Column of Honor: 03.05.11: The Honorable Thing To Do

Welcome to the Column. It is unfortunate but necessary that this be the last time (for now) that I write those introductory words.

Ring of Honor came up with a solution to the predictability problem of the outcomes to their top two title matches on the 9th Anniversary Show internet Pay Per View—keep them out of the main event positions. The ROH World Title and ROH World Tag Team Title matches were instead shifted down the card—with Strong’s defense against Homicide moved to the fourth match of the show, right before intermission, while heel/heel match-up of The Kings and All-Night Express took place sixth on the card and second bout after intermission.

Instead, ROH concluded their anniversary with their two best in-ring matches, the two-out-of-three falls TV Title re-match between champion Christopher Daniels and challenger Eddie Edwards and then finishing off with the first-time ever dream bout between ROH stalwarts The Briscoes and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin. It turned out to be a smart decision that paid off with a pleasant and crowd-pleasing end to what was a very good, but not all-time-classic Ring of Honor show.

Though a solid card filled with good wrestling from top-to-bottom, this was the first iPPV presentation that felt more of a means to an end (the higher profile ROH Takes Center Stage iPPVs on April 1st and 2nd from Atlanta, Georgia during Wrestlemania weekend).

In addition, the streaming iPPV service from Go Fight Live seemed more solid than any previous show. I can’t speak to others’ experiences, but a cursory glance of Facebook, Twitter and message board comments indicates the show had a solid stream for most who ordered. However, for me, service was more hit-or-miss. This time around I ordered the replay of the show the day after it aired, thinking I wouldn’t deal with any issues. Instead, I ran into the same problems I had when I lasted ordered (Death Before Dishonor VIII back in June 2010)—the stream cut off at various random points with no rhyme or reason. I was using a new computer with HD high-resolution video and super fast internet connection with everything up-to-date, so I have no idea why this happened. I just know that this is an extremely frustrating process and that it is sometimes very difficult for me to recommend this service to my friends given all of the problems I’ve experienced. When I order a show, I don’t want to have to put in work to see it. I just want to click it and lay back and watch the entire show without interruption.

That said, there were also improvements on the presentation and production end of things. Video quality was above average on the medium resolution stream and very good on the high resolution feed (which wasn’t available at first but then automatically occurred during a stream refresh). Announcers Dave Prazak and Kevin Kelly were at a very good, leveled volume throughout the entire show, which may be a first for ROH iPPV on GFL. The commentary feed was not open during the opening minutes of the first match and at the beginning of Daniels versus Edwards, but those were for only a few brief moments and had a negligible effect on the show. The fans came in loud and clear, and their enthusiasm throughout the night really enhanced the viewing experience from home.

Let’s run down the show, match by match:

Davey Richards vs. Colt Cabana– a very entertaining technical and scientific wrestling match to start the show. Both men were very over (Richards for being a great bad-ass in the ring, at the top of his game at wrestling the ROH style; Cabana for being the loveable hometown hero). Some fantastic and creative armwork to start and I’m glad it paid off in the end of the match. This is the kind of wrestling action I really enjoy the most and it definitely helped to get the PPV off on the right note. There were enough strikes mixed in with the “art of wrestling” (as chanted by the fans in the direction of Colt Cabana), but it was smartly kept simple and to the point in order to save some more for later matches on the show. I gasped for a second when Richards hit the tope outside due to his trajectory and the way his head was angled downward, but he seemed okay and no problems afterward. The Diving Headbutt from three-quarters of the way across the ring was similarly impressive. Cabana’s facial expressions after some close nearfalls on his part sold his frustrations well (almost crying in disbelief). I liked Richards finishing combination of the falcon arrow into the cross armbreaker. Really good wrestling match and I could watch this one over and over again.***1/2

I liked ROH deciding to run the “5 Greatest ROH Moments” videos they released on YouTube (even if some disagree with some of the selections). I didn’t like that to do it they had to cut off the entrances of Grizzly Redwood and Kyle O’Reilly for the next match.

