Video: The Wolves promise to reveal new investor next week

On this week's episode of Impact Wrestling, the recently acquired Wolves (a.k.a. Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) cut a promo promising to reveal the rumoured new investor next week.

That show will mark the beginning of TNA's annual UK tour, with that particular episode emanating live from the Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

Watch the video below and leave us your thoughts.

Review: Ring of Honor 01/06/2013

Welcome to Canned Heat Wrestling's inaugural review of Ring of Honor! Coming to us from Toronto, Ontario, this week's episode (assuming you're watching online for free like me!) started off with a fast paced, high impact, triple threat, tag team contest - QT Marshall & RD Evans vs ACH & Tadarius Thomas vs C&C Wrestle Factory. The winners of the match going on to challenge reDRagon for the Tag Team Championships at upcoming iPPV, Best in the World.

Before the bout began, there was a funny spot with ACH & Thomas agreeing to the Code of Honor handshake with the Wrestle Factory, yet almost completely ignoring QT & RD. This resulted in some bad blood from the word go, with the snubbed team lashing out. The match itself can be best described as a whirlwind. Frequent tags were made, members floating in and out within seconds of each other. No one man truly stood out during the bout, as each competitor strived to one up his predecessor. For any uninitiated viewer, they'd be highly impressed by the blur of action on display, but never entirely grasp who was performing at any given moment. Frankly, with the number of lettered names, it's a wonder Kevin Kelly could keep up on commentary, with every other line a mouthful. ROH would do well to get over each man individually before throwing them all in a heap together. The finish came after a beautiful top rope frogsplash from C&C Wrestle Factory, who will go on to face the Champions.

Following up on the events of the recent 'Border Wars', the commentators emphasised the dangers of concussions, the returning Paul London having sustained one during his match with American Wolf, Davey Richards. I know concussions have always been a major issue in the wrestling industry, but for some reason they've become a hot topic of late. Whether it be Dolph Ziggler and Fandango being sidelined with real ones or Triple H being forced into retirement with a fake one, concussions are everywhere at the moment. With the high-impact action of ROH, it's no surprise a concussion sustained in their ring was brought about in spectacular fashion. Cutting to footage from the iPPV, we saw London take a brutal combination of hits. Firstly, a Tombstone Piledriver on the outside of the ring and secondly, a top rope stomp to his torso. The moves were so devastating, London looked legitimately unconscious and the crowd broke out in "You Killed Paul" chants, which were hugely insensitive...and more than a little funny.

Pushing the 'Best in the World' main event of Jay Briscoe defending his World Title against brother Mark Briscoe, the pair had a wonderful series of backstage promos. First up was challenger Mark, who took the guise of a beaten down and bullied little brother, never understanding why his elders would knock him around and treat him like dirt. Following immediately after, we had World Champion Jay defending his actions over the years, justifying them with the end goal of keeping his baby brother on the straight and narrow. This family is dripping with dysfunction and there's no better time for the brothers to butt heads than for the World Heavyweight Championship. Both brothers presented events similarly, but with wildly different points of view. We'll never entirely know which side is the truth, but they both believe them to be. Such conviction is a rare thing indeed.

Next came an in-ring promo featuring Match-maker Nigel McGuinness, 'Unbreakable' Michael Elgin and the concussed Paul London. Addressing fears that London should step away from the wrestling business due to his latest injury, McGuinness was quick to defend the high-flying superstar. Knowing when to retire is something Nigel knows alot about and now is not that time. Having McGuinness address the parallels between the two was a wonderful touch. However, before London could respond, he was interrupted by the bitter pair of QT Marshall and RD Evans, complaining about their recent loss and the state of the Tag Team division. After Evans pushes London by the head, he's summarily dispatched by a pissed off Elgin. Marshall bolts from the ring and attempts to flee up the ramp, only to find a rabid  Tommaso Ciampa waiting for him. Ciampa tears into the coward and runs him head first into the barrier over and over again, most likely giving him a concussion of his own! The real highlight however was Ciampa coming face to face with Elgin, two giants of ROH staring each other down. This made for a muddled segment, never entirely settling on a subject matter. Were they pushing London's eventual return to the ring, Marshall & Evans' status in the Tag Team division or Ciampa wanting a piece of Elgin?

