone pulled up the car. I spent 5 minutes on the curb and they were hilarious. There were 10 guys dressed in suits waiting for a bus to take them to the HOF. I was across the street. Out came Pinkie Sanchez who, in his best Flair impression did a stylin and proflin impression about them. He saw me laughing and as he crossing the street he said, "Shut your mouth fat boy!" in his Flair impression which was hilarious. Not 2 minutes later I see Rich Swann and Uhaa Nation running towards the convention center. I yelled out, "Don't worry you guys have plenty of time!" They told me, "We have meetings and stuff." My response was, "But you guys just go out there and fight so you don't need to go to meetings." They laughed, told me I was right, and kept on running.

After sneaking in giant Vodka's and Sprites my brother drank his at half of out friend's. These were huge cups and they all had a ton of vodka so he was pretty out of it during DGUSA. He wondered off the the bathroom and came back 25 minutes later the happiest person ever. He told me of his absurd story of walking to and from the bathroom. He saw Kevin Steen and Cabana off to the side. He wandered up, crossed his arms and went for the double handshakes. According to him they were amused and Cabana later confirmed that he did actually meet Steen (when he said he could have been Marty DeRosa and not Steen he lost all credibility). Then he went to the bathroom and encounter Player Dos. He had a cut on his back and my brother offered to help him clean it off since Dos couldn't reach it on his own. So my brother washed off his back... He came back the happiest person ever and told is the story. At intermission we headed on over the ColtMerch.Table were Cabana said that he was telling the truth and commented on how drunk he was. My brother bought a Cabanarama headband and I got a DVD. I told my brother that he was too drunk to put that on himself. He then pointed at Colt and said, "He's gonna put in on me!" So then I got to watch Cabana tie his headband around my brother's head. Just an absurd scene. Oh and we met Freight Train, which was great.

DGUSA was amazing. I could make an argument that it was the best wrestling show all weekend. I know I liked it more than Mania. Maybe not more than Raw. So many amazing matches and the show just kept getting better. So happy we ended up there.

After that amazing show it was right back in line for $5 Wrestling. My brother encountered some of the biggest assholes in line. They appeared to all be insanely drunk as they attempted to do the NWO "Too Sweet" thing with everyone that walked by. Everyone that did it was cheered and everyone that didn't was booed and insulted. They were pretty awful but were at the front of the line. So my brother went back to talk with them and came back a minute later saying we were waiting in line with them up at the front. So we were some of the first into the arena and got some awesome seats for $5 Wrestling.

$5 Wrestling was amazing. The matches were just hilarious, Colt and Marty kicked ass, and I loved the guests the had. Freight Train's open challenge was insane as everyone just marked the fuck out for him against the mystery man (and I WILL NOT give away who it was). Also it was a great comedy show that cost $5 so you can't go wrong with it. Everyone that goes to Mania should make sure to check it out.

I won't go into WWE stuff but that was all pretty fun too. There's just one more thing that I want to say. Always stay somewhere with a free hot breakfast. We ate a huge breakfast everyday and than had 1 other meal for the day. It saved us a fortune.

So, it was a pretty great weekend. I know some people loved the ROH shows but I don't know if you got the cool experiences from it like I did at WrestleCon. I know I thought the experience was amazing. If they ever run something like this again there is no way I would pick anything over this. We all had an amazing time at WrestleCon and we needed even go into the convention to spend small fortunes to take pictures with people.
 
#6 ·
RING OF HONOR HOLIDAY SALE
25% OFF YOUR ORDER PLUS FREE SHIPPING


In celebration of the holiday season, and for the FIRST TIME EVER at ROHWrestling.com, we are offering a combined percent off sale with free shipping. You can now Take 25% Off Your Order, and if you spend over $50 for U.S. customers and $75 for any customer outside the states, the shipping cost is on us.

To get 25% Off Your Order just follow these 2 simple steps:
1) Place an order for merchandise at www.rohstore.com
2) Enter the coupon code: holiday into the box marked Discount Coupon Code when you are going thru the checkout process. You must then hit the “apply” button to the right of the code in order to attach the discount to the order.


*Free shipping will automatically deducted from your order if you qualify. Customers shipping within the United States must spend at least $50. All customers outside the states must spend a minimum of $75.

**Tickets for the following events are NOT included in this sale and can’t be discounted: “Final Battle 2010″ New York, NY 12/18/10, Atlanta, GA on 4/1/10 and 4/2/10, Los Angeles, CA 1/28/11, and Louisville, KY on 12/9/10 and 12/10/10.
*** DVD Subscription Packages and Gift Certificates can NOT discounted.

Offer ends on Monday, December 6th at 10 AM EST. Shipping costs are not discountable. No adjustments to prior purchases or previously placed orders. Offer valid only on orders placed online at www.rohstore.com. Orders will only be discounted if you follow the steps listed above.
 
