The Future of ROH

At the start of the year I was positive, hopeful even, about Ring of Honor's future. Jim Cornette had been shown the door, Kevin Steen was the world champion, and the company was coming off of a very good Final Battle show. Cornette being gone meant Delirious would be free to pursue his own creative vision, one that I was interested in seeing. Steen being the champion was good because in the past ROH had had trouble manoeuvring the title onto guys when they were at their hottest. They'd managed it with Steen and fans hadn't turned on him, another norm. Things looked promising for the league.

For the first half of the year I was impressed with what I saw. Technical issues aside the promotion's iPPV output from the Eleventh Anniversary to Border Wars was excellent. It was almost certainly the best string of major shows that ROH had mustered in years. The match quality was dependable at every level of the card, there was logical show to show development, and an interesting (if utterly unoriginal) central plot (Aces and Eights... sorry, I mean SCUM!).

That hot streak ended, ironically enough, at Best in the World. The main event didn't help. Mark Briscoe versus Jay Briscoe has never struck me (and likely never will) as a worthwhile big show main event. It's a B show-slash-Friday night show-slash-DVD taping-slash-TV taping level central attraction at best. Yet it was the match that went on last at BITW.

That Jay had won the championship had disappointed me. Steen had a good few months left in his reign and it felt like his natural successor was Michael Elgin (although current champion Adam Cole would have worked well as the man to replace him too). Not only did 'Mr Wrestling's' reign reach a premature end but it came at the hands of a man I didn't feel was a logical choice for the role.

The post-Best in the World TV tapings saw Jay and Mark written off TV, with the championship being declared vacant a week or two later. I've written about the title vacation to a fairly great extent. Basically it shouldn't have happened. Jay should have been dropped the title at the June 23^rd TV taping or agreed to come back to lose it in a one off appearance (sometime in July, realistically). The title's lineage is meant to be an important part of Ring of Honor and should have been protected. The company and Jay Briscoe should know that.

The title tournament that followed was a blown opportunity. Instead of making it something to attract new viewers, introduce new regular talent, experiment with a new creative direction or promote genuine dream matches it was a rushed affair that didn't achieve half of what it could have. The eventual victor, Adam Cole, was a good choice to become champion nineteen. His reign and the tag work of reDRagon, The American Wolves, and the Forever Hooligans are some of the sparse highlights of the promotion.

 

Highlights of Ring of Honor

 

The first half of 2013 saw ACH, Silas Young, Adam Page, and Tadarius Thomas become regulars. The second half of the year has no such names to boast. Without new names appearing and established names moving on the development of younger guys and new stars grinds to halt. That's always been the case for ROH and it's beginning to happen here.

As things stand at the moment there's little about Ring of Honor I find appealing. I’m not as uninterested as I am in TNA (ROH would have a long way to go before they sunk to those levels), nor do I think the company's in the bad shape it was this time last year, but I do feel it's become stagnant.

The lead plot of ‘The Panama City Playboy’ going bad and feuding with Jay Briscoe and-or Michael Elgin is fine, but alone it's not enough to hold interest in ROH. Cole is a fine champion and an enjoyable antagonist while 'Unbreakable' is a very good powerhouse babyface but neither man has the charisma of Kevin Steen. As long as he's around he's always going to be one of the promotion's biggest stars and needs to be treated as such. I appreciate his current work opposite Michael Bennett is designed to elevate Bennett (and protect Steen from overexposure) but it can only go on for so long before he loses steam and the amount of good he can do decreases.

I want ROH to succeed. I've liked what the company has stood for in the past and believe it presents a better alternative to WWE's approach than does TNA. But if the people running the company want it to be as good as it can be changes are needed. They can probably muddle through to the end of the year with the current approach but they should really be working on having something solid for 2014. To get back onto the streak they had early this year they need focus on crafting a riveting new lead storyline supported by engaging secondary ones and new talent. It's a challenge I feel Delirious and the roster are more than capable of meeting.

Generation Next

This year has seen ROH introduce several new wrestlers to the roster. This is something that's been needed for a while. Being a small promotion Ring of Honor requires a steady stream of new names to keep them in fresh matches and avoid stagnation.

At the top of the list of new talent is ACH. I've written about him before, specifically the potential for him to become one of the company's biggest names if he sticks around for long enough. The same is true of his Adrenaline RUSH tag team partner Tadarius Thomas. The promotion isn't rushing things. The long approach is being taken, putting them in a tag team and letting them earn their way up the card with time.

That's how it works in ROH. Wrestlers work hard enough to make fans want to see them moved up the card. It's a meritocracy. That's one of ROH's greatest appeals. To me, anyway.

