wrestling / Columns
411’s Buy or Sell 10.24.08: Osirian Portal, KENTA vs. Marufuji, The Latin American Exchange, and More!!
Welcome everyone to WEEK Seventy Nine of BUY or SELL. For those of you who haven’t been with us since the beginning, here’s the Reader’s Digest version of what this column is all about. BUY or SELL is very much like 411’s long-running Fact or Fiction column. The main difference is that BUY or SELL focuses on topics like the U.S. Independent scene, Lucha Libre, Japanese Wrestling and pretty much anything else that isn’t mainstream wrestling, WWE and or TNA. This allows for these areas to get a bit more press and for you, our loyal readers, to learn even more about the sport of professional wrestling.
Week Seventy Nine’s Match-Up:
The man, the myth, the legend of Indy Wrestling on 411 – Ari Berenstein !
vs.
Taking us on a tour through the Navigation Log- Matt Short!
Ari Berenstein : SELL. I don’t know how Daizee Haze and Ariel (whom MsChif defended the title against on this past weekend’s tapings) would be considered weak contenders, especially within the SHIMMER universe. Haze has always been one of the featured performers on the show and rarely loses on the DVD tapings. She is a constant SHIMMER Title contender and a good stylistic match up vs. MsChif, as seen on previous SHIMMER DVDs where they have fought. As for Ariel, people may not have noticed, but she has quickly become one of the better wrestlers on the roster. She is a solid mid card talent who has been moving up the card recently with great showings against the likes of Amazing Kong and Cheerleader Melissa. She won a four way match by pinning Melissa to get the title shot on the Volume 22 DVD. Add to that two other successful title defenses including against another featured performer in Mercedes Martinez and you have the makings of a very good C.V. of title defenses for the current champion.
Matt Short : SELL. I’m not a big SHIMMER watcher, but I follow it enough to know that calling Daizee Haze an unfit contender is selling her way short. I don’t know nearly enough about Ariel, but I have enough faith in Ari’s call and agree with him on the Ariel point. But also consider this: over the past weekend SHIMMER crowned their first set of tag team champions in Ashley Lane & Nevaeh. While neither the gauntlet where they won the belts or their first defense were the main events on either night, they were the big news coming out of the tapings. I will venture that not booking a high-profile one-on-one match was a way of offering their new tag team champions some extra attention.
1 for 1.
Ari Berenstein : SELL. I may be defying the ROH Code of Logic for debuting / returning talent, but I’d go so far as to say that ONE of the debuting tag teams from CHIKARA is about to pull an upset special. Sorry Osirian Portal fans, despite their recent success in winning the Campeones de Parejas this past weekend, its not going to be them. They’re facing the newly crowned ROH World Tag Team Champions in Kevin Steen and El Generico. No way do I expect them to go over, and really I don’t think they should. Steen & Generico are veterans at this point and as newly crowned champions themselves quickly need to show their dominance and ability to lead the tag division. I do expect a more competitive match as opposed to a squash match. No, the real possibility for an upset comes in the “Age of the Fall” team vs. Cheech & Cloudy match. The Age of the Fall team is basically Delirious and someone new or from off the bench like a Zach Gowen or Joey Matthews, both of whom have been gone forever. Without Jacobs and Black at the helm, the chances are far greater that the AotF pair will lose. Cheech & Cloudy have improved their physiques, slightly changed their character and tweaked it in a positive direction…and I think that all leads up to impressing enough to get the win. But maybe not.
Matt Short : SELL. I’ve got to agree with Ari again here. If the Age of the Fall team were going to be represented by Black & Jacobs Cheech & Cloudy wouldn’t stand a chance. When you have Delirious and an unknown member, I put the odds of Up In Smoke getting the win. With their new surfer gimmick they could definitely bring something new to the table. They’re more than deserving of a spot on the ROH roster. The Osirian Portal on the other hand won’t win against the ROH Tag Team Champions. And that’s not a knock on The Portal either, I just can’t imagine the Steenerico going down to a rookie team, even if they are as awesome as Amasis and Ophidian are. I will balance my tone out though and venture that Steen & Generico vs. The Osirian Portal will be the better of these two Do or Die matches.
2 for 2.
Ari Berenstein : SELL. I’ve never really known CHIKARA to do anything just because Ring of Honor is doing it too. The Super Smash Brothers had got their stuff together enough after a slump in order to win the belts, but they were untested in the champions position, so a loss on the first defense wasn’t to be unexpected. The timing is interesting enough, but the O.P. have been given a consistent push in CHIKARA over the past year. They may be rookies, but they are featured talents there and their abilities go beyond their years. I’d have expected they would have won the titles sooner rather than later, and as it turns out sooner happened a lot sooner than later. I just don’t necessarily believe it was sooner because they are getting one match in Ring of Honor in a “Do or Die” situation. Plus, if Steen & Generico are the favorites and will likely go over, why feature your tag team champions basically jobbing out to another company’s champions?
Matt Short : SELL. Again, sell. Suggesting that they only went with the title switch because of their ROH appearance is selling the Osirian Portal short. They were more than deserving of their title win and are easily the best rookies on the independent circuit, if not in all of pro wrestling in 2008. The timing is indeed questionable by some fans, but the fact of the matter is that CHIKARA does not book to suit ROH. The fact is that The Osirian Portal’s win falls in with the way CHIKARA has booked their 2008 season. The dissention between the super Smash Bros. was there before they won the belts, but re-appeared when they lost. Meanwhile the Portal has already gotten a title shot earlier in the year and came back stronger than ever to win in their second shot. So don’t overlook the Portal, claiming that their winning of the belts is JUST because of their ROH appearance is very ROH-centric of some people. There’s indy feds outside of ROH who are doing their own thing and it’s working.
