Column of Honor: 10.21.06

Hi. My name is Ari Berenstein. I like Ring of Honor. I write for 411. I write a column called Column of Honor. You’re reading it right now. Will you be my friend?

Honorarium

-Shingo Takagi is apparently now the new Madonna, Beyonce, Prince, (but not Artist Formerly Known as Prince), Tyrese, etc. He is going by one name only, Shingo, like a designer fashion label. Maybe he should film his own movie about experiencing life in America—like Borat.

-In related news, Jimmy Rave and Jimmy Jacobs each have declared they want to be known only as “Jimmy”. It was either that or add “Wang” as a middle name. This should lead to some awkward moments where they’re both in the same room and someone wants to talk to one of them.

-As much as I want to see it, I don’t know if I can buy into it. Does Homicide have enough of what it takes to convincingly take out Danielson for the title, especially after all Danielson has been thorough in his title reign? Danielson has absorbed a tremendous amount of damage and his matches and is still able to come out of the match with the title in his hands. I don’t know if Homicide can realistically throw enough offense in his arsenal to take out Danielson. The one move that may do it is the cop killer, which concentrates on the neck and shoulder joints. If he hits it, new champion

-Chris seems to think that the main event of Final Battle 2006 could end in a three way for the title with Homicide, Danielson and Samoa Joe. Everything that seems to be happening between Joe and Danielson certainly points toward some final reckoning between the two. There needs to be a convincing finish to their title match series. Homicide has the guaranteed opportunity in Manhattan—but what if Cornette throws one final roadblock in the way of the Brooklyn gangsta? A roadblock in the form of Joe—his former enemy and uneasy ally—and the one man he could never beat for the title during his shots in 2003. This is certainly a possibility and something to keep an eye on as ROH closes out 2006.

-Hmmm…last week I did a feature on the new talent about to make their appearances in Ring of Honor. Then I check out the all new, all different Ring of Honor website and notice…a new article on the “New Blood Rising” in Ring of Honor. Huh. How about that huh? Then there was a few weeks back where I did a write up entitled “Delirious as a Survivor”…and then I check to find an article on….Delirious winning Survival of the Fittest. Now I’m not insinuating anything here, but next thing you know I’ll go to that website and I’ll be reading the ROH Money Ballers report and the Ring of the Unfortunate. You know, I had a circumcision as a baby and a Bar Mitzvah at thirteen. Are you going to tell me it’s just a coincidence that Gabe also went through these things?

-Just got the ROH in the United Kingdom shows but due to my work schedule I’ve only been able to check out a few matches on the Unified DVD, including the main event title unification match between Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. This match has been hyped up, and maybe for me at first it was too hyped up, as the first ten to fifteen minutes start out and it’s just, simply okay. It goes more as a “best of” from their previous two matches with the added monkey wrench of the rope breaks. Then, somehow, and I can’t put my fingers on why, it gets good. Really, really good. Then from the point when Nigel gets all bloodied up from some of the most disgusting bumps I’ve ever seen, it gets even better. By the end of the match, when Danielson is throwing the MMA elbows, the match is fucking fantastic. I don’t know how that happens. It’s like a magic act where you think you’ve seen it all, but then the magician starts to throw new wrinkles on their tricks and comes up with something completely unexpected yet awesome and you wonder “how did they do that?”

-I love the globe ROH logo used in the UK shows—even better when Prazak makes the comment during the Rave-Richards match that they are wrestling on top of the world. What a cool phrase coined with that remark.

-I’m not a fan, however, of the smaller sized rings that are used in European wrestling—it just doesn’t look right to me, doesn’t feel quite right. It’s like going to Australia the first time and realizing that the toilet bowl flushes the opposite way.

-Also got around to rewatch Fight of the Century and I have some new thoughts on the main event of Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson.

Live I thought this match was very good, that the sixty minutes flew right by. There was great crowd reaction but that it didn’t live up to the billing of being the so called “fight of the century.” I thought the beginning and end were fast and furious but by necessity the middle thirty minutes were slower, more methodical and a bit too slow paced for my tastes.

On DVD I thought the match was carried across even better than being there live. The sixty minutes still go right by and at the five minutes left mark the frenzy of the fans pushes the match up one more notch. The middle thirty minutes with the work on Joe’s leg and vice versa comes across much better watching it on television. This wasn’t the fight of the century, but it was one hell of a fight, period.

Something else to note is the great commentary of Dave Prazak and Jared David. David has been improving steadily over the last few shows and does a very good color commentary job here, analyzing point by point the situation and status report on each man. Prazak is at his absolute best here, and his emotion and inflection for the most important parts of the match can’t be beat. It’s maybe his best job at the announce position since beginning to commentate on ROH releases.

I would call this at least four and half to four and three quarter stars, but I hesitate to go the full five because there were a few loose moments where the angle of the shot shows that a couple of strikes did not connect or barely grazed the other wrestler. Not to say that this wasn’t five stars full of emotion, drama and suspense, because it damn near was so.

Alot of the small things add up so well, from the strike work to the leg submissions, the taking out of Joe’s knee and putting it to the test and even the work to get on the choke at the end of the match. It all worked, it all clicked and on video it’s even more palpable than it was live. This is definitely a strong contender for my top five when it comes to consider my top matches of the year (and oh boy, I’ve already started prep work and my gord, is the year end feature going to be so humongous), which is something I wouldn’t have said before watching the match on DVD.

