Column of Honor: 08.18.07: Part One

After watching TNA Hard Justice last week, I have one thing to say. Actually, I have a lot to say, but let’s keep it to this. Samoa Joe, please come home. Yeah I know money is a factor and Joe is well paid and after getting married could use the money to support his new family. Ring of Honor officials, Cary, Gabe, Syd, if it’s at all possible, do what you have to do, but get Joe back to ROH. I don’t care if you have to do a pledge drive for ROH, let’s get it done. It’ll be better for him and it’ll be better for you and it’ll be better for us, the fans.

ROH Results: Death Before Dishonor V Night 2 August 11th 2007 Philadelphia, PA

Matches
-El Generico defeated Mark Briscoe in a Falls Count Anywhere match via pinfall on the outside with a dive into a spinning tornado DDT done on the floor.
-Jack Evans defeated Deranged via pinfall with a 630 splash.
-Chris Hero and Jigsaw defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Nigel McGunness via pinfall after Hero nailed Castagnoli in the head with the Race To The Top Trophy for the three..
-Sara Del Ray retained the SHIMMER championship by defeating Lacey with the Royal Butterfly Suplex.
-“American Dragon” Bryan Danielson defeated “Lightening” Mike Quackenbush via referee stoppage after Quackenbush passed out to the Triangle Choke and MMA elbows.
-Kevin Steen defeated Jay Briscoe in a Lights Out match via pinfall with the package piledriver after interference from El Generico.
-ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima retained the title by defeating challenger Brent Albright via pinfall with two backdrop drivers.
-The No Remorse Corps of Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Rocky Romero and Matt Sydal defeated The Resilience of Austin Aries, Erick Stevens, Matt Cross and Delirious in an unsanctioned street fight. Strong made Erick Stevens pass out to the Stronghold for the win in what was called a crazy “must see” match with plenty of action all over the building.

Angles and Issues
-161 Shirts to Give Away Before I Sleep: The presence of Project 161 was felt as a man with a megaphone appeared before the start of the matches to announce that the whole deal was very real and indeed coming soon. He gave out shirts to the crowd before he was “ejected”. Reports also had him giving out shirts outside the building before the show, but only to certain people. Not everyone who asked for a shirt got one.

Anyone get Project Mayhem flashbacks for that one? Should people be standing still outside for 24 hours to prove their worth before they earn a 100 percent cotton knit?

-Evans Botchery: For the first time in a while, Jack Evans was said to have a bad showing. The story of 2007 has been his improvement in the ring, but reviews from the show said that Evans missed several moves and Deranged did not look so good as well. There were chants of “Don’t Come Back” to Deranged, but some thought that was a bit harsh and unfair considering it was Evans who botched more stuff.

-Watching and Waiting: Daizee Haze watched the SHIMMER title match from ringside, as she still hassome very deep and complex issues with both Sara Del Rey and Lacey.

-Trophy Envy: Not only did Chris Hero use the Race to the Top Tournament trophy belonging to his rival Castagnoli to earn this win on this show, but he also then took it one step further by using the trophy to maim his former Kings of Wrestling tag partner. Hero drove the trophy into the eyes of Claudio, causing him to bleed.

-Dragon vs. Quack Rematch: According to the results recap on the ROH website, Quackenbush has already requested a rematch of his showdown with Bryan Danielson.

-Crossing the Line: Apparently, the unsanctioned street fight was Matt “MDogg20” Cross’s proving ground, as his performance this weekend was much heralded and praised in show reports. This showing included doing some crazy matrix like step off wall flip into a dive onto a downed NRC opponent.

Return Date: November 2nd, 2007

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 08/18/2007

ROH World Champion—Takeshi Morishima (champion since 02/17/07, 14 successful defenses)

Next Defense:: Three Way Elimination Match vs. Brent Albright and Claudio Castagnoli, 8/24/07, Hartford, CT

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)
V.13 defeated Claudio Castagnoli via pinfall / backdrop driver (8/10/07, Roxbury Crossing, MA)
V.14 defeated Brent Albright via pinfall / backdrop driver (8/11/07, Philadelphia, PA)

ROH World Tag Team Champions— Jay and Mark Briscoe (champions since 03/30/07, 10 successful defenses)

Next Defense: Steel Cage Match vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico, 8/24/07 Hartford, CT

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)
V.10 defeated “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness (7/27/07, Long Island, New York)

FIP Heavyweight Champion: Roderick Strong (since 11/10/2006)
SHIMMER Champion: Sara Del Rey (since 6/2/2007)
Top of the Class Trophy (For ROH Students): Pelle Primeau (since 4/14/2007)

Top Feuds & Pairings:
-The Briscoes vs. El Generico and Kevin Steen
-Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima
-Morishima vs. Brent Albright vs. Claudio Castagnoli
-Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness
-The No Remorse Corps vs. The Resilience vs. Jack Evans
-Chris Hero and Sweet & Sour Incorporated vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Rivals (Part Two of Three): McGuinness vs. Morishima are Good Friends, Better Rivals

How do professional wrestlers become friends?

