Column of Honor: 12.09.06
Posted by Ari Berenstein on 12.09.2006
Do we have a new ROH World champion?
What's up y'all? Feeling good.
ROH Results: "The Chicago Spectacular" Night 1 12/08/2006 Matches
-Tank Tolland defeated Kikutaro.
-The Briscoe Brothers of Jay and Mark Briscoe defeated Irish Airborne of Jake Crist and Dave Crist.
-Homicide defeated Brent "The Shooter" Albright via DQ when Albright refused to break the Crowbar submission hold.
-BJ Whitmer defeated "M-Dogg 20" Matt Cross via pinfall in a four corner survival match that also included Christopher Daniels and Davey Richards. -Jimmy Rave defeated Nigel McGuinness via submission.
-Delirious and Ace Steel defeated Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn.
-Colt Cabana defeated Jimmy Jacobs via DQ when Lacey threw powder in Cabana's eyes.
-Austin Aries and Roderick Strong defeated Matt Sydal and SHINGO.
-ROH World Champion "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson retained the title by defeating Samoa Joe in a Steel Cage Match via escaping the cage. Samoa Joe had Danielson in the choke on the side of the cage, but Danielson fell off and was announced as the winner.
Angles and Issues
Manhunter Revealed: In an anticipated storyline move, Brent Albright has been revealed as a man out for the money. He was paid off by Bryan Danielson to do damage to Homicide's shoulder and was then paid more money (more money, more money!) to take out BJ Whitmer and Colt Cabana by the clearly still devilish (or as Dusty would say Dew-uh-lish) woman Lacey. Homicide's shoulder is in question as he heads into his title match in Manhattan in two weeks. Meanwhile Whitmer and Cabana were laid out and beaten up pretty good. Albright has now shown himself to be a lone gunman, someone who will do any job so long as it's for the right price. I find Albright's actions absolutely repulsive and without honor. Shame on you Brent Albright, for selling out your talents for the almighty dollar.
Delirious Reveals Partners: After his match, Delirious revealed the men who will join with him in the Six Man Captain's Tag match that is co-headlining night 2 of Chicago Spectatcular—it will be BJ Whitmer and Nigel McGuinness joining his team to fight ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson, Jimmy Jacobs and Jimmy Rave.
Rave's Contempt Revealed: After Rave defeated Nigel McGuinness, Rave demanded that Nigel apologize for "joking" with him at the Edison, New Jersey show when he threw the roll of toilet paper at him. Nigel refused to do so, so Rave unleashed another ass whupping on the already hapless McGuinness.
Tolland's Heel Status Revealed: Well, we kinda knew that. After his win against Kikutaro, Tank Tolland continued to beat the snot out of one Mr. Kikutaro. That will teach him for wearing the bowtie and suspenders in the ring and impersonating those Dick Brothers!
(note: he did not in fact actually wear the bow tie and suspenders)
New Chicago Venue Revealed! As anticipated, ROH announced its return deate to Chicago on February 24th, 2007 will be in a new venue. Beginning with that show ROH will run directly inside Chicago (as opposed to its Ruffles Chicago Ridge) at the Windy City Fieldhouse. Expect CM Punk to be able to get up and go to the bathroom and be right next to the show. Oh wait, Punk doesn't live in Chi-Town anymore, so that joke doesn't work. Damn.
Nothing Wrong With Predictability
Yesterday, Stuart Carapola had a great column concerning being an ROH mark and the unpredictability of the promotion. I thought he did a great job with the column and I definitely echo his sentiments…for the most part.
You see there is one thing that has seemingly been predictable for months on end now, especially something most New York ROH fans want to happen. This event is the inevitable loss of the ROH World title from current champion Bryan Danielson to one "Notorious 187" Homicide. In Homicide's hometown, and in OUR hometown no less.
The match has been building up for months now—we knew Homicide has his guaranteed title shot as far back as September, but it was this past June in the Hotel New Yorker where New York fans received a wonderful taste of foreshadowing. On that night, Homicide had just demolished Chris Hero in a vicious battle that saw a lot of brawling and even the use of some tables. Homicide had the ROH fans going crazy in love and appreciation for him, especially when he beat the snot out of Hero.
Homicide sat down in the middle of the ring after the match and made a declaration. He said he was tired of being denied an ROH title. He wanted his opportunity and if he could not win a title by the end of 2006, he was walking out of the company. At that moment, the NY fans shouted loudly and proudly for Homicide. After that moment. we knew he was going to get the opportunity, and it seemed pretty clear that he was on his way to becoming the next ROH World Champion.
Of course, it's been almost six months since then and much has happened in the world of ROH—from the win against CZW at Death Before Dishonor 4 to Jim Cornette's being shipped out and fired from his commissioner-ship in November; from new faces such as Brent Albright and M Dogg 20 to old faces such as Konnan making a return. Bryan Danielson injured his shoulder, but his championship spirit held true to form. He has proven himself to be wise and tactical in the face of danger. However, amidst all that change and all that turmoil, one constant has not changed—Homicide has a guaranteed world title shot, and he will get that title shot on December 23rd. And he will probably win.
