Column of Honor: Final Column 2006-Part Three: 12.31.06

Posted by Ari Berenstein on 12.31.2006

The irony is that this final column is four columns long. Look I'm just overachieving because I grew up fat. Part three—the COH awards list, including wrestler of the year, most improved and the funniest and wackiest moments in ROH this year. All that and predictions that went right and ones that were horribly in error.

Welcome back folks...sorry to make you wait the extra day, but let's face it, if we're gonna go for it, we might as well go big. That means two days of Honor to end the year!

And now…
The Column of Honor Awards 2006


Wrestler of the Year—Bryan Danielson
2. Nigel McGuinness
3. Samoa Joe

-The man goes by the moniker "the best wrestler in the world" and by all categories and classifications, it's pretty much one hundred percent truth. Danielson was trained by Shawn Michaels and William Regal and he brings the best of the styles of each of those big star wrestlers. In other words, Danielson was bred for success in wrestling and in 2006 he was the wrestler of the year for Ring of Honor (and by my count throughout the entire wrestling world). If you want technical wrestling, Danielson has shown he can wrestle circles around anyone else in that ring. If you want brawling, well then Danielson's formidable strikes and forearms can do the damage. If you want aerial ability, then you need to watch Dragon leap for a flying headbutt or flying front drop kick. The man also has perfected the Rob Van Dam style "crowd dive" and that has wowed the crowds at ROH shows. Bryan Danielson spent almost the entire year as ROH World Champion, but more importantly he embodied the very idea of a "champion." He defended the belt against a variety of competitors; he defended the belt in other promotions and internationally; he defended the belt against international wrestlers. You can't ask for a better champion than someone who does that much to represent his home promotion. Danielson even fought when injured—he held onto the ROH World title more than four months past the shoulder injury. Maybe he should have vacated the title, but because he didn't, fans were treated to even more great wrestling matches, including the dramatic showings against KENTA, Samoa Joe and Homicide. His promos have dramatically improved since he became champion. If you compare the early September 2005 promos with the ones in late 2006, there is no doubt—Danielson has a range of emotions at his disposal. He can be serious, he can be funny, and he can be whatever he chooses to be. In the ring, he can be the hero of the day or the cruelest villain—and in 2006 he was one or the other or both many, many times.

On the outside, Danielson looks like the traditional, old school wrestling champion—but if you mistake Danielson as a plain vanilla flavor, you are severely missing the boat. All it takes is for one match to wow the fans that have never seen him in action and shush the naysayers. The best way I can sum up why Bryan Danielson is the 2006 wrestler of the year goes back to the catchphrase he has repeatedly stated—he is the best wrestler in the world. No one else in ROH or any promotion could disprove that claim this year.

Tag Team of the Year—Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
2. The Briscoes
3. The Kings of Wrestling

-Entering 2006, Tony Mamaluke and Sal Rinauro's run with the belts was a risk taken by ROH that had failed. Austin Aries and Roderick Strong had a near Herculean task ahead of them—they were given the charge of revitalizing a tag team division with a lack of depth. BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs had done a solid job as three time champions, but there was a definite lack of depth felt at the end of 2005 with few consistent teams wrestling for ROH. Aries and Strong held onto the tag belts for nine months and often had some of the best matches on the card. Hell, they often MAIN EVENTED the show with the ROH tag team titles at stake. The great matches they had against the likes of AJ Styles and Matt Sydal (and Matt Sydal and a seemingly infinite variation of partners), Dragon Gate's Blood Generation and the newly returned Briscoe Brothers highlighting a terrific run as champions. They were so good that they ran through everyone, and then they ran through everyone in back to back Ultimate Endurance matches in August. Demonstrating incredible new double teams like the chop-brain buster and the backbreaker into the 450, Aries and Strong stepped up big time in the ring as a team. They earned my pick for tag team of the year with exciting and dramatic matches.

The Briscoes have made a tremendous comeback in the wrestling world, but especially in ROH. One year ago they weren't even in Ring of Honor, as injuries and outside interests kept them away from wrestling. The Briscoes returned in February of 2006 and IMMEDIATELY made an impact by becoming involved in the hunt for the tag team titles. One of the most dominant tag teams in the early years of ROH was back to prove they could still dominate. While they didn't win the tag titles, they have come close and are clear contenders going into 2007. Jay and Mark Briscoe have also come back with a renewed sense of determination, confidence and workmanship in the ring. They have built up their bodies and created a unique (yet paradoxical) persona of the northern southern rednecks. Their catchphrase of "Man Up" is a simple sports maxim, but it has caught on with the ROH fans and has almost become cult like.

