RING OF HONOR ANNOUNCES TOP PROSPECT TOURNAMENT, FINAL HDNET MAIN EVENT

ROH announced two pretty awesome things today, both having to do with ROH On HDNet.

First, they announced that at their next (and last) set of HDNet tapings at The Arena, they will be holding an 8-man "Top Prospect Tournament," which will feature these seven ROH stars (and one mystery competitor):

- Adam Cole

- Kyle O'Reilly

- Andy "Right Leg" Ridge

- Bobby Dempsey

- Grizzly Redwood

- Michael Elgin

- "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett

The mystery competitor isn't being sold as a big name by any means, but more of an "unknown" wrestler who will be given the huge opportunity to make a name for himself on national television. Pretty cool idea.

The other announcement was a six-man tag team match that will be the main event of the final ROH On HDNet show, which will pit the ROH World Champion Roderick Strong and the ROH World Tag Team Champions the Kings of Wrestling against Davey Richards and the Briscoe Brothers. I can only assume that these guys will burn that place to the ground this weekend. Holy hell.

MY FAVOURITE MATCH OF RIGHT NOW: KINGS OF WRESTLING V. TAKAYAMA/ SANO

Normally I leave the puro stuff to my buddy Steve over at Burning Spirit, but since he's taken an indefinite leave of absence from blogging about Japanese wrestling in a non-elitist "KENTA sucks because he doesn't sell DERP" kind of way, I'm going to take the reins on this one.

I just finished watching Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli pretty much DOMINATE the GHC Tag Champs for three quarters of this match. There are a ton of highlights, from a running, diving, corner moonsault from Hero, to pretty much every exchange between Takayama and Claudio (that Ricola bomb will give you a hernia just from watching it - and don't even get me started on the knee Claudio takes to the stomach. I barfed.).

Even if you're strictly a fan of North American style wrestling, or just WWE, or even just TNA (those people can't exist for real, can they) you should give this match a peek and see what you're missing.

GHC HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

KINGS OF WRESTLING V. YOSHIHIRO TAKAYAMA & TAKUMA SANO

CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI: TAG TEAM WRESTLING CHAMPION OF THE WORLD

In case you didn't know, it's Very European™ to form a team with your buddy and beat the crap out of people for a living.

CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI

TAG TEAM WRESTLING CHAMPION EXTRAORDINAIRE

Photo - Scott Finkelstein's Get Lost Photography

Here's the part you may not know: Claudio is currently holding three separate Tag Team Titles.

ROH World Tag Team Championships (with Chris Hero)

CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas (with Ares)

JCW Tag Team Championships (with Chris Hero)

AND he and Chris Hero are getting a crack at the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano on their current tour of Japan. And he's the PWG World Champion too. Holy FRIG.

Just thought I'd share this with all of you. And all of these stats aren't even taking into account the five other promotions where Claudio's won tag gold. Multiple times.

So here's to Claudio Castagnoli teaming with people and winning titles. You may now return to your day.

BELATED REVIEW: ROH LIVE IN MISSISSAUGA

I had about half of a review typed up the day after the show, but never posted it. For whatever reason, I felt silly about going through each thing and critiquing it, mainly because I had an awesome time and that's what counts, I guess. Most people already know all the details, but I'll quickly hit you up with the results, followed by the highlights of the show. LET'S DO THIS ISH:

ROH IN MISSISSAUGA - 11/13/10

RESULTS + HIGHLIGHTS

Photo - SLAM! Wrestling - click here to view full gallery

QUICK RESULTS

Bobby Dempsey & Grizzly Redwood def. The House of Truth (Michael Elgin & Zach Gowen) with Truth Martini

Mark Briscoe def. Andy "Right Leg" Ridge

Sara Del Rey def. Jamilia Craft

The All Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus) def. Colt Cabana & El Generico to receive a future shot at the World Tag Team Championships

