Column of Honor: 04.18.09 Part Two: Squeak, Squeak, Squeak

ROH Results: ROH in Montreal, Quebec, Canada April 17th, 2009

Pre-Show
-Grizzly Redwood & Alex Payne fought to a time limit draw.

Main Show

-The Super Smash Brother of Player Uno & Player Dos defeated the team of Ernie Osiris & Don Paysan.
-Daizee Haze defeated LuFisto.
-Chris Hero defeated Franky The Mobster.

The team of Kenny King & Rhett Titus defeated The Necro Butcher & Delirious via disqualification when Necro hit Titus with a chair.
-Tyler Black defeated Jimmy Jacobs.
-Kenny Omega defeated Austin Aries in a Four Corner Survival match that also included Jay Briscoe & Roderick Strong.
-The Embassy of Jimmy Rave & Claudio Castagnoli defeated the team of Colt Cabana & Brent Albright.

The team of Kevin Steen, El Generico, & “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson defeated ROH World Tag Team Champions The American Wolves of Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards & Sylvain Grenier.

Angles & Issues

Ric Flair was announced as appearing at the next set of Canadian shows July 24th and 25th.

Honored News

One Gate Closes, Another Dragon Gate Opens

The door to any possible Gabe Sapolsky return to ROH has been shut for the foreseeable future as Sapolsky announced that he would be working with Dragon Gate to book matches for Dragon Gate USA. DGUSA will bring in eight members of the Dragon Gate roster for every show and fill out the remainder with American independent talent. They announced their first show for July 25th at The Arena in Philadelphia, with CIMA, Dragon Kid, Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi already announced as appearing. There are plans to run six shows over the course of a year, two each in three different market—Philadelphia, Chicago and presumably Los Angeles (where DGUSA has run before) or New York. Sapolsky becomes a vice-president of the company with Satoshi Oji as President and Toru Kido as CGO & COO. More information on the start-up can be found at dgusa.tv.

Sapolsky’s greetings and mission statement take aim at some of ROH’s recent shortcomings, stating that the DGUSA shows will not be “B shows or throwaway matches” and that the shows will be a “haven” for the kind of action wrestling fans want to see. (Sapolsky on a previous blog has stated he never thought of any of his ROH shows as “B shows”, but looking and comparing some of those lineups demonstrates the obvious, that there were such types of shows during his booking run).

Given that ROH and Dragon Gate have had their problems as of late and it’s been made very public, I’d have to think this means that Sapolsky and ROH won’t be doing much business in the near-future.

This would also just be my pure speculation, but given that McGuinness and Danielson are not re-signing their ROH contracts, it leaves the door (or gate) open for possible appearances from those men or others from ROH who haven’t signed contracts on those shows.

Preview for ROH in Dayton, Ohio

ROH World Title Match–Jerry Lynn defends vs. Roderick Strong: Lynn needs a very strong (no pun intended) title defense here to keep the wolves at bay (the critics, not Richards and Edwards). Hopefully Lynn taking on babyfaces in his upcoming title defenses does not suggest a heel turn because of the criticism of him becoming champion and is rather to get the best competition and quality back and forth matches in the main event. Lynn and Strong could have a great scientific match if given the chance, with Strong’s stiff strikes being counterbalanced by Lynn’s savvy and ring awareness.

Special Challenge Match #1–Tyler Black vs. ROH World Tag Team Champion Davey Richards: A real good main event match at Proving Ground 2009 went Black’s way, but Richards has upped his game and was neck and neck with Black all the way throughout. Expect some great back and forth here, with Black attacking from different angles and Richards going full-force straight at Black.

Special Challenge Match #2–Bryan Danielson vs. ROH World Tag Team Champion Eddie Edwards: The tag champs are being split up in singles matches so while Richards fights Black, meanwhile Edwards matches up against Danielson. This should go Danielson’s way given his skills and experience, but if he underestimates Edwards and his willingness to go to any depths to win, or fails to remember his opponent has back-up, then he may get into trouble.

Proving Ground 2009 Night 1 Rematch–Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The Dark City Fight Club: The DCFC were felled by Steen & Generico in their first encounter, but they remain tough opponents. They can take a licking and keep on ticking and they love to fight. Their bad ass nature could lead to them taking advantages, but Steen & Generico have comeback ability and can rally to a victory.

