Official ROH Discussion Thread

[PowerButchi]

Who would you take if you're TNA or WWE?

 

I'd take a look at Mike Bennett and Adam Cole, certainly. If Kevin Steen sorts himself out cosmetically I'd have a gander at him as well. The Briscoes could be super duper after a spell in developmental too.

[cutch]

I don't think the Briscoes need that long in development, they just need a decent road agent setting out their matches and getting them to tone it down, they certainly have the character from what i've seen. I could see Jay Lethal making his way back to the X Division, he's better than most of the guys they brought in the last few weeks and that Mike Mondo guy will probably go back to OVW and then a Gut Check try out in a few months.

[spotlightmagnet1]

Has to be said, everything he said in those three minutes is spot on. That's whats so frustrating being an ROH fan for a long time.

 

The Steen stuff has been alright and I love Jimmy Jacobs, but seriously his top guys are Davey Richards (whose bored generations to death with his ridiculously long matches) and Eddie Edwards (who is so fucking dull) and I can't get behind them. I want ROH to live, like I've said I've been a fan since reading about the concept in Powerslam, but I haven't watched anything regularly since Richards became champion and I don't feel like I'm missing out.

Edited July 7, 2012 by spotlightmagnet1

[air_raid]

I want ROH to live, like I've said I've been a fan since reading about the concept in Powerslam, but I haven't watched anything regularly since Richards became champion and I don't feel like I'm missing out.

 

I feel the same way. I'm not surprised that Kenny is willing to look at other doors that might open to him even though the Express have only just now won the belts. But therein lies the point - ROH as ever waited about 6-12 months too late to pull the trigger. I think they must forever be in a cycle of long term booking plans, and miss the boat on what's actually getting the hot reactions from their live crowds, and the talent is forced to wait. They did it to Tyler Black (to excess), they did it to Richards, and they sure as hell did it to King & Titus.

[King Pitcos]

I'm not sure what his point was in the video... ROH was specifically designed to be a niche product, appealing only to Dem Wans. How exactly could it ever even try to appeal to normals without alienating the original fans? I suppose that's ultimately the root of the problem he's getting at, but I'm curious as to what people think would be a viable plan for growing that company.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I totally get his point to be honest and I think he's spot on. ROH has changed their style of booking. They have alienated their original fanbase, by presenting a different style booked by Jim Cornette. What I get from that video is that, this MMA ju-jitsu shit Cornette's got a big hard on for isn't attracting new fans and isn't liked by the fans they currently have/had. So if you are going to alienate your fanbase, Ring of Honor should be presenting a style of wrestling to attract more people. ROH isn't an indy promotion anymore. To survive, they need people buying their iPPVs and coming to the shows. And they are doing neither.

 

ROH is ECW of 2000. What made them appealing at the start is done better elsewhere. They aren't must see anymore. All their best and most popular wrestlers are long gone as well. They are either in WWE, TNA or sitting commentating next to Kevin Kelly.

Edited July 7, 2012 by The_BarbarIAN

[spotlightmagnet1]

I would like to say being a Delirious fan I'd much rather seeing him as a wrestler on TV than him booking. As far as I know he's never booked before or shown any real interest and now he's being forced to try and com up with new and fresh show to get fans.

 

Personally? I'd try and get a little cartoony. Not too much but bring back Colt Cabana and El Generico (two hands who can get people emotionally involved in matches but are more colourful) and introduce new characters.

 

This sounds old and daft but I saw Tyson Dux about two years ago on ROH and thought 'They should get him to become the All Canadian Athlete'. It's silly and the vignettes in my mind are pretty stupid but it's colour, rather than Eddie Edwards. It's not the answer but to me it would be a better direction than the current one.

