NXT Versus ROH

Triple H wants to expand NXT. He's made many comments in various interviews and Q&A sessions that indicates he believes the league can be expanded to into something that could operate autonomously (or semi-autonomously) from WWE. We've seen steps taken towards this goal with the events held at the Arnold Sports Festival and in San Jose as part of WrestleMania weekend. It's still early days but the fact that these events were able to attract very healthy crowds, the passion fans and wrestlers have for NXT, and the fact that the endeavour is being bankrolled by WWE (essentially meaning they don't necessarily need to worry about making a profit) makes me think that the growth of NXT into a marketable second brand within WWE is an attainable goal. It can afford to run at a loss for a while as it expands, that's not a position wrestling promotions are usually in.

That said it remains a developmental league. It's a place for wrestlers to learn and hone their skills before being promoted to the main roster, where they can earn better money and contribute to the shows where WWE makes its profit. Some people are brought in closer to this point than others. Finn Bálor, formerly New Japan's junior heavyweight ace Prince Devitt, could probably have bypassed NXT altogether. Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze are all as main roster ready as they're going to get. Hideo Itami is still finding a middle ground between his stiff-as-nails NOAH style and the softer, safer approach taken by WWE's sports entertainers and working on his English. These things aside he's ready too.

But these names are in the minority. Most NXT wrestlers need NXT for the learning environment it was designed to be, not the WWE-owned indy fed people (not least Triple H) seem desperate for it to become. For the main roster to benefit from NXT as it's meant to a middle ground needs to be found, one that allows people like Enzo Amore, Alexa Bliss and Baron Corbin to become confident in-ring performers while also drawing sizeable crowds in its own right.

The solution WWE have apparently settled on is targeting indy talent with a proven ability to fill buildings of the size NXT will be holding events in as it expands. Essentially this means they're going after Ring of Honor guys. ROH operates on a smaller scale than WWE and is generally able to draw a couple of thousand or so people to their bigger shows. Although the ROH brand name contributes to this it's not enough by itself. It's the wrestler that deserve the bulk of the credit there. WWE understand this and want to sign these guys to help NXT and set back the competition. And while ROH is not direct competition to WWE it will be to an expanded NXT.

This would go down well with NXT crowds. Or any crowds, for that matter.
But my point still stands: ACH would be a good hire.

There are four wrestlers in ROH that I think WWE would be particularly interested in. At the top of the list is ACH. The most obvious reason is his dazzling aerial ability. He never puts on a foot wrong on his flying moves and never has a bad match. He can make himself look tremendously sympathetic when taking a beating, always handy for a smaller lad. He's precisely the sort of guy that could be signed strictly for use in NXT. This isn't to say he couldn't go far on the main roster, he could, but his style is well-suited to the more indy-flavoured NXT. With WWE on the hunt for a new lead high-flyer, and seemingly unaware that Kalisto is ideal for the role, ACH could be a great acquisition.

The second and third guys are Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly. As reDRagon they've been ROH's most reliable in-house tag team for the last two years. Three weeks in the summer of 2013 and the Young Bucks' two month reign last year aside, they held the ROH tag team titles from March 2 2013 until April 4 this year. They're a team ROH has invested a lot of time in and an act the company continues to rely on for selling tickets, VOD streams, and tickets. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Fish and O'Reilly team has been one of ROH's greatest booking triumphs of the last few years.

ROH can't outbid WWE but even if they could it's possible reDRagon might be tempted away. ROH have treated them very well but there's nothing fresh left for them to do aside from beat the Briscoes for the longest cumulative days as tag champs, something they're only around four months away from accomplishing. Even their first match with the new Roppongi Vice team happened at the first opportunity, a sure sign that ROH booker Delirious is aware of how new things need to be done with the duo.

In NXT the team would have an entire roster of fresh opposition. They likely wouldn't get to display the dominance they have in Ring of Honor but I think it's fair to assume they'd be allowed to look immediately competitive with tag champs Blake and Murphy. It's also worth noting that aside from those two and the Enzo-Big Cass team there aren't that many teams kicking around in NXT right now, the Lucha Dragons having been promoted and the Vaudevillains having disappeared. A renamed reDRagon would be a welcome addition.

That they lost the tag straps to The Addiction, a talented pair of guys but men WWE are unlikely to have interest in, could indicate that reDRagon have announced they intend to leave ROH soon. Getting the titles off of them now avoids any sticky booking situations arising later. Of course it could just as easily be a switch made to tell a story and freshen up the doubles scene.

Bullet Club T-Shirt there. It's very much the new nWo shirt.

Another team WWE could show interest in from ROH is the Briscoe brothers. They've got a solid track record of good matches and have worked out their characters. The only stumbling block that presents itself is that Jay Briscoe is still the same man who made comments about shooting people if they tried to teach his son homosexuality was acceptable. Which, y'know, is a problem. ROH is a company that can get away with publically slapping down a guy like that and then getting back to business as usual. WWE isn't. It would be too big a deal (rightly so) for their sponsors. It could be assumed he's learnt the error of his ways but would they want to take that risk when they don't need to? I'm not sure they would.

Jay Briscoe is also a guy I think ROH would put up a fight for. Like reDRagon he's benefited from some strong booking over the last few years. He's not been pinned for around the two year mark and is only the second man ever to enjoy a second reign as the ROH world champion. He's a company stalwart who has, famously, been there since day one. Losing him would create a big gap in their man event scene. It could also send the message that even the most loyal ROH wrestler is willing to leave if they're offered more cash.

But Jay Briscoe isn't the fourth guy I think WWE would definitely be interested in. He and Mark are guys that I could see WWE hiring but not trying their hardest to lure away. The fourth name is Adam Cole. He's got everything  WWE looks for. The look, the wresting ability, the mic skills. There's nothing about Adam Cole WWE wouldn't embrace. He's probably the most signable member of the ROH roster.

The most important thing to note about Cole is that he would be an ideal replacement for Finn Bálor. They don't work especially similar styles but they can both slot into the experienced babyface role well. With a call-up to the main roster looking likely for Bálor a replacement who has as much appeal to live audiences would be desirable. Cole could fill that role nicely. As with Jay Briscoe I could see ROH making a counter offer but it wouldn't be one that WWE couldn't match. If they wanted him they'd get him. And if they're serious with their expansion talk, which we're assuming they are, they'll want him.

There are a handful of other guys WWE could be interested in. At 29 Jay Lethal is still young enough to enter the developmental system and have a meaningful main roster career. The same goes for 23-year-old Adam Page. Despite having lost steam over the last year or so Michael Elgin remains someone who'd make a solid mid-card addition to WWE and he'd look completely at home in NXT. ACH.

#streamers

Samoa Joe, who last wrestled for ROH at Supercard of Honor IX on March 27, doesn't feel like a true ROH guy after only working four matches for them in the last five-plus years, but he's worth mentioning here. Because obviously Joe could be a draw for NXT and do great things with everyone on the roster. With him being conspicuous by his absence from future ROH show line-ups, most notably the New Japan co-promotions, it seems safe to assume he's going to WWE. I wouldn't be surprised if they next quarterly special ended with him confronting NXT champ Kevin Owens.

But none of these guys other than Joe can be said to be the attractions that ACH, reDRagon, Cole and Briscoe are. They're reliable, exciting, in-ring performers who could benefit both WWE and NXT in the long run but they're not the instant fix that is required for NXT's expansion to work before this time next year. If NXT is going to grow and ROH stars are being targeted to help with that, Cole, O'Reilly, Fish, ACH and Joe are the guys I'd expect to get signed.

