Column of Honor: 10.13.07: Man Down

Be sure to check out Sunday’s edition of Column of Honor (Survival isn’t an Option, It’s a Necessity) by clicking here!

ROH Results: “Undeniable”, PPV Taping Edison, NJ October 6th 2007

Matches
Preshow
-Alex “Sugarfoot” Payne & Ernie Osiris defeated Rhett Titus & Mitch Franklin.

Main Show
PPV:
-The Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black defeated The Vulture Squad of Jack Evans & Ruckus via submission with the DDT / Guillotine Choke by Jacobs on Evans.
-Daizee Haze defeated SHIMMER Champion Sara Del Rey in a non title match via pinfall by a rollup.
-“American Dragon” Bryan Danielson defeated Chris Hero via referee stoppage after Dragon kicked Hero’s with boots and Hero could not defend himself.
-The Hangmen’s Three of Adam Pearce, Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer defeated the trio of Delirious, Kevin Steen & El Generico when Albright pinned Delirious with a half nelson suplex.
-Austin Aries defeated Roderick Strong via pinfall with a brainbuster through a table and a 450 splash for the pin.
-Nigel McGuinness defeated Takeshi Morishima to become the NEW Ring of Honor World Champion. McGuinness pinned Morishima after landing the Jawbreaker Lariat.

DVD Only Bonus Matches:
-Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jigsaw via pinfall after a European Uppercut.
-The No Remorse Corps of Rocky Romero & Davey Richards defeated The Resilience of Matt Cross & Erick Stevens. Romero pinned Cross.
-Necro Butcher defeated Jay Briscoe in an “Anything Goes” match. Necro pinned Jay after with a side suplex through a chair, denting it in half.

Angles and Issues
-Not so Sweet and Very Sour: Chris Hero was supposed to fight Claudio Castagnoli on the fourth PPV taping, but as his agent Larry Sweeney proclaimed on the second PPV “Driven”, he will make sure Hero does not fight Claudio until the money is right and his demands are satisfied. Later on, Sweet N’ Sour Inc. go out to the ring to cut a promo, but they are cut off by Bryan Danielson, who states that they are everything that ROH should not be about. He challenges Hero to a singles match and it is accepted.

-Well I’ll Be Hanged, I mean Dang’ed: Adam Pearce and the Hangmen’s Three call out Kevin Steen. Pearce asks Steen to join the Hangmen’s Three and gives him the sales pitch about how Generico is bringing him down and how much Pearce hates masked men. The HM3 bring out an unconscious El Generico. They want Steen to hit Generico as a sign of acceptance, but instead Steen attacks them!

-When Push comes to Shove: After the title victory all the top ROH faces come out to celebrate with Nigel. However, Danielson soon gets into a shoving match with Nigel, and Austin Aries intervenes and block Dragon from doing anything more. Danielson leaves the ring and the celebration restarts.

-Crucified: Due to Cross taking the fall in the Resilience vs. NRC match, he is now suspended from ROH for 60 days. To make matters worse, NRC destroyed the arm of Erick Stevens post match.

-Wrapped in Metal: In a similar deal as The Hangmen’s Three segment The Age of the Fall brought Mark out, but this was far more gruesome as he was tied in barbed wire, bloody and looking just horrible. This occurring at the very end of the Jay vs. Necro match and Jacobs and Black taunted Jay due to his brother’s sorry state (see below).

-Return Date: January 12th, 2008

Man Down

Mark Briscoe stood helpless and in obvious pain, wrapped up in a coil of sharp barbed wire and shackled to a post of wood. He was a man held hostage and unable to “Man Up” and fight back against his oppressors: The Age of the Fall consisting of Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black, Necro Butcher and Lacey.

The Briscoes have become the first true victims of The Age of the Fall, which was first unveiled at the third PPV taping in Chicago. Jimmy Jacobs’ maniac cult of personality was revealed and immediately carved out a swath of destruction. They hung Jay Briscoe from the figurative gallows, raiding him up on a pulley and letting his blood pour down from a great height as if it were a never ending red rainstorm of viscous fluid.

Two weeks later, they have struck again and have made their mark with a similar formula but with even more devastating results. And yet again, The Briscoes were caught up and viciously impacted by their actions. The two part plan began in Boston on October 5th when Jacobs and his AotF cult members took advantage of an injured Mark Briscoe and “kidnapped” him. For nearly twenty four hours no one knew where AotF had taken Mark and what unspeakable horrors were being perpetrated on the ROH tag team champion, on a human being. Jay Briscoe frantically searched out for his brother, but could not find him.