Finally, in the main event of the evening, we had BJ Whitmer vs Mike Bennett vs Jay Lethal, with the winner going on to challenge for the ROH Television Championship at 'Best in the World'. May I just say, it's always a treat to see Maria accompanying Mike Bennett down to the ring. If your jaw wasn't already hitting the floor from the wrestling, it sure as hell is for Maria. Unfortunately, her stunning beauty didn't do a lick of good for her man, as Bennett was quickly set upon by Whitmer and Lethal in a series of debilitating double teams. The momentum of the match switched between all three contenders with regularity, with one man typically sitting out proceedings due to fatigue or injury. Speaking of which, Jay Lethal's bandaged knee soon came to the attention of his opponents, who showed no mercy and promptly focused their offense there. But even that couldn't keep the young man down, going on to stage multiple comebacks and even landing a big elbow from the top rope. The finish came as Mike Bennett retreated to ringside to catch his breath, giving Jay Lethal the opportunity to hit the Lethal Injection on BJ Whitmer for the three count and become the number one contender to the Television Title. The show ends on Maria imagining a slight from BJ Whitmer, sparking a brawl with her man, Mike Bennett. The match was perfectly acceptable all in all, but rather average in the grand scheme of things and never came alive like a good triple threat can. The focus was repeatedly on Maria at ringside on commentary, pulling Bennett's strings from afar. Not to mention Truth Martini skulking around the ramp. The action in the ring was almost secondary.

7 out of 10

Trash Talking: Gut Check

written by Rob Poulloin (@Robbie_G_CH)

Since 2004, 'Gut Check' has been apart of TNA. Starting off as a tryout program, the process has now evolved into what we see on Impact Wrestling once a month. But now that TNA's landscape has changed due to the shift in Pay-Per-View lineup, where does it leave Gut Check and in what format?

Gut Check started as a one off competition, with various categories testing the competitors. The winners were rewarded with a cash prize and an appearance on TNA programming. After a few years of development, the process moved into the seminar format, where independent wrestlers pay for a place on the course, to be put through their paces and show off their skills in front of TNA representatives, such as D'Lo Brown and Jeremy Borash.

Crimson was spotted through Gut Check
(photo by Lee South)

This process benefits both parties, as it allows TNA to witness the ability of new wrestlers, whilst also creating extra income. As for the independent wrestlers, they are in front of people who could make their dreams come true and sign them to either a developmental deal or even a full time contract. As beneficial as the seminars are, I can't help but feel that they are exploiting the wrestlers, as the company should be looking to sign the best and should be using their own resources to find those talented enough. Looking at the wrestlers to make it to Impact thus far; Crimson and Jesse Sorensen; would suggest that going out and watching other shows would be a better way of talent spotting. 

From April 2012, Gut Check has appeared once a month on the 'Open Fight Night' episode of Impact Wrestling. This is usually the second show after a pay-per-view, giving the opportunity of a contract to unsigned wrestlers, who would show their skills in a match against a roster member and then be judged the following week by Bruce Prichard, Al Snow and Taz (replacing Ric Flair). The segment of Gut Check seems completely unrelated to the seminar side beside the name. The talent picked for television have either previously been in TNA's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (Alex Silva and Taeler Hendrix) or independent stars who could have easily been given a contract without the segment (Sam Shaw and Christian York). The process being used as an angle multiple times, firstly to create hype around Joey Ryan, who was unsuccessful in his bid to win a contract and took to Youtube to protest and 'invading' multiple wrestling shows; and more recently, to add Wes Brisco to the roster, despite being seen as a masked member of Aces and Eights for months before his 'tryout'.

Joey Ryan failed in his Gut Check Challenge
(photo by Lee South) 

Officially, six out of the nine wrestlers to 'tryout' for a contract have been successful, with Ryan being the seventh as he had to fight for his contract in a match against Al Snow at Bound For Glory. Out of the seven only Joey Ryan, Christian York and Wes Brisco have been seen on Impact Wrestling on a regular basis with the others being sent to OVW to improve their skills, so it questions the need to have them taking up valuable television time where full time roster members can go without a match in months.

TNA will always need to be on the look out for the next stars to keep their product fresh but Gut Check doesn't seem to be the way to do it considering the best additions to the roster in recent history have been Austin Aries and Kenny King who have both come from Ring Of Honor. Comparing TNA's new recruits to those that WWE are assembling in NXT there is no competition, WWE are signing talent who are ready to go and have proved themselves as the biggest names on the Indy circuit, the likes of PAC (Adrian Neville) who has been Dragons Gate and New Japan, former ROH wrestlers including World Champion Tyler Black (Shield member Seth Rollins), Tag Team Champions Claudio Castagnoli (Antonio Cesaro) Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno) & El Generico; these wrestlers will not only be future stars but help improve the 'home grown' talent with their experience. 

