CHIKARA You Only Live Twice review

Last June CHIKARA embarked on an experimental wrestling storyline. The closing moments of their Anniversario: Never Compromise show saw the company shut down. In the weeks that followed all announced events were cancelled and equipment was sold off through eBay. After several months a movement was started to bring the company back that mixed the promotion’s comic book approach, its wrestlers and the growing recreational activity of alternate reality gaming.

I am not well-versed enough in everything that happened to succinctly and accurately recap it here. In fact I pretty sure there isn’t a way to succinctly recap everything that Mike Quackenbush’s pencil has thrown at us over the last year. The plotting and planning has been impressively dense. I’ve followed most of the developments and enjoyed doing so but it’s not feasible to try and cover it all here. Instead I’d direct you to these recaps: the first written by Vince Morales of Ole Wrestling and the second written by Gavin Jasper for Den of Geek. For the record I’m writing about this show because I watched it, enjoyed it, and feel it’s a good place to jump in with CHIKARA.

There was no video package to open this show. That threw me. I'm used to videos opening wrasslin' shows. They did have Gavin Loudspeaker though, which was a plus. He did some talking to get the crowd amped up and then introduced commentator Leonard F Chikarason. FYI that's not Lenny Leonard under a different name, which is what I spent about six months thinking several years ago.

The show opened with a trios match, chosen not because WWE have made them trendy but because trios matches are something of a CHIKARA speciality. The Bruderschaft des Kreuzes team of Ares, Milo Schnitzler and newcomer Nøkken were out first. Schnitzler bears an uncanny resemblance to mid-00s bald-headed psycho Kane. The audience chanted "No one missed you!" The Spectral Envoy of Hallowicked, Frightmare and Ultramantis Black were their opponents. They got a more positive reception.

Ultramantis talked in the aisle for a moment before being attacked by what I'm pretty sure Chikarason described as the ghost of Tursas. Ghost or not it was Tursas. He replaced Schnitzler in the match, relegating Schnitzler to a ringside role. It was a fun opener. The Spectral Envoy took big bumps and did a spot of flying while the BDK concentrated on power moves. The rudos won with Ragnarok on Frightmare.

After the match Schnitzler screeched unintelligibly into a microphone. The crowd weren't fans of whatever he said.

Match two saw Chuck Taylor take on 'Smooth Sailin'' CHIKARA newcomer Ashley Remmington. He's a sailor who looks a little like a less attractive version of Adam Cole. The audience broke out into duelling chants of "Let's go sailing!" and "Chucky T!" before the bell.

Remmington was pretty good. He turned being slid into the ring into a hurricanrana to the floor, sold Chuck's offence like a trooper, and performed a particularly good-looking power bomb. He won with a Haas of Pain type move dubbed Anchors Away. After the match he handed 'The Kentucky Gentleman' a bushel of fruit. A sailor that hands out fruit to people he defeats is exactly the level of gimmick I enjoy. It's what makes wrestling fun.

New CHIKARA owner Robbie Ellis was up next. He was introduced to the ring to loud cheers. He said CHIKARA's a work of art and he's glad to own it. Then a new Director of Fun was introduced. It was company-founder (and presumably still real life owner) Mike Quackenbush. He thanked everyone for supporting CHIKARA and said the company loves wrestling as much as fans do. It was a nice little segment designed more to establish the new status quo and get some cheers than anything else. It accomplished both. So we should probably consider it a success.

That was followed by Sinn Bodhi, Oliver Grimsly and Qefka the Quiet, who have great music and are collectively known as The Odditorium, taking on The Batiri (Kobald, Kodama and Obaryon) in the evening's second six man tag team match. The former Kizarny got his team disqualified when he kicked one of his opponents in the groin right in front of the referee. Disappointing end aside it was very good. Qefka was particularly enjoyable as a mime.

An advert for the returning Podcast-a-Go-Go was followed by the introduction of the debuting Juan Francisco de Corona. His promo was drowned in loud, continuous boos. All I got was something about making history. This being wrestling I assumed he intended to do that by winning a match. His opponent was Jervis Cottonbelly. He's a man who wrestles in a yellow mask and who wears a bowler hat to the ring. He also dishes out roses before he wrestles. For Brits reading who haven't seen it I'd describe the character as the sort of thing Harry Hill would do if he inexplicably decided to become a wrestler.

