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Pro Wrestling

Ranking All 91 Matches in the G1 Climax 26 Tournament

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Welcome to my second annual ranking of the best matches in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s G1 Climax tournament! The same caveats from last year apply, e.g. rankings are difficult, they’re just opinions, etc. Rather than repeat myself, I’d like to use this space to discuss this year’s themes.

Before the tournament, smart money was on Tetsuya Naito to win. He had just lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Okada and a rematch seemed immenent. He did go on to have, in my opinion, the best showing of anyone in the tournament despite not winning his block.

Naomichi Marafuji and Katsuhiko Nakajima from Pro Wrestling Noah were in the tournament, and both looked excellent. Marafuji’s chops are the stiffest in wrestling and left many bruised chests in their wake. Nakajima displayed great ring pyschology in his match with Yuji Nagata and toughness in his match with Michael Elgin. He really impressed.

In what was likely his final G1 Climax tournament, Hiroyoshi Tenzan put on some solid performances, particularly against Tomohiro Ishii. YOSHI-HASHI, SANADA, EVIL, and Tama Tonga made their G1 debuts and all came out looking better for it. I thought YOSHI-HASHI in particular took a big step forward.

The final two nights of the G1 were outstanding. Plenty of scenarios were still in play such that the winner of each block was very much up in the air. The final A and B block matches on nights 17 and 18 stand out as two of the best matches I’ve seen in my entire life. Kenny Omega won the G1 Climax 26 as a total darkhorse, and became the first gaijin to ever accomplish that feat.

And now the rankings. The number after each match indicates the night on which it took place. A block matches were on odd nights and B block matches on even nights. All of these matches can be viewed online at New Japan World:

 

Match-of-the-Year Candidates

  1. Okada vs. Tanahshi (17) – Going into the final day of Block A action, a number of scenarios were still in play. Okada, Tanahashi, Goto, Marafuji, and Bad Luck Fale all still had chances to win the block. Fale would be upset by Tama Tonga, while Marafuji would be eliminated by Goto. Goto had lost to both Tanahashi and Okada earlier in the tournament and held no tiebreaker advantage. His only chance of winning was if Okada and Tanahashi went to a 30-minute time limit draw. Otherwise, the winner of this main event would be the winner of Block A. After having put together numerous classic matches over the past few years, most recently at Wrestle Kingdom 10, this match had a lot to live up to.

    And it delivered in a big way. The crowd was vocal even before the opening bell. After a series of chain wrestling sequences, Tanahashi ended a clean break with a slap to Okada’s face. Enraged, Okada exploded into a quick succession of high impact maneuvers, struck the Rainmaker pose, then went for the Rainmaker Clothesline just three minutes in. Tanahashi’s roll-up quickly swung momentum in the other direction and led to a standoff. That was one hot firecracker to set off so early, but it educated the audience that in this match, anything was possible at any time. After some innovative mat work, the action spilled to the outside. Tanahashi hit the first of many dragonscrew leg whips by twisting Okada’s leg across the top of the guardrail. Tanahashi stayed on the offensive and connected with a huge High Fly Flow off the top turnbuckle to the floor. When it looked as if Okada might get counted out, Tanahashi went to retrieve the champion, who surprised him with a piledriver onto the floor.

    A series of flurries with surprise counters followed. About 20 minutes in the crowd got the sense that any move now could be the last. Tanahashi almost got a submission with a really deep, Liontamer-like Texas Cloverleaf. He hit a reverse slingblade, a High Fly Flow onto Okada’s back, but hit Okada’s knees on the third attempt. Okada seized the moment, set up Tanahashi for a piledriver, only to see it reversed. Tanahashi went for the High Fly Flow again but Okada connected with his signature dropkick. The rest of this match was a thing of beauty for which no recap can do full justice. The seesaw of momentum swung with high magnitude and frequency, driven largely by Okada’s repeated attempts to hit the Rainmaker Clothesline. After an exchange, Okada refused to release his grip on an exhausted Tanahashi’s wrist. He pulled Tanahashi in and connected with a big Rainmaker-style clothesline. He tried to finish him off with a second, but Tanahashi reversed into a full nelson suplex. “ONE MINUTE LEFT,” they announced over the PA system! Okada kicked out and hit a cradle piledriver. Tanahashi kicked out, so Okada went to finish him with the Rainmaker Clothesline, “THIRTY SECONDS LEFT” but Tanahashi reversed into the sling blade again. Is your head spinning yet? Tanahashi flew to the top turnbuckle “TWENTY SECONDS” and connected with the High Fly Flow. In a pivotal moment, Tanahashi decided “TEN SECONDS” he needed one more High Fly Flow to finish Okada off. He flew back to the top while many members of the audience were begging him to cover Okada before he ran out of time. Tanahashi hit the second High Fly Flow, and may very well have scored the pin, but time ran out at the referee’s count of two. They tie, and while Goto may have won the block, we all came out as winners. No two wrestlers in the world may have better synergy than these two. It was so good I got goosebumps just writing this recap.

  2. Kenny Omega vs. Naito (18) – The final match of Block B would be decisive. The winner would advance to face Hirooki Goto in the Finals the following day. Goto had won his block by virtue of a tie between Tanahashi and Okada in their main event. The challenge Omega and Naito faced was that Tanahashi and Okada’s match may be remembered as one of the greatest G1 matches of all time. Being able to approach that bar would take all of their talents. And they pulled it off.

    Kenny was demonstrably not impressive by Naito’s entrance. Naito took it slow early, knowing that he could win the block with a tie. Steve Corino on English commentary astutely observed that the strategy would put considerable strain on Naito’s cardiovascular system and compromise him in the following night’s finals. Taking it slow would be quickly erased as an option, because Kenny Omega turned on the jets and would not let up. The key to the match was Omega’s knee. Naito attacked it early and often, leaving Kenny to hobble around for literally the entire match – superior job of selling the injury. Naito, who always seemed to know exactly what to do in those limited timeframes, would often exploit the small delays in Kenny’s offense. Kenny would then bounce back ferociously and unexpectedly. This seesaw theme repeated with new variations throughout the match. The psychology through all of it was sound and compelling.

    Kenny body slammed Naito kidney-first into the ring apron. Then he powerbombed him through a table beyond the guardrail. Then he did a Tope Con Hilo over the top rope into the crowd and onto Naito. The pace never let up, largely due to Kenny’s relentless motor. He absolutely crushed Naito with a series of knee strikes, some employed as counters. There were tons of great near falls after this. Naito hit a super reverse frankensteiner. Kenny hit a cradle back-to-belly piledriver. As the time ticked below four minutes, Kenny desperately tried time and again for One Winged Angel. Naito sucked Kenny in with a slam, but his diving head collided with Kenny’s jumping knee. One Winged Angel was blocked, so Kenny turned it into a German suplex. Finally the One Winged Angel hit and KENNY OMEGA WINS HIS BLOCK!!! The shot of Naito being dragged from the ring while still grasping towards Omega in the ring was gorgeous.

    What a war. With the win, Omega became the first Canadian to advance to the finals of the G1 Climax. For me, the result was genuinely shocking since I thought New Japan was using this tournament to set up a rubber match between Okada and Naito at Wrestle Kingdom. But perhaps this was the way to tell the story of Naito being unable to win the biggest matches without the help of Los Ingobernables. For Kenny Omega, this was the biggest match of his career, and the best I’ve ever seen him perform. If played the right way, Kenny Omega took a big step up towards top star status.

  3. Kenny Omega vs. Goto (Finals) – If you asked most people to predict which two wrestlers would be facing off in the finals of this year’s G1 Climax, you could have made big money on the long odds of Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto. Yet despite it all, both men had a great tournament and deserved to be in this spot. The crowd seemed largely behind Omega, particularly when Goto attempted to exploit the knee injury Omega suffered at the hands of Naito the previous night. Goto’s attack was a great way to continue the story and sell the point that he would do what was necessary to win.

    While the match couldn’t exceed the ridiculously high bar set by the A Block and B Block finals, this was still my third favorite match of the entire tournament. As usual, Kenny Omega wrestled like he could never get tired, and Goto fought with a fierce fighting spirit. After a lengthy back and forth, the finale saw Omega try numerous attempts to hit the One Winged Angel. When he finally hit it and got the three count, the building exploded, as Kenny Omega had become the very first foreign wrestler to ever win the G1 Climax tournament. His victory speech given in both English and Japanese was a nice touch that showed how he is really one of the very best in the world today.

  4. Ishii vs. Okada (13) – This match started so hot, and with such high-impact moves that there were plausible near falls in the first thirty seconds! These two members of CHAOS know each other exceptionally well. This familiarity no doubt played a large part in the chemistry they displayed in the ring. From the outset, they told the story that Ishii was every bit the match for Okada. Once the crowd caught on to that, they were hooked. As usual, Okada was very fluid, but Ishii matched his counters every step of the way. Okada and Ishii kept trying for the Rainmaker Clothesline and brainbuster, respectively, but had to settle for other high impact moves that couldn’t quite finish up their opponent, but which lead to a collection of outstanding near falls. The finish was genuinely satisfying. I just sat in my chair muttering, “Man, that was really, really good.”

  5. Shibata vs. Naito (8) – Shibata entered with both his knee and shoulder heavily taped. He also entered angry and not willing to take any nonsense from Naito. This led to his propelling Naito at high velocity into the guardrails, sending him toppling into the crowd. Naito responded by wrapping Shibata’s knee in the guardrail, then executing a dropkick from the apron into the guardrail. Naito focused his offense on Shibata’s knee, mostly with a collection of excellent submissions. Naito’s taunting allowed Shibata to gather his fighting spirit, and the battle equalized. The end sequence was really snug and told a great story. I’d pay to watch these two guys go at it any day of the week.

  6. Naito vs. Elgin (4) – This G1 main event at Korakuen Hall absolutely rocked! Naito worked the knee, Elgin sold expertly, and it remained a focal point of the story for the entire match, eventually leading to the finish. Despite the pain, Elgin would not surrender, countering all of Naito’s signature offense with his peerless display of power. Big impacts were given time to breathe. A collection of great counters heightened audience investment. The way the pin was arrived at was smart and fluid. It was a clear victory, but neither man really lost here.

