Advertised main event is a proving ground match between the ROH Tag-Team champions reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) and from New Japan the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team champions the Forever Hooligans (Rockey Romero and Alex Koslov) Also tonight we'll see Adrenaline Rush in action and a qualifying match for the World title tournament.
Show opens with a recap video of Steel Cage Warfare from last week.
Kevin Kelly welcomes us and the crowd looks great, easily the most people they've had for TV in a while. The broadcast team talks about this tonight being the first step in ROH's rebirth following the death of S.C.U.M. Nigel turns it over to Bobby Cruise for ring announcements...
3.0 VS Adrenaline Rush
Scott "Jagged" Parker and Shane Mathews are the members of "Canada's most professional tag team" 3.0 and were regulars in Chikara. I'll take 10-year indy scene vets like these guys on job duty over losers like Zizou Middoux any day of the week. ACH and Parker start. It's chain wrestling to start until ACH lands a dropkick. ACH tries to springboard but gets knocked down mid move by Mathews on the apron; the crowed is PISSED OFF, the heat Mathews got for such a basic heel move was nuts. Mathews is tagged in and his team takes advantage of the shortest heat segment in recorded history at about 3.0 seconds when ACH just beats them both up. ACH wants a tag but Parker is tagged back in first and he knocks TD off the apron. It proves an exercise in futility however when Parker turns around into the worlds most charismatic back body drop courtesy of ACH and the faces just make the tag anyway. Thomas isn't feeling the flow...of 3.0 anymore then ACH and chucks Mathews before hitting Parker with wacky kick #1, wacky kick #2, and a bridging half-nelson suplex that Mathews jumps back in to break up at 2. Mathews is welcomed back to the fold with a series of knees to the face and a decidedly not wacky roundhouse kick from Thomas. ACH is tagged in, but his springboard is intercepted by a back elbow from Parker. Parker lifts ACH for a flapjack and Mathews spears him out of mid air for 2! That's a hell of a move to be the first real offensive maneuver landed by a team in a match. ACH is pushed into the corner by Mathews and Parker hits the first jumping enzugiri of the night (want to get smashed, take a shot every time someone lands an enzugiri on any given ROH show). Parker takes out TD then flapjacks ACH. Power-bomb from Mathews followed by the application of the Boston Crab. Thomas jumps up on the apron and dumps Parker, then breaks the Boston crab with wacky kick #3. Thomas moonsaults out of the ring to take Parker out of the equation while ACH hits Mathews with the Package DDT for the win. ** TaDarius Thomas might be my pick for most improved wrestler of the year--through the pure power of osmosis teaming with ACH has taught him how to wrestle--learning about timing and how to mix those wacky kicks into his offense rather then being the only thing he does. Match was too short to be anything memorable but it made it clear that Adrenaline Rush (and specifically ACH) are OVER. The tag ranks might just be way to cluttered for these guys to win the straps, but They'll fit in great replacing C&C as perennial challengers...especially since C&C have proven themselves bigger chokers then Lex Luger and seemingly any chance of them eventually winning the tag titles has evaporated.
Nigel McGuiness is in the ring to catch the 1% of their audience that isn't online up on the world title situation the rest of us have known about for a month. This was way, way too long and now even ROH is showing off why Authority figures are played out--Make the announcement and be done with it--We don't need your whole life story Nigel! He announces that to bridge the gap between now and the crowning of a new world champion, there will be an increased emphasis on the Tag-Team division, thus the Forever Hooligans and The Young Bucks (more on this in a few weeks) making their returns to the promotion. reDRagon is out to interrupt and thank god Nigel's droning is over. Fish takes the mic then takes credit for increased ratings and ticket sales in ROH since reDRagon won the tag-titles. He then gets massive face heat for telling an annoying heckler in the audience to shut up. Bobby has a proposition for tonight's main event, he says forget the proving ground, lets make it a match for the ROH tag team championship. Nigel is surprised but is happy to oblige their request. The familiar howl sounds over the PA system and now the Wolves are out with something to say. Summarized--Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards asked to be left out of the World Title tournament, because they are focused on taking their rightful spot as ROH tag team champions. Richards says it doesn't matter who wins tonight, the American Wolves are winning those belts when they get their shot in Toronto. Everything after reDRagon came out was good stuff--but Nigel's monologue was way too long and then inside ROH RECAPPED EVERYTHING HE JUST SAID, rendering it even more pointless.
Title Tournament Qualifying match: Adam Page VS "Pro Wrestling's Last Real Man" Silas Young
We're all set to start when QT Marshal gets in the ring and demands Nigel put him in the match. He says it was ridiculous that it was up to a fan poll to determine if he where in the tournament when each and everyone of them would have him fired if they had their way. I love shoot comments that aren't supposed to be shoot comments. Adam Page takes the mic and tells Nigel to do it if it will shut Marshal (It's Marshaaal, QT protests) up. McGuiness begrudgingly says ok because he doesn't want the show delayed any later. Nigel then commits the most epic burial I've ever seen committed by a commentator when he says that he decided to let Marshal in because he doesn't have a chance in hell of winning anyways. Well with that career homicide out of the way the bell rings for our new match...
Title Tournament Qualifying match: Adam Page VS "Pro Wrestling's Last Real Man" Silas Young VS "GodsShit Gift" QT Marshal.
Page wastes no time going after both guys. Young tries to drive a real man's spear into the kid but Page dodges and QT eats it in the corner. Young slips out of a back suplex from Page but is counter is countered into an inverted atomic drop to the last real junk and a dropkick that puts him on the floor. Page jumps for a plancha but is grabbed out of mid air by QT who hits him with a dominater for 2. Young springboards back into the ring but his elbow gets nothing but air; QT then rolls him up for a 2 count. The heels trade blows with QT eventually gaining the advantage. A standing guillotine leg drop gets 2 for for God's (re)gift(ed). Page is back up and he has some knife-edge chops for QT. Page's attempt at an Irish whip is reversed into a back elbow, but QT runs the ropes only to be wheel kicked by Page. It gets 2 but the pin is broken up by Young. Page thanks him with an enzugiri. Page makes a charge at QT who has crawled his way into the corner but gets back body dropped over the top rope; he landed on his feet however and is elbowed by Page into a MANLY lariat from Silas Young. Young wrestles Page to the top rope and is looking for a superplex--but Adam won't give it to him easy. QT is up and gets into position to powerbomb Young, completing the tower of doom. Silas is somewhat opposed to this plan so he bites QT on the face to make him let go. the distraction lets Page push Young off and dive for a cross-body; Young dodges, but QT takes the full impact. Page sweeps Young's legs and then...hesitates while QT gets into position...then dropkicks Marshal and lands a shooting star press on Young all in the same move!!! Cool innovative spots are awesome as long as they don't seem awkward over choreographed, QT is the veteran--Page is green, it's on QT to make sure he's where he needs to be. QT bounces of the ropes and breaks Page's pin up at 2. QT tries to toss Page but he again lands on the apron and back body drops Marshal to the floor. Young grabs Page and hits a rolling fireman's carry slam, but he takes to much time showboating with a headstand on the top turnbuckle and his springboard moonsault misses. Page goes up top and signals for the Shooting star press, but QT pushes him of the top all the way to floor. Marshal comes in and OFF COME THE ELBOW PADS. He turns around ready to clean house but gets caught in the "Last Real Man's" small package for the 3 count! **3/4 Run of the mill 3-way. This result means that Silas Young qualified as Tomasso Ciampa'svictim opponent in the Title tournament's first round at All-Star Extravaganza 5 in Toronto, and that Adam Page will wrestle NJPW's Kushida (One half of the former Jr. Heavyweight tag champions with Alex Shelly as The Time Splitters)
ROH Tag Team Title: reDRagon (c) VS The Forever Hooligans
