TravJ1979

So I finally finished* 2007 PPV's and big shows. Now I'm finishing 2007 TV surprisingly quick. So my copy of ROH Unscripted III from 12.1.07 is unwatchable so I had to skip it for now and am actively looking for another source. TNA Turning Point 12.2.07 Such a bad PPV. The tables match opener was terrible despite having MCMG's and Black Machismo involved. This just strengthened my case that Team 3-D does and has always sucked. Johnny Devine is right there with them. The Knockouts tag was sloppy, but short. Next was Eric Young v. James Storm. Now, due to the absolute absurdity of this angle (Young beat Storm in a drinking contest last PPV and got his "belt") I wanted to hate this. However, even though I started at about a -3, by the end I was thoroughly entertained. That is what a match should do and so that's why I've pegged it as a match to re-watch. Normally, I wouldn't expect it to hold up, but since this is TNA 2007 it may sneak through the next cut as well. The "Feast or Fired" match was a complete cluster fuck. I loved Gail Kim v. Amazing Kong, but strongly disliked the DQ even though it built to a rematch and made sense. I tabbed it for a re-watch in my women's category. OMG. The 10,000 thumbtack match may have been the worst thing on the PPV. Fat, useless Raven teaming with "You do thumbtacks every match so I'm numb to it" Abyss vs. Black Reign (Dustin Rhodes at his absolute worst) and Rellik (a/k/a Johnny The Bull). So, they fell in tacks. Booker T/Kaz v. Christian Cage/Robert Roode laid an egg. Angle/Tomko/Styles v. Nash/Samoa "I shootz~! now" Joe/ and Sco..... err, Eric Young. Hall no-showed. Joe tried to get fired on the mic which went way to long and was repetitive as fuck. They had a bad, short match. WWE Armageddon 12.16.07 Really liked Rey Mysterio v. MVP, but this is during MVP's "Fuck it. I'll get counted out" phase which brought it down considerably. Big Daddy V/Mark Henry v. CM Punk/Kane - Big Daddy V pinned Punk. Focus was V using his fat to smash Punk HBK v. Kennedy - THE best match of KENNEDY's career by far. Miles above the Matt Hardy/Kennedy Smackdown match I recently saw. Very good. Jeff Hardy v. HHH - This was like the big brother trying to toughen up the little brother only for the little brother to come out on top. That's what happened here and HHH took the loss as a joke. Finlay v. Khali was awesome for the six or so minutes it lasted. If it would have went about five more minutes I may have noted it for a second look. Jericho's return to PPV v. Orton was good, but fell short of me noting for a second look due to finish. Beth Phoenix v. Mickie James was short and tolerable. Edge v. Undertaker v. Batista was nothing special with Hawkins and Ryder making their debuts as fake Edge's to help him win the strap. ROH Rising Above 12.28.07 Typical ROH with most matches just being "there" with nothing to set them apart. The boring Delirious vs. Hangm3n feud, Claudio v. Hero feud both fit in that category. Just for the cool spots, Generico/Steen v. Age of the Fall v. Hangm3n v. Vulture Squad tag scramble was fun, but technically not "good." The Shimmer tag was good and I noted to rewatch it for the women's side of things for the decade. Davey Richards beating Erick Stevens with a Kimura after Stevens is distracted by Daniel Puder in the audience was a snooze fest as well. Briscoes v. No Remorse Corps 2/3 Falls was solid, but they've had better. Danielson v. Takeshi Morishima had their usual sub 10 minute DQ match. I'll have to watch all of these to see if they hold up to the big two. Finally was Nigel v. Austin for the belt. OUTSTANDING match and a strong contender for ROH MOTY. ROH Final Battle 2007 The worst Final Battle since probably 2003. Three generic or squash matches (Vulture Squad v. Matt Cross/Bobby Fish, Claudio v. Larry Sweeney, and Rocky Romero v. Ernie Osiris) Two exciting matches while they lasted, but forgotten about when I turned the show off (Necro Butcher v. Jack Evans, Roderick Strong v. Erick Stevens) Two matches that should have been very good, but left me underwhelmed (Davey Richards v. Naomichi Marufuji, and Morishima v. Dragon v. Aries v. Hero) One match that made no fucking sense (hangm3n vs. delirious/steen/generico - tables legal) So, when are tables not legal? I'm not sure in the entire history of ROH I've ever seen a DQ due to the use of a table. I will say this match was crazy and fun to watch, just not over and over. Only one match made my cut which was the Briscoes v. Age of the Fall with the Briscoes FINALLY losing the straps.

