From the Archives: ROH TV Main Event: Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson

The most recent addition to the series took place on the 4/4/09 ROH on HDTV. It was the main event between two of the most gifted wrestlers in the world today, Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson. Let's take a look:

Danielson vs Aries (ROH S01E03)
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Now, it's no secret that I've developed somewhat of a healthy mancrush on Aries lately, and it's also no secret that Danielson is the second best in the world at what he does (after Chris Jericho, of course). These two have also faced off several times in the past, as noted by our crack announce team of Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak. By the way, they're doing no favors to their fed with their amateur-sounding announcing. Prazak would be alright with someone to work with, but Hogewood needs to go. Imagine if Matt Striker were allowed to announce that caliber of wrestling without the anchor that is Josh Matthews and without a production assistant chirping in his ear?

Aaaaaaanyway, as with most ROH action, the match started off with them feeling each other out after Aries hammed it up pre-match, trying to get out of the traditional handshake. If you're not a fan of old-school wrestling, this match isn't for you. Luckily for me, I love wrestling of all kinds, and old-school is way up there for me. Danielson was bringing mostly the submission and strike game. A lot of elbows (and now that Misawa's gone, I expect his elbow usage to go up exponentially out of tribute when he recovers from his staph infection), a good amount of MMA submissions thrown in (with a key mention from Prazak about that). Aries went all old-school heel, breaking out the sucker punch, the back rake, the Vulcan neck pinch and the... FISHHOOK~! Seriously, I marked out where I sat when I saw that. Oh Austin, my hero.

What I liked most was the finish. It was a good submission finish with a move that wasn't pimped as one of Danielson's finishers, the triangle choke. It was great to see a finish that wasn't predictable but also wasn't a flash pin either. Then again, this is ROH, Americanized puro. I also liked how it was a drawn out process before Aries had to tap out, and how the move wasn't just Aries sitting there and trying to get to the ropes. The 'E could learn a few things watching ROH matches and teaching their younger guys how to really work a submission finish.

Great free TV match, and it really makes me want to check out their earlier stuff. Of course, by then my mancrush on Aries will reach insufferable, Jericho levels, and well, you'll all have no choice but to become indoctrinated into the cult of Aries or die resisting... AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAH~!

Instant Feedback: One Step Forward... Two Steps Back

So that was an interesting RAW tonight to say the least. There were good moments, yeah, but I can't help but feel that there's been another missed opportunity to shake things up. Y'know Vince McMahon in character can talk about "shaking things up" all he wants, but is Dave Batista coming out and continuing to wage war against the English language really shaking things up in meaningful way? Or forcing Teddy Long to insert a makeshift tag team into the Unified Tag Championship match? Or effectively raiding ECW of its roster to position RAW as the only brand that matters? No. It really isn't. They were all just carrots for people to be amused with for a few seconds.

They had a real chance to create a few new stars. They had a built-in excuse for Triple H to lose clean to MVP and give him a rub that he sorely needs after really fading into the background and then not being on the PPV last night in exchange for being at an awards show with his View-ty Call, which, by the way, did so much for MVP's mainstream cred, seeing as no one there even knew he was a wrestler. So instead of MVP going over the hobbled Trips, we had Trips effectively no-sell the 80% of the match that MVP was in control working the leg and win clean with only one of his finishers.

Then, there's Miz/Cena. That was the match they should have had last night, but didn't. Okay, better late than never, but why not advance Miz to make up for coming not so close last night? Again, it doesn't have to be clean.

But let's get to the positives, because there were at least two. One was in the Miz/Cena match. Miz was in control for a prolonged amount of time, and really, more people will tune in to watch RAW than they will order a PPV, especially a low-tier one like The Bash. They didn't have to see that Miz got totally bitched out last night... if Lawler says that Miz held his own, they go by it, and soon, the lie becomes reality. Again, heat is elastic. Maybe it was better that they held off until now for that match, but again, what would it have hurt to give the live crowd and PPV audience the same kind of match?

The second was Mark Henry. Now I may be one of the few Henry marks (see what I did there?) on the planet, but when he's motivated, he can do the monster thing pretty well. I don't think he works as well as a face, but the crowd reacted to him tonight. I thought it was well done, and again, something that worked in context of how Orton was after the grueling match last night and then the working over he took from both Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger.

Again though, unless I have reason to believe that something more than just a cheap temporary pop will come from any of this, my pessimism over RAW is the prevailing feeling. This isn't the Smackdown booking crew. It seems like this booking crew is lazy and very much inept at keeping a prolonged feud going. I hope I'm wrong, but at this point, they need to do a lot in order to earn back my faith.

Well, there goes that idea

I didn't watch The Bash last night, so I have no firsthand visual evidence of how badly the WWE fucked up all that build they put into the Miz last night against Cena. And as we've learned with Chris Jericho, Booker T, Rey Mysterio and even to an extent CM Punk if you're looking strictly short-term, heat is elastic and can be rebuilt.

However, after reading overwhelming amounts of negative feedback about the match from all corners of the Web, I can't help but imagining that I would have liked anything about the match. From all reports, Miz was absolutely squashed. Five minutes, no real offense.

I think it's time to reexamine a few things. For one, is the WWE really serious about building new stars? Two, is it time to start accusing John Cena of some of the things that the entire Internet has been accusing Triple H of since day one of his massive push in 1999, be it wrongfully or deservedly? Three, why would the company put so much short-term build into a program that ended in a glorified five-minute squash? Four, will this Triple H vs. Randy Orton program ever end? Okay, that doesn't have anything to do with Miz/Cena, but still, is there anyone out there, Triple H fan, Orton fan, fan of both or fan of neither who thinks that this feud isn't stale?

So many questions raised and yet it's mind-numbingly enraging to answer them at worst and disappointing at least if the answers found are what are embodied as our worst fears. This much is true though, whether it's Cena's pull or the WWE's ineptitude at building a program or stars: Cena's pattern of PPV wins and losses follows a disturbing pattern. He wins all the time. Okay, he's a top star for the company, he's gotta win a disproportionate amount of times, right? Well yeah. No one is going to argue that the biggest star and the best draw should be jobbing left and right. That makes no sense whatsoever. Even I, at the height of my hating on the Large Nosed One, would never call for him to lose every time he stepped in the ring. The thing is balance and context.

For a guy like Cena, out of 16 PPV matches a year, three or four matches with him not coming out victorious would provide the proper balance. He wins most of the time, just not all the time. That way, those three or four losses carry some weight and give an aura of specialness to the guy beating him, even if the win is tainted. Cena's PPV losses this year have been in the Elimination Chamber, which was a throwaway match in terms of a feud for Cena, and at Backlash, which was basically the only time that The Big Show was allowed to get over on Cena on PPV the entire feud they've been having.

Yet the announcers still beat it into our skulls that Cena has to "beat the odds" whenever he steps into the ring during a feud. Really? Cena, beating the odds when he doesn't even come close to losing a PPV match, when he always comes out on top... it gets pretty insulting to even the dullest wrestling fan's intelligence after awhile. Kinda like how when Triple H was able to curb his bloodlust to keep his title AND avenge his wife at WrestleMania, only to have Michael Cole shriek in our ears a few weeks later that Trips could finally get his revenge on Orton at Backlash... lolwut?

Yeah, I did say that Cena should have gone over Miz at the Bash before, but notice that they didn't do nearly what I was also calling for, and Miz came into the match cold since Cena and Trips eliminated him quite easily at the three-hour RAW. I thought Miz should have gone over with shenanigans setting up a return match at a later PPV, possibly SummerSlam, where Cena won clean after a hard fought match. Other people were saying that all Cena had to do was make Miz look credible. He didn't even do that.

You could say that there's a precedent with Hulk Hogan winning all the time, but there are differences between Hogan and Cena. One is that Hogan drew way more money than Cena has to date and probably ever will. Yes, drawing money isn't an excuse for shenanigans backstage, and Hogan is rightly raked over the coals for his indiscretions. Still though, while RAW drew record ratings last week, Cena wasn't the reason. Was it Trump as the WWE hoped? Maybe. Was it Triple H/Orton in a PPV quality match? Could be. Was it the fact that there were no commercials, which is what Meltzer/Alvarez and ultimately, myself believe? Maybe. However, Cena, who wasn't advertised in conjunction with the show, was more an afterthought and a "treat" for the viewing audience. It could also be argued that Jeff Hardy has surpassed him as the most lucrative draw.

Two, Hogan made people look like a million bucks in the ring. He sold, almost to the point of overselling, for guys clearly below him in the pecking order like Earthquake, Curt Hennig and even The Genius. Yes, Cena does this for Show. He does this for Edge. He even did so for Rey Mysterio at No Way Out. So... why couldn't he do this for Miz? Even if he went over clean, how about at least looking like he was going to get beaten?

I know that the kiddies want to see John Cena win all the time, but sometimes, you just can't give them what they want all the time without keeping the people who give them the money to purchase their tickets and merch interested. A good businessman gives the crowd what it wants to see. A great businessman leaves you wanting more. If you go home satisfied all the time, with no cliffhangers at all, then you get complacent.

Again, I'm not saying Cena should lose all the time. He just needs to drop enough PPV mains in order to keep people guessing as to who's going to win a match with him involved instead of perhaps changing the channel until another segment's on RAW or... not ordering a PPV out of fear that it'll be the same ol' same ol'. Other people need to look strong too. Miz right now is a wrestler in need of some credibility. He's a gifted heat magnet and he's outlandishly underrated in the ring. Most people peg John Morrison as the better worker from the team. I beg to differ, and I don't even think it's close. All of that doesn't matter if he's not booked to look good.