There's nothing wrong with knowing that in all likelihood Homicide will take that title away from Danielson come that Final Battle night. Fans might be able to predict it happening, but there is nothing wrong with expecting to get something that you want and then actually getting it.
Since Christmas time is here, this is an appropriate analogy. Imagine it's Christmas Eve and you're a child hanging around the X-mas tree, all lit up and looking wonderful. Under the tree are the presents, wrapped tightly and in colorful paper of various snowflake patterns. You know that in one of those boxes is the present you've been asking from your parents for months on end. You've dropped hints, made requests, even shown advertisements for that present. Finally the time has come to unwrap the gift…and it's not what you expected! It's not what you asked for—at all! It's a pair of socks! What child wants a pair of socks? You feel disappointed, maybe even very angry—because you did not get what you had wanted for so long. You knew it was coming, and then you go something else. In wrestling, that is called the swerve.
Sorry Virginia, there is no Santa Claus. Just Vince Russo.
Homicide winning the title will be the unwrapping of the Christmas present—and ROH fans getting exactly what they want, getting exactly what has been anticipated since that balmy June day in New York. Now we head full circle back to New York and the title change is coming. I can feel it, and I'm sure you can feel it. There is nothing wrong with that.
Ring of Honor is the exception to the rule—the company that builds angles and storylines up and then delivers on them. It usually takes an injury, act of God, or signing by WWE to wreck storylines and events. Bryan Danielson's shoulder may be injured, but he has still made all his appearances this month, including his whirlwind tour of Japan. Now he readies himself for his final defense of the year.
Yet, more and more there is desperation in the way Bryan Danielson retains that championship. He is more and more desperate to hold onto the belt, because he knows how important it is to be the ROH champion. He withstood KENTA's offense and he has back doored his way out of "The Chicago Spectacular" event to retain the title.
Some may not like his tactics, but Danielson has become the standard bearer of the company. He has proven once again that the founding fathers of ROH have what it takes to be champion.
Now one more man has the opportunity to prove himself a championship contender. Homicide is coming to win the ROH World title. He's going to fight with everything he has for his fans and for himself. He's going to take all of Danielson's offense in, and he's going to give it back just as much as it has been given to him. Then he's going to unleash his Cop Killer move. On Bryan Danielson's injured shoulder. Then the referee is going to count three and we are going to have a new ROH World Champion. It's going to happen. New York wants it. ROH fans want it.
It's time for a Merry Christmas for Homicide--that comes in the form of the ROH World title.
And Bryan Danielson gets the lump of coal.
Honorarium
-So how about that ending to the Honor vs. Extreme match up? Let me say that I had no idea what Stu was going to do with the story and how that would tie in with what he has done with The Week in Hardcore column. I was very shocked to hear he was changing formats, but I was also very impressed with how the new column "Friendly Competition" has turned out in its debut.
Of course it all kind of fits in with what Stu proposed when he knew that I was filling in for him in the column for a three week run. Stu suggested an "angle" where CM Punk opened the door to an invasion by ROH forces and left it at that. Initially I was wary of the idea, because in this very Column of Honor I do enough of the character driven pieces that I thought it was maybe becoming a bit too predictable.
Then I thought about it some more…and I got some very good ideas. Pieces started to fit together—how an invasion could work, who would be involved on each side, how the whole thing would end—in a huge Survivor Series elimination match, as a tribute to one of my favorite matches. I found some delicious irony in the forces representing "honor" acting in a very dishonorable manner. Sure ROH is my favorite column, but in an invasion into a column and a concept not their own, how could they be perceived as anything but heels? I also knew I could use Rob Van Dam, the lead man in re-establishing ECW, the man who had so much confidence in how this new ECW would turn out. Despite, not being the ECW Champion, he would be the flag bearer, the one who challenged the Forces of Honor to put up or shut up.
I took the ball from Stu and ran with it—knowing that I would end in a cliffhanger and I would pass the ball back to Stu for him to finish the whole thing up. The one request he had was to end the match with Danielson being the last man on Team Honor and I obliged him. Of course if you read his column, you now know the reason why. How Stu handled Christopher Daniels's turn I thought was especially genius given how Daniels has been used these past weeks in both ROH and TNA as a mediator, someone who gets in between disputes. Here, it looks like he will do the same, but instead it's a complete 180.
I had a ton of fun writing the material, as I did writing The Week in Hardcore as a whole column. Actually, it was a bitch to get all the play by play of the 5 on 5 match, but I loved being able to include little flourishes from real events and occurrences in ROH—from Danielson and Joe's argument, to his double cross, to Sandman and Homicide's cane vs. fork standoff (I think fork stabs cane, cane strikes cow bell and cow bell rings fork is how it goes).
