10. The Shore: Robbie E and Cookie were paired together with Jersey guido gimmicks in TNA's attempt to cash in on the Jersey Shore's popularity. The only notable moments were Cookie's catfight with J-Woww after Bound For Glory and Robbie E's X Division title reign, both early in the gimmick's lifespan. Less than a year later, Robbie became a jobber and Cookie is no longer employed by TNA, which shows how "successful" this gimmick was.
9. Black Reign and Rellik: These two are lumped together because they were a team for most of their latest TNA runs. Black Reign was a schizophreniac who put his rat Misty over his opponents' heads while Rellik was famous for this promo: "Eric Young, let me give you a preview of what I'm going to do to you to-knife(that's right). I'm going to drill a hole into your skull and suck out your brains with a straw!" (sliver/slurp sound) "Then I'm going stick my claw through your chest, and RIP OUT YOUR HEART AND EAT IT!(shouting) Finally, I'm going to poke both your eyes, out of your skull and stick em in a martini and drink it after my victory, the same martini I'm going to stir it with the finger that I bite off your hand, get the picture?" The announcers also mentioned constantly that his name was "killer" spelt backwards.
8. The Governor: In late 2008, Daffney, well known for her work in WCW and in the independent circuit, desbuted in TNA. Her first gimmick? "The Governor", which was basically Daffney impersonating Sarah Palin in an attempt to capitalize on the presidential election that year. Fake celebrities NEVER work, and this was no different.
7. Nation Of Violence: In 2009, Samoa Joe returned from a worked injury as the one man "Nation Of Violence". While he was booked as a monster, going through the top heel stable, the Main Event Mafis, throughout the first half of the year, this is seen as the low point of Joe's career. Why? Many reasons. His face was painted with a design that resembled a penis, he wore very baggy pants (that didn't work well for him), got a buzzcut (same as the pants), and carried a MACHETE with him. The image was what made this gimmick one of the worst.
6. Voodoo Kin Mafia: BG and Kip James, the former New Age Outlaws, debuted this gimmick on November 16, 2006, shortly after quitting TNA storyline-wise as the James Gang. As the Voodoo Kin Mafia, they shot on WWE every week for two months until they called out Shawn Michaels for a fight at "high noon", which predictably never took place, then feuded with Christy Hemme over their differing views of how women should be treated, culminating in a feud with the Bashams, and then turned heel.
5. Prince Justice Brotherhood: Eric Young, Christopher Daniels, and Shark Boy joined forces under various gimmicks to become a group of superheroes. Eric Young Was Super Eric, Daniels was Curry Man, and Shark Boy was Stone Cold Shark Boy. Their most notable achievements were searching for Val's wedding ring and being the judges for the talent competitions between Taylor Wilde and Angelina Love. This is an example of why cartoonesque storylines don't work in wrestling.
4. Orlando Jordan: In his TNA run, OJ was a VERY stereotypical gimmick of his real life bisexual orientation. Some of his antics included squirting white liquid all over his body, chewing gum and licking lollipops before trying to put them in So Cal Val's mouth, and wearing a diaper in a backstage segment. Most of this stuff was very cringeworthy to watch and did NOTHING to get him over at all.
3. Abyss- Mental Patient: In the beginning of 2009, shortly after his return from a lengthy absence, Abyss was featured in a series of backstage skits with "Dr. Stevie". During this time, Abyss developed a lot of undesirable traits, such as sounding mentally challenged whenever he spoke, having Lauren as his girlfriend, and clapping his hands during his babyface comebacks. They still portrayed him as a monster during this period when his character traits made many fans fail to take him seriously.
2. Big Fat Oily Guy: All this was was TNA's answer to Big Dick Johnson, a WWE obese male dancer gimmick who made cameos on Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and PPVs. Just as pointless and just as embarrassing to watch as the original.
1. The Power Of The Ring: On February 18, 2010, Hulk Hogan gave Abyss his WWE Hall Of Fame ring in order to give him immortality, like Hogan had in the prime of his career. As a result, Abyss started acting like Hulk Hogan, even to the point of hulking up during his matches, using Hogan's WCW theme as his new theme music, and the story based around the Hall Of Fame ring, from the RIVAL promotion, was often the main focus of the shows. So much wrong with this storyline and I still to this day wonder why anyone thought that this was a good idea.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
TNA: Less is More
One of the most common themes of TNA/Impact Wrestling over the last few years, and especially during the last year and a half, is quantity. Stables and constant face/heel turns have always been a staple of the product, televised gimmick matches have been a staple throughout Russo's current TNA run, and world title changes have started to become one lately as well. While I understand why they take place, as it differentiates themselves from the WWE, they aren't beneficial to the product when they're overdone.
Stables: I'm a sucker for stables, as they can be a very efficient way of building young talent (Evolution was a major factor in Randy Orton and Batista's rises to the top) and stable wars can make for very good TV, but looking back, there has ALWAYS been a stable throughout TNA's run. Sports Entertainment Xtreme, The Gathering, The New Church, Kings Of Wrestling, Team Canada, Jarrett's Army, Christian Coalition, Angle Alliance, Frontline, Main Event Mafia, World Elite, Fourtune, and Immortal. That's close to 1.5 stables A YEAR! Very repetitive, but if all these stables were built for the purpose of getting younger talent over I wouldn't have a big gripe about it. Most of these stables were built mainly for the purpose of having a stable and getting wrestlers on the shows, as the young talent in these stables haven't benefitted much.
Face/Heel turns: This has been a huge problem since TNA hired Vince Russo in late 2006, but has gotten even worse since Hogan and Bischoff arrived. In the Hogan/Bischoff era alone, there have been over 50 turns. FIFTY! While I don't agree with keeping wrestlers face or heel for TOO LONG (Cena's been face for almost eight years and Rey's been face for nine years), as it can make the characters they portray very stale, turning your wrestlers so often in such a short frame of time makes the shows very difficult to follow, especially for the casual fan. For example, Mr. Anderson has flipped back and forth between heel and face for pretty much the entire year! That just shouldn't be happening. If you swerve the fans at least once every month, the swerves will stop meaning anything and the only real swerve would be to NOT swerve the fans.
World Title changes: TNA was always very good about this, and at times superior to WWE (in 2009 the main titles changed hands at almost every WWE PPV), but this year, there have been seven title changes, which results in a little under one per month. If the world title changes hands that many times, the title changes don't mean anything, because they happen every month. 3-5 months should be the goal for every title reign, with short and long ones on occasion to provide something different to keep it from being too predictable, as it's enough time to prevent the reign from being completely pointless, and not enough time for the reign to get stale if booked properly.
Gimmick Matches on TV: This has also been a constant issue of the Russo era. Matches like street fights, cage matches, ladder matches, and even the Ultimate X have been featured on Impact lately. In WWE, TLC, Money In The Bank, Hell In A Cell, and the Elimination Chamber are NEVER on Raw and Smackdown, and as a result have retained their aura as big matches. Like the title changes, when gimmick matches are given away too often, especially on the TV shows, they don't feel as special anymore because they're done so often.
TNA/Impact Wrestling should tone down the pace of their booking and realize that less is more. First off, they need to have a solid long-term plan in regards to their booking and writing, figure out who they want to push, and always have a plan B in case something goes wrong. Second of all, TNA should book their shows at least a month in advance, which would keep things flowing well throughout the monthly PPV build, and making the shows easier to follow due to the long-term plan. And third of all, make the stables, face/heel turns, title changes, and gimmick matches matter! If you do them too much, they will stop being special because they're done so often. Less is more.
Stables: I'm a sucker for stables, as they can be a very efficient way of building young talent (Evolution was a major factor in Randy Orton and Batista's rises to the top) and stable wars can make for very good TV, but looking back, there has ALWAYS been a stable throughout TNA's run. Sports Entertainment Xtreme, The Gathering, The New Church, Kings Of Wrestling, Team Canada, Jarrett's Army, Christian Coalition, Angle Alliance, Frontline, Main Event Mafia, World Elite, Fourtune, and Immortal. That's close to 1.5 stables A YEAR! Very repetitive, but if all these stables were built for the purpose of getting younger talent over I wouldn't have a big gripe about it. Most of these stables were built mainly for the purpose of having a stable and getting wrestlers on the shows, as the young talent in these stables haven't benefitted much.
Face/Heel turns: This has been a huge problem since TNA hired Vince Russo in late 2006, but has gotten even worse since Hogan and Bischoff arrived. In the Hogan/Bischoff era alone, there have been over 50 turns. FIFTY! While I don't agree with keeping wrestlers face or heel for TOO LONG (Cena's been face for almost eight years and Rey's been face for nine years), as it can make the characters they portray very stale, turning your wrestlers so often in such a short frame of time makes the shows very difficult to follow, especially for the casual fan. For example, Mr. Anderson has flipped back and forth between heel and face for pretty much the entire year! That just shouldn't be happening. If you swerve the fans at least once every month, the swerves will stop meaning anything and the only real swerve would be to NOT swerve the fans.
World Title changes: TNA was always very good about this, and at times superior to WWE (in 2009 the main titles changed hands at almost every WWE PPV), but this year, there have been seven title changes, which results in a little under one per month. If the world title changes hands that many times, the title changes don't mean anything, because they happen every month. 3-5 months should be the goal for every title reign, with short and long ones on occasion to provide something different to keep it from being too predictable, as it's enough time to prevent the reign from being completely pointless, and not enough time for the reign to get stale if booked properly.
Gimmick Matches on TV: This has also been a constant issue of the Russo era. Matches like street fights, cage matches, ladder matches, and even the Ultimate X have been featured on Impact lately. In WWE, TLC, Money In The Bank, Hell In A Cell, and the Elimination Chamber are NEVER on Raw and Smackdown, and as a result have retained their aura as big matches. Like the title changes, when gimmick matches are given away too often, especially on the TV shows, they don't feel as special anymore because they're done so often.
TNA/Impact Wrestling should tone down the pace of their booking and realize that less is more. First off, they need to have a solid long-term plan in regards to their booking and writing, figure out who they want to push, and always have a plan B in case something goes wrong. Second of all, TNA should book their shows at least a month in advance, which would keep things flowing well throughout the monthly PPV build, and making the shows easier to follow due to the long-term plan. And third of all, make the stables, face/heel turns, title changes, and gimmick matches matter! If you do them too much, they will stop being special because they're done so often. Less is more.
Friday, July 29, 2011
The 10 worst skits/storylines/matches of the PG era
The WWE PG era, despite the increase in quality over the last month's worth of shows, maintains a bad reputation amongst online wrestling fans, in which one of the reasons is a multitude of skits, storylines, and matches that are so bad that you don't want anybody you know who isn't a fan to find out that you watch wrestling. These skits represent every negative stereotype of pro wrestling (stupid, fake, etc.), hence why they're listed.
10. Hornswoggle/McMahon Kiss My Ass Club- On February 4, 2008, the top of the hour segment featured Hornswoggle being entered into the Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club. This segment lasted almost 15 minutes with Mr. McMahon in the ring with his pants pulled down to reveal his pink underwear, and yelling at Hornswoggle to kiss his ass constantly. In the end, Hornswoggle BITES McMahon's ass, which results in Hornswoggle vs. Vince in a cage match for the next show. One of the worst segments in the McMahon illegitimate son storyline.
9. Hornswoggle is named Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son- The Vince McMahon illegitimate son storyline was the WWE's second attempt at a major storyline for the summer months in 2007. Their first attempt was "who blew up Vince's limo?" where Vince died storyline-wise, but was scrapped when the Benoit tragedy occurred. While this storyline on paper is pretty lame as it's the typical soap opera storyline, the original plan was for Mr. Kennedy to be the illegitimate son, which I was looking forward to as Kennedy had lots of momentum on Smackdown for several months, and even won the Money In The Bank briefcase, at Wrestlemania 23 before getting injured and losing the briefcase a month later (which I still don't get because the storyline was that he'd cash it in at Wrestlemania 24, which he returned WAY before). Then, his name was listed with a bunch of other wrestlers on a list of performers who purchased steroids from an online pharmacy, and was suspended for violating WWE's wellness policy as a result. For a storyline that was designed to boost a fresh talent to main event status, did they replace him with another wrestler with main event potential? Nope, Hornswoggle was named Vince's son on September 10, 2007. This resulted in months of lame comedy and the BIG payoff for this angle was Finlay (who was then revealed to be Hornswoggle's real father, making the whole thing pointless) vs. JBL at Wrestlemania 24. Nobody benefitted from this storyline at all.
8. McMahon/Kroenke confrontation- On May 25, 2009, Raw took place in the Staples Center. It was originally scheduled to be in the Pepsi Center but the Denver Nuggets had a home game in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, and obviously Vince McMahon had to book Raw in another building. To stick it to Stan Kroenke, he books Raw at the Staples Center, the home of the Lakers. In the opening segment, he had a confrontation with "Stan Kroenke", the first of two parody celebrity appearances (Jack Nicholson being the other). In the segment, Vince humiliates "Kroenke" after noticing that his middle initial was "E", which stood for "enis", which of course rhymed with "penis". Yeah. And in the main event, he booked the "Lakers" vs. "Nuggets" in a 5 on 5 tag match main event (Lakers were babyfaces while the Nuggets were heels), with the wrestlers on each "team" wearing the team jersey with their ring names on the back. Unsurprisingly, the "Lakers" won. Vince put in so much effort to make Stan Kroenke look bad but ended up coming off completely childish with all the juvenile jokes and booking the "Nuggets" to lose in the main event. All of this when the Extreme Rules PPV was only two weeks away, yet there was little to no build for it because of Vince's need for revenge. This should have been the worst, but there are SO many skits on this list that feature plots that shouldn't even be on live TV!
7. Tiger gets chased on Raw with a golf club- No, not the actual Tiger Woods, but a guy in a tiger suit, who got chased by a random girl with a golf club in her hand, and tiger growls played on the speakers when the tiger was chased in the ring during the opening segment. If this was WWE's attempt at being clever, they failed badly here.
6. Little People's Court- I'm sure you're a bit surprised that this isn't being ranked higher (or lower) but there are actually worse skits than this. On December 21, 2009, HHH and HBK are sent to "Little People's Court" for refusing to let Hornswoggle join DX. "Little People's Court" took place UNDER THE RING, which is depicted as a place where midgets live. None of the midgets speak English there, and Hornswoggle was actually the judge. No verdict was made but HHH and HBK get chased out by a swarm of midgets. Later on in the show, in the main event, Hornswoggle becomes the new mascot for DX.
