The Independent Mid-Card 07.10.07: Shingo vs. Reyes
Posted by Samuel Berman on 07.10.2007
Absolutely no Briscoe content this week as we take a look at one of Japan's biggest contributions to ROH.
Hello all. Welcome to this week's worldly edition of The Independent Mid-Card. We're now a week removed from the five week Summer of Briscoe event and the time has come to focus on Ring of Honor's impending debut shows in Japan. For the first time in the company's history, they will travel across the Pacific to put on authentic ROH events for audiences in Osaka and Tokyo. Stars from Dragon Gate and Pro Wrestling NOAH will be a part of both events, and so it seemed appropriate to me to dedicate this week's IMC to looking at one of the Japanese talents who has spent an extended period of time working in the United States and in Ring of Honor in particular. Let's dive right in to this week's IMC, complete with a special dose of International flavor.
Shingo Takagi vs. Ricky Reyes
Ring of Honor – Destiny – East Windsor, CT – June 3, 2006
The Wrestlers:
Shingo Takagi – Famously the 2005 Wrestling Observer Rookie of the Year, Shingo Takagi (who not long after this contest would shorten his ring name simply to ‘Shingo') had actually appeared in the United States nearly a year before his re-debut for ROH in June of 2006. That earlier appearance was a loss to Curry Man (Christopher Daniels' Japanese alter-ego) at ROH Dragon Gate Invasion in August of 2005. In the interim, Shingo continued to develop his skills as a part of the Dragon Gate roster. When it was announced that Takagi would be joining Ring of Honor full-time starting on the Destiny event, some fans were skeptical as to whether he would be able to get over with the highly discriminating ROH audience. Another hurdle for Shingo was that he would be re-debuting on the same show where the highly touted Davey Richards would be making his first ROH appearance. Still, there were high hopes that Shingo would impress the crowd and be able to step in as a major player within the company.
Ricky Reyes – Though longtime partner Rocky Romero had spent much of 2005 and 2006 wrestling in Japan, Ricky Reyes continued to work for Ring of Honor as a part of Homicide's Rottweilers stable. Whether it was teaming with "The Notorious 187" in an effort to win tag team gold or beating up on the ROH wrestling school students during an ill-fated feud with Generation Next leader Austin Aries, Reyes was a consistent presence on Ring of Honor events, even notably becoming the first wrestler to lose a singles match to fan-favorite Delirious at the company's Better Than Our Best show. Reyes was seemingly dying for a win entering this contest with the debuting Dragon Gate phenom.
The Match:
Shingo Takagi's notably ominous and epic Japanese entrance music hits and he walks calmly through the curtain. He is announced at 225 pounds, which is interesting because Ring of Honor often announces Japanese wrestlers in terms of kilos. He's relatively stoic on his way to the ring, but does make sure to pose on the turnbuckle once inside. His mannerisms and music would seem to identify him as a heel, but there's no real rhyme or reason to that in the ROH canon. Rage Against the Machine's Bulls on Parade starts to blare over the sound system and Ricky Reyes joins us, as does Julius Smokes, the corner man for the Rottweilers. Reyes gets announces from Havana, Cuba by way of Los Angeles, California and weighs in at 203 pounds. He's pretty thick, however, so the weight differential doesn't seem to indicate a major advantage for Shingo or anything. Both men are checked by the referee while Smokes gives Reyes a massage to loosen him up. Both competitors no-sell the referee's call for a handshake, so the Code of Honor effectively becomes waived. The bell rings and we're off.
Both men do a long circle, hesitant to lock up. Finally we get a collar-and-elbow tie up in the middle of the ring and both men release to exchange forearms. Reyes comes off the ropes with a running forearm shot, and when Shingo tries to rebound with one of his own, Reyes hits him with a spinning mule kick. Reyes follows up with a flying headscissors that sends Shingo to ringside and then hits him with a running dropkick through the ropes that sends the Dragon Gate star rolling up the entranceway. Reyes smashes Shingo face-first into the apron and then rolls him back into the ring as Smokes goes crazy at ringside.
Back inside, Reyes stomps the back of Shingo's head and then hits a vertical suplex. A running knee drop follows and Reyes covers for two. Reyes continues the assault with a variety of strikes, but Shingo starts trading back some chops of his own until a stiff kick from Reyes cuts off the comeback attempt. Reyes whips Shingo off the ropes and plants him with a flipping dropkick. Reyes then hits a drop butterfly suplex right into a cross armbreaker that forces Shingo to make his way to the ropes. In a nice, subtle spot, Shingo actually fails to reach the ropes with his foot a couple of times before finally stretching out to force the break. Reyes hits a stiff kick to the back while Shingo recovers on the ropes and then gets a series of increasingly hard kicks to the chest that Shingo no-sells. Reyes tries to come off the ropes to add momentum, but gets caught in a sleeper. Shingo then just lifts Reyes up in the sleeper and spins him around in a giant swing from that position before dropping him to the mat like a sack of potatoes.
Shingo tries to follow up with a vertical suplex, but Reyes goes dead weight to block and counters to a waistlock. Shingo elbows out and comes off the ropes only to have Reyes duck a lariat and feed him a leg before knocking him silly with an enziguiri. Shingo is out on his feet so Reyes goes for a Fisherman's Buster, but Shingo counters and hits the vertical suplex he had looked for a moment ago. Shingo covers, but it only gets a two count. Shingo chops away at Reyes in the corner and then chokes away to try to stay on the offensive. Shingo whips Reyes cross-corner, but runs into a boot on the blind charge. Shingo tries to run in again and this time gets hit with a back elbow that staggers him. Reyes comes running off the ropes and slides through Shingo's legs before following up with a jumping spinning back kick and a swinging neckbreaker. Reyes then hits the elusive Fisherman's Buster, but the cover only gets two. Reyes looks visibly frustrated and takes a long time trying to get Shingo to his feet.
