ROH

SamoaRowe's Top Ten

So, here's my Top Ten list of 2007 as it stands now. I just want to note that I haven't finished Good Times, Great Memories, and I haven't seen Manhatten Mayhem II or Man Up yet. I also fell asleep ten minutes into Cena/Michaels II, so I don't have any solid opinion on that one yet. Anyhow, here's the list:

10) Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima (ROH Fifth Year Festival: New York City)
I pegged this one at ****1/4. It was a great power match, and I marked out a lot while watching it. This only lost points because I felt it went from "feeling out" to "going home" very quickly, so the match didn't feel complete in that sense. Still, a pleasure to watch, and the beginning of an awesome run for Morishima in ROH.

9) Takeshi Morishima vs. Claudio Castagnoli (ROH Death Before Dishonor V Night 1)
You know those matches where a title is on the line and you know for sure that the champion is going to retain? This could have easily been one of those matches, but it wasn't. For starters, Claudio was built up strongly before this event, winning the Race to the Top tournament. Then the match took place, and Claudio brought a crazy fight to the dominant Morishima, pushing him to the very limit. Sadly, Morishima was able to regain himself long enough to hit a single backdrop driver on Claudio for the win. Anticlimatic finish aside, this match was magic, and landed at ****1/4.

8) Takeshi Morishima and Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness and KENTA (ROH Respect is Earned)
Now we're enterting ****1/2 territory. This was the main event of ROH's first ever pay-per-view, and they didn't hold anything back and threw the top four stars they had out there to quickly establish personalities and roles for a new audience. We learned right away how ruthless Morishima could be, how agile KENTA is, and how intelligent and crafy Danielson is. What stood out here was the emergence of Nigel McGuinness as a top star to the new audience, as he appeared to be hurt and out of the match, but quickly got bandaged up to return and prove to us all what a tough competitor he is. I loved this match, it set the pay-per-view era off on the right foot.

7) Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal and Claudio Castagnoli (ROH Respect is Earned)
By this point you're probably rolling your eyes over how ROH-heavy this list is, because I could give two shits. I call it like I see it. The Briscoes spent the entire year stealing show after show and pushing the limit (later in the year I would actually argue they pushed things too far, but that's a story for another day). Sydal and Castagnoli were a thrown together team for this one, but displayed some incredible chemistry and took the fight to the Briscoes. Speaking of the Briscoes, they were on fire here, and delivered some of the most breathtaking double team spots I've ever witnessed. I've said it before, but I'm not going to apologize for loving a spot-fest, which this was, if it is done well and makes me cheer. ****1/2.

6) John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE Wrestlemania 23)
This match got a lot of criticism due to Cena getting a lot of punishment to the knee and then no-selling it later in the match. This gripe didn't bother me that much, because the no-selling lead to a thrilling back and forth contest between two guys who set out to add a new chapter to both their respective legacies. This was the kind of outstanding singles Wrestlemania main event that we hadn't seen in several years and was a welcome return. ****1/2

5) Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. El Generico and Kevin Steen (ROH Death Before Dishonor V Night 1)
The Boston street fight was a war unlike the city had ever seen. It started with brawling through the crowd and ended up a series of devastating bumps in the ring. The hatred between these two teams was reaching scary levels of believability as the chair shots and broken tables began to add up. From what I've heard, the ladder war from Man Up topped this war, though reviews of the later match lead me to believe that they went too far with the violence. At least here, every spot and moment built and built until the final sickening moment when Steen dropped a Briscoe with the package piledriver onto the ladder. Steen and Generico got the upset and a moment of glory. ****1/2.

4) CIMA, Shingo, and Susumu Yokosuka vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, and Masaaki Mochizuki (ROH Supercard of Honor II)
Now we are entering the ****3/4 territory. These six men set out to match the quality of the Dragon Gate six man from the original Supercard of Honor, and they came pretty damn close. The delight here was seeing them trying to have an awesome match, but not the same spot-fest from the year before. There was a lot of storytelling in this one, as well as a great mixture of styles with the inclusion of Shingo and Mochizuki. This was a match that I felt I could watch repeatedly, not get tired of it, and notice something new each time. A true classic.

3) John Cena vs. Umaga (WWE Royal Rumble)
My first impression after watching this match was that it was the MOTY and nothing would touch it. I turned out to be wrong, but I was still blown away by this. For starters, I don't really care for Umaga, as a character or a worker. That should tell you how much I enjoyed this match then. It was a last man standing match, and they worked the gimmick to perfection. They utilized their surroundings fantastically, including a nasty Umaga splash on the announce tables. What really put this over for me was the climatic finish, with Cena incorporating the broken ring ropes to trap Umaga in the STFU. I said it then as I'll say it now, this match deserves to be talked about for a long time. It was the best WWE match of 2007. ****3/4.

2) Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson (ROH Driven)
These are two guys I will never get tired of seeing them wrestle each other. Each time they bring something new to the table and have a completely different great match. When I first heard about this one, people immediately said it was the best match they'd had yet, and I didn't believe it. I had trouble buying that it would top their match from Unified in 2006. How wrong I was. The aggression. The drama. The way both men got put over. A lot of people complained that Nigel was buried in 2007, all the while overlooking how he was put over huge on the pay-per-views. He looked stronger in defeat than most wrestlers look in victory. This lived up the hype and deserves to be talked about for a long time. ****3/4.

1) Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer (ROH Supercard of Honor II)
Nigel/Danielson almost knocked this one out of it's place. In the end, there were just too many factors putting this one over. It was the culmination of a year-long feud. It featured a wreslter I don't usually enjoy (BJ Whitmer) but dazzled me anyhow. It helped complete the transformation of Jimmy Jacobs into a disturbring psychopath. And it was brutal. The match took place in a cage and both men destroyed each other and both men were put on the shelf as a result. Jacobs tore up his knee and lost a tooth. No match in 2007 was more memorable or meaningful to me than this, so here it stands, as SamoaRowe's MOTY. ****3/4.

ROH Haters

Okay, before I get into this, I just want to stop and acknowledge that there are some "ROHbots" out there who will exaggerate everything Ring of Honor does to the point where it becomes ridiculous. They exist, they are annoying, I get it. However, even worse is the emerging presence of the "ROH hater."

Over at 411mania.com/wrestling, J.D. Dunn posted his top ten matches of the year. The list featured lots of John Cena and ROH, with Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson from Driven topping the list. As expected, the usual lot of "OMG, CENA SUX!!!!!!!!!!!!1" people were there to bitch about it and do everything in their power to try and downplay what Cena accomplished this year. It was the type of "Yeah, Cena had great matches, but it doesn't counted because he was CARRIED!" So what if he was carried? Does that mean the match was less enjoyable? Others write off Cena's Royal Rumble match with Umaga because it was a gimmick match. Sometimes, gimmicks elevate a match or feud, so why should that hurt the credibility of the bout? Should I be thinking "I've decided that I didn't enjoy Cena/Umaga because it was a gimmick match, therefore it wasn't worth my time and I must of been confused to enjoy it." Some people made up their minds in 2005 that John Cena sucked and would always suck and will never change their minds. I don't care, I'm not exactly a huge Cena fan myself, but I'm always willing to give credit where it is due and Cena had an outstanding 2007 before his injury and is surely the wrestler of the year.

But then there's the ROH haters. This is a new breed of IWC peeps that has emerged due to ROH hitting pay-per-view. There are complaints at Dunn's list (411 has enabled comments to articles now, not sure if that's such a good idea...) as well as other boards I've seen. The argument is that "Nothing from ROH should be in consideration for year-end awards because only 2,000 people watch it." Wait, what? How is this a logical basis for one's opinion?

For starters, ROH is more popular than a lot of people have given it credit for. It is still an indy company, but one that draws consistent crowds in numerous cities, has achieved higher than expected pay-per-view buys, and are internationally known. No wrestling company experienced more growth in 2007 than ROH. I would even daresay that ROH is more popular now than TNA was in 2002-2003, and they are doing something that TNA has never done: make money.

But what really kills me is that people think ROH should be discredited simpy for being less popular and mainstream. This makes no sense to me whatsoever. Anyone who suggests that Cena vs. Khali has more of a right to be considered for match of the year over Danielson vs. Morishima should just accept that it's because they don't watch the ROH product and shouldn't get all snooty when others make such claims. I think it comes down to simple jealousy. WWE/TNA fans see ROH as too difficult to get into, and due to the jealousy of hearing about all the great things coming out of it, they just find it easier to write it off due to ROH being small.