5. Hornswoggle vs. Chavo Guerrero Bullrope Match- On August 31, 2009, Raw guest host Dusty Rhodes continues the infamous Hornswoggle/Chavo series by booking them in a bullrope match. However, Chavo had to dress up in a cow outfit for the match, with a cow head on, which caused him to not be able to see throughout the match, making him very clumsy throughout. Anyway, their usual match with Hornswoggle winning. The less said about this, the better.
4. Hornswoggle vs. Chavo Guerrero Tuxedo AKA Sharp Dressed Man Match- On July 20, 2009, Raw guest hosts ZZ Top continued the infamous Hornswoggle/Chavo Guerrero series by booking them in a tuxedo match called a Sharp Dressed Man match, a play off of one of their biggest hits. If the concept of the match itself wasn't stupid enough, when Chavo comes out, his pant legs are sewed down to his ankles so he'd waddle like a penguin. As for the match, it was their typical match with Hornswoggle winning by stripping Chavo to his boxers. I have no idea what the point of this series was unless it was to make sure nobody took Chavo seriously again, as it's pointless to give a midget a big push because nobody would take him seriously as a champion of any division.
3. The Jerry Springer Show- On February 15, 2010, Jerry Springer was the guest host of Raw. In the top of the hour segment, he has his own version of the Jerry Springer show in the ring. The storyline for this segment was that Kelly Kelly became pregnant with Chris Masters' baby, and Eve Torres, Chris Masters' manager at the time, got mad as a result and teased a catfight with Kelly, and also the Bella Twins came out so that Nikki could mention that Brie was a man. Yeah. And the end result? All the people in the segment played a practical joke on Jerry and that none of the things mentioned were true. That means that all the 20 minutes of stupidity in the segment served no purpose whatsoever.
2. Hornswoggle blows up Coach- The worst part about that this skit is that it was built up throughout the show. On October 15, 2007, Coach chases Hornswoggle backstage throughout the show, and they eventually make their way to the ring, when Hornswoggle hides under the ring. Coach looks under the ring for him, can't find him, but finds an explosive device. He uses it to try and blow up Hornswoggle, but it doesn't work. Coach goes under the ring to find out why it isn't working, and Hornswoggle comes out, and unsurprisingly, it works for him and Coach is blown up on live TV with VERY lame special effects added. Just because you're targeting kids, it doesn't mean it's okay to copy stuff from cartoons and expect it to work on live TV.
1. Hornswoggle goes through the wall- If you thought that Hornswoggle blowing up Coach under the ring was as bad as it got, well, you're wrong. In this skit on November 26, 2007, Carlito is bullying Hornswoggle backstage. Hornswoggle, cornered by Carlito, spray paints a hole in the wall. If that wasn't dumb enough, he actually goes through it successfully. Carlito, seeing how Hornswoggle got away, tries to go through the hole himself, but ends up hitting his head on the wall. Ron Simmons shows up afterwards to say "Damn!" while Carlito's in pain on the floor. Wrestling may be scripted, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to write skits that only make sense in your typical Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote Looney Tunes sketch onto the show.
Any one of these nominations have a case for the number 1 spot, though it's very hard to top going through a spraypainted hole in the wall. Thankfully segments like these rarely happen at all anymore.
10. Hornswoggle/McMahon Kiss My Ass Club- On February 4, 2008, the top of the hour segment featured Hornswoggle being entered into the Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club. This segment lasted almost 15 minutes with Mr. McMahon in the ring with his pants pulled down to reveal his pink underwear, and yelling at Hornswoggle to kiss his ass constantly. In the end, Hornswoggle BITES McMahon's ass, which results in Hornswoggle vs. Vince in a cage match for the next show. One of the worst segments in the McMahon illegitimate son storyline.
9. Hornswoggle is named Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son- The Vince McMahon illegitimate son storyline was the WWE's second attempt at a major storyline for the summer months in 2007. Their first attempt was "who blew up Vince's limo?" where Vince died storyline-wise, but was scrapped when the Benoit tragedy occurred. While this storyline on paper is pretty lame as it's the typical soap opera storyline, the original plan was for Mr. Kennedy to be the illegitimate son, which I was looking forward to as Kennedy had lots of momentum on Smackdown for several months, and even won the Money In The Bank briefcase, at Wrestlemania 23 before getting injured and losing the briefcase a month later (which I still don't get because the storyline was that he'd cash it in at Wrestlemania 24, which he returned WAY before). Then, his name was listed with a bunch of other wrestlers on a list of performers who purchased steroids from an online pharmacy, and was suspended for violating WWE's wellness policy as a result. For a storyline that was designed to boost a fresh talent to main event status, did they replace him with another wrestler with main event potential? Nope, Hornswoggle was named Vince's son on September 10, 2007. This resulted in months of lame comedy and the BIG payoff for this angle was Finlay (who was then revealed to be Hornswoggle's real father, making the whole thing pointless) vs. JBL at Wrestlemania 24. Nobody benefitted from this storyline at all.
8. McMahon/Kroenke confrontation- On May 25, 2009, Raw took place in the Staples Center. It was originally scheduled to be in the Pepsi Center but the Denver Nuggets had a home game in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, and obviously Vince McMahon had to book Raw in another building. To stick it to Stan Kroenke, he books Raw at the Staples Center, the home of the Lakers. In the opening segment, he had a confrontation with "Stan Kroenke", the first of two parody celebrity appearances (Jack Nicholson being the other). In the segment, Vince humiliates "Kroenke" after noticing that his middle initial was "E", which stood for "enis", which of course rhymed with "penis". Yeah. And in the main event, he booked the "Lakers" vs. "Nuggets" in a 5 on 5 tag match main event (Lakers were babyfaces while the Nuggets were heels), with the wrestlers on each "team" wearing the team jersey with their ring names on the back. Unsurprisingly, the "Lakers" won. Vince put in so much effort to make Stan Kroenke look bad but ended up coming off completely childish with all the juvenile jokes and booking the "Nuggets" to lose in the main event. All of this when the Extreme Rules PPV was only two weeks away, yet there was little to no build for it because of Vince's need for revenge. This should have been the worst, but there are SO many skits on this list that feature plots that shouldn't even be on live TV!
7. Tiger gets chased on Raw with a golf club- No, not the actual Tiger Woods, but a guy in a tiger suit, who got chased by a random girl with a golf club in her hand, and tiger growls played on the speakers when the tiger was chased in the ring during the opening segment. If this was WWE's attempt at being clever, they failed badly here.
6. Little People's Court- I'm sure you're a bit surprised that this isn't being ranked higher (or lower) but there are actually worse skits than this. On December 21, 2009, HHH and HBK are sent to "Little People's Court" for refusing to let Hornswoggle join DX. "Little People's Court" took place UNDER THE RING, which is depicted as a place where midgets live. None of the midgets speak English there, and Hornswoggle was actually the judge. No verdict was made but HHH and HBK get chased out by a swarm of midgets. Later on in the show, in the main event, Hornswoggle becomes the new mascot for DX.
5. Hornswoggle vs. Chavo Guerrero Bullrope Match- On August 31, 2009, Raw guest host Dusty Rhodes continues the infamous Hornswoggle/Chavo series by booking them in a bullrope match. However, Chavo had to dress up in a cow outfit for the match, with a cow head on, which caused him to not be able to see throughout the match, making him very clumsy throughout. Anyway, their usual match with Hornswoggle winning. The less said about this, the better.
4. Hornswoggle vs. Chavo Guerrero Tuxedo AKA Sharp Dressed Man Match- On July 20, 2009, Raw guest hosts ZZ Top continued the infamous Hornswoggle/Chavo Guerrero series by booking them in a tuxedo match called a Sharp Dressed Man match, a play off of one of their biggest hits. If the concept of the match itself wasn't stupid enough, when Chavo comes out, his pant legs are sewed down to his ankles so he'd waddle like a penguin. As for the match, it was their typical match with Hornswoggle winning by stripping Chavo to his boxers. I have no idea what the point of this series was unless it was to make sure nobody took Chavo seriously again, as it's pointless to give a midget a big push because nobody would take him seriously as a champion of any division.
3. The Jerry Springer Show- On February 15, 2010, Jerry Springer was the guest host of Raw. In the top of the hour segment, he has his own version of the Jerry Springer show in the ring. The storyline for this segment was that Kelly Kelly became pregnant with Chris Masters' baby, and Eve Torres, Chris Masters' manager at the time, got mad as a result and teased a catfight with Kelly, and also the Bella Twins came out so that Nikki could mention that Brie was a man. Yeah. And the end result? All the people in the segment played a practical joke on Jerry and that none of the things mentioned were true. That means that all the 20 minutes of stupidity in the segment served no purpose whatsoever.
2. Hornswoggle blows up Coach- The worst part about that this skit is that it was built up throughout the show. On October 15, 2007, Coach chases Hornswoggle backstage throughout the show, and they eventually make their way to the ring, when Hornswoggle hides under the ring. Coach looks under the ring for him, can't find him, but finds an explosive device. He uses it to try and blow up Hornswoggle, but it doesn't work. Coach goes under the ring to find out why it isn't working, and Hornswoggle comes out, and unsurprisingly, it works for him and Coach is blown up on live TV with VERY lame special effects added. Just because you're targeting kids, it doesn't mean it's okay to copy stuff from cartoons and expect it to work on live TV.
1. Hornswoggle goes through the wall- If you thought that Hornswoggle blowing up Coach under the ring was as bad as it got, well, you're wrong. In this skit on November 26, 2007, Carlito is bullying Hornswoggle backstage. Hornswoggle, cornered by Carlito, spray paints a hole in the wall. If that wasn't dumb enough, he actually goes through it successfully. Carlito, seeing how Hornswoggle got away, tries to go through the hole himself, but ends up hitting his head on the wall. Ron Simmons shows up afterwards to say "Damn!" while Carlito's in pain on the floor. Wrestling may be scripted, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to write skits that only make sense in your typical Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote Looney Tunes sketch onto the show.
Any one of these nominations have a case for the number 1 spot, though it's very hard to top going through a spraypainted hole in the wall. Thankfully segments like these rarely happen at all anymore.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Why TNA/Impact Wrestling is having issues creating new stars
Over its nine year history, TNA Wrestling has had a huge difficulty when it comes creating their own stars. The problem is not the hiring of ex WWE/WCW/ECW stars (the vast majority of them were good signings with the likes of Orlando Jordan being the minority as most either were main eventers in their former promotions or had untapped potential) or the "TNA guys" not being main event material (AJ Styles, Pope, and Bobby Roode definitely are as is a motivated Samoa Joe, while James Storm could also make a good main eventer as well). There are two major reasons as to why TNA/Impact Wrestling's lack of fresh, homegrown main eventers and major growth as well.
Not using the WWE/WCW/ECW veterans properly- Having the likes of Kurt Angle, Sting, Rob Van Dam, Bully Ray, and Hulk Hogan around is definitely a good thing, as four out of the five are still capable of putting on a solid wrestling match in 2011, and the one who isn't capable is one of the biggest draws in pro wrestling history, which gives the younger talent someone to ask for advice in terms of cutting promos and how to connect with the crowd. However, Angle is the only one out of the five that is being used properly. While he's had his share of world title reigns in TNA, he's deserved them by being a top 5 performer throughout his five year run and doing whatever they've asked him to do. In those five years, he's put over Jay Lethal, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and Mr. Anderson to name a few while consistently putting on great matches in the process. Meanwhile, RVD was rushed to the TNA title one month after he debuted, only to have a long title reign that featured some ho-hum performances and ended when TNA noticed that the amount of appearances on his contract were running low, which resulted in him losing the belt in an injury angle. Bully Ray has been a pleasant surprise in his single run this year, but he still isn't main event material, and winning a feud over AJ Styles in a LAST MAN STANDING match is a very bad booking decision on TNA's part. Sting lost the title to AJ Styles two years ago in what was supposed to be his retirement, but since then he's returned twice and has won the world title twice, despite being over 50 years old. And Hulk Hogan's been feuding with Sting throughout the summer, which has resulted in many fans predicting Hogan vs. Sting to take place at Bound For Glory, despite Hogan not being able to do the leg drop anymore, much less wrestle a match. I respect the veterans for what they've accomplished, but it's not good for 40-50 year olds to be the main focus of a wrestling promotion.
Lack of a hierarchy outside of the veterans- If you've watched TNA from 2007 until now, you'd notice this, and it's been even more apparent since the Hogan/Bischoff era began. The likes of Angle, Sting, and RVD have consistently been in the title picture since they arrived in TNA, yet whenever a younger wrestler gains momentum, they always get depushed for some reason. Here are some examples:
AJ Styles- Feuded with Joe and Daniels for the X Division title in classic matches, teams with Daniels and have an epic feud with LAX over the tag titles, then turns heel, becomes Christian's lackey, teams with Tomko, then turns into Prince AJ, marries Karen Angle ON ACCIDENT, then turns babyface and eventually winning the world title, then turns heel and acts like Ric Flair, loses the title to RVD on Impact one month after he debuted with NO BUILD, feuds with Tommy Dreamer, then turns babyface again to lead Fourtune against Immortal, only to lose to Matt Hardy, Tommy Dreamer (a week or so before he left the company), Gunner, and Bully Ray during this year alone.
Christopher Daniels- Feuded with Joe and AJ for the X Division title in classic matches, teams with AJ and have an epic feud with LAX over the tag titles, turns heel only to lose to Sting in six minutes on PPV, then reforms Triple X before getting "fired", returns and main events two consecutive PPVs against AJ Styles (and Samoa Joe for the first one), then jobs to Val Venis at the next PPV, gets SQUASHED by Kurt Angle, gets released, and has returned once again to be a part of Fourtune.
Samoa Joe- Debuts with a year and a half long undefeated streak, loses his streak to Kurt Angle by SUBMISSION, feuds with Angle for all the gold and loses in a swerve everyone saw coming, wins title, gets mntored by Kevin Nash, loses title to Sting, dons facepaint, PJs, and a MACHETE as the one man Nation Of Violence, takes out the Main Event Mafia only to hand Angle the title and join MEM, is mentored by Taz, feuds with AJ Styles for the world title and loses at the PPV only to lose to ORLANDO JORDAN and get kidnapped by ninjas at the next taping, reappears months later without any mention of the kidnapping to become a jobber and have a pointless feud with Pope.
Pope- Debuts as heel, then turns face and gains A LOT of momentum, wins 8 Card Stud tourney, loses title match, returns after injury to feud with Abyss, then turns heel to have a pointless feud with Joe and a feud with Devon.
Abyss- Monster heel who had excellent hardcore matches with the likes of Sabu and Rhino, wins title by disqualification, then starts talking, feuds with Judas Mesias in a ripoff of the Undertaker/Kane/Paul Bearer storyline, disappears, then becomes a mental patient, has a girlfriend, starts clapping his hands, then is given Hulk Hogan's WWE Hall Of Fame Ring and becomes "immortal" as a result while having Hogan's WCW theme as his ring music, then turns heel and brands people backstage.
