Know Your Indie Wrestlers: Kenny Omega

Who?: Kenny Omega
Promotions: ROH, PWG, JAPW, DDT in Japan
Aliases: The King of the Anywhere Match, Master of the Dark Hadou
Current Affiliations: Currently BFFs with Kota Ibushi in Japan. In the states, he forms the tag team Men of Low Moral Fiber with Chuck Taylor in PWG

Height: 6'
Weight: 200 lbs.
Hometown: Winnipeg, MB

After the jump... Wrestling Style: High-strung, video-game influenced classic North American jr. heavy indie style (head dropping, spot fu, etc.)

Signature Maneuvers:

HA-DOUUUUUUUUUUU-KEN!


Croyt's Wrath


Golden Shower (w/ Kota Ibushi)


Ultimate Zangeif Combo!


Top Ten Moves of Kenny Omega


Titles Held:

PWG World Heavyweight Championship
2009 PWG Battle of Los Angeles Tournament Champion
JAPW World Heavyweight Champion

Promos:

Post-dropping the JAPW World Title


JAPW Full F'n Force


Kenny Omega, Still Champion of the Anywhere Match


Why You Should Know Kenny Omega: You should know Kenny Omega because he's a nerd's wrestler. He's a guy who caters to the Internet geek like you and me, especially the kind who love video games. He works so many Street Fighter references and moves into his matches that he's the ultimate in fanservice for guys who grew up playing Street Fighter II and the thirty-million different non-sequel iterations of the game.

Even if you're not a video game guy, Omega is still highly enjoyable because he's the perfect indie wrestler, a guy who doesn't really take himself seriously and just looks like he's having the time of his life in the ring. He's also a pretty damn good wrestler too, a guy whose style meshes with more people than it clashes with.

Now, Omega may spend most of his time overseas in Japan, a place where probably feels more at home than over here. However, when he does come back to North America, he's a can't-miss wrestler. If you see him on any card that's near your area, you should go if just to say you saw his antics live once.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

"We Re-Cycle!" *clap clap clapclapclap*: PWG Seven Guest Report

No sooner do I pledge to watch more PWG from this year in an effort to broaden my horizons than I get a message on Facebook from Philly ex-pat and a guy who has become my official PWG correspondent Tom Ford with an unsolicited yet severely wanted and welcomed report for last night's Seven, which contained no fewer than four matches that I was looking forward to (the least of which definitely not being Scott Lost's retirement match). Here's what he had to say about the card, for you, for me, for us.

---

I attended the PWG show last night in Reseda, CA. My first show at PWG's home stead and it was quite the show. Not a match was a bust. Perhaps slight disappointment. But when you have people chanting "Match of the Year," You can't necessarily discount it.

-Pre Show: It took the PWG security staff quite a while to let people into the building. Place was jam packed, they kept stuffing people into seats like sardines. People were still being let in as the third match of the night was ending. They didn't start letting people in till ten of 8. Show couldn't have started before 9 with a bell time of 8. That could be my ONLY complaint.

Paul London was on the ring apron eating cookies pre show. El Generico came out and wanted one, which London obliged. The crowd then started chanting "Magic Cookies" and Generico became quite concerned. Was a fun little bit to tide the crowd over.

Super Dragon(might have been Excalibur according to other reports) welcomed everyone to the show. He gave a speech about how much they're going to miss Scott Lost. He said welcome to PWG, where, "WE RECYCLE!" which, of course, brought a "We Re-Cycle" chant from the crowd. All plastic bottles were promptly thrown in the trash.

After the jump...First match was Johnny Goodtime, Brandon Gatson, and Candice LeRae d. Peter Avalon, Malachi Jackson & Ryan Taylor. Nice high paced opener. Goodtime came out with a Nintendo Power Pad from the old days. He was stomping up a storm like he was playing Track and Field to start the match, only for all three of Gatson, Goodtime, and Candice to be attacked. The heels went to work on Candice before she got the advantage. She worked over, I think Ryan Taylor in the corner with an innumerable amount of elbows and forearms that brought about a "Fuck 'em up Candice" chant. The good guys took control until Avalon entered the ring, demanding Candice. They had a few funny inter-gender spots, mostly Avalon rubbing himself up on Candice from behind in a rear waist lock. Goodtime hit a springboard moonsault to the outside and then picked up a pitcher of beer pouring some into his mouth. Candice went over Malachi with a top rope moonsault, while Goodtime and Gatson took out the others with springboard moves to the outside.

Chris Hero came out for commentary after that for the next match.

Brandon Bonham d. Brian Cage
The crowd started off the night chanting "WHO ARE YOU!" at Brian Cage, to which a small section of his, no doubt, immediate family chanted back "Brian Cage!" By the end of the matchup though, both sides knew who Brian Cage was. Hard fought match. Spotty and with little psychology but the moves were done pretty crisply. The match ended when Bonham hit a Canadian Destroyer. The crowd proceeded to chant "That was Awesome" and "Please Come Back" to Cage.

Akira Tozawa d. Chris Sabin
Pretty fun match. Tozawa stole the match with his facial expressions and screaming. Sabin hit his signature moves, the second rope spring splash to the outside. Sabin had Tozawa in a tree of woe and delivered a baseball slide drop kick. Then went for hesitation drop kick only for Tozawa to pull himself up. Sabin stopped himself and kicked Tozawa in the gut and then went back and nailed hesitation dropkick. Finish happened after a German suplex, which Tozawa screwed up the bridge, only to lift Sabin back up on his shoulders and deliver another brutal looking German for the pin. Wasn't crisp but got the job done.

Scorpio Sky d. Scott Lost via KICK TO THE HEAD?!?
Scott Lost hit Scorpio with a drop kick early. He grabbed streamers thrown for his going away party and flung them as he hit the move, making it look so much more awesome.

Scorpio wound up hitting his finisher twice before a screwed referee's count(He counted two and made his hand softly hit the mat for three, when it shoulda been a three count) which made the kick to the face finish anti-climatic. Lots of near falls. I felt the match started out slow but picked up steam as it went. Neither man was really at a loss, step wise in the ring. Quite a few high spots. Big spot was a belly to belly suplex from inside to outside the ring.

Scott Lost got on the mic and said that he promised his family if he wasn't supporting himself completely through wrestling by the time he was thirty, he promised he'd quit. But he also said tomorrow he has an announcement to make on twitter, wrestling related. So who knows.

We had intermission. I saw Tozawa at the merch table, along with Chris Hero and Candice. Candice was signing beer coozy's for five dollars and Hero was meet and greeting. Seems Tozawa had a friend he was just hanging with.

Brian Danielson d. Roderick Strong via CRIPPLER crossface.
Probably the best match psychology wise on the night. Danielson came out to Final Countdown, crowd of course threw in ties. Danielson picked up a tie and motioned to choking out the official with it to a pop. Lots of "Kick his fucking head in" chants and "You're gonna get your head kicked in" chants directed at Strong.

During some point in the match, Roderick Strong took a tie and started choking Danielson. The Crowd chanted "YOU ARE FIRED!" When Danielson repeated the motion, the crowd chanted "You are hired!" to astonished looks from the American Dragon.

Dragon hit Cattle Mutilation at a certain point in the match. Good mat work. A nice diversion from the high flying spot fest of the rest of the night.

Bryan cut a promo afterwards. I lightly transcribed it. Don't expert verbatim but I got the major points.

"I can't use that language, I'm a PG wrestler. I'm here for the kids. See, I'm here cause of kids like this right? But I'm also kinda here for people who want to see other people get their heads kicked in. Looking around, I've never seen this building so packed. My music started playing and I couldn't hear anything. Might be cause the song sucks. Maybe cause all you guys are awesome. PWG, you guys are the best fans around. Sometimes, I get embarrassed about being a sports entertainer, but you guys make me feel proud to be a wrestler. Two great matches are still to come. Have a great evening."

Davey Richards d. Chris Hero to retain the PWG Heavyweight Championship. After the match, fans in attendance had a "Match of the Year," chant, which I would heartedly dispute. It was however, a great match. Davey however, wouldn't sell Hero's kicks to the face that would have made him more prone/more likely to lose the championship. Lots of stiff strikes, elbows and forearms from Hero throughout the match. Multiple Yakuza kicks. I didn't expect a title change but they made me believe it could happen. Richards was working over Hero's Leg after dragon screwing him inside the ring ropes. Davey locked in the Texas Cloverleaf numerous times to Hero getting to the ropes. Hero hit numerous stiff strikes for near falls. Finish came when Davey locked in the ankle lock for the third time, this time with a grapevine, for Hero to tap out. Match was solid, Hero sold his bad leg for most of it, but I'd knock it down a peg for Richards' Hulking up factor. Still, Richards and Danielson need to have a match, just for them both to hulk up into violent fits of rage and just WAIL on each other. I hope that's next show.

YOUR MAIN EVENT, the seventh match, of the seventh Anniversary show...

Had a Parental warning that you SHOULD PAY ATTENTION OR BE HURT BY FLYING BODIES. And they were quite right to warn you.

