Tag Archive: Wrestlers

  1. MPX 2-11-12

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    MPX had a really nice show tonight. I took Mother Ruff since Mrs. Ruff bailed on me at the last minute (something about a Ryan Gosling movie I DVR’d for her). It was cold outside but not so cold inside. The crowd took a while to warm up. MPX had some debuts and returns and continued with some storylines.

    First match: Zach T. w/BC & Viktor Tadlock w/Claudia vs. Li Fang & Seph Annunaki w/James Hawke

    As you can tell, this thing was totally on sensory overload. Seph had a much improved ring presence and was a lot more polished in the ring this week. To me, the highlight of the match was Machiko walking out to ringside (*swoon*) and observing yet again. I like Li Fang’s style. He incorporates a certain martial arts style that makes him unique. Unfortunately for the wrestlers the crowd was dead. There was a lot going on outside the ring that I think took away from the match inside the ring. Seph lost when he got CLOCKED by Zach T.

    Winner: Zach & Tadlock

    Second match: Danny Saint w/Kristopher Haiden vs. Regrub w/Team Kyle

    I liked the build-up they are giving the Haiden/Saint vs. Team Kyle tag match. Saint has a great look and, especially with the head shaved, he looks like a wrestler you would see on Raw (hint, hint, WWE). I have seen these two have some not-so-good matches. I thought this one was pretty decent. Regrub had a botch, but I thought the wrestlers played it off pretty well. Choice went over and told him to focus. Then he botched again and Saint put him in a submission hold and Regrub tapped out.

    Winner: Saint

    There was a brief vignette where Murdoch threatened Barrett Brown in the back. Short and painless.

    Third match: $Payday$ vs. Kenny Steele

    It has been fun to watch $Payday$ & Kenny Steele grow as workers over the past year or so. This was a fun match. $Payday$ played a great face and Kenny played a great heel. It was everything wrestling should be. This was also the match that the crowd awoke. I also liked the story they told here. I wrote down that I think this is the best match I have seen either have. Kenny cheated by using the ropes.

    Winner: Steele

    Fourth match: Barrett Brown vs. “Headbanger” Gregory James

    I think I can very confidently say that this is Top 5 for best matches in MPX history. They both came out wearing each others’ t-shirts. I liked the little story there of mutual respect. Headbanger is getting so much better in the ring. He is taking every opportunity to wrestle everywhere he can and work on his experience. That’s what is keeping a few other wrestlers in MPX from making it to the next level. You can tell the difference in between where he is now and where he was a year ago. Barrett also took some really sickening bumps. He has so much committed-ness to his work. This was also the best work I have seen come from Barrett. The finish was Frankie coming out and whallopping Barrett Brown in the head with a chair.

    Winner by dq: Brown

    Really good match. During the intermission, we had the lovely Ms. Valentine (wearing an awful blond wig) handing out Valentines and candy. (Psst… Ms. Valentine is very naturally pretty and doesn’t need a blond wig.) Then Claudia came out and was going to give her a very special gift. She was going to kiss her and moments before we went to Hot Lesbian Action, Claudia attacked her. I liked the attack angle, but Ms. Valentine came out looking like a combination between 1990 Sting and Al Wilson. But I like them having women’s wrestling so I’m looking forward to their feud.

    “Just” James Johnson came out after the intermission with “Killer” Kody Kox. He announced that he got a contract for a title shot. All he had to do was beat anybody he chose. So Jason Silver came out (which how is it I’ve still never seen him wrestle?) and accepted Johnson’s challenge. The thing was that Johnson wasn’t going to wrestle Silver. He was going to choose someone randomly out of the crowd a la Andy Kaufman. He played around with the crowd for a little bit before choosing someone.

    Fifth match: “Just” James Johnson vs. “Jennifer”

    He found this woman om the crowd he chose. She looked annoyed but got in the ring with him. They sized each other up and he swung, she ducked and then did a spinning heel kick. He was out for the count.

    Winner: Jennifer

    Kate interviewed the mysterious woman in the ring who revealed she had studied martial arts all his life. Fun story, and Mr. Johnson made the rest of us husbands look bad.

