Column of Honor: 04.05.08: Investigative Report!

Welcome to the Column. Lots to get to and I’m fighting the word limit, so let’s go!

SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE ANALYSIS: “Sweet & Sour Incorporated”: A Business Failure?

“Caveat Emptor.” That is Latin for “Buyer Beware” and is the expression most used in referencing commercial transactions. A consumer should know the fine print when dealing in exchanges of funds for goods and services rendered. It is good business sense. It is also what I am suggesting that many of the clients who are already signed up to the sports agency of Sweet & Sour Incorporated or those who are merely giving thought to accepting Larry Sweeney’s overtures take into consideration before agreeing to join his management team. As I will show, so called “super agent” Larry Sweeney’s services are not always as sweet a deal as he makes it out to be. In fact, most of the time, those wrestlers and celebrities who do business or are hangers on often find themselves on the sour end of the bargain.

No doubt Larry Sweeney encourages prospective free agents with the lure of raising their value through Sweet & Sour Inc. He promises them more money, more chances at gold and more value and marketability so that eventually they can “go to where the big bucks are” a.k.a. a meeting with “Vince” and a chance to work in WWE. There are lots of very big promises, but very little returns. Look at what has happened to Sweeney’s clientele over the past year or so to determine actually and exactly how effective Sweet & Sour Inc. is when it comes to making the big bucks.

Chris Hero: When Sweeney first acquired Hero and brought him into the fold, Hero was on the verge of going singles due to Claudio Castagnoli planning to leave for the WWE. Hero was already very successful in ROH, having been an ROH World Tag Team Champion for three months as a part of The Kings of Wrestling. Taking into account that success as well as his standing as a top tier independent talent around the world, it easy to conclude that he would have had a legitimate chance to received good opportunities in ROH with or without an agent. However, adding Sweeney’s services immediately paid dividends as Hero was granted an ROH World Title shot in January of 2007.

Unfortunately for Hero, that title shot ended in a defeat to Homicide, the champion at the time. He wouldn’t receive another title shot for ten months, until he went through six men to claim the Survival of the Fittest 2007 tournament. That would be a drought of title opportunities and hardly an impressive display of managerial prowess on the part of Sweeney and his agency. Sure, the perks such as a private locker room and workout area were the result of Sweeney’s negotiations with ROH officials. However, when it really comes down to it, don’t you think Chris Hero would value a ROH World Title win much more over any extra leg room, training equipment, or extra sushi and fruit baskets? Hero has failed to win the ROH World Title on his recent run as a number one contender. Every scheme and every strategy brought forth by Sweeney has failed to succeed. Therefore Sweeney has failed Chris Hero in doing the one thing that I’m sure Hero is dying to do—win the ROH World Title.

Up until this week Chris Hero was MIA from ROH as Sweeney held him out from Ring of Honor action until “the money is right.” Yet, one has to ask if this holdout was effective at all! Hero is now back in ROH action, no closer to getting a raise in pay from ROH and by dropping off the map in the company he has basically lost ground to other wrestlers fast rising up the rankings such as Tyler Black and Kevin Steen. Did Sweeney give Hero some bad advice to hold out on his contract? It certainly looks like that is the case.

Why did Sweeney bring Hero back at this time? It is because he needs all the manpower he can get in order to combat Claudio Castagnoli, who has continued to be a thorn in his side all this time. Simply put, Hero was brought back to fight Claudio’s team in an elimination match April 12th in Edison, New Jersey. Sweeney is betting that the combined muscle and wrestling talent of Albright & Hero will be good enough to outdo the hustle and strength of Claudio’s coalition of the willing in Erick Stevens and Pelle Primeau. It does seem from the outset that Sweeney has the advantage, especially with the smaller and perennial underdog Primeau on the other side of the ring.

The problem with that plan is that Claudio has pretty much had Hero’s number inside the squared circle for the past year. Hero had to squeak by with blindside attacks and post match roughhouse tactics. Every time Claudio and Hero have fought one on one, the win has gone to Claudio.

Larry Sweeney has brought back Hero from a hold out only to throw him into the waiting arms of a wrestler he seemingly cannot defeat. Maybe Sweeney has a plan we all don’t know about yet, but it better be a good one because otherwise this move will make him look nothing but an utter fool.

Goal: Win the ROH World Title–Failed

Sara Del Rey: One of the most dominant female athletes on the current independent wrestling scene was already a prominent name and a champion when Larry Sweeney began to recruit her into Sweet & Sour Inc. The SHIMMER champion may have thought that enrolling with Sweet & Sour Inc.’s services would lead to a more prominent role in ROH action, but realistically she would have been in the same position with or without Sweeney. Given ROH’s positive relationship with SHIMMER Women’s Athletes, it is clear that Del Rey would have been defending the SHIMMER title against the top women in the field regardless of her representation. Did Larry Sweeney help Del Rey in any real, practical and evident manner to get her booked in ROH? I would think not. One year later, she is STILL fending off ROH stalwarts Daizee Haze and Lacey in tag and singles matches

Now, Sweeney did manage to try to make headlines with the creation of the Intergender championship of the world. However, aside from a few “defenses” for a title that ROH officials refused to recognize as credible and legitimate, nothing else has come of it. Not to mention the belts looked like something out of excess town parade float material.

Del Rey has since taken a leave of absence from Sweet & Sour Incorporated and she is obviously reevaluating her place in that organization. It seemed Sweeney placed Del Rey too low on his priority list and in doing so, has lost a client.

Goal: Increase value as top woman’s wrestler and elevate her spot in ROH—Failed

Tank Toland: Brought into the fold as Chris Hero’s personal trainer, Toland is stuck counting squat reps and holding dumbbells while Hero received the page one headlines and all of the credit and all of the glory. Aside from taking on a personal project in Bobby Dempsey, I have heard from my sources that Toland’s private training seminars resemble a ghost town. Toland has added no other clients to his training program and well, one only has to look at the lack of results in shaping up Dempsey to understand why that is the case. Sweeney hasn’t so much as worked to get a Protein bar endorsement / sponsorship for Toland. Maybe the pay is right, but the lack of career movement or increased Q Rating among the rest of the ROH locker room and independent scene has left Toland pumping iron with no one but Dempsey.

