From Sandy Fork to New York

The Briscoes are off, apparently. It's been rumoured many times over the years that the brothers would leave Ring of Honor for WWE. The latest iteration started circulating last weekend when it came to light that neither Jay nor Mark would be appearing on any ROH shows for the foreseeable future.

The situation has become more bizarre as the week's gone on. Various websites have reported that the Briscoes are heading to WWE, while Ring of Honor has maintained that the Briscoes are taking time off to heal, which, frankly, sounds like a load of old cobblers. Wrestlers, particularly those without the wages of WWE Superstars™, are not in the habit of taking time off unless they have absolutely no alternative.

There's also a worrying rumour that the Briscoes contracts have expired. This is very similar to the situation that arose last year: the tag team titles were won by the All Night Express when the company knew that Kenny King was either working without a contract or soon would be. That was a stupid move. Doing the same thing with Jay Briscoe would be worse.

Not only should ROH and their owner SBG have learnt from last year's debacle, they should have also taken the championship off of Briscoe when they had the chance. If they didn't want to switch it to Matt Hardy then they could have had someone else issue an impromptu challenge to Jay for an unadvertised second world title match at the TV tapings.

Maybe Adam Cole should've won this match

 

The truth of all of this seems evasive. I don’t believe Jay would leave ROH without dropping the championship. He and Mark both strike me as men who think enough of Ring of Honor and its style of presentation to do the right thing and put someone over on his way out.

Their absence from future line-ups could truly be due to them being given some time off to rest. Both work most ROH shows and with the next big event not being until August (Manhattan Mayhem V) it's entirely possible they're on holiday as opposed to leaving.

Of course what throws a spanner into the works there is that ROH have announced that there will be an announcement made regarding the status of the title “soon”. It’s teased in said announcement that Michael Elgin could be awarded the title by forfeit as he was due to be the next challenger. I’d by disappointed at the avoidable disruption to the lineage of one of wrestling’s most meaningful titles were anything like that to happen, mostly because it could so easily have been avoided.

That an announcement is imminent means there’s something to announce. I can’t see what else it could be than Jay being relieved of the gold.

Perhaps it’s all a lot of misdirection and ROH know Jay will be at an upcoming show to drop the title in a surprise, unadvertised bout. I’m not going to get my hopes up for that though. Again, the simplest thing to do would have been for him to lose the belt last Sunday.

It's also interesting that not all of the regular sites took note of this story. Some cover ROH more than others but all of them would cover something like a pair of major stars (which the Briscoes are) leaving for WWE. That not every major wrestling website covered the story makes me think it may not be entirely true.

This isn't to say that I don't think WWE would be interested in them. I think the Briscoes would fit with the fed's recent interest in top indy talent. They've been told before that they don't have a marketable WWE look. That's true as far as the standard WWE look is concerned, but it also appears to be less of an issue than it was five years ago. Sami Callihan has been signed to a contract and as good as he seems to be he doesn’t look like a traditional WWE Superstar™ either. He's been signed so the Briscoes certainly have a shot.

If they do wind up in WWE (which I'm not convinced is happening yet, remember) I think they could make a real difference to the product. They've got over a decade of experience working as a team and would work pretty well as good guys on the main roster with a modified version of their current act. They'd probably need to tone down the farmhands bit a little (and, in Jay’s case, avoid the rampant homophobia) because I can't imagine Vince McMahon liking it (or even comprehending it) but otherwise I think they'd be ready. It's the Briscoes, not the Wyatts, that I think would work well as opposition for The Shield.

Of course if they have signed or do sign they'll have their obligatory stay in NXT. Expect 'Dem Boys' to become the doubles champs there very quickly.

If Jay does need to drop the title and returns to do it I think Adam Cole is a strong contender to beat him. He'd work as a heel for ROH's bounty of babyfaces to chase and wouldn't be considered a ridiculous choice of champion as Matt Hardy would have been (although the fact that fans would have hated a Hardy title reign is the main reason I think it would have worked).

Whatever the Briscoes have planned, whatever titles they chase next, and wherever they end up working, I wish both men all the best in their future endeavours. I’ll be less inclined to extend those wishes to ROH if it turns out that they’ve let another champion’s contract expire.

Indy Raiders

WWE have been recruiting from the independent wrestling scene for a few years now. Well, technically speaking, they’ve been recruiting from the indies since the territories went away and the independent scene sprang up to replace them. It’s more accurate to say that WWE have refined their taste in indy stars over the last several years.

In a sense the company’s stance on indy standouts and veterans changed when they signed CM Punk. Anyone who’s watched the Best in the World DVD will know this. It’s spoken about openly there. Punk was going to be let go at one point because nobody in a position of authority knew what to do with him. He stayed employed because of Paul Heyman being desperate to use him in WWECW.

Why was he signed to begin with? There’s no obvious answer to those of us not in the know but I imagine his look, clear understanding of how to wrestle, and passion stood him in good sted. Once he’d made it to then developmental league OVW his glowing reputation hindered his progress, resulting in the near firing. Anyone who’s achieved a level of notoriety before heading to WWE is essentially a target, the perception of the road agents seeming to be that the guy will believe in their own hype and only know how to work the indy style, as opposed to the much vaunted WWE style.

Basically, nobody in WWE expected Punk to become as big as he has and he was originally signed because certain influential people in the company (most likely Heyman and Jim Ross) appreciated the potential he had. I certainly can’t imagine John Laurinaitis had the wherewithal to approach him.

Punk’s success despite WWE’s booking is probably what made them change their opinion on guys like him. If he could succeed in spite of efforts to hold him down as a mid-carder then logically there would be a chance that the guys he came up with on the indies could possess that same talent. That, I imagine, was the thought process employed by Vince McMahon, Triple H, and their cadre of advisors.

I could be reading too much into things of course. It’s true that sooner or later WWE were going to have to sign some of the top stars from the indies instead of the likes of Gunner Scott, Eric Escobar, Sylvester Terkay, and Orlando Jordan. Perhaps that point was simply reached and they decided to sign good guys, rather than average ones, as opposed to their being some big revelatory moment revolving around CM Punk.

 

This brings back happy memories for precisely no one

 

The signing of Bryan ‘Daniel Bryan’ Danielson was the first indication WWE were going to pursue peers of ‘The Second City Saint’. He’d be regarded for years as the best wrestler on the North American indy scene and so he was a natural guy to approach once the “let’s de-push indy stars” mentality was dropped.

Bryan became a star for WWE too. Okay, he’s not reached the heights of Punk and it’s possibly that he never will, but he’s done far more than anyone thought he would. That’s important. He was given a chance to do well and proved that he could. He showed that Punk wasn’t an anomaly, that guys from “the indy generation” (or should that be “the ROH generation”?) could adapt their approach and get over in The Big Leagues.

The last few years have seen WWE snatching up indy talent like they’re going out of style. Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Hero, PAC, El Generico, and Sara Del Rey have all signed up to get a new ring name and take on various roles within WWE. There’s recently been talk that Mike Bennett and Sami Callihan are on the cusp of inking developmental deals, and it was announced on May 26^th that Samuray Del Sol has signed a contract.

 

Please pair this man with Sin Cara. Thanks

 

It’s pleasing to see that WWE are routinely scouring the independents. It means they’re finally willing to admit that there are very talented wrestlers out there who don’t work for a sports entertainment organisation and that their product will be better with said wrestlers involved. It’s not the best situation for the indies to be in, but it’s been proven time and again over the last couple of decades that a new batch of talent can always be found when there’s a mass exodus for WWE.