[King Pitcos]

I totally get his point to be honest and I think he's spot on. ROH has changed their style of booking. They have alienated their original fanbase, by presenting a different style booked by Jim Cornette. What I get from that video is that, this MMA ju-jitsu shit Cornette's got a big hard on for isn't attracting new fans and isn't liked by the fans they currently have/had. So if you are going to alienate your fanbase, Ring of Honor should be presenting a style of wrestling to attract more people. ROH isn't an indy promotion anymore. To survive, they need people buying their iPPVs and coming to the shows. And they are doing neither.

Yeah, I get that, but I don't see what viable solution there was. Anything they did to try and expand and appeal to a bigger market was a gamble in terms of keeping their original audience happy. I think it's like Madden's point, and the comparison with ECW, they were fucked as soon as they decided to try and get big.

 

The most interesting bit for me was that the ROH wrestlers take the piss out of Cornette pretending the show gets a million viewers.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

There's no guarantees for success in anything they try, but there is at least a bigger chance of success if you don't kill off your hardcore fanbase and at the same time don't appeal to anyone else. ROH could have at least been a success in the pockets of markets they are in. Nobody was asking for then to be knocking on Vince or Dixie's door. But alas, they find themselves cutting costs, cutting down on house shows and their wrestlers are starting to walk out.

 

Cornette's so out of touch. That sounds like a clich

Edited July 7, 2012 by The_BarbarIAN

[NEWM]

To any regular in this thread: - If ROH went out of business in the next 2 hours, realistically who would go where and how much impact would they make? Is anybody Raw/Smackdown ready right now? Is there a good crop of guys who TNA could realistically market as a somebody (I'm thinking like Aries). Honesty please too. I don't want delusions of grandeur that Frankie Headdriver or somebody is going straight into Raw main events before 4 years in developmental and a renaming as Darwin Crestwater.

[air_raid]

To any regular in this thread: - If ROH went out of business in the next 2 hours, realistically who would go where and how much impact would they make?

 

Lance Storm would be straight onto livejournal proclaiming the "art of pro wrestling" to be dead, to no impact whatsoever.

[Prince Nana]

Considering the latest with Kenny King, Highspots are rushing out an interview they did with him and Rhett Titus two months ago.

 

 

Definitely no-brainer why he went for TNA after watching that.

 

He comes off as quite smart there. A little bit limited on his vocabulary but smart nonetheless.

[cobystag]

First and foremost to all of my friends, Family and everyone riding with me on this one thank you. The love and support has been unreal. It doesn't matter if your'e a new Kenny King fan or you've been with your boy since tough enough. My passion for this sport reflects yours, and I will continue to bust my ass to give back the love you have shown me.

 

Second I would like to thank @ringofhonor for the opportunity To master my craft against some of the best wrestlers in the world. The last 4 years have been invaluable to my career. I have nothing but love and respect for the company that allowed me to find myself and grow as a wrestler.

 

Next, since the content of my character has been called into question, just ask about me. My integrity and HONOR has always been above reproach. But since they wanna talk bad about your boy, consider this...

 

(spoiler alert)

 

I was offered a contract extension, I had reservations about the parameters of the extension and effective my "free agent" option would be.

 

I gave a handshake agreement that I wouldn't do anything "screwy" with the belts. A la medusa.

 

I gave ROH information about every move that I made regarding working for @impactwrestling. Realistically they could have just found out when they saw my black ass walking down to the ring.

 

I was given a physical contact extension by ROH, which I respectfully declined to sign due to the reasons I stated above.

 

If I declined to sign an actual contract extension, how could anyone think there was a verbal agreement?

 

I took the biggest gamble of my career this weekend. So going into destination X tomorrow night I am prepared to put it all on the line. I am especially grateful to @tnadixie and @impactwrestling for giving me the opportunity to showcase my skills on a bigger stage. I was given an amazing opening and I took it. Ask Eminem how many chances you get to blow up. The world will watch tomorrow, and I got a bag full of fireworks. Tomorrow is coronation day.

 

Thank you.