Matt Morgan- Debuts as Cornette's assistant, then feuds with Abyss, then feuds with Kurt Angle, teams with Hernandez, then turns on him, then becomes Fourtune's muscle, then jobs to Brian Kendrick, then turns on Fourtune because he was against them giving Anderson a concussion, then feuds with Hernandez again, and feuds with Scott Steiner.
No consistency whatsoever. One thing I've noticed is that whenever these wrestlers reached their peak, they lost all of their momentum and then struggle to get it all back. That is six guys that they either failed to pull the trigger on or did pull the trigger on, only to do something unbelievably stupid to their characters afterwards. AJ's easily been used the best out of all of the ones I listed and thus would be the only one that would make a credible main eventer if all the veterans retired tomorrow. WWE faced a similar issue recently, and have stepped up their game by giving Christian a real title reign (not a 5 day title reign or a WWECW title reign), gave CM Punk the title and two clean wins over John Cena this year after not winning a single PPV match for an entire year, and are building Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, and Alberto Del Rio slowly rather than rushing them (a reason why Sheamus' two title reigns last year were not very strong). TNA needs to choose some guys to get behind, stick with them, and not get cold feet if the fans react strongly to them (or lose focus on them whenever a veteran from another promotion debuts). They've been pushing Crimson and Gunner very hard over the last few months with Crimson having an undefeated streak and Gunner being a former TV champion while having wins over Sting, Mr. Anderson, and AJ Styles already, though they've yet to catch on with the fans and have yet to have a standout match. At least TNA is showing signs of how to push young talent correctly lately, regardless if those two are the right choices or not, though there is still the chance that they'll screw it up like they often do.
Not using the WWE/WCW/ECW veterans properly- Having the likes of Kurt Angle, Sting, Rob Van Dam, Bully Ray, and Hulk Hogan around is definitely a good thing, as four out of the five are still capable of putting on a solid wrestling match in 2011, and the one who isn't capable is one of the biggest draws in pro wrestling history, which gives the younger talent someone to ask for advice in terms of cutting promos and how to connect with the crowd. However, Angle is the only one out of the five that is being used properly. While he's had his share of world title reigns in TNA, he's deserved them by being a top 5 performer throughout his five year run and doing whatever they've asked him to do. In those five years, he's put over Jay Lethal, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and Mr. Anderson to name a few while consistently putting on great matches in the process. Meanwhile, RVD was rushed to the TNA title one month after he debuted, only to have a long title reign that featured some ho-hum performances and ended when TNA noticed that the amount of appearances on his contract were running low, which resulted in him losing the belt in an injury angle. Bully Ray has been a pleasant surprise in his single run this year, but he still isn't main event material, and winning a feud over AJ Styles in a LAST MAN STANDING match is a very bad booking decision on TNA's part. Sting lost the title to AJ Styles two years ago in what was supposed to be his retirement, but since then he's returned twice and has won the world title twice, despite being over 50 years old. And Hulk Hogan's been feuding with Sting throughout the summer, which has resulted in many fans predicting Hogan vs. Sting to take place at Bound For Glory, despite Hogan not being able to do the leg drop anymore, much less wrestle a match. I respect the veterans for what they've accomplished, but it's not good for 40-50 year olds to be the main focus of a wrestling promotion.
Lack of a hierarchy outside of the veterans- If you've watched TNA from 2007 until now, you'd notice this, and it's been even more apparent since the Hogan/Bischoff era began. The likes of Angle, Sting, and RVD have consistently been in the title picture since they arrived in TNA, yet whenever a younger wrestler gains momentum, they always get depushed for some reason. Here are some examples:
AJ Styles- Feuded with Joe and Daniels for the X Division title in classic matches, teams with Daniels and have an epic feud with LAX over the tag titles, then turns heel, becomes Christian's lackey, teams with Tomko, then turns into Prince AJ, marries Karen Angle ON ACCIDENT, then turns babyface and eventually winning the world title, then turns heel and acts like Ric Flair, loses the title to RVD on Impact one month after he debuted with NO BUILD, feuds with Tommy Dreamer, then turns babyface again to lead Fourtune against Immortal, only to lose to Matt Hardy, Tommy Dreamer (a week or so before he left the company), Gunner, and Bully Ray during this year alone.
Christopher Daniels- Feuded with Joe and AJ for the X Division title in classic matches, teams with AJ and have an epic feud with LAX over the tag titles, turns heel only to lose to Sting in six minutes on PPV, then reforms Triple X before getting "fired", returns and main events two consecutive PPVs against AJ Styles (and Samoa Joe for the first one), then jobs to Val Venis at the next PPV, gets SQUASHED by Kurt Angle, gets released, and has returned once again to be a part of Fourtune.
Samoa Joe- Debuts with a year and a half long undefeated streak, loses his streak to Kurt Angle by SUBMISSION, feuds with Angle for all the gold and loses in a swerve everyone saw coming, wins title, gets mntored by Kevin Nash, loses title to Sting, dons facepaint, PJs, and a MACHETE as the one man Nation Of Violence, takes out the Main Event Mafia only to hand Angle the title and join MEM, is mentored by Taz, feuds with AJ Styles for the world title and loses at the PPV only to lose to ORLANDO JORDAN and get kidnapped by ninjas at the next taping, reappears months later without any mention of the kidnapping to become a jobber and have a pointless feud with Pope.
Pope- Debuts as heel, then turns face and gains A LOT of momentum, wins 8 Card Stud tourney, loses title match, returns after injury to feud with Abyss, then turns heel to have a pointless feud with Joe and a feud with Devon.
Abyss- Monster heel who had excellent hardcore matches with the likes of Sabu and Rhino, wins title by disqualification, then starts talking, feuds with Judas Mesias in a ripoff of the Undertaker/Kane/Paul Bearer storyline, disappears, then becomes a mental patient, has a girlfriend, starts clapping his hands, then is given Hulk Hogan's WWE Hall Of Fame Ring and becomes "immortal" as a result while having Hogan's WCW theme as his ring music, then turns heel and brands people backstage.
Matt Morgan- Debuts as Cornette's assistant, then feuds with Abyss, then feuds with Kurt Angle, teams with Hernandez, then turns on him, then becomes Fourtune's muscle, then jobs to Brian Kendrick, then turns on Fourtune because he was against them giving Anderson a concussion, then feuds with Hernandez again, and feuds with Scott Steiner.
No consistency whatsoever. One thing I've noticed is that whenever these wrestlers reached their peak, they lost all of their momentum and then struggle to get it all back. That is six guys that they either failed to pull the trigger on or did pull the trigger on, only to do something unbelievably stupid to their characters afterwards. AJ's easily been used the best out of all of the ones I listed and thus would be the only one that would make a credible main eventer if all the veterans retired tomorrow. WWE faced a similar issue recently, and have stepped up their game by giving Christian a real title reign (not a 5 day title reign or a WWECW title reign), gave CM Punk the title and two clean wins over John Cena this year after not winning a single PPV match for an entire year, and are building Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, and Alberto Del Rio slowly rather than rushing them (a reason why Sheamus' two title reigns last year were not very strong). TNA needs to choose some guys to get behind, stick with them, and not get cold feet if the fans react strongly to them (or lose focus on them whenever a veteran from another promotion debuts). They've been pushing Crimson and Gunner very hard over the last few months with Crimson having an undefeated streak and Gunner being a former TV champion while having wins over Sting, Mr. Anderson, and AJ Styles already, though they've yet to catch on with the fans and have yet to have a standout match. At least TNA is showing signs of how to push young talent correctly lately, regardless if those two are the right choices or not, though there is still the chance that they'll screw it up like they often do.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
WWE PG- Compelling?
For the last three years, the current PG era of the WWE has been associated with things such as neglecting to take risks, lame toilet humor, an overemphasis on Hollywood with guest celebrities as hosts of Raw, talented wrestlers losing to midgets in embarrassingly bad gimmick matches for several weeks straight, the same people in the main event every month, among other things. Given the success of the Attitude era of the late 90s-early 2000s, a period in which the storylines were very adult-oriented in nature and featured two of the biggest stars in company history in The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin that was many fans' first taste of televised pro wrestling, it would be only natural for them to think that PG is what's prohibiting WWE from being as good as it can be. That is definitely not the case, as shown by the last few weeks of WWE, especially on Raw. The storyline involving CM Punk that's gone on since late June has been nothing short of brilliant. In the months leading up to the promo that started it all, CM Punk's contract issues were a major fixture in the news. Punk was hesitant in signing a new contract due to how he was used since his last World title reign in 2009, putting over every babyface thrown at him such as Rey Mysterio, Big Show, and Randy Orton, as well as getting squashed by John Cena and Undertaker in a couple TV matches, while not being able to buy a PPV win, and wanting to maintain control over his name, which he's used throughout his wrestling career. In June, things started to look up when he defeated Rey Mysterio at the Capital Punishment PPV and pinned John Cena in a non-title match on Raw before the PPV. He became the #1 contender to the WWE championship one June 20, one day after Capital Punishment.
On June 27, Punk cut what is considered to be one of the best promos ever since the Attitude era. In that promo, he mentioned his contract issues and stated that his contract would be up on July 18, one day after the Money In The Bank PPV, criticized WWE at several points, such as saying that he's the best wrestler in the company and has proven that, yet doesn't get half the promotion Cena gets, how Cena's only better at one thing than he is (asskissing), and how WWE should be better with Vince dead except that it would be taken over by his doofus son in law (HHH), mentions the names of people who are no longer with the company such as Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar, the Vice President of talent relations John Laurinaitis, ex-WWE wrestler Colt Cabana who wrestled for a short time as Scotty Goldman, the independent promotion Ring Of Honor, which is the company that put him on the map before he signed with WWE, and New Japan Pro Wrestling. His mic got cut off afterwards and he got suspended after the show. A LOT of the things he said are things that any fan who doesn't follow the online dirtsheets wouldn't have a single clue about, and all those statements along with the WWE bashing, cut off of the mic, and suspension made everything seem so real. It made you HAVE to tune in next week to see what was going to happen. The next week Cena would threaten to walk out if Punk wasn't reinstated into the company, and out of fear of losing his top star, Vince McMahon reinstated Punk and allowed the PPV match to happen, but if Punk left MITB with the belt he'd be fired. It created many different possible outcomes, most of which were very compelling, such as Cena turning heel and aligning with Vince in order to save his job, Punk winning the title, only to lose the title to whoever cashed in their MITB briefcase, and the big one with Punk winning the title and leaving with the belt. It made you want to buy the PPV to see what was going to happen. At MITB, Punk actually won clean over Cena and escaped a MITB cash-in from Alberto Del Rio to leave with the title, making you need to tune in to Raw to see what would happen next.
All of that content is within the realm of PG. When WWE wants to, they can still put on VERY good programming that makes you want to shell out money for their PPVs. They just don't most of the time because there isn't any major competition out there, unlike the late 90s when WCW was around. When there's no challenge, it can be very hard to stay motivated, and most fans are disappointed with WWE for that reason, beause they have the talent and the ability to be much better than they have been since they purchased WCW. It has nothing to do with PG at all. The last few weeks have been VERY compelling while falling under the PG rating.
On June 27, Punk cut what is considered to be one of the best promos ever since the Attitude era. In that promo, he mentioned his contract issues and stated that his contract would be up on July 18, one day after the Money In The Bank PPV, criticized WWE at several points, such as saying that he's the best wrestler in the company and has proven that, yet doesn't get half the promotion Cena gets, how Cena's only better at one thing than he is (asskissing), and how WWE should be better with Vince dead except that it would be taken over by his doofus son in law (HHH), mentions the names of people who are no longer with the company such as Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar, the Vice President of talent relations John Laurinaitis, ex-WWE wrestler Colt Cabana who wrestled for a short time as Scotty Goldman, the independent promotion Ring Of Honor, which is the company that put him on the map before he signed with WWE, and New Japan Pro Wrestling. His mic got cut off afterwards and he got suspended after the show. A LOT of the things he said are things that any fan who doesn't follow the online dirtsheets wouldn't have a single clue about, and all those statements along with the WWE bashing, cut off of the mic, and suspension made everything seem so real. It made you HAVE to tune in next week to see what was going to happen. The next week Cena would threaten to walk out if Punk wasn't reinstated into the company, and out of fear of losing his top star, Vince McMahon reinstated Punk and allowed the PPV match to happen, but if Punk left MITB with the belt he'd be fired. It created many different possible outcomes, most of which were very compelling, such as Cena turning heel and aligning with Vince in order to save his job, Punk winning the title, only to lose the title to whoever cashed in their MITB briefcase, and the big one with Punk winning the title and leaving with the belt. It made you want to buy the PPV to see what was going to happen. At MITB, Punk actually won clean over Cena and escaped a MITB cash-in from Alberto Del Rio to leave with the title, making you need to tune in to Raw to see what would happen next.
All of that content is within the realm of PG. When WWE wants to, they can still put on VERY good programming that makes you want to shell out money for their PPVs. They just don't most of the time because there isn't any major competition out there, unlike the late 90s when WCW was around. When there's no challenge, it can be very hard to stay motivated, and most fans are disappointed with WWE for that reason, beause they have the talent and the ability to be much better than they have been since they purchased WCW. It has nothing to do with PG at all. The last few weeks have been VERY compelling while falling under the PG rating.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
How To Fix Women's Wrestling
Women's wrestling has been considered many things over the past few years, such as a joke, a bathroom break, a time where the fans in the arena go and get snacks, among other things. Many fans blame it on the quality of the female wrestlers in WWE and TNA these days, but half of the blame should be on the creative teams themselves for the decline in women's wrestling. While I'd be obviously lying if I said that the likes of the Bellas are good workers, there is still a solid amount of talent that isn't being used to its full potential. In WWE, you have Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Kharma, and Melina who are all capable of putting on a very good match and in TNA there's Mickie James, Tara, Winter, Sarita, and Angelina Love who are capable of it. Most of these women are definitely capable of putting on three star matches, yet most of the time women's matches are lucky to get even one star ratings these days. Why is that? Is it because of the other talent surrounding these workers? Sometimes, yes, but often times this isn't the case.
