Column of Honor: 11.01.08: Part One: Adam Pearce In As ROH Booker, Samoa Joe Returns

Posted by Ari Berenstein on 11.01.2008

An incredibly busy week of Ring of Honor news, with a new booker, new talent, returning wrestlers and the mystery of disappearing advertisements of returning wrestlers. Plus, round four of the Column of Honor reader voted CHIKARA vs. ROH series in the closest voting yet!

Another Halloween where I didn't get any trick-or-treaters. I don't know what's the problem, I didn't even have my Rob Feinstein mask on this year. Maybe it's because I don't have all sorts of pumpkins in my window. Which means… all the candy is left over…and no one here to eat the candy except for me…hmmm, problem solved!

Welcome to the Column.



Ring Toss
-10/25 Danbury, CT Results
-Changes in ROH Week 2: Adam Pearce In, Joe Returns, More
-Chikara vs. ROH Round 4
-ROH Call
-ROH News
-My Fave Five
-The Song Book
-Ringtones
-Independent Buy In
-ROH @ 411
-Honor Bound Links

LAX vs. The Briscoes—10/25/08 Edison, NJ Results

Matches

Preshow

-Ernie Osiris & Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne defeated Ninja White & Ninja Yellow via pinfall after a hurricanrana from Payne over Ninja White.
-Vin Gerard defeated Grizzly Redwood via pinfall with a roll up holding the suspenders of Redwood.


Main Show

-Jimmy Jacobs defeated Austin Aries in the first match of their best-of-three series in an Anything Goes match. Jacobs won with the End Time following the interference of Delirious and new Age of the Fall member Brodie Lee.
-The Age of the Fall of Brodie Lee & Delirious defeated the team of Cheech & Cloudy via pinfall due to roll up.
-Daizee Haze defeated Jessie McKay via pinfall.
-ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen & El Generico defeated The Osirian Portal of Amasis and Ophidian in a non-title match via pinfall after the Swanton Big Splash combination.
-FIP World Champion Go Shiozaki and Necro Butcher fought to a double count out. Shiozaki remains FIP champion.
-Brent Albright defeated Chris Hero via submission with a crowbar.
-Davey Richards won a Six Man Mayhem match by defeating Claudio Castagnoli, Rhett Titus, Jason Blade, Hallowicked & Ruckus. Richards pinned Ruckus after a belly to back suplex.
-Tyler Black defeated Jerry Lynn via pinfall after a Phoenix Splash.
-Jay & Mark Briscoe defeated the team of LAX (Homicide & Hernandez) via pinfall after a combination shooting star press /guillotine leg drop onto Homicide.


Angles & Issues

-Gives new meaning to the phrase "Autograph Chaser": Before the show, "Addicted to Love" Rhett Titus was giving back to the fans by signing autographs. Daizee Haze, who has been chasing him around, saw him and ran him off. What about the fans who didn't get their autographs? Even more reason to boo Daizee! (not that I would, but still…) Later on, Titus would come out to the ring with a new woman, Jessie McKay out of Australlia (who has made a few appearances recently with SHIMMER). Daizee slapped the hell out of Titus and defeated McKay in a short match.

-In or Out?: Davey Richards was supposed to fight Brent Albright but it was announced that Richards would be replaced by Chris Hero due to an injured ankle. However, Richards would wrestle that night in the six man match. Meanwhile, Albright and Hero wrestled and Sweet & Sour would attack him after the match. Albright once again repels the attack and challenges Sweeney to put together a team for a Steel Cage Warfare match for Final Battle 2008 in New York City.


-They fight, they fight, they fight they fight they fight, fight, fight fight, the Aries and Jacobs show!: The evening began with Austin Aries and Jimmy Jacobs fighting through the crowd and starting their "anything goes" match first on the card. As noted, Brodie Lee debuted in this segment by interfering on behalf of Jimmy Jacobs

-Return of NANA Part 2: Prince Nana runs to the ring and tries to make his case for a job again, but ROH security once again takes him out of the building.


-Necro butchered: Age of the Fall would take out Necro Butcher after the double count out finish vs. Go Shiozaki. It was described as a massive beat down and lead to Necro vs. Lee at the Montreal show.

-Forecast calls for Blackened skies: Black declared his goal to be the ROH World Title and that change would begin with him in Ring of Honor.

-Homicide addressed the crowd after his match, putting over ROH and putting down TNA and WWE as bad wrestling and saying that ROH has always been there for its fans.