3 for 3.
SWITCH~!
Matt Short : SELL. I don’t know if I can fully BUY this one and I admit its based more on a feeling as opposed to anything else. Claudio has shown a heelish side, but I don’t see him joining Sweet ‘n Sour. I would absolutely love to see The Kings of Wrestling back together and with Sweeny at the helm they would triple in awesomeness. Yet it feels like it would be bad for Claudio right now. I think he’d be better off being re-built as a title contender and heading back into the tag division would be a step backwards to me. If anything Hero and Sweeney would almost need the Kings of Wrestling reunion more than Claudio does. On the flip side, a trip to the tag division would give Claudio time to recover from his numerous ROH Title losses and give him something to do until he’s built up enough to be a believable challenger again. I’d rather see a feud with Bryan Danielson play out instead.
Ari Berenstein : SELL. Although there have been some waves in CHIKARA with Sweeney trying to make amends with Claudio in that promotion (both on the face side), again, I don’t see it happening just because its happening in another promotion. I also don’t think it has to happen in ROH just because both are heels again. ROH doesn’t necessarily have formerly feuding partners team up with each other just because they’re on the same page of the face / heel alignment (Aries and Strong aren’t sharing donuts and coffee even though both are “good guys” right now). I agree with Matt in that a KoW reunion would be really cool and something I’d want to see happen, but I just don’t think it actually will happen.
4 for 4!!
Matt Short : SELL. Tentative SELL, because this match and story have all the makings of actually being Match of the Year. This might be one of the best long-running rivalries NOAH has going that doesn’t involve the older generation of wrestlers. These two are guaranteed to put on a Match of the Year candidate every time they’re in the ring with each other. In fact, their last one-on-one encounter was awarded the Tokyo Sports Grand Prix Match of the Year in 2006 when the GHC Heavyweight Title was on the line. Considering the fact that we have a match that is absolutely proven to deliver with a lot at stake, and with the Jr. Heavyweight Titles from two of the Big Three companies in Japan on the line there is A LOT at stake. There’s also the time of year involved. The past two years NOAH managed to win the Match of the Year award with bouts that happened late in the year (KENTA vs. Marufuji and Kobashi’s Return Match) and if the match is a total barn burner its freshness in whoever judges these things minds. I’m very confident that this match will be great, but don’t count out some of the other great bouts from this year. Suwama vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi in the Champion’s Carnival final was great, as were both encounters between Shingo Takagi and BxB Hulk in Dragon Gate which are probably some of the best matches that promotion has done in the past couple years. Just last weekend Masato Tanaka and Yuji Nagata had a spectacular match. This will easily end up as a MOTYC, but don’t look past many of the great matches that have already gone down already this year.
Ari Berenstein : SELL. I’ll have to defer to Matt Short’s Puro expertise here, because I simply haven’t been watching as much Puro in 2008 as I had been over the last few years. I can’t make an accurate judgment as to what is or isn’t match of the year on that side of the world. This much I know, that Japan has already had several big matches across all the major promotions be talked up as match of the year, so the competition will indeed be fierce for that award. KENTA and Marufuji are certainly talented enough to live up to the challenge, but even they have been involved in other tag and singles matches that have received MOTY consideration. Can they top their previous efforts in other matches? I won’t know until I hear about the results and the opinions of those who watched it and can compare it with what else it out there for 2008.
5 for 5!!!!
Matt Short : SELL Again, I’m tentative about selling this one. The voice in the back of my head is telling me they’ll go 1-1 this weekend, but at the same time I can’t buy it. The Iron Man match would be better served in establishing another set of challengers for Steenerico and unless ROH were to start booking LAX more often like Sabin & Shelley have been. But LAX can lose the Iron Man Match without being pinned due to the nature of the match. They don’t need to job essentially. Then there’s The Briscoes, who even when they aren’t the champions, are the standard bearers of ROH’s tag team division. So I can imagine them being booked over LAX, especially if this ends up being a one shot deal. Either way, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing both of these matches no matter how they turn out.
Ari Berenstein : SELL. It makes more sense for LAX to go over one team than it does for them to go over three, including the tag team champions. I don’t see booker Gabe Sapolsky putting an outsider team, even one with former alumni, over three of the homegrown teams. That would hurt the division tremendously. I don’t think its out of the question for another team besides current ROH tag champions Steen & Generico to go over in the Iron Tag, but its most likely not LAX but another team that can definitely capitalize within the company on that victory. On the other hand, a win by LAX over The Briscoes doesn’t hurt the Briscoes or the rep of the ROH tag division so much because its a one team vs. one team situation as well as a dream match scenario. LAX could win that match and prove their superiority over one team in ROH and of course it could set the stage for a rematch between the two teams sometime in the future. One team losing is fine, three is not.
6 for 6!!!!!!
The Seventy Ninth edition of BUY or SELL finishes at 6 for 6 with a PERFECT 12 SELLS!!!! Stay tuned for next week when two new men will go head to head with a whole new set of topics.