Excellent

  1. Nakajima vs. Elgin (18)
  2. Okada vs. Goto (5)
  3. Marafuji vs. Okada (1)
  4. Goto vs. Marafuji (17)
  5. Elgin vs. Shibata (6)
  6. Tanahashi vs. Marafuji (13)
  7. SANADA vs. Tanahashi (1)
  8. Naito vs. YOSHI-HASHI (16)
  9. Naito vs. Nakajima (12)
  10. Naito vs. Honma (10)
  11. Tanahashi vs. Goto (9)
  12. Nakajima vs. Nagata (8)
  13. Elgin vs. Honma (16)
  14. Ishii vs Makabe (17)
  15. Tenzan vs. Ishii (1)
  16. Elgin vs. Kenny Omega (8)
  17. EVIL vs. Shibata (18)
  18. Naito vs. EVIL (14)

Pretty Good

  1. Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale (7)
  2. YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kenny Omega (2)
  3. YOSHI-HASHI vs. EVIL (8)
  4. Shibata vs. Nakajima (4)
  5. Tanahashi vs. Ishii (11)
  6. Kenny Omega vs. Nakajima (16)
  7. SANADA vs. Ishii (14)
  8. Tama Tonga vs. SANADA (13)
  9. Yano vs. Nagata (12)
  10. Makabe vs. Tanahashi (3)
  11. Bad Luck Fale vs. Okada (15)
  12. Okada vs. SANADA (3)
  13. YOSHI-HASHI vs. Nakajima (10)
  14. Kenny Omega vs. Yano (4)
  15. Goto vs. Makable (15)
  16. Nakajima vs. EVIL (6)
  17. Elgin vs. YOSHI-HASHI (12)
  18. Okada vs. Tenzan (9)
  19. Marafuji vs. Tama Tonga (15)
  20. EVIL vs. Honma (12)
  21. Kenny Omega vs. Honma (6)
  22. Goto vs. Tenzan (13)
  23. Shibata vs. Kenny Omega (12)
  24. Tanahashi vs. Tenzan (15)
  25. Goto vs. Tama Tonga (11)
  26. Kenny Omega vs. EVIL (10)
  27. Tama Tonga vs. Bad Luck Fale (17)
  28. Okada vs. Makabe (11)
  29. Marafuji vs. Makabe (9)
  30. Bad Luck Fale vs. Marafuji (3)
  31. SANADA vs. Goto (7)
  32. Shibata vs. Nagata (16)
  33. Elgin vs. Nagata (10)
  34. Kenny Omega vs. Nagata (14)
  35. Honma vs. YOSHI-HASHI (4)
  36. Nagata vs. Naito (2)
  37. Honma vs. Shibata (2)
  38. Tama Tonga vs. Tanahashi (5)
  39. Nakajima vs. Honma (14)
  40. Goto vs. Ishii (3)
  41. Shibata vs. YOSHI-HASHI (14)
  42. SANADA vs. Tenzan (17)
  43. Okada vs. Tama Tonga (7)
  44. Ishii vs. Marafuji (7)
  45. Marafuji vs. Tenzan (5)
  46. Nagata vs. YOSHI-HASHI (6)
  47. Naito vs. Yano (6)
  48. EVIL vs. Michael Elgin (2)
  49. Bad Luck Fale vs. Makabe (13)
  50. Honma vs. Nagata (18)
  51. Marafuji vs. SANADA (11)
  52. Yano vs. Elgin (14)
  53. Makabe vs. SANADA (5)
  54. Nagata vs. EVIL (4)
  55. Bad Luck Fale vs. SANADA (9)

Decent to “Just There”

  1. Makabe vs. Tama Tonga (1)
  2. Makabe vs. Tenzan (7)
  3. Nakajima vs. Yano (2)
  4. Goto vs. Bad Luck Fale (1)
  5. Yano vs. YOSHI-HASHI (18)
  6. Yano vs. Shibata (10)
  7. Tama Tonga vs. Ishii (9)
  8. EVIL vs. Yano (16)
  9. Yano vs. Honma (8)
  10. Ishii vs. Bad Luck Fale (5)
  11. Bad Luck Fale vs. Tenzan (11)
  12. Tenzan vs. Tama Tonga (3)

 

Pro Wrestling

The Best Professional Wrestling Matches of 2015

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I am proud to present my list of the best professional wrestling matches of 2015!  Only matches that I have viewed personally are eligible for this list, which largely limits this consideration to WWE, NXT, Ring of Honor, and New Japan Pro Wrestling (sorry TNA).  I’ve sorted these matches into silver, gold, and platinum tiers with the latter containing my personal ranking for the top nine matches of the year.  Of the 26 listed, the breakdown by company is:

New Japan Pro Wrestling – 13
WWE – 6
Ring of Honor – 4
NXT – 3

A handful of performers deserve special recognition for appearing on this list multiple times.  These include AJ Styles (5), Kota Ibushi (5), Hiroshi Tanahashi (5), John Cena (3), Shinsuke Nakamura (3), Kazuchika Okada (3), Seth Rollins (3), and Roderick Strong (3).

 

Silver Tier

Kazuchika Okada vs. Roderick Strong – Field of Honor – An excellent addition to the Roderick Strong Versus the World Tour.  Witnessing one of the very best American wrestlers grapple with the IWGP Heavyweight Champion was an absolute pleasure.

Jason Jordan and Chad Gable vs. Rhyno and Baron Corbin – NXT TakeOver: Respect – Jason Jordan and Chad Gable have done an amazing job of winning over the NXT crowd with little more than being excellent in the ring.  Gable is a chain wrestling prodigy, while Jordan is a hard-hitting amateur-style star in the making.  This was the biggest match these two had ever been in, and they delivered.  Corbin’s End of Days in this match was a thing a beauty.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata – G1 Climax Day 13 – This was a Shibata-style match, but Tanahashi hung with him the entire time, proving why he is one of the best in the world.  In one memorable sequence Tanahashi stopped Shibata’s signature hesitation dropkick with a kick to his shin.  When Shibata ran to the far rope to try it again, Tanahashi rose from the corner to counterstrike, but Shibata turned around quickly and delivered the European uppercut.  Spots like these made this match feel familiar and original all at once.  They traded submissions, then worked up to strikes.  The finish deflated me, but could not diminish the quality of a contest that was fun from start to finish.

Seth Rollins (c) vs. Neville for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship – Monday Night Raw June 3 – In my opinion this was Neville’s best match in WWE.  He executed a number flips and ranas the WWE audience had never seen before.  The unconscious Rollins’s foot on the rope following the Red Arrow was one of the closest two-counts EVER in a WWE Championship match.  Outstanding, athletic, heart-racing stuff.

Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito – G1 Climax Day 11 – By this point, Naito had fully adopted the role of despicable heel, while Ibushi fought with heart and full crowd support.  There were some AWESOME high-impact maneuvers and counters in this one, like Naito’s top rope reverse hurricanrana that I thought took Ibushi’s head off, and Ibushi’s jumping over Naito’s sliding kick and landing straight on Naito’s chest.  This match actually made me yell out loud at multiple moments.  These two have such amazing chemistry together.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kota Ibushi – G1 Climax Day 7 – This was probably the best third-match-from-the-top of any of the G1 Climax shows this year.  You knew with the talent of the men involved that this was going to be great, and it was.  If only they had given them more time.

Jay Lethal (c) vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH Championship – Death Before Dishonor – One of two matches on this list that I saw live this year, this 60-minute marathon had a polarizing effect on fans.  Some thought it went too long without a satisfying conclusion.  I’m in the other camp that marvels at the ability for two wrestlers to perform the very difficult feat of going the hour.  This is worth your time.

Seth Rollins (c) vs. John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship – SummerSlam/Night of Champions – I’m lumping these two matches together because I thought they were equally good.  I want to pay special attention to the SummerSlam match where Rollins just totally rocked it.  He adopted the new white gear, and since he was given a chance to work a long match, looked like a superstar.  Rollins brought out a lot of stuff we don’t normally see from him like the frog splash, roll-through Attitude Adjustment, and superplex into a falcon arrow.  The crowd’s energy was excellent as well.  Even the Jon Stewart finish couldn’t take away from two of 2015’s best.

 

Gold Tier

Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Tomoaki Honma for the NEVER Championship – Power Struggle – This was similar is style to their match at New Beginning Sendai, but better on all levels.  These men fought like warriors, connecting with more high impact clotheslines, slaps, elbows, and by-God headbuts than I could count.  After missing the first couple, Honma hit a suite of Kokeshis from every possible angle including a sick one off the top rope to the floor.  The last few minutes saw a slew of near falls following moves that looked like they could kill a normal person.  I thought it was over numerous times before Ishii finished Honma off with the brainbuster.  The crowd was super into it, and the sight of Honma being helped out in tears was perfect.  Excellent match!

HHH vs. Sting – Wrestlemania XXXI – I understand that this might be a unpopular choice for some because, let’s face it, the action in the ring was not the best you’re going to see.  However, the spectacle of seeing Sting wrestling in a WWE ring for the first time was definitely special.  What made the match for me though, was a first-time ever epic encounter between DX and the nWo.  I know they’re all really friends and were standing together at the Hall of Fame the night before, but it didn’t matter to me.  Plus, it’s Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania.  I apologize for being such a mark.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Wrestle Kingdom 9 – The story going into this match was that in order for Okada to become the “ace” or “face” of the company, he had to go through Tanahashi first.  This was outstanding from bell to bell.  Both men won their share of fan support before the end of the match brought them to a frenzy.  For the very first time, someone (Tanahashi) kicked out of the Rainmaker Clothesline!  This match provided great drama and a surprising finish – one that would ultimately pay off a year later – that make this a must-see.

Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship – Wrestle Kingdom 9 – Both of these men had an excellent year filled with classic matches, but in the eyes of many, including me, this is one of the best.  Dave Meltzer gave this match 5 stars and I’m not going to argue with his assessment.  The sight of Ibushi German suplexing Nakamura into the ring while standing the second rope still hangs with me.  If you are a wrestling fan and missed this match, do yourself a service and find it.  It is beyond excellent.

ROH All Stars (The Briscoes, Roderick Strong & War Machine) vs. Bullet Club (AJ Styles, The Young Buck, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) – War of the Worlds Night 1 – This was probably the best 10-man tag match I have ever seen.  The action was so fast, furious, and impactful that it was hard to even keep up with all of it.  Each wrestler was given an opportunity to look like a star and the finish took nothing away from anybody.  You might call this a demolition derby, and it might be more candy than steak, but my goodness was it delicious candy.  This was one of ROH’s best matches of 2015.

KUSHIDA vs. Kyle O’Reilly – New Japan Best of the Super Jr.’s Finals – These two fought like heroes for 32 minutes. Both men suffered arm injuries in the match which caused them to adapt their styles. There were plenty of high-impact moves, strikes, parries, counterstrikes, dodges, and chain wrestling.  The last five minutes were packed with edge-of-your-seat action and dramatic near falls.  The winner moved into a higher position, and the loser looks better in the loss than when he came in.  This is the way wrestling is supposed to be done.

Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks for the NXT Women’s Championship in a 30-minute Ironman Match – NXT TakeOver: Respect – Many people view Sasha Banks as one of – if not the – best female wrestlers in the world.  In this match, Bayley got to prove that she’s right on that same level.  Because it was held at Full Sail, it didn’t possess the epic aura of their classic in Brooklyn, but the more intimate atmosphere allowed for some great heel antics, like when Sasha stole Izzie’s headband to mock Bayley.  This is was the first time (in my memory) that women were given the opportunity to main event a major show, and they delivered.  The moment when the locker room came out to congratulate Sasha before she moved up to the main roster for good put a giant smile on my face.

Bayley vs. Sasha Banks (c) for the NXT Women’s Championship – NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn – This was absolutely incredible, and arguably the best women’s match in WWE history.  Sasha entered in a giant black SUV flanked by bodyguards, making her look like a total boss.  Her disdain for Bayley’s dream to become champion coursed throughout this match.  The little mannerisms, glances, and details made this special, like when Sasha stomped on Bayley’s hand as she reached for the ropes to break the Bank Statement.  Bayley reversed Sasha into her own Bank Statement.  Sasha kicked out of the Bayley-to-Belly.  Bayley shocked the world with a top rope reverse hurricanrana.  The moment where the Four Horsewomen gathered together in the ring to celebrate was one of my favorite moments of the year.  I felt sorry for the main event.  They had no chance of surpassing this.