Special Attraction–Colt Cabana vs. Chris Hero: Colt is up to his joke-y ways but this Chris Hero he has to fight in 2009 is serious business. Hero wants only to knock people out, so mind games and practical jokes might not work here.

Tag Team Action–The Phoenix Twins vs. Austin Aries & Rhett Titus:Aries A-Double Manifesto may not actually be a written work, but rather the new relationship he seems to be forming with Titus and King. Tweek and Dash have great tag team combinations, but Aries is not just “A Star” but “The Star” of ROH. That in itself may be enough to get the win in this match.

Four Corner Survival–Claudio Castagnoli vs. Silas Young vs. Matt Cross vs. Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown: Claudio is the anchor man on this team that features the ever-cool Young, the returning Matt Cross and the debuting Rasche Brown. If Cross is on point then we could be in for some fun acrobatics and exchanges with Claudio.

Singles Action–Jimmy Jacobs vs. Egotistico Fantastico: Ego is one of the Chicago local talents being used on the undercard regularly. This should be a Jacobs win pretty handily.

New Matches for Upcoming Events

April 25th, 2009 – Chicago, Illinois

ROH World Tag Team Titles, Two out of Three Falls: American Wolves (c) vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico: If Danielson and Black fail to win the tag titles, we will get the next step in the Wolves vs. Steenerico feud, this time in a two out of three falls situation. I always loved ROH two out of three falls matches and the tag division in 2004 was filled with them.

Tag Team Action–Austin Aries & Rhett Titus vs. Alex “Sugarfoot” Payne & Silas Young: Austin Aries recently took a liking to Rhett Titus and Kenny King. In fact, Aries and Titus will join forces to battle the Phoenix Twins in Dayton. Now, it seems that “Addicted to Love” will have another opportunity to learn from “the greatest man that ever lived”. Titus and Aries will team once again in Chicago Ridge, this time taking on Silas Young and “Sugarfoot” Alex Payne. Young has taken issue with Aries’ mouth in the past, and Payne and Titus have competed with each other going back to academy days. What tricks of the trade will Aries show Rhett this time around? Can Sugarfoot pull off another upset in the Windy City?

ROHdds and Ends

-From the newswire: ROH officials are happy to announce that the charismatic Egotistico Fantastico has been added to the Dayton and Chicago Ridge events taking place on April 24th and 25th. In Dayton on the 24th, he’ll take on the maniacal Jimmy Jacobs in singles action, and in Chicago Ridge, he’ll face “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown. ROH officials are high on Ego’s talents and look forward to seeing him shine!

–Kayfabe Quote of the Week: “These fools! They threaten my crown jewel with attacks from the sky? They vow attack with hygienic papers? The Embassy will strike with precision at the source of these paper attacks; we will strike hard! Prepare!”–Prince Nana

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 04/18/2009

ROH World Champion—Jerry Lynn (champion since 04/03/09, NEW CHAMPION, 2 successful defenses)

–defeated Nigel McGuinness in Houston, Texas via pinfall to win the championship.

Next Defense: vs. Roderick Strong, 04/24/09 in Dayton, OH

V.1 Four Corner Survival: defeated Bryan Danielson, D-Lo Brown and Erick Stevens (04/04/09, Houston, TX)
V.2 Four Corner Survival: defeated Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries and Jimmy Jacobs (04/10/09, Philadelphia, PA, airs June 6th, 2009)

**

ROH World Tag Team Champions—American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) (champions since 04/10/09, NEW CHAMPIONS)

–defeated Kevin Steen & El Generico on April 10th, 2009 in a Tables are Legal match in Philadelphia, PA to win the championship. The match will air on May 30th, 2009.

Next Defense: vs. Bryan Danielson & Tyler Black, 04/18/09 in Markham, ONT, Canada

**

Top Feuds & Pairings:

-Jerry Lynn as the new ROH World Champion
-Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs
-Tyler Black has a title shot “in his back pocket”
-Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright
-Prince Nana & The Embassy vs. Bryan Danielson & Colt Cabana
Daizee Haze & Delirious in a trail of revenge against The Age of the Fall

ROH Home Theatre Station

ROH Videowire: April 14th, 2009

Colt Cabana has a special message for the ROH fans:

Honorarium

-Everyone and their mother’s mother has stated their thoughts on the WWE Draft, but I have to once again voice my opinion, as I do every year, about how “fake looking” the Draft appears to be. Yes I know, fake even for a “fake sport”. This is the third year in a row WWE has done that stupid Draft board and “computerized program”. Then they do that hideously awful cycle of screen shots of the wrestlers. Hey this isn’t “The Price is Right!” and we all know that shit is obviously set up. Can’t WWE at least go back to the lotto tumbler to make me at least have some suspension of disbelief? And of course the set ups to some of these guys (and gals)getting picked is just super obvious scripting that is against the obvious long-shot odds (for example, the odds of The Miz getting picked at the same time as he gets Morrison disqualified in his match ?) Of course I’d really they just rather go back to the way real sports do their draft, that is have the GMs picking wrestlers from round to round.

-I have to give a lot of credit to Kevin Steen as over the last two months worth of shows he has used the knee injury immensely well in storylines for his matches. It is a longstanding injury, but was “reaggravated” by the American Wolves at Final Battle 2008. Ever since then the knee has been a point of attack for many of his opponents and Steen always sells the injury well, escaping the pain of the attacks by the skin of his teeth.

-Thoughts on recent shows:

Injustice II:

Lumberjack Strap Match: American Wolves vs. Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens–SLAP THE PORPOISE! The bell keepers’ mustache looks like it’s about to come off!

I like that every wrestler wants a piece of either team, and that even Rhett Titus wants to whip someone, doesn’t matter who. Even one of the Ninjas are out in the daylight! The Wolves get the bad end of the business early on. Larry Sweeney should be attempting to buy off the lumberjacks with money. Good stuff throughout this match, but a cheap finish for the heels heading into Caged Collision.

Motor City Madness 2009:

Jay Briscoe continues to pleasantly surprise me by upping his promo game. He may end with the “Man Up” catchphrase, but it’s far from the only thing he says these days. He makes a great point at the beginning of this show in that he wrestled singles matches the first year he was in ROH before his brother was allowed to wrestle and that he did just fine in that division. It is an effective promo hyping up his non-title match against Nigel later that night.

I’m just noticing the ring is squeaky and maybe need some oil.

Bryan Danielson spends much of the early part of his match against Rhett Titus stretching the thigh-toral region of his opponent. It looks as painful as the word ‘thigh-toral” is ridiculous.

Rhett Titus says something right before the finish, but I can’t make it out. Is it:
1. Hot Pants!
2. Bye Fans!
3. Hi Lance!
4. None of the Above.

Aries is an awesome heel during the beginning of his match against Silas Young, including forcing the sound engineer to stop Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”, chiding the crowd including saying to someone “don’t eyeball me son!” Awesome.

Necro Butcher’s headbutt = ouch!

Necro and Brodie have a great brawl, real fun, but Lenny Leonard steals it with his comment about them fighting near the concession stand: “This isn’t Tupelo, Mississippi!”

Is it just a coincidence that Erick Stevens has been upping his game more ever since he restored the Mohawk to his dome? I think not.

SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK.

Dave Prazak actively rooting for a double count out in the Tyler Black vs. Jerry Lynn match was mad funny.

Black vs. Lynn is all shades of awesome and the crowd really loves it…until Bobby Cruise announces one minute left in the time limit…and the finish is obvious. Lynn does help the situation by hitting an awesome spike DDT right at the end, but this match should have had a conclusive finish to it. ROH really does needs to stop booking these time limit finishes. The fans do give both men very respectful rounds of applause at the end for what is indeed a fabulous effort, but you just know under a different booking philosophy there would have be a clear winner and that the end of the match would have electrified the crowd. With a finish in either direction, this would be the kind of match getting rave reviews all over the place right now. Instead, what was a hell of a match by both is likely going to be swept under the rug. If these two give this sort of effort and then some in a future title match we could be in store for a match of the year candidate.

Going Home

Get With the pROHgram:

Tonight: ROH on HDNet main events with Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright. It’s the Ricola Bomb versus the Crowbar submission!

Available Now: “Eliminating the Compeition” features Nigel McGuinness defending the ROH World Title versus Tyler Black versus Jimmy Jacobs versus Austin Aries.

April 25th, 2009: ROH on HDNet main events with Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black

April 25th, 2009: ROH returns to Chicago Ridge, Illinois for “The Homecoming II” and Jerry Lynn vs. Colt Cabana for the ROH World Title.

