NXT Is Key To The Royal Rumble

By @stevesignore

It's about that time! It's the time of year WWE spending in a holiday holding pattern. This usually means episodes of RAW and Smackdown filled with fake Santas and gimmick matches. Maybe an appearance by Foley Claus? Who knows. But this is the time of year where storylines seemingly take a back seat. In reality, the WWE doesn't really get back on track until the Royal Rumble, and what a perfect opportunity for the company to make a statement! I'm talking outside the box. Outside of Vince's comfort zone. Lets live a little! I have an idea! As they say in the business, "lets throw it against the wall and see if it sticks." Actually, that sounds like the Vince Russo mentality, which I don't suggest, but you know what I mean. I'm begging the WWE to pull a page out of it's own book and give the fans a 40-man Rumble. But not just any Rumble, I want this to have a strong presence from the hottest thing going in the company: NXT.

Of course, the diehard fans love the surprise returns. The feeling you had when Booker T and Diesel shocked the WWE Universe, ironically, at the only 40-man Rumble in history. Bubba Ray Dudley's return may have been the only positive highlight in last year's disappointing Rumble. If the rest of the WWE Universe was like me, I'm sure it was expecting the WWE to make it up to the fans after the Batista debacle of 2014 and have Daniel Bryan win it last year. Instead, WWE went the Reigns route, as the majority of fans put their hands to their head and let out a collective sigh. While, I'm sure the WWE already has it's winner pegged for this Rumble (I don't expect Reigns to win it again), there's room for improvement. So, lets throw the traditional script out the window and infuse this Rumble with the future of the WWE.

Chances are most fans that are watching the Rumble have the WWE Network, so you'd expect that they watch NXT on a somewhat regular basis. Breaking Ground is one of the top programs on the Network. NXT sold out the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. This isn't a cookie cutter "promotion," there's legitimate star power here. And yes, while NXT is a breeding ground for the future of the company, it still has performers that have legit star power, maybe even more than some of the guys on the main roster. Could Vince be worried that the WWE fans won't know who these NXT performers are? Does it matter? There's been some forgettable surprise entrants into the Rumble through the years, but he didn't have a problem having them be part of the event. Who can forget the influx of Luchadors during the 1997 Rumble? And if the concern is that the mainstream fans have no clue who these NXT performers are, then run a series of vignettes or video packages in the weeks leading up to the event so fans get to know them. How would that be any different than when the WWE consistently ran vignettes for Vader prior to the 1996 Rumble? He came from a rival organization (WCW). These performers are actually under the WWE umbrella for pete's sake! It might actually hold fans attention more than the same video packages recanting stagnant storylines, over and over and over! I know my DVR fast forward button gets a workout when those make there appearance every twenty minutes during WWE programming.

I'm not asking the WWE to include the entire NXT roster to be part of the event, but I've pinpointed exactly who should be considered as entrants: Samoa Joe, Baron Corbin, Enzo Amore, Finn Balor, Big Cass, Apollo Crews, Mojo Rawley, Sami Zayn, James Storm, Jason Jordan, and Chad Gable. This is where my "throw it against the wall" scenario comes into play. The WWE can see how the crowd reacts to each performer on the big stage. Storylines can be born out of confrontations. Rivalries from NXT reborn. To me, this could be the most productive Rumble ever, in terms of the future of the company. Lets leave out the Fandangos, (although Johnny Curtis the human seems hilarious), the Matadores, Adam Roses, etc. Lets utilitze the BEST this company has to offer from top to bottom.

There's one more piece to this puzzle, and while it seems like it deserves to be under the radar, this NXT/Rumble scenario gives the WWE an excuse to put Corey Graves at the announce table. Graves voice is the voice of today (and tomorrow, for that matter). He is what today's fan wants to hear in the booth. Not cheesy albeit recycled jokes, along with countless references to outdated pop culture.

This is my plea. Give us something different. This blog isn't suggesting calling up all of these NXT stars to stay. It's a plea, to give us a taste. A taste of the future. A glimpse that change is on the horizon. Vince McMahon once said, during a promo directed toward Stone Cold Steve Austin, "adaptation is a key to life, as well as in business." Well Vince, do you believe that?

