ROH: TRIPLE SHOT IN THE MIDWEST BEGINS + THE 7/20 VIDEOWIRE

Beginning tonight in Louisville, Ring of Honor is burning through the midwest with three completely stacked cards that culminate in Chicago with one of the best top-to-bottom shows on paper I've ever seen, complete with the big Kevin Steen vs. Tyler Black title match. BROTHER, BROTHER, BROTHER... this will be crazy.

And by crazy, I mean Kevin-Steen-crazy. He has been a whole new brand of psycho, wanting to help Tyler Black in his own fucked-up way. Don't believe me? Take a look at the GREATEST promo I've ever seen Kevin Steen deliver (and I say this with no hyperbole whatsoever) here in the July 20th ROH VideoWire:

ROH VIDEOWIRE: 07/20/10

KEVIN STEEN IS CRAZY FOR REAL, GUYS

WHAT A LUNATIC

I have admittedly been neglecting ROH on my blog ever since I watched DBD8. I've been meaning to put a review up, but I almost ask, "what's the point?" I don't think any combination of words I throw together could explain how incredible Tyler/Davey was. But who knows - maybe I'll try my best and you'll see a review in the next few days.

Speaking of Tyler/Davey, that match had a perfect build. It was tailored to the guys in the match, what with the simple, old-school sit-down interviews leading up to the match, the AWESOME hype videos (that fantastic Michael Jordan-monologued one has since vanished from YouTube), the "who's heel who's face?" dynamic that played out flawlessly in the match... it was perfect.

This Steen/Tyler build has been quite the opposite. Not in terms of quality, because you know it's been awesome if you just watched that Steen promo, but in terms of style. Instead of doing an MMA-inspired build with realistic interviews, Kevin Steen's psychotic behaviour has taken over this feud. It's great that ROH can build to two separate matches that both feel BIG and don't feel like you just watched the same feud twice in a row.

Enough fanboy babble. Take a look at these monster cards and try and tell me that Chicago won't be one of the best shows this year (okay NOW enough fanboy babble):

TONIGHT - "THE BLUEGRASS BRAWL" IN LOUISVILLE, KY

Tickets + Info

MAIN EVENT - NON-TITLE CHALLENGE MATCH

ROH World Champion Tyler Black

VS.

ROH World Tag Team Champion Claudio Castagnoli

SPECIAL TAG TEAM ATTRACTION

The Briscoes Brothers VS. The American Wolves

SIX-MAN-TAG TEAM BOUT

Roderick Strong & the House of Truth (with Truth Martini)

VS.

Austin Aries & The All-Night Express

PICK 6 CONTENDERS SERIES

(4) "That Young Knockout Kid" Chris Hero VS. Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana

WOMEN OF HONOR

Sara del Rey VS. Daizee Haze

SINGLES MATCH

Delirious VS. Mike Mondo

PLUS

- Two other bouts featuring top talent from OVW!

Collinsville, you have this rematch to look forward to, you lucky fools!

HATE: CHAPTER II

KEVIN STEEN VS. EL GENERICO

JULY 23RD - COLLINSVILLE, IL

Tickets + Info

SPECIAL CHALLENGE - TAG TEAM ATTRACTION

GenerationMe (formerly The Young Bucks) VS. The American Wolves

SIX-PERSON TAG TEAM WAR

ROH World Tag Team Champions the Kings of Wrestling & Sara del Rey

VS.

The Briscoe Brothers & Amazing Kong

TRIOS GRUDGE MATCH

ROH World Champion Tyler Black, Jerry Lynn & Delirious (with Daizee Haze)

VS.

Austin Aries & The All-Night Express

SINGLES MATCH

The Necro Butcher (with Prince Nana) VS. "Skullkrusher" Rasche Brown

HATE: CHAPTER II

Kevin Steen VS. El Generico

PICK 6 CONTENDERS SERIES

(1) Roderick Strong (with Truth Martini) VS. Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana

GRUDGE MATCH

Erick Stevens VS. Grizzly Redwood

PLUS

- House of Truth

JULY 24TH - CHICAGO RIDGE, IL

Tickets + Info

ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH

Tyler Black defends VS. Kevin Steen

SPECIAL ATTRACTION - TAG TEAM CHALLENGE

ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling

VS.

