Wednesday, January 7, 2009:Email:none
Results for
Unleashed:
“The first Unleashed of 2009 is upon us, and The Honor Guard has their enemies against a wall tonight! Good evening, everyone, welcome to Unleashed. I’m Jimmy Bauer, alongside my co-host, Colt Cabana, and tonight, you’ll see eight solid matches with Ring Of Honor’s best and brightest!”
“That’s right, Jimmy … plus, since they can’t join us here live in the arena, we’re gonna hear from Steve Corino and Shawn Michaels.”
“And an air of mystery hangs over our main event: who will Eddie Kingston get as his partner? All his choices seem to be either exiled or unavailable … will tonight be the world champ’s last stand? We’ll find out, but first, let’s send it to the ring for a four-corners survival match!”
1st segment: TJ Wilson vs. Tank Tolland vs. Charles Taylor Esq. vs. Jigsaw, four-corners survival match
Though the match doesn’t feature any big names in the company, the foursome still put on their work boots and try. Wilson gets the duke when Taylor pins Tolland, and Wilson hits both of them with a senton. **1/4 Taylor gets out of there before Wilson can confront him.
Winner: Wilson (pinfall, on Tolland, senton sandwich)
Quality: 80%
Crowd: 59%
Overall: 69%
2nd segment: Chris Sabin & Scott Lost vs. Conrad Kennedy III & Larry Sweeney
Sabin’s first choice for a new partner is no stranger to tag action, and the two work well together. But unfortunately for Sabin, Sweeney and CK3 show they will stoop to any level to get the win, especially Sweeney, who targets Lost for payback. In the end, some distractions for the ref and a set of brass knucks put Sweeney on Lost for the three count. **1/2
Winners: Sweeney & CK3 (pinfall, Sweeney pins Lost, brass knuckle punch)
Quality: 81%
Crowd: 66%
Overall: 73%
Notes: Chris Sabin lost overness from this match. Scott Lost gained overness from this match. Conrad Kennedy III gained overness from this match.
3rd segment:
“Yesterday, Steven Manning travelled to the home of Steve Corino, former ROH World Champion, now exiled from Ring Of Honor, for an uncensored one-on-one interview” says Jimmy Bauer. “As we expected, Mr. Corino pulled no punches as he discussed Final Battle, longtime nemesis BJ Whitmer, Eddie Kingston, and several other topics.”
The footage opens in Corino’s living room, with Manning on a sofa, and Corino sitting in his chair. “Thank you, Steve, for allowing us into your home today,” says Manning. “I have a lot of questions. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Please, no, go right ahead. What else do I have to do?”
“Let’s begin then. And there’s no better place to start then Final Battle. Have you gone back and watched the event on tape?”
“Yeah. F**king brilliant.”
Manning is tripped up for a second. “Um, I’m sorry?”
“It’s brilliant. Hey, I don’t have to like anything about The Honor Guard; they’re trying to take away my right to earn a living in the best damn wrestling promotion on the planet. But facts are facts, Steven Manning; they played us – you, the audience, the ROH upper management, the boys – like a finely-tuned fiddle. It was a brilliant conspiracy, and it went off without a hitch. I may not
like it, considering their little plan screwed me out of the Ring Of Honor World Title, but I can’t say it wasn’t a well-crafted plan.”
“Did you have any idea coming into the ring, after what had happened to BJ Whitmer and Ruckus earlier in the evening, that they had something planned for your match?”
Corino shrugs. “Did I think it was possible? Sure. After they Montreal-ed BJ and put Ruckus through the grinder, sure, I was expected something. But exactly what, no, I didn’t have a clue. And I sure didn’t expect it to be Jimmy Jacobs.”
“Well, that brings me to Jimmy Jacobs. He allied himself with The Honor Guard to achieve a shared goal, but he states he’s not a member. Yet the rumor going around is he’s the mysterious ‘architect’ we keep hearing about. Your thoughts?”
