Pro Wrestling Ponderings

ROH on HDNet 09.21.09 Review

Well after missing last weeks show review mostly in part for going to the Chicago show where there will be a special write up coming right after I get some photos and everything put together, I wanted to say out there that this week we definitely got something special and monumental. We got the A Double L Double. Austin Aries Lethal Lottery. Good stuff. The promo ability of this man has always entertained me and from the get go you knew that this could be a great segment from the start. Unfortunately one man isn’t too pleased with this segment and that would be one Kenny Omega who was overseas and thus when his name was pulled from the hat that Austin Aries brought with him to clearly fairly choose his opponent, he was not in the building. But after much contemplation we got another lucky winner and truly it would be a “test” for A Double. Grizzly Redwood would be the first man to challenge Austin Aries based on the A Double L Double challenge.

What this match lacked in main event feel it surely scored high in entertainment. It was short, but truly the simplest psychology was there. Redwood got to hit many of his spots including lifting Aries up over his head which could not have been easy for a man of his stature. But in the end it was Aries who vanquished the “littlest lumberjack” with his finisher of choice, the brain buster. I have to say that this match was an entertaining start and really didn’t do anything but what it was suppose4d to do which was enrage the crowd and put more heat upon Austin Aries.

We got a segment announcing the surprise from last week which was Ladder War 2 coming to New York and we also got a little history piece done for the feud between Kingston and Hero that will take place in the same city.

Next up we had Mr. Choo Choo himself Erick Stevens going up against Brandon Day. Another squash match for Stevens as we are getting to see more and more of him. Obvious build towards upper mid card status and this is probably the best way to do it. A resurgence of his character standing was definitely a step that Stevens needed and anything to erase the memory of The Resilience would be fantastic.

Tyler Black gets some more promo time and this can only give him the tools he needs to get his speaking ability up to where he can make a good match into a great match with the help of his words. Another interview segment done as we are seeing Bryan Danielson in one of his last HDNet showings as he teams with the great Roderick Strong and KENTA to go up against The American Wolves and Chris Hero. Only good things can come out of this main event and I do hope that it comes across well on television.

Jimmy Rave to go up against Necro Butcher as the toilet paper comes flying, something I got to see live again this past weekend but something that never gets old. The carnage these two put themselves through could not possibly be surpassed by this television match but had I seen this match before the event this weekend it would definitely have gotten me ready as this simple brawl really just made the fans crave more from these two. I’ve always been a semi fan of Bison Smith as he plays his role of a big brooding brawler to perfection whether I see it in Japan or when I watched it on Pro Wrestling IRON tapes. I do believe that this could be the beginning of another feud for Necro that could pan out into some entertaining brawls and bloody forays.

We get a history package of Brent Albright against Claudio Castagnoli as next weeks show is going to be main evented by a steel cage match for the first time ever on HDNet.

We finally get to our main event and this one for sure is going to deliver on all fronts. Nothing short of a great ROH main event that would be worthy of any main event placing on a DVD release. I have to say that there are strong feelings that Roderick Strong is being placed in the main event and for very good reason. This match showcased that any of the five men who competed with Bryan Danielson deserver to be in the main event of any ROH event. I would even have to say that Edwards really stepped up his game here and showed that given the right opportunity he could also be in the higher echelon of singles competition in Ring of Honor. A great story was told as all men gave it their all, even the dastardly work of the heels wasn’t ruined by any outside interference from Shane Hagadorn which really added to the match because no one wanted to see any shenanigans in this one. When it came to the end though, clearly a win over Edwards doesn’t hurt either Hero or Richards, but still it meant enough that Strong will be perceived highly after winning such a bout of pure action and fortitude. Great main event that definitely is within the four star range, if not more. Thanks for reading and hope you tune in for more.

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09/07/09 ROH on HDNet

Welcome back readers. We are starting out with an exciting match as we have the duo of Rhett Titus and Kenny King against the returning heroes of ROH, The Briscoe Bros. A great tag team outing as for the first time we see the Briscoes as a team on HDNet, but it’s the youngin’s that are showing their mettle. Diverting attention of both brothers, making sure that their opponent is in their corner, and even then securing their dominance by practically cutting off Mark from Jay for most of the match. I’ll paraphrase D’Lo Brown from the BTR radio show this week in that the true measure of a wrestler is not about when he enters the ring and runs roughshad over his opponent, but it’s when the wrestler can make his opponent look like he’s beating him when under “normal” circumstances it wouldn’t be so. The Briscoes have always been able to do that for other tag teams. All the way to the finish the team of Titus and King looked like they were always within a hairs chance of winning, but with the Doomsday Device, the brothers secure another victory.

American Wolves come out and run down the Briscoes Bros. from the entrance way. But just to show how great the tag division is, Steenerico comes out and practically throws the American Wolves in the ring. After a short beat down, a surreal moment occurs when the team of Steenerico faces off against The Briscoe Bros. with each team holding one tag team belt as the American Wolves yell from the ringside. A great feud just waiting to happen between those three teams.

Nigel interview segment as he’s asked about Lynn and Black. Such a great promo man is Nigel and I do hope that the scripted promos in the fed don’t leech any of his charisma away. Damn I miss the spiked hairdo. The lasting moments after Durden stated that Nigel never gives a clear answer was gold, akin to The Rock staring down Coachman.

Eddie Kingston is out and ready for some action. Hero’s music blasts in darkness but of course who comes out to disappoint is the one and only Shane Hagadorn. Sal Rinauro is beckoned out by Hagadorn and once he backs into Kingston, he kneels down to pray. One spinning backfist later and the match is over as quick as it began. Furthering the fans want to see Hero versus Kingston. They have been building this since July and really this may be stretching it a tad thin as these squash matches are beginning to become redudant.

Another squash match as Nigel McGuinness takes on Aaron Scott. Nothing against Scott, but to make your in ring debut against a former great ROH champion is surely a daunting task. “Kill The Jobber” chants sound off at the beginning of this match and that is pretty much what Nigel starts doing from the get go. A great showing of what Nigel can do and obviously supposed to be a warm up, a warm up that may not get to second gear as most of the internet community knows that Nigel, alongside Bryan Danielson, is going to the WWE in principle. But that doesn’t mean he can’t give us an entertaining match up against Aaron Scott and he does just that with a great showing of his catch and submission style. Aaron gets a few moments of offense as he gets a reversal on the former champ but Nigel quickly returns to the dominant position. Glimers of hope for the young Aaron Scott but it would be Nigel who gets the win with a… DDT? Seemed to be a botched spot as Nigel was clearly going for the Jawbreaker Lariat but Scott dropped his head to “avoid” it but at the same time it did get across that Nigel can finish off an opponent with any weapon from his arsenal so perhaps the point did get across.

