Column of Honor: 02.02.08: The Independent Buy In Spectacular!

This is the weekend all of America has been waiting for—after all the hype and all the big time speculation leading up to the event, we have come to this point. Battles will be waged on and off the field. The turf conditions will be critical in determining the outcome. It may come down to just one play. One move or not could be the turning point. And in the end a decision will be made that will determine the entire season.

ROH Cutbacks and Solutions

I think by now most ROH fans have heard the big story this week, coming from the Wrestling Observer about the cutbacks Ring of Honor will be making in the near future. ROH has found out that the Pay Per Views have not helped to increase the DVD or attendance sales so a number of measures would be taken in order to help cut down on costs. Word got out that they would begin to rotate their roster and not bring all of their big name talent to every show. In addition, they have cut Daniel Puder for now due to the cost of his contract. There was also the part about how ROH talent will not be available for booking during some Japanese tours.

I have several reactions to all of this news, but the big one is the same as it’s always been whenever ROH gets word of a setback: there are too many people overreacting. This is not the sign of the apocalypse nor is it the end of Ring of Honor. Is it the best news in the world to hear that ROH has to be fiscally conservative right now? No, of course not. You don’t want to hear of a company making cutbacks as it s sign that business has slowed down in some way. If a company reduces its quarter earnings estimates, you know they know and are aware they will not hit their mark for that period. However, it doesn’t automatically mean the company is going to go out of business next week. Just so, Ring of Honor isn’t in any danger right now of closing down, but they are making the right decision here, as unhappy as it may be to the fans and the wrestlers alike.

A popular wrestling axiom is “It’s not what you make, it what you save.” Well, ROH may be trying to save a little money right now so that in the future they don’t have to make more drastic moves. You ROH fans out there may recall that between 2003 and 2005 some wrestlers on the roster remained “region exclusive”. That is, a wrestler such as Ace Steel generally speaking stayed within a certain selection of cities such as Dayton and Chicago. ROH could go back to that system and rotate talent either through that method or in such a manner that it would be fair for all cities that ROH runs to continue to see all of the wrestlers they like. ROH will need to be smart in its booking to ensure this happens.

I do retain some heavy skepticism about the real “severity” of these cuts. In fact, some of this news involving wrestlers being rotated or unavailable may be for me just about the biggest non news in the world. Wait, some ROH talent won’t be available because they’re in Japan? How is that any different than what has come before? It just so happens that on this particular tour that is upcoming some of ROH’s current heavy hitters are going to be there. Yet ROH has built a good card for Long Island and a very strong card for the sixth anniversary show in New York in the wake of Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli and The Briscoes going to Japan for a month. While McGuinness vs. Danielson is obviously the money match for the show, there are quite a few matches that have a ton of intrigue and potential for greatness, such as Austin Aries vs. Go Shiozaki, Stevens vs. Butcher vs. Strong and Steen vs. Joey Matthews, plus a yet to be decided ROH World Tag Team Title defense. As always, even with a changed roster, ROH adapts to its circumstances and continues to bring quality wrestling.

What about the end to West Coast fly ins? Well, if that’s the case, then why is Human Tornado being brought from the West Coast to Long Island and New York? Why are Go Shiozaki and Kota Ibushi being flown in from Japan? It looks like ROH is going to continue to spend money on flights for those wrestlers they feel can help provide a good show and draw a crowd.

I’m finding it really funny how the ROH fans and especially the haters can take a piece of information like this and run away with it. All the Chicken Littles with their “the sky is falling mentality”. There have been so many terrible things that have happened throughout the last six years and any one of them could have hurt ROH enough to close its doors, but still they lived through it and continued to exist. The ROH = ECW comparisons have long been thrown out there, including by myself, but the one difference is this—unlike Paul Heyman, those that run ROH have always realized its limitations. If anything, this is a more sobering moment for the ROH fans out there who thought ROH could actually compete on the same level as WWE or TNA. I think those that run ROH have always had their feet planted on the ground when it comes to those expectations.

Paul Heyman chased good money after bad money and paid the price for it. Cary Silkin and Gabe Sapolsky understand when it’s going overboard and when it must tighten its belt. The question is how much restraint should they use and should they use even more?

Well, no, to be honest the real question is: what should ROH do next? The Pay Per View contract will be up soon. Despite being praised to high heaven and running numbers good enough to make Silkin and company happy, it’s obvious the PPV system did not hit the mark with their ultimate goal of increasing their exposure, brand awareness and thus increasing their DVD and attendance sales. Its increasing those figures that is what is most crucial right now, and there a number of different ways to get there.

One way I would not advocate is signing a contract for a television show. Now it may seem counter productive, but a TV spot may not be any good at all, especially if it’s on a channel late at night and there is no guarantee of the show being advertised by the stations. At this point, TV does not equal DVD buys. Neither would running live Pay Per Views, because again the problem you run into is lack of advertising and fan awareness. Both TV and live PPV also tack on extra costs that ROH should not burden itself with at this point, especially if they’re trying to save money. You don’t chase good money after bad.

In my Buy or Sell contribution for this week I suggested stopping the PPV system. It’s not my choice to make but even considering it made me hesitate. I like the idea of ROH doing PPV and at (supposed) little added extra cost it would be fine to keep running them. However, what the PPV audience has ultimately become are a few thousand people, many of which are already ROH fans, plunking down just a little bit more of their money to see a product they could see if they just waited an extra month by that point already. At that point it becomes a cost value issue for the consumer and ROH is essentially double dipping its current customer base. Not only that, but ROH is only seeing a small portion of the profit off of the PPV sales. Maybe that extra bit counts enough to keep the PPVs going, I don’t know, but right now it may be better for ROH to do without PPVs and consider it at some other point.

So what should ROH do? The answer to me is two fold; one, take on a more aggressive marketing plan; two: add more cities in the Midwest and Southern areas of the United States while eliminating any out of continent tours for 2008 such as England and Japan.