Glory By Honor VI: Night 1 Out of the nine matches on the card, I found four to be standard for ROH. Nothing bad, nothing great, but everything was fine. The top of the class trophy match between Ernie Osiris and Mitch Franklin wasn't good, but I didn't expect more. The other below average was Hero v. McGuinness since Nigel was working hurt. I just think they shouldn't have had the match at all. The tag titles match (Briscoes v. No Remorse Corps), The Austin Aries v. Danielson match and the NOAH main event tag were great and worthy of a second look. Aries and Danielson have such great chemistry; they always put on a great showing. In its native setting, the NOAH tag would probably be average fair, but in the states with the ROHbots going crazy just made it fun. My favorite part of the match was when Misawa actually showed personality. He had KENTA in a headlock and motioned for the ref to check Morishima and he gave him an elbow to the nose and then gave the sssh motion to the crowd. I actually lol'ed. Glory By Honor VI: Night 2 This was a loaded show with eleven matches and a lot of things happening. Two matches were squashes as Tyler Black and Austin Aries beat Alex Payne and Shane Hagadorn respectively. Aries disbanded his faction, the Resilience here saying he wants to concentrate on the ROH title. Another quick match was a one minute DQ between the Briscoes and Age of the Fall where the crowd was super pissed, but this was just a setup for a street fight main event which actually was disappointing especially compared to the brawls between the Briscoes and Steen/Generico. Chris Hero had two matches, a win over El Generico in the opener and a loss to Austin Aries. Both were disappointing. I'm not sure if I've seen a really good Chris Hero match yet. Two other standard ROH matches saw Hangmen 3 beat Steen and Delirious and the No Remorse Corps downing the Vulture Squad. One cool thing was the huge brawl/dive sequences here. I heard Gabe talk about after coming back from Vegas he had the idea of having this sequence like the fountains in Vegas, where each subsequent burst gets bigger and more spectacular. The GHC title match between KENTA and Misawa was okay, but I was a bit let down by it. It didn't make my cut of matches to rewatch. However Claudio v. Marufuji and Morishima v. Danielson did. Even though I didn't like the finish of the Danielson match, it was still super fun. Danielson is just an amazing wrestler. TNA GENESIS Abyss v. Black Reign in a shop of horrors match - SUCKED. Dustin as Black Reign is absolutely awful. MCMG v. Team 3-D - I hate Team 3-D as they may be the most successful terrible tag team in history. Nothing special. Gail Kim v. Angel Williams v. ODB v. Roxxi Leveaux - This wasn't good either, especially Angel Williams. I am looking forward to the Knockout division going forward though. Jay Lethal v. Sonjay Dutt - Okay match. Steiners v. Styles/Tomko - Tomko v. Rick Steiner? Ugh. Passable Match. Samoa Joe v. Robert Roode - Pretty good Match, probably this or the ladder match was Best on the card. Tracy Brooks, OMG. Kaz v. Christian - Ladder Match; Fight for the right Final - This was put on TNA's Best of 2007 DVD, but not sure it belongs. Cool, innovative spots, but a little too contrived, even for a ladder match. Angle/Nash v. Sting/Mystery Partner - Booker T was the mystery partner. Typical TNA tag main event. Nothing on the show worth a second look, IMO. WWE SURVIVOR SERIES Since Cena has been out with the injury, they've had two PPV's and both were really good. This was no different with three matches worth a second look (Punk v. Miz v. Morrison, HBK v. Orton, and Undertaker v. Batista HITC) The women's 10 man tag and Khali v. Hornswoggle were awful as one would expect. Cade/Murdoch v. Rhodes/Bob Holly was okay, but definitely nothing special. The Traditional Elimination Tag was good, but nothing memorable. ROH Reckless Abandon This seemed like a placeholder show. No big angles, nothing progressing and just one great match (Aries v. Strong Iron Man). Those guys wrestle each other so frequently it gets tiresome, but they work well and it's always going to be above average. The only thing notable story wise is the Vulture Squad pinning the Briscoes in the main event tag scramble to earn a title shot. I was looking forward to Danielson v. Necro Butcher, but was let down. All the other matches were typical ROH matches with nothing at all standing out.

