Saturday, September 27, 2014

The Wrestling Match Review: Mick Foley vs. Ric Flair (TNA Impact – October 7, 2010)

[The Wrestling Match Review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles. This review is from July 31st, 2013]

Last week, I wrote on Twitter that I would review my favorite TNA match. Mick Foley vs. Ric Flair from TNA’s “Before the Glory” Impact show is my favorite TNA match. That may be somewhat of a surprise because it is not one of the greatest TNA matches. I haven’t seen many of the classic TNA matches, but even if I did, I think this match would still be my favorite TNA match. I love this match because I got to see two legends have one last great match. Foley is one of my favorite wrestlers of all-time. He is number two behind The Rock. Many people might say Foley’s last great match is his WrestleMania 22 match against Edge. Many people might say Foley’s last great match is the “I Quit” match he had with Flair at SummerSlam 2006. I say this match that I’m going to review is Foley’s last great match.

The Wrestling Match Review: CM Punk vs. Chris Hero (IWA-Mid South – February 7, 2003)

[The Wrestling Match Review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles. This review is from ]

Before I saw CM Punk’s WWE documentary, I thought Ring of Honor, TNA and WWE were the only wrestling promotions Punk wrestled for. I found out during the documentary that Punk once wrestled for an independent promotion called Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA-MS). Highlights of a CM Punk vs. Chris Hero ladder match were shown and the spots in that match amazed me. I later brought a DVD set that had that ladder match. The match is now one of my favorite CM Punk matches, but that is not the Punk vs. Hero match I am reviewing. The ladder match was one of the main reasons I bought the DVD set, but there was another match on that set that I wanted to see. I found out that CM Punk and Chris Hero had a match that went 92 minutes. That is more than one hour and a half! The match happened ten years ago and the first time I heard of the match was last year. I couldn’t believe it took me so long to find out about this match and I realized there are probably many wrestling fans who don’t know this match exists so I decided to review it. I’m not going to do a full play-by-play review of this match because it would be too long. I’m going to re-watch the entire match and write about the important things that happened.

The Wrestling Match Review: Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm (Ring of Honor – Better Than Our Best 2006)

[The Wrestling Match Review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles. This review is from ]

This is my first non-WWE match review. My favorite wrestler is CM Punk, but my favorite in-ring performer is Daniel Bryan. I first started watching him when he made his WWE debut, but I didn’t become a fan until after he got fired from WWE for choking Justin Roberts with his tie. I didn’t watch Bryan when he was in Ring of Honor, but I did know he was one of the best independent wrestlers. After Bryan was fired from WWE, he did an independent wrestling tour and the gym of the high school I graduated from was one of the places he went to during his tour. He wrestled as Bryan Danielson. I attended that indy show and I was able to meet Danielson before the event started. He was sitting at a table signing autographs and he wasn’t charging any money. He was also taking photos with the fans and agreed to let people take photos of him “choking” fans with a tie. Don’t believe me? Click HERE to see Danielson choking a fan (not me and not my photo). This was just two months after he was wrestling for the best wrestling promotion in the world. I can’t think of any wrestlers that famous who would sign and pose for photos at a table for free. I asked if Danielson could sign the back of my ticket and he agreed to do it. I watched Danielson wrestle that night and I thought that he could someday become WWE’s next John Cena if they re-signed him. Nine days later, he was one of the seven members of Team WWE at SummerSlam 2010. I enjoy Daniel Bryan’s WWE matches and I would like to see more of his Ring of Honor matches. Earlier this month, I bought a ROH DVD called “Best in the World” and Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm was one of the matches on the DVD.

The Wrestling Match Review: Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. McMahon (WrestleMania XIX)

[The Wrestling Match Review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles. This review is from ]

This Sunday is WrestleMania 29 so I decided to review a WrestleMania match this week. There were a few matches I thought about reviewing. I wanted to review a WrestleMania match that I enjoyed a lot and isn’t considered one of the top ten greatest WrestleMania matches. The match I will review is Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. McMahon from WrestleMania XIX. That was an awesome WrestleMania match-up because McMahon created WrestleMania and Hogan was the biggest star of the first WrestleMania. I have no doubt that WrestleMania would not exist today without them.

The Wrestling Match Review: Cactus Jack vs. Randy Orton (Backlash 2004)

[The Wrestling Match Review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles. This review is from ]

WWE has started to announce their inductees for the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame class so I have decided to feature these inductees in The Wrestling Match Review. The first WWE Hall of Fame inductee this year was Mick Foley. I had a lot of great Foley matches to choose from including my favorite match of all-time, Mankind vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell. I want the theme of my column to be reviews of matches that are not very popular so I picked Cactus Jack vs. Randy Orton from Backlash 2004. This match is well-known, but I can think of at least four or five Foley matches that are more famous than the Cactus-Orton match. Why did I pick this match? Because it is Foley’s favorite wrestling match. Foley wrote, “I think every wrestler should have one legitimate ‘comeback’ match after retiring. After that, everything is going to be at least partially a grab for money. So, after being disappointed with my performance at WrestleMania XX – feeling like I’d played it too safe, I let it all hang out in this wild bout that did wonders for both Randy Orton’s career and my self-esteem.”

Sunday, September 21, 2014

WWE Night of Champions 2014 Preview


Tonight is WWE Night of Champions on the WWE Network and Pay-Per-View. As I write this, the start of the show is two hours away. I didn't feel like writing a preview, but I didn't want to end my long streak of previewing WWE PPVs so here's a brief preview.