Hey readers, sorry I have not been writing lately, but we all know this is a very busy time, and I just did not have enough time in my schedule to be doing wrestling reviews. I will continue to do my ordered play, so expect to see Over the Edge 1999 up soon followed by another ECW Hardcore TV show. After those shows are completed, I will go keep moving forward.

Glory by Honor VIII

“It’s the final countdown”

Live from New York City

Your host: Dave Prazak and Chris Hero

Opening match: Rhett Titus vs. Colt Cabana

Rhett puts his hand in his pants looking for a handshake. Colt whips his hand off with a towel, and then slaps him in the ass. Rhett punches Colt, but Colt comes back.  Rhett works him over in the corner. Rhett irish whips him, but Colt covers Rhett off a counter, but doesn’t get the three. Colt is going to kick him in the groin, and then pulls his leg the way it does not shine. Rhett Titus recovers and hits a dropkick. Rhett works over Colt. Goes up to the top and hits a Macho Man style Double Axe Handle. Titus hits the trust buster, but only gets another two. Crowd gets behind Colt. Colt attempts a comeback, but Rhett hits a vertical knee to the mid section.  Colt tries coming back, but Rhett hits a scoop slam.  Rhett goes for another Double Axe Handle, but Colt hits him the guy and flips him over. Colt hits the jabs follow by elbow.  Colt hits the flying apple. Colt puts in the Billy Goat. A little short and basic, but nothing really that could insult your intelligence. The finish came little anticlimactic and it felt like they were playing it a little safe, but could have been worse. *1/2

Cheech & Cloudy vs. Dark City Fight Club

Cleech and Cloudy hit some combination flashy move-sets.  Cloudy gets beat up by John Davis. Davis hits some powerful scoop slams.  Chavis gets the tag and beats him up. Cloudy gets the hot tag, but John gets in, and hits him. They hit a hart-attack alike move, but gets a two. More combination moves by DCFC. Davis with ease hits a delayed vertical suplex. Chavis gets the tag, and works Cloudy over. Irish whip followed by and elbow. Gets a two count off of it.  Davis hits a spinebuster, and works Cloudy over more. Chavis works over Cloudy some more. Cloudy gets a hot tag.  Cheech hits a crossbody which knocks both out. Cheech flys some more.  Cartwheels off the top rope.  Cheech reverses into a facebuster.   More flashy movs by CC.  John Davis takes Cloudy out. Cheech goes for a high risk move, but Davis hits a pounce.  They hit the greater good and that is all. Pretty good match with Cheech and Cloudy trying to pull out the upset. They told the story of them coming close, but just not having that much force power to overcome the odds stacked against them. **

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kenny Omega

Omega goes on fire fast. Baseball slide dropkick to Claudio on the outside. Claudio throws Omega into the guardrails. Claudio and Omega exchange reverses. Claudio wins the bout. Claudio chops him, but Omega works back with three chops. Claudio hits a closeline. Omega comeback and goes high. Omega hits a crossbody, but countered into SD. Claudio hits a heavy closeline, but can not get a three.  Claudio works over Omega in the ropes Claudio works Omega over with an armbar.  Omega hits a bulldog on the comeback.  Norman smiley body slam! Moonsault! Cover: ONE TWO NO!  Omega going for a full nelson, countered, but countered again. Omega throws Claudio to the outside.  Outside the ring, Omega throws him into the post. Claudio pops him up, Omega hits a moonsault off the post. Omega chants start up. Omega hits a crossbody. ONE-TWO-NO. Claudio counters and hits the UFO. ONE-TWO-NO. NEAR-FALL! Holy Shit chant breaks out. Claudio uppercut to  the face. He goes for the finisher, but Omega rolls him up. ONE-TWO-TH-NO.  Claudio it setting for a kick. Countered in a reverse Frankensteiner.  Claudio hits a low blow, and then RB for the win. A solid undercard match. They worked the back-and-fourth work pace well. Lots of high charisma in the match, and some good drama elevated into the match. Nothing really to complain about this one, both men worked hard. ** ¾

Bret Hart comes out. He puts over NYC by saying this was where he was created. He puts over the roster saying they are such hard workers—and the hardest he has seen in the world. When he thinks of NY, he thinks of his match with Owen @ WM 10, Curt Henning @ Summerslam, Yokozuna, and back in the 80’s when WWF was wrestling. He says he has the greatest fans in NYC. He said lots of rumors of him coming back—but he wants to come back to NYC to wrestle. He thanks the crowd, gets his paycheck, and leaves.