This approach is best for everyone involved. WWE gets the best talent to display on the most watched wrestling shows in the world and the younger stars just starting out get to prove their capable of following in the footsteps of their predecessors. It’s almost like the circle of life.

Almost.

Open the Ultimate Gate 2013 review

I’ve never written about Dragon Gate before. I’m slightly more familiar with the setup than I was with EVOLVE yesterday grab a link here), but it’s still not a promotion I’m intimately familiar with. I knew the main players and the general concept of the promotion and that was about it. Pleasingly it was another card that was very new viewer friendly.

That’s strange when you think about it: the weekend is big for indy wrestling because of WrestleMania, which is probably the least accessible WWE event of the year, and the indy feds produce their most accessible shows of the years to encourage new viewers. Anyway...

 

The show opened with Rich Swann singing his way to the ring to the strains of Lionel Richie. I assume this is modern pro wrestling, specifically Dragon Gate USA's, answer to Sandman entering to Enter Sandman. I think I prefer the ECW version. It’s more manly. His opponent was Brian Kendrick. I am familiar with his work.

Swann was revealed to be pretty over with the crowd once he’d stopped singing. The two men worked a fast pace that was slowed down at various points by Kendrick, playing the veteran who knows that a slower approach suited him against Swann. Kendrick survived a Lethal injection, a frog splash and a standing shooting star press but eventually went down to a spinning jump kick after a failed Sliced Bread Number Two.

Chuck Taylor, the living shoe, joined the defeated Spanky in the ring. Fans briefly chanted for him but started booing as he told Kendrick that the Gentlemen’s Club are better than him. He noted that Kendrick had everything he could have wanted from wrestling and threw it all away, so he’s in no position to lecture anyone. I assume this referred to his spot in WWE rather than his more recent stint with TNA.

Spanky said they'd find out who was better on the next evening’s show. He threw the mic in Taylor's face as he left. Whadda bad boy! Chucky T stayed in the ring for his scheduled six way match. Shane Strickland, Fire Ant, Anthony Nese, Jigsaw, and Arik Cannon came out to join him. The entrances took an age, peculiar when you consider the intimate (read small) size of the venue.

 

This was what you'd expect. Everyone got to go on offence and do a spot of selling, and there was the obligatory series of dives to the outside (which promoted a "Dragon Gate" chant). Strickland earned the ire of the fans when he botched the momentum of his dive. I'm sure he felt foolish.

Anthony 'Don't Call Me Tony' Nese won. Cannon dropped Strickland on his head and 'The Premier Athlete' followed up with a 450 splash. The match was excellent and did a very good job of firing up the audience.

Scott Reed of The Scene and the nondescript Derek Ryze had the difficult task of following that. Sadly, only Larry Dallas was with Reed. I wasn't interested in seeing Caleb Konley but it would've been nice if Trina Michaels had been out there. Dallas screeched into a microphone before the match but I couldn't make out a word he said. I doubt I missed much, although it may have provided a reason for the post match developments.

Reed won a pretty basic match with a swinging inverted DDT. Afterwards Konley appeared in the ring, called Dallas a greaseball and told him to shut up. He informed him that he and Reed were better than The Scene and that they were quitting the stable. They went to leave but Reed swerve turned on Konley. The segment ended up with Marti Belle and Konley laying out Dallas. The point of this, beyond a random face turn for Caleb Konley, eluded me.

Jon Davis was out next to the same half-hearted heat that he'd received at the previous evening's show. Trent?, formerly Trent Barreta of WWE, was his opponent for the evening. Yep, he’s spelling it with a question mark on the end. I'm sure someone, somewhere was excited by this debut. It wasn't me. I'm not happy Barreta got released but I can understand why it happened. He was never going to be a big star in WWE. A spot in Dragon Gate probably isn't going to make him as much money but it will be more creatively rewarding.

Well, it will be if he's given something worthwhile to do. His debut saw him pick up a win via disqualification after receiving a series of headbutts from Davis while slumped in a corner. After that Davis floored the referee with a clothesline and hit Three Seconds Around the World on Trent?. Davis cut another promo saying that he'll make everyone in the promotion miserable because he's miserable.

An open challenge was issued, Davis encouraging fans to chant for their heroes. Cries for Super Dragon and Hulk Hogan (yes, Hulk Hogan) filled the arena. Nobody answered. Not even ‘The Hulkster’, brother.

A more interesting debut was next. Newcomer Tomahawk TT teamed with EITA to take on the Super Smash Brothers. I hadn't heard of either of the Japanese guys but I'm a fan of SSB so I assumed the match would be good. It was.

It was a mixture of comedy spots and solid tag team wrestling. A big deal was made of Tomahawk's stiff chops, with both Players selling them as the most devastating they'd ever felt. Tomahawk kicked out of a 450 splash in what was a convincing false finish. He also scored the win for his team with a version of the Michinoku Driver on Dos after EITA had wiped out Uno with a dive. Fans chanted "That was awesome!" and "Please come back!" afterwards. I agree with the sentiment. Handshakes and hugs ended the star-making segment.

The idea was that TT, who had been billed as CIMA's secret weapon, was being built up for the following evening's six man headliner. I think the mission was achieved handily. Tomahawk TT left looking like a star. That's what a good debut can do for a newcomer. Just ask Fandango.

Match number six was one of the reasons I bought the show. It pitted celebrated high-flyer Ricochet against the fantastic and hilarious Akira Tozawa. The latter is one of my favourite guys on the Dragon Gate roster. Check him out on YouTube or, better yet, buy this event.

Tozawa, who got the streamer treatment when he entered, was accompanied by Christina Von Eerie. That explained the altercation after Ricochet's match at EVOLVE 19. Lenny Leonard did a poor job of explaining that at the time and, indeed, here.

Highlights included: a springboard shooting star press to the outside from Ricochet; a trio of suicide dives from Tozawa; a series of chops from Tozawa that saw him speed up and slow down (which was pretty amusing); a high angle Regalplex from Ricochet, something I hadn't expected to see; a German suplex on the apron from Tozawa to Ricochet; and the match-winning backslide driver-630 senton combo. The two men had a great match and showed why they're a focal point of Dragon Gate USA.

After the match Tozawa spat his mouth guard in Ricochet's face. Bizarrely, Ricochet just accepted that, putting the guard into his own mouth before leaving.

During intermission we were treated to some ads and a video about Uhaa Nation's nine months of physiotherapy. The latter did a pretty good job of emphasising the importance of Nation's return to the ring. The music tried a bit too hard to be tear jerking though. It ended up verging on the humorous.

That return to the ring opened the second half. Uhaa Nation, Goldberg-esque entrance music and all, wrestled Sami Callihan. 'The New Horror' heard plenty of boos as he entered the arena. That was surprising considering his babyface actions following the losing effort he'd entered in the previous evening's main event.

What followed was a pretty even match that was perfectly decent but that I had trouble getting into. I think part if my problem was a slight disinterest in Uhaa Nation. The returnee got the win with a Gorilla press, followed by a standing moonsault and a standing shooting star. Leonard referenced the Uhaa Combination. If that’s the name of this regular series of moves it's very impressive. Callihan limped backstage leaving Uhaa to flex himself silly in the ring.

Second to last for the evening was the Open the United Gate match. Challengers the Young Bucks faced champions CIMA and AR Fox. All four men got very strong reactions when they entered. Sadly Fox wasn't wearing his shiny new EVOLVE belt. I would have liked to see that.

The audience was split in the opening portion of the match but gradually got behind the champions. The reason? Probably something to do with the Bucks' unbridled arrogance. Constant crotch chops and air guitar are apparently very effective ways of turning fans against you.

