Column of Honor: 07.21.07 Part One

RESPECT IS EARNED– SEND IN YOUR FEEDBACK!

Now that ROH has debuted its PPV on all three television network systems, let me know what you thought of the PPV. If you’ve watched the debut ROH Pay Per View, email me with a thumbs up, thumbs down and thumbs in the middle and general thoughts / comments.

Oh wait…what’s this???

Ring of Honor – Respect is Earned Podcast~!

We are back for yet another podcast and tonight we go where we haven’t gone before! That’s right, this time around we are joined by the Column of Honor’s ARI (~!) as we discuss the Ring of Honor – Respect is Earned PPV! We will discuss the great in ring action, who impressed, who didn’t, what worked and what didn’t (which isn’t much as it was a great show!) This was to be a part of the Great American Bash podcast, but we went on for 1-hour and 15-minutes so ROH gets it’s very own show! Download and enjoy kids, and remember, always drop us a line and let us know what you thought!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD~!

If that doesn’t work, copy and paste the following link into your browser and you’ll be fine: http://www.sendspace.com/file/v4trxr

That’s right, I make my radio podcast debut right here with Mr. 411 himself, Larry Csonka. I have to apologize in advance for suffering a bit a cold (always right before my birthday!) so my voice sounds a bit froggy. Ironically enough, I attended Respect is Earned fighting the very same symptoms I’m dealing with now. Anyway. I think we did a good job covering as much as we could about the PPV and then some. Topics include: poor BJ Whitmer, Adam Pearce as The Rock or Raven, abrupt cuts (more on that later), Lenny Leonard and Don West, the AWESOME Briscoes match, and so much more. ROH fans new and old check it out and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to Larry and THE WIFE~! for having me on. We’ll do it again in September for the second PPV.

Respect is Earned on PPV-Thoughts and Commentary

I urge you to check out that podcast for a more complete look at the PPV. But here are some important points of discussion as well as a few thoughts that were left off the cutting room floor.

-I was very impressed by the video packages and backstage segments. Generally they were filmed with top notch video and production. The intro montage and logos look beautiful. Even the brawling backstage between The Briscoes and Kevin Steen and El Generico came out clearly, if a bit chaotic due to the out of control nature of the brawl. Usually when ROH films segments of wrestlers going backstage, there is a lot of camera darkness and confusion. That is present but limited and we quickly get some clear video of Steen laying out Mark with a steel chair.

-Of course the video production of the matches themselves are way below what you’ll find on a WWE PPV and a notch or three below TNA. While the stationary camera looked brilliant and the new above the shoulder camera angle is awesome and a great step up, the hand held camera still present the old production problems. White outs, camera reflections, dirty lenses…its all there in its glory. ROH NEEDS to work on this and improve their video, if in any small way. However, when it comes down to it and you focus on the matches you tend to forget about the lower video quality because you are so into the match.

-Another thing that has got to go is the abrupt cuts to different segments. They come off as confusing and amateur and it needs to fixed, NOW. There is no excuse for not having smoother transitions from segment to segment, not when they do a good job of it on regular DVDs. Not only that, but the abrupt cuts to the ring where there are no entrances is unusual and takes the viewer used to full entrances off guard. The show could have also benefited from a longer break in between the AWESOME pull apart brawl and the Delirious-Strong match. A twenty second promo was not enough for the PPV viewer to catch breath and collect oneself. As it was, ROH fell into the trap of its live show as Delirious-Strong became a cool down match and I couldn’t get into it as much as I should (and that match comes off better on tape than it did live). Maybe here is where the Sweeney / Sweet and Sour Inc. promo should have gone as a bridge between the first half and the second. .

-REPLAYS—YES! Finally ROH has done what they should have done all along and use replays at the end of matches. Replays are vital to making viewers remember some of the major action of the night.

-I would like to repeat that The Briscoes are awesome and again that match against Claudio and Sydal itself is worth the cost of the PPV alone.

