Column of Honor: 01.23.10: A Bigger Bang?

Welcome to the Column.

=A Bigger Bang?=

It was a busy week for Ring of Honor, with the official announcement of ROH’s “Big Bang” show in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 3rd, along with the start of a new training seminar for independent workers and the introduction of a second singles title for the company- a television title for HDNet. These are three major developments that could have a significant impact on the future of ROH in 2010 and beyond.

The conclusion that can be drawn is that Jim Cornette, as executive producer of the HDNet series and consultant for the company, is trying to stretch the company out in ways that he believes will be meaningfully productive for their future. Whether or not any or all of these endeavors ends up working remains to be seen, but at least the effort is there.

Cornette and co-promoter Gary Juster are treating the April 3rd show as their pet project, pouring in a lot of attention and resources towards promoting the event. Cornette has already appeared on the local Fox news affiliate in Charlotte to advertise the show. He is going to use his local support from the area to appeal to the wrestling fan base there. Juster, according to the Wrestling Observer, has a good reach within the Mexican community there and is hoping to use his contacts with Lucha Libre promotions to bring in the luchador talent for that show.

Already two luchadores have had their names attached to the show-NWA Heavyweight Champion Blue Demon Jr. (who has appeared for ROH previously) and “exotico” luchador Cassandro. This is already a mixed bag, as Blue Demon Jr. had two unspectacular appearances for ROH and Cassandro’s drag queen gimmick may not play so well. Then again, I have to think that Cornette and Juster know the local audience and demographic more than I do, so maybe it will work for the audience who attends the show. However, these two will likely not be able to perform the kind of hard-hitting match at the level expected out of most of the ROH talent. That’s going to have to come from the talent already on the ROH roster.

The show will be an internet Pay Per View show, the second live show in ROH’s partnership with GoFightLive.tv. It will take place just one week after Wrestlemania and all the major shows that take place during that weekend, including two ROH house shows and two Dragon Gate USA shows. It doesn’t seem to be the smart play to offer a major Pay Per View just one week after WWE’s biggest show of the year—all the attention will still be on WWE and the shakedown from that weekend. In addition, UFC will also be offering a major Pay Per View that weekend. The comedown from that weekend also makes it more difficult to convince those who have already dropped money (whether at home or travelling to those events) to spend more money on another wrestling product.

It is admirable that Cornette and Juster want to make this a huge event, likely with major matches and angles taking place. ROH could certainly use more attention and a return to the “super show” mentality. However, it also results in taking some of the attention and luster away from ROH’s Wrestlemania double shot. There was already going to be stiff competition from Dragon Gate USA and their use of some major independent and international name talent. Booking a major show the week after ROH usually has its strong Wrestlemania weekend begs the question, will ROH no longer provide the major events fans have come to expect from them on that weekend?

Obviously, there is some crossover between ROH and WWE customers who spend their money on Wrestlemania that weekend in front of ROH or any other promotion. However, ROH may be banking on enough newer fans in the area as well as ROH and fans that purchase independent wrestling events exclusively to make the difference. In addition, there is a lot of passion and attention from Jim Cornette. He seems to have a lot of enthusiasm for the debut in the Charlotte event and perhaps that is the “x-factor” in all of these major moves. He can use his contacts and his booking skills to craft a great, must-see event and in effect, pushing more focus on the entirety of the two week’s worth of ROH events.

Ring of Honor also sent out a press release with the announcement of their first “training seminar / tryout camp” on March 7th, 2010, from 10 AM through 7PM at ROH’s wrestling training facility in Philadelphia. This is another Cornette trademark—to use camps to focus on finding wrestling talent and cultivating them for the future. In addition to Cornette, ROH owner Cary Silkin, booker Adam Pearce and trainer Delirious will be on hand to look at the talent and work with them during the day. They will, as the press release notes:

“get their personal and professional information on file, conduct personal interviews about their backgrounds, and talk to them about the ROH style and how we plan to market it in 2010. We will video tape them doing sample promos, watch them work out in the ring, and then have exhibition matches which will go on tape as well. Not only their work, but their conditioning, appearance, attitude and potential will be evaluated. We will get a complete look at the talent, and then detail for them either what they’re doing right, or what they need to improve on to make it to ROH. Those who impress us will be given an opportunity to take the next step and impress the ROH fans by being booked on one or more live ROH events. ROH plans to take major steps forward in 2010, and those plans must include being aware of and featuring the independent talent that best fits the ROH style. Not EVERYONE from the seminar will be booked, but SOME will be, and we believe everyone will get their money’s worth.”

