Tag Archive: Ring Of Honor

  1. Thoughts on Ring Of Honor-The Best in the World

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    Ring of Honor “The Best in the World” is in the books. I’m beginning to put my thoughts into words. I enjoyed all the video recaps. I needed those to keep myself up-to-date on the current storylines.

    When I heard the first match was Tommaso Ciampa vs. Colt Cabana, I almost died of smarkdom. I really enjoyed most of the first match. Ciampa played a nice “straight man” to Cabana’s comedy. I thought the two had very nice back-and-forth. The ending just didn’t look right.

    Next was “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett versus Jay Lethal. Jay Lethal was fresh off his TNA/Impact Wrestling/”It’s Still S*** No Matter How Many Times You Change The Name Because Vince Russo Still Works There” run. He was famous for the Black Machismo and it was his first time to appear on an event this big after the Macho Man’s untimely passing. The crowd was very into this, but the match did not click for me. Prodigy has looked good in matches to me before; this just was not one of them. It almost looked like he wasn’t on Lethal’s level.

    The Rhino-Homicide “Barrio Street Fight” was really good. Plunder matches have their places in wrestling. Rhino really brought it. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad Homicide match. We had some tables and some really awesome, intense “OMG” moments. Homicide got the win, but we got to see the gore through the table. It was nostalgic. It was like Old School (no Corino reference intended) ECW Rhino back again.

    The Steve Corino-Michael Elgin match was really interesting. I did not watch ROH during the Kevin Steen era, so I really didn’t grasp the magnitude of his return. I was really amazed at how my opinion of Elgin changed during this match. Elgin reminds me of a stiff WWE would try to get over. But I got to admit-Elgin impressed me. He’s a power wrestler. If there’s a place for plunder matches, there’s a place for power wrestlers. Steve Corino sold like crazy, and Elgin looked like he had a spot in Ring of Honor. I personally think Elgin will be a better fit for the WWE, but I’ll keep him. The Kevin Steen post-match segment was greatness. The Corino rehabilitating himself storyline I think is one of my favorite storylines in all of wrestling.

    The Daniels-Generico match really didn’t grab my attention. The commentary was pretty good for this match. Kevin Kelly and Dave Prazak made it important. I do love the El Generico gimmick. It’s one of my favorite all-time gimmicks. My 2-year-old woke up during this match and wanted the laptop, so I wasn’t able to dedicate the time I wanted to watching this. I am happy for El Generico winning. Christopher Daniels should be in the place now where he’s building talent, which is exactly what he did here.

    The four corners tag team match was off the charts. Now granted, I haven’t seen every ROH event, so excuse me if I break out some hyperbole here. This is the greatest match in Ring of Honor I HAVE SEEN. I’m sure there were greater matches somewhere along the way. But this was insane. There were at least 4 “Holy s***” moments. The All Night Express looked great in this. I finally saw Kenny King for what everybody else does. This is most likely Match of the Year, barring some sweet miracle.

    And finally there was the main event. There was no possible way that I could ever understand all the emotions that went into this match, but it sure felt like it. This match never seemed to end, mostly because my wife was over my shoulder waiting for it to end. Nothing I could write here could ever capture the emotion, the drama, the work these guys put into this match. This is now in second place for match of the year for me.

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  3. Not so Incredible

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    There is a topic that I need to talk about, but I will start by talking about something not so incredible. Raw last night was pretty bad. It was centered around somebody who wasn’t a major character-The Rock. All it does is show the wrestling world how little they have in John Cena. There were some good moments. Kharma (“Awesome Kong”) is money for the WWE if they do it right. The feud is ready-made with her and Kelly Kelly. And while I still think of Kelly Kelly as the girl who couldn’t unhook her bra on the first ECW on Sci-Fi show, it should be a really strong feud. Mason Ryan (“Matista”) looked like a million bucks last night. I see him being money; just don’t ask him to take a piss test. Great Khali in the tooth fairy outfit was awesome. This is entertainment. If you want to see pure wrestling, go find Ring of Honor, Dragon Gate USA or some other promotion.

    I hated the show centering around The Rock’s birthday. While I did like the VKM, appearance, the rest of the celebrities were just WWE getting to brag they were on their show. (And I hate to say it, but with the exception of Ellen, none of them were funny.) I hated the finish of the Miz/Cena match. The Pied Piper needs to come along and take all the Cena fans somewhere so we can get him off our tv. And I hated the WWE doing their 9/13 retrospective. At least they didn’t show Stephanie comparing 9/11 to when her dad got indicted for steroids.

    The more and more I think about it, the Raw wasn’t horrible, it just wasn’t “incredible.”

