Column of Honor: 09.24.11: Fave Five Athletic Rivalries in ROH
Posted by Ari Berenstein on 09.24.2011
What were five of my favorite “series” of matches in ROH history? The answer to that, CHIKARA, Papadon and Tommaso Ciampa in the Plus 1, the latest ROH news including an international distribution deal, Survival of the Fittest 2011 and more in Part Two of this week’s Column!
Welcome Back to the Column. If you haven't read Part One, click the link to get all the low-down on this past weekend's ROH and CHIKARA events in New York City.
Also, make sure you listen to this week's The Greg DeMarco Show where I am on with Greg and Patrick O'Dowd discussing the ROH show and all the latest ROH news.
I also appear on an all-new podcast for Pro Wrestling Ponderings with Chris GST and Jerome Cusson. Listen to it here for more discussion of Death Before Dishonor IX and the latest ROH news, plus debates on higher ticket prices, etc.
BREAKING NEWS: Ring of Honor announced a date / venue change for Final Battle 2011 Originally scheduled for December 17th at the upstairs Grand Ballroom portion of the Manhattan Center, the show will now take place December 23rd at the larger downstairs Hammerstein Ballroom. All floor tickets will be honored but anyone who purchased balcony seating must return the tickets. More information available at the following link.
As well, for the foreseeable future, all ROH events at the Manhattan Center will now take place in the larger Hammerstein Ballroom.
As of 09/24/11
=ROH World Champion=
Davey Richards
Champion since 06/26/2011 | 4* successful defenses
Best in the World 2011 defeated Eddie Edwards in New York, NY to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. TBD
--Davey Richards defeated Tommy End in Barcelona, Spain on 07/04/2011.
--Davey Richards defeated Chase Owens in Kingsport, KY on 08/04/11.*
--Davey Richards defeated Colt Cabana in Carrolton, GA on 08/06.11. *
--Davey Richards defeated Roderick Strong in Chicago, Illinois on 08/13/11.
* These matches are not as yet officially recognized by Ring of Honor on their records page, but as they did occur as billed "ROH World Title" matches for the live crowd in attendance they are listed here for posterity.
=ROH World Tag Team Champions=
Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team: Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin
Champions since 04/01/2011 | 4 successful defenses
Honor Takes Center Stage Chapter 1 defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) in Atlanta, GA to win the championship.
Next Defense a- vs. Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly) in Collinsville, IL on 11/06/11.
b- winner of that match defends vs. winner of Briscoes / ANX (Ladder War 3) in Chicago Ridge, IL on 11/19/11.
--Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in Toronto, ON on 5/7/11.
--Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli), Jay & Mark Briscoe and The All-Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus) in New York City, NY on 06/26/11.
--Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated El Generico & Colt Cabana in Richmond, VA on 07/08/11.
--Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) in Chicago, IL on 08/13/11.
=ROH Television Champion=
Jay Lethal
Champion since 08/13/2011 | - successful defenses (New Champion)
Sinclair TV Tapings defeated El Generico in Chicago Ridge, IL to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. TBD
Wrestling Roundtable #10- Blog Following Kevin Steen
Kevin Steen's Viral Message After Death Before Dishonor IX
Press Interview / Watch ROH Vignette with Eddie Edwards & Mike Bennett
ROH Videowire September 21st, 2011
Teaser for First Episode of ROH TV
Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin Teaser Promo for WGTT vs. KOW on ROH TV
Week Three for Plus 1 (+1), where I give kudos in the form of Google's version of the "Like" button. Essentially I give a +1 when I am in agreement with a point someone made this week or if someone in the wrestling industry said or did something I liked. Afterwards, the points get added into previous totals and at the end of the month we can see who is getting the most credit for their actions. So, who is in The Plus Column this week?
to Chikara Pro Wrestling for stacking their shows in Burlington, North Carolina on October 7th and Kingsport, Tennessee on October 8th. The show will feature their top talent, very good international talent like Daisuke Harada and Atsushi Kotoge, and talented international women's wrestlers such as Madison Eagles, Jessie McKay and Kana. The matches themselves are stacked, including Ultramantis Black against Vin Gerard, a tag title match with new champions F.I.S.T., Eagles vs. kana on the 7th and Del Rey vs. Kana on the 8th. They also just added what is probably THE most important 12 Large: Summit tournament match left in the series with Sara Del Rey matching up against Mike Quackenbush in what will likely determine the Block A points leader. Del Rey is on such a roll right now and I think at the end of the night THIS will be the match everyone is buzzing about. Good on CHIKARA for not treating these relatively new venues as B-show markets and instead giving them an A-game.
