ROH & NJPW War of the Worlds 5/9/2018 Report, Lowell, MA

For the third consecutive year Mikey, Roy, and I made the drive to the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Massachusetts for a Ring of Honor show.  This time it was a joint show with New Japan Pro Wrestling for night one of the War of the Worlds tour!

Roy picked my up and we stopped at Val's Drive In for lunch on our way to Mikey's house.  It was Wednesday where hamburgers are buy 1 get 1 free, so two burgers and their own Root Beer in a frosty mug was only $5.60.  Can't beat it!  Val's is an old school carhop drive in where you eat in your car and they make their own root beer.  You can read more about it here on my other blog: Val's.

We jumped in Mikey's car and headed south, along the way we recorded for my podcast, Podcast of 1,000 Holds.  We recorded after the show as well, check it on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network.

When we got to the building we tried to park in the same lot behind the Auditorium that we always parked at and we couldn't.  It was near 4pm and the lot wouldn't be available until five when the attendant arrived, only talent could park there.  So Mikey moved the card to the street and we fed the meter.  It was annoying at first but worked out for the best because it was only $2 for the meter and it would have been $10 to park in the lot.

The doors opened at 5:30pm and we were at the front of the line at out door so we got right to the meet and greet table to purchase out tickets and we all were just buying one to meet Jushin Thunder Liger.  In the past ROH was charging $20 for a single wrestler and $30 for a tag team, at this even there were charging $30 - $40 for a single wrestler and for tag teams like Evil & Sanada there was no tag team discount.  They are not two guys thrown together they are the current IWGP Heavyweight World Tag Team Champions.  Liger was $30. 

We got to Liger's table and I was the first person in line just after 5:30pm.  Over the next several minutes everyone but Liger came out to their table.  Jay White was sharing a table with Liger, Dalton Castle was to my left and Rocky Romero with Roppongi 3K were to my right next to Jay.

I had some great conversations with Dalton and Jay to pass the time, but didn't want to bother there.  A couple times Jay White even asked someone where Liger was.  At one point Dalton asked me to tell Rocky he said Hi, I did. Rocky asked me to say Hello, I did.

Dalton: Ask him what he's wearing

Rocky: Hot sweatpants, black underwear, and a Roppongi 3K t-shirt

Dalton: Tell him I'm wearing sweatpants with a mustard stain that I got from the YMCA lost and found and I'm using a frayed extension cord to hold them up

Rocky was impressed with my relaying skills. 

Eventually Rocky went to find out where Liger was, it was getting close to 7pm and that was when the pre-show match started.  He came back and let us know that Liger wasn't coming out until intermission and he and Jay genuinely felt bad that we had waited there for an hour and a half for nothing.  We weren't the only ones that waited, Liger had a very long line.

Liger did come out at intermission and we raced to get inline.  Good thing too because they did not extend intermission past the 15 minute mark and we made it back to out seats as Silas Young and company were getting in the ring.
 

I was frustrated earlier but man-o-man this picture is so awesome and was worth the wait.  I doubt I will ever have the chance to meet Liger again or see him wrestle in person.  We only get a short time with him but he was very kind and appreciative. 

The set up in the venue was essentially the same for the two pay per views that we attended here, except there was no crane camera.  This was a house show that was being streamed online for their streaming service Honor Club so there was a hard camera and two handhelds.

Pre-Show Match

The Dawgs: Rhett Titus & Will Ferrara defeated The Closers: Brad Hollister & Hammer Tunis when Titus pinned Tunis

Decent match to wet the crowds appetite for a night of professional wrestling.


Main Card

Tag Team Champions: The Briscoes: Jay & Mark defeated Jushin Thunder Liger & Flip Gordon when Flip was pinned

Great opening match for the main card huge ovation for Liger.  It was amazing hearing his music kick on and seeing his entrance in person.  It was a good match Liger still moves exceptionally well in the ring.  The finish came when the Briscoes hit Flip with a combination top rope splash mountain neck breaker, it was pretty bad ass.

Women of Honor Champion: Sumie Sakai & Tenille Dashwood defeated Deonna Purrazzo & Skylar when Dashwood pinned Skylar

This match was just okay for me.  It was great seeing local talent Skylar on this big show.  I've seen her many times at Limitless Wrestling and she just keeps getting better everytime

Dalton Castle Promo

World Champion Dalton Castle and the boys came out.  Dalton cut a promo that he has a stack of nagging injuries that have caught up with him and he can't defend his championship.  He lead us all to believe that he was going to relinquish the title, instead he said he wasn't and that he would be back soon from injury. 

This was reminiscent of back in 1997 when WWE aired Thursday Raw Thursday live from the very same building we were in and Shawn Michaels gave his famous "Lost my smile" speech before relinquishing the WWE Championship.
 

Coast 2 Coast: LSG & Shaheem Ali defeated The Kingdom: TK O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia when LSG pinned Marseglia

Taven came out in the beginning of the match cutting a promo about how his opportunity to wrestle for the World title in his hometown has been stolen.  This match was pretty good except for the antics of Marseglia climbing under the ring for way took long.  That whole spot was garbage.
 

