Column of Honor: 12.29.10: Final Column 2010 Part Four: The Voice of the People Continued

Michael Ornelas:

Overall Thoughts on Ring of Honor in 2010: I felt that 2010 was kind of slow until they started heading towards Death Before Dishonor VIII in June. I’m not a big fan of Tyler Black and didn’t think much of his reign (as a character. His matches are fine), but when they started hyping Davey Richards’ journey for the belt, things really got going. But I also don’t forget the excellent Steen/Generico feud that was developing, and it took until the summer for El Generico to want to fight Steen and hurt his former friend. Also, since I’m not a fan of Roddy Strong much either (no mic skills), I thought that his acting in the whole “ROH is screwing me/Tyler is screwing me” saga wasn’t believable. I was fine with him dethroning Tyler, however, and the latter half of 2010 was great from Ring of Honor. It saw returns from Christopher Daniels and Homicide, a visit from Kenny Omega, Eddie Edwards actively defending his TV title and eventually winning Survival of the Fittest. Richards was having great matches on every show. Steen and Generico (with Corino and Cabana) told great stories with their feud, and I didn’t want to miss a chapter in that. Haas and Benjamin then made their ways into the company, while the Kings of Wrestling really starting owning the place. Ring of Honor in 2010 has definitely delivered, but again, in my opinion it had a slow start.

Favorite Show of 2010: Death Before Dishonor VIII/Final Battle 2010. I’m not able to pick a favorite because I think they were both extremely high in quality. Final Battle has a sentimental value to me, being the first show I’ve done a live recap on, so that was cool, but DBDVIII really hit on all cylinders. The feud of the year in this company was without question the Steen/Generico saga, and one show had the first one on one encounter where the other one had the conclusion. Both VERY solid shows, with Davey Richards challenging different champions on each, and strong undercards.

Favorite Match of 2010: Kevin Steen vs. El Generico (Final Battle). I guess all I’m going to talk about is Steen and Generico, but the feud really was that good! I wanted to put Davey/Tyler from DBDVIII here, but that match suffered from a couple too many superman kick-outs by Davey (and Final Battle had WAY too many), but I also voted Steen/Generico as my match of the year for the year-end awards, so I probably should vote it here for consistency’s sake. The match was the perfect example of the blow-off match to a blood feud. Both men played their parts well, Generico absolutely DOMINATED Steen in the early part of the match since he showed up full of hate ready to kill Kevin. Generico had some cool spots, Steen had some cool spots, there was a lot of brutality using weapons and the ringside area barricades, Cabana and Corino got involved for old time’s sake, the right man won, and the ending bit that mirrored how the whole feud started was absolutely beautiful. Having said that, if you didn’t follow Ring of Honor since Final Battle 2009, you likely won’t appreciate the match as much as those who were emotionally invested in it. I was, and therefore, this is my match of the year, show of the year (well, tied), and feud of the year.

Favorite ROH Wrestler of 2010: In terms of in-ring work, it’s Davey Richards without question. But if you’re looking for the best “full package” wrestler, I’ve got to give it to Kevin Steen. Steen was able to carry promos in a feud that lasted a full year with a man who only says “Si” and “Ole”. I know Cabana was added there to be the mouthpiece of the feud, and in Generico’s case, he did a LOT with simply silence and (masked) facial expressions. Regardless of that though, Kevin Steen has been the best heel character in any promotion in 2010 (as good as Punk in 2009, maybe better, in my opinion), so I’m going to say he was my favorite Ring of Honor wrestler this year. It’ll be sad going into 2011 without him, but I really hope they adhere to the stipulation of his Final Battle match for at least five or six months so it doesn’t look totally stupid. The only loophole I’d accept is if somewhere I’m forgetting, Steen has a guaranteed championship match, uses it, and wins. Having said that, I really hope he comes back eventually, or gets snapped up by WWE or TNA (and he’s one of the few guys I’d love to see go to TNA).

