Since Justin and Scott have only reached 2003 in their reviews and any extra work added on them to watch the next forty matches would be difficult and just too much at this time of year (especially when they have their own awesome sports/wrestling/TV forum), I’ll be doing solo shots of the final three years of this ten part column. I want to thank Justin and Scott for ALL their hard work and dedication when they were just merely doing me a favor. Let me assure you, those two guys are good people.

Alright, enough of the man love. As I mentioned in the 2005 column, this is my 500th post here at the blog. The interesting part about that is this post is actually a repost of a column I did after covering all the 2006 PPVs for TheHistoryofWWE.com. Anyways, it’s really hard to believe I’ve spent this much time on a blog, but here we are two and a half years later. I hope you all enjoy this!

Let’s get to the year that was 2006.

The Best of 2006: The Matches

This is WWE only, so you won’t see any TNA or ROH here. Except for a few matches, the workrate in WWE had tended to decline throughout 2006, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that this was just another year of mediocre wrestling. We’ve got some good ones on here! For me to consider a match to be a MOTYC, it has to be overwhelmed with three things: 1) workrate 2) great booking, and 3) a huge level of suspense. I got to believe what’s going on in that ring is for real! While most other publications or internet columnists like to cut the ballot date off at the end of November, I go from 1/1 to 12/31. Another rule that only makes sense is that I have to have seen the match. I’ve seen every PPV and SNME this year and a whole lot of weekly stuff. I haven’t seen every episode of all three brands in 2006, but when I hear people talking (or see, if it’s on the net), then I’ll find it somewhere and watch it. Enough chit-chat though, let’s start up the countdown!

Wait, first off, we have some awesome “honorable mentions”.

- WWE Champion John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Edge – Triple Threat Match (Backlash 04.30.06) ***¾

- World Champion Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels – non-title match (Raw 01.16.06) ***¾

- Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton – (ECW: One Night Stand II 06.11.06) ***¾

- Rob Van Dam vs. Hardcore Holly – (ECW on Sci-Fi 09.26.06) ***¾

- Edge, Randy Orton & Lita vs. John Cena, Carlito & Trish Stratus – (Raw 09.04.06) ***¾

Now to the countdown! Anything you see from here on will be **** or better.

10. After what seemed like forever since we had actually been surprised on PPV, they spring this baby on us. Every one involved worked their butts off regardless of the brand-extension gaps. You had no idea who was going to win this up until the very end and it left you hoping for more from all four teams involved. I can’t say that it saved the whole show, but it sure made for a great match. It also reminds us why we should definitely leave the wrestling to the pros. Isn’t that right, Joey? Here it is, the #10 WWE match of 2006.

- WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. William Regal & Dave Taylor vs. MNM vs. The Hardys – Four-Way Ladder Match (Armageddon – 12.17.06)

JBL puts the Hardys over as ladder match veterans. The faces dump the heels to start so that they can trade blows and keep the match between themselves. Kendrick takes a hiptoss from Matt while Jeff takes a rana from London. Jeff fights back with a sitout jawbreaker and goes over and attacks Kendrick to set up the double-wheelbarrow bomb. MNM takes the Hardys out to the floor to brawl while Regal and Taylor do the same in the ring with the Hooligans. Ouch! Half-nelson throw from Regal to London, then to Kendrick! Meanwhile, the Hardys don’t want MNM bringing the ladders to the ring, so they attack and do it themselves! Regal and Taylor have tossed out the champs and want to keep the Hardys from putting the ladders in the ring. They try and stop MNM from bringing them in as well, but that allows Matt to sneak in and nail them with a ladder. Now everyone is back in the ring. Taylor receives Poetry in Motion from the Hardys, which sets up a SNAPSHOT from MNM! Regal takes a double-superkick to the face from the Hooligans. Regal and Taylor get dumped, as does MNM. Kendrick gets whipped into a ladder by the Hardys, and he has no choice but to take a breather. London catches Matt with an enziguri, but Jeff nails him with a front dropkick to the face. Jeff sets up a ladder to go for the belts, but London surprises Matt with an inverted atomic drop and dropkicks Jeff off the ladder! Now London tries to head up the ladder. Kendrick intercepts Jeff’s attempt at bringing London down, and then London jumps off the ladder as he sees Nitro coming up behind him with a springboard attempt from the apron into him with something. The ladder falls over and that could’ve REALLY gone wrong had Nitro landed on one of the legs. The man is LUCKY! Mercury takes the ladder and starts jabbing everyone he sees and sets up the ladder again. Mercury starts climbing, but the faces swarm and bring the ladder to the edge of the ring. They tilt it over and send Mercury off the ladder out on top of Nitro outside the ring! Matt hits a pescado on Taylor and sends Regal face-first into the ringpost. Kendrick tries to climb up, but Matt stops him and brings him down face-first to the mat. Man, Matt Hardy is EVERYWHERE! Matt sets up the ladder in a corner and the Hardys double-whip Kendrick into it. London receives the same, except they try for Poetry in Motion. London avoids it and Jeff hits his face on the TOP of the ladder! OUCH! Cole ~ “It truly looks like Armageddon out here!” Really, Michael? The Hooligans beat down Matt for a bit. London tries to head up the ladder again, but he gets pulled down and clotheslined by Matt. Kendrick tries to shoot up the ladder and grab the belts, but Matt is there to yank him down by his tights. Matt sets up the ladder and makes a ramp out of it using the second rope. He wants to suplex London on it, but London blocks and hammers Matt down on the ladder. London lifts up the end of the ladder to put Matt at a 180-degree angle so that Kendrick can come off the top and deliver the DOUBLE-STOMP to Matt Hardy! Since the Hardys are incapacitated, MNM come back in to destroy the Hooligans. They give London a double-gutbuster and then set up the ladders to create a see-saw effect. Matt gets beat up some more and then is set up on the turnbuckle for a double-superplex on the ladders, but Jeff comes back in for the save. Matt and MNM are back on the mat while Jeff is up top! Matt gives MNM a DOUBLE-NOGGIN KNOCKER while Jeff leaps down on the ladder so that it comes up and hits MNM in the face! Mercury gets the worse of it as he rolls out to the floor with his face GUSHING OUT BLOOD! Yeah, his face is shattered. That was really sick, folks. Poor Joey. He goes away for six months and then he comes back and a few weeks later, his face gets broken. I blame Teddy. Matt and Kendrick fight on the ladder until Regal and Taylor hop in to save. Taylor slams Kendrick on and off a ladder set up in the corner and then Regal gives London a half-nelson suplex on that same ladder. Regal starts to climb the ladder to retrieve the belts, but then he finds out he’s afraid of heights! He comes down and tells Taylor to climb. He does, but Kendrick stops him half-way up. Regal gets pissed and throws Kendrick out to the floor. By the way, Mercury has been taken to the hospital. The Hardys return to the ring to stop the Englishmen. While Jeff is getting another ladder set up out on the floor, Matt is giving Regal and Taylor both TWIST OF FATES! Jeff climbs up the ladder for a possible SWANTON BOMB on Regal and Taylor, but then Nitro runs in out of nowhere and dropkicks the ladder through the ropes to send Jeff crashing throat-first on the top rope! Oh that was NOT smart, Jeff. Nitro nails Regal and Taylor with a ladder and then delivers the Shawn Michaels Special by climbing the turnbuckle and smashing the ladder into Regal. Nitro tries for the belts. Kendrick attempts to stop him while London climbs up on the apron to deliver a springboard dropkick to take him off the ladder. Crowd applauds the Hooligans, and it’s about time too. Matt meets Kendrick up on the ladder and hiptosses him down to the mat. London pounds on Matt and tries to grab the belts, but then Matt backdrops London to the mat as the ladder falls over. Jeff tries to retrieve the belts, but its set up too far from the belts so you know a spot is coming. Nitro starts the climb and gets nailed with a SUNSET FLIP POWERBOMB off the ladder from Jeff. Jeff looked like he could’ve blown out his knee on that one. Matt stupidly sets up two ladders beside each other and starts to climb with one foot on each ladder. Regal and Taylor pull the ladder out from under him like anybody with any common sense would. Matt gets right back up, but gets double-teamed and booted in the face by Regal. Regal and Taylor give the ladder climb another try and set up two ladders beside each other, but Kendrick is there to meet Regal up top. Taylor pulls Kendrick down and clotheslines him, but then gets dumped to the floor by London. Regal is still up on the ladder! Kendrick gets back to his feet and climbs the other ladder and tries for SLICED BREAD #2 to Regal off the ladder, but they’re too close to the ropes for the move so they another spot is ruined. London gets back in the ring and climbs the ladder. Matt meets him there, but gets knocked off the ladder. With Nitro and Taylor both clawing at his heels, London is still able to grab the belts and win the match. (20:13) Regardless of some contrived and blown spots, it was a great match that just might solidify the tag champs run as more than just killing time. I still hope Regal and Taylor get a good long title match soon because that would still be a great match. But wow, poor Joey. ****

9. What’s most saddening about this match is its most memorable moment; Vince McMahon’s bloody face being shoved up Big Show’s butt. No, I’m not British. Why do you ask? Terrible image aside, this match had awesome drama and Big Show really added a lot to the whole affair. Of course, DX came out the winners at the end and we can say goodbye the DX/McMahons feud for the time being at least. It’s a match that was able to mix brutality and fun together at the same time, which is really hard to pull off.

- Shane McMahon, Big Show & Vince McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels & Triple H – Hell In A Cell (Unforgiven – 09.17.06)

