Back on Track?

Last year produced mixed results for Ring of Honor. The first six months were generally very enjoyable. The SCUM invasion storyline was something different (for ROH if not wrestling in general), the tease of the Adam Cole heel turn began, the American Wolves were sensibly placed back together, and there was new talent present on a string of very enjoyable events. The second half of the year was characterised by the mostly poor world title tournament, a lack of new talent (Homicide and Eddie Kingston didn’t count for two reasons: they’d been around before and nobody cared when they showed back up), and Michael Elgin becoming just another member of the roster.

Things did perk up at Final Battle though. Which is nothing unusual. For almost its entire existence the traditional year-closer has been used to launch fresh storylines and provide surprise twists. It's a system that works well.

Final Battle '13 featured a couple of big developments. Firstly BJ Whitmer, Roderick Strong and Jimmy Jacobs formed an alliance and beat up the departing Eddie Edwards. Factions are nothing new for any of the three. In fact they're probably the three ROH guys with the most faction experience on their respective CVs, but this is still a good move as Jacobs and Strong were doing nothing of interest beforehand. And we’d been told BJ was ready to retire, making his actions doubly surprising. As long as their mission statement isn't given as destroying ROH (that angle’s totes played out) they should be good together. Six man tag matches should be the order of the day for them. With The Shield WWE has shown that fans can get into trios matches. It’s a type of match ROH is well-suited to produce.

The second big development was another union. This one saw Matt Hardy run-in during the main event to help world champion Adam Cole retain his title. After the match the bad guys (who I suspect will get a snappy unit name soon) continued attacking Michael Elgin and Jay Briscoe until Chris Hero returned to the company and made the save. The team of Hardy and Cole should ensure Cole is treated like the lead bad guy he's supposed to be: there have been few men ROH fans have enjoyed lashing out against more than ‘The Sensei of Mattitude’. If he's limited to tagging with and doing run-ins for Cole I think Hardy's a good addition to the roster. ROH can benefit from the heat he generates without needing to have him wrestle too much.

I'm very much looking forward to Hero v Cole

Chris Hero returning to Ring of Honor is obviously a good thing. He gives the company another big name to play around with and he's credible enough to be a serious contender to Cole's title. I don't think he'll win it but I do think he'll give the champ a solid match with believable false finishes (always important in a good wrestling match). WrestleMania weekend, the NYC show in May or Best in the World are my guesses for when Hero will get his first title match of 2014. I'm covering a lot of possibilities there I know. So be it.

Final Battle also saw Silas Young defeat Mark Briscoe in a strap match and Tommaso Ciampa squash Matt Taven to win the television championship. This may not sound like much but it demonstrates the league's dedication to Young and Ciampa. It indicates they'll be given chances to move up the card in 2014. Both of them deserve that. I'm particularly pleased that 'The Last Real Man' has the chance to progress. I think he's got the aura to be a meaningful name for ROH.

There's also the matter of AJ Styles' return to brighten up 2014 for ROH. I'm not the biggest fan of Styles and I feel he's overhyped by TNA fans but he's a big enough name and a good enough wrestler to improve Ring of Honor’s standing by attracting new fans (specifically people who only watch TNA and maybe WWE who want a fix of some AJ Styles flavoured goodness). Every match he can have in the company is either completely new or one we've not seen for years. That's a great position for ROH to be in. It’s a nice position for Styles too.

Will ROH fans still think AJ Styles is phenomenal?

How much Styles, and Hero for that matter, benefit ROH depends on how often they appear. 'That Young Knockout Kid' has already wrestled for EVOLVE since leaving WWE and he's confirmed for future dates. It's not hard to imagine Styles heading there, plus there's the possibility of a TNA offer hanging over him. He's only going to be appearing for ROH and various promotions until TNA is ready to pay him what he thinks he's worth. I don't blame him for that, but it does make it hard for ROH to do anything with him beyond rotating him through matches with the bigger names on the roster. Unless there's some sort of longer term deal in place that makes a lengthy storyline possible. We'll know more about what's store after the January 4^th TV taping. That's where 'The Phenomenal One' will reappear and set up any storylines or feuds he's going to be a part of.

