Column of Honor: 12.27.08: Final Column 2008 Part One

Usually I make sure I have about a month of prep time to complete my annual year end Final Column feature. This time around, given the amount of work and responsibilities I had in the real world, I had about a week to do it. The bulk of the work (aside from the top 100 matches of the year) was actually done in about three days’ time, which would make for one of the most work-heavy periods in my history of writing the column. Still, I think it was worth the effort, and the resulting effort is dedicated to the faithful readers of the column and fans of Ring of Honor alike.

ROH Results: All Star Extravaganza IV, Philadelphia, PA, December 26th, 2008 (thanks to the ROH message boards).

Matches

Pre-Show

-Ernie Osiris & Bobby Shields defeat “Sugarfoot” Alex Payne & a Ninja.
-Grizzly Redwood defeated a Ninja.

Main Show

-Kenny Omega defeated Rhett Titus.
-Chris Hero defeated Erick Stevens via pinfall after a kick using a loaded kick pad.
-Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima defeated Roderick Strong & Brent Albright via pinfall when Sasaki pinned Albright after a Northern Lights Bomb.
-Takeshi Morishima defeated Go Shiozaki via pinfall with a Backdrop Driver.
-Jay & Mark Briscoe defeated Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards and Nigel McGuinness & Claudio Castagnoli in a Triangle Elimination Match. First Elimination: McGuinness & Castagnoli via Edwards roll up on Claudio. Second Elimination: Richards & Edwards after a Jay Driller on Edwards.
-Naomichi Marufuji defeated Austin Aries.
-The Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black, & Delirious defeat Kevin Steen, El Generico, & Necro Butcher via submission when Jacobs makes Steen submit to The End Time. After the match
-Bryan Danielson defeated Jerry Lynn with a small package, getting his shoulder up at the last second.

Angles & Issues

The American Wolves attacked the Steen & Generico after the six man match.

Prince Nana again made an appearance and was dragged out by security.

Return Date: February 28th, 2009.

My Fave 5 of 2008

1. Shawn Michaels: I have enjoyed everything HBK has done this year, literally from beginning (Royal Rumble face off vs. Undertaker) to the end (his promo with HHH where he explained he would get himself out of this situation involving JBL). Along the way Michaels, who has been one of my favorites since childhood (I may be one of the few conflicted souls who supported BOTH Michaels and Bret Hart around the early to mid 1990’s), brought intrigue into angles with Ric Flair, Batista and Chris Jericho. WWE Wrestlemania 24 against Ric Flair will be a moment that will live on in wrestling history and the next night’s celebration of Flair’s career was likely the most emotional and dramatic of the year. Michaels in the ring may have been a step or two off his best at times, but Michaels at 60-70 percent is right up there with many of today’s wrestlers. It has been said for a long time that Michaels didn’t want to turn heel because of his Christian values, but even without turning heel WWE was able to provide some terrific moments of tension and drama by placing HBK in challenging situations where we were able to react to his response and how he pulled through.

2. Chris Jericho: Jericho is someone I enjoy in either the face or the heel role, but it’s so clearly obvious that he does his best work as the villain. After an initial bust as the returning babyface with the “Save_Us.222” gimmick (which in and of itself I thought was creatively inspired and well-presented), Jericho began the transition into a tweener and then into an outright heel by the middle of the year. He completely changed the presentation of his character, but it was done seamlessly and with complete internal logic behind his actions. Jericho’s justifications about how the crowd betrayed him and were the true hypocrites was an awesome take and soon enough everyone was hating him and wanting someone to put him in his place. The Michaels-Jericho segment with him smashing the Jeritron into him was massively enjoyable for me, because I vividly remember watching Michaels superkick his partner Marty Janetty and throw him through the plate glass window at the Barber Shop. It was a great “what comes around goes around” moment and Jericho provided plenty of excellently hateable moments like that one in his current heel turn.

3. CM Punk: One of my favorite wrestlers in ROH made it all the way to the top of the mountain in WWE. Had he truly worked his way to the World Heavyweight Championship or was it a case of “right place, right time?” I was marking out like a child either way when Punk won Money in the Bank at Wrestlemania 24…and marking out to an indescribable level when he actually cashed in his title shot and defeated Edge (with Batista’s help) on that Monday Night Raw on June 30th. Here was a guy who came from the independent circuit who everyone said was too small, too controversial and too unpopular in the WWE backstage political scene to ever make it to that upper echelon in that company. And yet, he sold merchandise, was massively popular with kids, and won over a large cross-section of the older WWE fan base. Punk won the big title as a baby face and didn’t turn heel afterwards (ala his ROH run), and for me, the traditionalist wrestling fan who loves to see the good guys win in the end, that was about as perfect a moment as possible.

4. Ric Flair: Did WWE botch the Flair retirement storyline? From the original concept as first introduced by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, yes, they did. However, now that I’ve had time to sit back and digest the whole storyline, it is clear that WWE crossed the finish line just about as strong as possible. Flair and Michaels engaged in some excellent promos in the final weeks leading up to what was Flair’s last match of his career. The emotion of watching Flair during these last few weeks captivated my attention. Flair wasn’t always my favorite wrestler but really became someone who meant a lot to me as I saw him suffering through WCW in the late 1990’s and still put his best foot forward in being “the man” that he was. He earned that farewell ceremony on Raw and he earned the standing ovation from the fans and all of the other wrestlers. And again, as the guy who loves the happy endings, I loved every minute of this bittersweet farewell to one of the best wrestlers of our lifetime.

5. Bryan Danielson: Ring of Honor’s finest technical wrestler was also one of its most steady workhorses of the entire year. Danielson, as always, was responsible for a large number of excellent matches in ROH…and made the most of every one of his appearances on an ROH show. I enjoyed Danielson’s work this year not just for his matches, but also due to the “chase” he was on for the ROH World Title.