#31 ·
Evolve 5 - Danielson vs. Sawa



Chuck Taylor vs. Mike Quackenbush - ***

Aeroform (Flip Kendrick & Louis Lyndon) vs. Up In Smoke (Cheech & Cloudy) - **1/4

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Adam Cole - ***1/4

Sami Callihan vs. Drake Younger - ***
Don't know what's more shocking, a good match out of these two or the fact that Younger didn't blade.

Brad Allen vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Frightmare vs. Gran Akuma vs. Rich Swann vs. Jon Moxley - **
The crowd's "Nooooooooooooo!" when Allen tried a high-risk move after eating it badly on what I think was supposed to be a springboard cross-body earlier was great.

WSU World Title
Mercedes Martinez vs Amazing Kong - *
After all the build-up to this match why have it end the way it did?

Ricochet vs. Kyle O'Reilly - ***1/2

Bryan Danielson vs. Munenori Sawa - ****
Seemed a little short, would have been higher with a little more time in.



 
#76 ·
Seconded for Morishima vs. Shingo for best powerhouse match, every minute of that match is a different kind of awesome. It's really overlooked in the grand scheme of things for various reasons.

Another Danielson match I'd throw out there for best technical match is against Aries at Take No Prisoners '08. It's probably my favorite match of theirs, and it's an extremely tight and well put together technical match, and it's probably one of their shortest, which is surprising with how good it is.
 
#239 ·
SHIMMER Vol. 32

Malia Hosaka vs. Jamilia Craft **

Kelly Skater vs. Rachel Summerlyn **

Cat Power vs. Neveah **

Melanie Cruise and Annie Social vs. Allison Danger and Jennifer Blake **1/2

Tomoka Nakagawa vs. Jessie McKay **3/4

Portia Perez vs. Tenille **1/2

Sara Del Rey vs. Misaki Ohata ***

Daffney vs. MsChif **3/4

Nichole Matthews vs. Sarah Stock ***

Daizee Haze vs. Ayumi Kurihara ***

Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Mercedes Martinez **3/4

Cheerleader Melissa vs. Ayako Hamada ***1/2​

Overall not a bad show at all. Now time to watch a load of PWG dvds that I have yet to see.
 
#242 · (Edited)
Here's the cover I made for Pro Wrestling Superstars' debut show. I guess it's ok.



Also made two more for NEW a while earlier, but I didn't really like the outcome of either one. Look them up if you feel the urge to, I ain't posting them. :side:
 
#1,800 ·
ROH Manhattan Mayhem IV

Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly vs Michael Elgin & Mike Mondo
***3/4

Tommaso Ciampa vs Grizzly Redwood
1/2*

Steve Corino vs Mike Bennett
**3/4

Briscoes vs All Night Express
***1/2

El Generico vs TJ Perkins
***1/2

Kings Of Wrestling vs LAX
****1/4

Christopher Daniels vs Davey Richards - Pure Wrestling Rules
****1/4

Roderick Strong vs Eddie Edwards - ROH World Championship
****

So yeah this show is awesome. There's so many little things that make the NY shows so much more enjoyable than any other venues. The venue is awesome and the crowds are always the best. Might sound odd but the lighting in the arena and being able to see the crowd and it not being so dark makes the Manhattan shows much more enjoyable for me.

Opening tag is the business it really is. I'm a huge mark for super fun and kinda spotty 12 minute tags opening shows. PWG get them spot on when they do them and with Cole/O'Reilly ROH have the perfect undercard guys to put in this slot and have some really fun openers on big shows. Elgin had an incredible weekend and he started to look like the real deal in those 2 matches. Elgin/O'Reilly is one of my favourite combinations in wrestling right now. Their HDNet match was super and the exchanges here were glorious too. The samoan drop/fall away slam combo that Elgin did was so insanely crisply delivered it was incredible. MMMMIKEY was booked perfectly for the guy coming in and then going back out. He looked fine and showed plenty of spirit.

Ciampa/Grizzly was an abomination. Grizzly got in more offence than Ciampa did and made Ciampa look like a total chump. This should have just been Ciampa tossing Grizzly around with a few hope spots thrown in. Only saving grace was Mia Yim. I would willingly watch any Ciampa match as long as it has Mia kicking someone's head off.

Corino/Bennett was fun. They had another really good promo before hand and Corino's character is really enjoyable to watch. Bennett didn't slow the match down enough to bore me out of my mind. Corino's coming off as a fantastic worker atm.

Briscoes/ANX was good. Match was kinda awkward as the crowd was quiet for the most part as ANX were heels and they didn't want to cheer Briscoes. Knowing the double turn was coming made it much better though as you could see how perfect it would be and it was nice to see Briscoes build to it rather than just suddenly turning out of nowhere like some promotions do. Match got more interesting when Titus got beat down and they started the FIP segment. This really helped get Titus over with the crowd and King's hot tag was super hot. King could easily become one of the best hot tags going now he's babyface. Nice start to the feud.

