Column of Honor: 06.09.07
Posted by Ari Berenstein on 06.09.2007
Did Jimmy Do “it”? SHIMMER title tournament and volume 11 and 12 results, the debut of the CoH Black T-Shirt Squad, YOUR Desert Island DVD’s (yeah!), plus results from 6/8/07 in Boston, MA and a in-depth preview of tonight’s show in Philly. Columntastic!
I'm running out of column space if I don't want to make this into a two-parter, so suffice to say I'm glad to see you all here once again this weekend. It was another busy one and we are in the middle of a great North Eastern double shot which by the end of tonight should have plenty of noteworthy events to discuss.
Jimmy and Lacey: Conquer All Will Love?
The last two parts of the Jimmy-Lacey love story were released earlier in the week, to rave reviews and responses on the internet. I present them here for you in case anybody missed them the first time around. I will have more to say about this next week, but I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't see it yet.
It looks like part three was the "heat" segment, where it looks like our hero, Jimmy, could be in trouble, but then we get to part four…and shit goes down, smooth, yo.
PART THREE:
PART FOUR:
How about that?
SHIMMER Championship Tournament Coverage—SEMI FINALS, FINALS, VOLUMES 11 and 12
On Saturday, June 2nd, 2007, SHIMMER Women's Athletes wrapped up it's first ever championship tournament as well as recorded plenty of matches for both its upcoming volume 11 and 12 releases. Volume 11 in particular looks to be a BEAST of a release. It will feature the tournament as well as a second half of NON tournament action. It will be a double DVD release from the looks of it a must buy. Here's a look at the results of the tournament, as well as what else is in store for these shows.
SHIMMER Women's Athletes Title Tournament:
SEMI FINAL Round
-LACEY vs. DAIZEE HAZE Winner: Lacey
-SARA DEL REY vs. SARA STOCK Winner: Sara Del Rey
FINALS
-LACEY vs. SARA DEL REY Winner: Sara Del Rey via Royal Butterfly followed up by a jumping piledriver.
FIRST SHIMMER Champion: SARA DEL REY!
Analysis: The overall tournament favorite, Del Rey picks up a huge win over the SHIMMER killed Sara Stock to advance to the finals. Meanwhile, Lacey and Daizee Haze continue their rivalry, this time with Lacey snapping Daizee's winning ways in SHIMMER and eliminating The Haze from the tournament. Del Rey and Lacey then had a near twenty minute match and ended with what's sounds like a hell of a finisher. Del Rey becomes SHIMMER's first champion. Del Rey seeks to give prestige and legitimacy to the SHIMMER title like Danielson did for the ROH World Title, through professional wrestling and technical acumen. Congratulations go out to the new champion.
Serena Deeb defeated Alicia
Malia Hosaka def. Josie
MsChif defeated Portia Perez
Becky Bayless interviews Alexa Thatcher, who talks about her broken ankle. Alicia attacks her and works over the foot before MsChif and Daffney make the save.
Eden Black defeated Lexie Fyfe
Cheerleader Melissa defeated Ariel
Sara Stock defeated Daizee Haze
Dog Collar Match: Cindy Rogers defeated Allison Danger
Lumberjack Match: Sara Del Ray & Nikki Roxx defeated Lacey & Rain
ROH Results: June 8th, 2007 in Roxbury Crossing, MA
Matches
-BJ Whitmer and Brent Albright is declared a no contest when Whitmer headbutts referee Paul Turner. Whitmer then goes on a rampage, throwing chairs into the audience.
-Bryan Danielson defeated Jimmy Rave via referee stoppage with his MMA elbows.
-Kevin Steen defeated Mark Briscoe via pinfall with a package piledriver.
-Claudio Castagnoli defeated Mike Quackenbush in a Four Corner Survival match that also included Nigel McGuinness and Chris Hero. Claudio pinned Quackenbush with the European uppercut.
-Eddie Edwards defeated Pelle Primeau in the 2007 Battle of Alliteration with a pinning cradle.
-Matt Sydal defeated El Generico via pinfall with a reverse off a hurricanrana.
-The Resilience of Matt Cross and Erick Stevens plus Delirious defeated the No Remorse Corps of Roderick Strong, Davey Richards and Rocky Romero. Delirious pinned Roderick after the Bizarro Driver.
-ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima retained his title by defeating challenger Jay Briscoe via pinfall with a backdrop driver.
Angles & Issues
-Daizee Haze called out Jimmy Jacobs and Lacey as she is continuing to look for revenge against the duo for their beating on her constantly during the Whitmer-Jacobs war. Jimmy comes out but Daizee attacks him with his own cane. Lacey makes the save and seems to be more concerned for Jimmy as opposed to wanting revenge on Daizee.
-Kevin Steen continued to beat on Mark Briscoe after their singles match and brother Jay ran in to save. On August 10th in Boston we will see El Generico and Kevin Steen vs The Briscoes in a Boston Street Fight.
-Claudio Castagnoli gains an ROH World title shot by virtue of his win tonight in the Four Corner Survival.
-Matt Sydal vs. El Generico was given high praise
-After the title match, The Briscoes and their rivals Steen and Generico fought all over the Reggie Lewis track center, including into the front lobby.
-Return Date: August 10th 2007 for Death Before Dishonor V Night 1
ROH Desert Island DVD's: Reader Response Edition
I asked and I have received.
Two weeks ago I put out my own choices for ROH Desert Island DVDs—the shows I would absolutely NEED to have if I were to be stuck on an island with nothing but a television, a DVD player and five Ring of Honor DVDs. Now, here are your choices for ROH D.I. DVDs:
Edgar (black_tacobell)--awesome handle by the by—writes in with his list:
The name's Edgar from Puerto Rico (That's right, you have readers in Puerto Rico). The DVD's are in no particular order.
1.ROH-Manhattan Mayhem
How can I not include this DVD on the list? Probably the best ROH DVD released. It has the Dog Collar Match between Punk and Rave (the match alone makes this DVD a must have) Gibson vs. Black Tiger, Shelley vs. Aries and the match that got me into ROH, Jacobs and Whitmer vs. Strong and Evans.