ROH Call
ROH Champions—As of 10/21/2006

ROH World Champion—American Dragon Bryan Danielson (champion since 9/17/05, 33 successful defenses)*, **, ***
ROH World Tag Team Champions—Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) (champions since 09/16/06, 1 successful defense)****

*ROH World and Pure Titles Unified on 8/12/06, Pure Title is folded
**Dragon makes successful defense of ROH title at ETW promotion in Texas on 6/10/06.
***Dragon retains the title in defense of ROH title in Connecticut on 9/30/06.
****Kings of Wrestling put the ROH tag titles on the line during a tournament on a CZW show 10/14/06. However, ROH officials are not recognizing this match as an official title defense.

ROH News
(via the ROHnewswire… and other sources when attributed

Shingoinat It
ROH officials had some interesting negotiations with Dragon Gate officials last weekend. Shingo Takagi, who will now just go by Shingo, will join the ROH roster on almost a fulltime basis for a lengthy period of time. Shingo has just been added to 11/24 in Long Island, 11/25 in Edison, 12/22 in East Windsor and 12/23 in Manhattan. You can expect Shingo to be given an opportunity to be a major force in ROH. We hope to have some more announcements regarding Dragon Gate soon.

Shingo is a very capable wrestler and his recent matches have shown some improvement compared to his initial appearances. However, I just don’t see him (or want to see him at this time) be a “major force” in Ring of Honor. It would be another case of an international wrestler coming in and dominating the U.S. talent—and with all due respect to KENTA and Marufuji, I’ve seen enough of it this year, thank you.

Albright Spotlight
ROH officials have decided to give Brent Albright a major test in his first ROH match on 10/27 in Dayton, OH. It will be Albright vs. one of ROH’s founding fathers in Christopher Daniels. Will Albright do or die in Dayton?

Brent Albright has been added to the 11/24 Long Island and 11/25 Edison events.

“M-Dogg 20” Matt Cross has been added to the 11/4 event in Philadelphia.

Well, it looks like even if Albright “dies” in Dayton, he will still get some second ad third chances to “do”, as seen by the booking of the LI and NJ shows. The same can be said for M-Dogg getting more bookings. I am very much cool with all of these newsbits and hope both men get many bookings to come. Starting off with Daniels vs. Albright is right away a great move. It gets us a cool combination of wrestlers—allows Albright a spotlight to show off his stuff and is a new and fresh “dream” match for the fans.

Tag, You’re It
ROH officials are very upset with World Tag Team Champions Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli, known as The Kings Of Wrestling. Hero & Castagnoli put the ROH belts on the line at a CZW event last Saturday. This title defense was not sanctioned by ROH and will not count as a title defense. A very heated phone call today saw Hero tell ROH officials that he is under contract, he has the power since he is a champion and therefore he is calling the shots. We’ll have more on this later in the week. Hero & Castagnoli will put the belts on the line against former champions Austin Aries & Roderick Strong on 11/4 in Philadelphia.

Congratulations to The Briscoes for winning the FIP Tag Team Titles from The Heartbreak Express last Saturday. Friday night saw an incredible match between Davey Richards and Roderick Strong. There is an issue to keep an eye on with Richards and Strong.

I have to say—what a move for Hero and Castagnoli to put up the titles unsanctioned and unauthorized. It’s a heel, villainous move and it is perfect for who they are as the Kings of Wrestling. Now that they are tag champions in three companies, they call the shots and not the wrestling muckitymucks. No more kowtowing to the company line; now everyone must kowtow to the Kings. This can cause much chaos and instability to the tag division, especially if by some fluke (don’t count on it) KoW manage to lose the tag belts to a team that has never even been in Ring of Honor!. If Aries and Strong can’t get the titles back in their rematch—KoW will be almost unstoppable.

More Than a Match For You…Five of Them
Two more matches have been signed for Chicago on 10/28. Chicago’s own Colt Cabana has agreed to keep teaming with Jimmy Jacobs and the duo will take on the former Embassy of Jimmy Rave & Sal Rinauro. Rave has made it clear to Rinauro that they better win this match. We’ll have more on why Cabana is still teaming up with Jacobs in the near future.

Also signed for 10/28 in Chicago is a potential show stealer. Jay Briscoe will take on Matt Sydal. Both wrestlers are destined to grab the main event spots here in ROH so they each need a victory here.

Cabana and Jacobs have some great chemistry and work well with the current storyline—Jacobs can’t take out Cabana because he loves Lacey too much, and Cabana continues to team with him which further frustrates the emo warrior. This little conceit is bound to continue for some months until it reaches a boiling point. The Jay Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal match comes out of Sydal eliminating The Briscoes during Survival of the Fittest. I could see it branching out into the tag world with Sydal teaming up with Daniels to take on the Briscoes in a future tag match.

The main event for 11/25 in Edison, NJ has been signed. The end of the last event in Edison saw Samoa Joe save Homicide from The Briscoes. A few weeks ago in Detroit, Joe & Homicide battled The Briscoes in one of the wildest street fights in ROH history. The Briscoes came out victorious and now Joe & Homicide want a rematch. It will take place on 11/25 in Edison. Be there to see Samoa Joe & Homicide vs. The Briscoes in a Street Fight!!!

The first match has been signed for 11/24 in Long Island, NY. It will be a tag team match featuring one of the hottest rivalries in ROH. The Delirious vs. Matt Sydal rivalry will continue in Long Island as it will be Sydal & Christopher Daniels vs. Delirious & Davey Richards.