ROH Survival of the Fittest 10-19-2007 This wasn't a bad show, but compared to the previous three Surivival of the Fittest shows, this was disappointing. The qualifying matches were full of debuting wrestlers such as Karl Anderson, TJ Perkins (debut outside of wrestling as Puma), Human Tornado, and Tony Kozina which, to me didn't make much sense being that it was a tournament designed to elevate full-time talent. None of the above really were impressive although none were outright awful either. The best qualifying match was ironically a match that disqualified both from advancing and that was a 20 minute draw between ROH Champion Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson. Due to the Tornado/Kozina/Hagadorn match being a qualifier due to the aforementioned draw, the only non-Survival of the Fittest match was a street fight between the Briscoes and the Age of the Fall. Mark was suffering from a dislocated ankle from a motorcycle accident and that may have been the reason this was disappointing. Especially compared to the recent brawls between the Briscoes and Steen/Generico. Chris Hero took the Survival of the Fittest this year by pinning all five competitors within the match. Hero would sit on the stage and then sneak in for pins or to hit a quick finisher and pin and then slide out again. After the first two eliminations I saw what as going on which made the best part of the match (end with Claudio) not as exciting as it normally would have been. Not one of ROH's best efforts. ROH Chaos at the Cow Palace 10-21-2007 This was a solid show and a step up from Survival of the Fittest. Both Roderick Strong v. Claudio for the FIP title and the Richards/Romero v. Perkins/Kozina matches were enjoyable in the under card. As far as the top of the card, the Age of the Fall beat the No Remorse Corps right after the latter won their tag match. I like the Age of the Fall gimmick and their debut, but honestly the matches haven't been great so far. Nigel retained the title against Jay Briscoe in a solid match, but stealing the show was the Bryan Danielson v. Austin Aries match. These two guys have such great chemistry in the ring and this was a second of a Best of three series to determine the No. One Contender. WWE Cyber Sunday 10-28-2007 This was a good PPV. The lower matches (Kane v. MVP, Mr. Kennedy v. Jeff Hardy, and Michaels v. Orton) weren't "bad" just not that interesting or well worked in my opinion. I liked the CM Punk v. Miz match although I wouldn't say it was anything special. I should say I was surprised to be more accurate. There was a great use of the divas where they just briefly showed off their costumes in between matches and then showed the results of the fan votes at the end. I know some are good wrestlers, but I don't complain when they are used sparingly like this either. The top matches I felt were the Rey v. Finlay opener, HHH v. Umaga's street fight and the title match with Batista v. Undertaker. I think Taker and Batista also have great chemistry together as I've enjoyed all their matches together. HHH v. Umaga started slow, but turned out really well in the end. As a whole, October 2007 produced a handful of matches worthy of a second look going forward and maybe a contender or two for my "Best of" lists to come for the decade. Next Post: November 2007

Notes on the last few matches from 2000 that didn't make final cuts. Triple H v. Chris Benoit - Non-Title Match - WWE Smackdown 2.3.00 Cool that it is Benoit's first official match in the WWE, but this is short and nothing special compared to many other matches within the year. HHH v. Chris Jericho - RAW 6.12.00 These two had better matches against one another within the year. It's heated and a fun pop with the temporary title change, but nothing "best of" about it. HHH v. Rock v. Kurt Angle - RAW 6.26.00 Good Match. Nothing particularly wrong with it. Just didn't live up to other TV matches for the year. Chris Jericho v. X-Pac - Cage Match 10.22.00 This was actually really good and one of the last cuts I made. Only negative I can say about it is that Jericho was clearly audible calling quite a few spots which took away from the impact of the bigger spots in the match. Chris Jericho v. Kane 11.19.00 This was the best match of their late 2000 feud and had a super cool finish, but this is another that just missed the cut. I did get a good hardy laugh out of this when early on Jericho did a "Terri Power at Dream Rush-esque" dive on Kane. *************************** I finished up TNA Bound for Glory 2007. My thoughts: - Scott Steiner's infamous "Fat Asses!" promo on the Team 3-D - Horrid Monster's Ball match. - Official Creation of the Knockout's division with Gail Kim being first champ. Amazing Kong kills all. - Styles/Tomko win the tag belts from Team PacMan (Creed/Killings) - Sting wins the TNA World Title from Kurt when Nash/Karen's interference backfires.

These are all matches from 2000 that were cut after all viewing for the promotions were completed and the reasons why. ECW Super Crazy v. Tajiri - Mexican Death Match - ECW on TNN 1.15.00 I went over this in my last post. CW Anderson v. Tommy Dreamer - I Quit Match 1.7.01 I know this was from the year 2001, but since ECW only ran three shows before going out of business, I went ahead and finished it up. This is actually the only match from 2001 ECW that I thought worthy of a second look. Watching it a second time around I came to the conclusion that I only like the finish. These two had a match at the 2000 ECW PPV that was pretty close to this one in quality, but fell short from making my first cut. Tommy Dreamer may be one of the worst wrestlers of all time. Actually him, Sandman, and New Jack may form the unholy trinity of completely awful professional wrestlers. I only bring it up as I think this match is his best singles match EVER. He had good tags, notably One Night Stand 2006, but a match loaded with gimmicks that includes brawling legend Mick Foley, all-time legend, Terry Funk and a Beulah/Lita cat fight could hide anyone's weaknesses I suppose. WCW Rey Mysterio Jr. v. Juventud Guerrera - THUNDER 9.19.00 Nothing really bad about this match, but it is criminally short. It's roughly six minutes and doesn't pick up until half way through. Even though my entire scope of this project doesn't deviate outside of the decade I can't help but know that this was a phone in job for both guys. It was WCW in the year 2000 so I wouldn't expect anything more. Most memorable things about this match were a. Konnan dogging Disco Inferno on commentary the whole time and b. Some fan screaming at Rey and Juvi the entire match that "You'll never work for Vince!" Oops. Sean O'Haire/Mark Jindrak v. Alex Wright/Disco Inferno v. Rey Mysterio/Kidman - Halloween Havoc 10.29.00 All things considered this was a fun match. Alex Wright and the Thrillers were working hard in the match, basically unaware that the company was headed down the drain. Disco was Disco and the most I got from him out of this match is Konnan once again on commentary giving him shit. He actually was pretty harsh on the Thrillers ("They need to refund their wrestling teacher because they suck!" and "Natural Born Cranberries") at the beginning, but seemed to change his tune a little bit by matches end. Rey was just biding his time and Kidman looked like he just woke up. Like I said at the open, this was a fun match and really picked up towards the end. There were just a few more matches I felt were ultimately better. WWE Chris Benoit v. The Rock - Fully Loaded 7.23.00 I went over this one in my last post as well. .... I have about five more matches from WWE that I cut and will get to them in the final post covering 2000 America's.

