That Was Then 6.22.07: Ring Of Honor In 2006 - Part 4

Posted by Sam Caplan on 06.22.2007

Ring Of Honor's biggest year yet came to an amazing conclusion as Homicide finally got his climactic final shot at ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson at Final Battle 2006.

Part I: Wounded Animal (Bryan Danielson)

Bryan Danielson had strung together one hell of a World Title reign. With the reign standing at one year as of the end of Glory By Honor V, Danielson had managed to retain the title against all odds no matter who he had been thrown in the ring with. He had defeated Austin Aries, Roderick Strong four times, Steve Corino, Lance Storm, AJ Styles, Colt Cabana three times, Nigel McGuinness three times, and capped off year one as champion with a hard fought win over KENTA, who had scored two clean, non-title victories over him earlier in the year. He won the FIP Heavyweight Title and also the ROH Pure Wrestling Title, unifying it with the World Title. Danielson was at the top of his game, and though he still was looking at defenses against Samoa Joe (who he had gone to a time limit draw with) and Homicide (who, if still champion, he would face at Final Battle 2006), he seemed unstoppable.

However, there was a major factor working against Danielson, and that was the injured shoulder he had suffered in his match against Colt Cabana in Chicago in August. He had taken a bad spill out of the ring in the first ten minutes of what ended up being a hour long match, and he was later diagnosed with torn tendons and a possible torn pectoral. Danielson was given the option to go get surgery done and was assured that he would not be stripped of the title while recovering, but Danielson insisted on continuing to defend the title, feeling that it would lose prestige if it became inactive for any length of time. He did scale back his schedule of title defenses, however, and would take part in more multi-way and tag team matches to give his body a chance to rest.

However much his body needed the rest, however, it was questionable how much it would actually get with the caliber of talent he was being thrown in the ring with. He faced Samoa Joe in a rematch in a qualifying match at Survival Of The Fittest, but they went to another time limit draw. Danielson followed that up with another succesful title defense against Austin Aries at Motor City Madness and an easy non-title win over Sal Rinauro at Suffocation. However, Joe wanted another shot against Danielson, and this time he wanted it with no time limit. Danielson agreed, but managed to have the match made non-title since Joe had already failed twice to defeat him. They met in a no DQ match with no time limit at Irresistible Forces, and Joe finally scored the win against the ROH World Champion by choking him out with the referee's belt.

Joe had now earned another shot at the ROH World Title by beating the champion, but Danielson tried to frustrate Joe by evading another match with him. He defended the title against Survival Of The Fittest winner Delirious at Honor Reclaims Boston and won, then agreed to face Joe at The Bitter End, but only in a tag match, Joe teaming with Nigel McGuinness and Danielson teaming with Jimmy Rave. Joe & Nigel won, but Danielson again backpedaled, leaving for a several week long tour of Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan. He returned for the Chicago Spectacular, and on Night One of the weekend faced Joe in a cage match for the ROH World Title. Danielson was on the verge of escaping the cage and was actually on the outside when Joe caught him in the choke. Danielson lost consciousness from the hold, but when Joe released him, the champion fell to the floor to get the win. Danielson hadn't even been conscious at the end of the match, but the victory meant that Samoa Joe was now out of title contention.

Though he was still champion, Danielson was obviously on the defensive at this point in his title reign and had begun to look more and more vulnerable as his title reign progressed. He lost a non-title tag match to Delirious by submission on Night Two of the Chicago Spectacular, but Danielson may have smartly tapped out to avoid further injury before facing his final scheduled challenger for the year, Homicide, at Final Battle.

Part II: Kings Of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli)

To the surprise of many, the Kings Of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, had come from out of nowhere to upset Austin Aries & Roderick Strong, ending their nine-month reign as the ROH World Tag Team Champions and claiming the title for themselves, adding to the CHIKARA and CZW Tag Team Titles they already held. The Kings Of Wrestling were now the most dominant team on the independent circuit, and were THE team to beat. However, hanging over the future success of the team were rumors that Claudio Castagnoli was being courted by WWE and was rumored to be on the verge of signing. The Kings Of Wrestling publicly ignored the rumors and set about maintaining their position at the top.

