Column of Honor: 02.23.08: Part One: The Era of Honor Turns 6 Years

Anniversaries

Six years ago I hadn’t heard of Ring of Honor and independent wrestling was little more than a blip on my radar screen in. As far as I knew, Eddie Guerrero was back in WWE after an extended break due to rehab. I had no clue he had spent some time on the independent wrestling scene, much less appearing on two of the first three Ring of Honor shows.

In the wake of ECW closing and WWE buying both it and WCW out in 2001, there was a major vacancy in the wrestling landscape. While IWA: Mid South and Jersey All Pro Wrestling remained some of the more well known independent promotions, there was a vacuum of power and attention in the wake of two of the “Big Three” ceasing to exist. Yet, nature abhors a vacuum and lo and behold many wrestling promotions began to sprout up.

Really, the current new era of the independent wrestling world could be traced back to the NWA 51st Anniversary show, which featured the best of the best independent wrestling talents from all over the NWA featured on one super card. On that show, two young and talented wrestlers, Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles fought each other for the very first time.

Soon after the King of the Indies tournament was held, with some of the best and brightest talents being fea6tured, many of whom you internet readers know of very well as “today’s” names: Daniels, Styles, Low Ki, Samoa Joe, Frankie Kazarian and many, many more.

From that tournament sprouted up the idea to start Ring of Honor, developed by Rob Feinstein, Doug Gentry and Gabe Sapolsky. All due credit to these three men, despite all the controversies and criticisms of the last several years, it all started with them.

Ring of Honor wasn’t the only company being grown from the bottom up at this point in time. From the Jarrett family came Total Nonstop Action, what they were thought could be their response to WWE’s big monopoly on the wrestling world. From Philadelphia came Mike Quackenbush and Tom Carter with a unique concept called CHIKARA Pro, mixing in Lucha Libre, Japanese Puroresu, British Lancaster style and a whole bag of wacky characters and concepts. From the West Coast up came Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and the PWG Six, offering another look at the idea of pro wrestling from the So Cal scene.

Flash forward six years later and all of these companies are still in existence, still out there and working hard to be the best wrestling product each can possibly be. Some are more successful than others creatively, some financially and some with more mainstream attention. Yet all have survived the worst of times and thrived in the best of times in this new era of independent professional wrestling.

Ring of Honor probably wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for Cary Silkin coming in with the money to help keep the company afloat in 2004. It definitely wouldn’t be here today without its base of fans buying into the product.

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As for me, this is my anniversary as well. Five years ago I began to look into this something called Ring of Honor just a little more closely. It was through 411’s own reviews of the product by Justin Baidsen and the excitement and exuberance in his DVD reviews that convinced me to take the (Pepsi) plunge into the world of Ring of Honor.

My first show I watched was not The Era of Honor Begins, but rather Round Robin Challenge. The first man I saw on screen was Christopher Daniels, cutting an intense promo about how he was the best wrestler on the independent scene and that he resented how ROH was using his name to make a name for themselves. I was hooked from that moment on. The main event of Danielson vs. Low Ki in a knock down, drag out fight just sealed the deal.

Four years ago I went to see my first ROH show, At Our Best, on the same weekend as I went to see Wrestlemania XX at Madison Square Garden, my first WWE PPV live and in person. If it weren’t for the awesome glory of watching Chris Benoit (who at the time was one of my wrestling heroes) finally win the big one, I’d have to say that I woudn’t have been able to tell you which was the better show of the two. Despite WWE having the better production and larger venue, the show Ring of Honor provided was neck and neck with them. AJ Styles and CM Punk tore it up in an awesome wrestling match with Ricky Steamboat providing extra fuel to the fire as special ref. Jay Briscoe bled buckets as Samoa Joe dominated an exciting cage match and celebrated one year as ROH World Champion. Special K got killed by the Carnage Crew in an awesome Scramble Cage match, a spectacle right out of the best of old Wargames matches.

Three years ago I was able to see Ring of Honor play in my own hometown of New York City, just in the shadows of Madison Square Garden. They had one of the best shows in their history on that night, and the crowd and atmosphere was so electric that at the time I didn’t think anything could top it. Little did I know.

Two years ago I decided to move on from the 411 Music Zone in favor of starting a column based on what had become without a shadow of a doubt my favorite promotion. Column of Honor was born out of my appreciation and fandom for the ROH product. ROH not only saved me as a wrestling fan, but it seems to have prolonged my lifespan as a so called internet columnist.(I still get a good laugh out of that one, yeah I’m a pretty serious person but I still know about humor of the situation).

