Taso the Greek’s “Bumpin’ Heads 2008″

WWE Heat 1/20/08

Santino Marella vs. DH Smith
Super Crazy & Hacksaw Duggan vs. The Highlanders

Awesomely surprised at the first half of the Santino Marella/DH Smith match.

*** I started writing this about two months ago. All I remember about this show was that marella was pretty decent in the ring as “Santino”, which goes along with his charisma, and makes him a pretty good candidate for most improved. Everything else sucked. Super Crazy most underated by the WWE. He should be on SD! or ECW.

eye of the storm 2.22.08

i smoked a joiont before popping in this series of dvds from roh. i was gonna enjoy the day, the slizzard way.

due to weather conditions and larry sweeney’s bad cologne, a number of wrestlers could not make it to the building.

eight man singles tournament for a future world title match.

Bryan Danielson vs. Rocky Romero. Someone in the audience calls Rocky “Asuka” Romero, basura, the Spanish word for “garbage”. I thought that was great. Danielson’s entrance is great. Romero is too small, better in tag team with Reyes. Don’t like his tag team with Davey Richards as much. mromero does some good armbars. They work a good match, though. Beter then it should have been actually. ***

I was surprised by the Austin Aries vs. El Generico *** match, thought it could have been better. Kevin Steen vs. Delirious was good too, but not mind-blowing. Sometimes I think these guys know exactly what they are doing in giving the crowd about as much as they need to, but never a ton unless they can, and then they have to have the talent to do it.

Necro Butcher vs Go Shiozaki sounds better then what it was, but I can’t be too dissapointed. #1 I’m not that huge of a Necro fan as far as is wrestling ability. He’s ok as a brawler. But he kicks ass every other way! Go does the best he can in a good hard hitting match. **3/4

Kevin Steen vs. Bryan Danielson ***1/4 was strong, they worked body parts to a good degree and made it work. Bryan working on tjhe ear of Steen is fresh and different. Good technical wrestling, but mostly a story-telling match. Announcers constantly stating Danielson didn’t need this tournament win because he had a title match coming the next night didn’t help. I’m on the fence about the ROH announcers.

Go Shiozaki vs. El Generico ***1/4 It’s great how ROH can put on a tourney and have each match a little bit different then the next. Lots of nice powerbombs and suplexes for fans of that sorta thing, like me!

Four Corner Survival: Jason Blade vs. Human Tornado vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Mitch Franklin *
Strange position on the card, after all those good matches. Maybe it had something to do with the weather. Least interesting Human Tornado match I’ve seen in a long time.

Ruckus & Jigsaw vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Zach Gowen *3/4

Zach Gowen is a great addition to The Age of the Fall. Match was ok for SD! Jimmy needs to use that knife more.

Kevin Steen vs Go Shiozaki to earn a future ROH World Title shot **3/4

It started out strong style, went to brawling on the outside, back to mat wrestling in the ring, and all over the place until right at the end where it got good. I don’t think these guys put a good match together. I think they could have done a better job, but maybe they’re holding out for down the line.

Biggest News Event:

Ric Flair Retirement
Chris Jericho return
Kenta Kobashi return
Jeff Hardy suspension

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

Shawn Micheals

Most Outstanding Wrestler

Shawn Micheals
Bryan Danielson
Jeff Hardy
Kurt Angle
Ric Flair
Randy Orton
Austin Aries

Best Box Office Draw

John Cena
Ric Flair
Shawn Michaels
HHH
The Undertaker

Feud of the Year

Shawn Micheals vs. Ric Flair

Tag Team of the Year:

Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi
Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk
American Dragon & Austin Aries
The Miz & John Morrison
Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi
Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk
Chris Hero & Sara Del Rey
Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore
Jesse & Festus
Team 3D
MCMGs

Most Improved

Maria
Batista
Randy Orton

Best Event:

Royal Rumble 2008
No Way Out 2008
Wrestlemania XXIV
ROH 6Th Anniversary Show

Brawler of the Year

Masato Tanaka
Togi Makabe
Umaga

Best on Interviews:

Ric Flair

Most Charimsatic:

Ric Flair
Edge
Naoya Ogawa
Toshie Uematsu
Santino Marella
MVP
Ric Flair
John Cena
HHH
Shawn Micheals
Santino Marella
Chris Jericho
Larry Sweeney

Best Technical Wrestler:

Bryan Danielson
Ryo Saito
Austin Aries
Go Shiozaki
Kevin Steen

Best Flying Wrestler:

Masaaki Mochizuki
BxB Hulk
Masato Yoshino
Susumu Yokosuko

Most Overated:

The Great Khali
Holly & Rhodes
Dragon Kid
Hornswaggle

Most Underated:

Super Crazy
Val Venis
Jimmy Wang Yang
Finlay
Ricochet
Cody Rhodes

Best Promotion:
So far I have watched a little bit of a lot of different things. Most of it is puro but of course you can throw in the WWE and TNA. So far my top pick for the promotion of 2008:

NOAH
Dragon Gate
WWE
ROH

Worst Promotion:

CZW

Best Weekly Tv Show:

WWE RAW

MOTY contenders:

Kurt Angle (c) vs. Yuji Nagata **** 1/4/08
Kurt Angle vs. Christian Cage ***
Kurt Angle vs. Christian Cage ***3/4 (Against All Odds PPV 2/10/08)
Triple HHH vs. Jeff Hardy *** - Armageddon 12/16/07
Shinsuke Nakamura Vs. Togi Makabe, IWGP #1 Contendership - NJPW 12/9/07 ***3/4
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama - NOAH 12/2/07 ***
Kota Ibushi (c) vs. KAGETORA (El Dorado***3/4) 12/29/07
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori ***3/4 - NOAH 1/20/08
ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinnes (c) vs. Go Shiosaki ***3/4 -NOAH 1/20/08
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori ***3/4 -NOAH 1/6/08
JWP Tag Team Title: Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kayoko Haruyama (c) vs. Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo 12/9/08 ****
JWP Openweight Title: Azumi Hyuga (c) vs. Kaori Yoneyama 12/9/08 ***1/2
The Royal Rumble 1/27/08 ***1/2
IWGP Heavyweight Title:
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura *** 1.4.08
Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (Z1 World Heavyweight Title)***3/4 — 1/1/08
NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Title: Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (c) vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Dick Togo ***3/4 — 1/1/08
Ric Flair vs. Shawn Micheals - Wrestlemania XXIV ****1/4
Masato Yoshino & Yasushi Kanda vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & K-Ness vs. Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk vs. Susumu YokosuKA & pac 1/12/07 ***1/2
Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi vs. Aoki & Yoshinobu Kanemura ***3/4 -{12/28/07}
Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino (c) vs. BxB Hulk & Shingo Takagi ***3/4 -{1/15/08}
Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe **** TNA Lockdown PPV
Nigel McGuiness vs. Austin Aries ***3/4
Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black ****
Austin Aries vs. Go Shiozaki****1/4 ROH 6th Anniversary Show

Rookie of the Year:

Koffi Kingston

Best Non-Wrestler:

Vickie Geurrero
Larry Sweeney

Best Television Announcer:

Mauro Ranallo
Jim Ross

Worst Television Announcer:

Coach
Don West
Mike Adamle
Tazz
The guys from Heat

Best Major Wrestling Show:

Wrestlemania XXIV

Category “B” Awards

Worst Major Wrestling Show

Worst Event:

Inoki Genome 2
CZW Cage of Death 9
IWA-DS 12/1/2007 Carnage Cup

Best Wrestling Manuever:

Kanada Driving Elbow

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic:

ROH rape angle

Worst Television Show:

TNA iMpact
WWE Heat

Worst Match of the Year

Bunnymania- Wrestlemania XXIV

Worst Feud of the Year

Booker T vs. Robert Roode
Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. JBL/Vince McMahon
Dylan Summers vs. Danny Havok

Worst promotion of the Year

TNA
CZW

Best Booker

Gabe Sapolsky

Promoter of the Year:

Vince McMahon

Best Gimmick:

Jesse & Festus
Age of the Fall
Dylan Summers (Necro Butcher/CZW)

Worst Gimmick:

Raeesha Saeed
Nicky Benz

Most Embrassing Moment Award:

CZW’s Nicky Benz

Best Pro Wrestling Book:

Best Pro Wrestling DVD:

Austin Aries & Bryan Danielson vs. Erik Stevens & Jay Briscoe

Aries & Dragon have made Rrik Stevens look like a milliom bucks in their FIP title matches. Still, Stevens has some good power moves, so I give him some credit. In the end, he reminds me of a poor man’s Tommy Dreamer. Don’t know why that is… hmmm… But it was a well paced & entertaining match, with some good double team moves and the dream pairing feel of Dragon & Aries was in effect. You cant get better then Dragon & Aries. Also, kept short with little time wasted in between the action.

