Column of Honor: 08.18.07: Part Two

Hero’s Sandwich

And so it begins again…. Another week of excellence, another week of the single most innovative segment on any website, on the entire Internet, its time for the Hero’s Sandwich with yours truly, Chris Hero at the helm. I know that all of you internet monkeys just sit and wait for my golden words to appear on this website, so rejoice, your favorite time of the week has come again. It’s been quite a week for me, what with my doubly successful weekend last week, and I need to keep this short and to the point, because I can’t miss any more workout time than I already have. I know that all of my recent successes come from one single thing, and that’s because I am without a doubt, the best trained, most skilled wrestler alive today, so, let’s get this show on the road, as they say.

First, I’d like to address my match with Nigel McGuinness last weekend. I’ve received tens of thousands of emails regarding the match and even a few people questioning my methods of victory. Now, before you all judge what went on in the match, I would tell you all that if you weren’t in attendance, you really don’t know what happened. As you might have read or heard, during the match, the house lights went out. Now, I had nothing to do with this and I have no idea why it did happen, I need you all to believe me when I say that I had NOTHING to do with this. Sure, many of you have claimed that I somehow cheated during the “Boston Blackout”, but let me give you the straight dope on this. When the lights went out, I had Nigel in a basic hold, and he grasped the ropes, using one of his breaks. Once I released the first hold, I applied a second, more powerful hold, and he grabbed the ropes yet once again. Right before the lights came on, I immediately reapplied the hold, and he exhausted his third and final rope break. So, it is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT clear that I didn’t cheat or abuse the rules, but in fact, was just a BETTER pure wrestler than Nigel ever could be. I have been saying that to all of you for weeks on end and now it is more than obvious.

My greatness extended into my tag team match with Jigsaw against McGuinness and my favorite Swiss Idiot, Claudio Castagnoli. In this affair, I was the dominant force, easily dispatching those two overrated hacks in no time at all. Taking those two on with a partner was almost unfair for them, as I know that I could easily have taken them on by myself. Sure, Jigsaw did actually get in the ring and do some work in the match, but we all know that when you tag with HERO, its like flying on Superman’s back, or playing the Robin role to my Batman. Some people question my actions towards the end of the match when I caved in Claudio’s skull with MY Race to the Top trophy, but in my estimation, it was only fair, and ultimately the right thing to do. It just felt so good to bash Claudio’s brains in. And when I nearly took out his eye, it was even better! Too bad I didn’t finish the job, you know? ROH and the entire wrestling world would be so much better off without that numbskull. I used to think that Claudio was a halfway decent wrestler, but since Larry and I kicked him to the curb back in December, I’ve come to realize that he’s not half the man that I am, and it’s because of that that I need to take him out. Sure, he did give “Godzilla” Morishima quite a run last Friday night, but at this point, who isn’t taking him to the limit? That overweight mass of blubber is so ripe for the picking, it’s scary. I’m actually rooting for Claudio to win the 3-way elimination match with McGuinness and the Pillsbury Doughboy, so that when we meet in New York City on the 25th, it will be for the ROH Championship, and it will be my opportunity to strike gold.

With that in mind, many of you might be saying that Danielson has an ironclad, contractually guaranteed title match for that night, and if Claudio was to win the aforementioned 3 way match, that he would face Danielson. That’s so far from the truth, its not even funny. My super agent, Larry Sweeney had informed me that the fine print in my contract says that if a match that I have agreed to take part in is cancelled or adjusted in any way, I have the right to sue ROH Wrestling for breech of contract, and that my attorneys at Fleecem, Conem, and Sue will be all over Cary and Gabe like a cheap suit. In fact, Larry seems to think that if I am denied my match that night, I could very well own ROH Wrestling, Inc., within the week. So, based on that fact, I think it’s fair to say that I will be ROH World Heavyweight Champion on Saturday, August 25th, 2007. Claudio stands no chance against me, and he knows it. He’s running scared. He might be better off just handing me the belt immediately after he wins it in Hartford on Friday night. It sure would make things easier for him, and he would still be able to walk away under his own power, and onto a safer way of making his living, most likely on Wall Street or back at the United Banks of Switzerland.

One last thing before I go. I hope all of you fat, out of shape ROHbots are enjoying the vignettes that we are providing to ROH, detailing the Sweet and Sour Inc., workout sessions. Maybe seeing what we are doing with Blobby, I meant Bobby Dempsey, will motivate even some of you couch potatoes to consider working out too. Sure, you might say that some of the techniques that Tank and I are using on him might border on humiliation and torture, but like Malcolm X once said, “By Any Means Necessary”, so that’s how were doing it. These are the methods that the East German Olympic team used to use, and if it was good enough for them, it’s surely good enough for us. Sure, the packages of “Flaxseed oil” from the BALCO Labs have helped a bit, but as you all know, Tank and I are all natural, totally superior athletes. We can’t help it if you’re all jealous of our ripped physiques, but it is the end product of hours upon hours of hard work and pumping serious iron in the gym. And thanks to the four or five-dozen ladies who noticed my ass last weekend. I told you it looked awesome. I hear that even Ari thought it was hot, but that’s a story for another day.

On that note, I will take my leave for yet another week. I’ll be back next Saturday to detail the techniques and methods that I will use in my Championship winning match next weekend. Even if I publish them, it won’t help Claudio beat me, because I am just that much better than him. With that in mind, it is time for me to sign off. Until next week my Hero-ites, this has been your weekly dose of enlightenment; this has been your Hero’s Sandwich. Sayonara, suckers!

WOAH WOAH WOAH, Hero…now it appears that I have grounds for slander (or is it libel? I often confuse the two). I was nowhere near your ass, um, I mean, Boston or Philadelphia last weekend! How dare you…I am offended sir, offended!

Honorarium

-Speaking of, I think I’ve lost more weight in the six weeks I’ve been on my diet than Bobby Dempsey has lost in the FOUR months since he decided to join the Tank Tolland Gymtastic Experience.

-Brad Garoon and Jacob Ziegler both gave Motor City Machine Guns vs. The Briscoes five stars. They rarely give any match above four and a half, so that’s an amazing score. Yet, it’s not even in my own top ten right now. I have to ask, what am I missing here? I didn’t feel it the first go around, but haven’t gotten around to seeing it again. Maybe I’ll do that next week and write down my reaction in the column.

-Fellow 411 writers, I loves ya, but please, get this right: Quackenbush. NOT Quakenbush. QUACKENBUSH. QUACK, like a duck, not Quake, like John Tenta. Or Quaker, like Oatmeal squares or the religious group in Philadelphia (not ECW fans). Q-U-A-C-K-E-N-B-U-S-H. Thank you.

-Did I or did I not call the “Through the ropes into Tornado DDT” finish for El Generico vs. Mark Briscoe? YES! One prediction I made was finally right!

-I’ve been going through the back catalogue of older ROH shows throughout the last few years (I have a lot of time due to summer vacation). I have to say, all the great matches and iconic moments that I’ve rewatched still hold up to this day.

Some of the matches and moments I’ve sat down and viewed this week:

-CM Punk’s “This is Straight Edge” interviews at Death Before Dishonor
-CM Punk & Ace Steel vs. BJ Whitmer & Dan Maff at Death Before Dishonor II Part Two
-Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima from FYF: NYC
-Whitmer vs. Jacobs from Supercard of Honor II
-Joe vs. Kobashi from the event of the same name.
-Cage of Death, CZW vs. ROH from Death Before Dishonor IV
-Joe vs. Xavier from Night of Champions
-AJ Styles & Red vs. The Briscoes from Night of Champions

Some of the things I’ve noticed—Xavier had a ton of talent. In hindsight, yes, he never quite got the crowd reaction justified for a champion (even if at the time the ROH belt was hardly at its current level of prestige and recognizability), but his in ring work was very, very good. I don’t think he quite gets the credit for his in ring because a lot of the time he got “X-Pac heat”. It’s also funny to term it that way, because with the drugs and all, Sean Waltman was STILL a hell of a talented wrestler. It’s just that people got sick of him so much that they didn’t want to see him in a ring until December 31st, 2009.

Samoa Joe looked thinner and trimmer back in 2003, but not nearly as over as he would grow to become over the years.

AJ Styles, Red and The Briscoes could have died several times during their match. While I freaking loved the match back in the day, now watching it in 2007 some of the roughness around the edges about the match are exposed. However, it also gives a great look back at the obvious potential of The Briscoes (teaming for the first time ever on that show) and Chris Lovey’s comments about them becoming future champions certainly were prophetic several times over.

On the other hand, while it’s somewhat sloppy due to the nature of the match style, the Chicago street fight between The Saints and The Prophecy totally holds up to this day. The insane bumps and moves, the hate between the two teams, the Chicago crowd, the blood, the chair riot (which I knew happened but forget when in the match it happened and was thus completely surprised when I saw it again) and the finale of big moves—all still there, all palpable and ever present. I’m very glad I popped this one into my DVD player again, well, except for the commentary as the years have gone on to prove that Mark Nulty’s commentary is akin to scratching fingernails on a chalkboard.

I am now firmly cemented in the camp that BJ Whitmer gets shit on way too much. How he and Jacobs give and give and give in their series and how he was later paid back for it by the reaction of the fans on the internet…my god it’s a shame and a crime. I’ve said it before, that Whitmer will never be “Mr. Charismatic”, the best promo ever, but the man is a good role player in ROH. Live, when he comes through in those “huge moment” matches, the crowd gives him the respect he deserves. On the message boards it’s a whole different story.

Now more than ever I am sure that picking Joe vs. Kobashi as my 2005 match of the year was the right choice.

-Right now, I love whenever talk of ROH wrestlers comes up and people go “he’d be great in TNA or WWE” doing so and so. Guess what? Not gonna happen! At least not for the next two years, because most of those ROH boys are under contract and not going anyway for the foreseeable future. I’m loving that for the first time ROH does not have to worry about these “what if” situations coming true, because they’re now “ROH guys.”

-Rob Halden called on me in his column and said I’d back him up about his thought that Samoa Joe is not an ROH homegrown star but rather a TNA homegrown star. Welllll….maybe, maybe not Rob. See, the reason Joe is a TNA homegrown star is because he got a name for himself as ROH’s “name” star for two years plus. In building up his reputation in ROH and on the indies, TNA finally came calling with that big contract. Now TNA is indeed where the majority of casual wrestling fans would recognize him, probably as “that big Samoan guy who’s on Thursday Nights with Angle and Sting.” So in a way he’s had the most exposure with TNA and would be considered a TNA star, but it didn’t go down without his successful run in ROH. Maybe it could have happened without the ROH World Title reign, but it certainly helped.

ROH Preview: ROH Caged Rage August 24th 2007—Philadelphia, PA

8:00pm belltime
Connecticut Expo Center
265 Reverend Moody Overpass
Hartford, CT 06120

World Tag Team Title Steel Cage Match
Jay & Mark Briscoe defend vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico

Fans in attendance get to see a double cage main event for the first time since Third Anniversary Celebration: Part One at the start of 2005. I happen to love double cage main events and ROH does a fantastic job giving each a reason for occurring. The Briscoes have been knocked back on their own petards by the number one contenders over the last few weeks. They lost the unsanctioned street fight and both singles matches last weekend. Will they now lose their coveted ROH World Tag Titles? Steen has said that he and El Generico have been the uncrowned champions for some time now, but this match and the two out of three falls match in Manhattan are the real opportunities to go out and prove it. They can win and they can beat The Briscoes, but can they do it when the titles are on the line? They will have to show no mercy in the cage to do so. As far as The Briscoes, they’ve been manning up all year, but have they finally reached their break point? This is their toughest defense yet and they need to put it all out there to make it through. Even if they do, Steen and Generico aren’t going anywhere too far.

