ROH Review 11/28/15

Ring Of Honor Wrestling Review 11/29/15
By Nathan Neumann, Twitter @Headliner5

Hello Ringers and welcome back to the regularly scheduled reviews after a couple weeks off. Last time I reviewed Survival Of The Fittest night 2 and last week I was way too tired to review anything. But I am back this week and we are ready to go.  Tonight’s episode featured some good storyline progression towards Final Battle and as we draw closer to the year-end event things are definitely going to get more and more interesting.

The show begins as we head inside of the arena as Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are on commentary and this week they are joined by Mark Briscoe.  They run down the show and then send it down to the ring for the first match of the night.

Match 1
Will Ferrara vs. Adam Page

Thoughts: Okay match here if a bit weird in a few spots, Ferrara started it off by hitting a nice hurricanranna before Page hits a flurry of offense with a pump handle fall away bridge slam.  There honestly wasn’t much to this match but the biggest shocker to me was the fact that Adam Page actually lost when Colby Corino runs down to the ring and throws a crutch into the ring.  The crutch was intended for Page’s use but Ferrara grabbed it first and hit Page with it to pick up the win.  Not much of a match but it was decent although I’m not sure where they are going with this.

Match Result: Will Ferrara defeats Adam Page via pinfall after a shot with a crutch behind the referee’s back.

Match Rating: N/A: Match was too short to rate and there wasn’t enough there, it was more to further a storyline than anything.

From here the Addiction makes their way out to the ring and get on the microphone to complain about losing the tag team championships to The Kingdom, they say they want their rematch and wont stop until they get it which we’ve heard in wrestling a million times before but it was an okay promo and we can see where this is headed.  The Addiction top off the promo by saying that they are headed to New Japan Pro Wrestling which is interesting but if NJPW can make Michael Elgin interesting then it should do wonders for a tag team I don’t care about at all.

We then get a vignette hyping up the Kingdom as if we didn’t already know how awesome they were.

From there we go to a random video package where we find out that Brutal Bob Evans tried to cut off Cheeseburger’s hand with a hand saw which seems very odd and disturbing at the same time.

From there The House Of Truth makes their way out to the ring and Jay Lethal talks about losing the TV title.  He then focuses his attention to his opponent at Final Battle, which is AJ Styles.  Lethal says that he hates Styles and that Styles has never been worth anything in pro wrestling.  AJ Styles comes out to the ring and says that he will become the ROH World Champion come December 18th and Final Battle.

#StorytimeWithAdamCole is up now, Cole talks about how much he hates Kyle O’Reilly and we find out that Cole vs. O’Reilly is now official for Final Battle on December 18th, Cole says he will murder O’Reilly and from there we go into the next match.

Match 2
Adam Cole vs. Dalton Castle

Thoughts: Good match here, Dalton came out and brought the boys with him and things were back to normal until Silas Young came out and ruined everything.  Cole and Castle feel each other out.  Cole rolls to the outside of the ring and gets hit with a suicide dive from Castle.  Cole superkicks Dalton’s face off, the Kingdom storms the ring to cause a DQ.  War Machine comes out to the ring to even the odds and then Nigel grabs a microphone and turns the match into a six-man tag team match. 

Match Result: No Contest

Match Rating: N/A

Match 3
Adam Cole, Matt Taven, and Michael Bennett vs. Dalton Castle, Hanson and Raymond Rowe

Thoughts: The action starts immediately with Hanson hitting a cartwheel clothesline on Bennett.  Taven gets an early near fall after hitting a dropkick on Hanson.  Hanson kicks out and recovers; Hanson nails Taven with a shotgun knee and then takes a kick to the back of the head from Cole.  Dalton and Taven get in a predicament where they are both trying to hit one another with a tombstone piledriver and after about ten reversals, Dalton finally nails the move for a near fall.  The action spills to the outside of the ring where Hanson does a top rope-flipping dive onto everyone in a cool spot.  Hanson goes back in the ring and tries to come back out with a suicide dive but crashes and burns on the outside.  The match ends when Adam Cole picks up the win for his team with a brainbuster onto the knee to pick up the win via pinfall.

Match Result: The Kingdom (Cole, Taven and Bennett) defeat Dalton Castle, Hanson and Rowe after Adam Cole hits Castle with a brainbuster onto his knee.

Match Rating: **1/2

This show was okay but it really only had two matches and although we had some good storyline progression towards Final Battle on December 18th there wasn’t enough quality wrestling in my opinion. 

That will once again do it for me and this week’s ROH review for http://www.EyesOnTheRing.com Make sure to visit the site and check out everything that the entire Eyes On The Ring team writes on a weekly basis as we are always doing our best to provide you with new cutting edge content.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter @Headliner5 and feel free to tweet me your thoughts on anything ROH related or wrestling in general if you just want to talk about it.

Last but certainly not least make sure to follow Eyes On The Ring @EyesOnTheRing and check out the radio show each and every Sunday night at 11:00pm EST via http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/ElitePodcastNetwork.  Also don’t forget to like us on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/EyesOnTheRing and until next time ringers I am Nathan saying so long and be sure to keep your Eyes On The Ring!

