Hobbes

On this episode of ThROH The Years, Matt and Trevor review The Final Showdown, a quality offering that features Homicide and Bryan Danielson in a feud ending cage match, Austin Aries and James Gibson in a big world title rematch, and one of the most beloved ROH comedy matches of all time. All of this and Danielson finally allows himself to use a fork. https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years

I can't fault anyone for not enjoying someone's work once they find out they've done awful things, and so likewise, I'll never fault someone for not ranking somebody in a list for that reason. If learning some horrible fact ruins your enjoyment of a wrestler's work, then how can you rank them in a very personal project like a list of favorites? I generally separate art from artists but sometimes even I will have to go "I'm going to have to take a break from this wrestler/musician/writer/etc for a while" right after I learn about some atrocity they committed. What I will add though is I feel like it's pretty important for society, in general, to not conflate skill with being a good person. Talent in a profession does in no way prove any kind of personal character. You can be great at a profession and be a terrible person, you can be horrible at one and be amazingly kind and decent. I think in a world where people so often defend disgraced celebrities because they like their work, it'd be great if we could train people that talent and morality have little to no link. That's why I kind of like Meltzer creating the new Observer award that's basically "Wrestlers who actually did nice things this year", it's completely separate from awards for artistic achievement. I think it's also easier for me to separate art from the artist because I know I have zero influence on their lives. If I give a scumbag a good match review on a podcast or a high ranking on a list, I'm not doing anything to improve their lives. If I was an actual tastemaker or in a position of power anywhere, it'd get more complicated, but it's an advantage to being a shmuck. No one's life is changing because I like or dislike them. Finally, maybe this is cowardly, but separating art and artists just makes a lot of stuff easier for me. If I were to dock or ban people from reviews and projects for doing terrible stuff, where do I draw the line? If I set a moral standard you have to pass to get mentioned, what's my bar? Unpetentent murder and rape are easy to quantify and throw the book at, but there's a whole world of stuff beneath that. Also, how much responsibility would I then have to research the morals of every wrestler I talk about? Again, maybe it's cowardly, but it's just easier to say "I will cover everyone".

A big ThROH The Years is here, as first-time quest Aaron Taube (Everything Evolves) joins us to cover Manhattan Mayhem, quite possibly the greatest ROH show of all time. CM Punk bleeds buckets, Low Ki returns, Jay-Z isn't actually there and Matt makes Trevor laugh hard, all before we all complain about 16 year old PW Torch reviews. https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years

ThROH The Years is coming hot out of the oven with a fresh show about ROH Stalemate, a fun B+ card with lots to talk about. Kevin Steen is t-shirt shamed! Bobby Heenan quits cause of cussing. James Gibson swears up a storm of his own! Lumberjacks that are afraid of their job! Signing bloody tissues! Do something cool and listen to this episode. https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years

ThROH The Years has brought Joe Gagne back to cover Best of American Super Juniors. An ROH show that is infamous, but is it also underrated? We talk Dragon Soldier B, Dragon Soldier A, CM Punk winning a shoot fight, one (or possibly two) great matches and a ton more on this loaded show. https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years

This time on ThROH The Years, Matt and Trevor go Back to Basics, covering the show of the same name! One of the weirder shows in terms of news stories surrounding it, we talk about Steve Corino no showing, Stevie Richards's random appearance, the literal death of the Special K gimmick and the metaphorical death of a member of the roster. Oh, and some wrestling matches happened too! Come see why ThROH The Years is Denmark's 14th most popular wrestling podcast! https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years

ThROH The Years kicks out 2021 with Trios Tournament 2005. It's a strangely noteworthy show, with the ROH commentary debut of Dave Prazak, the main card debuts of Steen and Generico, and a title change. It's also just a strange show. The ring breaks, Trent Acid shows up. Matt and Trevor talk about it all, but also about getting the runs and threesomes. A weird and wonderful show about a weird show. https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years

ThROH The Years closes out 2021 with an old friend in guest Dr.Keith Lipinski! We cover the third and final stop on ROH's Third Year Anniversary celebration, including the big Aries/Joe rematch, the start of the Punk/Joe feud, the second Heenan/Cornette battle and a lot more. Dare we say this is the only podcast episode that has both the inside scoop on CM Punk's tights and knows what portable gaming system he bought Jimmy Rave! https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years

ThROH The Years welcomes first time guest Steven Graham (Shimmer HERstory, Pro Wrestling Supershow) on to talk about ROH's Third Anniversary Celebration 2. Possibly greatest Jack Evans performance ever. The return of AJ Styles. Ted Danson. Gay Marriage. It's all mentioned on this episode, and by all I mean at least those four things. https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years

ThROH The Years is back with a supersized episode covering a supersized event. Matt and Trevor review ROH's Third Anniversary Celebration Part One. It's a show with a lot of stuff. The Foley/Joe saga ends. A great cage match. The mystery of Vordell Walker. Ebestus Jack. Tonight is the night you've been waiting for! https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years

ThROH The Years kicks off it's coverage of 2005 and it all begins with a show called, well, It All Begins. Samoa Joe and Mick Foley have a physical confrontation. Austin Aries' title reign begins. Danielson and Homicide start their best of five series. Everyone is injured. All this and more as Joe Gagne is in our Thunderdome. https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years

ThROH The Years follows up a supersized episode with an even larger one, because not only do we cover Final Battle 2004, we do our third annual ROH end of year rundown. That means we put a bow on Samoa Joe's amazing title reign, as well as Steamboat's year with the company. We give awards, we give overall thoughts, we lose our voices, we lose our minds. Thanks to everyone for supporting us through three years of ROH. Here's to three more! https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/throh-the-years-episode-55-final-battle-2004

Hey! ThROH The Years now has it's own podcast feed all over the place, although we're still also on the PWO podcast network. Oh, and a new four hour episode: This is one of the biggest episodes in ThROH The Years history. All Star Extravaganza 2. That means Joe vs. Punk, a match that makes Trevor feel human emotion. That means Jim Cornette vs. Bobby Heenan. Matt and Trevor also finally break down and rant about Dave Meltzer quotes like every other wrestling podcast ever. Plus Splash Cannonball, Jerk Jackson and so so so much more. https://redcircle.com/shows/throh-the-years/ Or iTunes or a bunch of places!

https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingo...hunder-night-2 ThROH The Years wraps ROH's big Weekend of Thunder doubleshot. We cover another Liger dream match, a possible plant planting one on Nigel, a divisive No DQ match and one of the scarier injuries in ROH history.