Last year I was able to see my first ROH “anniversary show”, the Fifth Year Festival show at the Grand Ballroom. It was Samoa Joe’s last NYC appearance and Homicide’s homecoming as ROH World champion. It was a great time and even though it wasn’t the best show ever, it remains one of my favorite live experiences.

This year I get to do it all over again. The Sixth Anniversary Show is here in NYC and its Danielson vs. McGuinness for the ROH World Title, the biggest match Ring of Honor currently has to offer. I couldn’t imagine myself being anywhere else tonight.

Welcome to the Column.

Ring Toss
-Anniversaries
-You Can’t Argue With Mother Nature
-ROH Results: 02/22/08 in Long Island, NY
-McGuinness vs. Danielson: Where Honor is a Line Crossed
-ROH Call
-ROH News
-Hero’s Sandwich
-Honorarium: Bryce Remsburg
-ROH Preview: Sixth Anniversary Show in NYC
-My Two Cents with Chris Miccio
-Name That Tune
-The Independent Buy In
-ROH @ 411
-Honor Bound Links
-Out

You Can’t Argue With Mother Nature

Sometimes I really hate clichés. “You can’t fight the law”, “it ain’t over till its over” “Where’s the beef?” Yeah it could be a long winter snowstorm before I ever heard those kinds of phrases again.

And one more: “we should have seen it coming.”

That “it” being a huge snow event coming right down the pike of the Eastern seaboard. To be more accurate, that a winter storm would be a major factor affecting a Ring of Honor show. Snow cancels flights. Snow delays talent. A lack of talent changes up a card set and hyped up for some time. We should have seen it coming…and we should have because it’s happened before!

In fact the circumstances surrounding the events in Long Island, New York just yesterday were eerily similar to the events in Ring of Honor history two years ago. Just about the exact same date. Just about the exact same city. Just about the exact same circumstances.

Back in February of 2006, a major snowstorm irrevocably changed Ring of Honor’s Long Island show, which was set to feature Roderick Strong vs. Low Ki in the main event. Actually, even before that show that main event had been scrapped as Low Ki and Ring of Honor had a parting of ways. Instead, the show became known as Unscripted II and featured a surprise appearance by CM Punk (although if you had three guesses he may have been one of them). Punk was contracted to WWE and making appearances in Ohio Valley Wrestling when he famously asked Tommy Dreamer for permission to appear at the Ring of Honor show, claiming that they really needed him and that it was a one time deal.

Punk’s appearance and subsequent wrestling match (did he tell Dreamer that he would be wrestling too? Shhhh…) tagging up with Bryan Danielson to fight Jimmy Rave and Adam Pearce, along with a ROH Pure Title match between Nigel McGuinness and Austin Aries helped to save what could have otherwise been a disaster of a show. As it was, it certainly was one of the weaker shows of that year. The snow had affected flights out to the area, and many of the ROH wrestlers who were contracted to TNA did not make the show, instead choosing to head on out to Florida in order to ensure they would be there for the Against All Odds Pay Per View. Roderick Strong and Austin Aries decided they would go to the ROH show first, and that resulted in both of them being on the outs with TNA management (it wouldn’t be the last time for Aries).

So here we are two years later and I could swear it’s just like déjà vu all over again…damn I hate clichés sometimes, but I guess when one works for you, you just gotta roll with it, baby. Anyway, ever since the word got out in the area that snow would be coming during the weekend, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach something was going to go wrong again with the ROH shows. I just felt it, but I never trust my intuition nor am I known for being a clairvoyant, so I wouldn’t have dreamed of getting in touch with anyone over in ROH to warn them. Heck, I’m not Patricia Arquette from Medium, I’m not even that fake psychic dude from Psych.

Initial reports were for snow on Thursday morning, but when not a speck of white fluff showed up on my doorstep, I knew that the snow would be delayed a day, and that would take us right up to Friday, the first day of the New York double shot.

While ROH sent word through their website’s message board that the show would go on as scheduled, it was not until right at bell time that fans got the word that six, count em, SIX, wrestlers would not be able make the show due to being held up by the storm. ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness, Davey Richards,Brent Albright,Tyler Black, Erick Stevens and FIP Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong would all be no shows at the event. This was a massive list of talent, including both singles champions, representing a bunch of matches up and down the card. Once again, Long Island would have a show changed due to the weather.

