Column of Honor: 08.04.07 Death Before Column of Dishonor II Part One

Who says we’re in the dog days of summer? This has been one of the busiest and most chaotic weeks in Ring of Honor history, all for a number of reasons we’ll get into in this column. Something major seemed to happen involving ROH every day this week and some people think at least some of it is all connected. Well, more on that in a bit. This may turn out to be one of my longest editions ever (Final Column worthy) so first of all pack a lunchbox and a drink. Here is what’s on tap:

Ring Toss
-Race to the Top Night 2 Results
-Race to the Top Pros and Cons
-ROH Call
-ROH News
-Special Report: Project 161
-Oddsmakers
-The Black T-Shirt Squad
-Honorarium
-Money Player of the Month
-The ROH Stockmarket
-Hero’s Sandwich
-ROH Preview: Death Before Dishonor V Night 1
-Ringtones
-Independent Buy In
-ROH @ 411
-Honor Bound Links
-OUT

ROH Results: 7/28/07 Edison, NJ
Matches
-Raceto The Top Tournament Second Round Match: El Generico defeated Chris Hero via pinfall with a backslide.
-Race to The Top Tournament Second Round Match: Davey Richards defeated Pelle Primeau via submission with the 14:59 key lock.
-Race to The Top Tournament Second Round Match: Jack Evans defeated Brent Albright via pinfall with the 630. Albright’s foot was on the rope but the ref didn’t see it.
-Race to The Top Tournament Second Round Match: Claudio Castagnoli defeated Mike Quackenbush via pinfall after a running European Uppercut.
-Race to The Top Tournament Semi Final: El Generico defeated Davey Richards via pinfall using a turnbuckle brainbuster.
-Race to The Top Tournament Semi Final:Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jack Evans with the Ricolla Bomb.
-Erick Stevens defeated Jigsaw in a Six Man Mayhem match that also included Kevin Steen, Hallowicked, Matt Cross and BJ Whitmer. Stevens pins Jigsaw with the Doctorbomb.
-$10,000 Tag Challenge: Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries, Matt Sydal and Jay Briscoe defeated Nigel McGuinness, Roderick Strong, Delirious and Mark Briscoe. Aries pinned Nigel after a 450 splash.
-Race to The Top Tournament Final: Claudio Castagnoli defeated El Generico via pinfall with the Ricolla Bomb to win the Race to the Top Tournament.

Angles and Issues

-Ten Thousand Reasons:
-During the show Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuiness were able to select their teams for the special 8 man tag match. Danielson won the coin toss and ribbed Nigel at beating him at every thing, even flipping a coin. From there Danielson picked his team and Nigel’s strategy seemed to be to match up whoever Danielson picked with his rival or someone who could counter that person’s strengths. The strategy proved to be ill fated and flawed as Nigel’s picks put Roderick Strong and Delirious on the same team (D was chosen to counteract frequent sparring partner Sydal). In a humorous moment Danielson tried to pick Jimmy Rave with his last choice but Becky Bayless informed him that Rave was injured, prompting Danielson to crack wise: “why doesn’t anyone tell me these things?”

The Briscoes proved to be the undoing of the entire match as while they initially did fight one another, they soon decided that money was no reason to fight. They chose to go to the bar to drink up, but Danielson slapped the taste out of their mouths. Wrong move—Jay and Mark proceeded to lay waste to Dragon…and then EVERYONE else in the match. They then walked out to massive cheers.

Strong and Delirious couldn’t hold together and soon fought against each other and to the back. This left Nigel 3 on 1 and the odds were too great. He may have had an opportunity as Danielson became greedy and wanted the fall all for himself. He pushed Sydal off and tried to stop Aries, but Danielson was thwarted and Aries nailed Nigel for the splash for the win.

Return Date: October 6th, 2007

Race to the Top Tournament Night 2: Pros and Cons

Reading the results of the Race to the Top Night 2 left me with plenty of mixed emotions. There was quite a bit I was confused about (who was picked for the 10 grand tag) and quite a bit I was upset about (Chris Hero losing). Upon further reflection and reading the enthusiastic live reactions I did change my mood and some of my thoughts about the show. I did find quite a few things I was happy about, but still left feeling like there could have been more done for my personal liking. So anyway, here are some of those pros and cons I came up with. Keep in mind I wasn’t at the event (first time I haven’t been at an Edison since Nov. ‘06) so this is mostly from an outside looking in perspective.

