ROH Supercard of Honor IX review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

Results summary:

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

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.

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.

Best in the World 2013 preview

This Saturday Ring of Honor will present its third annual Best in the World pay-per-view. Over the last two years the event has been used as a mid-year turning point for advancing or starting feuds and storylines, most notably the Eddie Edwards v Davey Richards rivalry in 2011. The previous BITW events have been worthwhile affairs, second only in importance to Final Battle.

This year's show is going to have its work cut out if it's to compete with its predecessors. The Jay Briscoe v Mark Briscoe main event does not, in my eyes, immediately scream "quality". That's not helped by the fact that I'm not the Briscoes biggest fan. Yes, they've been with the company "since day one", but they're a tag team. Tenure does not (or at least it shouldn't) entitle anyone in wrestling to a spot they're not necessarily cut out for. And I don't think the Briscoes, as opponents, are cut out for the main event.

The Briscoes battling for the ROH championship will, in short, be a peculiar sight. Hopefully their match will be kept under the twenty minute mark and they'll be allowed to brawl around ringside. That's the best way to handle the match, letting them play to their strengths.

I expect Jay to win. The champion will defend the title against Matt Hardy at Sunday's TV taping and I expect the belt to change hands there. Having Jay lose to Mark only for Mark to lose to Matt the next night doesn't strike me as something ROH would do. Mark doesn't strike me as a world champion either (but then neither did Jay). I think it'll be Jay entering Sunday's match against Hardy with the belt.

 

Jay Briscoe, centre stage on another poster

 

Speaking of SCUM, the group has been included in Best in the World's other two title matches. This is the result of storyline complaining from Steve Corino about his boys being locked out of title contendership. I was perfectly happy with the original matches that were announced. ROH could have afforded a night light on SCUM.

The tag team title match will see champions reDRagon defend against Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander and SCUM members Cliff Compton and Rhett Titus. The prospect of C&C facing Fish and O'Reilly alone appealed to me far more. I've wanted to see them given a larger role for around a year now and it seemed as though they were finally going to get that here. Perhaps the match will be revisited in the future. I remain hopeful that Coleman and Alexander will get their turn as a top team eventually.

As far as the match goes I think the addition of Titus and Compton will hamper the quality. The original match could have seen some fast and slick exchanges. A triple threat will make that trickier to accomplish.

I'm going with reDRagon to win. They still have plenty left to do as champions. They could lose the titles and then win them back later but what would be the point? The current approach seems to be longer reigns for the secondary titles.

The other match SCUM have been added to is the TV title match. It was originally going to be Matt Taven defending against Jay Lethal. MTV will now defend against Jimmy Jacobs as well. This will be the third iPPV of the last four that sees the television belt defended in a three-way match. Someone should remind the booking team that it's not the X Division championship.

Unlike the tag match I think the inclusion of 'The Zombie Princess' could enhance this match. He's had some highly regarded matches with Lethal this year, which bodes well for some good exchanges in this bout. Taven's not a slouch himself, he'll contribute to the match too. It could be a surprise match of the night.

I'm going to predict a successful defence for Taven, but that's as much wishful thinking as anything else. I like his current status as a slightly unworthy champion who has to rely on Truth Martini and the Hoopla Hotties to win. We could just as easily see Jacobs benefit from SCUM interference to win his first ROH singles title or Lethal become the first multi-time TV champ. Long term it's Taven that needs the title most.

Speaking of the TV title two former holders of it will clash at Best in the World: Roderick Strong and Adam Cole. A few months ago Strong was a heel. Without any particular turning point or change in character he has become a babyface. Cole'a the opposite. He was a happy, smiley good guy into hand-slapping and morals a few months back. Losing the television title to Matt Taven and then failing to defeat Jay Briscoe for the world title has made him bitter. He is now an out and proud bad guy.

There's not a particularly interesting reason for this match to happen, not that that matters. Strong and Cole will tear it up and do their best to have the match of the night. Both men could do with a win because their iPPV records this year aren't the greatest. I think a Cole win would make more sense so that's what I'm going with.

I originally said that Tommaso Ciampa v Michael Elgin would be held off until after this show. Looks like I got that wrong. I think it could be a great match. The story is basically that 'The Sicilian Psychopath' feels he could have made it to Elgin's spot on the card had he not been injured last year. For his part Elgin wants to beat Ciampa to prove he's the more worthy of an ROH title shot (which, for the record, he's already earned).

I'd like to see Ciampa win but I think Elgin will get the nod. He's not had a huge amount to do lately and is closer to being a major star than is Tommaso. Perhaps a loss will be used to tip Ciampa over the edge and make him a heel, although he's had stirring responses since his return so perhaps not.

