Official ROH Discussion Thread

[JPC]

Had to work till 8 so just ordered my tickets now. Gone for rows F-J on both nights. The hall looks brilliant for wrestling, cant wait.

[air_raid]

The tag division huh. Hmmm.

 

I severely doubt they will be a regular unit, its probably LITERALLY a chance to look at both without being under the microscope of a singles match.

[cobystag]

Yeah most likely one will turn on the other............. But then Pearce isn't booking any longer and they're not both named Kenny.

[Big Rob]

Had to work till 8 so just ordered my tickets now. Gone for rows F-J on both nights. The hall looks brilliant for wrestling, cant wait.

Ditto, same seating for me. Hopefully if Dragon Gate have a show this year, they don't clash.

[JPC]

 

Kyle O'Reilly certainly has potential as a singles wrestler in ROH.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Apparently Cole & O Reilly had a superb match at Chikara's YLC Night 2 this year

[mosesenergy]

Book my tickets for Atlanta yesterday for as well, went for the cheap option on both nights. The venue looks first class, much better than the gym they used in Phoenix and around the right size for a ROH show.

 

Most likely give Dragon Gate a miss this year, went to night 1 in Phoenix and it was terrible, heard night 2 was much better.

 

Not so flush this year and Dragon Gate will probably be sacrificed.

[gadge]

ROH on HDNet taping #17 - 05/02/10

 

Another single taping, as the second night got cancelled due to bad weather. We're still taping before the World title change happened at the 8th Anniversary Show as well, so Tyler Black's title reign is featured in backstage segments and announcements while the start of the TV title tournament dominates the in-ring side of things...

 

Episode 50 (airdate 08/03/10) has backstage footage from 'after the 8th Anniversary Show' of Tyler Black celebrating his title victory only to be confronted by Jim Cornette over the way the match finished. In a seperate segment, Cornette then announces the Big Bang iPPV and that Tyler's opponent for that one will be announced later in the show... The TV title tournament starts with Kevin Steen vs Rhett Titus. Not much to this, with two heels. As the bigger heel, Steen works the arm for a bit, so Titus gets a comeback, only to submit to the crossface at 7:17... Jim Cornette has a sit-down conference with Tyler Black, Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong where he announces they'll be having a three-way World Title match at The Big Bang. Strong is furious... The Kings of Wrestling take four minutes to crush the Bravado Brothers. This is a better squash than the New York one, but could still have been done in half the time... Punching timekeeper Guiseppe Di Lorento has got Necro Butcher suspended from television. I hear Dearly Devoted Dexter is paying Necro in the interim... Skullkrusher Rasche Brown, you know the drill... whoever thought 'Pro Wrestling explodes into the 21st century' was a good tagline for The Big Bang has obviously missed a decade... I know they were short of footage due to the weather but recap from 20 minutes ago is a bit much... Kenny King vs El Generico in the first round of the TV title tournament is a better main event than it was in the January tapings, but King's early stalling and dull controlling offense is literally out of the Austin Aries playbook. King has some excellent counters to big Generico offense later with some very nicely timed kicks. Generico then comes close a few times to putting King away but can't seem to finish him off. King then uses the referee to crotch Generico then hits a Super Royal Flush for the pin at 14:43... Apart from the Cornette conference and final five minutes or so or the main event, this was a dull hour.

 

Episode 51 (airdate 15/3/10) has plenty of pre-taped content hyping the Big Bang three-way between Black, Aries and Strong. Roderick comes across as whiny in his promo... the in-ring action begins with Eddie Edwards making Colt Cabana tap to the achilles lock in 10:00 even to advance in the TV title tourney after a distraction from Steve Corino. The wrestling was decidedly average... The Briscoes bring the redneck in a promo on the Kings of Wrestling... Shawn Daivari debuts with an in-ring promo. He teases being a face before going down the obvious bad guy route. He also has huge muscles. I'm just saying... Kyle O'Reilly beats Tony Kozina with an inside cradle reversal at 6:09. At one stage, O'Reilly takes a headscissors over the top rope and splats on the floor, but is on offense again just moments later back in the ring. I also don't like his rolling suplexes. I must say, I'd have the journeyman Kozina as a regular over Davey Richards Jr. at this point... The audio is several seconds out of sync in the YouTube videos of the Davey Richards vs Delirious TV tourney first round match that is the main event. What seems like a decent match ends in Davey's favour via crossarmbreaker submission after about thirteen and a half minutes... Another hour to skip on YouTube, as the only worthy match is rendered pretty unwatchable by the teachnical issue.

