Wrestling News August 13, 2005

The big news this weekend is that tonight is CM Punk’s final night in Ring of Honor. As one of the mainstays in the company, Punk has become as much a name for ROH as Taz was for ECW or even Ric Flair was for WCW. When the “unpleasantness” came about with one of the former owners of ROH, TNA pulled their weight to make sure their company was not tarnished by that reputation-by-proxy.

CM Punk was the only contracted TNA wrestler who broke ranks. He stuck with ROH through that trying time and the ROHbots respected him for it. But, like all good things, it must come to an end. Tonight he faces former in-ring rival and friend, Colt Cabana, in the ring. On the company’s website the two men shared some thoughts about their friendship:

Punk: “So now I'm leaving, and it kills me to think that this might be the last time I get to wrestle somebody who over the course of the last six years has become my brother. However, we're in Chicago. It's like it was meant to be. If I go out, I can't think of a better way. Two home town kids. Two best friends. Doing what they dreamed about doing since they were little kids. It's going to be emotional in Chicago Saturday night, and ya know, sometimes part of me gets nervous and thinks, "what if I screw up, what if it's a bad match?"

Then I smile, because it can't be a bad match....Colt Fucking Cabana is in it. I hope Saturday night never ends..."

Colt, in a very touching tribute: ”Now Punk is off to become the huge star we all knew he'd become. To me, he's an inspiration. He got himself that job without breaking his beliefs and way of life. Since day one, Punk knew his passion and has gone for it. There's been many hurdles for both of us. We don't stop though. He broke his skull and was back two months later. I know wrestlers who chipped a nail and gave it up. I hope when I have kids that they follow his work ethic, morals and beliefs.”

SD: Click the link and give it a read. You don’t often get this kind of display of friendship in professional wrestling so it’s nice to see it when it comes along. It’s not somebody else’s snippets from what they remember from an internet radio show’s interview. These are the feelings from the men typed out in their own words. Maybe I’m a big ol’ softy, but that kind of sentiment is nice to see in a testosterone driven industry.

Last night’s show in Dayton saw a new ROH Champion get crowned. Here are the results:

Ace Steel def. Sterling Keenon, Delirious & Matt Stryker in a 4-corners match
“Classic” Colt Cabana def Spanky
Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer def. Nigel McGuiness and Chad Collyer
Matt Sydel w/ Daisy Haize, Austin Aries, & Roderick Strong def. The Embassy (Alex Shelley, Jimmy Rave, & Abyss)
Low Ki vs Jay Lethal was a NC
Matt Hardy def. Homicide
In the 4-way Elimination Main Event James Gibson def. CM Punk, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels to become the new ROH World Champion


In other ROH news, Tony Mamaluke will be returning to the company for a few dates this fall.

SD: Can anybody tell which fed I think has the best wrestling and angles going today? It’s a damn shame ROH isn’t in the position to do tv yet (outside of their random matches on England’s TWC). The past few months have been so damn exciting to read about for me. As soon as these latest shows are on DVD I implore you to check them out — especially if the entirety of your wrestling viewing is watching Raw or Smackdown just to snark on it.

Tomorrow night’s TNA ppv, Bound For Glory, has a potentially great card. Check it out:

MAIN EVENT
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Raven and Sabu vs. Jeff Jarrett and Rhino

SUPER X CUP FINALS
“The Phenomenal” AJ Styles vs. “The Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe

OVER A DECADE IN THE MAKING
The TNA in-ring return of Jerry Lynn vs. Sean Waltman

NON-TITLE INTERNET DREAM MATCH
X Champion The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels vs. Austin Aries (as voted by fans)

CHALLENGE MATCH
Lance Hoyt vs. Abyss w/Jim Mitchell

DECISION TIME FOR BG JAMES
Konnan and The Truth vs. Kip James and The Alpha Male Monty Brown
Special Referee: BG James

EIGHT MAN TAG TEAM WARFARE
NWA World Tag Team Champions The Naturals and America’s Most Wanted vs. Team Canada (Williams, Roode, Young and A1)

TIED 1-1: FINAL MATCH
Shocker vs. Alex Shelley

Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt and Shark Boy taking on Simon Diamond, David Young and Primetime Elix Skipper

And the pre-show match will be Apolo & Sonny Siaki vs. Jerrelle Clark & Mikey Batts

SD: Half the card looks really good on paper and the other half looks like standard TNA booking on paper. We all know which ones will be abot the matches and which will be about stories. TNA’s bookers have never been strong enough to carry the company on their stories but they still keep plugging away at it. You’ve got to respect that tenacity. Still. This could be a sleeper ppv hit.