This DVD is stacked from top to bottom with great matches
2. Final Battle 2006
There's 3 GREAT matches on this one. The Briscoes vs KoW had its share of old-school tag matches and innovative spots and is one of the best tag matches in recent memory. The Dragon Gate Rules match starts off a bit slow, but it ends up an incredibly fast pace. And of course, Homicide vs. Danielson. This match is worth watching just for the reaction from the crowd when Homicide wins the title.
3. Joe vs Kobashi
It's Samoa Joe, vs. Kenta Kobashi… nuff said.
4. Supercard of Honor II
Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer take their feud to a steel cage and we get a bloodbath. There's no words to describe how good this match. Then there's the 6-man Dragon Gate match while its not as great as the first one (which happened to be a 5-star) match its still incredible, and it makes me wonder if those guys from Dragon Gate are even human.
5. Glory By Honor V (Night 2)
Danielson vs. KENTA, Bruno Sammartino, Marifuji vs. Nigel, The Morishima-Joe brawl, Hero and Claudio become tag champs, this one has everything. While I think the Davey-Evans opener could have been a bit longer, its just a minor complain on what was otherwise a great show.
So that's my top five… Hopefully, I'm not the only person who actually you know, sent you a list!
At the time Edgar WAS the only one who had sent me a list, but that soon changed. Edgar and I have the same list with only SCOH II being the major difference. And come to think of it as the years go by that may end up on my list as well!
Loyal reader and frequent emailer Gohan642 came in next with a great list and write up:
Era Of Honor Begins- It's only for the 3-way that started it all. That match is still one of my personal favorites of all time.
Manhattan Mayhem- Best up and down show to that point. It was pretty much perfect, and it's hard to argue that kind of quality and consistency.
Supercard of Honor- I probably wouldn't be putting this in here, but it was my first live ROH Event, so it holds a pretty special place in my heart. Doesn't hurt that it's got the Dragon Gate 6 man, Aries/Evans vs. AJ/Sydal and Strong vs. Danielson.
Better Than Our Best- My pick for best ROH show ever. It had everything and at the highest quality. Spotfest, a wrestling getting their big break and finally getting their first pinfall, another spotty 3 vs. 3, very well done 4-way, amazing tag action, dream match with an arguable legend, and a hot, insane blowoff to a hot, insane feud.
Fifth Year Festival: Finale- It'd be an amazing show without it, but being that it's Joe's last appearance in ROH for a long while, it's an automatic must have.
Really cool picks. It's very interesting that you chose "era of honor begins". Even today it still holds a very lofty place for ROH fans and the card itself mostly holds up to this day (if not the production quality). Better Than Our Best may be one of my favorite ROH shows ever--hard to believe I had to leave it off my list!
Shep44 spent a long damn time figuring out what was going with him on his personal island, but he came up with a tremendous selection of old and new ROH.
After reading this section of the COH I began to wonder how I can simply narrow my personal list down to five. Hours after contemplating I finally narrowed my list down so here it is:
Crowning A Champion- This was the show that crowned the very first ROH World champion. The Bunkhouse match between the Natural Born Sinners vs. The Carnage Crew was absolutely thrilling in that Homicide actually put DeVito in a Crippler Crossface Variation with Barbed Wire going across the his face(yeesh!). The other tag bout between Paul London & Don Juan taking on Michael Shane & Bio Hazard, if you notice 3 out of the four men in this match was trained under the tutelage of Shawn Michaels which proved to work wonders for London down the road. I've seen a lot of great Ironman matches but none have come close to the main event match that included Low Ki, Christopher Daniels, Brian ‘'Spanky'' Kendrick, and Doug Williams. Each man gave it their all and at the conclusion saw Ki actually coming close to shedding tears.
Supercard of Honor- In professional wrestling it's very rare that a promotion can pull off an action oriented card as good as its competitors. At this event we saw a spectacular six man bout between the top two factions in Dragon Gate at the time as Do Fixer(Horiguchi, Ryo Saito, and Dragon Kid) fought Blood Generation(CIMA, Yoshino, and Naruki Doi). Anytime you get a crowd saying ‘'please don't stop'' Cary & Gabe knew the crowd was seeing something special. Secondly, we also saw the continuation of the rivalry between Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong for the ROH World Title in a match that lasted 56 minutes! I‘ll even throw in the wildcard match that featured all of the ladies from SHIMMER, even though the match was insanely slow it still left its mark on me.
The 2ND Anniversary Show- This was the show that crowned the first ROH Pure Champion and kept two feuds going. First, was the feud between the Prophecy vs. Low Ki; the back-story was filled with controversy such as Ki actually knocking out Dan Maff. Second, the storyline between Daniels and CM Punk it went so far as to Punk coming out to the Fallen Angel's theme music & attire(proverbial slap in the face anyone!!!).
Glory by Honor 5 Night 2- This event personified why 2006 was the best year for Ring of Honor. From the appearance of the legendary Bruno Sammartino to the defense of the ROH World Title by Bryan Danielson against KENTA this event had wall to wall action. The Kings of Wrestling(theme music rules!!!) was able to dethrone the aces of the ROH tag team ranks Aries & Strong. Also, the match between Nigel McGuinness and Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Heavyweight Belt 1st time ever in North America) was awesome from start to finish.
Final Battle 2006- In my humble opinion this was the most emotional nights in wrestling because Homicide pinned the seemingly unstoppable Bryan Danielson for the ROH world title in front of his hometown of New York F'N City!!!!! I was there in person and while Cide was celebrating in the ring I began to weep unceremoniously as if I won the belt!!!!! All in all this was truly a night I'll never forget even if I had memory loss!!!
It's great that Shep can enjoy the little things in an ROH show, such as the barbed wire spot (which I had completely forgotten about) during Crowing a Champion and CM Punk's imitation as the sincerest form of flattery in dressed up as Christopher Daniels only to reveal himself and shout "Are you expecting somebody else?". The Pure Title tournament was also pretty well done, although its impact on the company at the time was muted due to losing AJ Styles. I agree with you on your comments about the two NYC shows, emotion and quality were the driving forces behind the shows. Thanks for the extensive write up!