to The Greek God Papadon and Tommaso Ciampa for appearing on this week's episode of The Greg DeMarco Show and livening things up with an entertaining and at times heated (or as Papadon said, "unprofessional", quote unquote) promo war to hype their ECWA showdown that look place last night. These two went at it in a war of words that was quite the revelation for both men. I hope Ciampa gets more of a chance to talk in ROH (well, without the use of vulgarity that he demonstrated on air here) because he definitely showed he can bring it in that regard-it's just that with Prince Nana and Barrister R.D. Evans around, he doesn't have to speak too much, even though maybe he should.
The Plus Column—Week 3 (September 2011)
+2: CHIKARA Pro Wrestling +2: Pro Wrestling Guerrilla +1: "The Greek God" Papadon +1: Tommaso Ciampa +1: WWE +1: Smart Mark Video +1: Todd Martin (Columnist, Wrestling Observer / LA Times) +1: Sugar Dunkerton
There's one more week to go for this month's +1 before a "Plus of the Month" is decided. It's a deadlock between CHIKARA and PWG-does that tie get broken next week or will one of the "+1"s match them?
That's right—the Fave 5 is BACK, BABY! You see, I don't know how or why it happened, but someone named Booker T decided to take the Fave 5 idea all for himself. WUT DA HELL!?! So, I'm taking it back!
However, this time around, the Fave 5 will be just a tad different. Instead of listing my favorite wrestlers or moments of that week, the Fave 5 will now be a different category or topic each week.
I just finished catching up on watching the Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose series from Florida Championship Wrestling though the very convenient methodology of YouTube videos. Independent fans might remember them better as Tyler Black and Jon Moxley, respectively. I was very impressed with the series, which was reminiscent of another of Black's rivalries back in ROH, his set against Bryan Danielson (n.k.a. Daniel Bryan).
It's very clear that Rollins has kept himself going strong while in WWE developmental as he's added a few things like a jumping curbstomp that when he uses it is flat-out fun to see him squash an opponent's face down to the mat. Ambrose, meanwhile has taken to WWE style like a duck to water. What I love about him is his body language and the way it helps him to bring across his unconventional character and his personality / attitude, but also in the unique way he can sell being hurt-from woozy to outright pain. Some of it might look like flopping around (and some of it is), but there's some real depth to what he's doing.
In honor of the Ambrose / Rollins series, this time around we're looking at Fave Five Ring of Honor Competitive Rivalries . These are the kind of extended athletic series of matches that have becoming a calling card for the promotion, such as the recent Edwards-Strong set from this year.
5. Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong: This is a series born of a grudge when Richards betrayed Strong, leaving the No Remorse Corps stable to join the late Larry Sweeney's Sweet & Sour Incorporated. Strong had to chase Richards to Japan to wrestle him after that, but the series of matches between the two continued long after both of those stables had fallen by the wayside. While proving who the superior athlete was is always one of the major points to prove between these two men, at the end of it, the hate and the grudge was always sticking out there as well. Their recent sets of matches in 2011 have been heavy-arms warfare, with hard strikes from both sides, tactical use of submissions and both taking each other to the limit like never before. You're always going to get at least a very good match out these two when you pair them in the ring.
4. Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson: I mentioned it above and it would be foolhardy not include a series of six-matches with such high match quality and a great story from beginning-to-end. Black's major breakout matches began with his first-ever bout in ROH against Bryan Danielson at Breakout (soon to be followed by his title bout against Nigel McGuinness at Take No Prisoners 2008. The story of these matches began with Black as a part of The Age of the Fall having no respect for Danielson, but being unable to find a way to defeat him. There were great technical exchanges mixed in with Black's dynamic offense of high impact kicks and flying attacks. Danielson was the smarter and more patient and that led to his winning these initial matches. The final match of the first set of three took place at New Horizons and is notable for the turnbuckle breaking at the end and the crazy reaction that situation received. The second set of three were wrestled on the early episodes of ROH on HDNet, with both men as babyfaces. Black now had respect for Danielson but was determined to prove that he could defeat the statesman of the promotion. After a time-limit draw and a double-countout, Black finally summoned all the ability and willpower he could to find the means to defeat Danielson in their sixth and final singles bout in ROH history. Taken altogether, what a great progression of showing how one wrestler could work his way towards solving a puzzle of how to defeat a competitor, plus it added a great series of must-see matches to ROH lore.
3. Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk: Joe / Punk is obviously one of the most significant rivalries in ROH history because of how much attention and business their series of matches brought to the promotion. It put Joe and Punk and ROH's name on the map. This series included two one-hour draws and a final encounter in Elizabeth New Jersey where Punk bled in buckets. Not only is it fun to watch these two match wits in the ring, but knowing the stories behind the matches, how they had to improvise much of the hour draws, adds to the impressiveness of what they did in the ring. Besides that though, these two (along with the crowd reactions) made watching the series a lot of fun.
2. Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness: This series of matches began when Danielson was ROH World Champion in 2006 and continued through McGuinness' title run all the way to both men's mutual exit from Ring of Honor in 2009. They even had their last match in the promotion against each other at Glory By Honor VIII: The Final Countdown. Sometimes Danielson was the heel and McGuinness the face and sometimes the other way around, but regardless who was being cheered or booed, these two were giving the fans great wrestling stories in the ring every time out. Danielson dominated the rivalry by number of wins. However, McGuinness always posed a threat and much of the drama of matches like 6th Anniversary Show and the Rising Above ‘08 encounter involved McGuinness at the advantage and Danielson having to fight from behind. He would use his wrestling ability and smarts to reverse holds and put McGuinness in disadvantageous positions where he could lock in submissions. Obviously both men deserve a ton of credit for their efforts and for making the most out of being tied at the hip for the last few years of their ROH run.
1. Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson: Gee, Danielson sure does show up quite a bit on this list doesn't he? This was a rivalry that began when both men were in the final two of the inaugural ROH Survival of the Fittest tournament in 2004. After that, these two wrestled each other on average once a year for their entire duration of stay in Ring of Honor. They always brought out the best in each other and there was always something different in every match. However, the basis of the series was always in technical wrestling, grappling and position battles, and then from there they elevated the pace and intensity of the match. These guys didn't take it easy even when Danielson was leaving…and in fact the last match they had against each other at The Final Countdown Tour: Chicago show ranks up there as one of their best, though my personal favorite was their battle at Take No Prisoners 2008 which seemed to me to be the peak of their wrestling exchanges and dramatic use of near-falls. You can't forget their epic two-out-of-three falls battle at Testing the Limit, the 75-minute match that became the calling card of their rivalry for many years.
-The most important news of the week for Ring of Honor is that they have signed an international distribution deal with Opus Distribution. The press release announcing the deal read in part:
The 52-episode hour-long series will be introduced to the international marketplace at MIPCOM. ROH will debut on Sinclair's network of broadcast TV stations in the U.S. this month, making it the only wrestling promotion in the U.S. with a major multi-market presence on broadcast TV.
Joe Koff, the COO of Ring of Honor, said, "ROH wrestling has no language barriers, and we are expecting to see growth internationally. In brokering this deal with Ken DuBow, we've accelerated that plan and are glad to have someone so experienced to bring ROH to the rest of the world."
Ken DuBow, the president of Opus Distribution, commented, "I'm excited to work with Sinclair and Joe Koff to build this franchise in the international marketplace where several countries have already made inquiries regarding syndication. This is exciting programming to add to our lineup, and these types of projects and relationships are integral to the ongoing success of Opus."
This is obviously the start of a breakthrough for ROH to send its new television series, though it appears no official international stations / markets have been signed as yet-it does put ROH's foot in the door again. ROH had a few international distribution deals through HDNet during its two-year run on that television station, but once the contract on that show was not renewed it was obvious those international agreements would not carry over since there was, in effect, no product to give to them.
-As far as national exposure for the new television show, you can check out this page to see the channels and times it will be available. The show debuts tonight and tomorrow depending on the market and then will be presented "on delay" next week online through the rohwrestling.com website.
-ROH is running a very cool contest to promote the TV show, where the winner will receive a phone call from Jay Briscoe and you can have a ten-minute conversation with him, asking him anything you want. Check it out here.
