411’s Buy or Sell 01.02.09: The Best of 2008, Tyler Black’s Future, PWG’s Return Show, More (Part 1)

Bayani Domingo : SELL. Who the hell is Ippei Ota? Not that I am an expert in the world of Puro, but I have heard very little of Ota this year outside of a few tag team wins over veteran teams and advancing a little further in tournament then he was expected to. Also, aren’t we forgetting about Go? The man is coming back to NOAH soon and he is hungry for a title. If the path that Morishima has forged upon his trip to RoH is any indication, as well as Marufuji’s success upon returning as well, I would think this will be Go Shiozaki’s year to shine.

Samuel Berman : SELL. Ota’s win was an upset to be sure, but I think that Taiji Ishimori is more poised to break out of the pack in Japan next year. The NOAH prospect has roots in the Toryumon system and has benefited greatly from an association with KENTA. Ota may make waves down the road, but for now I think his win over Marufuji was more a fluke than an indicator of a pending push.

Ryan Byers : SELL. It was a major upset and a fun moment, but you have to keep in mind two things about Ota beating Marufuji. First of all, it is not as though the perennial job boy pinned the GHC Champion clean in the middle in a singles bout. The victory was part of a battle royale. Additionally, it was part of NOAH’s year-end Christmas show, which is essentially a stand-alone card designed more to let the fans have some feel good moments than it is to have a bearing on the future angles in the company. I sincerely doubt that Ota’s big win was meant to move him up the card in any way, shape, or form. It was more than likely designed to be a one-time show of respect for a guy who has taken a lot of lumps for the company, similar to the manner in which WWE will periodically give an upset to Funaki or an on camera role to the Brooklyn Brawler.

Ari Berenstein : NEUTRAL. I don’t watch enough Puro these days to make an adequate judgment. If forced I’d say sell just on instinct–its really hard for the younger wrestlers to become major stars in Japan, because the older stars are viewed as the most important.

Larry Csonka : BUY. Just to kick things off I plan to be brief in my answers today, due to their being so many other involved. Thanks for reading the column.. For this question I will also admit that I haven’t been able to follow the scene in Japan as much as I have in past years, it comes down to a lack of time. But when I think about Japan in 2009, I don’t really see anyone set to breakout huge, but I will say that Ippei Ota does have the best chance. I see good things for him in 2009, but just not as big as some others may think.

Michael Bauer : BUY. I understand the point that this show is a gift for the fans. But if you had no plans for the guy, why on earth would you have him in any way, shape, or form have him do anything successful against Marufuji? I think the guy will have some sort of breakout year and his name will be seen a lot more in 2009.

2 BUYS, 3 SELLS! (1 NEUTRAL)

Samuel Berman : BUY. Had the question been one or the other, I probably would have sold, simply because PWG needs to get back to putting on shows and giving its fans hope that the company will rebound. However, with two key players not on the card, it certainly leaves PWG in a dubious situation in terms of who’s left available. Honestly, I would have worked the booking around Hero’s schedule far more than Ki’s, as Hero has proven to be the more reliable commodity in the past. As it is, the current lineup for “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies” looks unremarkable, with Bryan Danielson vs. Scott Lost and Chuck Taylor vs. El Generico being the most interesting matches to me personally.

Ryan Byers : SELL. It’s indy wrestling in front of a hardcore fanbase. So long as they get five or six top guys on the card performing all of the highspots that they want to see, the crowd is going to go home happy, regardless of whether the two most decorated guys in the company on top. Unless guys like Hero and Ki are perpetual no shows on PWG’s cards, I doubt that their one-time absences will have any effect on their bottom line. Besides, getting all of the planets to allign to book everybody that you want for an indy show is incredibly difficult. Getting a venue and a halfway respectable roster along with Ki and Hero in early 2009 may have been nigh impossible, and the company shouldn’t have to wait around to make money while a bunch of wrestlers’ social calendars clear out.

Ari Berenstein : SELL. Ring of Honor ran several shows in 2008 without Bryan Danielson or Nigel McGuinness, its top two wrestlers. While “Return of the 187” sucked aside from Homicide’s return and the main event, “RIng of Homicide 2” in Edison went way above expectations. Its not just about the star power you provide, but the card you present and how its executed day of. If PWG brings a strong enough show (and their first show in’09 does seem to be a good to very good show overall) they will be fine without Hero and Low Ki for one or two shows.

