That Wrestling Podcast Episode 22

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 22 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

I’ll start with an apology. Due to circumstances beyond our control there’s some pretty irritating background noise on this episode (more so than usual). The conversation can still be heard, it just requires attention.

JIMMY RAVE!!

The topic? It’s another Mount Rushmore discussion. Last time we discussed a hypothetical Rushmore for World Championship Wrestling, which was fairly straightforward because there aren’t a huge number of names that can realistically be suggested. This time we tackle Ring of Honor. It’s harder because ROH has had a larger number of names pass through that can be strongly associated with them.

This leads us on to a tangent about Jimmy Rave and Prince Nana. I reminisce about the period of time when they were the promotion’s top heel act. ROH has arguably never had a more effective bad guy than ‘The Crown Jewel’.

Also featured is a chat about how wrestlers carry championship belts. It’s niche but we manage to get some damn fine chat out of it. And yes, that was supposed to sound Alan Partridge.

Final Battle 2011 preview

Final Battle is always one of the biggest ROH shows of the year. As the first pay-per-view offering since the launch of the SBG TV show the 2011 instalment should be particularly noteworthy. Two returning names plus the second world title contest between American Wolves partners Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards should provide the highlights.
 
The first of the returnees is Kevin Steen, who was forced to leave ROH after a loss to El Generico in the main event of last year's Final Battle. 'Mr Wrestling's' journey back to the company has taken place over the intervening twelve months. You can catch up on the story here and here.
 
The match itself will probably be decent but nothing especially memorable. This is more about characters and storylines than it is about wrestling. That it's one of the hottest feuds in wrestling right now should tell ROH something about their approach: namely that sometimes fans do want more storylines and less wrestling.
 
I'll be very surprised if Steen loses this one. He's massively popular with fans (despite technically being a heel) and not someone ROH can afford not to use. He's returning for good. A swerve turn by Cornette, who will be at ringside, or Jimmy Jacobs, who'll be the special guest referee for the match, seems likely. How else is Steen going to win? Jacobs is probably the likelier to turn because it would allow ROH to book Corino alongside mid-card babyfaces against the dastardly "invading" heels. It would make sense from a storyline point of view.
 
The second man making his ROH return is Jimmy Rave. After several years away (a substantial amount of that time was spent in TNA doing not very much) Rave will return to Ring of Honor in a match against 'The Dominant Male' Tommasso Ciampa. I have mixed feelings about this match. I've been a huge fan of Rave since I first watched ROH, but his best work has always come as a heel associated with Prince Nana. Ciampa v Rave should be enjoyable but I'm not convinced fans will rally behind the former 'Crown Jewel'. Fans used to chant "Die, Jimmy, die" at him so I'll believe Rave can get over as a face when I see it.
 
I imagine Ciampa's undefeated streak will continue into 2012 to build him up as an opponent for the world champion, which necessitates a Rave loss. I'd love to see this match become some sort of angle with Rave returning to the Embassy but I doubt that’s going to happen.

Speaking of returns, Roderick Strong has an open challenge to be accepted at Final Battle. I think it will be answered by ‘That Young Knockout Kid’ Chris Hero. Hero last appeared for ROH back in August at the inaugural SBG TV tapings, losing a tag team match to Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team alongside Claudio Castagnoli (now Antonio Cesaro in FCW). Hero was originally rumoured to be heading to WWE but medical checks revealed a problem that led to them not signing him. Hero would make a great addition to the ROH main event scene, ideally as a babyface.

Hero v Strong would be my ideal match for the open challenge. It’s not confirmed and it’s entirely possible somebody else will be facing the House of Truth member but if it does go ahead I’ll pick Hero to win, hopefully setting him up as a major title contender for 2012. Nothing against Strong, but he’s faced Richards and Edwards multiple times. I’d like a change.
 
The rest of the undercard looks enjoyable for the most part. Michael Elgin v TJ Perkins will likely be a short and sweet showcase designed to further the Elgin push and give TJP some exposure. The tag team gauntlet match involving the Young Bucks, Future Shock, the Bravado Brothers, the All-Night Express and Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander should be a fun, fast-paced affair, and it will be nice to see Alexander, Coleman and the Bravados get a chance to wrestle on internet pay-per-view. It’s a match that could go to anybody, but I’ll pick Future Shock as they’re clearly seen as the future (no pun intended) of the tag division.

Haas and Benjamin defending the ROH world tag team championship against the Briscoes has the potential to be good, though the teams have wrestled quite a few times this year and I prefer the Briscoes’ characters to their wrestling. New champions? I doubt it. I think Haas and Benjamin are going to have the titles for a while yet.

The three-way match for the TV title should provide a culmination to several months of seemingly on-and-off storyline between Mike Bennett, El Generico and defending champion Jay Lethal. Lethal and Generico could have a great singles match but Bennett’s involvement will inevitably slow the pace and put a sports entertainment spin on proceedings. I have a feeling ‘The Prodigy’ will walk out as the new ROH world television champion: he’s been built up as a hot young prospect all year and I think the company will want to follow through on the hype fairly soon. What better way than by putting the mid-card championship on him?

The main event will see Davey Richards face off against his American Wolves tag team partner for only the third time in ROH history. This time it’s Richards who will be the defending champion, having dethroned Edwards in their first clash at Best in the World in June. This will be a match of the year contender, as was their BITW encounter, and should provide a fitting end to the year (something ROH takes more seriously than some companies I could mention).

 Look at the intensity!

