Column of Honor: 12.27.10: Final Column 2010 Part One: ROH Yearbook

Many thanks to those of you who checked out and / or commented on my Top 100 ROH Matches of 2010 feature that ran last week. If you haven’t read the feature yet, go open it out on a new tab and read it alongside this one! Part One: #100-51 Part Two: #50-21 Part Three: #20-1

Austin Aries made it through the one-hour draw at Final Battle 2009 to remain the ROH World Champion going into 2010. However it would be six weeks before he would defend the title again and for the final time at 8th Anniversary Show, losing it (finally) to Tyler Black. After multiple opportunities, Black had finally fulfilled his potential and become the ROH World Champion. However, the road would only be more difficult to navigate for the young title holder who pushed past challenges from Aries and Roderick Strong in the first few months of his run, but not without some controversy from Strong, who believed he was getting the runaround from HDNet Executive Producer Jim Cornette and believed that Black, who was once a friend, had betrayed their friendship for the glory of the title. Black gained momentum and fought through defenses against Kenny King, Chris Hero and the biggest challenge of his initial run in Davey Richards at Death Before Dishonor VIII. Black had been a fighting champion, but after a defense against Kevin Steen, his opinion on title defenses and his outlook on pleasing the fans with his efforts changed. He signed a contract with WWE and vowed to go there with the ROH world title around his waist. To that end, Black refused any further defenses in August (and refused to change any existing contracts against Richards or Eddie Edwards), waiting for his scheduled title match against Strong at Glory By Honor IX. It was at that show that circumstances conspired to take the belt away from him, as ref bumps, interference from The House of Truth and Terry Funk’s involvement as special enforcer all summed up to Roderick Strong overtaking Black and winning the ROH World Title. Strong had tried to win the title on fifteen prior attempts over five years and finally he was the champion. Strong spent the next six weeks on tour in Japan, but returned to ROH action and defended the title against Christopher Daniels in Toronto. His Final Battle 2010 defense against Davey Richards was a full-tilt affair that tested the endurance and physical well-being of both men. Ultimately Roderick Strong overwhelmed Richards and took advantage of a concussion injury to retain the title and make it into 2011 as ROH World Champion….and that is the truth.

The Briscoes emerged from Final Battle 2009 having unseated the nine-month long reign of the American Wolves tandem of Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards. It was a record-setting sixth title win for Jay & Mark, having broken their own record set back in 2008. The Briscoes had several strong defenses of the belt against the likes of Dark City Fight Club and in another rematch against The Wolves during Wrestlemania weekend. However they and everyone else knew a reckoning was coming between them and The Kings of Wrestling, who had reformed in an attack against The Briscoes back at the Final Battle event. The Kings had their chance and took the crowd in an epic thirty-minute championship struggle at The Big Bang internet Pay Per View in Charlotte, North Carolina. From there, The Kings reigned supreme through the rest of the year, defending the title both on DVD events and on HDNet shows against various combinations of opponents, but most frequently either The Briscoes or the tandem of Colt Cabana and El Generico. They escaped as champions in one of the more intense challenges against TNA’s Motor City Machine Guns during Supercard of Honor V when The Briscoes caused a disqualification. The Kings then rebuffed The Briscoes in a bloody and bitter no disqualification match at Death Before Dishonor VIII and followed that up by winning Tag Wars 2010 in late August. They defended the title against three other teams, last eliminating The Briscoes with a loaded elbow pad. Chris Hero used the fact that they defeated three teams in that tournament finale to balloon up their total number of defenses (a heel move if there ever was one). The Kings also triumphed over the much-heralded team of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin in non-title action during Glory By Honor IX (again using the loaded pad for help) and racked up more defenses in the fall against Steve Corino and Kevin Steen. Their December 17th title defense against The American Wolves went full-forty minutes of hectic action before they retained the title, with Hero smashing Edwards with three rolling elbows for the pinfall. The Kings did in fact reign supreme through the end of 2010.

