Pro Wrestling Chronicle

I always try to deliver in threes, so today I’ll discuss Claudio Castagnoli going under the mask as “Swiss Ice Cream” for the 2007 Trios Tourney, Doc gets a shot at the Triple Crown, and some Sean Denny vs Damien Wayne action leading up to their respective ROH debuts. (more…)

John Philapavage and Brian Streleckis present the first audio podcast of there new show - which has no clever name. We’ll call it the PWChronicle Indy Wrestling show for now. Streleckis dishes out the info to start while Philapavage asks questions and gives opinions as he delves further into Indy fanhood. Whether you are a big indy fan or a newer one, this show is accessible to all, and it’s just getting started.

Discussed on the show: Chikara’s upcoming weekend, their DVDs and live shows, PWG’s DDT weekend and Low Ki vs Dragon, IWA-MS storylines and wrestlers, and more.

PWChronicle Indy Wrestling Show # 1 (52 min., right click to Save)

After a bit of a lay-off, Ring of Honor is back in action, and so is the BSWH crew. We’ve got re-caps of the Machine Gunneriffic shows in Detroit and Chicago, including details on the latest on the Jimmy Jacobs/Lacey saga, as Austin Aries literally becomes The Fucking Man. He also becomes a World Tag Team Champion, so we discuss some alternatives we would have liked to see, and prospects for his first defense as part of our previews of this weekend’s Virginia and Hammerstein debuts.

Part 1 (58 minutes) (Right click to download)

The ball keeps rolling in Part 2 as we delve into the 2008 DVD collection. Check out our thoughts on Erick Stevens’ stepping into the Proving Ground, the Vulture Squad helping a main event Transform into an insane six-man brawl, and all the other happenings from Boston and New Jersey. As usual, we rate each match on a 1-10 scale, this time with the help of the Transform Meter.

Part 1 (72 minutes) (Right click to download)

John Philapavage is joined by two longtime fans and personal friends after the ROH 5/10 debut in the Hammerstein Ballroom. They review the show by match and feel, and give a perspective on ROH’s presentation to hardcore wrestling fans and casual fans alike.

ROH 5/10 Audio (44 min., right click to save)

Johnny P. is in the house and is sending in results. He says the crowd is hot but a “typical NYC crowd.” He’s in the lower balcony and can’t see the upper balcony, so it’s hard to estimate the crowd, but the floor and lower balcony are nearly full. The return date is August 2, and the Motor City Machine Guns were announced for that show to a big pop.

ROH has announced the full match order in advance. Check out our preview of this weekend’s shows in BS With Honor #11 Part 1, and check back tomorrow for Part 2 of the show, in which we review the Proving Ground and Transform DVDs.

1) FIP World Heavyweight Title Match - Roderick Strong defeats Erick Stevens and Go Shiozaki to retain Tons of chops and stiff spots. Stevens was pinning Go and Roderick snuck up and rolled him up for the win. (more…)

Steven Ho is live in the building sending results.

Return date to Virginia is August 1st. The NYC return date is August 2nd.

1. Chris Hero defeats Pelle Primeau with a roaring elbow and a big boot. Bobby Dempsey thrown under the ring by his Sweet N Sour stablemates for getting to much attention from crowd. Apparently Sara Del Rey looked like Sensational Sherri circa Macho Queen days. Hair done and face paint. She chokeslammed Ernie Osirus. She is still part of Sweet N Sour Inc.

2) Rhett Titus & Rex Sterling defeat Mitch Franklin & Sean Denny Titus pinned Mitch Franklin with a Razor’s Edge. Mitch “looks like Ryan from The Office“. Sean Denny was way over. (more…)

When I was a teen I feared Dr. Death. Not the old man who assisted suicides, but Steve Williams. I’d seen him here and there in start-ups like UWF in the early 90s, or during some of his WCW short runs. I had no idea why such a bassass wasn’t wrestling “more”. Kinda the way I felt about that disgusting, tobacco chewing guy that was only in WCW for a moment and seemed to think it was real: Stan Hanson. I had no idea Hanson or Williams were in Japan, until a few years later when I happened to notice the rankings in Bill Apter’s PWI. (more…)

Now that I’ve got Gene Boyer on board, I’m attempting to see how far we can push each other in our friendship of wrestling “psychosis”. Gene and I are fans of the nuts and bolts of wrestling as art and entertainment, and we enjoy killing hours of each others time talking “shop” as two fans who watch and enjoy alot of wrestling.I dropped a match to Gene and he dropped more than one to me. We claim we’ll probably watch them. So this post is me getting a leg up on my pal, as I do the match I recommended him, and then later the match that got him heavy into All Japan (8.31.93 Kobashi vs Doc) that he recommended to me. It’s what I watched while everyone else got drunk Saturday night. (more…)

