Wrestlemania Weekend

 

Even as I've grown more and more detached from WWE's product I still get excited for Wrestlemania weekend. Even with all the shitty business practices they embrace and how terrible of a person Vince McMahon is it doesn't matter. A life's worth of memories of getting together with friends and family to watch Wrestlemania is just a thing that sticks with you. No matter how bad the year of wrestling has been Mania always offers the promise of great action and huge moments. And I can't discount the excitement I get toward all the indie shows that take place that weekend as well. It's just a four day bacchanalia of wrestling where there is always something to watch. Covid ruined my plans to go to Tampa for Mania in 2020, but I'll make it to a mania weekend in person live, but watching the shows even at home is still a good time.

Some years how hardcore I go with watching everything waxes and wanes. I remember the WWN days and trusting their pretty terrible streaming services, at least with GCW on Fite the only thing I really have to worry about is their bad audio. I do miss out on watching with people live after moving to Florida away from all my friends, but live tweeting with people helps to provide some of the same feeling at least. My favorite photo with my brothers is us outside in the snow grilling during mania with me in shorts and rocking wrestling shirts. We also got some kegs because my cousin worked at a beer distributor, but it was so cold that it broke the taps in them and kind of wasted most of the beer until we drank it flat. It was still a good time.

This year I'm thankful for Fite+ so I don't have to spend a fortune to get all of the shows and there's only a few outliers to spend extra on. I started the weekend of wrestling off with Bloodsport 9 which featured the long awaited return of Kota Ibushi to the ring after injury in a phenomenal match with Mike Bailey. Bloodsport just offers a fun and different style of wrestling, but one I really enjoy as a fan of MMA as well. It's fun to see the wrestlers modify their style to fit that especially high flyers like those two and Johnny Bloodsport who delved the most into pro wrestling style with his match against Royce which I really enjoyed. There were a few weak matches, but overall a really good show that wrapped up in under two and a half hours and ended with a good main event that saw Timothy Thatcher get the submission victory over Barnett.

I'm watching the DDT show as I speak and it's been a fun show. I vaguely know most of the DDT regulars through my friends who love the promotion and clips I see of people and of course it's got some US based wrestlers I know which helps as well. Joey Janela and Tetsuya Endo had a really good match against each other. Plus the highlight that is happening as I type this is Eddie Kingston getting to team up with Jun Akiyama. And of course I got to see Yoshihiko in action as well.

For upcoming shows Joey Janela's Spring Break should be fun, they always are, RoH Supercard of Honor is a ridiculously stacked card that should be amazing and could be the show of the weekend, and Gringo Loco's the Wrld on Lucha show should be good as well.

And of course there is Wrestlemania itself which looks like a very good show. I'm disappointed they are doing two nights, but if you can fill a 70,000 seat stadium two nights in a row of course you're going to do it and get more money. It looks like we're going to finally see the Bloodline unseated from all of the titles which should provide awesome moments for both nights. Trish and Lita returning to action with Becky against Damage CTRL looks like it should be a really fun match that is one I'm really looking forward to. The feud for Bianca vs. Asuka hasn't been very hot, but both women are great in the ring so it should be a great match.

It's just a magical time in wrestling that happens once a year and no matter what kind of wrestling you like there's something for you to like and people who are ready to experience it and share their experiences with you.

Let There be Blood

 

As often happens around an AEW PPV some members of the wrestling 'press' blurted out their hot takes about wrestling and specifically about the level of blood and violence. It's fine not to like blood in wrestling, everybody likes different things, but often they spout off with an ignorance of the history of wrestling beyond what WWE has written it to be for the past twenty years. Which is fine for just a viewer of wrestling to feel, I don't need everybody to know the lineage of wrestling back to when it started, but if you're writing about wrestling you can't respond to tweets about nobody knows who Abdullah the Butcher is when he wrestled on WCW ppvs and at some point was in every wrestling territory that existed. But more than that it's the idea that blood can't add anything to a match.

I'm a proponent of blood in wrestling and think it always makes every match more visceral when it happens, but I understand why people want to limit it to big matches. Sometimes in AEW the blowoff match happens on tv when the whole feud has been on their youtube shows so it seems like a nothing match like when Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall took on Butcher and Blade in a bunkhouse brawl. For the most part if you want to avoid bloody matches in AEW it's easy to tell when it's going to happen. Any hardcore gimmick match is going to have some blood and any Moxley match as well.

For me the biggest benefit is emphasizing the story of an underdog trying to overcome the bigger or more experienced wrestler. They're already at a disadvantage and now they've got one more thing working against them. It's a great visual indicator of their stamina being drained by the length of the match and them fighting against the loss of blood and energy.

Another factor is it makes the violence seem more real and reflects all the other combat sports. At a certain point I know if you're taking elbows to the face you're going to get busted open because it happens in MMA when somebody is being elbowed. This especially extends to any match with hardcore elements. When you smash a chair into somebody's face or send them face first into a ringpost there's a good chance skin would yield to the metal surface. Obviously wrestling involves a suspension of disbelief, but at a certain point blood would just happen, it's my main problem with cage matches and especially wargames in WWE.

And lastly, and most subjectively, it looks cool as hell. Behind Hogan slamming Andre the most iconic moment in wrestling is Stone Cold bleeding while in a sharpshooter from Bret Hart refusing to tap out. Nia Jax accidentally breaking Becky Lynch's nose and her bleeding while she continued fighting in the ring and into the stands made her the biggest star WWE had and that was accidental. And not just in matches, cutting promos after bleeding in a match was done well by Ric Flair after his Wrestlemania match with Savage, and probably other times and especially by Moxley leading up to the Revolution PPV.

