Column of Honor: 09.20.08: The Wait is Over…

Welcome to the Column. Get your Do Re Mi and on we go.

Ring Toss
-ROH Results: ROH in Japan Night Two: 09.14.08
-ROH Results: Boston, MA PPV Tapings: 09.19.08
-The Waiting Was The Hardest Part
-ROH Call
-ROH News
-My Fave Five
-Top 10 Successful ROH World Champions
-ROH Preview: Glory By Honor VII, September 20th 2008
-The Song Book
-Ringtones
-Independent Buy In
-Get With the pROHgram
-ROH @ 411
-Honor Bound Links

-ROH Results: ROH in Japan Night Two September 14th 2008 from Differ Ariake in Tokyo

Matches

Pre Show:
-Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito(New Japan) defeated Genba Hirayanagi & Kotaro Suzuki (NOAH), by locking Suzuki outside the building and pinning Hirayanagi just as Suzuki got back in.

Main Show:
– Austin Aries defeated Tyler Black via submission with the Last Chancey.
– Miyamoto defeated Eddie Edwards via pinfall with a school boy after Edwards knocked into Larry Sweeney.
-Taiji Ishimore defeated El Generico via pinfall after the Superstar Elbow.
– Davey Richards & Morishima defeated Briscoes via pinfall with Richards’ Hammer of the Gods (throw into a kick).
-“American Dragon” Bryan Danielson defeated Yoshinobu Kanemura to become the NEW GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion. Dragon won via submission with the Cattle Mutliation.
-KENTA and Jota Ibushi fought Naomichi Marufuji and Katsuhiko Nakajima to a 30 minute time limit draw, followed by a five minute overtime draw.
-GHC Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki defeated Roderick Strong via pinfall with the Northern Lights Bomb.
-ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness retained his title by defeating challenger Jimmy Jacobs in via Jawbreaker Lariat.

Angles & Issues

-Jimmy Jacobs attacked Austin Aries after his match and promised to bring more chaos to Japan by winning the ROH World Title.

-Eddie Edwards and Larry Sweeney got into a post match argument following their match and the Japanese fans were hoping Edwards would turn face (he has wrestled for NOAH in Japan), but instead they hugged it out to massive boos.

-Danielson was presented with a trophy by Joe Higuchi after his title win in a hugely emotional moment.

-In a post show angle done for NOAH fans, upcoming GHC Heavyweight Title challenger Muhammad Yone attacked Kensuke Sasaki outside the arena near his car.

-ROH Results: Ninth Pay Per View Taping– September 20th 2008 from Boston, MA

Matches

Preshow:

-Ernie Osiris defeated Frankie Aereon via pinfall with his feet on the ropes.

-“Brutal” Bob Evans defeated “Sugarfoot” Alex Payne via pinfall with a powerslam.

Main Show:

-Chasyn Rance defeated “Grizzly Redwood” (Mitch Franklin with a new gimmick) via pinfall with a piledriver.
-Austin Aries defeated Delirious via submission with the Last Chancery.
-Sara Del Rey defeated Jessie McKay.
-Brent Albright & Erick Stevens defeated Sweet & Sour Incorporated of Adam Pearce & Eddie Edwards via pinfall, Albright on Pearce with a half nelson suplex.
-Chris Hero defeated Jerry Lynn in via pinfall with the knockout roaring elbow with a loaded elbow pad.
-Bryan Danielson defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Go Shiozaki in a three way elimination match. Claudio was disqualified for attacking the referee, but took out Danielson before he left. Danielson defeated Shiozaki via submission with triangle choke.
-Jay & Mark Briscoe won a Scramble Tag match by defeating Ruckus & Jigsaw, Necro Butcher, and the YRR when the Briscoes hit a doomsday device on Blade for the pinfall.
-Daizee Haze defeated Madison Eagles via pinfall with the Mind Trip.
-Rhett Titus defeated Josh Daniels by pinfall, reversing a roll up.
-ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness retained his title by defeating Roderick Strong via pinfall with the Tower of London
-Kevin Steen & El Generico defeated Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black to win and become the NEW ROH World Tag Team Champions with the Package Piledriver/Brainbuster combo. Generico pinned Jacobs to win.

Angles & Issues

-As noted, Mitch Franklin has a new name and gimmick: “Grizzly Redwood” the lumberjack. The character was reported to be surprisingly over in Boston. We’ll see if that continues in Philly.

-Austin Aries is begins the PPV taping with a challenge to Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs distracts Aries while Delirious attacks. Post match, Age of the Fall once again attack Aries, culminating in Jacobs launching himself with senton through Aries on a table. Black had asked him not to do because of the title match, but he went through with it anyway.

-Jerry Lynn came out to challenge Chris Hero on behalf of Lance Storm as an ECW veteran who didn’t like what happened to Storm at the last PPV.

