April 3, 2022

Ken M

television, Pro Wrestling, Blog, entertainment

CODY RHODES

April 3, 2022

Ken M

television, Pro Wrestling, Blog, entertainment

Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast and 607TWS on Twitch! It’s currently Wrestlemania week in the world of Pro Wrestling but there are some other news topics to discuss that needs some light shined on them. Leading the way was arguably the event I had the most questions about going into. The event: Ring Of Honor’s “Supercard Of Honor”. ROH’s return after suspending operations after December 2021’s “Final Battle”, releasing talent from contracts and eventually Tony Khan of All Elite Wrestling swooping in to buy the company has been one many fans have been waiting to see how the next phase of ROH would be. Well, what did we get?

“Supercard of Honor” was a great wrestling card. The matches were excellent. Many new champions were crowned (we’ll get to that in a bit) and overall, a very solid return. The only “drawbacks” (imo) is that it is very clear ROH will be either a developmental brand or considered the “B” show to AEW. There were quite a few moments where AEW was heavily hyped throughout this show for continuing storylines on their programming. This felt like how AEW would crash Impact programming and put themselves over more than building up Impact’s brand. Granted, this is a different scenario with Khan owning both promotions but the message is still very clear. Fans will also have to be used to this message much like when ECW was brought back by WWE. It won’t be the same. It will be different, for better or worse. If you factored all that out, there’s much to like about this show.

It also gave fans the return of the one and only Samoa Joe. Joe, a legend in Ring Of Honor, with noteworthy stints in TNA/Impact Wrestling and WWE respectfully returned to close the show out. Joe, who was released by WWE, had fans buzzing on Friday night. It was also announced after the show that Joe had signed with All Elite Wrestling (another thing fans will have to get used to: anyone signed will be #AllElite). If Joe is 100% healthy, this is a big win for AEW/ROH. He will be the face of ROH if he stays there or will make an impact on AEW programming. Personally, ROH is the better fit. Joe unfortunately would get lost on the over-saturated AEW roster as it stands now. Sure, there are dream matches with CM Punk and Danielson to have but as recent additions have shown us, getting TV time with a new debut week after week is not easy.

If Joe can be used to build up the “B” show, this brand could be made into a Raw vs. Smackdown type competition. That should be the play here. With so many members of the roster, a draft to bands would make sense and Joe would be a top pick no matter which brand it was. Fully expecting some big moves from Joe now on the roster. It’s only a question of where is the best fit with the dream opponents.

Speaking of dream matches and opponents, fans FINALLY got what might be the current runner for Match of The Year: Briscoes vs. FTR for the ROH tag belts. The match lived up to the hype and easily stole the show. Even the Young Bucks crashing the post match to hype their long awaited rematch with FTR on Wednesday’s Dynamite didn’t defer how great this match was. The two best tag teams on the planet did a phenomenal job. Now the big question is: With the match being this good and fans waiting an immediate rematch, what’s the fallout now?

As of this typing, Khan has not signed the Briscoes (with rumor being AEW television execs. don’t want them due to past controversial tweets). If that rumor is true, then chances of a rematch in AEW/ROH will be next to impossible. The Briscoes will continue to tear up the indie scene but for a team just inducted into the ROH Hall Of Fame class to not be signed for past actions, but yet other current AEW roster members had past comments resurface and yet, they are still on the roster, even as former champions doesn’t add up. Just saying. Hopefully something can get worked out & fans get to see the Briscoes in an ROH ring again sooner than never.

Another moment that stood out: KAZE NI NARE! Minoru Suzuki captured the Ring Of Honor TV title! The NJPW legend winning over Rhett Titus was a complete surprise. This should lead to some fun match-ups for the title but one has to wonder how long this run will last? I don’t see Suzuki staying around long term in AEW so seeing who could be next in line for the belt is a wide open field. Maybe a Lee Moriarty? How bout Swerve Strickland? Even Sammy Guevara’s name has to be in that mix. Endless contenders.

ROH also had all their titles change hands during Supercard Of Honor to AEW talent (with exception to Suzuki and Jon Gresham who wasn’t not officially signed to my knowledge) . Wheeler Yuta won the Pure championship. Mercedes Martinez is the interm women’s champion. FTR are your current tag champs. Jonathan Gresham won the unification main event.. With all these new champions, there are many storyline to set up. It’s a great thing about starting a new promotion, but with one that holds the legacy of Ring Of Honor, will it live up to what’s been established or will it be something else completely? Only time will tell on that.