Fox eventually got cut off from CIMA. The tag out after this sequence was less hot and more luke warm. The champs should've milked the moment far more. I suppose it doesn't matter: moments later ‘The Whole Foxin’ Show’ had forgotten all about selling and was sailing over the top rope to ringside. Indy psychology again.

From there the already fast pace quickened and we were treated to some pretty dazzling double team moves from the champs, most notably an Iconoclasm followed by a Swanton and a surfboard-450 splash combo. Not to be outdone the Bucks hit a double superkick, a buckle bomb-enziguri combo, and a springboard spike Tombstone piledriver. The resultant two count came across as a botched finished after CIMA was late making the save. Ultimately it was the Bucks who won having hit a second double superkick and More Bang for Your Buck on AR Fox.

AR Fox came out to gloat about the 'The Whole Foxin' Show' having lost his tag belt. Meanwhile Nick and Matt left playing air guitar with their new straps. CIMA and Fox he braced in the ring and got a standing ovation from fans. The tag title bout was a great display. A rematch would be good, partly to see if this display can be topped.

Lenny Leonard risked getting blown up by doing the introductions for the main event in the ring. For a guy whose job it is to talk he has a worrying tendency to lose his breath.

The headline bout saw Open the Freedom Gate champion Johnny Gargano defending his title (or is that Gate?) against Shingo. It was Shingo's first Dragon Gate USA appearance in two years and the fans were pleased to see him. Big deal, is he?

Open the Ultimate Poster

 

This was another great match in a weekend full of them. It featured a bit of everything: fast paced exchanges, submission holds, wacky crowd brawling, dives (from Gargano), a blistering closing sequence, and, of course, stiff chops. It was a fitting and enjoyable end to a very strong card.

The story was Shingo's power versus Gargano's speed and, more importantly, need to prove himself. Here Lenny Leonard did a great job (making up for the iffy performances I've mentioned elsewhere), telling of Gargano's start in DG USA and desperation to prove himself the equal of his Japanese heroes. Of course Shingo and Gargano did a solid job of telling this story in the ring too, but Leonard’s additions helped to sell the story. That's what a good wrestling commentator should do.

As the match wore on ‘The Whole Shebang’ stood up to more and more punishment, building to a fantastic exchange which saw both men pelting each other with clotheslines and kicks, bouncing up as soon as they were downed. The story reached its dramatic conclusion when Gargano kicked out of Shingo’s Made in Japan and Pumping Bomber finishers and then, realising he couldn’t beat the man from Japan clean, choked him out with some chord yanked from his trunks.

Having pinned his foe, the presumably-newly-heel Johnny Gargano pinned Shingo to retain his Open the Freedom Gate championship. Fans did not react kindly to the finish. Moments before the pinfall they’d been chanting “Match of the year!” I wouldn’t quite go that far yet, but it was shaping up to be pretty good. The finish dropped it in my estimations. It was still one of the top two matches of the weekend though, along with CM Punk versus Undertaker.

Gargano cut a promo telling the fans to thank themselves and saying that their support was appreciated by everyone in the locker room and their cheers were the greatest accomplishment of his career. I liked that. It’s the sort of promo babyfaces usually cut at the ends of these sorts of events. Ending the broadcast with Gargano expressing this sentiment nicely underlined his turn to the dark side.

EVOLVE 19 review

Before this I'd watched only one EVOLVE event. I can't remember many details although I do recall Chuck Taylor wrestling barefoot and Johnny Gargano being a heel. He possibly wrestled Ricochet but I could be wrong. Arik Cannon was on the card too. I'm not overly familiar with the promotion's current storylines but I know the main players. Be aware of this as you read this review.

Taking place during the biggest wrestling weekend of the year and hosting a tournament to crown an inaugural champion EVOLVE 19 struck me as a pretty good jumping on point. I wasn't wrong. There were various references to past shows and events but they were easy enough to follow. For the most part the wrestlers all did a good job of getting over their characters, which always helps make a show more enjoyable.

The tournament was set up using a seeding system. The top eight competitors in the company were determined by looking at win-loss records. The top two guys were given byes to the semi-finals on opposite sides of the bracket. Seeds three and four tangled in a singles match with the winner progressing to face the favourite. Seeds five to eight wrestled in a four-way match, the winner of which met seed two in the semi-finals. Sound complicated? It wasn't. It was a refreshing approach for a pro wrestling championship tournament.

I didn't watch the show live. If I had I'd have been one of a large number of people unable to view the beginning of the opening contest. Purchasing it as a VOD from the WWN website sadly means you miss this too, although I was aware of that before purchasing. The same can't be said for anyone who watched (or, more accurately, tried to) on Friday.

I'm not going to criticise the people in charge of EVOLVE for this. They've apologised and offered free access to any past event for anyone affected by the streaming failure. I was irritated by the similar problem ROH had during their Friday show but they're a bigger outfit which should make such occurrences less likely. Plus they've got a history of flogging iffy iPPV streams. As this is the first time EVOLVE have failed in this area (that I'm aware of at any rate) they deserve a bit of leeway.

Neither of these two would leave with the new belt

The match already in progress as the show started was a one fall four-way affair. The competitors were Sami Callihan (seed seven), Rich Swann (seed five), Samuray Del Sol (seed six) and Jigsaw (seed eight). The action got a little sloppy in places and for the most part the psychology was awful. Guys would sell during sequences they weren't required for and make a superhuman comeback the moment they were up for a spot. The sequences were pretty good but these flaws detracted from the match.

Sami Callihan was the star. For the most part he avoided those psychology failings and paced himself well. He advanced in the tournament when he got Del Sol to submit to his Stretch Muffler hold.

One man announce team Lenny Leonard entered the ring next. He was there to introduce new signing 'The Premiere Athlete' Anthony Nese. Yep, that guy who used to work for TNA. He cut a heel promo saying that wrestling is no longer about wrestling. It's become about trying to out-brand others. He told us he's going to introduce a support team that will take him to the top... whether we like it or not. I don't know about anyone else but I'm okay with this. His support team have my blessing.

Lenny Leonard was joined by Colt Cabana when he got backstage. This was a blessing: Leonard is awful doing commentary alone. Sadly, Colt didn't stick around for the rest of the show. He did a couple of stints, neither of which took in the main event. That really would have benefited from his input.

Match two was the battle between seeds three and four, AR Fox and Jon Davis respectively. Davis got some boos before the match, though not many. Disappointing for someone who’s meant to be one of EVOLVE's lead antagonists.

'The Whole Foxin' Show' controlled the earliest portion of the match but Davis eventually gained control after turning an attempted springboard attack into a spinebuster. They went outside the ring and AR took a hip toss onto the apron. After some further ringside scuffling they headed back into the ring and AR took further punishment from a Davis Buckle Bomb.

Back on the apron (yeah, they were all over the place in this one) the former Dark City Fight Club member went for a choke slam to the concrete floor. AR countered with a spike DDT onto the apron, following up with a springboard Whisper in the Wind. That was a very impressive move that took a great deal of skill to pull off and was a great risk for Fox. Sadly the audience barely reacted. So many wrestlers perform similar but less risky feats on a regular basis that genuinely impressive moves like this don't get the reactions they deserve. It's the law of diminishing returns.

Back in the ring (again) Fox went for a Swanton but was met with knees. Davis leapt up and kneed his opponent in the face for a close two count. A lively sequence of big move attempts and counters followed that, culminating in Three Seconds Around the World from Davis. Fox kicked out.

