Column of Honor: 09.29.07 The Age of Aries Edition Part Two

ROH Preview: October 5th, 2007 in Boston, MA

8:00pm belltime
Roxbury Community College
Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center
1350 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02120

ROH World Title Match
Takeshi Morishima defends vs. Kevin Steen

Kevin Steen is a rough and tumble kind of guy and thus presents a similar challenge to the title such as previous challengers Brent Albright and Erick Stevens. Morishima now has the champions’ experience of dealing with men his size who like to brawl and so on the surface this match doesn’t seem to be too big a deal. However, when you factor in Steen’s stamina and criminal intellect, you change the name of the game. Steen is one tough son of a bitch and he is a hard man to keep down. He also thinks viciously and maliciously about what he can do to an opponent in the ring. Morishima better be prepared for an opponent who won’t play nice and who will look to outwit and outplay him. Ultimately I think Morishima will prevail, but it may be a matter of how much does Steen take out of him before he does so.

Tag Team Grudge Match
ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Necro Butcher with Lacey

The Age of the Fall struck first blood, so to speak. Now it’s the Briscoes turn to deliver a big blow and they will do it face to face and man to man. Expect a huge brawl atmosphere with Necro Butcher involved and The Briscoes enraged at being embarrassed and hurt back at “Man Up”. The thing to keep in mind thought is that while this is a fresh match up between the two tag teams, Jacobs knows a lot already about Jay & Mark. He and Tyler Black have had the luxury of time in their preparations and are capable of blocking Jay & Mark’s regular plan of attack. This is a non title match, but Age of the Fall have everything to gain here by winning and making a statement about their goals to destroy ROH.

The Rivalry Is Back On- 1st Match In A Best of Three Series
Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries

This match is more important than ever now that it is the first match of a best of three. The added motivation of the winner receiving a title shot means that Aries and Danielson each will ratchet up their offensive strategy in order to outdo the other. Maybe each man will utilize some new offense to throw off their familiar opponent. Make no mistake about it, each has faced the other multiple times so the winner of this series will be the won who can out maneuver and out think the other.

Six Man Tag Team Challenge Match
The Vulture Squad (Jack Evans, Ruckus, & Jigsaw w/ Julius Smokes) vs. No Remorse Corps (Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, & Rocky Romero)

Three months ago, Jack Evans vowed to bring a crew to Boston to fight the NRC and low and behold, he was true to his word. The Vulture Squad has formed and is flying high (maybe in more ways than one) and on a path towards the battlefield. The NRC have the edge as far as cohesiveness as they have teamed for months now while the V-Squad will battle together in a match for the first time. No doubt there are dangerous men on both sides, but that may be the one factor that separates the two teams enough to make the difference in who wins and loses. If Jigsaw proves not to be the right fit for the team, the decision to bring him in will prove costly. Meanwhile Richards, Romero and Strong will not show any mercy nor any hesitation in making the move to get the NRC the win.

Race To The Top Tournament Rematch
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quackenbush

I would think it impossible for these two to have a bad match at this point. They are a great yin and yang, maybe even more so than Quack-Hero and Castagnoli-Hero. Each time out they put on a master performance in their competition to find out who is the best man. Quackenbush excels at chains and has flowing, seamless transitions from move to move. Claudio is the bigger and the taller of the two and loves to use the European uppercut to dismantle smaller opponents. Both know each other inside and out and it may be a figurative and literal coin flip to determine who will win this one. I really don’t even know what else to say about this match other than when these two fight, the phrase “wrestling as art form” truly does apply.

Grudge Match
BJ Whitmer vs. Delirious

Whitmer has turned to the dark side, and he and his new group The Hangman Three used Delirious as an exclamation point to prove it. Now Delirious owes him one and as anyone can attest, an angry Delirious is someone you don’t want to mess with. He is crazy enough to begin with, why do his opponents try to get him to be even crazier? Anyway, I’d like to say that Delirious will pick up the win here, but Whitmer’s pals are probably hanging around and waiting for their chance to strike. Delirious won’t win this one without back up.