-After winning the three way elimination Danielson says he’s done what Nigel wanted and now he wants a title shot in Chicago. After Nigel retains his ROH World title, he accepts the challenge for a title match in Chicago.

-Return Date: May 8th, 2009.

The Waiting Was The Hardest Part

For a year now, fans have been saying that they want to see Kevin Steen and El Generico as ROH World Tag Team champions. Ever since their babyface turn (well, Generico was already a face, really, so it was Steen’s face turn) in the Fall, fans figured the straps were going to be around their waists lickety-split. Turns out there was a lot of waiting, waiting and waiting for that moment to happen. Along the way, fans (and in the storyline Steen & Generico) were treated to emotional highs and lows– desperation, anger, frustration and confusion. The ultimate question remained: why weren’t Steen & Generico winning the tag titles?

The chase to a championship is one of the most important parts of a wrestling storyline, especially in Ring of Honor, where over the years there has been a major focus on wins and losses and the road to title contention. Sure, sometimes wrestlers just receive title shots in ROH just for the sake of it, but most of the time there is a long build to the title for those wrestlers we truly want to see succeed and achieve the symbolic measure of self-worth in sports-entertainment. It’s the catch-22 of being an impassioned fan in a sport that can be booked to our needs: what we really want to see, we are made to wait to see.

Anyone who took Psychology should remember learning about delayed gratification experiments. Researchers would take children and put them in a room with a bowl of M&Ms or other candy. Then they would leave the room so that it was completely unattended (they were able to watch through cameras). Then they would time just how long it would take for the child to give in to the primordial inclinations of the brain that say “candy = mmmmmmm delicious”. The longer the child could wait for the candy, the more advanced his or her ability to delay gratification.

Sometimes I get the feeling that ROH fans are the children in that room and ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky & company are measuring just much we can wait to grab those colored M’s.

Over the years we’ve been waiting for many of the best and the brightest in ROH to win the big one. It took Bryan Danielson over three years to grab the brass ring and win the ROH World Title. He was one of the first young but major names on the independent scene to wrestle for Ring of Honor. He, Low Ki and Christopher Daniels seemed destined to fight and trade around the ROH Title. Instead, Danielson would travel between America and Europe, taking frequent breaks from ROH, thus delaying any plans to have him on top of the company. In fact, his future was uncertain when he came back to ROH to win the World Title on his first match back.

Likewise, fans had to travel on Homicide’s road to the ROH World Title for FIVE years before we were rewarded with one of the best title victories and celebrations in ROH history. The Briscoes returned from a lengthy absence in early 2006, but it would be almost a full year before they won the ROH World Tag Team Titles. In each case, fans were calling for the win and clamoring for it to happen, but we had to have patience, wait it out and when “the time was right”, we were given what we so desperately craved.

And oh is the wait worth it sometimes—just look at the crowd reactions these fan favorites receive when they win the title. Danielson’s ROH World Title win was met with a fantastic ovation. The Briscoes were hailed as heroes in Chicago when they unseated Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne). Homicide’s fifteen minute post-match celebration goes down as one of the most exhilarating moments in ROH history. While we as fans have been made to wait, the outcome of these moments has been worth the investment.

Kevin Steen & El Generico have performed fantastically well over the years in Ring of Honor. Their first cup of coffee in the Summer of 2005 didn’t work out so well for them, but a year or two later and we had a different story. Steen & Generico proved themselves against The Briscoes in Philadelphia, getting themselves back on the minds of ROH fans. Now there was a demand for them to appear more often in ROH and both of them capitalized on that demand. They brought up their game when it came to personality, interaction with each other and exciting the fans with their in-ring work.

Even though they were positioned as heels, there were plenty who wanted them to win the titles going back to their feud against The Briscoes in 2007. Some fans were agog after the two out of three falls at Manhattan Mayhem II when Steen & Generico didn’t win a single fall against The Briscoes when it was figured they would at least get one off the champions, if not win the match and the tag title outright. That would turn out to be just one of the major detours the fans took on the way to seeing Steen & Generico achieve the pinnacle of success in the tag division.

Now that the chase (and Steen’s storyline promise to win an ROH title in 2008) has been fulfilled, we move on to ask what’s next for Steen & Generico? Will their popularity continue to rise onto greater heights? Will they be headed for an unexpected fall, like Nigel McGuinness in late 2007 when he won the ROH World Title? The fans turned on him when he won the ROH World Title after a year-long chase, like a spoiled child that loses interest in an old toy and finds a new one to play with. I hate to use the old cliché, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are still singing their song about Bryan Danielson’s chase for the ROH World Title match. November 22nd in Chicago awaits… and we’re all still in the room with that bowl of candy.

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 09/20/2008

ROH World Champion—Nigel McGuinness (champion since 10/06/07, 27 successful defenses)
–defeated Takeshi Morishima in Edison, New Jersey to win the championship.