Well, considering all the chaos that happened last time Joe, Homicide and The Briscoes fought in a street fight, it will be a wonder what they will pull out for this one. This is also good intra-venue continuity—something ROH has a knack for including in their events. Davey and Delirious…that is one heck of a weird team, but it makes sense when you consider Davey was done in by Sydal during the SOTF tournament and Delirious has his long standing rivalry with Matty. It seems that the tournament has made more enemies for Sydal than anyone should ever want to have. The big thing to look for is the first ever in ring confrontation (for ROH anyway) between Daniels and Richards.

Another main event quality match has been added to 11/4 in Philadelphia. Last time in Philly, ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson turned on Samoa Joe in the Cage Of Death. Now the Danielson vs. Joe feud will come to Philly when they compete against each other in a dream partner tag team match. Joe has already selected Nigel McGuinness as his partner since McGuinness was Danielson’s greatest rival this year. We have no word on Danielson’s partner yet. It will be Joe & McGuinness teaming for the first time vs. Danielson & ??? in Philly.

According to the new ROH Video Wire, that man will be Jimmy Rave, in a bit of a surprise addition. Rave has been away from the main event scene, so this could be a good way to reintroduce the former Crown Jewel of The Embassy back into the spotlight. Maybe one day Rave will be the Crown Jewel of ROH.

He Knows a Thing or Two About These Things
This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter has a write up on two recent must see matches. Dave Meltzer gave Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness from the just released “Unified” DVD ****3/4 and said: “When the Liverpool (Unified) DVD comes out…if you are voting for match of the year this year you have to…get a tape of that bout…it’s a match you have to see….It was psychologically awesome but also insane at the end…it had the aura of one of those 90s Budokan Hall main events….I’d go ****3/4 on it and it’s really a must see.” Meltzer also reviewed Danielson vs. Samoa Joe from “Fight Of The Century” and gave it ****1/4.

I consider Meltzer a leading authority for matches and he knows classics when he sees them. Like I said above, I’d go ****1/2 – ****3/4 stars for Joe / Danielson and I’d probably go the same for McGuinness-Danielson. OF COURSE, people have yet to see on DVD the McGuinness—Marufuji AND Danielson-KENTA matches from 9/16. When that event is released on DVD, the match of the year debate will really kick into high gear. Then again, there are STILL two and a half more months in year for ROH to host more great matches.

…Now it’s time for
Hero’s Sandwich

Well, apparently Chris Hero didn’t leave anything in my inbox this week. I guess its something to do with appreciating what I get from him on a weekly basis, and not to get to comfortable or to expect his genius literary efforts each and every week. Me, I’m glad to spare the heartache and the ulcers.

This has not been Hero’s Sandwich.

The Briscoe Brothers Guide to Manhood

Column of Honor is growing each and every week and believe it or not I have some pretty well known people reading this column—including wrestlers themselves. Well, I did say “believe it, or not.” What, you don’t believe me? Well, look, I just happened to be recently emailing back and forth with Jay and Mark Briscoe of all people. Hey, you never know who you’re going to hit it off with—and the southern Delaware brothers and I have had some really great existential discussions on the meaning of life. So I was thinking, since Chris Hero insists on interrupting this column with his heat getting, attention starved rantings, and since I already have an advice column with Delirious (who you know, try as I might, there are still some things that get lost in translation), why not try and do something with my boys The Briscoes?

Well, Jay and Mark seemed up for the task. They were ready to talk turkey, but the question was, about what? Well, I have to say, those two guys came up with a hell of an idea, and so every so often, I will ask for their responses on subjects that are very important to them–issues of Manhood. For instance:

The Briscoe Brothers: on Sports

Skateboarding

Jay: Yeah, that’s some dangerous stuff.
Mark: Yeah, Not anything like jumping off of a Ryder Truck, but yeah, it’s alright.
Jay: Yeah. Skateboardng. That’s Good.
Mark: Yeah.
Jay: Yeah.

Figure Skating
Jay: What? What is that weak girlie stuff?
Mark: Don’t even ask me about that!
Jay: No, no, just, just MAN UP! MAN UP!
Mark: MAN UP!
Jay: YEAH MAN UP! Stop wearing those tights and leotards!
Mark: Yeah, and dancing to soft girl music.
Jay: Yeah MAN UP! At least skate to some Allman Brothers Band or Ted Nugent!

The Briscoe Brothers: on music technology

Listening to music on your iPod
Mark: iPods are good and all, yeah!
Jay: Yeah, You can listen to good music.
Mark: Yeah.
Jay: Yeah.

Listening to music on an 8-Track Player
Jay: WHAT? It’s time to man up boy!
Mark: Man up your sound system!
Jay: No more Sonny and Cher!
Mark: Yeah! No More Don Johnson tapes!
Jay: What?
Mark: Sorry.
Jay: Yeah!
Mark: Yeah!
Jay: Man Up! Man Up!

The Briscoe Brothers: on Chivalry

Holding the door open for your date
Jay: Yeah, hold that door open for your girl.
Mark: Lets her know you care about her.
Jay: Maybe you’ll get lucky.
Mark: Yeah.
Jay: Yeah.
Mark: Yeah!

Paying the check for your date
Jay: What?
Mark: What?
Jay: Paying for your date’s food? What?
Mark: Nawww, nawww, not in Delaware. Aww, hell no.
Jay: Fifty-fifty.
Mark: YEAH! Fifty-fifty.
Jay: If your date don’t like that, tell her to MAN UP!
Mark: Yeah, MAN UP!
Jay: MAN UP WOMAN!
Mark: Yeah, man up!

The Briscoe Brothers: on getting out your emotions:

Screaming Out Your Pain
Jay: Yeah, a good scream always gets those bad feelings outta tha way
Mark: Yeah, scream loud. Scream until it hurts.
Jay: Yeah!
Mark: Yeah!

