Monday 30 August 2010

Booking ROH - Adam Pearce's Legacy By Shaun Nichols


Adam Pearce was the booker of ROH from October26th 2008 replacing the popular Gabe Sapolsky and had it upto a couple of weeks ago when Cary Silkin made the call to replace him with Delirious on August 15th. It was somewhat surprising that Pearce was given the book in October 2008 if only because ROH had let him go in the previous month for what was described as a cost cutting measure.
Gabe was the original booker and to this day is seen by many ROH fans as the biggest loss the company as had to recover from and as such was always going to be a tough act to follow for any new booker. Sapolsky though made some surprising booking decisions including the frankly dull faction warfare which did little to get over with the fans, the delay in pulling the trigger on Tyler Black could also be questioned. On the other hand many including myself enjoyed the Age of the Fall run with the under appreciated Jimmy Jacobs running with the ball and the slow build between Danielson and Morishima. Cary Silkin at that time made the call citing that Gabe's booking style was too narrow and therefore would stop ROH moving up to the next level.
Enter Adam Pearce, Pearce could easily be stereotyped as an old fashioned booker that harps back to a more simpler style. He's also a lot younger than you would think in fact he only turned 32 this year. By getting the book so late in the year Adam's first major test was the booking of arguably ROH's biggest show of the year Final Battle. Headlined by Danielson vs. Morishima with strong back up that included Aries vs. Black and McGuinnes defending against Marufuji it was an excellent show. How much credit you give to either Pearce or Sapolsky will probably depend on who you have sympathy with.
The execution of the double switch where Aries turned heel and Black went babyface and signalled the end Age of the Fall was nicely done, it wasn't quite Bret-Austin at WM 13 but it was pretty good. The champion Nigel McGuinness was carrying a number of injuries, Pearce seemed reluctant tp put Danielson back into the title picture. It was at this point that The Wrestler film became a major hit and the decision was made to put Jerry Lynn on top to sort of have a tie in with the movie by having a veteran chase one last shot at glory. While most fans would concede that Jery Lynn is a fantastic wrestler, few were happy to see him win the title at Supercard of Honor 4 at the Wrestlemania weekend.
It would seem that it was Cary Silkin that decided that they should give Lynn the title, in hindsight you would have to say that it was a mistake as the fans just did not want to see him as champion. Whether or not Adam Pearce would have chosen to put the title on Jerry Lynn or not, it happened when he was booking and therefore out of everything that occured during his 18 month tenure it was the Lynn title run that overshadows everything else.
On the plus side at the start of 2009, ROH reached an agreement to produce a TV show for HD Net which debuted in March. Overall most fans would say that the TV as been a positive for the company. It is only available in certain markets but they are looking to move into other areas of the country throughout the rest of 2010 and 2011. Booking TV is obviously the one thing that Pearce had to contend with that Sapolsky did not and the challenges presented by booking TV are completely different from booking ROH house shows, where on TV the impetus is on interviews, very short matches and characters making an impression with the audience at home.
One of the big successes of this was the continuing transformation of Austin Aries who dominated the TV show after his second title win at Manhatten Mayhem III. The introduction of a TV title in March of this year can also be applauded which was won by Eddie Edwards and allowed Eddie to continue to develop as a key figure in ROH while partner Davey Richards headed into the world title picture.
The main accusation though will be that Pearce did not create new stars, he was slow to see what should have been obvious that if they were going to but the belt on Tyler Black then they should have done so against McGuinness. ROH waited far too long and by the time he got there, a backlash had already started he was no longer the darling of the fans. They had moved onto Davey Richards. The major stars to the company were all returning wrestlers such as Colt Cabana, Jimmy Rave and Christopher Daniels but they would have all been booked no matter who had been booking. Don't think Homicide won't be back in a couple of months if he decides to make himself available. Some returns like Steve Corino added something different to the promotion that simply they didn't have and should be seen as a positive.
The re-uniting of the Kings of Wrestling at last year's Final Battle was also a popular and well thought out move and they have since been major players again when especially Castognoli was struggling in 2009 to make an impression. ROH in 2009 was not a good year overall, the loss of Danielson and McGunness were fairly big losses but at least they put people over on the way out. Jerry Lynn's short title run was the biggest black mark against ROH by their own fans and Pearce if possible should have seen it and at least tried to stop it happening. 2010 as been a stronger year so far, those that regularly watch the TV seem happy with the product. The big shows seem to deliver with the recent Death Before Dishonor especially being well received. The departure of Tyler Black will have less impact than it might have simply because both Gabe and Adam both waited why too long. In a couple of years I wouldn't be surprised if it was Jimmy Jacobs who was remembered more fondly than Black because as a character he was far stronger.
How much room for manuevre Adam Pearce had to book without Silkin pushing him in a certain direction I'm not sure, he had the immediate problem of replacing a man the fans didn't want to lose. He was also saddled with a badly thought out title change that did nothing for the company. However in 2010 things seemed to be on the up at least from a fans perspective and I don't think that all in all that Pearce's reputation as been tainted. Infact I have sympathy for him because I thought that he was growing into the role and that the product was back on an upward swing.

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Thursday 26 August 2010

Interview with ROH Owner Cary Silkin By Jeff Peck


Silkin pictured here with ROH Champion Tyler Black

On this episode of The Wheelhouse: Bower and “The Sweet Nasty" Chris Cause welcome ROH owner CARY SILKIN to the show! The guys discuss GLORY BY HONOR IX in NEW YORK CITY on SEPTEMBER 11TH, whether or not CARY is MAD that TYLER BLACK is leaving ROH, if HOMICIDE will be back in ROH, if there was a chance BRYAN DANIELSON would return to ROH after being release from WWE and more! Finally the guys wrap up the week by talking FANTASY FOOTBALL and answering YOUR questions!