The first new championship to be created in Ring of Honor was announced on the ROH website in early January. Edwards won the inaugural eight-man tournament on a slate of tapings on March 5th (see below for tournament break down) and would spend much of the year being the first-ever ROH TV champion. As such, Edwards was to be a major representative of the wrestling abilities and ideals of the roster and the company. However, Edwards and manager Shane Hagadorn decided that Edwards would not put the title on the line on HDNet unless someone could prove their worth to the champion first. Edwards created the “Ten-Minute Hunt” challenge. Anyone who could last just ten minutes with Edwards in the ring would receive a title opportunity. However, this challenge turned out to be just as dubious as Austin Aries’ “Lucky Lottery” that was used in 2009. Edwards would fight against younger wrestlers and students, easily besting them within a few minutes of bell time. Ultimately the Ten-Minute Hunt never went anywhere and it was dropped from the show without anyone having met the challenge. Edwards would sporadically defend the TV title but not on television, ironically, rather on ROH house shows / DVD tapings. He would defeat Erick Stevens and Shawn Daivari on back-to-back nights in September. It wasn’t until Jim Cornette challenged Eddie Edwards to rise to the occasion and truly prove his worth as champion that Edwards began to defend the TV Title on HDNet Television on a regular basis. He had several strong defenses since then, including against Kenny King, Rhett Titus, Necro Butcher and Colt Cabana. Edwards was rolling along until the last HDNet tapings of the year, where he fought Christopher Daniels. After an initial fifteen minutes time limit draw, Edwards stated that he wanted five more minutes to determine who the better man was. Unfortunately that decision backfired on him and Daniels unseated the champion with an Angel’s Wings in the last minutes of that overtime period. The title change will air on HDNet in early 2011.

The eight-man tournament actually was delayed one taping due to inclement weather cancelling the second of a two-day set in early February. The tournament picked up and concluded on March 5th, 2010. First round brackets were Kevin Steen (1) over Rhett Titus (8), Eddie Edwards (3) over Colt Cabana (6), Davey Richards (4) over Delirious (5) and Kenny King (2) over El Generico (7).The Semi-Finals were Edwards over Steen via pinfall and Richards over King via pinfall. That led to an all-American Wolves Final Round, in a twenty-minute technical classic that had echoes of British Bulldog vs. Owen Hart from the 1996 inaugural WWF European Championship Tournament. Edwards pinned Richards to win the title in the match that aired on television during the April 26th, 2010 episode of HDNet.

This was ROH’s tournament of the Summer season, with the focus on putting the spotlight on ROH’s tag division and finding the next challengers for The Kings of Wrestling. There were three blocks with four teams each in this contest. Qualifying matches were held during the HDNet tapings (although the Bravado Brothers vs. Super Smash Brothers qualifier never aired) and on the Salvation show in Chicago late July. The Block finals took place during Champions’ Challenge in Plymouth, Virginia in August, with the winners to fight against the champions during a four-man Ultimate Endurance championship match the next night at the eponymous Tag Wars 2010 show in Charlotte, North Carolina. The All-Night Express, Dark City Fight Club and The Briscoes emerged as the three Block finalists. However it was the champions who proved their dominance by winning that finale, last eliminating The Briscoes. Chalk up the assist to Chris Hero’s elbow pad, but the Kings reigned supreme as the winners of the Tag Wars.

Edwards proved he was a wolf who could survive a hunt as both hunter and prey, winning this annual tournament while battling through a shoulder separation. Edwards would also make a statement about his dominance against The Kings of Wrestling, managing to tap out both Chris Hero (in the qualifying round) and caused Claudio Castagnoli to be eliminated on the same night. The twelve-man tournament went as follows: Rhett Titus defeated Colt Cabana in a semi-upset, Claudio Castagnoli went over Grizzly Redwood, Kevin Steen defeated Kyle O’Reilly, Adam Cole scored a major upset against Steve Corino, Edwards submitted Hero, King defeated El Generico. The six-man elimination finals saw: Edwards carted out early due to injury; Claudio going on a three elimination-run, getting rid of Steen, Cole and Titus; Edwards returned to the ring; Kenny King eliminated Claudio due to help from Edwards; Edwards submitted King with the Achilles Lock. Edwards has earned an ROH World Title opportunity at some point in the future due to this tournament victory.

Ring of Honor’s Comeback Year

Ring of Honor had concluded 2009 with it’s first-ever internet Pay Per View program, Final Battle 2009, offered through GoFightLive.tv. Saving discussion of the trials and tribulations of the transmission of these internet stream shows for later, the show itself set the stage for much of 2010’s top programs. Kevin Steen turned heel on his long-time tag partner El Generico, beginning a year-long program that was one of the company’s best in terms of storytelling, physicality and emotional twists and turns. The Briscoes unseated The American Wolves for the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli reunited as The Kings of Wrestling and attacked The Briscoes, also the beginning of a one-year feud.

However, Final Battle 2009 will be remembered first and foremost for the controversial main-event, the ROH World Title match between then champion Austin Aries and challenger Tyler Black. The match went to a one-hour draw on a show that had already lasted three-and-a-half hours before the match began and was taking place in the middle of a terrible Northeast snowstorm that was growing worse with every minute. Walking down 34th street after the event, one would notice several cars skidding on frozen asphalt or stuck in the snow, looking to find enough traction to escape. In addition, the in-ring psychology of the match was a miss for the live audience. Austin Aries continually tried to buck active participation in the match, spending the better part of the last forty minutes trying to be counted out or disqualified, or otherwise stalling for time. It was a sound wrestling strategy, sure, but not for the New York audience on this night. It was a buzzkill and a controversial ending to the year.