The Kings of Wrestling…sigh…are you really going to make me come out and say this? The Kings of Wrestling…are really…good. Dammit. They were the most in demand tag team across the U.S. independent wrestling world and they were booked as top tag teams wherever they went. Ring of Honor has been no different. Who knows how long they would have run as ROH World Tag Team champions had Claudio not been signed to the WWE? They could have run havoc on the tag division well into 2007.

Worst Tag Team of the Year
Matt Sydal and Friends

-Matt Sydal earned himself the nickname "tag team whore" on the ROH message boards because he would tag up with just about everyone and anyone who was willing to give him a chance. Sydal really wanted to those tag belts, but until Christopher Daniels he couldn't find that right partner. Before then, he "slept around" with AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Davey Richards and Jack Evans. Hell, he found the right partner and he STILL cheats on him by tagging up with Shingo on recent events due to their Dragon Gate connection. God knows I may be teaming up with him at the next ROH show. Truly jaw dropping antics by Matt Sydal, who needs to learn the secrets of monogamy with a partner: fidelity, trust and respect.

MVP of the Year—Bryan Danielson
2. Aries and Strong
3. BJ Whitmer



-There are few men who operate on the Ric Flair principal—put them in a match with a broom and they can carry it to three stars. There's Flair, HBK, maybe Kurt Angle. You can add Bryan Danielson to that list. Danielson vs. anyone is good enough to bring the house down. It is this quality, as well as the unique charisma he developed as the ROH champion that gives Danielson the MVP award. Danielson was an integral part of many rivalries throughout the year—Samoa Joe, McGuinness, Delirious, Colt Cabana, KENTA and Homicide. Every time, fans wanted to see the rival take the belt from Danielson and each time, the match had moments where it seemed for sure that is exactly what would happen. Then, at the end of the night, it would be Danielson, still champion. All of these rivalries played to different towns and in multiple variations and stipulations. For example, Danielson fought Joe in singles matches which ended in an hour draw and a twenty minute draw respectively, a no DQ street fight and a steel cage match. That kind of diversity is vital in categorizing the value of a professional wrestler and it was the key characteristic found in this year's choice for MVP.

Aries and Strong had some help with some strong supporting teams, but their job in the tag division was incredibly important. The fact that Danielson and Aries and Strong dominated the championships this year made their work that much more important. You could depend on them to have a great match with any team.

When you take the kind of bumps that BJ Whitmer has taken over the last year, you are literally "giving" your body to the match and to the people in attendance. Night in and night out, BJ Whitmer does exactly that—and his performances in the ring have made him a must watch wrestler.


Most Honorable—BJ Whitmer
2. Christopher Daniels
3. Samoa Joe

-In the process of one year, Whitmer has become the Tommy Dreamer of Ring of Honor—someone who is loyal to the core of what ROH stands for, and is willing to take a bullet for the company. His defense of ROH against the CZW forces will stand the test of time, as will the amount of punishment he was made to endure. In just one year, Whitmer took a hellacious kick to the face by Samoa Joe, then in the wars against CZW he was staple gunned, had a barbed wire crown smashed onto his head, took a Psycho Driver from Super Dragon through a table HEAD first to the floor. Then he fought in only the second barbed wire match in Ring of Honor history. THEN he INSANELY power bombed Jimmy Jacobs INTO the stands in New York…and he threw himself along for the horrific ride. Being there live for that moment I was there to witness the unimaginable shock and terror of watching two men flying in mid air and knowing, just KNOWING they were about to die. That Whitmer is STILL ALIVE today is a freaking miracle. Then BJ goes ahead and finishes up 2007 by being power bombed into a table by Brent Albright. You can criticize Whitmer for being a bland promo or for being a typical generic brawny wrestler guy—but you CANNOT take away that he has some massive balls on him for doing what he has done. I can't imagine ANY fan wanting to be in his shoes. The length to which BJ Whitmer will go to entertain the fans and to make his matches just that much more memorable is honorable. Now Whitmer, PLEASE rest up and try not to kill yourself TOO much this year, okay?

If I had said to an ROH fan in 2002 that Christopher Daniels would become one of the most honorable wrestlers, I would have been laughed at and possibly called an idiot. Yet in 2006, "The Fallen Angel" made quite the transformation—from refusing to follow the Code of Honor to shaking hands with everyone and anyone who could prove their worth to him in the ring. Although he got off to a shaky start by popping his cherry with the traitor Claudio, giving that first handshake opened the floodgates towards appreciating other wrestlers for their talents and ultimately led Daniels to finding much respect for Matt Sydal. Enough respect was earned that the duo became a consistent tag team and Daniels ended the year winning the ROH tag team titles alongside Sydal.

