Sunday, June 29, 2008:INCIDENT!:Mark Briscoe has sustained an injury, tearing his calf muscle, and will be out of action for 9 months. [GODDAMMIT!!!]
Email:1) Sophie - We won the head-to-head with Main Event TV in the ratings!
2) We got a 2.77 rating for Throwdown, drawing 3004 for $90120.
3) HWA got a 0.77 television rating for Main Event TV.
4) CMLL got a 1.57 television rating for CMLL Saturday.
5) IWC got a 0.28 television rating for IWC Ignition.
1% of PI was gained (total: 82%)
Results for
Survival Of The Fittest, June 29, 2008:
Dark match—Studio 54 vs. Incoherence:
Studio 54 own Incoherence, with Jimmy Rave putting on a performance above and beyond his normal, getting the pinfall with the 104 Degrees. **3/4 Rave and Chavis put the boots to their opponents, and warn the Burning River Brigade they’re next on the hitlist.
Segment rating: 71%
“Good evening, welcome, and thank you, for buying Ring Of Honor’s Survival Of The Fittest, live on pay-per-view! I’m Jimmy Bauer, alongside my once-a-month broadcast partner, Terry Funk … Terry … I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say this may be the most stacked pay-per-view Ring Of Honor has put on in some time.”
“Jimmy, you hit the nail right on the head. We have a World Title match, the final showdown between Chris Hero and BJ Whitmer as long as he has the title. We got the Survival Of The Fittest tournament, and the winner of that gets a title shot. And if Eddie Kingston doesn’t win that, he and Dan Maff will be fighting for their very employment come Wednesday. We got three grudge matches, and we got two of Japan’s finest from two different promotions facing for the very first time! Jimmy … I can’t wait for tonight to get started!”
“You don’t need to wait, Terry … the first match is up now!”
1st segment—Roderick Strong vs. Paul Burchill, Survival Of The Fittest semi-final match:
Right out of the gate, the desire to win the Survival Of The Fittest tournament is evident, as Strong and Burchill let it all hang out in the name of the victory. Near fall after near fall is recorded, but with no time limit, it’s a waiting game for the big mistake. But instead of a mistake, Jimmy Jacobs becomes the deciding factor, taking advantage of the ref being distracted by Lisa Marie. Jacobs jabs Strong in the head with the spike, but then turns around and nails Burchill as well, and puts Strong on top of Burchill. ****1/2 When Strong realizes what happened, he chases down Jacobs in the aisle and beats him down to the pavement. Strong and Burchill shake hands and promise a rematch.
Segment rating: 85%
2nd segment—Eddie Kingston vs. Adam Pearce, Survival Of The Fittest semi-final match:
Kingston, with potentially his very career on the line, gives it everything he has. But the wily Pearce reaches into his bag of shortcuts and gets Kingston with some smuggled pepper spray, which leads to a piledriver and the pin. ***3/4 Kingston clears his eyes as Pearce celebrates, and they resume their brawl, carrying it through the crowd and out of the building.
Segment rating: 82%
3rd segment—Ruckus vs. Kaos, Fight Without Honor:
With no holds barred and nothing out of bounds, the pair use everything they can find to brutalize each other. Both go for the bandaged wounds on each other’s heads, ripping at them with their bare hands, or using blunt objects to split them wider. Kaos ends up providing his own undoing, as he produces a staple gun from under the ring. Ruckus manages to get it from him, staples Kaos in the forehead, then hits his finisher, The Hate Crime, through a table for the bloody, hard-fought victory. ****3/4
Segment rating: 91%
Notes: Ruckus and Kaos gained overness from the feud ending.
4th segment—Steve Corino vs. Nigel McGuinness:
“They’ve never liked each other, and they never will,” says Jimmy Bauer. “These are two men born to hate one another, and they’re gonna renew their hatred right now.”
Surprisingly, they wrestle a clean, if disturbingly stiff, match, making every hit and every head-drop count. Nigel kicks out of the Old School Expulsion, the Old School-Plex and the Northern Lights Driver, while Corino kicks out of Nigel’s finishers and reverses the Themes Barrier. With a minute to go, both men hit vicious lariats and go down. They pull themselves up, but they are too spent to do anything but slump in their corners. The time runs out, ending the match in a draw. **** Corino comes to the center of the ring and offers a hand; Nigel grudgingly accepts it as the crowd cheers.
