411’s Buy or Sell 5.14.10: Black vs. Richards Set For iPPV, Homicide vs. Tommy Dreamer, EVOLVE vs. Ring of Honor 9/11, More

Ari Berenstein: SELL. Tommy Dreamer vs. Homicide, Red vs. Tajiri vs. Super Crazy,SAT vs. Motor City Machine Guns? Plus Jerry Lynn, Dan Maff, Monsta Mack and,Sami Callahan? My god, it’s as if Ring of Honor 2002 collided with Ring of Honor 2010 and created a nuclear holocaust. Okay, maybe its not that extreme (like Dreamer, Tajiri, Crazy, Lynn and Mikey Whipwreck are EXTREME….! CHAMPIONSHIP…! OLD FOLKS HOME…!) and actually could be quite the entertaining card (especially the top matches)…but best card in independent wrestling in May, when ROH has already put on a fantastic Supercard of Honor show last week in NYC and CHIKARA is ready to bust out some excellent Anniversario shows? No way. ROH set the bar with some of the best quality wrestling and likely the better MCMG match (despite the DQ finish) and my guess is that CHIKARA’s presentation of Dreamer vs. Eddie Kingston in Union City will be just as fun and creative a brawling-style match as Dreamer’s fight with Homicide (interesting that both of those tough guy “dream match” fights have been booked so closely together–no time to waste now that Dreamer is a free agent, right? This ICW show might be worth the money and the trip though–so NYC area residents should give it a chance.

J.D. Dunn : SELL. I know there’s a certain amount of fun one gets from nostalgia, but I have a hard time getting excited for Tommy Dreamer vs. Homicide or Super Crazy and Tajiri locking up 10 years later. I don’t see this measuring up to DDT4 or the ROH shows scheduled for later this month. I’d much rather see Davey Richards do his thing or Paul London and El Generico… being crazy.

1 for 1.

J.D. Dunn : SELL. Unlike some other recent champions, Makabe has had a long build to the title, taking a few steps here and there. It seems unlikely that they’d just blow that build for a short title reign. Plus, if he truly is the living reincarnation of Bruiser Brody, then his cache with the NJ fans is probably high enough to justify a longer reign.

Ari Berenstein: BUY. The trend these days in Japan seems to be short title runs and quick title changes, sometimes even from tour-to-tour. All Japan proved as much with Ryoto Hama’s short run as Triple Crown champion. Quick title changes work in the short term because they excite and create a sense of the unpredictable, but too many and it burns the crowd out and becomes less special. Let’s hope that Makabe gets a chance with his title run, but don’t put too much stock in him doing so.

1 for 2.

Ari Berenstein: SELL. I don’t believe that “booked themselves into a corner” is an applicable description at all. The Young Bucks were the dominant tag team champions for over a year and finally a team was good enough to defeat them. Plus, the booking protected The Young Bucks, as they had to defend the tag team titles in every bracket of this year’s DDT4 tournament. They defended the belts twice but could not do it a third time, Much like Chris Hero’s longstanding PWG title run, the Young Bucks run as tag champions was going to end at some point, but only after they had gone through as many viable challengers as possible and we ready to move in a different direction with the story being told. The title change likely had nothing to do with the Young Bucks’ TNA contracts, as they have been used many times by PWG since they first signed on, not to mention the Bucks (a.k.a. Generation Me) have made plenty of appearances elsewhere on the independent scene. I doubt there was any pressure at all to change the titles for those reasons, but rather because London and Generico make for a really unique team. They have matching in-ring styles, chemistry as a team and of course unique personalities that have made them extremely popular babyfaces. This was definitely the right time, the right place and the right team to change the PWG belts.

J.D. Dunn : BUY. But it certainly worked out for them in the long run. Paul London’s promo alone is worth giving them the titles. No. Seriously. Even non-fans are playing that thing on youtube. Generation Me is busy. The Briscoes are played out and maybe on their way to one of the big two. And you can only take so many moustache rides before you start to itch.

1 for 3.

J.D. Dunn : SELL. In fact, I think indie shows running close to one another tend to bring more visibility to promotions – see CZW and ROH. It’s gentrification theory. You put a Pizza Hut in a certain neighborhood, and it becomes a big draw. Eventually, you’ll see KFC, Burger King, and others popping up because A) there are hungry people, and B) because not all of them have a taste for pizza. At a certain level, they become complimentary rather than competing.