John Cena vs. Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar (c) for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship – Royal Rumble – Three consumate professionals competed together and proved just how good they are.  Tight sequences, expertly-exucted manuevers, and impecable timing were everywhere here.  Seth Rollins’s elbow from the top rope through Lesnar on the table was ridiculous!  The Phoenix Splash spot was amazingly well-timed.  The counter of finishers at the end was simply excellent.  If only the rest of WWE’s 2015 was this good.

 

Platinum Tier

9) AJ Styles (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Dominion – This was the best match of what was arguably New Japan’s best show of the year.  The series of rapid counters and near falls was remarkable.  I will never forget the final flurry between these two that eventually ended the match.  I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything better than it.

8) Kevin Owens vs. John Cena – Money in the Bank/Elimination Chamber/Battleground – This was easily the best series of three matches between any two wrestlers this year.  Kevin Owens made a memorable Raw debut by going right after John Cena and telling him that he was going to beat him.  Then, in his first match on the main roster, Kevin Owens did just that.  His win sent shock waves through WWE, raising speculation that maybe there was an opportunity for a new top guy to emerge.  The results of the next two matches dampened that enthusiasm, but we shouldn’t let that distract us from the fact that Owens and Cena produced three absolute classics this year.

7) Kota Ibushi vs. AJ Styles – G1 Climax Day 5 – AJ Styles wrestled this match right around the time he turned 38 years of age.  What’s so remarkable is that I’m not sure he’s hit his peak yet.  He doesn’t seem to have lost any of his athleticism.  His mat wrestling has improved since his time in TNA and his character is more well-developed than ever.  In short, he looks like a superstar.  In this match, AJ had the opportunity to tangle with another one of the top – and underrated – stars in the world, Kota Ibushi.  Ibushi held his own to prove to AJ and all of New Japan that the future is indeed bright.

6) AJ Styles vs. Jay Lethal (c) for the ROH Championship – Final Battle – AJ entered this match having had probably the best year of his professional career.  He was one of the few gaijin to ever hold the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and he put on classics while defending it.  His Bullet Club was one of the hottest acts in wrestling.  More importantly, wherever AJ Styles goes, he’s a megastar.  As mentioned on commentary, Jay Lethal must be included in the discussion for best year of any ROH wrestler ever.  He was the longest reigning TV Champion in history.  He won the World Championship simultaneously and successfully defended both on the same show.  He went an hour with Roderick Strong.  He made himself arguably into Ring of Honor’s top guy.

These factors made this match tremendously compelling.  We entered expecting each to be on top of their game, but both elevated theirs.  The first few minutes saw multiple bouts of superior chain wrestling – acts that were long, fluid and innovative.  Lethal went after the back, knowing that AJ had been rehabbing it for weeks.  Truth interjected himself in all the right moments.  A couple wicked spots near the end of the match – including one involving a table – and a finish that seamlessly incorporated Lethal’s storyline with Jerry Lynn made this my favorite ROH match of 2015.

5) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi – G1 Climax Day 1 – This was the main event of the show that kicked off the G1 Climax tournament, and New Japan picked a doozy.  I usually keep notes during matches, but this time I just got too lost in the action.  The only thing I wrote down afterwards was “wrestling perfection.”  Stop what you’re doing right now and go watch this.

4) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto (c) for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship – Destruction in Kobe – This was the product of two masters of their craft who know each other well.  Throughout the entire contest, we waited for each wrestler’s signature maneuvers, and so did they.  Every move was made new by the creative counters and counters to counters each man employed.  This match included working on body parts, hard hitting Japanese-style striking, fluid and innovative technical wrestling, and a slew of near falls.  The finish was so satisfying that I actually threw my hands up into the air and cheered after the three count.  God, was this good.

3) Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker – Hell in a Cell – JBL commented on how the mood of the entire arena changed when this match started, and he was right.  This had the feel of two men about to go to war.  It was one of the stiffest WWE matches you would see in 2015.  Brock and Taker both bled hardway, and it stood out so much since WWE rarely does blood anymore.  Lesnar employed wicked chair shots, went brarefisted, and executed quick-as-hell suplexes.  Taker took a BEATING, but managed a Hell’s Gate and enough strikes to stay in it.  Both men kicked out of each other’s finishers.  Lesnar’s seeing the tear in the canvas and deciding to tear the ring up was brilliant.  I can’t remember ever seeing the wood beneath the ring in WWE before.  The postmatch was perfect.  Brock is sold as unbeatable, Taker gets minutes of pure respect as if it’s his last match, and the Wyatts carry him away.  I have a busy mind, but I did not lose focus on this for one second.  In my opinion this was the best WWE match of 2015.

2) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. AJ Styles – G1 Climax Day 17 – This was an epic 23-minute contest in which the winner would win the A Block and advance to the G1 Climax Finals.  This was a back-and-forth affair in which both men stayed so evenly matched, you couldn’t wait to see who would ultimately seize the advantage.  Every move seemed to have a counter, and every impact that landed was intense.  This was one of those fights in which all the little things seemed to matter, where the fluidity makes it seem like the game is slowing down for the wrestlers, while we marvel at their heroics in real time.  AJ and Tanahashi eventually hit their own finishers and then the other’s!  The crowd built to a frenzy by the end of this wrestling classic.

1) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – G1 Climax Final – The G1 Climax is unquestionably the greatest annual tournament in wrestling, and the Finals has consistently delivered one of its best matches.  The winner of this one would advance to the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 10 to face the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada.  Okada had regained the championship earlier in the year, but had yet to cement himself as the “ace” of the company.  If Tanahashi won, Okada would face the current ace, and the man he had never been able to defeat at Wrestle Kingdom.  If Nakamura won, Okada would face the leader of his own faction, CHAOS, in a match that could see Nakamura “pass the torch” to his younger stablemate.

With the future direction of New Japan Pro Wrestling on the line, the pressure was squarely on the shoulders of arguably the two greatest professional wrestlers in the world to deliver a match worthy of the set up.  Given the talent levels of Tanahashi and Nakamura, the fans were expecting something special.  We ended up getting a wrestling classic, and one that earns the distinction of being my favorite match of 2015.

Anticipation was palpable.  The fans buzzed like a Wimbledon crowd that wanted to explode into cheers, but which was constrained by respect and cultural convention.  Tanahashi set the early pace by working a headlock.  Once Nakamura escaped, they fell into “wrestling jazz,” a sort of improvisational grappling that ultimately led to a standoff.

Long matches of this kind always need a spark to propel them to the next level.  Here, that spark was disrespectful taunting.  Tanahashi tried for the vibration kick, then Nakamura lightly, mockingly, and repeatedly kicked a kneeling Tanahashi in the face.  Anger and intensity grew.  After Tanahashi hit a crazy High Fly Flow onto Nakamura from the top turnbuckle to the floor, the match shifted into high gear.

Tanahashi executed some wicked dragon screw leg whips and negotiated Nakamura into a Lion Tamer.  Nakamura escaped and hit a pair of Bomaye knees.  Tanahashi attempted to counter a third with a bridging reverse hurricanrana, but Nakamura hit it anyway, leading to a fabulous near fall.  The crowd was electric, as they knew the match could now end at any point.

As both men descended into exhaustion, their shots became stiffer, as if each thought he might only have one more left in the tank.  Tanahashi and Nakamura chain wrestled into their signature maneuvers.  The young lions at ringside displayed expressions of shock.  Finally, Tanahashi won a battle on the top turnbuckle and hit three High Fly Flows.  He covered Nakamura for the pin at the 32-minute mark, causing the crowd to erupt with approval.  I cannot recommend watching this highly enough.

 

Honorable Mentions: Cena vs. Cesaro (Raw June 29 and July 6),  AJ Styles vs. Shibata (G1 Climax Day 1), Ibushi vs. Naito (New Japan Cup semis), Honma vs. Ishii (NEVER Championship – New Beginning Sendai), Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly (ROH Final Battle), The New Day vs. Lucha Dragons vs. Usos (Tag Team Championships – TLC), Cena vs. Sami Zayn (Raw May 4), Sakuraba vs. Shibata (Dominion), Finn Bálor vs. Adrian Neville (NXT Rival), AJ Styles & The Young Bucks vs. Adam Cole, Matt Taven & Michael Bennett (War of the Worlds Night 2), Jack Evans vs. Angelico (PWG Battle of Los Angeles – Night 2), Nakamura vs. Goto (IWGP Intercontinental Championship (Dominion)), The Young Bucks vs. reDragon (ROH 13th Anniversary)

Pro Wrestling

Ranking All 89 Matches in the G1 Climax 25

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Over the last month, I watched every match in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual round-robin tournament, the G1 Climax. This was arguably the undertaking of an insane person. If this is indeed the case, my ranking of every match in the tournament that follows is of little consequence. But for those that have partaken or will partake in G1 Climax 25, I think this may be useful.

The 2015 tournament featured Block A and Block B, each with 10 wrestlers who all faced each other once. That’s nine matches per person, or 90 in total (actually 89 when you discount Shinsuke Nakamua’s injury-based forfeit over Michael Elgin). There were five matches per night, spread over 18 nights. The night a match occurred has been placed in parentheses.

As the tournament progressed, I tried my best to assess how each match ranked in comparison to all the others. This was quite challenging for a number of reasons. First, my frame of mind changed from day-to-day, and even from hour-to-hour. A match I enjoyed on Wednesday night, I might have found dull on a Saturday afternoon. Second, since most of these were watched late at night, I got sleepy during parts, which affected both my immediate perception and…Third, my memory. As I write this, for example, I have no idea what happened in the Kojima vs. Anderson match. The best I could do is recall the feeling I had while watching it. If that didn’t work, I tried to figure out how good the match was relative to Kojima’s other matches, or Anderson’s other matches. Fourth, as impartial as I tried to be, I have my favorites. I am a huge fan of Kota Ibushi and Michael Elgin, for example. On the other hand, NJPW could have axed Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Yujiro Takahashi and my life would have been a better place. These biases have unquestionably crept into this ranking.

Of course, even if I had been able to watch every match with no bias and perfect mental and spiritual clarity, these are still going to be my opinions. I will not argue that my rankings are “correct” and everyone else’s are “garbage”, or any other Internet trolling thing of the sort. If you have AJ Styles vs. Tenzan at #42 rather than #62, hell, you might very well be right. Again, Mike Specian = imperfect.

With those disclaimers out of the way, I have separated the G1 Climax 25 matches into four categories. The first eight matches I deem as “absolute must-see”. Each of these is a legitimate match-of-the-year contender. You should go out of your way to see them. The second category is “don’t miss”. These are all very good to great matches that don’t quite reach the elite level. The third category offers solid efforts that aren’t a waste of your time, but which for the most part were not particularly memorable. The final category is the bottom-of-the-barrel fare. While there is some decent stuff in there, we only have so many hours in the day so…prioritize, I guess.

