WrestlingRumors.net

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REVIEW: New Japan On AXS - August 3, 2019: The Climax Point(s)

Posted: 14 Aug 2019 08:54 PM PDT https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/review-new-japan-axs-august-3-2019-climax-points/


Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over ten years now and have reviewed over 5,000 shows. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I’ll be posting a new review here on Wrestlingrumors.net, starting today. It could be anything from modern WWE
to old school to indies to anything in between. Note that I rate using
letters instead of stars and I don’t rate matches under three minutes as really, how good or bad can something that short be?


New Japan On AXS

Date: August 3, 2019

Location: Osaka Prefectural Gym, Osaka, Japan

Attendance: 5,555

Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Rocky Romero, Chris Charlton
First of all, no I’m not doing this show regularly, just for the sake of time. Someone asked me to do a show though and since I can’t say no, here
we are. This is from night 13 of the G1 Climax Tournament and that means we’re likely in for a bunch of big matches with some matches that earn some high praise. Let’s get to it.
The opening recap looks at Kazuchika Okada and Kota Ibushi’s success throughout the tournament. The star power is sounding very high for this
one.
All matches are from the A Block and a win is good for two points.
Bad Luck Fale (2 points) vs. Kenta (8 points)
Chase Owens is on commentary, Kenta would be Hideo Itami and Fale has Jado
with him. The much bigger Fale grabs Kenta by the throat for the early
choking, plus a Jado kendo stick from the floor. A trip to the floor means
a whip into the barricade for Kenta and it’s Fale starting in on the back. Some shots to the head put Kenta down again but he’s back up with the
tornado DDT across the top rope. The top rope clothesline drops the monster
and a DDT gets two.
The springboard missile dropkick looked to come up short but Fale is
knocked into the corner anyway. That means some running kicks to the face
to keep Fale down and a top rope double stomp gets two. Fale is back up
with a clothesline but Kenta reverses what looked to be a chokeslam into
the triangle choke. Game Over (YES Lock) makes Owens tap but Owens has the referee. Jado comes in with the kendo stick but the distraction lets Fale
get a rollup pin at 7:21.
Rating: C-. Not much to see here with Kenta having to fight against the
odds and coming up shoot against Fale, who didn’t seem to be the greatest in-ring worker here. The big monster certainly looks different in New Japan
but that doesn’t mean they’re the most viable option around. Kenta looked more comfortable here, though I’m still not seeing the superstar in him
that we were promised for so long.
Lance Archer (4 points) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (4 points)
Both are part of Suzuki-Gun. Archer, a rather big guy at about 6’8, is a
bit insane and runs/knocks over a bunch of people on the way to the ring.
Sabre starts dodging the big boot attempts to start and the early
frustrations might be setting in for Archer. A headlock is countered with Sabre’s signature twists but Archer nips up out of a top wristlock and
throws him down. Sabre gets stomped and choked near the ropes as the big
vs. small formula is in full swing so far.
Archer slams him down but misses a knee drop out of the corner, allowing
Sabre go take him down into a grapevined ankle lock. Since Archer is rather tall he can reach the rope, which had to be a full eight inches away from
him. We go to the sleeper on the giant’s back, but it feels a bit more dangerous since it’s Sabre putting it on. Archer slams him down and takes
it to the floor, only to have Sabre grab the leg as Archer gets back
inside. A guillotine choke is thrown off as well as Sabre just can’t find a way around the power.
Old School is countered with a crotching so Sabre tries a guillotine on
top, which is thrown down again. Archer goes aerial with a crossbody but
the chokeslam is countered into a triangle choke. The threat of a weird
cousin of the Rings of Saturn is broken up with a long leg on the rope. A powerbomb gives Archer two but he has to power out of an armbar. Sabre
starts kicking at the arms so Archer goes with a Black Hole Slam for two.
The chokeslam connects and the Blackout (looks like a reverse Razor’s Edge) is loaded up, only to have Sabre roll him up for the pin at 10:41.
Rating: C+. I liked this a good bit. Archer is said to have had a career resurgence in this tournament and I can see why with a performance like
this. Being his size in New Japan is going to keep him busy as they don’t have too many giants. The rope walk and some of the raw power are going to
keep him relevant and this was a good David vs. Goliath story, which is one
of the easiest ways to go about doing something. Even if David is a cocky
