Sunset Flip Presents: My Experience with HD Net
NOTE: Believe it or not, this article does NOT contain any spoilers.
I always claim that I have never met a person, face to face, that has the channel HDNet. As far as I knew, the channel exists in ten cities across the US. That’s right, I said cities not states. I actually met someone for the first time a couple of days ago that has the channel and maybe, just maybe there’s a chance he will see me on the channel in a couple of weeks for Ring of Honor’s TV shows. This is Jim Boy Star, host and producer of the Sunset Flip Wrestling Show, and this is my experience of Ring of Honor on HD Net.
I was pretty excited about the fact I was going to an HD Net taping. I have been a fan of pro wrestling for a long time and this would be added on my big list of pro wrestling “things to do”. This was also my friend Tony’s first Ring of Honor Show and quite possibly my first wrestling show on a Thursday night, which just felt strange to me.
Upon entering the arena, our seats were very close to the door. We actually entered at the end of the dark match and the first thing I noticed was the audience. I saw LOTS of kids there. I found this weird because Tony had asked me “what kind of audience will be at this event?” and my response was “probably people around our age” (mid 20’s). To say I was taken aback by the audience was probably an understatement, including one instance that happened later, which I will talk about later in this article.
The show starts off like a typical Ring of Honor show. The countdown, the clapping, etc. However, all of sudden a bunch of the Ring of Honor wrestlers surround the ring and stand outside of the ring on the apron.
As the show begins Jim Cornette comes out announces the Pick Six Contenders Series. I was lost on the concept and felt like this was a convoluted TNA type match. In the middle of Cornette announcing who was in the Pick Six Contenders series, my friend leans over to me and says “I wish that wrestling would get away from the authority figure concept like we’re seeing”. I couldn’t agree more. I responded back “Tony, this is the first I’ve ever seen this happen. It’s stupid but I assure you this is not what ROH is about”. To be honest, I half lied with that statement. I did not think back if it really happened but off the top of my head I don’t recall ever seeing an ROH show start off with a segment in recent memory. It should also be noted I don’t follow EVERY ROH show either.
After the opening segment was over, I could not help but think it was a very WWEish opening that went too long and to be honest, should not have even happened. Thankfully as the show went on, Tony got to really see what Ring of Honor is about and to our delight there were squash matches. I’ve always been a big advocate of bringing back squash matches to regular TV every once in awhile.
To be fair, I liked that money was being offered to people winning matches, I always liked that concept in wrestling. Even though we all know it’s “fake” money, the thought is in your head that the guys will work harder for that bonus.
At one point Austin Aries was in the ring and fan yelled out “Fuck you Aries”, in which another person next to his kid, said something to the effect that “come on man” referring that his kid was there. This goes back to my original problem. The atmosphere of the event did not feel like a real Ring of Honor show. This especially got me mad because as a parent, I feel you should know what kind of situation he was in for. Compared to the New York show, the Philly crowd on Thursday night was downright awful. Was it because it was a Thursday night show? I wish I knew.
The night ended with a great fatal fourway match. But not without one last gripe from me. Out of nowhere, towards the beginning I heard what sounded like a 1-2 year old baby crying. I don’t understand parents these days. Even when I hear babies crying in movie theatres, they will not remember it. Same thing applies here. It makes no sense to me.
Finally, I would like to note that after the event was over, since we had seats so close to the door, we were the first ones out. Upon exiting Ring of Honor actually gave us (and a few more) FREE tickets to their January 9th show at the Arena. Not sure if its an HD Net taping or a regular event but we both got a general admission ticket for that event.
Today’s valuable lesson: If someone says to you that Ring of Honor does give away free tickets. It is a lie because in some cases they do and I’m proof of it.
This week the Sunset Flip Wrestling Show is back celebrating the low Summerslam buyrate at sunsetflipwrestling.podomatic.com and don’t forget to check out our new youtube page at www.youtube.com/sunsetflipshow
Have a great week everyone
Jim Boy Star
Sunset Flip Wrestling Show
Sunday 6pm EST
Myspace: www.myspace.com/sunsetflipshow
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sunsetflipshow
Download episodes: sunsetflipwrestling.podomatic.com