Never Hand Over

Stocking Stuffers 2025

2025-12-23T17:24:00.010-05:00

I haven’t broken out the handy dandy notebook in a while, so no full-fledged reviews to share, but in the spirit of the holiday, thought I’d don the Santa hat and dish out some treats for your mewing, gaping mouths:

PWG Sixteen (7/26/19)

Been watching the finals years of PWG in sequential order and even several shows into their new run at adopted home of the Globe Theater in L.A. it just doesn’t hit like the American Legion hall in Reseda. Not since the famed ECW Arena had a venue been so dramatically intertwined and synonymous with the company that runs shows there. These later shows feels like ersatz AEW with a lot of the same talent utilized and abbreviated runtimes in comparison to the beer pitcher bloat of the Reseda events.

Trey Miguel vs. Andy Brown – 3
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent) vs. The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) – 4
MJF vs. Darby Allin – 4

Trey likely my least favorite of the four Rascalz and Brown resembled a Streets of Rage thug. Dark Order was given the “Welcome Back” treatment, known to the PWG faithful as “Super Smash Bros.”, but here doing their AEW Dark shtick. There was a familiarity and chemistry with them and Best Friends that made it a fun affair. MJF’s PWG debut and a bit of clunker in that regard. Darby had recently had some show-stealing performances against the likes of Brody King and Joey Janela. This was rote. Still need to finish second-half of show. Main event is an LAX ladder match if that paints a picture for you.

AEW Dynamite #323 - Winter Is Coming 2025 - Night 1 (12/10/25)

Mike Bailey vs. Kyle Fletcher – Continental Classic 2025 Gold League Match – 6
Samoa Joe vs. Eddie Kingston – 7

Meltzer gave Mike & Kyle almost 7 stars with a whopping *****1/4 rating. I’m a big Bailey guy, but Dave was being generous there. Any chance to pimp a very underseen match is a chance I’ll take, so I urge you to seek out (on TNA+ or if you’re a pirate) Trent Seven vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey (TNA Impact #1036 5/30/24) which I scored an “8” and wrote about here. Joe defending his newly won title against perpetually angry Kingston I liked a spike more. Just felt some palpable heat on it and I like mustard on my dog.

AEW Collision #123 - Winter Is Coming 2025 – Night 2 (12/13/25)

Swerve Strickland vs. Josh Alexander – 5

When they announced Swerve and Josh a show or so prior to this telecast I admittedly sat up and took notice. Two of my favorite guys on the planet today. Unfortunately, this ended up serving as the opener on a fairly bloated episode, so it didn’t reach the depths I’d dreamt up, but was still solid.

AEW Dynamite #324 - Holiday Bash 2025 - Night 1 (12/17/25)

Roderick Strong vs. Jon Moxley - Continental Classic 2025 Blue League Match – 5
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. The Don Callis Family (Hechicero, Kazuchika Okada & Konosuke Takeshita) - 1,000,000 Dollar Six Man Tag Team Match – 6

Strong and Moxley have been paired up a decent amount, and while this isn’t them working top-tier (match opened an episode of TV), it was given over 18 min. and featured a few gnarly bumps inc. one on the tipped over steel ring steps, so still a worthwhile watch. The six-man tag, despite the star power, was also early in the broadcast. But they gave us enough sizzle to keep me calling for another round, like I was at a Brazilian steakhouse, lifting the green sign for more prime rib of filet mignon. It’s easier to take the Bucks for granted, and I wouldn’t begrudge you of it in 2025, but when called to pull out the stops, their execution is still paramount and even a deteriorated Kenny Omega is cause to gather the family around the old set and watch like a 1950’s sitcom family.

WIF! Wrestling Is Fun! #4 (7/13/12)

Ophidian vs. Frightmare – 4

It’s hard not to look back at the past with the knowledge of the present, but I’ve noticed at several of these “family friendly” WIF! shows Ophidian seems to take aim at young women in the crowd, getting in their faces or lunging at them, and it can’t help but feel not tied whatsoever to his snake-like character, but some bitter aspect of his own personal demons. That awkwardness aside, these two were able, in the confines of a midcard match in front of dozens, to pack in some nice physicality and character.

TNA Final Resolution 2025 (12/5/25)

The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Myron Reed, Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz) vs. Order 4 (Jason Hotch, John Skyler, Mustafa Ali & Special Agent 0) (w/Tasha Steelz) – 6

Rascalz working treehouse boys club stoner gimmick, doing DX cosplay, just really one of the least interesting gimmicks in the big leagues at present. And Order 4 is about as bland as rolling into Cold Stone Creamery and ordering plain vanilla. So I didn’t have high hopes for this one but they really went out there and hustled and did the best possible version of what this could be. Just a total move train but one that didn’t veer off the rails, and a late in the game reveal of a Elijah run-in on legit horseback, tying up Ali with rope and literally dragging him backstage being pulled by the horse. At the hotel that night reports say Tasha Steelz rode bareback.

ROH Final Battle 2025 - Zero Hour (12/5/25)

Ace Austin vs. Lee Johnson – 3

Nice little appetizer on the pre-show for ROH’s final pay-per-view of 2025. I’m pulling for Ace Austin to get more shine, as thus far, his post-TNA career in AEW and here, hasn’t had that spark. But he moves so fluidly in the ring and can offer a lot. Johnson was solid too and someone I need to better familiarize myself with.

Speaking of deeper dives, been brainstorming going through all of Jonathan Gresham’s stuff on IWTV. Man, that guy can cook. Happy holidays, ya filthy animals! (Kidman looks up, "is someone acknowledging me for the first time in 20 years?" Nope.)

Chronicles of NewJackia

2025-03-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

I had a lot of partially watched shows needing completed on various streamers and felt like dusting off the old notebook. So, here’s some scores on partial shows which I’ve capriciously titled after my love of Chronicles of Narnia and New Jack (RIP).

WWE Monday Night RAW #1652 1/20/25

4) Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai & IYO SKY) vs. Pure Fusion Collective (Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark) (w/Sonya Deville) — ✰½
5) Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre — ✰ ✰ ✰

Kai and Baszler started with some of the lousiest in-ring I’ve seen in ages. Just working at half-speed unsure of basic rope running sequences etc. and not on same page whatsoever. Stark enters with a springboard dropkick off the ropes that was AWESOME and woke the crowd (and me) up. Whatever Rollins is doing these days isn’t for me, but firm believer McIntyre may be his best suited opponent in the company. Drew brings a thudding intensity that by proxy makes Seth step his game up. Really solid TV main event.

ECW on TNN #10 10/29/99

2) Lance Storm (w/Dawn Marie) vs. Tommy Dreamer (w/Francine) — ✰ ✰½

This was actually a pretty stellar episode of the still in its infancy TNN show. Opened with a rare Sabu vs. Taz singles bout. Tommy enters in black track pants and a black shirt one size too small. I know Storm gets a lot of guff for his robotic style but that wasn’t an issue in ’99 I’m glad to report. He still had a lot of explosiveness and athleticism in pretty much all he did here. And I was actually loving this, but it was curtailed before it really got going (complete with a catfight, Raven run-in, etc. as was their bog standard at the time). The few minutes of wild brawling around ringside and into the first few rows of fans was fun and Dreamer smashing a $6 draft beer on Lance’s skull was au gratin.

WCW Thunder #33 9/24/98

6) Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Disco Inferno — WCW World Cruiserweight Title #1 Contendership Match

— ✰ ✰½

7) Alex Wright vs. Norman Smiley — ✰ ✰½
8) Kanyon (w/Raven) vs. Goldberg (c) — WCW World Heavyweight Title Match — ✰

I’ve been blowing through these Thunder episodes like Sonic speeding toward a chili dog food truck. They’re a blast but not the type you’d expect most people to be tossing out a lot of generous star ratings toward. So, I feel like I have to make a case for the slightly high ratings on the first two bouts. Disco versus Chavo the word that popped into my head was “fluid” while watching it. Not in the regard of it being seamless work – they just packed in as much as they could in the short time they were allotted (sick pescado to floor, Pepe hobbyhorse hijinks, springboard bulldog, etc.). The backstory was this was for a shot at the Cruiserweight championship. Disco won with a surprisingly sick piledriver. Post-match they bring out a scale and determine he’s too fat to fight for Cruiserweight belt for big LOLZ~! Wright and Smiley was also quite fun. Honest to goodness I think I saw more genuine mat wrestling in this six min. match than all of Monday Night Raw’s run on Netflix thus far two months into it debuting there. Main went 10 seconds but gave it an extra half-star because how insane the audience was here for Goldberg it's just bonkers and unlike just about any phenomenon in wrestling history.

MSW Mid-South Wrestling TV #127 2/13/82

2) Paul Orndorff vs. Brian Blair — ✰ ✰
3) The Junkyard Dog (c) vs. Bob Roop — Mid-South Louisiana Title Match — ✰ ✰½
4) Bob Orton Jr. & Ed Wiskowski vs. Mr. Olympia & Ted DiBiase — ✰ ✰½
5) Frank Monte vs. Ron Cheatham — ½ ✰

Two Tampa boys tussling with Orndorff and Blair. If you only knew JYD from his WWF run, you have to go back and see him in his glory days. Guy was built a like a Grecian statue. Just insane upper-body and arms. And he was over like R.L. Stine at a Scholastic book fair. Tag match was fun, but the finish took place during commercial break. So they re-racked the tape and showed us the fin. Then, as is the norm on Mid-South, they toss on a bonus “standby” match to fill remaining TV time, but in this case, it literally got about 90 seconds before they had to roll credits rendering it null. If you’ve never seen Frank Monte though he’s a reoccurring enhancement guy that looks like a cross between Freddie Mercury and Rocky Johnson.

Big Japan Pro-Wrestling 5/28/10

2025-03-04T21:08:00.003-05:00

Big Japan Pro-Wrestling

5/28/10 (aired 6/9/10 on Samurai! TV)
Korakuen Hall (Tokyo, Japan)

1) Isami Kodaka, Kankuro Hoshino & Mototsugu Shimizu vs. Atsushi Ohashi, Ryuichi Kawakami & Shinobu – 4
2) Ebessan & Yuichi Taniguchi vs. Daikokubo Benkei & Kanjyouro Matsuyama – 3
3) MEN's Teioh, Onryo & Shiori Asahi vs. Daisuke Masaoka, Hercules Senga & Tsutomu Oosugi – 5
4) Madoka & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Kazuki Hashimoto & Takumi Tsukamoto – 4
5) Daisuke Sekimoto & Yoshihito Sasaki vs. Takashi Sasaki & Yuko Miyamoto – 6
6) Jaki Numazawa, Jun Kasai & Masashi Takeda vs. Abdullah Kobayashi, Ryuji Ito & Shadow WX - Fluorescent Lighttubes Death Match – 8

Something that crystalized in this viewing was prime BJW and CZW share a commonality that I really, truly enjoy. While both are known primarily as death match purveyors, their bookers knew well enough to diversify the cards. And so you get a smorgasbord of pro wres~! Some novices getting in valuable ring time, high-flying action with juniors, hard-hitting feats of head-dropping fare, some theatrical flair, blood feuds and rivalries, etc. usually climaxing in a crescendo of carnage.

(Note: Sadly – some time has passed since my 1st draft of this piece, and I lost all my notes. I’m decided to still post it because I enjoyed the show and wanted to share that joy. I have thousands of pro wres discs and picked a routine BJW show at random and was so glad I did. I know in my notes I talked about digging Onyro’s undead ghost gimmick. I think perhaps at the time this aired, but even earlier than that, say ’99 or so when friends and I would trade RF Video catalogues around in study hall, BJW had seemingly seen its heyday and most of us had moved on. But watching this show made me think we took it for granted. The main event, which again, I wish I had more detailed notes on, was such a spectacle. Yes, we had some lukewarm crowd brawling early, but by the time they hit the thrilling final stretch, with one unbelievable death-defying bump after another, I was on the edge of my seat more than I was during any of the films nominated at the Oscar’s ceremony last weekend. The amount of torn flesh was like something out of the New French Extremity movement. Hard to pick an MVP .. maybe Ryuji Ito but all these barbaric dudes deserve their flowers.)

AEW Rampage #176 - Holiday Bash 2024 - Night 2

2025-03-03T20:51:00.005-05:00

AEW Rampage #176 - Holiday Bash 2024 - Night 2 12/20/24

1) Mark Davis & Powerhouse Hobbs vs. The Don Callis Family (Brian Cage & Konosuke Takeshita) — ✰✰½
2) Action Andretti & Lio Rush vs. Goldy & Myles Hawkins — ½ ✰
3) Willow Nightingale vs. Harley Cameron — ✰ ✰
4) Brody King vs. Komander — Continental Classic 2024 Gold League Match — ✰ ✰ ✰½

Liked the opener – what it lacked in personality it made up for with sheer beef. Not unlike the ones Carmy served up at The Original Beef of Chicagoland. I wouldn’t let Mark Davis dogsit at my place, but he can sure bring the fierceness. Second bout was a short showcase of Rush and Andretti but what severely pulled me out of it is the referee didn’t even try to enforce the rules and let both guys run through about 2 min. of an offensive routine, both in the ring at the same time, to the dismay of purists everywhere. Cameron is great and Willow has grown on me as I catch up with the Khan era of Ring of Honor so was pleased with this. Main event I really dug. They did the big bruiser vs. high-flyer formula but did it exceptionally well. King was positively punishing with his chops and power. Komander’s chest looked like some roadside service station beef jerky. Then Komander’s rally to tip the balance back to his favor with an aerial attack was tasty. Very much worth seeking out on HBO Max.

