Column of Honor 5.03.08: Part One – Getting down to Business

Hello, my name is not Ari Berenstein. However, I am Jerome Cusson. You might remember me from such reviews as Friends, Family Guy, Futurama, The Simpsons, and South Park. Between 411sports’ Ken Schmidt calling me “notorious” and Ari calling me controversial, I guess I have quite the reputation. Because I have negative opinions of new episodes of “South Park” and bashed “The Age of the Fall” last time, one would assume that’s how I’ve amassed these labels. To try and counter that notion, I’m going to try and be Mr. Positive for this column. I’ve thrown together a couple of pieces about what’s going on at Hammerstein next week. I’ve also taken something I once posted to the ROH message board, edited some things, and used it for an unforgettable ending to this week’s Column of Honor. So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Top Story: SHIMMER title gets mischievous and Roderick stays strong

Ring of Honor may not have had any shows last weekend, but there were two huge stories that directly affect next week’s show at Hammerstein.

The first took place at the sold-out Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL. In one volume, MsChif has SHIMMER champion Sara Del Rey pinned for ten seconds. Then later that night, she won the championship in a monumental upset. It was a long night, some seven hours of action from the ladies. But after almost a year, the Death Rey is no longer the champ. I imagine that Ring of Honor has realized that having three ladies of honor is getting repetitive. MsChif becoming the champion is a very wise choice, even if you folks in the northeast have never seen her wrestle at an ROH event.

McChif is someone I’ve seen live now three times, and she’s impressed me all three times. At the show on 4/19, she won what I considered to be a pretty bad four way match. But she was over with the crowd and looked to have lost some weight. I enjoy Del Rey’s work a lot, but MsChif is a fresh face who can have fresh match-ups with Lacey and Daizee, not to mention a rematch with Del Rey. The only thing left to add is that this is such a great time to be women’s wrestling fan. TNA has the knockouts. It’s pretty much the only division booked intelligently these days. WWE, likely because of TNA’s example, has re-emphasized their division by having Mickie James feud with Beth Phoenix. Now Ring of Honor, which has the most and best women’s talent available, is going in a different direction. Now we’ll have to wait to see who she faces at Hammerstein in just one week. We had all better get ready for some mischief-making during future SHIMMER title matches.

The other top story is Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens having another FIP championship match down in Florida. This time it was a “Last Man Standing” match. Although Roderick retained, it was said to be almost as epic as their previous matches at “Man Up,” “Final Battle,” and FIP’s “Redefined.” I wish that was the last time these two would see each other, since Strong beating Stevens in this type of match seems like a pretty definitive ending. Sadly, their feud marches on at Hammerstein, with Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Go Shiozaki being thrown into the mix…just when you thought it couldn’t get any stiffer. Hopefully this feud can be put to bed and both guys can move on. They can’t feud for that FIP title forever. It’s been one of the best and most underrated feuds covering two promotions the last year, and deserves to be ended soon before it becomes staler then Faction Warfare.

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 04/26/2008

ROH World Champion—Nigel McGuinness (champion since 10/06/07, 12 successful defenses)
–defeated Takeshi Morishima in Edison, New Jersey to win the championship.

Next Defense:: vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Manhattan, NY, 05/10/08

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)
V.7 defeated Bryan Danielson, London Dungeon (02/23/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.8 defeated Tyler Black, London Dungeon (03/16/08, Philadelphia, PA)
V.9 defeated Larry Sweeney, Jawbreaker Lariat (03/22/08 Crystal River, FL)
V.10 defeated Austin Aries, Jawbreaker Lariat (03/29/08 Orlando, FL)
V.11 defeated Erick Stevens, London Dungeon (04/11/08 Boston, MA)
V.12 defeated Kevin Steen, roll up holding the ropes (04/12/08 Edison, NJ)
V.13 defeated Kevin Steen, Jawbreaker Lariat (04/19/08 Chicago Ridge, IL)

**

ROH World Tag Team Champions—Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe Austin Aries (champions since 04/12/08, NEW CHAMPIONS)
–Jay & Mark Briscoe defeated No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards & Rocky Romero) in Edison, NJ to win the championship.
–Austin Aries replaces Mark Briscoe as of 04/21/08 as Jay’s partner after Mark’s wrist injury prevents him from defending belt