-Morishima’s Banzai Drop from the top = OUCH. SQUISH city.

-Danielson IS as good as he says he is and as good as we think he is.

-Overall, thumbs up. Not a perfect show, but ROH did what it needed to in order to introduce a new group of wrestlers, get over the importance of both major ROH titles and give the viewer some great matches. You can’t go wrong buying this show.

ROH Results: 7/16/07 Tokyo, Japan
Matches
-Rocky Romero and Davey Richards defeated Jack Evans & Kotaro Suzuki via pinfall Romero on Evans after knockout kicks to the head.
-Shuhei Taniguchi defeated Akihiko Ito via pinfall with a German Suplex.
-Jimmy Rave defeated B.J. Whitmer via the Pedigree / Formerly known as Greetings from Ghana.
-Bryan Danielson defeated Go Shiosaki via submission with the Cattle Mutilation in what is being hailed as the match of the night.
-Fight Without Honor: Delirious defeated Roderick Strong via pinfall with the Chemical Imbalance II.
-Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe and Naomichi Marufuji defeated Matt Sydal, Ricky Marvin and Atsushi Aoki via pinfall on Syda after the Springboard Doomsday Device.
-ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima retained his title by defeating Nigel McGuinness via pinfall with the backdrop driver.

Angles and Issues

-Delirious opens the show in Japan, ROH’s first, by speaking his Delirious-speak and saying “BAH BAH BAH…welcome to Ring of Honor!” The opening festivities are soon spoiled by the No Remorse Corps, beating on the green machine until Jack Evans and Kotaru Suzuki make the save.

-After his win, Bryan Danielson once again reiterated he wanted a title shot against the winner of the ROH World title match.

-KENTA came out to tell the crowd he was injured (from his match on 7/15) and couldn’t compete. Atsushi Aoki replaced him in the six man.

– After Morishima’s victory, Danielson came in with the ROH belt, claiming the belt for his own. He then slapped Morishima, which the champ obviously didn’t take so well. Danielson slipped out of the ring but McGuinness cut him off and leveled Danielson with a European uppercut. Nigel handed the belt to Morishima, who took the strap and then shook hands with Nigel. This was obviously a play off of the conclusion to Respect is Earned, with Morishima now shaking the hand of his rival McGuinness, having found some respect for the man.

Estimated Attendance: 1,000

For more detailed information and reaction, you should read this report from 411’s very own Matt Short, who was in attendance in Tokyo.

ROH Results: 7/17/07 Osaka, Japan
Matches
-ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes retained their titles by defeating the team of Genki Horiguchi and Jimmy Rave via pinfall with the Spike Jay Driller on Rave.
-Nigel McGuinness defeated BJ Whitmer via pinfall using the Jawbreaker Lariat.
-Jack Evans defeated Roderick Strong via pinfall after the 630 Splash.
-Ryo Saito, Matt Sydal and Dragon Kid defeated Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and Delirious when Sydal hit the Shooting Star Press onto Delirious.
-ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes retained their titles by defeating the team of SHINGO and Susumu Yokosuka via pinfall with the Springboard Doomsday Device on Yokosuka.
-Dream Six Man Tag: CIMA, Naomichi Marufuji, and Bryan Danielson defeated Masaaki Mochizuki, Davey Richards, and Rocky Romero. CIMA hit the Schwein (Air Raid Crash) on Rocky Romero for the pinfall.

Angles and Issues

-With KENTA’s injury, this show ended up being reshuffled quite a bit, with more Dragon Gate wrestlers being included and the switch from a dream tag to a dream six man as the main event. The main event features one man from NOAH, one man from Dragon Gate and one man from ROH all teaming up together to form a dream union, a sort of physical symbolic gesture of the cooperation we’ve seen between the three promotions over the last few years.

-The Osaka show was supposed to have Jimmy Rave vs. Bryan Danielson but Dragon Gate homegrown star CIMA interrupted to proceedings to welcome ROH to Osaka . The NRC struck, attacking CIMA, until Danielson made the save out of respect. The NRC still outnumbered him, that is until the save of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Naomichi Marfuji. Together they cleared out the NRC, put the challenge to Strong, Richards and Romero and then all three shook hands.