I started one to document my 2000's viewing. Definitive 2000-2009

After I finalized my North American List for 2000, I thought it would be interesting to look in the Wrestling Observer and see if any matches Dave rated * * * * or higher were missing from my list. Here's what I found. HHH v. Mick Foley (WWE, 2/27, Hartford) ****1/2 I am a Mick Foley fan, but as much as he fights against the label of "glorified stuntman" it seems that this decade is not something he'd like to reference as part of any kind of defense. Arguably, the best matches of Mick's 2000's career are: Rumble v. HHH Backlash '04 v. Orton SummerSlam '06 v. Flair WM 22 v. Edge One Night Stand '06 w/Edge v. Funk/Dreamer What do all of those have in common? Barbed wire, tacks, chair shots, blood... His wrestling matches: WM 16 Fatal Four-Way WM 20 w/ Rock v. Evolution Taboo Tuesday '05 v. Carlito ... more I'm sure I am forgetting. Then there is this match. This didn't even make it past the first cut/initial viewing. You and the crowd both know he's coming off the cage so anything else in the body of the match is boring and not leading to anything. Now maybe my viewpoint is skewed as watching this I knew this wasn't his last match so it's possible that thinking this was it may have made it more enjoyable. However, one big bump a match does not make. Rock v. Chris Benoit (WWE, 7/23, Dallas) ****1/4 This match did make my initial cut, but upon second viewing, dropped off completely. This had way too much Shane McMahon, a pointless restart, and wasn't helped by being on one of WWE's best PPV's of the decade that included a much better Jericho v. HHH Last man Standing match. Rock v. Kurt Angle (WWE, 10/22, Albany) ****1/4 This didn't make my initial cut either. I think this rating was because of Dave's fan boy perspective of Kurt since he won the title. Rock and Angle never worked well together IMO. Dudley Boys v. Hardy Boys v. Edge/Christian (WWE, 4/1, Anaheim) **** Didn't make my initial cut. SummerSlam's TLC was much better. Chris Benoit/HHH v. Rock/Chris Jericho (WWE, 4/24, Raliegh) **** A TV match with a hot crowd, but the work pales in comparison to other TV matches in the year. Dean Malenko v. Scotty Too Hotty (WWE, 4/30, Washington D.C.) **** Can anyone remember anything about this match other than the finish? I doubt it. Without the unique finish it's just Dean killing Scotty's leg for the whole body of the match only for Scotty to then hit the bulldog AND HOP ON THE SAME LEG THAT WAS WORKED OVER TO DO THE WORM! I usually don't gripe and take that smart mark approach, but this was something you couldn't ignore. I'd say * * * * if he went for the worm, dropped in pain and Dean applied the Texas Cloverleaf for the submission. Chris Benoit v. Chris Jericho (WWE, 5/21, Louisville) **** These guys wrestled a lot during the year and this was one of the lesser showings. Super Crazy v. Tajiri (ECW, 1/15 [1/21 air date], Philadelphia) **** I Love Tajiri; Especially in ECW 2000. The first part of this match with Tajiri killing crazy with kicks and dickhead bully tactics was great. My problems with this match is twofold. First, this was called a Mexican Death Match, but how is this different from every other ECW match, ever? No DQ, No CO, single pinfall wins it. So, the stipulation was pointless. My second, and biggest, problem is that once Super Crazy got on offense it was the same old shit. a bunch of moonsaults, go through the crowd, moonsault of bleachers, back to the ring and weak ending.