Perhaps the least interesting match on the card is BJ Whitmer v Mike Bennett. Whitmer is like the Briscoes, respected more for the length of time he's worked for ROH having hard-hitting matches as for the quality of his wrestling. I like Bennett as a character, and it's always nice to see Maria at ringside, but his wrestling style always feels a little out of place in ROH. He has improved since debuting a couple of years ago though. That's a positive.

I'd like to see 'The Prodigy' win this match. There are still rumours floating around that he's heading to NXT. ROH could make use of that by building him up with plenty of wins, making a loss in his final appearance mean more. If that happens then it could be ROH trainee 'Cheeseburger' that gets the honour of a stature enhancing victory over Bennett. He's been moved into a rivalry with Bennett by kissing (or sexually assaulting, call it what you will) Maria so a match between the two seems likely.

All that said I've predicted a lot of heel victories so far (and I'll be predicting another below). I don't think the promotion will present such an unbalanced card so I'm going to predict a win for 'The Buzzsaw' here. Perhaps 'Cheeseburger' will interfere to protect 'The Prodigy' in defeat. I'll be cheering for Bennett.

The second tag match on the card will see the American Wolves face ACH and Tadarius Thomas, who have picked the team name Adrenalin RUSH. As far as actual wrestling goes this is the match I'm most looking forward to. Both teams are fast and I think the intensity of the Wolves will work well with the high flying of the RUSH boys. That Richards and Edwards are very generous when it comes to making their opponents look good wont hurt either. It should be a fantastic match.

A month ago I thought Adrenalin RUSH were being built up for a title match with reDRagon, so I was puzzled when they lost a number one contenders match on TV. That loss now makes sense. It was done to keep them free for this match. Winning here would make them very credible challengers but I don't think it will happen. I think the Wolves will win a tough contest, only barely overcoming the younger team.

Finally there's the storyline main event: a singles match between Kevin Steen and Matt Hardy. As I mentioned above I think Hardy, 'The Jesus Christ of Professional Wrestling', will be winning the ROH world title on Sunday. That creates reasons for him to both lose to and beat Steen.

If Hardy defeats 'Wrestling's Worst Nightmare' and goes on to capture the top prize then there will be a natural story of Steen having to spend six months earning a title shot at Final Battle. The audience would be encouraged to be more supportive of him whenever his title match with Hardy came because he would have been cast in the underdog role by the BITW loss. Beating Steen would also make Hardy even more unpopular than he already is. The win would also allow Hardy access to the cowardly heel tactic of refusing a title match because he's already beaten 'Mr Wrestling'.

Steen beating Hardy on Saturday would give him a legitimate argument for a title match as soon as Hardy's the champ. Hardy could then spend six months avoiding a rematch with Steen, creating more heat, before finally having to face him at Final Battle.

Of the two stories I think the one that would most make sense is the first. I think Matt Hardy will win and that Corino will spend months claiming that Steen's loss means he doesn't deserve to get in the ring ever again with Matt Hardy.

Of course I could be wrong about everything regarding the next six months for ROH. Perhaps Jay Briscoe's reign is going to stretch into 2014. Who knows?

I've really enjoyed the pay-per-view and TV product of Ring of Honor over the last six months. They've got a strong central plot with the SCUM invasion and they've finally expanded the roster and started pushing new talent. I'd love to see Best in the World get the second half of the year off to a good start for the company. I think it will.

Predictions summary:

Jay Briscoe to defeat Mark Briscoe
Matt Hardy to defeat Kevin Steen
reDRagon to retain the tag team championship
Matt Taven to retain the TV championship
American Wolves to defeat Adrenalin RUSH
Adam Cole to defeat Roderick Strong
Michael Elgin to defeat Tommaso Ciampa
BJ Whitmer to defeat Mike Bennett

ROH 11th Anniversary Show review

On Saturday March 2^nd Ring of Honor promoted what I’m convinced was their strongest show in years. The 11^th Anniversary Show did the business on every conceivable level. The only complaints that could be fired at it were either minor or trivial. It was both a celebration of the promotion’s history, pushing young talent to the fore and emphasising the style that made ROH stand out in the first place, and a launching point for future rivalries and storylines.

Maybe we should have paid more attention to this poster

The first match of the night was a six man mayhem match. That’s something that used to be an ROH staple. They were popular with previous booker Gabe Sapolsky because they allowed him to get multiple names onto a card while not overloading on matches. They fell by the wayside when Gabe left due to a ruling from Carey Silkin that cards should feature no more than eighteen wrestlers. Unsurprisingly, putting a third of the card into one match never caught on.

