Column of Honor: 06.16.07
Posted by Ari Berenstein on 06.16.2007
ROH in Dayton 6/22 previewed, T-shirts that even a wrestling fan would be ashamed to wear and the Danielson vs. McGuinness uproar.
Heeeyyyyy! How's everyone going? Unfortunately today there are so many things happening in my life that I'm bouncing around back and forth like a superball. I only have so much time to get this column to bed, so unfortunately it looks like a shorter column this week. I'll get to last week's results from Philadelphia, preview the next show in Dayton, take you through the news, cover some random thoughts and hit the second part of my T-shirt feature. Also, "Chris Hero" found the time after his heartbreaking losses over the past weekend to e-mail me another one of his diatribes. So in reality, a smaller column is really just my larger column in disguise. Dammit. I need to exercise some portion control. Or just exercise, period, really.
ROH Results: June 9th, 2007 in Philadelphia, PA
Matches
Do or Die:
-Pelle Primeau defeated Rhett Titus, Mitch Franklin and Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne in a Four Way Fray to retain the Top of the Class Trophy
-Damien Wayne defeated Rex Sterling via pinfall / brainbuster.
-Deranged & Azrieal defeated Gran Akuma and "unreal" Mike Elgin (replacing Hallowicked) via pinfall with a top rope ace crusher.
Main Show:
-Matt Sydal defeated Hallowicked via pinfall with a Shooting Sydal Press.
-Lacey (w/ Jimmy Jacobs) and Daizee Haze went to a 10-minute time limit draw.
-Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw via pinfall with the Package Piledriver/Brainbuster combo to Jigsaw.
-Davey Richards defeated Matt Cross by submission with the 14:59.
-Delirious defeated Rocky Romero via pinfall with the schoolboy rollup.
-ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay and Mark Briscoe retained their titles by defeating The Kings Of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) in a two out of three falls match. Jay Briscoe pinned Hero in the first fall. The Briscoes hit the Doomsday Device and pinned Claudio Castagnoli for the win.
-Brent Albright defeated BJ Whitmer in a Four Corner Survival match that also included Jimmy Rave and Erick Stevens.
-PPV: "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson defeated Nigel McGuinness via referee stoppage with the MMA Elbows.
-ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima retained his title by defeating Roderick Strong via pinfall with the Backdrop Driver.
Angles & Issues
-Danielson was announced as injured from his 6/8 match and couldn't compete. Sydal was faced off with Hallowicked (with whom he had an excellent match at CHIKARA King of Trios Night 3). Of course, Danielson's injury was just a kayfabed reason to get him out of the match with Sydal and into the match against McGuinness as Sweeney's choice.
-The NRC continues to attack The Resilience post matches, this time taking out Matt Cross until Erick Stevens and Delirious made the save. This transitioned into Delirious's singles match. After Delirious's match another post match brawl occurred, with the good guys clearing out the bad guys.
-Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli left separately after their loss. Is this the end of the Kings of Wrestling?
-With his win in the 4CS match, Brent Albright has earned a title shot against Takeshi Morishima or whoever is the current champion August 11th, 2007.
-Return Date: August 11th 2007 for Death Before Dishonor V Night 2
ROH Call
ROH Champions—As of 06/16/2007
ROH World Champion—Takeshi Morishima (champion since 02/17/07, 9 successful defenses)
Next Defense:: ? (opponent TBA), 6/23/07, Chicago, IL
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)
V.9 defeated Roderick Strong via pinfall / backdrop driver (6/09/07 Philadelphia, PA)
ROH World Tag Team Champions— Jay and Mark Briscoe (champions since 03/30/07, 4 successful defenses)
Next Defense: Claudio Castagnoli and Matt Sydal, 6/22/07, Dayton, OH (2 out of 3 falls)
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)
V.5 defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero), 6/09/07, Philadelphia, PA (2 out of 3 falls)
ROH News
(via the ROHnewswire… and other sources when attributed
Sports Plus, the venue ROH runs in Lake Grove / Long Island, New York, will be closing at the end of the month. ROH was going to hold the first part of a double shot there on July 27th. According to ROHHelp, they will be moving the event to another venue in the area and all tickets sold for that event will be honored in the new venue. They are hoping to announce the new venue by the end of this week.