¡Peligro Abejas! (El Generico & Paul London - Champions) d. The Cutler Brothers (Brandon & Dustin Cutler - Challengers) & The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson - Challengers)

This was garbage spot-fest wrestling at it's finest. London really did a great job keeping everything coherent and interfering at the right time to break up pins. The action was ALL over, and there were TONS of suicide dives to the outside. At some point, the Culter Brothers tossed one of the Bucks onto a pile of bodies from the elevated announcers booth. Two tables(and POPPERS) were introduced to the match. There was a cool spot with the Bucks where Max Buck(What's his PWG name?) did a cartwheel back flip and then stopped, grabbing a back rack to rack his opponent's back. At one point someone went flying over a bar stool into the back bar, but they were out of my vantage point.

Jeremy Buck went through the table on a Paul London top rope suplex. The Cutler Bros hit their dual tombstone onto two set up chairs. I believe Jeremy hit a 450 splash through a table for the other broken table. At the end, Generico hit a turnbuckle brainbuster (Note: better knownas a BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH~! - TH) on one of the Bucks as London Shooting Star Pressed the mass of bodies on the outside to retain.

All in all one of the better shows I've attended. I would have liked a title change, but that's not even a REAL complaint. I don't think I could signal out a SINGLE bad match. The closest thing would be Sabin/Tozawa or Sky/Lost, for their botched finishes, but ultimately, this was quite the spotless show. I would argue that every match on the show is worth watching. I'd say the show averaged out to 3 1/2 stars, and that's me being rough on my assessment of the show. Certainly one to pick up on DVD when it comes out. Hopefully the internet doesn't gush all over Hero/Richards though, because while it was a great match, maybe match of the night, it can't be match of the year. Top ten match? Maybe. Sure. But I'd have to rewatch it.

Still, PWG, two for two on my endeavors. Kurtrusslemania was a great show, and this definitely surpassed that.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

My Goal for This Year

I was listening to the latest House of PUNTE the other day, and he had on Sarah Sprague of Black and Gold Tchotchkes, a Pittsburgh Steeler fan/football food blog and regular commenter at one of PUNTE/Josh Zerkle's main sites, KSK. She said something that really resonated with me as a blogger. When asked why she wrote a "foodie"/sports blog, she said that she wanted to stand out, that everyone wrote opinion blogs and she wanted to have her own angle. That made me think, "What's my angle? What makes me stand out?" I didn't really have an immediate answer. Sure, I do the instant feedback thing every Monday, and I do GraphJams every once in awhile, but it took me a few minutes to really get a handle on what I was doing with this bandwidth.

Finally, I came up with an answer that really worked, and that's that I sort of look at the wrestling in the ring more than anything else, which on reflection is nominally true at the very least. I do like to watch for the actual in-ring product more than anything else, which is why I kinda give ROH a pass for its spotty booking unless the crowd is overrun by snotty kids, why I really love Chikara and why I seem to be less critical of the WWE than your average Internet smark.

So, what is the point of this post other than... well, nothing? (I can hear it now, "GET TO THE GD POINT HERE, TH!"). Well, it's twofold. One, I'd like to get some feedback. I recently hit the 1,000 post point, so I think this is as good a time as any to gauge what you, the readers, think (I do still have readers, right? RIGHT?). Two, I'd like to share with you my goal for the rest of the year and for the rest of the tenure of this blog, my plan to really embrace what I think makes me stand out from the other wrestling blogs, and that is workrate.

So going in reverse order, here's my goal for the year. I'm going to watch as much wrestling action as I can, critique as much of it, really go through it and analyze it and review it here, whether it's stuff as it happens like on RAW, PPV or at live events, or on DVD in varying degrees of the past. I want to see as much PWG and Chikara and the like on DVD and try to piece together as much of their wrestling year as I can so that my year-end lists and awards have this sort of basis of knowledge that's as complete as possible. I want to open my mind to more indie feds than what I'm watching now, be they local like JAPW or remote like NWA Anarchy or F1RST.

Basically, when I give you my worker of the year or my A1W 100 ballot or my top 25 matches for the year list (hint, I'm keeping track of all the matches I really, really like in this thread at A1), I want to be as authoritative as I can. I don't know if I'll do it or not, but I'll try damn hard. I just ordered PWG's As the Worm Turns today, and any week that I can, I'll be ordering a DVD and asking for mostly wrestling DVDs for Christmas and my birthday this year. I'm pretty serious about this.

Of course, I'm not going to stop doing the other stuff. Reposting news, cracking wise about the industry or certain wrestlers, doing the features that I do, continually writing about Danielson stopping just short at writing fan fics picking out Youtubes and pictures and the like? I do that because it's fun, and if there ever comes a day when blogging isn't fun, then I'll probably shut down. However, I want to have a focus. I want to be able to go on podcasts and shit and be able to tell someone why my blog is different than all the other pro wrestling blogs out there.

And in order to improve for the future, I need to know how I've done in the past and present to know what I need to fix and what I'm doing right. So, you, the readers (if you're out there, and I hope to God that you are), I need you to answer just a few questions for me:

1 - Why do you read my blog?

2 - What do you like most?

3 - What areas do I need to improve?

(Note, for #3, I will not be taking "you need to like Triple H/Vince Russo/Dixie Carter/whoever more" as valid criticism.)

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Quick Hits: The Search for More Money

-Smackdown SpoilerHere's a HUGE spoiler for the 8/6/2010 episode of Smackdown... Dolph Ziggler wins the Intercontinental Championship. A year too late, but better late than never. HUZZAH~!

- F4W Online is reporting that Bobby Heenan suffered a fall and broke his shoulder and pelvis. Poor guy just cannot catch a break. One of the true legends in this business. Get well soon, Brain!

- According to Dot Net's premium site, Samoa Joe got pissed off at Vince Russo and yelled at him over the finish to his match with Jeff Hardy last week on Impact. He was ticked that Russo "gave away" the finish of the match, a time limit draw, by having Jeremy Borash announce that there were 30 seconds left in the match. If it were anyone else, I'd say Joe went about it all the wrong way, but fuck it, Vince Russo deserves to be yelled at more often. The fact that he's still in this business after a decade-plus of fucking things up is personally offensive to me. Anyway, Joe was conspicuously absent from tapings Monday. One can only hope this is the opportunity we've all been waiting for since the day Kurt Angle arrived in TNA and began the ruin of Joe... Joe finally gets out of his TNA contract and either goes back to the indies as an elder statesman or finally gets to start over in the WWE.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Friday Five: Yet Another "Favorite Match by So-and-So"

You know the drill...

1. What was your favorite Bret Hart match?

2. What was your favorite Test match?

3. What was your favorite Bunkhouse Buck match?

4. What was your favorite Midnight Express match?

5. What was your favorite Cody Rhodes match?

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Bad Wrestling Explained

Usually, a terrible wrestling product can be chalked up to one or more of three factors: bad ideas, bad execution or hubris. When you're consistently terrible, it's usually the intersection of two or even all three. This handy Venn diagram, brought to us by my crack research team that I pay top dollar for the fine people at GraphJam, shows what happens when one or more of these factors come together:



Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Remember Your Classic Wrestlers: Bruno Sammartino

Who?: Bruno Sammartino
Promotions: (W)WWF
Nicknames: The Italian Superman, The Living Legend (suck it, Larry Zbyszko)
Classic Affiliations: Sammartino won his first titles with the Canadian legend Whipper Billy Watson. He also mentored Larry Zbyzsko, and later on, allied himself with former rival George Steele as well as Tito Santana.

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 285 lbs.
From: Abruzzi, Italy

After the jump...Signature Maneuvers

His signature moves, for which I can't find any video footage without major cropping, were the bearhug, bodyslam and pendulum backbreaker.

Classic Feuds:

- Sammartino, having been Champion for years on end, feuded with nearly everyone Vince McMahon Sr. had to throw at him. You name the guy, he feuded with him: Gorilla Monsoon, Giant Baba, Gene Kiniski, The Sheik, Waldo Von Erich, "Classy" Freddie Blassie, George "The Animal" Steele, Bruiser Brody, Ken Patera, Billy Graham, Nikolai Volkoff and Ernie Ladd to name a few.

- He had a famous feud with Zbyszko after he lost the title in 1980, where Larry Legend, then a student of Bruno's, attacked him without warrant. Sammartino called him a Judas and then defeated him in a steel cage match at a sold-out Shea Stadium, culminating what's been called the most important feud of all-time to the Northeast region.

- In a case of two ships passing in the night, one of Sammartino's final big feuds was with one "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Savage would incense Sammartino so much that it drove the Italian Superman to attack him during an interview segment. Sammartino would win the feud in a lumberjack match, but it was by countout, allowing the then-Intercontinental Champion to keep his belt.

Titles Held:

WWWF World Championship (2x, longest reigning)
WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (with Spiros Arion)
WWF International Tag Team Championships (2x, 1x with Dominic DeNucci, 1x with Tony Marino)

Promos:

Sammartino on Piper's Pit


Sammartino's Legacy: Sammartino, aside from being the longest reigning McMahon-promoted World Champion ever, also stands as one of the most important early draws for the then-WWWF. While Buddy Rogers has been romanticized lately, his drawing power paled in comparison to the hulking Italian's, and thus for 12 of 14 years between 1963 and 1977, he held the title. In comparison, in the last 14 years, I wouldn't be surprised if the WWF/E has had more than 100 separate title reigns.

