Column of Honor 09.19.09: Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Posted by Ari Berenstein on 09.19.2009

Austin Aries is the ROH World Champion, but there are tons of contenders nipping at his heels.

Hey everyone and thanks for joining me this week. Happy Jewish New Year to those like me who celebrate the holiday and here's wishing a good end of Summer to everyone else. As you can see, this now makes three weeks in a row on my "comeback" tour with the Column. You can see I have decided for now to take a different tact in covering ROH, with less of a focus on news and features and instead covering one main story. I will try to slowly bring back in some of the other features I've used in the past as we go on, but right now we're taking it week by week. Thanks for clicking on and supporting the column and as always, feedback is appreciated.





Everybody Wants to Rule the World


Rising up the ranks of Ring of Honor and becoming its world champion, generally speaking, is not easy—you have to prove yourself capable of "bringing it" in the ring, or serve a greater function in generation ticket sales as the top representative of the largest independent wrestling company in North America. The rarity of champions (only eleven winners in nearly seven and a half years) and that there has only been one multiple-time winner of the title is proof of the uniqueness and special value of the Ring of Honor champion in relation to the company, the fans and the independent champion.

Regardless of popularity of the decision, there is always discussion about the new champion when a title switch occurs. That is half the fun of being a wrestling fan in general, but especially in ROH, where the title changes hands an average of once in seven and half months. It just doesn't happen with the frequency we find in say WWE, where this year especially the WWE / World Heavyweight Title changes every other month. The lengthy title runs allow for wide speculation by ROH fans as to the possible contenders for title matches and even who will likely be who the next champion.

2009 has been filled with surprising moves made at the top of the food chain with two title switches thus far. The title switch from Nigel McGuinness to Jerry Lynn was met with criticism as to the selection of Lynn in favor of other challengers. While Lynn had some good defenses (including a Four Corner Survival match taped for HDNet), his run indeed became a short transitional journey as predicted by many fans and observers when Austin Aries took the title in the three-way elimination match just two months later. Since then, Lynn had been brought back down to the upper / mid-card, where he really didn't do much of note. He was about to enter into a bit of a rivalry with Aries's henchmen Kenny King and Rhett Titus, but unfortunately was legitimately injured taking a spike piledriver during the HDNet tapings and has been out of action since.

When Austin Aries became Ring of Honor's first ever two-time World Heavyweight Champion, it was the result of busting his butt to the best of his ability over the course of a six month character rebuilding period. It was a rocky start with some fans thinking the new over the top arrogant persona spent too much time yelling at the crowd and preening in the ring (stalling tactics). Others were upset that despite a year of heavy feuding that Aries was somehow okay with teaming up with bitter enemy Jimmy Jacobs, whether he was a face, heel or in-between. However, when Aries tempered that new character turn with a focus on the in-ring action, the character began to make the right turn towards the new realized "A-Double" that fans see wrestling right now in ROH and other independent promotions.

Aries refined his character and in-ring work, and used the new persona to generate heel promos that connected with the fans. He amused some fans, but crawled under their skin of many more with his comments and new catchphrases.

Moreover, he played off the presence of Ric Flair in order to put the final touches on this new persona. If he was going to be the "greatest man who ever lived", the best man to play off to cement that notion would be the "Nature Boy". Despite how Flair's appearance flamed out by its end, his legendary status in the sport was a perfect counter-point to a guy like Aries—a man whose past successes warranted an arrogance but who wanted to make a name for himself by throwing that at someone who was a much more important star as him. It worked too—it was seemingly a perfect fit when Aries entered the Hammerstein Ballroom in late June to the sounds of Ric Flair's own theme, "Also sprach Zarsthustra". He even had a robe that while not the same style definitely echoed the presence of Flair (who actually had left the building by that point). Then Aries fulfilled his "destiny" in the storylines by winning the ROH World Title.