In addition, Toland rarely gets in ring time these days and his win-loss record is no great shakes. He may be an entertaining character to watch in action, but Toland has not benefited at all from his alliance with Sweeney. He is used for Sweeney’s own ends rather than the other way around.

Goal: Increase reputation as a “Superior Natural Athlete” – Failed

Bobby Dempsey: And speaking of…I know its fun to hang around some of the cool kids and hope that just a smidgen of their charisma, personality or cool factor rubs off on you, but this is getting ridiculous now for this poor lad. Dempsey is the ball boy on the S&S Inc. team. He was not brought on or signed to the agency so much as drafted out of pity. Dempsey has become the ultimate gopher and the ultimate target. Hero takes the lead in making fun of him and Sweeney isn’t so far behind. They pull pranks, make him the butt of jokes and blame all of their failures on him. Tank Toland has failed to help him lose weight and in fact he may have gained more weight by following Toland’s regimen. Not to mention that he was recently embarrassed by Sweeney with the fiasco in NYC that ultimately became a public scandal splashed across the pages of the internet.

Bobby Dempsey can feel good about being with the cool kids, but in reality is the gum underneath the cool kids table. Sweeney has done nothing for Dempsey and as such this relationship is also a failure.

Goal: Lose weight and get in shape–Failed

Matt Sydal: Perhaps the only real success of Sweet & Sour Inc. Larry wooed Matt Sydal at the Driven Pay Per View with promises of big bucks and career opportunities. It didn’t take much convincing for Sydal, with dollar signs in his eyes to sign on to S&S Inc.’s services. Sydal immediately was signed to high profile matches, including a face off against Mike Quackenbush at Race to the Top and then later on a match with Bryan Danielson. A few months later, Sydal had signed a developmental contract with WWE and was on his way out of the company. Sweeney claimed all the credit for brokering the deal.

However, my special investigation has revealed that Matt Sydal has been secretly planning on leaving ROH at any rate and had inquired into WWE about going into their developmental league. A source on good authority has speculated that Sydal knew he was going and could have left without even joining the Inc. Instead, he used Sweeney to raise the price on WWE and make sure he got the best deal possible. While Sweeney no doubt got a cut of the contract via his “agent’s fee”, Sydal got more out of the bargain than Sweeney.

Goal: Get a deal with WWE—Success

It certainly seems looking at this list that Sweeney’s services are not as good as advertised, with only one success and many disappointments to speak of. As if the failure of Sweeney’s main list of clients wasn’t enough proof of the lack of ability for those running the show at SNSI, one only has to look at what has befallen the not so “A List” celebrities that Sweet & Sour Inc. have hung around.

Johnny Fairplay: An invited guest of Larry Sweeney, he was soon making a nuisance of himself to the wrong man, Nigel McGuinness. Fairplay received a lariat of death from McGuinness and an extended hospital stay for his troubles. He hasn’t been seen again in Ring of Honor. The incident was good for the gossip rags and a short feature was run onVH1 television, helping to increase ROH’s name brand recognition. Unfortunately there was little to no mention of Sweet & Sour Incorporated on this program.

Goal: Make celebrity status important in ROH—Failed

Daniel Puder: Initially Sweeney made a strong impression on the young MMA upstart, but Sweeney’s promises of money from ROH officials and a high profile to go along with it went up in smoke this past January. Puder beat up some low level students in his so called “$1,000 Challenge”, but when push came to shove and he faced off against a top level ROH wrestler in Claudio Castagnoli, Puder learned that there WAS competition fierce and willing enough to take him on and best him. Sweeney subsequently held off Puder and held up ROH officials for more money, but was it really that or was Puder just too scared to come back and take on either Castagnoli or Erick Stevens straight up in a wrestling match? Puder has not been back since and has become another association with Sweet & Sour Inc that ultimately proved to be more sour than sweet.

Goal: Pry more money out of ROH to fill Puder’s pocket—Failed

Conclusion: Larry Sweeney has begun his “hostile takeover” of Ring of Honor with promises of increasing his clients’ value across the wrestling world so that he can sell their contracts to Vince McMahon and the WWE. However, in order to get to step two of the equation, he needs to fulfill step one of that plan—raise the value of his clients. In that respect he had some success in the form of Matt Sydal’s departure in late 2007.However, as we have also seen; Sweeney has trouble increasing the value and reputation of his wrestlers on his own.

A recent merger with the Hangm3n has Sweeney square in the middle of an acquisition phase. He will seek to add as many wrestlers as possible into the fold in order to increase his leverage on ROH officials. However, at the same time as he has added Adam Pearce, Brent Albright and Shane Hagadorn, he has seemingly lost Sara Del Rey who remains a valuable commodity in the independent wrestling world. He has already been rebuffed by BJ Whitmer and the No Remorse Corps have now rejected his offer of a buyout twice in the past month. I think these wrestlers understand that they are better off working towards success in their careers on their own rather than join with Sweeney and his questionable services.

No doubt Larry Sweeney is looking for more ROH wrestlers and free agents on the independents to sign to big deals. The real question is, knowing just how little Sweet & Sour Incorporated has helped its current clients, why would they bother?

ROH Results: Supercard of Honor III, 03/29/08 from Orlando, FL

Matches

-Go Shiozaki defeated Delirious via pinfall with the Go Flasher.
-The YRR defeated Dingo, Alex Payne and Bushwacker Luke in 8:15 via pinfall with a springboard spinning reverse kick.
-Taped for ROH “Take No Prisoners” PPV: ROH World Tag Team Champions The No Remorse Corps of Davey Richards &Rocky Romero retained the ROH World Tag Team Titles by defeating The Vulture Squad of Ruckus & Jigsaw. DR Driver on Jigsaw for the win.
-FIP World Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens ends in a no contest after the NRC come out and clip off Stevens’ Mohawk while he was unconscious.
-The Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black defeated Jay and Mark Briscoe via submission when the Springboard Doomsday Device was countered into The End Time guillotine choke by Jacobs.
-SHINGO & BxB Hulk defeated Kevin Steen and El Generico via pinfall with the Michinoku Driver (likely the Bloodfall) onto Generico.
-ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness retained his title by defeating Austin Aries via pinfall after Jawbreaker Lariat in 25 minutes.
-Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & Genki Horiguchi defeated CIMA, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito via pinfall after a wheelbarrow piledriver by Doi onto Dragon Kid.