Sammartino was very business savvy and jaded, but also humble and honorable. Twice he turned down opportunities to hold the NWA World Championship, including one time when he was still WWWF Champion, which would have made him the only wrestler ever to win both titles. His regard wasn't given to him. He had to earn it through years of dealing with crooked promoters who tried to double-cross him or shoot on him at every turn, the biggest one of these being Vincent J. McMahon (Vince McMahon's father), who tried to blackball him at one point for daring to jump to a rival promoter in 1961.

Sadly, that mistrust has led him to totally shun the WWE today. OF course, if I had to deal with two generations of sleazy McMahon men, I might be soured on the buisness too, but it's a shame that a legend the stature of Bruno Sammartino is mostly forgotten in the WWE's revisionist lore nowadays. For a company that rewards loyalty and the old days as much as Vincent K. McMahon's WWE claims to, they have a glaring, glaring omission in their Hall of Fame. Granted, it's by Bruno's choice, but it still sucks that there's this disconnect.

Still, without Bruno, there's no telling how the wrestling business would be affected nowadays. Even if he wants nothing to do with the business anymore, the business wouldn't be anywhere near where it is today without one Bruno Sammartino.

Photo Credit: Online World of Wrestling

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

He Thinks He's Cute, Now He's on Twitter

HBK on Twitter!

What do "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Rowdy Roddy Piper and now Shawn Michaels have in common? They're all bona fide WWE legends who have legit Twitters. Michaels is brand new to the game, but he hasn't updated yet. Yes, though, it is confirmed by the WWE through this tweet:

Reminder: Follow WWE legend Shawn Michaels at @ShawnMichaels_ ... HBK Video Message: http://ow.ly/2ikWY He is on our "Alumni" Twitter list.

And if you needed any more proof...



There's the video, and yes, he was practicing his archery or bow-hunting. You think if he had had a "Bow and Arrow" match against Steve Austin that it would have been a MOTY candidate? Of course not, it would have been the Match of the Forever, especially if one of the arrows errantly fired and landed right between the legs of one Vince Russo, lancing his ballsac and causing him immeasurable but recoverable pain (because I don't wish death on people).

Anyway, I was going to have something sarcastic or irreverent up here, but hey, any wrestler who takes the time out to reach out to his/her fans is aces in my book, especially one who really doesn't have to like Shawn Michaels. So kudos to you, HBK.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

This Week's Wrestlespective Power Poll

It's time for the Wrestlespective Power Poll! again this week, and atop the proceedings is not one of the World Champions, not one of the super main eventers, but someone really, really awesome. Let's get to the list:

1. The Miz (3)
2. Randy Orton (4)
3. Sheamus (2)
4. Kane (1)
5. Rey Mysterio (8)
6. Rob Van Dam (5)
7. John Cena (6)
8. Chris Jericho (10)
9. Big Show (NR)
10. Wade Barrett (7)

Of course, my ballot looked nothing like that. I mean, are we just giving Rob Van Dam points for being TNA World Champion, or are people actually enjoying TNA and their blatant pandering to the past? I dunno. Plus, Barrett so wasn't the star of that match and Nexus segments on that side, it was totally Mr. Yip Yip Yip, Whut It Do, Shooooooooooooooot. Still, that's why we all have ballots, and mine might get similar mocking, so without further ado...

My Ballot

1. Tyler Black - Yes, I dislike the guy, but he apparently put on three great matches this week, and given that it was almost like having three ROH PPVs in a row, I think I feel justified giving him the top spot on my ballot this week.

2. Kane - Dropping him from the top of my ballot last week, but only by one spot. The dude killed it on Smackdown, opening with a hellaciously awesome promo, the best of his career, and closing by stalking poor Rey Mysterio and Jack SWAGGAH~!.

3. The Miz - Easily the top performer on RAW this week, and well-deserving of his spot at the top of the aggregate poll.

4. Bryan Danielson - The dude put on two hellacious matches according to all observers this weekend in two swelteringly hot arenas.

5. Magno - Some Lucha Libre USA love here. Magno gets props for his match against RJ Brewer and the awesome finish, where he removed his mask and got Brewer DQed in one of the most entertaining finishes of the year.

6. Chuck Taylor - He defeated Jimmy Jacobs to stay undefeated in EVOLVE, had a good performance during and after his match in Chikara. Plus I feel bad for snubbing him for a handshake at the end of the show Sunday.

7. Randy Orton - I wasn't as impressed as the voters at large with a squash of Jey Uso and throwing around RKOs like they were softballs at a beer league game, but hey, he was prominent on RAW.

8. RJ Brewer - This dude is going to be one of the best heels of the year on wrestling TV before it's all over, and he's got the chops in the ring to back it up. Great pseudo-commercial spot on the LLUSA broadcast and he held up his end of the bargain in the match with Magno.

9. Michael McGillicutty - Winning the NXT obstacle course has to count for something, right?

10. Skip Sheffield - He's on here almost solely because of that lariat countering Tyson Kidd's springboard. Plus, he's pretty fucking awesome to boot and deserves some recognition.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

TWIOT: Fantasy Football, aka Sports for Nerds

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE: 300.2 lbs., a net loss of 36.2 lbs. from my starting weight of 336.4 lbs.

NFL training camps are beginning around the country, and football season is around the corner. For most red-blooded male Americans, the NFL provides 21 weeks of drama, excitement and hard-hitting action that is the pinnacle of the sporting calendar. We love football so much that we make it an interactive game. Some of us immerse ourselves in the Madden NFL series so we can have pigskin all year round (Madden '11 comes out two weeks from this past Tuesday... who's taking a Madden holiday?). Some of us use gambling, legal or otherwise, to give ourselves a personal stake in games that we'd otherwise not care about. Still, those among us turn to fantasy football.

While I enjoy Madden and sometimes partake in football betting (LEGAL! *wink wink nudge nudge*), fantasy football is my poison of choice. I'm in at least one league every year, if not two or three. That may sound excessive, but really, it's not. Fantasy football leagues are very low maintenance, like so easy even a caveman could do it... oh shit, I didn't just type that, did I? If Geico's lawyers are on line 1, tell them I'm not here.

*clears throat*

Anyway, all you need to do is submit a starting lineup once a week, make sure the guys on your team are actually playing and aren't hurt, suspended or arrested for a felony and relax on Sunday while you watch all the NFL action your heart can take. Unlike basketball, hockey or baseball, football's one-game-a-week-per-team schedule is conducive for even the fantasy sport newbie to join in and have a good time running a team.

Now, what do I look for in a good fantasy football league? Well, while online drafts are great and sometimes necessary, I prefer a league where the draft is held in person. It's a great excuse for a party in the middle of the summer that doesn't really need to have talk other than about sports to function without revolt. My cousin runs my main league, and for 15 years, the draft has been a grand tradition. He orders pizzas, everyone brings something (I've traditionally brought fresh-out-of-the-fryer Krispy Kreme donuts, and then after they disappeared from north of the Mason/Dixon, fresh baked soft pretzels), and during intermission, we all watch the clip of Napoleon McCallum horiffically breaking his leg. (Pro-tip, don't click through if you have a weak stomach) It's one of the highlights of my summer.

Another good sign is league size. You don't want a league that's too small or else everyone's got a loaded team and there's too much parity. You don't want a league that's too big because it's no fun having to choose a starting spot between Glen Coffee and Garrett Wolfe, y'know? Ideal league size is 10 teams. Any more than 12 and any fewer than 8 just invite the situations I described prior.

Now, for the fun part, the geeky part... yes, I said geeky. Fantasy football is the sportiest outlet for nerds possible. Yes, it's possible to love sports and be a nerd. Fuck, that's me in a nutshell. Being a nerd isn't about the things you're interested in, it's a state of mind. There are sports nerds and food nerds and war nerds and hell, even reality TV nerds.

But yeah, the nerdy part is analyzing the players and seeing which ones are going to be the best bet. Much like analyzing the NFL draft, prognosticating fantasy football right now is somewhere between comical and useless. However, it's all we have to go by, so here are my quick, dirty and probably wrong pre-draft thoughts:

The Best Players on the Draft Board Are Going to Be... Chris Johnson at running back, Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, Andre Johnson at wide receiver and Brent Celek at tight end. Johnson is a no-brainer, as he hit 2,000+ yards rushing, 2,500+ total yards from scrimmage and 16 TDs. I don't see that production dropping all too much. I like him better than Adrian Peterson because Peterson fumbles too much, and if Brett Favre comes back to the Vikings this year, he'll have so much to prove he may just try to gunsling to a title by himself.

Rodgers at QB is a surprise considering he's in the same position as Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, but I'm not afraid to admit that it's mostly a gut feeling I have about Rodgers. Plus, Brees has two things working against him this year; a post-Super Bowl hangover looming and being on the cover of the latest Madden game, which usually comes as a curse for that player the next season.

Much like the other Johnson at RB, Andre Johnson is a no-brainer. He's playing with an extra chip on his shoulder this season because he's unhappy with his contract, so you know he's going to play out of his mind to prove his worth. Finally, I like Celek at the TE spot because he's playing with a first-year starter in Kevin Kolb, and first-year starters usually lean on their TEs as a safety blanket.