Return Date: January 17th, 2009


Changes in ROH Continue

The huge announcements have continued all week for Ring of Honor in the wake of the firing of former booker Gabe Sapolsky. Adam Pearce was named the new booker in charge of ROH the day after I wrote my special edition covering that breaking news. Boy do I now feel like a schmuck for a headline two months ago (for this headline here) that said Pearce was on the endangered species list, but at the time Pearce was on his way out of the company as a result of the cost cutting measures ROH was trying to implement (less talent on show and less fly-ins). Now Pearce is back in the company and steps up to the helm of the creative side of the product in one of the most precarious periods of the company's history. It is once again sink-or-swim for the most visible United States independent professional wrestling company in the wrestling world.

ROH looked to capitalize on all of the extra attention given to them due to this booking change by releasing many major announcements. Perhaps one of the best side-effects of the major shift in creative is that now a whole lot of people are paying attention to see what ROH is going to do next. The truth is that many of these announcements were planned in advance and are not completely indicative of any new direction the company will head into for 2009. These announcements, including returns of popular wrestlers, additions of fresh names to the roster and new match additions to upcoming shows, somewhat sweetened the sting of the loss of Sapolsky, but also makes it seem that ROH in trying to move on with its booking post-Gabe is trying to throw everything they have left as far as major news to do so. Here are some of the major stories from the past seven days:

Adam Pearce

The news of Pearce added on to the booking committee came as a bit of a surprise to the ROH fans. It had been intimated that Luke Williams, long time friend of ROH owner Cary Silkin, would likely have at least a role in the new booking direction of the company. Instead, Dave Meltzer reported that Pearce would take the role as well as begin to form a new direction in creative and the in-ring style of the product. Pearce has previous booking experience through the Alternative Wrestling Show (AWS) promotion in Southern California. However, this is quite the step up in the degree of difficulty if not responsibility. Pearce has a great mind for the business, being quite experienced in ring psychology and promo work. He helped to mentor CM Punk and Colt Cabana among others on the Chicago wrestling scene, so no doubt he has some important and effective knowledge to spread to the boys in the back and to use in the booking of the company.

However, Pearce walks into a very tough situation. He has to replace a man whom was recognized at being one of the best bookers over the last four years (albeit one who had suffered through some burn out this past year) and must book for one of the most demanding set of fans in the wrestling world. Not only must he continue to please the current ROH fans and keep as much of them as possible to offset possible losses in DVD and ticket sales, but he also has to plan out how to gain new fans who may not be so familiar with the ROH brand. It's an unenviable task and one I'm not sure many fans would actually want to perform (maybe fans would say they want the booking job, but doing it is another matter entirely).

The entire internet wrestling community who followed ROH knew within twenty four hours that Adam Pearce was in as the new booker of the company. However, ROH has not publically stated such and will likely never do so. In a directive from Pearce himself, "In Pearce's first memo to talent, he first noted that he believed in kayfabe and he would never be publicly acknowledged as the booker." (Credit Wrestling Observer). While this Is a fair enough decision, it was pretty obvious that the fans were going to find out anyway. We don't live in a world where information like that can be kayfabed for very long. Certain storyline events can be protected in such a way, but not with basic inside information like who is the new booker for a major professional wrestling company. The coverage for this change was way too large for that to happen. You also have to consider that if Pearce re-emerges on camera, the "smart" wrestling fan base of the product is going to call him out on it…and the scene may not be a pretty one depending on the crowd's thoughts at that point on the show where he returns. I actually hope Pearce stays off camera for the next few shows so that the action and any new direction in storyline can speak for itself. Of course, with Brent Albright demanding a Steel Cage Warfare match between he and a team from Sweet & Sour Incorporated at Final Battle 2008, it would make sense for Pearce to return to the ring for that match to fight on the side of The Inc. (still signed, in storyline, to that stable) and face off against his rival of the last few months.

Change in Style?

The November 3rd, 2008 dated Wrestling Observer continued to outline of some of the changes for the company:
"[Pearce] said that the matches should have less high spots and he wanted to slow down the wrestling and slow down the product in general. He cited going back to basics. He didn't want the wrestlers going all out in every match but to build an old-style card using more humor and make wrestling more of a variety show, with different style matches. Sapolsky himself also stressed different style matches and that too much of the same thing burned out the crowd.
He said there would be seven or eight matches per card and wanted shows at two-and-a-half to three-hours. ROH shows often lasted four hours in the past, although early in the year, when financial cutbacks were being made, Sapolsky tried to shorten the shows, feeling that perhaps the longer shows was a reason some fans didn't come back. There will be other financial cutbacks, with the feeling they'll book maybe 18 wrestlers on a show and cut back on the fly-ins."

