Shining Wiz

I thought Gulak/Perkins was a good display of pro wrestling grappling, while Thatcher does flow rolls with poor technique.

Main event was a pretty good spot fest, for lack of a better word. PJ Black was really good here....he flies better than I thought he could, he got awesome new gear and, as he said at one point, no handcuffs. HArd to believe WWE couldn't find something for this guy. Ricochet ain't so bad either.

Ricochet said he hurt his ribs, then told the crowd he'd do some flips for them and he hoped they'd cheer and yell when he did.

Odd moment....gabe sapolsky came down, talked the ref in the middle of the tag match and called the match off. Looks like rich swan got hurt.

It's getting the point where I now find the Thatcher hate to be really fascinating on a sociological level. People in building were texting me burying Tommy End and the super light nature of Gulak/TJP, while extolling Thatcher. The divide on him is now reaching comically absurd proportions, to the point where I have no clue whether or not I should even seek out this show. He does the exact things that completely take me completely out of matches. I get what people like,mand what he's going for, but his grappling looks so obviously 'fake' that it kills me. I'm sure if you like him, the match was fine. End didnt have a lot of moves, but his timing and effort make up for it a bit.

Perhaps the only thing worse than watching Thatcher lightly spar is listening to Lenny Leonard pretend to understand grappling. Gulak and Perkins showing off better grappling in the first three minutes than I have ever seen out of Thatcher. AR Fox and Ethan Page didn't do a whole lot for me. I think Busik/Hero is a pretty good technical based brawl. I might actually get what people see in Biff a bit. A bit overkill on the elbows at the end. Would have liked this more if I didn't feel like I was watch it on Real Player.

Works on mobile apparently.

Or not. I don't use PayPal, apparently they don't take credit from Canada. Oh well

I'm contemplating Evolve 40. Would be my first WWN show

Brock retains, Cena wins US, Bryan wins IC. They actually make an effort to make the secondary belts mean something, and Brock settles into the modern day equivalent of the touring world champ popping into the territory every six or eight weeks.

This isn't a split show.

That didn't look like it was the rope rebounding that caused that. Rey hits a dropkick, and he's out.

Fair enough, but you are getting the end of Okada/Fale, should get another step in Tanahashi/Yano, Dorada finally gets his title shot, and either Naito or Goto could be positioned to be an IC challenger. I'll withhold judgment on the show until it happens. NJPW keeps delivering entertaining shows, so I give them leeway.

Ibushi/Styles will (hopefully) be a great match, but Ibushi is definitely losing here. He's still building himself as a top guy, so it will be a little while yet before he wins the title. I don't see anyone other than Okada taking the belt from Styles, and the build to that starts in the semi main when he finally puts away Fale. They're playing out a subtle, long term story about what the WrestleKingdom main event took out of both Tanahashi and Okada as neither has been same since. Tanahashi having to call in Shibata to help deal with Yano shows how low he is right now. And has Shibata faced Sakuraba since they separated? And even if not everything they're building gets paid off at the very next PPV, is that such a bad thing? I'm ok with things simmering for a longer period.

They just let TNA hang itself.

Decent quarter final show. Ibushi/Naito could be good, and Makabe/Goto will be hard hitting at least. Highlight of today for me was Sho Tanaka getting considerable offense in on Tanahashi, and the crowd loving it.

Well, if NXT steps into that ROH/ECW role, there will be some guys who are great at that level, but won't translate/aren't seen as being able to translate on the main roster. From a personal enjoyment point of view, I'd rather watch Zayn in important NXT matches than the WWE midcard. From a professional point of view, it might become more a case of 'move on/over' to the main roster rather a 'call up'.

I don't see why having 'indy' draws and touring means NXT can't still be a developmental league. It's going to be developmental the same way ROH and ECW were before them, except call ups will already have the WWE style down. It's smart to do on multiple levels- untapped market, better prepared call up, network content, etc...

Cabana I like on the podcast, not so much otherwise. I've met him twice, and while he wasn't awful, he kind of comes off pompous. Also sat through watching him watch bad wrestling.....not that fun really.

Most likely outcome, I would agree. Especially after the first round. Unless they're finally going to pull the trigger on Shibata. Haha