 

Episode 52 is listed as having an airdate of 05/04/10. Not sure what happened on the two weeks in between, but we don't appear to have missed anything, so I'm assuming the show was pre-empted. Steve Corino defeats Bobby Shields in the opener in 3:20 in spite of Colt Cabana turning up at ringside. Corino calls him to the ring afterwards, and taunts him until Cabana lays him out. The post-match was worth much more than the in-ring action... A Big Bang hype video airs, even though they admit the TV show is produced before the Big Bang event which has now happened. Filler-me-do... Dark City Fight Club crush The Set in under 90 seconds... More filler follows that, as we look at Jerry Lynn's 2009 with a really good video. Remember when Ric Flair was in ROH? You do now. Footage then airs of Lynn vs Kenny King from 'SoCal Showdown'. Lynn returns to HDNet soon... Erick Stevens beats Pelle Primeau in 4:07 with the Doctor Bomb, but not before bumping around for a bunch of headscissors variations. That's still basically three squashes on this show so far and not much else. Necro Butcher runs out to save Pelle from a post-match beatdown, so they cut away because he's banned from TV. That has Cornette's fingerprints all over it... The TV tournament is recapped in a five minute segment... The small, weather-reduced crowd are well into Chris Hero vs Jay Briscoe in a Pick 6 Series match, which makes a big difference after most of this taping so far. Hero controls most of the match, which could have used some more fire from Jay to really push the Briscoes vs Kings of Wrestling feud, but it's still a good main event. Hero wins with the Death Blow after Jay is distracted by Mark Briscoe brawling with Claudio at ringside.

 

Overall this taping was blighted by the bad weather that led to the cancellation of the next night altogether, but the number of squashes is still pretty much unforgivably bad. The Cornette-led backstage angles between Tyler Black, Roderick Strong and Austin Aries are nice though, and with two stronger in-ring matches per show this would be really good TV. 52 episodes in, ROH on HDNet has a nice vibe after a year in existence, it's just the disappointing lack of really good in-ring action that marred this particular taping...

 

ROH Gold Rush - Detroit, MI - 13/03/10

 

Rasche Brown vs Rhett Titus - A rare non-squash one-on-one bout for the 'Skullkrusher', they keep it simple and surprisingly effective as Titus is made to pay for his tomfoolery in the early going, then somehow manages to use nefarious means to get the advantage for awhile. Brown comes back with a big spear, and follows it almost immediately with the Burning Hammer for the pin at 7:45. Worth a watch just for Brown's completely non-ironic Ultimate Warrior impression in the middle of the match. The jokes write themselves.

 

Pick 6 Series: Kenny King (5) vs Tyson Dux - There's not much technically wrong with this one, but I'm completely apathetic to Kenny King's singles matches at this point, and I had to smile when the commentary mentions how the crowd in the area are familiar with Tyson Dux work, while at the time Dux is on offense to absolutely no reaction. King retains his Pick Six spot with the Royal Flush at 9:28.

 

Kevin Steen & Steve Corino vs Player Dos & Pee Wee - Pee Wee is replacing the injured Player Uno here. What is it with the Super Smash Bros and ROH events? Corino distracts the opposition with mic work before the match long enough to allow Steen to take out Player Dos then destroy him on the outside. Pee Wee refuses to walk away and starts the match 1-on-2, holding his own for a little while but then being beat down with no-one to tag, until Dos recovers and gets the tag at about the 7:00 mark, though the comeback is short lived. Steen pins Pee Wee after the package piledriver at 9:08. Overall, this was actually pretty good, for the first time in the show it felt like something relevant, the crowd reacted well to the Dos/Pee Wee team, and Corino/Steen came across like a proper pair of scumbags. Dos takes out Corino and Steen with a dive afterwards, as the next night he has Steen one-on-one. That could be fun...

