wrestling / Columns
Column of Honor: 01.14.12: Continuing the Conversation about Chair Shots
Well then, last week’s column about chair shots and concussions certainly generated some responses, so I figured this week I’d dip back into the subject to deal with some of the feedback. Welcome to the Column.
First off, I thought that I should clarify what I was trying to do in last week’s column. I was not attempting to advocate for chair shots to the head in any wrestling matches, nor was I coming to the defense of Ring of Honor wrestling for their usage of the chair shot for what now appears to be an ongoing angle involving The Briscoes and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team. The purpose of last week’s column was to have an examination of the events that happened as a result of the chair shot incidents at Final Battle 2011 and to examine both sides of the fall-out. On one side of the issue were those who were attempting to rationalize or explain the usage of chair shots and on the other were those who were upset and angry over their usage in the first place.
The one opinion I did express as it regards using weapons and going to “extremes” in wrestling matches was that it would be understandable to use those measures in a situations where it seemed warranted—either via a long held grudge feud or a feud-ending situation. Ring of Honor has a long history of going to those measures in their blood feuds—including Homicide / Steve Corino, Jimmy Jacobs / BJ Whitmer and the ROH / CZW wars. So in all reality it should not come as a surprise for some fans to see big weapons spots, table smashing or title belts used as weapons as was done in the Corino / Steen and Briscoes / Haas& Benjamin matches this past December in New York City. There is a ton of precedent for that kind of extreme action in ROH history and in many other promotions, even in WWE. The usage of weapons is symptomatic of the stories being told in the ring—and when the story is that bitter enemies are squaring off in a frenzy to settle the score—all bets are off.
Further, compare the usage of weapons and stipulations matches in 2011 Ring of Honor to the early years, particularly 2002, when ROH was booking garbage and hardcore matches on every show. The likes of The Carnage Crew and The Natural Born Sinners would bloody and brutalize each other with trash cans, tables, chairs and other weapons. It was an evocation of what was then the only recently dearly departed memory of ECW. Nowadays, Ring of Honor keeps the street fights and blood feuds for when they are needed and not booked on every show.
For example, let’s take a look at the El Generico-Kevin Steen rivalry. It began at Final Battle 2009 with a brutal chair shot to the head. It was a shocking moment that stood out from anything else that happened on that night. It was also the moment that set the tone for the next whole year for those two wrestlers. Their entire feud was defined by Steen’s act of betrayal and his chair shot to the head. Therefore it was only natural that when the big blow-off match between the two happened the next year at Final Battle 2010 that it should also end with a chair shot, this time delivered by El Generico (although on replay one can see that the chair didn’t so much as land on the head, but rather rolled off mostly to the shoulder). One chair shot began the story and one chair shot ended it.
I should add that I don’t think chair shots or other usages of weapons or any stipulation matches work well if they become mundane—that is, if they happen with every match, every angle or on every show. That is why I am not too comfortable with what I have read about the continued inclusion of the chair shot angle in the Briscoes-Haas& Benjamin feud as it regards the events that were taped for television. On the other hand, I was not in Baltimore for the tapings and I can’t judge the segment fairly until I do see it. However, there is a right time and a right place for events like table breaks and cage matches and even chair shots—though not once in that article did I state that chair shots to the head are acceptable and I did not advocate for their usage.
First and foremost—and I think most would agree with me on this—should be the focus on wrestlers’ safety. In this day and need of frequent bumping, high-impact moves and fast paced actions, the wrestlers need to look out for themselves and for each other. I think it would be patronizing not to assume that is happening behind the scenes.
However, once in a while there needs to be a reminder or a check by the fans so that one doesn’t go too far. Perhaps this latest outpour of reaction from those responding to the Final Battle 2011 matches is one of those moments. I think the days where fans actively want to see Jeff Hardy-like stunts such as jumping off the top of Titantrons or huge ladders may be lessening. Obviously there is a great reaction to them when they happen, but they are not happening as often as they were back in the early 2000’s—and that’s a good thing. It saves the big bumps for when they are truly needed and minimizes the risks inherent in those stunts. If fans tell the promoters that such spots are not what they are looking for in wrestling, well, that kind of feedback should be listened to and taken into consideration.
=*****=
Okay, time for an alternate viewpoint. The following is a lengthy and insightful email I received from Ryan Ro, who had trained to become a professional wrestler and explains taking bumps and chair shots from that perspective, along with getting into some of his concerns about how modern wrestling matches and selling of moves are done by some of the current wrestlers on the independent scene:
On the whole issue, I know one thing that bothers me about indys in general and ROH over the past couple years (I haven’t really followed it heavily since Dragon lost the belt, to be honest) is things like just overkill on moves, chairshots, etc. I know the Briscoes have their fans, and I don’t want to say anything to crap over your love of ROH, but I can’t handle guys like them. Finisher after finisher and a million kickouts. Drives me nuts. I actually had been getting into their TV show but I do not like the Bucks or Briscoes and that’s now the title program, so it’s like… ugh. Anyways. The chairshot thing especially, it REALLY bothers me on the indies. WWE does many things I don’t like to be ‘corporate’ and sanitized, but banning chairshots to the head doesn’t bother me at all. But like you pointed out HHH vs Taker, those guys were huge vets, doing it ONCE for major impact… and they got paid very, very, VERY well to do it. Indy guys doing it for peanuts, with no healthcare, no real back-up for fallout…
There is risk in doing wrestling, period, There is always a chance you will get injured and be unable to wrestle (to support yourself & family), or unable to work your regular job (to support yourself & family). But you need to minimize those risks. Mick Foley mentions several times in his writing the risks he used to take for $50 in front of 30 fans, and he wouldn’t do that (at the time when he was working) now in front of 15,000. Foley worked hard, caught some breaks, and is also awesome. But he could have ended up in a very bad place, and even then his career ended very early and he only had a couple years making really good money. Most indy wrestlers won’t even sniff his WCW six figures (pre-expenses, tax, etc). Minimize those risks.
But it’s a problem with indy wrestling in general. Hit a lot of moves, do a bunch of spots, do a bunch of EVERYTHING to try to get a reaction as opposed to telling a story. Again, there are two extremes and sometimes the WWE line of “tell a story” seems to be a cop-out on doing a boring match. But I’m tired of seeing a bunch of generic interchangeable guys do a bunch of stuff to each other and maybe or maybe not sell, or hit each other really really really hard with chops and kicks to get “oohs” from a crowd instead of working. I’m burned out, and it’s most frustrating to me because you’ve got books like Foley’s, Hart’s, Jericho’s. You’ve got all these great, experienced minds making available the benefits and knowledge that comes from experience for free and yet nobody seems to take it. It actually stuns me that Jim Cornette, a man who loves and breathes wrestling and more than anybody else GETS how to book an angle, seems to have been unable to make some of these changes to ROH. Maybe that’s unfair, it may be a slow process. And unfortunately Corny can’t go out there and wrestle the matches for these guys. I’m spoiled. I remember the Homicide angle at DBDIV and how amazing the entire match was, from Bryan’s turn to Kingston’s appearance to Cide coming out to the post-match angle and beatdown. God. That was brilliant.
I’m just a guy who has loved wrestling his entire life, and spent a couple years trying to pursue that passion. My training was okay, with some gaps, some problems, and I am not necessarily a tremendous natural athlete. It was difficult for me. But none of that forced me out. I never hurt myself doing a normal back bump. I got winded. Big deal. I took some hard chops, solid kicks to the back that didn’t hurt or injure me but stunned me, forearm shots, did hundreds of squats. I won’t pretend my training was anywhere near as insane as guys did 20 years ago, but it was still hard. I didn’t even quit on my first injury, but there was a situation where things got out of control, and a person who should have been protecting me pretty well shot on me with a drop toe-hold going nearly Japan-level speed. I instinctively shot my arm out to brace my fall and it wrenched out of the socket. I refused to rush back, rehabbed it hard, got back to almost 100%, and then three days back into training almost tore my rotator cuff on another simple move.
If I had had a job I could have still done injured, I probably would have kept going. But I wait tables. I need my arms. It hurt my family when I had to take the time off, when I went back but could only work short shifts because of the fatigue and limited use of my arm. I had long hair then (wrrrrrestling). I couldn’t even tie it back on my own for a month. I look at it all, and for me, said wrestling wasn’t worth it. It was a great experience. I would never trade it. Were I younger, were certain things different, maybe I kept going. I chose to walk away, proud of going for it, and happy to be around guys, and still able to come to the shows and help out with the ring, security, ring bell, whatever. Hell, I did my first angle AFTER quitting.
So I respect these guys for putting it all on the line, and I badly want them to be safe for themselves, and their families, and for the health of wrestling in general. I want it to be better because I love it. I want WWE to remember how awesome it can be, I want the indy guys to stop patting themselves on the back because they did a bunch of moves for ten minutes, and I want wrestling to make people money and get people interested in it. We’ve lost something and I fear we won’t get it back, and I don’t know where the industry will be in ten years. But I hope what we have isn’t going out of its way to justify stupidity.
The idea of overkill is actually very striking especially given the main-event of Final Battle 2011 between Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards and how most seemed to think there was just too much in that match. I think there is something to it. While I wrote above about Jeff Hardy and his extreme acts like jumping off of ladders, that hit a point of overkill and I believe that is happening in a similar manner to the “American Strong Style” done by Richards and Edwards. There is a point where only so much can be done in the ring and if it the effects of these killer moves are not being sold then it diminishes the overall effect. Moves will seem not to be as effective and that means the fans will start to care less and less about them happening because they do not result in any damage.
There is a great pleasure and visceral joy to watching these cool moves happen, but they start to lose their value after prolonged and repeated exposure—what is known as “The Pleasure Principle”. There is only so much that the human senses can experience and receive pleasure from before it goes numb. Richards vs. Edwards III was that kind of overkill for me. A simple but major improvement that could have been done in Edwards-Richards III would have been to sell the impact of these moves. Instead the two got up like rock-em sock-em robots, but it wasn’t the same without the drama of Richards’ title chase at Best in the World. They could have also cut down the length of the match. If that match had gone twenty-five minutes instead of forty-one then whatever action that happened wouldn’t have seemed as repetitive.
Ryan mentioned The Briscoes and The Young Bucks—though I believe The Briscoes have curtailed that kind of behavior over the past few years—”Crazy” Mark Briscoe isn’t so crazy these days with his flying moves. The Bucks sometimes reach that level with their fireworks style of launching flying moves and combos, but what keeps them from going into overkill is the heel act they have used in PWG and now in ROH that helps to curtail the pop they get from using these moves. They still receive a positive reaction for their impact and flying spots, but then they act all arrogant about it and the fans boo them for it because they don’t like that kind of behavior. That keeps the fans from going numb for their matches.
Ryan’s comments about chair shots in WWE (where wrestlers are paid more) versus the independents also adds on a fresh dimension to this debate—the monetary compensation. Not that money necessarily makes up for the risks, but Triple H and The Undertaker were certainly well compensated for their efforts at Wrestlemania 27 and they only did it once. Of course, there are also “bigger” stunts in WWE that incur such risks—remember John Cena being thrown through the searchlight by Big Show? I wonder if Cena received hazard pay for that one. Regardless, there is a definite difference in terms of the cost / benefit analysis regarding money when performing a big stunt in WWE as compared to the independent level—no doubt about that one.
On the other hand, Ryan is also right in saying that all of professional wrestling in and of itself has a certain amount of risk to it—using chair shots or not. His injury happened simply by taking a fall the wrong way. A lot of major injuries have happened through a simple misstep or miscommunication. So as much as there should be a response when seeing these major impacts like chair shots to the head, there should also be awareness in everyone’s head that serious injuries can occur at any time. That, I believe, was a part of the message that The Young Bucks were trying to get at in their Twitter messages.
Let’s table the conversation here before I get to sound too much like one of those WWE “Don’t Try This at Home” promos.
As of 01/14/11
=ROH World Champion=
Davey Richards
Champion since 06/26/2011 | 7* successful defenses
Best in the World 2011 defeated Eddie Edwards in New York, NY to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. Jay Lethal in Philadelphia, PA on 01/20/11.
–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.
–Davey Richards defeated Daga in Tulancingo, MEX on 10/15/11.
–Davey Richards defeated El Generico in Chicago Ridge, IL on 11/19/11.
— Davey Richards defeated Eddie Edwards in New York, NY on 12/23/11.
* 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=
The Briscoe Brothers: Jay & Mark Briscoe
Champions since 12/23/2011 | – successful defenses (NEW CHAMPIONS)
Final Battle 2011 defeated Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) in New York, NY to win the championship.
Next Defense TBA in Norfolk, VA on 1/21/12.
=ROH Television Champion=
Jay Lethal
Champion since 08/13/2011 | 4 successful defenses
Sinclair TV Tapings defeated El Generico in Chicago Ridge, IL to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. TBA
–Jay Lethal went to a time-limit draw with “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett in Louisville, KY on 10/01/11.
–Jay Lethal went to a time-limit draw with El Generico in Louisville, KY on 11/05/11.
–Jay Lethal defeated El Generico & “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett in New York, NY on 12/23/11.
–Jay Lethal defeated “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett in Baltimore, MA on 01/07/12.
=Proving Ground Contenders=
These wrestlers have earned a future title shot in the following ROH title divisions through the Proving Ground system.
World Title: None
World Tag Team Title: The All-Night Express (earned on SBG TV tapings, episode airing 12/10/11)
TV Title: Roderick Strong (earned on 11/19/11)
Jim Cornette Discussing ROH on FOX News TV
ROH Videowire: January 11th, 2012
-Results from the television tapings last week in Maryland are available here and for another take check out the Wrestling Observer.com report here.
It’s truly a surprise to see that Mike Bennett isn’t Television Champion after this weekend. I managed to look back at what I wrote before every one of his title matches and it was something along the lines of preparing for the inevitability of Bennett as champion. However, either writing that is a jinx (which I doubt) or Bennett truly isn’t long for a title run at this point in time. One would have to think that after losing multiple title matches that ROH would need to move on to a new contender for Jay Lethal.
I absolutely don’t mind the Wolves breaking up for good at this point but breaking up Future Shock was premature at best and a big mistake at worst. I felt they still had so much to offer in the tag division and their lifespan working together and the potential for what they could do in that time far outweighed the positives for them breaking up now and aligning with the respective Wolves members. I just hope that the angle goes that they both come to their senses, realize Edwards and Richards are lost in their own ego war and that they ARE better off together as a team after all, but I doubt that’s the direction here.
The banning of the piledriver angle, under the pretense of protecting wrestlers’ safety and from Steen is also ridiculous when at the same time they’re doing the chair shots to the head angle with the Briscoes and WGTT. Smart fans see right through that and they don’t put the heat on the wrestlers for it, they put the heat on the company. The piledriver being banned was hokey and unnecessary in 1985 and it is hokey and freaking annoying now. It would be like if ROH all of a sudden went back to WCW rules and said going over the top was a disqualification. Though I shouldn’t jinx things, because the way it’s going, that might as well be next.
Speaking of lame, these endless Monopoly money angles Cornette likes to use are getting on my nerves as well. We all know that the $5,000 fines and all that aren’t real. Please stop throwing it out there-no specifics about fines. It’s completely unnecessary and doesn’t add much of anything to the feuds and grudges between the wrestlers. Angles involving money on the line didn’t work for previous bookers either, aside from a very minor but humorous promo by Bryan Danielson back in 2007 when he said that he took the money his team won at Race to the Top and invested it in some mutual funds. Now, when a manager promises prospective clients the ability to earn lots of money, that’s a different story…but I’m sure Larry Sweeney wasn’t giving specifics like “$5,000” either.
On the plus side, Coleman and Alexander were reportedly very impressive in their tag match against Richards and O’Reilly (now known as “Team Ambition”—and is that ever a horrible name) and The Briscoes are officially on the face side of the Code of Honor ledger. Oh and Mike Bennett isn’t TV champion, did I mention that yet? However, from the Cole / O’Reilly break-up to the over usage of Mike Mondo to BABY POWDER being used a foreign object IN 2012 in the main-event, let’s just say I wasn’t thrilled after reading those TV tapings results.
-The 10th Anniversary Show on March 4th, 2012 back at The Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City is now officially an internet Pay Per View offered through Go Fight Live and will be sold at a discounted price of $9.99. The Wrestlemania weekend events entitled Showdown in the Sun were slated to be the next iPPV shows until this change. This will also now be the fourth internet Pay Per View show in a row to take place in New York City (Best in the World 2011, Death Before Dishonor IX and Final Battle 2011 are the others).
-Sinclair Broadcast Group signed new clearances this week that will bring exposure for ROH’s television show up to 25% of the United States. Here are the cities, stations and air times according to an ROH press release:
Salt Lake City, Utah
KUTV (CBS) began airing Ring of Honor on January 7th, 2012 – Saturdays 1:30am
KMYU (MYTV) began airing Ring of Honor on January 7th, 2012 – Saturday 9pm
Austin, Texas
KEYE (CBS) began airing Ring of Honor on January 7th, 2012 – Saturdays 12:30am
West Palm Beach, FL
WTCN (MYTV) began airing Ring of Honor on January 7th, 2012 Saturday 8-9pm
WTVX (CW) began airing Ring of Honor on January 7th, 2012 – Saturdays 11pm-12M
Medford, Oregon
KTVL (CBS) will air Ring of Honor starting on January 16th, 2012 – Saturdays 11:30pm
Grand Rapids, Michigan
WWMT (CBS) will air Ring of Honor starting on March 3rd, 2012 – Saturdays 12:30am.
WWMT.2 (CW) will air Ring of Honor starting on March 3rd. 2012 – Saturdays 11pm.
Lansing, Michigan
WLAJ (ABC) will start airing Ring of Honor on March 3rd, 2012 – Saturdays at 11pm.
WLAJ (CW 100+) will start airing Ring of Honor on March 2nd, 2012 – Fridays at 2am
As well, ROH will begin airing in Providence, Rhode Island on WLWC beginning February 4th.
-According to PWInsider.com, ” Company officials were happy with Saturday’s taping in Baltimore, at the Du Burns Arena. The tapings went off without issue and they had between 600-700 in attendance. The company will be holding the next few tapings at the same venue. Many of the Sinclair Broadcasting officials were at the taping to meet with some of the roster before the show. Word is that the Briscoe Brothers were the most requested talent that Sinclair representatives wanted to meet.”
-More matches have been announced for the January 20th/21st weekend in Philadelphia, PA and Norfolk, VA:
First, Chris Hero’s match in Philly has been announced. It will be Hero versus Survival of the Fittest 2011 winner Michael Elgin with Truth Martini. Hero vs. Elgin is a first-time match, as Hero is essentially in the babyface role right now for the short time he returns and before that wouldn’t have been put in a position in the last two years to wrestle Elgin. It should be a very good effort and I’d expect Hero to put over Elgin being as he is on the rise and has a ROH World Title match upcoming at some point in the near future (thus needs to be booked carefully to protect that role).
Hallowicked and Jigsaw will head up the CHIKARA team slated to wrestle The Briscoes in a non-title “Proving Ground” match on 1/20 in Philadelphia. Both have wrestled for ROH several times in the past. Hallowicked got over with the fans well back in his 2007 appearances and Jigsaw had a run in ROH as a member of The Vulture Squad with Jack Evans and Ruckus, where most notably he took off his mask and wrestled without it. He put it back on when he returned to CHIKARA. It was also mentioned in the news bit announcing this match that this is a “Day One” ROH team against two men who are “Day One” CHIKARA.
Steve Corino will also appear at “The Homecoming” for a promo explaining his future plans in ROH. I’d expect a visitation from Kevin Steen during that segment.
Speaking of Steen, his match at that show will be against Kenny King.
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team of Haas & Benjamin go up against the “Are-they-or-aren’t-they-broken up” tandem of Future Shock in Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly. I hate it that ROH pretends to the INTERNET audience reading these news announcements that this team isn’t broken up thanks to the events of the TV tapings, when many followers and fans already know the results of that show. It makes no sense whatsoever and in a way, irks me more than other kind of continuity issues ROH had in years past because this is a WILLING deception rather than the unavoidable inconveniences of time and medium that occurred in 2009 trying to juggle house shows, DVD releases, broadcast pay per views and the beginnings of a television series.
There will be a Four-Corner Survival with Tommaso Ciampa versus Mike Bennett versus Grizzly Redwood versus Andy Ridge.
Finally, Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards will once again wrestle against each other in Philadelphia under No Holds Barred rules. Look, I loved the Strong-Edwards series in 2011, but even I think this is starting to be overkill.
Norfolk, Virginia matches signed so far include Team Richards of ROH World Champion Davey Richards and Kyle O’Reilly against The House of Truth in Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin (look for the Richards-Elgin face-offs to tell the tale of their future title match), Eddie Edwards wrestles against Mike Bennett in what is being labeled as a Survival of the Fittest 2011 rematch, and Jay Lethal goes up against The Embassy’s Tommaso Ciampa in a non-title Proving Ground match, where if the undefeated Ciampa defeats the TV champion he will receive a TV Title bout within 90 days.
-It has been confirmed that ROH and CHIKARA will be running their April 28th, 2012 shows in Chicago Ridge at different times so as to allow fans to attend both shows. That is the smart decision, to be sure.
-A storyline point is that Barrister R.D. Evans has brought in new investors for Prince Nana’s Embassy group, with the purpose of helping Tomasso Ciampa become a superstar. To that end, The Embassy is now known as The Embassy Limited (as they are now, naturally, a limited investment company). The Embassy Limited sounds like a teenage girl’s clothing store you’d find at the local mall. Oh well. Look for follow-up angles where Evans pesters Nana about how he is spending the investors’ money (I bet it’s a $5,000 investment) and I’d imagine at some point fans will get to discover who exactly is a part of that investment group.
– Veda Scott—who has worked as time keeper on recent ROH shows—takes on the indomitable task of backstage interviewer. She joins the luminary list of alumni of the ROH backstage stick such as Sugar Shawn Price, Becky Bayless (a.k.a. Cookie in TNA) and Kyle Durden.
-Antonio Cesaro, a.k.a. Claudio Castagnoli, worked several WWE house shows this weekend, teaming with Michael McGuillicutty and wrestling against the team of Mason Ryan and Alex Reilly. Claudio did the job for Mason in these matches. Well, quite an auspicious way to start, but word is he did very well in his time in the ring and that’s a good thing to hear. Bringing in the top performing FCW guys like Cesaro, Rollins (f.k.a. Tyler Black), Ambrose (f.k.a. Jon Moxley) and others to work WWE house shows is a smart idea to give these wrestlers experience on a bigger stage without committing to a gimmick or angle on television. This strategy needs to continue with other wrestlers on the FCW roster who are ready for such a test.
-“Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown announced his retirement from in-ring professional wrestling action due to the nagging and painful consequences of injuries following a concussion he claims he suffered in Ring of Honor in 2009. Here is some of what he wrote about this subject:
Well dec 5th 2009 I wrestled for Ring of Honor in Chicago and I suffered the worst injury of my life. Do to some mistakes and misjudging, not on my part, I dove over the top rope and slammed the back of my head into the ground. This cause a concussion so severe that I had blood on the brain permanent short term memory loss Cluster headaches emotinal swings from depression to manic and many other post concussion syndrome issues.
After two years of taking it light and working back slow, I realize every time I get in the ring I’m a little bit more pain, the headaches come back and I regress with the healing of my brain.
This weekend after my match and waking up Sunday to nausea, spinal pain and stiffness as if i was in 10 car accidents, it’s time to call it a spade.
My career is over, not by choice, for survival, this hurts me more that almost anything in my life because wrestling was there when life was bad for me growing up a poor kid in a community where people don’t see a way out. It taught me right from wrong, good from evil and how to see through bullshit.
Brown was given a very healthy push in Ring of Honor during 2009 as a monster face big-man who could move around with speed and agility. His highest profile bouts were against The Embassy stable, but mostly he just destroyed guys in squash matches for the ROH on HDNet showcase. He was a friend of Adam Pearce, so Brown also decided to leave when Pearce was relieved of booking duties in late 2010. Since then his highest profile work was a short run in the fledgling Urban Wrestling Federation promotion, where he won their championship. Recently, he vacated the title as a result of disagreements with the promotion.
Brown was quickly becoming a favorite of mine during his time in ROH and I believed there was a ton of potential for him to grow into something special for the promotion. Hopefully he’ll be able to move on and find success and good health elsewhere.
-Maria Kanellis is being billed as “The First Lady of ROH”, first of all likely as a reference to Miss Elizabeth, who was known as “The First Lady of Professional Wrestling” during her time as a valet / manager for Randy “Macho Man” Savage. It’s also not the truth, as most ROH fans connect the first ladies of ROH back to the likes of Allison Danger (actually the first woman wrestler to appear on screen during ROH’s first show in 2002), Mickie James (who wrestled as Alexis Laree) or even Simply Luscious. It could be enough of a dig to bring Danger back for an angle with her, but that would be speculation and fantasy booking more than anything else. As it is, it’s just another example of the little white lies ROH is willing to tell in this new ownership era…but perhaps that’s a conversation best saved for another time.
Twitter me at: http://twitter.com/AriBerenstein.
-The Briscoes take 411Mania’s award for Best Tag Team of 2011 and Sara Del Rey earns Best Woman Wrestler of the Year in 411 Mania’s 2011 Year-End Awards.
-Mike Campbell goes on a YouShoot review, looking at Tony Atlas and what he has to say about his career.
-Ross Rutherford examines the Top 8 Chris Jericho Matches.
Thanks everyone for reading and for the comments. Until next time,
BROOKLYN!
DAH EM BAH SEE…LIMITED!
–Ari–