Generico/TJ was just a super good little match. Bit short yeah but the card was stacked and I'd prefer this be shorter and keep the show under 3 hours. Finish was awesome and like I've said before I'm loving how the finishes can come from just one big move now in ROH rather than having to be a finisher to finish the match. Hopefully they keep that up.

KOW/LAX was AWESOME. Kinda the same layout to the 1st WGTT match but this time it worked a lot better. Was really looking forward to the potential Claudio/Hernandez exchanges and they were even better than I could have possibly imagined. Both guys are just fucking beasts and seeing them go at each other was great. Hernandez is a fucking beast and he could easily be a huge deal if he wasn't stuck in TNA. Cide was much better here as he had a purpose and wasn't just in a random match with no meaning where he sucks. Fuck they need to get Cide a feud quick to make him interesting again. Finish was a bit weak but the match was awesome overall.

Davey/Daniels was awesome too. Pure rules was a bit random but they made use of them really well. Especially loved the submissions in the ropes when the breaks were used up. Daniels using a closed fist behind the refs back and basically forcing Davey to lose a break was an awesome tease to his future heel turn. Going back and watching the lead in to his heel turn is really great as you can spot the subtle hints and know where they're leading to. There's a few Daniels performances out there where he just looks like one of the best workers ever and he came off like that here. Davey had his usual flaws - stupid mannerisms and not knowing how to sell. He kept teasing another concussion which I guess kinda would have played nicely off the last NY appearance but instead it was just Davey trying to oversell stuff. Davey's "shit I've just been knocked out" sell is one of the most annoying things about current wrestling. Daniels stepped his game up enough to make up for Davey's shortcomings though and for all his flaws as a worker Davey is actually generally a pretty good wrestler technically. SSP botch was embarrassing and it seemed as though that was the intended finish which it made it even more cringe worthy. Davey's flaws and botched ending aside this could have been looking at being a genuine MOTYC for me.

Probably wasn't as big a fan of Edwards/Strong as most others were but it's still really great. Isn't the best match technically and it's helped a lot by Eddie actually winning I thought. Chops were nasty and the chop battle in the middle was a great thing to throw in. Shame Strong's chops aren't what they used to be anymore though. Can't say I was overly crazy about anything they did in the match like I was with KOW/LAX and Davey/Daniels and even the opener but as a whole it was really well put together. Got Eddie's fire over really well and made him look like a genuine champ without making the champ look like an undeserving champ. The finish with a roll up seemed to catch the crowd off guard and it seemed like there were a lot of them that that didn't realise Eddie won the belt until they announced it. Maybe for this match and for the title change they could have had Eddie pull out some big move and make the finish more obvious and draw a bigger pop for the 3 count. Not gonna complain too much about the new finish routines though because I'm a big fan of the change in philosophy.
 
#2,247 · (Edited)
I think the Rick Knox flying clothesline is my favorite move in all of wrestling.


ROH Respect is Earned


ROH World Championship Match:
BJ Whitmer vs. Takeshi Morishma (c)

The best match that's less than 4 minutes that I've ever seen. When Morishima nailed Whitmer with a crazy clothesline after a few minutes of Whitmer offense you knew that Morishima was done playing around and from that point on he basically killed Whitmer. The crowd was red hot and the moves they did to each other were brutal. Tough to rate but I loved it so it's getting a good rating.
***



Rocky Romero vs. Naomichi Marufuj


Great offense, not so great selling. That's really the best way to describe the match as the offense was well focused when each guy was in control of the match but all the limb work they did on each other wasn't sold very well. Marufuji was in the cross arm breaker for a good amount of time and suffered a good amount of damage on the arm yet he shook it off maybe a minute after he gained control of the match. Romero really didn't sell his leg at all. With some good selling this could have been a classic. It was still pretty awesome though as the entire match was entertaining.
***3/4



ROH World Tag Team Championship Match:

The Briscoes(c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli and Matt Sydal

I love the team of Claudio and Sydal as a team. It was like watching two different matches when they tagged in and out. The match was pretty awesome but I really got the feeling that this would be best appreciated if you were there in person. The match is really just a blur of crazy spots and incredible pace. That's really the most impressive part of this, it was incredible how fast they wrestled and how long they were able to do that.
****


Roderick Strong vs. Delirious


I'm surprised Strong didn't actually break Delirious' back with some of the crazy back breakers he was hitting on him. The intensity was there as well and I think I would have been able to tell that there was bad blood between them even if I hadn't seen the video package. I really enjoyed this one a lot. One of my favorite singles matches that I've seen from Delirious.
***1/2