Samoa Joe has been the staunch supporter of all things Ring of Honor. The fans love him and have adopted him as their man of the people. This year Joe was not the most effective man to stop the CZW forces (that honor belongs to Homicide), but Joe defended the company and took and gave some beat downs. Joe eventually became more focused on proving to the Japanese wrestling world that ROH was the place to be and his confrontations with KENTA, Marufuji and Takeshi Morishima have been pride wars. In this issue, Joe is fighting for not only ROH's honor, but also for his own.

Most Dishonorable—Chris Hero
2. Claudio Castagnoli and Jim Cornette
3. Lacey

-No man was able to get under my skin this year more than one Mr. Chris Hero. Of course that is a round about compliment because the best of heels must make the fans hate them. Boy did I ever hate Chris Hero this year. Hero represented CZW as the point man in the invasion angle and the propaganda he spread against ROH in his promos were noxious to the nth degree. While CZW was ultimately defeated and Chris Hero lost both the title match in January and other singles matches he wrestled in ROH (including one to Homicide), Hero walked out of the Cage of Death relatively unscathed. The man was like a mosquito that you sprayed with poison but just did not die. Hero then resurfaced as the man who stole the ROH tag team belts (the actual physical belts and later the right to be called champion) from Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. Along with his partner Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Hero brought The Kings of Wrestling to ROH and together they wrecked havoc throughout the entire tag team division. They ripped the titles from Aries and Strong and did things their way, including defending the titles once in a non sanctioned match in another promotion. Hero had a number of "great" moments this year—his claim that "No one can stop me" at the Fourth Anniversary Show, his chanting "CZW" in defiance during the Cage of Death, his numerous heel like facial expressions and mannerisms—all add up to the form one very disreputable man. Chris Hero, I hate your guts. I tip my hat to you.

Castagnoli and Cornette both turned their backs on Ring of Honor, but in two different ways. Claudio was the man who sided initially with ROH in the fight against CZW, but then turned his back and joined up with his Kings of Wrestling associate Chris Hero. It was a Benedict Arnold act that no one in ROH has forgetting or forgiven. The whole ROH-CZW war was a vendetta by Jim Cornette against garbage wrestling. I can see now that Jim Cornette manipulated ROH wrestlers into doing his bidding for him, to prove his points about his philosophy of wrestling. His quest against garbage wrestling was just a foreshadowing of his corruption of the office of commissioner that carried over late in 2006. He used the resources of the company and the men who were loyal to him to carry on another vendetta—against Homicide and those who sided with him. Inevitably, Cornette became just another hypocritical politician, someone who made promises about "bringing clear winners and losers" back to ROH, and instead used his power to do anything but. If anything is anathema to honor, it is what Cornette did to ROH in 2006.

It takes a certain kind of evil to twist someone's love for you and use it for your own interests. This is what Lacey has done throughout the entire year to Jimmy Jacobs. Jimmy has made constant declarations of love, created songs and music videos for her, has even done her will in the ring. He took out BJ Whitmer and he took out Colt Cabana just because she said so. His reward? Not a night in bed with her, not a single kiss, not even a hug or acknowledgement of appreciation. Lacey's actions are truly the actions of a cold hearted heel.

Most Improved—Nigel McGuinness
2. Matt Sydal
3. Delirious



-This was such a tough category to put in order, because really so many wrestlers in Ring of Honor have improved during the calendar year of 2006. It's almost unthinkable to think that an entire roster can grow and adapt and learn even though each wrestler goes through different territories and different tours of foreign countries. Yet, men like Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley, Matt Sydal, Delirious and Jimmy Jacobs have found themselves in ROH stronger, more capable and more at home than ever in the ring.

Nigel McGuinness is another one who has found his identity in the wrestling ring. He is the swaggering Englishman, the stoic fighter and the cockney speaking trash talker. He is an ass kicker. Nigel in 2005 was good, but there were certain things missing and it's almost hard to explain. His offense had been lacking power, but in 2006 he improved his moveset considerably. His is now a very effective combination of scientific wrestling and explosively powerful strikes—especially his expansive repertoire of lariats. He used more strikes and especially different angles of attack to keep things interesting in the ring. His run as Pure champion was notable for his heel tactics that infuriated the fans because he would wrestle pure style, but win by illegal means. However, when Nigel slowly but surely began a face turn based on the crowd's gaining more respect for his abilities, Nigel was able to retain the edge he had gained from the months before while re-adapting to the role of a fiery, never say die babyface. Like Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness' promos have improved considerably. He has room to improve to be sure, but Nigel is now more confident and more fun on the microphone, especially in front of a live crowd. During his Pure title run, the "best there is, best there was" mic work was brilliant played. Nigel McGuinness has improved himself in many facets of the game and it has made his matches incredibly fun to watch.

