News to Start Your Weekend 5.18.07

Posted by Nick Marsico on 05.18.2007

A recap of my big weekend at Ring of Honor, some TV thoughts and a bunch of other little pieces of news. You know you want to read it.

As you should know, last Saturday night was the night in which Ring of Honor taped their first ever pay-per-view, a show that is currently in the post production process and will be airing in 6 weeks, on Sunday, July 1st. As you may know if you read my column last week or have seen me on various message boards, including the ones on this very website, I happened to attend that event. And it wasn't only a night in the big city for this boy, but rather an all day affair, and a lot of it was quite free of charge. I spent the night before (a week ago tonight) upstairs in the apartment of a couple friends at a pseudo party. I got back down to my own apartment around 2:30 or so in the morning and ended up in bed and asleep no earlier than 4:30. I was awakened around 8:45 Saturday morning, which lead to leaving the house around 10 AM in order to grab some breakfast and catch a train on the way to a bar in Brooklyn. Yes, I spent last Saturday from about noon to 3 PM in a bar in Brooklyn. That time was spent drinking for the first time since my 19th birthday (I turned 21 three months ago) and trying to find somebody to sell my extra ticket to.

At that fine bar, I had the pleasure of meeting a couple guys from the Ring of Honor message boards – a gentleman who goes only by the name of Dog, a guy named Dave, who, if you were at the show, will know as the guy who got his Red Sox cap taken from him by Homicide, and the ever popular Green Lantern Fan, who I now know simply as Paul. That was a fun few hours, and it led to a cab ride to 73rd street (72nd? Whatever, I was half drunk) and the Dallas BBQ, where myself and a few others – all of us who were at the bar, some dude who I think they were calling Bower, and another dude named Dave – were treated by the venerable gregh, a staple of the ROH message boards and a leader of the Ring of Honor fan nation, to lots of food and drinks. Alas, I only got a quarter of the way through my Texas-sized Long Island iced tea, because any more would have caused me a bout with total drunkenness, and I like to have my wits about me, especially when wandering around the city and going to a hot building to sit in the front row of a wrestling show. This fine feast was followed up by another meeting, this time only a stone's throw away from the Manhattan Center venue, at the bar of the New Yorker Hotel. By then I personally was done imbibing the alcoholic beverages, but I met a few people, including that dude who always wears the Yankees clubhouse jacket to shows (although I had met him once previously on the train on the night of Final Battle '06) and josephcondello on the ROH boards, a guy whose hair I had only marveled at from afar until meeting him Saturday, as I, just as he, once had long flowing locks. There were others, but fuck ‘em – it's been a week and I was in the process of sobering up. Nice guys, though, all of them.

I would like to publicly thank Greg for the great time and for paying for all of the good food at the Dallas BBQ and arranging everything. Greg is a hell of a guy and does a lot for his fellow Ring of Honor fans. If you ever get the chance to meet him, shake his hand and thank him for being such a good dude and a great fan.

On to the actual show, of course, where the crowd was hotter, at least for the first half of the show, than any of the Manhattan Center crowds yet. As I mentioned I had front row seats, and have now also completed the rounds of the building, sitting one time on each of the four sides of the ring. I've made a step up each time as well, going from standing on a chair in general admission in September for Glory by Honor to sitting second row on the opposite side of the stage for Final Battle, sitting in the front row of the balcony for FYF: NYC and finally front row on the opposite side of my balcony seats for Respect is Earned. It was an odd feeling and there was a very different vibe and aura all night, and I would attribute that to both my seats as well as the overall feeling of the crowd and the show, knowing that last Saturday night was a very big deal.


Ring of Honor – Respect Is Earned
Saturday, May 12, 2007 (to air on PPV July 1) – Manhattan, NY

- We got a nice little match to start the show between the mega over Brent Albright and Bobby Dempsey's new weight loss coach Tank Toland. Nothing special here, although to echo the sentiment of basically everybody who has spoken about this one, Tank's workout routine offense is SWANK~! Notables were the jumping jack double stomps and sit-ups into elbow strikes while holding Albright in a bodyscissors from behind.

- BJ Whitmer started the PPV off proper, cutting a quick promo about ROH being the company that shows wrestling as a sport and that the night would feature some of the best wrestling action you're going to see. With that he laid down a challenge to anybody in the back, a challenge that was promptly accepted by one Takeshi Morishima, and it was ON, with the World Title on the line. This one was very quick, featuring the first half with Whitmer giving Morishima every bit of offense he had only to see the big man come back and kill him with the backdrop driver to retain his title. The crowd, as they were for the entire first half, was absolutely molten for this, and it continued when Nigel and American Dragon made their way out to the ring. It was a really good opening segment that should come off great on PPV.

- Romero vs. Marufuji, the next match taped for the PPV, started off a little slow and tentative, but once it picked up, it picked the fuck up and delivered big. These guys showed good chemistry together and ended up putting together a damn fantastic match that built extremely well up to the finish. There were some very good near falls in this one; a lot of spots that most of us really did expect the match to end. Hell of a contest and I can't wait to see it on tape.