The news of slowing down the product and doing less with more has been a sort of divide between the fans responding to the news on the message board. Some fear that the changes in the ring will go too far and they will lose the excitement of an action-packed match or be forced to watch endless screwjob or indecisive finishes. Others are welcoming the change, saying it was time to do this all along. In reality, Ring of Honor had already begun to implement those changes on several of the more recently released DVDs, but no one had yet called attention to it. Shows such as "Age of Insanity" and "Night of the Butcher II" featured more simplistic and progressive wrestling style in the ring. Now, the wrestlers who did high spots still did their high spots, but just less of them. Most undercard matches were faster than usual and the length of the shows in DVD format was slightly under three hours, which is average for an ROH DVD product.

However, some of the specific in ring problems Sapolsky himself reportedly tried to change (according to Lance Storm on an F4W radio show, he was tapped to try to get these suggestions over to the wrestlers because they were more apt to listen to a wrestler make suggestions for the in-ring style as opposed to a booker who did not wrestle). These included the endless chop exchanges and forearm for forearm battles that happened in multiple matches and too many superkicks by too many wrestlers (for example—Go Shiozaki: guilty as charged). I'd think these small adjustments would be some of what is called for at this time. However, at the same time, the in-ring style can't be slowed down to the point where it's boring or uninspired. One of the major selling points of buying an ROH product is that you'll be able to find new or unique moves performed—no one was being "held back" , for instance, by agents prohibiting them to hit their best moves. Wrestlers need to be able to go to their strengths and do what they can to impress the crowd, become "over" and hopefully lead to more appearances and use in the ring. Perhaps these wrestlers can be shaped by the overall ring style, but this shouldn't lead to wrestlers who love the high flying style being forced to wrestle a completely different style. Somehow I don't think that's what will happen here, because Pearce understand the variety show philosophy—it's important to provide a little bit of everything to the crowd.

Meltzer continues on the change in style: "The product is going to be more of a basic pro wrestling show, with clearly defined heels and faces. They are going with the mentality of presenting two people, a face and a heel, with an issue, and settling it with a match." Again, I don't necessarily see what the difference is here with what ROH has been doing all along. Heels and faces have fought each other, and usually the roles are clearly defined. The problem with heel and face alignment was that the fans still cheered the cool heels due to their intriguing personality, bad-ass attitude or performing great looking moves. This is actually one of the reasons why Tyler Black is so popular right now, and that is a good thing because if his program continues as is, he could be the next headliner for ROH and take them into 2009 as a viable draw. Of course, Chris Hero is an example where a style change was effective in drawing out more boos than cheers, as the "knock out kid" style of more basic strikes and a decisive willingness to cheat without winking at the audience has increased the amount of heat he receives on shows. However, there are just as many fans with Chris Hero or Sweet & Sour shirts in the crowds and these fans will make their voice heard regardless of what the actual program is inside the ring. I don't know if much can or should be done to change those reactions, because at what point are you being didactic and demanding the crowd cheer or boo for certain people as opposed to letting them make up their mind?

As far as the storylines from Sapolsky's run, so far they are continuing and progressing onwards with little to no apparent changes in the overall direction. The route to November 22nd and the Danielson vs. McGuinness / Aries vs. Jacobs finales are still clearly evident, as are the character directions of wrestlers such as Delirious, Daizee Haze and Claudio Castagnoli.

Where fans have seen the most visible and perhaps more welcome change has been in ROH's online presence. Constant announcements this past week as well as frequent news updates have capitalized on the extra attention and helped to keep the fans excited and interested about the product. We are also seeing extra attention being devoted to building up the personalities of the characters through a variety of methods. More quotes attributed to wrestlers (likely kayfabed and effectively so; this is where the kayfabe work can be done) helped to invigorate the ROH newswire, the lifeblood connection between ROH and its fans online. When done well, as they were this week, a fan becomes more engrossed oin the storyline and the personality aspects of the wrestlers themselves.