GenerationMe (formerly The Young Bucks)

TAG WARS 2010 OPENING ROUND

Colt Cabana & El Generico VS. The American Wolves

PICK 6 CONTENDERS SERIES

(1) Roderick Strong (with Truth Martini) VS. Austin Aries

TAG WARS 2010 OPENING ROUND

The All-Night Express VS. Jerry Lynn & Delirious (with Daizee Haze)

SUPERCARD OF HONOR V REMATCH

Sara del Rey (with Shane Hagadorn) VS. Amazing Kong

TAG WARS 2010 OPENING ROUND

Necro Butcher & Erick Stevens VS. "Skullkrusher" Rasche Brown & Grizzly Redwood

TAG WARS 2010 OPENING ROUND

The Briscoe Brothers VS. The House of Truth (with Truth Martini)

IMPOSSIBLY RECAPPING TWO WEEKS OF MISSED WRESTLING

I am now FINALLY all caught up on the two weeks of WWE I've missed. It's quite literally impossible to talk about all of it (and it would be longer and more boring than [appropriate analogy] - I feel too rusty to complete that thought).

So instead, here are the most notable things I missed over the past two weeks:

DANIEL BRYAN

UNLEASHES THE AMERICAN DRAGON

Photo - WWE.com

Nothing made me angrier than Daniel Bryan getting kicked off NXT.

Nothing made me happier than seeing Daniel Bryan make reference to Bryan Danielson and beat the giggles out of Michael Cole two weeks in a row. NXT went from being an AWESOME show, to a piece of crap, and is now a one-segment show - tuning in to see what kind of insanity Danielson will unload on Michael Cole.

RING OF HONOR

HYPE VIDEOS THAT HYPE ME UP

Photo - ROHWrestling.com

ThatWrestlingShow has the Midas (or CM Punk, as it's known in wrestling circles) Touch when it comes to making hype videos for ROH. This one features Michael FRIGGIN Jordan as the narrator. The idea of tying Michael Jordan into a preview for an independent wrestling iPPV blows my mind. Check it:

ROH also revealed some AWESOME footage from this month's Supercard of Honor V in New York, which makes my dingle tingle:

And finally, a quick little preview for Death Before Dishonor VIII in Toronto. I can't even begin to tell you how overcome with jealous rage I am, knowing that I will be out of town on the 19th and won't be able to go to this iPPV taping. But, I suppose there is an upside, as I will be able to watch it online. Oh, Ring of Honor... you sure know make still my beating heart:

WWE OVER THE LIMIT

CM PUNK AND REY MYSTERIO STEAL THE SHOW

Photo - WWE.com

The show itself wasn't incredible, but still not as bad as I was bracing for (I brace for bad PPVs by huffing glue before they begin)!

Punk/Rey was fucking incredible. I loved this match. I watched this on my laptop with headphones on and my girlfriend in the room, and when Punk threw Rey into the barber's chair headfirst making him accordion up like Wile E. Coyote, I made a noise so strange that she thought something was wrong with ME.

Then the blood started glugging out of Punk's head, and the doctor took his sweet time getting over to him, and I started wondering if this match was going to lose steam. NOPE. GAINED STEAM. Because CM Punk is a psychopath. When he started racing around full-tilt with Mysterio looking like he was going to end his life, I screamed for help.

And finally, the head-shaving. They were THIS (I'm holding my forefinger and thumb VERY CLOSE TOGETHER) CLOSE to doing a crucifixion, the way Punk was handcuffed to the ropes and hanging off the apron. Awesome, awesome segment.

The rest of the PPV was kinda fun, kinda whatever, but watching Punk/Rey was definitely the stand-out highlight. Kofi/Drew was okay with a hot crowd. Ted/Truth was better than expected, and went much longer than expected, and had a different outcome than expected. Harts/Mizico (JeriMiz?) was good too, but the crowd killed it with their Y2J chants (don't you understand!? You chant GO JERICHO GO).

