Here's all the tags you need to browse through the entire recap in sections:
So long, 2009.
Showing posts with label stars 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stars 2009. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
2009 IN REVIEW: HOME STRETCH
As I mentioned in my last post, it's taking a coon's age (a COON'S!) to finish this 2009 review. I didn't have too much left to cover, but I didn't want to just leave these things behind.
So here is what remains of my 2009 review:
MOMENTS
2009
CM PUNK CASHES IN - AGAIN
I got nervous nerd sweats when Punk came out and cashed in his MITB contract on Jeff Hardy, in fear of him being the first guy to fail. But he didn't. And I nerd-rejoiced. Unlike this guy. Holy fuck is that hilarious to listen to.
SEEING KENTA AND NAKAJIMA LIVE IN THE SAME YEAR
I was super lucky this past year as I got to see both KENTA and Katsuhiko Nakajima wrestle live in front of my face, both for ROH events. The atmosphere was incredible for both of them.
ROH WORLD TITLE CHANGES
After 545 days of Nigel McGuinness holding the ROH World Title, two title changes in the same year was massive. The crowd reactions are always goose-pimply to watch.
SANTINO MARELLA
Santino is, full-stop, the funniest man to come through the WWE since Chris Jericho. No matter how bad RAW would get, if Santino showed up, I could laugh through the tears.
STARS
2009
Photo courtesy of Scott Finkelstein's Get Lost Photography
NIGEL MCGUINNESS
Even with the two title changes this year, some people forget that Nigel still held the ROH belt for the first four months of this year, and knocked out some great matches before becoming Desmond Wolfe - where he was elevated to the main event (for a sec) with matches against Kurt Angle.
HONOURABLE MENTION: MIZ AND MORRISON
Both of these guys managed to succeed without their bro by winning the US and Intercontinental titles, respectively. Once it's time for them to step up to the main event, it'll feel special, as they've been making that climb nice and slow.
HONOURABLE MENTION: KOFI KINGSTON
Hey, apparently Kofi has charisma! All it took was for him to speak like he normally does, instead of with an accent they made him speak with! It's GENIUS! His feud with Randy Orton had it's ups and downs, and we'll have to wait for 2010 to see where it took him for keeps.
FEUDS
2009
Photo courtesy of Scott Finkelstein's Get Lost Photography
AMERICAN WOLVES VS. KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO
The blood feud of the year managed to spark what should be the blood feud of this year. With Steen and Generico losing to the Wolves, then ultimately, the Bucks at Final Battle, Kevin Steen turned on his best bud in a brutal way. But before that, Steenerico fought tooth and nail with the Wolves throughout 2009 and put forward some incredible matches.
HONOURABLE MENTION: CHRISTIAN VS. JACK SWAGGER
Remember when ECW was great? Well, I actually don't know how it is now, since it's been AWOL in Canada, but there was a time at the start of this year when ECW was awesome. Christian and Jack Swagger put on some fantastic TV matches the built to PPV matches, and had a great feud that pitted Christian, a super believable babyface that's easy to get behind, against Jack Swagger, the easier to hate, lisp carrying heel.
FML
2009
GUEST HOST CIRCUS
Kofi Johnson. Evan Braun. SummerFest. "The Show" Triple H. "The Man" Mark Henry. There's gotta be more. Bottom line: RAW was a dice roll every week since Donald Trump came round. Sometimes you rolled a 6 and scored Bob Barker. Other (most) times you rolled a 1 and got Joey Kyle and Jeff Joey or whoever the fuck those Nascar dorks were. Sometimes the show was a trainwreck. Other times it was a hit because of how much of a hilarious trainwreck it was. The worst part is that RAW is being sold to us as a show that asks you to tune in for, not wrestling (sometimes not even storylines!), but to buy whatever some Z-list celebrity is selling.
I can't wait to look back on this in a couple years and be reminded of how this gimmick cheapened any potentially good storyline (ex: Hey, remember that sweet feud DX had? It all started when Verne Troyer got mad because last week Cedric the Entertainer made a match that... ah gad).
HORNSWOGGLE/DXCAPADES
I don't understand the kind of person that is old enough to remember DX but laughs at Hornswoggle. Makes me want to barf.
KID ROCK'S WRESTLEMANIA AIRTIME
Dude spent like twenty minutes rocking out, and got more airtime than JBL/Mysterio from this year (probably countless other guys from other years - like Lance Storm who's got a grand total of 0 WM minutes!). And using his performance to introduce the divas for the battle royale was completely retarded, considering that no one even knew the ones that were returning. God DAMN.
LETDOWNS
2009
JACK SWAGGER MOVED TO RAW
Seriously. Swagger was getting deadly heat on ECW as the top heel. His move to RAW seemed like it was going to be a big deal. It wasn't. He's getting played like the "goofy" heel who loses every week. I fear for his career sometimes. Godspeed, Jack Swagger.
MATT HARDY
Another ECW-to-main-roster letdown. Matt Hardy still gets a pretty big pop for a guy that's done nothing for the past who knows how long. Teaming with The Great Khali has to be a bummer.
