August 21, 2022

Ken M

AEW, All Elite Wrestling, pro wrestling, Ring Of Honor, television

CIRCLE 6 CATALYST

August 21, 2022

Ken M

AEW, All Elite Wrestling, pro wrestling, Ring Of Honor, television

Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary Pro Wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast & 607 TWS: The Wrestling Show. Fans are on the road to AEW All Out taking place Sept. 4th live on PPV and hailing from Chicago, Illinois. There has been a LOT of talk coming from this week's AEW Dynamite and a promo that shifted gears (in theory) for where we were heading to in September. AEW is delivering MOX VS. PUNK next week! The timing of this promo is ironic too as it was 1 year ago that CM Punk arrived in AEW. Let's take a look at this and some other noteworthy stories in the land of pro wrestling this week, shall we?

CM PUNK
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

On Wednesday, CM Punk made a proper return to the ring after time off from foot surgery. During this promo segment, Punk wasted no time in taking direct shots at Hangman Adam Page and Eddie Kingston before shifting gears towards Intern Champ Jon Moxley. Moxley gave some verbal jabs back before an impromptu scuffle began. This went on for a while and then started back up later in the show. The result from all of this: The main event for “All Out” has been moved up to next week’s Dynamite. This instantly raised some questions.

To start with, IF this match has a clean finish, what can you replace your main event at All Out with? For being the biggest (or second depending on where you rank Double Or Nothing) show of the year, messing with the main event this close to the show is a huge gamble. It almost leads to think there will be a time limit draw or some kind of odd ending to justify running it back. The only thing this might produce is a ratings spike…but what if it doesn’t? Unlike others, ratings don’t make my world spin, but for those that do, IF Dynamite doesn’t draw over 1 million viewers+ (gauge 1.3 to 1.4 range), what does that say about how many people are excited about this feud to pay $50 to watch it again when they didn’t show up to see it for free?

Another question is we are now at the 1 year anniversary of Punk joining AEW. If making him the marquee name of the company via being champion doesn’t draw big on Wednesday, how will Punk’s first year be defined? You may say “well, it’s only a match”, but is it really? This was the biggest match to put on their flagship PPV. If viewing numbers stay the same as they have hovered around the same number of viewers for weeks now, was the nostalgia signing the right call? At the time, yes but as the months have grown on, fans’ opinions about Punk have varied. Viewership hasn’t been consistently over 1 million on his shows. If he’s the face of the franchise and there’s been no growth, how should that be taken? Wednesday should be a good indicator of how to answer that. Punk needs to equal ratings, for if this stumbles, AEW will need to make a bigger main event on short notice to cover this up. Only time will tell if/when they’ll need to do that and make a call about if it’s still the “Summer Of Punk” again or is Summer over?

Don Callis, Kenny Omega and Michael Nakasawa
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

On Wednesday, fans were greeted to the return of the one and only Kenny Omega! In case anyone might have forgotten, Omega is one of the best wrestlers on the planet right now. Wildly decorated in NJPW and AEW, Omega brings a pedigree to AEW that few others can match. Omega was the mystery 3rd partner to the Young Bucks in the AEW Trios Tournament. Omega has been gone a long time healing up from some injuries. How did he fare in the ring?

Well, Omega didn’t look like the Omega of old, but I will chalk that up to him being inactive for so long. However, Omega at 50% is still better than most others at 100%. The match vs. Andrade, Rush and Dragon Lee was a good “welcome back” for Omega. Moving forward, Omega will surely get back to the “Best Bout Machine” status he’s known for but it will take time. Being in the Trios Tourney might be a blessing in disguise for Omega being able to get his timing back while letting the Young Bucks take the majority of the action. It’s what he will do POST tourney that intrigues me most. Will he go for the singles title again or will he be with the Original Elite vs. The “Undisputed Elite”? It’s still way too early to tell but it’s great to see Omega back in the squared circle.