Besides, if you keep putting something off just because it's possible to rectify later doesn't mean that you should do it. This weekend should have been a stern reminder with two very famous celebrities dying unexpectedly. In a business like wrestling, where a drug overdose can take a life or a botched move injuring a body part, you don't put off today for tomorrow. All it takes is for a minor slip for Miz to blow out a knee, and then boom, you have a guy who just got chumped by Cena is now limping off to the sunset. Then, you have to do more work to get him over than if you did what you were supposed to do now.

But I guess as long as the kiddies keep coming in, Vince McMahon is happy then, right? Well, when the kids start to get bored with wrestling and with the parents finding nothing engaging about the product, the numbers they have right now won't last, and then what will he do?

Hopefully, it never has to come to that.

Friday Five: Dub-See-Dub

With the Bash coming up this weekend, truncated from its original name the Great American Bash, what would be a better time to look back at WCW with one of the last remaining vestiges to their history coming up?

1. Who was the closest WCW original in your opinion to reaching the level of Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin or The Rock?

2. What was your favorite WCW match?

3. Where did WCW ultimately start go go wrong in your opinion?

4. Would they have benefitted from having a better PBP guy than Tony Schiavone?

5. Was WCW a vanity project for Ted Turner?

The Best Moves Ever: Crossface Chicken Wing

It's a simple submission hold, but often times, the simple moves are the best ones. Sweet Chin Music, a simple thrust kick to the face. Stone Cold Stunner, a 3/4 turn headlock flowing into the user sitting down. The crossface chicken wing fits nicely into the simple but deadly finisher. This move actually turned Backlund heel in 1994, when after losing a WWF Championship match to Bret Hart, he snapped and applied it after the bell had already rung.

I couldn't find a good iso vid of the move, so you'll have to bear through the entirety of the squash match against... some jobber. However, you do get the added bonus of listening to Vince McMahon and Randy Savage call the match on the early, early days of RAW.

Bob Backlund vs Kevin Krueger
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Internal Logic

There are two components to a really, really good swerve. One is that you don't expect it when it happens. Two is that you should have seen it coming but you don't. We're not talking about blatant hints, but subtle hints. You look back at the best swerves and you notice things. Even if you don't notice it, the swerve still makes sense.

Vince Russo has always had a way of mastering the first while completely effing up the second. That's why it's not surprising that at Slammiversary, Samoa Joe, who got a penis tattooed to his face and bought a knife just so he could terrorize the Main Event Mafia for the last three months, climbed the ladder to grab the TNA World Championship... only to hand it to Kurt Angle, the leader of said MEM. There were no subtle hints. There was no context. Samoa Joe had spent months threatening, assaulting, kidnapping and terrorizing members of the MEM, and he turned to join them.

Now, I know, Russo isn't the only guy in charge in TNA (which is a problem in and of itself). However, Dutch Mantell and Jeff Jarrett clearly are following the Russo model of "swerve first, ask questions later... or maybe never" with their booking trends for as long as I can remember. This lack of internal logic is one of the big reasons why TNA lags behind a WWE that could be doing better (although RAW did a 4.5 last night... which is either a blip or a sign that maybe the WWE is turning a corner).

Internal logic. That is not a term you apply to a fed like TNA. This is a fed that thinks pushing WWE castoffs over guys they can claim as original is a good idea. This is a fed that allows the same kind of backwards, glass-ceiling booking that ruined WCW. This is a fed that employs people like Don West, Jeremy Borash and Mike Tenay to get the talent over when they couldn't get a chocolate cake eat-a-thon to fat people looking to get off their diets. This is a company that has to book the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia instead of even the Spectrum, and couldn't even get a decent crowd in one of the best wrestling cities in the country.

TNA is a fed rent asunder by its own shortsightedness, and it starts at the top. It starts with the people ideating things, coming up with the angles. There needs to be a sound logic when it comes to what the wrestlers do or else they come off as morons. Granted, people like watching morons, or else shows like The Simple Life, Jon and Kate Plus Eight, The Real Housewives of New Jersey and The Hills wouldn't be as popular as they are, but there's a difference between watching morons do moronic things and then people having their intelligence insulted by people doing things that don't make any sense whatsoever.

Having Samoa Joe join the people he's been committing borderline felonies against for the last three months falls under the latter. It's a damn shame too, because I've seen Joe in action. He's got a certain charisma about him that could make him an asset to a fed, a la Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in the mid-'90s for the WWF. AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Kurt Angle and Joe could anchor solid competition to the WWE right now as the more athletic fed. Instead, we get nWo rehashes and the morons who fall in line with what they want.

You could say that I need to wait and see, but TNA's track record doesn't give them the benefit of that doubt. This company is in serious need of an enema in the front office and a reboot with the talent they have. They are not the market leader, and they are attempting to usurp that market leader by imitating their worst aspects, amplified a thousandfold. It's a model that doesn't work in the real world... why is it continually allowed to be implemented in wrestling? It's more baffling than why Samoa Joe would hand Kurt Angle the TNA Championship at Slammiversary.

Instant and Not-So-Instant Feedback: No Commercial RAW and TNA

RAW was as good as it could have been, which is better than most landmark RAWs, which tend to disappoint for whatever reason. I'll say this though, that fucking countdown clock is deplorable and not only does it scream "Hey, we give up on this kayfabe thing," but it sells the rest of the roster short. I mean, they're just GIVING Jon and Kate (btw, fuck both of them) and whatever other competition they have free ratings until the match comes on. It's like saying don't watch anyone else but what's in the "important" match. I hope they like shooting themselves in the foot.

Speaking of shooting themselves in the foot, way to go, TNA. You spent the last three months building up Samoa Joe as a ruthless killer bent on destroying the Main Event Mafia... just to join them last night. There will be more on this, but really, good job, you fucktards. Enjoy eating a sputtering WWE's wake until Dixie gives up on you and folds your pathetic company.

The Curious Case of Randy Orton

Six months ago, Randy Orton was about to win the Royal Rumble and was being positioned to be cemented into the main event firmament in the WWE. While his run has been given the nominal treatment, one can only wonder if the WWE could have done more with him so far. Now, while I'm not the biggest Orton fan in the world and can think of ten different wrestlers I'd like to build around as a franchise heel for my company, Orton's there and he isn't going anywhere.

Instead of just being there, though, Orton could be so much more. He could be one of the top faces in the company. Now, I know I've criticized Orton for being boring in the past, and you really can't be boring as a face. However, there were signs of charisma there. Yet, every time he let those traits shine through, the WWE stifled him.

Let's take a look at the signs. He punted Mr. McMahon when the boss was about to fire him for messing with his annoying and sometimes manly-looking daughter. He has a quick-strike finisher that could end a match at any time. He has great poses that pop the crowd. So... when he was getting the pops he was getting earlier in the year, why not let the crowd turn him face?

Right now, there may be an equal number of legit main event faces to heels, maybe even moreso. But when you have the chance to make money, you go for it. Regardless of what Vince McMahon thinks, the WWE itself is not a homerun. It needs stars, whether it's megastars like Hulk Hogan, Rock or Steve Austin in boom periods or "hold the fort" draws like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart or John Cena in the downtimes. People were coming to the arena to see Randy Orton. If not, they'd be sitting on their hands when he's doing his thing. He can appeal to the crowd, he's an improving worker, and he's got a good handle of what to say in the ring, even if he needs work on how to say it, unless he's been droning as part of his heel character.

Yeah, about that. It's funny that the WWE has taken great pains to keep him heel by throwing out every trick in the book - having him threaten to cancel WrestleMania, hiding behind mental illness (which is no joke, but to a wrestling crowd, it might as well be Heel 101), even stopping doing anything remotely emotive. Do you notice that he hasn't been posing on the turnbuckles anymore? The only gestures he's been allowed to do anymore are the ones that make him look like a homosexual snake... again, not the best posturing for a wrestling crowd. I've even noticed a drop-off in frequency for the RKO, well, I haven't been counting them, but it just feels like he sets up for the Punt way more than he sets up for (and the announcers really sell... the bigger key) the RKO.

Even if it's been the WWE's plan to make Orton their heel centerpiece for the coming months and maybe even years, you can't hold a guy down from his destiny forever. Either that, or the 'E is going to break Randy Orton forever. There's no denying that he's less emotive right now than he was before No Way Out. Some people think that it's "classic psychological heel". Honestly, I don't see it. When I think that, I think Kevin Sullivan or Jake Roberts, guys who plot and plan diabolically, who think of ways to get back at people OTHER THAN by sneak attacking them. And the one thing that they did do right for Orton's character - having him lay out Steph while Trips was cuffed to the ropes - it was too little, too late for that build.

I'd rather they not do more for Orton's heel persona though. I don't think he's got the chops to do it. Rather, I think he's better suited to play the face. I think he knows how to play to the crowd. He's athletic enough to be able to add dynamic elements to his moveset. In fact, I think his build almost demands that he run a high-energy offense rather than a resthold-based heel moveset.

It would also give the WWE a chance to experiment with other guys going heel. Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio are about the only two unheelable guys they have on their roster right now. Triple H and Batista are the logical choices, but they could also go with the smark wet dream of heeling John Cena. While I think that right now, heeling him would be a huge mistake, I admit that the thought is intriguing, and if the fans take to Orton as well as I think they would, then it could free up Cena to switch sides and freshen up a bit.