Matt Sydal really made his mark in ROH this year, starting with the break out singles match against AJ Styles. In that match he unleashed his aerial arsenal and really put the ROH fans on notice. Sydal's talents have been on display ever since, especially in tag matches. Sydal's babyface act is very traditional, yet he has made his enthusiasm and his interaction with the crowd during the matches work for him as opposed to turning the crowd on him. Sydal's promos are still a weak spot, but no one can deny that Sydal in 2006 worked incredibly hard and rose up very quickly through the ranks of the ROH roster.

One year ago Delirious did not even have a consistent spot on the ROH roster and not ONE singles victory. He was strictly a comedy match wrestler in ROH and to be frank, a jobber. At the end of 2006, Delirious not only has one singles victory, but he has many of them. Delirious secured a roster spot and is regularly booked on the shows. He has become one of the most popular acts on the card and has fans chanting along with him in "Delirious" Speak. While he is still one of the most humorous and entertaining wrestlers, Delirious has stretched out and demonstrated that his character can be involved in more serious storylines. Delirious has come so far as to have won the Survival of the Fittest tournament, a major accomplishment for ROH that has proven to be a boost to one's stature in the company. He was then involved in one of the most exciting victories during the second night of the Chicago Spectacular when he submitted Bryan Danielson to a monstrous ovation in an 8 man elimination tag match. Delirious has come far in 2006 and he is poised to make more of an impact in the coming year.



The "You Fucked Up" Award—
ROH folding the Pure title

-I disagree with the sentiment that the PURE title was running out of steam and that there was nowhere to go with the title. In fact the title had just begun to find real legitimacy and meaning in 2006 when the plug was pulled. The belt had been so troubled in its early years, but thanks to Nigel, the belt had become stable and important. Fans were wondering who could be the person to take the belt from Nigel. ROH could have gone with another technical wrestler who showed he had what it took to defeat Nigel, or there could have been a lot done with an unorthodox choice as Pure champion. Just imagine the havoc someone like Delirious could have done with the Pure title and the lengths Nigel would have gone to get the belt back from him. The one good thing that came out of the unification was the title for title match at ROH Unified. However, while the Unification match was undeniably a higher shade of excellence and there was a ton of drama to the match, I think the same effect could have been done if it was just for the ROH World title. It was obvious the England fans more wanted to see Nigel win the World title than Dragon win the Pure title. If Nigel loses and remains Pure champion, it keeps that belt intact. Instead we get Roderick Strong defending the FIP belt in what basically amounts to quasi Pure title rules. All that's missing are the rope breaks. Why didn't Roderick Strong become Pure champion instead?


THE SNOW screws over The 2/11/06 show: A major winter storm blanketed the Tri-State area, thus screwing up flights and thus screwing over the Ring of Honor talent. Especially affected were ROH wrestlers contracted to TNA, including Austin Aries, Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong, Jay Lethal and Homicide. These wrestlers had a TNA pay per view the night after this event, and there was significant concern that if they didn't leave early, they would be snowed in and would not make it to Orlando for the pay per view. While Aries and Strong chose to attend the show as booked, Homicide, Lethal and Shelley left for Florida. Shelley's leaving was especially not good for ROH as he was supposed to main event the show against Bryan Danielson in an ROH title match. That match was scratched and instead Danielson fought former ROH champion and former Embassy member Xavier. Many parts of the show had to be rebooked and WWE contracted talent (and ROH alumni) CM Punk made a special appearance and wrestled in the main event in a tag match with Bryan Danielson against Adam Pearce and Jimmy Rave. Pearce and Danielson had to work twice that night. The fallout from this event was massive, as Strong and Aries were "suspended" for a number of months in TNA. Aries was not brought back to TNA until October of 2006 while Strong made a few appearances and was jobbed out, and has since not returned. On the ROH side, Jay Lethal finished up his bookings in February by losing to Joe. He made a few appearances for ROH in his home state of New Jersey. Shelley continued to be booked and was involved in some pretty noteworthy matches, but by June he was done in ROH and hasn't been back since. In conclusion, for fucking up an entire card, causing wrestlers to lose jobs and have heat with their bosses, FUCK THE SNOW. YOU SUCK!

