Jim Cornette
a. 1st, there should be no argument as to who the greatest talker in the history of the business is. He can get himself over, he can get ANY wrestler over, he can work commentary, he can sell tickets, and he can play the authority figure. He’s the complete package behind a microphone. His weekly commentaries, along with his work on ROH and his occasional interview in other places (such as with Dave & Bryan at the Observer) or his YouShoot over at Kayfabe Commentaries make him a lock in my opinion for Best Interview at anytime.
b. Behind the scenes. While I wont pretend that he is the only reason why ROH on HDNET has improved, I’m confident that he’s among the main reasons. The show hasn’t made any dramatic changes, but it’s so much more enjoyable than it was before. Much of my enjoyment of the 1st year of ROH on HDNET revolved around the quality of the main event. They often delivered matches that revolved around the **** range and when that happened I came away loving ROH like I had in years prior. On weeks when this wasn’t the case, the show was a mediocre-to-good wrestling show. Most of the angles weren’t compelling. The interviews were fair; unless Eddie Kingston was on, in which case they were great. Now, it’s compelling wresting television form start to finish. The angles & storylines have direction, the matches make sense, and the promos & interviews are improved across the board. Hell, due to his interaction with Cornette and a clear sense of direction even Roddy Strong is cutting solid promos.
c. Value. His presence and promos sell tickets. He makes a product seem important. He sold me on ‘The Big Bang’. That’s money straight into ROH’s pocket that I otherwise likely would have skipped.
IWRG
a. What the hell is this and where did it come from? For those who don’t know, IWRG is a small budget Mexican indy whose claim to fame is probably that it was affiliated with Toryumon Mexico as the two companies co-promoted shows back in 2001. Later, they were affiliated with CMLL. Anyhow, today they’re on their own and they’ve become sort of the darling of some of the guys over at DVDVR (such as Phil Schneider) who praise them continuously. While I very much respect the opinions of some of the more established guys over at DVDVR, these are still the same guys who praise Mark Henry over Shawn Michaels, so I tend to take what they say with a grain of salt. So, after hearing IWRG veterans like Negro Navarro & Black Terry constantly put over as two of the best workers around I was eager to check them out. I caught both against each other in a tag match on a UWE broadcast and I didn’t get what the big deal was. So, I dismissed IWRG.
b. 2nd attempt. Later, I caught a highly praised match on youtube w/ Zatura v. Trauma II. I was impressed, but not blown away. The style was such that everything meant something which I LOVE seeing since it’s such a rarity. And it was worked primarily around mat exchanges and submission attempts with the occasional flair of some fast paced lucha. In a lot of ways it exemplifies what’s great about IWRG…two guys whom most have never heard of, who for some reason don’t have jobs in companies like AAA or CMLL, performing in front of a couple hundred people, and yet they appear to be two of the best technical wrestlers in the world. Anyhow, I was impressed, but not blown away.
c. IWRG TV. Then, I started getting their TV toward the end of last year. Some good stuff here and there, but again nothing that blew me away. Then there were a string of matches that I caught on their TV and then on handheld via youtube pitting Black Terry & Dr. Cerebro vs. Gringo Loco & Hijo del Diablo. Holy Hell. 1st, Gringo & Diablo seem to be working the Eddie Guerrero & Art Barr Gringos Locos gimmick and are dynamite heels. Cerebro is a fantastic all around wrestler. Young, good look, technically skilled, and can brawl. Black Terry….Black Terry was someone I barely knew a few months ago and now I’d like to see a 20+ disc comp made covering his career. He reminds me of Finlay in that he’s an older guy in the latter half of his career, but hasn’t gotten lazy. He outworks the kids he’s in their with and has doubled up on the skill he flaunts as a veteran by also being the best god damn brawler around. Just like Finlay he hits, slaps, and chops you a ton so that no fan sitting ringside can question the validity of his fight.
d. The best series of matches I’ve seen this year are the aforementioned tag matches, plus trios matches that pair Chico Che with the faces, and Avisman with the heels. Chico Che is hella fun to watch. He’s a little chubby guy who bounces around the ring like Ruckus. Anyhow, all of the matches involving these guys have been stellar and most have been heated and bloody brawls…my favorite kind of wrestling.