Their reign got off to a good start with a win over Lacey's team of Jimmy Jacobs and Colt Cabana, but the next night were challenged by the new team of Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal. Hero & Castagnoli laughed off the challenge at first, but stopped laughing when Sydal beat Hero in an impromptu match at Motor City Madness. That loss was followed up by a pair of losses at Honor Reclaims Boston as first, Daniels defeated Hero and then that match was immediately followed up by a Sydal vs Castagnoli match, which was won by Sydal.

Perhaps hoping to draw attention away from Daniels and Sydal, the Kings Of Wrestling defended the title against former champions Aries & Strong at The Bitter End. The steel briefcase that cost Aries & Strong the title in the first place again became involved, only this time it was Aries swinging it at Hero & Castagnoli and causing himself to get disqualified. Aries & Strong got one more shot at the title at Black Friday Fallout, this time in a no DQ match, but this match was right up the Kings Of Wrestling's alley. They powerbombed Roderick Strong through a table at ringside, then gave him the KRS-1 to retain. Aries & Strong were now officially out of contention, but even with that title defense under their belts, the rumors continued to swirl about Claudio's possible departure.

Those rumors continued the following night when, at the appropriately named Dethroned, Hero & Castagnoli were finally defeated for the title by Daniels and Sydal. Around the same time, they also lost the CZW and CHIKARA Titles and a shot at the PWG Tag Team Title. All signs pointed to Claudio leaving the independent scene very soon, and those rumors were finally confirmed in late November when the announcement was made that Claudio Castagnoli signed a deal with WWE. However, Claudio was going to finish up his dates with ROH before leaving, and the last two shows of the year would be his final dates with the company. The Kings Of Wrestling were signed to meet the Briscoes at International Challenge and then the following night at Final Battle 2006, Chris Hero would have a going away party for his best friend. Their final weekend as a team got off to a good start when Claudio and Hero defeated the Briscoes thanks to interference from the debuting Larry Sweeney, and it looked like there would indeed be some celebrating at Final Battle.

However, the planned celebration at Final Battle the next night was cancelled when the Briscoes, still smarting from the cheap win the Kings Of Wrestling got over them the night before, came out at the beginning of the show and challenged the Kings Of Wrestling to face them in an impromptu rematch that night. The Kings Of Wrestling decided to have one last match together and took the match and, as good as the match at International Challenge was, this match was even better, featuring a lot of great tag team wrestling and close near falls. This time, however, the Briscoes pulled out the win and now the Kings Of Wrestling would dissolve with their last match together ending in a loss...or so it would seem.

After the match, Claudio got on the microphone to address the crowd, but instead of giving the customary farewell speech the fans came to expect, he instead informed the fans that things with WWE had not quite worked out as planned and it turned out that he would be sticking around for a little while longer after all. He continued by stating that as great a year as the Kings Of Wrestling had in 2006, they would do even better in 2007. Unfortunately for Claudio, Larry Sweeney (who was again at ringside) did not agree with him, saying that he was Chris Hero's agent and not his. Furthermore, Sweeney had made plans for Chris Hero in 2007 and they did not include Claudio. Claudio scoffed at Sweeney, saying that Hero would never leave with Sweeney over him, but when he came face to face with Hero, Hero hesitated for several moments before shaking Claudio's hand...and then walking out with Sweeney, leaving Claudio by himself in the ring.

Claudio stood speechless in the ring, and was almost immediately "asked" to leave by Samoa Joe and Claudio, not wishing to get into an altercation after what had just happened, left without an argument. Signing up with Sweeney almost immediately appeared to have been a wise move by Hero, as he was granted the first ROH World Title shot of 2007. Claudio, however, was left to twist in the wind with no direction and no friends. If he thought he had nowhere to turn after the CZW war ended, he was now truly a man without a country.

Part III: End Of The Road (Homicide)

Homicide had won the CZW war for ROH, and ROH Commissioner Jim Cornette repayed him by promising to make his life a living hell. As a man of his word, Cornette granted Homicide a match with Steve Corino and guaranteed him a shot at the ROH World Title at Final Battle, but stated that he would do everything he could to take Homicide out before he even got to Final Battle. He had several soldiers who were willing to do his bidding: one was of course Steve Corino, but Cornette also had backup in his Lt Commissioner Adam Pearce and Pearce's own sidekick Shane Hagadorn, as well as Jay & Mark Briscoe. The Briscoes had a history with Homicide going all the way back to 2004, and now that they were in the employ of the Commissioner, they knew they had the ability to get away with doing whatever they wanted to Homicide, especially after Cornette told them in so many words at Glory By Honor V Night Two. Though the Briscoes lost to Homicide and Samoa Joe that night, the Briscoes came back to beat Homicide and Joe in a Street Fight at Motor City Madness.