SoCal Uncensored ran out stealing back their Six Man Tag championships while Daniels distracted The Kingdom leading to Coast 2 Coast getting the win.  Taven got on the mic post match and challenged them to a title match later, Daniels excepted.

Cheeseburger defeated Bully Ray by count-out

This was a squash where Bully Ray powerbombed Cheeseburger three times then let himself be counted out and then powerbombed Cheeseburger again.  Not for nothing, but these were some weak ass powerbombs compared to what I've seen in the past.

Bullet Club: Cody, Hangman Page, & Marty Scurll with Bernard the Bear defeated Roppongi 3K: Sho, Yoh, & Rocky Romero when Cody pinned Romero

Big ovation for all the members of the Bullet Club and Bernard.  Great match, lots of high flying spots and big moments.  Marty appeared to be frustrated with Cody and Bernard even accidentally superkicking him.
 

The finish came when Cody reversed a standing suplex into cross rhodes.  Cody celebrated like he just won the world title for a second time.  Marty emptied a trash can of streamers onto Bernard and stormed away.

Intermission was next and we finally got to meet Liger

Los Ingobernables de Japon: IWGP Intercontinental Champion: Tetsuya Naito, IWGP World Heavyweight Tag Team Champions: EVIL, & Sanada defeated Television Champion: Silas Young, Beer City Bruiser, & Brian Milonas when EVIL pinned Milonas

LIJ was SUPER over this entire match.  Decent match where Naito took the majority of the beating until the hit Milonas with a triple powerbomb and then EVIL hit him with his STO finish

Triple Threat: Chuckie T defeated Jay Lethal & IWGP United States Champion: Switchblade Jay White when Chuckie T pinned Lethal

These three were supposed to team up against SoCal Uncensored but instead had a triple threat against each other.  Chuckie and White started teaming against Lethal until they eventually turned on each other.  Through-out the match Lethal showed hints of his impersonations of both Randy Savage and Ric Flair, it was great.
 

The surprise finish came when Lethal hit the lethal injection on Jay White and Chuckie rolled up Lethal in a Jack Knife pin.

The Kingdom: Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan, & Vinny Marseglia defeated ROH Six Man Tag Team Champions: Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, & Scorpio Sky when Taven pinned Daniels to win the championships

A very good match that was almost ruined by Marseglia's under the ring antics.  It was cool seeing Taven win the titles in his hometown in front of his family.

The Young Bucks: Nick & Matt Jackson defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon: Hiromu Takahashi & Bushi when Matt pinned Bushi after the Meltzer Driver

Takahashi got a huge ovation when he came out but it was topped by the Young Bucks.  My god the Bucks are simply amazing and such a treat to watch live.  Tremendous match with great high spots, some comedy including Bushi spitting mist at Matt, who then superkicked everyone including his brother before putting the sharpshooter on the referee.  His reaction when Nick washed his eyes out and he saw it was the ref was hilarious.
 

After the matches Mikey and Roy wanted a bite to eat so we headed to Applebees.  After we were seated a bunch of the wrestlers came in.  Sitting two tables down from us was The Young Bucks, Cody, and SoCal Uncensored.  Directly behind the halfway behind us they sat Evil, Hiromu, Sumie, Yoh, and an unmasked Jushin Thunder Liger.

We didn't want to be "those guys" and bother the wrestlers but as we were leaving and because I only had to turn around I didn't think the New Japan talent for the great matches and from coming all this way.  They were appreciative saying thank you. 

I almost wanted to ignore Liger or pretend that I didn't know it was him, because you are not supped to know what masked wrestlers look like under their masks.  But he was the most talkative saying "Thank you for enjoying the show" and even calling out "Have a good night" with a big smile and a wave as we were talking to the door. 

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast Podcast of 1,000 Holds on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

Ilja Dragunov: Unbesiegbar

This video was my introduction to Ilja Dragunov a wrestler I don't recall hearing about before, but after a reception like this and the intensity he showed in his entrance I had to find out more.

December 23, 2017 was the 17th Anniversary Show of Westside Xtreme Wrestling based out of Germany.  On that day Dragunov main evented in a No Holds Barred Match against wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion John Klinger and he came up short after a near 25 minute war.  The above video was his surprise return on March 10, 2018 on Night 2 of the wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament.  He would go on to win the championship in this match.

Searching YouTube for matches of his to watch I came across a three part documentary that talks about his life, what lead him to wrestling, and where he is now.  The documentary is part of the building leading up the his match on December 23, 2017.  There are subtitles on the videos and I think are a great resource to learn more about him, here are the links:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

A big event in his career that I was shocked to learn was that he fractured his skull in 2013 after falling on his head.  It took several exams before they found the fracture.  He knows he taking a risk wrestling with this healed injury but he can't help it, it's who he is.

I encourage everyone to subscribe for a month to the wXw Streaming Service to watch this years 16 Carat Gold Tournament it is stupendous.  Although there are some matches on YouTube the best place to watch his most recent matches is on xWx Now.  Incidentally xWx Now features several shows with English Commentary.