Larry Csonka : BUY. I have long had my issues in how Pro Wrestling Guerilla does business. They are a promotion that lacks stability, and to kick of 2009 without World Champion Chris Hero AND Battle of Los Angeles winner Low Ki? That screams mistake to me. They need to give people a reason to come to these shows and buy the DVD, and Hero defending the title and Ki appearing will do that. Sure they will likely sell the same 200-300 seats here, and they will sell some DVDs, but is simply ding the status quo good enough for them at this point? I don’t think so.

Michael Bauer : BUY. This is an easy buy. Not having Chris Hero and Low Ki, your Champion and most likely your Number 1 Contender, is a plain mistake on PWG’s part. You would never see a WWE PPV without John Cena AND the guy feuding with him and you shouldn’t see any Indy show without one of the two. If it was just Hero and no Low Ki, that would be understandable. Just Low Ki wouldn’t be terrible, but it would make for some tougher booking. But without both guys… I just don’t know how you do that.

Bayani Domingo : BUY. This is a tough one for me since I know PWG is under pressure to fit in more shows into ’09 than they managed to in ’08 and not scheduling a show in the first couple of weeks into the New Year would cause further rumors to spread about their financial viability, but I don’t think starting this year without at least Hero or Ki is the way to go. While this is an interesting mix of reliable locals, new talent (Cutler Bros), big named wrestlers (Aries/Danielson), solid regular fly-ins (Davey/Strong), emerging talents hoping to cement a spot on the roster (Chuck Taylor), and a real surprise in Bobby Quance. Quance used to be a regular on the SoCal scene about 3 or 4 years ago, but left to join the armed forces, he’s back now and PWG is hoping his return will spark some of the regular fans who had been staying away due to either irregular schedules, lack of funds, or the cost of gas to come back for a nostalgia trip. Then again they tried that with TARO’s return and that didn’t go as planned. While this isn’t a “Bad” show per se, this just doesn’t seem like the kind of show that is going to be big enough to carry PWG into the new year and renew the fan’s enthusiasm about the product. It’s a nice little card, but PWG is going to have to jump through some serious hoops if they are hoping to regain the trust of the fans again and starting the year without the man who proclaimed to “Be PWG” is not a good start. Let alone allaying the fears that Low Ki isn’t going to spending a major part of the year outside of SoCal.

4 BUYS, 2 SELLS!

Ryan Byers : BUY. There are so many championships in so many rinky dink indy promotions that I’d actually be hard pressed to believe that one of them hasn’t already won something somewhere.

Ari Berenstein : SELL. I think the strongest candidates are obvious–Rhett Titus and Grizzley Redwood. Discounting the Top of the Class Trophy in ROH, I can’t see either of them winning tag or singles gold in ROH itself. That leaves the independents. The greatest chance either one has to win a title is in CHIKARA for their special events like King of Trios or Young Lions Cup tournaments. Now Its conceivable Grizzley could win the former as part of a trio or Rhett could win the latter title, but the odds are long and I don’t think I’ll take them.

Larry Csonka : BUY. I think so. Guys like Grizzly Redwood are getting booked on more shows these days, and Grizzly Redwood himself is getting over with the new gimmick. I think that it is very possible, especially for him, to take home a smaller title on the Indy scene in 2009.

Michael Bauer : SELL. Yeah, I don’t think so. It definitly won’t happen in RoH or FIP. CHIKARA seems very unlikely and I really don’t believe Ring of Honor wants these guys near anywhere else for any reason. So I don’t think it is going to happen in 2009.

Bayani Domingo : BUY. Not that there is a lot to choose from between Rhett Titus, Bobby Dempsey, Grizzly Redwood, “Homeless” Ernie Osiris, Alex Payne, and the Ninjas. But you know, that is exactly what FIP is for. One has to think at least a tag title reign would be in order for Rhett and possibly a shot at the Heritage Championship. You also have CHIKARA as a possibility and Bobby Dempsey has been getting steady work during their tournaments there. I would highly doubt a student gets a shot at an RoH Title, but then again with the tag division sort of in flux you might see someone sneak in for a very short title reign ala, The Carnage Crew. Something makes me think that this is the year that RoH starts caring about their “homegrown” talent again and considering they are finally giving those guys personalities and gimmicks (albeit, not all being winners) that is a good indication.

Samuel Berman : BUY. This is easy, if only because any podunk title from a random East Coast or Midwest Independent would put this one over the top. However, I’m less sold on the notion of an ROH student winning a belt in one of the “big five” (ROH, FIP, PWG, IWA Mid-South and CHIKARA).