Hodgepodge Hoagie

2024-08-13T21:58:00.005-04:00

“Zombie Princess” Jimmy Jacobs vs. Pentagón Jr. (TNA/TWR Penta Does Iowa 5/5/18) – 6

Main event of a Twitch stream co-promoted by TNA. Pentagón gets top billing and the show itself named after him. Undercard was mixed bag. Some Sami Callihan, Tommy Dreamer, Sugar Dunkerton, all your favorites. I’m glad Revolver gave Jacobs (wearing a corset and dress and smeared in blood) a rare headliner and he paid tribute to his IWA Mid-South past by making this a wild brawl. Lots of weapons were utilized and grotesque structures crudely erected to bump onto. Climaxed with Pentagón hitting his package piledriver on a gigantic sheet of wood which was laid atop 8 or so opened steel chairs for maximum bumpage.

Fallah Bahh vs. Eli Drake (TNA Xplosion #709 4/21/18) – 4
Taya Valkyrie vs. Alisha Edwards (TNA Xplosion #710 4/28/18) – 3

Bahh’s heft was on ample display. Fave moment came when Eli was sitting atop the buckles and Fallah just threw this swiping right hand and unceremoniously knocked Drake to the floor. Only irksome detail is because, due to his large size, the finish in Bahh’s matches are almost always some sort of roll-up because guys can’t hoist him up for their finishing moves. Alisha, now in 2024, is a great heel valet for The System faction, but was spunky newcomer still in TNA at this time. And this was pure butternut. Squash, that is. Best moment was it looked like Alisha was going to do one of those bulldogs where you kick off the top rope for an added momentum boost, and Taya just shoved her forward and Edwards took an ugly spill out of the ring. Valkyrie was booked dominant and screamed at the captive theme park crowd “Bring me some competition!” They were probably thinking, “Lady, I’m just trying to find the churro stand!”

Trent Seven vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey (TNA Impact #1036 5/30/24) – 8

I’m reflecting on this one many days later and didn’t jot any notes at the time (or had even considered writing about it). But felt it was my civic duty to share some love toward it. These guys are a team under the guise Speedball Mountain and were only facing-off for a shot at Mustafa Ali’s X Division title at the next pay-per-view. This was at a taping in nearby Newport, KY – I was a bit lapsed in my TNA fandom at that time so regrettably missed the opportunity to be there live. Great match that I won’t spill too much ink on overselling to you – just strongly urge you to give it a watch. Lovely moment where a chop exchange got escalated when Bailey threw a mean chop to the upper-back of Trent. This broke the social contract as chops are generally only delivered to the chest. So the guys then proceeded to exchange cringe-inducing chops to each other’s backs. Lots of high-impact offense, Bailey’s kicks were as brutal and on-point as ever, sickening head drop bump on the apron, just a real gem.

RVD & Sabu vs. Lucha Brothers

2024-07-21T18:17:00.000-04:00

Rob Van Dam & Sabu vs. Lucha Brothers (Fenix & Pentagón Jr.) - Impact Wrestling United We Stand 4/4/19 – 5

I was in attendance at ECW Heat Wave ’98 when Sabu & RVD faced off against Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki. Then again, I was also in attendance (in the same city, conversely) for WWE vs. ECW Head To Head an all but forgotten TV special that aired live on 6/7/06 and saw RVD work the opener versus Rey Mysterio, and Sabu headline against John Cena. Needless to say, I have a vested interest in their extreme pairing, and seeing them trotted back out in 2019, nearly 20 years after I saw them live light the wrestling world aflame against the invading FMW team, caught my attention. Lucha Brothers were all the buzz in 2019 having been two of the biggest stars to materialize out of (sorely missed) Lucha Underground. They took their act across the globe showing up in PWG, AAA, AEW, APW, IWRG, AIW, AAW, MLW, wXw, and dozens of smaller lucha organizations. And now they were set to main event against the scarred, stoned, and semi-retired duo of RVD & Sabu. Cero Miedo, indeed!

Awesome ring gear by the Lucha Brothers. Kind of new age shiny samurai outfits. Pentagón’s was dark and purple like if Ivan Ooze and Super Shredder melded. Fenix was resplendent in gold and would have fit in snuggly with Chikara during the How to Hatch a Dinosaur era. I got worried when I looked at the remaining duration of the show and saw we only had about 8 min. left.

Melee to begin. I forgot that I dig Sabu’s punches. Sabu tossing chairs like his ringside valet Super Genie does salads. Spot where Sabu on his knees waits ever so patiently for the Lucha Bros. to simultaneously kick him – looked like he was sitting in a dentist office waiting room thumbing through an issue of Highlights. Wonder if RVD ever smoked out with Jeff Hardy and classified himself as obsolete? You absolutely had to get the dual flying leg drops from opposite corners by Sabu & RVD through a table both Lucha Bros. were splayed on and they delivered with zeal.

Finish saw Pentagón hit his Fear Factor package pildriver on Sabu with an assist from Fenix spiking it with a flying stomp off the top. Look I’m giving this a “5” on the famed NHO scale but with some caveats. In terms of its actual “worth” it’s no great shakes. But a “4” was the ceiling for a lot of those 4 min. 2005 Raw matches I’d jot notes on in the infancy of NHO. Didn’t feel right going that low. But couldn’t go any higher and it earned its score almost exclusively on vibes. This was a compelling match on paper and the super abbreviated version we got of it was gleeful and stupid in equal, loving measure. Didn’t love Sabu taking a clean pinfall in a < 9 min. main event match; kind of like seeing Third Eye Blind live and shrugging after, “at least they played Semi-Charmed Life” and driving home thinking about where you were going to go on lunch breaks that week at work and all that Mid-Atlantic you still need to watch on Peacock.

Kiana James vs. Dana Brooke

2024-06-24T19:15:00.005-04:00

Kiana James vs. Dana Brooke (WWE Main Event 10/27/22) – 2

Kiana rocking the business casual attire with the pinstripes and briefcase. Hope she’s clocked in because it’s time to work! James targets the arm early. Dana Brooke action figures are in abundance at my local Target. Nobody racing out for those. Brook hits a flipping neckbreaker for the victory with all of the panache and grace of a drunk fan falling down the stadium stairs at a football game.

Ring of Impact #8 - Epilogue

2024-03-02T02:00:00.034-05:00

Are you ready for some more Ring of Impact? I don’t need a Gom jabber test (for you Dune fans out there) to surmise the answer.

Folks, it’s been real, and it’s been fun, and dare I say it, it’s been real fun? But just like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jonathan Majors I’m getting out while I’m ahead. I’m guilty of the accusation of long-windedness (just revisit this projects’ own prelude mission statement) but I’ll try not to overindulge here. In short, I’m closing down the Ring of Impact project, in so far as an ongoing chronicling done via blog. I will be continuing to watch all of (I haven’t done the math but quick estimate I just tabulated is over 1500+ hours) TNA and Ring of Honor’s shows from 2017 to present in my own free time. In fact, I’ve already plowed through a dozen or so more shows.

Here's some notes on stuff I’d typed up for future editions – get them while they’re hawt:

TNA Xplosion #650 3/4/17

Robbie E vs. Marshe Rockett – 2

“Khaki suits, locs, chokes the grokest sacs / Got your drug cause you sprung on the gangsta mac” – from U Couldn't Deal Wit Dis by South Central Cartel

TNA Xplosion #652 3/18/17

ODB vs. Lauren Van Ness – 2

Another episode of Xplosion mysteriously missing from TNA+. Had to play Sherlock too as listings online made it a task to figure out what actually aired on this particular date. Watched this one outside my kids’ school because I’m a pro wres fiend. Didn’t know ODB still popped up on occasion. Laurel was still wearing smeared lipstick and chugging a bottle of bubbly after Braxton Sutter stood her up at the alter on Impact a while ago. Ugly finish as Van Ness appeared to land awkwardly on an ODB Samoan Drop that almost broke her arm.

TNA Xplosion #716 6/9/18

Fallah Bahh vs. Caleb Konley – 3

Only 2018 episode of Xplosion that is mysteriously missing from TNA+. Found it on the interwebz. Billed at 425 lbs. and wearing a pair of Yokozuna’s hand me down trunks nice to watch the big guy roll all over Konley. Caleb is accompanied by Trevor Lee who interferes liberally. Lee also holds a leg from outside to allow Konley the tainted victory.

TNA & WrestlePro Brace for Impact 2018 (Twitch) 2/9/18

1. Chris Avery Queling, Delroy & Habib from the Car Wash vs. Reality Check (Chris Steeler, KM & Talon) – 1
2. Colby Covington vs. Tyquil Woodley – 0
3. Chris Payne & Matt Sydal vs. Heavenly Bodies (Desirable Dustin & Gigolo Justin) – 2
4. Shawn Donovan vs. Moose – 2
5 Allie & Braxton Sutter vs. Nikki Adams & Nikos Rikos – 3
6. Teddy Hart vs. Bobby Wayward – 5
7. Eli Drake vs. Matt Macintosh vs. Anthony Bowens – 3
8. Alberto El Patron vs. Fallah Bahh – 5
9. Dan Maff vs. Johnny Impact – 6
Average Score: 3

(Editor’s Note: I'd jumped ahead and started working on this, the first Twitch special from 2018, because I was under the impression the only way I could watch it was on the Twitch mobile app on my phone. Then partway through I noticed TNA+ had added a section containing all the Twitch specials.)

We’re coming from what I always think of as the home of JAPW none other than the Rahway Recreation Center in Jersey. Opener is just the drizzling indie shits. CAQ is rocking a modern Norman the Lunatic gimmick and riding a two-year unbeaten streak. Habib the Car Wash Attendant is just … why? What are we even doing here? KM we know from his TNA appearances and does loud-mouthed heel shtick adequately. But this certainly wasn’t a good first look at WrestlePro. I’m actually a big follower of UFC but I did not need this “segment”. Colby’s MAGA shtick has lost any modicum of cultural cache, him stooging on Tyrone (or “Tyquil”) would be fine for a bit on a UFC pre-show or weigh-in special, but eating up time on a wrestling show was dispiriting. Dustin and Justin are about one-tenth the talent Jimmy Del Ray ever was. Sydal was kept on the apron. Real bad. Actively worst match I’ve seen of Moose’s and I’m a fan legit.

Nikki & Nikos working Grecian gimmick and all I could think about was Rikos’ outrageous attire looked like a Greece flag themed version of Super Mario Bros. 2 enemy character Phanto. Surprised to see featured TNA act Allie & Braxton take the loss here. Wayward was supposed to work Eddie Edwards who came out in street clothes and handpicked his replacement Teddy Hart. If Hollywood ever wants to make a movie about Hart’s exploits, they’ve got to hire Colin Farrell to play him. The resemblance is uncanny. Ironic Wayward is in pink and black gear. Bobby didn’t look bad, and Hart hit a few gross moves I liked. Weird seeing Drake who’s prominently in the TNA World title picture in a bland three-way. Weirder still that he didn’t win the match. Hadn’t seen Patron work in a while. Usually when people do those mounted punches, where you’ve got your opponent against the turnbuckles and you’re standing on the 2nd rope firing them down, they’re as weak as an Applebee’s $1 cocktail – but I like how Alberto really snapped them off and made simple strikes look nasty. I think Maff is still underrated to this day and is legit a top 20 2000’s indie guy, just has a harder resume to flaunt since a lot of it was on East coast indies and not the big spotlight feds.

Who won?
We all did. I hope you were entertained if you took the time and followed along the journey. Brief as it ended up being. Or if you discovered it long after and read it for the first time. In closing, I’m paying for Honor Club and TNA+ out of my own pocket, so my endorsement is mine alone, but if you have any interest in either (or both) I strongly recommend them. For mere shekels a month you can have access to HUGE back catalogues of footage accessible with a single click on a remote. And while I’ll no longer be writing about my journey I’m beyond stoked to continue watching along. I’ve done the research and can’t wait to see the various eras ahead: the pandemic no-fans events, the “end of an era” short-lived demise of ROH, then it’s rebirth at the hands and bankroll of Tony Khan, etc. I’m in for quite a treat. Thanks for looking and I encourage you to fully enjoy your own journeys, wherever they might take you.

Ring of Impact #7

2024-02-27T05:30:00.000-05:00

Back with some more of that RoI and we don’t mean Return on Investment … we’re talking Ring of Impact, BAY BAY~!