Also, this whole argument of "popular equals quality" does not exist in other fields when year end awards come up. I suppose at the Academy Awards this winter, the nominees for best picture should be Spider Man 3, Shrek the Third, Transformers, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and 300. I mean, they were the most popular movies of the year. Way more people saw these than No Country for Old Men or Juno, right? Of course no one brings up this argument when it comes to movies, because it just sounds completely mindless!

So, if you don't want to watch ROH because you think it's too hard to get into or you're turned off by some of the mutant fans, then that's fine. But don't make up excuses based on ignorance for why you think matches like Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson should be shoved aside in favor of Bobby Lashley vs. John Cena. It's okay to just say "I didn't watch ROH, so there." I hardly saw any current puro this year, so I didn't include it in my end of year thoughts. But do I sit here and say "Only nerds watch puro, they think every match is *****, they're all stupid mutants." Of course I don't. I'm ignorant by how good (or dull) wrestling from Japan was this year so I'm not going to comment on it! I'm also not going to fault anyone else who does. So I'm just asking for people to stop taking this so seriously, acknowledge that everyone is going to have a different opinion, and let's please stop making stupid excuses to defend ignorant opinions.

ROH Nigel/Aries Confrontation 12/18/07

ROH Video Wire 12/13/07

ROH Video Wire 11-19-07

TNA Remix Episode 5 -

Bruno Sammartino VS Giant Baba 2

Bruno Sammartino VS Giant Baba 1

ROH Video Wire 10/12/07

Why do we have three brands again?

I think everyone can agree that World Wrestling Entertainment is not having a good year by any means. After business had been on the rise for most of 2006 and early 2007, there have been many bumps in the road that have hurt the promotion. The most severe has to be the Benoit family tragedy, which hit the wrestling industry in general, and has brought attention to the drug problems in wrestling to congress. WWE is not making things any easier for themselves, and I will explain why.

I ask the question "Why do we have three brands anyway?" I have explored the stupidity that WWE incorporates when it comes to their three brands in past entries, but this is a subject that continues to bug me. Let's take a look at some problems they have had recently, and how the brand split should have helped them but didn't.

For starters, at the beginning of the summer, the WWE was running an elaborate "Who killed Mr. McMahon" angle. They were betting on this to be a big ratings draw, so they played out aspects of the angle on ECW and Smackdown as well, despite this being a Raw-centric angle. The problem was that this angle ate up so much time on ECW and Smackdown, that their own angles and roster were pushed to the side. Then the Benoit murders occurred and it became clear that it would be unwise to continue such an angle in this light. Good thing this was a Raw angle, so that only Raw will be hurt and the other two shows can continue on smoothly. Oh wait, the death angle swallowed ECW and Smackdown whole, they need regrouping too! What should have been an issue of replanning the next month of Raw's turned into an issue of replanning all three brands. This should not have happened.

Vince waited for a few weeks before returning to Raw. He quickly wrapped up the death angle, briefly explaining that he faked his own death to see how his family would react. On the same show, it was revealed that Vince had an illigitimate child. Another high profile Raw angle was born!

Oh, but wait! This angle ALSO spilled over to ECW and Smackdown. Vince and Coach started visiting all the brands in search of the illigitimate child, and the angle was now consuming ECW and Smackdown's angles as well! I suppose this is good and all, since absolutely nothing could happen to disrupt this angle... except that there was. The common understanding across the internet community is that the bastard son was going to be Mr. Kennedy, which would have been a great way to elevate him up the WWE ladder. This angle was going to make a new main event star, one that would likely take the WWE Championship and become a strong heel heading into Wrestlemania 24. It would have worked, except that a lengthy list of WWE superstars were busted of having been customers of an online steroid ring. This list decimated all three brands, as John Morrison, King Booker, Umaga, and Mr. Kennedy were included on the bust. So now, not only was the prime candidate for the bastard son role in need of a suspension, but so were many of the alternative ideas.

Once again, a high profile angle that engulfed all the shows had been disrupted greatly. WWE tried to salvage the situation by having the bastard son turn out to be Hornswoggle, so they could run a comedy angle rather than have it be an out-right flop by having the son turn out to be some unover midcarder that would not work in the main events. Again, this is something that should have only hurt Raw, but it hurt Smackdown as well. Hornswoggle was the Cruiserweight Champion, and had been associated with Finlay and feuding with Jamie Noble. Since he's been a McMahon, Hornswoggle has been cut off from both almost completely.

The hits just keep coming for WWE, as now the WWE Champion, John Cena, is hurt and needs 6-12 months to recover. Now there is a huge void at the top, and the No Mercy main event is up in the air. How can this be? Are there not two other brands besides Raw? Surely, Smackdown has a main event worth headlining? Oh wait, the Smackdown main event is Batista vs. Khali in a Punjabi prison match. This match has disaster all over it, when it was booked it was assumed that Cena/Orton III would be the main selling point of the show. Nevermind. Okay, so how about that ECW brand? Do they have a main event worth headlining No Mercy? Actually, they have CM Punk, who is doing the best he can with what they give him, against Big Daddy V. Never heard of Big Daddy V? He used to go by the name, Viscera. Yes, that Viscera. The unover, worthless, slug of a 90's burnout who has somehow managed to keep a job in WWE for the past three years. But this is typical of the ECW brand. On the last pay-per-view, Unforgiven, the ECW title match opened the show, and the challenger didn't even get a televised entrance. The ECW title is below midcard status now.

What makes matters even worse about the John Cena situation is that again this is something that should only be hurting Raw. But it isn't. The WWE is making sure that if Raw goes down, all the other brands go down with it. They've been heavily addressing how screwed they are over Cena on both ECW and Smackdown this past week. Lovely.

So, with three brands, isn't there some way that these problems could have been avoided? The death and bastard son angles should have stayed on Raw. There is no reason why ECW or Smackdown had to get involved. They would have acknowledged the loss of Mr. McMahon, but did we really need an episode of Smackdown where all the feuds were thrown to the side in favor of interbrand "tribute" matches? Then when the bastard son angle started, it should have been stated that the son was a Raw superstar, leaving the other two brands out. This is not a case of boosting the other shows because they have the aftermath of Raw's "grand" events. I don't see the Teddy Long heart attack incident all over Raw and ECW (aside from Smackdown rebounds, etc). If the same thing had happened to an authority figure on Raw, an entire episode of Smackdown would have been devoted to it.

In the case of John Cena's injury, the time used recapping it and fearing what the solution would be, they should have turned up the heat on ECW and Smackdown. They needed to let CM Punk cut a kick-ass promo over how he would step up as ECW champion and make No Mercy a night to remember. They should have allowed Tommy Dreamer to get the title shot instead of Viscera. There is invested emotional interest in Dreamer, because he's an original who just wants to be the ECW champion again. That would have been appealing, and the most credible ECW main event in months. On Smackdown, they should have tried harder to put Batista over as a mighty world champion. Instead, it was the same old shit.

So there you have it. There are three brands, but it seems that every storyline disruption on Raw has to hurt the other two. And at the same time, they keep Smackdown and ECW in such ruins that they cannot rely on them to step up when something goes wrong on Raw. If this is really how they plan on running the company, then it's time to just unify the roster again. Do Raw and Smackdown, and turn ECW into Velocity (keep Heat on WWE.com) with the same roster. It wouldn't look that much different now. Book a CM Punk/Batista/WWE Champion triple threat match where the winner gets all the titles and unify them at once. Either do this, or start being smart with the brand extension. WWE has had five years now to get it right, and they haven't, so something needs to change.

Ring of Honor: October 5th Live Report

Ring of Honor made their return to Boston on Friday, October 5th 2007. Once again, the Reggie Lewis Track and Field Center at Roxbury Community College was the host. This is a fine venue, I must say, despite the rough neighborhood.

This show was coming off the heels of August's Death Before Dishonor V Night 1 show. With the tremendous quality of that event, expectations were running high. The crowd turnout was a bit down, as there was a big Red Sox game in progress the same night.

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Preshow:

Bryan Fury defeated "Sugarfoot" Alex Payne.

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Handsome Johnny defeated "Sexiest Man Alive" Rhett Titus.

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Neither preshow match was overly noteworthy, which is to be expected.