To be honest…THANK GOD! That place was a black hole of volume. All shows were made instantly worse because the sound came off horrible. Not to mention the fans…but they were very good at the last show (This Means War II) so I won't cut into them here. While I regretted the loss of the RexPlex in New Jersey due to the hot crowds and quick commute, Sports Plus can barricade the doors and all the roaches can come in and I won't have a problem at all with it. See you later.
A furor broke out when it was announced that the Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness match from Philadelphia, which got massive rave reviews, would not appear on the 6/9 DVD release. Instead it will be held off the DVD in order to premier the match for the second PPV in September. After a massively long thread of complaints and another thread petitioning ROH to hold off the DVD release so that the match would be included, ROH announced that the match would actually be included in the 6/23/07 Chicago DVD release. That is the show where most of the second Pay Per View will be taped. A later newswire update from June 15th also stated that the 6/9/07 DVD will now include an unreleased Bryan Danielson vs. Jay Lethal match from FIP as a bonus.
I absolutely hate the decision to hold off the match from the DVD, from a completist point of view and from the consumer standpoint of "get what you paid for". While the 6/9 show overall was incredibly well received, the talk of the town afterwards was the Danielson-McGuinness match. Not to include it on the DVD where it was held is pretty crummy, since it interrupts the experience of the person who attended the show and it also puts a delay on the other DVD buying fans who are hearing great things about this match and the find out that they won't get to see it for months on end and NOT on the release it should be placed on.
Don't get me wrong, I also understand from a business perspective why ROH is holding off on the match. They want the extra money for the PPV for fans to buy the show and they want to make sure they have a guaranteed selling point for the 6/22/07 DVD for newer fans who tune into the PPV and see this awesome match. New fans who buy the PPV don't want to think that they have to buy TWO DVDs to get the event they just watched (although that was kind of the point of the PPV deal in the first place—to get more people to buy more DVDs)—after all, WWE doesn't put half of the Royal Rumble on one DVD and sell the actual Rumble and main event title match on another. Hmm, but then again, that goes right back to the point of ROH messing up the 6/9/07 DVD in the first place.
ROH fans on the message board had some hurt feelings over the whole situation. I wouldn't characterize it as over exaggeration but rather a legitimate gripe from a dollars- to-value stand point. It seems the PPV customers (NON existent at this point) are being valued over the long standing, hardcore and DVD consuming fanbase. If this is one choice made now, you can be sure more will follow, and the fans will not be happy about it.
I will say this much. TNA is doing a pay per view this weekend. For two weeks now they have known that the scheduled Steiner Brothers vs. Team 3-D match would not occur due to Scott Steiner's throat injury. This was a money match, a match people decide that they will spend their hard earned money on a show because of the possibilities of this match being something special. TNA has not said one thing on television about the fact that this match will not happen on Sunday. They did not edit ANY part of their programming where their announcers and video packages hype up the show. THAT IS BLATANT FALSE ADVERTISEMENT. And it pisses me (and a bunch of other 411 writers) off to no end. At least when ROH pulled a match from a show this past weekend (Danielson vs. Sydal), they replaced it with an even better one. Then ROH made a mistake in not being up front about how they are going to deal with PPV matches taped on other shows. They should have been up front about it. When they saw the storm of angry responses, they at least clarified what was going to happen, and now they have added something else to the DVD (Danielson-Lethal is probably not as good as Danielson-McGuinness, but at least its something) as a make good. TNA is going into its biggest PPV, its five year anniversary, NOT advertising any change in the card. I doubt they have anything that can replace that dream match and have it be equal or better to what was scheduled. That is shameful.
ROH needs to be careful that it does not make these sorts of errors in fans relations in the future.
In other news:
There are three new articles on the main ROH page. One goes into detail about how ROh officials want its roster to step it up and take advantage of some vacant roster spots. BJ Whitmer's frustrations with the lack of success he has had since losing the steel cage match against Jimmy Jacobs (he's in denial). Another focuses on ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima's successful title run. Geez, ROH is getting so good at these kayfabed articles that I may have to stop writing my own in the column.
ROH is hoping to hold a new sixteen man tournament to get some of its wrestlers to the next level. Details remain sketchy but there may be some wacky or interesting new format for the tourney.
Bryan Danielson needed three stitches in his head after the humongous headbutt spot from his match against McGuinness in Philadelphia. The scars could be seen in photos taken at the PWG event the next night in Cali. Danielson's scheduled singles match against El Generico was changed to a four way with Davey Richards and Kevin Steen , probably to ease Danielson's load in the match. I am refraining from including the pictures because I don't want to induce projectile vomiting in my readers with weak stomach.