This was another fun match. It was also another match that was not overly long. They wrestled for no more than seven minutes but packed a bunch of stuff in. De Corona won with a rollup after spinning Cottonbelly's mask around. What shady, unscrupulous tactics! What a fiend!

A four corners elimination tag bout came next. 3.0 (Scott Parker and Shane Matthews) took on deviANT and 17, Pieces of Hate (Jigsaw and The Shard) and The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield and Mark Angelosetti). The match was noticeable for being the best of the show until that point. Eight men being in the match ensured there was plenty going on and there was always something to interest.

It was also more of an eight man tag than a four corner affair for much of the early portion, the faces and heels working together in blocs. 3.0 were the first guys to fall to a barrage of offence from their heel opponents. From there The Throwbacks weathered the storm until Hatfield managed to pin deviANT for the second elimination. There was a brief scuffle at ringside as Kid Cyclone showed up to rough up fellow Wrestle Factory student 17. Hallowicked showed up and put a stop to it. Apparently Cyclone wanted to know what's happened to Private Eye Jr (another student) and believes 17 has the answer. Future storyline building and all that. The match finished a few minutes later. 'Mr Touchdown' scored the pin after a stalling brainbuster from the second rope.

After an intermission, during which an informative video played recapping the last year of CHIKARA storylines, Jimmy Jacobs was introduced for a match with Archibald Peck. In the parallel world that is CHIKARA Jacobs heads up a conglomeration of rudo factions from CHIKARA’s history. It was that conglomeration that was revealed as responsible for shutting the promotion down to begin with. Despite this lofty title he still wears wrestling gear that makes him look like an S&M Peter Pan. Also, Archibald Peck is emphatically not RD Evans. He just happens to really, really look like him.

'The Zombie Princess' jumped Peck before the bell and gave him a battering at ringside, gaining an unfair advantage before the match officially started. That said it didn't take 'Marchie Archie' long to make a comeback and regain control. Peck floored Jacobs with ten straight DDTs and then went to the top rope but got distracted by one of the Condor security staff who'd accompanied Jacobs to the ring. A second security worker took that as a chance to sneak in and KO Peck with his shoe, handing Jacobs the victory.

The penultimate match of the night was not only the third and final trios affair but also a grudge match. It pitted The Colony: Xtreme Force, consisting of Arctic Rescue Ant, Missile Assault Ant, and Orbit Adventure Ant, against The Colony, consisting of Fire Ant, Green Ant, and Worker Ant. The Xtreme Force managed to isolate their opponents at various points during the match but the original Ants would always make a tag before they could be beaten. It was another good match, the best trios offering of the night, with some good high-flying flip-based spots and smooth triple team moments. Xtreme Force won, which seemed odd considering this was the big comeback show and The Colony are one of CHIKARA's most popular acts. Missile Assault Ant pinned Fire Ant after a shove into an exposed turnbuckle. Yeah, it was that simple.

After the match The Colony sent Xtreme Force packing and posed with the King of Trios medals the rudos had worn to the ring (won by The Colony (the real Colony in 2011). That went some way to combating the dodgy finish that had just been seen.

The main event was for the Grand Slam championship. Eddie Kingston was defending against Icarus in a rematch of the Anniversario: Never Compromise headliner. There Icarus had been the heel facing the popular champion. Things were reversed here, with Kingston going full on bad guy and Icarus wrestling with the backing of the audience that he’d earned with his transformation into a pro-CHIKARA activist and quest to bring the company back. At ever Compromise ‘The Winged Ring Warrior’ had had the championship won before Condor entered and shut the show down. Here things were to be fair with no interference from Condor.

They started out with technical exchanges. Icarus got the better of that, frustrating 'The War King' and prompting him to leave the ring to chuck a bin and a chair about before confronting a woman in the audience. When he got back into the ring he blasted Icarus out of the ring and weakened him with slams onto the hard floor. Back in the ring Icarus managed a brief comeback with a German suplex but Kingston regained control by driving his kneecap into Icarus's head.

Icarus came back with a body block from the top rope to the outside and then fought off a northern lights suplex. He connected with a top rope elbow drop as the tecnicos left the locker room and surrounded ringside to watch the match for themselves. A frog splash attempt was met with Kingston's knees, a spike power bomb and a dragon sleeper. Icarus slipped out dropped 'The King of Diamonds' with a northern lights bomb for two.