Next Defense:vs. El Generico, Philadelphia, PA, 09/20/08

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)
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)
V.16 defeated Go Shiozaki, London Dungeon (06/07/08, Philadelphia, PA)
V.17 defeated Vic Viper, London Dungeon (06/14/08, Tallaght, Ireland)
V.19 defeated Keith Myatt and Lionheart, (06/20/08, Doncaster, U.K.)
V.20 (title for title) defeated NWA Champion Adam Pearce, Jawbreaker Lariat (06/27/08, Dayton, OH)
*match later reversed via DQ, both men keep their respective titles.
V.21 defeated Kevin Steen, Lariat off Turbuckle, (07/25/08, Toronto, ONT, CN)
V.22 defeated Claudio Castagnoli, Jawbreaker Lariat (07/26/08, Detroit, MI)
V.23 defeated Ruckus, London Dungeon (08/01/08, Manassas, VA)
V.24 Four Way Elimination Match: defeated Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black & Claudio Castagnoli (08/02/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.25 defeated El Generico, London Dungeon (08/15/08, Cleveland, OH )
V.26 defeated Jimmy Jacobs, Jawbreaker Lariat (09/14/08, Tokyo, Japan)
V.27 defeated Roderick Strong, (09/19/08, Boston, MA)

**

ROH World Tag Team Champions—Kevin Steen & El Generico (champions since 09/19/08, NEW CHAMPIONS)
–defeated The Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black on September 19th, 2008 in Boston, MA to win the championship.

Next Defense: vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe, Orlando, FL 10/11/08

**

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)
Belt Re-recognized in this column as of 06/07/08 as both Hero & Del Rey are bringing them to ROH events.

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)

**
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion: Brent Albright (since 08/02/2008)
-defeated Adam Pearce via submission to win the title.
FIP Heavyweight Champion: Go Shiozaki (since 08/23/2008) * NEW CHAMPION
-defeated Erick Stevens via pinfall with help from the Heartbreak Enterprises to win the title.
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): Rhett “Addicted to Love” Titus (since 06/07/2008)
-defeated Ernie Osiris via pinfall to win the trophy.

**

Top Feuds & Pairings:
-Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli
-Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson
-Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Necro Butcher
-The Age of the Fall vs. The Briscoes
-Sweet & Sour Inc. “Corporate Takeover”
-Brent Albright vs. Sweet & Sour Inc.
-Roderick Strong wants payback on Sweet & Sour Inc. for Richards’ betrayal of the NRC
-Delirious as a part of AotF

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

Albright Likely Injured in Boston PPV
There are reports from fans surfacing in the wake of the Boston PPV tapings that current NWA World Heavyweight Champion Brent Albright may have sustained a bicep injury during his match. Fan reports on the message board stated he may have take a slam wrong and favored one of his arms throughout the rest of the match. No official word from ROH or Gabe Sapolsky has been given about Albright’s status, so for now this is unconfirmed, but could be a major story to watch tonight and could affect the booking of the NWA Title match against Adam Pearce.

Two Survival of the Fittest Qualifiers Announced

Two qualifying matches for “Survival Of The Fittest 2008” on 10/10 in Coral Springs, FL have been signed. These matches were drawn at random. There will be six qualifying single matches. The winners will advance to the elimination match finals. The victor of that bout is “Survival Of The Fittest” Champion. The first two contests are Jerry Lynn vs. El Generico and Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards.

Well, Aries vs. Richards has been done before, so while I’m sure it will be very good, it’s a bit disappointing considering who else was on the list. It does seem to hint at Aries making the final six along with some of the other members of The Age of the Fall. Lynn vs. El Generico, however, THAT is something great. I don’t know if I’m the only one, but I’m having some flashbacks to Lynn vs. Lightning Kid. I think that is a genius move and both of them should come out looking really good for it.

Japan Wrap Up

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, The Japanese tour this past weekend saw so-so for attendance, with the 9/13 show at Differ Ariake doing 600 fans (All Japan, DDT and Dragon Gate all had shows within 30 minutes) and the 9/14 show did 1,000. But crowds were hot and the wrestling was said to be incredible both nights.

Four shows within the same area is definite overkill, but 600 is also a bit of a disappointing number considering that is what ROH usually gets on a house show here in America. 1,000 is a much better number. However, something else to consider is that the first show this year was done with Dragon Gate, and that also was the show last year in Japan that had lower attendance. It suggests to me that there is less of a crossover between Dragon Gate and ROH fans in Japan as opposed to NOAH and ROH fans.

ROH Home Theatre Station

MsChif in the Laboratory

MsChif and Microbiology…wow…didn’t see that one coming. I am impressed as all get out. MsChif talking without doing her primeval scream is also oddly surreal, but real cool. She just comes off as a nice person. Though I think I need to become a microbiologist now.