pest that you want to see get kicked in the face.
Evil (6 points) vs. Will Ospreay (4 points)
Ospreay’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title isn’t on the line. Ospreay goes for the wristlock to start and sends Evil outside. The teased big dive doesn’t launch as Ospreay flips back into the superhero pose as only he (and
Ricochet) can do. Evil finds a chair and throws it in but Ospreay is ready
for it and they go with the rapid fire shots to the head. Ospreay gets
kicked down and a big clothesline puts him on the floor. The chair is
wrapped around Ospreay’s neck and the other chair knocks the first one off for a spot that has to be a big scary to take.
Back in and Evil stays on the back and neck before grabbing the chinlock (nothing wrong with some basic psychology). Ospreay fights up and gets a Stunner for the breaker, followed by the running forearm to put Evil in the corner. Pip Pip Cheerio (Phenomenal Forearm) gets two but Evil suplexes him into the corner to bang the neck up again. Ospreay is right back with a
running kick to the face to send Evil outside.
You know what that means and it’s a cartwheel into the no hands moonsault
to the floor for the double knockdown. Back in and something close to Coast
to Coast (Evil was on the apron with his head sticking in and close enough
to the corner) connects for two. Stormbreaker is blocked (Kelly: “That’s a big a**.” It might have been “ask” but it’s a funny line otherwise.) and
it’s an exchange of forearms for the double knockdown.
They slug it out from their knees until Evil hits Darkness Falls (a
fireman’s carry into a sitout spinebuster) for two. Ospreay is right back with a spinning sitout powerbomb and he’s ready to pull his hair out on the kickout. Back up and Evil headbutts him but runs into a running Spanish Fly
for another near fall.
The Oscutter (always cool) gets two more and you could tell the fans bought that as the finish. Stormbreaker is countered again so Ospreay hits the 630 kick to the head (Robinson Special) but the top rope Oscutter is countered
into a half and half suplex. A second one knocks Ospreay silly and a huge lariat gives Evil two more. Everything Is Evil (STO) finally puts Ospreay
down at 17:08.
Rating: A-. The near falls were awesome in this one and they built up the
neck damage throughout the match. Ospreay is a great high flier and his
size makes him that much more fun to watch. Evil has gone from what seems
to be a gimmick character into a much more complete performer so I can more than live with watching these two again. Awesome match here with that near
fall off the Oscutter stealing the show.
Kota Ibushi (8 points) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (8 points)
Yeah this works. They go to the mat for an exchange of headlocks to start
until Ibushi dropkicks him in the face. Tanahashi takes the leg and puts it back on the mat for a good old fashioned leglock. Ibushi finally makes it
over to the rope and is right back up with a running kick to the face. A standing moonsault gives Ibushi two but Tanahashi is right back with a pair
of dragon screw legwhips.
The Cloverleaf goes on until Ibushi makes the rope as Tanahashi is going
with a pretty simple (yet intelligent) strategy here. The leg is wrenched around the ropes and Tanahashi goes up, only to get caught with a super hurricanrana for a pretty close two. Back up and Tanahashi tries a dropkick
to the knee but Ibushi jumps over it and lands on Tanahashi’s chest for a double stomp in a sweet counter.
A lawn dart into the corner knocks Tanahashi silly and it’s a deadlift
German superplex to make it even worse for two. Tanahashi throws a left
hand and Ibushi gets VERY serious. That means more slaps, with these
staggering Ibushi a bit. Some more almost put him down but Ibushi blasts
him with a clothesline for the double knockdown.
The sitout powerbomb gives Ibushi two but the big knee strike is countered
into a trio of Twist and Shouts (swinging neckbreaker). A Sling Blade gives Tanahashi two, only to have the High Fly Flow miss for the big crash. The
Boom Ye (Daniel Bryan knee) connects for two so Ibushi kicks him in the
head a few times, setting up the big knee strike for the pin at 15:56.
Rating: B+. Ibushi is one of those guys who has grown a lot over the years
as he has gone from a guy who is best known for a lot of flips to someone
who can pin Tanahashi clean without it being a shocking upset. You can tell Tanahashi is nowhere near what he used to be, but even a fairly damaged Tanahashi is still better than almost anyone in the world. Very good match here, though I liked Ospreay vs. Evil just a bit better.
Post match they’re both down with Tanahashi saying something to Ibushi. Sanada (4 points) vs. Kazuchika Okada (12 points)
Okada’s IWGP Heavyweight Title isn’t on the line and he’s undefeated so far. They stand around for a good while to start with no significant