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Main Show:

Adam Pearce and Brent Albright defeated Erick Stevens and Matt Cross. This was an excellent opener, as it was solid tag team wrestling with no fancy gimmick. Cross played a convincing face in peril and Stevens got one of the hottest tags I've seen in a LONG time as a result. This was a pleasant surprise, ***1/4.

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BJ Whitmer defeated Delirious. This one did not click at all. If they are going to keep booking Delirious into blood feuds, he needs to start acting like he really wants to hurt his enemy. Whitmer won in anticlimatic fashion, even after taking a series of "Chaos Effects" from Delirious, **.

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The Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black, and Lacey) cut a promo in the ring, and were attacked by Jay Briscoe. They brawled out into the hallway and back into the dressing room area. As a result, Black did not participate in the scheduled four-way and the following triple threat took place instead:

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Nigel McGuinness defeated Hallowicked, and El Generico. This was a lot of fun, Nigel and Generico were very over with the crowd. Hallowicked did not do anything overly impressive, which is a shame because this was his Boston ROH debut. Nigel hit at least seven lariats during the match, and was able to pin Hallowicked while Generico was recovering on the floor. ***

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Claudio Castagnoli defeated Chris Hero in an overly long match up. By this point, any real heat between Hero and Castagnoli is gone. The antics of Larry Sweeney, Sara Del Rey, and Bobby Dempsey at ringside were humorous, but felt a bit distracting once Hero stopped goofing around had started really wrestling Claudio. I've been told the match went about 20 minutes, but it felt like 30, **3/4.

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Jay Briscoe and Necro Butcher brawled into the gym. They fought their way around the crowd, with Butcher burying Jay with chairs at one point. Once it hit the ring, it became an "anything goes" match. Lots of sick chair bumps, with Necro Butcher picking up the win (after Jimmy Jacobs got involved again). Mark Briscoe hobbled out on his crutches to try and make the save, but the Age of the Fall took him out and carried him out of the building. What happened after was complete nonsense, as Jay took the time to cut a short promo and fight with a fan at ringside, rather than show concern for his brother who was just KIDNAPPED! I hope Mark kicks his ass for this later.

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Intermission:

I wandered around for a bit and saw some wrestlers in the hallway (Kevin Steen was being especially nice to fans looking for autographs). I went to the merch stand and chatted with Sara Del Rey again, and had her sign another DVD for me. She is really representing SHIMMER well.

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Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black squashed Ernie Osiris and Mitch Franklin. Afterwards, Jay Briscoe attacked them yet again, and he was not selling any of the punishment that Necro Butcher dished out to him earlier.

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Austin Aries defeated Bryan Danielson in an excellent match. Aries busted out some technical wrestling chops that we haven't seen from him in a long while. They took their time to tell a nice story, and built to the trademark high spots. Aries managed to out wrestle Danielson and make him tap out. ****

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Jack Evans, Jigsaw, and Ruckus defeated Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, and Rocky Romero in a scramble tag match. If you enjoy spot-fests (which I tend to do) then you would like this one. Evans, Jigsaw, and Ruckus, collectively known as The Vulture Squad, meshed very well as a team. Jigsaw stands out from the others as he wears a masked and has some off-beat goof charm, but his ring work qualifies him for the group. Solid spot-fest, and I look forward to seeing more of the Vulture Squad later, ***1/2.

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Takeshi Morishima defeated Kevin Steen to retain the ROH World Championship. It took this match several minutes before it started to click. The early going was some uninspiring brawling that failed to achieve any flow. Then Steen went for the sharpshooter, and things picked up from there. Lots of near falls, with Steen coming painfully close to winning the belt on several occasions. So basically, this is a repeat of Morishima's last two Boston title defenses. Again, Morishima managed to hulk up and hit a single backdrop driver for the victory. **3/4

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So all in all, this show was a few steps below what I've come to expect from ROH Boston shows. There was some nonsensical booking and a few matches failed to deliver. There was also an odd mix of effort, as the roster wanted to put on a great show but at the same time seemed to be saving themselves for tonight's pay-per-view taping. But, if you noticed my star ratings, most of the matches were in the *** region and the Aries/Danielson match lived up to my high expectations, so I was a happy wrestling fan once again. I look forward to ROH's return to Boston on January 11, 2008.

ROH Video Wire 9/19/07

Botchamania 27

ROH Video Wire 8/31/07

ROH Driven PPV Preview

ROH Video Wire 8/17/07

AJPW Jumbo Tsuruta VS Mitsuharu Misawa

You read the review, now live the match!

Misawa vs. Tsuruta

All Japan Pro Wrestling
Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
June 8th 1990
The normally quiet Japanese crowd is red hot for this. They lock up with Tsuruta shoving Misawa off. Shoulder block takedown by Jumbo and a power slam. Misawa blocks a running knee strike, but soon gets caught with the big boot. Hard clothesline by Jumbo, for the first cover attempt of the match. Power slam by Tsuruta, but Misawa counters a back drop driver into a press. Tsuruta goes to ringside, but gets caught with a drop kick off the apron by Misawa. Tsuruta is dumped over the steel barricade. Misawa hangs out in the ring, as it takes Tsuruta several seconds to come back. Misawa dumps Tsuruta back to the floor and leaps over the ropes onto his worthy foe.
The match restarts with a headlock, and Misawa takes control. Tsuruta reverses the lock and goes to work on the wrists. It takes several seconds, but Misawa counters the hold and pulls back on Tsuruta's arms. Sadly, it's reversed again, but Misawa flips out. Misawa applies a hard hammerlock, which is broken by the ropes. Misawa slaps Tsuruta out of frustration. The match restarts again, this time with Tsuruta aggressively pounding and hitting his knee into Misawa's face. Tsuruta goes for the ever so reliable abdominal stretch. Misawa counters into an abdominal stretch of his own, but Tsuruta counters by pushing Misawa over the ropes. Misawa is then whipped into the steel barricade and effortlessly tossed back into the ring by his larger foe. Suplex and a cover by Tsuruta, and then the chinlock!
Misawa struggles with the chinlock, but fights to his feet. Jumbo sends Misawa crashing face first to the mat. Tsuruta tries the move again, but Misawa counters with a drop kick! Neat! Misawa goes high risk and connects with the missile dropkick. Cover by Misawa only gets 2. Running elbow shot by Misawa and a suplex. Spin kick by Misawa and a power slam. Misawa goes high risk and connects with a frog splash! Cover only gets 2. Tsuruta then catches Misawa in his arms and drops him onto the ropes in a sickening fashion! Tsuruta is done playing games and angrily stomps and hits a pile driver! Cover gets 2. Lou Thesz press by Tsuruta gets a cover for 2. Hard drop kick by Tsuruta gets another cover for 2. Misawa won't stay down!
Tsuruta connects with a big boot and goes for the cover yet again. Tsuruta goes high risk, Misawa cuts him off, but Tsuruta still gets his knee to the face of Misawa. Tsuruta continues to dominate, as he gets a power slam and goes high risk again. Misawa chases him to the top and attempts a superplex. Tsuruta knocks him back down to the mat and hits a missile drop kick! Misawa is barely able to kick out of the following cover. Misawa blocks a power bomb, but only temporarily, as Tsuruta gets the bomb and almost wins with the cover. Loud "Misawa" chant from the fans in attendance. Tsuruta goes for a tiger driver, but Misawa counters into a backslide pin attempt. Tsuruta kicks out and knocks Misawa down with his fist, before collapsing himself.
Misawa baseball slides Tsuruta to the floor and hits a HUGE flying crossbody off the top turnbuckle onto Tsuruta on the outside! DAMN! The distance that Misawa got right there was incredible! Both men struggle back into the ring, where Misawa hits some jumping kick thrusts to the head. Tsuruta blocks a back suplex, but Misawa bridges him into a pinning predicament. Tsuruta kicks out! Hard spin kick by Misawa, who then goes high risk again. Misawa goes for the frog splash, but Tsuruta gets his knees up! Tsuruta goes for the cover, but Misawa kicked out! Powerslam by Tsuruta, followed by the Boston crab! Misawa gets the rope break. Hard clothesline by Tsuruta, with another cover attempt for 2. Another hard clothesline gets another 2 count for Tsuruta. Misawa is a mad man!
Tsuruta clotheslines Misawa into the corner. Back suplex by Tsuruta and both men are having trouble getting up. Misawa hits the German suplex into a pinning predicament and Tsuruta barely kicks out! Misawa goes for the tiger driver again, but Tsuruta counters into a back drop pinning predicament. Tsuruta whips Misawa off the ropes and into his knee. Misawa is whipped into the corner, but he leaps off the turnbuckles and into Tsuruta's head. Tsuruta charges at Misawa, who blocks, and Tsuruta hits the ropes in awkward fashion! DAMN! Misawa counters the suplex, but his power bomb is countered into a press! Misawa counters into a pin of his own and wins! Holy crap, what a finish! Misawa beat the legendary Tsuruta at 24:25! The torch has been passed! This match had the "big match" feel all over it, and provided lots of innovative action and drama. You need to watch this (if you haven't already), ****3/4.
Winner: Mitsuharu Misawa

ROH Video Wire 8/01/07

Death Before Dishonor V Night One

Friday, August 10th 2005:
Myself, DWB's own Professor Plague, and our former drama advisor/old-school wrestling fan took in Ring of Honor in Roxbury Crossing, MA. It was quite the show.