The 11^th Anniversary six man did exactly what it needed to, providing the show with a fast opener that got the fans vocal and excited for the evening. Everyone got a chance to perform a big move but it was ultimately ACH that got the win (pinning Silas Young). That was the right call, ACH was massively over with the Chicago (Ridge) fans. If he’s not used prominently over the next few months there’s something very wrong in ROH.

The showdown between SCUM boys Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs and C&C followed the lightning quick opener. It was an equally lightning quick tag match. Despite its surprisingly meagre runtime a lot was packed into the match. Coleman and Alexander  looked trememndous. Sadly it was the veterans that won.

So much for building for the future.

In fairness it wasn’t a clean win. ‘The King of Old School’ used what Kevin Kelly described as a “hunk of metal” to strike Alexander and then hit a spike piledriver. C&C were at least protected a bit in their loss.

BJ Whitmer got a surprising win (to me anyway) over Charlie Haas in a 90s style garbage match. This was referred to as a street fight, a falls count anywhere match, and a no holds barred match at various points. These kind of simple inconsistencies are bush league and very easy to fix, yet Ring of Honor has been plagued by them for years. It’s not a big deal but it doesn’t really paint the promotion in the right light.

The two men took some insane bumps through tables, chairs and ladders, with BJ kicking out of every big move he was subjected to. Haas kicked out of his fair share but was made to look fallible when the referee stopped the match and awarded it to Whitmer as ‘The Buzzsaw’ rained down knees on Haas’s head. Fans seemed disappointed by this call. I thought it was a realistic finish considering the torture the two men had inflicted on one another.

There was a pre-match video for the American Wolves v Forever Hooligans match that featured Davey Richards talking about his time teaming with Rocky Romero in Japan. They also held the ROH tag titles together, but he didn’t mention that (unless you consider his “No remorse” comment at the end). Any excuse to namedrop New Japan, eh, Davey?

Like something out of the 1980s Alex Koslov insisted on singing the Russian national anthem before the match. The crowd heavily booed this, naturally.

The four men constructed a great match. As with everything else on the show until this point they set a breakneck speed early on and kept it up. There were touches of comedy in the opening minutes between Romero and Richards (rare in a Richards match) but the match became serious and the two teams exchanged stiff shots and a wide variety of double team moves. The Wolves won a great bout with a power bomb and top rope lung-blower combo.

The four shook hands after the bout, with the former No Remorse Corps members hugging to a cheer from the crowd.

Following intermission we had the battle of the former House of Truth members, Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin. My first thought as ‘Unbreakable’ entered was that he needs to drop the fetishwear. Entering in a long leather coat doesn’t do him any favours. It doesn’t fit with his character either.

Elgin picked up the first fall with a buckle bomb within two minutes. The match then spilled to the outside and Strong managed to grab the upper hand with a belly-to-back suplex on the floor and some manly barrier shoving. He eventually evened up the fall count with a backbreaker onto the turnbuckle followed by a suplex into a backbreaker in the ring.

The closing moments didn’t seem to pick up as much as steam as I’d expected. Strong managed to connect with a power bomb, only for Elgin to kick out and come back with an Elgin bomb of his own. Strong kicked out of that and then found himself locked into the Crossface. He tapped to it instantly. No trying to reach the ropes here.

A recap of the Hot Prospect tournament finals, which saw Matt Taven beat Tadarius Thomas with help from Truth Martini’s shoe and then join forces with him, was followed by a nonsensical promo by the HOT boss. Matt Hardy hit the ring and cut a promo which was drowned in boos and negative chants. The fans didn’t care about Hardy’s feelings on the TV championship, they just wanted him to leave the ring.

Matt Taven entered with a slightly altered look which was completely overshadowed by his manager. Truth, not known for being shy and-or retiring, wore a tuxedo jacket and a pair of wrestling trunks with a bow tie on them. There was, as always, a top hat in the mix too.

‘The Sensei of Mattitude’ was on commentary for the match. He spent most of the time putting himself over. That’s part of his character. It doesn’t stop it being detrimental to the product or viewers’ enjoyment. Hardy was obviously scripted to behave in this fashion, but there was no need to bury the two men wrestling. That sort of thing never does anyone any good.

The match was slow but proficient. Cole was on defence for a lot of the run time, getting in occasional flurries which excited the audience. When the challenger was on offence the fans quietened down considerably.

The surprise result saw Taven beat Cole to win the gold.

Irritatingly the post-match scene focused more on Matt Hardy, who had been wittering on about being the man who would challenge Cole at the next day’s TV taping. Cole’s reaction was made out to be less important than Hardy’s, as was the celebration of the new champion. Hardy was the star of the scene, not the new champ or the former champ. It was a stupid move.

The tag team titles were on the line in the penultimate match of the night. It was a blistering display. There were numerous very convincing false finishes from both teams, which kept viewers guessing as to who’d win. The finish saw Mark Japanese arm dragged off of the apron, leaving Jay to eat a Doomsday Device and Chasing the Dragon.

The right team won. The Briscoes have been overexposed for a long time. Putting the belts on the fresher team should liven up the doubles scene. A match between redDRagon and The American Wolves seems likely for Supercard of Honor VII. That should be very good.

 

O'Reilly looks very pleased. Perhaps this was taken just after he was told he and Fish were getting the belts

 

As Kevin Steen made his entrance for the main event Kevin Kelly screeched, “He is the ROH world champion not because he has fans that like him but because he is the best wrestler in the world today.” It felt like a not-very-subtle dig at The Rock. If it was it was a weird move. WWE and Ring of Honor have very different criteria when it comes to selecting their champions.

Steen and Lethal started off slugging away at each other in the centre of the ring before breaking off into a surprisingly fluid wrestling match. The story of the bout was that Lethal had scouted Steen well and was able to avoid all of the champ’s standard moves. Doing so allowed him to remain competitive against the stronger, bulkier ‘Mr Wrestling’.

Steen’s SCUM teammates ran in after a ref bump. They hit their second spike piledriver of the evening on Lethal. It wasn’t enough to keep the challenger down though. Corino went to use a chair on him but Nigel McGuinness ran out and chased him off. ‘The Zombie Princess’ tried to interfere but got an enziguri instead.

Lethal connected with two dragon suplexes. Steen kicked out. The champion smashed the challenger with an elevated power bomb. Lethal kicked out. Steen charged a corner but Lethal dodged him and nailed him with five super kicks, a Lethal Combination, and a Macho Elbow. Steen, again, kicked out.

Locking in a Koji Clutch Lethal tried to win the title via submission. It didn’t work: ‘Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare’ managed to roll to the ropes and force a break. The two clambered to their feet and Lethal looked as though he was planning a move that would take Steen out of the ring. Instead Steen gave Lethal an F5 through the timekeeper’s table.

Despite having his foot grabbed by Jimmy Jacobs, who was still skulking about at ringside, Lethal made it back into the ring before the count of twenty (yeah, it’s a twenty count in ROH). He was immediately met with a package piledriver, which he kicked out of for a very close near fall. Perhaps inspired by Truth Martini, Jacobs offered the services of a loosened shoe (or, y’know, the spike he keeps there) to the champion. That was turned down and Steen told Jacobs to leave ringside, shoving him and getting caught in a rollup by Lethal for another convincing two count.

Lethal then hit yet another super kick on Steen, who retaliated with a lariat. Moments later they were back up and on the turnbuckle. Lethal went for a Macho Elbow but Steen leapt up and blasted his foe with El Generico’s turnbuckle brainbuster. That finally earned him the victory in a tremendous main event.

Post-match Steen took a microphone to make a speech but was interrupted by Rhino. ‘The War Machine’ charged into the ring and Gored Lethal. The Briscoes came to the ring, knocking Steen down before brawling with Jacobs and Rhino. ‘Dem Boys’ were disposed of quickly but were replaced by valiant young bucks C&C. They cleaned house on the heels until Jimmy Rave ran in through the crowd, sporting a natty SCUM shirt, and tossed them out of the ring.

Next out in the ECW-inspired run-in session (which I thoroughly enjoyed, by the way) were BJ Whitmer and Rhett Titus. Within seconds Titus drop kicked his tag partner and tore open his ROH shirt to reveal, you guessed it, a SCUM shirt. Elgin came down and sliced through a few guys before yet another SCUM member debuted, tossing powder into ‘Unbreakable’s eyes.

It was Cliff Compton.

As the SCUM boys gave C&C, the Briscoes, Elgin and Lethal a good kicking Steen stood at the edge of the ring watching. The Wolves and Adam Cole hit the ring but they ended up going down too, Cole being taken down by (sigh) Matt Hardy, who was also decked out in SCUM merch.

Corino returned to the ring, sporting glasses, to announce that ROH was going to die SCUM, you see, is waging war on Ring of Honor, using guys who have been mistreated by its fans over the years. This logic does admittedly make Matt Hardy a perfect fit for the gang. Rave too, considering the amazing levels of heat he used to get.