contact for the first minute. Sanada takes him down into an early armbar
which is reversed just as fast. The headlock keeps things slow as they seem
to be killing some time (thirty minute time limit here so the draw is an
actual possibility).
The legsweeps into the covers for less than one each give us another
standoff and things reset. Back up and commentary suggests that Okada isn’t taking Sanada as seriously as he should, just as Sanada hits a basement dropkick to the head. Okada blocks the Paradise Lock so Sanada elbows him
in the face for two. The chinlock doesn’t last long and it’s Okada up with an elbow of his own, followed by a DDT for two more.
Sanada gets knocked outside and a running kick sends him over the
barricade. Another DDT plants him on the floor so Okada can chill in the
corner for a bit. Okada hits a running kick to the face as the fans don’t seem pleased with him. Then we get an OKADA chant as the fans seem a bit confused here. Sanada comes back with his own dropkick to the floor and the slingshot dive takes Okada down again. Now it’s a SANADA chant, meaning I probably misheard the previous one.
Back in and the Paradise Lock works this time, allowing Sanada to hit the running dropkick for two more. One heck of a flapjack (always love that
move) drops Sanada and we get a breather. It’s Okada slowly getting up and looking more serious as the strike off begins. Sanada takes him down and
hits a basement dropkick, followed by a hard belly to back for two.
Sanada’s springboard is countered into White Noise onto the knee and the
top rope elbow makes it even worse.
The Rainmaker is loaded up, giving us the always cool zoom out shot. That’s broken up so Okada settles for the Tombstone but the Rainmaker is countered again. A hanging twisting neckbreaker drops Okada but Sanada is too banged
up. The slow motion slugout from their knees goes on until they get up,
with Okada telling him to throw the forearms at the neck. The uppercuts go
to Sanada and Okada actually drops to a knee.
Back up and the Rainmaker is countered again but so is the Tombstone this
time, with Sanada switching to something like a dragon sleeper. A tiger
suplex gives Sanada two and a TKO gets the same. The moonsault misses but Sanada lands on his feet like a pro. Okada grabs the arm and hits the
Rainmaker (which is still…..oh never mind), followed by another for no
cover. A third Rainmaker is countered into one from Sanada, who goes back
to the dragon sleeper.
This time though he swings Okada around by the neck (egads) before going
into the full version with the bodyscissors. Okada fights up but Sanada
pulls him back down to get it on again. The fans are WAY into this (as they should be) and Okada reverses into a rollup for two but Sanada grabs it for
the third time with three minutes left.
Sanada finally lets go with two minutes left but the moonsault hits raised….legs. Not quite as impactful as knees but Okada just had his head cranked back for three minutes so his accuracy is a bit off. There’s less than a minute left and Okada hits the dropkick but the Rainmaker is
countered into a pop up cutter. Back to back moonsaults finish Okada at
29:48.
Rating: A. Oh yeah this was awesome (killing off the dragon sleeper aside)
with Sanada throwing everything he had at Okada to FINALLY beat him. This
felt very similar to Roderick Strong trying and trying to beat Jay Lethal
for the ROH World Title but always coming up short until he did everything
he could to finish Lethal in the end. It was the same story here and again it’s one of those that is always going to work. Great main event with
Sanada getting the biggest win of his career.
Post match Sanada talks about finally beating his rival (thank goodness for subtitles for a change) and even gets a spotlight to make it feel cooler.
He lost to Okada in this building a year ago and it made him hate Okada.
Now Osaka is his favorite place in Japan because he finally did it. Sanada
says he’ll see us next time and he falls to the mat in happiness.
At the post match press conference, Sanada says that was his gift to the
people at home.
A look at the updated standings wraps us up.
Overall Rating: A-. As usual, I can see why this is such a popular show and
the action more than lived up to the hype. All three of the big matches
felt like instant classics and while they might not mean anything for
everyone involved at the moment, you got some great matches with commentary selling the whole thing all the way. Great show here and worth seeing if
you get the chance.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen
over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since
2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up
for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES
to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is
available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