LIVE Notes from RAW!

I was at RAW this evening, and overall, I have to say it was a lackluster show live. However, there were some high points.

- Kerwin White cut a promo for Heat, and he came to the ring...IN A GOLFCART. WITH A GOLF BAG IN THE BACK. This ruled on so many levels. The crowd loved it (well, until he started heeling on the crowd). When he left, HE TOOK AN IRON AND TOOK A FEW PRACTICE SWINGS. I can't tell you how much this ruled live. And he had this Frank Sinatra pastiche that talked about soccer moms and such. The key word again is "ruled."

- The crowd was HOT HOT HOT for the HBK/Hogan face-off. HBK was certainly getting cheers, but he was doing his best to heel it up. Hogan of course got massive cheers, but there was certainly an anti-Hogan (and anti-Cena) contingent present. They were right next to me and thus loud, so I have no idea how strongly they come across on TV.

- And speaking of "anti" crowds, the reaction for Eugene was a complete 180 compared to the last time RAW was here (that was the Iron Man match, where Eugene returned after a couple of weeks off and kicked some righteous ass to the crowd's delight). Eugene was booed MERCILESSLY by the crowd, and Angle might as well have been a face (in all the times I've seen him here, he's still commanded respectable heel heat despite being the hometown guy).

- The crowd actually was into the Diva contest (I really didn't hear any boos), at least when they paraded out. It was short and sweet, and relatively inoffensive.

- Getting "Real American" so many times was tremendous live.

One of the security guys in the Edge/Matt segment was local IWC wrestler Glenn Spectre (dark hair with sideburns). Chris Hamrick (also a regular in IWC, btw) was another guard, which makes no sense since he wrestled on SD a few weeks ago and was ID'd. Are we not supposed to notice?

The dark main event was a decent 15 min match of Cena/Hogan/Batista vs Angle/HBK/JBL. It had some comedy spots (like when Angle cowered in the corner by grabbing JBL's legs right in front of his crotch, and JBL had this incredulous look on his face while HBK just kinda walked away), and it served to put the faces over and did a good job at that.

At one point, some idiots in the crowd were chanting "You screwed Bret" to people not even remotely involved in Montreal.

I think people started out more indifferent than anything to Cena' video, but people were certainly waiting for it to be over.

Biggest FACE pops (in my subjective order, but I'm betting most people will agree):

1) Batista (deafening)
2) Hogan
3) Cena
4) Angle
5) Hardy

Biggest HEEL heat:

1) Edge (his promo was well received by the crowd, IMO)
2) Bischoff
3) Eugene
4) HBK (mixed, but dammit he tried)
5) Y2J (mixed...he incited the crowd at times but still was cheered)

Again, a lot of the show wasn't up to snuff (the Heat matches were particularly yawnworthy), and I personally was only really looking forward to the HBK/Hogan stuff, Hardy/Edge stuff, and the dark main event, and that all delivered. So I feel like I got my money's worth, even if I've been to better shows.

Wrestling News August 8, 2005

The biggest new over the weekend was the edict by Vince McMahon for cruiserweights to stop doing certain top rope maneuvers. World Wrestling Entertainment officials have made an effort to tone down several high flying moves, putting the word out that there is an unofficial ban of sorts on both the 450 splash and the shooting star press. The edict, said to have come down from Vince McMahon, is due to several recent injuries from the moves (Billy Kidman giving Chavo Guerrero a concussion with a shooting star, Juventud Guerrera nailing Paul London with a knee to the face with a 450 and causing a major scare, most notably). The edict actually went out about two weeks back to the Cruiserweights. When Paul London used a shooting star against Nunzio on a recent edition of Velocity, he was told not to do it again by WWE officials and to come up with a new finisher. London was said to have been noticeably upset about being told to tone down his style.

SD: I know this move has caught a lot of hell from the internet wrestling community but I am mostly in agreement with it for a number of reasons. First, they have become too commonplace. Yes they are extraordinary but when a fireman’s carry gets a bigger pop you know something is wrong.

Second, the two moves mentioned involve a loss of control on the part of the performers who do them. They spend their energy trying to finish the flips that they are unable to fully protect their opponents. Witness: Kidman’s SSP on Chavo last year and Juvy’s 450 on London this year. Yes, those are only a couple examples but it’s part of the feeling now. Now, this may be unfair to London who has never been involved in an injury (as far as I know) and always looks extremely crisp out there but you really can’t take any chances.