Shane Hagadorn vs. Pelle Primeau

Chris Hero & Sara Del Rey vs. Alex Payne & Kyle Durden
Chris Hero & Sara Del Rey vs. Daizee Haze & Jigsaw

I really enjoyed both of these matches alot. The Intergender Tag Team Title angle is gold. I’m sorry to note that I believe Sara Del Rey has left Sweet & Sour Inc. at some point recently because otherwise I could watch these two wrestle as a tag team for a good 6 months, and no doubt they are great together.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. El Generico **3/4

A good match but the best match I have seen Generico in was against Masato in Dragon Gate. Castagnoli’s matches… I kinda don’t remember.

Mark Briscoe vs. Joey Matthews **1/2

Decent stuff, lots of stalling in the beginning. There’s no doubt this is a solid match but when it’s ROH, you have to be on top of your game and bring it 100% and have your match mean someting otherwise it just doesn’t come off as a big deal, and this one didn’t. I like Matthews, not a big Briscoes fan, I like the Age of the Fall, so there are some variables in the mix.

Adam Pearce vs. Delirious **1/2

Could have been a better match laid out with more brutality. I don’t think I will ever take the Scrap Daddy very seriously even though he is entertaining as heck, and maybe the same goes for Delirious. Except for a cool tag match with El Generico vs. The Hangmen 3 this year ( if I remember correctly), I don’t have much positive to say about Delirious, now, or ever. I like his schtick and the gimmick and the trademark moves but I don’t see him as this great lightweight he seemed to get praise for not too long ago.

Ultimate Endurance Tag Title Match: Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs (c) vs. BJ Whitmer & Brent Albright vs. Bryan Danielson & Austin Aries vs. Rocky Romero & Davey Richards ***1/4

Nigel McGuiness vs. Roderick Strong ***

Shocked at how bored I got with ythis match. I’ll repeat this again, my own opinion, ROH has spoiled me when it comes to match ratings, storylines, feuds, angles, etc., as has Dragon Gate this year. Solid match, no doubt, but it didn’t come off as a “mega-main event super world championship match”. I guess I don’t like Roderick that much, and I dunno who could be put in that position as a possible contender and a guy who COULD win the ROH Title, Roderick isn’t that guy although he is right there as a top guy who could be used for such a match. I like his deal, his backbreakers, but he’s dull. Nigel looks beaten to shit half the time, skinny, face all puffy. It’s the NOAH cursewhen it comes to the world title. There are maybe only 3-4 guys in the promotion you might take seriously as world title contenders.

WWE RAW 2008 04 28

RAW

April 28, 2008 - East Rutherford, New Jersey
Announcers: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler

INTERNET HEAT TAPINGS: …

* Ron Killings (formerly of TNA) defeated “The Natural” Nick Nemeth..
* Shad Gaspard w/JTG defeated Charlie Haas (wearing a mask)..
* Gene Snitsky defeated “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan..
* Hardcore Holly defeated “The Canadian Bulldog” D.H. Smith..

IN THE RING: The NEW WWE Champion Triple H + Randy Orton…

* Triple H came out and milked the crowd reaction, holding up his newly won WWE championship belt..
* Triple H talked about coming back from injury and wondering if he had what it took to be the best..
* Randy Orton interrupted and claimed that the odds were stacked against him last night at Backlash..
* Randy Orton said he was so dominent as WWE champion that they couldn’t put him against anyone 1-on-1..
* Randy Orton said in three short weeks he will envoke his rematch clause at the Judgment Day Pay Per View..
* Triple H told Randy Orton to get lost, and Orton refused to leave, so HHH knocked Orton out of the ring!
* Randy Orton said he can’t wait for Judgment Day and Triple H’s title reign won’t even last 24 hours..

DIVA FREE-FOR-ALL (REMATCH FROM BACKLASH):
Mickie James’ Team of babyface Divas defeated Beth Phoenix’s Team of heel Divas..

* Team Phoenix = Beth & Melina & Jillian & Victoria & Natalya & Layla…
* Team James = Mickie & Maria & Ashley & Michelle & Cherry & Kelly..

SQUASH MATCH:
John Bradshaw Layfield defeated “Highlander” Robbie McAllister..

* Robbie’s cousin, Rory McAllister, came to ringside but declined JBL’s invitation to get in the ring..
* After it was all over, JBL challenged the winner of HHH vs. Orton and wants to get his torch back..

TAG MATCH:
Brian Kendrick & Paul London defeated Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch..