Preshow:

In a six-way match, Shane Hagadorn picked up a cheap victory against Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne, Bobby Dempsey, Ernie Osiris, Mitch Franklin, and Rhett Titus. Hagadorn spent the majority of the match sitting at ringside and stole the victory.

SHIMMER Champion Sara Del Rey defeated an unknown wrestler, whose first name was Candice, at 1:52. It was a complete squash, as the jobber looked extremely green. Del Rey had some good moves in her, including a sick fallaway slam.

Main show:
Jack Evans defeated Davey Richards by DQ at 11:22. Adequate opener, as Richards is playing his heel character well and Evans was insanely over with the live crowd. The match came to an abrupt halt when Roderick Strong interferred, which sparked a brawl between the NRC and Resilience.

Lacey defeated Daizee Haze at 8:10 to become the #1 Contender for the SHIMMER Championship. Good women's match, though it was a downer that Daizee lost, considering she got her ass kicked by Lacey at the last three Boston ROH shows.

Chris Hero defeated Nigel McGuinness at 20:02 in a "Pure Rules" match. Lots of stalling by Hero, and outside interference by Larry Sweeney, Tank Toland, Bobby Dempsey, and Sara Del Rey. About three minutes into the match all the lights went out and a recorded promo hyping "Project 161" aired. The lights came back on and Hero tried telling the ref that Nigel used all three of his rope breaks while the lights were out.

Matt Cross defeated Pelle Primeau, Jigsaw, Eddie Edwards, Delirious, and Brent Albright at 10:56. This was solid, with Pelle taking a disgusting release German suplex into the turnbuckles, courtesy of Brent Albright. Cross winning was a total surprise, as he put away Edwards while Delirious and Albright were distracted away from the ring.

Austin Aries and Erick Stevens defeated Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero at 20:51. Very disappointing match, as Stevens made for a lousy "face in peril" and was very forgettable outside of some heel trickery by Strong. Aries seemed to legitimately hurt his wrist during the match, as he was tended to while the NRC cut a promo after the match.

INTERMISSION: Plague and I hit the merch stand, and Sara Del Rey is kind enough to sign a

SHIMMER dvd for yours truly.

Bryan Danielson defeated Matt Sydal at 16:45. This was your typical awesome Danielson performance, who carried Sydal to a good match, even if he had to put himself into holds. They had some pre-match banter, where the stipulation was made that if Danielson won, he would get to keep Sydal's share of the 10,000 dollar prize money from the Edison show. This proved to be unwise, as Danielson was dominant and won by knockout, courtesy of his elbow shots.

Takeshi Morishima defeated Claudio Castagnoli to retain the ROH World Championship at 15:31. I'm very tempted to give this one **** as it was a great power wrestling match. Claudio had some painfully close near-falls on Morishima, with referee Todd Sinclair fucking up twice and counting three, but calling it as two. This happened at A Fight at the Roxbury when Morishima faced Jay Briscoe as well, and the crowd erupted in a "Fuck you, Sinclair" chant. In the end, Morishima's hard side suplex was too much for Claudio, but this was tremendous and worth the price of admission alone.

Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated Jay and Mark Briscoe in a Boston Street Fight at 22:11. As you might have guessed, this match was wild. The first ten minutes were brawling all over the building, with chair shots, broken tables, and sick bumps to the floor. The match finally hit the ring, and a ladder got involved, including a rather nasty spot where El Generico hit an ace crusher off the ropes on Jay Briscoe, who was climbing the ladder. There were lots of unbelievable kick-outs, but Kevin Steen ended up hitting a cradle DDT on one of the Briscoes on top of the ladder. Afterwards, Steen issued an open challenge for the next Boston show, with the criteria that his opponent must be the ROH World Champion.

Other notes:

There were Project 161 signs all over the building, including in the bathroom on the sinks and urinals.

The crowd was much larger than at A Fight at the Roxbury. The bleachers were full of fans this time, while the last show we had lots of room to stretch out.

Biggest pops:

Bryan Danielson

Briscoes

Bobby Dempsey (no kidding)

Nigel McGuinness

Biggest heat:

Todd Sinclair (during the world title match)

Morishima

Chris Hero

Roderick Strong

This was a great live show that should translate well into DVD. I'm looking forward to their return on October 5th.

World Champions everywhere I turn.

World Wrestling Entertainment currently has three seperate brands (television shows) in the form of Raw, Smackdown, and Extreme Championship Wrestling. As a result, they have felt the need to craft a world championship for each brand. Raw currently has the WWE Championship, a title which has a lineage dating back to 1963 when Buddy Rogers won a fictional tournament in South America and became the WWWF Champion. This title is typically viewed as the real deal when it comes to world titles in WWE, due to it's history and even it's name would suggest "champion of WWE."

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Smackdown is currently home to the World Heavyweight Championship. Some argue that this is the old WCW Championship, and shares it's lineage. I would disagree, as even though the WCW title was renamed "The World Championship" in late 2001 (before being unified with the WWF Championship when Chris Jericho became the first ever undisputed champion), the title lineage was broken and restarted when Eric Bischoff handed the belt to Triple H in September of 2002. I believe it is better to just accept a new lineage for the current World Heavyweight Championship, mainly because the WCW belt was booked into oblivion in 2000, and it is better if we don't have to look at Vince Russo and David Arquette as former title holders to the belt currently held by Edge.

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ECW is obviously the home of the ECW World Championship. This is generally considered to have the lineage of the ECW title from the original promotion. That can also be disputed because Rhino was the last title holder before the company folded in 2001, and was given the physical belt as a gift from Paul Heyman. The physical belt (held by Johnny Nitro) is actually a replica and not the original title. Rhino still has the old belt, though he is obviously not recognized as being the reigning champion of the last six and a half years.

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So even though WWE has three brands, does each brand really need their own world title? Wouldn't it be better to have one champion who peforms on all the shows? Well, that was the idea at first. When the WWE first split into Raw and Smackdown brands in April 2002, the idea was that the Undisputed Champion would go everywhere. This concept had it's benefits. The Undertaker held the title for two months, but his reign felt much more fulfilling due to him simultaneously feuding with Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam on Raw, and with The Rock and Kurt Angle on Smackdown. There were also kinks, as Ric Flair making a main event at Backlash that year as Triple H defending the belt against Raw's Undertaker, with Vince McMahon changing the match to Triple H vs. Smackdown's Hulk Hogan a few days later. The problem there was with the writing, and obviously not the concept, but it was a rough way to kick things off. 2002 was a truly miserable year for WWE.

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Having said that, I think it is possible for WWE to have three World titles within their company and to keep all three champions on the same level as one another. The problem though, is that they are not doing that. Soon after reviving the ECW title, the three title holders in WWE were John Cena, Big Show, and King Booker. These were three credible main eventers and worked as world champions. Then the ECW title was placed on Lashley, and the belt took a hit as it was clearly being used the way that secondary title belts should be used, to get a midcarder over. The trio of world titles rebounded from this after Undertaker won the Royal Rumble. They had John Cena, Lashley, and Batista (having won the World title from King Booker) on Raw, with Undertaker sizing each of them out. The mere possibility that Undertaker might have wanted to challenge Lashley for the ECW title as his prize for winning the Rumble did a lot to make the ECW title look good.