JR does a great job of putting over how CRAZY this “Satan’s Playground” is noting that dozens of bones have been broken and thousands of stitches have been given out. H and Michaels dish out stereo kicks to the Big Show’s big show to put him down for a moment so they can beat down the McMahons. The Canadians start chanting “You screwed Bret” within the first twenty seconds. DX dump the McMahons and go back after Big Show who is back up to his feet. They give him another running field goal kick to the balls to once again keep him down. Next up, the McMahons eat the steel and get busted open as a result. Where is Big Show? Oh, he’s STILL down in the ring. Triple H pulls out a screwdriver and begins to twist it into Vince’s forehead! Triple H brings Vince back in the ring and Shawn goes up top for the elbow drop, but Show comes alive and catches Shawn coming off the top and slams him. Boy that was dumb. Triple H tries a whip, but Show stands his ground and flips H out of the ring: Harley Race-style. Show goes out for Triple H, but then gets double-teamed by DX and tossed into the steps to keep him incapacitated. Back in the ring, Shawn pairs up with Shane and Triple H pairs up with Vince with DX in control. Show comes back in again to end DX’s momentum. He levels H with headbutts while Shawn gets sent out via clothesline by Shane. The McMahons get a few licks in on H while cheering Show on at the same time. Show delivers the CHOKESLAM to H and then goes out to punish Shawn. He picks him up and gives Shawn a release powerbomb face-first into the cage and blades. Meanwhile, the McMahons are toying around with the Game. Show ~ “Hey, watch this!” He proceeds to toss Shawn into the cage like a lawn dart. Shane stomps H down in the corner to set up for the trashcan assisted COAST-TO-COAST! ALRIGHT! He connects! What’s great about that spot is that H’s ear was supposedly injured Monday night. They remembered to capitalize on the injury to make the spot more than just a spot. I like it when they do that. I got to mention that he’s bleeding from the ear. Shawn gets tossed back in the ring for some triple-teaming. Shane takes H out to the floor and sets up the steel steps and then catapults H into the cage wall to bust open his forehead. In the ring, Show delivers the pump splash out of the corner onto Shawn. Just as promised earlier, Vince goes for the cover for 1, 2, NO! He picks Shawn up off the mat. He hands Shawn to Show for the COBRA-CLUTCH BACKBREAKER! He continues the hold on the mat for a bit and then lifts him up for the inverted leg drop bulldog. Vince covers again, but picks Shawn up again at two. Triple H comes back with his body COVERED in blood and tosses Show. He hits the facebuster on Vince and tries for the PEDIGREE, but Shane pulls him off his dad and lifts him into a torture rack. Huh? He twists H around into what appeared to be a spinning rack neckbreaker or an inverted TKO, but JR calls it a counter into a neckbreaker. I’m not sure what happened there, but both men are down. Shawn gets back up and sends Shane out with an enziguri. Vince clotheslines Shawn down to stop his momentum as the Big Show walks over to take care of Shawn. Vince pulls down his pants to reintroduce Shawn to the “Kiss My WHAT?” club, but Triple H is there to prevent that from happening. Show nails him and sets Shawn up for a splash off the ropes, but Shawn pulls Vince in the way and he gets splashed instead. Big Show ~ “Yikes!” A distracted Big Show gets tripped up and posted by DX. Back in, Shawn nails Shane with the flying forearm and the kip-up. An HBK atomic drop into a Triple H spinebuster to Shane! Shawn goes up for the flying elbow while H brings a chair into the ring and Pillmanizes Shane’s neck! Shawn connects with the elbow drop! Shane is bleeding inside! Shawn tunes up the band for SWEET CHIN MUSIC, but Show is there to yank him out and throw him into the cage. Show hotshots H and brings the steps in the ring because he’s ANGRY! Vince is still down by the way and Shane is done. Show goes to ram H with the steps, but since they are covering his face, he can’t see Triple H running at him to nail him in the gut with a steel chair. Haha, he jiggles like Jell-O! A chair shot to the head on the steps KO’s Show. Wait, no it doesn’t, but the SWEET CHIN MUSIC will! He falls on the ropes, which becomes important in a minute. The last McMahon standing is Vince, and he looks FURIOUS. H gets rid of the steps as the crowd starts to boo! It’s a standoff between Vince and DX. They yank Show’s tights down past his rear end! Vince drops to his knees and gets his face stuck in between the cheeks. Show falls out to the floor to readjust himself, and I think I saw a wee-wee! Shawn hits the SWEET CHIN MUSIC while H grabs a sledgehammer and BREAKS it over the back of Vince’s skull for the academic three-count. (25:04) Wow, great match to hopefully end the feud. It told a great story and adding Big Show to the mix was the best thing for it, as it did wonders for the match. I couldn’t imagine it being good without him. ****

8. This is the match that gave Sabu a future in the new ECW. The crowd was extremely hot for the whole thing and it ended in an insane moment without a real winner. You can’t deny that it was awesome seeing these two nearly kill each other. Sounds sick, I know, but that’s ECW.

- World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Sabu – “Extreme Rules” match (ECW: One Night Stand II – 06.11.06)

Mysterio comes out with his old-school tights like he wore before he lost the mask in WCW. Rey has ECW stitched on the back of his mask, but the crowd interprets it as “sucking up” so they boo Rey. Joey calls Rey’s reaction mixed, but Tazz begs to differ. Both men have chairs in hand as the bell sounds. They lay the chairs down and actually begin to wrestle! They go through a nice little sequence and then come to a stand-off. They play patty cake with the chairs which goes nowhere. Sabu hits Air Sabu, but then takes a drop-toe hold into a chair. Rey follows up with a chair-assisted hurracanrana out from the corner. Sabu avoids a 619 and then heaves a chair into Rey’s face which sends him rolling out to the floor! Sabu pulls out a table and makes it into a scaffold between the ring and guardrail. He lays Rey on the table and then goes for a springboard dive from inside the ring, but Rey rolls off the table. Sabu changes his direction, but still misses Rey and lands chest-first on the railing. Back in, Rey hits a beautiful moonsault press for two! Rey tries for a sunset flip from the apron, but Sabu kicks him in the head and sets Rey up for a guillotine legdrop while laid out on the middle rope. Sabu covers, 1, 2, NO! Sabu puts Rey in a camel clutch to draw some “Sheik” chants from the crowd, so Sabu releases the hold and points to the sky. Sabu goes to the floor and pulls out another table before re-entering and delivering an Arabian Facebuster for a near-fall. Sabu goes back out and sets up the table vertically to the ring. Rey dropkicks Sabu on the apron and landing on the table. LA SILLA to Sabu THROUGH the table! Back in, Rey hits a springboard guillotine leg drop to the back of Sabu’s head. Cover, 1, 2, NO! Sabu comes back with a springboard leg lariat. Sabu hits the TRIPLE JUMP MOONSAULT for 1, 2, NO! Rey avoids the ATOMIC ARABIAN FACEBUSTER and then sets Sabu in a chair for LA SILLA. Rey goes for it, but then Sabu rolls out of the way to crotch Rey REAL good! Sabu heaves the chair at Rey again for a nice sonic boom to send Rey to the floor! Sabu puts Rey on that table made into a scaffold and then delivers a SPRINGBOARD DDT THROUGH THE TABLE ON THE FLOOR on Rey Mysterio!!! Neither man can continue so they call for a bell leaving this match a no-contest. (9:08) The crowd boos the heck out of that finish, but that just made the moment all the more insane. Sabu pretty much jackknifed himself. That was a pretty cool spot fest if I do say so myself. Should this match be classified as having a bad finish just because there was no real end result? I don’t think so because to me, that’s what makes something hardcore; two guys who cross the line of being able to continue to fight. Sabu wasn’t going to win the title and since he had had 75% of the offense in the match, it wouldn’t have made sense for Rey to go over here. ****

7. What has helped Ric Flair maintain a wrestling career after thirty years is that he didn’t wrestle in crazy gimmick matches. He was a wrestler’s wrestler; meaning he kept it on the mat as much as possible unless he was being slammed off the top turnbuckle. You also have Edge, who holds a fairly decent win/loss record when it comes to ladder matches and was undefeated in TLC matches at this point. You wouldn’t think someone like Ric Flair could put on an awesome TLC match at the age of 56, but it was as though he had waited his whole career to compete in one of these dangerous matches.

- WWE Champion Edge (w/Lita) vs. Ric Flair – TLC V Match (Raw – 01.16.06)

This was the best Raw of 2006, wrestling-wise. Edge had been making fun of Flair for weeks after he was charged (in REAL life!) with assault and battery in late-November. They wrestled at New Year’s Revolution, which Flair won by DQ after Edge hit Flair in the face with his “Money-in-the-Bank” briefcase. That same night, as we all know, Edge cashed in the briefcase and pinned Cena to win the WWE title. This could all come back to bite him in the butt now that he has Flair to contend with in a TLC match. Many overlook this match saying that Flair is out of his element, but that’s definitely not the case (no pun intended). By the way, this is LIVE from Raleigh, NC. Flair country, if you WILL. Flair hits some chops early, but Edge stops that with a knee and grabs a ladder and a chair from the outside. Edge jabs Flair with the ladder and then sandwiches him in between the rungs! Flair is trapped, so Edge picks up the chair and smashes it into the ladder. Flair finally gets free and rolls out to the floor. Edge follows him out and gets chopped out over the security wall. They brawl in the crowd for a bit, but then Flair takes a backdrop back out to ringside. Edge gives Flair a suplex on the floor and sets up a table and puts a chair on it. Lita hands him another chair for a CONCHAIRTO on the table, but Flair counters by grabbing Edge’s balls! Flair takes Edge off the announce table and drops him chest-first on the security wall. Lita takes this opportunity to jump on Flair’s back and choke him down, but Flair flips her off of him. Flair goes back after Edge, but then gets nailed with a steel chair to bust him open! Edge sets him on the table and Lita holds him down while Edge sets up a ladder in the ring. Remember, Flair is on a table over by the announce table! Edge starts to climb and once he gets to the top, he SPLASHES Flair through the table! CRAZY! Flair’s daughter Ashley is at ringside pleading with him to get up as we go to commercial! We’re back and a bloody Flair is vertical in the ring while Edge is still stumbling out on the floor. Edge gets back in and takes a low blow for it. Flair sandwiches Edge in between the rungs this time and proceeds to smash a chair on the ladder. I love how Flair is using Edge’s own tactics against him, knowing that he’s never been in a ladder match before. Flair pulls Edge free from the ladders and cleans his clock with a chairshot! Flair places the ladder on Edge and bashes the ladder with the chair some more and then makes the first attempt at retrieving the belt. Once he sees Edge is still moving, he gets down and moves the ladder to a corner. Flair chops Edge down and heads up the ladder, but Edge meets him at the top for a SUPERPLEX OFF THE LADDER! INSANE! Edge starts to climb the ladder, but now Flair is standing again. Edge decides to deliver a missile dropkick, but Flair avoids it. Nevertheless, we see a Flair Flop. WOOOO! Edge gets up first and knocks Flair out to ringside with a chairshot. Edge goes up the ladder for his belt, but Flair gets back in and pushes the ladder back to send Edge crashing through a table out on the floor! The crowd is going nuts, begging Flair to capitalize on this moment. Flair climbs the ladder and touches the belt, but Lita sneaks in and brings Flair down. She knocks Flair down and mounts him to punch on him, but Flair pushes Lita off and puts her in the FIGURE-FOUR! He lets go after about ten seconds and Edge is still out! Flair slowly starts the climb again. Edge is now up and at the ladder, but Edge climbs and punches Flair down to retain his belt. (16:38) Post-match, Edge SPEARS Flair down and goes for another CONCHAIRTO, but John Cena runs down for the save. Interestingly enough, Edge would be dethroned during his second title reign in a TLC match against John Cena himself, which we’ll get to later in the countdown. ****

6. We’ve got two guys who are given 20-minutes and who just so happen to RULE. What else do you need?

- Chris Benoit vs. Finlay – (Judgment Day 05.21.06)