Honorarium

Year End Thoughts on…

WWE: 2008 should go down as WWE’s best year of in ring action since 2004 (criminally underrated as far as amazing matches both on TV and PPV) and certainly the having best angles and feuds since way back to the glory years of 2000-2001. Over the last few years I have been very down on WWE for both their actions in-ring and out of the ring, but not this year. I thoroughly enjoyed WWE programming this year. This of course is thanks in part to some of the best storylines I’ve ever seen, played out by Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, Batista, Randy Orton, CM Punk, Edge, Undertaker, Jeff Hardy and Triple H. I reveled in the Michaels saga, as HBK finally progressed his character since his 2002 comeback—it was intriguing and captivating. Flair’s farewell was awesome, and all of the fallout and all of the change that happened because of it for the characters involved should tell you how greatly effective it was as a story. CM Punk shocked the world by winning the big title, as did Jeff Hardy at the end of the year. Randy Orton came back and actually lived up to the hype and billing he always received but never quite lived up to until now. Edge got under everyone’s skin and provided some particularly nasty promos that entertained as well as made you hate him. The Undertaker had some more fantastic outings in the ring, as did Batista against the right opponent. Sanitno Marella was consistently funny and WWE even gave the smaller guys like Evan Bourne a chance to show their stuff. There was a lot to watch for in WWE this year and more often than not it was effective wrestling programming. Sorry ROH fans, but this year it is a mainstream wrestling promotion that is the best fed, not our favorite independent promotion that could.

TNA: Another sadly disappointing year for TNA. Even with Samoa Joe winning the TNA title, I found myself unmotivated to watch TNA Impact. Its too much of the car crash TV format that Raw had ten years ago…but the thing of it is, its not ten years ago, its 2008. Some people may want to see the kind of show that Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett provide—with nonsensical storylines, ridiculous stipulations, infuriating gaps of logic and little to no wrestling on a wrestling television show…but not me. As much as I admire and appreciate the efforts of many of the wrestlers on the roster (as always mentioned, plenty of them appeared for and did well in ROH over the years), I can’t support the TNA product as it is now…and do not support it in any kind of financial manner. I will say that the best ray of hope for TNA is that they have stabilized the Main Event Mafia vs. Frontline feud…and while it is once again a retread of something that worked in the past but is not so fresh now, it is the best shot TNA has of providing a more serious, in-ring based wrestling storyline.

CHIKARA: I watch CHIKARA in chunks of DVDs at a time, and I must confess I haven’t purchased a majority of the shows from the second half of the year. However, what I saw of the first half of the year proves that you can put on a fun and family friendly show with a mix of wacky and serious characters and still have it be good wrestling. This year will be remembered for the transformation of Vin Gerard into a maniacal and bitter rudo and the creation of his UnStable as an oppositional force to the technicos in the locker room. Jimmy Olsen and Shane Storm benefitted greatly from these series of angles. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brodie Lee was one of the best big man series of matches anywhere in wrestling in 2008 and the steel cage match at “Style & Substance” was a great conclusion to their feud. CHIKARA also had some of the promos of the year, from Mike Quackenbush explaining his beat down of his own tag partner and how Shane Storm sold everyone out to Vin Gerard complaining about The Colony to the ever-awesome Eddie Kingston and his fury and vitriol, CHIKARA just doesn’t just draw you in with its matches, but with its characterizations as well.

I guess what I’ll appreciate the most out of the year were the great moments in matches, the little touches of character that CHIKARA provides, like The Colony (who had a banner year) and their ant related moves and the Super Smash Brothers using video game finishers or The Osirian Portal’s Ophidian doing the snake charmer on opponents. Tim Donst and Hydra’s buddy act also should be recognized, as Donst being a mole in the rudo camp actually created a ton of repercussions, including the awesomely sympathetic face turn of the man-monster Hydra. It’s the attention to detail that makes CHIKARA stand out and impress. They may run mostly in legion halls, but when you suspend your disbelief and get into the product, you tend to forget that.

There was also plenty of excellent cooperation between CHIKARA and other promotions, some domestic and some international. CHIKARA hosted a record number of tag teams for its King of Trios ’08 tournament, brought in more luchadores from Mexico and held series of matches against Big Japan. While ROH is the ultimate destination for many independent wrestlers, CHIKARA is becoming the place on the East Coast to catch all the up and comers who will make their way to ROH in the years to come.

FIP: This was also a really good year for FIP as far as in-ring action…as ROH and FIP mainstays Erick Stevens and Roderick Strong tore the house down on several occassions…and then Go Shiozaki joined in on the fun as well. However, I did not buy a single FIP DVD this year, despite the seemingly effective reboot of the company and closer ties to ROH in character and story. Chalk it up to less free time and less expendable income to toss around and that by the end of the year my priorities were Ring of Honor first, CHIKARA second and SHIMMER third. FIP made the right creative choice by transitioning the title to Tyler Black, who can carry the ball in that promotion and create some new and interesting title situations with the wrestlers on the roster.

SHIMMER: ROH’s sister promotion focused on women’s wrestling kept on chugging along this year with solid shows with the focus on the right wrestlers. There was an interesting title change this year as MsChif rose to the top and is willing to fight anyone in the division… and new tag champions were crowned in the plucky and likable tandem of Ashley Lane and Neveah. SHIMMER also brought back Amazing Kong and Nikki Roxx (Hardcore Roxxi) in feature matches, and Mercedes Martinez returned from injury to bolster an already stacked upper card and main event scene. Rain, Jetta and Amber O’Neal continue to be guilty pleasures to watch—as all are fantastically entertaining as heels. As long as SHIMMER continues to feature quality wrestlers with talent such as Sara Del Rey, Cheerleader Melissa, Daizee Haze, MsChif, Martinez, Ariel and others, I’m willing to shell out the money to buy their shows. These women prove every time out there is room for great women’s wrestling in the wrestling business.

ROH Home Theatre Station

ROH Videowire: December 23rd, 2008

Ring of Honor Yearbook

ROH Call of Champions: 2008
As of 12/26/08

ROH World Title
Nigel McGuinness (10/06/07 – )

Something interesting that you’ll notice about Nigel’s title run is the clear demarcation between his c.v. as a face champion and then as a heel champion. As a face, Nigel was willing to fight all comers, but mostly fought heels (Chris Hero twice, Roderick Strong once). As a heel, he took on babyfaces almost exclusively (with the exception of Adam Pearce in Dayton, wherein Nigel played the face, and again vs. Jimmy Jacobs in Japan). Nigel fought against a contender multiple times, usually in a series of two singles matches (El Generico, Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson). Kevin Steen is the only man thus far to receive three singles matches for the title. Nigel also defended the tile in several multiple man matches, including two four way eliminations, and managed to make it out of these alive. All told I counted 31 defenses in his run thus far (ROH officially recognizes 30) and most of those happened in 2008.