Kyle O'Reilly & Adam Cole def. The Bravado Brothers

Homicide def. Jay Briscoe

The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) def. Kevin Steen & Steve Corino to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships

Roderick Strong def. Christopher Daniels to retain the ROH World Championship

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SHOW

- I got there late and missed the pre-show, but I was there in time to see Eddie Edwards kick off the show with his arm completely bandaged up from the previous night. He smashed his shoulder into obliteratitry in his match with Chris Hero, which he won, and then he still wrestled in the Survival of the Fittest match later in the night, which he also won. He came out in Mississauga to tell us that he wasn't medically cleared to wrestle, because wrestlers don't stop Eddie Edwards, only doctors do. Seriously though, Eddie Edwards' physical being seems to be completely comprised of PURE MAN. And when Eddie was announcing he was not allowed to wrestle, some drunken hipster beside me was yelling out "YOU PUUUSSSSSY!!!" and all I wanted was Eddie to hear him and beat this doucher's teeth inside out with one arm. Anyway, on with the highlights.

- All of the Zach Gowen one-legged jokes floating around in the crowd ("Figure Four!! durr!" which was soon followed by "Figure Two!!" which doesn't make sense, he's only missing one leg ya dope, followed by me wondering out loud if Zach Gowen and Andy "Right Leg" Ridge should form a tag team that would have two good legs (at least I thought that was funny)).

- Michael Elgin going for a samoan drop on the big slab of dude that is Bobby Dempsey... WHILE going for a fallaway slam on Grizzly Redwood! He, uh... just fell down though. But apparently Elgin nailed this same move on the Briscoes the night before, so one outta two ain't bad.

- Andy Ridge's long, deep, cat-like scratches down his back BEFORE his match started. Why, you ask? Because the night before, Homicide back raked him so hard that he FUCKING BLED. Mark Briscoe then balanced it out by drawing blood on the kid's chest from open hand chops on the outside. You could literally feel the thud in YOUR chest from across the room every time.

- The ovation Andy Ridge received for his match with Mark Briscoe. This was the surprise hit of the night, with Ridge doing more than holding his own against the younger Briscoe. I really like the idea of these "trial series" matches. It makes you go "hey let's see how he'll do against a guy he'll probably lose to" instead of looking at the lineup and going "PFF oh well OBVIOUSLY he's gonna lose boring DURR" which I'm sure a lot of people would do, had they not set up this series of matches.

- The Kings of Wrestling bowing to the Queen of Wrestling, Sara Del Rey, on her birthday.

- Jamilia Craft's ring attire, and how she appeared to be dressed in nothing but tassels.

- Colt Cabana snagging my hat (a lumberjack style winter toque) during his entrance.

- El Generico's new all black attire, complete with a new jacket that reminds me of some kind of stoic Japanese cartoon character that should be wielding an enormous sword. Even his mask is all black (maybe it's just an inside out Generico mask, I don't know), but he looks awesome. His demeanour for the whole match is another highlight of mine, denying Colt high fives and looking like he's filled with sorrow on the apron, until he gets tagged in and the ref has to pull him off Kenny King for beating on him so hard.

- The Steen/Generico story that was the focus for the entire night. Generico's dive onto an interfering Kevin Steen (who was being swallowed up by a hoard of local wrestlers trying to contain him) was awesome, as was Cabana's anger towards Generico for constantly losing focus. Later in the night, Generico came storming through the crowd to distract Kevin Steen long enough to allow the Kings of Wrestling to retain their titles. Then, in a moment of complete D'OH by me, I ran to go pee before the main event. Little did I know, Steen and Generico were having a scary brawl all over the place and I missed it ALL. Except for when Generico whiffed past me in a rage while I came out of the bathroom. Damnit.

- Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Cole. I'd never seen these guys live before and they delivered against a crowd that was vehemently against the Bravado Brothers (there's only room for one "B" brothers in ROH, you guys!). They threw suplexes and handed out submission holds like they were that dude on the sidewalk trying to get you to come to his club called "Li3uid" or something (the 3 is a q).