If tomorrow all wrestling was gone
The television shows I've watched all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my DVD and a website.
I'd thank my four and three quarter, no make that five stars,
To be living here today,
‘Cause this ring still stands for honor
and Vince McMahon can't take that away.
And I'm proud to be an ROHbot
Where at least I know there's wrestling.
And I won't forget Bryan Danielson and Christopher Daniels
When they fought Low Ki
And I gladly stand up,
next to other fans and bang on the rails to this day.
‘Cause there ain't no doubt I love this company,
God bless the ROH.
From the streets of Philadelphia,
to the Grand Ballroom of New York City.
Across the Second City of Chicago,
From opening to the final bell ring,
From Detroit down to Dayton,
and Boston to Edison, N.J.
Well there's marking out in every ROHbot heart,
and its time (recorded by GLF) we stand and say.
That I'm proud to be an ROHbot,
where at least I know there's wrestling.
And I won't forget Samoa Joe at Glory By Honor,
When he fought Low Ki.
And I gladly stand up,
next to other fans and chant "ROH! ROH! ROH!" today.
‘Cause there ain't no doubt I love this company,
God bless the ROH.
ROH Call
ROH Champions—As of 12/09/2006 (Heading into Night 2 of the Chicago Spectac)
ROH World Champion—American Dragon Bryan Danielson (champion since 9/17/05, 35 successful defenses)*, **, ***
ROH World Tag Team Champions—Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal (champions since 11/25/06, NEW ROH TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS)
*ROH World and Pure Titles Unified on 8/12/06, Pure Title is folded
**Dragon makes successful defense of ROH title at ETW promotion in Texas on 6/10/06.
***Dragon retains the title in defense of ROH title in Connecticut on 9/30/06.
ROH News
(via the ROHnewswire… and other sources when attributed
KENTA Defeats Danielson
Bryan Danielson finished up his tour of Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH by wrestling in the big rematch from Glory By Honor Night 1 against KENTA, albeit non-title. This time, with Danielson being the "away" team, KENTA defeated the ROH champion with the Go 2 Sleep in 25:21 in Yokohama.
It's Hartford…The Whale… Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards will take place in Hartford (12/22) and if Strong is still FIP Heavyweight Champion he will put the belt on the line. Strong and Richards have a growing rivalry in FIP and now the ROH/FIP relationship will payoff for ROH fans as this marquee match comes to Hartford.
This has been a very strong match (no pun intended as always) in FIP and I have no doubt both men will mesh well for their match in ROH. If the FIP title is on the line, expect Strong to come away with the (close) win.
Final Battle Becomes More Final A big Four Corner Survival has been signed for 12/23 in Manhattan, NY. It will be ROH World Tag Team Champion Christopher Daniels vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Davey Richards vs. Brent Albright.
I would rather see Daniels and Sydal in a tag defense on that card, but this combination is rather well put together. Albright as a bounty hunter guy will be a little added juice to this match, since for instance he could get paid off by some tag team to put the hurt on Daniels. I like this match and this combo should get a great reaction from a hot crowd.
Get Your Mem Cards Ready…Updated Rosters
We have an updated talent roster for 1/26 in Braintree, MA and 1/27 in Edison, NJ. Signed so far: ROH World Tag Team Champion Christopher Daniels; FIP Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong; Samoa Joe; Jack Evans; BJ Whitmer; Nigel McGuinness; Shingo; Colt Cabana; Davey Richards; Brent Albright; Jay & Mark Briscoe; Austin Aries; Delirious; Daizee Haze; Jimmy Rave; Adam Pearce; Rocky Romero; Jimmy Jacobs with Lacey; Chris Hero; Bryan Danielson (he will only appear if still World Champion); Homicide (he will only appear if World Champion). As you can tell these are going to be two loaded events to start the year!!!
Hero is still sticking around the ROH roster after the loss of the tag team titles, which gives credence to my thoughts (more like "worries") that he is heading to the top of the roster and may become ROH World Champion sooner rather than later. Rocky Romero is going to be back in ROH on a regular basis in 2007 and that's a very good thing as he has certainly become stronger and more confident in the ring since his tours of Japan. Shingo will still be on the roster and Jack will be back from Dragon Gate.
Reaching Another Milestone Looks like there will be another "Milestone Series" stretch of shows next year, but it won't be called The Milestone Series. Stay tuned for details.
The return to England, the Wrestlemania weekend certainly loom as big achievements coming up for ROH, but also something to keep in mind is that the 150th show will occur sometime next year.
Here is where we'd normally get another one of those riveting segments from Chris Hero…yeah, riveting in the sense I want to rivet my head with a power drill after reading his noxious words. Anyway, I haven't heard hide or hair from Mr. Hero since his Kings of Wrestling were overthrown and executed for their ROH World Tag Team titles by Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal. So instead I thought I'd take the opportunity to debut a possible new feature here at Column of Honor.