Four Corner Survival: Delirious vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Grizzly Redwood vs. Roderick Strong

Delirious attack Dutt who is trying to go after Haze. In the ring, Redwood and Strong are going back and fourth. RW hits a spring board, but Strong catches him and throws him into the buckle. Deli comes in and hits a flying closeline. Only two. Deli calls on Dutt—and works him over. Deli hits a flying elbow in the turn buckle. RW chops Sonay and Roderick.  Roderick hits a back body slam onto the apron. RW flies onto Roderick. Sonjay works over RW.  Sonjay works him over in the corner with shoulder block in the mid section. Irish whip followed by a back elbow shot in the corner. Dutt still works over RW systematically. Dutt hits three scoop slams onto RW. Roderick gets in and crotches the tower of doom is hit. GW goes crazy and hits a FS in the corner.  Roderick gets a burst of energy.  Roderick chops Dutt as they go back-and-fourth.  Dutt hits a slingshot leg drop. More flashy moves. Roderick hit a gut wretch into an ace-crusher.  Deli and Dutt exchange blows. Deli hits a panic attack, but Dutt knocks him off, but gets kicked in the head. Roderick to the top, but Dutt fights it off—Dutt hits a slicebread.  Dutt hits a jawbreaker. Dutt gets focused on Haze, and Strong hits his finishing combos to pick up the three. A little hectic at times, but still fun. They had some cool exchanges—and unique reversals. Another solid undercard match.  ** ½

Ladder Wars II: Kevin Steen/ El Generico vs. Davey Richards/ Eddie Edwards with Shane Hagadorn.

They brawl on the outside. Back inside, they focus of hurting Eddie Edwards. Richards gets back in but El knocks him out. El/Steen works over Edwards some more.  The ladder is introduced into the match. El shoves the ladder into the mid section of Edwards.  El throws the ladder into Richards face; then hits Eddie with the ladder.  Steen goes for the belt, but American Wolves attack Steen. A whole lot of nothing is going on.  However, a backsuplex on the ladder from Steen, which wakes the crowd. El hits a drop toe hold, into a senton onto the ladder, which sandwiches Eddie. Mr. Wrestling chant breaks out.  Back body drop on El onto the ladder. AW work over Steen and cuff him with handcuffs. They drive the ladder into the midsection of Steen. Shane gets a ladder, and gives it to AW. They set the ladder up. El hits a crossbody, and now goes on a rampage. German suplex/ super kick combination onto the table.  They start beating Steen down, and now they have the chain, which Richards puts on his foot. He starts kicking him to the head. Now they wrap the chain around KS neck. Steen tries to comeback—and hits a low blow. Steen uses him body to hit the ladder over. El hits a kick to Richards face. Shane gets punched in the face by El. El frees Steen. Lot of pausing and setting up spots. El hits a chair shot to Edwards.  Ladders and tables set up. Richards  gets hit with a MD.  Steen throws Edwards into the ladder. EL and Steen take too much time, and then get hot-shoted into the ropes. Richards goes for the belt, but Steen chairshots his knees. Richards goes to the 2^nd rope. And hits a swinging DDT onto a table down below. Richards and El duel punches up on the ladder.  El hits a sunset flip onto the table!!!!! Eddie is going up and they fight. Brainbuster tease, but Edwards back body drops EL threw the table, but Edwards jumps off the ladder. hehehe.  Shane brings in the big ladder, which Eddie tries to set up. El dives threw the ladder, and takes Richards and Shane out. Steen hits Eddie with the belt.  Kevin goes up, but Steen is pushed through the table and ladder! Eddie goes up to get the belt. El goes up to make the save.  Davey Richards hits El with a weak chair shot; then his knee gets tied up in the ladder. This helps Davey capture the titles. At first, there were too much waiting around, setting up spots that it took the heat away from the match. But once it got going—and they started hitting the big spots, it got much better and more pleasurable. The problem with the math, though, is that I hated the finish because they did all these high spots that made this finish look very weak. They should have just went home off the huge table spot with Edwards, because it was the high point of the match. However, they didn’t—and that hurt the match in a way. Nerveless, it was a very entertaining match, but did not accomplish nearly enough to be on the same playing field as the first one. *** ¼

