411’s Buy or Sell 02.15.08: OVW, King of Trios, Muscle Outlaw’z Tension, and more!

Welcome everyone to WEEK FORTY-THREE of BUY or SELL. For those of you who haven’t been with us since the beginning, here’s the Reader’s Digest version of what this column is all about. BUY or SELL is very much like 411’s long-running Fact or Fiction column. The main difference is that BUY or SELL focuses on topics like the U.S. Independent scene, Lucha Libre, Japanese Wrestling and pretty much anything else that isn’t mainstream wrestling, WWE and or TNA. This allows for these areas to get a bit more press and for you, our loyal readers, to learn even more about the sport of professional wrestling.

Week Forty-Three’s Match-Up:
Ask 411 guru Steve Cook vs. The Tiger’s Take’s Mike Campbell!

Ohio Valley Wrestling will remain a viable Independent promotion despite no longer being a WWE developmental territory.

Steve Cook : BUY. The loss of WWE developmental talent is going to hurt OVW in the short term, don’t get me wrong. But those who believe that OVW is going to bite the dust vastly underestimate the talent of Danny Davis, who has been running OVW and training wrestlers there since 1998, which was two years before WWE got involved. And now that WWE is out of the picture, you have to figure that Jim Cornette will be looking to return to the promotion that he helped build. OVW has cultivated a loyal fanbase in the Louisville area through the years, and even without WWE’s involvement they still have one of the best wrestling schools in the country. This also opens up the opportunity for them to bring back guys like Nick Dinsmore, Doug Basham, Damaja, Rob Conway and other talent that has been released from WWE that have history in OVW. Combine that talent with young wrestlers that will go to OVW’s wrestling school to learn their craft, and OVW should still be able to produce an entertaining product that can thrive in the Kentuckiana area. The only question I have is when will Kenny Bolin bust out the white suit to be like his idol Rick Pitino.

Mike Campbell : BUY . It’ll take OVW some time to do so, but it can be done. They’ve gotta start from scratch with storylines, and almost completely overhaul the roster, so they have some work ahead of them. But it’s not impossible. Cornette once said that only about 20% of OVW’s expenses were covered by the WWE. So it’s not like OVW is crippled.

1 for 1.

The current tension between Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino in Dragon Gate will force Ring of Honor to rebook currently planned matches during their Wrestlemania weekend shows.

Steve Cook : SELL . ROH has a history of booking guys in tag team matches that don’t necessarily like each other but put their differences aside in the name of defending promotional pride. For example, I went to a show in Dayton, Ohio last year that featured an ROH vs. NOAH tag team match. Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness weren’t exactly on great terms at that point in time, and they still aren’t, but they teamed up to take on Morishima & Marufuji in the name of Ring of Honor. If they can do that, why can’t Doi & Yoshino? Besides, most of the fans that attend those shows will have no idea what the hell is going on in Dragon Gate currently. They’ll just want to see those crazy Japanese guys put on some entertaining matches, and the team of Doi & Yoshino is capable of doing that.

Mike Campbell : BUY . One thing that ROH has always done is respect the current storylines of Dragon Gate. CIMA shaking hands with Do FIXER after the first Supercard of Honor is part of what led to the dissension that broke up Blood Generation and created the Muscle Outlawz. The big question last year was who does Shingo side with in the CIMA/Doi rivalry. ROH booked Shingo to win the tag titles with Doi, but then one week later to team with CIMA. This past Saturday Doi and Yoshino announced the end of their partnership, although at this point they’re both still part of Muscle Outlawz, but unless this is a swerve (not uncommon either for DG) then I don’t think they’ll be teaming up at all.

1 for 2.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla needs to book more CHIKARA and IWA Mid-South talent in an effort to stand out from Ring of Honor.

Steve Cook : BUY . I can’t really say that PWG “needs” to book some talent outside of the ROH umbrella in order to stand out, but it wouldn’t hurt them to bring in some people like Chuck Taylor, Lince Dorado & Dragon Dragon. Whatever happened to Dragon Dragon anyway? That guy ruled! Can PWG afford to bring in more talent from the East Coast? I think that’s the answer to your question right there.