He and all the fans in attendance the next night in Edison, NJ would soon find out just what had become of Mark. They also learned just how sick and depraved the actions of this stable of so called rebels and revolutionaries truly are when they ply their trade. When Jacobs, Black, Necro and Lacey pool their resources and abilities, they become a grave threat to anyone in their path.

This is the very reason Ring of Honor needs to respond immediately and effectively to the actions of The Age of the Fall. While it is still early in their foundation, the union between these four wrestlers is very strong. They have cohesive plans and a tightly knit structure of communication between each other and their sympathizing co-conspirators (on the AotF website). Yet, it is still early enough in what could conceivably be a very long and protracted war between AotF and ROH wrestlers. Therefore now is the time for ROH to act, to fight back against their most powerful enemy in years, one who is bent on their very destruction.

ROH should learn from its past mistakes—what has happened to its top heroes when they have not responded quickly enough to the fermentation and subsequent explosion of corruption within its territory. The Prophecy began, not with a bang but in a slow and constant development until its black heart was fully formed and exposed. Christopher Daniels had felt ROH’s idea of “honor” as the backbone of their wrestling product was hypocritical and blasphemous. Yet, ROH did not deal with his signs of dishonor right away. Before they knew it, Daniels had marshaled a resistance force of wrestlers who had similar beliefs and enacted a plan that essential resulted in a coup of power in ROH. Their hostile take over of the top belts in the company by the use of a “sleeper” agent in Xavier resulted in The Prophecy gaining the power to call their own shots. Daniels was delighted by this turn of events and used his power to manipulate the company in any way he could possibly imagine.

Daniels and his crew were eventually stopped by the top faces at the time, including Low Ki and AJ Styles, but not before much damage had been done and blood had been shed. ROH’s very soul put to the test and rose triumphantly, but in no way was the war ever “easy”.

The Prophecy sought to reshape ROH in their own imagine, but The Age of the Fall group merely wishes to kill ROH outright. They want an end to the very existence of this honorable wrestling company. ROH should know by now that this goal cannot occur, and AotF’s actions cannot be condoned, nor treated as a joke. Not even by this writer. Not anymore.

The evidence of AotF’s capacity to destroy is evident in their efforts in hunting down and maiming the ROH tag team champions—The Briscoes. The horrific and disgusting evidence is on display right now on their website—Mark Briscoes being shackled and restrained, unable to stop AotF. It is a haunting image, maybe the most gruesome ever seen in ROH. It is certainly an embarrassment and a shame for The Briscoes—men whose pride is so deeply felt that they can withstand, endure and come back from countless amounts of pain. The question now is can even they come back from this humbling defeat?

ROH must approach this feud with seriousness and a clear plan of attack. Instead, they seem to be tolerating the presence of The Age of the Fall. They are treating them as mere flies pestering the stable horses. To be sure they are not so small an irritation.

Ring of Honor did the right thing for themselves by not allowing AotF an immediate shot at championship gold. Yet, ROH allows them the opportunity to “climb the ladder” of contention in ROH and win matches in order to earn a title shot. Why? If I were in charge, I would immediately act to squash any chance of AotF coming close to the ROH titles. They should not be allowed to fight for the right to a title shot. Yes, in America we allow free speech rights, including to those organizations we consider “terroristic” or “cult like”. However, we don’t give them part of New Mexico and tell them to see how well they can run a town and maybe later we’ll give them a shot at running the whole damn nation!

ROH is a private wrestling company that does not have to brook opposition, especially one trying to kill them from within.

Yet at the least, if ROH wishes to continue this allowance of AotF to wrestle and fight for their cause as a sort of statement on ROH’s part about their belief in “wrestling freedom”, it must still move to respond to the smoldering fire that rages untamed. AotF have set the company ablaze and now ROH needs its firefighters to put it out. They need to mobilize their forces—such men as Bryan Danielson and new ROH champion Nigel McGuinness. These are the wrestlers who are top of the line as far as talent, fighting spirit and honor. These are the men who can bring the fight to The Age of the Fall.

ROH, heed the clarion call—the warning siren of the town, or the horrifying shriek of a woman that heralds the entrance of Jacobs, Black, Necro and Lacey. This is an emergency. A man is down. You need more men to “Man Up” and stop this bloody insurrection before any more damage can be done. The Age of the Fall must be stopped before the very foundations of Ring of Honor come crumbling down.