Four Corner Survival
Nigel McGuinness vs. El Generico vs. Tyler Black vs. Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney, Sara Del Rey & Bobby Dempsey

McGuinness is riding a new wave of momentum thanks to his last participation in a four corner match, which earned him a title shot against Morishima for the fourth pay per view. Tyler Black is an X-factor and may not even choose to participate in this one. Generico is hurt and will see limited action. Therefore the match comes down to Hero and Nigel and I’d expect Nigel to pick this one up in order to further carry momentum into his title shot the next night in New Jersey.

Plus more with: Resilience members Matt Cross & Erick Stevens; Brent Albright & Adam Pearce of The Hangmen Three with Shane Hagadorn; Daizee Haze; Top Of The Class Trophy holder Mitch Franklin plus more!!!

Honorarium

-So is it time to break the walls down once again in WWE? It certainly looks like it. So many people have been excited by the prospect for months now and Jericholics were salivating at the mouth when a certain twenty second promo ran on WWE Raw this past week. Yes, those number graphics certainly look familiar and evoke a certain theme. The countdown clock is right there as well as a number of clues indicating that Y2J, Chris Jericho, will be back in WWE.

I‘m excited too. This is WWE’s best chance to do something inspired since early 2007 and the Road to Wrestlemania 23 and Backlash program. In fact, its one of the few things left for the promotion to make me pay attention. Of course, WWE has the reputation for ruining the best of intentions and more than likely they will mess this one up to, but for now, the air of optimism is slowly winding its way back to WWE.

The Save us_222 video certainly received a ton of attention online and many, many cyber-sleuths went right to work on dissecting the video like it was the Zapruder film. And rightfully so, because there’s nothing better when wrestling fans can latch onto and get energized about a match or angle.

I just hope that the same fans who are so into looking for clues about this video and Y2J’s possible return are not the same people who knocked or were angered or mystified by the Project 161 / Age of the Fall angle. My guess is that there are plenty of people who did that won’t make the connections between the two angles. While this Save us_222 video is not the same in form as the 161 alternate reality game, the feelings that are going through online WWE fans right now were the same ones that ROH fans who were into the 161 angle were experiencing just a few months ago. There is a sense of wonder, anticipation, euphoria and a willingness to discover just what comes next. I think wrestling fans should revel in that feeling, because a great angle, skit or even promo video like this comes only so often these days. Project 161 or Save us_222, its these new takes on the wrestling product that should be used to spark interest in the product.

There’s nothing better than a good mystery when it’s done right. The “who is Vince McMahon’s illegitimate son?” angle was decent enough, but the pay off was ruined by Mr. Kennedy’s negligence and the lack of anything better but Hornswoggle by the WWE writing team. Now, he’s been okay to good for comedy value, but little else (no pun, ah the hell with it, pun intended) THIS one though, this one could turn out to become far, far better.

Figure 4 Online writer Bryan Alvarez states that the save us_222 video and idea for an ARG like angle originally came from former WWE writer Court Bauer after he learned of the Nine Inch Nails “Year Zero” game. It is now being used to promote this likely return by Jericho. A lot of the details of Bauer’s plans (such as third party websites that wouldn’t be linked to WWE.com) sound incredibly close to what became of the Project 161 angle. Learning that Bauer conceived the idea came as no surprise to me; because of all the WWE writers Court always had his ears to the ground. After all, one writer is currently serving as Khali’s interpreter and another likes to get naked and dance on national television in front of five million viewers. Bauer, who booked MLW and had a tremendous run on WWE Velocity giving actual wrestling matches to the wrestling fans, would know best how to use twenty first century methods to create a wrestling angle.

-What the heck is with the “Blair Witch Project” promos on Race to the Top Tournament Night 2? Ring of Honor, seriously, WTF? This may have been one of the worst decisions made concerning video production over the last year, whether it be artistic or out of necessity. These are horrible promos as far as video quality as really as far as content goes don’t add too much either. I believe the intent was to catch the winners of the quarter finals after they won their match, but they did the interviews in a darkened place (maybe right inside the entrance ramp area, where it always super dark, and backstage brawls have ALWAYS been unwatchable in that particular area of the arena). Regardless, the promos should not have seen the light of day. If it comes to affecting the overall presentation of the show, it would have been better to leave the promos on the cutting room floor and just let the tournament action do the talking for the competitors. The tournament was sure strong enough to do exactly that. More comments on the show next week.

