I can't disagree with that list at all. Though I'll swap Chris Jericho for A.J. Styles (of TNA). Jericho is maybe a close #6 on my list, but Styles, like Mysterio, makes me say "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!" every time I see him. And unlike Mysterio, he's not restricted/forbidden by management from certain moves or tied more to the ground (seriously...as kick-ass as Rey is, watch his old ECW matches or lucha stuff and watch him now. BIG difference. Not really his fault, because of the schedule, et al, but still...there's a difference.) Styles may not have much mic skills, but you know he's gonna give you an awesome, crazy-ass match each time you see him. Even his squash matches are freaking great. Seriously...watch one of this dude's matches. Tell me you're not impressed. "Phenomenal" is no hyperbole.

Edit: I'll rank.

1. Chris Benoit
2. Kurt Angle
3. A.J. Styles
4. Eddie Guerrero
5. Rey Mysterio

I like this idea. I like it alot, so here's the Derek list....

1. Kurt Angle (hands down the most well rounded wrestler in the game in a long time)
2. Shawn Michaels (he's still managing to leave me impressed after all these years. yeah, alot of his matches revolve around a shawn michaels formula at points, but still he manages to take bumps and leave me impressed night in and night out.)
3. Chris Benoit (technical skills like no other. he can't work a mic, but every match he has is always different from the last in someway. shame that he never got over properly)
4. Eddie Guerrero (i don't think i realized how talented he was until it was too late. one of the great all around performers in the sport)
5. Chris Jericho (i've always been a jericho-holic and will always be. great mic skills, great cruiserweight abilities, and yet, can perform with the heavyweights and hold his own.)

Damn I can't play. I think I stopped watching in 2001 or so. Everything went to shit once Vince took over the world. I thought he could have made things great at that point. The promotion was so fucking promising with Shane on WCW's last episode and Vince in the WWF ring. At that point it should have been a huge buildup for all the dream matches that have ever been discussed. Nothing but champion versus champion matches for a unification.

I always though Booker T's style was just about the same as the Rock. The bookend, the rock bottom. They were just different colors and Rock had the mic skills. I can't believe how terrible it was when Vince dropped the ball and within a couple of months I didn't care about wrestling and all the matches were garbage. Many WCW wrestlers even seemed to have trouble in the "bigger" ring. This never gets talked about enough. Vince was ruling with his 7 and 8 shares on Monday nights and it all went totally downhill.

TNA is really disappointing as well. I said it earlier in the thread and it went uncommented on but they barely have one good match a week. They have a long way to go. WWF seems to be coming around again after sucking for the last 3 to four years though.

I agree that TNA needs to improve Impact dramatically, but you've never seen one of their PPVs, which are consistently awesome. I try to get them as much as I can. Yeah, Impact has a lot of squash matches, but they still get my interest. I'd see about renting one of their compilation DVDs or past PPVs, or looking on mytube.com for some of their stuff. There's so much more to them than what you see on Impact. Seriously...Styles, Chris Daniels, Samoa Joe, Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt, Team 3D (Dudleyz), Christian, America's Most Wanted? So much talent on that roster. The non-storyline approach might be a bit daunting, but give it a chance.

The Invasion angle was the biggest disappointment and wasted opportunity in wrestling history. You're not the first to fall out of fandom after that. The ball was dropped big time. I stopped watching for a little while, too. SO MUCH MONEY could have been made, but it winds up being another McMahon ego vehicle. Such a fucking shame.

Right. I mean for years wrestling fans have waited for such a thing. We couldnt' have necessarily had all the great old matches like Hogan v.s. Flair ( but they battled at a wrestlemania before anyway didn't they?) Ultimate Warrior versus Sting and the such but damn we could have had some great stuff. So many angles. It's l ike they picked the worst possible idea as a joke on the fans. You could have had the title unifications and then had different ECW guys interfere in matches to create a whole new dynamic. Mondays could have been the continued war between wcw and wwf and Thursdays Smackdown could have been side matches between ECW superstars where if an ECW Superstar defeated a wWF or WCW wrestler they get promoted to Monday night.