RING OF HONOR: DRIVEN PODCAST~!

We are BACK once again, and this time we are here to break down the Ring of Honor DRIVEN PPV! Christi and I are joined by the “Column of Honor’s” ARI (~!) for a huge discussion of an EXCELLENT top to bottom show. We will discuss great matches, clean finishes, and NO BULLSHIT! We touch on the two out of the ring segments, that for the second straight PPV were great and answer the question, “Is Nigel vs. Danielson a MOTY Contender?” 80-Minutes of ROH Discussion!

DOWNLOAD HERE!

If that doesn’t work, copy and paste the following link into your browser and you’ll be fine: http://www.sendspace.com/file/bwz51o

Also, be sure to check me out this week on Rocketbusta Radio as a CO-HOST during at least the first past of the show. That’s 8PM EST live at that website, or available later on via podcast and other such programs.

Perception vs. Reality: The $10,000 Tag Challenge

One of my major pet peeves over the last few months has been the overreaction of fans to initial reports from shows. Not even immediately after the event has finished, but during the show as it is ongoing as results are developing, fans on the message boards all around the internet (but especially the ROH board) provide immediate feedback and reaction. Usualy it is a reaction to just a simple sentence, such as “so and so beat so and so with a whatever. Then somebody came out and this happened.” This is a one or two sentence report of a result, from just one person who is being fed the results from someone who is live at the show. There are no real details to speak of and yet from this meager description of match results, hundreds of ROH fans’ impressions are being affected.

I’m not saying the alternative, not having any results as the matches are ongoing, is any better. It’s a good thing that wrestling fans can get instant access to results, because otherwise, it would take far longer and be a more excruciating wait. I just hate that with only the bare minimum in description, without context or meaning, fans will jump to conclusions, usually negative, about what has occurred. It’s happened over and over again and most recently has been seen with such occurrences as The Race to the Top Tournament. The results of that tournament were fraught with upsets and unexpected bracket movements. Fans were expecting Chris Hero to make it to the finals, and when he didn’t, there were people voicing complaints and frustrations. Fans were also puzzled with how Jack Evans went so far in the tournament and there was initial disappointment in an El Generico vs. Claudio Castagnoli final. They didn’t think the match could be all that, and some didn’t think Claudio even needed the tournament win considering that he was scheduled for a title match at the next show! All of these complaints were lodged without having seen a single second of action live and in person, or from a DVD.

What happened when other fans began to file in their own match impressions of this tournament is that there were many comments about how solid to very good the matches were in quality, and how the main event tournament final of Claudio vs. Generico has to be seen to be believed. It was the match, many claimed, that showed ROH fans just how great El Generico could be in a singles environment. It was also another series of excellent performances by Claudio, who ran the field and was able to wrestle a gamut of performers such as Mike Quackenbush and Jack Evans in order to demonstrate his huge improvements over the year. A video wrap up of the tournament helped to prove that point, showing some exciting action in the finals.

It’s all about perception versus reality with reading results of ROH shows. Reading them creates a perception in your head about how events broke down. A few adjectives about match quality can determine opinions about how good or not good a match was, all without actually seeing the match. The reality of an ROH match can in fact be quite different than what is initially thought.

I don’t want this to come off like I am just complaining about other people’s complaining, so here’s my truth: I am not above falling victim to the “negative complaint grinch.” In fact, in reading results for the Race to the Top Tournament I also became very upset, mad and confused. It wasn’t about the tournament itself, but rather an undercard match on Night 2. I read about the $10,000 tag challenge, which hadn’t been concretely announced until the show itself, and found myself asking—what the hell?

Everything about the results of that match pissed me off more and more as I read them, from learning of the comedy interview segment in which team captains Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness picked teams, to what was in my mind a ridiculous booking that made Nigel look like an idiot for selecting members for his team that hated each other and could not get along. There was also a report that someone has selected Matt Cross, an erroneous report as it turned out, as it was Matt Sydal who was selected. Still I wondered, why the hell would someone choose Matt Cross? (This was just before he found his groove again in late summer and I was not sold on him)Then I read about how The Briscoes walked out of the match and destroyed everyone and I became really, really mad—what was the point of having them in the match then? They were cheating the fans of seeing The Briscoes in action! Finally the match finish, where Austin Aries pinned Nigel McGuinness, who had just come off a huge run as the number one contender to the ROH title. I was baffled and stunned—why was Nigel being jobbed out?

