Column of Honor: 07.19.08: The Independent Buy In Spectacular 3!

Ring Toss
-The Independent Buy In Spectacular 3
-ROH Call
-ROH News
-My Fave Five
-Honorarium
-ROH Preview: ROH in Toronto, Canada, July 25th, 2008
-Honor System
-Independent Buy In
-Get with the pROHgram
-ROH @ 411

The Independent Buy In Spectacular 3:
CHIKARA rules the school!

After running through a slew of the most recent ROH DVD releases (including A New Level, for which my thoughts can be found below), I was left with a whole slew of the latest CHIKARA DVDs. I tore through them like water in the Sahara desert. Here are my thoughts on these shows:

**CHIKARA Deuces Wild (NWA Jr. Heavyweight Title: Mike Quackenbush / El Pantera, UltraMantis Black / Tim Donst, Young Lions Cup: Helios / Lince Dorado, Colony / Osirian Portal, Robbie Ellis / Ice Cream Jr.) (NEW ADDITION) Medium Recommendation
Why You Should Buy In: Deuces Wild is a solid card of CHIKARA action, but what’s very important about this show is it advances a whole slew of angles. From the fate of Tim Donst to Vin Gerard becoming more dangerous as the outcast who wants revenge on the masked technicos, there’s a lot that happens here and they will pay off on later shows. A lot of really good promos are to be found on this show as well.
Match of the DVD: Quackenbush vs. Pantera is a showman’s effort from both as they go back and forth with lucha moves and fall sequences in order to get the win. Quackenbush in singles matches haven’t been the norm in CHIKARA this year, so to see him once again perform on a main event quality level is a treat.
Positives and Negatives: First off it has to be said that the DVD of this and Café Culture (which I didn’t buy) are absolutely beautiful. They have photo-realistic qualities that make the images pop off the page / DVD. Not to mention that the concept of Ultamantis Black as a poker dealer is AWESOME. The house wins and so does UMB…Speaking of, Ultramantis proves his evil genius by immediately seizing upon the opportunity of Donst’s head injury after their match by acting like his friend and getting the Order of the Neo Solar Temple to help him to the back. The strange look Quack gives at seeing this happen is really cool if you know how the story has worked itself out…Bull Pain makes his debut for CHIKARA here and lays out the entire Colony and especially does a beat down job par excellence on Worker Ant. It’s an awesome and heavy angle. Pain is so different from the regular CHIKARA roster in both look and tone that he works very well as the villain. He almost has a cartoon like quality here as the heavy brusier…it wasn’t a great night for the Ants as the Snake and the Egyptian take them out in a very good opener….Helios and Lince Dorado have one of those largely flippy, largely no selling matches and if you like that you’ll get into their contest….Robbie Ellis takes on Ice Cream Jr. and hilarity ensures itself. You can’t ever go wrong with Ellis in the ring.

**CHIKARA Passion and Persistence (Brodie Lee / Claudio Castagnoli, Campeones de Parejas: Incoherence / F.I.S.T., Quackenbush, Shane Storm, Cheech & Cloudy / Mitch Ryder & Shayne Hawke, Larry Sweeney & Robbie Ellis, Hydra / Chuck Taylor) (NEW ADDITION) High Recommendation
Why You Should Buy In: The top two matches are good enough to guarantee a purchase, but the card overall is really good. CHIKARA seems to be putting its best foot forward at the New Alhambra shows, in the same way that ROH generally likes to impress at their biggest tour stops.
Match of the DVD: Lee and Castagnoli without a doubt. It’s not a clean finish, but these two beat each other up like crazy up until and after the DQ. These two are the tallest men in the promotion and therefore when they fight against each other it certainly comes across as a huge deal. They also have the talent to back up the intensity and the drama of their face off, both in this match and their follow up. Both men do a great job here and it would only get better in subsequent matches.
Positives and Negatives: Oh man…here begins the DVDs with the new CHIKARA open…the first person you see? Wiggly. Good god man. Okay, look I know he does a lot of the designs and video and music for CHIKARA and he is a decent enough comedy figure for the podcast…but this song and this video with him all over it is just not working. It’s horrible and from now until the next time they revamp the menu screen I’ll have to deal with this…yikes… I skipped Sabian and El Pantera…sorry, not interested in seeing Sabian wrestle really ever again… Player Uno’s pause button continue to be a worry for the guy…but future shows would have him and his partner Stupified become more proactive in dealing with it…Donst comes out with Ultramantis here and is still unsure about acting rudo, like UMB suggests, but…he is becoming more and more comfortable with it. The undercard highlight is the atomicos (8-man) match with Quack’s team against the Fabulous Four…what a quadrant those guys are…its fantastic fabulous entertainment whenever Ryder, Hawke, Sweeney and Ellis are interacting either on promos or in the ring…Bull Pain and Vin Gerard are involved in another heavy angle here against The Colony and they get some massive heat for it. A fantastic post match promo outside helps to sell their roles as guys who don’t care about what they do to the CHIKARA faithful so long as they get to cause some pain and chaos…F.I.S.T. continue to be a dangerous presence in the tag division and here they finally get their rematch against the Incoherence at full strength (Incoherence won the belts with Chuck Taylor replacing the injured Gran Akuma). I have to say that I don’t like Incoherence’s tandem super fisherman buster as their finish…it looks too risky, and is too clumsily set up. That said, the tag match is very well done, has lots of heat and the believability that the straps could change hands.