Mike Campbell : SELL . I agree that it’d be cool for PWG to bring in guys like Lince Dorado or Chuck Taylor, they’d both be welcome additions to the roster, and creating new stars is always a good thing. But they don’t need to do this just to be different from ROH. Why should they even worry about what ROH does? ROH and PWG are two completely different promotions, who run opposite sides of the country. All they have in common is that they use a lot of the same wrestlers. PWG should worry about what PWG is doing, and not worry about what ROH is doing and if they’re similar or not.

1 for 3.

SWITCH~!

Having Low Ki forfeit the PWG World Title as a result of his injury was the right move by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.

Mike Campbell : BUY . I’m seeing this as a simple case of better safe than sorry. There’s no real word yet (at least to my knowledge) of how bad Low Ki is hurt, or how long he’ll be out for. As we’ve seen with ROH and Nigel’s reign, the fans aren’t always that understanding when it comes to lineup changes due to situations like these. If it’s a rather serious injury and Low Ki is hurt, then PWG made the right call. If he’s not hurt that bad and will be back soon, then PWG has a ready made storyline and main event for a future show.

Steve Cook : BUY . Campbell already mentioned the Nigel situation in ROH, but that’s not the only example of how champions with injuries can hurt the integrity of a title belt. How long has MVP been injured during his WWE U.S. title reign? From the sounds of Low Ki’s injury it could be pretty serious and he shouldn’t be in a major rush to return to the ring. He’ll come back to PWG and challenge for the title again when he’s ready. I also like their unique build-up for it, saying that Low Ki voluntarily forfeited the championship. You don’t see that happen very often. The PWG guys think outside the box, and I like it.

2 for 4.

[Editor’s Note: please visit The Cool Kids’ Table for more discussion of Low Ki, Nigel McGuinness, and the different decisions made by PWG and ROH regarding their World Titles.]

CHIKARA will have an outside team win the King of Trios tournament rather than put a regular in-house faction over.

Mike Campbell : SELL . I’m only selling this because outsider talent going over home grown talent, doesn’t say much about your home grown talent. But really, is there anything actually at stake in King of Trios? If there isn’t, then does it really matter?

Steve Cook : BUY . CHIKARA always has in-house talent win their tournaments and it might be time to switch it up on the fans. Last year’s KOT tournament winners got medals and never had to defend them, so what does it hurt to honor somebody who’s just visiting? Bring the team back next year and then have them put somebody over, it’ll mean more then. Of course, if I were booking the tournament I’d have my girl Sara Del Rey & the Sweet & Sour Inc. team take the prize. What about it?

2 for 5.

Nigel McGuinness will make it past the Wrestlemania weekend shows in Orlando as ROH World Champion.

Mike Campbell : BUY . But only for now. I don’t think there has been any announcement on any ROH World Title matches for after the sixth anniversary shows. But considering that Danielson and Aries look to be forming a tag team and going after the tag titles, it doesn’t seem like Nigel will be dropping the belt. The only other challengers I can see at the moment are Aries (teaming with Danielson), Hero (injured), and Strong (had the most recent title shot). Unless ROH wants to book a shock title change, then I don’t see anyone taking the title anytime soon, unless Nigel gets injured again.

Steve Cook : SELL . ROH has reached the point where it seems like all of their champions have to be champions forever or it doesn’t mean anything. However, that has the dangerous side effect of rendering most of a title reign useless. How many times did we really think Morishima would lose the title last year? BJ Whitmer, Adam Pearce, Jimmy Rave, Erick Stevens, Brent Albright…there were a lot of defenses there that had no drama because we knew that Morishima was going over. I think ROH needs to spice things up a bit and make their shows a bit less predictable. One way to do that would be to have Nigel lose the title a lot sooner than anybody expected. And since some people think Danielson can’t win the World title because he might be going after the tag titles…why not surprise them?

2 for 6!

The forty-third edition of BUY or SELL finishes at 2 for 6. Stay tuned for next week when two new men will go head to head with a whole new set of topics.