-Jimmy Rave came back and said he wanted a match and challenged anyone in the back to come out and fight him. The Briscoes came out and said they would put their belts up two times that night, including challenging Rave and his Dragon gate partner Genki Horiuguchi.

-Jack Evans decided to make his match with Roderick Strong a No DQ match. Apparently Evans somehow has commissionership powers in Japan, but let’s not think about that too much.

-Masaaki Mochizuki was made an honorary member of the NRC by Roderick Strong and he replaced Strong in the main event.

Estimated Attendance: 800

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 07/21/2007

ROH World Champion—Takeshi Morishima (champion since 02/17/07, 12 successful defenses)

Next Defense:: Claudio Castagnoli , 8/10/07, Roxbury Crossing, MA

V.1 defeated BJ Whitmer via pinfall / backdrop driver (2/23/07 Dayton, OH)
V.2 defeated KENTA via pinfall / backdrop driver (3/04/07 Tokyo, Japan)
V.3 defeated Nigel McGuinness via pinfall / backdrop driver (4/14/07 Edison, NJ)
V.4 defeated Austin Aries via pinfall / backdrop driver (4/27/07 St. Paul, MN)
V.5 defeated SHINGO via pinfall / backdrop driver (4/28/07 Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.6 defeated KAZMA via pinfall / backdrop driver (05/06/07 Tokyo, Japan)
V.7 defeated BJ Whitmer via pinfall / backdrop driver (05/12/07 New York, NY)
V.8 defeated Jay Briscoe via pinfall / backdrop driver (6/08/07 Roxbury Crossing, MA)
V.9 defeated Roderick Strong via pinfall / backdrop driver (6/09/07 Philadelphia, PA)
V.10 defeated Jimmy Rave via pinfall / backdrop driver (06/23/07 Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.11 defeated Adam Pearce via pinfall / backdrop driver (06/23/07 Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.12 defeated Nigel McGuinness via pinfall / backdrop driver (7/16/07 Tokyo, Japan)

ROH World Tag Team Champions— Jay and Mark Briscoe (champions since 03/30/07, 9 successful defenses)

Next Defense: “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness, 7/27/07, Long Island, New York

V.1 Ultimate Endurance: defeated Pelle Primeau & Mitch Franklin, Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw, Hallowicked & Gran Akuma (4/27/07 St. Paul, MN)
V.2 defeated Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) (4/28/07 Chicago, IL)
V.3 defeated BJ Whitmer and ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima (5/11/07, Hartford, CT)
V.4 defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Matt Sydal (5/12/07, New York, NY)
V.5 defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero) (6/09/07, Philadelphia, PA): 2 out of 3 falls- 2 straight falls
V.6 defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Matt Sydal (6/22/07, Dayton, OH): 2 out of 3 falls- 2 straight falls
V.7 defeated El Generico & Kevin Steen (6/23/07, Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.8 defeated Jimmy Rave & Genki Horiguchi (7/17/07 Osaka, Japan)
V.9 defeated SHINGO & Susumu Yokozuka (7/17/07 Osaka, Japan)

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

The Sapolsky Diaries

If you are interested in how the head booker was feeling during his trip to Japan and as he set up his two shows, you can read his thoughts in two online diaries posted on the ROH message board. Here he describes the Tokyo show, and here the Osaka show. It’s pretty interesting reading, if a bit heavy on the hype (or perhaps that’s just enthusiasm). We never get to go inside the head of Vince McMahon, but Gabe sometimes gives us a sneak behind his curtain.

NTV Cup Finals

On July 15th, KENTA and Tajii Ishimori walked out with the NOAH NTV Cup last week. They defeated the team of Naomichi Marufuji and Kota Ibushi to gain 7 points for the lead in the round robin tag tournament. The Briscoes fought to a thirty minute draw against their Japan rivals Ricky Marvin and Kotaru Suzuki, meaning neither of those teams had enough points to top KENTA and Ishimori.