Last thing from Supercard of Honor: NINJA MACK made his ROH debut! Unfortunately, he ran into a returning Brian Cage but I was very happy to see him still on the show. Maybe one day, he’ll be signed there but until then, don’t miss what he’s doing on the indie scene. Absolutely crushing it right now!

Since we’re talking of people crushing it on the indies right now….there is NO ONE killing it more right now than “All Heart” Blake Christian. The ma literally did Imapct Wresting, NJPW, GCW and ROH in the course of ONE DAY! Currently, “All Heart” is your wrestler of the year & there is no debate. Do yourself a favor and catch up on his run since being released from WWE. No idea how they dropped the ball with him but DAMN! You talk of people betting on themselves and winning? Look no further! If Tony Khan is smart, he signs Christian ASAP and THAT’s the guy who beats Suzuki for the ROH Tv title. Absolute legendary run during Mania week Catch up on his work ASAP! Get some merch too! #yearofALLHEART continues on!

Photo Credit: World Wrestling Entertainment

Obviously, what’s the biggest story of the week is: The Rhodeslander has arrived back home in the WWE. Cody Rhodes in fact WAS the mystery opponent for Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania 38. Early reaction is that it couldn’t have gone off better. Rhodes came in exactly as we’ve seen him. He was the Rhodeslander. He was the guy who left WWE and became a star on the indies. There was no Stardust. here was no Smoke and Mirrors. Rhodes came in and really made the most of the moment. Fallout has been fairly positive with only a few toxic tweets from fans. Overall, this will be one of the moments we talk about as fans for a while and Rhodes’ next moves as a member of the WWE roster will be watched very heavily.

Last bit of news: Game Changer Wrestling absolutely tore up Wrestlemania week with the Collective 2022. Order the bundle from Fite TV and trust me, if you’re a pro wrestling fan, there’s something for you to enjoy. Personal favorites were For The Culture, JCW vs LA Fights, The Wrld on Lucha, Effy’s Big Gay Brunch & Joey Janela’s Spring Break 6. Every show really brought it and there’s much to break own on the next 607TWS. It set a high benchmark for showcasing independent pro wrestling! Check it out!

Remember that Super B Brandon Sevilla will be live in studio on April 4th to recap the week that was and talk all things pro wrestling with #607podcasts. Follow now and see everyone on the live stream!

Let me know what pro wrestling you’re checking out & make sure to be following all the 607 podcasts family for all the pro wrestling breakdown you need! As always, thanks for reading!

March 27, 2022

Ken M

Pro Wrestling, Blog, television

CM PUNK vs. DAX/ SUPERCARD OF HONOR/ JOEY JANELA SPRING BREAK

March 27, 2022

Ken M

Pro Wrestling, Blog, television

Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast and 607TWS on Twitch (& now in podcast form). On this edition, it’s the road to Wrestlemania, the WWE’s biggest event of the year. There will be a deep dive on this week’s ODPHpod breaking that card down. For this blog, let’s take a quick trip around some other federations and stories that are making some noise going into this week. And here we go…..

HOW GOOD WAS THIS MATCH?!?!

All Elite Wrestling kicked off AEW Dynamite with an absolute classic between Dax Harwood of FTR vs. CM Punk. Classic storytelling that many feel was a love letter to Bret “the Hitman” Hart. Everything about this match clicked. The crowd and fans watching at home were locked in from the jump. Obviously, with who was involved, you knew this was gonna be something special & it delivered. Maybe that Dog Collar match at AEW Revolution finally awoke something? Maybe it’s because he had a great opponent who’s in arguably the best tag team on the planet right now facing him and at pushing him? In any case, anyone who missed it, make a point to check this match out. Definitely wouldn’t mind seeing this ran back sometime. However from that lead, the rest of the show started to slowly lose steam…then this happened:

Fans had a promo segment with Sammy Guevara & Tay Conti addressing Dan Lambert with his AEW American Top Team faction (TNT Champion Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page, Paige Van Zant). In case anyone didn’t know, Guevara and Conti have become a bit of a polarizing couple imo. Ever since their relationship went public and other drama involving Guevara ( I don’t want to get into that situation), they have had very split opinions on social media from fans.