-Ring of Honor will run two new markets this coming December- 12/3 at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium in Spartanburg, South Carolina and 12/4 for a matinee (4PM belltime) at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. This is a part of ROH's attempt to run shows close to where the SBG syndicated stations will run their television show.
-Speaking of television tapings, signed for the October 1st session in Louisville, Kentucky is a rematch from Tag Team Turmoil with The American Wolves of Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards teaming up to wrestle The House of Truth tandem of Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong w/ Truth Martini. This should be interesting because there were some hints a few months back in an article written by Truth Martini that suggested Edwards was a victim of Richards' selfishness (although, of course, it was Edwards who was the one who challenged his tag team partner, not the other way around). Then there was the aftermath of the No Escape main event where Edwards held onto a submission move for too long on Richards' protégé Kyle O'Reilly. The pieces could start to add up, or another one could be added through whatever happens in this main event.
-Though PWInsider.com reported that "none of the wrestlers involved in the Ladder War were injured. Some needed some cuts looked at by doctors, but that's it.", ROH in its newswire noted that "All four competitors were treated by doctors in the locker room and had their work cut out for them. Titus suffered deep lacerations, a severe forearm contusion, a pulled hamstring, and dehydration. King has limited range of motion in his right shoulder along with severe bruising. Both Briscoe Brothers suffered deep lacerations and bruising while Mark has a cracked rib and Jay severely injured his wrist. It will take many weeks for all the physical wounds to fully heal but the mental wounds could easily last forever. The bad blood between ANX and the Briscoes will never end but last Saturday was certainly closure for Titus and King who look to be the number 1 tag team in Ring of Honor come November 19th."
-Survival of the Fittest 2011 is officially set for November 18th in Dayton, Ohio. As mentioned in my write-up of last Saturday in New York City, Andy "Right Leg" Ridge has already qualified to be in the field.
-The next ROH TV Tapings after October 1st in Louisville, KY will also emanate from the Davis Arena in Louisville on November 5th. Well strap me down and let's call ROH "OVW" while we're at it. Jim Cornette did somewhat let the cat out of the bag during his interview with Wrestling Observer that ROH would try to run both recognizable cities and new locations for TV tapings in the coming year.
-The ROH Forum was taken down after last week's hack by Kevin Steen "to protect our fans and friends' computers from being compromised". Uh-huh. On the plus side, this is a fabulous use of their website for the Steen invasion angle. On the negative, ROH fans couldn't access the forum on the day of Death Before Dishonor IX to discuss the event. My guess is that the forum stays down until the new design and re-launch of the rohwrestling.com website happens in the coming weeks.
-Wrestlers on the docket to appear on the Collinsville, Illinois show on November 6th include ROH World Champion Davey Richards, ROH World TV Champion Jay Lethal, Jay and Mark Briscoe, The All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King, Eddie Edwards and El Generico. They join Future Shock of Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Cole who will wrestle against ROH World Tag Team Champions Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin for the tag team titles.
-Tuesday's 11 O'Clock newscast on CBS 2 in New York featured a story with an eyewitness interview with a guy named Ed Edwards. I'm not kidding, either.
-Detractors of "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett in Ring of Honor are going to have to come to grips with the fact that he is not going anywhere anytime soon. The latest evidence—he and Eddie Edwards were the ones asked to do press interviews on Wednesday for local SBG affiliates promoting the debut of the new Ring of Honor television series.
Speaking of…
At the beginning of the year, "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett vowed that within one year that he would become the Ring of Honor World Champion. So let's see how he's done so far, eh?
ROH World Titles Won: 0
ROH World Tag Team Titles Won: 0
ROH TV Titles Won: 0
Divas Dated: 1
Appearances on The Greg DeMarco Show: 1
Days Left to Reach Goal: 97
So in a recent interview on The Greg DeMarco show, right here at 411Mania.com, Mr. Bennett suggested that he was not just looking to win the ROH World Championship but ANY ROH title, be it World, TV or Tag Titles.
Well, as you can see above, I have decided out of my kind heart and generosity of spirit that I will also include Mike Bennett's pursuit of any and all Ring of Honor championship gold. Now, obviously, it will always be known that he started off by boasting about how he was going to win ROH World Title gold, but that apparently he had to set his sights just a little lower than the top of the mountain. Tsk, Tsk. So, let Mike Bennett try to win ROH's other titles. I'll keep track of them here in the column.