Instead Vince decides he's going to do a huge Smackdown push and they both end up tanking.

FAvorte type of match that is long gone and never to be seen again.

The Scaffold Match. I used to love watching the Midnight Express take on the Freebirds or whoever in those great matches.

I don't really watch wrestling anymore, but here's my list anyways.

1. Chris Jericho (favorite all around, good wrestler and also has great mic skills)
2. Jeff Hardy (Those TLC matches were great, and he was always the highlight)
3. The Rock (Mic Skills)
4. Chris Benoit (Best Technical Wrassler, Prove Me Wrong )
5. Rey Mysterio (Favorite Cruiserweight)

The biggest thing TNA needs to do is get a two hour time slot, even if it is still on Saturday nights. They're trying to do too much storyline wise with the limited time that they have, such as the giant stable war of every heel in the company that people boo only because they're associated with Jarrett vs. everyone that came from WWE in the last six months. Two hours will let them have more than one non-squash match a week, along with developing characters for everyone in the X Division that isn't Styles, Daniels, or Samoa Joe.

watched RR last night. one of my friends had to drive his gf home so he missed ray win it. he was convinced that orton would win it. so when he got back after ray won it, we didnt tell him shit and told him to watch the tape afterwards. he was floored, literally. on the floor lying there going "wtf?" it was hilarious. and carlito falling out of the ring was funnier than last year's rumble when vince came into the ring and his knees fell out from under him.

I've always thought Jericho cut one of the better roles with the mike, as far as just the mike, maybe one of the best, but Austin always had a lot going on before durring and after he talked outside of what he said that always made him a great speaker.


Ok, here's mine
1. Chis Benoit
2. Eddie Guerrero (such great heal moves! Its a shame most heals just make the obligatory jab at the local sports team and do a cheap move to win. Eddie new how to do it. On top of that, a great technition and could cut a great speach on the mike.)
3. Chris Jericho (If you asked me this 3 years ago he'd be on the top of the list)
4. X-pac woops, I meanKurt Angle
5. A.J. Styles

Someone who had the potential was RVD, or hell most of the ECW guys until Vince makes them pussy up their moves, dives, at holds. Go back to WCW when Jericho's 'walls of Jericho' aka 'lion tamer' wasn't a bastardised Boston Crab, but some wrestlers like Jericho were able to adapt to the Vince type restricitons.

As for TNA, they are a breath of fresh air, ya there's room to improve, but they have the stuff to do it. I hope they can grow big enough to give WWE some decent competition and force them to improve their product.

Quick random thoughts:

Whoa! Did anyone catch Smackdown's opening segment between Orton and Mysterio? Y'know, the one where Randy said that Eddie Guerrero was in Hell instead of Heaven? Hell, if JBL can get the belt after doing the Nazi salute in Germany, Orton has pretty much guaranteed himself the title.

It looks like Rey's road to Wrestlemania will be short-lived, but I do agree that an Orton-Angle match at Wrestlemania is more beneficial story-wise and could kick off a stronger Orton title reign, right before Batista comes back and kicks his ass.

Lashley is really starting to display Warrior Syndrome (def. -a small knowledge of wrestling moves that results in matches that end in less than 5 minutes).

It looks like Triple H was really pushing for Edge to lose the title just so he could face Cena at Wrestlemania. I'm offically back to hating him again.

No more main event matches featuring Mark Henry. Thanks.

Then why did they bother having Rey win the Rumble? Don't get me wrong...I want to see Orton win the belt, but not like this. If there was going to be a sacrificial lamb, they could have picked someone other than Rey. I'm starting to get sick of the continuous Eddie-splotation, though. I loved the guy too, but seriously...they're starting to cross the line into shamelessness with all this Eddie stuff already. He's been dead a while now...no other wrestling organization exploited a wrestler's death this long.