The Glory By Honor V Night 1 TENT: On September 15th, for the second time, ROH had to scramble to set up a tent outside a scheduled venue and a show had to be done outdoors. The first time (2004's Generation Next), the Armory they were supposed to run in was mobilized and they lost the space. This time it was complications with occupancy codes and the maximum number of fans being allowed in the East Windsor venue. Look I don't know about you, but I'll suffer a death trap to go see Ring of Honor. Hell, that's what Basketball City in NYC was all about! Anyway, the tent was bad enough, but ROH once again had to fight the elements since there was a rain that increased in strength as the hours went by. In conclusion, FUCK THE WEATHER!

Jimmy Yang: I know it's not easy for a wrestler to make money on the independent scene. You work and you work and you work for little money and sometimes even less respect. Getting to the WWE can be (and should be for many) the ultimate goal and if you have the opportunity to do so, then you have to grab the brass ring and go for it. It's even more tempting if you've been there before and you're trying to work your way back. However…an Asian redneck gimmick? That is just way too out there, especially the way it was executed by the brains that be at WWE. Yang made a mistake when he traded in the wind pants for the chaps, ridiculous mustache and cowboy hat. He made an even worse mistake when he went into business for himself and challenged The Embassy to a tag match with Bruce Lee Roy that ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky had no plans to take place. This put an unnecessary burden of expectation on ROH that this could be a match to happen. All those even though he had a very respectable and decent send off by wrestling standards. All of that was cut off because Yang went into business for himself.



Shows of the Year
1. Better Than Our Best – The last time I thought a show was so good that it HAD to be the disc you show to someone to get them hooked on the product the show was Manhattan Mayhem. There is now one more DVD added to the list and it is my pick for show of the year. The last of the three night stand that took place during "Wrestlemania 22" weekend, Better Than Our Best had one of the best undercards of the year and from about the third match onwards the show hit a roll that would not end until the show itself concluded. Capped by one of the most emotional main events where Colt Cabana finally culminated his violent feud against Homicide by gaining the ever elusive win, the show also had a heavily hyped "dream match" encounter between Lance Storm and Bryan Danielson. The best 4 Corner Survival match of the year can be found on this show, with AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe and Jimmy Yang having some of the best non stop action on the card. Everything flowed smoothly in that match. I can't forget to mention that Austin Aries and Roderick Strong had one of their finest title defenses against CIMA and Naruki Doi—a match that the crowd just ooh-ed and ahh-ed about during the entire encounter. The match included up with an incredibly dangerous dropkick-powerbomb combo that has become a part of a lot of ROH highlight packages. Given that four wrestlers had participated in some of the finest tag matches of the previous two nights, topping themselves was no easy task. Cap that off with Delirious finally getting his first singles win in ROH to a massive reception by the crowd and you've got an incredibly important and busy show filled with matches that are indeed better than the best of any that had come before—and certainly can be debated on these shows below, which came after.
2. Glory By Honor Night 2 – The debut in the Grand Ballroom was important no matter what was on the card or who defended what titles, but it couldn't be considered the second best show of the year without some of the greatest moments and the greatest matches of the year. Luckily this show has all of that. Bruno Sammartino's appearance gave a lot of heart to the event, while Samoa Joe, Homicide, The Briscoes, Aries, Strong, The Kings of Wrestling, Marufuji, Nigel, KENTA and Dragon gave it soul. The nuclear hot New York crowd popped for Bruno and the Joe-Morishima interactions like they were the important moments that they were. Finally the ROH and GHC title matches are MUST SEE matches for anyone and everyone who remotely has a passion for the sport of professional wrestling. This show was essentially everything that can be right about this business.
3. Supercard of Honor – The longest show of the year by far, but boy do you ever get bang for your buck on this one. The two major matches were the near one hour ROH title defense between Danielson and Roderick Strong—which was technical wrestling brilliance, and the much talked about Do Fixer-Blood Generation 6 man tag match which got a rousing standing ovation about 6 minutes BEFORE the finish of the match. When you get chants of "PLEASE DON'T STOP", it may be the highest compliment you could ever pay to a wrestler. These six men deserved the accolades. The rest of the card filled out nicely with solid to excellent matches, including a terrific tag encounter between Sydal and Styles up against Aries and Evans, a SHIMMER 6 woman tag and Samoa Joe fighting it out with constant rival Christopher Daniels and the ever capable Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs may have been outnumbered and outgunned, but his performance in this match went a long way towards showing how dramatic a wrestler he can be in a ring.
4. Unified – Ring of Honor's first international card took place in Liverpool, England to a raucous and engaged crowd of fans. They had waited four plus years for ROH to make a proper appearance in the UK after years of being teased with appearances from such ROH talent as Cabana and Danielson. They received a hell of a card—top to bottom strong matches and perhaps one of the finest title defenses of Danielson's run in the World-Pure title unification match against McGuinness. Having McGuinness as the home town hero gave the match a very unique atmosphere (comparable to Homicide's title match at Final Battle '06) where every time McGuinness could have possibly won the title, the fans were on the edge of going ballistic. The other title match was The Briscoes and Aries and Strong in their final encounter for the tag team titles, and it was tag team wrestling perfection. These men had the match they should have had in their first encounter. This being the last of their matches during that run, they let everything hang out and threw all their huge maneuvers during the match and then some.
5. Death Before Dishonor IV – Even if the undercard wasn't as strong as it actually was, this show had a chance of being show of the year because of the main event Cage of Death match. With the entire ROH vs. CZW feud down to that one match, the atmosphere of the split crowd and the blood shed and violence (for a worthy cause) and even the post match angle involving Jim Cornette and Homicide, that one hour of action and drama wound up being one of the most defining moments in ROH this year.