May 9th, 2009: ROH runs Edison, New Jersey, with Mike Quackenbush and Eddie Kingston making appearances.

Ringtones

I’ve been given the clarification from my friends in the comments section about the difference between the English middle finger and what is the sign of “V for Victory”. I definitely want to thank everyone for the corrections, but we’re missing the point… Nigel is giving someone the middle finger! Whether it is the faceless, silhouetted fans on his own T-shirt or in real life at ROH shows, that is the true injustice of them all! Off with his head!

Ahem.

Anyway, on with the feedback:

“What if?”

Posted By: Chris (Guest) on April 11, 2009 at 04:49 PM

Well, Chris, if that IS your real name…either you’re one hell of a psychic or someone knew something and didn’t tell the rest of us…! Just busting chops bro…hey I won’t lie, if Sapolsky brings in some of the top indy talent like Danielson and McGuinness to those Dragon Gate shows, he’s gonna do great business. However, will it kill ROH in “one fell swoop”? A new independent promotion that will run six shows a year against a well established independent promotion that runs forty shows a year and has PPV and TV coverage (such as it is)? I don’t think so. ROH may go down one day (and maybe sooner rather than later, at this point, it is conceivable but I tend to think not imminent), but it will be a culmination of several different factors that all lead to the bottom line of it not making money or being too cost-prohibitive to continue, not because its former booker is getting back into the business for what is the side-project of a successful Japanese promotion.

“I love Flair appearing for ROH, but if you think about it, an appearance by Flair would need to be advertised and hyped to up whatever “ratings” ROH gets on HD Net.”

Posted By: Sly Reference (Guest) on April 11, 2009 at 05:41 PM

You make a good point, and while ROH already has a collection of stars past and present in ROH and putting the company over, you can’t overlook the importance of Ric Flair to the business and what his words and his presence can add to the company at this point in time.

Joey Ryan in ROH is a very good thing. Workrate + character = what they need more of.

Posted By: ROHFAN (Guest) on April 12, 2009 at 01:15 AM

Also, one can never get enough “sleaze” in the professional wrestling industry.

You’re overblowing the Jerry Lynn as champion controversy imo. The majority of the whining is coming from the ROH message board where probably no more than 10% of all ROH fans post. And they aren’t even the majority there. Just a vocal minority. The way Lynn’s win was treated at the Texas show is a more accurate gauge. There were almost 2,000 people there from all the United States and the world. A far more diverse group than the ROH IWC.

Posted By: nomark (Guest) on April 11, 2009 at 04:21 PM

I don’t think you really hit on why people don’t like Lynn. I think it has more to do with ROH showing up on TV for the first time. It’s a time of great opportunity for ROH, but they’ve got a champion who isn’t very charismatic and can’t hold his own in interviews. Prior to TV, this wouldn’t matter as much, but it hurts to have your top guy not able to talk.

Posted By: Guest#9594 (Guest) on April 11, 2009 at 04:50 PM

Considering the ROH messageboard lit up like a Christmas tree this past week about Lynn’s title win, I’m not so sure I’m overblowing the issue. I will say this, Jerry Lynn can easily blow right past this IF he can create some fantastic main event title defenses against Strong and Colt Cabana next week. The way to the ROH fans hearts is through high-quality wrestling and I think the backlash will be quelled if Lynn delivers in this high-profile situation. I’m pulling for him.

I’ll echo your sentiments—ROH needs Danielson signed and sealed and if he’s not, it’s far more serious a situation than I think anyone has even really considered. It shows that there is a failure in ROH’s contract signing experiment but more importantly it opens the door to one of ROH’s top players eventually leaving for WWE or TNA. I think ROH may wind up regretting pushing aside Bryan Danielson as a top main event player, using him instead in the mid-card. Just because he has been ROH World Champion before doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need to be champion ever again. Danielson is one of ROH’s marquee names, one of the few remaining from the original days, THE biggest drawing card they currently have and aside from maybe one or two others (Aries, Lynn) one of the few remaining wrestlers you can ALWAYS count on to always have a match worth spending money on for each show. Maybe those who have championed Black or Lynn should have actually been pulling for Danielson to become the two-time champion and in fact “champion” ROH through this period of increase exposure. If Danielson is THE name for ROH, shouldn’t he be THE champion?

