Blog of Honor 2: ROH Returns to Television!

Hey everyone, I’m back much later than expected because I just moved house and we currently have no Internet. It’s going to be a while until this situation gets resolved so I can’t promise when my next column will be but I hope to have results for the TV tapings sometime next week. Also apologies for any minor errors found within this post, I just don’t have the quick fact-checking facilities I’d like. Be gentle!

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Welcome back to the Blog of Honor. Before we go any further I want to address some criticism I received for the inaugural edition of this column; namely that I was in some way trying to rip-off Ari Berenstein’s Column of Honor. I have no problem admitting Ari’s work is the best in this field, but to insinuate he is the entire field is ludicrous. Ari is a good friend and sporadic collaborator and he would be the first to admit he doesn’t own the rights to ROH coverage on the Internet. There are dozens upon dozens of blogs, columns and even entire websites devoted to ROH coverage online – a quick google search will prove this.

PWP is a wrestling website and we try and cover as much of the wrestling world as possible, with every writer designated a specific field. Mine is, has always been and will continue to be Ring of Honor. I was hired to recap ROH On HDNet, I’ve provided coverage for all but two of the ROH iPPVs, and I’m on virtually every podcast concerning ROH news.

Similar names? Vaguely, but we’re covering a company called Ring of Honor, there’s only so much variation possible, and I’ve been using the Blog of Honor name for a long time. Kevin Ford suggested Honorable Ponderings, Chris GST suggested using my existing Blog of Honor name, and I went with the latter. This is the last I will say on this frankly mildly offensive matter.

TV Tapings Preview

Now with that dealt with let’s jump right in with a preview of the inaugural set of Ring of Honor television tapings under the Sinclair Broadcast Group banner. It’s important to remember there will only be one evening of wrestling, and with any luck this means more regular taping. The 6 weeks worth of episodes in one go formula had some serious downsides, namely giving a lot away at once.

If you want evidence that the first set of TV tapings is little more than a quick way to introduce new fans to all the important feuds, then look no further than Chapter 26 of the CO’Reilly/Bravados rivalry. In all seriousness I make this either the 6^th or 7^th meeting between the two teams, with Cole & O’Reilly winning all but one of the matches, most recently in the finals of the ROH Contenders Tag Team Lottery. People were already getting a little sick of this match, and the aforementioned encounter from Tag Team Turmoil 2011 was supposed to be the nail in its coffin, but the powers that be have elected to resurrect it for the good of a brand new television audience. With any luck Cole & O’Reilly will kick Lancelot and Harlem’s teeth down their throat and get this one over with once and for all.

Truth Martini’s powerhouse enforcer was supposed to ensure that Eddie Edwards was so beaten up after Defy or Deny that he had no chance of winning the ROH World Title from Roderick Strong the next night in New York. As it turned out, Edwards was more than capable of handling himself against the man known as Unbreakable, destroying him with a big powerbomb while yelling out Strong’s name. 24 hours later he won the belt and shocked the wrestling world. Martini is hoping Elgin will have better luck this time around, but has Edwards’ world title loss broken his spirit or has the taste of gold simply made this wolf hungrier than ever?

Though these two teams have battled multiple times over the last two years things were never truly personal until Manhatten Mayhem IV. Embarrassed at their loss to Rhett Titus and Kenny King, Jay and Mark Briscoe assaulted their opponents after the match and have been brawling with them up and down the East Coast ever since. From No DQ matches, to First Blood matches, to matches with their partners handcuffed at ringside, these four men have beaten the hell out of each other much to the delight of the fans, and now they’re going to do it all over again on television. The Briscoes have yet to defeat the ANX cleanly in 2011, so the level of shenanigans may dictate the result. Could this be the final big win for King & Titus? Or are we heading full steam ahead to a cage match on iPPV?

The man once known as the Black Machismo made his return to ROH at Best in the World 2011, the very same event that saw El Generico capture the TV title from Christopher Daniels. So it was only fitting that these two should lock up for the title in Chicago. Both men are among the fastest in an ROH ring, and each oozes charisma, but have Lethal’s numerous years on the mainstream stage battling the likes of Kurt Angle and Ric Flair given him the advantage? Or has Generico’s tumultuous 2010 war with Kevin Steen transformed him into a true world-beater? His two victories over Daniels and a cage match win against Roderick Strong in recent months would seem to indicate he’s broken through the glass ceiling. Lethal doesn’t appear to have lost a step though, handing ‘The Prodigy’ Mike Bennett just his second loss since his grand television debut. It might be nice to see a championship change hands for the first set of tapings and this seems the most likely of the three, but I can’t see Generico not going over here.

This will be the fourth encounter between these two teams in less than a year, not including three bouts also involving other wrestlers. Of all these matches the Kings have only managed a single victory, and even that was tainted by the use of the ‘lucky’ golden elbow pad. Haas & Benjamin have utterly dominated the Kings in 2011, defeating them at SoCal Showdown II, World’s Greatest, Honor Takes Center Stage Night 1, and Best in the World 2011. Furthermore, Shelton Benjamin was able to defeat Claudio Castagnoli at Supercard of Honor VI, so it’s not looking good for the Kings’ hopes of taking the titles back. Making matters worse is the fact the Kings are working without a contract after allegedly entering into the final stages of the signing process with the WWE (medical testing etc.), whereas Haas & Benjamin resigned with the company recently. Will the Kings put the champions over one last time and relinquish their hold on the title of most dominant team in ROH history? Or will we see a shock title change in the vein of CM Punk’s recent WWE championship win? The smart money is on the former.