Sleepers! Everyone's always looking for that sleeper pick, the guy they draft in a later round that ends up performing over his draft position. It's a tricky proposition, but it works for the guy who ends up picking the right one. As for me? Well, I think LeSean McCoy is a good candidate to be this year's big sleeper, but then again, I'm a raging homer. The best picks for sleepers though are usually rookie RBs. RB is one of the only positions where rookies come in and produce right away, so if you see a team that has a rookie high up on the depth chart, especially below an aging or injury-prone RB? Snap him the fuck up.

Busts Easier to sniff out than sleepers, these are the guys who are bound for disappointment after careers of solid production. Guys like, say, LaDanian Tomlinson, who goes to the Jets platooning with the younger and better Shonn Green as well as potentially having carries taken from him by rookie Joe McKnight. Then there's Donovan McNabb, who goes into Washington after a brilliant but disappointing career in Philly with fewer weapons than he had with the Eagles and a shakier, younger OL. Or you could make the mistake of drafting either one of the Bengals' loud-mouthed WRs, Chad Ochocinco or Terrell Owens, who'll probably end up murdering each other to get more receptions by midseason.

Also, feel free to openly mock anyone who drafts Tim Tebow as anything better than a third QB at your draft.

That's about all I have to say about fantasy football right now. It really has enhanced watching the NFL in ways that no one could have dreamed over 40 years ago, before it hit big. If you want to look at the reasons why football has arguably surpassed baseball as the National Pastime, you have to put fantasy football in the top five at least.

Photo Credit: NFL.com

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TWB's 1000th Post! My Favorite Wrestlers Today

I promised myself I wasn't going to celebrate milestones, like anniversary posts or marking xth post, but I think I'll make an exception for post #1000. It's not going to be a celebration of the blog, but I figured now was as good a time as any to just list my favorite wrestlers working today, in some order (although really after the top 5 or 6, who the fuck knows, really). Here you go, in descending order:

25. Drake Younger: Yeah, Younger is a recent favorite - I hadn't seen him for the first time until Sunday - but you know what? Any guy who brawls the way he does and then pops and locks after the victory is more than alright by me.

After the jump...24. Grizzly Redwood: How can anyone not love a midget lumberjack? One of my dreams is to have breakfast with Grizz at IHOP.

23.El Generico: Such a ridiculously fun wrestler it's not even funny. Yeah, his character has taken a turn for the serious in ROH during this bloodfeud with Kevin Steen, but Generico is still the man.

22. Chuck Taylor: It's very hard for me not to mark out for a guy who counts this as one of his signature spots.

21. "Dashing" Cody Rhodes: Smackdown is must-watch anymore just for the weekly mic session we get with DCR. The grooming tips are priceless. Plus, he's probably the most improved wrestler in terms of in-ring on the roster in the last year.

20. Sugar Dunkerton: Not only is he super-interactive on Twitter, but as one-half of the Throwbacks, he's awesomely fun to watch in the ring with his megafro and ABA gimmickry. If you've seen King of Trios, night 1, you know what I'm talking about.

19. Christian: I always liked him better of the two. Right now, they're not featuring him as much as they did on ECW, but he's still always going to give a good match. I just wish they'd let him talk more. He's insanely charismatic.

18. Jack SWAGGAH~!: I want Primo's to carry a Swaggie.

17. Kaval: I love guys who have great kicking offense. Kaval may have the best ever. Plus he sounds like Barry White. If he sang "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" to LayCool, he'd shoot up like 15 spots on this list. In fact, I think I may start a petition on Facebook for that.

16. Colt Cabana: Not only is he funny and entertaining, he's a super cool guy who signs pictures of his Scotty Goldman glossy. How can you not love a guy who makes fun of his past missteps like that?

15. CIMA: The dude has got to be legit crazy. It's not the bad crazy like when HWSNBN murdered his family, but cute crazy like wearing flight goggles to the ring and wrestling with an evil smirk on his face like he's always up to no good. Plus, ICONOCRASM~!~!~!

14. Delirious: Gaiohjkjhguiak alkhj;lksd aoisdf asdjkfh iaolm ,.msoi usydoifu wlkejrwe!

13. The Osirian Portal: Yeah, I know they're two people. Shut up, this is my blog. I SAID SHUT UP. Anyway, they had me at being from ancient Egypt.

12. Zack Ryder: Woo Woo Woo... You Know It.

11. Frightmare: The kid is in his second year, and he's got exuberance to match. There's something wholesome, something genuinely warming about watching a guy run around through the crowd like he just hit a walk-off homer in game 7 of the World Series after hitting a plancha. Plus, the ceiling rana, of which the .gif IS NO LONGER WORKING! GAAAAHHH!!!

EDIT: I clicked the "Frightmare" tag, and the .gif indeed still works on my work computer. Don't know why it didn't load last night. Regardless, here's another copy of the .gif, thanks to blog-fan Kevin Friskey!



10. CM Punk: C'mon, he's the best in-ring guy in the WWE right now, one of the best promos, and he makes fans of Jeff Hardy wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. What's not to like here?

9. Skip Sheffield: He's the goofiest looking motherfucker in Nexus, but he's got a shitload of things working for him. One, he's got a sick-ass lariat. Two, he could cut promos for days and I'd mark. Three, he gives us ugly dudes hope that we too can succeed in life. Plus, YIP YIP YIP WUT IT DO shoooooooooot. Christ, give him and Tarver the Tag Titles now and just let them run as a sociopathic tag team that other sociopath heels would have to take notes on in the future.

8. Dasher Hatfield: He was the best part of Young Lions Cup last year, the second best part of Hiding in Plain Sight (the best part being Team Uppercut vs. QuackSaw zomg cum in pants), and he's a fan of TWB on Facebook. How can one not love an old-timey baseball gimmick? He's got a handlebar moustache on his freaking mask, for crying out loud.

7. The Miz: You know I marked out like I was a ten-year-old watching Hulk Hogan vanquish the evil Iraqi Sgt. Slaughter when he won RAW's Money in the Bank, right?

6: UltraMantis Black: So comically over the top evil it's delicious. He's so theatrical, the epitome of Chikara and why it's the best value for your entertainment dollar in wrestling today.

5. Evan Bourne: You know you love Evan Bourne too. He's the complete package in terms of in-ring, it's impossible for him to have a bad match. IMPOSSIBLE.

4. Bryan Danielson: What, do you think I write about 10,000 words a week on AmDrag because I'm "meh" on him? Not only is it impossible for him to have a bad match, but he's also sneakily good on the mic AND he's got so much nerd cred, he makes me look like Alex Riley (and I'm a HUGE dork).

3. Claudio Castagnoli: I boo him at Chikara events only out of reflex. See, I'm as much a mark as anyone else when I'm at The Arena watching Chikara, so I can't help but boo him and his BDK faction in the war for Chikara's soul. But once this whole thing is over, well, I'm back in his camp.

2. Austin Aries: A Double exudes awesome. He's so good at being a kayfabe prick that you can't help but nod and agree with him, even if he's calling you a fat waste. Plus, he smokes a pipe coming to the ring managing the All-Nite Express. A PIPE.

1. Chris Jericho: What, you were expecting maybe Andy "Right Leg" Ridge?

Photo Credit: WWE.com

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Not-So-Instant Feedback: Josh Matthews' Bitchin' Parties

A very pedestrian episode of NXT this week, but it was one that gave us a satisfying result. Eli Cottonwood is finally gone. I have to admit, his "Mustache" t-shirt was pretty amusing, but it was the first note of his character that I enjoyed. If Drew McIntyre is Scrooge McPoyle, then this guy is Sloth McPoyle. Seriously, what's with the WWE hiring guys who look like McPoyles? Are they going to bring in the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia gang to feud with this group? Although the Birds of Prey in a WWE ring? I digress. The point is, he's gone, although I have the sinking feeling that he'll be making appearances just jumping and beating the shit out of people, which could be good, but whatever.

The highlights for me were the Harris/Kaval match, which was almost as good as I thought it could have been. I think both of these guys are going to end up the best workers in the bunch (Kaval is already one of the top three workers in the company this year), and if they're really let go, it'd be a lot more balls-out than it was last night. Also, re: Kaval, I thought it was pretty refreshing to hear all the people like Cody Rhodes and The Miz praise him. Of course, that fucktard Morrison was the one with the dissenting "Hurrr, takez himself too seriously" opinion, but hey, if he's going to implode, might as well do it fully, right?

The brawl at the end was good TV. I'm glad that they're selling the feud between Michael McGillicutty and Alex Riley, who are coincidentally the two best mic guys in this class (BY FAR), but the seeds for that feud needed to be sewn weeks ago. NXT as a concept needs to have heat between rookies to work, and it needs to come out sooner than the 8th week of the competition. Maybe that comparison didn't work as much last season since that first season was clearly to build towards the Nexus, but they can't keep doing that, and if NXT is to be picked up by Bravo or another Universal satellite, then the writers need to do a better job developing storylines within the rookie infrastructure.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Dawn Marie Speaks Re: Wrestler's Rescue

Reprint courtsey of F4WOnline

After Irving Muchnik and others broke a story about Dawn Marie using Wrestler's Rescue as a front for her to jet around the country and attend wrestling conventions, everyone basically assumed that she was guilty before she even had the chance to respond. I admit, the news took me aback, but I still wanted to wait until we got something concrete before I lashed out at her. This doesn't count as concrete, but she has finally spoken up, and here's what she had to say:

An Open Letter from Dawn Marie

On behalf of myself, the Wrestlers’ Rescue organization, and the many volunteers and donors, I'd like to strenuously deny and condemn the false and baseless defamatory statements currently circulating concerning an alleged investigation and or corruption in Wrestlers' Rescue. Not only are the accusations false they contain no merit and they are disrespectful to the volunteers who have invested their time, energies, and hearts into helping former professional wrestlers in need. These statements (most of which appear to have begun following comments made by Mike Aldren) are defamatory and contain no basis or fact. These unfounded false allegations have put at risk our efforts to help the former stars who currently face major personal, medical, and financial crises. The damage these falsehoods may have done to real people (not wrestling “characters”) is immeasurable.