All of those questions running through my own head and not one of them could be answered—because I had not attended the event and I did not see how these events actually occurred. The perception of the match was what guided me into state of rage, when as it turned out, the reality of the whole series of events for the tag challenge would be quite different.

A few weeks later, I watched the tournament on DVD. In general, I love tournaments and I love to see how the brackets shake out. So it was no surprise that I got a kick out of the Race to the Top Tournament matches and maybe even more so than usual. There were more than a few good matches and fun ones at that, such as Chris Hero vs. Erick Stevens and Matt Sydal vs. Mike Quackenbush. I had similar thoughts about the quarter final and semi final matches found on the Night 2 DVD, with my favorites from those rounds being Claudio vs. Quack and Generico vs. Hero. The finals did start off a bit slow, but it was in effect to sell the injuries of the previous matches, as Generico did have his arm and back worked on throughout the night. As it turned out, they did indeed build up the match to a heated peak and the last five minutes of actions needs to be seen and enjoyed.

Then, the dreaded moment, the $10,000 tag challenge. As it turns out, I was wrong. This match and the segment which set it all up were both incredible. In my mind, it was perfect booking and seeing it from home and on video everything from the team selections to the match itself made sense. I really enjoyed the match, yet, flashback to July 28th and you would have seen me at my computer almost physically shaking my fist at the computer screen because of what I had read.

I found the team selection to be entertaining, with Nigel and Dragon exchanging barbs and insults. Even something as small as when Nigel crosses himself before the coin toss helps to inform the larger picture of what is at stake and the extent of the rivalry between these two men. It’s awesome that Dragon tries to pick both Briscoes at the same time and thinks he can get away with it. Then when Dragon changes his mind about who he wants of the two, its hysterical and they are almost at cartoon levels of animation, like Bugs Bunny vs. Daffy Duck.

No one had bothered to mention these small but significant details, nor that McGuinness was actually getting in some good jabs at Danielson and even insulted the former champions’ mother, insinuating sexual relations with her. That elicited a huge “oooooh!” response from the crowd. Meanwhile, Dragon was insulting Nigel where it hurt him the most, the fact that he could never defeat Danielson and could not win the ROH World Title. Dragon commented that Nigel even lost the coin toss for selecting teammates. These were heavy verbal haymakers that landed, but rather than make Nigel out for a fool, it seemed something else was afoot. It was a game of “rank out” that sometimes I see my high school students perpetrate on each other, but more serious. There was also intent behind the insults—each wanted to unnerve the other one to the point where he would make a mistake in picking partners.

There was also a great moment which has gone underreported and that is “Sweet & Sour” Larry Sweeney’s involvement in this selection segment. Sweeney interrupts the proceedings and neither man seems to appreciate it or have time for him, until Sweeney mentions he can offer the services of Matt Sydal to this match, in exchange for a share of the winner’s purse. Sweeney is gold here, smarmy and playing scumbag to the hilt, as he has usually been in interview segments. When the crowd chants for Danielson to take Bobby Dempsey, Danielson’s incensed reaction to the crowd and his threat to Sweeney is awesome. Eventually, Danielson takes Sweeney up on his offer of Matt Sydal, because in his mind Sydal can benefit him in the match.

So Danielson picked his teammates and Nigel responded with wrestlers that could counter with talent and knowledge about how to defeat those on Dragon’s team. His pick of Delirious is inspired because of the rivalry with Sydal but also because Delirious had tapped out Dragon before. That makes perfect sense! Why didn’t I think of that back in July?

As much as I found myself enjoying the team selection, I was still worried about the match itself. Yet even before the match we had some excellent extra curricular which boosted up my enjoyment factor. There was Nigel’s team falling apart right off the bat when Delirious didn’t even bother to walk down the aisle with his rival and now forced teammate Roderick Strong. Nope, he just lambasted him from behind and started brawling with him. Mark Briscoe, of all people was the voice of reason for this as he tells Strong that “we’re a team” and “$10,000!” he exclaimed. Meanwhile, we get clips Larry Sweeney trying to recruit and sign Austin Aries—”why can’t we be friends? We should talk in the back is what I’m thinking.” Wow, that is great—so in tune with Sweeney’s character and goals in ROH. Strong walks off several times, but eventually it seemed Strong was conciliatory and wanted to get along with Delirious, probably for the money. For the rest of the match those two were kept separated and Delirious was incredibly cautious about his partner’s presence on the same side of the ring with him. Meanwhile, Dragon and his team were laughing it up at Nigel’s expense.

