Mike Jurewicz’s Blog

I think I’m due for a mark out moment by now.  I have recently made some purchases of wrestling DVDs that have put me so very far behind in my viewings.  Couple this with 3 seasons of Ghost Hunters and I should not buy any DVDs for quite a long time.  Here is a list of what I have to watch and what excites me about these.

• Straight Shootin Series with Shane Douglas & Terry Funk - Terry Funk is straight up a legend in pro wrestling and Shane Douglas was a great wrestler in his time and part of one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history when he threw down the NWA World Title and declared himself the first ECW champion.  This is a shoot interview with the two of them about their times in the business.  Lots of never before heard stories and their accounts on things that went down.
• ROH Presents Best in the World - It contains some of the best matches to occur in Ring of Honor with international talent or mega superstars.  It includes the 5 star classic match of Japanese legend Kenta Kobashi facing Samoa Joe.  I have seen some of the matches on this DVD before but others I have not so I am looking forward to this one.
• ROH Presents Greatest Rivalries - This DVD spotlights exactly what the title says, rivalries, and Ring of Honor has had some great rivalries.  From CM Punk/Raven to Samoa Joe/Homicide to ROH/CZW to the recent Erick Stevens/Roderick Strong it covers some the hardest hitting and bloodiest feuds to enter the ROH ring.
• ROH Dragon Gate Challenge II - This was one of the shows that I went to see on Wrestlemania Weekend in March.  It contained a series of matches placing ROH wrestlers against Dragon Gate wrestlers.  Great matches included Speed Muscle (Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino) vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico, New Hazard (Shingo & BxB Hulk) vs. Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) and a great main event as the No Remorse Corp (Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Rocky Romero) faced Erick Stevens, Go Shiozaki and CIMA.
• ROH Supercard of Honor III - The second of two shows I saw Wrestlemania weekend was packed with possibly the best wrestling show I have ever seen.  Almost ever match was great.  Plus I want to see if I can be seen during the Bricoes/Age of the Fall brawl in the crowd.
• ROH Bedlam in Beantown - I got this DVD for the sole purpose of seeing Kevin Steen vs. Necro Butcher in a street fight.  I read that this is a bloody and brutal fight.  I’m not a huge hardcore wrestling fan but Necro is probably the best at brawling in the game.  Also the visiting Japanese sensation Kota Ibushi faces off against Davey Richards in a match that was really talked about.
• ROH Tag Wars 2008 - This marks the return of the Murder City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) for one weekend.  On this show they take on Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black of the Age of the Fall.  This match is being totted as one of the best tag matches of the year.  I love me some fast paced tag action so this is a must.
• ROH Return Engagement - This card seemed packed with big things.  It includes the MCMG vs. the Briscoes in a rematch from their spectacular match from last year and many are saying this one outdoes that match.  This card also includes the start of the current Jimmy Jacobs/Austin Aries fued as well as Kota Ibushi vs. El Generico and Nigel McGuinness vs. Kevin Steen.
• ROH Southern Navigation - This was ROH’s debut show in Virginia and was the first shows of the year with Naomichi Marufuji and former ROH World Champ Takeshi Morishima on them.  Since Morishima’s last match in ROH he has returned full time to his home promotion, Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan, and became the GHC Heavyweight Champion.  There is a stacked 6 man tag main event and a rematch from earlier in the year between Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black.
• ROH A New Level - ROH has run many shows at the Manhatten Center’s Grand Ballroom but this was their first show downstairs in the historic Hammerstein Ballroom.  The card looks good too as Nigel McGuinness defends the ROH World Title against Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson takes on Marufuji, Morishima brawls with Necro Butcher and more.
• TNA Global Impact Japan - In January TNA went to Japan to do a co promotional event with Japan’s biggest promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling.  Most of the matches pitted TNA vs. NJPW.  I have already seen the Kurt Angle vs. Yuji Nagata match but very much want to see Christoper Daniels vs. Wataru Inoue.

As you can see I have a lot ahead of me to watch and again I have 3 seasons worth of Ghost Hunters DVDs to watch as well.  Guess I’ll get myself some brews and watch some wrestling.

I have been a fan of professional wrestling for quite some time.  I think it goes back to 1st grade.  My first memory of wrestling was flipping through the channels and coming across the Undertaker beating someone and putting them into a body bag.  Of course I didn’t know at the time what I do now and thought I was seeing this scary dude kill another dude.  But the I was instantly hooked.  And with the WWF I got into WCW and with that came ECW.  ECW being the hometown, hardcore, pure wrestling promotion that wanted to be different from the big two.  My parents wouldn’t let me and my brother watch ECW because it was too violent but I would sneak to the channel whenever I could to see what those guys were up to.

But sooner or later the competition was no more.  ECW went bankrupt and the WWF purchased their assets.  WCW was sold to WWF.  It was a wrestling monopoly.  And later the WWF would start running stupid gimmicks and become way more about theatrics than wrestling.  Why?  Because they could.  There was no viable alternative.  A few companies came around to try to make there be competition but many failed.  A select couple started doing something though that gave the fans that just wanted wrestling an alternative.  Total Nonstop Action (TNA) out of Nashville (now Orlando) and Ring of Honor (ROH) out of Philadelphia (the real home of pro wrestling).  TNA caught on quick being able to bring in some bigger names and using young up and comers that were doing amazing things.  Unfortunately booking changes at TNA made the actual product become a watered down version of WWE (formerly WWF).  But there was that little company in Philly that was staying true to their line.  They offered wrestling.  They used young, talented grapplers from all over the world.  They would even begin bringing in some of the top talents from Japan.  ROH hooked me.  I had lost a lot of interest in wrestling but they brought me back in.  They have even helped produce a lot of wrestlers that have moved on become quite big stars like Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Austin Aries, Alex Shelley and more.

Well for awhile the only way I could see ROH was by DVD.  They don’t have a TV show and they only really do shows through the northeast and midwest.  When I heard they were coming to Orlando during Wrestlemania weekend for two shows I had to go.  I convinced my brother and his girlfriend to go with me and I bought our tickets months in advance.

We arrived Friday afternoon, the day of the first show. (more…)