Televised women's matches in WWE last an average of 1-2 minutes. ON AVERAGE. This isn't anywhere near enough time to tell a halfway decent story. You could put your two best female wrestlers in a two minute match and it would still be a weak match because the story would be VERY rushed. On PPVs the average women's match goes for around 5 minutes, which is too short for any PPV match to last. Televised TNA Knockouts matches usually last around 3-5 minutes (various matches such as elimination tags can last around 10 minutes) while their PPV matches usually last 7-8 minutes, which makes for enough time to tell a decent story in the match without it feeling too rushed. However, the match quality has declined since they let many of their most talented knockouts go (Gail Kim, Awesome Kong, Alissa Flash, Roxxi, Taylor Wilde, Hamada, Daffney) and have misused all their original knockouts outside of the ones that were in the Beautiful People stable since Hogan/Bischoff came in.
Also, in WWE, the lack of characters and storylines for many of the female talent has resulted in dead crowds during their matches, which can hurt the quality of a match. When was the last REAL women's feud in WWE that didn't involve LayCool? From what I recall, Beth/Melina in 2008. THREE YEARS AGO. The last one that had regular promo work was the Trish/Mickie feud in 2006, FIVE YEARS AGO. How are you supposed to get over when you have no storylines to work with? And it's not like many of them have actual characters either. Only Melina, Maryse, Natalya, and Layla have well-defined characters, and the first three rarely get any promo time whatsoever. Without character, storylines, and promo time, it's extremely hard, if not impossible, to care about the wrestlers. Guest commentary and backstage skits aren't nearly enough... in TNA every knockout has their own character and gets regular mic time. As a result, I care about their storylines and the outcomes of their matches.
How to make it matter again? Simple, give the women more than two minutes in the ring so it can be possible to have a decent match and tell a good story in it, and give them well-defined characters so the fans can relate to them, and mic time so they can get their stories over, which in turn can create fan interest in their PPV matches. TNA did all of this stuff very well in the Mickie/Madison feud with both of them getting regular promo time and Madison continuing to win dirty, gaining her heel heat, until Mickie won the payoff match at Lockdown. WWE has talent equal to these two, if not better, so why not utilize it to its maximum potential? Many of the younger fans brought in as a result of the PG rating would be surprised at what some of these girls can do with an extra few minutes...
Televised women's matches in WWE last an average of 1-2 minutes. ON AVERAGE. This isn't anywhere near enough time to tell a halfway decent story. You could put your two best female wrestlers in a two minute match and it would still be a weak match because the story would be VERY rushed. On PPVs the average women's match goes for around 5 minutes, which is too short for any PPV match to last. Televised TNA Knockouts matches usually last around 3-5 minutes (various matches such as elimination tags can last around 10 minutes) while their PPV matches usually last 7-8 minutes, which makes for enough time to tell a decent story in the match without it feeling too rushed. However, the match quality has declined since they let many of their most talented knockouts go (Gail Kim, Awesome Kong, Alissa Flash, Roxxi, Taylor Wilde, Hamada, Daffney) and have misused all their original knockouts outside of the ones that were in the Beautiful People stable since Hogan/Bischoff came in.
Also, in WWE, the lack of characters and storylines for many of the female talent has resulted in dead crowds during their matches, which can hurt the quality of a match. When was the last REAL women's feud in WWE that didn't involve LayCool? From what I recall, Beth/Melina in 2008. THREE YEARS AGO. The last one that had regular promo work was the Trish/Mickie feud in 2006, FIVE YEARS AGO. How are you supposed to get over when you have no storylines to work with? And it's not like many of them have actual characters either. Only Melina, Maryse, Natalya, and Layla have well-defined characters, and the first three rarely get any promo time whatsoever. Without character, storylines, and promo time, it's extremely hard, if not impossible, to care about the wrestlers. Guest commentary and backstage skits aren't nearly enough... in TNA every knockout has their own character and gets regular mic time. As a result, I care about their storylines and the outcomes of their matches.
How to make it matter again? Simple, give the women more than two minutes in the ring so it can be possible to have a decent match and tell a good story in it, and give them well-defined characters so the fans can relate to them, and mic time so they can get their stories over, which in turn can create fan interest in their PPV matches. TNA did all of this stuff very well in the Mickie/Madison feud with both of them getting regular promo time and Madison continuing to win dirty, gaining her heel heat, until Mickie won the payoff match at Lockdown. WWE has talent equal to these two, if not better, so why not utilize it to its maximum potential? Many of the younger fans brought in as a result of the PG rating would be surprised at what some of these girls can do with an extra few minutes...
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Pro Wrestling needs to reinvent itself
2001... a year in which nu metal (Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Slipknot, Korn, Linkin Park, System Of A Down, etc.) was at its peak and televised advertisements for collect call services such as 1-800 Collect and 1-800 CALL-ATT dominated the airwaves, the WWE (known as the WWF at the time) was at the tailend of its boom period, which was caused by larger than life characters such as The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, and a large amount of their programming was a 20 minute in-ring promo to start the show as well as several "hidden camera" backstage skits. This was fresh at the time because in the 80s and the first half of the 90s the weekly shows were often filled with jobber squashes in which an established wrestler defeated a local wrestler usually in under two minutes, and when the 90s came around this format got really stale so at around 1997 the entire format of the shows changed to include more interaction between established talent by backstage skits, in-ring promos, and matches between established wrestlers on shows other than PPVs and TV specials, as well as adult content such as foul language, sexual themes, and hardcore matches.
10 years later, the content of the shows has changed a lot, but the format is the exact same!
Really... the current format with the in-ring promo to start the show, 5 minute or less midcard matches, and hidden camera backstage skits is STILL around! Yeah, WWE is PG instead of TV14 now, but that's not a true reinvention of your product when the show layout is the exact same as it was a decade ago. 6 years ago, the current #2 wrestling promotion, TNA, gained a lot of momentum by focusing their product on the in-ring action rather than the storylines. There were in-ring promos from time to time but it was not uncommon for an episode of TNA Impact to start off with a high-flying X Division match, and nearly all backstage stuff involved a backstage interviewer. This was a very fresh format as it was different from the style of programming WWE put out at the time, yet also different from the 80s and early 90s as there was a balance between matches between two established wrestlers and jobber squashes, which were usually followed up with by a short promo and/or angle advancement. The ratings for TNA Impact slowly grew over time until bad booking and hiring Vince Russo, who is one of the main reasons WCW lost 60 million in 2000 and ended up being bought by WWF in March 2001, killed their momentum. Going back to the format that made the WWF the in thing in the late 90s-early 2000s has HURT them. While WWE is popular now amongst kids due to the likes of John Cena and Rey Mysterio, I highly doubt changing the format will cause them to stop watching because I doubt they watch for the skits that often take place on the shows (Hornswoggle rarely appears these days and the guest hosts haven't been a fixture in months, yet it hasn't effected viewership negatively at all unlike whenever Cena is off TV). The in thing amongst young males these days is MMA, most notably UFC which is the WWE of MMA... while UFC is obviously real whereas WWE is scripted, UFC builds up their main fights in a way similar to WWE, and as a result garner buyrates that dwarf those of your typical Wrestlemania.
I am NOT saying that WWE and TNA should start having REAL fights, but rather format the shows to focus on the in-ring action rather than the skits (not get rid of the "sports entertainment" side altogether but just use it in moderation). They have the talent right now to make it work with John Cena, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, The Miz, CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Jack Swagger, John Morrison, Daniel Bryan, Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston, Alberto Del Rio, Christian, Sin Cara, Cody Rhodes, and Natalya, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim, Awesome Kong, Melina, and Michelle McCool on the female side in WWE, while TNA has AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, Jay Lethal, James Storm, Robert Roode, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Kurt Angle, Doug Williams, Mr. Anderson, D'Angelo Dinero, and Generation Me to name a few. By focusing on the in-ring aspect you'll be getting the most out of two very talented rosters and giving the fans a fresh direction. With all the different styles of the wrestlers in today's WWE and TNA, it's very possible to recreate matches like these in a way:
Http://youtube.com/show/tnaclassicmatches
Is it a risk? Yes, but it's a risk that should be taken as well as a risk that could create another boom period possibly. Using several guest celebrities over the years has yet to produce new fans for either company...
10 years later, the content of the shows has changed a lot, but the format is the exact same!
Really... the current format with the in-ring promo to start the show, 5 minute or less midcard matches, and hidden camera backstage skits is STILL around! Yeah, WWE is PG instead of TV14 now, but that's not a true reinvention of your product when the show layout is the exact same as it was a decade ago. 6 years ago, the current #2 wrestling promotion, TNA, gained a lot of momentum by focusing their product on the in-ring action rather than the storylines. There were in-ring promos from time to time but it was not uncommon for an episode of TNA Impact to start off with a high-flying X Division match, and nearly all backstage stuff involved a backstage interviewer. This was a very fresh format as it was different from the style of programming WWE put out at the time, yet also different from the 80s and early 90s as there was a balance between matches between two established wrestlers and jobber squashes, which were usually followed up with by a short promo and/or angle advancement. The ratings for TNA Impact slowly grew over time until bad booking and hiring Vince Russo, who is one of the main reasons WCW lost 60 million in 2000 and ended up being bought by WWF in March 2001, killed their momentum. Going back to the format that made the WWF the in thing in the late 90s-early 2000s has HURT them. While WWE is popular now amongst kids due to the likes of John Cena and Rey Mysterio, I highly doubt changing the format will cause them to stop watching because I doubt they watch for the skits that often take place on the shows (Hornswoggle rarely appears these days and the guest hosts haven't been a fixture in months, yet it hasn't effected viewership negatively at all unlike whenever Cena is off TV). The in thing amongst young males these days is MMA, most notably UFC which is the WWE of MMA... while UFC is obviously real whereas WWE is scripted, UFC builds up their main fights in a way similar to WWE, and as a result garner buyrates that dwarf those of your typical Wrestlemania.
I am NOT saying that WWE and TNA should start having REAL fights, but rather format the shows to focus on the in-ring action rather than the skits (not get rid of the "sports entertainment" side altogether but just use it in moderation). They have the talent right now to make it work with John Cena, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, The Miz, CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Jack Swagger, John Morrison, Daniel Bryan, Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston, Alberto Del Rio, Christian, Sin Cara, Cody Rhodes, and Natalya, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim, Awesome Kong, Melina, and Michelle McCool on the female side in WWE, while TNA has AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, Jay Lethal, James Storm, Robert Roode, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Kurt Angle, Doug Williams, Mr. Anderson, D'Angelo Dinero, and Generation Me to name a few. By focusing on the in-ring aspect you'll be getting the most out of two very talented rosters and giving the fans a fresh direction. With all the different styles of the wrestlers in today's WWE and TNA, it's very possible to recreate matches like these in a way:
Http://youtube.com/show/tnaclassicmatches
Is it a risk? Yes, but it's a risk that should be taken as well as a risk that could create another boom period possibly. Using several guest celebrities over the years has yet to produce new fans for either company...
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Welcome to the Pro Wrestling Almanac!