Icarus was dropped with a standing enziguri, a fall away slam and a lariat. Moments later he kicked out at one after taking a middle rope Ura-nage suplex. Kingston immediately floored him with the Backfist to the Future for a convincing near fall, which got a "You can't beat him!" chant. How did Kingston go about trying to prove the fans wrong? He gave Icarus some chops and then instigated a strike exchange.

The match briefly fell apart when Icarus struggled to hoist the lardy frame of Kingston onto his shoulders. They got it on the second attempt, Icarus fireman's carrying the champion into a turnbuckle and then applying the CHIKARA Special. There was no tap out. Instead Kingston passed out and Icarus won after the referee ruled Kingston couldn’t continue. The crowd loved it, telling him he deserved it. The show went off the air with the new champion being paraded around the ring on the shoulders of his fellow tecnicos.

Or so we thought. The stream started back up a minute or two after that triumphant shot of Icarus disappeared to reveal the rudos emptying out of the locker room. A tall man with a gas mask on his face (or perhaps it was his face, who knows) followed them out with two men wearing hoods. He stood in the ring opposite Icarus, Ultramantis Black and Hallowicked before revealing the hooded fellas to be Delirious and Soldier Ant. They attacked Ultramantis and Hallowicked as Jimmy Jacobs clambered into the ring to assault Icarus.

A massive brawl erupted as the tall man in black (I think he was modelled on second tier Batman villain Bane) stood in the ring shaking. Kobald got into the ring and tried giving him a spear but it was no sold and Kobald crumpled into a heap at the giant’s feet. He was hauled up and smashed with a choke slam onto the knee. The tecnicos surrounded the fallen Kobald as the bad guys left. The show went off the air (for real this time) with Kobald being carried backstage as fans chanted for CHIKARA.

There are two questions to ask about this show. The first is “was it good?” The second is “was it a fitting end to the eleven months so storyline since June 2013?” As far as quality goes it was a fine show. There were no matches I’d go back and watch twice, but that’s not the point with CHIKARA. It’s more about wild inventiveness and the mingling of characters than it is excellent wrestling.

As for whether it was a successful payoff to CHIKARA being away for nearly a year, I thought it was. But then I’m not the most invested follower of the promotion. I like their approach to wrestling and what they do but I can’t quote endless backstory like scripture as I’m sure many can. People who really know their CHIKARA would have had high expectations of this show. I suspect it probably met them. I personally thought it was very good. There was a positive vibe to the entire effort and the show closing angle set up plenty of possibilities for the coming months (and, knowing CHIKARA, years) of storylines. If you want a jump-on point for Mike Quackenbush’s celebrated creation I don’t think you’ll get a better one for quite some time.

Manhattan Mayhem V review

Previous Manhattan Mayhem shows have always been a significant entry into the ROH canon. Whether it was CM Punk’s dog collar match with Jimmy Rave at the first MM show in 2005 or Eddie Edwards’ shock title win over Roderick Strong in 2011 there was always something memorable on the shows. Sadly the run of excellent Manhattan Mayhem events ended on Saturday 17^th August 2013.

Even three ROH world title tournament matches and the tag team championships changing hands couldn’t save this event . The underwhelming brackets of the tournament meant that none of the three second round matches were going to make much of an impact. The title change, as good as it was, being the third in two weeks was also not going to be a particularly momentous occasion.

Manhattan Mayhem V was not a bad wrestling show. But in the grand scheme of Ring of Honor plots and storylines it just wasn’t very important. It was used to setup the far bigger Death Before Dishonor XI. There’s nothing wrong with having one show set up another, it’s a vital part of the process in fact, but it does tend to result in the setups being average shows. And that’s exactly what happened here.

Silas Young and Adam Page kicked the evening off in a good match that surprisingly ended up being one of the best on the show. Young got the victory after hitting his impressive headstand into a moonsault from the turnbuckle.

 

Silas Young, preparing to absorb a chop there

Before match two could take place Steve Corino showed up and tried to join Kevin Kelly and Prince Nana at the commentary position. Yes, Prince Nana was on commentary, and playing a face to boot. It would be revealed later in the evening that Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness had hired him as a talent scout.

Back to ‘The King of Old School’. He was ejected from the building by Todd Sinclair and security as Kevin Kelly reminded him he no longer has a job. Nana described the experience as “nerve wracking”. Presumably Corino will show up again at Death Before Dishonor, possibly during an Adam Cole match. I remain convinced he will be Corino’s next on-screen client.