Angles & Issues

-Buyout, not in: Larry Sweeney made another attempt to buy out the NRC but Strong again rebuffs him. Strong calls the NRC “his” group which gets a subtle look of upset and anger by Richards.

-Hey baby, what’s your sign? The Age of Fall have seemingly recruited Aries into the fold when Lacey was able to convince him to leave with her, to Jimmy Jacob’s slight upset. Tammy Sytch comes out and tries to stop Aries but he walks on by her. The rest of AotF beat her down until The Briscoes save her from further punishment.

Return Date: October 11th, 2008

Report from the Field: Dragon Gate Challenge II

Longtime reader and frequent Name That Tune participant Mitchell Rose was one of the lucky attendees for Wrestlemania weekend, including the double shot of ROH shows. He was kind enough to send this report of his experience at Dragon Gate Challenge II:

Hey Ari, here’s my report. I’m really exhausted after attending both ROH shows ringside and Wrestlemania, but here goes nothing. I can easily say that this past weekend featured the greatest pro wrestling I have ever seen, and it was due entirely to ROH. Both cards were stacked with stellar matches, and the crowds were in a constant state of frenzied excitement due to the great in-ring action. Friday’s “Dragon Gate Challenge II” was the first time that I’ve ever seen ROH live, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Friday’s show opened up with McGuinness vs. Delirious, and they went on to have a short, competitive match with some of Delirious’ signature comedy mixed in, including Delirious calling McGuinness “Mickey Mouse”, and mocking his signature ring entrance. Next up was a match between the YRR and the Vulture Squad. This one followed the basic tag format, with Ruckus being worked over until Jigsaw got the hot tag and cleaned house. The VS wins with a SICK Jig N’ Tonic/ Doublestomp combo. I don’t get why people don’t like Jigsaw, he really impressed me here.

After this, we had Horiguchi vs. Aries. This match started with each man working over a body part for a while: with Horiguchi going for a leg and Aries going for an arm. After abandoning that strategy, we got our signature Aries spots, such as the suicide tope to the floor. Horiguchi tried to mount a comeback with a tornado DDT, but it was not to be. Aries then hit the brainbuster, locked on the Horns of Aries, and it was over. The crowd loved this, but I felt it was just decent. Next, we had more shenanigans with the AOTF, Aries, and Sunny. This bit ended with Sunny getting spiked with a DDT from Lacey. Meh. And then, we were treated to Steenerico vs. Speedmuscle. I can’t say enough good things about this match. The action was fast and furious, and the crowd loved every minute of it. This one also saw one of my favorite nearfalls in recent history, when Yoshino took a brainbuster from Generico, a Swanton from Steen, and a frogsplash from Generico, only to kick out at 2 7/8. Steen and Generico finally got the win with a package piledriver/brainbuster sequence. Fantastic match.

Next, SHINGO and BxB Hulk faced Jacobs and Black. This one actually saw my friend get slightly injured, as the guardrail slammed into his leg when Hulk was tossed into it, This match was quite exciting, especially when you consider I had never seen BxB Hulk before. One spot stands out from this match. Black has Hulk up for a Burning Hammer, and Jacobs climbed the ropes and hit a senton before Black dropped him with the Hammer. It was in vain, as SHINGO picked up the win for his team with the Last Falconry.

As the show began to wind down, we had the Briscoes vs. Dragon Kid and Ryo Saito. This match was fast paced, and it started with a comedic test-of-strength spot. However, the comedy was soon put aside in favor of all four men going suplex-nuts. More craziness ensued, and the Brisoces pulled out the win with a Doomsday Device on Saito. Lastly, we had a quick segment with Sweet N’ Sour that led into our main event, Apparently, Sweeney is now trying to recruit the NRC. After this, Stevens, CIMA, and Shiozaki came out, and it was on. The highlight of this one was a BRUTAL chop exchange between Strong and Shiozaki. After around 20 minutes of stiff striking and hard slams, CIMA secured the win with the Crossfire. Overall, an excellent show. However, SCoHIII blew it out of the water.

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 04/05/2008

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

Next Defense:: vs. Austin Aries vs. Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong, Boston MA, 04/11/08

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)

ROH World Tag Team Champions—The No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards & Rocky Romero) (champions since 01/26/08, 2 successful defenses)
–defeated Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) in Chicago Ridge, IL to win the championship.

Next Defense: vs. The Briscoes, Edison, NJ 04/12/08

V.1 defeated Ruckus & Jigsaw (02/23/08 Manhattan, NY)
V.2 defeated Vulture Squad (03/29/08 Orlando, FL)

Sweet & Sour Incorporated Presents The Intergender Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Of The World —Chris Hero & Sara Del Rey (champions since 01/12/08, 2 successful defenses)
Status Unknown since Del Rey has left Sweet & Sour Inc. as of 3/14/08

V.1 defeated Ernie Osiris & Alexa Thatcher (01/12/08, Edison, NJ)
V.2 defeated Kyle Durden & Alex “Sugarfoot” Payne (01/26/08, Chicago Ridge, IL)

FIP Heavyweight Champion: Roderick Strong (since 02/16/2008)
-defeated Erick Stevens via count out to win the title (FIP title can change hands on count out)
SHIMMER Champion: Sara Del Rey (since 6/2/2007)
Top of the Class Trophy (For ROH Students): Ernie Osiris (since 11/02/2007)

Top Feuds & Pairings:
-Nigel McGuinness defends the belt against top contenders.
-The Age of the Fall vs. The Briscoes
-Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. No Remorse Corps
-Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong
-Austin Aries & Age of the Fall / Lacey vs. Sunny
-Sweet & Sour Inc. “Corporate Takeover”

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

2800 Fans for ROH Orlando shows

ROH neared or matched a combined attendance record for attendance at their Wrestlemania weekend shows with their two night set in Orlando. 1300 fans attended Dragon Gate Challenge II and approximately 1500 fans filled the Orlando Rec Center for Supercard of Honor III. These numbers are near the zenith of what ROH does for its regular stops in its largest markets, so it should be considered a huge positive that ROH was able to do the same in Orlando. No doubt this was thanks to the Wrestlemania weekend frenzy of attendees but also due to ROH’s strong presence in the Florida already thanks to its sister promotion Full Impact Pro. Chicago, Detroit and even New Jersey in 2004 posted similar results for ROH shows held within a day of Wrestlemania. The strategy of springboarding off the location of Wrestlemania has worked each time out and ROH will look to repeat this strategy in 2009 but finding a location to debut in Dallas, Texas.