Kevin Kelly questions what reDRagon's motive for making this a title match could be. Code of Honor is adhered to. Fish and Romero in to start and the crowd is firmly behind the Hooligans. We begin with some chain wrestling. Fish briefly gains position on Romero and slaps the back of his head to some decent heel heat, but is made to pay for it when Romero reverses their positions and gives it back to him 10-fold. Fish keeps trying to escape Rocky's waist lock but he won't let go. Fish gets to his feet but is thrown back to the mat. Realizing breaking the hold was more effort then it was worth Fish made the ropes to force the break. Bobby gets in a cheap shot on the break but whiffs on a roundhouse. Romero takes him down with a dropkick and does a little jig to celebrate. Koslov is tagged and enters the ring with a splash that gets 2. Fish rakes the eyes to get away and tags in Kyle O'Reilly, but he finds no greater success then his partner. O'Reilly whips Koslov into the ropes, but Koslov back flips over him and puts him down with a dropkick. Fish is knocked of the apron and O'Reilly is tossed. Koslov picks up speed for a dive out onto O'Reilly but is cut off by Fish. Koslov is Irish whipped but he ducks Fish on two passes and dives out onto O'Reilly at full speed! Romero comes in illegally and Fish Irish whips him towards the side of the ring Koslov and O'Reilly are at. Romero catches himself in the ropes and holds himself there. Fish charges and ends up on the floor. New rule Bobby, stop Irish whipping these guys, it keeps backfiring on you. Suicide Dive by Romero takes out both members of reDRagon and the Hooligans stand tall as we fade to commercial
back with Koslov holding O'Reilly in an arm bar and tagging Romero into the match. The Hooligans double whip O'Reilly into the corner and Romero scores a running clothesline. Koslov was following to do the same but had to stop dead in his tracks because Romero turned around to hit another...and another...and another. Finally Koslov has enough of waiting for his turn and turns Romero around for an argument--pushing and shoving ensues and they raise there fists to fight. Suddenly they drop their guard and hug it out in the middle of the ring to a huge ovation from the crowd. It's an atomic drop and a clothesline for O'Reilly when Fish comes out of nowhere with a clothesline on Romero. Fish's facials when the ref admonishes him are great (who, me?). O Reilly chucks Koslov outside and Fish kills him with a full speed tackle into the barricade. O'Reilly hits his trademark running dropkick from the apron to the corner of the barricade and Koslov is out. Fish is beating on Romero in the ring but is forced to leave by the ref and be tagged in so he's legal. Where the fuck is that officiating when my head's exploding about no-one keeping track of who the legal man is! Snap suplex gets 2 for Fish. Tag to O'Reilly and reDRagon double teams Romero. A Running knee from Fish, running knee from O'Reilly, tilt-a-whirl back breaker by Fish and a diving knee drop off the top from O'Reilly all in quick succession get a very close two count. O'Reilly locks on the abdominal stretch, then rolls it into another near fall as Rocky desperately needs a tag. Tag to Fish who enters with a senton. Fish takes his sweet time before pinning Romero for 2. Fish keeps on the beat down but is arrogant and gives Romero an opening. Fish catches a kick from Romero, and then dodges the enzugiri that came next--but he was caught by the mule kick coming back the other way. O'Reilly comes in illegally to try and stop the tag but Romero just pushes him off and makes the hot tag to Koslov. The Russian is a house of fire, flying all over the place and neutralizing both his opponents. O'Reilly is drop-kicked to the outside and Fish suffers an enzugiri. Koslov signals for Romero to toss him his Russian hat; Rocky obliges and Koslov dons the cap. He gets the crowd clapping so he has a rhythm then starts alternating between squats and some nasty looking kicks to the back of the sitting Bobby Fish's head. Koslov runs the ropes and STANDING DOUBLE STOMPS FISH'S FACE INTO THE MAT! Even Nigel freaked out at that one. Romero comes in to even the numbers but is cut off by a combo of O'Reilly strikes. He tries for a rolling elbow but Romero just uppercuts him dead on the approach. O'Reilly takes a Dooms-Knee-Device from the Hooligans and rolls to the outside. Romero hops into his partners arms and Koslov runs him into Fish knee first. Romero signals for the end and lands a cradle tombstone on Fish. Koslov looks to put the finishing touches on it with a gorgeous shooting star press--but Romero celebrated too early and didn't see O'Reilly jumping back in the ring to save the match and he's able to break up the pin at 2. O'Reilly takes out Romero with a Roundhouse, Koslov knocks out O'Reilly with an enzugiri, and Bobby Fish uses his last bit of strength to land a back drop driver on Koslov and now everybody is dead in the ring. Double tags to O'Reilly and Romero and they do the boo/yay spot. Romero jumps a leg sweep and nails O'Reilly with a jumping Knee, so Kyle gives him one of his own (seriously was Triple H the road agent for this match?). Fish comes in and the two take turns kicking Romero till a textbook bridging fisherman suplex from O'Reilly is broken up by Koslov. The Russian is tossed and O'Reilly hits Romero with a Yakuza Kick. Total elimination only gets 2 for reDRagon but Romero is clearly in trouble. O'Reilly lifts him for Chasing the Dragon, but Koslov trips Fish from the outside behind O'Reilly's back. Romero escapes the brainbuster and hauls O'Reilly down with a backslide that gets the three count while Koslov holds Fish back! You're winners and NEW ROH world tag-team champions are the Hooligans, may their reign last Forever! **** Knee heavy, yes--but this was just plain fun. Fish and O'Reilly look like dorks for losing after they decided to put the belts back on the line--but I have a sneaking suspicion they'll regain the tag titles at Manhattan Mayhem on August 10th anyway.
All in all a great show--you should fast forward through Nigel and Inside ROH this week, but all of the actual wrestling was pretty great.
Show opens with a recap video of Steel Cage Warfare from last week.
Kevin Kelly welcomes us and the crowd looks great, easily the most people they've had for TV in a while. The broadcast team talks about this tonight being the first step in ROH's rebirth following the death of S.C.U.M. Nigel turns it over to Bobby Cruise for ring announcements...
3.0 VS Adrenaline Rush
Scott "Jagged" Parker and Shane Mathews are the members of "Canada's most professional tag team" 3.0 and were regulars in Chikara. I'll take 10-year indy scene vets like these guys on job duty over losers like Zizou Middoux any day of the week. ACH and Parker start. It's chain wrestling to start until ACH lands a dropkick. ACH tries to springboard but gets knocked down mid move by Mathews on the apron; the crowed is PISSED OFF, the heat Mathews got for such a basic heel move was nuts. Mathews is tagged in and his team takes advantage of the shortest heat segment in recorded history at about 3.0 seconds when ACH just beats them both up. ACH wants a tag but Parker is tagged back in first and he knocks TD off the apron. It proves an exercise in futility however when Parker turns around into the worlds most charismatic back body drop courtesy of ACH and the faces just make the tag anyway. Thomas isn't feeling the flow...of 3.0 anymore then ACH and chucks Mathews before hitting Parker with wacky kick #1, wacky kick #2, and a bridging half-nelson suplex that Mathews jumps back in to break up at 2. Mathews is welcomed back to the fold with a series of knees to the face and a decidedly not wacky roundhouse kick from Thomas. ACH is tagged in, but his springboard is intercepted by a back elbow from Parker. Parker lifts ACH for a flapjack and Mathews spears him out of mid air for 2! That's a hell of a move to be the first real offensive maneuver landed by a team in a match. ACH is pushed into the corner by Mathews and Parker hits the first jumping enzugiri of the night (want to get smashed, take a shot every time someone lands an enzugiri on any given ROH show). Parker takes out TD then flapjacks ACH. Power-bomb from Mathews followed by the application of the Boston Crab. Thomas jumps up on the apron and dumps Parker, then breaks the Boston crab with wacky kick #3. Thomas moonsaults out of the ring to take Parker out of the equation while ACH hits Mathews with the Package DDT for the win. ** TaDarius Thomas might be my pick for most improved wrestler of the year--through the pure power of osmosis teaming with ACH has taught him how to wrestle--learning about timing and how to mix those wacky kicks into his offense rather then being the only thing he does. Match was too short to be anything memorable but it made it clear that Adrenaline Rush (and specifically ACH) are OVER. The tag ranks might just be way to cluttered for these guys to win the straps, but They'll fit in great replacing C&C as perennial challengers...especially since C&C have proven themselves bigger chokers then Lex Luger and seemingly any chance of them eventually winning the tag titles has evaporated.
