bpapa

Posted on 11/7/07 10:37 PM

So does wrestlingmarks.

If you have a facebook account, be sure to add yourself as a fan of wrestlingmarks. You can do that by visting the wrestlingmarks facebook profile. Once there, add it as one of your "products" and let your Facebook pals know about wrestlingmarks!

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Posted on 11/4/07 12:19 PM

I wrote this report up for the Wrestling Observer site last night, and I typically leave my opinions out of them because let's face it, when you're reading show results you want to read what happened, not some smark's opinion. So, I'll copy and paste the report here, and annotate each match with additional thoughts.

"I missed the first 2 matches because ROH was late in getting people into the building. There was still a huge line outside of people waiting to get in 45 minutes after belltime. Not sure what happened here but you would think ROH would have had crowd control figured out after running five shows in this venue."

BP: Pretty much my opinion there. I learned since that apparently some fans were causing problems on the stairs, and then building management decided to only allow the elevators to be used. So it's the building's fault, and not ROHs... ehhh... I'm not gonna let them off the hook THAT easy though. It seems like every ROH show I go to some kinda bush league shit like this happens that dampers the experience.

"For the third match, Austin Aries accepted Shane Hagadorn's open challenge and made quick work of the former top of the student class. Afterwards, Aries announced he was disbanding the Resilience to focus on the World title. Nigel McGuinness came out, and there was a hint of a heel turn as he got upset at some crowd members giving him a hard time about not wrestling. Regardless, Aries/Nigel is set for Final Battle in NYC."

BP: The angle with Nigel was awesome. It's kinda like how WWE acknowledged John Cena getting booed and turned it into him being "the most controversial champion of all time", ROH is embracing the crowd reaction that they weren't going expecting. There is a possibility that Nigel's comments were a shoot, but I doubt it. I'd expect a full turn for Nigel by the time Final Battle rolls around.

"Claudio Castagnoli defeated Marafuji in the next match. Crowd ate this one up."

BP: Great match, after an awkward start to '07 for Claudio (with the whole WWE thing that never happened), he's one to watch for '08.

"The Briscoes vs. The Age of the fall went to a no-contest after chairs got involved. Crowd did not like the decision."

BP: Nothing really to say here, it was a well-done angle, but this kind of crowd isn't going to go for that.

"Next was a ceremony where Harley Race and Cary Silkin presented plaques to a Japanese referee whose name escapes me. Sorry, the only Japanese stuff I know about is Wii and Hentai. Crowd was still upset about the Briscoes match."

BP: This was weird. I'm sure that most of the fans there had no idea who this referee was, and yet he's getting all of this pomp and circumstance around his introduction, and meanwhile Harley Race, who everybody there knows and respects, is just kinda standing there. I understand that the referee was being honored but it was obvious that the crowd was more excited to see Race there.

"Tyler Black defeated Alex Payne and then escaped a Briscoes beatdown. The briscoes challenged the AotF to a no DQ rematch for tonight."

BP: Honestly? This whole thing was kinda weird and just started to seem like a waste of time. Like I said, it was an OK angle, but the thing is ROH has us couped up in the building for 4 hours (well, if you were able to get in on time) and bullshit like this should just be left on the booking room floor to save time.

"Before intermission, Bryan Danielson lost by DQ to Morishima after repeated low blows. Insanely stiff but the crowd loved it. Afterwards, Nigel tried to talk sense into the crazed Dragon, but got a kick to his injured arm for his trouble."

BP: If it wasn't for Dragon, I would have stopped bothering with ROH long ago. He's such an amazing storyteller, it's a real treat to watch. I think this match was packed with a lot of unnecessarily stiff work, and Dragon doesn't need that to be as awesome as he is, I just wish he would realize this before he suffers another serious injury.

"The No Remorse Corps defeated the Vulture Squad in a wild six man. A lot of great spots and triple teams. A TLC rematch was set for Final Battle."

BP: This was a lot of fun. The crowd was pretty tired though.

"Chris Hero came out to trash talk Austin Aries, and they had a match for the number one contender slot. Since Aries won, Larry Sweeny must face Claudio at final battle."

BP: Good match but the tired crowd wasn't giving that great of a reaction. Again, the earlier stuff with Hero and Aries almost came off as a waste of time since we saw both guys so many times through the night.

"Misawa defeated KENTA to retain the GHC belt. This didn't pack the same punch as Joe/Kobashi but Misawa still got a lot of love."

BP: ... a lot of love in the beginning, and for the good finish, but not so much in the middle.

"In the main event, the Briscoes retained the belts. As you would expect a lot of sick bumps taken by all four men. Necro Butcher was pinned after some unprotected chair shots."

BP: This was just stupid. These four guys are all good in their own right, but their timing for bone-rattling spots is so off. At one point, Jacobs gave one of the Briscoes a powerbomb onto the exposed floor, but nobody in the crowd reacted because 1 - a lot couldn't see it and 2 - at the same time Necro Butcher was doing something else that was far more interesting. Also a lot of stiff punches thrown and unprotected chair shots. I'm sorry, but I can't pop at that shit anymore. Earlier this year I thought it was needless, and now in the post-Benoit world of 85 year old brains and concussions, I can't see how that stuff excites other people who have a conscious.

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Posted on 10/31/07 3:37 PM

If I was still a kid, I'd most certainly get one of those costumes that WWE.com is offering right now. If you haven't seen them, they are these bad ass little kits that enable you to dress up as John Cena, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, etc. Here's the one for Umaga:




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Since I'm an adult though, I had to settle for something else. I'm lazy too. On Saturday night I was busy with something else and couldn't go to any Halloween parties, so I thought I was off the hook as far as needing to find a costume. But then I got invited to something for tonight, so I needed something quickly. There is a costume shop right by my appartment, so I was lucky enough to get this one...




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Not sure who it's supposed to be, if anyone, but it's pretty bad ass I think.

Note - studded leather gloves were separate.

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Posted on 10/22/07 11:45 PM

If you look closely at this week's Top 10, or any top 10 for that matter, you might see something new.

Didn't see it? Well, maybe this will help:


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That's right, I added a section to each page showing all of the people that are voting. This adds a little bit more of legitimacy to this whole Top 10 thing. Everybody's Top 10 has always been accessible, but only via their profile. Now, you have one click access, so you can see just who is voting, and for whom - it wasn't always so obvious, especially if a voter wasn't leaving very many comments.

You might remember a month or two ago, me talking about not doing anymore work on the Top 10 and instead blowing out the Match Ratings section a bit. I've since decided that there are a few more Top 10 enhancements I wanted to make first. It only makes sense, as the Top 10 is the big draw of the site right now. So, as far as Top 10 features go, expect another one real soon.

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Posted on 10/15/07 7:03 PM

... than you HAVE to get this week's Wrestling Observer newsletter. Gigantic write up on the career of "The Great One" as he's been inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

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