Edwards has been trained by Dan ‘The Beast’ Severn for this match, which means we’re going to see more submission holds from ‘Die Hard’ than would normally be the case. Severn will apparently be at ringside, as will Team Richards members Kozina and O’Reilly. That should add a big match feel to the fight, similar to what you’d see in boxing, MMA or Japanese wrestling. This being ROH it’s not a guarantee that all the seconds will end up brawling around ringside. I’d say we’ll either see nothing much from them until after the match or Severn will take out Team Richards and allow Edwards to win back the title by either interfering or providing a distraction for Edwards to capitalise on.

I’m not actually predicting an Edwards victory. I think that if he does win it will be in the nature described above but I think it’s more likely Richards will retain the gold and hold onto it well into 2012. I’m still upset Edwards’ reign only lasted three months because he made a great babyface champion and is a far better all-rounder than Richards. The switch was made for a reason though, and that reason is that ROH wants to build the promotion around ‘The American Wolf’. They traditionally keep titles on guys for lengthy periods of time and as Richards has only been champion for six months (not a huge amount compared with some previous title reigns) I think he’ll retain. Of course ROH could now be heading in a new direction with the booking of their champions and Eddie Edwards becoming a two time champion could be a part of that, which would make my reasoning wrong. So be it. I’m still picking Richards.

I also think a heel turn is on the cards. Edwards could easily be booked to lose and then turn on Richards in a fit of anger after the match. The storyline so far has been that Edwards wanted to prove he was better than Richards and couldn’t, which cost him the title. That one-upmanship has carried over into the American Wolves’ tag team matches resulted in several high profile losses for the former tag team champions. Edwards turning heel would be a natural progression to the story and create some fresh feuds for 2012. Babyface Chris Hero versus heel Eddie Edwards, anyone?

ROH shows are rarely disappointing, even the ones that don’t have amazing line-ups on paper. As this one has several matches confirmed for it I think it ought to be a highlight of 2011 wrestling. The return of Kevin Steen and Jimmy Rave, as well as the second meeting between the American Wolves, have put ROH in a very good position to end 2011, and begin 2012, with a bang.

Predictions summary:

Davey Richards to defeat Eddie Edwards

Kevin Steen to defeat Steve Corino

Chris Hero to answer and win Roderick Strong’s open challenge

Tommasso Ciampa to defeat Jimmy Rave

Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team to defeat the Briscoes

Mike Bennett to defeat El Generico and Jay Lethal to become the new TV champion

Future Shock to win the tag team gauntlet

Michael Elgin to defeat TJ Perkins

Ki to Success

Homicide returned to Ring of Honor during the closing moments of last year’s Glory By Honor IX. ‘The Notorious 187’ had a staredown with then-world champion Roderick Strong, setting up what looked as though it could be an intense, long-running rivalry.

Sadly that long-running rivalry didn’t materialise. Homicide was kept waiting for a world title shot until February’s 9^th Anniversary Show where he lost a forgettable match to Strong.

Since then Homicide has been involved in an uninspiring program with the Embassy. Six months in and it’s still not entirely clear what the dispute is about. It seems to hinge on Prince Nana thinking of Homicide as a commoner. There’s been no indication that there’s more to the feud than that. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: plenty of good Embassy feuds have been based around that simple premise over the years. But with Homicide, a former ROH world champion, involved it does feel a little underwhelming.

 It doesn’t look as if the feud is going to be settled anytime soon so ROH need to find a way to spice things up a bit. The simplest way of doing that would be rehiring Jimmy Rave and Low Ki.

Rave was always a very effective heel for ROH and was at the peak of his career when paired with Prince Nana as ‘The Crown Jewel of the Embassy’. Bringing him back to the promotion would give the faction a figurehead and some legitimate star power. Tommaso Ciampa is good but he’s not ready to play the centrepiece of a heel group, while Rhino is best in his current role of enforcer.

I’m surprised Low Ki hasn’t returned to ROH already. He’s a talented in-ring performer with decent verbal skills who has always been popular with the Ring of Honor fans. He could have exciting matches with existing Embassy members Rhino and Ciampa as well as fellow proposed returnee Rave and is a logical choice for someone to support ‘The Notorious 187’.

The return of these two men would immediately create several new singles matches to keep the Embassy v Homicide feud running, as well as various tag team combinations for TV and house shows.

Not only would bringing these men back help elevate a current mid-card feud into something more meaningful it would help the promotion’s long-term prospects too. The ROH world title scene currently involves only champion Davey Richards and former champions Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong. Once the Embassy v Rottweilers feud was concluded Homicide, Low Ki and Rave would be a welcome addition to the list of contenders.

The tag ranks would also benefit from these comebacks. Rhino and Ciampa could be placed together as a regular combo and Low Ki and Homicide could reunite as the Rottweilers to go after the tag team championships (before, after or during their individual challenges for the singles gold). Either of those teams would be interesting opponents for Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team and could likely produce something interesting with the Briscoes and Future Shock too.

I’d like the return of these two men to begin with Nana announcing that he has a new star who will debut at the next TV tapings to defeat Homicide. At the tapings the Embassy would come out to cut a promo against Homicide before hyping up the new man. Parade of Charioteers would play and Rave would make his way to the ring, hopefully to his customary intense heat and chants of “die, Jimmy, die.”

Rave would win the match with interference from other Embassy members, prompting Homicide to demand a tag match at Final Battle with Rave and any member of the Embassy he chooses facing Homicide and “a mystery partner.” The feud could continue on videowire updates, at house shows and in TV segments until the December pay-per-view, where Homicide’s mystery partner would naturally be revealed as Low Ki and they would exact revenge with a win over the heels (preferably Rave and Rhino to keep Ciampa’s winning streak intact).

Whether this method for the returns is used or another is devised doesn’t matter, ROH needs to bring these guys back in. It would spice up a fairly tedious feud and give the company some much needed star power while it grooms other acts for top spots. Rave and Low Ki are too good not to use.