It’s time to step into Ring of Honor territory again, but this review will be slightly different, as we’re going to take a look at two shows. They’re on the same disc though, in case you’re wondering, with Double Feature II featuring The Hunt Begins & Tag Title Classic, filmed during their trip to Canada this past April.

So what better place to start than part one, The Hunt Begins, held in Montreal. The show began with the latest in a long line of Age of the Fall grudge matches, with Jimmy Jacobs squaring off against Tyler Black. It’s unlike the usual ROH show opener. Sure, it’s fast paced at times, but it lasts longer than ten minutes. There’s some nice action here, with Jacobs again proving to be a great heel, although he couldn’t put his former protégé away, not even with three end time guillotine chokes. Black escaped from the third attempt, and finally took Jacobs out with a super kick to earn the pin. It wasn’t enough for Black though, as he got his hands on a chair, intent on inflicting more damage. Jacobs bolted from the ring though.

Match two saw four corner survival action, with jay Briscoe, Roderick Strong, Kenny Omega and Austin Aries. This was another of those spot driven matches, which featured some nice action along the way, and some impressive high flying moves from home country boy Omega. It wasn’t all about Omega though, as all four men put in great performances, with Omega getting something of an upset win by countering Aries’ brain buster attempt with a backslide for the win. Nice work all round.

Tag team action followed, with Jimmy Rave and Claudio Castagnoli teaming up against Brent Albright and Colt Cabana. To say that Cabana continued to be warmly welcomed back into the ROH fold would be an understatement here. On the opposite end of the scale, Rave was slightly annoyed with the TNA and Rock ‘N’ Rave chants. Another match with some great action throughout, particularly the exchanges between Castagnoli and Cabana, with a screw job finish that’s been used countless times over the years. As Albright went to suplex Rave into the ring from the apron, Prince Nana tripped Albright up and held on to his leg as Rave got the winning pin. Cabana and Albright got a small measure of revenge after the final bell though.

The main event of the first show saw newly crowned ROH World Tag Team Champions the American Wolves teaming with former WWE star Sylvan Grenier against Kevin Steen, El Generico and future WWE star (hopefully) Bryan Danielson. We had some nice exchanges early on, with Grenier playing the cowardly heel to perfection, refusing to wrestle his fellow Canadian Steen. Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards again proved what a great team they are, while Danielson, as always, looked tremendous. All of these ingredients made for a great match, with Grenier tapping out to Steen’s sharpshooter. Hey, at least there wasn’t a screw job finish here!

Part two, the aptly-titled Tag Title Classic, was held the following night in Markham, and began with singles action, with Claudio Castagnoli and Colt Cabana taking up where they’d left off the night before. Now, although this was the usual relatively short ROH show opener, it actually wasn’t that fast paced. In fact, it was a good old fashioned wrestling match, put on by two men extremely well versed in the British/European style, and it made for fantastic viewing. It reminded this particular writer of the halcyon days of World of Sport way back when, as both Double C’s engaged in hold countered by hold, and with hardly a punch in fight. Sadly, the whole thing was kind of spoiled by the outside interference, as the Embassy’s Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris came down to the ring to aid their Swiss friend. But as Ernie was about to give his shoe to Castagnoli, so he could clobber Cabana, while Nana was distracting the referee. But then Brent Albright appeared, took the shoe from Ernie, and threw it at Castagnoli. This distracted him enough for Cabana to get the pin with a roll-up. Now I know that had to further the ongoing storylines, but couldn’t they have just let Cabana and Castagnoli do their thing?

Six man tag team action followed, with Austin Aries, Rhett Titus and Kenny King taking on Kenny Omega, Kevin Steen and El Generico. Well, it was meant to be El Generico, but the masked man was unable to compete because of a knee injury, so they brought in another masked man, Generico Dos (Generico II, get it???). A double wasn’t exactly too happy with this, but he did wish El Generico well - then kicked his crutch out from under him. From there we had a ton of nice action, with Omega once again impressing with his high flying moves, and King and Titus again impressing with their timing and team work. Things were taken up a notch towards the end, with Titus and King doubling up to take Generico Dos down with a double stomp/spiked pile driver, with Titus getting the winning pin seconds later, ending what was a very good match.

