Reckys Rewind: PWG Ten

through the wonders of modern technology ( a blu ray player & my camera phone) may I present a ripper of a card, certainly on par with that of Threemendous III, and we started of with the opportunity  to watch Candice get violated in a PWG ring by former TNA talent, one Mr Joey Ryan

“When Joey Ryan got released from TNA, it was the worst day of Super Dragon’s life,” says Excalibur. Of course, the first thing the returning Joey does is call out Candice. “I’m a changed man Candice, shake my hand,” says he. 

Candice telegraphs Joey’s obvious trick, and elbows him to oblivion instead. She transitions right into a Black Widow, but Joey gets out and punches her straight in the mouth. She comes back with a beautiful rana off of the ropes, which makes Joey get the hell out. Ryan Taylor (booooooooo!) and Willie Mack come in now. Ryan no-sells a shoulderblock, but into a another slightly stern spear, amazingly, Taylor no-sells it again and tags out to Peter Avalon, who is the SCRAWNIEST wrestler I've ever seen, seriously a gale force breeze would snap this asshole,  Avalon thinks he outsmarted B-Boy, and runs RIGHT INTO AN ELBOW that knocks him into a fortnight from now...cudos to him, he can sell brilliantly.  Willie puts all three heels in the triple Tree of Woe, Candice and B-Boy join in for a triple dropkick. 

THEN (and i was fooled momentarily) Ryan Taylor hits some dude in the audience, but he was  a plant. To his credit, the fan sold it perfectly. Candice drops Joey with a stunner, and she tags into Willie Mack, who cleans house. I seriously enjoy Macks work. Willie hits rolling Wastelands and packs all three heels onto his shoulders for a TRIPLE SAMOAN DROP!

 Willie sweeps Ryan Taylor off of the apron, and Joey spears B-Boy through the ropes. WILLIE HELPS CANDICE DIVE DOWN TO RANA JOEY OFF OF THE APRON ONTO EVERYBODY ELSE! TOPE CON HILO FROM WILLIE! 

then came the JOey & Candice spot fest...BOOB-PLEX FROM JOEY! CANDICE DOUBLE STOMPS JOEY TO BREAK UP A NORTHERN LIGHTS SUPLEX! . REVERSE RANA BY CANDICE ON JOEY! BALL-PLEX! TOPE SUICIDA DDT FROM CANDICE! 

some dude who ive since learned was Scott lost hit an Ace Crusher on Ryan Taylor on the ring apron (GOOD, HOPE IT HURT) So that was the “plant”. . CHOCOLATE THUNDER DRIVER ON AVALON! Willie gets the win for his team in 17 minutes. 

Steen and Excalibur on commentary here..Excalibur says that Cage takes more "supplements in a month than steen has took his whole life....

Anthony Nese was replacing Davey Richards here, but I found this a more interesting  match anyway. I haven’t seen much of Nese aside from his cup of coffee in TNA, so I’m looking forward to see if he lives up the hype he was getting over at the Impact zone. Brian Cage needs to lay off the ‘roids though. I hope the steroids part is a joke, because he’s just MASSIVE

Cage is so bulked up that Nese can’t even tie his legs up. Wow, Cage looks fucking horrible in this match. Tony Nese is running circles around him. Nese hits a slick double jump rana, misses a pescado, and Cage drops him off his face on the apron. Cage hits a backbreaker for a two count. Cage looks BLOWN already. Nese dives in for a Lionsault, and a two count. Alabama Slam bomb gets two for Cage. Jesus, what happened to the Cage that was, ya know, a the fucking machine? he’s this bad here, I cant imagine how he woulda gone in the Richards match

! He finds the juice (hehe, pardon the pun) for a moonsault, but misses. NESE WITH A HUGE RUNNING BACKFLIP OUT TO THE FLOOR!  “Do you think his archrival in high-school was James Nephew?” says Excalibur, and Steen cracks up after taking a few moments to figure it out. CAGE CATCHES NESE IN MID-AIR WITH A BRAINBUSTER! TWO COUNT! and he BRAINS NEESE WITH A DISCUS LARIAT! 

Cage picks up the win with Weapon X in 13 minutes. They did just enough to ease into three star territory, but I’m worried about where Brian Cage is going. He’s sacrificing endurance for muscle, and it’s showing in his performance pretty blatantly, so much that Kevin Steen and Excalibur were eluding to it on commentary. I’m all for a good physique on a wrestler, because it seems more professional, but there’s pretty obviously a limit. 