-Top music picks for the week: KT Tunstall “Drastic Fantastic”, Bruce Springsteen “Magic”, Eddie Vedder “Into the Wild (Soundtrack)” and Hard Fi “Once Upon a Time in the West”.

Going Home

Name That Tune * NEW FEATURE!

Every week I’ll include an excerpt of music lyric and I’ll ask you guys to guess the song. The catch is that it will be a wrestler’s theme! All promotions are up for grabs, but I’ll focus mostly on the independent scene. So for example:
Last Week:

Clue: ROH, top class
Lyric: “It’s the end of Camelot / And if you’re ready or not / You can smell the rot of ______________________.”
What’s the name of the song and the artist?

Answer: “Army of Zombies” by Lars Frederiksen and The Bastards (Pelle Primeau’s theme)

GREAT job to those of you who figured it out. Hmmm…ROHbots vs. an army of zombies: who would win? YOU decide!

This week’s winners (in order of response):
soulpower
Shooter0094 (Adam G.) – two weeks in a row!
elkagrot

Let’s play Name that Tune! for this week, September 29, 2007!

Clue: ROH, sweet home
Lyric: “But I keep on workin like the workin man do.”
What’s the name of the song and the artist?

Yup, one line is all you’re getting this week.

Send in your answers here and if you’re correct I’ll list your name in next week’s column!

Ringtones

Long time reader / emailer Paul voices his opinion on a number of topics, including Nigel’s run to the title:

If Nigel loses, I riot. It may be a 1 man riot, but I’ll make it pretty damn interesting.

I will support the Age of the Fall on 10/6 and I’d love to see Jacobs/Black as tag team champs eventually. That just has an awesome ring to it.

As far as Davey Richards goes, I know he’s taken a lot of heat lately from the internet crowd for being a Benoit / Dynamite Kid clone, but I don’t think it’s as bad as everyone has made it out to be. I didn’t have time to do a move by move analysis (which I may just done one day), but I think his “Benoit / Dynamite’ moves only account for like 20-25% of his moveset. Richards is more into strikes and arm submissions. He does more kicks than anything else. I also believe people under look and underrate his personality. He has a very good sense of humor as a heel, especially when he is on the losing end during a match and he starts being all delusional, saying stuff like “I’m still winning” and “Where am I?”

The Human Tornado incident is far worse because it actually DID cross the line into direct Benoit imagery and let’s face it, with a woman being the victim of the crossface and again, I know Nancy Sullivan was not killed in this manner) the implications are still very obvious. The greatest ) or worst, depending on how you look at it) is that during the recent CHIKARA Torneo Cibernetico show at the New Alhambra, Candace LeRae was received with chants of “crossface” by some of the more unsavory fans in the crowd. You know, fans can be assholes, but did you expect any less from them after the incident occurred in PWG? Allowing it to occur is already giving unspoken condoning of such behavior, so why not chant? It’s only a wrestling angle at this point. More’s the shame.

As far as Nigel vs. Morishima III and this being Nigel’s last chance at credibility, we’ve already spoken at length about this and I don’t really agree. I think Nigel is a consummate perennial challenger and I think he is heading to a title win, if not in Edison then very, very soon. Is there a chance this could become a “Samoa Joe in TNA” situation? Maybe. However, the Batista comparison doesn’t wash with me. Batista got his shots month after month with very little variation on Khali’s challengers. Morishima has had a diversity of challengers and it has been three months in between each title shot for Nigel, Counting Nigel’s title opportunities against Danielson, where he won by count out, lost by roll up, lost the unification match by ref stoppage and drew in a 1 hour time limit, that’s seven shots in 18 months, not seven shots in seven months. The once every three month ratio still applies.

Does Danielson losing world title matches twice in a month hurt his credibility?

I want him to win, but I don’t know if he will. There is always the chance by the time Nigel wins if it’s not this time, it may be too late. CM Punk won the title after he lost the Joe trilogy, it didn’t hurt his rep to lose the trilogy and he won the title eventually. Punk didn’t get the title after a series of tries and it didn’t hurt him, in fact he went into one of his hottest feuds soon after.