Four Corner Survival: “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett w/ Brutal Bob Evans vs. Steve Corino vs. Grizzly Redwood vs. Kyle O’Reilly: With two men already in the ring, it was very obvious the match was going to revolve around the other two who actually received full entrances (Corino and Bennett). Corino plays subtle babyface well (he is on the road to pro wrestling recovery) and continues to show he can match up with the young guns. The “thumbs-up” teases toward the end of the match were humorous, but it wasn’t exactly like the Chicago crowd was stopping him– in fact I think they were encouraging him–bad Chicago crowd, bad! Never enable an addict. Bennett looked good in the beginning, but he seemed to be tripping over everyone during the cluster at the end. O’Reilly was the star of the match and showed off his amazing wrestling abilities and athleticism–I’m glad that at least he didn’t take the losing fall at the expense of the Bennett push. Great camera shot of his running dropkick to the floor from the background. After a sometimes well done, sometimes confusing end-run sequence with all four men, Bennett pins Corino with the Side-Effect. **3/4

El Generico vs. Mike Elgin w/ Truth Martini- As expected- a solid power game match with Elgin throwing Generico all over the place and Generico fighting back from underneath. I really like Generico’s new tights with the exclamation point cut out of the red trim. Elgin impressed the crowd and me by stopping the momentum of a tornado DDT on the outside and turning it into a running powerslam into the guardrail. His version of the pumphandle Bizzaro Driver looked great as well. I don’t think the ref bump of Turner was necessary to get to the finish, as Truth could have found other ways of getting involved without it. Elgin kills with a powerbomb but Generico recovers enough for small package for the win. That’s a good enough finish for a babyface win that didn’t take much off Elgin, who is still new and needs to be protected somewhat. ***

Elgin continued to attack Generico after the match but Generico got the best of it until Roderick Strong ran in and bashed him with the belt to the head from behind. The attack and Generico’s interaction with Truth Martini throughout the match seemed to be a hint that Generico will get another chance to scrap with Strong for the ROH World Title in the near future.

Strong hyped the title match for later in the night and did a decent enough job of it. Homicide ran in and Strong cleared out, but ‘Cide decided he wanted the title shot then and there. Transition right into the ROH World Title match-what is it with this pattern of bookers scheduling their World Title matches in the middle of the card? First Gabe Sapolsky booked the BxB Hulk-Yamato title switch at DGUSA United: New York in the middle of the show, now this. Fourth on the card put the emphasis on how poorly this match was built up to in the last few weeks and how few people believed Homicide had a chance to win tonight.

ROH World Title Match (Barrio Street Fight) Roderick Strong (c) vs. Homicide: Surprised by the lack of blood during the match AND by the plentiful use of chairs (no chairshots directly to the head, but used with downward force and also propped up in-between the turnbuckle pads). ‘Cide was solidly over with the fans and Strong roundly disliked, which is good to see (and hear). A good, but not great brawling match where the weapon spots were the highlights. I liked Strong stealing the Three Amigos from Homicide as a heel spot. I thought the use of the chairs on the turnbuckle pad was very creative and wondered why no one had ever done that one before. Strong refusing to set up the fourth chair was another good heat-grabber–fans like symmetry, I guess. Table break off the tornado DDT from Homicide looked sweet.

It turned out that Elgin being sent to the back before the match by Strong was a swerve so that he could come in during this match and…be thrown right over the top rope. Okay…so much for protecting Elgin. Truth Martini was once again very physically involved, raking ‘Cide’s back to stop the top rope Ace-Crusher and low-blowing him, but since it was no-DQ I don’t have a problem with his involvement, though it did trigger an unconscious reaction in my mind that they were heading to the finish at that point of the match. Sure enough, ‘Cide Ace-Crushers Truth as a consolation prize and then Strong is right in there with the Sick Kick and the Orange Crush backbreaker for the three. This was probably much better than it would have been without the street fight stipulations, even though they didn’t pull out all the stops for a stipulation match of that type (which truth be told, isn’t that terrible a call anyway). ***1/4

Kelly and Prazak announce that The Briscoes vs. WGTT will be the main event of the card in place of this title bout. Smart move.