Shingo hits a knee to the midsection and goes for a bodyslam, but Reyes floats over and tries for the Dragon Sleeper. Shingo is able to force him back into the corner to avoid it and then hits a hard clothesline in the corner to put Reyes down. Shingo puts Reyes on the top and goes up to the second rope for a superplex attempt. They fight over the move for a bit, but Shingo eventually hits a headbutt that allows him to bring Reyes down with a second-rope brainbuster. The referee counts both men down, but Shingo gets to his feet after four. He tries to set up Reyes for the Blood Fall (Sitout inverted fireman's carry into a facebuster), but Reyes slips out and hits a roundhouse kick to the head. Reyes tries to come off the ropes, but gets caught with a lariat and Shingo goes for another slam. This time, Reyes counters to a neat arm capture inverted triangle choke. Reyes holds on to the move tenaciously, but Shingo eventually powers off the mat and powerbombs Reyes out of the hold. Shingo comes off the ropes with a lariat that gets two and then finishes Reyes off with the Blood Fall for the three count at 6:52. Smokes is more than irritated at ringside with the loss. Shingo's music starts up and the referee raises his hand as we cut out.
The Analysis:
It's interesting to me that Shingo would have given Reyes that much offense here. Though I understand the idea that Reyes was an ROH veteran and considered by fans to be a pretty tough in-ring competitor, Shingo actually was on the offensive for only a couple of short stretches during the match.
What did get established clearly was Shingo's toughness. As a result of him taking a number of stiff strikes and painful submissions, Shingo came across looking like he could take a pounding from even the most hardened of opponents and continue to fight back. His power was also clearly on display, both in his reversal of the triangle choke to the powerbomb and in his highly effective lariat. Further, establishing the Blood Fall as a legitimate finisher in Shingo's first contest during this run was an important step in making him seem dangerous to even the most talented members of the ROH roster.
Please don't misunderstand me: this was an average contest. While it did a lot to re-introduce Shingo and all the moves seemed to hit crisply, it was far from being anything particularly special. Shingo and Reyes did manage to include a lot (including a fair amount of nuance) into a relatively short match, but still, there wasn't a whole lot to this one. I think a longer match between the pair could have developed further on this bout's strengths, but as is, this is the very definition of an ordinary mid-card contest.
The Aftermath:
Shingo would continue to develop during his run with Ring of Honor, including becoming one of the leading challengers for Roderick Strong's FIP Heavyweight Title in the Fall of 2006. He also participated in a fantastic 8-Man Elimination Match main event on the company's The Chicago Spectacular: Night Two show. Shingo continued to gain momentum, leading to a short run with the ROH World Tag Team Titles when he and fellow Dragon Gate star Naruki Doi upset Jay & Mark Briscoe in March of 2007. Though Shingo & Doi would lose the titles back to the Briscoes later in the month, it would not change the fact that Shingo had accomplished his goal of winning gold in Ring of Honor. In his final match as a member of the regular ROH roster, Shingo was unsuccessful in his bid to unseat Pro Wrestling NOAH star Takeshi Morishima as ROH World Champion. He will appear for the company once again for ROH during the company's upcoming tour of Japan.
Ricky Reyes would continue to be a part of the Ring of Honor roster for the rest of 2006, and even briefly reunited with former Havana Pitbull partner Rocky Romero early in 2007. When Romero officially split from the Rottweilers (eventually joining Roderick Strong and Davey Richards in their new No Remorse Corps faction), Reyes was left as the odd-man-out and has quietly disappeared from the ROH roster. Outside of ROH, Reyes & Romero have continued to team up, including an appearance in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's recent DDT4 event.
The Final Word:
I'd imagine I'm not alone when I say that I think ROH's upcoming tour of Japan is a major milestone for the United States' biggest Independent. Continuing to expand globally is a crucial part of Ring of Honor's continued success and will help to keep the product fresh and interesting. Hopefully this show is just the next step in ROH's dealings with Dragon Gate and Pro Wrestling NOAH.
To see this week's match, you can get ROH Destiny at rohwrestling.com. The show's main event is Austin Aries & Roderick Strong defending the ROH Tag Team Titles against Jay & Mark Briscoe, but is more famous for the SEMI-main event, which is Homicide's first ROH World Title shot at "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson and was probably the pair's best match against each other to that point. An altogether solid, if unspectacular, even that's certainly worth a purchase during one of ROH's many sales.
411's Independent Draft Spectacular was on display for much of last week, so now you have the opportunity to look back at all of the different shows from that series. They include: ROH Brand New Day from yours truly, PWG Shake It 3 Times from Bayani, FIP Changing of the Guard from Bauer, CHIKARA Seven Forty Seven from Adamson, UWF Old School Expulsion from the boss,
and IWAMS We Mean Business from Ari.
All of those are well worth your time as each of us took a unique angle on booking our companies. Who knows, maybe you'll get to read about the follow up shows at some point in the future.
Buy or Sell was on hiatus last week due (in part) to editorial ineptitude by me, but will be returning this weekend for a potentially super-sized look at ROH's trip to Japan.
As for this column, I will be traveling to New York City this weekend for the Dispatch reunion concerts at Madison Square Garden as well as to visit some old friends. I'm not sure if that means a week off from the IMC or just a pre-written edition, but I'm sure you'll get one or the other next Tuesday. Have a great week everyone. If you're in the New York City area, be sure to try to make it to Dispatch: Zimbabwe, or at the very least make it to Madison Square Garden this weekend and do something good for humanity.
"Do you suppose that I would come running? Do you suppose I'd come at all? I suppose I would…"
-Dispatch Out Loud