TNA Impact Wrestling #657 2/16/17

1. Brandi Rhodes & Moose vs. The Decay (Crazzy Steve & Rosemary) - 3

2. Kingston vs. Jessie Godderz - 3

3. Brooke vs. Sienna (w/Maria) - 2

4. Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards - Street Fight - 6

Average score: 3.5

Not a great show. Tons of pre-taped, backstage, and in-ring segments. There were several bits at Braxton Sutter’s bachelor’s party put on my Mike Bennett with a bunch of schlubs in a small apartment .. looked like those Nitro Parties that WCW would highlight sending Lee Marshall to college campuses where sausage fests were occurring with Nitro airing in the background on an old CRT set. Then there were several bits on the Broken Hardyz invading Tijuana and beating Psicosis and Super Crazy, Eli Drake and Tyrus’ friendship dissolving, lengthy in-ring interview where former Strikeforce and UFC vet Josh Barnett interrupted Lashley and challenged him, etc.

In-ring we didn’t get much. Brandi looked silly doing the “Moose” arm pump bit he and the crowd regularly do while she rifled off some of the worst punches in da biz, Kingston current ROH champ and recent champ in NJPW and AEW, losing clean as a sheet back then to a horrendous “flying forearm” the announcers called it, but looked the furthest thing from AJ Styles’ by talentless Godderz. Main event was payoff to last week’s major angle of Davey breaking up The Wolves and he and wife Angelina Love humiliating Edwards and his wife Alisha. Glad they gave it the Street Fight stip as this was a plain clothes brawl. Props to Eddie for taking page out of Richards’ old book and doing a suicide dive with such velocity he blew right over him and recklessly crashed into the first row of fans.

TNA Xplosion #648 2/18/17

Mahabali Shera vs. Eli Drake – 2

One of these guys would be main eventing major WWE shows within six years … and it wasn’t Mahabali.

Ring of Honor ROH TV #283 2/18/17

1. Silas Young (w/The Beer City Bruiser) vs. Bull James - 2

2. Colt Cabana vs. The Boys (Boy 1 & Boy 2) - Two On One Handicap Match - 1

3. Christopher Daniels (w/Frankie Kazarian) vs. Jay Briscoe (w/Mark Briscoe) - Decade of Excellence Final Match - 6

Average score: 3.0

Sometimes mood plays into how we interact with a piece of art. In a great mood and stumble upon Monet’s “Women in the Garden” (1866) at the museum you may be extra bewildered by its beauty. In an awful mood and stumble into a matinee of Scorsese’s The Irishman and you may be scornful and nonplussed. I was exhausted after a stressful evening at home, demanding puppy, dinner woes, kids sick, etc. and the “comedy” the first two-thirds of this show offered up were met with a leaden sigh by yours truly. Main event was good but not great, which is really only an issue because it was the finals of the Decade of Excellence tournament, so hopes were higher. Both guys had better matches in the semi-finals (Daniels with Sabin, Briscoe with Lethal) and this win is what secured Daniels a shot at the ROH World title at the upcoming 15th Anniversary Show which has been the company’s major storyline. The finish being an Angel’s Wings off of the top was pretty tight though.

Who won?
Doesn’t bring me pleasure to say this was a weak sauce week. I’ll give TNA the slight nod, tying us back up at (4-4), if only because the Edwards vs. Richards street fight was the best thing that aired.

Ring of Impact #6

2024-02-22T06:00:00.002-05:00

We’re back with those fat stacks and White Castle ten sacks.

ROH Future of Honor – 1/20/17

Mike Orlando vs. Sonny Kiss – 4

Is this a rib? Slotting it in here in Feb. because I just stumbled upon this listing in what appears to be a one and done ROH trainees show airing on YouTube. It’s held inside a tiny gym with the only bystanders being other wrestlers who are all wearing their ring gear which is giving a very Beyond Wrestling vibe to the affair. Kiss is pronounced as “Wrestling’s Cheerleader” and from her Twitter account identifies as genderfluid and uses she/her pronouns. Mike Orlando looks like a long lost member of High Velocity the WCW team with neon green and black gear. This wasn’t bad! Arguably better than most of what I’ve seen on TNA Xplosion thus far. One unreal release German suplex by Orlando had the wrestlers at rindside go gonzo like they were just transplanted to Budokan Hall for an All Japan show.

TNA Impact Wrestling #656 2/9/17

1. Eli Drake & Tyrus vs. The Death Crew Council (Bram, James Storm & Kingston) - Three on Two Handicap Match - 3

2. Aron Rex (w/Rockstar Spud) vs. Robbie E - 2

3. Drew Galloway (c) vs. Mahabali Shera - IMPACT Grand Title Match - 3

4. Lashley (c) vs. Eddie Edwards - TNA World Heavyweight Title Match - 6

Average Score: 3.5

Wasn’t real keen on the opener which is heel versus heel already then Eli & Tyrus worked it at a handicap disadvantage? Are we supposed to be pulling for these two who’ve been booked perennially as bad guys? Who’s the agent that staged this wet diaper? I’m not sure what this Rex character is. There’s a history of a few guys who’s talent I’ve found supersedes their outrageously bad gimmicks and I’ve quietly championed such as WCW’s The Maestro or WWE’s Simon Dean. And part of me wants to think Aron is up for this task but this gimmick is just the bottom of the barrel. Is he supposed to be Adrian Street for the YouTube makeup tutorial generation? And the lipstick and eyeliner make him look more like a ventriloquist dummy than anything. Still loving heel Galloway. Main event was good action but memorable for major storyline explosion. Ringside was Eddie’s wife Alisha and his tag team partner Davey Richards’ wife longtime TNA Knockout Angelina Love. Ending saw Davey run out and drill Eddie splintering The Wolves and their long-running friendship. Then we cut to Angelina just blasting Alisha in the face with a hard shot in the first row. Davey and Love humiliate the Edwards’ in the center of the ring for the show close. Really well done.

TNA Xplosion #647 2/11/17

Laurel Van Ness vs. Deonna Purrazzo – 2

This is one of a few episodes of Xplosion mysteriously missing from TNA+ So I watched it in my car on Dailymotion in the parking lot at work because I’m clearly a deviant. I learned that Deonna has a degree to teach schoolchildren.

ROH TV #282 2/11/17

1. Matt Sells vs. Hangman Page - 1

2. Bobby Fish & Jay Lethal vs. BULLET CLUB (Adam Cole & Cody) - 6

3. Mark Briscoe vs. Sal Rinauro - 3

4. Dalton Castle & The Boys (Boy 1 & Boy 2) vs. The Rebellion (Caprice Coleman, Kenny King & Rhett Titus) - 4

Average Score: 3.5

Real quick Page squash (74 seconds to be exact). BULLET CLUB vs. Lethal & Fish was the advertised main event but it spilled from the Hangman post-match into the next segment instead. Good stuff and nice to see Lethal finally getting a victory over the CLUB. I had no idea Sal Rinuaro was still around then and popped to see him. While he was never the bumping madman that Tony Mamaluke was, he was still always fun to watch. Got obliterated here. Main event was insignificant but not without some surface pleasures.

ROH The Experience 2017 – 2/12/17

1. The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) vs. The Tempura Boyz (Sho & Yohei) - 2

2. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. The Rebellion (Caprice Coleman & Kenny King) (w/Shane Taylor) - 4

3. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. War Machine (Hanson & Ray Rowe) - 7

4. Cody vs. Dalton Castle - 4

5. Bobby Fish & Jay Lethal vs. BULLET CLUB (Adam Cole & Hangman Page) - Falls Count Anywhere Tag Team Match - 7

6. Kelly Klein vs. Scarlett Bordeaux - Grudge Match - X

7. Shane Taylor vs. The Beer City Bruiser vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. David Starr vs. Will Ferrara vs. Damian Martinez - Six Man Mayhem Match - 4

8. Marty Scurll vs. Lio Rush - Proving Ground Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match - 5

9. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia) (c) vs. Cheeseburger, Chris Sabin & Jay Briscoe - ROH World Six Man Tag Team Title Match - 4

Average score: 4.6

This took place in Columbus, OH which had me curious as I’d been to approx. 20 ROH shows in nearby Dayton, and one in Cincinnati. The venue Express Live! (it’s since changed names again) upon research was formerly PromoWest Pavilion which I had been to once for a Tenacious D concert of all things. The other note was this show “The Experience” was kind of like ROH’s answer to WWE’s Cyber Sunday (or Taboo Tuesday) where fans got to vote on certain aspects of the show, be it choosing opponents or match stipulations, etc. based upon polls. The other interactive element was in-between every few matches they’d bring out a wrestler and take live questions from selected audience members. Some of this was cringe but a little girl named Skyler almost stole the show with a great curt promo on the Rebellion. Somebody offer her a developmental contract.

First couple bouts were definitely on house show mode, but Bucks vs. War Machine stepped it up. I don’t know if I’d ever seen that pairing before and it’s a nice contrast with the fast-paced flying and tandem offense of the Bucks versus the brute strength, size and power of War Machine. Fun angle I’m surprised they sort of wasted here instead of for TV or a PPV where Dalton was doing his trademark entrance with The Boys worshipping him adorned in their Eyes Wide Shut masks etc. when Castle senses something if off with one of the Boys. One of these boys is noticeably taller and bigger than the other. He quizzically lifts off the larger of the Boys’ weird Mardi Gras mask to reveal none other than … CODY! Fun stuff and Rhodes used the surprise to almost score a quick pinfall but then Castle fought back, and we got a good singles here with Cody wrestling bare foot and in Boys’ attire.

The Falls Count Anywhere gimmick really elevated the BULLET CLUB tag. The made use of every nook and cranny of this venue. Felt more like a traditional ECW Arena wandering brawl than anything I’d seen in a long time. The Klein match was mysteriously absent from the Honor Club version of this show. Klein is from Fairfield a town I’ve lived either right near or in for most of my life and got to meet her briefly at an outdoor concert at a nearby park because her mom took my mom’s Yoga class and made the introduction. Would have liked to have been able to see that match. It brings me no great pleasure to say Starr who I was familiar with from wXw, CZW, etc. shined here, including an impressive delayed German suplex on the massive Beer City Bruiser, but he’s a pariah after the #SpeakingOut movement so I’ll say no more.

The fans voted on 2 Out of 3 Falls for the co-main event. If Rush wins, he gets a future shot at Scrull’s TV title. Here’s what I don’t like: they re-used the same bit from a show prior here. Scrull got himself disqualified intentionally by hitting Rush with his umbrella, betting on the odds that a bludgeoned Lio Rush would be easier to defeat as a result in the proceeding falls. At their last live event Honor Reigns Supreme (which we covered last time) Jay Briscoe did something similar in a 2 of 3 Falls match blasting the Young Bucks with a chair and sacrificing a fall as a result. Otherwise, good match, and cool to see Rush booked strong, going over and even getting a further leg up on Marty post-match by dodging an attack and hitting Scrull in the face with his own championship belt. I think the fans participating in the voting were ribbing us as Cheeseburger got the most votes of the ten or so guys in the poll. Then Sabin and Jay Briscoe had to do double-duty. I noticed Romantic Touch nearly made it into the 3rd slot. Nothing match save for a couple nice Kingdom combos on offense and Jay bleeding from the head.

Who won?

A strong episode of Impact could have really stolen this edition of Ring of Impact for TNA. But that didn’t materialize. ROH had a weaker than usual episode of TV, the add-on of that wonky YouTube trainee bout I discovered, and then an unfortunately mixed bag of a live event with my experiencing of The Experience. But besides the thrill of the implosion of The Wolves there was nothing on TNA’s side that could touch the highest highs of ROH’s best output from the week. Ring of Honor now takes the shaky lead at (4-3).

Ring of Impact #5

2024-02-16T16:53:00.002-05:00

We enter into the 2nd month of the Ring of Impact project. This month sees the start of ROH premiere live shows into the mix. In the before times, we’d have to shuffle over to the merch table and plunk down $20 per disc for ROH live DVDs. Now they’re all streaming on Honor Club with a quick click. Will this be what ROH needs to pull ahead of TNA in the rankings once and for all?

TNA Impact Wrestling #655 Open Fight Night 2/2/2017

1. Lashley (c) vs. Brother Nero - TNA World Heavyweight Title Match - 7

2. Brooke vs. Sienna (w/Maria) - 3

3. Decay (Abyss & Crazzy Steve) (w/Rosemary) vs. The Death Crew Council (Bram, James Storm & Kingston) - Three on Two Handicap Falls Count Anywhere Match - 7

4. Drew Galloway (c) vs. Rob Ryzin - IMPACT Grand Title Match - IMPACT Grand Title Match - 2

5. DJ Z (c) vs. Trevor Lee (w/Gregory Shane Helms) -TNA X-Division Title Ladder Match - 4

6. Eli Drake (w/Tyrus) vs. Ethan Carter III - 2

Average Score: 4.2

Open Fight Night implies that some of those who won briefcases in the Race for the Case match a couple weeks back will be cashing in on their opportunities. Brother Nero is the first and wants Lashley’s TNA World title. Another in a series of really good Lashley matches. While Hardy is good in tag settings he really shines here as a solo guy. Hardy is a great sympathetic babyface as he’s not afraid to kill himself out there. There were several big bumps in this one most notably Hardy taking a powerbomb on the steel ring steps. Sienna continuing to be dominant force in Knockouts division. Crazy Falls Count Anywhere bout between DCC and Decay. Love that stip. And similar to the Monster’s Ball match from last week’s episode involving Decay member Rosemary, this one had thumbtacks (Kingston got about 60+ embedded into his back), a barbwire board (Abyss took the bump on it), a dive from the 2nd tier of the stands, and a match-ending piledriver through a table that was bridged between the ring apron and guardrail that almost killed Crazzy Steve.