ROH World Tag Team Titles
The Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) (12/30/07-1/26/08 )
No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards and Rocky Romero (1/26/08-4/12/08 )
The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) (4/12/08-5/10/08 )
*Title vacated and held up for tournament
The Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) (6/06/08 – 09/19/08 )
Kevin Steen & El Generico (09/19/08 – )

The tag title scene in 2008 was a hectic one, with many title switches and shorter than expected title runs. The Age of the Fall looked to become the dominant tag team of ROH in early 2008, but they were “railroaded” with back-to-back Ultimate Endurance matches and lost during the second one. The No Remorse Corps looked to take the tag titles and show they were the dominant faction during the Stable Warfare era, but they while Roichards and Romero were an effective team they managed only two tag title defenses in three months’ time. The Briscoes regrouped after their title loss and won a few matches on their way towards receiving a title shot. The switch wasn’t an expected one, as it seemed like the next in line for the titles were Kevin Steen and El Generico. Regardless, The Briscoes became five time champions in Edison, NJ. Unfortunately an injury to Mark Briscoe meant the champions would vacate the titles. The Age of the Fall won the tournament to crown new champions (see below) and would hold the belt for a longer period of time than their first experience. Finally Steen & Generico came through in a very emotional moment, unseating The Age of the Fall and becoming the people’s tag champions as we closed out 2008.

=Tournaments=

# 1 Contender’s Tournament (Held: 02/22/08) Winner: Kevin Steen
When a heavy winter storm affected the travel plans of many of the wrestlers, the Long Island show had to be changed up However, since ROH just held an Unscripted show three months previous, ROH decided to go with something different—an eight man single elimination tournament with the winner receiving a n ROH World Title shot at some point in the future. Kevin Steen defeated Delirious, Bryan Danielson (via submission of all things) and then Go Shiozaki in the finals to secure the title shot and push forward Steen as an upper card-main event talent.

# 1 Contender’s Tournament (Held: 03/14-16/08) Winner: Tyler Black
Ring of Honor needed an underlying theme to carry them towards the Pay Per View taping in Philadelphia during March, as well as fill up some time during the tapings for the movie “The Wrestler” in New Jersey. So ROH set up another eight man tournament. This time, there was a qualification round where the winners of four singles matches would duke it out to get to a four corner survival match on the Pay Per View. The winner of that match would go on to face the ROH World Champion in the main event. Black went over Erick Stevens in the qualifier and then defeated Go Shiozaki, Delirious and Claudio Castagnoli in the finals to go on to fight (and narrowly lose to) Nigel McGuinness.

ROH World Tag Team Tournament for vacant titles (Held: 06/06/08) Winners: The Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black)
When Mark Briscoe sustained a serious injury (again), ROH had no choice but to try to move on. Jay Briscoe did an interview where after teaming up with Austin Aries (as a substitute) to defend the straps, he vacated the titles because “it just ain’t the same” as teaming up with his brother. An eight team single elimination tourney was set up and held in Hartford, Connecticut. The favorites were The Age of the Fall, Steen & Generico and the team of Danielson & Aries. The Age of the Fall defeated the team of Delirious and Pelle Primeau in the opening round, manipulated their way past Danielson & Aries (winning by DQ in under a minute) and then took advantage of Steen & Generico’s weakened conditions (both injured after two brutal rounds of action) to win the straps.

Top of the Class Trophy Holders for 2008
Eddie Osiris
Mitch Franklin
Rhett Titus

Before he was “dirty” and bum-like, Ernie Osiris had a cup of coffee with the student trophy. Before he chopped down the trees of the Yukon, Grizzley Redwood (a.k.a. Mitch Franklin had a small branch of time with it as well. However, Rhett Titus had the most success being “addicted to love” and the top of the class trophy, using it to his full thrusting advantage, if you know what I mean.

2008’s Honored Guests

Daniel Puder
Bushwacker Luke
Sunny
Allison Danger
The Cast & Crew of “The Wrestler”
Takeshi Morishima
Naomichi Marufuji
Susumu Yokosuka
Naruki Doi
SHINGO
BxB Hulk
Masato Yoshino
Dragon Kid
Genki Horiguchi
Ryo Saito
Kota Ibushi
Michael Nakazawa
Chris Sabin
Alex Shelley
Lance Storm
Tetsuya Naito
Yujiro
Genba Hirayanagi
Kotaro Suzuki
Kazushi Miyamoto
Tajii Ishimori
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Katsuhiko Nakajima
Kensuke Sasaki
Samoa Joe
Hernandez
Homicide

In 2008 We Said Hello (or Hello Again) To…

Joey Matthews
Mikey Bennett
Kenny King
Sal Rinauro
Chasyn Rance
Kyle Durden
Go Shiozaki
Michael Elgin
Danny Daniels
Dingo
Silas Young
Allison Wonderland
Human Tornado
Zack Gowen
Kylie Pearce
MsChif
Ashley Lane
Eddie Kingston
Sabian
Robbie Mireno
“Addicted to Love” Rhett Titus
Rex Sterling
Sean Denny
Damien Wayne
Jerry Lynn
Kenny Omega
Jennifer Blake
Grizzley Redwood
Jessie McKay
Ariel
Brodie Lee
Cheech
Cloudy
Ophidian
Amasis
Hallowicked
Sami Callahan
Ace Steele
Irish Airborne
Bao Nguyen
Tony Kozina
Serena Deeb

And in 2008 We Said Goodbye To…

Matt Cross
BJ Whitmer
Mercedes Martinez
Lacey
Jack Evans
Rocky Romero
Zack Gowen
Joey Matthews
Pelle Primeau
Adam Pearce
Gabe Sapolsky

ROH’s Top News Stories of 2008

Sapolsky Ousted as ROH Booker, Adam Pearce Tapped As Replacement

One of the biggest shockers of the year that was in Ring of Honor was the firing of its long time booker of six years in Gabe Sapolsky. The firing came after the October 25th show (which ended up being one hell of a swan song) but had been in works for some time apparently. There we disagreements between Sapolsky and owner Cary Silkin about the direction of the company from a creative and a practical standpoint and one of them had to go…and obviously it wasn’t going to be the owner. Sapolsky had brought about many of the excellent moments from a storyline standpoint in ROH, but it was clear to many (and even he later admitted this was so) that he had hit some creative burnout. 2008 in ROH storylines wasn’t as fresh or intriguing as the feuds and angles of years before, and the burden of that has to go to the man in charge of designing the storylines. I personally loved the Jimmy Jacobs-Lacey-Aries storyline and the McGuinness heel run as champ (the two major storyline foci of the year), but others felt the former was too much soap opera and not enough steak to the sizzle. There were plenty of other criticisms as well, from the failure of Stable Warfare to the decision to put the tag titles on The Briscoe Brothers again, when there was a clear demand for Steen & Generico to win them.