ROH wrestlers on tour for NOAH in late June and July (June 28th to July 15th): Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Jay and Mark Briscoe, Rocky Romero and Davey Richards. This is Davey's first trip to Japan and he's looking forward to it. Hopefully they will follow up on the Davey-KENTA relationship or angle, whatever may be, on this tour.
Talent Roster for Death Before Dishonor V weekend: ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe; Nigel McGuinness; No Remorse Corps of Roderick Strong, Rocky Romero & Davey Richards; Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney, Tank Toland & Bobby Dempsey; Erick Stevens; El Generico & Kevin Steen; Brent Albright; Jimmy Rave; BJ Whitmer; Matt Sydal; Daizee Haze; Claudio Castagnoli plus many more to be added including some main eventer quality talent. Mike Quackenbush has been signed for the 8/11 Philly event only.
You can see Claudio Castagnoli vs. Dragon Gate's YAMATO from Supercard of Honor II right now for free on rohvideos.com. It's a relative squash match for Claudio, but a fun one at that. Heyyyyyyy!
Hero's Sandwich
Okay, Hero-ites, this week's sandwich is going to be short and sweet. I am infuriated by the events of last weekend. First, on Friday night, the Swiss Idiot wins a world title match that by right should be mine. Then, on Saturday night, he costs me the world tag team championship. I am in such a foul mood that I don't even know what I want to say or do. I've even heard that these losses cost me the chance to be one of the lead gaijin wrestlers working for NOAH during the Summer Navigation '07 tour that many other ROH workers are being featured on. Look at who's getting to go. The Briscoes. I beat them. Danielson. I've beaten him at least 25 times. McGuinness? He carries my gym bag to the arena every night. DAVEY RICHARDS? ROCKY ROMERO? What the hell is going on here? Where is Chris Hero's invite? Nowhere, because of that idiot, Castagnoli. He has cost me everything that is dear to me, and now, he has to pay. Up until now, I have gone easy on him, considering the fact that we go back a long way, and have traveled the roads together for many years, but now, the time for sympathy is over, and Claudio is my sworn enemy, even more so than Quack the hack. I have this warning for Castagnoli. Watch your back. Be careful when you are leaving your house, your gym your bank. I might be there, just waiting to attack, and end your miserable existence. I should get a medal for that. In my estimation, it's an act of mercy to end your career. Then, no one would ever have to suffer through another Claudio match or unintelligible promo. That would be a truly perfect world.
Now, onto the other pressing issue of the day, my grudge match for the second ROH PPV taping in Chicago on June 23rd. I've had enough of that English simpleton, McGuinness running around and acting as if he is the greatest European style wrestler in ROH; a fact that we all know is horribly incorrect. He is nothing more than a Johnny Saint rip off artist, with a little bit of Billy Robinson and William Regal mixed in. Therein lies my main anger with McGuinness. He thinks that he is the logical forbearer to the tradition of English wrestling, when in all reality, I am. I trained with Regal, Taylor and even Fit Finlay at the Blue Bloods training camp, and even won the trophy for the "next great thing" while there. Sure, Danielson has Regal's boots, but I have something far more important. I have his support. Mr. Regal contacted me this week, and has given me many outstanding ideas for how to tie Nigel up into knots. Mr. Finlay has advised me on many different techniques to kick the living bejesus out of McGuinness. He even volunteered the services of Hornswoggle for that night, but I politely declined. I have an overwhelming fear of midgets, and I don't need any distractions that would preclude, me from destroying McGuinness once and for all.
One last thing. I was reading through the COH last week, prior to the matches, and I saw that captain loser, Ari was reviewing t-shirts. How about that? Ari, of all people making fashion judgments. What a joke. So, what did I find? A review of my new, "Pro Wrestling Hero" tee, which by the way is readily available at ROHWrestling.com or my myspace page. I was appalled at the commentary that he made regarding my physical attributes. He said, and I quote: "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." Ari, I have one thought for you. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror recently, chunk style? While it is true that you have vary short hair, which I think you might be losing rapidly, you aren't exactly the shining pinnacle of health, if you know what I mean. Watch what you say, boy, or there is a Hero's Welcome coming in your direction. Or maybe a libel lawsuit. Whichever comes first.