* After the match; Lance Cade got in Trevor Murdoch’s face, but Murdoch turned and jumped out of the ring..
* Trevor Murdoch grabbed the mic and jumped up on the announce table and starting singing country music!
* Trevor Murdoch was singing “I got friends in low places” by Garth Brooks until the audience joined in..
* Lance Cade jumped out of the ring and stroke backstage clearly frustrated with his tag team partner..

HANDICAP MATCH:
Paul Burchill & Katie Lea Burchill defeated Super Crazy..

INTERVIEW: Todd Grisham asked Randy Orton if he regretes envoking his rematch clause - and Orton abruptly answered, “NO!”..

ROYAL CORONATION: King William Regal + Mr. Kennedy..

* King Regal said he will not step down as General Manager because he has earned both titles..
* King Regal said as King of the Ring, he has become the most powerful entity in the entire WWE..
* King Regal said that all the WWE Superstar will have no choice but to respect him and fear him..
* King Regal increased the pompous arrogance until Mr. Kennedy hit the scene to interrupt the King..
* Mr. Kennedy said he would love to congratulate William Regal on King of the Ring but can’t do it..
* Mr. Kennedy proclaimed he was the biggest WWE Superstar not to be invited to the King of the Ring..
* King Regal said nobody talks to him without an appointment and demanded that Mr. Kennedy apologize..
* Mr. Kennedy did his “Mr. Kennedy!” thing in King Regal’s face so Regal punched him HARD in the face!
* Mr. Kennedy jumped in the ring for an intense dogfight which had to be pulled apart by five referees..

GRUDGE MATCH:
Cody Rhodes w/Hardcore Holly defeated Santino Marella w/Carlito Cool..

* Carlito Cool was marching around ringside after the match not impressed with his partner..
* Cody Rhodes started bad-mouthing Santino when Carlito jumped in and gave Cody a Back-stabber!

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Chris Jericho + Shawn Michaels…

* Chris Jericho came out in a tuxedo to present the award for best actor in sports entertainment..
* NOMINEE #1: “Magnificent” Don Muraco & Mr. Fuji for “Fuji Vice” (an 80s parody of soap operas)..
* NOMINEE #2: Michael Cole for “Deliverence, Pt. 2″ (when Heidenreich abducted and bum-raped him)..
* NOMINEE #2: Shawn Michaels for “Pretending to have a Knee injury in order to beat Batista at Backlash”..
* Chris Jericho opened the envelope and said “And the winner is…….. my guest tonight….. Shawn Michaels!”
* Shawn Michaels limped out to the ring where Chris Jericho praised Shawn and asked for an acceptance speech..
* Shawn Michaels said he was hurt, and Chris Jericho said to drop the act because he has already beaten Batista..
* Chris Jericho suggested to Shawn Michaels that he look into the camera and tell Batista, “Gotcha!” right now..
* Chris Jericho asked for a round of applause from the fans and left the injured Shawn Michaels standing in the ring..

BACKSTAGE SEGMENT: Santino Marella + “Rowdy” Roddy Piper..

* Santino Marella walked up behind Roddy Piper (in a kilt) thinking he was one of the WWE Divas..
* Santino Marella quickly got under Roddy Piper’s skin so the Rowdy one hauled off and slapped him!

WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Triple H vs. Randy Orton went off the air before the end of the match..

* William Regal entered the production truck and said the fans didn’t deserve to see the conclusion of this match..
* William Regal politely ordered the director to take the show off the air immediately, and at first he refused to do that..
* William Regal grabbed the poor guy and repeated his order and the show went off the air without a conclusion..

Thanks to www.omlineworldofwrestling.com for the results to RAW this week. Good TV show this week, with Regal/Kennedy, Chris jericho, and almost everything else right on point with everything from the matches to the feuds and angles. Trips vs. Orton was very good, better then the one-on-one time they got at the PPV, IMO.