Welcome to the Pro Wrestling Almanac! The purpose of this blog is to basically create a timeline of how the products of the major wrestling promotions (WWF/E, WCW, TNA, ECW) have been received throughout various periods by finding out what the majority of wrestling fans thought about each show and PPV, as well as create lists of three star or above match ratings from Dave Meltzer for the purpose of match recommendations. Many of the shows I list in my majority feedback posts are from several years ago, so they are more prone to errors on my behalf when gathering the statistics so if I made any mistakes, email me at pwalmanac@yahoo.com or leave a comment on this blog. Thanks!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
ECW on TNN majority feedback
8/27/99- Good
9/3/99- Good
9/10/99- Bad
9/17/99- Bad
9/24/99- Good
10/1/99- Good
10/8/99- Good
10/15/99- Bad
10/22/99- Good
10/29/99- Good
11/5/99- Bad
11/12/99- Good
11/19/99- Good
11/26/99- Good
12/3/99- Good
12/10/99- Good
12/17/99- Good
12/24/99- Good
12/31/99- Good
1/7/00- Good
1/14/00- Bad
1/21/00- Good
1/28/00- Good
2/4/00- Good
2/11/00- Bad
2/18/00- Good
2/25/00- Good
3/3/00- Good
3/10/00- Good
3/17/00- Bad
3/24/00- Bad
3/31/00- Good
4/7/00- Bad
4/14/00- Good
4/21/00- Good
4/28/00- Good
5/5/00- Good
5/12/00- Good
5/19/00- Good
5/26/00- Good
6/2/00- Good
6/9/00- Bad
6/23/00- Bad
6/30/00- Good
7/7/00- Good
7/14/00- Good
7/21/00- Good
7/28/00- Good
8/4/00- Good
8/11/00- Bad
8/18/00- Good
8/25/00- Bad
9/1/00- Good
9/8/00- Good
9/15/00- Bad
9/22/00- Good
9/29/00- Bad
10/6/00- Bad
9/3/99- Good
9/10/99- Bad
9/17/99- Bad
9/24/99- Good
10/1/99- Good
10/8/99- Good
10/15/99- Bad
10/22/99- Good
10/29/99- Good
11/5/99- Bad
11/12/99- Good
11/19/99- Good
11/26/99- Good
12/3/99- Good
12/10/99- Good
12/17/99- Good
12/24/99- Good
12/31/99- Good
1/7/00- Good
1/14/00- Bad
1/21/00- Good
1/28/00- Good
2/4/00- Good
2/11/00- Bad
2/18/00- Good
2/25/00- Good
3/3/00- Good
3/10/00- Good
3/17/00- Bad
3/24/00- Bad
3/31/00- Good
4/7/00- Bad
4/14/00- Good
4/21/00- Good
4/28/00- Good
5/5/00- Good
5/12/00- Good
5/19/00- Good
5/26/00- Good
6/2/00- Good
6/9/00- Bad
6/23/00- Bad
6/30/00- Good
7/7/00- Good
7/14/00- Good
7/21/00- Good
7/28/00- Good
8/4/00- Good
8/11/00- Bad
8/18/00- Good
8/25/00- Bad
9/1/00- Good
9/8/00- Good
9/15/00- Bad
9/22/00- Good
9/29/00- Bad
10/6/00- Bad
Dave Meltzer Dragon Gate USA Star Ratings (*** and above)
2009
7/25/09 BxB Hulk vs. Yamato ****1/4
7/25/09 Amasis/Icarus/Hallowicked/Gran Akuma vs. Jigsaw/Mike Quackenbush/Fire Ant/Soldier Ant ****
7/25/09 Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino ***3/4
7/25/09 Nick Jackson/Matt Jackson vs. Susumu Yokosuka/Cima ****1/4
7/25/09 Naruki Doi vs. Shingo Takagi ****1/4
9/6/09 Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino ****1/4
9/6/09 Naruki Doi vs. Bryan Danielson ****3/4
9/6/09 Davey Richards vs. Shingo ****1/2
9/6/09 Genki Horiguchi/Ryo Saito vs. Nick Jackson/Matt Jackson ***1/2
11/28/09 Gran Akuma vs. Matt Jackson vs. Nick Jackson vs. Hallowiked vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Lince Dorado ***
11/28/09 BxB Hulk vs. Brian Kendrick ***1/4
11/28/09 Cima vs. Super Crazy vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Jorge "Skayde" Rivera ***1/4
11/28/09 Davey Richards vs. Yamato ****1/2
11/28/09 Naruki Doi/Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid/Shingo Takagi ****1/2
11/28/09 BxB Hulk vs. Cima vs. Gran Akuma vs. Yamato ***1/2
2010
1/23/10 Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw vs. Super Crazy/Cima ***1/4
1/23/10 Davey Richards vs. Msasaaki Mochizuki ***3/4
1/23/10 Masato Yoshino/Naruki Doi vs. Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson vs. Shingo/Yamato ****
1/23/10 BxB Hulk vs. Dragon Kid ***3/4
3/27/10 Cima/Gamma/Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino/BxB Hulk/Naruki Doi ****3/4
5/8/10 Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Akira Tozawa ***1/4
5/8/10 Jon Moxley vs. Jimmy Jacobs ***1/4
5/8/10 Pac/Naruki Doi vs. Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw ****
5/8/10 Shingo/Yamato vs. Cima/Dragon Kid ****
5/8/10 BxB Hulk vs. Masato Yoshino ***3/4
10/29/10 Chuck Taylor vs. Ricochet vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Arik Cannon ***1/4
10/29/10 Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jon Moxley (I Quit Match) ****
10/29/10 Yamato/Akira Tozawa vs. Genki Horiguchi/Cima ***3/4
11/28/09 Gran Akuma vs. Matt Jackson vs. Nick Jackson vs. Hallowiked vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Lince Dorado ***
11/28/09 BxB Hulk vs. Brian Kendrick ***1/4
11/28/09 Cima vs. Super Crazy vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Jorge "Skayde" Rivera ***1/4
11/28/09 Davey Richards vs. Yamato ****1/2
11/28/09 Naruki Doi/Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid/Shingo Takagi ****1/2
11/28/09 BxB Hulk vs. Cima vs. Gran Akuma vs. Yamato ***1/2
2010
1/23/10 Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw vs. Super Crazy/Cima ***1/4
1/23/10 Davey Richards vs. Msasaaki Mochizuki ***3/4
1/23/10 Masato Yoshino/Naruki Doi vs. Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson vs. Shingo/Yamato ****
1/23/10 BxB Hulk vs. Dragon Kid ***3/4
3/27/10 Cima/Gamma/Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino/BxB Hulk/Naruki Doi ****3/4
5/8/10 Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Akira Tozawa ***1/4
5/8/10 Jon Moxley vs. Jimmy Jacobs ***1/4
5/8/10 Pac/Naruki Doi vs. Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw ****
5/8/10 Shingo/Yamato vs. Cima/Dragon Kid ****
5/8/10 BxB Hulk vs. Masato Yoshino ***3/4
10/29/10 Chuck Taylor vs. Ricochet vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Arik Cannon ***1/4
10/29/10 Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jon Moxley (I Quit Match) ****
10/29/10 Yamato/Akira Tozawa vs. Genki Horiguchi/Cima ***3/4
10/29/10 BxB Hulk vs. Shingo ***
1/7/11 Jimmy Jacobs vs. Arik Cannon ***1/4
1/7/11 Homicide/BxB Hulk vs. Akira Tozawa/Jon Moxley ***1/4
1/7/11 Shingo vs. Cima ***1/2
1/7/11 Rick Swann/Chuck Taylor/Johnny Gargano vs. Genki Horiguchi/Austin Aries/Ricochet ***1/2
1/7/11 Yamato vs. Masato Yoshino ***3/4
1/30/11 Akira Tozawa vs. BxB Hulk ****1/4
1/30/11 Cima/Naruki Doi/Ricochet/Dragon Kid vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Austin Aries/Sami Callahan/Yamato ***1/2
1/30/11 Pac/Masato Yoshino vs. Chuck Taylor/Johnny Gargano ***1/2
4/2/11 Pac vs. Tozawa "At least ****"
4/2/11 Austin Aries vs. Yamato "Just north of ****"
6/4/11 Sami Callihan vs. Jon Davis vs. Caleb Konley vs. Pinkie Sanchesz vs. Scott Reed vs. Flip Kendrick vs. Louis Lyndon vs. Alex Colon (Eight Man Freestyle Match) ***1/2
6/4/11 Brodie Lee vs. Tony Nese ***1/4
6/4/11 Akira Tozawa vs. A.R. Fox ***1/4
6/4/11 Ricochet vs. Rich Swann vs. Pac ***1/2
1/7/11 Jimmy Jacobs vs. Arik Cannon ***1/4
1/7/11 Homicide/BxB Hulk vs. Akira Tozawa/Jon Moxley ***1/4
1/7/11 Shingo vs. Cima ***1/2
1/7/11 Rick Swann/Chuck Taylor/Johnny Gargano vs. Genki Horiguchi/Austin Aries/Ricochet ***1/2
1/7/11 Yamato vs. Masato Yoshino ***3/4
1/30/11 Akira Tozawa vs. BxB Hulk ****1/4
1/30/11 Cima/Naruki Doi/Ricochet/Dragon Kid vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Austin Aries/Sami Callahan/Yamato ***1/2
1/30/11 Pac/Masato Yoshino vs. Chuck Taylor/Johnny Gargano ***1/2
4/2/11 Pac vs. Tozawa "At least ****"
4/2/11 Austin Aries vs. Yamato "Just north of ****"
6/4/11 Sami Callihan vs. Jon Davis vs. Caleb Konley vs. Pinkie Sanchesz vs. Scott Reed vs. Flip Kendrick vs. Louis Lyndon vs. Alex Colon (Eight Man Freestyle Match) ***1/2
6/4/11 Brodie Lee vs. Tony Nese ***1/4
6/4/11 Akira Tozawa vs. A.R. Fox ***1/4
6/4/11 Ricochet vs. Rich Swann vs. Pac ***1/2
Dave Meltzer NOAH Star Ratings (*** and above)
2000
8/5/00 Kentaro Shiga/Masamichi Marufuji vs. Masao Inoue/Yoshinobu Kanemaru ***
8/5/00 Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Akira Taue (2/3 falls) ***1/2
8/6/00 Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama ***3/4
12/23/00 Shinya Hashimoto vs. Takao Omori ***1/2
12/23/00 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader ***
12/23/00 Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama ****1/4
2001
2/20/01 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori vs. Takashi Sugiura/Naomichi Marufuji ***1/4
4/1/01 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Takeshi Rikio/Naomichi Marufuji ***
4/1/01 Vader vs. Takuma Sano ***
4/15/01 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (GHC Title Tournament Final) ****
4/15/01 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Too Cold Scorpio ***1/4
5/18/01 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue (GHC Title) ***1/4
5/25/01 Takeshi Rikio vs. Jun Izumida ***
6/16/01 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Takao Omori/Takashi Sugiura ****
6/16/01 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Pathfinder (GHC Jr. Title Tournament) ***
7/27/01 Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (GHC Title) ****
7/27/01 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Donovan Morgan (GHC Jr. Title) ***1/4
8/14/01 Takeshi Morishima vs. Naomichi Marufuji ***1/4
8/15/01 Jun Akiyama/Kentaro Shiga/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Akitoshi Saito vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Takuma Sano/Naomichi Marufuji/Yoshinari Ogawa ***1/2
9/5/01 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Satoru Asako (GHC Jr. Title) ***3/4
9/9/01 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Takashi Sugiura ***1/4
9/9/01 Vader/Too Cold Scorpio vs. Jun Akiyama/Kentaro Shiga ***1/4
10/12/01 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinjiro Otani/Takao Omori (GHC Tag Title Tournament) ***1/4
10/12/01 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Michael Modest/Donovan Morgan (GHC Tag Title Tournament) ***1/4
10/17/01 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa (GHC Tag Title Tournament) ****
10/19/01 Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (GHC Jr. Title) ****
11/20/01 Vader/Too Cold Scorpio/Richard Slinger vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa/Naomichi Marufuji ***1/4
11/25/01 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Vader/Michael Modest ***
11/25/01 Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (GHC Jr. Title) ***3/4
12/9/01 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/2
12/9/01 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa (GHC Tag Titles) ***
2002
1/16/02 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jun Akiyama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Akitoshi Saito ***1/4
2/17/02 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima (GHC Tag Titles) ***
2/17/02 Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Yuji Nagata/Jun Akiyama ****1/2
2/17/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jushin Liger/Wataru Inoue ****1/4
3/14/02 Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa/Naomichi Marufuji ***1/2
3/14/02 Vader vs. Takeshi Morishima ***1/4
4/6/02 Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima vs. Vader/Too Cold Scorpio (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
4/7/02 Jushin Liger/Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru ***1/2
5/6/02 Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
5/26/02 Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue (GHC Title) ***1/4
5/26/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. KENTA (GHC Jr. Title) ****
6/12/02 Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori ***1/4
6/12/02 KENTA/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Makoto Hashi vs. Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Kotaro Suzuki (Captain�s Fall Elimination) ***
7/11/02 Takeshi Rikio/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Jun Izumida vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa/KENTA ***
7/26/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
8/14/02 KENTA/Takeshi Rikio vs. Kenta Kobashi/Kotaro Suzuki ***
9/1/02 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kotaro Suzuki ***1/2
9/23/02 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (GHC Title) ***3/4
9/23/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. El Samurai/Masayuki Naruse (IWGP Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
9/23/02 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima (GHC Tag Titles) ****1/4
10/12/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. KENTA/Takashi Sugiura (IWGP Jr. Tag Titles) ***3/4
10/19/02 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Kenta Kobashi/Kentaro Shiga (GHC Tag Titles) ****1/4
10/19/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (GHC Jr. Title) ***1/4
11/20/02 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kenta Kobashi/KENTA/Kentaro Shiga ***1/4
12/1/02 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Vader/Too Cold Scorpio (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
12/7/02 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (GHC Title) ***1/4
12/7/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Gedo/Jado (IWGP Jr. Tag Titles) ***3/4
2003
1/10/03 Mitsuharu Misawa/Masahiro Chono vs. Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue ***1/2
1/10/03 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Shinjiro Otani/Masato Tanaka (GHC Tag Titles) ****
1/10/03 Yoshinari Ogawa/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi ***1/4
1/24/03 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Tamon Honda/Masao Inoue (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/2
1/26/03 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jushin Liger/Koji Kanemoto (IWGP Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
1/26/03 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Naomichi Marufuji ***
2/16/03 Mitsuharu Misawa/Masao Inoue/Takuma Sano vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Tamon Honda ***1/2
2/16/03 Naomichi Marufuji/Takeshi Rikio vs. Akira Taue/Kotaro Suzuki ***
3/1/03 Too Cold Scorpio vs. Yoshinari Ogawa ***
3/1/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (GHC Title) *****
3/1/03 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Tamon Honda/Takashi Sugiura ***
3/1/03 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Makoto Hashi ****1/4
3/30/03 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takashi Sugiura vs. Tamon Honda/Masahi Aoyagi ***
4/5/03 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Takeshi Morishima/Naomichi Marufuji (GHC Tag Titles) ***3/4
4/13/03 Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. KENTA/Kotaro Suzuki ***3/4
4/13/03 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa/Masao Inoue vs. Naomichi Marufuji/Takeshi Morishima/Daisuke Ikeda ***1/4
4/13/03 Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Takeshi Rikio (NWF Title) ***
4/13/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Tamon Honda (GHC Title) ****1/4
5/14/03 Akitoshi Saito/Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tamon Honda/Kenta Kobashi/KENTA/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (Captain�s Fall Elimination) ****
6/1/03 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Makoto Hashi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru (2/3 Falls) ***1/2
6/6/03 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito (GHC Tag Titles) ****1/4
6/6/03 Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Takeshi Morishima ***1/4
6/6/03 Yuji Nagata vs. Akira Taue ****1/2
6/29/03 Jushin Liger/Takehiro Murahama/Ricky Marvin vs. KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji/Kotaro Suzuki ****1/4
7/16/03 Takashi Sugiura/Makoto Hashi/Kotaro Suzuki/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa/Yoshito Sasaki/Ricky Marvin/Superstar Steve ***1/4
7/16/03 Yuji Nagata vs. Jun Akiyama ***
7/16/03 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Shinya Makabe (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
7/16/03 Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA vs. Jushin Liger/Takehiro Murahama (GHC Jr. Tag Title Tournament Final) ****1/2
8/23/03 Jun Akiyama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Makoto Hashi/Akitoshi Saito vs. Kenta Kobashi/KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji/Tamon Honda ****
8/26/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Bison Smith (GHC Title) ***1/4
9/12/03 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Makoto Hashi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/2
9/12/03 Takashi Sugiura vs. Michael Modest (GHC Jr. Title) ***1/2
9/12/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Yuji Nagata (GHC Title) ****1/2
10/5/03 Mitsuharu Misawa/Akira Taue/Takeshi Morishima vs. Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio ***1/2
10/11/03 Akira Taue/Daisuke Ikeda/Mohammed Yone vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda/KENTA ***1/2
11/1/03 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Ricky Marvin/Juventud Guerrera (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/2