Download the Podcast – HERE!

On this episode of The Still Real to Us Show: ”The Champ” Jeff Peck is joined by Stuart Rodgers and Captain Obvious! We discuss TYLER BLACK leaving ROH, whether or not he will be successful in WWE and who will be the next ROH WORLD CHAMPION! We then wrap up the show by discussing if CHRIS JERICHO will resign with the WWE and if the NEXUS could be done by OCTOBER!

Download the Podcast – HERE!

Lashley vs. Batista - Likely to Happen? By Shaun Nichols


When Bobby Lashley lost to Chad Griggs when he wasn't able to come out for the third round at the recent Strikeforce event which was shown on Showtime it was considered to be a major upset. What it could also point to is a possibly intriguing battle of former WWE Champions. The defeat for Lashley which saw him having to spend his Saturday evening in a Houston hospital may indicate that he's not necessarily as far in his MMA progression as he may have previously thought. He had stated on a number of occasions that he felt he could be a part of the title picture by the end of the year.
This defeat and the way the commentators were calling the action, they were basically saying he is too one dimensional in his attack and wouldn't be a success because he's not aggresive enough which suggest that Bobby is in reality some way short. On the other hand he remains a major name in what is in reality a fairly shallow talent pool when it comes to major MMA names. Fedor who is obviously Strikeforce's main name and widely considered to be the best MMA fighter in the last decade may have lost some of his shine when he was surprisingly defeated in his last fight. Though at least he appears to be hanging around for a while, Jake Shields as made the move to UFC, Dan Henderson lost on his debut for Strikeforce after leaving UFC and the charasmatic and thus potentially a draw for the company King Mo lost the 205 pound title to Rafael Feijao on the same card as Lashley's loss.

In short any plans that Strikeforce may have had going forward with their stars seem to be falling around them. Since Batista left the WWE he has made noises about fighting for Strikeforce and is training in MMA currently could be interesting addition for the company. When he left the WWE he was surprisingly negative about the WWE's PG direction and gave no indication that he would be returning to McMahonland anytime soon when most fans expected him to return probably by next years Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania at the latest. It may simply be that Batista is using Strikeforce as a way to keep his name out there in the public domain as his acting ambitions seem to be going nowhere fast. Is he genuine about MMA fighting? And if so who could he possibly fight? If he signed a deal with Strikeforce and they booked him against a journey man fighter it may have the curiousity factor but nothing more, if he was to fight an established MMA fighter he would be destroyed and hence why would he risk it? The answer could be Dave Batista vs. Bobby Lashley fight.
Lashley recently in interviews has said that he would fight Batista but that any fight between the two would need to happen sooner rather than later as he planned his assault into title contention. Now after his loss, Lashley may feel that he doesn't have that many options going forward and a fight with Batista would be an easy main event pitch for Strikeforce. The timing also couldn't be better, if MMA fans would act snobby over Strikeforce promoting Lashley-Batista then its hard to picture how they can tolerate the frankly ridiculous fight btween MMA legend Randy Couture and Boxing veteran James Toney at the upcoming UFC 118 event in Boston. UFC fans also don't need to be reminded that in the case of Brock Lesnar it's clear that pro wrestlers can be tremendous draws in MMA circles, even if it's because most of their fans want to see the wrestler get his ass kicked. Batista will attract more attention for Strikeforce than anybody they ever had and the fact that Lashley lost in Houston may just give Batista enough confidence that if he is serious about fighting that he could not just be competitive but he may even have chance to win. Lashley could use it as a springboard to prove that what happened in Houston was just a minor blip in his MMA career. As for Strikeforce if they could pull it off they would easily have their biggest event as far as ratings and media coverage goes probably bigger than Scott Coker could ever have imagined.

Wednesday 25 August 2010

The Top Ten Moves of KENTA

Audio Interview with Terry Funk from http://wheelhouseradio.com


On this episode of The Wheelhouse: Bower and “The Sweet Nasty" Chris Cause are joined by WRESTLING LEGEND TERRY FUNK! The guys talk with TERRY about his time in the wrestling business, his favorite matches, his thoughts on JIM CORNETTE, why he WASN'T at TNA HARDCORE JUSTICE, his appearance at ROH GLORY BY HONOR IX in September and so much MORE! We then wrap up the show by playing this week's edition of HEY! NICE TWITS!

Download the Podcast – HERE!

Tuesday 24 August 2010

ROH Booker Change V.3 By Stuart Rodgers


ROH have once again change their booker. The guy to take the book this time is wrestler Delirious (Hunter Johnston) who also runs ROH's wrestling school.

I have been an avid follower of ROH since it's inception in 2002 under the leadership of Rob Feinstein & Gabe Sapolsky. Due to various indiscresions, Feinstein left ROH and the company was taken over by Cary Silkin and Sapolsky was the booker for the promotion. Before and after Feinstein left, the promotion was a very good wrestling orientated product. In October 2008, Sapolsky was released from ROH for reasons I am unsure about. The man to take the book then was wrestler Adam Pearce with some help from Jim Cornette. The ROH product, although still very good and by far the best in North America wasn't the same and it was noticable Sapolsky wasn't booking the product.

On August 15th 2010, ROH took the book off Pearce and handed it to Delirious. People may question what credentials does Delirious have to be the booker of ROH? Well, he is head trainer of the ROH wrestling school and he has been promoting shows under the banner of of 'Pro Wrestling Respect' the first show being January 24th 2010. People may still question weather Delirious is qualified to book the promotion but all we can do is wait and see. Cary Silkin obviously thought once again the promotion needed to go in a different direction and he is the one who pays the bills so who are we to say he is wrong to give Delirious a chance? I hope, as a big fan of ROH that it works out well for the parties involved.

