wrestling / Columns

Csonka’s ROH Honor Rising 2018 Takeaways

February 28, 2018 | Posted by Larry Csonka
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Welcome back to column time with Larry! Today I’d like to talk about the ROH Honor Rising 2018 events. You can read my reviews here and here. I have a few takeaways from the weekend I’d like to discuss, and feel free to share yours. Thanks for reading, and remember, it’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

QUICK HITS

– I love that they made the effort to make this year’s show look a transplanted ROH show in Japan, rather than ROH guys working in a NJPW ring. It was a small change, but I think it goes a long way.

– Cheeseburger remains wildly over in Japan, I am so happy for the guy, seeing him working with Liger and living his dream.

– Juice Robinson & David Finlay continue to deliver as a team, and I really can’t wait until they get a run in the title mix.

– Hikuleo & Toa Henare continued to show good improvement on the shows.

– I really missed Tomohiro Ishii on these shows.

I was wrong. Listen, I thoroughly buried the Beer City bruiser in my preview for the shows. I am not a fan, he’s extremely limited and I thought that he’d be a horrible fit on this tour. So while some have an issue admitting that they are wrong, I don’t. I shit on the guy, he delivered on the tour way more than expected, and he should be proud of himself. I was wrong, my apologies to the Bruiser for completely underestimating him.

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Flip Gordon’s NJPW Audition: In my preview for the show, I spoke about how the weekend was a NJPW audition for Flip Gordon. Flip has been doing well in ROH, has gained popularity on Being The Elite, and has worked with CMLL as he looks to improve. But for the ROH guys, the opportunity to work for NJPW is huge, it ups their profile, they make good money, and with the added exposure, a guy like Flip will make even more money for his outside ROH bookings. He had a HUGE opportunity on this tour, and he was put into a position to succeed with great opponents, all he had to do was deliver. One night one it was Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA vs. Flip Gordon. Takahashi & KUSHIDA are two of NJPW’s top juniors, and looked at as stars by the NJPW fans. I was hoping for a balls to the wall, 12-15 minute sprint here, with everyone hitting their signature stuff, and getting a chance to shine and steal the show. And that’s largely what we got as they worked a 13-minute match, which was the second best match on the show. Flip slowly won over the crowd, and not only that, Flip won, pinning Takahashi with the 450 plash. It was a very good debut for Flip. On night two, Flip Gordon & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI. This was another smart match to book, love him or hate him, Taguchi is over huge and pairing him with Flip was smart to get the fans into him. Takahashi & BUSHI are a great team, and giving Flip Takahashi as an opponent on both nights was smart to create some familiarity. They worked a good and fun sprint, the crowd was into Flip more on night two, and he again performed well. Although he did well, he took the L on night two, but was protected as it took a super-sized, doomsday MX to put him away. Flip did well on both nights, the NJPW fans embraced him, and I think that a run in the BOTSJ is not only in the works, but also could be huge for his career and his advancement as a performer.

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The Young Bucks Are Movin On Up: There were rumors last year that NJPW was either thinking of combing the tag divisions or moving up the Young Bucks as they had become big stars and merchandising machines. But those talks quickly faded, and the Bucks continued on as successful juniors. At WrestleKingdom, they became 7-time junior tag team champions and “retired their jerseys” on being The Elite. So at the Honor Rising tour, the elevation of the Bucks finally became official. On night one, they defeated Juice Robinson & David Finlay and on night two, they teamed with Hangman Page and defeated Jay White, Chuck Taylor & YOSHI-HASHI. Both matches were good, and were w perfect setup for later on night two. After the Golden Lovers defeated Marty Scurll & Cody in the main event, Kenny Omega declared that they were the best tag team in the world, and the Bucks didn’t appreciate that. Matt said that they had no issues, and thought they made peace. He claimed that the Bucks are the best tag team in the world, an announced that the Bucks are now heavyweights, and that they’ll see them around. This is actually all the work of Cody, who continues to pull all of the strings. Ona recent edition of Being The Elite, he planted the seeds for this by telling Matt that Kenny thought that the Bucks were a great “junior” tag team. The elevation of the Bucks bulks up the heavyweight tag ranks, sets up a dream match with the Golden Lovers, and also opens up the junior tag ranks. On top of all of that, it’s also clear that NJPW sees them as big stars and are going to run with them even more than they already have.

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Bullet Club is NOT ok… But it’s pretty awesome at the same time…: One of the biggest and most interesting stories in pro wrestling right now is the implosion of Bullet Club. It’s an angle that was nearly a year in the making, with the teases of issues between Kenny & Cody, leading to Cody eventually turning on Kenny and the reunion of the Golden Lovers. Everyone involved has been really great, and the Being The Elite series has been a great vehicle to carry the story. Cody’s decent into madness and a real villain has been spectacular, Kenny & Ibushi’s reunion has been received as a huge deal, Adam Page is snapping and fully on the Cody train, Marty Scurll has been conflicted and confused as his friends fight, the Bucks wanted to broker peace, and Owens is still loyal to Kenny. But then there is Yujiro, Hikuleo, Fale, Loa, & Tonga. They are staying away from all of this bullshit. In the past, Tonga (an OG Bullet Club Man) had shown displeasure with the separation in Bullet Club and the whole “Elite” concept. Cody is the mastermind right now, he thinks he’s in control, he thinks he has everything right where he wants them to be. But Tama Tonga is waiting, biding his time, waiting for the amour to crack, and that’s when he and his band of brothers will strike, adding another chapter to the story. I think that everyone involved has been really great, but it’s with this angle that Cody is finally shining. The man executed an awesome exit plan from WWE, and right away proved he was a super smart businessman. But he never felt like “the star,” he felt like a star by association with the Bucks, and at times felt like he was playing bad guy wrestler. But everything is falling into place for him right now, his in character work is great, his storytelling is excellent and his in ring is picking up as he working like a top guy right now. Bullet Club may not be ok, but the Bullet Club angle is awesome…

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”