Monday Night ROH
This is going to be a sort of log book / journal series, where I'll list what wrestling programming I watched in the past week, including television, pay per views and DVDs. For instance:
Monday 12/04/06:WWE Monday Night Raw (on and off for one hour): I usually don't watch Raw nowadays—in fact, usually this time has been reserved for watching ROH DVDs. I find it a much more valuable use of my time. More bang for the buck, so to speak. However, from time to time, I'll tune in just to see what's going on. Since the Survivor Series my curiosity has been piqued (although not necessarily satisfied). I was watching on and off as I split time between writing my lesson plans and the TV.
Tuesday 12/05/06:ECW on Sci Fi (just Punk and RVD vs. Holly and Test as well as watching Mike Knox turn on Kelly Kelly and throw a wicked fastball at her with the batch of flowers); ROH Survival of the Fittest 2006 (first half up through and including Danielson vs. Joe): You don't know how much of a jarring feel it is to watch Punk on ECW programming, then switch to an ROH DVD and not see him on a DVD. I didn't until I actually watched SOTF '06 in between segments and after ECW. I don't think much of Mike Knox, but he actually showed some flair in dumping Kelly X2—he must have prior experience dumping blonde hotties.
The highlight of SOTF for me was seeing Aries in his makeshift gear that night and giving shout outs to the students for lending him the materials. Well, no, the real highlight was Davey Richards vs. Matt Sydal in what I thought was a tremendously hot opening match. The rest of the qualifiers were good but a bit predictable. Briscoes were great as heels in their match against ‘Cide and Strong. However, why is it that they can never focus enough to do a hurt job on "Cide? They had full permission and authority to do that here and on SEVERAL shows—and they never actually did what Jim wanted them to do.
Thursday 12/07/06:TNA iMPACT (full show): Last week I could not watch the show because I had a horrible headache and was in no mood whatsoever for Mike Tenay and Don West screaming at the top of their voices for an hour straight. No thank you sir, may I NOT have another? Anyway this week I was "well" enough to watch an hour of Russocity…and it was actually a pretty well handled show. Still can't agree whatsoever with how they're handling several things, including shorter match time while squandering marquee matches, as well as Joe jobbing to Angle in a match that was shorter than most ROH opening card matches. It should take much more than an Angle Slam, even an unexpected one, to take out Joe. Kip James actually did the impossible and made me laugh at something genuinely funny that he did in his anchorman role. Still the VKM segments are more miss than hit and really the utter height of hypocrisy and "pot calling the kettle black" syndrome. It's funny, usually it was the James Gang putting me to sleep on TNA, not John Cena's so called movie.
Friday 12/08/06:ROH Survival of the Fittest 2006 (rest of the card including tournament finals) / ROH Motor City Madness (skipping past Delirious-Zack Gowen because I already saw it on a video wire, SHIMMER tag match + Richards vs. Castagnoli): Instead of WWE Smackdown, which I could have watched had I not fallen out of habit eons ago, I once again made the call to go with ROH and finish up the SOTF card that I began on Tuesday. I can see the complaints levied against Cleveland come to fruition on this night, as while I thought the crowd was completely fine and even up for the under card, the quietness of the crowd was ironically very audible in the Kings tag match and the SOTF finals (until it came down to Sydal vs. Delirious). I still don't think ROH should have stopped running there. Also watched the women's tag match (Danger and Lacey vs. Haze and MsChif) and it very good as far as the in match storyline. MsChif continues to impress with some awesome and innovative moves, including a new and very painful way to deliver a powerbomb from the turnbuckle corner. Is it safe to have a crush on that woman? I would fear for my safety in her presence. Samoa Joe and Homicide also cut some very effective promos hyping up their matches and current beefs. Both men are promo MVPs for ROH at this point.
ROH Preview: "The Chicago Spectacular", Night 2—Chicago Ridge, IL 12/09/06
Frontier Fieldhouse
8:00pm belltime ROH World Tag Team Title Match
Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal, with Allison Danger, defend vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
This is Matt Sydal's big chance to finally show that he is able to stand toe to toe with his former Generation Next stablemates. They have beaten him in every match he had fought against them this year. They have beaten him even when he has teamed up with a bevy of partners including His Royal Bad Assness, Samoa Joe. They beat him last night when Sydal teamed up with Strong's adversary Shingo. Now with Sydal's current tag partner and co-holder of the ROH championship, if Aries and Strong once again have Sydal's number, they will regain what they lost and what they hold dear-the ROH World Tag Team titles. Christopher Daniels has his work cut out for him in this one.
