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ROH 15th Anniversary Reaction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
From the Murphy Rec Center in Philadelphia, Pa. to Sam’s Town in Las Vegas, NV., Ring Of Honor has undergone plenty in its 15-year history.
It was only appropriate that the face of the “old times” that hadn’t gone to World Wrestling Entertainment, Christopher Daniels, would get his last chance at the ROH World Championship, a belt that alluded him his whole career.
It was also right that the current Champion was Adam Cole, Bullet Club leader, which represented the “new school” ways of ROH.
Of course this show will be regarded as “the one where TK O’Ryan got hurt,” but there was plenty of happiness to go around the card as well.
Review – Ron Snyder – Wrestling’s New Golden Age
Photo courtesy of Amazon.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was once signified as the “Be All, End All” of professional wrestling.
By now, that statement has been detracted with talent like The Young Bucks, Colt Cabana and Kenny Omega, all of whom have achieved financial efficiency and without any WWE stints (or pushes in Cabana’s case) to boot.
Ron Snyder’s “Wrestling’s New Golden Age: How Independent Promotions Have Revolutionized One Of America’s Favorite Sports,” released by Sports Publishing, succeeds in its goal to inform and explore just how independent wrestling came to be from its eerie territorial beginnings.
Notes In Observance – ROH Wrestling 2/22/17: Man Up, Daniels
Image provided courtesy of Ring Of Honor.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 2/22/17)
Man Up, Daniels
– The opening video focused on the Ring Of Honor Decade Of Excellence Tournament and its “eight pioneers” that fought it out to lead down to the two that were left – Jay Briscoe and Christopher Daniels. The main story was that they stood in each other’s way of a World Title shot. This was a great video intro, actually went the way of those classic “NBA On NBC” intros that Marv Albert used to do. You tell us that doesn’t work.
Notes In Observance – ROH Wrestling 2/15/17: Boys Among Real Men
Image provided courtesy of Ring Of Honor.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 2/15/17)
Boys Among Real Men
– Hangman Page came out, his return still fresh on everyone’s minds. His opponent was in the ring in the form of Matt Sells. What a jobber name that was. Mark Briscoe was also on commentary for what it was worth. Sells was apparently in his hometown and was greeted with a shove into the ring post. One Rite Of Passage later and it was over. Post-match, Page grabbed a noose and ROH World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks came down. Superkick party. They gestured to the stage and ROH World Champion Adam Cole/”The American Nightmare” Cody walked to the ring. Chants of “Cody”/”Welcome home” were rampant. Cody kissed the canvas and played the crowd for a too-sweet with the Champ. He got the streamer treatment and addressed the warm reception before he deceptively turned on the fans for being “11 years too late.” Great heel work as always. Crowd chanted “Dusty” at him. Cody called out Jay Lethal and referred to him as the “Doorman Of ROH.” Lethal stormed out and came onto the apron. Some taunts and saliva later, Lethal charged at Cody, which commenced a beatdown. Bobby Fish came out for the save, an apparent hype for the main event, where he/Lethal would team against Cole/Cody. More of the ROH Cavalry came down, aka Jay White/Alex Shelley/Lio Rush. Not such a bad lead-in to commercial. Apparently that tag main event was set for now. Fish weaved around Cody, but got caught flush with a superkick from Cole. The Cody/Cole dynamic was almost comparable to the now-defunct Jeri-KO. Wonder if that was on purpose. For the first time ever, a man was too-sweeted in the eyes, as Cody did it to Fish. Lethal/Cody were tagged in simultaneously and went at each other’s heads. Lethal Injection on Cole changed the momentum, but it was Cody who was legal. It came to a point where all four men were exhausted and traded forearms. Lethal hit the most underwhelming tope on Cody ever. It was almost like a light nudge. The big story laid in the finish, as Fish had Cole dead in the armbar. Cody was unable to get it broken up, so the Champ had no choice but to tap out. A smart decision, especially based on that they needed to build Fish up as a threat for that World Title shot he gets at Manhattan Mayhem on Mar. 4. Not the most enlightening of matches, but Cody was great here and Hangman does his Hangman thing.
Notes In Observance – ROH Wrestling 2/8/17: Taking Umbrage To The Umbrella
Image provided courtesy of Ring Of Honor.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 2/8/17)
Taking Umbrage To The Umbrella
– The Punishment Damien Martinez/BJ Whitmer-War Machine match carried off past quarrels where a match went to the wayside for the purpose of pointless brawling. At least it gives the four something to do, as Martinez’s future’s the most to gain here. It also helped this episode that Colt Cabana was on commentary in classic boastful heel mode. We also liked the little touch that WM wore face paint. It adds to their look, albeit in a “Braveheart” way. Whitmer seems to get “go away heat” and that continued here as not much action occurred. There was a moment where Hanson performed a spot where he repetitively ran his opponents in the corner, to the point the fans did the rally cries with him. It lasted about a minute, legitimately. There were some consistent double-teams on both ends, including an impressive pop-up powerslam by WM. The finish is where things get silly again, because the four men are so into the brawl, the damn 20-count passes them right by. Countouts in ROH are just ridiculous. The only solace taken here was that Martinez/Hanson could make an intriguing singles match one day. Let’s hope they go that route.