I think Nigel may lose this one only to win the triple threat at the fifth PPV…I still think this ends in a triple threat match and Nigel gets to go on to face both of them in singles rematches as the defending champion. Either way, I think Nigel still has a ton of credibility.

Finally, supporting the Age of the Fall? BLASPHEMY I say!

seaneb14 also writes on a variety of topics including the faction wars and stable names:

Ok, for the sake of the argument. I have to say that The Resilience and Vulture Squad are the only 2 stable names I have a problem with. I think the No Remorse Corps. could possibly loose the Corps. part, but it’s grown on me. Honestly I think Aries could have brought back the Gen. Next name. It would help bring legitimacy to the group. If there was truth in stable names, I think The Aries Jobberz has a nice ring to it. I always thought Jack’s group would have a cool Dragon Gate name. One that didn’t really mean anything, but sounded good. Like Blood Generation or Do Fixer. I don’t know what it would be, but something like that. Blood Fixer maybe. The Age of the Fall is pretty lame, but it makes sense with Jacobs behind it.

Good work on the column as always.

You know, I guess people are entitled to their opinion (I guess…) but to me, the whole complaining about stable names still rings hollow. Again I await better suggestions. And The Aries Jobbers doesn’t count, no matter how applicable it may be. As far as The Vulture Squad goes, it’s a name that actually has a good connection to the idea behind the group (a group of fliers who will pick apart their opponents). I’d rather have a name that means something than a name that just sounds cool to sound cool.

I think the whole reasoning behind the three stables that formed out of Generation Next is solid—they each went their separate ways and knew they were going to eventually have to fight it out against one another, so they brought in back up to do just that. The Hangman’s Three is a group of bruisers and I think could work as the group that “bullies’ around the lower card, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see them join up with The Age of the Fall and consolidate the two groups.

You have a point about ROH losing its identity, but what they are lsiing in technical wrestling they have gained in lucha style (thanks to the CHIKARA guys) and the high impact NOAH style. It’s an evolution in many ways, and some fans will not be happy about that. I agree, there should be more technical wrestling and the technical wrestlers currently in the company should be allowed to bring that side of them out. However, you go with the hot hand and you go with what works and right now what the crowd is responding to is the lucha and the high impact. I think technical wrestling is still alive in ROH, but not at the quantity of previous years. However, the quality might still be right up there, especially with such matches and McGuinness vs. Danielson main eventing Driven. Even the tournament matches during the Race to the Top Tournament included far more chain wrestling and submission work than I anticipated.

While you have a point about there being too many of them over the years, I have a feeling this “kill ROH” angle is going to be a very large and extended part of ROH for the next year or so. You don’t plan something as extensive as the Project 161 angle for it to be killed after three or four months. On an ideological level, the great thing about the idea of “honor” is that there is always its opposite in the binary which is “dishonor”. That binary pretty much gets to the core of ROH and professional wrestling: you have good guys and bad guys, and you have those who are honorable and those who are dishonorable. I really enjoy that kind of stuff on a psychological level and of course it plays out on a physical level inside the ring.

And hey bro, I feel you about the taping deal. My VCR messed up somehow and before I realized it I missed out on recording half of Driven. Luckily I caught everything from the Sweet and Sour Inc. skit onwards. I did see the whole show on the first viewing here in NYC, but I will miss not being able to watch the first half (which had some terrific stuff) whenever I want over the course of the next month. Oh well, at least the DVD will be out in late October.

John Maberry closes out the mail bag with a look back at Briscoes vs. Motor City machine Guns (I will be forever haunted by my thoughts on this match!):

Hey man, this double dose thing that we’re getting is a real treat. Is that
going to be a regular thing now? I would certainly hope so.

Enjoy the rest of your week, I’m already planning for the DVDs I’m gonna buy in
NYC (Respect Is Earned, Driven, MMII, and Supercard II). Take care and keep up
the great work as always.

Man, these two part columns…I don’t know…I just start writing and the column just keeps getting to that point where I have to cut into two parts because it won’t fit in one. O keep trying to shorten it up, but there’s way too many departments, features and columns that I love to get in for me to cut it down now.

