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So long, 2009.
Showing posts with label live 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label live 2009. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
2009 IN REVIEW: HOME STRETCH
As I mentioned in my last post, it's taking a coon's age (a COON'S!) to finish this 2009 review. I didn't have too much left to cover, but I didn't want to just leave these things behind.
So here is what remains of my 2009 review:
MOMENTS
2009
CM PUNK CASHES IN - AGAIN
I got nervous nerd sweats when Punk came out and cashed in his MITB contract on Jeff Hardy, in fear of him being the first guy to fail. But he didn't. And I nerd-rejoiced. Unlike this guy. Holy fuck is that hilarious to listen to.
SEEING KENTA AND NAKAJIMA LIVE IN THE SAME YEAR
I was super lucky this past year as I got to see both KENTA and Katsuhiko Nakajima wrestle live in front of my face, both for ROH events. The atmosphere was incredible for both of them.
ROH WORLD TITLE CHANGES
After 545 days of Nigel McGuinness holding the ROH World Title, two title changes in the same year was massive. The crowd reactions are always goose-pimply to watch.
SANTINO MARELLA
Santino is, full-stop, the funniest man to come through the WWE since Chris Jericho. No matter how bad RAW would get, if Santino showed up, I could laugh through the tears.
STARS
2009
Photo courtesy of Scott Finkelstein's Get Lost Photography
NIGEL MCGUINNESS
Even with the two title changes this year, some people forget that Nigel still held the ROH belt for the first four months of this year, and knocked out some great matches before becoming Desmond Wolfe - where he was elevated to the main event (for a sec) with matches against Kurt Angle.
HONOURABLE MENTION: MIZ AND MORRISON
Both of these guys managed to succeed without their bro by winning the US and Intercontinental titles, respectively. Once it's time for them to step up to the main event, it'll feel special, as they've been making that climb nice and slow.
HONOURABLE MENTION: KOFI KINGSTON
Hey, apparently Kofi has charisma! All it took was for him to speak like he normally does, instead of with an accent they made him speak with! It's GENIUS! His feud with Randy Orton had it's ups and downs, and we'll have to wait for 2010 to see where it took him for keeps.
FEUDS
2009
Photo courtesy of Scott Finkelstein's Get Lost Photography
AMERICAN WOLVES VS. KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO
The blood feud of the year managed to spark what should be the blood feud of this year. With Steen and Generico losing to the Wolves, then ultimately, the Bucks at Final Battle, Kevin Steen turned on his best bud in a brutal way. But before that, Steenerico fought tooth and nail with the Wolves throughout 2009 and put forward some incredible matches.
HONOURABLE MENTION: CHRISTIAN VS. JACK SWAGGER
Remember when ECW was great? Well, I actually don't know how it is now, since it's been AWOL in Canada, but there was a time at the start of this year when ECW was awesome. Christian and Jack Swagger put on some fantastic TV matches the built to PPV matches, and had a great feud that pitted Christian, a super believable babyface that's easy to get behind, against Jack Swagger, the easier to hate, lisp carrying heel.
FML
2009
GUEST HOST CIRCUS
Kofi Johnson. Evan Braun. SummerFest. "The Show" Triple H. "The Man" Mark Henry. There's gotta be more. Bottom line: RAW was a dice roll every week since Donald Trump came round. Sometimes you rolled a 6 and scored Bob Barker. Other (most) times you rolled a 1 and got Joey Kyle and Jeff Joey or whoever the fuck those Nascar dorks were. Sometimes the show was a trainwreck. Other times it was a hit because of how much of a hilarious trainwreck it was. The worst part is that RAW is being sold to us as a show that asks you to tune in for, not wrestling (sometimes not even storylines!), but to buy whatever some Z-list celebrity is selling.
I can't wait to look back on this in a couple years and be reminded of how this gimmick cheapened any potentially good storyline (ex: Hey, remember that sweet feud DX had? It all started when Verne Troyer got mad because last week Cedric the Entertainer made a match that... ah gad).
HORNSWOGGLE/DXCAPADES
I don't understand the kind of person that is old enough to remember DX but laughs at Hornswoggle. Makes me want to barf.
KID ROCK'S WRESTLEMANIA AIRTIME
Dude spent like twenty minutes rocking out, and got more airtime than JBL/Mysterio from this year (probably countless other guys from other years - like Lance Storm who's got a grand total of 0 WM minutes!). And using his performance to introduce the divas for the battle royale was completely retarded, considering that no one even knew the ones that were returning. God DAMN.
LETDOWNS
2009
JACK SWAGGER MOVED TO RAW
Seriously. Swagger was getting deadly heat on ECW as the top heel. His move to RAW seemed like it was going to be a big deal. It wasn't. He's getting played like the "goofy" heel who loses every week. I fear for his career sometimes. Godspeed, Jack Swagger.
MATT HARDY
Another ECW-to-main-roster letdown. Matt Hardy still gets a pretty big pop for a guy that's done nothing for the past who knows how long. Teaming with The Great Khali has to be a bummer.