Pro: Claudio Castagnoli and El Generico had star making turns in this tournament. El Generico in particular won over the fans with his underdog performance. Claudio was solid all through the night.

Con: Chris Hero is out in the quarters? Seriously, my pick to take it all and probably the man who should have taken it all was out in the first set of tournament matches for the night. ROH needs to do you know what or get off the pot with Chris Hero and his crew of Sweet and Sour Inc. How do we expect to take Hero seriously if he doesn’t win?

Con: Nigel McGuinness was made to look like a freaking idiot with his selections for the $10,000 tag tournament. why would Nigel put Strong and Delirious together on the same team when they have been feuding for months? Did he think Delirious cared about money? Both Dragon and Nigel didn’t come out looking that entirely smart with their use of The Briscoes and Dragon was morons for stopping his partners from winning the match…you still get the money no matter who gets the fall Bryan. However, Nigel came out of this one looking like he didn’t have a clue. He came out looking like a shmo in comparison to Dragon and THAT is not a good thing right now.

Pro:: Reading about how The Briscoes decided to leave the match I actually changed my mind and liked that particular moment. Seeing how it played out on video confirmed that this was a pretty good choice of how to handle Jay and Mark on opposite ends of the team.

Con: Evans defeated Albright even though Albright had his foot on the ropes. This is a cop out finish that ROH rarely uses, but I still hate to see put into action. Especially since Evans was knocked out in the next round and it looks like he needed luck to defeat the bigger man.

Pro:At least no matter what I know the wrestling will be of good quality…people were very positive and upbeat about the quality of all the tournament matches, not just one round or two, but the whole thing. Booking questioning aside, the tournament should be a good night of wrestling viewing.

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 08/04/2007

ROH World Champion—Takeshi Morishima (champion since 02/17/07, 12 successful defenses)

Next Defense:: Claudio Castagnoli , 8/10/07, Roxbury Crossing, MA

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)
V.10 defeated Jimmy Rave via pinfall / backdrop driver (06/23/07 Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.11 defeated Adam Pearce via pinfall / backdrop driver (06/23/07 Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.12 defeated Nigel McGuinness via pinfall / backdrop driver (7/16/07 Tokyo, Japan)

ROH World Tag Team Champions— Jay and Mark Briscoe (champions since 03/30/07, 10 successful defenses)

Next Defense: TBD

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- 2 straight falls
V.6 defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Matt Sydal (6/22/07, Dayton, OH): 2 out of 3 falls- 2 straight falls
V.7 defeated El Generico & Kevin Steen (6/23/07, Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.8 defeated Jimmy Rave & Genki Horiguchi (7/17/07 Osaka, Japan)
V.9 defeated SHINGO & Susumu Yokozuka (7/17/07 Osaka, Japan)
V.10 defeated “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness (7/27/07, Long Island, New York)

ROH News
(via the ROHnewswire… and other sources when attributed

ROH Goes to California

Ring of Honor is set to debut on the West Coast as part of the gigantic WrestleFanfest 2007 weekend. WrestleFanfest is will be the ultimate fan experience and Ring of Honor will be apart of it on Sunday, October 21st wth a live event at the legendary San Francisco Cow Palace. WrestleFanfest 2007 is a three day event featuring some of the biggest names in the world of professional wrestling.

WrestleFanfest 2007 has several different ticket options available for this weekend including VIP packages. Stars already confirmed to be signing autographs during this weekend include: Goldberg, Roddy Piper, Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, The Great Muta, Ultimo Dragon, Mil Mascaras, Diamond Dallas Page, Bobby Heenan, plus over 100 others including some major names to be announced. For more information visit www.wrestlefanfest.com.

Besides the live event on Sunday, October 21st Ring of Honor will also be hosting several different autographs sessions throughout the weekend with the stars of ROH. Already signed for the live event on Sunday is:

-ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe
-Bryan Danielson
-Nigel McGuinness
-No Remorse Corps of Roderick Strong, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero
-Plus much more to be announced in the upcoming weeks including lots of top ROH stars!!!

In order to attend the Ring of Honor event you must purchase a FanFest ticket. Ring of Honor will also have reserved ringside seats available. Ticket information will be announced in upcoming weeks.