    Sixth match: Scott Murdoch & Billy Club vs. BC w/Zach T & Zero the Antihero

    This was Billy Club’s MPX debut. I was happy to see him since I like what I’ve seen out of him before. Scott Murdoch does not wrestle. He destroys (in a good way). He knows how to use the ring as a weapon and it offers a realistic looking match. BC was upset to be partnered up with Zero. Zero makes the Payton-less Colts look like the ’72 Dolphins. Murdoch started off the match by saying “Say it with your chest.” Then he did the Scott Murdoch chops of doom. Zero did a nice job of putting over his opponent. BC did the heel thing of not wanting to get in there. Murdoch and Club worked really well and then out of nowhere Murdoch turned on him. BC & Zero got the win.

    Winner: BC & Zero

    Zero won a match, even if it were as part of a tag team. After the match, there was the Arcane-Wylde standoff. Ben had a very funny monologue but he didn’t quite have the crowd hanging on his words. He hasn’t cut many promos before the crowd so it wasn’t bad for a first promo. Gauging the crowd is something that takes time. If Arcane wins, Wylde goes over to his side. If Wylde wins, Arcane goes over to the “Wylde” side. Then Viktor Tadlock took the mic, said Claudia messed up everything and split from Arcane. Tadlock is such a natural heel; I hope he’s not face too long.

    Seventh match: Kristopher Haiden w/Danny Saint vs. The Choice Matt Andrews & Ryan Gauge w/Team Kyle

    So this was supposed to be Choice-Haiden but it became a handicap match. I hate handicap matches, but I digress. The work was just fine in this match. Haiden has been working on losing that extra holiday weight. The story was pretty fun in that Choice wanted to keep Gauge in the ring and not him. This was good build-up for the tag title match. Andrews won by pulling the tights.

    Winner: Andrews & Gauge

    Main event: WASP vs. Frankie Fisher

    I really liked the feel to this. This match was about revenge. WASP came out with $Payday$ and told him he was serious and to go to the back. He cut a really nice promo about how Frankie had attacked Andy Dalton and he considered Andy Dalton a close friend. And he was going to soften Frankie up for the Headbanger. What is interesting is that I have seen these two wrestle before and they had a completely different match than they did this night. This was a brutal match (but not to watch). The Headbanger distracted Frankie long enough for WASP to take the win.

    Winner: WASP

    GM Mike Dolenz came out and since Frankie had laid his hands on Headbanger the last show, Headbanger would be able to choose the stipulation. He chose First Blood.

    All in all… A good showing from MPX. The main event was good, $Payday$-Steele was good, Brown-Headbanger is equal to anything you might see on an ROH iPPV. The build-up is going pretty good for this “Fight to Survive” show.

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  2. Why Hash Could Do The One Thing Eric Bischoff Couldn’t

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    I bet you thinking the other kind of hash weren’t you? However, that symbol. You can find it on a phone to the right of the 0, and yet it is the one symbol that could destroy the foundations on which we stand. The one symbol that could do more damage than Eric Bischoff’s WCW ever could. The one symbol, that means more than the sign of the Wolfpac, the middle finger, and whatever it was Jimmy Snuka used to do combined. But how can a simple number sign be so powerful and deadly?

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  5. Late Edition- Impact Wrestling Review- Where addicts get title shots in less than a year.

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    What am I saying its the wrestling business. Everyone gets second or third chances in this business just ask Jake the Snake Roberts. But that is later on in the show. We open with a Roode promo detailing his family struggles with his shady dealings that won him the title. (Obviously they must have been sleep walking during his Robert Roode run 4 years ago.)

    Steve Borden (No Makeup makes him Steve) comes down to the ring to make an announcement about the “Inmates running the asylum” And how he is going to punish those who step out of line. First up is Robert Roode, or Bobby Roode who is called out after his heinous treatment of Dixie Carter. Roode comes out and him and Borden banter throwing as many puns out there that they can in ten minutes. That is until Borden calls out AJ Styles and then promptly follows it up with Jeff Hardy before telling Roode that he will be involved in a triple threat match in the main event. Roode is disgusted and so are probably half the wrestlers in the back who don’t sell the merchandise Hardy sells.

    Next we have the knockouts in bathrobes in the parking lot, were Karen is in the process of verbal and physically undressing to wash the wrestlers cars. For some of the women this is a repeated performance of a past life, Velvet, Tessmacher, Tara and Angelina have all posed in revealing clothing inside and outside the ring so no real shock there. But Winter and Madison (who still annoys me but does look good in her two piece, what put her on mute and commence….oh yeah “pigeons loose.”

