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.

IT'S A WRESTLING COMBAT SPORTS WEEKEND!

Here's my schedule for the next four days (because I know you care)!

NOW

Sit in my tank top contemplating toasting a bagel (then eating said bagel) while the Real Housewives of Atlanta is on TV.

3:00

Play Red Dead Redemption until I've gone cross-eyed.

7:30

Buy beer

7:59

Drink beer

8:00

Smackdown!

10:00

Leave to go try and get in to Fozzy at the Tattoo Rock Parlour here in Toronto.

10:10

Remind myself that I've never been to a metal show in my life and should probably invest in earplugs.

11:00

Wonder why Chris Jericho isn't Liontamering the shit out of everyone.

11:01

Remind myself that this is a concert.

TOMORROW - 11:00

Wake up.

11:10

Regret rushing the stage last night to try and hurricanrana Chris Jericho.

12:15

Get called a pussy on Xbox Live.

12:16

Send a message back to that person that's in text and full of typos because I truly am too much of a pussy to connect my headset for real.

2:00

Throw on ROH's The Omega Effect (even though I was at that show) in an attempt to catch up on DVDs.

5:00

Get reminded of how good Omega/Aries was from that show.

7:30

Buy beer.

7:59

Drink beer.

8:00

Pre-game for UFC with either some 1997 WWF or some UFC Undisputed 2010 or something equally as awesome.

10:00

UFC 117

2:00

Pass out with dreams of Anderson Silva beating Chael Sonnen into obliteratitry dancing through my head.

SUNDAY - 11:00

Wake up.

11:10

Resolve to never drink again due to a debilitating hangover.

11:30

Buy beer.

12:00

Remind myself that I'm actually going to be watching a TNA PPV live.

12:01

Feel more sick from that than when I was crippled from my hangover.

1:30

Throw on ECW One Night Stand 2005 to set the bar way too high for tonight's show.

4:30

Throw on an episode of Impact to lower the bar back down.

6:30

Throw on Thursday's episode of Big Brother 12 to raise it back up a bit.

7:58

Wonder what the best way to prepare for HardCORE Justice is.

7:59

Drink the night dry.

8:00

HardCORE Justice!

11:00

Weep for the future of the wrestling business. Or for how good RVD/Lynn was. Either way I will be shedding some sort of shame-tears.

MONDAY - 11:00

Wake up.

11:10

Feel my brain leak out my ears and my balls fall off because I sit watching naked men pretend to fight each other while I type on my laptop all day every day.

8:00

Cure my brain leakage and ball lossage by watching ROH On HDNet!

9:00

Then watch RAW.

11:00

The end!

Anyone else doing anything this weekend?

TONIGHT: RAW VS. IMPACT - WEEK NINE: SUPERBRAWL SATURDAY!

Holy HECK I've been gone for one weekend and I feel like I haven't written about wrestling for... for... I can't even come up with a wrestling-related joke to end that sentence! Maybe that's a blessing in disguise.

RAW VS. IMPACT

5/3/2010 PREVIEW

RAW (LIVE)

Announced

Guest Host: Wayne Brady

Expected

Fallout from the WWE Draft

A failed "we want Tony Atlas" chant

John Cena and Wayne Brady do an elaborate cool guy handshake that makes me laugh

Won't Happen

CM Punk shaves Wayne Brady's head and immaculately thin facial hair

IMPACT (LIVE)

Announced

Please DVR our show please! PLEASE!

Who will Hulk Hogan give Ric Flair's Hall of Fame ring to?

Hulk Hogan confronts Sting, because no one believes Sting as a heel, not even the wrestlers

Beer Money vs. "always a #2 Contender, never #1" Motor City Machine Guns

EVERY Knockout Title is on the line in one match again

Orlando Jordan makes Rob Terry question his sexuality

Douglas Williams returns without his X-Division Title

More on the TNA Rankings System

Expected

Lex Luger FINALLY breaks his silence!!

RVD def. Desmond Wolfe to retain the TNA Title

Abyss spits all over the place

Won't Happen

Me tuning in, now that I have a friend with HDNet.