Drew sarcastically challenges “this guy!” he proclaims as out walks generic Ryzin who gets squashed in the 1st round. DJ Z worked an injured wheel gimmick so held this back a bit but cool to see one of my personal faves Trevor Lee get the title. Main event, maybe it’s a me problem, but I fell asleep, rewound it, repeat multiple times, then even watched it again fresh the next morning and whatever they were going for just didn’t work. I didn’t fully understand the machinations of the plot but I think Tyrus wasted Eli's briefcase cash-in to beat up a street clothes wearing Ethan Carter? EC3 had this horrendously bad purple bruise painted on his hip that my daughter who was walking by even laughed at the preposterousness of.

ROH Undisputed Legacy 2/3/2017

1. Jonathan Gresham vs. Will Ferrara - 3

2. The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. The Tempura Boyz (Sho & Yohei) - 3

3. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia) (c) vs. Jax Dane & War Machine (Hanson & Ray Rowe) - ROH World Six Man Tag Team Title Match - 5

4. Jay Lethal vs. Bobby Fish vs. Dalton Castle - 5

5. Romantic Touch vs. BJ Whitmer - 3

6. Keith Lee & Shane Taylor vs. The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) - 6

7. Cody vs. Donovan Dijak - 7

8. Jay White, Lio Rush & The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. BULLET CLUB (Adam Cole, Hangman Page, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) - 7

Average Score: 4.9

Full length live shows! I think part of my investment in getting Honor Club and TNA+ was to catch up on all these ROH live events, honestly, and in TNA’s case their marquee pay-per-views, but really felt it’d be doing a disservice to not get fully immersed in the ongoing storylines etc. by following all the TV too thus here we are. I noticed afterwards I grade a bit on a curve. For TV comparatively I grade a bit higher. Live shows allow stuff to breathe and again, are really what I’m most excited to delve into, but since they have a bigger canvas I’m going to need to see stuff bypass basic to get higher, recommendable marks.

I think with these premiere live events it’s also noteworthy how they are as a whole. Because this isn’t dropping a choice single on Spotify or Bandcamp, this is releasing a whole record album and the expected way of experiencing it is playing it in full. I’ve often thought of wrestling shows in that manner like a music album or movie. They have ebbs and flows, but they are booked to give a fan a cohesive enjoyable singular experience. And this gives me a taste of where Ring of Honor was in that realm. Starts in a lower gear, gradually picks up, then ends with a full throttle drag down Main St.

Let’s look at some highlights. War Machine and Jax Dane who I was unfamiliar with but fits right in with those hoss’ and the Kingdom was good. Lots of high-impact offense and Kingdom bumping around well for the big brutes. Three-way held intrigue but wasn’t in slot to blow doors off and was surprised to see Lethal take the clean pinfall. The Romantic Touch match isn’t even listed on cagematch which is a rarity as I’ve never seen them get a listing wrong before. I really wanted to score Briscoes vs. Lee/Taylor even higher but the non-finish kind of popped that balloon. Great, physical stuff though and no surprise Keith Lee would break out in a big way in NXT in the near future. Dijak and Cody were the match/segment of the San Antonio show. I need to mention my two favorite moments. Late in the match Donovan powerbombed Rhodes over the guardrail into the first row of chairs. These were the hardest looking plastic chairs imaginable, like built for max stability and had zero give to them. I also loved the post-match sooooo much. Cody sat Dijak in a chair in the center of the ring, then got a running start, and swung a steel chair directly into his face Barry Bonds homerun style! This was so ’99 Rock/Mankind level and unnecessary and thus amazing. Main event I may be slightly overrating. And I’m grappling with that. I’m going to be seeing a TONS of these big multi-men BULLET CLUB bouts in the next couple years. So, this style of bout may lose its luster but as a standalone match this is a hyperdrive hustle; Lio Rush actually stole the show with his blinding speed and reckless dives.

TNA Xplosion #646 2/4/2017

Andrew Everett vs. Davey Richards – 4

I liked this slightly more than the Richards vs. Kingston bout from Xplosion a couple weeks prior, but not enough here to push its score any higher.

Ring of Honor ROH TV #281 2/4/2017

1. BJ Whitmer & Damian Martinez vs. War Machine (Hanson & Ray Rowe) - 4

2. Joseph A'Gau & The Bruiserweights (Corey Hollis & John Skyler) vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia) - 3

3. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (c) vs. The Tempura Boyz (Sho & Yohei) - ROH World Tag Team Title Match - 4

4. Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Donovan Dijak vs. Jay White vs. Lio Rush - ROH World Television Title #1 Contendership Six Man Mayhem Match - 5

Average Score: 4

For the sake of my sanity (only a few thousand shows to go – no big deal, right? Right?) going to trim some write-ups to more capsule reviews. Call me the Jonathan Rosenbaum of the wrestling cognoscenti. War Machine on my TV reminds me of seeing Steiners squashes back in the day. You know people about to get tossed around. Bucks and Boyz was nice appetizer – surpassing pretzel bites but not quite spinach artichoke dip. Main was constructed the week prior to give mean ol’ Marty Scrull a proper contender and Dijak came out the clear winner, but everyone got a chance to SHINE and we’re not talking that ’96 mental breakdown pianist flick.

ROH Honor Reigns Supreme 2017 2/4/2017

1. Dalton Castle vs. Donovan Dijak - 5

2. Andy Dalton & Rhett Titus vs. War Machine (Hanson & Ray Rowe) - 4

3. The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. BULLET CLUB (Adam Cole & Cody)

4. Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page - 4

5. Jonathan Gresham vs. Sho vs. Jax Dane vs. Will Ferrara - Four Corner Survival Match - 3

6. Bobby Fish vs. Lio Rush - 5

7. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia) (c) vs. Jay White & The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) - ROH World Six Man Tag Team Title Match - 5

8. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (c) vs. The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) - ROH World Tag Team Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match - 8

Average Score: 4.9

Good opener. Dawned on me ROH really embodies the puro style without parading it. Like in that opener you’ve got sick release Saito suplexes and stiff forearms exchanges. But its built organically into their overall in-ring presentation. It’s not ostentatious. Makes me think many took ROH for granted over the years because the in-ring work was so uniformly good over such a long span of time. First-time I’ve seen Dalton who works an angry small guy persona whose lack of fear may overpower his smarts, so think Crash Holly characterization but Pete Dunne in appearance. And sure enough, his bravado booked him and an unsuspecting Rhett Titus into a match with the massive War Machine.

Bit disappointed with the BULLET CLUB/Addiction tag. Cody was on absolute house show mode stopping proceedings dead in their tracks to do some heel 101 mic work crowd play. They’re building to main event of upcoming 15th Anniversary show being Christopher Daniels finally going for his 1st ROH World championship against Cole, yet Daniels goes down here clean to a random superkick? I thought that was more of a transitional move in the Club’s repertoire. Lethal and Page was better. Jay started the match out with six (!) consecutive suicide dives! Post-match Cody, Cole and Page are run off by the returning Addiction. Daniels cuts a weak go home promo basically calling the Bullet Club “poopy heads” or some such nonsense.

Sashaying through the back-half of this show to focus on the main event. They had an extra stip on the 2 out of 3 Falls bout where each individual fall had its own stipulation/rules. I liked how they played that out. Briscoes got the first fall then the announcer said over the PA, “The 2nd Fall will be contested under Lucha rules”. Jay was like “What’s lucha rules?” and bashed the Bucks with a steel chair to cause the immediate disqualification. Yes, that evened the score to 1-1 but the 3rd fall if needed was scheduled to be a No DQ match which led to the Briscoes’ advantage. This had all the stunts and superkicks you’d associate with the Bucks’ act, but the combined effort of both teams pushed this into something worthy of a main event slot.

Who won?

Looking at statistical data the average score per show was only marginally higher for Ring of Honor. But their tour through Texas with San Antonio and Dallas live events added a little more oomph to their offering this week. And even with a much bigger sample size, nothing on ROH was as bad as the worst aspects of Impact this week. So ROH ties it up at (3-3) on the overall scorecard. “Oh, radio, tell me everything you know” ;)

Ring of Impact #4

2024-02-12T06:30:00.070-05:00

We’re closing out the first month of this head-to-head battle and I’m as amped as James Franco would be getting a “Welcome Back to Acting” Cameo recorded by Ric Flair after an all-night bender in Gary, Indiana.

Impact #654 Genesis 2017 1/26/2017

1. The Broken Hardys (Brother Nero & Matt Hardy) (c) vs. Decay (Abyss & Crazzy Steve) (w/Rosemary) vs. The Death Crew Council (Bram & Kingston) (w/James Storm) - TNA World Tag Team Title Three Corners Match - 5

2. Drew Galloway (c) vs. Moose - IMPACT Grand Title Match - 5

3. Rosemary (c) vs. Jade - TNA Women's Knockout Title Monster's Ball Match - 6

4. DJ Z (c) vs. Caleb Konley vs. Marshe Rockett vs. Andrew Everett vs. Trevor Lee (w/Gregory Shane Helms) - TNA X-Division Title Five Way Match - 4

5. Eddie Edwards (c) vs. Lashley - TNA World Heavyweight Title 30 Minute Iron Man Match - 8

Average score: 5.6

Genesis and several of the other original TNA pay-per-view spectaculars get demoted at some point to televisions specials. Liked Broken Hardyz getting entangled into the ongoing Decay and DCC feud. Something has really clicked on these Grand Championship bouts. Instead of utilizing the round system to stretch things out what we have gotten instead are these short 3 min. (rounds) bursts of hard-hitting offense. Moose has exceeded my expectations stringing together great combos and even seen here popping off a second buckle moonsault! Really liking vile Drew too. Jade and Rosemary are arguably my picks for top two in the Knockouts division at that time. So I was into this, and it being a Monster’s Ball with thumbtacks, tables, and a few sick barbed wire board spots made it even more delectable. If surprised by my lower score on the X-Division bout, which is sort of my jam, know it’s because it barely hit 4 minutes. Still got some sick dives ‘natch.

I wouldn’t have pegged myself for being a mark for the heavyweight title scene when I jumped into this project but this first month of 2017 they’ve been delivering the goods. It may be hard to believe with what we see today of Lashley in tepid mentor role with Street Profits in WWE, but he was in amazing shape here, still as muscular as ever, but much more slim, and seemingly always down to work his butt off. And you may want to grab your lunch pail because these boys went to work! 30 min. bomb fest I won’t detail blow-by-blow but so much good stuff. The biggest highlight being perhaps my favorite moment in all of January ’17 when Lashley unearthed a scorching powerbomb on the entrance ramp! He lifted him so high like a Razor’s Edge almost then just dropped him dead weight and Edwards’ carcass bounced disturbingly. Real cool finish, Lashley was pretty much passing out unconscious in a submission when the bell rang, so despite him being a dead man walking he still won the Iron Man by one fall and reclaimed the TNA World title. Awesome stuff.

TNA Xplosion

1. Bobby Lashley vs. Mahabali Shera (Ep. #642 1/7/17) – 3
2. Jessie Godderz vs. Bad Bones (Ep. #643 1/14/17) – 5

3. Davey Richards vs. Kingston (Ep. #644 1/21/17) – 4
4. Spud vs. Mahabali Shera (Ep. #645 1/28/17) – 3

Average Score: 3.8

So little shake up of sorts here. My goal was to review all available TNA and ROH footage from 2017 until present day, lo and behold around February 1st an Xplosion section appeared on the TNA+ service. I’m like 90% sure it wasn’t there a few days prior as I’d been on there pretty much daily since I launched this project unless I miraculously missed it. Anyway, I’m adding Xplosion, their weekly show into the festivities here. Xplosion usually only features one original match (we’ll see a brief period later in ’17 when they’d feature two bouts). In the future I’ll have it chronologically placed with the other shows, but since this was a late last min. add I’m dumping all of January’s Xplosion stuff into this edition of Ring of Impact.

Shera, an Xplosion regular if ever there were to be one, featured twice. Lashley walked him around the ring leading him through a forgettable bout, but the Spud encounter at least had the bonus morsel of Shera stealing away Spud’s ridiculous Sgt. Pepper’s hat and wearing it. I’ve got to recommend this Bad Bones match. Never heard of this guy. He looks like an overstuffed sausage version of Perry Saturn fresh from a biker bar. And he kicked the ever-loving crap out of Godderz! This was presumably a Godderz squash yet Bones took easily 85-90% of the offense and he laid his stuff in. Just blistering Jessie with stiff forearms and errant kicks to the stomach. On paper this match meant the least to me of any all month yet I have a feeling it’ll be one of the ones I remember most clearly into the future. Richards vs. Kingston at one point would have been kind of an Indy dream match, no? ROH vs. Chikara? PWG vs. CZW? But this wasn’t it. Enjoyed watching Kingston selling (as I always do), less so Richards barely clearing Eddie on a leapfrog.