ROH Supercard of Honor IX review

While their disgruntled former employee Gabe Sapolsky was busy offering up in excess of half a dozen shows via his World Wrestling Network, Ring of Honor was taking a more conservative approach with WrestleMania Weekend. While they have the name value and roster to be able to put together two, possibly even three, shows on the biggest wrestling weekend of the wrestling year they decided to go for one. Less is more, and all that.

Looking at the line-up they had announced beforehand this is probably a good thing. Despite ROH's name value and roster Supercard of Honor IX looked like anything but a supercard before the fact. Of the six matches announced days before the event only the Jay Briscoe versus Samoa Joe main event and Jay Lethal's TV title defence against Jushin 'Thunder' Liger sounded like anything special. Daniels and Kazarian being placed in singles matches reeked of padding out a card, the Jimmy Jacobs v BJ Whitmer grudge battle was something that had been seen ten years earlier, and the reDRagon v Kingdom match sounded underwhelming.

In ROH's defence they suffered by losing access to regulars AJ Styles and the Young Bucks, all three of whom were busy in New Japan. But while that was beyond ROH's control it can only be taken so far as a defence. The promotion is still ultimately responsible for finding and building up its own new stars. That ACH was merely confirmed to appear with no match announced shows that the company's not as dedicated as it probably should be to establishing its next batch of headliners. And being in the position it's in (basically the last stop guys make on their way to being signed by WWE) that's something that should always be a priority for Ring of Honor.

This said the show was better than my (admittedly low) expectations had made me think it would be. It kicked off with an enjoyable match between Mark Briscoe and ACH. Recent shows had seen ACH lose to AJ Styles, Alberto El Patron and Samoa Joe. He lost again here, coming close with a bombardment of big moves in the closing moments before Mark sat down on a roll-up during a pin exchange sequence.

I understand that a guy can't just start beating big names as soon as they start getting pushed but the regularity of ACH's losses isn't going to do him any favours. They're probably going somewhere with him not being able to win in one of these matches but it's not anywhere interesting. ACH deserves more than he's currently getting and ROH need to be trying to build him up in case they lose some of their top guys in the near future. If they don't then they'll still have ACH but he'll just be the guy who lost to everyone who left.

Match two saw Michael Elgin take on Frankie Kazarian. It was a slower match than the opener and the pair took a while to find their groove. They were fine by the halfway point though, and the match ended in the typically pacey big move sequence most Elgin matches benefit from. The story of the match was that Elgers was being particularly vicious and was going out of his way to try and injure Kazarian. Kazarian survived a chair attack and all of Elgin's big moves before finally falling to a spinning back fist and the Elgin bomb.

Despite having acted like a nasty heel throughout the match the crowd chanted for Elgin after the finish. They returned to booing him as he sarcastically asked a spent Kazarian for a handshake. Kazarian's Addiction teammate Chris Daniels came out to try and keep Elgin at bay but it didn't work. Elgin initially backed off before returning to the ring with a chair and smacking Daniels in the back with it. H gave him an Elgin bomb and then used the chair on Kazarian. Because, in case you haven't noticed, Michael Elgin is now a renegade who plays by nobody's rules but his own.

Andrew Everett, Caprice Coleman, Cedric Alexander, Tommaso Ciampa (sporting his MF Doom style mask), Moose and Matt Sydal were guys stuffed into the show's six man mayhem offering. That Sydal, Ciampa and Alexander were thrown into a multi-man match was disappointing. A more meaningful match could have happened in its place, or the card could have been reshuffled to put The Addiction in a tag match. It's hardly surprising that Ciampa asked for his release when he went from main eventing shows to being in filler matches. There were clearly no long term ideas for him.

This match was a good use of Moose though. With five men against him he had plenty of guys to throw around and look powerful against. The match was a fun spot-fest, which is all it was intended to be. Sydal won off a shooting star press on Everett. Moose was just a little too slow to break the pin up.

After the match Veda Scott again stopped Moose shaking hands, as she had at the start and in other matches since she turned heel. Cedric also refused to shake hands with people. He just looked angry as Adam Cole (who was working as guest commentator for the evening) and Kevin Kelly discussed how he'd had lots of exciting matches but couldn't win. That story would be more impactful if they weren't also running it with ACH. They may be building to those two confronting one another on their different outlooks on losing but so what? We've seen them wrestle one another before so the prospect of them facing off again isn't particularly interesting, even if Cedric's a heel when it happens.

That was followed by the Epic Grudge Match between BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs. Whitmer had his new young boy Colby Corino with him (which was why Steve Corino wasn't on commentary). They started with a handshake before immediately pummelling each other. They headed outside, fought more, then got back into the ring and had a chair duel. Whitmer whipped Jacobs into chairs set up in the corner. Jacobs fought back with a spear (which brought about a "Better than Reigns!" chant) and smacked Whitmer with chairs before dropping him with Sliced Bread Number Two onto a chair.

Whitmer got a fisherman suplex for two. Jacobs brought out a table. Whitmer tried to exploder Jacobs through it. Jacobs fought him off. Whitmer helpfully rolled onto the table in just the right place for a Jacobs senton. The table didn't break so Jacobs set it up between the ring apron and the crowd barrier. A second senton in that position worked. Whitmer kicked out of a pin attempt and got clamped in a guillotine choke. Whitmer muscled out into a brainbuster then hit a second brainbuster onto a chair. Jacobs kicked out.

Whitmer tried a top rope power bomb (a call-back to one of their more grizzly encounters against one another). Jacobs back dropped him off the top rope and gave him an Ace crusher, holding on to follow up with another Sliced Bread. Whitmer floored Jacobs twice with lariats before giving him an exploder suplex onto a pair of chairs. That was enough to put 'The Zombie Princess' down for three.

A "Thank you, Jimmy!" chant rang in, it being an open secret that this was Jacobs' final match with Ring of Honor before taking a creative job with WWE. Jacobs went for a handshake. Whitmer pulled away then said he only shakes hands with guys who belong. Colby then smacked Jimmy with a water bottle shot from behind and pummelled him before Lacey ran in through the crowd to make the save. They embraced as the Ballad of Lacey played, finally bringing an end to ROH's ancient Jimmy Loves Lacey story which began back in the Gabe Sapolsky days. It was a nice touch and a fitting end to Jimmy Jacobs' time in Ring of Honor.

The love story moment was immediately undercut by Chris Daniels dancing out to the ring to his jaunty entrance music. It would have been nice if ROH had had a video package to play at this point, or a heel promo to schedule to deliberately kill the mood. But they had neither because despite this show being held on WrestleMania weekend it was still just a VOD event. As  rule they don't get video packages, and there were no heel promos on the show.

Daniels versus Roderick Strong was predictably sharp but I still think it would have been better to have The Addiction in a tag match and Roddy doing something against someone else. Matt Sydal, for example. Strong won with the Stronghold following a torture rack into a back breaker.

That was followed by The Kingdom team of Matt Taven and Michael Bennett, with Maria Kanellis, challenging reDRagon, with MMA personality Tom Lawler, for the ROH tag team championship. The Kingdom played rock, paper scissors to decide who'd start (Bennett won with rock). I've always been a fan of that in tag matches.

As stated above I hadn't expected a great deal from this match. reDRagon are great and Taven and Bennett are good but it just seemed like an awkward bout waiting to happen. It took a while to get going, the first half being characterised by Taven and Bennett employing cheap heat shenanigans, featured a needless run-in from a lone KRD member, and faltered in the closing moments because of an injury to Kyle O'Reilly, but it ended up better than I'd expected. Fish got the pin for reDRagon with a falcon arrow on Bennett.

Cole returned to commentary (he'd left after Kelly had questioned him about The Kingdom's relationship with the Knights of the Rising Dawn during Whitmer v Jacobs) and promised he hadn't been the masked KRD guy. He probably wasn't, but in storyline he likely was. That's wrestling logic, that is.

Jay Lethal's television title defence against Jushin Liger took the semi-main spot. Lethal has been great as the aggressive heel champion and his reign is doing the championship's credibility a lot of good. He's the sort of guy ROH could elevate to the world title picture should they lose a bunch of their top guys. Liger is Liger. Not as good as he is in 80's and 90's videos but still very reliable and a definite crowd-pleaser.

What I liked about the Liger and Lethal pairing was that a title change wasn't inconceivable, something that can't often be said when a champion defends against an outsider. With ROH promoting shows with New Japan a month and a half after this they could have switched the title to Liger and had him enter those shows as champion. The TV title could have been defended on New Japan shows by Liger in the meantime and a rematch would have been a natural addition to one of the four inter-promotional shows. It wasn't likely but it made suspension of disbelief a bit easier than it had been in Liger's world title match with Cole at War of the Worlds 2015.

The match was very good and had a entertaining finishing sequence. After stopping a Lethal suicide dive Liger dropped the champ with a brainbuster. They made it back into the ring at the nineteen count. Lethal grabbed the TV title belt. The referee took it from him and Liger went for a rollup, which Lethal countered into a pin attempt of his own by grabbing hold of the ropes. The ref noticed and called a halt to the count. Lethal took the belt again and tried lamping Liger with it. Liger ducked and snatched the belt for himself. The referee started a tug-of-war over the belt with the challenger, allowing Lethal to sneak in a super kick and a Lethal Injection for the victory.

The main event saw Samoa Joe challenge Jay Briscoe for the ROH world championship. This was a match with a lot of history behind it. Briscoe and Joe had feuded with one another in the early years of ROH, Briscoe never managing to defeat Joe when it really counted. Joe is the man most readily associated with the championship, thanks to his dominant twenty-one month title reign during the company's formative years, a reign yet to be bettered in length. Briscoe is the dominant champion of the present, not having been pinned in two years and having defeated everyone that's been put in front of him just as Joe did during his reign.

Joe got the best of an early feeling out process. The match gradually got more physical with forearms, chops, jabs, a Jay boot to the face and a Joe enziguri. Jay went for a suplex. Got it on fourth try following a jab. He peppered the big man with more jabs and applied a sleeper. Joe muscled out, tweaked his knee on a bungled spill over the top rope, and rolled to the outside to counter a suicide dive with a high kick as planned.

Back in the ring Joe hit Briscoe with jabs of his own and used a Hogan-esque leg drop in place of his usual knee drop. Joe got the best of an exchange of blows with an uppercut. Briscoe tried climbing to the top rope but Joe booted him to the outside and hit a suicide dive. He went for the Olé kick but Briscoe threw a chair in his face (the lack of a DQ being explained away with talk of referee lenience). The champ threw Joe into the barricade before getting grabbed off of the apron and slung into the barricade himself. A second try for the Olé kick was successful. So was a third.

Joe pulled Briscoe back into the ring and got a two count. He peppered him with jabs and hauled him into position for the Muscle Buster. Briscoe fought out of it and dropped Joe with a neck breaker. Jay got more jabs on Joe and went for a Death Valley driver. Joe and his weight blocked it. Jay took some elbow strikes before firing back with a super kick and a belly-to-back suplex as Joe came off the ropes.

Briscoe got in several uppercuts and finally connected with the DVD. Joe kicked out at two. Briscoe went for the Jay driller. Joe back dropped out of it and sent Jay sprawling with clotheslines, an inverted atomic drop, a yakuza kick and a senton. Jay kicked out and slugged away at Joe before hit ting the ropes. He was met with a power slam. Joe went through the power bomb, Boston crab, STF, crossface sequence to loud cheers. Briscoe managed to make the ropes, forcing a break.

The two returned to their feet and traded forearms, slaps, and jabs, just as they had at the start of the match. Just as he had then Joe won out, this time when he smashed Jay with a kick to the chest. Joe again went for the Muscle Buster. Briscoe again fought out and caught him with a Jay Driller for the three count. Jay Briscoe finally defeated Samoa Joe in an ROH world championship match.

After the match the two shared a handshake and hugged. Joe presented Briscoe with his championship belts and raised his hand to end the show. Everything about Joe's performance, from his post-match actions to the fact that he went down to a single Jay driller, was designed to endorse Jay Briscoe as a great champion, which was a good call. In ROH terms Joe is one of the biggest guys a wrestler can receive a rub from. That said, the match wasn't anything amazing. It was good and a worthwhile main event, but Joe and Briscoe have both done far better and ROH has had more fitting headline bouts.

While this event was better than I'd expected it to be it still didn't feel particularly special. There was nothing bad on it but there also isn't really anything worth revisiting. There's nothing wrong with an enjoyable wrestling show (obviously) but sometimes it's nice to make a show feel a bit special, and that's something ROH can struggle with. Which was all too apparent here.

***

Results summary:

Mark Briscoe defeated ACH
Michael Elgin defeated Frankie Kazarian
Matt Sydal defeated Andrew Everett, Cedric Alexander, Tommaso Ciampa, Caprice Coleman and Moose to win a six man mayhem
BJ Whitmer defeated Jimmy Jacobs
Roderick Strong defeated Christopher Daniels
reDRagon defeated The Kingdom to retain the ROH tag team championship
Jay Lethal defeated Jushin Liger to retain the ROH television championship
Jay Briscoe defeated Samoa Joe to retain the ROH world championship

ROH 13th Anniversary Show review

Ring of Honor's anniversary shows fall t an awkward time for the company. They come just two months after Final Battle, generally the company's biggest card of the year, and around a month before WrestleMania weekend, at which ROH always has a presence (usually with a show called Supercard of Honor). It makes the pacing of storylines difficult and can result in a show which is more about bridging the gap between the bigger shows on either side of it and not giving too much away.

To an extent that happened this year. The four-way main event was a way to put on a significant card-topper while also holding more impactful singles confrontations in reserve for Supercard of Honor IX and beyond. Meanwhile the ACH versus AJ Styles match was a big match but not something that was likely to draw many viewers if used elsewhere and the Bucks versus reDRagon outing was the latest in a lengthy series. The only big match on offer that could have been saved was Lethal versus El Patron, but then whenever the former WWE champion debuted it was going to be of significance.

All told Ring of Honor put forth a good effort with this anniversary show. They struck the right balance between conservation and making it appealing in its own right.

The show kicked off with a Las Vegas-themed intro video (because it was being held in Las Vegas). It was a theme that continued throughout the evening and made a nice change of pace. In the arena Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino (now going under the name King Corino because why not?) talked up the evening's top three championship matches before introducing the new Spanish announce team. This addition would later be attributed to the signing of El Patron. I can believe that's true.

Cedric Alexander v Matt Sydal made a cracking opener. The two men had a lightning quick bout that gave the crowd a chance to blow off steam and kicked the broadcast off with a bang. Sydal got the win after Alexander went for a kick in the corner only to hit the ropes awkwardly, landing in position for a match-winning Shooting Star press (a botch due to unfamiliar ropes, but everyone involved styled it out well). Alexander shook hands after the match but looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown.