As of today, I'm about 1/3 of the way through TNA's October 2007 PPV offering, Bound for Glory. Not much in the way of good so far and most of the focus has been on Karen and Kurt Angle's marriage. It doesn't do anything for me in terms of good matches, but man is Karen Angle one beautiful woman. In WWE land it's Cyber Sunday that is up next. John Cena had just been injured and so the title picture shifted to Randy Orton and Triple H. At No Mercy, HHH won the title from Orton (who was gifted the title minutes earlier) in the opening match. A pissed Vince made him then wrestle Umaga. He won. Then he was forced to main event in a last man standing match against Orton for the title. He lost. Beyond that, Beth Phoenix just won the women's title. I must admit I've been surprised by Candice Michelle matches as of late. None have been noted for me for inclusion in my best of list, but I have kept note of them for a possible "Best of Women's" matches for the decade. Not much else is noteworthy, unless a Batista v. Great Khali feud culminating in a Punjabi Prison match fits that description. And then there was ROH. Now, there are plenty of good matches in the promotion, but this promotion solidifies the booking philosophy that a show should build from the opener up to the main event. Here in ROH it's balls to the wall in every single match and each match is north of 20+ minutes and is really draining. I've found that the top two or three matches, as a general rule, are in contention for a second viewing with the early stuff just being "there." It hasn't helped that this year has been Gabe's "FACTIONS!" era. As of October 2007 no less than 6 factions have been created, most of who I care nothing about. Hangmen 3 (stylized Hangm3n): Brent Albright and BJ Whitmer (looking like Boomhower with his new look) led by Adam Pearce with man servant Hagadorn. Sweet -n- Sour Inc.: Larry Sweeney's one man (and one woman) faction of Chris Hero and Sara Del Rey (with stragglers Bobby Dempsey and Tank Toland) The Resilience: Erik Stevens, Matt Cross, and Austin Aries No Remorse Corps (or as Davey Richards says "corpse"): Davey Richards, Rocky Romero, and Roderick Strong Vulture Squad: Jack Evans with Ruckus and recently Jigsaw - hyped by Julius Smokes. Age of the Fall: Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black and Necro Butcher. I like Stevens, I Like Sweeney and Julius Smokes. Other than that, the factions are pretty boring. I LOVED Age of the falls debut with the blood dripping on Jacobs and the gimmick itself as he explained it was intriguing. I do wish they didn't have him wrestle throw away matches with ROH students between his knee surgery and the debut. I think the debut would have been stronger. Anyway, that's where I'm at now and my current thoughts. My next post will probably sum up the year 2000, at least stateside.

I've always wanted to do, or participate in a "Best of" something in regards to wrestling. The reason(s) I had not is due to lack of time, footage, knowledge, etc (excluding two 80's DVDVR projects I simply had to do). After realizing if I were to do something in that regard myself, then I wouldn't have to deal with any deadlines and could complete it at my own pace. This is what has brought me here, to the decade of the 2000's. I chose it for many reasons which include: * I've seen 80's and 90's done to death, but much in the way of this decade. * I stopped watching wrestling in 2007 altogether, and had seen almost nothing outside of WWE for the decade. * I had everything I needed (through 2007 as I have zero 2008 and 2009 stuff as of this writing) in terms of footage needed (TV, PPV, ROH STUFF) So now that I've established my reasons, let me explain my plain as I've laid it out. 1. Starting with January 2000, watch all PPV's and big shows (ROH releases, SNME, etc) in sequential order. 2. Make note of those matches I felt were worthy of consideration for at least a second viewing. 3. At the end of each year, go back and watch the TV for all applicable promotions repeating # 2 4. Continue this until I reach December 2007 (Since I do not have anything further as of now). 5. After the initial run, go back and watch the noted matches a second or sometimes even a third time to further refine my list. 6. Repeat # 5 in the same method as # 4. And so that is where I am now. I watched sequentially to August 2007 and became really burnt out on ROH since at times they ran four shows between TNA or WWE PPV's, but have since restarted and I am currently 1/3 the way through TNA Bound For Glory 2007 (October). During my burn out face, I skipped back to the year 2000 and completed it. There are a couple exceptions: * Japan and Mexico footage is largely unavailable to me so for those I "cheated" by scouring the internet for largely pimped matches and picked roughly the top 30 pimped matches per year with the intent of finding them online and reducing it down to 10. I have done this only for the year 2000 so far and was largely successful with Japan, but Mexico was very difficult to find on the video sites. I do plan to thoroughly go through them before project end. * Indies. Other than ROH, I haven't seen any indy matches from this decade since very early on through Wes Hatch's old East Coast Indy Remix tapes. I tried, like for Japan and Mexico, to find the most heavily pimped matches, but consensus seems more elusive here. Of course there is the Danielson v. Ki matches and King of the Indies 2001 -- but beyond that I'll again have to come up with something going forward. Now that the boring ramblings are out of the way, I expect to use this blog to document my progress, struggles, and thoughts as I wrap this up. I eventually plan to release my "results" for peer review, debate, or possible agreement. Enjoy!

I happened to watch SummerSlam 2007 last night. I thought enough of the Orton/Cena match (along with the Rey/Chavo match) to put them on my short list to re watch for my Best of the 2000's project. It was one of those that seemed like it would be average in the beginning, but turned out to be a great match.