Steel Cage Match
Jack Evans vs. Roderick Strong

This series of matches has seen Strong dominate Evans in singles matches on U.S. soil. Their match in FIP and then two wins in early 2007. Jack Evans finally responded by winning the Street Fight in his adopted homeland of Japan. He was there with his friends and fans in the Dragon Gate promotion to support him and that extra effort paid off. In the cage, Evans is quite frankly at a disadvantage. He can’t fly unless he goes to the top, in which case he takes extreme risk of injury and changing the momentum of the match against him if he fails. We know Evans is gifted with flight and huge moves and he has no fear of going up there and doing what he needs to do (see Scramble Cage I, Scramble Melee and Steel Cage Warfare as examples of that) but quite simply the environment is better suited to Strong. The NRC leader will ground and pound Evans, use the cage to make Evans bleed and work on submission after submission with no rope breaks to save his former friend and tag partner. Even though the cage match is intended to keep other wrestlers from interfering in the proceedings, an NRC attack is not above happening. Evans has been saying his crew is going to come soon to help him; this match is a good a time as any for it to happen.

My (almost never accurate) prediction? Jack Evans unleashes a devastating 960. That’s right, not a 630, but a NINE SIXTY—a full added rotation to his flip, to finally get the win in this one.

ROH World Title Elimination Match
Takeshi Morishima vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright

Time to go cliché here—if at first you don’t succeed, make it a triple threat elimination match. ROH rarely does triple threat matches (the last one being the ROH Originals triple threat between Christopher Daniels, Homicide and Jay Briscoe at Fifth Year Festival: Dayton). This one should be special because fans have already seen that either Claudio or Brent is equally capable of defeating Morishima. Now they can work together to eliminate Morishima first or let it all hang out and let the better man win. For Morishima’s part, he has never been involved in a predicament like this. He has wrestled in tag matches and one on one title matches. The pressure is on him because he no longer has the championship advantage. He has two very talented opponents to deal with and must focus on solutions to avoiding this becoming a handicapped match.

Another factor that has been brought up by some fans and smartly so is the Albright “hired gun” factor. What is more important to Albright—money or the ROH World Title? He wants both but what if he can only have one in the short term—which will he choose? Can Claudio, with all his money reserves in the Swiss bank account buy Brent off? Or will former champion Bryan Danielson pay Albright to put a hurting on Morishima and pass up on the title now in order to let Danielson win on the 25th and get a title shot later on? That would be BOTH money and the title shot investment made for the future. “The Shooter” may have some choices to make.

First Time Ever
Bryan Danielson vs. PAC

This is a gem of an undercard match right here. PAC make his first United States appearance for ROH, but he has already experienced quite the few matches against wrestlers on the roster both here in America (PWG in particular) and abroad on the European independents. Look for Danielson to torture PAC by taking advantage of the high flier’s mistakes and putting him in uncomfortable submissions and stretches. PAC meanwhile will counter with some mind blowing flying attacks that will get the crowd second guessing about whether or not that was a three count. Danielson is on his way to the ROH World title shot, so the win here is academic unless something freaky happens.

Four Corner Survival
Nigel McGuinness vs. Delirious vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Adam Pearce

Adam Pearce and BJ Whitmer get to fight it out, if they so choose, but not in a singles match but rather in a four way match. Will they be fine with that and slug it out anyway, or will circumstances somehow conspire to have them “team up” or not engage in any physical activity whatsoever? No matter what happens with that issue, you can bet that Nigel and Delirious are each hungry for a win and hoping to catapult themselves back into contention for the ROH World title.

Special Challenge Match
Hallowicked vs. Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney, Sara Del Rey, Tank Toland & Bobby Dempsey

Chris Hero is back on a roll in ROH thanks to his immense talents, inscrutable scruples and the amazing back up of super agent Larry Sweeney, the training of Tank Toland and the resources of Sweet and Sour Inc. Hallowicked has some good moves and a wacky charisma that will keep him in contention during this match, but Hero clearly outclasses even the head of the class in the CHIKARA Monster Factory.