 

Match-of-the-Year Candidates

  1. Tanahashi vs. AJ Styles (17)
  2. Tanahashi vs. Ibushi (1)
  3. Ibushi vs. AJ Styles (5)
  4. Tanahashi vs. Shibata (13)
  5. Ishii vs. Elgin (18)
  6. Naito vs. Ibushi (11)
  7. Shibata vs. Ibushi (7)
  8. Elgin vs. Goto (16)

Excellent

  1. Goto vs. Ishii (14)
  2. Nakamura vs. Goto (10)
  3. Goto vs. Okada (8)
  4. AJ Styles vs. Shibata (1)
  5. Nakamura vs. Okada (18)
  6. Anderson vs. Elgin (14)
  7. Naito vs. Tanahashi (5)
  8. Shibata vs. Naito (3)
  9. Okada vs. Ishii (12)
  10. Okada vs. Honma (4)
  11. Nakamura vs. Ishii (8)
  12. AJ Styles vs. Bad Luck Fale (15)
  13. Takahashi vs. Honma (18)
  14. Okada vs. Takahashi (14)
  15. Elgin vs. Honma (8)
  16. Ishii vs. Nagata (10)
  17. Naito vs. AJ Styles (7)

Pretty Good

  1. Honma vs. Ishii (16)
  2. Shibata vs. Makabe (5)
  3. Nagata vs. Kojima (14)
  4. Nakamura vs. Honma (14)
  5. Okada vs. Nagata (16)
  6. AJ Styles vs. Yano (3)
  7. Okada vs. Elgin (2)
  8. Anderson vs. Honma (12)
  9. Ishii vs. Anderson (5)
  10. Ibushi vs. Makabe (17)
  11. Okada vs. Anderson (10)
  12. Goto vs. Honma (6)
  13. Anderson vs. Nakamura (2)
  14. AJ Styles vs. Makabe (11)
  15. Nagata vs. Goto (18)
  16. Tenzan vs. Shibata (15)
  17. Yano vs. Shibata (11)
  18. Bad Luck Fale vs. Tanahashi (7)
  19. Kojima vs. Elgin (4)
  20. Anderson vs. Nagata (8)
  21. Tanahashi vs. Yano (9)
  22. Tanahashi vs. Makabe (15)
  23. Gallows vs. Naito (15)
  24. Yano vs Tenzan (5)
  25. Tanahashi vs. Tenzan (3)
  26. Nakamura vs. Nagata (4)
  27. Tenzan vs. Naito (17)
  28. Makabe vs. Gallows (13)
  29. Elgin vs. Nagata (12)
  30. Nakamura vs. Kojima (16)
  31. Okada vs. Kojima (6)
  32. Elgin vs. Takahashi (10)
  33. AJ Styles vs. Tenzan (13)
  34. Makabe vs Naito (9)
  35. AJ Styles vs. Gallows (9)
  36. Kojima vs. Anderson (18)
  37. Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale (1)
  38. Naito vs. Yano (13)
  39. Gallows vs. Yano (7)
  40. Ibushi vs. Tenzan (9)
  41. Takahashi vs. Kojima (8)
  42. Shibata vs. Bad Luck Fale (9)
  43. Nakamura vs. Takahashi (12)
  44. Bad Luck Fale vs. Gallows (5)

Decent to “Just There”

  1. Bad Luck Fale vs. Makabe (3)
  2. Makabe vs. Yano (1)
  3. Anderson vs. Goto (4)
  4. Nagata vs. Honma (2)
  5. Ibushi vs. Gallows (3)
  6. Takahashi vs. Nagata (6)
  7. Goto vs. Kojima (12)
  8. Gallows vs. Shibata (17)
  9. Yano vs. Ibushi (15)
  10. Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale (17)
  11. Tanahashi vs. Gallows (11)
  12. Bad Luck Fale vs. Ibushi (13)
  13. Makabe vs. Tenzan (7)
  14. Kojima vs. Honma (10)
  15. Anderson vs. Takahashi (16)
  16. Ishii vs. Takahashi (4)
  17. Ishii vs. Kojima (2)
  18. Goto vs. Takahashi (2)
  19. Tenzan vs. Gallows (1)
  20. Bad Luck Fale vs. Tenzan (11)
Pro Wrestling

Ring of Honor Results, Spoilers and Live Impressions from July 25 TV Taping in Baltimore

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Ring of Honor taped four episodes of TV on Saturday, July 25, 2015 at the William J Myers Pavilion in Baltimore, MD. These tapings come hot off the heels of the Death Before Dishonor iPPV the night before. The crowd was into it. Attendence was about 70% that of the night before. Before the show, the Young Bucks, Moose, and Maria were available for autograph signings and photographs. Ring of Honor did not announce when they would be returning to Baltimore.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Jay Lethal retained the Television Championship against Hanson, but Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly are hot on his tail. The split between Adam Cole and The Kingdom seems official. Cole joined Kyle O’Reilly to reform Future Shock. They couldn’t grab the Tag Team Championsips from The Addiction, though, due to outside interference from Taven, Bennett and Maria. The Young Bucks defeated Roppongi Vice, but the Addiction jumped them afterwards. A big tag team war between the Young Bucks, reDRagon & Adam Cole vs. The Kingdom, the Addiction & Chris Sabin seems likely.

The Briscoes, ACH, War Machine, Moose, and Roderick Strong all picked up wins and gained momentum. Adam Page called out and laid out Jay Brisoce, signaling the start of a feud. Dalton Castle defeated Silas Young, but Silas wants another match where if he wins, he gets Dalton’s Boys. Caprice Coleman defeated Cedric Alexander after Moose interfered. Cheeseburger got revenge on Brutal Bob.

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Dark Match: Mandy Leon beat Deonna Purrazzo.

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EPISODE 1

Match 1: ACH vs. Watanabe – This was ACH’s fast sytle versus Watanabe’s strong style. They meshed well and the crowd was evenly split. ACH won with 450 splash in nine minutes. Solid opener.

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Match 2: The House of Truth (Donovan Dijak & J. Diesel) with Truth Martini vs. War Machine – Jay Lethal was on commentary. This was a hard hitting, War Machine-style match. Their power won out in the end. They threw Dijak out of the ring and hit Fallout on Diesel for the pin in six minutes. Lethal and Hanson yelled at each other after the match to set up their ROH TV Title match later in the evening.

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Match 3: Adam Page (with BJ Whitmer & Colby Corino) vs. G(?) Hughes – Page squashed him in one minute with the Vertebreaker. BJ Whitmer grabbed the microphone to a chorus of boos.

BJ WHITMER

What? You don’t want to hear what I’ve got to say? Well too bad, because I’m the one with the microphone! Adam, that’s exactly what I’m talking about, that right there. This aggressiveness, this mean streak is what’s taking you to the next level. You proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are the future of this company when you beat ACH at Death Before Dishonor. And now tonight he comes out and Ring of Honor gives him that ham and egger? Are you ready to make a statement? Are you ready to call out the man?

ADAM PAGE

Jay Briscoe, get out here, get in this ring and man up!

Jay Briscoe was nowhere to be found. BJ antagonized Corino at the announce desk, yelling at him to do his job. Corino stood and removed his jacket, but Nigel McGuinness intervened and forced Corino to the back.

CROWD

Let them fight! Let them fight!

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Match 4: The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Michael Bennett) with Maria vs. reDRagon – Adam Cole was on commentary. This match featured fun, fluid action throughout, as you would expect from these two teams. When Kyle O’Reilly fell deep into the middle rope (like Ambrose does), Bennett struck him in the face from the floor. Taven climbed to the top turnbuckle and with Bennett hit Hail Mary on O’Reilly on the floor. With O’Reilly eliminated, they did the same to Bobby Fish in the ring to earn the pinfall in 14 minutes. Good match!

After the match, the Kingdom attempted another piledriver but Adam Cole stopped them. Michael Bennett asked Cole what he was doing. Kyle O’Reilly stumbles up besides Adam Cole. The men shake hands.

CROWD

Future Shock! Future Shock!

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EPISODE 2

Match 1: Silas Young vs. Dalton Castle – As Castle disrobed, Silas mumbled, “unbelievable”. Dalton immeidately attacked Silas with bad intent. Dalton got the pin in nine minutes with Fair Winds. Fun match!

SILAS

Dalton, I’m getting damn, damn tired of this.

CROWD

Shut up!

SILAS

There ain’t gonna be any shutting up, because I say what I want to say because I’m a real man. I don’t worry if I offend somebody or if they think I’m a bad person. Dalton Castle, I don’t like what you do with these boys. I don’t like your lifestyle that you lead with them. These boys need to learn to be men.

You ain’t good enough to beat me on your own. You ain’t never beat me on your own. So one more shot, and when I beat you, I get those boys.

CROWD

Ooooooo!

SILAS

Believe me I’m gonna beat you. When I beat you those boys are going to be mine and I’m going to teach them how to be real men.

CROWD

Silas wants boys!  Silas wants boys!

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Bobby Fish came out for ringside interview with Kevin Kelly. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about.

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Match 2: Moose (with Stokely Hathaway) vs. Will Ferrara – Moose won in three minutes with the big spear.

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Match 3: Roppongi Vice vs. The Young Bucks – The Bucks won in 13 minutes with More Bang for Your Buck after hitting a bunch of superkicks. This was exactly what you would expect. It was a fun candy car crash with all the usual spots.

After the match, the Addiction with Chris Sabin jumped the Young Bucks from behind. They used atheltic tape to bind Matt Jackson to the top rope while they beat on Nick. They kicked Matt in the face and gut. The Addicition nailed the Indytaker on Nick as Nigel McGuinness looked on disappointed.

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Internet-Exclusive Future of Honor Match – Nuclear Kaasarole (Chase Brown & Peter Kaasa) vs. Punisher Martinez & QT Marshall – This match had a different commentary team. Kaasa is a powerful dude who looks like a smaller Scott Steiner. The man definitely has talent. He performed a fallaway slam/moonsault combination and pinned QT after a senton.

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EPISODE 3

Match 1: The Briscoes vs. The Bloodbound Warriors – Each team wrestled their own style. It was a fun Briscoes match, but nothing beyond that. The Briscoes got the pin in nine minutes after a Froggy Bow.

Adam Page came to the entrance ramp with The Decade.

PAGE

There he is, Jay Brisoce! Two weeks ago I stood in that ring and called you out and you were nowhere to be found.   I don’t know if you’re going deaf or if you’re just stupid. What’s that motto? Man up? Maybe that don’t mean nothing. Maybe you’re another liar.

JAY BRISCOE

Yo, hold up, young boy. Listen to me, no offense brother, but I don’t even know who the hell you are. Hey, hey, pretty boy, I’ll tell you this. If you’re looking for a fight you don’t have to look too far, brother. We can do this right now.

BJ WHITMER

No no no, Jay, you need to pump your brakes. This isn’t going to happen right here, not right now. But I have an idea. How about next week right here on TV we give you the opportunity to man up when you go one-on-one with Adam Page!

JAY BRISCOE

Oh, so that’s your name? Adam Page. Well next week you’re going to get your ass whoopped.

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Match 2: Donovan Dijak (with Truth Martini and J. Diesel) vs Roderick Strong – This match featured a lot of good, back-and-forth strikes. Roddy looked no worse for wear after his 60-minute match the night before. In eight minutes, after trading some fun near falls, Strong hit the double-knee gutbuster/Sick Kick combination for the pin.

Jay Lethal immediately jumped into the ring as Dijak and Diesel held Strong. Lethal trashtalked Roddy, but as he turned his back to go for the Lethal Injection, Roderick fought out. War Machine ran out to support Strong and they run off the House of Truth. Roderick yelled to Lethal, “You can’t beat me!”

