Women of Honor

Last Sunday I wrote about women's wrestling being something wrestling companies should concentrate on in order to attract greater numbers of viewers. During that I touched on the fact that ROH doesn't have a women's division (read about this here). I think that's a mistake on their part. ROH would benefit greatly from the addition of a women's division.

Maria Kanellis has been a heavily featured character for a few years now.  She's over as a heel with existing fans. ODB has recently been brought in as an affiliate of the Briscoes. Maria knocking about made sense. She's married to Michael Bennett and has mostly been presented as a manager. She has a reason to be there.

Top stars of a potential women's division right here.

The same can't be said for ODB. Her previous work has always had her featured as an active wrestler. There's no reason why she'd go to work for a company that doesn't have a women's division for her to compete in. Okay, she initially came in to counteract Maria. That worked but it doesn't explain why she's stuck around.

Announcing the creation of an official women's division would create a reason for ODB to be in ROH and would give Maria more to do (yeah, more than managing the IWGP tag champs). It would allow ROH to get in on the popularity of women's wrestling and it would create roles for new stars in the company. With WWE currently turning NXT into its own indy venture ROH needs all the marketable names it can get.

One of the things in favour of an ROH women's division is that the groundwork is already there. ROH has been promoting "women of honor" matches for years. They've featured SHIMMER heavily in the past. They've just never gone the whole way and created an official women's league in the company. This wouldn't need to be a massive change for ROH. They already have ODB and Maria to play the lead face and heel respectively. Hiring three or four other women would allow them to flesh out the ranks, with other people being brought in less often to work as enhancement or lower card talent.

Taryn has proven herself a good wrestler
 in spite of her WWECW background.

Imagine a Women of Honor division built around women cherry-picked from Shine and SHIMMER, like Jayme Jameson, Su Yung, Athena and Andrea. It would easily better anything TNA are doing with the Knockouts these days (Dollhouse have failed to live up to their potential) and could, with enough time, rival the NXT division. In fact if TNA goes under they could bring in some of the better Knockouts.

This assumes that ROH haven't specifically avoided setting up a women's division for some reason. Perhaps their reasoning is that everyone else is making headway in that area and without as many top names to go around they're best off without something official. That would be understandable but it would also be a shame. The approach ROH booker Delirious has towards storylines is enjoyable and something that's not really used anywhere else in wrestling. I'd like to see it applied to a women's division. And I think other people would too.

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.

Attitude, Charisma, Heart

I’ve said many times that the release of TJ Perkins from his Ring of Honor contract last was a mistake and that he's the sort of wrestler they should want to push. He has charisma, a great range of moves and a marketable look. ROH can't ask for more than that.

Luckily for TJP he seems to have gotten himself a gig wrestling for TNA as Suicide. Awful video game nonsense aside it's good for him. He's a talented guy who deserves the spot. Ring of Honor's decision to let Perkins go was foolish but they have at least done what they can to rectify the problem since. Specifically they've hired ACH.

 

This guy could be a player if treated right

Like Perkins ACH knows how to get on with a crowd, has an awe inspiring range of aerial manoeuvres and has a marketable look. Being paired with Tadarius Thomas is a further plus point. It will allow both men to grow into larger roles naturally while contributing to an area ROH seems determined to cultivate. Which is a good business move in itself because no other North American wrestling company seems bothered about presenting meaningful tag team wrestling.

As good as TJP was in ROH there was a distinct lack of direction for him throughout most of his time there. I'm not just talking about him being given the summer off. That was, in retrospect, ROH's way of releasing a popular talent that they had no plans for in a way designed to minimize backlash. Even before that TJP had been added to cards late and was usually placed into a losing effort designed to make others look good. It was an uninspiring approach that was never going to turn him into a major player.

The more focused booking of Delirious should see Attitude, Charisma, Heart (yep, that's what it most commonly stands for) sidestep that issue. With so many excellent teams in ROH ACH and Thomas have plenty of great matches in front of them in which to get themselves to stand out. By the time the team runs its course, and it will, they'll both be well positioned to step into meaningful singles roles. As the more dynamic of the pair ACH should stand every chance of being a singles star when that happens.