As it stands right now, we're going into a landmark RAW tonight with a main event that's been done to death so many times with two people in the same roles they've been in for the last two years. The WWE has been doing okay business, but their programming hasn't been hot enough to be able to "save" MyNetworkTV or pull big numbers on SciFi. It's very formulaic, and while people will tune into proven matchups and stars, they also want something new. Randy Orton as a face would have provided that, and given that all they'd have to do is let him play to the crowd, he could do that again. He may not be THE answer, but he could be an answer.

The GoAT Files: Mitsuharu Misawa

We close Misawa week by taking a look at his credentials as the best wrestler of all-time:



Pros: One of the biggest draws of the '90s in Japan, outstanding worker, the top dog among the AJPW four, made mark in promoting with Pro Wrestling NOAH

Cons: Arguably behind Rikidozan, Baba and Tsuruta in terms of all-time rankings in Japan, while great in the ring, not regarded as the best in terms of workrate, impact across Pacific lesser than Mutoh, Sasuke, Tenryu and even Tajiri

Mitsuharu Misawa's run at the top of All-Japan Pro Wrestling is the stuff of legends. Given the ball after Genichiro Tenryu bolted and Jumbo Tsuruta retired, Misawa proved to be an epic draw and a phenomenal worker. Many people think that he's one of few wrestlers who can stake a claim for being in the best singles and tag matches of the all-time, let alone in the decade of the '90s. Misawa is a slam-dunk Hall-of-Famer.

So why then would someone hesitate at proclaiming him the best professional wrestler in Japan's history? There a few reasons. One is that he never really eclipsed those who came before him. Granted, the Japanese are culturally inclined to respect their elders more than Americans are. In fact, one of their major religions, Shinto, is basically the practice of ancestor worship. While Misawa will definitely live on as one of the all-time greats, it's arguable that he never outshone those who came before him. Rikidozan, Shohei "Giant" Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta are arguably ahead of him, and his the original Tiger Mask, Tenryu, Keiji Mutoh, Antonio Inoki and even his contemporary, Toshiaki Kawada could very well be argued to be on the same plane if we're knocking him down a peg.

Secondly, Japan is a country that likes a good workrate. Misawa was good, one of the best, but the fact that many people rank Kawada ahead of him kinda stings a little bit. You can't argue against gates, sure, but us wrestling dorks do it anyway, and of all the criteria, workrate is king, and why shouldn't it be? There wouldn't be an industry if it weren't for what happens in the ring.

Finally, the biggest knock against him is that barely anyone in the States knows who he is outside of the hardcore wrestling fans. If you ask someone who the best Japanese wrestler was, you'd get a few answers before Misawa most likely. TAKA Michinoku, Tenryu, The Great Sasuke, Yoshihiro Tajiri, Mutoh and even bit players like Sho Funaki and Masato Tanaka would rate before him. Puroresu is often called "smark porn" and many people will show a bias to it before they even get a chance to check it out. Therefore, the people who did come over here and star in high profile feds like the WWF/E and WCW would be the ones getting play.

Okay, okay, enough knocking the man for now. This post, and this week, has been set up to honor him and now, and I think the positives are enough that he has a legit case to be considered as the best ever. I certainly think that he will get his due sooner or later. I mean, ROH's rising popularity will certainly help his cause, since that is essentially American puroresu (or at least a watered down version of it). Misawa even wrestled over here a couple of times, so the smarter ROHbots will most definitely be taking his death to heart (Although it didn't show on Friday... every time someone threw an elbow like Misawa and when Necro Butcher hit the Tiger Driver, I chanted "Misawa! Misawa!" No one joined me).

For better or for worse, the indies are adopting a much stiffer, more King's Road-like style than they were back in the '90s. These wrestlers grew up fans, and I don't doubt that many of them bought tapes and viewed such classic affairs as the 6/3/94 match between Misawa and Kawada. Misawa was the vanguard of that generation, and rightfully, his influence is growing. For the better? Well, maybe with Misawa's death, there'll be a push towards more safety. Can these moves be done safely? I think they can.

Still, Misawa gave us years and years of great wrestling, first as Tiger Mask II in a high-flying style, then innovating the strong-style with his peers. He is one of the all-time greats, and he should be saluted and honored.

From the Archives, Misawa Week: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs. Toshiaki Kawada

6/3/94

Many consider this to be the greatest match of all-time. Me? It's up there. I first viewed this match several years ago, thanks to Matt Talbot, a former poster at A1, who sent me that match and the 1994 Super J Cup tournament. Many people say that this match and the finals of that tournament (Benoit/Sasuke) are the biggest reasons why puroresu is even followed in America. Why is this match so special? It's the third match between former tag team partners and maybe the most intense rivals in Japanese history, Misawa and Kawada. Let's take a look:

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Despite Misawa winning, this match probably did more to put Kawada over than anything short of a victory could have. The concept of a "special match finisher" is lost in America for the most part. Usually, if someone kicks out of the Stone Cold Stunner or the "Attitude Adjustment" (God I feel dirty typing that), it will only take another one, or an avalanche variant of it to finish the opponent off. In Japan though, where moves other than finisher regularly finish matches, even finishers like the Tiger Driver don't get pulled out that often.

So imagine, as a fan sitting in that arena 15 years ago, witnessing Kawada pretty much kick out of everything that Misawa had in his arsenal, the stiff elbows, the Tiger Driver, knee strikes, German suplexes, powerbombs, you name it, he's shrugged it off and fired back with one of his signature kicks. You're thinking to yourself, whether you're pulling for the budding cultural icon Misawa or the scrappy underdog with the cauliflower ear, Kawada, my God, I think Kawada has a chance. It pretty much takes the rarest move in Misawa's arsenal, a move invented three years prior on a botched Tiger Driver, one that Misawa hadn't busted out since, one of the sickest head drops of all-time, to put down Kawada. Sure, Kawada didn't win the title that night, but he earned the respect of puroresu fans everywhere.

When people bitch about superstars not putting mid-carders over, they miss the point, and this match is the biggest reason why. Sure, the culture is different, but this match, along with the Steve Austin/Bret Hart match at WMXIII, show that you don't need to win to be put over. You just need to look credible to the point of the audience thinking you have a chance of winning.

ROH on HDNet Taping, 6/19

ROH held TV tapings for their weekly show on HDNet tonight at the ECW Arena. I had high hopes due to the names on the card and the general reputation of the fed. This was my first experience to the fed, and I hoped it'd be a good one. Let's say it was good, but it didn't completely knock my socks off. It wasn't due to the wrestling, but more or less to the finishes of some of the matches. I guess now that they have a TV show, they can't be giving away clean finishes on the tapings, but I guess I was spoiled having seen a lot of the same guys I saw tonight at Chikara King of Trios have amazing matches with clean finishes.

Still, that's not to say that I wasted my money. It was a fantastic show. There were three dark matches before bell-time, and they were amusing time-wasters. The highlight of those was a match between a clearly gay team called The Sect and another team of local favorites featuring a guy called Mox.

First billed match of the evening went to a tag match, Rhett Titus and Kenny King against Erick Stevens and Kenny Omega. Titus and King worked the "I'm too sexy" angle, doing thrusts like Rick Rude. Hot tag match, well-worked, and Titus and King got the duke.

Next up was a three-way match, presumably the main event to the first taping portion - Roderick Strong against Jay Briscoe against D'Lo Brown. It was a great match, a hot match. The crowd was split three ways. There was one contingient rooting for Briscoe, whom, by the way, is from Delaware and plays up the redneck angle. Yeah, that's real Southern. And I wonder how the black family who sat in front of me thought about the arena cheering for a guy wearing the Confederate flag on his trunks. Dunno. Aaanyway. That contingient was also very antagonistic towards D'Lo. D'Lo also had his cheering section. Me? I rooted for Strong. Strong won after reversing a Sky High into a pinning combo. Very strong match.

Five minute break and then we come back with tag action. Prince Nana and Eddie Osiris escort their Embassy buddies, Claudio Castagnioli and Jimmy Rave out to meet Colt Cabana and Brent Albright. Okay match. It was carried mostly by Castagnioli and Cabana. I don't know about you, but Albright isn't that good. Either that, or I caught him on a bad night. He seemed very sloppy, very choppy. Anyway, it devolves into a schmozz with Castagnioli hitting the Ricola Bomb after some interference. Vicious post-match attack with Albright getting busted open, but Necro Butcher and Grizzly Redwood (!!!) made the save. Later on, after a Necro Butcher squash, Cabana, Redwood (!!!) and Albright offered Necro Butcher a spot on their team to take on the Embassy. He accepted. Like at King of Trios, Necro was one of the more over faces of the night, and I can see why. He may look goofy, but the dude has animal charisma.

Speaking of animal charisma, Delirious has it in spades. He worked a squash against Silas Young. Crazy pops, crazy offense, and after the match, he cut a promo in gibberish, much to the delight of the crowd.

After that, it gets pretty hazy for me, so I'll just run down highlight matches. The next big memorable match was El Generico with Kevin Steen in his corner against Davey Richards, with Eddie Edwards, Sara Del Rey and some bearded dude in a cast whose name I didn't catch. This was a phenomenal match. Generico, who was clearly the most over face of the night, came out guns blazing with an Olé Kick and he dominated the offense early. It settled into a nice groove later on, with shenanigans involved from both camps. It got pretty bad at the end, and really, I guess I was more pissed at being robbed seeing a BRAINBUSTAAAAAAHHHH~! live than I was with the schmozzy ending. Oh well, I guess they had to do the cluster at the end because of TV, but still, it would have been nice to have seen a clean finish to the match. It was like the Cena/Jericho match from RAW in England. Wrestling blue balls.