It will also feature the eight man Top Prospect tournament. Last year's instalment was won by Matt Taven but served as an introductory tool for Tadarius Thomas, ACH, QT Marshall, Adam Page and Silas Young. Hopefully the same will be true this year. Ring of Honor is a company that benefits from a steady cycle of new names and the TPT is a nice way of bringing them in.

On the subject of the Top Prospects it seems fairly obvious that the masked man billed as The Romantic Touch is actually Rhett Titus. All I've seen of him is a still and I immediately recognised his posture. Plus the initials are the same. After doing some half-hearted Googling I found that other people think the same thing. It's too easy to imagine The Romantic Touch winning the tournament and then being unmasked by Ciampa when he gets the TV title shot. It's a way back on to the roster, basically. I'd rather see the tournament used to give a newcomer a boost. Titus wouldn't need to win the thing to come back full time. Of the other seven I think Corey Hollis, ‘Benchmark’ Bill Daly and Andrew Everett look like they'd fit in the most. Cheeseburger will stick around even if he loses in the opening round.

The potential’s there for Ring of Honor to get back on track this year. I hope they manage it.

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.

Slaying reDRagon

Last Saturday's TV taping saw a significant development in Ring of Honor's tag team division. As Matchmaker extraordinaire Nigel McGuinness stood in the ring talking about bringing in outside talent and making the doubles scene truly world class he was interrupted by reigning champions reDRagon.

Fish and O'Reilly, presumably wanting to prove that they're the best tag team out there, requested that their scheduled non-title match against the Forever Hooligans be turned into a championship defence. Agreeing that it would improve the show and that the Hooligans were worthy challengers Nigel granted the request.

And so it was that in the main event of the evening's first episode (which will air this coming Saturday) the Forever Hooligans beat reDRagon for the belts. It was a win that marked Alex Koslov's first title win in the promotion. For Rocky Romero it's a third. He's previously worn ROH tag gold alongside Ricky Reyes, as the Rottweilers, and Davey Richards, as members of the No Remorse Corps.

The win also makes the Hooligans double champions. They were already the NJPW junior heavyweight tag champs. It's an impressive feat for both men, and one that elevates their reputation as a duo.

 

The Forever Hooligans with their hardware

 

reDRagon's contributions over the last five months shouldn't be overlooked. The team deserves credit for their reign. Fish and O'Reilly treated the titles as though they meant something. That's always a good trait for champions. They wrestled exciting defences against the American Wolves, the C&C Wrestle Factory and the men who'd eventually terminate their run, the Forever Hooligans. They even made Cheeseburger look competitive at A Night of Hoopla. That's not something they had to do, but doing it made the match far more enjoyable than it would have been had they buried or mocked him for twenty minutes.

Both improved their characters throughout the reign. Just because ROH emphasises sportsmanship and match quality doesn't mean interesting characters have to become obsolete. O'Reilly in particular has improved greatly this year. He appears much more confident and has developed a confident persona that meshes nicely with his ring style. Teaming with Fish has been of benefit to him. I hope they continue to be used well and excel as a team.

reDRagon were going to defend the straps against the American Wolves at All Star Extravaganza V. That won't even happen as a non-title affair now, apparently: Fish and O'Reilly have announced via YouTube that as they're no longer the champions they won't be attending the show. They were omitted from the last swing into Canada too. I'm beginning to think Bobby Fish has some sort of legal difficulty crossing the border (O'Reilly won't be the issue: he's Canadian).