With the wealth of talent currently on the Indy circuit TNA should be looking to those as the future of the business, Crimson was given a monster push on television whilst being relatively green where he wasn't actually ready for it where as someone who has proved themselves, Austin Aries, took the ball and become TNA World Heavyweight Champion within a year of debuting. 

Davey Richards is one of wrestlings
great unsigned acts

I have nothing against Gut Check or OVW but the future of WWE currently looks a lot brighter with wrestlers that TNA most likely overlooked who will also pass on their knowledge and experience. With TNA looking to move up to the next level they need to build a strong undercard; as the roster is starting to look a little top heavy; and rebuild the tag and X-Division who have gone unnoticed for far too long. Names like Adam Cole and Davey Richards would do this much better than Jessie Godderz and Devon. 

Gut Check will continue to hold seminars and recently launched an online voting process of former participants, but this has been suspended due to voting issues. The future of the televised version is unknown as OFN has not been apart of Impact since the January 17th show. I would much rather see TNA make more of a competition out of the process with a separate program in a style akin to UFC's Ultimate Fighter and early series of NXT which would allow the wrestlers to gain TV exposure whilst not taking away time on Impact. This would allow for a winner to be crowned and a deal offered but would be less frequent than the current process meaning that the roster and viewers wouldn't be flooded with a string of new names.  

I hope that TNA keeps Gut Check in one form or another but the seminars should be invitational rather than at the cost of the attendee, the cream of the crop can should then be moved up to the next level, either to be offered a developmental deal on the spot or entered into a separate television show. This would weed out those who are not yet ready for the big time and would mean fans can enjoy the best wrestling from the top to the bottom of the show.

Ringside Report: NBW Southside Wrestling: Supremacy (19/08/12)

Back in January the Maximum Impact IV tour inspired me; I have been a wrestling fan for many years but before my venture to the Capital FM Arena, I had only previously been to two wrestling live events, both held by the WWE and both over 10 years ago; but watching the likes of A.J. Styles and Austin Aries in person made me want more. Last month I attended Leicester Championship Wrestling's 'Summertime' event and now I had a front row ticket for Southside's 'Supremecy' event in which the main attraction was to see Ring Of Honor's Davey Richards in person as he is regarded as one of the best in the world.

Arriving at the venue I wasn't sure what to expect, the LCW show I attended was good but had a crowd made up of kids; but walking into the bar waiting area I could tell this would be different, a large array of different people but only a small number of children to be seen and a variety of wrestling t shirts ranging from the everyday WWE CM Punk shirts to the rarity of ROH merchandise. 

After a lengthy delay, presumably down to the Q&A session taking place we were allowed into the arena, we were sat on top of a bowling green, but I guess finding  places to hold events is tough and once I was seated I was in a wrestling arena rather than anywhere else.

Seated at ringside, right in front of the corner of the ring near to the wrestlers entrance way and sound desk, it was worth the extra fiver not to have anybody in front of me to have the perfect view, only spoilt on occasion by the camera men trying to make their living. 

The show kicked off and the ring announcer 'Diamond Dale Mills' made his way to the ring to a chorus of boo's, but only from the side of the crowd that I was in! Having not read up on the history I was a little taken aback, but on the introduction of Harvey Dale it became clear there was a divide between Southside and the House of Pain which are two promotions (but seemed more like factions such like the WWE Invasion angle) and the crowd behind me was made up of HOP trainees. The two in the ring had a good back on forth on the mic and set the tone of the rest of the show and then introduced the opening bout of Lionheart vs. Ego Dragon, Harvey was then sent packing to the back and DDM took a spot on the commentary table. The match was a solid opener and I was familiar with Lionheart having seen some of his matches on the internet, but the crowd heat died off from the opening promo and the in ring action suffered slightly from it, Ego Dragon picked up the win which continued his undefeated streak    

The second match on the card was a treat as it was unscheduled, Gresham and MK Mkinnon took on the 'LDRS of the New School'  Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr in tag team action. LDRS are regarded as the best British tag team and from this showing its easy to see why, once the novelty of referring to 'Party' Marty as that guy from ITV's Take Me Out has worn off. The match built from comedy moments at the start including lots of hugging and 'wrestling friends' to a hard fought, hard hitting bout which showcased the talents of all involved including some great technical wrestling and excellent selling by ZSJ who spent a large period of the match looking out of it right by my feet. LDRS picked up the win and Zack challenged Marty for a shot at his Speed King Title for later on this evening. 

