Hitting Below The Beltway 10.14.07: What I learned at ROH’s 4th PPV

Ring of Honor should never run another PPV in New Jersey

This is not just your standard Anti-New Jersey rant. If there was one thing that really dragged this show down it was the crowd in Edison. I’ve been to ROH shows in Manhattan, Long Island, Philly and now Jersey. The crowd in New Jersey was the worst I’ve seen. Long Island crowds may sit on their hands, but they weren’t this disrespectful or vulgar. There is really no excuse to go to a Ring of Honor PPV taping and chant “TNA”, “Y2J” or “WWE”. Why go to a show simply to put down the product? If you don’t like ROH or think TNA is better, that’s fine, but don’t ruin the show for fans that actually want to watch.

The bad crowd took a lot away from what was actually a very good match between Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. If the crowd had made any noise the match would probably be getting a lot of hype as a 3 ½ to 4 star match. Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t show any enthusiasm until Aries hit the brainbuster through the table. The world title match also suffered as a result of the weak crowd. I will put some of the blame here on the wrestlers as this wasn’t that spectacular of a match. It was a pretty good match, but not the epic clash that one would hope for given the circumstances. The crowd really wasn’t terribly into the match until the end when it really appeared that Nigel was going to win the belt. Hopefully, the title change will come off better on TV and DVD than it did live. Nigel got a solid reaction for the win, but if it had taken place in New York, Chicago or his native England then it would have been huge.

Necro Butcher belongs in ROH

I’ve never been a terribly big fan of the Necro Butcher up to this point. When I found out he was part of the Age of the Fall I was surprised, but not blown away. He did a decent job in some of the ROH vs. CZW brawls. I appreciate his willingness to take sick bumps, but I’d never been blown away by any of his matches. After watching his match with Jay Briscoe on Saturday I’m finally sold on Necro. Briscoe and Necro had a sick brawl that went all over the crowd in Edison. They actually managed to get a huge reaction from the crowd, a reaction that a PPV title change couldn’t even do.

Necro showed me in this match that he is more than just a guy who is willing to get wailed with chairs, cut with barbed wire and stabbed with thumb tacks. He may look like an insane, drugged out hobo, but he knows a how to work a match and get a reaction. The guy knows how to work around his limitations. He’s never going to Bryan Danielson in terms of technical wrestling, but he can work a little bit. He hit a tiger driver, a pretty difficult move that requires a lot of precision, and it was perfect. He also hit top-rope hurracanrana which got a huge reaction. Matt Cross did the same move earlier and got crickets. Necro got a great reaction for those moves because he doesn’t just throw them out there one after another. With Cross I’m expecting 30 crazy flippy moves in every match. It’s still a cool move, but I’m not going to mark out for his top-rope rana when he’s already done a Phoenix Splash, a standing 450 and Space Flying Tiger Drop. Necro hitting a hurracanrana was absolutely shocking. Necro also throws the best punches I’ve ever seen in pro-wrestling. Ever punch looked like it absolutely wailed Briscoe, probably because they did. It was almost bizarre to see a guy throwing punches and getting big pops for them. It really says something that after a match full of huge spots he could really have the crowd believing he could end the match with punches; nobody’s won a match with a match with punch since the epic Mark Jindrak vs. Luther Reigns feud from a couple of years ago.

ROH has found a great spot for Necro as a member of the Age of the Fall. Necro’s insane brawling could get old in ROH if he does it on every show. Putting him with Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black prevents him from having to do the same schtick every match. He could work tag matches or just enhance their matches with his bizarrely threatening presence.

Matt Cross doesn’t belong in ROH

While Necro Butcher proved to me that he deserves a spot in ROH, I really can’t defend Matt Cross anymore. I’ve been defending Cross as I’m impressed by his ability and want the Resilience to succeed, but I’m starting to side with the Cross-haters. The guy is just incredibly inconsistent. I was there live at Death Before Dishonor V: Night Two in Philadelphia and Cross stole the show. He diving flip off the bleachers was one of the coolest spots I’ve ever seen. Last weekend in Edison he was absolutely awful. He botched spot after spot. When Cross is hitting his spots he gets some reactions, but he’s not getting as over as he should. Whenever he’s not doing a crazy move he just seems lost. He lacks the charisma of a Jack Evans or Austin Aries. Being out of ROH for the next 60 days may not be a bad thing for Cross. Hopefully learning some new styles and working different guys overseas can help him gain some more consistency.