I'd call that Goldberg syndrome, too, considering the quality of Lashley's opponents. I used to love how they would talk about Goldberg's "record." OMG 174-0! Yeah, but at least 80 of those matches were against Raven, Hugh Morrus, and Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker.

I thought WWE preferred having faces chasing heels into Mania for titles...does better for buys, etc. Then why do we have two heels chasing faces? But, yeah, HHH getting title = shocker, really.

Rumors of an ECW PPV in June are starting up again. Speaking of Eddie-splotation, one of the alleged matches is a Guerrero tribute: Benoit vs. Malenko. Sounds f'n awesome, if for that alone.

Its amazing how much HHH has gone from respect and enjoyment to near X-pac distaste, which is FAR different from heal heat.
Heal Heat=me watch
X-pac heat=me change channel

Hack Saw Jim Duggan. That was some good stuff, there. Bumbling senile crazy nut. How I wish I kpet up to him being around apparently recently.

I dont really get the Hack Saw Jim Duggan thing and why he is coming out because I just started watching again a few weeks ago, but its hilarious.

And I have had the biggest crush on HBK since I was little, and Im sorry, but he cant retire. Fuck Vince.

I havne't watched all of Raw yet but I must say the opening scene last night had me watching from the opening intro all the way to the end of the Edge, Lita, Hacksaw bit. I haven't seen Hacksaw in years so that was a nice novelty. I love the random USA chants. It's goofy but i'm a sucker for notalgia. I think I may start watching this stuff regularly. TNA was terrible so after watching two weeks of that it's made me a wwe fan again. I have to watch and then decide what my son can and can't watch in a particular episode. I think i'll let him watch the Kane match but I'll have to watch more before I let him watch more.

I actually ordered a video with terrible tracking issues that was transferred to dvd from some website because the 80's wrestling is fine for him to watch. It was quite a bit cleaner back then. Ever since I got the Bret Hart DVD he is the biggest Bret Hart fan.

Alright, here's this week's Top Five. I want everyone to give me their five favorite finishing moves of all-time.

1. Paul London's 450 Splash (Doesn't have quite the notoriety as Hogan's leg drop or Goldberg's spear, but it is definitely one of the most impressive finishers that I have ever seen in my life. True beauty comes to existence whenever this move is executed.)

2. The Rock's People's Elbow (The cockiest finisher ever. Watch as he deliberately takes his time when taking off the elbow pad, throw it into the rabid audience, signal that it's over, runs into the rope and jumps over your body not once, but twice, and if you're lucky, he might just drop the elbow on your immediately after that, but he'll more than likely pause for a few extra seconds soaking in all the glory, right before he humiliates you.)

3. Hardcore Holly's Alabama Slam (Not the most complext, but definitely looks like one of the most painful. How anyone still walks after receiving one of these is beyond me.)

4. Razor Ramon's Razor Edge (I love it because it looks like it hurts and it's a variation on the powerbomb that is rarely seen.)

5. Hart Foundation's Hart Attack (A throwback to the old days when tag teams executed their moves with both members in the ring. Always fun to watch.)

Hmm. Well, this time around, MV, our lists are totally different. (Fucking People's Elbow? Jesus Christ ... you might as well have listed the Spinarooni and the Hulkster leg-drop.)

1. Bret Hart's Sharpshooter leglock. Often imitated, never duplicated. Always looked convincingly painful.
2. Rob Van Dam's Van-Terminator. Only used a few times, but one of the most impressive feats I've ever seen. Was even impressive when Shane McMahon used it.
3. Taz(z)'s Taz(z)-mission. Another ground-based submission maneuver, but he sold it for everything it was worth. You knew the recipient was in trouble as soon as Taz hooked the arms from behind and then took him to the ground and choked him the fuck out. GOD HOW I MISS TAZ THE WRESTLER. THIS FUCKING GOON CALLING SMACKDOWN IS NOT TAZ. I'M CONVINCED HE WAS CLONED.
4. The Road Warriors' (Legion of Doom) Doomsday Device. Still the best double-team tag team maneuver ever.
5. Petey Williams's Canadian Destroyer flip piledriver. Jesus Christ if this isn't the sickest thing I've ever seen in my life. Absolutely disgusting move ... in the best possible way.

