THE 2/22 ROH VIDEOWIRE: PREVIEWING THE 9TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

This weekend, Ring of Honor is celebrating their 9th anniversary with two shows - tonight in Dayton, and tomorrow in Chicago (and live on iPPV) for their actual 9th Anniversary Show. Both cards are pretty stacked, and considering that in the past while they've lost Kevin Steen, Austin Aries, Tyler Black, Delirious, Necro Butcher and others, that is impressive. Here's what's in the final VideoWire before the big event on Saturday.

ROH 02/22/11 VIDEOWIRE

PREVIEWING THE 9TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

IN THIS VIDEO

- ROH World Champion Roderick Strong seals his promo with a kiss.

- Christopher Daniels and Eddie Edwards put over the importance of being a champion in Ring of Honor. Their match on Saturday will no doubt be a highlight for the weekend.

- The Kings of Wrestling don't think Kenny King is "tough enough" to hang with the ROH World Tag Team Champions.

- Rhett Titus and Kenny King, the All Night Express, RAP THEIR PROMO. NOT EVEN JOKING. DYING OVER HERE. Titus has got FLOW.

- Steve Corino turning over a new leaf. I love this story. Seeing Corino struggling to be the ultimate good guy is both hilarious, and maybe something that hasn't really been done before (someone will probably correct me on that). His "I can have a five star match... if you give me a two star curve" comment cracked me up. So did his teasing of the thumb in the bum. That really... cracked... me up. I hate myself.

- Truth Martini and Michael Elgin speak. Truth Martini might be the most hate-able man in wrestling. Whenever I see him, I want to punch him in the face. Then, I stop to think about how great he is at being a heel and looking like a guy you want to punch in the face. But then I still want to punch him in the face. And I want to punch myself in the face for thinking about Truth Martini for this long.

- Homicide brings the real talk to Roderick Strong. He also says he might do the "Homicide Shuffle" with Colt Cabana in Chicago, but he could say anything and I'd be scared.

No sign of the Briscoes or Haas and Benjamin, but an entertaining twenty minutes nonetheless.

Here are the cards, hype and tweets for this weekend.

Friday, February 25th

DAYTON, OHIO - "WORLD'S GREATEST"

Tickets + Info

SIX MAN MAIN EVENT - "WORLD'S GREATEST" COLLIDE

ROH World Champion Roderick Strong

ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling

VS.

Davey Richards

"Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team" Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin

TOP CONTENDERS COLLIDE

Homicide VS. El Generico

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST FINALS REMATCH

Eddie Edwards VS. Kenny King

SPECIAL CHALLENGE

Michael Elgin VS. ROH World TV Champion Christopher Daniels

SPECIAL ATTRACTION #1

Jay Briscoe VS. Kyle O'Reilly

SPECIAL ATTRACTION #2

Mark Briscoe VS. "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett

FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL

Colt Cabana

VS.

Rhett Titus

VS.

Mike Mondo

VS.

Andy "Right Leg" Ridge

TAG TEAM ACTION

The Bravado Brothers VS. Steve Corino & Grizzly Redwood

Saturday, February 26th

CHICAGO RIDGE, IL - "9TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW"

Tickets + Info - ORDER NOW at GoFightLive

ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH - NO HOLDS BARRED BARRIO STREET FIGHT

Roderick Strong defends VS. Homicide

ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

"The Kings of Wrestling" Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli

defend VS.

"The All Night Express" Rhett Titus & Kenny King

ROH WORLD TV CHAMPIONSHIP - 2/3 FALLS

Christopher Daniels defends VS. Eddie Edwards

FIRST TIME EVER - DREAM TAG TEAM MATCH

"The Briscoes" Jay & Mark

VS.

"Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team" Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin

SPECIAL ATTRACTION

Colt Cabana VS. Davey Richards

SPECIAL CHALLENGE MATCH

Michael Elgin VS. El Generico

WOMEN OF HONOR

Sara Del Rey VS. MsChif

FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL

Steve Corino

VS.

Kyle O'Reilly

VS.

Grizzly Redwood

VS.

"The Prodigy" Mike Bennett

TWEETS FOR THIS WEEKEND'S SHOWS

@ROHonHDNet

@Sheltyb803

@ccastagnoli

@theChrisHero

@SteveCorino

And finally, here are five reasons why you should order this show:

1. ROH's track record. They have literally never let me down when ordering one of their iPPVs.

2. Tag Team Wrestling. Two of the potential best matches on this card are tag team matches. You don't get that anywhere else.

