[EmbassyForever]

The that was awesome pointed more to the booking and the story-telling then the wrestling. The match itself was perfect for what it was and i really looking forward to see where this thing goes to. Donest vs. Hallowicked was a good match by itself and not because the booking here was great. Hope I explained myself properly.

Yeah i just heard the news about Team ROH, a really good choice and it will be interesting to see Bennett and maybe Maria in Chikara. Team ECW is best team they could put nowadays.

The match with Strong, Gallows and TMDK was just.... nothing. Really short, the crowd was fucking dead (what the hell happend to NOAH???) and everyone were looked bad here. Even Strong.

[JoeRulz]

Originally Posted by geraldinhio

Just out of curiosity how could you give two matches the same rating and say one was awesome and you didn't like the other and hate the finish.

I was about to ask the same thing, lol.

And lol at his answer ˇˇˇˇ

Originally Posted by EmbassyForever

The that was awesome pointed more to the booking and the story-telling then the wrestling. The match itself was perfect for what it was and i really looking forward to see where this thing goes to. Donest vs. Hallowicked was a good match by itself and not because the booking here was great. Hope I explained myself properly.

[Matt_Yoda]

***Flashback***

EVOLVE 1: Richards vs. Ibushi
Rahway, NJ- January 16, 2010

Overall Throughts: It’s been a long time since I watched this show but for fun thought I check it out again for old times sake. A very solid show from top to bottom and they did a great job of establishing what the promotion and characters were about from the start and this event flowed like water. Consistent undercard followed by an epic main event. Hard to believe that this promotion has only been around 2 years.

Bobby Fish vs. Kyle O’Reilly- Very Good, Shoot Style match and still holds up great.
Chucky T vs. Cheech Hernandez- Solid short match
Arik Cannon vs. Ricochet- Skinny Long Haired Ricochet FTW! Fun short match with a lot of action packed into four minutes.
Dark City Fight Club vs. Aeroform- Really good match that played up the stylistic differences between the teams.
Mercedes Martinez vs. Niya- Squash
Brad Allen vs. Silas Young- Very strong match here, one of the best matches of the show IMO
Ken Doane vs. Jimmy Jacobs- Didn’t remember this being that good but it was, however the restart bought it down a bit.
Johnny Gargano vs. Chris Dickinson- Really good match probably on par with Allen/Young, just this was shorter.
TJP vs. Munenori Sawa- Another really good, if not great match. Only thing that hurt this match was lack of selling.
Team Frightening vs. Akuma’s Army- Typical CHIKARA Trios match, which is good because I like the particular workers in this match.
Davey Richards vs. Kota Ibushi- Absolutely fantastic main event and continuing a trend of excellent matches for DR at the time, Davey/Ibushi tore this shit up.
______

EVOLVE 2: Hero vs. Hidaka
March 13, 2010- Rahway, NJ

Overall Thoughts: For me this show is probably just under EVOLVE 1, if that. Again very consistent show with a great main event, though not as good as Richards/Ibushi.

Brad Allen vs. Chris Dickinson- Really good opener that builds up Allen as a major player in EVOLVE.
Gran Akuma vs. Brodie Lee- Short match to build up Akuma
Up in Smoke vs. Aeroform- Fun short match
Ken Doane vs. Caleb Konley- Pretty bland match
Hallowicked vs. Kyle O’Reilly- Very good match between these guys with lots of back and forth
Ricochet vs. Chucky T- You can definitely see the chemistry these two have and it showed again here, good match.
Bobby Fish vs. Claudio Castagnoli- Great match between these two that established Claudio as a force while continuing to build Fish as an underdog.
Mercedes Martinez vs. Sumie Sakai- This match was pretty horrid, Sakai was so off MM couldn’t even salvage it.
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Johnny Gargano- Good short match between these guys.
QuackSaw vs. Incoherence vs. Osirian Portal vs. Colony- Fun CHIKARA style match that got a lot of time.
Chris Hero vs. Ikuto Hidaka- Really good main event that showcased a much more technical, grounded style completely different from Richards/Ibushi but great in its own way. Hero controlled the pace well while Hidaka provided the big spots.
_

EVOLVE 3: Rise or Fall
May 1, 2010- Rahway, NJ

Overall Thoughts: This show didn’t have the atmosphere of the two shows prior, this felt more throwaway but regardless it was still a good consistent show, which by this point was the EVOLVE standard. Some stuff stood out but then again nothing was bad although the undercard did drag a bit. Claudio was the star of the main event and O’Reilly/TJP and Hero/Fish were the best matches of the show bar none.