1. road warriors doomsday device
2. rvd's finisher
3. stone cold stunner
4. the shiek's fireball
5. mr perfect's perfectplex

haha. It's charm lies in its ridiculousness.

I wouldn't put it in my top five, but your right, its just over the top enough to make it worth while.

Bump for this little tidbit.

From wrestlezone.com:

At the recent Blood, Sweat, and Ears wrestling and music festival in Ontario, Canada, Chris Kanyon shocked the crowd by revealing he is gay. Below is an excerpt from the official BSE website where he bashes WWE and calls Vince McMahon "Satan McMahon":

At this time Chris Kanyon requested a few minutes to speak to the crowd. In an emotional delivery, Chris Kanyon said that he believes that the reason he was fired from WWE was not because of cutbacks, not because they didn't have a storyline for him, or any other reason you might have heard. Following some very nasty words for WWE and Satan McMahon, Kanyon revealed to the crowd that he believes that he was fired because the higher ups in WWE found out that he is GAY. Kanyon then said he was tired of living in the closet and announced to the awestruck crowd that he was in fact a homosexual. He said he couldn't live another day living the lie. He then pronounced himself as the first openly gay professional wrestler in the industry. He then went on to say that he chose to be the real Chris Kanyon, and the fans had to chose whether they wanted to boo him or cheer him. Either way it was their choice and life is about choices. He was finally happy that he made his. Tonight would be the first time that Chris Kanyon wrestled with the weight off his shoulders.



WHO GAYER THAN KANYON?

Note: Before Kev or the rest of the PC police start getting on me about this, let me just say I have no problem with this, know other folks have come out of the wrestling closet, am supportive of gay rights, etc. etc. blah blah blah. Just found it interesting, that's all.

If they fired him because he was gay, then how do you explain Pat Patterson?

extra extra

Bret Hart will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame at this year's Wrestlemania.

This leads me to ask how much tickets are for the HoF ceremony (they sell tickets, don't they?), cause I'd like to see Hart give his speech and all. That would be some pretty cool shit.

Longtime McMahon family associate and close confidante, that's how. (There are also vague rumors about him and Vince, but we'll ignore those.) Kanyon didn't have nearly the longevity and the "stroke" of Patterson, and was said to be unpopular backstage. So his firing may not have been ENTIRELY because of his sexual orientation, but it probably didn't help. Also...Patterson and a few others got the company in a lot of hot water with harrassment complaints in the early 90s. A number of wrestlers, including jobber Barry O. (Orton: yup, he's Bob's brother, Randy's uncle) made public allegations and testified against the company on the subject. Patterson and others were kept on, but maybe Vince didn't want a repeat.

As for the Hall of Fame, I have tickets. My wife's best friend, who we're going with, LOVES Bret Hart, so she'll be elated. Dusty Rhodes and, yup, Eddie Guerrero are also being inducted. I'm shocked Hart's finally on board, but can't wait to see what he says. Apparently Shawn Michaels was willing to no-show to make him comfortable.

You hear this about the Kanyon angle now....?


- This whole Kanyon 'homosexual' thing is an idea of his own that he came up with. He is referring to it as a 'character'. It's basically an internet angle which has worked so far because websites picked up on the press release. It gets people talking about his name (and he likes that), which then gets WWE or TNA thinking they can run an angle off it, and in the end, he lands a job. That's the gist of it.

Then that's pretty offensive to me. If he actually WAS gay, I wouldn't care, but if he isn't, and he's using it as a gimmick/work? Come on. And, besides, we all remember Billy and Chuck and how THAT turned out, right?

Then again, clearly the ruse is working. But, seriously, Matt Hardy cornered the whole "getting fan sympathy via the Internet" thing ... this is far too soon for someone else to be attempting it.

holy shit! i made that kanyon reference in the mcdonald's thread having no idea this stuff was recently posted. i haven't followed wrestling in 3-4 years. funny stuff.