Nigel McGuiness is in the ring to catch the 1% of their audience that isn't online up on the world title situation the rest of us have known about for a month. This was way, way too long and now even ROH is showing off why Authority figures are played out--Make the announcement and be done with it--We don't need your whole life story Nigel! He announces that to bridge the gap between now and the crowning of a new world champion, there will be an increased emphasis on the Tag-Team division, thus the Forever Hooligans and The Young Bucks (more on this in a few weeks) making their returns to the promotion. reDRagon is out to interrupt and thank god Nigel's droning is over. Fish takes the mic then takes credit for increased ratings and ticket sales in ROH since reDRagon won the tag-titles. He then gets massive face heat for telling an annoying heckler in the audience to shut up. Bobby has a proposition for tonight's main event, he says forget the proving ground, lets make it a match for the ROH tag team championship. Nigel is surprised but is happy to oblige their request. The familiar howl sounds over the PA system and now the Wolves are out with something to say. Summarized--Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards asked to be left out of the World Title tournament, because they are focused on taking their rightful spot as ROH tag team champions. Richards says it doesn't matter who wins tonight, the American Wolves are winning those belts when they get their shot in Toronto. Everything after reDRagon came out was good stuff--but Nigel's monologue was way too long and then inside ROH RECAPPED EVERYTHING HE JUST SAID, rendering it even more pointless.
Title Tournament Qualifying match: Adam Page VS "Pro Wrestling's Last Real Man" Silas Young
We're all set to start when QT Marshal gets in the ring and demands Nigel put him in the match. He says it was ridiculous that it was up to a fan poll to determine if he where in the tournament when each and everyone of them would have him fired if they had their way. I love shoot comments that aren't supposed to be shoot comments. Adam Page takes the mic and tells Nigel to do it if it will shut Marshal (It's Marshaaal, QT protests) up. McGuiness begrudgingly says ok because he doesn't want the show delayed any later. Nigel then commits the most epic burial I've ever seen committed by a commentator when he says that he decided to let Marshal in because he doesn't have a chance in hell of winning anyways. Well with that career homicide out of the way the bell rings for our new match...
Title Tournament Qualifying match: Adam Page VS "Pro Wrestling's Last Real Man" Silas Young VS "Gods
Page wastes no time going after both guys. Young tries to drive a real man's spear into the kid but Page dodges and QT eats it in the corner. Young slips out of a back suplex from Page but is counter is countered into an inverted atomic drop to the last real junk and a dropkick that puts him on the floor. Page jumps for a plancha but is grabbed out of mid air by QT who hits him with a dominater for 2. Young springboards back into the ring but his elbow gets nothing but air; QT then rolls him up for a 2 count. The heels trade blows with QT eventually gaining the advantage. A standing guillotine leg drop gets 2 for for God's (re)gift(ed). Page is back up and he has some knife-edge chops for QT. Page's attempt at an Irish whip is reversed into a back elbow, but QT runs the ropes only to be wheel kicked by Page. It gets 2 but the pin is broken up by Young. Page thanks him with an enzugiri. Page makes a charge at QT who has crawled his way into the corner but gets back body dropped over the top rope; he landed on his feet however and is elbowed by Page into a MANLY lariat from Silas Young. Young wrestles Page to the top rope and is looking for a superplex--but Adam won't give it to him easy. QT is up and gets into position to powerbomb Young, completing the tower of doom. Silas is somewhat opposed to this plan so he bites QT on the face to make him let go. the distraction lets Page push Young off and dive for a cross-body; Young dodges, but QT takes the full impact. Page sweeps Young's legs and then...hesitates while QT gets into position...then dropkicks Marshal and lands a shooting star press on Young all in the same move!!! Cool innovative spots are awesome as long as they don't seem awkward over choreographed, QT is the veteran--Page is green, it's on QT to make sure he's where he needs to be. QT bounces of the ropes and breaks Page's pin up at 2. QT tries to toss Page but he again lands on the apron and back body drops Marshal to the floor. Young grabs Page and hits a rolling fireman's carry slam, but he takes to much time showboating with a headstand on the top turnbuckle and his springboard moonsault misses. Page goes up top and signals for the Shooting star press, but QT pushes him of the top all the way to floor. Marshal comes in and OFF COME THE ELBOW PADS. He turns around ready to clean house but gets caught in the "Last Real Man's" small package for the 3 count! **3/4 Run of the mill 3-way. This result means that Silas Young qualified as Tomasso Ciampa's
ROH Tag Team Title: reDRagon (c) VS The Forever Hooligans
Kevin Kelly questions what reDRagon's motive for making this a title match could be. Code of Honor is adhered to. Fish and Romero in to start and the crowd is firmly behind the Hooligans. We begin with some chain wrestling. Fish briefly gains position on Romero and slaps the back of his head to some decent heel heat, but is made to pay for it when Romero reverses their positions and gives it back to him 10-fold. Fish keeps trying to escape Rocky's waist lock but he won't let go. Fish gets to his feet but is thrown back to the mat. Realizing breaking the hold was more effort then it was worth Fish made the ropes to force the break. Bobby gets in a cheap shot on the break but whiffs on a roundhouse. Romero takes him down with a dropkick and does a little jig to celebrate. Koslov is tagged and enters the ring with a splash that gets 2. Fish rakes the eyes to get away and tags in Kyle O'Reilly, but he finds no greater success then his partner. O'Reilly whips Koslov into the ropes, but Koslov back flips over him and puts him down with a dropkick. Fish is knocked of the apron and O'Reilly is tossed. Koslov picks up speed for a dive out onto O'Reilly but is cut off by Fish. Koslov is Irish whipped but he ducks Fish on two passes and dives out onto O'Reilly at full speed! Romero comes in illegally and Fish Irish whips him towards the side of the ring Koslov and O'Reilly are at. Romero catches himself in the ropes and holds himself there. Fish charges and ends up on the floor. New rule Bobby, stop Irish whipping these guys, it keeps backfiring on you. Suicide Dive by Romero takes out both members of reDRagon and the Hooligans stand tall as we fade to commercial
back with Koslov holding O'Reilly in an arm bar and tagging Romero into the match. The Hooligans double whip O'Reilly into the corner and Romero scores a running clothesline. Koslov was following to do the same but had to stop dead in his tracks because Romero turned around to hit another...and another...and another. Finally Koslov has enough of waiting for his turn and turns Romero around for an argument--pushing and shoving ensues and they raise there fists to fight. Suddenly they drop their guard and hug it out in the middle of the ring to a huge ovation from the crowd. It's an atomic drop and a clothesline for O'Reilly when Fish comes out of nowhere with a clothesline on Romero. Fish's facials when the ref admonishes him are great (who, me?). O Reilly chucks Koslov outside and Fish kills him with a full speed tackle into the barricade. O'Reilly hits his trademark running dropkick from the apron to the corner of the barricade and Koslov is out. Fish is beating on Romero in the ring but is forced to leave by the ref and be tagged in so he's legal. Where the fuck is that officiating when my head's exploding about no-one keeping track of who the legal man is! Snap suplex gets 2 for Fish. Tag to O'Reilly and reDRagon double teams Romero. A Running knee from Fish, running knee from O'Reilly, tilt-a-whirl back breaker by Fish and a diving knee drop off the top from O'Reilly all in quick succession get a very close two count. O'Reilly locks on the abdominal stretch, then rolls it into another near fall as Rocky desperately needs a tag. Tag to Fish who enters with a senton. Fish takes his sweet time before pinning Romero for 2. Fish keeps on the beat down but is arrogant and gives Romero an opening. Fish catches a kick from Romero, and then dodges the enzugiri that came next--but he was caught by the mule kick coming back the other way. O'Reilly comes in illegally to try and stop the tag but Romero just pushes him off and makes the hot tag to Koslov. The Russian is a house of fire, flying all over the place and neutralizing both his opponents. O'Reilly is drop-kicked to the outside and Fish suffers an enzugiri. Koslov signals for Romero to toss him his Russian hat; Rocky obliges and Koslov dons the cap. He gets the crowd clapping so he has a rhythm then starts alternating between squats and some nasty looking kicks to the back of the sitting Bobby Fish's head. Koslov runs the ropes and STANDING DOUBLE STOMPS FISH'S FACE INTO THE MAT! Even Nigel freaked out at that one. Romero comes in to even the numbers but is cut off by a combo of O'Reilly strikes. He tries for a rolling elbow but Romero just uppercuts him dead on the approach. O'Reilly takes a Dooms-Knee-Device from the Hooligans and rolls to the outside. Romero hops into his partners arms and Koslov runs him into Fish knee first. Romero signals for the end and lands a cradle tombstone on Fish. Koslov looks to put the finishing touches on it with a gorgeous shooting star press--but Romero celebrated too early and didn't see O'Reilly jumping back in the ring to save the match and he's able to break up the pin at 2. O'Reilly takes out Romero with a Roundhouse, Koslov knocks out O'Reilly with an enzugiri, and Bobby Fish uses his last bit of strength to land a back drop driver on Koslov and now everybody is dead in the ring. Double tags to O'Reilly and Romero and they do the boo/yay spot. Romero jumps a leg sweep and nails O'Reilly with a jumping Knee, so Kyle gives him one of his own (seriously was Triple H the road agent for this match?). Fish comes in and the two take turns kicking Romero till a textbook bridging fisherman suplex from O'Reilly is broken up by Koslov. The Russian is tossed and O'Reilly hits Romero with a Yakuza Kick. Total elimination only gets 2 for reDRagon but Romero is clearly in trouble. O'Reilly lifts him for Chasing the Dragon, but Koslov trips Fish from the outside behind O'Reilly's back. Romero escapes the brainbuster and hauls O'Reilly down with a backslide that gets the three count while Koslov holds Fish back! You're winners and NEW ROH world tag-team champions are the Hooligans, may their reign last Forever! **** Knee heavy, yes--but this was just plain fun. Fish and O'Reilly look like dorks for losing after they decided to put the belts back on the line--but I have a sneaking suspicion they'll regain the tag titles at Manhattan Mayhem on August 10th anyway.