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Eyes on the Ring 8:46 AM  No comment

WIRTB Review: Survivor Series 1990

People of the world, I've got one thing to say. Sheamus beating Roman Reigns (who beat Dean Ambrose who beat Kevin Owens) for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship was bad. Oh, it was bad. Sheamus draws little heat aside from "you look stupid" chants and makes Roman Reigns look like Superjesus by proxy. But, even with that religiously-offensive line out of the way, Survivor Series 2015 was still not that bad.

So, in honor of WWE's Thanksgiving Tradition, I'm going to discuss a Survivor Series that I've tried to avoid out of fears of clicheness. I'm going to discuss The Gobbledy Gooker Incident. So, grab your Steveweisers, gather the family, and pray that I destroy this one as well as the boys at OSW Review did--since, ya know, this apparently was acceptable in the '80s and early '90s--as I, Speed on the Beat, talk Survivor Series 1990.

"Surely, any PPV which featured the debut of a living legend, The Undertaker, couldn't be that bad," is what you're thinking, right? Well...for starters, we're dealing with the fact that Earthquake and Hulk Hogan were in a main-event feud at this point, over WWE Champion The Ultimate Warrior because, ya know, Hogan. Let that sink in. Golga is in a feud with Hulk [Omitted because racism]. But, it gets worse from there. While the idea of the survivors of each squad teaming up at the end for a big ol' face-versus-heel showdown, that's kind of cool...the talent WWE had to work with at this point was, oddly, kind of lame. I'm sorry, but Koko B. Ware, as legendary as he is, shouldn't be anywhere near anything related to a PPV at this point in his career.

Anyway, after the teams are announced for tonight, Vince McMahon's broadcasting orgasm continues and I get depressed over how many people involved tonight are dead now. That's not a joke. I'm legitimately sad over it. Our announcers, the late Gorilla Monsoon and the late Rowdy Roddy Piper, break down the rules and the giant, dried-up turd in the arena. The "brontosaurus egg" is set to hatch and, apparently, can feed a whole family.

And while I'm sad about how many people are dead now that appeared on this PPV, you can't deny the amount of coke that was probably snorted in this event. Yeesh. Our first match, coincidentally enough, features The Ultimate Warrior's team of himself, The Legion of Doom, and the Texas Tornado versus Mr. Perfect and Demolition. The match itself isn't bad. It's your typical curtain jerker Survivor Series match. But, why in the hell is Warrior in the curtain jerker, as your champion? That's like involving Daniel Bryan in a pre-show mat--oh yeah... Anyway, Team Warrior wins after LOD and Demolition get disqualified (BRAWLING!), Texas Tornado gets spun out by Perfect, and Perfect eats the final pin from Warrior.

Our next match starts and we're greeted by "AMERRRRRICAAAAAANNNNNN DREEEEEEAMMMMMMM!!!" The kid in me is smiling my ass off now. As much as I'm like "get outta here" to Koko, Dusty Rhodes and his theme is enough to put a smile on anyone's face. Plus, you've got the Hart Foundation on the same team. So, that's enough to get me interested again, kind of. But then? Honky Tonk Meh and Jimmy Hart come out, along with Fuck Money himself, Virgil, trying to direct attention to himself. No one cares, rightfully so, and Ted DiBiase introduces The Undertaker with Brother Love!

Undertaker takes out Koko in a minute or so while Monsoon and Piper either want to eat The Undertaker or have sex with him. They're talking about how good and big he looks. Thankfully, Undertaker's glare instills the fear of hellfire in me and I'm taken back to reality. The rest of the match, just like the previous one, is kind of "oh, ok. Cool." 'Taker takes out Koko and Dusty (wah) and, after your typical eliminations, Bret Hart takes out Ted DiBiase. Now, this has always made me wonder. If Undertaker is supposed to be The Ringer, why not have him win the match or at least stay in until the end? I know that Dusty started attacking Brother Love and Undertaker is, at this point, a demonic lapdog. But, sheesh.

As legendary as this event is for the debut of (Kane) The Undertaker The Undertaker, I'm already bored out of my mind. I think I've seen enough to reach my conclusion. It's not that this event was bad, it was just confusingly boring. Now, make no mistake: the Gobbledy Gooker is one of those ideas which should be drug out into the street and shot. But, the matches in this event were just plain boring. They weren't classics, they weren't Hardcore Homecoming. They were just boring. And, truthfully, that's a bigger sin than having a PPV full of pure craptastically horrible sadness. Why? At least a PPV full of pure craptastically horrible sadness is entertaining in that "so bad, it's sheer comedy gold" sort of way. This? I've had more fun looking at Sunny's ass shots in 2015. At least Sunny's ass is still (somewhat) entertaining...

...but, I picked this. So, let me finish the review.

Next match, team Perfect Hair Forever--I mean, Jack the Snake, The Rockers, and Jimmy Snuka get decimated. This takes close to eighteen minutes. After that? Hulk Hogan, obviously, is the lone survivor in his match. After that, the WWE still wanted to make Tito Santana a thing, so he got the lone survivor treatment. And finally, Hogan and Warrior win the final for the faces.

And the Gobbledy Gooker? I don't think we need to talk about that piece-of-shitload-of-ass.

Happy Thanksgiving and, unless you want that drunk uncle in your family to tell you about "real fighting" and then pass out after ten minutes of ranting about how he could've beaten the Ultimate Warrior's ass "in real life," avoid this like the plague. It is bad because it's so damned boring. I can't even be too funny in this review. My brain's been lulled to sleep.

