Match of the Day - the CM Punk ROH dog collar match #2

CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave - Dog Collar match - ROH Manhattan Mayhem (2005)

Miss CM Punk? Well, here's a CM Punk match.

Not too long before signing with WWE and going to Ohio Valley Wrestling, CM Punk was in Ring Of Honor's second ever dog collar match. Punk was also in the first which I've covered here before with Raven. This time Punk was facing off against Jimmy Rave who - while a prominent star of the indies at this time - will always be remembered as one half of the Rock N Rave Infection of TNA with Lance Rock (now wrestling as Lance Archer in NJPW) to me. These two put on a very physical match that is definitely a must-see if you are a punk fan, or a Jimmy Rave fan. There's Rave fans out there... somewhere... maybe.

The only thing that rubs me the wrong way during this match is the interference by Fast Eddie towards the end. I'm not ragging on him for having a run-in spot, I'm just bothered that the guy had to do a moonsault from the top rope to break up a pinfall. I get that Punk moves out of the way just before the landing and therefore Rave gets all of the moonsault, but come on, just get in there and break up the pin. Save the "I got to get my shit in" indy wrestling mentality for a match you will actually be in, but that's just me. Other than that though, this match is very good.

PS: The sounds cuts out about two thirds the way into the video above. It's not that big of a deal, I just don't want anyone thinking they lost his or her sound or something.

Match of the Day - RIP to The World's Largest Love Machine

Viscera vs. Simon Dean - Raw (2005)

Nelson Frazier, Jr., known by countless different names and gimmicks throughout his career, has passed away. Some of his most memorable gimmicks include: Mabel, Viscera, Big Daddy V, or "The World's Largest Love Machine" Big Vis.

Here's a match that depicts the mastodon just prier to his giant pajama run in WWE squashing the fitness guru and seducing Lilian Garcia the ring announcer. It also includes quite the .gif material:

For some, Nelson Frazier, Jr. will forever be remembered as that big guy on a mission that won the King of the Ring and kept hurting people, other people will remember him as that big guy dressed in all black and a white mohawk from the Undertaker's ministry, others will remember him as that big guy who really needed to put a shirt on in WWE's ECW, and others, like me, will forever remember the World's Largest Love Machine with the World's largest pajamas.

RIP

Match of the Debut - The rise and fall of Trytan

Monty Brown vs. Trytan - Destination X (2005)

In 2005, "The Alpha Man" Monty Brown was being stalked by an unknown man who may or may not have possessed supernatural powers. This mystery man was eventually revealed as "Trytan", a man who may or may not have had supernatural powers. So, as all storylines should go, this stalking of sorts by Trytan led to him getting a match with Monty Brown at Destination X.

Whether or not this Trytan guy had special powers or was some Terminator reject, one thing was more unclear than the rest, and that was: could this guy even wrestle? Well, as it turned out, he could - just not very well. Monty Brown carried the match until it came time to deliver his signature move, a move I'll forever miss, the POUNCE! Unfortunately, as Monty Brown is running the ropes to set up his explosive shoulder block, the lights go out and when they turn back on a man dressed from head to toe in black is in the place of Trytan. Monty Brown then takes this masked person and Pounces him and even gets the pinfall when it clearly wasn't Trytan. As Monty Brown is getting his hand raised in victory for defeating a man that wasn't even his opponent, Trytan appears and then disappears into some smoke back to the locker room.

Despite Monty Brown getting the win but not a victory over Trytan, the storyline, just like Trytan throw the tunnel at the end of this match, disappeared into obscurity. Later that night, Monty Brown would turn heel and aligned himself with Jeff Jarrett after helping Jarrett in his match against DDP, thus giving Brown something to do other than chase around a walking disappearance act.

Trytan apparently stayed with the company for some time after this match but never really did anything worth noting. As for the masked man, well, he was never seen again. At least we know who played him, and that was Dennis Knight - better known as Phineas I. Godwinn, Mideon, or "Naked" Mideon .

Song of the Day - Caramel

Piglet - Caramel from Lava Land (2005)

One of the most underrated instrumental math rock groups of the 2000's, and I don't use that 'underrated' word lightly.

 

For fans of music.

Last.fm

Match of the Day - The final Mike Awesome/Masato Tanaka encounter

Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka - ECW One Night Stand (2005)

It's my birthday, so here's one of my favorite matches.

The Mike Awesome/Masato Tanaka match from ECW's One Night Stand show in 2005 is not the two's first outing together. These two had been fighting each other for the sake of fighting since the early/mid 90's from ECW to FMW in Japan with little to no remorse for each others well being. What makes this particular encounter so special is really pretty much random other than the fact that the crowd was red hot for them and the atmosphere that night was incredible. The two just go out to the ring and continue where they left off from their last match like it was still Heat Wave 1998. There's unprotected chair shots, a brutal Awesome bomb from the apron to a slanted table, an almost 300 pound man continually diving to the outside like this was a PWG All-Star Weekend, and, of course, Joey Styles' nonstop bad-mouthing of Mike Awesome on commentary.

This match might be remembered most for Joey Styles "shoot" on Awesome for being a terrible human being business-wise and the line after Awesome completed his first suicide dive to the outside, "...and it's unfortunate he did not succeed in taking his own life"; a foreshadowing of Awesome's demise as he would actually take his life 2 years later. That's not what makes this match special to me, but it is something that always gets brought up.

Regardless of all Joey Styles stuff, this match and the whole Awesome/Tanaka feud is really a sight to see from their days in FMW to this final battle at One Night Stand. These two put on simple yet brutal matches together that required little to no explanation. Destroying each other was just what they did.

Match of the Day - Raven and Jeff Hardy have a tables match inside a steel cage

Raven vs. Jeff Hardy - Tables match in the six sides of steel - TNA Lockdown (2005)

It's actually not as bad as it sounds, I promise.

Song of the Day - Further Up

Caspian - Further Up from You Are The Conductor (2005) (re-released in 2010)

RIP Christ Friedrich, bassist of Beverly, Mass. post rock outfit, Caspian.

Caspian was one of the first "post-rock" bands I ever got into way back when. My support goes out to them and to the family of Chris Friedrich.

Last.fm

Match of the Day - Simon Dean eats 20 double cheeseburgers

Simon Dean vs. Bobby Lashley - No Mercy (2005)

The fitness guru, Simon Dean battles the newcomer to WWE, Bobby Lashley in his first PPV match at No Mercy. Bobby Lashley had already fought and defeated Dean in his debut match on SD!, but this time around Dean added a little stipulation to the match; Dean, being the heel health-nut he was, decided to poke fun at the crowd for being from the fattest state by bringing out twenty double cheeseburgers... and then thought it would be a good move on his part to make the stipulation that if Lashley beat him, he would eat all twenty of the burgers. 

Simon Dean then lost the match in less than three minutes. And although Lashley only stuffed one cheeseburger down Dean's throat in the end, the tray of burgers was carried to the back where the squashed Dean, being the good-sport that he was, eat the rest and threw up (all speculation, of course).

As for the match itself... It was as sloppy as the cheeseburgers. 

Theme results

Food: cheeseburgers.

Match of the Day - The Shelley/Strong/Dutt/Aries Bound For Glory pre-show

Alex Shelley vs. Roderick Strong vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Austin Aries - TNA Bound For Glory (pre-show) (2005)

Since TNA's Bound For Glory PPV in 2005 was so jam-packed with total non-stop action, hah, the X Division showcase of future/present indy mega stars had to open the free BOG pre-show. The 4-way match includes two soon-to-be World X Cup winners (Dutt and Shelley from Team USA), a very successful X Division and tag team champion around the world (Shelley), Two eventual winners of the ROH world title (Strong and Aries), a TNA champion (Aries), and an athlete who still deserves a lot more (Dutt).

Enjoy.

Match of the Day - Rosey feels the wrath of Triple H's "game rage"

Triple H vs. Rosey - Raw (2005)

Triple H takes out his raging aggression for Batista, who recently turned his back on Evolution (now just Haitch and Ric Flair), while the 400 pound superhero looks to avenge his fallen ally who had been taken out by the Cerebral Assassin a week before.

Let the burying began.

Minor fun fact: This is the match where Triple H makes that weird noise at the end when he holds up his World Heavyweight title and the sledgehammer - the sledgehammer he lodges into Rosey's gut during the unprovoked attack on the poor superhero after the match.

Match of the Day - Eddie Guerrero's final match

Eddie Guerrero vs. Mr Kennedy - Smackdown! (2005)

This is Eddie Guerrero's last match which aired three days before his death on my birthday, November 13th, 2005. Unknowingly to anyone, Guerrero would wrestle his swan song against Mr. Ken Kennedy where the Latino Heat pulled off his classic "lie, cheat, and steal" diversions to pick up his last win.

I'm not going to dwell on the whole Rey Myserio main event push because of Eddie dying storyline that transpired sometime after the news got out, but I will say that I am mighty glad that they dropped that terrible "I'm Dominick's real father, Rey" storyline and turned Eddie back into a crowd favorite before it was too late and things ended on a sour note. It is a shame that Eddie's life had to come to an abrupt end so soon after recovering from his real-life demons none-the-less.


Theme results:

Final match: Eddie Guerrero. RIP.

Match of the Day - The Unbreakable Triple Threat match

A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels - 3-Way Dance for the X Division title - TNA Unbreakable (2005)

Some people call this TNA's best match. Some people call this the best triple threat match of all time. What ever it is, it is a whole hell of a lot of fun. That's right! TNA and fun almost in the same sentence...

It's hard to believe that all three men in this thrilling 3-way for the X Division title, a title that was heavily contested at this time and a big deal, are still employed by TNA as minor characters that aren't related to Hulk Hogan. Don't get me wrong, Chris Daniels, along with his tag team partner, Kazarian are probably the best tag team that TNA has got right now and the two blend phenomenally, but AJ and his sulking biker  gimmick and all around lack of Samoa Joe in the Impact Zone is a sad comparison to what these guys were dishing out every match like they were at Unbreakable in 2005.

Rumor has that the current X Division title will soon be contested via triple threat match-ups only which means that TNA will either we introducing us to some new talent or they are just going to be having this match played at every PPV in place of the X Division title match for now on.

Honestly though, that's really not that bad of an idea at this point in TNA's life.

Song of the Day - Avantcore

Busdriver - Avantcore from Fear of a Black Tangent (2005)

Just noticed today that Busdriver's "Avantcore" samples "Turtles Have Short Legs" by Can - a very 'avantcore' song in its own right.

Last.fm

Song of the Day - When You Go Back to College

Paul Baribeau - When You Go Back to College from Paul Baribeau (2005)

Well winter vaca is all over for me... time to go back to college.


Know the feel?

Last.fm