Next Defense: vs. Age of the Fall (Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs), Manhattan, NY 05/10/08

**

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)
Status Unknown since Del Rey has left Sweet & Sour Inc. as of 3/14/08

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: MsChif (NEW CHAMPION, defeated Sara Del Rey on 4/26/08)
Top of the Class Trophy (For ROH Students): Ernie Osiris (since 11/02/2007)

**

Top Feuds & Pairings:
-Nigel McGuinness defends the belt against top contenders
-Nigel McGuinness vs. Kevin Steen
-Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli
-The Age of the Fall vs. The Briscoes
-Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. No Remorse Corps
-Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong
-Austin Aries & Age of the Fall / Lacey vs. Sunny
-Sweet & Sour Inc. “Corporate Takeover”
-Johnny Fairplay returns to ROH a year after being humiliated by Nigel McGuinness

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

Bet the odds of a good show are better

ROH is hoping to break its attendance record at the May 10th Hammerstein Ballroom debut in Manhattan, NY. Right now it is about 50/50 as to whether ROH’s fans will give ROH a new record.

Obviously, a tough U.S. economy doesn’t help. I’m certainly hopeful ROH breaks their own attendance record, but ROH’s goal should be to draw around 1,500-1,800 and build from there.

Welcome to Virginia

ROH’s May 9th debut in Manassas, Virginia is definitely going to be a test. ROH decided to take a gamble and head south to see what kind of market there would be for ROH. If ROH is successful with the May 9th Virginia debut, then you can expect more shows south of Philadelphia. Only the fans can make this show a success with a strong turnout.

It was obvious from watching “Eye of the Storm” that ROH needs to avoid Long Island like the plague. They can’t seem to stay in one building and those fans aren’t exactly the best world. If Virginia is successful, that can only be a good thing. It means more shows in the mid-Atlantic area and in the old NWA territory, which would be great since I think wrestling fans are starving for something other than WWE.

So it’s like a two night stand…get it?

May 9th & 10th will feature three top NOAH talents with GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima, GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Naomichi Marufuji and Go Shiozaki. This is the only time that all three top NOAH talents are scheduled for one weekend.

This is a note. I hope we see Morishima and Marifuji come back for at least one more weekend this year to settle some loose ends with Dragon and Claudio. We know Go will be a regular most of the year.

FYE Festival?

ROH’s retail releases “Bloodstained Honor” and “Stars Of Honor” were recently re-ordered in large quantities by FYE. Check your local FYE for both these DVDs featuring CM Punk and Samoa Joe among others. We urge you to continue to call your local Best Buy and let them know you want to see these titles from KOCH Vision on the Best Buy shelves.

By far the piece of news of the week concerns two recent DVD releases. I personally haven’t bought them, but that’s only because I own most of the matches already on various DVDs. But I encourage any new fan to check these out for an indication of the history of this company.

Haze getting higher and higher

Daizee Haze recently worked TNA’s TV tapings. This does not effect her status with ROH.

I believe they meant it doesn’t affect her status. I’ve never been a huge fan of Haze’s work, so her leaving wouldn’t be that big a deal. If she can get extra cash in her pocket, I say go for it. She needs to support her “lifestyle” somehow.

Please come back

Negotiations are taking place now to bring Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin back to ROH later in the summer. There are no other talks about any other TNA talent coming to ROH and nothing is on the table.

Good. I honestly don’t want Joe, Daniels, or Homicide to come back. It’s not that they’ve done it all, but they’ve said their goodbyes. They’ve moved on. We’ve moved on. I say bring Shelley and Sabin back for a third match with The Briscoes and another round with Age of the Fall, since the attendance in Detroit noticeably spiked because of their presence.

Well, duh

New SHIMMER Champion MsChif will be booked more frequently in ROH, as ROH recognizes the SHIMMER Title as the championship for its women’s division.

One would hope so considering ROH wants to promote a women’s division.

Tyler speaks

Tyler Black has written a new blog with some pointed words towards Austin Aries at: http://projectonesixone.blogspot.com/. Tyler Black also writes in the blog about his rematch from “Breakout” against Bryan Danielson, scheduled for 5/9 in Manassas, Virginia.

I like Tyler Black a lot. He’s got all the tools, all the talent, and all the ability to be world champion by the end of the year. The sooner he’s separated from Age of the Fall, the better.