As for the specifics on this AEW show the build to Moxley vs. Hangman had left no doubt that it was going to be a bloody affair with barbedwire used throughout. And to be honest until Moxley bladed the second time there wasn't that much blood throughout this match as there is in many other deathmatches and AEW is much smarter about barbed wire tables and doesn't put so much on the table that it takes minutes to cut a guy out of the barbed wire to continue the match, although the chair had enough barbed wire on it to rip out a bunch of Hangman's hair.

In the main event both Danielson and MJF bled and MJF cut quite a gusher on himself after a flying headbutt from Danielson. MJF definitely bled a lot in the final quarter of the match, but as much or even more than the previous match it really added to the toll that an hour long wrestling match takes on somebody. MJF's cardio was already being questioned and was a big aspect of the story of the match so him losing blood at this point just added to it. The final minute when he's bleeding in a single leg crab from Danielson shows him standing strong in the face of Danielson's overwhelming cardio and technical ability.

In summary blood is great in wrestling. It may not be for everybody, but it's for me and that's one of the things I appreciate the most about AEW. If you don't like blood, you know it's going to happen in AEW so just don't watch it and don't complain about seeing it on their ppvs. And you can complain about it as a wrestling journalist if you don't like it, but making ahistorical arguments that forget there was wrestling before WWE banned blood is a ridiculous way to make your argument.

No Peace Underground: Samsara

Like one of my favorite concerts there were a lot of technical issues and the show started late, but by the end everything was so good that the delays didn't matter. Doors opened when the show was supposed to start at six, but they got us in pretty quickly and the venue was nicely setup and I got a spot right behind the front row of seats with a post to lean against. I had a great view for all of the matches and had a great time. I'd love to give a more exact thought of all the matches, but that's hard to do without rewatching the show, so it will mostly be vague ideas of the matches and how much the live experience helped.

Starting off with the two non-hardcore matches was definitely the right call and both were good matches, and after being used to a local indie with no big names it really set the night off on the right foot with Mathers and Treehouse both hitting dives and some big spots on each other. Treehouse's spinning legdrop off the top looked brutal as he fully landed on Mather's chest. A great opener that really set the tone for the show. Alex Kane vs Robert Martyr was cool because I'm a big Kane fan and he really got to dominate the match especially after winning by stoppage after an exploder into the corner.

After that we got to move onto the hardcore matches and what I was really looking forward to the show for. My local indie had Kelsey Raegan hit Zack Monstar with barbecue skewers to the forehead, but other than that it's been mostly WWE tv style hardcore matches. So the presence of lighttubes in all corners of the ring had me hyped. The first time a lighttube was broken I missed seeing it as it was a scramble match with brawling happening everywhere, but the sound is very intense in person. It wasn't too important in this match, but thankfully I was next to a post and when glass was getting broken in my direction I could duck behind it. The rest of the show was just a bunch of great moments of deathmatch wrestling with some good wrestling mixed in and I mostly loved all of it. The one downside of the show was AJ Gray being on the show. I was a big fan of his until all the allegations about him came out which ruined finally getting to see him in person. On the plus side Mad Man Pondo did a bunch of damage to his crotch including having a lighttube bundle kicked in into his dick and Pondo running his sawblade along his taint.

Jimmy Lloyd and Lindsay Snow never really got going as a match before 44OH! Attacked them. They did some fucked up stuff with the gusset plates and tattoo needles, but it just felt like they didn't really plan a match since they knew the run in was happening, which is a bummer, because I'm a big fan of Lindsay Snow. JJ Escobar's open challenge match was just crazy. Alex Xcean got a great reaction and there was a lot of crazy shit in this match. Obviously you can't really top Escobar getting a strip of firecrackers set off on his dick, but Escobar's follower jumping off the ladder in a lawn chair was also pretty crazy.

Best Bros vs. Joey Janela and Jamie Senegal was awesome and the match of the night. Janela seemed offended that this was a No Peace show with a ring and made sure that they never went into the ring for anything. It was hard at times to see what was going on during this match, but the venue didn't have a ton of chairs so it was pretty easy to move around with the match and watch what was going on which was always fun. I was excited to see Mei Suruga in person so the match already had that going for it, and if you think Mei looks small when you've watched her on tv she's even smaller in person. The match was a phenomenal blend of comedy and hardcore wrestling action and it never felt weird going from one to the other. I did mostly pay attention to Mei and Janela's fight as I'm more familiar with both of them, but with a chaotic match like that there were times when Senegal and Akki were right in front of me as well. I think the highlight of the match was from Akki when Best Bros did the tandem run up the wall bulldogs and he put a hole in the wall, which hopefully doesn't get them kicked out of the venue, because it's a nice setup. Janela picking Mei up in a vertical suplex and taking her all the way around the venue, out the back, and in again, before dropping her onto a couch was awesome. While Janela was moving the couches around earlier he almost hit a kid sitting in one of the couches which was pretty funny. Mei and Joey climbing onto the bar and brawling there before Mei knocked him down then jumped off and hit a hurrincanranna was awesome. Akki slammed Senegal on the floor then did a senton off the guardrail onto her and as he got up right in front of me he complained that it was a bad idea and I was thinking that the whole time he was setting that move up. The match ends up on the stage with two doors setup for the finish and the Dolphin Star Press through a table was very cool looking. Janela puts Akki through the other table and gets the three count. I should rewatch this, but in person this match was perfect and one of the best I've ever seen live. Just a fun match with crazy shit happening and it's the reason I spent so many words typing about it.

