Column of Honor: 11.08.08: Calling London, Part One

Welcome to the Column.

ROH Debuts in Montreal—11/07/08 Montreal, Quebec, Canada Results

Matches

Preshow

-Stupefied defeated Excess, Dan Paysan and Green Phantom in a four corner survival match.

Main Show

-Erick Stevens defeated Eddie Edwards via pinfall with a Doctor Bomb.
-Jay & Mark Briscoe defeated Kenny King & Kenny Omega via pinfall on Kenny Omega with the springboard doomsday device after Kenny King leaves Omega in the ring.
-Necro Butcher defeated Brodie Lee via disqualification because of interference from The Age of the Fall.
-Jerry Lynn defeated Delirious via pinfall with the Cradle Piledriver.
-Davey Richards defeated Roderick Strong via pinfall after interference from Eddie Edwards and a Richards Tiger Driver (one of Strong’s signature moves).
-Teamwork of Bryan Danielson & Austin Aries defeated The Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black via submission when Aries tapped Jacobs with the Last Chancery.
-ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness retained his title by winning a Four Way Elimination Match against FIP Heavyweight Champion Go Shiozaki and ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen & El Generico. First Elimination: El Generico eliminated by Go Shiozaki following a low blow from McGuinness and a Go Flasher. Second Elimination: Go Shiozaki eliminated by Kevin Steen with the Steenshooter. Third Elimination: Kevin Steen eliminated by Nigel McGuiness via pinfall with a Jawbreaker Lariat.

Angles & Issues

-Kingship: Kenny King and Rhett Titus have some sort of partnership or friendship occurring, as King left Omega and high fived Titus who was waiting for him on the ROH stage (called this in the ROH Roundtable).

-Hart Breaker Lariat: In order to set up McGuinness as the heel in the main event (as if there was any doubt), McGuinness cut a promo mid-show basically blasting Montreal and breaking out his awesome take off of Bret “Hitman” Hart’s famous line. When he claimed he was “the best there is, was and ever will be” oh so many years ago during his pure run, it was pure genius at the time. It’s still gold even after all this time.

-The Beatdown is Go!: Go Shiozaki, Shane Hagadorn, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards combined their efforts to rail on Roderick Strong four on one until Erick Stevens , former rival of Strong, made the save. Strong and Stevens stared each other down, but did not shake hands and left the ring individually.

-Falling Down and Over Each Other? Jimmy Jacobs continued to engaged Tyler Black in the blame game following another loss as a team since they lost the tag titles. Jacobs and Black left the ring without speaking to each other, thus foreshadowing future problems within that rebel outfit.

-After the main event, Kevin Steen and El Generico thanked the crowd, addressing them in French.

Return Date: April 17th, 2009

Calling London

Yesterday the inevitable happened and WWE released Paul London from his contract after months of absentia from television. And while it’s never the best to be happy or excited about someone losing their job, the internet Ring of Honor fans all around the world read this news and likely shouted out in massive amounts of excitement and joy. One of the major talking points for ROH fans of the last four years has been what would happen in Paul London, one of if not perhaps the first true homegrown stars of the company, were to return and make another serious go?

This is just one reason why Ring of Honor must sign Paul London immediately. Quite frankly, Adam Pearce and Cary Silkin need to be on the phone with him right now, yes, right this very second, securing London’s services. In this time of cost-cutting and changes in ROH booking, one thing is very exceedingly clear—ROH needs Paul London in the fold and the men behind the scenes should do what it takes to sign him up to an ROH contract.

London may be the best free agent formerly from WWE on the market right now and you can probably expect TNA to show interest in signing him up, as they usually do when WWE wrestlers are released. ROH has signed its far share of ex-WWE wrestlers as well, including James Gibson back in 2005 and Brent Albright in late 2006. However, Paul London is more similar to Spanky / Bryan Kendrick in that he began to make his name for himself in Ring of Honor back in 2002. Kendrick had a good start working in Japan at the time, but London truly rose from the bottom to the top in ROH. In two short years he became a top flight athlete and a true beloved fan favorite in the company. In fact, the infamous “please don’t die” chant originated from a London match—and at the time it was meant in earnest and not any sort of sarcastic remark on a high risk move about to be performed. That is the extent to which the fans cared for and appreciated London. He excited the fans with his aerial skills and his almost fearless attitude in hitting those big time moves.

Fan excitement, name value and fresh matches are the major positives of signing Paul London. He can make the audience, especially the ROH crowd, really care about his actions in the ring. It is that emotional reaction ROH needs to have in the fold, especially as they look to 2009. ROH finds itself at the precipice of change in the promotion, and that means new stars such as Tyler Black mixing it up with some of the best wrestlers currently in the promotion. Paul London provides the best of both worlds, being someone ROH fans are already knowledgeable about but also someone who hasn’t been in ROH for quite some time.