The post REVIEW: New Japan On AXS August 3, 2019: The Climax Point(s)
appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.


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The One And Only. NXT Crowns A New Breakout Star.

Posted: 14 Aug 2019 08:50 PM PDT https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/one-nxt-crowns-new-breakout-star/


Get the trophy ready. Wrestling certainly loves tournaments and wrestling
fans love to watch tournaments. There is something about watching a field starts out in full and then get narrowed down to the ending with only one
entry remaining. Over the last few years WWE has gone tournament crazy and another one wrapped up this week down in NXT with a special prize on the
line.

This week on NXT, Jordan Myles (formerly known as ACH) won the Breakout Tournament by defeating Cameron Grimes (formerly known as Trevor Lee). The
win gives Myles a guaranteed shot at any NXT title of his choice. The tournament was held over the last month and featured eight talents who had never wrestled on NXT television before. There is no word on when Myles
will receive his title shot or which title he will challenge for.

The winner was feeling talkative. Check out Myles’ post win promo:
[This post contains video, click to play]


Opinion: The tournament may not have been the best of the bunch but they
did enough to bring in some fresh talent, which is something NXT has been needing. NXT is a place with a revolving door of talent so putting someone
new out there and giving them an instant start is something that could
work. If nothing else it saves you the trouble of having to give them all their own first match.

Did the right person win? Which tournament entrant will have the most
success? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen
over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up
for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES
to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is
available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

The post The One And Only. NXT Crowns A New Breakout Star. appeared first
on WrestlingRumors.net.


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Whatever Works. The Completely Unique And Accidental Reason Buddy Murphy
Is Involved In Roman Reigns Story.

Posted: 14 Aug 2019 08:47 PM PDT https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/whatever-works-completely-unique-accidental-reason-buddy-murphy-involved-roman-reigns-story/


Wrong place, right time. One of the biggest stories in WWE at the moment
is finding out who has been trying to attack Roman Reigns. Over the last
few weeks, Reigns has been attacked by a forklift and a car, but it isn’t clear who has been behind the whole thing. Other wrestlers have been
involved in the story, but one of them wasn’t in the original plans.

According to Wrestling Observer Live, Buddy Murphy was not originally
scheduled to be involved in the Reigns storyline. Instead, he was only included in it when he was seen in the background of a shot, which was
noticed by the fans. Murphy was then added to the story, which included a
well received match against Reigns on this week’s SmackDown Live. Reigns’ attacker will allegedly be announced on next week’s show.

Murphy got something out of this. Check out his match with Reigns:
[This post contains video, click to play]


Opinion: I know there are some people in WWE who are accused of never
trying to grab the brass ring, but does this really count? Murphy seems to have gotten a push by standing around backstage, but at least he got
something out of the whole thing. Murphy’s match with Reigns worked very well and if that gets him somewhere in the long run good for him, as it’s
not like he was doing anything else.

How good was Murphy’s match? Who will be Reigns’ attacker? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen
over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up
for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES
to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is
available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

The post Whatever Works. The Completely Unique And Accidental Reason Buddy Murphy Is Involved In Roman Reigns Story. appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.


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(VIDEO): Its a Nature Boy Thing. Ric Flair Makes Surprise Appearance At Concert.

