Gorman

Thoughts on Anarchy Rulz 99 Based on the RVD-Sabu-Lynn brawl at the end of the last PPV, I thought that would be the main event. Instead, Lynn came out to open the show, losing to Lance Storm. Justin Credible showed up with a restraining order against Sabu, but referee Jim Molineaux voided it because ANARCHY RULZ! Poor Bob Artese got caned by Credible when he tried to introduce the match. I don't condone violence against ring announcers. Mike Awesome came out of the crowd and won the ECW title. Paul Heyman allowed him to join the ECW title match between Taz and Masato Tanaka, and both challengers pinned Taz to guarantee a new champion. New Jack is the MVP for saving a segment that meandered from a Simon Diamond promo to a Jazz squash to Doring/Roadkill interrupting a tag match to a bunch of guys hitting the ring for no reason. When New Jack's music hit, I knew everything would be all right. Despite WWF and WCW poaching ECW's talent and establishing their own hardcore division, New Jack's unique brand of mayhem (including a STAPLE GUN~!) was only available in ECW.

I'm glad I got to see Jade Cargill wreck shop on the Cleveland Collision before she went to New York.

In my WCW book, I came to the conclusion that the Invasion would have had a better chance to succeed if they had waited for the guys who eventually showed up anyway (Flair, nWo, Bischoff, Rey Jr., Goldberg ...)

Try being in a 4-man booth for MMA (I had time to look for a tooth when it flew out of the cage)

I'm going to guess that the word "fake" was in there somewhere.

That's the thing - he wasn't in a group. It's like he had the star power to be the "frontman" of a band that may or may not exist at this time.

I announced him once in Cleveland, and he was "The Frontman" Logan Shulo.

Veda Scott made a few appearances as a color commentator on AEW Dark.

Thoughts on Heat Wave 99 Taz opened the show by saving "I'm going to defend the belt against Tajiri." Great matchup, but it really showed that ECW was losing the talent battle to top two companies. It didn't help Tajiri that Steve Corino said Tajiri would win the belt and hand it over to him in a mini-Andre/DiBiase situation. Speaking of Corino, he interrupted Tommy Dreamer's promo to declare Dreamer's career over at age 28. Corino said he was only 24 without a scar on his body (not quite true). Corino ended up losing to Francine. It was a great night for the ladies, as Jazz beat Jason earlier in the night to earn the MVP award. Hey, it's Lita! Before we learned her name, she accepted Danny Doring's marriage proposal. Just when Nova started being serious, his partner, Chris Chetti, decided to be a goofball. Chetti came out with a top hat and cape, and he took a dance break in the middle of the match. Still, he and Nova managed to beat Doring & Roadkill. Most of the "ECW" stuff seemed to be concentrated in the Dayton Street Fight with Spike & Balls winning the tag team belts from the Dudleys. It was an absolute bloodbath featuring a balcony dive from Spike (he landed in the dark but came back to keep fighting soon after, @Curt McGirt), Spike getting put through a flaming table after the match, and New Jack cleaning house after the match (literally - he used a vacuum cleaner). Taz used some kind of spiky weapon to Tajiri on the rampway before locking on the Tazmission for the win. Remember, FTW rules include falls count anywhere. It was hard to see because Joey Styles begged for a wide shot, because he was afraid ECW would get kicked off pay-per-view. I was surprised he wasn't more concerned about ECW losing its upcoming national TV spot on The Nashville Network. Will that be enough to save the company?

I was just thinking ... is there anything stopping Punk from showing up in WWE with the AEW "Real World title" belt with the X on it? It's in his fridge, right?

They should go into the office anyway, blasting Alex Riley's theme song (Say It To My Face).

Thanks - I pitched the idea of being a Pure Rules judge on the Cleveland show, but there wasn't a Pure Rules match that night. Maybe next year, so I can return after a 20-year absence.

They were taken to a house where Rush gave them a pep talk, saying LFI was going to dominate, win belts, and be super violent.