Now, you can’t really argue with the weather and if the airlines shut down or are delayed, it is what it is, but man; you think that ROH couldn’t buy a break with this kind of luck in Long Island. ROH could have been in major trouble once again as far as having a disaster of a show. Not to mention that with TNA having its entire talent roster on hand for a competing show in nearby Westbury, it could have been blown out of the water as far as show to show quality.

It looks like TNA was actually very smart to bus the entire roster down from Elmira, NY…and it makes me, a simple internet columnist, wonder where the organization was for Ring of Honor and its wrestlers to make it to the venue all well and together? There are no excuses for Ring of Honor here—they simply should have planned better and had more foresight into the weather for the area. It’s not the first time that Mother Nature has taken them down, but did it really have to be this way?

Luckily, ROH went with a less is more approach to the show, most likely because they had no choice but to do so. A simple eight man tournament was set up for a future ROH World title shot with the talent available at the venue, and luckily enough there was plenty of good quality talent available. ROH began with a match they had booked for the show, Bryan Danielson vs. Rocky Romero. This match was set up by McGuinness and Danielson choosing each other’s opponent for this show as part of the build for tonight’s ROH World Title match, but now it would become part of the eight man title shot tourney.

Early reports from the show had that match and several others in the first round being of very good quality. Not to mention that with the reshuffled line up and tournament format, several fresh and interesting matches were presented to the crowd. Delirious and Kevin Steen went at it in the opening round, and Go Shiozaki’s debut was presented against rough and tumble brawler Necro Butcher. Now THAT is something unique and out of the box, and probably would not have ever happened in ROH were in not for the snowstorm.

The semifinals also gave fans in attendance two first time matches in Ring of Honor, Bryan Danielson vs. Kevin Steen (a sure fire main event match if it were to take place in PWG) and El Generico vs. Go Shiozaki. Then Kevin Steen made it past Go and collected two hundred dollars and a ROH World title shot by defeating Shiozaki in the finals.

All I can say to that is thank goodness. I respect Go Shiozaki’s talent in the ring and know he is coming in to give effort while in Ring of Honor. However, I am nearly hitting my saturation point as far as foreign talent coming into the promotion and going over the rest of the roster. I’ve never really been one to harp on ROH’s policy of pushing the puro talent over the homegrowns. However, now ROH is in a time of need to develop the upper card and main event and the best way to do that is to push the talent that will have the most likelihood of sticking around for the long term. Kevin Steen is one of the current crop of ROH mid and upper carders that fit that bill. I’m glad to see him take the tournament and go over not just one or two, but three different wrestlers on the same night.

If there is a basis for complaint about a show being so drastically affected by the weather it is that ROH should have been better organized to coordinate the arrival of talent. If I’m a fan in attendance I would be upset that so many wrestlers could not make the show even if it was out of anyone’s control. Conversely, the fans responding back about the show have almost nothing but positive things to say. It looks like ROH came through in the clutch as far as it’s in ring product was concerned. They needed a big one here and the talent responded. Kudos for that.

What a strange world we live in. ROH does without six of its wrestlers and still comes out for the most part unscathed.

I guess we learned tonight that like the cliché goes, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might get what you need.

Someone really needs to write a song about that.

ROH Results: 02/22/08 in Deer Park, NY

Matches
-Number one contender’s tournament: Quarter Finals: “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson defeated Rocky Romero via submission with a fujiwara armbar.
-Number one contender’s tournament: Quarter Finals: Kevin Steen defeated Delirious via pinfall with the Senton Bomb.
-Number one contender’s tournament: Quarter Finals: El Generico defeated Austin Aries via pinfall with a roll up.
-Number one contender’s tournament: Quarter Finals: Go Shiozaki defeated Necro Butcher via pinfall with a moonsault.
-Number one contender’s tournament: Semi Finals: Kevin Steen defeated Bryan Danielson via submission with a sharpshooter.
-Number one contender’s tournament: Semi Finals: Go Shiozaki defeated El Generico via pinfall after the Go Flasher.
-Jason Blade won a Four Corner Survival that also included Human Tornado, Mitch Franklin and Pelle Primeau. Blade pinned Franklin after a pumphandle driver.
-The Vulture Squad of Jigsaw & Ruckus defeated Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs and Zack Gowen after Ruckus pinned Gowen with a moonsault legdrop.
-Number one contender’s tournament: Finals: Kevin Steen defeated Go Shiozaki to earn a future ROH World Title shot. Steen pinned Shiozaki after two package piledrivers.