Match two saw the C&C Wrestle Factory clash with Adrenaline RUSH under scramble tag rules (basically whenever someone leaves the ring their partner can enter the match to become the legal man). It was a fast and enjoyable match but ultimately not something anyone’s going to remember. C&C won after Coleman hit a leaping hurricanrana from the top rope on ACH and Alexander followed up with a splash.

I’m beginning to think Coleman and Alexander may turn heel at some point. Other than reDRagon there aren’t any heel units in ROH at the moment. C&C could benefit from the move as it would give their matches a dynamic currently only seen with Fish and O’Reilly. It could result in a long term storyline or feud for them too.

There was very little response for home state boy Mike Mondo when he made his way to the ring in his fancy Beast Mode hoodie. Speaking of which, Nana entered Jerry Lawler mode when the Hoopla Hotties came to the ring alongside Matt Taven. He came dangerously close to talking about puppies.

What followed was a standard Matt Taven bout. The TV champ (this was a non-title affair, for the record) did some impressive things in the ring but was overshadowed by the nonsense of Truth Martini, Kasey Ray and Seleziya (finally got the correct spelling). I like entourages in wrestling, but the House of Truth is all too often a factor in MTV’s matches. It wouldn’t hurt to let him fly solo sometimes. It would give him a better chance to show how talented a wrestler he is.

That said Taven did win without direct interference from his seconds. He put a boot up as ‘No Fear’ leapt off the top rope and then followed up with his Climax finisher.

Up next was the dream tag match. The Young Bucks took on the former ROH, and current IWGP junior heavyweight, tag champs. I intimated in my All Star Extravaganza V review (get a read of that here) that I was unimpressed by the Bucks. The same was true here, though to a lesser extent. As they were in a regular tag match Nick and Matt had more time to shine and were able to work the sort of pace they prefer (as opposed to the three-way they were in at ASE). Even with that going in their favour they didn’t come across as anything special. I think it’s their limited use of ring psychology that puts me off them.

The match was the second best of the evening. I suspect a large part of the reason for that was Rocky Romero quietly and competently holding things together. It certainly wasn’t because the Jackson boys threw a dozen super kicks during the match. The Forever Hooligans won after a flying knee-torture rack combination.

After the match the Bucks shook hands with the Hooligans, something they’re not known to do. The idea has been that they don’t respect anyone but each other. That they shook hands obviously means there’s been a change of heart, which could lead to a rematch at some point. I wouldn’t be averse to seeing that but in all honesty I’d prefer to see the Hooligans clashing with ROH’s regular teams.

The second half of the show kicked off with RD Evans and QT Marshall entering the ring. ‘The Barrister’ said it was an injustice that the American Wolves, Forever Hooligans, and Adrenaline RUSH were booked but Marshall Law were not. He then announced he would not leave the ring until they got a match.

Nana got up and introduced his first two signings as opponents for Evans and ‘God’s Gift’. Two guys came out wearing shirts, ties and clown masks. After clotheslining Marshall Law the first revealed himself to be CHIKARA Grand champion Eddie Kingston. The other unmasked as Homicide.

A brief match followed that was won by Homicide and Kingston, who we were informed are to be collectively known as Outlaws Inc. After the match ‘The Notorious 187’ grabbed hold of RD and broke his finger.

 

Nobody was more excited to see Homicide and Eddie Kingston back in ROH than Homicide and Eddie Kingston

Nothing about this segment got anywhere near the reaction Ring of Honor was clearly hoping for. Homicide was greeted with indifference, whereas five years ago the NYC fans would have erupted for him. The crowd was not drawn into the action and the post-match digit breaking was not treated seriously. All of that should be enough to convince any fair-minded person that Homicide is no longer the force he once was.

I’m disappointed ROH resorted to bringing in Kingston and Homicide. I can understand the company wanting to bring in a new team. I can understand them wanting to have guys vaguely linked to Prince Nana. And I can understand them wanting to have a team that adheres to the Code of Honor but has questionable morals. But all of that could have been achieved by bringing in two newcomers in exactly the same fashion. In fact I think that would have worked better.