    Wonder Years Jason Hervey interviews Hardy until Jarrett comes into the spotlight. He still mad that Jeff no showed a past event and came intoxicated to the ring in March and wants him gone. FYI: Does Jarrett really get off on being in the spotlight feuding with top talent rather than elevating Kazarian or Magnus? We will find out later tonight. Ray and Bischoff have a sub par meeting in the back, Which will lead to another Roode vignette. Where they continue to play the aftermath of his “Reign of Selfishness.”

    More semi dressed Knockouts as ODB wondering around out in the parking lot most likely going home because she had nothing to do, runs into Karen who is watching the knockouts as closely as a lesbian prison warden from some 80’s sexploitation flick, propositions her to take out Mickie James adding the bonus of earning a title shot. Logic aside her wouldn’t the fact that Gail is allied with Karen make a title opportunity a moot point considering Gail and her posse would just cheat? But so far I’m liking this episode.

    Three way tag match between Ink Inc w/Toxxin vs Mexican America w/ Sarita & Rosita vs The Pope and Devon w/o the 2 kids they share. I’m all-pro gay marriage with kids especially since Devon’s wife practically disappeared after a couple of appearances. Decent match that saw what will now be the norm in Impact Wrestling, make shift tag teams. Because who needs already made ones when you can… I’ll stop now I enjoyed it for what it was.

    Aries comes out and cuts a promo where he says he has beaten everyone in the division clean. And that the division should be renamed the AA division, (in short his cocky heel promo rocked.) Kid Kash comes out all angry and ready for a fight. They spit back and forth making for a solid set up at Final Resolution for a X division title match.

    Steve Borden and Jeff Jarrett have a fight backstage about how if Jarrett interferes in the main event there will be consequences. Which is all just foreshadowing for what is obviously going to happen.

    More Roode family promo fallout. Mickie James vs ODB in a street fight. First off I’m wearing off on the Mickie Express. Her movements in the ring just seem so forced and over theatrical for me. Where as ODB who has been toned down from the last time she was there is a breath of fresh air. She stands out and in a good way. Sadly she has now become enhancement talent for Hardcore Country. After a solid showing the match ends when Mickie weakly (and ODB telegraphed putting the chair in front of her face) spin kick for the 3.

    Interview with James Storm where Kurt Angle shows and taunts James some more telling him to show up next week to sign on for a match at Final Resolution. Ah heels and there non concern for concussions or torn hamstrings. Either way good promo.

    Comedy Gold rears it head as Steiner and Ray try to find a way to calm down Abyss. Until the idea for sending 2 of the finest of “the big bad booty daddy’s” stable to satisfy him. What happens next is predictable but still caused me to smirk. Another Roode family promo better put together than all the others which should of aired at the beginning of the show and getting rid of the others leaving room for more matches but whatever.

    Television title match where RVD no sells losing in favor of interference from Daniels setting up another pointless match between these two at final resolution. Next.

    Back to the knockouts who now break out in a fight with soap and water, car wash style. Tara, Love, Winter and Tessmacher will help many through the night. Pope, Williams, MA and Ink Inc minus Toxxin come out to see all the commotion. It all ends when Gail sprays the girls down.

    Main event

    Bobby Roode vs AJ Styles vs Jeff Hardy in a 3 way dance. At first what starts as a beat-down  of Bobby Roode basically becomes predictable as Jeff and AJ turn on one another. Jarrett interferes costing Hardy the match.

    Borden comes out and makes a cage match at Final Resolution where if Jeff Hardy loses he is gone for good and if he wins he gets bumped back into the world title picture come Genesis. So since we know who sells merchandise we can expect the feud between AJ and Roode to end come Final Resolution and Jeff back in for the belt. hmmm.

    In conclusion, I’m getting better at watching this program without belittling it lets see how long this will last.

     

  6. Chikara High Noon 11-13-2011

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    I should probably write an intro here. I do a lot of rambling here so I apologize for the length. If you want a real recap, you can find that anywhere. These are meditations of the iPPV event and my stream-of-consciousness as it happened.

    Jigsaw vs. El Generico

    The opener was pretty fun. You got a Gory special from Jigsaw. What was special about that was that this was the 6th anniversary of Eddie Guerrero’s death. Eddie, if he were still around, would have been very proud and very humbled. There was very good action; both wrestlers came out of this looking strong. There weren’t any “Holy s***” moments, but there was some great action and some innovative moves I’ve never seen before. And you don’t need to have too many “Holy s***” moments in an opener. Being two high flyers, there were some great planchas and suicide dives. The announcers over-sold it a little, but it was still a great match.

    Young Bucks w/Marty Jannetty vs. The Colony (Soldier & Fire Ant)

    First of all, I loved the surprise of Marty Jannetty. I don’t understand why he was there though. Could they have maybe found a face tag team he could be mentor for, like an inspirational leader? (Let’s face it. Who is going to boo Marty Jannetty at this point in his career?) At first appearance, the Young Bucks look so indy and so generic. As the match goes on, we find out they have moments of greatness in the ring. Aside from the last ROH Ladder Match at Death by Dishonor, the best match of the night for me was Young Bucks-Future Shock-Bravados (once the Bravados were eliminated). They can be so great. There’s just nothing that separates them from Joe Indy Tag Team at my local VFW. One of my favorite moves is the guy close to the ring apron, they spin him and then kick him. I’ve seen that in PWG, I saw it today and think it is an awesome spot. I counted 2 “Holy s***” moments, one team each. You have to love Chikara’s style. They have their own story to tell and they’re not afraid to tell it. They took a lucha style to the states and found it more than successful. Their crowd is so great and so devoted. This had a very good finish that resulted in The Colony winning out of nowhere.

    Sara Del Rey vs. Jakob Hammermeier

    Sara was greeted with a Happy Birthday chant and a “Sara’s gonna kill you” chant. Hammermeier gave a really good cowardly heel-Genius-type performance. During this match, the commentary got much better. It didn’t seem like they were channeling Don West so much now that they already had our money. The thing closest to a “Holy s***” moment was an axe kick to the back of the head. Del Rey pretty much killed him for the match. She won. It was a short match, everything it should have been.

    Amassis came out and retired. Ophidian sprayed mist on him and then proceeded to attack him. And then they unmasked him! I like a wrestling promotion where masks mean something. (hint, hint, WWE)

    Green Ant vs. Tursas

    To begin with, there was a huge size difference. It began with a heel ref. I hate heel refs. Well, Green Ant moved and Tursas ended up hitting the ref and he was out. The Colony carried him out. I liked it. It was a good big man-little man match. There was a reference to Tursus having, “Arms like legs and legs like people” followed by an “Oh, my God!” Not many people would get that reference, but I did-Mr. Joey Styles in ECW. There was one “Holy s***” moment for me, Green Ant’s splash off the top turnbuckle onto Tursas on the floor. He got a “Please don’t die” chant before he even did it. Green Ant put Tursus in a hold I’ve never seen before and submitted him.

    During the intermission they had an unbelievable video package talking about the main event. It was up there with the Triple H-Undertaker package they did with Arn Anderson and all the legends.

    Colt Cabana vs. Archibald Peck

    Ok, I get Chikara’s weird and wacky gimmicks. But I’m sorry. This one was too much. The comedy spots in this match were really good. You can tell they had lots of fun preparing this match. This hurts me to say this. I love Colt Cabana. I listen to Art of Wrestling when they have somebody I care about on. Archibald Peck also cut his teeth in my neck of the woods in Arlington, so I have all the love and respect for him. If ever there are two sacred cows on this show, these two are it. But something did not click for me during the match. It was paced very slowly, and while I appreciated the comedy aspects, it took them a while to get serious. It still had some really good comedy aspects, but overall, this match did not do it for me. Colt Cabunny (yes, I just wrote that) hit Peck and Cabana got the pin. After the match Colt Cabana and Colt Cabunny hugged. The only way to salvage this match was for CM Punk to be the bunny and turn heel on Colt Cabana. That didn’t happen.

    Gregory Iron vs. Icarus

    Of course during this match, my wife came home with the groceries and dinner for the night so I had to help her out. It reminded me of one WWE house show I went to (the night I bought my Eddie Guerrero “Latino Heat scarface” t-shirt btw). During the Shawn Michaels match (where my wife and sister-in-law acted like tweens meeting Justin Bieber), a guy walked past our way on his cell phone saying, “Come on, what do you want? You got me during HBK.”

    Now, onto the match. I liked Icarus engaging the crowd during his entrance. And how do you not love Iron? I gotta admit. I popped for the sweater-taking-off thing from Icarus. Aside from the main event, this was the greatest story of the night. Icarus did everything he could to Iron. And every move, Iron would get back up. There was a lead pipe where Iron took the whole 20-count to walk back into the ring. This was a huge way to put him over. Icarus won with a low blow followed by a Spicolli Driver into the turnbuckle. Iron was almost put over more because he lost.