Jay Briscoe is the better Briscoe brother and could be World Champion

Jay Briscoe really shined in the main event in Edison against Necro. I’ve always been a big fan of the Briscoes as a tag team, but this match really showed me that Jay has what it takes to make it as a singles star. He has had some excellent singles in the past, particularly his cage match with Samoa Joe at At Our Best. If you haven’t seen that match you should go out of your way to do so. It’s one of the better cage matches that I’ve seen and Jay’s blade job is sick.

Jay was ridiculously over with the New Jersey crowd, which is impressive since no one else was. The crowd was behind him the entire match with huge “Man Up” chants. Jay went toe to toe with Necro and came off as a complete bad ass. He’s not going to win the title in his up-coming match with Nigel since Jay’s still tag champ and Nigel isn’t losing it this fast, but it should be a good match.

I’ve gone back and forth over who I thought was the better Briscoe ever since I learned which one was which. In the past I’ve leaned towards Mark because he wrestles a slightly more exciting style and can be really funny when he turns into “Ninja Mark Briscoe”. However, after witnessing Jay thriving in the main event and in other matches without his little brother I’ve got to vote for Jay. Mark’s goofy kung-fu is a lot of fun but it’s also hard to take seriously. Kevin Steen and El Generico tried to end Mark’s career by going after him following his concussion and Mark was still busting out the silliness and comedy moves against them. Jay seems like a more serious contender. I also just have to worry about Mark Briscoe’s future because of his high risk style both in and out of the ring. In the past few years Mark has repeatedly injured himself with botched shooting star presses and motorcycle accidents. Mark really needs to consider taking fewer risks in all areas or his life or he could wind up with a shortened career or worse.

Chris Hero needs to be a full-throttle heel and not try to please the crowd

In early 2006 Chris Hero was far and away the hottest heel in Ring of Honor and probably anywhere else. He was the guy who really made the ROH vs. CZW great. He such an unbelievable asshole and had tremendous heat behind. His run there is the only time in recent memory that I really hated a heel the same way I hated Owen Hart and Bob Backlund when I was 10 years old. Everything Hero did was designed to piss ROH fans off and played his character perfectly.

A year and half later, Hero seems to floundering a bit. His segments with Sweet and Sour Inc. are entertaining, in fact I think they may be too funny for their own good. ROH fans are actually starting to like Chris Hero. Hero is at his best when he’s absolute asshole heel. His schtick with doing random flips and somersaults is pretty funny and usually gets about half the crowd to laugh and leaves half the crowd kind of confused. His current character is entertaining enough, but he isn’t going to get past the mid-card with the crowd having mixed feelings towards him. He should move back towards being the vile heel who inspired such strong emotions from the crowd. His match with Bryan Danielson at the PPV was good enough, but I didn’t want to see him get his teeth kicked in like I did when he was trying to bring down Ring of Honor. That kind of emotion is something Ring of Honor, and wrestling in general, badly needs.

The good guys need to win sometimes

I try not to question Gabe’s booking before angles pan out as he usually proves me wrong, but I’m questioning the complete dominance that the heels in ROH have shown over the faces recently. The Resilience has been destroyed over and over again by the No Remorse Corps; only Austin Aries has been able to pick up victories. I agree with the theory that guys get over more in matches where they fight valiantly but lose. Eventually though, guys have to start winning matches or they’re going to be seen as jobbers. Matt Cross has been jobbed to the point where no one actually believes he could beat the lower ranking guys in the NRC in Richards and Romero, let along Roderick Strong. Similarly, aside from their debut, the Vulture Squad has become ROH whipping boys. They got beaten resoundingly in a very short match with the Age of the Fall at the PPV. I’m really having trouble believing that either the Resilience or the Vulture Squad could realistically defeat the No Remorse Corps.

ROH needs put their PPV tapings in the 2nd half of shows

ROH did a better job with the structure of their PPV tapings in Edison than they did at the 3rd taping. I’d actually go so far as to say that the two best matches of the night were not part of the PPV, those being Jay Briscoe vs. Necro Butcher and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Jigsaw. Still, the format of the show was a bit awkward. There is no real reason ROH couldn’t just do the show as one taping since they use the same cameras for the PPV’s as for the DVD’s. While I’m sure the show will come off well on TV the pacing wasn’t right live. The world title change should not have come before the intermission. This was match that had been built up for months should have been the main event of any show. The 2nd half of the show, aside from the main event, felt like I was watching some bonus exhibition matches.