The evening’s first quarter final match saw Michael Bennett facing Tommaso Ciampa. ‘The Sicilian Psychopath’ was played to the ring by a band called Last Remaining Pinnacle. They’re responsible for his entrance music, you see. I can appreciate ROH were trying to make Ciampa look a star but it didn’t really pan out. He’s not quite over enough to warrant this treatment and it won’t get him over in and of itself though. Still, at least ROH are trying.

The match built slowly and featured some awkward exchanges early on. They weren’t helped by an unresponsive, uninterested crowd. It took some reckless brawling at ringside to wake them up, although once they were interested they stayed that way. They reacted nicely to Bennett teasing a piledriver on the apron, a call back to the injury he (unintentionally) gave BJ Whitmer at All Star Extravaganza. It was a good spot. They also reacted to Bennett attempting the GTS, a move synonymous with the ex-boyfriend of Bennett’s gal pal Maria.

Even though it was Bennett working his socks off to generate reactions it was, as predicted, ‘The Sicilian Psychopath’ who won. He blasted Bennett with a Kryptonite Crunch on the floor and then rolled him back into the win for his victory. Such a dramatic ending was another attempt at turning him into a star.

Roderick Strong versus Kevin Steen was match number seven. Learning from the mistakes of their peers the two men kicked their match off at a blistering pace. Within the first minute Strong had hit a backbreaker and attempted a suicide dive, only to be caught and hit with an apron bomb, and ‘Mr Wrestling’ had flown off the top rope to hit a Swanton bomb.

They slowed down a little as the match progressed but the start they’d chosen, coupled with the immense popularity of Steen, meant the crowd remained rowdy. Steen won an enjoyable match after a sleeper suplex followed by a package piledriver.

The evening’s penultimate match was Michael Elgin v Karl Anderson, the final second round tournament match. They too suffered at the hands of the crowd’s disinterest. They set a brisk pace but nothing they did got much of a reaction early on. Even ‘Unbreakable’s’ beloved stalling suplex didn’t get the booming ovation it has at recent shows.

‘Machine Gun’ begun playing the bad guy around five minutes in but the crowd didn’t really acknowledge it. They seemed keener on booing Elgin, occasionally breaking out into a USA chant (because Elgin’s Canadian). ROH fans, particularly those in New York, have a tendency of turning on popular wrestlers when they become ROH world champion. Elgin’s status as tournament favourite may have prompted that treatment here. It’ll be interesting to see how he’s treated by the town when Final Battle rolls around, whether he has the championship or not.

The audience did eventually get into the match after Anderson hit a TKO from the second rope and followed up with a fire thunder driver. Elgin came back with a crossface but Anderson broke it up with a handful of ropes to boos. After receiving a boot out on the apron Elgin performed his impressive deadlift second rope suplex.

Anderson would come unstuck a few moments later when he went for a boot into the corner. Elgin avoided the attack and connected with a pair of spinning back fists, a buckle bomb and an Elgin bomb for the victory. It was a good series of moves but it didn’t provide the excellent climax it has before because the audience hadn’t been as hot. It was the first Elgin match in a while that hasn’t culminated with a blazing hot final three minutes.

 

Going off the poster Elgin v Anderson was the main event

The main event was the match of the night. It saw the American Wolves defend the tag team titles against reDRagon. Richards and Edwards had won the belts just seven days earlier at All Star Extravaganza. Fish and O’Reilly had lost them only two weeks earlier at a TV taping. They would regain them here.

I’ve liked the frequent changes of the tag titles. It’s been a call back to the early days of the promotion and made the doubles division seem more unpredictable. It’s also given ROH a logical reason to book a three-way championship match between the Wolves, reDRagon and the Forever Hooligans at some point. Whether they will or not remains to be seen, but the option’s there.

The match was as slick and enjoyable as you’d expect from these four. Both Richards and Fish deserve extra credit for making it a great encounter. Richards’ recent sense of fun was alive and well here, and he seems to have taken on board criticism that he tries doing too much in matches. Fish did a fine job of winding the crowd up, useful when you remember they’d been quiet for a lot of the evening.

But it was Kyle O’Reilly who was the star of the show. He was presented as being on the same level as Richards, his former mentor. After Fish had taken Edwards out of the match by shoving him off of the top rope through a table and then been taken out himself by Davey we got a lengthy sequence designed to raise O’Reilly’s standing.