In short I think ACH is one of the stars ROH will be built around for a significant period of time. And that's a good thing.

Anyone for Tennis?

Jim Cornette left Ring of Honor under a cloud last year, the result of a blowup backstage that came about because Corny disagreed with the direction of the company. Yes this is the same Jim Cornette as had been guiding the promotion for around a year and a half. He had been relieved of his duties but was sticking around as a consultant. The aforementioned blowup likely occurred because Jim's opinions weren't carrying the weight he was used to them carrying.

This disagreement means it's unlikely Cornette is to do business with ROH any time soon. This is great news from a booking standpoint, Delirious has turned the company around in the space of months. ROH is now a federation worth watching again.

It does mean we will probably miss out on what could be an enjoyable return story though. Not an essential return story, but an enjoyable one.

Cornette's public split from ROH is the perfect excuse to have him come back as an on-screen heel. His past as a manager is well known. He could return to manage a disenfranchised member of the locker room or invade alongside one of his old pals. For some reason I can't get the image of Cornette managing Vader in ROH out of my mind. I'm sure something better than that could be concocted, but it's a decent example of the sort of guy I mean. A veteran who wouldn’t seem out of place in the territories of yesteryear.

"Close the door, dammit! We're having a private moment!"

Obviously there's a strong similarity to the SCUM plot, which puts the kibosh on the entire thing (as does sanity). A Cornette return while that faction is still doing the rounds wouldn't work. It would create two heel forces set on the destruction of ROH. Nobody needs to see that (ain't nobody got time for that).

Something else that would make a Corny return unlikely while they're still around is that a large part of the reason SCUM exists is because of the group’s dislike of Corny. Corino's gang and Cornette feuding with ROH at the same time would possibly make the world collapse in on itself due to lack of logic.

The idea could be used for a DVD taping. A one off appearance of Cornette would lend itself nicely to a one night only setting. It could be announced that he's signed a client to help him get his revenge on the company. As it wouldn't be an ongoing story pretty much anyone who fits the bill of a "Cornette guy" could be used. That includes Vader. Yes, he does still wrestle. I checked.

If not used for a DVD taping it could be held off until the latter half of next year. Waiting much longer than that would make it a dead and pointless story. Doing it sooner would coincide with SCUM which would be a bad idea, as I've mentioned.

It’s not going to happen anyway, of course. Cornette was fired and, in a typical move, has slated the company for the decision. Never mind that it's what fans had called for or that it was the right thing for Ring of Honor’s continued growth. Cornette's reaction to being let go, and indeed ROH's decision to get rid of him in the first place, means that it’s almost guaranteed that we’ll never see this scenario play out.

It doesn’t matter. SCUM's a better idea anyway.

Gabe Sapolsky Versus Ring of Honor

Usually a hot feud is a good thing for a wrestling company. But they usually take place in the ring as part of the scripted show. When feuds take place in the back, behind closed doors, they’re usually detrimental to the product. Take, for example, the Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart rivalry from the nineties. They had some good matches opposite one another, but imagine how great things could have been had they gotten along and been willing to do things properly, instead of having an unprofessional and childish point scoring, tit-for-tat feud.

A more recent example (and the one that forms the basis of this post) is the ongoing rivalry between Gabe Sapolsky and his former employer Ring of Honor. Gabe was released from booking duties by ROH in late October 2008 and has gone out of his way to take digs and swipes at the promotion, on and off, ever since. ROH staff have always refrained from commenting on Gabe’s career and comments made since the firing.

Gabe’s most famed outburst came after ROH was bought by SBG and they suffered a number of iPPV broadcast problems. Gabe’s point was that Ring of Honor, being owned by a television production company, was well placed to avoid broadcasting issues. He was absolutely right. But when making the point he couldn’t help but come across as a bitter ex-employee, approaching the subject with a tenacity that a neutral bystander would have had no need for. It didn’t help that he never explicitly stated he was talking about ROH. That only served to make him come across as passive aggressive.