Powerbomb.TV Break The Barrier 2017 Reaction
Photo courtesy of Powerbomb.TV.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
May 15, 1999 was a historical day for independent wrestling as the former ECW Arena hosted an event called “Break The Barrier.”
BTB I was put together by Al Isaacs, Remy Arteaga and Barbi Bistrowitz of “Scoopswrestling.com,” as a way to showcase the best independent wrestlers as the card represented 12 different promotions.
Talent like “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush, Lou Marconi, Joey Matthews, Christian York and Nick Gage appeared and made names for themselves.
History repeated itself this year on Jun. 11 in Old Forge, PA., as Powerbomb.TV – a streaming service that provides 267 hours of content from 41 promotions as of press time – hosted “Break The Barrier 2017” in a similar supercard that included the likes of Colt Cabana, John Silver, Dasher Hatfield, Ophidian and Desean Pratt.
With Bryce Remsburg back and forth between commentary, pre-show duties and officiating, the broadcast had a CHIKARA-esque feel with a logical edginess.
Without much further ado, we’ll assess just how “Broken” this “Barrier” was nowadays.
Notes In Observance – ROH Wrestling 1/11/17: Droned In
Image provided courtesy of Ring Of Honor.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 1/11/17)
Droned In
– Christopher Daniels’ hype video promo did a good job of showing his refocused goal of his “destiny to become Champion” in the midst of the Decade Of Excellence Tournament that he was a part of. He defeated Mark Briscoe last week to advance to the second round. He spoke about how he made a name for himself in 2002 and they wisely played back footage of those classic Murphy Rec Center days when he denied handshakes and broke the mold as the face of The Prophecy, despite never holding the ROH World Championship. They flashed back to now, to where he gives those handshakes and obeys the Code Of Honor, a presumed changed man. With this kind of package, we could tell this next push was set to be a serious one. It also helps to get more passionate promos like this one, because that’s what Daniels does best these days.
June 11th: Powerbomb.TV Hosts Indie Wrestling Festival In Northeast PA
Photo courtesy of Powerbomb.TV.
*Courtesy Of Powerbomb.TV*
Break The Barrier was a professional wrestling supercard held at Viking Hall, better known as the ECW Arena, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15, 1999. The event was organized by the founders of Scoopswrestling.com, Al Isaacs, Remy Arteaga and Barbi Bistrowitz, and brought together some of the top independent wrestlers from around the country.
Powerbomb.TV presents
Break the Barrier 2017:
Independent Wrestling Festival
Streaming LIVE!
On Sunday June 11th, Powerbomb.TV will host “Break the Barrier 2017” – an independent wrestling festival – starting at 3:00PM at the GSW Arena in Old Forge, PA (conveniently located between Philadelphia and New York City). The event will also stream live through Powerbomb.TV.
Tickets are on sale now for $15 and if you’re a Powerbomb.TV Subscriber, you can reserve your ticket for free!
https://www.powerbomb.tv/gettickets
Confirmed Promotions participating in “Break the Barrier 2017” include C*4 Wrestling in Canada, Cara Lucha Promociones in Mexico, IWRG in Mexico, Georgia Premier Wrestling, Deep South Championship Wrestling, Grand Slam Wrestling, Tier 1 Wrestling and Top Rope Promotions.
Already confirmed for Sunday, June 11th:
Tiger & Puma vs Guerrero Maya Jr & Triton (CMLL)
Joey Janela vs Buxx Belmar (C*4 Wrestling)
Colt Cabana vs Orange Cassidy
Plus: Chuck Taylor, Fly Warrior, Jigsaw and more to be announced soon!
Bryce Remsburg & Joe Sposto will be providing live commentary to Powerbomb.TV
Powerbomb.tv is an independent wrestling video streaming network available on Web and Mobile Devices featuring over 30 promotions and 165 events. The company plans to launch on Roku and Apple TV for their Grand Opening event on Sunday, June 11th.
Start your 10-day free trial today by visiting
https://www.powerbomb.tv
Worst 10 Of 2016
Graphics by Salwinder Singh.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
2016 was possibly professional wrestling’s most newsworthy year.
Whether it was “Broken” Matt Hardy, Chris Jericho’s transformation into a walking meme, Goldberg’s unexpected return or the Cruiserweight Classic, everywhere you looked, there was something to talk about.
For all those moments however, came some head shakers.
With the unenviable task to cover every single 2016 episode of Raw, SmackDown (even before it was “Live”), NXT, Impact Wrestling and Pay-Per-View/Live Specials (all 29), we’ve seen things that cannot be forgotten.
We’re here to bring them to light.
ROH Final Battle 2016 Reaction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
Ring Of Honor’s Final Battle signifies both the end and new beginnings.
While we initially saw this as counterproductive to host an annual “payoff”-themed Pay-Per-View typically saved for December’s last week on the month’s second day, you couldn’t knock this card.
It’s funny, since ROH didn’t hammer home the hype until the final two weeks of television, but alas, it came together enough for the in-ring action and events to bring it full circle.
We had Jushin “Thunder” Liger, Cody, hell, even Broken Matt Hardy made a cameo appearance.
A fitting main event too, as we’d see Kyle O’Reilly get his last shot (seemingly) against ROH World Champion Adam Cole.
Pro Wrestling Opinion 