Column of Honor: 05.17.08: The List Issue (Part One)

Posted by Ari Berenstein on 05.17.2008

More lists and numbers than are in the universe! Five fresh matches I want to see in 2008, anagrams for Ring of Honor and the best moves to see in an ROH ring! Plus: Manhattan 5/10/08 results, the fate of Jack Evans and Lacey and ROH officially (officially) comes to Canada!

The ROHbot Protest continues…their demands…more ROH DVDs, increased workrate, but less lariats…more wrestlers, but less injuries…and if they don't get what they want…






Ring Toss
-ROH Results from May 10th, 2008 in Manhattan
-The List Issue: Part One
-ROH Call
-ROH News
-My Fave 5 3
-Honorarium
-The List Issue: Part Two
-My Two Cents: Chris's lists
-Name That Tune
-Ringtones
-The Independent Buy In
-ROH @ 411
-Honor Bound Links




ROH Results: 05/10/08 from Manhattan, NY

Matches
-FIP World Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong retained his title by defeating Go Shiozaki & Erick Stevens when Strong pinned Stevens.
-Kevin Steen & El Generico defeated the No Remorse Corps of Rocky Romero & Davey Richards via pinfall with the package piledriver into brain buster combo. Generico gets the pin on Richards.
-Delirious & Pelle Primeau won a tag team scramble match by defeating the teams of Chris Hero & Brent Albright and the Vulture Squad of Jack Evans & Jigsaw. Delirious pinned Chris Hero after Albright mistakenly hit Hero with the Half Nelson Suplex.
-"American Dragon" Bryan Danielson defeated Naomichi Marufuji via submission with the Cattle Mutilation.
-Takeshi Morishima defeated The Necro Butcher via pinfall with the Backdrop Driver.
-ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay Briscoe & Austin Aries retain the titles by defeated The Age of the Fall of Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs. Jay pinned Tyler after a Mark Briscoe run in and the Springboard Doomsday Device.
-ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness retained his title by defeating challenger Claudio Castagnoli via submission with the London Dungeon.

Angles & Issues

- The Kids are Albright: After Albright was blinded by Delirious' mist, Sweeney had no one left to blame for the loss but...Bobby Dempsey! Yup, Dempsey was the scapegoat again and as Sweet & Sour Inc. began to attack him for punishment (including the recently heel turned and diva-fied Sara Del Rey). They wanted Brent Albright to join in, but he refused and instead went on an absolute rampage. He tore through all the members of The Inc. and left his own man to the roar and approval of the New York City crowd.

-Daizee Date: -Daizee Haze was out to announce the record attendance to the NYC crowd. Who should come down the ring but Delirious, who has a thing for Haze. Delirious was dressed up with a nice T-shirt and even a tie! When he was about to ask he out on a date, "Sexy" Rhett Titus came down to (as the NYC crowd chanted) "c***block". Haze was sickened by Titus' put ons and left before Delirious could get an answer. Delirious was left to look at his lone rose lying down on an empty ROH ring. How poignant and sad and absurd all at the same time. .

Return Date: August 2nd, 2008

You can check out my thoughts on the Manhattan show along with plenty of other ROH issues of the day in the latest edition of The Cool Kids Table with 411 alumni Brad, Jake and Sam.



The List Issue Part One

Well, it's not the most original idea in the world, but I did feel I could have a ton of fun with it. So, this week's Column will be an ode of lists, lists and more lists. Serious ones, fun ones, absurd ones, plenty for all to enjoy. Starting with a look at fresh matches I want to see in Ring of Honor!




5 New Fresh Dream Matches I'd Like to See in ROH in 2008

1. Eddie Kingston vs. Jack Evans: Right from the start, here's a match where there is now slim to none chance it will occur inside an ROH ring and slim has just been jobbed out to none in a loser leaves town match. Evans is taking a leave from ROH (see below) and Kingston continues to take his time returning to wrestling while dealing with some personal issues. However, don't tell me this one wouldn't be a killer and intriguing match. Before Kingston's problems took him away from wrestling appearances, he was set to be a sort of "devil" on the shoulder of Ruckus, arguing with him about which stable he belongs with, BLK OUT or The Vulture Squad. It's no doubt that Kingston's appearances would make the usually easy going Jack Evans uptight and uneasy. He would have wanted either Ruckus to be able to stay with both groups, but Kingston would have none of it and tell Evans to stay out of it. When push came to shove and neither backed down, I'm sure these two would have a go at it physically. It's a match that could be as terrifically barbaric as the recent Kingston vs. Shane Storm match from CHIKARA's "Two Eyebrows Are Better Than One" or it could be more of a chess match, with Evans looking to take to the air while Kingston pounds and grounds the tar out of him. Depending on whether or not they want to further the storylines, we could even see Ruckus get involved here and make a firm choice about who he stands with. Now THAT would be interesting to see go down.