3. GoFightLive allows you to watch at anytime. So even if you're someone who's looking to watch UFC that night, you can still get 9th Anniversary Show as soon as the next day (usually).

4. Christopher Daniels vs. Eddie Edwards. Their match at Supercard of Honor V was a phenomenal showcase of technical wrestling. It was one of those matches that makes you forget the pro wrestling is two guys cooperating, not two guys trying to out-wrestle each other. This match has the potential to steal the entire weekend to me.

5. There is selling.

This last point is a rebuttal to my good buddy TH over at The Wrestling Blog. He has been doing a series of posts titled "Intro to Match Analysis," and the latest one is all about selling. TH has this to say:

"Whenever I see a match featuring Shingo Tagaki or Davey Richards, and all they do is kick the other guy, take kicks and move around like nothing's wrong, it only reinforces that vile, four-lettered "f" word that haters of the artform bandy about like a sharp blade around the soft flesh of our fandom. Fake."

Now TH, we're still bros and all, but I can't help myself here.

I think a lot of people who write about wrestling on the internet have a list of keywords in their head when they watch wrestling. Where these keywords came from, I don't know. But typically these words are "storytelling," "psychology," and "selling." I think a lot of us love to use these words, and we also use these words incorrectly, probably because we just watch wrestling and that's it. I'm certainly not saying I know what these words mean more than anybody else, I don't. But I feel the need to defend Davey Richards and, similarly, ROH for a second.

I am not an authority on the matter AT ALL. I watch a lot of wrestling and love it and will be a fan until I die (probably of watching too much wrestling). I can watch Davey Richards and KENTA kick each other's faces off in a moment of "fighting spirit" and I can watch John Cena sell a stomp for forty-five seconds. The difference is that I see these two moments as two separate worlds.

I just see it as ROH (or Dragon Gate) putting themselves over as the "best wrestling in the world" and therefore you need to do more to their top guys to put them out. It's not a question of selling, it's a question of style. And if John Cena and Randy Orton started trading sequences of big moves like Roddy Strong hitting a Gutbuster, then a Sick Kick, then a Gibson Driver all in the span of three seconds, then yeah, that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense. It's the style of the promotion that drives the selling. To me. I don't know. Who the fuck am I to say. I've seen Rich Franklin knock Chuck Liddell out with a broken arm without flinching, so who knows what amount of selling is enough or not enough to make any kind of pro wrestling seem "real."

I feel dumber for writing this. But, I'd like to hear what TH has to say. I know he's a fan of ROH (and I turned this into an ROH-related argument only because he mentioned Davey, and I'm talking 9th Anniversary stuff here), although this seems to be more directed at Dragon Gate, which has the volume turned up even more on the "unbelievable" style of wrestling/selling/whatever you want to call it.

Anyway, with that said... E-FIIIIIIIGGGGHHHHT!

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.

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.

ROH THIS WEEKEND: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 2010 + CHAMPIONS' NIGHT IN TORONTO

This is a big weekend for Ring of Honor. They're hitting up Detroit and Toronto (er, their respective suburbs, Dearborn and Mississauga) for two big events, especially for them not being iPPVs.

But before I get to the lineup for this weekend (including an interactive card for tonight's show where you can click on a guy's name and hear his thoughts on Survival of the Fittest!), here's the latest ROH VideoWire.

ROH VIDEOWIRE 11/08/10

SIZING UP SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 2010 + DANIELS V. STRONG: ROH WORLD TITLE

IN THIS VIDEO

- The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels starts looking past ROH World Champion Roderick Strong, and to potentially facing Davey Richards at Final Battle.

- Truth Martini understands the meaning of life, yet his hair is still ridiculous.

- Andy "Right Leg" Ridge recaps his trial series where he is currently 0-2, and says he won't losehis next match (he will).

- The All Night Express want their tag title shot against "The Duck Squad" (Kings of Wrestling).

- Kevin Steen and Steve Corino spout some crazy in preparation of their triumphant return to Canada, where they are self-proclaimed "heroes." Kevin Steen also graphically describes eating the faces of Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli.

- Davey Richards is concerned with how the Kings of Wrestling will make money after they get dominated by the American Wolves ("I'm glad you've got your slogan!").

