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6/11/16 ROH TV Kyle O'Reilly vs Kushida 4 1/4* These guys have great chemistry together. We get some mat work to start. We see Kushida with some really nifty arm work. O'Reilly going after the leg. The ebbs and flows in this were great. Some of the transitions are breathtaking. When Kushida captures O'Reilly in the triangle on the floor was simply amazing.

5/30/16 Progress Chris Hero vs Big Van Walter 4 1/4* I loved this match. It's a style that is hard to do in this enviroment of wrestling. That is the big hoss fight. You have 2 guys in the 6 ft 4 range and close to 300 pds just kicking the crap out of each other. Walter with his variations of suplexes is pretty sweet. This is a match that helps both guys.

Tully vs Diamond We get an interview with Diamond pre match. Diamond looks like a Sweat Hog or a character from the original Meatballs. Well what do you know, they have a really good meat and potato match. We start with a shine by Diamond. He's showing fire by working a headlock. Tully counters by going after the leg. Tully's leg work was good. We are set up by time cues. This is to tease a draw. Diamond mounts a comeback only for us to be swerved . Tully steals the win with his legs on the rope 2 3/4*

We get an interview with Diamond pre match. Diamond looks like a Sweat Hog or a character from the original Meatballs. Well what do you know, they have a really good meat and potato match. We start with a shine by Diamond. He's showing fire by working a headlock. Tully counters by going after the leg. Tully's leg work was good. We are set up by time cues. This is to tease a draw. Diamond mounts a comeback only for us to be swerved . Tully steals the win with his legs on the rope 2 3/4*

Gino vs Ken Lucas We open with JYD getting crowned King of Houston. This brings out Gino and Tully in an incredible segment. Yes their is tons of race baiting and insults, but it's a part of wrestling history. Now onto the match. Gino is a heels heel. He gets heat in this match with just a look. He gets heat by putting his feet on the rope, he gets heat with a strut. To sum it up he's a master of getting heat. I loved how Gino timed his kick to Lucas right when the bell rang. That was pretty cool. Gino was good at pushing the action and generating heat. Ken Lucas was a good southern baby face going after Gino's arm. He'd get cut off and Lucas would find his way back to the arm. I like how Gino did payback spots on the arm. He did a great a job of destroying the arm. At the finish Gino cheats his ass off for the win. I enjoyed the whole segment. Gino is such a great heel. 3*

We open with JYD getting crowned King of Houston. This brings out Gino and Tully in an incredible segment. Yes their is tons of race baiting and insults, but it's a part of wrestling history. Now onto the match. Gino is a heels heel. He gets heat in this match with just a look. He gets heat by putting his feet on the rope, he gets heat with a strut. To sum it up he's a master of getting heat. I loved how Gino timed his kick to Lucas right when the bell rang. That was pretty cool. Gino was good at pushing the action and generating heat. Ken Lucas was a good southern baby face going after Gino's arm. He'd get cut off and Lucas would find his way back to the arm. I like how Gino did payback spots on the arm. He did a great a job of destroying the arm. At the finish Gino cheats his ass off for the win. I enjoyed the whole segment. Gino is such a great heel. 3*

2 Ring Battle Royal We get an Andre interview which didn't have a wrestling feel to it. Then a Gino one which was awesome, and a text book wrestling segment. This was fun, and had a cast of characters. I thought Wahoo and Gino were the stars here. They did a good job of pushing a feud between them.

We get an Andre interview which didn't have a wrestling feel to it. Then a Gino one which was awesome, and a text book wrestling segment. This was fun, and had a cast of characters. I thought Wahoo and Gino were the stars here. They did a good job of pushing a feud between them.

Muhammad Farouk vs Tommy Seigler 7/22/77 Farouk is the Iron Sheik. These guys had a feud over the NWA British Commonwealth and Seigler would retire in 78 with injuries. This match takes place at the Astro Arena. I attended a WCW show in 97 there. This was your 15 minute broadway match that was a trend in the 70's and 80's at houseshows for usually one underneath match. My favorite spot was Farouk doing a cart wheel, celebrating, and then eating a drop kick to the back and taking a big bump to the outside.