So I'm on the Watterson Expressway in Louisville coming home from playing basketball and I see three cars pulled over. One with a guy sitting on top of his car with his hands out as if to say "what, what!" and a guy in shorts and a long sleeve neon orange shirt holding his ear as if to say "I can't hear you." Whether this was an argument, road rage about to explode or guys just trying to communicate I don't know. Oh, and the guy in the orange shirt is currently 1/2 of the OVW tag champions, Jessie Godderz. Wasn't expecting that.

I'm neck deep in my "Best of 2000" list making and this is a contender for Top 10 WCW in 2000. Take that for what it's worth since 2000 WCW is usually regarded as awful. Aside from the silly straight jacket stuff, it's a pretty fun match with Steiner becoming the champ for the first time. As for interference, Midajah is in the cage with them and does interfere a little, but nothing the leads directly to a finish. Believe it or not, this match is also floating around my Top 10 for WCW for that year. Who would have thought Sid would have served as a bookend for good stuff from 2000? His January PPV match with Benoit is good as is this. The Jarrett interference actually backfires as he hits Steiner with the guitar and he still ends up winning. Also the ref bump was a non factor as it was during Sid's comeback late in the match. Steiner hit the ref with a straight punch as Sid was about to win. Charles Robinson comes in as replacement ref and, when pulled out of the ring by Jarrett, he actually DUCKS A PUNCH and slides back in. Never saw that before.

Nope. He was virtually invisible aside from a few garbage matches after he and Julio turned on Raven. I'd only include his stuff if you were doing a TNA yearbook similar to the 90's sets here.

July 30, 2003 PPV. Kash pinned Morton in 6 minutes. Morton's run wasn't anything worth watching at all. As for stuff to comp, here are links to the recaps I did for TNA from the beginning up to their last weekly PPV in September 2004. This should give you general points to look into further if something intrigues you. NWA TNA 2002 RECAP NWA TNA 2003 RECAP (PART 1) NWA TNA 2003 RECAP (PART 2) NWA TNA 2004 RECAP I've watched everything from TNA up through June 2005 and here is a chronological list of all the stuff I found to be worth a second look. After getting through the entire decade with all US promotions, I plan to revisit all of these and surely make some cuts. Low-Ki v. A.J. Styles v. Psicosis v. Jerry Lynn - Four Way, Double Elimination X Division Title 6/19/2002 NWA-TNA Weekly # 2 Low-Ki v. A.J. Styles v. Jerry Lynn - X Division Title 8/7/2002 NWA-TNA Weekly # 8 Low-Ki v. Ron Killings - NWA Title 10/2/2002 NWA-TNA Weekly # 14 A.J. Styles v. Syxx-Pac - No DQ, X Division Title 10/23/2002 NWA-TNA Weekly # 17 A.J. Styles v. Amazing Red - X Division Title 10/30/2002 NWA-TNA Weekly # 18 America's Most Wanted v. Disciples of the New Church (Slash/Brian Lee) - NWA Tag Titles 11/13/2002 NWA-TNA Weekly # 20 Low Ki/Christopher Daniels/Elix Skipper v. Amazing Red/Joel Maximo/Jose Maximo 12/18/2002 NWA-TNA Weekly # 25 America's Most Wanted v. Disciples of the New Church - NWA Tag Titles 1/8/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #26 Jeff Jarrett v. AJ Styles - NWA Title 2/19/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #32 Jerry Lynn v Juventud Guerrera 2/26/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #33 America's Most Wanted v. Christopher Daniels/Elix Skipper - NWA Tag Titles 3/12/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #35 Jerry Lynn/Amazing Red v. Christopher Daniels/Elix Skipper - NWA Tag Titles 4/16/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #40 America's Most Wanted v. Christopher Daniels/Elix Skipper - # 1 Contender Match for NWA Tag Titles 4/23/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #41 Jeff Jarrett v. Raven - NWA Title 4/30/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #42 Jeff Jarrett v. Raven v. AJ Styles - NWA Title 6/11/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #48 America's Most Wanted v. Christopher Daniels/Elix Skipper - NWA Tag Titles 6/18/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #49 Frankie Kazarian v. Chris Sabin - X Division Non-Title Match 6/25/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #50 America's Most Wanted v. Christopher Daniels/Elix Skipper - NWA Tag Titles (Cage Match) 6/25/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #50 Jerry Lynn v. Justin Credible - Last Man Standing Match 7/16/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #53 America's Most Wanted v. Simond Diamond/Johnny Swinger - Bullrope, Non-Title Match 8/20/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #58 Chris Sabin v. Juventud Guerrera - Super X Tournament Finals 8/27/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #60 Christopher Daniels v. Low-Ki 11/5/2003 NWA-TNA Weekly #68 Chris Sabin v. Christopher Daniels v. Low-Ki v. Michael Shane - Ultimate X.2 X Divison Title 1/7/2004 NWA-TNA Weekly # 75 Chris Sabin v. Juventud Guerrera - 1st Round America's X Cup 2/11/2004 NWA-TNA Weekly #80 1/28 and 2/4 Chris Harris v. Jeff Jarrett - NWA Title 3/17/2004 NWA-TNA Weekly #85 Chris Harris v. Raven - Winner gets NWA Title Match in Cage 4/14/2004 NWA-TNA Weekly #89 Petey Williams v. Hector Garza v. Chris Sabin - World X Cup: Ultimate X Match 5/26/2004 NWA-TNA Weekly #95 5/12 and 5/19 Jeff Jarrett v. AJ Styles v. Ron Killings v. Chris Harris v. Raven - King of the Mountain Match; NWA Title 6/2/2004 NWA-TNA Weekly #96 AJ Styles v. Frankie Kazarian - X Title 6/9/2004 NWA-TNA Weekly #97 AJ Styles v. Frankie Kazarian v. Chris Sabin v. Amazing Red v. Michael Shane v. Elix Skipper - X Title 6/30/2004 NWA-TNA Weekly #100 The Naturals v. AMW - Steel Cage for NWA Tag Titles 7/21/2004 NWA-TNA Weekly # 103 Petey Williams v. Chris Sabin - X Title 12/5/2004 NWA Turning Point 2004 America's Most Wanted v. Triple X - Six Sides of Steel, Losing Team splits up 12/5/2004 NWA Turning Point 2004 America's Most Wanted v. Team Canada (Roode/Young), Tag Titles 1/16/2005 TNA Final Resolution Christopher Daniels v. AJ Styles, 30 Minute Iron Man, X Title 2/13/2005 TNA Against All Odds AJ Styles v. Abyss - Steel Cage, # 1 Contender 4/24/2005 TNA Lockdown Team Canada (Young/Williams) v. The Naturals, Tag Titles 6/19/2005 TNA Slammiversary Christopher Daniels v. Matt Bentley v. Chris Sabin, Three Way Dance, X Title 6/19/2005 TNA Slammiversary AJ Styles v. Abyss v. Raven v. Sean Waltman v. Monty Brown - King of the Mountain, NWA Title 6/19/2005 TNA Slammiversary