Match two saw Mark Briscoe take on Moose, the culmination of a feud that had begun with an errant spear from Moose to Briscoe. While the opener had lasted around fifteen minutes this match was significantly shorter, long matches not really being Moose's thing. 'The Offensive Line' muscled Briscoe around the ring, cutting off a lot of his offence with power moves and efficient ring placement before Briscoe mounted a comeback with a Blockbuster off the apron and a Cactus Jack elbow. It wasn't enough to win. Moose quickly regained control and floored Mark with a wild spear to win.

After the match Veda Scott slapped Moose's hand away from a handshake. He looked unimpressed with her but didn't push the issue. As they left Veda shouted that Briscoe was a loser.

That was followed by a three-way tag team match. The Addiction faced the Kingdom team of Matt Taven and Michael Bennett and Bullet Club representative Karl Anderson. 'The Machine Gun' was going it alone after Doc Gallows' plane had been grounded due to severe weather. The match had a steady first half and picked up a great deal for the home stretch. Taven and Bennett hit a double spike piledriver on Anderson for the victory after a Yuranage suplex and a Stun Gun to had eliminated Kazarian and Daniels respectively.

The BJ Whitmer and Roderick Strong grudge match followed that. They'd been teammates in The Decade and initially fell out over their differing views on the group's young boy Adam Page. It's developed further since then, with Whitmer feeling that Strong's selfish and desperate to protect his spot and Strong feeling Whitmer's jealous of his success and ability. It was a good story making good use of the history the two men have in ROH. It was a stiff affair. Strong won after a disrespectful "kiss of death" from BJ fired him up and he hit a pair of high knees, an elbow strike and the lumbar check.

Match five saw Maria Kanellis defend the title of love, formerly Jay Briscoe's real world title, against ODB. For the record that now stands for One Dirty Briscoe, which is pretty clever (by wrestling standards). The pre-match video featured some great verbal work from Kanellis. WWE missed a trick not rehiring her when they had the chance. She and Bennett could have been great in NXT.

Before the match Maria announced that she was unable to wrestle because she was pregnant. But that was a swerve! Bennett ran in through the crowd and super kicked Mark Briscoe, who'd accompanied ODB to ringside, as Maria hit ODB with the title belt. ODB kicked out, Briscoe evened the odds with Bennett, and then ODB clobbered Maria around ringside. Following a few minutes of that Maria floored ODB with a super kick then held her for Bennett to do the same. That backfired when ODB ducked out of the way, leaving Maria to take the move from her husband.

Briscoe fought with Bennett as Maria surprised everyone by kicking out. Presumably determined to prove she warranted a spot on the show Maria took a military press into the lads at ringside and then took part in providing a human crash mat as ODB leapt off the top rope. After giving Bennett a Doomsday Device with Briscoe's help ODB returned to ring to pin Maria with her Bam finisher. She and Briscoe then posed with the real world title (the pink love cover having been yanked off) before heading backstage. 

ACH and AJ Styles had a very good match after that, as was easily predicted, was essentially a procession through well thought out high spots. The first was an early attempt at the Styles Clash, 'The Phenomenal One' flipping himself out of a jackknife pin and into the move with smooth precision. ACH fired back with a crisp tornado DDT and a running phoenix tope straight out of the early playbook of Styles himself.

When that didn't get him the victory ACH unleashed his latest move, a fisherman buster variant called the Big Bang Attack. Styles kicked out but ACH stayed on him with a modified enziguri-cum-Pele kick as 'The Phenomenal One' clambered to the top rope. Styles avoided a 450 and applied the Calf Killer. ACH turned it into a pin but Styles slipped out to hit a Bloody Sunday and the Styles Clash for the victory. ACH was allowed to look competitive before taking the loss and Styles added to the list of solid outings his had since cutting himself loose from TNA.

reDRagon versus the Young Bucks was another predictably great match. Again it was essentially a procession of high spots with little story to link them together, but the Bucks and reDRagon are more proficient at this type of match than ACH. In some ways they're better at it than Styles.

Highlights included: a gut buster followed by a neck breaker on Fish; a top rope moonsault to the outside from Matt to Fish; O'Reilly applying an armbar to Matt while hanging in the ropes, with Nick leaping over them to wipe out Fish and then unleashing a super kick to break the hold; another super kick from Nick to O'Reilly as Matt tried to sunset bomb him to the outside, allowing him to throw O'Reilly into Fish; the ever over buckle bomb-enziguri combo; a springboard splash turned into an armbar on Nick by O'Reilly, broken up by a top rope elbow from Matt; and an Indy-taker on the floor to O'Reilly.

The finishing sequence was the best of the evening. The Bucks hit Chasing the Dragon on Fish after wiping out O'Reilly with the Indy-taker. Fish kicked out the crowd erupted in boos. Nick and Matt hit More Bang for Your Buck on Fish, only for Shayna Baszler (a UFC fighter who'd accompanied reDRagon to the ring) to pull Todd Sinclair from the ring. The Bucks left the ring and stalked stalked her around ringside, allowing O'Reilly to hit them both with a knee from the apron. He grabbed Nick and took him back into the ring to give him a tornado DDT. Fish followed that with a top rope falcon arrow.

The pair then hit Chasing the Dragon but Matt pulled Sinclair from the ring to save the match for himself and his brother. He headed back into the ring and cleaned house with super kicks and crotch chops before reDRagon hit him with the elevated DDT into a German suplex. As Matt writhed outside the ring Nick was left vulnerable for a second Chasing the Dragon for a successful reDRagon defence.

Jay Lethal's TV title defence against Alberto El Patron took the semi-main event spot. They started off quick, El Patron super kicking J Diesel off the apron and diving onto Lethal at ringside then throwing him into crowd barriers. Back in the ring Lethal took control by crotching Alberto on the top rope before unleashing a slew of cheap shots and a superplex.

The Knights of the Rising Dawn (who had briefly appeared during the tag title match) showed back up as Alberto hit a reverse suplex from the second rope. Lethal fell to clotheslines and a backstabber and signalled for the cross armbreaker but Lethal beat him to it. El Patron worked his way out of his own signature hold and rolled to the outside. Lethal stayed on him with a trio of suicide dives. The last sent El Patron tumbling over the crowd barricade (Corino was quick to point out that the lad he landed on was particularly hefty). When he rolled back into the ring at sixteen he was met with stomps by Lethal. The champ's attempt at a superplex backfired when the challenger pushed him down into a tree of woe position and double stomped him for a two count.

Lethal blocked a super kick and the pair exchanged punches. Alberto received a Lethal Combination but kicked out. Lethal headed to the top rope to attempt his Hail to the King elbow drop but got caught and crotched. Alberto fought off interference from Truth Martini and trapped him in the cross armbreaker. Lethal came off the top with the elbow but El Patron release Martini and reapplied the hold on Lethal as he landed.

Martini distracted the referee as Lethal lamped Alberto with The Book of Truth. 'The Greatest First Generation Wrestler' was stunned at the kick out but kept it together enough to catch a super kick attempt and wobble the challenger with a bicycle kick. He went for the Lethal Injection but his arm was too hurt from the cross armbreaker to support his weight, allowing El Patron up roll him up with an Okana roll for two. Lethal's kick out sent 'Mexico's Greatest Export' flying forward into a shot from The Book of Truth. He turned back around into the Lethal Injection, which was enough to put him down for a three count. The match was very good. It got over Lethal's win-at-any-costs character, kept Alberto strong and showed why he was such a good addition to the roster.

The main event was preceded by the appearance of two former ROH world champions. Nigel McGuinness joined the commentary team and Samoa Joe made a "surprise" appearance. I say surprise but it had already been announced he was returning and it had seemed a fair assumption he'd make an unannounced appearance on the anniversary card. Joe cut a pro-Ring of Honor promo and announced his intention to regain the world championship. 