TRANSFORMED
2009
Photo courtesy of Scott Finkelstein's Get Lost Photography
CHRIS HERO - TO - THAT YOUNG KNOCKOUT KID
Hero went from being a guy that wasn't featured on every ROH event, to a guy who his at the top of the main event scene. From Sweet 'N' Sour to concussing with his kicks and givin' KO's with his elbows. Hero is the real deal.
BIG SHOW - TO - ENTERTAINING?
Big Show started 2009 as a love interest for Vickie Guerrero. He then actually became entertaining when he found himself paired with Chris Jericho (can that man do ANY wrong?!), spending four months as an integral part of both RAW and Smackdown! But now he's back to being just same old angry Big Show. Eh.
"HEH HEH" BATISTA - TO - "UR SPOSEDA BE MY FRENNNN!!!" BATISTA
I, as much as anybody, was totally sick of that "I shrug off anything because wrestling is fake" Batista. Batista makes so much more sense as a heel to me. And he's killing it on Smackdown! right now.
LIVE
2009
ROH IN NOVI - "ARIES VS. RICHARDS"
Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards was the best match I've ever seen live. The rest of the show, wasn't as great, because that would be impossible, but it was still totally awesome. Steenerico vs. The Young Bucks ruled, as did Hero/Strong. The other highlight would have to be Omega facing Nakajima, which, if I remember correctly, had kind of a fucked up finish, but only because Omega was dropped on his head earlier in the match with a super high angle German Suplex.
ROH IN MISSISSAUGA - "THE OMEGA EFFECT"
Omega vs. Aries was a fantastic match, but maybe not quite as good as Aries' match the night before with Davey. The show was, again, awesome, with Generico/Nakajima maybe topping Omega/Nakajima. I got to see some sweet live wrestling this year.
And that's all. Stay tuned for my final wrap-up that will separate all categories for easy navigation. NEAT!
MATCHES, STARS 2009: FEATURING DAVEY RICHARDS
Okay, this 2009 recap is just spiralling out of control (and into February), so I think it's about time to wrap things up.
I was hoping to hold off on mentioning matches until I finished watching the Final Countdown tour, but that's not going to happen for a few days, and I want to put a stamp on this thing by the weekend.
So that brings me to this alternate-style of recapping the matches of 2009...
2009 IN MATCHES
AKA A YEAR OF DAVEY RICHARDS
Nobody else put on as many great matches this past year as Davey Richards. In fact, let's see what that looks like (Davey vs. everybody else):
MOTY'S WITH DAVEY RICHARDS
Davey Richards vs. KENTA (ROH: Supercard of Honor IV)
Davey Richards vs. Shingo (DGUSA: Open The Untouchable Gate)
Davey Richards vs. Kevin Steen (ROH: Never Say Die)
Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries (ROH: Aries vs. Richards)
American Wolves vs. Tyler Black and Bryan Danielson (ROH: World Tag Title Classic)
American Wolves vs. Roderick Strong & KENTA (ROH: Violent Tendencies)
American Wolves vs. Young Bucks (ROH: ROH On HDNet)
American Wolves vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (ROH: Glory By Honor VIII) (Okay, still haven't seen it, but if it doesn't end up in this list after I see it, I assume it was because my eyes fell out of my head or something)
MOTY'S WITHOUT DAVEY RICHARDS
Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (WWE: WrestleMania XXV)
Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio (WWE: The Bash)
Chris Hero vs. Eddie Kingston (ROH: Final Battle 2009)
Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black (ROH: ROH On HDNet)
Nigel McGuinness vs. KENTA (ROH: 7th Anniversary Show)
CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy (WWE: SummerSlam)
Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black vs. Jerry Lynn (ROH: Manhattan Mayhem III)
I'm obviously missing tons of stuff here (TNA, PWG, CHIKARA, NOAH, etc.), but I can only go by what I've seen this year, and I really don't see much of the above, although I will be getting around to it this year (minus TNAlol).
And I'm even probably missing some stuff that I have seen and just plum forgot about, but I'm just rifling these off of the top of my head and taking it a little more casually.
And maybe I'm being a little (a lot) biased because of the title of this post. So while this post seems to be all high and mighty on Davey, despite me not seeing every wrestling match to happen in 2009, I'm sticking by my word!
ENOUGH EXCUSES!
The point is Davey was in a shocking amount of stellar matches this year. And he is well on his way to becoming a world champion outside of FIP.
Friday, December 11, 2009
STARS 2009 (HONOURABLE MENTION): KENNY OMEGA
Honourably Mention'd because: He's just now hitting his stride and making waves near the end of 2009.
It was only a year and a half ago that Kenny Omega debuted in Ring of Honor, and I was lucky enough to be at that very show. He lost to Delirious in a fun undercard match, and even got some cheers right after.
Since then, Omega has...