I am currently weighing options for an appropriate and comprehensive response. When I have decided on my best course of action, as well as exploring legal options on behalf of both myself and Wrestlers’ Rescue, I will address all allegations.

A full and complete refutation of all false claims will accompany our forthcoming formal response, in the courts and/or other venues. More importantly, though I wish to express the anger I feel that for the sake of a few web hits and some false ego-gratification, all those who spread his falsehoods as “truth” may have put at risk Wrestlers' Rescue's attempts to aid good and well-loved people facing enormously difficult circumstances. Unfortunately, internet rumor mongers feel that they can tarnish people and an organization’s reputation without any evidence and still have impunity. It is truly shameful that I must even dignify these individuals who have nothing more than time and a computer, to address these harmful and baseless allegations.

I give thanks to all my friends and colleagues who have called and written to express their anger at this attack and their support of me. It is for people like you and not the Mike Aldren's of the world that Wrestlers' Rescue exists and will expand.

Dawn Marie

So, both sides of the story are out in the open? Whom do I believe? Again, I don't know. Yes, I took down the link to WR on the sidebar, but that's not because I completely believe she's guilty. When charity is in question, I err on the side of caution. However, once there's concrete evidence that she's not guilty, I'll put it back up.

That being said, this could get ugly. Hopefully, Dawn Marie is telling the truth here, for her sake and for the sakes of all the wrestlers out there who would potentially be helped by this charity if it is indeed legit.

EDIT: Contact info removed by request. Hopefully that request was sent to F4W Online as well, because that's the only reason I included it.

Photo Credit: Online World of Wrestling

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Why I Haven't Commented Further on TNA's Big Dealings

I haven't commented on TNA's ECW reunion past the spoilers and the initial disgust outside of a random barb at Dixie Carter here or there for potentially (but thankfully not) costing me Tommy Dreamer at Chikarasaurus Rex. I'd say that I'm hearing everyone ask me why, but the truth is, no one has really asked me why I haven't commented on it. That's the reason; it's not interesting to me to see the self-destruction of a company flailing to ape both the successes and failures of companies past, and it certainly doesn't seem interesting to anyone but TNA fanboys or ECW fans of years past.

The funny part is, if anyone really cared about TNA enough to do more than flip Dixie Carter a cybernetic bird or make fun of them, there'd be a wealth of news going on, mainly regarding Paul Heyman. You see, Paul Heyman was definitely contacted by TNA. He's also definitely not working for them right now. You want to know how I can tell that, other than by what the dirtsheets are saying? Because they're running the ECW Invasion angle. You see, call Heyman intelligent, call him abrasive, call him bad with accounting (but don't ever call him late for dinner... har har har I'm so funny), but one thing that he is is forward thinking. With ECW, he reinvented the independent promotion. With Smackdown, he pushed ahead with six guys who weren't already established and was producing awesome TV. With OVW, he successfully built a developmental territory that provided the WWE with a lot of talent that learned how to conduct business from the best, the least of which certainly were Evan Bourne and CM Punk. I didn't need the dirtsheets to tell me that Heyman was against retreading ECW and for pushing ahead and creating TNA's legacy rather than having TNA be a second-hand memory bank for the stars of the past to shine while the future of the industry waits on the sidestage, either telling themselves that TNA will do right by them some day or counting down the days to when they can start over in FCW with a chance that they'll hit the big time in the WWE.

As a closer, I found it funny that one of the sticking points to Heyman not getting the job was his insistence on being able to hire and fire people. Dixie apparently didn't want to hand that power over because she didn't want people she liked to be out of a job. It's so funny, she wants to be Vince McMahon with a vagina, but she doesn't have the fortitude to do the things that made Vince McMahon's company successful. I guess she only likes firing people to show those paying customers a thing or two when they dare chant "Fire Vince Russo". Idiot.

This is why the backstage dealings of TNA are not worth wasting breath on.

Photo Credit: Online World of Wrestling

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

The Best Moves Ever: Vader Bomb

The Man They Call Vader is perhaps the best big-man worker of all-time, or at least in the conversation with guys such as Undertaker and the like. I never really got who the "they" were who called Vader Vader. Was it a shadowy group of Illuminati-like businessmen and world leaders who met at a club in a secluded locale to give people appellations? Was it the Skull and Bones society in Harvard? Was it the most nebulous and dreaded organization of them all, the nefarious INTERNET that was still in its infancy at the time? Maybe, maybe not. The point is, Vader was awesome, especially when he was squashing guys coming off the second rope with his Vader Bomb. Jack SWAGGAH~! does it nowadays, but it's not as impressive, mainly because Jack SWAGGAH~! is about 150 lbs. lighter than Vader was in his heyday:



God Bless Gorilla Monsoon for taking that bump in his old age, by the way.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Wrestling Six Packs: Biggest Busts

The idea for this topic comes to us courtesy of Chus Killalea.

In real sports, there are always guys who promise big results but end up fizzling out. These guys in real sports are the Todd Van Poppels, Ryan Leafs, Glenn Robinsons, Alexandre Daigles and Freddy Adus of the wrestling world. The guys with the big hype who never delievered, or if they did, they fizzled out shortly thereafter. These are in no particular order, i.e., only numbered as a placeholder.

1. Samoa Joe

When Joe came into TNA, he was supposed to be the second coming, the guy who'd lift TNA into direct competition with the WWE. He was the hot prospect, some thinking he was a much hotter one than his longtime rival and WWE signee CM Punk. Yes, he started out pretty hot as well, elevating the X-Division along with AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels, and then capturing the TNA/NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Then Kurt Angle happened. Angle signed with TNA, and the emasculation of Joe began. Angle outsmarted him at every turn, beat him for titles, "drove" him to paint a dong on his face and stalk Angle's stable before non-sensically joining said stable.

Right now, Joe stands in a precarious spot. I'm not sure he can rebound in TNA because the company seems to me like a sinking ship. He's not damaged goods, but man, his time in TNA has been a disappointment.

2. Monty Brown

Rob Franklin posted this today about whatever happened to Brown (hey, I think he owes me lunch now... lemme watch the Man vs. Food Detroit episode and I'll get back to him on my order), and it's a disappointing case. Nothing really can be pinned on Brown for his failures himself. He started out pretty limited but he made the most of what he could do well. His finisher was insanely over and he had oodles of charisma. However, for whatever reason, Jarrett wouldn't let him succeed, and then when he went to the WWE, they ran his name through the developmental name generator and man, it was downhill from there. Brown retired due to family business, and he hasn't returned since. Shame.

3. Ultimate Warrior

Yes, I know. Warrior wrestled in three high-profile WrestleMania matches in a row. He beat Hulk Hogan in the SkyDome. His peak is so damn high that it's hard to label him a bust, but the guy's career should have been a lot longer than it was. He should have been the guy to carry the WWF after Hogan left. Instead, he left the WWF hanging with so much potential on the table. Was this a blessing in disguise for us smarky types? Of course it was, because Warrior sticking around would have robbed us of several awesome years of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels at the top of the card, and who knows, maybe business wouldn't have tanked to the point where they needed to push someone like Steve Austin. Still, there's no doubt that McMahon would have wanted Warrior's career to have turned out differently than it did.

4. Ludvig Borga

Maybe the first sign that he wasn't the best acquisition was the blatantly obvious SS tattoo on his leg. I would have told him to go home right there, but I guess Borga's size and likeness to one Dolph Lundgren/Ivan Drago got him a job on the spot. He was terrible from my viewpoint, but the guy had some potential as a monster heel... until he got hurt and then faded into obscurity. He got such a big fanfare too, and poof, he was gone before you knew it.

5. Chris Masters

It's hard to rag on a guy who's performing admirably on Superstars week in and week out nowadays, but at one time, Masters was pegged to be the next big heel in the WWE. He was even in an Elimination Chamber for the RAW title at one point. Wellness was his enemy. It's a shame because as stiff as he was when he was being pushed to the moon, he actually learned how to wrestle and is damn good now. He's the kind of guy who gets drafted really high and has lofty expectations, but ends up having a nice career as a role player. It's not the kind of career that matches the hype at first, but hey, it's something.

6. Ken Shamrock

It's so funny, a move that was meant to boost the Attitude Era cred of the WWF ended up helping what would become its stiffest competition today. Shamrock came into the WWF with a ton of fanfare, first as a guest ref for the epic Bret Hart/Steve Austin match at WM13, and then as a regular wrestler. His career was largely forgettable, with his one highlight being a good whipping boy for Chris Jericho in his early WWF career. Other than that, he ended up just getting more people to check out UFC due to his background in it. I wonder if that's why the WWE downplayed Rampage Jackson's UFC background when he hosted. Hmm....