What I think Ring of Honor should improve upon for 2011: Honestly, I think they need to stay the course that they’re on. I’d recommend bringing back Austin Aries, but otherwise, just prepare for the possibility of top talents leaving for WWE or TNA, and half people waiting in the wings to take their spots. When Nigel and Bryan left, they had Davey, Tyler, and Roderick step up. 2011 should be the year where we see El Generico become a staple in the main event scene. Eddie Edwards should be there as well. Rhett Titus and Kenny King should focus more on elevating their singles statuses (while remaining a team), and the team of Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly need to be featured, as they are very talented. I think they also need to do something about their tag division, as right now it only really has the ANX, Kings, Briscoes, WGTT, and Cole/O’Reilly. WGTT will really freshen things up, but I don’t want the Briscoes to keep having matches with Hero and Claudz. Anyways, I’m rambling now, but the point is, Ring of Honor is heading into 2011 with a lot of momentum, and as long as they don’t lose it, they’re poised to have a great year.

Michael Ornelas was a long-time reader and now contributor to 411Mania…so he’s sort of like the NXT Rookie to our NXT Pros. God that’s a bad analogy. Anyway, Michael provides 411’s weekly recaps of ROH on HDNet and has stepped up to take over the Your News, My Views report.

Michael Bauer:

Overall Thoughts on Ring of Honor in 2010: 2010 was an up and down year for Ring of Honor coming off a very lackluster ending to 2009. Yes, it did start with a title change to Tyler Black, one that should have happened at Final Battle last year, but overall the shows were weaker than the previous year. Yes, we had Generico and Steen starting and the King of Wrestling starting with the Briscoes. But it was pretty obvious that the booking was still a problem and that there really wasn’t anyone else ready to step up to replace Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. That all changed in the late spring with Death Before Dishonor. Tyler Black had been treading water as champion, despite some great matches, and simply came alive and even more credible with his match against Davey Richards, who had now propelled himself to that main event level. Daniels had come back to Ring of Honor at the previous Pay per View and was also delivering quality match after quality match. Meanwhile, we finally had Generico getting his hands on Kevin Steen and manning up. Speaking of manning up, The Briscoes and The Kings were in a full fledged war, getting the family involved as well. Since then, Ring of Honor delivered on both Pay per Views from New York City, which included the return of Homicide, the debut of Haas and Benjamin, and a solid roster of main event level talent. Throw in absolutly incredible matches on TV, including a nearly one hour match between Black and Richards, and Ring of Honor has tons of momentum heading into 2011.

Favorite Show (if applicable): Final Battle 2010. I possibly could have said Death Before Dishonor or Glory by Honor had I been there, but this show was almost unreal to be at live (especially in the front row). It had everything that would be looking for in a Ring of Honor card. The hot opener opened it up, solid matches leading to the second half of the card, and then four great to spectacular matches to end. The double main event was simply balls to the walls for over an hour of action, with Richards and Davey stealing the show… just to be upstaged by Steen and Generico.

Favorite Match (if applicable): Kevin Steen vs. El Generico at Final Battle. Again, being in the front row, there was a lot to take in. You almost had to be worried about getting hit with something, but that part was under control (though we almost lost our guardrail to Steen. Thankfully, he went two away from me). Pretty much, this was the purest definition of what a feud ender should be. To me, this ranks up there as the best feud ender in years from any company, including Ring of Honor’s matches between Danielson and Morishima and Strong vs. Stevens. The action was just nuts and seemingly every ten seconds, you had a huge move to just gasp and cheer over. The ending was done perfectly, though I would have the top rope brainbuster end the match, as Steen was just scared of the move from day one of the feud. This was just an incredible match and one that just was that much better from being there.

Favorite ROH Wrestler(if applicable): Eddie Edwards, without question. Remember, this is favorite wrestler, not the best one. I was never a huge fan of his, but that changed with Ladder War II. Yes, that was last year, but still, to see a guy fight with a broken elbow in that type of match was almost unreal. Eddie has done nothing but grow on me and just about every New York City fan since that day with his willingness to fight through just about anything and put on quality matches. Now that he is seemingly done with the Wolves in Ring of Honor, I am just waiting for him to take his main event spot and feud with Richards, something I think might have happened at Final Battle had Davey not gotten a concussion.