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But things have really gotten messed up since Wrestlemania 23. The WWE decided the best way to salvage their pay-per-view business was to make all the shows tri-branded. But doing this really kills the point of having three world champions. Before, when Raw had a pay-per-view, it would be headlined with a WWE title match. Smackdown pay-per-views would be headlined with a World title match. And ECW pay-per-views would be headlined by the ECW title. You see, a big part of keeping a title looking credible is to have the title defenses go on last on big shows, such as pay-per-views. If these so called World titles are regularly defended halfway through the show or so, they start to look like midcard titles.

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Since Wrestlemania 23, John Cena has main evented every single pay-per-view, defending his WWE title. The ECW title has been a complete midcard act, as Lashley's feud with Vince McMahon and Umaga didn't really set the world on fire the way they had hoped (compare it to the heat the DX/McMahons feud, it doesn't hold up well at all). Meanwhile, Smackdown had a credible main event program in Edge vs. Batista, but all of their matches were forced to take a backseat to John Cena and the WWE title.

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Now we all know that Raw is the flagship program. However, it will always be the flagship show at this point, so it actually benefits WWE to take measures to make the other two brands seem legit as well, as it will translate into higher ratings and better attendance. It would not be difficult to switch things out as far as where matches are placed on pay-per-view cards. For example, let John Cena defend the title in the main event at Backlash, let Batista and Edge go on last at Judgment Day, and let Lashley and McMahon go on last at One Night Stand. It would have made complete sense. The problem with WWE's pay-per-views right now is that they are making it appear that the WWE title is the only World title, the World title is the new Intercontinental title, and the ECW title is the new European title. Also, no Smackdown stars have main evented a pay-per-view since No Way Out in February, and as a result it is starting to seem that Smackdown has NO main eventers. Batista, Undertaker, Edge? All big stars, but none of them are being treated as main eventers outside of the television show. And the current ECW champion is Johnny Nitro, who has not been properly elevated to a main event status, and his title defenses will likely all be midcard attractions.

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So in a nutshell, WWE needs to throw the other two brands a bone every now and then. The current formula is hurting them more than they could ever begin to comprehend.

Chris Benoit

Yesterday afternoon I was just checking the forums and my usual websites before sitting down to have dinner with my girlfriend, when I saw something that shocked me. "Chris Benoit and family found dead." At first, I didn't know what to make of this, especially after two weeks of "mourning" Mr. McMahon after his staged limousine explosion. But there it was, on WWE.com, that Chris Benoit and his family had been found dead. As more details became available, it was specified that by "family" they meant his wife, the former wrestling valet known as Woman, and their youngest son, who was seven years old. Benoit's other two sons were in Canada, and are alive. At first there were no details on what happened, just that police were investigating.

The first two theories that popped into my head were that the family died from carbon monoxide poisoning or someone busted into their house and murdered everyone. I didn't want to even think for a second that my favorite wrestler could have committed a murder/suicide. It simply could not have been that.But now there are reports everywhere, from legit news sources like the Atantla DA office and such, that they believe this was indeed a murder/suicide. They believe that Woman was killed on Saturday, the son was killed on Sunday, and Benoit took his own like on Monday. There is still no word on what the cause of death was, though I assume it would have been shooting. I don't even know how to begin to comprehend this.

Chris Benoit: the former World Heavyweight Champion, Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion, multi-time Tag Team Champion, and internationally loved and respected professional wrestler. Chris Benoit, a man who I believed in. In a "fake" sport, Benoit was my hero. He represented everything about wrestling that I loved and percieved to be good. I remember going to my first wrestling show in 2002, and it was Benoit's first television match since coming back from neck surgery. That meant the world to me at the time. Later that year I saw Benoit team up with Kurt Angle and tear the house down against Edge and Rey Mysterio in a 26 minute 2/3 falls tag team match. That meant the world to me as well.But now my hero is murderer. I don't know how to take this. I don't want to be in denial and grasp to any theories that somehow it didn't happen that way. I don't want to make excuses for him either. All I know is that this is going to haunt me for a very long time to come.

Vengeance

This Sunday, World Wrestling Entertainment presents Vengeance, a "Night of Champions." The hype for this show has been on the back-burner thanks to the continuing fake news coverage over the death of Mr. McMahon (which CNBC claims could make WWE vulnerable to lawsuits over the fact that they are a publicly traded company and have issued press releases in an attempt to blur the lines between fiction and real life). Also add to the fact that Vengeance is right on the heels of One Night Stand and the recent news that Backlash did a poor buyrate, this show appears to be doomed. So what exactly is going wrong in WWE land with this show and what could have been done to fix this?

1) Mick Foley is stepping out of retirement (again) and is main eventing his first pay-per-view since Wrestlemania 16 (back in April 2000). This is a stunt clearly designed to boost the buyrate, but is this really an effective plan in the year 2007? WWE needs to realize that Foley has been an inactive talent for seven years now. In perspective, seven years before 2000 was 1993, where Yokozuna and Lex Luger were headlining for the World Wrestling Federation. That's an awful long time in the wrestling world, and the fanbase has clearly shifted. When Foley came out on the draft episode of Raw and announced that he was accepting the open challenge for Vengeance, you could practically hear crickets in the audience. No one really seemed to care, and I think Foley noticed it. I am a huge Foley mark, but it is time to face reality now.

You may have noticed that in the past two years, Raw (as well as Smackdown) has been enjoying larger attendance at shows. However, these are not the same fans who were turned off by the product in 2002 and 2003 and have magically returned. These are new fans, who have been sucked in by the buzz coming from the current stars, most notably John Cena and Edge. When they see Foley on Raw, they are all aware that he used to be a big star, but to them he is just an out of shape retiree with a bad hair cut. They are also conditioned to seeing Foley show up mainly to put people over. That is admirable on Foley's behalf, but a lot of the newer fans unfortunately see him as a loser in the process.

2) Stephanie McMahon on Raw. With less than a week before a pay-per-view, you know, the shows that cost viewers 40 bucks a pop to witness, Stephanie comes out and makes a big announcement about the NEXT episode of Raw. Yeah, it's going to be three hours and have all three brands (two weeks after the last three hour episode and draft that was supposedly going to reestablish the lines between brands) so the show is going to be a big deal. However, it makes a state of mind in the fans that they have something big to look forward to next Monday, on free television, so they can skip paying $40 for Vengeance on Sunday, and maybe they'll pick it up later for $16 at Wal-Mart or watch it on WWE 24/7.

Stephanie also faces the same challenge that Foley does. The current fanbase isn't that familiar wtih her. Some longterm fans will remember her as the helpless victim of The Undertaker in 1999, or Triple H's scheming wife in 2000, and maybe some of the newer fans can remember when she was the sympathetic general manager of Smackdown in 2002 and 2003. But most of the new fans, who jumped on board in the past two years, only know her as Vince's daughter, and might even remember her as the obnoxious loud-mouth who tried getting herself over again when Raw returned to USA. But based on her nonexistant crowd reaction on the last Raw, it is clear to me that the fans don't remember her or just don't care about her anymore, or a mixture of both.

3) The "Night of Champions" concept is a pretty cool idea, but it also exposes how poorly the WWE has been booking the championship belts. The issue is that many of the titles have been booked into oblivion or are being held by superstars who aren't really being pushed. Let's take a look at the titles.

WWE Champion: John Cena. This is the best booked title in the WWE today, which is a good thing because the title dates back to 1963. Cena has been a great champion during his third reign, and I don't see any reason why he should drop it at Vengeance. The match itself, with a collection of former champions just thrown in there, screams "fantasy booking," and has the potential to be a real cluster-fuck. However, there is a strong chance that Cena's reign could be up this time, and that gives the match a much needed injection of excitement. This match will probably be the main draw for this show, for obvious reasons.

World Heavyweight Champion: Edge. The rumors have been that Edge is going to be a longterm champion, which many have assumed this means that he'll be holding the belt until Wrestlemania time. Edge was a great choice to hold this belt when Undertaker got hurt, because he brings a fresh touch to Smackdown and it gives him an opportunity to run with the ball, something that wasn't going to happen for him on Raw. My only issue with the match on Sunday is that Edge has been feuding with Batista for months now, and they have not produced anything memorable as far as storytelling goes and reactions to their pay-per-view bouts have been lukewarm at best. I'm eager for Edge to retain the title and feud with a returning Rey Mysterio later this year, while Batista finally gets his feud with Mark Henry off the ground (assuming that Henry doesn't go down with ANOTHER injury).

