Column of Honor: 03.29.08: Orlando Magic
Posted by Ari Berenstein on 03.29.2008
There’s just something awesome about Wrestlemania weekend and I think every fan can feel it.
I question the use of the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Snow (Hey Oh)" as a theme for WWE Wrestlemania 24. It would have been better if they used "No Rain" by Blind Melon instead.
RIM SHOT!
Welcome to the Column.
Ring Toss
-That Orlando Magic
-ROH Call
-ROH News
-My Fave 5
-Honorarium
-ROH Preview: Supercard of Honor III 3/29/08 in Orlando, FL
-Name That Tune
-Ringtones
-The Independent Buy In
-ROH @ 411
-Honor Bound Links
That Orlando Magic
It's Wrestlemania Weekend and as always I find myself ultra-psyched and pumped up for the event. It never fails that I get excited and ready to watch ‘Mania during this time of building up to the huge PPV. Even when I was extremely upset and angry at WWE for their handling of the Eddie Guerrero death in 2005 / 2006 or the general malaise I felt for them throughout most of mid 2007, I've always remained into the build towards Wrestlemania and then the actual viewing of the PPV.
I know some fans on the internet seem to be disappointed in the build to this year's Wrestlemania, especially some of the writers on this very site. They seem to think the matches are bound to fail to live up to standards. I can't disagree with that more strongly. I think that on paper, this year's edition of ‘Mania actually ranks at least in the top twelve of the last 24 ‘Mania events and if it works well in execution, it could go up even farther. There are your top two title matches with some of the top talent on the roster (whether or not you are a part of the John Cena Haterz Club), the "freak" attraction match between Big Show and Floyd "Money" Mayweather and then the match I am most looking forward to, the career-threatening match between Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels, which looks to be Flair's last hurrah in the sport.
Throw in a crazy Money in the Bank Ladder match, a grudge match, an inter-promotional match and some celebrity appearances for icing on the cake and you have the ingredients for a very good, perhaps great Wrestlemania program. Worth the $55 for a PPV? Hey, on boxing Pay Per Views that fifty-five dollars gets you ONLY one main event match. Here, you're getting FOUR main event worthy matches, and one of them even involves a boxer!
This weekend, Orlando has become the epicenter of the wrestling world. Over 70,000 fans (and Robbie McAllister) are in town and ready to check out the action. Well, maybe not Robbie, not anymore. Wrestlemania is one huge planet and all wrestling fans in Orlando currently inhabiting it and making sure it's rotating on its proper axis. Of course, when you have a large planet, you are bound to attract satellites and moons: TNA and ROH. Both companies are running events concurrently with ‘Mania weekend. They want to strut their stuff for a massive congregation of wrestling fans. It makes sense for ROH and TNA to piggyback off of WWE's coattails. If the wrestling fans are going to be centralized in one major location for this huge event, then if you hold a wrestling event there as well you are bound to pick up some extra business. You show off your wares and look to impress and many people as possible.
TNA decided to go live for the first time ever as well as hold tapings of Impact during this time period. Of course, TNA has shown itself to be TNA and failed to properly plan for a way to accommodate the near 3,000 fans who showed up and waited for hours on line to attend the impact tapings. Wow, what a disaster of a PR move that was, even with sending wrestler out there for autographs. You're telling me they couldn't have set up an alternate building to hold the tapings with a larger capacity OR set up a big screen theatre nearby where fans could have watched the tapings and not felt left out in the cold?
Meanwhile, ROH has two shows in the nearby Orlando Downtown recreation center (in fact its right by the parking lot of the Amway Arena, where the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will be held) and looks to spotlight its international connections with Dragon Gate and NOAH as well as it greatest strength—it's in-ring product.
This isn't the first time ROH has run shows during ‘Mania weekend. Actually it's the fourth out of five years in which they are doing so. Last year they ran Detroit for two shows and came up with some fantastic matches that were talked about all year. From Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer engaging in a brutal steel cage war to end their feud to Austin Aries and Roderick Strong fighting it out for the first time since Strong's heel turn to the Dragon Gate six man reprise and the DG vs. ROH All Stars match. ROH looked to hit home runs with their attraction matches and did hit some of them out of the park. Then there were the various surprise returns that caught many fans off-guard. Jim Cornette and The Motor City Machine Guns received huge pops from the crowd, even as each had their own plans against some of ROH's favorites in Homicide and The Briscoes.
Of course, Wrestlemania is known for their celebrity appearances and well, in 2007 ROH had a sort of infamous appearance by as infamous a celebrity as any out there. Johnny Fairplay showed up as a guest of Sweet and Sour Incorporated and was roundly lariated out of his gord. Ah, good times. Great memories.