    After the match, Akuma appeared in the ring and when he was trying to attack Icarus, he got Gregory Iron. Akuma tried to apologize and they kept holding him back from apologizing. There was a lot of raw emotion in this segment.

    Ares & Tim Donst vs. Hallow Wicked & Ultra Mantis Black

    This is the match where my wife decided to have dinner so I put the laptop to my right and ate sesame chicken with white steamed rice with my ear-bud in my right ear while the tv played “The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That.” So my attention to this match was pretty low. (Sorry, guys) There was one major moment that stood out to me. That was Ares’ insane bump he took onto the chairs. It felt like a season finale to a huge storyline. The action was pretty good; I just had life happen during this match.

    Eddie Kingston vs. Mike Quackenbush

    First of all, Eddie Kingston cut the promo of his life before this match. My three favorite promos of the year are Triple H-Undertaker when they just stared at each other and then both looked at the Wrestlemania sign, CM Punk’s “The Promo” and the promo Kingston cut before this match (with special props being given to CM Punk’s promo he cut on Greg Iron at the AAW show near Chicago).

    This had a big-match feel. You could feel the anticipation so much. I can’t remember the last time I saw a pro wrestling match that had so much anticipation at the moment. What made this match was the emotion. Mike Quackenbush was escorted by Jigsaw and Eddie Kingston was escorted by Tommy Dreamer. During the intros, my daughter climbed up on the couch with me. She looked at what was going on and I told her who everybody was. She is two and has never really acknowledged wrestling characters before (thought she did say “Woo woo woo” after Zack Ryder on Smackdown once). She was pointing at the wrestlers and I was telling her who they were. We tried saying Eddie and Mike. That didn’t quite happen.

    To me, the most touching part was when the ring announcer said “For those watching around the world… (long pause) And for those watching up above…” There was a long pause and the fans started chanting something. I couldn’t tell whether it was “Eddie” (for Eddie Guerrero, who had passed away 6 years ago to the day) or “Larry” for Larry Sweeney, a very instrumental figure in the Northeastern Independent scene for a long time.

    I guess I should start talking about the match. They really played up the knee injury and told the story of Quackenbush going after the knee. Quackenbush is billed as the Master of 1,000 Holds and did everything he could to use them on Kingston. Then the wrestlers started coming out one-by-one to watch. It was reminiscent of an early ECW Pay-Per-View show when all the wrestlers would come out to watch or Wrestlemania X when all the wrestlers came out to celebrate with Bret Hart. There were names I hadn’t heard in years, like Reckless Youth. The wrestlers would pound the apron in honor of them. The fans started chanting “Please don’t tap” when Quackenbush would put him in a hold. Then the wrestlers joined them in chanting “Please don’t tap.” They were all out there, heel and face alike. It has got to be one of the most emotional things I’ve ever seen.

    For me the special moment happened when my daughter’s attention was diverted to the computer from Dora or whoever she decided to torture us with. Eddie Kingston had Quackenbush hooked in a submission hold and was putting him through body scissors. She looked down at the laptop and saw Quackenbush struggling to break free. She said “Uh-oh.” And for a second, she diverted all her two-year-old attention to the laptop screen. She watched the match for a while. It was like the first time she realized wrestling was going on. So it was kind of like “Baby’s First Wrestling Match.”

    Eddie won and it was such a great moment. The title was brought to him by Larry Sweeney’s brother and friend. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.

    So, match of the year so far? We’ve got Trips/Taker at WM27, Punk/Cena at Money in the Bank, All Night Xpress/Briscoes in the ROH ladder match. This has got to be up there. You didn’t know who was going to win the match (Taker-Trips). Both wrestlers could do abdominal stretches (*cough, cough* John Cena). And this fight didn’t rely on plunder or blood. (Ladder match) Dare I call it the match of the year?

    All in all… I have rambled so much about this event. While I think this event had Match of the Year, I’m not quite so sure it was Event of the Year. I’m still going with ROH’s Best in the World 2011. Not every match on this card clicked for me, but there were a lot of great stories told. I’d say the main event and the Gregory Iron match are worth the price of the iPPV alone. You can’t book passion, and that’s exactly what we saw on Sunday afternoon.