In a highly competitive field of work, with constant tours across the nation and internationally, one will quickly run into an assortment of people from very different backgrounds and cultures. This is exactly the case in the world of professional wrestling, perhaps even more so than in other occupations due to the oddity of personalities and characters that are even drawn to the sport in the first place. So then, how does one make friends?

The major constant and commonality remains that all the wrestlers are in that profession, on the road and performing all the time. So is it close proximity then? Perhaps, as a familiarity and kinship is developed as one repeatedly does shows with the same group of wrestlers over the course of weeks or months. It’s the brotherhood of the job then that creates friendships then. It can also be said that the rigors and the politics of the job that can create the pressures large enough to split apart alliances.

In 2006, Nigel McGuinness began a working relationship with Pro Wrestling NOAH. This was in part due to his successful run in Ring of Honor and the U.S. Indies. McGuinness’s run with the Pure title in particular gave him a large spotlight in Ring of Honor. In Japan, where ROH is visible and acknowledged as a top tier company, McGuinness was brought in as a gaijin, had a successful run and invited back. On those tours with him was his fellow English countryman Doug Williams. Together they formed a tag team and took their act around the NOAH circuit.

It was there that McGuinness would have met and befriended Takeshi Morishima. Quite an odd pairing, those two. The large and spiky haired British grappler meets the massive powerhouse young Japanese prospect. What could those two possibly have in common enough to become friends on those bus tours? Well, at the least you could say they could compare fashion styles, what with Nigel’s trademark aviator jacket on display, as opposed to Morishima’s fur coat and cowboy hat.

Nigel McGuinness and Samoa Joe had their fair share of matches. It was McGuinness after all, who used the right strategy to dismantle Joe and win the ROH Pure title in 2005. These two had fought in an ROH ring against each other several times before and after that title match. Along the way there seemed to be the earning of a grudging respect for each other. However, Samoa Joe has no respect for Japan and would voice his grievances in a public forum, through ROH promos, several times. It had to rankle Nigel when in late 2006 Joe would disparage the name of Pro Wrestling NOAH and its luminaries such as KENTA, Naomichi Marufuji, Morishima and the captain of that ship, Mitsuhara Misawa.

Joe had already been in several matches against KENTA and Marufuji, giving them no respect whatsoever. He would not even shake their hands at the end of the match to uphold the Code of Honor. Joe had always been so proud of upholding the code, which includes shaking the hand of your opponent before and after the match. In not shaking their hands, he was giving the Japanese wrestlers ROH’s sign of ultimate disrespect. To further up the intensity of Joe’s grudge, he and Takeshi Morishima would engage in a now famous pull apart brawl in New York City during September of 2006. That same show Nigel would go on to fight for the GHC Heavyweight Title against Marufuji and in doing so would cement his placement in NOAH. It would also earn him even more respect from his contemporaries in NOAH.

Here was a promotion that gave Nigel a chance to be successful overseas. Here was a group of wrestlers who befriended and took Nigel in when they didn’t have to do so. So it was that Nigel would feel compelled to defend their good name against the barrage of insults and challenges made from Ring of Honor’s icon. He and Joe would face off in verbal confrontations, several of which ended up coming to blows. Joe was furious that NOAH was sending their boy Nigel to respond to his challenges instead of the big guys like Morishima.

So it was on February 16th that Samoa Joe finally was able to fight Morishima. At stake—Joe’s personal pride as well as the esteem and honor of both companies. Not surprisingly, Nigel McGuinness came out firmly on the side of NOAH. He helped to represent the interests of Takeshi Morishima. He became a sort of unofficial spokesman and liaison for the big man as he came into ROH to do battle for the very first time.

After an arduous battle, Morishima, the Japanese import, had been vanquished by the “hometown hero” in Samoa Joe. Yet, it would be Morishima who would go on to have the last laugh, as the very next night he tore right through Homicide like a tornado does to housing. Morishima easily became ROH World Champion, the very first man from a foreign country to do win ROH’s most prestigious belt.

