Official ROH Discussion Thread

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Add Kevin Steen and Paul London to the list that includes Karl Anderson, Brian Kendrick and Michael Elgin in the ROH title tournament.

Tell you what, for the lack of talent in ROH and generally on the indies these days, that isn't a bad tournament, I'd say. They should get Doug Williams for this. It would be a nice tip of the hat to original ROH World title tournament back in 2002.

[Devon Malcolm]

Is that the Karl Anderson who did an AOW podcast a few months ago? I quite liked him on that but I was under the impression he was a full-timer in Japan, unless I'm thinking of someone else.

[cobystag]

It's the same Karl Anderson. He debuted with ROH over WM weekend although I'd imagine he will still be used sparingly by the promotion. While still a regular gaijin for NJPW a few years ago he still appeared on a fair shows for PWG in his native California although eventually his NJPW commitments meant he was very rarely available for them a few years ago.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Looking at the old ROH site through the way back machine and came across their old 2003 banner. Look at those lot. Some of them did alright didnt they?

Edited July 8, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[AshC]

He also had one of the best matches of this year against Tanahashi. Fantastic bout.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

So far in the tournament we have:

(1) Michael Elgin

(2) Brian Kendrick

(3) "Machine Gun" Karl Anderson

(4) Kevin Steen

(5) Paul London

(6) Roderick Strong

(7) Adam Cole

(8) Sonjay Dutt

(9) B.J. Whitmer

(10) Tommaso Ciampa

(11) Jay Lethal

 

I tell you what, thats not a bad line up so far. Hoping for a few more wild cards like Kendrick, Dutt and Anderson. I imagine Matt Hardy will be in it as well.

[PowerButchi]

Mark Briscoe returns to ROH

 

 

 

Mark Briscoe will be returning to ROH on the 7/27 show in Providence to face Adam Cole in the first round of the ROH tournament.

 

Jay Briscoe will not be in the tournament, selling the shoulder injury.

 

F4WOnline.com

 

 

Suppose we can end all the speculation now then. They've re-signed.

[pryko]

Mark Briscoe returns to ROH

 

Mark Briscoe will be returning to ROH on the 7/27 show in Providence to face Adam Cole in the first round of the ROH tournament.

Jay Briscoe will not be in the tournament, selling the shoulder injury.

F4WOnline.com

 

Suppose we can end all the speculation now then. They've re-signed.

Now it just seems silly that they've taken the belt off of Jay though

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Cracking episode of Ring of Honor this week. It even looked better, since the last time I watched it. They've got rid of Cornette's Mam's silver curtain and replaced it with a nice little entrance way with lights and a logo. Its an improvement but not exactly a dramatic one. It still looks like an indy show. They should have changed the colours up a bit. Everyone does the black, red and grey look. If you dont have good production values, you should use a bit of colour I think. Kevin Kelly is just shit, though. I cant see how anyone can like him. Just faux passion. He's more Tenay than Ross.

 

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

 

The American Wolves vs. Zizou Middoux and Mike Sydal:

It kicks off with the debut of a skinny pair of lads called Mike Sydal and Zizou Middoux (pronounced Zee-Zoo Mad-Doo). They wear tights with the pattern and colour of Eddie Van Halen's guitar. They wrestled the American Wolves, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards. this isn't up to much. pretty much every American Wolves match. Kicks and people getting stood on for about 8 minutes. I wasn't to fussed about the Van Halen lads I must admit. They refused to shake hands with the Wolves afterwards. So obviously that cunty attitude makes them more Hagar era Van Halen than Diamond Dave.

 

Recap of the SCUM feud with ROH:

Nice little recap. Showing all the angles leading up to the match, including one occasion where Cliff Compton used powder to the eyes (fucking powder). I liked this storyline. It could have done with a bit more star power to it. There's really no depth in the company anymore. It just doesn't seem right that Rhett Titus and BJ Whitmer are fucking about. And Nigel McGuinness reminds me of Hogan. He's all over the shows and is the one rallying the troupes, yet I doubt he'll ever wrestler again. We find out if SCUM wins, Steve Corino gets to be the match maker in ROH and he promised to "kill ROH". If ROH win SCUM disbands.

 

Steel Cage Warfare - Cliff Compton, Rhett Titus, Jimmy Jacobs and Rhino vs. Kevin Steen, BJ Whitmer, Jay Lethal and Michael Elgin

Its War Games rules, but with one ring obviously. But its also an elimination match, which I suppose is necessary since they all wouldn't fit in that small ring and still have enough room to do all their spots. We are informed SCUM wins the coin toss. Steve Corino (who is on commentary) is asked by Kevin Kelly if Corino had anything to do with Kevin Steen not being at the arena yet. Corino replied he had nothing to do with Steen's tires being slashed. Kelly then questioned how he knew of this information. Hammy as fuck, but in a good way. Jimmy Jacobs is the first man out for SCUM. BJ Whitmer is first out for Ring of Honor. Its a slow start. Only real highlight is Corino constantly mentioning that Whitmer is on prescription drugs. Rhett Titus is the next man to join the match. He's wearing Dean Malenko's WCW Thunder trunks if you put his stable on nWo function. Whitmer is slapping Titus about.

