Kenny X

At Best in the World on Sunday 24^th June Kenny King and his All Night Express tag team partner Rhett Titus captured the ROH world tag team titles. On Thursday 5^th July, less than a fortnight later, King appeared on a live episode of TNA’s flagship show IMPACT Wrestling, winning a tournament match that qualifies him for a shot at the vacant X Division championship at Destination X.

I’m disappointed that after years of waiting for an ANX title reign it ends before it gets underway. Ring of Honor should have switched the tag belts onto Titus and King a year ago. Both men were clearly ready for the spot then and crucially they were both under contract to the promotion.

Want to watch Kenny King wrestle? You'll have to tune in to IMPACT

I don’t blame ‘The Pretty Boy Pitbull’ for this situation. While there was still plenty left for him to accomplish in ROH (I believe he could have worked his way up to a prominent singles spot in the group over time) he will almost certainly be getting more money in TNA, and will be reaching a wider audience while he does it. His contract had expired and he was free to go elsewhere.

At least you’d think so. ROH has responded to King’s appearance for the competition with a news piece stating that King had signed a short term contract extension that would allow him to negotiate with but not appear for rival wrestling organisations. This sounds pretty flimsy, at best.

I’d like to know why Ring of Honor’s booking team of Hunter Johnston and Jim Cornette thought it a good idea to put the tag gold on ANX knowing that King’s contract was about to expire. They may have assumed he’d stay with the group but until he was under contract he should have been treated as a free agent. Basically, they should have held off the title switch until King re-signed.

Ring of Honor has stated they will no longer use Kenny King. I don’t think they have a choice in the matter: it doesn’t look like King is interested in appearing for them anymore.

The big loser in this situation appears to be Rhett Titus. He had waited patiently alongside King for a tag team title reign for over two years. I imagine that a replacement partner will be announced soon but whoever it is won’t do justice to fans of the All Night Express, such as myself, who have wanted to see them at the top of ROH for a long time. I wanted to see King and Titus enjoy a lengthy run together at the top. They’d earned it.

There is a bright side though. This could be used as a chance to instigate a singles push for Rhett Titus. Give him a microphone at the next live event or TV taping and let him vent his frustrations at Kenny King for leaving, TNA for signing him, and Ring of Honor for failing to re-sign him when they had the chance.

Glory By Honor X preview

Remember last year’s Glory Honor IX? Broadcast on internet pay-per-view it was headlined by the memorable confrontation between Roderick Strong and departing champion Tyler Black, a match which saw Strong (the heel) roundly cheered for his loyalty to the promotion and Black (the face) get literally booed out of the building thanks to his recently inked WWE contract (and some inflammatory Cena-esque hand gestures). If that weren’t enough it boasted a superb undercard, the highlight of which was most definitely the contest between ROH tag team champions the Kings of Wrestling and the debuting Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. It was a stacked card and was easily one of the best wrestling shows of the year.

It looks unlikely that Ring of Honor will repeat that success with this year’s Glory By Honor X. There are no big debuts and it seems unlikely that the world title will changes hands. That’s not to say it won’t be good. It just stands less chance of being a classic.

The headline attraction is Davey Richards’ defence of the ROH world championship against El Generico. It’s not the freshest match ROH has to offer but that makes sense: GBHX is going to be a DVD release and fresh or highly anticipated matches need to be saved for pay-per-view or television so that the company can benefit from them financially. The two men will have an excellent bout and provide a fitting end to what is sure to be a solid night of action and that’s what the show will need from them.

Can ‘The Generic Luchador’ score a huge, not to mention surprising, upset and topple ‘The American Wolf’ for the gold? No. Richards winning is as close to a guarantee as you can get with Ring of Honor.

The man who will challenge the winner of Richards v Generico, ‘Die Hard’ Eddie Edwards, will be in action against Kyle O’Reilly. I’m predicting that O’Reilly will win the Survival of the Fittest tournament on Friday and I have a feeling he could score the upset over Edwards too. That will allow ROH to point back to this weekend in a year or two as the time he “broke out from the pack” (and they’ll probably use that phrasing).

