ROH FINAL BATTLE 2010 SUMMED UP IN ONE PICTURE

Photo - ROH's Official Facebook Page

I love the guy holding his buddy's arm.

There's still a chance that I'll do a full-on Final Battle review, but I might want to watch the show a second time since I was too busy falling off the couch and to my knees during the main event to really pay attention to details.

And y'know, maybe that's the best way to review it. Not go through and pick through every little thing, but just count how many times I involuntarily screamed or fell down during the show. Hmm.

Either way the verdict is the same - show of the year.

ROH GLORY BY HONOR IX REVIEW: ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE

Before I kick off this review and spoil everything that happened, I should mention that you can still catch the replay by ordering the event from GoFightLive.TV right here. And you should most definitely do that. I don't really need to do a review, I guess, if the point of the review is to make you, the reader, decide if you should order the show. But I'm still going to do one to try and get my blog over like the nerd I am!

ROH GLORY BY HONOR IX

RESULTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, HIGHLIGHTS

Photo - SLAM! Wrestling

Full gallery here

First, the quick results. Then, the announcements made at the show. Then, the highlights of the show. Then, that's it actually.

QUICK RESULTS

1. Kenny King def. Jay Briscoe with the Royal Flush

2. Mark Briscoe def. Rhett Titus with the Cut Throat Driver

3. Erick Stevens & The Necro Butcher (representing the Embassy) def. Grizzly Redwood & Ballz Mahoney (representing the carnival) when Stevens pinned Ballz

4. El Generico & Colt Cabana def. Kevin Steen & Steve Corino in a Double Chain Match when Corino submitted to Cabana's Billy Goat's Curse

-INTERMISSION-

5. Eddie Edwards def. Shawn Daivari (representing the Embassy) to retain his ROH World Television Title when Daivari submitted to the Achilles Lock

6. Christopher Daniels def. Austin Aries with a SUPER Angel's Wings

7. ROH World Tag Team Champions "The Kings of Wrestling" Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli def. "Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team" Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas via a "loaded" elbow pad shot

8. Roderick Strong def. Tyler Black to win the ROH World Championship after a Sick Kick.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

- Final Battle 2010 will be on December 18th and will be live on iPPV once again via GoFightLive.

- Davey Richards has resigned with ROH and will face the Ring of Honor World Champion at Final Battle 2010.

- Homicide has returned to Ring of Honor.

HIGHLIGHTS

- The ROARING HOT New York crowd to kick off the show. No one can bring the heat like NYC. Unfortunately, by the same token, no one can bring the "twinkies" chant and weird, douchey hecklers (TNA! TNA! and UFC! UFC! were particularly annoying) like NYC.

- Kenny King and Jay Briscoe almost ACCIDENTALLY redoing the Benoit/Sabu spot from ECW when Sabu broke his neck. Looked fatal. As I wondered if King was okay, he landed on his feet out of a monkey flip as if he was inside my head. Thanks Kenny!

- Mark Briscoe's corkscrew senton to the outside hitting 5% Rhett Titus and 95% tailbone-on-ringside-floor. Me may develop arse-ritis.

- Mark Briscoe delivering a top rope - literally both men on the top rope, sounds easy, looks super insane - Ace Cutter to Rhett Titus.

- Titus taking the Cut Throat Driver entirely on his head.

- Erick Stevens gorilla-pressing Grizzly Redwood to the outside for Necro Butcher to catch him. No wait, he didn't catch him, he PUNCHED HIM IN THE FACE and let him fall to the floor! My. God.

- Ballz Mahoney bashing people with countless seven dollar beers.

- Eddie Edwards' overness. And badass suicide dive onto Daivari.

- The bloodbath that was the Double Chain Match. Holy hell yes. From the awesome brawling to Generico's top rope somersault plancha to the outside on Steen (that extra step he did scared the living shit out of me), to Steen pulling Generico off the top through a table, to everything else, this was a goddamned war just as promised.

- Austin Aries' tweenin' promo on Christopher Daniels, revealing that Daniels was the one to dub him "A Double." So Aries, in fine A Double form, says that Daniels should be dubbed "CD" because much like the CD, Daniels is obsolete.

- Aries falling victim to Boy Who Cried Wolf syndrome, because throughout the whole match I thought he was working his back injury... but... he just was injured. Or was selling in the most believable way of all time. Wait, maybe I fell victim to the Boy Who Cried Wolf syndrome...

- Daniels' absolutely devastating-looking top rope Angel's Wings to Aries. If Aries was indeed hurt throughout this match, this only compounded what appeared to be some serious discomfort. Or I am just a big dumb mark (likely the case!).

- Just everything about the Dream Tag Match between the Kings of Wrestling and WGTT. The crowd was truly electric, creating an atmosphere that elevated this match to a whole new territory. From the chain wrestling to the crazy double team sequences to the long build to hot tags that got the ROH faithful, a fan base that is usually numb to the hot tag spot, out of their seats. The finish was perfect - the match was promoted as a dream match, one that would be one of the Kings' toughest challenges, but the champs went over and there's room for a rematch. The belts were put over for how competitive the match was. The champs were put over because they won and outsmarted the team that hadn't teamed in years (and the start of the match told this story with Hero and Claudio getting the best of WGTT through double-teaming and heel tag tactics like pulling the rope down and cutting off the ring). Fantastic match.