Nigel McGuiness and KENTA vs. Bryan Danielson and Takeshi Morishima


Between the back story with everyone in this match and the story that they told in the ring this was a classic. At this point I have no clue what's real and what's a storyline when it come to Nigel's arms. He did a big dive during this match and hurt his elbow, which was done brilliantly. His elbow was clearly hurt and Nigel was having the trainers tape it up while KENTA was alone in the ring with Danielson and Morishima. I was sitting at my computer watching a match that's around 4 years old and I was cheering for Nigel to get back in the ring. Nigel getting back into the ring and hitting Morishima with a lariot with his injured arm was my favorite moment of the match. A great way to end their first PPV.
****1/2


The 2 hour PPV is great. There are only 5 matches but they're all good. The DVD also has a bunch of bonus matches but in all honesty I just don't want to watch them right now. I think I paid $5 for this in a highspots sale or something so I certainly got my money's worth.
 
#2,449 ·
ROH Final Battle 2010


The All Night Express vs. Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly​


Cole and O'Reilly are the perfect guys to have in openers. If it wasn't for a few little things they did I would be giving this a really high rating. But there this part where Kenny King took a DDT on the ring apron and then O'Reilly hit him with a drop kick from the ring apron. Both moves looked awesome but King someone how managed to get back in the ring well before O'Reilly. The rest of the match was a blast to watch though, Cole and O'Reilly were impressive as always.
***1/2



Colt Cabana vs. TJ Perkins

I loved the technical wrestling in this one but I really thought they could have gone for a few more minutes and given us a better ending. What we got was pretty good though.
**3/4


Sara Del Rey and Serena Deeb vs. Amazing Kong and Daizee Haze

I liked this a lot. Kong and Haze made a really good babyface tag team as I don't think there is a better hot tag in Women's wrestling than Kong. Nothing too crazy but a smartly worked and easy to watch match.
***


Sonjay Dutt vs. Eddie Edwards

Virtually nothing that I need to go out of my way and note. It wasn't a bad match but it sucked as Edwards/Omega might have been a great match. Solid enough though.
**3/4


Homicide vs. Christopher Daniels

I think the highlight of the match would have to be Julius Smokes telling Homicide to, "Spread the cheese on this cracka!" That's not a good thing if you were wondering. The crowd started out really hot but within a few minutes they lost interest. In order for me to enjoy a match it needs either a story or cool spots (preferably both but I can live with just one). This match really didn't have much of a story and aside from one or two cool looking moves everything they did in the ring wasn't that impressive either. I feel like they could have done a lot better.
**


Jay, Mark, and Papa Briscoe vs. The Kings of Wrestling and Shane Hagadorn w/Sara Del Rey

This was a lot of fun. Not as intense as some of the other matches betweens the two teams but easy to sit through and really enjoyable. Since Papa Briscoe was really only a one time deal I can say that he was entertaining and I was happy to have him in this match. Claudio was all sorts of greatness in the match with him taunting Papa Briscoe constantly and in general just being hilarious.
***3/4


ROH World Championship Match:

Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong(c)

I spotted a crowd member marking out so hard he had both hands on his head in disbelief. Instant 4* rating at the least. This was insane though they had what I think was a 15 minute finishing stretch. They kicked things into high gear and kept it there for such a long time. I loved the near count out towards the end of the match. Davey was sent through a table and than Liger Bombed on the floor a few seconds later. After all that Strong threw him into the crowd. The fans were literally trying to stand Davey up so he could get back into the ring. It was such a cool moment and really shows how much the fans love the guy.

I thought the ending was a very interesting idea. It looked like Davey had the match almost won when he Strong in an ankle lock but he started showing signs of a concussion and broke the hold. Strong went right after his head from there and ended up retaining. Strong gets a ton of heat for doing that, Davey looks like a badass even in losing as he never quit, his body just failed him, and we got a very unique ending to a match. The match had some flaws (I thought Strong tapping when the ref wasn't looking was completely unnecessary and the they seemed to have a tough time transitioning from the beginning portion of the match to the awesome finishing stretch) but they wasn't anything that really hurt the match all that much for me or took away from the enjoyment all that much.
****1/2


Steen Leaves ROH or Generico Unmasks
Fight Without Honor:
Kevin Steen vs. El Generico

This was everything that you could have possibly hoped for in the match that was going to end the feud between these two. After a year long feud filled with hatred I wasn't sure how they could do something crazy enough to really put an end to this. Well the certainly did. I've seen numerous death matches and I can't think of one that has ever been able to match the sheer brutality and violence that I saw in this match. So many call backs to their history together from the start with Steen wearing one of their old shirts and offering a hand shake to the perfect ending where we saw the feud end right exactly how it started.

I've seen a lot of wrestling live and it's between this match and Undertaker/Triple H at Wrestlemania this year as being the best match I've ever seen live. Undertaker/Triple H was the definition of a larger than life experience, I was a mile away from the ring and watched most of it on a big screen but it's still something I'll never forget. This match was different though. When Steen was thrown through a table stacked on a ladder that was used as a bridge between the guard rail and the ring apron I was maybe 12 feet away. I could feel the floor shake with some of the spots they were doing in the ring.