After a short but furious rumor mill of discussion online about who would replace him, Adam Pearce was discovered to be the new booker…discovered rather than announce because one of the new changes in ROH was the decision to be more guarded about backstage and booking details. Adam Pearce sent an email memo to talent to kayfabe about Pearce being the new booker, but the internet being what it is found out about it less than twenty-four hours later. Oops!

Pearce has only booked a handful of shows since the change in booking and has already shifted some of the responsibilities and hands on management (especially on Friday shows) to wrestlers on the roster such as Larry Sweeney and Austin Aries. What has been clear is that there more of a focus on the second half of the show. The first half usually has decent to good in-ring efforts from the wrestlers; whereas the post intermission matches kick it up a notch to where most ROH fans expect the quality of the action to be on a regular basis. Pearce is also focusing on the videowires most frequently with features on the younger talent and using characters and wrestlers with “gimmicks” to produce new situations and scenarios, especially on the lower card. The shows and the storylines have been met with mixed reviews, but a true sense of what can be expected on the “new” ROH show won’t really be felt until 2009.

ROH Gets National Distribution in Retail Stores

One of the best pieces of news for ROH came when they signed a deal with KOCH video to release several ROH best-of style DVDs to retail outlets. A grass roots fan response helped get these DVDs stocked in Best Buy stores around America. These specially priced DVDs contained some of the better matches in ROH’s history, concentrating mostly on 2004 – present, with a focus on wrestlers currently in WWE or TNA like CM Punk ad Samoa Joe combined with a subtle featuring of the current stars of the company. KOCH released a total of four DVDs during this time.

ROH Renews PPV through Mid-2009, Signs Deal with Direct TV

There was the question coming into 2009 as to whether or not ROH Pay Per View would continue past the initial contracted six shows. PPV buy numbers have never been publically released, instead the ubiquitous official statement continues to be the numbers are “at or near expectations”. The truth is that ROH on PPV hasn’t set the world on fire or changed history…but it apparently made enough of an impact to be renewed for a second year.

While rumors of ROH finding a home on some form of network television are also ever present (with Cinderella dancing at the ball with among others Versus, Fuse TV and HD Net), one additional television outlet was added in 2008 and it was a big one. ROH announced in November that they had reached a deal with DirectTV to add their programming to the service. ROH Pay Per Views will be available on Direct TV On Demand programming starting with “Rising Above ‘09”. The bigger deal is that ROH will have its own On Demand channel, “ROH Classics”, which will provide Direct TV and its customers with ten hours per month of classic ROH action from the last nearly seven years. That’s a lots of excellent matches and an incredible range of wrestler and special appearances to choose from.

Expansion Throughout North America Continues

2007 saw ROH begin an agenda of expansion into new cities and countries that only continued to grow in the year that followed. ROH finally broke into Canada with shows in Toronto, Montreal and Markham…with the first Toronto show in particular earning rave reviews. ROH also had its second tour of Japan, with a two night stay at Differ Ariake that once again was supported through the cooperation of their friends at Dragon Gate and NOAH, as well as appearances by wrestlers in promotions such as DDT, Kensuke Office and All Japan.

Domestically, ROH put itself out there in several new cities, mostly to successful houses ranging between 600 – 700 in attendance. ROH ran debut shows in Manassas,VA, St. Louis, MO, Nashville TN, Danbury, CT and returned to Cleveland, Ohio for the first time in two years. By far the greatest success in a new town came during Wrestlemania 24 weekend, when ROH ran a double shot of shows in Orlando, right nearby the location of the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. There were about 1,000 plus in attendance of ROH Dragon Gate Challenge II and Supercard of Honor III. However, the news from Florida wasn’t all terrific. When ROH tried to follow up the shows with another series of shows in the state one in Coral Springs and the other back in Orlando, the lack of ticket sales forced ROH to postpone the shows into early February 2009. ROH also stopped running shows in Long Island, New York, but well, that was more a mercy killing than anything else.

ROH Alumni Samoa Joe and CM Punk Win World Titles in TNA & WWE Respectively

In an amazing statement about how much independent wrestling really means to the business at large (no matter what some smartass comment boarders from IWC will say), it was this year that saw for the first time two men who were ROH World Champions and “graduated” from the independents become World Champion for their respective company. Samoa Joe became the TNA World Heavyweight Champion for the first time in April, while CM Punk shocked the world by winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in late June. Joe and Punk, close friends on the independent scene, were both world champions at the same time. At the same time, former ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima won the GHC Heavyweight Title from Pro Wrestling NOAH and former ROH World Champion Homicide was tag champion in TNA alongside Hernandez. How about them apples?

“The Wrestler” Films with Ring of Honor

Actor Nicholas Cage and Director Darren Aronofsky visited ROH in New York at the close of 2007. Both men must have had very different reactions to what they saw. Nicholas Cage was soon out of the movie, but Aronofsky and Cary Silkin came to an interesting agreement. Aronofsky would film scenes of his movie “The Wrestler” within the backdrop of a Ring of Honor show.

The taping of the climactic scene in the movie happened over a two day set of tapings in Dover, New Jersey from March 14th-15th. Ring of Honor went full bore and decided to hold shows in between the filming, which meant that there was an unusual combination of celebrities, extras and wrestling fans all in attendance on those two nights.