- Pinned ROH World Champion Austin Aries (DBDH VII, Toronto, ON)
- Defeated Pro Wrestling NOAH Star Katsuhiko Nakajima (Title TBA, Novi, MI)
- Unsuccessfully challenged for the ROH World Title vs. Austin Aries in a fantastic match (Title TBA, Mississauga, ON)
And now this...
*SPOILERS FOR THOSE WAITING FOR A CERTAIN PWG DVD!*
...
...
KENNY OMEGA
BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES 2009 WINNER - AND PWG WORLD CHAMPION
(Okay so that's not the PWG Title, but let's just pretend!)
Omega won the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles, an annual tournament that is normally just for bragging rights (past winners: Davey Richards, CIMA, Low Ki). But this year, after Bryan Danielson won the belt in his last PWG, he vacated the title and declared that the winner of the 2009 BOLA would be the new champion.
Needless to say, whoever won the tourney would be a surefire star in the Indy scene.
Omega defeated three big PWG mainstays in Kevin Steen, Scott Lost and Joey Ryan (with Ryan and Steen being former PWG Champs), and in the finals defeated a man who's 2009 year has been filled with incredible matches (and has maybe been slightly overlooked because of Davey's great year of matches)... Roderick Strong.
But not only is he the PWG World Champion... he is also the Champion of Anywhere.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
STARS 2009: CHRIS JERICHO
This really goes without saying, but I'm saying it anyway.
2008 was Jericho's singles year. He transformed himself into an entirely new heel character that was somehow even better than the ones he's played in the past. He won the World Heavyweight Title on two occasions. He was the Superstar of the Year, had the WWE MOTY (er... not counting WM) in his Ladder Match with Shawn Michaels and continuously outdid himself week in and week out on the mic.
How on earth could he have topped himself in '09? He made the Big Show watchable.
Sometimes it's crazy how good he is, and how respected and loved he is by the IWC. I almost think someone said "I bet if you punched a woman in the face and dealt out homophobic slurs in public, you'd still be over." And he did. And he is.
Here's just a small recap of what Chris Jericho did in 2009:
- Was clocked by Mickey Rourke
- Broke his own record for most Intercontinental Championship reigns (9)
- Went into The Bash as IC Champ, came out as co-Unified Tag Team Champions with Edge
- Has been the longest reigning Tag Team Champion in two years
- Made any fish-out-of-water guest host seem entertaining
He won't win, but he deserves the Slammy for Superstar of the Year 2009 next week, in my book (uh, blog). Well, him or Punk, if we're talking about who I've been most entertained by for the entire year. ... That totally sounds so smarky (wahhh only CM Punk and Chris Jericho are good! waah!), but I can't help it.
CHRIS JERICHO
FOR 2009 SUPERSTAR OF THE YEAR
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
STARS, NEWS, FEUDS 2009: CM PUNK AND JEFF HARDY HIGHS AND LOWS
That's the best way I can sum up 2009 for these two. Pun not intended.
CM PUNK
HIGHS
- Kicked off 2009 by winning the Intercontinental Title, making him a Triple Crown Champion. Punk won all three titles within 228 days, only four days shy of the fastest-ever Triple Crown Champion... uh, Diesel.
- Won the Money in the Bank Ladder Match for the second year in a row at WrestleMania XXV.
- Was pushed to the main event after being drafted to Smackdown!
- Cashed in his MITB contract on new World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy, thus starting the best slow-burn heel turn in recent memory.
- Had the feud of the year with Jeff Hardy over the World Heavyweight Championship, eventually winning the title for a third time
- Was proven to be so good on the mic, that even without a feud he could remain the most over heel on Smackdown by feuding with the fans
JEFF HARDY
HIGHS
- Entered 2009 as WWE Champion
- Was the most over face consistently for the majority of the year
- Won the World Heavyweight Title twice
- Had the feud of the year with CM Punk
- Put on entertaining main event matches all year with Punk. Edge and his brother Matt
CM PUNK
LOWS
- Squashed in the opening match of WWE Hell in a Cell, dropping the title to Undertaker
- Feud with Undertaker never got the blow off it deserved
- Was left without a feud after Undertaker took the belt
- Feuded with R-Truth and Scott Armstrong
JEFF HARDY
LOWS
- Was denied a WrestleMania WWE Title match when he dropped the belt to Edge to feud with his freshly turned brother Matt. What made this seem even more underwhelming, is that everyone suspected that Christian was behind Jeff Hardy's "accidents," but it ended up being Matt Hardy, which could've been (speculation) because word got out that Christian was returning. Frig.
- His feud with Punk touched on Hardy's drug-related past, which was amazing. Until Jeff left, only to be charged with drug trafficking.
CM PUNK VS. JEFF HARDY
WWE FEUD OF THE YEAR
While they weren't really up against anything else (HHH/Orton didn't deliver, Cena/Orton was hit and miss, Jericho/Rey was a close second), this feud nailed every aspect of a good feud, and felt fresh and exciting all at the same time.
So while Punk and Hardy had ups and downs all year long, their feud this summer made WWE worth catching every week:
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