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Column of Honor: 11.12.11: Survival of the Fittest 2011 Tournament Preview Part Two
Welcome back to the Column, as I continue my Survival of the Fittest 2011 coverage, as well as looking at last week’s television tapings in Louisville and other ROH news.
If you didn’t read Part One of this week’s two-part preview, click on that link and start there, then come back here again for more.
Colt Cabana
2010 SOTF: Cabana had plenty of past tournament experience but did not have a great year as he was out in the first round thanks to Rhett Titus.
November 2011: Colt released “The Wrestling Road Diaries” documentary to much critical acclaim, and continued to hustle hard by working a whole bunch of North American independent promotions along with several recent extensive international tours of Europe and Japan. As for his ROH exploits, there was being there to witness his friend El Generico defeat bitter rival Kevin Steen and send him into exile at Final Battle 2010, a very good quality match against Davey Richards at Ninth Anniversary Show…and not too much else of significance. There were a few more matches teaming with El Generico here, a few mid-card matches there, but Cabana was slowly but surely becoming more sparsely used by the beginning of the new era in ROH under Sinclair ownership. ROH did not sign him to a contract and it seems like his tenure in the promotion is over for now, which likely makes his fans sad and his detractors happy. I for one will miss Cabanarama in ROH.
Claudio Castagnoli
2010 SOTF: The then-ROH World Tag Team Champion had a great deal of success in last year’s tournament, first qualifying over Grizzly Redwood and then eliminated three men in a row (Kevin Steen, Adam Cole and Rhett Titus) before being eliminated by Kenny King. Claudio has always been a strong challenge in these tournaments and last year it was almost his.
November 2011: The Kings of Wrestling dropped the ROH World Tag Team Titles to Haas and Benjamin back in April of this year and made their last appearance for the promotion during the SBG television tapings in August. Claudio signed with WWE and made his official reporting to their Florida Championship Wrestling developmental league just last month, using the moniker “Antonio Cesaro”. Rest assured though, he is still Very European.
Steve Corino
2010 SOTF: Corino’s first (and thus far only) Survival of the Fittest tournament ended due to a shocking upset by Adam Cole in the opening round.
November 2011: The “Trouble King” watched on as his then ally Kevin Steen was driven from the promotion. Steen’s insanity and what it resulted in and Corino’s own role in the whole downfall led Corino to question his actions. He began to understand that he was an evil person, but had wanted to change. 2011 has seemingly been his redemption road, though it has been far from a smooth one. Corino took on Jimmy Jacobs as his guru for recovery from his evil ways, but both have once again been caught up in Steen’s web of chaos when he resurfaced. Corino brought Steen back because he thought Steen also wanted to change, but instead he was given a package piledriver for his troubles. Now he is on a collision course with his former friend.
El Generico
2010 SOTF: Unfortunately, El Generico’s night ended early when he lost to Kenny King in the opening round.
November 2011: El Generico vanquished his rival Kevin Steen in an amazingly brutal yet fittingly violent end to their feud and in the process elevated his contendership status. He challenged for the ROH World Title in January 2011 and had a great contest against Roderick Strong, which led to a larger series of bouts over the first half of the year which concluded with Generico winning the rivalry in a cage match at No Escape this past July. El Generico also unseated Christopher Daniels for the ROH TV Title but lost in his first defense to current champion Jay Lethal. The rematch recently taped for television in December went to another draw, but Generico has a chance to win the ROH World Title once more next weekend at Glory By Honor X against Davey Richards.
Grizzly Redwood
2010 SOTF: The Grizz was the unfortunate victim of a demolishment at the hands of Claudio Castagnoli in a qualifying round match.
November 2011: Grizzly is still travelling that Corduroy Path to success in Ring of Honor…or at least trying to, anyway.
Chris Hero
2010 SOTF: The 2007 Survival of the Fittest champion had an early exit last year when he went out in the first round to eventual tournament winner Eddie Edwards (so perhaps there some comfort in that qualification). It was okay though-he was still one-half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions alongside Claudio Castagnoli.
November 2011: Chris Hero, like Claudio, has seemingly departed ROH and signed with WWE, but fans keep awaiting his debut in FCW anxiously and it doesn’t seem to be coming around any time soon. In the meantime, Hero kept busy by wrestling for Jeff Katz’s Wrestling Revolution Project, which will soon be distributed under a new, yet-to-be-announced name.