Posted: 14 Aug 2019 08:45 PM PDT https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/video-nature-boy-thing-ric-flair-makes-surprise-appearance-concert/


That’s how you can be the man. Ric Flair is one of the most successful as well as unique wrestling personalities of all time. When you hear him talk
out of character, he comes off as much more of a down to earth guy but at
the same time, his wrestling persona is one of the most over the top in the world. It also has found its niche in pop culture and that was on display Wednesday night.

On Wednesday at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, Flair introduced Khalid for his concert. Flair has been known to be friends with various entertainers over the years and lives near Atlanta, allowing him to make
the introduction for the concert. Flair has also remained semi-active in
WWE, appearing at both WrestleMania 35 and Raw Reunion earlier this year.

As only he can do it. Check out Flair’s introduction at the concert:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: This is one of those things that Flair can do and just make work. He’s a legend in wrestling and that has spilled over to pop culture. The limousine riding, jet flying persona is something that is going to work
very well in almost any time as it just comes off as cool. Yeah Flair can
be a bit goofy at times, but this is something that not many people can do
and he keeps doing it.

What is your favorite Flair celebrity moment? When will he be back in
WWE? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen
over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up
for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES
to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is
available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

The post (VIDEO): Its a Nature Boy Thing. Ric Flair Makes Surprise
Appearance At Concert. appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.


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RUMOR: Yes It Happens In Wrestling. Vince McMahon Backs Out Of Deal With
Dolph Ziggler And Refuses To Release Him.

Posted: 14 Aug 2019 08:41 PM PDT https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/rumor-yes-happens-wrestling-vince-mcmahon-backs-deal-dolph-ziggler-refuses-release/


Wrestling can be a little unfair? Despite being someone who does not
perform full time anymore, Dolph Ziggler is one of the most discussed
wrestlers in WWE today. Some fans love him and others can’t stand him, but whenever he is around, he is likely to be involved in a bi story, whether
he wins or loses. That was the case at Summerslam, but the fallout ­might
not have gone as expected.

According to Bodyslam.net, Ziggler was supposed to finish up with WWE this
past Monday after losing to Goldberg at Summerslam the night before. Vince McMahon had promised to let Ziggler out of his deal, allowing him to move
on to his other projects. However, McMahon backed out of his agreement,
saying that he would rather just pay Ziggler to stay at home. There is no
word on how long the contract is for or if there is any AEW interest.

It’s been a rough week for Ziggler. Check out his Summerslam destruction: [This post contains video, click to play]


Opinion: While this sounds great on paper, it doesn’t offer him the best protection. McMahon backed out of his agreement once. What is going to
stop him from calling Ziggler back to work a few more shows, even if
Ziggler has something planned? I’m sure Ziggler won’t be complaining about the checks and free time, but that doesn’t mean this is what he wants.

Will Ziggler be back in WWE? Is McMahon doing the smart thing? Let us
know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen
over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up
for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES
to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is
available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

The post RUMOR: Yes It Happens In Wrestling. Vince McMahon Backs Out Of
Deal With Dolph Ziggler And Refuses To Release Him. appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.


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KBs Review: Who Shows A Shoe?

Posted: 14 Aug 2019 06:43 PM PDT https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/kbs-review-shows-shoe/


I know everyone has been focused on Summerslam (and the fallout by the time this is published) but there is a lot of other stuff going on in the world
of wrestling at the same time. That material hasn’t been getting the same amount of coverage and while there is a good reason for a lot of that,
there is one story that came out of a big show over Summerslam weekend that caught my eye. It might be minor, but it gets under the hood of some of the problems that a pretty important wrestling company is having.

On Friday, August 9, Ring of Honor presented its Summer Supercard event,
which was their Summerslam weekend show. That’s a pretty big show in its
own right, as the show is in the same city as Summerslam and is likely to
be one of the more important cards of the entire year. The show was pretty stacked too with a Ladder War main event for the Tag Team Titles (the most important titles in the company at the moment), Rush vs. Dalton Castle III
(a match so important that it has Roman numerals) and the match that we’re talking about today.