Fans on the West Coast have been waiting for the longest time to have Ring of Honor come and put on a show. This is one more step and it’s a big one, to ROH expanding itself throughout more of North America. Plans to run in Canada have been put on hold for right now but this is an exciting (and official) announcement. The Cow Palace is a huge arena and one with a very storied wrestling history. It will be the largest arena ROh has played for, but I would presume that the actual section where they run the show will just be a part of the convention floor, maybe a wing or a main attraction area.

ROH is obviously bringing their main event players at the least for their event and they will hope to make a huge impression on the crowd, some of which will probably have never seen ROH before. Gabe Sapolsky and Cary Silkin have previously discussed expanding the brand awareness of ROH and this is another avenue that will do so. This may be even better than PPV, since they will hit a target core of wrestling fans as opposed to the “needle in the haystack” approach of putting the PPV out there for On Demand and hoping someone will find it and then decide to spend the money.

You get a ticket for the show WITH your purchase of a ticket for the overall convention. That’s like going to a theme park and having the opportunity to go to any ride you want as a result. These fans have the opportunity to check out ROH as part of the bargain. Good show, ROH

Rave Off: Jimmy Rave Injured, then Quits ROH

PWInsider reported this week that Jimmy Rave suffered a ruptured eardrum at the Friday ROH show in Deer Park, Long Island. This was the third in a string of recent unfortunate injuries for Rave.

However, this news was just the tip of the iceberg. A few days later PWInsider reported and Dave Meltzer confirmed that Jimmy Rave is out of Ring of Honor. Apparently the split was described as “not amicable” and also goes so far as to include his booking deals with FIP. Rave was reported as furious after his injury and demanded to talk with “ROH officials” during the show. He reportedly went on a tirade and demanded he be released from his contract.

I find this part of the PWInsider report very interesting, so I’ll quote it in full:

-Many wrestlers saw the move coming, as it had been obvious that Rave had not been happy backstage. Rave was actually telling others at the ROH event in Edison, NJ this past Saturday that he thought he was about to be released. People close to Rave feel that the build-up of injuries suffered by Rave in recent months had added to his attitude. Contrary to some reports, Rave wasn’t receiving medical insurance as part of his ROH deal; which is seen by many as very one-sided in favor of ROH and they don’t guarantee a number of dates for the performers.

Okay, go back and re-read that second sentence there. WHY would Jimmy Rave be at an ROH event AFTER he supposedly left the company? This part of the report doesn’t make sense to me and is not logical. If I quit a company under really bad terms, I’m not going to go back the next day to “hang” with my former co-workers. I am out of there and onto the next thing. While Mike Johnson and Dave Meltzer are usually incredibly reputable sources and get it right many more times than they get it wrong, something doesn’t jive here. Either someone got the details wrong in the report, or there’s way more to the situation we’re hearing about.

What is surprising is that despite his injuries, Jimmy Rave was back on the upswing. He and other wrestlers in the midcard such as BJ Whitmer have their fair share of detractors, but amazingly Rave was getting increasingly larger crowd pop and favorable reactions with each and every appearance in Spring of 2007. I can’t personally explain it, but the live crowd really had Rave’s back. While Rave’s role had been reduced since his last big push in Winter 2006/2007 there is no doubt there was still a place for Rave in ROH.

‘Driven’ PPV Premiers September

ROH’s second PPV entitled Driven and featuring what is ostensibly a contenders match between Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson will debut on September 21st, 2007 according to a billboard ad on their website. However, this may be for the DISH and TV Networks only, as InDemand lists their premiere as September 28th, 2007.
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September 28th????? AHEM… SEPTEMBER FREAKING 28TH? I have to wait 28 days INTO the month to see this pay per view ??? In Demand, get on the freaking ball! I don’t want to wait seven more days than OTHER fans to see the show, nor do I want to wait until it’s almost OCTOBER to see a show that was taped in JUNE! Conka, we have our first RI-GOD-DAMN-DICULOUS for ROH.

ROH Students, say “BAH” if You’re Present

ROH announced on its website that Delirious will be the NEW head trainer of the new class of the ROH wrestling school.

I will avoid making the “language barrier” jokes. None are coming to me right now anyway. This is pretty cool news as Delirious is a very competent wrestler but not only can help with wrestling, but he can also give the noobs some very insightful information and advice on charisma and how to create an effective character. Congrats to Delirious…does this mean I can give him a small pay cut for the advice column and it’ll be okay?