No doubt that Nigel felt satisfied that his friend Morishima had come in and lived up to the hype. Nigel had backed the right horse. He continued to prove his friendship to Morishima and his commitment to representing the interests of NOAH in the United States. McGuinness would go onto team up with Morishima in Chicago to fight Joe and Homicide. He would then score a personal triumph in pinning Joe with his lariat.

Nigel was able to bask in the vindication of his choices. Yet it wasn’t soon afterwards that even outside observers could tell something had changed in the relationship between Morishima and McGuinness. Championships tend to create the pressure points in friendships between wrestlers. Wrestlers are in the business to make money and win championships. Morishima was now the ROH World champion, but the problem was that Nigel wanted to be ROH champion as well. He had been working so hard for it ever since his battles against Bryan Danielson.

So McGuinness made his intentions known—he wanted the ROH World Title. He would go through Morishima if that’s what it took to win the championship. So it was that their friendship became fractured. It has never been said in public, but this bold statement of intent could have resulted in wounding the trust and respect level that Morishima had held for his British friend.

It was clear that despite the fact that these two were now rivals there was still a level of working respect between the two. As McGuinness would soon say to Morishima at Respect Is Earned, “You’re a hell of a professional wrestler, but then again, so am I.” Both knew of the other’s capabilities and that fact that in doing battle, they would be paying the price in blood, massive amounts of sweat and the unbearable likeness of being in indescribable pain. Both men went to work, training hard in preparation.

McGuinness and Morishima would be on opposite sides in a tag match on April 13th in Long Island. McGuinness teamed up with Doug Williams, and Morishima teamed up with Chris Hero. It was clear that despite their friendship, McGuinness was not afraid to engage the champion inside the ring. The very finish of the match saw McGuinness almost level Morishima with a closeline, only for Hero to push him out of the way and eat it himself. After their first battle for the title the next day in April, Morishima would extend his hand to a defeated McGuinness out of respect and appreciation for the effort of his challenge. It was the first time that Morishima had indicated a high opinion for anyone currently on the ROH roster.

However, appreciation and consideration is a fickle quality among the brotherhood of wrestlers. It does not always last the course of years, and it can even change from month to month or week to week. At the conclusion to the Respect Is Earned Pay Per View event, McGuinness attempted to return the ROH World title to Morishima (Danielson had grabbed the belt, previously his, and had paid the price by being laid out). The champion refused to shake McGuinness’s hand this time. He was angry and upset wrestlers were touching his belt. It didn’t matter if one of them was friend or even a tag partner, those who defiled his belt would pay the price. McGuinness ended up flat on his back, staring at the lights and wondering what day it was and why there was a violent banging inside his head.

Then in a mystifying turn of events, Morishima’s attitude changed from disregard and antagonism to respect and cordiality. McGuinness and Morishima would fight once again for the ROH World title, this time in Tokyo Japan. Once again these two clashed like titans. They fought hard for every second of that match, hoping their efforts would lead to victory. After their title rematch had concluded and the champion had once again proven triumphant, a reprise of events from the Respect Is Earned PPV began to occur. This time, after Bryan Danielson’s attempt to claim physical possession of the belt was once again thwarted, Morishima did in fact shake McGuinness’s hand. The champion showed McGuinness the ultimate respect in front of his hometown crowd.

While his attempts at winning the ROH World Title have been thus far thwarted, there is no doubt that Nigel McGuinness remains as determined as ever to one day be the top man in Ring of Honor. To do that he may have to once again climb Mount Morishima and figure out a way to reach the summit.

Maybe what has been holding Nigel back is that in the back of his mind he still regards Morishima as his friend. Maybe, for the good of his career, he never should have become friends with him in the first place.

Then again, those bus rides in Japan would have been a lot lonelier without some company.

Taking the Temperature: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down

I’ll admit to having a temper…sometimes a lot more than I let on both in the real world and online in my writing. Now last week I answered an email about the ROH message board and how sometimes the comments there get to me, especially unfair or really out there criticism of the wrestlers. However, I also noted that it wasn’t just that board but all boards in general which consist of this sort of commentary. So why do I visit and comment on boards? One, the obvious free time I have at certain points in my life, especially now in the summer and school vacation gives me so the opportunity to do absolutely nothing of any importance. The second reason being that while the message boards are often a “No Man’s Land” of anything goes commentary and overly annoying hack jobs and disparagements, many times they can be a boon for discussion, analysis and the dissemination of information and well thought out opinion.

