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Column of Honor: 12.31.11: Final Column 2011—ROH Yearbook Part One

December 31, 2011 | Posted by Ari Berenstein

Hello everyone and for the final time this year, let me say Welcome to the Column. It’s time for the now-annual Column of Honor tradition known as Final Column, which is my year-in-review of everything Ring of Honor from 2011.

Last week was the final ROH show of the year, Final Battle 2011, which certainly garnered a bevy of comments, both positive and negative regarding the show, its booking, the main-event and the iPPV presentation. There is certainly much to comment about the show, but much of it will have to keep for now. I will say that though there are several valid criticisms of the show to make, there are some very important developments of which I am happy: one, Kevin Steen is back officially on the roster and ROH has a proper lead villain for the new year; two, Mike Bennett did NOT win the TV Title last week; three, Chris Hero returned to ROH, even if for one night and finally, the rejuvenated Briscoes unseated Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team for the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Those are fantastic Holiday presents to be sure.

This has been an interesting year overall for Ring of Honor. There was an abrupt crash from the highs of a fantastically booked 2010 in the promotion when their television contract with HDNet was not renewed. That set the stage for a major change in ROH history when Cary Silkin sold the promotion to Sinclair Broadcast Group, which regained them television exposure and also began a new era of corporate ownership. The promotion that had built itself from the ground up with the mantra of being “Fiercely Independent” was now no longer a true independent wrestling promotion, though those behind the scenes vowed to keep faithful the tone and aesthetic of ROH’s indy roots. In some respects, that has been true, in others, less so.

This year’s Final Column presents a yearbook format look back at the year in ROH news, champions and important moments. Thanks for reading and enjoy.

–Ari–

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Ring Toss

-Ring of Honor Yearbook:
Champions of 2011
Saying Hello and Goodbye to Wrestlers of 2011
ROH News Stories of 2011


Ring of Honor Yearbook: 2011

=ROH Call of Champions: 2011=

As of 12/31/11

ROH World Title

Roderick Strong (09/11/10 – 03/19/11)
Eddie Edwards (03/19/11 – 06/26/11)
Davey Richards (06/26/11 – Present)

Roderick Strong charged into the New Year having made a very tough but successful defense against Davey Richards. However, most fans and even the participants themselves expected that Richards would have another opportunity for the title soon enough. The difficult but successful defenses kept on coming with a bloody affair against Jay Briscoe and a tit-for-tat struggle against El Generico. Strong’s last major defense occurred at the Ninth Anniversary Show in a street fight against Homicide. He and manager Truth Martini had the opportunity to barricade all three of those men from having another title opportunity for the rest of his title run and in fact did so at Defy or Deny. However, Eddie Edwards was on the rise and upset Strong for the ROH World Title the next night at Manhattan Mayhem IV, cementing Edwards’ full blown success in his ROH career run. The triumph of the title win provided the pulse and rhythm for Edwards’ three-month string of defenses. Edwards strove harder, taking more punishment and dishing it out. He made it past Christopher Daniels, Chris Hero and a rematch against Strong before dropping the title to his own tag team partner Davey Richards, who finally reached the pinnacle of his ROH career after several major opportunities over the past twelve months and the knowledge that he had set this match as his last shot at the title. Richards became the face of the promotion, defending the title on TV and at house shows while also defending the belt on non-ROH independents and even in international defenses. Richards took on and defended against Strong, El Generico and once more against Eddie Edwards. The year concluded with Davey Richards still at the top of the mountain in ROH, having defended the title against his former tag team partner in an exhaustive battle but one where he demonstrated once again that he was the dominant wolf.

ROH World Tag Team Titles

The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) (04/03/10 – 04/11/11)
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin (04/11/11 – 12/23/11)
The Briscoes (12/23/11 – Present)

Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli set the record for longest World Tag Team Title reign at over a year long. The first few months of 2011 only held one major defense—that being against The All-Night Express at Ninth Anniversary Show where they used the Misawa elbow pad to help them retain. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin proved to have the KOW’s number with a non-title victory at So Cal Showdown II. They used the momentum from that victory and a definitive victory against The Briscoes at Ninth Anniversary Show to earn number-one contender’s status. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team became ROH’s Greatest Tag Team when they unseated Hero and Castagnoli at Honor Takes Center Stage: Chapter One in April. From there WGTT went on a similar run as the former champions, wrestling and taking on all comers over the course of the next eight months. Ironically, their first and last defense of the year was against The Briscoes, but they also wrestled and fought the rest and the best of the ROH tag team division, including a four-team elimination match in June for Best in the World 2011 that really started the bad blood between the two teams that played out through the rest of the year. There were retentions against El Generico & Colt Cabana in July, a rematch against the Kings that aired on the first episode of the new ROH television series in September, and then two competitive and solid defenses against The All-Night Express and Future Shock in November. However, Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team’s championship reign was cut short when The Briscoes unseated them at Final Battle 2011 in New York City after a brutal and bloody match that tested Dem Boys’ resolve and endurance. The Briscoes enter 2012 breaking their own record as ROH’s most successful tag team with their seventh championship win.