Claudio castagnoli
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

It was also announce on Friday’s AEW Rampage that Ring Of Honor World Champion Claudio Castagnoli had an open challenge that was answered by Dustin Rhodes. It was a very solid segment between two veterans of the squared circle. Their match is set for next week’s AEW Rampage and will be a fun one to watch. Claudio is getting much needed TV time with the belt.

I’m still set on eventually making Rampage into ROH Rampage. This is a great place t let ROH talent be showcased until if/when they get a TV deal. rampage’s numbers are not the best, so why not make the switch? It’s a no brainer.

Julia Hart & Buddy Matthews
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Also on Rampage, fans witnessed the start of what I hope becomes a really drawn out feud: Miro vs. Biddy Matthews. Ignore Miro’s “unique” promos and let me start messing with the House of Black on the regular. It can work wonders building both up.

As for Matthews, he’s been called the “Best Kept Secret” in wrestling for years now. AEW needs to let him loose and build a solid foundation when he’s has time to work. Giving him an opponent like Miro i a great start but they need to continue to grow this story line without getting lost in the shuffle.

Impact wrestling has officially announced their Main Event for their biggest show of the year: Bound For Glory! Current Impact world champion Josh Alexander is set to face Eddie Edwards in what should be an excellent match. The card is chapping on October 7th, and hailing from Albany, NY! For more information on how to check this show out, click here.

Last bit of news for the week: It has been announced that Circle 6 will be streaming on Fite TV! As a fan, I’m super excited to check them out on Fite. The first show on Fite is “The Catalyst” which will crown the first Circle 6 heavyweight champion. One of the biggest hang-ups I’ve had with this promotion is how they stream their fights. Being on Fite will clear a lot of those issues up! Make sure you’re following Circle 6 on socials for more info about this card.

That’s all the pro wrestling talk for this week. Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what Pro Wrestling you’re checking out. As always, thanks for reading!

June 17, 2022

Ken M

pro wrestling, All Elite Wrestling, GCW, AEW

KING SWITCH CRASHES AEW/ IMPACT SLAMMIVERSARY/ GLORY PRO STL VICE

June 17, 2022

Ken M

pro wrestling, All Elite Wrestling, GCW, AEW

Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH Podcast and 607TWS on Twitch (also in Podcast form). All eyeshave been focus on the drama involving the WWE and bet that the 607 podcast family will be tackling that on next week’s shows. Even with those stories going on, there’s a lot more happening in the land of pro wrestling that you need to know about. Let’s not waste any more time and jump in, shall we?

“Forbidden Door”, the joint show between All Elite wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling has finally started to take shape. With under 2 weeks remaining, fans have a clearer picture of how the card is going to shape up….and in one case, they don’t. After defeating Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Dominion, Jay White has been a person of interest as far as the pay per view event is concerned. Prior to Dominion, Former AEW Champ “Hangman” Adam Page challenged Okada for the IWGP championship, figuring Okada winning was a foregone conclusion. How wrong was this idea…..

White defeated Okada in a MOTY candidate and immediately post match said Page wasn’t getting the shot (to paraphrase). Page came out this past Wednesday to address those comments on AEW Dynamite but was interrupted by Adam Cole (Bay Bay). Cole proclaimed that if anyone was going to get the shot, it would be him, keeping things “Undisputed Elite” vs. Bullet Club. During this time, White emerged and attacked Page from behind, reiterating the same message from Dominion. During his speech, White also said Cole would NOT be getting the shot at the championship either. A bit of an odd stance with only under 2 weeks left to make a match, but there’s a few ways to look at it:

One option which makes some sense would be to do a triple threat for the belt between Cole, Page ad White. The story-line is set for the most part and could fit in the co-main event slot. It’s a situation where you have 3 main event wrestlers and could just plug and play into a classic match. It’s one of the benefits of having 2 promotions work together. The only X factor here is if Okada would be added somewhere in this mix. It was hinted during this promo that he might not be on the card. Imo, I can’t see him sitting this one out unless there was a very good reason, so maybe they split the difference with Okada/Cole and Page/White. Both those matches would be huge matches in their own rights.

