Well half the year is out and of course in CZW, one of the big shows of the year happen to be Best of the Best, their yearly tournament featuring some of the best junior heavyweights in the United States. Last years didn’t hold up to the expectations of many, despite the win by B-Boy, it just didn’t seem to have the calibre of wrestlers in it, compared to the previous year with probably one of the best matches of that year, Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Briscoe. But this year, the show has gone from the spot fests of previous years to now a very technical tourney. And with that this is going to be my “look” at the show for this year with all of the competitors.

Well I can start off with the first bracket announced for the show this year, Teddy Hart vs. Homicide vs. Trent Acid. Now for all of those that have never seen a best of the best before, there are 3 person brackets with 2 people from that match moving on to the next round against each other until the finals. So by the end, the finalists wrestle about 4 matches each. Contrary to what a lot of people would think, Homicide is able to qualify for this tourney based on his weight.

Unfortunately that means he put two guys who most people either love, hate or love to hate. Trent Acid and Teddy Hart are probably more alike when it comes to the way crowds think of them than they realise. Acid was the poster boy for the Indy smarks, and now Teddy has now taken that role and ran with it over the last 8 months. But when you take into consideration how heated the Trent Acid/Homicide rivalry was in CZW, ROH and basically all over the East Coast, Homicide and Hart’s rivalry in JAPW in addition to the fallout from the Hart/Acid match at Retribution, its basically 3 guys who all hate each other. But seeing as Trent has somehow made it to the later rounds of BOTB the previous years, its time for him to get the main event push that has been talked about for years, so I don’t see him advancing to later rounds, so as I hate to say it, Hart will advanced, along with Homicide.

Since that bracket is gone its time to take a look at the other nine guys:

Alex Shelley

I admit, I have a weakness for Alex Shelley as a wrestler. He does live by that entire “The Next” nickname. Any other opinions I have of him don’t really pertain to his wrestling ability....yeah. But back to the subject of BOTB, he probably got his name out this year more than he did last year. I’m so personally hoping he isn’t a first round exit because he is probably one of the best bets to win it all this year.

B-Boy

Last year’s champion, and in it to hopefully make a good standing in the tourney as part of the So-Cal duo that includes Bobby Quance, he has to make a decent showing to prove that his win was not a fluke.

Bobby Quance

He’s the new guy to a lot of the East Coast, even though he did wrestle for XPW as Mirai with Jardi Frantz. But that was under a mask so those that might have seen him probably forgot. Well the main point of this, is this West Coast Standout, who originally was a spotfest, took some time to even out his wrestling repertoire with American Dragon and now has an all around offence that can make one proud. I don’t know whether he’ll make an early round exit or not but a strong showing will make him known to those on the East Coast.

Roderick Strong

Adding in the backbreaker king will at least add in some more power into the tourney. But when I say he is the backbreaker king, he really does have 1,001 ways to put a backbreaker on. If they plan to use the NextGen stable camaraderie in this show, Shelley and Strong may help each other get to the top. But the question is, how long will that alliance last?

Petey Williams

The Canadian Destroyer is here!!! Yeah I’m letting my personal allegiances get the better of me, but oh well. He is, in my opinion the best out of the Canadian trio which includes Teddy Hart and Jack Evans, but I don’t think he gets enough praise. Considering right now he is the IWA MS Heavyweight Champion, I’m hoping that could prevent him from having a first round exit.

Sonjay Dutt

Last year he made it to the finals? This year could be a toss up. The new NWA restrictions could prohibit him from going far in the bookers mind, but also there has been a storyline about who stole his cruiserweight belt. When he gets eliminated, I see that being due to the person who stole his belt.

Jimmy Rave

Jimmy is cool in my book, but he gets insulted by the Philly crowds for not being charismatic enough for their liking. He is a solid worker and deserves his shot to move forward. But judging the way some of the shows have been recently with him, I do see a first round exit for him too.

Ruckus

He seems to be a recent staple in previous Best of the Bests and now he’s back in it again. He’s lost a member of Blackout in Joker, but he seems to have gained a new one in Eddie Kingston, who is part of the tag team, the Wildcards. Will he be able to put the pass exits behind him and make his way to the finals or will the lights go out on him? Also what impact would the other members of Blackout play in getting him to the top is another question that needs to be discussed as well.

“Spyder” Nate Webb

Last, but certainly not least, the winner of the CZW Trifecta, which is the last spot of the tourney is IWA’s own Nate Webb. I’m a fan of anyone that dances to the ring in probably one of the most entertaining entrances in wrestling. But he isn’t all style and no substance. He can hold his own in the ring with everyone else in the tourney as well. A good showing can help him get his name out, instead of being one of those guys that gets jobbed to death on NWA-TNA’s Xplosion show.

Well that’s it those are the guys that are in the Best of the Best 2004 tournament. I have been taking bets, on the winner, but it didn’t seem to go over very well.

Trin: Who do you think is going to win Best of the Best this year?

Nick: Chris Hero

Trin: But he’s not in the tourney

HAYZE: Chris Hero ....

Trin: He’s not in the tourney?!

Nick: Pfft.. not fair, he is a cruiserweight.

Just goes to show where they’re minds were at. But Hero will be at the show as well, defending the Iron-Man Title against a mystery opponent and Nick Gage will face Dan Maff in the second round of the Xtreme Strong Style Tournament, which is being salvaged in this apparent battle of head drops versus choke breakers. Its shaping up to be good, I’m hoping that in the end CZW can use this to steamroll their way to better shows and storylines for the second half of the year.

Trinity