Last December at Final Battle Roderick Strong annihilated Davey Richards to retain his ROH World Title. Following the loss Richards was offered a rematch whenever he wanted it, but he instead elected to take his time and train harder, promising this would be his last challenge for the title. And thus the most anticipated ROH World Title rematch in recent history was set, but nobody knew when it would take place. All that seemed certain was that Richards would be the man to take Strong down.

And then Manhattan Mayhem IV happened. The other American Wolf, Eddie Edwards, did the unthinkable and defeated Roddy for the strap on his first try (and on a non-iPPV event no less). It was undoubtedly the biggest surprise of the year in ROH. But as nice a moment as it was, it ruined the Davey/Roddy story that had been brewing for months as it seemed Richards wouldn’t get a chance to prove he could beat the man that knocked him out. Though Davey got his win back at Honor Takes Center Stage Night One, it wasn’t the same as a championship victory. But now thanks to his defeat of his partner Edwards for the World Title at Best in the World 2011, Davey Richards will finally get the rematch we all wanted in the first place. Not only that, it will be the first defence of the belt in an ROH ring (Richards has already defeated Tommy End and recent House of Truth rejectee Chase Owens in other promotions).

There’s no chance in hell that Davey isn’t winning here given everything he went through to win the belt, but it should still be a great match regardless given these two’s history together. Davey hasn’t lost a singles match in 2011, while Strong has only won one match of any kind since losing the belt in March. You read that right. Strong has lost to El Generico (twice) and the American Wolves (both in singles and tag matches), with his only win coming against Generico at Revolution: USA, and even that was with an assist from Christopher Daniels. Roddy can’t even rely upon that trick this time with Daniels out of the company, but don’t overlook the presence of Truth Martini at ringside.

Miscellaneous Taping Notes

– Also confirmed for the TV tapings are ‘The Prodigy’ Mike Bennett, Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly, and The Embassy’s Tomasso Ciampa. Dollars to donuts says Bennett squashes someone like Grizzly Redwood to reignite his big push which has been much weaker at live events than it was on TV. Ciampa may end up getting the same treatment to put the Embassy over, or he may get a slightly more competitive match. Time will tell.

– Conspicuous by his absence is one Mr. Colt Cabana. I’m sure we can all make an educated guess as to why that might be given his tryout and dark match with the WWE. One way or the other I have a feeling we’ll be seeing Cabana on television this year.

– The TV tapings will also see the debut of a brand new set design. That’s right folks, from the ring, to the entrance ramp, to the old reliable guardrails of doom, you’ll be seeing the new ROH logo slapped liberally across the venue.

Next iPPV Confirmed!

Guess who gets to host Death Before Dishonor 9? New York, that’s who. Granted they provide ROH’s biggest crowds, but back-to-back iPPVs in New York is a bit much for my liking, especially when they got Manhatten Mayhem too. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see how this event comes together given the TV tapings are the only show left to build hype, but the debut episode isn’t until AFTER the iPPV. So unless they release a short teaser trailer online containing some specially taped segments, this event is going to be somewhat thrown together. A rematch between the Wolves seems like it’ll be saved for later in the year after things get more personal, and Strong’s getting his shot on TV, so who can step up to the plate and challenge Davey? El Generico? Michael Elgin? Mike Bennett? All logical options. Who do you think should get the shot?

Princess Mia Preparing for Combat

Prince Nana has sent word via a recent ROH newswire that Princess Mia has been training in Japan and wants some competition when she returns to the company. Anyone who didn’t already know Mia was a trained wrestler should have been able to guess based on the variety of kicks she’s thrown during her time as the Embassy’s valet. But you’ll know for sure soon as she takes on one of the only two regular Women of Honor – Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze. It seems like Delirious’ attempt to relaunch the ROH women’s division with Haze at the helm isn’t dead after all. I didn’t mind the way that push was handled last year, but given how they concluded the Haze/Del Rey feud and how MsChif jobbed to Death Rey in about three minutes at the 9^th Anniversary Show, I won’t hold my breath.

High Flyers of the World Unite!

A cryptic message hit the ROH newswire recently stating the company is “scouting the world for a specific wrestler who can take high flying to the next level”. A rather bizarre announcement as the word scouting has connotations of anonymity, but the ‘specific’ qualifier implies they know who they want. Likely little more than a poor choice of words, speculation has run rampant this week amongst fans trying to ascertain the identity of this mystery flyer.

While many have jumped at the idea of PAC, Ricochet, Rich Swann or AR Fox appearing in ROH, don’t count on any of them. PAC and Ricochet both hold championships in Japan and are so intrinsically tied to Dragon Gate and DGUSA that I don’t see them ever stepping foot in an ROH ring. Likewise Rich Swann is one third of the top face unit in DGUSA, Ronin, and has spent all summer in Japan, so I’d say he’s happy with where he’s at right now. And Fox was essentially discovered by Gabe Sapolsky and is one of the few wrestlers under contract with DGUSA so count him out too. Another Gabe-guy, Shiima Xion, has just signed with TNA so he’s out the window too.

How about the return of Jack Evans? While it’s not impossible that he could be bored in Mexico where he holds two championships and wrestlers are treated like gods, I doubt it’s going to be someone who has wrestled for ROH already. That logic would rule out Amazing Red who is rumoured to be done with TNA. Besides, both men have arguably already revolutionised high-flying, what more could they do?

So all signs point to a relative unknown who will cause minor outrage among fans who were expecting ROH to steal one of Gabe’s top guys. Your guess is as good as mine folks, feel free to comment if you feel I’ve left out a prominent aerial artist.

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That’s going to do it for this edition of the Blog of Honor. Once again, I’m not sure when the next one will be, but I hope to eventually make it a fortnightly deal. Feel free to leave any feedback, it’s always appreciated! And listen to all our podcasts on iTunes!