Great video package shown for the main event of the night of Jerry Lynn going up against the upstart Tyler Black who seemingly is the choosen one to reign as next ROH world champion. We’ll have to wait and see on that one, but I have predicted before that before or even perhaps at Final Battle 2009, we’d see Black finally reach that brass ring and win the big one. As I am going to the Sept. 19th ROH show in Chicago, I can’t wait to see Danielson and Black hook it up one last time for the forseeable future. The match begins, and as so many others that these two men have had, technical savvy is the starting point.

Obviously the point to get across is that Tyler has matured in the ring and can get those elusive wins in the singles department. From a TV timeline, they are pushing that the win over Nigel is the first step, but that he has a ways to go to become a contender. I seem to remember a certain PPV match where he took then champion Nigel to the limit and really showed his potential in that match. At this stage though, the television crowd is just learning what Tyler Black bas shown fans over the last two years on DVD and on PPV. I would also like to point out that I feel the reason that some are down on Jerry Lynn is because we have seen the greatness that is Lynn and perhaps are a tad jaded and some feel that there is nothing new Jerry can show them. I’m not sold on that yet as I feel perhaps a heel Jerry Lynn could reinvigorate his character in ROH.

Great back and forth action as Jerry Lynn shows speed of men half his age mixed with respectable holds and counter holds by both competitors. You can almost feel the mood in the building change as both men really are beginning to pick it up a notch. Silently and almost as if to surprise the men in the ring,Nigel has come to ringside to not only join the spectators, but to issue out some opinions. The reasons are his alone, but it is clear that he means to make sure both men know what he’s thinking. The crowd seems to notice but at the same time can’t tear their eyes from the action in the ring. Each resounding two count earns more and more cheers from the crowd for either competitor, but it would see that while neither man wants to give up, they both don’t have much left in the tank. Turnbuckle bomb and right into the super kick but soon we see a glimor of Nigel’s plan as he puts Lynns foot on the rope for the count break. Even the kids in the front row seem to be pleading with Black to not take his eyes off of Lynn, but it could be too soon too late as Lynn gets a small package and the win. Great match to end the night and it would seem that Black and Nigel are going to have at least one face off before the ROH legend goes to the WWE. Thanks for reading folks.

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08/31/2009 ROH on HDnet review

So here it is folks, Team Cabana against the Embassy in a huge tag team match for the main event. But we have some action before we get there.

Delrious joined by the lobely Daizee Haze is ready to go up against the soon to be rapper Sonjay Dutt. Two guys who got killed by Samoa Joe in his early TNA tenure are about to excite the crowd with both of their unique styles. Delirious hears the bell and the madness begins, too bad his mind can be easily manipulated in other areas. I will say that their styles compliment each other in that we have the aggressive style of Delirious while Sonjay is able to counter him and use his speed against a man who isn’t too shabby in the quicks department. Gotta add that Hog asking Prazak if he spoke Klingon made me chuckle. Huge amounts of offense out of Sonjay that as one would expect would take him off of his feet while he tries to weaken the resolve of Delirious in order to get a three count. Delirious gets the win with a roll up and a sign of respect at the end of the match with a sporting hand shake between the two opponents.

Embassy promo with the idea that they are going to get rid of their opponents and rise to the top of the ROH ladder. While I’m not convinced that the members of the official Embassy are really going to rise to the top, I will say that with this big tag match, we could see some entertaining spots.

American Wolves against Cheech & Cloudy is our second match of the night and honestly I don’t see this being more than a glorified squash match. The former Special K members get pounded from the get go from these stiff wrestlers in the form of the American Wolves but they soon send the ROH Tag Team Champions to the floor but make that fatal mistake of going high risk against a team that isn’t entirely out of it. I enjoy the work of Cheech & Cloudy in CHIKARA and other indy federations, but I can’t say that the American Wolves are going to have much trouble with these two who combine high flying and speed expertly but the American Wolves aren’t far behind in the quicks department and are just tough as nails. A half crab later and the ROH Tag Team Champions have their win. Don’t expect to see any sportsman like behavior from the Wolves as they make us suffer the sight of Shane Hagadorn again for another week. Dark City Fight Club rush to the ring and the rough and tough tandem make an example out of Cheech, even gaining some notice from the tag team champs.

Team Cabana promo. Brent Albright is just plain stupid as Sgt. Meathead. Colt can do the funny stuff and has the timing of Bob Saget, but god damn why is Brent even trying this babyface look. Grizzly Redwood and Necro follow and honestly this did not make me any more interested in the main event.

Jerry Lynn tells us why his next weeks match against Tyler Black could be one more important match in his history and to be honest it could be a very telling sign of where he’s ging to go.

Silas Young versus Erick Stevens this week as two power houses of the ROH roster are going to go head to head. I have seen lots of good things out of both men, and with just a little adjustment, Stevens could be a huge player for ROH in the future if only he would work on his schtick. He definitely has a look that could be distinctive, but as always the gift of gab may be the clincher to his success in this business. Great heel work from Young as this midwest talent continues to impress me with his in ring abilities. Be sure to check out the sit down Jerome Cusson of Pro Wrestling Ponderings had with Silas Young at an AAW event alongside the Phoenix Twins as a wondering Jimmy Jacobs also chimes in. Cheap plugs coming about, also be sure to check out the sit down Jerome had with DGUSA announcer and commentator Phil Colvin this week as that is also up on the website. Anyway back to the match at hand. These two larger members of the ROH roster show they aren’t afraid to go to the ropes to gain some impact, a great example by Young as he goes for a split legged moonsault but is able to land on his feet when he sees that Stevens isn’t there. One Doctor Bomb later though and Erick Stevens shows why his slight experience advantage in ROH over Young gives him the edge this time around. Would like to see program between these two if done correctly.

“God’s Middle Child” Eddie Kingston is back again to vent about Chris Hero. These vignettes have gone a long time and really the build to this match up has been done in other promotions so many times over that in a way this is overkill. Not to say that I’m not looking forward to it, but with it being done in so many other places they are really milking this a tad too far.