Kyle kicked out of a top rope double stomp and then a brainbuster and even countered his way out of an ankle lock. On the outside he knee dropped Richards’ arm onto a chair held in place by Fish and then returned to the ring to hit a divorce court from the top rope. Being a babyface Davey fought valiantly out of the arm bar and then caused a miscue between the challengers. Moments later O’Reilly was back in control and hit a tornado DDT following by Chasing the Dragon for a convincing near fall.

O’Reilly immediately applied an arm bar on Richards’ injured arm. After a few seconds Richards submitted and reDRagon became two time tag champions. Had O’Reilly won off a double team move he would have been enhanced, but not as much. Having him win with a submission hold over his former mentor was a big deal. He’d worked over the arm and the finish made it clear that it was O’Reilly’s persistence and skill at targeting a body part that had gained him and his teammate the victory.

As reDRagon had the belts put around their waists by Cary Silkin and Todd Sinclair the sirens and red lighting from earlier in the evening came back on. Outlaws Inc returned to the ring and brawled with the new champions. Homicide snapped O'Reilly's finger and he and Kingston posed and shouted in the ring to end the show.

The prospect of a reDRagon v Outlaws Inc match does not fill me with joy.

Good Friends, Better Enemies

After an enforced summer break from ROH the amazingly over TJ Perkins returned to the company at the August 3^rd TV taping. His more than welcome return has proven short lived though: he worked a dark match try out before last Thursday's live IMPACT (which is said to have gone very well). ROH have responded by announcing the release of TJP from his contract. Ring of Honor's loss is definitely TNA's gain.
 
The question, of course, is how did this come to pass. Perkins had gotten over in ROH despite being used sparingly and losing most of his matches. He is the sort of talent that Ring of Honor desperately needs: popular, talented, and capable of getting over based on their ring work. He would have been a good choice to build the company around.
 
It's not the first time this year that ROH has lost a talented member of its roster to TNA. Kenny King controversially jumped ship over the summer while recognised as one half of the ROH tag champs (along with Rhett Titus). ‘The Pretty Boy Pitbull’ has enjoyed matches on pay-per-view and a TV show seen by a wider audience than ROH’s SBG show, and has been featured as part of the (short-lived) revamped X Division.
 
Going a little further back Austin Aries opted to leave ROH in August 2010 as a protest against the then-new creative direction. After making some appearances for various indies, including old boss Gabe Sapolsky’s Dragon Gate, and trying out for WWE's Tough Enough revival 'The Greatest Man That Ever Lived' agreed to a deal with TNA.

Since last June ‘A Double’ has shared the ring with some of the company's top talent, become the longest reigning X Division champion in history, and won the world championship. His success has to serve as hope for anyone else considering joining the league. It proves that if you work hard in TNA you can rise to the top.

You won't be seeing this guy in ROH anytime soon... not that that makes a change

 
TNA has become a more appealing prospect to wrestlers for various reasons. The success of Aries is one. Its international television deals, larger and younger roster, and better pay are others. Ring of Honor's stodgy booking, increasing reliance on veterans and former WWE stars, and low pay can't be filling talent (on the roster or off) with confidence.
 
More bad news for Ring of Honor management is that one of their biggest stars, Davey Richards, has indicated that he can't see himself staying with the group after August 2013 (when his current contract expires). 'The American Wolf' is training for a career as a medical worker and has stated that next year he will either seek full-time employment utilising his new qualification and perhaps appear on occasional tours for New Japan Pro Wrestling or gauge interest from WWE and TNA.

 

While I think WWE would only be interested in Richards if they had a cruiserweight show up and running on the WWE Network (which is looking increasingly unlikely) TNA would almost certainly be interested in him for a spot in the X Division. That Richards, once a staunch advocate of Ring of Honor, is openly discussing moving to TNA or WWE with a year left on his current deal should tell his employer that they’re getting something wrong somewhere.
 
With its roster currently depleted and there being no sign of fresh talent on the horizon one option open to ROH is to start a women's division. The recent TNA departures of Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, and Winter (plus the fact that Sarita hasn't appeared for the company in around five months) has seen the Knockouts division, once something the group prioritised, crumble.

ROH could sign these women plus two or three others and get a division running. It would be something to help to set them apart from WWE and TNA. They already have Maria Kanelis and Mia Yim under contract. That's a good start.
 