 

When ROH comes back from a commercial break, Elgin joins the bout. So there's been no sustained heel dominance yet. Which these matches always need. Elgin is a tank. Very PCO. Just a barrel of a man, throwing suplexes and making noises al la Dr. Death. He gave Jacobs and Titus a combo Sack of Shit and Samoan Drop. Looked great. Compton arrives with powder (powder!) and zip-ties Elgin is tied to cage. They then spike piledrive BJ and pin him. Jay Lethal turns up and cleans house. He unties Elgin, but they are down a man. They return after a break and Rhino darts to the ring and Gore's Elgin. That was pretty much it for Rhino. He misses a gore and Jay Lethal BANGS him with a Diamond Cutter and eliminates the Man Beast.

 

The last entrant is Kevin Steen. But before he could get to the ring, Matt Hardy shows up and they begin brawling. The door was open in preparation for Steen's arrival, so everyone stormed outside and began brawling all over the ringside area. This is where the match really picks up. Lethal is bang on form it seems, and eliminates Rhett Titus. Jacobs spears Lethal through the table set up in the corner. I suppose anyone can use that move now. Cliff Compton spots this and covers Lethal for the elimination. Elgin swings Jimmy Jacobs around and throws him into the cage. Then he powerbombs Compton while standing on the top rope and eliminates him. It looked crazy. Corino goes straight to plan B when it gets down to 2-1 in ROH's favour and walks in the ring and throws a fireball into Elgin's face and Jacobs gets the three. So now its down to Steen vs Jacobs. Hardy and Corino enter the ring and Corino opens his briefcase, which has a load of matches and lighter fluid in it. He pours the gas onto Steen and tries to light his match. Jacobs pleads with Corino not to do it and gets an elbow in the face for his troubles. Nigel McGuinness runs down and takes his jacket off and lamps Corino with a lariat. Hardy goes for a twist of fate on Nige, but Steen is there to meet him with a package piledriver. He then sticks Jacobs with a piledriver for the win.

 

Cracking last 10 minutes. SCUM is dead. MVP was Michael Elgin. He's awesome.

 

 

[close spoiler]

");document.close();

Edited July 31, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[the flananator]

Cracking episode of Ring of Honor this week. It even looked better, since the last time I watched it. They've got rid of Cornette's Mam's silver curtain and replaced it with a nice little entrance way with lights and a logo. Its an improvement but not exactly a dramatic one. It still looks like an indy show. They should have changed the colours up a bit. Everyone does the black, red and grey look. If you dont have good production values, you should use a bit of colour I think. Kevin Kelly is just shit, though. I cant see how anyone can like him. Just faux passion. He's more Tenay than Ross.

 

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

 

The American Wolves vs. Zizou Middoux and Mike Sydal:

It kicks off with the debut of a skinny pair of lads called Mike Sydal and Zizou Middoux (pronounced Zee-Zoo Mad-Doo). They wear tights with the pattern and colour of Eddie Van Halen's guitar. They wrestled the American Wolves, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards. this isn't up to much. pretty much every American Wolves match. Kicks and people getting stood on for about 8 minutes. I wasn't to fussed about the Van Halen lads I must admit. They refused to shake hands with the Wolves afterwards. So obviously that cunty attitude makes them more Hagar era Van Halen than Diamond Dave.

 

Recap of the SCUM feud with ROH:

Nice little recap. Showing all the angles leading up to the match, including one occasion where Cliff Compton used powder to the eyes (fucking powder). I liked this storyline. It could have done with a bit more star power to it. There's really no depth in the company anymore. It just doesn't seem right that Rhett Titus and BJ Whitmer are fucking about. And Nigel McGuinness reminds me of Hogan. He's all over the shows and is the one rallying the troupes, yet I doubt he'll ever wrestler again. We find out if SCUM wins, Steve Corino gets to be the match maker in ROH and he promised to "kill ROH". If ROH win SCUM disbands.

 

Steel Cage Warfare - Cliff Compton, Rhett Titus, Jimmy Jacobs and Rhino vs. Kevin Steen, BJ Whitmer, Jay Lethal and Michael Elgin

Its War Games rules, but with one ring obviously. But its also an elimination match, which I suppose is necessary since they all wouldn't fit in that small ring and still have enough room to do all their spots. We are informed SCUM wins the coin toss. Steve Corino (who is on commentary) is asked by Kevin Kelly if Corino had anything to do with Kevin Steen not being at the arena yet. Corino replied he had nothing to do with Steen's tires being slashed. Kelly then questioned how he knew of this information. Hammy as fuck, but in a good way. Jimmy Jacobs is the first man out for SCUM. BJ Whitmer is first out for Ring of Honor. Its a slow start. Only real highlight is Corino constantly mentioning that Whitmer is on prescription drugs. Rhett Titus is the next man to join the match. He's wearing Dean Malenko's WCW Thunder trunks if you put his stable on nWo function. Whitmer is slapping Titus about.