2006 was a highlight year for ROH and their super shows in Chicago during ‘Mania 22 weekend kicked that into a high gear. This was the first year of a full out Dragon Gate and Ring of Honor interaction, and matches such as Generation Next vs. Blood Generation and the much praised original Dragon Gate six man in ROH caught the attention of many fans on the internet and directed them towards future Honor events. This was also the same weekend of Homicide and Colt Cabana's bloody feud ending match and the one time wrestling appearance of Lance Storm and he fought then ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson in a well remembered and well thought of encounter. Just the night before Danielson had retained the title against challenger Roderick Strong in a 56 minute technical wrestling masterpiece, but he still went out the next night and did a 25 minute athletic wrestling match against Storm. The ‘Mania weekend seems to bring out the best out of every wrestler, not just those on the WWE roster getting that ‘Mania payday.
I can still remember one of my greatest wrestling experiences was attending At Our Best and Wrestlemania XX back to back on the same weekend. My first ROH show and my first Wrestlemania (or PPV of any kind). I was in high heaven and I don't think I came down off of that experience for quite some time. I am quite sure there are a few wrestling fans right now who are feeling just like I did that weekend. It was a magical moment in the wrestling industry, a time where Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were getting top billing as the best pound for pound and technical wrestler in the world respectively. It was a time where anything was possible, a welcome reprieve from the darker and more disappointing time period of 2003 (with the exception, of course, of that year's Royal Rumble to Wrestlemania corridor).
I feel that this weekend holds some of that same feeling, some of that same magic. Anything is possible during Wrestlemania. The rabbit could be pulled out of anyone's hat this year. I find that the ‘Mania matches are more unpredictable than previous years. Ric Flair could walk out of Mania the winner of his match, but then again so could HBK. John Cena, Triple H and even Randy Orton could all feasibly walk away the WWE Champion in their main event. As for The Undertaker vs. Edge, well…okay, the continuation of the undefeated streak seems to be the next best sure thing to Jerry Lawler mentioning "puppies" during the Playboy Bunnymania match. The feeling remains though…anything is possible at this ‘Mania. Greatness could happen during the Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries match at the ROH show this evening. Sting has returned to TNA and looks to make an impact (pun very well intended) for the company as Joe and Angle find a groove to build their title feud. This is one of the more special times in the wrestling world, where everyone is concentrated on the same thing—the biggest wrestling events of the year.
Wrestlemania Weekend--It's a beautiful feeling.
ROH Results: Dragon Gate Challenge II, 03/28/08 from Orlando, FL
Matches
-ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness defeated Delirious in a non-title match by submission with the London Dungeon.
-The Vulture Squad of Ruckus & Jigsaw defeated The Young, Rich & Ready for Action of Sal Rinauro & Kenny King via pinfall after a doublestomp Jig & Tonic (!) on Rinauro.
-ROH vs. Dragon Gate: Austin Aries defeated Genki Horiguchi with the sick kick, brainbuster and Horns of Aries for the submission. ROH is up 1-0 in the series.
- ROH vs. Dragon Gate: Kevin Steen & Generico defeated Speed Muscle of Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino via pinfall after a Package Piledriver / brainbuster combination. ROH is up 2-0 in the series.
- ROH vs. Dragon Gate: New Hazard of Shingo & BxB Hulk defeated The Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black via pinfall with the Last Falconry. ROH is up 2-1 in the series.
- ROH vs. Dragon Gate: The Briscoes defeated Typhoon of Dragon Kid and Ryo Saito via pinfall with the Sprinboard Doomsday Device onto Saito. ROH WINS Dragon Gate Chalenge II series 3-1.
-International Dream Tag Main Event: The team of CIMA, Erick Stevens & Go Shiozaki defeated the No Remorse Corps of Roderick Strong, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero via pinfall after CIMA hits the Crossfire on Strong.
Angles & Issues
-ROH Rebounds at the DGC: After losing the first Dragon Gate Challenge series in 2006 two matches to one, ROH wins the second challenge series three matches to one.
-Ramming it into his head: Austin Aries was confronted by Age of the Fall after his match, with Jimmy Jacobs on top of some sort of scaffold structure. Jacobs gave Aries an ultimatum to make a choice about whether or not to join with them. This brought out Tammy Sytch to try to prevent Aries from joining AotF and attempting to persuade him to accept her services. Aries walked out on them all, saying he didn't need any of them to win the ROH World Title tomorrow night. Lacey ran after Sytch in anger and eventually caught her in the Impaler DDT to lay her out.
-Sweetest Decline: That's a Beth Orton reference for music fans in the know. Anyway, Sweet & Sour Inc. headed up by the one, the only Larry Sweeney made their presence felt on this show. Right before the main event, Sweeney attempted to buy out the NRC and offered a merger with them and Sweet & Sour Inc. Strong declined the offer on behalf of the NRC.
-ROH runs again tonight in Orlando. A preview of tonight's show can be found below.
ROH Call
ROH Champions—As of 03/29/2008
ROH World Champion—Nigel McGuinness (champion since 10/06/07, 9 successful defenses)
-defeated Takeshi Morishima in Edison, New Jersey to win the championship.
Next Defense:: vs. Austin Aries, Orlando, FL, 03/29/08
V.1 defeated Jay Briscoe, wristlock submission (10/21/07 San Francisco, CA)
V.2 defeated Chris Hero, wristlock submission (11/02/07 Philadelphia, PA)
V.3 defeated Austin Aries, Jawbreaker Lariat (12/29/07 Manhattan, NY)
V.4 defeated Go Shiozaki, London Dungeon (wristlock submission) (01/20/08 Tokyo, Japan,)
V.5 Steel Cage Match: defeated Chris Hero (01/25/08, Dayton, OH)
V.6 defeated Roderick Strong, Jawbreaker Lariat (01/26/08, Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.7 defeated Bryan Danielson, London Dungeon (02/23/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.8 defeated Tyler Black, London Dungeon (03/16/08, Philadelphia, PA)
V.9 defeated Larry Sweeney, Jawbreaker Lariat (03/22/08 Crystal River, FL)
ROH World Tag Team Champions—The No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards & Rocky Romero) (champions since 01/26/08, 1 successful defense)
-defeated Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) in Chicago Ridge, IL to win the championship.
Next Defense: vs. Vulture Squad, Orlando, FL, 03/29/08
Sweet & Sour Incorporated Presents The Intergender Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Of The World —Chris Hero & Sara Del Rey (champions since 01/12/08, 2 successful defenses) Status Unknown since Del Rey has left Sweet & Sour Inc. as of 3/14/08
V.1 defeated Ernie Osiris & Alexa Thatcher (01/12/08, Edison, NJ)
V.2 defeated Kyle Durden & Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne (01/26/08, Chicago Ridge, IL)
FIP Heavyweight Champion: Roderick Strong (since 02/16/2008) -defeated Erick Stevens via count out to win the title (FIP title can change hands on count out)
SHIMMER Champion: Sara Del Rey (since 6/2/2007)
Top of the Class Trophy (For ROH Students): Ernie Osiris (since 11/02/2007)
Top Feuds & Pairings:
-Nigel McGuinness defends the belt against top contenders.
-The Age of the Fall vs. The Briscoes
-Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. No Remorse Corps
-Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong
-Austin Aries & Age of the Fall / Lacey vs. Sunny
-Sweet & Sour Inc. "Corporate Takeover"
ROH News
(via the ROHnewswire… and other sources when attributed
When Lariat Attacks
ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness successfully defended the title against Larry Sweeney last Saturday at FIP's event in Crystal River, FL. McGuinness also attacked Austin Aries.
Reports say this attack against Aries confused the fans and that they didn't necessarily care about it. The attack was supposed to lead up to the title match tonight in Orlando. Nigel also played a face in his match against Sweeney, saying although he hated the ROH fans, he liked the fans of Crystal River. I like the idea of Nigel being more proactive and outlandish in his attempts to take out his opposition. Pearl Harbor attacks are an easy and fun way to extend Nigel's new bitter take on his character.
World Championship Roll Call
Whoever wins this Saturday's World Title Match between Nigel McGuinness and Austin Aries in Orlando will immediately put the belt on the line in a loaded main event on April 11th in Boston. There is a lot of talk in the ROH offices about this World Title Four Way Elimination Match in Beantown pitting McGuinness vs. Aries vs. Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens. This will be a true test for either Aries or McGuinness. Kevin Steen will be waiting to take on whoever wins this Four Way Elimination Match the next night, April 12th, in Edison, NJ. If someone who is in an already advertised match in Edison wins the title in Boston, then Steen will be added to their match and it will become a World Title Elimination Match. For example, Austin Aries vs. Kota Ibushi is already announced for Edison. If Aries is World Champion, then the match will be a Three Way Elimination World Title Match in Edison with Aries vs. Ibushi vs. Steen. The ROH World Champion will make a defense on 4/19 in Chicago, but ROH officials won't sign that match until the dust clears from Boston and Edison.
We're now out of the awkward first few months of a new champion's run and heading into the "build up steam" stage by throwing every challenger under the sun at the champion and seeing how comes out of the pile on top. I will say that the Boston main event four corner match represents one of the stronger matches of such style in quite some time. I still believe we'll be seeing McGuinness vs. Steen straight up in Edison.
Pursuit of El Oro
El Generico & Kevin Steen will continue their pursuit of the ROH World Tag Team Titles on 4/11 in Boston. It will be Generico vs. half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions Rocky Romero!!! If Generico wins this one after Steen defeated Davey Richards earlier this month in Dover, NJ then you can't deny Steen & Generico a shot.
The NRC vs. Steenerico title match is being brought along at a very deliberate pace, again to help with the concentration on Steen's big ROH World Title shot. Steen has racked up some big wins against the NRC and hopefully Generico will be treated the same and get the win here. I don't want El Generico to be the el jobbero of the team. I expect once we hit mid-April things will pick up nicely in the program, maybe leading into May 10th at Hammerstein for the big title shot.
Going to War
The return to Detroit on April 18th is headlined by two tremendous tag team bouts as The Briscoes take on Kota Ibushi & a partner to be named and The Age Of The Fall of Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black with Lacey battle The Motor City Machine Guns of Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin. ROH has decided to add a third main event quality tag team bout. April 18th will now be "Tag Wars 2008" as Kevin Steen & El Generico take on ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness & a partner that will be named next week right here in the ROHwrestling.com Newswire. Who will Nigel find to be his partner?
Three seemingly strong tag matches right there. We'll see how far Steen & Generico have really come when they set up against the ROH champion and his partner in a tag match.
ROH Videowire: March 26th, 2008
Make sure you catch Aries' response to Lacey & Rain's overtures to join Age of the Fall. Did you notice he subtly accuses them of lesbianism and they don't deny it? Wowzers.
There is a small amount of continuity in the Sweet & Sour segment as Brent Albright, who accused Larry Sweeney of being a scumbag on the March 15th show in Dover, NJ, was not so keen to embrace Sweeney in the promo on this videowire. He is in it to make a lot of money, which is actually on point with his old "Gun for Hire" ways. A small justification, but a justification nonetheless for his participation in the Inc.
Nigel has been golden during this sit down interview, coming up with several funny one liners. This is the edge he should have had all along as a face champion, but just directed at the heels.
These are the wrestlers on my fave five list right now. What that means is that I really enjoyed their efforts and performance in one way or another. This is different from the Wrestler of the Week feature because I am including the wrestling DVDs I watched over the last week, not just mainstream TV or PPV. Also, I'm measuring personal enjoyment, not determining who had the "best week ever".
So who's in my fave five this week?
1. Ric Flair: So yeah, obviously. The man just about gave the perfect "money" promo on Monday Night Raw in building his match against Shawn Michaels. Most importantly Flair got to be the Ric Flair of old, the impassioned, fiery wheeling dealing, kiss stealing son of a gun Ric Flair. You know what? It was a ton of fun to watch. It was a bit of the old school coming back into play. Then Flair was the man to tap out Randy Orton in the main event showcase match and boy did Orton put the Figure 4 over big time as a dangerous move. Bottom line, if this is Flair's last week as a fully active wrestler, win or lose tomorrow at Wrestlemania it's already been a hell of a week for the "Nature Boy." I loved watching every minute of his antics this week. 2. The Four Horsemen: I can't have enough Ric Flair during this last week and final build up to Wrestlemania. I went on a bit of a nostalgia trip this week with the free time I had after work. I watched the "Ric Flair & The Horsemen" DVD once again and was able to enjoy the history of Flair's greatest stable. 3. Rowdy Roddy Piper : Speaking of nostalgia trips, I figured while I was at it, I was in the mood to check out the Piper DVD once again. I watched the documentary portion once again and of course reveled in Piper's fantastic promo skills. The man could talk and that's perhaps the biggest understatement I've ever written. Not only could he get people upset and crazy about what he did, at the same time his quick wit and expressive facial reactions were like little sharp daggers to the point of anyone who was his target. I also still laugh every time I see clips of a drunken Burt Reynolds slur his words in introducing Piper as the special guest referee for Wrestlemania X. 4. Big Show : WWE goofed in trying to make Big Show a heel in this build to the fight against Floyd Mayweather. The crowd is usually going to support a wrestler over a boxer or any other invader from another field of sports trying to get involved in sports. Especially when a man as hateable as Mayweather shows up, then well, you've got to go with the flow. The thing is, Show is still positioned as a heel, but he isn't going to take guff from anyone. He is his own man now more than any time before. So when he realized that WWE Champion Randy Orton was manipulating him and using him to do a hatchet job on John Cena, Flair, Shawn Michaels and Triple H, Show chokeslammed Orton full throttle to a huge pop and proceeded to "abandoned ship". I loved it and I love that Big Show gets to be mean and tough but isn't a cartoon heel in the least. 5. The 24 man tag team match on ECW: A fun little romp through a tag match that was actually very solidly constructed. You had a few tight one on one segments, some flying around from all the athletic wrestlers out there (even Kane!) and then out and out chaos. Works for me. I just wish Colin Delaney was actually in that Battle Royal at Mania, because him inadvertently winning said match and then fluking his way to a title win at Wrestlemania would be just about the most insane and surreal event to take place in the history of ‘Mania…even more than two Doinks or the Gimmick Battle Royal from WM X-7.
Honorarium
-Click here for my thoughts on ROH Breakdown, the best January DVD for the promotion.
-So Ring of Honor took the Dragon Gate Challenge II series three matches to one. First of all, I'm shocked that a prediction of mine actually worked out right! On a serious point, it's about time Ring of Honor actually won a series outright against international talent. It was getting to be like ROH was the Washington Generals compared to PURO's Harlem Globetrotters. ROH gets to flex its collective muscles as a "dominant" force and gets bragging rights until the next DGC. That's the way it should be, especially on ROH's home turf and especially during the Wrestlemania weekend showcase.
-Necro Butcher may be slightly disappointed this weekend because his "West Virginia, Son" college basketball team got knocked out of the NCAA tournament by Xavier. I've heard that in response to this devastating news that Necro is actively searching the former ROH Champion Xavier and intends to knock him out with a potted plant.
You know, it just wouldn't be Wrestlemania weekend without a potted plant incident.
-I know that Austin Aries has been courted by both Age of the Fall and Tammy Sytch. His career in ROH seemingly has hit a plateau and he can't make up his mind if he wants the help of these people. I just think he should do what he always does: start up a stable of wrestlers and then boot them out whenever he feels like it. That ought to solve the problem.
-For some reason whenever Delirious comes out I expect him to have a green or red turtle shell on his back.
-www.imafuckingmark.com redirects you to Nigel McGuinness's MySpace account. www.imafuckingsmarkmark.com redirects you to a You Tube video of Brian "F'N" Pillman's "SMAAAARRRRRRRRRRRK MARRRRRRRRRRRRK" promo from ECW.
-I'm thinking Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black might want to color coordinate their eyeliner.
-Why can't Cheerleader Melissa just wrestle as Cheerleader Melissa in TNA? She's about as convincing a "Middle Eastern" woman as Ashley is a woman. Get rid of the burka and get back those pom poms, girl.
-Someone jostled Claudio Castagnoli on the bus. He turned around and shouted "HEYYYYYY!"
-I am sensing Morishima vs. Danielson for the main event of the Hammerstein show in May. That sucks because I have seen three out of their four matches in person and I've been waiting for a clean finish to their series for quite some time. I can't go to that show because it's my mom's birthday and unless I want it to be my last day on Earth I can't miss it. But maybe…if I can just get Larry Sweeney to engage in a hostile takeover of the date May 10th…I'll be in the clear.
ROH Preview: "Supercard of Honor III" March 29th 2008 in Orlando, FL
Orlando Downtown Recreation Complex
7:30pm belltime
649 West Livingston Street
Orlando, FL 32801
Main Event #1 - ROH World Title Match - Rematch From "Rising Above" PPV
Nigel McGuinness defends vs. Austin Aries
These two tore the house down in New York City for the Rising Above PPV. What an awesome, physically exhausting and sometimes very painful match for those two. This time around Nigel is at full health and I don't think we'll see a repeat of the concussion situation from their December encounter. Therefore I give the champion much greater odds of retaining the title this time around. Nigel's attack based off of the neck and arm has proven to be quite effective. The London Dungeon has tapped out quite a few wrestlers, but even if that move doesn't get the job done, there is always the super destructive Jawbreaker Lariat that can smash Aries halfway to the Magic Kingdom by the end of it. Hell, it devastated Aries in the first ROH World title match.
As much as Aries would like to get past the whole Age of the Fall / Tammy Sytch business and concentrate on the world title match, I get the feeling that both of those forces are conspiring even now to undermine his concentration. Both AotF and Sytch continue to make sales pitches to Aries and I think both will be very demanding of Aries to make a choice before during and after the title match. In fact, by the end of this show we could see a definitive change in direction for Aries's career in ROH. I just don't see it being a direction that involves possession of the ROH World Title for a second time after tonight.
Main Event #2 - Dragon Gate Six Man Tag
CIMA, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito vs. Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & Genki Horiguchi
As insane as Briscoes matches can be with spots and frenetic move after move of insane coolness, that mentality all started with the Dragon Gate wrestlers and those participants of the original DG six man tag match in 2006. They all return to this six man tag format, with CIMA and Genki Horiguchi having trades sides. CIMA is now a face as a part of Typhoon and is looking to do thing honorably and with great respect towards professional wrestling and its fans. Genki meanwhile has become a bit of a evil schemer and can't be trusted these days. Kid & Saito remain basically who they were two years ago, solid talents who can give you spectacular moments that are quintessential "blink and you miss it." Doi and Yoshino in particular have upped their game over the last two years, improving their in ring movements and characters. They work well as a tag team (as their GHC Jr. Tag Title run proved) and they will be a formidable force for the face unit.
I expect a lot of the same mentality from the original effort from these men, but I don't know if they can ever hope to top what they all accomplished together two years ago. They managed to get the Chicago crowd into such frenzy that they chanted "Please Don't Stop!" over and over again for minutes on end. Can they get back to that feeling in a natural and organic way, or will it seem all too forced and trite? Maybe they should go in a different direction as compared to that original six man match, but damned if I know what that would be. I guess that's why I leave the in ring action to the professionals.
World Tag Team Title Match - To Be Taped For ROH's 6th PPV
Davey Richards & Rocky Romero defend vs. Ruckus & Jigsaw
I would hope this goes on first or early in order to have the benefit of a very strong and very excited crowd in attendance. It's very important to capture that energy and positive response and make sure it gets translated onto PPV. As far as in the ring, these two teams had a very good one in NYC last month and it wouldn't be unfair to expect them to follow a similar format and get similar results in quality. The major deal will be to see how Jigsaw operates without the mask and if ROH can address how that happened on the PPV. Will he be able to stand out in this one or will he be taking a back seat to the ruthless intensity of the NRC.
It wouldn't be beyond my expectations to think a run in from Eddie Kingston or BLK OUT is out of the picture. Kingston has been stirring up trouble for Jig and Rucukus over the last two weeks and he could get involved here not only to continue that angle but also to allow for his debut on PPV. Although he already had appeared on the "Take No Prisoners" bonus showcase and that will make the DVD release. So maybe that would create some sort of time paradox that would destroy the entire universe as we know it. That's not good, I keep my stuff there. So please, stay home Eddie Kingston.
FIP World Heavyweight Title Match
Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens
It's Florida vs. well, ummm, Florida in this one as the Sunshine State has two of its favorite sons participating in the FIP title match on the biggest weekend of the wrestling year. That said, there are no shiny happy people holding hands in this one. Its pure unadulterated grudge match with Stevens vs. Strong,100 percent fresh from concentrate. Expect chops, chops and more chops and perhaps even some more chops. I don't anticipate the title switch here, but this one actually has a decent shot at stealing the show with or without the switch. It all depends on how receptive the crowd is to both men and if they can hit the right notes on this one.
It's going to be a rough and tumble match. Expect some bleeding. I think the count out rule gets used again, maybe not for the finish, but it will be teased heavily since that is how Strong won back the FIP title from Stevens this past January. In the end, Strong's submission moves and wrestling intelligence may be enough to get past the ever-ready Stevens.
Relaxed Rules Grudge Tag Team Match
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black with Lacey
Okay, forget what I just wrote above…THIS could be the show stealer. Especially with relaxed rules and you know these two teams could use that sort of environment right now. They HATE each other with a capital H and the ATE in capslock as well. Expect both teams to go for the gusto, brawl all around the building and get all sorts of weapons involved. I predicted Age of the Fall to take this one but it could go either way.
ROH vs. Dragon Gate
Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Shingo & BxB Hulk
Okay forget what I just wrote above, THIS match could also be the show stealer. Steen & Generico are a fabulous tandem with terrific chemistry. Their interactions based on their characters are fantastic and their in ring tag moves even more so. SHINGO (gotta go all caps for old times sake) and his partner BxB Hulk have similar chemistry and effective tandem moves. This one is also literally a toss up. I predicted Steen & Generico in the roundtable but I feel that perhaps SHINGO and Hulk have a good chance to sweep the weekend to soften the blow of Dragon Gate losing the challenge series from last night. There were no dancers last night for Hulk, but there's always hope for his fantastic entrance tonight. I wouldn't get hopes up too high though…Ric Flair probably stole them all away for a little trip to Space Mountain.
First Time Ever
Delirious vs. Go Shiozaki
I expect happy go lucky "Green" Delirious to be in attendance here and that means Go is going to have to deal with some very unnerving and nonsensical actions. Can the very serious and very studious Go deal with someone who plays mind games via misdirection and confusion? If he does, he could easily get trapped into losing focus and getting caught with Delirious's specialty of high velocity impact moves. The Panic Attack, Shadows Over Hell or Bizarro Driver could finish a match in no time at all. Go has weathered some big hits from some of ROH's best, so we know he is tough. He's going to need all that toughness to counter Delirious and fire back with his own offense.
Larry Sweeney will be in attendance!!!
Tammy Sytch and Bushwacker Luke will be available for autographs!!!
Plus: The YRR of Chasyn Rance, Kenny King & Sal Rinauro; Shane Hagadorn; plus others!!!