Yeah, it's pretty low if that's the case. And the difference between Kanyon doing it and Hardy doing it was Hardy was in the midst of a real life drama. Plus he was recently released. What has Kanyon done lately...? I hear silence.....

Has anyone checked out Kanyon's myspace page? I love all the comments that the fans are leaving. Check out the ones closest to when the story broke.

http://www.myspace.com/chriskanyon

Godbless idiots

MY THOUGHTS ON THE END OF RAW: A VISUAL PRESENTATION





I would post more, but I need to have some in reserve to post for after Wrestlemania, when Trips inevitably regains the title.

Ok, one more.



BOR-FUCKING-ING

At least Marty Jannetty came back, eh?



JANNETTY>>>>>>>>>>>>>HHH

Boy, I picked a good raw to miss then huh?

RVD >>>>>> HHH.

Jannetty mugshot = my next avatar?

I think so.

nice

it would have been nice to see rvd win. fuck hhh.

Yeah, that Raw was overall pretty horrendous. I read over the weekend that Tazz was going to come on for a "huge announcement" (meaning the ECW ppv), but that never happened. I really wanted to see the beginning of this PPV start up again, but nope. Gonna have to wait another few weeks until post-Mania I would assume.

And the ending of the main event was SO bad. I really thought for a few minutes that RVD might have had that one, but that's right, they gave us possibly the worst possible ending they could have. Trips holding the ref...come on. Just downright terrible. Definitely should make the next few weeks and months pretty disappointing. A HHH/Cena feud will pretty much put me to sleep, basically.

Oh yeah, and Carlito calling for a "Money in the Bank" match at 'mania should be pretty cool. I still haven't seen last year's, but I heard nothing but amazing things about it. This year, I am making a point of checking Mania somewhere, somehow.

I know this is the WWE thread, but I figured it would be dumb to start a new thread about wrestling. Anyway, I sat down and watched TNA for the first time over the weekend and just wanted to toss around my initial reactions.

1. The wrestling itself wasn't bad, but with only an hour a week I can't believe they waste in-ring time on pointless jobber squashes.

2. I really like the idea of Christian being the champion, I really think Vince dropped the ball with him and never gave him a fair change to shine. He's a really charismatic guy who knows how to work a crowd, and the "Bangkok" line even made me chuckle a bit.

3. But they really need to develop some homegrown talent and not rely on WWE castoffs, like the James Gang tag team which is nothing more than Road Dogg & Billy Gunn reworking their DX schtick. Why oh why does he not wrestle under Monty Sopp?? Instant heel heat!

4. The out of ring acting was absolutely atrocious, especially during the whole Sting footage viewing party. Double J's acting especially was really hard to watch. Again, some homegrown talent is much needed here - relying on a name like Sting isn't going to be enough to carry this company into the future.

5. Some things I did like - Shark Boy, I always enjoy the lovable loser/jobber type and the crowd seemed to like him as well. I liked what I saw of Ron Killings, seems like a decent mic worker and solid talent. They also seem to be doing a pretty decent job of building up feuds for the PPV, which can be pretty hard to do with only an hour of show per week to work with.

Overall, I wasn't entirely disappointed with the show and I got into it enough to want to watch it again. I'm far from being motivated enough to buy a PPV though. Mainly I'm rooting for these guys because I'd really like Vince to have some serious competition, unlikely as that may be. TNA is a long ways from getting to that point, but with the right talent it could happen.

With Saturday Night Main Event and Wrestlemania around the corner, time to revive this thread. Once again, random thoughts

Okay, I'm not a big Mark Henry fan, but I gotta admit that I was fucking impressed when he did a splash from the second rope on to Kurt Angle lying on a table. The one and only highlight in his career montage?

Call me crazy, but I think the role of utility heel could fit Road Warrior Animal pretty well.

Kane & Big Show have been the worst tag champs in recent memory. They spent more time in singles matches than they did defending the gold. It goes without saying how great it would be for Carlito and Masters to take the straps from them.