Main event time as a “classic Survivor Series” style tag match pitting The Embassy (Jimmy Rave, Claudio Castagnoli, Prince Nana, Ernie Osiris) against Colt Cabana, Necro Butcher, Brent Albright, and Grizzly Redwood. On a side note, I would have much preferred Bison Smith to Ernie Osiris any day of the week as really this ROH student has not shown anything but being able to take a decent bump, and sometimes it’s messed up even then. Prince Nana breaking out a ring outfit that I haven’t seen him in since his ECWA days. ROH students in the ring as we have Redwood against Osiris and while they are doing some decent basic manuevers, I just don’t see why Osiris is in the match. Redwood shows that he is lightyears ahead of Osiris, probably just by the experience he has outside of ROH while I am pretty damn sure that Osiris hasn’t worked in any other promotion. I could be wrong and if I am please feel free to comment on that as I would like to know the whereabouts of the ROH students. Great segment as the crowd is used to interact with the babyface team as they put the stretch on Double C and use the leverage of the entire front row on their side. Gotta admit that while ROH may not be what it once was persay, it still gives the fans experiences that they will remember and probably can’t get anywhere else from the major two of this profession. Though apparently in the fed we do have “fans” running in to help those who they feel akin to, or just may be kin to but that aside. Colt Cabana’s moonsault to the outside of the ring is still a thing of beauty as I recall the first time I saw it in a four way that is now a ROH classic that also included Homicide, BJ Whitmer, and Dan Maff of the Prophecy. Osiris eliminates Redwood in what I would say is an upset. Albright and Claudio battle it out to the fans and get themselves eliminated. While I understand what the point of that was, at the same time it was pretty dumb for Albright to leave his team mates at such a disadvantage, even though marginally it is only Osiris that gives The Embassy their advantage.

Sick bump as Necro’s leg takes a swanton onto a chair from Osiris and dear god it really did look like could have broken the leg in half. Heel hook later and Necro is gone but luckily Osiris is eliminated soon after following a Colt 45 by Cabana. Rave and Nana are left with Cabana and this could be an interesting match from this point on if Nana is left alone with Colt. I will say at this point, this main event has been better than I thought it would be and definitely at least two stars more than what I would have given it credit for based on paper. Prince Nana finally gets into the ring and I must say he has definitely lost a lot of weight from when I watched him in ECWA. Jimmy Rave eliminated with a roll up and when Nana reacts to the elimination it is pure gold. Nana taps out to give Team Cabana the win and send the viewing fans home happy at the conclusion of this main event. Definitely a better episode than what I thought it was going to be, only further proving to me that I shouldn’t always be so down on the ROH product until I see it for myself, despite what I may feel or read elsewhere. Thanks again readers.

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Ring of Honor on HDNet 08/24/2009

Welcome back ROH readers. We have a great show to get to so lets get to it. We opened up with a video package of how we got to our reigning ROH World champ Austin Aries. We also get the word that Jerry Lynn has a significant message for the ROH fan base.

Great tag team match up as we have Steenerico against Tony Kozina and “The New Horror” Sami Calahan. A decent opening bout against a tandem with the experience of Kozina and ability of Calahan against a veteran team here in ROH of “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen and “The Generic Luchadore” El Generico. Fast paced as both teams really bring it to the table. Sam Calahan hopefully will have time to shine here in Ring of Honor as he’s just in 5th gear the entire match. Great ring work by Kevin Steen as always. Kozina just seems a step behind the youngsters in the ring, but don’t let that fool you as he does get his shots in and really rocks the favorites in this match. But it would be the package piledriver/brain buster combo that puts Steenerico in the winners line. Great match that I would have to say sets the tone for the rest of the show. I hope that Steen and Generico get another chance to be ROH tag team champions as they just have the heart of a Canadian Mountee….well maybe a Hispanic mountee also if there were such things.

Roderick Strong interview coming up. Roderick points out what he brings to the table and boasts of the list of opponents he’s beaten to prove to “A Double” that he is more than worthy of being in the ring with the ROH world champion and I do hope he can prove that in the main event. These former partners and ROH tag champions really know each other inside and out so it’s a no brainer that their match will be a great showcase of what Ring of Honor is all about.

D’Lo Brown against John Kerman. Congrats to D’Lo for another miracle brought to the D’Lo nation in the form of a 7 pound beautiful baby girl recently. Kerman looks good in this match, for all the offense he’s able to get in, and I’m sure that we will see John Kerman back on the ROH TV show. But for what it’s worth, D’Lo is a world renown athlete and there isn’t much Kerman can bring to the table that D’Lo hasn’t seen before. D’Lo, a favorite of mine from his time in Japan and even his WWE 90s run, despite some naysayer’s I feel has added to the ROH product and with a slow burn perhaps will find his way into the ROH title picture. He has many tools that he has yet to show to the American audience, as proven by his matches in Japan. I have often heard him say that in Japan he breaks out moves because of the competition there, but I am sure that in ROH he will find the same heart and skill that will force him to break it out when he mixes it up with the higher competitors. Top rope Sky High Rydeen bomb gets D’Lo Brown the win. Great post match segment with Durden as D’Lo, not only irritated about never being interviewed until now, but that he is asked about Jerry Lynn. For a guy who “can’t talk” he certainly gets his point across in top fashion.

Top segment from The Embassy as we have Prince Nana, Double C, and Jimmy Rave really show what they feel about the Colt Cabana faction. I don’t have the highest hopes for this match in the future, but these clusters of action have always been entertaining and I’m willing to give it a shot.

Next up is Nigel being who he is as he speaks about Black beating him last week, vowing that it will never happen again. Nigel’s speaking ability is second to none in ROH and I do hope that ROH does everything they can to keep this man if the fed comes knocking.

Tyler Black, who had a recent interview on Figure 4 Daily with Bryan Alvarez, is in the ring as they cut off Nigel and Black has something to say. He speaks on Jerry Lynn possibly retiring and how he feels that he is a future ROH champion. Here comes Jerry Lynn to address the crowd and the fans are awaiting what he has to say. He comments on D’Lo wanting him to “shrivel up and die” while also letting everyone know he’s only 45, not 65 or even 84, sorry had to bring it up. I also want to point out that the current Jerry Lynn shirt isn’t that bad in my opinion for the pure reason that I could wear it in public and no one would have any negative thoughts on it, though I will say I’ve always gotten positive remarks about my No Remorse Corp shirt.

The main event is up as we have Roderick Strong against his former partner ROH World Champion Austin Aries. Furry jacket is damn awesome as he’s definitely channeling Michael Hayes, as well as having pink furry calf warmers that really do the trick. With Danielson gone, Roderick Strong has a unique chance to really up his game and place himself in the upper echelon of ROH, especially while the ROH faithful have accepted him back into their good graces.