FASJAB (James from VA) finishes us up with his list of five:
1. Manhattan Mayhem: This was the first show that made me want to give an arm to get it (thank God all ROH wanted was 20 bucks). The show had three great title matches, a bloody (literally & figuratively) good dog collar match, the former Special K's best ROH ever, Nigel kicking Colt in the balls to start their feud, and, of course, The Rottweilers in their backyard. Plus the hidden highlight of Julius Smokes' attacks: Smokes trying to give Samoa Joe an enema with a baseball bat. Defiantly one of the greatest wrestling shows I've ever seen.
2. Better Than Our Best: For months, the final match between Colt Cabana & Homicide had been building up to a fever pitch. When it happened, it was a classic, and one of the top matches of '06. The rest of the show was rounded out with the return of Lance Storm, facing off with Bryan Danielson in a wrestling clinic, plus two great tag matches. And let's not forget that four way with Joe, Styles, Daniels, and Jimmy Yang. If not for the main event and the tag title match, the four way could've stolen the show. Similar to M.M., this show also had a hidden highlight after the Danielson/Joe confrontation: a good friend of mine in the front row sitting with HORNSWAGGLE!
3. Joe/Punk II: The epic rematch in Chicago. Very few shows have had the emotion of Joe/Punk 2 just due to Punk going for the belt in his hometown. And the great contest they put on didn't hurt either. But this show is horribly labeled as a one matcher. True, the first 2/3s of the show is pretty dry, but thanks to Gen Next & The Rottweilers, the show was saved from one match purgatory. It was a very unusual heel vs. heel tag match that turned into a memorable contest. But Jimmy Jacobs & Alex Shelley turned it up after the tag match. Their I Quit match was tremendous, with the crimson flowing early. And who could forget the railroad/Singapore cane combo done during the match. For the three last matches alone, this is a must have on those long desert nights.
4. Glory By Honor V: Night 2: ROH's debut in the Manhattan Center, and easily one of the greatest ROH shows of all time. The main event alone is worth the purchase. Danielson vs. KENTA was a tremendous technical stiff-fest that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. My match of the year by far.
Sandwiched in the middle of the show were two tag matches that could headline any show, a fun triple threat, and the first confrontation between Joe & Morishima. Even through DVD, you could feel the electricity.
5. Supercard of Honor II: My most recent purchase, and easily the show of 2007 so far. From the live reports, I knew that the cage match would be my match of the night. I can say that Jacobs & Whitmer put on a cage match so good that I had to change my "favorite cage matches of all time" list to fit them in top five. And it didn't hurt the show by having Dragon Gate tear the house down in the main event. I honestly thought it would be off the wall from bell to bell. Instead, they built up to a hair-raising climax that I'll be watching from years to come. Definitely a nice bookend to a set of shows for those hot, sandy days alone.
Another call for Supercard of Honor II! Apparently that made some big impressions on the ROH viewing audience. I agree with that sentiment—it should be in the running for show of the year when the time comes. I also loved Better Than Our Best and in my Final Column 2006 feature called it the next show after Manhattan Mayhem that I would show to a person who had absolutely no clue what ROH was all about. It's good that you didn't lose that arm while buying Manhattan Mayhem, because you'd need all your limbs and your faculties to survive on the Desert Island. Thanks for your picks and for writing in!
Some commonalities between the D.I. DVD lists:
-The respondents all had Supercard of Honor or SCOH II on their list, indicating that those shows are aptly named and right on the money.
-Manhattan Mayhem, Final Battle 2006 and Glory By Honor V Night 2 were majority favorites.
-The earliest show on these four lists is the first show from 2002. That and "Crowning a Champion" head up the OG choices, but NO DVD from 2003 makes the cut.
I want to once again thank the readers for coming through this week with their choices. You guys rock! Maybe we can do something like this again in the future.
ROH Call
ROH Champions—As of 06/09/2007
ROH World Champion—Takeshi Morishima (champion since 02/17/07, 8 successful defenses)
Next Defense:: Roderick Strong, 6/09/07, Philadelphia, PA
V.1 defeated BJ Whitmer via pinfall / backdrop driver (2/23/07 Dayton, OH)
V.2 defeated KENTA via pinfall / backdrop driver (3/04/07 Tokyo, Japan)
V.3 defeated Nigel McGuinness via pinfall / backdrop driver (4/14/07 Edison, NJ)
V.4 defeated Austin Aries via pinfall / backdrop driver (4/27/07 St. Paul, MN)
V.5 defeated SHINGO via pinfall / backdrop driver (4/28/07 Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.6 defeated KAZMA via pinfall / backdrop driver (05/06/07 Tokyo, Japan)
V.7 defeated BJ Whitmer via pinfall / backdrop driver (05/12/07 New York, NY)
V.8 defeated Jay Briscoe via pinfall / backdrop driver (6/08/07 Roxbury Crossing, MA)
ROH World Tag Team Champions— Jay and Mark Briscoe (champions since 03/30/07, 4 successful defenses)
Next Defense: The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero), 6/09/07, Philadelphia, PA
V.1 Ultimate Endurance: defeated Pelle Primeau & Mitch Franklin, Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw, Hallowicked & Gran Akuma (4/27/07 St. Paul, MN)
V.2 defeated Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) (4/28/07 Chicago, IL)
V.3 defeated BJ Whitmer and ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima (5/11/07, Hartford, CT)
V.4 defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Matt Sydal (5/12/07, New York, NY)
ROH News
(via the ROHnewswire… and other sources when attributed
Late Night with Gabe Sapolsky
Some tidbits and notes from the booker man after the 6/8 show in Boston:
ROH has apparently put together the final version of the "Respect is Earned" PPV (whose run time is 1 hour and 58 minutes according to the indemand website). Cary played a final cut of the show to the boys in the back and it was well received.
Apparently a vignette was filmed where Tank Toland put his protégé Bobby Dempsey through his paces. Dempsey ran laps around the indoor track portion of the building they ran last night. Now Dempsey doing laps around a track while Toland puts the motivational bad mouth on him? THAT is entertainment!
Also, Mike Quackenbush is a really nice guy. Who knew?