 

ROH's present shaking hands with ROH's future

 

There are guys like QT Marshall, Matt Taven and Adam Page too. QT's become a comedy act. Considering that I've yet to see him do anything special that seems like a pretty good use for him. Taven’s currently epitomising Ring of Honor mediocrity with the TV strap. He could progress but frankly I think he’s found his niche as a mid-card guy who can provide a speedy match that keeps the crowd interested.

 

Page, on the other hand, may he someone the company's got plans for. His All Star Extravaganza V outing against KUSHIDA is certainly indicative of there being bigger and better things in his future. He may have lost, but facing outside talent is generally something only significant names get to do.

 

Then there's Silas Young. He's not had any significant wins yet, unless you count his qualification for the ROH world title tournament (which I don't). He has, however, wrestled against big names Davey Richards, Kevin Steen and Tommaso Ciampa. He lost to all three but it's matchmaking that hints he's viewed as someone with potential, another guy to grow into a headline role.

His 'Last Real Man on Earth' gimmick is either bland or mildly amusing depending on your point of view. Personally I don't think it's prominent enough to be anything other than I offensively bland. If developed it could become something worthwhile. Ring of Honor currently being light on noteworthy personalities could help in that regard too. The lack of big characters would help to make Young's gimmick stand out even more.

Young is someone I think Ring of Honor should be building their future around. He's young enough to get established and maintain a top spot for several years but past the age where he's likely to interest WWE. That's perfect for ROH as it gives the company someone they can construct storylines around without worrying about how long they've got them for. He works the traditional, hard-hitting ROH style well (he is, I feel compelled to point out, the nephew of Stan Hansen). If he can master frenetic ending sequences and deliver half decent promos on a regular basis he could make an excellent addition to the company's upper echelon.

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

Supercard of Honor VII review

Supercard of Honor VII had a tough act to follow coming four weeks after Ring of Honor's stellar 11^th Anniversary Show. That event had delivered two title changes, several excellent matches, and a well-executed surprise ending. While the Supercard looked good it was going to have to be a damn fine show to better all of that.

Did it manage it? No. It did come very close but in my opinion the card celebrating ROH's eleven year existence was a touch better. That's not to sell this show short. Once again everyone on the roster pulled together to put on an above average wrestling show. There was only one match that could, if you were being slightly unfair, describe as a bit of a damp squib (the TV title match) but that was made up for by two incredibly hot matches (Elgin v Lethal and reDRagon v The American Wolves) and a very surprising result.

That result came in the evening's main event. Jay Briscoe defeated Kevin Steen. There was no DQ and it wasn't a Dusty Finish. Briscoe beat 'Mr Wrestling' fair and square in the centre of the ring to become the ROH world champion.

Well that's what we're told happened at any rate. Unfortunately many watching live and anybody tuning in to watch the show on ROH's website right now has to take the word of others for this because the decision wasn't broadcast live. The promotion's technical difficulties returned once again during the most important match on the card.

In the interest of fairness I'll point out ROH has apologised for the fault several times. That’s the right thing to do but steps need to be taken to ensure this doesn't happen again. Cuts in the feed are the reason ROH dissolved their relationship with GFL and started steaming iPPVs themselves. They've done a mostly good job at doing so but they can't afford to start going through those problems again just as they're starting to win back fans.

Border Wars, scheduled for the beginning of May, needs to receive a perfect stream. Whatever checks need to be made need to be made several times more than required. Money needs to be spent guaranteeing Border Wars doesn't suffer this snag. The promotion's reputation has already taken a battering in this area. They need to pull off a perfect show from Toronto.

Back to Supercard of Honor VII. The broadcast began with a lengthy, but well-produced, video package recapping the 11^th Anniversary Show and Nigel McGuinness's troop-rallying TV promo. That ended with Jay Briscoe telling Kevin Steen the only way he'd beat him is if he killed him. Something about that claim seemed a little hyperbolic. Amusingly Kevin Kelly repeated this comment from Briscoe with a completely straight face during the opening moments of the live broadcast, as though there really was a chance we'd see Steen resort to murder to keep his belt.

Out first were RD Evans and QT Marahall. 'The Barrister' cut a promo that seemed to last an age regarding who'd be teaming with 'God's Gift'. It drew heat, but more because the fans were bored. Chants for wrestling drowned him out as he teased QT's tag partner would be Hiroshi Tanahashi or Lacey Von Erich. It ended up being 'The Barrister' himself, which earned a surprisingly loud and positive reaction.

What followed was a fast-paced, well wrestled match that portrayed ACH and Tadarius Thomas as stars. They looked great in between the comedy spots of Evans. It was far better than if expected. The faces got the win with a pair of kicks and ACH's Big Bang Attack.