Plus more to be announced with: The Resilience of Austin Aries, Erick Stevens & Matt Cross; Davey Richards; Jimmy Jacobs; Daizee Haze; New England’s own Jason Blade and Eddie Edwards plus more!!!

Going Home

Ringtones

David (karloffelegrande) has a highly speculative theory about who is behind Project161:

Dear Ari,
Thank you for the consistently excellent columns on ROH
(and the Indies by extension). After reading your analysis of Project
161 and then going to the site and reading the Blogs. I have my own
guess, and that’s all it is. The look, attitude, and words do fit
with a former ROH Champion. Unfortunately it is someone who I know is
locked up by Vince and the WWE.

We shall enjoy seeing — as long as it’s not Rob Fein-what’s-his-name.

Man, to quote a Kevin Smith movie (and how would today be different from any other day), “you reached out and touched a brother’s heart.” I’ve been talking up my fandom of CM Punk for years now. If anyone could come back and do this, it would be great for it to be him. However awesome it would be as a fantasy though, realistically it just can’t happen. CM Punk is now a dedicated part of WWE and he has such a busy schedule and as you put it he is “locked up” by WWE. No way, no how would they grant permission for him to take part in what is sure to be a very extensive storyline carrying through at least the end of 2007.

I think if it does end up being Rob whathisname (which it won’t) it would be one of the grossest missteps of all time for ROH. I think the obvious guesses of Adam Pearce and Jimmy Jacobs (maybe) plus BJ Whitmer are still the right ones. If anyone comes back, it may be Christopher Daniels, since this is right down his alley, and if TNA hadn’t stopped its talent from appearing, who knows? Maybe this is what would have become the plans for him in ROH. However, taking into account events from Respect is Earned this seems like a vehicle for Pearce to get over and break through big time.

Thanks for reading and the compliments–I appreciate them greatly.

Jay (jtpwright11) is back in the Column once again and wants to talk Pearce vs. Whitmer (which has since been changed) and then asks for my recommendations for CHIKARA and PWG.

Sup Ari,
Great column! I just wanted to address the Pearce
challenge to Billy Joe Whitmer. I haven’t seen the PPV
broadcast itself, but from reviews, I’m thinking that
this will be Pearce’s way of gauging Whitmer for a
possible position. An audition, sort of like when
Whitmer first fought Jimmy Jacobs in 2004. I get a
weird Raven’s Flock vibe…..OR maybe Rave told Pearce
to test him to see if he’s worthy of being in the NHS?

Take it easy!
Jay

That is very good reasoning on the Whitmer / Pearce match…a test to see his preparedness to take the next step. It should be interesting to see how they play the match-on straight face / heel lines or maybe have them acting strangely, as if they were in cahoots together. The best thing though is that it creates an intriguing situation for what would otherwise be a bland mid card match. But since both are prime suspects / candidates for involvement in Project 161, there is now some mystery and suspense as to what will happen.

I’m interested in checking out chikara and PWG. What
would be no-brainer purchases to introduce me to the
companies? Thanks!!

Alright, everyone, get ready for another edition of Ari’s “No Brainer” Shopping Guide recommendations! Come on down!

Unfortunately PWG comes out with DVD releases very slowly. In fact, my last order of DVD is still in preorder. I don’t buy as much of them as I’d like because of this.

However, a no brainer place to start is the Battle of Los Angeles 2006 three night stand. All three nights are incredibly strong wrestling and feature a great array of talent both homegrown PWG and internationally (lots of Dragon Gate guys there for the tourney). If you just want one, the one to purchase may be night 2 because of the sickening Necro Butcher vs. Super Dragon match that is just crazy insane. Night 3 is also great with two four star El Generico matches (vs. Chris Sabin and vs. CIMA) and an awesome 8 man tag centered around Necro Butcher and the opposing team not wanting to fight him, leading to some great comedy moments and an awesome balls to the wall ending.