Muhammad Farouk vs Tommy Seigler 7/22/77 Farouk is the Iron Sheik. These guys had a feud over the NWA British Commonwealth and Seigler would retire in 78 with injuries. This match takes place at the Astro Arena. I attended a WCW show in 97 there. This was your 15 minute broadway match that was a trend in the 70's and 80's at houseshows for usually one underneath match. My favorite spot was Farouk doing a cart wheel, celebrating, and then eating a drop kick to the back and taking a big bump to the outside.

It was a joke.

Mongolian Stomper vs Scott Casey Man I'm excited. Another Stomper match and it goes another 30+. He's a guy that nwaondemand.com has put footage out there and he has delivered. I absolutely loved the 1st fall. I'm a big fan of guys working a good headlock and these guys worked a great one. On top of it the headlock was step one in the story of the match. Then Casey is working over the neck. He starts throwing elbows at Stomper's neck. Then Casey throws double knees to Stomper's face. That was straight MMA stuff. I loved the finish of the 1st fall where Stomper in a nice revenge spot works over Casey's neck and puts him down with a Cobra Hold. I also loved the mat work here, and totally dug the Stomper's ears hurt from the crowd, along with Carson's Mongolian speak. The 2nd fall was some more fun stuff. Stomper taking it to Casey early on. He's teasing the claw. Casey catches him in an Adominal stretch . This transitions into Casey working over the back which is a natural transition. When Casey has him in the Camel Clutch, the fight from the Stomper is so full of drama. I liked the finish of this fall too. The 3rd fall had the finish we needed, but the fall lacked the dynamic the other 2 had. 3 1/4*

Man I'm excited. Another Stomper match and it goes another 30+. He's a guy that nwaondemand.com has put footage out there and he has delivered. I absolutely loved the 1st fall. I'm a big fan of guys working a good headlock and these guys worked a great one. On top of it the headlock was step one in the story of the match. Then Casey is working over the neck. He starts throwing elbows at Stomper's neck. Then Casey throws double knees to Stomper's face. That was straight MMA stuff. I loved the finish of the 1st fall where Stomper in a nice revenge spot works over Casey's neck and puts him down with a Cobra Hold. I also loved the mat work here, and totally dug the Stomper's ears hurt from the crowd, along with Carson's Mongolian speak. The 2nd fall was some more fun stuff. Stomper taking it to Casey early on. He's teasing the claw. Casey catches him in an Adominal stretch . This transitions into Casey working over the back which is a natural transition. When Casey has him in the Camel Clutch, the fight from the Stomper is so full of drama. I liked the finish of this fall too. The 3rd fall had the finish we needed, but the fall lacked the dynamic the other 2 had. 3 1/4*

Butch Reed vs Dick Slater 11/29/85 This is for the North American Title. I enjoyed this, but not as much as the bounty match. Though they had a lot of themes playing off the previous match. I'll get to those in a bit. First off it was fun to see Reed revert to some of his heel tactics by using his body to shield the ref. Tommy Gilbert's looks really made it work. Matt and I were talking about how great Reed was at getting the crowd with him through his energy. Some of the call backs was Slater going back to work on Reed's neck which was his game plan last week. Another call back spot was Reed using the Figure 4 which is a revenge spots of sorts. Their was some neat small stuff in this too. Like when Slater was using the ropes to increase pressure on his headlock the ref sees the ropes move. So Dark Journey moves up and grabs the ropes causing the ref to think it was her. So that was nice on 2 fronts. The finish was set up to build a rematch so it was what it was. 3 1/4*

This is for the North American Title. I enjoyed this, but not as much as the bounty match. Though they had a lot of themes playing off the previous match. I'll get to those in a bit. First off it was fun to see Reed revert to some of his heel tactics by using his body to shield the ref. Tommy Gilbert's looks really made it work. Matt and I were talking about how great Reed was at getting the crowd with him through his energy. Some of the call backs was Slater going back to work on Reed's neck which was his game plan last week. Another call back spot was Reed using the Figure 4 which is a revenge spots of sorts. Their was some neat small stuff in this too. Like when Slater was using the ropes to increase pressure on his headlock the ref sees the ropes move. So Dark Journey moves up and grabs the ropes causing the ref to think it was her. So that was nice on 2 fronts. The finish was set up to build a rematch so it was what it was. 3 1/4*