It would be this kind of back and forth with Cornette's henchmen that Homicide would see much of over the next several months. He and Joe defeated Corino and Pearce at Suffocation, but Corino got the last laugh that night by taking a plastic bag and wrapping it around the head of Homicide in an attempt to suffocate him. Corino did not succeed in putting Homicide out, and he was made to team with the Briscoes to face Homicide, Joe, and BJ Whitmer at Honor Reclaims Boston, and this time Corino's team came out ahead after he hit Homicide with a foreign object, allowing the Briscoes to hit the spike Jay Driller on Homicide for the win. These skirmishes between Homicide and Corino finally led into their climactic final match in a Fight Without Honor at The Bitter End. This was going to be it, the final match between Homicide and Steve Corino, to finally settle the feud once and for all.

Unfortunately for Homicide, Commissioner Jim Cornette was in attendance and was going to do his damndest to make sure that Homicide didn't come out ahead that night. He made Shane Hagadorn the special referee for the Homicide-Corino match, announced that Homicide must pin Corino for a ten count to win the match, and said that while Corino couldn't get disqualified, Homicide could. This brought out Homicide with his usual crew of Julius Smokes and Ricky Reyes, as well as Homicide's manager from TNA, Konnan. Konnan tore into Cornette for the decisions he made, as well as pointing out that Reyes had not gotten a fair shake in ROH, saying that Cornette held him down because he was Cuban. Cornette said that his being Cuban had nothing to do with it, and that the problem was that Reyes just wasn't that good, and decided to prove it by making an impromptu match between Reyes and Hagadorn. Hagadorn was game, but Reyes quickly polished off the youngster and scored the win.

Later in the show, Cornette came back out and said that since Hagadorn, the special guest referee, had been injured by Reyes, there was no referee for the match and that meant that there would be no main event. This drew Konnan back out, and this time Konnan had a message for Cornette from ROH management: ROH was about what the fans want, not what Cornette wants, and that they decided to leave it up to the crowd as to whether Homicide or Cornette would stay. Predictably, the crowd voted in favor of Homicide, and the now former Commissioner was dragged out of the ring and carried away by security. The main event was now on and Cornette couldn't do anything to stop Homicide, and after a tough brawl with Corino, Homicide finally scored the elusive win over his longtime rival. After the match, Homicide announced that in the Mexican tradition after the end of a blood feud, he wanted to shave Corino's head. Corino said that he would do it, and was man enough to make the first cut himself, and that's exactly what he did. After that, Corino sat in a chair and the Rottweilers took turns shaving his head until he was totally bald. Homicide and Corino shook hands and agreed to stay out of one another's business from here on out.

With Cornette gone and the spector of Corino no longer hanging over him, Homicide was now able to start tying up all the other loose ends in his ROH career. Homicide and Joe defeated the Briscoes yet again, this time in a Falls Count Anywhere elimination match, and then at the Chicago Spectacular, Homicide defeated Adam PEarce in a cage match. With those two out of the way, now all that was left for Homcide was his shot at the ROH World Title at Final Battle. Bryan Danielson was known to be going into the match with a badly injured shoulder, but unfortunately for Homicide, he was suffering through the same injury. He had been working through a shoulder injury he suffered in late 2005 for almost a year, and the shoulder was reinjured thanks to Brent Albright, who Danielson paid off to hurt Homicide when the two wrestled at Night One of the Chicago Spectacular. The shoulder was furhter injured when he rammed it into the cornerpost at International Challenge during a Four Corner Survival match which also included Danielson. Danielson symbolically won that Four Corner Survival match, and as he had for much of his title reign, Danielson appeared untouchable going into Final Battle.