That said my temper this week as far as internet message board commentary was raised by a thread, not posted on the ROH Message Board, but elsewhere. There were many reports about the Death Before Dishonor V weekend and on a few (but not all) of them were reports about the Project 161 angle and how it was presented live and the reaction of it not being good. This lead to a thread on another board, entitled “Gabe is Pathetic” (referring to ROH head booker Gabe Sapolsky) that made disparaging remarks (obviously). Actually, the thread was started by an ROH fan. That’s fine, because everyone is entitled to their opinion about bookers and their actions. Everyone from McMahon to Russo to Heyman has been criticized about their product. So that didn’t get to me, but what did was the comment about Project 161 and that this was the angle that “no one gave a fuck” about. Another poster stated that “the majority of them [ROH fans] hate this shit.”

My blood was boiling and my heart was pounding.

I knew I vehemently disagreed with those statements. My personal opinion is that I love Project 161 and everything that has happened so far (for more information, check the last two weeks of columns). I think the angle on ROH’s part has been done with enough mystery and clandestine action to carry through to the supposed 9/15 debut date. I think the project161.com site is great and the blogs, while it is reminiscent of the styles of many nihilistic writers and is threatening to become a bit redundant, for now remains fun and entertaining to read and interact with on the commentary board.

Yet this was just me and my opinion alone. My opinion is just that, one opinion. What about everyone else? Did the fans live at Death Before Dishonor V truly hate the angle? I don’t know. I wasn’t there live for either show, so I can’t comment on that until I see the shows on DVD and see if any of Project 161 makes the cut.

However, in my heart of hearts I knew that sentiment was wrong. But…was I right? After I calmed down a bit I realized that I don’t speak for the entire ROH audience. So I put myself and my ego in check. I didn’t respond directly to that thread which had angered me so. Instead, I decided to find out for sure what the ROH fans thought. I decided to do a scientific experiment.

Ok, so really I just took a poll. However, it was a very scientific poll! Not a poll on a pole match though, because that would be just too much.

On the ROH Message Board and on the 411 Forums, I posted a thread entitled “Right Now, Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down About” (which you can click on the link and read for yourself). I included the following topics for respondents to give their opinions:

1. The Project 161 angle
2. The Gen Ex War
3. Morishima as a defending champion

In addition I told posters that they could not go with the thumbs in the middle response. Besides being too wishy-washy, I wanted to know for sure what the consensus opinion was on Project 161 as of this week, as well as how it compared to the other two topics (which have been hotbeds of discussion as of late).

The results from the ROH message board came in at a furious pace. In the first hour alone there were twenty three responses. Out of those, TWENTY posters gave their thumbs up to Project 161 and three gave the thumbs down. That’s an 87% approval rate. Compare that to reactions to the “Gen Ex War” (Aries’ The Resilience vs. Strong’s No Remorse Corps vs. Evans & his invisible crew). Those first twenty three poll takers went 10 thumbs up and 13 thumbs down, with quite a few saying “Way Down” in their responses. That’s a 43% approval. That’s less than half of the approval rating for Project161.

In the first hour, The Takeshi Morishima as defending champion question received 19 thumbs up and 4 thumbs down, for a very similar approval rate as Project 161. There were a few but equal amounts of “Way Up” and “Way Down” votes.

In describing their reactions to Project 161, most respondents noted excitement for what had already occurred and what could come next. Most thought they would give the angle a chance due to the many possibilities of the angle and the intrigue surrounding which wrestlers would be involved.

In describing their reactions to the Gen Ex War, most people were either firmly happy or firmly disappointed in the way the storyline and in ring had played out. For those who were disappointed, those respondents felt that the angle failed to live up to expectations, even including Aries’ return. Also most that voted thumbs down expressed a disbelief in Strong as the major heel stable leader character. Many also thought that there were too many multi man matches that blended in together and that there was a need for Evans to finally find his crew and fight it out with Aries and Strong.

In describing their reactions to Takeshi Morishima, most who went with a thumb up vote indicated that it was in part due to very strong title defenses in recent months, including against SHINGO and Nigel McGuinness. Some even stated that their minds had been changed with Morishima’s title defenses against Claudio Castagnoli and Brent Albright this past weekend.

You can go on and read the rest of the votes and comments for yourself, but this sample size bore out the general consensus of the entire voting population. All told, as of 8/16/07 13:29, the ROH Message Board had 65 votes (excluding one voter who voted in the middle-booo!) and received 50 out of 65 thumbs up votes, for a final approval rating of 77%. Not too shabby.