Also I give initial recommendations for “Based On A True Story” and “Holy Diver Down” for some PWG Heavyweight title switches, but I haven’t seen them yet.

CHIKARA’s no brainer selection is the 3 night King of Trios tournament. It’s a six man tag tournament but there is also some good singles and tag matches sprinkled in throughout the 3 shows. You get a good taste of the CHIKARA style, which is part wackiness and part Lucha. If you get these shows however BEWARE of Dino and American Balloon–do not eat 30 minutes before watching their matches, otherwise you may vomit in disgust at both their appearance and their in match actions. Again if you only can get one of these shows, Night 3 is probably the one to get since it has the really good semi finals and finals, as well as a nice Hallowicked-Matt Sydal match, Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey, Ricochet nearly killing himself against Claudio and the MATCH OF THE YEAR that is MECHA MUMMY vs. MOKUJIN KEN (ken the box).

You actually shouldn’t overlook night 2 if you’re looking for name value because that has Team PWG (arrogance and Joey Ryan) and Team TNA (Sabin, Shelley and Dutt) in action.

I recommend all three nights, but also keep in mind your expectations of arena and ring standards should not be what they are for ROH releases. Video and audio quality is good to very good on all of these shows though, so no need to worry about that.

Other recommendations: “Rey De Voladores” and “Anniversario?” (with a ? in the title) and when it comes out “Maximum Overdraft” (with Briscoes vs. F.I.S.T. and Quack vs. Black Tiger) looks like it will be awesome.

smartmarkvideo.com runs sales sometimes like 20% orders of 4 or more DVDs so you may be able to buy in bulk if you look out for it. highspots.com less so but sometimes you can catch PWG DVDs on sale in bulk.

**The Independent Buy In**
Support independent pro wrestling, ROH or non ROH, I don’t care. But if you out there are spending so much time complaining about how WWE sucks, then dammit, spend some money so you won’t have to spend so much time complaining. This list stays in the column and will be added to as the year goes on. Remember: don’t bow out, BUY IN!