When I was younger, I used to think that Sensational Sherri was unattractive. It might have been the glitter around her eyes, or probably because of the way she treated Macho Man after he lost to Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VII, but damn, when she reappeared last year during the Angle-Michaels storyline leading up to Wrestlemania, hot damn was she still looking good. I probably rewinded her Hall of Fame montage a few times. Also, great heel manager too.

Somebody beef up the Wrestlemania card before I start to not feel sorry for not getting a ticket.

I like that they're doing something interesting with the mid-card by giving a lot of attention the Lashley and Finlay feud. Lashley is still green, so I'm very curious to see how his profile falls or rises after the outcome.

After the XFL, I'm surprised that NBC wants anything to do with WWE. Here's to hoping the ratings are great so this can be a regular thing after the alotted six installments of SNME.

Also, new top 5. Give me the five best guys on the mic in the business today.

1. JBL-Much is left to be desired for his matches, but whenever he cuts a promo, there is always an abundance of electricity. Able to dish out hilarious insults and bring fire and brimestone when he gets angry.

2. Kurt Angle-His promo style is one of the most original since it isn't full of the usual tics that are classically associated with wrestlers. Gets laughs from his proper boy persona, but still convincing when he's out vengeance.

3. Carlito-One of the funniest guys in WWE. His interview show, "Carlito's Cabana" is sorely missed.

4. Shawn Michaels-Charisma in chiseled form.

5. Vince McMahon-What's a list of promo cutters without a manager/GM type? Gets the crowd to either hate him or love him everytime.


Also, if this were 3 years earlier, John Cena would have been in my top 5. He has the talent, but he should seriously start doing more freestyling.

It'll still do better than the Law and Order reruns they seem to air every Saturday night.

And for my top 5:
1. Kurt Angle, he's just too good at everything for anyone to every hate him again
2. Christian Cage, although I will say that I like him better as a heel
3. Carilto, I agree with what you say MV. He's one of the few reasons I keep watching every week. His match a few weeks ago against some jobber while talking on the mic the whole time reminded me a lot of the Rock (not just that he did it too, but also in style)
4. Christopher Daniels, from TNA. He's another guy like Kurt Angle who can sell you on just about anything.
5. Triple H, assuming it's not a 20 minute promo. If he has to get to the point, he does a great job with it.

and an honorary mention is for Chris Jericho. If he was "active" right now, he would be my number 1.

Promo cutters:
1. Kurt Angle (humor, "real-ness," arrogance, emotion, etc...he's got it down.)
2. Shawn Michaels (he's still got it...and the stuff he cut on Hogan last year was hilarious, BROTHER!)
3. Carlito (I REALLY miss the Cabana. They need to give him more to do.)
4. Mis-teeeeeeeerrrrrrrrr KENN-EDY.
KENN-EDY! (A new entrant, but already one of the best they have in WWE.)
5. John Cena. I miss the freestyling, but he still comes up with some funny stuff every week.

Be sure to check out Wrestlecrap this week for some funny classic inductions regarding the newest WWE Hall of Fame inductee, Verne Gagne. Thrill to the acting and rapping exploits of Verne, as well as a profile on his charisma-deprived son (and inductor) Greg.

The best part: in the induction regarding the movie "The Wrestler," starring Verne and Ed Asner, we're treated to this indelible image:



DUSTY RHODES IN A DERBY DOUBLE FISTING BEER!

And, yeah, Verne is deserving and everything, but putting him in the Hall of Fame for WWE _ a promotion he NEVER WRESTLED IN _ is a bit of a stretch. But I guess with Vince owning the AWA catalog and pretty much having a stranglehold on wrestling in America, the Hall of Fame is naturally more generalized now. And it makes geographic sense: AWA was the Midwest-area promotion for years, and booked in Chicago for years.

I hate to keep bumping this thread, but some of ya'll might want to know.

With WM22 only a few weeks off, there's a number of wrestler appearances and autograph signings scheduled in the greater Chicago area that weekend. You'll have to pick and choose, as many are at conflicting times, but if you were up for it...