Worst Shows of the Year
1. Epic Encounter II —The crowd did NOT help this event, which felt flat from the beginning and really didn't ever recover. I swear, people are louder at some funerals. The matches themselves were generally solid, although Homicide and Jacobs was all over the map and also had to overcome lighting difficulties. Sydal and Delirious were going crazy trying to win the crowd over, but could not despite their efforts. The 60 minute draw between Danielson and McGuinness was a fine match, but nothing better than their earlier encounters and Danielson's post match KO certainly put a damper on the whole proceedings.
2. How We Roll —Long Island sucks. There is just no other way to say it. I'm sorry, being a fan of the actual geographic location that the fans that inhabit it can't be better than what they are. The crowd generally did not appreciate Christian Cage's participation and appearance, even though it was fun and his interaction with Cabana, Danielson, Daniels and even Delirious were all worthwhile. Again here is another event where the matches themselves are solid, with nothing really abhorrent about them, but just not at the level of expected of most Ring of Honor shows. The reaction and the atmosphere around the matches were enough to bring everything down. However, the booking decisions were a bit questionable, including Homicide getting gypped out of a win, a bland and never ending brawl between Whitmer, Pearce Hero and Claudio and Samoa Joe wrestling a squash match of all things. Not the best combination of matches I've ever seen on an ROH card.
3. Unscripted II —Ok, I put this on third because compared to other cards; this is the odd man out. HOWEVER, to some degree this card has a valid excuse in that the snowstorm of the year really screwed things up. Even before the snowstorm, the scheduled main event of Roderick Strong and Low Ki had to be changed. With the snowstorm, scheduled wrestlers could not appear, matches had to be switched out, and in general the card got the short shift because of it. The special surprise appearances of former ROH champions Xavier and CM Punk were well received, but the over hype of a surprise that would change ROH never paid off and really goes to downgrade the show. This is the third worst show by proxy, but what could have been had so much not been screwed up is the greater disappointment.

Worst Matches (Main Show): not in any particular order
-ROH Pure Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Tony Mamaluke (Philadelphia, PA 1/14/06)
-Ace Steel vs. Sterling James Keenan (Dayton, OH 1/27/06)
-Colt Cabana vs. Grim Reefer(Long Island, NY 2/11/06)
-Four Corner Survival: Colt Cabana vs. Jason Blade vs. Adam Pearce vs. Delirious (East Windsor, CT 6/3/06)
-Jake Crist vs. Marcos (New York, NY 6/17/06)
-Dave Crist vs. Ricky Reyes (New York, NY 6/17/06)

I want to briefly discuss the last two matches in particular. These last two matches really exposed how green Irish Airborne were, because they stunk up the joint so badly with these matches that they were both cut from the program (the last seconds of Dave vs. Reyes was shown briefly). Marcos had made such infrequent appearances in ROH that the RCE love could not save his match. Botched spots, repeated spots, nervous wrestlers, booing fans…these matches were so bad that they were turning the loyal NYC crowd on the whole event and that is a rare sight in Ring of Honor. Everyone has an off night and its okay to be nervous because of the New York crowd, but you get over it and move on. Luckily the card took a right turn after this match and never looked back.


The Best Match Not Many Will Ever See
-Davey Richards vs. Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne (Gut Check Chicago Ridge. IL 8/25/06)

-This is ostensibly a squash match but from the reports, goddamn was it ever a good one. Chicago has adopted Alex Payne as their pre show favorite. He must have some wacky charisma that the Chi-town fans appreciate in him. Anyway, Richards opened up the Gut Check card with this squash match and a well received post match promo, but unfortunately both the match and the mic time were left on the cutting room floor. No one will get to see Davey unleash hell of such stiff intensity on Alex Payne, or ever get the answer to why those Chicago fans love Sugarfoot so much.