Photo Credit: TNAWrestling.com

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Like Brisco and Funk, We're Going Broadway - DGUSA's Enter the Dragon 2010 Guest Review

This review of Dragon Gate USA's first anniversary show comes to us via blog-fan and a guy I really respect when it comes to all things Dragon Gate and pre-turn of the century puroresu Jeffrey Paternostro. He was there Saturday night, and here's his review for you, for me, for us.

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Salutations, wrestling blog readers, my name is Jeffrey Paternostro, wrestling show correspondent, or something. I’ll have Holzerman assign me a fancy sounding title at our next staff meeting. And this is your tape-delayed report of the DGUSA show from Philadelphia this past weekend.

Some background: I started watching Toryumon about the time M2K was being formed in late 99 and you could only get poorly dubbed VHS tapes from Highspots in the blue sleeves. I once drove nine hours to Buffalo, staying at the shadiest Motel 6 ever (hmmm, this door looks like it has been forced open at some point) to see CIMA wrestle at a hockey rink. My favorite wrestling match ever is the CIMA/Genki Horiguchi, the El Numero Uno final from 2003. I once dubbed an entire year of SUWA matches to give to Dean Rassmussen at a Super 8. Needless to say, I am a bit of a fan and have a few biases here.

I kept saying I would go see the big DG/ROH shows, but they never seemed to be drivable. Then when DGUSA was announced I promised I would go to every show possible. But real life intervenes, as it does when you are no longer a college kid who can drive down to Delaware on a whim to see Necro Butcher wrestle on a bar patio.

So this was my first trip to The Arena (Say it in a monster truck announcer voice. “WELCOME… TO THE ARENA”) in a couple years. It’s nice to know that South Philly still hasn’t changed at all in the eight years I have been going to shows here. We even managed to find a close parking space instead of having to park down by the clothing outlet warehouses with their questionable lighting. Of course, if someone really wanted to pilfer my brother’s 2002 Honda Odyssey, I don’t think he would have cared.

We arrived for the meet and greet and the pre-show after a pit stop for the city special (3 bucks for well bourbon and a PBR tallboy) at the diviest dive bar I’ve been to in a while. The bartender looked like the guitarist from TV on the Radio let himself go, and they sold Cup o’ Noodles for 3 bucks. This is, of course, my kind of bar.

After the jump...First things first, I had to get a blurry blackberry photo taken with Yoshino. Check.

Only saw bits of the bonus matches as I was waiting in line for various things. The Jimmy Jacobs/Sami Callahan match was perfectly fine, though.

We sit second row camera side in front of the infamous Green Lantern Fan, who is apparently still going to shows and probably posting match times on the DVDVR message board. At least I hope so. It’s nice to think there are some constants in this ever-changing world of ours.

It warrants mentioning at this point that there is nothing resembling A/C, so it is about 100 degrees in the arena under the lights. I don’t remember this happening before, but I can’t recall if I ever actually went to a summer show in Philly. Most of my indy wrestling excursions were during the school year with the college crew. I went to the CZW summer shows in Delaware, but I can’t remember specifically going to a Philly show in the summer. So maybe it is always like that. Anyway, by the time I left there was no square inch of clothing not sticking to my body. Despite the oppressive heat, the crowd was pretty lively all night. I am a poor estimator of crowd size, but I would say 700-800. Main show started on time, which is always a plus.

N.B. I didn’t take notes at the event, since Holzer texted me during the show to ask if I wanted to write it up, so I am using 411mania (it still exists?!) for names and order and stuff.

The show starts, and CIMA comes out for the opening MC. One of the problems Tory/DG has always had is there is CIMA and there is everybody else. It used to be not as noticeable when you had the three aces TOKYO/Mochi/CIMA with SUWA there as well. Then they brought in Milano Collection AT and they had a bunch of guys that could carry the top of the card, but then they started leaving one by one and then Mochi moved into a more elder statesman/gatekeeper type role, and there was just CIMA. When they made the switch to Dragon Gate and split with Ultimo, they put the title on CIMA, because they had to. I don’t claim to be as tied into their Q rating in Japan, I’m sure Jae from IluvDG would know this stuff more than I do, but I don’t see anyone on the roster that can really stand up to CIMA in popularity.

The somewhat rambling point in here is that he is just so much more charismatic than anyone else on the roster. Yoshino is cool and really fast. BxB Hulk is all pretty and shit (pause). But CIMA is CIMA. You can see it in his mic segment, even in his second language. The first skinny, athletic, tanned indy dude of the night comes out (sorry, I am really not up to date on northeast indies besides the guys still around that were big in 2006). This one has a ponytail and is named Johnny Gargano. After a bit of back and forth, and a pimp slap from Gargano, we have our opener.

JOHNNY GARGANO vs. CIMA

The backstory is Gargano wants into CIMA’s Warriors group (formally Warriors 5). One of the things that drove me nuts about DG was the constant stable switching. Basically once a year it seemed like they drew names out of a hat and had people turn face and heel and form new stables. Hey Fujii, you haven’t teamed with Mochi in a while, INSTANT STABLE! Since Crazy Max dissolved, CIMA has been in Waka Waka Fujii Land, Blood Generation, Typhoon, Warriors 5 and now Warriors. I think he has been in a stable with every single member of the original full 2000 roster now. Though I’d have to double check that. Maybe not Mochi. Anyways, the match is a fun little opener, a bit of extended squash with Gargano showing some spirit by taking CIMA’s high end stuff, before CIMA finishes him with the Schwein and a diving double knee strike that looked sufficiently nasty. (NOTE: CIMA did the same finish to Gran Akuma at Chikara the next day - TH)

ARIK CANNON vs. ADAM COLE vs. CHUCK TAYLOR vs. RICOCHET

Okay, the four way.

I have seen a lot of four way, first fall matches. ROH basically ran at least one a card for every show I went to in the middle part of this decade. They all follow the same basic formula.

1. Guys pair off to some mat wrestling, stalemate, someone gets dropkicked out of the ring. Next guy comes in, repeat.

2. At some point someone gets knocked out of the ring, every one does a dive, one after the other.

3. They all get back into the ring, start working mid range offense, everybody kicks out of stuff like Northern Lights suplexes.

4. Extended finish sequence: lots of big moves, lots of guys breaking up pinfalls

5. Eventually someone finishes someone else off with a big move, while the other two are incapacitated outside the ring.

This pretty much followed this formula to a tee. It was a spotfest with some seriously big spots. Everything was hit more or less cleanly (and if not, the memory of it was immediately buried by six more spots in succession). But outside of the Psycho Driverish finisher from Chuck Taylor, and the crazy corkscrewy dive from Richochet, I couldn’t tell you who did what to whom 24 hours after the match. I do remember people getting dropped on their head a lot.

So, this was the second match on the card. Granted, I don’t know where it will air on PPV, and I assume there will be a storyline established with these guys competing to get one of the stable spots, but I don’t love burning up a ton of high end spots on the undercard matches. All the mains did go in different directions, so it ended up being less of an issue. Anyway, it was fun. It was good. It’s just not my type of match. It felt like an exhibition. I think at one point I turned to my friend and said only half-jokingly, “There are no more spots. They have used them all.”

Also, I think the Pennsylvania Athletic Commision should mandate that every short, athletic whiteboy indy wrestler put his ring name somewhere on his tights. It would make my life easier. What else does Frank Talent have to do anyway? At least Arik Cannon has the courtesy to be a little beefy.

DRAKE YOUNGER vs. NARUKI DOI

I have vague memories of Drake Younger, was he in IWA at some point? Doi looked hurt, maybefrom the big July Kobe show. They did seem to go at about ¾ speed for much of the match to compensate, but it was still really decent. Doi has always just sort of been there for me. He’s perfectly fine in pretty much everything I’ve ever seen him in, but he’s always struck me as sort of vanilla by DG standards, I guess. Plus he started off with that horrendous baseball player gimmick in T2P. One thing that I noticed in the DG/American indy guy matches is that the indy guys always look a bit sloppy by comparison. Doi always seems to hit his moves a bit crisper and be in better position to eat Younger’s offense. Now, some of this is a style bias on my part, but the DG guys just look better trained. I don’t know how the DG school works now, but Doi, for example, spent two years in Mexico training with the rest of the T2P classes and working IWRG undercard matches. They also work one of the most rigorous touring schedules in Japan. It pays off, as they can work very complex sequences in their sleep. Doi wins with his sliding kick to your freaking face. Afterwards Gargano attacks Younger who also wants in to STABLE MADNESS. Younger is nice enough to juice for the attack, though. I would not hate to see a singles match between these two. Good job, bookerman.

OPEN THE FREEDOM GATE TITLE: MASAAKI MOCHZUKI vs. BxB HULK (c)

Just to get this out of the way. If you are going to dance in a wrestling ring, you better be Magnum TOKYO. Sorry. I always forget that BxB came up through Toryumon X with that sailor suit-besotted boy band gimmick, but really, his dancing was pretty unenthusiastic compared to what I am used to in a DG/Tory ring. The Elvis wig was a nice touch as apparently he just lost a hair v. hair match to Shingo at World. I will say the buzzcut makes him look at least a bit less effeminate. There is a reason SUWA called it Social Dance Gate after he resigned.