The tapings came and went and for a long time no one really heard anything about the film. Fans knew that many wrestlers were in scenes, several of them from ROH including Necro Butcher and Claudio Castagnoli. Then the hype picked up for the film…with many saying it wasn’t just a great “wrestling” movie, but a great movie, period. Then the critics began to call it one of the greatest movies of the year—which is amazingly high praise from an industry even more hyper critical than that of professional wrestling. “The Wrestler” has racked up awards and award nominations galore and while is in limited release now it could build up even more momentum in early 2009 in wider distribution. Could this movie help increase the exposure of ROH? Could it help to restore some of the reputation (if you can call it that) for an ever-mocked business such as professional wrestling? These are some important questions we will find out the answer to soon enough.

The ROH Toolbar

It seems like every business out there on the internet has its own special and unique toolbar / search service…so why not Ring of Honor? Well, the toolbar program started well…but within four months quickly and quietly went the way of the Dodo. It was redundant and repetitive of many of the features that were already in use on the main ROH website and the ROH Videos.com website. While ROH tried (and seemingly did well) podcasting and providing unique interview features, it was hard to stay consistent over the long haul and more could be done with continuing storylines through the video wire as opposed to an exclusively audio format.

Many Happy Returns

When TNA announced that it was withdrawing its contracted talent from appearing on shows—again—in mid-2007 at the start of the Pay Per View era for ROH, it didn’t seem like any of them would be back. And yet…within one year’s time, The Motor City Machine Guns, Homicide and yes, even Samoa Joe have made special appearances for Ring of Honor. They make appearances on DVDs (not on PPV as per their contract) and provide some special and unique matches that you wouldn’t be able to see much of anywhere else. So while some fans have one certain curse word that they use when discussing TNA, I actually have two: Thank you TNA. Yes, that’s right. Thank you for continuing to do business with Ring of Honor.

ROH’s Feuds, Beefs and Issues of 2008

Nigel McGuinness vs. The ROH Fans, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Kevin Steen & on & on…

A slice of the Ring of Honor fans began to grumble about how McGuinness couldn’t or wouldn’t work through his arm injury, leading to booing during live shows, especially on New York. It looked like Nigel might vacate the title during Final Battle 2007, leading to one of the most conflicted crowd reactions of all time. The pro-Nigel fans won out that day and Nigel decided to keep the title, but the ball had already gotten tolling by that point. The next time ROH ran New York City, McGuinness had his full on heel turn, becoming a dishonorable heel more interested in his own health (because none of the fans would be there at the hospital or pay his medical bills). This set the tone for the rest of the year and a series of feuds against some of ROH’s top babyfaces, all intent on knocking McGuinness off the top of the ladder for one reason or another. Danielson’s biggest and best chances came at the Sixth Anniversary Show and at the Rising Above 2008 PPV tapings. He came as close as humanly possible to winning the belt without actually winning the belt. Steen was riding a huge win streak and had earned the right to challenge McGuinness for the belt. McGuinness held the ropes out of the referee’s sight in their first match, causing Steen to snap and demand an immediate rematch. He received that title bout just one week later, but again fell short due to shenanigans. Finally Steen received one last title shot, in his own home country of Canada, but this time was felled by McGuinness’s trademark move in the Jawbreaker Lariat. Meanwhile, Claudio Castagnoli was also reaching the apex of his popularity and positioned himself as the next in line by pinning McGuinness in a non-title Four Corner Survival match in Dover, New Jersey. Claudio claimed his shot at the first Hammerstein Ballroom show in May…but he fell far short of the mark. Claudio would win a match against Bryan Danielson the next month and use that win to leverage another shot against Castagnoli, this time at the New Horizons PPV taping. This was a much better and much closer challenge for the Swiss-man, but he again lost the title match, causing him to decide to leave ROH out of embarrassment…which lasted all of a couple of weeks when he came back for one last shot at the title. When he didn’t win that match and in fact was the first eliminated, he snapped and turned heel.

Nigel McGuinness reveled in being unstoppable this year. Tyler Black, Austin Aries, Jimmy Jacobs, El Generico, the list goes on and on. While they may have hurt Nigel during the match, not one of them was successful in tearing that title away from him.

Sweet & Sour Incorporated “Corporate Takeover”–Merges With Hangm3n Three, Causes No Remorse Corps to Fold, Brent Albright Rebels From The Inc.

Larry Sweeney declared a “hostile takeover” of Ring of Honor in the beginning of the year…then spent the next twelve months doing his best to bring that about. He bought his way into several ROH mainstays. First he bought out the Hangm3n Three stable, merging Adam Pearce, Brent Albright and BJ Whitmer into the fold, with the price of negotiation being Sweeney had to get ROH to recognize that Adam Pearce was the NWA World Heavyweight Champion (which he eventually did). When Whitmer didn’t want to go with the flow, he was tossed out. Then Sweeney tried to buy out the No Remorse Corps, but NRC team leader Roderick Strong wasn’t interested. However, Davey Richards of the NRC was, and he bought into the Sweet & Sour Incorporated idea. He had taken enough verbal abuse from Strong and Rocky Romero and vowed that no one would talk down to him again. Richards’ abandoning the NRC and Romero’s disappearance from the company effectively brought the NRC to an end.

However, Brent Albright was becoming more and more dissatisfied with the treatment he was receiving from Larry Sweeney. Albright originally came into ROH as a bounty hunter of sorts, but money wasn’t the only thing that was important to him. He hated being order around and loved to do things his own way. So finally, he had enough of being ordered to hurt people and decided to take out all of Sweet and Sour Incorporated. Erick Stevens was also someone who had been repeatedly offered a “buy out” by Sweeney but who found the super agent so repugnant he would tear up the contracts or wipe his nose with them. Both men in addition to Strong would begin a war against Larry Sweeney. A goal of the Albright-Stevens-Strong connection has been to “wake up” Bobby Dempsey and make him realize he was being used and abused by The Inc. Albright has repeatedly told Dempsey to be a man and stand up for himself, but as of yet Dempsey has simply accepted his role as the team’s water boy and consistent scapegoat.

Albright managed to get a moment of satisfaction when he won the NWA Title from Pearce in New York City…however just six weeks later he lost the title back to Pearce. However, fans have not seen hide or hair of Adam Pearce since then…and his former manservant Shane Hagadorn has reportedly suffered from a great amount of depression due to his unexplained disappearance.