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The generic ROH logo appeared on the big screen, which is usually indicitive of a jobber coming out. Instead, we got shocked!

Match 3: Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. The Addiction (“Almighty” Christopher Daniels & Kazarian) for the ROH Tag Team Championships – The crowd popped HUGE when Future Shock came out. The fans remembered! After some back and forth mat wrestling, Future Shock hit the first tag team combo manuevers, indicating that they are still a cohesive unit! Adam Cole began to do the “Adam Cole, bay bay!” pose, but Kyle stopped him so they could pose together and yell, “Future Shock!”

CROWD

Future Shock! Future Shock!

The Addiction worked over Adam Cole. Cole was denied the hot tag, had a small rally, but the Addiction maintained control. Eventually Cole locked Kazarian in the Figure 4. Kazarian reversed it, but O’Reilly jumped on Kazarian and applied the arm bar. Daniels jumped on O’Reilly with a crossface. Creative spot!

Kyle O’Reilly got the hot tag and locked Kazarian in the arm bar. When Daniels tried to break it up, O’Reilly locked him in the ankle lock! Future Shock hit Total Elimination. Kazarian kicked Adam Cole in the groin and suplexed him off the top.

O’Reilly interjected with an arm bar, which prompted The Kingdom to run down to the ring. Matt Taven kicked Kyle in the head, but in a dramatic move O’Reilly managed to get a quick roll-up on Daniels for a LONG count, but Taven was distracting referee Todd Sinclair. Kazarian broke up the pin attempt by kicking O’Reilly in the head. O’Reilly stumbled into the rope where Taven gave him another shot. Kazarian rolled O’Reilly up, grabbed the tights, but only a two count! This is getting really good.

Michael Bennett jumped onto the ring apron and excoriated Todd Sinclair for his slow count. Adam Cole walked over to Bennett and asked, “What are you doing!?” The Addication grabbed Cole and hit a suplex into a double-knee gutbuster for the three count in 13 minutes. Maria held O’Reilly’s leg impeding his ability to break up the pin. Really fun stuff! Well worth watching.

After the match, The Kingdom beat down Kyle O’Reilly which drew out Bobby Fish. Out came the Young Bucks! They went straight after The Addiction and the melee was on! The Bucks hit stereo superkicks and Topes. The Young Bucks and reDRagon cleared the ring. This looks to set up an 8- or 10-man tag with The Addiction, The Kingdom and/or Chris Sabin vs. reDRagon, the Young Bucks and/or Adam Cole.

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EPISODE 4

Match 1: Adam Page (with BJ Whitmer & Colby Corino) vs. Jay Briscoe – Jay Briscoe extended his hand to Adam Page.

PAGE

I’m Adam Page. I’m in the Decade and the Decade doesn’t shake hands.

Page slapped Briscoe in the face. Briscoe laughed and extended his hand again. Page slapped him again and we’re off! This match was wrestled with high intensity. After about a minute, Colby Corino grabbed BJ’s crutch and looked to hit Briscoe with it. Briscoe stalked Colby giving Page enough time to throw a chair in Jay’s face. The referee called for the bell after two minutes, giving the DQ victory to Briscoe.

The Decade filled the ring with chairs. Page gave Briscoe the Vertebreaker on the chairs. Mark Briscoe raced to the ring to drive the Decade off. Jay Briscoe recovered and took the microphone.

JAY BRISCOE

You must have a death wish, boy, because your ass is gonna die.

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Cedric Alexander came to the ring with Veda Scott. His opponent Caprice Coleman followed.

CEDRIC

           (to Caprice)
I am the only man in Ring of Honor to beat Moose…TWICE! Beating you does nothing for me, so we will make our exit. Have a good night. Enjoy the rest of your evening.

COLEMAN

I’m sorry. I apologize. Maybe I should be talking to the one with the most hair on their chest. Hey, Veda! You’re going a great job winning matches for him! You’re doing a great job.

Match 2: Cedric Alexander vs. Caprice Coleman – After a competitive sequence, Veda grabbed Coleman’s ankle. Veda tried to further distract Caprice, which drew out Stokely Hathaway. Stokely grabbed Veda to remove her from ringside, which drew the referee’s attention. On the other side of the ring, Cedric obtained a wrench. Moose ran down and pulled the wrench out of Cedric’s hand. This distracted Cedric just long enough for Coleman to hit a massive top rope leg drop to earn the pin at the eight minute mark. The crowd led a Moose chant.

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Match 3: Brutal Bob Evans vs. Cheeseburger – Bob dominated with Cheeseburger getting in a few hope spots. Bob set up a table on the outside and went to sidewalk slam Cheeseburger throught it from the apron. Cheeseburger floated back into the ring, and struck Bob in the face, driving him through the table! Bob was unable to make the 20 count. Your winner in six minutes is Cheeseburger! Bob’s protestations of “No! No!” elicited a sea of Yes! chants from the crowd.

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Bobby Fish came to the commentator’s table for the main event.

Match 4: Jay Lethal (with Truth Martini) vs. Hanson for the ROH TV Championship – The crowd chanted for both men. After Hanson absolutely pummelled Lethal, Lethal hit a springboard dropkick, sending Hanson to the outside. Lethal hit three Topes sending Hanson over the barricade and into the front row.

Lethal grabbed Hanson’s beard and jumped over the top rope with it. Lethal blocked Hanson’s bronco buster with a foot to the groin. Lethal hit the Macho Man elbow but Hanson kicked out at one. Jay Lethal went for the Lethal Injection, but Hanson sidestepped and went for his own Lethal Injection! It was a little awkward, but he hit the elbow (as opposed to the cutter), which lit up the crowd!

Hanson performed a top rop moonsault but Lethal got his knees up. Lethal went for another Lethal Injection, but Hanson avoided it. Hanson immediately went for a spin kick, but Lethal ducked, hit a massive superkick followed by two Lethal Injections. Your winner in 11 minutes is Jay Lethal. This was another really good match. Jay Lethal is on such a roll lately. Hanson totally held up his end of the match.

Kyle O’Reilly ran to the ring and Bobby Fish joined him on the apron. Lethal held up both titles.

BOBBY FISH

Your day is almost over.

JAY LETHAL

Your day will never come!

Roderick Strong hit the ring. Lethal and Truth bailed.

RODERICK

Count the days. I’m going to embarrass you, Jay.

BOBBY FISH

        (to Lethal)
You are not a finisher!

JAY LETHAL

I am the greatest!

Pro Wrestling

Ring of Honor Results, Spoilers and Live Impressions from March 8 TV Taping in Baltimore

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Ring of Honor was live at the William J. Myers Pavilion in South Baltimore on Saturday night, March 7, 2015. The building was jam-packed, drawing a standing-room only crowd of nearly 1000. People were lined up down the street just to get in to see ROH film four episodes of TV. The production team set up the big video screen above the entranceway, which looked outstanding. The crowd was jacked and their enthusiasm did not flag throughout the night. I’m sure these episodes will come off great on TV. I have been to most of the ROH shows in Baltimore, and this likely stands as their biggest crowd yet.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Samoa Joe is back in a big way. He defeats Kyle O’Reilly and announces that he wants a shot at the ROH World Championship against Jay Briscoe at Supercard of Honor. Jay Briscoe retains his title against a challenge from Jimmy Jacobs. The IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles looked incredible in his victory over Mark Briscoe. BJ Whitmer is an awful human being as he makes Steve Corino’s son Colby into the Decade’s new young boy. In lieu of getting a Television Title match against Jay Lethal, Top Prospect winner Donovan Dijak opts to join the House of Truth. Dalton Castle looks impressive as an impromptu replacement, but Lethal remains champion. The Kingdom beat the Young Bucks. The Addiction beat ACH & Sydal. The Knights of the Rising Dawn begin interfering in matches. Elgin, Moose and War Machine (with the returning Raymond Rowe) pick up squash wins. Elgin is becoming even more of an ass. Roderick Strong beats Bobby Fish in a very enjoyable contest. Brutal Bob turns on Cheeseburger.

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Match 1: The Addiction vs. Matt Sydal & ACH – Sydal makes a hot tag in the middle of the match and goes to town on the Addiction, earning a “this is awesome” chant. ACH gets a “holy shit” chant for his Fosbury Flop. Sydal is pulled to the outside by one of the Knights of the Rising Dawn. Kazarian puts Sydal in the torture rack, and then flips him over onto Daniels’s knees for the pinfall. This was a really fun opening match.

———————————————

Jay Briscoe comes to the ring.

JAY BRISCOE

Baltimore, Maryland, you know, first thing’s first. I got to send out a big thank you to ODB for bringing this baby (Briscoe’s personal world championship belt) right here home. Thank you ODB, it’s greatly appreciated.

Now coming out the 13th Anniversary in Las Vegas, Nevada, a lot of people say I escaped by the skin of my teeth. People saying I got lucky. A lot of people saying I look vulnerable. You can call me lucky; you can call me vulnerable, but don’t forget to call me the champ.

And how the hell is anybody going to call me lucky? I mean seriously, it’s been over 2 years since I’ve been pinned in this ring. I have one of the biggest streaks of all time going right now, man. I’m trying to stay humble, I really try to stay humble man, but this roll that I’m on right now; I can’t help but feel I’m the baddest man in pro wrestling.

Samoa Joe comes out to a massive pop.

CROWD

Welcome back! Welcome back!

SAMOA JOE

Baddest man in pro wrestling…you know what? I’ll give you that. You are on a streak. And whoever says this man got lucky – you are out of your mind. I was the man a long time ago. But in my absense, two men manned up and showed the Ring of Honor fans what we’re all about. That was the Briscoes and namely, you. You went to Vegas against impossible odds with 4 guys in the ring at once and you came out victorious. You manned up and handled business.

And I’d be remiss to say when I look at you I see a little bit of myself, what it means to be a true champion. But if you’re going to call yourself the baddest man in pro wrestling, last time I checked you ain’t whipped my ass.

CROWD

Oooooooo!!!

SAMOA JOE

So I’ll tell you what. Supercard of Honor, let’s see if that claim is true. You versus me for the ROH World Championship.

CROWD

Yes! Yes! Yes! Joe’s gonna kill you! Joe’s gonna kill you!

Samoa Joe and Jay Briscoe leave the ring. Jimmy Jacobs comes to the ring.

CROWD

Jimmy Jacobs! Jimmy Jacobs!

JACOBS

Last I heard, you guys were chanting, “Joe’s gonna kill you, Joe’s gonna kill you” in anticipation for some match that two wrestlers just decided was gonna happen. Samoa Joe – a guy who was great, I mean, really great. He hasn’t been in this company for so long that the last guy he beat was Tyler Black. That’s how long it’s been. But he just asked Jay Briscoe for a Ring of Honor World Title shot and Jay’s like, “yes.” As if your mere presence grants you a World Title shot just blows my mind! Samoa Joe, you walked out of this company and that worked out so well for you.

CROWD

Ooooooo!!!

JACOBS

I mean that. That’s real. And I mean this: while you walked out on this company, I was here in good times and bad, holding the fort down making sure there was a spot for you to come back to. Yes! Damn right! So before, Jay Briscoe, you just give away a title shot, I’m taking a title shot because I’ve earned a title shot. Nigel McGuiness, before you give away a title shot at Supercard of Honor to Samoa Joe, I’m taking a Ring of Honor World Title shot. Jay Briscoe, Nigel McGuiness, I know you’re both men. I know you’re men, so you’ll accept this. There’s something changing in the air, right now. There’s a feeling in the air that’s changing for Jimmy Jacobs and something’s got to give. Something’s gotta give and that’s the Ring of Honor World Championship.