Issues & Angles

-Left Out in the Cold: A makeshift tournament was held in Long Island in order to determine a new number one contender to the ROH World championship. If Danielson won, presumably he would have earned another title shot after tomorrow’s match (were he to be unsuccessful in his bid). Kevin Steen begins to make good on his vow to win ROH gold sometime in 2008 by winning the tournament.

-Sweeney’s Show: “Sweet & Sour” Larry Sweeney had his big debut for his new show here by interviewing Shane Hagadorn. Both men ripped on the LI crowd and then Sweeney issued an ultimatum to Bobby Dempsey: shape up or ship out.

-Man on a Mission: Human Tornado’s goals in ROH are clear: he wants to bring more women into the promotion, and he wants to party with the ladies that are already there. After his match, Tornado was all bout Lacey, inviting her to dance and to start a new faction with her, if you know what I mean. Lacey obviously declined, thus bringing out Jimmy Jacobs to come to her honor. Jacobs brought along Zack Gowen, a new member of Age of the Fall (making a one time special appearance).

-Go, Stopped: Go Shiozaki’s debut in ROH demonstrated that he is a player with two wins over ROH wrestlers. However, Go’s chances of earning a title shot were a no go after losing to Steen. Go shook hands with Steen’s partner El Generico after the match. He was cautious about shaking hands with Steen initially but did eventually agree to a handshake. Go cuts a promo, as does Steen, stating that the NRC are scared of he and Generico and again vowing to win gold in ROH this year.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson: Where Honor is a Line Crossed

How did two wrestlers known for upholding the idea of honor and integrity become the most fierce and unforgiving rivals in this era of ROH?

For the last two years it has been Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness, Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson at the forefront of this wrestling company. Both men strove to be the best wrestler in the world. More often than not, both men have run into each other over and over on the way to finding the proving measure of that goal.

It may not be the most embittered rivalry in Ring of Honor history or even the most closely contested, but it’s a compelling combination nonetheless. Over the last two years both men have fought to determine the better wrestler, but more importantly who is best fit to be called champion. As always in competitive sports, there can be only one man at the top.

For most of 2006 it was Bryan Danielson, the dominant Ring of Honor champion. However, for as long as Danielson has been showing the fans why he is the best, he has always felt the nipping at his feet that being the pressure from Nigel McGuinness, who from 2006 onwards became one of the most rapidly improved professional wrestlers on the independent wrestling landscape.

True, Danielson has thus far bettered McGuinness in most accomplishments. Dragon became ROH World champion before McGuinness and back in August of 2006 he also unified the World title with Nigel’s Pure title. It was a fiercely intense contest in just about every manner conceivable. It was brutal physically, emotionally and psychologically on both men.

While McGuinness was the first to defeat Danielson in their loose ongoing series of matches (via count out at Weekend of Champions Night One), it was Danielson who was able to decisively defeat and dominate McGuinness during the Unified match. Basically, their rivalry has all been about that one decision ever since. Danielson has the win over McGuinness and lords it over him every chance he gets.

There have always been the doubters and the naysayers, who have said that McGuinness could never and would never, be able to defeat Danielson clean and outright in a one-on-one contest. More importantly, the facts of Ring of Honor history have bore that claim out. Even in their most recent fights against one another (a Survival of the Fittest 2007 qualifying match), McGuinness has only managed a draw, a not too happy result for the current ROH champion.

It is interesting to see just how close these two resemble each other. One is the American ambassador of wrestling freedom and the other is the English spirit of wrestling glory.

Both men purport to believe in and support the principles of honor, the idea of fighting spirit and fighting your heart out that many ROH fans look for when supporting their wrestler of choice. Both men have proven themselves to be noble and true when the time is called for and this is why both men are fan favorites after all of these years.

Surprising then, to see just how far these two have gone over the last few months, treating each other with such dishonor and disrespect.