A frustrated Davis slipped under the bottom rope and yanked a table out from under the ring. He set it up in the aisle as Lenny Leonard reminded us (or told newcomers like me) about him hitting an Awesome Bomb on someone at a recent show. AR Fox was hoisted into position for the move but the referee made the save.

Yes, the referee made the save. That annoyed the crowd and triggered a "Kill the ref!" chant. Davis was understandably irked and went to take his frustration out with a stiff clothesline on Fox who ducked, Matrix style, and also avoided the second attempt that whistled his way seconds later.

The referee was not so lucky. The ref bump got a massive cheer from the fans who were annoyed that the official had denied them the chance to witness an Awesome Bomb. The bell rung, signalling a David loss, although we were left in the dark as to who had ruled the match over. The timekeeper maybe?

A second ref arrived on the scene to tell Davis he'd be suspended if he continued his angry ways. Davis took a microphone and asked the audience if he should Awesome Bomb the ref and skip the rest of the weekend. They wanted to see that. Davis said they were stupid but he wasn't ,then left to mild heat. Someone needs some sessions with Dr Shelby.

Up next was (The) Brian Kendrick and Dragon Gate USA Open the Freedom Gate champion Johnny Gargano against Gentlemen's Club members Orange Cassidy and Drew Gulak. I liked the Gentlemen's Club. They've been gifted with the always entertaining entourage gimmick. At ringside they had The Swamp Monster (who received one of the loudest cheers of the night) and the Colonel. The former was dressed a monster from a swamp (obvs) while the Colonel was wheelchair-bound and had a US flag draped across his lap. All of this is probably standard stuff for a lot of people reading this but it was a first for me and I thought it was great. I love this sort of stuff in wrestling.

The match started out as a comedy affair but got serious after Kendrick grew tired of the Club's silliness and shouted at them to take a shot at him. They did and the match transitioned into a more serious contest (although they were still some odd moments involving Cassidy and the entourage). Kendrick and Gargano won when Kendrick pinned Gulak off a Sliced Bread Number Two.

The EVOLVE roster has less use for this guy's belt now they have their own

We were back with the tournament next. 'Kentucky Gentleman' Chuck Taylor (seed one) took on Sami Callihan. 'The New Horror' tweaked his knee leaping over the top rope into the ring. It seemed genuine but was revealed to be a work when Chuck Taylor targeted the leg as soon as the bell rung.

The story of the match was that Callihan was disadvantaged because of his tweaked knee and ankle. Taylor targeted the leg on the outside, wrapping it in the crowd barrier and wrenching and kicking on it before throwing Sami back into the ring.

 

Taylor slapped on a figure four. Sami didn’t quit. Taylor went for a moonsault only for Sami to roll out from under it and come back with four belly-to-belly suplexes. Taylor slapped on a single leg Boston crab, one of his finishing moves, but Sami didn’t tap out.

It struck me that this would have been a good finishing point had Chucky T been booked to win. Sami could’ve tried to hang on through the pain, inched his way to the ropes only to get dragged back to the centre of the ring and be forced to tap out to a reapplied hold. Sami would’ve been kept strong in defeat and Taylor’s single leg crab would’ve been given a boost.

But that wasn’t to be. Callihan got the win out of nowhere when he reversed a pin attempt into the Stretch Muffler. Taylor gave up incredibly quickly considering Callihan was injured and he was the number one seed. It made him look pretty weak when, especially when Callihan had endured so much pain with his “injury”. Another case of questionable psychology.

AR Fox v Ricochet (seed two) was up next. We were told they are the top two high fliers in wrestling today. You wouldn’t have guessed from the first half of the bout. Ricochet slapped on a few submission holds and the pace was, for the most part, pretty sedate. Perhaps this was a part of their ongoing dispute but if that was the case Leonard did a lousy job of making new viewers like myself aware of it.

Things picked up considerably in the latter half of the match as the two started diving about all over the place. Eventually Christina Von Eerie showed up at ringside, presumably to continue or start another ongoing story. In the ring Ricochet went for his 630 senton off the top rope. He missed, which allowed AR to roll him up for the match-winning pin.

Ricochet and Eerie exchanged some words in the aisle afterwards, with Eerie turning her back on Ricochet and getting a shove for doing so. Trouble’s brewing there. Mark my words.

Next was another non-tourney bout. Scott Reed entered first, accompanied by fellow members of The Scene Larry Dallas, Trina Michaels and Caleb Konley. His opponent was Arik Cannon. He was a heel on the only other EVOLVE show I've watched but now seems to be a pretty popular face. They had a no DQ match which became a handicap match after a few minutes  thanks to interference from Konley.

Dallas and Michaels got involved after a bit too, prompting the return of Uhaa Nation to. Leonard informed us Uhaa had been out for a year with a neck injury and we would also learn that he doesn’t much care for Arik Cannon. Which sort of begs the question of why he came out to make the save. Strange guy.

Trina Michaels tried to work her charms on Uhaa which prompted Marti Belle (a female wrestler or valet I’ve never heard) to come to the ring for a random catfight. Leonard tried a Joey Styles impersonation. It failed.

Cannon won with a brainbuster. Officially it was a one-on-one match but it was actually the most packed segment on the show. Following the match Cannon had a beer and offered Uhaa a sip (or perhaps the whole can, it wasn’t clear). Uhaa slapped it into the crowd and dropped Cannon with a belly-to-belly suplex. This was the evidence of them not getting along that I mentioned above.

The penultimate match was the best of the night. A fast, spot-heavy exchange between The Young Bucks and The Super Smash Bros. The crowd, who had been quiet for a lot of the show, came alive during this match. Perhaps they’d been holding out for wrestlers who like to play air guitar all the time. If so they were spoiled rotten by Nick and Matt Jackson.

The SSB won with a Gory Bomb-Blockbuster combo. Afterwards Players Uno and Dos offered handshakes. The Bucks teased that they’d accept (it’s something they never do, apparently) but ended up super kicking the winners instead. They then shouted at the crowd and sneered their way backstage. What heels!

Lenny Leonard neglectfully abandoned his booth again moments before the main event. He was on aisle interview duty. Sami Callihan said he always gives everything in the ring but it’s never enough for the fans. He said he'll be the first EVOLVE champ whether people like it or not. Same sentiment as Anthony Nese earlier in the show really. Deliberate? Probably not.

AR Fox told Leonard that he may not look one hundred per cent but he feels it. He then started screaming and shouting so much that his words became indecipherable because of the shoddy audio. I think the gist was that he, not Mr Callihan, that would be the first EVOLVE champ.

The new belt was held up before the bell was rung. It’s far nicer than WWE’s new championship. Leonard was blown up when he got back to commentary. Yep, a play-by-play guy who gets blown up walking and talking. Extraordinary. That’s the level of quality available to EVOLVE and Dragon Gate.

 

A good-looking slice of belt

 

The audience was split throughout the match. ‘The New Horror’ was on offence early, targeting the damaged neck of AR Fox. Yes, it was his neck that was the worse for wear, even though Jon Davis had been focusing on his back for most of their first round contest.

Fox eventually got some offence in after hitting a cannonball and two running boots into the corner, followed up with an Ace Crusher and a Swanton for two. Callihan went back on offence, undoing his knee pad to cause greater pain to his opponent despite it supposedly being injured. Yeah, there were psychology problems in this match too.

The crowd, who had died down after the excitement of the Bucks v SSB bout, returned to life after Callihan hit a German suplex and a power bomb on ‘The Whole Foxin’ Show’ for two. That was immediately followed up with a Stretch Muffler. As that had taken him to his first two victories of the evening it made for a believable potential finishing sequence.

