Wrestling Afteraction: ROH Best in the World 2012

Welcome to the first edition of Wrestling Afteraction. Every week I pluck wrestling shows out of the vault and re-watch them and comment on them as a I go through it. This is NOT a hold for hold play-by-play review. This is me making comments and observations as the show is going on. For full enjoyment, I suggest you watch along in some variation along as you. Hope you enjoy.

This edition I will be covering Ring of Honor Best in the World 2012: Hostage Crisis. I am aware that the DVD is not out yet and the youtube feed I watched it no longer up. Hopefully you have a copy yourself, especially if you are ROH ringside member. Either way, when you do get a copy, pop it in and follow along...

The Briscoes vs. Guardians of Truth

• What's the point of a tale of the tape when you don't know who one of the teams are?
• Alot of conversation about the ropes being loose. It seemed to affect the match which explains it being so sloppy.
• Please tell me that's all we are going to see of the Guardians of Truth. That was a bad opener.

Homicide vs. Eddie Edwards
Die Hard Series

• I'm curious if that is TNA's LAX music because it sure sounds like it.
• I swear the "Yes!" chants have taken over pro wrestling lately, no matter if it's in English or Spanish.
• This was by far Homicide's best wrestled match in a long time, including his run as X Divison Champion.
• Holy shit! That was a wicked Grigo Killer!
• I don't really understand Homicide winning unless there's going to be a rematch down the road.

Kyle O'Reilly vs. Adam Cole
Hybrid Rules Match

• What the hell is a hybrid rules match?
• Okay this is WAY too complicated and I was able to follow along with most TNA matches a couple of years ago.
• Seriously how intense was the training for this PPV? First Edwards with his elbow then O'Reilly with his leg. What the hell?
• Holy shit!! I have never seen this much blood coming a moving human being's mouth!!
• Adam Cole is a fuckin star after this performance!
• Damn! That was of the best match of 2012! Unreal!

Finlay vs. Michael Elgin

• Well okay, no Truth Martini for this match. Elgin definitely doesn't need him so good to know.
• Anytime I see Finlay all I hear is "My name is Finlay and I want to fight!"
• I hope they let Elgin breakout by himself. I want to root for him, he's so likeable for a big guy.
• Seriously what youth elixir did Finlay take or is he just THAT good in the ring?
• Elgin and Finlay really put on a big guy clinic in this match.
• I don't get why the crowd is hating this match so much. This is an old school lengthy wrestling match. It's really enjoyable from my point of view.
• Wait! I thought the piledriver was illegal in ROH matches, hence the stipulation in the main event. Oh well.
• I love how Truth is trying to take credit Elgin's win. It's basic heel storytelling 101.

Intermission

• I do have a question, why are there intermissions on PPVs? I don't get that.

Mike Bennett

• Personally if I were Mike and Maria, I would drop Brutal Bob. They don't would be fine without him.
• Also someone should really test the mics and sound system during intermission to make sure it could be heard over the crowd.
• You would think watching Bennett and Maria makeout would be heelishly uncomfortable but it's oddly not.
• Enter Mike Mondo
• Someone teach him how to talk please. He's got the intensity but no mic skills.
• Did he say he was going to fuck Maria after this match? Unexpected line.

Mike Bennett vs. Mike Mondo

• Was that even a match?
• Wait I never heard a bell until AFTER the pinfall!
• That was interesting. That's all I got.

Roderick Strong (c) vs. Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Ring of Honor World Television Championship Match

• I don't care at all about this whole Embassy & the House of Truth storyline. I think it's dumb.
• I do think it's hysterical that there are only two females in ROH and neither of them ACTUALLY wrestle.
• Um, Jay what the hell did you do to your hair?
• Okay what's worse Ciampa's facial hair or Lethal's hair?
• Okay ROH, pick a camera angle and stick with it for longer than a half a second. The camera work is totally taking me out of the match.
• Whoa!! Didn't know Princess Mia could kick like that!
• Oh this is a three way dance? That would have been nice to have been mentioned sooner.
• Playing the role of volleyball was Ciampa.
• Okay I have never seen one male hit two submissions like Lethal did.
• I've always wanted to know what is actually in the Book of Truth?
• Okay that was a shitty way to end a very good triple threat.
• So wait a sec, Prince Nana cost Ciampa the title? That makes no real sense.

Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Hass & Shelton Benjamin) (c) vs. The All-Night Express (Rhett Titus and Kenny King)

Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championship

• So this is what turns out to be Kenny King's last match in ROH.
• Hass/Benjamin are the only heels all night that are actually being treated like heels by the New York crowd.
• Oh no that's why they "fined" Finlay for piledriver earlier was so they can say Hass would have gotten DQed for using it here. That works for me.
• You take DQs out of the picture and you actually get a good wrestling match.
• After this showing it's a shame there will be no rematch.
• When King threw Shelton the chair, that was brutal!
• The theme of this show is that the faces can win matches despite losing ALOT of blood. First Cole than Titus.
• Did Hass think this was a "I Quit" match all of a sudden?
• So that's how ANX wins the title, a bloody rollup? I guess that works.
• I will say that if this King's last night in ROH, he went out with a bang.

Kevin Steen (c) vs. Davey Richards

Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Championship

Anything Goes Match

• "My name is Steve Corino and I'm proud to be evil" might be the best start to a promo I've heard in ages.
• Did Corino actually drop Cole's "I'm a broadcast journalist" line?
• Was nice to hear "Mr. Wrestling" again.
• Did Davey teach Kyle how to talk? Tonight is his coming out party.
• Whoa! Did the match just start with a superkick through a table? Shit!!
• Two minutes in and this is already a war. Damn!!
• Apparently Steen didn't like how the steel barigades looked so he redecorated on Richards' head.
• What did Bobby Cruise do to deserve that superkick?
• You know you don't realize how little space there is outside the ring till Davey set up that table.
• "We want fire!!" New York crowds are awesome!
• Davey Richards' mouth piece tastes like "determination with a bit of bitterness." Great line by Corino.
• Todd Sinclair gets knocked out the match by Davey and the crowd started chanting "Yes! Yes Yes!" Amazing!
• What the hell? Steen hit the piledriver on Turner. That was random.
• Whoa! What a piledriver by Davey on Steen on the ladder. Got a 20 count from the crowd.
• I have to admit watching Corino beat up Cornette made me smile.
• A spike to the nuts and a piledriver and it's over. Surreal!

Post Match

• Total respect given to Davey by Steen.
• Love the New York crowd. Steen is insulting them and they are chanting "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
• Awesome "Ole!" singing.
• Whoa! He took a shot on Punk and Bryan.
• The crowd to totally cheering a wicked crazy heel promo.

Revamping

*This message is being posted in both This Is My Story and Thoughts of the Common Viewer*

Hello everyone,

For those who don't this, I have been trying to run two blogs for the last couple of years, being moderately successfully.

At one point Common Viewer was being updated daily, but honesty that became a hassle and took away from truly enjoying TV. So even though I was legitimately making real traction and people were reading my stuff, I took a break from the action.

Meanwhile I kinda stopped blogging in general. If you read my latest blog entry Catch Up FAQ, life is boring and not a whole lot really happens anymore, so those personal entries have been few and far between.

So where am I going with this history lesson?

During the last week I've been trying to combine my passions and truly give me a real outlet to get them out. Also I want to try to include social networking into my work so I could get my name out there, especially on Twitter. I think I figured it out.

Depending on which blog you are reading this in, if you look to the right you could some organization displaying my mini-blog series and special entries attached to it. I would include a breakdown here but I figured that would be a redundant.

Also from here on out, most Common Viewer entries will be Twitter exclusive. This will be done so it doesn't litter up my facebook timeline. Also most of the entries I post will be specific to a certain group of people and will be filled with hashtags.

Most blogs will be up on Thursdays, unless I find time otherwise which is rare.

That is about it from me.

Thank you for reading this and hope you enjoy my work for a long time to come.

---Blake

The Ultimate Fantasy Wrestling Card

Ever since WWE13 came out, there have been alot of talk on website about fantasy wrestling cards so this week I put together an extensive one. It includes WWE, TNA and ROH wrestlers. Much like all these lists if read by wrestling there will be alot of, "why didn't you include this person?" and the match order is going to shock people. I went through alot of debate trying to figure this out and made a 12 match card. So enjoy.