What I think Ring of Honor should improve upon for 2011: The only thing I can think of is not making the same mistake the WWE has and forget about the tag team division. Steen and Corino are seemingly done and I’m not sure if Cabana and Generico will stay together as a unit. That leaves (as Jeremy said) All Night Express, Kings of Wrestling, The Briscoes, WGTT, and Cole/O’Reilly as the only teams on the roster. Granted, I’m not sure what else is out there without going into Gabe’s contacts (aka Quackenbush and Jigsaw), but they need to find something or that division will get stale quick. The House of Truth is nowhere near ready or stable enough and The Embassy can’t be counted on to stick around. Now, I’m not up to speed on the politics in RoH, but I am sure there are enough former wrestlers that could come back to help this division out, but I’m not sure how many would stick. Other than this, just ride the momentum into 2011.

Michael Bauer is only related to “Hard Workin'” Bobby Walker in one way—they’re both hard workin’. He has taken on many hats at 411Mania over the years. He is the editor for the 411Mania Top 5 and Buy or Sell columns and is the organizer for this year’s 411Mania Year-End Wrestling Awards (coming soon).

Greg DeMarco

Overall Thoughts on Ring of Honor in 2010: Overall, I’d call 2010 a “good” year for ROH. 3 stars. B. Three and a half dragons. 6.5/10. Whatever scale you use. ROH began the year with Adam Pearce as their booker, and really started hitting his stride when he was…fired. Some reports say the firing was due to disagreements with management, others have it as a cost cutting measure. Austin Aries was delivering the best promos in the entire promotion, and holding his own in the ring, when he was…fired. Some say it was due to his backstage attitude, others have it as a cost cutting measure. ROH also let go of two office employees (leaving them with a total of three), confirmed to be cost cutting measures. Despite the cost cutting, ROH still managed to put out a quality product in the ring, and had some great storylines behind that great wrestling. Kevin Steen vs. El Generico spanned the entire year, starting at Final Battle 2009 and culminating at Final Battle 2010. They only faced off one on one a handful of times, but nearly every ROH event housed an element of this feud. That’s a brilliant play by the company, one that is rarely seen in the world of wrestling today. The company finally put the World Championship on Tyler Black (at least 1 year too late), leading to his WWE signing. The company trimmed the roster down (the aforementioned Aries cut, plus The Dark City Fight Club, Erick Stevens and The Necro Butcher), and signed younger (cheaper) talent in Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, and Mike Bennett. Cole & O’Reilly have both been used regularly, Bennett’s appearances have been more sporadic. The Phoenix WrestleMania weekend events were a huge success (a weekend I’m partial to since I was involved in them), and their first year in the iPPV business has also seen nothing but profit despite the technical issues on the side of provider GoFightLive.tv. Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Kevin Steen, El Generico and Eddie Edwards all stepped up their in-ring game this year (which, for some of them, was hard to do–they were already immensely talented). ROH legends Christopher Daniels and Homicide returned to the company full time, and Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas just committed to being full time as well. Hunter “Delirious” Johnston stepped in as booker and seems to be doing a good job–a great job if you consider the roster constraints he’s been under. DVD production continues to suffer, which is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. The good definitely outweighed the bad this year, and ROH could easily position themselves for a great 2011.

Favorite Show of 2010: Death Before Dishonor VIII.

DBDVIII featured the best top to bottom card of the year for Ring of Honor, including the promotion’s likely match of the year. That MOTY candidate was the main event, where Davey Richards challenged Tyler Black for the ROH World Championship. Black was victorious in a 35-minute instant classic. The event also saw the first one-on-one meeting between El Generico & Kevin Steen, part of what is likely all of wrestling’s feud of the year for 2010. The event also saw Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli—The Kings of Wrestling—retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships in a brutal no disqualification match. Another great match saw Christopher Daniels gain a victory over the talented Kenny Omega. That four match combination is hard to beat on any wrestling show, allowing this to edge out Final Battle as the year’s best card.

Favorite Match of 2010: The Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark, champions) vs. The American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) for the ROH World Tag Team Championships – From the Ashes, March 26, 2010 at Phoenix College in Phoenix, Arizona.

From the ashes was arguably the stronger of the two Phoenix events for ROH, but both were good showings for the promotion. The main event of Night 1 featured this world tag team title match, over 20 minutes of hard hitting action that is hard to beat from nearly any tag team match this year. No blood, no chairs, no tables, no ladders. This was a great match from start to finish. I am admittedly biased here, as I was on radio during these shows and know that they were given the go ahead end the match at their leisure, and they went another 20 minutes of balls to the wall action after that. This match is vastly underrated and underappreciated, easily one of the top 5 ROH matches of the year and the best match of that weekend.