Grunge Match: Chris Hero vs. Eddie Kingston

Eddie goes after Hero, and starts beating him up with cross faces. On the outside, they brawl some more. Hero hits a senton with the mat over Kingston. They go back and fourth with elbows—and punches. Kingston fights back with chops, but Hero hits him with an elbow to the face. Kingston tries to comeback with punches to the gut, but Hero toys with him. Kingston gets up and slaps him, but Hero retains of the offense. Kingston hits a back body drop, but charges into a Hero boot. Hero elevates Kingston and throws him down. Some stiff back and fourth elbow shots; both fall down. Hero gives Kingston acouple hard shots. Hero goes for a rolling elbow, but Kingston reverses and hits a german suplex that flips Hero. The go back and fourth with strikes.  Hero strikes with the elbow to the end. Kingston lariats Hero over the top. Kingston flies with a suicide dive. Kingston throws him into the guardrail. The headbutts splits Hero’s head. Kingston bites Hero’s head. Kingston works over the cut. Hero delivers a rolling strike to Kingston’s face. Hero is feeding off his own blood. Kingston hits a belly-to-belly followed by a lariat. ONE-TWO-TH-NO. Hero hits another elbow, and then a blockbuster. One-two-no. Hero is going for a Liger Bomb, but doesn’t get it. Hero then does hit it only for two, though.  Kingston hits a NL bomb, but only gets a two.  Kingston hits a dragon suplex, but only gets a two.  Hero hits another rolling elbow, and hits another elbow, but only gets a 2 count. Kingston hits a t-bone, but Hero NO SELLS, like we never seen that in ROH before! Kingston has Hero’s lucky elbow pad. Shane gets nailed from the backfist; then Hero grabs his own elbow pad… which gets the pinfall. Decent action in the match, but the problem with this is that it felt like most of the other matches in the past of this show. That is what the problem has been with ROH this year; each undercard match virtually has the same story in each match. I guess if you can call it a story—it mostly is swapping off moves, combination moves, hulking up, “dramatic”near falls and then going home. I also found the finish lame. Whatever happened to cheating being a moral sin in ROH? I guess it disappeared faster than Gabe.  **

Pick Out of a Hat; Title Match:  Austin Aries © vs. Petey Willliams

Before the match, Austin picks out the hat Bret Hart. Bret doesn’t show up. Aries calls him a coward just like all New Yorkers. Petey Williams comes out, and grabs the mic.  Petey Williams uses his Jeff Hardy mic skills to bash Aries. He calls him a coward. Williams tells him to put the belt on the line tonight. Aries calls Williams a one trick pony. Aries makes a joke about Petey being low on the PWI 500. Aries hits Petey and attacks him, and it comes of very weak. Petey rolls up Aries. Aries goes on the mic; then says he wants to nullify this title match. Todd starts the count. Aries gets back in, and hits a shoulder block on Petey. Petey gets armdraged, and Aries works over the arm.  Petey then hits a Canadian Legsweep. Petey drives his head into the turnbuckle. Aries throws Petey over, Aries goes for a senton, but Petey gets the legs up. Aries walks out and wonders around, which he does so well. Aries trips up Petey on the apron. Aries is going up, and hits the Double Axe Handle. Aries works him on the outside.  Todd gets a twinkles chant towards him.  Aries puts him a resthold into a cover… for only two. Aries goes for the elbow drop of doom! But it’s countered into a sharpshooter, but yet again Aries reverses. Aries irish whips Petey into the ropes. Aries hits him, and then does another irish whip.  Aries goes up, and hits an elbow to the chest. Petey gets whipped into the turnbuckle. Petey fights back with some vintage stuff.  Petey goes for the Canadian Destroyer, but doesn’t get it. Petey springs off the ropes and hits a double knee drop to the midsection.  More Twinkies chants toward Todd, as they care more about making fun of Todd, then paying attention to this match. Petey puts in another sharpshooter.  Aries makes it to the ropes.   Petey goes for another sharpshooter, countered into an eventually figure four leg lock. Williams counters by rolling over. Aries gets the ropes. Aries hits a neckbreaker using the ropes. Puts in the Last Chancery.  Petey goes for another CD, but it’s countered into a belly-to-back suplex. Aries hits a brainbuster, but Williams gets out of it. Aries gets pushed off the ropes. The crowd is more interested in Todd. Petey Williams hits the CD. ONE-TWO-THR-Aries grabs the ropes. Petey is going for another sharpshooter, into a countered roll up, into another sharpshooter. Aries fights off Petey that gets thrown into the outside. Aries hits a suicide dive. More Twinkies chants, and also more brawling outside, as if that was so rare in ROH they must do more outside wrestling. Aries puts in the last chancery, but Petey gets the ropes. Aries is going for a super brainbuster, but Petey counters into a Super Canadian Destroyer. Aries gets the ropes and rolls out?!?!?!? What!????!?! More outside stuff, and Twinkies chants, while there is a match going on. Aries hits a brainbuster out of the floor and gets a countout win??????? Seriously ROH? Wow, I am speechless. If you are a big fan of ROH, or hates rants—do not read this. Okay here we go. First off, this was awfully booked; the fact that this is one of their biggest shows and they think it was okay for Aries to pull a name out of a hat instead of just building up Petey and Aries was completely and utterly stupid. Then before the match Aries calls out Bret Hart, which could have been very well there, and acts like it is no problem facing him; but when Petey comes out, he does not want to face Petey. At one point of the match, he wants to cancel the match. And remember guys, this is the same guy who got a knockout victory over Bryan Danielson (who is the guy who is maineventing this show, and going to a bigger company). So right off the bat this match does not make sense. Another flaw in this match was that they were on the outside how many times during the match? Seriously, it would be fine if ROH did this once and a while, but it is becoming every single match. At least a fourth or more of the match is being placed on the outside, which is becoming ridiculous. Then they tell the exact say story as all the other matches—where all they do is go back and fourth trading off these big moves that look extremely dangerous, but they find a way to kick out. Now ROH fans will say TNA has no meaning… okay that is true most of the time, but honestly, ROH has no meaning. I am sick of seeing these stupid stiff shots, sick moves and combination deadly moves that end of in a near fall. It was not believable and terrible psychology. And which brings me to the end of this match, and what a terrible ending it was. Let me explain why it was terrible. It was terrible because Petey Williams hit a Canadian Destroyer off of the top rope, which is considered to be one of the most deadly moves in wrestling. But despite him hitting it Aries has enough awareness to roll to the outside; then he has enough will power to pop up, and hit a brainbuster that gets a count out victory. Yet typical ROH fanboys will tell me “ROH IS WRESTLING”. Sorry, “real” wrestling has psychology, meaning and storytelling. * ¾