All for the low, low price of $195 per wrestler. There will be only thirty spots open for the seminar to at least guarantee some manner of personal attention from those in charge of the seminar.

Now, on the surface, this is quite the good idea. Many of today’s current top stars such as Kurt Angle and Edge originally made themselves known to the wrestling community through wrestling camps and dojos. Some succeeded and made it to that next level while others fell by the wayside. The likes of Dory Funk and Les Thatcher have used training camps to become familiar with and cultivate the next generation of wrestling talent. Even WWE is still using this sort of concept to attract aspiring wrestlers down to Florida Championship Wrestling and the developmental system.

Ring of Honor is a top wrestling company at this point, with an established reputation. Many wrestlers want to work there. If attending a seminar such as this can get them closer to that goal, then this is a great opportunity to do just that. It s a smart move to get your name out there while meeting with those directly responsible with hiring and using wrestlers. There will be younger wrestlers who fit into this category, who will likely benefit from Cornette, Silkin and Pearce knowing who they are and working with them during this camp.

On the other hand, this sort of promotion seems to be a slap in the face to the already known names on the independent wrestling circuit. Are you telling me that Cornette, Silkin and Pearce don’t know about wrestlers from PWG, CHIKARA, NWA and other promotions who are available for booking by this point? It’s a ridiculous notion that wrestlers who aren’t currently booked for ROH but arguably should, like Hallowicked, The Colony, Chuck Taylor, Scorpio Sky and Scott Lost (never booked for ROH before next week’s Wrestle Reunion show) that they would have to attend such an event to gain the attention or consideration of those behind the scenes in ROH. These wrestlers have spent years already touring the independent wrestling circuit-their reputations should be well known by now, or if not, could likely be vouched for by current wrestlers on the roster without having to go through such a entry-level process of finding work. Not to mention they would have to pay money to do so!

Then you have the wrestlers from the ROH Wrestling Academy or those who have worked on the pre-show. ROH already knows these wrestlers well by their involvement in these resources. They are already being given their own opportunity to shine with the Pro Wrestling RESPECT student shows started up by Delirious—the first show runs this weekend. Do these younger wrestlers have to attend this seminar as well? Would they have to pay?

In some respects, that hefty near-two hundred dollar price tag has the all the appearance of a simultaneous cash grab and membership drive for the wrestling academy.

For some, perhaps this is the best way to be discovered by Ring of Honor. To be honest though, if ROH wants to find out who they should bring in next, all they have to do is put up a thread on their message board or Facebook and ask the fans. They’ll receive a great number of names that the fan base wants to see wrestle. They just won’t get two hundred dollars a head for it.

The final huge announcement this week was the introduction of the ROH Television Title and a tournament to be run at the February 5th and 6th tapings to crown the first champion. This will be ROH’s first new singles championship since the Pure Title was folded into the Heavyweight Title in 2006. As the name suggests, the focus of the television title will be to have a champion who can frequently defend the belt on the HDNet television program. As of yet, the rules determining such defenses has yet to be announced, so any special stipulations such as a time limit remain unknown.

The first four of eight names involved in the tournament were also revealed—Rhett Titus, El Generico, Eddie Edwards and Delirious. They are the eight through fifth seeds, in that order. The last four names and tournament matches should be announced this week.