The match that most interests me is the All Night Express v Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team for the ROH world tag team titles. ANX have been floating around at the top of ROH’s tag division all year and I’m sure it’s just a matter of time until they win the gold. I have a feeling that this match will see the champions resort to underhanded tactics to keep hold of their belts, setting up a rematch sometime in the New Year. ANX winning the gold wouldn’t be a massive surprise and I’d love to see it but I think the beginning of a WGTT heel turn is more likely. ANX will likely get the titles on their next challenge, whenever that turns out to be.

Speaking of tag teams the Young Bucks will wrestle the Briscoe Brothers. There’s heavy potential for a style clash in this match. Hopefully the four men will work around that and put in a solid showing. It will be interesting to see who gets cheered. Ironically the Briscoes were turned heel because of fan apathy during their last face run and they are now far more popular than they have been in years. The Bucks have been working as heels since their return to ROH a few months ago and I suspect fans will side with ‘Dem Boys’ over the former Generation Me. I imagine Mark and Jay will get the win in this match.

The Jimmy Jacobs v Tommaso Ciampa match has one of the most predictable outcomes of the show. As I said in my Survival of the Fittest preview it seems very unlikely that ROH have spent months establishing a winning streak for ‘The Dominant Male’ only to end it at an untelevised show. Jacobs being a mid-card guy right now just makes it clearer. It will be a fun match (matches are always fun with the Embassy at ringside) but instantly forgettable.

Finally there’s the non-title match between TV champion Jay Lethal and the House of Truth’s Roderick Strong. This is being billed as a “proving ground” match. That’s not a term I care for. It’s something ROH are trying with their non-title matches: if the man without a title can last through the time limit or score the victory over the champion they’ll earn themselves a match for the title in the future. The thing is that’s how wrestling has always worked. It’s just that the matches have never been referred to by any special name. This strikes me as ROH being different just for the sake of being different. I also question why Strong, a former world champion, would be considered for a TV title shot at any point. It’s a personal thing, I dislike seeing former world champions in any promotion go back to holding mid-card titles. I feel those belts are better used building up future stars.

Anyway.

Strong v Lethal should be a fine match but I have a feeling it will go to a time limit draw. I’m not sure why but most of Lethal’s matches seem to be going the distance lately. It’s an odd creative direction for Ring of Honor to take with him as it makes Lethal look like he can’t win matches. Not the best thing to do with a champion (or anybody you’re considering as a future star for that matter). I’ll officially predict a time limit draw for this match (what does that say about ROH?) but should that not happen I imagine Strong will pick up the victory.

Glory By Honor X is not going to be the best ROH show of the year but it’s not going to be the worst either. When you get right down to it you can’t say fairer than that, can you?

Survival of the Fittest 2011 preview

ROH have experimented with their Survival of the Fittest format before, but never quite to the extent that we’ll see on Friday 18^th November. For those unfamiliar with Survival of the Fittest it used to go something like this: twelve men would wrestle in six one-on-one matches with the winners advancing into the evening’s six-way main event. The winner of that match, fought under elimination rules, would earn themselves a shot at the ROH world championship.

Where this year’s event differs is in the nature of the qualifying contests. Along with three one-on-one matches there’s a tag team match which will see both members of the winning team take spots in the final and a four-way match which will see only one man go through.

On top of all of that there will be the traditional non-tournament match. This year it’s a “champions challenge” tag team match pitting ROH world tag team champions Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas against TV champion Jay Lethal and world champion Davey Richards.

From the list of confirmed matches this is the one that stands out to me as the most likely to become match of the night. All four men are great wrestlers and considering the relatively low number of matches on the card they should get enough time to put on a decent show. As far as winners go I think Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team will go over, seeing as they’re the regular combo.

