Much better show this week than last, thanks to a couple of great TV matches to carry things. Frankly I’m not all that interested in the Bryan Danielson “final countdown” tour thing they’re pushing, but then I’m not a huge fan anyway. Quickie thoughts:
- Steen & Generico over Super Smash Brothers was a pretty tremendous tag match for what could have been a much sillier thing. The Smash Bros. are an interesting conceit with the “Player Uno” and “Player Dos” cutesy thing going, but I liked that they just let them have a match and stuff. Good storyline, with Steen and Generico seemingly having an off-night and the newer team trying to take advantage with some high-energy double-teams and good near-falls, but the (relative) veteran team pulls it together and finishes them off. Good stuff, ***1/2
- Chris Hero is interesting for me to watch because I remember his geeky act from ICP’s goofy promotion and now he looks and acts like a real pro wrestler. Not fond of “That Young Knockout Kid” as a nickname that rolls off the tongue, but the elbow thing can get over if you make the fans buy into it, so great. He needed to squash someone more convincingly, but it’s getting there.
- Man, Austin Aries is the king of reinventing his look, isn’t he? I hope it doesn’t bite him in the ass by reducing his star power in the process if people can’t remember who he is.
- Rasche Brown is what it is. If you’re gonna build a TV promotion and not a DVD “great matches only” one, you need the occasional scary black guy to squash people and scowl. You just do.
- American Wolves v. Danielson & Strong was a hell of a deal, actually. Eddie Edwards is nothing, but Davey Richards has IT, a kind of twitchy charisma that just makes him look like a star and draws your eye to him. He’s gonna be something, bet on it. Match was great, an easy **** deal. I really loved the little old-style spot where Strong’s got Edwards in the crab and Danielson is the old-time babyface holding young punk Richards in the sleeper on the apron to keep him from interfering…these are guys who get pro wrestling, ya know?
So yeah, much better effort than last week’s rather dull offering. I still don’t feel like it’s trying to sell me anything because really there’s no PPV and no shows that I as a fan in the middle of nowhere, Canada, could attend, but as a use of an hour, it’s well worth a watch.
Scott, have you seen the Briscoe Brothers? I don’t want to sound too much like a mark, but at my first ROH show I totally marked out for them. They’re good wrestlers, have great entrance music (”Gimme Back My Bullets” by Lynyrd Skynyrd), great merch (it’s the first wrestling shirt I’ve considered getting since Austin 3:16) and a great catchphrase (”MAN UP!”). I really can’t say enough about them.
That their matches always seem the same?
That their on/off selling irritates?
That their tag formula sucks?
If you can get PAST that….yeah they’re not bad…
“Smartass…..!”
All the same qualifications of Scott’s tag-team champions…The Hart Foundation.
Yes, because Bret Hart was renowned for his poor selling, and the Harts’ 80s tag formula sucked.
‘…and a great catchphrase (”MAN UP!”)’
I still haven’t figured out if that’s more or less gay than COWBOY UP.
Any agent dealing with the Briscoes should ask them how long they expect their matches to go, then chop that time by three or four minutes. The feeling that they overstay their welcome is constant every time I watch one of their matches.
“Eddie Edwards is nothing, but Davey Richards has IT, a kind of twitchy charisma that just makes him look like a star and draws your eye to him. He’s gonna be something, bet on it.”
I agree. You can clearly see that Richards is the star of that team. He’s built a little bit like Dynamite Kid/Benoit.
I’ve recently started watching the show on HDNET and I’m blown away by Hogewood. With him, you can really tell the difference b/t a professional announcer and some Indy jerkwater guy playing one on the weekends.
The “Hog” had a rough going at the beginning of ROH on HDNET; but yeah, right about now he’s pretty f’n awesome. Actually, the duo of Hog and Prazak is probably the best on any wrestling TV show right now.
I’m not sure if comparing him with Dynamite “worked himself into a wheelchair” Kid and Chris “Murderer” Benoit are good comparisons, anymore.
Just because he has a little bit of resemblance to them physique wise doesn’t mean he’ll wrestle when his back is held together by duct tape or that he’ll take chair shots to the back of his head and strangle his wife.
Not a fan of Danielson? Then you must not have seen much of him.
I hate The Briscoes at this point. Mostly because they portray Delaware as being somewhere south of Alabama. Fix your teeth trailer-trash.
Also, the worst guy on the show is without a doubt that Kingston guy. Get off my screen tubby.
I agree on Kingston. He’s not the least bit interesting.
The funny thing is that Delaware’s state industry is basically high-priced corporate lawyers, yet the Briscoes are apparently from the one part of the state that missed the last 100 years.
To be fair, Delaware has three counties and they are all completely different. The northern one is basically part of the 95 corridor and is more like Philly and Baltimore than anything else. The middle county is all farms and government offices. The southern county is a strange mix of resort beaches and chicken farms. Still, I’ve never heard anyone speak with that accent that the briscoes use. And the confederate flags are just odd.
I have a friend in DE and she told me they refer to the souther part of the state as “slower lower.”
That is true.
By the way Scott, this was the first show that Cornette was heavily involved. I’m hoping Cornette can start building some decent TV as i’m really rooting for ROH.
This wasn’t the first show Cornette was involved him. He didn’t join ROH until the week after this.
Scott, if you want some awesome Danielson, hit me up on aim or e-mail and I’ll be happy to make you a fan. You’d think a guy trained by HBK, Regal, New Japan Juniors and the southern tag greats (Smothers, Eaton) would be right up your alley.
To follow up on the HOF discussion of last week, from the newz sites:
The Ultimate Warrior could be a surprise inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame next year as the often troubled relationship between the former WWE Champion and Vince McMahon has apparently been thawed out. On top of that, Warrior lives in Phoenix — the site of WrestleMania XXVI — and it’s interesting to note that the event will be the 20th anniversary of his epic victory over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI. Furthermore, he has been featured on the company website much more frequently in recent months.
Awesome. I say forget everything and send him out on a good note with a HOF induction and an Edge squash.