Iija Dragunov is only 24 years old and in my opinion he is definitely one to watch in the future.  If he can make a Soviet gimmick get over in Germany in 2018 I feel like he can get anything over if given the chance. 

Follow him on his social medias:
Twitter: @UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR

Instagram: unbesiegbar_dragunov

Since capturing the championship in wXw he's had amazing matches with Matt Riddle, Absolute Andy, and two hellacious bouts with Walter.  Check out Dragunov's chest after one of these matches.

I cannot stress this enough, make sure you take some time to watch his matches.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast Podcast of 1,000 Holds on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

Looking back at April

Hello readers of the Wrestling Insomniac

Some of you may have noticed that I, Michael Labbe, have not posted anything this month on the blog and there's a good reason for it.  I had a minor surgery that developed a major infection that was followed by a second surgery and essentially took me out of action from almost everything in life for a month.

I want to thank Brandon for keeping the page running with some fantastic articles where he have his thoughts on Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor XII and Impact's Redemption PPV.  He also reviewed a couple books by Shawn Michaels and Bill Apter, gave us his thoughts on the excellent Magnum TA documentary, he took us back in time looking at wrestler and actor Luca Brasi, and shared his WrestleMania 27 Weekend experience.

The only thing I really could do was lay down so I got plenty of television and reading in and I'd like to share some of that with you:

I've been reading Bob Backlund's book and I'm loving it.  Growing up I didn't know very much about Mr. Backlund's first run as the WWF Champion.  The only footage I remember seeing is him winning and losing the championship.  The rest of his almost six year run was a mystery to me.  This book answers those questions and  I'll do a proper write up when I'm done.

Sadly we lost three wrestling in greats in April, "Mr. Number 1" Paul Jones, "Luscious" Johnny Valiant and the legendary Bruno Sammartino.  Ever since Bruno and the WWE settled their differences I have been waiting for a DVD release looking at Bruno's life and career and it never happened.

After his death the WWE released a special on the Network about Bruno and it is fantastic.  It's a shame it took him dying for it to happened, but nonetheless everyone who is a fan of wrestling should take the time to sit and watch this.  Coupled with the Bruno Sammartino collection on the network you can also take in some of his greatest matches.

The Andre the Giant documentary debuted on HBO and I can't say enough positive about it.  Sincerely go out of your way to watch this.  Interviews with wrestling legends, his family, and cast from The Princess Bride you won't regret it.  I was blown away by the footage they had of a teenage Andre who was quite thin where it appeared he was going through some wrestling drills.

WrestleMania weekend is in April and even in my uncomfortable condition I took in the showcase of the immortals.  The Hall of Fame was just okay for me.

NXT Takeover was excellent!  The show was bookended by two phenomenal matches in the North American Championship ladder match and the grudge match between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano.

Ciampa coming to the ring with no music allowed you to really be able to appreciate the amount of heat he had with the crowd, just fantastic.  This must see match saw these two go to war and tell an amazing story along the way earning the 5 star recognition that The Wrestling Observer gave it.

WrestleMania 34 was the best in Mania in years from beginning to end.  Fourteen matches total and a run time of seven hours with the pre-show it was a long day.  The pre-show matches were okay at best, however the main card itself was excellent.

I think what I liked the most was how it wasn't predictable.  Asuka lost her first match in the WWE system, Nakamura lost and turned heel, and Brock Lesnar retained his championship.  Also how The Undertaker squashing John Cena was exactly what needed to happen to make Taker look strong.  Finally I really dug Cena sitting in the crowd and his interactions with the fans.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about the Shinsuke Nakamura heel turn, but it has been amazing!  From his "clearly disingenuous" comments about AJ Styles to his "no speak English" and all his in ring antics have been spectacular.

On April 27th the WWE presented the Greatest Royal Rumble from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and love or hate the WWE you can't discount how unbelievable a feet it was to put on that show.  It was a hot crowd who was clearly up to date on the current storylines and wrestlers.  The opening match of John Cena vs. Triple H was basic but really really good.

Once again I was surprised when Brock Lesnar walked away with the championship after his cage match with Roman Reigns.  Daniel Bryans performance was unprecedented in the rumble match.  However what stands out as the moment of the night was Titus O'Neil falling on his way to the ring and sliding under the ring.  It was amazing!

New Japan Pro Wrestling opened the month with Sakura Genesis 2018 on April 1st in Tokyo headlined by IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada successfully defending his championship against New Japan Cup winner Zack Sabre Jr.

However the match of the night rated 5 stars by Dave Melzter was Will Osprey retaining his IWGP Jr. Junior Heavyweight Championship against Marty Scrull in a phenomenal match!

They closed the month on April 29th when they presented Wrestling Hi No Kuni in Kumamoto.  In the main event Tetsuya Naito defeated Minoru Suzuki to regain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship for his second reign.

It was another good month of wrestling, and I'm glad to be back to sharing my enjoyment with all of you. 

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast Podcast of 1,000 Holds on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!