Kevin Steen
2010 SOTF: “Mr. Wrestling” taught Kyle O’Reilly a thing or too with some brutally punishment in the opening round, but was shockingly first eliminated in the finals, due to distraction from El Generico. Steen had attacked a fan in a Generico match earlier in the night, but he was especially livid after being taken out of the tournament.
November 2011: Kevin Steen has been wrestling all over the North American independents, most notably becoming Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Heavyweight Champion, only recently losing it to (three guesses) El Generico. Along the way, Steen has been making moves towards trying to get back into Ring of Honor, crashing the party in New York City both in June and September. He finally gets a chance to win his way back in to the promotion with a face-off against Steve Corino at Final Battle 2011.
Bell Time: 8 PM
Montgomery County Fairgrounds
1043 S. Main Street
Dayton, Ohio, 45409
Note: This event replaces the previously scheduled shows from May 20th and August 12th. All tickets being held from these shows will be honored on November 18th.
Non Tournament Action: Champions’ Challenge-ROH World Champion Davey Richards and World TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. World Tag Team Champions Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas)
Ring of Honor is packing a lot into this non-title, non-tournament match as all the Ring of Honor champions are involved. This may in fact be the first time Davey Richards and Jay Lethal have ever teamed up, but I’d expect good chemistry and no real playing up of any tensions whatsoever between the two, because there is no reason for it at all. Haas and Benjamin need to deliver a good match here, but they’ve usually done well when pitted against Richards whether it comes to tag or singles matches. Lethal mixing it up with Benjamin could be cool because both focus on agility and flowing from position-to-position. If all the wrestlers treat this like a main-event, then the fans will be getting a fantastic match, although what the match means as far as long term consequences remains to be seen. Generally speaking, when a champion is able to pin or submit another champion, he would receive a future title shot. So, maybe if Richards gets the win, he and Edwards go for the ROH World Tag Team Titles one last time before Final Battle 2011, or if Benjamin or Haas take it, one of them could contend for one of the singles titles at a future event.
Survival of the Fittest 2011 Qualifying Match-Rhett Titus vs. Roderick Strong with Truth Martini
This should be a great test to see how far Titus has come in two years-his in-ring work has improved but a lot of it also has to do with his comfort and confidence levels when in the ring. He just comes across far more smooth and assured, especially with King in tag matches. I’d also be interested to see how much he can get over playing the sympathetic face card, especially with Strong lacing into him and having to fight from underneath.
Survival of the Fittest 2011 Qualifying Match-Eddie Edwards vs. “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett
I’m not so sure what my expectations are for this one. ROH is billing it as a “Boston vs. Boston” showdown and you know what? I like that-it has some resonance. Reportedly, El Generico demonstrated last week in Collinsville that Mike Bennett can be carried to a good match and Edwards could certainly do the same. The reaction should Bennett go over a former ROH World Champion and someone as popular as Edwards will be very interesting.
Survival of the Fittest 2011 Tag Team Qualifying Match-Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. The Bravado Brothers
On paper, this doesn’t seem like it could be much other than a Briscoes dominated match, but apparently they gave a lot to Cedric Alexander and Caprice Coleman last week at the television tapings, so I can imagine them doing the same for The Bravados here. Harlem and Lancelot have been demonstrating they belong in ROH over the last few months (although definitely on the undercard and in a position to improve and work their way slowly up the ranks). The notable thing about this match is that it is a heel versus heel match, but I expect The Briscoes to garner the most appreciation and for The Bravados to be booed and catcalled. I wonder if Jay and Mark are going to be pushed back towards being a babyface team before too long.
Survival of the Fittest 2011 Four Corner Survival Qualifying Match-Kenny King vs. Michael Elgin vs. Adam Cole vs. Tommaso Ciampa
I definitely like this combination of men in the four-way match, as it provides a good sense of diversity a well as a very clear theme-speed and agility guys against power guys. I’d like for Kenny King to have some fun with this one and show some more personality, antagonizing the heels and using his swagger and style to lure them in. Elgin needs to run through people and kick ass. Cole will be in the underdog role but get some good spots to shine and perhaps one or two close calls where he almost wins. What Ciampa does here could be great or he could fall into the background amid three more colorful wrestlers. Hopefully Nana will work hard to help Ciampa stand out and then his offense will add to the match.