2009 had been a bumpy year for ROH. Many fans were losing confidence in the overall booking direction of the promotion which had been spearheaded by new booker Adam Pearce. Specific decisions in booking inconclusive finishes with multiple run-ins, disqualifications and the like, which had been antithetical to ROH in years past, were frequently being used almost to the point of overkill. September 2009 provided the beginning of a comeback trail for the company, which used the departure of Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness to create must-see shows. Final Battle 2009 seemed to be a warning that ROH had not shaken its uneven 2009.

Yet, if anything, 2010 saw Ring of Honor not only recover from the missteps of 2009, but rejuvenate itself in terms of creative direction and fan approval. In focusing the attention on three major angles that would carry through the entire year, ROH was able to present compelling storylines with the quality matches to back up those ideas. Many shows received rave reviews and even though 2009 had plenty of high-quality wrestling matches, 2010 outpaced and bettered the in-ring action of previous years.

It began slowly but surely with two great shows, January’s lone show, So Cal Showdown in Los Angeles and February’s only event, 8th Anniversary Show in New York City. The former show put out a collection of entertaining matches combining ROH regulars and west coast talent, not to mention the return of Jushin “Thunder” Liger. The latter show corrected the one-hour draw by giving fans the match they wanted to see-Austin Aries against Tyler Black in all-out action. It was also Tyler Black’s crowning night in ROH—finally making good on his potential and a near two-year push to the ROH World Title. These were shows that demonstrated ROH had found its focus—building up cohesive and compelling feuds and letting the wrestlers go out to the ring and be the best they could possibly be. The increase in quality wrestling action continued in the coming months and it became apparent that ROH had found its rhythm.

ROH made a risky call to book their second internet Pay Per View the week after Wrestlemania weekend in Phoenix, which for years had usually been the time to for the more marquee shows with big matches and big moments. In addition, ROH would be running head-to-head against the Gabe Sapolsky-booked Dragon Gate USA promotion for one of the nights and both promotions would be running shows in competition against each other during that weekend. However, the call paid off as The Big Bang iPPV was successful and the Wrestlemania shows did not suffer in quality because of it. Their shows outdrew both Dragon Gate USA by a wide margin and fared comparably well or equaled both of those shows creatively and in the ring (though one could make a case that the Dragon Gate six-man tags were the best of these shows).

From thereon in Ring of Honor was headed upwards in momentum and many including this writer was calling a comeback. Aside from one or two missteps on the “B-show” markets, ROH was bettering its 2009 output by far.

Adam Pearce Out As ROH Booker, Delirious (Hunter Johnson) Tabbed As New Booker

On the same day that Bryan Danielson returned to WWE as Daniel Bryan, Adam Pearce was fired from his position as the booker for Ring of Honor. For the second time in three years ROH owner Cary Silkin decided to replace his lead creative guide. However, going by interviews and repeated statements from both Silkin and Pearce, the decision to send Pearce on his way had nothing to do with disagreements or disapproval concerning creative issues and the bell-to-bell action. In interviews with the media, Pearce attributed the departure to disagreements he had with the company’s business decisions (for one reason among others, not taking full advantage of business opportunities to expand and grow the company). Those issues came to a head and Cary was forced to choose between Pearce and another individual in the company (believed to be Vice President Syd Eyck). Pearce lost out.

As stated above, Pearce had a very uneven 2009 booking year (he would even admit as much in post-departure interviews). However, he was beginning to find his sea legs in 2010, and the creative tone was far more stable and interesting than the previous year. The top feuds were compelling and the direction and build was smart.

Silkin tabbed Hunter “Delirious” Johnson to be the new head booker for the promotion. Delirious had served already as the head trainer for ROH’s wrestling school in Philadelphia as well as booking Pro Wrestling RESPECT, the ROH-affiliated student promotion. Creatively, it was said there would be little in the way of noticeable changes, especially in terms of the overall booking philosophies of the company. He had many of the same vision and philosophies of booking wrestling as Pearce, and he would continue to have ROH on HDNet Executive Producer Jim Cornette as a sounding board for ideas. So far, angles and shows have continued seamlessly from one to the other for the remainder of the year, at least from what can be seen on a public level.

One laudable thing decision made by Delirious was to follow in Adam Pearce’s footsteps and immediately write himself out as a regular character on the show. Delirious last appeared on an HDNet show in September, defeating Austin Aries in a cage match but immediately suffering a heinous attack by Aries’ men Kenny King and Rhett Titus, known as The All-Night Express. Delirious has not been seen in ROH since. As when Pearce took himself out of the active roster, this move demonstrated Delirious’ commitment to the rest of the locker room and took away the seductive impulse to book oneself on top of the promotion. Some wrestling bookers and promoters of yesteryear who also happened to be wrestlers in the same company would make themselves the champion and keep themselves well-paid, but Delirious and Pearce have not done so and are better men for it.