Eddie Kingston is in the back. He is flipping out about his lost, and he tells him to get out. Honestly, I think with Kingston’s mannerisms, facial expressions and how he has that psychotic character down to a science—he could have been a great Joker in Batman.

Jim Cornette comes out singing along to Alice Cooper’s “No More Mr. Nice Guy”. The crowd is going wild. Hero makes some Cornette jokes. Okay, I am getting sick of Hero on commentary, he bashes everyone. I get getting heel heat and all, but he simply is bashing like everyone. It reminds me of when Piper was doing it in WWF. EFF TNA chants start. Cornette tells us what is going on around the world wide internet world of wrestling. He says sadly to be honest if he did scream at Russo it be on youtube. He said what really happen was Dixie and Taylor called him and said you are not 100 percent behind TNA. Cornette said he said I don’t get what you mean. They said your not 100 percent behind the creative direction. Cornette said he will never be a 100 percent behind Russo. He says Palin will lap dance Obama before he gets behind Vince Russo. EFF Vince Russo chant breaks out.  Cornette says he wishes TNA well in their future. The next day, though, he got a call from Cary saying he wants him to be behind a 100 percent creative direction behind it. He asked if they are sick and tired of seeing “stuff” on wrestling shows. He puts over ROH making stars. He then says companies don’t make stars—wrestling fans make stars. Cornette says he is sick of the Sports Entertainment bull shit. He goes on and puts over Danielson and Nigel. He compares them to Joe, AJ and Daniels, but when they said farewell. Dragon and Nigel stepped up. It is now time for the new wrestlers to do their job.  Cornette is now the EP of ROH HDnet.  Aries comes out; then rashes on the NYC fans being terrible comedians. He says the only reason Jim came here is because he rubbed people the wrong way.  Aries says he can’t get along with Russo, McMahon or even Santino. Cornette says he got a problem becoming friends with assholes.  Aries calls Cornette a control freak, but one problem is that Aries has the belt and he calls the shots. If Cornette gets that, it will become easier. Cornette bashes Aries, and some moron chants “boring” when Cornette is speaking.  Cornette then rashes on Aries, but Aries keeps rashing on Cornette. The fans are getting really annoying, and now I can barely hear them because of this crowd. Aries says he will get him fired from WWE, TNA and then ROH. This was the most interesting thing on the show yet.

Going Home: I broke this up because it is almost a four hour show, so I thought it would be easier to break it up for the viewers. The first part of this DVD has not been quite good, but I will review the PPV as a whole when I am done with everything. Disc II will be posted tomorrow.