    Now onto the meat of my rant: Dallas/Fort Worth has a lot of good wrestling promotions. I enjoy going to MPX. I know there’s LWA, NAWA, TWE, CWF, (Sorry if I forgot anybody) and the victim of today’s rant, Pro Wrestling Onslaught. I really wish I could go to all of them, but I have a wife and 2-year-old daughter. I can get my wife to do an MPX show once in a while (and the Christian Wrestling Federation once when AJ Styles worked), but I seriously thought about going to PWO. I casually know some of the guys who work there. My mother who is a teacher has worked really hard this year, and we love going to wrestling together, and I thought about taking her to celebrate all the work she’s put in this year. My mom and I used to go to indy wrestling together back in the day, so it was kind of a no-brainer.

    You see, PWO was advertising the former Portuguese Man-o-War, Justin Credible. I’m a total ECW mark. So here was one of the main eventers in ECW’s dying days. Hello, why not? I found my Justin Credible action figure (yes, I still have all my olf ECW action figures). People I respect in the industry said it was a really well-run show. I was ready to go.

    Then life happened. Work was brutal, and I just needed to rest after the week that had been. My grandfather was injured and my mom needed to take care of him. My daughter suffered a concussion, and we spent most of Saturday in the hospital. (Thanks to Joe for his well-wishes for my daughter.) I felt really bad about not going.

    Well, it turns out I’m not the only one who didn’t show up. The namesake of the show, Justin Credible, didn’t show up. I don’t know why he didn’t. I was not privy to the conversations or the details of his life. What I know is that according to the wrestlers that worked that night, he no-showed. It’s one thing for a wrestler to cancel at the last minute. While not optimal, it’s still good business to notify them through some method somehow. There’s emails, phone calls, text messages, the list goes on. It’s 2011. You have no excuse for no-showing.

    So fans, understand, if you see Justin Credible advertised, understand that there is a distinct possibility you won’t see him that night. Fans, promoters, wrestlers, take this into consideration before you book Justin Credible.

    Kudos should still be given to PWO. I heard that they had a strong main event nonetheless and brought home a very solid show.

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  4. 10 Reasons to Watch Ring of Honor

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    This past weekend, I had the opportunity to witness a new experience for me. It couldn’t have been any better. Ring of Honor had a live Internet Pay Per View (iPPV) on gofightlive.tv. It was a wonderful experience. I got to sit on the computer for a little bit and watch some really good wrestling. My wife got the tv and watched so many JFK documentaries, she calls Oliver Stone a poser. It was a nice experience, and we didn’t fight over the remote and both actually enjoyed our evening.

    I fell in love with Ring of Honor all over again. I watched it when it was first created, but I had not really kept up with it. As a wrestling fan who despises the very thought of TNA existing, is tentatively getting back into the WWE’s product, can only watch AAA on Galavision for so long before my mind gets tired of listening to Spanish and can only go to so many live wrestling shows per month because I’m a husband and father before I’m a wrestling fan, Ring of Honor (ROH) fills a lot of holes for me. For those of you who haven’t discovered it, here are 10 Reasons to Watch ROH.

    1. The price. WWE’s PPV’s are a whopping $44.95, $10 more for HD. Ring of Honor was $14.95. And they didn’t have some length promo bringing out Trish Stratus. I love Trish more than anything, but did she really belong being reintroduced on a PPV? I don’t think there was a single ROH fan tweeting that night that didn’t feel they got their money’s worth several times over.

    2. Steve Corino storyline. I think that we can admit that Steve Corino has been one of the best heels of the past decade. The storyline now is that Steve Corino is trying to atone for his many sins. He’s trying to be a good guy. He still feels that urge to be bad. So now there is a kind of Incredible Hulk vs. Bruce Banner struggle.

    3. Grizzly Redwood. My theater teacher in high school would always make us come up with verbs for our characters’ motivation. And she said to always go with the most interesting choice. Grizzly Redwood is a little guy. He plays the big burly lumberjack, which is ironic and a fun choice. He’s a great, scrappy babyface.

    4. Kyle O’Reilly. The ironic thing is that I was not looking for O’Reilly’s matches. I was searching for Adam Cole, and I found a match where he was wrestling Kyle O’Reilly. And all respect to Adam Cole, but I was blown away by O’Reilly’s work. He’s sensational and worth watching.

    5. El Generico. When it comes to chants, El Generico’s makes me happy. I even tried doing it for my local indy and their wrestler Lucha Lucha. The crowd did not appreciate the “Ole!” chant. However the Texas Rangers do “O’Day” for reliever Darren O’Day. He’s a great gimmick and a great reason to watch.

    6. Sara del Ray. Most women on TNA & WWE look like they came off the page of a porn magazine. They teach women that they are never anything unless their cup size is double letters or look like the page of a porn magazine. Not that del Ray isn’t pretty or isn’t attractive, but she’s a strong female athletic wrestler. Plus, she’s a great heel and the woman you love to hate.