Funnily enough, Jay and his brother Mark did not think about the money. They actually did give the fans some time in the ring, but when push came to shove, and Bryan Danielson shoved both of them, reminding them that it was about the money. They shoved back, lay waste to everyone else who dared stop them from leaving the match, and finally walked out for a night of drinking at the bar. There was a very nice reaction to all of this from the fans live in attendance, who were clearly “getting it” and enjoying the story being told to them.

Not too much later in the match, a miscommunication between Strong and Delirious resulted in them once again fighting to the back and out of the match. Nigel McGuinness was alone, three on one, and as much as he fought all he could, he could not survive against those odds. The only question was who would get the pinfall on a downed Nigel. It clicked in my head that with Dragon’s pride and ego at work, he would want the pin against his rival, so he stopped Sydal from landing a huge move off the top by pushing him off. Gabe Sapolsky must be a Lennon fan, because “Instant Karma” got to Danielson as Austin Aries pushed Dragon off the ropes, landed a beautiful and on the money 450 Splash and got the pinfall, his first win back in Ring of Honor.

By the way, McGuinness, Aries and Danielson are all currently intertwined at the top of the ROH roster. How about that for advanced booking?

I loved this match. I thought it was great when I watched it from the comfort of my home. I didn’t get a chance to see it live, so in my mind’s eye I was coming up with so many reasons not to enjoy it that I couldn’t see the match for what it was. A few months later, the reality of what went down changed my perceptions for the better.

I’m not saying the flaw of perception vs. reality can’t go the other way either. Sometimes being there live for a show can over promulgate a match to greatness. Looking back, at the Danielson vs. Morishima match from Manhattan Mayhem II, live it was an awesome, orgasmic experience. Watching the Japanese feed of the match however, changed my perception of that match. It was and is a great match, one of the better ones this year, but it paled in comparison to Danielson vs. McGuinness from Driven, which I had just seen that same weekend. I wasn’t sure why a match that I lauded as match of the year live and garnered an incredible reaction from the fans (which didn’t translate nearly as well on the Japanese feed) seemed less than “the best match of the year” on video. I guess the perception and the reality of wrestling matches are harder to pin down than I thought.

Champion Curtain Call: Takeshi Morishima as ROH World Champion

Won Title: 02/1707 from Homicide (Philadelphia, PA)
Lost Title: 10/06/07 to Nigel McGuinness (Edison, NJ)
–251 day reign
–16 defenses in United States, 4 defenses in: Japan

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)
V.15 Three Way Elimination Match: defeated Brent Albright and Claudio Castagnoli (8/24/07, Hartford, CT)
V.16 defeated Bryan Danielson via pinfall / backdrop driver (8/25/07, New York, NY)
V.17 defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima via pinfall / lariat (9/01/07, Tokyo, Japan)
V.18 defeated Erick Stevens via pinfall / backdrop driver (9/14/07, Detroit, MI)
V.19 defeated Bryan Danielson via referee stoppage (9/15/07, Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.20 defeated Kevin Steen via pinfall / backdrop driver (10/05/07, Boston, MA)

Next week I’ll present my top five title defenses from Morishima’s title reign as well as give my post mortem on his run at the top of ROH and what it all meant.

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 10/13/2007

ROH World Champion—Nigel McGuinness (NEW champion since 10/06/07)

Next Defense:: vs. Jay Briscoe 10/21/07 San Francisco, CA

ROH World Tag Team Champions— Jay and Mark Briscoe (champions since 03/30/07, 14 successful defenses)

Next Defense: TBA

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)
V.11 Steel Cage Match: defeated. Kevin Steen & El Generico (8/24/07 Hartford, CT)
V.12 defeated Kevin Steen & El Generico (8/25/07 New York, NY): 2 Out of 3 Falls – 2 straight falls
V.13 defeated Austin Aries & Matt Cross (9/14/07 Detroit, MI)
V.14 Ladder Match: defeated Kevin Steen & El Generico (9/15/07, Chicago Ridge, IL)

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): Mitch Franklin (since 8/24/2007)

Top Feuds & Pairings:

-Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries (rivalry)
-Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness
-The Age of the Fall vs. The Briscoes
-The No Remorse Corps vs. The Resilience vs. The Vulture Squad
-Vulture Squad vs. Age of the Fall
-Delirious / Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Albright, Whitmer and Adam Pearce (The Hangman’s Three)