WWE Backlash 2008

April 27, 2008 - Baltimore, Maryland

RESULTS:
Matt Hardy defeated Montel Vontavious Porter -US Title **1/4
Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero -ECW World Championship *3/4
The Big Show defeated The Great Khali **
Shawn Michaels defeated Batista -Super Grudge Match ***
Team Phoenix defeated Team James -6 on 6 Divas Match *1/2
The Undertaker defeated Edge -World Heavyweight title ***1/4
HHH defeated Orton & JBL & Cena -WWE Championship ***1/2

Nothing blew me away on this event, although I thought Batista vs. Michaels had alot of potential until the fake injury spot, and it might have been one of the best Batista straight wrestling/non-gimmick matches I have seen. I’m not very hot about the Edge/’Taker matches, not this one or the Wrestlemania 24 match. It’s good but I can watch guys punch each other over and over just so much. The finishe to the 4-way match were good but overall the end of the Age of Orton is a dissapointment. I think Randy is one of the most improved all around wrestlers in the business, and the WWE for sure, but they just keep burying him and make him a basic non-player. He might be heel and they play that up in his character of being a chicken-shit but his ring work says he’s better then that and Edge does a better job in that role than his ex-partner.

Proving Ground- Boston, MA 1/11/08

1. The YRR of Kenny King & Jason Blade beat Eddie Edwards & Pelle Primeau **3/4
Strong match… surprised they bring in YRR and not Irish Airborne anymore. Pelle is a guilty vice and Eddie Edwards is the man. I totally dig his backpack chinbreaker. Briscoes show up after the match to punk out the YRR.

2. Daizee Haze beat Alexa Thatcher **1/4
I like the heart punch and the yakuza kick, but not the last bit of Daizee Haze’s finisher. ROH has found another good woman wrestler in Alexa Thatcher.

3. Claudio Castagnoli beat Ruckus *1/2
I like Ruckus and have always been a big fan of his, but I don’t think he’s ready for ROH. That’s not a good sign cuz the guy has been wrestling for 4-5 years?

4. Daniel Puder beat Mikey Bennett
I’m digging Sweet & Sour Inc but not the constant feud with Claudio, that’s got to end at some point. I see the logical match here with Puder vs. Castagnoli, and since I don’t really follow spoilers I don’t know where they’ve gone with this or if Puder has appeared on more then 2-3 ROH events.

5. Bryan Danielson defeated Brent Albright ***
Strong in some ways, lacking heat because no one seems to care much about Albright. Good technical match but Albright has very little charisma. Danielson’s offense is pretty good, unique, the fans pop for all his trademark moves. Thought they should have wrestled a litle more… I dunno. I’m on the fence. Is this the best Albright can do? He’s another BJ Whitmer, basically.

6. Necro Butcher beat Kevin Steen in a Street Fight ***
Good brawling to start this one off but Necro slows things down in the middle. Great finish, stiff match. Brutal chair shots in this match. It helped that Necro had Jimmy Jacobs with him on the outside with one half of the tag titles, and Lacey of course. Steen is over with his personality on camera.

7. Delirious beat Sal Rinuaro**

I only liked the end of this match. Everything seemed contrived and rehearsed. I like some of Delirious’ offense, like Shadows over Hell and Panic Attack. His matches and feud with Hangmen 3 have been good.

8. Roderick Strong beat El Generico **3/4

Good match. Generico made it better.

9. Erick Stevens beat Austin Aries to retain the FIP World Title**3/4

It was a good match, booked well.

10. Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) retained the World Tag Team Titles in an Ultimate Endurance Match that included Jay & Mark Briscoe, Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer, and Jack Evans & Jigsaw***

Pretty good match, most fun match on the card, except maybe Steen vs. Necro Butcher.

Breakout- Dayton, OH 1/25/08
1. Mark & Jay Briscoe beat Matt Cross & Jigsaw **3/4
2. Claudio Castagnoli beat Adam Pearce **1/2
3. Erick Stevens defeated Davey Richards & Austin Aries to retain the FIP World Title **1/2
4. Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer beat Delirious & El Generico in a NO DQ Match ***
5. Daizee Haze beat Lacey **1/2
6. Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero beat Jimmy Jacobs & Joey Matthews ***
7. Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black ****1/4
8. Nigel McGuinness beat Chris Hero to retain the ROH World Title in a Steel Cage Match ***1/4

Black vs. Danielson had match of the year qualities in my opinion, but probably not , but when all is said and done it should get some recognition as a match where Black proved he could hang, and just another notch on the belt of the greatest wrestler in the world today. Two great athletes. I am surprised by how good Tyler Black is on the mic and in his role. AOTF is definitely one of my favorite groups entering 2008.

The Briscoes are a pretty good tag team, but I am not toally sold on them. I’ve seen them since they started out and they’ve improved and this last year where they ran with the titles had some great matches but they are getting kinda mediocre in 2008. Still, they are great workers. M-Dogg has some cool moves and Jigsaw is fine and this is all about the spots and there is little story line to the match.