Ring of Honor ROH TV #280 1/28/2017

1. Cheeseburger & Will Ferrara vs. The Tempura Boyz (Sho & Yohei) vs. Coast 2 Coast (Leon St. Giovanni & Shaheem Ali) - ROH World Tag Team Title #1 Contendership Three Way Match - 4

2. Marty Scurll (c) vs. Juice Robinson - ROH World Television Title Match - 5

3. Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe - Decade Of Excellence Semi Final Match - 7

Average Score: 5.3

Honor Club was down for a day and I was having withdrawals. Glad to be back. Opening tag three-way was all go all the time which can usually be fun. Young Bucks came to ringside to join on commentary. I know their shtick isn’t for everybody. But they were very good here doing some of the old Two Dudes with Attitude (HBK & Diesel) nonchalance. Post-match they enter the ring and say “we were just over there doing some sweet color with Kevin Kelly” which got a chuckle from me, then let those Tempura Boyz know they’d deemed that victory title-shot worthy and would see them next week. Juice is known for his New Japan tenure, and I think he’s really absorbed that style and implements it well wherever he performs. You’d think it’d be power and explosiveness from Robinson against cunning and deviousness from Scrull, which while true, Marty was laying in stuff too. Love how recklessly Juice flies into the metal barriers around ringside. Jay and Jay have a lot of history. I was literally just watching a month or so ago at random Best in the World ’15 I believe it was? And they were in the main event and both of their sets of parents were there in the crowd. Very cool main event program they had. So, while this is a compact version of the hits, they still sound pretty groovy like some CCR popping up on the Waffle House jukebox at 2:13A when you’re chowing down on those smothered, covered, diced, chunked hashbrowns.

Who won?
It’s not a real wide margin, but I’ll say TNA nudged out the victory this week, bringing us to a (2-2) tie in weekly rankings. The Xplosion stuff didn’t really harm or help TNA’s cause much on this entry. But the strength of their Genesis edition of Impact cemented the victory.

Who won the month?
I’d thought about making this its own post every time I finish a calendar month but think I can be succinct in my summary. It’s surprisingly, to my eyes, really quite neck and neck, so to speak. As predicted, ROH’s in-ring constituency is unparalleled, as even the “minor” matches were good. They had that great Cody promo on 1/14 and the 1/21 episode was the single best episode of TV all month with an average match score of 7. But I’m going to give the slight lean to TNA making it (3-2) as move into February 2017. My memories of this era of them on Pop TV was faint and not entirely favorable. While the shows could rightfully be called zany (tons of “Broken” Matt Hardy’s eccentric promos, Laurel Van Ness on awkward date with Braxton Sutter, etc.) and not everything sticks, they’ve been entertaining as hell and the big deciding factor were those big heavyweight showcases like the Last Man Standing and Iron Man matches we got. Genuinely surprised at how good that stuff was. I’m only a month into this years-long project and absolutely loving it! I hope you all are too.

Ring of Impact #3

2024-02-07T07:00:00.026-05:00

It’s all tied up (1-1) in the Ring of Impact fracas. Who will pull ahead in the third week?

TNA Impact Wrestling #653 1/19/17

1. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Tyrus vs. Eli Drake vs. Mike Bennett vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Jessie Godderz vs. Mahabali Shera vs. Andrew Everett vs. Trevor Lee vs. The Death Crew Council (Bram & Kingston) - Race for the Case Match - 4

2. Brooke vs. Deonna Purrazzo - 2

3. Aron Rex & Rockstar Spud vs. Robbie E & Swoggle - 3

Moose (c) vs. Drew Galloway - IMPACT Grand Title Match - 7

Average score: 4

Goofiness abounds. Majority of the show was built around the Race for the Case concept. A very Russo-like match with four colored briefcases elevated high above the turnbuckles. Your aim was to grab a briefcase: yellow, red, blue, green, doesn’t matter, you don’t know what’s inside. The match itself was unremarkable but tossed it a bonus point for novelty. I don’t need po-faced solemnity in my wrestling, so it pleases me to say the backstage segment with the briefcase reveals which was done in a cheesy ’70’s game show set-up was delightful and cheesy. Deonna has fans nowadays, hoping to see that spark, wasn’t on display here. Comedy tag only slightly above mediocre due to the performance Aron Rex (the former Damien Sandow in WWE) gave chewing up the scenery. Main event was very good. Drew won the Grand Championship here and looked damn good. He hit this one nasty little compact piledriver where he dropped back down within seconds of initially lifting Moose (who’s no small man) then instantly plummeting him back right on top of his skull. Strong ending to a rather lackluster episode.

Ring of Honor ROH TV #279 1/21/17

1. Marty Scurll vs. Jonathan Gresham - 6

2. Chris Sabin vs. Christopher Daniels - Decade of Excellence Semi Final Match - 7

3. KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee - 8

Average score: 7

Holy hell … what an episode. This was fantastic. Gosh, what a breath of fresh air Gresham is. I’d forgotten how marvelous he is. I’d heard in the last few years he’s truly broken out including winning the ROH World Championship and winning a lot of awards especially around 2020. Cannot wait to get to all that stuff. And he married current TNA Knockouts champion Jordynne Grace so it’s safe to say he’s winning. But instantly seeing his smooth mat work stylings I flashed back to his work in EVOLVE when grappling was their soup du jour. Sabin and Daniels, the irony hit me that these are guys known as TNA guys, at least that’s where they arguably made their biggest impacts (pun intended) in the industry, so a chuckle from me seeing them here given the context of this project. And I’ll say, this was not done as just a basic TV bout, given that this was a tournament semi-final, they both went the extra mile to make this something of note. Sabin especially seemed motivated. He got a nasty bloody wound on his shoulder, was doing flips off the apron, jawing with Daniels’ Addiction partner Kazarian, and in the zone. Daniels’ BME (Best Moonsault Ever) truly did look like one of the best moonsaults I’d seen in forever. The last time I saw Daniels have such a spectacular match in the former ECW Arena it was an amazing encounter I wrote about here from 2011 against Eddie Edwards for the old ROH on HDNet series. Main event was just phenomenal. You’ve got KUSHIDA in the Marty McFly jacket, we’ve just seen in the past few months Dragon Lee debut on SmackDown! so this is a nice earlier peek into his work, and Will Ospreay is arguably one of the top three hottest names in the entire business currently. So, you knew this was going to deliver the goods and it most certainly did. I don’t think I’ve ever popped bigger for KUSHIDA’s gross finisher the Back to the Future (small package driver/DDT) as he absolutely murked Ospreay here.

Who won?
Ring of Honor really wiped the floor with TNA this week. I can’t sugarcoat that. One channel we’ve got Brother Nero crooning PeroxWhy?Gen lyrics, about how his enemies need to “classify themselves as obsolete”, and over on ROH TV they’re tossing out mat classics like New Year’s Eve party hors d'oeuvres. ROH takes the lead (2-1).

Ring of Impact #2

2024-02-04T07:30:00.048-05:00

Last time, TNA took the early lead by winning week one. Let’s see what the 2nd week of January 2017 has in store for us. Could it, in the parlance of EC3’s annoying entrance theme, spell out “trouble trouble trouble trouble”?

TNA Impact Wrestling #652 1/12/17

1. Lashley vs. Ethan Carter III - TNA World Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Last Man Standing Match - 7

2. Decay (Abyss & Crazzy Steve) (w/Rosemary) vs. The Death Crew Council (Bram & Kingston) (w/James Storm) - 4

3. Braxton Sutter vs. Mike Bennett (w/Maria) - 4

4. The Broken Hardys (Brother Nero & Matt Hardy) (c) vs. The Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) - TNA World Tag Team Title Match - 6

Average score: 5.3

More mayhem in the Impact Zone. Really strong opener continuing the emphasis on heavyweight title picture. It’s definitely dawned on me I love Last Man Standing matches. One of my higher scored matches in NHO blog history was an underseen Last Man Standing bout (Strong vs. Stevens in FIP) and this one delivered too. We got table spots and power offense. Very much enjoyed it. The DCC I’d forgotten were a thing. James Storm and AEW’s Eddie Kingston along with … Bram? Sure. Double countout finish was lacking. Sutter I saw live regularly early in his career as Pepper Parks in HWA. Do you read Sutter Cane? I had to make that reference at least once. More hijinks involving Allie and Maria which I noted on in the last edition would be an ongoing storyline. Main event is a bit of a dream match – is that fair to say? Got decent chunk of time but failed to really take off. Some awkward moments adjusting to each other’s style but plenty bits to enjoy and novel enough to warrant a look. Some teased dissension post-match as Richards airs his frustration at Edwards.

Ring of Honor ROH TV #278 1/14/17

1. Donovan Dijak, Jay White & Lio Rush vs. The Rebellion (Caprice Coleman, Kenny King & Rhett Titus) - 5

2. Steve Corino vs. Cody - 6

3. Jay Lethal vs. Jushin Thunder Liger - Decade of Excellence First Round Match - 6

Average score: 5.7

Really strong episode by Ring of Honor. Opening six-man had action galore and it’s something ROH does well. I’d forgotten about the former All-Night Express joining forces with Caprice Coleman and trying for a more hard-edged heel squad. Highest of marks for the segment that led to Cody vs. Corino. I happened to watch this episode a few hours before joining friends to watch WWE Royal Rumble ’24 and subsequently saw Cody Rhodes win the big Rumble match – but I was gobsmacked here at just how good he was on the microphone. He carried himself with such assurance and presence and his disdain for the crowd and ROH were wonderfully displayed. He said it should be called “Ring of Mediocrity” which I howled out. Corino came out and they had a spirited exchange regarding Cody’s father the great Dusty Rhodes and the feud Dusty and Cornio had in ’99 in ECW. This perfectly segued to a good match between the two. Main event was a treat. Always a joy to see Liger pop up especially mixing it up with American promotions. Even at his elder age he’s impeccable and they crafted something quality in a headlining spot on this show.

Who won?
ROH takes this one, I wouldn’t say handedly, as TNA had the best match of the week with the Last Man Standing bout, but ROH was solid top-to-bottom and makes their record (1-1) now.

Ring of Impact #1 (Season 1 Kickoff)

2024-02-01T08:00:00.073-05:00

Welcome to the inaugural entry in the Ring of Impact series. Where I’ll be pitting TNA against Ring of Honor, in a week to week, month to month, year to year throwdown. I went overboard with backstory in the prelude posted here earlier this week – so check that out for more detail into the project’s origin and how it’ll roll out. But I’m ready to dive headfirst into thousands of hours of action (swimsuit optional)!

TNA Impact Wrestling #651 1/5/17

1. Moose (c) vs. Mike Bennett (w/Maria) - IMPACT Grand Title Match - 6

2. Rockstar Spud vs. Swoggle - 1

3. Decay (Abyss & Crazzy Steve) (w/Rosemary) vs. The Helms Dynasty (Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee) (w/Gregory Shane Helms) - 4

4. Allie vs. Sienna (w/Laurel Van Ness & Maria) - 3

5. Eddie Edwards (c) vs. Lashley vs. Ethan Carter III - TNA World Heavyweight Title - 6

Average score: 4

This felt like the kickoff to a new year. I dug that. Commentators Josh Matthews and The Pope welcomed us to 2017 right off the top and also some chatter of Anthem Sports & Entertainment being new majority stake owner. This means little to us, the viewers, save for a goofy owl emblem that now is part of the official TNA logo and adorns the turnbuckle pads, banners, and the large video screen above the entrance aisle. It’s literally everywhere. Hoot hoot. Great opener. Contested for the Grand Championship which I feel like we need to note on. I’d all but forgotten it. It was something engineered by Billy Corgan in-between writing sad songs. Kind of a European-style rounds format. Good physicality and thought Bennett and Moose worked well together. I may have hoisted an extra point upon it from my own buzz and excitement of it being the first match I saw for this massive project but think it was solid. Swoggle beating the charismatic Spud in 90 seconds clean didn’t help endear myself to the episode. On record now that I’m a Helms Dynasty mark – so hoping for lots more of them ahead. Good chaotic action but barely 3 min. thus the lower marks from yours truly. Allie is involved in a storyline where she’s the servant of Maria Kanellis who’s taken umbrage with Allie standing up for herself and beginning to train to be a wrestler. I detail it here because from what I’ve watched ahead it’s a pretty consistent for a segment or two each show. This was also the first time that it dawned on me I’d seen this as I recall this feud. I don’t know precisely when I stopped following weekly TNA TV in 2017 but this rang a bell. Really good main event. Three of the big dogs in the title picture going at it. Perfect placement to end the first episode of the new year with a rousing main event.

Ring of Honor ROH TV #277 1/7/17

1. Jay Briscoe vs. BJ Whitmer (w/Damian Martinez & Kevin Sullivan) - Decade of Excellence First Round Match - 5

2. Silas Young & The Beer City Bruiser vs. Alex Reynolds & John Silver - 4

3. Cheeseburger, Joey Daddiego & Will Ferrara vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia) - 4

4. Chris Sabin vs. Colt Cabana - Decade of Excellence First Round Match - 5

Average score: 4.5

Glad to have ROH TV back on my screen! I would DVR Ring of Honor TV back then and tried to stay up with it. Sometimes it had airing irregularities. It’d be delayed. It wouldn’t show up Sat. night as advertised but I could catch a Sun. morning airing. Then there’d be recap shows or re-airings of live events which I had previously seen and wasn’t keen on reliving. So, at some point in 2017 I definitely failed to maintain weekly viewership. One other fast note that may need reiterated more in the future but will air it now, the dates/show numbers on Honor Club are slightly off. Cagematch has what I’ve found to be the most comprehensive and reliable data and I know it to be accurate. So if you’re following along on Honor Club, at least for the 2017 season, the episode #’s should match cagematch listings, but the shows are listed a week later than they actually aired.

