The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling

The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling by David Shoemaker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quick professional wrestling history lesson. Couple nuggets of information that were new to me, but then quite a few that have been proven untrue. An entertaining listen either way. Decent narration.

Quote Of The Moment…

 "The secret about pro wrestling being out is not an excuse for bad art."
-Shayna Baszler

Quote Of The Moment…

 "The preponderance of pro wrestling titles has devalued them all."
-Todd Martin

I Could Never…

Quote Of The Moment...

"The business has a history.  It wasn't created yesterday."

-Jim Ross

Worried...

While the world is slowly rebounding from an economic crisis, professional wrestling is in the midst of the worst downward trend I've ever seen.  It's incredibly frustrating to have to watch three different products in order to feel satisfied.

WWE, the biggest company in the game, doesn't know which end is up.  In the face of an unfortunate injury to their top star, I hoped to see someone young, hungry, and deserving get a push.  How wonderful would it have been to see Dolph Ziggler or Wade Barrett be given a chance to run with the ball?  Who knows, maybe one of them would have caught fire.  Instead?  Ryback.  No charisma whatsoever, a repertoire of moves that make John Cena's look like Shawn Michaels', and the natural in-ring ability of a sloth.  Really makes me want to buy tickets.  If I were to really get rolling, I'd mention inconsistencies around every corner, storylines so bad whomever conceived of them should be shot, shameful writing, and a chairman who hasn't known what makes a quality product in over a decade.  But, I won't waste space.  So terrible.

One major problem with ROH.  Jim Cornette booked as if it were the early 1970s.  Maybe now, with someone new at the helm, pace will pick up.

What to say about TNA?  While in-ring action is consistently better than WWE, major problems still need addressing.  How am I supposed to invest completely when half of the roster acts as though they'd rather be doing anything else?  Along that same line, regularly botched spots are incredibly distracting, absolutely unnecessary, and detract from enjoyment immensely.  The Impact Zone is a huge problem.  TNA can't afford to travel, and is stuck producing shows on an unevenly lit, low budget soundstage.  Cut unnecessary expenses, and get out of there as soon as possible.  One last thing.  I'm all for having a loyal fanbase.  It's one of the most important aspects of keeping a promotion afloat.  However, when the same crowd attends every week, enthusiasm is bound to wane, and complacency set in.  Not the best thing to expose to your television audience.

Thank God for independent promotions like Dragon Gate USA and Evolve.  They keep my faith in the thing I love most in the world from dying.

Kings Of Wrestling!

Another extraordinary ROH event! While 99% of the matches were solid and above, it seemed as though some of the guys were holding back. Truth be told, I probably would to if I had an iPPV the next night. That said, there are ways of being careful and conserving energy without letting the audience know. Anyway, even with those small quibbles, it was amazing. I can't tell you how awesome it was to see the Briscoes live again. Definitely one of the best tag teams today. Speaking of tag teams, the match of the night was The American Wolves vs. The Kings Of Wrestling! What a war! The match was so intense and beautiful! Back-and-forth, clean, and hard-hitting. There's something about watching someone get their head kicked off that really gets my blood pumping! Awesome time with the best bud!

December 17th!

Here's the card, as it stands now, for the December 17th show in Plymouth.

The Kings Of Wrestling vs. The American Wolves

Non Title Match: ROH World Champion Roderick Strong (with Truth Martini) vs. Kenny Omega

“Pick Your Poison” Rematch: Jay And Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen And Steve Corino

Special Challenge Match #1: Kenny King vs. Adam Cole

Special Challenge Match #2: TJ Perkins vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Trial Series- Match #5: Andy “Right Leg” Ridge vs. Christopher Daniels

Information courtesy of rohwrestling.com

Before The Bell...

This was taken at the last ROH event I went to.  Just wish I didn't look like some ungodly creature with giant teeth!   :)  Love nothing more than doing my favorite thing with my best friend!

More...

Okay, so I already said how amazing the event was. What I didn't mention is that I got free tickets to the next one. A change of venue put a crimp in the seating arrangement. Long story short, I was offered free tickets to the next show to compensate the oversight. Very generous. Good stuff.