Leave a comment below if you need to about this article.

Saturday 21 August 2010

Still Real To Us Podcast (19/08/10)



On this episode of The Still Real to Us Show: ”The Champ” Jeff Peck and Eric Gargiulo start off the show by looking back at SUMMERSLAM and the RETURN of DANIEL BRYAN! The guys debate whether or not BRYAN being released was a WORK or SHOOT the entire time! Finally the guys wrap up the show by discussing the new ROH booking situation and we read a BLOG from ERIC BISCHOFF with commentary from MR. GARGIULO!

Download the Podcast – HERE!

Friday 13 August 2010

The Still Real To Us Podcast Show #26


On this episode of The Still Real to Us Show: ”The Champ” Jeff Peck and Eric Gargiulo kick off the show by discussing quite possibly the TNA DUMBASS TWEET OF THE YEAR thanks to what we believe to be was HULK HOGAN! After discussing TNA's latest debacle we look at TNA HARDCORE JUSTICE to give our thoughts & opinions on the "LAST STAND!" Finally we wrap up this week's show by previewing and predicting SUMMERSLAM!

Download the Podcast – HERE!

Sunday 8 August 2010

Tyler Black Signs For WWE...What's Next For The ROH World Title By Stu Rodgers


The internet rumour mill was on fire on Sunday night saying that current ROH world champion Tyler Black has signed with the WWE. Some have been saying Black is an OK worker but can't cut a promo, to no surprise these are fans of the WWE product who's whole gig seems to be about promo's rather than putting on good wrestling matches on a wrestling show. I however, much like when Bryan Danielson signed with the 'E' am gutted that we will not get to see Black wrestle on ROH shows but I am glad that he will have the chance to earn some big money.
ROH are currently building towards their next internet PPV Glory By Honor on Sept 11th, stands a good chance this could be Black's last ROH match so now the talk is, what's next for the ROH title? At GBH, Black faces Davey Richards, anyone who knows me or follows my blogs will know I am a big fan of Richards and his no nonsense style and I would like him to get the title. Back when they ran the ROH TV tournament and Richards lost to his American Wolves tag team partner Eddie Edwards in the final I thought straight away like others that Richards would be destined for the world title but, listening to an interview some months ago, Richards announced that 2010 would be his last year in professional wrestling as he is to become a firefighter. Maybe I am grasping at straws but I'd like to think he may stay in the business but he has always said, wrestling is just a hobby to him.
So taking this is to account, the question is, if Black is going to the WWE and Richards is retiring, who will ROH put the title on? Favourites at this point are Roderick Strong and Kevin Steen. My personal choice just for the fact I think he deserves it for his past career in ROH and elsewhere is Christopher Daniels. Some might think Daniels is too old but Jerry Lynn I believe was older when he held the strap and also, I think using Daniels as a champion who can then put over one of the younger talent for the title in the future maybe that would be more beneficial for the company in the long run. If it's not Daniels, I don't think Strong is really world title material and Steen well, yes I wouldn't have a problem with him as a good heel champion.

Only time will tell, how will WWE use Black, will Richards win the ROH title, will Richards really retire a the end of the year and.....what is next for the ROH world title?

Thursday 5 August 2010

Hardcore Justice - How I See It By Shaun Nichols

On August 15th TNA will present the ECW themed 'Hardcore Justice' live on PPV and to buy the event our friends in North America will have to pay approx $34.95 (works out to be £23 on current foreign exhange) to buy the show. Fans are split as to whether this may be a fitting finale to the cult promotion of the 1990's or a sad desperate attempt at a cash in by a promotion that as run out of all ideas.
Nostalgia can be a wonderful thing, the Hulkamania tour of Australia in 2009 showed that people will pay decent money to see an act well past its best because they want the opportunity to see it one more time. They were given the opportunity to see Hulk Hogan and friends live in Australia for the first time and thousands chose to do just that. By the same principle TNA claim they are offering a final and suitable closing to company known as ECW.
I like many fans was a massive fan of ECW, the first ECW event I saw on video was UltraClash 1993 which featured among others Eddie Gilbert and the Head Hunters. I remained a fan of the group until it presented its final PPV, Guilty as Charged 2001. By that point in all honesty they were a group which were struggling both financially and artistically, their PPV's were not great successes and were filled by a number of repetitive matches. In 2005 Rob Van Dam convinced Vince McMahon that an ECW PPV would be a viable product and 'One Night Stand' became a reality and not only that was a fine entertaining show and what most saw at the time was a PPV that gave ECW fans a sense of closure. The show featured Lance Storm, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Super Crazy, Tajiri, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, The Dudleys, The Sandman, RVD, Sabu, Mike Awesome, Justin Credible, Rhino, The BWO, Mikey Whipwreck, Paul Heyman and Taz among others and to give it that extra level of authenticity Joey Styles provided the commentary. Also playing a prominent part was one Tommy Dreamer who not so surprisingly played a part at the following year's version of the event. To me, ECW had a one night celebration on 12/06/2005 and that was the end of that. The idea of the WWE promoting ECW in the way that I as a fan remember was not realistic and it was not going to happen. Although they promoted a brand of ECW the only thing it had in common with the promotion that I was such a fan of was the name.
What surprises me is that the 'One Night Stand' PPV in 2005 that was seen as such a perfect tribute and gave closure to many ECW wrestlers including Tommy Dreamer who stated so in a number of interviews over the last five years is not now enough. If you have closure, then why do you need any more? Closure means it's closed apart from if you happen to be Tommy Dreamer. While I agree that the ECW that aired on television by the WWE was nothing like original promotion it did give a number of ECW wrestlers employment wrestling matches that while not as entertaining were considerably safer to participate in and let's be honest here were earning salaries they were unlikely to match if they were not employed the WWE. I would imagine that most ECW fans like myself saw the PPV in 2005 as the last chance we would get to see anything close to being an authentic ECW show, the ECW brand which followed simply took up TV time that the WWE needed to fill.
Over the last few months we have had the rumours of Paul Heyman turning up in TNA which is something I have never thought would happen. For Heyman to turn TNA around would require nothing short of a miracle, the chances of failure were always too high. Not just for Heyman but for anyone else who would have the opportunity. During Heyman's conversations with TNA though he made it abundantly clear that he did not see a future in a ECW show, he would be against it and he did not support the idea of promoting it. Paul Heyman did not agree to come to TNA, so TNA went to Plan B and they went with the ECW Invasion. Apart from the obvious point that ECW had always been more of a cult promotion compared to say WCW and also been out of business for nearly ten years. You also have to take into account that a number of wrestlers involved in the ECW angle had been with TNA for extended periods of time such as Raven, Rhino, The Dudleys, Stevie Richards, Mick Foley and of course Rob Van Dam. The point being they were not new to TNA fans so just how special or exciting their arrival would be as to be open to question.
Finally we get to Tommy Dreamer, the man of the crying promo. Here is a man that repeatedly bashed TNA in interview after interview while more often than not praising Vince McMahon for not only agreeing to let the ECW PPV happen in 2005 but also the bring back ECW brand back. Now several years later he's all piss and vinegar and complaining about how badly he and his friends were treated by the WWE. Enough as been said about the irony of his interview on Impact when he tried to attack WWE and did nothing more than TNA look minor league. Also from an ECW fan's point of view if they want to book Raven vs. Dreamer why did they need to have Dreamer face Abyss on Impact? Surely Raven vs. Dreamer is enough of a draw for old ECW fans without dragging Abyss into it. I'm sure that the PPV will do considerably higher numbers than a typical TNA PPV but the fact that have only announced RVD vs. Jerry Lynn and Raven vs. Dreamer with Mick Foley as referee as the only official matches mean it will probably do less buys then it shoud. It will also mean that in ten years time when we think of ECW we will remember 'One Night Stand' and not 'Hardcore Justice'.