You BETTA Recognize! "American Angel" Sara Del Rey was crowned the first SHIMMER Champion this past Saturday night in Berwyn, IL . . . ROH will recognize the SHIMMER Title. There are currently negotiations taking place to have Del Rey defend the belt in ROH.
Del Rey not only is going to bring prestige to the title, but she may be SHIMMER's best chance at selling the non hardcore ROH fans (i.e. the ones NOT buying the SHIMMER DVDs) on serious women's wrestling. ROH recognizing the title is a no-brainer but a nice little thing that once again established the FIP-SHIMMER-ROH connections.
Do, Do, Do or Die, Die, Die Signed for the "Do Or Die" show is a special grudge match main event of Lacey with Jimmy Jacobs vs. Daizee Haze. These two have a long running feud and even though they are established on the ROH roster they want to be on the "Do Or Die" show so they don't have to wait until the main show to get their hands on each other. Also signed for "Do Or Die" is Gran Akuma & Hallowicked vs. Deranged & Azrieal, Rex Sterling vs. Damien Wayne and Pelle Primeau will defend the Top Of The Class Trophy.
Full preview of these matches below.
Unlucky Irish A tag team bout has been added to the 6/22 event in Dayton. ROH's fastest rising team of Kevin Steen & El Generico will take on top prospects Irish Airborne.
I think it's safe to say that the Dayton crowd will be thrilled to the SQUASHING of young Randy Orton Crist and The Other Crist.
Mary Kate Grosso Released
Let's talk about an uncomfortable situation. DOI (Declaration of Independents) broke the story a few days back about ROH's photographer Mary Kate Gross being fired from her job. The speculation (not confirmed) is that ROH fired her because she was had a conversation with Rob Feinstein at a funeral for a mutual friend. Mary Kate left a message on her myspace confirming she has stopped working for ROH, but did not specify the reasons for her being let go.
MK was a fixture on ROH shows for many years and took many great shots. Her enthusiasm for the product was there in her work but also in her communications with the ROH fans on the message board. She also put up all of her photos and let the fans look at these shots at their leisure. That is pretty much unprecedented access to a wrestling event right there and it was a special privilege for fans to see shots of shows a few days after they took place when otherwise they couldn't watch the show for at least six weeks
I will say this about the source of the story: DOI is not ROH-friendly. They have ties with Rob Feinstein and very often go out of their way to find and report stories that disparage ROH's reputation. That said, often when they go with a story, there is at least somewhat of a truth to it. They have broken stories about wrestlers leaving ROH and it has turned out to be true.
That said, ROH still has the right to hire and fire whoever they want. While fans might find the reasons petty or unreasonable, it's not their call. Ultimately, wrestling is a business and sometimes not a very pleasant one at that. Everyone, even ROH fans need to recognize that in wrestling very often no one is 100% innocent and no one is 100% guilty. ROH officials have made some tough calls in the past before, stuff that doesn't cast it in the best light.
One has to hold up each company to the same spotlight. It's just easier to get the inside scoops on the indie level rather than in WWE. It wouldn't be the biggest scandal in the world if WWE fired a photographer, so why does this one merit such large attention?
I have never spoken to Mary Kate personally but in my people watching at the shows I've always noticed that she was friendly to people in the crowd and always very professional. She always seemed nice and genuine and backstage accounts have confirmed this. It seems she will land on her feet elsewhere, but obviously this is not an easy time for her.
Multi Year Nigel
On June 5th's wrestling weekly radio show with Les Thatcher and Doc Young, Nigel let it be known that he has a "multi year" deal with ROH and is very serious about going with ROH and taking it to the next level. BTW, Les Thatcher helped to train Nigel down in the Heartland Wrestling Association. This is why he gets first dibs on THE SCOOPS!
Hero's Sandwich
Greetings once again, my Hero-ites, it is I, Chris Hero back for another week of the Hero's Sandwich. This week, I will be very short and to the point, as I am writing this while on the road from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania. I am in a particularly foul mood this evening as that Swiss idiot, Castagnoli, cheated me out of another win in ROH. We had made a deal that if either of us had gotten "Quack the Hack" in a pinning predicament, that I would be able to pin his scrawny shoulders to the mat. But once again, Castagnoli double crossed me and scored the pin himself. Half of me wants to pull out of the 2 out of 3 falls match we have for tonight, but after all the training I have done, I think it would be a crime to not go through with it, so I will hold up my end of the bargain and do my best. I will say this. If I get the chance to show Claudio whose boss, and why he'll never be as good as yours truly, I will. If I see my chance to allow the Briscoe's to administer a little bit of a beating to the "Swiss Idiot", I will let them, but like a good partner, I will not let them pin him, even if he has been beaten from pillar to post. Winning is the key element in the world of Chris Hero, and even if I have to do it with Castagnoli, I will suck it up, and as the Briscoe's would say, "man up", and deal with whatever may come. Larry has told me that if we win tonight, there will be a large bonus coming my way, as well as an excellent pay check from the nice people at Pro Wrestling NOAH, who are looking to collect all of the ROH titles. I hear that the bounty on the tag belts is approximately 1 Million Yen, so I feel that a win is of utmost importance. I was heartened to see the horrible beating that Kevin Steen administered to Mark Briscoe as well as the destruction of Jay by my favorite fat man, Takeshi Morishima. These beat downs will just soften up those inbred morons for tonight, and from what I've heard, they're in such bad shape right now that I could probably beat them by myself.
That leads me to my next thought. When we win tonight, there are many potential challengers that we would have to face in the coming weeks and months. Included in this number would have to be Steen and his faux-Mexican/Canadian partner, El Generico. While I have a great deal of respect for their in ring work, I think that they aren't fooling anyone. We all know that they hate each other, and are probably one bad decision away from beating the hell out of each other, as they have done so many times before. I must thank them though for as I said before, softening up the Briscoe's over the past few weeks. I think this will play a huge role in tomorrow night's inevitable outcome. After those two jokers, the team that I think most deserves a title shot would have to be Pelle Primeau and Mitch Franklin. They are a physically imposing team, with all the tools of a championship caliber team. They have gotten numerous big pre-show wins under their belts, and they would make for a formidable challenge to our championship reign.