Steen didn’t speak but seemed less than enthused by the turn of events. An official face turn for him seems very likely.

The 11^th Anniversary Show was a triumph. The show-closing angle, the restocking of SCUM, was executed wonderfully and provided several genuine surprises for fans. Even if that’s overlooked the show has to be considered a success. There wasn’t a single bad match on the show, there were title changes that should freshen the promotion up, and there was a match of the year candidate in the headline slot. What more could have been asked for?

I’m keen to see where the SCUM v ROH angle goes. The decision to bulk up the group of villains to the point where they’re practically a mini roster could indicate that this feud is going to go on for a while. As long as it provides good matches and doesn’t outstay its welcome I’m all for it.

ROH 11th Anniversary Show preview

I remember reading about the first ever Ring of Honor show in Power Slam magazine. I was mainly drawn to it because of the prominent photograph of Eddie Guerrero. I wasn’t especially interested in his opponent, Super Crazy. I wasn’t at all concerned by anybody else on the card. I’d never heard of Bryan Danielson, Christopher Daniels, Spanky or Homicide. I’d only ever come across Low Ki thanks to his work as a WWF enhancement talent on weekend show Metal (remember that?). But I read the article and was intrigued. It sounded like The Era of Honor Begins had been a good show.

Over the following months I followed the story of ROH’s rise and the crowning of their first champion online and in Power Slam. I wanted to see a Ring of Honor show but as far as I was aware video tapes weren’t region free (I’m still not sure on this but I’m still fairly sure they’re not). DVD players hadn’t become widespread enough for me to have one by this point.

By 2004 I had a DVD player. I bought an ROH show on eBay, after making sure that their DVDs were definitely region free (they were and are, so feel free to buy some). I decided what to buy based on a combination of price and who was on the card. I got both Weekend of Thunder show for six quid. The price was the biggest factor. CM Punk wrestling was a secondary one. I’d seen his name mentioned a lot in PS and online and had seen him wrestle at British Uprising 2. I knew him being on each DVD guaranteed me at least two good matches.

It’s been eleven years since ROH started up. That landmark will be celebrated with the imaginatively titled 11^th Anniversary Show on Saturday night. After the reign of (t)error inflicted on the company, and the fans, by Evil Overlord Jim Cornette ROH has become enjoyable again over the last few months, so there’s every chance TEAS will be a good show.

 

Eleven years of men who don't feel comfortable posing for wrestling posters

 

Let’s start at the bottom of the card and work our way up.

The SCUM (I’m still not sure what that’s supposed to stand for) team of Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino will take on the C&C Wrestle Factory. These four clashed in the semi-finals of last year’s title tournament. I wanted Coleman and Alexander to win. They lost. I’m hopeful that part of the reason for this bout taking place is to grant C&C the win they deserved to take last year at Death Before Dishonor X. They remain a pair that could be used as the future of ROH.

In another middle-of-the-card outing ‘The Outlaw’ Charlie Haas will clash with BJ Whitmer. I’m not a big Whitmer fan and I’m not especially interested in Haas as a singles wrestler. Without Shelton Benjamin at his side I don’t really think he has a huge amount to offer ROH, although his character has grown on me.

This match is happening because of the well-established troubles between Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team and Whitmer and Rhett Titus. That’s another aspect of the current ROH product I’m not overly keen on. So really there’s not much about Whitmer v Haas that interests me. I’m picking Haas to win, because for some reason he’s used as a formidable singles force.

Former House of Truth pals Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin will wrestle under two-out-of-three falls rules. Truth Martini, who we were told would retire at the end of 2012 but didn’t, is barred from ringside. That should mean we can expect a victory for Elgin, seeing as the reason he fell to Strong at Final Battle was outside interference from Martini.

Usually when a two-out-of-three falls bout is made fans can expect to see the third fall. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case here. Ring of Honor is the sort of company that isn’t afraid to brook convention, and giving ‘Unbreakable’ two straight decisions with Strong getting none would do a lot to rehabilitate him.

And he does need rehabilitating. Elgin was handled incredibly badly by Cornette. He went from being a hot prospect that everyone wanted to see ascend to the top of the card to a generic dude who likes power moves. Not shoving him to the top of the card was a huge mistake. I’m hopeful that Delirious is going to treat him differently and as such I’m expecting a decisive Elgin victory.

Truth Martini may or may not appear during the Strong v Elgin match. Just because he’s banned from ringside doesn’t mean he won’t sneak in. One match he’ll definitely be at ringside for is Adam Cole’s TV championship defence against Matt Taven. Because Martini is now Taven’s manager.