On Wednesday, Lambert wore the original TNT Championship belt while champion Sky had the newer belt. In story line purposes, Guevara wore both belts (old and interim) after winning a unification bout with Cody Rhodes. After battling on the mic, Guevara claimed that he and Conti did some “adult things” while wearing the belt Lambert kissed and left some “souvenirs” on the belt. Even post match, there was a tweet with a picture of Conti and Guevara naked with the belt alluding to what they “did”. That comment drew a lot of negative attention from some AEW members, most notably Eddie Kingston and fans who thought the comments was disrespectful to the belt and its’ legacy with the late Brodie Lee. I agree with that as well.

I understand that the promo was to get a “shock” moment but considering the PR damage that was done when WWE stars were involved in a situation like that, it was a bad look. Why after that promo was done, Conti and Guevara were trending on socials with Brad Maddox right behind them? For AEW, this is another situation of where promos like this need to be ran thru the proper channels. Knowing the legacy of Brodie Lee and what that belt means, it was a complete insult. Seeing the negative fan reaction, doubling down on it with the tweet after didn’t help matters.

Should any more drastic action be done about this? No. I’ve read where people online want Guevara and Conti off AEW and that’s way too much. IMO, What should be done is better regulation by AEW about promo content and crossing that line. It’s a fine line that needs to be walked but I can’t really see the brass at Warner Media being cool with this long term. There are better ways to cut promos and getting that type of “heat” is not a direction that Guevara and Conti want to go in.

Hook’s reaction was my reaction hearing that segment as well. Btw… Hook v. Danhausen? ok…..

Now onto some better news to talk about:

This Friday, Ring Of Honor returns with SuperCard of Honor taking place on Fite.TV with a new look for the well respected promotion. This will be the first card under the Tony Khan regime. There have been some small changes to the card but the big matches are still locked and loaded. Gresham vs. Bandido for the undisputed ROH title & Briscoes vs. FTR for the tag team titles are the big draws but there’s another match that was added that fans shouldn’t sleep on:

Jay Lethal (pictured above) will be taking on Lee Moriarty! Expect some great wrestling action in this one (as well as Swerve Strickland vs. Alex Zayne). Lethal, the longtime franchise player in ROH returns for this Pay-Per-View is an interesting move. Lethal was one of the first wave of ROH talent to sign elsewhere when everyone was released from their contracts. Now coming bck full circle, will he be the face of ROH 2.0 now or how will the landscape of Ring Of Honor now change with Khan at the helm. We will see the beginnings starting this Friday.

Game Changer Wrestling once again takes over Wrestlemania weekend with the Collective. It is a showcase of great cards throughout the weekend such as Glory Pro, For The Culture, & Effy’s Big Gay Brunch to name a few. However, the one that has become the most attatched to the Collective is Joey Janela’s Spring Break. This card has literally everything on it & will be the one GCW fans will be buzzing about. Personally, I can’t wait to see Joey Janela vs X-Pac. It’s gonna be a loaded weekend of shows so make sure to check out Fite.TV and watch some great indie shows before or after Wrestlemania.

Just a reminder that “Super B” Brandon Sevilla will be in studio on the April 4th edition of 607TWS!

That’s all for this week. Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what pro wrestling you’re checking out and what card this weekend you’re most excited to see! As always, thanks for reading!

March 13, 2022

Ken M

Pro Wrestling, Blog

JEFF HARDY = ALL ELITE/AEW REVOLUTION FALLOUT/GCW ASTRONAUT

March 13, 2022

Ken M

Pro Wrestling, Blog

Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast & 607TWS (on Twitch & podcast form). The major headline grabs have been coming off the heels of All Elite Wrestling’s “AEW Revolution” pay per view. A very solid card of pro wrestling (5 hours worth including pre-show) that left AEW fans very happy. However, the entire wrestling world was buzzing on Wednesday night during AEW Dynamite. After weeks of rumors & hints, fans finally witness the AEW debut of the one & only Jeff Hardy

Hardy was released from WWE after a very weird moment at a house show late last year. No need to speculate on that situation. What should be the takeaway now is: The Hardy Boys are now in one of the deepest tag team divisions in all of wrestling. This move is a win for all parties involved. For AEW, it’s an established team that you can make some dream matches happen with. Jeff & Matt vs. Santana & Ortiz is first one on my list. This also helps AEW with adding depth to Ring Of Honor. Pending on what is going to be the final vision there, the Hardy Boys will be great additions on either roster wherever they fall.

