411’s Buy or Sell 07.02.10: Da Soul Touchaz Win Big, Bluegrass Brawl Card Set, Young Bucks to Face Wolves and Kings, and More!

Aaron Hubbard: BUY. After defeating the top technico team and the Bruderschaft last weekend, Da Soul Touchaz have made a monster impact on CHIKARA. The Bruderschaft has pretty much dominated the entire CHIKARA roster. Bringing in a popular, talented team from the annual King of Trios tournament and making them a permanent fixture in the tag scene is a good idea, and I have to think they are meant to be the kryptonite for the Bruderschaft.

Ari Berenstein : SELL. Sorry, but while Da Soul Touchaz are a popular and well-liked act when they wrestle in CHIKARA, they are also not regular roster members for the promotion. They usually show up for the King of Trios special shows or whenever CHIKARA runs in the mid-west. They went over the main BDK team (Claudio, Ares and the giant Tursas) for two major reasons: one, because they frequent mid-west promotions and a win would continue to push their act to the regional fan base; two, to help give a touch of the unexpected to the show. The BDK have run roughshod over the regular CHIKARA technicos for months now with the good guys only picking up an odd win or two but never against Claudio, Ares or Tursas. The win here was not against a regular CHIKARA unit but against an outsider force…and it wasn’t the cleanest win either, as Eddie Kingston’s interference did have a lot to do with the win. Taking all of those factors into consideration and reasoning that Da Soul Touchaz won’t be back in CHIKARA too often throughout the rest of the year, it’s a safe assumption to believe that they would not be the ones to end the BDK’s run of terror in the tag division.

0 for 1.

Ari Berenstein : SELL. I am completely flabbergasted by this statement. This is COMBAT Zone Wrestling, not Cuddly Zone Wrestling. CZW has long been known for its hardcore tournaments and I have no freaking clue what any other promotion’s actions or decisions regarding the level of child-appropriate entertainment have on CZW’s shows, wrestlers or audience. As if anyone else could even stop them from doing their hardcore tournaments. Now look, do I like a good hardcore match or two when it’s appropriate for a feud? Sure. However, I’ve never been a real fan on an entire show of ultraviolent hardcore matches on the level of what CZW does with these shows. That said, CZW seemingly has the right to hold these shows and charge for tickets, so I have no problem with them doing so. As well, I don’t have a problem with the wrestlers who participate bleeding profusely for the paying customer’s entertainment. It’s not the smartest decision in the world, but it’s certainly their call to make as to whether or not to participate and no PG-populated wrestling promotion is going to tell them otherwise. Hell, they ought to sell their shows based on being contra-PG WWE. A title to an old ECW show went, “This Ain’t Seinfeld” and hell-ain’t that the truth here.

Aaron Hubbard: SELL. Garbage wrestling will always have its niche. ECW was successful for most of a decade promoting ultra-violent matches and marketing them to a bloodthirsty audience. I obviously am not in the crowd that views CZW as a worth-while promotion, but I’m just one person. As long as you have idiots willing to kill themselves for a paying audience so that you can make a profit, it is sound business.

1 for 2.

Aaron Hubbard: SELL. I don’t think the Triangle Gate Titles have ever been treated as important enough to do harm or good to them. It’s a gimmick title with rapid changes in the holders, and Akebono has been one of the title’s more prolific holders. It’s DG’s equivalent of the old hardcore title. It’s the town bicycle. Everybody gets a turn with it.

Ari Berenstein : SELL. Even going back to the days of WCW and WCCW, the six-man tag titles has always seemed to me to be an “expendable” title, where frequent title changes wouldn’t hurt the prestige of the title. Actually, multiple title changes help to sell the division because it put the onus on working as a team while reinforcing the chaos and unpredictability of six men wrestling in the ring at the same time. Now in Dragon Gate (having a Lucha Libre influence, where trios matches have been a tradition) and in many other promotions in Japan, the six-man tag is a staple of any wrestling show. However, it’s hard to dispute the worthiness of wrestlers such as Tanizaki, Pac or Naruki Doi as a championship trio or CIMA, Gamma and Horiguchi for that matter. All of these men benefit from adding more championships to their resume.

2 for 3.

Ari Berenstein : BUY Have to say, I think ROH has somewhat screwed the pooch on this one, albeit not to an epic degree or anything. I understand it’s the first show of a three-day weekend for the roster, so a bit of conservation of big matches is necessary in order to give every show something unique. However, not having any title matches on the show is underwhelming, especially considering Black’s newfound momentum as champion. PLUS, both the ROH World Tag Team champions and the ROH Television champion are on the card and those belts are NOT on the line either! That’s quite the holdout. Though Tyler vs. Claudio should be very good given their current peak in ability, it would have been a snap to move that to the next night and go with Tyler vs. Kenny King, Roderick Strong or Chris Hero or perhaps even a four corner elimination involving all three.