A title change isn’t impossible. It would be a shocking result, which is usually a good thing on a big show like this. Cole’s faced everyone he’s realistically going to as TV champ. A surprise loss of the title would be a great way of launching a Taven push and would free Cole up for a move up the card. Or to NXT.

I’m not going to predict that though. It would be a nice surprise and a way of creating a new star and keeping Martini relevant but I think Cole will have the belt for a bit longer. I’m looking forward to this match. I think it could be very good.

The ROH tag team titles will be defended by the eight time champion Mark and Jay Briscoe. Their opponents will be Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly. The challengers have the team name redDRagon. I missed the reason for this team name, if one was given. Given the emphasis of the DR of dragon I’ll assume it’s somehow related to Davey Richards.
 
This is likely to be one of the better matches of the show. For all they're overexposure 'Dem Boys' are a reliable double act who are at their best when facing opponents the audience reacts strongly to. O'Reilly and Fish fit the bill there.
 
What's a little annoying about this new team is that O'Reilly was only split from a regular team with Adam Cole this time last year. While Cole's gone on to become the TV champ O'Reilly has floundered. His heel turn was rushed and his split from mentor Davey Richards still feels underdeveloped eight months after it happened. O'Reilly's been wasted over the last year.
 
On the bright side he's being used properly now and he and Fish can be just as useful to the tag division as Futureshock would have been had they stayed together. I could see this match going either way. There's no obvious favourite. I'll pick the Briscoes though, mainly because they're the Briscoes and they win a lot. Hopefully O'Reilly and Fish get to win a rematch.
 
The reunited American Wolves will be in a "special attraction" match (a very indy term) against The Forever Hooligans. Firstly I want to state that Forever Hooligans is a pretty cool name for a tag team. Things like that are important. The team is made up of former WWE developmental prospect and NJPW regular Alex Koslov and the former ROH tag team championship partner of Davey Richards, Rocky Romero. Expect a lot to be made of the history between Romero and Richards by the commentary team. To the point where it becomes annoying.
 
This match could be the best of the show. The Wolves have had enough time to get reacquainted with teaming and both men are slick performers. The Hooligans are equally good. A fast match stacked with double team moves and impressive counters is what I'm hoping for.
 
I'm expecting the Wolves to win this match. A third title reign for them seems likely for later in the year. A loss here would only be a setback to that. I don't think it's likely but I’d love Romero and Koslov to become regulars. They'd be a tremendous asset to the promotion.
 
Finally there's the ROH world championship being defended in the main event. Champion Kevin Steen will wrestle Jay Lethal. It's a rematch from last October's Killer Instinct show. There Steen trash-talked Jay Letha’s mother (who was chilling at ringside) to send Lethal over the edge and cause a double DQ. Lethal went nuts and started smashing the set up in a Bret Hart-inspired worked shoot rampage. It was a peculiar direction for the naturally likeable Lethal to be sent in but it did end up with getting Corney written off TV so it wasn't all bad.
 
As a result of Lethal's unstable display Steen managed to get a ruling put in place that stated he'd never have to face Lethal in ROH. But then (shock, horror!) Lethal won the 2012 Survival of the Fittest, the winner of which receives an ROH world title match at a time of their choosing (although they have to have it officially sanctioned in advance, it's not like WWE's Money in the Bank gimmick). Lethal managed to get Steen to agree to give him his one and only title shot at the 11^th Anniversary Show.
 
Yes, it's another "the challenger must win this match" scenario in wrestling! Imaginative, no?
 
'Mr Wrestling' has been as reliable as any precious ROH champ when it comes to entering great matches. This match should be no different. Lethal has been in ROH long enough to be a credible challenger. He's one of the best wrestlers in ROH, and Delirious has smartly edged away from many of the heelish traits Lethal was displaying while Cornette was still running things. Lethal’s trouble is that he's just not believable as an anarchic tough guy, especially one that Kevin Steen, of all people, is supposed to be scared of.
 
As with many other matches on the card I don't think there's a clear winner for the main event. Honestly, I don't want to see Lethal win. He doesn't strike me as world champion material. He's a solid wrestler, but not every solid wrestler should get to be the champ. Wrestling is not the only factor, even in ROH. There are too many holes in Lethal's work (promo skills and playing a decent character being the obvious two umbrella reasons) for him to have an extended ROH title run.

That said I did write an article last month suggesting the exact opposite of this. My reasoning then was that Lethal could work as champion if the plan was for him to drop the title within a couple of months. I stand by that, and if he does win I’ll be hoping for a short reign.
 