The Age of the Fall grudge matches continued, and this time Jimmy Jacobs faced off against the masked man, Delirious, in a Markham street fight. So how many former members has Jacobs actually annoyed them? I’m beginning to lose count. Anyway, this one started with Delirious attacking Jacobs during a backstage interview. From there they fought into the crowd, eventually making their way to the ring, and it wasn’t long before Jacobs began to fill the ring up with chairs. These proved pivotal in the remainder of the bout, as did the table Delirious had set up at ringside, a table he would later go through courtesy of a Jacobs spear. It was then that Daizee Haze came down to check on her man, only for Jacobs to throw here into the ring, where he threatened to use his trusty railway spike on her. Thankfully, Delirious saved the day, spewing his black mist into Jacob’s face. Haze then managed to grab the spike herself, using it on Jacobs, before Delirious used the spike himself in a modified cobra stretch for the submission win, ending a great and very dramatic match.

Normality returned with Jay Briscoe taking on Roderick Strong. A great face versus face battle saw two great performances and nice exchanges throughout, as they two guys once again showed that they’re well made for each other. The wrestling holds developed into something of a slug fest towards the end, before Briscoe countered Strong’s Boston crab attempt to get the pin with a roll-up. This was the match of the night for me, but I hadn’t seen the main event yet.

The main event saw the American Wolves, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards, defending the ROH World Tag Team titles against Bryan Danielson and Tiger Black. After watching this I could see why they named this one the way they did. It was forty five minutes of tremendous, non-stop action, with four great performances. Move for move, counter and counter, and four wrestlers going all out to put on what was a Tag Title Classic. I really can’t speak too highly about this one, I really can’t, and I also can’t single out any particular moment for praise, because there’s just too many. As for the result, it seemed fitting that the time limit expired, with the match ending in a draw. Awesome, just awesome.

There’s the usual extra in the form of the ROH Newswire, but nothing more than that.

In conclusion - even though this release was missing some of the company’s top stars, these two shows still impressed the hell out of me. Okay, I was a little disappointed with the way the Cabana/Castagnoli match ended, but what happened before that made up for that.

As for the other matches, I know I’m going to sound like a stuck record again, but there just wasn’t one bad match here, folks, and it’s now getting to the point where I’d rather watch a Ring of Honor show than a WWE or TNA show.

So as you can probably tell from that last comment, this DVD comes highly recommended, and if you don’t buy this, I’ll come round all of your houses, point at you, and shout “fool!” at you repeatedly.

With thanks to the powers that be at Ring of Honor for supplying a copy of this release.

If you were to ask your average man in the street who the most well known cage fighter in Britain is at the moment, you’d probably get a mixed response.

Some would say Michael Bisping, the most high profile Brit in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and rightfully so. Indeed, Bisping actually placed fourteenth in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year poll a couple of years ago.

Some would mention Paul Daley, mainly because of his recent impressive win in the UFC, or even current Ultimate Fighter contestant James McSweeney. Ian Freeman might even get a mention.

But the name that most people would mention would be Alex “The Detonator” Reid. But sadly, Reid wouldn’t be known for his mixed martial arts career.

In case you’ve been living in a cave for the past few months, Reid is the current beau of former glamour model and tabloid favourite Katie “Jordan” Price. Ms. Price has recently gone through a messy divorce with Aussie pop star Peter Andre. The two of them met while they were contestants on dire reality show “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here”. And I say dire in the nicest of terms.

It seemed like a day didn’t go buy when we didn’t hear something about what Katie and Peter had done to each other. The insults came thick and fast, mainly through the pages of the tabloid newspapers.

But then, this past July, a new face entered the scene, the aforementioned Mr. Reid, and since then he’s been in the papers as much as Katie and Peter.

We seem to have heard it all, haven’t we. It began with the simple Alex is a cage fighter line. It then developed to Alex is starring in a film that glorifies rape, to Alex is more than a father to Peter’s kids than Peter is, Alex shops for toys with Katie instead of training for his fights, to Alex likes to wear women’s dresses. Today, having apparently engaged in an argument with Peter over the phone, news has it that Alex has challenged Peter to a fight.

But what about Alex Reid the mixed martial artist? We’ve heard a great deal about what happens in his private life, but how does he actually fare within the confines of the cage?

This year Alex has competed in two kickboxing fights for the Ultimate Challenge UK promotion, defending his UK1 title. He hasn’t exactly been that impressive, folks. The first fight last July saw him knock out Jake Bostwick. Bostwick came out swinging for the proverbial fences, and halfway through the first round Alex caught him with a knee. Bostwick failed to beat the count in what was considered by many to be a lucky win.