Writing a Good, Heartfelt Poem
Mark: A POEM? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Jay: What is this, emo?
Mark: Brother what’s emo?
Jay: I dunno, some unmanly stuff. You know what you need to do?
Mark: What?
Jay: MAN UP!
Mark: Yeah! MAN UP!
Jay: MAN UP!
Mark: MAN UP!

The Briscoe Brothers: on Pizza

Ordering a Pizza with Extra Cheese
Mark: Yeah. That’s Good. Extra Cheese.Yeah.
Jay: Yeah! Extra Cheese is good!

Ordering a Vegetarian, Cheese less Pizza
Jay: What? Cheese less Pizza? No, no way. You need to MAN UP!
Mark: yeah, MAN UP!
Jay: MAN UP!
Mark: MAN UP! Put cheese on that pizza! No stupid vegetables for you!
Jay: Yeah! MAN UP! Pepperoni!
Mark:Yeah!
Jay: Sausage!
Mark: Yeah! Sausage!
Jay: Man up boy!
Mark: yeah, Man up that pizza!

Well, I know after all that manning up, I feel quite manly. Many manly thanks to the Briscoe Brothers—I’m sure we’ll hear more them about manhood in the future.

ROH Preview: Dayton, OH Friday, 10/27/06

Montgomery County Fairgrounds
1043 S. Main St, Dayton, Ohio, 45409
8:00pm belltime

Tag Team War
Homicide & Samoa Joe vs. Steve Corino & Adam Pearce with Jim Cornette

5 Things You Need to Know About This Match:
1. This is the second tag team match Homicide will fight with a partner against Corino and his partner. The first was at Fight of the Century when Homicide teamed with BJ Whitmer and Corino had…Adam Pearce.
2. Homicide asked for Corino to come back to ROH—now he may be getting more of Corino than he ever wanted.
3. This is the first in ring confrontation between Joe and Corino in Ring of Honor history. They were supposed to fight against each other at the October 16th, 2004 event in Chicago. Corino had to back out due to Zero-1 commitments and the match was scrapped. In it’s place: the now epic Joe vs. Punk II.
4. Corino will find some way to get cheered for making fun of all the fans in the crowd, rag on Green Lantern Fan and then still get heel heat for beating on Homicide and Joe.
5. Samoa Joe was once a card carrying member of Corino’s ROH stable, “The Group”. This same stable waged war on Homicide and the then unnamed Rottweilers. Now, Joe is regularly teaming up with Homicide—what a wacky world we live in.

Rematch Of Survival Of The Fittest Finals
Delirious vs. Matt Sydal

This match had been booked before the SOTF tournament—so this match was always going to take place. There is now a little extra added motivation for Sydal as a result of Delirious beating Sydal in that tournament. They are all even up in this current series—Sydal beat Delirious in St. Paul in late August, Delirious had the SOTF win. This will be a rubber match for their singles series. Add in the tag match they will have in late November and you can tell that this competitive rivalry is still running strong.

Grudge Match #1
ROH World Tag Team Champion Claudio Castagnoli vs. Austin Aries

Why Hold a Grudge? #1
-Claudio hit Aries with the Halliburton briefcase.
-It damaged Aries’ already injured ribs even further.
-It cost Aries and Strong the ROH World Tag team Titles.
-Claudio now has better facial hair… than Austin Aries.
-…and better entrance music (juuuust slightly).

Grudge Match #2
Davey Richards vs. Jay Briscoe

Why hold a Grudge? #2
-Richards got sucked into a feud with the Briscoes.
-Richards and his mentor KENTA have engaged in a brutal tag match against Jay and Mark.
-Richards lost that match.
-Richards got attacked on a recent ROH Video Wire by The Briscoes.
-There was a sign there during the attack that read “Bikini Shop”.
-This is embarrassing. For Davey.

Special Challenge Match
Christopher Daniels vs. Brent Albright

There’s no better chance to make an impression than your first impression. With Daniels there to keep this match paced well, Albright is going to have every opportunity to make his mark with company. I’m excited—this is a great opportunity for “The Shooter” to show his skills and make a ton of new fans. It is also a great opportunity for ROH to add a new skilled technical wrestler to the roster—we can also use more of those in this company.

Special Attraction Match
Jimmy Rave vs. Shingo

Rave has a long way to go to get back on track after losing his sugar daddy Prince Nana. Now facing Shingo, this is essentially the equivalent of being involved in a car crash only to get up and walk into a brick wall. Shingo is back and looking to impress, and he has some good power moves and excellent finisher in the “Bloodfall” inverted burning hammer. I don’t think Jimmy is going to walk out of this one with his consciousness intact.

Four Corner Survival
ROH World Tag Team Champion Chris Hero vs. Roderick Strong vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Tank Tolland

Speaking of walking into a brick wall, this is Tank walking into a series of them. Tank gets put into a high profile situation with three guys who have already made their bones in the company. Not only that, but Hero and Strong have issues and Strong and Briscoe have issues. Tank may have to be very careful here not to incur the wrath of any of these men. Anyone can take the match, but I’d have to predict Hero steals one here.

Non-Title Match
ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson vs. Sal Rinauro

This is the continuation of Danielson invoking the once a month title shot policy—and now he matches up with Sal Rinauro. Poor Sal—he’s Jimmy Rave’s bitch and now he gets to be Danielson’s. Maybe…just maybe if Sal comes up with the shocking upset, Jimmy Rave will be HIS bitch.

…

BWAHAHAhAHAHAH!