Ultimately the hold was ineffective. Fox got the win out of nowhere after he hit a Side Effect type move off the top rope to a seated Callihan. The crowd popped like The Swamp Monster had returned. Callihan grabbed the belt from the ref to boos, but redeemed himself by being the one to hand it over to the new champion. That got him a cheer. The two competitors shook hands and hugged. Callihan then left to let the new champ enjoy his moment, but not before he gave some hug action to Lenny Leonard.

Fox told Leonard that he dedicated his win to the “number two high flyer” Ricochet. He put over EVOLVE, saying it’s a company for wrestlers of all styles as long as they work hard. He’s looking forward to meeting guys of all styles, apparently. He also told us the EVOLVE roster shuts up and wrestles. As victory speeches go it was subdued. But that’s fair enough, considering the message it had to get across.

The Young Bucks came out to congratulate Fox and tell him he was going to lose the Open the United Gate championship he held with CIMA. There was no cheap shot, no intense rebuttal from the newly crowned EVOLVE champ, and no run-in from the other United Gate champ CIMA. It was simply an angle tacked on to remind everyone that there was a Dragon Gate USA show scheduled for the following evening. The highlight of the Bucks’ appearances was a fan shouting "Haters gon' hate!" as they left.

AR Fox then went back on the mic to shill for the Dragon Gate show. Personally I think that’s a fairly peculiar thing to have your new champion do. But what do I know? I’m just a member of the paying public.

I’m more familiar with Gabe Sapolsky’s Ring of Honor work so his approach here came as something of a surprise. It still has more in common with the average ROH show than it does with WWE or TNA with the emphasis more on the in-ring action rather than skits and angles. That said he takes a different route to get there, channelling the WWF’s Attitude Era and elements of ECW. Large entourages, random run-ins, ringside brawling and ref bumps anyone?

I thought it was a very enjoyable show and excellent value for money (ten quid for us Brits, fifteen dollars for Americans). Based on this I’ll be tuning in to EVOLVE 20.

Fantasy Booker: Making Ring of Honor the Best in the World

A few months ago I posted a short article (read it here) about what I’d do if I were suddenly (and inexplicably) put in charge of Ring of Honor. In it I stated that I was happy with the direction the company was going in and couldn’t come up with anything I’d do differently. In the end I simply stated that I’d have Andy ‘Right Leg’ Ridge join the House of Truth.

I’ve thought more on the subject since then and I now realise that there are several changes I’d make to ROH if I were put in charge. As usual with articles in which I state how I’d run a wrestling company I will attempt to be as realistic as possible and be mindful of ROH’s tight budget and current product. I shan’t, for example, suggest hiring Dave Bautista.

The financial situation in Ring of Honor is probably a good starting point. When the promotion started out the goal of every show was to break even. That meant making enough money to pay the talent and cover all the expenses that booking a venue entails. The idea was to make a profit on DVD sales. I think that’s a good model for a smaller promotion. It eliminates some of the pressure of promoting a show and encourages a keener focus on booking: if you want to make your money from DVD sales you’ll make sure to make every show as good as possible so that more people want to buy it when it’s released.

I would make an attempt to return to that philosophy. ROH has been criticised for not putting much thought into its live events (house shows, non-televised events, call them what you will) for a while now and I think if more effort was made with them it would marginally increase DVD sales (because fans would be encouraged to shell out on a greater number of purchases) and improve the quality of on-going storylines too because there would be a tighter focus on quality.

This man would be the face of my Ring of Honor

The number of shows ROH currently promotes is fairly sporadic right now. A regular touring schedule would benefit everyone involved. Fans would know when the company is next set to run a show, meaning no events would be forgotten or overlooked. More importantly the company’s contracted performers would be able to agree to appear for other organisations farther in advance because they would know what dates to keep free for ROH.

I think ROH should be running four live events and one television taping per month. The simplest and most effective approach would seem to be making the first and third weekends of every month house show weekends and the second weekend a TV taping weekend. That leaves the end of the month open to host internet pay-per-views as and when required.

Four non-televised events a month gives the company enough time to run shows in all of its current markets without becoming overexposed. It also leaves time for new towns and venues to be tried once in a while as well. The current Friday and Saturday night approach seems to be working for the promotion so I’d stick with that. If business becomes more brisk or a weekend of events is planned in a particularly strong market there’s always the option of adding a third show to the run on the Thursday or Sunday (and possibly even adding a fourth night too).

Currently the TV show is recorded every month or so in Baltimore. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand it’s good as Baltimore is home to the HQ of ROH owners SBG, allowing filming costs to be kept low. A regular audience is attracted too, which is a good thing for a company in Ring of Honor’s situation because it ensures the majority of people watching will be familiar with current storylines and passionate about the product.

On the other hand a regular location for TV recordings means that the majority of the company’s key angles and storyline developments take place in the same place, meaning other loyal viewers don’t get to see as many eventful plot developments. Ultimately I think I would keep filming the TV show in Baltimore to keep costs low and because my booking philosophy (as outlined above) would be to make house shows more worthwhile, meaning a greater number of meaningful events occur away from TV (but would still obviously be recapped on TV once they’ve happened).

I am currently not overly impressed with the television show’s content. The match quality is consistently high and the commentary is always dependable but the show generally feels very slow and formulaic. I actually preferred the HDNet approach. Generally speaking those shows featured a squash match or two, a match of decent length to open or the show or in the middle of the card and a strong main event.

I understand that the SBG output is designed to get over the promotion’s top stars but featuring more matches with less running time each gives more wrestlers screen time, thus meaning there’s a greater chance of someone new getting over. The key with the television show should be to expose as many members of the roster as possible. I also like matches featuring non-roster talent as a means of discovering potential new signings.

One of my goals would be to get the TV show into foreign markets. The TV show is already being made so why not try to sell it abroad and get some money from it? Germany, Ireland, Italy, and (of course) Britain are all countries that have plenty of wrestling fans in them so those should be immediately targeted by Ring of Honor. Longer term I would want to run a three or four date tour of Britain in 2013 and having a TV presence would certainly help with that.

The iPPV approach ROH is currently using is not great. Putting aside technical issues suffered on the last several live broadcasts my big problem with ROH’s supershow calendar is that there’s little regularity to it. I think the company should be promoting an internet pay-per-view at least once every two months. The company has announced its PPV output for most of the rest of the year but I would like 2013 to have a more regular approach. The last week of February should be the anniversary show, a new show could air in April (or perhaps Supercard of Honor could become an iPPV), followed by Best in the World in June, Death Before Dishonor in August, Glory By Honor in October and Final Battle in December. If things were going well other broadcasts could be slotted in on the “off” months but those would be the core six.

With attendance numbers currently low and critical acclaim hard to come by I would concentrate on keeping the league popular in existing markets. New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, and the Carolinas should be getting at least two spectacular cards per year in order to keep interest high. What would this entail precisely? First of all those should be the only areas considered for PPVs. When a card isn’t going to be broadcast it needs to be treated as something special and have big title matches and grudge bouts announced for it. A by-the-numbers approach simply isn’t enough to keep the company afloat anymore.

Looking at the announced locations for future pay-per-views it seems that ROH has finally stopped relying on NYC for its supercards. That’s something I’d continue as having pay-per-views coming from different areas alleviates some of the negatives of having the TV show come from the same town every week.

Wrestlers currently contracted to Ring of Honor are able to work for most other promotions as long as they are not required on an ROH show. Basically they are free agents but their contracts mean that they must give Ring of Honor dates priority. I think that’s a fair approach as it allows wrestlers freedom but ensures that ROH will have access to its top stars when needed. I would continue the approach for all of the company’s key performers.

