I constantly hear about how great MVP is from various columnists and message board posters around the internet. Apparently, he’s the next big thing and should be pushed to face Randy Orton pretty much immediately. Trained in front of all of us by Chris Benoit, he’s among the more differently styled workers in the WWE, cuts a great promo, and even has the crowd interaction portion of his moveset down cold. He’s basically got it all… so why doesn’t the crowd react more to him?

The Raw main event was an abortion of booking. It is the most stunted and short sighted option possible for the three men who came to Raw from ECW. What occurred, for those of you who missed it, is that Randy Orton faced Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger, and Mark Henry in a guantlet, in that order. He beat Bourne, Swagger walked out, then lost to a Mark Henry in what constituted a face-turn for Henry. What a waste.

So, common perception is Raw stole everyone, Smackdown treads water and ECW got hosed. Is it accurate? Read on to find out!

Wrestling fans the world (well, the ‘net) around are in an uproar. CM Punk is finally turning heel. WWE even seems like they’re willing to let him do the “Straight Edge means I’m better than you” gimmick. The Internet is finally happy. Our guy is getting the push we demanded and getting damn near Edge-like heat in the process. Wait… our guy? The push we demanded? And WWE is doing this? Since when does that happen.

Donald Trump was brought into Raw to win a ratings war. It cost the WWE a great deal of money, giving up commercials and refunding the show, but his Raw became the highest rated show the WWE has had in years. The question becomes, why was the show so highly rated?

Plopping Finlay squarely in the middle of the ECW World Title picture is an absolutely strange decision. He, Tommy Dreamer and Christian are the entire quality veteran presence on ECW, a show designed for young guys to learn the ropes from vets, get television exposure, and then go on to bigger and better things.

For the third time ever the WWE is breaking out their 3 Stages of Hell gimmick. It isn’t the Hell in a Cell match, which I predicted yesterday, but it’s the only gimmick which is actually more rare, so I’ll count it as a partial win in predicting what would occur. This match has produced two of the better WWE matches this decade, one between Triple H and Shawn Michaels, another between Triple H and Steve Austin, though this has little chance of living up to the quality of those two.

WWE have apparently decided to book themselves into a corner to help USA out. They’re giving away what should be the main event of the Bash, a last man standing match between Triple H and Randy Orton for the title. This could be worked around, but with the Bash only a week away there isn’t time for very many other options.

“I just did the TNA roundtable. I’ve come to the conclusion, I just want them to die.” – Brad Curran.

I hit that point months ago. Every time I try to watch 5 minutes of TNA television, they frustrate me

I’ve caught up with quite a bit of recent Ring of Honor at this point and finally feel comfortable saying my piece on the company’s new direction.

The Internet Wrestling Community is up in arms, yet again, this time over the “sale” of Raw to Donald Trump. The obvious complaints are being made everywhere- it’s nonsensical to sell only a show, Trump will barely be at shows and is at most a figurehead, it’s an unnecessary change for change’s sake that won’t last, casual fans won’t care, that this is nothing more than a desperate ratings grab, and that this can only lead to Trump and McMahon nonsense no one wants to see again. First, I don’t see how fans know all this yet, but more importantly, these reasons are utter nonsense.

Check in for thoughts on the Three-for-all and a match review for my new Televised Match of the Year.

Austin Aries is the new ROH World Champion, becoming the first man to win that belt twice. With his new A-Double, cocky heel gimmick, he’s easily one of the more over men on the roster again, showing the most interesting personality he has in ages while clearly having a blast and still bringing it in the ring. Because of a lack of willingness to necessarily make guys look as good, he’s always worked better as a heel, which forces him to give up control and allow his opponents to look good, and as a credible champion in a fresh position, he’s exactly what ROH needs at this point. All that said, now it’s time to rank the challengers for his title, from 30 down to 1.

I finally returned to Ring of Honor this last night (June 13) after a fairly lengthy hiatus. I used to hit pretty much every show in the area and a few that weren’t. I tried to continue this at the regime change (from Gabe booking to Pearce to now, a committee), but the undercards felt throwaway with nothing worth seeing and the main events were no longer blowaway. When added to countouts, a slightly slower style, and more interference/cheating, well, I really only hit ROH in NYC from then on. I was even mostly disappointed there, however and was ready to quit on the live experience and only check out major DVDs (the blow away show, Supercard of Honor IV being the only one this year for me, though Steel City Showdown looks worth it). Last night, for some reason Stacy (the girlfriend) really wanted to go, so we went. Did ROH take the opportunity to change my mind and re-capture this ROHbot or did they seal the final nail into their coffin of irrelevance?

How sad is it that we usually only talk about some true greats when they die? Mitsuharu Misawa died after taking a belly-to-back suplex from Akitoshi Saito on Friday, June 12. If you’d like to see more of Misawa, whether through download or buying DVDs, shoot me an e-mail at hbk826@aol.com and I’ll let you know where to find it. Trust me, you will not regret spending the time honoring this man and his work. In fact, if you love wrestling, you owe it to yourself to.