The booking since Aries has won the title is remarkably different from previous title runs, including Aries' first. Back in 2005, Despite both being on different sides of the face / heel alignment, Aries agreed with Samoa Joe's request that he would be a fighting champion. Joe had spent twenty-one months making the ROH title into a World title, elevating its status both through his extensive length as champion but also because ROH was beginning to enjoy much wider attention from the internet wrestling fan base. Aries would spend the next six months as champion frequently defending his title against all comers. While he would sometimes cheat to win, his character at the time looked at it as a personal challenge to make his mark at the champion. In order to do so, he would have to put the strap on the line as much as possible.

The decision to be a fighting champion ultimately fed into the next title switch. It wound up that Aries put too much pressure on himself. He took on too difficult a schedule by wrestling against top notch wrestlers such as James Gibson (enjoying a career renaissance in 2005), Colt Cabana, Homicide and Bryan Danielson. The storyline was that Aries was becoming over exhausted and too bruised up—he wasn't giving himself enough time to properly heal and recover from his title defenses. Ultimately he overtaxed his system in June 2005,leading to CM Punk taking ultimate advantage and winning the ROH World Title on what was initially thought as his "last night" in the company (the now very well known "Summer of Punk" era).

It began with a title match against Spanky in Buffalo where his neck was the focus of attack. Then the neck was further aggravated when Aries fought Low Ki in a non-title grudge match at The Supper Club in New York City. Ki launched Aries down to the ground with an extra-powerful Ki Krusher attack and pinned the champion! Even though Ki was a top wrestler for the company, his win over at the time current champion was a shock. Aries would become guarded about the condition of the neck in the weeks to follow, claiming it was fine. However, the title match at Death Before Dishonor III would soon prove otherwise. Punk's final move, the Pepsi Plunge from the top turnbuckle, brought Aries crashing head first violently down on his neck. That was that. Aries was done as champion, and a man who no one expected would win the title just became the champion and in doing so, changed Ring of Honor history.

This time around, Aries' modus operandi as champion has been anything but honorable. He is the furthest thing from a "fighting champion". Aries looks to have as few title matches as possible in order to ensure his longevity as champion. He also looks to make the challengers prove that they are indeed worthy of a title opportunity before he extends the favor. Thus we have seen Aries take on wrestlers such as Kenny Omega in a non-title singles match (and would have fought Petey Williams this weekend under similar circumstances). Wrestlers have to win their way in—which ostensibly is how a run to a championship match ought to work, but Aries new persona throws this fact in his opponents' face, does it with such a flaunting attitude that it serves to annoy everyone.

However, that doesn't mean that Aries hasn't been magnanimous or unwilling to give challengers an opportunity—that's where the A-Double L-Double ("Austin Aries Lucky Lottery") comes into effect. Aries has gone to the classic route of picking a name out of a hat to give a wrestler in the back the opportunity to challenge for the title. Of course, his choices have been quite suspect, mostly picking wrestlers who were not present in the building for the show at the time, or student wrestlers whose lack of experience and power represent far less of a challenge than the established wrestlers on the show. Aries know men such as Colt Cabana or Brent Albright would give him a real challenge, but somehow, those names never seem to be selected in the lottery.

On an upcoming angle for the HDNet show, Tyler Black exposes some of the fraud behind the Lucky Lottery, selecting a paper out of a hat and showing it to be blank. Ultimately though, it was a ruse by Aries to take out Black. The two-time champion lit the paper on fire and threw it at Black's face, horribly injuring him. The consequences of this angle are that Black is taken out for a short period of time and Aries gets to prove a very important point—if you step to him, expect to be taken out with impunity.

Regardless, there are other challengers besides Black who are waiting to step up and make the most of an opportunity: Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Chris Hero, Colt Cabana, Kenny Omega and Petey Williams. That is a mighty list of challengers, perhaps the most possible contenders an ROH champion had to deal with at any one time. Usually a champion has had up to three champions over a several-month window of defenses. For example, when Nigel McGuinness was champion around April 2008, his "A" challenger was Kevin Steen, his "B" challenger was Tyler Black and his "C" challenger was Austin Aries.