I will say this for the ROH powers that be; they do listen to the fans. My Hero-ites support has forced them to realize that I am the most important talent on the roster, and I fully expect that my matches will occupy the main event from here on out. I am the best wrestler in ROH today, and when I'm given the right chance, I will run through the ROH roster like Mexican food through Bobby Dempsey. And on that note, I will go back into my meditative state, so that I can shake free of all the negative thoughts, and allow myself to focus on the tasks at hand. MARK MY WORDS, HERO-ITES. THE SUMMER OF 2007 WILL SOON BE KNOWN AS THE SUMMER OF HERO!!! That's it. This has been your weekly moment of enlightenment; this has been your Hero's Sandwich. Sayonara, suckers!!
Damn it Hero, I am on a diet now! I have lost a pound and half so far! I am exercising portion control, dammit! PORTION CONROL!!!!!
The Black T-Shirt Squad
Welcome back to week two of my special fashion segment of the column. Last week I took a look at Ring of Honor's latest wear. We looked through three black T-shirts and one white T-shirts. Hey, why are there so many black wrestling T-shirts and so few white ones? This is reverse discrimination dammit!
Anyway, I thought this weekend we could do a little cross-pollination for this section. You see, the Totally Not Aware competition also sells their own brands of merchandise and that includes T-shirts. Let's see how ROH stacks up against them in this week's brand comparison!
Christian Cage "CC"
Description: I honestly have no idea what this design is supposed to be. It looks like a big splotch. The bronze color totally clashes against the black and makes the design dull and vaguely the color of putrid. The Cage block logo is patterened onto the front and back of the shirt. It's decent enough. Unfortunately, the TNA logo is plastered all over the shirt as well, reminding people that yes, you like something called "Christian Cage" and "TNA". So apparently you are into gay porno.
Hip: The little C / big C design on the front shows some promise. Why not just put ONLY this design on the front of shirt. Keep things simple. Oh wait, TNA doesn't do simple, inside OR outside of the ring. Zip: Just about everything else. Wear or Tear?: Do not, I repeat DO NOT buy this shirt. This is a fashion nightmare. Little girls on tricycles will laugh at you. I promise. Forget about ever getting laid if you get this one. Grade: F
Black Machismo "Ooh yeah!"
Description: Do YOU yourself want to copy the moves and mannerisms of an aged, retired and quite possibly insane professional wrestler for the sake of an increased push? If the answer is yes then you must absolutely, positively, Macholistically get your hands on this "Black Machismo" T-shirt! Sporting psychedelic colors and Macho Man, errr, Black Machismo, that's right, Jay Lethal's favorite colored sunglasses on the front, and Letha's well known and often imitated but never duplicated catchphrase "oooh yeah!" on the back. It is a black T-shirt, because you know, chicks dig black. Fringes not included.
Hip: Um…I like the star hiding in the background? Oh and FRINGES! Zip: After staring at that picture for ten seconds, I have gone blind. Too many colors! TNA logo on the front means once again you cannot, absolutely, positively cannot, hide the fact that this is a wrestling shirt. A wrestling shirt capitalizing on the former glories of another wrestler who is most remembered for being successful in ANOTHER company no less. Wear or Tear?: White people shouldn't wear this in the ghetto for fear of being shot or stabbed on the spot. Kevin Nash is the one exception, since he is an honorary brother. Grade: D
Kurt Angle: Tap or Snap
Description: Celebrate your stripped title win by picking up this new Kurt Angle T-shirt. The catchphrase on the back puts Angle's personality up there in big lights: SNAP. Yup that's Kurt alright.
Hip: At least there's no TNA logo on the front this time, so it looks like a normal Tee from the front. I like the block font on the back of the shirt. I think pedestrians who see that message may very well be confused. We may see people randomly go insane, OR start tapping their feet to a beat that can't be heard. Zip: Bald eagles were so Kurt Angle in WWE 2002-2004. Can't we come up with a different design to make Angle seem fresh? Nope, have to copy the ‘E. Wear or Tear?: If you were a WWE and a Kurt Angle fan the last few years, you already purchased this shirt years ago. About 4 different variations of it as well. Grade: C-
Samoa Joe: Joe Knows Pain
Description: What the hell is that on the front? Is that a cat? Is that a dog? Why does it have red eyes? I'm scared. Also, an Aztec / Incan headdress? Isn't Joe Samoan? In the words of Mike Tenay "What's going on here?" On the back of the shirt it says "Joe knows Pain". How stupid is that? Are you saying that Joe knows pain because he gets hurt a lot? Are you saying he knows pain because the other wrestlers dominate him in a match? This shirt is practically saying that Joe is an injury prone jobber!