Now let’s get to the fun part: roster changes! Right now Ring of Honor is struggling to elevate new talent and is far too heavily reliant on its thin main event crew of Kevin Steen, Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong. Kyle O’Reilly, Adam Cole and Michael Elgin have all been recipients of pushes of varying strength but none of them are ready to move up to the top of the card permanently just yet.

I would set a goal of having O’Reilly, Cole and Elgin ready as headline talent by the beginning of 2013. The company can just about hang on with its existing four-men main event team if they aren’t booked against one another too often and are used to build up new stars and aid with the mid-card scene where possible. Tommaso Ciampa, Mike Bennett, Jay Lethal, PAC and TJ Perkins should be solidified as the stars of the middle ranks.

Right now the roster lacks depth. That’s something that could easily be rectified by hiring new talent. There’s no financial concern there because the ROH contract system is to sign guys to contracts that give ROH first dibs on using them on any particular date and paying them an agreed sum for any appearances they make. They are not given an annual salary or paid to sit at home. That means that Ring of Honor is in a position to sign a fair number of stars.

The first man I’d sign (and I will continue on the assumption that I’d be able to convince everyone I want to sign with the company to do so) would be John Hennigan (formerly WWE’s John Morrison). He’d be the ideal man to bring into the company as he wouldn’t look out of place in headline matches and is talented enough not to encourage resentment from fans or wrestlers. Realistically I imagine he’d sign a one year contract as I suspect he’ll be back in WWE by 2013.

The other former WWE talents I’d sign would be Harry Smith and Montel Vontavious Porter. Smith is big enough to look like a monster compared to the average ROH worker and I have what I believe to be a nice storyline direction for him (which will be outlined below). Having the son of the British Bulldog working in ROH would be a healthy talking point too. MVP would be hired because I believe he could teach many members of the locker room a lot about creating a successful gimmick, cutting a promo, and connecting with a crowd. He’s passionate about the independent wrestling scene too, which would come across when promoting the product.

I’d approach Alex Shelley and Jimmy Rave about returning at Best in the World (more on this below) and I’d do everything I could to encourage the Super Smash Brothers to sign a contract. I believe they would be a great addition to the promotion’s tag ranks and could produce some sizzling encounters with the Young Bucks and the C&C Wrestle Factory.

I’d like to sign Sami Callihan, Johnny Gargano, PAC, and Tony Nese but I’m unsure of whether that would be possible due to their affiliation with Dragon Gate USA. I imagine I’d be able to sign at least some of them and I have at least now stated that that would be my goal. Callihan would join Cole, O’Reilly and Elgin as men I’d want prepared for main event spots by January 1^st 2013.

For clarity I will recap my intended roster below:

Adam Cole

Alex Shelley
Andy Ridge
Caprice Coleman
Cedric Alexander
Charlie Haas
Davey Richards
Eddie Edwards
El Generico
Grizzly Redwood
Harlem Bravado
Harry Smith
Jay Briscoe
Jay Lethal
Jimmy Jacobs
Jimmy Rave
John Morrison
Johnny Gargano
Kenny King
Kevin Steen
Kyle O’Reilly
Lancelot Bravo
Mark Briscoe
Matt Jackson
Michael Elgin
Mike Bennett
Mike Mondo
MVP
Nick Jackson
PAC
Player Dos
Player Uno
Rhett Titus
Rhino
Roderick Strong
Sami Callihan
Shelton Benjamin
Steve Corino
TJ Perkins
Tommaso Cimapa
Tony Nese

That’s a roster of forty-one. While that may sound excessive I believe it’s a number that allows enough flexibility for the booking process without being unwieldy. There would be less strain on the homegrown main event crew thanks to the signing of Morrison and MVP and a multitude of young stars being groomed for top positions in the near future. There are enough options in that list to sufficiently liven up ROH cards over the coming months with fresh matches and new booking options.

That brings me (neatly, I feel) to what exactly I’d be booking. I’ve chosen Best in the World as a starting point as it provides a good time to draw rivalries to a close and kick off news ones. Here’s the current announced card:

ROH world championship – Kevin Steen defends against Davey Richards

ROH world tag team championship – Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team defend against The All Night Express
ROH world TV championship – Roderick Strong defends against Tommaso Ciampa and Jay Lethal
Fit Finlay v Michael Elgin
Eddie Edwards v Homicide
Adam Cole v Kyle O’Reilly
Mark and Jay Briscoe v The Guardians of Truth

I’ll start at the bottom and work my way up. Right now it’s not been revealed who Truth Martini’s lined up to face the Briscoes. This is what I alluded to when I mentioned having Rave and Shelley return at Best in the World. I’d bring them back as a regular tag team unit, managed by Truth, to give the tag team division a boost. Their return would really need a promo attached to it: they would get a strong babyface reaction despite being the allies of a heel, so they’d need to get some heat in order to encourage boos.

Alex Shelley would be returning to ROH to join the House of Truth

Cole and O’Reilly, as mentioned, are two guys I’d be trying to elevate to the headline level of the promotion. In order for the booking plans I’ll reveal below to work effectively Cole would need to go over here, setting him up as the faster rising star of the two young men.

I would have Edwards beat Homicide because (as the eagle-eyed among you will have noticed) ‘The Notorious 187’ is not included in my roster list above. He’s a very good wrestler and character but I just don’t know how I’d use him in my Ring of Honor. Post-match I’d have Mike Mondo run-in and jump Edwards to kick off a brief programme with ‘Die Hard’.

Finlay v Elgin would be booked (and likely will be booked) as a very stiff encounter. I’d keep it short and have Elgin dominate the veteran for the most part. If Finlay is going to be used on the roster he needs to be putting guys over decisively. He’s not on my roster either, but I’d consider bringing him in for the occasional TV taping or iPPV.

The three-way TV title match would go on before intermission and would see Lethal eliminated first and Ciampa second. ‘The Sicilian Psychopath’s’ elimination would be via a desperation rollup so as to keep him looking strong in defeat. This is the match which should have either seen Ciampa’s losing streak end or become the new TV champion. I’d keep the gold on Roddy as I have someone better in mind to take it from him.

The tag title match would get around fifteen minutes and would feature a clean win from ANX. Titus and King have been kept waiting for far too long to have a run at the top. They’re ready for some increased exposure and would be getting a nice lengthy run as champions.

The main event “anything goes” match between Steen and Richards would get around twenty-five minutes. That’s a good length of match for both men as it discourages ‘The American Wolf’ from trying to cram too much in and makes it less likely that Steen will become winded. Steen would win via Package Piledriver.

I don’t know what the current plans are for TV tapings or how many episodes are already recorded but as soon as possible I would begin taking the TV output in the direction I want. That would begin with the announcement of a “bonus” iPPV in July.

That pay-per-view would focus on an influx of new talent and would be called something like Regeneration or Reboot (probably the former). An announcement declaring it as a way for new talent to get noticed would be made by Jim Cornette, who would also reveal that Adam Cole would be challenging for the ROH world title in the main event. This would bring out Kyle O’Reilly, who would want to know why he isn’t getting a world title shot against Steen. The answer there would be that Cole won at BITW. O’Reilly would be booked in a match against the debuting PAC instead.

The other major storyline development between Best in the World and Regeneration (I’ll refer to it as that for ease) would be Davey Richards’ new focus on the tag team division (because his loss to Steen would mean he gets no more title matches during Steen’s run). He would tease teaming more frequently with O’Reilly before revealing that he has encouraged his apprentice to pursue Steen and the ROH world championship. His new tag team partner would actually be revealed at Regeneration in a match opposite the C&C Wrestle Factory.