Going Home
Name That Tune Week 28
Clue: four one one minus one hundred Lyric:"I know a drugstore cowgirl"
After last week's Tuned Out shut out, I was thinking some would get "All Mixed Up" for this week's clue. However, it didn't take a mathematician to figure out the subtraction in that clue got you to 311. From there it was a hop, skip and a jump to "Come Original" with the answer of 311's "Beautiful Disaster", the theme song in ROH for Motor City Machine Guns of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. Who followed the credo of "Don't Stay Home" and got "Down" with this week's answer?
This week's winners (by order of receipt):
soulpower
gorsty
Matt Bromley
Jason Detrick
Congrats to this week's winners. Now its time for Name that Tune! for this week, March 29th, 2008!
Clue: WM24 Battle Royal Participant Lyric: "A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me" What's the name of the song and the artist?
Answering some of the comments from last week's column:
What ever happened to "My Two Cents"? Will there be more?
Posted By: Guest#6671 (Guest) on March 22, 2008 at 08:40 PM
My bro Chris took a bit of time off from writing the My Two Cents feature because he was feeling tired and burnt out of the current wrestling scene, including ROH. He says he's getting back that loving feeling though (not his exact words) and hopefully soon he'll be back and contributing to the column.
You should watch the Hagadorn/Whitmer vs Fish/Edwards match. It is way way
better than you'd expect. Meaning it was pretty good, where most Hagadorn
matches are pretty bad.
Posted By: Chris (Guest) on March 22, 2008 at 10:09 PM
As solid as Whitmer and Albright were in their match at Breakout, I just feel pretty "eh" about the Hangm3n right now. It took me a lot longer than many others, but I really feel apathetic towards them right now. I guess it's a good thing they've been merged with Sweet and Sour now. And while I sort of dig Bobby Fish, Eddie Edwards remains a living breathing piece of Matzoh in my book.
Nigel's interview was ridiculous to me. It's ROH for Christ's sake. SHOOT.
That's why there should be a sit down interview with a fan as a response.
Nigel: "I use lariots because they get the job done and they win
matches"
Fan: "No, you win matches because Gabe books you to win matches. You use
lariots because you killed all of your other finishes and you can't figure out
psychology. You know how many lariots Stan Hansen used in his matches. One.
Because after that you were dead. Period. Nigel uses at least 4 in a given
match. It doesn't make sense.
BTW you had to know the heel turn was coming, especially if you watch both the
GBH VI Night 2 promo and the FB '07 promo they are exactly the same almost word
for word. That's no coincidence.
Posted By: Sean (Guest) on March 23, 2008 at 06:41 AM
Eh, I liked those in character responses to the fan's criticism. Hell, those criticisms are what spurred on the heel turn in the first place. It only makes sense that Nigel responds to them, in character. You know he can't really respond to those criticisms by telling people to "fuck off" in a derisive way unless it's in character. It's a bad business move otherwise. However, as a heel who feels justified in ripping the fans because he has been unjustifiably insulted, he can go to town with his acerbic wit and cut everyone down to size and its safely within the context of a storyline. People get angry, but at the character and not the real person behind the character. They will pay to see him get beaten, as opposed to stopping to pay for any ROH product at all because they are offended and insulted.
I had held out a slim amount of hope that this all wouldn't come down to a heel turn. I personally love the days of a pure babyface champion defending the title against all comers with honor and respect. I think I am in the minority on that one these days, especially with the majority of the ROH fans. I did expect the heel turn and that's why I am so accepting of it, as I stated last week.
This week's name that tune is much too easy.
BTW, Have you seen PWG 6th Anniversary Night 1 with Dragon Vs. Ki? I've ordered
it, and can't wait for that match.
Posted By: seaneb14 (Guest) on March 23, 2008 at 06:52 AM
I had to cut everyone some slack on Name That Tune after blanking them out last week. I haven't caught up with the latest PWG shows but I look to pick up All Star Weekend Six with Dragon vs. Ki at some point.