These two are at it fast and furious as both are bringing their A game in this HDNet main event. These two have always meshed well and perhaps an iron man or two out of three falls match could help bring Strong up to that level that most feel he could be at. Despite being the heel, Aries still works a very similar style as to what he is known for. He doesn’t even take the short cuts, he just works his style thrown in with glaring showcases of arrogance a la Shawn Michaels circa 1992. While Roderick Strong has been pushed as the power man, the enforcer even when he was in Generation Next, Aries looks to be equal if not more thick muscular wise than Strong. Perhaps a little bit more work on his physique could give Roderick a more defining look, but that is just picking hairs as both men are in great conditioning and obviously could have matches that go the distance.

What we have is a pair of competitors that if booked correctly could bring back those must see matches for ROH DVDs. Bring in either Davey Richards or Chris Hero and you have a top tier of wrestlers that could reinvigorate the ROH fan base again in droves. With the influx of NOAH special show casings, and a larger working relationship with PWG we could see ROH bring back some of that spark that has seemingly been missing for a tad amount of time. Roderick and Aries could be that feud that brings back the old guard of fans as long as they are pushed correctly and not blown up too quickly. Aries gets the win with his feet on the ropes and we definitely must have a continuation of this budding feud. Great way to end the show and a great main event that should bring in any ROH fan into the product.

Thank you for reading and thank you for supporting PWP. Look for some special things coming including exclusive interviews and some live reporting done.

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Tonight is going to be a short review of the episode as I have longer column coming out for the first of my themed column Strikes & Bumps. Thoughts during the episode were as follows:

It was an ok episode. Thought the tag team in the beginning was just what it was and tried to spur along the feuds going on with the Embassy. I smell a Caged Warfare match coming again for the Embassy.

Delirious vs Young was nothing more than a long squash. Never felt that Young even had a chance.

Mark squash was expected as you’re not going to bury him against a high end talent and Payne simply took a beating.

Tyler vs Nigel should be fun and they are hyping it well which is decent and good for the television.

Great ending to the show as the match gets thrown out after a good back and forth match but really the larger issue of Steenerico vs American Wolves is just a feud that keeps me interested and keeps me wanting more. Good way to end the show.

As I eluded to I have a larger column I’m writing for PWP later this week so keep an eye out for that as I would love your feedback and anyone who reads my next column and comments back will get an emailed gift from me as long as you post your email when you comment. Thanks again for supporting PWP.

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Welcome to another edition of the Impact Report. I’m Zack Danielson as usual, and tonight’s main event on Impact is Brutus Magnus vs. Sting. That should be decent. Now I was there live for some of the matches live as they taped a few matches for this edition of Impact on the second night of Impact tapings I went to. So here we go:

-We get a recap of last week’s 200th Edition of Impact. Afterwards, we see a video from earlier today showing Eric Young and Kurt Angle showing up together in a limo. I smell something fishy…..

-After Pyro, Main Event Mafia come down to the ring. Angle states last weeks title change involving the Legends Title is null and void. Kevin Nash will get a rematch for the Legends Title against the current champ, Mick Foley, at Hard Justice. Oh Joy. Angle goes on to say that MEM was forced to strike a deal. Out comes The World Elite. Everyone shakes hands with each other. Young says together as a unit, MEM and Elite will be revered as the greatest team of wrestlers ever assembled and will take over TNA. Well this could actually be good, because it could get The World Elite over as a major main event stable in TNA, and it cold get Young over as a main event player. We’ll see where this will go from here.

-In the back, Jeremy Borash wants to get an opinion from Mick Foley. Foley is MAD!!! Foley is going to give WAR to the Mafia and the Elite. Lashley and Sting come in and say they have Foley’s back. I’m almost certain not all three of them can take out 11 guys.

- Lauren is with Daniels, who has Young tonight. Daniels is pissed at Young for being a traitor and a big asshole. This is one of the worst promos I’ve heard from Daniels. The Guns interrupt and act surprised about the camera being there and real. MTV, Machine Gun TV. Funny stuff. Daniels lays into them and tells them to get noticed, and the way to do that is to go out with Daniels. Presumably to turn on him, right?

Match #1. Daniels (w/Motor City Machine Guns) vs. Eric Young (w/Kiyoshi and Sheik Bashir)

-MCMG are out there, but aren’t really paying attention to the match as they are reading game magazines. Probably trying to find cheat codes for that latest Batman game. This was a decent match. Young got the victory after a Piledriver onto Daniels. Mike Tenay was trying to act like the Piledriver is a move that other TNA wrestlers agreed not to use since it could possibly end a career. That does give Young more heat to the TV Viewers. After the match, Kiyoshi and Bashir take out Sabin and Shelley with sliding baseball dropkicks. Oh those evil foreigners.

Winner: Eric Young (via pin at 5:00) **1/4

-Lauren is with Team 3D and Beer Money who are teaming up tonight. Roode talks about how him and Young used to travel around on the indies together, and how they both begged for a job in TNA. Roode is PISSED! that Young turned his back on TNA.  Ray says he has more reason to be pissed because Young cost them the IWGP titles. Well not really, the match wasn’t sanctioned. Awesome promo by Roode though.

Match #2. The British Invasion (Rob Terry and Doug Williams w/Brutus Magnus) and Main Event Mafia (Booker T and Scott Steiner w/Sharmell) vs. Beer Money (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon)

-I’m a fan of eight man tags, so this was a match I’m looking forward to. God Terry looks like Steiner’s older, bigger and stronger brother. Well thanks to our wonderful pal Russo, midway through the match almost all the TNA roster spills out and brawls on the outside while the match is still happening. Not sure why the ref. didn’t call a DQ. Ending comes when Traci Brooks pushes Roode off the top rope and Terry hits him with a spinebuster for the win. There was some good action in the match, especially when Steiner wasn’t in the ring.

Winners: MEM and British Invasion (via pin at 7:00) **

-Everyone on the outside are still brawling even after the match is over. Sting and Foley are going at it with Nash and Angle, Eric Young, Kiyoshi and Bashir are going at it with the Machine Guns and Daniels, Lashley and Samoa Joe are going at it, everyone in the 8-man tag are still going at it, ITS FUCKING CRAZY OUT THERE! After a commercial, THERE STILL BRAWLING!!! Some guys are fighting in the ring, some are in the locker room, and most are fighting outside the Impact Zone. Everyone on the outside are using weapons like trashcans, chairs, tables, hell whatever they can grab. Security and other TNA staff members are trying to control it, but no luck. Finally, Police are here to stop this riot. I like that, only cause that seems more realistically that Police would have to break it up. This brawl was really well planned, and thought it added tons of more heat in all these feuds, even the mid-card feuds.