One of my favorite ROH matches ever and the perfect way to end one of ROH's best feuds ever.
****3/4


This show is amazing. The double main event delivered, the women's match was really good, the opener was awesome, and the 6-man was as much fun as you can have in a match.​
 
#2,567 ·
ROH Manhattan Mayhem IV

Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly vs. Michael Elgin and Mike Mondo ***¼

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Grizzly Redwood

Steve Corino vs. Mike Bennett

Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. The All Night Express ***¼

El Generico vs. TJ Perkins ***

Non-Title Dream Tag Team Match

The Kings of Wrestling vs. Homicide and Hernandez ****

Pure Rules Match

Christopher Daniels vs. Davey Richards ****¼

ROH World Title Match

Roderick Strong vs. Eddie Edwards ****-****¼

* O'Reilly and Cole once again with a great opener. Great showing by Elgin, and an awesome overall weekend for him with this and the match against Edwards.

* Even if you didn't know about the double turn beforehand, you could just see it coming during ANX/Briscoes with the way the match was built around the Briscoes isolating Titus, and leading into the hot tag by King (which was pretty great, the crowd obviously loved it). The brawl afterwards was awesome, both teams know how to bring the hate against each other and it hyped me up for seeing the match in Atlanta again (which seeing live, I freaking loved).

* Generico/TJP was fun but holy crap was it short. I actually liked the (sick) ending from out of nowhere, thought it was better then the two trading loads of finishers and nearfalls.

* KOW/LAX was one of the most fun matches I've seen all year in any company. Crowd ate up everything Hernandez did, from the minute stalling suplex to the border toss on Homicide to his insane dive onto Hero.

* Loved Daniels/Richards and having it pure rules was a nice touch that really added to the match. A lot of unique submission attempts by both men once they had used up all of their rope breaks, all of which were pretty cool. If it wasn't for Davey's botch at the end, I actually think I would of put this above the first match.

* Strong/Edwards or should I say, Chopfest 2011 was pretty sick. I can't believe how quickly Strong's chest was cut from Edwards' chops. The reaction for Edwards winning was AMAZING...I'd honestly say it was the loudest since Homicide winning the title back in 2006.

* One of the best all around ROH shows in quite a few years in my opinion. 3 ****+ and another 3 ***+. Usual great NYC crowd again added to the show.
 
#2,587 ·
ROH Honor Takes Center Stage: Chapter One

El Generico vs. Michael Elgin **¼

Four Corner Survival

Colt Cabana vs. Homicide vs. Caleb Konley vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Sara Del Rey and Serena Deeb vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Ayumi Kurihara ***

Tag Team Challenge Match

Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly ***½-***¾

Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards ****¼

ROH World Tag Team Title Match

The Kings of Wrestling vs. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin ***¼-***½

ROH World Title Match

Eddie Edwards vs. Christopher Daniels ****¼

* Fun fact about this show is you can see me and my friend every time there is a face entering.

* Opener was kept simple and got the crowd hyped up quite well.

* Four Corner Survival had it's moments.... unfortunately the camera missed one of the best moments, that being Mia's spin kick on Homicide.

* I loved the Shimmer tag match live, and so did most around me. I didn't enjoy it exactly as much as I did live but it's still one of the better women's matches I've seen this year.

* Briscoes/ColeReilly was great (like pretty much everything Cole and O'Reilly are doing). I remember going crazy live for the DDT/German suplex spot.

* Strong/Richards was stiffer then I remember it being and despite a slightly slow start, it built into a fucking enjoyable match. Probably my third favourite of their series behind Battle of the Best and Final Battle 2010.

* Much like the SoCal Showdown II match, the tag title match felt pretty difficult for me to get into (as it did live) however the last 5 minutes are a lot of fun and the crowd were pretty hot for it. Another fun fact is when the 3 count happens, you can see me on the right with my heads on my head...utterly disappointed at what I've just seen. The exact same happened at Supercard of Honor IV when Lynn beat McGuinness.

* Awesome main event and really well paced as it certainly didn't feel like the longest match of the weekend (including Wrestlemania). Best of the Edwards/Daniels matches for me.

* Another impressive ROH show, 3 in a row now and just as enjoyable on DVD as it was live.


