411’s Buy or Sell 04.10.09: Colt Cobana Goes for the PWG World Title, The American Wolves Get a Tag Title Shot, The Current State of the RoH Roster, and More!!

Posted by Michael Bauer on 04.10.2009

This week, the 411 staff looks a ton of Ring of Honor news coming out of Houston and Philadelphia as Matt Short battles EL LANSDELL in Buy or Sell!

Welcome everyone to WEEK One Hundred Three of BUY or SELL. For those of you who haven't been with us since the beginning, here's the Reader's Digest version of what this column is all about. BUY or SELL is very much like 411's long-running Fact or Fiction column. The main difference is that BUY or SELL focuses on topics like the U.S. Independent scene, Lucha Libre, Japanese Wrestling and pretty much anything else that isn't mainstream wrestling, WWE and or TNA. This allows for these areas to get a bit more press and for you, our loyal readers, to learn even more about the sport of professional wrestling.


Week Number 103's Match-Up:

He couldn't Navigate his way out of this match up- Matt Short!
vs.
People think this guy is crazy for believing Vince books to screw the IWC, but who are you to doubt- EL LANSDELL !

Colt Cabana will win the PWG World Title this weekend on Pro Wrestling Guerilla's 100th show.

Matt Short : BUY. This isn't really a 100% BUY, but I do see this happening. You've got to think that PWG wants to do something special for their 100th show and I honestly can't think of a better way of doing that then by giving Colt his first major singles title (that statement really depends on if you consider the IWA-MS Heavyweight Title major or not). Colt is pretty much loved by everyone and it would truly be memorable to see him with the PWG World Title on such a big night for the company. While I'll admit to not being up to date on all things in the company, it kind of seems like Chris Hero is at the point in his reign where its time for him to drop it. Colt seems like a perfect

EL LANSDELL : SELL. Colt has always been one of those guys who works better without a title. Comedy wrestlers as champions might work in CHIKARA, but PWG is at least a little more serious than that. Plus he is bound to have commitments to RoH which are almost guaranteed to pay better. I won't rule it out completely, but it's "highly unlikely" ($1 to Gorilla Monsoon).

0 for 1.

Eddie Kingston's second ever Ring of Honor match should not be wasted on television.

Matt Short : SELL. Quite the contrary, actually. I think that this is a much better way of re-introducing Kingston to ROH. On the surface, the TV atmoshpere is letting people who may have never even heard of King get a look at him as he will undoubtably murder Sami Callihan. But also, I prefer this sort of debut to him just being thrown on an undercard match to kill some ROH student. I think it makes him appear more important, considering that ROH has been using these intial episodes to highlight wrestlers they want people to pay attention to. If anything, Kingston's appearences on the HDNet show should be seen as a prolouge to Eddie Kingston vs. Chris Hero: ROH Edition.

EL LANSDELL : SELL. What better place to put it? It's not his RoH debut, so what's so special about it? A TV match is arguably the BEST place to put someone who you want to get exposure, since it's free and accessible.

1 for 2.

The American Wolves will become RoH Tag team Champions during the next television tapings.

Matt Short : SELL. I'm saying SELL, but it could go either way in my opinion. I think the American Wolves will be the team to dethrone Steenerico for the ROH Tag Team, but I don't think it will happen in the first title match shown on the HDNet show. These early episodes are being made in a way so as to introduce new viewers to the ROH product. In that sense, I'd think they would want Steen & Generico going over strong just to show what the Tag Team Champions are really capable of. It makes the titles and the champions look strong to this new audience, so that when the Wolves do capture the titles these new casual viewers will say "Wow, I think I need to buy this PPV for this rematch" or "This DVD sounds like a good buy for Steenerico vs. The American Wolves!"

EL LANSDELL : BUY. RoH has been shy about putting title changes on anything but PPV since they GOT PPV, but I think they need to do at least one on TV to make the viewers buy in. The feud between the teams was built up on the second show and if they continue that, a change is not only likely but also probably the correct move.

1 for 3.

SWITCH~!

Ring of Honor does not need Ric Flair appearing on their television broadcasts.

EL LANSDELL : SELL. I don't care what your ratings are, Ric Flair appearing is going to draw in a few more viewers just because he's Ric freaking Flair. This isn't an RVD deal (one shot...) or some random old school wrestler like Bushwhacker Luke, and Flair has seemingly been written into a storyline. They might do OK without Flair, but he will certainly improve whatever they could have done.

Matt Short : BUY. No, ROH does not need Ric Flair appearing for them on TV. So far, all the episodes have been good wrestling shows and fun to watch. I think they can survive in this early period on their own merits. But just because they don't necessarily NEED him doing a TV appearance doesn't mean it's not in their best interests to make use of every available resource.

1 for 4.

Jerry Lynn as champ is a step in the wrong direction for RoH.

EL LANSDELL : BUY. I've been thinking about this since it happened, and I do believe that Lynn has been given the belt for the wrong reasons. Plus he's 46. Lynn has shown that he's got the same "awesomeness in your 40s" gene that HBK and Undertaker have, but that's not enough to warrant a title run. Tyler Black had been built up to take the torch, and both Danielson and Aries could have been given the belt. RoH needs to position themselves behind a young rising star, not one on his way out. If they wanted to give the belt to a guy with name value, D'Lo was also available.

Matt Short : SELL. If he had beaten a 100% Nigel McGuinness to win the title, I would buy this. And I don't know what the original plan was going into the title match prior to Nigel's injury. My feeling is that they almost had no choice but to go with a title switch as soon as possible and they took the best course of action that they could. In that sense, I feel like they made the right decision. Lynn is a reliable hand and if anything will serve as a transitional champion at best and rack up a few defenses before he loses it. Of course, there are those who feel that Tyler Black should have left that weekend as a champion, but I'm somewhat glad they didn't try to force this in. True, he will no longer be the one to end the impressive reign of Nigel but I feel like if he had worked his way into a title match then it would have lacked the same meaning than if he had done it while Nigel was at full strength. Tyler's time will come, but it should be under the best possible circumstances.

1 for 5.

With some of their old talent coming back to the fold, RoH's roster is as strong as it's ever been.

EL LANSDELL : BUY. They lost Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Jimmy Rave, Homicide, Christopher Daniels, Colt Cabana and Matt Sydal in the space of a year, but they now have Rave and Cabana back in addition to picking up Lynn and D'Lo Brown. Rumours persist about Paul London and Sean Morley too. It may not be the same TYPE of strength, in that the workrate is lessening, but the entertainment value has gone up and that is exactly what RoH needed to improve in order to succeed.

Matt Short : BUY. I've got to believe that this is the case. Colt Cabana is a strong addition to the roster while Jimmy Rave adds some extra star power to the reformed Embassy. I can't give all the credit to the returning talent though, because I think a great deal of credit should go to the undercard. Grizzley Redwood, Bobby Dempsey, and Rhett Titus have shined amoung the ROH students while new additions like the Dark City Fight Club and Eddie Kingston will certainly do their share. Of course having the talent is just step one. Using it is another matter, so we'll just have to see how it all plays out.

2 for 6.


The One Hundred Third edition of BUY or SELL finishes at 2 for 6! Stay tuned for next week as two more people will go head to head with a whole new set of topics.