And as far as the 411 Forum? Not too many people voted in that one, so I also cross posted it and combined it with the vote including 411 Staff, we so called experts doing the weekly commentary on the wrestling world. I asked those who were familiar with ROH to voice their thumbs up or thumbs down on the same topics, and these were the results:

Total number of voters: 17 (including myself and including 411 board member CM Skittle, props to you for voting)

1. Project 161: Up: 11 Down: 6 Approval: 65%
2. Gen Ex War: Up: 7 Down: 10 Approval: 41%
3. Morishima: Up:11 Down: 6 Approval: 65%

In general, it looks like the two voting groups match up pretty well, although 411 has a lower approval rate for Project 161 when compared to the ROH board.

For the record, I voted Up, Down, Up and Stuart Carapola voted with the Contra Code.

So what are the conclusions we can draw from these polls?

-The majority of ROH fans DO give a fuck about Project 161, whether it is by expressing excitement, cautious optimism or disagreement with the uses of the angle.
-ROH fans DO NOT hate this shit, giving a 3 to 1 approval on the ROH boards and a near 2 to 1 approval on the 411 Forum.
-Many fans are not happy with the Gen Ex War and how it’s turning out. They hope to see a change or improvement in the storyline and in the ring action.
-Many fans have come around to Morishima as the dominant monster champion. They see the great matches of late and how everyone steps up their game when in the ring with him.
-When angered I tend to need to do something about it so that I don’t bash in some figurative online heads.

At the beginning of this I said I have often been frustrated by some of the discussion threads on the ROH board. However, those on the board came through for me big time. It was unexpected and a very nice surprise to see that thread was read by so many and had so many well thought out, even quite elaborate answers. I never expected to get more than a quick thumbs up or thumbs down, but many of the boarders gave a lot more than that and for that I thank them very much.

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

Contenders Get Another Chance in Hartford
“Death Before Dishonor V” weekend not only produced two of the wildest street fights in ROH history, but two of the most heated World Title matches of the year. The fans of Boston thought that Claudio Castagnoli had the belt won on Friday night. The fans of Philadelphia were sure that Brent Albright had the belt won on Saturday. Fans from both cities say that Castagnoli and Albright both deserve rematches. Albright and Castagnoli will get their second chance in Hartford. Just signed for “Caged Rage” on August 24th in Hartford is a rare elimination match for the ROH World Title. It will be ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima vs. Brent Albright vs. Claudio Castagnoli in an Elimination Three-Way for the World Title!!! Get your tickets now at ROHwrestling.com. The winner of this match will defend against Bryan Danielson the next night, August 25th, in Manhattan at the Manhattan Center.

The title matches from Death Before Dishonor V weekend were so hotly contested that many fans SWORE up and down that both men were cheated out of the title by “bad:” counts from referee Todd Sinclair. ROH has been so successful in the past with the “false three”, where the referee makes an extra sound (off the bump to the floor to get in position) before his official count begins. This creates a “hand is quicker than the eye” illusion for the audience, who hear the thump of hand on canvas and think it’s the one count when it really isn’t This is an amazing moment when done right, as it creates the utmost of tension in the crown reaction and is a huge dramatic swing in the contest.

Also, a big hand to Claudio and Brent Albright who both stepped up their game to that next level when each could have sat back and coasted. Both men worked hard as hell to get the crowd to rally behind their potential title win. Claudio in particular has become the real deal in ROH thanks to the Race to the Top win and this title match and I think he may be set as a legit main event talent for the rest of 2007. Albright also took a huge leap up the depth chart, which is impressive considering there wasn’t as much hype behind his title match as there was with Claudio’s opportunity. No one was giving him much of a chance here, but he went out there and worked to the point where everyone was expecting it, including when he hit several half nelson suplexes. Albright has a great opportunity now to work up to the top level in ROH.

Morishima Defends in Japan
According to 411’s own Brad Garoon, it seems that Morishima is set to defend ROH belt against Nakajima on 9/1/07.

This may seem to blow the finish to the matches on 8/24 and 8/25, but then again you never quite know what ROH is going to be up to in the Fall. We’re in one of those very interesting moments where there’s not too much known about what comes after these next two shows. Anything is feasible. Maybe the elimination match happens and Claudio or Albright pull off the big one after coming so close to winning the title on the previous weekend. I tend to think not but the hugely successful builds of these two will certainly pay off with more sellable title matches involving those two for future shows. Maybe the match with Danielson is a “surprise” match taped for PPV and a title change happens I also tend to think no on this one, since it would take out a hugely compelling reason to buy the DVD. Maybe the title changes hands in Japan. Maybe it changes hands on 9/15 at the third PPV. There are many options for the title scene to play out in the fall.

