The Best Of The Rest 7.25.07: Volume 6

This Week’s Spotlight:
The Briscoes Vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
What started as something that seemed like a one time match, and another one of Steen and Generico’s on and off again ROH appearances has turned it to one of the most heated feuds within Ring Of Honor since Homicide-Bryan Danielson. Jay and Mark have always been a major part of the ROH roster, and many times have looked like on any given night, they’re unstoppable. Along came Steen and Generico and put on an excellent match, but lost, against the Briscoes during the FYF. Many may have thought that Steenerico was done once again with ROH. Kevin and Generico resurfaced and turned into a serious thorn in the side of Jay and Mark, and even defeated them. Given the fact that Mark had a serious concussion at the time. It would appear the team of Steen and The Generic Luchador had the Briscoes number. At “Respect Is Earned,” ROH’s first PPV, instead of the Briscoes being able to celebrate their successful title defense against Matt Sydal and HEEYYYY Claudio Castognoli, they were attacked by Steenerico, which led to a bench-clearing brawl between the two tag teams. It was clear that the war was on. And now we are at a stand still and entering a 5 match series between these two teams. First the two teams will headline the 1st night of the “Death Before Dishonor V” weekend on August 10th in an Non-Sanctioned Boston Street Fight, a big match considering the fact the DBD is one of ROH’s biggest shows of the year. Then on the 2nd night of the weekend, August 11th, Jay and Mark will face Steen and Generico in singles matches. The matches and stipulations are yet to be decided but you get the jist of it. Fast forward to August 24th, the feud will be taken to another level when these two teams are locked inside a steel cage. This match should be an intense, bloody, brawl. The finale of this series will be a match that the Briscoes have made their specialty, a 2 out of 3 falls match. Jay and Mark have taken Aries-Strong and the King’s Of Wrestling and beaten them 2-0. Can Steen and Generico win this match? Can they even make it 2-1? If Jay and Mark successfully defend their straps against Nigel and Danielson this weekend then their belts will be on the line in some of these matches. I have a feeling that at the end of this series Ring Of Honor may have new tag champs.

Upcoming Show(s) Preview:
IWA-MS has two shows coming up with several matches that caught my eye. This weekend, July 28th, there will be a winner takes all 3 way dance between Low Ki, Chuck Taylor, and Brandon Thomaselli. IWA-MS’s Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight titles will be on the line in this one. There will be no count out. There will be no DQ. There must be a winner. Low Ki absolutely dominated IWA-MS, he even won the TPI, until Chuck Taylor handed him his defeated using heel tactics of doom. In an effort to redeem himself, Ki challenged Thomaselli and lost again due to those damn heel tactics. Now Low Ki will attempt to “totally redeem himself” (-Llyod Christmas) and avenge his two losses while capturing the gold. Also this week I read about two matches for IWA’s August 4th show and wow… It’ll be two matches pitting “Hardcore’s Best” against “Strong Style’s Best.” The first match will have Roderick Strong against Toby Klein. Stiff chops and kicks will fly wildly in this one. And I also read about an even more interesting match between Davey Richards and the one and only Necro Butcher. I can’t wait to see what happens when the sheer intensity of Richards meets Necro’s fists. I don’t know if people realize just how awesome this match could be. Davey has risen through the ranks of Indy wrestling very quickly but has never battled anyone quite like Necro, a victory over Necro could be a feather in his cap. And from Necro’s point of view it’s just another day and another chance to kick someone’s ass. I hope these two singles matches somehow lead to a showdown between the Tough Crazy Bastards and the NRC.

The Plug Zone:
Who: WWE
What: Brian Pillman: The Loose Cannon
When: May 22, 1962 – October 5, 1997
Where: Billed from Cincinnati, OH
Why You Want To Own This DVD: One of the most interesting, influential, and underrated wrestlers of the 90’s, and a personal favorite of mine, Brian Pillman’s life is covered in this great documentary. The E may not being putting out a product I like, but their DVD documentaries are always solid. This DVD covers the life of the “Loose Cannon.” From his days on the Cincinnati Bengals, to his years in WCW where he and the likes Jushin Liger helped bring the “cruiserweight” style to the forefront, where he formed the tag team “The Hollywood Blonde’s” with Steve Austin, where he also developed the “loose cannon” character while being a member of the Four Horsemen, on to his short but important run in ECW, straight up to his final days as a member of the Hart Foundation in the WWE. All is covered in this DVD and the bonus disc features some classic matches. His famed bouts with Liger, the classic War Games match with Pillman-Sting-Steiner’s Vs. The Four Horsemen, a true 5 star classic between the Hart Foundation and the team of Stone Cold-Ken Shamrock-Goldust-LOD, and more. If you’re not familiar with the work of Pillman, if your a fan, or if you just want to see a true master of the craft pick up this DVD on one of the main players that helped usher in the “Attitude” era.

The Stoppage:
-What a fiasco with Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca. This has already been a year of steroid shockers in the MMA community, first Royce Gracie and now this. It does surprise me that fighters will take steroids. It isn’t like pro wrestling where some can get away with it. It is recognized as a legit sport and you will get caught. But I’m not a fighter so I can’t tell you, nor do I know what their motives were for doing it. This puts the lightweight division of the UFC in an odd spot, however. If Sherk is to be stripped of the title, it’ll be interesting to see who is named the number one and number two contenders. Obviously Franca would have been taken into serious consideration but now that is out of the question. But there is still the chance that Sherk tested a false positive and is innocent, it’s another one of those things were we’ll have to sit back and see how it all pans out.

-UFC made it official this week that at UFC 75 Matt Hamill will fight “The Count” Michael Bisping. Bisping is putting his undefeated streak on the line against possibly his toughest opponent yet. Bisping could clearly win the standing game but if Tito’s golden boy from TUF 3 can get take Michael down and ground-and-pound, “The Count” could be looking at his first defeat. Bisping should try to end the fight quick, and not get himself in trouble like he has done in the past, just look at the Elvis Sinosic fight.

-Also this week UFC made it official that Frank Mir will be on the UFC 74 card. Mir was one of my favorite fighters back when he was dominant, so it has saddened me to see he last few fights, it pains me even more to see him being on the prelim’s. I’m hoping for a dominant victory in this fight. Not just because I’m a fan of his, but he needs to make his way back up into the top ranks.

In honor of the Simpsons movie coming out this weekend, I present…
This Week’s YouTube Sendoff

Well my cable company finally started running the ROH PPV, so next will I will have a review for that. Also Chris Hero will be making his Texas debut this weekend and I’m sure a shit going to be there, so I’ll have something to say about that next week.

Feedback is always welcome at [email protected]

Take care, be sure to check out the Simpsons movie this weekend.