This is the “ECW 2000″kind of situation ROH might start to find itself if the top talent ever leaves ROH. ROH has always been able to sustain the loss of top talent because there was always someone else to fill in those shoes…now, it’s not so certain there is “THE” guy to turn to in ROH, not even Black at this point is a sure-thing. There is still a lot of uncertainty over what is to happen in ROH, and that’s undeniable.

How come there was no mention of Danielson becoming the first Triple Crown champion in ROH if he wins the tag titles with Black? I’d have thought that was a pretty major thing, and something Samoa Joe spent a while attempting (and failing) to do.

Posted By: ROHfan (Guest) on April 12, 2009 at 06:25 AM

I didn’t even realize that when I was writing up my previews, but that’s a great catch. Of course, ROH isn’t focusing on that aspect of it either. However, at this point he and maybe one or two others like Nigel would be the only ones capable of attaining that designation, considering ROH no longer has the Pure title and therefore anyone not a previous Pure champion couldn’t get to that point. Realistically, AJ Styles, Doug Williams, Matt Stryker, Jay Lethal and Samoa Joe at this point won’t be getting there.

Am i the only one who thinks Tyler Black isn’t World title material yet? Personally i’d like to see Roddy Strong as champ but Jerry Lynn is a good choice too.

Posted By: ScottishDragon (Guest) on April 12, 2009 at 07:30 PM

I still think Black is a great choice for champion, but I have to say, he has indeed lost all the moment he had been building up since mid-2008. Black needs something special and something huge to propel him to the title shot. Maybe it’s the win against Danielson that he’s been looking for that will get him there, but I do think that the longer he gets stuck in traction against Jacobs (and for all the winning he’s done against Jacobs as of late, you’d think that program would be over with, but the videowire program suggests otherwise), the less viable he may end up proving himself to be as an ROH champion. Sucks to say especially since I enjoy the hell out of his ROH work.

So, is Flair an idiot for turning down the QM he’d get for being SmackDown’s GM, or is he giving it back to the fans by doing these indy gigs for relative pittances?

Posted By: Hank (Guest) on April 12, 2009 at 10:45 PM

My guess is that with the number of appearances he is making and the $10-$15 thousand he makes per, that it would all even out in the end anyway. I guess it’s down to what Flair enjoys more at this point in time…and maybe he enjoys touring the independent scene and being connected to the NWA, ROH and other companies and wants to be a part of that system more than doing extensive tours and media appearances for WWE? I think no matter what, the door will be open for Flair to come back to WWE and serve whatever function he wants.

Catching up on some older emails (I try to respond to as much as I can, even if sometimes the responses are delayed) JT Wright writes about the Seventh Anniversary Show:

It’s REALLY creepy that you were sick at FB 2007. I clearly remember leaving at the intermission and going home(even with a front row seat) because I had the worst migraine.

That’s my 2 cents.

I remember the Final Battle weekend and seeing eight hours of wrestling and just thinking at the end of it that I was done, overkill, etc. But I was definitely worse for wear physically, having for some ridiculously stupid reason eaten some strawberry ice cream from Cold Stone (COLD STONE, COLD STONE, COLD STONE! JR voice>). It was definitely not one of my fondest ROH memories.

Your sentiments are being echoed by plenty of other fans and 411 writers and well, its hard to argue with you. I think ROH has been telling fans to have reduced expectations for a while now, and fans have rebelled from that, and perhaps rightfully so. I think fans should bear in mind thought that what we’re seeing in the ring as far as reduced work-rate and maybe less spot-filled / head drop matches is what Gabe Sapolsky had wanted to implement (or said he did) before he departed, but never did. Its funny to note that as soon as he left, the style did begin to alter, although as you and I both saw at 7th anniversary show, that type of match is still possible to be presented in ROH and not coincidentally also remains the type of match that continues to receive the best kind of reception from the crowd.

The amount of BS finishes is certainly higher than ROH under Sapolsky, but let’s not forget that there were sometimes when Saposlky dipped into that bag as well. I think fans naturally hate BS finishes such as interference and easy-out count outs or disqualifications because they are by their very nature “BS”. Fans who pay for the ticket want to see a clean finish to the matches they paid to see. However, the wrestling bookers have a opposite and perhaps counter-purpose to their card. They want to create customer satisfaction, but they also want to create conditions where fans will want to continue to come to shows. Yes, you can do the inteference and beatdowns after or before a match, but to rule out interference or BS during the match itself also places limitations on booking. I don’t like it, but I understand why its happening in the “new” ROH. I also think that too much of this kind of finish on any one show is ridiculous and could very well turn the fanbase off and in some cases for good.