Anyway, that led straight into the next break. After that ended, they played "Also Sprach Zarathrusta" to tease Ric Flair, but it was Austin Aries. He came out and cut a BLISTERING heel promo on the crowd. This guy has so much charisma it's not even funny. Last time I saw him at King of Trios, he wrestled and didn't talk, letting his charisma show that way. This time, he talked and didn't wrestle, and still, he oozes it out of every pore. It's a damn shame that the WWE has such a thing against smaller guys, because he'd be the most over guy on the roster, easily. He's becoming one of my favorites.

First match after the break was Steen/Edwards, with partners banned from ringside, presumably as a result of what transpired before with the schmozz at the end of Generico/Richards. Another pretty good match. Steen is sort of like Vader-light, literally. Great big man worker, but he's a bit less heavy than good ol' Leon White. Match ended with the beareded manager in a cast distracting the ref and Edwards going for the chairshot. Steen grabs it off him, clocks him and hits him with a fat-man swanton.

A couple of squashes later, and it's the main event, a returning Nigel McGuinness took on his ancient rival Tyler Black. This was the match of the night. McGuinness is another guy that I think should be working in the WWE. He has the look, he's a great worker with great ring presence. Great back and forth match, McGuinness working the arm, Black coming back with all he's got. The match finish was great. McGuinness hit his Tower of London and then dragged Black to the middle of the ring to make him tap with his armbar/camel clutch hybrid he calls the London Dungeon. Black fights out of it and amazingly hits God's Last Gift for the pinfall victory. After the match, the rivals shake hands, and everyone goes home happy.

All in all, I can see where ROH gets their rep as "American puro" from, but I guess with TV, they've let some of the WWE-style bait and switch booking creep in. I guess that's alright, and if I wanted all clean finishes, maybe I could go to a "house show" or PPV event.

Notable by their absences, by the way, were Bryan Danielson, Eddie Kingston, Jerry Lynn and Chris Hero. However, the show didn't suffer without them there. There were enough good wrestlers there - Black, Brown, McGuinness, Strong, Generico, Steen and Richards - to put on a good show.

The Best Moves Ever: Tiger Driver '91

Here it is, the granddaddy of all puro finishing maneuvers. Tiger Driver '91, a double underhook piledriver that lands the opponent on his/her head, neck and shoulders, was busted out for the first time in 1991 by accident. I'm unsure as to which match Misawa busted out Tiger Driver '91 for the first time, but it was shelved for three whole years until what many consider the best wrestling match of all-time, the 6/3/94 match against Toshiaki Kawada. Courtesy of TheSuicidalDragon, here's a montage of all the instances of Tiger Driver '91. The most protected of protected finishers, the rarest of sights. This move is given the duest deference of all:

Friday Five: Puroresu

In a special Misawa Week Friday Five, I'll be asking you questions about puroresu, or the art of Japanese professional wrestling. I expect this to be the least answered of the FFs, and that's saying something since I average less than one reply a week for these :p

1. Are you an avid watcher of puro?

2. If you answered yes to 1, what is your opinion of it, and if you answered no, what is your preconceived notion towards it, be it ignorant or informed?

3. Who was your favorite Japanese wrestler to cross over to America?

4. Do you think their style of big moves, clean finishes, emphasis on strikes, varied match finishes (i.e. not just finisher or flash pin to end a match) and closeness to "real sport" would fly in America? If not all of it, what aspects?

5. Does the fact that Misawa died in the ring turn you off to becoming a puro fan in the future?

Guest Blog: Todd Yates on Misawa's Early Years

As I said before, my hunger in learning about puroresu, both past and present, is large, but my knowledge is sparse. I couldn't really do Misawa's career justice, but the good thing about being an Internet smark is that there are definitely going to be people who post at your message boards who do. I'm lucky enough to post at A1Wrestling with a guy by the name of Todd Yates (poster handle "T-Y"). His knowledge of '80s and '90s puroresu is almost unmatched, and since those were the formative and heyday years of Misawa, I couldn't think of a better person to write the following guest blog.

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Mitsuharu Misawa: The Early Years

A Guest Blog by Todd Yates

On Saturday night, June 13 2009, Mitsuharu Misawa passed away after taking a so-called routine backdrop suplex in the ring. I have to admit; I haven't followed his career much after he left All-Japan Pro Wrestling and formed Pro Wrestling NOAH back in 2000. In fact, I stopped following the Japanese scene not too long after 2000. It got to the point where I got a bit uncomfortable watching these dangerous moves where the wrestlers would land on their neck and/or head. Oddly enough, the very thing that started to make me uncomfortable about watching the hard style of pro wrestling that was employed in Japan was what ended up taking the life of Misawa.

But I'd like to talk about Misawa's formative years up to the point where he was firmly cemented as The Man. I'd also like to write a bit about some incidents that led to him becoming The Man, even though at the time, it was impossible to see the consequences of those events.

While Misawa began his career in 1981, his big break came as Shohei "Giant" Baba started to aggressively compete for talent by raiding the rival New Japan Pro Wrestling headed by Antonio Inoki. These raids were probably not all that dissimilar to what the WWF did in the '80s and what WCW did in the mid 90's. Although the big names acquired by Baba was Riki Choshu and Masa Saito, he made another move that proved to be the big break for Misawa. A popular junior heavyweight wrestler for New Japan in the early '80s was Tiger Mask. Tiger Mask was actually a comic book character bought to life by New Japan and "played" by Satoru Sayama. The original Tiger Mask went on to revolutionize the high flying style of Junior heavyweight wrestling and became wildly popular not just to kids (which was the original intent) but even hardcore wrestling fans, thanks to classic feuds he had with The Dynamite Kid and Kuniaki Kobayashi.

However, Sayama left New Japan around late 1983 and went on to help form the original UWF, a shoot style federation which actually would impact Misawa's later career in a different way. Although I'm not familiar with the maneuvering done by Baba to achieve this but Baba ended up buying the rights to the Tiger Mask name, it gave Misawa his first big break as he became the second man to wrestle in the mask. Baba tried to recreate the magic of the original Tiger Mask by bringing in rivals of the original Tiger Mask like Dynamite Kid and Kobayashi. While Misawa did have some highly regarded matches during his stint as Tiger Mask (including one that is heavily praised against Kobayashi in March of 1985), ultimately, it just couldn't match the original. While history would prove Misawa to be a far superior wrestler than Sayama, Sayama was a far better Tiger Mask. To be fair, Misawa was far bigger than Sayama, who was probably 160 lbs. at best and lacked the grace of Sayama. However, if you would go back and watch Misawa as Tiger Mask and remember that it was the mid '80s, his aerial skills are quite impressive. If you only know Misawa by his later works, probably a bit surprising. Anyone looking for any recommendation of junior heavyweight Tiger Mask Misawa Era, definitely hunt down the aforementioned Kobayashi match.

While most of Misawa's poundings that led to his downfall was due to his brutal matches in the '90s, his junior wrestling style already gave him severe injuries, including one to his knees which, if I recall correctly, occurred during the aforementioned Kobayashi match. Baba would soon move Misawa to the heavyweight division and in an interesting sidenote, Misawa would go on to wrestle iconic American wrestlers like Ric Flair, Curt Hennig, Ricky Steamboat and Bret Hart. While none of these matches are classics, it is interesting to watch the man that many consider the best wrestler of the 1990s and possibly of all time in the ring against not just '80s icons like Flair and Steamboat but also the man some consider the best US wrestler of the '90s in Hart (and Hennig in the late 80's was actually thought to be the heir to Flair's throne as the best wrestler in the world).

Tiger Mask Misawa had some good matches as a heavyweight. His March 1988 match vs. Jumbo Tsuruta was a great overmatched youngster against "The Man" type match. Excellent psychology as Misawa Mask (as he became known as) wrestled conservatively at first, not wanting to make a mistake and if anyone things a headlock is a boring thing, this is the match to watch to change that. In a sidenote, I always found it interesting that March 1988 also had a match that a headlock would play a large role in which also featured a young up and comer vs The Man....Flair vs Sting. This match is definitely available on YouTube as I linked it over to A1wrestling.com so I'll let you watch and judge the excellence of this match.

A couple of incidents would lead to the biggest push of Misawa's career and his eventual path to becoming The Man and also would lead to Misawa being involved in some of the greatest matches ever in the 1990's. First was the departure of Genichiro Tenryu from All-Japan. He was second fiddle to Jumbo as a tag partner for most of the 80's but they eventually started feuding around 1988. All-Japan was affiliated with the NWA and AWA and their champions would tour All-Japan. Eventually, Baba developed an isolation policy and stopped bringing in the NWA and AWA champion. Thus the Triple Crown (which is actually 3 titles that were unified, hence the name) became the main title defended in All-Japan. Jumbo was the first Triple Crown, establishing himself firmly as "The Man". Jumbo's main native rival would be Tenryu and in what some people call the match of the year in June 1989 (which if you consider was the year of the Flair-Steamboat trilogy is quite a statement and not a blasphemous one at that...I know this is a Misawa piece but see if it is on YouTube to judge), Tenryu did beat Jumbo to win the TC and it looked as though this would be the main feud to carry All-Japan into the 1990's (in the mix were American wrestlers such as Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy).