Topping off Race to the Top
Via PWInsider.com

-Deer Park was a one-time show there. ROH had to run there as the Lake Grove, Long Island venue Sportplus had shut down. They are having trouble finding places to run in Long Island due to building damage from the original ECW and other independent groups skipping out without paying rent. There is a lot of bad blood between venue owners and potential promoters.

-The company felt that the “Race to the Top” Tournament weekend was a success and may look to run more weekend long tournaments in the future.

Maybe its time ROH cut its losses and stopped running Long Island. How about taking a different approach? Why not rotate around the five boroughs that make up New York City? was also at one point going to run Manhattan Mayhem back in 2005 up in The Bronx. Why not run Manhattan on a regular basis and then the LI portion of the /Edison double shot can be replaced with a show in the boroughs? And if finding four other venues is a bit much of a hassle, there’s always my backyard… Hey, plenty of established musicians come to Brooklyn to play. ROH should do the same.

On the one hand, Race to the Top was indeed a success, but I am very much hoping that it does not replace the Survival of the Fittest tournament. Readers will remember the 411 campaign to save SOTF last year. It’s a fave of mine given the unique format. Hopefully both tourneys can co-exist in the ROH universe.

Congratulations, YOU may be a Ten Thousandaire By Entering Publishers Clearing House

Bryan Danielson captained the team of Austin Aries, Matt Sydal and Jay Briscoe in a wild $10,000 Tag Team Challenge last Saturday. All three wrestlers and Larry Sweeney are currently trying to locate Danielson as Danielson left the building with the winning check immediately after the match.

I can just imagine this as a wacky sitcom “Dukes of Dragon”. Every week Bryan Danielson has to out run Boss Hog Sweeney and his good ole southern boys trying to get back the money. Well…seriously Bryan…give these guys their cut! Maybe not Jay, he walked out on the match. But Aries and Sydal do deserve their due.

Death Before Additions to Death Before Dishonor V! Oh Wait.
Two more big matches have been signed for the first night of “Death Before Dishonor V” weekend on 8/10 in Boston at the beautiful and conveniently located Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center. The $10,000 Tag Team Challenge saw Danielson try to steal the pinfall from Matt Sydal by pushing Sydal off the top rope. Sydal had super agent Larry Sweeney negotiate a match. Boston on 8/10 will witness Matt Sydal vs. Bryan Danielson!!!

Hopefully no substitutions for this one and we will finally get to see these two go one on one in an ROH match.

Nigel McGuinness and Chris Hero have had problems since “All Star Extravaganza III” last March in Detroit. Now they will meet again in Boston, but with a different twist. August 10th in Boston will see the Pure Title Rules brought back for the first time in almost a year. It will be McGuinness vs. Hero under Pure Wrestling Rules meaning each athlete gets 3 rope breaks to stop a pin or submission attempt, there will be a 20 count on the floor and no closed fists.

It seemed to me this was a dead issue, but okay, let them go at it again. Hero and McGuinness have a good chemistry in the ring. Now the Pure Wrestling Rules match favors McGuinness due to his long reign as a champion, but Hero is a sneaky one. I wouldnn’t count him out of this one..

By the way, we may as well just bring back the ROH Pure Title back!

ROH returns to its birthplace of Philadelphia on 8/11 and now you can get tickets for only $10 at ROHwrestling.com. This is going to be an incredible night with lots of mayhem. Two match stipulations have been signed as one of ROH’s hottest feuds continues in Philly. The first contest will have Mark Briscoe vs. El Generico in a Falls Count Anywhere match. The second bout will pit Jay Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen in a Lights Out match. When you add these two matches to the already announced eight man Non-Sanctioned Philly Street Fight this promises to be one of the craziest nights in ROH history.

No idea what a Lights Out match is, but hopefully that will be explained by next week. It’s probably the obvious “knock out” match where an opponent has to KO the other win (as in Boxing parlance “knock his lights out”). Anyway you slice it, these are good stipulations to me as they add that little extra edge to what is already considered to be a tense rivalry.

Cheech and Cloudy will all receive tryout matches on the preshow on 8/11 in Philly.

Last seen in an ROH ring in late 2005, Cheech and Cloudy have continued to wrestle the independents, especially as a tag team. I have seen and like dmany of their matches in CHIKARA and it seems they have grown in terms of working a match. Cheech always had good charisma, but Cloudy has also come a long way. Hopefully they impress and get re-upped to the main roster.