Bloodstained Honor and Stars of Honor DVDs Released to Mainstream Retail This Week

Overlooked in all the madness of endless wrestling shows and extravaganzas over the weekend was the retail debut for Ring of Honor DVDs. These collections, released by KOCH Video, collect some of the best matches from 2004 – 2007. One DVD focuses more on the WWE and TNA wrestlers who have made their names in ROH (Samoa Joe and CM Punk are featured prominently on the cover and on the program). The other DVD focuses on some of ROH’s bloodiest matches and the best grudge feuds in the past few years such as Generation Next vs. The Embassy and ROH vs. CZW.

Although the DVDs are supposed to be available in retail stores, you may have some problems finding them in store in certain Best Buys and if you don’t see it on the shelves you may have to ask a store employee if they have stock in the back, as smaller titles don’t necessarily get proper store space. Some fans have had better luck ordering through amazon.com. I haven’t checked out my local F.Y.E. yet (actually I’ll do that later today) but I have a postcard advertising the show from my latest order of DVDs and the “available in F.Y.E.” logo is prominently displayed.

My thoughts on this retail debut is that so far it’s a mixed bag. When fans have to call to ask about a purchase or demand that a store carry a product, that’s not a good sign. However, ROH is just beginning to release their DVDs through retail so a slow and uphill battle should have been expected. That said, wrestling sections of retail stores in my neighborhood have stocked everything from FIP shows to NECW shows, from the best WWE DVDs to the cheapest independent wrestling DVDs. They’re all there on the shelf. Ring of Honor needs to be able to get their product into those shelves so that the eyes of the fans who shop for wrestling DVDs in retail stores can find their product. Otherwise this ROH to retail plan will not be a huge success.

ROH Business Notes

ROHwrestling.com released another batch of news and business notes following their Orlando shows:

There was an interesting group of backstage guests at both ROH events. Among them was the first ROH Champion Low Ki. There was no communication or conversation between Ki and ROH officials.

Low Ki has actually appeared at several ROH events before, including being there for Homicide’s title win at Final Battle 2006, so it isn’t as if fans should expect Ki to appear in ring for ROH anytime soon. However, it is a shock to read ROH’s acknowledgement of Low Ki, as that has never really happened before in the news notes. I guess that’s what makes this “business notes” section different from the newswire.

That said, maybe it IS about time ROH and Low Ki kiss and make up…again… I mean, both could really use the other at this point. Ki needs to get himself more dates and more exposure on the independent once his injury heals and ROH could always use a man from its history with the talent and ability of Ki. Quite frankly, some of my more favorite memories of ROH involve Ki in early 2002 kicking all sorts of ass. If we can get back that Low Ki, man…

TNA continues to be very open to ROH booking some TNA contracted talent. Discussions are ongoing. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin, The Motor City Machine Guns, are booked on ROH’s events April 18th in Detroit, MI (vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black of The Age Of The Fall) and April 19th in Chicago Ridge, IL (vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe). In addition, Ms. Peyton Banks, also known as Rain, has the distinction of being the only talent to work for two companies during the Orlando weekend that saw ROH, TNA and WWE all present major shows.

Another bit of a shocker that this newsbit seems to indicate that ROH may want to contract some more TNA talent to future shows. However, I think this more celebrates the inclusion of Shelley, Sabin and Rain onto the roster for the time being. I don’t expect any other former ROH wrestlers currently in TNA to start making more frequent appearances.

Green Monster

Right now things are gearing up for ROH’s return to Boston on April 11th. The card is rounding out as two more matches have been signed. Larry Sweeney is going to try to stop Claudio Castagnoli from getting to Edison. Sweeney is sending Brent Albright after Castagnoli in Boston. It will be Castagnoli vs. Albright one-on-one.

[Chris] Hero will have his first match back on April 11th in Boston. It will be a Four Corner Survival pitting Hero vs. Delirious vs. Jigsaw vs. Jason Blade.

Claudio has a tougher task it seems than Chris Hero. Albright will put the muscle to Castagnoli and look to injury a limb before the elimination match the next night. Meanwhile Hero has to get past three men with whom he hasn’t had too tough a time with in the ring. I expect Hero to win his return match with ease.

Thomas Edison

Jay & Mark Briscoe will get a chance to become five time ROH World Tag Team Champions on April 12th in Edison, NJ. Briscoes vs. Davey Richards & Rocky Romero for the belts has been officially signed. The Briscoes have momentum after defeating the Dragon Gate duo of Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito last weekend in Orlando. The Briscoes are determined to become ROH World Tag Team Champions again.

The teams have been selected for the Six Man Elimination Match on 4/12 in Edison, NJ. Last time in Edison saw Larry Sweeney cave the face of Claudio Castagnoli in with a top rope elbow drop off the top rope on a steel chair. Sweeney then proceeded to grab $1000 cash out of Castagnoli’s hand. Now for the second time, Sweeney will put on the trunks and compete in a ROH ring. It will be Sweeney, Brent Albright & Chris Hero vs. Claudio Catagnoli, Erick Stevens & Pelle Primeau. The only way the match can end is by eliminating all the members of the opposing team by pinfall, pass out or tap out.

Tammy Sytch will be at the April 12th event in Edison, NJ. She will be available for autographs. Tammy says she has one last message for Austin Aries.