Mark goes under the knife

Mark Briscoe underwent successful surgery on April 25th. The injury was actually worse than originally thought. The surgery was supposed to repair the ligament in Mark’s wrist. However, the surgery turned into a reconstruction as there was more damage than initially thought. The doctor said Mark had a lot of old injuries and the ligament finally snapped because the bones were actually out of line and pulling on the ligaments along with the impact of the injury itself. The doctor put the bones back where they belong and pinned them. Then he drilled a hole through Mark’s arm and pulled a tendon from the other side of his arm and made it do the job of the torn ligament. The surgery was very involved, but the doctor said it went technically perfect. Recovery time will be 3-6 months.

I hope Mark has a speedy recovery and gets a chance to heal up. He and his brother have busted their asses for this company since coming back, and I think the time off will be good for Mark.

One last match for Virginia

One more match has been signed and it is a huge Four Corner Survival. It will be non-title and pit ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright vs. local star Damien Wayne!!! McGuinness vs. Castagnoli is becoming a hot issue and now you can see it in Virginia. We’ll also see how one of Virginia’s best does against the top talent in ROH.

Very interesting little match here. I’ll have more on this later in my preview of Manassas.

The tag title gets a little bit more interesting

The issues pitting ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay Briscoe & Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black of The Age Of The Fall will explode on May 10th at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan when these two teams collide. ROH officials figure that there will be no way to control this fight so it is now a No DQ ROH World Tag Team Title Match.

Considering the hatred involved with everyone, I’d say this is a mighty fine idea.

Best card ever is finished

The final two matches of this event have been signed and they will both bring tag team action at its best to Manhattan. The ROH trademark Tag Team Scramble will take place in NYC. It will be a three team Tag Team Scramble pitting The Vulture Squad of Jack Evans & Jigsaw vs. Delirious & Pelle Primeau vs. a team representing Sweet & Sour Inc. with Larry Sweeney. Last time in Manhattan, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero ran away from fighting Kevin Steen & El Generico. They won’t be able to get away on May 10th in the Hammerstein Ballroom. It will be Steen & Generico vs. Richards & Romero.

After looking at this card, all I can say is New Yorkers have absolutely no right to complain. This card looks fantastic top to bottom. I see the potential for at least four to five four-star matches. This should easily be the best show of the year and one of the greatest of all time. I bet Brent Albright and new Sweet ‘N’ Sour member (just a prediction… keep that in mind) Damien Wayne will make up this team. A lot of it depends if Chris Hero is even on these two shows.

At least we know who the talent on MNM was then

Joey Mathews continues to play the “players coach” role in ROH. The most recent example was his match with Jigsaw in Detroit. The goal is to have Mathews work with faces that use tons of moves, but little else. He is working with them to have then properly play babyface; take the heat, sell better and then make the babyface comeback.

Credit: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

I don’t see how you can see this as anything but a positive. ROH wrestlers are criticized (too much I believe) for not using psychology. I think it’s an epidemic amongst all wrestling companies and if Mathews is willing to mentor all these kids, then props to him for giving back to the business. I’ve never been the president of his fan club, but I certainly respect what he’s doing.

CHRIS IS SUPER SERIAL

Chris Hero is working what is described as a “NOAH-Oriented Style” these days in ROH. This is to get him away from the comedy heel role, which everyone likes and would cheer for.

It’s obvious why ROH did this, but if you ask me, ROH is fighting a losing battle. Chris Hero’s personality sticks out so much and he has so much charisma, that people are just naturally drawn to him. Him not doing his shtick and being comedic means he’s gonna turn into just another wrestler. Ring of Honor needs a little fun because they take themselves way too seriously. I predict Hero breaks away and eventually becomes the biggest babyface in Ring of Honor by the end of 2009. Book it.

Credit: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Tornado Suffers Major Injury

Current PWG World Heavyweight Champion the Human Tornado might be out of wrestling for some time suffering both an ACL and dislocated kneecap injury. The injury took place on Friday April 25, 2008 at a JCW show in Springfield IL. Tornado was supposed to face Billy Morgan, but as Tornado hopped the top rope, he landed wrong, blowing out his knee on landing. They did a quick 25-second match where Tornado, even while injured managed to hit a flip side suplex and pinned him. The status of the PWG championship (which Tornado won in a one night tournament after champion Low Ki suffered a knee injury in Japan) is not known at this time.