However, Tenryu would bolt All-Japan in 1990 to head up his own federation called SWS. Now All-Japan was in need of a native to take the place of Tenryu. Young stars Misawa (still wrestling as Tiger Mask) and Toshiaki Kawada (Misawa's tag partner at the time in a relation that would eventually mirror that of Jumbo and Tenryu) were chosen to be elevated to that level with Misawa, the senior partner, ahead of Kawada. During a tag match in 1990 soon after Tenryu left, Misawa ordered Kawada to remove the mask and thus Mitsuharu Misawa was revealed to the world. How many people remembered him from before the mask, I do not know, but this began the Misawa era.

In June 1990, Misawa would meet Jumbo Tsuruta. Earlier, I mentioned Sayama leaving New Japan to help form a shoot style organization would impact Misawa later on in a less obvious way. The shoot style, which is a more realistic style of pro wrestling based on mat wrestling and martial arts style strikes (and many thought it was real), had a fairly large cult following and one of the signatures of that style were clean finishes. If you would watch a lot of All-Japan matches of the 70's and 80's, you would see a lot of count out type finishes and I think it was a bit anti-climatic. But with the cult following of the shoot style getting larger and larger, clean finishes would become the norm not just in All-Japan but other Japanese organizations as well.

Legend has it that Baba told Jumbo just mere minutes before this pivotal match that he was to put Misawa over. Jumbo asked if it was to be a count out win for Misawa and Baba said no, put him over clean. This match is on YouTube and I even linked it to the Misawa thread over at A1Wrestling so you can all watch it if you haven't and be the judge. (Ed. Note – This is the match posted last night in From the Archives) Besides, I haven't seen it in a long time thus I probably can't do it justice. It was a flash pin in which even Misawa couldn't believe he won and even though Misawa lost the rematch a mere 3 months later (in a match that was just as good, if not better than the first due to the tension created by Misawa's win). Misawa was now put in the class of Jumbo. In retrospect, it's clear that there's no way that Jumbo is going to lose two in a row to Misawa at this point. While a pissed off Jumbo does bring more pain to this match, Misawa clearly shows he belongs and although it was a flash pin, it was not a fluke pin. In showing the "fighting spirit" (more a New Japan term but applies to the Japanese attitude), there's absolutely no loss in his heat.

For such a huge historical match, this wasn't even for a title as Jumbo wasn't the TC champion at the time. Misawa's time would come a couple of years after his victory over Jumbo in 1992 as he would beat Stan Hansen for the crown. However, another event pivotal to Misawa's career would occur outside the ring. Jumbo Tsuruta would be diagnosed with Hepatitis B in 1992 which effectively ended his time on top. Thus now Misawa would stand alone as the main native wrestler for All-Japan.

The new "#2" native would come in the form of his soon to be former partner Kawada. Many fans felt that Kawada is the superior worker of the two even at this point in their careers. His stint as part of the team "Footloose" with Ricky Fuyuki and also as the junior partner of Tenryu led to some great performances on his part. However, when he rejoined Misawa in 1990, he was the clear #2 despite some people claiming he was the better worker. Whether he was or not will always be up for debate but it was clear that Misawa had more charisma (at least the type that conveyed the confidence of a champion), better looking and the reality of the matter is that seniority is a very important thing in Japan and Misawa was the senior member of the team.

Nevertheless, with Jumbo now no longer part of the main event scene, the path was clear for Kawada to be the main native challenger to Misawa and it would become one of, if not the biggest, rivalries in pro wrestling history.

Kawada's first challenge to Misawa for the TC championship was in 1992 and he also challenged for the title again in 1993 but the June 3rd 1994 match is the one many people to this day consider the greatest singles match in the history of pro wrestling. Basically pinning Misawa was the mountain Kawada keeps failing to climb but the buzz entering this match was that it was Kawada's time to usurp Misawa. Kawada had just won the Championship Carnival in April, which is a yearly tournament All-Japan based on points so he was on a hot streak. If I'm recalling correctly, there was also some injury issue with Misawa. Another factor was history. Kawada's mentor was Tenryu and as mentioned earlier, the Misawa/Kawada dynamics has some resemblance to the Jumbo/Tenryu one. The aforementioned June 1989 match where Tenryu beat Jumbo, that was the third match in their series (first was in late fall of 1988, the second was April 1989...I apologize as dates aren't a strong point). This was Kawada's third challenge to Misawa for the TC title. The parallels were intriguing to say the least. Alas as most of you know, Kawada once again failed in his quest to beat Misawa. Again, this match is on YouTube and rather than describe it, watch it and judge for yourself (on a side note, what a great time to be a wrestling fan as opposed to when we had to order from Jeff Lynch to see this stuff but I digress). This match is famous for the Tiger Driver '91 finish. It wasn't the first time Misawa used this move, and he rarely used it. For Misawa to have to use this move to beat Kawada is an excellent example of losing but not losing any heat as Misawa used every resort to get past Kawada.

I'm going to stop here even though I said I would go up to 1999 but it's getting very long and for me, the story gets less interesting for me after 6/3/94. The All-Japan Four which was Misawa, Kawada, Kenta Kobashi and Akira Taue either as singles or as tag teams consistently put on some of the greatest matches ever on a regular basis during this period. After the seminal 6/3/94 match, Misawa would soon lose the TC title to Steve Williams, who in turn would lose it to Kawada. After Kawada and Misawa split, Kobashi would become Misawa's partner while Kawada and Taue teamed up. A significant match was the June 1995 tag match where Kawada finally pins Misawa. And in 1998, Kawada would finally beat Misawa for the TC crown, ending Kawada's journey of beating Misawa for the TC title in what was All-Japan's first foray into the Tokyo Dome. These were all thrilling match (although by the late 90's, they were all showing their wear) but in retrospect perhaps hard to watch now given the end result for Misawa.

Even though the TC title changed hands a decent amount of time in the 90's (not talking late 90's WCW here but there was no Bruno Sammartino-esque type reign), Misawa was clearly the main guy. He was the chosen one of Baba to go over Jumbo in that fateful night and although there were some rumblings that maybe Kobashi was the guy to eventually take over and while he was a super worker, he just didn't have that aura of being "The Man" that Misawa did. And neither did Kawada. It will be forever argued that out of Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi, who was the best of them and each have their pluses and minuses but like Ric Flair was born to play the role of the World Champion in the American style of pro wrestling, Misawa was born to play "The Man" for the All-Japan style of the '90s. He had the right mix of realism and the more showman pro wrestling personality. Kawada had the realism but not the showman while Kobashi had the showmanship but not the gritty realism. At least not in the perfect balance Misawa had.

So where does Misawa stand amongst the giants of Japanese pro wrestling? I think Rikidozan will forever be number one. Inoki and Baba are pretty much locks for number two and three. It becomes harder after that. Where does Misawa compare to other important figures such as Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda and even Nobuhiko Takada (well actually, I would easily put Misawa above Takada now although in 1994 I probably would not have). Well I don't know and in reality, I don't think anyone really say but seeing how the 1990's All-Japan period is fondly thought of as the greatest promotion ever if you take into account match quality and gates, you have to put Misawa pretty high.

From the Archives, Misawa Week: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa

The second in our series of matches posted in honor of the late Mitsuharu Misawa takes us back to 6/8/90. Misawa had just recently unmasked as Tiger Mask II and was beginning his ascent into Japanese wrestling prominence. At the time, there really wasn't a bigger native star than the beloved Jumbo Tsuruta. You could say this was the match that cemented Misawa's status as a main event player. Thanks to A1 poster T-Y (Todd Yates) for finding this on Youtube. Let's watch:

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Misawa really plays up being a cocky prick, doesn't he? His look with the collar popped and the scowl on his face, refusing to shake Jumbo's hand at the beginning and then twice during the match slapping Jumbo in the face during breaks. He really played up the chip on his shoulder, and he got Jumbo riled up at several points. Jumbo by this point was bigger and a bit slower, but my God, he could still go. He had a lot behind his elbows and knees, still a crisp, credible offense going. Misawa showed a lot of high-flying stuff. He takes flight three times from the inside of the ring to the out, including a really sweet Tiger feint into a dropkick from the apron, which was the first high-spot.

While Tsuruta and Misawa would have a couple more matches after this, one of them that Tsuruta would get his win back, this was the match that really set Misawa's career ablaze. It was rare for someone to get a pinfall win over Jumbo, and Misawa got one on a pretty smooth finish, a reversal of a reversal of a back suplex. Misawa gets the Rudy treatment and thus, a star is born. Misawa would never look back.

Whatever happened to heels and faces?

Last year, World Champion Edge opened the first post-draft RAW gloating that RAW was going to be without a Champion, now that WWE Champion Triple H had been drafted to Smackdown. Batista comes out and just destroys him out of revenge for something Edge did to him, I'm guessing he cheated in a title match the night before at the PPV. So, Edge is there in the ring, bloodied and beaten. Cue up Killswitch Engage and CM Punk comes waltzing out with a ref beside him and his Money in the Bank briefcase. He hits the Go To Sleep, pins Edge, wins the Championship, and the crowd pops for him.

Between that moment and the second after Jeff Hardy won the World Championship at Extreme Rules, nothing really changed for CM Punk. He was still getting cheers, he was the clear and obvious face in his feud against the now-future endeavored Umaga, I mean, there was no drastic change in character.