Corino shakes his head emphatically. “Jimmy’s a conniver, yeah. But this isn’t his style. It’s too … organized, if that makes sense. If Jimmy were at the helm of a
coup de tat, his army wouldn’t look like a military unit. Jimmy is about two things: greed and chaos. He wants to create chaos around him so he can sneak off with the spoils of war. The Honor Guard isn’t about creating chaos. They think they’re
stopping chaos. No, he ain’t it. I don’t know who is, but I’ll tell you what: when I get my hands on them, the only movement they’ll be concerned about is learning how to move their wheelchair with their chin.”
“Is that your way of declaring war on The Honor Guard? Are you spear-heading the movement against them?”
“Everyone seems to think I’m some kind of general. Well, maybe not everyone, but the people keep looking to me like I’m the leader. You know what? I’m just a guy. Do I have the respect of some guys in the back? Sure. Compared to a lot of the guys in there, I’m an old-timer. But I’m not asking to be a leader, and I’m not campaigning for it neither. If people want to look to me for inspiration, fine. If people want to sidle up next to me for strength-in-numbers, great. But I’m nobody’s leader.” Manning starts to ask a question, but Corino interrupts. “Let me add one thing, though, Steven: this
is a call to arms. Everybody that’s been a target of The Honor Guard has been operating on their own, and look how far it’s gotten us. We may not need formal organization. We may not need to like each other. But we all
should start looking out for each other. Somebody once said ‘united we stand, divided we fall’.”
“Well, that brings me to your peers. Specifically, there are four wrestlers I want to ask you about, and all of them share something in common with you, being targets of The Honor Guard. The first is Ruckus. What are your thoughts on him?”
“I don’t really know him personally,” says Corino. “This may surprise you, but we don’t have a lot of common interests. But what I see in the ring from Ruckus tells me one thing: he’s the wrong man for them to mess with. Since he worked with Danielson last year and since Taz took him under his wing, that boy is flat-out
lethal. That s**t they pulled at Final Battle … they’re gonna wish they hadn’t, that’s all I have to say.”
“Okay. BJ Whitmer.”
Corino sighs. “It’s hard for me to talk about BJ. I respect him a lot. He’s tough as a ten-penny nail. But he’s also short-sighted. Yeah, he almost got his career ended by Chris Hero last year. The boy just never got past it, and look what happened: he’s burned his bridges every which direction.
He decided Eddie Kingston wasn’t respectful.
He decided The Honor Guard could be trusted.
He decided to turn his back on guys like Roddy Strong and Austin Aries and guys he knows are good people. I don’t feel sorry for him. I want him to get out of this bloodthirsty fog he’s in and come to his senses, cause Ring Of Honor needs him like never before. But the grave he’s in? He dug it. And I don’t feel damned bit sorry for it.”
“Well, BJ Whitmer leads me to Chris Hero. What are your thoughts on him?”
Corino mulls it over, then says with a smile; “He’s a punk. He’s a rotten, miserable, loud-mouthed, self-centered punk. Everywhere he goes, he’s been nothing but trash. CZW, CHIKARA, PWG, here … he’s a lousy excuse for a human being. Outisde of The Honor Guard, I can’t think of a person in Ring Of Honor I hate more.” Manning goes to speak, but Corino holds up a hand. “That being said, even he didn’t deserve what happened at Final Battle. Because, like it or not, Chris Hero is an outstanding athlete. You don’t hold a world title thirteen months on sheer guile and trickery; in some of those defenses, he actually wrestled, and he proved he’s a damned fine wrestler when he wants to be. The Chris Hero that showed up to Vendetta and won the title shot over Roderick Strong … the Chris Hero that showed up to Final Battle … he’s a warrior. He may be lower than the lowest layer of prehistoric frog s**t at the bottom of a New Jersey scum swamp, but a fighter is a fighter. He got jobbed, the same way I did.”
“Do you think he’ll come back? He hasn’t been heard from by anyone in the past two weeks.”
Corino shrugs. “Hero’s hard to predict. He’s thick-headed, but he also isn’t the kind of guy to swim upstream just to run into a paddlewheel, you know? He knows he doesn’t have a friend in the locker room, so I don’t know if he’d be apt to come back and fight the good fight when there isn’t a guy in there who’d go to bat for him. But he hates to lose, too. So, yeah, I don’t know. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him again down the line … and I wouldn’t be surprised if that place we see him is Orlando or Japan or wherever the money’s good.”