Kevin Kelly went into a recap about Charlie Haas's retirement at WAR on March 30^th. We were told nobody knew what Shelton Benjamin was going to do just as the man himself came out to the ring. He cut a promo. Yes, vaunted mic maestro Shelton Benjamin got promo time in the second segment of an ROH show, just after RD Evans had had the fans chanting “We aant wrestling!” The crowd met this chatter with various chants too.

Cheeseburger (that guy on the ring crew that Charlie Haas hates) was brought into the ring. Shelton told him he respected him for standing up for himself. Mike Bennett came out to add to the promofest and tease a move to another promotion (WWE for example). All of this ended with Cheeseburger insulting Maria, which earned him a punch to the mouth from 'The Prodigy'.

The Bennett v Benjamin match that followed was pretty enjoyable but the crowd seemed reluctant to get into it. They did come to life at certain points, most notably when Bennett mocked the mannerisms of Maria's ex-boyfriend CM Punk and a spot where 'The First Lady of ROH' inadvertently let Shelton grope her. The latter led to a great spot where Bennett superkicked his girlfriend off the apron (accidentally of course) and then ate a superkick from his opponent for a convincing false finish.

It was a good night to be Shelton Benjamin

Bennett won off a 'Brutal' Bob assisted roll-up. The fans chanted "Thank you, Shelton!" afterwards. It's a pity they couldn't have been that vocal during his bout. If this was Benjamin’s last ROH appearance he’s going out with a whimper rather than a bang.

Match three was the number one contendership match between Jay Lethal and Michael Elgin. They were portrayed as even competitors and freely swapped moves and spots. Highlights included Elgin reversing a sunset flip into a power slam; Lethal hitting two suicide dives, a springboard drop kick and a third suicide dive in quick succession; 'Unbreakable' lifting Lethal off of the apron for a suplex while perched on the second rope; a great exchange of failed finisher attempts; and a sequence which saw Elgin no-sell the Lethal Injection, only to be caught with a Lethal Combination and a Macho Elbow for a great near fall.

The match finished on a high with Elgin crushing his opponent with three power bombs: one off the top rope, a second into the turnbuckle, and then a third standard Elgin Bomb. That it took such an effort to put Lethal down protected him in defeat.

Before the two men could shake hands after the match SCUM ran in through the crowd. That prompted the ten men tag match. It was dubbed a war (as in Ladder War, ROH’s answer to ladder matches) and featured the predictable wild brawling at the start. When it settled down into a more traditional match Mike Mondo was picked to work the isolated babyface routine. He eventually tagged in Whitmer and the match became more even, all the babyfaces involving themselves for crowd-pleasing high spots.

The shortcuts came in eventually. Corino attacked (pretty poor) colour commentator Caleb Seltzer to kick off an anarchic sequence that saw Cliff Compton chucking powder about and BJ Whitmer getting handcuffed to the bottom rope. SCUM got the win after Rhino Gored Caprice Coleman. Corino cut another promo (he’d grabbed some mic time before the match started) telling fans they were supporting the losing team in ROH.

As fans in the Hammerstein Ballroom enjoyed the intermission we at home were treated to a lengthy video package recapping Jay Briscoe's failed world title challenges. For those wondering he lost to Xavier, Samoa Joe (twice), Takeshi Morishima, Nigel McGuinness, Jerry Lynn, and Roderick Strong. All featured hefty amounts of outside brawling although it was more prevalent in the earlier matches. That shows Jay's improvement as a wrestler over the years in my view.

Nigel McGuinness joined Kevin Kelly as colour commentator for the second half of the show. He got a pleasantly loud reaction from the fans. Seltzer getting written off the show to make for McGuinness felt like those  scenarios we used to see on ECW pay-per-views when elaborate plots would be concocted to get Joel Gertner out of the announce booth.

In the ring the second half kicked off with 'Machine Gun' Karl Anderson and his distinctly Japanese entrance music facing ROH regular and triple crown champion Roderick Strong. They had a lively exchange which didn't disappoint anyone tuning in to see signature moves and chops. There were plenty of both. Anderson won with the Ace Crusher after making three attempts to hit the move. 'The Messiah of the Backbreaker' shook hands and embraced Anderson after the match, further cementing his recent status as a tweener.

The TV title match was up next. Matt Hardy entered first, accompanied by Steve Corino and plenty of boos. Adam Cole got himself some cheers and the new champ, accompanied by a Hoopla Hottie and 'Mr No Pants' Truth Martini, got a mixed reaction. 'The King of Old School' gave Matt Hardy his own personal introduction, mentioning Divas Hardy had slept with and the number of Twitter followers he has before dubbing him 'The Jesus Christ of Professional Wrestling'. It got solid some heat. Cole got cheers. So did Taven, which was surprising.