- I literally can't even list all of my favourite parts of the tag match.

- Charlie Haas' elbow drop to Shane Hagadorn's taint (this was after the match).

- Jim Cornette on commentary for the main event just amped things up even more. He can hype me up for anything. I need a Jim Cornette alarm or something for the morning.

- Tyler Black's constant middle fingers to the New York crowd. This must've been the most cathartic experience in this history of independent wrestling.

- YOU CAN'T SEE ME from Tyler Black, right into an STF, drawing some very real boos. And eventually there was a "LET'S GO TYLER! - TYLER SUCKS!" duelling chant that I can't tell if it was a Cena reference or not, because I don't think I've ever heard anyone else's name used in that chant.

- Tyler hitting the Superplex and going for the Superplex-roll-into-God's-Last-Gift-combo-of-glory when Roddy counters with a fighting spirit brainbuster. Just. Madness.

- Todd Sinclair getting kicked off the fucking planet! He flew through the air and apparently obliterated his shoulder. Get well soon, feller.

- People complaining about Funk's count speed. What the fuck else did you expect from someone nearly crippled (and middle aged and crazy) from 800 years of wrestling? In fact, I honestly thought it made it more suspenseful.

- Roderick Strong finally doing what no one thought he would do, after fifteen (I believe) attempts, capturing the Ring of Honor World Championship.

- Tyler Black's final swan song - DOUBLE MIDDLE FINGERS TO THE WORLD.

- HOMICIDE.

An awesome, awesome show. It definitely made watching RAW tonight a little difficult (even though it had some really fun stuff). It's a shame there were issues again with the feed (and the replay), but GoFightLive has owned up to it, so no real blame can be placed with ROH.

Final Battle should be yet another great show from ROH, especially if we get Davey/Roddy, a WGTT/KOW rematch for the belts and Homicide's return to NYC. We should get the ever impending Davey/Daniels match that's been teased since the Big Bang somewhere down the road too.

Final thought: watch this show.

ROH ON HDNET 07/19/10: STEEN/CORINO V. CABANA/ GENERICO - NO RULES

This match, as you would know if you saw it last Monday, had everything a brawl could ever ask for. Fighting in the crowd, chairs, tables, Kevin Steen licking stuff, guardrails used as makeshift tables, chairs used as makeshift tables, tables used as makeshift top turnbuckles, a red-hot crowd, and one of the most precarious top-rope table spots I've ever seen to end a match - did I mention Kevin Steen licking stuff?

If you missed it, check it out right here:

ROH ON HDNET: 07/19/10

KEVIN STEEN & STEVE CORINO V. EL GENERICO & COLT CABANA (NO RULES)

I'm also super excited for two more ROH related things - one being Christopher Daniels vs. Roderick Strong, which aired last night and should be up this Thursday on ROHBrazil's YouTube Channel. The other is an apparent "major announcement" regarding Glory By Honor IX (as mentioned in the latest Newswire). I have no idea what it will be. I can't decide whether they would announce Bryan Danielson as appearing (if they're able to get him to) beforehand, or want to keep it as a surprise for that MASSIVE pop.

With Terry Funk already appearing, rumours of Bryan Danielson returning, and a looming Daniels/Davey or Daniels/Tyler match, GBH9 from New York has the makings of a very special show.

Pre-order Glory By Honor IX from GoFightLive.TV

A BELATED REVIEW: ROH'S THE BIG BANG ON iPPV

It took me four days, but I finally sat down and watched the Big Bang. I feel like I can breathe again and go to ROH's website and other wrestling sites freely without fear of spoilers... and boy am I glad I managed to avoid any spoilers.

But right now I'm debating whether this is even worth writing about. What could I even say that could do even the slightest justice to how good these matches were? I could probably write until the internet ran out of space, but you have to actually see Tyler Black superplex Austin Aries and hit God's Last Gift all in one fluid combo to understand it (and involuntarily exclaim out loud while you're by yourself watching it on your computer).

So, instead of a lengthy match-by-match write-up, here are my favourite moments from The Big Bang:

RING OF HONOR: THE BIG BANG - MOMENTS

- Kevin Kelly and Dave Prazak on commentary. It felt like all of the rough patches from Final Battle 2009 on iPPV were smoothed out and they did a great job calling the matches, making it feel like the big event it truly was.

- The Charlotte fans. They were on their feet and white hot from start to finish, even giving it up for the local boys in Phil Shatter and Jack Salvation. They were obviously just exhausted by the end of the night, but who could blame them? I needed an inhaler halfway through and I was watching from my COUCH.

- Kenny King looking like a legitimate star standing toe-to-toe with Davey Richards. A fantastic match.

- FALLEN ANGEL.