First of all, advertising. I’ve never quite understood why TNA or ROH haven’t spent more of its budget on advertising its product. Getting the word out is crucial to adding new customers to their base clientele, yet I rarely see either of these companies taking out commercial TV ads or even print ads. A few years ago I thought that TNA should run a billboard campaign in NYC; this year WWE laid out the coasts for a monstrosity of a display at Times Square promoting the Royal Rumble, complete with video screens. Now of course, ROH can’t afford that type of advertising, but why not an advertisement in the major popular newspapers on the week they run in a town? Even if its just a quarter or half page advert instead of a full page, at least it’s something. I can remember back in 1996 when I started to go to WWF house shows during the Shawn Michaels run and I saw advertisements in the Daily News for the big card. I was brought to the shows by my father, who needless to say wasn’t a wrestling fan, but he took me anyway, and all because I saw the ad in the paper…and then asked (begged) for him to take me. Hey it worked for me, it may work for some other kid or teenager who sees the ROH wrestling advertisement in the sports section and the “eureka” light goes off.

ROH needs to continue to find other ways to add brand awareness, whether its by adding newspaper or magazine advertisements or increasing the amount of their local commercials they run during Monday Night Raw. It has to be good quality also—it can’t look or sound likes one of the corny local punch-ins that sells you on car auctions or dental work. ROH can’t only look to word of mouth from the fans to sell the product at this point; they need to sell themselves. ROH is rolling out its nationally distributed DVDs—but if they don’t want them to sit on the shelves for long they are going to need help from whatever retail chains they’ll be found in. Get those DVDs on the advertising fliers, pictured right next to the latest WWE release and make sure it says “Ring of Honor Wrestling.” It may actually cost more to pay for commercial advertising in the short term, but it’s the better risk to take right now as opposed to thinking fans will just find the their show while having nothing to do on a Thursday and channel surfing to the PPV channel database.

Its also time for ROH to expand its circuit, but not to Liverpool or Tokyo or even Australia. Sorry international fans, but ROH lays out too much money on these tours for it to be beneficial to run overseas right now. However, ROH can AND SHOULD run more in the United States, more cities is what I mean. I think the reason that audiences are staying at their current level is because ROH runs the towns at a frequent basis—often making four to six stops per year in each town. Gregh on the ROH message boards made a fantastic point last year about how ROH needs to limit the amount of times it runs each particular town, for the risk of wearing out the crowd there. Maybe ROH should take a lesson from the concert industry. You don’t see Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers run every two months in anycity, USA. Yet when they come back to town, their shows are almost instantaneous sell outs. WWE does this too with how often they run shows or bring TVs and PPVs to a market. Of course, these large bands and promotions have the luxury of a wider touring circuit. Maybe ROH should reduce the number of tour stops in their current circuit, and add more stops along the way.

I know for a fact that there are fans many cities in the U.S. represented on the ROH message board and many of them are clamoring for an ROH show in their area. And while the West Coast may be too far a reach at this point due to production and travel costs, what if ROH expanded within the scope of the areas they are already close to? I would think adding shows in Washington, DC, St. Louis, MO and the major cities in North and South Carolina, even Tennessee and Kentucky wouldn’t be too far of a reach for Ring of Honor. There are major wrestling towns and hot spots along the way and these are potentially untapped audiences that ROH needs to look into if they want to add on to their product base.

As far as Canada goes, if they can get there at little added costs, why not expand into the Great White Way? Of course, the U.S. dollar is soft up there, so maybe ROH should wait on that too.

There are no easy answers for the problem of continuing to expand. Of course, maybe ROH has hit a ceiling so to speak on the number of fans it can pick up right now. After all, the haters have begun to find their voice in the internet world and they are shouting at ROH fans that this product is crap and that WWE rules all in every conceivable way possible. All I know is that Ring of Honor has survived for six years and I don’t think it will stop anytime soon. ROH has learned from the mistakes of ECW and now they just have to limit their own mistakes. Maybe they overextended themselves last year, but this year hopefully they will gain back that loss. Of course, wrestling promotions come and go and so could ROH at any time. Yet I maintain faith right now that ROH has learned to adapt and change and do the best it can to get by. The cutbacks are one more bump in the road, but I think there will at least be a road for sometime to come. The apocalypse isn’t here today, and its not here tomorrow either. At least I’m hoping so.

ROH Results: 01/26/08 in Chicago Ridge, IL
Matches
-Austin Aries & “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson defeated Erick Stevens and Jay Briscoe via pinfall when Dragon pins Briscoe with a small package.
-Shane Hagadorn defeated Pelle Primeau via pinfall when Hagadorn hit him with brass knucks.
-Intergender Tag Team Champions of the World Chris Hero & Sara Del Rey retained their titles by defeating challengers Kyle Durden & Alex Payne.
-Chris Hero & Sar Del Rey defeated Jigsaw & Daizee Haze in a non title match.
-Claudio Castagnoli and El Generico wrestled to a time limit draw.
-Mark Briscoe defeated Joey Matthews via pinfall after a Shooting Star Press.
-Delirious defeated Adam Pearce in a Dog Collar Match via pinfall after a splash through a table.
-The No Remorse Corps of Davey Richards & Rocky Romero won Ultimate Endurance and became NEW ROH World Tag Team Champions in a match which also included former champions Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black), Hangmen Three (BJ Whitmer & Brent Albright) and the team of Bryan Danielson & Austin Aries. First elimination: Age of the Fall eliminated by . Second elimination: Hangmen Three by NRC as Black was rolled up. Danielson & Aries as Danielson was able to tap Whitmer in a triangle choke in a three way submission spot. They were legal and thus Whitmer and HM3 were eliminated. Third elimination: Austin Aries and Danielson eliminated by NRC when Aries was rolled up for the pin. NRC new champions.
-ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness successfully retained his title by defeated challenger Roderick Strong via pinfall with the Jawbreaker Lariat.