As Delirious guides the ship towards the conclusion of the year’s major angles and readies himself for a brand new year where the creative decisions and top angles are his responsibility, Adam Pearce continued his venture with Dave Marquez to run NWA Hollywood in California. He hasn’t ruled out coming back to ROH at some point in the future, as he had nothing but great things to say about Cary Silkin, Jim Cornette and the ROH wrestlers as a whole. Ultimately, Pearce’s run as booker in some way paralleled Tyler Black’s run as ROH World Champion (see below), in that it began uneven, controversial and resented, but then things were over just as they seemed to be getting really good. We will never truly know how Pearce’s run would have been remembered if he lasted longer than he did.

As far as the future of Ring of Honor and what lies ahead in 2011, despite ROH’s immense creative resurgence this year, it is still at its core independent promotion. That is not a new fact for long term fans and followers. They know ROH will always be hampered by the inadequacies of that position in the wrestling world-namely, the unfortunate lack of exposure for what is consistently a quality product and therefore having to worry about paying the bills.

ROH had to sack two full-time employees from its staff this year due to the down economy (one of them being Shane Hagadorn, who was doing a lot of behind the scenes activities and remains with the company in the on-screen managers role). After the booking change, several ROH wrestlers including Erick Stevens, Necro Butcher and Dark City Fight Club have gone on “hiatus”. They are not being booked on ROH house shows throughout the winter (though many of them recorded enough footage to be featured on HDNet through the end of the year). Two-time former ROH World Champion Austin Aries left the promotion soon after the booking change as well, though not out of financial reasons but rather differences in ideology.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer has hinted several times this year that ROH is still losing money and that Cary Silkin will keep the company alive as long as he is fine and can deal with losing money. Silkin, meanwhile, has said he has no intention of closing the promotion any time soon and continues to look for ways to grow the company slowly but steadily. What remains clear is that the only thing that will really kill ROH is if and when Cary Silkin decides it’s time to end the promotion. It’s almost happened several times throughout the years, but ROH has survived and endured, improving itself bit by bit in terms of visibility, exposure and company growth. It’s enough for now, it seems.

When ROH changed bookers from Gabe Sapolsky to Adam Pearce at the end of 2008, there were many detractors stating that ROH would be dead within a year. When that didn’t happen, they kept moving the goal posts further and further back. Wrestlers come, wrestlers go. Bookers come, bookers go. However, ROH is still around and ready for 2011.

Ring of Honor on HDNet: Smoothed Out, Less Run-Ins, but Less Internet Exposure?

Ring of Honor’s television show on HDNet had been renewed for another year. By the end of 2010, the HDNet show had expanded into several new and key markets in America (including several towns in which they toured) and they had signed two international-distribution deals, one for France and one for Italy.

The HDNet shows fleshed out and furthered the programs begun on the major shows. It was clear a battle plan was being set to push angles and major programs through television and building towards major house shows and iPPVs along the way. Threading plot points through HDNet smoothed out and bettered the continuity and consistency of the shows to match what was happening during the touring circuit.

HDNet also began to more wisely incorporate major house shows, showing highlights such as 8th Anniversary and Supercard of Honor V. Dave Lagana and other producers went to work on capturing video from these events and presenting the video packages as support to major feuds like the Strong versus Black tussle (often in better quality video than the DVDs). They created highlight reels for past episodes as well, reinforcing what had happened and foreshadowing what was to come. In addition, Jim Cornette provided a guiding hand on television with his on-air role, helping the likes of Black, Strong and Aries get over their feuds and matches.

This year saw the introduction of the ROH Television Title to HDNet, giving the show a title of its own to use in storylines. An eight-man tournament (see above) determined the initial winner (Eddie Edwards). The tournament itself was quite successful, but the initial usage and prestige of the championship sucked as it was never actually defended on the show. When Ring of Honor changed bookers (see below), the TV Title was given its proper attention and usage and regularly defended on the show, thus establishing its place and lending some luster and prestige as a proper secondary title for the promotion.