Match #3. Sarita and Taylor Wilde vs. Alissa Flash and Traci Brooks

-Always great to see Flash and Sarita lock it up in the ring. Might just be me, but Traci’s boobs look to be even bigger this week. This is one of those matches I got to see live, and the crowd definitely seemed into this match. Sarita and Flash really show great chemistry out in the ring, and I really hope they have more matches with each other in the near future. And of course they showed that great chemistry in this match, and even Traci looked good in her first real match in TNA in almost a year. Sarita and Taylor get the win after Sarita pins Flash again with a small package. Good match. After the match, both Flash and Brooks attack Wilde and Sarita. Flash nails Sarita with a Michinoku Driver, and Traci kisses Wilde on the forehead. Oh how sweet of her.

Winners: Sarita and Taylor Wilde (via pin at 5:05) **1/2

- Backstage, Lauren is with The Beautiful people, saying that there’s a four-corner match next week: Kong vs Love vs ODB vs Tara. Love also challenges ODB to a match at Hard Justice for the Knockouts Title.

-Kip James is cleaning up the mess made by the brawl in the back, as well he should be. Hernandez arrives at the Impact Zone wondering what the hell just happened.

-Lauren is with AJ. He says it’s like they’re in a crazy house. He’s never seen anything like this in his seven years. Nothing is going to take away his focuse though. He says he’s one win away from getting a spot in the main event at Hard Justice.

-Hard Justice card is run down:

IWGP Tag Team Titles: British Invasion(c) vs. Beer Money

TNA World Tag Team Titles: Booker T and Scott Steiner(c) vs. Team 3D

TNA X-Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. Homicide(c)

TNA Knockouts Title: Angelina Love(c) vs. ODB

TNA Legends Title: Mick Foley(c) vs. Kevin Nash (UGH)

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Sting vs. AJ Styles or Matt Morgen

-Looks good so far. Tenay and West forgot to mention the X-Division Steel Asylum Match. Dammit TNA!

-Tenay has a sit-down interview with Hernandez. They talk about his injury, his background (his father was a Green Beret), Konnan’s flag-burning incident at the start of LAX (his family hated it) and his relationship with Homicide. Right now they’re on different roads and he will be the world heavyweight champion, te gusta o no (Like it or not).

-Homicide cuts a promo in the back, but I couldn’t really understand what the hell he meant. I believe he talked about Hernandez and his match with Joe at the PPV.

Match #4. Best of 3 Series, Match 2. Matt Morgen vs. AJ Styles

-Styles won their match last week, so he has the advantage 1-0. If Styles wins here, he’s in the main event. So it’s kinda obvious who’s winning here. This is another match I got to see live. Crowd seemed pretty into this match as well. The TNA fans love Styles. Not so much Morgen. Styles once again makes this match good and worth watching. But Morgen wins this match after he hits his finisher, the Hellevator. So Morgen ties up the series 1-1.

Winner: Matt Morgen (via pin at 5:15) **3/4

-We get a short vignette for “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero, debuting August 16 at Hard Justice. It’s either Elijah Burke, or Julio Dinero making his long awaited return to TNA.

-Jeremy Borash tries to get a word with Kurt Angle, but him and the Mafia are leaving the Impact Zone. After Angle leaves, Abyss comes up to JB wearing a hoodie. Abyss is going crazy over the bounty Dr. Stevie has put on him. Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal try attacking Abyss, but Abyss fights them off. The whole time, Lethal kept calling Abyss “Andre”. Kinda funny.

Match #5. Brutus Magnus (w/Rob Terry and Doug Williams) vs. Sting.

-This was a match I saw live, and the crowd were going CRAZY over Sting. They treat him like hes Hulk Hogan (well when Hogan wasn’t messed up). The referee immediately bans Williams and Terry from ringside. Sting had control early in this match, but it wasn’t a complete squash as Magnus got some decent amount of offensive. But that wasn’t enough as Sting won the match after making Magnus tap out to the Scorpion Deathlock. Ok match, but not enough time, mostly due to a commercial.

Winner: Sting (via submission at 3:20 shown) *1/2

-After the match, the rest of World Elite comes out and beats the shit out of Sting. Mick Foley and Bobby Lashley runs out and saves Sting. But wait, Main Event Mafia are still in the building and runs out and attacks Foley and Lashley. Oh Kurt, you fooled us all. Things look bad for the faces, but then Supermex is here to save the day. Hernandez comes out with a chain and runs Mafia and Elite out of the ring. All the faces are standing tall in the ring as Lashley stares down Angle. I thought this was a great way to make Hernandez look good, as its usually guys like Sting and Foley making the save for the younger guys, but this time it was the other way around.

Final Thoughts: I suggest you go out of your way to try to find the big riot brawl from tonight’s episode, cause it was awesome. Some may not like it, but I sure as hell did. I really think they should of booked this type of show for the 200th edition of Impact. I know Russo is mainly is charge now, but hell for once I think he’s doing a decent job. I’ll see you all next week for ECW.

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Welcome to another edition of Extreme Recap. I’m Zack Danielson as always, and tonights ECW is special. Mostly because theres actually gonna be a extreme rules match tonight. It will be Christian defending the ECW Title against Tommy Dreamer in the extreme rules match. So lets get started:

ECW August 4, 2009

-We begin tonights episode with the Abraham Washington show. I’m not going to even give details about this segment, cause it was just god awful. Someone in the back needs to get rid of this Washington guy A.S.A.P. I mean, if there gonna get rid of THE Brian Kendrick and keep this douche bag, then I really don’t have faith in WWE’s booking anymore. Anyways, point of this segment was that Shelton Benjamin looks to be turning face, and will have a feud with Zack Ryder. WOO WOO WOO, YOU KNOW IT!

Match #1. Ezekiel Jackson vs. Danny Danger

-Danny looks to be in danger here. Jackson delivers a quick double backbreaker, and goes on to hit his finishing modified Urninagi slam for the win. That was quick. Vladimir Kozlov makes his way to the ring to play “Who Can Kill The Jobber Better” with Jackson for the third straight week in a row. Kozlov hits an Iron Curtain on the jobber. Afterwards, Jackson hits his finisher again on Danger before walking out. I’m ok with a feud between Kozlov and Jackson, but I would really like to see more advancement in this feud other than both guys killing jobbers each week.

Winner: Zeke Jackson (via squashing at 36 seconds) N/A

-Backstage, ECW General Manger Tiffany is talking to the useless Bella Twins. They walk off and a backstage member tells Tiffany something is all set. A box started falling and the Hurricane comes out of nowhere to save the girl. He leaves and Tiffany comes back making sure everyone is alright. Paul Burchill appears and looks into the camera and says this is ridiculous. Couldn’t agree more on that statement Paul.