Haha, honestly at this point I'm almost numb to it. ROH's treatment of women, not boobs. Well, maybe I'm numb to boobs. I'm numb to a lot of things!

ThROH The Years is back! Joe Gagne is back! Jushin Liger is back...in the US! We cover Weekend of Thunder Night One, a show with a loaded second half topped off by Liger vs. Danielson. We also gab about ref shoot interviews, travel distances, and an apology is made to Joe's wife. https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingo...hunder-night-1

Joe vs. Punk II. On episode 51 of ThROH The Years Matt and Trevor cover the most important match in the first three years of ROH. In one of our most detailed reviews ever we cover the story behind the match, our own thoughts, and the reactions from wrestling media. We also cover the rest of the show too, because we're nice like that. https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingo...joe-vs-punk-ii

ThROH The Years and ROH both turn 50 in an episode where we cover ROH Gold, a B-Show with a lot of little interesting stories and a Homicide/CM Punk match that both bangs and slaps. We also cover Problematic Chad Collyer, Woke Gabe, and threatening to tell Ricky Steamboat about what you did. Thanks for all the support for fifty episodes! https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingo...de-50-roh-gold

ThROH The Years soldiers on with a review of the Midnight Express Reunion show. It features Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson, breakout performances for Jay Lethal and Nigel McGuinness, and Ricky Morton being a great heel. Also, Matt sings. Also, there are literal fireworks before the main event. On the podcast, not the event. Also: The Panther. https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingo...xpress-reunion

ThROH The Years is back during troubled times. We address what's been going on in the world and then review Glory By Honor 3, a show featuring the debut of Mick Foley, the return of Steve Corino, dream matches that underachieve, other matches than overachieve, and a hippy concert playing in the background! We also take a break in the middle of the show to talk about how crazy the 2004 IWA-MS TPI tournament was. Stay strong. https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingo...ory-by-honor-3

ThROH The Years keeps its hot streak going covering Scramble Cage Melee with Joe Gagne! Homicide, CM Punk and Samoa Joe battle for a meaningless privilege, an insane cage match happens, a title changes hands, and Mark Nulty says a lot of things. Grab a piece of chain link and shake, you're about to be entertained. https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/throh-the-years-episode-47-scramble-cage-melee

I would normally doubt a story like the "We were going to try a nearly three hour match" one, except for the fact that Danielson seems like one of the more honest guys in wrestling and the story isn't one that really serves a point in making up. I can only assume if they had gone through with it the show would've been a double DVD release, as ROH would occasionally do. The show clearly wasn't booked with a three-hour match in mind, but unless it's a one match show, I don't know how you can book with a three-hour match in mind. There were definitely more edits to the undercard than normal to make things fit, but it didn't seem like an obscene amount of edits. Some entrances cut, a few minutes out of an undercard match, and the already short Joe/Acid match clipped down to a minute or two of highlights. Based on that, it feels like Gabe was likely already budgeting for Aries/Danielson to go longer than the average ROH main event, but obviously not as long as the match ended up being. As for the crowd, I never thought they lost them either, but sometimes things play differently on tape than they do live. I know live reports said a few fans, not many, but a few, left, and I think the report sent into the Observer mentioning the murmuring of fan conversations. That quote Gabe gave about thinking the only way a three hour match could work would be in front of a small, invite-only crowd of your hardest core fans came after the 76 minute match took place, so however the crowd was live, it clearly didn't convince Gabe that they could've pulled it off. I think I liked the Danielson dive knockout spot more than most, or at the very least, didn't dislike it as much as Matt and others did. The only thing that really bugged me about it was between Aries arguing with the ref to do something about a KOed Danielson and the commentary basically agreeing that the match should be stopped, it did create a brief weird vibe where you've got Danielson selling like he's dead, and everyone else but the ref basically saying "What the fuck is the ref doing?"

ThROH The Years is going to go the distance by reviewing Testing The Limit, a show featuring a marathon 76 minute Aries/Danielson match that puts Matt and Trevor's voices to their own test. In our longest match review to date, we cover this bout from so many angles, you're going to think it's geometry class. Plus we cover the rest of the show too! https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/throh-the-years-episode-46-testing-the-limit

Pandemics mean more pods! We're already back with a new ThROH The Years reviewing Death Before Dishonor 2, Part 2! An amazingly consistent show with a who's who of indie stars. Low Ki works heel! Cabana wrestles Joe for the title! Head magnets! And it is all topped off with one of the most violent matches in ROH history. There's no need to leave home when you have us to keep you company! https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/throh-the-years-episode-45-death-before-dishonor-2-night-2

Hey, not allowed to leave your home? Let this lean and mean episode of ThROH The Years distract you with tales of Death Before Dishonor 2, Night One. This is a sneaky good show with a bunch of very good matches, including the end of both the Joe/Homicide and Saints/Briscoe feuds! Wash your hands, stay away from people and enjoy. https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/throh-the-years-episode-44-death-before-dishonor-2-night-1