- Homicide's overness. He easily got the biggest pop of the night. And the only sign of the night... if you don't count the three guys in the front row who wore matching "We love Todd Sinclair" shirts.

- The awesome, tooth and nail brawling between Homicide and Briscoe. They can tear it up BIG TIME.

- Homicide's Eddie Guerrero tribute (and, I suppose, simultaneous ODB tribute as he was wearing a Wu-Tang shirt). Homicide hit the Three Amigos and pointing to the sky, did a ton of Eddie shoulder taunts, and even won the match with the old "loosen the boot" trick. Even if that didn't make sense (it was kinda strange... he just started loosening the boot out of nowhere, Jay grabbed it, it came off, and he finished him off), it was still cool to hear a room full of wrestling fans chanting for Eddie.

- Kevin Steen's pre-match promo. He is scary good on the mic. He can elicit boos, laughs and the kinds of "OHHHH's" that you only hear when wrestling fans think you've gone too far. Yeah. Wrestling fans.

- The entire tag title match. My personal favourite of the night. The Kings of Wrestling are just untouchable when it comes to tag team wrestling, and Steen and Corino are such fun heels to boo (Corino stuck his thumb up Hero's ass when he had him in an abdominal stretch... then SMELLED it. HOW CAN YOU NOT BOO THAT?!). Special mention to Claudio's UFO (which got it's own chant!) on Steve Corino, and Corino and Steen using the Sharpshooter/Crossface combo on Hero (drawing big heat from the crowd as they denounced their Canadian hertiage before the match, as Steen declared that him being from Quebec (always gets instant heat in Ontario) made him better than us).

- Roderick Strong slamming Christopher Daniels all over the apron. I'm pretty sure there were at least two apron bumps that made me cringe.

- Strong and Daniels' chemistry in the ring. These guys can really wrestle well together, even if a lot of the crowd didn't get fully invested in this match. I was definitely into it and thought that Daniels could take the belt in a shocker, but he ended up losing.

- Seeing Tatanka, Jimmy Korderas, Arda Ocal of Right After Wrestling all in attendance, and Mark Briscoe in the beer line.

It had been a while since I'd seen ROH live, and while they didn't have a bunch of key guys (Aries, Davey, Omega, Eddie), they still put on a hell of a show. They're back in Toronto on April 30th, which I'm almost positive I'll be in town for, so I'll be there drinking beers and shouting pure hate at Truth Martini's hair.

Also, this review ended up being way more long winded than I'd planned. The more I looked through photos, the more I remembered, and the more I remembered, the more I realized how much fun I had, and the more I realized how much fun I had, the more I wrote about how much fun I had, and the more I wrote about how much fun I had, the more I felt the need to explain why this was so long winded, and here we are.

That's enough.

THE 09/08/10 ROH VIDEOWIRE + GLORY BY HONOR IX MASSIVE PREVIEW

This Saturday in New York the fate of the Ring of Honor World Championship will be decided. And not just what man will wear the belt... but what company we will see that same belt in. Here's all you could possibly want or need to know about Glory By Honor IX (live on iPPV at GoFightLive.TV), starting with the latest ROH VideoWire:

ROH 09/08/10 VIDEOWIRE

LAST WORDS BEFORE GLORY BY HONOR IX

First of all, let me just say that this might have been the strongest VideoWire ROH has ever put together - and a lot of it is not only because of how unbelievably good the promos are, but also how good the build and hype has been for this event. All you need to do is watch this video and you'll find that your hands will act without your knowledge and just order the iPPV for you by clicking this link right here. Awesome, awesome stuff.

IN THIS VIDEO

- Davey Richards teases (er, clearly states, rather) that his retirement is drawing near.

- The All-Night Express make Wu-Tang references in their challenges to the Briscoe Brothers.

- The Briscoe Brothers make no references what so ever, because they are clearly very pissed off and covered in blood.