I’m beginning to get the feeling that Steen won't be champion for much longer. I think this show, Supercard of Honor VII in April or Best in the World in June are going to see his reign end. I've not ruled out Lethal winning the strap on Saturday. Just because I don't want to see it happen doesn't mean it won't. I'm going to predict a Steen victory but add the caveat that I wouldn't be surprised to see him lose.
 
The 11^th Anniversary Show looks a lot better on paper than last year's card. There are a greater number of appealing matches booked featuring a greater number of marketable talent. If you've got nothing to do on Saturday (more accurately around one in the morning, British time) there are worse ways to spend a tenner than an ROH iPPV. Bear that in mind.
 
Predictions summary:
Kevin Steen to defeat Jay Lethal
The Briscoe Brothers to defeat redDRagon
The American Wolves to defeat The Forever Hooligans

Adam Cole to defeat Matt Taven
Michael Elgin to defeat Roderick Strong
C&C Wrestle Factory to defeat SCUM
Charlie Haas to defeat BJ Whitmer

Sundown

What a catastrophic weekend for Ring of Honor.

I was unable to watch Night One of Showdown in the Sun myself but I’m informed by friends who did purchase the event, as well as various reliable websites, that technical difficulties made the show practically unwatchable. It’s a terrible pity that this happened on the biggest wrestling weekend of the year, when some people were bound to be checking out the ROH product for the first time. They will have been left with a negative view of the promotion and aren’t likely to shell out their money for any events in the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if some long-time fans hadn’t been driven away too.

Night Two should have opened with an apologetic statement from either Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness in the ring or a pre-recorded message from Jim Cornette. That would have gone some way to assuring fans that ROH were aware of the disappointing events of the previous evening and regretted short-changing fans. No such announcement was made… and then later on in the show the stream went dead.

Two nights ruined by technical difficulties. They are either the fault of ROH or GFL. At this point ROH ought to be looking for compensation from GFL and a new home for their internet pay-per-views. GFL have ruined far too many ROH events and clearly cannot be relied upon for smooth and uninterrupted broadcasts. If Ring of Honor is to expand as a company fans need to be able to trust that when they buy an event they will get to watch it in its entirety at the advertised time of broadcast.

Thankfully what was shown of Night Two (for the reasonable-if-the-technical-difficulties-hadn’t-occurred price of fifteen dollars) was very enjoyable. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness provided insightful commentary that enhanced the matches and the wrestlers, which is exactly what a commentary team should do. There are certain other companies that don’t seem to be aware of this.

An unadvertised match between El Generico and the newly-heel Jimmy Jacobs started the show. Jacobs (who’s ludicrous outfit reminded me of Peter Pan) had switched to the dark side the previous evening when he’d interfered in the Generico v Steen match, causing ‘The Generic Luchadore’ to lose. He revealed in a brief pre-match promo on Night Two that when he had stuck a railroad spike into Kevin Steen at the Tenth Anniversary that he had had his first “orgasm” in a year. I hope he was speaking figuratively.

It’s typical that the heel turn happened once I’d stopped predicting it.

Generico v Jacobs was a decent bout that was a little slow in places but was ultimately enjoyable. The most entertaining thing about it for me was the crowd chanting “Little Jimmy” and “Huss” at Jimmy Jacobs. Generico lost after the two men tussled over a railroad spike and Jacobs snuck in a rollup for the cheeky win.

Match two was Cedric Alexander v Tommaso Ciampa. Alexander had his tag partner Caprice Coleman at ringside while Ciampa had Prince Nana, Ernesto Osiris and RD Evans. I originally thought the match would be a quick victory for Ciampa but Alexander was allowed to look competitive and have an enjoyable match before his inevitable loss. ‘The Dominant Male’s’ winning streak continued after he hit the C&C member with two running knees into the turnbuckle.

After the match Nana performed his ridiculous dance and was accosted by Coleman. Ciampa made the save with an iffy-looking Project Ciampa. The heels went backstage as C&C sold. It was a nice heat-building addition to the show for Ciampa to leave both men battered.

The first several minutes of ROH’s TJ Perkins versus Chikara’s Fire Ant were great stuff. The two men engaged in some very fast counter wrestling that reminded me of Jody Fleisch and Johnny Storm. If they can ROH should look into bringing in Fire Ant as a regular. Sadly this match was where the stream cut out, meaning that Kyle O’Reilly defeating Adam Cole and the Young Bucks dropping the All Night Express in a street fight were missed. The stream was restored in time to catch the closing moments of Mike Bennett gloating about besting Lance Storm the previous evening. He then made out with real life girlfriend Maria Kanellis, which the crowd started out indifferent to then booed. They then entertained themselves with Daniel Bryan-esque chants of “Yes!”