Sexxxy Eddy will not be able to make the 8/11 preshow due to an injury. Eddie Kingston has been signed to take his place and will compete on the 8/11 preshow in Philly.

Eddy for Eddie huh? Eddie Kingston in ROH sounds good to me. He is an excellent promo man. He isn’t always the tightest in the ring as far as execution of moves, but he does produce effort and intensity and a lot of fans on the DVDs I’ve watched where he wrestles pick up on that. Good luck to him as well on this tryout.

Around the Indies

-ROH Icon / Legend / Hall of Famer / The Man / Yaddayaddayadda compliments Samoa Joe has gotten married over the last weekend. Great for him! Congratulations to one of my favorite wrestlers and let’s hope he enjoys the honeymoon.

-Joe is also reportedly going to start wrestling show for Pro Wrestling NOAH sometime in the fall.

-PWG held their Fourth Anniversary show on Sunday, July 29th 2007 and despite a mediocre first half they kicked it up big time with two title changes to end the show. First of all El Generico and Kevin Steen won the PWG tag team championships. Then Bryan Danielson, who has just defeated Necro Butcher on the same card due to line up changes (now THAT’s a match to see) demanded he received his previously schedule PWG title shot against Generico. Generico was flying high from a successful weekend in ROH and in PWG but he did not get the last word and he lost the title to Dragon. How amazing it is that Generico and Steen have a chance to be PWG / ROH double champions and Dragon will also have a chance to be a PWG / ROH double champion by the end of August. It says so much that these guys are getting the opportunity to be the top dogs in many different promotions. It is a sign of faith from the promoters that they can sell tickets and have great matches.

-IWA:MS mainstay Sal Thomaselli is running for president. Yes.

Special Report: Project 161: Real or Hoax?

Let’s talk controversy. Let’s talk about something that is getting the attention of the internet ROH scene. Project 161. It might mean something to you right now or you may have no clue of what in God’s green Earth I am talking about. Well, quite simply, this may turn out to be one of the biggest deals in Ring of Honor history. IF. I’m going to use that word a lot in this report. There are a ton of conditionals to what has happened, and the biggest one is IF Project 161 is real.

IF it’s not real, if it is a hoax, we’ll soon find out. Followers of ROH will have to wait six long and excruciating weeks to do so, but by September 15th 2007, we will find out simply by following the results of the third ROH Pay Per View taping in Chicago Illinois.

I want to briefly mention that I will state my own personal opinion about this below, but right now my intent is simply a journalistic documentation about the rather strange events of the last week regarding this subject.

Enough of the clandestine conversation—time to get to the facts. To quote Kevin Bacon from A Few Good Men, “And the facts are this:”

On the July 27th and 28th 2007 Race to the Top Tournament shows in Long Island and Edison, flyers were placed on some but not all chairs in the venue. It had a website listed from abusedsociety.comand a catchphrase:

Nothing Saves
A WORLD Without HONOR Will
Suffer

Well, it isn’t exactly Haiku but the message was clear enough. Something about the end of Honor…the end of Ring of Honor perhaps? Anyway, the web URL was also printed in the bathrooms of the venues for the shows. People who went to the website saw disturbing words and images basically of a grim and apocalyptic nature. This included what would be revealed to be a photo shopped picture of Chicago and a Statue of Liberty with bleeding eyes, mysteriously similar to one of the more well known iconic images of ROH in 2006—Jimmy Jacobs’ bleeding from his eyes after getting jabbed in the eye with a railroad spike at the hands of BJ Whitmer.

As to what the name “Project 161” could mean, 161 could refer to the 161st show, which so happens to be the 3rd PPV taping in Chicago on Sept. 15th. Again this connects to the Chicago references on the abused society webpage. The third PPV would be a terrific moment to unleash a new stable made up of wrestlers who were not treated well by the ROH crowd. IF.

The first theory about Project 161 was that this could be the start of a new angle for Adam Pearce, Shane Hagadorn, BJ Whitmer and possibly Jimmy Rave or Jimmy Jacobs to form a new stable of “abused” wrestlers out to attack ROH and destroy it from within. IF.