Segment rating: 88%
5th segment—Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries, Submission match:
The normally clean Austin Aries looks more like the violent sociopath that Bryan Danielson has been in recent months, while Danielson wrestles a clean, but vicious, mat game. Aries gets a number of good submission holds, but the encyclopedic mat knowledge of Danielson helps him counter everything. When Aries tries a 450 splash, Danielson adjusts himself so Aries eats the mat, puts on the Cattle Mutilation, and when that doesn’t get Aries, the MMA elbows KO’s Aries. ***3/4
Segment rating: 86%
Notes: Aries and Danielson gained overness from the feud ending.
6th segment—Takeshi Morishima vs. Masato Tanaka:
Streamers and a traditional Japanese announcer introduce the participants for the the historic NOAH vs. Zero-One match. Tanaka and Morishima put on a beautiful display of Japanese strong-style. The experience of Tanaka gets him many near falls, but the explosive strength of Morishima is too much for the deathmatch legend, and he goes down to a backdrop driver. ***3/4 Morishima and Tanaka bow to each other in respect as the audience throws streamers.
Segment rating: 80%
7th segment—Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Roderick Strong vs. Adam Pearce, Survival Of The Fittest finals, four-corners elimination match:
First fall: A ref bump screws Mike Quackenbush out of an opportunity to pin Roderick Strong. Likewise, Pearce’s shenanigans cause a distraction for a pin attempt by Strong on Claudio. But the ref is awake and in place when Quack hits the Quackendriver on Pearce for the first elimination.
Second fall: Claudio has Quackenbush up for a splash mountain, but Strong makes a blind tag on Quack. Quack eats the move, but Strong comes in and nails a lung blower, followed by the Stronghold. Double C has nowhere to go and nothing to do but tap out.
Final fall: Despite having put in long performances already, the two trade counters and reversals for 15 solid minutes of action. Strong manages to kick out a Quackendriver, so Quack goes to the top for a high-risk move; instead, he gets clobbered with a chair by Jimmy Jacobs while the ref is fixed on Strong. Strong, not having seen it, puts Quack in the Stronghold. Quack is unresponsive and the ref awards the match to Strong. ***1/4
Segment rating: 77%
8th segment—Chris Hero (c) vs. BJ Whitmer, Last Man Standing, ROH World Title match:
Hero and Whitmer travel the arena, doing everything they can to maim each other. Whitmer uses the staple gun from the Kaos/Ruckus match to make Hero bleed a bucket, while Hero finds a barbed wire chair and bludgeons Whitmer with it. Tables are broken, and even the windshield of a car is broken when the fight goes out into the parking lot. When it gets back to the ring, Hero gets Whitmer on the top turnbuckle for a super Hero’s Welcome. Whitmer counters and hits an Exploder from the top through a table. As the ref is at five, Hero starts to stir; Whitmer sets up two folding chairs with the seats facing each other and gestures he’s going to put Hero through them with an Exploder.
But before he can do it, Takeshi Morishima comes out, grabs Whitmer from behind and hits a backdrop driver through the chairs. He drags Hero to his feet and props him up in the corner as the ref counts Whitmer. The crowd cheers for Whitmer, but it’s no use; the ref gets to 10, making Whitmer’s last chance and his quest for revenge a failure. The crowd throws garbage at Morishima and Hero as the Japanese monster carries Hero out of the ring. ****1/4
Segment rating: 90%
Note: The ROH World Title gained image.
Overall rating: 85%
Monday, June 30, 2008:Email:1) Ruckus - That last feud rocked, it has helped my career a lot!
2) Danielson - That last feud rocked, it has helped my career a lot!
3) Road agents - Takeshi Morishima and Masato Tanaka work pretty well together due to their similar styles.
4) Justice Pain - I'd like to work with BJ Whitmer if possible.