- The Kings of Wrestling outdo themselves once again, particularly Chris Hero. His promo is incredible, and needs to be seen by anyone who had to endure a Kane soliloquy in the past few months. I don't think anyone can stop him on the mic. He's like a method actor or something, I don't know. And yet, Claudio says two words at the end of Hero's promo that stands up to what Hero just did. Incredible. Kings. Reign. Supreme.

- Erick Stevens dons a disco-looking Ghana football jacket that makes him even more hilarious. No one has improved like Erick Stevens in terms of gimmick and promo skills. He's finding his stride as this douchey bro guy that is really easy to hate. Prince Nana ALSO kills it in this interview - my goodness ROH has some gold on their hands right now.

- Kevin Steen busts out his Roderick Strong impression again and promises to essentially chop Generico's head off and keep it in his living room.

- Speaking of, Generico and Cabana cut yet another fired-up promo (well, Cabana does all the talking) leading into this chain match, which I'm positive will be an absolute bloodbath.

- Roderick Strong says he will save the ROH World Title even though everyone just lies to him.

- Tyler Black does what no one thought he could do, and that's cut a killer fucking promo. On the people that think he can't do it, nonetheless. Excuse me while I get off my fat ass and do something with my life - I'm sorry, Tyler!!

Now if that doesn't wet your wrestling whistle, here's a card preview for Glory By Honor IX, followed by some GBH history:

GLORY BY HONOR IX NO DISQUALIFICATION MAIN EVENT

ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: TYLER BLACK DEFENDS AGAINST RODERICK STRONG

SPECIAL ENFORCER - TERRY FUNK

THE RUNDOWN

Notable Encounters: Time limit draw in Toronto; the Supercard of Honor V three-ref fiasco; a Pick 6 battle in Manassas with Roddy coming out on top.

Height Advantage: Tyler (3 inches)

Weight Advantage: Tyler (10 pounds)

Chop Advantage: Roddy (lots)

Outside Interference Advantage: EVEN - Roderick has Truth Martini at ringside, and he could always enlist the help of his cronies the House of Truth. Tyler, on the other hand, has a wildcard in Kevin Steen who could make his presence known at any moment. In fact, in the last VideoWire Steen went as far as saying he'd do anything to make sure that the Ring of Honor World Title stayed around Tyler's waist. And he's a scary bastard right now - he could easily dispense of Strong, Martini, Raymond, Able AND Funk in a heartbeat.

Other Variables: Tyler Black's pending trip to WWE developmental; Roderick Strong's confidence boosted after the world sees the Tyler Black he always saw; Terry Funk's involvement from ringside and how he could butt heads with Truth Martini; the New York crowd (and any "fat ass" at a computer)'s rich and pure hatred for Tyler Black.

Winner?: Logic points to Roderick Strong - Tyler Black can't take the ROH Title to WWE, can he? Or could something drastic happen and neither man walks out with the belt? Or something EVEN MORE DRASTIC (yeah I went there) and someone ELSE walks out with the belt?! I DON'T KNOW.

DREAM TAG TEAM MATCH

ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE KINGS OF WRESTLING VS. "WRESTLING'S" GREATEST TAG TEAM - CHARLIE HAAS & SHELTON BENJAMIN

THE RUNDOWN

Years Teaming Advantage: WGTT (Debuted 2002, approx. five years of solid teaming together)

Combined Weight Advantage: WGTT (25 lbs)

Combined Height Advantage: I don't think combining height makes sense.

Double Team Advantage: KOW - No one has ever kicked out of the KRS-1.

Who Is The Greatest?: Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas are so great that their tag team name, World's Greatest Tag Team, is trademarked. Meanwhile, the Kings of Wrestling are so great that they have beaten all there is to beat on the independent circuit, even capturing the Juggalo Championship Wrestling tag team titles.

Winners?: Us, because this match will reign supreme.