All in all a great show--you should fast forward through Nigel and Inside ROH this week, but all of the actual wrestling was pretty great.
Legend of Zelda is one of the greatest games of all time, let alone the 80s.
ReplyDeleteDitto on the Zelda (original Gold NES and the SNES was OK)--wow, just wow. RC Pro Am on NES, as well as Contra and Baseball Simulator 2000. Mario's were always fun too. The original Sonic on Genesis was cool (and I also fell into the Street Fighter hype in 92). My favorite guilty pleasure was Toe Jam and Earl.
ReplyDelete"You're winners and NEW ROH world tag-team champions are the Hooligans, may their reign last Forever!"
ReplyDeleteOh man you are NOT going to be happy.
Couldn't get enough of Joe Montana Sports Talk 94 on the Genesis (and not because the console pack came with a free seat cushion). Madden 93 is also a top favorite.
ReplyDeleteI had a Sega Master System, and games like Out Run, Shinobi and Thunder Blade kept me up late all the time. Had a game called Teddy Boy which was, for lack of a better term, destructive to one's psyche.
Minimal Atari experience here, so let's go NES.
ReplyDelete5: Legend of Zelda: I've never beaten this game. Then again, I've never played it long enough to do so. This, along with Zelda II and Link to the Past are near the top of my extensive backlog.
4: Ducktales: Tough, but fair... also coming out soon on the PSN as an updated version.
3: Final Fantasy: Has its issues, but it did save Square and create a dynasty that is still going. (No comment on the direction though.)
2: Super Mario 3: Mario recovers from an underrated SMB2 with this beauty. Without this, there's no Super Mario World to give the SNES a great start.
1: Tecmo Super Bowl: Tecmo Bo SMASH other puny NES games. Also, this and SNES's Super Tecmo Bowl are the only two games with Bobby Hebert as Saints QB.
If I felt like taking some time, I could easily expand this to 20+. Also, this Top 5 is quite nitpicky... like comparing a 9.998 to a 9.996
One should watch spoilers in these parts...and I remind you I'm from Toronto
ReplyDeleteJust trying to prepare him that's all. When is ROH's next TV tapings out of curiosity? Are they going to have to do a string of Road Rage episodes after this set is done?
ReplyDeleteI AM him! :p
ReplyDeleteIf we want to go SNES/GEN...
ReplyDelete5: King's Bounty: Nice little medieval/fantasy game for the Sega. Buy/recruit an army, some siege equipment, and some spells... search the world for treasures and villains, and find something I can't remember to win the game.
4: PGA Tour I/II/III/Euro: The early versions of what would become EA's Tiger Woods/Masters series are quite fun, and created one of the funniest inside jokes from my youth.
3: Uncharted Waters 2: Koei made some EXCELLENT strategy/sim games during this period. PTO, Gemfire, Aerobiz, and others, and UW2 is probably the best of the lot
2: Super Mario World: So damn fun, so lovely... and it still holds up extremely well today.
1: Chrono Trigger. Greatest. RPG. Ever.
This list could probably go past 50, and is probably my favorite era of gaming.
I didn't have a video game console until I was 7 in 89 so I can't speak on Atari but I'll still play super Mario bros today. That's the game I loved the most until I got older and started playing sports video games. NHL 94 on the genesis was pretty fucking awesome too. Especially that post season awards banquet
ReplyDeletePitfall was my favorite Atari game, but I mostly played my Intellivision and Commodore 64. I got my grandmother hooked on Burger Time back in the day. She played that all the time. I even downloaded Burger Time to a (non-smart) phone a few years back. I'm annoyed there isn't a version of the game available through the iTunes store. I do, however, obsessively play the updated version of Pitfall on my iPad.
ReplyDeleteOnce I got Double Dragon and Double Dragon II on the Commodore, though, that was all I played for a good long while, until I got a GameBoy.
Duck tales was fun as hell
ReplyDeleteBOO! BOO!!! We want ReDRagon!
ReplyDeleteI only ever played Duck Tales through its Game Boy port. I went through A LOT of AA batteries trying to beat that thing.
ReplyDeleteI think O'Reilly may have a boarder crossing issue, I've attended the last 5 shows in Toronto and O'Reilly wasn't booked for ANY of them--it was an angle on the website that they were protesting losses the last two times. Long story short they needed the belts off reDRagon to get them into Canada
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, I couldn't get enough of Bump n' Jump and Keystone Kapers. I spent many hours playing those two games.
ReplyDeleteOther favorites included Pitfall! and Pele's Championship Soccer.
However, my favorite Atari game ever was the Indiana Jones game. I concur with "Asshole" on that. What a fucking great game that was.
1980s (in no particular order):
ReplyDelete1. The Legend of Zelda (duh)
2. River Raid - Atari 2600
3. Castlevania II (yeah, it's the black sheep of the NES titles, but I loved that game)
4. Super Mario Bros.
5. Shinobi (Sega Master System)
I could probably make a My Top 50 for 1990s games, but if I had to squeeze it down to five (once again in no particular order)...:
1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
3. Final Fantasy VII
4. Chrono Trigger
5. Conker's Bad Fur Day
Started gaming on PCs (mostly my dad's old work PCs that were woefully out of date) in the early 90s. Didn't own a console until my parents got an Atari 7800 from a garage sale in 1995; it wasn't until getting a Dreamcast in late 1999 that I had a console that was state-of-the-art.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely the game i remember the most as a kid was Wolfenstein 3D on PC. Blasting the crap out of Nazis never gets old. (Also, was it me or did the brown-suited guards sound like they were saying "Hotdog!" whenever they saw you?)
I haven't sat down and thought about it but i'd say of my top 20 games of all time at least 8 of them will be Zelda games
ReplyDeleteOh sorry dude, should have paid more attention to the article's author.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm going to ROH's Alabama debut in early September. They also have a show in Tennessee so those will be the final stops until DBD and the title tourney conclusion. Adam Cole and Roddy Strong have a gimmick 2 out of 3 falls match which should be good, and Bennett is only going to the AL show so it should be interesting if the crowd gives him crap for the Whitmer botch.
ReplyDeleteTecmo Bowl bitches!
ReplyDeletehaha, It's no problem--I'm just always happy to hear from readers
ReplyDeleteThat Strong Cole match is what I presume the blow off to their feud is
ReplyDeleteMike Bennet's new finish HAS to be a pile-driver at this point--think of the HEAT he'll get (now that we know BJ is gonna be fine)
Since we're talking about 80's specifically, the list is endless. Super Mario Bros., Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania, TMNT The Arcade Game (Arcade cabinet came out in '89), SMB2, Double Dragon, Contra, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mega Man 1 and 2, Duck Tales... man, I miss the NES...
ReplyDeleteWhat, did you think I wrote this?
ReplyDeleteWell friends:
ReplyDeletehttp://greatgatsbygame.com/
http://www.virtualnes.com/
you're welcome!
The Providence show was a ton of fun. This main event was awesome and next week's six man is great too. I am glad the crowd came across so well on TV...the place was pretty packed and rowdy the whole night through.
ReplyDeleteNice review, as always! Proud to have you as part of PTB Nation, Kyle.
Isn't O'Reilly Canadian? I swear he's from Vancouver.
ReplyDeleteBig on Keystone Kapers and Pitfall 2. Also Joust, Warlords, Pheonix, Battle Zone and Mario Bros all on 2600.