**CHIKARA Grit & Glory (Castagnoli, Sonjay Dutt & Pantera / Quackenbush, Jorge Rivera & Turbo, Campeones de Parejas: Incoherence / Osirian Portal, Storm / Kingston, Vin Gerard/ Lince Dorado, Colony / Fabulous Three, Hydra & Tim Donst / Super Smash Brothers, Gran Akuma / PSYCHO, Daizee Haze & Chuck Taylor / Sara Del Ray & Bobby Dempsey) (NEW ADDITION) High Recommendation
Why You Should Buy In: This is one of the best CHIKARA DVDs of the year with fantastic match upon fantastic match. It really feels like everyone is trying to upstage everyone else and steal the show. In addition, it’s the finales of the Rey de Voladores tournament, so if you want to see who wins but don’t want to buy two DVDs (the preliminary round is found on Café Culture), then this is the one to get. Incoherence deliver a fantastic defense against The Osirian Portal, Shane Storm and Eddie Kingston has a massively violent reprise of their match from back in January. Oh and did I neglect to mention…Sara Del Rey AND Bobby Dempsey! As a team! BUY THIS DVD!
Promo of the DVD: Eddie Kingston had just come back from a lengthy absence in pro wrestling, and to hear him cut this kind of promo filled with hatred and darkness and pain is absolutely mind blowing. It compares to Cactus Jack’s anti-hardcore promos insofar as it makes it point in the most disturbing ways, ones that touch upon and go against your inner human nature. It’s a must-see promo if there ever was one.
Positives and Negatives: Kingston and Storm beat the hell out of each other in their match and I could probably watch them go at it for the rest of the year. Kingston seems to bring the best out of Storm and it would be interesting to see where he fits in now that Storm has been revealed as the wrestler who sold out the CHIKARA special to the rudos. Would he support Storm now or continue to fight against him, just for the hell of it? The Portal entertain in their tag title match, dancing like fools and spending too much time not fighting Delirious and Hallowicked, which proves to be their undoing. It’s a good and logical progression considering they are just a rookie team and it was their first really big match…they just weren’t “ready” for it, which leads to the experienced team taking the win…Meanwhile, Larry Sweeney and Mitch Ryder start to become on the outs thanks to their loss on this show, with Shayne Hawke being awesome in his role as suck up to Ryder and instigator of placing the blame on Sweeney. A face turn for Sweeney at this point of his career? Well, it could work in CHIKARA…Castagnoli and Quackenbush renew acquaintances as part of a six man tag that also features Sonjay Dutt in a guest appearance for the company. Dutt doesn’t play his Guru character but definitely heels it up and provides some good cohesion in teamwork for his group. Turbo is Jorge Rivera’s apprentice and is small and okayish, but not as impressive as some of the American masked luchadors on the card…Brodie Lee gains back some steam by absolutely pasting ROH’s Pelle Primeau. It ain’t pretty, but it is fun. Speaking of fun, Hydra and Donst together as a team is pretty awesome…while Hydra is getting lectured by Ultamantis, Donst seems to becoming more and more a fan of him and cheerleads him on. Meanwhile Donst’s transformation into EVIL dONST is complete here. The half face paint is awesome and fits what they’re going for with his gimmick here… Helios and Incognito try to live up to their last match billing, but the crowd is quiet and doesn’t rally behind them, even though the in ring action is (mostly) solid enough. I think if the match had gone on earlier they would have been more receptive to it…Akuma fights Japanese import PSYCHO, who is a student under TAKA Michinoku…while he might seem to be “every Japanese junior”, this guy has definitely got some moves and he impresses the Philly crowd in this match, which is saying a lot. I liked the flying and the attitude he has and wouldn’t mind seeing more of him in the future.

**CHIKARA AniversarioMA (Atomicos Increibles: Mike Quackenbush, Cheech, Stupified & Worker Ant / Cloudy, Player Uno, Soldier Ant & Shane Storm, Brodie Lee, Mitch Ryder & Shayne Hawke / Incoherence & Claudio Castagnoli, Chuck Taylor & Gran Akuma / Turbo & Lince Dorado, El Pantera vs. Jorge Rivera , Osirian Portal / 2.0) (NEW ADDITION) Medium Recommendation
Why You Should Buy In: The first half of the sixth anniversary focus more on the comedy and on introducing the audience to what CHIKARA is all about. Granted, some of it is pure set up for the next night’s action in Connecticut, but there are several matches worth watching here, including the opener with Osirian Portal, the Atomics match which is absolutely off the charts awesome and the main event featuring Claudio Castagnoli in a Delirious mask and doing mirror image comedy against Brodie Lee and the Fabulous Two.
Match of the DVD: The Atomicos Increibles match splits four established tag teams and puts them against each other. It’s the highlight of the show and a match that foreshadows some of the current storyline (Storm and Quack compete against each other, Player Uno and Stupified as of late seem to have frequent miscommunication). Uno’s use of a hadoken here against his own partner is awesome (“no use of super powers!” Stupified complains) as is seeing Cheech and Cloudy go at it without remorse (Cheech’s pre match promo where he states he’s wanted to tear into Cloudy is a nice touch). The combinations of tag moves and pile ups increase and get more elaborate as the match goes on. It gets a bit sloppy towards the end but I’m actually surprised the match didn’t totally falls apart due to everyone being split apart. All the teams celebrate at the end of the match and its well deserved…although one team won the match, the effort put on by all eight needed to be recognized.
Positives and Negatives: The show takes place in a new venue for the promotion, as this is their Massachusetts debut. As such, the layout of the venue is different and you get slightly different camera angles, but this doesn’t negatively impact the show all that much. You also get to hear the audience and the wrestlers a lot more, and the off the cuff remarks they make are hysterical and add onto the entertainment value of watching the show… There’s a bit of a lack of dives in the first half of the card, but that’s two-fold. I think they were saving them for later in the show, but also because of the immediate proximity of the fans in attendance. Now, that’s not unusual for CHIKARA shows, but in this case, there were a surprising amount of older people in attendance, specifically in the front row. To see the wrestlers jump right next to the senior citizens and their attempts to get away from the action is certainly a bit surreal. Is this what our young indie wrestling fan’s future might look like? Chuck Taylor and Akuma teaming up is a highlight of the show…they work together very well. Taylor is an excellent foil for Lince Dorado and it’s a shame they haven’t crossed paths more since their encounter at 2007’s Rey de Voladores finals. Dorado and Turbo work well together.