ROH ON HDNET

Match Listing (Non-Spoiler)

Austin Aries vs. Delirious

Pick 6 Series: Roderick Strong vs. Joey Ryan

Plus, the Necro Butcher & The Dark City Fight Club are in action

TONIGHT: RAW VS. HALF OF IMPACT WEEK FIVE: LIVE... I THINK?

I forgot if TNA is airing live tonight (couldn't remember if last week was live or taped) so I went to their website to check the preview for tonight's show. At first I couldn't find anything saying it was live, until I realized it was tucked away in the description for the Team 3D/MCMG rematch for tonight.

... shouldn't the word "LIVE" be plastered all over your preview? In the headline at least? Even the first sentence would be good. You guys made a huge deal about going live and now you're not even bothering to promote it anymore.

I guess the most important thing to take home from that preview is that Impact will be airing at 8 this week instead of 9, after getting bludgeoned to death in the ratings last week.

RAW VS. IMPACT (KIND OF)

4/5/10 PREVIEW

RAW (LIVE)

Announced

Guest Host: David Otunga

... that's it I think. After coming off the best RAW since Max Mini dove onto Mini Vader from the stage, I suppose they don't need to advertise too much for this one.

Expected

Triple H tells Sheamus that it started off as business, but since he interrupted his teary-eyed speech about HBK... IT'S PERSONAL

David Otunga asks us to Google him, and I say, do it yourself you lazy a-hole.

John Cena hugs fatties, kisses babies

Won't Happen

Shawn Michaels acting a fool in a wheelchair :(

Please God

Hart Dynasty & Bret vs. ShoMiz feud continues. This is my favourite thing right now.

IMPACT (LIVE - I THINK) AT 8

Announced

Ladder Match: (With the key to the Lockdown cage door hanging) Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson

D'Angelo Dinero vs. Desmond Wolfe

#1 Contenders Match for the Tag Team Titles: Motor City Machine Guns vs. Team 3D

Tara, Angelina Love, ODB & Hamada vs. The Beautiful People & Daffney

Doug Williams hosts an X Division Gauntlet

Expected

I have no expectations

Won't Happen

Generation Me in a match, again. :(

Just some interesting info here: Anderson vs. Angle will be the 27th Ladder Match in TNA History. It'll be the 10th time a Ladder Match has appeared on Impact. It will be the 20th (I think) that ISN'T for a belt. In other words, TNA has been hanging shit above the ring for eight years for guys to grab, and have only put a belt up there like 7 times. Here's a list of crap they've hung up there:

- A wedding ring

- Kurt Angle's gold medal

- About a zillion contracts, briefcases and "FUTURE SHOTS" at belts

- A reindeer suit (Did they hang it up there? I forget)

- TNA World Beer Drinking Championship

- A key for a cage door

All of this, coupled with the whole reverse Ladder Match insanity that is King of the Mountain (pin a guy, guy goes to penalty box, you try and HANG THE BELT ON THE HOOK - then you win! And... take the belt down. DOI.) makes my balls ache for some logic in my wrestling. Here's the remedy for that:

ROH ON HDNET (TAPED)

Match Listing

MAIN EVENT

"That Young Knockout Kid" Chris Hero (with Claudio Castagnoli)

vs.

Jay Briscoe (with Mark Briscoe)

Erick Stevens vs. Pelle Primeau

Steve Corino vs. Bobby Shields

Dark City Fight Club vs. The Set

Anyway, I probably won't be doing my usual channel flipping review tonight, considering there will be barely any crossover with TNA starting at 8:00 and RAW starting at 9:15 for us Canadians.

WHOA: ROH OVERHAULS WEBSITE!

Oh yes. Looking very, very nice. ROHWrestling.com has been due for a redesign for some time. Click the image to take a peek around:

ROH ON HDNET TONIGHT: WOLVES HUNT THE TV TITLE

SPOILER-FREE PREVIEW

Courtesy of ROHWrestling.com

WORLD TV TITLE TOURNAMENT - FIRST ROUND

Davey Richards vs. Delirious

WORLD TV TITLE TOURNAMENT - FIRST ROUND

Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana vs. Eddie Edwards

SINGLES MATCH

Kyle O'Reilly vs. Tony Kozina

PLUS

Jim Cornette interviews Shawn Daivari

There will also be sit-down interviews with Tyler Black, Austin Aries & Roderick Strong as we roll into the huge main event at The Big Bang in Charlotte. Check out this badass poster, followed by some spoilers for tonight:

NOT-SO-SPOILER-FREE PREVIEW

Eddie Edwards, as mentioned before, is now the ROH World Television champion. But seeing the entire tournament in itself is something I've been looking forward to for awhile, especially Eddie's matches. I'll have to wait until Thursday for it to surface on YouTube, but if you have HDNet you should most definitely be tuning in to ROH tonight.