I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said…it all makes sense and it’s all a great case for the match. I think you are right when you say that being there live changes your opinion about the matches. I do think seeing a Briscoes match live is better than seeing it on DVD, because you don’t worry about psychology or who has been building the heat and all that and just enjoy The Briscoes for who and what they are and its fun. The Briscoes certainly have a great case for MVP of the year and they have proven it night in and night out over the last year just how good they are in the ring. The potential they showed back in 2002 has certainly been realized in 2006-2007.

I don’t think my opinions of that match will change—it was a good match, a great match, but not anywhere near the match of the year for me. The event as a whole was tremendous and I certainly think it was one of the best of the year.

**The Independent Buy In**

2007

**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night One (Strong / Romero, CIMA / Cross, Deliirous / Generico, 8 Man Tag)
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 6 (MsChif / Melissa Last Woman Standing, Rebecca Knox / Allison Danger Pure Rules)
**PWG Hollywood Globetrotters (Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong and Jack Evans; Cape Fear (El Generico and Quicksilver) vs. Arrogance (Chris Bosh and Scott Lost); B-Boy vs. Frankie Kazarian; Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin.)
**PWG Beyond The Thunderdome (Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. AJ Styles and Chris Daniels); Cape Fear vs. Arrogance; Joey Ryan vs. Chris Sabin)
**PWG Enchantment Under The Sea (Cape Fear vs. Briscoes; Matt Sydal vs. B-Boy; Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. Arrogance; Austin Aries vs. Kevin Steen)
**wXw World Lightweight Tournament 2006 (Ares / Baron von Hagen, Pac / El Generico, Quackenbush / Roudin, 5 Way Tournament Match)
**ECWA Super 8 Tournament 2001 (Danielson / Low Ki, Danielson / Reckless Youth, Low Ki / Billy Fives, Danielson / Spanky)
**ROH FWA IPW:UK Frontiers of Honor 2 (Sydal / Richards, Cabana / Burridge, JC Thunder / Nigel McGuinness, Danielson / Brookside / Stone)
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night Two (Necro Butcher/Super Dragon, Hero/Horiguchi, Evans/Castagnolli)
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night Three (Generico / CIMA, Hero, Claudio, Necro, Romero / Cabana, Quicksilver, M-Dogg 20, Delirious, Generico / Sabin, Richards / Strong, Evans/ Horiguchi, Richards / CIMA)
**Chikara The Crushing Weight of Mainstream Ignorance (Quackenbush / Akuma, Steel / Steel, Sweeney / Kingston, Hair vs. Mask: Jigsaw / Icarus)
**Chikara King of Trios Night One (Order of the Neo Solar Temple / Los Ice Creams, Miyawaki, Yago & KUDO / Iron Saints, Sweeny, Eliis and Ryder vs. Neo Solar Temple POSEDOWN, Shima Xion / Nobutaka Moribe)
**SHIMMER Volume 7 (Daizee Haze/Cheerleader Melissa, Mercedes Martinez/LuFisto, Sara Del Rey/Nattie Neidhart)
**Chikara King of Trios Night Two (Sabin, Shelley and Dutt vs. Quackenbush, Jigsaw and Shane Storm / Hallowicked, Cheech and Cloudy vs. Lince Dorado, Pantera and Sicodelico Jr. / Olsen Twins vs. Miyagi and Yago / Quack T-Shirt Squad vs. Boyer and 2.0)
**Chikara King of Trios Night Three (Pantera, Lince Dorado & Sicodelico, Jr. vs. Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Shane Storm / Kings Of Wrestling vs. Kudo, Yoshiaki Yago & Miyawaki / Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Shane Storm vs. Kudo, Yoshiaki Yago & Miyawaki / Ricochet vs. Claudio Castagnoli / Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Ray / Mokujin Ken vs. Mecha Mummy / Matt Sydal vs. Hallowicked)
**UWA Hardcore: Hour of the Dragon (Ultimo Dragon / Black Tiger, Chris Sabin / Josh Prohibition, Mike Quackenbush / Claudio Castagnoli, Tyler Black / Josh Ambercrombie)
**Fight Sports Midwest: Chapter One (Samoa Joe / Eddie Kingston, Larry Sweeney / Bryan Alvarez, Josh Ambercrombie / Austin Aries, Hydra / “Old Timer” Jeff King) **Fight Sports Midwest: Chapter Two (Alex Shelley / Low Ki, Mike Quackenbush / Tiger Mask IV, Human Tornado / Josh Ambercrombie)
**CHIKARA: Rey De Voladores (Chris Hero / Claudio Castagnoli, Chuck Taylor / Lince Dorado, Cheech & Cloudy / F.I.S.T. (Gran Akuma & Icarus), Chuck Taylor / Ricochet / Pac / Retail Dragon)
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 8 (Sara Del Rey / Mercedes Martinez, Daizee Haze / Tiana Ringer, Nattie Neidhart / Portuguese Princess Ariel, Allison Danger / Lufisto)
**CHIKARA: Anniversario? (Hero / Quackenbush, Hallowicked / Kingston, Pantera & Lince Dorado / Castagnoli & Sweeney, Worker Ant / Hydra, Player Uno / Shayne Hawke)
**CHIKARA: Maximum Overdraft (F.I.S.T. / Briscoes, Mike Quackenbush / Black Tiger, Hero & Castagnoli / El Pantera & Lince Dorado, The Colony / Los Tres Deliriouses, Daizee Haze / Sara Del Rey—2 out of 3 Falls)
**SHIMMER Women Athletes Volume 9 (MsChif / Amazing Kong, Cheerleader Melissa / Sara Del Rey, Tiana Ringer / Nikki Roxx, Lexie Fyfe & Malia Hosaka / Allison Danger & Cindy Rogers)
**PWG: Passive Hostility (PWG Tag Team Titles: Super Dragon & B-Boy / Cape Fear of El Generico & Quicksilver, PWG Title Three Way: Joey Ryan / Human Tornado / Kevin Steen, Scorpio Sky, Cgrus Visg & Scott Lost / Kazarian, Sabin & Shelley, Richards / Romero)
**SHIMMER Women Athletes Volume 10 (Daizee Haze / Amazing Kong, Del Rey Nikki Roxx, Melissa / Lacey, Amber O’Neal / MsChif, Allison Danger / Cindy Rogers, Perez / Ariel)
**PWG: Based on a True Story (PWG Title: Joey Ryan / Human Tornado, Loser Leaves PWG: Kazarian / Scorpio Sky, Colt Cabana / Rocky Romero, Bosh / Steen)
**PWG Holy Diver Down (PWG Title: Human Tornado / El Generico, PAC / Kevin Steen, Arrogance / Motor City Machine Guns, Karl Anderson / Frankie Kazarian) (NEW ADDITION)