 

Austin Aries vs Petey Williams - Petey promises this'll be a fight rather than a wrestling match in a pre-taped promo. Well, after the usual Aries pre-match spiel, he repays Aries for the suckerpunch that started their ROH World Title match at Glory By Honor last year, though within 45 seconds he's trying for the Canadian Destroyer. Pretty sure that counts as a wrestling move... Still, Petey puts in a decent showing here, better than their first match for sure, with aggression in the early going and fiery comebacks later on. Aries gets good heat going with his early shenanigans, but as usual that dies away for Aries control segment, though that's not such a problem here in a shorter match than when he was champion. Aries steals the Canadian Destroyer for a one count, but then takes advantage of a mad but dazed Petey with a rollup and a handful of ropes for a cheap pin at 13:30. A solid midcard match.

 

Colt Cabana & El Generico vs The House of Truth - The first appearance of 2010 for the House of Truth, and they seem to have improved as I enjoyed this quite a bit more than most of their matches from last year. I did also notice that Christian Able seems pretty ripped now, and in comparison Josh Raymond really doesn't look like a wrestler at all, skinny but at the same time not in any kind of shape and with tattoos that look like they've been drawn in felt tip. Oh dear. Anyway, Cabana and Generico are your naturally popular opposition and they make good opponents. With the commentary on you don't notice the dead crowd during the middle of the match, and therefore it's all good when Cabana and Generico overcome pretty comedic interference from Truth Martini and Cabana pins Raymond in 14:53 after Generico nailed him with the turnbuckle brainbuster.

 

Pick 6 Series: Roderick Strong (1) vs Kenny Omega - I didn't like the first match these two had at Reverse the Curse, I felt it was too long, and it was largely dominated by Omega which just seemed unlikely. This one is fought approximately evenly, and both guys wrestle aggressively, so the match comes across as a battle. It's also four minutes or so shorter, so the action is more condensed but still given sufficient time. Roderick is definitely acting more heelish than usual, shouting at the ref and stretching the rules, and chopping the tar out of Omega as well as all the usual back-targetting offense. Omega is a bit more scattergun with his offense, mixing chops of his own, kicks and high-flying. Roderick's focus on the back of Omega pays off in the end as he hits his current preferred combo of big boot-torture rack backbreaker-Gibson Driver for the pin at 16:31. A much better match than first time round for me, the only problem this time is that Omega is clearly only making appearances in ROH here or there, and while competitive throughout never looked like actually finishing this match off.

 

ROH World Champion Tyler Black and ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Chris Hero, Davey Richards & ROH World TV Champion Eddie Edwards - A six man match with all the ROH champions is our main event. Hence the event being called "Gold Rush". Even though the belts are all silver. Anyway - there's nothing particularly wrong with this one, it just doesn't feel like it should be the marquee attraction. Everyone puts in a solid performance, the action flows nicely, and at the end of an epic 29:36 the Briscoes put Hero away with the Doomsday Device.

 

The main event is pretty much indicative of the card as a whole here - this is about as must-see an event as a WWE house show. The actual wrestling is fine enough, and you get to see all the stars of Ring of Honor, but there's not really one match that puts wrestlers that are feuding against each other in any meaningful fashion or develops any storylines. The crowd know it too, clapping when encouraged and cheering for the occasional big spot, but not really getting involved too much with any of the matches. Probably the best reactions of the night came for Steen/Corino vs Dos/Pee Wee, which at least had slimy heels to boo. The DVD ends after a Rhett Titus promo where 'Skullkrusher' Rasche Brown finds him bragging about surviving their match. We'll get more from them tomorrow night. That being the main story coming out of this show says it all - Gold Rush is eminently skippable. DVD run time is just 2 hours 23 minutes.

[The Cum Doctor]

Major match made for ROH Final Battle 2010.