A second singles title is terrific news for a number of reasons. First of all and perhaps most importantly, the new title will help ease the continuity issues between the HDNet tapings and the house show market. The up to six week delay between what is taped and the “real world” was frustrating, especially for presenting title defenses for the World singles and World Tag Team titles. Before, you had huge problems with predictability in title defenses. Now, as HDNet looks to have its own title, the focus on the other titles can be somewhat reduced, or at least the amount of defenses shown on television.

Instead of Austin Aries or whoever is World champion defending the belt on a regular basis on the television show and foreshadowing his retention on house shows and vice versa, Aries can instead cut promos building up to defenses on the house shows and wrestle in non-title matches or tag team attraction bouts related to his next major title defense. ROH had already begun to move in this direction with their January tapings, with Aries, Cornette, Tyler Black and Roderick Strong cutting promos on the television show building up to the Eighth Anniversary Show in February as opposed to having Aries defend the belt against either one of them and thus taking away from the result of the next major championship bout between he and Black, since it was obvious that would be the promotion’s next major match.

As well, holding the Television Title tournament on this set of tapings actually helps prevent giving away the result of the major title matches for the major show in New York City. These tapings will run the HDNet program well into early April. It gives the a focus of attention and therefore ROH won’t be pressed to present too much concerning the Aries vs. Black fallout and the role of Strong, King or Cornette (i.e. any turns, screwjobs, etc) or any other major house show events between then and now.

Then there is the usual benefit of implementing a secondary title. It will help to give attention to some of the mid-card and burgeoning main event talent to take that next step up the ladder. Wrestlers like Kenny Omega, Kenny King and Eddie Edwards are on the cusp of activating their potential in ROH. Winning the Television championship and making something of that title reign can do wonders to up their reputation with the fans and their overall effectiveness for the promotion. In some respects, this is the best possible opportunity for the undercard because they can take this championship or being a major contender for it and make the most of that opportunity and attention they will receive. They are guaranteed a longer-term platform in ROH by playing such a major role on the HDNet product.

All in all, the implementation of the ROH Television Title should be a major win-win for the company.

No matter what happens, for sure Ring of Honor will be undergoing some “evolving” (if you will allow that en vogue phrase) over the next few months, with the implementation of the Television title, the new training camp program and their debut in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are not the only wrestling product attempting to change with the times. Indeed, these days the “restart” or focus on “change” is almost a trend in the world of professional wrestling. There is TNA’s restart process with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff at the helm. There is EVOLVE and its attempt to try to create a new wrestling independent with more of a focus on statistics and competition (although in the end its overall feel is still reminiscent of every other independent promotion).

In Ring of Honor, the labeling of the Charlotte event as “The Big Bang” definitely puts the focus on trying to push wrestling fans on something new, bigger and better than what was before. TNA has had several restarts of its company’s continuity in previous years, but ROH has undergone several new eras in its history as well. The push for “The Big Bang” to be the start of some sort of new effort or momentum in ROH has its benefits, but if in the end there are changes made that aren’t met well by fans, or if the show itself is a creative failure, then Cornette will have used up a lot of his goodwill with the fans. There’s a huge risk factor in pushing an event as a major moment in a wrestling company’s history…and if ROH’s answer to meeting fan’s expectations is in the likes of Blue Demon Jr. and Cassandro, that’s not the best of signs.

Conversely, ROH continues to show sparks of hope, with the use of fan-favorite wrestling talents like Human Tornado and Eddie Kingston on their upcoming cards and the promoting of promising talents such as Kenny Omega, Kenny King, Rasche Brown and Dark City Fight Club to more prominent positions. As well, their top talent such as The Briscoes and The Kings of Wrestling continue to provide the quality content both in the ring on the mic that fans have come to know, love and expect out of them. It also looks as if Davey Richards will continue to be booked in 2010 even amid his involvement in other major independent wrestling projects, which is a huge boost to their upper card.

It may not be that Ring of Honor needs a whole new, universe shaking “Big Bang” that changes the entire product (ala TNA) , but rather a bigger bang for pushing their current product in order to lift them off to higher ground.