Another big frustration with the HDNet show during the course of the last year was the excessive use of indecisive finishes, even in the main-event matches for each episode. The indecisive finishes varied from run-ins during matches (some needless, some to further angles), disqualifications, distractions or other “B.S.” finishes. There were seemingly more of these than in 2009 and in major main-event matches as well. This was a booking philosophy found in many of the DVD house shows in 2009 that had somewhat settled down for that aspect of ROH events, but not on the television shows. A reason for that is that the HDNet shows did serve as an advertisement for ROH’s larger events and that sometimes ROH did not want to give conclusive finishes to major grudge bouts. However, critics such as I argued that there were better ways to advance programs than run-in finishes and that one did not have to give away the entire farm on these shows, but that viewers deserved to feel their time was well-worth spent. For some long-time ROH fans, it cut too close to the bone of what they disliked about WWE and TNA and why they preferred to watch Ring of Honor: better action and cleaner finishes.

When the booking change from Adam Pearce to Delirious occurred, ROH decided to change the way they handled finishes on the TV shows. There was distinct and clear move to subdue these kinds of finishes and go with more clean and decisive endings. There were still run-ins and cheating, but they occurred less frequently (and of course that meant they meant more when they happened). There have also been many more important main event matches on the show since then, from Eddie Edwards’ TV Title defenses to a Davey Richards vs. Tyler Black match that was one of the best matches on TV this year. In many ways, the HDNet shows have become just as important as the DVD shows.

Unfortunately for some internet viewing fans, their access to those HDNet episodes has now been limited. Ring of Honor and HDNet used to allow a fan named “ROHBrazil” to post the HDNet show onto YouTube three days after their initial airdate on the channel. When the expansion into more U.S. markets occurred, they told ROHBrazil to shut it down.

The move was understandable, after all HDNet owned the rights to the show and their concern was building and expanding their network. Limiting access would serve to convince some to switch cable providers to those carrying HDNet. Unfortunately, this move also cut off a considerable amount of North American and international fans who for many reasons were not able (and in some case, it was not even possible) to subscribe to television packages that carried the channel. The ROHBrazil site had as much as 10,000 subscribers and 1,500 “friends”, some of whom were actually ROH’s own wrestlers! Most episodes averaged about 3,000 views per episode. While that may seem a pittance compared to the numbers drawn by WWE and TNA (and it is), the fact of the matter is that those numbers matter on the independent level of professional wrestling. Hopefully at some point down the line HDNet figures out that they need to take it upon themselves and provide an online stream service for their shows, even if it’s a paid subscription.

Davey Richards and Tyler Black: Leaving, Staying, Then Staying, Leaving

The in-ring peak for the year that was in Ring of Honor would be Death Before Dishonor VIII iPPV a, blow-away show that produced four must-see matches including a sure-fire match of the year with Tyler Black defending the ROH World Title against Davey Richards. The number of internet Pay Per View buys were steadily increasing and increasingly profitable, but that show especially received an extraordinary amount of attention before, during and after the event.

Of course, with every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Tyler Black’s incredible efforts at the show had attracted the attention of WWE. His ROH contract was coming due. WWE came calling. Inevitably, Black decided to sign with WWE, meaning the active ROH World Champion was now leaving the promotion. Suddenly, the ROH fans recalled visions of one year previous, when Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness signed with the company and there were rumors flying at that time that WWE was pursuing many other ROH talents. Would this be a repeat of Summer and Fall 2009 all over again?

In addition to Black signing with WWE, Davey Richards had declared his intentions in an interview to retire from professional wrestling at the end of the year. Richards had signed (or renewed) a contract with ROH at the beginning of the year, gaining a per-show raise. The deal killed his relationship with Gabe Sapolsky and left him without bookings for FIP, Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE, where he was supposed to be a huge part of building that fledgling promotion. Now it seemed he was leaving ROH at the end of the year so that he could pursue other life opportunities. Roderick Strong, next in line for the ROH World Title, had just completed a dark-match with TNA. Christopher Daniels, who had just left TNA and was wrestling for ROH and other independents, was rumored to be fielding offers from TNA again. It seemed everyone was leaving and with it, the future of ROH was at risk.

Yet, instead of accepting these situations, ROH quietly (and then not-so-quietly) began to prepare for the future of the promotion for the rest of the year and into 2011. They began to sign their talent to new contracts and / or extensions. They quickly locked up Roderick Strong, Eddie Edwards, The Briscoes, both of The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli), The All-Night Express of Kenny King and Rhett Titus. Other regulars signed on as well. ROH also signed three young prospects: Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Mike Bennett, to ROH contracts. That would assure ROH that they at least had some protection of core talent and promising future members of the roster. It wasn’t the most star-studded roster in ROH, but it was a good start.

Then, ROH had a bit of luck. Davey Richards decided not to retire from professional wrestling and instead re-signed a new one year agreement. Richards had become one of ROH’s top draws as well as one of its best wrestlers from a quality output standing. Then, one of ROH’s founding members, “The Notorious 187” Homicide was released from his TNA contract and in a matter of weeks he had rejoined the roster. Finally, ROH locked up founding father Christopher Daniels to an ROH contract, guaranteeing he would be sticking around for the next year. ROH was able to take all of those contracts and understanding who would be around for the long term began to re-build and move on with their plans. It stabilized the rest of the year, bringing them all the way to Final Battle 2010 with a solid idea of where they were, what they were doing and where they were going.