Ari Berenstein: SELL. I hate the term “absolutely nobody” because that’s a preposterous hyperbole and over generalization. EVOLVE has had lower than expected attendance numbers, while ROH has managed to pack the Hammerstein on a regular basis. Will attendance for the EVOLVE show in Rahway, New Jersey become negatively affected by running on the same day (though several hours earlier) as ROH runs its show in nearby New York City? I would absolutely buy into that. Timing a trip to catch both shows will still be tricky despite being able to catch a train right to Penn Station and walk a few short blocks to the Manhattan Center. Public transportation is unpredictable and there may not be enough time to swing the train ride depending on when EVOLVE’s show ends. Ring of Honor has also shown a tendency as of late to begin their show promptly–they began Supercard of Honor V last week at Hammerstein at their advertised bell time of 7:30 p.m. on the dot, despite a considerable line of fans still filing into the building. I think when it comes down to it, ROH’s show will cut into the crossover fan base that also attends EVOLVE shows, because they will be forced to choose one or the other. However, there will still be a number of fans that will choose the EVOLVE show out of brand loyalty to Gabe Sapolsky, or the desire to see what’s on that show (likely a Sawa vs. TJ Perkins rematch from the first show and Mercedes Martinez vs. Amazing Kong). That number may not compare to what ROH brings in, but its enough to make it comparable to other independent wrestling promotions.

2 for 4.

Ari Berenstein: BUY. ROH is going with Richards vs. Black sooner rather than later, which is an okay decision although I personally would have waited a bit longer. Richards has other business with Christopher Daniels that could have been attended to on this show, not to mention a Black vs. Strong rematch with a stipulation wouldn’t have been out of order at all. However, I will buy Richards as the best opponent for Black at Death Before Dishonor VIII in so much that Richards is the best possible opponent for Tyler Black on ANY Ring of Honor show this year. It’s obvious these two were fated to dance for the ROH World Title at some point in 2010, but it was just a matter of when and where. Richards and Black are an excellent fit in the ring, as seen by several matches they had in early 2009 and some of their encounters in FIP during that year. It’s an excellent selling point for those purchasing the show at home but especially with the live crowd in Toronto. They are being treated as a major and important audience audience and receiving a main event (and overall card with Briscoes vs. Kings of Wrestling in a tag title rematch, and likely the first one-on-one Steen vs. Generico) to match.

J.D. Dunn : BUY. With Bryan Danielson jumping to the WWE, Davey immediately became the “best in the world” at the indie level. Every indie that he works for should try to book him as often as possible and make him as high-profile as possible before either TNA or the WWE scoops him up. At the indie level, it’s not like you can afford to build people or make them “wait their turn” because if they’re as talented as you think, they’re also looking to make the leap.

3 for 5.

J.D. Dunn : BUY. It’s one thing to do screwjobs and wacky finishes on the lesser cards, but, since its inception, Supercard of Honor has been akin to ROH’s Summerslam. All the tag match finish did was sour people on the Briscoes, and the main event – compounded with the entirety of 2009 – makes it feel like they don’t want to commit to Tyler Black. The selling point for ROH was always that it was going to be different than the big two when it came to booking. Why would I pay for a WWE show from 2002 with lower production values?

Ari Berenstein: SELL. Go ahead, ask a tough question. Certainly I and much of the crowd was deflated with the finish to the Kings of Wrestling vs. Motor City Machine Guns, especially since it was just about the most perfect match I’d seen in years until that point. I also have more leniency towards what happened now that its known the finish that occurred was not the one originally planned and that wrestling politics may have played a role in how it turned out. On the other hand, I actually though the referee bumps in the main event title match of Black vs. Strong worked in a sort of over-the-top goofy way–plus, it mitigated the circumstances enough to where a rematch between the two could be warranted (although if you really want to be technical, Strong hit the first ref and the situation was to both the favor AND detriment of either man in the match). Anyway, the main event finish was still clean because there were no ref bumps or interference when Black hit the Super God’s Last Gift from the top for three.

Given the excellent quality of the show before these matches, including Steen vs. Cabana, Kong vs. Del Ray and Edwards vs. Daniels which were worth the ticket price and add them to the awesome KOW vs. MCMG match (an imperfect classic along the lines of Michaels vs. Mankind from WWE Mind Games-1996) and a very good title match and there was no way the show was a disappointment. Controversial finishes worthy of debate? Perhaps. Just not a disappointment. I’d recommend this show to anyone in a heartbeat when it comes out on DVD.

3 for 6!!

The 156th edition of BUY or SELL finishes at 3 for 6 as these two men go 50-50! Stay tuned for next week as two new people step up to the plate on Buy or Sell!