The Briscoes actually split that weekend, losing to the last champions in Age of the Fall, so I’m not sure how that qualifies them for a title rematch this soon after their return to America. Maybe it’s more of that pesky anti-AotF bias exhibited by ROH officials. This one looks like it could have no problem fitting into the main event spot of the Edison show. I looked a bit closer at the six man elimination tag match in this week’s feature article. I do have to repeat myself from other columns and say just how much I enjoy Survivor Series style matches, so that automatically endears me to this one. Although, the inclusion of Pelle in this match is a head scratcher. Why on earth would Claudio choose him? Maybe he’s been getting into too much Swiss cheese and it’s gotten into his brain. Sytch has “one last message” for Aries? Well you can infer that this might be the last appearance of Sytch in ROH for now, but it could also be a reverse and have it be the beginning of a longer run for her. She isn’t signed up to any future appearances just yet.

Motown Motor

ROH will finally return to Detroit on April 18th for “Tag Wars 2008” featuring three main event quality tag team bouts. One more tag team battle has been signed and it will be pit high-flying vs. size. Jack Evans & Ruckus of The Vulture Squad will take on Brent Albright & Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney!!! This is going to be one action packed night. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin is now officially the main event and will go on last.

We know Detroit likes a good fight. Delirious and Necro Butcher traded falls during ROH’s Dover, NJ doubleshot. Delirious has been having his problems with Age Of The Fall lately. Detroit on 4/18 will witness Delirious vs. The Necro Butcher in a Falls Count Anywhere Match!!! This one will be wild.

Evans back in action restores The Vulture Squad to full strength, but while Master Jack was out the Hangm3n consolidated with Sweet & Sour Inc. making them a more dangerous presence in the ring with a number advantage. It may be a more even match if J-Train and Mercedes Martinez are at ringside to prevent any shenanigans. The Motor City Machine Guns in the main event seemed to be an easy call given the rarity of their appearance. Delirious vs. Necro Butcher is a rematch from their fight in Dover, NJ in mid-March. Falls Count Anywhere stipulation allows Necro to wrestle the Necro style, with chairs and tables and other assorted weapons. Delirious is really good in street fight style matches though, so it’s a good break for him and a good match for the fans to watch.

Da Bears

The SHIMMER event on April 26th in Chicago is sold out, but you can still catch a SHIMMER Four Corner Survival when ROH returns to Chicago on April 19th. Signed for the event is Lacey vs. MsChif vs. Daizee Haze vs. Ashley Lane.

It is always a big event when ROH returns to Chicago and April 19th will be no exception. Faction warfare will come to Chicago with a six man tag team match. It will be The Vulture Squad of Jack Evans, Ruckus & Jigsaw vs. The Age Of The Fall of Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black & Joey Matthews.

I am really happy to see that MsChif has been brought back into ROH for another match. She seems to get more frequently booked for Detroit and Chicago, but I would love for her to become a regular for ROH. I’m not too knowledgeable about Ashley Lane. The Vulture Squad has yet to get the monkey off their back which is The Age of the Fall, but they better do it here because Eddie Kingston and BLK OUT are out there lurking in the shadows, and if they can’t take care of this business they may soon be driven out of it after too many beatings by too many other stables.

ROH Videowire: April 2nd, 2008

In this video: Kevin Steen cut a very good promo that entertains me and helps to sell his title aspirations. Austin Aries wears a very Shawn Michaels like frown and walks out with the girl. Jimmy Jacobs does not appear to be very happy—hmmm, it appears as if his wooing strategy to get Aries into the fold has backfired on him, because it is hinted strongly that Lacey, his “love”, offered her “services” to Aries.

And isn’t it just the perfect irony that Lacey called Sytch a whore and accused her of sleeping with the locker room to get what she wants—and isn’t that what it seems like Lacey is doing right here with Austin Aries? What hypocrisy from Ms. Independent.

These are the wrestlers on my fave five list right now. What that means is that I really enjoyed their efforts and performance in one way or another. This is different from the Wrestler of the Week feature because I am including the wrestling DVDs I watched over the last week, not just mainstream TV or PPV. Also, I’m measuring personal enjoyment, not determining who had the “best week ever”.

So who’s in my fave five this week?

1. Ric Flair: I mean, this is the obvious one to me, to you and to every other wrestling fan out there who has been paying attention to the events of the last week. WWE did the big send off of “The Nature Boy” perfectly and in doing so made everyone remember just why Ric Flair should be remembered for his career. Flair’s Hall of Fame speech was said to be epic and just the scant fifteen minutes of it that were shown on television was enough to whet the appetite to watch the full and unedited version on DVD. Flair was extremely humble and appeared at times in awe of the whole proceedings, from the HOF to the match at ‘Mania to the finale on Raw (where he didn’t know the specifics of what WWE was planning). I took in all of those moments as a fan and I felt true emotions and true passion. I felt rejuvinated as a wrestling fan once again, and that may be the best gift I could have ever been given by Flair and WWE.
2. Shawn Michaels and Batista: An interesting story was told on Raw without any words between these two men. Batista stared down a heartbroken Heartbreak Kid. You could feel his anger and his rage even from behind the tinted sunglasses. Meanwhile HBK could only look downwards to avoid the stare and tucked his head low behind that now trademark cowboy hat. Batista’s mentor has been retired and you know he blames Michaels for it. I think a very good feud / series of matches can come from this pairing.
3. Big Show : We might as well rename him “The Big Promo” because Show has been on top of his talking game ever since he returned to the WWE. Not only is he in the best shape of his career since his early days as “The Giant” in WCW, but Show’s ability to tell a story with his words is so impressive. The meeting of the giants on Raw with Show and The Great Khali was impressive for both men matching up their amazing height, nut what was even better for me was to hear Big Show actually threaten Khali! “You need to leave… (Khali roars, Show gets pissed) Seriously. Now. (Khali leaves).” Awesome sequence. I never, EVER thought I would write this next statement, but I am actually, honest-to-goodness eager to watch Show vs. Khali. How about that?
4. Delirious: A terrifically bizarre promo (but when isn’t a Delirious promo bizarre) at the beginning of the Without Remorse DVD to set up the steel chain dog collar match that night against Adam Pearce.
5. No Remorse Corps: The other opening promo to the Without Remorse show is the NRC planning their after-show victory party and hitting on Cute Program Girl. Davey Richards is to picking up girls as Charlie Brown is to kicking the football. I guess that makes Romero & Strong the equivalent of two Lucy’s, which would explain everything.