Favorite ROH Wrestler of 2010: Roderick Strong

“The Messiah of the Back Breaker” has long been my favorite ROH performer from an in-ring perspective. His style is hard hitting and exciting, and his selling is better than Davey Richards at this point. Roddy has been having great match after great match since Fall 2005, and is a very deserving ROH World Champion. I think he’s saddled with a poor choice of manager in Truth Martini, but I feel like 2011 will see Roddy start to break away from Martini, and be an ROH World Champion that turns face during his run–since many of the recent champions were turned heel by fans during their runs. I know many people knock on Roddy’s promo skills, but look at his last videowire promo (“And that’s the motherf*cking truth!”) to see otherwise. And, in an organization where the World Championship is still more important than any other issue around, the one person in the company that doesn’t need promo ability is the champ. Contrary to popular belief, I think Roddy’s reign will last through most of 2011, and he’ll prove to be a great champion for the company.

What I think Ring of Honor should improve upon for 2011: Every wrestling company has items they can improve upon. For the WWE, it was pushing new stars, and that’s exactly what they did in 2010. Likewise, TNA needed to shore up booking and focus on the younger stars in 2011, and that’s exactly what they didn’t do. But this is ROH we’re talking about. 2010 saw ROH hit a great stride with booking, and I expect that to continue in 2011. ROH’s new issue to tackle? Production Values. Say it with me ROH…Production Values! I know Ari will agree with me on this point. ROH’s live events, booking and talent are top notch and deserving fo the label of #3 North American wrestling promotion. But if you compare a 2005 ROH DVD to a 2010 ROH DVD without knowing the production dates, you’d think the 2010 DVD was the older one. The sound quality is bad enough that it’s obvious the commentary is dubbed in later, and the menu options look like I produced it on my laptop. This is a far cry from what was put our 5 years ago. 5 YEARS AGO! Add in the issues with the iPPV streams, and you can see how production values is the biggest deterrent for ROH in the present time. They’re also easily fixed. On a secondary level, I’d like to see them address continuity issues between the TV show and the live events and iPPVs. This is a big challenge when the show is taped so many weeks in advance (the Christmas episode was taped on October, for example). Anyone who reads the internet would have known that Roderick Strong won the “Christmas Gauntlet” that just aired, and sported his ROH World Championship when he did. That right there spoils the Final Battle results for anyone even remotely paying attention. But I can live with that if they just fix the damn production values!

Greg DeMarco has hit the ground running in his 411Mania tenure thus far. He is the new man in charge of The Wrestling 5 & 1 news column and also has a second column, The DeMarco Files. Come for the pics of hot girls, stay for the excellent commentary and opinion.

Aaron Hubbard wanted to take a different tack on the end of year contributions and since I’m always open to any ideas for contributions I gave him the go-ahead. So here Aaron provides a complement to my own Top 100 ROH Matches of 2010 by presenting a list of his own TOP 15 ROH Matches of 2010. Take it away Aaron:

#15: Tyler Black vs. Roderick Strong
The Omega Effect

A perfect example of the Ring of Honor style. Both men were extremely competitive in this contest, coming off the controversial pin at Survival of the Fittest. For twenty minutes they went back and forth, trading momentum and busting out bigger and bigger moves as the match progressed. I happen to enjoy time-limit draws as it is a nice throwback to the NWA and is a great way to prolong a competitive rivalry. You should definitely check this one out.

#14: The Kings of Wrestling vs. The Briscoes
Death Before Dishonor VIII

While these two teams put on a tag-team clinic at The Big Bang, the next match was just a straight-up fight. After Hero elbowed their father, it was expected for things to get personal, but even I didn’t expect this. Jay Briscoe in particular bled buckets. In the end, the Kings continued to reign supreme, but they once again raised the bar for the show and gave Ring of Honor one of it’s best brawls of the year.