Despite losing Tyler Black, ROH had escaped larger grievous bodily harm, doing what they always did when a wrestler left the promotion—adjust and move onwards.

Many Happy Returns—2010 (Daniels, Homicide)

Two wrestlers long held in high regard and having deep historical ties to Ring of Honor returned to the promotion: “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels and “The Notorious 187” Homicide. Both wrestler s appeared on the first ever ROH show back in 2002 and played instrumental roles in the development and progression of the promotion ever since.

Daniels had two previous runs in ROH, from February 2002 through February 2004 and from June 2005 through April 2007. Both of these runs were cut short because Daniels had been signed to a TNA contact. The first time he was pulled out of ROH because of TNA’s concerns about ROH impacting its own reputation in the wake of the Rob Feinstein scandal. The second time Daniels left was due to Ring of Honor’s move to begin running broadcast Pay Per Views. TNA’s contracts do not allow for its talent to appear on a competitor’s televised programs.

Yet this time it was Daniels’ call to make as to his future—and being released from his TNA contract after it was clear the new Eric Bischoff / Hulk Hogan regime had no use for him, he chose to make his return to Ring of Honor at The Big Bang iPPV. The appearance caught ROH fans everywhere by surprise as in this day and age of internet news and rapidly breaking spoiler information, literally no one knew that Daniels and TNA had severed relations and that he had already agreed to appear in Charlotte. The sound heard across the internet were ROH followers freaking out that a founding father had returned (although at the time no one knew for how long). It was a roster-strengthening move and it was clear from his speech that Daniels was determined and motivated to make the most of it. His post-match confrontation with Davey Richards gave ROH fans an immediate dream match to anticipate and while the actual match didn’t happen until October of the year, Daniels found plenty of great opponents to occupy his time until then.

Daniels wasn’t the only former TNA talent to join the Honor Party this year. Brooklyn, New York’s own Homicide made his return to ROH for the first time since a two-night guest-stint in October 2008 during this past September’s Glory By Honor IX internet Pay Per View in Manhattan. Homicide had plenty of his own problems with TNA this year, starting with the Asylum Cage Match debacle where he was unable to climb out of the opening in the roof in the opening segment of the very first Hogan / Bischoff episode of iMPACT! After that, Homicide was kept off television most weeks or used in an undercard / preliminary position. In interviews, ‘Cide talked about a lot of the lip service being paid by Hogan, talking about how much he loved the character and yet, week after week nothing was ever really done with him. Finally, Homicide had enough and asked for his release. He received it and five weeks later made his return both on an EVOLVE afternoon show in Rahway, New Jersey (previously advertised) and the Ring of Honor show in New York (an unadvertised but somewhat expected or suspected appearance).

Homicide’s return electrified the Grand Ballroom at the Hammerstein Ballroom, where he interrupted Roderick Strong’s ROH World Title victory celebration, challenging him for the title and vowing that he would do everything he could and go through anyone it took to get to another title shot. He wanted it to happen at Final Battle 2010 in December, but instead it appears that title match will have to wait until the February 2011 internet Pay Per View. Until then, The New Yorker’s New Yorker has enjoyed showing what the “Ring of Homicide” is all about.

ROH Improves Social Network with iPhone App, Facebook and Twitter Pages, OnDemand Download Service

2010 was the year that Ring of Honor finally began to more fully take advantage of its online capabilities, using social networking and on-demand services.

Instead of merely just having an online presence, ROH began to incorporate fan responses from Twitter and Facebook into their HDNet telecasts, as well as used those pages into their advertisement of HDNet shows, DVDs and iPPVs. Specific Facebook pages were set up to advertise big shows such as Survival of the Fittest 2010 and Final Battle 2010.

Meanwhile, ROH also began to utilize fully-fleshed out “micro site” pages for these huge events, making them truly stand apart from regular articles on their website and getting across the idea that these were special events. Shows had their own specific logos, matches received their own images and there was information presented on how to order tickets. The clean, sleek looking web page brought across an incredibly high level of professionalism, maybe the best ROH has ever looked on the internet.

Wrestlers such as Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Hero and Colt Cabana used their Twitters to fill-in fans on their career travels. Cabana took his internet presence one step further by beginning his own podcast, The Art of Wrestling. Each episode has been a quality, worthwhile show and his interviews with other wrestlers are some of the best shoot-style approaches done. He gets them to open up like few others.