**CHIKARA AniversarioCT (Osirian Portal / Shane Storm & Mike Quackenbush, Super Smash Bros. / Cheech & Cloudy, Hydra & Tim Donst / Los Ice Creams, F.I.S.T. / The Colony, Brodie Lee / Claudio Castagnoli) (NEW ADDITION) High Recommendation
Why You Should Buy In: CHIKARA’s return to Connecticut doesn’t disappoint. The show begins with Quack & Storm vs. Osirian Portal in a fifteen minute sprint that gets the crowd into a frenzy. It ends with Claudi and Brodie Lee II, with both men again going at it in a fight with a big time feel. In between we get some really good matches that highlight the feel and appeal of CHIKARA.
Match of the DVD: Amazingly enough, I’d have to give it to the opener. Storm & Quack really took the match as a statement for what CHIKARA is about and applied it into the match. So you get good comedy, fast paced action and lucha high flying and a fantastic finish with Quack breaking out the QD3 for the first time in a long time.
Positives and Negatives: Claudio flies out with a massive tope onto Brodie Lee in their match…I was super impressed with these two mixing it up in this match, with Lee using a ton of power moves he hasn’t shown in CHIKARA and looking every bit like he could take this match. Bryce getting destroyed by a Lee boot looked brutal and was sold so well. It also leads to the second unclean finish of their series, necessitating a no-DQ match between the two. Logical booking, if a bit of a downer for the end of the night….two technicos pair off when Cheech & Cloudy fight the Super Smash Brothers. Uno uses more Street Fighter II related offense and it actually works believably within the match. Unfortunately, the mushroom stomp leads to his team’s downfall, but he should have know that would happen when you’re dealing with Up In Smoke…The Colony have one of their finest outings as a trio when they take on F.I.S.T. Excellent tag team moves and use of their character’s gimmick, especially when Solider Ant commands Icarus (or Taylor? I forget) drop and give him twenty (In ant speak)…and he does it! Then there is the moment of the night that pops the whole building, when one of the ants takes the invisible grenade for the team. MASSIVE pop for an invisible prop…that’s just CHIKARA for ya…Los Ice Creams are awesome with their rudo shenanigans and teasing against Hydra and Donst, who are great as the lovable babyface team, although they have their fair share of tricks to pull against the Gelatinous Duo….we continue to get progression with the Gerard “outcast” angle…as he seems to be recruiting others who might feel the same way as he about how CHIKARA has abused or misled them. This time around, Jimmy Olsen learned the truth about what happened to Collin…and the truth hurts. Intriguing stuff for future editions of their DVDs.

While I was planning on doing this large feature on CHIKARA this week, as luck would have it, I received an email from reader slashandburn926, who also added several other DVDs to the Independent Buy In list. As always, if readers have suggestions, I’ll take them and add them onto the list. BONUS points here for use of the IBI formatting:

**FIP Cage of Pain II (Cage of Pain II, Roderick Strong/Larry Sweeney, Delirious & Hallowicked & Jigsaw/BxB Hulk & YAMATO & Jack Evans, Erick Stevens/Necro Butcher) (NEW ADDITION) High Recommendation
Hailed as one of FIP’s best shows ever, this is a real supercard. You have a great war games style Cage of Pain main event pitting The Heartbreak Express and Black Market against the YRR (Chasyn Rance, Sal Rinauro, Jason Blade, & Kenny King), a great Dragon Gate Style 6-man tag pitting Incoherencesaw (Delirious, Hallowicked, & Jigsaw) against Jack Evans, BxB Hulk (in his 2nd USA appearance), and YAMATO, a great brawl with Erick Stevens vs. Necro Butcher, and in my opinion, Larry Sweeney’s best match against Roderick Strong. Buy this show

**FIP Redefined (Erick Stevens/Roderick Strong in their best encounter in FIP or ROH, Austin Aries/Davey Richards, Nigel McGuinness/Necro Butcher, Shawn Murphey/Heartbreak Express, Sal Rinauro/Tyler Black) (NEW ADDITION) High Recommendation
This show was the restart after the promoter, Sal’s, wife passed and it was a show to remember. Erick Stevens defends the FIP World Heavyweight Title against Roderick Strong in one of the best matches I have seen all year. You also have Davey Richards take on Austin Aries in a great contest, as well as Nigel McGuinness vs. Necro Butcher (which I prefer in comparison to their weak PWG encounter.) You also get Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens from ROH’s Final Battle 2007. For the main event alone, buy this show. This is a great place to start to keep up with FIP angles.

**CZW Deja Vu 3 (No Rope Barbed Wire Match: JC Bailey/Necro Butcher, El Generico/Super Dragon, B-Boy/Nate Webb, Ruckus & Mike Quackenbush/Kings of Wrestling) (NEW ADDITION) High Recommendation
This is a kind of random nomination on my part, but I have been getting back into CZW recently (having attended my first show of theirs on Saturday to see Drake win the belt) and this is one of my favorite shows of theirs ever. If you want to see some of the stars of ROH at some of their best work before getting called up, look no further than here. You have a great Loser Leaves Town match between B-Boy and “Spyder” Nate Webb where the two just tear each other apart, Super Dragon and El Generico blow the roof off in one of my favorite matches in the company, Mike Quackenbush and Ruckus end up taking on the Kings of Wrestling, and you have a brutal no-rope barbed wire match between JC Bailey and Necro Butcher. If you want to see how good CZW can really be (especially at a non-Best of the Best or Cage of Death show) look no further than here.