#13: Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards
ROH on HDNet, April 26, 2010

The finals for the Television Championship pitted Wolf against Wolf, with Richards the clear favorite to win the contest. However, ROH chose a riskier path by allowing Edwards to get a clean submission victory over his partner, which ultimately proved the smarter decision. Richards is firmly cemented as a World Title contender, and Edwards getting the upset instantly legitimized him as champion. One of the best wrestled matches on television all year.

#12: Austin Aries vs. Kenny Omega
The Omega Effect

Probably Austin Aries’ third best title defense in his second run, only bested by Danielson (FCT: Chicago) and Richards (see below). That’s a great statement on both Aries’ ability to elevate a midcarder to a great match and Omega’s ability to rise to the occasion when need. The match was highlighted by Aries being extremely condescending and not even taking the match seriously. So when Omega made his fiery babyface comebacks, it was just that much better. The second great main event in what proved to be an awesome weekend for Aries.

#11: Tyler Black vs. Davey Richards
ROH on HDNet, October 12, 2010

Just shy of the top ten is the best match on HDNet, not just this year, but arguably the entire run of the show (with only Black-Danielson III standing out as competition in my eyes). A rematch from Death Before Dishonor, this will always carry the stigma of not being QUITE as good as that contest, but without a doubt it was an incredible match with Davey forcing Black to tap in his last televised appearance for the promotion.

#10: The Kings of Wrestling vs. The Motor City Machine Guns
Supercard of Honor V

The epic clash of 2010’s two greatest tag teams was nothing short of amazing. For almost the entire match, these four men tour the house down, working a breakneck pace without overdoing it. Everything was going so well and the match was on it’s way to becoming a ***** classic, but was unfortunately tarnished due to the Briscoes interfering. Ultimately this was revealed as a political move by TNA to protect the Guns, which was unfortunate, but the incredible action in this match deserves a spot in the top ten.

#9: Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong
Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2

The two roughest, toughest, stiffest, meanest wrestlers on the ROH roster wrestling, striking, and basically trying to kill each other for twenty minutes? It was awesome, and enough to make me insecure in my manhood. There was not one second of this I did not love, even the time-limit draw as there seems to be a running theme where Richards can’t seem to eke out a victory no matter what. Watch this and you will be entertained.

#8: Tyler Black vs. Kevin Steen
Salvation

The Chosen Savior of Ring of Honor in 2008 battles the self-proclaimed Anti-Christ of ROH in 2010. The result is one heck of a match between two opponents who are very familiar with each other, going all out. While both men shed blood and there is a big table spot near the end, the match still stays focused on the in-ring action, making it perhaps Steen’s best wrestling match of the year. Both in terms of characters and in the action, this reminded me of Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind, and that is some excellent company to be in. It was also a turning point for Tyler Black’s run as champion, his last performance as a true babyface.

#7: The Young Bucks vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
Aries vs. Richards

Nearly stealing the show from the titular main event, this tag match between two action-packed teams was an awesome semi-main event. While some would label it a spotfest due to the respective repertoires of the four men involved, this never quite devolved into that. It was a great babyface tag team match highlighted by awesome spots and communication issues between Generico and Steen that foreshadowed the epic heel turn by Kevin Steen at Final Battle 2010.

#6: Davey Richards vs. Kenny Omega
The Epic Encounter III

Coming off a fluke loss to Omega at Clash of the Contenders, Davey Richards came into this with extra motivation and tried to take him out right from the beginning. The result was an all-out war of stiff strikes and high impact moves that lasted over a half hour before Richards made Omega submit to the Kimura. While not overly significant in the overall scheme of things, it is still a tremendous match should be seen by all Ring of Honor fans.

#5: Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black
The Eighth Anniversary Show

Aries said before the match that he would be forced to wrestle the match we wanted to see. Both he and Black delivered in that regard, wrestling an exciting match that kept the action and storytelling high instead of sacrificing one for the other. By the end, they had virtually everyone in the Manhattan Center on the side of Black and were elated to see him become world champion. In my opinion, this was one of the best executed title changes in company history and more than made up for the fiasco at Final Battle.

#4: The Young Bucks vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
Final Battle 2009

Speaking of that show, here’s the match people SHOULD be talking about from it. While I loved this match the first time I saw it, my appreciation for the match skyrocketed after seeing their match at Aries vs. Richards. Far from being just another spotfest, these two teams built off of that match and worked what was, in my opinion, the best tag match since Steen & Generico won the titles from the Age of the Fall. Of special note is the way Steen used his injured knee as a major plot point in the match. Cap it all off with a great finish and an aftermath with one of the greatest heel turns of all time, and you have a must watch.