The Survival matches are an interesting mix. One of the most appealing to me is Kyle O’Reilly v Andy ‘Right Leg’ Ridge. Ridge may not have been featured too heavily in ROH in the past but he’s been talked up as someone who could “break out” over the last year. Both men work a style heavy on stiff kicks and I’m interested to see how competitive Ridge is allowed to look against his more high profile opponent. There’s no doubt in my mind O’Reilly will win (which probably means Ridge will get the surprise victory now) but if Ridge is allowed to enter a ten minute performance in which he gains plenty of near falls he could get enough of a reaction from fans in attendance to convince ROH to give him a similar opportunity to shine soon.

Rhett Titus v Roderick Strong should be a fun match. This time last year Titus was in the process of a face turn while Strong was the ROH champ. That doesn’t have any bearing on this match but I thought it was interesting to point out, to illustrate the paths both have taken in the past twelve months. Titus rarely thrills me in singles matches but I think he’s got a good chance at having a solid outing with an opponent like Strong. I’m predicting Strong will win in a close contest.

Titus’s tag team partner Kenny King will be one of the men vying for the sole spot in the finals during the four-way match. His opponents will be Michael Elgin, Adam Cole and Tommaso Ciampa. Cole and King are both capable of working some very athletic spots into their matches so it’s pretty much guaranteed we’ll see something impressive during this match. I’ll be interested to see how Ciampa and Elgin interact with one another: both have been built up as ruthless, physically imposing heels that batter their opponents. Will they turn their gaze on each other? If they do who will be booked to come off better in the confrontation?

I imagine the two will have a stare off at some point but will be interrupted by King and Cole (that’s Kenny and Adam, not Jerry and Michael) before anything can come of it. The four-way strikes me as a way of booking Elgin and Ciampa in the tournament without having either one take a pinfall loss, thus allowing their dominant pushes to continue. This is particularly important for Ciampa due to his undefeated streak. A win in this qualifier would mean he has to win the Survival match to stay undefeated. I don’t think ROH are going to have ‘The Dominant Male’ take his first loss in an untelevised environment so that means he’ll simply not get passed the opening round.

I think King will walk out the winner. The final will benefit from his athleticism and it keep him looking like a guy who could break out into the singles division some time. I’m sure that when the All Night Express go their separate ways King is going to become a headline talent very quickly.

The tag team qualifier will see the Briscoes take on the Bravados. The Bravados shocked me several months ago by getting a highly unlikely victory over the natives of Sandy Fork, Delaware. Can they do it again? Perhaps. It’s hard to say. Both Bravados in the final would create an interesting dynamic but I think the Briscoes are the likelier candidates. It’s not impossible to imagine a situation in which this match goes to some sort of non-finish or double disqualification and one man from each team is selected for the final. Bear that in mind, but my official prediction is that Mark and Jay will be in the Survival match.

The final two men in the tournament are Mike Bennett and ROH’s first Triple Crown champion Eddie Edwards. Does Edwards really need to go to the main event and win this match? No. He’s already established at the top of the card and doesn’t need to win this in order to earn a title match. A win here will do far more for Bennett than it will for Edwards, and I think ‘The Prodigy’ will gain a tainted victory, probably with the help of ‘Brutal’ Bob, and advance to the finals.

So that leaves us with a predicted final of Mark Briscoe v Jay Briscoe v Kenny King v Mike Bennett v Roderick Strong v Kyle O’Reilly. Of those six there are two men I’d like to see face Davey Richards: Kyle O’Reilly and Kenny King. As I think King is heading towards a run with the tag team titles alongside Rhett Titus I’m going to predict that Kyle O’Reilly will be the 2011 Survival of the Fittest winner. That will allow for a student versus pupil type match sometime early next year.

 Will this be the sight ROH fans see at Survival of the Fittest 2011?

On paper this event looks a little average, but with an ROH title shot on the line there’s still a very good reason to watch the show. It should be a good indicator of where the promotion’s going for Final Battle and the early months of 2012.

By the Numbers

After watching last night’s Death Before Dishonor IX event I’m of the opinion that Ring of Honor need to cut back on their running times a little. While the show was mostly enjoyable too many of the matches felt as though they were stalling for time, and the intermission seemed to go on forever.