2008

**CHIKARA “Cibernetico & Robin” (Torneo Cibernetico: Kings of Wrestling vs. Dorado’s Luchadores, The Olsen Twins / Cheech & Cloudy, Quackenbush / Donst, The Colony / BLK OUT ) High Recommendation
**CHIKARA “Brusied” (Kingston / Donst, Campeones de Parejas: F.I.S.T. vs. Incoherence / Castagnoli / Taylor, The Colony / Brodie Lee & Olsen Twins, Cheech & Cloudy / Osirian Portal ) High Recommendation
**Pro Wrestling NOAH “Special Budokan Double Shot”7/15 & 9/9/07 (Determination League Semi Finals & Finals, NTV Cup Finals)High Recommendation
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 1 (Castagnoli / Williams, Evans / Pac, Black / Shelley, Aries / Strong, PWG Tag Titles: Generico & Steen / Dragon Kid & Susumu Yokosuka)Medium Recommendation
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 2 (CIMA / Tornado, Steen / Butcher, McGuinness / Richards, Kid / Yokosuka) Low Recommendation
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 3 (the entire show) High Recommendation
**Shimmer Volume 11 (Sarah Stock / MsChif, Sarah Stock / Cheerleader Melissa, Sara Del Rey / Cindy Rogers, Nikki Roxx / Lacey, Daizee Haze / Malia Hosaka, Allison Danger / Hosaka)High Recommendation
**SHIMMER Volume 12 (Del Rey / Lacey, Del Rey / Sarah Stock, Haze / Lacey, Portuguese Princess Ariel / Josie / Nikki Roxx / Portia Perez, Melissa & MsChif / Lexie Fyfe & Hosaka)High Recommendation
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 13 (Melissa / Portuguese Princess Ariel, “Dark Angel” Sarah Stock / Daizee Haze, Portia Perez / MsChif, Del Rey & Roxx vs. Rain & Lacey, O’Neal vs. Melissa) Medium Recommendation
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 14 (SHIMMER Title: Del Rey / Lacey, Nikki Roxx / Amazing Kong, Two out of Three falls: Allison Danger / Cindy Rogers, Portuguese Princess Ariel / Amber O’Neal) Medium Recommendation
**CHIKARA The Battle of Who Could Care Less (Incoherence & Tim Donst / BLK OUT, Claudio Castagnoli & Equinox / Hero & Hawke, Lince Dorado & Pantera / Olsen Twins, Quackenbush & The Colony / F.I.S.T. / Osirian Portal) High Recommendation
**CHIKARA The Sordid Perils of Everyday Existence (Campeones de Parejas: Incoherence / Cheech & Cloudy, Lucha de Apresta: Chris Hero / Equinox, F.I.S.T., Ellis, Ryder / Quack / Donst / Super Smash Bros.) Medium Recommendation
**CHIKARA Chapter 11 (Hallowicked / Kingston, Colony / Super Smash Brothers & Shane Storm, Tex-Arkana Title Match: Alvarez / Sweeney, Quack, Trik Davis & Helios / Shayne Hawke & The Osirian Portal, MIYAWAKI, Hasegawa & Pantera / Cheech & Cloudy & Delirious) High Recommendation
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 15 (SHIMMER Title: Sara Del Rey / Amazing Kong, Daizee Haze / Sara Stock, Cheerleader Melissa / Alexa Thatcher, Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew / Ariel & Josie, Sereena Deeb / Jetta) High Recommendation
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 16 (SHIMMER Title Two Out of Three Falls: Sara Del Rey / Sara Stock, Amazing Kong / Cheerleader Melissa, Daizee Haze MsChif & Eden Black / Lacey, Rain & Jetta, Portia Perez & Nicole Matthews / Ariel & Josie, Sereena Deeb / Jetta) High Recommendation
**CHIKARA Two Eyebrows Are Better Than One (Castagnoli, Lince Dorado & Ophidian / Quackenbush, Donst & Amasis, Kingston / Storm, Colony / F.I.S.T., Moravian Greyhound / Zombie Plantain / Hydra)Medium Recommendation
**CHIKARA King of Trios Night One (Colony / Go, Nakazawam Shimizu, Osirian Portal & Mecha Mummy / Quackenbush, Storm & Skayde, Cheech & Cloudy & M.C. KZ / Quackenbush, Storm & Skayde, Delirious, Hallowicked & Helios / The Cartel) High Recommendation
**CHIKARA King of Trios Night Two (Player Uno, Stupified & El Generico / Cannon & North Star Express, Lince, Pantera & Incognito / Los Ice Creams & Glacier, Sweet & Sour Inc. / F.I.S.T. & Taylor, Donst, Gulak & Sumner / Fabulous Three / ) Medium Recommendation
**CHIKARA King of Trios Night Three (KOT Quarter, Semi Finals & Finals, Tag Team Gauntlet) High Recommendation

This section needs your help! If you want to recommend some good independent wrestling to your fellow internet readers out there, drop me a line for the column.

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 07/19/2008

ROH World Champion—Nigel McGuinness (champion since 10/06/07, 20 successful defenses)
–defeated Takeshi Morishima in Edison, New Jersey to win the championship.