How about dem analogies?

Honorarium

-Of course this weekend when I have a whole bunch of homework to grade I get in the latest batch of shows. DAMN YOU ROH!

-The picture of Roderick Strong from the Without Remorse DVD cover is just absolutely terrific. He looks like an absolute jerk with the smirk on his face in that picture. I just want to slap the hell out of him looking at it.

-Is Austin Aries the East Coast version of Joey Ryan or is Joey Ryan the West Coast version of Austin Aries?

-Claudio Castagnoli vs. El Generico from WR: I’m about to spoil things, so if you want to skip ahead, now’s the time. I thought they did a tremendous job building up to the twenty minute draw. Generico became progressively weaker with more attacks to the knee, but his underdog flurries were good enough to sucker you into believing he could win the match at any point. His sunset flip powerbomb counter out of the Riccola Bomb (spell check: nicola, piccolo, racial) has so much momentum and it lands so perfectly that the crowd chants “that was awesome!” almost out of involuntary reflex. The half crab giant swing was a genius variation given the psychology of the match. Now the last minute is actually where it gets even better for me. Ring announcer Bobby Cruise announces one minute left in the time limit and when you hear that, you’re natural inclination is to think “well, okay, this one is going to a draw.” However, Generico and Claudio begin that one minute countdown up on the ropes as Claudio fight to set up a top rope cross armed Riccola bomb. Generico does the amazing still to this day hurricanrana reversal spot and the crowd goes wild. That move opens the door for the possibility that there will be a finish to the match, even in the last minute. The crowd almost forgets that the draw is the predictable ending here and Claudio and Generico do a bit more to convince that the match could end before the draw. Claudio is just a bit too late getting back to the knee submission and that leaves the ten count. I think both men should have received a standing O from the crowd for their effort in that last minute as well as that match as a whole, but predictably we get the “five more minutes” chant, which I hate because 99% of the time we don’t get five more minutes and then it makes it seem like that last twenty minutes or however long didn’t mean a damn. That is a complete disservice to a highly enjoyable mid card match such as this one.

Wrestlemania 24 Thoughts

-By now almost everyone on site has had their say on Mania, so I’ll get through these very quickly. I did watch the show though, so I definitely want to throw my two cents in for posterity’s sake.

Flair vs. Michaels was as good a match as I expected it to be with a finish for the ages. I don’t care that they screwed up a bridge spot and I don’t care that Flair didn’t do his Flair flop or flip into the turnbuckle. I do care that the match itself was a brilliant battle that carried through the “Old Yeller” set up from their final promo to the tilt.

The final “I’m sorry. I love you.” Then, bam! Superkick. What an amazing finish–talk about summing up exactly what I love about professional wrestling in about ten seconds. All the drama, all the emotion, all the artistry of the form expressed itself in those final moments. This was a conclusion fitting for an epic movie, much less the end of Flair’s career.

I loved Flair’s entrance with the fireworks in the background. What a special moment that in addition to wearing that new and custom made robe, made Flair look that much regal and that much more important. Those fireworks in the sky were impressive and breathtaking. From that moment on I knew WWE had the right direction for this match.

I was as ecstatic for CM Punk winning the Money in the Bank ladder match as I was when Rey Mysterio won the World Heavyweight Title at Mania 22. I didn’t expect it, so that made the moment where it happened even better. I shouted out and nearly jumped out of my chair because I was so happy. Now, I have no idea how seriously WWE will treat Punk as the MitB contender, but they have a full year to do something good with him and I expect that they will eventually find a good storyline for his journeying up the rankings. I am just hoping WWE does the smart thing and pulls him away from ECW during the draft and allows him to build towards a world title match on Smackdown or Raw. No other Bank winner has challenged for the ECW title, so it would make Punk look a bit stupid to cash it in for that.

I was expecting the chaotic no contest finish for the Mayweather vs. Show match, but was very satisfied that we received a clear finish to the match and that Mayweather actually took a few bumps and let Show win on him for a period of time. Big Show is just so awesome these days so kudos to him for doing so well in this one.

Undertaker vs. Edge turned out to be a very good main event and last match for the show. The crowd started out slow and quiet but these two took that reaction and built and built up their match so that by the end of it the crowd was totally into it. Sort of like any Erick Stevens match (not a knock on Stevens at all, BTW).

I question all the heel wins on the show, because Mania is usually the time for redemption, revenge and baby face glory. JBL going over made no sense to me in the context of the previous months’ build and it looks like he is moving on to other things so we may never see Finlay get the proper justice for JBL abusing his “son”. Orton winning was acceptable and judging from his great performance on this past Monday Night Raw, there is a ton of life left to his “Age of Orton” title run, so why not go with it? The Bunnymania match had the heel wrestlers going over, but it’s a freaking Play Boy match and its not for Beth Phoenix’s title, so what’s the damage in giving the good girls the win? At least Santino got served by Snoop.

Overall a very enjoyable Mania in my book. I don’t get where all the people are saying “worst Mania ever” because it is a far, far, far cry from Wrestlemania IX. Maybe those who are saying it never had to live through that one live on PPV, but I did and whew boy, I’d rather NOT go through that any time soon. Mania 24 had four memorable to great matches and a great atmosphere which will place it at least in the upper echelon of great Mania’s.

Not only did ‘Mania succeed but for the first time in a long time, WWE has some very new and interesting directions to take itself into the rest of the Spring season. I am really happy with where WWE is heading and unless they start going all nonsensical, I think they are setting themselves up for really good shows.

Yes, I did cry at the end of Raw last night. I was emotional watching his last match at Mania, but I didn’t cry. On Raw, forget about it, waterworks all the way. Have a problem with that, come on down to Brooklyn… Dan Torkel will kick your ass!