Dave started using star ratings in the 1984 yearbook (January 1985 issue I believe) with a UWF tag from his December 1984 trip to Japan being the first official match to receive 5 stars. In describing the star rating system, he credits Jim Cornette and his childhood friend, Norm Dooley with creating it. I find this interesting because Cornette is from Louisville and Norm was from New Albany, Indiana, both of which are in my backyard. I've heard Cornette talk about him watching matches with Norm and saying it deserved five stars as a take off on the movie rating system that only went to four. As far as Newsletters, The Observer began with the 1982 yearbook while the Torch's first issue was October 1987. I once heard a story of a young Wade Keller seeing a copy of the Observer at a wrestling show and being totally fascinated with it. This supposedly sparked his idea to create his own. However, newsletters were around LONG before the observer as Dave has pointed out many times. I believe Mike Tenay had his own newsletter. There was also MatchWatch with Steve Beverly IIRC, and Grant Zwarych (sp?) who is authorized by Dave to sell old issues of the WON even sells the "California Wrestling Report" which was written by a young Dave Meltzer in the late 1970's. Paul Heyman started as a photographer and putting together "fanzine's" before becoming the editor of Wrestling Power Magazine at the age of 19. Wrestling Eye Magazine (I want to say published by Norm Jacobs) was one of the first magazines I saw that broke kayfabe and gave insider information, albeit sometimes incorrect (once stating Shane Douglas was the real life younger brother of Paul Orndorff, although Terry Orndorff was a name Shane used early in his career). This was around the late 1980's. Another magazine that popped up in the early 90's was New Wave Wrestling and it was more like a magazine version of the WON. Looking back, I'd wager the majority of his material was taken directly from Dave because he would list incorrect real names as Dave sometimes did. The "Apter Mags" published by Stanley Weston that were most prevalent were Pro Wrestling Illustrated (Sept 1979 first issue), The Wrestler and Inside Wrestling (which I *think* began around October 1966) and Sports Review Wrestling, which also preceded PWI. Before that was Wresting Revue and Ring Magazine that I believe sometimes wrote about wrestling -- those go back to the 50's. I would assume tape trading began around the mid 1970's and exploded when the WON and some magazines began publishing the names and wants of fans from around the US. Looking back in those issues, its fun to see names that would go on to be known pro wrestlers, managers, etc. in those ads such as Blue Meanie, Dave Prazak, etc. Before VHS trading, I think there was also audio cassette trading that guys would record promos, etc from their local TV shows and trade them as well.