“Okay. Well, that brings me to the last man. You cashed in your rematch option before he won the world title. Now, instead of facing Nigel McGuinness and Jimmy Jacobs, it’s McGuinness and Eddie Kingston. What are your thoughts on the new ROH World Champion?”
Corino mulls it over a bit. “He’s a tough SOB. If he can withstand the onslaught he’s got coming at him, he’ll make a strong champion. I just wonder if he’s bit off more than he can chew. His mouth tends to run, a lot like mine. That don’t buy you friends in this business.”
“Any thoughts on facing him in three weeks?”
“I wish him the best of luck. I hope he knows I have no ill will towards him, just as I hope he also knows I want my belt back. But just as much, I also don’t want McGuinness getting the belt
at all. He ain’t no crown jewel I’d wanna wear. He’s a lucky schlub who’s coasted for almost three years now on a couple matches he had with Bryan Danielson, and he never lets anyone forget it. Thing is, he had shot after shot after shot at the brass ring, and he couldn’t seal the deal. He’s the Dan Marino of pro wrestling … or, hey, better yet, he’s the new Lex Luger. He couldn’t even beat Danielson, not once! He’s coasted by on getting carried to the best matches he’ll ever have, and expects people to hand him the big money for it. Life don’t work like that, not out in the world or here in professional wrestling. You sing for your supper, or you go hungry, and he’s been trying to use someone else’s chorus for years as his own song. I may not be Ric Flair or Bret Hart, but I’ll be
damned if I allow that fraud to sneak into a position he never earned and take something he isn’t qualified to
look at. If that takes me winning, or me taking a dive for Kingston, so be it. I’ll give it everything I got, don’t get me wrong; I ain’t gonna dog a microsecond of that match. But if it means taking the bullet to see to it Nigel McGuinness ain’t the king, that’s a bullet I’m glad to take.”
Quality:
Crowd:
Overall: 98%
4th segment: Shelton Benjamin vs. ?
Benjamin comes out and waits for his opponent. The lights go dim, and a red carpet is rolled out. Beautiful women surround the curtain, and media surround it as well, snapping pictures before anything has happened.
“Do you have any idea?”
“No, Jimmy, I’m as clueless as you are.”
The curtain is pulled back by a production assistant, and through the curtains steps ROB CONWAY, wearing a sequined robe that makes Ric Flair’s look like the bath robe from a Best Western. He’s wearing sunglasses, and talking on a cell phone. When he gets to the ring, Conway hangs up and snaps his fingers; one of the production assistants pulls out a contract and hands it to the ref. Conway can be heard saying the contract has very specific stipulations that he must adhere to, or risk being fired. Finally, after a lengthy ceremony for removing his robe and blowing kisses to his “fans”, Conway gets down to business and wrestles …
… but after three minutes – decent though they may be – the match comes to a sudden halt as Benjamin is laying in with blows to Conway’s jaw. The announcement stuns everyone: “As per the stipulations of Mr. Conway’s contract, anyone who makes violent physical contact with his face with the intent of causing pain, discomfort or damage will forfeit the match. Therefore, the winner, as the result of a disqualification … Rob Conway!” **3/4 As Benjamin is arguing with the ref, and Conway is leaving the ring, Michael Quackenbush Spillane runs down and ambushes Benjamin. After beating him into the ground, MQS leaves, very satisfied.
Winner: Conway (disqualification, contractual stipulation)
Quality: 79%
Crowd: 78%
Overall: 78%
Notes: Rob Conway gained overness from this match.
5th segment: Paul Burchill vs. William Hunter Johnston
Johnston hits the ring first, a microphone in hand. “If you think I’m gonna do the lizard-talk schtick, you can kiss my ass!” This earns him a lot of jeering and nasty chants. But Johnston presses on: “I’m not here to be somebody’s jobber-to-the-stars, whether I’m tagging or on my own! Brian can tag with Jimmy Rave! There’s been a changing of the guard, and tonight is the start of it!”