Survival of the Fittest 2011 Qualifying Match-Kyle O’Reilly vs. Andy “Right Leg” Ridge
Likely the squash match of the night, but I could also see Ridge being competitive in the beginning with some good technical wrestling exchanged with O’Reilly…and then being blown out of the water as the match progresses. Either way, it should be entertaining to see Kyle O’Reilly terrorize Ridge with kicks and suplexes and submissions.
Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match-TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD
*the six winners from Survival of the Fittest will advance to the single elimination final match.
The Survival of the Fittest tournaments themselves have been meant to push talent up the ladder and usually it’s been someone either just on the cusp or someone about to break out of the pack and make a name. Previous finals have generally been well booked and have great sequences and build. Hopefully that pattern repeats itself here.
-Oh lord, why do I even bother? Well, because it’s fun damnit! I can be wrong and still have fun. Loyal readers know that I have been wrong with my Survival of the Fittest prediction EVERY SINGLE YEAR since I began covering ROH in Column of Honor. It’s a curse, to be sure, but it’s not going to stop me from running headlong into the brick wall again. So, without further ado, here is my bracketology and official (wrong) prediction for this year’s tournament.
The way I worked out this year’s tournament derived from bringing in three key storyline points that can create a fantastic story for the finals. First of all is Eddie Edwards making it back to the finals so he has a real chance to repeat his win from last year. Secondly is The Briscoes taking a whole chunk of time in the lead position. Finally is bringing The House of Truth in as a unit so that they can play off The Briscoes (leading to some counter-strategy among the two teams for control and leverage in the match). Kyle O’Reilly is easily going to make it into the finals (but it should be fun watching him demolish Ridge) and there is then the sub-plot of he and Edwards needing to team up to counteract the advantages of the other two units, meanwhile neither one of them (but especially Edwards) is too thrilled to do so, because O’Reilly is Richards’ protégé, Richards is wrestling Edwards in a month for the ROH World Title and oh yeah, there was that one time in that match between The American Wolves and Future Shock where Edwards near destroyed O’Reilly’s leg with the Achilles Lock when he held it on too long past the referee’s call to end the match (the bell keeper lost the hammer and couldn’t ring it in time). Pretty cool, huh? We’ll see if ROH actually plays off that if it happens.
So working backwards, that means Edwards wins over Bennett (it will be a closely contested match, much to the chagrin of the anti-Bennett contingent), Roderick Strong cheats to win against Titus, Kyle O’Reilly thrashes Ridge, The Briscoes take a likewise easy win over The Bravados and Michael Elgin has to work hard but ultimately pins Adam Cole with the spinning powerbomb to advance (that means King is protected going into his tag title match the next night and Ciampa doesn’t give up the losing fall in the match). Therefore the final is: Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Michael Elgin. That’s a very strong final six to be sure.
I would expect a very long opening period in the finals before any elimination occurs where all of these elements begin to unfold. Then, in a huge shock, I’m calling for Roderick Strong to eliminate Eddie Edwards first out of the match! That gives Strong some revenge for losing the two-out-of-three falls match in September (which resulted in Edwards earning the title match at Final Battle 2011). However, in an interesting turn of events, The Briscoes are able to clear out Elgin from the ring and double team Strong with either the Spike Jay Driller or Doomsday Device (likely the latter) to send Strong out second! The heavy favorites would be out one-two and fans would be guaranteed a first-time Survival of the Fittest winner.
From there, Kyle O’Reilly and Michael Elgin each isolate and eliminate a Briscoe brother (doesn’t really matter, but let’s say O’Reilly over Jay and Elgin over Mark). That leaves it down to just Elgin and O’Reilly, which is a reprise from a Semi-Final match in the 2011 Top Prospect Tournament that ran in the last weeks of ROH on HDNet earlier this year. The chickens have come home to roost y’all…or something like that. Then give these two about ten more minutes on their own and then Michael Elgin finishes O’Reilly off to become the 2011 Survival of the Fittest Champion.
Sorry about that Michael.
| [Eddie Edwards vs. Mike Bennett] |
[ Eddie Edwards ] |
[Roderick Strong vs. Rhett Titus] |
[ Roderick Strong ] |
[Kyle O’ Reilly vs. Andy Ridge] |
[ Kyle O’Reilly ] |
[Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Harlem & Lancelot Bravado] |
[ Jay & Mark Briscoe ] |
[Kenny King vs. Adam Cole vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Michael Elgin] |
[ Michael Elgin ] |
|
|||||||||||
–Davey Richards defeated Tommy End in Barcelona, Spain on 07/04/2011.
