air_raid

I haven't really watched any Japanese wrestling for a good couple of years, but I'm really getting the itch again, so I was just wondering if anyone couple recommend any good jumping-on points and give me a basic run down of what's going on? I used to love NJPW, NOAH, FMW & DDT, so something in that sort of vein, although to be honest I'll just settle for anywhere with good, solid wrestling.

Not really any kind of context I admit, but I think anyone who likes Puro should see the Apollo 55 v Omega & Ibushi match. So here it is.

1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GACdpdBJtDU

2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6BkeWkFULc

I was thrilled when Fade To Black arrived because I mainly bought it for the Danielson match on disc II from New Horizons, didnt even realize THIS :

Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega- Bound By Hate 11/8/08

was on disc I, what with Bound By Hate being OOP too! w00t!

A quick Ctrl+F of my results list shows it did not air.

Good stuff.

I actually at the time totally bought into Nash and Savage stopping mid-row and saying "hang on, why are we at each other's throats? This manipulative cunt is playing us off against each other."

I had the misfortune of watching Bash at the Beach 98 on DSF complete with all the ad breaks, the effect of which made Hogan & Rodman v Page & Malone feel like it went on for two hours.

It's Time was shown on a delay on Boxing Day '96, but the first one to be broadcast live was Revenge Of The Taker.

GBH IX looks good on paper, but the proof will be in the pudding and I'm nowhere near there yet.

Similarly for me I would take the show from each year that had the one or two matches that you MUST see as an ROH fan. Although some of these are obviously personal choices rather than a ROHbot consensus. For example Joe/Punk was an excellent match, but I thought Joe/Aries told the the most compelling story of any match I've seen in ROH. Also some are actually emotional/storyline reasons rather than the absolute best matches, like a turn or defining moment.

2002

Crowning A Champion - Low Ki vs Chris Daniels vs Doug Williams vs Spanky (Iron Man match to determine ROH Champion)

- OR -

Glory By Honor - Low Ki vs Samoa Joe

2003

Death Before Dishonor - Samoa Joe vs Paul London (ROH title), AJ Styles/Red vs The Briscoes (Tag Team title)

2004

Joe vs Punk II - Samoa Joe vs CM Punk (ROH title, best match of the three)

- OR -

Final Battle 2004 - Samoa Joe vs Austin Aries (ROH title)

2005

Joe vs Kobashi - Samoa Joe vs Kenta Kobashi

- OR -

Final Battle 2005 - Bryan Danielson vs Naomichi Marufuji (ROH title), KENTA vs Low Ki (GHC Junior title)

2006

Unified - Bryan Danielson v Nigel McGuinness (ROH title), Aries/Strong vs The Briscoes (Tag Team title)

- OR -

Glory By Honor V Night 2 - Bryan Danielson v KENTA (ROH title), Naomichi Marufuji v Nigel McGuinness (GHC heavyweight title)

2007

Uprising - Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries (ROH title)

- OR -

Final Battle 2007 - The Briscoes vs Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black (Tag Team titles) - ok, very personal choice there, but I love that match.

2008

Driven 2008 - Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs Kevin Steen & El Generico (Tag Team titles)

- OR -

Final Battle 2008 - Nigel McGuinness vs Naomichi Marufuji (ROH title), Austin Aries vs Tyler Black

2009

7th Anniversary Show - Nigel McGuinness vs KENTA (ROH title)

Bollocks, I don't want to think of another. If you offer me only one match from 2009 ROH, I take that one.

2010

Consensus at present seems to be that Death Before Dishonor VIII will be the best show from 2010 for Black/Richards.

Good reading. Have taken a few deliveries over the last few weeks and as well as some catchup shows from every year since 2005, and the first three volumes of ROH on HDNet, I have received the following shows from 2010, cant wait to dive in :

8th Aniversary Show

Epic Encounter III

Bitter Friends Stiffer Enemies 2

Supercard Of Honor V

Death Before Dishonor VIII (& Buffalo Stampede 2)

Hate Chapter 2

Salvation

Champions Challenge

Tag Wars 2010

Fade To Black

Glory By Honor IX

Results from this weekend from those that haven't been on the ROH forum :

12/11/10 * Survival Of The Fittest 2010 * Dearborn, MI

(1) Rhett Titus pinned Colt Cabana.