…
Yeah, and pigs will fly. Could you imagine what kind of massacre that would be? Those two skinny wimps can't even carry my gym bag. How they have ever won a match is beyond me, but it is ROH, so anything can happen, right Gabe?
And on that note, I take my leave for the night. I need to get my extended sleep tonight, as I want to be fully rested for the match tonight. While I am still upset about tonight's developments, I can take solace in the fact that Quackenbush lost again, and that his prospects for further employment in ROH is hanging in the balance. I hope I get to be the man who beats him, and forces ROH to tell him that his shoddy services are no longer needed here. This isn't a bingo hall or ethnic religious center type promotion, and Quack is only really good enough to wrestle in those places. I want to thank my Hero-ites for keeping the cards and letters coming, and for continuing to support my calls for a boycott of Respect Is Earned, the so-called first ROH pay per view. I can now proudly state that I have the support of over 20,000 Hero-ites, and I hope that this will clarify my points to Gabe and Cary. Make sure that Chris Hero is booked for the second PPV taping or else. Don't make me prove my point, fellas. I'm one bad motor scooter when I'm ticked. Just ask any of the ROH stars I have beaten in the ring. Now, Hero-ites, I take my leave for another week. Next week I'll be back with the glorious details of my tag team championship victory, as well as taking a look at some of the top competitors in ROH. This has been your weekly dose of enlightenment; this has been your Hero's Sandwich. Sayonara, suckers!!
The Black T-Shirt Squad
There is no finer way in the world to call out to the world that you are a fan of the sport of Professional Wrestling than by plunking down your hard earned coin in exchange for a wrestling company T-shirt or other merchandise. The only problem is that Professional Wrestling is somewhat frowned upon by the mainstream media and culture (yeah, but worshiping celeb-utantes such as the American Doll Posse of Hilton and Lohan is a-okay, right?).
While most of us fans put up with that sort of outside pressure in order to pimp for our favorite company or wrestler, there is no denying that some wrestling products are downright and often fabulously and embarrassing. I mean, WWE hawks pendants and even Yarmulkes with their logo on it, and TNA has that fabulous DIVAS errrrr, Knockouts DVD that even soft core porn would call "ice cream". So unless you buy the right merch, prepare for stares and snickers.
But fuck it. You are a wrestling fan, goddamit and moreover, you are a human being and no one is going to tell you what to wear. After all, as your CM Punk shirt tells you "X X X, MY LIFE, MY RULES!" You make up your own mind and you know that if you want to wear a wrestling T-shirt shirt in public, then you are damn sure going to wear one in public.
However, a little fashion review wouldn't hurt. That's where I'm coming in. Let's take a look at some of the more recent Ring of Honor T-shirt releases and check out which ones you should be sporting this summer.
No Remorse Corps Skull and Guns
Description: Celebrate your lack of mercy and your tendency to kill human beings, leaving them bleeding and strangely enough with two wings on each side of their decapitated and skinned skull. The shirt supports a very simple, black white and red all over color design. Hip: You'd fit right in at any Metal concert or at an NRA meeting. Zip: You could potentially scare off pets, neighbors and attract unwanted attention from local and federal police. Wear or Tear?: Support the No Remorse Corps of Roderick Strong, Rocky Romero and Davey Richards and "BUY THE SHIRT!" Grade: B
Resilience
Description: The mantra "Resilience" in white and stylized font stretched across the top of the shirt let's people know that you will be able to recover from any short comings or problems that occur, such as the lack of a date from wearing too many wrestling shirts or your job firing your because you wear wrestling shirts or because your siblings laugh at you because you wear wrestling shirts. A cool tribal design that doesn't mean anything BUT IT LOOKS COOL completes the design. Hip: ROH gives us the best imitation of the current hottest fashion among MMA circles—the "Affliction" style shirt. It works. This shirt is one of those rare entities that can easily pass for a "non wrestling shirt". Especially since there are no ROH logos on the front or back. Zip: Obviously this shirt was intended to be a huge seller, especially when Austin Aries was the focal point of The Resilience group. However, you do know that by wearing this shirt, you are repping an un-established stable of ROH rookies who are leaderless and are constantly getting their ass handed to them by the NRC? Stay far away from the guys sporting the NRC shirt at an ROH show. Wear or Tear?: It's a wrestling shirt that looks good, looks good in public, has a positive message and is keyed into the latest fashion trends. MUST BUY. Grade: A+
Pro Wrestling Hero
Description: A white tee that takes off on the "Pro Wrestling NOAH" logo. Hero's usual grandiosity is demonstrated in full effect with the huge font and logo with stars. He's a HUGE STAR you know. No design on the back. Hip: Puro fans will get a kick out of knowing where the design came from. Zip: The word "pro wrestling" is on there front and center. You can't hide behind fancy catchphrases or skulls in this one. Plus, it's a Chris Hero T-Shirt. Wear or Tear?:If white T-shirts aren't your thing, it's a pass. If long haired, slightly doughy wrestlers are your thing, by all means get this shirt. Grade: B-
The Briscoes: It's Time to Man Up
Description: ROH finally manages to capitalize on the hottest catchphrase of the moment by doing a new Briscoes shirt. Red eyed "devil dogs" will scare the bejesus out of little children and cats as your shirt declares to them that they better MAN UP! Hip: COH fashion rule # 3: Dog tags are ALWAYS in-style. "Man Up" catch phrase is in full representation. Dog tags also rep Sandy Fork, Delaware, the hometown of the champs. Zip: The catchphrase is minimized thanks to those dogs on the front of the shirt. They are almost as ugly as The Briscoes themselves. Didn't we already do the canine thing with the Rottweilers? It's so passé now. Wear or Tear?: Unfortunately, ROH dropped the ball with this shirt. It's ugly as sin. Pass on this one and if the "Jack Daniels" shirt comes back into stock, grab that one up instead. It's far classier. Grade: D
More T-Shirts reviewed Zoolander stylee, next week right here in the column.
Honorarium
-Speaking of fashion, do you think KENTA needs more of a new wardrobe? I mean, even Samoa Joe changed up his color pattern once in a while.