The main event was a four-way match for the ROH world championship. Champion Jay Briscoe was attacked at the bell by all three challengers, Hanson, Tommaso Ciampa and Michael Elgin. That wasn't enough to faze him, he was outside the ring within minutes setting up a table.

The first half of the match was standard multi-man fare. Everyone got a turning working with everyone else and a handful of standard spots were cycled through. The highlight was an all too brief exchange between Briscoe and Elgin. I understand why ROH didn't want to do a singles match between them here and the addition of Hanson and Ciampa made a nice change, but they could have done something interesting one-on-one.

The final stretch verged on overbooking (by Ring of Honor standards) but was still enjoyable. Todd Sinclair took a bump as he headed back into the ring and was sent sprawling to the floor. Hanson ignored this and hit a a Rikishi driver on Briscoe, making a cover in excess of the required three but not having a referee to count for him. As he got up he was attacked by the KRD. Their beating of Hanson, Ciampa and Briscoe got them a distinct lack of heat. The return of Raymond Rowe did better. He chased them off through the crowd and the match continued with Elgin giving Briscoe a Jay Driller through the table that had been set up at the start of the match.

There was no referee to count the fall but it was a natural falsie anyway: nobody would fall to such a move in a pay-per-view main event. Elgin grabbed a chair and prepared to cave in Briscoe's skull with it. Nigel McGuinness got into the ring to stop him. Being a mad ol' heel Elgers went to power bomb the matchmaker. Ciampa made the save, had a bit of a stare off with McGuinnes, and then cracked Elgin with a chair as he leant out of the ring shouting. He went for a cover of his own but the match again continued because there was no healthy ref.  

Ciampa hit a power bomb on Elgin. Briscoe broke that up. Ciampa retaliated with Project Ciampa on Briscoe, who kicked out at two. Elgin power bombed Ciampa again. Briscoe broke the cover and rolled Elgin up for a two count. Hanson returned to the fray and wiped out Briscoe with a spin kick. Briscoe landed on Ciampa and got the pinfall win as Elgin pulled Hanson out of the ring.

Elgin freaked out at his own stupidity and misfortune (had he not pulled Hanson from the ring he'd have been free to make the save and the match would have continued) then headed up the aisle. There he came face-to-face with Samoa Joe. They shared a brief moment of tension before Joe continued to the ring to hand Briscoe the world championship. The show went off the air with the longest reigning champion ever and the current two time champion staring each other down in the ring. It was all very macho.

***

Results summary:

Matt Sydal defeated Cedric Alexander
Moose defeated Mark Briscoe
The Kingdom defeated The Addiction and Karl Anderson
Roderick Strong defeated BJ Whitmer
ODB defeated Maria Kanellis
AJ Styles defeated ACH
reDRagon defeated the Young Bucks to retain the tag team championship
Jay Lethal defeated Alberto El Patron to retain the television championship
Jay Briscoe defeated Hanson, Tommaso Ciampa and Michael Elgin to retain the ROH world championship

Rey Mysterio's Long Awaited Release

After months of negotiation Rey Mysterio is finally a free man. On February 26  his contract with WWE expired and his profile was moved to the alumni section of the company website. Breaking from the norm no announcement was made by WWE regarding the news, though they did confirm the departure when contacted, by  variety of websites, for comment.

Say goodbye to those merch sales, mate.

The release is something Mysterio has wanted for a long time. He's spent much of the last four years sidelined with major, minor and nagging injuries. Two hour reign as WWE champion on July 25 2011 aside Mysterio has mostly been used as a bit part player when he has been available. Not that the promotion can be faulted for this: Mysterio had become so unreliable that they couldn't afford to risk starting a hefty push with him for fear that he'd be struck with another injury, necessitating his disappearance from TV again.

You can also see why it would have been frustrating for Rey Rey too. Being given the company's top title for two hours just to further a storyline about someone kayfabe quitting can't be particularly rewarding. Neither can teaming with botch monkey Sin Cara Uno, feuding endlessly with Alberto Del Rio, or being slung into Royal Rumbles to little fanfare despite being an established headline player. These things and more are what Mysterio was given by the creative department over the last four years.

As frustrating as it must have been I still think Mysterio would have been best served by returning to WWE for one final run culminating in an official retirement match. His work in the 90's and during his first few years with WWE was top notch. Even after the injuries started racking up in the mid-00's Mysterio was still a reliable performer who remained over with fans.

In 2015 Mysterio's body has taken a battering and is held together more through medical science than anything else. He cannot perform at the level he is most fondly remembered for and as he wasn't savvy enough to introduce ground-based, easier-to-perform moves while he could still blend them in with his more flashy repertoire he's now in a position where he's going to disappoint people more than please them by getting back into the ring, simply because he's not able to do the high-flying he once did. His existing work is strong enough to ensure his legacy survives no matter how bad things get for him but there's no sense putting on shoddy performances if it can be avoided. And this case it can most certainly can be avoided: after over a decade as WWE's top Hispanic star Mysterio doesn't need to worry about money.

Looking rather Rey Mysterio-like, it's Fenix!

But for whatever reason Mysterio had his heart set on a WWE release and a move to AAA and Lucha Underground. Perhaps I'll be proved wrong and Mysterio will display his old magic touch in these promotions. Whether that's the case or not it will at least be interesting to see him opposite his old pals Johnny Mundo and Alberto El Patron in a new environment. The prospect of seeing him face off with Fenix and Prince Puma is pretty enticing too. Though the less said about the prospect of another addition to the Mysterio versus Chavo Guerrero series the better.

A Mysterio run in Ring of Honor could be entertaining too, again under the proviso that he doesn't prove to be completely washed up. Considering Alberto El Patron's dual deal with Lucha Underground and ROH this isn't too farfetched a thought either. Matches opposite Jay Briscoe, Adam Cole, Cedric Alexander, AJ Styles, Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong would all have potential to be great, while Mysterio v ACH could be a modern company classic if Mysterio were on form.

His departure from WWE was not the ideal thing for Mysterio, whether he knows it yet or not. But it's done now. While I don't have the highest of hopes for his in-ring career away from the known and safe surroundings of WWE there is potential in it. Hopefully we'll see that potential realised, rather than witnessing Mysterio become an addition to the list of guys who didn't know when to call it quits. Because ultimately I like Rey Mysterio and I don't want to see him Ric Flair himself.

Ring of Alberto

Last Friday Ring of Honor made the surprise announcement that Alberto El Patron, formerly WWE’s Alberto Del Rio, would be appearing for them in 2015. So far he’s been confirmed for the January 3 television taping, the 13^th Anniversary Show on March 1, and a pair of house shows in between. I would assume he’ll make an appearance or two in February too.

With or without further appearances this is a big coup for ROH. El Patron himself stated a few weeks prior to the announcement that he wanted to work for multiple US-based promotions with a television presence, naming Lucha Underground and TNA. It made sense that those companies would go for such a deal. Lucha Underground is based around the lucha style that Patron is familiar with and TNA is a company with a noted predilection for former WWE wrestlers. That ROH were the ones to procure Alberto’s services says a lot about the state of TNA, and ROH’s willingness to open the chequebook for the right name.

I’m interested in the logistics of Alberto’s new deals. While I can imagine Lucha Underground and ROH would be willing to cooperate on their use of El Patron it seems unlikely they’d be comfortable with him appearing for both at the same time. My guess is that Alberto will flit between the two throughout the year, doing a stint of a few months before leaving for the other league.