It’s unknown whether anyone in ROH still harbours ill will towards the Gabester because, as already mentioned, nobody from the promotion ever comments on him. Which is the professional way of doing things. Personally I think ROH made the wrong call firing Gabe in 2008. They should have told him to take a year off to refresh himself. But that doesn’t mean they were wrong. People get sacked, and Gabe seems unable to come to terms with Ring of Honor letting him go.

 

Gabe wearing some subtle merch

 

If the hatchet were to be buried both Ring of Honor and Gabe’s Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE promotions would benefit. This would require work on both sides. Gabe may be the more outspoken of the two parties and have a clearer reason to carry the nonsense on but there must be a reason the animosity is still so raw. It takes two to keep something like this running for so long.

At the moment guys wanting to work for either ROH or Dragon Gate and EVOLVE must make a choice and sign with one or the other. If they do appear for the rival organisation clauses in their contract prevent them from working broadcast matches. This means that an ROH guy can appear for Dragon Gate, but ROH has to okay it and the match must be a dark match. Which is great for fans attending the events in question but an irritation for anyone watching at home or buying the DVDs because they miss the appearance of a big star. It’s an annoyance for the companies too, as it limits their selling and marketing options.

An end to the Sapolsky v Ring of Honor hostilities could bring a much needed freshness to the US wrestling scene. With guys not being forced to pick where they have to work a plethora of fresh matches would be opened up.

The Young Bucks are the obvious names to mention here. They got released by ROH as a cost-cutting measure during the summer of 2012, along with TJ Perkins. They’ve since appeared for Dragon Gate and EVOLVE and doubtless helped to improve the product. They probably hold somewhat of a grudge against Ring of Honor themselves, and I don’t blame them if they do, but I’m sure they’d give a return a try for the right amount of cash. The Bucks against reDRagon, the Wolves, C&C, and ACH and Tadarius Thomas would all be solid matches that could help ROH to flog DVDs and iPPVs.

The likes of Johnny Gragano, Chuck Taylor, Sami Callihan, Ricochet, and Samuray Del Sol could all make a similarly exciting impact on the Honor roster. Going the other way I’m sure Gabe would love to work with the Briscoes, Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Michael Elgin, and Roderick Strong. He may even be willing to admit that Kevin Steen is a guy worthy of wrestling regular main events now, what with Steen having carved out a headline niche for himself in ROH and all. Considering the history Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish have with Dragon Gate and EVOLVE I think reDRagon would be an interesting combo to give Gabe access to as well.

 

One of the many guys I'd like to see cross over

 

It doesn’t even have to be an overt feud or storyline or anything. It could simply be a working arrangement that lets the wrestlers appear for the other company when they’re not booked with their home promotion. A simple announcement on the relevant websites would be enough to get things rolling.

This isn’t to say that a Ring of Honor versus Dragon Gate programme wouldn’t be nice to see. Booked right I think that could improve iPPV business and live attendance for both groups. The DG USA roster would also benefit from the exposure of ROH’s TV output.

It’s a pipe dream of course. Part of the reason ROH are currently running a SCUM invasion storyline is that it’s a way of presenting an inter-company angle without needing to cooperate with another company. SCUM’s roster contains just enough guys to make it come across as a separate roster. They don’t need Dragon Gate for this story right now. That’s not to say they couldn’t arrange something for a year or two in the future. Getting a working relationship up and running would actually increase the chances of that by establishing a status quo and allowing the feud to develop naturally.

The indy scene simply doesn’t have a deep enough talent roster to sustain this sort of divide indefinitely. Sooner or later something is going to have to change. That’s either going to be the working relationship (which would be best for everyone, especially paying customers), one of the leagues ceasing to exist, or one gradually signing a larger portion of the top talent, leaving the other to struggle on with mid-card level guys in top slots.

