Shining a Spotlight 9.06.07: Ring of Honor

Posted by Michael Weyer on 09.06.2007

An examination of ROH, how they've gotten a better handle on being a wrestling promotion than TNA or ECW and how they may be vital to the industry's survival.

Yes, I do have an opinion on the recent announcements of steroid suspensions by WWE. However, rather than talk about it now before all the facts are in, I'm going to wait a bit and give a chance for us to see how this affects rosters and storylines and such before we get into it all. Besides, had a topic on hand I wanted to talk about for a while.


I've been up front for a while on my feelings on TNA. This was an organization that, just two years ago, was giving us some good PPV action with an emphasis on in-ring development and great workers and seemed on the verge of giving WWE a decent challenge. Now, TNA is too busy hiring football players and doing swerves to realize how that base of wrestling fans they've built up are tuning out at their attempts to become WWE's little brother.

With WWE hurting after the Benoit mess and now the multiple suspensions, this would be the perfect time for TNA to step up to the plate. Instead, the company has its own problems with presentation, pushing down their homegrown talent in favor of former WWE stars, many past their prime but still hogging the screen. If TNA doesn't correct this soon, they're on their way to go down as WCW did, leaving WWE on top alone. And we all know how bad the industry took a downturn the last time that happened.

So in the midst of the chaos of the two major companies, there is one hope remaining for fans of "pure" wrestling. One company that does seem to care about intelligent, well-thought out storylines, that has an amazing ability to balance great workers with characters and a deeply passionate fanbase.

Ring of Honor.

I should up front with the fact that I don't get as much coverage of ROH as I'd like to. My finances are a bit strapped to allow me to buy their DVDs and being from the Chicago area, I don't get as many of their cards in my area to go to. However, You Tube has been a great boon to find some nice stuff on them (ROH themselves having their own account for weekly recaps to allow you to catch up on the action) and of course, Ari's "Column of Honor" here at 411 is a terrific analysis of the action of every week. It's allowed me to see how this company is managing to make a name for themselves despite their lack of major national attention…and how that may actually be a boon.

I was brought up on the WWF style of wrestling and I make no apologies for it. Don't get me wrong, I liked NWA/WCW too and I'm a sucker for a good old Ricky Steamboat match (as if there's any such thing as a badRicky Steamboat match). Still, if in '87 or '88 you gave me a choice of a Flair/Windham 60 minute draw or Hogan beating King Kong Bundy again, I'd probably go Hogan/Bundy. Sorry, but that is just the way I am at times.

So, I was never the "workrate freak" some guys are who analyze moves like the Zapruder film and give star rankings but I do enjoy the great technical battles companies like the early ECW and TNA would put out. That's why ROH does have some appeal, as ever since their start, they've been presenting arguably the finest indy workers in the nation in terrific settings and the results speak for themselves.

It's very interesting that so much attention was paid to TNA making it to five years but ROH's own anniversary passed without as much fanfare. Of course, that's because TNA has always had a larger presence than ROH, first with the PPVs, then their weekly Impact deal and the three hour PPVs as well. TNA has always been presented as "the little company that could," the promotion that, against the odds, has managed to make itself the number two company in wrestling. The problem with that mentality, of course, is that TNA themselves are now delusional in that they think they're on an equal par with WWE and can thus blow cash on stupid stuff and dominate their time with skits, ignoring the actual wrestling that got them respect in the first place. This delusion and TNA's pandering to the audience they want rather than the one they have, are what could be the downfall of the company.

ROH hasn't had this problem because the people running it have done the one thing TNA has been unable to: They recognize their place in the wrestling landscape. They know they can't compete with the juggernaut that is WWE, not in size, not in coverage, not in pay rates. They know but rather than do what TNA has done, which is copy WWE, ROH instead goes to pull in the audience they have now and be satisfied with that. Oh, I'm sure they'd love to be on top of the wrestling world. But instead of rushing right out the gate to take on the top slot (like TNA did), ROH has built it up slow and steady and they are reaping the benefits in that they are doing the one thing TNA has so far lacked: They're making money.

Even at their height, TNA has never been a viable financially sound company. Now it's true that putting on a weekly TV show and monthly PPVs takes money but also, the Impact Zone is free to the public and TNA barely tours. That means that they basically make money via the PPV buys (which are going down) and merchandise. ROH is doing better with regular shows without the glitz and glamour and selling them via DVDs and tapes. That allows them more money to keep things financially sound and pay their talent enough so they won't bolt.