Mochizuki has always been a bit underrated, especially by me. He wasn’t an Ultimo trainee, coming up in Tenryu’s WAR promotion in the mid-nineties. Even in M2K, despite being the ace, he was overshadowed by the flashier Susumu/Kanda combo. He doesn’t employ the usual brand of flashy high-end DG offense, using mostly kicks and then a spinning brainbuster or dragon suplex to win his bigger matches. But he leads BxB Hulk by the hand through my personal favorite match of the night, botched finish aside.

It wasn’t perfect, BxB ignored the extensive leg work of the first half of the match to do the run to the finish, but having seen that in approximately every big DG singles match in the last ten years, it doesn’t really bother me anymore. The match proper followed a nice young gun/wizened vet narrative; BxB trying to kick with Mochi, getting his leg worked over as a result. Still trying to kick with Mochi like an idiot, but showing enough spirit to beat the veteran in the end by kicking him in the face. The botched finish was pretty horrendous, though. I had a bad angle to tell exactly what happened, but it looked like an over enthusiastic timekeeper coupled with a less than emphatic kickout by Mochi. They probably shouldn’t have gone right to the real finish after that, cause the crowd was deflated, but I like that they paid the story off by having BxB kick Mochi’s face in.

Afterwards, a woman in a corset and gothic make-up comes out, straight out of central casting from a Sylvester McCoy era Doctor Who story. Are they running a “Ghost Light” angle? Cause that would be awesome.. 411 tells me she was one of his back-up dancers who has been corrupted by Kamikaze USA. Much less cool.

There are some shenanigans with Kamikaze USA and Bryan Danielson comes out to make the save.

INTERMISSION

This was probably longer than it needed to be. Not CZW long, mind you.

SCOTT REED vs. RICH SWANN

See, indy wrestlers with their names on their tights. Thank you.

Post intermission squash-a-thon. Swann actually impressed as much as you can in five minutes, flashing some nice athleticism and hitting everything crisply. Brody Lee comes out afterwards (he came out during the pre-show, too) and does his 2010 9-1-1 impression. I know Sapolsky is an ECW fan, but I really don’t care for angles like this. They never really seem to lead anywhere, and just make the midcard look bad. Lee says next time he is coming for a Japanese man. (pause)

MASATO YOSHINO/MIKE QUACKENBUSH/JIGSAW/HALLOWICKED vs. KAMIKAZE USA

This was elimination tag rules. I don’t know if they announced it and it just didn’t register with me, but I did manage to figure it out at some point. Probably after Hallowicked was pinned and the match kept going. I AM SMRT. This was somewhere between a big brawly blowoff tag and a regular DG multiman tag, and it didn’t really work for me. It seemed a little disjointed; not quite heated enough for a brawly blowoff, not quite as smoothly worked as a regular multi-man Yoshino, especially, looked kind of off, and didn’t really do all that much. I haven’t seen a ton of Yamato since his first year or so, and he didn’t make much of an impression. I am going to track down some of the recent big shows now, cause god knows I need to get back into purchasing wrestling tapes. I am curious to see his Open the Dream Gate title run to see how much he’s improved. Tozawa was the best in this match. He has a really fun heel charisma coupled with a distinctive style in the ring. I don’t really get the double tapout at the end, I think it makes Kamikaze look pretty weak, but I can’t say I know the angle well enough to know how this match fits in it.

“AMERICAN DRAGON” BRYAN DANIELSON vs. SHINGO TAKAGI

Dragon was way over all night. He comes out to no music, which was odd at the time. Personally, I think they should have just had him come out to “Final Countdown” and gotten it over with, it would have amped the crowd up even more, though they did get right into the proceedings. I like Danielson a lot, but the best in the world thing has always seemed a bit too akin to indy music snobbery to me. Takagi has never really impressed me much. This ended up being kind of surprisingly good, though. They did kind of just kill time for the first ten minutes, in that ‘welp, we’re going long tonight’ kind of way. They meandered about as Dragon dominated the offense, pausing every once in a while to do some strike exchanges, but when it finally kicked into high gear it took off. False finishes galore, a few of which actually had me convinced that Shingo might win the match (he probably should have, more on that in a minute).

I do wish they had established the Shingo-can-power-out-of-Dragon’s-subs-and-work-through-his-strikes-motif earlier in the match, (yes, I am the last person who should be giving Bryan Danieson pointers on how to structure a match) instead of having Dragon just sort of dominate him. Shingo was game, and had one of his better singles matches that I’ve seen, but I don’t entirely get the booking in the end. Shingo just won a big singles match at World. He’s one of the top tier Dragon Gate guys. Look, I know Danielson is going to win this first round of matches back on the indy circuit no matter where he goes, but he’s probably back in the WWE after the election. I don’t know if putting him over one of the top DG guys is a good idea. They could have established Shingo as a monster here. (NOTE: I guess that's where the horrible booking for Shingo/Equinox came from the next day - TH) I get why they didn’t, and he still comes out looking all right, but unless they are going to use Dragon to put over Hulk (which looks less likely based on their post-match alliance) I think they should have given Shingo the duke here.

But hey, then they couldn’t have ended the show playing “Final Countdown,” and with everyone chanting “Match of the Year” Always send the fans home happy, I say.

***BRIEF RANT AHEAD***

Look, why can’t a show just be very good and have very good matches. There were like fourteen “This is Awesome” chants and a “Match of the Year” chant. Plus a “This is wrestling” chant that I don’t really understand, unless the crowd is trying to make some sort of ontological statement. I had people behind me debating whether the four-way match was **** ¼ or **** ½. I understand the desire to ‘be there’ when something great happens. But the “This is Awesome” chants now have all the spontaneity of the “Let’s go this guy” “Let’s go that guy” chants, which was particularly amusing when they tried to do it in the main event, keeping the same rhythm, despite no one actually chanting for Shingo.

I know we live in a post-kayfabe world, and that indy wrestling fans have become more and more interested in showing each other and the wrestlers that they ‘get it.’ But what ends up happening is you have long dead spots where the crowd is waiting for something cool to happen so they can bust out another chant, or clap for matwork or shout “TWOOOOOO.” (Really we are still doing that? It happened on that one RAW in Montreal like five years ago and now we are stuck with it?) If you go back and watch stuff like Kawada/Misawa 6/94 or the old NWA mains from the eighties. Or even the Austin-era mains in the WWF, you have just walls of noise, crescendos for the big moments, sure. Chants for the wrestlers sure, but just constant noise. I think I kinda miss that.

I’m guilty in my own way, too. I over-intellectualize the stuff (I did refrain from making a reader-response theory vs. New Criticism joke about the four way) and probably get more bothered by the chanting than I should. It’s just how the crowd enjoys themselves now, and isn’t all about showing how clever they are. These sort of ‘secret languages’ happen in every subculture.

Anyway, it was a really good show with really good matches. And I think that’s just fine.

Oh, and good news everyone, the Oregon Diner is still open. And still very, very sketchy. No one hit me up for money this time, but there was a dude changing his shirt outside his van on the sidewalk. Yay, Philly.

I won’t say the show rekindled my love for indy wrestling (The ‘yay’ ‘boo’ dueling cheers during strike exchanges might be the most obnoxiously precious thing ever), but this was a high quality show top to bottom, and I’ll be there in Fall River in October.

So please please please put Genki on the card, Mr. Bookerman.

Your friend,

Jeffrey.

Photo Credit: JP

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Putting the Wrong Face Forward?

Around this time last year, the last time RAW did a double taping in one night to accomodate an overseas excursion, Mark Henry debuted on RAW, turned face, pinned then-heel and WWE Champion Randy Orton clean and got a standing O from the NorCal crowd. After a year or so of toiling as the World's Angriest Champion in ECW, Henry got the call via trade to RAW and looked primed to finally cash in on the potential the WWE saw in him 13 years prior when they signed him right out of amateur bodybuilding.

It's been a year later, and Henry is still waiting for that rematch for the title against Orton. Of course, that won't do him much good unless Orton defeats either Sheamus or The Miz (outside shot they do have him cash in on his shot successfully before then) at SummerSlam. Within two weeks, Henry was being used as a prop in the DX/Legacy feud and then his big debut was just sort of forgotten. After that, he was given a red unitard that made him look like the Kool-Aid Man and ended up being PPV job fodder for JeriShow along with MVP and then here we are now, with Henry as just a veteran who's just... there. He's available for mentoring on NXT, as a spot ally for John Cena when he needs someone intimidating to get his back or just as a jobber to the stars when guys like Batista or Sheamus need to look really impressive without having to beat one of RAW's golden calf-faces.

Speaking of MVP, he's been forgotten too. Ever since his big run at Orton was ditched in favor of yet another Shane McMahon superman push, he's been relegated to the sidelines. You could argue that his work since then has gone downhill a lot, and I wouldn't disagree, but I would also argue that MVP might have been despondent after seeing his one big chance to break through (since he's pushing 40) went down the drain because the doughy poster child for nepotism wanted another run in the spotlight. The guy is the best face promo in the company, even still, and before he started to not care, he was a decent worker. No one was going to confuse him for 2 Cold Scorpio or even Scorpio Sky, but once upon a time, he was far from the slug that he tends to be now.