Regeneration’s other big match would be for the TV championship. A four-way number one contendership match would be held on TV with TJ Perkins coming out on top. If there was time TJP would get a televised win over Rhino before the big show, to further the gimmick the he’s used to target people the House sees as a threat to Strong.

This is the card I’d book for Regeneration:

ROH world championship – Kevin Steen defends against Adam Cole

ROH world TV championship – Roderick Strong defends against TJ Perkins
ROH world tag team championship – The All Night Express defend against The Young Bucks
The C&C Wrestle Factory v Davey Richards and a mystery partner
Michael Elgin v El Generico
Kyle O’Reilly v PAC
The Super Smash Bros. v The Bravados v The Guardians of Truth
Sami Callahan v Johnny Gargano v Tony Nese v Jay Lethal
Eddie Edwards v Mike Mondo

As I stated above, this card would be designed to put the emphasis on new talent and introduce some of the new faces I’d signed to the roster. In addition to those matches it would be announced that John Hennigan would be at the show. He would come out for a promo at the end of the show’s first half and be interrupted by Truth Martini and select members of the House of Truth. Their aim would be to recruit him to their stable. That wouldn’t happen. Instead we’d have a fresh Hennigan v HOT feud established nice and early.

Edwards would beat Mondo handily in their match. The four-way match featuring the three newcomers and Jay Lethal would be designed as a way of highlighting the newcomers and making Lethal look like a rising star. Callihan is the one I’d have the biggest plans for so he’d get the win (likely over either Nese or Lethal so as to keep Gargano protected a little too).

The three-way tag match would be designed to get over the two newcomer teams. Rave and Shelley are over enough to be able to not be harmed by an early elimination so that would happen in order to leave the two new teams on the roster to battle between themselves. The SSB would go over to give them a solid start in the promotion.

O’Reilly v PAC would probably be one of the best matches of the show. I’d want to keep the Team Richards member winning so he’d beat PAC at around the fifteen minute mark: enough time to produce something special and show how good PAC is. Elgin v Generico would again be designed to show how dominant ‘Unbreakable’ is so wouldn’t go longer than seven minutes. Generico wouldn’t be going down too easily but Elgin would look dominant.

The new member of Team Ambition (and Davey’s new regular tag partner) would be Harry Smith. This team would play on the fact that Richards has been favourably compared to Dynamite Kid and that Harry is the son of Davey Boy Smith, who teamed with Dynamite as the British Bulldogs. They would beat C&C in what I hope would be a match that shows how good all four men are.

The tag title match would be a continuation of the recent Bucks v ANX feud. While both units are already on the roster full time (I know the Bucks and TJP have “been given the summer off” but I think that’s a stupid decision so I’d ignore it) Titus and King would just be getting started on their first tag title reign and the Jackson boys are young enough to be considered future stars of the promotion so I would feel justified in putting this match onto the “rising stars” iPPV.

The TV title match would see TJ Perkins beating Strong clean in the middle of the ring for the belt. I think TJP is an excellent choice to build a mid-card division around as he could have great title defences against so many guys on the roster. On the subject of the television belt, once a guy has been a world champion they would not ever be booked to challenge for the TV gold again: it’s a title for rising stars, not former world champions who have nothing else to do.

The main event of Regeneration would be designed to get Cole over as a potential future champ by having him take ‘Mr Wrestling’ to his limit. After the match Steen wouldn’t shake hands (that’s completely out of character for him) but he would be asked to do something to indicate he sees potential in Cole.

TJ Perkins would not be getting the summer off on my watch

Then he’d return to the ring to give Cole a Package Piledriver. Just to keep him unpredictable.

Regeneration would be the real start of my booking plans. From there I’d place the emphasis on building new stars, keeping the tag team division interesting, and making Steen’s world title reign as varied as possible.

Years ago it wasn’t uncommon for ROH championships to be defended every weekend. Over the last several years title bouts have become far less common. Davey Richards had the ROH world title for eleven months but only made ten successful defences and the Kings of Wrestling held the tag straps for almost a year but only defended them nine times. All Ring of Honor’s titles would be defended with a greater degree of regularity, and I would strive to vary Steen’s reign in particular as much as possible.

After July’s Regeneration the next scheduled iPPV is Death Before Dishonor on September 15^th. For that show I would build up a three-way rivalry between Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Kevin Steen. O’Reilly would become increasingly bitter about Cole’s success as a singles grappler and Cole would claim that he always wanted to make Future Shock work but gave up and focused on his own career because O’Reilly had no interest in their team. Steen would do all he could to play the two former teammates off against one another.

During the build for that feud Steen would make title defences at house shows against the likes of Lethal, Strong and Edwards. I’d try bringing in Lance Storm and Finlay for live event title bouts too. I like the idea of Steen being in tag matches with Jimmy Jacobs and-or Steve Corino on a Friday against his title match opponent for the Saturday. That would be the format I’d try and use.

Sometime in August I’d book Steen in a title defence O’Reilly on a Saturday and have then book Steen, Jacobs and Corino v Richards, Smith and O’Reilly on the Friday. That’s just an example of the sort of approach I’d be trying to take with these house shows. Without typing out every single card I can’t be much more specific (and I have no intention of writing out card after card for shows that will never happen), but it gives you an idea of the approach I’d be striving for.

Following that three-way feud (which I’d want to climax in September) I’d shift Steen gradually in the direction of Michael Elgin. I’d build towards a title match between the two at Final Battle and begin foreshadowing it from around September, which should hopefully get fans geared up for it. At Glory By Honor XI on October 13^th Steen would defend the title against John Hennigan. I think by that point the former ‘Monday Night Delight’ would have had time to embed himself in the promotion and be over as either a face or a heel (see below for how I’d use Hennigan). Whatever he was over as he’d be a heel at GBH: it’s being broadcast from Canada, proud home of ‘Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare’.

The autumn is when I’d really varying the wrestlers getting title matches with Steen. Charlie Haas, Kenny King, Jimmy Rave, and Shelton Benjamin would be towards the top of that list, and newcomers like Harry Smith, PAC and Tony Gargano would hopefully be ready too.

I’d put Survival of the Fittest on iPPV in November, and have Steen defend his gold against Roderick Strong. Part of the build for that match would be the increasingly fraught relationship between Elgin and the rest of the House of Truth: ‘Unbreakable’ would want the title for himself but the House’s “chosen one” would be Strong. It would be designed to lead into their the Steen v Elgin clash at Final Battle.

Before I get to Final Battle let me take a step back and detail the star building process and the booking of the tag team division.

The All Night Express would be the lead tag team in Ring of Honor for the foreseeable future. I would have no plans of taking the belts off of them until at least 2013, and would instead focus on giving them a run that allows them to face a variety of opponents and show how good they are as a unit. Title reigns that continue getting the champions over are always the best.

Their feud with the Young Bucks would be scaled back but would be an ongoing theme. I’d want the Bucks to be seen as an ever-present threat to the championship. The same goes for the Briscoes, although I’d wait a while before promoting a match between those units because they only feuded last year (which is recent on the ROH timescale). WGTT would be promoted as being one of the bigger threats too, although there would be no mutual respect between them and ANX because the former WWE boys are dastardly heels.