Third, this doesn’t take away from the cruiserweight division at all. If anybody remembers early WCW CW matches, most of the performers in the division weren’t doing moves of the sort. Ohtani, Benoit, Malenko and Eddie made up the core of the beginning of the division and none of them did moves like that. Some moves off the top may have happened but they were relegated to impact moves rather than spots. If a problem is to be laid on problems with the division it begins and ends with the writers who refuse to give it the attention it deserves.

The Coach is going to be staying on as the third announcer on Raw according to the WWE. “Vince (McMahon) and the producers came to me the day before Vengeance and said I might be doing it,” Coach told WWE.com. “They wanted the broadcast team to get a little younger and a little better looking. But I didn’t know for sure I was in until a few hours before the show.”

From an interview with JR we learn his view about the decision: “A lot of people might not like Coach on the broadcast,” said Ross. “A lot of people watch wrestling for the steak, and I think I can bring that. But a lot of people watch it for the sizzle or the entertainment. They want somebody to stir the pot, and certainly both Lawler and Coach have the ability to do that. Coach brings a different demographic and a knowledge of pop culture, which is good. Every young guy should get the opportunity to see if they can come and hunt with the big dogs, and this is his chance.”

He continues: “I would have liked more time to prepare, but my job isn’t to question those decisions,” Ross told WWE.com. “I’m a team player, and if that’s what management thought was best for the company, then I’m going to make it work.”

SD: I don’t care what people may think: Coach is going to be a great color commentator. He brings a lot more to the table right now than Lawler has since late 1998. With all of the wealth of information about the product that Lawler has he pisses it all away to be the “cute” perverted tweener to stay over wit the fans. It doesn’t add to the product at all. With Coach out there we have somebody in touch with today’s demographic, willing to be the heel and actually calls the in-ring action.

The few times we saw JR and Coach alone (and they weren’t in that horrid feud) the product was far more enjoyable and wasn’t mentally (at least) muted by me. If WWE feels the need to go back to the 2-man system I hope they do the right thing and put Lawler on Heat.

The first edition of Joey Styles' Extremely Hardcore PPV will be taped alongside Women’s Extreme Wrestling on Saturday 8/20 in Atlanta, Georgia. A few of the names scheduled to appear are:

Sabu, Justin Credible, Axl Rotten, Balls Mahoney, Gary Wolfe, Mikey Whipwreck, CW Anderson, New Jack, and Rodney Mack, with John Finnegan refereeing and Stephen DeAngelis ring announcing.

The matches penciled in right now are:
New Jack and NWA Wildside wrestler Murder One vs Axl Rotton and Balls Mahoney
Sabu vs Justin Credible
Mikey Whipwreck vs CW Anderson
Rodney Mack vs Pitbull Gary Wolf

Styles' partners in the project are former ECW officials Steve Karel, Greg Bagarozy and Dan Kowal. The first PPV will air on In Demand on 9/9.

SD: Best of luck, guys.

Michelle McCool tells her local paper that she may not be on tv – but that’s good news! Michelle remains on the payroll and soon will head to Atlanta, where she'll begin training at a new WWE developmental facility.

"It's called Deep South Wrestling," she said Thursday. "They do their own shows, but they train every day. It teaches you in-ring psychology and keeps you in shape for the physicality of the business.

"Originally, I enjoyed the week off, but now I miss the friends I've made on the road."

SD: And we now have another name for what is sounding to be a very good wrestling territory.

TNAwrestling.com has learned that retail leader Wal-Mart will feature a new TNA Wrestling DVD combo pack in stores in time for the holiday season.
“TNA Anthology: The Epic Set” will feature over ten hours of Total Nonstop Action, featuring the “Victory Road”, “Turning Point” and “Lockdown” Pay-Per-Views as one mega set. In addition, TNAwrestling.com has learned that the box set will be priced under $30, making it an affordable, must-have for every wrestling fan. TNA Wrestling will post an official release on the Wal-Mart “TNA Anthology” box set in the upcoming days.

SD: At the link you’ll find a match listing of the best of the X-Division DVD as well. Really, this is a bargain for wrestling fans. I’m not the biggest fan of the company for reasons I won’t get into right now but $30 for 10 hours of DVD quality wrestling is a bargain. The ppvs have some excellent matches and moments.

ROH News & Notes:
- Ring Of Honor is pleased to announce that it has agreed to terms with "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce. He is already signed for the 9/17 Long Island and 9/24 Boston events.
- A special match has been signed for the 8/20 afternoon "Do Or Die V" event in Morristown, NJ. It will be John McChesney vs. Sterling James Keenan and the IWC Super Indy Title will be on the line!