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  7. Patman Picks Stampede Classics. Stu Hart 80th B-day party. Scott Hall VS Owen Hart.

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    What is going on Wrestling fans? This time around Im going with a match that is both unique and special in the history of pro wrestling for 2 reasons.  For starters its a WWF title match taking place in Calgary, but its in an official Stampede Wrestling ring featuring one of Stampedes most popular wrestlers of all time. Thats pretty unique. Also, its the celebration of Stu Harts 80 Birthday, and as a consequence, wrestlers from around the world came to the event to both preform and also wish the legend a Happy 80th. This time around we will be enjoying Razor( Scott Hall) VS Owen Hart, for the intercontinental WWF championship. And this joint Stampede/WWF match is called of course by the legendary Ed Whalen, the voice of Stampede Wrestling for many decades. Worth noting at the beginning of the video Owen has a quick segment talking about his father, which is a very nice touch. Owen was playing the role of a heel at the time in the WWF. However, when in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, its pretty hard to have the crowd hate any former Stampede Wrestler as Vince McMahon would soon learn and capatialze on in the future with his Hart Foundation story-line. Also worth noting while watching the video is the top ring rope coming off and being quickly turned into a weapon. You will then notice a quick exit from the ring to draw the attention away from the rope being put back on. Finally worth noting is the “run in” by one of my least favorite wrestlers of all time. Here is a hint as to who he is ” I made a porn Movie with a Man/Woman and lived to tell about it”.  Also, if  these videos are getting your old school classic wrestling interests up, feel free to download our Stampede podcast .G and myself discuss all things Stampede wrestling including our run ins with the likes of Davey Boy Smith, Bad News Brown, Chris Benoit and Bret Hart when we were just kids!    http://wonderpodonline.com/?p=2533     See you all next time !

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  8. Raw Is Vacant 10-10-2011

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    Well, words escaped the end of last week’s Raw. That was one of the most surreal Raws I ever saw. Now it’s time to see how the WWE follows it up. The announcer’s seats are empty. We get a nice perspective of the back area. And we get to start with Triple H. Surprise. And after HHH’s entrance, there’s only 15 minutes left of Raw, so no worries there. The superstars are outside and waiting for HHH to step down. Then he panders worse than Hogan’s cup to the ear thing. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the Confederate Warrior himself John Cena comes to the ring. We get serious John Cena. He didn’t sound so scripted. And then comes out my Pasty White Hero, Sheamus. He’s still with HHH. Then Punk comes out. He’s still with HHH. He makes a match. Cena vs. Sheamus with Punk on commentary and HHH as ref.

    Commercial break. I have been without caffeine for 2 days. Any more Red Robin commercials, I will need to be held down.

    After the commercial Vince McMahon comes out. Everyone’s heart sunk. Vince likes watching Raw at home. Board of Directors met about this situation. HHH is no longer running Raw. The new person running Raw is Super Dave Osborne. If I was not doing this review, I would be watching 2 Broke Girls on DVR.

    Brian Wilson is on my tv. All of a sudden, Super Dave Osborne isn’t so bad.

    Now all the wrestlers are coming back in. John Morrison tells Johnny Ace he sucks. Then he continues his burial tour against Christian. My wife notices Morrison has shaved his face. She acted like I did when Nelson Cruz hit his grand slam. Morrison was squashed. Then Ziggler, Swagger & Rhodes take out Morrison.

    Then HHH threatens Super Dave.

    Then Randy Orton and Mark Henry had a match. Cody Rhodes interferes. DQ. Mark Henry beats him up a few times. Randy Orton is ridiculously stale.

    We had Kelly Kelly & Eve vs. Rosa & Tamina. We’ve still got psycho angry Kelly. Eve pins Tamina. Poor Tamina. Super Dave asks JR to come into the ring. Really? At this point in his career, what are you going to do to JR they haven’t already done? Super Dave is so awful on the mic. He just sounds like he’s reciting a script. He fired JR.

    We get Matista & AirBoom vs. Swagger, Ziggler & Otunga. This is the best match of the night so far by default. The highlight was the powerbomb Jack Swagger did on Evan Bourne. I have nothing against Matista/Mason Ryan. He just looks like he couldn’t pass a piss test.

    John Cena’s movie looks awful. And I like Ethan Embry.