I’ve never had a problem with ROH sticking an intermission in the middle of their pay-per-views until last night. While the show’s graphic being put on screen during the break was an improvement on the blank grey screen we were treated to at Best in the World it still wasn’t good enough. With ROH looking to expand into new markets and attract new audiences it cannot present another iPPV featuring twenty minutes of a blank screen.

Would it really have been that difficult to knock together some promos to play during the break? Even better would have been an advert for the debut of their new TV show. That nobody in Ring of Honor is thinking of the break as a good place to get across storylines, promote lower card talent or advertise upcoming shows is worrying. They’ve paid for the air time so they should use it.

The wrestling itself was, as always, top notch. The opening match of Rhino and Tommaso Ciampa v Homicide and Jay Lethal was the only match that I felt could have used more time rather than less. Considering it featured the popular Lethal, hometown boy Homicide, and Ciampa (whom ROH clearly has big plans for) a higher spot on the card and an extra three or four minutes could have been applied to the bout. It was solid as it was though.

Shelton Benjamin v Mike Bennett was easily the worst bout of the night. It’s a shame that Benjamin, one of the most athletic men on the ROH roster, was lumbered with the glacially-paced Bennett. Far too much stalling made this a chore to watch after a few minutes. As Benjamin went over a better approach would have been to put on a quick five minute match with an electric pace, thus saving time and giving the audience something more exciting.

The slowest match on the card was followed by the quickest: Future Shock v the Bravado Brothers v the Young Bucks was a massively enjoyable match with the sort of action ROH was associated with a few years ago. You know, before they decreased the attention on quick matches in favour of giving even more time to stiff guys like Davey Richards? The Bravados got an impressive amount of heat before they were eliminated from the contest, which will hopefully convince Ring of Honor to start using them more often (the Bravados have been underrated as a heel act throughout 2011). The second segment, in which the former TNA employees faced off with Ring of Honor’s favourite tag team-on-the- rise, was excellent. With the Young Bucks refusing to shake hands with Future Shock after their win (something they are notorious for if you believe Dave Prazak and Kevin Kelly, though I’d never heard of them doing this before) I would imagine these two teams will face one another again soon. That’s a good thing.

El Generico v Jimmy Jacobs went around ten minutes before the inevitable Kevin Steen run-in. Personally I think that was too long: after that length of time the audience were invested in the match so it was irritating that we didn’t get a clear winner. They should have been allowed to wrestle to a decision or been given less time so the no finish was less frustrating for fans. Presumably we’ll get a rematch on the new TV show or at another pay-per-view within the next few months.

Steen was as bombastic as ever. Grabbing a microphone at ringside he trash talked both Generico and Jacobs before ripping into Steve Corino (who was in Japan, a fact that ROH had cleverly used to advance his “redemption” storyline). The locker room emptied to help security tackle ‘Mr Wrestling’, only for him to break free numerous times. At various points he powerbombed Jacobs onto the ring apron, absorbed a senton dive from Generico (which he hilariously no-sold, laughing as he slid into the ring to the sound of cheers), attempted a package piledrive on ROH founder Cary Silkin, and took a feeble-looking punch from Jim Cornette (which got a monster pop from the crowd). The announcers were silent during this, revealing later that they’d been instructed to not even mention his name. It was wild and frantic and the crowd loved it.

If Glory By Honor X in Chicago is broadcast on pay-per-view I expect Steen will make an appearance there too. Whether that happens or not I’m convinced he’ll be in attendance at Final Battle. It’s a little early to say for sure but I don’t think it’s impossible Steen will wrestle on the card. That would necessitate a storyline in which Cornette is petitioned by fans, Jacobs, Corino and possibly El Generico to lift the ban on ‘Mr Wrestling’ but there’s more than enough time to set them up. A Steen v Corino match at the December show could be huge.