Instead Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards will be wrestling the new champions for the belts. I'm sure it will be a very exciting match, although I wish the Wolves v reDRagon match had remained on the card. That would have left Romero and Koslov free to defend against the Young Bucks. As the Bucks are the current Dragon Gate USA tag team champions it could have been something of a dream match, albeit one in which the champions versus champions, best versus best aspect would have been overlooked on commentary. ROH are unlikely to acknowledge Dragon Gate anytime soon. In that regard they're like the WWF used to be with WCW.

As it is the Bucks will take on Adrenaline RUSH and the C&C Wrestle Factory in a match that will be every high spot lover's dream. I can live with the omission of reDRagon with quality like this on the card.

I don't expect the Forever Hooligans to have a long reign. They're over in Japan far too often to be convenient for Ring of Honor to book. Them winning the titles feels like a way of shaking the division up a little and making things a little less predictable. Which, by the way, is fine with me: wrestling promotions should try to surprise fans more often. It's possible that the change is also a way of switching the titles onto the American Wolves without reDRagon losing straight to them, so as to prolong that feud. If that's the case the Hooligans are credible interim champs but I hope they get longer than a week with the gold. They deserve at least a couple of months. Hopefully they'll get that.

However long their reign lasts, whoever they defend against and eventually lose to, I'm pleased the Forever Hooligans' names have been added to the list of ROH tag team champions. It shakes up the division and puts a talented, entertaining and hard-working team at its head. You can't ask for more than that, can you?

A Night of Hoopla review

On Thursday July 11^th Ring of Honor returned to their onetime stronghold of Chicago. They were there to put on a wrestling show. Nothing unusual about that, you may think. And you’d be right. Because ROH is a wrestling company. But it’s a wrestling company with a reputation for being serious and placing its emphasis firmly on pro wrestling as a sport, rather than as a form of entertainment. That was not the case on July 11^th.

The show was dubbed A Night of Hoopla and featured Truth Martini running things for the evening. The event was so far from what ROH has been presenting under current creative chief Delirious (and indeed what ROH is known for in general) that I wouldn’t be surprised if Truth genuinely had had some input into the direction of the show. Imagine if the WWF had done a house show with The Godfather as the guest General Manager towards the end of the Attitude Era and you’ll have a very clear idea of the vibe this card had.

Despite its status as an unauthorised event, and a house show no less, A Night of Hoopla looked pretty strong going in. They’d announced a three-way between Matt Taven, Eddie Edwards and Adam Cole, a match pitting reDRagon against Roderick Strong and ROH trainee Cheeseburger, a six person tag match featuring the popular ACH and probable next world champ Michael Elgin, and a rare in-ring appearance from Delirious. There was every chance it would be an eventful show.

That parental guidance line wasn't for decoration

 

Things kicked off with a Truth Martini promo. He hyped the evening in general and told the audience to drink responsibly. He set the tone for the evening when he said if people didn’t drink responsibly then they might crash into a school bus on their way home, which could potentially kill a girl and stop her growing up to be eighteen. Which would mean he’d have nobody to have a “good time” with.

That line alone told us this would not be a regular ROH show. And that Truth Martini had carte blanche to say whatever he fancied. The latter was not necessarily a good thing.

Hoopla Hotty Scarlett sang America the Beautiful. The lyrics were altered to be about boobs and stripping and it being okay for men to check her out. Once again this was a tone setting exercise as much as anything else (although one far more enjoyable than Truth’s). I laughed when the accompanying video montage of American icons showed a Walmart.

The first match was the three-way. Matt Taven was introduced first. It seemed weird to me that Truth would book his own guy in the show opener, but what do I know about managing wrestlers? Not as much as Truth Martini, that’s for sure.

Instead of a slick, wrestling-heavy match we got a load of comedic ringside brawling revolving around stiff chops and the wrestlers taking pictures of one another with fans’ cameras. It was good, it just wasn’t what I expected from Cole and Edwards. The crowd enjoyed it. The match also featured the evening’s first referee in underpants, a running theme for the show.

