Michrome

I have a source that's going to be messaging me live results from Elizabeth this saturday, I'll be posting them at the smarkschoice forum for those interested in reading them as they come in.

Wow, that was a great article. I am admittedly a Sting mark, so that may have clouted my judgement.

By the way, I did recently watch a bunch of IWA-MS, and Hero vs. Punk is way up there in terms of MoTYC, as are some of the Shelly-Jacobs matches. Some people like IWA-MS better, I personally prefer ROH still, but I have a lot more IWA viewing to do. I personally catch a bit of everything, Wildside, RoH, AJPW, NOAH, Z-1, TNA, and Tory. The only thing I avoid outside of PPVs at bars with friends is WWE. This is very true across the board. NJPW consistently drew higher numbers than AJPW throughout the nineties, but I think AJPW was much higher quality. IWA-MS is a great promotion but on some nights they draw 50 people, it's all about filling a niche. TNA has a weekly PPV, but their show (lately) blows goats.

If the statement that RoH's matches have no emotion and/or storylines behind them was true, he still wouldn't have a point. However, there are stories, and there are feuds, and it's clear that neither of the two of you have ever watched Ring Of Honor shows. Raven and Punk is one of the most hate-filled feuds I've EVER seen in wrestling. You could feel the hate watching the damn tapes. The emotional promos by Punk about his dad and Raven killed any storyline Wildside has ever done, and any storyline they will ever do. Samoa Joe's storyline is that he is a badass, unstoppable monster who takes on everyone in his path. Fans root against him, but respect him at the end of the day. What the fuck is wrong with this? I guess every run Vader ever had as champion was meaningless because they all pretty much followed this example. Oh yeah, there was an exception, the WHITE CASTLE OF DOOM. Maybe RoH should film mini-movies with castles and beach volleyball games with Orphans, that would be much better. Paul London's story was very basic as well. He was the quintessential underdog who came out of nowhere to provide an incredible match with Michael Shane at Unscripted 2000 in the blowoff of their feud. What? They had a feud? I thought RoH has no feuds! Silly me. Paul London's incredible progress and incredible ascendancy made his story great, it made me root for him in every match, and it made it that much harsher for me when he left. Yes, there was an emotional attachment between RoH fans and Paul London, because his rise was in many ways symbolic of what Ring Of Honor had become. And that, my friend, is deeper than any storyline in motherfucking Wildside. In many ways however, the bitter loss of Paul London has been replaced by the rising Homicide, who has improved 10-fold this year. Sure, he has selling issues, but his matches have gotten far better, and the fans are truly rallying around him to win the title. A man from the street fighting all the way to the top to eventually win the gold. And yes, he will win it one day, and it won't be "Wow, a black guy won the title, it's a victory for tolerance!" It will be, "This kicks ass, Homicide fought his way all the way up the RoH ladder to claim the biggest prize, he deserves respect for that." And, guess what, it will draw more than any angle Wildside puts together. Currently, Gabe is building an interesting, complex feud between Corino, Punk, and Daniels, the company's three top heels. It's hard to see where it's going, but clearly there is some sort of master plan, because we're starting to see friction within faction, unlikelu alliances, and offers of membership to new people. These feuds are never done in the WWE, because they know Heel vs. Heel will get no reaction from idiot crowds. However, in this case, the crowd will appreciate what it is, and I bet it will be awesome. If you blinked, you still wouldn't have missed this. Then again, you'd have to follow the product to know this is going on, and I guess that's too much to ask. I like Iceberg. He has had some good matches. I was unhappy when he was booed out of the arena, but that is the nature of these fans, they don't want guys like him there. What they should do is put Iceberg and Hernandez out there, and let them have a rock-solid 12 minute match that shuts the smarky fans up. However, it's not an issue, because RoH has a huge talent pool to pull from.

How was this rant "tremendous"? It was illogical, and stunk of jealousy. What do you do when your promotion's so called MoTY can't lick the pubes of RoH's MoTY? Write illogical rants! Congratulations!

The 2 most over guys on Smackdown! are John Cena and Eddy Guerrero. Guerrero is a babyface that acts like a heel, and Cena is a heel that's so funny that the fans love him. My gosh, this sounds really familiar. Austin and Rock anyone? There was a time, a few years ago, where the WWE would take the hottest character and shoot him to the moon, and it would make him a superstar. Kurt Angle is not over as a babyface. Brock Lesnar isnt really over as a heel anymore. These guys are stale. Give me Cena-Angle (with switched heel and face roles) and Guerrero-Lesnar at Wrestlemania, those 2 matches will draw the best. The build to WM 21 between Cena and Guerrero could be what brings business back. Nobody wants to see Lesnar-Angle 325 at Wrestlemania XX. Please don't do it.

My response, no matter who it is, will be, "who cares." However, if it's HHH, I will demand immediate termination!

They had an early match for the X title that went 9 minutes and was nothing more than disjointed spots. I guess it didn't blow, that was unfair, but it didnt even come close to some of the matches they've had elsewhere (ROH Twice, Z1)

I don't really think Sting has a great track record of putting younger guys over, at least not 1998 and on. He pretty much buried Vampiro in every match in the second Russo era.

Styles vs. Ki vs. Lynn XXX vs. Lynn/Red Ki vs. Styles (2nd one from a few weeks ago, their first match in TNA blew)

4.00

Please let it be Bryan Danielson.

I really wish, by the way, they'd try to use wrestlers like Collyer, Daniels, and Ki more in these matches. The greatest junior matches come out of these types of wrestlers, not spot machines. This tournament could be really great.

Well, nobody *really* knows. He pulled out of his big match with Homicide tonight, and Scherer floated something saying that Ki refused to job. Gabe then posted that the two companies had parted ways. *Some* people, like myself, think it's a work to have a guy represent AJPW in their upcoming feud that can speak English. We'll see though.

I'm pretty sure there's a Japan tour for Ki that starts November 20th.

The difference is that these guys are over without a push to the top, video packages, main events, big feuds, and all of the glitz and hype that the "real" main eventers get. If Eddy got half the push Taker does, he'd be that much more over.

Not really, they did a parking lot brawl and that's it, and they had no depth to the feud. I think they cut it off without a blowoff cause they see money in it down the line.

No mention of economic expansion, he is being portrayed as a bumbling idiot. Despite this attempt, and there have been numerous, the American people will still love him. It must be galling that nobody falls for this shit.

Worst.RWTL.Ever.

question about sledgehammer: Will downloading matches get the college nazis all over my ass?

Austin-Jericho at Wrestlemania.

And you know the matches will be on the tape so they can justify a price tag of 34.99 for this.

I take it back, I loved that match. Of course, I thought it was all London

There's no way the economy can maintain 7.2% growth for the third quarter, but inital unemployment claims are dropping, and I'll be interested in seeing the jobs report on October. All this proves is that when Americans get to keep more of their money, they spend more. This is how the economy has worked for a long time, and I don't understand why it's a shocking revelation. I can't *wait* to see Krugman's spin on this.

I don't think he's even close to the best worker. I've seen him with other workers that are good at ground-based stuff, and he just doesn't hold up. His match with CM Punk at 11/9/02 was awful. I don't think I've ever seen a ***+ Michael Shane match. He's slow, he doesn't sell well, he looks bloated, and he gets blown up. He's an OK worker, but not even close to being worthy of holding any title.