Meanwhile, Sweeney continued to buy up talent throughout the year, adding Sara Del Rey and making her into a twisted “Diva”, mean and cold and ready to hurt anyone at a moment’s notice. Eddie Edwards was recruited and became known as Sweeney’s hot prospect. Go Shiozaki was brought in as an international talent and his presence not only replaced Albright as far providing muscle and brawn, but it also paid immediate dividends when Shiozaki won the FIP Heavyweight Title from Erick Stevens.

The Age of the Fall vs. The Briscoes

A war that began in 2007 continued all the way throughout 2008. Various combinations of The Age of the Fall tangoed with ROH’s favorite sons of Delaware in brawls, street fights, multiple tag matches, steel cage matches and yes, even straight up tag matches. The Age of the Fall managed to take the ROH World Tag Team Titles from The Briscoes at Final Battle 2007, leaving New York City crying in pain, mostly from the sound of the soundtrack scream blaring over and over like an alarm. The Briscoes tried to get back into position to fight for the belts, but didn’t get the job done during the Ultimate Endurance four team elimination that served as the rematch. One of the best brawls occurred during Supercard of Honor III, which featured a cameo appearance by FIP’s Milo Beasley and the use of his wheelchair for further destruction from The Briscoes. That show had Mark Briscoe prove why he’s Mark Briscoe by flying through the air over a corridor entrance in the arena and crashing through a table with Beasley on it. It was just one of the many insane moments that Mark Briscoe perpetrated on The Age of the Fall. However, AotF would respond in kind…like when Necro Butcher almost decapitated him with a shovel during a street fight match taped for the Take No Prisoners PPV.

One of the crucial points in the feud occurred in April during the Return Engagement event. Jimmy Jacobs had just discovered the love of his life had left him (see below) and in a fit of anger attacked The Briscoes after their match against the Motor City Machine Guns. Jacobs spiked Briscoe and got him in the hand as he was looking to deflect the spike. Mark immediately reacted with a howl of pain and ran to the back. He would be out for the next several months due to the injury (in reality this was the reason to write him out due to a real injury), which was a problem because The Briscoes were the tag champions at the time. Jay Briscoe tried to team up with Austin Aries to fight off The Age of the Fall (and avenge his brother) and while they were successful, it didn’t feel the same, so Jay vacated the titles, but still looked to take out The Age of the Fall…whether it was by himself or with Austin Aries as his back-up. From time to time Mark Briscoe’s emotions would get the best of him and he would come out from the back to lay a beat down on whichever Age of the Fall member was fighting his brother.

The finale of The Age of the Fall vs. Briscoe Brothers feud came one year after the first attack on Jay & Mark, the bloodletting after the Man Up Pay Per View. The Briscoes once again teamed up with Austin Aries to take on the combination of Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black and Delirious in a Steel Cage Warfare match, with Necro Butcher his on his own side acting as the wild card. The Briscoes eliminated both Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black at the same time with their respective finishing moves in order to win the match and the feud against a team that had haunted them for over a year.

Austin Aries, Jimmy Jacobs & Lacey Love Triangle

Love is never easy, but Jimmy Jacobs thought he had found the answer when he successfully wooed Lacey (depicted in the “Jimmy Loves Lacey” series of vignettes). However, Jacobs learned that “love doesn’t save, nothing saves” and used his apathy and frustration at that realization to form The Age of the Fall. Amazingly, Lacey stills tood by his side and in support of his agenda, even though he had basically admitted that what they had together didn’t mean much.

Frustration was a by-product of Austin Aries losing several key main event matches, and it seemed like bitterness and anger was getting to him. He was refusing to shake hands with opponents after matches, was tight-lipped during interviews and generally was a lot colder to everyone than usual. Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black saw that bitterness in Aries and felt he was the next candidate for recruitment into their revolution. So Jacobs and Black and even Lacey tried to campaign to get Aries’ attention, even putting on a show for him in New York City where they each delivered monologues explaining why Aries should join them.

Aries didn’t really seem to like all the extra attention put on him, but he became even more of a wanted man when Tammy Sytch (Sunny) decided to throw her hat into the ring. She wanted to manage Aries and take him straight to the top…and even offered a few side benefits to the package. Aries had a decision to make, but he took a long time to do it. Finally Jacobs had lost his patience and demanded an answer from Aries. Surprisingly, Lacey stopped Jacobs and said that Aries wasn’t so much a man of words as a man of action, and she would show him just why he should join The Age of the Fall. Lacey offered her hand to Aries and they were heading to the back, when Jimmy, cut her off. He was unsure, confused…maybe even a little frightened of what he was seeing. See, love didn’t save…but that didn’t mean he didn’t love her…right?

Lacey reassured Jimmy that everything would be alright…and then she walked out of the ring…and no one heard from her or Aries for the next several weeks. Not an email, text, phone call or public appearance from either one of them. The mystery of what could have possibly happened was explained at the Tag Wars event, where Lacey and Aries appeared and made out in public. Did this mean Aries had agreed to join The Age of the Fall? At Return Engagement, Jacobs seemed to think so, welcoming Aries into the group…but he hadn’t been able to talk to Lacey and find out what happened. Aries happily filled him in…that he and Lacey got to talking and the more Lacey talked the less she seemed to be able to convince even herself of Jacobs’ revolution. The more Aries talked, the more he seemed to be able to get through to Lacey that Jacobs was being hypocritical. And then they slept with each other.

The news absolutely smashed Jacobs to pieces…but he couldn’t even go into a denial phase as soon enough Lacey and Aries were embracing right in front of him. Jacobs couldn’t handle being rejected so he began to unleash on anyone in his path, injuring Mark Briscoe and nearly killing Aries with the spike that same night before Lacey came out to beg for him not to do it. Jacobs broke down and cried, leading to confusion from his other members of The Age of the Fall.

Jacobs was hurt…but it didn’t take too long for him to form a brutal response. He had to show the rest of The Age of the Fall that he was a capable leader and could solve his own problems and he did that in the most brutal way possible…in a scene videotaped by members of The Age of the Fall, he confronted Lacey outside of her gym…and…well, no one really knows what happened on that fateful day, other than Aries took out his spike and looked to attack when the camera cut out. Whatever happened, Aries was unwilling to discuss it and his temper blew up whenever it was even mentioned. Lacey was gone from wrestling.