TRANSFORMED
2009
Photo courtesy of Scott Finkelstein's Get Lost Photography
CHRIS HERO - TO - THAT YOUNG KNOCKOUT KID
Hero went from being a guy that wasn't featured on every ROH event, to a guy who his at the top of the main event scene. From Sweet 'N' Sour to concussing with his kicks and givin' KO's with his elbows. Hero is the real deal.
BIG SHOW - TO - ENTERTAINING?
Big Show started 2009 as a love interest for Vickie Guerrero. He then actually became entertaining when he found himself paired with Chris Jericho (can that man do ANY wrong?!), spending four months as an integral part of both RAW and Smackdown! But now he's back to being just same old angry Big Show. Eh.
"HEH HEH" BATISTA - TO - "UR SPOSEDA BE MY FRENNNN!!!" BATISTA
I, as much as anybody, was totally sick of that "I shrug off anything because wrestling is fake" Batista. Batista makes so much more sense as a heel to me. And he's killing it on Smackdown! right now.
LIVE
2009
ROH IN NOVI - "ARIES VS. RICHARDS"
Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards was the best match I've ever seen live. The rest of the show, wasn't as great, because that would be impossible, but it was still totally awesome. Steenerico vs. The Young Bucks ruled, as did Hero/Strong. The other highlight would have to be Omega facing Nakajima, which, if I remember correctly, had kind of a fucked up finish, but only because Omega was dropped on his head earlier in the match with a super high angle German Suplex.
ROH IN MISSISSAUGA - "THE OMEGA EFFECT"
Omega vs. Aries was a fantastic match, but maybe not quite as good as Aries' match the night before with Davey. The show was, again, awesome, with Generico/Nakajima maybe topping Omega/Nakajima. I got to see some sweet live wrestling this year.
And that's all. Stay tuned for my final wrap-up that will separate all categories for easy navigation. NEAT!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
LIVE 2009: SMACKDOWN! IN HAMILTON - 09/15/09
The third show I went to this past year was my first WWE one since the year before (which was my first one since 1997 (the best of the three (maybe I should review it as a growned up))).
When we got our tickets to the show, we were, for lack of a better phrase, giddy as pigs in poo. Smackdown! had been on a tear of brilliance for a little while when we picked up the tickets in June with Punk, Edge and Jeff Hardy owning in the main event, and Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger and Christian killing it on ECW, which also would be taped that night.
We were so PSYCHED, and I don't say psyched because that's lame. BUT WE WERE PSYCHED.
Then shit started to go down.
Edge went out with an injury.
Hardy took a break from wrestling to make up lost time with his drugs.
Bourne, Swagger and Mark Henry were moved to RAW to capitalize on their incredible success on ECW (a.k.a. job to Sheamus and Santino).
Kane and Khali began feuding.
Rey Mysterio got suspended for druggin'.
But these are all not the worst of it.
Oh no.
Because a few weeks or so before our taping, it was announced that Batista would be making a career-changing statement on RAW - the day before our taping.
We thought two things:
1) Batista was hanging up his boots after too many torn-steroids. I mean steroids. I mean after doing too many steroids. I MEAN GETTING INJURED TOO MUCH.
Or.
2) He was going to Smackdown.
And by god, what had to happen? What had to happen on the day we were going to see Smackdown? What had to happen that was the final nail in the coffin of what was once a red hot wrestling show?
I think you know where I'm going with this.
BATISTA
RETURNS TO SMACKDOWN!
Right back atcha, Dave!
We weren't pleased. Neither was the guy in the front row giving Big Dave the bird the whole night (Batista's response can be seen above).
The show itself wasn't very good. The saving grace was we got to see a promo by World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk, as well as a dark match between him and Undertaker.
Other than that, pretty average. And we were second row. :(
HIGHLIGHTS
- The kid next to us had this sign:
- Hart Dynasty are great to see live, even if it's against Cryme Tyme.
- Chris Jericho is a god or deity of some kind.
- The fireworks blowing your asshole out when you're on the floor like twenty feet away from them. Jesus. It made me cheer Batista I was so excited.
- ECW Battle Royal was fun.
- Seeing Christian live was really cool. He's always been one of my favourites and he got a really good reaction, being from Orangeville and all. I literally forget who he wrestled though.
- John Morrison doing a bonkers crazy dive onto Mike Knox.
LOWLIGHTS
- EVERYTHING ELSE
- Kane/Khali segment!
- Khali ushered out on a stretcher gets a Khali chant.
- Dolph vs. Finlay getting "boring" chants, despite putting on the best mat wrestling all night.
- This:
- The whole screwjob angle between Taker and Punk had just happened, so that took up some time. And was stupid. Just. Stupid.
- I could go on for a while.
So here's some photos!
And the matches:
SMACKDOWN!