Adam Pearce Has Words for Brent Albright

Steen Cutting Promos on The Age of the Fall on a Windy Night

Hey, it might be a windy night where he’s cutting a promo, but at least it’s a night time shot you can actually SEE! ROH, talk to Steen about lighting a promo!

ROH Videowire: September 16th, 2008

My world has been work, Rock Band 2 and sleep. In fact, aside from Raw, I’ve watched very little wrestling this week, so instead of a wrestling fave 5 I hope you’ll indulge me as I discuss my five favorite tracks to play thus far in Rock Band 2 (I’m about ¾ through the game on Tour mode). By the way I play on Hard level, so I’m referencing to tracks on that difficulty.

1. “Living On a Prayer”, Bon Jovi: This song has had an oddly profound presence in my life this past year, being played at my sister’s wedding and at a wedding of another friend of mine. It actually is one of the songs that best defines the 1980’s. It’s a ton of fun to play on RB2, with lots of runs up and down the scale and a great solo with plenty of hammer-ons.
2. “Everlong”, Foo Fighers: I’m not the biggest fan of Foo Fighters by any measure, but this is one of the best tracks on the game. You’re constantly stretching between green / blue, yellow / blue with little pick ups in between on orange for the verse, but the runs up and down the chorus and the bridge to the coda make this a fast and intense end run.
3. “Pinball Wizard”, The Who: It’s The Who, one of the best bands available on the game and on the downloadable content. “Pinball Wizard” is a seminal work and being in control of playing the memorable riff of the song gave me chills. It’s a bit tricky to get the timing of the rhythm right on Hard but once you do, you’re golden.
4. “Alex Chilton”, The Replacements: Of course I’ve heard OF The Replacements before, but I never have actually heard one of their songs until now. I know they had a fantastic stretch of cult popularity a few decades back, but now I know why. This is a fantastic song and a good but not too difficult challenge on guitar. The chorus riff pattern is actually real easy and thus helps you to get to enjoy the song.
5. “That’s What You Get”, Paramore: Okay, I admit it, I’m a twenty-something Paramore mark. I’ve been waiting for more Paramore tracks for RB (Guitar Hero got “Misery Businness” but as far as I’m concerned RB2 got the better song out of the deal). It’s a very easy song (warm up level), but I’ve been waiting to play it, so I’m very satisfied.

Honorable Mentiions: “Alive”, Pearl Jam (a tough MF’er run at the closing) and “So Watcha Want”, Beastie Boys (easy guitar track but hellafun to rap if you’re on vocals, or just hellafun to rap in general).

Top 10 Successful ROH World Champions

When you think of ROH World Champions, the list is pretty easy to gather—there have only been ten of them thus far. You can still actually count them on your hand (and that’s what I did, because I’m no good at Math). The question actually should be, who were the most successful champions? Well, I put an answer to that in my mind and thought I would share my opinions. So here is the Column of Honor list of THE most successful ROH World Champions. I judged this list based on length of championship run, maximization of potential of the title reign / effectiveness of the title run, quality of title matches and how the fans viewed the champion.

10. James Gibson
The story of Gibson’s road to the ROH World Title was told over the ten month span of his ROH stay. It was intriguing and effective. Gibson even had one of the more emotional title wins during the fantastic four way elimination match (against Punk, Daniels and Samoa Joe at Redemption) However, Gibson’s title run was cut short by his agreement to resign with WWE. He only had four title defenses. There was the panned three way match against Homicide and Spanky / Brian Kendrick, a flat title match against Kendrick later that same night, a good but not great match against Colt Cabana and a match down in FIP against Roderick Strong. Unfortunately most fans knew he was leaving as soon as he lost the title, which made him a lame duck champion of the highest sort. The greatest moments were his win against Punk and his loss of the title to Bryan Danielson.

9. Homicide
The greatest title victory of all time, but maybe one of the greatest let downs afterwards. It indeed was all downhill after the tremendous win against Bryan Danielson in his own hometown. Homicide never quite received the same reaction during his defenses (although the native New Yawker was hugely over in Boston of all places) and the matches were often substandard of the main event quality ROH had been delivering with Danielson as champion. His story is almost the same as Gibson (and Punk), as that even though he was the champion, he was headed out the door when he won the belt. It’s just that the fans didn’t know it yet.

8. Low Ki
The first ROH champion, winning in July 2002, and ostensibly the uncrowned champion going all the way back to ROH’s debut in February 2002. Unfortunately, Ki would be the first example of the shortened title run, like Gibson and Homicide would prove to be in the future. Ki was exceptionally popular with the crowd and drew fantastic responses due to his in-ring efforts. He wasn’t the best promo, but he was the epitome (at the time, before Gangsta Ki) of “Honor” that ROH wanted to reflect in its champion. This quality what made the sudden title loss that much more effective (albeit in hindsight; at the time fans hated that the man in the number 7 spot took the strap). Ki’s lone successful defense against AJ Styles in August 2002 was a terrific follow up to their match back in April of that year.