Despite gaining access to the likes of King and Perkins (who still hasn't officially signed with TNA at time of writing) TNA's X Division still leaves something to be desired. While bringing in someone like Davey Richards would improve matters it's not an option available to them until this time next year. Something that would benefit both promotions would be a talent sharing agreement of some sort. ROH tried setting something up with the EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA groups a few months ago but nothing could be finalised. Perhaps they should talk with TNA instead.
 
It's a deal that would benefit both groups if handled correctly. The majority of the Ring of Honor roster would slot nicely into the X Division and would help to restore it to its former glory. The likes of Eddie Edwards, Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, and Mike Bennett would inject some much needed freshness. Meanwhile having AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Chris Daniels, and perhaps even Kurt Angle appearing at ROH's untelevised events would help attract more fans, who could then be won over and turned into regulars by the performances of the rest of the roster (at least in theory).
 
Perhaps that's wishful thinking. It's what both parties should aim for if talks started though. It would be a lot easier to agree to terms similar to these if on-screen acknowledgement occurred on both sides. An invasion angle would seem old hat (especially because of the current Aces and Eights angle in TNA and Ring of Honor’s recent crossover with CHIKARA) but an announced talent sharing programme that grows into something bigger could be fresh and exciting, not to mention reinvigorate the rosters of both organisations.

Boiling Point preview

WWE take note: Ring of Honor have announced six matches for this Saturday’s Boiling Point iPPV and have also stated that there are more stars to be announced for the show. That’s how you should promote a wrestling (or even a sports entertainment) event if you want as many people as possible to buy it.

While this is not one of Ring of Honor’s flagship events it is still an important night for them. Technical difficulties have affected several of their live internet streams this year and while Best in the World (their June offering) went smoothly there is still concern that the group are not consistent enough with their programming quality. Boiling Point needs to be another fine offering as far as streaming is concerned if fans are to feel that they’re not wasting money on the ROH product.

Luckily there are few concerns regarding the quality of the in-ring product: ROH cards rarely disappoint in that area.

The headline match is an interesting one. It sees ROH world champion Kevin Steen defend his belt against CHIKARA Grand champion Eddie Kingston. This is part of a working agreement between the two promotions that has seen Kingston and Steen interact a few times over the last several months.

Frankly I’m puzzled by this match headlining a Ring of Honor pay-per-view. ROH is meant to be a promotion that puts athleticism and the sport of professional wrestling above gimmicks and storylines. Both men, Steen in particular, are good wrestlers, but neither exemplifies the ROH approach to pro wrestling because neither looks like an athlete.

ROH takes a very different approach to PPV posters than does WWE

‘Mr Wrestling’ being in the main event of an ROH show is fine. He’s the champion and he’s earned his way to the top of the card. Fans can accept Steen in the role of champion and in headline bouts. He doesn’t look like an athlete but pretty much everyone else on the roster does so it’s not an issue because when he faces an ROH wrestler at least one of them will look the part.

The same cannot be said for Eddie Kingston. He may have earned his way to the top of CHIKARA, but this is an ROH show starring ROH wrestlers being presented to ROH fans. It doesn’t help the company’s image if an out-of-shape outsider is being put against the out-of-shape reigning world champion. Such a match doesn’t help ROH appear to be the home of athletic wrestling does it?

It’s also disheartening that Ring of Honor would rather bring in an outsider than give one of their own wrestlers the chance to face Steen on iPPV. Adam Cole or Kyle O’Reilly would have made ideal opponents for ‘Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare’ and would have benefited from the spot too. Jim Cornette thinks differently though.

I’ll be pretty surprised if Kingston wins the ROH title on Saturday. Steen is ROH’s hottest star while Kingston isn’t even under contract. I’d also be surprised of Steen lost the gold just two and a half months after winning it.

The undercard boasts some interesting, but not always appealing, matchups. While I’m a fan of Michael Elgin and appreciate Charlie Haas as a great tag wrestler I don’t really want to see them wrestle in a singles match. Elgin could be having another great match with someone like Adam Cole or Kyle O’Reilly (y’know, those guys who are meant to be ROH’s future). To be honest if Shelton Benjamin is unavailable for a show then there’s little point in booking Haas. They should either be used as a unit or not at all.

I’ll predict an Elgin victory in this match. He’s still my pick to dethrone Steen for the world title. A loss to ‘The Outlaw’ isn’t going to help prepare him for that lofty spot.