But Jeff Hardy won the World Championship at Extreme Rules. Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank on Hardy. Similar situation as last year. And what happens? Punk gets a tepid crowd reaction, mostly boos. The first Smackdown after Extreme Rules, Punk again gets a tepid reaction. Hardy confronts him with the strength of the crowd behind him.

It left me baffled. Are fans that programmed to be allegiant to their favorite wrestlers or hate their heels that actions no longer matter? I mean, there used to be a time that you could tell who the faces were and who the heels were by their actions. Sure, there were people who were unheelable. Guys like Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat, Sting and Hacksaw Jim Duggan probably could have done unspeakable things and still gotten cheered. We'd never know the reactions though, since, at least before the dawn of the nWo (which was one of the watershed moments in wrestling history), they never had the chance to. They always did what was "right", unless they were pushed to the edge by heels, who always did what was "wrong", no exceptions.

People blame this on the Attitude era and Steve Austin changing the paradigms of what it meant to be a heel and what it meant to be a face. Even so, faces still had roles and heels still had roles. You could tell which one was which for the most part. The heels were all about authority, being "the Man", acting cowardly, etc. Faces marched to the beat of their own drummer. It was kinda like punk rock, if only slightly, I guess.

Right now though, there's so much fence-straddling. Take for example the build to WrestleMania, John Cena blackmailing Vickie Guerrero to get his title shot. In one breath, he preaches hustle, loyalty and respect, but in another, he's committing a crime to get what he wants. And it's not like he had a pressing personal issue with either Edge or Show at that point in time. What's the face behavior? The message is garbled. Then you have CM Punk doing the same thing to different people and getting crowd reactions.

I wonder what went so wrong. Are fans just so invested in cheering or hating on certain superstars that it doesn't matter the reaction? If they wanted to turn Jeff Hardy or John Cena heel, could they even do it? Do the fans need to be reprogrammed? Okay, that last question sounds like people are nothing but sheep, and that's not the case, at least individually. But in large groups, mob mentality takes over. I don't think that's disputable, no matter what the intelligence level of the singular individual is.

How would you go about reconditioning crowds though? They like whom they like. Simple as that. Honestly though, I'd start through a more foundational level, in the ring. If someone is going to be a face, then they wrestle like a face. They abide by the rules. They break when the ref tells them to break. They hold tag ropes. They double team in tag matches within the five seconds the ref gives them. They don't attack people before or after the match. The only way they would not do any of the preceeding is if they were pushed in a high-tension moment or in a high-stakes personal feud.

Heels would then wrestle like heels. They would take liberties, pull trunks, do all the things heels do. Then you let the out-of-ring characters develop from what happens in the ring. Would it be easy? Probably not, seeing as the chairshot and the sledgehammer are over as face tactics. It would take some intense implementation, but I think it could work.

Then maybe, the universe could go back to being in order.

The Best Moves Ever: Emerald Flowsion

Another one of Misawa's legendary finishers, this move was innovated by the man. It's an over-the-shoulder piledriver, although the way Misawa moves with it, it looks more like a powerslam. Still, there is big impact on the shoulders, neck and head.

I got this video from Youtube user TheSuicidalDragon, who has a treasure trove of move clips and top ten moves of (so and so) on his feed. Please frequent his feed because you can see a lot of moves that you might not normally watch if your viewing is limited to the WWE or TNA.

From the Archives, Misawa Week: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs. Samoa Joe

This match took place in Misawa's Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion on October 27, 2007. Samoa Joe came across the sea to challenge for Misawa's GHC Championship. I found it on Youtube in three parts. Here they are:

Part 1:


Part 2:


(note, at around 6:25 on Part 2, watch for Joe to completely whiff on a leaping kick to the face)

Part 3:


I was expecting a little more from the match, but for 20 minutes, the competitors involved provided a nice little show. It was basically a showcase piece for Joe to unload on offense. Until the end, the only offense Misawa really cared to muster were his legendary elbows, although in part 1 or 2, somewhere in the mid-beginning, he teased the Tiger Driver. Joe hits a few pretty sweet enzugiris and a tamer version of the Muscle Buster. It was more like a "Muscle Suplex", which is odd seeing as guys usually go to Japan to stiffen up the offense.

I thought the star of the show here was Joe. Even in defeat, he works a great offensive match, playing into the story of the young, hungry gaijin coming across the ocean to challenge the wizened old legend. Misawa held up his end of the deal, selling when he needed to sell, no-selling headbutts (another signature!), throwing the elbows and breaking out a sort of modified Emerald Flowsion/over-shoulder powerslam hybrid at the end.

The most impressive part of the match for me was the finish. It didn't end in Tiger Driver '91 or in a crazy head-dropping move. It was a stiff elbow to the back of Joe's head, which Joe sold like crazy post-bell. I thought that was a great way to finish a match, especially since a move like that would legit knock someone out. Say what you want about puro strong style, but I think most of the emphasis is on having a credible, nasty strike. Joe has his enzugiri, Misawa has his elbows.

Not the best Misawa match by a longshot, but it's a good intro for someone wanting to get into his work against a familiar face. It's also a good way to see Samoa Joe away from the clusterfuck booking of TNA and without the penis tattooed on his face.

Thursday, we watch Misawa's legendary breakthrough win over Jumbo Tsuruta.

Another pic from last night

Thankfully, it doesn't show what happens to Miz after he charges the ring.

A couple of pictures from the WWE

Reprinted without permission from WWE.com

First one is a funny picture, from their RAW tour of Europe. They made a stop in France:



What is so funny about this picture is that Triple H really is the King of France. He had the whole nation job to him in 15 minutes, in their grand tradition of folding under light invasion :p

The second one is a close-up shot of Punk's Misawa tribute. I thought this was really cool of him to do, and the WWE was cool for letting him do it rather than blurring it out becuase Misawa wasn't a WWE property. Enough people got it for it to make an impact:

Instant Feedback: A Missed Opportunity

With a three hour RAW, a four-way match for a vacant WWE Championship and a big announcement slated from Vince McMahon himself, the WWE had a lot of potential to really make things interesting for The Bash, which is only two weeks away and had not really started its build yet. They had two stagnant but long-running feuds going on. Triple H and Randy Orton have feuded for the better part of the year thus far, and even when Trips was out on "injury" leave, Batista was there fighting in his stead. John Cena and Big Show have faced off at every PPV since WM except Backlash, and at that event, Show played an integral role in Cena's match.

It's clear they were going to continue both feuds for the long haul, most likely to SummerSlam. Okay, in the WWE nowadays, overkill is the name of the game, but that doesn't mean that fans don't get restless and weary. Ratings often dip in the summertime. Part of the reason is because it's the summertime and people don't watch TV. I seem to think that the WWE could do a better job of giving viewers a reason to tune in. Not with gimmicks like three-hour RAWs (although I must admit, I am pretty randy at the prospect of a commercial-free RAW next week), but with fresh matchups. While conventional TV is bound to run its big guns during Sweeps Weeks, the WWE has to up their game year round since they have to run fresh material week in and week out. Unless this is their way of doing reruns... which I wouldn't put past Titan Towers.

So you have a chance with RAW to shake things up a bit, to have your own sweeps in the middle June, get some people talking, even if it's just the fans you already have. You could have done one of many things. You could have strapped Big Show and added a new dimension to his feud with Cena. There's a feud that has needed a title attached to it, since Show and Cena really didn't have any visceral, personal reason to hate each other other than wanting to get ahead. While that's a great idea for a feud, for two guys of that caliber, I would have liked to have seen the title involved.

Add that to the fact that the title has been booked as an afterthought throughout the entire Trips/Orton feud, and you had the opportunity to hit F5 on two feuds. But what do they do? Strap Randy Orton again. Seriously? If that was the plan all along then why take the title off him in the first place? Was it because Batista kept asking Vince "I can has one-day title reign?"

But they had the chance to redeem themselves. Ten-man battle royale, Cena is involved. Okay, it wouldn't make sense to have Show win it with Orton as the Champ, but Cena... yeah, Cena and Orton haven't worked with each other for awhile now, at least a year. They teased tension earlier in the show. It was a great opportunity to pull the trigger on a nice diversion without really derailing the master plan of Trips/Orton at SummerSlam, since you know that's where they're going (and really, at this point, nothing else makes sense for either guy).

So yeah, I was excited. Maybe they're going to do it. Maybe they'll break the cycle for a PPV or two and we'll get a fresh matchup... nuh uh. Trips wins.

Add that to the fact that MVP, who was a major player against Orton a month ago, was now being treated like an afterthought, eliminated second in the BR, and that they blew a golden opportunity for Miz to get more heat on Cena without pinning him by having Cena and Trips toss him like day old garbage... well, it fell flat. Very flat. Just more of the same from the WWE. But hey, Vince sold RAW to Trump! That'll get the casuals back, right?

Fuck that. Right now, Vince needs to concentrate on getting the wrestling fans back and keeping the crowd that likes wrestling but has fallen out of favor with the WWE, the people who order WM and that's about it for their wrestling viewing for the year. If he can get people talking who already watch and get them talking positively, then you got something. Strapping Show or Cena, giving a newish matchup in Cena/Orton, or even, GASP, elevating someone like MVP for a trial run in a PPV main, kinda like the shot Austin got at Undertaker after his face turn at WMXIII. That wouldn't have brought in a million fans, but it would have gotten people talking positively.

But then again, what do I know?

One really cool note about RAW though. While the announcers didn't mention the passing of Misawa, there was a tribute in the form of CM Punk's arm tape, which had Misawa written on it in green Sharpie. I didn't expect the announcers to mention it, because Misawa's a name that the Internet would know, but probably not the regular fans, but for Punk to do it in tribute was fucking aces. He's quickly becoming one of my favorites, and not just for the cool stuff like that he does.