Shawn Michaels
There’s been a lot of praise on Chris Jericho the last couple of year’s for being the best actor in wrestling. Not true. Jericho’s fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but he overacts a bit sometimes when he shouldn’t. Shawn, on the other hand, knows when to overact, and knows when to say and do little. So many of the great moments in WWE history are centered around Shawn Michaels selling you on believability. The strong silent type, man of integrity gimmick that he’s worked in the 2nd chapter of his career will echo for many years. I enjoyed the build to Taker-Shawn @ Mania more than last year as there's less B.S. angles. Shawn's obsession & frustration made the Royal Rumble more compelling than it has been in a few years. WWE just lost one of their Top 3 performers. I would consider Shawn, Taker, and Rey their Top 3 ad the other two have a ton of mileage and it's only a matter of time before they too are gone.
Mistico’s heel run
Dr. Lucha Steve Sims articulated it pretty well when he suggested that it’s as if someone who was born to play the heel role and had been miscast as a babyface for many years was finally able to play heel. Of course the point is that he wasn’t miscast as a babyface. He was a spectacular face who drew and performed among the best in the world. Yet it’s still so shocking to see him so good as a heel immediately after turning. There was no growing into the role for him. One day he was a Cena like face getting boos from a lot of fans for similar reasons, and the next day he embraced his inner heel to such an extent it’s almost unnatural. Like a switch flipped. Shows he’s on see increased gates, and his rival, Volador Jr., is becoming a top babyface. This is having a fresh and very positive impact.
Rey Mysterio
When will it end? How many years can we keep hearing news along the lines of, 'Rey’s REALLY banged up and needs to hang it up, or at least return to Mexico where he can work a reduced schedule and increase business.' And how often is the response that he….gets better? Rey’s always been a guy I’ve liked, but he’s never been a favorite of mine. And yet I can’t ignore how frequently he has great matches. If I were to list my Top 20 WWE Matches of the quarter he’d probably be in more than half. Meanwhile, his feud w/ my favorite wrestler, CM Punk, is the best in the company. He may be less spectacular than he was 15 years ago, but I’ll be dammed if he isn’t a better performer. Some guys are great because they are capable of having ****+ matches with fellow great wrestlers. Rey can have a *** match with just about anyone it seems.
The Build to UFC 111
a. UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Hardy. This is how you promote a PPV. There was some initial disappointment as this 3-part series began. I credit that slight disappointment to an expectation for Hardy play the role of heat seeker ala Frank Mir or B.J. Penn. Sure, Hardy didn’t create that level of heat, but that’s an unfair expectation. This series achieved its job. It told you that the fight was important, convinced you that GSP was the greatest athlete on the freakin’ planet, and then explained why Dan Hardy had a chance to defeat him. It was captivating. When all is said and done, wrestling & MMA should be about Guy A vs. Guy B to see who is better. Titles & Grudges can be used to add velocity to a contest, but the bottom line is a desire to see who is better. Wrestling often goes past this and places the focus more on the cheats & gimmicks used to increase the velocity of a contest, rather than focusing on the contest.
b. UFC 111 Countdown: Mir vs. Carwin. With GSP-Hardy being such an important fight as to garner 3 30-minute specials, the traditional single 60-minute countdown show was cut to 30-minutes with the task of just having to cover the sub-main event of Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin. Mir sells tickets & PPV buys. He’s a heel. And if ever there was proof that heel vs. heel CAN sell it’s last year’s buy rate for Mir-Lesner at UFC 100 because those two guys are pure heels. The audience picked who they liked more and that’s who they rooted for, but these guys were heat seekers. Carwin, on the other hand, is nowhere near the visceral personality of any of the aforementioned fighters. However, he’s marketed as the potential kryptonite to Brock Lesner and he very well may be. This is a guy who’s won all 11 of his previous fights via KO in the 1st round. That’s a mildly impressive stat in boxing where fighters deemed as potential contenders have their records padded with a couple dozen fights against tomato cans before getting high profile PPV bouts. In MMA, on the other hand, that’s an astounding statistic. The established star and dynamic heel personality of Mir vs. the strong silent type, Tyson-esque KO threat that is Carwin. That sells.