No ROH in the UK?

According to ROHHelp and posted on the f4w message boards, ROH will not be running its scheduled UK shows in October. It’s off the calendar on the website.

Dragon Gets His Shot

It is official!!! Bryan Danielson will challenge whoever is the ROH World Champion on 8/25 at the Manhattan Center in New York City.

Five weeks until a new champion…? I don’t think so, but maybe, just maybe…

KDM = Kings Divide the Monarchy
A big tag team match has been signed for 8/11 in Philadelphia. The first interaction pitting Chris Hero vs. Claudio Castagnoli will take place (unless they collide in the “Race To The Top” tournament). It will be a tag team bout as Castagnoli teams with another man that has been having problems with Hero lately in Nigel McGuinness. They will take on Hero & Jigsaw. Sweeney has hired Jigsaw to team with Hero for the night as he feels Jigsaw knows a secret in how to defeat Castagnoli.

While Hero and Claudio have been involved in a few multi-man matches, including Battle of the Icons in a triple threat match with Christopher Daniels, Claudio preferred not to engage in any physical actions against his former tag partner in those matches. Now that he knows where everybody stands, nothing should hold him back from using physical force on his former tag partner. Claudio and Nigel have a long standing history of fighting over the former Pure title, but I don’t foresee any tension between the two since both are currently faces and that title is long since history. As far as Jigsaw having the know how on Claudio…? Well, maybe Larry Sweeney has lost a bit of common sense—maybe doing too many Hindu squats with Tank Toland made him air headed when making that call.

Money, Money, Moneeeeey-HAHAHAHAHAHA
The $10,000 Tag Team Challenge is coming to Edison, NJ on 7/28 and it promises to be one of the most unique matches in ROH history. Two captains will be chosen and announced on ROHwrestling.com on the morning of 7/28 (after the events of 7/27 unfold). At the show in Edison, each captain will choose the three members of his team for an eight man tag team bout. The members can be anyone not still in the “Race To The Top” tournament. The winning team will get to divide $10,000.

Now, this…this is a cool idea. This is a slightly different spin on the multi man tag matches that usually are booked on the second night of a two show tournament. We may get random pairings, but everyone should have a common motivating factor—the money. Unless Delirious is somehow drafted–I think he may be more interested in eating the paper that ten thou is printed on. The obvious captains should be McGuinness and Danielson stemming from the fallout of their tag title shot the day before in Long Island, but ROH could go the unconventional route and make the captains say, Mark and Jay Briscoe. Besides those who were ousted in the tournament, there will still be a lot of wrestlers to pick, such as the NRC and Austin Aries and of course the ROH students like Bobby Dempsey. Imagine how many hot dogs he could buy with a split of $10,000.

Of course the split is another issue. Who gets to decide who gets how much money each team member gets? Will it be an even or uneven split? Will someone decide to steal all the money for himself? Interesting questions that can lead off into different storyline directions for some ROH wrestlers.

Hero’s Sandwich

Greetings and salutations, loyal readers, it is I, your idol, your role model, the pinnacle of your hopes and dreams, Chris Hero, back again for another week of the highest rated segment in the god forsaken column, welcome to this weeks Hero’s Sandwich. This has been an eventful week, so without further ado, lets get right into the meat, so to speak of the sandwich. The faster the better, as time is short, and my commitments are numerous. I’m just that in demand, if you catch my drift.

