THE 08/24 ROH VIDEOWIRE: IMPRESSIONS & REAL TALK

This recap is a little late since the latest VideoWire came out while I was away, and I just watched it today. But it's jam-packed with all kinds of promo goodness, so let's watch it together, shall we? C'mon! Join me! Weee!

IN THIS VIDEO

- More real talk with Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards. No one has more conviction in his or her voice than Davey Richards. And it's not because he's ranting and raving (but don't get me wrong, I love me some ranting and raving - wrestling was founded on ranting and raving!), but it's because he's so calm and collected that you just believe what he's saying. It is true when people say (or when Davey himself says) that Davey doesn't believe in face/heel dynamics. He just tells it like it is, and that's what makes his character fucking awesome.

- Tyler Black says "YOU'RE HIRRRRRED" in a Vince McMahon growl.

- Kevin Steen does the unthinkable - a bang-on Roderick Strong impression. He also continues to be the most believable "crazy" heel in recent memory by acting legitimately insane. Because crazy heels only seem crazy when they're not going around being like, "I'm crazy I love to hurt people whoaaaa!" (I'm looking at you, Eli Cottonpecker). The craziest people think they're completely sane.

- Jon Davis stares blankly into the camera looking completely pissed off and apathetic at the same time.

- Just like they themselves said, it's not even worth bragging or talking about how good the Kings of Wrestling are in this promo, because it's not even fun anymore. "Here lies your demise, close your eyes because Kings. Reign. Supreme."

- A Briscoe Brothers family reunion. Or maybe it's just a tailgating party. Either way it's the Briscoes drinking beers with people in a parking lot, and it's as hilarious as you're imagining right now.

NOT IN THIS VIDEO

- Austin Aries & The All-Nite Express. :(

LIVE 2009: ROH: VIOLENT TENDENCIES - 06/26/09

I was lucky enough to see about six nights worth of live wrestling this year (5 ROH, 1 WWE), which is about double of what I saw last year. Here's what I saw, starting in chronological order, in Detroit...

This was the first ever ROH (or wrestling in general) show that I'd ever gone to outside of Canada. It was the first cage match I'd ever seen live. And it was the first time ever seeing KENTA live, and the show opened with him and Cary Silkin, as well as the rest of the roster, coming out for a Misawa tribute, as it was the first show since his death.

MATCH OF THE NIGHT

AMERICAN WOLVES VS. STRONG & KENTA

AMAZING match. If I hadn't lost my voice already by this point of the show, it was done for after this match. So much fun, and just full-tilt from bell to bell.

What truly made this match even more exciting was that it was originally supposed to be KENTA and Danielson against the wolves, but just a week or two before the match, Danielson suffered a staff infection, and was swapped out for Roddy. So, everyone was officially like "PFFT, they're not winning. F THIS." But this match was done so well and just so damn exciting that there were several points where the entire crowd was on their feet, thinking that the Wolves were going to lose.

It was awesome to see KENTA live. You can feel his kicks in your chest like a bass drum at a concert.

HIGHLIGHTS

- The preshow card featured a guy named "Samson" who I haven't seen since, who was amazing. He's a huge Ezekiel Jackon size dude (maybe not that big), with the nickname "The Gangsta". He stepped into the ring looking like a fucking psycho badass... but when his opponent took a swing at him, he screamed and cowered like a little girl. And he would tell the guy he was going to shit on him. It was amazing.

- Albright busts the back of his head open at some point in his match, but finishes the thing.

- Nigel wrestled essentially his only match as a face.

- Steenerico/HoT has a super exciting last few minutes of a match-ending sequence.

- Austin Aries hires Joey "The Hired Magnum" Ryan to ensure that he wins the Six Man Mayhem match, and cuts a hilarious pre-match promo, calling Detroit "Detroilet," and telling Joey "you wax my moustache, I'll wax yours."

- Colt Cabana's "welcome back" chant.

- Cage match ending in complete chaos with an Age of the Fall invasion from all entrances of the arena, after Tyler lands a splash from the top of the cage through a table.

Overall, it was a super fun night, with a pretty ridiculous cast of characters sitting in front of us in the first row, cracking wise (not actually wise). Also got to see Ric Flair for the first time. Woo.

Here's the full card:

OPENER

Silas Young vs. Grizzly Redwood

TAG TEAM MATCH

Erick Stevens & Brent Albright vs. Kenny King & Rhett Titus

GRUDGE MATCH

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Nigel McGuinness

TAG TEAM MATCH

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The House of Truth

SIX MAN MAYHEM

Austin Aries vs. Joey Ryan vs. Petey Williams vs. Delirious vs. Sami Callihan vs. Rasche Brown

GRUDGE MATCH

D-Lo Brown vs. Colt Cabana

ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

The American Wolves vs. Roderick Strong & KENTA

MAIN EVENT STEEL CAGE MATCH

Tyler Black vs. Jimmy Jacobs

ROH ON HDNET: 11/23/09 - BUCKS/WOLVES

Well holy damnit.

I was away all week, with very limited internet, but still managed to hear about how great this match was. I read so much hyperbole (or what I thought to be hyperbole) that I worried my expectations would be raised impossibly high, and it wouldn't live up. Not only that, but sadly I don't get HDNet, so I also feared that watching the match on YouTube alone in my room (I have friends I swear guys) would take away from what a lot of people were championing as one of the top TV main events of the year.

Instead of that happening, I almost felt weird about how giddy I was lying on my bed with my laptop, popping (trying not to use wrestling lingo too much in fear of sounding like a dink) over just about every fast-paced move in this match, to the point where I damn near scared the cat-piss out of my cat, and I don't even own a cat.

Okay, hyperbole aside, the match truly delivered and legitimately excited me enough to exclaim out loud, despite being huddled away in my room. It was also nice to see the Philly crowd, who were pretty flat up until the main event, get rowdy for the Bucks and the Wolves.

If you didn't see it, see it here and try and tell me that at least one of your nipples didn't get hard. I dare you.

- mitts