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Still Real To Us (25/8/10) Stuart Rodgers Debuts on The Show



On this episode of The Still Real to Us Show: ”The Champ” Jeff Peck is joined by Stuart Rodgers from the blog "Wrestling's last hope" and Benny Lopez from Wrestlechat.net! The guys look at the upcoming TNA HARDCORE JUSTICE PPV and determine whether or not this is a SHORT TERM or LONG TERM fix for TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING! We then take a look at this year's PWI TOP 500 LIST and focusing on the TOP 10 to discuss if we agree or disagree with the RANKINGS! Finally we ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS and talk about quite possibly the GREATEST TAG TEAM MATCH to hit the INDY SCENE!

Download the Podcast – HERE!

The PWI 500 - Interesting Once Again By Stuart Rodgers



Pro Wrestling Illustrated have released their Top 500 wrestlers for the past year again and the number 1 place has caused some debate in the wrestling world. Now, call me a cynic but looking at the rest of the top 10, PWI could of done picked this number 1 for that exact reason because the rest of the top 10 maybe apart from Japanese worker Shinsuke Nakamura would pretty much be in the top 10 of most pro wrestling fans that follow the 'mainstream' product. Maybe, die hard TNA fans might have more TNA wrestlers in the 10 but overall, the WWE guys in there would basically be a shoe in from most fans.
Now, AJ Styles is a very good worker but over the last year, has he really been the top of his profession? I'd say no. Most people who know me know that I am not a big fan of the WWE product and if I were to say do a top 20 I'd throw some ROH guys in there along with some more Japanese wrestlers as this is the wrestling I watch the most. Would this make the list more realistic, well, it depends on what the list is made upon, is it workrate, is it match quality, is it drawing power or is it a mixture of them all? For me, lists like this should be based on one thing and one thing only, how much I enjoy watching the guys when they are WRESTLING.
There some well-know wrestling podcasts that have no time for ROH or the Japanese product. There are some who also can't stand TNA and barely give it a look in and they base their wrestling opinions on the WWE product. Let's be honest guys, the WWE can be entertaining, every blue moon they can have some good matches but hand on heart, does the WWE produce the best matches? For me, and it's my opinion, they don't. I don't want to be flamed because people think I am saying that because the WWE product isn't my cup of tea so to speak, I honestly think for wrestling, which is for me why I watch it, WWE comes down the list behind the likes of ROH, NOAH, NJPW, Dragon Gate.
Getting back on topic, AJ Styles, as good as a worker he is, probably hasn't been the best wrestler in the last 12 months, would I have him in my top 10, maybe because in TNA, he been a heel, in the shadow of Ric Flair, wearing a Flair style robe trying to be a modern day 'Nature Boy' and let's face it, AJ Styles is no Nature Boy. TNA for me are the reason AJ Styles is getting the response from the internet fans for being number 1 in the PWI 500, if booked better, Styles could be right up there as one of the best in the world but that's what it is with the wrestling business, yes you have to be able to 'do it' but you are booked to do it in a certain way and TNA's overall product has hurt some of the best workers on their roster like Styles, Homicide, Samoa Joe. TNA are not alone in this, WWE I'm sure have some workers that could put on four star plus style matches but the booking doesn't allow for that so I don't blame the wrestlers for not having high grade matches no, not at all, I blame they way they are booked. OK, there are some wreslers in WWE and TNA that even with the free reign to work how they want still wouldn't pull it off but there are the few that could really impress many of us I am sure. This for me is why ROH is the best WRESTLING promotion in North America because the style the guys work is great, the booking most times is great, they do change things around for the TV show but that's to be expected but the live shows and the DVD releases and internet PPV's (next being on gofightlive.tv on September 11th) are really really top notch wrestling. People will read this blog and I know what will be said about ROH not having the characters, the show not having the production and all that but really, ask yourself are you a wrestling fan or are you a fan of a TV show that has some wrestling on it or shall we say a fan of sports entertainment?