Following the aforementioned intermission Charlie Haas beat Michael Elgin in a fprgettable, overly long bout. I’d much rather have seen Benjamin and Haas defend their titles or go against opponents better suited to their styles. Either one of them would have been a good opponent for Jay Lethal, and that would have freed up a slot as Homicide’s tag partner for Low Ki (though at this point it looks like ROH isn’t interested in bringing back ‘The World Warrior’).

The Ringmaster Challenge between Eddie Edwards and the House of Truth’s Roderick Strong was the best wrestling match on the show. That said it did deflate slightly in places due to the odd rules of the match and the lengthy running time. The first fall (pinfall only) was won by Strong after a backbreaker variant (what else?) while the second fall (submission only) went to ‘Die Hard’ Eddie Edwards (it was the first time I’d heard ROH use this faintly ridiculous nickname for him) and his Achilles Lock.

The third fall was a fifteen minute Iron Man match that saw no falls until the last few minutes. I’d expected a decision-heavy segment but what we got inside was fine. The finish was anything but fine, however: as the clock ticked down each man gained a fall on the other and the match ended in a draw. This brought out Jim Cornette to announce sudden death overtime. That got a cheap pop but it was another example of the running time of the show being overly long. Unless the match was going to end on a draw there was no point doing the draw. Had Strong refused to the overtime it would have made sense as it would have infuriated the fans and allowed Strong to play the cowardly heel. As it was it was just a waste of time.

The overtime segment was highly enjoyable, but there was nothing in there that couldn’t have gone into the fifteen minute Iron Man fall. This was another match that could have been better by having a few minutes trimmed from it.

Then came the Ladder War. Rhett Titus and both Briscoes were bleeding by the end of a match that featured so many chairs and tables it would have been more accurate to bill it as a TLC match. In the latest chapter in the storied relationship between the Briscoes and ‘The Big Apple’ a large portion of the audience decided to root for the natives of Sandy Fork, Delaware. When they’re faces New York doesn’t want to know, when they’re ruthless, aggressive heels shouting about soup they get cheers: typical wrestling fans.

As I predicted, the All Night Express finally gained a victory over the more experienced team when it counted, earning themselves a tag team title match against Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team at Glory By Honor X and ending the pay-per-view on a high. This may not have been the most technical match ANX have ever participated in, but it is one of their most memorable and has prepared them for a tag title run in the near future. Will that reign start at GBH? I’ll make an early prediction and say yes.

Considering the promotion didn’t have Colt Cabana, the Kings of Wrestling, Chris Daniels, Steve Corino or ROH champion Davey Richards to use I think they put on a fine show. But if you don’t take into account their depleted roster it was merely average. I said in my preview of the show that I hope the company starts building some new stars to fill the spots outgoing stars are creating and having seen the show it’s become more apparent that they need to do that sooner rather than later.

Bringing back a few older names could give the promotion a boost too. Jimmy Rave would be a natural fit with the Embassy and would inject some much needed fresh blood into the title picture. TJ Perkins deserves a chance to wrestle for the company again. I mentioned Low Ki above, he and Homicide could spice up the tag scene and also work gripping title matches with Davey Richards. Sonjay Dutt and Kenny Omega could return to bulk out the mid-card too. The promotion has options, it just needs to make a few phone calls.

Death Before Dishonor IX was a pay-per-view by the numbers: two former champions in a singles bout, a gimmick match main event, and a mostly enjoyable but utterly forgettable undercard. WWE can afford this approach to its big shows but ROH can't. Hire some guys and build some new names: that needs to be Ring of Honor’s priority for the rest of the year.

Death Before Dishonor IX preview

Next Saturday Ring of Honor once again returns to New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom to promote Death Before Dishonor IX... but their world champion won’t be joining them. No, Davey Richards, who won the ROH world title at Best in the World in June, feels it’s more important that he go to Japan to compete for “the prestigious” (his words) New Japan Pro Wrestling. I can understand his desire to compete in Japan but it shouldn’t come at the expense of ROH. After all, Ring of Honor is the company that helped him make a name for himself and his decision to go to New Japan doesn’t leave ROH looking very “prestigious” does it?