The bold declaration kicks off an unpredictable match between two hotheads, leading to the ref throwing out the rulebook because both men seem hellbent on ignoring it. Burchill pulls out the victory when Johnston misses with the Shadows Over Hell, and Burchill moves to hit the curb stomp. ***3/4 Johnston comes to and yells and screams like a psychopath, and Burchill moves to save the ref, but Edge runs out and spears Burchill damn near into the front row. Johnston takes exception to this and he and Edge start trading fisticuffs. Edge gets the better of Johnston, but beats a hasty retreat as Burchill comes around.
Winner: Burchill (pinfall, curb stomp)
Quality: 85%
Crowd: 77%
Overall: 81%
6th segment:
Cut to a video on the Jumbotron; the scene is poorly lit. Someone is sitting on a stool, head down with hands laced behind, in a darkened room. He speaks without raising his head. His voice is shaky – could be anger, could be sadness … most likely, it’s a little of both.
“I asked of you one thing,” says Austin Aries. “I asked you … I asked you to watch over her. To protect her. You knew how much she meant to me. You knew. You …” The voice disintegrates into a quiet, heartbreaking sob. But as quickly as a gunshot, Aries gets off the stool, kicking it back and charges the camera so fast, the cameraman takes a step back instinctively. With tears streaming down his face, Aries grabs the camera, filling the lens with his face, his eyes pools of psychotic rage. “All you had to do was protect her!” he screams. “One job! One job!
One … simple … job! Where is she, Roderick? Where is she? She’s
gone! You killed her! You turned your back and let her get swept away! Where is she now, Roderick? Lacey’s gone, the light in my life, trapped now in eternal darkness, because you fell asleep at the switch! One thing I asked of you, as a friend and a brother, and you violate that trust and take the last little thing I had left in life to bring me peace! Everything I fought for, the hell I went through, all for
nothing … because of you! Because you couldn’t do me
one favor! Everything I have now is
nothing! I step in that ring, and everywhere I turn, I see what I had and
you allowed to be destroyed! Someday, all that you love will be carried away, and when you stand in that empty room, the tomb inside you heart, when you confront the gaping nothingness, and the beast called madness swallows you effortlessly … when that day comes … I’ll be there! And you will know I was the instrument of your demise, and then,
then, I’ll begin to exact real revenge!” Aries suddenly stops and backs up a step. His voice becomes so lethally calm, he sounds robotic. “Someday, Roderick, you will ache like I ache.” Aries turns and walks into the darkness, and the video ends.
Quality:
Crowd:
Overall: 83%
7th segment: Arik Cannon vs. Jimmy Jacobs
Jacobs and Cannon put on a terrific brawl, but it isn’t Cannon’s night: Jacobs is too angry and just punishes Cannon until the ending becomes unavoidable. ***1/4 As Jacobs leaves, Claudio Castagnoli comes out and claps as Cannon struggles to his feet.
“If you can’t beat a man half my size,” says Castagnoli, “what makes you think you ever stand a chance against me?”
Cannon continues to pull himself up, but even his chance for revenge is stolen from him, as Jacobs turns back, spins Castagnoli around and punts him square in the balls.
Winner: Jacobs (submission, End Times)
Quality: 84%
Crowd: 77%
Overall: 80%
8th segment: Burning River Brigade vs. “Malibu” Tyler Black & “Champagne” Kory Chavis
Despite Chavis coming out in more sedate tights and minus his pimp suit, he and Malibu still wrestle like a well-oiled machine. So do the Brigade, and as the minutes tick by, this time, it seems like the Brigade have a more cohesive strategy, and don’t fall for the normal tricks of their opponents. In fact, the Brigade outsmart their opponents in the final sequence: with Prohibition in Chavis’ arms, set up for a Hart-Attack-style move, Black runs for the ropes, only for Cross to pop up and pull down the rope. Black falls out, and Cross springboards into a dropkick from behind on Chavis, while Prohibition wraps his arm around Chavis’ head, turning it into a dropkick/DDT combo for the win. ***1/2
Winners: BRB (pinfall, Prohibition pinned Chavis, dropkick from behind/DDT)
Quality: 86%
Crowd: 85%
Overall: 85%
Notes: Kory Chavis debuted his new gimmick (“no gimmick needed”), it got a positive response.