- Homicide doesn't like Jay Briscoe (for real? I can't tell with Homicide because he is crazy).

ROH SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST - DEARBORN, MICHIGAN

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH - 8:00 BELLTIME

Tickets + Info

Click on a wrestler's name to hear his thoughts on Survival of the Fittest 2010

MAIN EVENT #1 - SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 2010 ELIMINATION MATCH FINALS

TBD VS. TBD VS. TBD VS. TBD VS. TBD VS. TBD

- competitors will be determined based on the winners of the qualifying matches

MAIN EVENT #2 - SIX MAN TAG

ROH World Champion Roderick Strong & The House of Truth (with Truth Martini)

VS.

"Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels & The Briscoe Brothers

SOTF - 1ST ROUND QUALIFIER

ROH World Tag Team Champion Chris Hero

VS.

ROH World Television Champion Eddie Edwards

SOTF - 1ST ROUND QUALIFIER

El Generico VS. "The Pretty Boy Pit Bull" Kenny King

SOTF - 1ST ROUND QUALIFIER

Kevin Steen VS. Kyle O'Reilly

SOTF - 1ST ROUND QUALIFIER

Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana VS. "Addicted to Love" Rhett Titus

SOTF - 1ST ROUND QUALIFIER

"The King of Old School" Steve Corino VS. Adam Cole

SOTF - 1ST ROUND QUALIFIER

ROH World Tag Team Champion Claudio Castagnoli

VS.

Grizzly Redwood

TRIAL SERIES MATCH #3

Andy "Right Leg" Ridge VS. "The Notorious 187" Homicide

ROH IN MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH - 7:30 BELLTIME

Tickets + Info

ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Champion Roderick Strong VS. Challenger "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels

ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Champions The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli)

VS.

Challengers Kevin Steen & Steve Corino

ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP

Champion Eddie Edwards VS. Challenger El Generico

GRUDGE MATCH

Jay Briscoe VS. "The Notorious 187" Homicide

TAG TEAM REMATCH FROM CHICAGO

The All Night Express VS. Kyle O'Reilly & Adam Cole

TRIAL SERIES #4

Andy "Right Leg" Ridge VS. Mark Briscoe

SINGLES MATCH

"The Queen of Wrestling" Sara Del Rey VS. Jamilia Craft

PLUS

- Colt Cabana

- Grizzly Redwood

- The House of Truth with Truth Martini

With the Survival of the Fittest being decided tonight and every ROH belt on the line in Toronto on Saturday (which I will be attending and offering up some kind of review), this weekend is sure to be a newsworthy one from Ring of Honor. I can't wait to see Kevin Steen eat Claudio's cheekbone.

THE WRESTLE SPECTIVE POWER POLL: 09/15/10

Every week I, along with several other wrestling blogs (including my blogging Gordon Brolie, TH of The Wrestling Blog), will be sending in my top ten wrestlers to WrestleSpective. My votes are compiled with those of the other bloggers and that gives us the Power Poll. Here's this week's rankings (go to WrestleSpective to view the full write-up, and check out all of the other awesome wrestling content there - you'll find it especially awesome if you're a stat-geek (or any other specific-type-of-wrestling geek) like me):

NUMBER ONE THIS WEEK

RANDY ORTON

Photo - WWE.com

NOT RANKED THIS WEEK

BOBBY BOTTLESERVICE TAKING A PICTURE OF RANDY ORTON

Photo - My own camera from the live event in Toronto last Friday

WRESTLESPECTIVE POWER POLL: 09/15/10

1. Randy Orton (1)

2. Kane (2)

3. John Cena (3)

4. Chris Jericho (10)

5. Alberto del Rio (3)

6. The Undertaker (NR)

7. Roderick Strong (NR)

8. Sheamus (NR)

9. Daniel Bryan (6)

10. The Miz (9)

PIZZABODYSLAM POWER POLL VOTES: 09/15/10

1. Roderick Strong

- IN KAYFABE: Captured the ROH World Championship for the first time in his career by defeating Tyler Black.

- OUT OF KAYFABE: The ROH Title might be the toughest belt to win in all of wrestling, what with only 14 champions in 8 years of operation. It is won and defended in a way that ensures the best man always walks out with the title. It's tough to not put Roddy at the top of this list.

