Thoughts on Ring of Honor's debut on TV (no spoilers)

First things first, it's great to have ROH back on TV. I didn't have the opportunity to watch ROH when it was on HDnet.
From a new fan's perspective, ROH truly is wrestling.

Coming from someone who solely has been watching WWE and TNA/Impact Wrestling, I have been amazed at the athleticism and the vast array of wrestling moves.

And to have matches that last longer than 5 minutes...unheard of!

I do have some constructive criticism.

To me, there seemed to be some mic issues. Kevin kelly's in-ring segment, the sound just didn't seem very clear.
Not nit picking, just pointing it out.

I didn't understand why they had to recap the Best in The World tag match twice. That seemed unnecessary to me.
That time could have been better spent on something else.

I didn't mind the pre-taped interviews and comments from the wrestlers. I know they are introducing ROH to new fans and have to provide some history for them.

So I'm hoping they will eventually have more than two matches per show.

This might be sacrilegious to some, but right now (and I know it's early) I wasn't impressed with Nigel's color commentary.

At one point he seemed to be rooting for both WGTT and the KOW.

Like I said, I know it's early, and he is new to announcing, so I'm sure he will grow on me.

Like others have posted on Twitter, it was cool to see a wrestling show on early afternoon (in some markets, anyway).

It brought back memories for me of watching WWF Superstars, and NWA on Saturdays.

It would have been nice for the redesigned ROH website to be up and running on Saturday since they plugged it several times during the show.

I for one am very excited about the talked about Premium section of the site.

I hope wrestling (and not just ROH) fans watched the premiere and wish ROH much success.

I can't wait for next Saturdays show!

Thoughts on Night Of Champions PPV

First off, couldn't be happier that Mark Henry beat Randy Orton to become the World Heavyweight Champion.
Henry had been on a huge roll the last couple of months, destroying everyone in his path.
It would have been very disappointing if he would had come away without the title. His monster run would have been all for naught, and back to the mid-card he would go.

It's nice to see a dominate champion for a change, and I don't mean SuperCena (more on that later.)

Now hopefully they will keep the title on him for awhile, but seeing as how they change title holders like Teddy Long changes his suits, I won't hold my breath.


As happy as I was for Mark Henry, I couldn't be any more disappointed that Alberto Del Rio lost his WWE Title to John Cena.
When Ricardo Rodriguez was ejected from ringside for interfering, I thought to myself how cool it would be for Del Rio to win on his own, like he did against Rey Mysterio.

Del Rio dominated at time during the match, really putting a hurting on Cena, but alas, it was not to be.
SuperCena wins the title...AGAIN.

I fail to see how continually making Cena the champion is helping the company in the long run.
Yes, he is very dedicated and sells a lot of merchandise, but seeing him on top again and again is not good for the sport.

They need to plan for the future and develop some of the younger talent.

Why put the title on Del Rio only to take it away a month later?

And do the titles really mean anything anymore? As often as they change hands they are destroying the heritage of these championships.

The CM Punk/Triple H match delivered as advertised. It was a brutal match, and you could really feel the hatred the two had for each other.

But, we knew Nash would come out and interfere with the match.

I didn't see the Miz and R Truth angle coming though. That was unexpected and will keep me glued.

Where does it go from here though? More matches for HHH and Punk? Punk VS Nash?

I do look forward to this.


I loved the finish in the Cody Rhodes/Dibiase match. Brilliant.
Hope to see more of this feud.


Like I posted after Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix's first title match, I have to believe that WWE Creative is just sticking it to the fans, by having Kelly win.

The fans know she is not a wrestler, but no one is going to tell WWE that. Hence having Kelly win both matches.

The Miz and R Truth will undoubtedly win the tag titles, but I didn't see them winning last night.

The fatal-four-way match for the U.S. Title had some good moments.
I really thought Jack Swagger would win, if not, Alex Riley.

Nice swerve there.

Over all, a pretty solid PPV.

The Orton/Henry match was the best of the night for me, and not only because it was nice to see someone (Henry) rewarded for a change.

Can't wait for RAW and Smackdown!

What's wrong with being a fanatic?

I love wrestling. I guess that's kind of obvious because I have a wrestling blog, but I REALLY love wrestling!
I would consider myself a fanatic. Not only do I like to watch wrestling and read about it, but I also love to read about what goes on behind the scenes.

Is it wrong to want to know about the goings-on outside of the ring? Some would say yes.
Some would question why a fan would ask questions about a certain wrestler or feud and the need to know more details then what is being presented.
Some would even go as far as to say that is being negative.

As the Miz would say: Really? Really?

There are some fans that are content with just watching the shows and going on for the ride.
I have no problem with that, I was like that once.
But others, like me, want to know more. Thirst for more information.

What are the reasons for certain story-lines and why did they change.

Heck some go even farther than I would and question why a wrestler cut his hair, if in fact he did.

But is that any different than the coverage of celebrities? Some want to know who is going out with who, why did they break up, what side of the political spectrum are they on?

Why are wrestling fans treated differently? Why are they, at times, treated with disdain, EVEN from the ones who cover wrestling and even worse, from those who are directly involved with it?

Is it wrong to be a fanatic? To love something so much that you want to know everything about it?

Why? I just don't get it.

And what's even worse is that wresting is still very much a taboo subject for some.

Tell someone you are a wrestling fan and you just might get "The look."
Wrestling has been around since the turn of the century, yet, when one mentions it, you might be inundated with "redneck" and homo-erotic jokes.

Yet we as wrestling fans are proud, damn proud to be fans.
We gladly put up with the misconceptions and intolerance.

And what do we get for this? We get labeled as negative?

When you do this you are no better than those who simplistically view wrestling as a poor mans sport.
Those that see wrestling fans as yokels.

It seems at times that to discuss wrestling, your have to be in some sort of "club."

Celebrities can discuss wrestling with no fear of reprisal. But dare a "regular" fan to engage those in the know, and they will be turned away, sent to the "children's table."

But it is the very same that have brought wrestling to it's current level of prominence.

We are the one's that have spent our hard earned money to attend shows and buy the Tee shirts that proudly show our allegiance.

It's now common to hear ESPN anchors reference wrestlers such as CM Punk, but where were they a year ago, five years ago?
Then, they dared not such as utter a single word about wrestling.

But we as wrestling fans welcome them aboard the bandwagon.

But let's not forget who was behind wrestling from the very beginning:

The common fan, the Fanatic.