Next Defenses::
a. vs. Kevin Steen, Toronto, ONT, CN, 07/25/08
b. winner vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Detroit, MI, 07/26/08

V.1 defeated Jay Briscoe, wristlock submission (10/21/07 San Francisco, CA)
V.2 defeated Chris Hero, wristlock submission (11/02/07 Philadelphia, PA)
V.3 defeated Austin Aries, Jawbreaker Lariat (12/29/07 Manhattan, NY)
V.4 defeated Go Shiozaki, London Dungeon (wristlock submission) (01/20/08 Tokyo, Japan,)
V.5 Steel Cage Match: defeated Chris Hero (01/25/08, Dayton, OH)
V.6 defeated Roderick Strong, Jawbreaker Lariat (01/26/08, Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.7 defeated Bryan Danielson, London Dungeon (02/23/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.8 defeated Tyler Black, London Dungeon (03/16/08, Philadelphia, PA)
V.9 defeated Larry Sweeney, Jawbreaker Lariat (03/22/08 Crystal River, FL)
V.10 defeated Austin Aries, Jawbreaker Lariat (03/29/08 Orlando, FL)
V.11 defeated Erick Stevens, London Dungeon (04/11/08 Boston, MA)
V.12 defeated Kevin Steen, roll up holding the ropes (04/12/08 Edison, NJ)
V.13 defeated Kevin Steen, Jawbreaker Lariat (04/19/08 Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.14 defeated Claudio Castagnoli, London Dungeon, (05/10/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.15 defeated KENTA and BJ Whitmer, Jawbreaker Lariat to Whitmer (05/15/08, Tokyo, Japan)
V.16 defeated Go Shiozaki, London Dungeon (06/07/08, Philadelphia, PA)
V.17 defeated Vic Viper, London Dungeon (06/14/08, Tallaght, Ireland)
V.19 defeated Keith Myatt and Lionheart, (06/20/08, Doncaster, U.K.)
V.20 (title for title) defeated NWA Champion Adam Pearce, Jawbreaker Lariat (06/27/08, Dayton, OH)
*match later reversed via DQ, both men keep their respective titles.

**

ROH World Tag Team Champions—The Age of the Fall (champions since 06/06/08, NEW Champions)
–won an eight man, single elimination tournament on June 6th in Hartford, CT to determine new champions

Next Defense:vs. Go Shiozaki & Naomichi Marufuji, Manassas, VA, 08/01/08

V.1 defeated Austin Aries & Bryan Danielson (06/07/08, Philadelphia, PA)

**

Sweet & Sour Incorporated Presents The Intergender Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Of The World—Chris Hero & Sara Del Rey (champions since 01/12/08, 2 successful defenses)
Belt Re-recognized in this column as of 06/07/08 as both Hero & Del Rey are bringing them to ROH events.

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

**

FIP Heavyweight Champion: Roderick Strong (since 02/16/2008)
-defeated Erick Stevens via count out to win the title (FIP title can change hands on count out)
SHIMMER Champion: MsChif (since 4/26/2008)
-defeated Sara Del Ray via pinfall with the Descrator DDT to win the title
Top of the Class Trophy (for ROH Students): Rhett “Addicted to Love” Titus (since 06/07/2008)
-defeated Ernie Osiris via pinfall to win the trophy.

**

Top Feuds & Pairings:
-Bryan Danielson’s road to an ROH World Title Shot
-Nigel McGuinness defends the belt against top contenders
-Kevin Steen & Claudio Castagnoli receive title shots
-ROH and the NWA Heavyweight Title
-Austin Aries / Jimmy Jacobs
-Austin Aries attempts to convince Necro Butcher to leave Age of the Fall / Is Jimmy Jacobs afraid of Necro?
-The Age of the Fall vs. The Briscoes
-Sweet & Sour Inc. “Corporate Takeover”
-Brent Albright vs. Sweet & Sour Inc.
-Roderick Strong wants payback on Sweet & Sour Inc. for Richards’ betrayal of the NRC

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

Castagnoli title shot headlines Detroit PPV

ROH is gearing up for PPV in Detroit!!! The card will feature the rematch of the acclaimed main event from “A New Level” as Claudio Castagnoli gets another shot at ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness.

Well, its either McGuinness or Steen, whoever wins the match in Toronto. Castagnoli’s win against Bryan Danielson in Chicago all but guaranteed a title shot in the future, so we have confirmation now that this will be the title match for the eighth PPV. It’s a good move, as that’s not only a very sellable title match for PPV its also a believable moment where the ROH World Title will change hands, with or without the Danielson vs. McGuinness storyline going forward. While McGuinness has never let up his subtle insults to Danielson in matches and his not so subtle “clam-digger” moniker in promos, Claudio has been as much a presence as a possible title holder as Danielson or even Kevin Steen. The title match does seem to make the title match in Canada more perfunctory than before, but hopefully both Steen and McGuinness will make a good enough go of it to convince the fans that the title could change hands in the match, even if its does not end up happening.

X gets the Block

The Age Of The Fall keeps putting obstacles up to keep Kevin Steen & El Generico from earning a ROH World Tag Team Title Match. Last time in Chicago, Necro Butcher & Tyler Black put the block on Steen & Generico. August 16th will see a rematch of sorts as El Generico will face ROH World Tag Team Champion Tyler Black in singles competition. Could this be the victory that finally leads to a title shot for Generico & Steen?

I like the idea of Steen & Generico having a “block” on them by losing to Black & Necro, although technically they did end up even up with Age of the Fall that weekend…Jacobs seems to be conveniently forgetting that Steen & Generico beat HIM in Dayton in a tag match. Now Steen & Generico have to rebuild their way to a tag title shot…it stretches out their route to the title, which may end up going through Montreal on November 7th. I could see that date being a great time for Steen & Generico to win the titles, because of the home country rule, but also because its jussst in time for Steen’s self imposed deadline of November 21st to win a title in ROH. There are a ton of shows in between then and now, so the progression would have to be intricately booked. We shall see, as always, how things shape up.

Strong Forces

ROH will make its long awaited return to Cleveland on 8/15. A Tag Team Grudge Match has been signed as Roderick Strong & Brent Albright join forces to take on Go Shiozaki & Chris Hero of Sweet & Sour Inc. with Larry Sweeney!!!

Not too much to add to this news, but it is another solid mid card tag match to add to the show.

The Jig is Up

Jigsaw is off the 7/25 & 26 shows with a rib injury. He will return to action on 8/1 & 8/2.

Best recovery to the Jiggaman. And I do like “Jigga” as a nickname for Jigsaw…good addition to his personality.