Tag Team Attraction
Colt Cabana & Jimmy Jacobs with Lacey vs. Irish Airborne

Fatal Attraction
-Jimmy loves Lacey.
-Lacey likes Colt.
-Colt likes Lacey.
-Irish Airborne c-blocked Gary Michael Cappetta that one time with the car that was a rocking.
-This allowed Colt to “get it on” with Lacey.
-Colt likes Irish Airborne.
-Jimmy does like Irish Airborne.

Something MUST give!

Of course I’ll have results from Dayton next week and a preview of the huge 10/28 Chicago show as a chaser.

The Ring of Shame: Konnan

While I remain one of the more positive Ring of Honor homers on this here website, I have to admit…sometimes ROH has gotten it wrong. While I usually choose to look on the sunny side of all things honorable, once a month I will take a look at an incident or a match that has occurred in Ring of Honor that…well, wasn’t quite honorable. In fact, these incidents are far from what I expect out of Ring of Honor, but more like a company that was named…Ring of Shame. Hence, I give to you the column of honor equivalent of Wrestlecrap, the headshaking, fist wagging, embarrassing moments in ROH history, all bound together in one volume known as The Ring of Shame.

By the governing body of the New York State Honorability Commission, elected into the Ring of Shame for October 2006:

Konnan Stinks Up Ring of Honor

So with last week’s announcement of Konnan returning to Ring of Honor in Homicide’s corner on the November 4th event and the uproar and subsequent debate it had started about whether or not this should actually come to pass, I was determined to chime in on the subject…and my dog is running around going crazy, hold on a second…

I’m about to get bowdy, bowdy and rowdy rowdy with a certain canine, where my dog at? Arriba la perro!

I never thought I would watch any part of the ROH Uncensored DVD again…not of my own volition mind you. However, I had to do some research when it came to Konnan’s involvement in Ring of Honor action. I had to see if my memory of the two matches he wrestled for the company wasn’t perhaps in some way skewed by time and memory. Were the matches as bad as I had remembered? Were the matches as outright atrocities as other fans had suggested?

The answers are in some ways, yes, and in some ways, no.

Wishywashy, yes I know.

Yeah, so it did seem that Konnan wrestled a pair of dogs in 2002 and early 2003…and I’m not referring to his competition at the time. I’m talking about the quality of the matches. At the very least this is pretty accurate of his first match, which took place at the Murphy Recreation Center at Final Battle 2002. Konnan fought a two fall match against the tag team of Divine Storm—Chris Devine and Quiet Storm. Now those are two names I’m sure longstanding fans haven’t heard in quite a while.

Devine and Storm were two independent workers who were okay—they had some splashy moves, some Lucha training, but other than some fiery spirit they were pretty average. Devine’s big claim to fame would wind up being that he was Trinity’s boyfriend and brought her into Ring of Honor (which got her to TNA, which got her to WWE). Quiet Storm meanwhile, was quite the interesting story—too tall to be a mini and too short to be considered for the big leagues, he did have a ton of heart and fire and some great moves, including the “Storm Cradle Driver., a sort of extra complicated Three Quarter Nelson Ki-Krusher variation. Neither man would compare to current ROH competition.

However, I don’t mean to bury these guys—this is about Konnan’s effort in the match. Which would be—nonexistent. In fact Divine Storm was working circles around Konnan, who was decked out in his full wacky AAA Lucha gear. While things were okay for a while, something seemed wrong. An early example would be on irish whips, Konnan didn’t seem to have any follow through or force behind his movements. He also let his opponents do all the work of twisting and turning around him—meanwhile Konnan practiced the art of wrestling like The Big Show—being a stationary target and moving and bumping as little as possible. In fact, it was incredibly noticeable that he was blown up and out of gas in the two-fall match, and that led to awkward moments, mix ups and noticeable hesitations. The crowd went from quiet to restless, then slowly but surely belligerent.

Konnan won the first fall against Chris Devine but then in an upset lost to Quiet Storm via a sloppy looking La Majistral Cradle. Before that, the two botched even more moves. However, Konnan did the professional thing and put over a relatively younger wrestler, someone who could use the rub a veteran like Konnan could give. I will give him that much—he raised the arms of both of his opponents and made sure the fans recognized their talent.

Immediately after the match, the cameras followed all competitors back stage behind the curtain. Konnan immediately dropped and clutched a nearby railing, trying to catch his breath. The SAT and The Amazing Red joined all men to congratulate Devine Storm on the victory and to console Konnan. Konnan cut a quick promo about how he was behind on Lucha and had to work to get his wind back. Perhaps this was all part of an angle to be paid off on a future appearance, but looking back at the match those words could not have been truer.

Maybe one of the worst things I can say about Konnan’s appearance in this match was that he had no emotion—not heart and no desire. He didn’t seem involved in the match at all. You know how Raven often criticizes the “cruiserweight” (i.e. X Division wrestlers) for not emoting through their faces and reacting to the match? Well, he should have seen his buddy Konnan here—stone faced, not reacting to anything—just going through the motions. In Ring of Honor, that’s just not good enough.

Hey, everyone can have an off night and sometimes wrestlers just don’t click with each other. Everyone deserves a second chance—and so Konnan wrestled one more time for Ring of Honor, on January 11th, 2003 at the Revenge on the Prophecy show. He participated in a six man Lucha style tag match, partnering up with his former opponents Divine Storm to face SAT and relative newcomer Quiet Shadow.