First off all a quick word to pass on “Guitarmageddon II: Armoryageddon” as to me it didn’t have enough good quality matches to recommend. Things just didn’t click for me in most of the big matches and I didn’t have much interested in watching the combinations of wrestlers for the lower card matches. If you want to see Strong bleed like a mo fo though, maybe this show is for you.

Now, “Holy Diver Down”, THAT is a different story. This is a must buy show for many reasons, including two match of the year contenders, and I mean overall, not just for PWG. This was a show where I didn’t watch some of the undercard, lower tier matches, but the main event level matches are so awesome that they are worth the cost of purchase alone.

Just a few shows after Tornado’s big PWG title win there was another PWG title change and its done very effectively and in a very dramatic and action packed match. El Generico plays the underdog so well these days and even though Tornado was a popular guy at the time, he does just enough heel work to get the crowd behind Generico. It’s Tornado’s abundance of confidence to the point where it’s over confidence which proves his undoing. It’s a hot finish with each wrestler’s trademark moves get them closer to the win. The right call was made to include Generico’s victory celebration, as that was not a guarantee. PWG cuts away its DVDs after main events, even title wins, with no post match aftermath. It has always befuddled me, but this time around Generico’s post match celebration is kept in and all the better for it. Maybe it was just to put focus on Tornado’s refusal to shake hands after the match, but whatever the reason, it was the right call.