ROH Honor Takes Center Stage: Chapter Two

Tag Team Challenge Match
The Kings of Wrestling vs. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly ***½-***¾

Colt Cabana vs. Dave Taylor

Homicide vs. Tommaso Ciampa **½

Christopher Daniels vs. Michael Elgin **

SHIMMER Tag Team Title Match

Daizee Haze and Tomoka Nakagawa vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Ayumi Kurihara **½

Grudge Tag Team Match

Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. The All Night Express ****¼

El Generico vs. Roderick Strong ***¼

Non Title Dream Tag Team Match
Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin vs. The American Wolves ***½

* O'Reilly and Cole, the best workers for openers in ROH opening the show against the best tag team in the world? Guaranteed greatness and for me the best ROH opener of the year. They didn't let the match go to long, built off of the tag title match from the previous night really well and even got the crowd (myself included) thinking O'Reilly and Cole could pull of an upset.

* Cabana/Taylor was a fun little attraction match. Nothing more, nothing less.

* Homicide/Ciampa surprised me, I don't actually remember enjoying it that much but on DVD I thought it was a good lot of fun, and it's actually my favourite Homicide singles match since his return.

* Daniels/Elgin was pretty simple, with the only real noteworthy thing being the tease of Daniels' heel turn.

* The SHIMMER tag title match was pretty alright, though it doesn't really touch the match from the previous night for me.

* Briscoes/ANX was fucking AWESOME. Both live and on DVD I just loved the match so much, and was probably my favourite match all weekend. So intense, so bloody and I remember thinking live when the match had finished "Boy it is good to have the Briscoes back as heels".

* Generico/Strong was good though nothing too special for me.

* The main event is a weird one for me. Live I disliked it so much, and on DVD the first half of it is still so fucking dead and boring however the last 10 minutes are quite good fun and finally helped me to enjoy the match.

* Doesn't touch the previous night but ANX/Briscoes and the opener are both two different yet fantastic matches.
 
#2,593 ·
ROH Honor Takes Center Stage: Chapter One

* Briscoes/ColeReilly was great (like pretty much everything Cole and O'Reilly are doing). I remember going crazy live for the DDT/German suplex spot.​


This would be the first O'Reilly match I considered not to come across as just an exhibition. Wonderful to sit through live.​
 
#3,523 · (Edited)
Again, why can't people accept that the man to many people has flaws. We're not all going to love and adore the same people, some people can think Masters still sucks like its 2005 but so long as they at least try and make a factual claim as to why they've taken that opinion, you won't see me flipping out.

I'm an old school guy, guys like Finlay have a better claim to be current BITW material than Edwards or 99% of workers anywhere in the world because the guy just gets pro wrestling, you put him in any situation to get a young guy over, or to get the young guy heat etc and he'll work a great match with him and make the guy look a star. Eddie Edwards gets asked to make someone look good and he thinks superkick exchanges and multiple impressive moves will do the trick, no-one is calling him the worst worker to grace the earth and truth be told he's annoyed me less than Davey in the past, but he still has problems in my view that make me think him being the best worker in the world or the future of pro wrestling is a laughable/worrying thought.

Rather than try and challenge any of the valid and stated points the three of you have just gone into a shell and thrown out hyperbole and put words into people's mouths, you can think he's a great wrestler all you want if he appeals and entertains you but be prepared to accept liking him is subjective and there's no fact that makes him an elite worker untouchabe of criticism. All the best workers will have their detractors since people like a wide variety of wrestling styles, I myself have changed my opinion 360 degrees on so many workers it isn't even funny as well as developing new styles and tastes that have led me to accessing numerous promotions I'd never heard of 2 years ago.

If Eddie Edwards being accused of a man who very rarely gets the most out of his spots and is over reliant on these impressive spots to pad out his matches to the point where they lose their impact is such a disputed view, then type out a coherent retort instead of acting like we're in the TNA section and its 'cool' to reply in sentence form bashing the other party.

It ain't bloody hard.

EDIT: Crabtree that's laughable, hell Richards/Edwards had a notoriously quiet crowd who peaked volume wise in spurts but never consistently made the atmosphere I was expecting, probably because both men took such extraordinary abuse in tandem with little set up or selling of the afterfects that it was hard to buy into either man being in danger and thus no-one to root for. You've just side stepped any criticism and labelled him 'untouchable', which is BS considering I've seen you tear into a lot of wrestlers who've produced great matches and helped the business, finance wise (Jooooooooooooooooooooooohn Ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeena rings a bell) and its laughable to see you just crawl into a shell and try to block out any criticisms. Neither of us can be right/wrong since its a subjective opinion which people will naturally support or disagree with, at least me and Jawbreaker and flag sabbath are actually discussing the matter at hand, rather than trying to psycho analyse how 'Die Hard Eddie Edwards' has fallen fowl of the WF Other Wrestling Section.
 