MAIN EVENT
Batista vs. Chris Jericho
NON-TITLE MATCH
John Morrison vs. Mike Knox
NON-TITLE MATCH
Melina vs. Michelle McCool
SINGLES MATCH
The Great Khali vs. Kane
TAG TEAM MATCH
The Hart Dynasty vs. Cryme Tyme
ECW
TEN MAN BATTLE ROYAL
Zack Ryder becomes #1 Contender
SINGLES MATCH
William Regal vs. The Hurricane
SINGLES MATCH
Yoshi Tatsu vs. Zack Ryder
SUPERSTARS
SINGLES MATCH
Christian vs. Paul Burchill
SINGLES MATCH
Dolph Ziggler vs. Finlay
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
LIVE 2009: ROH: DBDH VII - 07/24/09, 07/25/09
After seeing Violent Tendencies in Detroit, one month later I had tickets to both nights of the Death Before Dishonor VII Weekend in Toronto. And holy nuts was I excited.
Then a problem struck.
Toronto had been going through a near six-week garbage strike that was stanking up the streets in the middle of a nasty summer. And what was worse? Ted Reeve Arena, home of DBDH VII, was a collection site.
Leading up to the show, we were all just praying that the strike would end, and we wouldn't have to sit and watch a night of wrestling with gas masks strapped to our faces.
Welp, the strike wasn't resolved... but somehow, someway... there was no smell. And I mean no smell. It's as if everybody had been throwing out unused paper towels or something, because it didn't even stink a little (er... in comparison to a normal wrestling show).
Lucky us! Not only that, but I got my belt signed by Bret Hart and Ric Flair. It was an awesome weekend, to say the least.
MATCH OF THE WEEKEND
CHRIS HERO VS. LANCE STORM
There was some amazing wrestling over those two days, but this one without a doubt had the most emotion. Hero going over clean with a devastating elbow was perfect, and everyone was so pissed that they started throwing garbage in the ring. (er, like beer cups, not garbage strike garbage (although that garbage did get involved in the Cabana/Ryan match)). That kind of heat is rare these days, especially for a guy like Hero who is pretty over with the ROH fans. This is also a testament to how popular Lance Storm is with the Canadian fans, and how well he performed.
A fantastic ending to an exhaustingly exciting weekend of shows.
HIGHLIGHTS
NIGHT ONE
- The dueling "OLE!" and "SONJAY!" chants for Generico/Dutt, which went to a crisp, very exciting 15-minute draw.
- How surprisingly over D-Lo was, and how absolutely hated Frankie the Mobster was.
- Grizzly Redwood getting beat to all hell and bloodied by Bison Smith (not to mention the rest of a sprawling 8-Man Eliminaton Brawl).
- Nigel is knocked silly with a Cradle Piledriver, and then Aries slips on the turnbuckle and turns his 450 into about a 370 or so (my math ain't so good, h'yuk)
NIGHT TWO
- Smash Bros going over Steenerico in a fun upset.
- Bison Smith doing his superman-crowd-barrier dive, crushing Frankie the Mobster.
- Toronto Gauntlet was really well done, thought the booking was perfect (such a dink thing to say, but it was really great).
- Necro Butcher absolutely CLOBBERING time keeper Giuseppe di Lorento with a sick chairshot, bending it over his effing head.
- People hating the fuck out of the European Rules match (felt bad for those guys, but... the match was silly).
- Bobby Cruise making fun of these guys.
- Joey Ryan vs. Colt Cabana in the best comedy match I've seen live, which included the first-ever Todd Sinclair chant, as far as I can remember.
- Omega pinning Aries in a great six man.
- Storm/Hero closing the weekend right.
And lastly, the full card:
NIGHT ONE
OPENING MATCH
El Generico vs. Sonjay Dutt
TAG TEAM MATCH
The Briscoes vs. The Super Smash Brothers
SINGLES MATCH
D-Lo Brown vs. Frankie The Mobster
8-MAN ELIMINATION MATCH
Necro Butcher, Brent Albright, Colt Cabana & Grizzly Redwoow vs. Jimmy Rave, Joey Ryan, Claudio Castagnoli & Bison Smith
GRUDGE MATCH
Kenny King vs. Kenny Omega
TAG TEAM MATCH
Lance Storm & Kevin Steen vs. Chris Hero & Davey Richards
MAIN EVENT ROH TITLE FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL
Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Nigel McGuinness
NIGHT TWO
OPENING MATCH
Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The Super Smash Brothers
SINGLES MATCH
Bison Smith vs. Frankie The Mobster
TORONTO GAUNTLET
D-Lo Brown vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Necro Butcher vs. Davey Richards
EUROPEAN RULES MATCH
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright
SINGLES MATCH
Tyler Black vs. Tyson Dux (Replacing the injured Nigel McGuinness)
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH
Joey Ryan vs. Colt Cabana
SIX MAN TAG TEAM MATCH
Kenny Omega & The Briscoes vs. Austin Aries, Rhett Titus & Kenny King
MAIN EVENT
Chris Hero vs. Lance Storm
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
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
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