Using generic intro music hurts more than you’d think

It seems strange, but I seriously believe that one of the things that hurt the crowd heat in Edison was the use of generic entrance music. ROH probably can’t afford to actually pay the royalties for the popular music that they use for their wrestlers entrances. Still, the absence of the stars usual music killed the crowd quite a bit. The crown popped when the “Reach out and touch faith” portion of Austin Aries’ music hit, but quickly died back down as when it wasn’t followed by “Personal Jesus”. Similarly, the crowd popped for the electric guitar “London Bridge” that leads into Nigel McGuinness’ music, but got quiet when some generic rock song started playing.

Entrances are a key part of a wrestling show. They help establish an identity for a wrestler. Nothing gets a crowd more excited than hearing the glass shattering for Stone Cold Steve Austin or the hearing the first few beats of the Heartbreak Kid’s theme music. The music gets the crowd excited; it lets them know that something exciting is about to happen. ROH fans have been classically conditioned to start slamming the guardrails when they hear “Personal Jesus”. If you take away the music then you take away the excitement.

Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black are an awesome tag team

Jacobs and Black only got to have a short match with the Vulture Squad but they showed a lot in the time they were given. These guys teamed together in Wrestling Society X as D.I.F.H.(Do It For Her). They didn’t get much of a chance to shine on MTV, but neither did anyone else. I’d only seen one Tyler Black match to go along with the highlight video on his myspace before seeing him live in Edison. I’ve read great things online about Black and he definitely lived up to the hype. He had some truly spectacular moves. Jacobs has definitely shown in his feuds with Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmer that he can be a great wrestler and a great character. These guys had some of the best tag team combos I’ve ever seen. Their finishing sequence almost has to be seen to believed. Black holds the opponent in position for a burning hammer. Jacobs comes off the top with a senton onto the man on Black’s shoulders. Jacobs comes back with a running boot to the face as Black finishes off the burning hammer. They finally put the guy away when Jacobs locks in the front guillotine choke hold.

These guys are definitely a refreshing change of pace. ROH has gotten somewhat stale over the past few months. The use of viral marketing is something new in wrestling and it’s helped build a ton of momentum for the Age of the Fall. Their entrance music, if you can call it that, is totally unique. I’m not sure if I like it, but coming out to nothing but a woman’s screams is something nobody has done before. Rolling with the Necro Butcher gives them some street cred and the newly goth Lacey is ridiculously hot. These guys are definitely on the way up.

The Hangmen 3 are not as bad as the ROH Message Board would lead you to believe

The Hangmen 3 have taken a lot of crap on the ROH message board and other wrestling sites. Most people claim that they’re the worst of the six major stables in Ring of Honor. These guys simply aren’t that bad. They’re six man tag at the PPV was very entertaining. Adam Pearce is a great mic worker. His monologue, channeling the Emperor from Star Wars, attempting to get Kevin Steen to join the Hangmen was awesome and hilarious. The more of the devious and manipulative Pearce we see, the better. Pearce isn’t on the same level as some of ROH’s top guys as a worker, but he knows what he’s doing out there. He did a very nice job as the ring general in the 6 man tag against Steen, El Generico and Delirious.

Pearce’s followers, Brent Albright and BJ Whitmer, are also doing nicely in their roles. Both guys might be capable of handling bigger roles, but they’d been floundering lately. They’re both fairly bland, but they work well as Pearce’s vicious brainwashed henchmen. While Whitmer’s non-hardcore matches tend to bore me, he had my full attention as he worked over Delirious. Albright still seems like a real asskicker and could be a real contender with Pearce as his mouthpiece.

Final Thoughts

I have mixed feeling about ROH’s fourth PPV.I had a good time, as I have at every ROH show that I’ve attended. If the show had taken in place in another city it could have been epic. Sadly, a smarky wise-ass crowd dragged the event down quite a bit. There was still a lot to be happy with in the performances of Jay Briscoe, the Age of the Fall, the Hangmen 3, Kevin Steen, El Generico, Jigsaw and Claudio Castagnoli. ROH should be able to build off of the positives from this show and learn from their mistakes.