    Punk and Del Rio were fighting until Super Dave stopped it and reinstated Awesome Truth. I stopped caring during this match. I was impressed by what I saw from ADR. The work in this match was really good. I just felt like I was watching House-no show is ever new; I just watch out of habit. Miz/Truth were disqualified and then HHH came to Punk’s rescue.

    This is without a doubt the worst Raw I have seen in a long time. This is just as bad as Katie Vick era or the night the nWo started demolishing the Nitro set. The first 15 minutes were brilliant and then it was just like a fart in church from there. They most likely killed drawing in Oklahoma and I would be surprised to see their ratings higher than 2.5. Not saying all hope is lost. But something needs to change.

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  10. AIW Absolution 6 Review

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    This was my first time to watch an AIW show. I started out being very intrigued by all the promos at the beginning. I know some of the wrestlers, but I am not familiar with their characters. This gave me a brief overview. What it reminded me of was the UFC product. Fighter #1 doing an interesting soundbite followed by fighter #2 doing the same. It’s a formula that works. I don’t need the WWE 5-minute video package I just watched last Monday on Raw. Just give me brief promos so I can know I need to care about these wrestlers.

    First match: 6 Pack Scramble: Sugar Dunkerston VS. Sabbath VS. AERO! VS. Kobald VS. Maximo Suave VS. Low Rider

    I know who Sugar Dunkerton is from his Twitter presence, so I was excited to see him wrestle. Sabbath had no crowd reaction, but had a different look. Suave looked like a died-black-hair Amazing Red. AERO! looks like a skinny white guy wearing a mask. Low Rider looks like a low-rent Perros del Mal wannabe (I did not find his name listed as a Perro del Mal). And Kobald looks like a bad Mortal Kombat character. I was impressed by how Sabbath used his power and the other wrestlers sold it. Sugar Dunkerton did a clothesline that would have impressed Stan Hansen. And Low Rider did a powerslam type move into the turnbuckles I’ve never seen before. Random painted people attacked somebody and Kobald got the win.

    Winner: Kobald

    Second match: BJ Whitmer VS. Eddie Kingston

    This was my first Eddie Kingston match. I’ve followed Whitmer for about 10 years, going back to his IWA-Mid South days. I’m a little cautious about “the first time they’ve ever met” fights because they can be clusters because the guys have no chemistry together. It looked like there was a feeling out period and they let the drama slowly build. They told a story of Whitmer working over Kingston’s leg and Kingston trying to overcome. It got a “This is Awesome” chant. This was a GREAT match that really had the crowd going.

    Winner: Whitmer

    Whitmer and Kingston had a nice exchange and the crowd received it well.

    Third Match: Chad “The Chad” Williams w/Chest Flexor VS. Tursus

    There is a guy named Chest Flexor who must have a faction somewhere. The Chad looks like Randy Orton without the tattoos. The crowd chanted “Randy Rip-off” but I really didn’t think he was a rip-off; he just looked like Randy Orton. This is my first time to see Tursus after hearing so much about him, so I was very impressed with him. I’m surprised the WWE has not brought him in yet.

    Winner: Chad by DQ

    Fourth match: Team Duke VS. Team Dalton

    I have no idea who these people are. Dalton Castle has a Puerto Rican faction as his partners. This RBI guy is named Bonds. I couldn’t figure out who I was supposed to cheer for. This reminded me a lot of a Ring of Honor 8-guy match from their early days. Dasher Hatfield was one of the major workers to stand out to me. Ben Fruith was another worker who stood out to me. He looks like he needs to eat, but man, can this guy sell. I was impressed that Izeah Bonds did a standing moonsault. It told a nice story.

    Winner: Team Duke

    Fifth match: Marion Fontaine VS. Shiima Xion VS. Chuck Taylor

    I’ve tried watching some Xion matches on Youtube and stuff before. (I don’t currently watch the TNA/Impact! product.) Fontaine looks like he needs to eat. Xion has all the makings of a star, except for the awful tights. Chuck Taylor interfered in this match and made it into a 3-Way Dance. It just went way too short. I found myself more impressed by Fontaine with his in-ring action.

    Winner: Fontaine

    Sixth match: Josh Prohibition VS. Gregory Iron

    I still have a deep-seated hatred of Josh Prohibition that goes back to him leaving CZW to start wrestling for XPW during the days of the PA Indy Wars. And holy s***, Greg Iron. He is everything Zach Gowen tried to be. He overcomes a huge disability, but he is still believable when he wins in the ring. The two had an unbelievable Street Fight. I knew about Iron from him the night CM Punk about how awesome he was. Regardless of how I felt about Prohibition, he and Gregory Iron were incredible in the ring together.