ECW World Championship: Vacant. Chris Benoit and CM Punk are going to wrestle at Vengeance for this title, and that is a legitimate dream match amongst the internet crowd. If this match delivers, it will be automatically worth picking up on DVD, no matter how awful the rest of the show is. The winner should be Chris Benoit at this point, mainly because he's never held the ECW title, and he would make the ECW brand seem legitimate.

Intercontinental Champion: Santino Marella. The IC title has sunken really low in 2007. It was making a comeback last year, during the great Jeff Hardy/Johnny Nitro feud, but since Umaga won the title in February (by absolutely squashing Hardy) the title has been off the radar again. Umaga barely defended the title and Marella winning it was a neat, if not completely random moment. Marella has had some okay-ish title defenses, but he isn't catching on the way WWE hoped, and it seems that his time is up on Sunday. If Umaga takes the belt, I really hope they do something with it this time, because the IC title has too much history behind it to simply be forgotten about now.

United States Champion: MVP. Smackdown has treated the U.S. title the way Raw should be treating the IC title. They aren't just using the title to get MVP over, but they are also using MVP to add to the title's prestige. That is something that WWE forgets to do with most of their championships. MVP won the title at the end of a tremendous feud with Chris Benoit, and I dearly hope he doesn't lose to Flair on Sunday.

World Tag Team Champions: Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. This title is making a comeback of sorts, as Jeff and Matt Hardy did a lot to bring attention back to the gold. Cade and Murdoch have been booked much better now than they were during their first reign (they won the title almost immediately after debuting and lost to little fanfare against Big Show and Kane less than two months later). There is no reason for the Hardy's to take the title back on Sunday, as they are both on seperate shows and it is high time to reestablish the lines between brands.

WWE Tag Team Champions: Deuce and Domino. This belt is really hurting right now. London and Kendrick reigned for 11 months, but I can hardly remember anything they were involved in during the last five months of the reign. Deuce and Domino randomly took the titles on a throway episode of Smackdown and have done nothing of note since either. They don't even have scheduled opponents for Vengeance, with many predicting the Majors Brothers will be getting the shot. This is also only the second pay-per-view appearance by Deuce and Domino, with their first being all the way back at No Way Out in February. My question is why put the tag titles on a team that they don't even think enough of to schedule on pay-per-views on a regular basis, that it took a "Night of Champions" theme just to get them on the show?

Women's Champion: Melina. This title almost always gets included on pay-per-views, but that suggests that it is more prestigious than it really is. The Women's title match is almost always the piss break match, as it is routinely poor quality and frequently is placed on the card in between main event matches. Candice Michelle has a very real chance of taking the title on Sunday, and would be the first Diva Search contestant to win the gold. Melina has not been taking off as champion too well, but at least she is someone who WWE thinks enough of to have regularly portrayed on television, unlike former champions such as Molly Holly (she was practically invisible in her 2003 run) and Gail Kim.

Cruiserweight Champion: Chavo Guerrero. And we end here, on the most depressing championship in all of the WWE. Why is Chavo Guerrero the champ? To push him? To reward him for his hard work? No, the reason Chavo is the champ is because they had NOTHING else for him to do. His push towards the U.S. title flopped and his character was dead in the water, thanks to the tasteless feud against Rey Mysterio (even though Chavo won that feud, his character was damaged badly). So Chavo won the title at No Way Out, as the surprise entrant to a cruiserweight open, just after Jimmy Wang Yang had unceremoniously ended the year-plus reign of Gregory Helms. Since then, Chavo has been barely used on television and has been featured on ZERO pay-per-views, that is until this "Night of Champions" theme forced Smackdown to push the cruiserweight division again in recent weeks. Again, I want to ask the WWE why is it that they would put a championship on someone they did not plan on utilizing in any meaningful way.

Final Thoughts: So there you have it, this "Night of Champions" concept has exposed how poorly WWE has been booking the titles. Thanks to the theme, they are presenting a pay-per-view full of participants who are barely ever on pay-per-views, yet they are somehow the champions or the top contenders. WWE officials and writers probably don't care about this situation, but it would be my deep hope that they will learn a lesson from Vengeance and that things will improve from here.

RIP to Sensational Sherri

From the Observer - Sherri Russell aka Sensational Sherri Martel passed away, this morning, at home. She was 49. No other details are available at the moment. Police are currently as her residence with her husband. In 1991, while managing Randy Savage, Sherri was the only woman ever to win the Manager of the Year award.

Old School Gold

Stan Hansen vs. Andre The Giant
September 23rd, 1981
Taped in Japan
Andre is already on the assault before the bell even rings! Hansen clubs himself outo f the corner with some forearm shots, but Andre uses his gigantic boot to save himself. Andre goes for the bear hug in the early going, and Hansen clubs away with forearms out of desperation. Hansen goes for the face, but Andre keeps the hold locked on. Wow, a bear hug spot that I don't hate, amazing. Hansen finally breaks out, but Andre clutches him from behind, and they fall into the ropes. Hansen continues his assault, but Andre wrenches him by the wrist, taking him down to the mat in the process. Andre has the arm lock in place for a few secodns, before breaking with a head lock and a stomp. Andre takes a breather, allowing Hansen to come back with some chops. Andre corners him, and shoves against him, forcing the ref to break it up. Andre whips Hansen across the ring and charges, but Hansen dodges and Andre hits the corner hard. The big man is down, so Hansen capitilizes with some stomps and nearly gets a scoop slam in! Andre capitilizes with a hammerlock. Andre talks some shit, and Hansen tries to club his way to freedom. Hansen pushes Andre into the ropes, and the ref breaks them up. Andre goes back to work on the wrist of Stan Hansen, pulling it over his shoulder. Hansen only escapes by pulling Andre's hair. Andre grabs the wrist again and this leads to a suplex! Andre almost falls on Hansen, but ultimately drags him up to hit him again. This transitions into a chin lock. Andre lets go and splashes Hansen into the ropes. Hansen gets back up and hits a huge power slam on Andre! Hansen then misses an elbow drop, but keeps control. Hansen gets Andre into a cobra clutch. It takes him a bit, but Andre powers his way out, but gets tripped into the ropes in short order. Hansen is clearly selling this as the fight of his life. They end up brawling at ringside, and some photographers get in the way of my view. Hansen slams Andre's skull into the ring apron, and flees into the ring. The bell has been rung, and it is not clear if the match is going to continue or not. Andre argues with the officials, apparently the fight at ringside was the cause (I can't really tell due to everything being in Japanese). The match then restarts at 10:42.Hansen arm drags Andre to the mat and hits some forearms to the skull. Andre is then left hanging out to dry on the ropes, making him an easy target for some more shots. Andre is pissed and strangles Hansen on the ropes and hits a terrifying chop. Andre hits a duo of head butts. Hansen blocks a shot to the turnbuckle and drives Andre's skull into the ring post instead. Hansen goes for an elbow drop, but Andre catches him and turns it into an arm lock. They get to their feet and Andre puts Hansen into a standing surfboard stretch, adding some head butts in for good measure. Andre then hits a big power slam, but then misses a splash! Hansen misses an elbow drop! Andre hits a few more head butts. Andre whips Hansen, but misses the big boot and gets hit with a lariat! This sends Andre falling over the ropes to ringside. Andre needs a minute to fix his elbow pad, but returns to the ring. He pushes the referee aside and clotheslines him! Andre continues his aggressive attack on Hansen, while other officials flood the ring to check on the ref. The bell rings at 15:04, apparently disqualifying Andre. The brawl between Hansen and Andre storms on, and it is all the officials can do to seperate them. The match was not technically great, but this was a great brawl and had an epic feel to it. Hansen was in control at parts, but always looked as if it was all he could do to keep up with the giant. There were a lot of rest holds, but they were used to advance the story of the match, not just used to allow the wrestlers to take it easier. This all adds up to make a good *** match.
Winner by DQ: Stan Hansen

ROH 6/8 thoughts.

So Plague and I did end up going to the ROH show last night, and it was well worth it. I don't want to hear any more nonsense about how ROH fans are in "denial" over the "depleted" roster, because everyone on the card brought their A game and delivered. It's one of those things that you cannot understand if you don't actually watch the shows, and don't pass this off as me being some sort of mindless ROHbot, because I went through a lot of driving (in fucking Roxbury at that) to get to this show and I wouldn't have had a problem tearing this show a new asshole if it didn't deliver.