Then there's Yoshi Tatsu, who speaks English as well as Lindsay Lohan stays sober (TOO SOON?), and yet he still is over with the crowds more than anyone could possibly expect him to be. He languishes on Superstars, watching the goodwill he's built up with the fanbase dwindle away with every moment of disuse he gets.

Meanwhile, John Morrison, who can't hit his finisher anymore, struggles to land basic strikes and flounders on the microphone seems to be getting shot after shot to showcase himself and be positioned for a run a World Championship. Kofi Kingston is moving laterally in terms of ringwork and only slightly forward in terms of micwork, and he's going to get his interrupted push restarted sooner rather than later. Even then, both guys aren't nearly being pushed as hard as the newbie heels are, heels like The Nexus, Sheamus, The Miz, Drew McIntyre, Jack SWAGGAH~! and even CM Punk. Yes, all those aforementioned heel entities are blog favorites and staples of Internet fandom. It's no secret that the Internet loves heels, and that I appreciate a good heel just as much as anyone. However, heels rarely if ever put money in Vince McMahon's pockets. The WWE crowds have always been face-loving crowds, as opposed to the old NWA/WCW crowds, that came out for good wrestling and to see the megaheels like Ric Flair, Nikita Koloff, Big Van Vader or the nWo get their asses handed to them.

While it is true that yes, the WWE seems to grow its top faces through years of heeldom (just look at Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Batista, and... well everyone after the Ultimate Warrior, really), they should be fine grooming the next breakout face from that group, like Sheamus, who's been likened as an Irish Stone Cold, or Miz, who's already getting face pops himself. Still, where does that leave the other guys when the big guns like Cena, Trips and Orton are already occupied? Honestly, they can't think that Morrison or Kingston are going to be viable long-term without more time to learn how to work or how to get the mechanics of cutting a promo down, yet, the alternatives to them are too small (Evan Bourne) or too old (Henry, MVP, R-Truth) or too foreign (Tatsu).

Granted, they are pushing Bourne and Truth pretty hard right now. But then again, Bourne got buried last night when it came to crunch time, obliterated at the expense of making the Nexus look like worldbeaters in an angle where that sort of dominance is far from necessary. Then you look at Truth, who is mega-over with his theme song and has gotten a lot of face time on TV. His face time has been against guys like ShowMiz, the Miz solo or Ted DiBiase. Meanwhile, a comparative heel has gotten that chances to run against Orton, Cena, Trips or all three at some point.

Now, I don't like R-Truth a whole lot, but I'd be stupid to tell you that I'm in the majority. The guy is super over. So is Evan Bourne, who has gotten that taste of the main event (and admittedly, who might get more of that if the RAW spoilers are pointing in the same direction that I think they're pointing). The WWE is correct for giving these guys the exposure they're giving them, and frankly, they should get more. Not for my sake, but for the sake of their company.

In that same vein, as much as they push McIntyre, the Nexus and the rest of the neophyte heels, they need to do the same for the faces who are ready to carry a load, guys like Christian and Henry. MVP may be too far gone and set in his ways, which is a shame, because him as a face Champion would have been outstanding. They need to position Tatsu better than they're doing. Furthermore, they need to scale back Kingston and Morrison, moreso Morrison than Kingston, who needs tweaking. Morrison, though, needs overhauling. Seriously, instead of using William Regal as a comedic foil for Santino week in and week out, how about putting him in a program with Morrison so that he can teach the Monday Night Delight how to work? Granted, it's something he should have learned in OVW/DSW/whatever territory he came out of, but hey, better late than never.

It's true that guys really learn the business being heel, but that doesn't mean faces are fodder. What happened last night was kind of embarrassing on the company, and a sign of how much they take having strong babyfaces for granted. I'm not saying that Mark Henry should main event WrestleMania and win as a face, but as a stopgap program at, say, Night of Champions, or even as a secondary main event program at SummerSlam against a really strong CM Punk/Jeff Hardy TLC match? Yeah, that would work. It really would.

If only the suits in Stamford would see it the same way...

Photo Credit: WWE.com

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Happy Birthday, Triple H!

Today is the birthday of the most controversial WWE wrestler ever for reasons other than pulling a gun on Steve Austin during live TV or murdering his wife and child in a steroid, drug and head-trauma induced haze! Happy birthday Paul Levesque-McMahon, also known as Terra Ryzing, also known as The Game, also known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, also known as Mithrander most commonly known as Triple H! For his birthday, I'm going to give him the best present of all, a child's laughter a pass for all the politicking, the holding down and the general posturing over the last decade. That's the best gift ever...

...you still reading? Good, because I was just kidding on that. I don't give passes that easily unless he's reading this blog and wants to seek me out and kick my ass, but hey, it is the guy's birthday, so he does deserve a present. But what do you get the man who's going to inherit the most lucrative wrestling company in the world? How about this little ditty for when he's out on the road without Steph?

After the jump...

No? Too many bad memories you say? I'd have to agree, actually. I'm not even sure Joanie Laurer herself would want to see herself in that thing (although Waltman's probably cracked out enough that he wouldn't care either way). Oooh, wait, I've got an even better idea:



This is for forgetting he was ever involved in that awful Katie Vick angle, or that he had to dry hump a corpse... on second thought? I think that's more reserved for Kane than Trips. Trips, that fucker, deserves to remember the shame he had to go through to trample the rest of the roster. Okay, think, TH, think, what would be the best gift for Triple H on this, his birthday?



...on second thought, I'll keep the puppy for myself. However, I have finally found the perfect gift for Triple H that would be awesome for him and for us the fans. Here it is, a vat of searingly corrosive sulfuric acid to the eyes!....



Yes, his very own Farmville farm on Facebook. Now I know, Facebook and Farmville are both free, but that's not the point here. The point is, Triple H will definitely appreciate this gift as it's so user-intensive and addictive. Hell, I've had to block the app from appearing on my own Facebook Wall feed or else I'd be sifting through nothing but Farmville updates. But for Trips, man he'd spend so much time on there that he'd forget about rehabbing his injury or coming back to the WWE as an active performer or really anything. The upside? No more Triple H on TV for us. It's a win-win situation.

You can thank me later, fellow Triple H-aters.

Triple H Photo Credit: WWE.com

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Instant Feedback: Live Together, Die Alone

All the ending of RAW needed was Dr. Jack Shephard giving a speech from a secluded beach about how if Team WWE didn't live together, then they were going to die alone. If you're a fan of LOST, you know exactly what I'm talking about and you're nodding. Tonight's RAW ending reminded us dual LOST/wrestling fans back to the first season of the recently-finished and iconic TV show, where Jack was pleading with the other castaways to put their differences aside. The difference though was they were initially surviving a plane crash. Team WWE faces the Nexus, a unified front of rookies who had just squashed six mid-carders and an announcer.

Yeah, about that. I initially felt good about the match. I'm not going to lie, I was smitten by some of the awesome spots that were laid out, most especially Skip Sheffield nailing Tyson Kidd with the best lariat ever. However, once the realization set in that Evan Bourne got squashed, that the Tag Champs got squashed and that Mark Henry got squashed for the sake of continuing to pound the round peg into a square hole, it was frustrating. Yes, Nexus had to win that match. No, it didn't need to be 7-0, and even if it did, would it have killed for Bourne, their newly minted megastar who is genuinely the most over face on the roster not named Randy Orton, to have gotten a few near falls? Would it have killed them for Henry, a guy who has proven he could get crowd reactions on the level of a top-card babyface, albeit for a very short period of time, to have killified a few guys and just missed on pins due to a save from another Nexus member? Would it have messed with their booking plans to have made the Harts, who hold gold, look like they were deserving of holding gold?

And that's where the frustration sets in with WWE booking. It can be so good for weeks and then they hit a wall where it just makes you go "wtf?" and it almost undoes whatever good they tried to do leading up to it. I don't care what your feelings were prior to now, but overreactions about the second week of the angle and Bryan Danielson's firing (I MENTIONED HIM AGAIN GAWD WHY CAN'T I STOP DOING THAT?) aside, this was the first major hiccup of the angle. It couldn't have come at a worse time.

Sadly though, the rest of the show was decent. The opening promo was okay. Cena carried it, but I was just aching to hear Jericho work the mic as a face just one more time. It was refreshing to see him work in the ring as a face, but as good as his jaded heel character is, it's kinda run its course. I want fun-loving, heavy metal, fan-favorite Chris Jericho back, or at the very least, smarmy, sarcastic, over-the-top heel Jericho again. C'mon Chris, you're pushing 40 and possibly leaving the company again. You don't have to continue the reinvention.

I will say though, the subplots in the WWE Championship angle are getting good too. I love the interplay between Sheamus and The Miz, and the segment that came after the face midcard burial was the best on the show all night.

But the main angle... teasing dissention in the ranks is sort of a hacky way to get things done, and honestly, it was so predictable that it just puts a damper on everything. IT was as well-done as you could possibly do, especially the end segment, so I guess I can't hate on it that bad, but maybe I was just wishing for them to do it more subtly, with uneasy truces that exploded when an unlikely source turned heel at SummerSlam.

However, if they start to introduce time travel or rebrand the Nexus as the Dharma Initiative, all bets are off.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!