Funniest Matches / Moments in 2006
1. Alex Shelley and Bryan Danielson engage in running banter with the crowd during their title match, including Alex Shelley going off on the crowd (the ever classic "I don't go to McDonald's and tell you how to serve fries") and Bryan Danielson threatening to punch a young little girl who was booing him ("I will sock you right in the face!"), The whole diatribe went on before and DURING the match, and it was one of the most hilarious series of verbal insulting I have ever seen. (Arena Warfare 3/11/06)
2. Colt Cabana "unintentionally" looks up Lacey's dress / cops a feel…yeah, "unintentionally" all right. (…good job, Colt!) (Glory By Honor V Night 2 9/16/06)
3. Steve Corino rips on GLF for an extended amount of time (8/4/06) / Steve Corino ridicules a fat guy until the dude in the crowd takes his shirt off (8/5/06)—I DID NOT NEED TO SEE THAT!
4. The guy in the stands sitting in the same section as me who did running "corner man" commentary during Samoa Joe vs. American Dragon at Fight of the Century, including the classic line "He's running because he's scared of you!" (8/5/06)
5. Homicide's promo alongside Samoa Joe opening up ROH Suffocation (10/28/06) with a comedic rant that invokes the Mega Powers. It was so funny that it caused Samoa Joe to break character and crack up. In fact, here it is in it's entirety:

"Briscoes, Adam Pearce and Steve Corino, all you Jim Cornette guys, look who you have to face now, Samoa Joe and "The Notorious 187", Homicide. Do you really think you can beat us? We're gonna form like Voltron dawg. Julius Smokes is not here but we don't need him right now. We've got two of the most powerful guys in Ring of Honor. Forget about the Megapowers, forget about the Freebirds right now. We got the Rott, and we've got, well, I don't know what crew you're running with…He's gonna beat you're ass Adam Pearce, Briscoe Brothers. Steve Corino, if I was you go back to Japan we don't need you in America. You don't even look like a goddamn gaijin, matterafact you look like a fat pig, like Dusty Rhodes, that's what I'm talking about, he's a joke you know what I'm saying. All a y'all are jokes. Briscoe, stop drinking, stop pissing on your cousins, it's not working dawg. You're gonna get crushed. Adam Pearce, go back to Die-go, or Chi-cago because all of you gringos you don't know the way I talk. I'm not talking about no 5150 here, I'm talking about you Corino. Your ass is gonna get your ass killed tonight If I was you go back to Japan and lose some weight, Dus-ty because I'm gonna put a birthmark on your face."

"Your ass is gonna get your ass killed"? "Dusty Rhodes"? UNREAL.

6. Colt Cabana plays "Lucy and Charlie Brown with the football" with Jimmy Jacobs in several matches (Glory By Honor V Nights 1 and 2 9/15 and 9/16/06)
7. Prince Nana and Alex Shelley discussing hookers and steak dinners.
8. Colt Cabana cuts a promo on Bryan Danielson's white pastiness, such that even Danielson loses it (ROH Video Recap)
9. "I've got a cowbell!" –Ace Steel (Cage of Death promo 7/15/06)
10. "Necro…KILL!" –Chris Hero (Best in the World)
11. Delirious gets freaked out by Matt Sydal ringing the bell during the match (Suffocation 11/27/06)
12. "Joe…I can't understand English!" –KENTA to Samoa Joe after Joe cuts a serious promo at Best in the World 3/25/06
13. The BJ Whitmer War of the Wire II prep videos with the GOD AWFUL music…okay, maybe they were unintentionally funny, but even so.
14. Shane Hagadorn defeats Bobby Dempsey in ROH record time at Fight of the Century. I freaking laughed and laughed at that one.





Predictions

Well, let's look at how well my powers of prediction were from last year to this. Should I be starting my own fortune cookie company or am I a Miss Cleo instead?

Predictions for 2006
-Jimmy Rave-gets a huge run for the ROH World title and may very well win it.

No. Rave received a title shot early on in 2006, but never came close the rest of the year. Then I predicted Jimmy Rave would win SOTF 2006 and again, no. Maybe this year…damn, what am I saying? Talk about Charlie Brown playing football with Lucy. You won't fool me this year Jimmy!