Sami Callihan vs. Adam Cole- Short solid opener but they squeezed in a lot.
Johnny Gargano vs. Ricochet- Great match with a crappy finish.
Mercedes Martinez vs. Brittany Savage- Squash
Aeroform vs. Up In Smoke vs. Team Beyond- Fun, spotty undercard match
Drake Younger vs. Jon Moxley- Good match but it left you wanting more and Moxley was pretty tame.
Chris Hero vs. Bobby Fish- Absolutely fantastic storytelling, a really great match that made you root for Fish even more
Brodie Lee vs. Gran Akuma vs. Chris Dickinson vs. Hallowicked- Pretty by the numbers 4 Way match.
TJP vs. Kyle O’Reilly- Really great match, a wrestling clinic between these two definitely one of the more overlooked matches of 2010
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Brad Allen- Very good match with a nice finish to keep Allen strong while giving Jacobs the win.
Chucky T vs. Claudio Castagnoli- Solid main event; while CT got the win Claudio put on a star making performance here he was on his game in this match. Probably the weakest main event at that point in EVOLVE, however Claudio was awesome.

[JoeRulz]

TJP vs. Munenori Sawa

One of my favorite matches of all time, tbh.

[Matt_Yoda]

Originally Posted by JoeRulz

One of my favorite matches of all time, tbh.

Yeah the chains, reversals and spots in that match were great and they really gelled well together. The only thing that irked me is that they didn't sell but like I said it didn't take away too much from the match as they typically worked around it without completely insulting your intelligence.

[DarloKid]

My latest review over at PwPonderings, Great Bear Promotions debut show, Battle Kingdom

Link: http://www.pwponderings.com/2012/07/...attle-kingdom/

[TaylorFitz]

ROH Wrestle Rave 2003
It’s hot out and the only room in my house with an AC also has a working VCR. Looking at all my tapes this is the oldest one I haven’t seen so I figured it would be worth a watch.

Prince Nana & Jimmy Jact Cash vs. Dunn & Marcos

This was a lot of fun. Dunn and Marcos had lost every match up to this point and the commentators sold it up like this was going to be a squash. For the first few minutes it looked like the match was going to be just that until Dunn and Maros got a few moves and made a hot tag. They hit a few nice looking double team moves and scored a quick win that got a really good reaction from the crowd. The fans seemed to be genuinely happy that they got their first win.
**1/2


Alexis Laree vs. Sumie Sasai

This was another match that was just a lot of fun to watch. I know I’ve seen Sumie wrestle numerous times before but I’m having a hard time placing where I’ve seen her wrestle. The match was really short but they kept a great pace and that really offset all of this for me. At first it seemed like Laree was out of her league against a bigger name like Sumie but she was able to hold her own after the initial onslaught. “Fun” is the only word that I would use to describe this match.
**1/2


Submission Match:
Matt Stryker vs. Chad Collyer
This had a much slower pace than the previous matches but I really liked what they tried to do here. At first both guys were just these generic wrestlers but they were able to turn Stryker into a really over face and Collyer playing an aggressive heel. They did all this without anyone actually cheating, just some aggressive tactics and Stryker taking a really long beat down. He worked the leg almost the entire time with the exception of this one segment where he just started doing arm submissions. Aside from that weird 2 minute stretch Collyer’s offense was focused and Stryker sold it well. I personally found myself getting invested in the outcome and hoping that Stryker would be able to turn things around.

Stryker’s comeback really annoyed me as once he was on the offensive he stopped selling his leg. It drives me crazy when you see guys put on a technical clinic and then ignore everything they did at the end. Great start with a terrible finish.
**3/4


At Least it’s Not a Scramble:
Justin Credible, Loc & Devito vs. Deranged, Dixie & Izzy

There was a natural clash in characters between the opposing teams and watching the Special K guys get beat up is always fun. This can easily be summed up in 2 simple words.
1. STIFF
2. SPOTZ
It was at least short and it was kind of amusing to watch Special K do all their flips and shit just to get annihilated by the Carnage Crew. I still don’t want to watch any more of these matches though.
*1/2


ROH World Championship Match:
Samoa Joe(c) vs. Dan Maff
We were informed before the match started that Maff’s father had just passed away the day before this show. So Maff got a really nice reaction from the crowd despite being a member of the Prophecy. The atmosphere for this match was pretty great, despite taking place fairly early on the card it had that big fight atmosphere that you always want experience for title matches. Dan Maff isn’t the best of workers but I have to say he had really good chemistry with Joe. Mostly because they were willing to just beat the hell out of each other the entire match.

I’ve seen Joe in a lot of great matches but they normally are against guys that are smaller than him. In this case they were both about the same size and it was cool to see Joe wrestle against someone that could be a total badass like Joe always is. There are few times when you’ll ever see Joe gets his ass kicked in the ring the way Maff was controlling the match at times and it was refreshing to say the least. This was a lot better than I was expecting. Both guys worked really hard and it showed. Maff had the crowd behind him and ready to explode when he set Joe up for the Burning Hammer. I don’t where you would be able to find this match but I think it’s something that would be worth going out of your way to see.
***3/4


BJ Whitmer vs. Tony Mamaluke vs. Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Jacobs

This was just all over the place with big spots and false finishes. While it was very spotty I was happy to see that everyone was focused on winning the match and not just hitting big spots. It just felt really frantic with so many big moves being hit and broken up. The match also avoided the overkill territory that a lot of indy matches from this time often fall into. The match had a perfect spot in the card between the title match and a slower more methodical match that would follow.
***1/4


No Disqualification:
CM Punk and Colt Cabana vs. Raven and Christopher Daniels

Looking back this is a really intriguing match and it didn’t disappoint at all. CM Punk was in full heel mode teaming with the much more easy going Colt Cabana, which I had to say created a really interesting dynamic. There was a good amount of weapon use but this was a tag team match bore than it was a hardcore match. It kind of reminded me of some ECW matches that I’ve seen where weapons get used but they aren’t the focus of the match. This had a pretty old school structure with some comedic ass kicking early on followed by Colt and Punk working a lengthy control segment on Daniels.

From there it was pretty much anyone’s match as things got more out of control and we saw less tag structure. Ring of Honor rarely did ref bumps at the time and the one in this match fit into the story perfectly. I liked this match a lot and I can’t wait to watch Death Before Dishonor after seeing this. Great mix of old school tag wrestling and the style that ROH was trying to promote at the time.
***3/4


CM Punk Promo:
Normally I don’t do reviews on things that aren’t matches but after this match CM Punk went and cut a promo about Raven. I’m sure everyone has heard it by now but this very well might be the best post-ECW indy promo that I’ve ever seen. In about 2 minutes CM Punk took this feud to a whole new level and defined his character. So intense and it felt so real. This is what everyone was hoping Punk would do when he was feuding with Jericho earlier this year. Just an amazing promo and I have to think that if anyone in WWE saw this promo they would have signed Punk in an instant. This is all over youtube so if you’re someone an indy wrestling fan and you haven’t seen this promo do so.


NWA: World Championship:
AJ Styles (c) vs. Chris Sabin

I thought this was another nice mix of two different styles. They worked a slower paced match, which kind of reminded me of an older type of NWA Championship match. The big difference being that where we would see a suplex in the 80s they would hit some type of insane spot to switch control of the match. I was surprised at how short this was thought. They set the pace early on making me think that the match was going to go a good 20-25 minutes and we got a lot less than that. For the time they got I thought it was really good.
***1/4


Fight Without Honor:
Homicide vs. Trent Acid

Some cool spots but why would you end a match like this with a role up? The role up was a botched one as well. It was a fucking terrible ending. The match itself was pretty good though before the ending. Good pace and there was some real intensity brought. This was pretty much what I was expecting out of it and it was entertaining enough.
***1/4

Overall it was pretty good show but nothing that I would tell anyone to go out of their way to see. The card was spread out everything so that it was an easy watch.

[smitlick]

ROH - Underground

1. Kenny King vs Andy Ridge
**1/4

2. Mike Bennett vs Grizzly Redwood
*1/2

3. Adam Cole vs Kevin Steen
***1/2

4. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander vs The Briscoe Brothers
**3/4

5. Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team vs Team A1
N/R

6. Tommaso Ciampa vs Jay Lethal
***

7. Davey Richards & Kyle O'Reilly vs The House of Truth
***3/4

[Platt]

Highspots Monthly DVD Sampler Pack
Enjoy 10 great wrestling DVD's for the low price of $29.99!
And even better, every month you will get 10 new titles to select from!

*Please note that the 10 titles each month have
already been selected and no substitutions will be made**

Every month we dig into our library and dig out 10 different titles for you to try for a super low price of only $29.99. There is no better deal anywhere for the fan that wants a little taste of everything.


1 - Carlos Colon Shoot Interview DVD-R
A shoot interview from the biggest star in Puerto Rico's history. Nothing was hotter in the wrestling than Puerto Rico in the 80s and this legend was the head of it all. This brand new interview was shot in Miami the weekend of WrestleMania. The DVD features not only an interview with Carlos Colon, but we've added several accounts of the Brody incident as witnessed by the wrestlers that were part of the inner circle of the trajedy.

2 - ECW Fan Cam 12/27/97 DVD-R
Another amazing night from ECW featuring Great Sasuke v. Tiger Mask, Taz v. Sabu, and RVD v. Sandman. These are historic shows that we don't want to forget.

3 - Muta v. Liger DVD-R
Two of the great Japanese legends meet for the first time ever, truly historic.

4 - PWG Giant Size Annual #4 DVD
We celebrate another birthday with PWG this month by taking a look at when they were just an innocent 4 year old baby. Many people consider this one of PWG's greatest shows and the lineup certainly warrants an argument.
Davey Richards v. Fergal Devitt; Necro Butcher v. Bryan Danielson; Generico v. Bryan Danielson

5 - PWX - Queen City Chaos (May 12th, 2012) DVD-R
Headlined by 7OH!4 (DGUSA's Caleb Konley and ROHs Cedrick Alexander) in a street fight against ROH Tag Team Champions The All Night Express (Kenny King and Rhett Titus). This wild street fight goes all over the building and not even the hired security guards know what is going on at the event (clue to promotors, talk to your local security/police officers before the match). Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have a street fight in a community that just had two shootings a few days prior to the event, but as we say all the time, ONLY IN WRESTLING.

6 - CZW Truth or Consequences (06/14/2003) DVD-R
Very young Briscoes v. Backseat Boyz as well as your expected Ultraviolence that only CZW can deliver.

7 - Highspots TV Volume 4 DVD-R
Our own little variety show happens daily over at Highspots TV. We put a few of our gems on DVD for people still reluctant to check out our own little version of Netflix, highspots.tv, for wrestling fans.

8 - UWF - Electric Night in the Electric City (08/12/06) DVD-R
This was the TNA house shows before they became corporate. This show features Samoa Joe v Bobby Roode and the Naturals v. AJ Styles/Daniels.

9 - FIP - Heatstroke 2005, Night One (8/05/05) DVD-R
The territorial league of ROH produced alot of gems. On this scorching hot night in a building that didn't have AC, see Antonio Banks (later MVP) and Rainman v. The Heartbreak Express, Samoa Joe v. Spanky, CM Punk v. Ace Steel, and the match that stole the show between Sal Rinauro v James Gibson. Also featured on this show are Homicide, Tony Marmaluke, Adam Pearce, Roderick Strong, Jarrelle Clark and more.

10 - WSU History of the Title DVD-R
Everybody is excited about the debut of Shine later this month, so we thought we would honor a long standing women's fed based out of the Northeast that never gets the credit its due.

[EmbassyForever]

Chikara I'll Be a Mummy's Uncle review:

UltraMantis Black vs. Ophidian: **1/4

Saturyne vs. Kobald: **1/4

Four Way Elimination Tag Team Match: The S.A.T. vs. QT Marshall and Jack Bonza vs. F.I.S.T. vs. The Bravado Brothers: ***
Good booking here, FIST are awesome.

Mixed Martial Archie vs. Mr. Touchdown: **3/4

Jigsaw vs. Tim Donst: ***1/2
MOTN, but imo Donst should have won here.

Dragonfly vs. Jakob Hammermeier: *

Gregory Iron vs. Gran Akuma: **1/4

Sara Del Rey vs. Kodama: **1/2

Eddie Kingston and The Colony vs. 17, The Shard, and The Swarm: ***
Can someone explain to me what's Gekido (this is their name?) deal? and who is Swarm?