Counting down my personal favorite wrestlers and moments of the past week in wrestling:

1.The Big Show: Oh yeah, I know that may be a surprising choice as my personal favorite of the week, but Show sneaks in now and again on my lists. I think he’s always been underrated in terms of what he brings to the table in backstage segments and promos. This week he had awesome moments of interaction with both The Miz and guest Raw GM Jon Heder in the build up to the main event six-man match. The best was when stuck his big paw out and said “No one can extinguish The Flame!” to Heder after giving him that Ric Flair-looking robe. It wasn’t too light a touch or too heavy-handed—it was just enough of a punch line to make the whole thing work.
2. Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli: The Kings of Wrestling are back and cutting promos together. Their recent effort in this week’s Videowire (see below) is just great heel work. I think both are reaching new heights with their characters and are making the most of this reunion. They certainly come across as THE major threats to the ROH World Tag Team Titles.
3. AJ Styles and Ric Flair: My personal preference is to watch AJ Styles as a babyface—and while I think they pulled the trigger on a heel turn way too soon, I can’t deny that he and Flair work as a terrific heel tandem. I enjoyed the hell out of Flair’s promo (it is Flair after all—I can’t begrudge him his talent for cutting awesome promos no matter how much I dislike how he handled his run in ROH) and Styles’ interaction with him, trying to fit into the shoes of being the “New Nature Boy”. Good luck on that one.
4. Johnny Gargano: The Johnny Gargano Power Hour continues to be an entertaining YouTube mockumentary in its second outing (see below). I’m really enjoying the zany, off the wall, stream-of-conscious style Gargano is using for these efforts. It’s not going to blow your mind with crazy production, but that’s not the point anyway. Gargano’s method of pushing his programs in EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA is unorthodox, but it certainly works for me.
5. Awesome Kong: I cackled and laughed so hard reading about how she nailed Bubba The Love Sponge backstage for his derogatory comments about Haiti. Kong is my new hero and provided me with so much entertainment this week.

As of 01/23/10

ROH World Champion: Austin Aries (champion since 06/13/09, 13 successful defenses)

–defeated Tyler Black & Jerry Lynn on June 13th, 2009 in a Three-Way Elimination Match in New York, NY to win the championship.

Next Defense: vs. Tyler Black (New York, NY on 02/13/10)

–Austin Aries defeated Nigel McGuinness in Chicago Ridge, IL on 6/27/09
–Austin Aries defeated Tyler Black, Jerry Lynn, & Nigel McGuinness in Toronto, Ontario on 7/24/09
–Austin Aries defeated Grizzly Redwood in Philadelphia, PA on 8/14/09
–Austin Aries defeated Alex Payne in Philadelphia, PA on 8/15/09
–Austin Aries defeated Bryan Danielson in Philadelphia, PA on 8/15/09
–Austin Aries defeated Bryan Danielson in Chicago Ridge, IL on 9/19/09
–Austin Aries defeated Petey Williams by countout in New York, NY on 9/26/09
–Austin Aries defeated Delirious in Collinsville, IL on 10/9/09
–Austin Aries defeated Davey Richards, Kenny Omega, & Roderick Strong in Philadelphia, PA on 11/5/09
–Austin Aries defeated Davey Richards in Novi, MI on 11/13/09
–Austin Aries defeated Kenny Omega in Mississauga, Ontario on 11/14/09
–Austin Aries defeated Colt Cabana in a Steel Cage Match in Chicago Ridge, IL on 12/5/09
–Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black ended in a 60 minute time limit draw in New York, NY on 12/19/09

ROH World Tag Team Champions: The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) (champions since 12/19/09, NEW CHAMPIONS)

defeated The American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) on December 19th, 2009 in New York, NY to win the championship.

Next Defense: vs. TBA

no defenses yet.