4 BUYS, 2 SELLS!

Ari Berenstein : SELL. It will be the last we see of them for a while…but it won’t be forever. I think we’ll get special appearances during the bigger shows of the year such as Seventh Anniversary Show, Death Before Dishonor, Glory By Honor and Final Battle. And you can’t forget about the annual Dragon Gate appearances at Wrestlemania. I believe even with the new booking and policy changes, we won’t see those appearances totally gone.

Larry Csonka : SELL. Now the use of Japanese talent will be scaled back tremendously, Cary Silken has already admitted that, mainly due to the Japanese “invasions” were the brainchild of Gabe Sapolsky. But Silken also has stated that he would consider using Japanese talent, from time to time, on big show. Also, as far as I know, Go Shiozaki still is spending some time in the states. If that is still the case, I could still see him being used since he is already in the US.

Michael Bauer : SELL. I was very tempted to buy this, but with the RoH hardcore fan base wanting these guys in an RoH ring, it will happen. It probably won’t be as often and it most likely won’t be most of the bigger names we are used to, but I’m sure ine some way, shape, or form, they will be represented.

Bayani Domingo : SELL. Seriously? There is no way in hell we aren’t seeing at least a few Puro guys in the ring. Despite the rumors of Cary wanting to phase them out even though Gabe had a huge hard on for sweaty Japanese men, the fans have embraced them to the point that they will not be happy if we don’t see at least a few appearances a year by some of the NOAH or Dragon Gate guys. You may see them get booked fewer and farther between, but there is no doubt there is still a place for “special attraction” matches and the fact that we will see them less often might just make it that much more special.

Samuel Berman : SELL. This has to be sold because the news out of ROH has already announced that while there would be a smaller presense by Japanese talent, that the influence would not be disappearing altogether. I think that Dragon Gate will still be represented during Wrestlemania weekend in Texas as well as a return engagement at some point from Kota Ibushi. Also, isn’t Go Shiozaki still going to be with the company into 2009? He’s still Japanese, right?

Ryan Byers : SELL. I know that everybody thinks that between the national economic downturn and the company’s new direction that we’re not going to see fly-ins from NOAH and Dragon Gate that many fans speculate are rather expensive. However, I don’t think that the concerns of those fans are particularly well founded. Japanese wrestlers have been appearing in Ring of Honor since its inception. Takao Omori, Dick Togo, Masato Tanaka, Shinjiro Ohtani, and Ikuta Hidaka were all hanging out in ROH in its first year, and, though the world economy was stronger at that time, Ring of Honor was not in great shape financially as it was just attempting to get off the ground. The fact of the matter is that bringing in foreign talent is a way to freshen up cards and it’s something that the promotion’s fanbase almost always reacts to, so the promotion will find ways to keep making it happen. Some things may have to change. For example, they may have to bring in foreign wrestlers from smaller promotions as I suggested in this column a few months ago. Another alternative would be to snag the Japanese talent while they are already in the States for other reasons, thus cutting down on travel costs. ROH is going to find some way to keep its puro influence, though, by hook or by crook.

6 for 6 on SELLS!

Larry Csonka : BUY. In a way I wish that they would, because I love extended alliance and string stables, but I highly doubt that this will happen. I have the feeling that Aries could be headed towards ROH gold by the end of 2009, and that will be enough for he and Jacobs to split.

Michael Bauer : BUY. I have to question whether or not they truly are an alliance or if they are in the Roderick Strong/Erick Stevens boat of having common enemies. Something tells me that this was pre-meditated and it is an “alliance” of sorts, but one that just can not last long.

Bayani Domingo : BUY. Does any alliance really last more than a year in Ring of Honor? Okay so some do, but this isn’t one of them. While this is a fresh change of pace for the feud and the “stable wars”, or whatever is left of them, this isn’t meant to last. In fact I’m not even sure if this is merely an “arrangement” or a one time thing so chances are this is a loose affiliation that will probably not last past Wrestlemania weekend. Besides, how the hell does ths partnership even make sense after all these guys have been through? Geeez. Why not just explain that Aries lost a ton of money in the stock market buying shares of WWE and he is working with Jimmy for his financial prowess.

Samuel Berman : BUY. This is kind of silly, right? I mean even if they are partners or allies until November, that STILL wouldn’t be “lasting the year”. I think Jacobs and Aries will remain linked for a significant period of time, but so much happens in a year that the smart money is always on an alliance (at least of non-regular tag team partners) breaking up in the course of twelve months.