The main event had a lot to live up to following the craziness of the last match and while it didn't have the unbridled joy of the last match it has 44OH! Who the crowd always hates especially after ruining a match earlier in the night and attacking Marcus Crane's girlfriend. Shlak, Parrow, and Sawyer Wreck would all have the crowd behind them anyway, but the support was definitely amplified for this match. They start off like it's going to be a real six man tag match before 44OH! Hit Wreck with a lighttube from behind after everybody has had some time one on one into the ring and it breaks down into an all out brawl. The action is more frantic and harder to keep track of than the earlier scramble match as the six people in this match are more experienced and are more on top of their game. 44OH! Looked to be about to win until Zachary Wentz ran down and hit Cogar with a DVD off the apron through a glass pane and a door to let Parrow get the advantage and the win. Parrow tries to stand tall, but the lights go off and the Sinister Minister shows up and Su Yung hits the mist on him and Lord Krewe and Otis Cogar attack and put him through a door in the corner. A fun match to end the show and an interesting hook for No Peace going forward.

A very fun show to be at live. After all the action was said and done the late start didn't matter at all. Only one really stand out match, but a lot of fun stuff, although it being my first time seeing so much hardcore and deathmatch stuff live definitely added to the atmosphere. The crowd was super loud the whole time and I'll definitely be back at some point, but I won't be making the trip and hotel stay every show. I am looking forward to the next show on Fite TV though. No Peace Underground isn't the best indie going right now, but it's just got a different energy and might be my favorite one to watch. Very happy they found a new venue to bring their brand of wrestling back. It's worth a trip to check out because there's nothing really like it right now and Orlando has plenty of other stuff for you to build a trip around so you don't have to go somewhere just for wrestling you can build a whole vacation out of it.

Prestige Wrestling: Roseland 3

 

Jack Evans vs. Rey Horus

Evans stops the match before it starts to showcase his breakdancing and as soon as he gets to his feet Horus dropkicks him. Rey Horus hits a nice somersault dive over the turnbuckle onto Evans. Horus hits a standing Spanish fly on Evans for two. Evans is against the ropes and dropkicks Horus as he charges in to flip backwards onto the apron then hits a springboard spinning kick then follows up with a Sasuke special to the floor. Evans misses a 450 for Horus to turn the tides and he hits the spinning body scissors off the top for a two count before Evans grabs the ropes. Evans trips Horus off the ropes then goes for a 630 and Horus rolls out of the way. They fight back and forth over a backslide and Evans hits a donkey kick to the dick and slides Horus over and flips over to cover for a three count.

6/10 A fine opening match with a good pace and a bunch of nice dives from both men. Good to see Evans back in form after not doing much in the singles scene in AEW. Nothing amazing, but solid work from both guys.

Ethan HD vs. Scotty 2 Hotty

There's like a solid five minutes of pre-match shenanigans between the two of them, mostly on Scotty's part. Scotty controls early with some fun goofy face offense before Ethan puts a stop to the shenanigans with a stiff left. Ethan goes for the Worm, but Scotty gets up and stops him short and starts his comeback. Scotty goes for a worm, but Ethan trips him down. Scotty makes another comeback, but Ethan blocks a punch and gets a backslide then gets his feet on the ropes for the three count.

4/10 This was a standard Scotty 2 Hotty match from the attitude era. Neither man really brought anything special to the match

Midnight Heat (Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl) vs. Jaiden and Derek Shaw

I feel like Derek Shaw isn't big enough or impressive looking enough for Ricky to sell his getting tagged into the match that much, but okay. The heels use a bunch of heel tactics to get the advantage and start wearing Jaiden down. Derek gets a hot tag and cleans house before Eddie cuts him off and gets the win.

4/10 A pretty standard indie tag match. Not a whole lot of anything special happened here, but it was competent.

Willow Nightingale vs. Taya Valkyrie

Willow quickly goes for a lucha rolling pinning combination, but only gets one, although it is the first minute of the match so I don't know why she would win that quickly. Big fan of Willow's crossbody to a seated opponent. Taya does some fancy rope running and takes Willow down with a crossbody of her own. Taya hits the sliding german suplex to Willow off the bottom rope and they go to the outside to brawl. Willow moves out of the way of a chop and Taya smashes her hand against the ring post. Back in the ring and Willow gets the advantage in a chop battle then hits Willow with a spinebuster as Taya comes off the ropes. The middle rope breaks here, that's important for later. Willow hits an enziguri and runs the ropes and the top rope snaps dropping her to the floor. Taya rolls Willow into the ring and gets a two count. Taya does a double knees into the broke corner and then Taya catches Willow going for a handstand move and curbstomps her and then puts her into a modified STF for the submission.

6/10 A good match between these two with some hard hitting shots and Willow falls out of the ring with the broken ropes and surviving and being fine. Both of these women are good at what they do and they do their thing in this match.

Drexl vs. Akira vs. Sonico vs. MV Young

MV Young comes out as they try to fix the rings and tells them they don't need ropes for this match and calls it a Poly Am street fight. This one is a wild brawl since it's a four way and they just pair off and wrestle. Akira picks up a fan and uses him to ram MV. Young turns the tables and does a somersault to knock Akira down and also fucks up the camera connection while doing it. Drexl and Sonico brawl to the merch tables and Drexl grabs an 8x10 and gives Sonico some papercuts. Sonico turns the tables and staples the 8x10 to Drexl. Akira fakes throwing Sonico into the cameraman then hits a short arm clothesline. Sonico staples Akira's arm, so Akira pulls the staple out then spits it back into Sonico's face. MV suplexes Akira onto the chairs then everybody else hits a suplex on the outside. Akira nd Sonico fight onto an elevated platform and Akira hits a brainbuster up there then Akira moonsaults onto everybody who just stood there watching him. MV hits a nice brainbuster on Akira and then a disgusting one on Drexl. Akira then hits a bunch of dragon suplexes and dodges an attack from Sonico to double stomp him and hit a deadlift german suplex. MV levels Sonico with a half and half suplex then a big running knee to the face. Sonico counters the next suplex then sets up a chair and hits an elevated DDT onto the chair for the three count.