So, screw it, that's why Survivor Series 1990 is that bad.

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Eyes on the Ring 3:53 PM  2 comments

So, Kevin Owens and Melissa Joan Hart Had A "Twitter Feud"...

By Johnthan Speed (@SpeedontheBeat)

TL;DR: The WWE should actually care more about the celebrities who enjoy wrestling, not the ones they can shoehorn in for a quick, cheap, worthless pop. 

Photo Credit: Wrestlingnews.co

I never thought I'd type those words. I never thought that it'd come to this. But, Melissa Joan Hart, via Twitter, commented on the development of Kevin Owens on the main roster. Hart, as some may know, is apparently a pretty big wrestling fan. So, like some other Kevin Owens fans, she's shown some concern with the direction he's been taken recently on the main roster (ya know, running away from Ryback, tons of cheap heel tactics, etc.) and called creative's booking of him "lazy" versus his indie tenure as Kevin Steen and his early NXT days. Ya know, like most of the IWC.

In some sort of kayfabe-meets-reality twist, Kevin Owens called Hart's shows boring and blocked her. And this has taken on a life of its own, almost towering over Owens' actual match at Survivor Series versus Dean Ambrose. I mean, the hashtag #IStandWithOwens trended and people legitimately blocked Hart. This led to some back and forth, a New Day blocking of Hart, and the following tweet:

My last words on the subject (for now). #RealMenWearPink pic.twitter.com/bIm5hocajW

— Melissa Joan Hart (@MelissaJoanHart) November 17, 2015

I'm slightly dumbfounded that WWE hasn't parlayed this into something bigger. Hart, fresh off of her run on the ABC Family sitcom Melissa and Joey, unlike NeNe Leakes, Kathy Lee Gifford, and many other celebrities WWE has had on their programming, is an actual fan. But, instead of saying "Hey, MJH, are you busy? We want you to appear in Dean Ambrose's corner on Sunday" or something like that to celebrate a celebrity who legitimately gives a crap about them, the most we get is Michael Cole asking Owens about it. I honestly never thought I'd actually care about a celebrity appearing on RAW.

But, that's what happens when the WWE utilizes the worst celebrities possible to push their product (and we have ones who care or could see not as out of place being involved with WWE). For instance, The Muppets. Yes, WWE is family-friendly (kind of) and The Muppets are a great franchise. But having Sheamus and Beaker get into a ginger-off is just saddening. As are the following:

• having Ariel Winter, as great of a little comedic genius--and body posi activist--as she is, getting in on the Hornswoggle Kiss Cam; at least Winter was, somewhat, involved with the product at the time (she was in that abomination The Chaperone)...
• having the aforementioned NeNe Leakes just coming off as an oblivious bitchy Amazon who doesn't know an armbar from a toehold...
• Pee Wee Herman...
• Donald Trump playing the face against Vince McMahon...
• The Three Stooges (ugh)...
• Sunny (I know she has her place in wrestling history, but c'mon!!!)...

...and the list goes on. Now, no, I'm not saying for WWE to bend over backwards to get every celeb who's ever watched the shows on RAW or SD. That'd further dilute the product. But, if you're trying to pseudo-legitimize pro wrestling, having some celebrities who actually give a damn about the product will go a long way

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Eyes on the Ring 4:34 PM  No comment

#DARMidwestWeek - Nathan's Survival of the Fittest Night Two Review

As part of DefineaRevolution.com's Midwest Week, EyesontheRing.com presents Nathan's ROH Review from Hopkins, Minnesota.

Hello Ringers, Nathan here once again with another Ring Of Honor review. This is not a review of last night’s ROH TV episode a day late like we had a few weeks ago. No, I’m forgoing that this week. But, in its place will be a review of the latest (and greatest) event that I attended live in Hopkins, Minnesota over the weekend as we got Survival Of The Fittest Night Two. We have had three shows in Minnesota this year. And out of the three of them this one is not only my favorite but it’s also probably the best one by far. Without any further hesitation and before I hyperventilate due to excitement lets get started with this one.

I once again attended this show with my best friend Joe, you can follow him on twitter @SuperProLando (cheap plug) and we were in section C row 2.  This show although it wasn’t a pay per view it felt like it with the atmosphere and everything surrounding it.  I was extremely excited for this show and I am really happy that it delivered on its promises of being everything I wanted it to be. 

Enough of this housekeeping nonsense lets get down to business and on with the actual review portion of this article.

Dark Match
Shaheem Ali vs. Kevin Lee Davidson

Thoughts: I’ve seen Shaheem Ali a few times live and he’s not that bad but this was the first time I saw Kevin Lee Davidson and I honestly wasn’t all that impressed.  He’s a generic big man and big men for the most part (Hanson and Rowe are the exception) don’t fit the ROH mold and I will always believe that.  This dark match was better than the last one we saw in July but it’s still a dark match and therefore it didn’t really mean much.  The finish saw Shaheem Ali defeat Kevin Lee Davidson with a top rope splash.

Result: Shaheem Ali defeats Kevin Lee Davidson via pinfall with a top rope splash.

Match 1
Cedric Alexander vs. Will Ferrara

Thoughts: This was the official opener of the show and it was a decent match, Cedric always delivers in his performances and for me with Will Ferrara it depends who he is in the ring with.  I like Ferrara don’t get me wrong but sometimes his matches aren’t all that great.  This was a solid match for an opener and a great start to the night.  The finish of the match came when Cedric caught Will Ferrara with the Lumbar Check to pick up the win via pinfall.