Six Man Tag Team Main Event
ROH World Champion (if retains on 12/8) Bryan Danielson, Jimmy Rave & Jimmy Jacobs with Lacey vs. Delirious, Nigel McGuinness & BJ Whitmer
This looks to be a fun and intriguing combination of wrestlers. There are different personalities (of course when you have Delirious in a match that is a given) and also different wrestling styles—technical, brawling, heel tactics and the unpredictable all thrown in the same match. Obviously the match works by pairing up those with grudges against each other: Danielson and Delirious, Nigel and Rave, Whitmer and Jacobs. Also keep in mind Danielson and McGuinness are in opposite corners and will probably get to tangle once again during this match. This was announced as a "Captain's Match", which usually means that the only way to win is to pin or submit the opposing team's captain (Danielson and Delirious in this case). However, ROH hasn't come right out and stated that this is the case, so it is a bit of an open mystery as to how this match will play out tonight.
Strap Match
Homicide vs. Adam Pearce
Homicide is coming off a loss to Jimmy Rave and after getting his shoulder destroyed by Brent Albright in their match last night. Obviously the question as to Homicide's health status needs to be addressed. Pearce has the advantage now and if he gets the strap for his sole use for any length of time, he can focus on the shoulder and hurt it much more. This can only help Bryan Danielson going into their title match on the 23rd. Pearce and Homicide still have their own issues to settle stemming from Pearce bushwhacking Homicide form behind after the Cage of Death match. Their brawls in tag matches all throughout the Fall of '06 have shown they have no reservations of get bloody and violent. What happens if Homicide gets the short end of the stick in this one?
Grudge Match #1
Samoa Joe vs. Mark Briscoe
Joe is just a very angry, angry man these days. He has never liked The Briscoes much and their tag battles over the last month have reignited the contempt. This is rematch from Final Battle 2003, when Joe picked up the win and a title retention in about ten minutes. I expect history to repeat itself once again for this one.
Grudge Match #2
Davey Richards vs. Jay Briscoe
Davey loses in tag matches to the Briscoes but has a very good W-L percentage against the faux Southern Boys in singles matches. Richards should pick up the win in this one.
Special Challenge Match #1
Colt Cabana vs. Shingo
Cabana will be up to his usual shenanigans. Chicago is his hometown, so I expect a win for Windy City's own to end the two night stand in Chi-Town.
Bonus Attraction Match
Ace Steel vs. Tank Tolland
Steel is also a hometown boy but Tank could use the push from the win, especially coming off of his opening night route against Kikutaro. Tank could establish himself as the new under card presence and maybe the man to watch out for in 2007.
Six Man Mayhem
Kikutaro vs. Dave Crist vs. Jake Crist vs. Matt Cross vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Trik Davis
While Kikutaro will bring the funny, the rest of these guys will bring the high flying aerial moves. Pelle has become the upset man in these types of matches and may just do it one more time in this match. Cross also could use a win to boltser his standing in ROH. It should be one or the other on this night unless they fall for the zany theatrics of Kikutaro.
Plus Daizee Haze, Shane Hagadorn and others!!!
Okay guys, bit of a switch in plans from last week, as the rotation should have been Money Players next week and this week it's
Don't Sleep On…: Davey Richards edition
Much of the time, word of mouth spreads about a mega match in ROH along the lines of Samoa Joe vs. Danielson in a Steel Cage (and of course, rightfully so) that some of the really good quality matches that would otherwise get some attention drop off the radar. So every month, I'll comment on a few of the matches that I feel deserve some more lovin' than they are currently getting. For instance:
Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries (Glory By Honor V Night 1) Davey Richards vs. Jack Evans (Glory By Honor V night 2) Davey Richards vs. Matt Sydal (Survival of The Fittest 2006) Davey Richards vs. Claudio Castagnoli (Motor City Madness)
Let's take a different tact at approaching this month's Don't Sleep On, which as you can see is dedicated to the newest tough kid on the block in Davey Richards. The man has been on a roll with consistently tight and well played out matches. The matches against Aries and Evans were hard hitting, well paced encounters that showcase both wrestlers but also were effective in showing that Richards has something special to offer in the ring. He may not have won the match against Aries on that night but he put on an impressive battle against the tenured ROH wrestler.
Not only that but he is getting into the rhythm of being an effective baby face—showing fire without being too cheesy or cornball. In his match with Sydal, Davey was able to play the baby face by falling for some of Sydal's attempts at sportsmanship. His gullibility as a face led to some interesting moments in the match against Sydal. Sydal played the heel and tricked him. He eventually deterred Sydal and made his comeback. His match against Claudio Castagnoli saw Davey and Claudio play into the "hey" chants from the fans. Davey played along with the crowd and event chanted it a few times at Claudio, frustrating the Swiss mister. Davey also displayed some very good baby face facial expressions, from the smirk of happiness at getting Claudio's temper riled up to the look of shock at a close two count.
Davey's arsenal is also wide ranging and impressive. The butterfly brain buster (which is in effect a variant of the Jay Driller) is a painful and an effective finisher. The kick combo into the German Suplex is tight and the explosive forearm in the corner gives me a rush of adrenaline every time I see it executed. Though he does need to work on the KENTA inspired Gutbuster. The move just doesn't seem to fit in right and it's a come down after watching him fire back with the kick combo and the forearms.