While they’re at it ROH should try sorting out their problems with Low Ki. Nah… one thing at a time.

Thank You, Steen

Supercard of Honor VII saw the longest ROH title reign in four years come to end. A lot of the focus of the title change has been on Jay Briscoe being the man to hand Kevin Steen his first ROH loss in over two years. Which is understandable: very few people expected Jay to ever get a reign as the champion and the WrestleMania weekend show seemed like it would be a guaranteed retention for 'Mr Wrestling'.

What not many people (or at least not enough people) are focusing on is Steen's hard work. Even before he won the title he had been the focal point of Ring of Honor. Minus a six month break due to contract disputes and-or creative disagreements with Jim Cornette, Steen has been one of the most heavily featured and enjoyable singles acts since early 2010. He was there playing a supporting role during Davey Richards' damp squib of a title run and had the feud of the year against former teammate El Generico in 2010.

Since Steen won the belt last spring he's been a rallying point for fans of the promotion, a beacon of positivity in a company that had sadly lost its way. He never entered anything less than a great performance when defending the belt (or wrestling in a non-title match come to that) and survived poor iPPV streams, slapdash booking and dwindling interest in the product he represented. His involvement in the promotion proved a saving grace. Without him there’s a very real chance 2012 could have seen Ring of Honor go under.

I was originally sceptical 'Wrestling's Worst Nightmare' could have a meaningful run as champion. His two matches against Davey Richards proved enjoyable but 'The Lone Wolf's' second loss meant that he could no longer challenge for the gold. That denied Steen a talented and popular opponent.

Further limiting the possibility of a great reign was the shallow ROH roster. During his first few months as champion he was subjected to defences against the likes of Mike Mondo, Eddie Kingston and Homicide, none of whom meant a great deal to fans and none of whom are known as the greatest wrestlers available for hire. His defences against Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong were very good, but they were isolated affairs with no long term plan attached to them. In a sense they were teases of how good the Steen reign could be.

Shed a tear: this is a sight we may never see again

It wasn't until Jay Lethal challenged him in October that Steen had another title match that could be described as a classic. From there he entered spirited defences against Michael Elgin (at Glory by Honor XI) and El Generico (at Final Battle), had a great rematch with ‘Black Machismo’ (at the 11^th Anniversary Show), and a surprisingly satisfying non-title four-way outing against Edwards, Strong and Elgin (at Defy or Deny II).

 

From the moment Delirious took over as booker in October Steen was given the chance to cement himself as one of the greatest ROH champions. He seized upon the opportunity and proved he belonged in the same league as the likes of Samoa Joe, Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson. He did a far better job of overcoming the obstacles of his reign than Davey Richards did the year before.

Steen’s loss of the championship came as a surprise. There's every chance he'll get the belt back at some point but ultimately that's neither here nor there. Steen deserves appreciation for carrying the company for a year and making sure the belt retained its prestige while in his possession. For now I want to thank Kevin Steen for having the first reign we all needed him to have.

The Past is Another Company

I'm a fan of Ring of Honor. I like the company's realistic presentation of pro wrestling. I like their believable and logical approach to storylines. I like the company's young, athletic roster.
 
Well, I used to like these things.
 
While I remain a fan of ROH I am not happy with its current predicament. Reading comments on the ROH World (the premier ROH fan site) chat room shows I'm not alone in my opinion.
 
Ring of Honor made a name for itself as a company that portrayed wrestling as an athletic, competitive sport. Its priority of pushing talent was clear from the start: the best workers would rise to the top based on their performances and fan support. Politics, we were told, would not be a factor in Ring of Honor.
 
Over the years this was proven to be true as the likes of Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Nigel McGuinness, Austin Aries, AJ Styles, Davey Richards, Kevin Steen, El Generico and others rose to the top based on their ability to wrestle a compelling match rather than play politics. Some of these men have more on to more political promotions (WWE and TNA, mainly) and met with success there.