#3: Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards
Aries vs. Richards

You don’t get an entire ROH show named after your match unless it is something special. This match was exactly that. Aries once again summed up his match perfectly by calling it “one stiff-kicking prick” against “one straight-shooting asshole”. For roughly forty minutes these two wrestled a brilliant match; Aries tried to have fun and stooge, but eventually realized that if he was going to beat Richards he would have to be ruthless. The final flurry of brainbusters, knees to the head and the Last Chancery really needs to be seen in order to fully appreciate the story of the match.

#2: El Generico & Colt Cabana vs. Kevin Steen & Steve Corino
Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2

And the final reason why Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2 was my favorite Ring of Honor show of the year. Me telling you about this match won’t do justice to the brutality or to the facial expressions. I can tell you about the sick visuals captured on camera here, but it just won’t be the same. Awe inspiring violence and a truly mesmerizing storyline makes this a true spectacle. I loved this match, but it was also just flat out disturbing in parts.

#1: Tyler Black vs. Davey Richards I
Death Before Dishonor VIII

I am glad that I don’t have to pick between this and Steen vs. Generico at Final Battle 2010. It would be a near impossible decision. I think everything that can be said about this match can be said. Most love it, a few people hate it. I am decidedly in the former. It was a ***** classic wrestled in the classic All Japan style, using a pure sports build to deliver an incredible match based solely on who is the better man and who will be champion at the end of the night. Richards gave the fight of his life, but on this night it was Tyler Black who had more fight in him. They did everything short of killing each other to win this match though. See it, form your own opinion, but see it.

Aaron Hubbard is a content creating machine here on 411Mania, going strong for over a year now on The Contentious Ten countdown as well as the writing weekly 4R’s for Ring of Honor on HDNet programming and the Friday Night Face-Off in the Video Games section.

Obi Justice

Overall Thoughts on Ring of Honor in 2010: I started watching Ring of Honor in late 2009, so for me, Ring of Honor is fresh, new, and exciting. I’ve talked to people who are way over ROH at this point. I’ve followed the discussions here and seen people talk shit about ROH. To me, none of that really matters. ROH has been on fire this year and haters from either side of the aisle aren’t going to change that. I think the iPPVs have added a lot to the promotion as far as its pacing. Also big contributions are the involvement of Jim Cornette, the expansion into Charlotte, and to a smaller extent the addition of the Television title. In the singles scene, we saw the erosion of the Pick 6 series, the downgrading of Austin Aries from main event wrestler to tag team manager, and two title switches that saw Tyler Black and then Roderick Strong enthroned. However, the majority of the year has been spent watching Davey Richards claw at the gates of the ROH World Championship, and to be honest, it’s really Richards that’s been carrying the World title as uncrowned champion. Neither Black nor Strong are especially compelling on the microphone, nor were they embroiled in engaging feuds. What keeps the World title at the forefront was the idea that this year Davey Richards was going to get the belt.

The tag division has been curiously weak. The Kings of Wrestling are very credible and entertaining tag champions and the Briscoes are tried and true, battle tested, so there was no question that KoW vs. Briscoes would work. However, what’s been going on outside of that? All complaints about their actual in-ring work aside, Dark City Fight Club were the team that seemed poised to break into tag title contention but it really never happened. The All Night Express only got serious this year and while they’ll likely have a great 2011, they really didn’t make much of a dent in 2010. The House of Truth came in too late to make a big splash and now that Josh Raymond has retire their future is in doubt. The Super Smash Bros. and Up In Smoke could have been good additions but nothing came out of those teams. The only real competition for the Kings were outside talents in Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin.

Basically, 2010 has been carried on the backs of three acts: the American Wolves (though as singles wrestlers), the Kings of Wrestling, and Steenerico. All three have been massively entertaining but they also point out the shallowness of the rest of the roster. I think Ring of Honor has done a commendable job in utilizing these acts to their fullest to keep things moving while they frankly scrambled to figure out the rest of their situation. The additions of Christopher Daniels and Homicide have freshened up their roster considerably with star-level talent, but so far they have been side players. ROH in 2010 delivered a hell of a lot but promised even more, which means that even though I enjoyed it a whole lot I can’t help feel somewhat disappointed.