I’m all for Forever Hooligans ....BUT...i'm cant really stand the Rocknes Monsters..and thus the match done almost nothing for me

Romero drops Goodtime with a dropkick early on. Romero tosses Goodtime by his beard and dropkicks him in the head again for a two count. Koslov tags in and splashes Goodtime for a two count. Romero does his little “hogging the spotlight” deal, and they start fighting again, but guess what? They hug it out! Hilarious, The Monsters take control with some awesome hokey punches to Romero’s back.. 

The Hooligans go for the Contract Killer, but Yuma stops it and Goodtime DVD’s his partner on top of Koslov for a two count. Yuma EATS a jumping knee from Romero, who runs right into a facebuster from Goodtime…who turns right into a Koslov knee. DOUBLE STOMP TO ROMERO’S HEAD FROM GOODTIME! PLANCHA! SEX FACTOR FROM YUMA! NEARFALL! Mushroom Stomp scores, and Explosive Amnesia hits…

for TWO! CONTRACT KILLER! KOSLOV DIVES ONTO GOODTIME! Yuma stays down for three in 16 minutes...like i said, dont like the Monsters ..but they done good

Also known as murder, except without the criminal implications...ROFL.....Fox gets a taste of what he's in for, but gets cocky. Fox tries to use his speed to get the upperhand, but Elgin shakes off a dropkick and plants Fox down with a shoulderblock. He uses that to take control. Fox gets out of the vertical suplex and uses everything he can to get control himself. Fox does a ridiculous "look at me jumping thing" Chris Hero style, but DIVES TO THE FLOOR WITH AN IMPLODING SENTON! Fox looks for his legdrop, but Elgin moves. Fox dives out for a tope suicida, but ELGIN CATCHES HIM AND GIVES HIM A BLACK HOLE SLAM ON THE FLOOR! Elgin now hoists Fox up for the vertical suplex for a good minute and a half, complete with showboating for a two count. 

Fox drops a leg on an apron-prone Elgin, but only gets two. HELLEVATOR FROM ELGIN! Fox powers out at 2. Deadlift German gets Elgin another nearfall, because AR Fox is stupid. Shiranui misses for Fox, who eats a heabutt. I like him and all, but Fox has NO fire in his strikes at all. Like, it's crazy how little he puts into it. Unless he's selling fatigue, then more power to him. I highly doubt that though, because HE JUST DID A RICOCHET DIVE OVER THE RINGPOST! SPINNING DEATH VALLEY DRIVER! Elgin kicks out. 

DEADLIFT FALCON ARROW! HOLY SHIT! FOX KICKS OUT~! Good selling surprise by Elgin there. Not something you see from him much. Things head out to the apron, where FOX HITS A SHIRANUI ON THE APRON! 450 SPLASH SCORES! ELGIN KICKS OUT! Wow, that was beautiful.  BUCKLE BOMB...

FOX COUNTERS AN ELGIN BOMB INTO A REVERSE RANA! Elgin MURDERS FOX WITH TWO STIFF BACKFISTS! IMPLODING ELGIN BOMB!~! Elgin finally picks up the win in an AWESOME 20 minutes.  Elgin is just a scary talent at this point, racking up showstealers in every match he's in. This one was no different, especially considering he basically had a breathing ragdoll to work with. 

I wasn't sure what to think about this match,  I'm not a big fan of Kendrick EVER  other three are in the same bag as Brian, doing nothing for me . That's not to say Kendrick isn't good or anything like that, I just don't find him all that entertaining. Different strokes for different folks. 

Things start off hot and heavy with a CHICKEN FIGHT FEELING OUT PROCESS! Just when you thought the RockNES/FIST sequence on the apron back in March couldn't be topped, here you go. CHICKEN FIGHT SHOULDERTACKLE knocks Kendrick on his neck..."We just witnessed the hardest bump off of a shoulderblock ever," says color commentator Rick Knox.

 Both Gargano and Taylor bail and find themsleves dropped by stereo tope suicidas! They try it again, but eat spears. A Chuckie T. dropkick gets two on Kendrick. TOPE CON HILO FROM CHUCKIE! London drops Gargano with a dropsault and DIVES DOWN ON TAYLOR AND GARGANO WITH A DOUBLE STOMP! 450 FROM KENDRICK! LONDON STAR PRESS! GARGANO BREAKS IT UP! HURTS DONUT FROM GARGANO! London kicks out. London DROPS Chuckie with a Bicycle Kick, but eats chair when he tries to capitalize with a pescado. CHUCK TAYLOR CATCHES KENDRICK OFF OF SLICED BREAD #2 AND HITS THE RAZOR'S EDGE/CUTTER! 17 minutes later, Gargano and Taylor pick up the win.

Ya know, since Perkins has impressed me lately in ROH & TNA,  I'll be optimistic here, because if anyone can drag something awesome out of Chris Sabin, you deserve the benefit of the doubt.

