Pittsburgh Boy Battling Cancer Meets Daniel Bryan

I know John Cena has done a million of these but the picture above speaks for itself.  

Full story here.

National Pro Wrestling Day: 2/2/2013 in Philly

25+ promotions and counting.  All free.  Chikara is organizing it.

Need more?  National Pro Wrestling Day

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs The Young Bucks

From Ring of Honor's Final Battle 2009...where it started at.  This year's Final Battle takes place on Sunday at 2pm est.  iPPV available from ROH website.

Is it even possible to imagine a three year feud in WWE?

Final Battle 2012 hype video package after the jump.  Its a proper refresher.

Nashville Docujournal: USWO Champion Josephus

This is a great look into a popular local indie wrestler's life behind the curtain.

USWO shows take place every Friday night at Stadium Inn in Nashville.

The Art of Wrestling Animated: Hustle Loyalty & Regret [Series Finale]

Thank you Colt.

Vince McMahon is Wrestling's Puff Daddy

Comparing Vince McMahon to a Hip-Hop mogul feels strange.  Even more so given that WWE programming isn't above getting outright racist at times (I'm looking at you Lawler and Hornswoggle).  But in a lot of unexpected ways the two are very similar.  Both have brought us iconic stars (B.I.G. and The Rock), screwed their savior (Shyne and Bret), under-promoted some of their best talent (The Lox and Tyson Kidd), and benefitted from an aging demographic looking for something different (Attitude and Jiggy eras).  But a lot of that can be simply chalked up to the moves of major players in the entertainment world who were operating around the same time period.  And these are all intended consequences that were executed on purpose (work shoots).  Its the unintended consequences that are really fascinating.

ACH vs Scott Summers vs Rachel Summerlyn for the ACW Televised Championship

When Rachel Summerlyn brings out chairs and barbed wire you know its going to get messy.  This is just one good example of why I've been checking for Anarchy Championship Wrestling lately.

Claudio Castagnoli Vs. Colt Cabana (ROH)

Colt Cabana will be wrestling in Nashville on Jan 5th for Crossfire against Matt Hardy.  If you'll be in the building drop by and say hi.  I'll be the guy marking for Colt.  And this match is really good.  Watch it.

Thanks to You People

Things feel pretty damn awesome in WWE right now.  Punk for 366 and counting.  Daniel Bryan being booked fantastically with good storylines and the ability to shine creatively.  Being a "Paul Heyman Guy" is a thing (and on a t-shirt!) and he told the WWE Universe tonight that they celebrate the idea of extreme but could never handle it.  Sara Del Ray is working as a trainer in FCW and Aksana had a good match tonight with Kaitlyn.  Damien Sandow and Antonio Cesario are putting on wrestling clinics.  Dolph Ziggler's bumps are a show within itself.  DEAN AMBROSE, SETH ROLLINS, and ROMAN REIGNS just debuted at Survivor Series last night.  A tag team division is currently thriving.  JBL vs Cole vs JR on commentary.  Big Show and Kane are interesting again. Main Event has been solid and the advertised Miz v. Ziggler card for next week sounds fantastic. And even John Cena is flirting with TV-14 while they advertise 3-disc NWO and Attitude Era compilation DVDs.  Thank you creative.  It seems that you're listening.

Now if R-Truth would quit quoting Hacksaw, Sheamus stopped being the most inexplicable asshole ever, Titus learned to speak, Hornswoggle never appeared again, Tyson Kidd was on TV every Monday, Mark Henry showed up to win the Royal Rumble, King could quit being a homophobic racist during every friggin episode, stop the Tensai lifting botches, get Matt Striker a real job, quit calling Eddie's widow fat, MAKE PUNK VS. STONE COLD HAPPEN, and no more photoshop humor during PPVs ever again I'd really like that too.

Am I in a position to make demands?

Never the less they're doing A LOT right and I applaud them.  WWE is exciting again.

Dean Ambrose vs. CM Punk (FCW)

Yes, its a fan video so it has its faults.  But it also captures the essence of being there and you get to see why live shows are such a great thing to be a part of.  I'm not going to speculate just yet on what the debut of Ambrose/Rollins/Reigns means but its awesome.