Davey isn’t solely to blame for this situation. Ring of Honor were well aware of his love of Japan when they put the title on him, and they are the ones who have allowed him to go (Richards is under contract to ROH and if they told him they needed him for their iPPV he would have been contractually obliged to turn down the NJPW tour). It’s made a lot of fans wonder why ROH put the championship on him in the first place. I’m of the opinion that Eddie Edwards is a better all round performer than Richards, and he shows up to events Ring of Honor needs him at. Had Eddie successfully defended the title against Davey at Best in the World he would have made a fine centrepiece for the company and the option of a Richards heel turn would have stayed open, something I think would have worked better in the long run as it could have lead to a long, believable rivalry over the title.

But instead of showing faith in Edwards ROH cut his reign short and put the title on a man who cuts awful promos and flies to Japan at the drop of a hat.

Despite there not being an ROH world title defence (or any title defences, come to that) I think Death Before Dishonor has the potential to be a decent show. The main event is either going to be Eddie Edwards v Roderick Strong or Mark and Jay Briscoe v the All Night Express in the third ever ladder war (that’s a ladder match to you and me).

I suspect it will be the tag bout that goes on last. Part of the reason for thinking this is that the two teams have been feuding for a year now, and this is likely going to be their final collision for a while. Another part of the reason is that nothing, no matter how good and no matter who’s involved, is going to top those four men in a ladder bout. It’s going to be a hard-hitting, brutal contest that ought to provide a fitting end to the show. At least one of the men is going to take some sort of crazy bump (my money’s on Mark Briscoe) and there’s a fair chance everyone will bleed.

As the Briscoes seem to have picked up the majority of the wins in this rivalry I think it could be ANX’s turn to get a win here. A title shot at Glory By Honor X will be hanging above the ring and I think that title shot would benefit Titus and King far more than it would ‘Dem Boys’.

The Strong v Edwards match is an odd one, and given its rules it could make for a rather anti-climactic main event. What are those rules? Confusingly, it’s a two-out-of-three falls match that will incorporate a fifteen minute iron man match as its third fall, should a third fall be required (it will be). Billed as a Ringmaster Challenge, the first fall will be pinfall only and the second fall by submission only. I suspect this match will end up looking fairly odd as the first and second fall will likely get around twenty minutes combined, and then an iron man match will start and a bunch of falls will be squeezed into a quarter of an hour, ratchetting up the number of falls in the match as a whole. Both men are capable and enjoyable wrestlers but it strikes me as an odd format.

This match is to determine the number one contender to Davey Richards’ world championship. There’s an obvious problem with this: Eddie Edwards is the former champion and hasn’t been granted his rematch yet. Aren’t all champions entitled to one? Hasn’t that always been the case not just in Ring of Honor but in every wrestling company in the world? I don’t dislike the idea of these two men competing against one another for a title shot, but I don’t like the fact that Eddie’s rematch clause has been overlooked in a company that prides itself on presenting a realistic sportsmanlike product.

For that reason, and because I think Richards v Edwards is a more marketable match than Richards v Strong, I’m picking Eddie Edwards to win this match. Will he become a two time champion? It looks doubtful right now, but I’d have no problem if he did.

That brings us to the undercard of the show. The match that intrigues me most is the three-way tag match between The Young Bucks (formerly TNA’s Generation Me), the Bravado Brothers and Future Shock. Who are Future Shock? Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly. Yes! They finally have a team name! This match hasn’t been confirmed as an opener but I think it would work well as one as it’s almost guaranteed to feature loads of high spots and a quick pace. I’d like to see a Cole and O’Reilly (sorry... Future Shock) win here, to continue building the two as the promotion’s next big team.

ROH tag team champions Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas will be in singles matches on the show, against Mike Bennett and Michael Elgin respectively. Neither match is going to set the world on fire. I wish they’d been booked to defend their titles instead: Future Shock earned a title match by winning the Tag Team Lottery months ago and this would have been a perfectly adequate event to host that match. Or a foreign team (from a Japanese company, perhaps the “prestigious” NJPW) could have been flown in to challenge for the gold. Either would have been preferable to meaningless filler matches.