9th segment:
Cut to Jimmy Bauer and Colt Cabana. Bauer takes on a solemn tone. “Now, ladies and gentlemen, if you watched Throwdown, you saw the heinous, cowardly attack on Shawn Michaels by his former student Bryan Danielson,” says Bauer. “Michaels, as you know, was not a contracted wrestler for Ring Of Honor, but an honored guest whose only action in ROH was in a referee’s capacity. Mr. Michaels was on Throwdown to deliver a goodbye speech when Danielson interrupted him and blatantly attacked him. Standing by, live via satellite from his home in San Antonio, Texas, is none other than the one, the only, the incomparable Shawn Michaels.” Bauer turns to the Jumbotron to look at Michaels, who has a black eye, stitches in his lip, and assorted minor bruising and small cuts on his face. “Mr. Michaels, let me start by asking if you’ve heard the comments made by Bryan Danielson since Monday.”
“No, Mr. Bauer, I haven’t,” says Michaels, his voice grim and gruff. “And frankly, I don’t care.”
Bauer stumbles on his words. “Well, ah, I was wondering if I could get a comment on what he said. He said—“
“I know what he said without hearing it, Mr. Bauer. He probably said something to the effect of how he beat the legendary Shawn Michaels. That he’s proven he is better than the teacher. That he is a legend killer, or a destroyer of legacies, or something like that. And how this for sure makes him the top wrestler in Ring Of Honor. Did I miss anything?”
“Only that he’s entered himself into Ring Of Honor’s first-ever Royal Rumble-style match, which will be happening the night after A New Level, where the winner will get a title shot at Do Or Die, our February—“
“Of course he has. He thinks this is some kind of feather in his cap. He thinks beating me into the ground gave him something to crow about. He’s done what nobody else in Ring Of Honor has done.” Michaels sits up straight, his eyes as cold as the steel of a sword. “I want you to listen to me very closely, Bryan. What you did to me, the scars on my face and body … they’re nothing. They’ll heal. You’re not the first man to put a scar on my body. But you’re the only man who has ever made me question my self-worth. I misjudged you back in TWA, and I’ve misjudged you now. I assumed you were just lost and confused. I thought you ran with that group of thugs because you were missing something inside and you were looking for something to fill the void. I was wrong. I can see now I’m not as good a judge of character as I thought. All those years ago, all I did was breed a monster. You’re a taker, Bryan. You have nothing to offer the world, so you take and take and take from others. You’re not missing something; you just enjoy bringing others down to your level. There is no lesson I can teach you to make you see the error of your ways. I can’t rehabilitate you …” Michaels leans forward, his lip curled. “But I can destroy you.”
Michaels leans back, not saying a word. The crowd, meanwhile, is out of their seats, cheering at the implication. “Do … do you mean what I think you mean?” says Bauer. “Are you … is this …?”
“I saw how he didn’t want to cripple Steve Corino last year. He wants to be the one to defeat someone, not because it gives him personal satisfaction, but because he likes crushing someone else’s dreams. I’m giving him the opportunity to prove that he
is better than me. But it comes at a price.”
“What kind of price?” asks Colt Cabana.
“This Rumble match you’re having? That’s the price. I am challenging Bryan Danielson for A New Level. If I win, he forfeits his spot in this Rumble match. If he wins, he not only stays in the Rumble, but he can actually say he defeated Shawn Michaels.” Once again, Michaels leans forward. “But make no mistake, Bryan: there’s a fine line between ‘defeat’ and ‘beat’. One, you have a chance at accomplishing. But the other? You’ll have to kill me to get the job done.”
Quality:
Crowd:
Overall: 91%
Notes: Shawn Michaels gained overness from this segment.