Fighting For Love Got Him This Far
Jimmy Jacobs is recovering well from his knee injury and ready for a rehab assignment. Jacobs has not wrestled in ROH since the brutal Steel Cage Showdown vs. BJ Whitmer at “Supercard Of Honor II” in Detroit. Jacobs will test out the knee on 8/24 in Hartford and 8/25 in Manhattan when he has undercard matches.

Hmmm… Jimmy Jacobs is ready to return to wrestling…right around the same time as this Project 161 business is kicking in… no, why that’s not my coincidence-o-meter going right through the roof. Why do you ask?

Seriously, though it will be excellent to see Jacobs back in action after a very bad injury. It was badly timed and I’m sure wasn’t the best of moments in his life, so its good that he’s recovered and ready to get back to it. Jacobs promos have been an absolute highlight of the year and now he will be able to back up his words with deeds. Hopefully we’ll also see the Lacey storyline start back up and progressed.

Caged Rage and 8/25 Manhattan Match Announcements
We have a new match and a lineup change for the event one week from today in Hartford, CT. Just signed is a one-on-one bout as Chris Hero with super agent Larry Sweeney, SHIMMER Champion Sara Del Rey, Tank Toland & Bobby Dempsey takes on Hallowicked. The previously scheduled BJ Whitmer vs. Adam Pearce match will now be a Four Corner Survival with Whitmer vs. Pearce vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Delirious.

Hero vs. Hallowicked—a good CHIKARA style match up will do wonders to spice up the card. Good call I say.

I had my doubts that Whitmer vs. Pearce would actually go down as a one on one match or if there would be some chicanery afoot that would change the proceedings. Now it looks like a booking change has gotten in the way of these two fighting singles. Will Nigel and Delirious pay for that change? It will be interesting to see what develops in this one.

News of the first Chris Hero vs. Claudio Castagnoli match will be in this week’s ROH Video Wire.

And in fact the match has been CONFIRMED for August 25th in Manhattan. I’ve been hoping for this match to happen in NYC for sometime now (even predicted it to occur at the February 16th show back in my Final Column 2006 feature) and I’m looking forward to it. There is a good deal of heat now for this match because of the recent actions of Hero and Sweet and Sour Incorporated (more on this in this week’s Hero’s Sandwich) and I definitely feel the time is more than right to have this match.

PAC will be tested again when he is faced with Bryan Danielson on 8/24 in Hartford and Davey Richards on 8/25 in Manhattan. PAC takes aerial combat to a new level and now ROH fans will get a chance to witness it live in Hartford and Manhattan.

PAC is the real deal with his insane flips and dives, but I’m also impressed with his in ring presence and his confidence. The Dragon match will be a match that is probably in the vein of the Dragon vs. Quack match from last week but with a bit more aerial game. The booking up against Richards is understandable but disappointing considering Nigel McGuinness and a few other choices were still available at the time this match was announced. Not to say they won’t do a very good match together, because they have previously in other companies. Richards has tended to under whelm as of late in his NYC performances, so hopefully he steps it up as he has in other locations.

There’s also the question of how PAC will be received in the NYC area. The crowd is super quick to judge right away, so if PAC gets nervous (which has happened to those who perform in The City) and flubs a move, the crowd may not be easy to forgive. Then again, NYC loves the flying wrestlers like Evans and PAC is right up there with Jack, so maybe he’ll be okay after al.

Mike Quackenbush has had a date open up and will return to ROH. Quackenbush will be in Manhattan on 8/25 to team with Jigsaw to take on the Resilience duo of Matt Cross & Erick Stevens.

First of all, it’s awesome that I get to see Quack in my hometown after missing out on the opportunity to see him wrestle in Edison, NJ this past July. I’ve been in love with his ring work and matches for the last year now—everything he does is super crisp and confident. I love that he can be this “ultra serious baby face super hero” but that he can also be wacky and comedic. It’s great to that Quack will be able to do the show, because he has said before in interviews that the rest of 2007 is booked up and he will not appear all that much for ROH in that timeframe.

I love the booking of this match. It is a great mid card tag match and is a nice showcase for the CHIKARA duo but also a chance to see a solid tag match out of Stevens and Cross. We really need to see how they do as a solid pairing because as a team they can provide depth to the tag division which currently is realistically just the champions and the current number one contenders.

Gen Ex War Custody Suit
While it looks like the Jack Evans vs. Roderick Strong feud will end at “Caged Rage” inside the Steel Cage on 8/24 in Hartford, Austin Aries insists that one more match has to happen first. It will be a battle of Generation Next founding fathers in Manhattan. August 25th will witness Aries vs. Evans vs. Strong in a one fall bout to determine the king of Gen Next.