7/10 The outside camera breaking during this match hurts it as there is a lot of chaos we miss out on as they brawl on the floor, but this was a surprisingly good match from what I thought was going to be just fine. These guys really capitalize on the broken ring situation and just do a bunch of memorable shit in this fight. A nice use of weapons without going too hard on them and a lot of great wrestling from these four. This match just had a fun sense of anarchy and people would just pop out of nowhere to hit somebody else with a weapon and it was awesome.

Masha Slamovich vs. Miyu Yamashita

There's some chain wrestling to start, but it quickly devolves into them snapmaring each other and kicking each other in the back. They exchange a bunch of hard strikes that ends with Miyu hitting a big german suplex, but Masha stands right up and hits a roundhouse on Miyu. Miyu staggers to her feet and catches Masha's next big kick and bites her foot then hits a spinning back kick for the three count.

5/10 I liked this match, but it didn't really connect as much as I hoped it would. Both women looked very good and kick hard as hell.

C4 (Guillermo Rosas & Cody Chun) vs. Violence is Forever (Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku)

C4 take control of Ku early and hit a spot where Rosas lifts Ku up for a suplex and Chun hits a dropkick to knock him down. Ku turns the table and Ku knocks Chun off the apron and Violence is Forever takes control and starts beating the hell out of Rosas. Chun comes in with a nice hot tag and hits big corner splashes on both guys. Rosas hits a codebreaker on Ku, but he flips out of the backdrop attempt from Chun and Garrini runs in and breaks things up with a big lariat. Chun runs up the ropes for a cutter and Garrini catches him in a rear naked choke. Ku grabs Rosas with a kimura as well and Rosas lifts him up and drops him onto Garrini to break up the choke. Ku and Rosas have a back and forth forearm exchange before Rosas takes the advantage and trips Ku into Chun's knee. Garrini comes in to turn things around and they hit a total elimination for a close two count. ViF go for a double team move, but Chun flips out of it and hits a double superkick on Garrini with Rosas then nail Ku with a superkick, flying knee, and then hit a high-low double team for the three count.

6/10 A solid tag team match here between these two teams and Violence is Forever brings some really hard hitting offense to the match. Some good double team work from both teams through out and just a solid match.

Tom Lawlor vs. Alex Shelley

A lot of grappling exchanges to start before Shelley rolls to the outside to clear his head. Shelley gets the grappling advantage and getting cocky nearly lets Lawlor get back in control with some strikes, but he catches a kick and takes him back down. Lawlor takes some more punishment before fighting out with strikes and beating Shelley down in the corner. Lawlor goes for a suplex and Shelley slaps the shit out of Lawlor's midsection and hits a spinning suplex. Both men struggle to their feet and start exchanging forearm shots. Shelley takes a shortcut and grabs Lawlor by the dick so Lawlor grabs him by the dick so they just hold onto each others dicks and exchange forearms before Lawlor gets the advantage and connects with an enziguri. Lawlor hits a tombstone and gets a two count. The two men start exchanging bombs and reversals of each others finishers. Shelley hits a big knee and a superkick to a kneeling Lawlor before hitting a shellshock to get the three count.

8/10 A really good back and forth match between these two men with a lot of nice grappling and stiff striking exchanges. I always forget Shelley is a heel because he's one of my favorite wrestlers, but he does a lot of nice heel work in here and Lawlor provides a lot of baby face fire when fighting back into the match and trying to get the win.

Maki Itoh vs. Mia Yim

Itoh gets streams and Yim grabs one and throws it at Itoh, love little touches like that. Itoh gains the first advantage after some back and forth and whips Mia into the corner and hits a running back elbow. Mia drops down and takes a kokeshi and the crowd goes wild. Itoh goes for a crossbody, but Mia catches her and hits a fall away slam then follows up with some kicks. Mia takes control using the power advantage and wears Itoh down. Mia tries running Itoh's head into the turnbuckles, but it doesn't work and Mia gets headbutted and knocked to the ground. Itoh hits a nice tornado DDT for a two count. Itoh goes to the top for something, but Yim cuts her off and they start exchanging strikes on the apron. Itoh drapes Mia's feet on the corner and ddts her to the apron for a two count before Mia grabs the rope. Itoh hits another tornado ddt, but Mia gets up and hits a german suplex. Both women are down and slowly fight their way to their feet exchanging forearms before Itoh grabs a headlock gets to the corner and hits another tornado ddt. Itoh goes up for a top rope kokeshi, but Mia rolls out of the way and hits a backdrop driver for two. Mia goes for a package piledriver, but Itoh fights out and gets shotgun dropkicked into the corner. Mia takes her up to the top rope and Mia flips her off. Itoh biters he middle fingers then throws her off the top rope and hits the top rope headbutt for three.

8/10 A really good match between these two with Mia trying to dominate with her power and Itoh fighting back with a combination of stubbornness and cleverness. A fun match where both women showcase what makes them great performers.

Overall: 6/10

A pretty uneven show with a lot of stuff just being normal and honestly the biggest problem is the show just started off poorly and that really killed the momentum of the show. The opener had too much shenanigans to really kick the show off fast and the second match was all shenanigans and just was too long and the energy just wasn't there for how excited I was for the card to start with. The matches that hit are really good and I would definitely watch the two main events and the four way match. But as a show it just didn't bring the energy I wanted from it.

AEW Revolution and Dynamite

This week I went to my first wrestling pay per view when I traveled to Orlando for AEW's Revolution and followed that up with the Dynamite afterword since it was just twenty minutes down the road from me. I went solo to the PPV, but went with my girlfriend and sister to Dynamite. Revolution plus the preshow was a long show, but full of damn good wrestling and the crowd noise died out in some of the later matches after Punk and MJF. Personally it was hard to still be loudly into the matches no matter how good the matches are.