2. Brent Albright vs. Chris Hero: Here is a match that seems far more likely now that Albright has turned face and looks to go to war against Sweet & Sour Incorporated. I'd expect to see plenty of matches with these two wrestlers over the next few months and that's alright with me. The style combination is a unique one in that this match could be very scientific (as both men are more than capable) or it could focus on the disparity in power and mass between the two wrestlers. As of late Hero has been using a fiercer, more "NOAH" style as it has been described, but that has been against smaller opponents. He may revert to his cowardly cheating tactics up against Albright, and that actually wouldn't be too bad a strategy to use. Albright would also have to look out for the numbers game, as no doubt Larry Sweeney would send some other Inc. members or even take care of "the problem" himself.

3. Danielson & Aries vs. Steen & Generico: A no brainer match if I've ever seen one and IF Steen & Generico wind up winning the titles in the upcoming tag tournament (again, see below), then I would LOVE to see a series of matches for the title between these two teams over the summer. I think it would rival the Briscoes vs. Styles & Red series from years back in terms of excitement. Aries will continue to team with Danielson even through his feud against Jacobs and as long as they're a consistent team I could definitely seem them slotted in as top contenders to the title. Aries matches up with Generico's athletics and resilience (no pun intended) and Danielson and Steen is a match up we've only seen one time in ROH and one I feel has a lot of potential to be tapped into. Steen would be the X-factor in this match as the biggest man in the match and I think it would be his leadership of his team that would prove the difference.

4. Davey Richards vs. Go Shiozaki: Another fresh match that is very likely to occur just by playing the combinations game and looking for sellable matches to the ROH audience. I'd be very happy to see these two trading chops and holds for fifteen minutes or so. Richards has done well as of late in matches against international talent (including a fabulous match against Marufuji from Final Battle 2007). Shiozaki has performed up to and past expectations and has been embraced and accepted by the ROH audience. His array of offense is captivating and would mesh well with the strike oriented offense of Richards. Shiozaki just mixed it up with the No Remorse Corps both at Supercard of Honor III and last week in Virginia, so it wouldn't be too hard to pull the storylines in that direction and create a whole slate of Shiozaki singles matches against the NRC.

5. Steel Cage Warfare 2: The Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black, Necro Butcher & Joey Matthews) vs. Generation Next (Austin Aries, Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong & Jack Evans): This one was suggested by members of the ROH message board in their discussion of the direction of the Aries vs. Jacobs blood feud. I am not only going to agree with them but I'm going to give a big "Hell Yeah!" to it as well. ROH fans loved the first Steel Cage Warfare match and every so often talk returns to the idea of bringing the concept back. Now I don't believe in using stipulations just for the sake of have a stipulation, but I definitely could see this match being warranted with a blood feud like Aries vs. Jacobs and the directions it could go in the future. Not only that, but hell, a Generation Next reunion would be incredible, even just as a one time deal made out of necessity by Aries. Let's say Age of the Fall grows too out of control with Jacobs at the helm, taking out everyone in their way. Meanwhile, Sweet & Sour Inc. has successfully wooed Davey Richards and Rocky Romero to his stable, effectively leaving Strong without a country. Or maybe the NRC is still together and Aries humbles himself enough to ask Strong for his help out of a mutual necessity to deal with Jacobs I don't see that happening, but whatever. So Evans comes back later in the year and ROH has been able to book Alex Shelley for special appearances. Bring them all together to reform the original Gen Next, with the mission being to wipe Age of the Fall from existence in this one match. The result? Instant insanity, blood, carnage and at the end of the match, one faction gets the right to be known as THE all-time dominant faction of ROH .