This is the ticket for the original venue. Try to keep all my stubs. What an awesome night!

This Is Wrestling!!!

Look at the card above. I can honestly say it delivered the best night of professional wrestling I've ever seen live. Everyone knows that I hold in-ring work to a higher level than any other aspect of the business. I've never seen anything more amazing where that's concerned. With the exception of the First Blood match, which was a little too gratuitously violent for my taste, I was awestruck with admiration for everything. Christopher Daniels vs. Tyler Black was in a class all it's own. Too bad they went to a time-limit draw, would loved to have seen a definitive conclusion. Keeps the feud going nicely though I suppose.

Think I was most surprised when Rebecca started screaming things during the main event... completely unexpected. She's much fun. Loved that Tim enjoyed it. Nothing better than having your best friend beside you at the matches. Can't wait to go back in December!

In Plymouth...

Main Event- Non Title Match ROH World Champion Tyler Black vs. “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels

Also scheduled to appear:

ROH World Tag Team Champions Chris Hero And Claudio Castagnoli (With Shane Hagadorn)
ROH World Television Champion Eddie Edwards
Austin Aries
Roderick Strong
El Generico
Kevin Steen
Steve Corino
Colt Cabana
The Embassy (The Necro Butcher, Erick Stevens, & Shawn Daivari) (With Prince Nana)

Information courtesy of rohwrestling.com

War Of The Wire: September 29, 2003

 I didn't know much about Ring Of Honor when I got tickets to a show in Framingham, but an AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe main event was just too amazing to miss. Okay, truth time. I don't remember much about the matches themselves, but I'll never forget what happened at intermission and after everyone had left. At the start of intermission, my brother-in-law told me that AJ Styles was standing behind me talking to some people. I didn't believe him, but saw it was true when I turned around to take a look. I absolutely couldn't believe that my hero was standing that close. After some insistence, I made my way up to say hello. I remember that Paul had to introduce me, because I couldn't speak and was staring at AJ like a fool. I eventually managed to put a couple of coherent sentences together, he thanked me for my support and admiration, told me (in a sweet way) that I was silly for crying, and took the time to take a picture with me.

If that had been where the night ended, it still would have been amazing beyond words. Fortunately, there were more surprises in store for unsuspecting me. While the next part is a bit fuzzy, I think I remember having a brief conversation with the ring announcer earlier in the evening.. As Paul and I were making our way out with the rest of the crowd when everything ended, he stopped us and told us to come with him. I was completely dumbfounded and speechless when I realized he was leading us backstage. Couldn't believe I was getting to associate with people that are my equivalent of superheroes. I was fortunate enough to meet, and have small conversations with The SATs, Alexis Laree, (before she became Mickie James in WWE), April Hunter, and CM Punk. Oh, yeah, I said hello to Christopher Daniels in passing and was greeted with a "fuck you." Just incredible!

On the way out the door after all the excitement, I heard a booming voice from behind me.

"You're going to leave without taking a picture with the champ?"

I turned around to see Samoa Joe approaching me. Again, I was stunned beyond words that the champion would take time to acknowledge me. I can't even tell you what my response was because the shock I was in was making it extremely difficult to think clearly. I eventually composed myself and we took a picture.

An amazing, incredible, awe-inspiring night I will never forget!

Bummer!

The Ring Of Honor show, that I'm attending with Tim and Rebecca, has been rescheduled! This sucks! Thank God I just happened to be on the website and looked. From April 9th to September 10th! Very disappointing. At least it wasn't canceled all together. Anticipation will make it even better.

Happy Anniversary, Between The Ropes!

For those unaware, Between The Ropes is a radio show dedicated to professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. It was a complete accident, me finding them, but was definitely love at first listen. Host, Fritz, Dickerman and Vito have a vast, extensive knowledge of the subjects of which they speak. Listeners are not only privy to breaking news and insider information, but also have access to great, in-depth interviews from stars of both worlds. If that weren't enough, becoming a member of betweentheropes.com affords one complete access to ten years worth of shows and interviews. Being a member myself, I can tell you that it is more than worth the cost. The show officially celebrated ten years on the air last night and I'd like to wish them ten more!