Many fans have already seen Adam Pearce’s promo on the Respect Is Earned Pay Per View and noticed a new character direction for him. Pearce had become more dark (not in complexion but rather in his thought process) and seemed to take a more Svengali like approach to his character where he would reach out to the disaffected wrestlers. He was last seen on that show consoling BJ Whitmer, who had lost yet another match in what was becoming a very long slump.

While everyone is still debating what this whole deal is about, the story becomes more elaborate. The ROH board had opened upon registration and quickly closed it in a number of days. The board infrequently but occasionally opens up registration to allow new members to jump aboard and discuss topics. Soon after, the board was bombarded with spam from posters on two consecutive days, one by the handle “TheWorldsParasite”, the other “Honor161”. They posted a ton of cryptic messages and basically jammed up the boards for a period of time until these threads were deleted.

So what the heck was going on here? A web blog entitled simply Project 161 began to document the information about the Abused Society website. Some fans speculated that this was actually something called an “ARG” or “Alternate Reality Game”. These have become an increasingly popular phenomenon of using secret websites and special “Easter Eggs” to spread “viral advertising” about a product. The most successful of these ARGs included Halo 2’s ilikebees.com campaign, the Lost website which runs in conjunction with the TV storyline and Nine Inch Nails’ “Year Zero” project. Year Zero was basically an offshoot of Trent Reznor’s latest album release of the same name, but it is actually an “alternate reality” that borrows from several apocalyptic literary sources to tell the tale of a world corrupted by the U.S. government and the restriction of freedoms. People who follow the story online have discovered hidden messages within songs, CD booklets, concert T-shirts and online websites. The story of Year Zero continues to unfold even now and its one that seems incredibly intricate and detailed. Ironically a feature on ARGs was shown on G4’s “Attack of the Show” program during the height of all of this week’s Project 161 online action.

The Project 161 story seems to follow the pattern of an ARG, although on a more simplistic level (which in and of itself is not a bad thing given wrestling storylines are better when they are simple and clear). The plot is slowly developed over days and weeks online and details that continue the “conspiratorial” like theory of what is P161 continue to appear. Unfortunately, IF this was the plan by the ROH team, overzealous ROH fans may have changed the story (or really played into it and improvised a new strain of the story) by starting the blog with hints and speculation. The blogger may also be in on it, since the site went up at the same time as things began to heat up, thus fueling speculation and spreading analysis and rumors. Although to be fair the person who ran the blog (which has since been taken down) and other posters claim they had nothing to do with the Project (see Skip Niklas’ post on the 411 forums).

It was their actions in performing a Who is? Query on the abusedsociety website (which gives name and contact information of who owns the domain name) that led to the connection of the site belonging to a friend of Gabe’s. A picture of Gabe and his wife was put on the Project 161 Blog and this led to a distorted picture of Gabe and his wife being placed on the abused society website with the message “We Told You No One Is Safe.”

Needless to say Gabe Sapolsky was not happy. He has been deleting these and all other threads mentioning the Project. Gabe has claimed this is not an angle and he is contacting the police. Here is his statement from the ROH boards in full, which has since been removed from the website:

Ok, all this crap ends now. I’m sorry if it seems like I’m in a bad mood because I am. I am trying my best to keep my composure. I just had a long day/night of production on the Japan DVDs. I sign on here, I’m actually feeling pretty good about things because I just watched a lot of great wrestling from our Japan shows. So what do I find:

1) A private email I send to someone requesting that photos and information about my family be taken off a website is now made public. This is my family, not an angle. Understand that. When I send you an email it is private. When I make a request about my family it is real. Lets get that straight right now.

2) The clowns who are attempting to f*** with my life and ROH, which is my life, spam this board again after it takes me two hours the other night to clean it up. Not only that, but other people decide to jump in. I am about to start banning people like crazy so I suggest everyone read the rules and stick to them quickly. My patience is running out. Again, I am trying to keep my composure here, but I have had enough. I now have to go clean up the board again after a long day of production. I suggest if you are in doubt about something you posted that you delete it to yourself. I will ban anyone involved with any posts that are in doubt of breaking any rules. This is a warning. If this doesn’t apply to you and you are a productive member of this board I apologize and please ignore this rant.

3) Now we have more people than ever checking this board and it is a disgrace to the company. I want everyone to know that police have been alerted and I will do whatever I can to stop these websites and harrassment both to me personally and my wife. This is your warning. Stop it now.

