From the Observer

Eugene was the winner of the Angle Invitational. He was introduced by

Christy, and he claimed to be from Cleveland. He was wearing a Browns

jersey, and the fans didn’t seem to care he wasn’t from Cleveland. Lying is

becoming a common face action, like rape. Angle dominated the match and hit

the Angle slam. He applied the ankle lock but Eugene sent him to the outside

and got the medal. I guess they figure this is a decent summer feud ala Skip

v. Barry Horowitz, but I think they should have actually tried to make

someone by winning given they have done this gimmick forever. Unfortunately

I think this devalues Angle more than anything. There will be a Eugene

Invitational next week.

 

Eric Bischoff met John Cena backstage, and said Cena isn’t the type of

champion he wants. He went on and on about Cena, and when he turned around

Cena had left. Viscera and Cloacas then beat the Heart Throbs and Pocket

Rocket. Cloacas and Rocket are minis. There was still no response for the

thoroughly unlikable Viscera. The rules were that the full size wrestlers

could wrestle the midgets, which was odd. The only highlight was Rocket

trying to attack Viscera to no avail. Cloacas did a splash and Viscera

scored the pin to kill the Heart Throbs dead. They paid tribute to Lord

Alfred Hayes with a nicely done video.

 

Backstage, Shelton Benjamin complained about Carlito’s cheap tactics.

Benjamin wanted a no-DQ, no countout match with Carlito. Instead, Bischoff

gave him a handicap match against Gene Snitsky and Chris Masters. Maria

interviewed Chris Jericho, and was overplaying her ditz role. She wanted to

know if any of the other Muppets would join Fozzy on Raw. Jericho referred

to himself as a Hall of Fame caliber performer and said he would take out

Cena in the Battle of the Bands.

 

The Battle of the Bands just featured Cena performing Bad, Bad Man. Chris

Jericho came out and ripped the performance. He said the people were biased,

they were already booing his band, and it wasn’t fair. He thus pulled his

band, because the people didn’t deserve to see him. He vowed to beat Cena at

SummerSlam. He left and Cena performed some more. Jericho is doing a great

job in this role. While he wasn’t groomed well for the spot he is in, he has

really capitalized on the opportunity. Backstage, Bischoff told Carlito that

he would face Cena with Jericho as the referee, and if he won he would get a

title shot next week.

 

Shawn Michaels delivered a kick-ass interview. He said Hulk Hogan is out

promoting his show, so he couldn’t be in Cleveland. This drew boos. Michaels

said he doesn’t have aspirations to be a TV star, but just to be known as

the greatest in-ring performer. He said Hogan is living off a reputation he

made twenty years ago, while Michaels goes out and recreates himself every

night. He said Hogan lives in a mansion paid for by the sweat of the fans,

and after all they have given him, all he does is take off his shirt and

pose for them. He said people backstage were going to be upset, because he’s

saying things he is not supposed to. He said they wanted the old HBK, and

now they have got him. He said he won’t lay down for Hogan. This was one of

the best money promos in a while, as he was finally saying the things he

needs to say. Now he just needs to crank up the volume, as this had rather

monotone delivery.

 

Gene Snitsky and Chris Masters beat Shelton Benjamin in a handicap match.

Benjamin hit a somersault senton off the top rope to the outside early.

However, the heels took over and Masters beat him with the Masterlock pretty

quickly. Benjamin fought it for a while before succumbing. When Masters

wouldn’t break the hold, Big Show made the save. They had a hot dog eating

contest for immunity in this week’s Diva Search. The women didn’t even try,

which was telling about how much they value the WWE contract. Nobody even

finished two, so they had to have a runoff. Watching anorexic models pretend

to eat isn’t my idea of entertainment.

 

Edge beat Kane in a “stretcher” match. Stretcher matches are almost always

ridiculous. The idea of a stretcher match intuitively is that one guy is

beaten so badly they need to carry him off on a stretcher. Yet, it seems

like every stretcher match in the past fifteen years has featured the loser

walking off on camera in less pain and less defeated than a normal match,

with One Man Gang v. Sid as the prime example. This was no exception to that

rule. I remember a house show stretcher match between Sid and Vader where

Sid clotheslined Vader to the outside onto the stretcher. Vader quickly

climbed off the stretcher, threw it to the ground, and was declared the

loser. The rule here was that you had to incapacitate your opponent and

carry them on the stretcher past a line on the stage.

 

Here, Kane was distracted by Lita and Edge hit the spear. He put Kane on the

stretcher but Kane grabbed him by the throat. Lita hit Kane in the leg with

the kendo stick to stop him. Edge then nailed him with a hard shot to the

head. He put Kane’s neck in a chair and went to the top, but Kane sent him

to the floor. Kane choke slammed Edge through the stretcher. Kane started

pulling him up the ramp but Lita hit him with the briefcase. Kane went to

choke slam Lita off the stage, but Edge hit him with the briefcase. Edge and

Lita put Kane on the stretcher and pulled him up the ramp. Kane sat up at

the end but Edge hit him with the briefcase and they pulled him across.