Honestly the Punk/MJF match probably should have main evented as it had the hottest story going into the show and it was going to feature a lot of blood. I get why they put the world title match as the main event, but it just didn't compare to the emotion in the dog collar match. All of the matches on the preshow over delivered and were just as good as anything on the main show and really Statlander/Hirsch was better than a lot of the singles matches on the show. House of Black vs. Pac, Penta, and Redbeard was just an insanely fun fast paced match that I didn't really care for going into the show and then fully captured my attention. Redbeard really impressed me as he really showed a lot of skill in this match and was fun to see him facing off with Brody.

The crowd was loud and into the show, but of course there were annoying people and they were like two rows behind me and to the left and kept shouting annoying shit. The guy sitting next to me just went “I fucking hate those guys,” after one of their attempts at a joke which got a laugh out of me.

Starting with Kingston vs Jericho ruled. I loved the start with the half and half suplex from Kingston and Jericho being on the back foot right away. Kingston is in charge all the time unless Jericho goes for the eyes and unloads offense from there. I know it's because Kawada is his favorite wrestler, but it never doesn't impress me how Kingston does the enziguri exactly like Kawada did. The selling especially, but everything about how the match was worked and paced felt like a classic All Japan Kings Road match. Jericho did a bunch of eye work to trying and slow Kingston down, but he was determined to win and after Jericho accidentally hit the exposed turnbuckle with the Judas effect and Kingston nails a couple of backfists before getting the submission win. This match was great and exceeded my expectations for it. Kingston really brought out the style that Jericho hasn't wrestled in a long time and it really helped the match even if the crowd wasn't always responsive to booing Jericho's cheating despite being strongly behind Eddie.

I don't really want to review every match because being there live makes every match seem better so its going to be more the high points of the show although some of the matches were that good and I felt the need to really going into detail on them. The tag title match was really good and the ladder match was fine with some really cool spots by Orange Cassidy, but didn't have any really good hoss off moments except them facing off a couple of times. Jade vs. Tay was the best match of Jade's run so far and had a lot of really good moments including Tay getting some good offense in.

Being there live for CM Punk coming out to “Miseria Cantare” and in his RoH gear made the show for me. After Punk leaving wrestling for seven years getting to see him come out to that song and in that gear was just the best experience. The match afterword lived up to that feeling as well. A nicely paced match and they tease out the violence and really utilize the gimmick match well using the chain to choke each other and whip each other. Punk is bleeding early and gets an intense crimson mask. I was surprised how well that popped even though I was up in the second level. Punk's tombstone on the apron was phenomenal and it was nice that both men had an injured body part and sold it throughout the match. Definitely the highlight of the show and a great match.

Britt vs. Rosa really had no chance to follow the dog collar match and nothing on the show did. As a follow up to their hardcore unsanctioned match this couldn't live up either as there is a ton of bad blood and it was a normal match and Rosa not being prepared for the interference from Rebel and Hayter just didn't seem right considering how long they have been feuding even if it is a loss to setup a big title win in Rosa's hometown. Danielson vs. Mox was a really good match that took a while to really get the crowd into it, but was largely fought like a classic NWA style battle for control with grappling and hard hitting strikes that didn't necessarily get an advantage they were struggling for. I loved the match, but it wasn't the kind of match that gets the crowd loudly behind it.

The tornado six man tag of Sting, Darby, and Sammy vs. Andrade, Matt Hardy, and Isaih Kassidy surprised the hell out of me. Except for the chance to see Sting wrestle live I would have been happy to have dropped for time. And then the match started and it was an insanely fun brawl between these two teams. Darby nailing Jose the assistant with a suicide dive while he had a trashcan over him was crazy and it kept escalating from there. Marq Quen and Butcher and the Blade joining into the brawl made it more fun as well and almost let the heels get the win. Sammy's insane Spanish fly off the set through two tables to Kassidy was nuts and then Sting jumped off the balcony onto Andrade through four tables which was even crazier.

The main event was really good even if I did get tired of the “Adam” chants that people were doing. The ones were it was just the normal cheer for a wrestler, but we chanted Adam for both was great, but once they just started replacing random words with Adam I got tired of it. The Halo gear that Adam wore out to the ring was pretty half-assed and looked goofy and for a little bit I thought he the backpack was going to shoot off fireworks, but if it makes him happy good for him. The crowd reactions were pretty muted after the Punk/MJF match, but this got the people awake and back into it. I don't know why the good guys friends are always so slow at saving their friend when the heels friends are there cheating so much earlier, but other than that it was a really good match and the Deadeye off the apron through the table was fucking nuts and looked brutal for both guys. I was really worried about Cole winning so when Page got the win it was awesome. I kind of thought they were teasing a slow heel turn for Page with how he finished the match, but Dynamite kind of put a rest to those thoughts.

I loved the show and had a great time even though I took a lyft to the venue and with how busy it was after I couldn't get one back to the hotel and had to walk two miles back to my motel. The show wasn't setup correctly to build up to the best match, but it was still a great show with a lot of great wrestling. It was a great time and I was so happy I made the trip up to Orlando to see it.

After I had bought the tickets to that PPV they announced the show in my hometown of Fort Myers so I got tickets to that, but I knew my girlfriend would be willing to make that trip and got my sister to come down as well since its been a while since she's been to a live show and she's a huge fan of Moxley.

We got there a little late into the Dark taping and saw half of the Emi Sakura/Bunny vs. Kylinn King/Kelsey Reagan match I believe and it was a lot of fun and a great way to start the night. The rest of the matches on the preshow were fine and ending with the Dark Order against Chaos Project was great.