First on the agenda this week is the debut of Ring of Honor in Japan. From what I’ve heard, the tour was a complete and utter failure, with smatterings of “We want HERO” chants booming throughout the two buildings that the shows were held in. My sources tell me that the chant in Tokyo was so loud that people outside the venue could hear it, and even began to enter the chant, even if they didn’t know what they were chanting for. That’s just how powerful and influential I am. People all around the world are crying out for a hero, and right now, that hero is none other than me, Chris Hero. I can only tell Gabe and Cary, who are crying in their sake right about now, that you reap what you sow, and a tour in the red is what you deserved. If you had booked me, the gate would have been gi-normous and you would have reached “super no vacancy” levels, instead of playing to a half empty venue. Oh well, I guess that’s just the way it goes when you have Godzilla main event against that wannabe punk rocker, Nigel McGuinness. Aren’t his 15 minutes up just yet? I could understand the attraction if he was any good in the ring, but what does he do, like 95 variations on the lariat? What kind of wrestler is he, just building his ENTIRE move set off of one specific maneuver? I would never do that. That’s just sad. He should have come to the CZW/CHIKARA Monster Factory for GOOD training. Oh well, that’s a story for another day.

Onto topic number two for the week. So, last night, the Respect Is Earned PPV debuted on my cable system, and I couldn’t help myself, and I had to watch it. I know, you’re all probably saying to yourselves “Chris, didn’t you tell us all to boycott the PPV?” and the answer to that is a definitive yes. However, due to my massive influence, all I had to do was flip to the PPV channel, and to my surprise, it was on, without me paying for it. I know what you’re thinking. Chris Hero has an illegal cable box. That’s not at all the case. The cable company just knows to play all wrestling shows for me, out of plain respect. So, I’m guessing that you’re all dying for my opinion of the show, so here goes. All things aside, for an independent wrestling company to make it to national PPV is an amazing thing, and for that I applaud Cary and Gabe. They have brought quality WRESTLING, not sports entertainment to the masses, and that is the most important thing. Am I still angered by the fact that I wasn’t booked on the PPV? Yes, of course I am, but there will be more PPV’s and we all know that I’ll be headlining most of them after the next show, so its all good. It was also very nice to see that Swiss idiot get humiliated and beaten down on my TV set, and any time I get to see that, I have a big smile on my face. Some of the editing needs work, and the lighting is sometimes brutal, but hey, its like the first time you’re with your girlfriend (something that Ari would know nothing about. What a loser). Not all that great, but your still happy that it’s going on, if you know what I mean.

Onto the last bit of news for the week, and I saved the best for last. So, did you all see that my prediction for the Peterson Cup came to pass? That’s right, I won that tournament with ease. This is just another piece of evidence that proves my greatness and inevitable dominance over the entire wrestling landscape. Now, I know you’re all expecting me to gloat over my win, but I’m so beyond that kind of thing, so all I will say is “I told you so!” Now, my focus is squarely on the Race To The Top Tournament in ROH this summer. I’m deep in training for this event, and I think that with all of the momentum that I have from the Peterson, that its almost a given that I’ll win that event as well. I am the King of Tournaments, and I will raise the trophy for this event, as I have done so many times before. After I win that event, you all know what comes next. Chris Hero, your NEW ROH World Heavyweight Champion. And that’s all I’ll say about that at this time.

Okay, simpletons, its time for me to get back to the training facility with Larry, Tank, Matt and “Chubby” Dempsey. We’re going to be blasting the glutes and abs today, and then going for a 20 or 30-mile jog, so I have to hit the road. I know that you out of shape losers are astounded by my routine, but that’s what it takes to be at the athletic pinnacle, like me. And on that note, I bid you adieu. So, as I always say, this has been your weekly dose of enlightenment; this has been your Hero’s Sandwich. Sayonara, suckers!

Honorarium

-Well, in these very turbulent times about wrestling and drug abuse, one thing we know for sure is that Takeshi Morishima is not on the steroids…he is however, on the Dunkin Donuts. 50g/ml each of Glazed and Jelly per day…mnmmm, donuts.

-I finished Reborn Again in one full sitting, watched the Respect is Earned PPV on Friday and I’m about halfway done with A Fight at the Roxbury (6/09/07 in MA). Here are some of my impressions about those shows and the ROH scene overall.

Reborn Again:

-Some little things I noticed and enjoyed throughout the show:

Lots of wrestlers were tripping on the way to the ring. Maybe something got caught up but you’d think they’d let each other know “hey look out on the way to the ring!” Oh well.