Anyhow, on to the show.

-Plague and I actually arrived before the doors open.

-Student tag team match took place, I only caught Ernie Osiris and Bobby Dempsey as participants. Pretty vanilla stuff, as you'd probably guess.

-Rhett Titus and Mitch Franklin defeated two unnamed local guys. This started out on the generic side, but they picked the pace up and were able to win the crowd over.

-Main show begins.

-BJ Whitmer went no contest with Brent Albright after Whitmer headbutted the referee. Whitmer then threw a temper tantrum and destroyed everything in the ringside area. Crowd was really into this match in general, though this match was clearly set up to progress to a bigger match down the line between these two.

-Daizee Haze called out Lacey, but got Jimmy Jacobs instead. Haze attacked Jimmy, but Lacey made the save and they beat down Daizee. This is the third straight time Daizee has been laid out in Boston, I can only hope that this is leading to her getting some measure of revenge at the next show.

-Bryan Danielson defeated Jimmy Rave in a solid, ***-ish match. Lots of creative chain wrestling, as you'd expect, earned Danielson a mid-match standing ovation. Danielson won with the elbows to the face. A lot of fans were confused as to why this was so low on the card, but were into it regardless.

-Kevin Steen defeated Mark Briscoe in a rather awesome brawl. Lots of high spots and in crowd brawling. This match did a lot to put Steen over too, as he played his heel character really well and was dominant. Steen tried to take Mark out with a chair afterwards, but Jay and El Generico ran in and they were seperated.

-It was announced that ROH is coming back to Boston on August 10th for DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR Night 1!! Plague and I marked out like a couple of kids. It was announced that Aug. 10 will have the Briscoes defending the ROH Tag belts against Steen and Generico in a Boston Street Fight. Also, the upcoming four-way is for a shot at the World title on Aug. 10.

-Claudio Castagnoli defeated Chris Hero, Nigel McGuinness, and Mike Quackenbush for the title shot. Great match, with a lot of emphasis on getting Quackenbush over, and the building tension between Castagnoli and Hero. Hero had Larry Sweeney, Tank Toland, and Bobby Dempsey in his corner, and they were amusing and butting in throughout the bout. Quackenbush had a couple of redicuously close near falls, and Nigel wasn't as involved as I would have expected (he's probably got something big going on in Philly tonight). So now we have Claudio vs. Morishima for the ROH belt to look forward to.

-Intermission! I should note that before the four-way I snuck out to use the water fountain and bumped into Jimmy Jacobs. Good times.

-Eddie Edwards defeated Pelle Primeau. Match was sloppy at points, but they were able to win (most) of the crowd over by the end. Edwards is the hometown boy, so the crowd was very receptive to him.

-Matt Sydal beat El Generico in a show stealer. Crowd was very vocal throughout, with "Ole" chants for Generico and "Sydal" chants in the ole tune for good old Sydal. Only downer is that the fans really wanted Generico to go over.

-Delirious, Erick Stevens, and Matt Cross defeated Roderick Strong, Rocky Romero, and Davey Richards in an awesome six man tag. Lots of action all over the ring and ringside, and several false finishes. Delirious looked hurt afterwards and was overheard requesting a doctor in the hallway afterwards.

-Takeshi Morishima beat Jay Briscoe to retain the ROH World title. This match surprised the HELL out of me. They booked it so that Jay got in a couple very convincing false finishes on Mori, so logic be damned, they made it seem like Jay could have actually won, which is what this match badly needed. The crowd was very solidly behind Jay the entire match, and were disappointed when Morishima "hulked up" and ate Jay for dinner. The crowd was much more into this than I was expecting.

-After the main event, Generico and Steen jumped Jay, prompting Mark to run in for the save. They brawled in the crowd again and into the hallway. Fun way to finish the show, the DVD will probably have footage of me acting like a mark during this point.
So yes, this was an awesome show to attend live. Great crowd, great card, and a lot of hard work by the roster.

Another reason why Cena is the man in 2007.

WWE Championship:
John Cena © vs. Shawn Michaels
Wrestlemania 23
A fan leaps into the ring before the match starts, and is quickly escorted out. HBK waves to the fan as he’s escorted out, which is pretty funny stuff. The bell rings, but HBK stalls by sitting on a turnbuckle, acting like he doesn’t care about the match. HBK offers Cena a handshake, but Cena doesn’t want to, seeing as he was just super kicked on Raw. HBK slaps Cena instead and knocks him down. HBK taunts Cena DX-style, and the match finally begins. Side headlock by HBK turns into an armbar. Cena reverses and HBK blocks a suplex. HBK ducks some shots from Cena and knocks him down again. They back into their separate corners, and the match restarts. Cena is beginning to realize that he is in big trouble with this title defense. They lock up again, and HBK wrenches Cena’s arm and hits some shoulder thrusts. HBK swings Cena into a side headlock. Cena fights to his feet, but HBK whips him back down without breaking the headlock. Cena gets to his feet, pushes HBK into the ropes, misses two clothesline attempts, but finally connects with a third try. HBK goes down hard, and the crowd boos Cena heavily. They take a breather, and Cena soon runs into a Lou Thesz press. Cena dumps HBK onto the apron, but HBK drops Cena neck first on the ropes. HBK then hip tosses Cena over the ropes to the floor! Knife edge chop by HBK and an enziguri. HBK then hits an Asai moonsault off the ropes onto Cena, landing on the table! HBK directs Cena back to the ring and hits more punches and chops. Irish whip into the turnbuckle with authority by HBK, but Cena blocks a rampaging HBK. Cena is knocked down again. HBK decides to target Cena’s left knee. HBK aggressively swings the knee into the ring post. Cena uses the ropes to stand up, but HBK tackles the knee. HBK continues to work the knee, taking a break to hit the occasional chop. The referee even bothers to ask Cena if he can continue. HBK chops Cena into the corner, but Cena punches him away. Michaels tackles Cena in the corner, who is still acting like he cannot stand. They exchange chops and punches, with the crowd showing favoritism towards HBK. HBK tries another tackle, but Cena dodges, with HBK hitting the ring post head-first. HBK is busted open! Cena then stops selling the leg and hits a clothesline and repeatedly punches HBK on the mat. Shoulder block by Cena and suplex. Cena considers selling his knee for a second, but reminds HBK that “you can’t see me.” Five knuckle shuffle by Cena. Cena goes for the F-U, but HBK escapes and hits a chop. Cena sends HBK into the turnbuckle. HBK goes for the Sweet Chin Music, but accidentally takes out the referee instead. Cena goes for the F-U again, but HBK counters with a DDT. HBK is angry now and pulls Cena to ringside and positions him for a piledriver on the steps. He actually hits the move too! HOLY SHIT! I can’t believe Cena took that bump! HBK drags Cena back to the ring, and Cena is bleeding from the back of his head now. Another referee runs in for a cover, but Cena somehow kicked out! HBK is furious now, and goes high risk. HBK connects with the elbow drop and signals Sweet Chin Music. Cena charges with a clothesline, knocking HBK down before he can deliver the kick. They barely make it to their feet and exchange shots. Cena then catches HBK in an F-U position, but HBK counters and rolls Cena up, but only gets a two count. HBK shoots Cena into the ropes, and Cena catches him and hits the F-U at long last! Cena is slow to get the cover, and HBK kicks out. Cena plants HBK on the top turnbuckle. Cena tries to F-U HBK off the top, but it’s blocked. HBK throws Cena to the floor and HBK flies off with a flying crossbody. Cena catches him and rolls him into another F-U. HBK blocks by landing on his feet. Cena looks for the STFU, but HBK blocks. HBK gets an inside cradle, and Cena barely kicks out. HBK misses an enziguri, and Cena locks on the STFU. HBK must appear to be superhuman and is trapped in the hold for a long time before making it to the ropes. The ref scolds Cena for being reluctant to break the hold, giving HBK a chance to strike with the Sweet Chin Music! HBK slowly gets the cover, and Cena kicks out at two. Both men are down for several seconds, but use each other to prop themselves to their feet. Cena tries for the F-U, but it is countered, so Cena locks the STFU on again! HBK finally taps out at 28:22! John Cena has retained the WWE Championship at two consecutive Wrestlemania’s! Aside from the nonsense with the working the knee in the early going, this was an awesome match, especially the final ten minutes when either man could have easily and convincingly gone over at any moment, ****1/2.
Winner and still WWE Champion: John Cena

The current MOTY.

