Jul 16, 2006

(Cage Of) Death Before Dishonor


ROH: Death Before Dishonor IV
PA National Guard Armory - Philadelphia, PA
This show was the culmination of the seven month feud between ROH and CZW.  It began on December 10th at CZW Cage Of Death 7 when, at the end of the tag team championship match on the card, Chris Hero grabbed the microphone and challenged Bryan Danielson to defend his ROH World Championship.  Hero expressed annoyance toward ROH as a company because the upcoming CZW event in Philadelphia had to be moved to the afternoon to accommodate ROH, who were having an evening show across town on the same night.

The day/night double header took place on January 14th.  Danielson defeated Hero in the main event of the night show, but wrestlers from each side invading the other's show, and it's been a full fledged war between the two promotions ever since.  Throughout this war, the spotlight has continually shifted to Homicide as the reluctant savior of Ring Of Honor.  He was the member of the ROH roster who was was violent enough to beat CZW at their own game.  That game came to Death Before Dishonor IV last night in the form of a Cage Of Death match.

The PA National Guard Armory had one of the most interesting setups for the crowd that I've ever seen at a pro wrestling event.  The general admission bleachers were set up on two opposite sides of the ring behind the floor seats.  One side was designated for CZW fans and the other for ROH fans.  This made for one hell of a show with both groups of fans taunting each other across the ring.  It was hands down one of the most intense crowd atmospheres that I've ever experienced at any type of event.


In the weeks leading up to this show, Homicide told Jim Cornette that he would join Team ROH in Cage Of Death, but only if Ring Of Honor would grant him any three wishes that he wants.  After the Pure Championship match (which was incredible, by the way), Cornette came out to the ring to say that he wouldn't give in to Homicide's demands, so Team ROH is still looking for its fifth member.  This causes Bryan Danielson to come out and offer to be the fifth member, even though he's defending his championship earlier in the night, and he doesn't want anything in return.

Danielson defeated Dutt by striking him in the head with his elbow until the referee stopped the match.  We then went to intermission and the Cage Of Death was set up.  It's sort of like an octagon-shaped Hell In The Cell because the cage surrounds the ring and the ringside area, but instead of having a roof, it was filled with weapons, including chairs, trash cans, a barbed wire bat, and a table that was covered in barbed wire.

The match was held under War Games rules, with J.J. Dillon standing guard at the entrance. It began with one member of each team in the cage (Samoa Joe for ROH and Claudio Castagnoli for CZW).  ROH won the coin toss, so a new wrestler came into the cage every every two minutes, starting with BJ Whitmer, which gave ROH a 2-on-1 advantage for the next two minutes until a new CZW wrestler could enter, then another two minutes passes before an ROH wrestler enters, and so on until all five members from each team are in the match.  The match can't end until all five members of each team have entered the cage, but once they've all been introduced, a winner is determined by a single pinfall or submission.  In other words, it's one-fall to a finish, not elimination style like Survivor Series.  I'm not doing a great job of explaining it, but hopefully you get the idea.

The order of entry was:
With the first four men in the ring, The Kings Of Wrestling had taken the upper hand against Samoa Joe and BJ Whitmer.  This changed when Bryan Danielson came to the ring at #5 and destroyed Hero and Castagnoli.  Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson do not get along, but they had put their differences aside for the purposes of this match... or at least they did until Danielson turned on Joe by attacking and injuring his knee.  The ROH World Champion wasn't siding with CZW - he was just being an opportunist who took advantage of the situation to take out his main challenger for the title.  Within about a minute, Nate Webb entered the match, Joe was carried to the back, and Danielson flipped off Jim Cornette and walked out on Team ROH.  This left BJ Whitmer in the ring by himself to get beaten down by three members of Team CZW.

Adam Peace came out next for ROH, followed by Necro Butcher for CZW.  At this point, it was an absolute seal beating with CZW using every weapon in the cage to beat down Team ROH.  Ace Steel was the 9th man introduced in the match.  He came out with a cowbell on a long rope, which he used to smack each member of Team CZW in the head, but CZW quickly regrouped and once again got the upper hand, with their surprise entrant still to be announced.