Women of Honor: Sara Del Rey vs. MsChif– Chiron lists her as “MsChef”- ugh. I hate bush league mistakes like that. So I guess she will be appearing on Iron Chef America to challenge Cat Cora at some point. This was very good women’s wrestling as usual for ROH and SHIMMER, better than 95% of what you’d see on both WWE and TNA television. The problem was this match got the same amount of time as 95% of the women’s matches that you’d see on both WWE and TNA television. I’m not sure why ROH is always so afraid of giving the women the same amount of in-ring time as the men, because guaranteed if they had the same time as the opener that they’d come up with a match as good or almost as good. Also not a huge fan of Del Rey winning…again…especially since ROH was building up MsChif as someone who could take out both Daizee Haze and Del Rey and meet their challenge for “more competition”. I thought the wrist clutch angle slam (called the “Del-Reyzor”, horrible name) was an impressive finish though. I could see MsChif’s misting of Del-Rey post-match coming, but it was well-sold by Del Rey. *3/4

ROH World Tag Team Title Match: The Kings of Wrestling vs. All-Night Express–Fans were very live and loud for this one, having a good time with the “Hey!” chants for Claudio, who played along with it well. Lots of good double teams and back-and-forth action. The ANX one-upped KOW at several points and that made them looks like capable players. We now know how ANX would wrestle as faces and you know what? They’re kind of fun that way. King busting out the shooting star press was unexpected to say the least and very impressive, but I was not happy with how quick Hero was to recover off of it. The tornado boot dodge into the bridging suplex sequence was very impressive as well. The referee comes into play again, too much of that on this show. Rushed finish and a bit botched as King smoothly stole the loaded elbow pad, but somewhere somebody got lost on the sequence of events and Claudio had to sell being knocked out from some blows in order to get back to what they planned to do, which was Hero regaining the elbow pad and KO’ing King as he attempted to hit the Royal Flush on Claudio. Still, very fun match–they didn’t get lost in the heel versus heel conundrum and the fans were there for good support. ***1/2

More audio issues as Prazak and Kelly were cut off at the beginning of the TV Title match.

ROH TV Title Match–2 Out of 3 Falls, 30 Minute Title Match Christopher Daniels vs. Eddie Edwards–As I expected, this was one hell of a match–that’s three-for-three in terms of Daniels vs. Edwards matches living up to billing. Edwards really stepped his game up even more than recent efforts when defending the TV Title. I thought he had tremendous guts flying out into the crowd, using the top turnbuckle post as a launching pad to fly onto Daniels. Also, his running baseball slide on the outside was awesome. Slower paced to begin but picking up in the middle with the flurry of Edwards’ strikes and then submission exchanges. The work to the back of Edwards’ head from Daniels was inspired (and the back chops were LOUD). They paid off when Edwards tried a flurry of strikes ending with a Tiger Suplex, but he couldn’t hold the bridge because of the damage to the back of the neck and had to let go at one.

Earlier in the match, Kevin Kelly hinted that Daniels might pull some old moves out of the repertoire, but other than a rare appearance of the Spicy Drop (the finisher of his alter ego Curry Man) that didn’t really happen. Daniels did pull out the first fall by surviving an exchange of Achilles Locks and Koji Clutches (done by each man and floated into and out of with thrilling smoothness and precision) and getting an “S.O.S.” style rolling pin for three. Edwards came back and bowled Daniels over, but by that point they were 25 minutes into the 30 minute time limit. Wow, that just flew by. They teased some count-outs and Edwards finally managed to tap Daniels out with the Achilles Lock with 3 minutes left in the entire match. Crowd kind of died around this point because they sensed the time limit draw coming (and those never really sit well with the live crowd at any show). Edwards hustled to get some last minute finishers (including the Chin Checker / backpack stunner). He hit an AWESOME Super Hurricanrana that seemingly busted Daniels wide open in his back–the bleeding was very gory.

