TGWTG User Blogs

Give me a second.  I'm not usually right, so just let it sink in.

 Happiness.

Now internal gloating.

Now exhaustion.  OK, I'm done.

 I'm a big pro wrestling fan.  Now, here's the thing.  That stuff on TV you see these days, what with the leprechauns and the zombies and all that kind of chicanery?  That's not pro wrestling.  That's "sports entertainment".  I know that sounds like a hokey thing to say, but it's true.  It's basically a television show that just happens to have wrestling on it.  Yeah, that's how World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly World Wrestling Federation) kinda sorta always has been (even back in 1987 and 1997, when everyone loved pro wrestling), but many people are just disillusioned by what they see when they turn to "RAW" on Monday night.  It's become a self-parody.

Then you have Ring of Honor.

 I'm currently in Philadelphia, 187 miles from my home.  I'm in a swank hotel room (which is negated by the screaming metal death trap that is the elevator), typing this at 1:53 in the morning, and having just returned from the sole reason I took this trip and two similar trips in the past seven months--a Ring of Honor show.

 If you've ever been a wrestling fan, and you haven't heard about ROH, then I heartily apologize.  That's like a video game fan who's never played Psychonauts or a science-fiction fan who never saw Firefly.  You have no idea what you're missing.

ROH emphasizes the athleticism of the pseudo-sport, whereas WWE emphasizes the characters and storylines.  Don't get me wrong--ROH has stories, and some of them have sucked.  However, most of them don't, and they're almost completely told in that 18'x18' rope-encircled box.  You have not lived until you've seen a match like Samoa Joe VS. Kenta Kobashi, or "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson (considered by many to be the greatest professional wrestler walking this earth) VS. Austin Aries.  Guys like Joe, CM Punk, Matt Sydal, Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles--they all emblazoned their names in ROH, in some cases before TNA ever existed.

 Oh, and their major title means more than that glorified pinwheel you see on WWE these days.  In the past six-plus years, exactly ten men have held the ROH World Championship.  While the first two champions (Low Ki and Xavier) didn't do much with it, its true legacy started with Samoa Joe himself, who made himself a wrestling legend by holding the ROH World title an unheard-of-in-the-modern-era 645 days.  When Austin Aries beat him for it in the very last ROH match of 2004, he became an instant star.

 Then in June 2005, when CM Punk was getting ready to leave ROH for his WWE venture, his "last match" was for the World title.  After a match drowned by tears in the fans' eyes and chants of "CM PUNK!  CM PUNK!", Punk won the title.  He then cut one of the greatest promos in wrestling history and cemented his place as one of the best talkers in the business.

 I'm not going to go through the entire history of the belt now (mostly because I'm tired), but just know that, if in the past ten years, you've ever been a wrestling fan, only to feel "betrayed" by what you see on TV, maybe it's time to go beyond TV.  I'm not getting paid for this, I'm not being persuaded in any way--I'm just trying to show you an incredible alternative to what you're being given.  Go to ROHWrestling.com and feel free to check out a few of these DVDs.  If you have any questions, I'll be more than willing to answer them.  Tomorrow.  After I drive home.

...Hey, if I'm gonna have a blog, I need something to write about.