Chris Hero grabbed the microphone to introduce the final member of Team CZW to the ring.  He said that it's a man who he hates, but their hatred for ROH is stronger than their hatred for each other.  With that, Eddie Kingston hit the ring and all five members of Team CZW took turns smacking the three remaining members of Team ROH with ladders, chairs, a barbed wire bat, the cowbell, and everything else in sight.  After a few minutes of this, the lights went out, the red strobe came on, and the Kill Bill music played.  Half of the crowd went absolutely bananas chanting Homicide's name as he came to the ring and wasted Team CZW.  He passed out forks to his ROH teammates, and Team ROH fought back with what amounted to a series of piledrivers and stabbings.  The ROH side of the arena chanted "Ring Of Homicide" while the CZW side responded with a chant of "6 on 5" in protest of the fact that ROH had six members of its roster enter the match against five members of the CZW roster.  Since there were only four members of the ROH roster out at that moment (with Joe and Danielson gone), the ROH fans responded with a chant of "you can't count".

The final 20 minutes of the match were absolute mayhem that made even the most hardcore night of ECW look almost tame in comparison.  It finally ended when Homicide hit Nate Webb with a Cop Killa on top of a pile of barbed wire before covering him for the pinfall and giving Team ROH the victory.  And then, just when I thought this night couldn't get any more batshit crazy, it did.

Jim Cornette ordered everyone in the ROH locker room to carry Team CZW out of the cage and throw them out of the building.  He then thanked Team ROH and told Homicide that he had the heart of a warrior and that he was going to grant his three wishes.  Homicide's first wish was to fight Steve Corino in an ROH ring, which Cornette granted.  His second wish was an a guaranteed ROH World Title shot.  Again, Cornette granted him his wish.  Homicide's final wish was that Cornette reinstate Low Ki and bring him back to ROH.  The fans chanted "just say yes", but this was a bridge too far.  Cornette said he'd grant any wish for Homicide, but he's not granting a wish for Low Ki and he wouldn't be allowed back in ROH as long as Cornette is still in charge.  Homicide called Cornette a liar and spit in his face.  This led to Cornette spraying mace in Homicide's face and Adam Pearce attacking him while J.J. Dillon locked the cage to prevent anyone from running in.  Then to cap off the night with one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen in a wrestling ring, J.J. Dillon handcuffed Homicide to the turnbuckle and removed his shirt, and then Jim Cornette whipped him in the back with his belt.  I don't mean one or two whips either... this looked like something out of Roots.  So, it seems that the chapter is officially closed on the ROH vs. CZW feud, and the war between The Rottweilers and Jim Cornette has just begun.

I know that I said that the May 13th show in New Jersey was the best pro wrestling show I had ever seen, and it may have been the stronger show from beginning to end, but the main event of Death Before Dishonor IV was on a whole other level.  I've been to the Gathering Of The Juggalos four times and god only know how many other crazy ass shows, but this was hands down the most insane, flat out batshit crazy event I have ever attended, and it came from an independent promotion that is best known for technical wrestling.  I can't imagine how they're ever going to top this.

Results:

Jul 7, 2006

The Wisdom of Satchel Paige


Satchel Paige was born 100 years ago today.  He became one of the hardest throwing pitchers in the history of the game, and the man that Joe DiMaggio called the best pitcher he ever faced.  Click here for more.

Jul 1, 2006

Glorious Wood Paneling



This was my old IBM Aptiva on the computer desk in my bedroom on my 16th birthday, which was ten years ago today.  I loved how it matched the paneling.

Jun 19, 2006

In The City



We had a little extra time to walk around on Saturday night while we were in the city to see the Ring Of Honor show at the New Yorker Hotel.















Jun 18, 2006

A Night Of Wrestling In A Historic Building


ROH: June 17, 2006
New Yorker Hotel - New York, NY
This was one hell of a good show, but before I even start talking about the matches, I need to take a minute to talk about the venue because it's one of the coolest places that I've ever been to for a show of any kind.