Apparently there is some other wrestling going on tonight as well.

3/8 IS THE NEW 1/4 - IMPACT VS. RAW: WHAT WILL YOU DO?

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

AGAIN! KIND OF!

Updated graphic courtesy of Mike (HumbleEmpire)

Tomorrow night TNA will throw the first second punch in the sequel to the Monday Night Wars of the 90's, that will pit David (TNA Impact) vs. Goliath (WWE RAW). Unless if there is someone even larger and more vicious than Goliath. So maybe some kind of Goliath/Godzilla/Triple H hybrid that Pedigrees people off of buildings. And David will only fight once every two weeks. Pussy.

And instead of it just being David vs. Triple Godliath, David called up everyone he knows that is fat and old, thinking for SURE that they will help him conquer this evil beast. And if those guys don't get the job done, he's got a bunch more SURPRISE old guys that he'll unleash on the beast.

Because that's all it takes to beat a giant, unstoppable beast! OLD GUYS!

David must still be reeling from his last battle.

Anyway.

This has spiralled out of control. All I meant to ask was, how will you be watching wrestling this Monday night?

I ask how instead of what, because my guess is that if you're watching wrestling tomorrow, you won't be watching just one show. It used to be that way, but it just isn't anymore.

Will you DVR Impact, watch RAW live, then watch Impact?

Or will you DVR RAW, watch Impact live, then watch RAW?

Or will you watch both live by some combination of TVs or Justin TV streams, switching the audio back and forth?

Or will you watch one and flip during commercials to try and recreate the feeling of the original Monday Night Wars?

Or will you watch ROH On HDNet and go to bed? (This is the best option for those who are not under the Thursday Raw Thursday spell)

The last time this chaos went down (Jan. 4th) I admitted to being more genuinely entertained by Impact than RAW. I put aside any thoughts of "what's good for business (because honestly, how often can you watch a show, analyze it, and THEN decide how much you enjoyed it based on what you analyzed?)", and had a hell of a lot more fun watching the insanity that was Impact, AND the fun wrestling had by the Knockout Tag Champs, and of course, AJ and Kurt.

This time around could be a hell of a lot different. But at the same time, I could just bust a gut laughing at Hogan/Abyss vs. AJ/Flair and enjoy that more than whatever RAW puts together.

But I'm willing to bet I'm more into RAW, come Monday. With WrestleMania XXVI shaping up to continue the "every-other-year" trend of WM's (25 = crap, 24 = awesome, 23 = crap, 22 = awesome, 21 = crap, 20 = awesome (essentially)), I think there will be some good stuff to build to the biggest show of the year. Plus Criss Angel will freak our minds!

No matter what order you watch it in, you will see some of these things, according to the company's respective websites:

RAW PREVIEW

Announced

With your guest host... Criss Angel MINDFREAAAAK!

- John Cena vs. Vince McMahon

- Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes

Expected

- Triple H invades Sheamus' home

- Batista chuckles at John Cena

- MITB qualifier

Won't Happen

- Daniel Bryan taps the Undertaker to set up HBK/Danielson.

IMPACT PREVIEW

Announced

- Hulk Hogan & Abyss vs. AJ Styles & Ric Flair

- Sting will appear, apparently

- Surprises (surprises being announced beforehand is FUCKING hilarious)

Expected

- Rob Van Dam

- Jeff Hardy drives his car

- Shannon Moore hangs out with Jeff Hardy

Won't Happen

- The Nasty Boys apologize to everyone

ROH ON HDNET PREVIEW

Non-Spoiler Match Listing

- Claudio Castagnoli vs. Andy "Right Leg" Ridge

- Quarter Final TV Title Tournament: Kevin Steen vs. Rhett Titus

- Kings of Wrestling vs. Bravado Brothers

- Rasche Brown vs. Caleb Kay

- Quarter Final TV Title Tournament: Kenny King vs. El Generico

These live Monday nights of wrestling are turning into bi-weekly events that I am getting more and more excited for. I hope it stays that way.

