The Independent Mid-Card 04.22.08: The Age of the Fall Debuts

The Age of the Fall Debuts
Ring of Honor – Man Up! – Chicago Ridge, IL – September 15, 2007

The Wrestlers:
Jimmy Jacobs & Project 161 – On the heels of a career-defining Steel Cage Showdown with former tag team partner BJ Whitmer, Jimmy Jacobs found himself sidelined with an injury for the middle half of 2007. After a series of entertaining vignettes where he finally earned the affection of his longtime manager Lacey, Jacobs essentially disappeared from Ring of Honor for a few months to finish rehabbing his knee. During his absence, a number of bizarre announcements both online and at live ROH events seemed to portend a major occurrence, obliquely mentioned as ‘Project 161′. Speculation began to swirl around ROH’s third Pay-Per-View taping, taking place in September and representing the company’s 161st show. Furthermore, despite a number of denials by ROH management that ‘Project 161′ was real, most fans were overwhelmed by the numerous coincidences. A few weeks before the scheduled Pay-Per-View taping, Jacobs made his return to the ring, going on to defeat ROH students Rhett Titus and Mitch Franklin, as well as Chris Hero a couple of weeks later in Detroit.

The Angle:
We begin immediately following the conclusion of Jay & Mark Briscoe’s epic Ladder War victory over Kevin Steen & El Generico. Out of nowhere, the sound of a screaming woman begins to blare over the sound system and a group of fans clad in black hooded sweatshirts and ski masks rush the guardrail. The Briscoes begin to shout back at the fans when out of the crowd emerge a debuting Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs is wearing a white coat and carrying a cane, a remnant of his injury layoff. Jacobs & Black go face-to-face with the Briscoes, but they’re only a distraction as the Necro Butcher makes his return to ROH after a year-long absence following the end of the ROH vs. CZW angle. Necro attacks the Briscoes from behind with a fist wrapped in barbed wire, and all three men begin to beat down the ROH World Tag Team Champions. Black hits Mark with a Small Package Driver as Lacey makes her way down to the ring. The assault continues as Necro wipes Jay Briscoe’s blood on his own face, drawing a ‘you sick fuck!’ chant from the crowd (Necro: “I told ya’ if you let me outta my cage, I’s gonna pile the bodies to the sky!”). Jay’s feet are tied to the hook that had previously held the tag belts aloft for the Ladder War, and the apparatus begins to lift him into the air.

Jacobs grabs a microphone and stands underneath the hanging Jay Briscoe. Jay’s blood begins to shower down onto Jacobs, dying his hair and coat red. Jacobs talks about having pined for Lacey’s love, but how when he finally got the physical relationship he had wanted, he felt empty. He says that he, Black and Necro are bonded together, and that it was simply a matter of fate, not choice, that brought them together. Jacobs calls Necro misunderstood, and notes that because he’s not beautiful, he’s treated like an animal. Black is there because despite his skill and look, he’s still been unable to break into Ring of Honor. Jacobs then turns his attention to the Briscoes, taking a moment to drink the blood trickling down from Jay’s head. He spits Jay’s blood onto Mark before metaphorically spitting on the Briscoes’ by noting that they were bred for success, but have no moral worth. Jacobs makes it clear that the Briscoes’ drunken reputations and obnoxious arrogance are a product of the fans coddling them. Jacobs declares war on the champions as Jay is lowered to the ground. The crowd begins to chant ‘boring!’ at Jacobs, but he pushes forward (Jacobs: “See, this project is over… The Age of the Fall has just begun…”). Jacobs, Black, Necro & Lacey pose before heading out through the crowd to a loud ‘fuck you, Jimmy!’ chant. By the end, Jacobs is literally drenched in Jay’s blood. Referees and ROH staff run into the ring and untie Jay before helping the Briscoes to the back. The crowd chants loudly for the Briscoes as Jay gets into it with an Age of the Fall follower on his way towards the back. The Briscoes walk through the curtain to the backstage area as we cut to black.

The Analysis:
As the payoff to a long build, the debut of the Age of the Fall worked incredibly well. Though Jacobs’ involvement was almost a formality and Black’s connection to Project 161 had been guessed by a number of fans, the inclusion of the Necro Butcher took nearly everyone in Chicago Ridge that night by surprise. The group, though in some ways a bit of a mismatched hodge-podge, worked in that each member brought something unique to the table.

Jacobs, who is widely regarded as one of the best talkers on the Independent scene, cut another fantastic promo in a series of them for him in 2007. After his landmark “big brother” promo leading into the blowoff to his feud with former partner BJ Whitmer, and his tremendous work in the Jimmy Loves Lacey series, Jacobs had established himself as ROH’s top man on the microphone. This promo, while somewhat lost on parts of the Chicago crowd, furthers that claim, as Jacobs not only introduced (or reintroduced) the members of his stable, but set in motion their goals for the coming months.

The visual image of Jacobs bathing in Jay Briscoe’s blood was a truly startling one, but the controversy surrounding it has helped to earn the Age of the Fall’s debut something of a mythical quality. The sheer outrageousness of Jacobs clothing and body being dyed red by his opponent’s blood is very much an iconic image for his career, and has helped to define the ruthlessness that his character would develop over the coming months.

