CodySave

I also liked Rhodes vs. Mysterio - lots of great stuff incorporating the mask - but it definitely didn't have the crowd like the Edge vs. Del Rio match despite also having good action. My crazy theory? Being in such a huge stadium, I'm not sure if the live crowd could truly follow all the big spots involving Rhodes' clear mask. If you were in the highest seats, there's no way you could probably tell the mask was there, except for whatever you could see on the video screens. That, and the fact that Cody Rhodes certainly doesn't have the following yet of most everyone else on this show. He did have a sizable amount of people cheering for him as the match progressed though.

This is definitely random, but those of you with a Wii, they recently added Natsume Championship Wrestling for the SNES for download. I remember hating that game for a good year, until I finally figured out the timing and it quickly became one of my fav Super NES wrestling games. I believe it's actually a port of a japanese All Japan game.

Holy crap - who is the robot guy? He really stood out to me in this video. He definitely should get more exposure based on this and he really knows how to incorporate the "robotic-ness" into otherwise normal wrestling. Really great gear as well.

Some of you may have already discovered this, but this is now available on Netflix's streaming service, as well the documentary part of a whole slew of other WWE DVD sets. Haven't finished it, but I love seeing all the clips of Vince directing the wrestlers and personalities before they film promos. I was surprised at how much they openly slam WM VIII as being a "bad Wrestlemania"? They briefly cover the change in booking from Flair vs. Hogan to Hogan vs. Sid and Savage vs. Flair, citing lack of interest from fans at house shows, but in a sense admit they handled this poorly. How was the event received at the time? Because, as a child, I remember this being one of my favorite Wrestlemania's to watch on video with some awesome matches.

Great job Bix. A quick read that clearly and comprehensively explains Hardy's troubles in recent years. I honestly had never totaled up it was THIS many different incidents between him and Matt. This is a fascinating video and it's really interesting trying to break down exactly what happened here. A couple things I also noticed: 1.) Ref Brian Hebner also going over and discussing something with a cameraman at ringside about 10 seconds after flashing the "X". 2.) Hebner also didn't flash the "X" until he and Hardy had a brief discussion in the ring, so clearly Hebner knew something was out of sorts with Hardy. One vantage point I haven't seen brought up by fans that a wrestling veteran may notice is that aside from whatever Bischoff told them, Sting could see Hardy's behavior as a slap in the face of the veteran he's working with. Besides simply being potentially very high, Hardy also acted like a fool with the extensive teasing of tossing the shirt while Sting was clearly ready to get started. Sting could have determined that Hardy was just going to be too difficult to work with and decided to quickly end it, maybe even quicker than TNA staff expected even if they thought it would end early. Hardy also not expecting the quick pin is evident based on how oddly he handled taking the fall.

You didn't mention that Mick Karch does the AWF commentary. Awesome! The AWF show is really nicely put together. Cruz vs. Daivari and Sailer vs. Page are both good matches too, btw. It's weird seeing Sailer as a face after his slow building heel turn in 3XW over the past year. Ha, scratch that, it was Sailer vs. Rob James. Rob Page is a very good, small referee also from Minnesota.

Midwest Wrestling Video Update - Late February edition! Hooray for weekend wrestling viewing! By the way - AAW (Chicago) drew 475 PAID for the show I mentioned above. That's a huge jump from the usual 225-250 they get at their normal venue, so props to them. We always feel successful when we get 175 here in Des Moines, so 475 would be a dream scenario. And here's some videos from the show. You'll see that they literally fit fans everywhere they could: 1. Dustin "Screech" Diamond and Joel Gertner wage a war of words: 2. Joey Eastman vs. Truth Martini - MANAGER'S BATTLE! Dave Prazak shows up to commentate: 3. "The Human Massacre" Keith Walker vs. Darin Corbin: 4. AWF Saturday Night Slam (Minneapolis) with a nifty match between "The Anarchist" Arik Cannon and "6% Body Fat" Rob James: 5. AWF Saturday Night Slam - Hilarious surprise about 18 minutes in and one that school will talk about for years. Really, it's funny that they were promoting that SHEIK ADNAN AL-KAISSIE was actually going to wrestle in 2011!: 6. Metro Pro Wrestling (Kansas City) - Awesome squash match featuring Bull Schmitt facing Jimmy Rockwell: 7. Metro Pro Wrestling - Trevor Murdock facing Derek Stone in a Last Man Standing match for the strap!: 8. 3XWrestling (Des Moines) - Devin Carter vs. Casanova in a Lumberjack match from 2008 with a wild superplex spot. One of my first attempts at commentary and thankfully I've improved: 9. 3XW - New episode of Outside the Ring featuring our newest wrestler The Mauler destroying his opponent and awesome promos from Chad Mylan and Maddog McDowell & Krotch: 10. GALLI (Chicago) - Lucha Libre from Chicago. 4-Way with Shiima Xion, Mr 450 Hammet, Samuray Del Sol and Emperador: 11. AAW - Just happened upon this - Arik Cannon vs. Samuary Del Sol. Del Sol is definitely one to watch for as he does a ton of cool lucha moves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r361rL20xSM