———————————————

Match 2 (TV Episode #1 Main Event): The Kingdom (Michael Bennett & Matt Taven) with Maria vs. the Young Bucks – The Bucks are super over. Maria grabs Matt Jackson’s leg from the outside leading to a beatdown. Finally Nick gets the hot tag and moonsaults to the outside. Taven dives over the top rope. As Young Bucks doubling-teaming begins, the crowd chants, “This is awesome.”

Another distraction from Maria allows Taven to hit a top rope swanton for a two count. Bucks come back with stereo superkicks, bucklebomb kick, swanton while opponent’s legs are hung over top rope. Crowd chants for the Young Bucks. Young Bucks hit the Meltzer Driver, but one of the Knights of the Rising Dawn pulls out referee Todd Sinclair. Bennett superkicks Matt Jackson in the back of the head and low blows Nick. Taven goes to the top rope and the Kingdom hits a Metlzer Driver of their own for the pin in 12 minutes. Entertaining match!

reDRagon emerge at the top of the entrance ramp to survey the ring.

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Match 3: Roderick Strong vs. Bobby Fish – They trade stretches and strikes, then fight to the floor. Bobby Fish dominates Roderick for most of the match, though. Fish’s top rope moonsault earns a “this is wrestling” chant. The tide turns in Roderick’s favor following a superplex and double knee gutbuster. They trade strong-style elbows. Roderick flies off the ropes and connects with the Sick Kick followed by Death by Roderick. Crowd chants, “That was awesome.”

———————————————

Top Prospect Tournament winner Donovan Dijak is in the ring. Truth Martini, J. Diesel and Jay Lethal come to the ring. Lethal is scheduled to defend his Television Championship against Dijak.

TRUTH

Donovan Dijak…today is the most important day of your entire life. There were eight men in the Top Prospect Tournament and you came out victorious. That says something about you. You are a star on the rise. But today you are across the ring from your Ring of Honor champion, Jay Lethal. Now in case you didn’t know, Ring of Honor is the greatest company in the entire world.

CROWD

ROH! ROH! ROH!

TRUTH

Jay Lethal is the greatest wrestler in Ring of Honor. Do the math, Dijak, because that means that Jay Lethal is the greatest wrestler in the entire world. I’m going to tell you straight up. If you wrestle Jay Lethal right now, you’re going to lose. Repeat: if you wrestle this man right now, you’re going to lose. This man has victories over Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Sting and Alberto el Patrón.

Now me on the other hand, Dijak, numbers don’t lie. I am officially the greatest manager in Ring of Honor today. Everybody who stands by my side shoots straight to the top. There are three types of wrestlers in this world – good wrestlers, great wrestlers and special wrestlers. This is the most important day of your life. This is what I’m offering you.

 

Truth Martini extends his hand.

TRUTH

Shake my hand and join the House of Truth.

 

The majority of the crowd wants him to do it. Dijak considers for a long while, and then shakes Truth’s hand.

TRUTH

You chose wisely.

 

Dalton Castle’s music hits. He comes to the ring doing his super awesome entrance with his two “boys.”

DALTON CASTLE

Salutations! I’m Dalton Castle. I’ve come to wrestle and these are my boys. I was stretching out my hammies to release my tension. You won the Top Prospect Tournament Champion and you’re gonna give that up? You know I was in that particular tournament for one particular reason – I want what you got (references the Television Championship).

 

One of Dalton’s boys gets on his hand and knees. Dalton sits on him and leans on the second boy as they combine to form a makeshift human chase lounge. The crowd is really into Dalton Castle.

DALTON CASTLE

So what do you say? Why don’t you be a man like me and put it on the line. Defend that title against me right now.

CROWD

Yes! Yes! Yes!

 

The House of Truth goes to leave the ring.

DALTON CASTLE

Come on! Walk away! I’ll just have to go challenge Jay Briscoe. He’s a real champion…

 

Match 4: Jay Lethal defends the Ring of Honor Television Championship against Dalton Castle – Lethal is so angry that he pummels Dalton at the start. However, Dalton recovers and wrestles a really competitive match in which he got in his fair share of offense. He hits Fair Winds and a deadlift German suplex. With the referee distracted, Dijak pulls Castle out of the ring and connects with Feast Your Eyes. Castle stumbles into a Lethal Injection and is pinned in 6 minutes.

This segment was very effective. Dijak got over by being a monster and aligning himself with the HOT. Truth got over by making it happen. Lethal got over by winning. Dalton Castle got over just by being Dalton Castle. After the match, Castle got a standing ovation with streamers. The crowd chanted, “Please come back.”

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Match 5 (TV Episode #2 Main Event): Jay Briscoe defends his Ring of Honor World Championship against Jimmy Jacobs – The story here is that Jimmy Jacobs hit Jay Briscoe with pretty much everything he had, but it just wasn’t enough. Jacobs hit a stunner off the corner of the barricade, sliced bread, spear and a top rope sliced bread, but still couldn’t put Briscoe away. Jimmy doesn’t know what to do, sulks around ringside and stares into the ROH title belt. Jimmy hits a running cutter off the rope, another sliced bread and locks in a guillotine. Briscoe powers up, but Jimmy rolls him up for a near fall. He gets a backslide for another near fall. Then Jay just grabs him and crushes him with a Jay Driller to get the pin in 12 minutes. As they shake hands, the crowd rises for a standing ovation chanting, “that was awesome.”

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Match 6: Moose (with Veda Scott and Stokely Hathaway) vs. Caprice Coleman – Moose dominates until Caprice hits the heart punch. As Moose weakens, Caprice gets in some offense. Moose recovers enough to hit the standing top rope dropkick and spear for the win in 6 minutes.

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Match 7: The Decade (BJ Whitmer & Adam Page) vs. Leon St. Giovanni & Shaheem Ali – This was a one minute squash. Whitmer held Leon face-up on his shoulder while Page ran towards him to deliver a cutter while Whitmer flipped him over.

BJ WHITMER

Adam, we’ve been scouting the entire wrestling world looking for our next young boy, looking for your replacement. Do you think we’re going to find him amongst derelicts like these two? I gotta surprise for you. I have found our next young boy. I have found the perfect fit for the Decade, someone that’s more than capable, a second-generation kid. With our guidance he just might become a star here in Ring of Honor. Adam, he needs a big brother like you and he needs a father figure like me. Corino, I’m giving you the chance and the opportunity to be our next young boy!

 

Steve Corino stands up from the commentary position and glares at Whitmer.

BJ WHITMER

No no, not you Steve, your son Colby Corino!

 

Colby Corino comes to the ring as his father looks on in disbelief.

BJ WHITMER

Now I’m going to ask you – are you up for the challenge of being our next young boy?

 

Colby Corino hugs BJ Whitmer!

STEVE CORINO

             (enraged)
This has gone too far.

 

BJ WHITMER

You haven’t seen anything yet, Steve.

 

Colby holds ropes for Whitmer and Page as they leave the ring. Jimmy Jacobs comes to the ring and tries to play peacemaker. He accompanies Steve Corino backstage.

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Match 8: The House of Truth (J. Diesel & Donovan Dijak) vs. Brutal Burgers – The crowd is super into Cheeseburger. Cheeseburger wants Dijak and even gets a big DDT hope spot on him. Ultimately, Dijak kills him with a knee, throws him across the ring and finishes him off with Feast Your Eyes. Dijak scores the pin in 5 minutes.

After the match, Brutal Bob Evans embraces Cheeseburger, poses on the ropes, turns around and nails Cheeseburger with a huge shoulderblock.

 

CROWD

Asshole! Asshole!

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Match 9: Michael Elgin vs. Will Ferrara – Elgin uses his power and submission holds to stay in control pretty much the entire match. Elgin teases powerbombing Ferrara from the apron through a table to the outside, but returns him to the ring. He hits the bucklebomb, spinning powerbomb combo for the pin in 6 minutes.

Caprice Coleman checks on Ferrara. Elgin gives him a spinning powerbomb. He grabs Ferrara and powerbombs him again. Elgin gets some really good heel heat out of this.

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Match 10: War Machine vs. Anthony Greene & Cam Zagami – This was Raymond Rowe’s first match back with War Machine since returning from injury. He gets a “welcome back” chant. War Machine wins easily in 3 minutes with a top rope leg drop from Hanson.

 

CROWD

War Machine! War Machine!

MICHAEL ELGIN

             (returning to the ring)
I’m not done yet! At the 13th Anniversary, Nigel McGuiness said he was going to “punish me.” Well, the only thing I see fit to do is return the favor and punish Ring of Honor. Hanson, Rowe, you know, as a young kid my mom used to say something to me. It used to go, “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.” And you two are standing there as a team because of me. So how about you two fellas against me and I get the job done right now?

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Match 11: Michael Elgin vs. War Machine – War Machine, being a good team, has the advantage for the majority of this short match, as they should. Elgin gets himself disqualified after hitting Rowe in the back with a chair. Hanson and Rowe are restrained by referees and officials as Elgin walks to the back holding the chair over his head. The crowd chants for War Machine.

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Match 12: QT Marshall vs. ACH – QT looks good early, executing impressive power moves on the smaller ACH. In the end, though, this was just a nondescript enhancement match to put over ACH. He wins with the 450 splash in 5 minutes after Marshall misses one of his own.

BJ Whitmer returns to ringside with Adam Page and Colby Corino to address ACH.

 

BJ WHITMER

You think you’re hot stuff don’t you? You think because you come out here with acrobatics and do a couple of flips and these people pop for you, that makes you the man? Let me smarten you up to something. I’m going to shoot straight with you, Albert. Nobody in the back likes you. Nobody respects you. But you are getting opportunities and chances that you don’t deserve. You’re getting opportunities that belong to a guy like Adam Page. You are having matches with AJ Styles and Alberto el Patrón and you failed, Albert. Yet each and every failure you come out with this false sense of bravado, this false confidence. But you know, deep down that every time your mother looks you in the eyes she sees nothing but a failure.

 

Colby attacks ACH from behind allowing BJ to take over. Page hits the vertebreaker. Steve Corino is very upset. Colby opens a bottle of water and hands it to Adam Page. The crowd boos them.

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Match 13: (TV episode #3 main event) AJ Styles vs. Mark Briscoe – This match had a lot of fast, well-executed chain wrestling complemented with stiff strikes. They started off with periodic flurries of offense followed by working submissions. They fight on the floor and back into the ring. AJ outwrestles Briscoe and maneuvers him into the calf killer. Mark gains the advantage with redneck kung fu and a brainbuster. AJ responds with the Stylin’ DDT, but simultaneous clotheslines put both men down.

AJ hits the Pelé Kick on the apron, but Mark responds with the Cactus Jack elbow to the floor. He tries for the Froggy Bow but AJ gets his knees up. Like a flash of lightning, AJ is up with a brainbuster followed by the Styles Clash. He gets the pin in 16 minutes. For many in attendance, this was the best match on the show. Great stuff here. AJ Styles is mega-over.