7. Xavier
Sometimes thought of as the worst ROH champion of all-time, but au contraire mon frère. Xavier was the first ROH heel champion and boy did he play his role effectively. The trap sprung by Christopher Daniels allowed Xavier to win the title. However, Xavier KEPT the title around his waist for four months, and he did it by cheating his opponents where possible. However, he put effort into the ring and made sure that the fans were cheering rabidly for whoever was opposite in the ring. Paul London became one of the benefactors of this heat. He may have been the least popular choice for champion at the time, but he did his job as champion effectively.

6. Austin Aries
Aries was built up quickly to become champion thanks to Generation Next. The title win against Samoa Joe was electric and remains one of the most remembered moments in ROH history. He played the role of “Ric Flair” to the Four Horsemen, being the leader of a dominant faction and challenging anyone to step up to try to stop him. Aries had several fantastic matches during his run, against Samoa Joe, Homicide, James Gibson and Alex Shelley. The best thing about his title run was that it told an incredibly effective story from beginning to end. It played upon an injury factor, with Aries’ hurt neck ultimately being the major factor towards his undoing. His last days as champ were swallowed up by the hype of CM Punk leaving the company and his youth at the time may be a slight knock against him, but ultimately this was an effective title run.

5. Takeshi Morishima
Morishima “shocked” the world by winning the ROH World Title, although from a storyline stance it wasn’t much of a surprise given the size and strength difference compared to Homicide. Size and strength was the difference in Morishima’s title run. It was the card most often played in his matches, as he was generally the larger man in the match. Fans initially didn’t like Morishima as champion, but he proved himself by becoming a regular in the company, appearing on a large majority of shows to defend the title. The story of his run was a bit one-dimensional, but he had two really strong rivals in Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson who could play off of Morishima and get the most out of their matches. Morishima did a good job as heel champion in his own right, playing to the crowd and soaking in their boos. He was ROH’s best Xenophobic heel act next to CZW.

4. Nigel McGuinness
I actually had Nigel below Morishima until Death Before Dishonor VI, where then and there I knew he had surpassed the man he defeated. Nigel is a good face but a great heel, and the fans just want to see someone stop him from throwing another lariat, just stop him period. He doesn’t yet have the longevity record of Joe or Danielson, but he’s right behind them and in that time he has amassed an incredible record of fantastic title defenses. He has provided amazing and exciting matches against Aries, Danielson, Kevin Steen, Tyler Black and El Generico among others. It’s a diverse list and each time Nigel’s formula of pouring on the offense at the end of the match or taking an opponent’s best shots and kicking out has taken very good matches and made them great, taken young talents and made them great, taken average show and made them great.

3. CM Punk
Yes, he may have one of the shorter World Title reigns in ROH history, but boy did he ever maximize the potential of his station as champion during that time. Punk’s title win and subsequent heel turn may go down as THE defining moment in ROH history. The fans who backed Punk to the title now wanted someone, anyone to unseat him. The next two months of Punk’s villainy as champion are legend at this point. We all knew he was going to WWE, but we didn’t know when and we didn’t know how ROH was going to get the title from him. Punk’s promo work was also at a high point, and his interactions with Foley and others really got over how low he had sunk to win the title. Punk also put on a string of hotly contested title matches during that time, with his best against Roderick Strong and James Gibson.

2. Bryan Danielson
The second longest run as ROH World Champion gives Danielson the number two spot on this list. His title matches were examples of fantastic in ring work. Like Aries, his title run ended thanks to a downfall created by injury, and like McGuinness Danielson had a flair for dramatic end sequences to his title matches. Danielson also transitioned from face to heel during this time frame. His feud against Samoa Joe was strong, his run of matches against Colt Cabana less so. His best title defense may have been against KENTA at Glory By Honor V Night 2, where fans knew he had the shoulder injury and it seemed at any moment he could lose the title. The last few months of his reign had less title matches due to the injury, but he still had a very strong presence in the company. The most important part of the end run of his title reign was the loss to Homicide, and he did perform his role perfectly in that match.

1. Samoa Joe
A 21 month title run. Defenses against all comers. Making the ROH Title and turning it into a World Title. Keeping ROH in existence with a strong rivalry against CM Punk at a time where the company could have gone under. Samoa Joe became “the man” in ROH and the most successful ROH World champion of all time. His first six months weren’t always smooth sailing (placed in the mid card, fans not completely buying into him as champion), by the end of the run he was viewed as the top dog, the man to beat and more than a worthy champion. “The Champ” was here and in almost two years fought, Punk, The Briscoes, Bryan Danielson, Homicide, Christopher Daniels and many more suitable challengers. When he lost the title, he put over Austin Aries, made him into a believable winner. All that gives you the number one choice on this list.