Haven't checked out episode 2 yet, but I got a kick out of episode 1. I've never seen Andy Bivians before and he impressed me the most. And that's extraordinarily good quality for a cell phone camera. I've had great success with a little $150 Kodak Zi8 myself and it has a mic input. I would suggest finding a way to use even a handheld mic for the hosting and promos if possible. Cox, your show reminds me a lot of how we used to do our webshow for 3XW, with the hosting segments in-between match/promo clips. We recently went away from doing the hosting clips ourselves because a.) it always looked more bushleague than anything else on our show and b.) it involved having to get together at a separate time from the day of shows, which is actually more of a pain in the ass than you would think when you consider everyone works full time and lives in different towns. Taking out the hosting segment AND recording commentary live during the show sped up production time for our webshow and DVDs considerably. There's always amateur-ish stuff that creeps into the shows though - the promo room background not filling the wall for example. Even though it doesn't appear in frame on the camera when filming, it's obviously apparent on a computer screen and we need to get better at accounting for that. Here's our most recent 3XW webshow, Outside the Ring. That's me conducting interviews and saying "wait a minute" waaaay too damn much on commentary: As for my own commentary style, I always aim to be a poor man's Lance Russell due to a combo of having a voice that doesn't lend to Jim Ross-esque excitement and the fact that Lance is awesome at adding small details to the action. I work in "wild and woolly one" at least once a show thanks to the Memphis DVD set.

Just noticed that the documentary portion of the new Big Show DVD is available for viewing on Netflix instant streaming. I don't remember them releasing any prior WWE documentaries, especially before DVD set release, so maybe this is the start of a new trend. In recent months, they have released WWE Films movies within a couple weeks of release in theaters and DVD.

I don't expect The Rock to wrestle and still think it's wild that the biggest draw for a $55 PPV is to see a former wrestler simply "host" the event (whatever that means).....but aside from Rock vs. Cena, I think The Rock vs. The Miz would be the perfect match for WWE to get mainstream media attention. The Rock is legitimately recognized by the general American population thanks to his movie work/TV appearances in recent years and having a memorable nickname he took from wrestling. He rarely is interviewed by anyone on TV even now without being introduced as Duane "The Rock" Johnson. The Miz, on the other hand, is clearly no stranger to TV appearances and is great on the interview circuit and carries himself extraordinarily well. Set those two up in a match and then send them out for 2-3 weeks appearing on every morning/late night talk show available to hype the hell out of the event. This is the best chance the WWE has to have someone appear on Ellen talking about a wrestling PPV.

The stuff with Michael Cole is getting really unusual now, even more-so than when he was just ripping on Daniel Bryan, but a regular face play-by-play commentator the rest of the show. Last night's RAW, he was a heel play-by-play man for at least 80% of the show, but then would still casually drop back into traditional play-by-play again. It's strange enough to have Cole doing play-by-play as a heel, especially with him "calling move, insult a couple times, calling move." But when he rips on someone for a lengthy period of time, only to completely change his tone and call the match straight for the next few minutes is jarring to the brain. I will say he's been wildly successful in my opinion as a totally hated heel and pulls it off better than I ever expected. Really, he's become almost too strong a heel commentator for any of his partners to respond back against or even for the betterment of the show. His brutal honesty on commentary can be really entertaining, but he's too successful at pointing out the flaws of the angles, wrestlers, etc. But at this point, they really need to make a decision - go full bore with Cole as a heel, because he's already close to being possibly one of the most hated heels on the show, or continue with him as the regular play-by-play commentator? Actually, I kept wondering last night "Why doesn't Cole just like Josh Mathews call the moves?" I think the whole heel Cole shtick would go much smoother that way.