    Winner: Prohibition

    The crowd did a Holy s*** chant and rightfully so. Every Greg Iron match deserves a Holy s*** chant. Forgetting that Iron has cerebral palsy, it was probably one of the best matches I’ve seen all year.

    Seventh match: Eric Ryan VS. Bobby Beverly

    From this point on, the only wrestler I’ve ever seen before is Sabu, so I promise I will stop saying this is my first time to see this guy. Eric Ryan really impressed me. I think Beverly did a good job of making Ryan look good. Something tells me he’ll get over in the future. Eric Ryan wrestled with a lot of passion and definitely got my attention. You can’t book or train for that.

    Winner: Ryan

    The Olsen Twins VS. The Irish Airborne VS. AEROFORM

    (Ok, so I’ve seen Colin Delaney before, but I really wasn’t into the WWECW product that much at the time.) The six worked really well together. I have no idea what I watched here because it was so fast-paced. Irish Airborne & AEROFORM are tag teams that could walk into Impact or AAA/CMLL and be successful. There was just so much going on it was hard to comprehend this match.

    Winner: Irish Airborne

    This was everything we wanted it to be. Six amazing athletes just doing their thing.

    Ninth match: Sabu VS. Facade in a Falls Count Anywhere Match

    I was curious why there were was a Street Fight and Falls Count Anywhere Match on the same card. On thing I have to give AIW credit for is distinct-looking wrestlers. It’s not like watching NXT where you see nothing different than the other 10 guys. Facade looks different. He has a distinct look and it differentiates him from “Joe Indy Wrestler.” And of course I worship Sabu and pray to him every night before I go to bed. I am intrigued by how Sabu reinvented himself. As he wasn’t able to keep up in the ring as much, he started using a toolbox like his late uncle (The Shiek) used to do. It added some longevity to his career.

    Winner: Sabu

    This booking made absolutely no sense by having Sabu go over, but Facade bled. Prohibition/Iron was more of a wild brawl, but the image of Facade wearing the crimson mask was pretty good.

    Tenth match: Rickey Shane Page VS. Vincent Nothing

    The video package was well-done. I still had no idea about anything, but it looked to be very emotional. Nothing has a really good look. Page is way too young-looking, but I get what they’re trying to do. The commentating was pretty awful. The play-by-play guy was fine, but the color commentator bordered on stupid. Heel does not equal stupid. I loved Nothing’s in-ring style. I love me some MMA, so a fighter who incorporates some of his moves into wrestling makes me pop. Plus, an MMA fighter could be a huge heel. This had a “big match” feel. There were light tubes. That is all you need to know to grasp how intense this fight was. It got a “Match of the Year” chant during the match.

    Winner: Page

    Wow. I think I missed a lot of the emotion which was probably like tuning in during a Season Finale. WWE, Impact, this is how you put a guy over. Right now, I believe Page could main event this company. I’m still going with Iron/Prohibition for Match of the Night, but Page gets my MVP. There was total commitment and it was kind of like a “coming of age” match.

    Main Event: Johnny Gargano VS. Tim Donst

    Donst is ridiculously over with this crowd. Donst is great when it comes to mat wrestling. I haven’t seen much in the way of a distinct look or personality to Donst, but he is super-over with this crowd and reminds me of Dean Malenko in-ring. Gargano had a RED chest. Gargano has a good look and I could see him in Impact before too long. The commentary deteriorated to Mark Madden levels. I can’t describe all the highlights of this match. All I know is that Tim Donst is one of my favorite new indy guys.

    Winner: Gargano

    What a match. As they were signing off, Chest Flexor’s music hit and Shiima Xion started fighting Gargano and the match started.

    Real Main Event: Gargano vs. Xion

    This went on until Chest Flexor interfered, the referee turned heel and Xion won the belt.

    Winner: Xion

    So yes, I am in love with my new favorite non-Texas wrestling promotion. I cannot decide match of the night. Iron/Prohibition, Page/Nothing, Donst/Gargano would all be Match of the Year candidates with any promotion. This is a company I will put my money behind. It’s hard to find a certain name that stood out to me the most. Now that I have been introduced, it’s time to start following the stories that are to be told here.

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