Result: Cedric Alexander defeats Will Ferrara via pinfall with the Lumbar check.

After the match, Roderick Strong makes his way out to the ring for a promo. He says that he suffered a recent concussion and because of the strict protocol dealing with concussions in today’s wrestling business he isn’t being allowed to wrestle tonight. It sucks because he might have been a big time player in the match but we will never know. I was hoping they would have named a replacement as a new sixth guy but they decided not to do that and instead do the match with five people only which is fine but we will get to that later.

Match 2
Dalton Castle vs. Adam Page

Thoughts: Dalton Castle makes his way out to the ring sans the boys because they are doing stuff with Silas Young but Dalton is still the man.  This match was very good but on every show it seems like there is a filler match where they don’t know what to do with a few people on the show and I think this might have been one of those situations.  I’m not saying that the match wasn’t good because it was but I just found it to be an odd pairing.  Still these two had a good match that could have gone either way but in the end it was Dalton Castle picking up the win via pinfall after the Whirlybird.

Result: Dalton Castle defeats Adam Page via pinfall with the Whirlybird

Match 3
Mark Briscoe vs. Frankie Kazarian

Thoughts: Okay so remember what I said during the previous match write up about odd ball matches well I think this match fits that mold better than the Castle vs. Page match.  Reason being because both Christopher Daniels and Jay Briscoe were in the main event so they had to figure out what to do with both Mark and Frankie and this is what they came up with.  This match wasn’t bad, I like Mark but I like him better in tag team action and to me Frankie Kazarian is one of the most overrated wrestlers there is but I digress.  The match came to an end when Mark Briscoe came off of the top rope on top of a downed Frankie Kazarian with the Froggy Bow to pick up the win via pinfall.

Result: Mark Briscoe defeats Frankie Kazarian via pinfall with the Froggy Bow.

Match 4
Adam Cole, Matt Taven and Michael Bennett vs. Moose, Hanson and Raymond Rowe

Thoughts: This match was very fun and was one of the best matches of the night. The match was total chaos from bell to bell and all six men did a great job in the match and pulled their own weight.nI could barely keep track of who the legal men were and there were a few times where Scarlett Bordoux had to let us know via the PA system who were legal (because I don’t think she even knew at points).  

Moose was super over with the Hopkins crowd as he usually is everywhere he goes and he put on an excellent performance.  I had doubts about Moose when I first saw him wrestle but he is something special and there is no denying that.  At one point in the match War Machine hit Fallout and I figured that was it but The Kingdom were able to come back and win the match with the top rope spike piledriver. Very fun match and one you should buy the DVD for.

Result: The Kingdom defeats War Machine and Moose via pinfall with A Spike Piledriver

Match 5
Joey “Diesel” Daddiego vs. Cheeseburger

Thoughts: So the man formally known as J Diesel is now known as Joey “Diesel” Daddiego (Kevin Nash called he wants his gimmick back) taking on a guy whose gimmick I wish would change in Cheeseburger.

This match was nothing special.

I’m not a huge fan of Diesel due to the fact that he’s very generic and looks like a baby version of Dave Batista and Cheeseburger has zero business in a wrestling ring if I’m being honest.  I’ve said it countless times but the guy who coined the name “Cheeseburger” isn’t in the company and hasn’t been for quite some time so it’s high time they change his gimmick even though with a new gimmick I still wont take him seriously because by my book he can’t realistically beat anyone.  Anyways this match was what it was, nothing special but nothing overtly terrible either it was just a match that happened and even though I didn’t like this match it didn’t take away from the overall quality of the show.  The match came to a conclusion when J Diesel defeated Cheeseburger.

Result: J Diesel defeated Cheeseburger via pinfall.

Match 6
The Young Bucks vs. The All Night Express

Thoughts: This was the Hopkins debut of The Young Bucks and boy were they over (but not with me of course).  This was a great match between four young hungry guys and it’s matches like these that make me realize just how stacked Ring Of Honor’s tag team division is at the moment.  One of the best matches of the night but still not my match of the night we will save that one for later.  The bucks hit superkick after superkick after superkick per the usual and they couldn’t put ANX away. 

ANX came back with some of their signature offense including the One Night Stand but couldn’t get the job done either so it was very back and forth between these two teams.  The match came to a conclusion when The Young Bucks hit the Meltzer driver (after a failed Indytaker attempt) and picked up the win via pinfall very good match and I’m saying this as a known Young Bucks hater.

Result: The Young Bucks defeat The All Night Express via pinfall after the Meltzer Driver.

Match 7
AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal

Thoughts: Match Of The Night right here, wow what a contest between two evenly matched wrestlers.  I was upset that Hopkins wasn’t getting the fifth match between ACH and Matt Sydal in their best of five series but this was a great match and it might be the best match I’ve seen in the Hopkins Eisenhower Community Center since they started running that venue back in 2013.  This was an evenly matched contest and both guys got their shit in so to speak.  This is one of those matches that you just sit back and watch as a fan and you don’t really care who wins at least that’s what it was for me.  This match was the definition of Instant classic.  Sydal fought off both The Styles Clash and the Bloody Sunday in order to hit the Slice for a near fall.  Sydal missed a shooting star press later on, which was the beginning of the end for him.  Styles followed it up with a Pele kick, Bloody Sunday, and capped it off with the Styles Clash for the win.  Outstanding match.