11/1/03 Takashi Sugiura vs. Gedo (GHC Jr. Title) ***1/2
11/1/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (GHC Title) ***3/4
11/30/03 KENTA vs. Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
11/30/03 Yuji Nagata/Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda (GHC Tag Titles) ****
12/6/03 Yuji Nagata/Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima (GHC Tag Titles) ****
12/11/03 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Mitsuo Momota/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ***
2004
1/10/04 Jun Akiyama/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Takeshi Morishima vs. Kenta Kobashi/Makoto Hashi/Takeshi Rikio ***3/4
1/10/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. El Samurai/Wataru Inoue (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
1/17/04 KENTA vs. Juventud Guerrera ***3/4
1/25/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Takuma Sano (GHC Title) ***1/4
2/20/04 Akira Taue/Takuma Sano/Makoto Hashi vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda/KENTA ****
3/6/04 Mitsuo Momota/KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji/Kotaro Suzuki vs. Michael Modest/Donovan Morgan/Superstar Steve/Ricky Marvin ***1/2
3/6/04 Jushin Liger vs. Makoto Hashi (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
3/6/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Takeshi Rikio (GHC Title) ***3/4
3/13/04 Yoshinari Ogawa vs. KENTA ***1/2
4/3/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinari Ogawa/Kotaro Suzuki (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
4/18/04 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Bison Smith ***1/4
4/25/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (GHC Title) ****1/2
4/25/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/2
4/25/04 Takeshi Rikio/Kotaro Suzuki vs. Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi ***1/2
4/25/04 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Ricky Marvin ***3/4
5/21/04 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Akira Taue/Takashi Sugiura ***1/2
6/1/04 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito ***1/2
6/1/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kotaro Suzuki/Ricky Marvin (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/2
6/11/04 Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru ***
6/23/04 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda/KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Makoto Hashi ***1/2
7/10/04 Michael Modest/Donovan Morgan vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaro Suzuki ***
7/10/04 Akira Taue/Takuma Sano vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Mohammed Yone ***1/2
7/10/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Takashi Sugiura/Kendo Kashin (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
7/10/04 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jushin Liger (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/2
7/10/04 Yoshihiro Takayama/Minoru Suzuki vs. Takeshi Morishima/Takeshi Rikio (IWGP Tag Titles) ***1/2
7/10/04 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Keiji Mutoh/Taiyo Kea (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
7/10/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (GHC Title) *****
8/1/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Bison Smith ***1/2
8/1/04 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue ***
9/10/04 Takeshi Rikio/Makoto Hashi vs. Jun Akiyama/Go Shiozaki ***1/4
9/10/04 Minoru Suzuki vs. Naomichi Marufuji ***1/4
9/10/04 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Low Ki (GHC Jr. Title) ****
9/10/04 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akitoshi Saito/Masao Inoue (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
9/10/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue (GHC Title) ***1/2
10/9/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. KENTA ****
10/24/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. SUWA/Ricky Marvin (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/2
10/24/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Akitoshi Saito (GHC Title) ****
11/13/04 KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji ***3/4
11/21/04 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Go Shiozaki (GHC Hardcore Title) ***3/4
11/28/04 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Takeshi Rikio/Naomichi Marufuji (2 Day Tag Tournament Final) ****
12/4/04 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Michael Modest/Donovan Morgan (GHC Tag Titles) ***
12/4/04 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/2
2005
1/8/05 Ricky Marvin/SUWA/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. KENTA/Kotaro Suzuki/Mohammed Yone ***3/4
1/8/05 Takeshi Morishima/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi ***1/4
1/8/05 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
1/8/05 Mitsuharu Misawa/Takeshi Rikio vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Shiro Koshinaka ***3/4
1/8/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Minoru Suzuki (GHC Title) ***3/4
1/23/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Go Shiozaki ***1/4
2/20/05 Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kenta Kobashi/Mohammed Yone/Go Shiozaki ***3/4
3/5/05 Ricky Marvin/KENTA/Low Ki vs. SUWA/Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinobu Kanemaru ***3/4
3/5/05 Mohammed Yone vs. Naomichi Marufuji (GHC Hardcore Title) ***
3/5/05 Shinjiro Otani/Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kotaro Suzuki ***3/4
3/5/05 Genichiro Tenryu/Minoru Suzuki vs. Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Morishima ***1/2
3/5/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Takeshi Rikio (GHC Title) ***3/4
4/24/05 KENTA vs. SUWA ***
4/24/05 Genichiro Tenryu/Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi/Go Shiozaki ****1/4
5/7/05 Katsuhiko Nakajima/Takehiro Murahama vs. Tiger Emperor/Super Shisa (Differ Cup) ***
5/7/05 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. KUDO/Iifushi Kota (Differ Cup) ****
5/7/05 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Leonardo Spanky/Kaz Hayashi (Differ Cup) ****
5/8/05 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Ikuto Hidaka/Minoru Fujita (Differ Cup Final) ****3/4
6/5/05 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****3/4
7/18/05 KENTA vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/2
7/18/05 Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi vs. Minoru Suzuki/Naomichi Marufuji (GHC Tag Titles) ****1/4
7/18/05 Takeshi Rikio vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (GHC Title) ***1/4
7/18/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki ****3/4
7/18/05 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada ***1/2
9/18/05 KENTA vs. SUWA (GHC Jr. Title) ****
9/18/05 Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Jun Akiyama ***1/2
11/5/05 Takuma Sano vs. Mushiking Terry ***
11/5/05 Jun Akiyama/Shiro Koshinaka vs. Minoru Suzuki/Naomichi Marufuji ***1/2
11/5/05 Kenta Kobashi/Go Shiozaki vs. Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima ****3/4
11/5/05 Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone vs. KENTA/Katsuyori Shibata (GHC Tag Titles) ****
11/5/05 Akira Taue vs. Takeshi Rikio (GHC Title) ***
12/4/05 KENTA/Katsuyori Shibata vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Go Shiozaki ***3/4
12/4/05 Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Jun Akiyama/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi ***1/2
12/4/05 Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaro Suzuki (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ***1/2
2006
1/22/06 Mitsuhara Misawa/Takashi Sugiura/Mushiking Terry vs. Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima/Mushiking Joker ***1/4
1/22/06 KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
1/22/06 Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue (GHC Title) ***1/4
3/5/06 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Akira Taue ***1/2
3/5/06 Mitsuhara Misawa vs. Takeshi Morishima ****1/4
3/5/06 KENTA vs. Kenta Kobashi ****
3/5/06 Ikuto Hidaka/Minoru Fujita vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/2
4/23/06 KENTA vs. Taiji Ishimori (GHC Jr. Title) ***3/4
4/23/06 Kenta Kobashi vs. Naomichi Marufuji ****
5/19/06 Low Ki/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Suwa vs. KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji/Taiji Ishimori ****
6/4/06 KENTA vs. Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
6/4/06 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
7/16/06 Mushiking Terry/Taiji Ishimori/Angel vs. Psicosis/Charly Masnon/Mushiking Joker ***
7/16/06 Takeshi Morishima/Takeshi Rikio vs. KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji ****1/2
7/16/06 Mitsuhara Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Kensuke Sasaki ***1/2
8/13/06 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jun Akiyama/Atsushi Aoki ***3/4
8/13/06 Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinabu Kanemaru vs. Ikuto Hidaka/Minoru Fujita (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****
9/9/06 Takeshi Morishima/Takeshi Rikio vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Takashi Sugiura ***3/4
9/9/06 KENTA/Katsuyori Shibata vs. Akira Taue/Go Shiozaki ***3/4
10/29/06 Naomichi Marufuji vs. KENTA (GHC Title) ****3/4
2007
1/7/07 Mark Briscoe/Jay Briscoe vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ***1/4
1/20/07 Jay Briscoe/Mark Brisco vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaru Suzuki (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
3/4/2007 Jun Akiyama vs. Mohammad Yone ***1/2
3/4/2007 Takeshi Morishima vs. KENTA (ROH World Title) ****
4/28/07 Takeshi Rikio/Jun Akiyama vs. Takashi Sugiura/Yoshihiro Takayama (GHC Tag Titles) ****1/4
4/28/2007 Dragon Kid/Cima/Susumu Yokosuka vs. Ippei Ota/Naomichi Marufuji/Ricky Marvin ***1/2
7/15/07 Bryan Danielson/Nigel McGuinness/Rocky Romero vs. Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone/Go Shiozaki ***1/2
7/15/07 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takashi Sugiura vs. Akitoshi Saito/Makoto Hashi ***1/4
7/15/07 Naomichi Marufuji/Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA/Taiji Ishimori ****3/4
7/15/07 Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaro Suzuki ***1/2
8/19/07 KENTA/Taiji Ishimori/Rocky Romero vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaro Suzuki/Ippei Ota ***1/2
8/19/07 Takeshi Morishima vs. Go Shiozaki ***3/4
12/27/07 Kenta Kobashi/Yoshirio Takayama vs. Mitsuhara Misawa/Jun Akiyama ****1/4
2008
6/14/08 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima ****1/4
6/14/08 Takeshi Morishima vs. Takeshi Sugiura (GHC Title) ***1/4
2009
3/1/09 Go Shiozaki/Takashi Sugiura vs. Shinsuke Nakamura/Milano Collection AT ****1/4
3/1/09 KENTA vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/2
8/5/00 Kentaro Shiga/Masamichi Marufuji vs. Masao Inoue/Yoshinobu Kanemaru ***
8/5/00 Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Akira Taue (2/3 falls) ***1/2
8/6/00 Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama ***3/4
12/23/00 Shinya Hashimoto vs. Takao Omori ***1/2
12/23/00 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader ***
12/23/00 Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama ****1/4
2001
2/20/01 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori vs. Takashi Sugiura/Naomichi Marufuji ***1/4
4/1/01 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Takeshi Rikio/Naomichi Marufuji ***
4/1/01 Vader vs. Takuma Sano ***
4/15/01 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (GHC Title Tournament Final) ****
4/15/01 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Too Cold Scorpio ***1/4
5/18/01 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue (GHC Title) ***1/4
5/25/01 Takeshi Rikio vs. Jun Izumida ***
6/16/01 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Takao Omori/Takashi Sugiura ****
6/16/01 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Pathfinder (GHC Jr. Title Tournament) ***
7/27/01 Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (GHC Title) ****
7/27/01 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Donovan Morgan (GHC Jr. Title) ***1/4
8/14/01 Takeshi Morishima vs. Naomichi Marufuji ***1/4
8/15/01 Jun Akiyama/Kentaro Shiga/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Akitoshi Saito vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Takuma Sano/Naomichi Marufuji/Yoshinari Ogawa ***1/2
9/5/01 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Satoru Asako (GHC Jr. Title) ***3/4
9/9/01 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Takashi Sugiura ***1/4
9/9/01 Vader/Too Cold Scorpio vs. Jun Akiyama/Kentaro Shiga ***1/4
10/12/01 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinjiro Otani/Takao Omori (GHC Tag Title Tournament) ***1/4
10/12/01 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Michael Modest/Donovan Morgan (GHC Tag Title Tournament) ***1/4
10/17/01 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa (GHC Tag Title Tournament) ****
10/19/01 Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (GHC Jr. Title) ****
11/20/01 Vader/Too Cold Scorpio/Richard Slinger vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa/Naomichi Marufuji ***1/4
11/25/01 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Vader/Michael Modest ***
11/25/01 Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (GHC Jr. Title) ***3/4
12/9/01 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/2
12/9/01 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa (GHC Tag Titles) ***
2002
1/16/02 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jun Akiyama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Akitoshi Saito ***1/4
2/17/02 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima (GHC Tag Titles) ***
2/17/02 Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Yuji Nagata/Jun Akiyama ****1/2
2/17/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jushin Liger/Wataru Inoue ****1/4
3/14/02 Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa/Naomichi Marufuji ***1/2
3/14/02 Vader vs. Takeshi Morishima ***1/4
4/6/02 Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima vs. Vader/Too Cold Scorpio (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
4/7/02 Jushin Liger/Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru ***1/2
5/6/02 Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
5/26/02 Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue (GHC Title) ***1/4
5/26/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. KENTA (GHC Jr. Title) ****
6/12/02 Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori ***1/4
6/12/02 KENTA/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Makoto Hashi vs. Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Kotaro Suzuki (Captain�s Fall Elimination) ***
7/11/02 Takeshi Rikio/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Jun Izumida vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa/KENTA ***
7/26/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
8/14/02 KENTA/Takeshi Rikio vs. Kenta Kobashi/Kotaro Suzuki ***
9/1/02 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kotaro Suzuki ***1/2
9/23/02 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (GHC Title) ***3/4
9/23/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. El Samurai/Masayuki Naruse (IWGP Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
9/23/02 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima (GHC Tag Titles) ****1/4
10/12/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. KENTA/Takashi Sugiura (IWGP Jr. Tag Titles) ***3/4
10/19/02 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Kenta Kobashi/Kentaro Shiga (GHC Tag Titles) ****1/4
10/19/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (GHC Jr. Title) ***1/4
11/20/02 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kenta Kobashi/KENTA/Kentaro Shiga ***1/4
12/1/02 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Vader/Too Cold Scorpio (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
12/7/02 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (GHC Title) ***1/4
12/7/02 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Gedo/Jado (IWGP Jr. Tag Titles) ***3/4
2003
1/10/03 Mitsuharu Misawa/Masahiro Chono vs. Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue ***1/2
1/10/03 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Shinjiro Otani/Masato Tanaka (GHC Tag Titles) ****
1/10/03 Yoshinari Ogawa/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi ***1/4
1/24/03 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Tamon Honda/Masao Inoue (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/2
1/26/03 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jushin Liger/Koji Kanemoto (IWGP Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