Since it was a post PPV show Dynamite was a little heavy on talking segments which my girlfriend who doesn't follow stuff wasn't really into, but she also made jokes about the wrestling so its tough to say the right move for her. Loved Kingston's promo and how well he plays off of Jericho and the inevitable heel turn for Jericho wasn't surprising to me, but was well played out here. I really like the contrast in Jericho's more polished promo style and Kingston feeling more raw and realistic and dealing with his emotions. The surprise World Title match with Hangman vs. Dante Martin was really goddamn good, and does the thing that I appreciate the most from AEW which is that when a surprise guy gets a title shot its still a back and forth match. Dante got some great offense in and looked really strong in that match.

The next match is the one my sister was most looking forward to as her two favorite wrestlers were teaming up even if they did just run through The Workhorsemen. It was nice seeing JD Drake in person again after buying a shirt from him at a local show even if he didn't get to do much tonight. Regal cut a good promo after the match and has me really looking forward to the future of this team and whatever young guys they add to the stable. Pac vs Yuta was a short but fun match. Pac dominated, but Yuta got to showcase a little bit of what he brings to the table as well.

Next was what ended up being the segment of the night. The Andrade/Hardy Family Order fell apart as we knew it was going to. After the family turned on Hardy we got Sting and Darby to try and fail to make the save and then the Hardy Boyz music hit and Jeff Hardy came out. The crowd came unglued and while I'm not excited about current Hardy Boyz ability in the ring I'd be lying if I said I didn't get super excited about this moment. Jeff helps the rest of the good guys clear the ring and hits a Swanton bomb on Blade.

Wardlow talked next in a solid promo, but since it was one on one it really felt weird that Schiavonne and Wardlow were looking at the hard cam were almost nobody was sitting. Jurassic Express vs. The Acclaimed was an awesome match. I though this was going to be a glorified squash match, but Acclaimed really came close to winning at times and this was a lot of fun. Rosa vs. Hirsch was a fun match with Rosa picking up the win. Scorpio Sky vs. Sammy Guevera was a pretty boring match with a lot of time spent on a fake injury for Sammy although at least the 630 off the top through a table looked awesome. It was cool seeing Scorpio get the win here as I've been a fan of his since seeing him in early PWG shows.

The Rampage taping was fun although it took quite a while for them to change the ring apron and mat which they did quickly between Dark and Dynamite. Marq Quen vs Darby lasted too long for my taste especially since Darby got nearly no offense in and Quen doesn't really have the kind of offense that works well to control a match against a baby face. The 450 from the top to Darby on the floor was fucking awesome to see though. Keith Lee squashed QT nicely and destroyed the rest of the nightmare family. Mercedes Martinez and Jamie Hayter had a good match which was nice to see. The main event of Swerve vs. Nese was good, but after that much wrestling it was a little hard to get too invested in the match.

It was a fun pair of nights and even though both shows were quite long to sit through I had a great time both nights. Obviously Revolution was way better than Dynamite, but Dynamite had stuff going for it as well. It will be a long time before either show is topped for as live experiences go. My ass wishes that the seats were more comfortable and Revolution definitely could have used an intermission, especially since AEW PPVs don't have terrible matches that I'm happy to miss to take a piss break. The prices for the show were much more reasonable than WWE PPVs so I'd definitely recommend checking out a show if its near you.

RoH Final Battle 2021

 

Going back to Ring of Honor for the ifrst time in a long time to watch the last show of the companies run. I missed the first match of The Righteous vs. Shane Taylor Promotions because I was making and eating lunch and making sure my dog didn't steal the food from me. What I watched seemed like a decent match to start the show.

The Hex & Chelsea Green vs. The Allure & Miranda Alize

This is my first time really watching Alize wrestle and I really like her style of hard hitting strikes and fast paced offense. After Chelsea Green gets worked over Allison Kay comes in with a killer hot tag. Love cuts off a dive from Belle with a forearm shot and Mandy Leon hits a pretty bad Made in Japan for the three count. A decent match, but nothing special and just there to get people on the show. The ending was pretty flat and didn't help with this.

3/10

The Bouncers, CB, Flip Gordon, and PJ Black vs. LSG, Demonic Flamita, Will Ferrara, Sledge, and Max the Impaler

There are a lot of wrestlers I don't care about in this match, but probably just as many that excite me and the action kept up at a good pace. Plus they put most of my favorites on a team with Sledge so that works for me. As its a giant tag match we of course get a series of dives including Sledge barely making it over on a moonsault and Max suplexing CB out of the ring onto everybody. Flamita fakes the crowd out on a dive and Bruiser teases powerbombing him to the outside, but Flamita escapes and hits a tornillo off the top. The wrong team wins, but a Canadian Destroyer to LSG off the shoulders of Gordon by Black looked cool and was a solid finish to the match. A fun ten person tag team match, but there were some rough spots scattered throughout.

4/10

Rey Horus vs. Dragon Lee

They do a short back and forth technical exchange before Lee hits a big suicide dive and then just takes control of the match and puts some work in on Horus. Horus hits some high flying moves to change the momentum including a nice change of direction tope con hilo. Lee gets control back with two spinning backbreakers as he continues to target the back and follows up by a brutal looking single leg crab. Lee gets distracted by the thought of a strike exchange and gives up the momentum. Horus hits a body scissors driver off the top rope and Lee waits until the very last moment to kick out. Lee hits an inferno knee that only gets a two count so he hits two more variations to get the win. A really good match between these two men. Good back and forth and a hard hitting and high flying match. A great way to start off the main card of the show.