The only other reason I see White holding off would be Kenny Omega. Now, let’s remind everyone: Omega has been out of action healing up from grueling injuries he was working thru prior to losing the belt to Page. IF, and I stress IF he’s ready to go, the only match you can make there is White/Omega. There is history and that would generate the type of buzz needed for a co-main this late in the game. Omega’s status is still uncertain so all eyes will shift to Wednesday to see if “The Best Bout Machine” returns to accept the challenge of facing the Switchblade Era on June 26th.

Also on Wednesday, Hiroshi Tanahashi had a face-to-face confrontation with Jon Moxley before their main event at “Forbidden Door.” The stand-off did what it needed to do, but was interrupted by Chris Jericho and his JAS. Once they arrived, things went downhill has it turned into a messy brawl to set up a six-man tag for June 26th between Shota Umino, Eddie Kingston, and Wheeler Yuta vs. Minoru Suzuki, Sammy Guevara and Jericho. The only benefits from this was the card had a new match added but still took a bit away from really selling the main event. There’s one more week for them to sell the show. Hopefully Mox and Tanahashi get that chance.

In arguably the most random match added to the “Forbidden Door” card, it was announced that Will Ospreay, fresh off finally winning the IWGP United States Championship at NJPW Dominion, will be facing Orange Cassidy. This is a clash of styles to say the least. This is a huge profile match for Cassidy and one that will entertain. Personally, I was hoping he got the ZSJ match he was lobbying for at NYCC 2021, but that won’t be the case as ZSJ is scheduled to face Bryan Danielson (if he’s healthy). That’s not the only big news happening for the “Billy G.O.A.T.”

Ospreay will be headlining the Game Changer Wrestling card in Providence, Rhode Island on Sunday, June 19th. At GCW “I Never Liked You”, his opponent will be the young superstar and AEW signee Nick Wayn. This event caps off a strong weekend of GCW matches with the NYC card “You Wouldn’t Understand” going down on Saturday night (with 607 podcast in attendance). You want to make sure you order on Fite TV and don’t miss this cards!

Impact Wrestling Slammiversary is scheduled for Sunday, June 19th. The card is absolutely loaded! If you heard 607TWS this week, you know there is much to be excited about for this show. The Ultimate X match is worth the card alone! The main event will be a solid one between Eric Young and Josh Alexander for the Impact World title. Don’t miss this event on Fite TV

Major League Wrestling keeps adding great match after great match for Battle Riot 4 happening at The Melrose Ballroom in NYC on June 23rd. Just added to the card is a Women’s Featherweight title match between Brittany Blake and Taya Valkyrie! If you haven’t been following MLW lately, you wanna catch up quick! Battle Riot 4 is shaping up into something very special.

Last but not least, Coming off a showcase of sorts on AEW Dynamite, Glory Pro is making some moves for the summer! Matches have been announced for the next Glory Pro Wrestling card! “STL Vice” will be happening on July 24th at the South Broadway Athletic Club (SBAC). One of the big marquee matches is WARHORSE taking on “All Ego” Ethan Page. GP Wrestling is also hinting at a return to the Pageant so you want to be following them on social media and don’t miss any of the action when it goes down.

That’s all the pro wrestling talk for this week. For more coverage, make sure you’re following and subbed to all of the 607 podcasts family where they’ll be breaking down the latest from the weekend and more!

Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what companies you have been checking out. Thanks for reading.

April 23, 2022

Ken M

Pro Wrestling, entertainment, television, Blog, pro wrestling, Wrestling

AEW x NJPW FORBIDDEN DOOR / BATTLE OF FTR / GCW THE OLD ME

April 23, 2022

Ken M

Pro Wrestling, entertainment, television, Blog, pro wrestling, Wrestling

Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH Podcast & #607TWS on Twitch. Since the crazy weather in Upstate NY has finally passed and no more power outages expected (knock on wood), It’s time to recap some stories that you need to know about. First on the list is an announcement from AEW that had been rumored for a few weeks now but was made official on AEW Dynamite this week. What a moment on the show to see this: AEW owner Tony Khan on stage with New Japan Pro Wrestling president Takami Ohbari (with an assist from “King Switch” Jay White and Adam Cole (Bay Bay) to top it all off).

