The Best Of The Rest 8.22.07: Volume 10

The Final Countdown To Redemption:
It happens this Saturday night. “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson will finally get his re-match for the ROH World Title. After losing an amazing match to Homicide Danielson went into exile to rehab his injuries. Upon returning to ROH, the landscape was vastly different. A beast named Takeshi Morishima now sat at the throne of Ring Of Honor, and destroyed all who tried to take his world title. At “Respect Is Earned” Danielson and Morishima faced off for the first time, Bryan took what he thought was his title and threw it over his shoulder. Morishima didn’t take to kindly to this and delivered a backdrop driver to Danielson. Now they’re paths have crossed once again. This Saturday in NYC, Bryan Danielson will attempt to become the first man to hold the ROH World Title twice. But the question has to be raised “Who can stop Morishima?” Of course there is still that chance that either Brent Albright or HEYYYY Claudio Castagnoli could win the strap from Takeshi this Friday in their three-way dance title match. But for the sake of this piece lets assume that this Saturday night we will see Bryan Danielson Vs. Takeshi Morishima. I do believe that “The American Dragon” will be the next ROH World Champion, but I’m not sure if he will derail Takeshi this soon.

The Plug Zone:
Who: Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling
What: Unstoppable: The Best Of Samoa Joe
When: Spanning from June 2005 to January 2006
Where: As to be expected with TNA, “The Impact Zone” in Orlando, FL.
Why You Want To Own This DVD: Remember the days when TNA’s booking was very good? More importantly, remember when TNA booked Samoa Joe very well? Well if you do or if you don’t you should relive this great time of wrestling. Samoa Joe came into TNA like a wall of fire, defeat all comers, building his credibility, and ultimately earning a shot at the X-Division title, winning the title, and picking apart any one that came near it. During this adventure that we call “Joe’s 1st year in TNA,” Joe had some excellent matches with Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Jushin Liger. We also get some fun iMpact matches with Delirious, Amazing Red, and Jay Lethal. And best of all the five star classic triple threat match between Joe, AJ, and The Fallen Angel. To me, the best DVD TNA has ever released. Even if you despise the company, any wrestling fan should still own this DVD.

Brief SummerSlam Preview:

What!? Preview an upcoming show from the WWEvil Empire? Well, I’m asking the same question. Why am I so jacked for this show? Not only that but why is it that I’m so jacked about one match? Well the fact is, I’m jacked. Not for the event as a whole, just for the main event. John Cena Vs. Randy Orton. Far be it for me to look forward to a John Cena match but it looks as though Orton, one of my favorite wrestlers, is going to be the one to knock Cena down off his pedestal. This match has been given a good amount of solid build, and most of all its two young faces headlining the 2nd biggest show of the year. As much shit as I talk about Cena no one can deny he has really been busting his ass this year, and when he’s paired up with a solid wrestler some pretty damn good matches have been put out. I expect his much with the always-improving Orton to be no exception. I eagerly await seeing Cena’s shoulders pinned to the mat for the 3 count. Elsewhere, I’m excited to see Morrison and Punk turn out what should be their best match yet. Expect Punk to take the gold in this one. The return of Triple H is this Sunday… yay… hold long ’til he gets the belt? Elsewhere, a good snack break will occur with Batista Vs. The Great Khali and Rey will wrestle Chavo. Nothing to be excited about, but its not like Chavo and Rey ever have bad matches.

The Stoppage:

Aretha Franklin will be singing loud in proud this Saturday night, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship presents UFC 74: Respect. An interesting card that promises to bring some intensity.

*Just a few notes on the prelims:
-It would seem that it is due or die for Frank Mir. A personal favorite of mine has fallen a long way since his accident, he is not the same fighter he once was, and the former heavyweight champion is now fighting on the prelims. If he wants to re-establish himself, or even wants to have the UFC take another look at him and extend his contract he needs a very impressive win here. Even if he has a highlight reel knockout, I’m just don’t know how much more of Mir we may see in the octagon.

-The same can be said for Babalu. At one time he was a serious contender in the light heavy weight division, he now is back at the bottom of the UFC ladder. An impressive showing for him here is crucial.

*Now on to the main card:
-My eyes will be glue to the screen as GSP returns to the octagon to face Josh Koscheck. Expect to see a different GSP than before, more aggressive. The loss to Matt Serra looks to have put gasoline on the fire that was already lit under St. Pierre. Now, Kos is good, he’s a baby-back-bitch, but he is good. He did exactly what he said he was going to do against Diego, he picked Sanchez apart. But I compare this one to Silva-Marquardt from UFC 73. Kos has looked great thus far, but he hasn’t been hit by a really striker yet. Same went for Marquardt, and we all saw what happened. When GSP lands a solid strike Kos may panic and try to shoot, from there GSP will go for the finish. I expect St. Pierre to overwhelm Kos in the 1st and end the fight by TKO in the 2nd. Although if GSP plays his cards right, we may be looking at a 1st round stoppage.

-“Captain America” looks to defy the odds once again as he takes on Gabriel Gonzaga in the main event of the evening. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t want to predict against Randy because he always surprises. This will be quite a test for him, as Gonzaga is a tough, tough man. And Randy is going to have a hard time with Gabriel on the ground, unlike previous opponents, Gonzaga has some serious submission skills. Who ever the victor, I would say the longer it goes the more it favors Couture. We’ve seen that Randy can go the distance, that seems to be somewhat of a question mark for Gonzaga. I’m not going to lay down a prediction for this one, as it seems too hard for me to call.

*My predictions for elsewhere on the main card:
-Joe Stevenson over Kurt Pellegrino by 2nd round submission
-Roger Huerta over Alberto Crane by 1st round KO or TKO
-Kendall Grove over Patrick Cote by split decision

Well that’s it for me this week. Everyone enjoy UFC 74 and SummerSlam, and for those of you attending ROH’s shows this weekend enjoy the Danielson-Morishima showdown. Everyone take care and if you haven’t seen Superbad yet do so ASAP.

Remember, as always, feedback is welcome at [email protected]