The next match we were treated to was the Briscoes v Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team for the former team’s ROH tag team championship. It was an enjoyable enough match but another one that suffered slightly from pacing problems. It never seemed to reach the speed it should have done. ‘Dem Boys’ retained the gold when Jay countered the Leap of Faith (he was being held in position by Haas) and got a rollup for the win.

The former WWE employees were not happy about that and attacked the champions after the bell. Mark was disposed of and then Jay was crotched against the turnbuckle three times. That got Benjamin and Haas some healthy heat. They then posed with the belts as fans chanted “You got fired!” at them, before arrogantly strolling to the back as the champs sold at ringside.

Eddie Edwards and Kevin Steen were both met by cheers when they came out for their singles match. Steen did a hilarious job of tearing into a picture of Jim Cornette as he paced around the ring before the match, savagely whacking it against a turnbuckle and then standing on it to tear it apart. It was yet another laugh out loud moment from ‘Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare’.

Showdown in the Sun saw more memorable performances from Kevin Steen

The crowd started out split down the middle, with duelling chants of “Mr Wrestling” and “Eddie Edwards” filling the arena. The crowd’s allegiance gradually shifted throughout the course of the match with more people getting behind Edwards than Steen. ‘Mr Wrestling won them back around gradually with some impressive offence: notably a powerbomb on the ring apron and a cannonball to a seated Edwards on the stage. His crowd working abilities came in handy there too, a personal highlight being his “I have till five!” line, which prompted another “Yes!” chant.

Getting back into the ring they went back and forth for a few minutes before Steen attempted to lock in a Sharpshooter. Exhausted, he couldn’t turn Edwards into the hold, which allowed ‘Die Hard’ to reverse into his signature Achilles Lock. Steen sold that before countering with a small package for the surprise victory. He taunted Edwards as he headed backstage.

The penultimate match was TV champion Jay Lethal v Roderick Strong. This was originally scheduled to be a non-title match, but Tommaso Ciampa appeared at ringside before the contest began and said he would only return the television championship belt (which he’d been in possession of for a few weeks) if Lethal agreed to put the title on the line against Strong. Lethal agreed and the match began.

This was another match that seemed slow in places. In hindsight I think that may have been a deliberate decision designed to allow the crowd to rest up before the excitement of the main event. It was a competent match that came alive in the final two minutes: Ciampa walloped Lethal on the outside and then tossed him back into the ring where Strong his a backbreaker variant for the pinfall victory and the TV gold.

Ciampa tossed the belt into the ring before he left, causing McGuinness and Kelly to wonder what his motives were. Something tells me we’ll find out in the coming weeks.

That title change means that Roderick Strong is now the second ever ROH triple crown champion (the first being Eddie Edwards). Personally I’m never a fan of former world champions winning mid-card titles but Jim Cornette disagrees. It’s a nice accolade for the House of Truth member to have.

Fittingly it was the main event that earned Match of the Night honours. ROH champion Davey Richards defended the gold against ‘Unbreakable’ Michael Elgin in what I am convinced is the greatest match of 2012 so far. The two men put on a fantastic back-and-forth display stuffed with near falls and stiff exchanges that did a fantastic job of elevating Elgin. Richards sold perfectly, enough to make Elgin look like the dominant monster he should always appear to be whilst being careful not to harm his own image. It was a textbook display.

Elgin kicked out of some insane moves (including a super quick Shining Wizard and a top rope German suplex) and refused to tap when trapped in the Ankle Lock submission hold. He eventually went down to a kick to the head after the champ had weathered a flurry of kicks, punches, powerbombs and a series of knees to the jaw that managed to win over the fans and stir some “Elgin” chants.

After the match Richards cut a promo putting over ROH and Elgin himself, giving the younger man a high compliment by saying that he would one day be the world champion. In Ring of Honor that’s a statement that means something. He ended his speech by telling Elgin that it’s the support of the fans that gets you to the top in ROH, not the management of men like Truth Martini. Presumably that will lead to an Elgin face turn sometime in the future. I doubt it’ll be immediate though.

The matches that were on offer made Showdown in the Sun Night Two well worth watching. It’s just a shame that ROH and GFL let down their fans by not ensuring that everything that was advertised made it to air. Those failings marred two of the company’s biggest events of the year and cannot afford to happen again.