Hip: The TNA design is very, very small. Zip: This shirt has absolutely nothing to do with Samoa Joe at all. To call it a Samoa Joe shirt is a disgrace. This is an Incan dogcat shirt with a nonsensical catchphrase on the back. Wear or Tear?: What do you think? If I catch anyone in Brooklyn wearing this I will go up right to their face and slap them, pull the shirt over their head hockey style and then give them a muscle buster onto the pavement. Grade: F
To be fair, there is approximately one decent new shirt out of the whole bunch, the new Christopher Daniels design. It is derivative of his other shirts, but you can't really go wrong with the ankh design on a shirt.
This is a slight recommendation. Everything else is a pass.
So what have we learned? Apparently TNA has horrible fashion sense with their new releases. I don't think I'd be caught dead wearing either of those shirts. I absolutely didn't purchase the Joe shirt because I hated it so much and up until then I think I had every Joe shirt from either ROH or TNA. Hell, the shirt I made up for myself to wear at an ROH show is better than these designs!
Oh and it was printed onto a T-shirt that should be the ONLY color for a Samoa Joe shirt. BROWN.
Now, this is not to say that ROH hasn't had its fair share of fashion crimes against humanity. Remember the Carnage Crew "Blood Sweat and Beers" shirt? Vomit inducing. How about the Spanky neon pink and green flower logo shirt? It gave me some accidental acid flashbacks…and I've never even taken drugs before!
So here's what I'm saying—buyer beware on T-shirts. Make sure the make sense stylistically and aren't a clash of colors or have garish designs on them. Be smart in your purchases. Its okay not to buy the T-shirts of your favorite wrestlers if they look like someone splattered ketchup and mustard on them and just threw on a random crappily photoshopped picture or design. Make up your own mind on what to buy, but just be sure when you plunk down that crisp twenty dollar bill on the merchandise stand, you are absolutely sure you're making the right call.
Until then, this meeting of the Black T-Shirt squad is closed. I may be back with more of this feature in the future. Next week Honor Culture makes its return!
ROH Preview: June 22nd, 2007: Dayton, OH
Montgomery County Fairgrounds
1043 S. Main St, Dayton, Ohio, 45409
8:00pm belltime
ROH All Stars vs. NOAH All Stars
Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness vs. ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima & Naomichi Marufuji
Danielson and McGuinness just unleashed hell on each in Philadelphia…and now they have to team up with each other? This hardly will work in the favor of ROH. Meanwhile Morishima and Marufuji have a decided advantage against them—both men have defeated McGuinness, and McGuinness has not been able to unlock the path to defeating either man. Danielson has fared better, notching a win against Marufuji at Final Battle 2005. However, this will be his first face to face battle against Morishima and it has yet to be seen how well he can handle the big man. Danielson had been able to chop Joe down to size, but can he do it to Morishima? If either McGuinness or Danielson can pin or submit Morishima in this match, I'd say a future title shot is certain.
ROH World Tag Team Title Match- 2/3 Falls
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli
A rematch from the Respect is Earned PPV tapings, which haven't yet aired! These guys tore down the house in a one fall match, but in part I don't think the crowd expected it to be that good. Now that expectations have been raised, can these two teams live up to it? Another factor is that The Briscoes have dominated the two out of three fall match this year in ROH. They have wins against the team of Aries and Strong and against The Kings of Wrestling in this type of match. If The Briscoes can do it again, they may very well prove to be the masters of the multiple fall tag match (a staple of wrestling's yesteryear).
NOAH vs. No Remorse Corps
KENTA vs. Rocky Romero
The angle that supports this match is that KENTA's former protégé Davey Richards is stuck in the middle between his sensei and his current no Remorse Corps run in buddy. The match itself should feature a bevy of dazzling strikes, combinations and submissions. Richards may have to make a choice in this match, and my guess would be his choice will be to support his NRC teammate, thus starting a new war in ROH between a teacher and a student.