-What if Bison Smith DID in fact defeat Mitsuhara Misawa for the GHC Heavyweight title last week? It would have been a complete shock to the system, but it could have been great to see if Bison could capitalize on the situation. He's big, tough, can take a beating. He might not be the all around best, but he is an imposing enough presence. He may be someone who can capture the imagination of the Japanese fans and get them to support someone, anyone who can stop him. Who would that man be? None other than the man NOAH has wanted to be the man for quite sometime—their golden boy and current ROH World champion, Takeshi Morishima.
-Scott Steiner's throat injury is a complete downer. Now the hottest match going into the PPV has been scrubbed, and besides the main event, well, it certainly seems like Slammiversary is about to be slammed big time. The whole thing is a mess. Frank Wycheck wrestling? What is this, 2002 again? That and Jackass guys wrestling on WWE for Summerslam, yeah, that's exactly what we need nowadays. This is the answer to wrestling injury woes—more celebrities? We might as well get Master P and his sycophant child back and have DJ Ran all up in the area. In conclusion, I blame Triple H.
When in doubt, always go back to the roots of the IWC.
-Mr. McMahon = C. Montgomery Burns.
-Whenever I hear the name "Major Brothers" I think of the Major Auto World commercials that play all the time right here in the Tri-State area. Everytime I see those dudes on TV I think they're about to sell me a used car.
ROH Preview: June 9th: Philadelphia, PA
7:30-7:45pm approximate belltime
Pennsylvania National Guard Armory
2700 Southampton Rd, Philadelphia, PA 19154
This show is perhaps the most stacked card Ring of Honor has done for Philly since Death Before Dishonor IV. Right now ROH is on the road to the fifth edition of that summer showcase, and feuds between wrestlers are picking up steam. Combined with a "Do or Die" show, this looks to be THE show to see this weekend.
Main Event- ROH World Title On The Line
Takeshi Morishima vs. Roderick Strong
It takes a strong man to defeat the dominant champion, and Strong is as strong as he comes. Coming in with a renewed purpose and attitude, the leader of the NRC has a good chance to dethrone Morishima and give his stable ultimate power and clout. Surprisingly, Strong didn't come in with a win from the previous show as is the pattern for usual title showdowns. This could give some extra motivation for the challenger to bring it and redeem himself for this weekend. Meanwhile, Morishima should remain his stoic self, dishing out punishment and violence to whoever his opponent is on any given night.
World Tag Team Title Match- 2/3 Falls
Jay & Mark Briscoe defend vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Chris Hero
The champions have been weakened with two losses on last night's show in Boston. Mark's neck may be hurting once again thanks to Kevin Steen's package piledriver—and guess where Hero and Castagnoli focus much of their offense? That's right. Jay Briscoe is certainly not at 100 percent due to being taken to his limit against the ROH World champion last night. He probably can't cover for his brother this time around. The big question is of course if the former Kings of Wrestling are on the same page. If they are, they can take advantage of the situation and pick apart the champs at will. However, any mishaps or misunderstandings (or the machinations of one "Sweet & Sour" Larry Sweeney) and The Briscoes can recover and fight back. Ultimately this is one of those bouts where the champions must prove they are worthy of the mantle and of the belts. If they can "Man Up", they will get the job done.
Special Challenge Match #1
Bryan Danielson vs. Matt Sydal
It's Land vs. Air here as Danielson's ground and submission game goes heads up with Sydal's dives and flying strikes. Yes, Danielson can go airborne when it's to his tactical advantage, but here he would be best served taking the legs out of Sydal and just teaching him an old school grappling lesson. A win here against Danielson would be a huge boon to Sydal's career, but the more likely scenario is Sydal giving it the good old college try, but ultimately coming up short.
Special Challenge Match #2
Nigel McGuinness vs. Larry Sweeney's Mystery Opponent
Like most others out there—I have not the foggiest idea about who McGuinness will fight here. Actually—that's not true, I do have one and I'll get to it in a second. Some suggestions from the hype that Nige's opponent will be a main event caliber seem to knock some choices off the list. If it's Tank Toland for instance, fans are going to be up in arms about the over hype. Yes that's a match I'd accept seeing and it would be good, but not with this kind of hype from both "Larry Sweeney's camp" and from "ROH officials" (as mentioned in the newswire). Other suggestions have included names from ROH's past, including John Walters and Xavier, but neither or those strikes me as main event level right now. What about having Hero or Claudio serve double duty? Claudio certainly gave Nigel a run for his money and his pure title back in 2005-early 2006. Knowing how egotistical Chris Hero can be, he would certainly consider himself to be Nigel's toughest opponent, because he is everyone's toughest opponent. .
I think someone is indeed going to do double duty, and there are two options here. One of them is that Jimmy Rave pulls out of the 4CS and takes Sweeney's money to take out Nigel (and gain revenge for losing the Fight Without Honor back in March's FYF:Finale). But better yet, there is one man who has claimed that Nigel has been one of his toughest opponents, and that is the former ROH World Champion, Bryan Danielson. My prediction is that "American Dragon" will do double duty tonight.
Grudge Match #1
Delirious vs. Rocky Romero
Delirious continues to work against his enemies in the NRC. He just got Strong in last night's six man and now he can get vengeance for himself in a one on one situation. Except…with the NRC, it's never a one on one situation. This match is going to break down quickly so expect lots of hard shots and then pain for someone.
Grudge Match #2
Matt Cross vs. Davey Richards
A one-on-one Resilience vs. NRC match up right here continues the stable warfare. Cross's aerial offense rivals that of Matt Sydal and while Richards doesn't have the technical acumen of Danielson, this match should work similarly to that bout. It's strikes and ground game vs. the air attack and whoever gets the momentum advantage should win out.
Four Corner Survival
BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Brent Albright vs. Erick Stevens
No word on if this 4CS would be for a future title shot as was described for last night's multi man match encounter. One would assume that if so, the man who stands out the most as ready for the main event title shot or at least the upper card would be Brent Albright. I expect a ferocious four way match with the three powerhouses. Jimmy Rave, if he stays in the match, should look to repeat his successful strategy from Final Battle 2006. That is—run, hide and take advantage when everyone least expects it.