ROH Preview: Glory By Honor VII: September 20th, 2008 in Philadelphia, PA

8:00 pm belltime
New Alhambra Arena (former ECW Arena)
7 Ritner Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148

Steel Cage Warfare
RULES: Two men drawn at random will start. Wrestlers from each team will enter the cage in 3 minute intervals. Eliminations can happen at anytime. Eliminations are by pinfall or submission. The Necro Butcher can be drawn to enter the cage at any point. The match goes on until only one team (or The Necro Butcher) survives. There are no other rules. The participants are:

The Briscoes & Austin Aries vs. The Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black, & Delirious vs. The Necro Butcher

Now that we know the rules of the match, we can more easily understand how this match might play out. Necro in my mind either starts first and fights on his own and for himself the whole way through…or he comes out last and has to make a decision about which side he should help while attempting to win the match for himself. It’s going to be a big balancing act for Necro because if he helps a team knowingly or unknowingly he will shift the balance in the match. If he attacks everyone, he will be forced to fight 6 on 1 the rest of the way through. Necro could win this match and come out dominant over everyone, but The Briscoes or Age of the Fall could end up being ultimate survivors if they have the right timing and the right moves.

ROH World Title Match
Nigel McGuinness defends vs. El Generico

The upset is in the air and if anyone can pull it off it would be one half of the newly crowned ROH World Tag Team Champions. Generico is resilient and can put up a tough fight to the bitter end. McGuinness now knows this as it took a lot of offensive firepower to put Generico down in Cleveland. Ultimately, McGuinness does know what it takes to defeat Generico and I think he’ll put enough together to do it again here.

Special Attraction Match – Non-Title
GHC Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs. Claudio Castagnoli

I wrote on the 411 Roundtable that this is going to be either a really cool meshing of two different wrestlers or its going to be a big mess. Claudio, if given enough offense and if allowed to explore his new and meaner attitude, could provide great competition for Sasaki. Ultimately though, I expect a newly crowned GHC Heavyweight champion to win in his American debut for ROH no matter who his opponent would be.

GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title Match
Bryan Danielson defends vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

I have to pleas some ignorance on Nakajima. I have watched a decent amount of Puro but I don’t think I’ve seen any video of Nakajima just yet. This match really comes down to if Danielson is going to be a longer term (which is relative in NOAH) GHC Jr. champion or if his title win last week was just to draw a huge pop from the crowd and make headlines.

NWA World Heavyweight Title Rematch
Brent Albright defends vs. Adam Pearce with Larry Sweeney

Albright’s injury status makes this one a question mark…do you transition the title back to Pearce or wait and see how things shake out? Or, maybe the injury was kayfabed to add more intrigue for this match?

FIP World Heavyweight Title Match
Go Shiozaki defends vs. Kevin Steen

Shiozaki is relatively new as FIP champion and could use some more wins to solidify his run. They’ve done it before though, and we now know ROH isn’t afraid to do an FIP switch on its own shows instead of in Florida. Shiozaki and Steen should provide some good brawn to back up some of the more technical matches of the night, but ultimately I see a title retention here.

Special Challenge Match
Kenny King vs. Jerry Lynn

I called for the upset win here to King in my predictions, but a loss to Hero last night now makes me question that call. Lynn can’t go all the way winless in the next few months, can he? I think King will provide the cocky heel attitude and that Lynn will get the ECW nostalgic faithful to rally around him for this one.

Special Attraction Match
Erick Stevens vs. Rhett “Addicted To Love” Titus

Titus now looks like an ROH wrestler, not an ROH student. The question is if its enough to give him a huge win against Stevens. I don’t think so, as Stevens needs some momentum now more than ever, and Titus being destroyed is always fun entertainment.

Bonus Tag Team Match
Jigsaw & Ruckus vs. Chris Hero & Eddie Edwards with Larry Sweeney

Hero wins more than he loses these days and the opposite is true for Jig & Ruckus. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised to see a break up angle here if they do lose.

Going Home

The Song Book :
Last week, we began to build our ROH song book by taking suggestions for alternate themes for Daizee Haze. Here is what we came up with:

Daizee Haze
Column of Honor Suggestion: “Because I Got High” (Afroman)
YOUR Suggestions:
ausjimmy: “Santeria” by Sublime
Jsin51: “Smoke Two Joints” by Sublime
bosh: Anything Reggae for Daizee

So with two different suggestions for Sublime songs and a general understanding that Reggae is the soundtrack to Daizee’s life, it looks like we have a good sense of where we’re going for The Haze. Now let’s take on the task of giving another of ROH’s regulars a new theme song. Tell me which song you would give to The Briscoes.