Thoughts on Hardcore Heaven 99 Taz destroyed Chris Candido at the beginning of the show, which needed a new main event. The Dudleys gave Taz a 3D after the match, so Taz beat Buh-Buh in a bloody main event to retain the title again. Taz's dominance earned him the MVP award but also highlighted how many stars were no longer with the company. Lance Storm saved Justin Credible twice: first from getting powerbombed by Sid and then from getting put through a table by Sabu. Jerry Lynn looked impressive again, but RVD hit a pair of five-star frog splashes to retain the TV title. When the Dudleys issued an open challenge for the tag team belts, they didn't need to say "if anyone has the balls ..." because you knew Mahoney was coming out. He didn't even wait for a partner, but Spike joined him. The Dudleys won, and Balls took out Joel Gertner with a fireball. This led to Gertner paying the Dudleys to beat up guys backstage (even some people they liked!) before Taz issued the challenge for the main event.

Baker vs. Shida vs. Toni vs. Nyla - winner faces Saraya at Grand Slam Moxley vs. Big Bill for the International title Hangman vs. Brian Cage Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong - winner faces MJF at Grand Slam

Looking at the app, I'm seeing 9 shows from 2002 (no Night of the Butcher or Final Battle)

----Fixing these up now that I have seen the WON spoilers ---- QT Marshall defends the AAA Latin American title vs. Metalik Infantry & Willie Mack vs. Outrunners & Kevin Ku Claudio Castagnoli defends the ROH title vs. Rocky Romero Cole Radrick & Matt Brannigan vs. Gates of Agony Zoey Lynn (popular locally) vs. Mercedes Martinez Darius Martin vs. Christopher Daniels --- My crew got tired, so we had to leave, so we missed ... Lee Johnson vs. Cleveland's own Shane Taylor Willow Nightingale vs. Lady Frost Dominic Garrini vs. Josh Woods Griff Garrison vs. Ethan Page The Boys vs. The Workhorsemen AR Fox vs. Tony Nese

Here are my thoughts from a fun night at Ring of Honor and AEW in Cleveland: "Tell us that story again, Grandpa Darby!" "One day, I was skateboarding to the ring, and I was attacked by a DINOSAUR~!" "Ooooohhhh....." Here's me talking to my daughter (age 20): (Dark Order shows up) "They're a happy cult." (Righteous shows up) "Are these guys another cult?" "Yeah, but they wear white." Speaking of cult leaders, "Keith Lee saying 'run' was a tribute to Swamp Guy." Her thoughts at the end of the night: "I'm not emotionally invested in pro wrestling, so I like the fact that the AEW matches aren't so long. The WWE matches just go on forever." My three biggest impressions of the night: 1. Cleveland is getting into AEW. For the last year's Dynamite, there were a lot of random wrestling shirts (Savage, Piper. DX). This year, there were a lot of AEW shirts, including guys who weren't scheduled to be there (Omega, MJF, Cole, Orange). 2. Collision (and AEW) will be just fine without Punk. It's cool in a way that Collision had one "star of the show" who is now gone, so everyone else can gun for that spot. Starks, Keith Lee, FTR came right out and said they want the spot. But think of the other candidates: Andrade (looked at a monitor), Swerve (wasn't even there), Jay White (getting over as an inanimate object). 3. Twenty years ago, I announced for Ring of Honor in community college gyms and county fairgrounds. Last night, I watched ROH in the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers. That really meant a lot to me. ROH didn't go away; it exists as part of the No. 2 promotion in the country. Being a part of its early days feels even better than it does for Bleacher Report.

He was with the other announcers during Bullet Club's match, in the same spot where JR was for the main event.

My fault - I wore my lucha shirt to the show, and it just rained luchadores all night.

Due to Jay White missing the show (but Cardboard Jay was there!), Metalik got moved to the very first match of the night, which was getting a shot at the AAA Latin American title against QT Marshall.

Moxley is going to defend the International title on Collision against Action Andretti. Mox got a huge reception in Cleveland last time when he won the World title from Punk, even though he's a Cincinnati guy.

I like how EC3 is defending the belt at home in Cleveland like Stipe Miocic did with the UFC heavyweight title.

Return of Da Mack

This was a second-story balcony dive to put Mustafa through a table. New Jack landed on Mustafa cleanly, and the dive looked so good that it was included in the opening clips for the next PPV. Still, both men were completely wiped out and had to be helped to the ring by security for the finish.