1/26/03 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Naomichi Marufuji ***
2/16/03 Mitsuharu Misawa/Masao Inoue/Takuma Sano vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Tamon Honda ***1/2
2/16/03 Naomichi Marufuji/Takeshi Rikio vs. Akira Taue/Kotaro Suzuki ***
3/1/03 Too Cold Scorpio vs. Yoshinari Ogawa ***
3/1/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (GHC Title) *****
3/1/03 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Tamon Honda/Takashi Sugiura ***
3/1/03 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Makoto Hashi ****1/4
3/30/03 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takashi Sugiura vs. Tamon Honda/Masahi Aoyagi ***
4/5/03 Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs. Takeshi Morishima/Naomichi Marufuji (GHC Tag Titles) ***3/4
4/13/03 Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. KENTA/Kotaro Suzuki ***3/4
4/13/03 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa/Masao Inoue vs. Naomichi Marufuji/Takeshi Morishima/Daisuke Ikeda ***1/4
4/13/03 Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Takeshi Rikio (NWF Title) ***
4/13/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Tamon Honda (GHC Title) ****1/4
5/14/03 Akitoshi Saito/Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tamon Honda/Kenta Kobashi/KENTA/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (Captain�s Fall Elimination) ****
6/1/03 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Makoto Hashi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru (2/3 Falls) ***1/2
6/6/03 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito (GHC Tag Titles) ****1/4
6/6/03 Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Takeshi Morishima ***1/4
6/6/03 Yuji Nagata vs. Akira Taue ****1/2
6/29/03 Jushin Liger/Takehiro Murahama/Ricky Marvin vs. KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji/Kotaro Suzuki ****1/4
7/16/03 Takashi Sugiura/Makoto Hashi/Kotaro Suzuki/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa/Yoshito Sasaki/Ricky Marvin/Superstar Steve ***1/4
7/16/03 Yuji Nagata vs. Jun Akiyama ***
7/16/03 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Shinya Makabe (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
7/16/03 Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA vs. Jushin Liger/Takehiro Murahama (GHC Jr. Tag Title Tournament Final) ****1/2
8/23/03 Jun Akiyama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Makoto Hashi/Akitoshi Saito vs. Kenta Kobashi/KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji/Tamon Honda ****
8/26/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Bison Smith (GHC Title) ***1/4
9/12/03 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Makoto Hashi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/2
9/12/03 Takashi Sugiura vs. Michael Modest (GHC Jr. Title) ***1/2
9/12/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Yuji Nagata (GHC Title) ****1/2
10/5/03 Mitsuharu Misawa/Akira Taue/Takeshi Morishima vs. Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio ***1/2
10/11/03 Akira Taue/Daisuke Ikeda/Mohammed Yone vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda/KENTA ***1/2
11/1/03 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Ricky Marvin/Juventud Guerrera (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/2
11/1/03 Takashi Sugiura vs. Gedo (GHC Jr. Title) ***1/2
11/1/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (GHC Title) ***3/4
11/30/03 KENTA vs. Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
11/30/03 Yuji Nagata/Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda (GHC Tag Titles) ****
12/6/03 Yuji Nagata/Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima (GHC Tag Titles) ****
12/11/03 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Mitsuo Momota/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ***
2004
1/10/04 Jun Akiyama/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Takeshi Morishima vs. Kenta Kobashi/Makoto Hashi/Takeshi Rikio ***3/4
1/10/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. El Samurai/Wataru Inoue (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
1/17/04 KENTA vs. Juventud Guerrera ***3/4
1/25/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Takuma Sano (GHC Title) ***1/4
2/20/04 Akira Taue/Takuma Sano/Makoto Hashi vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda/KENTA ****
3/6/04 Mitsuo Momota/KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji/Kotaro Suzuki vs. Michael Modest/Donovan Morgan/Superstar Steve/Ricky Marvin ***1/2
3/6/04 Jushin Liger vs. Makoto Hashi (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
3/6/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Takeshi Rikio (GHC Title) ***3/4
3/13/04 Yoshinari Ogawa vs. KENTA ***1/2
4/3/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinari Ogawa/Kotaro Suzuki (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
4/18/04 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Bison Smith ***1/4
4/25/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (GHC Title) ****1/2
4/25/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/2
4/25/04 Takeshi Rikio/Kotaro Suzuki vs. Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi ***1/2
4/25/04 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Ricky Marvin ***3/4
5/21/04 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Akira Taue/Takashi Sugiura ***1/2
6/1/04 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito ***1/2
6/1/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kotaro Suzuki/Ricky Marvin (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/2
6/11/04 Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru ***
6/23/04 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda/KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito/Makoto Hashi ***1/2
7/10/04 Michael Modest/Donovan Morgan vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaro Suzuki ***
7/10/04 Akira Taue/Takuma Sano vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Mohammed Yone ***1/2
7/10/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Takashi Sugiura/Kendo Kashin (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
7/10/04 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jushin Liger (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/2
7/10/04 Yoshihiro Takayama/Minoru Suzuki vs. Takeshi Morishima/Takeshi Rikio (IWGP Tag Titles) ***1/2
7/10/04 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Keiji Mutoh/Taiyo Kea (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
7/10/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (GHC Title) *****
8/1/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Bison Smith ***1/2
8/1/04 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue ***
9/10/04 Takeshi Rikio/Makoto Hashi vs. Jun Akiyama/Go Shiozaki ***1/4
9/10/04 Minoru Suzuki vs. Naomichi Marufuji ***1/4
9/10/04 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Low Ki (GHC Jr. Title) ****
9/10/04 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akitoshi Saito/Masao Inoue (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
9/10/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue (GHC Title) ***1/2
10/9/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. KENTA ****
10/24/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. SUWA/Ricky Marvin (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/2
10/24/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Akitoshi Saito (GHC Title) ****
11/13/04 KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji ***3/4
11/21/04 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Go Shiozaki (GHC Hardcore Title) ***3/4
11/28/04 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Takeshi Rikio/Naomichi Marufuji (2 Day Tag Tournament Final) ****
12/4/04 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Michael Modest/Donovan Morgan (GHC Tag Titles) ***
12/4/04 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/2
2005
1/8/05 Ricky Marvin/SUWA/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. KENTA/Kotaro Suzuki/Mohammed Yone ***3/4
1/8/05 Takeshi Morishima/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi ***1/4
1/8/05 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
1/8/05 Mitsuharu Misawa/Takeshi Rikio vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Shiro Koshinaka ***3/4
1/8/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Minoru Suzuki (GHC Title) ***3/4
1/23/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Go Shiozaki ***1/4
2/20/05 Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kenta Kobashi/Mohammed Yone/Go Shiozaki ***3/4
3/5/05 Ricky Marvin/KENTA/Low Ki vs. SUWA/Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinobu Kanemaru ***3/4
3/5/05 Mohammed Yone vs. Naomichi Marufuji (GHC Hardcore Title) ***
3/5/05 Shinjiro Otani/Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kotaro Suzuki ***3/4
3/5/05 Genichiro Tenryu/Minoru Suzuki vs. Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Morishima ***1/2
3/5/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Takeshi Rikio (GHC Title) ***3/4
4/24/05 KENTA vs. SUWA ***
4/24/05 Genichiro Tenryu/Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi/Go Shiozaki ****1/4
5/7/05 Katsuhiko Nakajima/Takehiro Murahama vs. Tiger Emperor/Super Shisa (Differ Cup) ***
5/7/05 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. KUDO/Iifushi Kota (Differ Cup) ****
5/7/05 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Leonardo Spanky/Kaz Hayashi (Differ Cup) ****
5/8/05 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Ikuto Hidaka/Minoru Fujita (Differ Cup Final) ****3/4
6/5/05 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****3/4
7/18/05 KENTA vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/2
7/18/05 Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi vs. Minoru Suzuki/Naomichi Marufuji (GHC Tag Titles) ****1/4
7/18/05 Takeshi Rikio vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (GHC Title) ***1/4
7/18/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki ****3/4
7/18/05 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada ***1/2
9/18/05 KENTA vs. SUWA (GHC Jr. Title) ****
9/18/05 Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Jun Akiyama ***1/2
11/5/05 Takuma Sano vs. Mushiking Terry ***
11/5/05 Jun Akiyama/Shiro Koshinaka vs. Minoru Suzuki/Naomichi Marufuji ***1/2
11/5/05 Kenta Kobashi/Go Shiozaki vs. Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima ****3/4
11/5/05 Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone vs. KENTA/Katsuyori Shibata (GHC Tag Titles) ****
11/5/05 Akira Taue vs. Takeshi Rikio (GHC Title) ***
12/4/05 KENTA/Katsuyori Shibata vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Go Shiozaki ***3/4
12/4/05 Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Jun Akiyama/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi ***1/2
12/4/05 Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaro Suzuki (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ***1/2
2006
1/22/06 Mitsuhara Misawa/Takashi Sugiura/Mushiking Terry vs. Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima/Mushiking Joker ***1/4
1/22/06 KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
1/22/06 Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue (GHC Title) ***1/4
3/5/06 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Akira Taue ***1/2
3/5/06 Mitsuhara Misawa vs. Takeshi Morishima ****1/4
3/5/06 KENTA vs. Kenta Kobashi ****
3/5/06 Ikuto Hidaka/Minoru Fujita vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/2
4/23/06 KENTA vs. Taiji Ishimori (GHC Jr. Title) ***3/4
4/23/06 Kenta Kobashi vs. Naomichi Marufuji ****
5/19/06 Low Ki/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Suwa vs. KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji/Taiji Ishimori ****
6/4/06 KENTA vs. Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/4
6/4/06 Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone (GHC Tag Titles) ***1/4
7/16/06 Mushiking Terry/Taiji Ishimori/Angel vs. Psicosis/Charly Masnon/Mushiking Joker ***
7/16/06 Takeshi Morishima/Takeshi Rikio vs. KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji ****1/2
7/16/06 Mitsuhara Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Kensuke Sasaki ***1/2
8/13/06 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jun Akiyama/Atsushi Aoki ***3/4
8/13/06 Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinabu Kanemaru vs. Ikuto Hidaka/Minoru Fujita (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****
9/9/06 Takeshi Morishima/Takeshi Rikio vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Takashi Sugiura ***3/4
9/9/06 KENTA/Katsuyori Shibata vs. Akira Taue/Go Shiozaki ***3/4
10/29/06 Naomichi Marufuji vs. KENTA (GHC Title) ****3/4
2007
1/7/07 Mark Briscoe/Jay Briscoe vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Takashi Sugiura (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ***1/4
1/20/07 Jay Briscoe/Mark Brisco vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaru Suzuki (GHC Jr. Tag Titles) ****1/4
3/4/2007 Jun Akiyama vs. Mohammad Yone ***1/2
3/4/2007 Takeshi Morishima vs. KENTA (ROH World Title) ****
4/28/07 Takeshi Rikio/Jun Akiyama vs. Takashi Sugiura/Yoshihiro Takayama (GHC Tag Titles) ****1/4
4/28/2007 Dragon Kid/Cima/Susumu Yokosuka vs. Ippei Ota/Naomichi Marufuji/Ricky Marvin ***1/2
7/15/07 Bryan Danielson/Nigel McGuinness/Rocky Romero vs. Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone/Go Shiozaki ***1/2
7/15/07 Yoshihiro Takayama/Takashi Sugiura vs. Akitoshi Saito/Makoto Hashi ***1/4
7/15/07 Naomichi Marufuji/Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA/Taiji Ishimori ****3/4
7/15/07 Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaro Suzuki ***1/2
8/19/07 KENTA/Taiji Ishimori/Rocky Romero vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaro Suzuki/Ippei Ota ***1/2
8/19/07 Takeshi Morishima vs. Go Shiozaki ***3/4
12/27/07 Kenta Kobashi/Yoshirio Takayama vs. Mitsuhara Misawa/Jun Akiyama ****1/4
2008
6/14/08 Kenta Kobashi/KENTA vs. Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima ****1/4
6/14/08 Takeshi Morishima vs. Takeshi Sugiura (GHC Title) ***1/4
2009
3/1/09 Go Shiozaki/Takashi Sugiura vs. Shinsuke Nakamura/Milano Collection AT ****1/4
3/1/09 KENTA vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (GHC Jr. Title) ****1/2
Dave Meltzer ECW PPV Star Ratings (*** and above)
Barely Legal 4-13-97:
-Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada and Masato Yakushuji vs. Men's Teoh, Dick
Dogo and Taka Michinoku ****1/2
-Taz vs. Sabu ***1/4
-Terry Funk vs. Sandman vs. Stevie Richards ****
-Terry Funk vs. Raven ***1/4
Hardcore Heaven 8-17-97:
-Shane Douglas vs. Sabu vs. Terry Funk ***1/2
Living Dangerously 3-1-98:
-New Jack and Spike Dudley vs. Bubba and D-Von Dudley vs. Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten ***1/4
Heatwave 8-2-98:
-Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible ***1/4
-Lance Storm vs. Chris Candido ***1/4
-Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome ****
-Taz vs. Bam Bam Bigelow ***3/4
Guilty as Charged 1-10-99:
-Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy ***1/2
-Rob Van Dam vs. Lance Storm ***
-Taz vs. Shane Douglas ***
Living Dangerously 3-21-99:
-Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn ***1/2
-Taz vs. Sabu ***1/2
Hardcore Heaven 5-16-99:
-Lance Storm vs. Tommy Dreamer ***
-Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn ****1/4
Heatwave 8-2-99:
-Super Crazy vs. Little Guido ***
-Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn vs. Lance Storm and Justin Credible ***3/4
Anarchy Rulz 9-19-99:
-Lance Storm vs. Jerry Lynn ***1/4
-Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy vs. Little Guido ***1/2
-Justin Credible vs. Sabu ***1/2
-Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka vs. Taz ***3/4
November to Remember 11-7-99:
-Jerry Lynn vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy ***1/2
-Sabu vs. Chris Candido ***
-Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka ****1/4
Guilty as Charged 1-9-00:
-Tajiri and Super Crazy vs. Jerry Lynn and Little Guido ***1/4
-Justin Credible and Lance Storm vs. Raven and Tommy Dreamer ***
-Mike Awesome vs. Spike Dudley ***1/2
Living Dangerously 3-12-00:
-Mike Awesome vs. Kid Kash ***
-Super Crazy vs. Little Guido ***
Hardcore Heaven 5-14-00:
-Masato Tanaka vs. Balls Mahoney ***
-Kid Kash vs. CW Anderson ***
-Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Steve Corino ***1/4
-Rhino vs. Sandman ***
-Jerry Lynn vs. Rob Van Dam ***1/2
Heatwave 7-16-00:
-Danny Doring, Roadkill and Kid Kash vs. Simon Diamond, Johnny Swinger
and CW Anderson ***1/4
-Jerry Lynn vs. Steve Corino ***1/4
-Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Little Guido vs. Psychosis vs. Mikey Whipwreck ***1/2
-Rob Van Dam vs. Scotty Anton ***
Anarchy Rulz 10-1-00:
-Kid Kash vs. EZ Money ***1/2
-Rhino vs. Rob Van Dam ***1/4
-Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible ***1/2