Kenny King

 

 

 

For those of you wondering about how the ROH roster feels about Kenny King bolting to TNA, it's pretty much a negative outlook because he had a handshake deal to remain with the company. There are a lot of people in the industry (including some top WWE names I heard from yesterday) that felt that King breaching the handshake was worse than ditching his contract offer. The biggest complaint I heard was that by leaving in the manner he did, King hurt Rhett Titus the most. There were a few wrestlers who were also upset that King, despite knowing he was leaving, openly pushed for a finish at Best in the World where he and Titus would win the ROH Tag Titles strongly, as opposed to the planned finish (which took place) where King and Titus had a big come from behind miracle win.

 

Mike Mondo of the ROH roster was pretty outspoken about what King did, although he didn't mention him by name on his Twitter account.

 

From speaking to people close to King, the side of the story there is that the company wasn't offering him a raise and that he felt that the extension he would sign would prevent him from negotiating elsewhere. Sources close to King also denied that he had agreed to sign anything. ROH sources noted that would not have been the case. A number of other ROH talent signed extensions at the Best in the World iPPV a few weeks back, with King being the only one who verbally agreed and asked to have his attorneys look at the paperwork. The feeling within ROH is that King knew he was leaving and purposely avoided signing anything. The belief is that Dave Lagana helped King get into TNA, although King had worked there in the past prior to his ROH run.

 

The reality is that while the departure made ROH look bad in terms of having their pants down, it's not like he was one half of a tag team that was drawing big time money for the company. King being there or not will have no effect on the company's gates or business. ROH right now is basically there to be TV product for Sinclair and if the house shows and iPPVs do great, that's awesome because it helps that arm of Sinclair become self-sustaining but at the end of the day, it's priority is to be a TV product for Sinclair affiliates.

 

I keep forgetting to write this, but in regard to the canceled shows in the Carolinas, part of the problem after they were moved the first time is that Shelton Benjamin had a Japan tour and several others had been locked into indy dates and couldn't make the shows. The lineups were changing by the week. Ticket sales were obviously also an issue because you aren't going to cancel shows that were in the black. The ROH talents who were booked for the dates are being paid a cancellation fee and have four weeks to book themself on other shows if they wish. The plan is to return to the Carolinas before the end of the year. One person in the company scoffed at the negative reaction to the shows being canceled, joking that WWE has canceled more shows in the last two years than ROH did this year "and no one is scared they are done."

 

The ROH Tag Team title situation will be resolved at the 8/4 TV Tapings in Baltimore.

 

The Young Bucks and TJ Perkins, who haven't been used of late, are back at the next TV Tapings.

[Oliver]

I was wondering what the deal was with ROH when I saw King appear on Impact. I was hoping maybe there was an amicable deal between ROH and TNA, similar to what we saw with Christopher Daniels when he worked both companies last year.

 

Ah well. King was tremendous on Impact. Its a shame we won't get to see him and Titus have a long reign, but things are looking good in TNA. His interaction with Austin Aries is a good sign. Nice to see history, even outside the promotion, exists there.

 

I was wondering what the deal was with ROH when I saw King appear on Impact. I was hoping maybe there was an amicable deal between ROH and TNA, similar to what we saw with Christopher Daniels when he worked both companies last year.

 

Ah well. King was tremendous on Impact. Its a shame we won't get to see him and Titus have a long reign, but things are looking good in TNA. His interaction with Austin Aries is a good sign. Nice to see history, even outside the promotion, exists there.

[Prince Nana]

Ah well. King was tremendous on Impact. Its a shame we won't get to see him and Titus have a long reign, but things are looking good in TNA. His interaction with Austin Aries is a good sign. Nice to see history, even outside the promotion, exists there.

 

That's what i like about TNA it dosen't deny there is an outside world, you don't have to shill other companies but it's nice to nod to their being a wider world out there. The only thing it probably shouldn't do is mention WWE.

 

WWE do's it if it suits them, but by and large it has always been in it's own bubble.

 

Kenny did well seemed to hold up under the big light's shame lars didn't he really isn't has bad as he looked but mabe the likes of PWG is his level.