Column of Honor Suggestion: “Ramble On” by Led Zeppelin
So tell me, what would YOU pick for The Briscoes’ new entrance music?

Send in your picks (and a brief explanation if you wish) to here and I’ll post them up next week.

Bonus Lyric: Here, I’ll include a verse in a song I feel is particularly relevant to a wrestler or moment in ROH history. In this case, The Briscoe’s love of drinking:
“It’s seven o’clock and I want to rock / Want to get a belly full of beer” – “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting”, Elton John

Ringtones

Although I loved Northern Navigation (In my opinion its one of the better ROH shows this year), there was one thing that bothered me… Steen vs Nigel NOT being the main event. As soon as I saw it wasn’t on last, I knew there was no way that Steen was winning the strap. Its a minor thing, but I just felt that the title match should have closed out the show instead.

Posted By: soulpower (Guest) on September 15, 2008 at 02:12 PM

I always point out how a title match has changed hands before the main event match (Bryan Danielson at Glory By Honor IV for example). Yes, the chances are the title won’t switch, but you can never be sure 100 percent of the time, because its happened before and it can always happen again.

cgstong comments on recent shows and which ones are must-buy.

Great article btw. After reading the results from the ROH Japan show, it does sound like a must buy.
Which leads me to my question man, other than the two shows from Orlando, I really haven’t heard any buzz around ROH dvds.

The Northern Navigation and Vendetta II dvds which you covered the AMDrag/Claudio matches which both sound awesome, but at the same time… are they really worth buying?

I’d say absolutely that Vendetta II and Northern Navigation shows are worth buying, as both are very strong cards with fantastic title matches. The Aries-Jacobs main event from Vendetta II is absolutely must see, as its one of the strongest rivalry matches of the year.

I know ROH hasn’t gotten “the buzz” that it did back in ’06, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the shows this year suck. In fact I think ROH has had MORE four star matches or above this year than any other before. The storylines may not be as controversial or as newsworthy as the independent scene earth-shattering ROH vs. CZW era, but there is still so much to enjoy about ROH this year. I just think the internet goes through massive periods of cynicism and cycles in and out of liking one promotion over another, not solely based on the quality of product, but well, just because.

Here’s my “Must-Buy” list for calendar year 2008 thus far:
Without Remorse
Sixth Anniversary Show
Take No Prisoners
Dragon Gate Challenge
Supercard of Honor
Injustice
Tag Wars 2008
Return Engagement
A New Level
Respect is Earned II
Vendetta II
Northern Navigation
Death Before Dishonor VI