7/10

Dalton Castle vs. Rhett Titus vs. Silas Young vs. Joe Hendry

Dalton is spending a lot of time goofing around and popping the crowd to start the match letting the other three men do the wrestling in the match. Hendry is doing a lot of strong man stuff in this match and it is a lof fun. Titus becomes the target of Castle and Hendry demonstrating who can do moves better who called back to their tag team before Castle gets jealous and yells at Hendry. The ref gets bumped and Hendry uses the belt on Castle and other shenanigans happen and Titus hits Young with a dropkick and gets the win. A fun fast match between these four men and Titus is the right choice as the last TV champ for the company. I don't know about winning with a dropkick though, I don't care how high he elevates on it.

6/10

Brian Johnson vs. Josh Woods

Woods gets two rope breaks out of Johnson early in the match, but Johnson hits a jawbreaker over the ropes and a suicide dive and takes control of the match. Woods can't get his footing on the ropes to count Johnson, but still powers him off with a suplex then hits a series of suplexes showing off his strength. The two men go back and forth with neither able to get the other over for a vertical suplex until Johnson lifts Woods up and they both tumble over the ropes then start forearming the shit out of each other on the floor. They get back in the ring and start firing off big shots again. Woods takes Johnson to the ropes in a head and arm choke to make him use his last rope break, but while the ref is signalling to the announcer Johnson hits a poke to the eyes and takes advantage. Woods hits a nearly deadlift chaos theory for a two count. Johnson puts Woods up top and goes for a suplex, but Woods grabs him with the head and arm choke and puts Johnson to sleep. I really liked this match. Johnson does a great job of perfectly using the rules and the ref enforcing them to cheat to win the pure title which I enjoy. Woods is just a very good wrestler and I'm looking forward to him being a big deal somewhere else soon.

8/10

Kenny King vs. Shane Taylor

This match is a brawl from the start of this match and Taylor has the advantage early but the first big spot comes when King stops Taylor from suplexing off the top then he hits a blockbuster out of the ring through two tables on Taylor because he's insane, it looked awesome as fuck. Taylor hits a monster STO out of the corner on King through a garbage can. Taylor sets King up on a table then hits a running splash off the apron that looks brutal. Taylor sets up a table in the corner and King fights back then picks Taylor up and hits a running DVD through the table. King hits a splash off a ladder through an elevated ladder for two. Taylor's right hand is very crisp looking and then a sick knee and a sitout piledriver for a very close two count, so good. They both stand on the ladder balanced across the ring and the guardrail and start exchanging strikes. King has to do too much to keep Taylor up which kind of hurts in this kind of match. Taylor hits a package piledriver, and they just kind of slide off the ladder and hit the floor, somehow King is fine. The end of this match was a little too much talking and took away from the real blood feud feel the rest of the match had, but it was still a very good brawl especially considering I've never liked Shane Taylor before so this was a lot of fun.

8/10

Willow vs. Rok C

Rok-C goes for a cartwheel and Willow pulls her arm out under her is such a good touch. This match and its reversals is dedicated to watching tape on your opponent and I like it. Rok-C blocks a moonsault attempt from Willow and hits a sitout powerbomb for two. Willow catches Rok-C up top and hits a superplex then follows up with a moonsault for a long two. Rok-C catches a superkick then hits a Code red for the three count. Rok-C has a lot of work to go on her in ring work, especially her running the ropes which was pretty rough for her here. Willow did a lot to make Rok-C look good in the match. Crowd was all in on Willow so the ending really didn't work here.

5/10

Violence Unlimited vs. The Foundation

Rocky and Williams started this off with some nice technical wrestling. Deppen tagged in and came in with a lot of fun offense. Riccaboni points out that Homicide was wearing his gear from the first show which is a very baggy jumpsuit. The match breaks down and Homicide hits a beautiful tope suicida like he hasn't aged since the first RoH show. Rocky goes for a hurrincanranna on the outside, but Rust catches him and powerbombs him through a bunch of tables. Homicide like a real sick stabs EC3 in the armpit and mouth with a fork. A bunch of crazy shit is happening while everybody is hitting RoH originals finishers. Brody King hits a Ganso bomb on Isom for the three count after a very fun multi man match. Just a bunch of chaos even if I didn't write a lot of what happened, but in these kind of matches so much stuff is happening everywhere it's kind of hard to get it all. EC3 served no purpose in this match and the aftermatch angle was dumb as fuck.

7/10

The OGK vs. The Briscoes

A really good back and forth tag team match between these two teams and of course RoH goes out with the Briscoes as tag team champions because it couldn't really go any other way. I didn't take much note of what happened in the match, but it was very good. These guys just went all out and hit great moves and a ton of tag team moves. Taven's clothesline dive into a doomsday device to the floor was fucking nuts. All of these guys put their bodies on the line to make it a great match and they did it well. It's just two polished teams doing their thing and doing it very well.

8/10

Jay Lethal vs. Jon Gresham

A back and forth match early with Lethal wrestling his style and Gresham targeting the shoulder of Lethal. Gresham nearly gets a three count with a roll up so Lethal just smacks the fuck out of him and stuns him. A rolling inerted samoan drop from Lethal was very cool looking. Lethal goes for Lethal Injection, but his shoulder gives out and Gresham hits a lionsault on the standing Lethal then gets the chicken wing locked in. Gresham gets the Octopus hold and gets the submission to be the Champion. A damn good match between these two men as much as I hate to admit Lethal does anything good, but great selling from both men and I loved to see Gresham just target the shoulder and go to work the whole match and see it pay off for him and stop Lethal from hitting the iconic moves he wanted to hit. Gresham is just so goddamn good in the ring and delivered a very good match here. Loved the lockerroom emptying to come down and watch the finish of the match. Kind of wish they had kept going for longer after the lockerroom came down or they had been there the whole match. The right call for the last RoH champion.