What?

ROH Preview: April 11th, 2008 in Boston, MA

8:00pm belltime
Boston University (Case Gym)
285 Babcock Street
Boston, MA 02215

ROH World Title Elimination Match
Nigel McGuinness defends vs. Austin Aries vs. Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong

Three tough challengers will test Nigel McGuinness and give him his roughest challenge since his defense against Bryan Danielson. Any one of these men alone would give a good fight, but all three in the same match gunning for the title is going to present problems for Nigel. Given the elimination rules, Nigel has his back against the wall even more so, as an early elimination would mean an automatic new champion. He doesn’t want that at any cost.

Nigel needs to play a game of divide and conquer to outlast his challengers. Looking at who are his participants there is one glaring crack in the wall that he can take advantage of. These three men were the principle players in the NRC vs. Resilience feud. Stevens and Strong has a blood feud going on right now over the FIP World Heavyweight Title. Aries and Strong still have bad feelings over their split up as Generation Next. Stevens is still sour at Aries for disbanding The Resilience. Aries is just sour at everyone and he just wants to win no matter who is standing in his way. This is a huge web of drama and ill feelings and if Nigel can press the right buttons, well his opponents might just do all the work for him before all is said and done.

No Rules Last Man Standing Match
Necro Butcher vs. Kevin Steen

I question Steen’s judgment taking on a match with such a pain quotient as this one just a day before fighting for the ROH World Title. Steen should have looked to be in optimal physical health before walking into that fight in Edison. Instead he has to take on the always capable and always dangerous Necro Butcher. Steen has fought and defeated Necro before, but not without taking some huge blows to his head and back. He will have to absorb the damage in this one and put away Necro as fast as possible.

Ibushi’s ROH Debut
Kota Ibushi vs. Davey Richards

Ibushi has a ton of hype and anticipation going into the beginning of his four show stand in ROH. I think he will impress the audience with his flying and his speed. Richards isn’t a bad first opponent for him at all and in fact should provide a nice combination of speed, agility and striking. My guess would be Kota wins his debut.

Special Attraction
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Jack Evans & Ruckus

The Briscoes receive a tag title shot the next night in Edison and I think this match will just work out to be a tune up for them. Evans is back to action but will have to work to get back in fine tune. Ruckus may be distracted with his issues with Eddie Kingston calling him out on seemingly every show. That could be the necessary break The Briscoes need to take advantage and win the match.

Special Challenge Match
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright with Larry Sweeney

No doubt that Albright will look to damage Claudio going into the six man elimination match the next night. The question is if Claudio has some tricks up his sleeve to counter what is a rather obvious set up from Sweet & Sour Inc.

Special Attraction Match
El Generico vs. Rocky Romero

This is a match you’d likely see in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla on the west coast, but I’m sure they can do a very good job providing an early on the card match. Generico doesn’t look it, but he’s very tough and determined underneath that skinny and generic exterior. Romero is as cocky and confident as he’s ever been before and being a current ROH World Tag Team Champion doesn’t help reduce his machismo factor. If he gets to full of himself, he may see a Yakuza kick straight to he head in the near future,

Four Corner Survival
Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney vs. Delirious vs. Jigsaw vs. Jason Blade

Seemingly a tune up match for the returning Hero, Delirious is still a dangerous man to underestimate. Jigsaw is still trying to find himself a new identity after unmasking and will look to blitzkrieg everyone in sight with his lucha and flying prowess. Jason Blade is actually finding himself in his new YRR persona and if he plugs into that for some extra confidence then he may slip away with an upset victory, especially in his hometown area.

Plus: Daizee Haze; Eddie Edwards and others!!!

The Money Players: February / March 2008

Who are the money players? In the sports industry, money players are the athletes who are making the right plays at the right moments.

In wrestling, the concept of the money player is not all that different. The wrestler who has a great match or gives an impressive impression upon the audience ups their worth to the wrestling promoter. While you may be helping your team, you are also helping yourself and your career.

Let’s see who’s hot, who’s not, who’s making those key plays and who is dropping the ball, so to speak in Ring of Honor.

Money Players of the Month— February 2008

–Kevin Steen (KSTN) & Go Shiozaki (GOGO) : Both men made quite the impression at the Eye of the Storm event last month. These two made it all the way into the finals, taking on some tough competition. Go was making his ROH debut here and since New York was under stormy conditions his opponent was changed on the fly. Go had to prove himself against the ultra tough Necro butcher and he did exactly that. Steen meanwhile made it to the finals with an impressive win against Bryan Danielson, a key submission win at that. Danielson almost never submits, so that says a lot about how much Steen came to play that weekend. Steen ultimately won the number one contender’s tournament held that night in Long Island by defeating Shiozaki. He then went on to go 4-0 that weekend. Go had a fantastic match in a losing effort to Austin Aries the next night in NYC, but good lord, for two men who came into that weekend not looking to do much both men sure came out with all the momentum in the world.

Money Players of the Month— March 2008

–Dragon Gate Wrestlers: For going all out this past weekend in many different matches against many different combinations of ROH wrestlers. While Dragon Gate lost the challenge series three matches to one, their presence helped to create some amazing moments and electrified the Orlando crowd. Steen & Generico vs. SHINGO & Hulk from DGC II is receiving rave reviews, as is the now annual and traditional Dragon gate six man tag spotlight match. The DG roster that appeared gave it their all and were class acts.

The Money Players of 2008:
March 2008: Dragon Gate
February 2008: Kevin Steen (KSTN) & Go Shiozaki (GOGO)
January 2008: Erick Stevens (CHOO)

ROH STOCK INDEX

Breadwinners STOCK UP!

–Kevin Steen (KSTN) & El Generico (OLE!) :Riding a huge wave of momentum, Steen and Generico are taking advantage even during a bear marketplace Many are worrying about the downturn in the economy, but Steen & Generico are just plain money. Steen was undefeated for almost three months in 2008 and Generico has been showing flashes of brilliance during the year as well. Steen fights for the ROH World Title next week, drawing added attention to his claims of winning ROH gold sometime during ’08. Huge wins against the NRC in singles matches also helps to bolster their claim to an ROH World Tag Title shot. All the gold stocks just might be coming their way within the next two months.