Here's footage of the Ironman match we've been discussing. Video Updates: Wyatt vs. Sterling 60 Minute No DQ Ironman match highlight video: This DVD will be available for the first time at the merchandise table this Friday at Reign of Terror II and online next week! Outside the Ring - February 2011 Edition: The February 2011 edition recaps the top moments from 3XW Divide & Conquer, including the incredible 60 Min No DQ Ironman match between Jeremy Wyatt & Mark Sterling, the Horndogs tag team title victory and more! Also includes a strong message from former 3XW President Skylar Pierce to Genesis and hypes the upcoming Reign of Terror II event. Production by SEP Video and commentary courtesy of Midnight Guthrie and Chad Mylan. Full event info can be found at http://www.3XWrestling.com Please support 3XW by sharing these videos on any wrestling websites you visit!

I really, really enjoyed the Rumble match this year. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun watching WWE programming. Much more positive experience after last year's dud. The Punk/Nexus stuff during the middle was just tremendous and crowd was just so pissed off every time the timer would count down and....R-Truth or Kozlov would come out next. It's rare to get the level of legitimate heel heat Nexus and Punk were getting. I was also surprised there was no Nexus/Corre interaction aside from the brawl before the Rumble even started. But overall, I was really pleased with the surprises, which typically isn't the case these days. The finish with Santino popping up was just so entertaining and the crowd was going out of their minds. And I'm still laughing at Del Rio's announcing yelling so much Spanish over the arena mic that Cole could barely get a word in to close out the show. And after lots of hype...no sign of Triple H. I was really surprised by that.

Interesting USWA paystub that Steve Austin shared on Twitter moments ago. Not much different than modern indy wrestling, except strange to see the little bit taken out for taxes: http://twitpic.com/3uzbpt

For another "Hogan-esque" example of a wrestler wrestling on a show he NEVER wrestled on from my youth, I vividly remember staying up until Midnight on New Year's weekend when I was 9 (10?) just to watch Lex Luger battle Jacques Rogeau on an episode of WWF Superstars in 1994. It was delayed till late night by the local Fox station that day and I didn't have cable to watch RAW, so Luger on Superstars was a HUGE deal. I was a massive fan of Luger at that time and even had a "Lex Luger: Made in the USA" t-shirt.

Now, for what I hope to make a monthly feature in this thread......YOUR MIDWEST WRESTLING VIDEO UPDATE! Full disclosure time: Yes, I work for 3XW and now work for Metro Pro Wrestling as a modern day Todd Pettingill. However, I'll include anything that's actively good from the Midwest in these updates, because there's LOTS of great footage that deserves more than 300 views on YouTube. 1. - This is the announcement video for Dustin Diamond in AAW 2. - This is a recent episode of AWF TV from Minneapolis/St. Paul cable featuring two really great matches - Arya Daivari (brother of Shawn "Khosrow/Sheik Abdul Bashir" Daivari) vs. Ryan Cruz and super-talented Ben Sailer vs. Rob Page. AWF has found success by holding fundraisers for Minnesota-area schools and often feature a popular coach/faculty member on cards (such as the guy manging Sailer in that match). Probably more successful than 90% of indies due to this approach because (I presume) they got paid a set amount up front and the rest of the money goes to the school to buy team uniforms/equipment, etc. 3. - Metro Pro Wrestling - Crossfit Challenge between Mark Sterling and Sir Bradley Charles. This is really entertaining - Sterling legitimately is the most physically fit human being I've met in my life and much of that is due to the intense Crossfit workouts he does multiple times a day. He actually competes at Crossfit competitions across the Midwest. This segment begins with Sterling challenging a fan from the crowd to a pushup contest, only for the mega-popular SBC to join the mix. SBC is a graduate of Lance Storm's Wrestling Academy and performing quite well for only entering his second year as a pro. 4. - Metro Pro Wrestling - Heroes for Hire vs. Jeremy Wyatt & Kwong w/ Steven J. Girthy - Fun tag team match featuring Jimmy Rockwell & Zach Thompson challenging Wyatt and Kwong. This is the debut of Heroes for hire and their Green Lantern-themed tights in Metro Pro and the crowd took to them quite well. 5. - AAW - Johnny Gargano vs. Matt "M-Dogg 20" Cross - JIP, lots of nifty stuff. We'll finish today with two more 3XW matches featuring Jeremy Wyatt. If you hate the commentary, blame me, because it's me on play-by-play. I'm really happy with how the Fox/Wyatt match turned out, to be honest: 6. - 3XW Heavyweight title - Jeremy Wyatt vs. Tyler Cook - These two had a really excellent feud featuring lots of memorable moments during 2009 and this intense match from June 2010 encapsulates the history of their feud. 7. - 3XW Heavyweight title - Jeremy Wyatt vs. Rory Fox - One of my favorite matches from all of 2009 anywhere in pro wrestling. This is thw first match of the fantastic feud Wyatt and Fox had in 3XW in 2009 and 2010. Very exciting match and truly a showcase of Fox and Wyatt's skills. If you recognuize Fox's name, he was featured on MTV: True Life - I'm A Pro Wrestler during the first months of his career. He actually recently retired after 11 years of wrestling all over the country and multiple WWE appearances. He's a tremendously cool dude outside of wrestling and I wish him the best with everything. If anyone comes across a match they want me to post a link to or have seen in person, please let me know or post in this thread. The whle point of this thread is to expose more people to the beautiful world of pro wrestling. If you watch any part of any of the above matches, please share your thoughts. Thanks!