Let's examine the challengers a little more closely for their strengths and weaknesses as possible next ROH World Champion:



Roderick Strong

Strengths: Strong has been on a great streak of matches throughout the past year, including efforts against Aries, Danielson, KENTA and Jerry Lynn. He seems to have become re-energized as a face throughout the past year and the fans have been very receptive to it. He is a very enjoyable wrestler to watch live and in-person. His deep ties with Aries from previous angles (founded Generation Next with him, a nine-month tag title run with him, feuding as a heel against him as the leader of the No Remorse Corps) make him a worthy choice to be the top challenger to the title. You can play off of any and all of that history to make the match that much more meaningful.

Weakness: I am still concerned with Strong's promos and personality. His promos have always been the weak spot and while he is now serviceable he hasn't significantly improved enough in that category. Can he make that "money promo" for a feud when the time calls for it? Bryan Danielson was criticized early in his ROH run for his promo skills, but he grew into it and became an incredible promo. Could Strong do the same if he was forced into the position where he had to step up? Aries vs. Strong in non-title matches has been done already several times this year, so unless it's a title situation, this pairing might not be the freshest or most compelling from the perspective of a "Must Buy" DVD purchase.



Davey Richards

Strengths: A career year for Richards. He has often had or been a part of the match of the night in ROH and other companies in 2009. Even Bryan Danielson recently challenged him to step up to the mantle of being "best wrestler in the world", saying he believed that Davey could do it. Richards has been ripping it up in the ring this year with tag title defenses against Steen & Generico and combinations involving Danielson, Black and other partners. Richards had what many were calling the match of the year in his Supercard of Honor IV match against KENTA. He could work against anyone and everyone and bring that same kind of intensity and workmanship in the ring. He has shown that he can make the fans live or die on his actions, whether rooting for him or against him. Richards has a title shot in his back pocket and as far as storylines go, his character is such that he wouldn't care whether or not he cashed it in against a fellow heel or a babyface.

Weakness: Richards is still predominantly involved in the tag team division and he has his hands full defending the title against a deep pack of challengers. The next greatest giant moment of his run with Eddie Edwards as The American Wolves comes next week when he puts the title on the line against Steen & Generico at Ladder War 2. If they retain the title, he must fulfill his obligations as a tag champion. It's not going to be easy to book a double champion—while it would be intriguing to see how a storyline of having to defend two different titles on the same night would play out, my bet is that it end up being one or the other. This would deprive the live fans of seeing a title match, which is still a very important selling point that fans take into consideration when buying a ticket. Also, if Richards wins the title from Aries as a heel, that means back-to-back heel champions. It also means that with the exception of two months a heel would have been ROH champion for the better part of three years in a row (considering Morishima as the foreign heel menace, McGuinness turning heel for almost his entire run as champion and now Aries).



Chris Hero

Strengths: Hero has been knocking on the door of greatness in ROH as well, but perhaps has been overshadowed by Davey Richards' amazing run. High profile wins against Lance Storm in July and Bryan Danielson just last night in Dayton certainly gives Hero ground to claim he deserves a title shot. Hero's promo work is at an all time high—believable statements about how he's going to KO his challengers and exuding the right amount of cockiness. Hero also provides a bit of fresh air up top, because the combinations of matches possible such as Hero vs. Strong, Black or Steen haven' been exploited to their best potential. New feuds and angles would be great if they involved Hero KOing his challengers and bragging about it. It would also be Hero's big opportunity to be ROH champion after years of waiting and I think he would be ready to handle that responsibility—he was PWG champion for a year-plus, so he can more than hold his own weight as the representative of the top of the promotion.

Weakness: Like Richards, if he were to challenge Aries and win, that would mean consecutive heel champions. Hero would definitely be able to make fans want to buy a ticket to see him lose the title, but I don't know if that's the right path to take as opposed to a face knock out Aries from that pedestal. There have also been rumors of Hero leaving for WWE. While there hasn't been movement on that rumor for a few weeks now, that would certainly make me hesitant to put the strap on him lest it becomes sort of a variant on the Punk to Gibson to Danielson title switch situation from 2005.