Omega Factor

Kenny Omega has been earning a big buzz lately. He will get his shot in ROH when he makes his debut on 7/25 in Toronto and 7/26 in Detroit. Omega has a tough test as his very first match. Just signed for Toronto on 7/25 is Omega vs. Delirious!!!

I haven’t seen much of Omega but the ROH wire is right in that he does come in with some buzz. I guess I’ll see how he does there before taking any opinion on him.

ROH Home Theatre Station

You can now watch for FREE the Davey Richards vs. Dingo match from the “Take No Prisoners” taping. Check it out at www.ROHvideos.com as well as the latest ROH Video Wire with a wild ending.

I enjoyed the Richards-Dingo match and its certainly one of the better talent enhancement matches they usually put up there so check it out.

Jimmy Jacobs’ latest video comments:

ROH Reading Library

ROH has two really good write ups on their main page write now exploring the two upcoming title contenders for next week. Kevin Steen is featured in an article, writing in his own words about what it would mean to become ROH World Champion. Meanwhile, Claudio Castagnoli is interviewed and gives his thoughts on how he needs to win the ROH World Title or else in Detroit. Both are really good additions to the storylines and it certainly means something is at risk in both matches, whether it is a title change or a change in direction for one of these wrestlers.

It’s been two weeks since the last Fave 5 I wrote and in that time a heck of a lot has happened. I’ve watched a ton of wrestling in between then and now, both on television and through DVDs and that means I have five new favorites to talk about for this week!

1. Kane: Crazy Kane is a guilty pleasure, because it’s so over the top and preposterous that you can’t help but be entertained by what he does. He IS a horror movie come to life. WWE crew running away from him, wacky apologies to the announcers, the feeling he could snap at any time and rampage on everyone…ah good times with the Big Red Machine.
2. Edge: Quite frankly, the perfect heel for the 21st century WWE program. A slimeball, a cretin who is unremorseful about his actions but quick to blame everyone else for everything going wrong. As we’ve seen as well, he is a master manipulator who takes advantage of every and any opportunity set before him.
3. John Cena: His serious promo from this past Monday is what I would like to see him do more in the future. I like these kinds of narratives about how the face is going to smash in the forces of evil, and it’s much better than writing poop jokes on the side of a limo. Also, the man survived being squished by a car! THAT is something to talk about!
4. Evan Bourne: Matt Sydal is succeeding in WWE, which I find inspirational. A match and a win against Chavo Guerrero is no small potatoes, and he looked impressive and kept up every bit with a mainstay of junior / cruiserweight wrestling. There is a lot that can be done with his so called “hokey” character, just because it’s so different from everything currently seen on their TV.
5. Mickie James and Kelley Kelly: If you watched, WWE Raw this past week, then this goes without saying.

Honorarium

Thoughts on: A New Level

-The opening of the DVD is a clever concept, with the camera acting as a “fan” and walking into the building and taking a seat in the Hammerstein Ballroom. Then the footage fades into a full and packed house and the start of the show. There are a few new camera tricks used during the shoot that really help to gel the video presentation. I think the large size of the building helped in a way in that it created new and fresh angles and distances to film the wrestling. It certainly helps bring an urgency and immediacy to what’s going on during the show. Even the lighting and staging is different; there is no stage and steel ramp, just a curtain the wrestlers walk through. The lighting that would normally be on the stage is now in the ring, and that also creates a different impression of the ringside area and the lighting around it.

-Prazak announces that there will be no cuts to interviews or vignettes and that we’re going to be shown the events of the night from beginning to end without interruption. They do this from time to time when angle advancement through those measures isn’t necessary and it usually turns out pretty well. It also makes me feel better about having to miss the show in the first place. Now I’ll get to experience the show as close as possible to those attending the show live.

-The opening match sees Roderick Strong, Erick Stevens and Go Shiozaki chop each other to hell. Normally each one of these guys is responsible for some of the hardest chops of whatever match they’re in but it seems like they went in with the idea that they were just going to chop each other the hardest they’ve ever chopped before. I outright cringed multiple times when watching the action unfold in my house. This was a fun match to watch if you’re into guys just chopping the hell out of each other and vice versa. Also look for 411 alumni Nick Marsico getting this close to being chopped by both Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens when they are fighting on the outside. I wonder what that must have felt like, being that close to that kind of action?

-Steen & Generico vs. the NRC keeps the momentum of the show going with some fantastic tag team work. I’m in full belief that these two are (or in the case of NRC, were) at or near the peak of their abilities to provide a terrific tag match such as this one. It was fats paced, filled with action, but also filled with personality, as Steen makes sure to rub it into NRC whenever they are down. The tag combinations at the end of the match, their double splash-swanton combination and the package piledriver-brainbuster, as worth the price of admission to see. These are moves which require great timing to look good and they pull them off flawlessly every time.

-Albright was the star of the triple threat tag match. His unexpected flight off the top rope onto the dog pile made everyone mark out, even those on Sweet & Sour Incorporated watching the action at ringside. His face turn was awesome…just seeing him do the “Goldberg” routine of destroying everyone and clearing the ring is hellafun. He about killed Hagadorn when he landed headfirst through a table. The camera caught every bit of that. The crowd’s reaction, to immediately accept Albright as a face, was worth the slow build that they were doing for this angle. It could have easily fizzled out, but they got it to work. NYC has always had a soft spot for Albright too.

-Marufuji and Danielson was a terrific back and forth wrestling encounter and excellent way to close out the first half of the show. It was one of those “chess matches” as Larry Zybsko would like to say, with both men trying to effect their game plan and finally Danielson’s Cattle Mutilation winning out.

-You can kind of see the pattern that ROH is going for here by showing the NYC crowd (and potentially quite a few first time attendees) what ROH offers. The hard hitting action of the first match, fast and furious tag matches and of course the main event of the first half focused on the wrestling and competitive action. The pattern would repeat in the second half of the show, just with more of a “hardcore” style action in the Morishima-Butcher match and the Age of the Fall vs. Aries & Briscoe tag match. It was like “ECW style” was once again finding its way to the Hammerstein, this time through the form of ROH.

