411’s Buy or Sell 10.02.09: Cornette Returns to Ring of Honor, Davey Richards Faces Kenny King Twice, Super Crazy Debuting in Dragon Gate USA, and More!!
Posted by Michael Bauer on 10.02.2009
This week, the 411 Wrestling Staff gets ready for the next to last stops on the Final Countdown Tour as ARI Berenstein battles Michael Bauer in Buy or Sell!
Welcome everyone to Week 127 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.
BANNER!
(Special thanks to Jasper Gerretsen)
Davey Richards faces Kenny King in PWG and FIP on back to back nights. He will not win both matches, as he will drop the FIP World Title to Kenny King.
ARI Berenstein : BUY. It's kind of a cool little "fun fact" that Richards and King are having a "mini-series" of sorts by wrestling against each other in different promotions. However, their feud is majorly based in FIP as King has been trying repeatedly to take out Richards, comes closer and closer every time but ultimately falls short. I think now is probably the right time to change the belt in FIP, despite Richards' hot streak on the independent scene as a whole. The storyline calls for King, who is very popular in Florida, to rise to the occasion and triumph. So I'll say that Richards wins against King in PWG (where he is the more established of the two) and then loses in FIP.
Michael Bauer : BUY. This is much like when Bryan Danielson held the FIP World Title. Davey Richards is just far too good to hold the title right now and somebody has to dethrone him. King is over in Florida and is the right person to be that guy to get the rub. Keep in mind that it is a Steel Cage Match, so any of your outside tom-foolery should be kept to a minimum, which is needed here. But there is no way King wins in PWG, where Davey Richards is one of the best things going for them right now.
1 for 1.
Having Super Crazy debut for Dragon Gate USA in the Open the Freedom Gate Tournament is a mistake.
ARI Berenstein : SELL. Why would it be a mistake? I see no real reason to call foul on this one. Crazy, when he is on his game, is still a hell of a fun talent who can get the crowd behind him and tell a good story in the ring. Maybe the Dragon Gate talent is faster and younger than him, but his lucha style plays very well with the DG style. In fact, Super Crazy was one of those wrestlers who bore out and popularized the fast paced crusierweight style in the late 90's that eventually led to the modern independent style that is featured on Dragon Gate shows. Plus, that just means he can play the crafty veteran card, He also has deep roots with Gabe Sapolsky, as Crazy has those ECW ties and appeared on the first ever ROH show in 2002. So, overall, good move---let him be over with the Philly crowd and let him put someone over in the tournament: win-win in my book.
Michael Bauer : BUY. I come from the school of thought that a guy debuting in a tournament was always a lazy booking method. Even more so, booking that guy to debut in a tournament for the promotion's top belt is even lazier. Granted, Super Crazy is plenty over anywhere he goes and can work Dragon Gate's USA style pretty well makes it a little easier to do, but I am not a fan of it. Also, this is Dragon Gate USA's first title period and the booking of Super Crazy here seems like he is just giving someone a rub. And that's fine, but I would rather see a tournament where I believe that anyone has a fair chance of winning, not just Davey Richards, CIMA, and maybe Brian Kendrick. Super Crazy has no chance of winning, which is further reason I don't like this booking.
1 for 2.
Dragon Gate USA partnering with Full Impact Pro was bound to happen as soon as FIP split away from Ring of Honor.
ARI Berenstein : BUY. Maybe not "as soon as", but I don't think this move was by any means a surprise. Sapolsky was very close with FIP promoter Sal Hamaoui and I think the partnership is a natural one. Also, Sapolsky is taking a card from his early days in ROH and that is uniting with other promotions on the independent scene in order to create partnerships, get the word out about all of the promotions and the wrestling talent they have to offer. AND ITS A GREAT MOVE. Sapolsky and Dragon Gate only have everything to gain by affiliating themselves with FIP in Florida, CHIKARA in Philly and AAW in Chicago. They spread their name brand and help spread the word about the other promotions.
Michael Bauer : BUY. For me, this was a total foregone conclusion. Ring of Honor breaking away from Full Impact Pro was an obvious sign that Gabe would come right in and establish the partnership, to further spite Ring of Honor. And I definitely agree with Ari here as this was a great move. Being partnered with FIP and CHIKARA will do nothing but give DG USA the legs it needs to be successful for now and the future. But let's not forget that Dragon Gate USA has set the bar really high and they will need to continue to do that in addition to partnering up with ever other place in the world.
Jim Cornette being an on-air personality is exactly what RoH on HDNet needed.
Michael Bauer : BUY. This is a huge buy! The one thing I have gotten from RoH on HDNet is that while Ring of Honor puts on great matches, they are lacking just a little bit in the aspect of good promos and on-air personality. Jim Cornette is one of the best promo men in the business and his personality is about second to none in comparison to anyone on the Ring of Honor roster. Sure, Cornette is an asset behind the scenes, but I think he is even more important on screen for Ring of Honor than off.
ARI Berenstein : BUY. I answered a similar question for this week's fact or fiction, but that was based more on what he could do for ROH in the creative and backstage area. I'll say this though, any Cornette, no matter in what form, whether its front and center on television or behind the scenes in creative, can only be a plus for Ring of Honor. Cornette is one of the smartest wrestling minds of all time and he knows what to do to get someone over. In front of the television screen, he can play either the antagonist or the people's ally depending on the situation. He does have a tendency to elongate his promos, but as long as he can keep the chit-chat to a reasonable length and keep his character direction focused, then ROH on HDNet is going to be greatly improved with his presence.
3 for 4.
The Young Bucks will win the RoH Tag Team Titles before the end of 2009.