Haas and Benjamin could even have been worked into the Jay Lethal and Homicide v Tommaso Ciampa and Rhino match. But they weren’t and it should be a good match regardless. Homicide has been treading water for almost the entire year and his feud with the Embassy hasn’t really got the audience involved as I think ROH was probably hoping it would. That said the Rhino v Homicide match at Best in the World was an excellent brawl and indicates this tag bout could be another surprise hit.

Ciampa and Lethal are guys ROH clearly hopes will become big stars. Ciampa’s winning streak gimmick (far more convincing than TNA’s fudged attempt with Tommy ‘Crimson’ Mercer) has made him stand out and could indicate he’s being built as a world title contender for 2012. He’s got a good look and wrestles well. I think he’d have a great match with Richards. More immediately, I think this match could set up Ciampa as a TV title contender by adding a win over Jay Lethal to his winning streak.

Lethal returned to ROH in June at Best in the World and has been used effectively since. I expect he’s going to presented as one of the promotion’s top stars for the foreseeable future, with or without the TV title (which I don’t expect he’ll wear to the ring as his title victory hasn’t been aired yet and ROH is old school on things like that).

As far as a winner goes the Embassy team are my choice. In an ideal world Homicide would turn heel (not siding with the Embassy, just going nuts on Lethal after ‘Black Machismo’ is pinned) after this match: he’s so much better as a heel and it would allow him to be used against Richards and Edwards. I won’t hold my breath for that though.

Finally there’s El Generico v Jimmy Jacobs. The storyline here is that Corino was meant to face Generico but backed out of the match as he felt unable to do so due to the Steen v Generico feud Corino was heavily involved in throughout 2010. Jacobs has agreed to take his place in the match and ‘The King of Old School’ has flown over to Japan to tour with Zero1 (unlike the Richards tour this isn’t annoying because Corino isn’t the company’s champion).

This could be the surprise match of the night as both men are of a similar size and work rapid, spot-filled styles that always go down well with an audience. I’d be very surprised if Jacobs got the win as Generico is one of ROH’s most popular and loyal stars and they can’t afford to have him lose to a guy that’s just returned.

Unless, of course, that loss comes after interference from ‘Mr Wrestling’ Kevin Steen. Since his brief appearance at Best in the World Steen has announced his intention to wage war on Ring of Honor and has begun in earnest by hassling Jim Cornette and Davey Richards via Twitter (it’s not much, but it’s a start). I expect he’ll show up at DBD in some form, and before, during or after the Generico v Jacobs match seems like the ideal time. I personally hope he does show up: this is one of ROH’s most compelling current storylines and Steen is tremendous in the role of unpredictable psycho.

Overall it doesn’t look like a bad show but it doesn’t look like the greatest ROH show ever either. Notable by their absence are Davey Richards (discussed above), Colt Cabana (currently on a tour of NOAH... yep, he’s in Japan), Christopher Daniels and the Kings of Wrestling. With the exception of Davey it’s possible all of these absences are due to contractual issues. Daniels has been working for TNA and ROH simultaneously for a while now, and it’s possible his ROH deal has expired and he’s focusing exclusively on the Florida promotion.

There have been rumours going around for months that Cabana, Hero and Castagnoli are all headed to WWE. Cabana could be finishing up agreed upon dates in Japan before heading to Monday nights while Hero and Castagnoli may already be under contract. Even if they haven’t officially signed with Team McMahon it’s possible they’ve been “advised against appearing” for ROH. It’s even possible all three men are still under contract to Ring of Honor but the promotion’s simply decided not to use them. They’ve done it with their champion after all.

If this is the future of the Ring of Honor roster the company needs to put even more time and effort into creating new stars. The company is currently very thin on name talent and while everyone competing at Death Before Dishonor is capable of putting in a good performance the prospect of future shows (Final Battle in particular) missing big names concerns me.