- I LOVED the brawl between Stevens and Necro. It stood out on the card as being just completely chaotic, while the rest of the night was about athleticism. Necro blasting Ernie Osiris with the Section B sign was deadly.

- Cassandro El Exotico was not only hilarious, but also a goddamn WARRIOR. How can a guy who feels his opponent up for laughs (and boy was I laughing) also BREAK HIS LEG on a dive and not only CONTINUE the match - BUT WIN. Incredible.

- Rhettski's apron headscissors is also worth mentioning.

- El Generico finally fighting back against Kevin Steen - AND EVERYONE ELSE. His Brainbuster rampage was awesome, not to mention his crazy over-the-corner dive to Steen and Corino. I can't wait to see the big Chicago Street Fight.

- Colt Cabana's out-of-nowhere dive to the outside, splitting Corino and Steen like a couple of bowling pins.

- Grizzly Redwood being Generico's example for Kevin Steen and getting BRIANBUSTAHH'D, potentially squishing his head into his body and making him somehow even shorter.

- Hearing from Cornette, Bobby Eaton and Tommy Young during the intermission was especially cool considering I just picked up Cornette's Midnight Express Scrapbook, which is incredibly addicting.

- Highlight of the entire night may have been the new Chris Is Awesome/1812 Overture MASH-UP THEME MUSIC.

- I could name a ton of spots from the World Tag Title match, but Hero's running, leaping-onto-the-apron elbow with Claudio holding whichever Briscoe it was, made me leap off the couch.

- Jay Briscoe barfing all over the place after being concussed by Hero's "loaded" (loaded with TALENT if you ask me) elbow pad.

- I was 100% swerved by the Kings of Wrestling winning the tag belts. Just an awesome match. KINGS REIGN SUPREME.

- There are too many exchanges in the ROH World Title Three-Way Dance to name. It was a stellar match, much like the Tag Title bout. Roddy was the star of the first half, beating the ever-loving shit out of everyone.

- Austin Aries's heat-seeking missile to no one but the BARRICADE. How his chest cavity didn't cave in on itself is beyond me.

- Tyler Black handing out superkicks like Johnny Cage.

- As mentioned before, Tyler Black's superplex-to-God's Last Gift combo.

I could get real specific and name every awesome spot in that match or any other match on the card, but I would be overstaying my welcome.

Bottom line: This iPPV would've been even more fun had I been able to watch it live (I blame Jesus being resurrected and my family loving me - stupid family!), but it was still entirely worth the four day non-spoiler wait.

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!

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.

Then, after the match, Storm made us all cry with a farewell speech.

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).

- Storm/Steen vs. Hero/Davey had us in the palm of their hands at times.

- Nigel with a Tower of London to Jerry Lynn, to the outside, through a table.

- Tyler has us all believing he's closing in on the title, with moments like this.

- 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

ROH FINAL BATTLE 2009 iPPV REVIEW

I'll let the hoards of whiners whine about the production/booking/whatever else they can whine about (they are whiners), and I'll just list my favourite moments from what was a crazy entertaining show that I ended up paying only five bucks for, since I split it with two pals (pals > whiners).

FINAL BATTLE 2009 MOMENTS!

- Hearing Dave Prazak accidentally spoil Sweeney's return when the GFL stream went up early - I marked the fuck out then, AND when he came out.

- The spots in the opening fourway (Omega's Kota Ibushi-style moonsault to the floor, Claudio's UFO on Titus, and the match-ending gravity-defying deadlift German Suplex)

- Bison Smith hurling a returning Pelle Primeau to the outside, chest-first

- ALL of Hero/Kingston, including the sickest looking head-first bump (through a goddamned crowd barrier) I've ever seen.

- ALL of the Bucks/Steenerico match, including the Godfather (movie, not wrestler)-like Superkicks of death to Kevin Steen

- Kevin Steen making me cry

- I should clarify that. His retirement speech had me nearly in tears (I can admit it I am A MAN) and then I'm pretty sure I screamed bloody murder when he nutted Generico. More importantly, their hug was the realest thing I ever did see, and this heel turn (FULL BLOWN, he went crazy and gay and evil all at the SAME TIME. Almost positive he licked fans who gave him the finger, on their fingers), -- was the best heel turn I've ever seen.

- Roddy essentially throwing Kenny King up in the air and having him land on himself, squishing his head. Yikes.

- AAA match was fun, really too bad the tag match couldn't happen, woulda torn the roof off the place.

- Surprise Teddy Hart/Jack Evans spotfest, which is what they would've done in a match anyway, so it works even better having them just put on a show - some mind blowing shit here.

- Briscoes winning the Tag Titles - did not expect this, but it was a great match - and the Kings of Wrestling reuniting was fucking crazy. 2010 will be awesome.

- Main Event was GREAT, I think it was better appreciated on the stream than in attendance, at least from what I read. Aries' played me like a fiddle. I was %100 positive his shoulder was fucked and the match had to end. I am a mark.

I will order any iPPV they put on. Even though there were some technical issues, I felt they were forgivable and understandable for the most part. Should make the next one (if there is one) that much better.

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