I think the “MMA style” is a bit of a misnomer, since it was only a limited amount of wrestlers who were incorporating those types of moves into their matches (Danielson, McGuinness and Aries being the two main proponents and both of them still use those kinds of moves in their matches, and Jacobs still has the Guilotene choke as well). I think the unpredictable feeling you mentioned is the more accurate factor to concentrate on and one that ROH needs to get back to…it also goes back to the previous point of the BS finish and the feeling that you just know that one or more of those WILL actually happen on the show you go to, even though you know you don’t want them to happen.

I happened to like Claudio vs. Albright, of course until the time limit finish which when it was pointed out you could see coming a mile away. Until that point however, both were creating some terrific in-ring moments, and the fans were definitely getting into it, such that most of the fans around me didn’t even relaize there was a time limitfor the match until we were coming up on it. So that tells me that ROH still has the wrestlers and the fundamental tools to build matches like we all want to see, but its up to the booking to see that style through to a satisfactory finish. Its one thing to have wrestlers build a terrific match, but if they are given a finish to the match that the fans reject, then the previous however long a wrestler goes doesn’t matter, its all washed away.

Last word this week from 411 alumni Jerome Cusson:

Ari,

I’m going to continue following the results on the messageboard and reading your stuff because I consider it to be the most well-rounded and fair material written about the company (what you write, not what’s on the messageboard). I am rooting and hoping for ROH to come back in a big way by the end of this year. Sadly, however, I have to wonder if ROH will even survive until the end of the year.

ROH@411

Larry Csonka has his own take on Caged Collision.

J.D. Dunn gets his ROHport on Episode 4 in, while Csonka has his Play by Play and 4R’s.

Jeffrey Harris gets 411an interview with Brent Albright.

411 Buy or Sell looks at PWG and ROH issues, see below:

Buy or Sell Quickies

Pro Wrestling Guerilla having a comedy match involving Bryan Danielson is a waste of talent: Sell. This was a PWG question, but I felt it relevant to apply it to what we see in ROH. El Generico vs. Bryan Danielson was a recent ROH match that began with comedy and eventually returned to a more action based match. However, the comedy at the beginning of the match with Danielson apologizing to Generico and the crowd for not hugging him back actually made the rest of the match better and added to the match rather than detracting from it. Danielson can be both the funny guy and the serious ass-kicker, so why deny him the use of one or any facets of his character if it would work within the context of the match?

Now that they are on television, Ring of Honor needs to bring back a secondary title: BUY. Jake Chambers actually makes a genius point that sparked a bit of epiphany. I hate the continuity issues being created with staggered release dates between DVDs, TV and PPV incarnations of ROH. What if the ROH World and Tag Team titles were never defended on ROH TV, thus negating the problems created such as when the American Wolves win the belts eight weeks before it will even be broadcasted on TV? I have always been for a secondary title to be added to the singles division (Chambers wants two but I’d think that’s a bit much) and a “TV title” exclusive to HD Net would help add intrigue to those shows and avoid any pesky continuity problems that could make my hair go grey.

Sylvan Grenier’s appearance this weekend will be a total bust: SELL. It won’t be a total bust, but it’s not going to be the spark of a new renaissance in ROH either. Grenier is being used as an antagonist to help get over Kevin Steen and El Generico, and that is very smart of ROH to do. Ultimately though, Grenier cannot be an “every show” wrestler for ROH and if he came down from the Canada shows to work, say, New York, that likely would be met with a ton of crowd resistance not seen since the days of the New Carnage Crew or Matt Stryker.

With Bryan Danielson’s contract status, he will never again be a legitmate contender for the RoH World Title: SELL.. Perhaps the toughest BoS call I’ve had to make yet, but I do feel like Danielson would be a “legitimate” contender at some point in the future. Although the recent months have seen Danielson lose his immediacy as a threat to the title and there are many other wrestlers being groomed for the top at this point, Danielson is one of the best and will always be able to make a case for himself as a possibility to win the title, either in promos or in the ring.

That will do it for this week, next time out a special look at Austin Aries and results from Markham and Dayton.

BROOKLYN!
–Ari–