ReplyDeleteAnother good review. Thomas is easily the most improved wrestler this year, in fact I don't see how anyone else can even be considered. He went from being by far and away the worst wrestler on American TV to pretty decent in the span of about 6 months.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't get into Joust on Atari, even as a kid. It's the same problem I had with Pac-Man, it was a much shittier version compared to the arcade. I did love the Ms. Pac-Man derivative on Atari though. Different boards!
ReplyDeleteThat's why it's weird he's NEVER booked in Canada.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he can enter Canada fine--I'm wondering if he's hiding something that would keep him from going BACK to the USA
That's it--I'm getting it over
ReplyDeleteThe ACH effect
definition: when a shitty wrestler becomes better simply by standing near a superior one
Yeah, the NES was something else. It's so hard to come up with a top 5, but somewhere on that list, i'd have to place the original Metal Gear.
ReplyDeleteOh, I see what you mean. Or maybe there's a warrant out for him up there or something.
ReplyDeleteChrono Trigger is one of those games I've heard about my entire life and never played. Is it a better RPG than FF7? I loved FF7. Still holds the record for the longest I ever played a video game. 12 hours straight one Saturday when I was 13. I couldn't get enough.
ReplyDeletePost it on Urban Dictionary.
ReplyDeleteI feel like something as dramatic as an arrest Warrent would be easy to find online. Do Canadians need work visas to stay in the USA, cause his might just be expired
ReplyDeleteI just checked Wiki--He's currently not listed under any Canadian promotions roster. It's just a lame brain conspiracy theory but it's as good an explanation for his American exclusivity as any
Rick Dangerous
ReplyDeleteUnder review at their fine website now
ReplyDeleteFor NES, I loved Castlevania, Wizards & Warriors, Blades of Steel, Baseball Stars, Super Tecmo Bowl, Mike Tyson's Punchout, Excitebike, and a little known game about the Civil War called North and South.
ReplyDeleteThanks, as always!
ReplyDeleteHe may have improved, but he is still terrible. He was brutally awful in this match. His kicks either missed by a foot or landed awkwardly. I thought the whole match was a bit of a clusterfuck.
ReplyDeleteWho is the super dork they have doing the house show announcements? They are owned by a television broadcasting company and that is the best guy they can find to do promos?
ReplyDeleteStrong/Cole should be awesome. I know several folks around here aren't big Roddy fans, but I really dig his stuff. And Cole just keeps getting better and better. Especially as they start to let his smarmy heel side out.
ReplyDeleteCome on, they're owned by a TV production company and they couldn't figure live broadcasting out--SBG is useless
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't brutally awful and his kicks looked fine to me...now his moonsault, that was sloppy as fuck
ReplyDeleteThe obvious classics: SMB1, Zelda, Tetris. My favorite arcade game was also from the 80s: Galaga. Every time I see a Galaga arcade cabinet, I get pulled to it like one of those enemies that has the tractor beam that lets you get captured, only to free it later for double the firepower....@_@
ReplyDeleteI just recently fired up the old NES to play North and South. The cavalry fights are still hilarious.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I didn't think the 2 jobbers looked good at all, they seemed to be missing their cues a lot.
ReplyDeleteRoddy is actually going through a face turn right now though. Which is fine because Cole is the one who needs a character change.
ReplyDeleteLot of the same ones I'll mention but here goes for NES games (although I'll go into the 90s too as I didn't get an NES until 88.)
ReplyDeleteSMB1 (When I was finally able to beat World 8-1 without running out of time, that might have been my BIGGEST VICTORY EVER~!!!)
SMB3 (Not really a huge fan of 2...3 was epic, and really had a lot of replayability to beat the worlds you didn't need to beat the game and find all the cool stuff.
Tecmo Bowl (My brother and I were so good at this game, we had to ban the "cheat" plays and play to 3-0 and 6-3 games)
Paperboy (FUN!!)
R.C. Pro Am (one of the coolest racing games ever IMO, goofy and fun)
Tecmo Super Bowl (Still a game I play today, being able to keep stats for an entire season just drove this to the stratosphere).
R.B.I Baseball (catchy music, just overall fun gameplay)
'90's SNES
Super Mario Kart (obvious reasons)
Super Mario World (obvious reasons)
Tecmo Super Bowl SNES Version (interesting feature of being able to play 3 different seasons, which was kind of cool)
NHL '94 (my favorite hockey game of all time)
Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 (EXTREMELY goofy game, but awesome)
Top Gear 1 and 2
I'm partial to Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge.
ReplyDeleteCole is the one I was talking about. His cocky, smug heel act in PWG is a ton of fun, and he is starting to lean that way in ROH.
ReplyDeletetakin' a break here so i'll throw in another arcade one i thought of:
ReplyDeletehyper sports!!!!
I played the shit outta that at my putt-putt back in the day. when i messed around with emulators a few years ago, that was one i made sure to track down.
also, quartet. another great arcade classic from the 80's that i also made sure was in the emulator
Damn I need to pay more attention to what people actually say here. This is the second time I've screwed up.
ReplyDeleteIt's cause Chikara sucks and the guys there don't actually know how to wrestle, hence the gimmicks and multi-man matches.
ReplyDeleteAdam Cole is a guy people should be watching. He's probably the biggest prospect in the independents. Who else does RoH have that WWE would possibly be interested in?
ReplyDeleteThat's literally the most touching episode of the Simpsons.
ReplyDeleteLiterally, like it touched me.
I was on some wild stuff brotha.
(this is my new thing, using literally wrong on purpose)
Using this doll as you, point out where the episode touched you.
ReplyDeleteHe has touched the groin region of the doll, for those who could not see. No further questions, your honor.
On an off note, I recently sold my Super NES on eBay. It netted almost as much as a 360. I was very (pleasantly) surprised.
ReplyDeleteThen looking through the games I had, and.....yeah, the Super NES was awesome:
Super Mario RPG
Super Mario All-Stars
Spider-Man/Venom in Maximum Carnage
Mr. Do! (one of my favorite arcade games)
Tetris Attack (incredibly addictive)
MKII (at the time, a flawless port, moreso than the crappy Genesis one)
TMNT IV: Turtles in Time
Good gravy those were some bangin' games.
I was a hair young for NES but I had a SNES. I was definitely a major Mortal Kombat fan, and also Street Fighter 2 Turbo, as well as Killer Instinct and The Art of Fighting. A few other favorites were Harley's humongous Adventures, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Super Mario World, Chuck Rock, and surprisingly, the Home Alone game.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember a lot of the games I used to love at the arcade, but one that stands out was Lucky & Wild, where you drove & shot a gun at the same time. Other than that I spent a lot of time playing Skee ball or pinball. And later on, NFL Blitz.
Ciampa, they HAD him under a developmental deal once and he's light years better now then he was then
ReplyDeleteI assure you, Mike Quackenbush knows how to wrestle, and so does Eddie Kingston for that matter
ReplyDeleteMaybe Elgin. But they already have Big E, so I don't know that they would need both of them, even though Elgin is miles better.
ReplyDeletevirtual snes sir. Google it.
ReplyDeleteElgin is trapped in a body to fat for Vince and Two short for Japan, though he looked like he had cut mass amounts of fat in Toronto this past Saturday (to the amount he wasn't using a singlet) so who knows
ReplyDeleteACH. Maybe Steen just on mic skills alone, but he'd have to lose a lot of weight.
ReplyDeleteI'll say this: the first time I saw Dragon's Lair, I was moderately aroused. And that was at the age of 10.
ReplyDeleteBetter ad the Briscoes and The Wolves as a team while we're here
ReplyDeleteI think the most touching episode is Bart Sells His Soul.
ReplyDeleteUntil he nearly ruins another dude's career again, right?
ReplyDeleteOh man, Zombies Ate My Neighbors was fucking incredible. It had fantastic music, atmosphere, and game play. I haven't played the game in probably 19 years, but I could still recite a ton of the music. It also had a seemingly infinite number of levels. I never beat it.
ReplyDeleteBobJackson was a beast!
ReplyDeleteHe's heading towards Hogan's hairdo though, so he has that going for him.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right now that I think about it. But I think for me, as a gamer, and a kid who's parents didn't make a ton of money, or play games, or even UNDERSTAND what I liked games so much, it was super touching because Bart's mom bought him a video game, and even though it was the wrong one, Bart is still thankful for his mom and family.
ReplyDeleteSells his soul is great, too - though I think my favorite line in recent memory, and I can't remember where it's from, is lisa saying something like "I'm a feminist, I can find a reason to support anything!" it was hilarious.