The Aftermath:
The Age of the Fall would go on to become one of the most dominant factions in Ring of Honor. In the coming months, Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black & the Necro Butcher would face off with Jay & Mark Briscoe in various combinations, leading up to Jacobs & Black upsetting the Southern Delawareans for the ROH World Tag Team Titles at Ring of Honor’s final 2007 event. In response, ROH brass would immediately book the Age of the Fall in a pair of title defenses under the grueling Ultimate Endurance rules, and in the second of those matches, Jacobs & Black would be overwhelmed on the way to the No Remorse Corps of Davey Richards & Rocky Romero winning the belts. Around the same time, Jacobs began aggressively recruiting former ROH World Champion Austin Aries to join his group, believing that Aries’ discontent with a string of losses might sway him to follow their cause. Once Tammy Sytch countered the Age of the Fall by offering Aries her services as a manager, Jacobs was forced to up the ante by having the love of his life Lacey do her level best to persuade Aries that the Age of the Fall was the right place for him. Concurrently, Jacobs seemed to be on something of a membership drive, having recently added former WWE superstars Zach Gowan and Joey Matthews to his stable. Then, after Aries & Lacey reportedly disappeared together for well over a week, the Age of the Fall as well as Ring of Honor fans, were clamoring for an answer as to whether or not Aries would be joining the group.

This past Friday in Detroit, Aries and Lacey kissed in the middle of an ROH ring, leading to speculation that Aries had indeed joined up with Jacobs and company. That is, until the next night in Chicago Ridge. That night, when Jacobs came out to welcome Aries into the fold, Aries rejected Jacobs’ invitation outright, claiming to have stolen Lacey away from him. Aries warned Jacobs to stay out of their business, but Jacobs was incensed. After having the Necro Butcher destroy a pair of ROH students, Jacobs would return to the ring to try to get an explanation out of Lacey. Lacey simply apologized to Jacobs before leaving with Aries, causing Jacobs to break down crying in the ring. The Age of the Fall returned shortly afterwards to attack the Briscoes, with Jacobs stabbing Mark Briscoe in his already-injured wrist, putting one-half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions on the shelf for what looks to be three-to-six months. Then later in the evening, after his stablemates had dispatched with the Vulture Squad in a three-on-three affair, Jacobs once again returned to the ring, this time to call out Aries. Aries returned, but when he began to get the better of Jacobs, the rest of the Age of the Fall ran back to ringside, with the numbers eventually overwhelming Aries. Lacey begged for mercy on his behalf as Jacobs seemingly prepared to slit Aries’ throat, and just when Jacobs seemed ready to attack Lacey herself, he once again fell to the mat and began to weep. Aries & Lacey escaped with their health, but given Jacobs’ obviously fragile mental state, it seems to only be a matter of time before this issue gets even more out of hand.

The Final Word:
Having seen this past weekend’s events with my own eyes, I can tell you that it is amongst the best storytelling that Ring of Honor has ever done. In one night, Jacobs and Aries were able to advance a storyline by light-years, something of a rarity in a promotion known for extended feuds. Mark my words that when this show is released, it will be a must-own for fans of great wrestling angles.

To see this week’s featured angle, Man Up! is available at rohwrestling.com. The Pay-Per-View portion of the show is highlighted by the Ladder War between Jay & Mark Briscoe and Kevin Steen & El Generico, as well as Takeshi Morishima putting the ROH World Tag Team Title on the line against “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson. There’s also a fun series between the Resilience and the No Remorse Corps, as well as a fantastic opening Four Corner Survival featuring Nigel McGuinness, Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Hero, and Naomichi Marufuji. If you don’t own this yet, get it now.

411 plugs go like this: Column of Honor, Truth B Told, and The Navigation Log as always. Buy or Sell has me and Larry going toe-to-toe in my last edition as editor. IWAMS Sweet Science Sixteen 2001 gets covered by Furious and go read some of Dunn’s stuff even though he didn’t do any ROH this week.

I’m off of Buy or Sell duty, but I’m sure Bauer’s going to do a great job with it. ROH Roundtable’s are now Ari’s domain, but there aren’t shows until mid-May, so don’t hold your breath. A very fun Independent wrestling project got started this week, but you won’t know about it for a little bit yet. Trust me, though, this one’s worth the wait.

iTunes looks this way:

1. “Just A Girl” by No Doubt – from Tragic Kingdom
2. “Breathe” by Michelle Branch – from Hotel Paper
3. “You” by Candlebox – from Candlebox
4. “Everything Leaves a Mark” by Lucas Reynolds – from The Space Between the Lines EP
5. “Aside” by The Weakerthans – from Left and Leaving

Over at The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net, I’ve got a controversial new edition of The Up & Under that discusses Eddie Kingston’s recent no-shows. Brad & Jake took on ROH’s Chaos at the Cow Palace while Brad went solo for FIP Redefined. There’s a new kid at the table as Sean Buckelew debuts his For the Sake of Argument, and you should also be sure to check out our most recent podcast. Great new stuff all the time at The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net. Viva la renegade website!

I have a big announcement coming next week, but don’t feel like turning the cards quite yet. For now, let’s just celebrate another week of me atop the 411 Staff Fantasy Baseball standings. Oh, and NBA first round predictions go like this: Boston in 4, Philadelphia in 6, Orlando in 5, Cleveland in 7, Utah in 6, Phoenix in 7, New Orleans in 6, Los Angeles in 4. You heard it here first, kids.

196 to 6. Get Started. The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net. Ole!