Result: AJ Styles defeats Matt Sydal via pinfall after the Styles Clash.

After the match the crowd chanted “Next World Champ” to which Styles responded with “You’re Damn Right I Am.”

Match 8
Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jay Lethal and Donovan Dijak

Thoughts: I really liked this match although I would have liked to see Lethal defend the World Title but maybe next time.  Fish and O’Reilly worked over Dijak during the entire match by kicking him in the legs and grounding him.  Later on the House Of Truth would take over and Lethal hit the Lethal Combination on Fish while Dijak hit O’Reilly with a chokeslam.  ReDRagon was able to make a comeback and force Lethal out of the ring to isolate the much bigger Dijak before putting him away with Chasing The Dragon.

Result: reDRagon defeats Jay Lethal and Donovan Dijak via pinfall with Chasing The Dragon.

The BIG takeaway from this match was the fact that Dijak took the pinfall while Lethal didn’t--which is the smart thing to do.

From there we go to the main event of the evening.

Main Event – Match 9
Michael Elgin vs. Jay Briscoe vs. ACH vs. Silas Young vs. Christopher Daniels
2015 Survival Of The Fittest Finals

Thoughts: Very good match but I wasn’t a fan of the finish even though I sensed it coming. ACH hits Silas Young with a German Suplex to pin Young for the first elimination sending Young back to the locker room.

Silas Young has been Eliminated

Daniels put both Elgin and Briscoe through a table even though it was on the opposite side of me so I could barely see it.  ACH hits the Midnight Star (450 splash) on Daniels but before ACH can pin Daniels, Kazarian distracts the referee.  Sydal ran out to brawl with Kaz while Daniels hits a low blow and the Best Moonsault Ever to pin ACH back in the ring.

ACH has been Eliminated

Daniels hits the Angel’s Wings on Elgin but fails to land the BME and received a kick to the face by Elgin. Briscoe was lying in wait and caught Daniels with a Jay Driller and followed it up with a pin on Daniels.

Christopher Daniels has been Eliminated

The match is now down to Briscoe vs. Elgin.  Elgin powerbombs Jay into the barricade on the outside of the ring.  Meanwhile back in the ring Elgin hits a Buckle Bomb but when he went for the spinning sit out powerbomb it was countered into a Jay Driller for the nearest of near falls.  Briscoe goes for another Jay Driller but Elgin hits a Buckle Bomb followed by the Spinning sit out powerbomb (a successful one this time) for a near fall.  Elgin sets Jay on the top rope and puts him across his shoulders Elgin lands a Burning Hammer and picks up the win via pinfall.

Result: Michael Elgin defeats Jay Briscoe via pinfall with a Burning Hammer to become the 2015 Survival Of The Fittest Winner.

After the match, Michael Elgin grabbed a microphone and praised Jay before shaking his hand. Elgin says that by winning Survival Of The Fittest 2015 he has earned a title shot. Elgin says that he has earned both his fame and reputation in Japan and then drops a bombshell by stating that he wants his World Title match against Jay Lethal in Japan on Monday January 4th, in Tokyo Japan at Wrestle Kingdom 10.

Final Thoughts:

Great show this time around and possibly the best show that Hopkins has had so far. A great time and one to definitely check out once it makes it to DVD.

A return date was not announced (due to the fact that it is closer to the end of the year), so chances are that they don’t know when they are going to come back yet.  

That however will do it for me and this special ROH review.  Overall this was a good show albeit with a few missteps here and there but it’s to be expected.  It’s definitely a show I can’t wait to rewatch once it makes it onto DVD.  

In closing make sure to follow me on twitter @Headliner also make sure to follow @EyesOnTheRing and check out http://www.EyesOnTheRing.com for more of my reviews plus all sorts of different article from the entire EOTR team.  Finally, make sure to check out Eyes On The Ring radio each and every Sunday night as we come to you live via http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ElitePodcastNetwork at 11:00pm EST last but certainly not least check out http://www.Facebook.com/EyesOnTheRing and make sure to like us while you are there.  For now? I am Nathan saying so long and keep your Eyes On The Ring!

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Eyes on the Ring 4:16 PM  No comment

Ronda Rousey in Wrestling: Could It Happen?

By Johnthan Speed (@speedonthebeat)

Unless you've been living under a Rock-shaped rock (try saying that five times fast), you've probably heard the news about Ronda Rousey getting her head kicked in by Holly Holm, Daniel Bryan-style, and losing for the first time in her professional career. Now, I'm discussing Rousey two-fold this week. In an opinion piece for boi-1da.com, I'll discuss the ramifications the loss will have on the MMA world. But here? We're talking wrasslin'.

A few weeks back, various wrestling sites commented that Rousey was unlikely to appear at any WWE events. That was, of course, before her loss on Saturday. So, I'm going to play fantasy booker for a bit and see where would Rousey fit in today's WWE.

Now, we're not going to go insane and say "oh, Rousey could compete in the men's cruiserweight division." Why? Because, Rousey or not, I don't see WWE bringing back that title just for a guest star (and believe me, Rousey would be a guest star. No one loses like that and just walks away without entertaining a rematch at some point). Additionally, I don't see her just running roughshod over the Divas division. Triple H and company have built up that division to the point where part-timers, legends (sorry Alundra Blayze), and other one-shots wouldn't really fit in the mix. Additionally, if Rousey were to come in and beat 8 divas in a battle royal, what would that say about everyone involved?