https://soundcloud.com/jerryvonkramer/this-week-in-wrestling-06-12-2016 Fall 1 Pete and Johnny look at Dusty vs Ivan in possibly the 1st Coffin match. ever. They talk about the picture that got every one talking about nwaondemand.com. Then we shift over and discuss what we liked and didn't like about ROH tv. Fall 2 Pete and Timothy talk about the rest of the BOTSJ matches. Find out what matches the guys liked and didn't like. Which wrestlers impressed them and which ones didn't. They even shoot on Chad Cambell's public apology.We talk about the most current episode of Lucha Underground. Then we break down Progress Strong Style night 1. Fall 3 Johnny's back and we talk about The Resurrection of Jake The Snake now on Netflix. We also break down Hulu's version of RAW. ​00:00:30 Fall 1 00:00:50 Bruce Tharp/HHH meeting talk 00:13:24 NWA On-Demand Ivan Koloff vs Dusty Rhodes Texas Death Coffin Match 00:28:57 ROH TV 00:57:11 Fall 2 OO:58:24 Lucha Underground 01:14:53 BoSJ Night 12-Final 02:02:55 Progress Super Strong Style 16 Night 1 02:39:37 Fall 3 02:40:09 The Resurrection of Jake The Snake 02:53:20 WWE RAW

Black Lotus storyline seems to be a slow build that might climax around Ultima Lucha would be my guess.

I really liked the bounty match. Flair has put a bounty on Reed and Slater is trying to collect.My father, myself and brother went to this show. One of the 2 times my father attended a wrestling show. My brother and I were so angry that Flair put a bounty on Butch. It opens with a quick intense brawl. Then it settles down and Slater starts to go after Reeds neck. Reed has a neck brace on so that's a no brainer. I loved how Slater would cut off Reed's comebacks. Slater going back to the leg makes sense since he's trying to soften up Reed for Flair. Though when Reed made his comeback it was intense. Reed bloodys up Slater. Reed is just going after the cut. The crowd was pretty hot the whole way. These got across that they hated one another. We also get some really good post match interviews. 4*

I really liked the bounty match. Flair has put a bounty on Reed and Slater is trying to collect.My father, myself and brother went to this show. One of the 2 times my father attended a wrestling show. My brother and I were so angry that Flair put a bounty on Butch. It opens with a quick intense brawl. Then it settles down and Slater starts to go after Reeds neck. Reed has a neck brace on so that's a no brainer. I loved how Slater would cut off Reed's comebacks. Slater going back to the leg makes sense since he's trying to soften up Reed for Flair. Though when Reed made his comeback it was intense.Reed had some nice revenge spots on Slater's neck. Reed bloodys up Slater. Reed is just going after the cut. The crowd was pretty hot the whole way. These got across that they hated one another. We also get some really good post match interviews. 4*

Per the Observer Bruce Tharpe, who has the rights to the NWA Classics subscription site with the Paul Boesch Houston tape library, was in Orlando meeting with Levesque. According to Tharpe, Levesque invited him to visit the Performance Center and they had a great meeting discussing the NWA and future plans and he said they treated him very well. He said the NWA On Demand service regarding the Boesch library “will most definitely continue.

6/7/16 NJPW Will Ospreay vs Taguchi 4 1/2* The finals in the BOTSJ and this goes down as one of the classic finals.This was super heated. I enjoyed the early comedy bits, especially Ospreay's revenge comedy spot. I liked how Will targeted the neck early on . Will's leg buckles and Taguchi just starts destroying the leg. I loved Ospreay's leg selling throughout. Will using one legged offense was neat like the one legged phenomenal forearm. I thought Taguchi was so great at cutting off Will's comebacks. I will admit Will doing the Sasuke Special pissed me off since he shit canned the leg work. Corino on commentary mentions how a guy with a bad leg could pull that off. Still it didn't kill the match for me. I thought the finishing run was so full of drama and great moments. Just great stuff.

With the Bruce and HHH pic popping up on twitter you start to wonder about the Houston Library, among other things.

Tully/Magnum is where it's at .

Thanks

These guys are good workers. I'm assumed that they are signed now. They bring a totally different dynamic to ROH. I'm guessing they're setting up a program with War Machine. They worked a Squash match here in San Antonio and Andy Dalton worked so hard to make them come across as killers. The match got over big. I've seen Lee and Taylor work the indy circuit in Texas and they have a huge upside. Lee is one of the most underrated talkers in wrestling.