10th segment: Homicide vs. “Diamond” Joey Ryan, non-title match
At first, the two wrestle a tight if stiff straight wrestling style … but that goes out the window soon enough, and it becomes a crazy brawl. Ryan shows a new side of him by holding his own in a fistfight. But when Ryan really takes control, Homicide counters by reaching into his boot and pulling out a dinner fork. Homicide puts it between Ryan’s eyes, in plain view of the ref. **** Homicide kneels above Ryan and goes to rip at Ryan’s forehead, when Ruckus runs down and drives Homicide from the ring with a few well-placed strikes. Ruckus helps Ryan to his feet and together, they yell at Homicide, who backs away, pantomiming a belt around his waist.
Winner: Ryan (disqualification, fork to the head)
Quality: 93%
Crowd: 82%
Overall: 87%
11th segment: Nigel McGuinness & Adam Pearce vs. Eddie Kingston & ?
Nigel McGuinness and Adam Pearce come out first, smiling and laughing the whole way down, as the commentators speculate on who Eddie Kingston might get as his partner. When Kingston comes out on the stage alone, the smiles on the faces of the Honor Guard team grow and become more sinister. But Kingston when Kingston produces a microphone, their smiles vanish.
“There’s an old sayin’, and that’s ‘bros before ho’s’. Well, I see two ho’s in the ring right now!” The crowd reacts to the one-liner, as does McGuinness, who seethes. “But the thing is, I ain’t got no bros here. Me and Ruckus go back like car seats, but he’s runnin’ a different game now, and I ain’t ‘bout to drag him into my piece anymore then he wants to do that to me. We respect one another too much for that. Can’t get Corino; can’t get Whitmer, and he wouldn’t anyway. There ain’t nobody I know back there I trust enough for a situation like this.”
Pearce snatches the microphone out of the ring announcer’s hand. “Would you shut up and—“
“Aw, suck a [bleep], ya fat [bleep]in’ sack of [bleep]!” The crowd comes unglued at that, while Pearce looks morally offended by the insult. “Right there, ladies – that’s the reason right there you should be goin’ down on a dude instead of spreadin’! If yo’ momma had made like a circus seal that night, we’d all be happier people!” The crowd chants for Kingston, much to the dismay of Pearce and McGuinness; Kingston lets it die out before speaking again. “Now, as I was sayin’ before mush-mouth here stuck his two cents in, I got a problem for tonight. But I got a solution, too. Because there’s one guy I trust in this situation. I don’t think much of him, but I trust him here and now. I know he can get the job done against chumps like you two. He’s a tough son of a [bleep], and, well, he owes me one. My partner … CHRIS [BLEEP]IN HERO!!!”
Nobody can believe it at first, but when a very grim, very angry-looking Hero steps through the ropes, pauses to look at Kingston and nods, surreal and real collide. Together, Kingston and Hero – mortal enemies for their entire careers – rush the ring together, and after trading some initial blows with McGuinness and Pearce, they run like scalded dogs, abandoning the match entirely. Unleashed ends with Hero and Kingston daring The Honor Guard to come back.
Quality:
Crowd:
Overall: 84%
Notes: Chris Hero's turn was completed, and he is now a face. Chris Hero gained overness from this turn.
Overall show rating: 82%
Thursday, January 8, 2009:Email:1) The Messiah - How about booking me against Edge? I'm sure we could do some pretty entertaining stuff that the fans would like.
2) WWE Wednesday are trying to compete with us, but are being destroyed in the ratings.
3) We got a 6.17 rating for 'Unleashed', drawing 8034 for $321,360.
4) WWE got a 2.11 television rating for 'WWE Wednesday'.
5) IWA-PR got a 2.43 television rating for 'IWA-PR Wednesday'.
PI -- 1% was gained. Total -- 73% Global.
Friday, January 9, 2009:Email:1) TNA got a 6.11 television rating for 'TNA iMPACT!'.
Saturday, January 10, 2009:Email:1) TNA got a 0.93 television rating for 'TNA Friday'.
2) CMLL got a 0.92 television rating for 'CMLL Friday'.
3) IWA-PR got a 1.23 television rating for 'High Impact'.
Sunday, January 11, 2009:Email:1) HWA got a 0.70 television rating for 'Main Event TV'.
2) CMLL got a 1.58 television rating for 'CMLL Saturday'.
3) IWC got a 0.24 television rating for 'IWC Ignition'.
Jed Shaffer
~I got nothing here.