Match #2. Sheamus vs. Goldust

-I would of preferred Sheamus facing someone new like Reks or Yoshi, but this is fine with me, especially if there turning this into a feud. Sheamus has the early advantage by shoving Goldust on his ass and hitting a uppercut. Sheamus tries a running powerbomb, but Goldust slips out and runs Sheamus into the turnbuckle. Goldust school boys him, but only gets a two. Dust has control now, and hits a bulldog from off the ropes. Goldust heads up top and Sheamus picks the ankle. Goldust crashes to the mat and Sheamus covers him for the three count. That was anticlimax. Sheamus gets a microphone and starts talking, but Goldust attacks him from behind and starts pounding until Sheamus can escape and head for higher ground. So looks like they are turning this into a feud. I’m ok with that, as I’m liking Sheamus.

Winner: Sheamus (via pin at 4:40) **

-For the first time in ages, we get a Smackdown rebound. It highlights Jeff Hardy vs. John Morrison from last Friday, along with CM Punk’s awesome beatdown on Hardy. I mean, Punk absolutely beat the holy hell out of Hardy, and it was 10 times awesome.

- Backstage, Tommy Dreamer says that Christian is a great champion, but Extreme Rules is his match. We then see the ECW World Champion walking with a car door backstage. Interesting weapon there. Main event is next!

Match #3. Extreme Rules Match for the ECW World Title: Christian(c) vs. Tommy Dreamer

-I believe the last extreme rules match on ECW was about two years ago, which is pretty sad. Tommy Dreamer comes down to the ring with a Hot Dog cart. Guess Tommy couldn’t find a shopping cart backstage. There is a bunch of weapons outside, including the trash cans, crutches, and a bunch more stuff I couldn’t see. We get the super special ring announcing for this match and it is time to brawl.

Match begins with Christian grabbing a trash can lid, while Dreamer grabs a Kendo Stick. It’s pretty obvious who’s gonna win this exchange. Dreamer knocks down the lid with the cane, and Dreamer proceeds to hit Christian a few times with the cane to the gut. Dreamer and Christian start to brawl on the outside. Christian charges Dreamer, but gets hit with drop toe hold, slamming head first into the hot dog cart. Dreamer has the condiment holder and drills Christian in the head before stopping for a hot dog, taking a bite before shoving it in Christian’s face. Looking at Dreamer, seems like he had a few hot dogs before the match anyways. We head to commerical

Back from break, Dreamer drills a trash can into Chrisitian but only gets a two count. Dreamer has the kendo stick and uses it to hits a pumphandle suplex for a two count. So far, this is a decent brawl. Later on, Christian charges with the car door and Dreamer smacks him with what’s left of the trash can. “I guess Christian forgot the window was down on the drive by.” Striker is AWESOME! Dreamer looks for a piledriver on the car door, but Christian blocks in and spins around Dreamer… Killswitch on the car door!! Christian covers and gets the win and retains the ECW World Title. Good match, as there were things in the match that you wouldn’t have expected to see happen, including the use of a car door and a hot dog cart. Anyways, hoping this is the end of the Christian/Dreamer feud so we can move on to something new.

Winner: Christian (via pin at 12:23 min shown) ***

Final Thoughts: The Opening segment was SHIT! Luckily everything after that was either decent to good. We had a solid main event tonight, and hopefully the end of the Christian/Dreamer feud. I’m hoping to see Benjamin or Regal next in line for a title shot. I’ll see you all later for the Impact Report.

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Hey everybody thanks for reading this review of the most recent ROH show on HDNet and if you haven’t been able to see it yet you can definitely see the episode in full over at http://www.prowrestlingponderings.com in the video section.

So opening this show you had what was supposed to be Tyler Black having some promo time which was cut short not only by ROH world Champion Austin Aries but also Nigel McGuinness, both of who question Black’s ability to win the ROH title. Later in the show we also had the announcement in two weeks that Nigel would be facing Black in what should be a barn burner.

Opening the show this week was the tag team of Kenny King & Rhett Titus with their valet who may or may not be from the U.K. against Kenny Omega and Erick Stevens.
Definitely a decent opening match up that showcased some of the great young talent in ROH while also getting over that King and Titus could be a future danger to the ROH tag team title scene. King and Titus get the win with some dastardly tactics, albeit in a win is a win and most likely this isn’t the end of this HDnet feud.

We have Kingston taking on a man who should have started this match with a burst of fire, Orange Cassidy. Unfortunately Cassidy got around one percent offense in this match and the rest of the time Kingston was imagining Chris Hero as he mercilessly took him out with the dreaded back fist.

Throughout the episode we had back story build with Roderick Strong, D’Lo Brown, and Jay Briscoe. This all lead to the main event with these three mid card guys going at it for pride and the win.

Really this was a great main event and I do believe it should get these three over with the general ROH fanbase. All three guys were working hard and none of them would look bad in a feud with current ROH champion Austin Aries. These guys definitely put on a fast paced, hard hitting main event despite the lack of high impact spots, we had some great wrestling and great striking moments that really made these guys look as tough as they should look. The ending was great as we had a reversal from Strong on D’Lo into a power bomb into a prawn hold to get the three and a great win for Strong. Strong is on his way to teaming with his Hybrid Dolphins partner Danielson and KENTA in ROH, but he could make an argument that a singles run could happen.

Good show for the mainstream audience and I don’t think that any ROH faithful could really complain persay about the in ring work. Thanks for reading guys and thanks for checking out the site.

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Welcome ladies and ladies to another edition of the TNA Impact Report. Tonight’s episode is special. Not only will you see me wearing my big Sting hat on Impact a few times, but tonights show is the 200th Edition of Impact! Thats right, 200th EDITION! Being there live, it was awesome, so I hope it translates well on TV. So without further of do, lets get started:

-We get an extra long opening video package for Impact. It highlights the past 4 years of Impact on Spike TV. It was pretty good and makes tonight’s Impact feel special.