Commentary: Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler
Ring Announcers: Lillian Garcia & Howard Finkel

Match 1:
The Hardyz (Matt & Jeff) vs. Rey Mysterio/Billy Kidman vs. Motorcity Machineguns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley)

Match 2:
American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) vs. Edge & Christian

Match 3:
Air Boom (Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne) vs. Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo)

Match 4:
Chris Jericho vs. Austin Aries

Match 5:
Beer Money Inc. (Robert Roode & James Storm) vs. APA (John "Bradshaw" Layfield & Ron Simmions)

Match 6:
Special Guest Referee:Ric Flair
Fortune (AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels & Kaz) vs. Evolution (Triple H, Batista & Randy Orton)

Match 7:
Special Guest Referee:Mick Foley
Brothers of Destruction (Undertaker & Kane) vs. Kevin Steen & Samoa Joe

Match 8:
The Rock vs. Sting

Match 9:
John Cena vs. Hulk Hogan

Match 10:
Karma & Beth Phoenix vs. Trish Stratus & Lita

Match 11:
Shawn Michaels vs. Daniel Bryan

Match 12:
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. CM Punk

End of a Wild Ride (the playoffs are over)

It's over. After 65 long days and longer nights, 24 games, 14 Devil victories, four episodes of Puck Nuts and a possible dent on my living room floor and rug, the LA Kings have won the Stanley Cup.

Last week after game three, I had all but given up on this team. I went into game four a defeated fan, I even wrote a four page blog in my notebook, convinced it was over. Now it's the day after the Stanley Cup was awarded and it's only the second time I've ever experienced a finals loss. The first time was in 2001, after that I was extremely depressed. That was heartbreaking, especially after being up 3-2. But that was then, this is now. This one doesn't hurt so much. I mean last night's game was extremely hard to watch. I don't know how much of the third period I actually watched.

Ever since this series started the phrase "I wasn't even supposed to be here" popped into my head. It was the truth, the Devils were not supposed to be here.

It was a long ride. First it was the Panthers. Devils were down 3-2 and they found away to win. Game 6 went to overtime. Game 7 went to double overtime. It was after midnight and a quick turnaround and the Flyers were waiting. After losing game one in overtime, the Devs went on a tear and suddenly the series was over five. Then came the Rangers and the wars of words amongst players, coaches and friends began. A week and a half later the Devils beat the Rangers, the series went to six and after a very quick overtime, the ghosts of Matteau and Messier were finally gone and replaced with Henrique! Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Devils were the Eastern Conference Champions.

My hat that I've worn everyday
since the middle of March. It will
now be retired.

It was shocking to say the least and that takes the sting off losing the Cup. Look at it this way, the Devils missed the playoffs last year. They had a new coach, a new style and even a new attitude. So looking back this has been a great year.

But with every great playoff run comes the people who have to deal with the fandom and the friends who are there during and after all the games.

1. To my amazing wife Mandy. She has put up with alot this year, not only the Devils run but with the Giants one as well. But to her credit she always made sure I was home for almost all the games (I worked during game three of the conference finals, so there's nothing that can be done there.) She put up with my mood swings, my strange superstitions, my playoff hangovers and my contast hockey talk. If I was in her shoes I'd be excited this was over just as much as her. But her patience dealing with me made it much easier to get through.

Sal sporting his imfamous
playoff beard. It lasted
till the night of
Game 3 of the Finals.

2. Through all the games and days, my phone has been going crazy talking hockey. It had been a long time since I talked this much game. But there had been two guys who have actually become closer friends with me because of this run, they are Sal & Scotty. Scotty has been my WI hockey buddy for a while, and after his Preds were knocked out, he jumped on the red and black bandwagon, but mainly because he wanted me, as his friend, to be happy. He would text me during games especially during the Conference Finals just to check on me, pump me up and make sure I wasn't on the ledge after a big loss. On the side of the coin, I spent many a night pulling Sal off the ledge after losses and even after rough periods. Through it all, me adn him have bonded over this run and it was needed for both of our sakes.

3. This is a message for the rest of the family who have been dealing with me. At this point everyone, including myself are probably sick of my pre-game music, Soundgarden-Live To Rise and Van Halen-Running With The Devil. Those songs are indeed being retired from being played till next season.

This is the towel that Janet
got at game six of the
conference finals. Too bad
I didn't get it before game five,
maybe it would have brought
more luck.

Finally thank you to all the people who have been dealing with my mood swings, screaming, late television nights, attitudes an flat out annoyance since April 13th. It has been really difficult to really get through these playoffs. Life is different and I'm older than the last time the Devils made a run. I learned alot about how to deal with playoff hockey and a family this year. Now next time hopefully won't be as hard.

All things being and considered though, this has been an exhausting playoff ride. I'll be happy to have anymore stressful intense for a long while.
So till next season, when they reveal the new banner on opening night, it's time to start my sports summer vacation. It's been a long year and a it's time to recharge the batteries. It has been a great year, hopefully though, next time, the Devils finish the job they started.

A salute to the 2012 Eastern Conference Champion New Jersey Devils!