This grudge match is a result of Finlay pulling some shenanigans on Benoit to continue in the KotR tournament. It’s all for naught considering Lashley beat Finlay to advance the finals. But in any event, both these guys just love to fight. I mean, Finlay says it at the beginning of his entrance music. “Benoit” chants start up before these guys even lock up with each other. They collar-and-elbow tie up their way out to the floor with INTENSITY! Back in, Benoit goes nose-to-nose with Finlay to bait in the quickest double-leg takedown I’ve ever seen to try for a SHARPSHOOTER. Finlay trips him up before Benoit can lock in the hold. Benoit goes to the mat with a headlock, but a quick rollup by Finlay causes him to break the hold. Finlay complains to the ref that Benoit jabbed him in the eye to slow things down and to get a quick shot in on Benoit. Genius! Finlay takes Benoit back to the mat with a reverse chinlock for a bit, but then wakes Benoit up with a slap to the face. Benoit returns the favor, only 1000x harder! Benoit stiffs Finlay to the other side of the ring and drops him with a textbook backbreaker. Benoit takes Finlay to the mat and tries to maneuver him around for the Crippler Crossface, but instead cradles him over for a near-fall with Finlay’s feet on the ropes. Benoit beats on Finlay in the corner, but then takes a thumb to the eye. Short-arm clothesline sets up a near-fall. Finlay puts Benoit in a hold that is so sick, I don’t even know WHAT to call it where he forces his foot behind Benoit’s head and pulls on both his arms. Let’s call it the IRISH TORTURE DEVICE! Benoit actually powers out of this insane hold, but goes right into a bow-tie chokehold. Benoit fights out and ducks a clothesline to hit the HAT TRICK of Germans. Benoit goes up top for the SWANDIVE HEADBUTT, but Finlay rolls out of the way. Benoit delivers a dragon screw leg whip and tries for the SHARPSHOOTER once more, but Finlay kicks him away. Finlay goes out to bring a chair into the ring, but Benoit baseball-slides the chair into Finlay. Benoit rolls Finlay in and nails the SWANDIVE HEADBUTT! He covers for 1, 2, NO! Finlay reverses a whip for Benoit to run chest-first in the corner, and then follows up with a clothesline from behind for two. Finlay works on the neck for a bit, but then hits a big running butt splash to Benoit’s lower abdomen for two. Finlay locks on a hammerlock/dragon sleeper submission hold! I don’t know why no one has ever thought of that before! Benoit bridges out, but Finlay drops him again with a European uppercut to the back of the head. Finlay just kills Benoit with the forearm shots. Benoit fights back with the same, but then Finlay starts to tear on Benoit’s shoulders. Benoit flips out a slam and puts Finlay down with a German suplex! He hits another suplex! Benoit tries for a third, but Finlay elbows out. Finlay repeatedly headbutts Benoit, but then takes an enziguri that sends him stumbling out of the ring. Benoit follows him out and ducks a swing of the shillelagh to give Finlay a German suplex on the floor! Benoit gets back in the ring at the count of six, Finlay in at eight. Benoit delivers a snap suplex in from the apron and holds on through the Three Amigos of Eddie Guerrero. Benoit takes too much time pounding his chest like Eddie, so Finlay shoves Benoit off the apron into the security wall. Back in, Finlay drives Benoit shoulder-first into the steel ringpost. He brings Benoit to the center of the ring and out of nowhere; Benoit takes Finlay down to the mat to lock in the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! Once Benoit clasps his hands, Finlay taps immediately! (21:10) If guys like Benoit and Finlay can’t deliver, WWE might as well stop what they’re doing. Keep the memories you have and leave it at that. The match they had that set this one up was really great, but this was just better. Possibly the reason could just be due to the commercial break in the middle of it. You might be able to say that the finish was too quick, but it completely defines what the Crossface is meant to do. It’s meant to be unexpected and quickly executed. No one saw it coming, especially not Finlay. ****

5. A perfect definition of “good friends, better enemies.” These two put on a non-stop hardcore clinic, ending with a very memorable finish that few men could ever top. To say that Mick Foley is included this far down on a Match of the Year countdown in 2006 is a testament to just how great he still can be to the business.

- Edge (w/Lita) vs. Mick Foley – Hardcore Match (WrestleMania 22 04.02.06)

Edge has a baseball bat and you can just guess what he wants to do with it. Foley knocks it away from him and sends Edge down with a faceslam. Joey Styles is “losing his WrestleMania virginity” as he puts it by calling this match. He mentions that Foley is wearing the black flannel showing that he’s gone into a dark place preparing for this match. Foley sets up Edge in the TREEEE OF WOEEE position and follows up with an elbow drop to the face. Edge comes back with a knockdown to Foley. Edge tells Lita to throw in some toys for him to beat Foley with. A cookie sheet is destroyed by Foley’s head! Edge follows up by dropkicking a road sign in Foley’s face! Edge sets up for the spear and he gets it! Edge is obviously more hurt by it as Foley stands up and shows everyone that he has barbed-wire wrapped around his abdomen! Foley yanks out some wire-cutters from his shoe and takes that off of him. CRAZY! Edge’s arm is “busted open”. Foley takes his barbed wire and then starts whipping Edge with it! While Edge gets wrapped up in the ropes, Mick goes to the floor and pulls out his barbed-wire wrapped baseball bat better known as Barbie! Lita comes in and leaps on Mick’s back to try and save Edge, so Mick runs at Edge who is still in the ropes for a CACTUS CLOTHESLINE! That was AWESOME! Mick covers for two! Swinging neckbreaker on the floor gets two. Foley charges Edge with his head up against the steel steps, but Edge jumps up and tosses Foley awkwardly into the steps! Poor Mick. Edge beats on Foley some more before tossing him knees first into the steps again! Edge sets up a table out on the floor and puts Foley on it. Edge goes up top, but Foley simply slides off of the table. Edge comes down and goes after Mick by slamming his head into the steel rampway! That gets two. Back in, Lita hands Edge a bottle of lighter fluid and then Edge squirts it all over Mick! Lawler can’t believe Edge is going to light Foley on fire! Foley comes back with a quick pull-up piledriver for two. Lita saves Edge from a ONE-MAN CONCHAIRTO by getting in the ring, but then Foley turns around into a DDT on a cookie sheet for two. Edge brings Barbie into play and harms Foley with it REAL good. He even bulldogs Foley on it for two. Edge goes back to the floor and pulls out a SACK OF TACKS and pours them all in the ring! Foley counters with a back suplex on the tacks! Edge is all like OWWWW so Foley pulls out MR. SOCKO, and then wraps him up with barbed wire! MANDIBLE CLAW for Edge AND Lita! Lita’s lip is supposedly busted open. Foley grabs Barbie and nails Edge with it a couple times. Both men are busted open pretty bad. Foley goes out onto the apron and pours lighter fluid on that table that was set up on the floor. Lita comes by with Barbie and whacks Foley in the balls with it! HAHAHA! She sets the table on fire as Edge comes THROUGH the ropes and spears Foley THROUGH THE FLAMING TABLE! Joey ~ “OH MY GOD!” That’ll do it as Edge gets the three-count. (14:38) A flaming table and a barbed-wire wrapped Mr. Socko. THAT’s hardcore, folks! Edge does a great mutilated sell-job on his way to the back. ****

4. It seemed like this was a match where WWE wanted Randy Orton to get in there and learn something. Possibly the most underrated WWE match of 2006, for reasons I don’t understand. I enjoyed the heck out of this match.

- Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton – No Holds Barred, Falls Count Anywhere (Smackdown – 01.27.06)

Orton took Booker’s place due to an injury in order to finish his best-of-seven series with Benoit over the US Title. Orton is promised a favor in return, but I’m not sure that it ever paid off. After the Rumble, Orton went right into a feud with Rey Mysterio leading up to WrestleMania. Nice chain wrestling to start. Benoit comes out of a waistlock and goes to an overhead wristlock. Orton comes out of that into a side headlock. Benoit shoves him off into the ropes and takes a shoulderblock. He tries several times to do a German Suplex, but Orton blocks every attempt and slips through the ropes and out to the floor because he FEARS the move. Good psychology. Orton’s all, “I don’t think so, dude,” as we go to commercial. We come back to see Orton taking Benoit down with a headlock. Benoit tries to get out of that and surprise Orton with the CROSSFACE, but Orton gets away. Benoit works the arm with a standing armbar, but Orton rolls out of it and gets knocked down with some chops for two. Orton fights back and sends Benoit out to the floor with forearm shots. They fight on the announce table until Orton backs Benoit kidneys-first into the apron. Orton covers out on the floor for 1-2-NO! Back in, Orton covers again using the ropes for leverage for two. Nothing the ref can do about it either. Orton goes to the rigorous chinlock. Benoit fights out with an armdrag and gets caught with a HIGH dropkick. They go back out to the floor and Orton finds a trashcan lid and nails Benoit in the back with it. Now Orton grabs a trash can, but Benoit gives him a drop toe hold on it to buy himself some time. Benoit slams Orton’s face into the steps and chops him up against the ringpost. They go back over to the announce table for Benoit to slam Orton’s face on it and send him flying in Cole and Tazz’s seats! Orton fights back with a BLINDING rake to the eyes. Benoit takes a hotshot on the announce table for 1-2-NO! Back in, Orton delivers some knee drops and goes to the crazy chinlock again. Orton releases to stomp him and then goes out and brings a chair into the ring. Benoit ducks a wild swing with the chair and goes for the SHARPSHOOTER! Orton fights it, but Benoit holds on until he gets kicked away. Orton channels the spirit of NIKOLAI VOLKOFF and drops a big communist-like knee drop for 1-2-NO! Orton applies a sleeper/body scissors. Benoit breaks free of the body scissors. He remains in a front headlock, but fights out with a release Northern Lights suplex. They go out on the floor and brawl up the aisle way, but Benoit sends Orton back into the ring with chops. Benoit delivers a pair of knockdowns and then a running elbow drop for 1-2-NO! Benoit hits the Three Amigos and goes a superplex for the big exclamation point. Will he get it? Yes he does! Both men down at the seven-count, but then out of nowhere Benoit jumps on Orton to slap on the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE. Orton fights it off long enough to stand up and fall out to the floor along with Benoit. Orton grabs the trash can on the other side of the ring and walks over and hits Benoit in the head with it. Commercial time! We come back and Orton has Benoit in the ring and down on the mat in the tenacious chinlock. Benoit fights out of it with chops, but then Orton catches Benoit in a Stretch Backbreaker. Back out to the floor, Orton pulls up the protective mat to expose the concrete floor and tries to give Benoit a PILEDRIVER! That move is illegal in the WWE, even Cole says it is! I love how Orton takes advantage of the rules there to get the job done. Naturally, Benoit has to backdrop out of the piledriver. He grabs a steel chair and goes to KILL Orton with it, but Orton moves out of the way just in time for the chair to smash against the concrete. Benoit chases Orton back into the ring with the chair, but Orton kicks it away. Orton swings at Benoit, but he ducks and gets his Hat Trick of Germans! Benoit signals for the Swandive Headbutt and heads up top, but Orton brings up the trashcan lid to block and lets Benoit hit it face first. Hahaha, Orton is SMILING! Cole calls Orton a coward, which seems unjustified to me. That was smart. Orton slithers around waiting for Benoit to get up and take an RKO on the trashcan lid. Benoit blocks it and shoves Orton off into the ropes, and then NAILS Orton in the face with the lid, making Orton easy pickings for the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE and the win! (26:06) Just an all-around awesome match with tons of great psychology. ****

3. A classic match followed by a classic rematch. It’s amazing how they can create the same amazing atmosphere twice by doing two completely different matches. Sure, some spots were the same, but the ones that were different are what make this match so special. Up until the finish, you knew Undertaker meant what he said at No Way Out by telling Kurt Angle that he had his number.