Over the past couple of years I've watched everything from WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, and ROH within the years 2000 and 2004. These promotions have been covered thoroughly due to their availability. However, to be as complete as possible, I'd like to request assistance in flushing out the very best matches from the independent seen outside of these. Simply, any match you would rate at the MOTYC level on par with the big companies. While I plan to do the same with Mexico, Japan, Other ... I'm hoping to not miss anything from my home country. PWG, CHIKARA, CZW, IWA-MID SOUTH, OVW, etc. are just some of the promotions I need help with. Unlike with the companies I've already covered, I would never complete my project if I had to sit through every match from every show from these promotions. While I wasn't sure if this would warrant is own thread, I decided that beyond the scope of my request, this could be a place holder for all Indy recommendations from the 2000's in the event MOTYC sets were to be put together for the first 5 years of the decade, as an addendum to the latter five, or for the sure to come "Best Matches of the 2000's poll."

Interesting story Local Wrestler Sues Over A Low Blow

A couple of requests from me as well. Edge/Shelton Benjamin/Tajiri v. HHH/Batista/Randy Orton - 5/3/2004 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0_qGDuF_cw...feature=related I recently watched this during my 2000-2004 re watch and thought Tajiri was excellent playing his part. Tajiri v. Taka Michinoku from Raw 7/14/97 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAzxNjBBPkM One of the earliest US Tajiri matches I recall seeing.

He ran down Starrcade '85 in the 12/9/85 issue, but hadn't seen a tape by that point. I don't know if he ever gave star ratings to the matches, I don't believe he did.

It is rated ***** in the 5/25/92 issue with no mention of "reported as" or any note of a correspondent rating. It sounds like he viewed it himself. However, on the front page when talking about the biggest news story he words it something like "what is being reported as the best live show..." so who really knows if the rating is his.

I went all the way to August 1991 and couldn't find a review, just the result. I have no idea where Keith H. got the rating from. I even skimmed the December 1991 issues for awards contender's and couldn't find a mention. *Maybe* he got this confused with the 1/4/91 Nakano/Hokuto match that did receive *****, but not sure. August 12, 1991 issue, Page 5 in the Here and There section. For the first, only the stretcher match of the 2/3 Falls (essentially 3 seperate matches) got ***** Explosive Match (Fall 1) was given ****1/2 and the cage match received ***1/2. The AJW tag did get the ****3/4 rating. Not sure why Keith H. included it either. January 30, 1995 issue, Page 10 in the AAA section. "On Galavision over the weekend they aired two matches from 11/30 in Matamoros which had never aired before in the U.S., one of which was a ***** match with Rey Misterio Jr. winning the World welterweight ... title via DQ from Juventud Guerrera. They aired about 26:00 of a 30:00 match with them editing out of the third fall, but even so it was one of the best Lucha matches I've ever seen which says something for two guys who were both 19 at the time of the match ..."

I nabbed these from keithh_32's comp I helped him research and he actually did 90 through 93 and I did 94. I'd be willing to double check. Ditto for these as well. It's in a January 1995 issue of the WON, buried a few pages deep if I recall. Another problem with the 80's is that he would do more of the "this is on par with " without explicitly typing ***** or "five stars" or some variation there of. This is why any research or attempt to do a definitive 5 star list is almost impossible, or at the very least, time consuming as you can't just skim the issues like I did, but must read every paragraph, which in the early 80's is difficult, especially before he changed his typewriter ribbon, ugh.

Here are a few matches given 5 stars by Dave that aren't in that link ... 1/23/91 - Bull Nakano v. Yumiko Hotta - AJW 8/3/91 - Cactus Jack v. Eddie Gilbert, 2/3 Falls - TWA 3/7/92 - Toshiyo Yamada/Manami Toyota v. Yumiko Hotta/Suzuka Minami - AJW 4/25/92 - Kyoko Inoue v. Manami Toyota - AJW 5/16/92 - Atsushi Onita/Tarzan Goto/El Hijo del Santo v. Negro Casas/Horace Boulder/Tim Matterson - FMW in US 4/18/93 - Devil Masami v. Bull Nakano - JWP 11/30/94 - Rey Mysterio Jr. v. Juventud Guerrera - AAA I believe there are more from the 80's as well, but not entirely sure.

He also plagiarized S.L.L.'s post on storytelling over on DVDR. More Hunter Golden Plagarism.

Lioness Asuka/Mika Komatsu/Kazue Nagahori/Mitsuko Nishiwaki/Etsuko Mita/Sachiko Nakamura vs. Chigusa Nagayo/Yumiko Hotta/Mika Takahashi/Mika Suzuki/Yachiyo Hirata/Yumi Ogura (About 17:30 of 50:00 Shown - All Japan Women 12/6/87)*****- Dave's quote "The main event was by far the greatest match I've ever seen live. In fact, I'd say without question it was better than any match ever held in the United States in the history of this business." About 17:30 of 50 minutes is shown, the VQ is what I would call FAIR-GOOD, but this is the only version that exists.