The war between Aries and Jacobs was on. They fought both on the psychological as well as the physical battlefield. Aries’ temper got the best of him at times, and tag matches with Bryan Danielson often saw Danielson fighting from behind to regain the in-ring advantage. Aries was becoming a bit of a loose cannon, thanks to his anger over what Jacobs had done to Lacey.

Meanwhile, Aries looked to convince The Necro Butcher of Jacobs’ hypocrisy and while at first he had to take massive physical punishment by an unconvinced Necro…eventually this move paid off. Necro did see that Jacobs was manipulating him to do his bidding and rejected The Age of the Fall to follow his own path. Lacey had told Aries that Jacobs was deathly afraid of Necro and when Aries emerged victorious in the first singles match between the two, a pre-match stipulation allowed him to pick the next match. Aries chose a no disqualification match with Jimmy Jacobs…against The Necro Butcher!

Necro gave a great fight against Jacobs and seemingly had his former friend off balance, but Jacobs found a way to overcome his fears and defeat him. That left Aries and Jacobs to finish their dance against each other. Both agreed to a three match series that would finish up their feud. Jacobs won the first match by surprising Aries with the help of new Age of the Fall member Brodie Lee. Aries won a bloody dog collar match in Markham, Canada to tie up the series. Then at the Rising Above 2009 tapings, Aries defeated Jacobs in an I-Quit match thanks to the surprising return of Lacey. Did love save after all?

The Ballad of Delirious

Love was in the air everywhere you looked around. This was certainly the case when it came to Delirious. He had found a fast friend in Daizee Haze, who helped him out during a few tough spots against members of The Age of the Fall or Sweet & Sour Incorporated, since she had issues with the ladies on both of those teams in Lacey and Sara Del Rey. Delirious seemed to appreciate the help and you couldn’t but notice that he would stare at her for a few seconds longer than necessary.

Delirious worked up enough nerve and courage to come out when Daizee Haze was making the announcement of a record breaking crowd during the first Hammerstein Ballroom event. He was dressed sharply (well for Delirious that is) in a nice shirt and green tie. He asked in his own way for dinner at Nobu, but while Daizee seemed amused or even appreciative by Delirious, she never was able to respond. A man by the name of Rhett Titus interrupted the proceedings. He had his eye on Daizee Haze and wanted to go out on a date with her. Instead of asking nicely, he overloaded on smarmy come-ons and creeped her out. She left the ring out of disgust and nausea, with the crowd chanting “you got c**kblocked” at Delirious.

Titus was addicted to love, and that was love for Daizee…or for himself…it was hard to tell. Anyway, Titus decided to switch gears and play the role of the “nice guy”, who wanted to learn from Daizee and practice “wrestling holds” with her…at the ROH student academy of course. Delirious was dumbfounded and didn’t know how to react, especially since all of his clumsy advances didn’t seem to work and now Titus was worming his way into Daizee’s life. Titus even suggested he and Delirious team up of all things.

One day after practice at the wrestling school, Titus needed a lift back home…somehow, he and Daizee Haze wound up back at her place…and things got smooth…or so Titus claimed. A few days later, Titus would produce what he claimed was video proof that he and Haze had got it on…and he was showing it to anyone and everyone in an effort to boost his rep in the locker room.

Daizee noticed that everyone began to act strangely around her…but she didn’t know why. Then in late July, Titus left Haze to be beaten up by Sara Del Rey and Sweet & Sour Incorporated. Delirious came in for the save, and Haze finally saw through Titus to what he was really about. A week later, Delirious once again had the courage to ask Haze out on a date…but Titus once again intruded…revealing a pair of tights with Haze’s face on it. Delirious cleared the ring of the lothario and once again asked for a date. Unfortunately, Haze said no. She did not want to ruin their friendship and valuing her reputation as a woman in wrestling who didn’t sleep around with the wrestlers to get to the next level in her career. The fans in attendance didn’t buy it and Delirious was absolutely crushed by the rejection. To further add insult to injury, Rhett Titus showed him the video footage and claimed that he had sex with the girl of dreams.

The combination of rejection by the girl of his dreams and the revelation that she had slept with someone like Titus pushed Delirious over the edge of sanity and into the depths of darkness. Surprisingly, someone was there who knew exactly what Delirious was feeling…Jimmy Jacobs. He had been betrayed by love…and he wanted to help Delirious deal with that pain…by joining The Age of the Fall and unleashing all of that negative energy on everyone else in Ring of Honor.

The animalistic side of Delirious was now free to roam ROH and he began to destroy everyone in his path…his sometime tag partner Pelle Primeau, his rival Rhett Titus, both of them were smashed to pieces by multiple Panic Attack knees to the head. Daizee Haze tried to convince him not to make the biggest mistake of his life. She said she realized all too late that she shouldn’t have said no to Delirious when he asked her out.

Delirious walked out on Haze begging her not to join in with AotF. Haze then began to sort the broken pieces of her life. First she would make Rhett Titus pay for the false claims he had been making…then she would save Delirious from the clutches of The Age of the Fall. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be as easy as all that—she would have to sacrifice her health at Glory By Honor VII. She put herself in the middle of the madness of the Steel Cage Warfare match that Delirious was in…and Delirious intentionally spiked her right in the face! Even Jimmy Jacobs was in a state of giddy awe at how far Delirious had come in just a short amount of time.

Haze didn’t just pack up and quit…she turned her attention towards making Titus fess up. She was unrelenting in attacking him anywhere and everywhere he went…before his matches, afterwards, even during intermissions of some shows near where the fans were grabbing concessions. Assistance for Haze did come from an unlikely source in The Necro Butcher…who caught Rhett Titus in the middle of the ring and along with He forced Titus to fess up to the truth…that he never slept with Daizee at all…that in fact he was a virgin! Haze’s reputation was restored…but it wasn’t long before Titus claimed he was just saying that so Necro wouldn’t beat him up.

2008 ended with Delirious still lost in a state of misery and panic-stricken fear…can his friend Daizee Haze save him? Or will he not believe her when she says that love can save?

Kevin Steen’s Quest for ROH Gold

At the beginning of the year, Kevin Steen was surging in popularity. Fans took to his brusque attitude, his fondness for hurling insults at his opponents and his tough guy offense in the ring. Steen went on a winning streak at the beginning of the year, challenging Nigel McGuinness for the ROH World Title at the Injustice event in April. Steen may have lost the title shot and the rematch, but undeterred, he made a vow to himself and to the Ring of Honor fans. He would win a championship in ROH in 2008, whether it was the World, Tag Team, FIP or maybe even the SHIMMER title.