WWE Championship:
John Cena © vs. Umaga (with Armando Alejandro Estrada)
Royal Rumble 2007
This is a last man standing match and a lot of people online called this a MOTYC, so now I'm going to see for myself.Cena and Umaga go nose to nose and exchange shots. Cena blocks a suplex and hitsa jaw breaker, but runs gut first into Umaga's fist. Cena retreats to ringside. Cena drags himself to the apron, but Umaga knocks him back down. Cena is already acting dazed. Umaga rams Cena into the steel steps. Umaga stands around for several seconds before following this up with his methodical offense, directing Cena up the entrance aisle. Cena fires back with a fury of shots and knocks Umaga's head into the ring apron. Umaga shrugs this off and hits Cena in the gut. Back in the ring, Umaga connects with a head butt and continues to focus on Cena's gut, which is bandaged. Cena is such an underdog. Umaga slowly corners Cena and slugs away. He Irish whips Cena and charges, but Cena gets a boot up. Umaga knocks Cena down anyway. Cena is dead now, and Umaga waits patientlly as the ref counts. Cena gets up only to suffer a scoop slam. Umaga brings some steps into the ring. Umaga takes too long and gets dropped neck first on the ropes. Cena then grabs the steps and throws themm over the ropes onto Umaga at ringside! HOLY SHIT! That was a brave spot right there. Umaga gets up before the ten count, but is in a daze. Cena is fired up and aggressively directs Umaga to the ring, but takes a spinning heel kick. Umaga goes back to attacking the gut, which leads to a bear hug. It makes sense in the story of the match, so I won't spend any time bitching about it. The bear hug leads to a belly to belly suplex, and Cena appears to be dead. Umaga grabs more steps, you know, just in case Cena doesn't get up. Cena gets up at 9, but Umaga is ready for him. Umaga knocks Cena down and positions the steps in the corner. Umaga sits Cena on the steps and prepares for the running ass shot. Cena moves out of the way, and Umaga hits the steel hard! Cena grabs the steps and drives it into Umaga's head! Umaga makes it to his feet and barely manages to catch Cena flying off the turnbuckles for a tirt-a-whirl slam. Umaga uses the ropes to splash Cena. Cena gets his knees up on Umaga's third try. Cena bulldogs Umaga into the steps! Cena then drops Umaga back first on the steps! That's it, Umaga has to be dead now. Cena does the five knuckle shuffle while Umaga is still laying on the steps, which actually makes the move look cool. Cena goes for the F-U, but his back doesn't hold out and both men hit the steps. That was kind of awkward. This is enough to warrant a blade job from Cena. Umaga smells blood and targets a flurry of shots to the bloody forehead, turning the gore level up a couple of notches. Estrada positions the steps on the side of the apron, as Umaga continues his attack. Cena gets up at 8, and is helpless to numerous shots. Umaga hits some chops, but Cena shrugs them off and tries to mount a comeback, but runs right into a damn Samoan drop! Umaga signals the Samoan Spike, but Cena blocks it. Umaga hits a head butt and places Cena upside down in the turnbuckles. Cena sits up to miss a running head butt. Cena hits a leg drop off the top and then drives Umaga into the ring post! Cena grabs a television monitor from the announce table and pushes Estrada away. Cena smacks Umaga in the head with it, glass first, and you can see the dust from the screen in the air! HOLY SHIT! Gimmicked or not, that had to hurt. Cena tackles Umaga through the ropes, but gets caught when he lept off the apron. Umaga rams Cena spine-first into the apron and positions Cena on the announce table. Umaga runs down the announce tables for a splash, but Cena dodges! DAMN! I've never seen anything like that before! Umaga barely gets up before the ten count, while Estrada removes some turnbuckle padding, and unties the top rope in the process. Interesting, I say. Umaga takes the loose turnbuckle and tries to hit Cena with it, but Cena dodges and hits an F-U. Cena knocks Estrada down and incorporates the ring rope into the STFU, choking the life out of Umaga! Cena lets go of Umaga so the ref can count, but Umaga crawls up. Cena reapplies the choke, which looks far more blatant this time. Umaga is unable to get up and Cena wins the match at 22:39. This match lived up to the hype, as it incorporated some truly inventive spots and satisfying violence. This match deserves to be talked about for a long time, ****3/4.
Winner and still WWE Champion: John Cena

Joe vs. Morishima

Early MOTYC or just really good? Since those to be the only two options, here's the review:

Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima
ROH Fifth Year Festival
February 16th 2007
Morishima doesn't waste a damn moment and nails Joe with his forearm before the bell can even ring. They brawl and Joe whips Morishima into the ropes, but is taken down by a shoulder block. Joe retreats to ringside and takes a flying shoulder block off the apron from Morishima. Joe is directed back into the ring and over powerd by Morishima, who cartwheels into a corner avalanche. Morishima is a beast and stomps Joe to the mat. "Dueling chants" from the crowd as Morishima chokes Joe on the ropes. Scoop slam and a rope assisted stomp by Morishima. Joe hits a chop and tries to regain his edge, but Morishima directs Joe back to the second rope. Jabs by Joe, but Morishima asssaults with a hard shot. Sleeper by Morishima. Joe escapes, but is splashed in the corner again. Morishima goes for a cover, but Joe gets a foot on the ropes. Rear chinlock by Morishima. Joe gets to the ropes, but Morishima reapplies the hold. Joe pops out and hits some chops. Joe bounces off the ropes and runs right into Morishima's huge ass. Morishima goes high risk and hits a missile drop-kick! Morishima is a fucking beast! Morishima gains another close cover. Joe counters an Irish whip but runs into Morishima's boot. Joe counters an off the ropes club with his knee and mounts enough offense to gain a close fall. Joe his a back elbow and enziguri on a cornered Morishima. Joe wipes his boot on Morishima's face and hits the running boot. Joe hits a ruthless kick to the face, all the while selling his back. Jabs and kicks by Joe. Snapmare by Joe into a face rake. Joe drives his elbow into Morishima's face, busting him open in the process. Joe blocks a suplex and hits some more stiff kicks, directed towards the face region. Morishima retreats to ringside, but takes a suicide dive from Joe! Joe made sure to connect his arm to Morishima's face in the process, that was awesome! Joe positions Morishima for the "ole, ole" kicks and connects in brutal fashion! Joe repeats the spot and connects yet again. Morishima is still bleeding from the nose, adding to the drama. Joe directs Morishima into the ring for a cover, but it only gets two. More jabs by Joe, but Morishima dodges a lariat, Joe keeps trying to get the lariat but runs into a side slam after a thrilling exchange. More dueling chants from the crowd. Morishima dives on a sitting Samoa Joe twice and gets a near fall. Irish whip and a big boot by Morishima. Joe dodges another boot and slams Morishima for another near fall. Morishima blocks a suplex, but Joe gets another enziguri and a Death Valley Driver! Joe only gets a two out of the cover! Joe goes for the power bomb, but Morishima blocks, so Joe hits some stiff kicks. Morishima blocks the power bomb and flips Joe over his back, and then drops his ass on Joe's chest. Morishima goes high risk again, but Joe cuts him off with kicks and shots. Joe climbs up goes for a superplex. It is blocked, so Joe hits a kick to the head and then the Muscle Buster! Somehow Morishima kicked out of the following cover! WHAT! That was damn convincing. More jabs by Joe, focusing on the nose, and a big boot! Morishima shrugs it off and connects with a lariat! They are both down for several seconds. Lou Thesz press by Morishima almost wins the match. Side suplex by Morishima! Morishima gets a second side suplex and a near fall. Joe appears to be dead. Morishima hits a lariat to the back of Joe's head, but Joe ducks a second attempt and hits a half nelson suplex! Joe goes for the headlock, blocks a chinbreaker, and keeps the hold on. Morishima fights out, but Joe goes back to the choke. Joe applis the full blown Kokina Clutch! Morishima passes out and Joe is the winner at 18:09! That finish was a little anticlimatic, but it sets the table for future rematches. The match went from "feeling out" to "going home" really quickly, but provided tons of action, psychology, and big bumps, ****1/4.
Winner: Samoa Joe