Both men have not been able to resist pouring salt in the other’s wounds when the man is down. Danielson especially has been caustic in his interactions with McGuinness, repeatedly mocking Nigel’s standing as champion as well as making light of his injury. Of course there was the incident at Glory By Honor VI Night Two when Danielson mocked the rebound lariat to thunderous applause from the partisan NYC crowd. Dragon has also openly criticized McGuinness not wrestling through his multiple injuries. These are not necessarily the actions of a man who abides by honor and yet, so it has been for the former champion.

Likewise, McGuinness has not resisted an opportunity in interviews or live in person to exclaim just how much he dislikes Danielson and how much he wants to defeat him. McGuinness has at times resorted to fourth grade taunting to get under the skin of Danielson, including at Race to the Top Tournament when he made “your momma” jokes and the like to infuriate Danielson, to the delight of many in attendance. McGuinness has also taken the time to stand over Danielson’s prone body after recent defeats, stating just how much he enjoys seeing the former best wrestler in the world being taken down a peg in his own estimation.

These are some very troubling actions undertaken by men who should know better, who should strive to be better than this. Yet, the competition between these two has grown so deeply entrenched over the last few months that this misbehavior is what we have come to for both men. Danielson’s dislike of McGuinness has grown so much that his actions are almost dictated by his own blinded emotions. Meanwhile, Nigel’s obsession with proving he is better than Danielson and that he can defeat him in a one-on-one match has bent him to the limit of his physical and psychological make up. Whether it reflects badly on either of them should be for the court of public opinion to decide. Ultimately, these two honorable men who have at times done dishonorable things will go to war against each other, with their honor and reputation at stake within the confines of the squared circle.

As well as the ROH World Championship.

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 02/23/2008

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. Ruckus & Jigsaw, 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: Roderick Strong (since 02/16/2008)
-defeated Erick Stevens via count out to win the title (FIP title can change hands on count out)
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

The Word from Gabe

According to a news post from Gabe on the ROH message board, all of the talent has either arrived in NYC or will do so by morning, so no changes will have to be made to the sixth anniversary show. Nigel McGuinness is on land and will be at the show. The ROH title will be defended tomorrow, that is unless ROH decides to tease out a no show appearance for kicks and giggles.

Hammerstein?!

The word from several fans in attendance at the Long Island show last night was that the big announcement ROH will have for the NYC crowd is that the next show, on May 10th, would take place in the Hammerstein Ballroom. ROH currently runs the well decorated Grand Ballroom, which is above the Hammerstein Ballroom in the same building. The Hammerstein is a larger concert / event venue that most wrestling fans will recognize as the location of many ECW Pay Per Views including the WWE version of ECW’s show (One Night Stand. ‘ 05 and ’06). Hammerstein can hold about 3,000 which is almost double what ROH can currently bring in with the Grand Ballroom venue.

For ROH to go with the Hammerstein they have to already have some sort of big match or draw lined up. Early speculation on the F4W board has it that RVD and Sabu will make a special appearance to take on The Briscoe Brothers in a one of a kind dream match. This is only speculation for right now by one poster and hasn’t been confirmed yet, so take it for what it’s worth. RVD has said in multiple interviews that he is not looking to get back into wrestling on a long term basis, but he has done special appearances for WWE and for Booker T’s independent promotion in Texas. Given Gabe Sapolsky’s ECW connection, it is plausible he could convince RVD and Sabu to make the show….and those two in a tag match against The Briscoes could certainly be the draw to make that show sell.

The Return of Detroit Motor City

From the ROH website:

Something has been eating away at Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin, The Motor City Machine Guns, since ROH’s “Good Times, Great Memories” event last year. They lost a classic to Jay & Mark Briscoe on that show that ended up at the top of many match of the year polls. That loss has been haunting them. Now they are set to return to ROH to try to even the score.

The Motor City Machine Guns are regarded as one of the elite teams in the entire wrestling industry. ROH’s tag team scene is red hot. Shelley & Sabin want to conquer the world. They know that in order to do that they have to beat ROH’s best teams. Things are going to get very interesting in Detroit and Chicago. Tickets are on sale for both shows at ROHwrestling.com, Tickets.com or by calling 215-781-2500. Stay tuned for more news on the surprising return of Shelley & Sabin.