The road wasn’t easy… Steen and his partner Generico racked up wins in the tag division, but the NRC refused to grant them a title shot. Then their old rivals The Briscoes ended up with the belts. Steen & Generico defeated the NRC in New York, proving they would have become tag champions if they fought them in a title match.

Steen & Generico participated in the tag tournament for the vacated belts, but frustratingly lost in the finals. Then The Age of the Fall put the block on them climbing up the ladder of contention by defeating them in tag action. Steen became so addled with frustration that he ended up making a speech to ROH fans during a live event in Dayton. He was moving up his personal timetable and guaranteed he would win a title by the next time ROH came to town, which was November 21st, 2008.

Steen received another World title shot in his home country of Canada, but couldn’t get the win there either. Finally, Steen & Generico went on another hot streak in the late Summer. They defeated the Motor City Machine Guns in New York City to earn rights to a title shot against the tag team champions The Age of the Fall. This time, Steen and Generico lived up to their potential, and Steen lived up to his promise. He became an ROH World Tag Team Champion.

Strong vs. Stevens: A Multi Promotion Rivalry

Erick Stevens chose to join The Resilience instead of teaming up with his mentor Roderick Strong. That lead to both men being a part of many battles in multi-tag matches and of course a very notable singles encounter at the Man Up Pay Per View in 2007. Both men continued to fight and a stronger, more violent rivalry between the two was borne out of the ashes of the Resilience vs. No Remorse Corps feud.

Shockingly Stevens won the FIP Title at Final Battle 2007, when it seemed unlikely the belt would once again change hands on a Ring of Honor show. Stevens vowed to defend the title and be a fighting champion. He had two successful defenses against Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson, but he would lose the title back to Strong on his first defense on an FIP show in Florida. He lost it under the worst of circumstances as well—in front of family and friends, and by count out. Strong and Stevens had busted each other up so badly that Erick Stevens was drenched in blood and could not get back into the ring before the twenty count. Since Roderick Strong himself had instituted rules for the FIP title that it could change hands via a count out, we had a new FIP champion.

Stevens and Strong would duke it out further in both ROH and FIP, with the intensity picking up as they went along. In Orlando Florida, they didn’t so much have a match as have an extended ultra-violent brawl in front of a crowd where there just happened to be a wrestling ring. The biggest insult came when Strong knocked out Stevens that night and shaved off his trademark Mohawk that was a large part of his identity and unique look. Stevens had to live with the fact that Strong had one up on him.

Their ROH feud ended in a Fight Without Honor on the Respect is Earned II Pay Per View. Both men continued to brutalize each other with chops, suplexes, backbreakers, chairs, tables and ladders. Roderick Strong persevered (or maybe just outlasted) against Stevens on that night. However, their ultimate match occurred in FIP with a dog collar match, where Stevens won and took the title from his mentor-turned-enemy. Strong had won the feud in ROH, but Stevens had taken the feud and the title in FIP.

Go Shiozaki’s U.S. Experience

Pro Wrestling NOAH has sent many of its wrestlers over to America and specifically to ROH for extended runs in the company that amounts to what are basically “exchange programs”. KENTA, Marufuji and Takeshi Morishima have been benefactors of the agreement between the two companies and SHINGO over at Dragon Gate received the same treatment in 2006. This past year Go Shiozaki was chosen to be the next wrestler who received the extended stay in ROH. He had already appeared on ROH’s international shows including matches in England and in Japan. Now he was coming to America.

He didn’t have much time to find his footing as he was thrown right into the thick of things in his first appearance. Bad weather forced the Long Island show to be shifted around and Shiozaki was entered into a tournament for a shot at the ROH World Title. Shiozaki’s first opponent was the wild and wooly brawler Necro Butcher. It’s safe to say that Go had never faced anyone quite like Necro before. Yet Go made it all the way to the finals of the tournament, losing to Kevin Steen. Shiozaki had his first taste of getting close to an American wrestling championship… and he liked it.

Shiozaki was very well received by fans who appreciated his aggressiveness in the ring, his amazingly harsh chops and the variety of finishing moves he used, including the Orange Crush and the aptly named Go Flasher. He put up some great efforts against many of the ROH regulars, including a fantastic match against Austin Aries at the Sixth Anniversary Show. However, by mid May, Go was only about .500 on the win-loss records. He wanted to win titles, but he wasn’t getting close to that goal.

There was one opportunity to win the title, at Respect Is Earned II…but he came up on the short end of the stick. That’s when Shiozaki decided that he needed someone from America to look out for his interests, someone who could get him the title opportunities he needed, even desperately wanted. Shiozaki hired super agent Larry Sweeney to represent him…and for Sweeney it was a great opportunity to bring in someone who had size, power and a boatload of championship potential.

At first, hiring Sweeney didn’t really affect Shiozaki’s attitude or in-ring actions. He was stoic but relatively honorable and respectful of the rules. Then slowly but surely the bad influences of those around him in Sweet & Sour Inc. began to rub off on him. Shiozaki stopped shaking his opponents’ hands, became extra nasty in the ring, and would sometimes take shortcuts to getting the advantage. This was a far different side of Shiozaki than fans had seen at the beginning of the year…but this Shiozaki was becoming very successful with this new attitude. On August 23rd, 2008, Shiozaki unseated Erick Stevens to win the FIP Heavyweight Title…and he did it with help from his FIP liaisons, the detestable and hated Heartbreak Enterprises. Shiozaki was finally a champion in America.

ROH What The…?

The following are strange but true moments in ROH this year…things that make us go “hmmm”…

-The Briscoes Shooting Guns in Their Backyard?
-Ninjas Yellow, Black, White & Blue?
-Ernie Osiris asking for spare change?
-Daizee Haze likes to sew?
-Grizzly Redwood lives in an attic of a cottage?
-Bobby Dempsey made his own T-shirt?
-Chris Hero’s hero is Mike Tyson?
-Prince Nana drives a taxi?

We’ll continue with more of our feature, including a menagerie (or maybe a ZOO) full of awards and lists, tomorrow with PART TWO!