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

 

Mask vs. ROH Career

El Generico vs. Kevin Steen

 

 

[close spoiler]

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[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Speaking of eminently skippable shows....

 

 

Buffalo Stampede 2

[gadge]

Yikes.

 

Agree 100% on Pee Wee, he was solid in the Gold Rush match but Pee Wee? Come on.

 

Funny how Strong loses his regular opponent there, as I just started Epic Encounter III where Strong himself plus Mark Briscoe were denied entry to Canada...

[harlow2]

By Mike Johnson on 2010-10-04 09:20:16

Ring of Honor will be making some roster changes, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

 

At this past weekend's ROH on HDNet tapings, a number of talents either finished up or were told that they were being given breaks from the company in order to freshen them up and give them a clean slate when they are brought back down the line.

 

Some names are being tossed around right now, but I haven't heard which on the list are correct.

 

I hope to have more on this shortly

 

 

good idear

 

The rumors say the ones leaving are Aries, Necro and DCFC

[Dil|kid]

By Mike Johnson on 2010-10-04 09:20:16

Ring of Honor will be making some roster changes, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

 

At this past weekend's ROH on HDNet tapings, a number of talents either finished up or were told that they were being given breaks from the company in order to freshen them up and give them a clean slate when they are brought back down the line.

 

Some names are being tossed around right now, but I haven't heard which on the list are correct.

 

I hope to have more on this shortly

 

 

good idear

 

The rumors say the ones leaving are Aries, Necro and DCFC

 

"By Mike Johnson on 2010-10-04 13:26:56 In speaking to ROH owner Cary Silkin today, he said that reports any talents were released from contracts were incorrect. I was told that basically, some talents are going to be given "time out" of storylines so they can be brought back later on with new direction and storylines, but no one has been released from any existing contracts. In some cases, there is a timeline for returns. In others, there is no timeline known.

Names bandied about in the last 24 hours, none of which were confirmed by ROH sources, were The Dark City Fight Club, Necro Butcher, Austin Aries and Erick Stevens.

 

Silkin made it clear that "no one" had been let go by the company."

 

its something any wrestling company should be doing to keep things fresh, personally think Erick Stevens has a lot more to offer, Id take him over Davey Richards any day. Necro hasnt been any use since the AOTF and Ive never gotten into the DCFC. As for Austin Aries, I can never get enough of him, I believe he is broken down physically and thats why he is taking on the manager role, I cant believe ROH would ever force Aries out.

[Dil|kid]

Final Battle 2010 trailer

 

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Interesting. Here's my thoughts :

 

Dark City Fight Club - I feel slightly sorry for these guys, they might argue along the lines of constructive dismissal in that their relatively quick loss to the Briscoes at 8AS pretty much killed any credibility they had in the tag division. Granted, they're a fairly bland big-man team, but nothing a manager and a decent program couldn't help. Let's face it, if there's a tag team that needs to be canned due to being stale. it's the Briscoes. They've pretty much done everything they can in the company. Short of splitting them up and repackaging them, I can't see them doing much of interest.

 

Austin Aries - see the above argument re: the Briscoes. Aries has done everything he can in ROH; apparently he's suffering from various nagging injuries, which partially, but not wholly explains his dreadful program with Delirious. Again, even if he takes six months, what do you do with him when he returns? Dropping his OTT heel gimmick and actually letting him wrestle again might help.

 

 

Eric Stevens - there can be no complaints about this one, Stevens has done fuck-all since mid-2008. Probably can be rebuilt with the right booking and a couple of decent matches.

 

Necro Butcher - it would be actually fairly simple to freshen up Necro - book him in some of the bone-crunching hardcore matches he made his name with. If he does't want to do that kind of thing any more, he has to go. That might sound incredibly harsh, but the guy can't wrestle for shit; if his body won't let him do garbage stuff, then he really has nothing else to offer.

 

There's a few others who should perhaps be sent on gardening leave. The Briscoes I've already mentioned; Colt Cabana has done almost nothing since his return. It looks like Fatty Steen is taking some time off after FB 10, otherwise he might be on the list.