ROH World Television Title

Christopher Daniels (12/10/10 – 06/26/11)
El Generico (06/26/11 – 08/13/11)
Jay Lethal (08/13/11 – Present)

The situation with the TV Title division mirrored the health status of ROH’s television series. Daniels defended the TV Title several times against the former champion Eddie Edwards, including a two-out-of-three falls match on IPPV at the Ninth Anniversary Show that ended in a 1-1 draw. Daniels defended the title against Claudio Castagnoli and Mike Bennett and then kept the title even as the HDNet series died and the title was frozen as far as future defenses. The booking at least made an attempt to turn that situation into a positive as Daniels turned heel and “refused to defend” the title until there was worthy competition. Daniels held the strap from April through June without defending the belt though he took non-title losses to both Colt Cabana and El Generico. ROH announced the new television series operated and telecast through SBG stations in May and soon re-opened the TV Title division. Daniels defended against El Generico at Best in the World and lost the title on his way out of the promotion and back to TNA. Though the ROH fans rejoiced at the underdog El Generico coming through with ROH gold, no one including Generico was able to enjoy much of a run. It was a seemingly huge win for Generico, his first singles title in Ring of Honor. Unfortunately, El Generico lost the title on his first defense at the inaugural SBG TV tapings in Chicago back in August (the episode ran in late September). The match went to an overtime period after the initial fifteen-minute time period had elapsed, where Lethal unseated Generico with the big top-rope elbow drop.Jay Lethal defended the title on the TV series twice since—against Mike Bennett and El Generico. Both title fights went to a fifteen-minute draw. That led to a three-man elimination at Final Battle 2011, where Lethal proved at last that he could retain the title in a decisive manner. Though El Generico’s elimination was a matter of contention considering Mike Bennett held the trunks on the pinfall, Lethal was able to pin Bennett cleanly to win the match. El Generico may not be in a good position to stake a claim to a rematch after being destroyed by Kevin Steen at that event, but if Generico resurfaces he surely has grounds to challenge again.

=2011 Tournaments=

ROH on HDNet Top Prospect Tournament Winner: Mike Bennett

The eight-man tournament was the pen-ultimate hoorah for Ring of Honor on HDNet series, running multiple episodes throughout the months of January and February. Eight young talents competed to be named the best prospect for the future of the promotion, though from the very beginning most fans had it pegged as a program to push Mike Bennett. “The Prodigy” won the tournament, defeating Kyle O’Reilly in the finals. Before that, O’Reilly defeated Elgin and Bennett went over Andy Ridge in the Semi-Final Rounds. The Opening Round included O’Reilly over Jonathan Gresham, Elgin defeated Bobby Dempsey, Bennett over Adam Cole and Ridge went over Grizzly Redwood. “The Prodigy” was the “Top Prospect”, at least according to the booking plans.

Tag Team Lottery Tournament (Held: 07/08/11) Winners: Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly)

This year’s summer tournament was actually a four-man bracket featuring “randomly selected” teams. At stake: a future ROH World Tag Team Title match and $5,000 (in Monopoly money) for the winners. The series was held at Tag Team Turmoil July 8th in Richmond, Virginia. The Opening Round featured The Bravado Brothers sneaking a win over The Briscoes thanks to involvement from Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin. Meanwhile Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly bested Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander in a competitive match. Therefore the finals featured a blow-off of the mini-rivalry between Cole & O’Reilly and The Bravados, with the to-be-future-dubbed Future Shock smashing through Harlem and Lancelot to win the tournament. Eventually they received the title shot against Haas and Benjamin at the Gateway of Honor event in October, where they came up just short of the championship.