I watch WWE mostly because it’s wrestling on TV. I watch TNA because I don’t know any better. I watch ROH because I enjoy it. More often than not I come out of an hour of ROH on HDNet satisfied. When I buy an iPPV I feel like that was money more than well spent. If they did nothing else in 2010 they did that, so for that I salute them.

Favorite Show of 2010: Final Battle 2010. First of all, I’m not caught up on my DVD shows, so even the best ones of those are being skipped over here. Death Before Dishonor VIII was definitely a great show, but it falls below on a few counts. DBD and Final Battle had the same main event themes: Kings of Wrestling vs. Super Briscoe Bros., Kevin Steen vs. El Generico, Davey Richards title chase. Only on the first account did DBD outdo Final Battle (I’ll talk about the title chase in a bit), and even with that said, I feel like the six-man at Final Battle was a fun match and added an element to the show that was missing from Death Before Dishonor (though present in both the Big Bang! and Glory By Honor IX). On the undercard, it’s true that Daniels vs. Homicide didn’t really deliver. However, I think that Colt Cabana vs. TJ Perkins has been underrated by a lot of people, we had a Women of Honor match that was very good, an incredibly hot tag opener between All Night Express and O’Relly/Cole, and a solid match between Eddie Edwards and Sonjay Dutt (Kenny Omega would have made this match a lot better, but Dutt did a great job regardless). Final Battle was a more rounded show and I enjoyed it more.

Favorite Match of 2010: Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards for the ROH World Title. I’m a Roddy Strong mark. I’ll admit that right off the bat. Do I think his World title run has been great? Not really. I’m just saying this in the interest of full disclosure. That said, I think a few things set this match apart from Richards’ match with Tyler Black. Concerning the build to both, there wasn’t the same expectation that Richards was going to take it at DBD. The stakes weren’t as high, the aura was different. At Final Battle, it was a pretty common opinion that Richards was going to win. This had less to do with Strong’s reign than it had to do with the expectation that ROH was “not going to repeat its earlier mistakes” and put the title on Richards while he was at his “hottest,” unlike the way they handled Tyler Black. In the ring, I just think Strong is better than Tyler Black. Strong’s got a more interesting moveset and attack plan, he varies things more while still focusing on his target. Black has a very WWE-ish style, which is to say he seems to just run the gamut of his signature moves, though they are good moves on the whole. But nine times out of ten I’m gonna enjoy a Strong match more than a Black one. I believe Davey Richards brought that great match out of Tyler Black and not the other way around, whereas at Final Battle it was more of an equal effort, helped out by the familiarity that Richards and Strong have with each other.

I said a lot right there, but really, all I have to say is that at the end of Strong/Richards my heart was pounding. I’ve enjoyed a lot of ROH matches this year but that’s the only time that’s happened.

Favorite ROH Wrestler of 2010: Kevin Steen. In only one situation in 2010 has one wrestler really raised the stock of everyone around him, and that’s got to be the Steenerico feud with Kevin Steen as the centerpiece. It allowed Serious Cabana to emerge as the mouthpiece for a troubled El Generico. It gave us the manipulative promo work of Steve Corino in a major role. It helped El Generico shed his goofy persona and really show that despite being the Generic Luchadore he can be taken seriously, and as a result I believe Generico of 2011 will find himself in the thick of the World title picture. But most of all, Kevin Steen gave us Kevin Steen, and that’s the greatest Christmas present of all. Nobody else in my memory has been as delightfully psychotic as Steen has been. Steve Corino repeatedly said that Kevin Steen had all the tools to be Ring of Honor World Champion and Steen proved it again and again this year. I have called Steen the greatest fat fuck of all time and I mean that as a very high honor. I should probably put Winston Churchhill ahead of him, but on the other hand, Churchhill did not wage bloody wars across America against a masked man and a wrestling comedian and Churchhill did not pull off the most convincingly crazy character I’ve seen in wrestling. “Mr. Wrestling” Winston Churchhill is pretty catchy, though.