DOUBLE CHAIN MATCH

KEVIN STEEN & STEVE CORINO VS. COLT CABANA & EL GENERICO

THE RUNDOWN

Combined Weight Advantage: Steen/Corino (69 lbs)

Hardcore Experience Advantage: Steen/Corino. While Colt Cabana has been known to show his mean streak in matches with Homicide and Kevin Steen, I think the edge goes to ECW alum Steve Corino, and the Antichrist of Ring of Honor Kevin Steen. Steen's bouts in Ring of Honor and elsewhere in the indies go to show just how psycho this guy can be.

Chain Experience Advantage: Kevin Steen. He spends a lot of time petting chains backstage. Or maybe Colt Cabana, since he's been in the WWE and has probably seen John Cena's chain up close.

Vengeance to Be Had Advantage: El Generico. It's time for Generico to extract some serious revenge on Steen for the heartbreaking nutshot-chairshot combo he pulled at Final Battle. Steen got the win at DBD8, and now Generico needs to put an end to this 9-month blood feud by chopping Steen's head off, taking a picture and making a t-shirt out of it.

Other Variables: Steve Corino's son Colby. He could show up at any minute you guys!

Winners?: Generico/Cabana. And anyone who has a blood fetish (I hope that's not a real thing because that would be terrifying) because blood is going to be spilled like spaghetti sauce in a Bounty commercial come Glory By Honor IX.

BATTLE OF THE BEST

AUSTIN ARIES VS. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS

Photo - Scott Finkelstein's Get Lost Photography

THE RUNDOWN

Height Advantage: Daniels (3 inches)

Weight Advantage: Daniels (23 lbs)

Age Advantage: "Old Man" Daniels

Old Man Pipe Advantage: Aries

Momentum Advantage: Daniels. Aries has been caught up in becoming the Greatest Man(ager) That Ever Lived and not focusing so much on wrestling. In terms of iPPVs and live events (non televised), Aries hasn't scored a pinfall since March 19th when he pinned Petey Williams in Dearborn. Meanwhile, Christopher Daniels has been on an absolute tear on his mission to become the best in the world. It seems like it's only a matter of time until he finally crosses paths with Davey Richards, and then (if he weren't on his way to the WWE) to ROH Champion Tyler Black. Instead, it works out that Daniels will face Black in Plymouth, one night before GBH. If Daniels can take out Tyler, then what would stop him from taking out Aries?

Bottom Line: ROH World Title reigns - Aries: 2, Daniels: 0

Winner?: Even so, Christopher Daniels and Austin Aries seem to be going in two different directions. Daniels gets my vote.

ROH WORLD TELEVISION TITLE

CHAMPION EDDIE EDWARDS (IF STILL CHAMPION) DEFENDS AGAINST SHAWN DAIVARI

Photo - Scott Finkelstein's Get Lost Photography

THE RUNDOWN

Height Advantage: Eddie (2 inches)

Weight Advantage: Daivari (9 lbs)

Backup Advantage: Daivari. While Edwards has Davey Richards to back him up, Davey's been a bit of a lone wolf lately, focusing on big career decisions. Daivari, on the other hand, has the Embassy in his corner (although that could be up in the air after Eddie defends the TV strap against fellow Embassy member Erick Stevens the night before GBH9).

Conditioning Advantage: Eddie Edwards has been doing a ton of ten-minute hunts lately, but unfortunately they usually don't last long and could hamper his success in a match with a Championship time limit. Meanwhile, I remember reading a story somewhere about Shawn Daivari doing so many squats that he pissed black bile or some crazy shit.

Crazy Bastard Advantage: Eddie Edwards. He broke his elbow in an INSANE Anything Goes match against Kevin Steen, finished the match (don't know how), then wrestled the LADDER WAR THE NEXT NIGHT AND WON (DON'T KNOW HOW NEITHER).

Winner?: Eddie Edwards. He is cementing himself as a legit rising star in ROH today.