-We open up tonight’s Impact with the Main Event Mafia coming down to the ring. Wonder how many editions of Impact had the same thing happen. Kurt Angle is pissed about what happened last week. Angle says no one crosses him or the main event mafia. He goes on to call out Lashley. Lashley comes out his a black baseball bat. So I guess Lashley and Sting are good buddies now. Lashley states he was gonna join MEM, but when he saw what they did and what they were all about, he changed his mind. Lashley has an offer Angle can’t refuse. This brings out Mick Foley. Foley publicly thanks Lashley for saving his ass last week. Oh, how nice of Mick. Mick goes on to say that Angle stated MEM could bring in ratings, so thats what he wants to do tonight. Foley offers a match idea to Angle. It will be Angle and Kevin Nash against Bobby Lashley and Foley. Stipulation is both the Legends title and TNA World title will be on the line. So whoever pins Nash becomes Legends champ, and whoever pins Kurt becomes World champ. Angle accepts the challenge. I gotta say, this segment was pretty good live, and I think it came off pretty well on TV.

Match #1. Samoa Joe (w/Taz) vs. “Supermex” Hernandez

-Hernandez not only had new music, but not he has new attire. This was another match I’ve always wanted to see happen in TNA, so glad I got to see this live as well. Even tough both are big guys, they can have a match with each other that actually turns out to be good. You don’t see that often in pro wrestling. I remember the crowd really digging this match, even tough it was kept short. Hernandez wins after a big splash from the top rope. Great opener. I’m really glad TNA is pushing someone new and who is under the age of 40. Believe it or not, this push actually continues later on.

Winner: Hernandez (via pin at 4:40) **3/4

-After the match, Jeremy Borash is out to interview Hernandez. Hernandez states he’ll be the first Latino TNA World Champion.

-During the break, Joe went nuts backstage. Taz tells him Hernandez didn’t beat Joe, Joe beat Joe. I think Burger King might of beat Joe as well.

-Lauren is with Matt Morgan, who says he scraped, crawled and scratched for his opportunities. He wants in the Mafia, and says he will beat AJ Styles in the best of 3 series for a main event spot.

-JB is now with AJ Styles backstage. Styles says he didn’t see Eric Young’s heel turn coming. Guess he hasn’t been watching Impact for the last month or so. Styles calls Morgen a bully, but he takes on bullies and states he’ll beat Morgen in the best of 3 series.

-After break, JB is with Lashley and Foley. Foley states Bobby and himself did a lot of thinking and he realised that somebody has to get one of the championships away from the Mafia, and they will start tonight. I agree with the statement, just not the part of Foley actually holding a title.

Match #2. Best of 3 Series (Match 1): AJ Styles vs. Matt Morgen

-This match was actually taped on the first night of Impact tapings. Whenever TNA does three tapings in a row, they tend to tape Impact matches out of order. They taped matches for the next two weeks of Impact on the second night of tapings, but I’ll get to that later. Crowd was pretty hot for this match live, as Styles is a big fan favorite in TNA. I believe this is the start of Morgen getting into the main event spotlight. I’m real interested to see how Morgen handles himself in that spotlight, as some wrestlers come into pressure when they are. This was a good match that got some good time. Styles wins the first match of the best of three series after a springboard 450 splash.

Winner: AJ Styles (via pin at 5:50) **3/4

-In the back, Lauren interviews the new main event mafia member, Traci Brooks. Lauren is disgusted in the fact she wanted to join MEM. Traci states TNA haven’t been using her for the past few months, and she says screw TNA. Traci is now property of MEM. Taylor Wilde comes in and she’s mad she join MEM as well. Traci says women like Taylor isn’t made for wrestling, it’s made for bitches like her. Ouch!

-We get a video of Don West interviewing Tara in the ring from earlier today. Tara says she came to TNA to face the best women wrestlers on the planet, like Awesome Kong. West wants to talk about The Beautiful People , but Tara talks about the favors Slick Johnson has been receiving so West quickly changes the subject. Tara says when she quit WWE, she wasn’t sitting home eating bonbons. West says there`s nothing wrong with a bonbon from time to time. West was awesome in this video.

Match #3, Tara, ODB (w/Cody Deaner), and Awesome Kong (w/Raisha Saeed) vs. The Beautiful People (Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky and Angelina Love)

-Don West wants to see a replay of Velvet’s entrance. I concur with him. This was a decent match, tough I didn’t pay too much attention to it live. Only because about two minutes into the match, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin came through the crowd and were right behind me with signs. Shelley’s sign said “Conspiracy Victims”, while Sabin’s said “We still work here”. Wonder where this storyline will go from here. Also weird because Shelley and Sabin were only seen and mentioned once during the entire match, but both were out there for pretty much the entire match. Funny moment, someone standing next to them told them they were the best tag team of the year, and then I yelled out that The Young Bucks were, and Shelley nodded in agreement. Anyways, Tara and Kong got into an argument and started to brawl midway through the match. Both ended up brawling toward the back, which left ODB all by herself in the ring. Ending came when Love was taunting Deaner, and Deaner got mad and got on the apron. Love kept taunting him and calling him and ODB names, so Deaner plants a big kiss on Love. Love is grossed out by this, which helps ODB long enough to roll her up for the three count.

Winners: ODB, Tara and Kong (via roll up at 6:30 shown) *3/4

-We get a video recap of The World Elite. Afterwards, The World Elite comes out for the tables match. Eric Young has something to say. Young states U.S.A. sucks, blah blah blah. This was kinda a long promo, bot saying it was bad, just way too long. Even the crowd started to chant “Shut the Hell up”. Team 3D comes out and tells The World Elite they can either love America, or just leave it. They rundown to the ring to begin the match

Match #4. Tables Match for the IWGP Tag Team Titles: Team 3D(c) vs. The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams)

-This was a fun match live. Both teams brawled in the crowd for the first few minutes of the match, and Ray and Williams were brawling towards my side during this by the way. The ending was kinda of stupid through. Devon powerbombs Magnus through a table, but the ref was down and didn’t see this. Young comes in and knocks Devon out with a belt, and drags Devon’s body onto the broken table, to make it look like Magnus put Devon through the table. The Ref wakes up and sees this, and awards the match victory to the British Invasion. Like I said, stupid ending to a decent match. It seems like TNA is trying to establish the World Elite as a major heel faction. I’m cool with that, but now that would mean there’s two major heel factions in TNA, and no clear cut face faction.

Winners: The British Invasion (via Russo booking at 6:00 shown) **

-In the back, Dr. Stevie is going crazy and offers $50,000 for Abyss’ head. Ok………..

-A training video of Jesse Neal and Rhino is aired, but midway through the video, they interrupt it as something is going on backstage. We see Booker T and Scott Steiner break into Foley’s office and beat the holy hell out of Foley and Lashley. Security comes in to break it up, but Angle sneaks in with a steel pipe and whacks it over the head of Lashley. One of the staff members yells out Lashley is out cold as we head to commercial

-After break, We see Beer Money brawling with Steiner and Booker in the back. Glad to least see Beer Money on the program tonight.