Nice to start of this ROH journey with some Jay Briscoe but bittersweet also with his tragic passing. BJ is goofier than normal running with Kevin Sullivan and company wearing white garb and having strange symbols painted on his face a la the Taskmaster himself. ROH is known for its consistency and that was on display here. The middle of the show which were patently elevated squashes still consisted of solid in-ring work including good effort from the losing parties. I like that even arguably “throwaway” matches to give some of the roster’s heels a little shine feature quality stuff from bell to bell. Main event was another tournament bout and the major highlight for me was Colt out on the floor raking at Sabin’s face while simultaneously verbally prodding Chris’ partner Alex Shelley who was doing commentary at ringside. You wanted to reach through the set and smack Cabana yourself and that’s good bad guy bonafides.

Who won?
Here’s where we can pointedly show that in-ring action alone doesn’t make a show. While the average score on this week’s ROH TV was 4.5 and TNA’s 4.0, I’m giving the nod, on this inaugural edition of Ring of Impact, to the Orlando theme park sideshow Impact Wrestling. While I don’t know if we’ll see anything as bad as Swoggle vs. Spud all year on ROH, the highs from Impact, specifically the strong opener and closer, propelled it ahead. Impact did a good job of establishing this episode as a kickoff of a new year, and brought that energy into the program, and the hot main event secured it this round. Impact now leads with a (1-0) record.

Ring of Impact #0 - Prelude

2024-01-29T19:02:00.001-05:00

Ring of Impact

Welcome to a journey that that’s perhaps one of the crazier ideas I’ve had. I’m going to breakdown the concept here and share that as a aperitif then give a peek behind the curtain to the inner workings of my mind as I sculpted this idea into a workable model.

Ring of Impact #1 (Season 1) will kick off on the blog this Thursday, February 1st.

What is the Ring of Impact project? In this ongoing series I’ll be pitting Ring of Honor versus TNA/Impact Wrestling, from the year of 2017 toward the unforeseeable future, in a week to week, month to month, year to year battle. No canons will be fired. No trenches dug. This war is going to be waged in the wrestling ring. Untold thousands of hours of footage, innumerable matches, interviews, segments, and the blood, sweat, and sacrifice of the athletes and performers whom I have such a deep respect for, will determine the ultimate victor in this wrestling war. By watching, in chronological order, every episode of weekly TV, live events, streaming exclusive shows, and pay-per-views and comparing and contrasting them against each other, I’ll determine which promotion triumphs.

Let’s give an example for my analytical heads out there: let’s use 2017. For January, I’ll be granting a winner for each of the four weeks of that month, determined by comparing TNA and ROH’s shows for each given week. Then I’ll be assigning, after having had looked at all of the shows for that month as a whole, a winner for the month in totality. This will continue on, week by week, month by month, culminating in an winner for the year itself. So that’s 52 weekly winners, 12 monthly winners, all building up to choosing the winning company for that year as a whole.

Whew! Let’s switch gears from logic and data-driven to more personal. What brought me to this project? Why did I want to start it? Why would anyone want to watch this much wrestling? Why ROH and TNA specifically? Why start in 2017 and not earlier/later? Am I okay? Let me try to answer all of this and more.

I’m a lifelong wrestling fan. I consider myself a wrestling omnivore. What I mean by that is I can watch (and largely enjoy) just about any kind of wrestling. Sure, if had my druthers, I can pinpoint particular companies or eras that I’d rank atop others. But I’m usually pretty easygoing when it comes to wrestling. It puts a smile on my face and brings me back to some of my most cherished, happiest childhood memories. Sitting on the floor watching WCW Saturday Night at 6:05P, wrestling magazines and toys scattered across my room, was nirvana. So let’s fast-forward ahead to 2017. Big year of personal upheaval. The ending of an unhappy marriage. Shifts in priorities and budgeting of time. Adapting and evolving as a father, newly single man, and navigating the perils and pitfalls of daily adult life, work, finding a new place to call home, back on the dating scene, etc. A real whirlwind. While I never stopped watching wrestling entirely it definitely fell toward the background.

Jump ahead again to the more recent past – let’s say the last 3 years or so. My free time is limited. Full-time office job. Raising two wonderful children. Happy relationship. And while movies were still my main hobby, I was definitely enjoying escaping back into my first love of wrestling. Often late at night, after the events of the day had expired, I’d unwind with an hour or a few of “pro wres” as I like to call it. I didn’t have cable television so my access to new stuff was limited to Hulu edited versions of WWE TV, unfortunately no AEW as I was without access, still followed UFC with a passion, and at least kept up with the WWE “pay-per-views” or “streaming specials” or whatever they’re calling them now. That was all fine and good, but my thirst wasn’t quenched. I started digging deep into stacks and stacks of hundreds of DVDs, and a couple portable hard drives resplendent with untold hours of my beloved “wres” (I previously posted a piece on a loose ranking of the indie promotions I most enjoyed throughout this process). At first, I cherry picked the stuff that caught my eye, but now years later, these the past few months I’ve whittled my collection down to the drearier asides and discards.

I needed something new to dive into and watch. And at this same time the reoccurring voice in the back of my head kept encouraging me to return to more regular contributions here on Never Hand over my old wrestling blog. So, I started brainstorming. I’d take walks at work pontificating. Should I dive into something on Peacock? Maybe a deep dive some 1980’s territorial wrestling? That’d be something cool. Or maybe scratch the itch with a more familiar beloved program from yesteryear like the aforementioned WCW Saturday Night or even the infamous WCW Thunder? And, like most major ideas do, it sort of dawned on me out of the blue. The realization hit me that a lot of other companies have streaming services now that contain not just new events but huge back catalogues. NJPW World sprung to mind. Wait … what about TNA and ROH? Promotions I knew well and liked, had attended live shows of, and been a fan of in the past. I hopped on as a guest on their services and was floored. There was SO much footage accessible with a simple click of a button. And at a fair price to boot.

The idea then started to take on a life of its own. When I fell out of wrestling during 2017, I never really had gotten the chance to catch up on either Ring of Honor or TNA. This would be a wonderful opportunity to deeply immerse myself in it. And the novel idea of pitting them against each other was what finally cemented this as THE idea. To really make it sing though I realized I couldn’t just focus on the special events/pay-per-views. There’s a ton of those alone. But to better contextualize those events and get the most out of the experience I thought it key to watch all of what’s available chronologically including every single episode of TV. I signed up for both services on the spot and started a spreadsheet where I manually started laying in one event after another, hundreds upon hundreds of rows of data, so many shows, so many main events I plugged into the spreadsheet courtesy of the invaluable resources over at the site cage match. This was really happening!

I think I’ve answered a lot of the questions I proposed up above – but I want to end by briefly talking about the two companies I’ll be spending in inordinate amount of time with these next few years, and also the general negativity in the wrestling fan culture zeitgeist. I think in the heyday of this blog NHO while it fair to say were strict graders, perhaps too hung up on “work rate” or execution over emotion, and prone to the occasional crossing of the line with a vulgar button-pushing joke or three, we genuinely loved wrestling and that shined through. We were never mean-spirited or cantankerous, nor negative at least without careful consideration. So much of the negativity in wrestling culture, especially in the online realm, has kept me at bay. I find it hard to find podcasts or sites where bellyaching and bitching isn’t the norm. And on Twitter and such the prospects are even dimmer. I often feel like an outlier wanting to just enjoy this crazy hobby that is wrestling. I can tell you, in the hours of study I’ve already endeavored into this project, that these are really fun, entertaining shows, and full of so many talented performers I have heaps of respect for. I’m not here to look down my nose or bash stuff for fun or laughs. I’m looking for the good and really hoping if this project takes off to point people to a lot of stuff they may have previously slept on or ignored outright. So put on your papier-mâché Don West mask and join me on this adventure!

Ring of Impact #1 (Season 1) will kick off on the blog this Thursday, February 1st.

NXT 3/1/22 S16E9

2024-01-16T20:50:00.003-05:00

1. Tommaso Ciampa and Bron Breakker vs. Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler - 5

Nice touch with Ciampa wearing '90's style Steiners trunks while teaming with the Dog Faced Gremlin's kid. Match started with a brawl in aisle. Tepid bump into a row of trainee plants in 1st row disguised as moribund fans. Good opener but shy of recommendable status (6 and < on the NHO scale).

2. Wendy Choo and Dakota Kai vs. Persia Pirotta and Indi Hartwell - Quarterfinals of Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic - 3

Choo and Kai odd pairing. Pajamas gimmick would have fit in Wrestling is Fun! promotion. And if you were at their event Don't Eat the Green One in '14 I may have found your wallet. Kinda liked the fin. Wendy did a Vaderbomb off top followed by Dakota doing a Mushroom Stomp.

3. Amari Miller vs. Lash Legend - 2
4. Gunther vs. Solo Sikoa - 6

Former partners implode. I seek commode.

Great chops by Gunther ‘natch. Splash off apron by Solo on the floor had me reconsidering junior Uso/Uce. Sikoa's undefeated streak was ended here.

5. Harland vs. Draco Anthony - 1
6. Cora Jade and Raquel Gonzalez vs. Yulisa Leon and Valentina Feroz - Quarterfinals of Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic - 4

Ugly squash. Draco looks like the younger brother from My Brother and Me grown up. Dee Dee Parker can bump. Who knew?

Cora looks like the goth girl in high school who’d smoke outside the building but appeared awkward like she hadn't developed how to hold a cigarette. Raquel called up to WWE proper when she looked the worst of anyone in this bout.

7. Andre Chase vs. Von Wagner - 2
8. Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Pete Dunn - NXT North American Championship match - 5

Wagner has some caveman DNA. Seeing Chase in lame collegiate gimmick makes me miss Bravado Bros. so much.

Fairly solid outing by both in the closer. Would have liked more grit and back-and-forth to propel it beyond solid yet unremarkable TV main event. Match a week prior that Hayes had with Cameron Grimes was indefatigably better. Chuck Austin was wincing in his motorized scooter watching that finish.

WWE Velocity 6/15/02

2023-11-22T16:31:00.003-05:00

Billy and Chuck vs. Mark Henry and Randy Orton – 4

Rikishi vs. Albert – 4
Jamie Noble vs. Funaki – 4
Kurt Angle vs. Hardcore Holly – 6

Summer of 2002, I was 20 years old, living in my parents’ basement, and having an absolute blast. A few months later the FoxBox Saturday morning line-up would premiere giving us Ultraman Tiga, Fighting Foodons, Ultimate Muscle, and Kirby: Right Back at Ya! I was staying up late hanging with friends almost nightly, blowing what meager money I earned on stuff at Toys ‘R Us and fast food, and taking in an unhealthy amount of wrestling. Even on WWE’s C-level shows we were getting some quality in-ring action.

Opener was good stuff. Chuck and Henry started. All of Mark’s cutoff spots were real blunt and meaty. Just shoving Chuck down like a hockey check. Billy and Orton mixed it up next and really emphasized Billy’s veteran savvy. Randy threw a few sweet dropkicks. Chuck did these big ‘70’s era wind-up elbow drops that I just loved. Was far too short to get anything approaching a proper story told but I was still into it. Henry ate a Chuck savate kick followed by a Famouser for the loss.

Two beefy boys going at it. “You ever have a chick lick your face, Cole?” says Taz on commentary. At first I wasn’t exactly jibbing with it as it was pretty simple meat and potatoes stuff. But then I had to tip my hat as these big lugs were laying it in. Couple nice big splashes by Albert where he got nice air time. Rikishi dropped that ass on Albert and got the win with a Bonzai Drop. Nice clean definitive finish gets it an extra point.

Ah yes, my favorite ROH champ (just kidding) James Gibson in action. Nice aggression on display by Jamie with a focused attack throughout. Funaki’s blue and white striped trunks looked like coastal mariner décor. Not enough depth to rate higher but solid. Main event sees Angle still wearing that goofy wig under his headgear. They reference this is a week away from Kurt getting a shot at Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring and I attended that show live. Never will I forget the look on my friend Steve’s face when his hero Hulk tapped out to Angle. Holly dishing out some stiff chops and a compact powerslam for the scrapbook. Some real nice throws and suplexes by Angle. What a treat to watch him at this time. Holly busts out a massive powerbomb like it’s no big deal. Some nifty counters on display. Holly survives an Ankle Lock and even rallies back but Kurt uses a hefty handful of the ropes for the tainted win. Really dug the hell out of this. Angle made Holly look good and gave a damn fine performance. Just aces.

Ranking the 2010's Indies

2023-08-02T17:05:00.005-04:00

The last five years have seen seismic changes in my life. And while I’ve surfed the ebbs and flows, losing a parent suddenly, a divorce, surviving a bad case of Covid-19, etc. wrestling has remained. Sometimes in the background. Other times more present. Most often as a late night vice to sort of decompress from the events of the day: the office job, fatherhood, time with my girlfriend, to slip into the world of my youth … wrestling.