A PAIR OF SINGLES CHALLENGE MATCHES

THE ALL-NIGHT EXPRESS VS. THE BRISCOE BROTHERS

Photo - ROHWrestling.com

THE RUNDOWN

Combined Weight Advantage: King/Titus (3 lbs)

Combined Teeth Advantage: King/Titus (full sets)

Theme Music Advantage: Currently - King/Titus, couple years ago - Briscoe Brothers' "Gimme Back My Bullets" trumps just about any other song (save for the Final Countdown).

Tag Team Advantage: Briscoe Brothers. Frequently referred to as the greatest team in ROH history.

Singles Advantage: A much closer call. Both Kenny King and Rhett Titus can hold their own on their own, while the Briscoes tend to stick together.

Winners?: I'll give the upset to King and Titus to win both of their singles' matches.

TAG TEAM GRUDGE MATCH

ERICK STEVENS & THE NECRO BUTCHER VS. GRIZZLY REDWOOD & ???

Photo - Scott Finkelstein's Get Lost Photography

THE RUNDOWN

Squash Advantage: Embassy.

Winners?: Embassy forever.

And finally, a brief look at past Glory By Honor shows:

GLORY BY HONOR HISTORY

PAST MAIN EVENTS

I know this wasn't the main event, but c'mon, look at that beard.

Photo - SLAM! Wrestling

Glory By Honor - Murphy Recreation Center, Philadelphia, PA

October 6th, 2002

MAIN EVENT: Christopher Daniels VS. Doug Williams

Glory By Honor II - Murphy Recreation Center, Philadelphia, PA

September 20th, 2003

MAIN EVENT: ROH Title - Champion Samoa Joe VS. Challenger Christopher Daniels

Glory By Honor III - Rex Plex, Elizabeth, NJ

September 11th, 2004

MAIN EVENT: ROH Tag Team Title (Ultimate Endurance) - Champions The Rottweilers VS. Challengers Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer, The Carnage Crew, and Roderick Strong & Jack Evans

Glory By Honor IV - Lake Grove, NY

September 17th, 2005

MAIN EVENT: Styles Clash VS. Rave Clash Match - AJ Styles VS. Jimmy Rave

Glory By Honor V: Night 1 - A tent, East Windsor, CT

September 15th, 2006

MAIN EVENT: KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji VS. The Briscoe Brothers

Glory By Honor V: Night 2 - Manhattan Center, New York, NY

September 16th, 2006

MAIN EVENT: ROH World Title - Champion Bryan Danielson VS. Challenger KENTA

Glory By Honor VI: Night 1 - Pennsylvania National Guard Armory, Philadelphia, PA

November 2nd, 2007

MAIN EVENT: Mitsuharu Misawa & KENTA VS. Takeshi Morishima & Naomichi Marufuji

Glory By Honor VI: Night 2 - Manhattan Center, New York, NY

November 3rd, 2007

MAIN EVENT: Street Fight - The Briscoes VS. Necro Butcher & Jimmy Jacobs

Glory By Honor VII - New Alhambra Arena, Philadelphia, PA

September 20th, 2008

MAIN EVENT: Steel Cage Warfare - The Briscoes & Austin Aries VS. Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black, Delirious & The Necro Butcher

Glory By Honor VIII: The Final Countdown - Manhattan Center, New York, NY

September 26th, 2009

MAIN EVENT: The Final Countdown - Bryan Danielson VS. Nigel McGuinness

GLORY BY HONOR HISTORY

THE ROH WORLD TITLE - BY THE NUMBERS

Photo - ROHWrestling.com

Total times defended at Glory By Honor: 7

Times retained: 6

Historical percentage of Tyler retaining: 86%

Historical percentage of Roderick winning: 14%

Roddy's Only Hope: Growing a Bryan Danielson-sized beard and Crossface Chickenwinging the shit out of Tyler Black, and promise to never sign with the WWE as long as he was champion.

ROH Glory By Honor IX is this Saturday, September 11th in New York City, LIVE on iPPV via GoFightLive.TV and you can order it right here, right now, what the hell is stopping you.