I went off track again, but alas.....Anyway, the PWI 500, well more the top 10 will be discussed amongst other things on the Still Real To Us podcast that should be available to download on Friday August 6th from http://wheelhouseradio.com going onto the Real Guy Radio tab, fingers crossed, I should be on the show with host 'The Champ' Jeff Peck, check it out guys, it's usually a great show!!

Below is the FULL PWI 500 for 2010

1. AJ Styles
2. John Cena
3. CM Punk
4. Randy Orton
5. Chris Jericho
6. Batista
7. Shinsuke Nakamura
8. The Undertaker
9. Kurt Angle
10. Sheamus
11. Triple-H
12. The Miz
13. Rey Mysterio Jr.
14. Takashi Sugiura
15. Rob Van Dam
16. Dr. Wagner Jr
17. The Big Show
18. Edge
19. Tyler Black
20. Jeff Hardy
21. Jack Swagger
22. Christian
23. Abyss
24. Ryota Hama
25. Austin Aries
26. Kofi Kingston
27. John Morrison
28. Desmond Wolfe
29. Ultimo Guerrero
30. Drew McIntyre
31. Samoa Joe
32. Davey Richards
33. Mr. Anderson
34. Ted DiBiase Jr.
35. Hirooki Goto
36. D’Angelo Dinero
37. Eddie Edwards
38. Matt Morgan
39. Hiroshi Tanahashi
40. Yoshihiro Takayama
41. Cody Rhodes
42. Mistico
43. James Storm
44. Daniel Bryan
45. Douglas Williams
46. Roderick Strong
47. Christopher Daniels
48. Mesias
49. Eric Young
50. Dolph Ziggler
51. Robert Roode
52. Naomichi Marufuji
53. Kevin Nash
54. Kevin Steen
55. R-Truth
56. Jeff Jarrett
57. Electroshock
58. Tyson Kidd
59. Montel Vontavious Porter
60. Sting
61. Adam Pearce
62. Jay Briscoe
63. Evan Bourne
64. Minoru Suzuki
65. Blue Demon Jr.
66. Matt Hardy
67. Rob Terry
68. Go Shiozaki
69. David Hart Smith
70. Satoshi Kojima
71. Hernandez
72. Cibernetico
73. Brother Devon
74. Chris Hero
75. Togi Makabe
76. Shelton Benjamin
77. Brother Ray
78. Yoshi Tatsu
79. Kane
80. Claudio Castagnoli
81. Volador Jr.
82. Takeshi Rikio
83. Dos Caras Jr.
84. JTG
85. Shad Gaspard
86. Mark Briscoe
87. Amazing Red
88. Alex Shelley
89. Mohammad Yone
90. Luke Gallows
91. La Sombra
92. Kazarian
93. Ezekiel Jackson
94. Carlito
95. Chris Sabin
96. Kenny King
97. Phil Shatter
98. BxB Hulk
99. Mark Henry
100. Heath Slater
101. Colt Cabana
102. Homicide
103. Jon Moxley
104. Averno
105. Yuji Nagata
106. Delirious
107. Magnus
108. Jerry Lynn
109. Wade Barrett
110. Naruki Doi
111. Mephisto
112. Steve Corino
113. Goldust
114. Joe Hennig
115. Masakatsu Funaki
116. Max Buck
117. Zach Ryder
118. El Generico
119. Jeremy Buck
120. Keiji Muto
121. Suwama
122. Karl Anderson
123. Rhett Titus
124. Shannon Moore
125. Primo Colon
126. William Regal
127. Yujiro
128. Erick Stevens
129. Brian Kendrick
130. The Great Khali
131. Tyson Dux
132. KENTA
133. Chessman
134. Jay Lethal
135. Orlando Jordan
136. Finlay
137. Toshiaki Kawada
138. Negro Casas
139. Rhino
140. Kensuke Sasaki
141. Justin Gabriel
142. Kenny Omega
143. Masato Tanaka
144. Paul London
145. Marco Corleone
146. Tetsuya Naito
147. Ray Gonzalez
148. La Parka
149. Joe Lider
150. Jimmy Jacobs
151. Kaz Hayashi
152. Naoya Ogawa
153. Mikal Judas
154. Trent Beretta
155. Vladimir Kozlov
156. Katsuhiko Nakajima
157. Silver King
158. CIMA
159. Caylen Croft
160. Paul Birchill
161. Chuck Taylor
162. Perro Aguayo Jr.
163. Scott Steiner
164. Brett DiBiase
165. Brent Albright
166. Extreme Tiger
167. Tajiri
168. Vance Archer
169. Sean Waltman
170. Shawn Daivari
171. Joey Ryan
172. Chris Masters
173. Tomko
174. Sami Callihan
175. Latin Lover
176. Alex Koslov
177. Chavo Guerrero
178. Sonjay Dutt
179. Felino
180. Tyler Reks
181. Jun Akiyama
182. Martin Stone
183. Pac
184. Kiyoshi
185. Manabu Nakanishi
186. Petey Williams
187. Shinjiro Otani
188. Atlantis
189. Austin Creed
190. Necro Butcher
191. Drake Brewer
192. Giant Bernard
193. Tommy Dreamer
194. Stevie Richards
195. Joe E. Legend
196. Bison Smith
197. Darren Young
198. Nicho El Millionario
199. Blue Panther
200. Jason Hades
201. Alex Riley
202. Kory Chavis
203. Arik Cannon
204. Cody Deaner
205. Jason Blade
206. Takeshi Morishima
207. David Otunga
208. Mr. Niebla
209. Kaval
210. Jack Evans
211. Jon Davis
212. Toru Yano
213. Osamu Nishimura
214. Mike Knox
215. Ryusuke Taguchi
216. Rasche Brown
217. Prince Devitt
218. Skip Sheffield
219. Ultimo Gladiator
220. Icarus
221. Shawn Spears
222. Mike Quackenbush
223. Jesse Neal
224. Teddy Hart
225. 2 Cold Scorpio
226. Gran Akuma
227. Yuko Miamoto
228. Tommaso Ciampa
229. Kohei Sato
230. Okada
231. Scott Lost
232. Hector Garza
233. Tiger Mask IV
234. Maasaki Mochizuki
235. Brodie Lee
236. Super Crazy
237. Billy Ken Kid
238. Percy Watson
239. Lince Dorado
240. Mascara Dorado
241. T.J. Cannon