Lately, I’ve daydreamed of writing, podcasting, just doing something constructive and creative as a response to all the matches that unspool in-front of my eyes while the other houses in my neighborhood are darkened by slumber. But maybe that’d rob my late night escapism pleasure of its richness and reward? So, I haven’t found my “in” yet. To return to this blog full-time. But, for the first time in over a decade, the thoughts keep reoccurring of finding my way back.

Until the inspiration strikes – here’s a little piece on me ranking the early-2010’s American indies (in terms of my own personal enjoyment). I’ve been watching a metric ton of footage from the 2010’s (approx. ’07-’12, and then some stuff from ’14-’17) all new to me.

CZW – I’ve watched more CZW the last year than any other company. What I really like is their shows have a variety. Obviously, you’ve got Tournament of Death on the calendar, but their month-to-month regular events usually consist of a smorgasbord feat. high-flying juniors, less serious fare with Greg Excellent, some low-tier regulars like Sozio, John Dahmer, etc., whatever program DJ Hyde was in (and his bad mic work), deep tag division feat. The Best Around, Team AnDrew, BLKOUT, etc., and different types of hardcore inc. more workrate-driven stuff with Drake Younger, Scotty Vortekz, etc. mixed with the more traditional ultraviolence of Necro Butcher, Toby Klein, Brain Damage, Matt Tremont, etc. It makes the event more fun and better-paced when there’s different types of acts and talent getting opportunities.

PWG – I get many of the criticisms aimed at PWG, but kudos where its due, I exhausted my supply of their footage faster than any other company I’d stockpiled, and really wish I had more to delve into. While the high-octane, rarely stopping to catch a breath, style can certainly be tiresome to some – I love the how insanely talented that locker room was and how seemingly dedicated they were to always outdo the last show. Makes for splendid viewing from the comfort of the couch.

ROH – So, this era isn’t prime ROH, its mostly tags (World’s Greatest, Briscoes, Kings of Wrestling, Future Shock, American Wolves, All-Night Express, Bravado Bros.), and Davey Richards atop the cards taking himself too seriously, but despite myself I still enjoy the uniformity and solidness of the shows. I realize this sounds like a backhanded compliment. But dependability is a net positive. I can always toss a Ring of Honor event on and know I’m going to get some physical in-ring stuff, and will always respect what it takes to work that style.

EVOLVE – This has probably been the biggest surprise of my last few months’ binging. I think a lot of people think of EVOLVE as I did, only seeing their early shows which were always built on a big marquee indie dream match, then undercards that smelled suspiciously like Gabe (aka FIP, DG USA, ROH lite) that were dimly lit and sparsely attended. Then, there’s the latter day EVOLVE, when it was essentially an NXT/WWE feeder farm league. But what I watched recently was over a dozen shows from EVOLVE 47-75 era. And it’s an entirely different beast. While not quite an American cousin to Battlearts, it is very, very focused on limb work, grappling, and technical acumen. The regular crew featured guys like Tracy Williams, Zack Sabre Jr., Matt Riddle, Drew Gulak, Fred Yehi, and Timothy Thatcher. Then some other indie favorites like Chris Hero, Drew McIntyre, Gargano, Ricochet, etc. I don’t think it’d be for everyone’s tastes but I quickly fell down the rabbit hole and glad I finally discovered this lost era.

Chikara – I don’t know all the particulars of the controversies and the co. closing its doors. I don’t want to trudge out the old “separating the art from the artist” adage cinephiles use when screening the latest from Roman Polanski or Woody Allen, but in this case, I’ve tried doing just that and simply watching the events as they’re presented, in all their comic book shop nerdy glory. Former NHO staffers Geo & Adam were more on the Chikara train back then than NHO co-founder Jessie or I. But the shows are consistently fun. The aesthetic isn’t going to be for everyone. It’s like your high school band kids, theater clique, and D&D geeks decided to put on a wrestling show – complete with bad acoustic rock to open the card, Sunday School level wardrobe, and more comic ideas than James Gunn is channeling for his Chapter 1 – Gods & Monsters saga for the new DCU. Underneath the masks and the face paint is lots of talented folks.

The rest of the list are companies I had a much smaller sampling size at my disposal:

IWA M-S & IWA EC & GCW – I lumped the hardcore sleaze together. Saw Mid-South’s King of the Death Match ’16, East Coast’s Masters of Pain ’15 (and a few random events in a gymnasium), and a GCW Zandig Tournament of Survival (not sure the year offhand). Garbage wrestling is like convenience store junk food. You wouldn’t want to subsist on it but it can be a guilty pleasure. I’m going to reveal my hippie upbringing bonafides here but there is a part of me, conflicted isn’t the right word, but that does genuinely feel for a lot of these guys. I know that’s the antithesis of hardcore. One guy in particular, Danny Havok, shined so brightly on CZW shows, and when he’d pop up in other death match circuits, and to see him die so young is tragic. Alright, off my soapbox, if Insane Lane and Freakshow want to wallop the brain cells out of each other than who am I to interfere? Bring it on!

AIW & AAW – I virtually only knew both by name until this past year. And now I wish had been a fan for much longer. Representing Cleveland and Chicago I’ve lumped these two together because they share many similarities in terms of presentation and also roster. I won’t rifle through all the shows I saw, but some highlights were (AIW Don’t Feed Us After Midnight, Blood Sport, and They Live .. notice a cinematic theme there? And AAW’s Killers Among Us ’16 & Hell Hath No Fury ’15). A revolving door of familiar faces and regulars like Rhyno, Dan Severn, Sami Callihan, AR Fox, Josh Alexander, Silas Young, Eddie Kingston, Louis Lyndon, and Ethan Page.

HoH – This one is a bit of a cheat as it was actually a year or two ago I caught up on a few early House of Hardcore shows. Cards on the table, I’d really love it if anyone can hook me up with info on where I can purchase more HoH discs, or tips to available links, etc. as I kind of want to binge their entire run for the blog as a possible potential project. The mix of old ECW vibes with Northeast indie talent, and cameos from high-profile indy stars like Young Bucks, Austin Aries & other TNA contracted stars, etc. make for an uncanny hybrid that hits a sweet spot for yours truly. I’ve maybe seen 7-8 shows of theirs max though. Really want to see the one where Great Muta & Tommy Dreamer team up in the main event.

DG USA – When they first came upon the scene, an American offshoot of the popular Dragon Gate league in Japan, my friends of that time were gobbling up the DVDs like Baltimore baddies snorting up all the alley cocaine. I think looking back there’s some flaws that are harder to overlook. The events as filmed for DVD are often very poorly lit. The lack of storylines leads to a lot of the in-ring work feeling rote and mechanical. There’s def. a lack of spark or sizzle. Not just most but ALL of the roster felt like they were holding back as the DG talent were keeping their A game for their own fed, and the American indie talent were shining bigger elsewhere. There’s still some satisfaction to be had from tossing in an old Uprising, Enter the Dragon, or Untouchable card but adjust your expectations accordingly.

Beyond Wrestling – I don’t think back then any of my peers and pals were into Beyond or really even knew their shtick. And I can’t say I’m any authority either. To sum up what I’d heard back then was that these were oddity indie shows with stacked rosters, often with little to no fans invited, by the wrestlers for the wrestlers. In a very tight, cramped warehouse space that makes the APW Gym Wars look like Cowboys Stadium, a ring is crammed into a corner where an odd overhead angle records the action nondescriptly. But the shows I sampled (Party Animals, Battle of Who Would Care Less, and Beyond Flesh .. sounds like a Cronenberg film) were distinct and pretty entertaining. There were tiny crowds smooshed right up against the ring – couple dozen people max. I need to see more to say I really have a feel for what they’re going for but I’m intrigued.

TNA UWF – I’m running out of steam so will keep this short. This is race driver Hermie Sadler’s offshoot of TNA. Same roster. But working their matches like mid-90’s Memphis minus Jamie Dundee. So you’ll seeing very little bumps. Mostly just riling up the rubes in the crowd and getting the old ladies’ ire going. Lots of snot-nosed kids eating Kahn’s hot dogs in the front row with stains on their gently worn Nike shirts from Goodwill. I mean … they’ve got Maven working the stick for 9 minutes pre-match. So if you ain’t into territorial or fairground wrestling this isn’t going to move the needle. But if you want to watch Diamonds in the Rough versus The Naturals then this is your jam.

WWE Sunday Night Heat 8/16/98

2022-08-29T13:05:00.005-04:00

1. Mankind and Kane vs. LOD 2000 (Animal and Darren Drozdov) - 4

Pretty explosive. Lots of Beef 'N Cheddars flying around the canvas. At one point a chair is covertly slid into the ring just so Foley can take a bodyslam bump on it because this was '98 and he was all about sacrificing for DA BIZ~! Animal still had some nice pop on a shoulderblock. Kane's Tombstone on Animal looked potentially fatal.

2. Brian Christopher vs. Edge - 5

Edge in a trench coat like Morpheus with wild, long hair. Much cooler than he looks in 2022 with dad cut and Little Caesars belly. Heard Beth Phoenix likes hand tossed. Nasty little back suplex by Edge. Later while Edge is dazed on apron BC somersaults over him and busts out a sunset flip powerbomb on the floor!!! We're going to Korakuen Hall, bay-bay! Loved Christopher selling a spinebuster like a turtle stuck on its shell. Forgot how good BC's top rope legdrop was (even if he missed it here). Really dug this one

3. Vader vs. Bart Gunn - 2

This is in the midst of the Brawl for It All fiasco. Jim Ross literally had to call a replay of Gunn knocking out his boy Dr. Death a few days prior as this got underway. Vader hit one disgusting big slash on Bart. Was Gunn being taught a lesson here? Vader was def. giving him some potatoes and they weren't Idaho or even scalloped.

4. Gangrel vs. Scott Taylor - 3

The debut of Gangrel! He actually had a heck of a cool look here initially. His white frilly vampire shirt was covered in plasma and he was in better shape than he'd later slip into. Good squash.

5. Southern Justice (Dennis Knight and Mark Canterbury) vs. Degeneration-X (X-Pac and Triple H) - 3

X-Pac hit a GREAT spinkick in the corner on Knight. Sometimes in this era his kicks could be more Phantom than Billy Zane but this one was BOSS~! When I hear DK I think Donkey Kong or Dynamite Kid not Dennis Knight. Mark (aka Henry Godwinn) and Trips have some history. I've read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales but what I really want to do is read Mark Canterbury's Tales.

WWE Monday Night Raw 4/12/04

2022-06-12T12:01:00.002-04:00

1. Kane vs. Grandmaster Sexay - 2
2. The Masked Ninja vs. Tajiri - 1
3. Lita vs. Trish Stratus - 3
4. The Hurricane vs. Sylvain Grenier - 2
5. Evolution (Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Oton, and Batista) vs. Chris Benoit, Mick Foley, Shelton Benjamin, and Shawn Michaels - 4

Sexay was announced as making his return after a 2.5 year absence. Kane has made some horrid comments in the media this week downplaying gun violence in America on the heels of the Uvalde school massacre -- so fuck him. Grandmaster puts his goggles on a kids' face a la Bret Hart. Wonder if he kept them over the years and now they take up the right corner of his sock drawer. Basic squash to give Kane some momentum heading into whatever tedious feud he'd be booked into next. Jonathan Coachmen brings out a masked ninja portrayed under the costume shop outfit by Al Snow's hockey jersey collection. Some real mistimed strike exchanges. Ninja's kicks are Bischoff-level strip mall dojo quality. What agent thought it was a good idea to give Ninja 80% of the offense. Lita was to be a guest on Jericho's Highlight Reel but Stratus attacked her on the ramp which was then turned into an official bout. All kudos to Stratus who, we can now look back 20 years removed, was not just ahead of her peers at the time but one of the more complete women performers in the co. the last several decades. Bulk of action is a side headlock which Trish somehow keeps completely captivating by wrenching it and mugging. Dug Lita doing a monkey flip but keeping a hold of her opponent's hair to help her roll through to a top mount position to drop ground and pound. Gilbert Yvel take note. Bad fashion reigns from Trish's parachute pants to Christian who was at ringside wearing a shirt that looked like a Magic Eye picture. If you stop and stare at it closely, subtly crossing your eyes, it'll unlock an image of Gangrel holding a chalice and his pud. Non-finish brought it down as otherwise that was heading into recommended levels.