SO LONG, SUMMER: THE TOP TEN WRESTLING MOMENTS FROM JUNE TO AUGUST

Welp, September 1st is here and Summer has come and gone like faster than Eric Escobar. But hey, there was some great stuff from this Summer (unlike Eric Escobar). While I know I probably missed some smaller things/things I haven't seen yet (PWG: Seven, for example), here are my top ten favourite moments from the past three months:

NUMBER TEN

CODY RHODES BECOMES DASHING

Photo - WWE.com

You too can be... Dashing

Incredible what one little word can do for a guy. Well, one word, a digital mirror, a mirrored jacket, a handful of hilarious vignettes, the world's catchiest Eddie Money/Def Leppard/any other 80's rock ripoff theme, and the ability to cut an amazing promo helps too. This is my favourite WWE gimmick shake-up in a long time. Cody Rhodes kills it in every aspect and he should be on the fast track to the Intercontinental Title, and not being dragged down by Drew McIntyre's stupid boring self.

NUMBER NINE

KINGS OF WRESTLING VS. WORLD'S GREATEST TAG TEAM ANNOUNCED

Order Glory By Honor IX

ROH Glory By Honor IX: Sept. 11th, 2010 - New York, NY

Just the sheer announcement of this match has perked up the ears of those who haven't been following ROH since the glory days of 05/06. How awesome is that? I've been hoping for Team Angle in ROH since Charlie Haas planted that seed in my brain, and now it's a reality. With the Kings of Wrestling continuously claiming to be wrestling's greatest tag team, and Haas and Benjamin going by that very moniker, there is a TON of hype around this match that writes itself. And I believe it will deliver (shocking!).

NUMBER EIGHT

MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS VS. BEER MONEY

Photo - TNAWrestling.com

The Whole F'n Show: Match 5 of the Best of 5 TNA World Tag Team Championship Series - Orlando, FL

I don't mention TNA very often on here. Because I value my mental health and don't watch TNA. But, I was intrigued by the Whole F'n Show concept, considering that the ads for the show said everything they could say without outright saying "no Orlando Jordan cumshots this time! we promise! plz watch." This match seemed to only have one gear, and that gear is called "the running as fast as you can hitting insane double team moves without fucking up gear." Fantastic match. I can only hope TNA continues to showcase they're "homegrown" stars like these two teams in order to present a true alternative to WWE on cable TV.

NUMBER SEVEN

THE RISE OF THE MIZ

Photo - F Yeah The Miz Tumblr Feed

... has been AWESOME!

And you know it, and everybody KNOWS IT (sorry I just love that clip). US Title. Money In The Bank. He is NOT the Jannetty. The Miz can't be stopped on the mic. Nobody can touch him. Maybe CM Punk can, but he's been proving that for yeeeeaaars. It's been a thing of beauty to see the Miz prove he can ride without the training wheels of a tag team partner. He is doing nothing but improving with every single match, promo, appearance, whatever. And I want to throw this out there - a lot of people are expecting him to a) cash-in and fail or b) cash-in and win as a heel. Do you think it's possible that the Miz holds onto this briefcase until next summer when he's full-blown face... and then cashes in? He's getting some hot reactions and people are starting to realize his potential. It can't be long until we see the Miz in a Chris Jericho make-fun-of-the-heels babyface role.

NUMBER SIX

THE INDIES INVADE THE WWE

Photo - WWE.com

Vanilla midgets are everywhere, you guys!

Low Ki wins NXT. Bryan Danielson main events SummerSlam. Matt Sydal teams with John Cena. ROH World Champion Tyler Black signed to a contract. CM Punk is a three time WWE World Champion. And now Alex Koslov has been signed, BxB Hulk, CIMA and Naruki Doi have been given tryouts, and William Regal is praising Chris Hero and the Kings of Wrestling on Twitter. Never before have the Indies had such high profile attention - especially when you consider all of the Indy dates Danielson did in the period of his firing from the WWE. Would anyone have thought all of this would happen so quickly just a few short years ago? We are entering the era of the vanilla midget, and I use that term with the fondest of affection. Let the days of the smaller wrestler BEGIN!

