So I got through watching Crowning a Champion last night and I have to say with the exception of the main event I hated this DVD.

First of all what the hell was up with the commentary? Was Corino on a speaker phone for the whole damned thing because that's what it sounded like. No entrances..... boo. There was too many blade jobs done as well. Blood loses it's affect if almost every match has someone getting busted open. Also, why the hell does Brian XL still get appearances with Ring Of Honor at this point. The guy does nothing but blow spots through the early shows and him calling people "biatch" backstage isn't funny enough to justify his continued employment. Also what the hell was up with the clipping in this? I think the segment that set up Dunn and Marcos's six man appearance lasted longer than the brutal clip job they did on the match. And what was up with the whoring for a show that happened over 27 months ago? I missed 3/4 of Andrews/Xavier for that?!?!

The booking of the early shows bothers me as well. What's the point of giving the Christopher Street Connection so much time on the early DVDs when they weren't even in a match until the 6th or 7th show. Same with Da Hit Squad. I also don't understand the complete lack of push for Scoot Andrews. Why not chuck Xavier instead? They put the title on the guy and they hadn't even given him any build up. I know Low-Ki had to lose the belt but you're telling me Daniels, London or Dragon wouldn't have been better choices than Xavier.

Ok that's my little rant for the day.

Well...........you were pretty much right on with that, and it actually made me realize how long ago that stuff was. I'm not the biggest fan of Crowning of a Champion and I would probably say there is only one match on it worth watching........the main event. Also, Brian XL didn't end up wrestling for ROH very long and eventually left alltogether, so you don't have to worry about him THAT much. Also the booking and general direction of the company have changed drastically from when you are watching from. Hell, even the people from ROH recommend that if you get into the product now that you should start with Reborn: Stage one and two. I never really understood the lack of push for Scoot either as I've seen some of his other indy work elsewhere and it's pretty damn solid. Xavier sucked the whole time before he won the belt and while he was champion, but he also has improved since then as well. Not to say he's the greatest guy ever, as I still do not care for him......but he DID get better. The only reason I can give for the Christopher Streets is a bad Fienstein joke....so I'll leave that alone. I think they thought that Xavier was SO hated that it would have been smart to put the belt on him and it would put the next champ over as a hero..........and it did a pretty good job for Joe. But obviously Joe won everyone over on his own as well though........

P.S. - Keep us posted on your ROH watching, I think it's kinda cool to see someone's reaction to a product now. That is, compared to what most people thought of it in 02.

I see stuff here and there as I get ahold of it and try to keep up with the current booking as much as I can. It's just financial issues have kept me from being able to buy shows. That, thankfully, is over now with the opening of my cleaning business.

Cool, hope you enjoy the newer stuff as much as I did. I couldn't recommend seeing Joe/Punk I & II, I enjoyed both a ton. Oh, and congrats on the cleaning business stuff......I hope that is going well for you.

You DID like the main event though right? It's a one match show for sure, but that one match is hella good. Go with what DK said and start with the Reborn shows. They're so much better now, it's not even funny.

I liked the match but I had a hard time due to Doug Williams being in there. I like Williams but Low-Ki looked like a little kid in there with him.

Also I had bought the early stuff a few months before Reborn happened and if you know me I have to go in order with shows if I can.

Normally with the way you're doing it I would agree with MD, but in this case though........it's like two different companies altogether......

Just one last note; I did enjoy the Low-Ki/Guerrero IWC extra on the DVD.

Cool, I've actually never even seen that match before. Was that the first of IWC that you have seen Maddog?

I'm not sure. I might've seen a couple of matches at some point but not much. Who are the IWC regulars?

The regs are guys like Super Hentai, Dennis Gregory, Dean Radford, Shirley Doe, Sebastion Dark, Jimmy Vegas......with some others here and there. Also, Southern Comfort are probably considered regulars at this point too.

Did you get the official ROH version, or was it a Takedown Masters version? I got the Round Robin Challenge from FYE for $10, but it was a few matches short and the commentary sounded like I DLed it from Kazaa.

I believe that he's talking about the ROH one.......I don't think they would put the IWC match on a national release.

It's the one officially released by RoH.

I forgot about that.

It was actually from ICW, a now defunct indy fed in Philly or New Jersey. That may explain why you haven't seen it. I loved the hell out of the match myself, and its vastly underrated, mainly because not alot of people have seen it.

Opps, I had noticed that last night. Sorry about getting feds confused. It's hard to keep things straight with all those places out there.