Issues & Angles

-Aries Intrigue Continues: Austin Aries continues to show frustration and disappointment in his matches. He won the dream partners match with Danielson to open the show, but he did not earn the winning fall. He also refused to shake Danielson’s hand afterwards, so Danielson bowed to him instead as a sign of respect. Later on in the Ultimate Endurance, Jimmy Jacobs turned his back to Aries to allow him to attack him, but before Aires could make a choice on that the NRC interrupted and attacked both of them.

-Contender’s List? What Contender’s List?: apparently even though Daizee Haze wanted a piece of the Intergender tag team division, she and her partner of choice Jigsaw could not fight for the titles. Larry Sweeney stated that they were not ranked on the top ten contenders list and thus could not earn a title shot. I wonder who else is on that list? Jack and Gerry Briscoe? Mae Young and Howard Finkel?

Return Date: April 19th, 2008

And I just have to add this because its too good not to publish here, C& P’ed from ROH poster Yeah_TB:

After everyone was in the ring for Ultimate Endurance, for whatever reason, a full and unopened bag of Cheetos was thrown into the ring. All the wrestlers were just kind of like, ‘what the ****?’ But BJ without hesitation went right after the bag, opened it, and started eating before donating the rest of the bag to the crowd. He followed that up with asking the crowd for some water to which someone in the front row obliged. This is 2 months after his Mr. Kennedy impressions at Unscripted III.

One more thing. You missed the announcement of the “Win A Date With Todd Sinclair” contest during the pre-show. Whoever announced the pre-show matches, and it definitely not Bobby Cruise, said that if you leave your name, number, and info at the merchandise table, you will be considered for a date. There were several mentions of the upcoming contest through the hour. Stay tuned to ROHwrestling.com for more details coming soon! Absolutely hilarious stuff.

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 02/02/2008

ROH World Champion—Nigel McGuinness (champion since 10/06/07, 6 successful defenses)
–defeated Takeshi Morishima in Edison, New Jersey to win the championship.

Next Defense:: vs. Bryan Danielson, New York, NY, 02/23/08

V.1 defeated Jay Briscoe, wristlock submission (10/21/07 San Francisco, CA)
V.2 defeated Chris Hero, wristlock submission (11/02/07 Philadelphia, PA)
V.3 defeated Austin Aries, Jawbreaker Lariat (12/29/07 Manhattan, NY)
V.4 defeated Go Shiozaki, London Dungeon (wristlock submission) (01/20/08 Tokyo, Japan,)
V.5 Steel Cage Match: defeated Chris Hero (01/25/08, Dayton, OH)
V.6 defeated Roderick Strong, Jawbreaker Lariat (01/26/08, Chicago Ridge, IL)

ROH World Tag Team Champions—The No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards & Rocky Romero) (champions since 01/26/08, NEW champions)
–defeated Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) in Chicago Ridge, IL to win the championship.

Next Defense: vs. TBD, New York, NY, 02/23/08

Sweet & Sour Incorporated Presents The Intergender Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Of The World —Chris Hero & Sara Del Rey (champions since 01/12/08, 2 successful defenses)

Next Defense: TBA

V.1 defeated Ernie Osiris & Alexa Thatcher (01/12/08, Edison, NJ)
V.2 defeated Kyle Durden & Alex “Sugarfoot” Payne (01/26/08, Chicago Ridge, IL)

FIP Heavyweight Champion: Erick Stevens (since 12/30/2007)
SHIMMER Champion: Sara Del Rey (since 6/2/2007)
Top of the Class Trophy (For ROH Students): Ernie Osiris (since 11/02/2007)

Top Feuds & Pairings:
-Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness
-The Age of the Fall vs. The Briscoes
-The Vulture Squad vs. The Age of the Fall
-Delirious / Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Albright, Whitmer and Adam Pearce (The Hangman’s Three)
-Claudio Castagnoli vs. Larry Sweeney

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

Updates on Evans and Ruckus

Jack Evans suffered a serious facial injury in Japan and had surgery on Friday for a broken nasal cavity, broken eye socket and broken cheekbone. It’s been a rough time for The Vulture Squad. Ruckus has been in the hospital since last Tuesday with pneumonia. We will post an update on both when we get one. We wish both Jack and Ruckus a speedy recovery.

Ruckus spoke to ROH officials yesterday and is now out of the hospital after a one week stay while fighting pneumonia. Ruckus says he will be ready for 2/22 in Long Island and 2/23 in Manhattan. We’ll have news on his matches in next week’s ROHwrestling.com Newswire. Mercedes Martinez has also been added to the 2/22 LI and 2/23 NYC events.

There are pictures of both Ruckus and Evans in their respective medical conditions, but quite frankly they are both so unpleasant and unfortunate that I am not going to link them here. I’m sure most of you know where to go if you want to have a looksee. I’m just continuing to wish for a speedy recovery from both men and that hopefully both will be careful upon their returns not to overextend themselves in trying to entertain the crowd. Soon the Vulture Squad will fly again.

Ibushi in America

We are very pleased to announce that Kota Ibushi from the DDT promotion in Japan will come to ROH for a very special one week stay. Ibushi will wrestle on 4/11 in Boston, 4/12 in Edison, 4/18 in Detroit and 4/19 in Chicago. ROH officials were blown away when they saw Ibushi live at NOAH’s 7/15 Budokan Hall event. Efforts were made since that time to bring Ibushi to ROH and now he will make a very special one week only appearance in April. Ibushi will face main event quality opponents on all four nights. His opponents will be announced in the upcoming weeks. Tickets for all four shows are on sale now.

Ibushi received a ton of acknowledgment from the United States based Puro fans when he and Naomichi Marufuji teamed up and made a great run for the NTV Cup in the Summer of ’07. He can apparently fly a good deal but can also chain wrestle and has a ground game. Although Chris tells me he does tend to repeat a lot of his move sequences in his matches. So I guess that sort makes him Japan’s equivalent to Pac? Hmmm, I guess it’s a good thing he’s not playing NYC then.