-I finally got to see Necro Butcher come out to “I Won’t Back Down” and it was just as cool as I envisioned it in my head. If Necro ever turns face, it will only compound the kind of Catcus Jack-like endearment the crowd already has for him. A lot of reactions for reviews of this show have this as a disappointment, but I enjoyed the match as just a fight between these two tough men. The backdrop driver from the second onto a chair was a mighty big risk for Necro, but then again, he makes his living off of those kinds of mighty big risks.

-I see Age of the Fall vs. Jay Briscoe and Austin Aries as one of those matches that if ROH had a television show, you could put this on there and it would become one of the more talked about moments of the wrestling week. It was a perfect segment within itself, while not the best tag match of the year, it certainly was worth putting together and holds up as the semi-main event of the show. Whether or not it needed to be a tag title match or whether Age of the Fall should have won the titles here can still be up for debate among the ROH fandom.

I do like that Aries was taken out of the fight early on and had to keep crawling back up to make it in and contribute. The table spot with both he and Jacobs is nasty and garners an amazing reaction from a crowd that’s already seen a lot of amazing stuff that night. It showed both Aries’ resilience (pun intended) and Jay Briscoe’s toughness by having to stick it out even though he was often isolated. He made up for it with his brawling and use of weapons. Mark Briscoe continues to prove he is loco de cabesa by attempting (and successfully accomplishing!) the one armed springboard doomsday device. That is a moment to remember, because not only was that high degree of difficulty, but it led directly to the finish of the match.

-Claudio Castagnoli vs. Nigel McGuinness had a lot to live up to and I think the match was a victim of the crowd having seen too much before it and not having enough in them to see a more technical based wrestling match. It took a while for both men to get the match out of first gear and I think they should have called the audible and gone for a shorter match if that’s what it took to get the crowd behind them. You get a lot of white noise instead, gradually leading into more and more people getting into the match. The ending, with Claudio almost winning with the Ricola Bomb, wakes everyone up, but then Nigel wins with the London Dungeon and the match and the show is over. A bit of a disappointment, especially since both men have done so well against other opponents in 2008.

Still, as a whole, this show ranks as one of the best ROH shows of the year, with a plethora of fantastic matches, moments and a great crowd in NYC feeding off the energy of ROH’s first show in the big building of the Manhattan Center.

Then, ROH finally, FINALLY takes a tactic from the Smart Mark Video people and does end of show replays for some of the finer moments of the show. This idea has been a long time in coming, but I hope they don’t stop here and continue to use replays at the end of shows for all upcoming DVD releases.

ROH Preview: ROH in Toronto, Canada, July 25th, 2008

Ted Reeve Arena
8:00pm belltime
175 Main Street
Toronto, Ontario M4E 2W2

ROH World Title Match
Nigel McGuinness defends vs. Kevin Steen

This is Steen’s third chance at the title and arguable one of his best opportunities to seize the gold. Despite the fact that there is a PPV taping the next night, a win here is not out of the question, because its both logical in that it would be a hometown win and there is precedent in PPVs having new champions from show to show. It’s just this has happened in the tag division and has not yet happened with the ROH World Title. If Steen loses here in another unclean decision, it could piss off the fans of Canada who are in attendance for their first show ever. It would likely also lead to Steen snapping and going out of control again, thus making him even more of a rebel figure than ever before. A clean loss could take him out of the ROH World Title picture for a while and allow him to focus on the tag division. So this match has a ton of implications for the future direction of Steen and the ROH World Title.

No Disqualification Tag Team Match
Austin Aries & Jay Briscoe vs. ROH World Tag Team Champions Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black

A rematch from A New Level. I already discussed that one at length above, so the question is, what to do about this match? These men obviously have to take the violence up to a new level (pun intended, again) and with a No DQ stip they likely will be able to do that. The Age of the Fall have their grudges against both men, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see an angle go down here after the match where they take out Aries and Briscoe through some gruesome mechanism or other. I’m not sure Jacobs wants to defeat Aries in the ring so much as he wants to cause him pain. This is a major opportunity for him to do so.

Rematch From “Vendetta II”
Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli

I don’t like that Castagnoli has to fight Danielson just a few weeks after he defeated him cleanly. It’s the night before his title match, so this is very stiff competition in the first place. In the second, it’s hard to imagine that Danielson is going to lose twice to Castagnoli, from either a kayfabe or a non-kayfabe perspective. Danielson has been losing left and right, which means the rumors of his departure to WWE are true OR this is a losing streak storyline that is going to lead Danielson into another direction, although what that is I can’t see.

First Time Ever Match
FIP World Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong vs. Naomichi Marufuji

These two team up the next night, so this is more of a “competitive” match centered around who is the better wrestler than any grudge centered contest. Strong will be a babyface here and so will Marufuji. Look for lots of big strikes and roll up sequences between the two, and maybe a Sweet & Sour Inc. run in before the night is through.

Special Challenge Match
Erick Stevens vs. Go Shiozaki

Go Shiozaki sold out rather suddenly to Sweet & Sour Inc. This match will let the fans see if this changed his in-ring demeanor any. It would certainly be a bit surreal if Go uses heel tactics, but not out of the question. Stevens meanwhile will have to use his power and his ability to come back from punishment in order to take out someone who has very complimentary skill levels as he.

Singles Action
Delirious vs. Kenny Omega

Kenny Omega comes in with some positive buzz from those who have seen him in JAPW and elsewhere. Delirious will give him a good test to see where he fits in with the ROH roster.

Also signed: Special guest Lance Storm; Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney; Ruckus; Necro Butcher; plus more!!!