Cabana also contributes “audible articles” on rare occasion to the ROH website, which has also increased its output of articles and columns over the past year. ROH has published articles from its owner Cary Silkin as well as other backstage staff. Kevin Steen had a presence there for a while and they are also publishing articles from superfan GregH about his own experiences, past and present, in attending professional wrestling shows. It’s a whole new level of interaction and providing entertainment and a constant stream of information to their fanbase….not to mention hype for the brand (which is not a bad thing in this case).

Earlier in the year Ring of Honor announced the release of its own App, for iTunes and other cell phones. The App is essentially a micro version of the ROH website with news, videos and links to relevant information. Unfortunately the App has consistently been several months behind (right now its updated through the end of August), so like the original concept for ROHvideos.com last year it sort of stalled out. However it was exciting at the time and demonstrated that ROH was willing to work on developing its internet presence in next-generation applications. ROH also set up a free iTunes podcast download service, where they upload newswires and other promo videos that they make available through YouTube and their website.

Speaking of ROHvideos.com, that was perhaps the best boon of them all. The website was restarted as an “on Demand” downloadable video service. ROH took many out-of-print and sold-out shows throughout its nine-year history and placed them on the internet for customers to download and burn onto DVD. Most of the shows are $10.00 each, half of what new shows cost. Though download speeds are dependent upon the purchaser’s internet capabilities, this has been a smart way to get the product to the fan base. Instead of enduring the costs of pressing multiple copies of sold out shows (which while there may be demand for certain ones, other s may not fully sell out of the new stock), fans can now obtain these shows directly through the internet / digital means. It also saves fans the hassle of having to spend exorbitant amounts of money through ebay or other auction-house websites in order to add to their collection. While ROH doesn’t push the on-demand as heavily as they should on the TV show and DVDs, it is always there and available for both for long-time and newer fans as a resource. It’s like having a constant source for earning money.

ROH Ends Tour Stop in Edison, New Jersey and Manassas, Virginia, Adds New Stops in Lousiville, Kentucky, Charlotte, North Carolina, Plymouth, MA and Richmond, VA

As is the case every year, ROH added and dropped several cities from its touring schedule. These decisions are made from a number of different factors, including convenience, venue availability, but most importantly, the ticket gates for each show. Unfortunately, the towns cut this year did not seem to be able to get out a rut or an established constant throughout the previous year.

Edison, New Jersey had been a long-time home for ROH, taking over as the regular site for shows in place of the dearly-departed Rex Plex. Shows at the Inman Rec Center dated back to 2005 when it hosted Final Battle 2005 and the incredible KENTA vs. Low Ki main event. Since then, Edison had its ups and downs in fan attendance, behavior and quality of shows. 2009 was especially a rough year for shows at the venue, as ROH presented true “B-show” cards and put on the infamous one-hour draw that wasn’t between Tyler Black and Nigel McGuinness at Injustice II. Their last show at The Inman was Boiling Point, which took place after two HDNet tapings and saw a very unimpressive show with very few marquee matches. ROH had announced a return date to Edison in April, but then that show was cancelled and never rescheduled. It was an indication that ROH was done with running shows in the town.

Likewise, ROH had a promising start in Manassas, Virginia with such events as Full Circle (ironically taking place a night before Injustice II and vastly superior in quality). However, ROH made the decision for that town to be the Friday night show for many New York events, and well, it’s hard to bring the top marquee bouts to Manassas when one is saving them for the top market on the touring schedule. So the Manassas shows became swallowed up in the wake of building to iPPVs and important title matches. The writing was pretty much on the wall at Civil Warfare in May 2010, whose quality and match line-up resembled those Edison shows of 2009. Prince Nana and Austin Aries just about outright stated during promos on the show that they were done with Manassas as a venue.

Luckily, Virginia did have a plan-B and ROH found a new home in Richmond, Virginia. That became and continues to be ROH’s new home, having hosted Champions’ Challenge in August and returning there on January 14th, 2011.

ROH also expanded into other new cities this year, most notably the old NWA stronghold of Charlotte, North Carolina and Jim Cornette’s hometown area of Louisville, Kentucky. Jim Cornette was obviously a huge influence in establishing these tour stops in 2010, using his connections in both towns to help promote the events. Cornette had high hopes for Charlotte such that it hosted the second internet Pay Per View on its first show ever in the area. He had hoped to draw old school wrestling fans, long-time ROH fans in the area who had never been to a show before and lucha fans from the Latino demographic, to that end booking several independent luchadores to appear on the show in attraction matches. Results were mixed, as ROH didn’t have as much success as expected for the live show. Nonetheless, ROH continues to support Charlotte as a major tour stop, most recently running Tag Wars 2010 there, one of their major shows of the summer. They return there on January 15th, 2010.