Grudge Tag Team Match
Roderick Strong & Davey Richards vs. Erick Stevens & Matt Cross
NRC vs. The Resilience straight up in this match. The Resilience is rebounding with several victories over their nemeses—can the streak continue here? Stevens and Cross must combine their strength and speed to get it done.
No DQ Match
BJ Whitmer vs. Brent Albright
The rematch from the 6/8 show where Whitmer snapped and headbutted a ref to draw a DQ. Whitmer is in his hometown here, so a win could help assuage his temper. A loss here, and an embarrassing one at that, could cause Whitmer to snap. Albright has been on a monster of a roll and has a title shot in his back pocket. I expect him to win here on the way to the title shot at Death Before Dishonour V Night 2.
Gauntlet Series(series of consecutive singles matches with the winner taking on the next randomly drawn participant until only one man is left)
Competitors are in alphabetical order: Delirious, Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney & Tank Toland, Adam Pearce with Shane Hagadorn, Pelle Primeau and Jimmy Rave
Lots of bigger names in this Gauntlet series…and Pelle Primeau. No offense to Primeau but the last time he was in one of these things (Black Friday Fallout in November of 2006) he was demolished by Brent Albright. Since things are this packed, I don't expect Primeau to make it through. Chris Hero has not won out at all in singles matches here in ROH, but if he gets the right placement, he may sneak through for the win. Pearce and Rave are also in this one, which means we may see a few heel-heel combinations before all is said and done.
Special Attraction
Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Irish Airborne
A squash match to continue Steen and Generico's rise to the top of the charts in ROH. I'll enjoy seeing it then when it comes to DVD.
Plus more to be signed with: Lacey & Jimmy Jacobs and others!!!
Going Home
Ringtones
Slap_knutz, who hails all the way around the world in Melbourne, Australia (KOALAS!) chimes in with a great story related to the FREE AUSTIN ARIES campaign.
I noticed at the end you have the "Free Austin Aries" banner, well just
letting you know at the recent International Assault 2 show (www.internationalassault.com) at the meet and greet when people where
asking about Austin Starr, Aries was saying stuff like Starr who? And acting
like he was going to quit TNA and go back to the Indies.
This is great news and a great story. Thanks for sending it in. It looks like Aries is fully aware of the "Free Austin" movement and is reciprocating in kind. I hope he means it and that we will soon see Aries back where he belongs, in ROH leading The Resilience, not where he HAS to dress up as a gimmick.
**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)
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
Stuart Carapola continues his trip though time back to 2006 with part three of That Was Then: ROH in 2006.
Buy or Sell focuses on the major hot topics surrounding SHIMMER.
Brad Garoon continues the Full Impact Pro reviews with a look at Cage of Pain. I hear it's painful.
Look out, I'm about to plug a CZW review! Magnus Donaldson goes back to the CZW vs. ROH feud in Best of the Best 6.
Part Two of BRISCOES month continues in this week's The Independent Mid Card as The Briscoes face off with The Havana Pitbulls.
Honor Bound Links
Check out the weekend news with Friday's News To Start Your Weekend with Nick Marsico (and if you switched his first and last initials he'd be Mick Narsico) and then we continue with 24-7 coverage of the apparent "death" of Vince McMahon in Saturday Spectacularby John Meehan (and if you switched his first and last initials he'd be Mohn Jeehan).
Joe Estee looks at how the keys to the draft shook out in his Keys to the Game.
Stuart continues his weekend rampage with the look back at this week's TNA and ECW in Friendly Competition.
Read the 411 Staff tearing TNA a new one in CELEBRATION of their fifth year anniversary in the TNA Slammiversary Roundtable.
Calhoun weighs in on more of what he would do with ECW…and it ain't pretty. It's this week's Ripple Effect.
Csonka continues the longstanding tradition of Right, wRong, puRgatory and the Ri-God-Dam-Diculous in this week's 4R's
Bayani Tells the truth on Smackdown and Raw at the bar getting chicks… or something. I wasn't paying attention.
(credit to subculture for the logo)
The 45th day of his bondage. Austin Starr who?
The summer is approaching, and if its not the Summer of Hero, it's gotta be the Summer of someone? Who is going to step up in ROH? We'll take a look at that next week. The return of Honor Culture, Dayton results and the Chicago PPV show are previewed and I promise a bevy of new Independent Buy In candidates, including Fight Sports Midwest and new CHIKARA. Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you next week.