–Davey Richards defeated Chase Owens in Kingsport, KY on 08/04/11.*
–Davey Richards defeated Colt Cabana in Carrolton, GA on 08/06.11.
–Davey Richards defeated Roderick Strong in Chicago, Illinois on 08/13/11.
–Davey Richards defeated Daga in Tulancingo, MEX on 10/15/11.
* These matches are not as yet officially recognized by Ring of Honor on their records page, but as they did occur as billed “ROH World Title” matches for the live crowd in attendance they are listed here for posterity.
–Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in Toronto, ON on 5/7/11.
–Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli), Jay & Mark Briscoe and The All-Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus) in New York City, NY on 06/26/11.
–Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated El Generico & Colt Cabana in Richmond, VA on 07/08/11.
–Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) in Chicago, IL on 08/13/11.
— Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly) in Collinsville, IL on 11/06/11.
–Jay Lethal went to a time-limit draw with Mike Bennett in Louisville, KY on 10/01/11.
–Jay Lethal went to a time-limit draw with El Generico in Louisville, KY on 11/05/11.
-ROH is going “Proving Ground” crazy, with two announced matches under that stipulation. The match pits a possible title contender against the champion in the division in a non-title situation. If the contender can defeat the champion or go the time-limit distance with him then he will receive a future title shot within the next two months. In Spartanburg, South Carolina on 12/03/11, TJ Perkins goes up against ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal and The House of Truth comprised of Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin will wrestle ROH World Tag Team Champions Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin. I could see either match going the distance, but it’s more likely that House of Truth can win their Proving Ground match as that gives Haas and Benjamin a different team they can wrestle in a title defense situation.
-Eddie Edwards vs. Kyle O’Reilly has been signed for Glory By Honor X next week in Chicago Ridge, IL, so it looks as if ROH hasn’t forgotten about that part of the Richards-Edwards story.
-Results from this past weekend’s television tapings are available here. My initial thoughts are that Kyle O’Reilly is quickly becoming one of the more invaluable members of the TV tapings, having impressed in tough challenges against his mentor Richards and Roderick Strong. Richards and Edwards finally break down into a pull-apart brawl, wouldn’t you know it just in time for Final Battle 2011? ROH taped five episodes in one show, but their next tapings won’t be until the first week of January 2012, so there will be a few weeks between the end of the episodes in the can and the new tapings. What to do until then? Perhaps run a “Best of 2011” show or two?
-ROH confirmed that all three ROH championships will be defended at Final Battle 2011 December 23rd, 2011 in New York City. Previously only the World and Tag Team Title matches had been announced.
-Some controversy has emerged regarding Sinclair Broadcast’s behavior in handling the booking of Davey Richards for an All-American Pro Wrestling event in Illinois a few months back. The show was slated to be a television taping, but they had booked Richards for the show months in advance when Sinclair / ROH pulled his booking citing that AAPW was running a competing TV product and Richards’ contract prohibited him from appearing on the show. AAPW Executive Producer Chris Hagstrom posted a YouTube video explaining the situation from his point of view, which can be viewed here. Pro Wrestling Pondering’s Chris Gee Schoon Tong wrote a short piece on it expressing his opinion which can viewed here.
-This extended comment from Bartoloco was written and posted to last week’s column and I want to reprint it and add my own two cents to his thoughts about the ROH TV product. First, the comment:
ROH is coming back to my local area of Baltimore for a TV taping, and I want to be excited about this. Despite the horror stories of the Chicago TV tapings, I’m at least looking forward to some great in-ring action and storyline progression. However, there are issues that are quickly diminishing my love of ROH.
ACCESS
I am having great difficulty viewing the weekly shows. Why is it easier to break into Fort Knox than it is to use their site? I forgot my password, so I signed up for another. This new log-in they sent, is “ONLY a one-time log-in”. Huh? To access a wrestling site? Okay, so I’m directed to create a new passwork. For some reason, it doesn’t accept something that’s a simple word, it had to have a number, upper case and lower case letters, AND a punctuation mark. WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE AFRAID OF??? So I get to the video and get a black rectangle telling me “Server Not Found: rtmpt:/ms-2.sbgnet.com:80/vod”. I don’t know what this means in computer lingo, but I know the casual fan (me), is pissed. I shouldn’t have to jump through hoops for something YOU WANT ME TO WATCH. A bit of advice: put this week’s TV show on the main page. I want two goddamn clicks. One to your site, one to start the video. No log-in required!