ROH matches kinda have their won scale, because they are usually all good to excellent, never really a abd match on the show. Adam Pearce makes a good heel, but he’s a little lame. I prefer Claudio as a heel. Haven’t really been into his ROH run as a face. Good match but a little boring.

Haven’t seen a good three-way match in a long time. I didn’t like the interplay between all three guys in the match. Maybe Davey’s comedy stuff was decent, but it was just another match to me. I don’t like Erik Stevens, nor do I hate him either.

Albright & Whitmer vs. El Generico & Delirious started slow, but ended up being a damn good match. They were building to a dog collar match between Delirious and Pearce the next night and Pearce came out and dragged Delirious away by the neck with a steel chain. Pelle Primeau and Shane Hagadorn both interfered earlier, with Pelle eventually getting killed two-on-one by Whitmer & Gunner Scott. El Generico is one of my favorite wrestlers today.

Haze has a yeoman’s hard working match with Lacey. Did I mention the AOTF are the best thing going in wrestling today. Gotta nominate Jimmy Jacobs for charisma/promos, and also, hey! Surprise, Joey Matthews in ROH!

AOTF vs. No Remorse was a solid match with a good ending. no remorse is a better tag team then AOTF’s various incarnations except Black & Jacobs.

Main event, they started it off too cutsie. Sweet and Sour were outside the ring and they tried to help Hero out of the steel cage a number of times, the highlight of the match, because in between it was sorta boring. Hero would target a leg, hiot a big move, and then try to escape and Nigel would cut him off or grab a leg at the last moment. It was good but it got old quick. Tank Toland passed Hero a chair into the ring. They tried to both climb out a number of times. Back & forth, some innovative moves, but surprisingly lacked the heat I would have expected. Bobby Dempsey chants are definitely fun to hear. They built up to the use of the cage as a weapon, which worked out real well, as they truely used the build up to get the fans hot for the finish. But the finish sucked.

I’ve got two running lists now and shit is getting out of control. By the time my next 2008 awards update is published it will be compact and complete.

Biggest News Event:

Ric Flair Retirement
Chris Jericho return
Kenta Kobashi return
Jeff Hardy suspension

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

Shawn Micheals

Most Outstanding Wrestler

Shawn Micheals
Bryan Danielson
Jeff Hardy
Kurt Angle
Ric Flair
Randy Orton

Best Box Office Draw

John Cena
Ric Flair
Shawn Michaels

Feud of the Year

Shawn Micheals vs. Ric Flair

Tag Team of the Year:

Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi
Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk
American Dragon & Austin Aries

Most Improved

Maria
Randy Orton

Best Event:

Royal Rumble 2008
No Way Out 2008
Wrestlemania XXIV

Brawler of the Year

Masato Tanaka
Togi Makabe
Umaga

Tag Team of the Year

MCMGs
The Miz & John Morrison
Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi
Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk

Best on Interviews:

Ric Flair

Most Charimsatic:

Ric Flair
Edge
Naoya Ogawa
Toshie Uematsu
Santino Marella
MVP
Ric Flair
John Cena
HHH
Shawn Micheals
Santino Marella
Chris Jericho

Best Technical Wrestler:

Bryan Danielson
Ryo Saito

Bruiser Brody Memorial Award (Best Brawler)

Best Flying Wrestler:

Masaaki Mochizuki
BxB Hulk
Masato Yoshino
Susumu Yokosuko

Most Overated:

The Great Khali
Holly & Rhodes
Dragon Kid
Hornswaggle

Most Underated:

Super Crazy
Val Venis
Jimmy Wang Yang
Finlay
Ricochet

Best Promotion:
So far I have watched a little bit of a lot of different things. Most of it is puro but of course you can throw in the WWE and TNA. So frar my top pick for the promotion of 2008:

NOAH
Dragon Gate
WWE

Best Weekly Tv Show:

WWE RAW

MOTY contenders:

Kurt Angle (c) vs. Yuji Nagata **** 1/4/08
Kurt Angle vs. Christian Cage ***
Kurt Angle vs. Christian Cage ***3/4 (Against All Odds PPV 2/10/08)
Triple HHH vs. Jeff Hardy *** - Armageddon 12/16/07
Shinsuke Nakamura Vs. Togi Makabe, IWGP #1 Contendership - NJPW 12/9/07 ***3/4
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama - NOAH 12/2/07 ***
Kota Ibushi (c) vs. KAGETORA (El Dorado***3/4) 12/29/07
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori ***3/4 - NOAH 1/20/08
ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinnes (c) vs. Go Shiosaki ***3/4 -NOAH 1/20/08
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori ***3/4 -NOAH 1/6/08
JWP Tag Team Title: Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kayoko Haruyama (c) vs. Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo 12/9/08 ****
JWP Openweight Title: Azumi Hyuga (c) vs. Kaori Yoneyama 12/9/08 ***1/2
The Royal Rumble 1/27/08 ***1/2
IWGP Heavyweight Title:
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura *** 1.4.08
Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (Z1 World Heavyweight Title)***3/4 — 1/1/08
NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Title: Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (c) vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Dick Togo ***3/4 — 1/1/08
Ric Flair vs. Shawn Micheals - Wrestlemania XXIV ****1/4
Masato Yoshino & Yasushi Kanda vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & K-Ness vs. Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk vs. Susumu YokosuKA & pac 1/12/07 ***1/2
Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi vs. Aoki & Yoshinobu Kanemura ***3/4 -{12/28/07}
Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino (c) vs. BxB Hulk & Shingo Takagi ***3/4 -{1/15/08}
Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe **** TNA Lockdown PPV
Nigel McGuiness vs. Austin Aries ***3/4
Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black ****1/4

Rookie of the Year:

Koffi Kingston

Best Non-Wrestler:

Vickie Geurrero

Best Television Announcer:

Mauro Ranallo
Jim Ross

Worst Television Announcer:

Coach
Don West
Mike Adamle
Tazz
The guys from Heat

Best Major Wrestling Show:

Wrestlemania XXIV

Category “B” Awards

Worst Major Wrestling Show

Worst Event:

Inoki Genome 2
CZW Cage of Death 9
IWA-DS 12/1/2007 Carnage Cup

Best Wrestling Manuever:

Kanada Driving Elbow

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic:

ROH rape angle

Worst Television Show:

TNA iMpact
WWE Heat

Worst Match of the Year

Bunnymania- Wrestlemania XXIV

Worst Feud of the Year

Booker T vs. Robert Roode
Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. JBL/Vince McMahon

Worst promotion of the Year

TNA

Best Booker

Gabe Sapolsky

Promoter of the Year:

Vince McMahon

Best Gimmick:

Jesse & Festus
Age of the Fall

Worst Gimmick:

Raeesha Saeed

*** Most Embrassing Moment Award:

Best Pro Wrestling Book:

Best Pro Wrestling DVD:
————

Special thanks to www.onlineworldofwrestling.com for the results:

# INTERNET HEAT TAPINGS: …

*

# IN THE RING: Lilian Garcia says tonight marks the return of the KING OF THE RING TOURNAMENT..

# KOTR ROUND #1: Chris Jericho defeated Montel Vontavious Porter by Submission..

# KOTR ROUND #1: C.M. Punk defeated Matt Hardy..

# GIMMICK: They showed a clips of SD! vs. RAW game where they created Hilary Clinton & Barack Obama characters..

# KOTR ROUND #1: Fit Finlay defeated The Great Khali by DQ after Khali wrapped Finlay’s knee around the ring post!

* The Big Show came down after the match and The Great Khali circled the ring and backed up the ramp to escape..
* A crew of referees and Hornswoggle had to help Fit Finlay backstage because of his severely injured knee..

# KOTR ROUND #1: William Regal defeated Hornswoggle by Submission with the Regal-stretch..

* General Manager William Regal came out and they announced that his first round opponent would be Hornswoggle!
* Hornswoggle, who was helping Papa Finlay up the ilse, came to the ring and almost immediately lost by Submission..
* Fit Finlay limped back to check on Hornswoggle, only to have his knee assaulted by the callous William Regal..

# IN THE RING: Shawn Michaels + Batista..

* Shawn Michaels said he had one question to ask Batista and asked him to “come on down” to the ring..
* Shawn Michaels asked Batista if it was true that Batista wanted to be the man to wrestle Ric Flair at WrestleMania..
* Batista said he was sick and tired of talking about told Shawn Michaels “At Backlash…. I’m gonna finish this”..
* Shawn Michaels said he is everything Batista says he is - and he will do whatever it takes to win at Backlash..
* Shawn Michaels then told Batista “Good luck… you’re gonna need it” - and actually shook hands with Batista..
* Batista grinned and walked past Shawn Michaels, bumping shoulders, and left Michaels standing in the ring..