Colt Cabana

Strengths: The ROH fans love Cabana, love him. He was greeted with such a response when he returned to NYC. Before he left to try his hand at WWE, he made a comment that he would like to come back and become ROH World champion one day. Well, he is now back and it would be a nice little "full circle" story to see Cabana make good. I think fans would want this title win for Cabana, which makes for a compelling reason to buy tickets and DVDs.

Weakness: As it was with Cabana's run to the title in 2006, it is just more difficult for fans to take a comedy wrestler seriously for the role of a company's top champion. While Cabana brings more experience this time around as well as undeniable wrestling talent, in the end will fans continue to be dismissive of him as a possible champion because he's the "funny guy"? As well, Cabana's "Johnny Saint" act—using counter wrestling and deception to effectively win by defensive more than offensive maneuvers—doesn't work well for the epic title matches that most ROH fans have come to expect from the main event. His title bout against Chris Hero in PWG this past April didn't exactly light my world on fire, because there comes a point when that style plateaus the match. If you don't move on from it, it just becomes repetitive and boring (see also the CHIKARA King of Trios 2009 semi final between The Masters of 1,000 Holds and Team Uppercut). I don't know if Cabana would be able to get away from that style while champion, and multiple title defenses using that theme doesn't sound all that appealing.



Kenny Omega

Strengths: Omega is young but certainly talented. He is a fresh face and could serve as a sort of "changing of the guard" when considering the top babyfaces in the company. Omega is wacky but has a charm about him that most fans appreciate. I think he would a bit of an underdog story if he became champion, which would make his title matches more exciting because more seasoned wrestlers like Aries or Hero would become more of an imposing threat to take the title from him. Omega also certainly has justifiable cause to receive a shot in the first place—two non-title pins against Aries in the past three months. No one could claim that Omega didn't deserve the opportunity because the storyline dictates that after defeating the champion in a non-title situation that the challenger should receive a title shot. Legitimacy goes a long way towards selling the new champion and Omega has a legitimate claim to a title shot. Aries is just ducking him.

Weakness: Omega's youth factor works against him as much as for him. We don't know if he's quite ready enough to take on the most important role in the promotion. Tyler Black was in a similar situation when he fought Nigel McGuinness at Take No Prisoners 2008 and he never actually won the title despite proving himself capable of rising to the occasion throughout the year. Given that the same conditions existed with Black as they do now for Omega, I don't know if Omega should get the championship slot either.



Petey Williams

Strengths: Williams is still getting his feet wet in ROH but has already been used prominently by beginning an issue with the current champion. Williams brings name value from his run in TNA, which helps with the more casual fans and family crowd. He also is a really solid wrestler in the ring, with the ultimate trump card of having a killer finisher (Canadian Destroyer). Everyone wants to see that move during the match, which helps ups the excitement factor of his efforts

Weakness: He was supposed to be in a non-title match against Aries this weekend but "stepped out of the way" for Danielson's final title shot. It's an interesting move but ultimately one better for the fans in attendance (who get the better match for Danielson's finale) and for Williams as well. He could stand a bit more time in ROH so that fans from all of the different tour stops can get to see him. That way ROH could feel out the full reaction for Williams in that kind of high-profile situation and make a decision from there.



The major issue from a fan perspective is that these potential new champions are mostly from the mid-card of the established ROH roster. In the wake of the departures of Danielson and McGuinness, it is incumbent upon ROH to begin to elevate those talents upward on the depth chart. However, the question arises as to if the fans will accept these wrestlers in their new positions, or will it just not fit? Any moves made to bring these wrestlers up to that ambiguous fan-perceived "next level" is going to have to be carefully done so as to seem organic and not forced down the fans throats. In other words, more like Tyler Black in early 2008 and less like Jerry Lynn in late 2008 / 2009.

Another wrinkle in Aries' second run came this past week as a result of news that the Aries-Bryan Danielson title match that had been scrubbed from New York was back on and would instead take place this weekend in Chicago. The change came as a result of Tyler Black being pulled from both that and Dayton show due to his neck not healing fast enough from surgery. There is a possibility (albeit a small one) that Danielson could win the ROH World Title from Aries during that match, going on to defend through his final appearances.