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

Misawa vs. KENTA to headline Glory By Honor VI Night 2 in NYC

We are about to enter a historic month for ROH with a new World Champion. First, ROH will head to Las Vegas and San Francisco for the first time. Then the legendary Mitsuharu Misawa will come to ROH for a rare visit on 11/2 in Philadelphia and 11/3 in Manhattan. We already know that it will be Misawa & KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Takeshi Morishima in Philly. Misawa’s match for Manhattan has been signed and it is a Budokan Hall level main event. It will be a first time ever singles match between two of NOAH’s top stars. On 11/3 in Manhattan you will witness Mitsuharu Misawa vs. KENTA!!!

KENTA is gaining momentum heading to his showdown vs. Mitsuharu Misawa on 11/3 in Manhattan. We were incorrect yesterday in saying it is a first time ever match as they did wrestle in 2004. However, KENTA is a much bigger star now and has really grown in the wrestling business since 2004. This is a Budokan Hall level main event coming to NYC. KENTA defeated Mohammed Yone on 10/7 to gain momentum going into the Misawa contest.

Well, it was hardly unexpected to see something else besides this or Misawa vs. Marufuji or vs. Morishima. ROH always runs international appearances with a tag match and a singles match that comes out of the combinations of wrestlers in the tag match. I know others have complaints about how Misawa should have fought an ROH mainstay and not someone on the NOAH roster. I’m of two minds about that; again I expect this so I wasn’t disappointed by the selection. However, there is a part of me that is frustrated that things didn’t work out to give fans that awesome one on one match. Think of it this way, Samoa Joe is going to fight Misawa in Japan. If Joe was still allowed to wrestle in ROH, no doubt that would be the match we would see in NYC. However, that is not possible. So let me ask, is it that Misawa feels that no one else in ROH is good enough compared to Joe? I’d say that line of thought is plainly ridiculous. Misawa vs. Danielson could have been an very satisfactory replacement for the Joe encounter. Danielson has wrestled plenty of times now for NOAH. So why isn’t this match occurring?

And it isn’t as if Misawa hasn’t fought American competition, while in America no less! He wrestled twice for WLW, Harley Race’s promotion, in tag competition. Hell in one of those matches he wrestled Nigel McGuinness!

Regardless, I think this will be a good match for KENTA. He has a large enough fan base in America and in ROH that he will have a good rooting section Misawa’s reaction is going to be very loud, but I don’t think it will be as rowdy and raucous as how fans reacted Kobashi. Well, maybe at first, upon his entrance. But will that continue throughout the match? If Misawa dogs it, maybe not. For the record, I don’t think he will dog it. I think Misawa very well knows the importance of these matches and appearances for ROH. I also think he knows of the reputation of ROH fans for having high expectations and letting their voices be known when they do not like what they see. I think we will see a good match here and maybe even a good to great performance out of the aging but still venerable GHC champion Misawa.

We are also very pleased to announce that legendary referee Joe Higuchi and former World Champion Harley Race will be special guests at the 11/3 Manhattan event.

Hopefully, ROH will not let Harley appear in a track suit like TNA did at TNA Lockdown ’07. Its gawdy, gawdy I say!

Survival of the Fittest ’07 Card Announced
The qualifying matches for 10/19 “Survival Of The Fittest 2007” in Las Vegas have been announced including a rematch of the “Driven” PPV main event. A rematch between Danielson and McGuinness is so big that it needs to happen in Sin City. Check the main page of ROHwrestling.com for a more complete preview. The winners of these matches will advance to the Elimination Match main event:
-ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness vs. 2004 Survival Of The Fittest Champion Bryan Danielson
-2006 Survival Of The Fittest Champion Delirious vs. Austin Aries
-2005 Survival Of The Fittest Champion Roderick Strong vs. Brent Albright
-Race To The Top Champion Claudio Castagnoli vs. Davey Richards
-Rocky Romero vs. TJ Perkins
-Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney vs. Karl Anderson
-Plus Jay & Mark Briscoe battle Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black

I’ll have a complete breakdown of these matches and the tournament in part two of the column, but since this might be breaking news to some readers I thought I’d post the card here first.

ROH Videowire: 10/12/07: Hot Off the Press

I have to say, that conclusion there is quite the visual. It looks even worse than the photo on the AotF website. I continue to find it questionable why ROH is broadcasting these actions.