Going Home

Honor System: following what’s naughty and what’s not in ROH:

Honorable
|
issuing self-ultimatums in order to pump oneself up for winning a title.
|
offering the ROH Toolbar for Firefox
|
Cousin Luke Williams being Cousin Luke Williams in interviewing the ROH wrestlers.

|
Adam Pearce’s podcast of dishonor…I’m the NWA champion, respect me, blah, blah bloop, bloop…
|
Jimmy Jacob’s audio blog…emo wine, moan, ooooooooo my life sucks…
|
no Delirious blog / podcast available.

|
Dishonorable

Get With the pROHgram:

July 26th, 2008 –Detroit, MI ROH’s Eight PPV Taping: We now know the main event is the winner of McGuinness vs. Steen against Claudio Castagnoli, but where does Bryan Danielson fit in?

August 1st, 2008: “Respect is Earned II” PPV: The seventh PPV offering from Ring of Honor features McGuinness vs. Shiozaki for the ROH World Title and Age of the Fall vs. Danielson & Aries for the ROH World Tag Team Titles. From Philadelphia.

August 15th, 2008 – Cleveland, OH: Ring of Honor returns to Cleveland, looking for a new start in the area.

Ringtones

I remember reading an interview with Chuck Taylor a while back in which he stated that the guys over there (Talking about ROH) aren’t really fans of his, and that he doesn’t see himself working there.

That’s a damn shame, because behind all of Chuck’s antics, is a pretty good wrestler who keeps improving every time he gets in the ring.

Posted By: soulpower (Guest) on July 12, 2008 at 03:57 PM

Agreed…it is a damned shame and I’d love to have Taylor in ROH at any point and in whatever capacity. This also brings up an interesting point in that backstage politics in ROH is something we rarely here about…we don’t know who is “in” and who is “out” as often or with near the accuracy as we seem to learn about wrestlers in TNA and WWE. It’s a marvel how ROH has managed to keep the lid relatively tight on these sorts of issues. It seemingly has to come from the wrestler themselves to find out who ROH is or isn’t high on.

I completely agree with your condemnation of the Danielson/title situation and am totally frustrated with the lack of continuity or complications in continuity between ppv’s and dvd’s in general. I think the ppv’s have made the ROH storyline generally more confusing and difficult to follow. This one instance just totally crosses the line. Were Dragon’s recent losses to Stevens and Castagnoli part of Nigel’s gauntlet? They should have been. Again, I totally agree that this would have been a great storyline that’s all screwed up now. One way to get out of it wold be to pretend that the upcoming ppv, where Nigel presumably lays down the gauntlet, doesn’t hapen until after the August 2nd show. But I again, unnecessay complications.

Anyway, I have to disagree with your criticism of the Aries/Black booking. Aries specifically said to Necro that he doesn’t have a problem with him, because he wasn’t in the car when Jacobs assaulted Lacey. Tyler and Joey were, so Aries sees them as accessories to the crime and almost as worthy of punishment.

Posted By: Ben (Guest) on July 12, 2008 at 04:39 PM

I appreciate that you agree with me on the first point and I can understand you’re explanation of the Aries / Black booking. However, that it had to take an explanation from someone else to see how it fits in may be more a statement about ROH booking than anything else. Its not that it’s “bad” booking, far from it—it just used to be a whole lot more tight knit and cohesive than it is in 2008.

So who’s the one teaching the rudos the CHIKARA special??????

Posted By: Tony (Guest) on July 14, 2008 at 08:37 AM

As revealed on the recent Young Lions Cup show, it was Shane Storm who taught Ultramantis Black how to put on the CHIKARA special in order to learn from UMB the confidence necessary to win again. UMB taught it to the rest of the CHIKARA heels.

Hey Ari, have you managed to watch the new compilation DVDs that came out on the 8th yet? I forgot about them until reading COH just now.

On a completely different note, for some reason, I keep thinking Tyler Black would make a tremendous successor to the Sting gimmick (Crow Sting that is, at least if ROH wanted to restyle Sting into something of their own making.

Posted By: Bman (Guest) on July 12, 2008 at 04:46 PM

I have decided not to purchase the compilation DVDs because I have all the matches already and don’t need to be spending money right now on repeats. New commentary isn’t enough for me to justify my purchase of the product, but I certainly do recommend the compilations by KOCH that you’ll find in FYE and retailers to any new fans who don’t have these matches already.

Tyler Black with face paint would be interesting…it could give his look that extra oomph of creepiness and intrigue.

Also, thanks to all the readers who posted the compliments on making it three years. Its really appreciated! And hopefully Homewrecker will update us about his foray into ROH DVDs.

ROH @ 411

Chris Lansdell brings the Burning Hammer down on reviews for SHIMMER Volume 7 and ROH Breakout.

J.D. Dunn looks at FIP Unfinished Business 2008.

411’s Buy or Sell looks at Age of the Fall, Vin Gerard and more Independent wrestling topics.

Bayani discusses wrestling and porno. Well… its not ROH, but it’ll do.

We say goodbye to a true 411 warrior, a man after my own heart, Steve Cook, who’s last Ask 411 was this week. We’ll truly miss…wait..he’s NOT leaving 411? Dammit! Give me back Sara Del Rey!

Ah…good recall joke there.

The 411 Independent Draft 2008continues with the final six rounds. I’m participating and have already signed Dragon vs. Morishima and Sabu vs. Ultimate Warrior! Check out how the rest of the draft shook out.

I continue my limited return to the 411 Music Zone with this week’s iTune In. Be sure to click to be able to get to a Weezer live performance that CANNOT be missed.

Also, make sure you check out The 411 Podcast with Larry Csonka this week with me as special guest! We discuss this week’s Raw and ECW shows. We also talk a bit of ROH and SHIMMER, just because you we can’t help it!

That’s it for this time out… next time, results from Canada, a preview of the eighth PPV taping and more ROH commentary!

BROOKLYN! DA EM BAH SEE!
–Ari–