In that regard, ROH is actually better than ECW was. Paul Heyman may be a genius at booking and building up stars but the brutal fact is that as a businessman, he sucked. He had no knowledge of how to keep books, wouldn't play ball with the right execs to keep things going on the TV stations and couldn't pay the talent which is why so many left. ROH, on the other hand, is run by people who understand the business side of a wrestling promotion and are able to combine that with the awesome workers and top-notch action to keep them running like a wrestling promotion should be. The smaller setting helps them from making the key mistake ECW did, which was expanding too far without making sure they were ready and also failing to ensure how something that appealed to such a narrow part of the fan base could work on a national level.

The ECW comparisons are rather appropriate. For one thing, ROH operates on different rules than WWE but rather than be the loose and free ones of ECW, they stick to that Code of Honor, which gives a wider respect for all involved and adds an extra energy to their matches. There's also the fact that ROH usually runs in Philadelphia and New York, markets that, like ECW, have fanbases with very vocal feelings for great worked matches and a respect and loyalty for the wrestlers themselves. That allowed ROH to build up a truly deep fanbase, something TNA had for a bit in Tennessee but lost some of when they relocated to Orlando. It also helps that ROH does stuff from actual arenas instead of a theme park studio and that they charge fans for their shows, showing once more that, unlike TNA, they have a business model that actually works.

On that, I do believe the ROH fanbase is a much bigger help than the TNA one. It sometimes seems that many TNA lovers have the same delusions about the company's standing as those running TNA. I've lost count of how many posts I've seen from TNA fans who state as fact that WWE will be out of business soon and TNA will be the company left standing. If WCW, a company owned by one of the richest men alive, couldn't put Vince out of business, how can a small company in Orlando do it? The people at the Impact Zone are usually a help in heating up shows but when they start chanting "this is awesome!" two minutes into a regular match, it shows how easy marks they are. ROH, on the other hand, manages to have a fanbase that's truly dedicated and rightfully takes pride in their promotion but, like those running ROH, are wise enough to know that a vast majority of fans lean to WWE. That understanding of their place helps keep ROH a bit humble, a humility that both ECW and TNA lacked and in my opinion, that's a key reason ROH succeeds so well.

The highlight of this mentality had to be the ROH-Combat Zone Wrestling feud, my pick for the best feud of 2006. For the first time I can recall, a US wrestling promotion actually pulled off an inter-company battle, something that eluded everyone from Verne Gagne to Bill Watts to Jim Crockett to Vince McMahon. Rather than get hung up on money or fearing losing face by having their guys lose, each company went ahead and did their best to sell a true rivalry with ROH actually letting themselves get beat for a bit in their own hometown. Besides making a great program that earned them more money, which is the real point of these things, ROH also managed to snag more fans as CZW fans got hooked on ROH via the battles which just added to the company's popularity. Where so many of the "real" wrestling promotions failed, this smaller company succeeded and it has paid dividends for them.

I do wonder if the guys behind ROH have studied what went wrong with ECW and are making sure to avoid that. Take their recent foray into the world of PPV. Rather than the traditional showing it all live, they decided to tape their big show first then show it on PPV. That gave them time to properly prepare it, market it and even edit it if need be. But it's more important as the wait shows that ROH doesn't need the PPVs as badly as ECW did or TNA does now. It already has a healthy income thanks to the DVD sales and merchandise and house shows. Yes, the extra revenue of a PPV helps but it's not the lifeblood of the company, which puts it way ahead of TNA.

But what really sets ROH apart from both TNA and WWE is the booking. Gene Sapolsky has shown himself as a truly gifted wrestling mastermind, coming up with one great program after another. True, ROH's record isn't perfect as even Ari is forced from time to time to talk of "Ring of (dis)Honor" where ROH did bits that really didn't fit in. But for the most part, Sapolsky gives the fans some terrific action and seems to truly respect their opinions. He doesn't shove his own vision down their throats, which puts him way ahead of McMahon, Jarrett, Russo, Mantell, Dusty Rhodes and Heyman. Sapolsky is a key reason ROH succeeds as he avoids the soap-opera crap and just gives old-style programs but doesn't dumb them down either, letting the wrestlers themselves be the focal point. He doesn't add unnecessary antics or dredge up decade-old history, he lets the actual match stand on its own and that makes it more important and thus easier for fans to get into.