242. Dragon Kid
243. Zorro
244. Ruckus
245. Drake Younger
246. Shocker
247. Raven
248. Oliver John
249. B-Boy
250. Kota Ibushi
251. El Hijo Del Santo
252. Eddie Kingston
253. N8 Mattson
254. Rocky Romero
255. Curt Hawkins
256. Cody Hawk
257. Masahiro Chono
258. B.J.
259. Jigsaw
260. Rey Bucanero
261. Koji Kanemoto
262. Johnny Devine
263. Bruce Maxwell
264. El Sensacional Carlitos
265. Akebono
266. Christopher Gray
267. Ryan Eagles
268. Sterling James Keenan
269. El Terrible
270. Ares
271. Michael Elgin
272. Sebastian Suave
273. Yamato
274. Texano Jr.
275. Tommy Taylor
276. Hallowicked
277. Vampiro
278. Mike Rollins
279. Metal Master
280. Josh Daniels
281. Dustin Cutler
282. Derek Wylde
283. Johnny Curtis
284. Nick Gage
285. Shadow Jackson
286. Brandon Cutler
287. Darrin Corbin
288. Jimmy Wang Yang
289. Quiet Storm
290. Tursas
291. Jules Uso
292. Ace Rockwell
293. Ryan Kruz
294. Pepper Parks
295. Konnan
296. Jimmy Uso
297. Sean Morley
298. Johnny Prime
299. Slam Master J
300. Glen Osbourne
301. Xtremo
302. Joey Mercury
303. Rory McAllister
304. Rob Eckos
305. Brandon Bonham
306. Mike Mondo
307. Robbie McAllister
308. Aden Chambers
309. Benjamin Boone
310. Harley Jackson
311. Prince Nana
312. Billy Bax
313. Shark Boy
314. Strongman
315. Jimmy Rave
316. Scorpio Sky
317. Jushin Liger
318. Shaun Tempers
319. Johnny Kashmere
320. Jackson Andrews
321. The Blue Meanie
322. Jimmy DeMarco
323. Dragon Rojo Jr.
324. Bo Rotundo
325. KC Kea
326. Spike Dudley
327. Dal Knox
328. Brandon Locke
329. Ron Zombie
330. Matt Cross
331. Duke Rotundo
332. Matt Walsh
333. La Mascara
334. Brad Attitude
335. Silas Young
336. TJ Perkins
337. Sangre Azteca
338. Glamour Boy Shane
339. Phil Atlas
340. Tim Donst
341. Egotistico Fantastico
342. Leo Kruger
343. Michael Tarver
344. Tommy Thunda
345. Kimo
346. Tito Colon
347. Trik Davis
348. Ryan McBride
349. J.D. Maverick
350. Santino Marella
351. Truitt Fields
352. The Sheik
353. Nicky Benz
354. L.A. Park
355. Gregory Helms
356. Frankie the Mobster
357. Sinn Bodhi
358. Hunico
359. Pat Buck
360. Mahoney
361. Jeremy Vain
362. Don Paysan
363. Johnny Gargano
364. Richie Steamboat
365. Caprice Coleman
366. Mason Ryan
367. Savio Vega
368. Charley Manson
369. Jonny Puma
370. Josh Alexander
371. T.J. Mack
372. Marshall Gambino
373. Chasyn Rance
374. Shane Haste
375. Bobby Dempsey
376. Matt Burns
377. Kirby Mack
378. Ryoji Sai
379. Danny Daniels
380. Derrick Bateman
381. Asylum
382. Kevin Grace
383. Lynx
384. Mike Tobin
385. Tank
386. Ultimo Dragon
387. Marion Fontaine
388. Zaquary Springate III
389. Matt Riviera
390. Chase Del Monte
391. Ricky Reyes
392. Kenzo Suzuki
393. Simon Sez
394. Vance Nevada
395. Joey Knight
396. Orien Bishop
397. Aero Star
398. John McChesney
399. Robin Knightwing
400. Bazooka Joe
401. Titan
402. Big E Langston
403. Damien Slater
404. Rudy Switchblade
405. Josef Von Schmidt
406. Matt Logan
407. Ricochet
408. Alex Price
409. Thumbtack Jack
410. Tyler Veritas
411. Mega
412. Scotty Mac
413. Eric Cooper
414. Kid Kash
415. Grizzly Redwood
416. Bryan Logan
417. Adam Cole
418. Nick Logan
419. Papadon
420. Breaker Morant
421. Vinny Dunn
422. Scott Zenzen
423. Bruiser Bennett
424. Steve O
425. Jake O’Reilly
426. Freak Nastty
427. Jimmy Cicero
428. Kamikaze
429. Bobby Shields
430. Hiram Tua
431. Eddie Taurus
432. Mikaze
433. Tony Stetson
434. Chris Rockwell
435. Slim J
436. Donny Marlow
437. Davey Deluxeo
438. Rudy Parker
439. Samuel Elias
440. Ernie Ballz
441. Joe Bravo
442. Robbie Gilmore
443. Ryan Sawyer
444. Wall Calrissian
445. Ananzi
446. Aaron Stevens
447. Mike Sydal
448. Alex Anthony
449. Colin Delaney
450. Cable Jones
451. Conrad Tanner
452. Wes Brisco
453. Titus O’Neil
454. Reiko DMF
455. Dan Eckos
456. Ron Falco
457. Handsome Johnny
458. Vince Beach
459. Corey Hollis
460. Tommy Mack
461. Bill Collier
462. Kwan Chang
463. Mozart Fontaine
464. Scott Chase
465. Barry Ryte
466. Crisifix
467. Don Vega
468. Steve Madison
469. Chris Black
470. Mike Posey
471. Kid America
472. Eli Cottonwood
473. Scott Wright
474. Crazzy Steve
475. J.T. Playa
476. Cameron Thomas
477. Prince Iaukea
478. Marc Mandrake
479. Ray Alexander
480. J.B. Trask
481. Rip Impact
482. Brian Millonas
483. A.J. Strokes
484. Phil Latio
485. Malachi
486. Chris Cooper
487. Primo Scordino
488. Barry Hardy
489. Hellcat
490. Shockwave the Robot
491. Robert Roma
492. Billy Gibbs
493. Steve Kruz
494. Mr. Ooh La La
495. Super Sweet
496. Brandon Thurston
497. Gabe Saint
498. Kliff Hanger
499. Peter B. Beautiful
500. Barry Wolf