And I'll probably be at a few of these. I have a bit of a collection going.

Appearance schedule

Highlights (my opinion) in bold

Tuesday, March 28 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
VIRGIN MEGASTORE, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Candice will be signing autographs at VIRGIN MEGASTORE at 540 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611

Wednesday, March 29 5-7 p.m.
Best Buy (Store #305) 900 E. Golf Road , Schaumburg, IL 60173
Attend an Autograph Session with Maria and Victoria, who will be signing the Divas Do New York 2006 DVD.

Wednesday, March 29 4:30 - 6 p.m.
Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits, 1300 N Lewis Ave. Waukegan, IL 60085
Meet Rob Van Dam at an Autograph Session from 4:30 - 6 p.m.

Wednesday, March 29 6-7 p.m.
Chicago Sports Store 328 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL
Meet Trevor Murdoch & Tyson Tomko for an Autograph session from 6-7 p.m.

Wednesday, March 29 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Toys "R" Us , Orland Park, IL
Beginning March 2, the first 500 guests who purchase WWE products worth $20 or more at Toys “R” Us Orland Park will receive a ticket to meet “Superstar” Billy Graham. Ticket holders will receive Billy Graham’s autograph during a special event on March 29.

Additionally, the WrestleMania Fan Axxess Tour, hosted by WWE Legend Hillbilly Jim, will offer interactive activities for WWE fans in the store’s parking lot throughout the day. See store for details.

Autograph session with WWE Hall of Famer “Superstar” Billy Graham
5 pm – 7 pm
WrestleMania Fan Axxess Tour
12 noon – 8 pm

Location of event:
Toys “R” Us Orland Park

45 Orland Square Drive
Orland Park, IL 60462
For more information, customers can call Toys "R" US at (708)460-9494

Thursday, March 30 4:30 - 6 p.m.
Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits, 221 E. Rollins Rd. Round Lake Beach, IL 60073
Meet Chris Benoit at an Autograph Session from 4:30 - 6 p.m.

Thursday, March 30 7 p.m.
Chicago Cycle 3450 West Touhy Ave, Skokie, IL
Matt Hardy, Victoria, and Gregory Helms will be signing autographs at Chicago Cycle from 7-9 p.m.

Thursday, March 30 7-9 p.m.
Tower Records #812 383 W. Army Trail Road , Bloomingdale, IL 60108
Meet Triple H at a book signing for "Making The Game" from 7-9 p.m.

Thursday, March 30 4-10 p.m.
House of Blues 329 N. Dearborn , Chicago, IL
These Superstars will participate in the WWE/THQ Superstar Challenge:
Coach, Teddy Long, Shelton Benjamin, Orlando Jordon, Trish Stratus, Melina, Carlito, Mr. Kennedy, Daivari, Chris Masters, Lita, Kristal, Edge, Paul London, John Cena, Joey Mercury, RVD, & Johnny Nitro.

Thursday, March 30 12-2 p.m.
Chicago Theatre 175 N. State Street, Chicago, IL
The WrestleMania 22 Press Conference will feature:
(From RAW) The Coach, John Cena, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Trish, Edge, Candice
(From SmackDown) Michael Cole, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Booker T, Sharmell, JBL, Mark Henry and Chris Benoit.

Friday, March 31 4:30 - 6 p.m.
Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits, 5711 S La Grange Rd. Countryside, IL 60525
Meet Booker T at an Autograph Session from 4:30 - 6 p.m.

Friday, March 31 6-8 p.m.
Gameworks, Schaumburg, IL
John Cena will be signing autographs at Gameworks at 601 N. Martingdale Road (Suite 115), Schaumburg, Illinois (Located at The Streets of Woodfield Mall).

Friday, March 31 5-7 p.m.
Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg, IL
Matt Hardy, RVD, Ashley & Lashley will be signing autographs on the Fan Axxess Bus Tour stop from 7-9 p.m.