Both men fell out of the ring with about a minute to go. Edwards crawled in and referee Paul Turner got to about a nine count with Daniels still on the floor when official time expired. Chicago crowd was NOT happy with that booking decision. They had a camera shot of the timekeeper’s stopwatch landing on 30:00 exactly–nice job on that to sell the situation. Daniels was glassy-eyed and not moving, then tried to move and sold being woozy from the bleeding. Referees, The Bravados and eventually Jim Cornette were out to look after Daniels. Cornette grabbed the microphone and tried to babyface the situation and broke it to the fans as nicely as possible that they weren’t getting more time for the match. Crowd gave Edwards a good ovation in the ring. Match peaked in crowd reaction (though not in-ring action) after the first fall, but both men worked hard and they cannot be faulted for the booking decision of a draw. ****

Main Event–Dream Tag: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team versus The Briscoe Brothers– Again, very smart call to end the show with this, a first-time ever bout, with two popular teams who could go out and tell a great story in the ring. Kelly was very smart to point out how the match and the card switch affected the Kings of Wrestling–if this match had taken place before intermission, they would have known already who was next up for a title shot, but their night wasn’t over because they still had to worry about both teams. Of note, Jay Briscoe was in the first official opening match at the first-ever ROH show (The Era of Honor Begins, 2002) and now here he is in the main event of the9th Anniversary Show.

Great wrestling exchanges to start with both Jay and Mark showing they have technical skills and could compete with Charlie and Shelton on the ground (though WGTT mostly controlled from that battleground). Brilliant roll up reversal sequence by Jay on Shelton. Not a huge fan of the lead up to the first hot tag from Haas to Shelton (not that much drama for Haas getting it since there wasn’t anyone blocking him), but after that the last ten minutes were really great. Haas using the Angle Slam was clever and a cute nod to the past, and The Briscoes stopping That Patented Haas and Benjamin Move was handled well. Benjamin of course continues to showcase his awesome athleticism and I could watch him do all those impressive top rope leaps, dragonwhips and superkicks all day long.

Mark Briscoe tops Edwards with his Crazy Mark Briscoe springboard flip tope onto Haas and Benjamin in the third row. Chicago crowd went ape for that one. The Briscoes prep for Doomsday Device, but Haas hops of Jay’s shoulders and Shelton clears Mark off the top with a big running boot. WGTT hit a Hart Attack Blockbuster for three? I was surprised by that finish, because that hadn’t been an established tag finisher for Haas and Benjamin. Really, really good but this one probably could have used five more minutes to get into that final “ROH Gear”. Still, a fun way to conclude the show. ***3/4

For another take on the iPPV from a live perspective, I welcome back for a rare 411Mania appearance none other than… Samuel…BERRRRRRMANNNNNNNN! Many thanks to Sam for reaching out and hitting me up with this review:

“My, my, I swear it’s been a lifetime since I have been away… It’s the last time, but somehow it’s all the same…”
-Guster, “The Prize”

Last Saturday’s Ring of Honor 9th Anniversary Show at the Frontier Fieldhouse in Chicago Ridge was the first ROH show I had attended since the coincidentally named Return Engagement in April of 2008. In the time since, my availability to watch wrestling has shrunk considerably, and while I remain plugged in to the happenings in Ring of Honor and elsewhere, my overall interest in the promotion has shrunk as well. Bartending Saturday nights for the past couple of years has similarly eliminated my ability to attend ROH’s traditional Saturday offerings in Chicago.

But with a rare evening off having dropped out of the sky, the chance to once again dive in to Ring of Honor was too enticing to pass up. I had my friend Rachel, a wrestling neophyte, in tow and off to Chicago we went.

Rachel was immediately struck by how many people were at the event. I have seen estimates of anywhere from 1000-3000 thrown around in the week since the show. There were somewhere in the range of 250 seats per ringside section (four in all), a small bleacher section along the side wall, and a large bleacher setup opposite the hard camera (which is where we took up residence). All told, my personal estimate is somewhere in the 1800-2200 range for the crowd total. With no pre-show offering, the iPPV began almost exactly on time at 7:30 local time.