Last month Alex defended his title against Jack Mason in what was a highly publicised fight, with Ms. Price cheering on her man from cage side. Many people were critical over Alex’s apparent lack of training going into this fight. Mason began slowly in the first round, but certainly upped his game as the fight went on, while Alex visibly tired. Many people, including yours truly and television commentators Pierre Guillet, Rob Nutley and Malcolm Martin thought Mason had won the fight. The judges, however, seemed to be watching a different fight, as Alex got the unanimous decision.

But as far as his mixed martial arts career goes, is Alex Reid actually any good. Well, the proof is in black and white, or rather on several MMA websites. Alex has twenty one MMA fights under his belt. From that he has secured eight wins, nine losses, and one no contest. But here’s the interesting statistic for you - he hasn’t actually won an MMA fight since July 2005, when he defeated Kyosuke Sasaki at Cage Rage 12. Since then he’s lost seven in a row, including losses to Murilo “Ninja” Rua and “Professor X” Xavier Foupa Pokam. Okay, so he hasn’t fought professionally as an MMA fighter for two and a half years, but the facts don’t lie.

Which really makes you wonder why Dave O’Donnell, the head honcho of Ultimate Challenge UK, and Cage Rage before that, has apparently put so much faith in him.

Well, the answer to that is simple really. Alex Reid is the most high profile cage fighter this country has ever seen, because of his association with Katie Price, and his almost constant daily appearances in the tabloid press. Tons of publicity for Alex means tons of publicity for the promotion he fights for, Ultimate Challenge UK.

Which brings me on to my next point. Alex Reid has become the man the fans love to hate, to the point that most of those in attendance at the Mason fight were there just to see him get the beating of his life. So when he was announced as the winner, despite putting in a sub-par performance, the fans weren’t exactly too happy. It makes you wonder, though, just how these nameless judges came up with their decision. Could it be that the powers-that-be told the judges that Alex must get the decision, no matter what? Unfortunately, MMA promotions don’t have any sanctioning body here in Britain, so given the somewhat dubious nature of the decision, there isn’t anyone who can actually investigate it, or order an immediate re-match between the two fighters concerned.

Sadly, this sorry state of affairs is set to continue, with Alex continuing to make daily headlines, not because of his fighting career, but because of who he is having sex with at the moment. So what will happen next? As Alex has promised to “sort out” Peter Andre after their telephone argument, will Dave O’Donnell try to promote a Reid/Andre grudge match on an upcoming Ultimate Challenge show? Given that former Big Brother contestant Ziggy was due to fight on one of his shows in the past, I wouldn’t be surprised. The freak show element would certainly turn out in force for a Reid/Andre showdown.

And the rest of us long-time fight fans will hark back to the days when fighters were known for fighting, and not for dressing up in stockings and suspenders.

A few years ago I had the privilege to review one of the best wrestling documentaries of the past ten years, Michael Moody’s 101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler. Many have described it as the best thing since Beyond the Mat, and rightfully so. But the highlight for many the segments featuring former ECW star New Jack. In fact, they were so well received that Moody later made a documentary dedicated to the man himself, New Jack: Hardcore.

Well, New Jack is back, but this time he’s in slightly different surroundings, talking to Sean Oliver in the latest of Kayfabe Commentaries’ YouShoot series.

So what the hell is YouShoot, I hear you ask. Well a YouShoot interview is basically a shoot interview, but with a difference - the subject doesn’t answer questions from an interviewer, oh no. This time, it’s we mere mortals, the fans, who get to pose the questions.

New Jack is the perfect choice for an exercise like this, and while he may have a somewhat questionable reputation in the eyes of some people, as a guest he’s interview gold. He not only comes across as a straight talking kind of guy, but as the kind of guy you’d readily go out for a drink with.

Jack basically tells it like it is, and more often than not he adds a humorous slant to everything he says, no matter how serious the subject matter is. In fact I’d go as far as saying that New Jack could perhaps be the most entertaining talker in the history of professional.

And in case you’re wondering, there are some questions asked about some of the controversial incidents in his career, with the names of Mass Transit and Vic Grimes being mentioned.

It really is great listening to Jack talk about his exploits in the wrestling business, and if you’re wondering if you should get this release, then do so, because as the old saying goes you won’t be disappointed.