It's faux-MMA city, but they pull off some pretty sweet counters. These guys are pulling off some wicked shit ...I won't excuse the many doofuses chanting "This is Wrestling" when that's literally what they've been watching for the last hour-and-a-half. TJ eats it on a drop toehold, but Kyle is all over him. 

Now a "We Love Wrestling" chant starts up. I'll let that one slide because it's a compliment I guess. Kyle punts TJ in the back, and TJP doesn't like it all that much. Kyle jumps with a knee and hits a running paintbrush slap.  TJ fakes Kyle out on a dropkick and slaps him, for a two count. Kyle pulls off a beautiful snap suplex, with TJ's arm stuck behind him. TJ either botches something horribly or has a good sense of psychology by having his arm give out on a springboard. I'm just glad they didn't repeat the spot.  Kyle puts in a guillotine, but TJ eventually turns around into a Kimura. Detonation Kick...

INTO A JAWBREAKER LARIAT FROM O'REILLY! SITOUT POWERBOMB FROM TJP! TWO COUNT...COUNTERED INTO A TRIANGLE! ANKLE LOCK FROM TJ! SMALL PACKAGE! Kyle kicks out. TRIANGLE FROM KYLE! RUNNING PUNT TO THE CHEST! TWO COUNT! SNAP REGALPLEX! TJ KICKS OUT AGAIN! TIGER GUTBUSTER FROM TJ! KYLE KICKS OUT! That's his finisher in TNA. 

O'Reilly looks for a super Regalplex, but TJ knocks him down. Kyle looks for it again and COUNTERS INTO A POWERBOMB! 450 EATS KNEES! STOMP, ELBOW, BRAINBUSTER! TJ KICKS OUT AGAIN! CROSS ARMBREAKER! TJP taps in 21 minutes.....Forgetting the fact that they basically forgot the armwork (TJ still sold it, but not enough that it mattered), this was fantastic. 

Yep, Drake Younger  As long as he doesn't staple shit to people, I'm cool with it. It's insane how likeable the dude is, though. As Kevin Steen says, he's a ray of sunshine 

Cole wastes no time telling everyone to suck his dick, and that earns him a double asskicking. Steen shoves Cole's head in his groin area, and gives a little bow to round it off. Cole takes the honorary ass-kicking. Cole and Drake go at it in the ring, but Cole chucks the Psycho Shooter bringing the wrath of Kevin Steen. Cole fakes a a dive by trying to sit in a chair, but the chair BREAKS and DRAKE BUMRUSHES COLE WITH A TRAFFIC CONE! HE DROPS HIM DICK FIRST ON IT! Drake starts waffling bitches with a garbage can and BACK SUPLEXES COLE ON TOP OF IT! Drake wraps his head in the trashcan and BRAINS HIM WITH A CHAIR!

 Steen comes in and BRAINS DRAKE! CANNONBALL  Steen drops Younger with a pumphandle neckbreaker. Drake remarkably hits a Magnum Driver on Steen, but only gets two. Drake sets two chairs on their side and tries to do something to Steen, but Cole comes in and DEATH VALLEY DRIVES Drake on the chairs! Younger sets a table up and GIVES HIM A GORDBUSTER ON THE EDGE! 

Drake brains Cole with a lariat after the champ disposes of Steen, and KILLS HIM WITH A STRAIGHT-JACKET PILEDRIVER! Cole avoids Drake's Landing through a table and GIVES HIM A PANAMA SUNRISE ON THE TABLE! STEEN HITS A POWERBOMB ON THE APRON! Younger kicks out...! 

Steen sets some chairs all nicely together...and GIVES DRAKE A PACKAGE PILEDRIVER THROUGH THEM! Cole tries to steal the pin, but Steen saves! Cole superkicks Steen,  Cole looks for the Panama Sunrise but STEEN MURDERS HIM WITH A TURNBUCKLE BRAINBUSTER! Drake pulls Steen out and goes for the cover, but COLE STEALS IT WITH A CRUCIFIX in 18 minutes. ... 

Steen wasn't as big an entity, but he did a good job being the big bastard that wrecks shit for the fun of it. Another four star match in a line of them for this show.

AINT NO PARTY LIKE A SUPERKICK PARTY !...yeh, I know I say that all the time..but the boys usually erupt with flurries of superkicks....