London also has name value coming from WWE, even with his absence from television. London actually had a very good run in WWE despite a history of not having the favor of those in power backstage. London was a cruiserweight champion, often highlighting Velocity with some really good matches against the likes of Jimmy Yang. More famously he and Brian Kendrick teamed up and were given a full year run as the tag champions for the Smackdown brand. While they were sometimes snubbed in terms of Pay Per View matches, whenever they wrestled it was clear that they shined brightly in comparison to the other tag teams in the company. Unfortunately London seemed to piss off the wrong people and the wrong McMahons at the wrong time. He was kept off of television these past few months, even when he could have been a really good asset to the Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels feud. Lance Cade was backing up Jericho, and London playing off against him as both being star pupils of Shawn Michaels would have provided an excellent program even more depth and nuance. Unfortunately WWE, often doesn’t go for such extracurricular subtleties and so London was jobbed out quickly by Cade and Jericho and then disappeared off the face of the earth. The final slap in the face was when Layla El was given the last name “London” to go hand in hand with her new role as William Regal’s valet. At least WWE didn’t change Paul’s last name to Garrison or Gregory while they were at it.

ROH can capitalize right now with the signing of London, especially in any new efforts to get the word out to wrestling fans about their shows. He is a known name and an attractive commodity that can be used to sell tickets and bring new fans into the product, which right now is basically going to be a “jumping on point” for new viewers as the programs from 2008 head into their last phases and the company enters ’09 with a new booker, a slightly updated style and new hopes for success. London can and absolutely should be a big part of these efforts.

There are so many new pairings you can do with London, including the hot up and comer in Tyler Black, Austin Aries, Claudio Castagnoli and the list goes on and on. London’s in ring skills took a backseat in WWE, but long time ROH fans know that London has the chops to be on the main event level of the promotion. Of course, another match against current main event talent Bryan Danielson would be incredible. The two out of three falls match between Danielson and London from The Epic Encounter show in 2003 still holds up after all this time. What would a match between the two be like in 2008?

Ring of Honor has to strike now and strike fast. Even if London has a 90 day non-compete clause in his WWE contract, ROH still needs to act and make sure that if London is going to continue to wrestle that he will do it for them. I can only guess that TNA would be very interested in signing London, but like many new acquisitions, it would be a short honeymoon and an even longer viewer’s remorse. TNA has a proven track record that it can bungle any sure thing. It scares me to even think of how badly they could waste London’s potential, perhaps even more than WWE ever could. In Ring of Honor, London can perform to the best of his abilities, play a very valuable part in helping to promote the product and since ROH does have a track record of using talents successfully you can almost guarantee they wouldn’t mess up his return and any future programs.

May 2009 is going to be a chaotic period on the wrestling landscape. A lot of ROH contracts will be up and I’m assuming negotiations will soon be underway for renewals and the like, that is if ROH is going to continue with its current model of contracting wrestlers. Some TNA wrestlers like Christian Cage could be on their way out of the promotion. No, Paul London doesn’t have the name value of a Christian Cage, but he does have a lot of worth for ROH right now. It would behoove ROH to add some security right now to their talent pool by signing London to a contract and ensuring that they have a marquee name for their brand, just in case there are any losses in talent in the new year.

ROH, call Paul London now. Sign him up before TNA does. This could be the best thing at the best time for all parties involved.

Chikara vs. Ring of Honor BEST OF SEVEN SERIES Round 5

The survival of the fittest continues here between CHIKARA and Ring of Honor in week five of the Column of Honor best of seven series. Last week, CHIKARA pulled ahead once more in a split decision between Brodie Lee and Necro Butcher. CHIKARA’s Big Rig pulled out the win in a close and maybe controversial call. However, this week proved to be a clear swing of momentum in the other direction and Ring of Honor has once again come back to tie the series. We’ll discuss that and more as we head into the crucial deciding matches that will guide our cross-over fantasy series towards its finale.

The best part of this series is that THE READERS DECIDE WHO WINS. That’s right, be sure to vote at the bottom of the page in the comments section or send me an email me with your vote about who you think would win each fantasy match. I’ll post results in the following week’s column.

Last week we had some of the biggest guns in Ring of Honor—The Briscoes, Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson—unleashed against one of CHIKARA’s most vile and tyrannical trios in F.I.S.T. and their partner for the match in Claudio Castagnoli. A lot of crazy action can happen in an eight-man tag match, but the right strategy and game plan can certainly help to guide one side to victory over another. Which side did the fans take? Let’s hear from the readers:

Guest#5771: Not only would Team ROH win, they’d be in the showers after less than five minutes.