Though he now dips under into double digit territory on the counter and after next week, it will be three months to go.
-Two reviews for ROH's No Escape DVD featuring El Generico vs. Roderick Strong in a steel cage match. One is by Jack Bramma and the other by Kevin Ford. Ford also reviews the previous show, Tag Team Turmoil.
-Bramma also gets in the DeLorean and goes back in time, one year ago to last year's Death Before Dishonor VIII.
Very good list of rivalries. I don't know if this would make my list, or just barely miss it, but whenever Tyler Black and Davey Richards had a match, you knew you were in for something special. The DBD 2010 encounter was a true classic, but the other matches before and after was also very fine affairs.
Danielson and Strong also had a very fine series of matches during Bryan's title run, but they couldn't quite match the level of some of the other rivalries on the list.
So now that you've done athletic rivalries, how about a top five blood fued list? I would go with (in no particular order):
Homicide/Corino (2002-2006 on and off)
Homicide/Cabana (2005-2006)
ROH/CZW (2006)
Briscoes v. Steenerico (2007)
Corino/Steen v. Cabana/Generico (2010)
All of these produced good to great matches, and unlike many of the feuds in other companies, most of them had a clear-cut blowoff match (with the possible exception of Corino/Homicide, which made it seem as if just about every match they had would be the blowoff, so that their final 2006 match didn't seem like that big of a deal).
Posted By: Michael L (Guest) on September 24, 2011 at 12:23 AM
Once I saw what you gave 5 was about I was already about to berate you for putting Nigel/danielson one. Then I saw that in actual fact you are a very smart man and rightfully had Aries/Danielson first. Always thought they were better together. I mean that rivalry is probably the best one in North America for the last 15 years.
Posted By: Guest#5817 (Guest) on September 24, 2011 at 01:48 AM
Posted By: happy panda (Guest) on September 24, 2011 at 03:40 AM
Aries is a technical wrestler? It doesn't seem like that watching him in TNA. Damn TNA they seem to ruin everyone.
Posted By: Guest#4452 (Guest) on September 24, 2011 at 09:54 AM
The world needs more Stephen Fry. He was one of the best performers in the history of Whose Line even though he was on a grand total of three episodes (not counting the radio broadcasts.)
Posted By: Chris (Guest) on September 24, 2011 at 10:34 AM
I was there for the first ever meeting of Aries & Danielson (in ROH, if not wrestling in general) at SotF 2004. Man, that still goes down as 20 of the finest minutes of wrestling ever. I didn't see that much in Aries until then. I don't think anyone's ever gone from "blah" to "superstar!" in my eyes faster. Great column, good sir.
Posted By: Rooskie (Guest) on September 24, 2011 at 10:37 AM
Great list. I hope in the future ROH continues to have great athletic rivalries like the ones mentioned here. Edwards/Daniels has been pretty good so far.
Posted By: Yup. (Guest) on September 25, 2011 at 01:16 AM
Great stuff in both columns this week, man. Thanks for including the matches and shows that lead to your rankings in the 'Fave Five' - it makes it easier for the those of us just coming to RoH in the last few years to catch up (and take advantage of sales!).
Posted By: s1rude (Guest) on September 25, 2011 at 02:26 PM
You write any more and they'll have to stretch out your column through the entire week... not that I would complain about that.
Posted By: G-Walla (Guest) on September 26, 2011 at 04:05 AM
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to Chikara Pro Wrestling for stacking their shows in Burlington, North Carolina on October 7th and Kingsport, Tennessee on October 8th. The show will feature their top talent, very good international talent like Daisuke Harada and Atsushi Kotoge, and talented international women's wrestlers such as Madison Eagles, Jessie McKay and Kana. The matches themselves are stacked, including Ultramantis Black against Vin Gerard, a tag title match with new champions F.I.S.T., Eagles vs. kana on the 7th and Del Rey vs. Kana on the 8th. They also just added what is probably THE most important 12 Large: Summit tournament match left in the series with Sara Del Rey matching up against Mike Quackenbush in what will likely determine the Block A points leader. Del Rey is on such a roll right now and I think at the end of the night THIS will be the match everyone is buzzing about. Good on CHIKARA for not treating these relatively new venues as B-show markets and instead giving them an A-game.