For Matt, this is a big win. Since his debut with AEW, Matt seemed (imo) not to find a set groove in AEW. With the “Broken” persona, that went only so far with All Elite. After that was the transition to “Big Money Matt” & the HFO. With so many people under that faction, imo, it just never worked and was very confusing. Matt has a great creative mind and seeing him back with Jeff usually leads to some great new stories. i feel we will see start after the program with Andrade and the AFO (?) is over.

Lastly, Jeff gets to wipe away the messy divorce from WWE & get focused on having some great matches. There’s a bunch of opponents for him to have some classics with. Hopefully being in AEW re-ignites that fire under him and we get the “charismatic enigma” rolling again (just no Willow. That was awful).

If it were not for Hardy’s debut, the other debuts would have been the lead. On Sunday night, AEW added two new members to the roster. First up was “Swerve” Strickland. Swerve has crushed it no matter where he’s wrestled at & was one of the more surprising WWE releases in 2021. The “Hit Row” stable was gaining momentum & a high draft pick on the main roster draft. However, after one match, they never were prominently featured on WWE programming.

Swerve is a great add for AEW. Normally I would worry about the inflated roster, but with the Ring Of Honor deal, I feel more comfortable with their signings. Whoever it is will be will get ring time. Swerve will be stealing spotlights once he gets started. In his first match on AEW rampage, Swerve main-evented against longtime 205Live rival Tony Nese. It’s only a matter of When an not IF Swerve is in a title program. Post April 1st (next ROH Show), fans should see something started for this amazing superstar/mogul.

The other BIG signing is the one and only William Regal. The longtime commissioner of WWE NXT & all around wrestling legend made a BIG splash appearing at the end of the Moxley/Danielson match at revolution. Next time we saw all 3, we have a new faction in AEW. Fans also had a heartfelt promo from Regal which anyone complaining about the time he took needs to back off. Regal is a legend and deserved the moment he had. Where we are going long-term is uncertain, but with Regal’s experience, AEW would be foolish not to utilize him to the fullest on & off screen.

Another noteworthy moment from AEW this week is….we have a NEW TNT Champion! Scorpio Sky defeated Sammy Guevara & kept his win streak going to become champion. Sky is set to defend the title against Wardlow next week on Dynamite. It is LONG overdue Sky is back in the title picture, let alone champion. One of the best on the roster, Sky became lost in the shuffle (along with Ethan Page) so when this streak was announced, it really felt like it came out of nowhere. Now as champion, Sky should look to have some big prime-time matches (pending on what happens next week).

Last bit of AEW news: It was announced Britt Baker will defend her AEW women’s title against Thunder Rosa one year to the day of their MOTY candidate street fight. This time, they’re going to be in a steel cage. It’s an odd set-up for this match as Rosa lost on Sunday to Baker but was then put into a title eliminator match with Leelya Hirsch, which she won. End of the day, it doesn’t matter how we got here, it’s that we’re hear and there is NO WAY Rosa leaves without the gold.

Speaking of MOTY candidates, On Saturday Night, Game Changer Wrestling took over Atlanta Center Stage for “GCW Astronaut.” One that card, fans FINALLY got “All Heart” Blake Christian vs. ROH Campion Jonathan Gresham in an absolute classic. The whole card was extremely good, but this match stands out. As we’ve preached on 60TWS, 2022 is the #YEARofALLHEART. If you’re not familiar, you need to catch up on the work of Blake Christian since leaving WWE. Check out the replay of Fite TV ASAP.

Last but not least, Shout out to “Super B” Brandon Sevilla who kicked off Xcite Wrestling’s #XCITE10 with a big win. Super B will be stopping by 607TWS in the near future. If you’re not following him on social media, make a point to fix that asap.

Positive thoughts and energy for Big E & Scott Hall

Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what wrestling you’re checking out. For more pro-wrestling coverage, make sure you’re following all the 607 podcast family. Thanks for reading.