Posted in: The Northern Star The Northern Star--Ring of Hope
By XanMan
Mar 18, 2009 - 8:57:51 AM
"When I was a child I played the games that children play. Now that I've become a man I put those things away. Time to take care of what's at hand; time to be a man."--John Berry
In three days, a new player is going to enter the professional wrestling fray. They aren't really new, of course; they've been around longer than TNA has, but they haven't had the national stage, because they never had the financial backing for it. They had to build themselves from the ground up, and they've done a tremendous job of it. Some of the best wrestlers you see in the WWE or TNA have plied their craft at one time or another in Ring of Honor. Samoa Joe is the longest reigning ROH champion in history at 21 months, CM Punk is the only man in history to have held both the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and the Ring of Honor World Championship, AJ Styles was the first ever ROH Pure Champion and is, of course, a two-time Triple Crown winner in TNA, current X-Division Champion, Alex Shelley got his start in ROH and grew as a performer in a stable called Generation Next that also produced such worthies as former two-time FIP World Heavyweight Champion, Roderick Strong, and the second best wrestler in the world, Austin Aries. These are just some of the guys that have spent time learning and growing in the best little wrestling promotion in the United States.
I don't mean that last sentence to be insulting, nor is it an exaggeration in my estimation. When I watch TNA, unless Velvet Sky is on my screen, there's a 95 percent chance that what's going on makes me shake my head in bewilderment, disgust, annoyance, disappointment, or some combination of those. When I watch the WWE, it's usually with one eye on the screen and the other on folding laundry, doing dishes, reading a book or a comic, or surfing the net. Why? Because what entertains me while I'm watching a wrestling program is wrestling, and what the WWE calls entertainment normally bores me to tears. Besides that, I know that they're going to come back from commercial and show me again anything important that just happened, and if they don't do it right away, they'll certainly show it later on, on their other shows, or the following week. As much as I try to stay interested, nothing in the WWE can really be that important, because nothing's ever a one-time occurrence. If something ever turns out to be, chances are that I'll miss it because I've been saturated with replay after replay and gimmicky contest after short match until I only watch RAW out of habit.
It's my hope that Ring of Honor will one day be a household name and their show will also become something I watch out of habit, but if they keep to their current style, I can't imagine that being the sole reason I watch. The fact is that I don't get distracted or irrated from their shows the way I do from the other two promotions. There's nothing boring in ROH, and their product is filled with wrestling, which is something that I've always felt should be included to a large extent in a wrestling promotion. I know there are others that don't care so much about the matches, or the wrestling involved in them, because they follow it for the spectacle, the showmanship, and the storylines. I don't deny that those things have a place in the sport of kings, but for it to be dominated by it kind of turns my stomach. When I was a kid, I enjoyed those things, of course, but I'm a thirty-four year old man now who hasn't used a toy in years other than to play with his own kids, or those of his brother, so I hardly have the same interests in entertainment as I did back then. There was a time that childish, cartoony gimmicks and simple good vs. evil interested me greatly, but that time is no more.
While watching the Superbowl this year, I saw an ad for the new G.I. Joe movie that's coming out this summer, and felt immediate pangs of sorrow and remembrance of watching the old cartoon with my brothers growing up. Strangely, I don't remember having the same feelings about the Transformers movie that came out a few years ago, but my life has changed dramatically since then, so maybe it shouldn't be so surprising. In any case, I downloaded something billing itself as the complete G.I. Joe collection, but something's changed in the time since I was a boy watching it with my brothers to now. I doubt it's the show; that's just pieces of celluloid mixed in rapid sequence with an audio track. No, what has changed is me. I'm no longer the boy I was, and I don't see it through the boy's eyes. Now everything is predictable. It's obvious that despite the fact that G.I. Joe is always on the defensive, always behind, they are more organized than COBRA with a more cohesive unit and greater esprit de corps and that the bad guys will never stand a chance because they're always out for themselves. It's hardly the kind of drama I'd enjoy as a man, though I loved it as a child.