My grandpa had a PC in the early-mid 90's, before I got my own, and everytime we'd go over there I'd always play Wolfenstein. It was only the demo, but I loved it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Doom II. Man, that was a hell of a game. When I got my own computer I got Diablo, and I loved that.
ReplyDeleteI also had a Dreamcast too. Definetly a classic. I actually broke it out again 6 months ago because I discovered I had an early model and could burn games for it no problem. So I played the Resident Evil 2 & 3 ports instead of plunking down $60 for the GameCube ones.
Disagree completely.
ReplyDeleteBig E has loads more charisma and mic ability than Elgin, plus a much better look in general.
Was Bo on the first one? I legit forget. I thought only Marcus Allen was on the first one, but it's been a loooong time, so I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Steen losing weight, anybody following the Steen/Cornette beef?
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't know if WWE needs an ACH. TNA will probably try him though.
And Claudio and Hero were good too. Hell, I have a huge soft spot for Chuck Taylor (almost as big as Taylor's soft spot). Chikara has talent, but most of the roster is in Chikara for a reason.
ReplyDeleteMost of Chikara is doughy indy goofs who couldn't make it in actual promotions. I'm talking about the Colony and Ophidian and those losers.
Yeah that would pretty much be the end of him being allowed to wrestle ever again--think of it as incentive not to fuck it up.
ReplyDeleteTetris. But only the original, rarer Tengen version (black cartridge). Pretty much an exact representation of the arcade version and beat the ever-loving shit out of the Nintendo-produced knockoffs.
ReplyDeleteI half agree with you, I enjoyed Chaikara shows, but that's cause they always got more out of their talent then they actually had--Quack has a real nack for smoke and mirrors.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, what was up with that ending to the last Chikara show
A friend had one of those and we played the hell out of it. It's worth like $300 these days?
ReplyDeleteI think the last level took place at Lucasarts (the company that made it)!
ReplyDeleteMy friends and I all had C64s and we loved Great Gianna Sisters, the Mario ripoff that Nintendo sued the pants off.
ReplyDeleteYep, that game blew everyone's mind. YOU ARE PLAYING A CARTOON. Then you play it and realize you are just selecting a single action every so often.
ReplyDeleteOur arcade had monitors at the entrance that showed a couple of games being played and the Dragon's Lair monitor would draw a crowd of shoppers like it was a movie or something.
CT is the pinnacle of 16bit, 2d japanese rpgs. Great story, characters, music, combat system, etc.
ReplyDeleteLawrence Taylor!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_80PQ543rM
ReplyDeleteAnd Caliber gives the most uninteresting answer of all time with SF&MKII. I won't rag you too much since you're just a baby and you don't know shit.
ReplyDeleteTapper: This game was usually found in bars, but somehow ended up in my Chuck E Cheese (well they DO serve beer). Anyway, the controls were a joystick and a beer tap. You were a little bartender serving beer to thirsty patrons.
Time Pilot - You were a plane flying around, each level was a different time period. WWI, WWII, Vietnam. If you could make it to the future, you were a badass. I could.
Jr. Pacman - For some reason you see Ms Pac-Man in every arcade to this day, but there were several other games including the bizarre pinball hybrid, Baby Pac-Man. Jr. was the best of the spinoffs. It was a typical Pac-Man game, but the board was too big for the screen and scrolled when you got to one of the sides.
The Capcom DuckTales games ruled. Speaking of Disney, did anyone play any of the awesome Genesis games like Aladdin?
ReplyDeleteHa, I still own my SNES and bought a top loader NES a couple of years ago, so I'm good with the games I have.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Aladdin was sick. Still never beat it, though. Stupid cave level always got me for some reason.
ReplyDeleteProbably my favorite 8-bit song ever.
ReplyDeleteYeah I played a fair bit of Aladdin it was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteChrono Trigger was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteSpace Ace, too... all those laserdisc-based games
ReplyDeleteI had an Intellivision and it was pretty rad for the pre-NES days. The different controller templates for each game were cool. We even had the Intellivoice with Bomb Squad and B-17 Bomber. We had an Atari too - I honestly can't remember which model, we got it later on in the 80s.. We had hardly any games for that.
ReplyDeletenow that i have a moment ima throw in some atari 2600 answers:
ReplyDelete- raiders of the lost ark, duh. you had to trigger the yar to get the easter egg
- adventure. YOU WERE A FUCKING SQUARE. and speaking of easter eggs, the egg was A FUCKING DOT. awesome
- keystone kapers - i forget how far i got, but i know it involved like 3 balls, 3 shopping carts, 3 radios, and planes that come faster than a virgin his 1st time
- impossible mission: MOTHERFUCKER LITERALLY WAS IMPOSSIBLE. the code had a bug in it that placed necessary puzzle pieces behind non-searchable items
- STAR RAIDERS~~~~~
- skate boardin' and super skate boardin'
- never played the x-rated games since i was a wee 'hole, but halloween is funny when the babysitter runs around with no head and blood squirting from the hole
- x-man... must be seen to be believed
whered you get 5 bucks? i want 5 bucks
ReplyDeletethe one you call milhouse is not here... he's at his grandmothers while we spray for potato bugs
I think he was just talking ring work (as one would expect and ROH fan to do)
ReplyDeletewait, is there more to follow about Steen--Cornette
ReplyDeleteI never did either. It just kept fucking going! My stepdad got into the upper hundreds though.
ReplyDelete3 Downvotes? Really?
ReplyDeleteDownvotes are the new upvotes.
ReplyDeletePretty sure he was on first one but alcohol, drugs, and time have dilluted the brain.
ReplyDeleteWhat is statutory rape of hookers and coke use Mr Trebeck.
ReplyDeleteI had an Intellivision. Infinitely superior to Atari, but didn't have the press or a lot of the good licenses. The overlay idea for the controllers was neat, but the controllers SUCKED! The side buttons were hard to press and the control disk broke easily.
ReplyDeleteWas Adventure the one that had two different cartridges?
ReplyDeleteYeah it's true about the side buttons and the reason that we stopped playing it was because I broke all of the control disks.
ReplyDeleteIn short, apt points.
Loved Burger Time on Intellivision. Many hours wasted on that.
ReplyDeleteHe would need a visa, but no way would ROH just roll with him working illegally. They'd be on the hook for major fines.
ReplyDeleteCastlevania 2 was FAR superior to the first. That game was so damn good. Of course, this is from my 10 year old's memory..
ReplyDeleteAlso, if we are talking NES, I was all about Baseball Simulator 1000 (space stadium, anyone?), a game that had horrible gameplay, but a great story (Shadowgate), and my original "gotta get it NOW or my head will explode" game: Double Dragon (which was also my favorite arcade game of all time).
Gee, guys, there was a period in the 80s before 1989, you know?
ReplyDeleteI was a PC gamer (Apple and C64) from way back (born in 1975) and I would mention the following :
M.U.L.E. - So incredibly ahead of its time it is unbelievable, and still holds up as a multi-player game.
Hardball - Great baseball simulator.
Dragonriders of Pern - Combination of strategy and action - helped if you were a fan of the books.
Bard's Tale 1,2,3 - Classic adventure D & D-style games.
Arcarde games :
Gauntlet - The most addictive, money-sucking game you could possible imagine.
Elgin is not comparable to Big E at all though. Compared to most ROH guys he is but he's only like 5'9, 245. He couldn't throw guys around in WWE.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. I can blaze through the original in about an hour now, but it's still fun. The SNES one was the greatest of all though.
ReplyDeleteI'll second that on Keystone Kapers. Just a kick ass fun game, and a great way to waste time. The Atari had a lot of shitty games, but some fun classics. Pretty much any of the Activision games were simply fantastic for the time. Plaque Attack, Barnstorming, Kaboom, Freeway and others, just fantastic times in the 80s. Hell, I still have my 2600 hooked up and it works perfectly, almost 40 years old for that system, got mine in 77. Just so many memories of great gaming fun, who says we need cutting edge graphics for a great game, just give us great gameplay and we can be happy.
ReplyDeleteWell apparently on of the major issues was Steen gaining a good chunk of the weight back after his initial hiatus. Steen says the reason he gained it back was having to deal with Cornette. Jim also says Steen will be crippled in the next few years.
ReplyDeleteSuch a fun game, can't wait to pick it up on the PS3 later this month. Saving my money for Fan Expo Canada first, then some new game purchases for the fall. :-)
ReplyDeleteSorry, have to disagree about Castlevania II, always hated that one in the series. III was fantastic and the SNES one was amazing, I is just a classic, but II was just to RPG oriented for me.
ReplyDeleteTo add to your great computer game list, I had an Apple //c back in the day, any of the amazing Infocom classics have to be on any great game list. Zork, Plundered Hearts, Ballyhoo, Nord & Bert, etc. Also Apple Cider Spider, Apple Panic and Hard Hat Mack. We can't forget about one of the greatest game companies of the 80s, Sierra On Line, which gave us King's Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Goldrush, Manhunter and others. Great classic adventures that kept me busy for hours as a kid.
ReplyDeleteIf you want hours of reading, go to advgamer.blogspot.com (playthrough and commentary of classic adventure games) or crpgaddict.blogspot.com (where his project is to play for at least 6 hours of EVERY Computer Role-Playing Game EVER made).
ReplyDeletenope. not quite sure how that would be achieved on 2600 etc since there was no way to save games
ReplyDeletesome games like raiders and star raiders required bot joysticks, tho (or in the case of the latter, the 2nd port in which to plug a nifty button pad thingie used to maps and stuff
i remember the baby pacman hybrid thing.
ReplyDeletealso, remember pacman land (iirc)? it was a bonerfied (huh huh) side scroller where pac-dog and the ghosts looked not unlink their mexican non-union equivalents from the cartoon
i also remember those table top versions of games like pacman and space invaders where you could sit and eat yer pizza and shit at the skate rink, and then play the game where the screen would flip for each player on either side
ReplyDelete'Then you play it and realize you are just selecting a single action every so often.'
ReplyDeletestill hard as balls, tho!
my freshman roomie bought it for his pc when it came out in that format in like 94, and we both beat in a night. he promptly returned it to compusa and got something like tie fighter
/gimmick off
He passed away a few years ago next week. I miss him. :(
/gimmick on
fuck you whoever downvotes me for this, cause i know its comin'
i really felt left out cuase i didnt have a nintendo. in 6th grade some dude started a little zine for the class and there was gonna be a nintendo section with tips like contra code and a-b-b-a and stuff that i never understood
ReplyDeleteso i never got to know the joy of gold zelda cartridge, finding warp world in smb, learning you had to fight bald bull twice in mt punch, or wondering why i could never get the dam plane to land in top gun
oh oh oh mr kotter mr kotter!!!
ReplyDeletewhich of you brahs remembers the JOURNEY arcade game?
bump n jump was awesome. that was the one where you pushed a button and got filled up with fart air or somethin' or right?
ReplyDeletevery important strategy question:
ReplyDeletepitfall: forwards or backwards?
Hardball kicked ass!
ReplyDeleteNinja Gaiden is still my all time favorite video game (1989). Recently I have been playing through the Mega Man games and haveing a damn fun time.
ReplyDeleteyeah, mrs fandango, er, pacman sold like a bazillion copies. we didnt actually have pacman, we had the missus
ReplyDeleteBo was on the first one, he had one run and one pass play. I am actually a rare case of someone who prefers Tecmo Bowl to Tecmo Super Bowel. I usually try to play a season each year.
ReplyDeleteMega Man as a series: Top 5 all-time
ReplyDeleteMega Man 2 is the closest to my Top 5 as a single game.
I know the game you're thinking of... but I'm drawing a blank on its name right now.
ReplyDeleteHere it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWltQ9UN5vE&list=SP2B009153AC977F90&index=85
All of those Sierra quest games were awesome. Major, major part of my youth.
ReplyDeleteThe disappointment in my young face after my Grandma spent $60 (in 1982!) at Sears for Pac-Man probably didn't make her too happy. I felt ripped off. I was 8, sue me. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's the one.
ReplyDeleteIn fact I've just downloaded HQ1 because I haven't played in it years.
ReplyDeleteThat was the Super Mario ripoff that used the 80's cartoon Pac-Man?
ReplyDeleteI've noticed you get this one dv for everything you post...
ReplyDeleteApparently you HAVE to use the bottom tunnels as short cuts to get all the treasures in time.
ReplyDeleteI had to re-read your post to make sure you were not talking about literally shitting at the skating rink. Or is it figuratively? DAMN YOU CM PUNK!
ReplyDeleteI can believe that dealing with Cornette would make anyone stress-eat themselves into a larger size. As for being crippled: How much high-risk stuff does Steen do? (Aside from that cannonball in the corner.) Tommy Dreamer did a TON of crazy shit over his career, and he's walking around just fine (to my knowledge) Someone tell that redneck yapping dog Cornette to hush.
ReplyDeleteI first heard "3.0" and thought "ROH SIGNED MIKE SANDERS WHOOOOOOOOOO!" Then two guys I didn't know shit about came out and I got a little depressed. Then they had a great match with the Letter People and now I hope they stick around for a while.
ReplyDeleteTD's kicks still need a little work, but the ACH osmosis is clearly making him a better wrestler. Hopefully they'll get some title shots instead of Iesha and Shaniqua.
God's Punishment gets buried on the mic, then looks like an idiot by getting rolled up by "Wrestling's Last Real Man". Next step: Have him lose a "loser retires forever" match to Adam Page and let's move on with our lives. The only bad news is Silas is getting run over by Tommasso. I wouldn't mind seeing Silas take the TV title off Taven.
And hipsteR Dorkchops lost the tag belts! That alone makes this a must-watch show.
Personally, I loved the scene where Bart found out that Milhouse had sold Bart's soul for ALF Pogs - "Remember ALF? He's back, in pog form".
ReplyDeleteI'd say that it's more likely that Steen will cripple someone else with that powerbomb on the edge of the ring.
ReplyDeleteNot as bad as the Atari 5200 controllers, which were of the same style and were even more fragile, plus the joystick didn't self-center. Piece of shit, easily the worst controller ever. Though the 3DO and original XBox (the big one) controllers are right up there. And the Master System, which has the shittiest D-pad I've ever come across.
ReplyDeleteYoung for the NES? I had one, and aren't you older than I am?
ReplyDeleteMetroid is the shit, all of them except the newest one, which was shit. Just wanny throw that out there.
ReplyDeleteFire Ant got screwed!
ReplyDeleteAnd how many of us had that one friend who always had the cool toys and never seemed to want to play with them. That episode was my childhood sans the thievery.
ReplyDeleteChrono Trigger was amazing, but Final Fantasy III (VI) is right up there with it for me. Love both of those games.
ReplyDeleteI think Chikara is worse for wrestling than CZW.
ReplyDeleteAnd what I heard is that Quack's wife, who actually owns the promotion, caught Mike moonsaulting somebody else, if you catch my drift.
Than he should specify.
ReplyDeleteAnd while Big E is green, that motherfucker is going places. He's charismatic, not that bad in the ring, athletic, strong, intense. Knows how to work the crowd and gimmick.
Michael Elgin is just the fat version of Roderick Strong.
Steen still does the senton bomb.
ReplyDeleteAnd just running around and bumping when you're that godamn fat is not healthy for you. Steen isn't even 30 and he has back and knee issues.
Cornette isn't wrong here.
Pac-Land came out the year before Super Mario Bros, it was pretty much the first side scrolling platformer as we know them.
ReplyDeleteGoddamn man, I've still never landed that fucking plane.
ReplyDeleteHow old are you Flamingo?
ReplyDeleteAnd uninteresting?! Dudes were getting LAID because they knew about the Shang Tsung Kintaro morph! This was during a time when the name Akuma was said under hushed breath, in the shadows.
I still have my SNES, and it works. Did you make that kind of money because you had a ton of games?
ReplyDeleteNo joke, I bought my best friend's soul for $5, 10 years ago. I found out about a week ago he was going to jail for heroin possession/forgery/robbery and he gave up the rights to his daughter.
ReplyDeleteI honestly feel bad for trading his soul for a pair of red & white checkered vans.
Boy, don't forget your Spaghetti & Moe Balls! *shut up fool, if he leaves, we can have it!* RUN BOY! RUN LIKE THE WIND!
ReplyDeleteOr when he finds out Milhouse has Bone Storm.
ReplyDelete"Woah! And I just entered my initials! Thrillhouse! *on screen THRILLHOU*
"Michael Elgin is just the fat version of Roderick Strong."
ReplyDeleteWhat now? They don't wrestle the same style...like, at all.
Well I played it at peoples houses & stuff. But I got an SNES when I was about 5 or 6, so I was firmly in the SNES era.