Match #5. TNA Legends and World Heavyweight Title Both on the Line: Kevin Nash (Legends champion) and Kurt Angle (World Champion) vs. Mick Foley and Bobby Lashley

-Now I didn’t get to see this match live, as this match was taped on the third night of Impact tapings. Nash and Angle make their way out first, but Foley and Lashley does not when their music is played. Nash and Angle are about to be declared the winners of the match, but Foley’s theme is played again and this time, he comes out alone. He takes out Angle and Nash on the outside. He challenges Kurt to come back into the ring, which Angle accepts as we officially begin the match

Nash and Angle had control for pretty much the entire match. As Angle has Foley in the ankle lock, the lights go out. When they come back on, Sting is in the crowd pointing to Angle with his bat. Light go out again, but when they come back on Lashley is in the ring and starts hitting Nash and Angle with lefts and rights. Lashley clotheslines Angle to the outside, and hits a massive spear into the gut of Nash. Nash is down, and Foley goes over and covers Nash for the three count and Foley is the new TNA Legends champion. Not too bad of a match, but for the 200th edition of Impact, I would of wished guys like Beer Money, Daniels and AJ Styles could of been involved in the main event.

Winners: Foley and Lashley (via pin at 6:30) *1/2

Overall thoughts: This was a good Impact. But for the 200th edition of Impact, they could of made it better. Like would it have killed TNA to added in a x-division match to this Impact. But yes, this event was still good on TV and live. By the way, I got to hug So Cal Val during this taping. As Miz and Morrison used to say, BE JEALOUS! See you all next week.

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ROH on HD net 07/25/2009 review

Hey again folks another review of ROH on HD net.  As we heard on Monday, this show will end up on Monday either right before or right after Monday Night Raw.  Whether or not this affects the number of viewers, I can only predict and hope that ROH will do what many of us have clamored for and that is increase the work rate of these tv matches and start plugging their merchandise more as what good is a tv show if it doesn’t entice the viewers to buy merchandise.

So on to our first match.

Grizzly Redwood & Necro Butcher against Jimmy Rave & Ernie Osiris

Man what an underwhelming match.  The participants aren’t really all that great and really don’t provide any sizzle to make me want to even watch this match.  I can’t say that what it is about Rave or Butcher as they normally get me pretty excited but in this type of match with two guys who really don’t do anything for me, I have to say this is a lackluster opener.   Ernie Osiris is such a chickens hit and while I know this is the point of his character alone is just too ridiculous.    Rave back in the Embassy has really not evolved.  Yes he was gone for a time in TNA but I would have liked to see some evolution in his character.  All he looks like again is a glorified mid carder when back in the day we actually had a reason to care about him.  The “die Jimmy die” chants are almost akin to Xpac heat, and that isn’t good at all.  I will say in defense of the match, the psychology is basic and utilized at least but still no one cares about Necro vs.  Jimmy Rave and thus really doesn’t help this match in any what way.   Tornado DDT by Redwood on Ernie gives his team the win and honestly I can’t say that this match really did anything for me, on top of it getting the  “slap the porpoise” award makes this one of the most lack luster matches I’ve seen in a while.

Aries keeps getting better and better.  Great stuff really as he discusses Black/Danielson III as he tells Durden to step off.    We also get a plug for the Dark City Fight Club.  We go into a womens tag match which I actually assume will be better than the opener.

Shimmer Champion MsChif & Sara Del Rey vs.  Daisy Haze & Nevaeh

Thank god we don’t have to listen to Nevaeh speak but I won’t take away from any of their abilities as it would seem we are semi getting the code of honor upheld.  I would have to say that this is definitely better than the opening tag match as the women are definitely working their tail off.  It always intrigues me to see Bryce in ROH, but that notwithstanding.   We also see the mist again and I will say I enjoy seeing almost any usage of anything from Great Muta.  Sara Del Rey and MsChif get the win and honestly it should be no other way as we are starting to see Del Rey demand a title match for the belt that she carried with so much pride.

Nigel McGuinness is back with more to say.  Definitely still placing himself in the title picture and holding himself at a higher standard while I will say cutting some of the best promos for Danielson/Black matches than even the two participants.

Sweet another Art of Wrestling with Double C…no not Claudio..I’m talking Double C and Double B Boom Boom Colt Cabana.  Great stuff as we see some merchandise plugging and honestly this is what they need more of on their show.  Though  taking it a tad more seriously would be nice.  Ironically the other Double C alongside the Embassy comes to interrupt the show.  Brent in for the save but honestly as long as they don’t let Brent speak then we’re ok.  More seriously plugs for the ROH store would be nice.

Eddie Kingston back again to chase after Hero.  This is going to be great when they show this on TV.  We do see a backstage scuffle but this will be a damn good feud to showcase on tv.  Poor Sal Rinauro being a casualty of war though damn good try, twice.

Recap of the history of one of the better feuds between Black and Danielson.  These two stallions are definitely top contenders and honestly I would like to see Danielson a tad more serious about his ROH career.  I haven’t really seen a whole lot out of him lately that makes me want to take him seriously.  I don’t agree that he should just be in the title pictures because of his status.  ROH was, and should be, about wins and losses.  Danielson is getting the wins for sure, but his drive seems to have dropped a bit and I would like to see him take this a tad more serious.  Especially because of the history between him and Aries as they have a storied feud and Danielson being able to tie it up by becoming the second two-time ROH champion would be awesome.

Tyler Black on the other hand is still a helluva talent, but I am not so sure that with the way he’s been losing time after time for the belt that he’s really showing us everything he could be.  But here is the main event and it is going to be awesome for sure.

It was definitely the best part of the this show from my perspective as these two really had a great almost 30 minute classic again.   We had the  future desperately trying to secure a win over who came before him because in their last two encounters he was unable to get that final one two three.  Tyler Black has the skills and tonight I do believe that he showed them in full force.  After both men seemed like they could go no more Black hit the Gods last Gift aka Small Package Driver and finally beat American Dragon Bryan Danielson.

Overall this show was not good with two tag matches in the beginning that really did nothing.  But I would say that the main event was well worth seeing.  No to say that you have to put on spectacular matches all the time but ROH still needs to give out a product that people can sink their teeth into and tonight didn’t quite do that.  But the main event still drew me in and hopefully those who saw it stay long enough to see Tyler Black finally get over that hump and show that possibly he deserves another shot at the ROH world championship.

Also here is the latest ROH video wire… seriously this is one of the best

ROH 07/29/2009 video wire

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