Meanwhile, ROH debuted at The Danny Davis Arena, long-time home to Ohio Valley Wrestling, which Cornette used to own and book…and has this year returned to help and give assistance where needed. Cornette brought ROH to Louisville for Bluegrass Brawl back in July. ROH heavily hyped and hawked several ticket packages and premium features. They did sell-out the house and put on a decent show that the Kentucky fans genuinely enjoyed. ROH fans had mixed reviews of the show, for one because it focused on OVW wrestles on the undercard and secondly because it featured mostly re-reruns of several ROH matches, notably the fourth American Wolves-Briscoes match that year and another Sara Del Rey vs. Daizee Haze singles match. While the Castagnoli-Black and Wolves-Briscoes matches did come through with flying colors, it being the first show of a three-show weekend did not have that “must buy” mentality.

Still, the show was generally a success, and Cornette worked his magic again to bring Louisville more ROH action this winter. He negotiated and brought the first HDNet tapings outside of Philadelphia to Danny Davis Arena (where OVW TV had been taped for years and so it was a natural presence). Unfortunately these tapings were sandwiched between a WWE Raw show in the area and two OVW tapings on the same week. Even with the second-ever appearances of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin in the promotion, attendance was about one-third to one-fourth less for these shows as compared to the first house show in July. ROH also continued to incorporate OVW talent on the dark matches and undercard of these shows (more of Cornette’s influence), which was a decision that while great for younger talent only really works for ROH if they use the wrestlers most ready and least green for the show. Given Cornette’s connections and history with the promotion, it should be expected that ROH will return to Louisville in the near future, whether as a house show market or a new home for HDNet taping sessions.

The Immensely Strong Tag Team Division: Kings Reign Supreme, Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team of Haas & Benjamin Debut

In an era when tag team wrestling is neglected in WWE and there are almost no regular and dedicated tag teams, Ring of Honor has continued to bring dedication and excellence in building up an incredible strong tag team division. Tag team wrestling is alive and well in Ring of Honor. This past year featured an absolutely stacked roster of regular teams: The Kings of Wrestling, The Briscoes, The American Wolves, The All-Night Express, Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team, Super Smash Brothers, Up in Smoke, The House of Truth, The Embassy, Kyle O’Reilly & Adam Cole. Add to that Colt Cabana and El Generico wrestling as a tandem as well as Steve Corino & Kevin Steen. There was just so much depth of talent and so much diversity this year.

This has been year The Kings of Wrestling reunited and the year they reestablished their supremacy in the tag division. Their defeat of The Briscoes was far from fait accompli, but Hero and Claudio have been remarkable champions since they won the belts in April. The division has run through them ever since and their matches against the likes of The Briscoes, the Motor City Machine Guns and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team have been some of the best in ROH. It is entirely believable that they could continue their dominance as champions going well into 2011 as they are both red-hot as characters, in great shape and are better than they ever have been in the ring.

Speaking of Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin joined forces again not in WWE, but rather in ROH. The dream match between Haas & Benjamin and The Kings of Wrestling was signed, sealed and delivered for Glory By Honor IX this past September. All questions about Haas and Benjamin’s ability to mesh with The Kings was answered with a resounding “yes” as both came in hungry and super motivated to wrestle. The match was one of the hottest of the evening and while The Kings the non-title bout, Haas and Benjamin proved they still had a lot to offer the professional wrestling word. Though expected to be only a one-time special appearance (as rumors had Benjamin or perhaps both signing with TNA to reform Team Angle with Kurt Angle), Haas and Benjamin were so well-received that there was a definitive fan demand for more appearances. They returned to ROH during the recent HDNet tapings and are booked for both the January 2011 Wrestlereunion show and the February 26th, 2011 internet Pay Per View in Chicago, Illinois. The WGTT have plenty of great matches and pairings to offer against ROH’s top teams in the future.

However, this coming year will provide some challenges to the tag division. There have been changes already with some of the teams mentioned above. ROH is claiming that The American Wolves are no longer teaming up with each other as they pursue singles success (though that never stopped them before). The original House of Truth of Josh Raymond and Christian Able have been sidelined with Raymond retiring from wrestling and Able currently injured. When he recovers he should be teamed with Michael Elgin as the new house, but that remains to be seen. The Embassy is on “hiatus” and is awaiting a revamp. Up in Smoke and Super Smash Brothers are usually just in for television tapings (Cheech & Cloudy have been gone since the summer). That reduces the crowd somewhat, but ROH still has a very healthy upper core of teams and many of them are absolutely believable in the role of champion.

Final Column 2010 continues tomorrow with PART TWO with more of the ROH Yearbook for 2010. The storylines and grudges of the year, the funniest and strangest moments, the best promos and vignettes, even the best DVD covers. It’s just getting started, so see you then!