9/10

A really good show from Ring of Honor to end? the promotion. They ran a lot of angles that might be for the reboot, or more likely are going to happen in other promotions that kind of helped pay for the cool shit to happen after stuff matches. The last two matches and the fight without honor were very good and everything else was fine, although on rewatch I'd probably dislike the women's match more, but the crowd was so into Willow and she was killing it in that match so that helped. Loved all the taped wrestlers talking about what RoH meant to them in between matches as well. I don't know if the reboot of RoH will be good, but if this is the last show it's a great way for the company to go out.

Farewell Ring of Honor

Ring of Honor might be coming to an end. It's possible that Sinclair comes up with a way to reboot Ring of Honor and keep it going as a company, but after releasing all of the talent they have under contract there's no way its going to be the same company after all that. There are arguably earlier time periods when RoH stopped being the company it started as, but they always managed to find some way define themselves and stand out from the other companies. Thankfully the indie wrestling scene is good right now with several companies that stand out of the field. GCW has a strong case with a bunch of hype and momentum for all their shows and they did just sell out the Hammerstein Ballroom which is always a goal for US companies. PWG is back with their big shows. AIW and AAW are holding strong shows in the midwest and there are a ton of other smaller companies holding shows regularly on IWTV or Fite TV. For me Beyond is definitely the company that holds the same spot with a tendency to over deliver on their cards, but always doing it in a surprising way.

Ring of Honor introduced me to a lot of my favorite wrestlers and delivered great moments in wrestling. He wasn't there for the start of the company, but perhaps no name is more synonymous with the beginning of Ring of Honor than Samoa Joe and his dominant title run that set the tone for the company. The highlight of early RoH for me was always the Texas Wrestling Association guys who came up. Its hard to argue with a group of wrestlers that included Bryan Danielson, Spanky, Paul London, Michael Shane, and Masada. The feud amongst London and Shane in particular produced a great hardcore match that saw the creation of the “Please don't die” chant. The first batch of RoH stars were an unreal group of talent that filled the card with great matches, but they didn't rest on their laurels.

At the show Generation Next they had announced a tournament for a bunch of guys who had worked undercard matches and a lot of dark matches and shows for the company that were going to get an opportunity to win a contract. A bunch of them showed up with a different idea. Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, and Jack Evans offered the other competitors the choice to join them or get beat up as they hijacked the show that led to an amazing eight man tag on the show and the rise of Generation Next was the focus on Ring of Honor for quite some time in the company as all four guys got over and became champs. This was a favorite of mine as Alex Shelley was and still is my favorite wrestler so anything involving him and pushing him to a level of importance was great in my book. Shelley sadly committed more to TNA so Aries replaced him as the main star of the company, but he still got some shining moments so it wasn't all bad.

As an escalation to the Code of Honor the company also created a new division and belt with the Pure Wrestling Division. The rules really focused on the technical wrestling aspect of the company. Each wrestler got three rope breaks for the match. After they used all the breaks the ropes couldn't save them they had to get out of a hold and they would also lose a break for any rule infractions. The initial tournament concluded interestingly with Punk and Styles who are good technical wrestlers, but not really the style that either guy is known for. However they both stepped up to the challenge of this match and delivered a classic. Some found the division confusing with its rules, but I loved the division and how people adapted to the rules or failed to and went back to the regular division. It provided a great home for guys like Chad Collyer, Matt Stryker, and John Walters. It was especially nice as storylines started to become more of a focus in the company and they needed shenanigans to end matches and it still provided a home for the original style that made RoH what it was.

They also did a good job of bringing in foreign talent that they treated like a big deal. WCW always brought in luchadores and Japanese wrestlers and valued their wrestling ability, but used them to fill up time in the undercard of shows and that was the extent of it. In RoH them bringing in AJPW was the theme of the second Final Battle. When they brought in a wrestler from NOAH it was the theme of the tour with them. Culminating in them having Morishima come in and be the champion as they first started to appear on PPV. As the company fortunes in Japan changed they created a partnership with NJPW and were the destination for young lions on excursion before or after their time in CMLL, the company that RoH also started working with thanks to their deal with NJPW and after AEW took away a lot of their big name wrestlers they utilized a lot of the CMLL wrestlers to shore up their roster and Rush and Bandido lead the company as champs.

There's a lot of great feuds that built up over the years and wrestlers who would have good runs there before going to other companies and doing their thing there. I could spend a ton of time talking about so much of the good and bad of RoH in the early years, but it really was just a treat to see so many great workers showcase their skills with no limits. It's run of hot shows lasted a long time and it was just a monster of a company for so long with no easy way to watch its shows which is insane to think about now.

Over time I fell off watching Ring of Honor live, but every once in a while I'd check back in. Except for local indies the shows I went to were Ring of Honor shows and I even drove fourteen hours to Philadelphia to watch tv tapings for RoH, although that was the end of the War of the Worlds tour and I got to see a bunch of NJPW talent and the RoH debut of Chuck Taylor. I never would have looked at other indie companies or puro without finding RoH and that's something I'll always love RoH for. I got to see my favorite wrestlers live at their shows and was introduced to so many of the wrestlers who would go on to become my favorites. So while Ring of Honor is going to be dead its spirit is going to live on in all the wrestling today. Not just because they revitalized the indies, but the American Strong Style became the style of wrestling in the United States.

As a taste of what I loved about Ring of Honor I made a twitter thread with some of my favorite matches they have on their youtube channel, plus I'm going to list some other matches I just enjoy.

RoH matches twitter thread

Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong (Supercard of Honor)

Homicide vs. Steve Corino (War of the Wire)

Xavier vs. John Walters (Final Battle 2003)

Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer (Throwdown)

BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs (All of the matches)

CM Punk & Ace Steel vs. BJ Whitmer & Dan Maff (Death Before Dishonor 2 Night 2)

Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi

Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Briscoe

Jay Briscoe vs. Samoa Joe (At Our Best)

Briscoes vs. AJ Styles & Amazing Red