SORRY MARCH: A MISSED WEEK IN REVIEW

Time to go over (in lightning fast fashion) what I missed when I was not on the internet this week.

SHOWS

I saw this one:

MONDAY NIGHT RAW

GOOD IF YOU DON'T LIKE WRESTLING

Photo - WWE.com

I liked all of the shit that wasn't a wrestling match on this show. Wait. I should clarify. All of the shit that wasn't a wrestling match or a skit involving non-wrestlers. Hold on. Maybe I should just say I liked Batista's Road Warrior AWA attire & HILARIOUS quips, John Cena's "welp, I tried" face & real talk, and HBK's "DONTEVENTOUCHMETRIPS" to Triple H. MVP's slow motion squash of Zack Ryder to a mute crowd was also just great.

I did not see these ones:

WWE NXT, SMACKDOWN, ROH ON HDNET, IMPACT

FORGIVE MY TRANSGRESSIONS (NOT YOU IMPACT)

Photo - WWE.com

I'll be able to catch NXT later, and maybe even Smackdown. I'll definitely be checking out ROH on YouTube. Hunting down Impact to watch would be like fishing for an old car tire when you already have a big pile of delicious salmon to eat.

NEWS

I missed some sweet announcements while I was gone:

DRAGON GATE USA

COMING TO TORONTO

This is super exciting. Having seen every PPV they've aired and just fell down in excitement when it was over, the chance to see DGUSA live cannot be passed up. The problem is, I'm not sure if I'll be in town. But I'm pretty sure we'll just buy tickets anyway and see what develops. Also, this event features the debut of PAC! Holy nutrageous.

WWE RELEASES...

SCOTT ARMSTRONG

This is the most upsetting release to me. Does this mean we'll never know who was screwing the Undertaker? Who was the goddamn higher power!? I hope it wasn't Maria, because she's gone too! The irony of getting fired right before being on a show where the goal is to not get fired tickles my pickle.

TNA IMPACT

TO DEBUT NEW THEME SONG

Here's a PBS exclusive preview.

What else did I miss? Anything crazy? Worth mentioning?

I'll be previewing the ROH shows coming up since the cards are really starting to take shape for Michigan, Ontario and the Phoenix WrestleMania weekend events. Plus, probably a full post about Eddie Edwards becoming the first ever ROH World Television Champion (YES).

Can't wait to get my mind freaked tomorrow night. By both Criss Angel and Hulk Hogan wrestling Ric Flair.

FOOTAGE FROM TYLER BLACK'S ROH WORLD TITLE WIN

From ROH's Twitter:

I can't wait to see this show. Just got Final Battle '09, so it'll be cool to watch that and 8th Anniversary almost back to back, just for the NYC reaction.

Tyler also has a blog here, and while we're in ROH blog-type news, how about Claudio's Cafe?

I'm getting psyched for ROH on the 20th in Mississauga, plus just a couple weeks after that, ROH will debut in North Carolina streaming live on GoFightLive (see banner at the bottom of the page).

ROH TV TITLE: RED BLUE HERRING!

Yesterday Kyle Durden tweet'd a picture of himself holding the ROH TV Title - or so we thought! WE BEEN DUPED.

From Durden's Twitter, just now:

"Brought to my attention that people believe the everything they see on the internet....that was NOT the real ROH TV title lol. Keep waiting."

A lot of people (er, a handful of message boarders) were hyperventilating at the sight of the ad-clad, primarily blue TV Title. If you haven't seen "it," here it is.

It's allegedly a belt on loan from the company that was hired to make it - sure does explain that there wasn't any sign of the ROH logo on the gold.

I actually wasn't even bothered by the look of it - even with the ads, I was kinda excited. I even liked the blue, 70's-style design.

...maybe my fanboy colours run a little too deep.

ROHONHDNET: TV TITLE TOURNEY BEGINS TONIGHT - GET IN FREE WITH WWE TICKET

WWE postponed a house show that was set to take place tonight in Philadelphia, presumably due to the weather, but ROH is ready to pick up where they left off - by offering free admission to anyone showing their WWE ticket at the door. Neat!