(2) Claudio Castagnoli pinned Grizzly Redwood after the UFO.

(3) Kevin Steen pinned Kyle O'Reilly.

(4) Adam Cole pinned Steve Corino.

(5) Eddie Edwards beat Chris Hero.

(6) Kenny King pinned El Generico.

(7) Homicide pinned Andy Ridge.

(8) Chris Daniels & The Briscoes beat Roderick Strong, Michael Elgin & Zach Gowen, Daniels pinning Gowen after the Best Moonsault Ever.

(9) Eddie Edwards won Survival Of The Fittest :

(I) Castagnoli pinned Steen ;

(II) Castagnoli pinned Cole ;

(III) Castagnoli pinned Titus after a European uppercut ;

(IV) King pinned Castagnoli after a kick from Edwards ;

(V) Edwards made King submit.

13/11/10 * Night of the Champions 2010 * Mississauga, Ontario

(1) Grizzly Redwood & Bobby Dempsey beat Michael Elgin & Zach Gowen, Redwood pinning Gowen after a flying elbow.

(2) Mark Briscoe pinned Andy Ridge after a cutthroat driver.

(3) Sara Del Rey pinned Jamilia Craft after a piledriver.

(4) Rhett Titus & Kenny King beat Colt Cabana & El Generico, Titus pinning Cabana with a schoolboy.

(5) Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly beat the Bravado Brothers.

(6) Homicide pinned Jay Briscoe after an Ace Crusher.

(7) World Tag Team Champions Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli beat Kevin Steen & Steve Corino.

(8) World Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong pinned Chris Daniels after a flying big boot.

So the obvious biggest stories are Edwards winning Survival Of The Fittest and Strong retaining in his first defence, both of which were widely predicted. Apparently Kings v Steenorino sounds like a really good match, if not a must-see.

Also Elgin attacked "new House of Truth member" Gowen after their loss, so I'm not convinced that Martini won't in fact give the spot to Elgin instead. We'll see.

Interesting, I was too. For Bryan & Barratt mostly.

I approve of what they were trying to do - something closer to the Eagle belt, and away from the 98-02 belt which had a massive chunk of blue in the middle, but it wasn't a great belt. Better than the current toss mind.

Wish I'd never spoken.

So I don't understand how people can justify acting like the Invasion era never happened by claiming when Vince bought WCW that their World Title was never used from March 2001 to September 2002.

Who's claiming that?

The title passed from Booker to Angle and back, to Rock then to Jericho and back, before Jericho won both titles at Vengeance and the issue of who was the Champion became "undisputed" when the WcW/World/Big Gold Belt was combined with the WWF title. Flash forward to September 2002 and Bischoff decides it is "disputed" if you like, and uses his authority to "uncombine" the Big Gold Belt, and give it to Triple H.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-anlVYEhTk

Bischoff actually says the championship has been held by some of the bigest names in the history of the business - so,not a new title then. The promo video for Unforgiven showing Goldberg, Nash etc holding that belt makes the message crystal clear - this is the same title. WWE's title, their right to say so. Arguing against that I liken to arguing with the EastEnders writers that Grant and Phil aren't brothers.

the WWE World title is linked to the WCW title. It's near enough the same belt! And WWE only started using it after buying (and killing off) WCW.

I get the feeling you're opening up another can of worms that has been opened before, but you're 100% correct.

WWE bought the rights to WcW, including its trademarks, video libraries and titles. When Bischoff marches out with that belt and says "this is the same title that (whoever) held in WcW" or whatever the hell he said - he is right. They own the title, and just as they retired it, if they want to say "it's back, it's Raw's World Heavyweight Championship now" then they can.

It's theirs to do whatever with, and I can't understand for the life of me anyone who says "It's a completely new title and its lineage only goes back to 2002." Bollocks.

Didnt New Japan intentionally not send Lesnar his visa in time so it was impossible for him to fly to Japan for his scheduled defence against Hash - giving them perfect excuse to strip him of the title?