- World Champion Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker – (Smackdown – 03.03.06)

This is the rematch from No Way Out due to the controversial finish. I still don’t know how the WWE can call that finish controversial, but who cares! We get another great match! Crowd goes into the dueling chants to start as Angle tries to avoid being stuck in the corner with Taker. Angle ducks Taker’s shots and turns things around on Taker in the corner. Taker comes out and brings Angle into the corner by his throat and delivers some body shots. Taker chases the ref out of the ring and charges into a boot off a whip in the corner. Angle catches Taker in an armdrag and goes into an armbar. Taker escapes and applies a Fujiwara armbar of his own. Taker lifts Angle up in a knucklelock lift and heads over to the corner to wrench on Angle’s arm some more. Taker decides to go OLD SKOOL, but Angle brings him down with a forearm. Angle stomps Taker down in the corner, but Taker goes back to the arm to regain control. Taker looks like he wants to try for OLD SKOOL again, but Angle drills him with a forearm before he can start the climb. Angle delivers the ten-count corner punch, but Taker lifts him up for the LAST RIDE to counter after seven. Angle tries to block it, so Taker drops him on the top rope instead. Angle gets booted off the apron into the security wall as we go to break. We come back to see Taker setting up the announce table, but Angle stops him and slams Taker’s head into the steel steps, but then he turns around and drops Angle with a clothesline. Taker places Angle on the apron and gives him the guillotine leg drop across the neck instead of delivering it on the chest. Angle WRITHES in pain as he falls to the floor. Taker brings Angle back in to avoid a countout and covers for 1-2-NO! I love how Taker created the opportunity to move from working on the arm to the neck. Taker grinds and hammers on Angle’s neck and shoulders, but then Angle reverses a whip and hits a powerslam out of nowhere! Cover, 1-2-NO! Angle applies a chinlock, but releases the hold when Taker starts pushing on Angle’s face causing more torque on the neck. Angle delivers a suplex for two, and then moves to a body scissors for a few near-falls. Taker stands up out of it, leaving Angle open for right hands. Angle baits Taker in the corner and avoids a running big boot to create an opportunity to weaken Taker’s leg for the anklelock. Angle tries to knock Taker off the apron, but he runs into a back elbow to slow things down. Taker heads up top, but Angle meets him there only to get knocked back down. Angle comes back with rights and delivers a top-rope superplex for 1-2-NO! Commercial break #2! After the break, we see Angle punishing Taker with another chinlock. Taker punches out, but then gets clotheslined out to the floor by Angle. He lands on his feet and pulls Angle out to the floor with him. That proves to a BIG mistake, as Angle reverses a whip sending Taker knees-first into the steel steps! Back in, Angle covers for 1-2-NO! Taker wins a slugfest and follows Angle into the corner with a clothesline! Make it two clotheslines! Taker follows up with the snake-eyes, but Angle ducks the big boot and hits a German Suplex! OH YEAH! Angle wants the ANGLE SLAM, but will he get it? NO! Big boot by Taker! Cover, 1-2-NO! Taker wants a CHOKESLAM, but Angle decides that the ANKLELOCK might be that much cooler! Taker kicks Angle away and goes for the TOMBSTONE out of nowhere! Angle reverses, but so does Taker! Angle escapes, ducks a clothesline and hits the ANGLE SLAM! Cover, 1-2-NO!!! The crowd collectively has a heart attack at this point. Angle pulls down the straps, makes up some new cuss words, and slaps on the ANKLELOCK again! Taker rolls through it and catches Angle in a CHOKESLAM! Taker staggers around, so Angle takes advantage and surprises EVERYONE with another ANKLELOCK! Taker turns around and pulls Angle into the Triangle Choke! Angle starts to fade away, but then rolls over Taker into a pinning predicament just like at No Way Out, but Taker slips out after one. The choke is still applied as Taker rolls onto his back. Will Angle tap out?! Angle’s arm drops once, twice, but not three times as he reaches the bottom rope. Taker sets Angle up for a leg drop, but Angle avoids it and hooks on the ANKLELOCK for the FOURTH time in this match! Taker actually kicks Angle off again, slips out of an ANGLE SLAM, and applies a Dragon Sleeper! Angle pounds his way out of it and drops Taker with a DDT for 1-2-NO! Angle goes for it all with a picture-perfect MOONSAULT, but there’s no water in the pool! ZOMBIE SIT-UP! Taker hits the TOMBSTONE and just as he covers Angle, Mark Henry and Daivari hop in the ring and begin their attack for the DQ. (28:42) Crowd is pissed off at the ending, and I can’t say I blame them. How are you going to give us a near 30-minute classic and end it on a DQ? Henry kicks Taker out to the floor and splashes him through the announce table to get their WrestleMania feud-a-roasting. This was equally as good, if not better than their No Way Out match by showcasing some different moves than what was done before. It was nearing ****¾ territory in my eyes up until that utterly terrible finish, and I have no choice but to subtract a ½* away from it. However, horrible finish aside, it’s still the best free TV match of the year. ****¼

2. Okay, so before, I gave this the nod for match of the year, but then I popped in No Way Out one day and my mind was changed. I loved how the Cena/Edge feud came to this; Edge being topped in his own specialty match. What better way to dethrone the champ?

- WWE Champion Edge vs. John Cena – TLC Match (Unforgiven 09.17.06)

If Edge wins, Cena signs a three-year deal with Smackdown. If Cena wins, he becomes the three-time WWE Champion alongside Mick Foley and Brock Lesnar. In case you didn’t know, this is also Edge’s hometown so the crowd is very pro-Edge. Also, JR goofs up again by saying Edge (and Edge has said as well) has never lost in a TLC match. I vaguely remember a TLC match on Smackdown five years ago that Edge and Christian lost which included Benoit, Jericho, the Hardys and the Dudleys. Actually, I remember it VERY well. Why does everyone seem to forget about that match? We start off with Cena working a headlock while breaking the hold and getting in three shoulderblocks. Cena runs the ropes and Edge catches Cena with a slap to the face. Cena takes him down and pounds away, but then he ducks low off a whip and takes a swinging neckbreaker from Edge. They go to the floor where Edge tries to Cena’s head off with a steel chair, but he misses and Cena takes him back into the ring for the Protoplex. Edge avoids a charge and then delivers the Edgecution. Edge goes out and brings two chairs into the ring and then sets up facing each other. Edge tries to suplex Cena on the chairs, but he counters and tries for the suplex. Edge flips out and drops Cena with an inverted DDT on the chairs! Edge brings one of the shorter ladders into the ring and goes for the belt, but Cena gets back up and shoves the ladder over. Edge lands on his feet and charges at Cena with a clothesline. While Cena is draped across the middle ropes, Edge goes out to the floor and slams a ladder in his face. Edge follows up and comes off the security wall and missile dropkicks the ladder into Cena! Edge gets back in and tries to ram Cena with the ladder, but he moves and hits the corner. Cena comes back with rights and then hiptosses Edge onto the propped up ladder in the corner. Cena sees there’s two tables set up beside one another and grabs Edge so he can FU him through the tables, but Edge grabs the ropes and lands on the apron. Cena wins a slugfest and comes off the ropes, but gets nailed with a forearm. Edge goes up top and gets crotched to disable him long enough for Cena to bring a table into the ring. He sets it up in the ring and then tries to superplex Edge through it. Edge is able to hammer his way out for a sunset flip powerbomb, but Cena puts the brakes on the hold for our first real botched spot of the match. The crowd is a little disappointed to say the least. They improvise with Edge giving Cena a powerslam through the table. “Cena sucks!” chant go up as the ref gets the table out of the ring. Cena is out on the floor, so Edge runs up the ladder that’s still propped up in the corner and dives out onto Cena! Edge tosses Cena back in and brings two chairs in the ring with him. He levels Cena on the mat with a chair shot and then sets up for the one-man Conchairto, but Cena trips Edge up once he goes for the fatal swing. Cena hits the Throwback (running flip neckbreaker) on the chair! He then picks up the ladder and sandwiches Edge in between the ladder and applies the STFU! JR tries to convince us that Cena is a TOUGH SONUVAGUN for doing what he just did. Cena releases the hold and then rams the ladder into Edge’s face. He lifts the ladder up onto his shoulders and FU’s the ladder on Edge! Sure, why not. Cena sets the ladder up in the corner and then delivers a Protobomb to set up the Five Knuckle Shuffle from the ladder! Lawler ~ “I love a good fist drop, JR.” Cena goes out to the floor and brings another table into the ring, but then turns around in a WONDERFUL chairshot. I mean, that baby was nice. Cena is OUT. Haha, Edge starts to get cocky and bobbles his head as the crowd cheers! Edge sets Cena on a table and then goes out and brings another table into the ring, which he sets up on TOP of the table Cena is laid out on! Edge goes up top, but then Cena gets up and knocks Edge out onto the security wall. Cena goes out to the floor and pulls out one of those 16-foot ladders which will make it harder to climb, but a lot easier to grab the belt. I can’t let you forget about the ladder that was set up in the corner about five minutes ago because Edge is climbing it as we speak. He comes off of it and spears Cena off the big ladder to save his title! Not a perfect spear, but it worked. Edge begins to climb the big ladder, but then realizes Cena is up and dives out on top of him. Cena catches him and lifts Edge up into the FU position. He gets too close to the ladder, allowing Edge to climb off of Cena and onto the ladder. Cena stops him and powerbombs Edge into the smaller standing ladder. Yikes, that could’ve been disastrous. Edge falls out to the floor to rest, but Cena follows him out and has a steel chair in hand. Edge rises and Cena connects with a very, very weak chairshot. Cena rolls back in the ring and seems to be disappointed in himself. Cena begins to climb the 16-foot ladder to regain his title, but Lita comes down and turns the ladder over to send Cena through a table out on the floor ala Matt Hardy at SummerSlam 2000. The only difference was the table was horizontal instead of vertical like at SummerSlam. I’m proud of you, John. Edge finally starts to get up to his feet on the other side of the ring. Edge crawls in the ring and sets the ladder up underneath the belt as somehow Cena is back in the ring. Lita grabs a chair in the ring and nails Cena in the back with it, causing him to fall into the ladder and send Edge crashing through a table on the entrance ramp. OUCH! That looked like it hurt worse than Cena’s bump. Lita gets an FU to put her out of the match. The top table from the double-stack in the ring fell down because of the ring bounce from the FU, so Cena sets it back up because it’s very vital to the finish. Cena sets the ladder back up and begins to climb, and Edge has unbelievably made it back into the ring. He starts to climb the opposite side of the ladder to try and knock the challenger off, but Cena lifts him up on his shoulders for the FU off the ladder and through the double-stack of tables! The finish is academic as Cena easily grabs the belt to regain his championship! (25:29) That was one AMAZING match and possibly my favorite WWE TLC match. With a few minor obvious botches, it wasn’t perfect so I can’t give it the full five stars. ****¼

And now, to no one’s surprise, the #1 WWE match of 2006!

1. Absolutely tremendous match from bell-to-bell. It legitimized Kurt Angle’s title reign and proved that Undertaker could still go with someone talented. It’s no doubt the all-around best match WWE could muster up in 2006. After a couple more viewings, I boosted the rating up another ½*.

- World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker – (No Way Out 02.19.06)