The other match of note on the show featured Ring of Honor World Champion
Matt Taven defending against Alex Shelley, who was wrestling only his
second match back since retiring last year. Shelley is a big enough name to
get a spot like this and that’s all well and good. He might not be the biggest name in the world, but let him get in there and use some veteran abilities to help bring Taven to a good match. The match ran just shy of nineteen minutes and was pretty quality stuff, but there was a spot in the middle that is going to be remembered more than anything else.

A few minutes into the match, the two of them fought to the floor with
Shelley in control. As Taven was down for a bit, Shelley noticed a fan in
the front row, sound asleep. Shelley went over, stole the fan’s shoe, hit Taven with it, and then threw it back before continuing on with the match.

The moment in question:

[This post contains video, click to play]There’s a lot to unpack here from something that took all of thirty seconds from start to finish, if even
that long. I know the general reaction to something like this is that the moment was harmless fun and something that was little more than a joke from Shelley who probably thought it was funny. While it’s not my kind of humor,
I can see how some people would get into it and get a laugh out of
something like this. That’s where we get to the bad part though.

If you’re a wrestler in a big match like this, or even in a smaller match
on a small show, why aren’t you furious, or even disappointed, that someone is sound asleep during your match? The point of wrestling is to entertain
the fans and keep them invested in what you are doing in the ring. For one reason or another, that was not the case here, meaning that Shelley and
Taven have failed at their jobs.

What bothers me here is how little Shelley seemed to care. He went over and took the fan’s shoe, which opens up a whole other set of problems. What if the fan woke up, freaked out and hit Shelley? Suppose Shelley got hurt, or suppose the fan threatened some kind of action over what Shelley did (tell
me you haven’t heard of weaker reasons for a threat)? Are you telling me
that you couldn’t see some kind of a complaint about the emotional distress of being made to look like a fool on television/pay per view? I’m sure Ring of Honor could settle that with free tickets or something, but it’s
something they could have to deal with.

The best example I can think of for something like this is from Over The
Limit 2010. Rey Mysterio was facing CM Punk when the match had to be temporarily stopped for an injury. The fans chanted boring….and Punk went ballistic. He hit everything he could think of in just a few moments
because he was not going to have the fans call his match boring. You don’t get that very often and it showed what happens when a wrestler thinks they
are disappointing their fans. As opposed to making it a joke that is.

This was a different version:
[This post contains video, click to play]


Then there’s the bigger picture, which is how this makes Ring of Honor
look. Wrestling companies, from the smallest all the way up to WWE, try to
have some kind of an identity. That can be a fun atmosphere (a company I recently looked at called Pizza Party Wrestling would fit that
description), a serious atmosphere (imagine a comedy match breaking out at
an old Mid-South show), or a mixture of the two (WWE has comedy, but it’s
not a comedy based promotion).

Ring of Honor has an identity and that’s the work rate promotion. They don’t do many big angles and the majority of their storytelling is centered around wrestling. Yes they have some less than serious characters, but the focal point has always been the serious nature and that has not changed
(hence what happened when Enzo Amore and Big Cass were brought in and
soundly rejected by the fans). This is the kind of thing that would have
fit in perfectly in a place like Chikara or PWG, where this kind of thing
is more accepted. That’s not what Ring of Honor is though and the moment stuck out as a result.

Having a funny spot in a serious match is perfectly fine and something Ring
of Honor can get away with doing. What they can’t get away with doing is having Shelley stop in the middle of the match, draw attention to this fan,
and do something goofy with him. Not only does it go against what Ring of
Honor does, but it goes against what Shelley has been talking about coming
up to the match. His promo on TV was about wanting to get the chance to
prove he’s the best and he posted some messages on Twitter talking about being homeless after retiring.

This match needed a stolen shoe:

[This post contains video, click to play]
In theory he should be trying as hard as he can to win the match and the
title to prove how good he is, along with getting a secure roof over his
head, not messing around with a fan and his shoe. It goes against
everything the match is about. Imagine if in a serious match, someone broke
out into a comedy spot. Can you imagine Cactus Jack vs. Triple H in the
street fight at Royal Rumble 2000 taking a pause so we could have a dance
off? It doesn’t quite work that way.

Finally, and probably most importantly, it makes Ring of Honor look really

[continued in next message]

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