#3,528 ·
Again, why can't people accept that the man to many people has flaws. We're not all going to love and adore the same people, some people can think Masters still sucks like its 2005 but so long as they at least try and make a factual claim as to why they've taken that opinion, you won't see me flipping out.
Masters had made major improvements . Just wanted to say that. However, I'm not denying Edwards has flaws because every wrestler notably does. Eddie Edwards is just being picked out because it is that time of the year. Eddie Edwards biggest problem is that he has no personality. That being said, you don't have to be a great wrestler and have personality. Jack Evans has more personality than 90% of the indy scene yet I eat a needle sandwich before I watch him(Play on words). Eddie has great storytelling mind and is even able to work with guys like Roderick despite that. Is there times that there is that to be desired? Yes. His match with Roderick at DBD was horrible. Should of never happened but when you place a wrestler outside of his element, it isn't going to look great. Daniel Bryan was not that good really at MITB at all but if he and Edwards switched places, they would of been better.



I'm an old school guy, guys like Finlay have a better claim to be current BITW material than Edwards or 99% of workers anywhere in the world because the guy just gets pro wrestling, you put him in any situation to get a young guy over, or to get the young guy heat etc and he'll work a great match with him and make the guy look a star. Eddie Edwards gets asked to make someone look good and he thinks superkick exchanges and multiple impressive moves will do the trick, no-one is calling him the worst worker to grace the earth and truth be told he's annoyed me less than Davey in the past, but he still has problems in my view that make me think him being the best worker in the world or the future of pro wrestling is a laughable/worrying thought.

Get over yourself. Eddie has had the best match with Elgin thus far and O'Reily getting murdered by Eddie was hell of fun. He also went out of his way to make Hero look amazing in their title match in what is Hero's best match by a mile.

Rather than try and challenge any of the valid and stated points the three of you have just gone into a shell and thrown out hyperbole and put words into people's mouths, you can think he's a great wrestler all you want if he appeals and entertains you but be prepared to accept liking him is subjective and there's no fact that makes him an elite worker untouchabe of criticism. All the best workers will have their detractors since people like a wide variety of wrestling styles, I myself have changed my opinion 360 degrees on so many workers it isn't even funny as well as developing new styles and tastes that have led me to accessing numerous promotions I'd never heard of 2 years ago.
Eddie is a flawed wrestler but every other wrestler out there is as well. My current wrestler of the year(RKO) isn't even flawless but doesn't mean he is bad. The IWC's baby boy Daniel Bryan has his fair share of flaws to but that doesn't mean he isn't one of the best.


If Eddie Edwards being accused of a man who very rarely gets the most out of his spots and is over reliant on these impressive spots to pad out his matches to the point where they lose their impact is such a disputed view, then type out a coherent retort instead of acting like we're in the TNA section and its 'cool' to reply in sentence form bashing the other party.

It ain't bloody hard.
Shake head.
 
#3,560 ·
my $0.02:

As a huge American Wolves fan who owns the t-shirts and everything, I have to admit that the detractors in this thread bring up very realistic complaints about their work and always engage in compelling discussion and conversation. They never make it a one sided argument, its just that their points are valid enough to not warrant a response. In fact I completely agree with all of their complaints. Why is it so hard to say, "okay, ya'll have a great point but I still enjoy their work" if you don't have a counter-point? I mean, disagree by all means if you really have something to bring to the table, but if not let's just acknowledge there's some good criticism here and continue enjoying what we enjoy.
 
#3,579 · (Edited)
I feel that way about a ton of guys. I mean a lot of the criticism I see about guys like Davey and Eddie is true but when I actually watch their matches I enjoy them too much to care that they do those things wrong. When I go see a show live I care even less about the things that bother people about them.




Five Dollar Wrestling Live

I was hoping that Five Dollar Wrestling using older matches in sort of a complication would make for an interesting watch with some rare and entertaining matches. I don't know why I even thought Good Wrestling and 5 Dollar Wrestling could ever be considered the same thing.


Curtis Hughes vs. Rick Karloff

The best part of the match was the fact that Hughes kept his glasses on the whole time. It was also the only good thing about this match. Terrible but it's the better than any other match this company has had, which isn't saying much at all.
1/4*


Tracy Smothers vs. Legion w/Percy Pringle


No it's not the Legion of Doom it's just some guy named Legion. And he sucks. When you can't even execute a body slam during a match you know there's trouble. Also this has the weakest DQ ending.
DUD


Prisoner X vs. Shamus Maloney


Why the fuck is this match on a DVD? At least the other matches had some star power. This was just some shitty indy match with two guys that don't appear capable of working a decent match. It's not so much that this match was that terrible it was just more of the thought process that lead someone to putting this onto a DVD. I just cannot understand what was going through their minds when they saw this match (or even watched this match) and decided that it would be a good addition to a DVD that mostly features older "big" names.
1/2*


King Kong Bundy vs. Jack Hammer

This is one if the dumbest things I've ever seen in a wrestling ring. Aside from the fact that both guys sucked this had easily the worst ending to any match ever in existence. It wasn't even a count out they just fucking left.
DUD