Taker goes right after Angle, but Angle is able to dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge him to start. Angle pisses off Taker by shoving him in the back, so Taker goes crazy on him. Angle rolls out of the ring to avoid ALL of that. Back in, Taker works over Angle’s arm and shoulder for a good while. Taker goes for Old School, but Angle nails him in the face to put a stop to it. Taker counters a whip out of the corner into an arm whip. He goes for Old School again and this time it works. Taker hits the Snake Eyes, but Angle ducks the big boot and catches Taker for a German suplex. Angle punishes Taker in the corner with stomps and shoulder blocks. Taker counters a whip into the far side corner and follows in with a running knee to the face. Taker charges again, but Angle ducks out of the way. Taker gets knocked off the apron onto the barricade. Angle sends Taker face-first into the steel steps, but then Angle is caught coming off the apron and then driven spine-first into the ringpost. Taker sets Angle on the apron and delivers a legdrop across the throat. Back in, Taker goes for a chokeslam but Angle kicks him away. Now Angle goes after Taker’s left knee. He posts his knee a couple times and then applies the ringpost figure-four. Back in, Angle stomps away on Taker’s knee and then goes all Ric Flair on Taker by splashing his knee against the ropes. Taker tosses Angle to the floor out of desperation. Taker sets Angle up on the apron again for another legdrop, but Angle counters it with an ANKLELOCK out on the floor! Angle goes in to break the count and then comes back out to apply the hold once again. Back in, Angle applies a legbar but Taker kicks out of it. Angle comes back with a double-leg takedown, but Taker counters that with a TRIANGLE CHOKE! Angle makes the ropes. Angle rolls out to the floor to try and rejuvenate himself. Taker goes out after him and attacks him out on the floor. He even tosses him into Tony Chimel! That guy has had a rough night! Tazz ~ “Better Chimel than us.” Weren’t you a wrestler once? Geez. Taker sets up the Cole/Tazz announce table, but Angle catches Taker and drives him through the SAT with an ANGLESLAM! Angle cusses ref Nick Patrick out for trying to count out the Undertaker. Angle rocks your face off. He goes back out to the floor and pounds on Taker, but then gets whipped into the steel steps. Back in, Taker goes up top possibly for his flying clothesline, but Angle pops up and tries a superplex. Angle gets knocked back down to the mat, but then he comes back up and delivers a SUPER BELLY-TO-BELLY THROW. Angle covers for two. Angle comes off the ropes, but runs into a boot for two. Taker goes for the chokeslam, but Angle rolls through into the ANKLELOCK! Taker pulls Angle into the TRIANGLE CHOKE! Angle counters THAT into another ANKLELOCK! Taker rolls Angle off of him and then gives Angle a CHOKESLAM! That gets a near-fall! Now it’s time for the LAST RIDE! Or is it? Angle rolls out of that into another ANKLELOCK! Taker kicks him off again, but swings his way into an ANGLESLAM! Angle covers, but it only gets two. Angle can’t believe it! He pulls down the straps so he can finally get serious! They trade blows. Angle comes off the ropes and Taker catches him for the TOMBSTONE! Angle reverses it into a Tombstone of his own. Taker reverses it again but Angle rolls down into the ANKLELOCK! Angle grapevines the leg! OH SNAP! Taker rolls over so that he’s able to kick Angle repeatedly in the face to get him off of him. Both men back up, Angle delivers ANOTHER ANGLESLAM! Angle tries a rollup of sorts, but Taker pulls him in the TRIANGLE CHOKE again! Kurt looks like he’s going to pass out! The arm falls twice but on the third time, Angle flips over into a pinning predicament with Taker’s shoulders down on the mat for the three-count! ANGLE RETAINS! (29:48) Tazz tries to say that since Taker was the aggressor that his shoulders shouldn’t have been counted. Well, if they want to say that it was a controversial finish for the REMATCH on Smackdown, then that’s cool with me! Taker is another guy that can have great matches with great competitors, and Angle is capable of having a great match with just about anybody. Add these two together and you’ve got an excellent match. I would say that this was definitely Taker’s best non-gimmicked match since 1997; bar none. I would also go as far as to say that this is Angle’s greatest successful PPV title defense outside of Angle/Benoit at the Rumble 2003. ****½

EDIT: After reading that, chances are — either you think my writing has gotten better or its gotten a lot less creative. All the same, I hope you enjoyed that.

It’s all snowy here in North Carolina and when there’s anything white on the ground, our entire world shuts down, which means I’ve got nowhere to go. Having said that, my ten picks from 2007 are due. Look for it to be up sometime Sunday!

Eugene Dinsmore. Hammond Civic Center, Hammond, IN. (2007) / Wikipedia.org

Paul London y Eugene, dos ex WWE, se unen a Hulkmania, para la gira por Australia en noviembre. Hay que recordar que “Eugene” perdió su oportunidad de quedarse , tras perder la lucha por un contrato en RAW, VS The Miz (Aunque hubo varias dudas respecto a su salida)

Por su parte Paul London ha estado de independiente, después de haber estado en WWE y TNA (por corto tiempo)

Fuente: prwrestling.com

Can’t believe Brian Kendrick got released from the WWE. I actually liked his current feud with Jerry Lawler. My guess is Lawler didn’t like it.
This is actually for the best for Kendrick: the Raw roster was stacked, he would have been buried even worse on ECW, and got lost in the shuffle on Smackdown. Ever since Paul London got released, Kendrick was doomed.

This came in from wrestlinginc:

Former TNA Superstar Petey Williams will be at the Ring of Honor events when the company heads to Detroit and Chicago. It still remains to be seen whether he will be rejoining the company full time or if this is a special appearance.

There is a rumor that he could return to TNA to be Amazing Red’s partner after former WWE star Paul London no showed a taping. Due to his commitments in Japan, he would not be taking the job. As we know, Suicide has taken London’s spot. Another rumored name was Sonjay Dutt.

This tells me that the company may be looking at both releases (Dutt and Williams) as mistakes, and I think that in the coming months, at least one of them would be back.

Just a quick reminder I will be covering TNA Impact this week live, like the past two weeks.

I was reading about that 13 year old girl who has decided to die today. I’ve avoided reading about it until now because it was too sad for me, it really is pretty tragic stuff. The worst thing is she’ll die a virgin. She needn’t though, and if she’s looking for eligible suitors to do the deed I’m willing to step up to the plate. *Adjusts bow tie*.

That’s right, I went there. I’ll see you in Hell.

Good old I’m A Celebrity Get Me out Of Here, they really know how to create tension. Bring in two new celebs, the existing hungry celebs refuse to pay a ransom, the pissed off new celebs come to camp and then two celebs have to sleep in a cave. Good stuff. The only thing that surprised me this year was the lack of young free and single celebs. No romance angle this year. Unless they were hoping for some of the ‘we shouldn’t be doing this’ from last year but if they wanted Blondie big boobs, Mrs Joe Cole or Dani Behr? Really? Dani Behr? to do the dirty then they should have probably put someone more enticing than Mickey from Eastenders. Is Simon Webbe single? Maybe they were hoping that he’d be in there, he’s hardly a famous love rat though is he? I don’t know I digest and instantly forget the Sunday news. I’ve never shagged him anyway…or have I?

How good was it seeing John Morrison super-kick Shawn Michaels last night on Raw? I’m sure HBK will get him back 10 fold (that’s what they do) but for that moment you almost believed that WWE cared about planning for the future. Now all Morrison has to do is throw The Miz through a glass window and carry the company on his talented, hilarious back.

A fresh batch of WWE releases this month, some understandable, some boggle the mind.

Super Crazy – a good enhancement talent for new heels to go over. Apparently this one isn’t WWE’s fault as he wasn’t happy about being a jobber and wanted to leave. He seemed to think he was good enough to be at least a mid carder. The crowd disagreed it seemed, as every time he was on you could hear toilets flushing in the arena.

Paul London – a fantastic wrestling talent, as his work in Ring Of Honour showed. The fact is he was lost by himself without the cruiser-weight title and his backstage attitude, coupled with a lack of faith from management meant he was always going to be Marty Jannety to Brian Kendrick’s Shawn Michaels.

Chuck Palumbo – there are only so many failed gimmicks a guy can have before creative stop trying. So far he’s been a big angry guy who likes fighting, a homoerotic but not all the way gay man, an Italian mobster a guy who makes motor bikes and then an extended version where he looked like a poor man’s American bad ass. I thought he did pretty well on Smackdown until he spoke, and cut that pulling teeth promo about turning his back on Michelle McCool.

Kenny Dykstra – a ton of potential, a ton of talent. He’s 22. He was a bit of a jerk backstage but then all the greats are. They should have seen this as a good sign. Besides which, whenever I hear of someone being a jerk backstage I always assume this means ‘refuses to kiss Triple H’s arse’. Which may explain why his last weeks with the company mostly involved being pedigreed by Triple H himself.

Then there’s Elijah Burke, for months he was kept of television because creative ‘had nothing for him’. Hang on, isn’t that, like, your fucking jobs or something? He was a great striker, great on the mic and his sometimes sloppy ring work was improving as well. You don’t need that much creativity to sell an arrogant boxer who thinks he’s better than everyone else. He pretty much sells himself.

Lena Yada and Armando Estrada did fuck all anyway so good riddance.

La WWE ha despedido a dos más de sus superestrellas, esto se dio a conocer el dia de ayer por la noche en la pagina oficias WWE.com en donde publican un mensaje como este:

World Wrestling Entertainment has come to terms on the release of Superstars Paul London and Chuck Palumbo as of Nov. 7, 2008. WWE wishes them the best in all future endeavors

Al igual que la WWE les deseamos lo mejor en su carrera a London y a Palumbo.

"You're fired." "LA LA LA LA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

According to everyone, Paul London and Chuck Palumbo were also future-endeavored by WWE today. Chuck Palumbo, despite his OK angle with Jamie Noble and Michelle McCool on Smackdown a while back, was doomed to never get over with anyone any time anywhere. He was just another big lug. But how a WWE employee (do they call them superstars now?) can look up and down the roster and think “You know, that young, athletic, dynamic Paul London, teeming with personality and the likelihood to actually relate to a crowd is dead weight” is beyond me. Whatever. I’m so over this. London can go to TNA and make some money (or go to ROH and change his finishing move to a spinning toe hold). -Eric

Elijah Burke este unul din multii oameni din Texas, care au ramas fara curent electric, in urma Uraganului Ike. Se pare ca s-a confruntat cu cateva probleme personale si nu va fi concediat, fiind asteptat sa revina cat mai curand de catre cei din WWE. (Tot cam cat a lipsit el din WWE, a lipsit si Black Reign din TNA si toti stim ce s-a intamplat, nu?)

Paul London s-a confruntat, de asemenea, cu probleme personale, care l-au tinut departe de ringul de wrestling timp de cateva luni bune. Nici in cazul lui nu se pune problema concedierii si este asteptat sa revina cat mai curand, pentru a participa in storyline-uri.

ROH: One Year Anniversary
Queens, NY
2/8/2003

Low-Ki is the first face we see as he’s walking up to the building. During the first year of ROH, the company has implemented respect, honor, discipline and dedication back into wrestling. It’s been a monumental year and now a new year is upon us, so you better get ready!

They show a video package with highlights of the first year in ROH.

ROH First Year Flashback: The Era of Honor Begins – Low Ki vs. American Dragon vs. Christopher Daniels – a match that set the standard for ROH.

Paul London gets some promo time and mentions how he plans to take home some gold tonight.

Your hosts are Ray Murrow & Chris Lovey.

• Chad Collyer vs. EZ Money vs. Colt Cabana vs. Michael Shane – Four Corner Survival Match

One fall to a finish. In case you’re a little unfamiliar with Chad Collyer and EZ Money, Collyer is the next generation’s Dean Malenko. He’s been all over the place and currently wrestles in England with ASW. You may remember EZ Money from the final months of ECW. After ECW went under, he signed with WCW as Jason Jett. Funny I mention these two because they start the match. They grapple to a stalemate and tag Cabana and Shane in for a try. You’ve got to love Shane’s Scott Hall Wolfpac tights. Cabana explodes with a quebrada for two. Cabana works the arm and tags in Collyer. Shane breaks away and tags Money who slams Collyer down for the Pendulum of Pain. From there, they trade bowtie locks on the mat. A cheapshot from Michael Shane on the apron allows Collyer to deck Money to set up a face-in-peril scenario. Shane tags and delivers a series of short-arm clotheslines and finishes up with a flapjack for two. Collyer’s back in with a chinlock. Money fights out and levels him with a flying clothesline. He goes for the tag and Michael Shane steps over to the other side of the apron to be a jerk. He tags Collyer instead and rolls up Money for 1-2-NO! Money tries to come back with a handspring elbow off the ropes and kind of botches it up. He still delivers it anyway. Money blocks a superplex with a front superplex to Shane and makes the hot tag to Colt. Kryptonite Krunch on the knee from Cabana to Collyer. That gets two. Cabana catches Shane coming off the middle rope and delivers a double-underhook slam out of it. Quite amazing. Money blocks a Jack Brisco rollup in the corner for the MONEY IN THE BANK on Cabana! Cover, 1-2-NO! Collyer makes the save. Shane blocks a rana from Money with a Powerbomb for another nearfall. Now everyone takes their dive bumps on the floor, ending with a Michael Shane somersault plancha to Money. Back in the ring, Collyer nails Cabana with a Release German Suplex for 1-2-NO! Michael Shane tries to leap on Cabana, but gets caught in mid-air with an Ace Crusher. Collyer takes advantage and falls on top of Shane for 1-2-NO! THE MONEY CLIP (slingshot flip into a clothesline) takes out Cabana and Collyer! Shane misses the PICTURE PERFECT ELBOW to Money and avoids the COLT 45 from Cabana, but then gets locked in the TEXAS CLOVERLEAF by Collyer. Shane makes the ropes. EZ Money grabs Collyer and delivers the CHA-CHING POWERBOMB (suplex lift into a powerbomb) for the 1-2-3! (15:20) This win didn’t end up meaning a whole lot for EZ Money’s ROH run, but a win nonetheless. Good enough match, but there was some awkwardness going on in this one. **¾

ROH First Year Flashback: All Star Extravaganza – Tommy Dreamer shows up to put over ROH and DDT’s Michael Shane. Dreamer was a lot thinner back then.