Davey Richards’ submission victory over Colt Cabana was a solid affair, reasonably showing off both men’s strengths to a game and interested crowd. Rachel in particular was excited to root for Cabana, drawing on our common Jewish heritage to support the hometown boy. Cabana’s quebrada from the second rope got an audible *gasp* from her, the first of many throughout the night.

The Four Corner Survival featuring Steve Corino, Grizzly Redwood, Kyle O’Reilly, and Mike Bennett was solid, and Rachel seemed to quickly grasp the concept that the match was to feature Bennett as the next big thing, while simultaneously give Corino the opportunity to put over his “seeking redemption” storyline. It was at this point that Rachel began to really understand that when you watch Ring of Honor, you’re watching both for the story and the story-behind-the-story, so to speak. For his part, Bennett was physically impressive, but didn’t really do a lot to get me interested in him as a character. As far as a young, cocky heel, he’s certainly no Alex Shelley or even Jimmy Rave. Perhaps with time…

El Generico was fantastic as always in his matchup with Michael Elgin, who I saw four years ago on an ROH pre-show and was instantly impressed with. Elgin could have a big future in the promotion if allowed the opportunity to get himself over as a powerhouse. His powerbomb on Generico while holding Truth Martini on his shoulders was truly a sight to behold. Generico was an instant hit with Rachel, as any fan could have predicted.

Reports have seemed to be mixed for Roderick Strong’s title retention over Homicide, but from my vantage point, it was an uninspired affair. Given that the first third of the match took place on the opposite side of the building as the two brawled through the crowd, it’s certainly reasonable to think that the contest came off better to the iPPV audience than the live crowd. Still, both participants seemed almost detached at times, putting in a workmanlike performance where a heated, bloody battle seemed more appropriate. Rachel seemed borderline disinterested at times, a far cry from her asking “will there be blood?” earlier in the evening.

Sara Del Rey defeating MsChif took less time than it is taking me to type this sentence, so let’s just move on.

Rachel instantly gravitated to both the All Night Express and the Kings of Wrestling. Both teams put on an absolute clinic, with the crowd’s antagonizing of Claudio being one of the highlights of the card. I thought the ANX made their first really big time match COUNT, and think that King and Titus have great things in their futures. Castagnoli and especially Hero were their usual superlative selves, adding another notch to their belts as the top team in Ring of Honor and perhaps the world.

The finish to the Christopher Daniels vs. Eddie Edwards 2/3 Falls contest was interesting for a variety of reasons, with Daniels’ injury making it unclear how much of what the crowd was seeing was a work. Rachel was confused by the finish, but when asked after the show which match she thought was the best, she named this one as the top contest. Edwards has improved leaps and bounds since I last saw him, and I think he’s developed a nice solo persona that keeps him interesting when separated from Davey Richards. A really fine performance from Daniels, too, who seems reinvigorated by his return to ROH competition.

The main event certainly lived up to its “Dream Match” billing. Both the Briscoes and the team of Haas & Benjamin were on from the opening bell, and the crowd reacted in kind. While not quite on the level of the Briscoes’ best work against the likes of the Kings of Wrestling and the Motor City Machine Guns, this was a solid back-and-forth contest that gave all four guys the chance to shine. A worthy main event in the annals of ROH PPV and iPPV.

Overall, ROH put on an outstanding night of wrestling to celebrate its cross into the decade mark. When you can take a non-fan and have them asking “so, when is the next show we could go to?” by the end of the night, you know you’ve put on an excellent show. While not quite on the level of ROH’s best shows in Chicago (those are probably still Vendetta, Better Than Our Best, and Rising Above 2008), the ROH 9th Anniversary Show was a fantastic night of wrestling, for fans and non-fans alike.