The match was overshadowed in the early going when Truth had his Hoopla Hottie, introduced as Scarlet, sit on Nigel's lap. This distracted Kevin Kelly, which prompted ringside fans to instruct him to call the match. In a rare moment of initiative Kelly quipped “There’s a match on?” Comedy involving him is usually wholly unintentional.

The match got going after that but suffered from a truncated run-time. They constructed some very good three-way spots. That's rarely a priority in the triple threat matches of certain other companies, one of which takes such a lax attitude to them that they’ve recently made them compulsory for an entire division. It’s nice that ROH makes use of such bouts. Also nice to see (well, hear) were the fans yelling at Hardy that he's fat. It's always nice to know that I'm not alone in my dislike of a wrestling figure.

Martini distracted the referee as 'The Sensei of Mattitude' made a cover. Fans chanted "Same old shit!" but quickly changed their tune when Cole kicked Hardy in the privates (he'd gotten to his feet to shout at the ref) and eliminated him with a small package. The fans were ecstatic that the loathed Hardy was gone. Moments later Corino was in the ring distracting Cole, which allowed Taven to sneak in his modified DDT finisher to get his second straight iPPV victory over ‘The Panama City Playboy’.

The match was great in places but the ongoing ROH v SCUM war and the number of seconds at ringside meant that it was ultimately more of an overbooked angle than a satisfying match. Not everything on an ROH show needs to be a perfect wrestling display though. Sometimes stories need to take priority. Taven's reign is still going and he's got plenty of time for good wrestling.

This guy wants his tag belt back

The American Wolves v reDRagon took the semi-final spot. It's this sort of match that makes ROH's in-ring product so good. All four men wrestled like they were trying to steal the show and as though the tag team titles mean something. That makes them mean something.

No team had the upper hand for long. The momentum switched back and forth constantly which allowed the pace to remain fast. This one had its fair share of great spots: O'Reilly sunset flipping himself over a turnbuckle to the outside; Richards applying the Kimura to O'Reilly and the ankle lock to Fish at the same time; a springboard hurricanrana from Edwards to Fish caught in the ropes; and the Wolves using Chasing the Dragon. Just to make it clear they were heels reDRagon retained after a cheap shot from Fish on Richards, allowing O'Reilly to get the pin off a Handful of Tights™ and a schoolboy.

It was stacked with near falls and stiff kicks, like most matches featuring the four. It was exactly what fans (and I) wanted to see. Richards, Edwards, Fish and O'Reilly just pipped Lethal and Elgin to the match of the night.

Topping the bill was the ROH world championship match. Kevin Steen defending against Jay Briscoe. It had a sixty minute time limit allocated to it. That was unnecessary. 'Mr Wrestling's' not going for an hour.

The match built slowly, revolving around the two men exchanging stiff blows for the most part. It was good but nothing out of the ordinary. Jimmy Jacobs ran in at around the ten minute mark. Before he could do anything Mark Briscoe appeared to fight him backstage. The match continued. Steen appeared to get the advantage with the apron bomb but lost it when Jay kneed him in the back on an attempted Swanton. Briscoe got a high angle neck breaker for a near fall, at which point SCUM members Titus and Cliff Compton ran in. Veda Scott took a bump at the hands of 'Mr Media' at which point the feed cut out.

The video resumes with both men winded and the ROH locker room surrounding the ring before cutting out again. Coming back on for a final time we find that Briscoe somehow beat the world champion. Unless ROH have taken the unusual route of turning their history of dodgy stream feeds into a storyline it's pretty poor that the issue hasn't been fixed for the website (but I mentioned all of this above).

Carey Silkin got into the ring to continue his tradition of handing the new champion the title belt. They hugged as the Briscoe family flooded into the ring.

Steen stormed back in and shoved at the new champ. He had a microphone in his hand but he didn't say anything. He stood in silence as the fans chanted "That was awesome!' and "Thank you, Steen" before shaking Jay's hand, hugging what I presume were Briscoe's wife and child, and leaving. Fans then switched to chanting "You deserve it!" at Jay.

Briscoe asked for the old Briscoe Brothers Lynard Skynard entrance music to be played and it started just as the feed cut. Nice evasion of those rights laws, ROH!

 

Since day one...

 

I can’t see WWE bettering Supercard of Honor VII with WrestleMania XXIX. Nor can I see them providing anything as surprising as the Jay Briscoe world title win. I was certain that this would be a routine defence for ‘Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare’ en route to his match with Adam Cole at Border Wars (read my certainty here). It’s too early to say that Briscoe isn’t a good champion although I will say I’m not getting my hopes up.

Still, it made for a good ending to the pay-per-view. Let’s hope ROH can make it four in a row at Border Wars. While we at it we should cross our fingers for avoiding technical troubles too.