• Fast Eddie, Don Juan & Hotstuff Hernandez (w/Rudy Boy Gonzales) vs. The Carnage Crew
  

This is back when the Carnage Crew was a stable and not just HC Loc and Tony DeVito. There was a guy named Masada added to the group. He looks like Matt Hardy if he were part of Raven’s flock back in the day. Future LAX strongman Hernandez makes his ROH debut here as part of the Texas Wrestling Academy. Masada works most of the match for the Carnage Crew as Fast Eddie and Don Juan control the action. Hernandez tags in and destroys Masada with a Canadian backbreaker and then drops him on his head! Don Juan and Fast Eddie deliver the quebradas. HC Loc stops Don Juan with a twisting back suplex to slow down the TWA guys. Masada tries for multiple Northern Lights suplexes, but he has a little trouble with it. DeVito stops a tornado DDT from Don Juan and tosses him off back-first into the corner. That gets two. DeVito and Loc hook on a double Boston crab while Masada comes off the top with a legdrop. DeVito misses a moonsault and that sets up a hot tag to Hernandez. Holy crap the Carnage Crew gets murdered. Masada takes what TNA fans know as the Cracker Jack. The Carnage Crew are down on the floor and when Fast Eddie goes for an Asai Moonsault, Loc nails him in the face with the hubcap. Hernandez and Don Juan take hubcap shots as well to draw the DQ. (5:39) Some good action with a typical Carnage Crew finish. You could tell that Hernandez could be a star at some point. Even if it is only on a TNA scale. The beatdown continues on the TWA guys after the bell as more hubcaps and chairs get involved. That is until the Christopher Street Connection return to get revenge on the Carnage Crew. And yeah, they make out a little. *½

ROH First Year Flashback: Honor Invades Boston – Mark Briscoe makes his ROH debut at the young age of seventeen to battle his brother Jay. That leads right into their final match against each other.

• Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Briscoe
  

This match is supposed to be dedicated to one of their friends who was killed in a car accident. From here on out, these two would look to become what we know them as today as one of the top drawing tag teams on the indy circuit. Lots of feeling out stuff to start. Jay thinks he’s KO’ed his brother with a running boot to the face, but Mark’s just playing ‘possum and starts working the leg. Well, that’s messed up. Mark tries to kip up out of a headscissors, so Jay yanks him back down using his legs into the headscissors. Pretty cool, but where’d the leg work go? They exchange dropkicks before Jay delivers a nice hourglass suplex. That gets two. Mark backdrops a JAY DRILLER into a bridge for 1-2-NO! Jay bridges out of the cover into another JAY DRILLER attempt, but Mark ranas out. Mark works on the leg again with a half crab, but Jay quickly gets to the ropes. They both fall out to the floor and exchange blows. Mark finally wins that battle by smashing Jay’s face into the ringpost. Mark follows that up with a springboard somersault plancha, BUT AT WHAT COST?! Just kidding. Jay is busted open by that ringpost smash. Mark continues the mayhem with a top-rope moonsault to the floor on his brother. Back in, Mark springboards into a superkick from Jay! He stays on the offense with a Torture Rack into a backbreaker across the knee. DVD gets two for Jay. Mark comes back with a Running Knee in the corner. Think CM Punk. Mark delivers the Springboard Ace Crusher for 1-2-NO! They exchange finishers until Mark counters the JAY DRILLER with an Alabama Slam. Jay blocks a second Springboard Ace Crusher by catching Mark in mid-air with an Ace Crusher of his own. Mark wins a chop battle, but gets decked by a Yakuza Kick. A Ligerbomb sets up Mark for a Flying Senton for 1-2-NO! Mark blocks another JAY DRILLER attempt and takes Jay over with a Uranage. Now he wants to put Jay away with the JAY DRILLER! Mark delivers! Cover, 1-2-NO! Mark misses a flying moonsault. THREE JAY DRILLERS later and Jay gets the three-count. (16:40) I’m assuming that’s Jay’s way of teaching his brother not to play ‘possum on him. You do it to him, he’ll knock you out for real. Not amazing or anything, but still a pretty fun match. Psychology has never been the Briscoes strong suit anyway. By the end of the year, the Briscoes would win their first ROH tag titles. ***¼

Da Hit Squad reminisce over the first year of ROH and hype their upcoming Scramble match.

ROH First Year Flashback: Road to the Title – Low-Ki and Amazing Red have a classic Jet Li exchange in the ring and the crowd goes insane for it. It’s definitely one of my favorite early ROH matches.

Homicide cuts a promo on Steve Corino. That guy’s going to the hospital tonight.

• Steve Corino (w/Samoa Joe & Simply Luscious) vs. Homicide
  

How funny is it to see Samoa Joe as Corino’s lackey. The Code of Honor is thrown out for this one. Corino introduces the newest member to his little group and that person is…Michael Shane. In order to stick it to Sapolsky and Feinstein, Corino brings out CW Anderson who was fired from ROH for ditching a show and taking a booking in Japan instead. Corino then screws with Homicide and mentions that he has his eye on Low-Ki as well. Homicide grabs the stick and says that he ain’t scared-uh none a’yall. He’s finally had enough and decks Corino with the mic. And we’re off. Homicide gets a few nearfalls on Corino and hooks an STF. Corino takes control after a back suplex and applies the Cobra Sleeper, but Homicide’s in the ropes. Homicide avoids a charge and trips Corino up into the corner to set up a Running Face Wash. Corino grabs the top rope to prevent a top-rope rana and hits a flying bulldog for two. Meanwhile, Joe and CW Anderson are exchanging some angry words with the fans. Super Ace Crusher by Homicide gets two. Corino tries to come back with the OLD SCHOOL EXPULSION, but Homicide turns it around into a reverse DDT. Corino kicks the ref in the balls on the way down though. Homicide hits a Shining Wizard on Corino off ref Paul Turner’s back. Slow count gets two. They go to the floor where Homicide sits Corino in a chair and comes through the ropes for the Tope Con Hilo, but Corino moves and Homicide crashes into the chair! Steve Corino’s Group shout things at Homicide while CW Anderson and Gabe Sapolsky lock eyes. Back in the ring, Homicide looks KO’ed. Corino covers for 1-2-NO! OLD SCHOOL EXPULSION gets 1-2-NO! Northern Lights Bomb gets another nearfall. The Cobra Sleeper will finish Homicide off though. (12:13) Homicide passes out from the hold. The Group continue to beat up the hometown hero until a literal riot ensues. Gabe must not have got the memo from the crowd: “If Homicide loses, we riot.” The locker room empties out as it’s the fans vs. the wrestlers. Whether it was a complete work or not, it was still pretty cool to see Samoa Joe taking on the fatties of Queens. They make a really big deal out of it though by showing the riot in its entirety from two different camera angles which eats up another twenty minutes. **½

ROH First Year Flashback: Unscripted – The Prophecy defeat American Dragon and Michael Modest to become the first ROH tag team champions.

Christopher Daniels is offended that Corino’s “Group” is taking his same philosophy on monopolizing the titles in ROH and trying to use it for their gain. Not cool, Steve. This is not business, it’s personal. Watch your back, Steve.

ROH First Year Flashback: Crowning A Champion – We check out the finish to the four-way Iron Man match to crown Low-Ki as the first ROH champion. Low-Ki flips out of the Chaos Theory from Doug Williams and clamps on the Dragon Clutch on Spanky to gain the final fall. Just freakin’ amazing. Daniels tries to put Low-Ki away with a Dragon Sleeper, but Low-Ki counters with Daniels’ own Last Rites as they come to the end of the match.

• Outcast Killaz vs. Dunn & Marcos
  

No match. Gary Michael Capetta introduces CW Anderson. He comes out and challenges anyone in the crowd to a fight. When the Outcast Killaz and the Ring Crew Express get in his face, he destroys them as CM Punk answers the challenge with a great promo. Who cares about South Carolina? I live in North Carolina and even I can agree with that statement.

• CW Anderson vs. CM Punk
  

Apparently CM Punk was scheduled to face Reckless Youth, but ironically he was involved in a car accident on the way to the show. He’s alright though. Anderson works the arm to start. Because he’s an Anderson. Get it? Punk goes after the leg for a while. Not a whole lot going on here. Anderson hits an Exploder for two. Shining Wizard by Punk gets two, but then he charges into a superkick for a nearfall. Punk counters the AA SPINEBUSTER into a sunset flip for 1-2-3. (9:44) Good enough, I suppose. Kind of a silly finish though. **

ROH First Year Flashback: Unscripted – Paul London takes on Michael Shane in an amazing street fight. Ladders are involved. This is the match where the crowd chants “Please don’t die” directed at Paul London. A somersault plancha off a ladder? Picture Perfect Elbow off a ladder? Shooting star press off a ladder? Insanity.

• Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe
  

This is a rematch from last month’s show where Joe defeated Dragon. Both guys “jocking for position” in the early going. Joe grabs a leg and works a SICK half-crab. Danielson applies an Indian deathlock and drops elbows on Joe’s shoulders as he cranks on the hold. While still holding on to the deathlock, Danielson manages to grab an almost inverted Cattle Mutilation. Pretty crazy to see a guy like Joe stretched like that. Joe escapes and reverts to the Boston crab where he hooks his hands above Danielson’s knees for extra leverage. Joe wins a chop battle when Danielson tries a headbutt. He’s Samoan, you dummy. Danielson gets fired up after a hourglass suplex, but charges into STJOE. He follows up with the stiff chop and hard kick after the snapmare and then applies a bow-and-arrow to do further damage to the lower back. Powerbomb leads to an STF. Danielson makes the ropes and comes back with some desperate enziguri kicks. He unloads on Joe and levels him in the corner with a Running Forearm. Tiger Mask DDT gets 1-2-NO! Joe ducks a charge and levels Dragon with a bridging German suplex for two. That leads to the Running Face Wash. Ahh Joe, you’re so smug. Joe goes to the top and gets caught for a superplex. Dragon follows up with the Swandive Headbutt for 1-2-NO! Another slugfest ensues and Danielson wins *that* with a Roaring Elbow for 1-2-NO! Joe starts psyching himself up and buries some knees on Dragon’s head. Jumping knee connects as does a powerbomb, but then Dragon pops up and cradles Joe for 1-2-3. (15:22) The finish was out of nowhere, but everything else was pretty great. When thinking about the long-term though, I’m sure they just wanted to keep Joe looking strong with that cheap finish since he would be taking the title in March without having to job Danielson out two shows in a row to the same guy. ***½

ROH First Year Flashback: Unscripted – Xavier turns heel and joins the Prophecy before beating Low-Ki with the 450 Splash to become the ROH champion.