...exactly.

Truthfully, the only person Rousey could face realistically (without having it look like a bigger farce than many would argue it already is) at the moment would probably be Stephanie McMahon. But, their encounter at WrestleMania 31 was a bit underwhelming. Besides, Rousey, even though she'd be the face, she works better as a heel. And I don't see Steph going the light path anytime soon.

So...where could Rousey fit into the WWE's plans at the moment? Probably a guest star that teases a bigger role later. Since Rousey hasn't been in a WWE ring in months, you'd have to reintroduce her as a dominant force for the WWE. But again, with her rematch with Holly Holm looming, I just don't see Rousey effectively being utilized in the WWE. Hell, I'd go as far to argue that the WWE may not need her just yet. Let her get her Holm rematch. Because WWE will be there and, loss or not, Rousey's popularity isn't exactly going anywhere right now.

Summerslam 2016 is where I see Rousey popping back up in a WWE ring. But for now? She's gotta atone for that L.

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Eyes on the Ring 8:09 AM  No comment

Is It Time For Dean Ambrose?

By @Cool_Calm_Chris 

WWE is a weird position right now, one in which they haven’t been in since the New Generation era. Currently, their top two stars in the company in John Cena and Brock Lesnar are away, Randy Orton is out for 4-6 months due to surgery on his shoulder, and the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is out for 6-9 months with a torn ACL, MCL, and a meniscus tear. It was announced on ESPN by Johnathan Coachman that there would be a tournament to crown the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion now that Rollins will be on the shelf. With the champion gone and a number of main event talent on the shelf WWE is in a spot where they need to shake things up and give the fans something worth getting excited for. Roman Reigns is their clear choice for the next top guy, but now is the perfect time to finally give Dean Ambrose a shot to show that he is worthy of being in the main event spot.

The main event scene in WWE is rather dry, not many superstars on that roster are being featured as worthy of being the World Heavyweight Champion. Superstars like the returning Alberto Del Rio and Kevin Owens currently hold the mid card championships in the United States and Intercontinental championships respectively so they are more than likely not going to be featured in the main event. The “New Face of Fear” Bray Wyatt, though he seems like a great choice to be the next World Heavyweight Champion, it would be a waste for them to put him in the spot while he is currently in a program with the Undertaker. What makes things seem worse is that the rest of their talent has been booked poorly and have lost momentum with the fans so a win with a guy like Dolph Ziggler or Cesaro would feel like a waste.

Then you have the two other members of the Shield, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. Roman Reigns is currently being positioned as the next top babyface in the company next to John Cena. With a number of high profile wins under his belt and even a stellar performance against Brock Lesnar in the main event at Wrestlemania 31, Reigns has proven that he can hold his own in the main event spot despite his weak promos and lack of fan support. However, Dean Ambrose has not been booked in the same light as Reigns. Other than having a string of matches against former Shield teammate Seth Rollins, Ambrose has been booked farther down the card than his other former teammates. With Rollins on the shelf for 6-9 months, that could all change.

There are a number of options that could be done to book Ambrose higher up the card, let’s look at the first option, booking him heel. A lot of people will say “booking Dean Ambrose heel would be too obvious and he would get the face reaction” which is a legitimate argument. However, it is not like the idea is too obvious that it would not work. Dean Ambrose is an amazing worker and has shown in the past that he shines better and brighter as a heel, most notably in his work with the Shield and even his work with William Regal in WWE’s former developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling. The idea being too obvious also is not that big of a problem to worry about either, because if they book him in a heel manner then the fans will treat him as such. Just look at Kevin Owens for example, the fans support him, but he is one of the best if not the best heel on the roster and his actions in the ring support that notion. Owens does not waste a movement and is always in heel character no matter what he does.

If Ambrose were to turn heel that would set up a great program not only for the remaining months, but also for Wrestlemania season which is approaching fast. Dean could screw Roman out of a title opportunity and it could help give fans more of a chance to get behind Roman, who has been denied a chance at the title far too often. While Roman works his way back to the title picture during the next few months leading up to Wrestlemania Ambrose could feud with a number of top stars like John Cena or Brock Lesnar who will be returning soon after Survivor Series.

The next option would be to keep Ambrose as a face and turn Reigns heel, which seems like the better choice but is still just as obvious. While it would negate all the work WWE has been putting into making Reigns the next top babyface, it would help him find a relationship with the fans. Much like the Rock in 1997 or more recently the New Day, turning heel allows superstars more creative freedom to find what works best for them and if that is what it takes for Roman Reigns to develop then that might just be the best course of action.

Having him lose to Ambrose clean and slowly build to a heel turn would help cement a great program between the two at Wrestlemania. Roman could use the argument that he had been screwed out of the championship for over a year and Dean Ambrose took away his opportunity. Dean Ambrose as a face when booked correctly would be able to garner a huge reaction from the fans, especially since they already give him resounding cheers.

The WWE is in a unique position, with most of their top stars not around they have a chance to build new main event talent. With this opportunity they have a chance to give Dean Ambrose the push that fans have been waiting for since the Shield split. As much as it would be satisfying to see him take the title from Rollins, now would be perfect to help set up a program with the guy they want to build the future around in Roman Reigns.