Pick 6 Series
Rankings as of: 01/10/10
1. Claudio Castagnoli
2. Kevin Steen
3. Chris Hero
4. Kenny King
5. Tyler Black
6. Roderick Strong

The Pick 6 Series matches currently scheduled for January 29, 2010 in Los Angeles, CA are as follows:

-(6) Roderick Strong vs. Delirious
-(5) Tyler Black vs. Joey Ryan
-The Human Tornado vs. (2) Kevin Steen

ROH Video Wire – January 19th, 2010

Johnny Gargano Power Hour Episode Deux

-Still on the Awesome Kong front, she requested to be released from her TNA contract, although that hasn’t been officially determined as yet. However, Alissa Flash, a.k.a. Cheerleader Melissa was released this week. Don’t get me started on how TNA totally dropped the ball with her by sticking her in a mask and robe for a year and half and so on…

Anyway, If Kong is indeed gone from TNA, then ROH needs to get on the ball right away and book KONG vs. MELISSA for the Eighth Anniversary Show or as soon as possible. My god would that be a great match and would pop the crowd. Even though women’s wrestling hasn’t been highly focused on in ROH over the years, just an attraction match between these two on that show (or even the Wrestle Reunion card) would add to the overall value of the show.

We all know ROH fans are picky and typically haven’t given women’s wrestling matches the best of receptions, but they also love to stick it to TNA by cheering “F**k TNA” whenever appropriate (see chants at Glory By Honor VIIIwhen they spotted Homicide and for Jim Cornette’s return). I think the ROH crowd would easily embrace the opportunity to do so here and therefore “root on” both wrestlers in such a match. Many of the independent fans will know about the Kong / Bubba incident from TNA and will pop for her. Melissa will also receive a similar welcome for similar circumstances.

Besides, it’s Kong and Melissa, two of the best women’s wrestling talents on the independent scene. They’re not likely to have a bad match against each other. I think that’s ‘Nuff said, really. If the opportunity arises, ROH should grab hold of it and bring them in.

-Coming soon to TNT, a new comedy from Producer Jerry Bruckheimer about three men making the most of their mid-life experiences…

-The latest newswire indicates that two former Ring of Honor talents will be returning to the company. It reads: One of these men has stated that he got too far away from his wrestling instincts during his first run and a return to that form will make him a dominant force in ROH. The other man is sick of being put in a role that disgusts him and has vowed to change the perception of him by unleashing his skills on the ROH roster. Sources indicate that one or both of these men could re-debut at the next ROH on HDNet Television Tapings on February 5th and 6th.

Judging from the hints, at least one of these wrestlers should be Daivari, just released from TNA last month, using the “disgusting” gimmick of terrorism…or something, you know I never could quite make heads or tails out of what exactly his take about 9/11 or whatever was supposed to be about. Daivari had a cup of coffee with ROH in late 2003 / early 2004, using the “flying magic carpet” as his gimmick. Is that considered “disgusting” as well these days?

-Joey Ryan’s “Magnum P.I.” rip-off theme music continues to rule the world. He’s even added a little shimmy to it when he comes out for the HDNet shows. However the wrestler named Joey Ryan should be overtaken in Google hits any moment, considering a musician is going by the same name (including recording a song titled “Broken Headlights”, which is a duet with Sara Bareilles).

-I’ve been thinking of all the conversations as of late surrounding TNA changing their six-sided ring back to a four-sided ring as they used from 2002-2004. I now believe that Ring of Honor should also follow suit and change their ring. It literally should be a “ring” of honor… an oval or circular platform likely with three perfect strands of ropes held up by, yes, yes, by POLES! Genius! Matches would be sort of like Sumo, with Kevin Steen playing the role of Akebono.

-So the Pick 6 Challenge Series has concluded. We have six winners (Delirious, Tyler Black, Colt Cabana, Roderick Strong, Kenny Omega, Jay Briscoe) who were placed into initial contention for the ROH World Title. In addition, the six winners received a bonus of $2,500 for winning.