Friday, March 31 5-7 p.m.
Best Buy (Store #323) 1000 W. North Ave , Chicago, IL 60622
Attend an Autograph Session with Torrie Wilson & Trish Stratus, who will be signing the Divas Do New York 2006 DVD.

Saturday, April 1 12-1:30 p.m.
Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg, IL
Paul Burchill, Trevor Murdoch, Lance Cade, Animal and Val Venis will be signing autographs on the Fan Axxess Bus Tour stop from 12-1:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 1 11:30-1:30 p.m.
Best Buy (Address TBD), TBD
Meet Randy Orton at an Autograph Signing from 11:30-1:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 1 12-2 p.m.
Borders Books & Music #58 830 N. Michigan, Chicago, IL
Meet Shawn Michaels at a book signing for Heartbreak & Triumph from 12-2 p.m.

Monday, April 3 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Tower Records 1209 E. Golf Road, Schaumber, IL
Meet Candice at a Playboy signing from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Now...WHO'S COMING WITH ME TO MEET TRIPLE H?!?

I'm amazed they bring that man out in public, myself.

I forgot to post this, but is anyone else going to this? Sure I'll miss some of the pre-wrestlemania show (but I'm still bitter about not getting tickets so its no biggy) but it should be fun.

Chicago, IL- March 31st!!!
10/13/04
ROH

March 31, 2006
Frontier Fieldhouse
9807 S. Sayre
Chicago Ridge, IL 60415
8:00pm belltime

Tickets at Ticketmaster.com and Ticketmaster outlets plus at ROHwrestling.com or by calling 215-781-2500.

ROH World Title Match
Bryan Danielson defends against Roderick Strong

One Fall To A Finish
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. BJ Whitmer

Dragon Gate Six Man Tag
Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino) vs. Do Fixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito)

Grudge Tag Team Match
AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries & Jack Evans

Fight Without Honor
Colt Cabana vs. Homicide with Julius Smokes

First Blood Match
Chad Collyer vs. Ace Steel

Plus more to be announced.

Well, shit. Here I was going to go to the RVD/Matt Hardy signing...

But motherfucking AJ STYLES AND SAMOA JOE AND CHRISTOPHER DANIELS!!! LIVE!!!

Fuck...I think I have to go to this. Seriously.

I have to look at my bill, but the tickets were cheap.


Also, forgot the link.
http://www.rohwrestling.com/default.asp

Yeah...they ARE cheap. I think I'm there. Seriously...decisions, decisions. The Chicago area that weekend is like a wrestling mark's paradise...so much going on in so little time. I'm so freaking excited. But, yeah, until TNA starts doing house shows, this is the only chance I'll have for a while to witness the awesomeness that is AJ Styles, Daniels, and Joe live.

I'll be at this show. My dad got him and I tickets for it for Christmas, so yeah, we'll be there definitely.

Any thoughts on the first Saturday Night Main Event in close to 15 years? (Yikes, I was in 4th grade the last time they had one of these). I was surprised that the whole Raw vs. Smackdown Wrestlemania Main Event was the first match, but the card was kinda weak, so what other match could you start off? Since there was so much hype going into SNME, I expected a show nothing short of spectacular, but I was a little disappointed, save for the Shawn Michaels-Shane McMahon street fight. That match and the cool ass set are probably the only things that will stay in my mind.

Also, just how much faith does WWE have in The Boogeyman? Not only was he part of the opening promos for SNME, but the man has a freakin' match at Wrestlemania with Booker T, which he'll surely win. We all know he can't wrestle worth a lick, but I was expecting him to at least be funny. It's like he's been downhill ever since he ate off Jillian Hall's "growth" (which was genius by the way).

With the exception of the Michaels/Shane street fight, I totally agree that SNME was the total suck. All it was was one long Raw with Tazz doing commentary. Seriously, I was expecting more SD matches or at least a SD presence, but nope, they're shat on. Seriously that was lame. And apparently it tanked in the ratings, so don't expect too many more SNME's with the exception of the guaranteed one coming this summer that has been booked already.