Another relatively peculiar match is Jay Lethal v Tommaso Ciampa in a two-out-of-three falls match. These two have been feuding for several months now and while their matches haven’t been awful they haven’t been amazing enough to warrant a rivalry that has lasted as long as this one has either. Both men could do with a change of opponent.

Since senselessly suffering his first loss to Lethal a few months ago ‘The Sicilian Psychopath’ has become “just another” member of the roster. He’s good, but not good enough to stand out. The winning streak gimmick was what made him special. Without that he’s going nowhere fast.

This bout could really go either way. I’ll predict a win for Lethal because I suspect he’s going to be used as a world title contender over the next few months, mainly because Steen’s reign already seems more varied than Richards’ was. Whoever goes over I hope this contest signals an end to the rivalry.

The Briscoes v Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs match doesn’t hold much interest for me either, but I imagine it will be at least decent. As both teams are through to the semi-finals of the tag team title tournament it’s possible this could become a tournament bout. If that happens I think Corino and Jacobs will go over because I’m expecting them to get through to the finals. If it stays as just a regular encounter then my picks are the Briscoes.

Why do I think this? Because the stipulation is that the SCUM members will be fired if they lose a tournament match, which makes me think they’ll make it to the finals. If they lose a non-toruney match they keep their jobs, and generally speaking ‘Dem Boys’ are the more heavily pushed act, meaning they’re likelier to get the victory.

Roderick Strong v Mike Mondo is one of the most exciting bouts on the card as far as I’m concerned. It’s a fresh pairing involving a young star ROH are trying to elevate. Roderick Strong is one of the most reliable wrestlers on the roster. And Truth Martini will be at ringside. What’s not to like?

I suspect ‘No Fear’ will lose, but if they get fifteen minutes and have a competitive bout then that won’t matter: he should still be able to look strong in defeat. That’s not to say I want him to lose, because I don’t. I just think it’s the likelier outcome.

Finally there’s a mixed tag team match pitting the team of Eddie Edwards and Sara Del Ray against Mike Bennett and his on- and off-screen girlfriend Maria Kanellis. To my knowledge this is the first appearance ‘Death Ray’ has made for ROH since the Kings of Wrestling (who she was associated with for quite some time) left for WWE a year ago. It will be nice to see her wrestling for the company again but it may end up being her swansong if rumours of her signing with WWE are to be believed.

The other three performers in the match are staying put in ROH (for now), and likely staying put in their current spots too. Edwards is an upper mid-carder or a main eventer depending on the needs of the booking, whereas ‘The Prodigy’ is firmly wedged into the mid-card. This programme with ‘Die Hard’ is the latest attempt to raise his profile.

It doesn’t matter what is tried, nothing seems to get the guy over. It’s possible ROH fans assume it won’t be long until he signs a developmental deal with WWE and so there’s no point in getting attached to him… or not as the case may be. They may be right: Bennett has the look of a WWE superstar and already wrestles more like a sports entertainer than a wrestler.

This is one of the matches I’m most looking forward to. Maria has proven a great addition to the ROH roster and both her opponents are great workers. Bennett is tedious and slow, but as long as he doesn’t botch anything it will be hard for him to have a bad match. I assume this is yet another attempt to get him over as a big heel by giving him a win over a former world champion.

In addition to these announced matches Adam Cole is also confirmed to appear. I’d like to see a match for the TV title between him and TJ Perkins but I don’t think that’s likely. I’d like to think Ring of Honor would announce TJP’s return to the company in advance. It’d be a great match though.

I’d like to know why Rhett Titus hasn’t been announced for this event. I appreciate that the original plans for this show probably included him defending the tag belts alongside Kenny King but there’s been plenty of time to come up with a new direction for him since ‘The Pretty Boy Pitbull’ became a member of TNA’s X Division. Ring of Honor should be using this opportunity to push one of their most popular wrestlers as a solo act. Leaving him off the card isn’t going to help with that.

While Boiling Point doesn’t look like the best ROH iPPV offering of 2012 it does look better than the majority of WWE and TNA cards do on paper. If you’ve got a spare tenner and happen to be awake in the early hours of Sunday morning then this could well be worth your time and money.

Predictions summary:
Kevin Steen to defeat Eddie Kingston
Mark and Jay Briscoe to defeat Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs
Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis to defeat Eddie Edwards and Sara Del Ray
Jay Lethal to defeat Tommaso Ciampa
Michael Elgin to defeat Charlie Haas
Roderick Strong to defeat Mike Mondo