2007

**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night One (Strong / Romero, CIMA / Cross, Deliirous / Generico, 8 Man Tag)
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 6 (MsChif / Melissa Last Woman Standing, Rebecca Knox / Allison Danger Pure Rules)
**PWG Hollywood Globetrotters (Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong and Jack Evans; Cape Fear (El Generico and Quicksilver) vs. Arrogance (Chris Bosh and Scott Lost); B-Boy vs. Frankie Kazarian; Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin.)
**PWG Beyond The Thunderdome (Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. AJ Styles and Chris Daniels); Cape Fear vs. Arrogance; Joey Ryan vs. Chris Sabin)
**PWG Enchantment Under The Sea (Cape Fear vs. Briscoes; Matt Sydal vs. B-Boy; Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. Arrogance; Austin Aries vs. Kevin Steen)
**wXw World Lightweight Tournament 2006 (Ares / Baron von Hagen, Pac / El Generico, Quackenbush / Roudin, 5 Way Tournament Match)
**ECWA Super 8 Tournament 2001 (Danielson / Low Ki, Danielson / Reckless Youth, Low Ki / Billy Fives, Danielson / Spanky)
**ROH FWA IPW:UK Frontiers of Honor 2 (Sydal / Richards, Cabana / Burridge, JC Thunder / Nigel McGuinness, Danielson / Brookside / Stone)
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night Two (Necro Butcher/Super Dragon, Hero/Horiguchi, Evans/Castagnolli)
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night Three (Generico / CIMA, Hero, Claudio, Necro, Romero / Cabana, Quicksilver, M-Dogg 20, Delirious, Generico / Sabin, Richards / Strong, Evans/ Horiguchi, Richards / CIMA)
**Chikara The Crushing Weight of Mainstream Ignorance (Quackenbush / Akuma, Steel / Steel, Sweeney / Kingston, Hair vs. Mask: Jigsaw / Icarus)
**Chikara King of Trios Night One (Order of the Neo Solar Temple / Los Ice Creams, Miyawaki, Yago & KUDO / Iron Saints, Sweeny, Eliis and Ryder vs. Neo Solar Temple POSEDOWN, Shima Xion / Nobutaka Moribe)
**SHIMMER Volume 7 (Daizee Haze/Cheerleader Melissa, Mercedes Martinez/LuFisto, Sara Del Rey/Nattie Neidhart)
**Chikara King of Trios Night Two (Sabin, Shelley and Dutt vs. Quackenbush, Jigsaw and Shane Storm / Hallowicked, Cheech and Cloudy vs. Lince Dorado, Pantera and Sicodelico Jr. / Olsen Twins vs. Miyagi and Yago / Quack T-Shirt Squad vs. Boyer and 2.0)
**Chikara King of Trios Night Three (Pantera, Lince Dorado & Sicodelico, Jr. vs. Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Shane Storm / Kings Of Wrestling vs. Kudo, Yoshiaki Yago & Miyawaki / Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Shane Storm vs. Kudo, Yoshiaki Yago & Miyawaki / Ricochet vs. Claudio Castagnoli / Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Ray / Mokujin Ken vs. Mecha Mummy / Matt Sydal vs. Hallowicked)
**UWA Hardcore: Hour of the Dragon (Ultimo Dragon / Black Tiger, Chris Sabin / Josh Prohibition, Mike Quackenbush / Claudio Castagnoli, Tyler Black / Josh Ambercrombie)
**Fight Sports Midwest: Chapter One (Samoa Joe / Eddie Kingston, Larry Sweeney / Bryan Alvarez, Josh Ambercrombie / Austin Aries, Hydra / “Old Timer” Jeff King) **Fight Sports Midwest: Chapter Two (Alex Shelley / Low Ki, Mike Quackenbush / Tiger Mask IV, Human Tornado / Josh Ambercrombie)
**CHIKARA: Rey De Voladores (Chris Hero / Claudio Castagnoli, Chuck Taylor / Lince Dorado, Cheech & Cloudy / F.I.S.T. (Gran Akuma & Icarus), Chuck Taylor / Ricochet / Pac / Retail Dragon)
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 8 (Sara Del Rey / Mercedes Martinez, Daizee Haze / Tiana Ringer, Nattie Neidhart / Portuguese Princess Ariel, Allison Danger / Lufisto)
**CHIKARA Anniversario? (Hero / Quackenbush, Hallowicked / Kingston, Pantera & Lince Dorado / Castagnoli & Sweeney, Worker Ant / Hydra, Player Uno / Shayne Hawke)