Everyone takes turns shallacking Matt Jackson with a random assortment of strikes and backbreakers. The Bucks take control over everyone in crazy fashion. The Machine Guns hit stereo SSP's on the Bucks, but the DojoBros come in and splash the Machine Guns on top of the Bucks themselves. DojoBros look for a ladder, but everyone distracts them and THE MACHINE GUNS DIVE OUT WITH STEREO TOPE CON HILOS! Ricochet sets a ladder up in the ring, and RODDY GETS BACKDROPPED ON IT! LADDER RUN SENTON FROM NICK ON TOP OF EVERYONE ELSE!

 The Bucks get an enormous ladder that doesn't even look healthy to touch, let alone kill people with. Matt hilariously does the back handspring, climbs the ladder, and rakes Rich Swann's back. Swann superkicks Matt as he drags him off of the big ladder, but Nick takes care of him. Nick thinks he's going to do his little ladder push, springboard thing but Swann ends him crotching him instead. Swann hits the Lethal Injection as Steen cracks up over Rich Swann apparently being a black Chris Jericho. 

RODDY GIVES NICK A BACKBREAKER ON THE LADDER! SWANN DIVES OVER DOJOBROS AND FROG SPLASHES NICK! Ricochet sets up the big ladder, but Matt PUSHES HIM INTO A FUCKING ASAI MOONSAULT! MATT RAGDOLLS RICH INTO A LADDER! RICOCHET EATS A BUCKLE BOMB ON THE LADDER! Nick sets a table up on the floor as Matt climbs a smaller ladder for the belts, but Roddy and Eddie stop all that shit. 

DEATH BY RODERICK! LARIAT FROM EDDIE! END OF HEARTACHE! DOUBLE STOMP FROM EDDIE! Eddie puts Swann in the Achilles Lock, but RICOCHET CATCHES RODDY WITH A CUTTER OFF THE LADDER! Ricochet sets up the big ladder by the corner and DIVES THROUGH IT TO GIVE RODDY A SWINGING DDT! HE DIVES UNDER IT TO THE OUTSIDE!

 NICK GIVES RICH SWANN A SUNSET POWERBOMB THROUGH THE TABLES! Ricochet is the last one standing, until the Bucks come in and HIT A FUCKING TANDEM TOMBSTONE FROM THE TOP OF THE LADDER! 

DojoBros now stops the Bucks but TRADE INSANE STRIKES! RODDY BRAINS NICK WITH A KNEE! Swann is somehow able to get into the ring, but can hardly stand. Swann tries to climb up, but THE DOJOBROS HIT A DOUBLESTOMP/POWERBOMB! The Bucks hit him low and get the belts in 20 minute of insanity.

Match was filled with death-defying shit that you probably aren't going to see anywhere else, and that's why we all love PWG. What better way to celebrate your tenth year of existence than putting on something that is strictly going to be a PWG product... Bring on the next ten years, says I.

Reckys Rewind : ROH FINAL BATTLE 2013

for weeks Adam Cole had been spouting that his "mentor" was coming to ROH...turns out it was Jeffs brother Matt and this was, alledgedly,  hardys last roh match...Hardy trys to cut a promo but the good old reliable racouas NY crowd wont let him talk, he chucks his shirt into the crowd and in a Cena-ish moment, the crowd chuck it back........match starts off pretty standard with both getting some offence in.

 Matt makes it look as though he’ll go for a Suicide Dive but just steps through the ropes, getting a laugh from the crowd. First pop comes when Page hits a Shooting Star Press off the apron on top of Hardy on the outside. Match was pretty back and forth from there, Hardy hitting a couple Side Effects, Page getting a couple nearfalls......In the end Page went for a Crossbody off the top, Hardy ducked, got up and hit the Twist of Fate for the victory to the fans disgust, I'm sure Page learnt a thing or two working with Hardy, BUT, I reckon it was a by the numbers hit out that elevated page not at all

Big “Man Up” chant for Mark Briscoe as he makes his entrance and a “Fuck you Silas” chant. Mark starts out the aggressor but Silas comes back, whipping Briscoe into the guard rails a couple times....the crowd were into it, with chants of redneck kungfu...Silas Young hit an Apron Hung DDT ala Randy Orton so of course the NYC crowd chants “Randy Orton”.  Mark’s whips to Silas were really hard,  the sound on the tele was brilliant,  live would have made me cringe.....

Kevin Kelly done a great job, giving props to Wahoo's famous strap-a-bility...At one point Mark was going for the third corner and Silas rolled to the outside, pulling Mark back. Silas would get Mark out to the apron and then flip him off with a tug of the belt, big thud from the impact.....Silas would win by piggybacking Mark, shoving the referee and Mark out of the way at the fourth corner and slapping the turnbuckle for the victory.

its superkick party time...the IWGP champs are in the house..Young Bucks get the biggest pop of the night at this stage in the show, streamers galore too..the bucks are doing every heel hand sign in wrestling history...its been suggested the bucks have an immense tassle budget...the rush boys are flying around like mexicans...double backflip dropkick by the bucks, did i say something about flying....bucks have turned into arn and tully....T.D with a capoiera kick on nick...double suicide by ach....