ROH is also giving more press to its wrestlers. This week seemed to be the week of Rhett Titus, as he was not only featured in a vignette (see below), but also as a part of the weekly videowire and he was also a part of a Q&A feature published on the ROH website. Kenny Omega, who is a relative newcomer to ROH that fans have wanted to see featured more had a feature article all about his role in ROH. Grizzly Redwood, the former Mitch Franklin, was featured on the video of the week and actually showed just how easily he could get over in the new gimmick. He went from being told to "shut the fuck up" by the cynical crowd to being rooted for like crazy and being told to "chop him down" (his opponent) in a matter of minutes. Now any fans who saw this match are likely to be much more accepting of Franklin in the ring in this new gimmick (as opposed to the "live to win" aspect where he looked and wrestled like every other student). Now, the match wasn't any great shakes, but the fans still cheered for it and the segment got over. That's an interesting lesson to be learned for everyone, including the ROH fan base. Pearce and the rest of the creative components of the promotion will hopefully continue to feature wrestlers in such diverse ways. If they do, then you can expect the wrestlers to have an easier time of getting over and finding a fan base.

Samoa Joe Returns

The one acknowledged return of a former ROH wrestler was actually one which many fans would hope to have happen sooner rather than later but seemed virtually impossible to occur. Samoa Joe, former ROH legend and currently under contract to TNA, was announced as returning to ROH, for one night. He will wrestle on November 22nd in Chicago. Joe and many other TNA talents had been prohibited for wrestling for ROH, first in general and then on PPVs. However over the last year there has been a bit of a "glasnost" in these booking rules. First Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin were booked to make special appearances for ROH, and then Homicide returned to ROH through the LAX tag team just this past weekend. It was only going to be a matter of time before Joe himself, one of the most important and most popular wrestlers in ROH history, would be booked for the company.

This is a Pay Per View taping, but TNA talent is not allowed to appear on the PPV telecast of any competition. Therefore, Joe's match is likely to be taped as a DVD bonus, which is actually a very smart strategy on ROH's part. Not only will Joe's involvement hopefully result in a boost for ticket sales, but also for DVD sales as well.

No official announcement has been made for Joe's opponent, but the newswire seemed to hint it would be a member of The Age of the Fall who would challenge Joe. Likely this means Tyler Black, who win or lose, could benefit the most from such a dream match encounter.

It should be noted that this booking was made by Sapolsky and was in the plans for some time. Alot of the announcements this week seemed to be already planned before the booking change. So these announcements would not be an indication in any way positive or negative respect the future direction of the company and which talents will or will not be used in the future. It also shows that the money factor and any new cost cutting not really begun in earnest as yet. Joe will come in at a pretty penny, but hopefully will attract enough fans to come to the show and buy the DVD where it offsets the cost and helps to create new ROH fans (or bring some of the old ones back) that came for Joe but enjoyed the rest of the show as well and will buy more of the product.

While Joe's return was huge news and important news at that, personally I felt that it was a bitter-sweet announcement and that its timing was wrong considering the major shakeup in the company. I have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth after all of it, but can't deny that this move as a whole is the right one for ROH at this time.

Sasaki, Nakajima & Marufuji Announced for 12/26 & 27…Then Not…

ROH followed up with Joe's return by also revealing that current GHC Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki, talent junior heavyweight Katsuhiko Nakajima and frequent ROH guest star (and current AJPW Jr. champion) Naomichi Marufuji would all return to ROH action for the Final Battle '08 weekend. This deal was also set up previous to the booking change and follows up on Sasaki and Nakajima's first U.S. appearances for ROH back in September for the Glory By Honor VI event.

However, later in the week the news piece on their return as well as their listing on the schedule for the 12/26 and 12/27 shows in Philadelphia and New York City were removed from the ROH website. The claim was that ROH removed the news because it hadn't been announced as yet in a press conference for Japan. It's a valid reason I guess (the Japanese wrestling promotions and news media do love their wacky press conferences), but it does seem a bit suspicious coming at the heels of all of the big changes in ROH this past week.

Sasaki was said to have just an okay match against Claudio Castagnoli at the Glory By Honor VI event and given that these shows will be wrapping up storylines and major programs it will be a bit tough to see who could match up against the GHC champion this time around. Nakajima and Danielson had a terrific encounter for the GHC Jr. Title that Danielson won. A rematch between the two would be cool and could even be for the ROH World Title depending on if Danielson is champion at the time. Marufuji is also set to receive a ROH World Title shot on one of these two shows, but the specific date has yet to be announced.