The ROH List
**Fifth Year Festival: NYC (Samoa Joe / Morishima, Homicide / Rave, Briscoes / Cabana & McGuinness, Albright / Whitmer, Evans / SHINGO / Xavier / Jacobs)
**Fifth Year Festival: Philly (Homicide / Morishima, Sydal & Daniels / SHINGO & Evans, Briscoes / Generico & Steen, Castagnoli / Aries, McGuinness / Perkins)
**Fifth Year Festival: Chicago (Morishima & McGuinness / Joe & Homicide, Cabana / Jacobs, Strong & Richards / Aries & Cross, Daniels & Sydal / The Briscoes, Albright / Castagnoli)
**Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool (Joe / McGuinness, ROH World Tag Team Titles: The Briscoes / Doi & SHINGO / FIP Title: Strong / PAC, 2/3 Falls: Delirious / Matt Sydal) **Fifth Year Festival: Finale (Joe / Homicide, Fight Without Honor: McGuinness / Rave, ROH World Tag Team Titles: Doi & SHINGO / Richards and Strong, Sydal / PAC, Falls Count Anywhere: Whitmer / Jacobs)
**All Star Extravaganza III (ROH vs. Dragon Gate 8 Man Tag, Strong / Evans, Mochizuki / Richards, Cabana / Sydal / Hero / Pearce, Homicide / Daniels)
**Supercard of Honor II (CIMA, SHINGO and Yokosuka / Dragon Kid / Saito / Mochikzuki, Strong / Aries, Whitmer / Jacobs, Evans & Doi / Richards and Romero, McGuinness / Hero, Daniels & Sydal / Delirious & Jay Briscoe)
**Fighting Spirit (ROH World Title: McGuinness / Morishima, Jay Briscoe and Erick Stevens Mark Briscoe / El Generico & Kevin Steen, Evans & Delirious / Strong & Romero, Claudio / Romero, Cabana / Williams)
**The Battle of St. Paul (ROH World Title: Morishima / Aries, FIP Title: Strong / Daniels, Delirious / Stevens / Romero / Evans, Albright & Pearce / Homicide & Cabana/ ROH World Tag Titles Ultimate Endurance)
**Good Times, Great Memories (ROH World Tag Team Titles: Briscoes / Murder City Machine Guns, Roderick Strong / Jack Evans, ROH World Title: Morishima / SHINGO, Austin Aries / Rocky Romeo, Adam Pearce / Colt Cabana, 6 Man Mayhem: Deliirous, Quackenbush, Hallowicked, Jigsaw, Akuma, Primeau)
**A Fight at the Roxbury (Four Corner Survival: Quackenbush / Hero / Castagnoli / McGuinness, ROH World Title: Morishima / Jay Briscoe, El Genercico / Matt Sydal, Steen / Briscoe, Danielson / Rave)

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ROH @ 411 This Week

411Mania has another week full of ROH content for you, including some different writers who don’t usually comment on the Honortastic goodness. Let’s see what extra reading is in store for you this week:

Matt Sforcina is in for the first time in a while with an Evolution Schematic on a belt that passed on too soon, the ROH Pure Title. You get to use three rope breaks when reading this column.

Brad Garoon and Jacob “I before e” Ziegler come in with two very impressive reviews of the excellent April ROH shows The Battle of St. Paul and Good Times, Great Memories. Match of the Year, Show of the Year goodness kids.

In case you missed it, last week’s The Triple Threat includes an exclusive interview with “Sweet and Sour” Larry Sweeney.

ROH talk creeps its way in to the CHIKARA themed Buy or Sell with Magnus Donaldson and the ROHwrestling.com message board’s current piñata Ryan Byers!

Alex Mattis covers the rest of the Independent scene with mentions of Briscoes vs. Steenerico on The Best of the Rest.

Honor Bound Links

Friday News Reports and Larry Sweeney stories come in thanks to Mr. Nicholas Marsico. John Meehan deals with death, drugs and dropping TNA wrestlers in the Saturday News.

Stuart “Mr. Controversy” Carapola has one of the more out there and polarizing columns of his career in the newly formattedFriendly Competition. A cavalcade of emails awaits thee Stu, but hopefully the funny stories about your town folk will save you.

Jordan Linkous, who I don’t get to pimp often enough, has a great run through of PWG’s All Star Weekend 4.

Sat & Uncle Tunx go High Road / Low Road on Pac Man…oh come on guys…that’s too freaking easy.

Rob Halden with one of the more awesome columns of his 411 tenure about Kurt Angle and TNA in this week’s You’re An Idiot. A freaking men Rob.

Bayani…also A freaking Men!

Michael Weyer is good friends with Ron Simmons…DAMN! At least it isn’t Richard Simmons.

Wrestling 4R’s goes postal on TNA and I can’t blame Larry Csonka one bit.

411 Wrestling with Steve Cook asks the tough questions and gets some tough answers.

That is going to put an end to the column this week. Next time around, Caged Rage results and my preview of the NYC show with Danielson vs. Morishima. Speaking of, I’ll have the third part of my Rivals series, this time focusing on that main event title match. Then Honor Culture looks at the power of Ole!

Brooklyn! DAH EM BAH SEE!
–Ari–