-Chris

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Eyes on the Ring 10:28 PM  No comment

ROH Review 11/7

Ring Of Honor Wrestling Review 11/7/15
By Nathan Neumann, Twitter @Headliner5

Hello ringers and welcome back to another one of my weekly ROH TV Reviews, as you know I took last Saturday off due to Halloween but now we are back and ready to get back into the swing of things.  I’m not going to lie tonight’s episode was very forgettable but I will do my best to bring you the action and sound as excited about it as is possible.  It’s not often that something like that happens with Ring Of Honor where I’m not excited about it but every company is entitled to their hit and miss moments and this week’s episode was a definite miss in my book but that’s just my opinion.  It wasn’t by all means a terrible episode just more of an uneventful episode.  However I will stop ranting and we will get to the actual review. 

The show begins as we head inside of the arena, Kevin Kelly is joined on commentary this week by Nigel McGuinness and they promise to update us on the status of Steve Corino later on in the show.  Tonight’s episode features an All Star Extravaganza 7 rematch in the main event.

Match 1
Cedric Alexander vs. ACH

Thoughts: A good match between two former guests of Eyes On The Ring radio but sadly this match didn’t top their “No Loud Noises” match that took place earlier this year that you can view here but it was still a good match regardless of that.  The announcers play up the entire lawsuit that’s going on due to unsafe working conditions (I was hoping ROH would never do something like this but here we are…) Scott and Nigel argue back and forth as Cedric makes his way into the ring.  We are also served a reminder of ACH and Matt Sydal’s ongoing best of 5 series that will conclude during Friday nights stop in Milwaukee for Survival Of The Fittest Night 1 (I’m attending Night 2 live next Saturday so unfortunately I’ll miss seeing this match live by a day but hey I get the SOTF finals so I’m fine with it). 

The fans are solidly behind ACH and Cedric is showing frustration but at the same time he’s playing to his new role perfectly.  One of the key moments of this match happened when ACH knocked Alexander to the outside and then went to do a kick off of the apron to him however Veda Scott stopped it from happening when she got in the way.  ACH stopped short which allowed Cedric to hit the STO on the apron to take control of the match as we go to a commercial break.

Back from break and Alexander still has the advantage, he’s making the crowd boo him and the crowd is completely eating out of the palm of his hand.  ACH gets the advantage with a series of chops and then a reverse thrust kick and follows it up with a running clothesline.  ACH teases a dive to the outside of the ring but this time when Scott got in the way he stopped himself, Alexander got into the ring and tried one of his own but ACH pushes Scott in the way and Alexander once again stops himself.  ACH finally hits a dive to Alexander to finish one hell of a sequence.

Back in the ring both men reset and ACH hits a spinning discus punch and then follows it up with a bridging suplex to get a near fall.  Nigel mentions how the series that ACH has had with Sydal has completely changed him as a wrestler.  Alexander hits an enziguiri and then follows it up with a corner dropkick to maintain control.  He then went for a springboard move that looked like he messed it up but given how the match turned out I think it was part of the plan but it looked really weird.  ACH capitalizes off of this awkward spot and hits a superkick and a brainbuster and follows it up with the Midnight Star to pick up the win via pinfall.

Match Result: ACH defeats Cedric Alexander via pinfall after the Midnight Star
Match Rating: **1/2

After the match, Kevin Kelly conducts an in ring interview with ACH.  ACH said he was going to walk in with the same attitude he had against AJ Styles in his fifth an deciding match with Sydal and that was that.  From there we go to another commercial break.

Back from break Veda and Alexander were at the commentary booth and Scott blamed Alexander’s slipping on the rope due to excessive baby oil usage.  She then once again claimed unsafe working conditions and then screamed at Nigel who didn’t have a mic and then Kelly told her to “Go file a brief” so I guess this is something that is going to happen.  Angles like these have no place in ROH in my opinion; if I want this type of cheesy crap I’ll watch Monday Night RAW or worse Impact Wrestling (no wait I wont to do that I don’t hate myself that much).  From there we go to the second match of the evening.

Match 2
Will Ferrara vs. Caprice Coleman

Thoughts: Before this match started we see a vignette from when Coleman accepted an envelope from Prince Nana from a while back. Coleman cut a promo where he started by praising Ferrara but he then changed his mind and cut him down because for whatever reason Coleman is jealous of Ferrara.  He said “You had a great match against Kushida, but I would have liked to be in your place in that match.”  So it seems like this might be the start of a heel turn with Coleman which if it is that’s fine with me because right now I need a reason to care about Coleman and right now I don’t have that at all.

The match itself was okay but it was nothing to write home about (yet here I am writing about it) The two went back and forth early on and Coleman took over eventually.  Coleman was the aggressor in the match as Kevin Kelly played up the fact that according to him he was doing things “The right way”.  They also made mention of how Coleman has been Ferrara’s mentor so this is your basic Student vs. Teacher encounter (I had no idea this was even a thing).

Prince Nana made his presence felt at ringside and was taking some notes; Ferrara was selling his shoulder after running into the post shoulder first.  The ref asked Ferrara if he wanted to continue but Ferrara toughed it out but was thrown into the post once again by Coleman.  Coleman then grabbed Ferrara’s shoulder in a submission that he called the Judgement seat to force the win via tapout.
Match Result: Caprice Coleman defeats Will Ferrara via submission with the Judgment Seat.