Jim Neidhart vs. The Juggalator

No comment.
DUD


Jimmy Valiant vs. Masked Assassin #2


Way too much ball based offense from Valiant. As in so many moves attacking the balls that this match was not enjoyable to watch and at times it was very uncomfortable to sit through. Also Valiant never takes a bump, he mostly just dances around and hits his opponent in the balls. I don't know why anyone would ever want to watch this.
-**1/4


Jimmy Snuka vs. Metal Maniac


A truly horrific experience. It has the worst table bump ever and at one point a kid throws a fucking chair at Metal Maniac. These 2 embarrassing moments also happen within 30 seconds of each other and it left me staring at my screen in disbelief at how awful it all was.
-*1/2


Nicolai Volkoff vs. Blue Thunder


This is officially the worst match I've ever seen. I think this secretly might have just been them repeating the starting sequence to this match every few minutes. Blue Thunder also the worst strikes in wrestling, and I mean out of every single person that has ever claimed to be a wrestler (including kids that do backyard wrestling) Blue Thunder has to have the worst strikes out of all these people. Nicolai had this terrible manager with him who just dressed up like a generic evil Russian officer who felt the need to get involved in the match every 2 minutes. This was painfully long as well and I don't have a clue why. I really hope this wasn't the main event that the poor fans in attendance were forced to sit through. Everything that could go wrong on this match and it so bad that I can safely say nothing could possibly be worse.
-*****


FUCK. I'm going to watch PWG now.
 
#4,206 ·
ROH - Night of the Grudges

Showcase Matches

1. Lit vs Jimmy "Jact" Cash
Is heavily edited

2. Dunn, Marcos & Slyk Wagner Brown vs Special K
**1/2

Main Show

3. The Christopher Street Connection vs The Carnage Crew
*1/2

4. Chance Beckett vs Matt Stryker
**1/2

5. John Walters vs Justin Credible vs Chris Sabin vs Homicide
***1/2

6. CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs Raven & BJ Whitmer
***

7. Diablo Santiago vs Prince Nana
*

8. Special K vs The SAT
1/2*

9. Paul London vs AJ Styles
****1/2

10. The Group vs The Prophecy
***1/4​
 
#4,217 ·
Gargano vs. Ricochet for the DGUSA Title, EVOLVE 10:

New Open The Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano will make his first title defense at EVOLVE 10 on January 14th at The Asylum Arena in South Philadelphia. 2011's hottest wrestler, Ricochet, will step up to challenge Gargano. This is a battle between two athletes who emerged as stars in the past year. It also continues the Ronin vs. Blood Warriors feud. Ricochet is already the Open The Brave Gate Gate Champion in Dragon Gate and one half of the DGUSA Tag Team Champions. He ended PAC's historic title reign to win the Brave Gate Title. He has also already won the Open The Twin Gate and Open The Triangle Gate Titles in Japan in the past year. Now Ricochet is looking to add to his all star resume by winning the DGUSA Title on January 14th at EVOLVE 10. Tickets are now on sale in the DGUSA.tv Store or by calling 267-519-9744.
DGUSA Uprising 2011 trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMm3pQH7sCg&feature=youtu.be
 
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#4,280 ·
In the indy media section there are rips of 1993 episodes of SMV, thought there were some of 92 too.

http://www.wrestlingforum.com/indy-media/590936-smw-1993-vhsrip-x264-rudos.html


CZW - Night Of Infamy X - Ultimatum


Uhaa Nation vs. Aarron McCormick - *
Just a match to intro Uhaa to the crowd.

Intergender Match
Mia Yim vs. Greg Excellent - N/R
Enjoyable, but I can’t rate any match with a Greg Excellent strip tease.

Drew Gulak & Mr. Tofiga vs. Nation of Intoxication (Danny Havoc & tHURTeen) - **

AR Fox vs. Ryan McBride - **3/4

CZW World Tag Team Titles
Azrieal & Bandido, Jr. vs. Philly’s Most Wanted (Joker & Sabian) - **1/2
About the same as their other two matches but at least for this the crowd loved PMW losing the titles.

The Runaways (Joe Gacy & Ryan Slater) & Alex Payne vs. BLK-OUT (Rich Swann, Ruckus & Alex Colon) - **1/4
At times it looked like the guys just didn’t know what to do or forgot what they planned.

CZW World Heavyweight Title
MASADA vs. Devon Moore - **
Can someone, anyone take the title off Moore. Can't recall a good world title match since he's become champ, and the crowd seems less and less interested in him every month.

CZW World Junior Heavyweight Title
Sami Callihan vs. Adam Cole - ****
The biggest feud in CZW in 2011 ended with a bang. The match was overbooked but it worked with the history of Cole and co. stacking the deck against Callihan, and the fans cheering Callihan on helped nullify Callihan's usual grating personality. And as much as I hate Callihan, he clearly should be the world champ taking on the biggest heels in the company if Cole is indeed gone.

 
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