Thanks for the kind words vikingsfan73, I really appreciate it. The Black vs. Wyatt match was just picked by http://www.missouriwrestlingrevival.com as the 2010 Match of the Year for the midwest and rightfully so, because it is balls out awesome. We were also fortunate enough to have 3XW picked as Promotion of the Year, which is really an honor. If you haven't already heard, AAW has a crazy interesting card in Chicago on Feb. 11, featuring MsChif vs. former Saved by the Bell/Celebrity Championship Wrestling/Celebrity Boxing star DUSTIN "SCREECH" DIAMOND! It's their first time in a long time trying a larger Chicagoland venue aside from their monthly events at the Berwyn Eagles Club and they've definitely stacked the card. Check it out: AAW Heavyweight Championship Match Silas Young vs. Raven AAW Heritage Championship Match Shane Hollister vs. Davey Richards Steel Cage Match Irish Airborne vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Dan Lawrence AAW Tag Team Championship Match Brett Gakiya/CJ Esparza vs. Kyle O'Reilly/Tony Kozina Dustin Diamond aka Screech from "Saved By The Bell" vs. MsChif Joey Eastman vs. Truth Martini Plus: Jordan McEntyre/Knight Wagner w/ Eryn Louis Lyndon Flip Kendrick Samuray Del Sol The Clash Krotch w/ Scarlett Mason Beck Juice Robinson

Interesting thing in today's update: What does everyone else think? To an extent, I can see certainly see the point Jarrett is trying to make, though there's much more to it than just the use of DVR's From personal experience, I DVR a ton of shows now I wouldn't have ever bothered taping using a VCR during the 90s, but I also don't watch everything I DVR. I think Dave is totally not factoring in how much more convenient a DVR is than a VCR - literally takes a minute to press a few buttons to set a recording compared to popping a tape in and setting the timer up on the VCR, hoping someone else doesn't change the channel while your out. And, really, I think a DVR would have dramatically changed the Monday Night Wars because of how many fans could actually watch both shows in full and not necessarily have to watch either while they aired live instead of having to flip back-and-forth and choose what to watch at which time.

Yeah, funny thing about that 7-hour Ironman in California is that Jaysin Strife is actually from Council Bluffs, Iowa and has wrestled for 3XW in the past. I can't even imagine watching a 7-hour match, must less being part of one.

I hate to come on here and be "that guy" too often and shill something my company does, but we had an extraordinarily special moment at our 3XW show this past Friday. This past Friday night, 3XWrestling held what I firmly believe will hold up as perhaps the 2011 Match of the Year of all independent companies - "The Rebel" Jeremy Wyatt and Mark Sterling, widely considered two of the top wrestlers in the Midwest, wrestled a whopping 70 minutes in a No DQ 60-minute Ironman match. After coming to a draw after 60 minutes, it was settled after an additional 10 minutes of sudden death overtime. Perhaps the most impressive accomplishment is that the crowd was with them the whole match, never once showing signs of disinterest or boredom and reacting extremely loudly to nearfalls, pins and submissions throughout the bout. I have been watching wrestling for over 20 years and have seen thousands of matches on video and hundreds in-person and after a few days to reflect, I can say without question it is the greatest wrestling match I've ever seen live. Video of the bout should be available in a few weeks time at http://www.3XWrestling.com and I think anyone that takes part in any match-of-the-year polls has to see this match.

And I forgot to add that they gave 5 minutes of promo time to the Miz so he could explain he's tired of carrying the briefcase around and would be cashing in soon....and then he wasn't on at any point the rest of the show. No sign of him at all during the main event, despite him being involved in many TV segments this month building to it.