Playoff Memories: 5/2/03-Tampa Bay at New Jersey Game 5

This game was a completely different experience for me. It is and remains the only game where I started watching it in one place and finished it at home with alot of driving in between.

It was a 3pm game, that I started watching at up north at my girlfriend Sara's house. The first period ended tied at one and I jumped in my car with the radio feed on ready for the hour drive thinking I'll make it home for the end of the 3rd.

During the drive home I heard, well not much happen in the 2nd & 3rd periods. As I got back into my driveway, overtime was about to start. So I ran inside and Gary was waiting for me and I blopped down and was ready to go.

It turned into a long afternoon of an ovetime marathon that felt like it took forever.

Finally a long day concluded with Grant Marshall scoring in the third overtime. That led to a long deep breath and then a celebration that went throughout the night. 

Playoff Memories: 6/8-10/00-New Jersey vs. Dallas Game 5/6

This was the longest and most exciting week I've ever been through as a fan.

This is the only time in history for me that two games really bleed together as one.

It all started on a Thursday night live from the CAA. The Devils had a 3-1 series lead and it looked like it was going to be an easy path to the Cup. Well the defending champs thought otherwise, and this was the first real time I realized that Devils fandom is NEVER easy.

Also this game had landed in the middle of Finals week at school so Gary couldn't join me & my dad for this one like he had for many games this playoff run. That being said, what I didn't realize was that a long night was about to begin.

The game as a whole flew by. It was an old school goalie duel between Marty and Eddie Belfour. I've seen my share of goal duels and scoreless games but never one to ths magnitude. Suddenly regulation time ended and overtime started.

At this point my dad went to bed because he had work in the morning so I moved from my computer chair to the couch. I'm glad I got comfortable.

Overtime flew by, then so did the second overtime. Entering the third overtime, the only thing that kept me awake was the fact that if the Devils scored, they would win the Cup. ABC, to their credit, kept reminding us of that throughout the overtimes showing the Cup getting polished over and over again.

Then it suddenly ended. Mike Modano scored just over six minutes into the sixth period of play, the defending champs survived another day. Suddenly I realized it was 1:30am.

The next morning, well a few hours later, it was obvious who stayed up and who didn't. Luckily it was only a half day.

Finally it was Saturday night, Gary's birthday and game six was ready to start. Me, my dad and Gary were back together hoping to celebrate a championship.

Well it took till early in the 2nd to finally score aganist Belfour, but we barely had a chance to celebrate before Dallas tied it and suddenly we were right back where it felt like we were for the last three days. Tied in a goalie duel deadlock.

Then nothing really happened in the third period. After the craziness and injuries, it was slower and again regulation had come to an end.

Again my dad was tired and didn't want to sit through what he felt was going to be a long night. So with that, overtime started and me and Gary were in our seats sitting back for the ride.

One overtime over and panic started setting in in the room because we didn't want a game seven. We were literally both pacing back and forth for the 15 minute intermission geting pumped up and hoping for the best. Then the 2nd overtime started.

It was quiet. There was no music from the computer, no talking to each other or yelling at the TV, the only noise in the whole house was the living room TV and my mom's bedroom radio. It was past midnight. Gary's birthday had officially passed. Then it happened.

*This is part where I actually discribe the above video clip, I'm not going to bother. Watch the clip then continue on.*

The puck hadn't even hit the back of the net and we had jumped up and look at each other, hugged and then the celebration began! Screaming and cheering and by the time I got into the kicthen my dad was already in the hallway wondering what was going on and he literally slid down the hallway to join the celebration. We all go back into or spots and watched Scott Stevens win the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP and then it was time.

I started jamming We Are The Champions, Glory Days and Running With The Devil and then my mom came down the hall to remind us what time it was.

It didn't matter, it was one in the morning, we were exhausted but the Devils had become Stanley Cup Champions!

Playoff Memories: 5/11/97-New York at New Jersey Game 5

Well that was painful. Just painful.

This game still hurts.

The problem is I don't remember the game. When I left the arena that afternoon, I was in shock.

The overtime intermission was one of the most surreal moments I've ever heard. The thing was it was eerily quiet. Deathly quiet. No one really moved for the whole time which is bizarre looking back to not move for 15 minutes but no one budged.

The overtime started and the buzz was back and it was a loud mixed crowd.

Then the air came out of the building.

Adam Graves scored a wrap around goal past Marty and it was over.

It think this was the first time the first time that I didn't even make it through the three stars before I left. It was after the handshake line was over.

Never before, and honestly never again, have I ever been so depressed when I walked out of the CAA.