We have learned that Resilience leader Austin Aries feels he needs to test Resilience members Erick Stevens & Matt Cross after The Resilience lost the Street Fight to the No Remorse Corps last week in Philly. Aries might even be looking to make some roster moves in The Resilience. We’ll have more on this next week in the ROHwrestling.com Newswire.

A few weeks back I wrote an editorial about how ROH needed to up the ante on the Gen Ex War and make fans remember why this feud is so important. This is a good start. My hope is that the cage match on 8/24 between Strong and Evans and this triple threat match is actually the beginning of a new and improved (keyword there) phase of this story, not the end. I’m excited to see this match in NYC because that is where Strong turned on Aries in the first place, creating this whole mess.

It’s also good to see that Aries is showing some leadership and “tough love” to his prospects since the results don’t seem to be coming in like he expects them to. This may lead to new members being added, hurt feelings, defections, something to add spice to this whole stable war. It’s clear in the article above that many ROH fans have lost confidence in this issue, but there is hope it can be redeemed.

Queen Kong
Speaking of Amazing Kong, she will debut for ROH on 9/15 in Chicago. It will be high-impact SHIMMER quality action as Daizee Haze has brought Kong to battle her enemies. It will be Haze & Kong vs. SHIMMER Champion Sara Del Rey & Lacey.

Well, on the one hand it is Chicago, home to SHIMMER, so realistically they should get a good amount of crowd support. Then again, it is ROH, home to a live crowd which is usually a group of in denial closet wrestling sexists, so I have my doubts. When they get a load of Kong, whose in ring capabilities are incredibly high (I’d compare her to Samoa Joe or Vader as far as bigger sized wrestler who can dominate in the ring). What is going to be their reaction?

Respect This DVD
The “Respect Is Earned” double DVD in deluxe packaging with the entire PPV and all the bonus matches plus more starts shipping on Monday. Order now at ROHwrestling.com and be among the first to receive it. Thanks to all your support we are able to offer this deluxe double DVD for the usual price. Act now because this packaging is a limited edition!!!

Good news in that like I had hoped for, days 2 through 4 of the “Jimmy Loves Lacey” vignettes will be included as a bonus feature. Although if you’re going to include the last three parts, you might as well put in that first one too so viewers, especially new fans don’t get confused. It’s not like they don’t have room on that extra second disc.

PIR(OH)ATES!
Purportedly “ROH owner Cary Silkin has issued a cease and stop of PWTorrents.net to stop putting their shows on their tracker.” This according to a report by Lordsofpain.

Damned pirates! Well, actually, in all honesty, who here hasn’t “illegally” downloaded something on the internet, whether it is mp3s or video or whatever? I see very few hands up. Actually I can’t see, but you know what I mean.

The way I think of it is this—I download some songs and such to sample whether or not I should buy an album in full. Usually I do so (and if I really like it I’ll get the hard copy, if not I’ll buy the album off of iTunes). If wrestling fans approached wrestling product in the same matter, it would be one thing. However, PWTorrents gives you whole shows and no incentive to buy the real deal. Maybe it does have some sort of impact on future business and getting fans to buy the legitimate versions of DVDs. However as a business owner, I can’t stand that chance and would have to take measures to do so.

PWTorrents and similar websites have its positives as a wrestling fan. You can get older shows that are out of print, new shows from Japan, everything you can think of. I can’t begrudge their existence, although ROH sure can.

Three New Articles on ROHwrestling.com
Just in case you missed it there are three new articles on the main page of ROHwrestling.com. We have the inside scoop on the toll the World Title reign is taking on Takeshi Morishima as he passes six months as champion, the latest on the red hot Briscoes vs. Steen & Generico feud and results from last weekend.

When a “toll being taken” article is put up on the ROH website, it’s usually an indicator that the end is near for a title reign. Will it be proven true here with Morishima?

I should also note that the new video wire is a MUST see, with more awesome vignettes from Sweet and Sour at the Roxbury Crossing track. These are easily my comedic highlights of the year thus far and I WILL be mentioning them more come my end of the year column.

Future Dates, including MORE NYC shows on the way

9/14 will be “Motor City Madness 2007” in Detroit. Don’t miss ROH’s final show of the year in Detroit.

News via PWInsider.com:

-ROH is looking to add more New York City dates and venues to their schedule in 2008.

-Upcoming ROH shows.