If you're watching your ROH DVDs make sure not to skip out on any of Richard's matchers—he's showing consistency in every match and is putting some very good shows on in his fights.
Going Home
Ringtones
My first email from Japan comes via Azusa!
Hi Ari,
I'm a huge RVD fan in Japan.
Sorry for my poor English skill, but I just want to appreciate you.
What an awesome column! I've been totally impressed!
I really hope you continue writing for ECW a lot more.
Honor vs Extreme match:
This is the dream match I really need to see!
Your writing is so impressive that show me this match visibly in front
of my eyes! And at the end (or never end) of the match, I wanted more!!!
The best part:
Last week, RVD stood up for ECW and said, "I want everyone to know that
I love ECW. It may not be the same as it once was, but nothing ever
stays the same. That's life, man. This new ECW, we have a chance of
being something, of making our mark in the world."
When I read it, I remember RVD actually said the same things to defend
the new ECW in his commentaries. I'm glad to see the same spirit here in your column.
It's really sad everything seems negative about the new ECW nowadays,
but I love RVD and the guys working really hard to show us what the
word "Extreme" really means.
"Extreme" means the effort to being the best you could possibly be, never give up challenging, even though everyone said you could never be.
Thanks a lot for your great work.
Azusa
Thanks for the compliments on the work I did for This Week in Hardcore. I was only filling in for Stu Carapola who normally does a great job with the column. If Stu needs any more fill ins I will probably do them and of course I will comment on ECW from time to time in my own column, but I mostly I will stick with reporting on and writing about Ring of Honor for now.
I'm glad to get some feedback on the writing of the Honor vs. Extreme match. I tried to hard to get the description of the action across as best as I could. I hate doing play by play reviews of wrestling shows but I have a lot of respect for those writers on 411 and other web sites that do. Now I know for sure I don't want to do play by play, as writing it was a ton of work! Ultimately though I think it did come across well and there were a lot of subplots and nice moments in the match. Too bad this can't actually happen for real!
You're right about the RVD comments, and I used what he said as inspiration for RVD's role in this ROH vs. ECW issue. RVD was definitely the right guy to lead the whole thing. If you're familiar with ROH as well you might also notice some inspirations from real events--Bryan Danielson clipped Samoa Joe's knee several times at ROH shows to set up their current series of matches.
The end of the match is completely up to Stu to finish in the next column. I thought leaving the match on a cliffhanger was a nice way to end my three week run with the column.
**The Independent Buy In**
Support independent pro wrestling, ROH or non ROH, I don't care. But if you out there are spending so much time complaining about how WWE sucks, then dammit, spend some money so you won't have to spend so much time complaining. This list stays in the column and will be added to as the year goes on. Remember: don't bow out, BUY IN!
Recommended for purchase:
**IWC No Excuses (Styles vs. Matt Hardy, John McChesney vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Jason Gory vs. Shima Xion)
**FIP New Years Classic (Strong vs. Joe, Homicide vs. James Gibson)
**Hardcore Homecoming (2 Cold Scorpio vs. Kid Kash, 3 Way Dance Barbwire Match Funk vs. Douglas vs. Sabu)
**TNA Lockdown (AJ Styles vs. Abyss, Daniels vs. Skipper, Lethal Lockdown 6 Man Tag, AMW vs. Team Canada + Bonus Chris Candido tribute)
**ROH Fate of an Angel (James Gibson vs. CM Punk, Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Hardy, Roderick Strong vs. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Rave)
**TNA Anthology: The Epic Set (available only through Walmart and Walmart.com at a ridiculously cheap price) (Victory Road 2004, Turning Point 2004, Lockdown 2005)
**ROH Redemption (4 Way Title Elimination—Punk vs. Gibson vs. Joe vs. Daniels, Matt Hardy vs. Homicide, Gen Next of Aries, Strong and Sydal vs. The Embassy of Rave, Shelley and Abyss)
**ROH Punk: The Final Chapter (CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana plus post match celebration, Matt Hardy vs. Roderick Strong, Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal vs Low Ki and Homicide, Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Rave)
**IWC Summer Sizzler 2 (AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe, Steve Corino vs. Shirley Doe, Glen Spectre