Now, I’ve been wondering, what did the winners do with all that money? What did they spend it on? Well, with some simple investigative investigation, I have found the answers and will reveal them here, EXCLUSIVELY to YOU, my column readers:

Delirious—porkchops, fishheads, and other assorted cured meats, a lazy susan, fondue pot, an upside-down tomato plant grower that he hung up right-side straight, manila envelopes, an electric train set and a conductor’s cap. The rest he put into a short-term CD fund, because you can never be too sure in these uncertain economic times.
Tyler Black—box seats to the latest Rise Against shows, water atomizer / spray, therapy sessions for coping with why the New York City crowd booed him at Final Battle 2009.
Colt Cabana—Joke books, whoopee cushions, Kosher Ham T-shirts and apparel.
Roderick Strong—Protein Shakes, hand-strengthening grips (to keep his chopping hand warm) and some polo shirts, Dusty Rhodes DVD, presumably to continue to work on developing his promos.
Kenny Omega—anime, manga comic books and video games, of course.
Jay Briscoe—beer (WHAT?), more beer (WHAT?), a burger at sonic (WHAT?), another burger at sonic (WHAT?), beer (WHAT?), beer (WHAT?), more beer (WHAT?), a Sonic milkshake (WHAT?), a keg of beer (WHAT?), beer (WHAT?), a hot dog (WHAT?), two hot dogs (WHAT?), three hot dogs (WHAT?), beer (WHAT?)…

At last the truth can be told.

=Wrestle Reunion 4-January 29th, 2010-Los Angeles, CA=

Hilton Los Angeles Airport
January 29th, 2010- 8:45 pm belltime.
5711 West Century Boulevard
Los Angeles, California, United States 90045

For more information on the Wrestle Reunion 4 convention or to purchase tickets please visit http://www.wrestlereunion.com/.

8 Man Tag Team War-World Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe and The Young Bucks vs. The American Wolves and The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli)

Four top tag teams lined up, two on one side and two on the other, ready to take on the challenge. You know The Briscoes are itching for a fight after getting jumped by the newly reformed Kings of Wrestling. Though they have nothing to prove in the ring anymore, The Young Bucks are in home state territory and want to go out there and wrestle the best match possible for themselves and their fans. The American Wolves are looking to rebound from losing the tag titles while the Kings of Wrestling are all about furthering their statement of intent to wrest the tag straps from the Briscoes sooner rather than later. This is a spectacular combination of wrestlers and their efforts will probably leave the lasting impression of the weekend.

First Time Ever Match- Non Title-ROH World Champion Austin Aries vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger

A non-title match sets up the possibility of the champion losing the match without having to do a title change. Given Liger’s legendary status, a win here wouldn’t be out of the question at all. However, Liger has been jobbing to the younger talent in Japan as of late and a loss for Aries while it wouldn’t damage his reputation at all, still would look bad for the upcoming title match in New York. How good the match will be will depend on how much Liger has left to give in the ring, and he’ll be coming off a major match just the night before against El Generico for PWG’s event at the convention.

Grudge Match-Jerry Lynn vs. Kenny King

This match was amazingly cold until video creator ThatWrestlingShow developed a five-minute promotional piece for this video. Lynn was injured by King and spent five months on the shelf. This is his chance for revenge. I just don’t feel the fans wanting Lynn back or supporting him on this effort, but King will likely be able to get some heel heat through his arrogant actions.

Pick 6 Series Match-(6) Roderick Strong vs. Delirious

Strong is on the periphery of title contention, but he needs the win (and for Black to win as well so perhaps Strong will make himself known in that match) to stay on the Pick 6 list. Strong and Delirious usually mix it up well in the ring, so expect a good match if this gets decent time at all.

Pick 6 Series Match-(5) Tyler Black vs. Joey Ryan

Look for a great performance out of Ryan here, in his home state and in his highest profile match-to-date for ROH. We may start to get a sense of the future direction for Black by his behavior and in-ring actions (i.e. if he starts acting more heelish or aggressive). Fan response to Black should be very interesting as well—will the events of December 19th, 2009 follow Black across coasts?