Of course, the best angles and storylines don't mean squat if you don't have the workers capable of pulling them off. ROH does. What's amazing is that there really aren't that many big name veterans working with them but a slew of young, hot and hungry wrestlers willing to give their all and in a company that's willing to let them do it. The vast majority of them may not be recognizable to WWE or even TNA fans but they're able to put on matches that would steal any major PPV easily. Hell, they'll often have two or three of those on a single show. The Briscoes are arguably the best tag team in US wrestling now, something so desperately needed and Bryan Danielson is one of the most amazingly gifted athletes I've ever seen. His recent injury does seem to hurt ROH a bit but the company has a very deep base and should be able to fill his shoes. That's the other thing that's good, which is there's no sense that the ROH locker room is one filled with politics. You don't get a "glass ceiling" feel for ROH like you do with WWE or TNA. Yes, there are tiers, that's normal for a wrestling promotion but you don't get the feeling some guys are deliberately held back or not being given the opportunity to show their stuff. That, naturally, has led to much better locker room morale which allows them to hang on to stars better.

They have lost a few, of course, that's natural for any promotion. CM Punk has made a name in the new ECW, even if WWE has been reluctant to let him take on the top spot but that is because of Vince's long-standing reluctance to give the spotlight to any stars he didn't create. TNA has the exact opposite problem, which is that they'll push ex-WWE/WCW guys to the top right off the bat at the expense of the hotter talent underneath. This has led them to make the huge mistake of not putting Samoa Joe, the guy fans have wanted to see on top for a while, in the big champion spot. If Joe does leave TNA, it's probably more likely he'd go to ROH than WWE since they, at least, appreciate him better and were able to build him up as the main focus. The same were to go for other TNA guys, the X-Division ones more likely as ROH is a much better fit for their skills and with fans who will give them the proper accolades for their great work. Cutting off from ROH was a big mistake on TNA's part and I don't think it's a coincidence that since then, the quality of in-ring work in TNA has taken a drop.

So with all this going for them, one might wonder if it's time ROH took a next step and got themselves a weekly TV deal. I myself talked about how this might be a good idea a few months back but the more I've thought about it, I'm changing my stance a bit. Yes, it would be good for ROH to get more national presence and reach areas they don't normally hit like the West Coast. However, it could also prove to be a bad move as well. We've already seen how Impact has been modeling itself after WWE, thinking that's what's needed to compete with them properly. ROH has avoided that trap but with network execs who have their own ideas on how a wrestling show should be breathing down their necks, they might be forced to add in whacky skits and more outrageous characters, which is the exact opposite of what they stand for. Yes, wrestling is equal parts entertainment as sports but ROH has avoided the antics that mar WWE and TNA which is what's led them to gain so much respect. If they get a TV deal, they'll have to insert some of that backstage skit stuff which will just take away from the in-ring action they're known for. Plus, we've all seen how Impact matches are usually cut down to bare minutes due to commercial constraints and such. ECW learned the hard way that a TV deal can do more harm than good to a promotion dealing with high action and ROH would be the worst if that were to happen to them as well.

ROH has long been known as a company worthy of respect but in this particular time, they become something else. WWE is hurting now, not to the point of collapse, but it is hurting from image problems, rosters effected by injury and suspension and writer apathy. This would be the time for TNA to step up but they're mired in their own problems and inability to make their assets work. It amazes me that TNA, with the backing of a company and financial support ROH would enjoy having, is still unable to turn a decent profit and seems to be unable to function as a small wrestling company. Plus, it's hard to believe TNA is immune to steroid abuse as well which could lead to their own troubles soon in this new environment. This means ROH would be the place for true wrestling fans to focus on and even a place for newer wrestlers to get a decent start, free of the politics of the other two major promotions. That's a big responsibility but it seems ROH can carry it.

For so long, people have mentioned ROH and TNA in the same breath as antidote to WWE. But with TNA seemingly intent on aping WWE, that leaves ROH on its own and it has managed to blaze its own trail. They recognize the fact they fill a smaller niche of the mainstream wrestling fanbase, a popular one but not a majority one. They also wisely know that they can't compete with WWE on a large scale and aren't really trying to. This has allowed them to focus on the fanbase they have rather than one they want, allowed them to save money and pay good wages to their workers which has fewer leaving than most promotions. They've also created something quite rare in wrestling, which is a locker room mostly free of backbiting, politics and guys being held back. In short, ROH is, at the moment, the most "professional" wrestling can be. In a time when the entire industry is being shaken by scandal and bad press, ROH may be the best hope we have to lure a new generation in. If they can keep going the way they have the last few years…they really will bring honor to themselves and the business on a whole.


Also around 411mania:

Obviously, Ari's Column of Honor is a great bit for more ROH news.

Piledriver Report has a good argument on why Vince and Congress should be partners in the steroid mess. Oh, yes, because we all know how well Vince works with others.

The Shimmy starts a report card on HHH.

The Fink tries to book Cena's next feud.

Instead of a Top 10, Julian catches up on reader mail.

Don't forget Ask 411, Fact or Fiction, Three R's, Triple Threat, the Shimmy and all the rest.


That's all for this week. For now, the spotlight is off.