I love the Aries-Danielson-McGuinnness triangle that is developing and how Danielson pissed both of them off and walked away. It was very cool. It came across as what could have happened back at Wrestlemania X when Owen Hart was invited into the ring by Randy Savage after Bret Hart won the WWF title. That was a great moment in history which set up in the back of your head the knowledge that Owen wasn’t going to stand for his big brother upstaging him. He was going to go after him and win the title from him. I get a similar vibe here between Danielson, McGuinness and even Aries. Come to think of it, Aries’ choice of lettuce and grill always did come across very “Randy Savage”, circa a young Macho Madness.

Mark Briscoe’s Injury Status Questionable

Mark Briscoe is still hopeful about returning to action for 10/19 in Las Vegas and 10/21 in San Francisco. ROH officials are having trouble finalizing lineups until we know more about Mark’s status, although Mark will participate on both events.

I hope that if Mark has to take more concerting efforts in healing the foot (i.e. surgery) that he doesn’t hold off on it because he’s the ROH champion. At any rate let’s hope he’ll be healed well enough to participate in a match and if not, at least in some sort of backstage segment or run in.

ROH Convention Card in San Francisco Gets Two Title Matches

ROH officials have finalized the card for 10/21 in San Francisco as part of the Wrestle Fan Fest. This will be a very special event for everyone in ROH. It marks ROH’s long awaited California debut. It will also be held in the legendary Cow Palace, which is the biggest and most historic building ROH has ever run. ROH officials have decided to book a champion vs. champion bout with the World Title on the line for San Francisco. 10/21 will see Nigel McGuinness make his first defense of the ROH World Title as he defends it against ROH World Tag Team Champion Jay Briscoe!!!

Roderick Strong says he wants to defend the FIP World Heavyweight Title in the historic Cow Palace. The match has been signed and it will be a first time ever in ROH bout as Strong puts the FIP belt on the line against Claudio Castagnoli on 10/21 in SF. Will a belt switch hands in this legendary building? We’ll have two more matches to announce for San Francisco in the next ROHwrestling.com Newswire.

Well, an ROH champions’ first title defense isn’t usually against a top of the line contender, but Jay Briscoe is a tough son of a gun and always makes his title shots interesting. How about the West coast getting some love with the first ever title defense of Nigel McGuinness’ reign? Good stuff says I. Strong and Castagnoli should be a good match up, although I’m not sure if this hasn’t been seen in PWG or elsewhere. It certainly feels like a fresh combination and for sure hasn’t been seen in ROH since the days of Aries & Strong vs. Kings of Wrestling matches. I doubt the FIP title will change hands here (or anywhere else besides Florida, in FIP or maybe at the ROH doubleshot during ‘Mania weekend) and for sure Nigel will succeed in defending the title, but it will be a solid set of matches at any rate.

Interview with the NEW Champ

Nigel McGuinness appeared on Fight Sports Radio hosted by Mauro Ranallo this past week. A full transcript can be found here through the F4W Online website. The most important comments made here by Nigel include that he was told he was going to be champion about six months to a year ago. Wow. Of course that makes sense because as I wrote in the special edition last week, a major story of the last six to nine months was Nigel chasing Morishima for the title. Amazing to know though that things have been set up from so far back and that the plans were executed through and through, much like Homicide’s title win. He also celebrated the title win by hanging out with ROH wrestlers and staff at a hotel bar the whole night—I guess that’s the way to do it then. Nigel talked about tons of other stuff, including the origin of the Tower of London, the headbutt spot at the Unified show and his rivalry with Danielson, so check it out, its worthwhile reading.

11/3 Manhattan gets More Main Events

We can announce another huge match for Manhattan. It has already been stated that Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries will compete in a best of three series. Aries won the first match last Friday in an absolute classic in Boston. The next bout will be on 10/21 in SF. The winner of this series will get a shot at the ROH World Title on 11/3 in Manhattan. The competitor that doesn’t get a title shot will face former ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima on 11/3 in Manhattan.

So conceivably we’re looking at either McGuinness-Danielson one more time, which is just top of the charts, while Aries and Morishima fight in a rematch of their Battle of St. Paul encounter… OR, more enticingly we get an Aries vs. McGuinness title match (those two have not fought one on one since Unscripted II in February of ’06) and Danielson vs. Morishima III. I like the sound of that AND it has a great story of Danielson returning to scene of the crime of his orbital bone injury in order to payback that loss back in August.