That is all for now. I’m not playing a sick game here. It is over and I need to go back to doing what deserves my attention and that’s making ROH and FIP as good as possible for you.

If this doesn’t apply to you sorry for the rant. If it does then take this warning seriously.

Was this a sick joke by some stupid internet posters? Was this an ROH angle that got out of control? Had things been taken too far?

Maybe, maybe not.

This is a very strong denial by Mr. Sapolsky. What I write next I take very seriously and mean no offense to anyone, especially Mr. Sapolsky and his family. I have the utmost respect for him and his family’s right to privacy. If something illegal did in fact happen, then he has every right and should take a legal course of action.

However, I remain skeptical of anything and everything possibly connected to Project 161, including Gabe’s message on the website and the denial that this is an angle. Simply put, there are too many logical pieces of the puzzle that have occurred and continue to occur (Jimmy Rave’s firing being one of them and we’ll get to that in a bit) that place at least the possibility of this continuing to be an ARG—a work and not a shoot.

Quite frankly, Ring of Honor has blurred the lines between work and shoot many times before. It goes all the way back to some of the very first shows with Steve Corino and his “Group” causing the infamous riot at the One Year Anniversary Show. At first it seemed that event was a real riot and that Homicide’s crew (most of which had never been seen by any ROH fans before) rushed the ring. However, when the show continued and was not shut down and multiple replays of the riot were shown on DVD, it became clear that most of the events of that night were orchestrated. ROH has done many different shadings of real and work since then, including American Dragon and Roderick Strong letting their in ring issues “get too heated”, and even blurring their presence online, such as last years’ “crashing” of the ROH message board by quote unquote “Chris Hero”. Of course that was also part of the story and led to Hero gaining massive heat in the ROH vs. CZW feud.

IF this isn’t really a part of the story, then simply put its ROH’s version of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” As much as ROH and other web columnists / reporters will claim this is NOT an angle—how do we believe that given the past history of ROH? How does anyone except those within ROH know for sure? The very nature of the internet being what it is if this isn’t real I’m surprised it didn’t happen to them a lot earlier.

IF this is a real deal, ROH has a lot to gain and a lot to lose. Many fans are saying they would stop watching it and take it as a sign of ROH betraying their trust. Others were initially completely pumped up and excited about the prospects of playing along with the game and seeing what developed along the way. ARGs are supposedly the new in thing on the internet (although I had no clue what these were until this whole mess started) and the real world and are increasingly being used to hype products and spread word of mouth. Of course, one notable time when it backfired was the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” incident involving an LED display of a ATHF character being placed within along ten major cities. Some citizens in Boston who didn’t know anything about the show thought it was a bomb threat and it SHUT THE WHOLE CITY DOWN. There were criminal charges and fines paid. That is a major backfire. IS this a similar situation?

In addition to the internet messages, Project161 and Honor161 were AIM names that you could contact and they will leave cryptic messages. Project161 was the first screen name to respond when random fans messaged him or her. He or she responded with cryptic messages similar to the ones placed on the website. When Honor161 bombarded the board on the second day, the manner of the message was the same, but the tone and tenor were subtly different. These messages were brusquer and more outward in their reference of ROH stables like The Prophecy and The Resilience. The Project161 name claimed Honor161 was an imposter. The AIM name Project161 has since disappeared off the IM map. Honor161 is still answering his IMs and gives varying cryptic responses. In an experimental effort if I approached this person for an interview to see what would happen. The following is a transcript of that short conversation that took place on 8/2/07:

ABear729 [11:22 AM]: I represent the Column of Honor at 411mania. Would you care to make a comment to the press about your recent actions?
Honor 161 [11:24 AM]: Actions Speak Louder Then Any Words, And Honor Will Die Soon.
ABear729 [11:24 AM]: How do you intent to go about fulfilling this agenda?
Honor 161 [11:25 AM]: By Force
ABear729 [11:28 AM]: Who is responsible for these actions? Who is your leader?
Honor 161 [11:29 AM]: Gabriel Will Lead Us
ABear729 [11:30 AM]: Is this a religious cult? Or are you secular?
Honor 161 [11:31 AM]: Religion? We are not a religion, just a group joined by goals
ABear729 [11:32 AM]: Right, the goal of honor dying…so if honor does die, what happens then? What is in its place?
Honor 161 [11:43 AM]: We are in it’s place, We take over, people join us, and We The Abused become the empowered, and get the shots
ABear729 [11:43 AM]: How do you respond to people on the message boards claiming you are an imposter?
Honor 161 [11:45 AM]: They will find out in time what to believe, but as for now they can believe what they want
ABear729 [11:46 AM]: Well, thank you for your time. May I contact you again in the future for more quotes?
Honor 161 [11:46 AM]: Yes, and your welcome Sir
ABear729 [11:46 AM]: Good day.