The Best Moves Ever: Tiger Driver

Misawa had very many signature moves, and many people like to associate either his elbow strikes, which were in themselves legendary, or his piledriver variations. However, his signature move was the original Tiger Driver. This was his regular match finisher, at least it was until Emerald Flowsion came around. I always thought this was a great and underused finisher in America. The only people I remember seeing using it on a regular basis were Dean Malenko and *ugh* Ahmed Johnson. The best part though? The call from the announcer. "TIGAAAAAAAAHH DUREYEEEEEVAAAAHHH~!" Even if I can't understand them, I love the Japanese announcers because of the energy they put into the broadcast. Without further ado, here it is, Misawa's Tiger Driver:

Update on Misawa's Death

From F4WOnline

Looks like it was a direct result from the back suplex. You could say it was only a matter of time before one of those dangerous moves backfired and their stiffness ended up killing a man, but even with all the dangerous head-dropping moves, hearing about a death like this is rare. I'll say it right now, any attempt to blame Saito for the death is wrong, dead wrong. It was a mistake. Mistakes happen, and really, a lot of the onus is on the guy taking the move as well. No one was to blame. It was just horriffic accident.

Also in the news post, Japan lost one of its most famous refs in Ted Tanabe. Really, really awful weekend for puroresu.

Misawa Week: Remembering a Legend

First up, I'm extending the Top 25 Moves deadline until this Saturday around noon. I dropped the ball on advertising for it, and while I have a good number of entries now, I'd like more so I can make it a true list.

Anyway, onto the meat of the post, in case you missed it over the weekend, we lost a veritable legend in the wrestling industry. Mitsuharu Misawa, a member of Japan's wrestling elite, died of a massive heart attack while taking a routine back suplex in a tag match Saturday. Misawa was a wrestling lifer, a guy who spent an entire career building the brand of All-Japan Pro Wrestling and later on, his own promotion, Pro Wrestling NOAH. I don't know if he would have wanted to go out in the ring, but it was disturbingly á propos. Regardless, I'm taking time on the blog this week to remember one of the most influential men in the business that you may or may not have heard of.

Our most previous tribute week was a lot happier in tone and celebrated a man who lived to enjoy his retirement, in part because his in-ring career was cut short. This time, we honor a man who gave his entire life in the ring and had it snuffed out in the middle of that squared circle. I will be featuring some good Misawa material, including:

- A GoAT Files entry
- The Best Moves Ever for at least two of his legendary moves
- Two or more FtA
- Maybe a guest blog from someone who's more intimate with his material

It sucks that most people had to wait until his death to hear about Misawa for the first time, but his greatness needs to be recognized. It's far better to become acquainted with his work late than not at all.

Mitsuharu Misawa, 1962-2009

From F4WOnline

I first heard the news a few minutes ago from Claudio Castagnioli's Facebook page. He passed taking a "routine" back suplex from Akitoshi Saito. Of course, routine back suplexes in Japan are a lot more dangerous than their American cousins because they're so much stiffer. Still, it's not a move that is going to kill someone. The cause of death was heart attack though, so it's doubtful that he died due to trauma directly from the move. Even so, it was probably an accumulated thing. He's taken so many head-dropping moves and stiff strikes over the years.

Misawa joins a pantheon of Japanese superstars to be taken from us early under whatever circumstances. Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta and even the godfather of modern Japanese wrestling, Rikidozan, all died before their 65th birthday, with Tsuruta and Rikidozan not even making it to 50.

Misawa will be remembered for being the most recognizable face and most over superstar, the veritable godfather if you will, of the 90s puro scene, where he wrestled in classic matches against Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama, Toshiaki Kawada, Stan Hansen, Vader and several others. His 6/3/94 match against Kawada where he used the Tiger Driver '91 for the first time in over three years is regarded as one of the best of all-time, if not the best. I have seen it, and there are very few matches that I'd put in its league, regardless of style.

His political moves were controversial, but regardless, he was an A+ worker and one of the true all-time greats. No one should die that early, but in this business, on either side of the Pacific, it's not surprising at all. Still a bummer though.

RIP Mitsuharu Misawa. You were one of the all-time greats.

Friday Five - Fussin' and Feudin'

This week, our Friday Five will concern the staple of any longterm booking plan, the feud. There have been some classic feuds going on, and some long-running feuds happening right now. Let's dive in!

1. What makes up a good feud in your mind?

2. What two wrestlers do you think would have had a great feud but never had the chance to back in the day?

3. What was the feud you had the highest hopes for but ended up fizzling out?

4. Does the WWE overkill feuds today with having the same match happen at four or more PPVs in a row?

5. Best feud ever. NAME IT!

Update on YOUMANGA~!

Via Meltzer at F4WOnline, Umaga was released because they tried to make him go to rehab and he said "No, no, no". My take? Fuck him. If he thinks doing drugs is more important than being in the most lucrative place to work in his given field, then he's a moron. Hope he haves fun in TNA. Maybe they'll tattoo a vagina on his face to go with the wang they plastered on Samoa Joe's mug.

Smarks d. "Casuals" via armbar

The longest running current rivalry in wrestling isn't between Triple H and Randy Orton, Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle, Austin Aries and Jimmy Jacobs or Edge and John Cena. It's not even between two wrestlers. It's among the fans. For as long as Dave Meltzer, Wade Keller and other wrestling journalists have had their dirtsheets, providing fans who wanted the info with all the info they needed, there has been a divide between the so called "smarks" (an amalgamation of "smart mark") and the "casual fan". The defender of the so-called "casual fan" (still in quotes for a reason) usually paints the smark as out-of-touch, elitist and someone whose idea of wrestling utopia is so far gone from what makes money and pops crowds.

Meanwhile, while it's easy to lump all smarks together into one group (just as it is easy to lump all casual fans in the same category when their tastes can vary differently from the section they sit in let alone region to region), there are many different kinds of smarks. Most people associate them with the vocal minority who'd love to see Shelton Benjamin headline this year's SummerSlam cold against Jack SWAGGAH~! and would be content never to see John Cena win another match. I'd like to think I represent a more silent majority of people who look more at how the major companies book themselves, how they should fix their products and with elevating new stars to go with established order.

There's always plenty of debate on any Internet wrestling website as to whom the WWE and TNA should cater to. The answer is quite simple. They should cater to us. The smarks, the reasonable ones, at least. No matter what the biggest defenders of the status quo will tell you, we want what's best for any wrestling company. We don't bitch and moan about the WWE or to a lesser extent, TNA, if we don't want them to succeed and then entertain us in the process. And usually, what we want is what the so-called "casual fan" wants too.

Those who defend what the "casual fan" wants would have most people believe that the "casual fan" is a moron and is merely entertained by seeing a guy who's over already come out and dominate. While wrestling's demographics don't skew to, say, graduates of Harvard Law, that's not to say that all wrestling fans are mouth-breathing rednecks. Again, what are pegged as casual fans are a group of culturally diverse people who have one thing in common: they like wrestling.

(As an aside, I don't think there are a lot of casual fans out there anymore. To me, the casual fan is the fan who watched in 1998 because it was the hip thing to do. Right now, there are probably two major groups: the ones labled as "smarks" and a larger group of wrestling fans who are hardly casual in their habits but who don't surf the Internet and don't think about wrestling critically like someone like myself would. That's neither here nor there though.)

We all watch because we like to see the action in the ring. If we didn't, then we'd watch other TV shows with similar plotlines as what the WWE TV writers are trying to shove on us, only without the wrestling attached and with better actors involved. In fact, I'll say that it's impossible for someone to be over if they can't work at all. I mean, sure, you need to be able to work AND talk if you want to reach the highest of echelons, but you have to be able to bring it in the ring.

So, why are we labeled out of touch when we want good wrestlers to get pushes?

I mean, in our biggest lobbying case, we were proven absolutely right. Chris Benoit was the Internet's darling for the longest time. We were clamoring for him to get a shot in 1999, when he was chosen to be in the Owen Hart Tribute match on Nitro against Bret Hart. The match was given tons of praise, but people shrugged it off as being due to the situation, not the men involved. We clamored for him in 2000, when WCW was hemorrhaging [sic] talent and switching direction every other week. They gave him the belt to try and stop him from leaving, at the point where no one was watching WCW anymore. We clamored for him in the early 00s in the WWF, to the point where he was finally given a shot in the main event. He wrestled a fantastic match with Kurt Angle for the WWF Championship at Royal Rumble 2003. In defeat, the crowd cheered him. Standing ovation. From everyone. Not just from a small percentage of people marginal enough to discount as "Internet fans". Everyone. We clamored for him to win the title after that. We got it at WrestleMania XX, which closed with Eddie Guerrero, WWE Champion and Chris Benoit, World Heavyweight Champion, in embrace, which was the most well-received ending to a WrestleMania ever until Benoit went and tarnished it by murdering his family, but still, it proved that people can get behind a guy who may not be the best talker in the world if he's damn entertaining in the ring.

It also proves that people don't want to see the same thing over and over again. Benoit was something different, something new, and he was received well. Besides, how do you think guys like Triple H, The Rock, John Cena etc. got over in the first place? They weren't just introduced and everyone took to them. They needed build, they needed chances to get over. If you saw Triple H as blueblood snob Hunter Hearst Helmsley or The Rock as Rocky Maivia and thought, "man, there go two blue-chip multiple-time World Champions," then you would have been more prescient than nearly everybody else. They didn't show that they had "it" until they were given the right opportunity to succeed.