The return of the Motor City Machine Guns struck everyone by surprise when it was announced on Thursday. Mostly, no one expected contracted TNA talent to appear on Ring of Honor shows ever again. This news led briefly to all sorts of other speculation and gossip such as the possible return of Samoa Joe or the end of ROH on PPV, but Gabe Sapolsky has shot those down. Not only will ROH on PPV continue, but Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley will return for two shows, most likely fighting The Briscoes on at least one of those shows. Apparently it was a simple deal brokered between ROH and TNA that allowed for these two to return for a two shot deal. ROH will not feature the team on PPV and that means ROH can have them appear on the DVDs they sell within their own website (allowable within their TNA contracts).

Of course it is interesting to note that the MCMG were the subject of rumors last week about how they have fallen out of the good graces of TNA management for listening too much to the internet hype about themselves and for allegedly declining several TNA booking suggestions, including blading at the most recent PPV. What if any impact any or all of those rumors have on this announcement, well, I frankly have no clue and can’t even begin to speculate.

It’s like déjà vu all over again. I’m sure I’ve used that line some other point, but no matter. Seriously, one year from April the Machine Guns went at it against The Briscoes in what was an almost universally praised match, and now fans in either Detroit or Chicago will be able to see an encore.

Funny how just a few new announcements seem to turn the tide of excitement and buzz back in ROH’s favor, especially since the last few weeks have been filled with downers and net-gativity about the fate of ROH in 2008.

FIP and ROH to have closer Ties in Continuity

In a shocker, Roderick Strong defeated Erick Stevens last Saturday at FIP “Redefined” to win the FIP World Heavyweight Title. There will be much more on this match in the ROH Video Wire this week and in an article on the main page of ROHwrestling.com. FIP “Redefined” saw FIP change in many ways. FIP will now follow ROH storylines and characters, although some characters may be cheered differently by the Florida fanbase.

The FIP World Heavyweight Title will now officially fill the void in ROH as a second singles belt. Note, we did not say “secondary” but rather it is officially a second singles belt in ROH. There were many other changes at FIP “Redefined” last Saturday including: Roderick Strong won the FIP belt and turned on the fans for the first time in his FIP career; new lighting system; Dave Prazak lost his managerial license and DP Associates is no more after years in FIP; live commentary at the shows with Dave Prazak now strictly as a commentator; Lacey & Rain leave the YRR for Age Of The Fall; The Heartbreak Express can never wrestle in FIP again after a long run including two reigns as FIP Tag Team Champions. As you can see a lot has changed in FIP and rumors have it that even more will develop on March 22nd when FIP returns to action in Crystal River, FL.

To be honest, I’m of two minds about both pieces of news here. As far as the FIP title switch, I am definitely perturbed that Stevens won the belt in NYC just to lose it so soon. Then again, I guess that is the point of the booking here and it sets up the main event program in FIP for the next six months or so of Stevens chasing Strong for the belt. I’m just not happy that Stevens had to be temporarily derailed after huge wins in ROH against Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries. I also had the feeling that ROH did this so that Stevens wouldn’t look nearly as bad in losing to Go Shiozaki in their match that was not to be last night. At least at that point it wouldn’t be a champion losing to a debuting wrestler.

On the other hand, possession of the belt also restores power to Roderick Strong and currently makes the NRC a stable of champions—that isn’t by accident. The ROH World Tag Team titles are currently capable of switching at any time, but it still retains the prestige of being the symbol of the company’s tag division. Richards and Romero as a tag team gain that extra “oomph” from being the tag champions and its only natural their leader is a champion as well.

I definitely don’t like the FIP Heavyweight belt becoming the “official” second title of ROH, even though it has been this way unofficially for the better part of a year. I just don’t feel that ROH’s second title should be the Heavyweight belt of another company. It just rings hollow to me, even if Stevens and Strong do a fantastic job of fighting it out for the belt. ROH’s second belt should be called an ROH belt and while that might seem like a small and unimportant detail to me it makes a world of difference. It’s like during the Invasion angle for WWE when the WCW title was defended on the shows—what did that belt really mean when in WWE the most important belt was the WWE title? It wasn’t until the WCW title was unified with the WWE belt to create the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship that the title situation was sorted out. In Ring of Honor, it’s clear that the ROH World title is the belt that is most important to the company.

I’ll still always believe that ROH should never have folded the Pure title, because that was a unique division with an original premise and style. It may have gotten off to a slow start, but by the time Nigel McGuinness dominated as champion that belt had some really good prestige behind it. They could have kept that title going under important angles and matches for a long time after that. Instead we get the FIP title. For me, that’s sort of like wanting a Transformer action figure for Chanukah when I was a child and getting some Go-bots instead.

On the surface I’m fine with FIP becoming in line with Ring of Honor storylines—there has always been a connection between the two companies anyway, so creating more cohesion between the two products was always inevitable. The problem for me comes with the fear that this means I will have to purchase FIP DVDs to follow current and ongoing Ring of Honor storylines. I buy too much wrestling product as it is, and while I’m an ROH completist (both out of choice as a fan and necessity as a columnist) I just don’t know how much farther my wallet can stretch for wrestling or even how much more free time I can spare to watch even more wrestling. If there is a match I really want to see in ROH and its set up through an ROH show but I have to buy the FIP DVD to watch it, then that would upset me. For my comic book fans out there, this would be the equivalent of buying all the different Spider-Man titles during a crossover saga in order to follow one story. I am hoping ROH does not choose to follow this route, instead making the FIP storylines keep in-line with face and heel divisions in ROH but still progressing the angles and matches in their own way.

Dragon Gate vs. ROH Matches Continue

We have another ROH vs. Dragon Gate match to announce for 3/28 in Orlando. It will pit Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs. BxB Hulk & Shingo!!! This event now features three ROH vs. Dragon Gate tag team bouts that can all tear the house down. Already signed are The Briscoes vs. Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito and Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino. ROH will show Orlando what total nonstop action is all about!!!

Now that the third tag team match has been signed I think it’s safe to assume we’re looking at a tag wars program between ROH and Dragon Gate. I’m liking each of these matches as a marquee showdown between these teams. The interesting aspect is that this match seems designed with BxB Hulk and SHINGO as the faces and Black and Jacobs to be the ones ROH fans are cheering against.

ROH All Stars vs. NOAH All Stars in Dover, NJ

Dover, NJ will get some of the fallout from this Saturday’s Manhattan show. A huge tag team main event has already been signed. 3/15 in Dover, NJ will have Bryan Danielson & Austin Aries vs. Nigel McGuinness & Go Shiozaki.

ROH’s offering of tag team matches seems incredibly strong as we continue on in 2008, as this match and the others announced above definitely have potential to be special and very memorable. Danielson and Aries have a loose affiliation as a tag team these days and work very well together (although their win-loss record isn’t the best at the moment). McGuinness of course continues to show his NOAH ties with his support of Go Shiozaki. It’s a logical character continuity but I don’t necessarily know if it will make McGuinness any more popular with the fans when he keeps aligning with NOAH wrestlers above ROH wrestlers.

Larry & Bobby

Super agent Larry Sweeney says he has something special in store for Bobby Dempsey at the Manhattan Center on Saturday. He would not give us any other information. We tried to find out the name of Sweeney’s talk show, but he said he has already announced it and to do our research. If you find out where he announced the name of his talk show let us know.

We’re already starting to figure out just what Sweeney’s message is for Bobby Dempsey. It looks like our favorite Sweet & Sour trainee will have to start winning to earn his keep on the stable.

Return of the Sytch

Tammy Sytch just informed ROH that she will be in attendance. You know Lacey will have something to say about this.

Sytch’s appearance in New York City this past December was very successful. She was well received at the autograph table but also was very entertaining in her role during the show, playing the catalyst for Lacey to become very upset and enraged. I’m assuming from the hint in this newsbit that the Lacey and Tammy Sytch interaction not only continues tonight in NYC, but likely steps up a bit as far as the intensity. I smell a , dare I say it…CATFIGHT!!!!

The Jig is Up?

Julius Smokes has raised some eyebrows with his statement that Jigsaw must win the ROH World Tag Titles along with Ruckus against Davey Richards & Rocky Romero this Saturday in New York or show his face. This is not a ROH stipulation, but rather something Smokes has said to motivate Jigsaw. We don’t know if Jigsaw will indeed unmask if The Vulture Squad don’t win the straps. Will Jigsaw unmask if his team loses or will this motivation push him and Ruckus to the ROH World Tag Team Titles? The result of this one is going to be very interesting.

Now this is a bit of a curve ball thrown amidst the stable warfare storyline. It’s true that Jigsaw doesn’t have the best win-loss record in ROH at the moment, but I’m surprised that we’re going with the win or unmask ultimatum so soon here. Especially coming from within the ranks of his team, things seem just a bit off with this news bit.

Column of Honor continues with part two…next!