Steen for President!

Kevin Steen immediately called the ROH offices after hearing that NRC won the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Steen demanded a shot for himself and El Generico. Romero & Richards have stated that they must first earn a shot. Steen & Generico will get that opportunity on 2/22 in Long Island. It will be Roderick Strong & Davey Richards vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico in Long Island!!!

There was also an additional news article about how Kevin Steen has guaranteed he will win at least one ROH related title this year. There was even a good line about changing genders to fight Del Rey for the SHIMMER title. I’m thinking Steen will definitely have gold of some kind by the end of ’08. This match against Strong & Richards could be similar to their match against The Briscoes last February. In other words, this could be a win against a team that can immediately vault them up into contention for the ROH tag titles.

Three Way Tango

The FIP World Heavyweight Title Match for the 6th Anniversary Show on 2/23 in Manhattan has been signed. There will be a huge FIP Title rematch on 2/16 at the FIP event in Crystal River, FL (www.FullImpactPro.com for info) pitting champion Erick Stevens vs. the man he defeated for the title Roderick Strong. Since there is no telling whether Stevens or Strong will walk into Manhattan as champion an interesting match has been signed for 2/23. Last time in New York, Stevens vs. Strong tore the house down. Now 2/23 will see another rematch between these two, but with a different twist. ROH will celebrate its birthday with Stevens vs. Strong vs. The Necro Butcher in a one fall winner take all no DQ three-way!!!

Can you say hard hitting? I know you could. I know the Strong vs. Stevens part makes sense given Stevens won the title from Strong in NYC, but I have to tell you that I’m looking forward to seeing Stevens and Necro trading punches. That could be a roof blowing moment if played right.

Age of Aries & Mercury?

Tyler Black wrote in his blog at www.AgeOfTheFall.com that Joey Matthews will return to ROH on 2/22 in Long Island and 2/23 in Manhattan. We have learned that Matthews vs. Kevin Steen has been signed for Manhattan!!!

Austin Aries has made it clear that he is a very frustrated individual. It is obvious he is disenfranchised with the system. The Age Of The Fall are now trying to recruit him. In an odd twist, a big match has just been signed for 2/22 in Deer Park on Long Island. It will be a first time ever bout as Austin Aries takes on the newest Age Of The Fall member Joey Matthews.

The intrigue with Aries continues and with a loss against Joe Matthews we could see an “if you can’t beat them, join them” motif come into play. Kevin Steen meanwhile is stepping his toes into dangerous waters when he fights Matthews. A win in NYC would be make this a “statement match” for his future in ROH, but it could bring the rest of the Age of the Fall upon him.

Matthews seems to be paying off in the short term here for ROH. He has shown to be solid in the ring and interesting in his character as a part of AotF (you can read a blog of his on the Age of the Fall website which details his explanation for joining and his goals).

Sweeney Scores the Power Play Goal

LATE BREAKING NEWS: Super agent Larry Sweeney has just pulled a major power play. Sweeney says he will hold Chris Hero out of ROH until ROH officials recognize the Intergender Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Of The World. Sweeney has already negotiated to send Hero overseas to Japan and Europe. Hero is now off all upcoming shows. Sweeney has also jacked up the price on Daniel Puder to where he is out of ROH’s league. Sweeney is really putting the pressure on ROH officials. We’ll have more in next week’s ROHwrestling.com Newswire.

So here we have the kayfabe explanation for Hero’s journey to Japan and for Puder not being involved in ROH for the foreseeable future. It would help to get these kinds of kayfabe stories out before the actual news hits though.

By the way, Column of Honor officially recognizes the Sweet & Sour Incorporated Intergender Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Of The World.

NOAH Schedule Released, ROH Talent to Receive Title Shots!

NOAH Schedule has been released (credit puroresufan.com) and interestingly includes Hero & Claudio teaming up, Briscoes fighting for GHC Jr. Tag Titles and Morishima vs. Misawa for the GHC Heavyweight Title!

2/15
GHC Openweight title: Kawabata vs Momota
Marufuji/Sugiura/Shiosaki vs Takayama/Sano/Ota
3rd Match in Trial Series: Aoki vs KENTA
2nd Match in Trial Series: Taniguchi vs Morishima
Akiyama/Shiga vs Hero/Claudio
Misawa/Ogawa/Suzuki vs Williams/Jay/Mark Briscoe

2/17
Yone/KENTA/Ishimori vs Jay/Mark/Claudio
Misawa/Ogawa vs Williams/Hero
Marufuji/Sugiura vs Akiyama/Aoki
Kobashi/Honda/Go vs Taue/Saito/Inoue

2/21
Saito/KENTA/Ishimori vs Jay/Mark/Hero
Misawa/Ogawa vs Akiyama/Aoki
Marufuji/Sugiura/Morishima vs Kobashi/Honda/Taniguchi

2/23
Suzuki/Aoki vs Jay/Mark
Marufuji/Sugiura/Yone vs Saito/KENTA/Ishimori
Misawa/Ogawa vs Morishima/Taniguchi
Kobashi/Honda/Kikuchi vs Akiyama/Shiga/Kanemaru

2/26
Kikuchi 20th Anniversary Match: Kikuchi vs Momota
Saito/KENTA/Aoki vs Jay/Mark/Hero
Morishima/Yone vs Williams/Claudio
Kobashi 20th Anniversary Match: Misawa/Ogawa/Marufuji/Terry vs Kobashi/Akiyama/Shiga/Kanemaru

2/28
Rikio Return Match: Akiyama/Rikio vs Taue/Izumida
Marufuji/Sugiura vs Williams/Claudio
Morishima/Yone vs Takayama/Sano
Misawa/Ogawa/Suzuki vs Jay/Mark/Hero

2/29
KENTA/Ishimori vs Terry/Ota
Marufuji/Sugiura/Aoki vs Jay/Mark/Hero
Misawa/Ogawa vs Williams/Claudio
Akiyama/Rikio/Kanemaru vs Morishima/Yone/Taniguchi

3/2
Akiyama/Rikio vs Hero/Claudio
Kobashi/Honda/KENTA vs Takayama/Sano/Aoki
GHC Tag Titles Match: Marufuji/Sugiura vs Jay/Mark
GHC Heavyweight Title: Misawa vs Morishima

It looks like the 3/2/08 finale in Budokan will be a likely title change from Misawa to Morishima after all the work from the last year in ROH has helped to develop his game.