It’s gimmick match overload time again, but this time it’s World Wrestling Entertainment’s turn, as their two biggest titles are on the line in Hell in a Cell, shown live here in Britain in the early hours of Monday morning on Sky Box Office.

The broadcast began with the first Hell in a Cell match, and C.M. Punk defending his World title against the Undertaker. A relatively short match to begin the show with saw some good action, and some early use of the cage as a weapon. Once again the protagonists had some good exchanges of blows, before the Undertaker countered Punk’s attempted chair shot by booting said weapon to the champion’s face. Seconds later Punk fell to the tombstone, with the Undertaker getting the title winning pin. A nice way to start the show, and an enjoyable match, but at a shade over ten minutes long it felt ten minutes too short.

Next up was John Morrison defending the Intercontinental title against perennial number one contender Dolph Ziggler. Mr. Ziggles continues to impress, improving each and every time I see him, while Morrison just impresses the hell out of me anyway. The shaman of sexy or whatever the hell he’s called was the best thing in this match, and Ziggler wasn’t far behind, but I’m left to wonder just how many more chances he’ll get at this title, because he came up short once again, with Morrison getting the pin after taking him out with the starship pain thing.

The title action continued with Alicia Fox challenging Mickie James for the Divas title. This was okay in parts, but there were times where Miss Fox looked way out of her depth, and she almost messed up Mickie’s finishing DDT. Mickie needs some more seasoned challengers. In other words, where’s Gail Kim when you need her.

Then it was on to what was, for me, the best match on the show, with Batista and Rey Mysterio challenging Chris Jericho and the Big Show for the Unified Tag Team Championship. This match was just perfect. It played to everyone’s strengths, and it just made sense, and for some odd reason I just loved the David versus Goliath exchanges between Mysterio and the Big Show. As far as no frills, no gimmick action was concerned, you couldn’t get much better than this, with the hated heel champions retaining their titles after the big guy knocked the little guy out as he came off the top rope.

The second Hell in a Cell match followed, with John Cena defending his title against Randy Orton. And before you ask, no, I didn’t see Cena dropping his razor blade, but as far as the match is concerned this wasn’t too bad, certainly the best effort these two have put in in their latest feud. The cell, of course, played a major part in that, giving us something we haven’t seen from these two before. Cena looked like he was going to retain the title at one point as Orton tapped to the STF, but sadly for him the referee was taking a snooze. The viper came back strongly though, and despite Cena having injured his right knee, Orton punted Cena before getting the title winning pin. The punt wasn’t as severe as the previous efforts though, as Cena was able to get back to his feet afterwards.

My fellow Brit made his pay-per-view debut next, as Drew McIntyre took on R-Truth. You know, I remember recommending this guy to a certain wrestling promoter a few years ago, although he’ll deny that this ever took place. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. A short and sweet match, with the former Mr. Galloway putting on a good performance en route to getting the win with his under hook DDT. Nice one.

Triple threat action followed, with Kofi Kingston defending the United States title against the Miz and Jack Swagger. One thing that surprised me was that Kingston was introduced as being from Ghana, especially after all the trouble they went to before, making out he was West Indian. Although this was another of those nice little encounters, it was kind of predictable in a way, with the heels teaming up against Kingston, before they inevitably disagreed and started beating the hell out of each other. The Jamaica…I mean African guy again looked impressive, getting the pin after taking Swagger out with that brilliant kick of his, before getting the pin on the Miz, who had just fallen to Swagger’s brilliant power bomb.

The final match of the show was definitely the most dramatic, with D-Generation X facing Legacy in the third and final Hell in a Cell encounter. This one started long before the teams got to the cage, with Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase attacking Shawn Michaels and Triple H during their entrance. We then had a brief fight through the crowd (insert TNA reference here), before the Game got taken out on the stage, and the Heartbreak Kid was dragged into the cage for a prolonged spot of two on one action. Triple H was unable to jump to his partner’s rescue though, because the cage had been locked by Rhodes and Dibiase, which made me wonder what happened to the key that the other referees had been using all evening. But hey, this is the professional wrestling business we’re talking about here, which means that logic often flies out of the window. Eventually, Triple H left the arena, returning some time later with a pair of bolt cutters. It was then that another official arrived on the scene with a second chain, which Triple H used to clobber Dibiase, leaving him outside the cage while DX doubled up on Rhodes. It wasn’t long before they took him out with a combined sledgehammer shot/sweet chin music to get the winning pin. As the cell was raised after the match, Dibiase jumped into the ring to check on his partner, only to be super kicked by Michaels for his troubles, ending what was a great encounter.