–Nigel McGuinness (NIGE): Although Nigel set off a bit of a panic sell off with his losses in Dover NJ in a four corner survival and a tag contest, Nigel stabilized his brand value by successfully defending the ROH World Title on two separate occasions. Nigel isn’t necessarily the most popular man with the common stock holders, but he is a proven winner and current champion. Therefore that gives him a distinct voice and leverage in the stock market.

–Ruckus & Jigsaw (VSQD):Jigsaw created quite the publicity stunt when he unmasked in a recent ROH Video Wire. The added hype and attention allowed The Vulture Squad to retake some momentum in the tag team division. They won out their matches in Dover and Philadelphia, earning a tag title shot this past weekend. Ultimately they failed to win the titles, but upped their stock value and earnings for the year to date. Maybe the V-Squad CAN be that top notch stock sooner rather than later.

Loss Leaders STOCK DOWN!

–The Hangmen 3 (THM3): Consolidated and merged into Sweet & Sour Incorporated (SNSI), The Hangm3n are no more. As such, you can flush their stock down the toilet. A huge sell off has left their value less than that of Bear Stearns. You can’t even give away their T-shirt to a naked homeless man.

–BJ Whitmer (WHIT): Whitmer was a stock holder in the Hangm3n who had a severe objection to the Sweet & Sour merger. Unfortunately, not being a majority shareholder his lack of power and influence in the company was clear. He was booted out of the group and beaten up for good measure. As such, Whitmer left ROH and has been dropped from the market.

Trendsetters

–Corporate Takeovers: In an update from our last edition of the stockmarket, where the Trendsetter was “recruitment” we now add takeover to that trend. Larry Sweeney has begun a hostile takeover of ROH, temporarily raising the overall market value of his company’s stock, despite the obvious loss of employees and cutbacks in Sara Del Rey and BJ Whitmer Sweeney has set his sights on the No Remorse Corps, but so far they have resisted selling off their stock to SNSI.

Future Outlooks

(+) POSITIVE: Nigel McGuiness, The Briscoes (up), El Generico (up), Kevin Steen (up), Go Shiozaki , Takeshi Morishima (up), Naomichi Marufuji, , Bryan Danielson, Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Rocky Romero, Claudio Castagnoli

(/) NEUTRAL: Erick Stevens (down), Chris Hero (down), Human Tornado (down), Joey Matthews (down), Delirious, Austin Aries, Adam Pearce, Brent Albright, , Eddie Edwards, Shane Hagadorn, Julius Smokes, Tank Toland, Jigsaw, Hallowicked, Bobby Fish

(-) NEGATIVE: Ruckus (down), Matt Cross (down), Jack Evans, Pelle Primeau

Added: Go Shiozaki
Dropped: BJ Whitmer, Mike Quackenbush, Irish Airborne

Found on the Black Market: Age of the Fall, BLK OUT

Penny Stocks
Looking for a cheap bargain? This is the place to speculate on the next possible big things…but look out; there could also be a few duds here.

–More than a penny for your thoughts
Pelle Primeau (PPRM)–The Gnome, Alaska native is back in action and looking to make a mark in Edison, NJ where he has had some of his greatest success.
Shane Hagadorn (HAGA)
M Dogg 20 “Matt Cross” (MD20)
Julius Smokes (SMOK)
Jason Blade (BLAD)–His recent attitude change makes him worth more than a penny on the stock market for the first time, well, ever.

–Still just one cent
Eddie Edwards (EDED)
Eddie Osiris (EOSI)
Mitch Franklin (MFRN)
Bobby Dempsey (BDEM)
Rhett Titus (TTUS)
Alex Payne (PAYN)–Being called “Sugar Tits” is just flat out embarrassing.
Dingo

Closing Thoughts / Ring the Bell: The Dragon Gate wrestlers represented by CIMA, SHINGO (CAPS LOCK!!!!) and BxB Hulk and his bevy of dancers caused quite a commotion today by being the celebrity bell ringers to bring this month’s edition of the Stockmarket to a close.

Going Home

Name That Tune Week 29

Clue: WM24 Battle Royal Participant
Lyric:“A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me”

Looking at the participants of that battle royal, the answer sure wasn’t Mark Henry! It was of course, good old country boy Jamie “by God” Noble, who wrestled in ROH as James Gibson and came out to “A Country Boy Can Survive” by Hank Williams Jr.

This week’s winners (by order of receipt):
Sean Lewis of Sacramento, CA
Sean was the ONLY one to send in the right answer this week. Name That Tune Crew, where were you?

Now its time for Name that Tune! for this week, April 5th, 2008!

Clue: bald
Lyric: “The more that you fear us / The bigger we get”
What’s the name of the song and the artist?

Send in your answers here and if you’re correct I’ll list your name in next week’s column!

ROH @ 411

Steve Cook did a very interesting “Age of the Fall vs. Age of Orton” comparison in Friday’s news column.

J.D. Dunn is ROH review crazy with a remorseless look at Without Remorse and hitting Volume 4of SHIMMER Women’s Athletes, with one of my favorite matches in that series (MsChif vs. Melissa street fight). Dunn also gets an early suntan by reviewing FIP Hot Summer Night’s ’07 Night One.

Hey, Arnold! More excellent retro-reviews of past ROH events, this time around it’s the awesome Unforgettable.

Samuel Berman goes back to Better Than Our Best for Delirious vs. Reyes on The Independent Mid Card.

Honor Bound Links

Check out a debut from fellow Brooklyn boy Dan Torkel with a column discussing Wrestlemania and the Ric Flair retirement.
411 vet Ronny Sarnecky says goodbye and thanks to Ric Flair. Bayani wonders if there will ever be another one like Ric Flair and Michael Weyer focuses on how WWE will go on without Ric Flair and new writer Anthony Hubbard focuses on the legacy of Ric Flair.

411 Buy or Sell focuses on the Puro scene.

Jullian Williams takes a look back at Wrestlemania 24.

I’ll see everyone back here next week!
BROOKLYN!
-Ari-