I’ll say this, he may be an anarchist, but he was a very polite anarchist. Especially with the “sir” line. Not even my students usually say that.

“Honor161” may or may not be related to the “Project161”, may or may not be a fan trying to get in on the action or may or may not actually be different people answering at different times. I will make NO personal claims that this person is authentic or part of any storyline or anything of the sort. I just wanted to see what would happen if I engaged in conversation. Regardless, this person seemed to follow the tone of “the game” quite well. I may engage this person in the future to see what his or her reactions will be to developments in ROH.

My personal opinions of this are the following:

Using an ARG as an intro a new angle is quite frankly ingenious. IF. ROH has often stayed with or ahead of the curve of what’s “in” for society. With such storylines as CM Punk’s stealing of the ROH title and Generation Next coming for the top slots in the company, ROH has presented wrestling storylines that both harken back to the old school days of wrestling but also present cutting edge and modern day sensibilities.

As to why someone would use an ARG for a wrestling angle instead of just simply doing a wrestling angle, think of it this way. IF this is true, this is a low risk situation. It has nothing to do with the main angles of the current ROH product. It would take nothing away from the quality of work in the ring. I would compare this to a “side project” in music. The side project album gets some attention and is noticed by the smaller but hardcore faithful of a band. The band itself keeps the focus of the mainstream and casual audience, while the hardcores “find” the side project. In the same manner, the major angles in ROH would still be the wrestling centered angles and matches. These are the easiest to “pick up and play”—that being The Briscoes vs. Steen and Generico, The Morishima/ Danielson/ McGuinness three way rivalry for the ROH World title and the Claudio Castagnoli / Sweet and Sour Inc. rivalry. Each has a solid logical reasoning for occurring and each has received plenty of spotlight in the ring where this sort of “side project” angle wouldn’t take away from that at all.

Like it or not we’re all a part of this now for the next six weeks…including the believers and the skeptics. All the fans who followed P161 are a part of it now, whether it real or fake, those who believe and play into it and those who don’t believe and dismiss it. That’s part of this equation as well. Both fuel the other side’s beliefs about the legitimacy or illegitimacy of this story and that plays into the game even more, because as events continue on, it’s all the more subject to supposition and conjecture (see again developments with Rave). You can easily become more and more paranoid and conspiratorial as this goes on. You may even become a member of ROH’s version of The Lone Gunmen from X-Files.

It helps IF you don’t take it so seriously and treat this as if it’s the end of the world if it goes either way. That way if it is a work, well, you had fun. If it’s for real, well, that’s the world we live in nowadays and it’s a shock it didn’t happen sooner given ROH’s deep connection to the net.

Is this a game? Is it not? The answer is up for grabs but there’s no real way to know about anything for sure just yet. Even what Gabe says or what websites like PWInsider report such as Rave’s firing is suspect and up for questioning. I’m not saying this is the case here specially for PWInsider, but it does lead to doubt and confusion—what or who can we as internet consumers trust anymore? You can’t trust much until September 15th.

After that show is the only real way we’ll know for sure what is what. If Project 161 does not come to pass, then this would have been just another wacky and crazy chapter in the history of the Internet Wrestling Community and the probability clearly goes towards this being a hoax. IF Pearce or Jacobs come out and declare a war on honor, well then, wouldn’t that be something? Then again, maybe given all that has occurred, ROH will take advantage of the situation and indeed do something along the lines of a stable for Pearce or Jacobs after all.

For more info, the Project161 blog (which was taken down) has a mirror you can access here (start with update 1 and work your way up):

Stop the Presses NOTE: absuedsociety.com and nhsociety.com are currently down and GoDaddy is “parking” the site. The question is now “where did it go?” Is this the end of everything or only the end of phase 1? Again, answers to follow in the weeks to come.

Column of Honor continues in PART TWO right here.