Big Show/Swagger, again, more fun than expected but very short. Divas match was okay, but definitely served the purpose of a cool down for Cena/Batista, which was an action-entertainment extravaganza. If you don't like the stunts and silliness of the new WWE PPV main event style, you did not like this match. I, for one, did like the insanity of this, especially whenever John Cena made a funny face (which was always).

The biggest disappointment was Edge/Orton, and that was beyond their control. The match that they managed to get through wasn't very exciting, but I assume what they had planned for the finish would've saved it all. Instead, Randy Orton beat himself up. But credit to Edge for improvising the double countout finish, giving the crowd one more pop with the missed-spear spot at the end.

FANTASTIC WRESTLING

ON WWE TV

Photo - WWE.com

Pretty awesome to see Edge/Christian on RAW, Punk/Rey on Smackdown! and Christian/Kofi for the Intercontinental Title on Smackdown! All really fun matches with super hot crowds. Can't ask for much more.

BATISTA, CARLITO

GONE

Photo - WWE.com

Batista quitting was AWESOME. So is TH's very scientific graphing of Batista's WWE career. I didn't see the Carlito segment.

REALIZED WRESTLING IS MORE ENJOYABLE

WITHOUT DIRT SHEETS!

Photo - WWE.com

This, I already knew, but haven't tried in ages. It was like coming up for air or something. Without reading rumour websites, I'm sure I avoided ruining the surprise that Christian would face Edge on RAW, or Undertaker would appear, or that Abraham Washington was rumoured as the RAW GM, and all that annoying, useless crap that makes it less enjoyable as a fan. Let's see if I can keep it up.

FORGOT ABOUT...

TNA

Photo - TNAWrestling.com

HULK HOGAN

SUES FRED FLINSTONE

STEEN VS. GENERICO

TORONTO - JUNE 19th - DBDH VIII

Photo - ROHWrestling.com

Once again. Livid with jealousy.

ROH: NEW BADASS HYPE VIDEO FOR THE BIG BANG

How on earth did I miss this?!

This video may top the one ThatWrestlingShow did for Final Battle 2009. I love the use of Arcade Fire, and it's awesome to see Indie Rock finally cross paths with Indy Wrestling. I've been wanting that for so goddamn long, it only makes sense.

Seriously though, I was already PSYCHED for this weekend (Easter weekend, mind you, where I'm LITERALLY LEAVING MY FAMILY to go watch The Big Bang), but now after seeing this I will feel NO REMORSE (pun intended) for watching Roderick Strong and Austin Aries challenge Tyler Black.

Watch the video. Go to GoFightLive.tv and buy this iPPV and support a company that makes me fucking proud to watch pro wrestling.

ROH IN LA: LYNN VS. KING PROMO

Yet another super sweet ROH promo video from ThatWrestlingShow.

Along with Lynn vs. King, there's also a pretty awesome handful of matches - and one close-your-eyes-and-maybe-it'll-go-away match (or it'll be smack yourself in the face hilarious).

CURRENT CARD FOR ROH IN L.A. - 01/29/10

MAIN EVENT 8-MAN TAG WAR

World Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe and The Young Bucks vs. The American Wolves & The Kings of Wrestling

FIRST TIME EVER - NON TITLE

ROH World Champion Austin Aries vs. Jushin "Thunder" Liger

PICK 6 SERIES

(6) Roderick Strong vs. (Unranked) Delirious

PICK 6 SERIES

(5) Tyler Black vs. Joey Ryan

PICK 6 SERIES

The Human Tornado (Unranked) vs. (2) Kevin Steen

ANYTHING GOES

Necro Butcher vs. Erick Stevens

TAG TEAM ACTION

El Generico & Colt Cabana vs. Scott Lost & Scorpio Sky

BONUS MATCH

Larry Zbyszko vs. Scotty 2 Hotty

*Special Guest Referee - Johnny Fairplay