The New Yorker Hotel was built in Hell's Kitchen in 1929.  It's a beautiful Art Deco 43 story building with 2,500 rooms which cost over $22 million to build in 1929 dollars.  When it was built, the hotel had its own coal-fired steam boilers to provide electricity to the building, which held the distinction of being the largest private power plant in the United States.  Nikola Tesla lived in seclusion in room 3327 of the hotel for the last ten years of his life until his death in 1943.  A hotel maid discovered the 86 year old inventor had passed away after she ignored the "do not disturb" sign that was on his door for two days.

This is a gorgeous building with a lot of history that the above paragraph barely scratches the surface.  Last night, it was the home to an excellent night of pro wrestling.


Homicide was scheduled to face a mystery opponent last night, and that mystery was solved after the second match of the night.  After Ricky Reyes made Dave Crist tap out in under a minute, Chris Hero jumped out of the crowd to knock out Julius Smokes.  Since Smokes is manager of both Reyes and Homicide, this attack made it pretty obvious who Homicide would challenge with his open contract later that night.

Prior to Homicide vs. Chris Hero, there was an inter-promotional match between Adam Pearce and Claudio Castagnoli which ended in a disqualification due to Chris Hero's interference.  Ring Of Honor matches rarely end in a DQ, but it makes perfect sense for the lawless rival promotion to cause a non-finish.  This was followed up by Homicide taking on Hero in a 20+ minute brawl that ended with a lariat and a 2-0 night for Ring Of Honor in their ongoing war with CZW.  After the match, Homicide grabbed the mic and threatened to quit ROH if he didn't receive an ROH World Title shot at Final Battle.

The main event was a triple threat match between three of the best professional wrestlers in the world, and it was intense from start to finish.  It ended with Kenta pinning the champ after hitting him twice with his go-to-sleep finisher, so I'm guessing that a title match between Danielson and Kenta will be taking place in the not too distant future.

Results:

Homicide
"Classic" Colt Cabana
Nigel McGuinness
The Briscoe Brothers: Mark Briscoe (left) and Jay Briscoe (right)
Davey Richards (Jimmy Rave must not have pulled one of his punches)
Jimmy Rave (he always does this thumbs down in every photo I've ever seen him take with fans, so I gave a thumbs up to my favorite villain in the company)
Jimmy Jacobs
Lacey
Irish Airborne: Jake Crist (left) and Dave Crist (right)

I fully realize how nerdy it is to collect photos with wrestlers after the show, but I figured what the hell.  I would never bug anyone while they're out with their families, or trying to eat dinner, or traveling or anything like that.  The only place that I ever even ask is at the venue where the show is taking place, and they're hanging out at the merch table to meet fans most of the time anyway.  Everyone I've met so far have seemed happy take a photo, but if someone ever tells me that they're not in the mood, that's cool too.


Update: This show was released on DVD under the name "In Your Face".  It's available for sale on ROHWrestling.com.

Update #2: Sterling James Keenan, who wrestled in the third match of this show, would go on to sign with World Wrestling Entertainment.  He currently works as Corey Graves in NXT.  Also, Mitch Franklin would go onto adopt the name Grizzly Redwood and continues to wrestle for ROH and across the independent circuit using this name.

Jun 14, 2006

New Jersey Is Hardcore



Spotted this sign in Red Bank, New Jersey when we were in town to visit Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash.  I think I might stick to the right lane when I come back to town.

Jun 13, 2006

Hitting Up The Secret Stash



Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash
Red Bank, NJ
We got a good night's sleep at the Red Roof Inn after averting a disastrous night at the Motel From Hell and woke up bright and early on Sunday morning to pay a visit to Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash.  The place is loaded from stem to stern with comic books, movies, books, stickers, t-shirts and tons of other nerdy merchandise, as well as displays of costumes and other props that were used in the filming of Kevin Smith's movies.  Here are some photos of our visit.