- The next segment was a continuation of the Morishima/Dragon/Nigel drama, this time with the added bonus of KENTA and the booking of the evening's main event, a big tag match pitting Morishima and Danielson against Nigel and KENTA. This was another hot segment that should come off well on PPV.

- Davey Richards versus Erick Stevens in a battle between the NRC and the Resilience was not announced as a PPV match, but it led to a fun bout between the two. It was nothing out of this world, but it was enjoyable to yell at Davey a lot and heckle the shit out of him, so in the end it all worked out.

- The next match blew everything else away and probably ended up being a big part of the force that caused the crowd to significantly die down following intermission. Claudio Castagnoli came out to address the crowd, and after showering us with a multitude of things that rhymed with ‘HEYYYYYYY', introduced us to his tag partner for the evening, which should have come to the shock of nobody – the tag whore himself, Matt Sydal. This stems from Claudio having won a shot at the tag titles and a partner of his choice – what followed was an all out menagerie of complete awesomeness that is better left for everyone to view on July 1st when watching it on PPV. There was a spot where Sydal stood on Claudio's shoulders inside the ring and dove out of the ring onto the Briscoes, and it was literally directly in front of me. I was a bit afraid for my life at that moment. If Pat Patterson was there, he definitely would have described the whole thing as "banana".

- The angle that followed the Briscoes' successful title defense was also very hot, as it saw Kevin Steen and El Generico, the team with one hateable douchebag and one loveable Mexinadian gentleman, interrupt the on camera segment with Dave Prazak and the very large Lenny Leonard to challenge the Briscoes for the titles on the basis of their insane match at FYF: Philly and their non title victory over the Briscoes on April 14. A wild brawl ensued – it was a security pull-apart that Kurt Angle could really learn from.

- I'm getting tired just transcribing all of this. Homicide made a surprise appearance next to say good bye to the ROH faithful in New York in a very cool segment that lead us into intermission.

- After said intermission, which was very long, might I add, where we ended up just giving away our spare ticket to a pal of mine from the Opie and Anthony Wackbag.com message board in exchange for him standing on line to get my friend and I some water, the next contest saw Sara Del Ray defeat Daizee Haze. It was a fine match, although nothing SHIMMER quality, which ROH women's matches never seem to be, even though they are the SHIMMER girls. Sara is beyond awesome, though.

- A tag scramble came on next, and it was a match that I'd like to see on the PPV even though it won't make it. It was a follow up on the previous PPV taped segment where Steen and Generico found themselves in a match, taking on the teams of Irish Airborne, Jimmy Rave & Adam Pearce and Mitch Franklin & Pelle Primeau. This one was fun, and of course Steen and Generico took the victory. The most memorable part was when Pearce whipped out the Repo Man mask and put it on, finally giving us a damn good response to our chants over the past many months. Sheer greatness there. Not enough Jimmy Rave here, though. I'm hoping he gets a role on the PPV portion of the next taping.

- We're almost finished, as next it was Roderick Strong slowly beating the shit out of Delirious in a match for the PPV that will surely come off much better on tape than it did live. We were already quite tired – speaking for myself, at least, I was just about done – and the match featured a pretty long heat segment on Delirious that basically saw Roddy pounding on him and responding to the crowd's jeers. There were some good spots and it wasn't a bad match, but it wasn't paced all that well, and coming on right after the tag scramble and after the tag title match earlier may have hurt this one. I wouldn't be surprised to see the placing of this and the tag title match being switched for the PPV version.

- The night wrapped up with the main event tag match and Danielson once again made KENTA tap like a bitch. Of course prior to that all four men beat the living shit out of each other and put on a damn good match. It wasn't perfect and there was some definite miscommunication on the parts of all of the guys, and Nigel was working hurt, but it was a really fun match that once again I'm sure will come off very well on tape. It all closed with Morishima walking out on top, taking out Nigel and Danielson, both of whom grabbed the World Title belt, with the backdrop driver. Look for the huge rope of snot coming out of Danielson's nose as he climbed to the top rope at one point during the match, I believe following KENTA up there.

- Overall it was a damn fun day and it was capped off with a great wrestling card that I really enjoyed. To everybody I spent time with, thanks for the good time.

The final card for the July 1st ‘Respect is Earned' show is as follows:

- BJ Whitmer vs. Takeshi Morishima (ROH World Title)
- Rocky Romero vs. Naomichi Marufuji
- Claudio Castagnoli & Matt Sydal vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe (ROH World Tag Titles)
- Delirious vs. Roderick Strong
- KENTA & Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson & Takeshi Morishima

If you don't spend the 10 or so dollars to buy this PPV, you're insane.

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- Apparently, the reason MVP has been wearing his bodysuit because WWE didn't like his physique when he first came in. You'd think that would be the kind of thing that somebody would mention to him before he got called up, or at least in the month plus that he was on television before wrestling. That way he could have debuted wearing something normal instead of the ridiculous outfit he was in. I guess something like that requires some foresight, though.