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
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 15 (SHIMMER Title: Sara Del Rey / Amazing Kong, Daizee Haze / Sara Stock, Cheerleader Melissa / Alexa Thatcher, Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew / Ariel & Josie, Sereena Deeb / Jetta) High Recommendation
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 16 (SHIMMER Title Two Out of Three Falls: Sara Del Rey / Sara Stock, Amazing Kong / Cheerleader Melissa, Daizee Haze MsChif & Eden Black / Lacey, Rain & Jetta, Portia Perez & Nicole Matthews / Ariel & Josie, Sereena Deeb / Jetta) High Recommendation
**CHIKARA Two Eyebrows Are Better Than One (Castagnoli, Lince Dorado & Ophidian / Quackenbush, Donst & Amasis, Kingston / Storm, Colony / F.I.S.T., Moravian Greyhound / Zombie Plantain / Hydra)Medium Recommendation
**CHIKARA King of Trios Night One (Colony / Go, Nakazawam Shimizu, Osirian Portal & Mecha Mummy / Quackenbush, Storm & Skayde, Cheech & Cloudy & M.C. KZ / Quackenbush, Storm & Skayde, Delirious, Hallowicked & Helios / The Cartel) High Recommendation
**CHIKARA King of Trios Night Two (Player Uno, Stupified & El Generico / Cannon & North Star Express, Lince, Pantera & Incognito / Los Ice Creams & Glacier, Sweet & Sour Inc. / F.I.S.T. & Taylor, Donst, Gulak & Sumner / Fabulous Three / ) Medium Recommendation
**CHIKARA King of Trios Night Three (KOT Quarter, Semi Finals & Finals, Tag Team Gauntlet) High Recommendation
**CHIKARA Deuces Wild (NWA Jr. Heavyweight Title: Mike Quackenbush / El Pantera, UltraMantis Black / Tim Donst, Young Lions Cup: Helios / Lince Dorado, Colony / Osirian Portal, Robbie Ellis / Ice Cream Jr.) Medium Recommendation
**CHIKARA Passion and Persistence (Brodie Lee / Claudio Castagnoli, Campeones de Parejas: Incoherence / F.I.S.T., Quackenbush, Shane Storm, Cheech & Cloudy / Mitch Ryder & Shayne Hawke, Larry Sweeney & Robbie Ellis, Hydra / Chuck Taylor)High Recommendation
**CHIKARA Grit & Glory (Castagnoli, Sonjay Dutt & Pantera / Quackenbush, Jorge Rivera & Turbo, Campeones de Parejas: Incoherence / Osirian Portal, Storm / Kingston, Vin Gerard/ Lince Dorado, Colony / Fabulous Three, Hydra & Tim Donst / Super Smash Brothers, Gran Akuma / PSYCHO, Daizee Haze & Chuck Taylor / Sara Del Ray & Bobby Dempsey)High Recommendation
**CHIKARA AniversarioMA (Atomicos Increibles: Mike Quackenbush, Cheech, Stupified & Worker Ant / Cloudy, Player Uno, Soldier Ant & Shane Storm, Brodie Lee, Mitch Ryder & Shayne Hawke / Incoherence & Claudio Castagnoli, Chuck Taylor & Gran Akuma / Turbo & Lince Dorado, El Pantera vs. Jorge Rivera , Osirian Portal / 2.0) Medium Recommendation
**CHIKARA AniversarioCT (Osirian Portal / Shane Storm & Mike Quackenbush, Super Smash Bros. / Cheech & Cloudy, Hydra & Tim Donst / Los Ice Creams, F.I.S.T. / The Colony, Brodie Lee / Claudio Castagnoli) High Recommendation
**FIP Cage of Pain II (Cage of Pain II, Roderick Strong/Larry Sweeney, Delirious & Hallowicked & Jigsaw/BxB Hulk & YAMATO & Jack Evans, Erick Stevens/Necro Butcher) High Recommendation
**FIP Redefined (Erick Stevens/Roderick Strong in their best encounter in FIP or ROH, Austin Aries/Davey Richards, Nigel McGuinness/Necro Butcher, Shawn Murphey/Heartbreak Express, Sal Rinauro/Tyler Black) High Recommendation
**CZW Deja Vu 3 (No Rope Barbed Wire Match: JC Bailey/Necro Butcher, El Generico/Super Dragon, B-Boy/Nate Webb, Ruckus & Mike Quackenbush/Kings of Wrestling) High Recommendation
**SHIMMER Volume 17 (Sara Del Rey & Allison Danger / MsChif & Cheerleader Melissa, Lacey / Sara Stock, Mercedes Martinez / Wesna Busic, Amazing Kong / Ariel, Daizee Haze / Cindy Rogers) High Recommendation
**SHIMMER Volume 18 (Amazing Kong / Wesna Busic, SHIMMER Title: Sara Del Rey / MsChif, Cheerleader Melissa / Sara Stock, Mercedes Martinez / Cindy Rogers, Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew / Ashley Lane & Nevaeh) 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.

Get With the pROHgram:

September 26th, 2008: ROH New Horizons debuts on Pay Per View with Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli and Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson

October 10th, 2008—Coral Springs, FL: Survival of the Fittest 2008 makes its way to Florida, with FIP Champion Go Shiozaki vs. Roderick Strong . 20 Days Away!

November 22nd, 2008—Chicago Ridge, IL: ROH presents its tenth PPV taping, its third at the Chicago Fieldhouse. Likely Match: ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness (c) vs. Bryan Danielson. I’d also expect Aries vs. Jacobs one-on-one as well as a tag title defense from Steen & Generico vs. The Briscoes.

ROH @ 411

It’s a busy week of ROH coverage at 411, starting with the ROH Roundtable for last night’s PPV taping and tonight’s Glory By Honor VII.

Its J.D. Dunn vs. John Gregory in this week’s 411 Buy or Sell, covering Necro Butcher, FIP and Bryan Danielson among other pertinent topics.

J.D. Dunn is all over the ROH landscape with three fantastic reviews of recent ROH shows, starting with Battle For Supremacy, as well as the aforementioned Vendetta II and Northern Navigation.

Honor Bound Links

Check out my friends at Jollyband.com. Enjoy the funhouse style website and listen to some samples of their songs. You will live a happier life if you do.

411 covers two of my favorite wrestlers right now, CM Punk and Shawn Michaels in articles written by Aaron Hubbard and Mike Chin respectively.

Ronny Sarnecky is also writing prose about HBK in his latest article.

Bayani voices his frustrations about PWG and TNA running shows on the same date, and the TNA Video Game. I don’t know which is worse.

Shining A Spotlight frames itself around the moments that lead up to the big feuds in wrestling history.

Jake Chambers looks at the wacky theory behind balding. Or is it blading?

Lansdell asked 411 for you, but it said it doesn’t like you “that way.”

Punching out the clock and heading on out for another week of the world of wrestling. I’ll see everyone in 7 with results and fallout from Glory By Honor VII, the Top 10 most successful Tag Team champions in ROH history and this month’s Money Players.

BROOKLYN! DA EM BAH SEE!
–Ari–