Monday 2 August 2010

TNA Getting Extreme: Not That Much of A Bad Thing By Stuart Rodgers



TNA this coming Sunday present Hard 'core' Justice. They have brought back the ECW stars of yesteryear and are making this PPV ECW themed. Most people from what I can see are against TNA going down the ECW route, they say ECW died in 2000, they say when WWE did One Night Stand, that was the re-birth of ECW but then the brand was murdered with WWE's lackluster TV program of ECW. WWE decided to cut ECW from it's programming and give us NXT. Some months on, TNA have decided to 'bring back' ECW.

ECW did die in 2001 and One Night Stand was a great show but what TNA is doing, isn't that much of a bad thing. TNA tried to go head to head on a Monday night with WWE, they failed misrabley. They have gone back to Thursday nights and the ratings are still poor. TNA cant seem to do anything right to get the viewers despite having some great workers. They brought in Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff in the hope this would turn things around but alas, it hasn't and some say they have made it even worse. My opinion is, that why shouldn't TNA try and go down this route, really, what have they got to lose? TNA wasn't able to bring Paul Heyman in but have they done the next best thing, brought in his right hand man from ECW the man that booked that One Night Stand show, Tommy Dreamer? Dreamer never the best wrestler but booked some good stuff in ECW and hand a hand in some aspects of WWE creative and booking. I am hoping Dreamer can help TNA be a success with this PPV and maybe afterwards. The ECW link has garnered TNA a lot of interest and this will probably be the company's best ever PPV buy rate. I for one really hope hard Justice is a big success both from a creative and finacial standpoint.

Sunday 1 August 2010

Fans Turned Away As Bryan Danielson Returns To PWG By Aaron Rift

This article is used with permisson by author Aaron Rift after appearing on the Wrestling Observer's site.



There are at least 100 people, possibly 200 that were turned away. This was the biggest PWG crowd I've ever seen. The show started over an hour late due to PWG trying to get everyone that bought pre-sale tickets a seat.
Brandon Gatson, Johnny Goodtime, & Candice LeRae vs. Peter Avalon, Malachi Jackson, & Ryan Taylor. Candice got the pin with a moonsault. Fast paced opener with lots of dives.
Brandon Bonham vs. Brian Cage is up now. More dives. Probably 6-7 dives so far in the first two matches. Bonham won with a Canadian destroyer. Crowd chanted "that was awesome" and "please come back" at Cage.
Chris Sabin vs. Akira Tozawa is next. Crowd loved Sabin although hecklers chanted "we want Shelley" and "Detroit sucks." Tozawa pinned TNA's Sabin with a German suplex. Finish looked botched.
Scott Lost vs. Scorpio Sky in Losts retirement match. Crowd threw streamers at Lost and loud "please don't go" chants. Crazy match with lots of high spots. Highlight was belly to belly suplex from inside the ring to outside. "this is wrestling" chants. Tons of nearfalls. Lost kept kicking out of Scorpio's finisher until finally a kick to the head ended it for Lost. Standing ovation after. Locker room came out and Lost did a speech. Said he retired as a promise to his family, not totally done with the business.


Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong. Danielson out to final countdown. Crowd threw in ties. He teased using one on ref. "cena got his fucking head kicked in" chants. "You killed Justin" chants. Danielson is cracking up. Strong used tie on Bryan and got huge pop along with "you are fired!" chants. Bryan then used the tie for even bigger pop followed by "you are hired!" chants. Bryan won with leg choke submission. He cut a promo afterwards. "I can't use that language, I am a PG wrestler." "I am sometimes embarrassed to be a sports entertainer, but I am always proud to be a wrestler!" Bryan then put over the fans of PWG.
Davey Richards vs Chris Hero for the PWG Title. Match started slow compared to the previous matches but got really hot at the end. One fan chanted "boring" and everyone told him to stfu. Lots of near falls. Davey retained with ankle lock with grapevine.
Main event: Guerrilla Warfare Tag Title match - El Generico & Paul London defend vs. Cutler Bros vs. Young Bucks. Match warned to be batshit crazy and it was. Chair shots, garbage cans, rakes, table spots, you name it. Just a wild brawl. London did a moonsault to guys on the outside and Generico did his brainbuster in the corner to win the match.
Really good show from PWG but they need a larger venue.