Hero’s Sandwich

Ari—

On the advice of my professional advisor/agent Larry Sweeney, I must send you and your readers this sad piece of news. Due to my contractual impasse with the ownership of Ring Of Honor Pro Wrestling, I, Chris Hero, will no longer be involved with any ROH related activities, and according to Larry, the Column of Honor falls into this classification, so until ROH meets our fiduciary demands (that means money issues for all you simpletons), I will be forced to vacate my duties in the Hero’s Sandwich segment. Larr Sweeneyy told me to get you to settle with me separately, but after considering the fact that you are a public school teacher, and that teachers barely make the minimum wage, I knew making these demands would be both unrealistic and unfair to you and your measly bank account. I almost feel bad for you, Ari. Almost. However, there is a small silver lining to these events. As I am preparing to embark on a trip to perform in Japan for PRO WRESTLING NOAH, I pledge to keep you all posted on my journey, and will be sending you updates from the Far East. Mr. Misawa, when informed of my current situation said that it would be good for me to offer a sign of good faith to the ROH and its associated interests, so this is how I will do that. I can only hope that the powers that be can come to their senses and pay me for my services. It’s not like I’m asking for a lot, you know. On that note, I will take my leave for the time being. Ari, I greatly appreciate your recognizing of my and Sara Del Rey’s Intergender Tag Team Championship, and I want you to know that this withholding of services is nothing personal against you, but all based on pure business issues. I urge all of my fans to bombard ROHwrestling.com with emails to demand for my speedy return. Domo origato, Hero-ites.

Sincerely,

“Chris Hero”

The Independent Buy In Spectacular!

If you recall I wrote a while back about the significant stack of DVDs I had to be watched on my pile. I had been hugely back logged in my watching, but I managed to finish the pile last month (only to know that in the future it will be replaced with an equal or larger stack of wrestling DVDs to watch). I have been slowly filling in the blanks here on the Independent Buy In, but this week I’ll present you with FIVE choice DVD releases that you should pick up if you haven’t already.

**PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 1 (Castagnoli / Williams, Evans / Pac, Black / Shelley, Aries / Strong, PWG Tag Titles: Generico & Steen / Dragon Kid & Susumu Yokosuka) (NEW ADDITION) (Medium Recommendation)
Why You Should Buy In: PWG’s now annual major tournament event is one of the highlights of their year, bringing in major players from around the wrestling world as well as featuring the local SoCal indie wrestlers looking to make a mark. While the shows themselves were run under record high temperatures, the rest of us can enjoy the show from the comfort of home. Night one features the first of Alex Shelley’s return to PWG in a rare appearance out of TNA and if that isn’t enough to put you over the line you also get Doug Williams, Pac, and Dragon Gate talent Dragon Kid and Susumu Yokosuka on the show. This is the table setter for the tournament with the opening round so while it isn’t as absolutely must see as the last night of the tourney; it is an all around good show.
Match of the Show: This is a very solid show in terms of in ring quality. There isn’t one match that is heads and shoulders above the others. However, my personal choice is Claudio Castagnoli vs. Doug Williams in a European showdown.
Positives & Negatives: Pheonix Star & Zokre vs. The Young Bucks of Matt & Nick Johnson finally provides me with a match featuring Los Luchas that I would watch again. Their botchery in other matches has not made me think much of them in the ring, but these two teams impress with a hot opening contest. Chris Hero makes a fun appearance here, although boy did he ever get jobbed out of the tournament with the reversal of the decision in his match against Joey Ryan. Shelley is again a highlight as he tears it up with Tyler Black and the crowd is just massively hot for him. Evans vs. Pac is a battle of the high flying wrestlers and luckily both pretty much keep on even toes and don’t flub anything major. The tag team title match with Steen & Generico defending against Kid & Yokosuka is also very good, but there aren’t a lot of moments where it seems possible that we should believe in the actuality of a title change. Finally the opening DVD package must be praised for its breathtaking visual design and presentation. The wrestlers moving around the cityscape is awesome and hypes up the show. It also helps to introduce all the competitors to anyone who’s asking about just who is involved.

**PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 2 (CIMA / Tornado, Steen / Butcher, McGuinness / Richards, Kid / Yokosuka) (NEW ADDITION) (Low Recommendation)
Why You Should Buy In: The second night of the Battle of Los Angeles tournament is the weakest show of the three, but there are a few marquee matches that fans of certain wrestlers are going to want to track down and see. This show features the other half of the competitors in action. If you purchased the first show and liked what you saw and are thinking “well how did the other half of the field do?” well then you should probably pick this one up as well.
Match of the Show: Necro Butcher vs. Kevin Steen is going to be the match that every one wants to see, but the best match of the show is actually CIMA vs. Human Tornado. Both men interact incredibly well with each other, but even more surprisingly is that CIMA actually interacts just as well with Candace LaRae. I don’t think CIMA has ever been involved in an “angle” with anyone on the U.S. scene while wrestling for the American indies, but this one, with CIMA being very chivalrous to LeRae was very cool and also foreshadowed what happened with Chris Hero immediately after the match. The in ring action was definitely there to go with the psychology and storyline.
Positives & Negatives: Try as it might, Dragon Kid vs. Susumu Yokosuka just doesn’t scream “Main Event” to me, but unfortunately it is the match that closes the show. It’s a good match, but one that seems too pre-rehearsed, as if they were taking the best moments from their Dragon Gate matches (which not all that many U.S. fans will have seen) and using them in the match. The worst thing is that the crowd isn’t so up for the action and both wrestlers have to actively encourage crowd participation even though they’re trying to sell injuries from their matches…NECRO VS. STEEN! Well, what can you say except that this was a very fun match while it lasted, albeit short. I don’t want to hear any complaints about Necro working a one match style, not when a guy like Steen can play into that style and create some cool moments based off it. Plus, I find that when a guy can get over with just one punch, THAT is smart professional wrestling…McGuinness vs. Richards is another good match with interesting crowd reactions since Richards has taken a bit of backlash from the SoCal fans. A great spot here recalls Nigel’s match against Chad Collyer from ROH a few years back and an interaction with his girl involving kissing different body parts, shall we say. Good comedy fun…of course, this is the show with the slightly notorious “Tornado Crossface” and throat slash taunt on LaRae. Truth be told (sorry Bayani, that one just slipped), the crossface moment only lasts for a few seconds. I’m still very offended by what happened and in an interview Tornado did with Bryan Alvarez of F4W he didn’t seem all that sorry he did what he did there. It sucks because I dig Tornado’s character and his matches, but I can’t put this one behind me. The moment does serve to get Hero over as a major babyface, but again, was it really necessary? Also sorry to say that I skipped a few matches here, including the opener with Anderson & Bino Gambino vs. Perkins & Ronin. After watching PWG shows for the better part of two years, I could do without ever seeing another Ronin match again. Scott Lost vs. SHINGO conked out on my DVD player in the middle of the match for whatever reason, so I skipped the rest of that too.

**PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 3 (the entire show) (NEW ADDITION) (High Recommendation)
Why You Should Buy In: Now if you’re only going to get one DVD from this list, THIS is the one to get. Night Three of the BoLA tournament delivered on the potential of the field and hits you with just one great match after another. If you’re interested at all in the tournament, then of course you’re going to have to pick this one up to watch the finals and see who wins the whole thing.
Match of the Show: Its very hard to pick just one here but I was a huge fan of the Shelley vs. Sydal match. Both men matched up well with chain sequences and both were flying around the ring faster than Speedy Gonzalez with a bad case of dysentery. Shelley’s hybrid style works well in today’s modern wrestling era so his matches in PWG are major highlights because they feature him working that style. For reference sake, this is also one of the last shows Matt Sydal wrestled before he headed to OVW.
Positives & Negatives: Joey Ryan shows that he doesn’t always have to play up to his character—when called upon, he can just do the damned thing in the ring. He has a very good match with Roderick Strong, opening up the show with a nice back and forth contest. Strong is amped up for this match and his performance is proof of it. From this point on, the wrestlers have the crowd in the palm of their hands and do not let them go… Castagnoli and Pac have as good a match as you can imagine when it’s Castagnoli and Pac in the ring. Again, why Pac is so good here and didn’t impress in ROH is beyond me…Nigel McGuinness and Necro Butcher…now that is an interesting combination. It’s another ten minute or so affair but again another match that works to the strengths of both men. Necro is the crowd favorite, but Nigel has his share of supporters…Dragon Kid & El Generico have a breath taking match and remembering it, I may just have to change my favorite match pick right here and right now…There is a wacky twelve man tag featuring the wrestlers who lost out in the first round. You might think that having twelve men in the ring is just a tad overkill, but the match actually holds up well, focusing on one or two stories and rivalries and then everyone else just playing off of it. Steen’s team player support is awesome just keep a look out for it. Everyone seems to be having a ton of fun in the match and that helps the crowd have fun as well…Shelley and Strong in the semi finals is another very good match and even better for long time fans of Generation Next who can appreciate the deep history of this pairing. CIMA and Pac is an interesting match considering Pac has ties with Dragon Gate. Nigel and Generico have an awesome underdog match with Generico fighting from underneath and just roaring back to win. The three way finals has a tough night of matches to follow, but it’s a good match that tells a good story about who and why and when the eliminations take place…Bryan Danielson’s appearance at the end of the show is a good reminder that as PWG champion, he will fight the winner of the tournament down the line and would have worked more if that particular match actually happened. Instead, Danielson fought Low Ki for the PWG title recently, and well… the rest is a new PWG champion.

**Shimmer Volume 11 (Sarah Stock / MsChif, Sarah Stock / Cheerleader Melissa, Sara Del Rey / Cindy Rogers, Nikki Roxx / Lacey, Daizee Haze / Malia Hosaka, Allison Danger / Hosaka) (NEW ADDITION) (High Recommendation)
Why You Should Buy In: Despite the tournament to crown a SHIMMER champion having taken place more than six months ago, the latest bunch of new releases for the women’s wrestling product are now featuring the first and current champion Sara Del Rey. This is where she won the title and the tournament format of the shows provides an easy jumping on point for those who are interested but have no yet given a shot on the product.
Match of the Show: Volume 11 provides both the first round and the Quarterfinals of the tournament and in both rounds the women who stands out the most is actually the special international mystery star, Sarah Stock. Her match in the opening round vs. Cheerleader Melissa is intense and hard hitting right from the start, as it should be in order for the fans to know immediately what she is about in the ring. The match plays out to an interesting finish, one that won’t leave Melissa fans happy…then in the second round Stock scores another win against popular wrestler MsChif. At one point near the finish she takes MsChif and bends her in half and while that’s not unusual for MsChif, what happens next is special. Stock takes MsCif on her back in that bent pisiton and just starts rotating around and around. It’s an exciting moment and a fun match that once again, Mschif fans may not like the decision here. Stock plays a sort of tweener / spoiler in the tournament, as she is very talented and has tremendous ability, but she is taking down SHIMMER favorites left and right and having no regrets about it.
Positives & Negatives: Alicia makes her debut playing a New Jersey Girl heel to full tilt. She is annoying, but to me it’s a heel wrestler annoying not an annoying Fran Drescher’s voice makes you want her to go away type of annoying. You know what I mean? Although it is a fine line for some, truth is SHIMMER needs a heel like Alicia to help keep the faces over with the crowd…the SHIMMER fans continue to impress me with their dedication and the appreciation of the wrestlers. The card board cut outs, some with motion and animatronics (MsChif light up eyes—nice) are a very nice touch to the intimate atmosphere of the show. The Death Rey prop is introduced here and it…is…AWESOME. Sara needs to use that for EVERY show from now on…There are a quite a few rematches from earlier shows in the tournament and unfortunately while Prazak’s commentary about the history between the wrestlers helps create depth in the rivalries, it also telegraphs the finishes to those particular tournament brackets…Allison Danger goes out in the first round and I’m of two minds about this. One: BOOOOOO! We need to see more Danger in the ring. Two: That means I won’t have to bother skipping through her overly long entrance music multiple times on each DVD! WOOO! Ok seriously though, Danger’s first round ouster is a shocker, but makes sense with the story of the match and gives that “anything can happen” feel to the show. Other highlights from the tournament in this DVD include Cindy (Pinky Tuscadero) Rogers vs. Sara Del Rey with Rogers fine tuning her heel biker act, MsChif and Harley Quinn Daffney doing their awesome screaming act (again, I love seeing this happen every time, it never ceases to be entertaining)…Lacey acts super confident and is primo heel in the tournament. He match against Nikki Roxx is very good face / heel stuff with the crowd dying for Nikki to come back and win, but it just doesn’t happen.