Finally, the match came as Homicide and Danielson, both sporting badly injured shoulders, finally faced off one more time, this time for the ROH World Title. Homicide had promised that he would leave ROH forever if he didn't win the title before the end of 2006, and Danielson used that to his advantage and formed a plan. In the opening minutes of the match, Danielson had Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn run in and attack Homicide to draw a DQ, which meant that even though Homicide won the match, he didn't get the title and would be forced to leave ROH. However, referee Todd Sinclair grabbed the mic and said that he would not let this match end in a DQ, and after Homicide's crew ran Pearce and Hagadorn off, he restarted the match. A frustrated Danielson, who had been taken completely out of his game plan, began throwing everything he had at Homicide. Danielson continued working Homicide over, but Homicide refused to lose. Danielson pulled out all his big moves: he started bashing Homicide with the unprotected elbows to the face, but Homicide got out. Danielson tried the crossface chickenwing, but Homicide used the Bret Hart corner reversal to escape and get a two count. Danielson slapped him in the Cattle Mutilation, but Homcide escaped. Danielson held onto the double chickenwing and hit him with a Tiger Suplex for two, then went right back into Cattle Mutilation. Homicide wouldn't give it up, so Danielson hit him with more unprotected elbows, but Homicide escaped again, and was once more caught in the Cattle Mutilation, but still Homicide wouldn't give in. Homicide made the ropes again to break the hold, and a frustrated Danielson grabbed the ringside bell, but had it taken away from him by the referee, and while the ref's back was turned as he returned the bell to ringside, Danielson hit a low blow on Homicide and caught him in another of his pet moves, the small package...and only got two. Homicide finally hit the Cop Killa, but Danielson landed too close to the edge of the ring and got his foot on the ropes at two. Homicide came back strong and hit the lariat and covered Danielson for three, and Homicide had finally won the ROH World Title that had eluded him for all this time. The ring filled up with ROH wrestlers who wanted to congratulate the new champion, and in a great display of sportsmanship, Bryan Danielson grabbed the ROH World Title belt from the referee, handed the belt to the new champion, and shook his hand before rolling out of the ring and letting the new champion have his moment of celebration in front of his hometown New York City crowd.

Part V: A Few Other Things

Homicide was finally the ROH World Champion, the Kings Of Wrestling had come to an unexpected end, and Jimmy Jacobs was still heartbroken. However, there were a few other notable items worth mentioning from the final quarter of 2006...

The Jacobs/Lacey/Colt Cabana Love Triangle Continues: In his neverending quest to please the unpleasable Lacey, Jimmy Jacobs agreed to team with Lacey's good time partner Colt Cabana. They lost several matches before finally scoring a win over Jimmy Rave & Sal Rinauro, but as Lacey tried to give all the credit to Colt Cabana, Cabana took Lacey to task for her treatment of Jacobs, then tried convincing Jacobs to leave Lacey. Despite Lacey outwardly telling Jacobs that he disgusts her, Jacobs fought for her honor by attacking Cabana and gouging his head open with Lacey's high heel shoe. Meanwhile, he continued feuding with former partner BJ Whitmer, and Whitmer ended up forming a team to battle Jacobs and Brent Albright, who Lacey hired to help Jacobs get her revenge against Cabana and Whitmer and also Daizee Haze, who had gotten dragged into the situation after several run-ins with Lacey. Lacey was put out of action late in the year when she took a spike to the face, but Jacobs and Albright forged on without her. Jacobs and Mercedes Martinez (subbing for the injured Lacey) lost to Whitmer and Daizee at International Challenge, but Jacobs and Albright came back strong, defeating Whitmer and Cabana to even the odds at Final Battle 2006.

Delirious: Delirious had finally begun winning matches earlier in the year and had in fact become quite successful, scoring wins over several impressive opponents and also getting two shots at the ROH World Title in the process. His success continued in the late part of the year, as he won the Survival Of The Fittest tournament, defeating longtime rival Matt Sydal in the finals and earning another shot at the ROH World Title in the process, then defeated Sydal in a rematch at Suffocation. He lost his third shot at the title when he was again defeated by Bryan Danielson at Honor Reclaims Boston, but then formed a short lived team with Davey Richards. Unfortunately, they lost their two matches as a team, first to the Briscoes at The Bitter End and then a #1 Contender's match at Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal at Black Friday Fallout. He came back from those losses in a big way by making Danielson tap out to win an 8-man elimination match at Night Two of the Chicago Spectacular. Would he be able to capitalize on this big win by making another run at the ROH World Title in 2007?