Showing Some Philly Love

Just signed for 11/2 in Philadelphia is a Tag Team Scramble pitting The Age Of The Fall of Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black & The Necro Butcher with Lacey vs. The Vulture Squad of Jack Evans, Ruckus & Jigsaw with Julius Smokes.

Also signed for 11/2 in Philly is a special challenge match as Roderick Strong squares off one-on-one with Mike Quackenbush. We can also confirm that Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries will take place on 11/2 even if Aries wins their match in San Francisco and goes up 2-0 in the best of 3 series.

A scramble match can either be really good or really a mess, but it also suits the chaotic nature of this combination of wrestlers. Vulture Squad likes to fly around without limitations and this match style will allow them to do so. Age of the Fall have been causing chaos and like to forgo rules, so this will allow them to do both freely. Also, you can’t go wrong with Quackenbush in a match, much less against Roderick Strong. Hopefully these two click well and produce a great face-heel dynamic. Philadelphia also gets value for their money by being guaranteed the third Aries-Danielson match regardless if Aries goes up two straight to win the series. Those two have a great history of quality matches, so Philly fan can be confident that they will bring that match back to the National Guard Armory.

Try and Be Resilient From This!

The Resilience has been decimated by No Remorse Corps. Matt Cross and Erick Stevens of The Resilience are both out of action. Cross lost the fall in a loser leaves town for 60 days match in Edison after being KO’ed by Rocky Romero. Stevens was injured by Davey Richards after the same match and is out indefinitely.

As I’d mentioned last week Cross had a trip to Japan and a try out with American Gladiators lined up within this timeframe, so it made perfect sense for him to take the fall and be out for 60 days. What was more interesting was that Erick Stevens got taken out of the equation in a kayfabe sense. I didn’t expect that, but it looks like The Resilience are out of action as a unit for the short term.

This development helps address recent events in ROH in three significant ways. First, it puts focus on Aries in a singles role for the next two months as he wrestles in important matches. It also takes one stable away from the current product. Some fans had complained that there were too many factions in the company at this point, but for now there is one less stable. I hate to do the whole “I told you so” deal, but I did write a few weeks back and mention on the Rocketbusta Radio show that by the end of the year at least one of the stables would be gone or changed in some form.

Finally, this could actually be the best move possible for Cross, Stevens and the whole idea of The Resilience itself. They had been nothing more than the NRC J.O.B. Squad for the longest time, a role really unfair and unfit for a guy like Stevens, who could really break out in the future. Matt Cross was also getting a lot of heat but in my mind his matches were really improving over the last few shows. Now fans get a break from seeing these guys lose out, and when and if they come back, these two will be refreshed as team and ROH will get one more chance, maybe its last, to get behind this stable and give them a final push over the NRC.

I wish the best of luck for Cross and his appearances in Japan and hopefully he can get onto American Gladiators and compare facial hair grooming tips with The Hulkster.

Tickets, Tickets Please!

Tickets are now on sale for ROH’s return to Boston on 1/11/08 and Edison on 1/12/08. We want to give you a heads up that a few 2nd row reserved seats remain for each show. You can now save 20-25% on these tickets at ROHwrestling.com. Act now before they are gone!!!

Ring of Honor will debut in Orlando, FL with two live events on Friday, March 28th and Saturday, March 29th. Tickets are now on sale at www.rohwrestling.com.

Both events will be held at the Orlando Downtown Recreation Center, 649 West Livingston Street, Orlando, FL 32801.

So ROH will once again run the Wrestlemania weekend with their own slot of shows—a strategy that has been very successful in the past and should work again. The Orlando Rec Center was where FIP ran its Impact of Honor show back in 2006. I wonder if there’s a big enough capacity to outdraw TNA? To think, these tickets will be bought and paid for as well. Just saying.

And that takes care of a humongous week of ROH news.

Hero’s Sandwich

Unfortunately tragedy struck the world of Chris Hero and Sweet & Sour Incorporated last week at the Edison, NJ show. I have been informed by Chris Hero’s doctor that Hero is unable to leave a darkened room due to the injuries sustained at the hands of American Dragon last weekend. He has sustained a concussion is so severe that Mr. Hero may never be the same again and that there is no timetable for his return at this time. I wish Chris a very speedy recovery so that he can continue his mission of finding spiritual enlightenment and inner peace.

I’ll be back in just very short amount of time with part two of this week’s column, including a huge preview, breakdown and analysis of Survival of the Fittest 2007!