vs. Chad Collyer, Shima Xion vs. Nigel McGuinness)
**ROH Glory By Honor IV (Dragon vs. Gibson, Styles vs. Rave, Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal) **ROH Joe vs. Kobashi (Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi, Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Sydal vs. Azriael, Gibson vs. Yang)
**TNA Best of the X Division MATCHES Volume 1 (Joe vs. Sabin, Ultimate X AJ vs. Williams vs. Sabin, Ironman match: AJ vs. Daniels)
**FIP Bring the Pain (Punk vs. Danielson 2/3 Falls, Aries vs. Strong)
**OVW October 2005 Television Showcase (Ken Doane vs. Brent Albright III, Johnny Jeter vs. Matt Cappotelli, and CM Punk, CM Punk, CM Punk, CM Punk)
**OVW November 2005 Television Showcase (CM Punk vs. Ken Doane (c)—TV Title, CM Punk vs. Brent Albright, Matt Cappotelli vs. Johnny Jeter (c) II-Heavyweight Title)
**ROH Unforgettable (Samoa Joe / Low Ki vs. Homicide / Kenta Kobashi, Dragon vs. Strong, Daniels vs. Yang, Cabana vs. Evans)
2006 List
*ROH This Means War (Bryan Danielson / Roderick Strong, AJ Styles / Austin Aries, Claudio Castagnoli / Alex Shelley)
**ROH Vendetta (Bryan Danielson / Roderick Strong, Eight Man War: Generation Next + AJ Styles / The Embassy, Samoa Joe / Christopher Daniels)
**ROH A Night of Tribute (Bryan Danielson / Christopher Daniels, Aries + Strong / Joe + Lethal, Colt Cabana / Homicide, Claudio Castagnoli / Milano Collection AT)
**OVW December 2005 Television Showcase (CM Punk (c) vs. Ken Doane vs. Brent Albright—3 Way Dance TV Title, CM Punk vs. Brent Albright—TV Title)
**SHIMMER WOMEN'S ATHLETES Volume 1 (Cheerleader Melissa vs. MsChif, Sara Del Rey vs. Mercedez Martinez, Lacey vs. Daizee Haze)
**TNA Bound For Glory 2005 (Iron Man 2: Styles / Daniels, Monster's Ball 2, Joe / Liger, 10 Man Gauntlet, Jarrett vs. Rhino)
**TNA Genesis 2005 (Jarrett & AMW / Rhino & Team 3-D, Styles / Williams, Elimination X: Joe, Daniels, Shelley, Strong / Sabin, Dutt, Aries, Bentley; Christian Cage Debuts)
**ROH Steel Cage Warfare (Generation Next / The Embassy, Dsanielson / Romero, Joe / Lethal, Corino / Homicide )
**ROH Final Battle 2005 (Low Ki / KENTA, Danielson / Marifuji, Claudio / Nigel, 4CS: Daniels / Joe / Lethal / Whitmer )
**ROH Tag Wars 2006 (All three Trios Tournament 2006 matches, Generation Next / Danielson and Lethal, Low Ki / Christopher Daniels )
**BCW International Incident (Jarrett / Raven, Daniels / Sabin, Petey Williams / Jerry Lynn, Bobby Roode / Abyss)
**SHIMMER WOMEN'S ATHLETES Volume 2 (Four Way Elimination Match: Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey vs. Lacey vs. Mercedes Martinez / MsChif vs. Beth Phoenix / Alison Danger vs. Rain)
**PWG Astonishing X-Mas (December 16th, 2005) (Super Dragon vs. Kevin Steen / Eight Man Tag / Strong & Evans vs. Human Tornado & El Generico / Colt Cabana vs. Scorpio Sky)
**ROH Fourth Anniversary Show (Generation Next / Styles & Sydal, Danielson / Rave, Homicide / Cabana Ghetto Fight, CZW all out brawl)
**ROH Best In The World (KENTA &Marifuji / Joe & Dragon, Strong & Evans / Briscoes, Shelley / Daniels, Shimmer 4 Way)
**ROH Dragon Gate Challenge (Daniels / Joe, Generation Next / Blood Generation, Styles & Sydal / Dragon Kid & Horiguchi)
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2005 (2 DISC) (Steen/Dragon, Styles/Evans, Dragon/Reyes, Romero/Kazarian and tons more)
** ROH SUPERCARD of Honor (Danielson / Strong III, Do Fixer / Blood Generation, AJ Styles & Matt Sydal / Austin Aries & Jack Evans, Joe / Jacobs / Daniels)
**ROH Better Than Our Best (the whole damn card. No really, the whole damn card)
**SHIMMER Women's Athletes Volume 3 (Knox / Danger, Del Ray / Haze, Cheerleader Melissa / Shantelle Taylor)
**FIP Big Year One Bash Night 1 (Strong / Gibson, Spanky & Rinauro / Rave & Lethal Homicide / McGuiness)
**IWC Super Indy V (Low Ki / Abyss, Sydal / Petey Williams, Delirious / Sydal, Shelley / Reyes, Gambino Bros. Moving Co. / Burning River Brigade—M Dogg 20 and Josh Prohbition)
**Hardcore Homecoming: November Reign PLATNIUM EDITION. (Lynn / Polaco Cage Match, Douglas / Pitbull Gary Wolfe Dog Collar, Matt Hyson / CW Anderson. Bonus DVD: Sabu / Al Snow, Chris Benoit / 2 Cold Scorpio, Psicosis / Rey Mysterio Jr., Lynn / Polaco)
**UWF-TNA Hardcore War July 9th, 2006 (Styles / Joe / Daniels, James Gang / AMW / Team 3-D (No Finish), Jarrett / Rhino, Lynn / Williams, Lethal / Dutt, Abyss / Runt)
**UWF-TNA Monster's Ball July 10th, 2006 (Rhino / Joe / Abyss, AMW / Daniels & Styles, Homicide / Lynn, Lethal / Jarrett)
**Colt Cabana's European Vacation II - World of Cabana
**SHIMMER Women's Athletes Volume 4 (Rain / Sara Del Rey, MsChiff / Cheerleader Melissa Falls Count Anywhere, Daizee Haze / Rebecca Knox).