 

When ROH comes back from a commercial break, Elgin joins the bout. So there's been no sustained heel dominance yet. Which these matches always need. Elgin is a tank. Very PCO. Just a barrel of a man, throwing suplexes and making noises al la Dr. Death. He gave Jacobs and Titus a combo Sack of Shit and Samoan Drop. Looked great. Compton arrives with powder (powder!) and zip-ties Elgin is tied to cage. They then spike piledrive BJ and pin him. Jay Lethal turns up and cleans house. He unties Elgin, but they are down a man. They return after a break and Rhino darts to the ring and Gore's Elgin. That was pretty much it for Rhino. He misses a gore and Jay Lethal BANGS him with a Diamond Cutter and eliminates the Man Beast.

 

The last entrant is Kevin Steen. But before he could get to the ring, Matt Hardy shows up and they begin brawling. The door was open in preparation for Steen's arrival, so everyone stormed outside and began brawling all over the ringside area. This is where the match really picks up. Lethal is bang on form it seems, and eliminates Rhett Titus. Jacobs spears Lethal through the table set up in the corner. I suppose anyone can use that move now. Cliff Compton spots this and covers Lethal for the elimination. Elgin swings Jimmy Jacobs around and throws him into the cage. Then he powerbombs Compton while standing on the top rope and eliminates him. It looked crazy. Corino goes straight to plan B when it gets down to 2-1 in ROH's favour and walks in the ring and throws a fireball into Elgin's face and Jacobs gets the three. So now its down to Steen vs Jacobs. Hardy and Corino enter the ring and Corino opens his briefcase, which has a load of matches and lighter fluid in it. He pours the gas onto Steen and tries to light his match. Jacobs pleads with Corino not to do it and gets an elbow in the face for his troubles. Nigel McGuinness runs down and takes his jacket off and lamps Corino with a lariat. Hardy goes for a twist of fate on Nige, but Steen is there to meet him with a package piledriver. He then sticks Jacobs with a piledriver for the win.

 

Cracking last 10 minutes. SCUM is dead. MVP was Michael Elgin. He's awesome.

 

 

[close spoiler]

");document.close();

 

Sounds fun. I don't really follow ROH too much, is there a reason they gave away this presumably feud ending match away on free TV and not on one of their iPPV shows? Or have they abandoned that format all together now? Cheers.

[PowerButchi]

Yeah, iPPV is now dead. Well, live iPPV anyway. I think they're just going to do recorded ones from now on.

[the flananator]

Yeah, iPPV is now dead. Well, live iPPV anyway. I think they're just going to do recorded ones from now on.

Cool yeah cheers, thought I read that alright. You would still think they'd save the conclusion of the SCUM story line for a big show though? They're just in a state of flux right now I guess.

 

Is Cliff Compton any good?

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I'm almost certain ROH is using John Willyard (the bloke who used to say "WHERE THE BIG BOYS PLAY" and did the WCW adverts) as their voice over man. His voice is amazing. Either that or a bloke who does a bloody good impression of him.

[Cobra1000]

Good shout Ian, really enjoyed that. I really like the atmosphere in the arena, I know it still looks Indy, but hey at least it looks fun unlike when you are watching TNA at the Impact Zone where there is no life in the place at all and probably the same amount of people.

 

I take it the Party Boys guys are straight out of the ROH Training School? The Chris Jericho-Van Halen shorts looks craptacular. I hate the way every indy guy busts out kicks and inziguiris these days, they mostly look terrible and it makes nobody stand out.

 

Great main event, i think Compton and Titus have a great aura about them, and Michael Elgin is fantastic. I still think its mental how Lethal and Rhyno arent with either of the big 2. Jimmy Jacobs using a spear then Rhino using a gore is a bit annoying though.

 

Definitely agree on Kevin Kelly, he's pure shit, at least on his own anyway. Does anyone else find the sound of the ring slightly distracting?

 

I'll def be keeping an eye on ROH now, especially with this World Championship tournament.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Cobra1000

[IANdrewDiceClay]

From the file marked "probably shouldn't be doing dumb shit like that" Mike Bennett and his shit tattoos fucked a piledriver on the ring apron tonight almost murdering BJ Whitmer. They stopped the match there and then and took him out on a stretcher. No idea what his condition is yet. Apparently he gave the thumbs up as they stretchered him out and is now in hospital.

 

Looks bad.

Edited August 4, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay