Author: dtm666

I ramble about things.

A Quick Note Regarding This Weekend’s Forbidden Door PPV

Well, last night was another edition of AEW Dynamite and by proxy, the go-home show for this weekend’s upcoming Forbidden Door PPV where AEW wrestlers will face off against New Japan wrestlers and a couple titles will be on the line on top of that.

I will not be watching that show.
Here’s the thing. I like the AEW schedule of having four PPVs a year; it makes them feel special. And after years of monthly WWE PPVs with most of them not being worth it, I don’t have the stomach to put up with another minor PPV a month after the last one. But perhaps the one thing that drove me to my decision is the lack of sufficient built towards this show. I watch AEW on a regular basis, but my exposure to New Japan has been extremely limited. I know names, I know faces, but that’s about the extent of it. So I thought that AEW would take the time to introduce some of these names and help the AEW audience unfamiliar with New Japan and give that audience some emotional investment and reason to care about this upcoming Forbidden Door.
I did not get that.
As someone who doesn’t watch New Japan, I didn’t have the handicap of coming up with dream matches and scenarios that more than likely were not going to happen on this first (or possibly only) collaborative PPV. The appeal of such a crossover piqued my curiosity, but that’s about all it did. Naturally, the thought of another PPV so soon after Double Or Nothing gave me pause and while I wasn’t holding lofty expectations for the final card, the one thing I needed – a reason to care enough to buy this show – was the one thing I didn’t get.
No doubt some folks will argue that whatever the card ends up being, it’ll be a great wrestling show and I have no doubt that will be the case. AEW is capable of putting out great wrestling product and New Japan has certainly proven itself more than capable of putting out a wrestling product leagues above its contemporaries. The thing is that we live in an age where we can get good wrestling anywhere and everywhere. There’s plenty of streaming services, plenty of tapes and DVDs floating around out there, and hell, there’s some free good matches you can look up on Youtube that are legally broadcast for the masses to see. I don’t need this show for my fix of good wrestling.
But what I do need is a reason to care, a reason to get invested, a reason to spark that interest that will prompt me to buy this show. A bunch of multi-man matches and two guys competing for the right to keep the AEW World title warm while current champ CM Punk is out of action is not exactly setting my world on fire. And don’t get me started on that whole All Atlantic International World Global Legends Western States Heritage Big Gold Super Heavy Metal Weight World Championship thing.
This is the first AEW PPV that I’ll be skipping and as such, there will be no PPV musings on the show as a result. I’ll find something else to ramble about in its place and if not, we’ll skip a week in this case and we’ll dive into the WCW stuff in July. I doubt I’m going to ruin everyone’s day with this overblown “I’m not watching” announcement, but if someone is wondering where that Forbidden Door musings is at, stop wondering because there isn’t one.
Maybe down the road, I’ll change my tune. But not anytime soon. And if you’re watching the show, I hope you enjoy it. I’ll be doing something else this long weekend.

WWE Vengeance 2007: Night Of Champions

So Vengeance 2007 is notable for a couple reasons. It is, technically speaking, the first Night Of Champions event that WWE has held, where all WWE championships would be on the line. And Night Of Champions would be an annual B-show PPV for almost a decade until it was supplanted by the similarly titled Clash Of Champions.
It is also the WWE PPV that took place on the weekend where Chris Benoit killed his wife and son before committing suicide.
Benoit was supposed to be in a match against CM Punk for the vacant ECW Championship, but he no-showed due to personal reasons. He was ultimately replaced by Johnny Nitro (the future John Morrison) and his sudden appointment into the finals of the ECW Championship tournament was so well-received that people were chanting WE WANT BENOIT. Those chants are still on the Network edition of the show, despite the line of commentary reference Nitro as a replacement for Benoit was removed.
In a couple days, that show turns fifteen years old and I have not seen this in either a long time or at all. Either way, I felt it appropriate to revisit.

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The Morning Of Summer's First Day

It’s the first day of summer. Sure feels like it.

Just woke up a short while ago… made my cup of joe.
Took my shower. Off to work in a few minutes.
Saw the pile of DVDs that came in the mail.
Make a point to watch them later. The blog needs content.
And then wonder if my other order is coming in.
Probably said more than I needed to.
Gotta run. Later.

DTM-Cast – Episode #216

Click here to download the MP3.

Origins, Frontiers, Torn Pecs, Last Calls, and the needless desire to bang one’s head against the wall. This are things that shock our favorite blue blur in this off-season edition of the DTM-Cast.

Man, I wish I had stayed in bed.

NOTE: This episode was recorded before the news involving Vince stepping down broke out. And even when it did, I decided to hold off comment because let’s wait and see if this ends up being significant or just something to keep the stocks from collapsing.

Ring Of Honor/NJPW G1 Supercard (April 6th, 2019)

You want to talk about Bizarro World? Long before the Forbidden Door was a thing, we had this show; a collaboration between Ring Of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling putting together a Supercard PPV from New York City.
Specifically, the World’s Most Famous Arena itself, Madison Square Garden.
MSG was a longtime WWE stronghold and in particularly a longtime home base to the McMahon family dating back to the days of Jess McMahon. To see another wrestling promotion hold a show in New York, let alone the MECCA of sports entertainment, was unfathomable. And yet one April night in 2019, it finally happened. The first non-WWE professional wrestling event to be held at the arena since 1960, tickets for the show sold out within fifteen minutes of being on the market. And with a packed crowd of over 16,000 people in attendence, there were going to be expectations and whether those expectations would be met is… another story entirely.
The success of this show stemmed from the success of All In from the year prior, the event promoted by Cody, Kenny, and the Bucks and produced by Ring Of Honor, though technically not a Ring Of Honor event. The success of that show resulted in planting the seeds for the birth of All Elite Wrestling, which the mentioned folks would be a part of. So while this Supercard from MSG would be missing some vital players, did it have enough to stand on its own and deliver a show that lived up to the hype?

Continue reading “Ring Of Honor/NJPW G1 Supercard (April 6th, 2019)”