ROH champion Xavier and Allison Danger come out to work the crowd into another angry frenzy. Oh yeah, and scout the #1 contender’s match.

• Paul London vs. AJ Styles vs. Low-Ki – Triple Threat Match for the Number One Contender’s Trophy
  

Winner gets an ROH title shot in the main event. During Xavier’s title reign, he’s defeated all three of these men at one time or another. Most recently, he beat Paul London at Final Battle 2002. This has the potential to be freakin’ amazing, by the way. Naturally, everybody goes after each other to start. Low-Ki leaps off AJ and Mongolian chops London. Styles misses a baseball slide on London and falls out to the floor as Low-Ki starts up the Krush Combo on London, but Styles cuts him off with a slingshot forearm from the apron. London dropkicks them both and nails Styles with a baseball slide through the ropes. Low-Ki stops a suicide dive with a Koppa Kick and wins a chop battle with AJ by hitting him with a spin kick. They continue to brawl around ringside as London takes them both out with a flying crossbody! Back in, London slingshots himself onto Low-Ki for an Oklahoma roll for two. Low-Ki hits London with a back elbow and looks to toss him out. London tries to skin-the-cat, but Styles grabs hold of his legs while Low-Ki kicks him down to end all that. Styles hits Low-Ki with his leapfrog/dropkick combo for two. Backbreaker/gutbuster combo follows as London flies in to take down Styles with a missile dropkick. It doesn’t slow AJ down for too long though as he connects with the kip-up rana on London. He misses a Discus Forearm as London delivers a pair of Northern Lights suplexes followed by a Bridging Fallaway Slam for two. Low-Ki breaks up the pin and starts owning the other two. London takes a mean Koppa Kick. Styles comes back with an enziguri on Low-Ki and tries the Asai DDT, but Low-Ki kicks out of it. Awesome. Low-Ki flips out of a suplex and hooks on the DRAGON CLUTCH! AJ looks to break that up with the Asai DDT and he succeeds! Styles hits another variation of the backbreaker/gutbuster combo on London. AJ applies the Muta Lock on London which leaves wide open for the Krush Combo. Low-Ki grabs the DRAGON CLUTCH on Styles as London cranks back on Low-Ki’s neck. After all that is released, Low-Ki hits a running kick on London in the corner. Styles avoids a charge, but runs into a boot and takes a Tidal Wave from Low-Ki. He follows up with a Krush Rush on Styles and when he looks to give one to London, London slips away and levels Low-Ki with a DDT! That gets two for London. Styles fights with London up top. Low-Ki ends the struggle, but takes a suplex into AJ’s arms for a possible SUPER STYLES CLASH. No wait, Low-Ki counters it with a rana into London for a powerbomb. Cover, 1-2-NO! Low-Ki makes the save. Koppa Kick to London takes him out temporarily. AJ blocks a kick and hits a German suplex and then rolls through that for the Wheelbarrow Facebuster, but Low-Ki rolls through *that* into a DRAGON CLUTCH! London breaks that up with the London Original. AJ grabs London for the German suplex/back suplex combo for a nearfall. Low-Ki breaks up a reverse tornado DDT by London with the Tidal Krush. Black Magic connects on AJ Styles for 1-2-NO! Now all three men are fighting on the top rope. Low-Ki brings AJ down with the SUPER KI KRUSHER! That leaves Styles prone and ready for the LONDON STAR PRESS for the 1-2-3! (18:50) Super finish, but some of the middle looked to be a bit dragged out. In some places, they didn’t seem to know what to do next. I mean, it happens. ***¾

As ROH champ, Xavier uses his “stroke” and demands that his match with London begin immediately.

• ROH Champion Xavier (w/Allison Danger) vs. Paul London
  

That Xavier guy’s a jerk! How dare he take advantage of a weakened opponent to hold on to his title! Xavier nails London from behind and starts turnbuckle smashing. London blocks one and starts kicking away. Allison Danger trips up London as he turns around into a release belly-to-belly suplex. Alexis Laree (Mickie James) comes in to have a talk with this Allison Danger chick. Xavier breaks up their little tiff so we can get back to the match. London slams Xavier off the top. Xavier *is* in classic heel mode tonight. London starts working the arm until Xavier blocks a tilt-a-whirl armbreaker into a release German suplex that puts London right on his head. Xavier pounds away on London, but London blocks the Cobra Clutch Suplex for the Bret Hart kick off the turnbuckle counter for 1-2-NO! London Original connects for another two. Xavier dumps London out through a table and sends him into the guardrail. Not only that, but he battering rams him into the ringpost. Back in, Xavier drops a knee! Woooooo. Arrogant cover by Xavier is stopped with a kick to the face. Xavier chokes London in the ropes to break the Code of Honor just a little bit more. Cobra Clutch Suplex is delivered, but it only gets two. London falls back on a Back Superplex for a nearfall. Springboard forearm connects and London slowly goes for the LONDON STAR PRESS, but Xavier rolls out before any damage can be done. Of course that just means that London is going to flip back onto Xavier down on the floor. Back in, London hits a springboard moonsault for 1-2-NO! Xavier goes low on London, but gets tripped up by Allison Danger by accident. London dropkicks Xavier out for a pescado, but Xavier makes Allison Danger take the blow. London hits a moonsault off the guardrail onto Xavier. They head back into the ring where Xavier begs off. London kicks Xavier around and levels him with the Legsweep DDT! Cover, 1-2-NO! They fight up on the top rope where London shoves Xavier down to set him up for the LONDON STAR PRESS! Will he hit it this time? Yes he does! Xavier has his feet underneath the ropes for Allison Danger to pull him out from the cover. Alexis Laree takes care of Allison Danger as we’ve got ourselves a catfight. Yeah, it’s amazing what three years does for Alexis Laree’s career because she’s not very impressive here. Xavier nails London with the Kiss Your X Goodbye. This sets up the 450 SPLASH to the back for 1-2-NO! London blocks the X-Breaker with a small package for 1-2-NO! London rolls Xavier up again, but Xavier rolls through and grabs the tights (in plain sight of the ref!) for 1-2-3! (19:27) I like heel Xavier. He’s so much more interesting. This was your typical ’80s face vs. heel title match with a 21^st century moveset. I think we could have done without the little catfight though. ***½

ROH First Year Flashback: Night of Appreciation – Oh man, Eddie Guerrero and the Amazing Red beating The SAT. That clip really made me miss Eddie.

• Da Hit Squad, The SAT, Divine Storm & Mikey Whipwreck vs. Special K (w/Slugga) – Scramble Madness
  

Wow, a 14-man spotfest. There is no way I’m even going to attempt PBP for this one. I’ll just note the high spots as we come to them. The announcers even tell you that this is going to be a spotfest. Brian XL hits a nice rewind rana on Jose Maximo from the SAT. Joel Maximo levels Izzy with a clothesline for a 360 degree sell. Monsta Mack takes a nice tornado DDT from Deranged and then belly-to-belly throws him into the corner. It gets a little annoying whenever the announcers mention how Special K might be on something if you know what I mean *winkwinkwinkwink*. Special K brag about taking X and going to raves. That’s their thing. We know that. You don’t need to remind us every five minutes after they get run down by a guy THREE times their size. Sorry. Jody Fleisch rolls out on Mafia and tries to set him up for a Deranged springboard move, but he’s caught and thrown backwards into Fleisch. It turns into a pier-fourteen brawl as different members of each team deliver somersault planchas. Hopefully not to people on their own team. It’s really hard to tell though. It ends with Mikey Whipwreck landing on all twelve men with a somersault plancha. It’s basically a stage dive with that many people. Back in, Angel Dust gets put in the tree of woe as all seven members of DHS, SAT, Divine Storm & Mikey baseball slide into this guy. Out of nowhere, Mikey Whipwreck turns on his team and has WHIPPER SNAPPERS for all of them. Trinity hops into the ring to ask Mikey what’s the deal. Special K’s security guy Slugga comes in and drops her with the BODY BAG. Kind of a slam into a cutter. Slugga carries her out and uh oh, a black guy’s got a white chick in his arms. Special K all deliver double-stomps to Jose Maximo. Here we go again as Chris Lovey says “Deranged is definitely on something.” Just stop. Lots of messy spots follow. Mafia stops a wheelbarrow from Izzy and nails him with a release dragon suplex. Now we have a crazy Tower of Doom that just looks awful with that many people. With everybody on the floor, Monsta Mack presses and throws Slim J out on top of them. DHS and the SAT concentrate on Izzy for a while. Divine Storm deliver a German Superplex/Flying Legdrop combo on Deranged. Now all fourteen men take turns delivering their finishers. A SUPER BURNING HAMMER from Mafia to Deranged finally ends this thing. (33:45) I can appreciate a good spotfest, but this was not even that impressive. Its matches like this one where the wrestlers in Special K need to really ask themselves, “Is it worth it?” Whoever booked this to go thirty minutes is definitely on something. Ahh crap, now I’m starting to say it. **

ROH First Year Flashback: Revenge on the Prophecy – Low-Ki gets revenge on the Prophecy. He grinds one of those long pipes stuck down in concrete made simply to bind and hold down the barricades on Xavier’s chest and hits the top of it with a chair for added effect, which is exactly what Xavier did to him when he joined up with the Prophecy and won the title. Also, AJ Styles counters ANGELS WINGS from Christopher Daniels into a STYLES CLASH off the apron through a table. Well that’s just about the craziest bump I’ve ever seen Daniels take.

We now go to Christopher Daniels and Allison Danger. No one was more happy with Steve Corino’s success over the last few years, but now he is not very happy at all now that Corino has come to ROH looking to devalue the Prophecy. You want a war? You’ve got one.

AJ Styles asks Paul London if he wants to go after the Prophecy and win the ROH tag belts. Sounds like a good idea to Paul. This would never happen due to Paul London needing emergency sinus surgery, so the Amazing Red took his place.

CM Punk wants to talk about respect, which he has a lot of for the ROH locker room. He even respects Colt Cabana even though he annoys the crap out of him. Cabana interrupts elated that Punk respects him, but then Punk reminds him that he’s letting Colt sleep on his floor tonight. Now he has to start all over again! Take two, Punk tells us that Ace Steele is coming to ROH. Also Raven is coming to ROH. Punk’s all straight edge and Raven’s all about debauchery. He makes a challenge to Raven at the next show because Punk feels he doesn’t deserve to be in ROH.

We go to the boiler room where Raven’s hanging out at apparently to hear him cut his usual promo. He says that maybe Punk doesn’t have the balls to walk on the dark side. He spouts off his famous “choices” line. Welcome to Raven’s Clockwork Orange House of Fun! Quote the Raven, nevermore.

Rob Feinstein takes the one year anniversary cake to the face and then asks the guys in the locker room if they want some cake. You would ask that, wouldn’t you Rob.

Final Thoughts: Good gosh this felt long. Four hours long! Unless you are a huge ROH fan, it can be hard to sit through. On the other hand, you’ve got four good matches with some big stars. We also saw some angle advancement with all the enemies that the Prophecy has made and the start of the famous Punk/Raven feud. I also really enjoyed the flashbacks which made this show really feel like a celebration, so that was a nice touch and a great way to advertise those earlier shows, so two birds and one stone. I’ll give it a thumbs up, but the casual ROH fan should be ready to hit that fast-forward button in some spots if you catch my drift. Dangit!