**The Independent Buy In**
2008
**CHIKARA "Cibernetico & Robin" (Torneo Cibernetico: Kings of Wrestling vs. Dorado's Luchadores, The Olsen Twins / Cheech & Cloudy, Quackenbush / Donst, The Colony / BLK OUT ) High Recommendation
**CHIKARA "Brusied" (Kingston / Donst, Campeones de Parejas: F.I.S.T. vs. Incoherence / Castagnoli / Taylor, The Colony / Brodie Lee & Olsen Twins, Cheech & Cloudy / Osirian Portal ) High Recommendation
**Pro Wrestling NOAH "Special Budokan Double Shot"7/15 & 9/9/07 (Determination League Semi Finals & Finals, NTV Cup Finals)High Recommendation
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 1 (Castagnoli / Williams, Evans / Pac, Black / Shelley, Aries / Strong, PWG Tag Titles: Generico & Steen / Dragon Kid & Susumu Yokosuka)Medium Recommendation
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 2 (CIMA / Tornado, Steen / Butcher, McGuinness / Richards, Kid / Yokosuka) Low Recommendation
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 3 (the entire show) High Recommendation
**Shimmer Volume 11 (Sarah Stock / MsChif, Sarah Stock / Cheerleader Melissa, Sara Del Rey / Cindy Rogers, Nikki Roxx / Lacey, Daizee Haze / Malia Hosaka, Allison Danger / Hosaka)High Recommendation
**SHIMMER Volume 12 (Del Rey / Lacey, Del Rey / Sarah Stock, Haze / Lacey, Portuguese Princess Ariel / Josie / Nikki Roxx / Portia Perez, Melissa & MsChif / Lexie Fyfe & Hosaka)High Recommendation
**SHIMMER Women's Athletes Volume 13 (Melissa / Portuguese Princess Ariel, "Dark Angel" Sarah Stock / Daizee Haze, Portia Perez / MsChif, Del Rey & Roxx vs. Rain & Lacey, O'Neal vs. Melissa) Medium Recommendation
**SHIMMER Women's Athletes Volume 14 (SHIMMER Title: Del Rey / Lacey, Nikki Roxx / Amazing Kong, Two out of Three falls: Allison Danger / Cindy Rogers, Portuguese Princess Ariel / Amber O'Neal) Medium Recommendation
**CHIKARA The Battle of Who Could Care Less (Incoherence & Tim Donst / BLK OUT, Claudio Castagnoli & Equinox / Hero & Hawke, Lince Dorado & Pantera / Olsen Twins, Quackenbush & The Colony / F.I.S.T. / Osirian Portal) High Recommendation
**CHIKARA The Sordid Perils of Everyday Existence (Campeones de Parejas: Incoherence / Cheech & Cloudy, Lucha de Apresta: Chris Hero / Equinox, F.I.S.T., Ellis, Ryder / Quack / Donst / Super Smash Bros.) Medium Recommendation
**CHIKARA Chapter 11 (Hallowicked / Kingston, Colony / Super Smash Brothers & Shane Storm, Tex-Arkana Title Match: Alvarez / Sweeney, Quack, Trik Davis & Helios / Shayne Hawke & The Osirian Portal, MIYAWAKI, Hasegawa & Pantera / Cheech & Cloudy & Delirious) High Recommendation
This section needs your help! If you want to recommend some good independent wrestling to your fellow internet readers out there, drop me a line for the column.
ROH @ 411
Let's keep at least some of the spotlight on Ring of Honor even in the wake of Wrestlemania 24 coming tomorrow night.
411's Buy or Sell is dominated with discussion of this weekend's ROH shows and the Dragon Gate crossover.
Our staff picks for last night and tonight's shows are available in this edition of the ROH Roundtable.
SHIMMER Women's Athletes is all the rage this week on 411 as several reviews have dropped in the last week. J.D. Dunn goes back in time to Volume 3 and a fantastic encounter between Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze. Then Brad Garoon finishes up his run of SHIMMER reviews with the conclusion to the title tournament (and the fantastic semi final and finals matches) from Volume 12.
Robbie Brooksbank looks to Man Up to the challenge of reviewing ROH's third pay per view in their series, of course entitled Man Up.
Honor Bound Links
Be sure to check out myself and several of 411's great writers speaking about their favorite Ric Flair memories on this special edition Flaircast.
411 continues and concludes its Wrestlemania Countdown with perhaps its best week of columns, and I'm not just saying that because I wrote a column this week. Well, maybe a bit, but not too much.
You can check out my contribution to the countdown with this look back at Ric Flair and Wrestlemania as well as a preview of what could be his last match against Shawn Michaels.
Scott Slimmer earned rave reviews and had many crying eyes tear up at the thoughts he penned in his retrospective look at Wrestlemania XX in his column, entitled Confetti.
And of course you'll find 411's ‘Mania 24 Roundtable is stacked with 411's writers and quite a few newbies making their rookie debuts for the website.
Elsewhere on the site:
Samuel Berman looks at a fantastic Dragon Gate match in honor of the DG wrestlers making their way to the ROH shows this weekend.
Matt Adamson looks at the Best of Times in August 1994.
Time to put this baby to bed. Next week, I'll have results from tonight's ROH show in Orlando and a preview of the April 11th show in Boston. My regular monthly features will also begin to return to the column as I'll give you the Moneyplayer of the month and the return of the ROH Stockmarket! If you're watching Wrestlemania, enjoy and have fun wherever you view it.