-Steve

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Eyes on the Ring 1:26 PM  No comment

That Time Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens Feuded...

By Johnthan Speed (@SpeedontheBeat)

Ok, I'm going to just go ahead and say it: Kevin Owens versus Dean Ambrose is probably the best thing going in WWE that doesn't revolve around The New Day (yeah, I went ahead and said that, too). It's got emotion, talented wrestlers, and a storyline that isn't steeped in "hey hurr-durr, I have 'beef' with you, 'dawg.' Let's fight, my ninja" tomfoolery. It's more so just two guys beating the crap out of each other to see who's the best--and who's actually worthy of the Intercontinental Championship. It's less gimmicky feud and more straight-up blood sport (for the PG Era, of course).

In this feud, Dean Ambrose has shown the potential that many saw from him when he first went solo after The Shield broke up. He's broken away--again, to a degree--from Roman Reigns' feuds and Reigns himself (for the most part; he still gets paired with Reigns and the Usos, because, ya know, reasons and League of Nations stuff). On top of that, he's becoming more of that "don't say much, just kick much ass" anti-hero that he seems destined to play. Plus, ya know, he isn't fussing around with exploding TVs or mannequins.

...even if Vince himself liked the mannequin foolishness, it was still pretty friggin' stupid. But, I digress. The feud that we're getting between Owens and Ambrose is showcasing both participants at their best. Is it perfect? No (it could be for the WWE Championship, after all), but it's damned close. It doesn't need any wacky hijinks--even though we got Ambrose tossing pop and popcorn in Owens' face. But, throwing crap at his opponents, it's kind of Ambrose's thing in WWE. So, even that isn't that big a deal. 

This Sunday, at TLC, Ambrose and Owens will square off for the Intercontinental Championship. Who do I think will win? It'll be a show-stealing match, but I think that Owens will walk out of TLC with his championship (and no, that's not even based off of Tribute to the Troops photos; remember, Kevin Owens was portrayed for a second in NXT tapings as the NXT champion after he lost the belt to Finn Balor to build up their feud). I'd like Ambrose to win, because that'd free up Owens to get into the WWE WHC hunt. But, you know...we're getting a great feud from WWE. Beggars can't be choosers.

Until next time, guys.

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Eyes on the Ring 4:20 PM  No comment

WIRTB Review: The Wrestling Classic

I made a promise to you, Ringers, that I would continue to search near and far for absolute dreck to review. From December to Dismember 2006 to Heroes of Wrestling and everything in between, I've kept that promise. Today, I take it back...way back...back into time. Today, I discuss The Wrestling Classic as part of the whole DAR Film and TV Week thing DAR's got going. I'm Speed on the Beat and this is WIRTB Review, the wrestling event review section of EyesontheRing.com where I review the crap, so you don't have to.

The first and last Wrestling Classic. Why?
WWF found stuff that worked better, such as shooting kittens out of a military-grade cannon!

Months after one of the most monumental events in wrestling history (WrestleMania I), we get...this. For starters, it starts off with some mix between porn jazz and...nope, it's pretty much Jim Johnston banging around with the remnants of the WWF version of "Land of 1000 Dances" from The Wrestling Album to find his musical voice while thinking about banging Annette Haven. He doesn't do either of those and we're assaulted with this loud-ass jingle to conjure up the pain to come. Oh, and we apparently have "Roadie Rowdy Piper" in the main event. And something about someone winning a Rolls-Royce. And about 50 matches to get through.

First and foremost, the production values of this event are horrible and the fans seem incredibly disinterested in what's going on. That probably has to do with the fact that we're seeing everyone not named Vince McMahon strap on boots and step into the ring, but what do I know? The camera angles are TNA bad at times and the camera reflects more light than One Punch Man's head.

There, I finally worked a OPM joke into WIRTB. As an aside, if you're an anime fan and you've been sleeping on One Punch Man, stop it. Now.

Anyway, our first match features Adrian Adonis and Corporal Kirchner.

It's before Adrian gets his "Adorable" gimmick, but only by a couple months. It wasn't however, before Adonis started to balloon, weight-wise. Adonis sometimes gets lost in the shuffle when talking about wrestling in the '80s, but here's a man who took an big, fat, gay stereotype of a gimmick and made it work.