The entrance of Rockstar Spud

The next 'match' segment brought out HOP's Max Angelus with Harvey Dale to face Rockstar Spud; who coming to the ring to the whole of Living On A Prayer rivalled any Wrestlemania entrance in length; Spud grabbed a mic and said he didn't want to be there so tried to strike a deal with Dale to make Max lie down for him, this went back and forth with Max initially refusing and riled up the crowd giving back and forth opinions with the HOP side yelling for him to do it and the rest telling him to stand up for himself. After a period of time Max hesitantly got on his back while Spud instructed the camera man and referee to do exactly what he wanted, after the two count though Angelus reveresed the pin and rolled up Spud for the three count. Dale was angry at Max clearly setting up a further angle between the two. 

During the segment I have to say how great Spud was on the mic, his entrance gave him a sleazy feel but his mic work made him despised, especially as he talked down to audience members and bossed around the employees, but he played his part elevating this segment. 

The next contest was a six man tag splitting the audience as it was House of Pain (The Predators and SC Supreme) vs. Team SWE (Martin Kirby, Robbie X and Mad Man Manson). The match showcased everybody's abilities and having read about Mad Man in Fighting Spirit Magazine was amused to see his act in person, with drawn on ring boots, straight jacket and random moves such as nipple twists which added to the match making sure it didn't go too much in one direction.

Noam Dar - Future Superstar

Noam Dar came out next which meant it was time for Davey Richards, going into the event this was the match I was most excited for and it delivered! From stiff looking kicks to hard hitting knocks in and out of the ring this was an excellent match up. Davey picked up the victory but Dar came out looking like the winner, going toe to toe with one of the best in the world, a few more matches like this and it wouldn't surprise me if he was called up to one of the big American companies.
After the match Davey grabbed the mic and put Dar over, then it was time for the interval where Richards stayed in the ring for photo's while selling a very serious limp, whilst Lionheart was selling merchandise in which I quizzed him over a number of things and am hopefully looking forward to seeing him on the Maximum Impact Tour next January.

Richards - Best In The World

After the break it was time for the Speed King title match between LDRS members Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr. The match started slowly between the two friends and tag partners with holds taking part between jokes and reversals being more a 'you can do it, I can do it' mentality but this built into another excellent match with each willing to do anything to become the victor. The crowd were a little flat during this match but I think it was mainly down to not knowing which man to cheer for!  Scrull retained his title in the end after hitting a tombstone and ZSJ was upset with the loss and almost went straight to the back, but Marty won him over and the two embraced to send Zack off on his tour of Japan, with a promise of a rematch in the future to whet out appetites.

The Main Event was to crown a SWE Heavyweight Championship and started with Stixx coming to the ring in street clothes as no opponent had been named for him. After another two and fro between Harvey Dale and 'DDM' the HOP side of the crowd were demanding Stixx just be awarded the strap, but then Mark Haskins was announced as his opponent and the match was a NO DQ match! The match was wild and spilt into the crowd on multiple occasions, the crowd were all on their feet lifting the roof off the venue with the noise being made as the two athletes threw everything at one another, well mostly chairs! HOP got involved in the match but SWE members came to chase them to the back, duelling referees played their part and eventually Stixx picked up the victory, after Harvey Dale took a super-kick off the apron.

The HOP side of the crowd went mental for Stixx winning and he made his way to celebrate with them as Haskins pulled himself together in the ring as stated this wouldn't be the end between them. The crowd continued to be at war with one another with the HOP rubbing the title win in the faces of the rest of the crowd. Once the excitement had died down a little Stixx and co went backstage to draw an end to a fantastic show.



I can only recommend that if you see a promotion close to you holding a show then you should give it a try and if you can make it to a Southside show then what's stopping you! From reports I may have been lucky and caught one of the best independent shows ever in this country but it shows that with quality talent and booking this was from top to bottom an excellent card and definitely worth the price of admission with the only down point to the show was that Juvi Guerrera pulling, but the talent on show and getting to meet most of the card afterwards more than made up for it!
I saw Stixx open the LCW show I attended before this and little could I have predicted he would have been beating a TNA superstar the next event, it just goes to show that you never know what to expect!

Written and Photos by: @Robbie_G_CH

Full set of photos at: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.395327070531472.94499.225595667504614&type=3