But for now all that’s confirmed is his deal with Ring of Honor. There’s a good chance he could bring some new fans in with him thanks to years of exposure in WWE (a number of which were spent at the top of the card) and I’m sure that’s a factor in why ROH have signed him. But that’s not all they’ll have signed him for. ROH still prides itself on being a company where wrestling ability comes first. And Alberto has ability.

El Patron pointing. Classic stuff.

That said I can imagine tweaks being made to his repertoire. His signature moves from WWE are taken in ROH. O'Reilly uses the armbreaker, while the super kick and the back cracker are general transition moves used by anyone and everyone. Seeing him upgrade his move set will be part of the experience of seeing him in a fresh setting.

El Patron versus pretty much anyone on the ROH roster could be good but there are a handful of guys I’m particularly interested in seeing him face. I imagine AJ Styles would top most lists, a pairing many would probably label a “dream match.” They could have a cracking match, particularly if they took the cross armbreaker versus Calf Killer route.

He could have a solid match with Roderick Strong too. They’re not entirely dissimilar in terms of character. One may be a Mexican aristocrat and the other a frat boy, but they both have a degree of arrogance to them that could blend nicely.

El Patron versus Michael Elgin could have a great climactic exchange of signature moves. It's a strength of Big Maggle's. The combination of Alberto’s new moves and a few of his WWE ones (which could be deployed in select longer matches) should give him quite an arsenal to draw on. It would be nice to see a babyface Alberto against stocky heel Elgin too. I think it would be an interesting dynamic.

Personally the match I’d most like to see is El Patron versus Kyle O'Reilly. As Del Rio he worked as much of an MMA inspired style as was realistically possible. I expect he'll go further with it now he's working elsewhere. It's something O'Reilly already does, and does well. The two could do a really good strong style submission match.

Then there are guys like ACH, Matt Sydal,  Bobby Fish, Jay Lethal and Adam Cole. All of them could have a good match with Alberto. As could ROH champion Jay Briscoe. In fact I’d go as far as to say that ROH should strongly consider El Patron v Briscoe for the main event of their anniversary show. It’s easy to imagine Briscoe interrupting El Patron’s debut promo to say he wants to be challenged by the best before offering the newcomer  a March 1 title shot.

Whatever Ring of Honor end up going with it’s good to see them get a signing of this level. They put on a good product and deserve someone with that extra bit of star power. In TNA he’d have been ruined within months. In ROH he can help attract new eyes and wrestle matches suited to his style. Works for me.

ROH Final Battle 2014 review

It’s been a good year for Ring of Honor. They may have lost their top star, Kevin Steen, and seen one of their top prospects, Michael Elgin, misfire as a world champ but they’ve co-promoted shows with New Japan Pro Wrestling, made the move from internet streaming to traditional pay-per-view, and put on a number of high quality shows with world class matches. As such the pressure was on to score a hit with Final Battle, their last major show of the year. After such a strong year they didn’t want to go out on a low note.

I’m pleased to say they didn’t. The line-up that was put together looked good on paper, with reDRagon v Time Splitters, Cole v Briscoe, and the Young Bucks and ACH v Addiction and Cedric Alexander six man tag match all leaping out as potential matches of the night. On the night everyone put in their best effort. The show was great from start to finish.

The evening kicked off with a four corner survival match pitting Mark Briscoe, Caprice Coleman, Jimmy Jacobs and Hanson against one another. It was designed to do two things. The first was to start the show with something exciting. The second was to build up Hanson. It achieved both. Everyone got a moment or two to shine and Hanson muscled everyone around at one point or another and ended up with the win after he wiped out Briscoe and Jacobs with a suicide dive before pinning Caprice off a spinning heel kick.

Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer stuck around to introduce Adam Page. ‘The Zombie Princess’ started to give what probably would have been a rousing speech about it being a night for Page to step up in a match with Strong, win, lose or draw. He didn’t get very far though: Whitmer snatched the microphone and introduced Page himself. The idea was that Whitmer was ready to accept Page as an equal while Jacobs wasn’t.

The match was all Roddy to begin with. He outwrestled Page and gave him some of his famously stiff chops. Page only managed to gain control after a distraction from Whitmer. Roddy took a bit of offence then fired back with chops, a Sick kick and a back breaker on the apron (after Page had impressively landed on his feet off a Shooting Star Press). Page got a swinging neck breaker from the second rope. Roddy came back with a pair of knee strikes and a release suplex back breaker before locking in the Stronghold for the victory by referee stoppage.

Whitmer wasn’t happy. He showed his displeasure by grabbing Corino's headset and shouting about how Page was still better than Strong. Corino wasn’t impressed. Any time their apparent real-life animosity bleeds into the show (which, let’s be honest, is frequently) I enjoy it.

Michael Elgin and Tommaso Ciampa went on third. Elgin was met with apathy. Ciampa got some cheers but not as many as you may have expected. Once the bell rang and Elgers gave Ciampa a hammering he was booed. They worked a strong style match which, while good, never seemed to slick into gear, something I also felt with their Death Before Dishonor XII match.

The usual electric finishing sequence of Elgin matches was omitted here. Instead ‘The Sicilian Psycopath’ accidentally clotheslined the ref, prompting Nigel McGuinness to head backstage because he'd introduced a zero tolerance policy with regard to Ciampa attacking officials. This was an accident but the story was that McGuinness may have gone backstage to start filing the paperwork for Ciampa’s dismissal (because he’d totes do that in the middle of a show). Hether he did or not wasn’t revealed but the possibility was enough to distract Ciampa, allowing ‘Unbreakable’ to get in a boot to the face and an elevated double arm DDT to win the match.

To lighten the mood after the shady finish the all-babyface six man tag was up next: Cedric Alexander and The Addiction v ACH and The Young Bucks. It was a crazily fast match packed with great spots. Plus super kicks, obvs. Definitely a match worth watching if you get the opportunity. ACH and the Bucks won after a Meltzer driver from the Bucks and a 450 from ACH on Cedric.

The grudge match between Moose and RD Evans was billed as "The Revenge of The Streak." The story was that Moose, who had been rescued from his gig as a bodyguard for the Bravado brothers in EVOLVE and introduced as RD Evans’ tag partner, had turned on Evans and cost him his entirely fictitious 173-0 winning streak. Ramone had also turned on RD, changing his name to Stokely Hathaway and revealing that he was working for Prince Nana, who Evans had stolen some storyline dosh from several years earlier.

The important thing to note from that is Nana’s return. Because he’s always excellent entertainment.

Moose destroyed RD for a lot of the match, but not as much as you might think. Veda rocked up after a few minutes and the camera immediately started treating us to lingering shots of her looking concerned. RD managed to turn things around after a while, hitting a reverse DDT and slapping on a sharpshooter. Nana and Hathaway tried to interfere with a chair, which promoted the referee to get out of the ring and argue with them in the aisle. That was Veda’s cue to get in the ring and betray RD with a low blow. Moose then speared him for the win. It was a fun little match. Exactly how guys like Moose and Evans should be used.

Match six saw House of Truth centrepiece and TV champ Jay Lethal defend his belt against Matt Sydal. They had an enjoyable match. I could have done without the Truth Martini interference but at least it was included for a reason and they didn’t go overboard with it. It took the form of him pulling Todd Sinclair from the ring after Sydal hit a Shooting Star Press that was framed as a definite finish. So basically Trith definitely cost Sydal the TV championship. He was chased around the ring before finally being caught and laid out for an SSP. Sydal went for it and got it... but Lethal connected with an Ace crusher as he hit it. A Lethal Injection later and Sydal was a beaten man.

reDRagon's defence of the ROH tag team championship against Time Splitters took the semi-main event spot. Both teams were greeted passionately by the New York crowd. At this point I think ROH is doing the right thing with O’Reilly and Fish and basically using them as tweeners.