Re-read what I said, by the way. The gimmick was a gay stereotype, one played up even more for laughs because Adonis wasn't exactly a small guy. Did it set back progressiveness in wrestling back a couple years? Yeah, but pretty much every gimmick in the '80s did. It'd be like watching Skin Diamond perform and not expect a bit of kink. Yep, we're going down the porn star talk route again. I've got to keep myself occupied somehow with this clunker. Seriously, though. Skin Diamond is legit. I randomly found out about her through a Kink.com fuck machine video and lemme tell you. Whatever awards she wins in life, adult and otherwise, are worth it.

But, back to this crap. If you blink, you'll miss the match. No, seriously, there's not a single match on this card that lasts longer than 10 minutes. I'm not sure what's worse about this opener: Jesse and Gorilla Monsoon circlejerking the WWF ("nothing beats the WWF" gets uttered at least once and both spend more time trying to put over both wrestlers than actually calling the match) or the fact that I completely zoned out not even ten minutes in. Now, I get that this PPV was, in some ways, the prototype to KOTR--and most B-show PPVs as we know them now--but it's still pretty bad.

During the match, we get the reason why each match is under ten minutes. There's that good ol'-fashioned time limit trope that floated around in the wrestling world back then. Now, let's look back at the first match. There's a time limit, but one of the main things that transpires in the match is a friggin' rest hold!

Next up, we get a match that's short even by Wrestling Classic standards. The Dynamite Kid beats Nikolai Volkoff in nine seconds. I mean, at least we didn't have to hear more of Volkoff's singing, I guess, but damn! When an entire match fits into a GIF, you know you fucked up.

Third, we get to see the upstart Randy Savage begin his legendary PPV career in the WWF. What's that, you say, WWF? Most of this match is Randy walking around the ring after getting spat at? Jesse Ventura keeps mispronouncing Ivan Putski's last name? Randy gets the win with a dirty pin that's more obvious than a black guy in a horror film dying in the first 20-30 minutes? For fuck's sake. I guess WWE thinking its fans are stupid isn't anything new. If this is a classic, I'd hate to see the Wrestling Shitshow.

I'm absolutely beside myself with this one. But, at least I'm not Davey Boy Smith's nuts. Apparently, ring rope crotch shots were grounds for a TKO in the 1980s, because that's exactly what happened. After Monsoon hyped up the length of Davey Boy's match versus Ricky "Steamer" Steamboat (WTF?), Davey dives dick-first into the top ropes. I think it may've been legit, though; Steamboat and the ref go to check on DBS after the bell gets rung (puns all the way intended). As an interesting sidenote, there aren't too many porn stars from Maryland. And, yes, I'm aware that Mia Khalifa lived in Montgomery County for a bit.

Moving on, Iron Sheik loses to JYD because now we can't say Vince McMahon is a racist (or something). Now, I won't deny that JYD was over. The crowd erupted when he won. But, Sheiky Baby helped start Hulkamania and he kind of got jobbed out. Shrug life, amirite? At least he wasn't Terry Funk. Terry Funk, my friends, lost to Moondog Spot. Moondog Spot is legendary in his own right. But, he didn't really do anything in WWF. Yeah, he got a tag team run with Moondog Rex in the early '80s. But, by this point? Meh.

I'm really regretting my decision to watch this one. Where's a classic Lacey Duvalle clip when you need one?

After Tito Santana, perennial babyface, heeled out to win (I guess it was payback) against Don Muraco, Paul Orndorff gets a win because Bob Orton clocked him in the face with the Orton Cast. We then turn our attention to Lord Alfred Hayes looking like an SVU case waiting to happen. Oh, 1980s. Only you thought that sexual harassment jokes were uproariously funny. Seriously, this was pretty gross to watch and caused me to throw out the idea of making a ton of porno references. After Vince gets all Voice of God on Alfred, we get a horrible rundown of the events thus far. 

Hayes screws up names, seemed completely oblivious to what went down (aside from "oh, this guy won"), and tried to make us believe that this was a great first round. Fuck. This. Shit. We're not halfway through and I'm already perplexed at the insanity that's going down. We've gotten sexual harrassment, nut shots, and a slew of other shit that I don't even want to get into. And we're not even halfway done! Who the fuck would pay to see this shit show of dingleberries?

Apparently, 14,000 people in Rosemont, Illinois who wanted their money back. Money that could've been spend on turning Space Whores into a real thing--or at least a better thing. I promise, that's my last one.

Next, our quarterfinal matches. Somehow, Adrian Adonis putting his foot on the rope while being pinned isn't enough to get a pinfall reversed, because he lost to The Dynamite Kid. After this, we get Randy Savage pinning THE STEAMER! after clocking him with something from his trunks, brass knuckles according to the WWE Network. Now, I didn't see any brass nor knuckles, but fuck it. It's your world, Vince. I'm just trying to get some good wrestling to watch. Junkyard Dog counts his own pinfall in our next match (this is the face of the night, by the way, folks). At least Moondog Spot wasn't going to win the whole thing, I guess. And Mr. Wonderful and Tito Santana start brawling on the outside to the tune of a double countout.

Ok, it's not often that I hope Hulk Hogan can save the day on a wrestling event. It's not. But, dammit, Hulk, save the day on this crapheap of suck. What's that, WWF? Hogan gets the win because of disqualification? ARGH! Nope. I've got to keep going. Let's go, just like The Wrestling Classic itself, at lightning speed.

• Randy Savage beats Dynamite Kid after both of them look tired, but probably more so just tired of being here drecking along. It wasn't that bad of a match. I just wish the time limit bullshit wasn't in place. Then, we would've gotten a real wrestling classic.
• Jack Tunney awards some schmo the Rolls-Royce.
• Junkyard Dog wins The Wrestling Classic by forcing Randy Savage to eat a count-out loss. If you're keeping score folks, every JYD win was gained by some sort of outside force--and he got to count his own pin. I'm honestly wondering who's the real face of this whole thing.

Fuck this. No, the fact that The Dynamite Kid and Randy Savage have a five-minute match isn't enough to save it. The production values doom it to hell before we even get to the actual wrestling. And on top of that, pretty much every match ended in a Dusty finish. Nope. Stay far away from this one. That is my Christmas present to you. I'm Speed on the Beat and I review the crap so you don't have to. 

...and I'm pretty sure I'll eventually have to get a new sign-off phrase so I don't get approached by the Nostalgia Critic. But, until then, the crap will continue to be reviewed to spare you the displeasure.

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Eyes on the Ring 3:58 PM  No comment

ROH TV Review 12/5/15

By Nathan Neumann
@Headliner5

Hello Eyes On The Ring faithful, and welcome to a day late dollar short ROH Review of last night's episode of ROH TV. I might just move these reviews to Sundays on a permanent basis due to the fact that the Network that shows ROH doesn't show it until 11:00pm and it's an hour show, so that means that by the time it's over it's Midnight. So if you start seeing these reviews on Sundays instead of Saturday nights, be forewarned that that'll be the reason for that change.

Enough of my rambling about dumb stuff and on to stuff that actually sort of matters like the first match of the night.

Match 1
Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser vs. reDRagon

Thoughts:
I like three out of the four guys in this match. I think I've probably said this before, but Beer City Bruiser is absolutely awful and doesn't fit the ROH product at all, but I digress and I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record. The match starts off with Fish and Bruiser in the ring and Fish is running full steam ahead into Bruiser and trying to knock him off of his feet, which isn't happening. Fish tags in O'Reilly and Bruiser gets the upper hand quickly and tags in Young. Both Bruiser and Young begin isolating O'Reilly in their corner of the ring with double team maneuvers, while doing everything they can to make sure that O'Reilly can't make it to his corner to tag Fish back into the match. Fish finally gets the tag midway through the match and begins cleaning house. Silas Young hits Fish with a back rake, but at this point, O'Reilly who has by now recovered somewhat, takes Silas up and gives him a suplex in the corner of the ring. Silas recovers and makes it back to his feet and O'Reilly exits the ring, as it's Fish and Young alone in the ring and Silas hits Fish with a DDT into the bottom turnbuckle. Young manages to hit Misery, but the referee was distracted and was nowhere to be found during the pin attempt made by Young. The referee finally makes it over to where the pin is happening but when he counts it, Fish is able to kick out. The finish of the match came when reDRagon hit Chasing The Dragon on Beer City Bruiser to get the win via pinfall.