5) We got a 0.76 buy rate for Survival Of The Fittest, drawing 8548 people for $341920 in ticket sales and $1,900,000 in PPV revenue.
6) HWA's HWA Slave To The Grind show was attended by 459 people.
7) CHI's CHI Desperate Measures show was attended by 149 people.
8) CMLL's Salón del Recuerdo show was attended by 3084 people.
9) WXW's WXW Anything Goes show was attended by 85 people.
10) ECCW's ECCW For Whom The Bell Tolls show was attended by 116 people.
11) IWS's V show was attended by 21 people.
12) NWA-S's Independents Day show was attended by 302 people.
13) NYWC's NYWC Suicide Solution show was attended by 329 people.
14) SW's SW Get In The Ring show was attended by 118 people.
4% PI was gained (total: 86%).
Tuesday, July 1, 2008:Email:1) TNA got a 0.86 television rating for TNA Monday.
2) IWC got a 1.27 television rating for IWC Monday.
3) Scott Lost in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Speed (1 point); Technique (1 point); Charisma (1 point); Brawling (3 points)
4) Tank Tolland in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Speed (1 point); Technique (1 point); Over (4 points); Brawling (2 points); Charisma (2 points)
5) Daizee Haze in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Technique (1 point); Over (2 points); Brawling (2 points); Speed (3 points); Charisma (2 points)
6) Truth Martini in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Over (4 points); Brawling (3 points); Speed (3 points); Technique (3 points); Charisma (3 points)
7) Chris Bosh in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Over (1 point); Speed (1 point); Brawling (3 points); Technique (3 points); Charisma (2 points)
8) Eddie Venom in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Over (1 point); Speed (1 point); Charisma (1 point); Brawling (3 points); Technique (2 points)
9) Erick Stevens in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Brawling (1 point); Speed (1 point); Over (3 points); Technique (3 points); Charisma (2 points)
10) Conrad Kennedy III in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Over (1 point); Brawling (1 point); Speed (1 point); Technique (2 points); Charisma (3 points)
11) Davey Richards in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Brawling (1 point); Charisma (1 point); Over (2 points); Speed (3 points); Technique (2 points)
12) Maxime Boyer in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Over (4 points); Brawling (3 points); Speed (3 points); Technique (2 points); Charisma (2 points)
13) Chuck Taylor in Pure Combat League has improved in the following areas: Brawling (1 point); Speed (1 point); Technique (1 point); Over (2 points); Charisma (2 points)
14) Staff member Duncan DiBiase has retired.
15) Staff member Martyn Stones has retired from TNA.
16) Akira Taue, Eric Bischoff, Jake Roberts and Robert Fuller have retired.
17) Ron Zombie, Canek, GOEMON, Monsther, Chastity, and Bill Apter have announced they will retire in one month.
18) Kaos, The Messiah, Kory Chavis, Puma, Hallowicked, Jigsaw, Lacey and Tyler Black have 3 months left on their contracts.
19) Blockbuster Video have ended their sponsorship deal with HWA.
20) Molson have ended their sponsorship deal with NWA-A.
21) Wal-Mart have ended their sponsorship deal with WLW.
22) Nokia have ended their sponsorship deal with WXW.
23) Sim Game Resources have ended their sponsorship deal with ECCW.
24) Nabisco have ended their sponsorship deal with FIP.
25) Finance dept. - Our sponsorship deal with New Line Cinema has now ended.
26) Finance dept. - We made $2040000 off merchandise this month.
27) Cary Silken - Superb work, our public image is improving every month.
28) Finance dept. - We're making money every month, this is great!
29) NWA Anarchy have gone bankrupt!
30) CWF Mid Atlantic have gone bankrupt!
31) Pro-Wrestling WORLD-1 have gone bankrupt!
32) The following birthdays occured this month: Terry Funk (63), Scott Lost (26), Adam Pearce (29)
ROH news:A 12 month minor sponsorship deal has been signed with X-Box 360 for $700,000.
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Some with expiring contracts were re-signed. Some I'm letting expire. Overall, I'm pleased with how it came out. Now, the follow-up. ;D
Jed Shaffer
~Should have the preview up Tuesday.