2. Randy Orton

- IN KAYFABE: RKO'd Michael Tarver; threw Justin Gabriel through a table; shoved Wade Barrett by his face, off the apron and through a table; dodged Edge's Spear (sending Edge and Jericho through a table); RKO'd John Cena through a table; went backstage and RKO'd everyone at the Gorilla position (he was so fired up, I'm positive that this happened).

- OUT OF KAYFABE: I saw him in person at a live event and he stood out the most out of everyone who wrestled, looking like a serious, serious star. That's what Bobby Bottleservice had to use both his camera and camera phone to take pictures of him at the same time.

3. Chris Hero

4. Claudio Castagnoli

5. Shelton Benjamin

6. Charlie Haas

- IN KAYFABE: I'm placing all four of these guys together because of the match they had last Saturday at ROH Glory By Honor IX. The Kings of Wrestling get the edge just for winning the match.

- OUT OF KAYFABE: Slap the porpoise was this a good match. The absolute rabid frenzy the crowd was in for the entirety of the bout didn't hurt either. If there's one reason to buy this event on GoFightLive or buy the DVD when it comes out, it's this match.

7. Daniel Bryan

- IN KAYFABE: Def. The Miz in a Submission match on RAW when The Miz pulled out due to a "hernia," although I believe he had a torn motivator cuff (or torn heartilage, can't decide) if you catch my drift. Def. Alex Riley in a Submission match on RAW when he was named as Miz's replacement. Then he made the Miz tap (right on the US Title!) to the LeBell Lock, giving him all of the momentum he could possibly ask for going into his Championship match at Night of Champions.

- OUT OF KAYFABE: Need I say more? Child please! Bryan also got the rub from hometown boy Chad Ochocinco.

8. Chris Jericho

- IN KAYFABE: Def. The Hart Dynasty in a handicap Steel Cage match on RAW to get reinstated in the Six Pack Challenge match for the WWE Championship at Night of Champions.

- OUT OF KAYFABE: Called out the lunacy of the whole anonymous e-mail GM bullshit by telling Michael Cole to SHUTUP and JUST READ IT and WHAT'S HIS EMAIL ADDRESS?! and countless other one-liners that everyone else was thinking, but didn't have the power to say. There was something special about Jericho poking fun at the GM concept and just tearing down Cole. Because it is so very annoying and frustrating, to hear someone on the show itself as the voice of reason just fed up with this idea is like the weight of a hundred Matt Hardy's has been lifted off of me. Also, while Cole is quite the turd burglar on RAW, he himself is now the voice of reason on NXT, finally flipping out and going postal on everyone. I've been waiting so long for this day. So. Long. Maybe I should've voted for Cole instead of Jericho. ... (please forgive me for ever even thinking that).

9. John Morrison

- IN KAYFABE: Came within SECONDS of pinning the WWE Champion and inserting himself into the sixth and final spot in the Six Pack Challenge match.

- OUT OF KAYFABE: Showed the world what he can do just in terms of athleticism, not even wrestling. Although it was nice to see him connect with his moves AND look completely believable at the same time in the ring. His match with Sheamus was super fun (how'd he get up on the Tron so fast?! I thought Paul Ellering was gonna try and talk him down (too soon?)) and his cartwheel counter off the stage was pretty damn impressive. I hope they keep showing how insane it is that he can do that hardcore training/whatever the fuck it's called, because he's like a real life Spider-Man. Also I should mention how truly bizarre, jarring, hilarious and fucked up the zoom-in on his face was after he dismounted from doing chin-ups backstage. It was as if Tim Heidecker was guest directing that one backstage segment.

10. Kaval

- IN KAYFABE: Debuted on Smackdown! in a losing effort against Drew McIntyre; was "all sweaty, ew!"

- OUT OF KAYFABE: Pretty much EVERY spot in that match felt completely unique and exciting, and that, I can almost 100% guarantee, is thanks to Low Ki. That was a super fun and exciting short little match (one that I'm sure will be (or already has been - I'm a little late on this) championed by TH over at the Wrestling Blog). You don't see a match like this every week in the WWE. Hopefully we will, since Kaval is here to stay. SWEET.

WRESTLESPECTIVE INFO TO KNOW:

WrestleSpective - The Blog

WrestleSpective Radio - The Podcast (now on iTunes!)

WrestleSpective Power Poll Voters - The Twitter Feeds (follow that ish)

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.