Ryan Byers : BUY. I don’t know that they’ll necessarily have their alliance fall apart and start feuding again, but I don’t think that they can maintain a partnership for the entire year mainly because they’ve been married together in storyline for so long at this point that seeing them together is wearing thin. If it goes on throughout all of 2009, I have a feeling that there are going to be many fans banging their heads against the wall and begging for the entire thing to end. Though Adam Pearce may be untested as a booker, I don’t think that there are too many people dumb enough to let that happen. Besides, with Aries being as hot as he is in the company, he’s virtually guaranteed to get a series of title shots against whoever unseats Nigel McGuinness for the title, and I don’t know how easy that will be to put together if Jacobs is dragging him down like an albatross.

Ari Berenstein : BUY. A year? How about one show? Jacobs and Black as a tag team lasted about 16 months, no way Aries and Jacobs have the unity and cohesion to last that long…but who says they are an “alliance” anyway? We haven’t heard Aries side of the story (in the angle) yet. They both just happened to attack a man they both wanted to beat down at the same time.

6 for 6 on BUYS!

Michael Bauer : SELL. Sorry, but as I have been saying, if Tyler Black is the FIP World Champion, he is not winning the RoH World Title. And I can’t see the title being hotshotted again down in Florida, so I think he has a chance to hold the title until the summer at least. Then means we are looking at six months of making him even more credible so that he can pick up the huge title win in the Fall of 2009. But once again, it will not be him defeating Nigel McGuinness.

Bayani Domingo : BUY. They really are building it up aren’t they? This gives Tyler a few more months to continue feuding with Jacobs and Aries and then eventually it will spill into some kind of a multi-man match that Nigel will end up losing. It seems like no one else is being put up against Nigel in a very meaningful way and right now Tyler is the uncrowned “star” of RoH even though he doesn’t hold a belt. Instead of spending another month or 3 building up a meaningful feud for Nigel, considering he’s beaten pretty much everyone already, it makes sense to side step the title off him onto one of the hottest wrestling in the company and as part of the hottest feud as well.

Samuel Berman : SELL. I think Tyler is going to win ROH gold at some point in 2009, but I don’t know that he’s going to be the one to unseat Nigel McGuinness and I’m not sure that Nigel will lose the title by Wrestlemania weekend anyway. Nigel just passed Danielson’s mark, so the story will now be his struggle to survive past Samoa Joe’s 23-month record as ROH World Champion. I think ROH will milk that storyline, at least for a while, before moving the belt to someone else with Nigel falling short of Joe.

Ryan Byers : SELL. There’s no doubt in my mind that Black will be the champion before the end of 2009. However, putting the strap on the guy less than three full months in to the year strikes me as just a bit premature. The former DIFH member has seen a groundswell of support from fans over the last several months, and, as a result, I won’t be surprised if his title win is the creation of ROH’s next major star, in much the same way that capturing and running with the title catapulted Samoa Joe from the level of ROH main eventer to ROH legend. As such, I think that the championship victory needs to be on one of ROH’s biggest shows of the year, and none of those are upcoming between now and Wrestlemania (unless you want to count the company anniversary, though I see that being a smaller affair this year). In fact, WM weekend would be the first point at which I think that the company can do the title change and put it on a sufficiently large stage. If it’s not done then, I would imagine that it has to be held off until a Death Before Dishonor.

Ari Berenstein : BUY. Tyler Black will be ROH World Champion in ROH’s debut in Houston for Wrestlemania Weekend. He will win the title in New York on March 21st, the show right before the doubleshot in Houston. That means the Houston shows will be his first big test as champion. Black has a lot of work to do on his road to the title–avenge his loss to Aries, fight against his former rival. Meanwhile McGuinness still has Jerry Lynn in front of him as a viable challenger. I don’t see Black fighting for the title in Chicago for the PPV taping, but I do see him working his way into position for a title shot in time for the New York show.

Larry Csonka : SELL. Ugh, this is a hard one to discuss.. And while I think the title change to Black COULD happen, and likely on PPV, part of me thinks that the change will happen IN Houston, to make the weekend seem even bigger. The biggest weekend of the year, ROH historically puts on great shows then, it is a new market and adding a ROH Title Change to it? It seems to be a win/win for me. But before then, that I am just not seeing.

2 BUYS, 4 SELLS!

That’s it for the Buy or Sell Questions. Now on to the general answer questions… in Part 2 of the Buy or Sell Year in Review!