Chikara vs. Ring of Honor BEST OF SEVEN SERIES Round 4

Continuing the artistic pursuit of being yourself is this fourth week of the Column of Honor best of seven series. Last week Ring of Honor had tied up the series at one win apiece when The Age of the Fall won the fan vote against The UnStable. Now the series has become practically a best three-out-of-five series and each pairing becomes even more crucial towards determining the overall winner.

The best part of this series is that THE READERS DECIDE WHO WINS. That's right, be sure to vote at the bottom of the page in the comments section or send me an email me with your vote about who you think would win each fantasy match. I'll post results in the following week's column.

Amazingly, last week's dream match of Brodie Lee vs. Necro Butcher is going to come to fruition with Brodie Lee being brought into Ring of Honor through The Age of the Fall stable. Lee and Necro will be matched up in Montreal in less than one week's time. It's unclear who will win that battle, with Lee being a newcomer to CHIKARA but a new part of a very powerful stable. For a while it was also unclear who would win this battle as well, with the voting extremely close. Let's hear some comments from the readers:

Whoblehwah: Brodie Lee vs. Necro Butcher? Hmmm.... I wanna vote Brodie since like you said he's bigger and strong, but then again, he's not "as battle tested" as Necro (which you also said, lol). Then again though, Necro doesn't really have a move he can use to just end the match. Brodie can hit the running big boot at any time and KO anyone. SOOOOOO I guess I'll vote Brodie.


Chris: Brodie Lee has nothing on Necro Butcher. Butcher is a legend on the indies for his brawling-Lee can't say that.

The Bagman: I would go with Brodie Lee over Necro. I can't give a good reason except that I just like what Brodie brings to the table (even if he does look like a giant Earl Hickey) […]Call it an upset (or not) but I'm going for Brodie!



The voting was in a dead heat, a virtual tie. In dire need, I turned to my "BRAINTRUST", a.k.a. Samuel Berman, Chris Miccio and Stuart Carapola…and I had their tie-breaker votes… until I noticed an email I hadn't clicked on from earlier in the week which actually broke the tie… in favor of…

Winner: BRODIE LEE!

I want to thank my triumvirate for their stand-by votes (and if you want to know, all three of them voted for Necro), but I have to go with the voice of the people and they clearly want Brodie Lee to take this one. Personally, I would go with Necro due to the No-DQ rules, but Brodie has an understated ability to brawl and I think even though he is relatively untested in a hardcore environment he would flourish quite well. I see some clear situations where the Big Rig could take it, for instance, If Necro has some chairs set up and Brodie were to Big Boot him out of nowhere and then power bomb him through the chairs for the pin. This may be a controversial call, but it will stand. Let's check out the scoreboard:


2 1

CHIKARA has ROH backed up on their heels and has taken the lead once again. Two more wins and they take the series, but it won't be so easy, because some of ROH's biggest guns are yet to come, some in this next round. So here we go with Round Four, a special eight-man tag set for one fall with Lucha Rules (no tags necessary) in effect:




All Star Atomicos Match:
The Briscoes, Austin Aries & "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson (ROH)
-vs.-
Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Gran Akuma & "Sexy" Chuck Taylor) & Claudio Castagnoli (CHIKARA)



It's going to be some of the very finest wrestlers from each promotion doing battle this week in eight man tag (also known as an "atomico") action. Ring of Honor brings together a dream team of wrestlers with nine championships total held among the four men (2 for Danielson, 2 for Aries, 5 for the Briscoes). The other side of the equation isn't slacking for achievements. Team F.I.S.T. were the longest reigning CHIKARA Campeones de Parejas and their partner-in-crime Chuck Taylor was 2007 Young Lions Cup and Rey de Voladores champion. Interestingly enough, Claudio Castagnoli is a technico (face) in CHIKARA, so a team up of this kind isn't the usual soiree. However, Claudio is currently beefing big time with Bryan Danielson in ROH, so I felt that he would likely put up with F.I.S.T.'s antics both to represent CHIKARA and to have the opportunity to once again be in the same ring as Danielson. The Briscoes also have some history with F.I.S.T. as these two teams actually fought at CHIKARA's Maximum Overdraft event last year, where Icarus and Akuma prevailed in what had to be considered an upset. Will the upsets continue in this match? Who wins this eight man tag spectacular?