November to Remember 11-5-00:
-Kid Kash vs. CW Anderson ***1/4
Massacre on 34th Street 12-23-00:
-Tajiri and Mikey Whipwreck vs. Super Crazy and Kid Kash ***3/4
-Steve Corino vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible ***1/4
Guilty as Charged 1-7-01:
-Tommy Dreamer vs. CW Anderson ***1/4
-Mikey Whipwreck and Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke vs. Super Crazy and Kid Kash ***
-Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn ***1/4
-Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada and Masato Yakushuji vs. Men's Teoh, Dick
Dogo and Taka Michinoku ****1/2
-Taz vs. Sabu ***1/4
-Terry Funk vs. Sandman vs. Stevie Richards ****
-Terry Funk vs. Raven ***1/4
Hardcore Heaven 8-17-97:
-Shane Douglas vs. Sabu vs. Terry Funk ***1/2
Living Dangerously 3-1-98:
-New Jack and Spike Dudley vs. Bubba and D-Von Dudley vs. Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten ***1/4
Heatwave 8-2-98:
-Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible ***1/4
-Lance Storm vs. Chris Candido ***1/4
-Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome ****
-Taz vs. Bam Bam Bigelow ***3/4
Guilty as Charged 1-10-99:
-Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy ***1/2
-Rob Van Dam vs. Lance Storm ***
-Taz vs. Shane Douglas ***
Living Dangerously 3-21-99:
-Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn ***1/2
-Taz vs. Sabu ***1/2
Hardcore Heaven 5-16-99:
-Lance Storm vs. Tommy Dreamer ***
-Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn ****1/4
Heatwave 8-2-99:
-Super Crazy vs. Little Guido ***
-Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn vs. Lance Storm and Justin Credible ***3/4
Anarchy Rulz 9-19-99:
-Lance Storm vs. Jerry Lynn ***1/4
-Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy vs. Little Guido ***1/2
-Justin Credible vs. Sabu ***1/2
-Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka vs. Taz ***3/4
November to Remember 11-7-99:
-Jerry Lynn vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy ***1/2
-Sabu vs. Chris Candido ***
-Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka ****1/4
Guilty as Charged 1-9-00:
-Tajiri and Super Crazy vs. Jerry Lynn and Little Guido ***1/4
-Justin Credible and Lance Storm vs. Raven and Tommy Dreamer ***
-Mike Awesome vs. Spike Dudley ***1/2
Living Dangerously 3-12-00:
-Mike Awesome vs. Kid Kash ***
-Super Crazy vs. Little Guido ***
Hardcore Heaven 5-14-00:
-Masato Tanaka vs. Balls Mahoney ***
-Kid Kash vs. CW Anderson ***
-Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Steve Corino ***1/4
-Rhino vs. Sandman ***
-Jerry Lynn vs. Rob Van Dam ***1/2
Heatwave 7-16-00:
-Danny Doring, Roadkill and Kid Kash vs. Simon Diamond, Johnny Swinger
and CW Anderson ***1/4
-Jerry Lynn vs. Steve Corino ***1/4
-Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Little Guido vs. Psychosis vs. Mikey Whipwreck ***1/2
-Rob Van Dam vs. Scotty Anton ***
Anarchy Rulz 10-1-00:
-Kid Kash vs. EZ Money ***1/2
-Rhino vs. Rob Van Dam ***1/4
-Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible ***1/2
November to Remember 11-5-00:
-Kid Kash vs. CW Anderson ***1/4
Massacre on 34th Street 12-23-00:
-Tajiri and Mikey Whipwreck vs. Super Crazy and Kid Kash ***3/4
-Steve Corino vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible ***1/4
Guilty as Charged 1-7-01:
-Tommy Dreamer vs. CW Anderson ***1/4
-Mikey Whipwreck and Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke vs. Super Crazy and Kid Kash ***
-Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn ***1/4
Dave Meltzer ROH Star Ratings (*** and above)
2002
2/23/02 American Dragon vs. Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels ****1/2
4/27/02 Low Ki vs. AJ Styles ****1/2
2004
6/12/04 Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ****1/4
8/7/04 Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries (2 out of 3 Falls) ***1/2
10/2/04 Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson ****
10/16/04 Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk *****
12/4/04 Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ****1/4
12/26/04 Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries ****1/4
2005
1/15/05 Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness ***1/2
1/15/05 Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson (Tap Out) ****
1/15/05 Austin Aries vs. Colt Cabana ***3/4
6/18/05 Austin Aries vs. CM Punk ****1/2
10/1/05 Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi *****
10/2/05 Roderick Strong vs. James Gibson ****
10/2/05 Homicide/Kenta Kobashi vs. Low Ki/Samoa Joe "well above ****"
12/17/05 Bryan Danielson vs. Naomichi Marufuji ***3/4
12/17/05 KENTA vs. Low Ki ****1/2
2006
3/31/06 Cima/Naruki Doi/Masato Yoshino vs. Genki Horiguchi/Ryo Saito/Dragon Kid *****
3/31/06 Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong ****1/4
8/05/06 Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe ****1/4
8/12/06 Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness ****3/4
9/16/06 Samoe Joe/Homicide vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe ***1/2
9/16/06 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Nigel McGuinness ****
9/16/06 Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA ****3/4
12/23/06 Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide "****1/4 if not better"
2007
2/16/2007 Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima ****1/2
5/12/2007 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Rocky Romero ***3/4
5/12/2007 Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal/Claudio Castagnoli ****1/4
5/12/2007 Delirious vs. Roderick Strong ***1/4
5/12/2007 Takeshi Morishima/Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness/KENTA ****
6/9/07 Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson ****1/2
6/23/07 Erik Stevens/Matt Cross/Delirious vs. Roderick Strong/Davey Richards/Rocky Romero ***3/4
6/23/07 Claudio Castagnoli vs. Matt Sydal ***1/4
6/23/07 Naomichi Marufuji vs. BJ Whitmer ***
6/23/07 Mark Briscoe/Jay Briscoe vs. El Generico/Kevin Steen ***3/4
8/25/07 Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson ****3/4
9/15/07 Claudio Castagnoli vs. Naomichi Marufuji vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Chris Hero ***3/4
9/15/07 Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards ***1/2
9/15/07 Roderick Strong vs. Erik Stevens ***1/2
9/15/07 Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson ****1/4
10/6/07 Delirious/Kevin Steen/El Generico vs. Adam Pearce/Brent Albright/BJ Whitmer ***
10/6/07 Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong ****1/4
10/6/07 Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness ***3/4
11/30/07 Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs. Davey Richards/Rockey Romero ***3/4
12/29/07 Kevin Steen/El Generico vs. BJ Whitmer/Adam Pearce vs. Jack Evans/Ruckus vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Tyler Black (Tag Team Scramble) ***1/4
12/29/07 Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Hero ***
12/29/07 Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima (Relaxed Rules) ***1/2
12/29/07 Mark Briscoe/Jay Briscoe vs. Rockey Romero/Roderick Strong ***1/4
12/29/07 Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries ****3/4
2008
3/16/08 Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson ****
3/16/08 Nigel McGuinness vs. Tyler Black ****1/2
6/7/08 Kevin Steen/El Generico vs. Jigsaw/Ruckus ***1/4
6/7/08 Brent Albright/Delirious/Pelle Primeau vs. Chris Hero/Adam Pearce/Eddie Edwards ***1/2
6/7/08 Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong (Fight Without Honor) ****1/4
6/7/08 Go Shiozaki vs. Nigel McGuinness ***3/4
6/7/08 Austin Aries/Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Tyler Black ****1/4
7/26/08 Naomichi Marufuji/Roderick Strong vs. Chris Hero/Go Shiozaki ***1/4
7/26/08 Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black ****1/2
7/26/08 Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli ***3/4
11/22/08 Chris Hero/Davey Richards/Go Shiozaki vs. Brent Albright/Roderick Strong/Ace Steel ***1/4
11/22/08 Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs (I Quit) ****1/4
11/22/08 Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson ****1/2
2/23/02 American Dragon vs. Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels ****1/2
4/27/02 Low Ki vs. AJ Styles ****1/2
2004
6/12/04 Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ****1/4
8/7/04 Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries (2 out of 3 Falls) ***1/2
10/2/04 Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson ****
10/16/04 Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk *****
12/4/04 Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk ****1/4
12/26/04 Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries ****1/4
2005
1/15/05 Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness ***1/2
1/15/05 Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson (Tap Out) ****
1/15/05 Austin Aries vs. Colt Cabana ***3/4
6/18/05 Austin Aries vs. CM Punk ****1/2
10/1/05 Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi *****
10/2/05 Roderick Strong vs. James Gibson ****
10/2/05 Homicide/Kenta Kobashi vs. Low Ki/Samoa Joe "well above ****"
12/17/05 Bryan Danielson vs. Naomichi Marufuji ***3/4
12/17/05 KENTA vs. Low Ki ****1/2
2006
3/31/06 Cima/Naruki Doi/Masato Yoshino vs. Genki Horiguchi/Ryo Saito/Dragon Kid *****
3/31/06 Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong ****1/4
8/05/06 Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe ****1/4
8/12/06 Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness ****3/4
9/16/06 Samoe Joe/Homicide vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe ***1/2
9/16/06 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Nigel McGuinness ****
9/16/06 Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA ****3/4
12/23/06 Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide "****1/4 if not better"
2007
2/16/2007 Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima ****1/2
5/12/2007 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Rocky Romero ***3/4
5/12/2007 Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal/Claudio Castagnoli ****1/4
5/12/2007 Delirious vs. Roderick Strong ***1/4
5/12/2007 Takeshi Morishima/Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness/KENTA ****
6/9/07 Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson ****1/2
6/23/07 Erik Stevens/Matt Cross/Delirious vs. Roderick Strong/Davey Richards/Rocky Romero ***3/4
6/23/07 Claudio Castagnoli vs. Matt Sydal ***1/4
6/23/07 Naomichi Marufuji vs. BJ Whitmer ***
6/23/07 Mark Briscoe/Jay Briscoe vs. El Generico/Kevin Steen ***3/4
8/25/07 Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson ****3/4
9/15/07 Claudio Castagnoli vs. Naomichi Marufuji vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Chris Hero ***3/4
9/15/07 Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards ***1/2
9/15/07 Roderick Strong vs. Erik Stevens ***1/2
9/15/07 Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson ****1/4
10/6/07 Delirious/Kevin Steen/El Generico vs. Adam Pearce/Brent Albright/BJ Whitmer ***
10/6/07 Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong ****1/4
10/6/07 Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness ***3/4
11/30/07 Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs. Davey Richards/Rockey Romero ***3/4
12/29/07 Kevin Steen/El Generico vs. BJ Whitmer/Adam Pearce vs. Jack Evans/Ruckus vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Tyler Black (Tag Team Scramble) ***1/4
12/29/07 Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Hero ***
12/29/07 Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima (Relaxed Rules) ***1/2
12/29/07 Mark Briscoe/Jay Briscoe vs. Rockey Romero/Roderick Strong ***1/4
12/29/07 Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries ****3/4
2008
3/16/08 Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson ****
3/16/08 Nigel McGuinness vs. Tyler Black ****1/2
6/7/08 Kevin Steen/El Generico vs. Jigsaw/Ruckus ***1/4
6/7/08 Brent Albright/Delirious/Pelle Primeau vs. Chris Hero/Adam Pearce/Eddie Edwards ***1/2
6/7/08 Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong (Fight Without Honor) ****1/4
6/7/08 Go Shiozaki vs. Nigel McGuinness ***3/4
6/7/08 Austin Aries/Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Tyler Black ****1/4
7/26/08 Naomichi Marufuji/Roderick Strong vs. Chris Hero/Go Shiozaki ***1/4
7/26/08 Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black ****1/2
7/26/08 Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli ***3/4
11/22/08 Chris Hero/Davey Richards/Go Shiozaki vs. Brent Albright/Roderick Strong/Ace Steel ***1/4
11/22/08 Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs (I Quit) ****1/4
11/22/08 Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson ****1/2
2009
9/11/09 Davey Richards/Eddie Edwards vs. Nick Jackson/Matt Jackson ****1/2
2010
4/3/10 Davey Richards vs. Kenny King "Probably ***3/4"
4/3/10 Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Brisco "not far behind ****1/2"
4/3/10 Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong "in the ****1/2 range"
6/19/10 Tyler Black vs. Davey Richards "probably in the ****3/4 range"
2010
4/3/10 Davey Richards vs. Kenny King "Probably ***3/4"
4/3/10 Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Brisco "not far behind ****1/2"
4/3/10 Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong "in the ****1/2 range"
6/19/10 Tyler Black vs. Davey Richards "probably in the ****3/4 range"
9/11/10 Christopher Daniels vs. Austin Aries ***1/2
9/11/10 Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin vs. Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli "probably in the ****1/4 range"
12/18/10 Kenny King/Rhett Titus vs. Kyle O'Reilly/Adam Cole ***
12/18/10 Eddie Edwards vs. Sonjay Dutt ***1/4
12/18/10 Mark Briscoe/Jay Briscoe/Mike Briscoe vs. Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli/Shane Hagadorn ***1/2
12/18/10 Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong ****1/4
12/18/10 El Generico vs. Kevin Steen (Lights Out/Mask vs. Loser Leaves Town) ****1/4
6/26/11 El Generico vs. Christopher Daniels "in the ***? star range"
6/26/11 Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs. Chris Hero/Claudia Castagnoli vs. Rhett Titus/Kenny King "probably a ****1/4 match"
6/26/11 Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards ****3/4
8/13/11 Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong ***3/4
9/17/11 Nick Jackson/Matt Jackson vs. Kyle O'Reilly/Adam Cole vs. Harlem Bravado/Lance Bravado ***1/2
9/17/11 Charlie Haas vs. Michael Elgin ***
9/17/11 Roderick Strong vs. Eddy Edwards (2 out of 3 Falls) ****1/4
9/17/11 Rhett Titus/Kenny King vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (Ladder War) ****
12/18/10 Kenny King/Rhett Titus vs. Kyle O'Reilly/Adam Cole ***
12/18/10 Eddie Edwards vs. Sonjay Dutt ***1/4
12/18/10 Mark Briscoe/Jay Briscoe/Mike Briscoe vs. Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli/Shane Hagadorn ***1/2
12/18/10 Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong ****1/4
12/18/10 El Generico vs. Kevin Steen (Lights Out/Mask vs. Loser Leaves Town) ****1/4
6/26/11 El Generico vs. Christopher Daniels "in the ***? star range"
6/26/11 Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs. Chris Hero/Claudia Castagnoli vs. Rhett Titus/Kenny King "probably a ****1/4 match"
6/26/11 Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards ****3/4
8/13/11 Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong ***3/4
9/17/11 Nick Jackson/Matt Jackson vs. Kyle O'Reilly/Adam Cole vs. Harlem Bravado/Lance Bravado ***1/2
9/17/11 Charlie Haas vs. Michael Elgin ***
9/17/11 Roderick Strong vs. Eddy Edwards (2 out of 3 Falls) ****1/4
9/17/11 Rhett Titus/Kenny King vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (Ladder War) ****
Monday, January 10, 2011
WCW Clash Of The Champions majority feedback
Results here: http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wcw/cotc.html
3/27/88- Good
6/8/88- Bad
9/7/88- Good
12/7/88- Good
2/15/89- Bad
4/2/89- Good
6/14/89- Good
11/15/89- Good
2/6/90- Bad
6/13/90- Bad
9/5/90- Bad
11/20/90- Bad
1/30/91- Bad
6/14/91- Bad
9/5/91- Bad
11/19/91- Good
1/21/92- Good
6/22/92- Bad
9/2/92- Bad
11/18/92- Good
1/13/93- Good
6/16/93- Good
8/18/93- Bad
11/10/93- Bad
1/27/94- Bad
6/23/94- Good
8/24/94- Bad
11/16/94- Bad
1/25/95- Bad
8/6/95- Bad
1/2/96- Bad
8/15/96- Bad
1/21/97- Bad
8/21/97- Bad
3/27/88- Good
6/8/88- Bad
9/7/88- Good
12/7/88- Good
2/15/89- Bad
4/2/89- Good
6/14/89- Good
11/15/89- Good
2/6/90- Bad
6/13/90- Bad
9/5/90- Bad
11/20/90- Bad
1/30/91- Bad
6/14/91- Bad
9/5/91- Bad
11/19/91- Good
1/21/92- Good
6/22/92- Bad
9/2/92- Bad
11/18/92- Good
1/13/93- Good
6/16/93- Good
8/18/93- Bad
11/10/93- Bad
1/27/94- Bad
6/23/94- Good
8/24/94- Bad
11/16/94- Bad
1/25/95- Bad
8/6/95- Bad
1/2/96- Bad
8/15/96- Bad
1/21/97- Bad
8/21/97- Bad
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