It was a fun opener. Had they been allowed to have a regular match they could have done something great. That wasn’t the point of the evening though. The finish came after Scarlett interjected herself into the match¹ and Cole and ‘Die Hard’ exchanged super kicks, with Taven sneaking in to hit his tumbling DDT on Edwards for the victory. It was a clean win for him, more or less.

Following some simulated spit-roasting from Edwards and Cole Truth returned to the ring to introduce the Ring of Honor equivalent of P Diddy performing at WrestleMania: Jimmy Jacobs singing his new song, Gypsy Soul. The guy was one of ROH’s top villains a few years ago when leading The Age of the Fall. He’s had quite the comedown. The crowd liked him though (which surprised me). That’s what counts.

Match two was ‘Machismo King’ Jay Lethal v Delirious with Maria Kanellis as the guest referee. Lethal was wheeled in through the crowd on a cart of some sort, emulating ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage’s entrance at WrestleMania IV. He was accompanied by Sister Sensational Sherri. I’ve no idea who was playing her, but she was dreadful throughout the entire match.

I found the match awkwardly paced. It was far more miss than hit. Sherri’s timing didn’t help matters. I did enjoy Lethal’s spot on Savage tics and traits, as well as Delirious channelling Ultimate Warrior (Ultimate Delirious? The Delirious Warrior?). Considering how good both men are at actually wrestling their characters shouldn’t have been the highlight.

‘Machismo King’ won with a rollup after Delirious attempted a cocky cover.

After the bout Lethal proposed to Maria (calling her Elizabeth). That upset Sherri. She lumbered into the ring and low blowed Lethal. Maria returned to make the save, which prompted Lethal to say he knew she really cared and issue a second proposal. He tried again and Maria accepted with an “Ohhhh yeah!” Mike Bennett came out to put an end to the fun and games by carrying his girlfriend backstage. The post-match shenanigans were better than the match itself.

Truth came back out to host the Pants Off Dance Off. Solicia and Scarlett were joined as contestants by a third random girl. This was one of only two points when I missed there being a commentary team. It would have been nice to know the identity of the newcomer.

Truth introduced Judge Jeff Jones as the guest… erm… judge of the Dance Off. Yes that is the same Jeff Jones that managed Mike Awesome to the ECW championship in 1999. ROH are now recycling fourteen year old gimmicks that were barely over in ECW. Brilliant.

Personally I’d hoped that Sabu would be the judge and end up smashing the Hoopla Hotties through tables. I admit it wasn’t likely.

The three women danced half-heartedly, ground themselves against Jones, and stripped. It was everything you’d want from this sort of segment.

 

The Hoopla Hotties there, doing whatever it is they do

 

Before Jones could announce the winner he was interrupted by Davey Richards. ‘The American Wolf’ swerved everyone with a promo about how the ROH he’d joined was about wrestling. He made the obligatory mentions of Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, and CM Punk (because those names are shorthand for the glory days of Ring of Honor and always good for a pop) before switching gear and announcing that he would participate in the Dance Off too.

Richards didn’t pull his pants off but what he did do was pretty funny. There was a lot of air humping going on. It worked because it juxtaposed Richards’ serious persona so perfectly. As Richards was announced as the winner ‘Pro Wrestling’s Last Real Man’ Silas Young made his way out to the ring, incredulous at what he’d just seen.

The two ended up having their scheduled match early. It looked promising for the first several minutes but took a turn for the worse when Truth came out to inform Silas that he was spending too much time outside the ring. It was turned into a Lumberjill match. Men in drag came out to ringside to chants of “No!” and “This is awkward!” That was to be expected.

Young took a predictable tumble to ringside and got manhandled back in. Richards was in control from then on, although Young did manage to squeeze in an impressive corner headstand into a springboard moonsault. Davey got a convincing near fall after an alarm clock, a running kick and a top rope double stomp, then locked in the ankle lock for the submission victory. Young tapped quickly, as befits his spot on the card.

Adding to the surreal nature of his appearance for the evening Davey Richards sang a few lines of a song as the lumberjills left. The poor audio made it hard to make out what the song was, but that’s hardly the point.