The match started out as a competent display of tag wrestling by both teams. O’Reilly was isolated by the challengers before turning the tide to eliminate Shelley, working over his arm in preparation for an armbar submission. Fish got in on the action there too, giving Shelley a well-executed arm wringer out on the apron.

Tags became less frequent as all four guys moved into the ring to begin running through double team spots. Kushida performed an Okana roll and German suplex on both members of reDRagon. Time Splitters hit a power bomb-Sliced Bread supermove. O’Reilly took a moonsault and before applying a triangle choke. Kushida lamped O’Reilly with a Pele kick and O’Reilly came back with the McGuinness lariat. The match ended with Kushida kicking out of Chasing the Dragon before tapping out to the armbar. It was a well laid out tag match and probably the best wrestled offering of the evening.

The video package that preceded the Cole v Briscoe Fight Without Honor world title match was very good. It recapped their feud from its start in September 2013 and provided a good recap of the characters and motivations of both guys. I thought that was particularly impressive considering how long they've been linked to one another and the fact that their rivalry felt concluded with Ladder War V at Supercard of Honor VIII. It could have been overly complex and laborious.

There were scattered chants of "Next world champ!" when Cole stepped into the ring. Briscoe's entrance elicited chants of "Man up!" The audience would be split for the pair throughout the match.

Cole kicked things off with middle fingers and a super kick. Briscoe responded with an elbow and a Jay Driller for two. They left the ring for the requisite brawling, making use of chairs, tables and a staple gun, which Cole used to staple a “Reversed for Mrs Briscoe” sign to Jay’s head. Back in the ring Cole sat on a chair to pull at Briscoe's face. He ended up getting booted off it by the champ. Seconds later he was thrown head-first into it.

Jay grabbed a table, an additional chair, and a Singapore cane from under the ring (because, y'know, people have expectations for these sorts of stipulation matches). Cole grabbed the chairs and set them up but ended up taking a Falcon Arrow onto and through them. He had more luck using the cane, smashing Briscoe repeatedly in the head with it.

Cole took a tumble to ringside and bladed under the ring. Briscoe, being Briscoe, immediately began head butting him. He didn't get to do much though, the state athletic commission (who are always booked as heels on wrestling shows) pulled Cole from the ring to give him medical attention. Briscoe attacked the security accompanying the doctor, pushed Cole back into the ring, and gave him a neck breaker. He tried to suplex him through a table at ringside but Cole escaped and super kicked Briscoe off the top rope through it instead.

That barely phased Briscoe. He staggered back into the ring a minute or so later to be met with a title belt shot, a super kick to the back of the head (a call-back to the night Cole won the title after Briscoe had vacated it) and a Florida Key. Briscoe fired back with a Death Valley driver through the table propped up in the corner then sprinkled some thumbtacks (with heads a variety of colours) in the ring. Before he could use them himself Cole grabbed a handful, stuffed them in Briscoe's mouth, and super kicked him. Naturally such an extreme move had to be kicked out of. Two yakuza kicks and a back body drop sent Cole into the tacks. A Jay Driller, not on the tacks followed immediately.

Cole kicked out. Briscoe sold exasperation for a second or two before grabbing Cole for another Jay Driller, the third of the match, on to the championship belt. That put Cole down for the three and ended a satisfying main event.

Final Battle was amongst ROH’s best shows of 2014, and considering the quality of their major events this year I think that says a great deal. No match disappointed, the title matches delivered on the (high) expectations for them, and Page v Strong and the opener were better than could have been reasonably expected. A strong end to a strong year from Ring of Honor.

*** 

Results summary:

Hanson def Mark Briscoe, Jimmy Jacobs and Caprice Coleman
Roderick Strong def Adam Page
Michael Elgin def Tommaso Ciampa
The Young Bucks and ACH def The Addiction and Cedric Alexander
Moose def RD Evans
Jay Lethal def Matt Sydal
reDRagon def Time Splitters
Jay Briscoe def Adam Cole

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 32

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 32 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

Lovely blue trunks there

In a break from our usual ramblings about WWE this episode focuses on Ring of Honor. It’s not the AJ Styles signing chat your might expect, mainly because it was recorded weeks before ‘The Phenomenal One’s’ return to the promotion that helped make him famous was announced. That’s something I imagine we’ll cover in the next few weeks. There’s not much point talking about it until AJ’s made his comeback is there?

This episode’s topic is Breaking Out. We discuss how far up the ROH card three existing members of the roster could make it. The men in question are high-flyer extraordinaire ACH, wafer thin underdog Cheeseburger, and one half of reDRagon Kyle O’Reilly. Do any of them have what it takes to help ROH grow into a larger operation than it currently is or have they all gone as high as they can already?

Also discussed are drop kicks. Specifically who has the nicest drop kick in wrestling. I’m sticking with my pick of Lance Storm, but Dolph Ziggler and Hardcore Holly bother deserve a mention.

The Future of ROH

At the start of the year I was positive, hopeful even, about Ring of Honor's future. Jim Cornette had been shown the door, Kevin Steen was the world champion, and the company was coming off of a very good Final Battle show. Cornette being gone meant Delirious would be free to pursue his own creative vision, one that I was interested in seeing. Steen being the champion was good because in the past ROH had had trouble manoeuvring the title onto guys when they were at their hottest. They'd managed it with Steen and fans hadn't turned on him, another norm. Things looked promising for the league.

For the first half of the year I was impressed with what I saw. Technical issues aside the promotion's iPPV output from the Eleventh Anniversary to Border Wars was excellent. It was almost certainly the best string of major shows that ROH had mustered in years. The match quality was dependable at every level of the card, there was logical show to show development, and an interesting (if utterly unoriginal) central plot (Aces and Eights... sorry, I mean SCUM!).

That hot streak ended, ironically enough, at Best in the World. The main event didn't help. Mark Briscoe versus Jay Briscoe has never struck me (and likely never will) as a worthwhile big show main event. It's a B show-slash-Friday night show-slash-DVD taping-slash-TV taping level central attraction at best. Yet it was the match that went on last at BITW.

That Jay had won the championship had disappointed me. Steen had a good few months left in his reign and it felt like his natural successor was Michael Elgin (although current champion Adam Cole would have worked well as the man to replace him too). Not only did 'Mr Wrestling's' reign reach a premature end but it came at the hands of a man I didn't feel was a logical choice for the role.

The post-Best in the World TV tapings saw Jay and Mark written off TV, with the championship being declared vacant a week or two later. I've written about the title vacation to a fairly great extent. Basically it shouldn't have happened. Jay should have been dropped the title at the June 23^rd TV taping or agreed to come back to lose it in a one off appearance (sometime in July, realistically). The title's lineage is meant to be an important part of Ring of Honor and should have been protected. The company and Jay Briscoe should know that.

The title tournament that followed was a blown opportunity. Instead of making it something to attract new viewers, introduce new regular talent, experiment with a new creative direction or promote genuine dream matches it was a rushed affair that didn't achieve half of what it could have. The eventual victor, Adam Cole, was a good choice to become champion nineteen. His reign and the tag work of reDRagon, The American Wolves, and the Forever Hooligans are some of the sparse highlights of the promotion.