Dave Lagana’s Video Blog of his directing work for the 9th Anniversary Show iPPV from Chicago, Illinois, including an update on Christopher Daniels’ health from the man’s own Twitter (no concussion).

Another awesome video from Alex (ThatWrestlingShow). I’m always partial to promo videos that show the hustle-and-bustle of New York City and this one does it well, splicing in clips of various ROH wrestlers and giving it a bombastic edge that hypes you up for the show. The one criticism is the use of Kevin Steen in the video (and him actually being shown as the last wrestler before the “Manhattan Mayhem IV” graphic), since he is not an active part of ROH at this point. If he’s not being advertised for the show, it’s not fair to get people’s hopes up that he might be there. Still, a stand-out production job on the video and I’m going to watch it again right now.

Very obvious tease here for Kings of Wrestling versus Latin American Xchange (Homicide & Hernandez) for March 19th in New York City. The match has been made official for that show and will be a non-title affair, so perhaps some of the distasteful political negotiations between TNA and ROH as to who wins and who loses from Kings vs. Machine Guns (Supercard of Honor V) can be avoided. Although it is kind of weird to bring in Hernandez right now as he is a heel in TNA, but ROH fans have been good with keeping face / heel lines from other promotions separate. Hernandez was generally well-liked by ROH fans in his last go-round teaming with Homicide in 2008 (Return of the 187 and Ring of Homicide 2, not to mention his initial run with the promotion in 2003-2004. At the least, this now means that Homicide’s use of the LAX theme music is relevant!

Very nicely done confrontation between Christopher Daniels and Davey Richards here. The match is set for PURE Rules in New York City on March 19th for Manhattan Mayhem IV. I’m down with that, because both wrestlers have excelled at technical wrestling and I think they can build up something very competitive based on those rules (three rope breaks and afterward all submissions legal and cannot be broken up by the referee, no closed-fist punches to the face, twenty-count applies on the floor, knock-out “10-count” rule enforced). Also of note is that Christopher Daniels has The Book of Truth (reportedly outselling Chris Jericho’s Undisputed on the New York Times Best Sellers’ List) and wants to use that to his advantage by reading up on what Strong might have learned in that book. The intriguing question if in reading the book, it somehow begins to corrupt Daniels and leads to a heel turn. Before that possibility, for certain Daniels and Strong hook ’em up on April 1st in Atlanta (see below).

-ROH announced the main event of the March 18th Plymouth, MA event. It will be a variation of the Four Corner Survival concept that they have dubbed “Defy or Deny”. ROH World Champion Roderick Strong will compete in a non-title four man elimination match against three of his former challenger: El Generico, Homicide and Jay Briscoe. IF Roderick Strong ultimately wins the match then none of those competitors will be given a ROH World Title shot while Strong remains champion (thus “deny”). However, IF Generico, Homicide or Briscoe win, then they will earn a ROH World Title shot for the April 2nd, 2011 iPPV from Atlanta, GA (thus “defy”). I think this is quite the interesting concept that has some high stakes and while the title won’t be on the line certainly gives the Plymouth show some weight as to the future direction of the ROH World Title situation. It seems geared towards a final pairing of Strong against one of the three, with the highest stakes being that Strong can cancel out the future hopes of one of his rivals directly and personally. On the other hand, if then someone defeats Strong they have already proven they can defeat the champion and earned another chance to win the title.

-Also on March 18th in Plymouth will be Davey Richards versus Claudio Castagnoli, a rematch of The Final Countdown Tour: Dayton back in 2009. Christopher Daniels will also defend his ROH TV Title against an opponent to be decided.

-A reminder that the Saturday, March 19th show in New York City will be at a 4PM Matinee start time. Get there bright and early!

-Ring of Honor confirmed the title to their Wrestlemania weekend internet Pay Per View shows will be “Honor Takes Center Stage Nights One and Two”. The main-events for the first night, on 4/1 are as follows:

ROH World Title Match: (Roderick Strong / Eddie Edwards winner on 3/19 in NYC) versus “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels
ROH World Tag Team Title Match: The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) versus Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin).