But others haven't and never will. This isn’t to say that those who have moved on have had to learn how to play politics, more that some people are blessed with a marketable look than others. It's hard to imagine El Generico headlining RAW, for example.
 
The current state of Ring of Honor is something I've discussed before. I still want it to succeed and provide a genuine alternative to both WWE and TNA but it isn't going to do that in its current slump. Under the direction of Jim Cornette (and, allegedly, Hunter 'Delirious' Johnston) ROH has had a critically disastrous two years. Things have been bad commercially as well but it's not fair to blame that on Corny.
 
Cornette has stated that the rise up the card of Michael Elgin, Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Cole is proof that ROH is dedicated to finding, pushing, and rewarding the finest young talent. While I won't argue that all three men are excellent choices to carry the promotion forward and becomes its next crop of headliners I wouldn't go as far as to say that they have been used flawlessly. Nor would I say that having only three examples of well-pushed youngsters is a good position to be in. Especially for a promotion that was originally supposed to cater to the needs of unknown, talented grapplers.

O'Reilly and Cole should have had a far longer run together as Future Shock and O'Reilly's heel switch should have been held off until next year at the earliest. Meanwhile Michael Elgin's glacially paced rise through the ranks has seen him enter some cracking, white hot performances but now runs the risk of seeing him go off the boil because management have held off that final shove for too long.

Pacing things properly and sticking to a plan is all well and good but if waiting too long often does more harm than good. There are only so many times he can challenge for the ROH world title and fail before fans will stop seeing him as the next big thing.
 
Cornette has also said that ROH fans who dislike his approach to booking the company are simply pining for the past. It seems he thinks this because fans talk fondly of the era of Danielson, Punk and Joe. The trouble here is that ROH was better when those men were around.

 

This guy's had his day

 

ROH wasn’t better solely because those men were present but they certainly helped. The company's philosophy of showcasing talent based on ability rather than name value has evaporated over time. The hiring of Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team was a good move: Haas and Benjamin have star power but are also capable of wrestling the style that made ROH famous. Rhino, though? Mike Mondo? Matt Hardy? These are men hired more because they're former WWE employees (and-or Cornette favourites) than because they can continue the legacy of Jamie Noble, Chris Daniels, and Low Ki.
 
Cornette himself is the biggest difference between Ring of Honor then and now. Understandably he cannot see this. He sees his booking ideals as necessary changes for the continued expansion of the promotion rather than a dated style that Ring of Honor had evolved beyond from its very first show. Corny is very good at booking the style he enjoyed when he was young but he seems incapable of helping the sport to evolve. Perhaps that's why he had such a problem with ECW back in the 90s: it was wrestling changing before his eyes and he couldn’t understand why fans responded so enthusiastically to it.
 
As I said, Cornette himself is the chief difference between what is considered ROH's golden age and its current output. He made appearances for the group during its early years but he had no backstage influence (or none of note anyway). What made ROH a success initially was the vision of Gabe Sapolsky.

Gabe’s approach to finding and showcasing young and-or unknown talent gave a new generation of wrestlers a place to expose themselves. It’s noticeable that his current booking interests (Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE) have made very little use of former WWE, TNA, WCW and ECW talent. Even men he previously worked with in Ring of Honor have been somewhat of a rarity.

My point (yes, I do have one) is that it was Gabe Sapolsky as much as the guys in the ring who helped to make ROH a success when it launched. It was his booking, his talent selection and his vision for the future of professional wrestling that helped the company stand out.

Ring of Honor can’t have it all. It can either be company that mixes veterans and youngsters with a traditional approach to feuds and pushes or it can be the home of young wrestlers. The latter is what it used to be but it involves those in charge taking a risk and giving up any and all name talent they have not created themselves. Personally I think it’s a risk worth taking, but in order for it to truly work they need a booker who hasn’t been around for decades who wants to bring change to wrestling. That ain’t Corny.

One final thought on Jim Cornette: there’s a reason nobody has ever referred to themselves as “a Jim Cornette guy.”