For ease I’ve listed the regular combos I’d be booking below (yes, another list!):

The All Night Express – Rhett Titus and Kenny King

The Bravado Brothers – Lancelot and Harlem Bravado
The Briscoe Brothers – Mark and Jay Briscoe
The C&C Wrestle Factory – Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander
The Guardians of Truth – Alex Shelley and Jimmy Rave
Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs
The Super Smash Bros. – Player Uno and Player Dos
Team Ambition – Davey Richards and Harry Smith
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team – Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas
The Young Bucks – Nick and Matt Jackson

I think that gives the tag team divison some nice depth and provides plenty of variety for ANX’s reign. In addition to regular tag bouts they’d be defending in three- and four-way matches on occasion, to keep things varied, and I’d be keen on booking units of established main eventers or rising mid-carders together once in a while to change things up and have some different faces in different positions (which used to happen years ago and was usually highly  enjoyable). As an example I think a live event would be nicely spiced up by having Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong or Johnny Gargano and Sami Callihan being granted a tag title match.

I would allow Team Ambition to rise through the ranks slowly, giving them feuds with teams like the Young Bucks and WGTT to keep them occupied. That’s not to say that they wouldn’t be getting a title match at any point but if they were to challenge for the belts they’d lose due to interference from a team they were feuding with. I would want to save a proper ANX v Team Ambition feud for the end of the year so as to promote a clash between the two teams at Final Battle.

The star building process would, as I’ve mentioned, be something I’d want to concentrate a lot of time and effort on. If ROH is to survive indefinitely new stars need to be created who can keep existing fans satisfied while also attracting new ones.

That’s a large part of the reason I would bring in John Hennigan and MVP. They can help attract new fans while not being a deterrent to existing ones (I’m sure some people would say they would stop watching ROH if either or both of these guys were signed, but not enough to make any impactful difference on the company’s success).

As outlined above Hennigan would be introduced at Regeneration and would be placed immediately into a feud with the House of Truth. Working against an effective heel like Truth Martini should help establish Hennigan as a face and would open him up to immediate matches against Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley, Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong. Those are all fresh pairings that should satisfy anyone watching.

I would want to gradually build Hennigan up for the aforementioned world title match at Glory By Honor XI in October. If he came in and immediately had a title match he’d be resented by wrestlers and fans alike, but after four months I think he’d have put enough time in to warrant a match without any backlash. His name value would hopefully aid the selling of that show too, especially if he was given a pinfall victory over Steen on TV in the weeks before the event.

From there I’d put him into a rivalry with Eddie Edwards, designed for Hennigan to gradually go heel. It’s possible his match with Steen would see him permanently switched anyway but even if not he’d be a full-on bad guy by the time he clashed with Edwards at Final Battle in December.

MVP (and if I was unable to use that name I’d ask him to use his old Antonio Banks moniker, possibly altered to Antonio Banks Cash) would be introduced on television as the newest member of the Embassy. I used to love the Embassy having members that didn’t really look right together and that would be the case with MVP (or ABC) and Ciampa. I’d consider adding Andy ‘Right Leg’ Ridge to the stable as well, just to bulk the numbers up a bit.

MVP would be used in a star maker role, feuding with new babyface talent like PAC and Johnny Gargano, as well as existing good guys like TJP and Jay Lethal. He wouldn’t be jobbed out, but his role would be to help other guys get over as mid-card talent. I think Nana and company would help him to stay on the heel side of the fence and not garner unwanted popularity. I’d sporadically book him in tag matches alongside Ciampa and, towards the end of the year, have him challenge for the world title at a live event.

The newcomers wouldn’t all be earmarked for top spots. PAC and Johnny Gargano would be used a mid-card babyfaces alongside TJ Perkins and would be considered for stronger, headline, pushes in the second half of 2013 (or sooner if ROH suffered a sudden talent crisis). Tony Nese would join Mike Bennet and Tommaso Ciampa as mid-card heels, and together this group of men would form the core of ROH’s middle card.

Sami Callihan is one new guy I’d be pushing towards the top immediately. A simple but effective storyline would be employed for him: he would announce his intention to face and beat every top star in Ring of Honor and eventually capture the ROH world championship. From there it would simply be a matter of having him defeat any mid-card wrestler he faces and suffering the occasional loss to main event names, before getting a victory over them in a tag battle or rematch.

I would want Callihan to be considered one of the company’s top names for January 2013, at which point he’d become heavily involved in the world title picture.

I’ve mentioned Final Battle a lot above, so I feel it would probably be a good idea to outline the card I’d book. The show’s date and location have yet to be announced, so I’ll say now that I’d like to broadcast it from Philadelphia on December 29^th. It’s been too long since ROH put on a show between Christmas and New Year and I’ve always liked Final Battle falling in that week.

Here’s the card:

ROH world championship – Kevin Steen defends against Michael Elgin

ROH world tag team championship – The All Night Express defend against Team Ambition
John Hennigan v Eddie Edwards
ROH world TV championship – TJ Perkins defends against Kyle O’Reilly
Adam Cole v Sami Callihan
PAC v Roderick Strong
The C&C Wrestle Factory v The Young Bucks v WGTT v The Bravado Brothers
The Guardians of Truth and Rhino v The Briscoes and Jay Lethal

Some of these matches may be considered filler (the four team match and the six man bout, I’m looking at you) but they’d be built up on TV beforehand and have a reason for happening. The four team match would very possibly be a number one contenders match for a guaranteed shot at whoever holds the gold at the Eleventh Anniversary pay-per-view in February.

PAC v Roderick Strong, O’Reilly v TJP and Cole v Callihan strike me as good matches to book to get those six men onto the show, and it would be easy to create disputes for them in the weeks leading up to the event. By this point all three members of Team Richards would either be displaying signs of a heel turn or would already have made the switch. I think that’s the best thing to do with Davey and his team right now and it could be done gradually over the course of the six months to Final Battle. Hennigan v Edwards, the tag title match and Steen v Elgin would be the three most heavily hyped bouts.

The results of the card would be decided closer to the time but I know some outcomes now. Smith and Richards would fail in their quest to take the gold from ANX and would heelishly attack the champions after the match to keep the feud alive. Their pal Kyle O’Reilly would be more successful as he would end TJ Perkins’ reign as TV champion and head into 2013 with the gold.

Most importantly Kevin Steen would lose the ROH title to Michael Elgin in the main event. That may seem a short reign for Steen (seven months) but I think by the end of the year Elgin will be the company’s hottest star and be ready to become the champion. I’d book him to turn on Truth Martini mid-match so that he becomes champion by himself and heads into 2013 as a strong face main event talent.

Early in 2013 I’d have an in-ring segment on ROH’s TV show in which a host of men come out claiming they deserve a shot at Elgin’s world title. Adam Cole and Eddie Edwards would say they’ve been winning for months and have earned a title match. Roderick Strong would say it was agreed Elgin would hand the title to him. Davey Richards would say he’s not had a title match in over half a year because of a “poor decision” made by Jim Cornette. Sami Callihan would say he’s beaten every top name ROH has to offer and is the future of the promotion. And finally, Kevin Steen would say he’s the former champion (and hopefully ad-lib something about every other man in the ring being boring) and so has a contractually obligated rematch.

After some storyline chit-chat from Cornette three singles matches would be announced for TV: Eddie Edwards v Sami Callihan, Roderick Strong v Adam Cole, and Davey Richards v Kevin Steen. Callihan, Cole and Steen would win those matches and face off in a three-way match to decide who challenges Michael Elgin for the world title at the Eleventh Anniversary Show.

Who would win? What else would be booked for that iPPV in February? It’s fairly ridiculous that I’ve thought even this far ahead without adding to the lunacy by saying who’d challenge ‘Unbreakable’ in February 2013. None of the above is going to happen in reality (or if it does it will be purely coincidental) but wouldn’t it be great if it did?

Hopefully I’ve some readers are a little more enthused about the current Ring of Honor product having read this. The potential for greatness is still there. The company just needs to find its form again.