The announcement: AEW is partnering up with New Japan Pro Wrestling for “Forbidden Door” on June 26th hailing from Chicago, Illinois . The event will also be available via Bleacher Report & usual AEW Pay Per View outlets. Tickets on sale May 6th at AEWTIX.com

Wrestling fans have a very big win on their hands if done right. For AEW, it continues the whole “Forbidden Door” movement that was first created when Kenny Omega led a talent exchange with Impact Wrestling. That was a very mixed experiment where AEW went over more in comparison to the favor being returned for Impact. In fact, it feels like Impact was the true “Forbidden Door” for the amount of talent that swung thru from AEW and NJPW. It will get some new eyes on their product but retaining will be a question.

NJPW is known for a different style, often referred to as “Strong Style.” How the AEW faithful will adapt to this is something to watch. NJPW has more to gain out of this venture. They have started expanding into the American market with “NJPW Strong. With a big push from AEW, that could generate into more fans. However, the track record with NJPW going over on AEW programming has been very limited. Take a look at Minoru Suzuki’s record on all AEW programming. For this to work, NJPW needs to score some noteworthy wins on AEW talent (not ROH ones).

It’s a risk worth taking never the less. The show needs to be an equal playing field at the end of the day. Otherwise, if this becomes a paid infomercial for how great AEW is over another company, it will be all for nothing. Hopefully the powers that be over at AEW have learned from the Impact run and will be better with this moving forward. Safe money we see Kenny Omega’s return at this show as well.

Fans were also treated to the latest escapades of one of AEW’s more interesting fueds: Hook vs. Danhausen. Originally, I wasn’t on board, but the more they’re building this, I’m becoming invested. Maybe Danhausen cursed this blog? IDK. It appears we’re finally going o get a match from the two since Hook is”immune” to Danhausen’s curses.

This feud will only end one way: you are looking at the next “Rock ‘N Sock connection.” For entertainment purposes, it’s a win on many levels. This odd couple connects with fans differently. After their match, I see this playing out like a “You’ve earned my respect, Danhausen” deal and they go from there. With team Taz feeling like it’s in limbo right now, it’s perfect for the new talent AEW fans are buzzing about.

Also announced for next week’s AEW Dynamite: The Battle of FTR for the Owen Heart Foundation Tournament. One time only and hopefully they give this at least 12 mins. Maybe open the show with it. The best tag team in the business going one on one? The fans win this one. CAN’T WAIT.

Major League Wrestling has announced who Taya Valkyrie will be facing at Kings Of Colosseum’ 22.Holidead is lined up as the opponent for the inaugural Women’s Featherweight Championship. Very excited to see this match as well as the main event between Hammerstone and Richard Holiday. For more information: MLW.com

As mentioned on 607TWS this week, Glory Pro Wrestling has an absolutely can’t miss card happening on Sunday, April 24th from The Pageant in St. Louis. My pick of the weekend has to be te match between Jake Something & Minoru Suzuki. If in the area, tickets are almost sold out. If you’re out of town, Here’s the link to watch on YouTube with Glory Pro is streaming FOR FREE!

Closing out this week’s blog is some Game Changer Wrestling news. On Friday night, GCW had an absolutely fantastic card from Columbus, OH with “Find You Again”. Blake Christian calling out Johnny Gargano! Jordan Oliver vs. Alex Shelley! THAT SCRAMBLE MATCH! Watch the replay on Fite.TV

Tonight’s “The Old Me” from DETROIT looks to continue their win streak of shows. Briscoes vs. SGC in a fucking scaffolds match?! HERE WE GO. Order the show now if you haven’t and get ready!

Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what pro wrestling you’re checking out this weekend. As always. thanks for reading and supporting the blog!