 

Kane then got up immediately, attacked Edge, and tombstoned Lita on the

stage. They carried her out on a stretcher. Score another one for the good

guy. Matt Hardy ran out of the crowd and attacked Edge, which got a big

reaction. Kane took control of Lita’s ambulance backstage and drove off with

Lita in the back. He didn’t close the door, and I was worried Lita was going

to fall out of the back and get hurt. They were fully promoting both UFC

Unleashed and Ultimate Fight Night.

 

Carlito beat John Cena with Chris Jericho as referee. They showed a kid in

the crowd who hand made a sign that was just a duplicate of Carlito’s

t-shirt. Somebody give that kid some creativity, or the money to just buy

the damn shirt. They teased Jericho was going to call the match fairly early

on. Jericho even prevented Carlito from using a chair. The announcers argued

about whether John Cena or Fat Joe and Nelly represent real hip-hop. Big L

is rolling over in his grave. As Cena was in control, Jericho gave him a low

blow, bulldog and lionsault. He then fast counted Carlito pinning Cena. It’s

not going to hurt him, but I still wouldn’t pin Cena at this stage in time.

Oh...man...They just waiting for October to Roll around dont they...

GAT (Great American Trash 2 as one would call it)

JBL def. World Heavyweight Champion Batista (DQ) 

United States Champion Orlando Jordan def. Chris Benoit 

Rey Mysterio def. Eddie Guerrero 

Booker T def. Christian 

Melina def. Torrie Wilson (Bra & Panties Match) 

The Mexicools def. The bWo 

Undertaker def. Muhammad Hassan 

Heidenreich & Road Warrior Animal def. MNM (new WWE Tag Team Champions) 

No need to review this PPV. Nobody got over a one. A ONE folks. Even ECW ONS had two 2 star and three 3 star matches. This is inxcuseable...

And some other Indy and Puro news:

THIS AINT SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT! JOEY STYLES EXTREMELY HARDCORE PREMIERES ON FRIDAY SEPT. 9, AT 11:30 PM/ET/8:30 PM/PT ON EVENTS IN DEMAND PAY-PER-VIEW

 

New York, July 25Professional Wrestlings Most Energetic and Electric Play-by-Play Man, Joey Styles, returns to the wrestling airwaves with Joey Styles Extremely Hardcore debuting on Friday, September 9, at 11:30 PM/ET/8:30 PM/PT on Events In Demand Pay-Per-View. The program is priced is $9.95.

 

All of the matches on JOEY STYLES EXTREMELY HARDCORE will give extreme wrestling fans the chance to experience the unique and over the top environment that was the signature of this genre when it was invented in the early nineties, says Styles. The talent that participates will both demonstrate the wrestling skills and the violence of extreme wrestling, and those wrestlers (NOT SPORTS ENTERTAINERS) will be announced shortly.

 

The first live taping of Joey Styles Extremely Hardcore will be on Saturday Night, August 20. Bell time 8 pm at Earthlink Live, formerly known as Center Stage in Atlanta, GA. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.com.

 

No longer content to be solely an announcer, Joey Styles now steps out from behind the announcer's table to produce his own vision of anti-sports entertainment pro wrestling that can only be described as EXTREMELY HARDCORE!

 

Joey Styles was the only play-by-play announcer for the now defunct, ECW (EXTREME CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING) for its entire revolutionary existence from 1993 through 2001 on syndicated television, TNN (now Spike TV) and pay-per-view television. The name Joey Styles is synonymous with and as recognizable and marketable as ECW itself!

 

Styles made pay-per-view television history and professional wrestling history in 1997 when he became the only play-by-play announcer ever to host a live wrestling, boxing or mixed martial arts pay-per-view event alone, with no color commentator. He went on to host live pay-per-view events solo for many years.

 

Unlike all other ECW talents, Joey Styles chose to retire from the national professional wrestling scene when ECW filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

 

Last month, Joey Styles returned to live pay-per-view television to host ECW ONE NIGHT STAND for WWE which now owns the ECW trademarks and video library.

1) EL GENERICO over KEVIN STEEN with a backslide into a pin

 

Gary Michael Cappetta came out and told the crowd that The Embassy would be fired from ROH if they kept treating Jade Chung abusively.

 

Nana, Jade, and Mike Kruel came out.

 

Nana dressed Jade in a bedsheet, because he said no one was allowed to see her body anymore.

 

Nana then attached a retractable dog collar and leash to Jade, which he would jerk if she stepped away from him. The whole time Nana made a big deal about staying in the rules that ROH had given him, all the while smiling, because it was clear that he was bending them and using them to his advantage.

 

2) SPANKY over DERANGED, NIGEL MCGUINNESS, and AZRIEAL when he pinned DERANGED

 

3) BJ WHITMER & JIMMY JACOBS over THE CARNAGE CREW of LOC & DEVITO to become the 14th ROH Tag Team Champions

 

 

Also, ROH returns to Philadelphia on Sunday, October 2nd.