Or did he force their hand by refusing to job to Tanahashi? Which is pretty dumb.

If I can stretch my geek muscle and answer the "official name" part of the question I believe it would be "crucifix powerbomb" or "cross powerbomb" if you prefer. What with the crucifix being a move in its own right and so forth.

The one you are thinking of is June 9th 1997, the night after King of the Ring 1997. Bret went to approach Shawn and he turned around and told Bret to fuck off after giving him the cold shoulder for months, so Bret went for him. Both their books make it sound like they were the protagonist and the other the antagonist, but the description of what actually happened was virtually the same.

Apparently in the kerfuffle Michaels shouted "this is bullshit, I'm going to Norfolk!" Nitro was at the Scope that night.

if he was in the crowd, WCW would be creaming over themselves. They did the same thing when Sable just showed up out of the blue in the audience that one time.

So did I.

Yes, at Hardcore Heaven 2000 which was the comeback match for both from injury. Scotty Anton turned on RVD allowing Lynn to win after IIRC two cradle piledrivers.

A simple question really. See when the Undertaker "tombstones" Jimmy Snuka at Wrestlemania 7, what does Gorilla Monsoon say? I can never quite pick it up. It's "Tombstone..", then something else.

 

Thanks for any help!

I believe (from memory) it was "Tombstone city!"

Still enjoy reading it, for reviews of PPVs I refuse to pay for, puro/indy happenings and so on. Twitter watch is a laugh too.

Incidentally, those saying "stop banging on about how bad he thinks WWE is" in regards to Martin - it's a bit hard when you produce a monthly magazine reviewing the latest stuff. If they don't put editorial/opinion in, then it would just be a description of what happened. No one would buy that.

From this logic Fin Martin should just shut up and enjoy wrestling. If he doesn't, stop following it.

Cobblers mate, if he makes a living off it, he continue slagging it off. Wish I could make a living off wrestling even if I hate most of what is "mainstream" and "popular."

The thing that always make me chuckle about PS is even in a month where the decry everything WWE does and praise other feds, it will always be a WWE star on the cover. Makes sense, I know, try and catch the casual purchase. In reality those of us who buy the mag are probably the same who buy it every week, irrespective of who is on the cover. The last time a "non-WWE" talent was on the cover was when Kurt Angle jumped, if that counts. I lost faith in that changing when McGuinness won the ROH title and didnt get the cover. Small fry they might be, but I thought a Brit winning a US fed's title might merit the cover.

Yeah, when I spat out my 42, that didnt include UK PPVs. 42 US PPVs.

3 in 1997

12 in 1998, 1999 and 2000

3 in 2001

Makes 42. If you want to include UK PPVs, Jericho might be your man.

Jericho from Survivor Series 1999-WrestleMania 18?

Triple H from Rumble 99-Judgment Day 2001?

Undertaker from King of the Ring 2000-No Mercy 2002?

Can't come close to The Rock, simple as three whole calendar years of PPVs which none of those three have.

Angle comes close. Unless I'm going crazy he didn't miss a US PPV between Survivors 99 and WrestleMania XIX?

2 in 1999

12 in 2000, 2001 and 2002

3 in 2003

Makes 41 in total which pushes Rock to the limit but doesn't quite match him with 42 US PPV appearances. If you include UK ones that Kurt's run comes nowhere near as I don't think he was on Insurrextion 2002.

17 in a row is still very impressive considering most of them were before "twelve a year" kicked in.

By my reckoning the Rock didn't miss wrestling a show between In Your House Badd Blood and WrestleMania XVII which makes 42. Including three years of every show (98-2000). Jericho can't match that due to omission from Backlash 02, Austin can't as he missed shows in his prime 97-99 years due to neck, knee and further neck injuries.

I did think about Kane's stretch starting at In Your House No Way Out 98 but off the top of my head I can't remember if he wrestled at Rock Bottom, have a feeling he was omitted from that one.

Any advances on The Rock? Or am I a moron and he did miss a show?

Bret didn't wrestle on the second or fourth In Your House pay per views.