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Match 14: (TV episode #4 main event) Kyle O’Reilly (with Bobby Fish) vs. Samoa Joe – The crowd chants, “welcome back.” The first thing I noticed is that Joe appears to be in better shape than we last saw him in in TNA. They shake hands and we’re off. The match starts with back-and-forth wrestling. The men exchange go-behinds, wristlocks, arm bars, kicks, ducks, rolls-up and more.

CROWD

This is wrestling!

 

Kyle jabs and Joe just slaps him right in the face. He sits Kyle in the corner and gives him two sets of Facewashes. Kyle wrenches Joe’s arm, so Joe clotheslines him to the floor. They exchange blows and take turns setting each other up for the running big boot near the guardrail.

CROWD

Olé, Olé, Olé!!!

 

The men fight on the floor, but I can’t see how from my vantage point. Kyle torques Joe’s arm around the bottom rope. As Joe favors the arm, Kyle kicks him in the chest, returns to a wristlock and goes for a suplex, but Joe stops him. Kyle tries again, Joe stops him again. Joe jabs, slaps and elbows, but Kyle recovers with a knee to the chest that gets a one count.

Joe is facedown on the mat and Kyle controls him with a hammerlock. He supplements the hold with strikes and knees. Kyle’s back roundhouse kick gets a one count and he returns to a keylock. Joe surges back. His front roundhouse kick forces Kyle forehead-first into the mat. Joe follows with a clothesline, reverse atomic drop, big kick off the rope and his signature senton. Two count. Joe’s snap suplex compels Fish into the ring, but Kyle kicks out. Joe has his eye on Fish now.

Kyle tries for the Thesz press, but Joe turns it into a powerbomb. When Kyle kicks out, Joe rolls it into an STF. Kyle gets to the ropes, so Joe sets him up for the muscle buster. Kyle counters into a guillotine choke. Fish yells at the referee to ring the bell. Joe powers out so Kyle viscously elbows him in the face and transitions into an armbar from the same position. Again Fish tells the referee to ring the bell. Joe gets to the ropes and rolls to the outside.

From the apron, Kyle does his diving dropkick to the floor, shooting Joe into the barricade. Back in the ring, Kyle gets a two count with a suplex and transitions into an armbar. Joe gets a rope break so Kyle kicks him instead. Joe gets a second wind. He hits Kyle with a slap, slap, slap, but Kyle ducks the backslap. Kyle hit a kick, chop, knee, kick. Joe jumps the back roundhouse kick, but Kyle knees Joe in the face. Kyle tries the Dean Ambrose clothesline after bouncing off the middle rope, but Joe doesn’t go down. He tries again but Joe kicks him in the shoulder. Both men are down.

CROWD

This is awesome! This is awesome!

 

Kyle and Joe charge and evade each other. Kyle runs at Joe in the corner, but Joe catches him with the STJoe. Joe is feeling it now. He destroys Kyle with knee strike after knee strike. He throws him into the corner and sets him up for the muscle buster. He connects and gets the pin in 17 minutes.

CROWD

That was awesome! That was awesome!

 

It looks like Samoa Joe lives! This was a great match and ranks close to Styles/Briscoe as the best thing on the show, in my opinion. The men shake hands as the crowd chants for Joe.

SAMOA JOE

It feels good to be back here at home. At the Anniversary Show I told you people that we started a movement. It’s a revolution. Tonight is an example of the new style of wrestling. (yelling) Tonight is an example and notice to the world that we are changing the game because we are Ring of Honor and goddammit we’re the best that there is!

 

Bobby Cruise announced that Ring of Honor returns to Baltimore on Saturday, July 25.

Pro Wrestling

Can Anyone Stop World Wrestling Entertainment?

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I was asked the following question on Quora:

Will there ever be a company that can dethrone World Wrestling Entertainment as the worldwide leader in the wrestling industry?

It’s not impossible, but it is unlikely.

WWE possesses a number of institutional advantages that effectively preclude encroachment from competitors.  It is a publicly-traded, billion dollar company with a sizable amount of cash on hand.  It retains the ability to hire the best performers and staff.  Its revenue streams are relatively (for wrestling) diversified in that they profit from television rights fees, merchandise, movies, DVDs, books, magazines, its website, pay-per views and the WWE Network.  It would be difficult for any company starting from scratch to surpass that.

WWE is so entrenched as the “worldwide leader in sports entertainment” that when people think of pro wrestling, they think of WWE.  This is similar to people thinking of UFC when they think of MMA.  This is not a matter of WWE being a subset of pro wrestling – for many fans they are one in the same.  The last major competitor to WWE, WCW, went out of business in 2001.  For fans 18 and younger, this means WWE is pretty much the only wrestling company they’ve ever known.  Loyalty and familiarity will make it challenging for another company to usurp them.

Changing that mindset will take a tremendous amount of time, effort and money, all of which are unlikely to materialize.  As an example of this power, realize that WWE is able to leverage the infrastructure of cities to run their events.  If they need police escorts to get their buses from one place to another, they can get it.

WWE also possesses the most comprehensive pro wrestling video library in history.  In addition to its own conent, it also owns the footage from World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) and others.  This allows it to leverage and monetize the entire history of the business.  No company will ever be able to match that institutional advantage.

Some might argue that WCW almost unseated WWE and another company might be able to do so again.  However, the competition from WCW was unique and unlikely to be duplicated.  WCW started as part of the old territory system in which pro wrestling was mostly local to each region.  When Ted Turner’s WCW became the primary territory for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) it already had a huge, well-established fan base.  It entered as an equal to the then-WWF, which offered it a unique position that no other company will ever be able to hold again.

I would further contend that the only reason WCW even came close to unseating WWE was that it attracted “fad-fans” interested in the novelty of the New World Order (nWo), i.e. a group of WWE wrestlers invading WCW.  These fans spiked viewership numbers during the late 1990’s but have not returned since.

Even if a smaller promotion like Total Nonstop Action (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH), Evolve or Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA) is able to grow its own fanbase, history has shown these will likely remain niche products designed for a very specific wrestling-centric (as opposed to a more general entertainment-centric) audience.  Top stars from those promotions will consistently migrate to WWE for greater money and international exposure.  Fans of these smaller companies tend to also be fans of WWE, so in a sense they cannot even be considered true competitors.

The only plausible scenario in which WWE disappears from prominence is a hostile takeover or a complete buy-out.  A company like Disney, for example, could decide that pro wrestling fits into its business model and offer WWE an offer too good to refuse, especially if WWE’s product begins to flounder significantly.  At this point WWE would be absorbed into a larger conglomerate whose new owner could do with it as it wishes.

However in the near term, I would rate the chance of Vince McMahon, who is WWE’s primary stockholder, agreeing to cede control of his life’s work to someone outside of his own family as next to nil.  For his family to do so also seems unlikely given how deeply entwined their lives are with their business.

Pro Wrestling

Do “Smart Marks” Help or Hurt the Wrestling Business?

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This post was inspired by a question that was asked on Quora.

In some respects smart marks help the business and in others they hurt it. Their best quality is passion. They love wrestling and continuously invest their time and money to support it at all levels. They often comprise a majority of the audience at indy shows, so much so that many smaller promotions might not exist without them. These shows are critical to the business since they provide a stage upon which young wrestlers can hone their craft.

Smart marks can often be assumed as “a given.” Whether the business is hot or cold, they will always be there. On one hand, their constant baseline level of support prevents the floor from falling out of the pro wrestling business. On the other hand, this means they can be more easily taken advantage of since companies like WWE know they will buy whatever they put out.

However, there are some smart marks whose behavior can detract from the quality of a show. Some become a distraction

when they act as if they’re part of the event. For example, a handful with a vendetta against a performer can chant “boring” loud enough to ruin the experience for others.

They can also become jaded to the extent that nothing pleases them anymore. When the same fans attend a company’s shows over and over again, as with the TNA Impact Zone, their reactions die out because they’ve seen everything before. Once a company breaks free of them, as TNA did by leaving the Impact Zone, the shows can become more vibrant.

Other smart marks believe that good wrestling depends on how many spots wrestlers can work into a match. They think that if a wrester can’t perform a flipping powerbomb into a twisting springboard DDT 5 seconds into the match, he’s garbage. This mentality diminishes the impact of all moves and makes them mean less. (As a counterexample, see CM Punk’s piledriver on John Cena during their #1 Contender’s match for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 29 on February 25, 2013’s episode of Raw.)

I once heard a story about two ROH wrestlers working a frenetic style during a show. When they came backstage they encountered George South who suggested that they slow down and make individual moves matter more. The wrestlers said they couldn’t do that because the fans would chew them up for it. In effect, the reactions of a small group of fans had directly influenced (arguably negatively) the styles of wrestlers in the nation’s third largest promotion.

So with smart marks you get a mixed bag. In a sense, they are a critical component of the audience that supports young wrestlers and is usually willing to part with their money to support wrestling. At their worst, they can think that what they like matters more than anything else and any wrestler who doesn’t meet their conception of greatness isn’t worth the time of day.

Pro Wrestling

ROH Bests SCUM in Steel Cage Warfare – The ROH Report

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These are live spoilers and impressions from the fourth and final ROH TV taping filmed from the Du Burns Arena in Baltimore on June 23.  This episode will air this weekend.

————————————————

WHAT TO WATCH:  The Steel Cage Warfare match was awesome.  Watch the whole thing.  The visual of the streamers draped over the top of the cage was very cool.

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Match 1: The American Wolves def. Mike Sydal & guy I don’t recognize (he’s white with blonde hair, wore similar ring gear as Sydal and had a similar physique) in 5:40.  This was a decent, competitive match.  The blonde guy looked good during his two flurries with Davey.

The story of the match was Sydal’s team’s use high-flying maneuvers like Sydal’s top turnbuckle moonsault to the floor, his tilt-a-whirl spinning whirlwind DDT on Edwards and both men’s matrix-style dodges and tandem offense (like double hip tosses and dropkicks) while the Wolves used power and speed – dropkicks, chops, etc.  After Sydal and Edwards traded elbows to the face, Davey came off the top with the double stomp for the pin.

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Usually ROH schedules the intermission between the 2nd and 3rd of the 4 TV tapings.  But since they needed lots of time to set up the cage for the main event, they didn’t give us our 20 minute break until midway through the fourth taping.  The audience was coming off hot show the night before at Best in the World, the weather was rather warm in Baltimore and we were on plastic chairs or unpadded bleachers the whole time.  Overall, it was tough to get through.  Thankfully, the main event was worth the inconvenience.

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Match 2: ROH (Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal, BJ Whitmer & Kevin Steen) def. S.C.U.M. (Jimmy Jacobs, Rhett Titus, Cliff Compton & Rhino) in Steel Cage Warfare in 25 minutes – Per the stipulation, S.C.U.M. must disband.  This match had a War Games elimination format.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: S.C.U.M. played dirty by throwing salt in eyes, tying Elgin to the cage, having Matt Hardy and Steve Corino interfere and even using a fireball.  When Steve Corino introduced lighter fluid, Jacobs tried to stop him.  Kevin Steen took advantage and finished off Jacobs with the package piledriver to become the sole survivor.

[ Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer started the match. ]

Jacobs and Whitmer spent five minutes throwing each other into the cage.  Whitmer’s suplex roll into a fisherman suplex got a two count.

[ Rhett Titus entered. ]

Whitmer threw Titus around the cage for a while.