**SHIMMER Volume 12 (Del Rey / Lacey, Del Rey / Sarah Stock, Haze / Lacey, Portuguese Princess Ariel / Josie / Nikki Roxx / Portia Perez, Melissa & MsChif / Lexie Fyfe & Hosaka) (NEW ADDITION) (High Recommendation)
Why You Should Buy In: Of course, if you want the semi finals and finals of the SHIMMER title tournament, then you’ll need volume 12 to complete the set. Aside from the excellent matches there you also get an assortment of in continuity matches from the other wrestlers, including the definition of a grudge match in Cindy Rogers vs. Allison Danger, a fun Four Corner Survival match and Melissa and MsChif together as a team.
Match of the Show: The SHIMMER tournament finals provides a tremendous wrestling match between Sara Del Rey and Lacey. This is a match you’re going to want to show to people regardless of whether or not they are a fan of women’s wrestling and say to them “watch and enjoy.” Del Rey also takes second place honors with a fantastic match against Sara Stock in the tournament semis, meanwhile Daizee Haze & Lacey continue their rivalry in a very good match. These three matches alone are worth the price of the DVD.
Positives & Negatives: Its hard to believe, but Lacey is getting more than a smattering of cheers during this show. I guess she was booked as strongly as a heel that the fans took a liking to her. Thankfully it is not a mutual feeling and Lacey successfully (for the most part) uses her heel shenanigans to turn the crowd back against her each time…SHIMMER promos continue to be the weak point of the product. The women wrestlers have had ample time now to practice, but they remain passable at best and downright gag worthy at worst. Del Rey keeps her promo at the beginning of the show short and sweet and uses the Death Rey gun! Points for that but its nowhere to be seen during the matches-booo! I believe this is the show where Prazak first mentions the “frickkin awesome” moniker for Portia Perez. It’s funny but I’m not sure how that can be utilized for a heel character…while promos may be a weak point, the commentary is the strongest it’s ever been here and on volume 11. Danger and Prazak get into some very nice and entertaining riffs on the heel wrestlers like Alicia and Portia Perez. They are both very comfortable with each other in the booth and so their interplay has developed well…I still can’t get into Serena Deeb as a babyface, while she’s a competent (but basic) wrestler she is also just too Plain Jane a character for my tastes…the 4CS has a good concept, with three faces against one heel, it quickly becomes a three on one situation for Perez and she needs to outrun her opponents. Josie has slimmed down AND improved in the ring. I believe the time in Derby City is helping…I haven’t mentioned Rain at all in these write ups. Um…Rain is hot. Yup. It’s true.

**The Independent Buy In**

2008
**CHIKARA “Cibernetico & Robin” (Torneo Cibernetico: Kings of Wrestling vs. Dorado’s Luchadores, The Olsen Twins / Cheech & Cloudy, Quackenbush / Donst, The Colony / BLK OUT ) High Recommendation
**CHIKARA “Brusied” (Kingston / Donst, Campeones de Parejas: F.I.S.T. vs. Incoherence / Castagnoli / Taylor, The Colony / Brodie Lee & Olsen Twins, Cheech & Cloudy / Osirian Portal ) High Recommendation
**Pro Wrestling NOAH “Special Budokan Double Shot”7/15 & 9/9/07 (Determination League Semi Finals & Finals, NTV Cup Finals) (NEW ADDITION) High Recommendation

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.

My Two Cents with Chris Miccio

Even though it was a bit of a slow week regarding happenings in the world of Ring Of Honor, I still muddled through and came up with two new things to rant a bit on so, without further ado, lets get it.