In conclusion - although this show had it’s slightly iffy and often predictable moments, it was nonetheless enjoyable, even though one particular match did seem a tad too short, and the match order did seem a little arse backwards. But then again, I guess that’s what happens when you don’t adhere to the company’s dress code.

As I said before, the match of the night for me was the Unified Tag Team title match, with the DX/Legacy match not far behind. I must admit that I did have my doubts about this kind of concept, but in the end it was well executed. Kudos to the WWE creatives for giving us something new.

This past Wednesday saw the return of Ultimate Challenge UK to British television screens, with their most recent show, Mayhem, shown on a ten day delay on Sky Sports. The show received a great deal of mainstream publicity thanks to the appearance of Katie Price’s current boyfriend Alex Reid, defending his UK1 Middleweight Championship against Jack Mason. The show was presented by O.J. Borg and Dave O’Donnell, with Pierre Guillet, Rob Nutley and Malcolm Martin.

The broadcast began with Wesley Murch taking on Mark Smith in a lightweight fight. This proved to be a very enjoyable contest, with both fighters showing some good work on the ground, changing positions a number of times and going for a few submission holds. The final submission, in the first round, saw Murch synching in a kimura, with Smith making the inevitable tap. Both fighters did well here, with Smith the slightly more dominant until Murch came back strongly for the win.

Then it was up to the light heavyweight division, with Mike Edwards facing Jamie Hearn. If ever you wanted to see a dominant performance, then all you’ve got to do is look at this fight. Although Hearn scored with some good combinations early on, Edwards dominated as soon as he took the fight to the ground. His ground and pound was relentless, and it wasn’t long before Hearn was tapping. This was a good performance from Edwards, although I’m left to wonder just where Hearn’s ground game was.

The first title fight of the evening followed, with Francis Heagney challenging Tim Radcliffe for the UCUK Lightweight title. A lot of people thought that Radcliffe was going to get the win here, but things didn’t exactly go to plan for the champion. The first round saw Heagney take him down repeatedly, while Radcliffe earned a yellow card from the referee for up kicking Heagney in the head, and although the beginning of the second round saw a slightly improved performance from Radcliffe, it was Heagney who came out on top, finishing Radcliffe off with a guillotine choke to end a very good and very entertaining fight.

The fight that everyone wanted to see was up next, with tabloid favourite Alex Reid defending his UK1 Middleweight kickboxing title against Jack Mason. Fought over three three minute rounds, Reid went into this one with some critical over his apparent lack of training. Reid began strongly, and although Mason looked poor in the first round, he certainly upped his game as the fight went on, with Reid looking visibly tired, and looking like the better fighter in the third round. The commentators at ringside, and yours truly, thought that Mason had won the fight, but the judges were apparently watching something different, with Reid winning the unanimous decision. I was left scratching my head with this one.

The final fight of the show saw Ben Smith taking on Frenchman Kiane Sabet for the vacant Heavyweight Superfight title. This was another of those one-sided affairs. Sabet showed some good take down defence, but when Smith finally secured the take down, then that was it. Sabet looked like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights, and with his eyes wide open he looked like a man who just didn’t know what to do, so it came as no surprise when Smith got the submission win with an arm triangle. A good performance by Smith here, but Sabet looked very nervous and very inexperienced.

In conclusion - another good outing from Dave O’Donnell and his crew with five very enjoyable fights, but there was one thing I really didn’t like about this show, and that was the over-exposure of Alex Reid.

As readers here in Britain will now, Reid has got a hell of a lot exposure because of his relationship with former glamour model Katie “Jordan” Price, but the amount of times he was featured on this show bordered on the ridiculous. Not only did we get the usual pre-recorded pre-fight promo, we also had a pre-fight interview, as well as a post-fight interview, as well as numerous shots of his darling girlfriend during the show. Now, while it’s understandable that Ultimate Challenge would try to cash in on his newfound fame, fame he would never have got if it hadn’t been for his girlfriend, but did we really need to see so much of him here? I would like to say something else, but that would probably be considered libellous, and I really don’t want to spend a great deal of time replying to long-winded e-mails.