TD with a moonsault to the floor...SUPERKICK PARTY...breadcutter with a shinig wizard gets the bucks a 2 count...ach hits a DV Driver for a 2...SUPERKICK PARTY...2 count....tombstone..but ach saved td...ach hits a hunacanrana on both bucks...ach flys and gets stopped by a superkick..MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK...match over...Match of the night thus far, tons of action and the crowd loved it. The Young Bucks are so over it should be illegal, stars of the match and showing why their so favored by fans. On commentary Nigel and Kevin touched on The Bucks potentially getting an ROH World Tag Team Championship match. reDRagon vs. The Young Bucks 

gonna be a pile-driver a thon at the HammerSteen ballroom this one...Bennett and phils ex out first...then came Mr Wrestling...streamer storm erupts....kev flys out with a stiff arm and a cannonball...kev playing bounce bennett off the fences...mike turns it around...steen nutshots mike into the post...TWICE...kev does some commentary.....bennett cut above the right ear....kev gets the commentary team chairs...mike takes to kev with a chair...kev snaps off a chair assisted cannonball...bennett sidesteps kev and hits a f5...mike hits a superkick..bennett comes back in but kev powerbombs him and hits the package piledriver...bennetts on the stretcher which kannelis stops from going to the back...

kev hits a senton onto the stretcher and belts bennett a few times with the stretcher ( which is a classy canvas army job)...KILL STTEN KILL chant erupts...bennett grabs a chair and lays into kev...Bennett sets up the chair for something but instead Steen counters into a Brainbuster onto the chair – crowd sing “Olé” in-tribute of El Generico...Bennett brings in a table...kelly with line of the night.."if bennett handed out 100 dollar bills, they'd still boo him ".....kev goes for powerbomb, mike turns it into a spinebuster....mike trys a piledriver on the apron, kev blocks it...but mike snaps off a side effect through the ever handy table at ringside....mike hits a piledriver...stretcher is busted, so i guess its a last man standing.now...kev hits a brainbuster on a chair....kev hits a stunner, then another package piledriver....kev sets up the chairs...KAPOW package thru the chairs...ref stops it...kev wins it...A great brawl, easily the best match of Michael Bennett’s career. Maria slaps kev....and she gets packaged piledriver for her trouble...kev says merry xmas bitch and leaves

 Prince Nana comes out and thanks Nelson Mandela for allowing him to be in America and be at Final Battle – well isn’t that lovely. He talks about who hes signed as ROH Talent Scout but is interrupted by reDRagon, who apply a popular beatdown on the prince....kingston and homicide hit the ring, and kick the shit outta that boring fkn o'reilly...'cide hits a butterfly on kyle...eddie hits a samoan facewash on kyle...fish finally comes to the rescue...oreilly hits eddie from behind...dragon takes control...must say i do like bobby fish's work, eddie fights out of the corner...

.until fish nutshots him...dragons cut the ring off....eddie hits a back elbow on fish..trys for tag but kyle drags 'cide off the apron...kyle does his best davey richards impression HO HUM...kyle hits a rapid spinning neckbreaker on eddie...kyle comes charging in eddie belly to bellys him into the corner..'cide tags in....cide hits a reverse razors edge on fish....outlaws hit double suicides...didnt know eddie could fly....cide hits 3 amigos...cide trys top rope suplex on fish..kyle makes the save....nice set of double team manouvres from dragons...cide hits a gringo cutter on fish....eddie chucks out fish...bobby hits a high kick on eddie...and hits the floor...chasing the dragon with a chair assist...rEdragon keep the belts...Post-match Kingston grabs a microphone and says they tried placing by everyone elses rules but now their going to play by their own rules.

Truth Martini is a deviant ...right ?....methinks taven is gonna get smashed....Tommaso Ciampa’s entrance is one of the coolest things in all of wrestling. Matt Taven came to the ring with Truth Martini, Scarlett Bordeaux and Kasey Ray. The match started in an unexpected way – as Taven skinned the cat into the ring and his feet touched the mat, Tommaso suplexed him to the other side of the ring!....yep...he is gonna get belted, Tomasso smashs him with a running knee....taven comes back with some ground and pound....the hotties jump on TC...and then taven dives on him from the top rope which leads to Tommaso throwing Taven a good five or six times into each side of the guard rails on the entrance way, had flashbacks to scholl playing handball, cause thats the way Taven was bouncing about...Ciampa pulls down some barricade siding and gives taven a kryptonite crunch on said barricade....