Credit: Dr. Keith Lipinski

While this isn’t directly related to ROH, he was supposed to become a regular with the company in June after moving to the East Coast. Prayers and best wishes for a speedy recovery go out to Tornado.

Since I’m not the weekly host of this particular segment, I’m just going to go over my favorite five active wrestlers currently. It’s a combination of guys who have the best matches, give me my own personal enjoyment, and who I see on a regular basis. I refuse to watch TNA so sadly Samoa Joe, Alex Shelley, and Chris Sabin are disqualified. However, I’m actually in pro-WWE and pro-ROH place right now, so I’ve got a good mixture.

1. C.M. Punk : I’ve been a huge fan of his since I started watching his work in Ring of Honor and FIP. Seeing him win Money in the Bank was a real highlight for me. Punk is not only a distinguished ROH alumni member, but a fellow Chicagoan. Having that case decorated with the flag of the Windy City is very cool. If he had won King of the Ring, I’d be an even happier panda. But I’m confident Punk will be exiting ECW soon to move onto bigger and better things. And when he cashes in the case to win the world title, it will be one of the happiest moments I’ll ever have as a wrestling fan.
2. Austin Aries: When he first came back from his forced leave, he seemed to be struggling with his in-ring work. He was doing that stupid little Jeff Jarrett thing with the fingers and doing the stroke. Then, he had a three match series with Bryan Danielson. Call it the “battle of the aces” or whatever hokey name you want to call it. It was a return to form for Aries, and he hasn’t looked back since. He’s been about as consistent as anyone in the ring the last few months. Throw in a couple match-of-the-year contenders with Nigel McGuinness and a fantastic promo at the most recent Chicago Ridge (which can be seen on the latest ROH video wire) and he’s easily my favorite in ROH right now. And that feud with Jimmy Jacobs? It could be an epic feud that’s been missing from ROH the last few months.
3. Shawn Michaels: I haven’t always been the president of the Shawn Michaels fan club, but this guy has flat out been the best wrestler this year. I don’t care who has the world titles. I don’t care what WWE, TNA, or ROH fans have to say. Shawn had one of the most epic matches in the history of Wrestlemania with Ric Flair. He then had an awesome feud with Batista and did such a great job at Backlash, people thought he legitimately hurt his knee. Now, he’s moving to a feud with Chris Jericho? Barring a complete collapse or injury, Michaels is my wrestler of the year for 2008 by far.
4. Bryan Danielson: Look up the word consistency. Go ahead. I’ll wait. If you don’t see a picture of Bryan Danielson, get a new dictionary. Danielson is the best technical wrestler in North America at least. If you can’t have a good match with Danielson, then you might as well retire. He’s literally at the level of a Ric Flair circa 1989 or Triple H circa 2000, where he can carry anyone to a three-star match. For those who want to dismiss him as an indy darling, I point to a very successful trip to NOAH. He won a few matches with Cattle Mutilation and could be positioned for a shot at their junior championship. And he’s always a threat for the Ring of Honor world championship.
5. Jay and Mark Briscoe: Tag team wrestling is supposedly dead. Anyone who thinks it’s dead isn’t a Ring of Honor fan. The Briscoes are the five-time world tag team champions. They defy the very formula that’s been a part of tag team wrestling for 25 years. They can go at it with any team and have a great match. In a different era, these two might be the most universally praised tag team in the business and be lauded for having great match after great match. They are still great, but some people want to dismiss them as spot monkeys who have no psychology. If you can watch a good portion of their matches and not be excited by them, regardless of psychology, you take things far too seriously. Sometimes, it’s actually okay to enjoy wrestling and not overanalyze everything to death. I, for one, will be re-watching their entire series with “Steenerico” this week since I haven’t watched it in a while, and it’s one of my favorite rivalries ever.

Why They Can’t Fight

One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard from ROH fans these last few weeks are about how “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson and current GHC champion Takeshi Morishima won’t be settling their rivalry once and for all in just one week. After Morishima almost blinded Dragon in one match and then fervently went after that same eye on the “Man Up” Pay-Per-View, this became more than a matter of respect. It was not personal. These two men couldn’t contain themselves the last two times to have a clean decision. Instead, we’ve gotten wild brawls with each man going after the other’s groin. Even ROH official Bryce Remsburg suffered at the hands of a Morishima backdrop driver. Putting these two men together just doesn’t make sense for either company.