Arrogance and the Motor City Machine Guns have a hell of a match- a match that I personally think is better than Briscoes / MCMG. Why you ask? Even though it is a match with frequent tags, this match has a proper face-heel psychology and a direct build of a heat spot. While I don’t really harp on that for most Briscoes matches I have to say comparing those two matches on that aspect and you will see a world of difference. This match is definitely better in building that all up. While MCMG have an awesome and often times quite funny extended shine segment, when Arrogance take control, they beat down their opponents in the way the best of heels do. Then the build to the finish revolves around heel miscommunication and Shelley and Sabin’s awesome double team work. Jesus these guys come up with some sick stuff. This is a match of the year candidate all around, that’s for sure.

Another MOTYC is PAC vs. Kevin Steen. I know ROH fans who attended the Manhattan show right now are going “huuzzzuh?” It’s the fucking truth. These guys were great together. PAC does a hell of a lot of flying and flipping, but it’s all clean and hits right on. It also fits in the right way and gets the crowd response and that makes the match. The fans are totally into this one and the crowd reactions build and build into several moments of frenzy. What can you say about Kevin Steen other than this year he has put the pieces together like no other time before. He is a great dick heel, but he is also a great comedy player. He puts over PAC at the end of this match, in his own indomitable way. It was a very nice touch.

Finally my like for Karl Anderson continues as he puts on a good midcard comedy / action match against Kazarian. Anderson doesn’t bust out a million moves, but the ones he does use look crisp and effective. I like this guy’s style and he does mesh well with Kazarian. Lots of good back and forth stuff here.

I don’t even have to watch the other matches to give this one an automatic thumbs up, but just to let you know Top Gun Talwar engages in some insane zaniness against Joey Ryan and there is also a two out of three falls match between Bino Gambino and Disco Machine.

The ROH List
**Fifth Year Festival: NYC (Samoa Joe / Morishima, Homicide / Rave, Briscoes / Cabana & McGuinness, Albright / Whitmer, Evans / SHINGO / Xavier / Jacobs)
**Fifth Year Festival: Philly (Homicide / Morishima, Sydal & Daniels / SHINGO & Evans, Briscoes / Generico & Steen, Castagnoli / Aries, McGuinness / Perkins)
**Fifth Year Festival: Chicago (Morishima & McGuinness / Joe & Homicide, Cabana / Jacobs, Strong & Richards / Aries & Cross, Daniels & Sydal / The Briscoes, Albright / Castagnoli)
**Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool (Joe / McGuinness, ROH World Tag Team Titles: The Briscoes / Doi & SHINGO / FIP Title: Strong / PAC, 2/3 Falls: Delirious / Matt Sydal) **Fifth Year Festival: Finale (Joe / Homicide, Fight Without Honor: McGuinness / Rave, ROH World Tag Team Titles: Doi & SHINGO / Richards and Strong, Sydal / PAC, Falls Count Anywhere: Whitmer / Jacobs)
**All Star Extravaganza III (ROH vs. Dragon Gate 8 Man Tag, Strong / Evans, Mochizuki / Richards, Cabana / Sydal / Hero / Pearce, Homicide / Daniels)
**Supercard of Honor II (CIMA, SHINGO and Yokosuka / Dragon Kid / Saito / Mochikzuki, Strong / Aries, Whitmer / Jacobs, Evans & Doi / Richards and Romero, McGuinness / Hero, Daniels & Sydal / Delirious & Jay Briscoe)
**Fighting Spirit (ROH World Title: McGuinness / Morishima, Jay Briscoe and Erick Stevens Mark Briscoe / El Generico & Kevin Steen, Evans & Delirious / Strong & Romero, Claudio / Romero, Cabana / Williams)
**The Battle of St. Paul (ROH World Title: Morishima / Aries, FIP Title: Strong / Daniels, Delirious / Stevens / Romero / Evans, Albright & Pearce / Homicide & Cabana/ ROH World Tag Titles Ultimate Endurance)
**Good Times, Great Memories (ROH World Tag Team Titles: Briscoes / Murder City Machine Guns, Roderick Strong / Jack Evans, ROH World Title: Morishima / SHINGO, Austin Aries / Rocky Romeo, Adam Pearce / Colt Cabana, 6 Man Mayhem: Deliirous, Quackenbush, Hallowicked, Jigsaw, Akuma, Primeau)
**A Fight at the Roxbury (Four Corner Survival: Quackenbush / Hero / Castagnoli / McGuinness, ROH World Title: Morishima / Jay Briscoe, El Genercico / Matt Sydal, Steen / Briscoe, Danielson / Rave)
**Respect is Earned (ROH World Tag Team Title: The Briscoes / Castagnoli & Sydal, Danielson & Morishima / McGuinness & KENTA, Marufuji / Romero, Tag Team Scramble, Toland / Albright)
**Domination (ROH World Tag Team Titles, 2 out of 3 Falls: Briscoes / Hero & Castagnoli, Steen & Generico / Jigsaw & Quackenbush, Morishima / Strong, Sydal / Hallowicked, Lacey / Daizee Haze)
**United We Stand (Danielson & McGuinness / Marufuji & Morishima, KENTA / Rocky Romero, NRC vs. Resilience)
**Live in Tokyo (ROH World Title: Morishima / McGuinness, Briscoes & Marufuji / Sydal, Ricky Marvin & Atsushi Aoki, Danileson / Go Shiozaki, Fight Without Honor: Delirious / Strong )
**Race to the top Tournament Night 1 (ROH World Tag Titles: The Briscoes / Danielson & McGuinness, Evans / Steen, Quackenbush / Sydal, Hero / Stevens, Richards / Jigsaw, Delirious / Generico) (NEW ADDITION)
**Race to the top Tournament Night 2 (Generico / Claudio, Claudio / Quack, $10,000 Tag Team Challenge: Danielson, Aries, Sydal, Mark Briscoe / McGuinness, Strong, Delirious, Jay Briscoe, Generico / Hero, Evans / Albright) (NEW ADDITION)