Team ROH: The Briscoes, Austin Aries & "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson

Strengths: The Briscoes are currently at full strength and on a back-to-basics kick, just beating the hell of their opponents. They're excellent brawlers, very hard to keep down and have a bevy of tag team moves they can pull out at any point. Being brothers, they have a very uncanny connection to each other and know where the other is and what the other will do—that's the kind of chemistry that makes them tough to defeat. The Briscoes also have a loose alliance with Austin Aries these days due to common enemies in The Age of the Fall. Aries has worked with Jay Briscoe very well in the past. Aries and Danielson may also be sometimes rivals, but they have acquitted themselves quite well as tag team partners in 2008. They also have some fantastic combos. Their pedigree for being fantastically skilled wrestlers speaks for itself—you have to be on your best day in order to defeat either one of them in tag action.
Weaknesses: If there is one major weakness among these four men, then it is that each and every one of them has a short temper. It doesn't take much to set any of these four off if you press the right buttons, and well, they're dealing with some of the best wrestlers who push buttons in this match. To quote Oceans Eleven, "you lose your focus for one second in this game, and someone gets hurt." If F.I.S.T. throws The Briscoes or Aries off balance, you know they'll capitalize. As far as Danielson, seeing Castagnoli across the ring from him may just make him lose his cool right off the bat. Danielson and Castagnoli became quick enemies in ROH this past summer and have not yet resolved any of their issues. Danielson, if unfocused, becomes a loose cannon and a possible detriment to his team.
Best moves: The Briscoes: Double shoulder blocks, double biel, Sprinboard Doomsday Device, Spike Jay Driller, Cut-throat Driver, simultaneous ledrop and splash; Aries: kick to brainbuster combo, 450 Splash, Last Chancery submission, dropkick into corner, missile tope; Danielson: Cattle Mutilation, MMA Elbows, Triangle Choke, small package, springboard splash to the outside; Aries & Danielson: double kicks, combo MMA elbows and knees to the head


Video by: C35ET


Video by: SuicidalDragon


Video by: SuicidalDragon

Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Gran Akuma & "Sexy" Chuck Taylor) & Claudio Castagnoli

Strengths: Team F.I.S.T. is known for their craftiness in the ring, their willingness to cut corners but also their hard hitting and effective double teams. They all compliment each other very well in that regard—since not one of them has any remorse, they all can sense when one is up to something and help to effect it via distracting the ref or an opponent. You also have to give them credit for being very athletic in the ring. Akuma has a ton of martial arts strikes and impact moves that can take an opponent out lickety-split. He may actually be the more overlooked of the four here, and that would be a deadly mistake by his opponents. Icarus will cheat to win with the best of them. Taylor has some unique offense no one else even attempts, such as the Sole Food leg jam and the Awful Waffle finisher. Someone takes that move and they're done, no questions asked. As for Claudio, he is a jack of all trades as well as a master of the European uppercut. The man has size, speed, technical prowess and the capability to put it all together in the stretch run of a match. All put together, this team provides a lot of offensive firepower.
Weaknesses: Obviously Castagnoli and F.I.S.T. have their past history of conflict stemming back to when the former was forced into joining the The Kings of Wrestling due to a loss to Chris Hero back in 2007. Can Castagnoli "get with the program"? I think so, especially when he has the right motivation in being able to fight Danielson. However, some miscues early will not help smooth things over. I also tend to think aside from Castagnoli there is a lack of strength and power, whereas on the other side, The Briscoes, while lean, provide plenty of muscle and can do some heavy lifting when required. Also, aside from Claudio, you'd be hard pressed to say that any of Team F.I.S.T. is a match for Danielson or even Aries on the ground game. No way can any one of them submit someone the skill level of Danielson. They're going to have to use impact or trickery to do it.
Best Moves: Icarus: Shiranui, Pedigree, Death valley Driver, Wings of Icarus; Akuma: Yoshi Tonic (Sunset Flip Bomb), Cheetah Swipe (devastating ground roundhouse kick), Moonsault Press, Swinging Kawada Kick, Falcon Arrow, Frog Splash; Taylor: Awful Waffle, Sole Food, "Grenade" elbow, Yakuza kick, overhead suplex,turnbuckle powerbomb ; Castagnoli: Throw into a European Uppercut, Ricola Bomb, Alpamare Waterslide, Bicycle Kick, big swing.


Video by: SuicidalDragon


Video by: ChikaraFanDan

It's the heart of the babyface side in Ring of Honor versus some of the most villainous rudos CHIKARA has to offer and a Swiss wrestling savant who wants vengeance. So who wins this eight-man showdown? It's a crucial match, so let your voice be heard in the comments section below!


We'll continue with news, video, previews, reader feedback and more in PART TWO of this week's column!