Rocky Romero’s knee pads which state “Revo-lu-tion”. Nice touch to his NRC style.

Adam Pearce ranking out the crowd on this night was hysterical. I can’t believe people were deeked out by the “free tickets under your chair” scam. You’re going to believe PEARCE? What’s worse for the CT crowd is that Prazak and Leonard rank on them all night afterwards.

Nikki Roxx’s entrance song is right on. Good beat and very appropriate for her in ring character…well, not the one she does now in TNA as Roxxi Laveux…maybe she needs “Voodoo Woman” (take your pick for artist) for that one.

Daizee Haze rarely brings it out, but it’s a thing of beauty to watch. when she hits the Mindtrip (Snapmare Driver).

Davey Richards pretty audibly says to Matt “surefooted” Cross at the end of the six man match “Rocky’s gonna kick you” and lo and behold, Cross gets hit with some phantom strike and acts wobbily, bounces back into the ropes and Rocky Romero blasts him with a kick from behind…leading to a DR Driver for the win. What the hell…say it isn’t so!

-I hereby rename Kevin Steen and El Generico’s combination finisher of Package Piledriver into Brainbuster “The Assembly Line”. Steen hits that piledriver, and then just rolls his opponent right into the waiting arms of Generico. They put that combo together so efficiently and effortlessly.

-Shane Hagadorn hitting Danielson and then running away in fear, then celebrating on the outside-greatness. I think the kid is getting it. Of course, instant karma is a bitch and Danielson taps him out with that snap arm submission with the knees. That will teach him for stealing Danielson’s old robe from the locker room.

-Danielson’s return is terrific and he is back to looking 100% or better in all his matches (sure, you can look better than 100%). He’s also including more submissions and MMA style into his move set and it really works for him. He seems fresh and reinvigorated. More importantly he is more exciting than ever to watch in the ring. While I still maintain McGuinness is the next champ (more on that later), I can’t see Danielson being too far off the pace. By the way, previous fan reviews of the Resilience / Danielson vs. NRC match had me believing Danielson stayed out of the action for that match, but he’s very physically active in that one as well. Sometime live reports don’t get everything 100% right on.

-Delirious and KENTA have a very good match, but it suffers at the end from crowd burn out. Too many strikes and too many high impact moves toward the end of the match I think. The goofiness of Delirious and the way KENTA plays off of him are all brilliant comic moves and the crowd responds well to it all, but somehow they lost their way. I think this is a good example of a match where less is more, and maybe that sometimes wrestlers don’t have to bust out all their big moves to keep the crowd.

A Fight at the Roxbury:

-Brent Albright in the executioner’s mask…um…alright? What, did he get a discount at his local S&M shop?

-Bryan Danielson and Jimmy Rave had another very impressive match against each other. They seem to have good chemistry together. Danielson likes to come up with different things in their matches, stuff you won’t see him do elsewhere. In this case, look out for the absurdly painful looking new twist he puts on the abdominal stretch and a fake out on his traditional plancha that is so smooth it works everyone.

-We all know Mark Briscoe is as goofy as a pet ‘coon (thanks JR) but he is incredibly fun and entertaining in said goofiness. Case in point are his uses of his ROH World Tag Team title belt on entrances and exits. At Good Times, Great Memories and Reborn Again, you’ll see him play the belt like an electric guitar…an homage to when the Hulkster used to do such things in the nWo days? Probably not. Still funny. Also on Reborn Again you’ll see him use the belt and pantomime shooting off a shotgun. Funny, but very accurate to his Sandy Fork, Delaware northern redneck ways.