NUMBER FIVE

CHRIS JERICHO VS. EVAN BOURNE

WWE Fatal 4-Way - Uniondale, NY

I don't know if it was because this match was not advertised or what, but I popped HUGE for this entire thing. This match stole the entire PPV and sold it on the streets. Nearly fifteen minutes of fantastic professional wrestling (and maybe the first bridging German suplex since WWE went PG) with Bourne going over Jericho clean? Yes please! The only thing holding this match back was the WWE smarks (there is such a thing - I will address this in my future Mark-Scale post, potentially based on the Kinsey Scale) were so behind Jericho that it made Bourne's win a little less awesome.

NUMBER FOUR

SSPRKO

Randy Orton & Evan Bourne on RAW

It doesn't take a write-up from me to tell you how awesome this was. Just watch the crowd react like a bench of NBA players when Shannon Brown blocks the shit out of someone.

NUMBER THREE

NXT INVADES THE WWE

Photo - WWE.com

And begins the feud of the Summer...

This angle was accidentally spoiled for me by my girlfriend, although it's not her fault - the angle was just that damn good. I was away, and had to watch the show downloaded the next day. The day after RAW, before I watched the show, my girlfriend texted me asking if John Cena getting stretched out was real or fake. I was of course like "WTF SPOILERS SHIT GODDAMNIT" and she then just explained what happened because of her real concern. I was still taken back when I watched the angle unfold, even though I knew what was going to happen, because it was one of the best executed things the WWE have pulled off in YEARS. It was so good that they fired Bryan Danielson for it in the heat of the moment (I fully believe that when the guys got to the back, Vince McMahon was so fired up that he was just like "OH HELL YEAH THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN BOUT YOU'RE FIRRRRRED WHOOO!!" because it's his catchphrase and everyone just believed him).

NUMBER TWO

TYLER BLACK VS. DAVEY RICHARDS

Photo - SLAM! Wrestling

ROH World Championship - Death Before Dishonor VIII, Toronto, ON

No other one-on-one match this Summer has had this kind of heat behind it. The Toronto crowd were 99.9% behind Davey and violently against Tyler. Not only that, but the match itself was simply brilliant. I had no idea who was going to win this match, and after it was done, it really didn't matter. Two of wrestling's best athletes, best performers and best wrestlers put it all out there in front of a roaring hot crowd and tore the house down (this is starting to sound like a Tyler Black promo). It was my favourite match of the Summer, and maybe even the year. But why doesn't it get number one?

NUMBER ONE

DANIEL BRYAN RETURNS

And completes the greatest story of the Summer...

When Danielson was fired, I, like every other ROH fanboy/IWC smark, was more livid than 100 Triple H's morphed together, to form about three hundred H's, I s'pose. I thought that maybe one day he'd be back, but I wasn't even sure I wanted him to come back, considering the way he'd gone. Steve damn near boycotted the WWE for three months. It was devastating. It put the sourest of sour tastes in your mouth. I didn't want to believe it. And then, come the main event of SummerSlam, they turned it all around. Everyone was expecting Triple H. Some thought maybe it'd just be the Miz. But no. The "American Dragon" was the seventh and final member to Team WWE, and it all made sense. Sure, it wasn't a work from the beginning, but that isn't the point. The point is they gave Bryan Danielson the shot he deserved after being thrown out as a scapegoat on a flimsy-ass bullshit policy. And they kept it all a secret at the same time too.

So that was pro-wrestling for me, this past Summer. What did I miss? Anyone agree/disagree? Let your voice be heard. But last, and certainly not least - my honourable mention:

HONOURABLE MENTION

MICHAEL COLE PICTURED OUTDOORS