The booking lately has actually felt a lot early 2004 (pre-Reborn era), where it’s a company finding its way and coming together with one great, but not quite blowaway match per card and everyone else figuring out their roles as they go. It makes for fun cards, but those you can usually skip besides the main event. Doesn’t matter, I suppose, I’ll be there with coverage anyway- the girlfriend really wanted to go. Hope the company and the show live up to their legacy!

Triple H vs. Orton is such a big feud with revenge at the center that the title would do nothing to enhance. These guys have been built such that they’re a top drawing program no matter what. Cena, likewise, is a ratings draw for kids no matter what he does. Placing him against a giant is the old Hogan standby, a conquering hero overcoming despite being physically overwhelmed. With Show injuring Cena and the inclusion of the Miz in the mix, this is both standard and fresh enough to not need the belt and still draw, regardless of how paradoxical that sounds. Well, someone from this match has to win the belt, so I’ll submit that it should be Orton or Cena and here’s why.

I know a few months back I thought Orton was rocketed on the path to superstardom, but pretty much everything since the Royal Rumble has been dedicated to getting the fans to truly hate him. Sadly, the WWE has done this by making him as boring as possible and taking off his self-sufficient edge, making him just another cowardly heel with lackeys.

Walter Kovacs, come on down, you’re our contest winner. Shoot me an e-mail with your address and my girlfriend will get your book right out. My initial response to the CM Punk win was that regardless of his cheap way of winning the belt, he should remain a face for now. That was, however, only my initial response.

Welcome back to me. As we all know, you missed me terribly. Admit it to yourself. Better now? Well it should be, because I’m back with a new column, a new format, and a new contest. Read on for a chance to win a copy of Chris Jericho’s book.

Many people have problem with Lynn as ROH World Champion, while, naturally, some are just as vehemently defending the decision. I’m against the move for several reasons. The main problem at the end of the day is that in the past several years ROH has had zero success elevating new stars. Nigel really became a top guy at the second half of 06 and could have won the World Title at any point thereafter, but besides that, ROH has had no one really be elevated to World Title Status.

Miss me?

I’m back. Raw sucked. What else?

ROH tries out two new markets this weekend, St. Louis and Nashville. How do the cards look for these shows? Come in and find out (and thanks for asking).

A short one this week, as we take a look at some big news and who should win this year’s Slammy Awards!

With Black Friday and ROHWrestling.com having a huge sale, I thought this would be a good time to update the Database of shows for this year. The sale lasts through the weekend, so I’ll be updating soon with what’s missing here.

What follows will be a list of matches *** ½ (very good) or more from this past year in Ring of Honor, as sorted by DVD. There will be no spoilers here, merely ratings and show recommendations. This is intended as a DVD buyers resource and will be updated regularly. If you would like to buy something, just click on the show name.

Yes, I’m aware it’s cliché, but with Gabe gone, I’m doing it anyway. Here are all my favorite things ROH did this year so far, also known as, What I’m thankful for in ROH this year . Here we go.

10 Under-Rated, Great Matches

Welcome to The Wrestling Analyst. This week we have a new Raw format, along with a breakdown of Survivor Series, and a review for an hour draw that must be seen to be believed.

Welcome to coverage of Ring of Honor’s Rising Above 2008, where Austin Aries blows off his feud with Jimmy Jacobs, Nigel and Danielson war for the ROH World Title and Samoa Joe returns. Thank Kyle Sparks for the goodness.

A lot of news and your Dayton and Chicago weekend previews this week, along with a link to subscribe to ROH DVDs!

Welcome to the Wrestling Analyst. Last week, my Orton prediction caused a ton of controversy. This week, I’m far more in line with the norm in my review of Rey… or am I? Yes… I am… sorry, it was a cheap trick to get you to click. Click anyway. I’m awesome.

This week, we take an admittedly early look on the reported changes in ROH from Gabe Sapolsky being replaced by Adam Pearce, who is heralding in a new era with a new direction.

Who is the WWE’s next big thing? Join Pulse Wrestling’s Aaron Glazer as he shares his pick and the logic behind it.

This week, Weekend Previews. With Gabe Sapolsky gone from ROH, much of the booking is up in the air, so, while I’m usually fairly reliable for these, everything here could easily be turned on its head. Here’s hoping for the best!

This week Impact is back in Orlando with Foley in charge and the Main Event Mafia running wild! Last week, they left the young guns lying, can the faces fire back this week? Come on in and find out! (see, no sarcasm).

This week: a look at new talent, Steamboat vs. Misawa and can this Raw anniversary finally live up to the hype?

Gabe Sapolsky was fired during this past weekend’s Ring of Honor shows. The basics of what occurred and an outlook for the future are found within.

This week on Impact: The young guys feud with old dudes some more, everyone on the ‘net compares it to the WCW New Blood vs. Millionaires angle when it’s really ripped by WCW from New Japan, and none of this matters because Hiroshi motherf’n Tanahashi, a top 5 wrestler in the world, is on Impact!

Check back for live updates as I make the sweet sweet Impactfully.

I’m a bit off this week due to ROH’s near utter collapse taking up most of my time, but that doesn’t stop me from breaking down Cyber Sunday with Paul Marshall and covering the best Raw since Punk dropped the belt.

Welcome to the Weekend Previews for the Danbury ROH debut and Edison, NJ. Come see the breakdown of LAX’s matches as Homicide makes his huge ROH return.