This section needs your help! If you want to recommend some good independent wrestling to your fellow internet readers out there, drop me a line for the column.

ROH @ 411 This Week

Brad and Jacob review A Fight at the Roxbury wearing lounge lizard suits and with their heads bopping.

J.D. Dunn gives you the recap of ROH’s second PPV Driven.

Alex Barcham hits below the beltway to analyze the wrestlers who have made the jump from ROH to WWE.

Honor Bound Links

JP Prag takes the Saturday News Report in a whole new, business minded direction with the Hamilton Avenue Journal.

The Independent scene including ROH, PWG and IWA:MS gets coverage and discussion in this week’s Buy or Sell.

Alex Mattis covers the currently underway Ted Petty Invitational 2007 in this week’s The Best of the Rest.

Speaking of the TPI, this week Samuel Berman is on the ball with a two part look at TPI matches including Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kevin Steen.

The Seventh Dimension: Polyester.

Cut to the Crap…oh and there’s plenty of it covered in this column!

HR / LR on the Smackdown Wedding.

Halden calls the WWE Divas Idiots. That’s a bit mean.

Weyere Spotlights the Death of WCW. Hmmm… I wonder why that’s relevant today?

Bayani looks at how a Main Event should be a Main Event in this week’s Truth B Told.

Larry Csonka has one of his best writing efforts in this open letter to TNA.

Chris Landsell looks at who should be champions and haven’t been and won’t be. That’s depressing.

Navigation Log: stardate, twelve alpha seven. Matt Short looks at the latest developments in NOAH. Picard out.

Ask Steve Cook and Ask 411…preferably in the form of a multiple choice test. No one likes a test.

One more time we’re gonna celebrate and dance for free. One more time. Thanks for reading this week’s column. Be sure to check out that Driven Podcast featuring myself, Larry and Christi Csonka. Last week I was on RBR doing their first ever ROH Rebound. Unfortunately there won’t be one this week, but hopefully next week things will get back on track. In the mean time check me out on episode 113 of that show.

Next week, results from Boston and a preview of the fourth PPV in Edison, NJ. Delirious may be back next week to dispense his sage wisdom. Also, the countdown is on to Survival of the Fittest 2007 and I’ll soon have my traditional coverage of that event packed with analysis, Vegas odds (!) and bracketology.
Brooklyn! DAH EM BAH SEE!
–Ari–