 

Highlights of Ring of Honor

 

The first half of 2013 saw ACH, Silas Young, Adam Page, and Tadarius Thomas become regulars. The second half of the year has no such names to boast. Without new names appearing and established names moving on the development of younger guys and new stars grinds to halt. That's always been the case for ROH and it's beginning to happen here.

As things stand at the moment there's little about Ring of Honor I find appealing. I’m not as uninterested as I am in TNA (ROH would have a long way to go before they sunk to those levels), nor do I think the company's in the bad shape it was this time last year, but I do feel it's become stagnant.

The lead plot of ‘The Panama City Playboy’ going bad and feuding with Jay Briscoe and-or Michael Elgin is fine, but alone it's not enough to hold interest in ROH. Cole is a fine champion and an enjoyable antagonist while 'Unbreakable' is a very good powerhouse babyface but neither man has the charisma of Kevin Steen. As long as he's around he's always going to be one of the promotion's biggest stars and needs to be treated as such. I appreciate his current work opposite Michael Bennett is designed to elevate Bennett (and protect Steen from overexposure) but it can only go on for so long before he loses steam and the amount of good he can do decreases.

I want ROH to succeed. I've liked what the company has stood for in the past and believe it presents a better alternative to WWE's approach than does TNA. But if the people running the company want it to be as good as it can be changes are needed. They can probably muddle through to the end of the year with the current approach but they should really be working on having something solid for 2014. To get back onto the streak they had early this year they need focus on crafting a riveting new lead storyline supported by engaging secondary ones and new talent. It's a challenge I feel Delirious and the roster are more than capable of meeting.

Beating Cole

Back in June ROH vacated their world championship due to the storyline injuries and real life contract negotiations of reigning champion Jay Briscoe. The tournament held to crown a new champion was a disappointment. Instead of using it as an opportunity to present itself as a company that scours the world for the best wrestlers and matches to give to its fans, and making its world title look genuinely desirable to the wrestling world into the bargain, ROH opted to enter most of its headliners into the brackets plus some mid-card guys everyone knew wouldn’t win. They then put out calls to some indy guys, with guys seemingly being chosen based on whether or not they were under contract elsewhere as opposed to whether they’d make the tournament special.

This approach resulted in predictable semi-finals and finals. I’ve written before that that didn’t have to be a bad thing. If match quality is high enough ROH can get away with being predictable a lot of the time. They market themselves as the sport of professional wrestling and as such match quality is of greater importance than in other North American promotions.

There was not a single unquestionable classic in the entire tournament. There were certainly some good matches but nothing that will be remembered fondly three years, or even one year, from now. There should have been. Wrestlers should have been encouraged to use their involvement in the tournament, one of the most high profile things ROH has done in years, as a way of moving themselves up in the estimations of fans.

Similarly ROH should have brought in big names to illustrate how special the tournament was. The likes of Jushin Liger, Doug Williams, Low Ki, Amazing Red, Jack Evans, Kushida, Keiji Mutoh, Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Crimson, and Colt Cabana were and are all available for at least limited bookings. Not all would have provided wonderful matches but those that didn’t would have helped to present the ROH championship as something desirable to everyone working in wrestling. It could have been used as a way of presenting a stream of dream matches. Instead it became something that the company and its fans just needed to get through.

At least the right man won. Adam Cole being crowned the new world champion has set the promotion back on what looks like the right track. If they concentrate on promoting him as the lead villain of the company and keep lead challengers Michael Elgin and Jay Briscoe close on his tail the main event scene should be compelling until the end of the year.
 

Adam Cole: the man with the ROH championship and the man to beat

 

I’d like to see singles matches between Cole and these two men over the next couple of months before wrapping the programme up in a three-way match at Final Battle. It feels like a nice scenario to take the company through to the end of the year before moving all involved in fresh directions.

I’ve been passionate about giving Michael Elgin the world championship over the last year and a half but I’m beginning to go off of the idea. He can no longer be presented as the hot young upstart that can carry the company. He’s had too many failed challenges for that. Maybe at some point in the future he could become champion but he’s been kept waiting too long now and as such he can’t have the impressive, career-defining run that was his for the taking six months ago.

Basically, ‘Unbreakable’ should have been the man to beat Kevin Steen. Preferably at Best in the World. It’s entirely possible he’ll defeat Adam Cole, but it won’t have the impact a title win would have done as recently as four months ago.

The honour (there’s a U in that one) of beating Steen to Jay Briscoe. It was presented almost as a reward for length of service by ROH and most fans seemed fine with that. I disliked the insinuation, feeling that world championships should be put on skilled or popular (or unpopular, in the case of bad guys) wrestlers rather than dished out to someone because they’ve been loyal over a long period. In fairness to ROH perhaps it was an attempt to keep ‘Dem Boys’ from moving to TNA or WWE. That wouldn’t excuse the decision but would make it a little easier to understand.

It seems unlikely that Jay will regain the title. Not only does ROH seem to shy away from multiple title reigns with their top prize (note that that only one man has won the title twice in its eleven year history) but he is still primarily a tag team wrestler. He can be presented as a credible contender now that he’s a former champion, which is perhaps another aspect of why he had it in the first place, but he doesn’t strike me as a future two time champion. There’s nothing for him to do in the role and he’s proven too controversial for a modern mainstream company.

I suspect Cole will make it to 2014 with the championship and I think it’s likely that he’ll lose it to someone he’s not currently involved with. Jay Lethal, as ever, could stand a chance of being that guy. If ROH want a short term face champion to ferry the belt between more substantial heel acts I could see him getting the nod for a caretaker reign.

A man who warrants a mention based more on his own merit is Tommaso Ciampa. ‘The Sicilian Psychopath’ has been presented as a strong contender since returning from an injury a few months ago. He lost to Cole in the tournament semi-finals and doesn’t strike me as someone who could realistically win the title now. But given a year or more to establish himself as a champion-in-waiting by beating bigger names and, more importantly, wrestling a string of excellent matches, I think Ciampa would be accepted as the man to dethrone Cole.

ACH could be considered for a title reign if Cole holds the gold long enough. He’s certainly popular enough. He’s wrestled a string of dazzling matches this year and would bring a style to the top of the ROH card that we haven’t seen in years. He’d be a very different sort of Ring of Honor world champion.

I admit this is incredibly unlikely though. As good as ACH is I think a world title is years away, if it’s in his future at all. Even ROH, the company that likes to present itself as the company that promotes guys based on ability, would struggle to justify booking a man of ACH’s stature and wrestling his style as their top guy. I’d love to see it and don’t think it’s impossible. It’s just massively unlikely, especially right now.

The guy I currently think stands the best chance of beating Adam Cole for the title is Kevin Steen. Although he’s not quite as popular as he was last year he is still the man who gets the biggest reactions on ROH shows. Earlier in the year I was assuming that Steen would lose the belt to Matt Hardy and regain it at or by Final Battle, so admittedly I find it easier to accept the idea of a second Steen title reign than I do one for a Strong, a Richards, an Edwards or a Briscoe.

Of all the former champions on the roster ‘Mr Wrestling’ strikes me as the best choice to regain the title. His first run seemed as though it was cut short. There were things left for him to do and people left for him to face. The timing would work well here too. Steen could swoop in for a run at the title once the New Year begins. Steen v Cole is headlining the November 2^nd show in Cincinnati. Perhaps something will happen there to set up a feud or a rematch later.

Right now Steen is my choice to defeat Cole, sometime in the first half of next year most likely. I’d like to see Cole have a long title reign, until this time next year or longer. That seems unlikely though, based on ROH booking over the last few years. Cole could make such a reign work I’m sure. And he’d deserve that time in the spotlight for being one of the company’s most consistent and hard-working wrestlers.