Match Result:
reDRagon defeats Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser via pinfall after Chasing The Dragon.

Match Rating: **

Good match, but the finish was weird, it would have made more sense to have Silas take the move and the pinfall because he's the smaller of the two between Bruiser and himself, but they are probably trying to protect Silas, so I can't fault them for that I guess.

After the match, Dalton makes his way out to ringside and says that he wants his boys back as we head into commercial.

Back from the break and Chris Sabin is in the ring accusing people of Gimmick Infringement talking about how people are imitating his moves and wearing the KRD masks. This brings out a man in a KRD mask, he gets in the ring and reveals himself to Sabin to be Alex Shelley and Sabin is absolutely shocked.  If you watched TNA, you would know the history here, but if you didn't watch TNA I don't blame you for not watching it.

From there, we go to the second match of the night.

Match 2
Sampson Walker vs. Roderick Strong {C}
ROH World Television Championship Match

Thoughts:
Two things: first off, who is Sampson Walker and second, why is he getting a title shot when he's not even an ROH regular? Someone last night told me that he earned a shot at house show, but it's still weird and hard to accept. The match starts and Sampson begins by driving Strong back first into the ring post, he gets an advantage by nailing Strong with a spinebuster for a near fall which seemed a bit early on in the match for that, but they are trying to get him over with the crowd so I get it. Sampson capitalizes on where he has Strong and hits a big Clothesline and takes the straps of his singlet down. Strong fires back with an Olympic slam for a near fall. The match comes to an end when Roderick nails the Sick Kick on Sampson Walker to pick up the win via pinfall.

Match Result:
Roderick Strong defeats Sampson Walker via pinfall after a Sick Kick to retain the ROH World Television Title.

Match Rating: **

I wanted to rate this match lower than I did, but doing that would be a crime based on who is in it. This match was short, but it was good for what it was and Roderick was the perfect first opponent for this guy.

From there, we go inside ROH with the exotic goddess Mandy Leon, as she recaps Survival Of The Fittest Night 1 and 2 which reminds me my Survival Of The Fittest Night 2 review is located on the site as well. Check that out (cheap plug). She runs through the six qualifying matches that took place at night 1 in Milwaukee, which saw six guys advance and she then talked about the five way final match that took place on Night 2.

Out of that, we head into the third match of the night and the main event of the evening.

Main Event - Match 3
The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks

Thoughts:
The match starts out with Mark Briscoe and Matt Jackson shoving each other back and forth. Matt gets in position and goes to backdrop Mark, but Mark lands on his feet and then eats a Superkick from Nick Jackson. Mark rolls out to the apron and Matt kicks him in the face and off of the apron. Back in the ring, Matt hits Mark with a flipping Diamond dust for a near fall. Mark recovers and hits a flipping Neckbreaker on Nick on the outside of the ring. Mark gets on the apron to set up for the Elbow drop, but he once again eats a Superkick this time from Matt, which sends him to the outside once again. Back in the ring with Mark recovered and both Bucks down, Mark comes off of the top rope and hits a Froggy Bow while Jay makes the cover to get a near fall. The Young Bucks come back and hit an Indytaker for a near fall. Jay kicks out, but then Mark eats More Bang For Your Buck to allow the Young Bucks to pick up the pinfall victory. Crazy match and this review doesn't do it justice.

Match Result:
The Young Bucks defeat The Briscoe Brothers via Pinfall after More Bang For Your Buck

Match Rating: **3/4

This match brought up a lot more issues with the Young Bucks as well because every single match they have ends up with them stopping their selling to get their shit in. Meanwhile, it makes their opponents look like garbage, but that's just the way I see it.

Decent show but I've honestly seen better. It was not the worst hour, but not the best, though we still got more storyline progression towards Final Battle later this month and that's a good thing.

That however will do it for me and this ROH review for EOTR, make sure to visit the site on the regular and check out everything from myself and the rest of the team.  Make sure to follow me on Twitter @Headliner5 and make sure to follow @EyesOnTheRing and tweet us your thoughts on anything professional wrestling. Also make sure to check out the radio show tonight and every Sunday night as we bring it to you via http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/ElitePodcastNetwork at 11:00pm EST. Finally make sure to like us on facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/EyesOnTheRing and until next time Ringers, keep your eyes on the ring.

-Nathan

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Eyes on the Ring 10:08 PM  No comment

All Eyes On: HighRisk Impact

By @YourBuddyCJ

The beginnings of a wrestler's career isn't something you hear about that often. We all see the glitz, the glamour, and the fame of it all, but how about when they're still working their way up through the ranks of the wrestling world? I got a chance to talk to two guys who are doing just that. They are making names for themselves through promotions in the South, and I can certainly see them making it to one of the big stages in the future. Get to know Austin Knight and Dante HP, collectively known as HighRisk Impact.

CJ: Tell me where your love of pro wrestling began...

Dante: I was sitting in bed with my dad and we were flipping through TV channels and we came across Monday Night Raw. It was like the last few minutes of it and there was a bunch of people in the ring fighting and then you hear (Glass shatters)  Here comes Stone Cold Steve Austin and he starts beating everyone up and stunning people all over the place. Then after the ring was cleared, he began smashing beers and drinking them.

Austin: My family never really enjoyed watching wrestling. I had an uncle, though, who was a special needs person. He loved sitting down every Monday flipping between Raw and WCW. He really enjoyed the characters. I used to sit and watch it with him, and in a matter of days I fell in love with it. Heck, you could say it was love at first sight! I was always a Bret Hart guy growing up, but that changed with the Attitude Era.

CJ: Do you remember the first match you ever saw?

Dante: As far back as I can remember watching wrestling, I saw the Hardy Boyz vs Edge and Christian in a tag team ladder match. It was so awesome!

Austin: I really couldn't tell you who were the first people I saw in the ring, but I can tell you the ones that stuck with me. Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Goldust, Mr. Perfect, Randy Savage. The list could go for days.

CJ: Is that when you decided it was something you wanted to pursue as a career?

Dante: When i decided this was something I wanted to pursue as a career was after the ladder match. I loved the Hardy Boyz and their high-flying aerial moves. They are who made me want to pursue a career in Pro wrestling.

Austin: No, not really. I was really content with just being a fan. I never really thought I could do what these super humans were doing. I mean, come on, I was a nerdy kid. I couldn't have dreamt of what I would be today.


CJ: What was going through your minds the first time the two of you stepped in the ring?

Dante: First time I ever stepped in the ring, it was surreal. I didn't feel like it was real almost, and I was nervous as could be! I did the best I could, I had been taught the basics and other than that I had just done moves I liked or thought was cool. Now, years later, I see how bad I was.

Austin: Butterflies, Fear, and Excitement! The best match I had ever had, until I go back and watch them. You can see the frail kid trying not to faint, haha. It was something that I don't think I can ever match in terms of emotion.

CJ: Did you guys win your first match?

Dante: No

Austin: Come on, who does? I got beat pretty bad. Welcome to the indies, kid.

CJ: How did you come up with your in-ring names, Austin Knight and Dante HP, and where does the team name, "HighRisk Impact" come from? I personally think those are great names.

Dante: I came up with my in ring name from a video game for PS2 haha, Devil May Cry. The main character's name is Dante and the HP is my initials. The tag team name was both our ideas, Austin like the word Impact and I like the word HighRisk, so combined we became HighRisk Impact! Then I came up with our saying (Take the Risk.....Leave an Impact!)

Austin: It was one of those things where you are in a spot and have to think of something quick. Ever seen Spider-Man before he faces Bone-Saw? "What's your name kid?" It was sort of given to me and I ran with it.

CJ: What do you use as a finisher?

Dante: Sit-out Powerbomb and 450 Splash.

Austin: A man shouldn't limit himself to one move! If I had a signature, though, I would claim the superkick and frog splash!

CJ: Who do you consider to be your influences in the wrestling business?