-Christopher Daniels-starts a new group called The Destiny with Lethal, Whitmer and Jacobs as his back up, with the goal of winning all the ROH titles not for control but for themselves.

No. Daniels has yet to form any Prophecy like faction in ROH since his return.

-Samoa Joe- continues to kick ass, eventually wins the tag team championship with the help of AJ Styles

No. Joe has certainly kicked much ass and justly so this past year, but the tag titles and the triple crown of ROH have once again eluded Joe. No half credit for this one.

-Nigel McGuinness-the longest PURE title reign is in sight and I think he'll get there

DING DING DING! Not only did McGuinness smash through the records for the longest Pure title reign, dude almost made it a full year before he lost the unification match against Danielson.

-The ROH fans-will continue to support the product loyally,

DING DING DING! Well, to be fair this was an easy one and I won't officially count this in the final tally. ROH fans have turned out in droves, with large crowds packing Chicago and New York, the Philadelphia crowd revitalized by the CZW feud, returns to markets such as St. Paul and Boston have been successful. Of course there are the so called B shows where crowds are smaller and quieter, but that will happen from time to time. And then there's Long Island.

-The ROH message board-will continue to be a source for some great and also some infuriating wrestling debate. They will also continue their habit of turning their back on some of their anointed heroes. I expect Claudio Castagnoli and Milano Collection AT to be ripped for their shortcomings and limitations by June, thus causing their heel turns (that's a habit you know).

Half credit on this one, as fans were decrying Claudio even as quickly as New Year's Day (believe me I remember checking and found a thread on it), although to be fair, in the end it turns out people were onto something with that pesky Claudio tart. As far as the ROH message board goes, well, they have their good days and their bad ones, and they especially love picking on some of the 411 guys for expressing their opinion while expecting they not get shit for expressing their own (well, except for ME! They freaking love me! YES! WORLD WIDE ADORATION WILL SOON BE MINE! Well, except that one time when they turned on me, but hey, we all make mistakes and I can forgive temporary insanity).

-The Round Robin Challenge—will return this year and I'll even predict that it will involve ALL three original participants.

No. I think there were plans to do something with Daniels, Danielson and Low Ki before the whole Ki debacle went down, but a Round Robin Challenge in any form has not resurfaced, and I don't think it will for some time if ever again.

-ROH's show in Chicago before Wrestlemania 22 will outdraw even the huge number of fans at At Our Best (which was before Wrestlemania XX).

DING DING DING! Combined crowds for the double shot in Chi-town had a total number of over 2,700 fans.

-Finally, two words: SUPER DRAGON!

DING DING DING! No one would have ever thought Super Dragon would ever be booked in ROH, but shock of shocks occurred when Dragon made his debut at the ROH Arena Warfare event at the New Alhambra. Of course I couldn't have guessed by the end of the year we'd have seen all three of the most requested wrestlers on the independent scene make their mark in ROH—Super Dragon, Chris Hero and of all people, Necro Butcher!

So the final tally for last year's predictions? Three and a half out of seven correct for an even fifty percent prediction rate. Hmm, I might as well apply for a day job as a quarter and asked to be flipped all day. So now that we took that little stroll through memory lane, how about let's get to some FRESH and out there predictions for the upcoming year!


Predictions for 2007
-Chris Hero is YOUR next ROH World Champion…but it won't be happening on 1/26 in Braintree, MA.
-Samoa Joe WILL fight KENTA and Takeshi Morishima in 2007, but Kobashi or Misawa are too much of a long shot to happen.
-AJ Styles, Alex Shelley and Prince Nana will all make their returns to ROH in 2007, but it won't be for any extended period of time.
-Chris Hero vs. Claudio Castagnoli: 2/16/06 in New York City. Book it, Gabe!
-Delirious will finally speak learn to English fluently, only to take one hard shot too many and go right back to square one in Delirious speak.
-Matt Sydal finally gets his big win against Aries and Strong in a tag title defense.
-Jimmy Bower finally turns on Dave Prazak and Jared David and in a fit of jealous rage, takes over the commentary booth and shoots on Gabe Sapolsky.
-ROH finally makes its debut in Canada. El Generico gets sent over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
-Jimmy Jacobs finally gets what he wants from Lacey, a kiss…but not on the lips. Nope, cheek only for Jacobs. Then Jacobs will proceed to cut ten songs about it.
-We end with once again predicting an unexpected talent to make a debut for ROH…how about—two words, KURT ANGLE! No…too easy…ok, got it: two words: BLK OUT!


Ok kids, we're down to the home stretch...head on over to PART FOUR with the ROH top 100 and some final words for 2006. WORD.
--Ari--