So, I check out the website on Friday night and see Johnny mentioning doing a dueling review of this match. That’s funny, I talked to him the night before and I don’t remember that being a topic that was discussed. But, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea, as we’ve talked about doing dueling reviews for over a year, but just never seem to get on the same page on it. So, I purposely skipped reading his review and went and stole this match! (more…)

I’m attempting to drag my pal Gene Boyer onto the site to do a dueling review of the big Keiji Mutoh vs Shinsuke Nakamura IWGP Title match from over the weekend. We’ll see how I do soon enough. As for the match, I watched it, and I try to figure out between us (not Gene and I, but the two minds I have on most things) if you should Steal This Match (more…)

John Philapavage discusses the subtext of angles and women in ROH, in a post Sweeney-Danger-Dempsey world. (more…)

A rare dip into some recommended 2007 WWE HHH matches (rare for me and this site) and a CM Punk vs Brian Danielson match are discussed. Doesn’t that match look 10x cooler in the year 2008 than it did in 2004? (more…)

Before moving on to Ring of Honor’s 2008 DVDs, the BSWH crew takes a look back at 2007 with our first year in review show here on the Chron. Among the topics we discuss:
- The departure of several top-level talents
- The arrival of others to fill the void
- ROH’s debut on PPV and its implications
- Continued expansion into new live markets
- The roster engages in faction warfare

We also present our annual awards (check out Brian’s and Steve’s ballots here; final tallies will be posted in print form later this week) and welcome John Philapavage to the show for his own perspective on the year.

MP3 file (70 minutes) (Right click to download)

Having now seen, dissected, and digested every event that had taken place in 2007, Brian and Steve choose what they thought was the best that Ring of Honor had to offer. Presented are their top five choices in several integral categories. (more…)

Ring of Honor has new Tag Team Champions and we have a new show in the books, featuring recaps of last weekend’s show in Boston and New Jersey. Sweeney makes a new deal, Steen flips his lid Canadian style, Richards & Romero drop the titles, and much more. We also preview this weekend’s Midwest double shot and speculate on whether the Motor City Machine Guns’ appearance may be a sign of things to come.

Part 1 (51 minutes) (Right click to download)

Our 2007 DVD reviews come to a close as we run down the Rising Above PPV (and DVD bonuses) and Final Battle 2007. With the Age of the Fall truly underway, we rate each match for the weekend on the blood-raining Meter of the Fall:

Part 2 (70 minutes) (Right click to download)

I’ll try to put one of these up a week, and have Brian or Steve edit it if they add to the site.

-Part 2 of BS With Honor is up as of 4/24. There’s a look at some of the ROH DVD product on there from the guys.

-What I Watched is up from me as of 4/24. It’s just notes I sent my friend Gene on what I’ve been watching and what I thought. I’m going to try and post one every time I watch more than one match. If it’s an osolated deal you’ll see me posting Steal This Match.

This installment of What I Watched has thoughts on Cena vs Orton from SummerSlam ‘07, Kingston vs Hero Last Man Standing, and Tyler Black vs Brian Danielson from the 1/25/08 ROH Show.

-Finally, we save the most thought out for last. Brian Streleckis has a full live report on this past weekends Chikara show from Philly. that went up around 4/22.

I talk to much about wrestling, or I e-mail to much about wrestling, or I think to much without a word - all about wrestling. Time to put up more content here. Steve and Brian have done an amazing job, and I’d like to add to that.

Gene Boyer has written a few things for the since over the last year plus. It’s a fun volunteer wrestling site, so we shut down here and there, or none of us feel up to writing. Truthfully we all still talk about it with each other, but we try to present a nicer finished product here, and then convince ourselves whatever we thought about or wrote would take to much of an effort to clean up for here. (more…)

Brian Streleckis is back with another live Chikara report from their New Alhambra Arena event on 4/20, right here on the Chronic-what-cle of Wrestling. (more…)

Bob is sending in results from Chicago Ridge. Be sure to check out Brian and I previewing this weekend’s shows in BS With Honor #10 in the post below this.

1) Austin Aries defeats Silas Young Aries picks up the win in 5:51 with the Horns of Aries. (more…)

PWChronicle’s own Robert Dolezil is live in Chicago for the ROH show tonight. “Metalbob”, as we like to call him, will be sending back results and his thoughts. Steve Kriske will be around manning the ship as usual (our MVP of PWChronicle.com), so you’ll get results pretty much within five minutes of them happening. Where else are you gonna find ROH coverage on the net!? Coverage begins at 9pm Eastern.

While you’re checking in from time to time why not sample the ONLY ROH exclusive Podcast on the net (for now), BS With Honor. The archive is located here.