1. The Reported Fiscal Cut Backs By ROH — So, word broke this week that ROH might be scaling back its costs due to potential monetary losses in 2007. Now, as an economics teacher, I could kind of see this coming. Over the past few years, ROH has steadily increased the number of shows that they run each year (12 in 2002; 21 in 2003; 25 in 2004; 34 in 2005; 42 in 2006; 40 in 2007), as well as expanding into the Pay-Per-View world (5 times), as well as taking their show on the road, both to the United Kingdom (2 shows) and Japan (2 shows). Of all of these decisions, the one I always questioned was the Japan trip. While it seemed as if the time was right to show what ROH was all about in the land of the rising sun, the cost of this adventure had to be staggering, as they were most likely forced to pay for so many things, such as transportation and lodging of the talent as well as all the merchandise that they took to sell at the shows. While the shows drew very well, there is no way that the outlay could have met the cost. Was it something special? Absolutely. Are we all apt to overextend ourselves from time to time? Once again, absolutely. However, when you do this in the world of pro wrestling, it can be disastrous. Combine all this with the costs of paying for contracted talents, venue rentals, production and hardware improvements, and the move to PPV, and you have a recipe for going into debt. I know that Cary and Gabe probably thought that getting the product on Pay-Per-View TV was going to help boost ticket sales, but from my perspective, whether from watching the dvd’s or being at the live shows, it doesn’t seem to me that the size of the crowds has changed at all, and that’s not a good sign. I’m also fairly certain that the cost of distribution of the new highlight dvd’s that will be released this spring will be high, and I’m not really sure that these releases will have as great an impact as the owners of ROH believe they will. I’ve always thought of ROH in the same way as I’ve thought about all the smaller bands that have never really taken that next step, and moved into the national spotlight, even if their music is original and of a high quality. Some of those performers have accepted that role and made a decent living off of it, by marketing and selling their own merchandise and music (Bob Mould and Joseph Arthur, for examples), and seem quite satisfied selling out smaller venues and doing high quality work, that is in stark contrast to the mediocre product that is available for general or mainstream consumption. In my opinion ROH should take a lesson from these musicians, and accept what they are, which is a high quality alternative to the mainstream (WWE and TNA), and not try to compete for that same consumer dollar. If they do continue down the path that they are on, they might find themselves in the same situation that many “mom and pop” stores have found themselves in when Wal*Mart came to town, which is to say that its REALLY hard to stay economically viable against a corporate monolith. Maybe it’s a good thing for ROH to scale down the number of shows and contracted talents and get back to its roots, with a small core of consistent performers who are bolstered by regional talents when they hit the road. Some might say that this would be a significant step backwards for ROH, and to a certain extent, it probably is, but consider the alternative, which is a bleak future for another independent wrestling company. Just look at what happened to all the independent record companies of the 1990’s. Some battles are better off left alone, if you know what I mean.

2. The ROH Store Is Selling An Age Of The Fall T-Shirt — okay, just so you don’t all label me a mark for bringing this up, but why is this t-shirt available on the ROH website? Aren’t these guys supposed to be against everything that ROH stands for, but now they are selling the merchandise through the same website that sells everyone else’s shirts? To me, this is a terrible move, if you even want to have any illusion of kayfabe. If they’re supposed to be out to destroy ROH, wouldn’t it be a better move for them to sell the t-shirts on the Age of the Fall’s website? If you want to say “damn the man”, hit him where it hurts most, and that’s in the wallet. Its not as if its hard to link up an online store to an electric wallet or pay pal account, just look at how PWG or many Indy wrestlers do through their my space pages (i.e. Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli), and the minds at ROH could have easily done this to at least keep the illusion of this group being against ROH and its financial well-being. I guess when it’s all boiled down, I’m just bitching about a small, unimportant detail, but we all know that it’s the small things that count the most. And here I thought that Jimmy and company were anti-corporate and anti-big business. Oh well, I guess another revolutionary has sold out. I kind of feel like I did when I heard a Who song on a commercial. *sigh* Oh well, at least the shirt looks cool. I think I have to buy it.

Well, that’s just my two cents for this week. If you liked what I had to say or not, feel free to let me know what you think. I thank the handful of people who reached out last week, so keep the thoughts coming. Email me at [email protected]. Have a great week, and I’ll catch you next time.

Going Home

Name That Tune Week 20

Since I’m back after a week off we’re going to get right back into the game. You didn’t have to fall very far to pick up on this clue from two weeks ago:

Clue: CAW
Lyric: “I tighten up my laces when I tie my shoes.”
What’s the name of the song and the artist?

“Born to Win” By Papoose was the choice in honor of my injured homie, Jack Evans…and you know this maaaan!

This week’s winners (by order of receipt):
Premiumblandrew
soulpower
Mitchell Rose
gorsty

Thanks to those who wrote in to answer and sorry this week I could not get back to you personally, but I’ll be back on the ball for next week. Now its time for Name that Tune! for this week, February 2nd, 2008!

Clue: pimp
Lyric: “O who gonna invite the hoes that make the party valid / Cuz we don’t need a whole crib full of dudes again.”
What’s the name of the song and the artist?

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

ROH @ 411

Mike Campbell had the first look at ROH cutting costs in hisThe Tiger’s Take.

Alex Mattis continues the news and analysis of ROH cutting costs in this weeks The Best of the Rest

Robbie Brooksbank has a review of Manhattan Mayhem II.

Meanwhile J.D. Dunn moves on with the next shows after MMII by reviewingMotor City Madness 2007.

This week’s Buy or Sell is me and Bayani Domingo trading thoughts on the latest ROH & PWG stories.

Honor Bound Links

JP Prag looks at the business aspects of ROH’s decisions and other business news in this week’s Hamilton Avenue Journal.

Sforcina looks at the evolution of the “demonic” elimination chamber match. You know, because there are demons in the chamber, or something.

Tim Livingston returns to 411Mania with his thoughts on the Royal Rumble in the debut of Tim’s Take.

T.G. Corke brings you The Seventh Dimension: The Wardrobe.

Sat & Uncle Trunx provide the High Road & Low Road on John Cena winning the Rumble.

Larry Csonka with the 4R’s of the week. Now with Mike Adamle!

…You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to make that joke.

Matt Adamson looks at May 1987 in this week’s The Best of Times. Damn that’s some nostalgia

Domingo has a surprise for you…in his…well, his column. You know.

Michael Weyer goes down the list of Rumble MVPs for all 21 Rumbles.

Steve Cook Asks 411. But he has yet to ask Sara Del Rey out on a date.

Well the end of the links means that its time for the end of the column. I have absolutely no clue what I’ll be writing about next week. Maybe more prose about Groundhog’s Day. But then I’d just be repeating myself.

Thanks for reading and enjoy UFC 81 (Go Brock!) and the Super Bowl (Go Giants!)

Brooklyn! DA EM BAH SEE!
–Ari–