Seth Rollins v. Cody Rhodes after the jump.

Video Links to Almost Every 5 Star Match

I'm not here to approve or disapprove of Dave Meltzer's five star rating system.  The argument about its legitimacy would never end.  But I do know that Meltzer has a keen eye for good wrestling and has been doing this literally since I was born.  Thus, agree or disagree, when he ranks a match at 5 stars its worth your attention.  Via my latest discovery of the Ole! Wrestling Blog I found this incredible list of damn near every one of the 5 Star matches with video links.  Check back when you come up for air.

And just for giggles after the jump Cameron reveals her favorite match of all time.

Dasher Hatfield and Sara Del Ray Featured Matches in New CHIKARA Podcast-A-Go-Go 338

A few folks have asked about where the lucha mask is from that I've worn at the Homegrown PlunderPhonics show and in my profile picture.  The wrestler is named Dasher Hatfield and he's currently signed to Chikara.  Their latest podcast featues Hatfield and Mr. Touchdown (The Throwbacks) vs Nick and Matt Jackson (The Young Bucks) and Sara Del Ray vs Eddie Kingston in the second match so that makes it more than worth posting.  Enjoy.

More Kaitlyn Please

Please give us back the Chickbusters.  And please give me back the AJ Lee from after the jump.

Via: Hitting the Mark

Paul Heyman's Next Big Thing

No one person is bigger than the WWE.  Except that someone always is.  And if it hasn't been laid clear in WWE creative's scramble to put together a main event that didn't start out on the mythical dry erase board as "John Cena vs ??" for Hell in a Cell then how else does it need to be said?  John Cena being undoubtedly the TOP star in WWE is a truism.  And if its not him in the main event then they reach for the face most recently gotten over with no pre-existing storyline and/or rivalries.  And hence The Ryback.  But where from here? Or does it even matter once Cena is well and able to compete at Survivor Series?  Here's why it matters.

Three Minutes Fifty Seconds of Wrestlers Breathing

Because this exists.


via: With Leather

Ten Observations From WWE Raw and House Shows

I've been looking forward to this weekend for a while.  On Sunday I went to a WWE house show in Knoxville and on Monday to see Raw in Nashville.  Brandon Stroud does the best review in the freaking world of Raw every week so...I leave that to him.  Here are my observations:

Brodus Clay Cameo in Snoop's "Pocket Like Its Hot"

Call his mama.  And don't tell Wellness about this.

DJ Monster Heel - RIP Macho

First leaked track from an upcoming QuickStrike episode I'm doing dedicated to the art and sport of professional wrestling.  There's a lot more like this that I'll be leaking towards the build up to the release of episode 3.

Your Shirt is Ugly: Why Vince is Not a CM Punk Guy

If we're to believe what we read about Vince McMahon he's a guy who has constructed his own alternate universe in which he is the resident ruler.  His vision of the world is portrayed every week on live television.  And while unknowing critics decry wrestling as "fake" they fail to see that the stoylines and characters represent Vince's life in an exaggerated sense.  His business success is paraded about constantly.  Vince owns everything that remains of ECW and features Paul Heyman in promos (an instant win every time ever) but does so just to make money off their remains and work punish Paul Heyman for al his defiance while still doing him the respect of employing him and giving him plenty of TV/PPV time and his own t-shirt. The Chairman is flexing the "We Built It" ethos. And you can tell he believes it.  So Punk plays the part of the loud mouth that just wants to see the world burn and is good enough to make it happen.  And that's just way too 99% for Vince.

Deal With the Devil: The Great Daniel Bryan Compromise

Everyone loves Daniel Bryan.  And thus Vince hates everyone.  The skinny fat vegan indie/IWC darling has been carrying WWE's flagship program every Monday night as of late and in order to get there a great compromise had to be made.  Moreoften than not the IWC feels slighted claiming the needs of the younger fans are catered to more so than their own.  But in this one particular instance a great compromise was made between Vince's Creative team and dat boy D. Bry's faithful followers and surprisingly everybody won.