Pick 6 Series Match-The Human Tornado vs. (2) Kevin Steen

Tornado is looking for a measure of revenge for El Generico, his partner in PWG in the wake of Steen’s demolishing of Generico at Final Battle 2009. However, this is also a great opportunity for Tornado to shine in the spotlight. Expect some more great home state support for Tornado.

Anything Goes Match-Necro Butcher vs. Erick Stevens

The usual Necro match with weapons and crowd brawling—likely strong involvement from any Embassy members in attendance this weekend at the convention, or perhaps the introduction of a new Embassy member that will attack Necro.

Tag Team Action-El Generico & Colt Cabana vs. Scott Lost & Scorpio Sky

I like the Cabana-Generico bond with Colt trying to show Generico that he can wrestle and win without Steen. Lost and Sky are an interesting combination in that its one we haven’t really seen in PWG, but both have the talent and ability to give a real good, fun undercard attraction bout.

Bonus Match-Larry Zbyszko vs. Scotty 2 Hotty *special guest referee- Johnny Fairplay

Not sure how much of a “bonus” this will be—only by its very definition of being “in addition” to everything that had been booked on the card or perhaps it will be entertaining in its own way. Scotty 2 Hotty has his merits, and if it’s kept short (Larry Z stall = .5 seconds) then maybe (maybe, maybe) it won’t be so bad. Sometimes a match like this is the cost of doing business, yo.

Before we get to comments on the year-end column, a word from Marvin Listenbee:

I recently made a group on facebook to petition for a 2nd hour on HDNET. I was wondering if you could promote that in your column. The link is http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=265940026199 Cause we all know that a 2nd hour could do wonders for their television programming. THANK YOU for reading and keep up the great work with your weekly column!

So if you’re like Marvin and want to see two hours a week of Ring of Honor programming, click on that link and join his Facebook group.

Final Column 2009 was a monumental six parts in length, but what got you talking most were the Year-End Awards and the Top 100 countdown of matches of the year.

Quite a few disagreed with my assessment that Aries vs. Williams was the worst match of the year. For example:

I just watched Glory By Honor VIII. In my opinion, if the Aries-Williams match was one of the worst of the year then 2009 must have been one hell of a year for ROH.

Posted By: My Little One Trick Pony (Guest) on December 30, 2009 at 01:49 AM

I will admit that Aries vs. Williams was a personal choice more than an objective choice, but as I wrote of the Aries vs. Black and this match back in September, for me this was another example of ROH not giving the fans want they wanted to see and then not adjusting on the fly when they realize what they are giving isn’t going to work and they need to do something else. Aries vs. Williams was slotted for twenty minutes with mundane and average work with Williams being counted out several times, then by god that’s what they were going to do. Jim Cornette said in his opening promo for Clash of the Contenders that if the fans voiced what they wanted or didn’t want to see in the ring, then by golly ROH was going to listen to them. Well, I know that event happened after Glory By Honor VIII, but unless Cornette was just bullshitting the crowd and feeding them a bunch of junk, maybe that’s what ROH starts to need to do when the fans voice their displeasure. Or else, Cornette comes across as a hypocrite.

OK, one minor issue I have is with the worst MOTY list, which is begging for a pair of Albright/Claudio matches. Specifically, the flag match on HDNet (embarassed me to be an ROH fan and by far the worst performance of Mike Hogewood, who I really enjoy) and the European Rules match from DBD Night 2.

Posted By: The REAL MP (Guest) on December 30, 2009 at 12:08 PM

Well, the flag match I didn’t think was all that bad, but you are right in that I made a glaring omission of the European Rules match. These types of matches have been proven not to be popular with the ROH fan base (and this is across many cities, not just one). They also don’t lead to the best quality matches as well, because of all the complicated rules and time constraints that get in the way. It should just be shelved for good in ROH—one European export that should be sent back.

Great column. I think I’d have 15-17 much higher w/ #16 near #1. Of course, that’s considering that I wouldn’t rank matches from 2008 in a 2009 List. I know it’s commonplace, but to me a match that took place in 2008, is from…2008.

Posted By: DocSarpolis (Guest) on December 31, 2009 at 01:56 PM

My justification for the inclusion of 2008 matches is below. To the last point, I’m not a big fan of editing down matches or removing botches, but it’s been done for a while now both in ROH during this and the previous administration. Ultimately my justification was from the point of view of someone who wasn’t there live and watched the show on DVD, where there was no significant video evidence that something had gone wrong. Therefore taken as a whole, Richards vs. KENTA was worthy of the number one spot.

I was there for KENTA vs Richards and it was AWESOME live.

Posted By: Guest#3624 (Guest) on December 31, 2009 at 01:56 PM

What a column. There’s so much meat to tear apart here. I don’t know how much time you spent on all of this, but I’m sure it was a lot and you should know it was worth the effort because it was a fantastic read. Most importantly, it made the most unproductive work week of my life go that much quicker!

Posted By: The REAL MP (Guest) on December 31, 2009 at 02:58 PM

I liked Steen vs. Strong overall and felt it was a great opening match, but the ending miffed me…I didn’t like that Strong basically no-sold the effects of the package piledriver to roll Steen over for the three-count. Briscoes vs. House of Truth was kind of middling to me, but generally I like what the HoT brings to the table and hope they are booked more.

I absolutely fell in love with Aries vs. Danielson from The Final Countdown Tour: Chicago and with a hotter crowd maybe could have even leapfrogged the Danielson-Richards match. The Aries vs. Danielson rivalry to me exemplifies the best of what ROH provides in terms of the in-ring action. It is perhaps even better in terms of the technical aspects of back-and-forth wrestling than the Danielson vs. McGuinness series.

As far as Omega vs. Richards, I was able to watch Clash of the Contenders at the last minute and it leaped into the upper echelon of my top 100 list for the year. I watched it again after I compiled that list and I swear I probably would have ranked it even higher if I had more time to think about it. It was a pleasure to watch and as someone else commented on the ROH board, just the sort of match you would show someone to get them hooked on the product.

Your number 2. match is from 2008. No one wants it on a 2009 list no matter what your reason is. The show was called Final Battle “2008”.

Posted By: YourGuestHost (Guest) on January 01, 2010 at 06:57 PM

There are some wrestling publications such as The Wrestling Observer that have a set time frame for their awards. They go from December of the previous year to the end of November of the award year. Why is this done? Some voters don’t have access to shows and matches in the last month of the year, perhaps due to DVDs not being produced in time, etcetera. How I came to go from about November to November is more of a matter of happenstance and logistics of the ROH DVD release schedule. When I did my first list of awards, the ROH’s delayed schedule meant I couldn’t gain access to the late November and December shows. I don’t travel to the Midwest, so there was no way to objectively include the shows in say Chicago or Dayton from that time frame without access to the shows. Therefore I set the calendar and have followed through every year. That allows me to be as comprehensive as possible in compiling the lists, and gives matches that maybe I or others don’t have immediate access to a fair chance to be included on the awards list.

Maybe that reason isn’t good enough for you, but that’s the way it is. I’m not going to ignore two whole months of ROH shows because it doesn’t into your particular worldview of a window for consideration of year-end awards. Unless the ROH production house starts zooming out those DVDs on a faster schedule, this process will continue unchanged as long as I continue to do the feature.

Head on over to TwitterNation and follow me at: http://twitter.com/AriBerenstein.

Aaron Hubbard provides this week’s ROH on HDNet report with Briscoe vs. Briscoe and Black & Cabana vs. Aries & King.

This week’s 411 Buy or Sell covers more about ROH’s debut in North Carolina.

J.D. Dunn is on the road for The Final Countdown Tour with reviews of Dayton, Chicago and Boston and Glory By Honor VIII: The Final Countdown.

Also, Kevin Ford has written a comprehensive play-by-play and reviews of every Bryan Danielson match on his September 2009 Final Countdown Tour. Check it out, it’s an impressive compendium!

That will do it for this week—as always, feedback is appreciated and thanks for reading.

BROOKLYN!
–Ari—