This is the back of the store.  I tried to lighten the image as best I could, but it's still pretty dark.  There are clearer and closer photos of most of the props below, but this will give you an idea of their location in the store.  On the top left, you can see the sign for Brodie's comic book store from the beginning of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.  There's a statue of Jay and Silent Bob (as Bluntman and Chronic) holding lightsabers in the Bluntmobile at the bottom center.  Off in the distance to the upper left of the statues are the costumes worn by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Dogma, and to the upper right of the statues in the far corner of the store is the Buddy Christ statue from Dogma.

This photo was taken while I was standing at the back of the store and facing toward the front.  To give you perspective of where it's at, the purple rod and white helmet that you can see in the bottom left corner of this photo are part of the Bluntman and Chronic statues from the picture above.  At the left hand side of the photo is a statue of Mooby the Golden Calf from Dogma.  Above Angie's head near the middle right of the photo are a few championship banners for the New Jersey Devils that are hanging at the front of the store near the front windows and the register.

This is a much closer photo of the clothes that were worn by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck that they wore for the filming of Dogma. 


Angie is standing in front of the Buddy Christ statue from Dogma in the photo on the left.  She's holding a DVD that she bought from the Secret Stash.  It's the Clerks 10th Anniversary Edition which was autographed by Kevin Smith. 

Here is a better look at the signed Clerks 10th Anniversary Edition DVD.

In the photo on the left, you can see a massive Quick Stop Groceries sign that's above the register at the front of the store.  The photo on the right is one of the merchandise cases. It's loaded with statues, busts, bobble heads, snow globes and other similar materials that are available for sale at the store.

These are two tall glass cases that were loaded with props from Kevin Smith movies.  These weren't available to purchase, but what you see here is just a fraction of the props that were on display.  I couldn't fit all of the shelves in a single photo, so I tried to arrange the four pictures to show two of the cases (one on the left and one on the right).  There's too much here to list all of it, but my favorite piece is the "Help The Starving Babies" collection tin that Betty Amberlin used when she was collecting money at the airport at the beginning of Dogma.  She is best known for playing Lady Amberlin on Mister Rogers Neighborhood - a role that she played for 33 years, so it was especially funny to see her as a nun who was talked out of her service to the church by a fallen angel.  Click here to enlarge these photos.

The photo on the left is Kevin Smith's overcoat and hat that he wore when he played Silent Bob in Clerks.  He wears the hat backwards in the movie, so I never knew until this weekend that it has Felix The Cat on the front.  On the right is the hat worn by Jason Lee when he played Azrael in Dogma.

Closer photo of the Bluntman and Chronic statues inside the Bluntmobile.  I kept off and did not touch.

I'm thinking that this is either a prop from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back when our two heroes visit a Mooby's restaurant, or  a sign that we'll see in Clerks 2.  The teaser trailer for the Clerks sequel shows Dante and Randall working at Mooby's.  I can't wait to see it!

This is the Mooby's Internet Terminal statue from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.  You can see it in the scene where Jay and Bob visit a Mooby's restaurant and use their computer to visit the Movie Poop Shoot message board, where Jay dictates a response for Silent Bob to type.  The hole in Mooby's stomach is where the computer monitor was attached.

"You are the ones who are the ball lickers!"

This photo of the View Askew Productions sign came out pretty blurry, but it's too damn cool not to share.  You can also see the Brodie Bolts newspaper sign on the wall in the background, but there's a better photo of that below.

The photo on the left is the oversized cover of Variety to announce Brodie's departure from The Tonight Show (a job he gets in one of the final scenes in Mallrats) that was used in the filming of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.  The photo on the right shows the front register with the framed Soviet hockey jersey hanging on the wall above.  This is either the one that Randall wore when they played hockey on the roof in Clerks, or a screen accurate replica.

This is the bag that Angie got with her DVD.  They also gave us this printout that they keep on hand with directions to Quick Stop and RST Video.  We had already visited the stores the day before, but it's pretty cool that they have these available to help nerdy fans like me on their pilgrimage to New Jersey.

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