Tomasso hits a running knee on taven, he went for another but a hottie got in the way...didnt stop him, Martini hits Tomasso with the book of Truth, but gets levelled for his trouble ...Taven hits a splash BUT Tomasso wraps up Taven in the Sicilian Stretch (sort of the Rings of Saturn) and submits Taven for the win to become the new ROH World TV Champion....about time he won a fkn belt.

Nigel McGuinness gets in the ring and says that Eddie Edwards’ tag team partner is someone who never got to go out on their own terms and have a final match, his partner is BJ Whitmer. Steve Corino‘s commentary is hilarious. The fans instantly chant “We Will Miss You”.....this was your typical tag match love fest ...eddie and the boys worked long sequences that we've all seen them do, whitmer took a bump and stayed outside the ring, mostly, till the finish...3 count and jay lethal does a promo saying how much he loves eddie..blah blah...eddie takes the mic and thanks roh, cory silkin, the boy scouts of America etc etc...Post-match all four men hug as the crowd chant “We Will Miss You”.  Jay Lethal takes the microphone and says he’s going to give Edwards the ring out of respect, Eddie says Jay is one of the best wrestlers in the universe. Eddie continues by thanking Cary Silkin who sits ringside. He also thanks the crowd for braving the weather and says it means the world to him that they made it for Final Battle. The fans start a loud “Thank You Eddie” chant....

Eddie continues by telling BJ Whitmer he respects him and that despite the fact he has to leave and that BJ’s career is getting cut a little short, he loves him. The two hug and as they do BJ Whitmer says into the microphone, “Well actually Eddie, my career is just getting started”, shoving him into a Sick Kick from Roderick Strong and following it up with an Exploder as the crowd looks on in disbelief....As Edwards is held up by Roddy and BJ, Jacobs hits him with the Railroad Spike. BJ Whitmer says into the microphone, “the greatest trick the devil ever played was making you think he didn’t exist,” ...and thus we have another heel group in ROH called "The Decade"...and in hindsight, Hero will probably be teaming with Eddie (since Triple H hates "little guys" so much)

Adam Cole v Jay Briscoe ( the real world champion) v Michael Elgin....Jay says he never lost the belt to Cole so he is carrying his own belt around...and a nice belt it is.....Corino is whooing and throwing streamers at Cole from commentary..LOL...cant tell if Jay is a heel or not...nothings changed (bar the belt) ....Cole bails to ringside, sticking his head under the ropes occasionally...in the ring Mike and Jay lock up...swap shoulderblocks...cole trips elgin...jay and elgin swap fists...Jay dives onto cole at ringside...they get Cole in the corner and they stomp him...outside the ring they slap Cole around, Jay hits a yakuza kick on cole and clips a patron at ringside....camera shows the briscoe family at ringside ....Elgin does the one arm 6 second suplex on Cole...Cole ends up in the tree of woe...KAPOW...Brisco saves Cole, kicks Elgin in the head....then hits a yakuza on Elgin....Elgin backdrops cole over the ropes, Cole hits a ddt on Brisco on the way down....Kevin Kelly tells how Elgin beat all 4 champs in one night, thats him screwed then.

Elgin puts cole on top trys for superplex, brisco tried for electric chair on Elgin, Mike blocked it ....Brisco whips Elgin in...drops him with a shoulderblock....Elgin fights back, but Jay hits yakuza....Cole gets elgin up on his shoulders, Elgin escapes and hits a powerslam on Jay and then gets Brisco and Cole in a boston crab/camel clutch combo....dunno why he let them go....Elgin slaps cole around , Jay comes running in with a forearm/bicycle kick combo, Elgin hits a german on Jay...2 count...Cole alternating stomps....Brisco and Elgin hit cole with flying forearms....Cole up top, Jay climbs up...Elgin hits double superplex...all down, ref counts to 8....Cole whips Brisco into Elgin...hits neck breaker on Jay, Elgin hits cole with a suplex chokeslam..2 count....Elgin and Cole on apron...swapping elbows, Brisco breaks it up, Elgin dives off top with a clothesline on cole...hits a dead-lift super-plex on cole, Jay frogsplashs in for a 2 count on Elgin....he trys jaydriller, Elgin turns it into death Valley Driver....2 count....Cole chucks Elgin out, puts figure 4 on jay....elgin comes off top with shooting star...2 count, WOW....Brisco in the corner, Elgin hits him with cole with a buckle bomb...elgin drops both of em with rainmakers...2 count ....Elgin by himself in the ring....hits ringside, slaps around cole...Brisco breaks it up....and then him and Elgin chokeslam cole through a table....back in the ring...forearm-a-thon....Jay backdrops Elgin during buckle bomb attempt....jay hits a neckbreaker....2 count....trys jaydriller, elgin reversed it, hits a jawbreaker on jay...elgin hits a deadlift german on jay...2 count....elgin and jay on apron above commentary, jay slaps on a sleeper, elgin dumps him through the commentary table....cole is in the ring while ref counts .....cole distracts ref...matt hardy sneaks out and hits a twist of fate on elgin and brisco....elgin gets chucked back in, cole trys to choke out cole....mark brisco runs out to bash hardy....cole trys panama city destroyer on elgin...elgin reverses it into a powerbomb that he drops cole on briscos and hardy....elgin hits suicide dive on everyone at ringside....MASSIVE POP....elgin powerbomb jay which he counters into a jaydriller....2 count....jay hits a second jaydriller...another kickout....jay tries for a powerbomb...cole hits 2 superkicks...rolls up elgin for the win...hardy hits everyone with jays belt...hardy hits elgin with another twist of fate.....