    7. Kings of Wrestling. Kings of Wrestling are a Tag Team that seems like they could be very successful singles wrestlers, yet they are a tag team. They have an amazing swagger and work incredibly well as a team. They own the ring, and they own the Tag Team Division. And with respect to Beer Money and Motor City Machine Guns, they are the best Tag Team in wrestling.

    8. TV Title. Most fans probably hate this, but I’ll admit it. I like the title. I’m ok with a DQ or countout. I’m ok with time limit draws. Matter of fact, I wish there were more time limit draws. I used to love the TV title, because Lord Steven Regal always found a way to last long enough. If you wanted that title, you had to win and you had to win in 10 minutes.

    9. The Briscoes.I remember watching some early Briscoes matches, CZW, ROH, etc. I’m going to be honest. They didn’t show me anything. They were just two brothers who looked alike and were ugly as sin. This match they had against Haas & Benjamin was the real first time they had ever shown me anything. I think I finally “get it.” They showed me something for the first time. They still aren’t any prettier, but I finally “saw something.”

    10. Shelton Benjamin done right. I could write a whole blog of how the WWE dropped the ball on Shelton Benjamin. With respect to John Morrison, he is perhaps the most athletically-gifted wrestler I’ve ever seen. Do you remember that match he had against Triple-H in a time when The Game DID NOT LOSE? How about his match against Shawn Michaels (That one was for bragging rights between me and my then-fiance)? And then they brought in his mother, failed sitcom veteran Thea Vidale. And I saw a great athlete ruined because of poor booking. Ring of Honor understands how to do Shelton Benjamin right. No stupid gold hair. No failed sitcom actress. No reference to his criminal past. Just a great athlete being a great athlete.

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  5. Why Do YOU Watch Wrestling?

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    Why do you watch professional wrestling? Is it the excitement of the crowd, the larger than life personalities of the performers or the tough, in-ring action which draws you back for more each week? Perhaps it’s the entertainment aspect of WWE which you like, with slick presentation and cartoon-like performers who both captivate and thrill you each and every week. Maybe you’re one of those fans who have turned your back on Vince McMahon’s promotion and prefer to get your mat-based kicks from divisions such as Ring of Honor, where the focus is on actual grappling and the matches themselves. Whatever the case, wrestling is unique in its ability to have such a diverse audience of fans – who each take their own opinions from the show.

    So many wrestling fans nowadays do nothing, NOTHING but whine about what’s presented to them on their TV screens. Be it WWE constantly pushing John Cena to the forefront, TNA with yet another series of brain-bending and confusing storylines or the whack production values of various independent leagues out there – it seems there’s a lot which grinds the gears of your average fan of wrestling. Much has been written (a lot of that by myself) regarding this and how truly irritating it can be to listen to fellow fans take no joy at all out of the product before them.

    Apparently, within wrestling fan circles, there’s a few distinct types of fan. There’s the “casual” fan who takes the show for what it is; entertainment, and overlooks plot holes and doesn’t care if the same few men remain in the main event scene. Infact, these happy-go-lucky types probably don’t even refer to the headliners as the “main event scene”. This writer would like to state right here and now that there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. Why so many other fans (and we’ll get to them, they also have their plus points), feel the need to look down on the “casuals” is really beyond me. Let them enjoy the show and take from it what they wish to take. Are they really doing any harm by just enjoying the show?

    Perhaps the most apparent ‘other’ type of fan group is referred to as the “smart” fan base. These folks usually seem to be those who are interested in what goes on behind the scenes at your typical wrestling show, whilst still being capable (for the most part) of suspending their disbelief and having fun whilst watching the show unfold. Of course, there are those who seem to take no pleasure from RAW, Smackdown, NXT, Superstars, iMPACT and the like. Why these guys and gals even bother watching is beyond me, although they are entitled to watch whatever they wish.

    In closing for this brief article, isn’t there room for both sets of fans in the wrestling kingdom?

    It’d be interesting to see what the readers and writers here at Bored Wrestling Fan.com think of pro wrestling in general and hear some of the reasons why you all keep watching. I’ve written at length in the past regarding my own reasons and will happily post up an old article of mine which explains why in great length. For now though, what do YOU think? Why do YOU watch?

    Please comment below or get in touch at jamiekennedy@live.com ! Take it home!

  6. Wrestling Fan Holiday Wish List

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    This should have been posted earlier, but there’s still time to be relevant. Every year at around this time, wrestling websites ask readers to post lists of what they, as wrestling fans, would ask Wrestling Santa Claus for as gifts. Bored Wrestling Fan is no different, and I now ask you to post away! Any and all companies, everything goes. Make your “wish lists” as long as you like. Here’s mine, in no particular order: (more…)

  8. iMPACT 12/02/10

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    MVP is totally going to show up in the iMPACT Zone tonight! He got future endeavored by the WWE today, so obviously with the no-compete clause, the last sentence you read is a lie. I miss the days before that clause… Let’s see what REALLY happened on this pretaped go-home episode…
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