# ELECTION SPEECH: Hillary Clinton (the REAL Hillary Clinton) cut a promo laced with clever WWE-related comments..

# MATCH: Carlito Cool w/Santino Marella defeated Hardcore Holly w/Cody Rhodes..

* Santino Marella ran his mouth after the match and Cody Rhodes got fired up and kicked them out of the ring!

# PROMO: Triple H cut a promo saying he will emerge from the Elimination match at Backlash as the WWE Champion..

# KOTR SEMI-FINAL: C.M. Punk defeated Chris Jericho to advance to the Finals..

# ELECTION SPEECH: Barack Obama (the REAL Barack Obama) cut a promo and said “Do You Smell What Barack is cookin’?”..

# KOTR SEMI-FINAL: William Regal defeated Fit Finlay by referee stoppage after Regal focused on Finlay’s injured knee..

# ELECTION SPEECH: John McCain (the REAL John McCain) cut a promo and said “Finally the Mac has come back to Greenville”..

* John McCain used the “To be the man, ya gotta beat the man” line and “Come November, it will be GAME OVER”..
* The hilarious John McCain added “Watcha gonna do when John McCain and his McCainiacs run wild on you!”
* John McCain cut the longest and best speech with the most wrestling references out of all three candidates..

# PROMO: John Cena cut a promo about the main event Elimination match at Backlash for the WWE Championship..

# PRESIDENTIAL SMACKDOWN: Hillary Clinton w/Bill Clinton vs. Barack Obama ended in a No Contest..

* A Hillary Clinton impersonator came out with a goofy Bill Clinton impersonator to “Real American” music..
* Then a Barack Obama impersonator came out to the Rock’s entrance music shaking and slapping fans hands..
* Barack Obama cut a promo on the Clinton’s and then yelled “If ya smellelelelelel what Barack is Cookin’!
* The match finally started and they were obviously trained wrestlers but I don’t know who - LEXIE FYFE?
* Barack Obama hit the Rock Bottom and went for the People’s Elbow but was tripped up by Bill Clinton..
* Both presidential candidates were knocked down and suddenly Umaga made his way down to the ring..
* Bill Clinton helped Hillary Clinton into the corner, while Umaga gave Barack Obama the Samoan Spike!
* Bill Clinton got spooked by Umaga’s war-cry and retreated while Hillary Clinton a Samoan drop!

# IN THE RING: Maria & Ashley & Michelle & Kelly & Cherry + NEW WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James..

* Maria Kanellis led the WWE Divas to the ring to celebrate Mickie James’ title victory over Beth Phoenix last week!
* Mickie James came out and thanked the Divas saying it was a perfect example of never give up and never say never..
* Beth Phoenix crashed the party with Melina Perez, Jillian Hall, Victoria and Natalya Neidhart standing behind her..
* Beth Phoenix said the question isn’t if she will win the WWE Women’s title back, it’s WHEN she will win IT back..
* Beth Phoenix insulted Mickie James’ crew, and Michelle McCool slapped Beth Phoenix, leading tO DIVA CHAOS!!

# KOTR FINALS: William Regal defeated C.M. Punk by Submission to become the 2008 WWE King of the Ring!!!

# 8-MAN TAG: Edge & Chavo Guerrero & JBL & Randy Orton defeated The Undertaker & Kane & John Cena & Triple H..

* WWE Champion Randy Orton came out and bragged about each of his successful WWE Championship defenses..
* After the match: John Cena FU’d Edge. JBL gave HHH a Lariat. Orton RKO’d Cena. Taker chokeslammed Orton & JBL!

I don’t normally recap television unless there’s something good going down but I hope I can find time to throw a quick thought or two out there if my personal time permots. William Regal as King of the Ring sounds like a good idea to me. Why does my heart, however, feel this isn’t going to really go anywhere? Nonetheless, Regal proved again he is one of the most underated in-ring wrestlers in a world wide promotion. His match with Finlay and CM Punk were very short but in those 5-7 minutes they got in some good shit, some stiff shots, and worked a real strong style match. I’ll watch Regal vs. almost anyone of they give him anything in the match.

If you erase the presidential bullshit (except Umaga), the Diva mess, and completely eradicate Holly & Rhodes from those extra brain cells you might need down the line, this was a strong card with a good main event. The right guy got pinned, everyone got their shit in, and it sent us off to Backlash with the right vibe.

All except for John Cena’s promo. What a fucking joke. Is HHH trying to emasculate the guy and make him look like a total lame-ass? Gotta be the deal, because Cena was a promo machine 3-4 years ago and his shit now is garbage.