Fresh Matches 2007 revisited (as seen in Column of Honor: And 5 to Grow On)

1. Bryan Danielson vs. Brent Albright

What I Said: Brent Albright's science and technical wrestling matches up so well to Bryan Danielson. This doesn't have to been all about Albright's brawn and power, although that could give him the advantage in this match. A great hold for hold and a counter wrestling chess match is well called for in this encounter.
Did It Happen?: Yes, at Proving Ground. Danielson defeated Albright in a good wrestling match. Albright was even able to show off a spark of personality in his pre and post match interactions with Danielson and whether or not he would shake his hand. That's a great call back to Albright's OVW storyline with CM Punk for those paying really close attention (nutballs like me). At any rate, I felt the match came through, although it felt more like a mid card match than main event action. Maybe the match would have really been amped up if it was for the ROH World Title.

2. Nigel McGuinness vs. KENTA
What I Said: One of the two combinations fans have yet to see between McGuinness, Danielson, KENTA and Morishima is this fight, pitting the tag team partners of the main event of Respect is Earned against each other.
Did It Happen?: Kind of Sorta. See this weekend, McGuinness fought KENTA and BJ Whitmer in a triple threat match over in Japan for the NOAH tour. I have a feeling that's about as close as we're going to get to seeing this one on one match up for quite some time, especially within the confines of an ROH ring.

3. The Briscoes vs. Nigel McGuinness & Doug Williams
What I Said: The Briscoes have run through a great number of teams, but here they face an international dream team that can put them to the test.
Did It Happen? : No. Doug Williams last made an appearance for ROH back in April 2007 and hasn't been back to the states since. This match seems increasingly unlikely one year later due to Nigel's current status as a heel probably bringing friction to a team with fan favorite Williams. Although ROH has from time to time been willing to overlook face / heel lines in order to bring a dream team of sorts together. What makes this match even more unrealistic for the near future is Mark Briscoe's shoulder injury which puts him out anywhere from between three to six months.

4. Mike Quackenbush vs. Chris Hero
What I Said: These two have not gone at it in singles competition, at the most crossing paths during the Four Corner Survival match during A Fight at the Roxbury that also featured Nigel McGuinness and Claudio Castagnoli At this point, I don't have to talk up the abilities of either man, as both have shown just how good they can be in the ring and especially against each other.
Did It Happen? : No. Quackenbush's head injury from Ted Petty Invitational has haunted him over the last six months and has resulted in his cutting down the number of bookings he takes. Quackenbush has appeared just once for ROH in 2008 and doesn't look likely to come back soon. Chris Hero has business elsewhere in the company as well that puts Quackenbush out of his crosshairs for now.

5. PAC vs. Austin Aries
What I Said: I'd like to see a battle between these two as to how can fire off their marquee top rope moves and springboards during the match. While there is no real "reason" as far as a feud or a storyline to have these two go at it, there is no reason these two can't go out there and do an Indie dream match and have a good time with it.
Did It Happen?: No. PAC has yet to return to Ring of Honor since his two appearances in August 2007. Aries meanwhile, was concentrating on the ROH World Title and then pulled in different directions by offers from Age of the Fall and Lacey. The Aries-Jacobs storyline occurring right now leaves little room for a tangent so that he can have an unrelated dream match with PAC.



Favorite Moves / Sequences in ROH right now

1. The Aries Flurry of forearms and elbows (*and sometimes slaps): especially when he builds up speed with them, this sequence always pumps me (and the crowd) up. It works wonders as the beginning of his comeback sequence.
2. Steen's kick to the middle rope that causes a low blow: for some reason, I ALWAYS laugh at this one. Steen always can get to it smoothly and make it seem like a natural part of his matches. It also marks the beginning of his comebacks. It's also great when he mocks his opponents' right afterwards by feigning his own low blow injury.
3. Pommel based momentum moves: I most often see this used with The Vulture Squad but the Dragon Gate six mans usually have them as well. One wrestler acts as the base and then another will pommel off and execute a move onto their opponent. Evans has used this to execute a capoiera kick and I've seen Dragon Kid get help to flow into his déjà vu headscissors or the 619. I like seeing moves with a lot of momentum, because I vicariously experience the momentum of the move myself and get that feeling in the pit of my gut like I'm on a rollercoaster or going down a hill.
4. Briscoes' double biel to the outside: yeah, I know a lot of the distance from this move comes from their opponents, but the visual sum of the equation is far greater than the parts. The Briscoes look like they're just about killing someone when they do this move regularly in the ring, but when it's to the outside, it looks like legalized murder. I've seen poor El Generico take this one live and it just about looked like he wouldn't come back at all from it.
5. A Strong vs. Stevens "Chopfest": I don't even have to go into two much detail about this if you've seen this one on the recent DVDs, but good lord. It's like people thwacking each other with rubber bands over and over again…only much worse.