**ROH The 100th Show (Team ROH vs.Team CZW, Danielson / Delirious, Aries & Strong / Homicide & Reyes, Daniels / Castagnoli)
**ROH Ring of Homicide (Homicide / Necro Butcher, Aries & Strong / Briscoes, Daniels / Sydal, Danielson / Delirious, McGuinness / Lethal)
**ROH In Your Face (KENTA / Joe / Danielson, Homicide / Hero, Whitmer / Jacobs, Richards / Rave)
**ROH Throwdown (KENTA / Strong, Danielson / Whitmer / Jacobs, Pearce / Necro Butcher, Rave / Joe / Delirious / Richards)
**ROH Chi-Town Struggle (Danielson / Cabana, KENTA / Aries, ROH vs. CZW, Briscoes / Rave and Kennedy III)
**IWC Summer Sizzler 3 (Shirley Doe / Dennis Gregory IWC World Heavyweight Championship, Delirious / Troy Lords IWC Super Indy Championship, Kings of Wrestling / Rickey Reyes and John McChesney, McChesney / Shima Xion, Burning River Brigade / Cleveland Mafia / Gambino Brothers Moving Company IWC Tag Team Championship)
**FIP Impact of Honor (Aries & Strong / Fast & Furious ROH Tag Team Title Match, Bryan Danielson / Colt Cabana ROH World Title Match / Davey Richards / Shingo Takagi, Steve Madison / Erick Stevens)
**UWF-TNA House Show July 22nd, 2006 (Monster's Ball Rematch: Samoa Joe / Rhino / Abyss, Jay Lethal / Alex Shelley / Daniels and Styles / James Gang)
**SHIMMER Women's Athletes Volume 5 (Daizee Haze / Rebecca Knox 2 out of 3 falls, Sara Del Ray / Mercedes Martinez No Time Limit, Allison Danger / Cheerleader Melissa)
**ROH Death Before Dishonor IV (CZW vs. ROH Cage of Death, McGuinness / Strong, Dutt / Danielson)
** ROH Fight of the Century (ROH World Title: Joe / Danielson, KENTA / Richards, Daniels / McGuinness / Lethal / Castagnoli, Ultimate Endurance)
**ROH Unified (ROH World vs. Pure Title: Danielson / McGuinness, ROH World Tag Team Title: Aries and Strong / Briscoes, Cabana / Hero, Richards / Rave) **ROH Glory By Honor V Night 2 (ROH World Title: Bryan Danielson / KENTA, GHC Title: Naomichi Marufuji / Nigel McGuinness, ROH World Tag Title: Aries and Strong / Kings of Wrestling, Samoa Joe & Homicide / The Briscoes) (NEW ADDITION)
ROH @ 411
Stuart Carapola is back from New Zealand (no Koalas there!) has the next work on being proud to be an ROHbot in his That Was Then column. Honor vs. Extreme is wrapped up in Friendly Competition, the former The Week In Hardcore.
Another look at the Chicago Spectacular results, courtesy of Dr. Keith Lipinski.
Jacob and Brad continue to look at the latest ROH DVD releases in their weekly review. This week they're up to The Epic Encounter II
Brad also handles reviewing duties for FIP Declarations: The Best of CM Punk Volume 1, which is an exclusive Full Impact Pro collection that you can only get by buying 3 or more FIP DVDs from rohwrestling.com.
My comments on the upcoming TNA Turning Point PPV can be found in the Roundtable.
Sorry my friend Nick Marscio I could see some of your points about Russo, but not even I am buying your defense of December to Dismember in your www.411mania.com/wrestling/columns/newstostartyourweekend. However, I will still listen to you every week on Rocketbusta Radio, except for the weeks that you're not there.
I think Larry C. is counting down numbers just to show us that he has indeed passed thiRRRd grade.
Bayani and Cena sitting in a tree, F-U-BLEEP-BLEEP-I-N-G. Truth.
Next week—The Money Players for November. For real this time. Plus, ROH results from night 2 of The Chicago Spectacular and much more!
Final Column 2006-3 Weeks and Counting. The invites have been extended…now; it's just a matter of who shows up at the party. Punch and pie will be served.