Tag Team Action
Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw
Quacksaw returns to redeem themselves. Last time Quack and Jig teamed up, the masked man of a mystery wrapped in a puzzle wrapped in an enigma (or some such dealieabob) suffered a concussion. The injury prevented Jigsaw from giving his best efforts. Now he is back and back to make an impression. Steen and El Generico have a title shot in their back pocket, so they could sustain a loss. However, I don't see it happening. I think we could see a show stealer here, but ultimately the number one contender's prevail.
Special "Do Or Die" card starting at 6:15pm in the same venue:
Grudge Match Main Event
Lacey with Jimmy Jacobs vs. Daizee Haze
Will the united couple make it past one of their hated nemeses? Is it weird to want Lacey to win this one after wanting Daizee Haze to get revenge for so long?
Do Or Die Matches
Damien Wayne vs. Rex Sterling
Both men come in from the NWA independents with good reputations. Wayne had a great showing in the pre show of the Fighting Spirit card. A good performance here may be enough to seal the deal on recurring appearances.
Gran Akuma & Hallowicked vs. Azrieal & Deranged
CHIKARA vs. old school ROH! Az and Deranged represent the former Special K faction. We get to see how far (or not) they have come along since last being in ROH. A good showing will help their cause. Meanwhile Akuma and Hallowicked are up and coming independent guys and I'd expect them to take the match.
Pelle Primeau vs. Rhett Titus vs. Mitch Franklin vs. Alex Payne in a Four Way Fray for the Top Of The Class Trophy
The "Four Way Fray" concept is an elimination style Four Corner Survival. Pelle is therefore in four times the danger as the other ROH students are itching at the bit to get the trophy. All of these wrestlers continue to work hard to hone their craft, but Pelle has risen faster than the other three. Will that constitute enough professional jealousy for the other three to band together and eliminate Gnome Alaska's native son?
Stuart Carapola will have your results and thoughts for this show in his Sunday Ominous Thoughts News Report.
Going Home
**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!
2007
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night One (Strong / Romero, CIMA / Cross, Deliirous / Generico, 8 Man Tag)
**SHIMMER Women's Athletes Volume 6 (MsChif / Melissa Last Woman Standing, Rebecca Knox / Allison Danger Pure Rules)
**PWG Hollywood Globetrotters (Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong and Jack Evans; Cape Fear (El Generico and Quicksilver) vs. Arrogance (Chris Bosh and Scott Lost); B-Boy vs. Frankie Kazarian; Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin.)
**PWG Beyond The Thunderdome (Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. AJ Styles and Chris Daniels); Cape Fear vs. Arrogance; Joey Ryan vs. Chris Sabin)
**PWG Enchantment Under The Sea (Cape Fear vs. Briscoes; Matt Sydal vs. B-Boy; Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. Arrogance; Austin Aries vs. Kevin Steen)
**wXw World Lightweight Tournament 2006 (Ares / Baron von Hagen, Pac / El Generico, Quackenbush / Roudin, 5 Way Tournament Match)
**ECWA Super 8 Tournament 2001 (Danielson / Low Ki, Danielson / Reckless Youth, Low Ki / Billy Fives, Danielson / Spanky)
**ROH FWA IPW:UK Frontiers of Honor 2 (Sydal / Richards, Cabana / Burridge, JC Thunder / Nigel McGuinness, Danielson / Brookside / Stone)
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night Two (Necro Butcher/Super Dragon, Hero/Horiguchi, Evans/Castagnolli)
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night Three (Generico / CIMA, Hero, Claudio, Necro, Romero / Cabana, Quicksilver, M-Dogg 20, Delirious, Generico / Sabin, Richards / Strong, Evans/ Horiguchi, Richards / CIMA)
**Chikara The Crushing Weight of Mainstream Ignorance (Quackenbush / Akuma, Steel / Steel, Sweeney / Kingston, Hair vs. Mask: Jigsaw / Icarus)
**Chikara King of Trios Night One (Order of the Neo Solar Temple / Los Ice Creams, Miyawaki, Yago & KUDO / Iron Saints, Sweeny, Eliis and Ryder vs. Neo Solar Temple POSEDOWN, Shima Xion / Nobutaka Moribe)
**SHIMMER Volume 7 (Daizee Haze/Cheerleader Melissa, Mercedes Martinez/LuFisto, Sara Del Rey/Nattie Neidhart)
**Chikara King of Trios Night Two (Sabin, Shelley and Dutt vs. Quackenbush, Jigsaw and Shane Storm / Hallowicked, Cheech and Cloudy vs. Lince Dorado, Pantera and Sicodelico Jr. / Olsen Twins vs. Miyagi and Yago / Quack T-Shirt Squad vs. Boyer and 2.0)
**Chikara King of Trios Night Three (Pantera, Lince Dorado & Sicodelico, Jr. vs. Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Shane Storm / Kings Of Wrestling vs. Kudo, Yoshiaki Yago & Miyawaki / Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Shane Storm vs. Kudo, Yoshiaki Yago & Miyawaki / Ricochet vs. Claudio Castagnoli / Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Ray / Mokujin Ken vs. Mecha Mummy / Matt Sydal vs. Hallowicked) **UWA Hardcore: Hour of the Dragon (Ultimo Dragon / Black Tiger, Chris Sabin / Josh Prohibition, Mike Quackenbush / Claudio Castagnoli, Tyler Black / Josh Ambercrombie) (NEW ADDITION)
UWA Hardcore is an independent promotion from Mississauga, Ontario…CANADA. Not sure if the "Hardcore" name is necessary for the title. Chris Vetter gave a very positive review of this DVD and I agree with him all the way. I got this show during one of ROH's latest sales and watched most of it. This show is worth the get as it features some very good (*** - ***3/4 star) matches, tight production values and REPLAYS!
I freaking loved Claudio-Quack and ROH should definitely give these guys a go in a singles match one time on a show this summer. Quack does these great armdrag and headscissors sequences with Castagnoli. There's also this great moment with a tight hurricanrana and also with Claudio's Euro-uppercut seamlessly transitioning into a pinning combo.