Footnotes:
^[1]: This was a tournament final.
^[2]: After Survivor Series, the WWF Light Heavyweight title would be abandoned, as the WCW Cruiserweight title becomes adopted by the WWF. After the draft on March 25, 2002, the title becomes exclusive to Smackdown.
^[3]: This was a triple-threat match which also involved Billy Kidman.
^[4]: This was a triple-threat match which also featured Spike Dudley.
^[5]: This was a six-man Cruiserweight Open which also involved Paul London, Akio, Shannon Moore and Spike Dudley.
^[6]: London won an eight-man battle royal to win the title.
^[7]: This was a six-man Cruiserweight Open which also featured Funaki, Jamie Noble, Nunzio and Paul London. Helms, who was part of the Raw roster, moved to Smackdown after winning the title.
^[8]: This was an 8-man Cruiserweight Open which also involved Daivari, Shannon Moore, Funaki, Jamie Noble, Jimmy Wang Yang and Scotty 2 Hotty.
^[9]: On September 28, 2007, SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero stated that Hornswaggle’s status as Mr. McMahon’s (kayfabe) son and his dimunitive stature would eventually jeopardize his well-being. On March 4, 2008, the WWE put the title on the retired section with the other past titles.

Credit goes to: PWI Almanac, wrestling-titles.com, and ProWrestlingHistory.com

Footnotes:
^[1]: To give the Smackdown show tag titles exclusive to their brand, a tournament was started and this was the finals.
^[2]: This was a triple-threat tag team match which also included Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle.
^[3]: Tajiri was a replacement for Eddie’s injured partner Chavo Guerrero.
^[4]: This was a four-team elimination match which also included the teams of Mark Jindrak & Luther Reigns and Booker T & Eddie Guerrero.
^[5]: This was a four-way match which also featured the Mexicools and Paul Burchill & William Regal.
^[6]: With Morrison a part of ECW and Miz a part of Smackdown, the tag belts were shared on both shows.
^[7]: This was a fatal-four way tag match which also included Jesse & Festus and Finlay & Hornswaggle. Since both Hawkins & Ryder are a part of Smackdown, the belts returned to being exclusively defended on Smackdown.
^[8]: At WrestleMania XXV on April 5, 2009, Carlito & Primo Colon defeated The Miz and John Morrison to unify Smackdown’s WWE tag team championship with Raw’s World tag team championship.
^[9]: Edge and Chris Jericho were given a last-minute WWE unified tag team titles shot right before a scheduled title defense between The Colon brothers and Ted DiBiase Jr. & Cody Rhodes, thus creating an impromptu triangle match. Edge brought the match to an end once he pinned Carlito after a Spear to secure the unified tag team titles for himself and Chris Jericho.

Credit goes to: PWI Almanac, wrestling-titles.com, and ProWrestlingHistory.com

Footnotes:
^[1]: This is a tournament final.
^[2]: In June 1975, Victor Rivera announced he was giving up his half of the tag titles; Dominic DeNucci was allowed to choose a new partner, and chose “Irish” Pat Barrett.
^[3]: The Executioners were stripped of the titles as the result of a match against Chief Jay Strongbow & Billy White Wolf that was televised on October 26, 1976, during which a third masked Executioner interfered.
^[4]: Chief Jay Strongbow & Billy White Wolf won a three-team tournament, defeating the Executioners and Tor Kamata & Nikolai Volkoff.
^[5]: This was a tournament final. Shortly after Chief Jay Strongbow & Billy White Wolf won the tag belts, Billy White Wolf suffered a neck injury during a match against Ken Patera; he and Strongbow had to give up the belts.
^[6]: Bob Backlund & Pedro Morales won the tag titles in a 2/3 falls match. Backlund and Morales had to relinguish the belts since Backlund was the WWF world champion at the time.
^[7]: This was a tournament final.
^[8]: At Survivor Series, Diesel and Shawn Michaels were forced to abandon the tag titles when they could no longer function as a team.
^[9]: This was a tournament final.
^[10]: Davey Boy Smith subbed for Owen Hart the night before at the In Your House PPV. Because Owen ran down to the ring to interfere and was pinned by Diesel, the belts were returned to Owen Hart and Yokozuna.
^[11]: The titles became vacant when Billy Gunn suffered a neck injury.
^[12]: This was a tournament final.
^[13]: This was a tournament final to fill the vacancy created when Shawn Michaels walked out of the WWF for a brief period. After Austin’s neck injury at SummerSlam, the tag titles became once again vacant.
^[14]: This match also included the Legion of Doom and the Godwinns.
^[15]: This was a four-team match which also included The Rock & D’Lo Brown and the New Age Outlaws.
^[16]: Mankind chose to defend the tag titles on his own when Kane refused to team with him.
^[17]: This was a three-on-two handicap match also involving the Hardys’ manager, Michael PS Hayes. Bradshaw & Faarooq won when Bradshaw pinned Hayes.
^[18]: This was a “Dark Side Rules” match in which Viscera, Big Show, and Mideon were the actual opponents for the Rock & Mankind.
^[19]: Because he was not getting along with the Rock at the time this match was held, Mankind refused to participate and instead sat outside the ring with his back to the action.
^[20]: This was a triangle ladder match which also included the Hardy Boyz.
^[21]: This was a four-way elimination match which also included the Hardy Boyz and Test & Albert.
^[22]: Since Edge & Christian were banned from wrestling the Hardy Boyz for the tag titles, they dressed up as Los Conquistadores.
^[23]: This was a four-way elimination match which also included the Dudley Boyz and Road Dogg & K-Kwik.
^[24]: Kurt Angle was the special guest referee.
^[25]: This was a TLC match which also included the Hardy Boyz.
^[26]: This was a cage match to unify the WWF and WCW world tag titles.
^[27]: This was a four-way elimination match which also involved the Dudley Boyz and William Regal & Lance Storm.
^[28]: When William Regal became injured, Chief Morley took Regal’s place as half of the tag team champions. This match also included the Dudley Boyz.
^[29]: This was a handicap tables match, in which Rob Conway teamed with La Resistance.
^[30]: This was a three-way elimination match which also involved Rhyno & Tajiri.
^[31]: Jonathan Coachman replaced Eugene in this match due to an injury.
^[32]: This was a ten-team battle royal that the Hardy Boyz won to regain the tag titles.
^[33]: Cody Rhodes was revealed as Ted DiBiase’s mystery partner and turned on Hardcore Holly, resulting in a handicap match.
^[34]: This was a title unification match with Smackdown’s WWE tag team championship.
^[35]: Edge and Chris Jericho were given a last-minute WWE unified tag team titles shot right before a scheduled title defense between The Colon brothers and Ted DiBiase Jr. & Cody Rhodes, thus creating an impromptu triangle match. Edge brought the match to an end once he pinned Carlito after a Spear to secure the unified tag team titles for Chris Jericho and himself.
^[36]: On July 26 at the Night of Champions PPV, Chris Jericho was allowed to pick a new partner to replace Edge who had suffered a torn achilles tendon. He chose to pick the biggest dude in WWE: The Big Show.

Credit goes to: PWI Almanac, wrestling-titles.com, and ProWrestlingHistory.com

A Barn Owl Soars Toward Victory

By Kari Williams

Gary the Barn Owl soared into the hallowed ring of professional wrestling before he was even old enough to spread his wings and take flight.

Back in high school, Peter Townsley, Pierre Abernathy and Gary “used to always want to be wrestlers and we just jumped around in the backyard like a bunch of idiots.”

Townsley, who, at the time, worked at the Gravois Grill in Fenton, MO, ran into Jordan Lacey, his wife, Dawn, and Hellraiser.

“We got the flyer, called the number and ended up wrestling out in a field doing God-knows-what, basically we had no clue what we were doing, and then we eventually met Nick Tyson and Adam Raw and then it kind of snow-balled into the LWA, which snow-balled into us training,” Gary said.

His initial training began with Lacey and the XWA and was then followed up by Raw and Tyson. Under those two, Gary trained every Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday for approximately a year and half, until he officially began his career.

However, his passion for the sport was born long before he ever set foot in a wrestling ring.

“I can just remember everybody used to like football, and then I just did not want to watch football because I just thought it was boring… I remember seeing Macho Man, his hat was pretty shiny; I liked it,” Gary said.

Flying around the Midwest for nearly four years, Gary notes one simple detail that intrigues him the most about stepping between the ropes.

“I like the physicality. For some odd reason, I’m a glutton for getting my ass kicked. I love it; it’s a good time, and I just like entertaining people,” Gary said.

Along with Evan Gelistico, Jordan Lacey and Billy McNeill, Gary helps to form The Bearded Men From Space Station Eleven—a group that Gary has associated himself with for as long as he can remember.

“When I was born I had a beard. I was the wierdest looking kid, I can show pictures but people will kind of laugh and gawk, so I just keep those at home. So, honestly, ever since I was born I’ve been a member [of the Bearded Men]. My mom has a beard, that’s really awkward, but she’s momma. Momma from Space Station Eleven,” Gary said.

The group formed because the Submission Squad was ganging up on Gary, and he needed help, so he joined forces with Gelistico, who was having his own problems within the Sexual Dynasty, of which he was a part. Lacey and McNeill—who is credited with naming the faction—enlisted as well, and the Bearded Men have been going strong for nearly two years.

Gary and Gelistico flew the coop, so to speak, and returned with AWA-PPW Tag Team Titles, which are from Indiana. On his own, Gary currently holds the U-30s belt, from IWA-Texas, based out of the San Antonia and Dallas area.

Despite the plethora of gold he currently holds, Gary’s greatest feat thus far was his LWA championshp reign.

“My biggest accomplishment is probably being the LWA champion…because I started off as just a trainee here, and they gave me the ‘Gary the Barn Owl’ gimmick, and at first I didn’t like it, and I started really warming up to it and getting in to it. Just basically, becoming from say your opening card guy and now I can main event, open a show, I can do anything because obviously I’m the greatest thing ever. Not really, but you know,” Gary said.

Locally, Gary can be seen wrestling for Lethal Wrestling Alliance (LWA). However, for one keen on travelling, he can be spotted in promotions such as NWA-CSW (Kansas and Missouri), IWA-Texas, PWI-Texas and PPW-Indiana, among others.

Gary the Barn Owl Fast Facts:

Most Important Lesson From Wrestling: Wrestling has taught me respect. That’s the biggest thing. A lot of people might say it, or not, but just respect, and how much you put in and how much you get out of it, you have to work really, really hard to make it to the point where you’re making it a living. So, those guys on TV, even if you don’t like them or you don’t like them because they’re not good or bad, those guys bust their ass, and I give them all the credit for it.

Favorite Match: (One of three favorites) I wrestled Mike Quackenbush and Evan Gelistico in February. That was a really fun match. Evan and me go way back. We met when the XWA/LWA started. We used to hate each other. But now we’re cool. We’re like brothers. He’s like a brother from a different mother—or alien, I really don’t know. We wrestled Quackenbush in a three way, and that’s just overall learning experience was fantastic. Mike Quackenbush is a great athlete, has a really good mind for wrestling and he brought a whole different style to what we were used to.

Dream Matches: I’d say A.J. Styles from TNA. Out of anybody in WWE, I’d wrestle Paul London because I really like Paul London. Either him or Brian Kendrick. It’d be really cool if it was Brian Kendrick and London verus me and Evan, that’d be a good match. Let’s see, anywhere on the indies, I’m a really big fan of El Generico, I don’t know why, I just really like El Generico’s work.

Who Has Taught Him the Most: I’ve learned the most from Nick Tyson, he’s the one that really got me focused because it’s hard to get me focused on certain things. But, he really drilled it in my head the respect thing, and just you can go out and have a good match, and he’d tear me apart. We’d watch it, and he’d tear it up, and about the small things that make things look even better, that I don’t notice it, but the fans notice or other people notice.