Meanwhile, a guy like Christian, who has proven that he can carry a crowd, work a good main event match and get himself over, waits on the sidelines, his critics saying that the "casual fan" doesn't want to see him because he doesn't have "it". Excuse me, but when has Christian ever been given the chance to be in a main event program in the WWE? He was given the ball in TNA and he ran with it. It's a shame though, because no one watches TNA for the most part, and even those who do admit that it's not on the level of the WWE's major two brands unless they're blind fanboys.

It baffles me as to why we're labled as elitists because we want other people to get a chance. Again, the vocal minority aside, no one is asking that Christian be pushed ahead of everyone else on the roster. We just want him to get a chance to run with the ball. Odds are, he'll succeed, much like Chris Benoit did, much like Eddie Guerrero did, much like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels did in the 90s, much like Samoa Joe did in TNA before they tattooed a penis on his face and turned him into Pacific Islander Norman Bates.

Are we wrong sometimes? Yes, but isn't everyone? The fact is, our track record regarding wrestling, title integrity, pushing guys who can work etc. is spot on. The WWE needs to cater to us because we have our fingers on the pulse of the "casual fan" more than they or their apologists do.

I mean, look at what killed WCW. They ran the same main events all the time until it was too late. They pissed and shit on their World Championship until it was too late. Before they realized that they needed to treat their titles with respect and push new faces, death was inevitable. If they had listened to their smarter fans, they might still be in business today.

We don't bitch and complain just for the sake of doing it, or because we're impossible to please, or for any other reason than we want to see as many healthy wrestling companies as possible. We want to enjoy the product and furthermore, we want other people to enjoy the product. To be called snobbish or elitist is unfair to us, because it's not being a snob if you're proven right time and time again, and it's not elitist if you think that MORE people should be given a shot rather than just a select few. That's actually the opposite of elitist.

SO in that regard, I hope that Vince McMahon and Dixie Carter are listening to us loud and clear. Because if they don't, they may not like the way their companies end up.

RAW Is Nitro

Keeping with the vein of overexaggerating RAW's flaws via comparison to a shitty wrestling program, here we are! Some may say that Nitro is an improvement over Impact, and truthfully, this week's RAW was better than last week's if you looked past the main event stuff going on. But the main event stuff... sheesh, how fucking bad was that? And while I was irritated that Triple H made Priceless look like extras in a Jean Claude Van Damme movie again and that he was made to look stronger, faster, smarter and braver than everyone on the roster upon his return, that wasn't what peeved me most.

What did? Well, first, there was King treating Batista's arm injury like the President had just been shot and then talking about it over the course of the night in lieu of what was going on in the ring. A page right out of the Schiavone playbook. Then there's the obvious deus-ex-machina heel GM action going on with Vickie Guerrero all but ensuring that Randy Orton would become Champion via less than honest means once again. Oh, and then you have the ref starting the 10-count, then stopping it and then no mention of who the WWE Champion was at the end of the night whatsoever. Did Mike Chioda finish his count? Did Orton win by DQ? No questions were raised by the announcers at all over this. The whole issue of the WWE Championship was dropped in favor of selling a story. Again, the WWE shows that they don't care about their title belts when really, the title belt SHOULD BE THE STORY!

RAW needs an overhaul. It's so frustrating to watch because given the roster (even with Trips and Orton at the top), it should be entertaining week in and week out. All three brands have good rosters, yet Smackdown and ECW come through each week and deliver. Why not RAW? My theory is complacence. Really, RAW is the only show that's on a network that isn't going to send it anywhere. It's on the best timeslot for wrestling possible. It also has the luxury of getting all the WWE's biggest names on the program. Batista, Orton, Trips, John Cena and when he returns, Shawn Michaels don't need to do anything to get reactions. And they do get reactions. Last night, Trips got a hero's welcome, and the crowd didn't quite care that the story they were watching unfold never went to completion and instead went straight to another arc. So RAW is fine, right?

Well, maybe, maybe not. Nitro got great crowd reactions for returning stars, but WCW brass kept doing stupid shit, like the fast count that wasn't a fast count in the Hogan/Sting match at Starrcade. Or the tazer finish. Or the Finger Poke of Doom. Or anything Vince Russo did. WCW pissed away the fans' goodwill steadily until they were ready to sell to the enemy. This is a trap that Vince McMahon would be wise not to fall into.

Then again, the way the rehash is used as a crutch in wrestling, I wouldn't be surprised if the haughty and stubborn McMahon and his legions of TV writers, offspring and Triple H are unwittingly treading the familiar territory that WCW explored to their doom.

Bye Bye Umaga

From jobbing to Punk to being wished well in his future endeavors in a matter of 24 hours. Christ, this was a shocking move. No one has details yet, but I'm going to speculate and say it was wellness related.

Who wants to bet that he'll make his way to TNA to either feud or join with Samoa Joe?

Where's the heat on Batista?

The main criticism from last night's Extreme Rules PPV was that there were too many title changes. I didn't see the event, so I can't really comment on the action, but from all the reviews of people who did see it, the wrestling was good except for a few examples. Given that the WWE usually doesn't pull the trigger en masse on PPV, and that both the IC and US Championship were defended on the same PPV for the first time (excepting Night of Champions) in a long time, I have no problem with the five switches, especially since two of them happened to be satisfying title changes from where I sit (Chris Jericho's über-heel push being furthered by him unmasking Rey Mysterio and Tommy Dreamer getting his moment in the sun).

Well, I should say I have no problem with four of the five title switches. Batista winning the WWE Championship last night was baffling, given the condition of his health. Turns out he went into the match last night with a torn biceps and will require surgery to repair it on Tuesday. The win could have been in the cards for awhile, but given the injury, couldn't the WWE have called an audible? I mean, what has Batista done to deserve a loyalty reign other than buddy up with Triple H? Didn't he just come back from an injury?

In fact, Batista's history with the company has been riddled with injuries. He can't stay healthy for more than eight months at a time before he gets hurt again. He also injured John Cena at SummerSlam last year. And who could forget his backstage assholery, including mistreating of Divas and getting into a fight with Booker T, one that Batista was, by most accounts, to have provoked with his ego? Doesn't this all sound like all the stuff that got another guy future endeavored, i.e. one Ken "Mr. Kennedy" Anderson?

It makes me wonder where all the heat on Batista is until I realize who his friends are backstage and what his perceived worth to Vince McMahon is. It's the sort of ass-backwards thinking that gets the WWE in trouble all the time. One guy fucks up repeatedly, but because he's rubbed the wrong people the wrong way, he's gone. The other guy is in a similar boat, and he's rewarded with a title reign that is going to end 24-hours after it begins and less than 24-hours before the surgery to repair an injury begins. Is a boring, roided, sloppy china doll special enough to further devalue a World Championship? I don't think so, but apparently the WWE does.

Again, because TNA is so toothless right now, McMahon has nothing to fear within his own industry, but if his hubris is left unchecked, it could end up eating into his built-in fanbase, the people who watch because they're loyal fans of American pro wrestling and the WWE and have been for a long time. It's so frustrating because the problems are fixable (albeit not easily due to the position of power Public Enemy #1, Triple H, is in).

Until then, we get to "enjoy" Batista's latest reign until Randy Orton wins it back tonight, as Batista heads off into surgery, no heat on his person whatsoever. If that doesn't make you sick as a wrestling fan, then I don't know what to say.

PS - Be sure to submit a ballot for the Reader Submitted Top 25 Moves Ever poll!

The Best Finishers of All-Time: READER INTERACTIVE!

It's no secret that I'm more of a workrate guy than a sports entertainment guy here on this blog. While I love a good promo, I can say that I'm still a fan after all these years mainly because of what they do in the ring rather than what happens outside of it. I mean, why else would have features dedicated to the actual matches and moves, like the Best Moves Ever series.

So in the vein of that series, I'd like to start what I hope will be the first of many, a reader-voted Top 25. Given the predilection towards workrate, I think it's appropriate that the first one is the Best Finishers of All-Time. So, how are we doing this? Well, here's the deal. You, the readers, each submit a ballot, in order, of your top 10 finishers ever. We're talking finisher, not signature move. A finisher is a move that has been used to finish a match. Some wrestlers have multiple finishers, like Undertaker for example. For Undertaker, the gogoplata, Tombstone and Last Ride would all be finishers. Old School wouldn't. Get it. Got it? Good.

So, how do you submit your ballot? You can do it in one of several ways:

- In the comments here
- Via e-mail: tom DOT holzerman AT gmail DOT com
- Via private message at any one of the boards I post at (A1, PTC, FW)
- Via AIM
- In person

The deadline for this is going to be next week, Saturday, June 13th at midnight-ish. After that, I tabulate and I will slowly unveil the moves in a countdown format.

So please, start sending in ballots! Let's make this first Top 25 work!

Friday Five: Tournament Time

Since King of the Ring is no doubt around the corner once more, how about a Friday Five about tournaments in general?

1. What was your favorite tournament in wrestling, all-time?

2. Aside from Steve Austin, do you think there was anyone who really used King of the Ring to vault themselves further than what they already were?

3. True or false: There definitely needs to be a good, tag team tournament in one of the big feds.

4. Should the WWE bring back King of the Ring as a PPV event?

5. Eight men, one night, one venue. Book your dream tournament.