Michael Bauer : BUY. I probably should have re-ordered this question and the last one, because they go hand in hand. But The Young Bucks I can totally see being Ring of Honor World Tag Champions this year. Whether the Wolves are still champions going into the match or not is the question that everyone will ask, but it shouldn't be. The way The Young Bucks are ripping it up right now, it doesn't matter to me is they beat The American Wolves or win any sort of Tag Tournament, they are the hottest team in the Independent scene right now. Yes, they are even hotter than said Wolves, because of DG USA and PWG giving them even more exposure.
ARI Berenstein : SELL. I love the Young Bucks and what they can do in the ring. They have torn it up all over the place on the U.S. independents this year. They just defeated The Briscoes last week in New York at Glory By Honor VIII and it didn't for one second come across as an upset. However, will they be tag champions in ROH by the end of 2009? My guess is no, not yet. First of all, I think ROH is waiting to see what the status on Eddie Edwards' elbow injury will be before making any moves on the tag belts (see #6, below). If the call is to vacate the titles and do a tournament, the Young Bucks could be a favorite to win, but then again you could say that about any of the top tag teams in the division right now: Kevin Steen & El Generico, Dark City Fight Club, The Briscoes or The Bucks. Of those teams I'd probably put the Bucks third likely to win the titles. So no tag titles for them in 2009, but 2010? VERY LIKELY.
3 for 5.
Despite Eddie Edwards' injury, The American Wolves retaining the RoH Tag Team Titles was the right decision.
Michael Bauer : BUY. Yeah, believe it or not I actually Buy this. First thing first, Eddie Edwards might now be the most over person in Ring of Honor now that Bryan and Nigel are gone. I can't remember EVER seeing that big a heel getting that much of a positive crowd reaction, outside of maybe Tyler Black before Jacobs threw him to the curb. Now, I will not deny that the broken elbow is a pretty big injury and there should have been almost no way Eddie should have been in the match. But while everyone talks about that, let us not forget that El Generico has been working some knee issues of his own. And as much of a rumor than anything is that Generico is taking time off to heel his knee. The upcoming booking kinda shows this as well. The next set of bookings has Kevin Steen is singles matches and Generico not even on the cards. Yes, Survival of the Fittest is an exception to the rule, but El Generico not been booked should be a sign that he wasn't going to be around. With that part said, I would rather have the belts on the American Wolves for right now and play a wait and see approach than put them on Steen-erico, knowing that they won't be to defend the belts.
ARI Berenstein : SELL. I give so much credit to Eddie Edwards for being brave enough to go forward with the match with his broken elbow. I give so much credit to Generico, Steen and Richards who all picked up the slack, with all of them taking massive, MAN-SIZED bumps through tables off of high places during the match. You couldn't ask for more sacrifice from these four men. That said, it almost goes without saying that a broken elbow is no joke. It's very serious and can take upwards of six months to heal if surgery is needed. I understand ROH officials wanting to wait for a prognosis on the severity of the injury before making an important decision like the direction of the tag division, but I don't agree with it. I think it's very clear that Edwards isn't going to be ready any time soon and not only that, there shouldn't be any pressure on him to come back earlier than necessary. Ladder War 2 was the blow-off to the feud between the Wolves and Steen & Generico, so even if it wasn't initially in the cards (which to my dismay is what it looks like), Steen & Generico should have won the belts that night, even just as a precautionary, CYA measure. What The Wolves keeping the belts signifies to me is that there is fuel to the fire about the speculation that Steen would be turning heel on Generico soon. I don't see any clear direction for them in the tag division if they're not the champions. ROH could feasibly do an "Up For Grabs 2" tournament for the tag belts if needed, but ultimately it wouldn't have to come to that point if they took the conservative route and switched the belts, even if it was just a quick transition run for Steenerico.
3 for 6!!!
The 127th edition of BUY or SELL finishes at 3 for 6 as these two just agree with everything! Stay tuned for next week we two more brave sould will step to the plate in Buy or Sell.
Isn't Generico supposed to be on a tour in Japan for a few months as well?
Posted By: Guest#2016 (Guest) on October 02, 2009 at 12:49 PM
Has anyone heard how long Edwards is expected to be out for? It's cool that the Wolves won, but ROH is going to have to decide what to do with the belts pretty soon if Edwards is out for more than a month or two. With only two titles in the company they can't really afford to indefinately suspend the defenses of one of them.
I guess they could throw Hero in as a substitute. It might be cool if they did someone less expected, like Claudio. Otherwise they could do a tournament or scramble, but I don't know who else besides the Briscoes would get the honor, and that's kind of a boring move. Titus and King might be the best decision to keep things fresh, but they are a big step down from the Wolves.
Posted By: Guest#3081 (Guest) on October 03, 2009 at 07:34 AM
You know what, I actually hope they do end up doing an "Up For Grabs 2" tournament. First off, I am a complete mark for tournaments. Second, if you do it in somewhere like Chicago, it will be extremely easy to fill out the bracket. Off the top of my head, you could have The Briscoes, Steen & Generico, The Dark City Fight Club, The Young Bucks, The Super Smash Bros., King & Titus, Cheech & Cloudy, and The House of Truth as the eight teams in the tournament. I think that would end up being really fun, and a great way to crown new tag champs. We could get some great first time matches out of it to, like Steen & Generico vs. Cheech & Cloudy and/or The Briscoes vs. The Dark City Fight Club (which I am ravaging to see).
Another fabulous read; great job to both of you.
Posted By: kford13 (Registered) on October 03, 2009 at 10:55 AM
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