Then again, I’m very excited for the heel vs. heel six-man between Strong & House of Truth vs. Aries, King & Titus. Those matches can be very fun, because it’s usually a matter of who can out-heel the other and that leads to some clever moments in the match. It’s also about time for a heel stable rivalry in ROH. There was a lot of potential in The Group vs. The Prophecy back in the day that ultimately didn’t quite come to fruition and I believe this House vs. Greatest Men rivalry could be something to fill that bill.

I don’t like seeing Colt vs. Hero and Del Rey vs. Haze on the docket, each for what seems like the one-hundredth time in ROH. Surely the girls in particular could have been matched up against someone else? Either that or put them on the card as a tag team against some of the students or undercard wrestlers—hey it worked for CHIKARA! Again, it’s not a terrible show overall and in the end most of these match should pull through, but while I understand the idea is to give Kentuckians a taste of the ROH flavor, for DVD buyers like myself it’s like buying a pack of baseball cards and getting doubles or triples (and with Wolves vs. Briscoes, quadruples) of the same cards.

Aaron Hubbard: SELL. Nothing about that card looks weak to me. Black vs. Claudio was awesome at “Aries vs. Richards”, and now that they have a main-event spot they will probably top it. Briscoes vs. Wolves has actually not been done to death, since the Briscoes moved right into their feud with the Kings of Wrestling after winning the belts, and I think they can easily top the lackluster match from Final Battle. Strong & The House of Truth vs. Aries & The All-Night Express could very well steal the show. I’m eager to see what Mike Mondo can do with time to work and without a cheerleader gimmick. And Cabana vs. Hero, as a wrestling match or a possible comedy match, will be entertaining. It certainly looks better than the next night in St. Louis, which only has one match I want to see on it (Briscoes & KONG vs. KOW & Del Ray).

2 for 4.

Aaron Hubbard: SELL. They obviously will NOT beat The Kings of Wrestling. However, I think they will beat the American Wolves, because if Davey is planning on retiring, I think they are going to split the Wolves and have Eddie and Hagadorn attack Richards for the heat. I’ll even say that Richards will lose to Edwards at Final Battle in his last match for a long time. So I think they will lose and tease tension. Then, after failing to win the titles from the Kings, they’ll have Eddie turn on Davey. But who cares really? Wolves vs. Bucks is a proven great match, and KOW vs. Bucks will be awesome.

Ari Berenstein : BUY . Both Richards and Edwards are splitting time between teaming up and being singles wrestlers. Therefore, The American Wolves are quite some distance away from contention for the tag titles right now (barring something happening on the next set of television tapings). The Bucks / Generation Me are coming in for special attraction appearances and could use the rub of winning against The Wolves in order to set up the major match of the weekend against Kings of Wrestling. That would be the logical process of booking guest-stars (feed them a lower seeded team, but put them over the main team, in this case the champions). However, the above does not take into consideration any influence from TNA as to who The Bucks can or cannot lose. One or both of these matches may very well end in a DQ (like Kings vs. Machine Guns from Supercard of Honor V), time limit draw, or some other inconclusive finish.

3 for 5.

Ari Berenstein : SELL. Insomuch as Davey Richards seems to be as close to a “perfect” opponent for Tyler Black anywhere on the circuit (and I think I answered similarly the last time I participated in Buy or Sell). Richards and Black knocked it out of the park during their match at Death Before Dishonor VIII. It was one of the most buzzworthy and much-discussed title matches in years for the promotion. However, since the same two wrestlers shouldn’t be paired up on every card, Steen is certainly an excellent choice to be the next opponent for Tyler Black’s title run.

Steen is ROH’s best heel act on the 2010 roster. His promos and actions are so drenched in evil that Mother Teresa would have a difficult time forgiving him. He also just defeated his rival El Generico in their highest-profile match to-date in their rivalry, so positioning Steen for a title shot (while he has Pick 6 contention status as well) is logical in the sense of the storylines being told and building the man up to a title shot. Steen is definitely ready for a title shot, but he is also a great choice to slot against Black, because even the hard-boiled ROH fans want Steen to receive the ass-kicking of his life. I believe they will support Black heavily during this title bout and the effort both men bring to the match will result in a memorable main event for Chicago, one of the main staples of the ROH tour circuit. So even though I’m selling the statement based on its particular wording, the title match is a definite buy.

Aaron Hubbard: BUY. There’s no drama involved with this match, because we know Steen isn’t winning. But not every match has to be in doubt; it is important that Tyler builds an impressive resume of quality title defenses against opponents other than Aries, Strong and Richards before dropping the belt. Steen always delivers in the ring, and the match will be good. Tyler’s next big defense should be against Daniels, but there’s no reason Steen can’t challenge in the interim.

3 for 6!!

The 163rd edition of BUY or SELL finishes at 3 for 6 as these two go 50/50 in a heated battle! Stay tuned for next week as two new people step up to the plate on Buy or Sell!