Survival of the Fittest 2011 (Held: 11/18/11) Winner: Michael Elgin

Fourteen wrestlers vied for the Survival of the Fittest tournament this year and the prize of a future ROH World Title Match, which took place in Dayton, Ohio just last month. The tournament format changed from the previous years to feature three singles matches, one tag team bracket with the winning team advancing and ROH’s fabled four-corner survival match with one man advancing out of that one. Last year’s winner Eddie Edwards knocked out Mike Bennett but failed in his bid to repeat when he was eliminated in the finals. Roderick Strong defeated Rhett Titus, Kyle O’Reilly tapped out Andy Ridge, The Briscoes got their win back over The Bravados from the Tag Lottery tournament and “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin broke through the four-man jam to make it to the finals. Elgin then survived the war between The House of Truth, The Briscoes and the fragile alliance between Eddie Edwards and Kyle O’Reilly. The final two was Elgin and O’Reilly in a reprise of the Top Prospect Semi-Finals, and this time Elgin was the winner.


=2011’s Honored Guests=

Hiroyo Matsumoto
Ayumi Kurihara
Dave Taylor
Rhino
Maria Kanellis
Chris Hero
Dan “The Beast” Severn

=In 2011 We Said Hello or Hello Again (However Briefly) To…=

TJ Perkins
Sereena Deeb
Delirious (in a wrestling capacity)
Caprice Coleman
The Cutler Brothers: Brandon & Dustin Cutler
Tommaso Ciampa
Barrister R.D. Evans
Princess Mia Yim
Devon Storm
Marker Dillinger
Mike Sterling
Jonathan Gresham
N8 Mattson
Rik Matrix
Jimmy Jacobs
Kevin Steen
Chase Owens
Jay Lethal
Alex Silva
Shiloh Jonze
Sampson
Raphael Constantine
Sean Casey
Chris Silvio
Jamin Olivencia
Jimmy Rave

=And in 2011 We Said Goodbye To…=

“The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels
Chris Hero
Claudio Castagnoli
Daizee Haze
Sara Del Rey
Colt Cabana

=2011 Dearly Departed=


“Sweet & Sour” Larry Sweeney


Bison Smith


=ROH’s Top News Stories of 2011=

The End of ROH on HDNet

The year for Ring of Honor began on a sour note after a fantastic 2010 that demonstrated tight and consistent booking throughout the year with their top matches and the high of a fantastic Final Battle 2010 event. Unfortunately, HDNet decided to pull the plug on the Ring of Honor television series after two years of hosting the show on their premium cable channel. Since HDNet doesn’t receive (or at least publically release) ratings figures, it’s unclear if audience viewership was the specific reason for ending the program, but at least some of the feeling was that the professional wrestling product never fully meshed with the MMA-oriented HDNet channel and that there wasn’t enough of a meeting between the two audience groups.

ROH ran its final HDNet television tapings on January 21st and 22nd at the New Alhambra / Asylum Arena in Philadelphia. It concluded the slate of scheduled episodes with a Top Prospect Tournament meant to put the focus on some of the promotion’s younger stars and also pushing the re-debut and long-term of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin and a mini-feud between Homicide and then-ROH World Champion Roderick Strong for Ninth Anniversary Show. Some of these shows were lame duck, but the wrestlers still put good effort into their matches, especially the likes of Kyle O’Reilly, Michael Elgin and The All-Night Express, who all bloomed appreciably with the extra attention they received during this timeframe.

The final episode ran on March 14th, 2011 and focused on just one final match, a fantastic six-man tag bout between ROH World Champion Roderick Strong and the ROH World Tag Team Champion The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) wrestling against Davey Richards and The Briscoes. It was six of ROH’s top stars who had been featured prominently throughout the previous two years producing a fitting swan song with an action-heavy ROH style match. The final episode also featured several great highlight packages, both about the wrestlers themselves and about the highlights from the entire HDNet series.

It was a classy final episode and overall the end to the series was handled amicably enough by both Ring of Honor and HDNet. However, losing television of any kind was a considerable set-back for the promotion. ROH would have to deal with promoting their house shows and iPPVs without the benefit of television commercials, at least for a time. They also froze the TV Title division from March through June with Christopher Daniels as the current champion not making any defenses. That made sense considering the TV Title wasn’t going to be worth much if there was no television based upon which it could be featured. That situation would eventually change.

Ring of Honor continued to produce and sell its Best-Of ROH on HDNet DVD compilations throughout the rest of the year. Volume 6 presented the entire TV Title tournament (with Edwards vs. Richards in the finals), Volume 7 featuring the Kevin Steen & Steve Corino vs. El Generico & Colt Cabana Anything Goes Match, Volume 8 with The American Wolves vs. The Super Smash Brothers and Volume 9 being a packed DVD with some of the best matches from the Fall 2010 season including the final Tyler Black TV match against Davey Richards and Steen & Corino vs. Generico & Cabana in a steel cage match.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Purchases Ring of Honor from Cary Silkin

The major announcement that Cary Silkin had sold one-hundred percent ownership of Ring of Honor to Sinclair Broadcast Group happened at the beginning of Supercard of Honor VI on May 21st, 2011. In truth, negotiations had been ongoing for months and began as a result of introductions by Jim Cornette between Silkin and Sinclair executive Joe Koff.

Cary Silkin had owned at least part of ROH since 2004 and had helped to save the promotion from several crucial moments where they were in danger of closing down. Silkin had put in a lot of money over the years, but this new deal helped him to recoup his investment and insured that ROH could continue as an active wrestling promotion for the foreseeable future.

The final agreement was a culmination of a deal that would bring an end to ROH’s classification as strictly an independent wrestling promotion. ROH was now under corporate ownership, a property of a national media company that owned television networks and syndicated stations. Jim Cornette was named the Executive Producer and Hunter “Delirious” Johnson remained on as booker. Cary Silkin moved into position of “ROH Ambassador”, a sort of goodwill position for him during the transition period and a way to keep him a part of the spirit of the promotion.

Despite the new corporate ownership, ROH officials old and new promised that the in-ring wrestling action and overall tone and aesthetic of the programming would not change and remain faithful to what longtime ROH fans had come to know and appreciate about the product. They didn’t want to make the promotion into WWE, they said, simply take what they liked and what worked about ROH as it was and bring it to a larger audience. Obviously there were some changes to the product and the roster list since then, but for the most part that claim has borne out to be mostly the truth.

SBG had access to 22% of the nation’s television station when the announcement was first made and now it is slightly more than that having added upwards of ten additional stations during the rest of the year. It was presumed that ROH would be televised on most if not all of these markets, so that was a promising statistic, or at least better than their exposure level on HDNet. These stations were mostly in the mid-level markets located in Northeast and Mid-South region of the country. There were no major television markets like New York City or Los Angeles.

To help add to viewership ROH offered its television show through its website in a two-tiered subscription service: a free general-membership where the TV show would air on Thursdays and a paid premium-subscription service where fans could catch the show on Mondays and also receive additional perks such as video on demand of matches and complete shows and discounts on merchandise.

The new SBG-owned Ring of Honor began to re-sign many of its core talents to new contracts, including locking in their champions–Davey Richards, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin and Jay Lethal, who had just come over from TNA a few months earlier. Surprisingly not added to the roster were the likes of Colt Cabana and Sara Del Rey, mainstays of the promotion over the past few years. Some of these changes became points of criticism for those who did not agree with the decisions being made by this new ownership.

Something to look out for will be ROH’s relationships with independent promotions now that it is no longer independent. There was a criticism of the new SBG ownership by independent wrestling company levied by Mid-West independent professional wrestling promotion All-American Pro Wrestling and its owner / booker Kevin Harvey. That promotion wanted to use Davey Richards on its television tapings and had cleared the date long in advance. However, when the new ownership took over ROH they prohibited Richards from fulfilling the booking, something which even took Richards by surprise. On the other hand ROH and SBG have done business with other independent wrestling promotions this year, including having Richards wrestle for them and defend the ROH World Title without a problem.

The New ROH Television Series

The ROH television series had its first television tapings in Chicago Ridge, Illinois on August 13th, 2011 and immediately was made newsworthy with TV Title change to be shown on the second week of the series. ROH has since hosted television tapings in Louisville, Kentucky at the Danny Davis Arena, which is the headquarters of Ohio Valley Wrestling and Jim Cornette’s stomping grounds (ROH also had previously hosted a slate of HDNet episodes at this arena in late 2010). ROH brought their TV cameras to their Carolina swing in December and will showcase the ROH record-setting eighty-minute eight-man elimination tag match in an abbreviated format on an upcoming episode in early January 2012.

As for the show itself, there have been mixed reviews of the first episodes much like there was for the beginnings of the HDNet series. The format of the show is sensible enough, with a focus on only a few matches and then newsmagazine packages helping to add depth to the wrestlers, their personalities and their conflicts with others on the roster. There was also a very effective use of sit-down interviews, more in line with the kind of promos conducted with Davey Richards in 2010 and borrowing in style and tone from UFC’s pre-fight interviews that air on their Pay Per View events.

On the other hand, video production quality was not good and even at the levels of the HDNet series. Heck it wasn’t even at levels of their DVD products. The show’s camera work and lighting issues made some of the early episodes very difficult to watch and at the least certainly would not make a good first impression with any new viewers. In addition to the consistent white-lighting issues found on many ROH DVDs over the years there was grainy footage, bad camera angles and awkward crowd shots interspersed with the wrestling action. For what it is worth, the in-studio segments like “Inside ROH” and the stand-alone promos were of far better video quality, but that only made the contrast between those segments and the in-ring segments more apparent. Perhaps this kind of output was understandable during the early years of the promotion and fans could be sympathetic to an independent company working hard to iron out the kinks in their presentation. However, ROH was now a corporate company, but moreover, owned by a TELEVISION and MEDIA company. Sinclair Broadcast Group simply should have known better and been better, but that is not what happened.

Due credit where it is deserved, however, the last three episodes of new Ring of Honor television content that aired (on 12/3, 12/10 and 12/17) have finally shown some improvements in image stabilization, contrast stability and a decrease in white lighting issues and bad camera work, but certainly these adjustments were far too late in happening.

There were also some unflattering goofs in presentation across syndicated markets in the opening weeks of the series. Some stations aired the second episode instead of the first and there were similar incidents reported in the following week of some shows being replayed instead of airing new episodes. Right now those issues seem to have been ironed out.

Kevin Kelly was brought in to be the main play-by-play and overall host of the television program. In a pleasant surprise, former ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness was hired to work as color commentator (this after disappearing from TNA television for over a year due to unspecified health issues). Both men worked well in their roles and have established a good rapport, placing emphasis on the wrestlers and the action going on in the ring.

ROH also continued to place the focus on what they do best in the ring-their main-event matches have been consistently good-to-very good given television time considerations. ROH also highlighted the most important rivalries and stories of the year (such as Richards / Edwards, WGTT / Briscoes and the exile and return of Kevin Steen) while also pushing their younger and more promising talents such as Future Shock, The All-Night Express and The Young Bucks. Indeed, the tag team division and its deep roster of teams have been given a very effective emphasis and remains a calling card of the promotion.

The one negative of the in-ring product has been the usage of OVW talent on the shows, not so much their presence by how they are used. What are supposed to be squash matches for the established ROH talent are actually presented as far more even contests to the detriment of the regularly appearing members of the core roster that go on house show loops and appear on iPPVs. An example of this would be a recent TJ Perkins vs. Chris Silvio match that featured Silvio going 50-50 with Perkins, even though he does not appear on DVDs or house shows. The OVW favoritism could be an issue going forward, because while there are a few very good talents on that roster, they are not legitimized in ROH and are taking up airtime that could otherwise go more towards the benefit of core ROH roster members.

Though no official ratings have been published for these shows, unofficially the word is that these shows are doing solid numbers, especially for their timeframes. ROH runs at many different times across the multiple markets. That is a cost of doing business with syndicated stations and something ROH and its fans will have to contend in the coming years.

All Hail The Kings—Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli Sign with WWE

Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli—collectively known as The Kings of Wrestling—had been the subject of rumors throughout the last several years that one or both of them would sign with WWE. Castagnoli actually had signed a contract at one point in 2006, but was let go before any major progress happened and returned to the independent scene for the next several years. When Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness were signed to WWE in 2009 (McGuiness was later let go due to not clearing physicals), rumors spread about them also trying to sign many other ROH talents such as Chris Hero and The Briscoe Brothers (whom actually did end up doing a WWE try-out around that timeframe). However, Hero and Claudio signed contracts with Ring of Honor during the HDNet era, and their commitment to the promotion was obviously rewarded by being one of the featured acts of that era and holding onto the ROH World Tag Team Titles for a record year-long run. They both had worked hard and risen through the ranks and earned those spots.

Well, finally the time had arrived for Hero and Castagnoli to make the next big move, the ones the likes of Danielson (now Daniel Bryan), Punk, Matt Sydal (now Evan Bourne) and even Tyler Black (now Seth Rollins) had made before them. Word about them leaving ROH for WWE spread in the late Spring and they seemed to be closing up shop on their runs not just in that promotion but with their involvement in other major United States independents such as PWG (where Hero had been featured and Castagnoli had been their major champion throughout the first half of 2011) and CHIKARA (where Castagnoli led the BDK-stable that was a major force in the promotion since the beginning of 2010).

Both Hero and Castagnoli wrestled their last match for ROH at the first Sinclair Broadcast Group television tapings on August 13th, 2011, putting over Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin in the main-event as their final bow. However, weeks went by without word about either man officially joining WWE or even debuting for their developmental league in Florida. The word was that their medical tests and other paperwork were taking awhile to get through. Finally, Claudio Castagnoli signed with the promotion on September 16th and the next night made his debut in Florida Championship Wrestling under the name “Antonio Cesaro”, essentially doing his Very European gimmick with a different name.

The weeks have passed since and Chris Hero has yet to make his debut for WWE through FCW. In the meantime Hero made several appearances on other independents such as the Wrestling Retribution Project series, local independents in Florida and even a one-off return to PWG on December 10th in a match against Willie Mack. Then amazingly, Chris Hero did make a return to Ring of Honor at Final Battle 2011, accepting the open challenge to wrestle Roderick Strong. It was his first-ever match in ROH as in the babyface, but an excellent occasion for it. It is unclear whether these is a one-shot deal or if Hero will be back for more appearances, but reports are that he is hoping to compete still in WWE and will be taking medical tests in January 2012 to see if he can do so.

The Kings of Wrestling were two of the most successful and talented wrestlers to appear for Ring of Honor in the history of the promotion. Their work, both in singles and together as a tag team, provided a lot of the backbone to many ROH shows throughout the last several years. Hero’s personality and ring work shined as “That Young Knockout Kid”, while Claudio’s used his size and strength factors beautifully in the ring while consistently improving his promos. The “Very European” gimmick was awkward at first but under The Kings team it very quickly smoothed out and became a pleasure to see him bring that out in his attitude and subtle character tidbits (like holding coffee and wearing scarves). ROH definitely felt the void of their absence in the short term and could still use them now (in the singles division really, as fortunately ROH had re-solidified the tag division by the end of 2011), but they have moved on to a new stage in their careers and hopefully they will achieve much success there.

The Women of Honor Restored in ROH…Oh Wait, No They Aren’t

Over the years Ring of Honor has not been immune to the “start-stop” push syndrome that occurs in the mainstream companies. The use of women and having some sort of women’s division has been uneven and inconsistent over the years, which is unfortunate given the access they had and still have to an incredible amount of talented female wrestlers on the independent scene (especially when they had a strong connection to Dave Prazak’s SHIMMER Women’s Athletes promotion). It seemed that at the end of 2010 that women would once again have the opportunity to have a stronger presence in the company, but that initial surge would not last.

Daizee Haze was put in charge of rebuilding a women’s division and giving it a proper place as an additional attraction for the promotion. Events began well enough with a very good match at Final Battle 2010 featuring her teaming up the returning Amazing Kong (just weeks before she would be signed by WWE) to wrestle against Sereena Deeb (just a little while removed from her stint in WWE) and Sara Del Rey. Then MsChif and Sara Del Rey had a mini-program on HDNet which built up to a match at Ninth Anniversary Show. That match was a warning sign in that two talented wrestlers such as them who had received plenty of time in the past were only given four minutes of internet Pay Per View time.

ROH rebounded well by bringing in incredible Joshi talents Ayumi Kurihara, Tomoka Nakagawa and Hiroyo Matsumto for their Wrestlemania weekend shows in Atlanta. They matched up in tag matches, first Kurihara and Matsumoto teaming up to wrestle Del Rey and Deeb at Honor Takes Center Stage: Chapter One and then the next night challenging Haze and Nakagawa. Both matches delivered and compared well to the other matches on the card. It was clear that the women had proved once again that they had a place on ROH shows alongside the men, wrestling competitive matches focusing on the sport and the athletic prowess they possessed. ROH was doing what WWE refused to do-let the women wrestle and wrestle well.

And then they didn’t. There hasn’t been a women’s match in Ring of Honor since Honor Takes Center Stage: Chapter Two in April.

By the end of 2011 there is almost no female presence in the promotion, especially regarding wrestling matches and active competition. There are the infrequent appearances of Princes Mia Yim as an accompaniment to Prince Nana, the one appearance by Maria Kanellis at Final Battle 2011 and maybe Veda Scott (an ROH student who works as the timekeeper at ringside) if one really wants to stretch the count. Sara Del Rey was dropped from the active roster when Hero and Castagnoli left in August. Daizee Haze has taken time off from wrestling. MsChif hasn’t been back in ROH since February. There is no women’s division or any participants in ROH for the first time in the promotion’s ten-year history.

Many Happy Returns—2011 (Jimmy Jacobs, The Young Bucks, Jay Lethal, Jimmy Rave)

There are many comings and goings in the world of professional wrestling so it is no surprises that once again some wrestlers such as The Kings of Wrestling left ROH while others made their way back to the promotion after some absence. Christopher Daniels and Homicide were the major returns of 2010, but both of those wrestlers had either departed or drawn down their bookings by the middle of the year. However, the mid-year also showcased the return of four ROH alumni: Jimmy Jacobs, Jay Lethal and Matt and Nick Jackson (collectively known as The Young Bucks).

Jimmy Jacobs’s initial tenure in Ring of Honor lasted from 2004 through 2009. During that time Jacobs’ character changed from a loveable Bruiser Brody-inspired plucky babyface to a nihilistic and nearly insane revolutionary as the leader of The Age of the Fall, a group bent on changing what he viewed as the dysfunctional society around him. His most famous angle was a three-year love story with his manager Lacey, whom at first merely used him for her own agenda and then slowly fell in love with him. His memorable feuds were his initial rivalry against Alex Shelley, blood feuds against Colt Cabana and former tag team partner BJ Whitmer and a feud against his former Age of the Fall partner Tyler Black that was his final bow before exiting ROH in 2009.

Jacobs resurfaced in Dragon Gate USA in 2010 beginning with a series of videos explaining his personal problems of addiction and his road to rehab and recovery. He had a brief stint in the promotion where he played a babyface gimmick of a man who had matured and learned from his mistakes and was looking to do right in his life again. However, before he could really get on a road to the DGUSA Title, Jacobs departed the promotion and reappeared in Ring of Honor, using the babyface persona from that promotion as the basis for a redemption angle in ROH.

Jacobs was brought into ROH in May 2010’s Supercard of Honor VI as the sponsor for Steve Corino’s own redemption road. Corino was an evil man looking to change his ways, and he went to Jacobs for help because he was someone who knew he was also evil and had begun to change his ways. The angle was that initially, ROH officials were hesitant to allow Jacobs to stay and to support Corino because of his chaotic past with the promotion. However, after some persuasive and passionate reasoning from Corino, ROH officials did agree to let Jacobs back into the promotion as Corino’s support system. Jacobs was used mainly in this “managerial” (i.e. non-wrestling) role for much of the rest of the year, though he did see some action in the ring. He lost his first match back against Mike Bennett for the August ROH TV tapings, went to a no-contest with El Generico at Death Before Dishonor IX after the break-in by Kevin Steen. He did earn a victory teaming with Corino against The Bravado Brothers in October at Gateway of Honor in Collinsville, Illinois, while another of his matches (against Tommaso Ciampa) went to a no-contest thanks again to Kevin Steen’s presence.

The Young Bucks of Matt and Nick Jackson were the fastest-rising independent tag team of the West Coast from 2008-2009 thanks to their hot act of seamless tag team combinations and electric high-flying in matches for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. That success spurred on bookings in ROH throughout 2009. They were already hated heels in PWG when they made their way to ROH in 2009. The West Coast fans had begun to turn on them for their arrogance and seeming overreliance on flying moves (a sentiment which allowed them to manipulate successfully the fans in Reseda for major heel heat), but the East Coast fans had not seen their act yet. When they did, The Bucks became massively over in a short amount of time in ROH. They wrestled a series of matches against The Briscoes (who were still faces and very much beloved at that point) and not only kept the fans’ cheers and attention but were able to win that series against the more established tag team. They also wrestled a series of matches against Kevin Steen and El Generico during this time, losing the first two bouts before coming back and winning the third at Final Battle 2009 where famously Kevin Steen turned on his own partner. The Bucks were also featured on some of the early ROH on HDNet television shows including two spectacular matches against The American Wolves that put the exclamation point on both teams’ immense talents and the hot tag division that was spreading its wings in the company.

The Young Bucks’ success on the independents garnered them the attention of TNA Wrestling and it wasn’t long before they had signed contracts with them, though they were still allowed to work with PWG and did take the occasional special attraction booking for ROH on some house shows in 2010. They entered TNA in early 2010 as “Generation Me” with the in-ring names of Max and Jeremy Buck. They earned an upset win against the established tag team of The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) almost immediately upon their debut. However, Gen Me once the attention span of the bookers wore off sort of languished in the background of the tag division. It came out that they were signed to incredibly low contracts and when time came to renew, The Bucks wanted more money. They did not get more money, so they left to return back to the independent scene.

A try-out with WWE soon became notorious for Matt and Nick Jackson. Booker T made a comment publically about how he felt disrespected by the Bucks for not shaking his hand when they did the dark match at the WWE TV tapings. That report was a follow-up to an interview by Rob Van Dam that commented about how he felt certain unnamed individuals who had just left had not come up to him for advice or given him the proper respect. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that RVD was talking about The Young Bucks, but it didn’t take a brain surgeon to know that Booker T and RVD were best friends either. So The Bucks’ found themselves embroiled in controversy and a debate about what it means to shake hands backstage in WWE and paying respect.

Luckily enough, that story would serve as the impetus for their heel turn in ROH. The fans were very happy to see them make new appearances for the promotion, beginning in June with a Best in the World pre-show attraction—because they were still under TNA contract at the time and prohibited from appearing on the competitors’ Pay Per View products. They were also super over for their official return to the promotion at Death Before Dishonor IX in September. However, The Bucks went heel after an angle where The Bucks won the match and refused to shake hands with their opponents Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole. The disrespect of the Code of Honor and their superiority complex places them at the end of 2011 as quickly rising antagonists in the tag team division. They earned a tag team title match and “put out” the injured Rhett Titus (who needed surgery for a torn meniscus), setting the stage for a possible Bucks-ANX feud somewhere down the line when and if Titus returns to action. It is a heel act that worked so effectively in PWG and now is fresh and new to ROH’s main set of fans.

Jay Lethal, like the Jackson brothers, also had his own issues with TNA and their treatment of him under the Hulk Hogan / Eric Bischoff regime especially at the end of his run there. He had been the recipient of several start-stop pushes during his tenure there began in 2006, including a great win against Kurt Angle that was never followed up on. Then under the Hogan-Bischoff regime Lethal was booked in a fantastic and entertaining feud against Ric Flair, including winning a match against the legendary “Nature Boy”-which is no small thing even nowadays. However, once again TNA did not follow up on that win with a larger push and let Lethal fade away into obscurity. It was time for him to leave TNA and so he did, jumping to Ring of Honor in the summer.

Lethal’s decision to rejoin ROH paid immediate dividends for his career, as he won the TV Title in only his second match with his promotion. He has been given a huge platform to demonstrate his talents on television and represent the spirit and exuberance of many of the young and athletic wrestlers on the roster.

Jimmy Rave was a young, clean-cut, white-meat babyface back in late 2002 / early 2003, put in the underdog position and rarely was a winner. AJ Styles, who was one of ROH’s top stars of that era, took him under wing and encouraged Rave to become more aggressive and develop a killer instinct. That plan backfired, as when Rave was “dropped from the roster” and “fired” (in storyline) from ROH for losing too many matches, he resurfaced soon after as a member of Prince Nana’s Embassy stable. He was ruthless, vile and somewhat sadistic in his actions in the ring, which resulted in a turnaround of his results and pleased Nana greatly.

Rave became his Crown Jewel of The Embassy and the point-man for Nana’s agenda in ROH, all the while enjoying the high life and taking the Prince’s money and dining on shrimp cocktail while riding in limousines. He did battle with the likes of his former mentor AJ Styles (when Styles was allowed by TNA to return to Ring of Honor for a slate of bookings throughout 2005 and 2006), became embroiled in a blood feud against CM Punk and then a stable war against Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and the rest of Generation Next.

The high life was temporarily ended in 2007, as Jimmy Rave left the company as a result of disagreements with the bosses in ROH, especially concerning being covered for injuries suffered while working for the promotion. Rave did resurface to become a part of a reformed Embassy stable from 2008 through 2009. However, while his in-ring skills were sharp, that angle fizzled as he was placed in endless matches against the same opponents such as Necro Butcher. Angles involving The Embassy would only become more redundant and boring following Rave’s departure (after losing a Dog Collar Match to Necro at The Final Countdown Tour: Chicago).

Jimmy Rave landed in TNA, most notably wrestling as part of The Rock & Roll Infection tag team with Lance Rock (a.k.a. Lance Hoyt). During this time he would battle through drug addiction and has seemingly made it past that troubling time. He returned to ROH at Final Battle 2011, but this time as opposition to The Embassy and not as a member. He challenged the currently undefeated Tommaso Ciampa and ultimately lost after giving a great effort. Nana tempted Rave with his old Crown Jewel robe (and most likely, a position in The Embassy), but Rave rejected the offer, violently grabbing Nana. It was enough distraction to allow Ciampa to regain control and win. Then Nana gave Ciampa that same robe. Ciampa put it on, in a symbolic visual gesture that suggests that he has become The New Crown Jewel. As for Rave, the future for him in ROH for 2012, like that of Chris Hero’s (see above) remains to be seen.


Final Column 2011 continues onward with the ROH Yearbook in PART TWO. Still to come: the storylines and grudges of the year, the funniest and strangest moments, the best promos and vignettes, the best DVD covers of the year and more!

–Ari–

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Ari Berenstein