- Rob Van Dam is all but 100% confirmed officially done with WWE. The word is that he has been released from his contract, which means his no-compete will end in late August rather than in early October. It looks like Rob is going to get that vacation time that WWE wouldn't grant him before making his way over to the much less strenuous schedule of TNA. I hope Ring of Honor gets him for a show or two before he signs a deal, though. I'd definitely like to see him and Sabu team to take on the Briscoes in a one night only thing.

- It appears that maybe the brand expansion in starting a European branch of WWE is still going to happen, as WWE has offered contracts to a number of European wrestlers.

- Gregory Helms may be out until next summer with what is possibly a broken neck. There's nothing more on how, where or when it occurred at this time, however.

- As I'm sure many people expected, one of, if not THE main event for One Night Stand, which will take place only 2 weeks from this Sunday, by the way, may end up being Bobby Lashley challenging Vince McMahon for the ECW Title.

- For a good, close up look at all three of the new TNA belts, take a little trip over to Dave Millican Belts. The World Title actually looks a lot better than I thought upon first seeing it. It's like an homage belt – a mix between the classic ‘Winged Eagle' WWF Title, the WCW Big Gold belt and the NWA Title (the plates on the strap have the bubble that appears on the center plate of the NWA belt) as well as some influence of the IWGP title. It looks quite good. I like the X title as well, as it looks like a better version of the old belt and less like a kids style replica. The tag titles are also quite different, but look pretty cool. Now if only they can all get around the waists of the correct people, everything would be wonderful.

- Benoit wants to see AJ Styles in WWE and wants to do a program with the Undertaker. Can't say I disagree.

- Foley is apparently training for a big match at SummerSlam and may actually call it quits for real due to the horrible shape his knees are in and his chronic back and neck problems. I'll believe it when I see it. Which, in all likelihood, stands to be five years from now when Foley again claims he's doing his last match, five years and 10 matches after doing it the last.

- The Condemned continues to bomb.

- Jericho may return in the fall.

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There are some big matches signed for upcoming Ring of Honor shows:

June 8 – Roxbury Crossing, MA
- Jay Briscoe vs. Takeshi Morishima (ROH World Title)
- Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen
- Nigel McGuinness vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Chris Hero vs. Claudio Castagnoli

June 9 – Philadelphia, PA
- Claudio Castagnoli & Chris Hero vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe (2/3 Falls, ROH World Tag Titles)
- Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw

June 23 – Chicago, IL
- Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA
- Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe (ROH World Tag Titles)

That's already a bunch of huge matches for what should be a spectacular month of June. There's also a show on the 22nd in Dayton, but no matches have been signed as of now. Also, the June 23 Chicago show will be the second PPV taping, which will air at some point in September. If you're close, get out to one of these shows. I'll be in Philly.

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- I really enjoyed RAW again this week. The show was quite good and I thought it was a damn fine go home show for Judgment Day. I didn't like the set up of the HBK/Orton match or the way it closed the show, or the fact that HBK, concussed and basically beaten down by Edge for 15 minutes, got the clean victory with the superkick. The match itself was good, though, as was the rest of the show.

- Out of all places, why would Marella choose to live in Paterson, NJ? I live in Jersey and there are a lot of nice places here. Paterson is very far from being one of them. I don't think a kindhearted foreigner would fare very well in Paterson.

- Candice once again impresses. I hope they do hold off on the title match at Judgment Day and book it for One Night Stand. It's only 2 weeks away as it is.

- Speaking of title matches, I'm assuming they're also waiting for One Night Stand to have Cade and Murdoch challenge the Hardyz in a rematch. There's actually been some decent booking thus far that is actually going to lead us into the June 3 show with a card of matches that do have some build behind them. It would have been nice for them to start promoting SNME before this PPV, though, since it won't interfere with buys, and now all they're going to do is have a couple short weeks of build while they're also trying to put together the ONS card. Chances of it doing anything whatsoever in the ratings on June 2 are very, very slim.

- So what are we looking at for a One Night Stand card? I see Batista vs. Mark Henry, Hardys vs. Cade & Murdoch, Deuce & Domino vs. London & Kendrick, Lashley vs. Vince and Melina vs. Candice. That leaves Orton, Cena, Michaels, Edge, Benoit and MVP as the big guys left out. I see a possibility of a Cena/Orton/Michaels triple threat, which would lead to Cena/Orton for Vengeance and eventually Michaels/Cena for SummerSlam after they come up with something for the Bash.

- Chris Masters isn't looking too bad these days. I'd like to see him and Marella get a little bit more time to try to develop something.

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WWE has a PPV this Sunday. I think:

Cena, Edge, Michaels, Flair, Vince, Benoit, Punk

That's all I got. Seeya next time.

Oh, and Csonka is doing RocketBusta Radio with me and the gang tomorrow night at 8. Check it out.