What I think Ring of Honor should improve upon for 2011: Stability and roster development is first on the list for me. I hear a lot of people who want Ring of Honor to start bringing in outside talent more often, but I think that’s the wrong way to go. ROH needs to make sure people are going to watch it for what it is, especially with a TV show to think about. ROH really needs to orient its roster. I think the TV title will help to do this, but at this point it’s still unclear who ranks where. I’m not saying people should be locked down, but I think the level of flux is too high. A feud between Sheamus and John Morrison clearly elevates Morrison because we know that up to this point Morrison isn’t on Sheamus’s level. That kind of thing can’t really happen in ROH because really, who can be elevated like that? The only people in that position right now are Eddie Edwards and Mike Bennett. Edwards is relatively new and was saddled with being “the other American Wolf” for a long while. Bennett is brand new and really hasn’t done anything. Everyone else either has tenure, has proved themselves to be near the top, or is in the tag ranks.

Tone down finishing stretches. I’ve seen a few pre-2009 ROH shows and for the most part was not impressed by the undercards. A lot of it was just move trading with no storytelling to really draw me in. So from there to here I think there has been a marked improvement of the pacing of ROH matches from top to bottom in their shows. However, there are still a million billion kickouts in many matches, even matches that aren’t their big big matches. I can excuse it in a match like Strong/Richards or Steen/Generico when they have a real drive to not lose at any cost, and more than that, when the match itself pulls me in and makes me really believe that it’s that important to the both of them. But even in those situations, their kickouts can get ridiculous. Most matches would not be hurt by shortening finishing stretches or not having Tekken-style combo finishers. Death By Roderick into Gibson Driver into Sick Kick is still one of the sickest things I’ve ever seen in person (at Pick Your Poison in Dayton), but it’s also overkill for a midcard match against El Generico.

Don’t put all your eggs into one basket. Roderick Strong won the Toronto Gauntlet, the ROH World Championship, and the Holiday Gauntlet. Eddie Edwards won the TV title tournament and Survival of the Fittest. Tag Wars basically prevented anyone other than the Kings of Wrestling from getting a chance to shine by having a tournament win under their belts. Let other people win stuff.

All or nothing on the Women of Honor. I would prefer if Ring of Honor could support a women’s division, but if they can’t, stop having Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze wrestle all the time. I don’t think SDR or Haze appearing on a show is interesting in and of itself, which means it’s really taking up a slot that could be used for either another match or to give other matches more time. The only way they become interesting is if they have the competition that will elevate them. If that can happen, amazing, and let’s see it in 2011. If not, stop horsing around.

Embassy Forever.

Obi Justice is one of the newest additions to the 411Mania Wrestling staff, bringing The Big Stage column to the site.

Throughout the past year the Videowire has been used to promote ROH events through clusters of promos done by Ring of Honor talents. Here are some of the best videowire programs done throughout the year and viewed in chronological order it demonstrates the organic evolution not just of the wrestlers involved but also of the feuds and issues that took place in the ring. Inside you’ll find some of the finest work done by the likes of Kevin Steen (whose barbed wire promo on the 5/27 clip will stop you dead in your tracks), Steve Corino (firing up Steen and himself after both wins and losses), Colt Cabana (firing up El Generico on many of these such as the 3/30 video and displaying the “after” photo of the Chicago Street Fight on the 4/28 video), Kenny King and Rhett Titus (as they roared through Jerry Lynn and into the top of the tag scene), Austin Aries (during and after his championship run), Tyler Black (who goes from fire-filled babyface to showing signs of frustration to out-and-out heel statements), The Kings of Wrestling (always reigning supreme), The Embassy (with Nana hiring Stevens and formulating plans, which unfortunately for him didn’t often work out well for his group), Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards (pursuing their hunt for ROH Titles), The Briscoes (cussing out The Kings for the attack on their father on the 6/15 clip and I quote: “I kill a mother**ker for less than that sh*t , you put your hands on my father, I kill a mother**ker”) and plenty of other iconic moments of 2010. It is well worth spending time and delving into these clips, because within them lie the scene-specific, at that moment, heart and soul of ROH.

I’d like to thank everyone once again for contributing to this feature. Final Column 2010 will continue in PART FIVE with the big one, my year end awards for Ring of Honor!