Ditch's 'Under 10 Minutes!' forum on DVDVR
There's a topic on DVDVR with a tournament to determine the best under 10 minute match from Japan. How much fun has this been! Pretty much every day I get to wake up to links to a couple of spectacular matches form Japan that are under 10 minutes. By the time I finish checking my email they're downloaded and I get my puro fix of 2 matches in 20 minutes. Plus, many of the matches I've never seen. So much fun this is. I nominated this hidden gem from Zero1 on 1/18/04 pitting two of my favorites in Takashi Sugiura v. Alexander Otsuka:
If I were to fill out a Wrestling Observer Ballot for the 1st Quarter of 2010, It would look something like this:
Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Quarter): YAMATO (DG)
MMA Most Valuable Fighter: George St. Pierre (UFC), Uriah Faber (WEC)
Most Outstanding Wrestler: Rey Mysterio (WWE)
Most Outstanding Fighter: Uriah Faber (WEC)
Best Box Office Draw: Mistico (CMLL), Shawn Michaels (WWE)
Feud of the Quarter: Mistico-Volador Jr. (CMLL)
Tag Team of the Quarter: Terrible & Texano Jr. (CMLL)
Most Improved: Akira Tozawa (DG), Chico Che (IWRG)
Best on Interviews: Jim Cornette (ROH), CM Punk (WWE), Eddie Kingston (Chikara/ROH)
Most Charismatic: Batista (WWE)
Best Technical Wrestler: Dr. Cerebro (IWRG), Daniel Bryan (WWE), Atsushi Aoki (NOAH), Koji Kanemoto (NJPW)
Bruiser Brody Memorial Award (Best Brawler): Black Terry (IWRG)
Best Flying Wrestler: Ricky Marvin (NOAH), Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH/NJPW)
Most Overrated: Sheamus (WWE)
Most Underrated: Shelton Benjamin (WWE), William Regal (WWE), Alex Shelley (TNA)
Promotion of the Quarter: IWRG
Best Weekly TV Show: DragonGate Infinity, CMLL Ras de Lona
Match of the Quarter: Yoshihiro Takayama v. Shinsuke Nakamura, NJPW 1/4/10; Marufuji-Devitt, NJPW 1/30/10; Marufuji-Kanemoto, NJPW 3/5/10; Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro v. Gringo Loco/Hijo del Diablo-Steel Cage, IWRG 2/7/10; Gringo Loco/Avisman/El Hijo Del Diablo v. Black Terry/Chico Che/Dr. Cerebro, IWRG 3/7/10
Fight of the Quarter: Joe Stevenson v. George Sotiropoulos; UFC 110 2/21/10
Rookie of the Quarter: Dhani Jones (IWRG)
Best Non-Wrestler: Jim Cornette (ROH), Serena's figure (WWE)
Best Television Announcer: Joe Rogan (UFC)
Worst Television Announcer: Michael Cole (WWE)
Best Major Show: NJPW Wrestle Kingdom IV
Worst major Wrestling Show: TNA Genesis
Move: Naomichi Marufuji’s “Tiger Flowsion”
Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic: Brock Lesner interjects in the Health Care debate (UFC)
Worst Television Show: 100% Lucha (Argentina), TNA Impact
Worst Match of the Quarter: any Divas match (WWE)
Worst feud of the Quarter: Mr. Anderson v. Kurt Angle (TNA)
Worst Promotion of the Quarter: TNA
Best Booker: Gedo & Jado (NJPW)
Promoter of the Quarter: Dana White (UFC)
Best Gimmick: CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society (WWE)
Worst Gimmick: John Cena (WWE)...As I understand it, the gimmick is something like: U.S. Military sympathizer who never served, clean-cut white guy who embraces anti-establishment Hip Hop culture. His attire is 1 part early/mid'90s throwback w/ blue denim shorts and sneakers, and 2nd part walking catalog for his own merch.
Best pro Wrestling Book: (haven’t read any recently)
Best pro Wrestling DVD: Tabe’s “Slugfest: The Ric Flair vs. Ron Garvin Feud” and Goodhelmet’s Terry Funk comp.
Finally, a look at some of my favorite matches of the year so far. click on the link to the right to see my list of my Top 100 Matches of 2010:
1. Yoshihiro Takayama v. Shinsuke Nakamura; NJPW 1/4/10
2. Prince Devitt v. Naomichi Marufuji; NJPW 1/30/10
3. Black Terry & Dr. Cerebro v. Gringo Loco & Hijo del Diablo-Steel Cage; IWRG 2/7/10
4. Koji Kanemoto v. Naomichi Marufuji; NJPW 3/5/10
5. Gringo Loco & Hijo del Diablo v. Black Terry & Dr. Cerebro; IWRG 1/24/10
6. Gringo Loco/Avisman/El Hijo Del Diablo v. Black Terry/Chico Che/Dr. Cerebro; IWRG 3/7/10
credit: http://www.youtube.com/user/tvluchadelpasado