The match itself—it was fine. It started off as structured tag match and then broke down into something loosely similar to the Scramble Tag matches that were en vogue at the time. The quality of the match would vacillate—it would be moments where everything really clicked and the crowd went wild with anticipation—followed by a series of moments that were awkward and / or bungled. Those moments served to deflate the crowd. Konnan himself was much improved from the last time he appeared (well, he actually didn’t make the cut on the Final Battle video, this was actually the first appearance home viewers would see of him). He hit moves crisply and cleanly. He did some innovative moves that no one had seen him perform. He seemed to be on a roll, back to where he should have been all along.

The match peaked when of all things Quiet Shadow used a shining knee lift into the corner followed by a MUSCLE BUSTER (!) This was months before Joe started to use the move in ROH. Wow, now we know where he stole his moves (hehe, please don’t kill me Joe). The crowd went absolutely berserk for this action and all the wrestlers, since they were doing some good stuff at that particular moment came down, and Ultimately the match went on much too long and had just way too much stuff in it. Finishing moves after finishing moves were used (which you would not see happen a majority of the time in the current era of ROH)—and the saves on the counts were often late or off the mark. Now, at the time I was watching this, all these cool new moves were AWESOME—because I had never even seen them done before and I was appreciative just to see it all go down. However, on a second viewing and in hindsight, these wrestlers could have pulled back on the moves and still would have wound up with a great match.

The match finished with Konnan getting the upper hand on Ghost Shadow with some high impact moves and then finishing with the Tequila Sunrise (Stretching ALL the way back, like the old school Walls of Jericho) for the submission. Suddenly, that was the undoing of the whole crowd. They started to boo and they booed profusely. After all that time of supporting the match, why boo the finish? Well it could have been that they wanted an ROH guy (for what that was worth at the time) to get the win. It could have been that they wanted Ghost Shadow to take the fall since they were very impressed with him throughout the match. It could have been that they didn’t want the “superstar” to take the victory. Regardless, it was noticeable and undeniable.

On the whole of it, Konnan and the Lucha style he brought—maybe it just didn’t fit at the time with what ROH was doing overall. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time to bring Konnan into the company. Anyway you slice it though, Konnan underperformed and he paid for it by the audience’s reaction.

Other Inductees to the Ring of Shame:
The Carnage Crew Bag Incident
The Jeff Hardy Boo Bird Scandal
Slugger
Teddy Hart Jumps Onto People

The Apocalypse is NOT Happening Today

The End is not near.

Once a month, this is my place and my time to tell you all out there why Ring of Honor is still doing a-okay and why even set backs are not necessarily the end of the world for the company. If I can find some reasons why the ROH fans shouldn’t be apoplectic about the company’s situation, I’ll put it here. Once a month I’ll comment on the talent roster of the company and other items of note that will help all you negative Nancy’s get over your big bad dose of Ilhonoraphobia—the fear of losing Ring of Honor.

Konnan Joining Forces With Homicide = Not the Apocalypse

Well, on the flip side of the Ring of Shame induction—here comes this column to the defense of Konnan coming BACK into the fold. On November 4th, Konnan backs up his Latin American eXchange partner Homicide in his grudge against Jim Cornette and Steve Corino. This decision stirred up a ton of initial resistance to the idea. However, there was also a fair share of those who had come down on the side of Konnan coming back. By the time a near eleven page thread had developed in reaction to the announcement, I had formed my own thoughts on the subject. To encapsulate it into one sentence—Konnan joining forces with Homicide is in no way near the apocalypse of the company.

First of all, to address Konnan coming back in the first place—it has been four years since the events of late 2002- early 2003. So many things can happen in that time—and it has for Konnan. Konnan was a big part of 3 Live Kru in TNA, which for better or worse was a very successful act for that company. Unfortunately Konnan’s health had deteriorated to the point where he couldn’t wrestle anymore (although he has talked of undergoing a recent medical procedure that has helped improve his health) and so now he has become a mouth piece for one of the hottest acts going today, LAX.

If there is any time to bring Konnan back, not as a wrestler, but at an acting talent, the time is now. Ring of Honor has brought back other wrestlers and given them new bookings, so Konnan should get the same chance as well in the 2006 era of the company. It’s also quite interesting that he may be the first wrestler to ever receive the “don’t come back chant” from the fans—and manage to come back. In effect that is what LAX has been for Konnan—a comeback of massive proportions.

Konnan is doing a spectacular job as the founder / leader of LAX and his verbal abilities have reached a new peak. It would be excellent to see those skills tested against a man who is still the very best in the business when it comes down to talking—the current ROH commissioner James E. Cornette. Cornette and Konnan in a verbal sparring match is going to be something to look forward to—and it is going to be a heat getter and an attention grabber. The Cornette—Konnan connection is also a very logical pairing. LAX has problems with Cornette’s rulings in TNA—meanwhile Homicide has tons of problems dealing with Cornette’s grudge against him in Ring of Honor. This is a natural fit of two company’s storylines. There should be a great confrontation between Homicide and Cornette on this card and Konnan is sure to have a great impact.

In the end, this is just a one-off appearance (for now) of a man who isn’t doing what he is weakest at but is instead doing what he is the most capable of at this point in time. That is what Ring of Honor does well—focus on the strengths and eliminate the weaknesses of the wrestlers. Ultimately a man should not be judged on the merits of one or two appearances some time ago, but on what he does when given the opportunity to be involved in something that can be quite great. Konnan is the icing of the cake that is the grudge match between Homicide and Steve Corino and the ongoing clash between The Notorious 187 and Commissioner Cornette.

Going Home

**The Independent Buy In**
Support independent pro wrestling, ROH or non ROH, I don’t care. But if you out there are spending so much time complaining about how WWE sucks, then dammit, spend some money so you won’t have to spend so much time complaining. This list stays in the column and will be added to as the year goes on. Remember: don’t bow out, BUY IN!

Recommended for purchase:
**IWC No Excuses (Styles vs. Matt Hardy, John McChesney vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Jason Gory vs. Shima Xion)
**FIP New Years Classic (Strong vs. Joe, Homicide vs. James Gibson)
**Hardcore Homecoming (2 Cold Scorpio vs. Kid Kash, 3 Way Dance Barbwire Match Funk vs. Douglas vs. Sabu)
**TNA Lockdown (AJ Styles vs. Abyss, Daniels vs. Skipper, Lethal Lockdown 6 Man Tag, AMW vs. Team Canada + Bonus Chris Candido tribute)
**ROH Fate of an Angel (James Gibson vs. CM Punk, Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Hardy, Roderick Strong vs. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Rave)
**TNA Anthology: The Epic Set (available only through Walmart and Walmart.com at a ridiculously cheap price) (Victory Road 2004, Turning Point 2004, Lockdown 2005)
**ROH Redemption (4 Way Title Elimination—Punk vs. Gibson vs. Joe vs. Daniels, Matt Hardy vs. Homicide, Gen Next of Aries, Strong and Sydal vs. The Embassy of Rave, Shelley and Abyss)
**ROH Punk: The Final Chapter (CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana plus post match celebration, Matt Hardy vs. Roderick Strong, Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal vs Low Ki and Homicide, Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Rave)
**IWC Summer Sizzler 2 (AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe, Steve Corino vs. Shirley Doe, Glen Spectre vs. Chad Collyer, Shima Xion vs. Nigel McGuinness)
**ROH Glory By Honor IV (Dragon vs. Gibson, Styles vs. Rave, Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal) **ROH Joe vs. Kobashi (Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi, Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Sydal vs. Azriael, Gibson vs. Yang)
**TNA Best of the X Division MATCHES Volume 1 (Joe vs. Sabin, Ultimate X AJ vs. Williams vs. Sabin, Ironman match: AJ vs. Daniels)
**FIP Bring the Pain (Punk vs. Danielson 2/3 Falls, Aries vs. Strong)
**OVW October 2005 Television Showcase (Ken Doane vs. Brent Albright III, Johnny Jeter vs. Matt Cappotelli, and CM Punk, CM Punk, CM Punk, CM Punk)
**OVW November 2005 Television Showcase (CM Punk vs. Ken Doane (c)—TV Title, CM Punk vs. Brent Albright, Matt Cappotelli vs. Johnny Jeter (c) II-Heavyweight Title)
**ROH Unforgettable (Samoa Joe / Low Ki vs. Homicide / Kenta Kobashi, Dragon vs. Strong, Daniels vs. Yang, Cabana vs. Evans)

2006 List
*ROH This Means War (Bryan Danielson / Roderick Strong, AJ Styles / Austin Aries, Claudio Castagnoli / Alex Shelley)
**ROH Vendetta (Bryan Danielson / Roderick Strong, Eight Man War: Generation Next + AJ Styles / The Embassy, Samoa Joe / Christopher Daniels)
**ROH A Night of Tribute (Bryan Danielson / Christopher Daniels, Aries + Strong / Joe + Lethal, Colt Cabana / Homicide, Claudio Castagnoli / Milano Collection AT)
**OVW December 2005 Television Showcase (CM Punk (c) vs. Ken Doane vs. Brent Albright—3 Way Dance TV Title, CM Punk vs. Brent Albright—TV Title)
**SHIMMER WOMEN’S ATHLETES Volume 1 (Cheerleader Melissa vs. MsChif, Sara Del Rey vs. Mercedez Martinez, Lacey vs. Daizee Haze)
**TNA Bound For Glory 2005 (Iron Man 2: Styles / Daniels, Monster’s Ball 2, Joe / Liger, 10 Man Gauntlet, Jarrett vs. Rhino)
**TNA Genesis 2005 (Jarrett & AMW / Rhino & Team 3-D, Styles / Williams, Elimination X: Joe, Daniels, Shelley, Strong / Sabin, Dutt, Aries, Bentley; Christian Cage Debuts)
**ROH Steel Cage Warfare (Generation Next / The Embassy, Dsanielson / Romero, Joe / Lethal, Corino / Homicide )
**ROH Final Battle 2005 (Low Ki / KENTA, Danielson / Marifuji, Claudio / Nigel, 4CS: Daniels / Joe / Lethal / Whitmer )
**ROH Tag Wars 2006 (All three Trios Tournament 2006 matches, Generation Next / Danielson and Lethal, Low Ki / Christopher Daniels )
**BCW International Incident (Jarrett / Raven, Daniels / Sabin, Petey Williams / Jerry Lynn, Bobby Roode / Abyss)
**SHIMMER WOMEN’S ATHLETES Volume 2 (Four Way Elimination Match: Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey vs. Lacey vs. Mercedes Martinez / MsChif vs. Beth Phoenix / Alison Danger vs. Rain)
**PWG Astonishing X-Mas (December 16th, 2005) (Super Dragon vs. Kevin Steen / Eight Man Tag / Strong & Evans vs. Human Tornado & El Generico / Colt Cabana vs. Scorpio Sky)
**ROH Fourth Anniversary Show (Generation Next / Styles & Sydal, Danielson / Rave, Homicide / Cabana Ghetto Fight, CZW all out brawl)
**ROH Best In The World (KENTA &Marifuji / Joe & Dragon, Strong & Evans / Briscoes, Shelley / Daniels, Shimmer 4 Way)
**ROH Dragon Gate Challenge (Daniels / Joe, Generation Next / Blood Generation, Styles & Sydal / Dragon Kid & Horiguchi)
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2005 (2 DISC) (Steen/Dragon, Styles/Evans, Dragon/Reyes, Romero/Kazarian and tons more)
** ROH SUPERCARD of Honor (Danielson / Strong III, Do Fixer / Blood Generation, AJ Styles & Matt Sydal / Austin Aries & Jack Evans, Joe / Jacobs / Daniels)
**ROH Better Than Our Best (the whole damn card. No really, the whole damn card)
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 3 (Knox / Danger, Del Ray / Haze, Cheerleader Melissa / Shantelle Taylor)
**FIP Big Year One Bash Night 1 (Strong / Gibson, Spanky & Rinauro / Rave & Lethal Homicide / McGuiness)
**IWC Super Indy V (Low Ki / Abyss, Sydal / Petey Williams, Delirious / Sydal, Shelley / Reyes, Gambino Bros. Moving Co. / Burning River Brigade—M Dogg 20 and Josh Prohbition)
**Hardcore Homecoming: November Reign PLATNIUM EDITION. (Lynn / Polaco Cage Match, Douglas / Pitbull Gary Wolfe Dog Collar, Matt Hyson / CW Anderson. Bonus DVD: Sabu / Al Snow, Chris Benoit / 2 Cold Scorpio, Psicosis / Rey Mysterio Jr., Lynn / Polaco)
**UWF-TNA Hardcore War July 9th, 2006 (Styles / Joe / Daniels, James Gang / AMW / Team 3-D (No Finish), Jarrett / Rhino, Lynn / Williams, Lethal / Dutt, Abyss / Runt)
**UWF-TNA Monster’s Ball July 10th, 2006 (Rhino / Joe / Abyss, AMW / Daniels & Styles, Homicide / Lynn, Lethal / Jarrett)
**Colt Cabana’s European Vacation II – World of Cabana
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 4 (Rain / Sara Del Rey, MsChiff / Cheerleader Melissa Falls Count Anywhere, Daizee Haze / Rebecca Knox).
**ROH The 100th Show (Team ROH vs.Team CZW, Danielson / Delirious, Aries & Strong / Homicide & Reyes, Daniels / Castagnoli)
**ROH Ring of Homicide (Homicide / Necro Butcher, Aries & Strong / Briscoes, Daniels / Sydal, Danielson / Delirious, McGuinness / Lethal)
**ROH In Your Face (KENTA / Joe / Danielson, Homicide / Hero, Whitmer / Jacobs, Richards / Rave)
**ROH Throwdown (KENTA / Strong, Danielson / Whitmer / Jacobs, Pearce / Necro Butcher, Rave / Joe / Delirious / Richards)
**ROH Chi-Town Struggle (Danielson / Cabana, KENTA / Aries, ROH vs. CZW, Briscoes / Rave and Kennedy III)
**IWC Summer Sizzler 3 (Shirley Doe / Dennis Gregory IWC World Heavyweight Championship, Delirious / Troy Lords IWC Super Indy Championship, Kings of Wrestling / Rickey Reyes and John McChesney, McChesney / Shima Xion, Burning River Brigade / Cleveland Mafia / Gambino Brothers Moving Company IWC Tag Team Championship)
**FIP Impact of Honor (Aries & Strong / Fast & Furious ROH Tag Team Title Match, Bryan Danielson / Colt Cabana ROH World Title Match / Davey Richards / Shingo Takagi, Steve Madison / Erick Stevens)
**UWF-TNA House Show July 22nd, 2006 (Monster’s Ball Rematch: Samoa Joe / Rhino / Abyss, Jay Lethal / Alex Shelley / Daniels and Styles / James Gang)
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 5 (Daizee Haze / Rebecca Knox 2 out of 3 falls, Sara Del Ray / Mercedes Martinez No Time Limit, Allison Danger / Cheerleader Melissa)

ROH @ 411

Steve Cook is going to the Dayton show. LUCKY!

J.D. Dunn continues his look at Weekend of Thunder with his review of Night Two. For a long time it was one of my personal favorite ROH shows that I’ve attended.

Zeigler and Garoon are no strangers to controversy this week (and we all know that controversy creates cash). They’re up this week with their review of Generation Now.

Honor Bound Links

Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle. Nuff Said.

Double M leads off the Saturday news report.

Nick Marsico was kind enough to plug me in his Friday news column. In return I will reveal that I am a fan of Rocketbuster Radio…it’s the popular word.

The TNA Bound For Glory Roundtable is up and available…I make my predictions of doom and gloom. Don’t forget—a STARR will be born… and he can’t spell his own name. He was going to go with Austin Eliterate but he forgot to buy a vowel.

Bayani Domingo covers Bound For Glory with in depth coverage and double entendres like only Bayani can provide. He also claims to be addicted to this column…hey I can’t blame him—it’s the nicotine from the larger font sizes that gets ya.

Stuart Carapola brings you the Hardcore and the War between HBK and Bret Hart

Feltham and the Dragon.

Kane on the High / Low.

Spotlight on Parenting in Wrestling…more trips to the psychologist than fat people going to McDonalds.

It’s time to tap out and ring the bell for this week’s edition. Next week—overlooked matches that you shouldn’t sleep on, 10/27 results and 10/28 previewed—Danielson vs. Joe in a non-title match but there must be a winner. I’m going back to the living room to watch more ROH in the UK. As always, Brooklyn! DAH EM BAH SEE!
–Ari–