I'd like to say further study has proven Sylvain to be some under-appreciated lost super worker of the early aughts but that is not the case. I'd forgotten Helms' Green Lantern tattoo. I wonder if he was a fan of Ron Marz's run as head writer. Today's WWE product/content seems as assembly line as possibly ever with no rough edges -- but back in this era I was living within stone's throw of both OVW and HWA the farm league system for WWE, so had a lot of firsthand experience seeing guys who were being brought up to the big show or older talents not deemed needed for TV squandering last years of their in-ring career in-front of crowds of dozens (never forget Brian Adams aka Crush/The Demon walking in mid-show through fan entrance at an HWA show as a failed mega surprise appearance to a chorus of laughter). Other than one mean kneelift by Grenier and a silly finish involving Eugene's stuffed rabbit having its head ripped off this was utter dross. And now the reason I picked this random show, I woke up wanting to see a wild multi-man tag bout, and a cursory scroll through the 'net lead me to this listing, so here we are. Why didn't someone stop Flair at this point? Foley didn't even have to change when he arrived at the arena. Just "working" in black jeans and a Backlash t-shirt with a Wendy's chili stain. Crowd livens up for Benoit and Triple H squaring off. Shawn has worse hair of the whole bunch. The #1 movie in the country the week of this episode was Home on the Range and Flair's rubbery breasts look like udders. Michaels does a slingshot tumble over the top onto Evolution on the floor that looked on par with Papadon at a JAPW show. Give me Monsta Mack or Groot over Batista any day of the week. Fun to see Benoit and Flair trading chops and shots. Watching Shelton work the likes of T-Bar and Karrion Kross on WWE Main Event this past year he's looked so much slower, but back then he had crazy speed. Orton had taken crazy (amounts of) speed in the plane traveling to Chicago for this show. Overwritten choreographed vapid finishing stretch where all eight guys had to (attempt) to be in the right spot to make it all go off. Ultimately, Orton took the fall, then HBK and Benoit shared a moment together staring into each other's eyes as the show faded to black.

ROH Defy or Deny

2021-11-02T14:39:00.005-04:00

Here's a piece I abandoned a few weeks ago before I moved but wanted to share it in its inchoate state.

ROH Defy or Deny 3/18/11
Plymouth, MA

We didn't land on Plymouth, Mass -- it landed on .. oh, wrong oratory. Picked the most milquetoast ROH show from 2011 I could find. Just a mood.

Show starts with a Mike Bennett promo in-ring. Eventually everybody soured on his shtick but he had some charisma here, adds a little flourish of personality to the oft times flavorless ROH house show. Steve Corino comes out looking like a sixth grade kids' football coach, wearing ADIDAS track pants and gray cutoff shirt, his flabby arms looking like Gabourey Sidibe's dunked in non-dairy creamer. This shouldn’t have gone 12 minutes.

1. Mark Briscoe vs. Kyle O'Reilly - 4

Mark jerking curtain while his brother headlines. Kyle's gear looks like '93 Minnesota Timberwolves stuff. Maybe he's a Marlon Maxey fan. Nice missile dropkick off the apron by O'Reilly. Story of match was Briscoe "big brothering" him. This was almost 11 years ago now -- not the same KOR that regularly main events NXT shows nowadays, and Briscoe, who at 17 was wrestling at CZW shows, could now make the new young boy earn his keep. Finish was a powerbomb followed by the Froggy 'Bo.

2. All Night Express vs. Grizzly Redwood and Steve Corino - 5

Mix of shticks here. Seem to recall after a few years together ANX exceeded expectations and got pretty good. Alert the authorities: Corino threw a dropkick. Nice sequence of combo offense by ANX looked like a Streets of Rage combo melee. This almost had a bit of Southern tag charm which helped calcify it as fresh compared to the staid environment many Ring or Honor shows I attended often had.

CZW Eye For An Eye

2021-04-21T16:36:00.007-04:00

1. Pre-Show: Tyler Veritas vs. ??? vs. ??? vs. Erik C. Jones vs. Ernest Montgomery O'Keefe vs. Jimmy Starz vs. Justin Andrews vs. Sexy Steve (Junior Heavyweight Scramble) - 2
2. Jon Dahmer vs. Toby Klein - 4

Opener had a lot of emotionless automaton action with the scattershot group wandering from spot to spot sans any emotion or belief. It was like they were being controlled from offsite like mechs. Suplex bump on the floor less than 60 seconds into the bout tells you all you need to know about the layout of this tepid trainwreck. I don't get Dahmer. He shares a name with an obese murderer but is dressed up looking like a fatter version of Jamie Kennedy in Malibu's Most Wanted here? I wrongly thought I was going to have snark on Klein a noted deathmatch worker doing a straight up match but I was actually pretty charmed by his performance. He tried a few ambitious things like a springboard back elbow and a 180 splash off the top that weren't flawlessly executed but that sort of made them .. better? Like if your hillbilly pockmarked uncle tried out CMLL spots inside his trailer home. Dahmer dropped Toby on his head a couple times nastily including the match-ending "Murder Plex".

3. Greg Excellent vs. Devon Moore - 3
4. Drew Blood vs. Pinkie Sanchez - 5

Devon Moore always looked like the guy smoking cigarettes behind the grocery store. I have a disconnect with Excellent. I get that his appeal is he's supposed to be an everyman, as if a slob got up off their Doritos crumbs' covered sofa, and stepped into the ring -- but watching him wallow in a faded t-shirt he likely woke up in makes buying into his matches facile to me. Not a lot to say, main takeaway was Moore kicked out of all of Greg's big stuff, but the stakes were low. So back in college I randomly reviewed a previous Blood vs. Sanchez bout. Since that past bout was from CZW's 10th Anniversary show I assumed they were probably given more leeway then, but I was wrong, as here they went "Full Tilt Boogie" to borrow a phrase from Terry Bollea. While this had some slop, they righted the balance by laying a lot of their offense in. They botched the same spot they blundered in their other match where Pinkie gets whipped into the guardrail but hops up, balances, then leaps back off to attempt a hurricanrana. Last act of the match is full of "holy shit!" moments: my favorites were Sanchez getting launched by a German suplex onto an opened chair in the corner of the ring, a truly horrendous running version of Takao Omori's Axe Guillotine Driver off the apron by Pinkie onto four opened chairs on the cement floor, and finally, a running powerslam/Michinoku Driver hybrid by Blood directly into the steel ring post outside the ring. I really wanted to gift this a "6" but the ending with a "fan" leading to a distraction finish took some of the wind out of my sails.

5. Egotistico Fantastico vs. Ryan McBride - 3

Break out the Carhartt gear because these boys are going to work! 😂 So this wasn't my cup of ginseng. McBride I struggle to see the appeal of. Guy in gear with a clipart cloverleaf, bad tribal tattoos that reek of casino MMA undercard, and working highspot style sans sizzle. Only spot of note was McBride splattering a chair outside the ring after a running somersault that Fantastico dodged. Appears match was legit ended prematurely after Ryan took a hellacious bump into the ringpost shoulder-first and was injured. Guess he should have swung by Mandalore on the way to the ECW Arena to get some beskar steel. Had a chuckle when they handed him the mic as he winced and shuffled to the back with the aid of staff and as he went to speak the DVD cut to the next segment.

6. BLK-OUT (Sabian and Ruckus) vs. Alex Colon and LJ Cruz - 3
7. Team AnDrew (Andy Sumner and Drew Gulak) vs. The Best Around (Bruce Maxwell and TJ Cannon) - 2

Next match starts with the announcement Ruckus took a better payday to wrestle elsewhere that night then 3 seconds later he walks out anyway to zero reaction as Robby Mireno chortles they swerved everybody. LJ Cruz comes out solo and gets worked over for a few min. until Alex Colon joins him. Sabian points out to the cameraman a guy in the front row looks like Eddie Kingston. Crazy dumb spot where Cruz does this massive double ax-handle off the top to the floor but Sabian was already lying down so LJ busts his own knees falling from 9 ft. up onto concrete. Colon seemingly stole Super Nova's old trash bag Venom trunks. Poor execution on the finish where Sabian seemingly could have broken up the pinfall but fails to. It was supposed to be scripted discord but didn't translate. I've seen more than a half-dozen TBA matches before and they instantly vanish from memory due to the most generic of indy-chaining together-spots work and bland personalities. The pink and black vinyl ring gear, etc. it's all just dreadfully dull. Gulak is quietly one of the very best wrestlers in the WWE currently, regularly turning in work on WWE Main Event that blows whatever stupid shit The Fiend is doing this month out of the water. This match wasn't much though and at this point, on the day after my second Covid-19 vaccination, my headache and fatigue put me in a weird somnambulist state which this match's non-finish (thanks to an interruption and Gage's grotty ego) didn't help alleviate.

8. Nick Gage vs. Deranged - 2

9. The Switchblade Conspiracy (Sami Callihan and Jon Moxley) vs. Brain Damage and Drake Younger - 5

Was still in a mental fog during the Gage bout but man I really didn't find much at all to like therein. Recently saw a Nick Gage vs. Necro Butcher gem from an IWA M-S "King of the Death Match" show in-front of maybe 22 people. This was more of an angle than a match. Humpty Dumpty Deranged took the requisite disgusting bumps like being press-slammed off the top down onto several chairs below on the floor, and we had some broken panes of glass, large barbed wire wrapped boards, etc. but the pacing or flow was non-existent and lead to a real wet fart of a finale where Gage sprayed Deranged with lighter fluid looking like a kid with a squirt gun at East View swimming pool in Hamilton, OH circa 1991 forcing him to quit instead of being barbecued. Also had random asides like Nate Hatred coming out and putting meth head Billy Gram through a table at ringside that only further denigrated it. Main event begins spilling over from the last segment. Jon and Sami came from right here in my hometown Cincinnati and I got the opportunity to watch and meet them both at local shows. This was a period where they were spreading their wings and gaining notoriety and buzz. They clearly elevate the material in a big, big way here. CZW seemed very insular for a long time and these maniacs were injecting some much needed spice. Moxley especially shined here wearing the proverbial crimson mask. He let Damage really go to town on his head with a fork. Sami is great at unhinged and Younger was as reliable a hand as the co. had at that point. There's a few garbage spots for the fan with bloodlust but this really stands out as a time capsule for these guys' explosion in the scene. Callihan cuts an exquisite promo post-match running down CZW and its locker room of failed backyard wrestlers (his words) and uncouth reprobates (mine). Trent Acid comes out and drills Sami -- I later at an HWA event asked Callihan specifically about working Acid but I'll keep the contents of that conversation private. Upon researching it -- looks like Acid's last match was at JCW's Oddball Bonanza, a card that featured a handicap match where Isis went over Frick, Frack, and Fuck, just three months before his untimely death.

First-ever WCW Saturday Night Match

2021-03-09T12:50:00.001-05:00

I wanted to look at the inaugural broadcast, the premiere, the very first episode of WCW Saturday Night. Upon reflection arguably my favorite televised wrestling show? As a kid Saturdays at 6:05PM I was in-front of the TV. This show was always appointment viewing. I'd be in the backyard shooting hoops or with friends recreating Jean-Claude Van Damme's Cyborg and rush straight in. Fun open where it looks like Jesse Ventura hacks into TBS' live feed and barks at the production crew to "put on that new music I brought in!"

Flyin' Brian (c) vs. Brad Armstrong - World Light Heavyweight Championship Match - 4

Armstrong's American flag jacket calls to mind flea market goers buying swords and venison. Don't know if it's mental whiplash due to there not being live crowds at wrestling shows this past year but those in attendance at this taping seemed incredibly and enthusiastically loud. Bungle where Pillman got whipped into the turnbuckle and attempted to scale it to leap off but lost his footing. Ross is great talking about Brad's 10 pound weight advantage and lending morsel of credibility. Lots of sitting in holds by Armstrong without much visible torque. Nice spot where Armstrong ascended to top buckle and Pillman leapt up to him with a dropkick to send Brad tumbling off. Highlight sees Pillman go for a humungous dropkick off the top rope and Armstrong counter it with a standing dropkick of his own. Good nearfall off Armstrong reversing the momentum of a top rope crossbody by Pillman. Pillman scales the buckles yet again for massive air time on a big splash but Armstrong got his knees up. I bit on a few of the false finishes which made the immediacy of the Pillman springboard clothesline that ended things come off pretty good. Felt sudden and less orchestrated. Interesting to see what framed a "Light Heavyweight" bout back then. Tons of top rope offense.

For posterity, elsewhere on this halcyon broadcast was the facial hair fractals of DDP & Cactus Jack vs. the Freebirds, a Rick Rude squash, and the first-ever WCWSN main event of Z-Man versus "Stunning" Steve Austin in a 2 out of 3 Falls bout.

Mercedes Martinez vs. Rhea Ripley – Steel Cage Match

2020-09-14T11:00:00.008-04:00

Mercedes Martinez vs. Rhea Ripley – Steel Cage Match – NXT Super Tuesday II 9/9/20 - 5

Pre-match Martinez is digging under the ring pulling out a table like she’s Snoopy rummaging in the garage to retrieve chairs for Charlie Brown’s makeshift Thanksgiving meal and Rhea attacks from behind to get us underway. Ripley is a favorite among Hot Topic shoppers everywhere. Rhea ducked a chairshot but didn’t take much effort as Mercedes swung it 3 ft. above opponent’s head like she was swatting a fly. Rhea’s gear has more studs and chains on it than Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising. Sad to say Mercedes’ opportunity in WWE came about six years too late – she could have been a major player. Anyone else get distracted by Drake Younger as a referee? Like I can’t help but think his internal monologue is going something like, “Hell, I’d have taken a Death Valley Driver off the top of this damn cage onto a table on a gymnasium floor if this was Indianapolis”. Both women were perched on the top turnbuckle to see Mercedes hit a Shane Helms-like flying neckbreaker for a highlight. They set up a table and Ripley hits her patented Riptide finisher (sort of a pump-handle powerbomb) off the 2^nd buckle (why not the top?) for the finish.