I honestly haven’t watched a full ROH show in.....years. I own the first 120 or so shows, flew to see a few a shows, but around the time Sapolsky burned out and Pearce took over, I faded away like a bunch of other folks, and just never made my way fully back. I have two 2nd row tickets to both nights ROH has booked for Toronto in May on my fridge right now. While it’s the income New Japan talent that made me bite the bullet, buy the tickets and commit to flying to the T dot for the May 2-4 weekend, ROH has been popping back up on my radar lately as something worth watching. I’ve enjoyed some of the bits and pieces that I’ve checked out over the past 6 or 7 years, but overall the product never fully caught me. That being said, the enjoyable bits and pieces have been more consistent lately and, being that I’ll be seeing them live two night in a row in 2 months, I’m giving the 13th Anniversary show a shot. I know I’m well late behind everyone and their dog who watched the show last Sunday, but I’m a busy guy....what can I say? Anyhow, here goes..... Opening Video This was great in its cheesiness. Sydal vs Alexander Definitely the first singles match I’ve watched of Alexander, but I think I saw him in a tag at some point. Either way, not too familiar. Familiar with Sydal obviously, but other than appreciating his athleticism, never been a huge fan. I don’t skip his matches, but I don’t drool for them either. Also, strikes as I guy I would find annoying, but now that I think of it, I did meet him at an IWA show a decade ago, and he was an ok guy. I heard Joe at Voices of Wrestling rave over this, so I have some hopes. Cedric looks kind of like Big E Langston’s Mini-me. The startings of a heel turn for Cedreic I assume. Subtle (by wrestling standard) starts to turns are great. Be nice if WWE put away the blunt hammer and did that sometimes. This is a nice opener......high energy but not going balls to the wall right from the start. Both guys have the athleticism to bring the match to a hot close. So what is Sydal’s role in ROH? Is he in full time? If he is, does he get into the title picture, or does he become ROH’s most famous midcarder? Moose vs Briscoe Heard a lot about Moose....never seen him though. Saw highlights of that top rope dropkick though. On the flipside, I was never a big fan of Mark Briscoe. Again, see some of his positives, but just never went over the top for me. Also, he apparently has morphed into the Cuban Assassin’s illegitimate offspring. Moose is a big, big dude. That dropkick is the most impressive I’ve ever seen. And Briscoe’s elbow off the apron isn’t all the far behind. That was a solid, solid landing. Don’t know how I feel about that flipping spear, but that was an ok match up. I see what people see in Moose, and I see why “potential” is used rather than suggesting he’s ready to be big time right now. I hope he stays away from WWE though. His ceiling is Titus O’Neil. Imagine if Titus had started out in ROH rather than WWE...if Moose is getting this kind of buzz, imagine what O’Neil would get. Three Way Tag No one in this match make me turn off the tv, no one makes me turn it on. Except maybe Karl Anderson, but Guns and Gallows bores me. Kingdom has the best of bad entrance themes. Best thing about the Bullet Club is their entrance theme, so they win. If they didn’t have a cool looking t-shirt, the faction that wouldn’t exist. Anyhow...Corino is pumping Anderson’s tires something wicked. Todd Sinclar hasn’t missed any of the Vegas buffets. That gentleman has put on a few.... A fine, fast paced triple threat. I have to admit – I didn’t notice the absence of Gallows. Anderson was the best guy in the ring though. And while I’m all for a little freshening of the New Japan tag division, and I think Bennett is entirely inoffensive, Taven doesn’t do a lot for me. BJ vs Roderick BJ can cut a promo? Where the hell did that come from? Roddy still sounds like he’s having a hard time remembering his lines. Overall, that was good little hype video. I got the whole angle out of that 2 minutes or so. So, the video package builds this tension, and then they have a slowish paced wrestling match with not a lot of intensity (though BJ throws a nice right hand). This would have been the right spot for a big, hard hitting brawl before settling down into the bigger matches. Crowd still sounds kind of interested, but this is taking the momentum from the show. 8 or 9 years removed the ROH board, I find it amusing I still see people I know in the front row. Even when it’s someone who annoys me to annoy end. Maria vs ODB Maria can cut an awesome promo? Where did that come from? By no means a technical masterpiece, but the next time WWE does an entertainment/storyline match this much fun will be the first time this decade. After the last match slowing things down, the crowd was right back into this one. I’ll finish this off tomorrow.....

They seem to see something in Takahashi. I could see him winning and challenging for the NEVER title again. Yano is the least likely to win, but stranger things have happened. As for Fale.....he just beat one of the triumverate at the top of the promotion clean and has the most protected finisher in New Japan. Like Takahashi, they see soemthing in him for some reason. One of them will be in the finals repping the Bullet Club.

The roster might be top heavy, but it's hardly thin. And having two of the top three guys drop out clean in the first round shows they want to take some steps to rectify that. That was a fun first round show. Couple of good matches, a big upset and what has to be rock bottom for Okada. I assume he gets revenge on Fale at Invasion Attack, then wins the G1 and beats AJ at Wrestle Kingdom. Curious to see who wins the Cup now. With all three belts open to challenge, the winner could legitimately be anyone of the 8 left.

Axel's actually amusing....and entertaining. How'd that happen?

They used him badly for the first bit, but he's been used perfectly since he ended the streak. And a big part of that is that he's NOT on TV every week. Just about everyone on the roster is so overexposed at this point that having him show up every two or three months has been great. He changes the atmosphere of shows he's on and has been by far the best thing going in WWE over the past year. Makes me long for the never going to happen idea of a rotating off season for wrestlers where everyone on the roster disappears from TV for a month or two every year just to freshen up, if nothing else.