-The Wrestlemania Weekend iPPVs have a special purchase offer. They are available separately for $14.95 each at GoFightLive.tv, but can be bought as a package for $19.95 TOTAL. That brings the average price of the shows to ten dollars apiece. That’s quite a great deal actually, especially with three title matches already confirmed for that weekend.

-There will also be a special Meet & Greet event on Saturday April 2nd from 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM and will be open to everyone including those who don’t have tickets to the show proper. The April 2nd show has a 1 PM matinee bell time.

-The Wrestling Observer noted that the finish to the Daniels / Edwards TV Title match was originally intended as an angle designed to work around an overtime period to the time limit draw, but that Daniels actually did get knocked loopy. Apparently they had to improvise a slightly different end to the match as a result. Daniels was okay, but very sore and would be seeing a doctor to follow-up. Edwards granted Daniels five more minutes during the first TV Title match on HDNet, but here Daniels didn’t have to come across like a heel for refusing the extra time.

-The Observer also released the initial iPPV buy numbers for the 9th Anniversary Show. It dropped down from 1,900 for Final Battle 2010 to 1,500, but that’s still pretty decent numbers and much less of a drop than I would have figured, especially considering there was a UFC Pay Per View on at the same time.

-The Chicago, IL show was reportedly ROH’s largest crowd to date for that venue. I remember that two Wrestlemania weekend shows in 2006 had the record. Supercard of Honor was 1,100-1,200 and Better Than Our Best was in the 1,500-1,600 range or even more. The Observer stated 1,400 fans in attendance, which would actually place that lower than that show.

-Ring of Honor’s last show on HDNet will air on April 4th, 2011.

-ROH has re-signed both ROH World Champion Roderick Strong and El Generico to new contract extensions. The terms and length of the agreements were not disclosed, as has been the modus operandi for these announcements over the last few years. As for Kevin Steen, The Observer reports that he is still under contract, but that he is still on the sidelines to sell the career stipulation from Final Battle 2010.

Interestingly, if you go to Kevin’s website and read his blog posts, he still refuses to mention El Generico by name (and usually insults him as well), thus hinting that the Steen-Generico war may not actually be over, whether it is elsewhere on the independent scene or to be brought back at some point in Ring of Honor.

-Speaking of contract-related news, word broke this week that Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole have been told by ROH that they can no longer appear for Gabe Sapolsky’s EVOLVE shows, even though they were initially told they could work on those shows so long as they were not on Pay Per View. Not a huge surprise given they have ROH contracts and they are now higher priority wrestlers for the promotion and that ROH has done this before with other wrestlers under contract. It is true that Cole and O’Reilly both “broke through” and made bigger names for themselves by wrestling against each other on Sapolsky booked shows in DGUSA and EVOLVE (though many independent fans also knew of Cole from his CZW roots). It would be a nice extra payday for those guys to appear on those shows. However, let’s not weep for Gabe Sapolsky on this one—after all, EVOLVE hasn’t run a show in six months until announcing its April show at B.B.King’s in NYC.

EVOLVE isn’t a full-time gig for any independent wrestler, but now that Cole and O’Reilly have signed contracts with ROH in 2011, that becomes their top priority. It’s not like their loss will have any negative effect on future DGUSA or EVOLVE shows either, as Sapolsky just went out and booked other independent talents, mostly from the northeast, such as Façade and Shima Xion. In doing so he may find some potential new prospects for his promotions. As well, you didn’t see DGUSA-contracted wrestlers such as Johnny Gargano, Jon Moxley or Ricochet on ROH during the last year or so (while early EVOLVE shows did feature ROH-contracted talents such as Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli). This “no-talent-exchange” isn’t a one-way street with ROH as the bad guys. It’s quite clear that most of if not all of the DGUSA / EVOLVE roster won’t be used on ROH shows (especially the ones signed to DGUSA contract) and vice versa. There may be a war of competition between the promotions, but it cuts both ways.