[ Michael Elgin entered. ]

Titus and Jacobs attempted to take out Elgin, but he was too strong.  Elgin delivered a double back suplex followed by his ridiculous Samoan drop/fallaway slam combination on both men.  (crowd chanted for Elgin)

[ Cliff Compton entered. ]

Compton tossed salt in Elgin’s eyes and tied Elgin to the cage Tommy Dreamer-style.  With Elgin incapacitated, Jacobs, Titus and Compton triple teamed Whitmer and hit a Young Bucks-style spike piledriver on him.

[ Whitmer was eliminated at 10:30 ]

[ Jay Lethal entered. ]

Lethal had a chair.  Titus got hit, Compton got a dropkick version of the Van Daminator and Jacobs got the Lethal Combination onto it.  Lethal took out a pair of clippers and freed Elgin.

[ Rhino entered. ]

Rhino immediately gored Elgin.  He tried to gore Lethal, but Lethal sidestepped and Rhino hit Titus instead.  Jay hit the Lethal Injection on Rhino.

[ Rhino was eliminated. ]

[ Kevin Steen entered.  The match was now 3-on-3. ]

Before Steen could enter the ring, Matt Hardy attacked him from behind and threw him into the barricade.  With the cage door open, the men starting slipping out and the match just broke down.  Jacobs slammed the cage door into Lethal’s head.  Steen attacked Hardy with a chair.  Elgin sideslammed Compton onto the exposed floor.  Jacobs and Titus slid a table into the ring and leaned it up in the corner.

Back in the ring, Titus attempted a powerbomb on Lethal, but Jay slipped out the other side.  He hit Titus with a superkick followed by a Lethal Injection.

[ Titus was eliminated at 19:00.  The match was now Jacobs & Compton vs Elgin, Lethal & Steen. ]

As Steen destroyed Hardy with a cane on the outside, Lethal got hit in the back with a chair and was speared through the table.  Compton pinned Lethal.

[ Lethal was eliminated at 20:30.  The match was now Jacobs & Compton vs Elgin & Steen. ]

Everyone got back in the ring.  Compton tried to escape over the top of the cage, but Elgin followed.  Elgin stood on the top turnbuckle, grabbed Compton off the cage and delivered a powerbomb into the middle of the ring.  SICK!  (crowd: this is awesome!)

[ Compton was eliminated at 22:15.  The match was now Jacobs vs Elgin & Steen. ]

Steve Corino entered the ring and THREW A FIREBALL IN ELGIN’S FACE!

[ Michael Elgin was eliminated.  The match was down to Jacobs vs Steen. ]

Steen tried to powerbomb Corino, but Matt Hardy hit him with the Twist of Fate.  With Jacobs out in the corner and Hardy stalking around, Corino reentered the ring with a briefcase.  He opened it to reveal LIGHTER FLUID which he started spraying on Steen.  (crowd: you sick fuck!)  Jacobs implored Corino to stop, but Corino back elbowed him.  As Corino tried to light the matches, Nigel McGuinness stormed the ring.  Nigel and Corino faced off and threw off their clothing to prepare for a fight.  Corino piefaced Nigel, but then Nigel clotheslined the hell out of him.  The crowd went nuts.

Hardy kicked Nigel in the gut, but Steen was there to hit Hardy with the package piledriver.  Nigel got up and threw Jacobs into Steen’s arms.  Steen nailed another package piledriver and pinned Jacobs for three.

[ Jimmy Jacobs was eliminated.  The match ended at the 25 minute mark. ]

Streamers filled the ring.  Nigel and Steen embraced.  Kevin Kelly celebrated like a madman at ringside.  Adam Cole came to the entrance ramp to observe.  He surveyed the scene, rubbed his hands together for a few moments and returned backstage.  Nigel continued to celebrate with fans at ringside.  Steen mockingly shook Hardy’s limp hand and exited the ring.

(crowd: na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye)

NIGEL: It’s been a long time coming.  The era of S.C.U.M. is over!  Get these pieces of trash out of the ring.  Out!  Out!  Out!  (crowd: out out out)

Three officials drove Corino and Hardy out of the ring, through the crowd and straight out of the building.

(crowd: na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye)

Bobby Cruise announced that this was the most important event ROH history and reminded the live audience how they could watch ROH on local TV and encouraged us to visit rohwrestling.com.  What a Wonderful World played as the crowd filed out.

Pro Wrestling

Matt Hardy Challenges Jay Briscoe for the ROH Championship – The ROH Report

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These are live spoilers and impressions from the third ROH TV taping from the Du Burns Arena in Baltimore on June 23. This taping will air this weekend.

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WHAT TO WATCH: There are only two matches on this show. You’ll want to check out the main event for the ROH title, but I didn’t find it exciting live. We in the crowd suspected correctly that ROH wouldn’t change the title to Hardy at a TV taping, there were so many Twist of Fates they stopped mattering, and Jay was on defense most of the time. Not terrible, but not nearly as good as the main event of Best in the World. The Roderick Strong vs Adam Cole match was average for both of them. If you like their stuff normally, check it out.

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Match 1: Roderick Strong def. Adam Cole by DQ in 12 minutes – Adam Cole (who completely ignored an expectant Steve Corino on the way in) was scheduled to face Wes Ferrara, but before the match Roderick came to the ring.

RODERICK: Excuse me for a second. Adam, I really just wanted to come out here and get this off my chest. At Best in the World, I think you made a decision that wasn’t as honorable as you say you are. Adam, you’re the type of guy who comes in the locker room, shakes everybody’s hand and tells everybody that you’re their friend. But at Best in the World you had an opportunity to do the right thing, and that you didn’t do. You would think I would be mad at you, Adam, but the more and more I watched, the more I got disappointed.

(Adam Cole, slightly exasperated, beckoned for the microphone)

COLE: Roderick, since I started here I have prided myself on fighting with honor. When me and you faced each other at Best in the World, I saw the opportunity. I’d been so obsessed with wins and losses that when the chance for me to beat one of the very best in Ring of Honor, whether it be by countout, came, I took it. Roderick, if I disrespected you in any way or disrespected this company by not being honorable, I apologize.

COLE: (to Wes Ferrara) As a matter of fact, listen, you deserved your opportunity here tonight. You’re a very hard worker and I’d be happy to have this match with you at some point, but it cannot happen right now. Because I think the people of Baltimore would like to see a Best in the World rematch! (crowd: yes!) You guys want to see Adam Cole vs Roderick Strong right now? Roderick, I’m going to prove to you tonight that Adam Cole does have honor.

After two quick flurries led to standoffs, Adam Cole controlled Roderick at a slow pace with suplexes and submissions. But after a couple minutes, Roderick hit a big standing dropkick and took over with speed, power and precision. He nailed some nasty chops, a muay thai knee, running bulldog, backbreaker and Olympic slam.

Cole slipped over the top and forced Roderick’s back into the ringside apron. Worse for wear, but recovering quickly, Cole locked on the Figure 4. They fought to the top turnbuckle where Roderick executed the superplex. He followed with a spinning elbow and gutbuster, but Cole kicked out his legs and applied the Figure 4 again. Roderick reversed into a small package and then a Stronghold when that didn’t work. Cole kicked Roderick off, sending him into the referee.

With the ref down, both men rained elbows on the other. Roderick quit that game with a jumping knee to the face followed by a flurry of shots to the head. But Adam had just enough to connect with his own superkick. Now everyone was down.

Steve Corino ran to the apron, encouraging Cole to get up. He threw a chain in his direction, but Roderick picked it up instead. Cole, thinking that Roderick intended to hit him with it, grabbed the chain and crushed Roddy in head. The referee saw the shot and DQ’ed Cole. Adam shouted once loudly at Corino and stormed out.

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Match 2: Jay Briscoe successfully defends the ROH World Championship against Matt Hardy (with Steve Corino) in 14 minutes – Papa Briscoe watched from the corner.

CORINO: Ladies and gentlemen. The following contest is your television main event. It is set for one

fall. (he grabbed the ROH cover of the microphone and threw it to the ground) Introducing first, the icon, the living legend, beauty that has stepped foot in the ring, a man that has had eras named after him, a man that has invented more pro wrestling style matches than you can even count, a man that can walk on water(!), a man that is stronger than death, ladies and gentlemen, you all remember when JFK was popped in the head, you remember when that 9/11 thing happened…tonight you’re going to remember where you were when this man becomes the next, and final, Ring of Honor Champion. From Cameron, North Carolina, he weighs in tonight at 235.976 pounds. I give to you, your savior, Maaaaaaatttttt, Maaaaattttttt, MAAAAAAAAATTTTT HARDY!!!!!

(crowd: man up!)

HARDY (to Jay): You can’t stop it.

The story of the match was Matt Hardy’s working over of Jay Briscoe’s wrapped, injured left shoulder and bicep. Hardy ran Jay into the ringpost and barricade multiple times, hit a single arm DDT, elbowed him repeatedly in the back of the neck, torqued his arm over the top rope and then hit a Side Effect followed shortly thereafter by a Twist of Fate. Jay kicked out at two. He got some hope spots by hitting a superkick and neckbreaker, but Corino’s interference led to a second Twist of Fate. But still a two count! The champ won’t go down that easy!

(crowd: man up!)

Jay Driver out of nowhere! But only a two count. Jay decided he didn’t like Hardy’s ankle, so he stomped it so bad Hardy took his boot off…and promptly clunked Jay over the head with it. He then hit not one, but TWO more Twists of Fate to get the 1-2-NO! Jay kicked out! After a second turnbuckle suplex, the men traded shots on their knees. Matt quick gut-kicked Jay and went for a FIFTH Twist of Fate, but Jay quickly reversed into a small package to get the three count.

Rhino immediately hit the ring and gored Jay into early retirement. This drew Mark Briscoe out, but Corino just handful-of-quarters’ed him to the back of the skull. Elgin, Lethal and Whitmer raced out, but S.C.U.M. wrist-tied them to the bottom rope. S.C.U.M. placed the ROH Title around Matt Hardy’s waist while Rhino bludgeoned Mark with a chair. Then they placed Jay’s injured arm and shoulder in the chair.

CORINO: Finish Jay Briscoe once and for all. Whitmer, Elgin, Lethal, everybody – I want you to watch.

Matt Hardy jumped from the turnbuckle onto chair which obliterated Jay’s elbow. Nigel was screaming to get him out of there.

CORINO: Steel Cage Warfare. ROH not only dies, but ROH will burn.

KELLY: (to Matt Hardy) You broke his shoulder!

The ROH officials cut Elgin, Whitmer and Lethal loose.

NIGEL: Get them!

Elgin and Whitmer tended to the fallen Briscoes as everyone else raced to the back.

Pro Wrestling

TNA Impact Viewership Trends

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I have included a chart below which shows the negative viewership trend for TNA Impact over the past year.  The ratings take a noticeable downward trend after the angle featuring Brook Hogan’s marriage to Bully Ray.

tna-impact-viewership

 

As a viewer with my own waning interest, I attribute this to the fact that (Bully Ray’s excellent work aside) the entire Aces & Eights angle makes no sense.  Coupled with Hulk Hogan’s overexposure, it’s difficult to get emotionally invested.  The rest of the card is fine, but nothing stands up and demands your attention.  Thanks to Dave Scherer for gathering this information and posting it on www.pwinsider.com.

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