Makes me wish I lived in Philly even more. Lucky sons-a-b's get all kinds of good wrestling.

Here's what's set to take place tonight at The Arena:

8-MAN WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT - NIGHT ONE

FIRST ROUND MATCHES

(1) Kevin Steen vs. (8) Rhett Titus

(2) Kenny King vs. (7) El Generico

(3) Colt Cabana vs. (6) Eddie Edwards

(4) Davey Richards vs. (5) Delirious

PICK 6 SERIES MATCH

(3) Chris Hero vs. Jay Briscoe

PLUS

- ROH World Champion Austin Aries

- ROH World Tag Team Champion Mark Briscoe

- Tyler Black

- Claudio Castagnoli

- Roderick Strong

- The Human Tornado(!)

- "Skullkrusher" Rasche Brown

- Steve Corino

- The Necro Butcher

- Erick Stevens with Prince Nana

- The Dark City Fight Club

WHOA: ROH USHERS IN TV TITLE WITH TOURNAMENT

YAY.

This is so sweet. It's been talked about for so long, and to see it actually happen is really cool. I'm not sure who'll win it, or even who'll be involved - but why don't I speculate anyhow?

Here are the announced names for the TV tapings on February 4th and 5th, which is when the tournament will take place:

Tyler Black; Roderick Strong; The American Wolves of Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards; Kenny King; The Kings of Wrestling: "That Young Knock Out Kid" Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli; Erick Stevens w/ Prince Nana; Delirious w/ Daizee Haze El Generico; Steve Corino; Kevin Steen; The Dark City Fight Club; The Necro Butcher; “Addicted to Love” Rhett Titus and “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown

And here's my guess/hopes of who will be the eight men filling in the brackets:

Tyler Black

Roderick Strong

Davey Richards

Eddie Edwards

Kenny King

Rasche Brown

Necro Butcher

El Generico

Actually I have no clue. Delirious could easily be in there too. I'm just thinking of guys who get pushed on TV a lot.

Can't wait to see how this plays out, and what it could mean for future shows. It's great that ROH will be able to have another way to turn a regular singles match into a BIG time match.

ANYTHING GOOD ON TONIGHT?

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

KIND OF!

Holy crap it's here. The first time I've actually been really excited for Monday night wrestling (I watch ROH on YouTube) in a long time.

I'm always a little excited for RAW (thanks to Thursday Raw Thursday), but tonight it feels a little more real.

I really don't know what I'll end up doing, but in all honesty, I think my game plan is to watch TNA in it's entirety live, going to RAW on commercials... then watching the full RAW replay at midnight.

It'll be like five and a half hours of wrestling (or skits, depending on how the night goes), but I am into it.

I do think TNA will put on an entertaining show, especially if they give us The Bucks vs. The Machine Guns, effing LIVE on national TV. For FREE. Now THAT is the kind of thing that you can get excited about.

And I also think RAW will be pretty great too. I feel weird that Bret Hart will be returning to the WWE for the first time in almost 13 years and I'll be watching something else. It's like I'm slapping my dad in the face or something.

I SCREWED BRET

SORRY BRET

Here's what's confirmed for tonight's shows:

iMPACT

- Knockout's Title: Tara vs. ODB

- Knockout's Tag Titles: Sarita & Taylor Wilde vs. Hamada & Awesome Kong

- X Division Title: Steel Cage Asylum

- The TNA debut of Hulk Hogan

- Rumoured names to appear: Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Ken Anderson, Rob Van Dam, Sid, Angelina Love, Shannon Moore, Ric Flair, and The Young Bucks

RAW

- Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston

- Unified Tag Titles: DX vs. Big Show & Chris Jericho

- 8-Diva Tournament for Divas Title begins

- Guest Host: Bret "Hitman" Hart

- Rumoured names to appear: The Hart Dynasty, and no John Cena.

And hey...

ROH ON HDNET

- Main Event: Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong

- Eddie Kingston vs. Claudio Castagnoli

- Rhett Titus vs. El Generico

- Steve Corino in action

- Highlights from Final Battle 2009

And finally, my prediction:

Verbal jabs taken at opposition...

By TNA: 10-12

By WWE: 0