Post-match as Adam Cole celebrated Matt Hardy entered the ring with Jay Briscoe‘s custom ROH World Championship and proceeded to hit Mark and then Jay over the head with it. Cole tries to hit Cole with the ROH World Championship but Elgin blocks, only for Matt Hardy to attack from behind and hit him with a Twist of Fate......Matt Hardy and Adam Cole hug in the middle of the ring before Hardy raises Cole’s hand.

Suddenly, “Chris is Awesome” hits, Hardy and Cole looking to the ramp as Chris Hero makes his way through the crowd from behind, entering the ring and hitting Matt Hardy with the Rolling Elbow. Hero waves at Adam Cole who tries to hit him with the ROH World title, Hero ducking and connecting with a Yakuza Kick, removing the golden elbow pad and hitting another Rolling Elbow as the crowd goes wild!

Hero takes a microphone and says, “it wouldn’t be Final Battle without Chris mother fucking Hero!” He says Adam Cole, Ring of Honor… “Chris Hero’s back.”

They didnt fool me...sort of

We all saw my homage to hood wearers worldwide and can surmise by said blog that i'm a mask mark to the enth degree...MOST OF THE TIME....

Some guys who wore masks were just wearing said hoods as part of an angle like loser leaves town but snuck back in under a hood....OR when creative had absolutely nothing for them to do so they hooded them up to give them something to do...and here are a few of my favourites

STAGGER LEE

Geez Bill Watts could come up with some stuff couldnt he...I think it was him, might of been Bill Dundee, JYD and Mr Olympia  had lost a Loser leave town match to Ted Dibiase and Matt Bourne after a run in by Hacksaw Duggan...a weekm or two later Stagger Lee, a friend of the Dog, made his Mid South debut...the Rat Pack got thoroughly annoyed with this ....one tv moment springs to mind, Tony Atlas was benching a few hundred pounds on Mid South tv

and both JYD and Stagger were there on screen with perplexed ted dibiase something chronic...

eventually after a good run, Stagger won the strap of DiBiase and a few weeks later JYD was re-instated

BOB & BRAD ARMSTRONG 

On of my absolute favoirite workers...who shoulda made it much bigger than he did...anyway, on occasion when they had nothing for Brad to do...WCW creative stuck him under a gimmick or two...first one, and one of my personal faves was the Freebirds hooded ally  Badstreet ..who went on to win the 6 man tags with P.S and Jimmy Jam...and then there was Arachnaman which almost got WCW sued stupid due to his visual similarity to Marvel comics Spiderman....

Funnily enough, dressing up in a mask ran in the Armstrong family..whenever Bob Armstrong lost a loser leave town match his best friend "The Bullet" would show up to defend Bobs honor....mind you the Bullet persona sort of didnt hide Bobs appearance much...which is par for the course.

DUSTY RHODES & THE MIDNITE RIDER

Quite possibly the most famous friend of a super over  face EVER
Dusty Rhodes had lost a loser leave town to The Horseman....then suddenly The Midnite Rider appeared, now to be fair..it didnt hide the Dusty persona much...unlike Brad Armstrongs which did......

BUT he gave Flair and his cronies a deadset gut ache..even winning the nwa belt BUT he got stripped of it cause he wouldnt reveal his identity to Bob Geigel.....and on occasion The Rider has hung out with our next candidate..The Yellow Dog.