ReplyDeleteWhy, because Chikara was a goofy kid friendly promotion that the hipsters liked? Chikara wasn't hurting anybody living in it's own world--CZW is fucking disgraceful.
ReplyDelete"ROH SIGNED MIKE SANDERS WHOOOOOOOOOO!"
ReplyDeleteI knew who 3.0 where already; Who the Fuck is Mike Sanders?
"Above Average" Mike Sanders. WCW Power Plant guy, member of the Natural Born Thrillers. One of the few guys to come out of the Power Plant that didn't suck. His finisher was called the 3.0 (you know that back-to-back backbreaker Orton does? That move.)
ReplyDeleteHell, we even had an old Pong home game. It boasted 4 different games that were all basically identical.
ReplyDeleteI didn't use that much though, that was a holdover from my Dad and before my time.
"Above Average"
ReplyDeletehis nickname was "Above Average"
...he struck fear into his opponents with his "good but not great offence..."
Steen likes throwing himself through plunder, though he's cut back on the hardcore stuff since his son was born
ReplyDeleteSolid C+.
ReplyDeleteThis is the best news I've gotten all day.
ReplyDeleteI love the Zelda games. I finally started Twilight Princess a couple days ago (yeah, I'm a bit behind). And Link to the Past is my favorite game ever. I used to play through, then immediately restart it again, play through restart, etc. Couldn't get enough of that game.
ReplyDeletefor what, Mike Sanders or my comment!
ReplyDeleteSanders. It was kinda his thing, "Above Average" and all. (It worked for him; he was crusierweight champ in WCW. Wikipedia sez he's retired and doing stand-up comedy now.)
ReplyDeleteLate 80s, we got an NES that came packed with Mario/Duck hunt.
ReplyDeleteIn the 90's, when we got a Genesis, it came packed with a 6-Pack game that had Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, Super Hang-On, Goldenaxe, Columns and Shinobi. That cartridge was amazing because I loved every game on there. My younger sister and I played Streets of Rage all the way through so many times.
That Aladdin game was the shit. I played that game for years.
ReplyDeleteremember that ep of that 70s show when red and kelso mess with the pong machine to make it more challenging?
ReplyDeleteI started playing video games on the NES and I still think it's one of the greatest consoles of all time. So many classic games on the NES.
ReplyDeleteMy favorites include the obvious like Super Mario Bros, Tetris, Zelda, etc...
Some of the games that I loved that I haven't seen mentioned are:
Contra - Surprised nobody really talked about this one. I fucking loved this game although it kicked my ass on a constant basis.
Ninja Turtles 2 - Not as great as the arcade version of TMNT or Turtles in Time which came later, but this game was so much fun.
Master Blaster - A great platformer where you play as a truck with a cannon. I never really understood the plot (was there one?) but played this game endlessly as a kid.
For the Genesis era, I have to throw out two that I loved:
Toe Jam and Earl - Never beat this one, but I played it for hours and hours. I can remember getting super high up in the game, getting shot by the cupid that would turn your controls around and falling four or five levels down. I've seen it in the Playstation Network and thought about buying it, but I don't know if I want to go down that road. The sequel was completely different but also awesome.
Virtual Bart - This game is comprised of several mini games, but they were each a lot of fun in their own way. My favorite was one where it's school picture day and Bart is trying to hit all of his classmates with tomatoes to ruin the picture. Other fun games include Bart sliding down a water slide and trying to avoid different obstacles and one where you play as baby Bart and try to cross a series of clotheslines from one house to the next.
its satan, caps lock man... one o' them choads
ReplyDeletedef knew someone who had all the cool toys. 'its christmas? well of course i got the uss flagg and an extra skystriker!'
ReplyDeleteremember this one kid i knew who came to school one morning with some dude named serpentor he got at like jc pennies or seomthing when they sold toys. we had no clue who it was; turns out he had *just* been released
So you're not older than I am then. For some reason I thought you were about 35 or so.
ReplyDeleteI was a Genesis kid, but my best friend had an SNES and we played all the games you mentioned as well as Donkey Kong Country and the original Super Mario Kart. And of course WWF Raw, which we probably logged about 100 hours playing. The SNES was a fantastic system.
ReplyDeleteI've got them all on my laptop with Dosbox, great way to kick back with some classic 80s tunes and play Kings Quest 1. Still one of the most amazing adventure games ever.
ReplyDeleteThat was actually a pretty cool game for it's time. I really wasn't sure who Journey was back when I got it, but still played the hell out of it.
ReplyDeleteDon't honestly remember with the Atari or Coleco but the NES was the infamous Power Pad set. It came with the Zapper and the awful Power Pad, and the three games on one cartridge of Super Mario/Duck Hunt/World Class Track Meet. Didn't get another game for it for another year, but loved Duck Hunt.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to find an old school Pong system at a yard sale a few years ago. It's from about 71 or so, and had all the cables and everything, in amazing shape for 5$. Best part is it plays perfectly.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've still got my DC for the express purpose of playing Project Justice, which never got any ports to new systems. I also like to pop in Sonic Adventure on it from time to time, as a guilty pleasure.
ReplyDeleteI believe so, but comparable systems without as many games were going for only slightly less.
ReplyDeleteThere's a used vid store I frequent, and the owner tells me the hot system seller is the SNES. He says that it's b/c retro is in now, and the people purchasing them are reliving their younger years. The games themselves are considerably more than some of the older 360/PS3 games he sells. I almost sold him my SNES before I realized I could get more on eBay (and I was right).
Look, I hate garbage wrestling. But at least it's fucking wrestling. X hates Person Y so they throw them through plate glass. And CZW has created Adam Cole. What wrestler of talent has Chikara developed?
ReplyDeleteChikara isn't wrestling. It's ashamed of wrestling. Its wrestlers laughing at how stupid wrestling is, so they created their wannabe comic-book bullshit in order to not really be wrestling.
It's the whole stupid ironic thing that bothers the piss out of me. It's art without risk. If it succeeds, you're good, if it fails, well you weren't REALLY trying so you're good too.
CZW...at least there's artistic risk. It sucks. But they actually care about the product.
No charisma. No mic ability. They have workrate and MOVEZ, but no real psychology or character->ringwork.
ReplyDeleteIf you were to plug in a random Roddy match, could you tell if he's heel or face just by looking at what he did in the ring?
And while Elgin has only been face. Is there any facet to his character/ringwork than "Strong dude"?
Even Davey has the howl. Elgin has no mannerisms, no interaction, no nothing.
He's fat Roderick Strong. A vanilla dwarf.
Oh yeah Atari 5200 was the worst, which is a shame because they had some awesome games and the most perfect Pac-Man at the time.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what the last two sentences were talking about.
ReplyDelete"CZW...at least there's artistic risk. It sucks. But they actually care about the product."
ReplyDeleteBullshit, when Joe Shithead and Jack Douchebag have a Death match in CZW, they don't give a flying fuck about the "art of wrestling" or the product, they're in it to amuse their sick fucked up selves.
"Chikara isn't wrestling. It's ashamed of wrestling. Its wrestlers
laughing at how stupid wrestling is, so they created their wannabe
comic-book bullshit in order to not really be wrestling."
You so completely missed the point of Chikara it's astounding. It's not ashamed of what it is, everyone there LOVES wrestling--It's called an AFFECTIONATE parody for a reason, it's a celebration of this wacky sport we love. I don't begrudge you for not finding it funny--but don't question Quack's love of wrestling. Wrestling is FUN and absurd! It's a joke that we are all in on!
Watch that and tell me that company doesn't love wrestling--there's more real emotion in that one promo then every CZW show combined!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1AGjIQKxNE
"If you were to plug in a random Roddy match, could you tell if he's heel or face just by looking at what he did in the ring?"
ReplyDeleteYes, face Strong claps and yells for the audience, Heel Strong once told me to suck is dick and was a general douche--I've seen both live
"And while Elgin has only been face. Is there any facet to his character/ringwork than "Strong dude"?"
You mean other then the first half of his ROH career he spent as a heel under Truth Matini he's always been a face, yes he has. Other character trait is he is unstoppable--plus it's wrestling, what do you need past he's really fucking strong (it's working for Mark Henry)
"Even Davey has the howl. Elgin has no mannerisms, no interaction, no nothing."
Did you WATCH any of Elgin's I-PPV matches, the dude is fucking INTENSE with his mannerisms
Elgin vs Steen
Elgin vs Ciampa
even Elgin vs Richards, all had psychology from Elgin