Next, Truth Martini (the hardest working man at A Night of Hoopla) returned for a segment where a man was plucked from the audience for a lap dance. He was sat down in a chair, under the impression the Hoopla Hotties would be dancing for him. He seemed fine with a blindfold being strapped round his eyes. I like to think I would have questioned that.

The “joke” of the segment was that some larger ladies came out to perform the lap dance as Truth and his girls laughed. The audience seemed to think this was brilliant, so I’m forced to concede it wasn’t the most dreadful idea for a segment.

It was during all of this that I thought about Gabe Sapolsky. I bet he’d have loved A Night of Hoopla.

reDRagon wrestled Roderick Strong and Cheeseburger in the evening’s penultimate match. It’s still not clear if this was a tag team title match. It wasn’t announced as one but as Truth Martini was doing the ring announcing that doesn’t mean it wasn’t. Confusing things further ROH’s website simply has a question mark next to the status of the titles in relation to this match.

It doesn’t matter either way because reDRagon won.  The four men had the best match of the evening. Cheeseburger was incredibly popular with the crowd. His diminutive size makes him a natural underdog. It took him a while to really begin selling the beating he was taking and actually become isolated but when he did he was great at it.

Eventually O’Reilly eliminated Roddy with a series of stiff kicks and punches. The champions then hoisted Cheeseburger up and hit Chasing the Dragon for the win.

 

His ring name is Cheeseburger and he wrestles in Ring of Honor. Deal with it

 

Truth returned for his final segment of the evening, Hoopla Unplugged. His guest? Satan². It was a guy painted red with horns sticking out from his hair. The fans initially chanted “Six six six!” but quickly switched to more negative stock chants when the novelty wore off (which took approximately seventeen seconds).

“Satan” cut a tedious promo about how Truth’s debauchery was too much for even him. That’s right, ROH put Truth Martini over the devil. When asked to join in with the pants off party Satan declined and instead told everyone they were going to Hell. He ended up taking a Death Valley Driver from Solicia and having his trousers pulled off. Satan wears silver wrestling trunks under his trousers. Who knew?

Adrenaline RUSH and Athena v Michael Elgin, BJ Whitmer and MsChif was the main event. It was established early on that MsChif and Elgin didn’t like each other locking up with people of the opposite sex. This was the other instance of me missing a commentary team. I had to rely on Google to find out that MsChif and Elgin are married.

 

Matching ring colours...

 

The match was unmemorable but enjoyable enough. It picked up as it went on and featured a fun dance off towards the beginning. Michael Elgin did The Worm. Perhaps ROH should have brought Scotty 2 Hotty in for the title tournament. He’d have been an ideal first round opponent for ‘Unbreakable’.

Elgin saved MsChif from an ACH power bomb. She kissed him. Tadarius Thomas broke that up and got green misted by Elgin for his trouble. Big Michael followed up with a buckle bomb and then an Elgin bomb for the three count.

Truth made his final appearance of the evening to thank everyone for coming. He reminded us that hoopla is not just a word but a lifestyle. The House of Truth theme played and Martini and the Hoopla Hotties danced us off the air.

Anyone tuning in for a standard Ring of Honor show would probably have been disappointed with A Night of Hoopla. The emphasis was far more on comedy than it was competitive wrestling. ROH did do a good job of advertising the show as something different and ended up with something that was like a cross between Attitude Era WWF, latter days ECW, and PWG. It wasn’t an entirely unpleasant mix.

As a one off it worked very well. If ROH were to modify this model for more of their smaller shows I don’t think there would be that many complaints. But it’s not a bold new format ROH can adapt without driving away a significant portion of their existing fan base. And I get the feeling a bold new format is what the promotion is currently searching for.

***

¹ Eddie hit Scarlett with some chops to the backside to send her packing. She did a great job of selling her arse after the match. She’s probably had some practice…

² Yep. Satan.