Jimmy Rave: The Embassy had officially disbanded after Prince Nana left ROH in September, but Jimmy Rave still tried to make his team with Sal Rinauro succeed for a while longer. However, after a loss to Colt Cabana and Jimmy Jacobs at Irresistible Forces, Rave decided he'd be better off going it alone and cast Rinauro aside to take another shot at singles success. Hegot off to a terrible start, losing to Colt Cabana at Honor Reclaims Boston and lost a tag match with Bryan Danielson to Samoa Joe & Nigel McGuinness. He did score a clean win over Homicide at Black Friday Fallout, but lost again to Nigel McGuinness the following night at Dethroned. After this match, he developed a new heel hook submission finisher, and he used this hold to great success at the Chicago Spectacular, getting a submission win over Nigel McGuinness on Night One, then eliminating BJ Whitmer, Colt Cabana, and Nigel McGuinness singlehandedly in the 8-man elimination match on Night Two. He ended the year in a big way at Final Battle 2006, first winning a Four Corner Survival match early in the show, then scoring yet a third submission win over Nigel McGuinness later in the night. After that win, he laid out a challenge to the ROH World Champion when Ring Of Honor returned to New York City in February.

Davey Richards: For each win Davey Richards scored, he also lost a big match, and it began to wear on him late in 2006. He failed to qualify for the Survival Of The Fittest finals, but then came back to defeat Jay and Mark Briscoe in singles matches on consecutive nights at Suffocation and Irresistible Forces. He then suffered a pair of back-to-back tag team losses, first teaming with KENTA to lose to Austin Aries & Roderick Strong at Honor Reclaims Boston, and then teaming with Delirious to lose to the Briscoes at The Bitter End. He and Delirious again lost at Black Friday Fallout to Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal. He defeated Austin Aries at Dethroned, but lost to Jay Briscoe at the Chicago Spectacular and then failed to win a Four Corner Survival match at Final Battle. Davey Richards ended 2006 feeling frustrated and began to think he might do well to get some friends to watch his back.

Conclusion

There is no denying what a huge year ROH had in 2006. Bryan Danielson reigned as ROH World Champion for the entire year and had classic title defense after classic title defense before finally losing the title to Homicide to close the year. Homicide, meanwhile, had won the CZW war for Ring Of Honor, then had tied up all the loose ends he had left over from previous years on his way to winning the ROH World Title. The Pure Wrestling Title was put to rest for good, Jimmy Jacobs suffered through a year of heartbreak and got nothing in return, Davey Richards came in and won some and lost some, the Embassy dissolved, the Briscoes made their long awaited return, the Kings Of Wrestling dominated and then fizzled out almost before you knew what happened, and somehow, Delirious became a World Title contender. But 2006 was now over, and now the question was what would happen in 2007?

After a tough year filled with disappointments and obstacles, Homicide had finally succeeded in his long quest and was now the ROH World Champion. But now what? Would he be as successful as World Champion as Bryan Danielson had been? Would he be able to adhere to the Code Of Honor as Danielson had, or would his instincts get in the way andcause his title reign to end almost before it began? Speaking of Danielson, he disappeared from ROH completely following his loss of the ROH World Title and began convalescing his shoulder injury. When would he return to the ring? When he finally did, how long would it take before he worked his way back into contention for the title he held for over a year?

The tag team scene was also very unclear. Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal were the ROH World Tag Team Champions, but spent more time in singles competition than they did defending the title. Would they be able to survive the inevitable showdown with the Briscoes with their championship intact? Or would they instead be faced with a challenge from former champions Austin Aries & Roderick Strong? Speaking of tag teams, what did the future hold for the former Kings Of Wrestling? They were dominant during the very short time they teamed in ROH, but had now gone their separate ways thanks to Larry Sweeney's machinations. Would they feud, or would they leave one another alone and concentrate on becoming singles contenders?

What would happen between Lacey and Jimmy Jacobs? Would anything happen? Would Jimmy's feud with BJ Whitmer finally come to an end, or would they continue beating one another to a pulp until they were both dead? How would Colt Cabana and Brent Albright factor into the situation?

Samoa Joe had laid out a challenge to Pro Wrestling NOAH, and he wanted their best to come to ROH and face him. Nigel McGuinness had accepted the challenge on NOAH's behalf, but he was certain to not be the only challenge from the Japanese promotion that Joe would face. If he got past McGuinness, who would he face next? KENTA? Naomichi Marufuji? Or perhaps he would come face to face with the man he had gotten into an altercation with at Glory By Honor V...Takeshi Morishima?

So many questions, but they would all come to be answered in 2007, and I'll talk about the year that was in 2007...in 2008. Thanks for reading this series, and I'd also like to thank Ari Berenstein and Sam Berman for being my colleagues and ROH buddies on the site. Please send all feedback to [e-mail].