NJPW Super Junior Cup V - Part One Review 22/12/2009 (Spoilers) By Shaun Nichols

NJPW Super Junior Cup V - Part One Review 22/12/2009 (Spoilers)



The prize for winning this tournament was a shot at IWGP Jr Champion Tiger Mask IV at the big January 2010 Dome show. Tournament opened with Tigers Mask who seems to do what can only be described as a drunk pirate gimmick as the heel against Taichi a would be high flying babyface. Tigers Mask pretty much controls the match with Taichi getting the odd quick comeback before Tigers cuts him off. Tigers Mask works on Taichi's arm to get the submission victory. Second up is Taguchi who on his video is described as a 'Funky Weapon' against the no-nonsense GENTARO. This was pretty basic but told a very good story, GENTARO basically takes most of the match and consistently works on Taguchi's leg with various kicks, submissions etc. Taguchi makes a number of comebacks which get thwarted by GENTARO going back to the leg. Taguchi's selling is fine and the match benefits greatly from it. Finally with the match coming upto the ten minute point Taguchi makes his big move and seals a spot in the quarter finals with a pinfall victory with the Dodon.
Dragon Gate's YAMATO as been one of my favourite wrestlers in the last 12 months, he is such a charasmatic heel who looks like he's having such fun in the ring. Here's hoping that he gets a good run in this tournament going against the veteran AKIRA still rocking the old red wig for his entrance. Fans were not sure who they should cheer for as both guys are naturally heels, YAMATO is in charge for most of this with AKIRA using dropkicks and the odd dive to keep YAMATO at bay. Just after 8 minutes though AKIRA's defence was breached and he was forced to tap out. DDT's Dino brought the comedy against the veteran Jado, for those who don't know Danshoku Dino does a very camp gay gimmick. He entered through the fans where he attempted to kiss a number of male fans, borrowed a woman's hat, kissed one of the commentators and snogged the ring announcer. Jado looked more than slightly confused at this. Match consisted of Jado chopping the hell out of Dino, hitting him with a chair and then hitting him with more chops. Dino got absolutely no offensive though he did manage to kiss the second commentator in a bid to get his second wind. Dino kicked out of a number of pin attempts and then used two kisses, pulled his trunks down to reveal a blue thong and trapped Jado with a Gedo clutch to advance to the quarter finals. Fans seemed to enjoy the comedy of this, in the next round he'll face either Devitt or Aoki.
DDT's second representative was the awesome Kota Ibushi against Gedo. This was a bit of a disappointment, Gedo gets to completely dominate Ibushi for the first 7 or 8 minutes. While I enjoy seeing Ibushi making his comebacks to me it didn't make sense for Gedo to have so much control. Ibushi should have at least dominated the early exchanges which would have improved things. Ibushi hit a moonsault from above the walkway entrance for a nice pop to start the comeback and the final five minutes were really good before Gedo used the clutch to pin Ibushi. Out of all the first round matches it was Ibushi's exit which was the most disappointing. The final three matches of round one were all very good and started with NJPW vs. NOAH. Devitt and Aoki had a fantastic hard hitting match, I haven't seen a lot of either man but heard a lot of positive reviews especially the Irish star Devitt. If anything Aoki looked even better though that's because it was Devitt that advanced to face Dino the second noght. Everything looked crisp and was wrestled at a quicker pace than anything so far on the show. Fans love seeing NJPW vs. NOAH and were delighted when it was their man that got the pinfall after nailing Aoki with the vertical drop DDT.
Match of the night was a battle between experience vs. youth as Kanemoto battled MPW's 'Jr' Hayato. If fans talk about stiff and matches wrestled at a lightning pace which adds rather than detracts from the match this is yet. Fought with great intensity all the way through this is a must see match. There was great spot where they kicking the hell out of one another on the floor and they go back to ring and stand on the apron taking a few seconds to catch their breath. They then turn see one another and then launch into a attack of blistering kicks and forearms. Was far better to see than I've described it. Ten minutes in Kanemoto catches his young rival with the ankle lock which looks for sure to be the end of the match but Hayato survives, Hayato's selling is awesome considering how young he is. Finish comes with Hayato trying to kick Kanemoto's head off but Koji manages to trap the leg and at the second attempt forces Hayato tap to the ankle lock. Final match of the night is a battle of former winners as Liger (winner in 1995 and 2000) taking on Marufuji (winner in 2004). Smartly they realised that they could not follow the previous encounter and wrestled a slower more thoughtful match. Fans love both these wrestlers anyway and it was an entertaining battle of brainbusters, kicks, dives and submission attempts. NOAH's Marufuji became the final man in the quarter finals after nailing Liger with the pole shift.
After every match they interview all the wrestlers with the only exceptions been Taichi and Prince Devitt which is a shame as Devitt would have been the only wrestler who I would have been able to follow what he was saying. Part one ended with a music video showing the highlights of round one.

Round One
Tigers Mask vs. Taichi **1/4
GENTARO vs. Ryusuke Taguchi ***
YAMATO vs. AKIRA ***
Danshoku Dino vs. Jado *
Kota Ibushi vs. Gedo **3/4
Prince Devitt vs. Atsushi Aoki ****
Koji Kanemoto vs. Fujita 'Jr' Hayato *****
Jushin Liger vs. Naomichi Marufuji ***1/2




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