 

 

4) The ROTTWEILERS OF HOMICIDE, LOW KI, and RICKY REYES over SAMOA JOE, JAY LETHAL, and JAMES GIBSON when HOMICIDE used a chain to KO GIBSON and get the pin

 

5) THE RING CREW EXPRESS of DUNN & MARCOS v. DAVEY ANDREWS & SHANE HAGADORN never began, as the RCE was attacked and destroyed by THE CARNAGE CREW!

 

ALEX SHELLEY came to the ring and talk about his partner. He said that he was not selling out, by buying in!

 

The EMBASSY's music hit and they made their way to the ring.

 

6) THE EMBASSY of ALEX SHELLEY & FAST EDDIE VEGAS over GENERATION NEXT of AUSTIN ARIES & RODERICK STRONG when JIMMY RAVE came out and nailed ARIES with a chair behind the back of the referee

 

AJ Styles hit the ring and the Philly Street Fight is underway!

 

7) JIMMY RAVE over AJ STYLES with the Rave Clash in a Philadelphia Street Fight...The entire Embassy beat Styles down to allow Rave to hit his finish. After the match, Strong and Aries tried to make the save, but were unsuccessful

 

8) CM PUNK fought CHRISTOPHER DANIELS to a 60 MINUTE DRAW in a Ring of Honor World Title Match...post-match, Samoa Joe and James Gibson came out and cut promos on Punk building to possible future matches.

60 Min Draw? But get this... there was some stalling during the match, so I am not sure how the match went.

Maybe the Phillies need this.

37-year Hanshin Tigers outfilder Tomoaki Kanemoto told the press that for the second-half of the upcoming Japanese baseball season, he needs to adopt Inoki-ism and create "Toukon Baseball."

You cant make this stuff up.

The Mutoh/Kojima match turned into a tribute to Shin'ya Hashimoto. Mutoh emulated many of Hashimoto's moves during the match and the crowd clearly had Hashimoto on their minds. Ultimately, the focus was on Kojima becoming "the ace" of the promotion. A photo of Kensuke & Nakajima as new champions. There was a typhoon in the Kanto area that worried promoters greatly, but fans ended up finding alternate ways of transportation to arrive to the show.

Yomiuri Sports reports that Dr. Death Steve Williams will return to in-ring action on 8/27 in Pennsylvania for the Wrestle Reunion show.

 

Meanwhile, "Hollywood" Tadao Yasuda told the press that he was a neutral man in Hustle. He claimed that he did not belong to either the Takada Monster Army or the Hustle army. Yasuda said that he would demand a money contract from both teams and whichever team presents him with the most money is the team that he will join. He's calling this the "Yasu Auction." Yasuda said that he will determine his participation in all future matches based on which team or organization pays him the most money per match. Yasuda gave an example, stating that he might demand 5 million yen per match from the Takada Monster Army or demand that Naoya Ogawa become a co-signer to all of his financial debt. Yasuda prepared to face a Steve Williams' backed group on Sunday at Korakuen Hall, saying that he would send Steve Williams to the hospital.

 

Nikkan Sports reports on an angle that DSE is doing with an ongoing "debate" between Hustle GM Sasahara and "Captain Hustle" Naoya Ogawa about the future of the Hustle army. In essence, the angle is that "dramatic restructuring" needs to take place for the babyface squad because the Takada Monster Army team has gotten too strong. To emphasize this angle, they used statistics from their Hustle Hustle home page in which there are 83 Monster army members and only 39 babyface Hustle army members. It was confirmed that HustleMania would take place in November, with the first initial rumors being the Osaka Dome (if you believe ex-NJ President Kusama's comments on the Hustle 11 show).

 

His death continues to haunt the business as a ghost would. Today, ZAKZAK (Yukan Fuji) reports that Shin'ya Hashimoto (right near the time of his death) was about to finish a tell-all confessional book on New Japan Pro Wrestling. The "confessional" book was supposed to tell his side of the story regarding his final days in New Japan during the Ogawa feud and how he quit the promotion. The Yukan Fuji article pretty much makes Hashimoto out to be someone who was going to "blackmail the industry" and that he had warned people of what was coming. The main motive for Hashimoto writing the book, according to the article, was to help pay off his financial debts. However, with Hashimoto's death, any work that he contributed for the book will not be made public.

 

This will support those on the American side of the business who were saying that Hashimoto didn't truly die of a brain hemorrhage, but rather from something else... Puts a whole different spotlight suddenly on the idea of New Japan having their 10/8 Tokyo Dome show as a potential Hashimoto tribute, doesn't it?

 

Here is a great message board post (in Japanese) talking about what happened between Hashimoto and ZERO-ONE. Essentially, Hashimoto had an affair with Hiromichi Fuyuki's ex-widow and Hashimoto ended up giving her some matchmaking power. This caused a rift with the wrestlers in the company and caused big confrontation. Many wrestlers disassociated from Hashimoto when he associated with Fuyuki's widow.

 

HOLY COW...What in the world is going on here?

More on Thursday's Report...