Matt Short: Lots of people are looking past F.I.S.T and Claudio. The fact is that Icarus and Akuma are a lot more well traveled than people give them credit for and have beaten top teams from all over the world. They even have a win over The Briscoes. Chuck Taylor is a wild card, but is more than capable of hanging with anyone on Team ROH. Claudio is the wild card since he’s a technico compared to F.I.S.T.’s rudo ways and he might not get along with them all. BUT looking at past history Claudio does have experience teaming with them as members of the FULL Kings of Wrestling stable. I pick Team CHIKARA in a massive upset.

Chad: Team ROH you dont have the best in the world and not win!!

Chris: ROH easily takes this round. They have best tag team in wrestling today plus two of the top 5 Indy workers on their team.

Guest#0060: No brainer. Team ROH. F.I.S.T and Claudio are good no doubt about it and Icarus and Akuma did beat the Briscoes before(only to be destroyed afterwards) but not in team ROH’s class.

Curtis: I say RoH takes this, even though FIST beat the Briscoes in CHIKARA I dont think they would win this match . . . Although this loss highly favours CHIKARA in the long run as 4 top RoH guys are out and CHIKARA still has their true top talent remaining as the previously mentioned Quack, Hallowicked and Kingston.

D.P.: Team ROH gets the W,easily.

CHIKARA did get a good amount of support for this one and some called for the upset, but it wasn’t enough. The clear winner, by a majority decision is TEAM ROH. Danielson, Aries and The Briscoes combined and had too much firepower and too much previous experience to let themselves be fully aggravated by F.I.S.T.’s actions. Even if we take Danielson and Castagnoli out of the equation, say by having them brawl around the ring and to the back, The Briscoes and Aries still have enough in their arsenal to take out Team F.I.S.T. They’d clear the ring and isolate one man, likely Taylor, and unleash a bevy of finishing moves until the “Sexy” one was a quivering mass of Jell-O. Aries brainbusters Taylor and floats over and up so that Jay can hoist him up for the Springboard Doomsday Device. That’s enough for the pinfall and the win to the dream team of ROH.

Here’s the scoreboard as it now stands:

2 2

The Series-at-a-Glance:

Rnd 1: The Colony defeat The Vulture Squad (unanimous decision) CHIK 1 ROH 0
Rnd 2: The Age of the Fall defeat The UnStable (unanimous decision) CHIK 1 ROH 1
Rnd 3: Brodie Lee defeats Necro Butcher (split decision) CHIK 2 ROH 1
Rnd 4: Team ROH defeat F.I.S.T. & Castagnoli (majority decision) CHIK 2 ROH 2

Once again we have a tie ball game. It’s down to the proverbial best two out of three. There are some big names on each side left to square off, but something Curtis mentioned in the reader comments does concern me. Did ROH use all their ammo on one match, losing track of the bigger picture in order to secure the tie? Do they have enough left to go up well against some of CHIKARA’s bigger names that are left? We’ll have to wait and see how the match ups form., but Round Five will test that very thought, a six-man tag set for one fall with Lucha Rules (no tags necessary) in effect:

ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen & El Generico & Roderick Strong (ROH)
-vs.-
CHIKARA Campeones de Parejas The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian) & Eddie Kingston (CHIKARA)

I was always going to put the tag champions from each promotion against each other. When I began this adventure, the Super Smash Brothers were the campeones de parejas, but all of that changed when rookie upstarts The Osirian Portal struck and snaked their way to the titles. Ring of Honor actually just presented Steen & Generico vs. The Osirian Portal on their Ring of Homicide 2 show, so this match needs a little bit more “oomph”. That “oomph” comes from none other than the wild card himself, the dangerous, violent, dark and brooding “Last of a Dying Breed” Eddie “F’N” Kingston! Now Eddie doesn’t really care about anyone else but himself and feeding his own hunger for unleashing violence on the world, but if that means he has to team up with The Egyptian and The Snake, so be it. Steen & Generico would need to respond in kind, finding someone to team up with who can unleash hell and do it without any remorse. So these men turn to Roderick Strong, messiah of the backbreaker and chopmaster 5000 extraordinaire. Well, really, Steen had to do the convincing; Generico mostly stood there and said “ole!” a lot. Strong and Kingston will no doubt butt heads in this match, but who will win it?