DEALS
I am nervous as well about the lack of specials. Really, Ari, don’t apologize because they threw up a %20 discount. That pretty much used to be the case more times than not. And yeah, I gotta join their little club to get another %15? Combined, yes, that’s a good deal. The real test will be their Black Friday deals. If it’s %35 off (plus %15 for their special fans), I WILL be spending my money at Smart Mark Video and Highspots.com. And it won’t be on ROH merchandise.
TWO TIERED SYSTEM OF FANDOM
It seems as if they’re taking ROH fans for granted. I thought the buyout by Sinclair Broadcasting would be a great thing. But right now, I think it’s 180 degrees in the wrong direction as far as catering to the fans. Your fanbase is not nearly as rabid as it used to be!! Throw as many bones our way as you can!! If you give the merch discounts and TV access for free, it would probably recoup that amount of the club in addtional sales over time. By putting up this barrier to access, the two tiered system of fandom is a real turnoff. If DVD sales are being phased out with club access, that will be acceptable only when every single past ROH show is available and new releases are there as well.
Posted By: Bartoloco (Guest) on November 07, 2011 at 04:38 AM
I am very copacetic with many of the thoughts you expressed about the ROH television product as it stands right now. Access is important to ROH especially needing as many viewers as possible to watch their product, but I feel like there was far more excitement about being able to watch the show online before the show actually got online and their tiered-system of viewing was revealed. Yes, it is free to watch the show, but the extra wait time and additional steps to access the show (as opposed to it being available right on the front page when it goes live) inhibits viewers as opposed to encouraging them. If ROH is insistent on doing the “Ringside Members” club, then the inclusion of an extra discount for merchandise is actually good incentive for joining. However, I assumed (and you know what that means when you do that) that the level of discounts for non-members would continue as it was or would be on a similar level. That hasn’t proven to be the case. Then again—there hasn’t been much in the way of new DVDs and merchandise that I particularly want to buy from them, but that will likely change in the New Year when there will be a pick-up in the amount of house show DVDs released. I do have a feeling we are not going to see the crazy level of Black Friday deals like 40-50% off merchandise that we’ve seen in years’ past.
Finally, the establishment of a two-tiered system isn’t all that popular but on the other hand, many fans were clamoring for some kind of on-demand system for previous ROH DVDs (especially the out-of-print ones). ROH needed to establish some kind of pay-tier system if that demand was to be filled, so this works to serve that need and give a little more to paying members. However, I agree that a lot more could be done to appeal to both the hardcore fans who are feeling disenfranchised by this new system as well as reaching out to a broader fan base and that is important when considering the struggling economy, the wrestling business as a whole being very cold and ROH still in its fledgling stages of this new corporate-era.
At the beginning of the year, “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett vowed that within one year that he would become the Ring of Honor World Champion. So let’s see how he’s done so far, eh?
ROH World Tag Team Titles Won: 0
ROH TV Titles Won: 0
Days Left to Reach Goal: 49
Only a month and a half to go for Bennett before The Year of The Prodigy is a bust. And jeez, claiming to be the rightful TV Champion when you went to a time-limit draw and refused extra time like was reported from the SBG television tapings this past weekend is just sad, man.
Twitter me at: http://twitter.com/AriBerenstein.
-Matt Waters has a very good and detailed breakdown of this weekend’s tapings here in his Blog of Honor.
-T.J. Hawke interviews Mike Quackenbush and Johnny Gargano. Well worth checking out for fans of CHIKARA and DGUSA. TJ also looks at PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles 2011.
-Nick Marsico has his thoughts about episodes 5 and 6 of the ROH TV show in this week’s Wednesday Wire.
-Shawn S. Lealos’ROH TV Report for this past week and WGTT vs. Coleman & Alexander.
Thanks to everyone for reading this week’s edition. Next time out, a Glory By Honor X preview and more.
BROOKLYN!
DAH EM BAH SEE FOR-EVAH!
–Ari–