Of course politics are a part of it, but who could blame ROH and NOAH officials for not wanting these two to have some sort of “Fight Without Honor?” Morishima is a champion, the most important champion in one of the biggest wrestling companies in Japan. How would it look for him to lose to someone so inferior in size? And just think of the complications if Morishima were to get hurt and not be able to defend the title he’s worked so hard for these last couple years. Then, consider the fact that Bryan Danielson is pretty much the franchise of ROH. After coming off a period where he missed six straight shows, does ROH want to risk losing one of its aces? It’s bad enough he missed the first half of 2007 with a shoulder injury, and almost lost the use of his eye in the fall. The risk/reward is too high for both companies.

So instead of fighting each other, they each get to pick the other’s opponent. But even their choices are suspect. Dragon selected the Necro Butcher, a man he beat in less than ten minutes back in November at Dayton’s Reckless Abandon. Morishima selected Marifuji, a man that Bryan Danielson successfully defended his ROH world championship against at Final Battle 2005. I have a theory as to why these two opponents were selected. It’s unorthodox, but it makes sense.

I believe Dragon understands the unpredictable nature of Necro. He wants Necro to soften up Morishima, but for Morishima to ultimately finish Necro off in about the same time he did. Morishima knows that Marifuji is a great wrestler, but that Dragon can come away with the victory. These two want each other to have hard opponents, but each wants the other to win so that they can demand to fight at the next Hammerstein show. And with both men in the same building, who’s to say they won’t start fighting anyway? I fully expect Dragon and Morishima to have competitive matches and ultimately win. Then mass chaos will ensue when both men say “To hell with politics” and start fighting anyway. Anyone attending should look out, because this could get very DANNNGGGERRROUSSSS!

Honorarium

-I’ve noticed a lot of venom being thrown at the ending of RAW this past week. To be honest, I’m really not sure why. I think the idea was to show the GM of RAW snapping and going completely over the top. For dramatic effect, I think it worked to cut the cameras off first. And since the WWE is smart enough to know that the internet exists, they simply had Regal then go and stop the match for the live crowd. I’m not saying WWE should do this every week, but considering you get five hours of free wrestling from them a week, can buy 24/7 which gives you a lot of hours of great wrestling for a low price, and can own their Pay-Per-Views for about half what you’d pay for on the night of the actual show, please stop complaining. And, when I’m telling people to stop complaining, that’s just wrong.

-The odd ending theme continued the next night on ECW when Mike Adamle just randomly left the booth. “The Tazz” was soon to follow. Watching a match with no commentary is something I’ve gotten used to with Ring of Honor, but to not hear it over a WWE event was one of the more odd experiences I’ve ever had watching a show. I would assume they’re going somewhere with this, since even the wrestlers are making fun of how bad a job Adamle has done since replacing Joey Styles.

-Since I’ve plowed through about eight ROH shows covering Reckless Abandon until Double Feature, I thought I’d five some thoughts on them. Overall, I’m pleased with the quality of the shows. A lot of things are starting to make sense to me. I wasn’t a huge fan of Austin Aries possibly joining The Age of the Fall, but seeing how it’s going to turn out has softened me on the build-up. One thing with Ring of Honor that’s most important to understand is you really have to take a wait-and-see approach with this company. Just because something really odd or dumb happens doesn’t mean anything. You’ve really got to see a collection of shows and watch the DVDs so you can piece the whole puzzle together.

One of the things ROH has done right this year is pushing Kevin Steen. I’m impressed that Steen didn’t lose on any of the 2008 DVDs I’ve watched. Eye of the Storm particularly caught my attention. From a quality standpoint, it wasn’t the best of shows, but ROH broke out of their “holding down the fort” mentality and screamed to the mountaintops that Kevin Steen is the man they were pushing. And, boy has he taken advantage of it with some great matches and promos that are slowly getting better.

-And I know I took my shots at The Age of the Fall a few months ago, but I’m actually happy about where the group appears to be heading with Jacobs feuding and hopefully getting his ass handed to him by Austin Aries. That way, the group can break up and Tyler Black can begin his road to the world title. More on that in part two, which you can click to shortly.