Danielson could win the title and then drop the strap in his very next match against Davey Richards (Boston, September 25th) or defend successfully all the way through his final scheduled match against Nigel McGuinness in New York City for Glory By Honor VIII and then vacate the strap. That move wouldn't be without precedent. Danielson has already won and vacated the PWG Heavyweight Title on his last night booked for the promotion and of course there is always the CM Punk example showing this could also be possible within Ring of Honor. My guess would be this doesn't happen a second time in ROH history, but stranger things have happened.

Of course, there is always Tyler Black to consider, injury or no. He has a long term contract with ROH, so you'd think he's a good bet to win the title at some point. Black should have realistically won the title last year at the peak of his popularity. However, given the injury angle time is now working in favor of ROH booking. There is an opportunity to slowly rework Black up the ladder of contention when he returns in early October Collinsville and Indianapolis). Over the next several months Black can regain some of the momentum needed to really make the impact necessary for a title change. The timing could work out just in time for an epic match against Aries at Final Battle 2009.

"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair exclaimed "When you are the King, you rule the world!" in his famous post-WWF Title win promo from Royal Rumble 1992. "Psycho" Sid Vicious always wanted to be "The Man who Rules the World". "Stone Cold" Steve Austin used to say in interviews that if you didn't want to be the world champion, you didn't really want to be a wrestler. All of those statements are indicative of one thing—that when you are the king, the man, the champion, you are bar none the most important part of a wrestling company. It is simultaneously a huge honor and a huge obligation. The best title runs are the ones where a wrestler works harder as champion than he ever did on the road to becoming champion.

Austin Aries earned his way back to the top of ROH. So far he has done an incredibly effective job as the heel champion who wants to make sure the world revolves around him and him only. He calls the shots. He says and does what he sees fit in order to remain champion for as long as possible. Even thought the title isn't on the line with as much frequency as previous title runs (including his own first run through), Aries has worked harder at being champion this year than he did to get to be the champion—which is what makes his championship run so far as success story. The effortless arrogant heel promos, the tight-knit matches in the ring, the subtle interactions with the fans during match, even the way he walks down to the ring—its all championship made.

Right now, Austin Aries rules the world of Honor with an iron fist. However, Tears for Fears knew what they were talking about when they wrote the line "nothing ever lasts forever". Eventually, someone is going to defeat Aries and become the new champion and then the whole championship process will cycle and repeat. After all, everybody wants to rule the world.

---

Honor Bound Links

I invite everyone to check out some of my other writing, available at Associated Content. Click and read any and all of the following articles:

The Beatles: Rock Band Hits All the Right Notes: Review of the latest version of Rock Band, devoted exclusively to The Beatles. Game developers Harmonix successfully and accurately represent England's legendary Fab Four, their music and the historical importance of "Beatlemania."

Ten Not-Yet-To-Be TV Couples on TV DramasTen of the best shipping couples from cop and drama television procedural shows that fans / ships desperately want to see together in a relationship, but they haven't happened yet.

Bachelor Party Brothers-in-Arms: A short retelling of a weekend romp in Philadelphia that included 50 Cent, booze and cheesesteaks.


In addition, I have caved in and joined TwitterNation. You can follow me at: http://twitter.com/AriBerenstein.

I was special guest co-host two weeks ago for RBR: Weekly Wrestling Talk. You can tune into my appearance through their archives.


Some 411Mania Ring of Honor articles for your reading pleasure:

This week's 411 Buy or Sell discusses the weekend in ROH shows.

Hubbard's ROH on HDNet Report for the 9/18 show with Briscoes vs. Steen & Generico.

Thomas's 4R's including his thoughts on ROH on HDNet.

Chambers' Match A Day covering Final Battle 2008.

Weyer's Thoughts on the McGuinness-Danielson situation in last week's Shining a Spotlight



Thanks again for reading the column. I'll be back next week with reviews of the wrestling DVDs I watched during the summer.

BROOKLYN!

--Ari--