-So many people ride BJ Whitmer hard, but he still has a damned good moveset. I really like the form of his Full Nelson Dragon Suplex, and the Shining Knee is always fun. Now, here’s the irony of this “BJ Whitmer snaps” angle…it seems like he got MORE over as a face by getting mad and snapping than just playing the role of the guy who gets the snot kicked out of him and comes back for more. The Roxbury Crossing crowd loved when he head butted the referee and began to throw furniture around…as opposed to when Homicide did this and it frightened / intimidated the crowd, this seemed to fire the fans up and rally them around Whitmer. At this point, maybe BJ Whitmer should play The Incredible Hulk role in his matches (ala Ken Shamrock’s babyface days in WWF) and that could be the key to reinvigorating his character.

-It was fun to see the Jimmy Loves Lacey vignettes begin on the Reborn Again DVD. I’m hoping that the other three are on the Respect is Earned DVD, because there weren’t any episodes on the A Fight At the Roxbury DVD. The fans in the crowd give away the ending when they chant “Jimmy f**ked Lacey” at Jacobs during his entrance. I hope ROH didn’t screw the pooch on this one and those other episodes are extras on the Respect is Earned set. Its two discs, so there’s plenty of room for it.

-Speaking of, Lacey seems about ten times hotter in Roxbury playing the role of the concerned girlfriend…don’t know it’s the hairstyle, the outfit, or the attitude, but good god, Jimmy got lucky.

-Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen reinvigorates the street fight style of fighting in ROH. It’s inspired, brutally violent (in a good way) and has the crowd oohing and ahhing the whole way. If you get the Roxbury DVD, you’d be doing yourself a disservice not to check it out. It’s a hell of a strong style contest. Plus, check out Steen’s homage to sports victory moments with his shout out to his mom at the end of the match and a post match promo that is both quite comical and disturbing. I like how Steen and Generico can only get promo time when the cut it on someone else’s and then Steen sneaks in like a vulture, with Generico in tow. He’s done that repeatedly now on several DVDs.

-The Four Corner Survival match between Hero, Castagnoli, Quackenbush and McGuinness is also way up there in terms of quality. You can’t go wrong with Quackenbush flying around, Chris Hero and his menagerie of characters backing him up, Claudio being Claudio and Nigel being the never say die face that he portrays right now. Their interactions, and the combinations of moves, from high flying to chain sequences, are tight and well executed. It’s riveting viewing. Plus, Dave Prazak is hilarious making fun of Dempsey in the fat suit…or the moon suit, as Prazak refers to it.

-Music recommendations for the week: The Rocket Summer “Do You Feel” (flat out awesome power poprock), Emerson Hart (former Tonic) “Cigarettes & Gasoline” and John Mayer “The Village Sessions” (it’s been out for a while, but I finally got it and it’s as good as advertised)

ROH Preview: ROH Race to the Top Tournament July 27th, 2007—Long Island, NY and July 28th 2007—Edison, NJ

8pm start
Deer Park Community Center
41 Homer Avenue
Deer Park, NY 11729

This event replaced the show scheduled for Sports Plus in Long Island. All tickets for Sports Plus will be honored in Deer Park.

ROH World Tag Team Title Match
Jay & Mark Briscoe defend vs. Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness

The Briscoes are a cohesive unit. They look out for each other and they know how to work together and nail some awesome and dynamic moves. I can’t say the same for Dragon and McGuinness. I don’t trust these guys to be able to make a sandwich together, much less work together well enough to win the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Sure, they teamed up to defeat Morishima and Marufuji at the 6/22/07 Dayton show, but who honestly doesn’t expect these two to have a “Megapowers Explode” moment during this match? These two will come undone and The Briscoes will capitalize enough to win the match.

“Race To The Top” Tournament- First Round Matches:

Bracket A
BJ Whitmer vs. Pelle Primeau
Davey Richards vs. Jigsaw

We’ll cover these matches by bracket. Pelle would seem to be the giant underdog, except that Whitmer may be on the worst losing streak this side of Jimmy Rave in late 2006. Primeau is in prime position to score an upset, but otherwise I don’t expect him to advance. Davey Richards has harsh strikes and a bad attitude. He can easily overpower Jigsaw, who will have to use ingenuity to trip up Richards’ focus. Jigsaw can also switch up his range of attacks and that may serve useful in this encounter.