Kevin Steen & El Generico & Roderick Strong

Strengths: Steen & Generico are the tag champions and at the top of their in-ring game right now. Both men have the right moves and the right attitude towards winning. The idea of being the winner gets them passionate (especially Steen) and fires them up to push beyond their limitations and achieve. Steen loves to annoy his opponents both with his witty banter and his quasi-arrogant actions such as snot-blowing and being rude. He may not look the part, but he is also a great motivator, especially for his best friend, sometimes rival and partner in championship excellence El Generico. The masked Luchador is lean but plucky. He is like a Timex watch, keeping on keeping on after taking a licking. No one can doubt his offensive firepower, including the running Ole boot and the brainbuster. As for Strong, he can unload a ton of stiff strikes and boots as well, but what often gets overlooked is his technical wrestling ability. He doesn’t have to rely on it because his trademark moves often get the job done, but Strong can wrestle with the best of them. The question is will he be able to use those skills to overtake his opponents here, or will he get suckered into a strike fest with Kingston and have to take his chances at landing “the best punch”.
Weaknesses: Like last week, the wrestlers representing ROH do often have a short temper, especially Steen and Strong. However, except only Kingston on the CHIKARA side really focuses on antagonizing an opponent to the point of losing cool. The Portal focus on other psychological factors, such as scare tactics. I doubt Steen or Strong is afraid of snakes, but you never know. Generico? He may be a weaker heart, but one slap from Generico and he’ll “man up” and take the lead. If there’s one real weakness it would probably be overconfidence, again from Steen and Strong. Both men may downshift if they see the match is clearly in control, and that could lead to a massive upset. Generico meanwhile, fights from behind with gusto, but that means he has to take a beat down first, and that could be too little, too late, especially when Kingston is on the other side of the ring.
Best moves: Steen: Package Piledriver, Steenshooter, Steenalizer; Generico: Ole boot, brainbuster, brainbuster from the top rope; Steen & Generico: Splash / Swanton combination, Packaage Piledriver into brainbuster combination; Strong: chops, back breakers, Strong Hold submission, Gibson Driver, Double Knees into Rib Cage.

Video by: ringofhonor

Video by: ringofhonor

The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian) & Eddie Kingston

Strengths: The Osirian Portal may only be first year rookies, but their tag team chemistry and cohesive goes way beyond that time frame. They have the ability to work together, see where the other is coming from and use that positioning to their advantage. They also have a massive amount of double team moves and unique ones at that. Most wrestlers have not encountered their tag combinations such as the arm drag into shoulder tackle in the turnbuckle, or the charm dancer that has hypnotized just about every opponent. That means their moves are tough to anticipate or to counter, and when you can’t counter moves, you get overwhelmed to the point where you can’t come back. Misdirection and intimidation are also one of their greatest strengths. Amasis may be a “funky Pharaoh” but he has a hard heart and his juke and jiving is only there to lead an opponent into a false sense of security. Meanwhile, Ophidian’s snake like form and behavior serves to throw off any opponents with a phobia of snakes. It’s a creepy act and truly is unorthodox. On the other hand, Eddie Kingston intimidates through pure brutality. He isn’t going to play mind games so much as smack your mind upside your head with a vicious punch or boot. Kingston has a mean streak two miles wide and uses anything at anytime to get the advantage. Not only can he lay a vicious ass whupping on his opponents, he also can take a hefty amount of offense and come back for more. He has quick recovery time from big impact moves and has really good stamina for a guy who doesn’t look like he’s running marathon s… I hope he doesn’t read that comment and comes looking for me.
Weaknesses: Kingston can take a punch or chop or two, but can Amasis and Ophidian? Their young and ready to rumble, but I don’t know if they can handle some of the higher powered impact moves of guys like Steen and Generico. In fact, we already saw them lose to them in a tag match. Would that loss play into their heads when facing off against the top of ROH once more? Kingston, for as much as he loves to inflict violence, also comes across sometimes as a question mark. He may be so far off the deep end that his partners can’t count on him not doing something over the line and causing a disqualification. Kingston’s bloodlust is both his blessing and his curse.
Best Moves: Amasis: Twist of Funk, 450 Splash, Flying split & spin leg drop; Ophidian: flying V leg splash in turnbuckle, Death Grip, Diving Knee Drop; Ophidian & Amasis: snake-charmer, totem-pole superplex, simultaneous flying splash and leg drop; Kingston: backdrop driver, spinning back fist, lariat, running big boot.

Video by: mailingitin

Video by: mailingitin

Video by: matthewhack

Video by: BLKimbo

It’s a tag team clash of titans and its now made that much more intense with the addition of Kingston and Strong on each side. So who wins this week? Comment below with your votes and send in those emails and we’ll find out…next week!

We’ll be back in a few for PART TWO of the Column of Honor!