Dante: Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy my top 2. Also there is Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson the Rock n Roll Express. They were really awesome!

Austin: Shawn Michaels and Randy Savage no doubt. These two were complete opposite, but had everything you needed to be a star. If I had 10% of their talent, I would be happy. Tag team wise, The Rock n Roll Express no doubt. HI RICKY!

CJ: What would you say is your biggest achievement as pro wrestlers so far, both individually and as a tag team?

Dante: As a singles competitor, I would have to say my biggest achievement was winning my first championship when I became the Severe Attitude Wrestling Cruiserweight Champion. Then as a tag team when we won our first tag team championship in ETCW in Alcoa, Tennessee. Now on another note, my biggest achievement so far is being blessed to be able to live this dream! I honestly have done more then I thought i ever would and I am excited for what the future holds!

Austin: Well, I would say just being able to perform in front of people who are wanting to do it themselves. I want to show people that it is okay to chase your dreams. I would've never thought I would be doing what I am today and I love it. Tag Team wise, we are rising so quickly that it seems so unreal. Who knows where we will be in the next few years!

CJ: Have you gotten a chance to learn from any old-timers in the business? If so, who were they and what did they teach you?

Dante: Yes. We both train now with Ricky Morton at the School of Morton in Chuckey, Tennessee. If you wanna be a Pro Wrestler, it is the place to be. I have trained and learned from Les Thatcher and his amount of knowledge is limitless when it comes to this business!  I have talked with Dr. Tom Pritchard and learned some from him. Last but not least, I met Jim Cornette and got to talk with him too.

Austin: Oh yeah, we are very lucky to be able to say we have trained with Les Thatcher and Ricky Morton, two people who have unlimited knowledge of the sport. Les taught us why you should do something and when to do it. Ricky is showing us the flair and teamwork aspect of the business. We have also met people like Jim Cornette and Tom Pritchard, both of whom passed knowledge to us.

CJ: Is a shot at getting into WWE your ultimate goal?

Dante: Honestly, No. My goal is to get to Ring of Honor. Now, when I get to that destination, who knows. I will say if WWE was to give us a try out, you can bet I'd be all over it!

Austin: Never say never. My main goal as of now would be Ring of Honor and New Japan. If WWE came knocking at the door, then of course I'm going!

CJ: If you had the chance to step in the ring with anyone, past or present, who would it be and why?

Dante: I would have to say mine would be Mr.Wrestlemania himself, Shawn Michaels! Why? He was and still is the best.

Austin: Shawn Michaels, no doubt! He has done it all. He's been in the best matches year after year, an icon and living legend. He could come back now and do it all over again!

CJ: What is your favorite match of all time from a fan perspective and why?

Dante: Wow that's a broad question! I am going to say it would be the TLC matches, they were just so unique and different!

Austin: Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage. The perfect match. From A to Z it was flawless. I wish I could rewatch it again with no memory. It is amazing.

CJ: Finally, what advice would you give to anyone who is looking to get their start in professional wrestling?

Dante: I would say this: If you can dream it! You can live it! Get trained properly and take it serious. Above all, don't give up! it will be tough, but when you can see it coming to life, the reality of looking back on where you started is awesome!

Austin: You have to live it, breath it, and desire it. Treat it like job, not a hobby. Get trained with someone who has been somewhere. Don't waste your time trying to be everyone's friend and be yourself!

Check out some matches featuring HighRisk Impact here:

-CJ

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Eyes on the Ring 2:39 PM  2 comments

ROH Review 11/28/15

Ring Of Honor Wrestling Review 11/29/15
By Nathan Neumann, Twitter @Headliner5

Hello Ringers and welcome back to the regularly scheduled reviews after a couple weeks off. Last time I reviewed Survival Of The Fittest night 2 and last week I was way too tired to review anything. But I am back this week and we are ready to go.  Tonight’s episode featured some good storyline progression towards Final Battle and as we draw closer to the year-end event things are definitely going to get more and more interesting.

The show begins as we head inside of the arena as Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are on commentary and this week they are joined by Mark Briscoe.  They run down the show and then send it down to the ring for the first match of the night.