8/24 Caged Fury in Hartford, CT
8/25 in New York City at the Manhattan Center
9/14 in Detroit, Michigan
9/15 PPV taping in Chicago Ridge, Illinois
10/5 in Boston, MA
10/6 PPV taping in Edison, NJ
10/19 West Coast event, location TBA
10/21 in San Francisco
11/2 in Philadelphia, PA
11/3 in New York City at the Manhattan Center
11/30 in Dayton, Ohio
12/29 Final Battle 2007 in New York City at the Manhattan Center
2/22/08 Long Island, New York

I highlighted the 10/19 event as that is different from the WrestleFanFest 2007 show. This looks to be an all ROH event taking place on the West Coast. That is super exciting as it predates the convention show, will probably be a full DVD release and means for the first time ROH can claim to be coast to coast.

It’s awesome to me as a New Yorker that there are more plans to tour NYC—for the strongest market ROH has (with Chicago a close second) it just seemed that ROH could run more or do more. Not just run the Grand Ballroom but in other locales and boroughs as well (I mentioned doing a circuit around each of the five borough’s a few weeks earlier). Having other venues in the NYC area, like The Aviator Sports Complex at Floyd Bennett Field (as suggested by bro Chris) or at Kingsborough Community College here in Brooklyn (both of which are a hop skip and a jump away from me, hehe) would be tremendous. NYC is a huge area for professional wrestling and it don’t get anymore diehard than some of the folks here in Brooklyn.

Here is the lineup for ROH’s second PPV, Driven, which will debut on 10/1.

-Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness
-Takeshi Morishima vs. Jimmy Rave for the ROH Title
-The Briscoes vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico for the ROH Tag Team Titles
-BJ Whitmer vs. Naomichi Marufuji
-Claudio Castagnoli vs. Matt Sydal
-The No Remorse Corp. vs. The Resilience in a Six Man Tag Match
-Pelle Primeau vs. Brent Albright
-The ROH Return of Austin Aries

Okay, at seven matches and the amazing return of Austin Aries, it’s a wonder how they’re going to fit all of this into two hours. However, keeping in mind the Albright and Morishima matches are quicker squashes I think it will be okay. I am very interested to see just how ROH can explain the change in venue and any production gaps caused by having the Danileson-McGuinness match from Philadelphia main event. Will they be upfront about the location change? Will they pretend it’s the same location, even if it is clearly obvious it is not? Minor details, to be sure, but very important ones especially when considering this is a PAY per view product and that demands a higher level of attention to detail. I’m also hoping the video and production quality has been upped since the first one. The rough cuts in particular have got to go.

Project 161: Week 3: Waiting, Sweetheart.

Ah, Oceans Eleven. Great movie. Just saw the two sequels over the summer and it really all comes together well in the end. Who knew Ocean was such a softie at heart?

Hot off the heels of their “invasion” (if you can call giving out free T-shirts and a megaphone crooner (Dr. Keith?) an invasion), Project 161, has been…laying low. Waiting. Writing. Complaining about the internet ROHbots never being satisfied enough with what they get and always having to complain (Well duh…in other news water is wet and the sun will shine in the morning. And you just know they’ll take it as a compliment anyway). So in effect, Project 161 has become just another message board TROLL!

Seriously that’s about it this week.

…Well, there also was a caller “invasion” of Wrestling Observer Live by someone talking up the Project. Some people are up in arms about it, but I think it’s hysterical. I mean this was the same show with “pots and pans” guy so if this was a practical joke, who cares? It’s funny as hell. There was also a wonderfully obvious amateurish audio posted up on YouTube with a pic of an ROH board member wearing the Project 161 shirt (BUY THE SHIRT! Oh wait, you can’t, they give them out, but only if you “fit” the cool P161 profile or bribe the guy from the back of the truck). I highly doubt the YouTube audio was legit because the person who posted it couldn’t even work the recording right. Seriously the message was a minute long, but then it continued with dead air for ANOTHER minute. What, you think that if you isolate the frequency you’ll hear a secret satanic message? Hardly. Someone is just a mechanical moron.

Project161 also took the time to do some web design renovation, taking down the pictures of the Boston Tea Party and Declaration of Independence. In its stead are a set of pics that depict “how to tie a noose”. So if anything we now know Project 161 has members who were in 4H or the Boy Scouts. Which would explain the whole mental trauma and “the world is unfair DADDY its YOUR FAULT” bit. It must have sucked to have been abused as a child by your scout leader, right Project 161?

Ah, see what I did there? That’s a trick question, because if you answered yes, you’d have to admit to being molested, but if you say no, then you’d admit to it and admit that you enjoyed it!!

Ahem.

More on Project 161 next week, as we’ll probably see more developments and strange happenings at the Hartford and Manhattan shows.

And more Column of Honor is coming your way with Part Two…NEXT!