Match Rating: **

After the match, Coleman shook Ferrara’s hand and mockingly put him over to the camera afterward.  On his way to the back Nana handed Ferrara an envelope and he accepted it but acted confused at the same time which also leaves me confused because I have no clue what’s going on.  I have no idea where this is going but I’m fine with it although I hope it goes somewhere that makes sense and that it’s not a complete waste of time.

Up next is Inside ROH but instead of Inside ROH it’s been replaced with “Storytime with Adam Cole” (I hope we get this every week).  He runs down his feud with Kyle O’Reilly he says that he is the better man since he pinned O’Reilly in the three way main event last week.  They then flash back to June of 2012 and their hybrid fighting rules match, which Cole won.  He says his memory of that match was losing his two front teeth and a scar that now rests on his lip that he will have for the rest of his life all thanks to Kyle O’Reilly and a kick from his former partner.  It’s a constant reminder of who the better man is (that being Cole of course).  Cole concludes by saying that he wont stop until Kyle O’Reilly is out of ROH for good.

From there we head back inside of the arena where Kevin Kelly interviews Prince Nana at ringside and asks “what’s in the envelope?” Nana doesn’t answer the question outright and says that this is the “Edge Of Enlightenment” and the keys to life are in that envelope.  No idea what this means but the fans don’t even seem to care.

We then flash to highlights of the Briscoes vs. ANX match from All Star Extravaganza, which will lead us into our main event of the evening.  With ANX getting the win in their first encounter The Briscoes will be looking for revenge this time out.

Main Event – Match 3
Kenny King and Rhett Titus vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe

Thoughts: We get the Code Of Honor obeyed by all four participants before the match gets underway.  The fans begin chanting “MAN UP” as Kevin Kelly mentions the long history of these two teams which originally culminated at Ladder Wars before Kenny King did what he did but they wont mention that and now we are where we are so it all worked out in the end.  They pick up by talking about the return of ANX from a few months ago.  The match was very even in the early goings; ANX takes over on offense after a blind tag that the announcers seem to have missed.  ANX hits a leg drop/Standing Splash combination that gives ANX a two count on Jay but it wasn’t very convincing to the crowd although it was a cool spot.

Titus and Jay begin exchanging kicks to the face before makes the tag to Mark, Mark comes in with a series of chops in the corner on Titus.  Mark then takes out King with a suicide dive to the outside.  A series of Briscoe double-teaming concludes with a running clothesline from Mark on Titus, which gets a near fall.  Briscoes begin cutting off the ring while Isolating Titus in the corner.  Mark tags in and does some Red Neck Kung Fu but Titus gets brief flurry of offense but Jay runs in without a tag to cut Titus off and prevent him from tagging in King.  Mark makes the tag to Jay and knocks King off of the ring apron so he Titus once again can’t make the tag.  From there we go to another commercial break.

Back from the break and The Briscoes are still double teaming Titus but Titus finally makes his way to his corner to tag King but I don’t think it quite got the crowd reaction that they were expecting because it was executed poorly.  King gets a near fall on Mark but it’s broken up by Jay who runs into the ring without a tag.  King sets Mark up for a superplex but hits a dropkick instead.  Titus hits Jay with a top rope X Factor but then gets hit with an exploder on Titus into the ring post but King is the legal man.

Jay once again comes in without making a tag and takes out King while Mark hits a neckbreaker on Titus.  They set up for the Doomsday device but King knocks Mark off of the top rope.  ANX sets up for the One Night Stand on Jay but Mark breaks it up before they can pull it off.  All four men end up on the outside of the ring brawling and the Briscoes get the better of that exchange.  Jay gets Titus into the ring and hits him with the Jay Driller and Mark comes off of the top rope with the Froggy Bow to pick up the win via pinfall.

Match Rating: Jay and Mark Briscoe defeat Kenny King and Rhett Titus via pinfall after Mark Briscoe hits the Froggy Bow.

Match Rating: **1/2

Sadly this was a very forgettable show, if you can only watch one match you should probably watch the main event but there’s honestly no need to see the rest of it.  We didn’t really see too much storyline progression towards Final Battle but that is partly due to their weird taping schedule.

That will do it for me and this week’s ROH review for http://www.EyesOnTheRing.com make sure to visit the site on a regular basis and read my stuff plus everything else that is provided for you because we all work on this stuff for your enjoyment and without you the reader we would have nothing to write.

A quick reminder that next week there will be no review of ROH TV due to the fact that I will be attending Survival Of The Fittest Night 2 live in Hopkins, Minnesota so I’ll end up doing a review of that show in place of my usual ROH TV review and that will come out sometime on Sunday. 

In Closing make sure to follow me on Twitter @Headliner5 and feel free to tweet me your thoughts on anything ROH related or general wrestling talk if you want to chat.

Finally make sure to follow Eyes On The Ring @EyesOnTheRing and check out the radio show each and every Sunday night at 11:00pm EST via http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/ElitePodcastNetwork provided that BTR doesn’t suck on the night that we try and do our show.  Also make sure to like us on facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/EyesOnTheRing Until next time I am Nathan saying so long and make sure to keep your Eyes On The Ring!

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Eyes on the Ring 1:28 PM  No comment