Some of you may recall I started my run here at 411Mania writing music reviews and columns. I’ve tried to pay tribute to that run and my love of music in my own special way, by including references to song quotes or titles into my column titles, where applicable. Props to you out there if you recognized where some or all of them came from at the time they were published. Here’s a look back at those Easter Eggs:

Column of Honor: 01.26.08: The Magical Mystery Partner Tour—”Magical Mystery Tour” album (The Beatles)
Column of Honor: 11.08.08: Calling London, Part One—”London Calling” (The Clash)
Column of Honor: 11.16.08: Driven to Fly –”Given to Fly” (Pearl Jam)
Column of Honor 09.19.09: Everybody Wants to Rule the World—”Everybody Wants to Rule the World” (Tears for Fears)
Column of Honor 10.03.09: Leaving Ground—”The Final Countdown” (Europe)
Column of Honor: 01.23.10: A Bigger Bang?—”A Bigger Bang” album (The Rolling Stones)
Column of Honor: 04.10.10: Bang & Blame—”Bang & Blame” (R.E.M.)
Column of Honor: 04.24.10: Part One: To Everything, Turn, Turn, Turn—”Turn! Turn! Turn!” (The Byrds)
Column of Honor: 06.12.10: CHIKARmA Chameleon—”Karma Chameleon” (Culture Club)
Column of Honor: 07.10.10: After The Boys of Summer Have Gone—”The Boys of Summer” (Don Henley)
Column of Honor 08.28.10: Ch-Ch-Changes—”Changes” (David Bowie)
Column of Honor: 10.09.10: Part One: Wake Up, Shake Up—”Wake Up, Shake Up” (Blair)
Column of Honor: 10.09.10: Part Two: Blue Glass Fall –”Blue Glass Fall” (David Poe)
Column of Honor: 11.13.10: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger –”Stronger” (Kanye West)
Column of Honor: 12.18.10: Final Battle Without Honor or Humanity –”Battle Without Honor or Humanity” (Tomoyasu Hotei)
Column of Honor: 01.29.11: Redemption Song – “Redemption Song” (Bob Marley)

Finally, before we get to links and plugs, Pro Wrestling Ponderings writer (and the Kyle O’Reilly to my Davey Richards) Matt Waters sent a present my way. Last week, I mused that a new Roderick Strong entrance music that would fit great would be Kanye West’s “Power”. Well, Matt decided to take up the challenge and this is the result. My thanks to him for the effort. Let’s check it out:

Head on over to TwitterNation and follow me at: http://twitter.com/AriBerenstein. I provide up-to-date links to my columns, major and breaking ROH news, random comments about WWE Raw and Smackdown and whatever else strikes my fancy.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to visit The Wrestling Press online e-magazine and download issue number twelve FOR FREE I have written an article entitled “The World Chants ‘Ole!’ for El Generico”, describing the rise in popularity of none other than EL GENERICO (obviously).

If you are a fan of Prog Rock then you cannot live one minute of your life further without checking out my friends at Jolly. Hell, even if you’re not a fan of Prog Rock (like me), this is great music. Their second album “The Audio Guide to Happiness (Part 1)” is available for Pre-Order NOW through their store and will drop on March 8th. You can also get their first album, “46:12” through the website.

You can listen to more of my thoughts about the past weekend of Ring of Honor action with my podcast with Matt Waters at Pro Wrestling Ponderings.

This week’s 411 Buy or Sell features myself and Greg DeMarco, with more about ROH’s 9th, NWA Hollywood and Austin Aries.

Scott Slimmer gives you the play-by-play for 9th Anniversary Show as well as his Instant Access review.

Aaron Hubbard gives us an awesome review of Supercard of Honor V.

So that’s going to cover it for now. I’ll have one or two more little things set for The Wrestling Press online e-zine and I may pop back here and there at 411Mania for a Fact or Fiction or a Buy or Sell column or two… in the words of Bart Scott, “Can’t Wait!” Until then, for now, thanks for reading. See Ya Later.

BROOKLYN!
–Ari—