THE YELLOW DOG (s) 

The first and most famous Yellow Dog was actually Barry Windham during an angle with Ron Bass....The match between Windham and Bass saw Windham wager his Florida Heavyweight Title against a treasured horse saddle given to Bass by Rhodes' mother. Although Windham won the match, Bass and the enormous One Man Gang attacked him. They put the saddle on his back and "rode" him around the ring. Windham was utterly devastated. Dealing with this shame might have been too much for him, but a masked wrestler called The Dirty Yellow Dog soon arrived in Florida and brutalized Bass in a series of chain matches. No one ever saw the Yellow Dog without the mask, but he was a slender young man, about six-foot-six, and had long blond hair. Hmmmmmm....

The other Yellow Dog was Flyin Brian Pillman...He held the NWA United States Tag Team Championship with "The Z-Man" Tom Zenk between February 1990 and May 1990. Pillman later feuded with Barry Windham, who he harassed while dressed as the masked Yellow Dog after losing a Loser of the fall-leaves-WCW match ....In 1991 Brian Pillman troubled with health problems and with his career in limbo courtesy of Dusty Rhodes, was booked to a "loser leaves WCW" match with Barry Wyndham at Clash of Champions XV.

Pillman disappeared but his match schedule was resumed by 'The Yellow Dog', a masked wrestler with a  ring style similar to the popular high-flyer.  The Dog also entered the ring to Pillman's ring music.....Pillman denied any association, while WCW Magazine warned - "If it is conclusively proved that Dog and Pillman are one and the same, Pillman will be banned from WCW for life!"....Sometimes, The Yellow Dog risked identification by pulling up his mask but "never in front of an official". On occasions, Tom Zenk teamed with the Dog.  And a number of times a masked wrestler, uncannily like Tom Zenk, took to the ring as The Yellow Dog, while Pillman stood by at ringside.....Finally, The Yellow Dog put his mask on the line, in a series of bounty matches. But a write-in campaign by fans resulted in Pillman's official "re-instatement" to WCW as an active wrestler, and the sudden demise of the still umasked Yellow Dog. 

AND one of my personal favourites ...RED RIVER JACK

yep Bruiser Brody did the masked buddy angle as well...unusual for a guy who didnt like "gimmicks" so much...Fritz musta chucked a bag mof money at him....still and all, he pulled the gig off with ease and didnt lose a step as his original persona....Returning to WCCW from All Japan, to take over booking duties from George Scott in 1986, Brody continued his long-running feud with Abdullah the Butcher after attacking Abby's manager Gary Hart. The two madmen shed blood all across Texas during the summer and fall of 1986, culminating with a steel cage at the Cotton Bowl extravaganza in October, with Fritz Von Erich as the special referee. In December of 1986, World Class put together a "loser-leaves-town" match between the two, which was won by Abby with help from Hart.  But like many heroes before him who lost this type of match, Brody would return under a mask, as Red River Jack, before getting the suspension overturned in 1987.

WWF 

hooded hijinks

THE BLUE BLAZER 

The late great Owen Hart wasnt doing the Blazer during a loser angle, he was doing it cause Vince wanted a little kid friendly superstar ...the first time anyway, the second time and the fatal one was a angle involving the intercontinental belt and the Blazer wanting to win it for his friend Owen..and we all know what happened then...RIP fella

MR AMERICA

Hulk Hogan got banned during the angle with Vince and WM 19...suddenly out of nowhere, saying his prayers and eating his vitamins came the Hulksters close personal friend Mr America...this gimmick hid his Hulk persona even worse than Dustys Midnite Rider...Hulk didnt change one goddamn thing ..same promo, same moveset..didnt even hide his moustache with the mask...BUT...it was fun none the less.

THE MACHINES

Originally part of an angle during the Andre v Heenan Family fued, Andre lost a Loser leave town match and a couple of weeks later Capt Lou announced he was brining in a japanese team to go for the WWF tag belts..The Machines, Super and Giant....trouble is one machine sounded like he was from Florida and the other "japanese" machine had a french accent...they brought in a third machine, Big Machine, who was actually Blackjack Mulligan.

The angle got a bit crazy with extra machines added ad infinitum..Hulk Machine, Piper Machine, Animal Machine and on a house show in Minneapolis they stuck Reggie "Crusher" Liskowski under a spare hood....the angle dried up and a few weeks later Heenan and Andre worked the famous Andre heel turn....while Super Machine became Demolition Axe.

THE CONQUSITADORS

Originally a tag team that consisted of Jose Estrada and Jose Rivera...the team was re-invented for the attitude era by Edge & Christian and The Hardy Boys during their fued for the WWF tag belts...both teams dressed as The Conquistadors it was fairly obvious who was who due to either a dodgy walk to the ring or some seriously awful spanish promos...STILL... a great angle none the less

SO...there you...a few guys who didnt have us fooled in the slightest but did a damn fine job trying to...seeya next time