Bracket B
Erick Stevens vs. Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney, Tank Toland & Bobby Dempsey
Delirious vs. El Generico

Stevens got a bad draw in this tournament as Chris Hero is not only the favorite for this tournament, but he is also a dangerous opponent in any match. His entourage is there to watch his back, and hopefully Matt Cross and Austin Aries will be there to watch out for their partner Stevens. If not, it will be a long night for the Mohawk man. Deliirous and El Generico is a great match of personality as well as in ring action. These two will keep a great pace and deliver some big hits. They will probably make the fans laugh a bit too.

Bracket C
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Hallowicked
Matt Sydal vs. Mike Quackenbush

Claudio vs. Quack has never let me down, so seeing these two in the same bracket with a chance to meet in the quarter finals makes me hopeful we’ll see that match…except for the fact that Sydal and Claudio now have an issue and it looks like we could see them meet here to work it out. Let’s talk about the opening matches themselves: Claudio and Hallowicked are familiar with each other from CHIKARA, and it should be the proto-typical Claudio vs.smalleer opponent set up, which are always fun and entertaining to watch. Sydal and Quack will have some fine aerial warfare going on until such time as Quack wants to keep Sydal to the ground and work on submissions. Quack could frustrate Sydal to no end, but the X-factor is Sweet and Sour Inc. who have drafted Sydal to their team.

Bracket D:
Jack Evans vs. Kevin Steen
Brent Albright vs. Matt Cross

Albright has been one big match away from being a breakout in ROH and now he has the opportunity to head to the top by winning four of them in two nights. He mat pretty much squash Cross into pieces here, but don’t underestimate the smaller guys in this tournament. They can come out of nowhere and “shock the world” with the winning move. Evans is back in America to compete for this tournament and he has a tougher draw than it would appear in Kevin Steen, who is ruthless and determined to make an impact in ROH. Both Evans and Cross would be best served taking it to the air and no letting up on offense to confuse their opponents, allowing them to take the advantage in their respective matches.

Plus more to be signed with Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, Jimmy Rave, Gran Akuma, Daizee Haze and more!!!

These looks to be huge cards, with lots of matches announced and enough talent left over to ADD to these cards. That makes these shows really attractive to go see live and in person.

Let’s take a quick look at how the Edison card should shake out…and I’ll do a more complete preview of that show in next week’s column once we have the previous night’s results in and accounted for.

July 28th, 2007
Inman Sports Club
7:30pm belltime
990 Inman Avenue
Edison, NJ 08820

$10,000 Tag Team Challenge
Two captains will be chosen and announced on ROHwrestling.com on the morning of 7/28 (after the events of 7/27 unfold). At the show in Edison, each captain will choose the three members of his team for an eight man tag team bout. The members can be anyone not still in the “Race To The Top” tournament. The winning team will get to divide $10,000.

“Race To The Top Tournament” Tournament Quarter Finals
Bracket A: BJ Whitmer vs. Pelle Primeau winner vs. Davey Richards vs. Jigsaw winner
Bracket B: Erick Stevens vs. Chris Hero winner vs. Delirious vs. El Generico winner

Bracket A Winner vs. Bracket B Winner to determine who goes to the finals!!!

“Race To The Top Tournament” Tournament Quarter Finals
Bracket C: Castagnoli vs. Hallowicked winner vs. Matt Sydal vs. Mike Quackenbush winner
Bracket D: Matt Cross vs. Brent Albright winner vs. Jack Evans vs. Kevin Steen winner

Bracket C Winner vs. Bracket D Winner to determine who goes to the finals!!!

Race to the Top Tournament Finals

Also scheduled to appear: Austin Aries; ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe; Bryan Danielson; Nigel McGuinness; Roderick Strong of the No Remorse Corps; Jimmy Rave; plus more.

The Race to the Top Tournament coverage continues right here, right now, in PART TWO of this week’s column!