This is first WWE PPV that has held my interest for over 50% of the show in a very long time. What do everyone think? The opener with Ted vs. Bryan was great, Morrison vs. Sheamus had some neat stuff. Kaval vs. Ziggler also had some really nifty moments even though they weren't anywhere close to being on the same page much of the match. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of near-falls in the 5-on-5 elim tag considering that's a match where wrestlers typically go down to any major move they're hit with. I completely missed the tag title match running to my kitchen and back. The World title match did nothing for me as Edge is just so stale anymore. I thought it was hilarious that Chimel referred to it as a "Tie" instead of a "Draw". How much do you have to dumb it down for people? "CENA'S FREE!!!" - Striker "Cena's fired" - Cole quickly correcting him, leading to Striker being audibly confused. The finish of the main event was hilarious because Matt Sriker COMPLETELY blew the call, leading to Michael Cole - rightfully so, this time - quickly correcting him in a disgusted "you idiot" tone. I mean, Striker seemed to be confused by the stipulation in relation to Cena depending on who won and I imagine when he was sputtering "I got so caught up in the moment..." in an effort to defend himself, he was getting chewed out by a producer in his earpiece. The ending fell flat with me because who in their right mind believes Cena is actually fired and gone? But they did their damndest to make it seem like he's gone forever with all the hoopla of him going through the crowd all over the arena. If they didn't turn Cena heel here after years of people calling for it, I'm not sure when they will. For once, this was begging for a transparent finish - Cena as ref attacks Orton as he pins Barrett. But then...Cena remains the most noble wrestler ever and counts the pin even though he's now fired.

The thing that really shocked me to read is that Gran Naniwa was only 34, which means he was only 17-19 years old when he was really breaking out in the mid 90s. Last I saw of him was in 2004 (I think) and I think the perception many of us had then was that he was now an aging, older wrestler, when he reality he wasn't even 30.

Here is Mark Sterling wrestling as an awesome super-intense babyface. 3XW is the only place I can recall he's work face for any period of time in the past 5 years. To gear up for 3XW's first ever No DQ Ironman match in January between Mark Sterling and "The Rebel" Jeremy Wyatt, this month's Match of the Month features Mark Sterling, with a match showcasing Wyatt to be featured next month. Two bitter rivals clash in an intense battle months in the making as Mark Sterling takes on his former tag team partner Gage Octane. This match took place at 3XW's "Over The Top" on May 7, 2010. The full event DVD can be purchased at http://www.3XWrestling.com. Commentary provided by Midnight Guthrie and video production courtesy of SEP Video.

Info about our upcoming event. Metro Pro Wrestling also posted some more match links and I'll post them if I get a chance in the next few days or you can find them by clicking the links I posted above and find them on their channel. Wild surprises happened at November Knockout 2! Results here: http://www.3XWrestling.com/results2.htm 3XWrestling - Holiday Havoc 2 Friday - December 3rd, 2010 Des Moines Social Club 1408 Locust St Des Moines, IA Doors open 6:45 pm for Advanced ticket holders Doors open 7 pm for everyone else Bell time 7:30 pm Featuring: 3XW Heavyweight championship Brian Ash vs. Rory Fox © 3XW Pure Wrestling championship "The Rockstar" Jimmy Rockwell vs. "The Laotian Sensation" Ricky Kwong © w/Chad Mylan *By orders of the 3XW Board of Directors, during this match Chad Mylan will be handcuffed to former 3XW President Skylar Pierce!* Six Man Tag Team match "The Unbreakable" Zach Thompson & The Horndogs - Maddog McDowell & Krotch vs. "The Canadian Sex Icon" Ryan Slade & American Ground & Air - Benjamin Sailer & Nate Bash More matches to be announced soon! Also in action: "The Rebel" Jeremy Wyatt, 3XW Tag Team champions - "Delicious" Devin Carter & Casanova w/Todd Countryman, "The American Fury" Jon West, Gage Octane, "The Right Price" Aaron Masterson, Darin Corbin, Shane Hollister & more! Tickets will be available November 13th, 2010 at: Jay's CD & Hobby - Tickets will be available at both Jay's stores 3315 SE 14th Street - Des Moines, IA & Merle Hay Mall - Des Moines, IA also Cup O' Kryptonite - Fleur Drive - Des Moines, IA Or online at http://www.3XWrestling.com Advanced General Admission $12.00 General Admission day of event $15.00 Kids 10 & Under $6.00 Kids 3 & Under FREE admission