Match 1
Will Ferrara vs. Adam Page

Thoughts: Okay match here if a bit weird in a few spots, Ferrara started it off by hitting a nice hurricanranna before Page hits a flurry of offense with a pump handle fall away bridge slam.  There honestly wasn’t much to this match but the biggest shocker to me was the fact that Adam Page actually lost when Colby Corino runs down to the ring and throws a crutch into the ring.  The crutch was intended for Page’s use but Ferrara grabbed it first and hit Page with it to pick up the win.  Not much of a match but it was decent although I’m not sure where they are going with this.

Match Result: Will Ferrara defeats Adam Page via pinfall after a shot with a crutch behind the referee’s back.

Match Rating: N/A: Match was too short to rate and there wasn’t enough there, it was more to further a storyline than anything.

From here the Addiction makes their way out to the ring and get on the microphone to complain about losing the tag team championships to The Kingdom, they say they want their rematch and wont stop until they get it which we’ve heard in wrestling a million times before but it was an okay promo and we can see where this is headed.  The Addiction top off the promo by saying that they are headed to New Japan Pro Wrestling which is interesting but if NJPW can make Michael Elgin interesting then it should do wonders for a tag team I don’t care about at all.

We then get a vignette hyping up the Kingdom as if we didn’t already know how awesome they were.

From there we go to a random video package where we find out that Brutal Bob Evans tried to cut off Cheeseburger’s hand with a hand saw which seems very odd and disturbing at the same time.

From there The House Of Truth makes their way out to the ring and Jay Lethal talks about losing the TV title.  He then focuses his attention to his opponent at Final Battle, which is AJ Styles.  Lethal says that he hates Styles and that Styles has never been worth anything in pro wrestling.  AJ Styles comes out to the ring and says that he will become the ROH World Champion come December 18th and Final Battle.

#StorytimeWithAdamCole is up now, Cole talks about how much he hates Kyle O’Reilly and we find out that Cole vs. O’Reilly is now official for Final Battle on December 18th, Cole says he will murder O’Reilly and from there we go into the next match.

Match 2
Adam Cole vs. Dalton Castle

Thoughts: Good match here, Dalton came out and brought the boys with him and things were back to normal until Silas Young came out and ruined everything.  Cole and Castle feel each other out.  Cole rolls to the outside of the ring and gets hit with a suicide dive from Castle.  Cole superkicks Dalton’s face off, the Kingdom storms the ring to cause a DQ.  War Machine comes out to the ring to even the odds and then Nigel grabs a microphone and turns the match into a six-man tag team match. 

Match Result: No Contest

Match Rating: N/A

Match 3
Adam Cole, Matt Taven, and Michael Bennett vs. Dalton Castle, Hanson and Raymond Rowe

Thoughts: The action starts immediately with Hanson hitting a cartwheel clothesline on Bennett.  Taven gets an early near fall after hitting a dropkick on Hanson.  Hanson kicks out and recovers; Hanson nails Taven with a shotgun knee and then takes a kick to the back of the head from Cole.  Dalton and Taven get in a predicament where they are both trying to hit one another with a tombstone piledriver and after about ten reversals, Dalton finally nails the move for a near fall.  The action spills to the outside of the ring where Hanson does a top rope-flipping dive onto everyone in a cool spot.  Hanson goes back in the ring and tries to come back out with a suicide dive but crashes and burns on the outside.  The match ends when Adam Cole picks up the win for his team with a brainbuster onto the knee to pick up the win via pinfall.

Match Result: The Kingdom (Cole, Taven and Bennett) defeat Dalton Castle, Hanson and Rowe after Adam Cole hits Castle with a brainbuster onto his knee.

Match Rating: **1/2

This show was okay but it really only had two matches and although we had some good storyline progression towards Final Battle on December 18th there wasn’t enough quality wrestling in my opinion. 

That will once again do it for me and this week’s ROH review for http://www.EyesOnTheRing.com Make sure to visit the site and check out everything that the entire Eyes On The Ring team writes on a weekly basis as we are always doing our best to provide you with new cutting edge content.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter @Headliner5 and feel free to tweet me your thoughts on anything ROH related or wrestling in general if you just want to talk about it.

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