Dragon-Tiger is definitely as impressive a showing for Ultimo as Chris's review would make it seem. He surprisingly dominates much of the offense, but he can definitely handle it. It seems he is long pasty whatever slump seemed to hold him back when he was featured in WWE back in 2003.
Other things I learned from this DVD: Tyler Black like to thrash, Josh Ambercrombie, when he is not playing a redneck, is a sick Chester the Molester looking freako, don't rely on knowledge of X-Men to determine which guy is called Bishop (it's not the black guy) and which guy is called Knight.
All that, plus a tight under card with established talent and some fresh indie talent from up North, plus a beautiful DVD cover= definite purchase. Also, REPLAYS rule! ROH, get on the ball and add more replays to the matches!
The one criticism I have is the commentator, Joey Slick. Guy has a very high nasal voice and the "professional commentator" affect to match. It doesn't do it for me. It's like Howard Cosell trying to call pro wrestling. I definitely get the feeling he patterned himself after Joey Styles. Dude looks like it (he also doubles as ring announcer) and he definitely sounds like it. I found the commentary annoying after awhile but that's what the mute button is for.
Just be careful, because it would play on some of my DVD players and then "break up" and stop playing. However, it did eventually work on another player of mine.
The ROH List
**Fifth Year Festival: NYC (Samoa Joe / Morishima, Homicide / Rave, Briscoes / Cabana & McGuinness, Albright / Whitmer, Evans / SHINGO / Xavier / Jacobs)
**Fifth Year Festival: Philly (Homicide / Morishima, Sydal & Daniels / SHINGO & Evans, Briscoes / Generico & Steen, Castagnoli / Aries, McGuinness / Perkins)
**Fifth Year Festival: Chicago (Morishima & McGuinness / Joe & Homicide, Cabana / Jacobs, Strong & Richards / Aries & Cross, Daniels & Sydal / The Briscoes, Albright / Castagnoli)
**Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool (Joe / McGuinness, ROH World Tag Team Titles: The Briscoes / Doi & SHINGO / FIP Title: Strong / PAC, 2/3 Falls: Delirious / Matt Sydal) **Fifth Year Festival: Finale (Joe / Homicide, Fight Without Honor: McGuinness / Rave, ROH World Tag Team Titles: Doi & SHINGO / Richards and Strong, Sydal / PAC, Falls Count Anywhere: Whitmer / Jacobs)
**All Star Extravaganza III (ROH vs. Dragon Gate 8 Man Tag, Strong / Evans, Mochizuki / Richards, Cabana / Sydal / Hero / Pearce, Homicide / Daniels)
**Supercard of Honor II (CIMA, SHINGO and Yokosuka / Dragon Kid / Saito / Mochikzuki, Strong / Aries, Whitmer / Jacobs, Evans & Doi / Richards and Romero, McGuinness / Hero, Daniels & Sydal / Delirious & Jay Briscoe)
This section needs your help! If you want to recommend some good independent wrestling to your fellow internet readers out there, drop me a line for the column.
ROH @ 411 This Week
First link goes to myself as John Gregory and I delve into some of the major ROH news as well as IWA:MS and CHIKARA (~!) in this week's 411's Buy or Sell.
Unfortunately, the time I spent on the BoS feature meant I didn't have enough time in my schedule to participate in the ROH Roundtable for June 8th and June 9th. Luckily, Sam Berman and the rest of the crack 411 ROH writing team are on hand to give you their views and predictions.
One of those men is Stuart Carapola, who brings DIRECT TO YOU his Part Two of the ROH in 2006 feature. The main focus on this one is the no famous ROH vs. CZW imbroglio.
Sammy starts a month long Briscoes' REDNECK PARRRRTAY! It's Briscoe vs. Briscoe from 2002 in his new edition of The Independent Mid Card.
Plenty of new reviews of ROH shows for you to take up your weekend schedule. Garoon and Ziegler are right hot off the presses with their NEW review of Fifth Year Festival: Chicago with The Briscoes' title win and Samoa Joe's last U.S. match for ROH. Then, J.D. Dunn crosses into 2007 territory with a look at ROH Dedicated.
Its Final Battle Flashback week as we go back in time. J.D. Dunn gives us the BATTLE of ROH and AJPW in Final Battle 2003. Meanwhile Mike "Toughest ROH Reviewer Ever" Campbell waxes poetic on the BATTLE of ROH and NOAH from Finall Battle 2005.
Jim Cornette's first ROH appearance and the attack on Lucy highlight J.D. Dunn's review of Wrath of the Racket.
The awesome Nick Marsico looks to have missed deadline this week for his News To Start Your Weekend. However, if you want your Nick fix, check out the ONE HUNDRETH~ ! episode of Rocketbusta Radio.
Stuart runs down ECW and TNA and who is going to the land of extreme in the draft for some Friendly Competition.
Sat and Uncle Trunx go High Road / Low Road for One Night Stand and Extreme Rules.
Larry "Mr. 411 Wrestling and now Mr. 411 MMA" Csonka takes the star trailer for this week's Fact or Fiction. you can also catch his regular weekly recap column, the 4 R's.
Rob Halden is mean and lean and out for the blood of some Idiots.
Everyone and their mother did a column on the WWE Draft this week, but Bayani Domingo ain't too proud to beg for some more hits with this week's Truth B Told. He incorporates talk of TNA and ROH into the mix as well.
Steve Cook, never under estimate the power of Phil Collins. Two Hearts are better than just one mind.
Oh and Sean McCabe, consider Mr. Hero informed. He wasn't very happy about it mind you.
(credit to subculture for the logo)
The 38th day of his bondage. The movement is beginning to build as others have joined the fight. WE MUST FREE AUSTIN ARIES!
I'll meet you all back here in one week's time for results and reaction from tonight's show in Philadelphia. Then we continue our haute couture talk with more from the Black T-Shirt Squad. I'll preview the Dayton 6/22 show. And yes, "Chris Hero" will be back as he usually does, with or without the ROH World Tag Team gold. Until, then, I'll be running with the shadows of the night. Later.