Axioms of a Delirious Match

1. You must go to Delirious to shake hands at the beginning of the match…he will NOT go to you, no matter how politely or rudely you ask.
2. Bell rings = wig out time!
3. Keep all loose articles of clothing away from Delirious or else he will grab it and throw it in the air!
4. If you're dealing with Red Delirious, beware the lizard tongue or else you'll be misted!
5. BAH!



What's in Larry Sweeney's briefcase?

1. A brick
2. Make Up
3. IRS's tax forms
4. Nintendo Game Glove
5. Walter Sobchak's undies
6. WWE Money in the Bank contract
7. Marcellus Wallace's soul
8. The goblet of fire
9. Gwenneth Paltow's head



Anagrams for Ring of Honor

1. Grin on roof
2. For no gin or "H"
3. No hog nor fir
4. Iron frog hon
5. Norn hoof rig


ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 05/17/2008

ROH World Champion—Nigel McGuinness (champion since 10/06/07, 15 successful defenses)
-defeated Takeshi Morishima in Edison, New Jersey to win the championship.

Next Defense:: To Be Determined

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)
V.10 defeated Austin Aries, Jawbreaker Lariat (03/29/08 Orlando, FL)
V.11 defeated Erick Stevens, London Dungeon (04/11/08 Boston, MA)
V.12 defeated Kevin Steen, roll up holding the ropes (04/12/08 Edison, NJ)
V.13 defeated Kevin Steen, Jawbreaker Lariat (04/19/08 Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.14 defeated Claudio Castagnoli, London Dungeon, (05/10/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.15 defeated KENTA and BJ Whitmer, Jawbreaker Lariat to Whitmer (05/15/08, Tokyo, Japan)

**

ROH World Tag Team Champions—VACANT
-Jay Briscoe vacates the ROH World Tag Team Titles after defense against Age of the Fall, 5/10/08
-Tournament to be held on June 6th in Hartford, CT to determine new champions

Next Defense: N/A

**

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
Del Rey has rejoined Sweet & Sour Inc. as of 5/09/08, status of title still unknown

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: MsChif (since 4/26/2008)
-defeated Sara Del Ray via pinfall with the Descrator DDT to win the title
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
-Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli
-Austin Aries / Jimmy Jacobs
-The Age of the Fall vs. The Briscoes
-Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. No Remorse Corps
-Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong
-Sweet & Sour Inc. "Corporate Takeover"



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

ROH Makes Canada Show Official (Finally)

Well, its take two for me on this, but ROH officials officially made it official that they will be officially running a show in Canada…officially. As suspected the show will be in Toronto on July 25th, just a week before a huge double shot in Virginia and New York City. Here is ROH's (official) newswire write up on the subject:

Ring Of Honor is finally heading north of the border to Toronto, Canada. You have been demanding it for years. ROH has wanted to go to Toronto since the start. Now it is finally happening. You will witness a loaded ROH show in Toronto on July 25th at the Ted Reeve Arena on 125 Main Street in Toronto, Ontario. Tickets will go on sale at www.ROHwrestling.com on Tuesday, May 20th at 11am. This will be among the biggest debuts in ROH history right next to Chicago, Manhattan, Tokyo and England. Already signed: ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness; Bryan Danielson; Kevin Steen; Austin Aries; The Age Of The Fall of Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black & The Necro Butcher; Claudio Castagnoli; Larry Sweeney plus many, many more names to be announced. There will be a World Title Match to main event this huge debut. ROH is finally coming to Toronto and we can't wait!!!


ROH Breaks 2300 in Attendance for NYC Show, Returns 8/2 with the Machine Guns

Mike Johnson of PWInsider reported the number 2,300 fans for the Hammerstein Ballrom show, which sets a new all-time attendance record for the company. It makes sense to me just because of the size of the building, that ROH drew that many people. I've always thought that if they ran bigger building, out of nature they would get higher attendances. Now it remains to be seen if they can maintain that number over their repeat stays in the Hammerstein. They drew that many without any special attractions, just a very solid set of matches. They are bringing in special guests for the next show that may bring in even more to the building, but we shall see about that.

The Motor City Machine Guns of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin will be returning to ROH for another double shot, this time 8/1 in Manassas, VA and 8/2 in Manhattan, NYC. After a report from ROH that they wouldn't be back any time soon (which I immediately did not believe) ROH brings out the big announcement that they WILL be back. At this point, the Machine Guns are sort of ROH's personal guest stars. They make special appearances and provide a bit of an extra punch to the card. They can't get that third match against The Briscoes just yet, but that does open the door to other dream matches. They should bring the buzz with them to these two shows, especially if they are matched up against Steen & Generico on one of the cards.


ROH World Title Defense in Japan This Week

ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness is keeping the international prestige of the belt high. He is defending it today at the historic Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan at NOAH's big event. The match has McGuinness vs. KENTA vs. BJ Whitmer.

As noted in the ROH call feature of this column, Nigel did successfully retain the ROH World Title by defeating KENTA and Whitmer, and as expected Whitmer was the one who took the fall. It should be noted that the title match seemed to come out of nowhere and didn't receive a whole lot of hype or attention until a few days before the show. Then again, the match was a bit perplexing to start off with as it has been known for a while that KENTA didn't renew his US Visa and that Whitmer was taking an extended break from ROH. Here are some photos of the action from the match:




(Source: NOAH USA)


Gabe Gets Angry, Later Apologizes

This is almost non-news, but I'll discuss it considering I've pledged since the beginning of the column to follow on and report on both the positive and negative news surrounding ROH. It seems that ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky's reputable temper flared up again, but this time it was a result of a post on the ROH message board that in his words questioned his work ethic. He sent an email to an ROH message boarder with two expletives directed at the poster. This email was later leaked and published online. Sapolsky soon after sent an apology to this man and explained and apologized for his behavior on the ROH board:

"First of all, my response had nothing to do with criticism of my booking. It is criticized all the time here, all over the net, in our locker room to my face and behind my back and anywhere else pro wrestling is discussed. Everyone is entitled to their criticisms and for the most part it is all subjective so there is no right or wrong. What was questioned here was my work ethic and involvement in things. That will not be questioned. Yeah, maybe my response was a little brash. Yeah, I was angry about something else and seeing my work ethic questioned added up to a big negative. I sent him an apology, which I guess was not accepted since he was quick to send this private email out to everyone and I haven't seen any sign of the apology. So there it is."

Of course what this gives is more ammunition to the critics of Gabe and / or ROH to have their "tee hee" moments at him. They say stuff like "you'd never see Vince or Eric Bischoff get angry and respond like this". That's true,. Then again, neither one of them would be likely to ever communicate with wrestling fans the way Gabe and Cary do on a consistent basis. Most of the time that's to the benefit of the fans, as they get constant information and interaction with a guy who's on the inside of the company. You never get Vince McMahon sharing his passion or insights for wrestling. If you notice, there is no posting from McMahon on the wwe.com website Of course, then you have the negative aspects such as when a flare up like this happens.

Sapolsky was clearly wrong and immediately apologized. That sounds fine to me but let's hope in the future he will refuse the need to send emails like this that can bite him in the butt. He needs to be smarter than that.


ROH Tag Team Titles Vacated, Tournament on 6/6 to Crown New Champions

We have major details for the 6/6 tournament in Hartford, CT to determine the new ROH World Tag Team Champions. There will be eight teams in the tourney. The format of the tournament will be announced next week in the ROHwrestling.com Newswire. We can announce the eight teams now. ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness has insisted on being in the tourney so he can try to become the first man to hold the World Title and World Tag Titles at the same time. Go Shiozaki has agreed to be his partner, since Shiozaki needs a title belt for his stay in the United States to be successful. They round out the field of eight. Here are the eight teams in no particular order:
-ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness & Go Shiozaki
-FIP World Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong & Davey Richards of No Remorse Corps
-Kevin Steen & El Generico
-Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black of The Age Of The Fall
-Austin Aries & Bryan Danielson
-The Vulture Squad of Ruckus & Jigsaw
-Chris Hero & Adam Pearce with Larry Sweeney of Sweet & Sour Inc.
-Delirious & Pelle Primeau

The ROH World Tag Team Title tournament to fill the vacant belts on June 6th in Hartford will be a single elimination tourney. The first round, semi-finals and finals will all take place in Hartford that night. We listed the teams in the tourney in yesterday's ROHwrestling.com Newswire. You are guaranteed to see new champs crowned in Hartford.

Jay Briscoe explains why he vacated the ROH World Tag Team Titles and what role his brother played in an article on the main page of ROHwrestling.com.

The basic reason for Jay deciding to vacate the titles revolves around it not being the same defending the titles with someone other than Mark. He would rather wait for him to come back and fight for the titles with him than defend them with someone else.

It's a good thing to see ROH finally get to vacating the titles and hitting a sort of "reset" button on the last few months of confusion in the booking of the tag division. I've stated before my opinion that No Remorse Corps should have hung onto the titles back in April and defended against Steen & Generico in Manhattan. At least now with this tournament fans will get clear and concrete tag champions, and hopefully it will be Steen & Generico who win the titles.


Evans Takes Leave from ROH, Lacey Gone from ROH

Jack Evans will take a leave of absence from ROH to work international shows. ROH officials and Evans left on great terms and Evans will be welcomed back to ROH with open arms in the future.

Lacey is not scheduled on any upcoming shows and is gone. In fact, she has disappeared and hasn't even checked her Myspace since May 6th. What happened to her?

Reportedly, Evans is looking to do some dates with CMLL. He also constantly tours with Dragon Gate, so that once again leaves ROH on the short end of the stick. It really couldn't have come at a worse time for ROH, considering the BLK OUT-Vulture Squad issue can't go on without Kingston and Evans leaving now puts Ruckus and Jigsaw short one member of their group.

I had heard from the rumor mill that Lacey was on her way out Ring of Honor and the recent video featuring her and Jacobs along with the above news piece seems to be the way ROH is writing her off from storylines. Lacey may be set to take an extended leave of absence from the world of professional wrestling as it is.


Celebreality

We are still on a hangover from last Saturday's record breaking event at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Celebrities were out in full force as those in the largest crowd in ROH history included James, Jason, Erik, Mike B, Alexis and Joel Anderson from Survivor Micronesia, Boo, Michelle and Stacy from Survivor Fuji, Thunder D from Survivor Pearl Islands, Sonia from the first Survivor, Sam Roberts from Opie & Anthony and Michelle Deighton from America's Top Model.

Looks like Johnny Fairplay came through once again for ROH, bringing his Survivor peeps along to check out the ROH action. Say what you will about his personality, but the man gets it done when it counts The question is will these celebrities be back to watch the Motor City Machine Guns on August 2nd?

Teamwork Needed in this Day and Age

You already know that Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens in a Fight Without Honor has been signed for the 6/7 return to Philadelphia giving the show one main event quality match. Now another bout worthy of main event status has been added to 6/7 in Philly. It will be Austin Aries & Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black of The Age Of The Fall.

I was expecting Bryan Danielson to be drawn closer into the rivalry against Age of the Fall. He's been fighting them on and off for the better part of six months now, fighting Jacobs, Black and Necro in singles matches along the way. Now that his current tag team partner Aries has a big issue with Jacobs, it's the right time to get Danielson involved in a more tangible and meaningful position in this issue
.

;

Well, really just a top three for the week, as all I saw was some of Raw and ECW.

1. Shawn Michaels: HBK is keeping the fans guessing. It's also freshening up his character direction after nearly six years as a babyface. Not that I want to see him turn heel really, but it adds a bit of intrigue into the proceedings to see how his character has changed since taking on the burden of fighting and retiring Ric Flair.
2. Colin Delaney: You couldn't wipe the smile off of his face while signing his contract in the opening scene of ECW. It's a simple but effective storyline point that even after being threatened by Estrada, he was more than happy to be a part of ECW and WWE.
3. Kelly Kelly, Cherry, Michelle McCool, Victoria, Natalyia Neidhart and Layla: for the obvious.


Honorarium

-If there was a third Briscoe Brother, his name would be Cletus.
-The fourth Briscoe brother? Shemp.

-All that talk about ROH in New York City and lo and behold I forgot the first official show ROH did in any New York City borough, the First Anniversary Show in Queens, New York City. Although I intended for NYC to mean "Manhattan" by and large that show in Queens absolutely counts. Who could forget the awesome "riot" scenario between Steve Corino and his developing Group and Homicide and his thugs, including the first appearance of J-Train! Then Paul London, Low Ki and AJ Styles went and stole the show by putting on a tremendous triple threat match. This show was at the peak of London's popularity in ROH and everyone thought he could be the next ROH World Champion. After a terrific match against Xavier (who insisted the title match start immediately after Lonodn's grueling match), he came up short and Xavier (and by proxy Christopher Daniels and The Prophecy) ruled the roost of ROH at their first birthday.

-I had a conversation with Samuel Berman earlier in the week indicating that I thought that CM Punk was actually faring better than Samoa Joe because despite Joe being champion right now, Punk was appearing on shows that were more heavily watched and thus making a bigger impression on fans. Well…I may have to amend that now considering the way Punk was absolutely jobbed out this week's ECW show. Losing to The Miz by a freaking neckbreaker of all things—you gotta be kidding me. Then he failed TWICE in trying to get back at Miz and Morrison in the main event of the show. Joe might come across as a whiner and a moron by constantly going back and forth on his "friendship" with Kevin Nash…but at least he is winning his matches. Hmmm…you know, maybe there are NO winners in this debate.

-Anyone in the NY area hear Sue Simmons curse on national TV? That was something else. I had to do a double take to hear what I said. Not anything worse than Bobby Heenan on Nitro or Mean Gene at Wrestlemania, but still an oddity of a moment in the city.

-Dragon Gate Challenge II Thoughts:

Lenny Leonard and Dave Prazak have gone back to calling the submission move Aries uses as "The Last Chancery" instead of "Horns of Aries". I far prefer the latter. Last Chancery is just one hell of a bad pun. It sucks.

Okay, we start off with a YRR skit to build to the match with Bushwacker Luke the next night…but do we have to see ANOTHER kiss between Sal Rinauro and Becky? Seriously, NO MORE! I want to take a million cold showers after watching those segments.

Erick Stevens pimps out with a fantastic pinstripe dress shirt…but he's cross eyed in this promo so it's sort of a wash.

Oh no, I commented on a wrestler's fashion sense…does that mean the F4W board will call me names? I'm so worried.

The way Nigel led into the London Dungeon against Delirious was awesome, using his knees as a landing post for D's arm as he took off from the top turnbuckle and following up from there.

The fans were about 50-50- on Nigel. Guys, he's a HEEL now, boo him! Geez, you never can win, can you?

Kenny King had some fantastic moves as a part of his match.

The crowd is very responsive to Aries vs. Genki Horiguchi, as they would be for most of the rest of the show and tomorrow's show.

Jimmy Jacobs with his facial hair, make up and hairstyle looks like David Cook with the "American Idol" special makeover. I'm ready for Jacobs to start stealing cover versions of songs to make new videos for Lacey any second now.

Steenerico vs. Doi / Yossino was very fast and watching Steen get flummoxed at the lack of tags was terrific. He doesn't quite get what the Dragon Gate rules are about. The Swanton / Splash combo was perfectly timed and AWESOME. You'll know it when you see it. It's about as perfectly timed as the Briscoes leg drop / shooting star combo on the Kings of Wrestling back at Final Battle 2006. It gets the closest of close two counts.

Steen & Generico's skits with Becky Bayless after intermission seem to be a running gag of sorts. A much better one than Sal slobbering over Becky, let me tell you. Steen sells being tired as all get out, when he was just fine celebrating the victory a few moments previous. Becky Bayless is bemused.

The biggest news from the show is that Jimmy Jacobs has new tights with a codpiece in front of the trunks. That's the fashion statement of the year.

Oh man, that's gonna be another one.

New smarmy music for Sweeney and company…and he is actually starting to get legitimate heel heat from the crowd by NOT feeding into their reactions! Good for him for adjusting his reactions so that the fans begin to reject him as opposed to thinking he is cool.

Main event is the ROH / Dragon Gate/ NOAH all star team vs. NRC in a very good match that keeps my interest the whole way through. There's a terries sequence in the end with each team member on the all star side helping the other. Strong is launched into a mid air closeline by Stevens and that is one of the more awesome sequences of an entire weekend full of them.

Mathematical Equations:

Go's chops = YIKES
Stevens' chops = DOUBLE YIKES!
Go and Stevens team for chops = yup, TRIPLE YIKES!

Richards' forearm to Stevens on the outside = YIKES and a half! OUCH!

Strong's chops = GOD DAMN!

So, to conclude: YIKES + DOUBLE YIKES + TRIPLE YIKES + YIKES and a half + GOD DAMN = THIS MATCH


-I'll have my full Supercard of Honor III Thoughts in next week's issue, but if you want an early indication about how I feel about this show, check out this thread.

And we'll continue with PART TWO of this week's list column next!