"You want a chase but you're chasing you're tail. A quick fix won't ever get you well...Oh no, I do not hook up; I fall deep."--Kelly Clarkson
I don't exaggerate at all when I say I loved it; I watched the show every day, had the mini-series/movies on video, and had a ton of the action figures and assorted vehicles and playsets to go with them. Hell, I think even a Nintendo game. As a kid, I never went easy on anything. If I loved something--the Joes, Star Wars, Star Trek, the X-Men, whatever, I had to have everything I could get my hands on associated with the property. I'm the same way as an adult, except it extends to other areas. I started watching the West Wing Season 1, and when the other six seasons went on sale, I had my wife pick them up at Target for me. Once I won a poker tournament, I didn't want to stop playing it. I started reading George R. R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones," and now am cursing the dude for not putting the fifth book out yet. We were starting to go broke because instead of just getting "The Uncanny X-Men," I had to have all the related monthly titles, as well as the limited series. I think you're starting to get the picture. I've always been able to start and quit smoking easily, drinking has never had an alcoholic effect on me, but when it comes to entertainment I guess I do have an addictive personality.
It's with little surprise, then, I'm sure that you'll absorb the fact that I'm well on my way to compiling all of the ROH shows from 2008, already have their first two shows of 2009, and am working on going back to 2005 to complete the collection. Why 2005? Because originally my boy wanted to see the shows with CM Punk in them, and I knew that he had won their World Title in that year, so I figured that was as good a time as any to start. It's amazing to watch a 2008 show and a 2005 show and see not only how much the organization itself has changed, but also how much the few mainstays from that time have metamorphosed. The first time I saw Jimmy Jacobs wrestle, he was dressed in furry boots and blue tights, and he stomped to the ring yelling, "Huss! Huss!" in the style of the berzerker. Now he's the leader of a stable of malcontents, a former two-time tag team champion, and a serious contender for the ROH World Title. Austin Aries was a young, inexperienced, but very talented World Heavyweight Champion, now he's a top contender for both the titles, and has learned how to use his talent to an amazing measure.
But, the two guys that have changed the most are probably Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness, who are now, respectively, the 3rd and 2nd longest reigning ROH World Champions behind the aforementioned Samoa Joe. Bryan Danielson is a graduate of Shawn Michaels' wrestling academy, and is certainly the most accomplished student of it. In 2005, he was a great wrestler, but his offense was nowhere near as focused as it is now, and his appearance was nearly completely different, as he sported a shaved head and a long, shaggy beard. It was a great look. Now, he's clean shaven with a full head of hair, has mastered the art of crowd manipulation and has won the fans over with his unique offense. On the opposite side is Nigel McGuinness, who entered the promotion as a fun-loving foreign wrestler who used a European style of wrestling seldom seen in the United States. He had fun wrestling matches, but was serious-minded outside of it and became a huge fan favorite while having a fierce rivalry against Danielson. Now he uses the same strong wrestling, but throws a ton of lariats, and shares mutual hatred with his former faithful; even wearing the World Title he holds backwards.
These are just a few of the guys that I can't get enough of when I'm watching the ROH dvds, of which I'm now behind about 4 months. I've gained a month in the last three or something. That definitely is a problem with Ring of Honor, as it's nearly impossible to stay current with their product without spoiling yourself, and I have no intention of doing so. Sometimes it just kind of happens, though--hopefully their new television program will help with that. I can't tell you to jump whole hog into their product the way that I have; I believe in supporting a promotion that's offering an alternative to the WWE and TNA that puts wrestling at a premium, and I hope that some of you out there are like that, too. If you are, I encourage you to go to rohwrestling.com and order some of their dvds. Out of the shows I've seen so far, I'd recommend Vendetta II, Respect is Earned II, Death Before Dishonor IV, The Tokyo Summit, and Driven 2008. If you don't want to buy a dvd or two, do yourself a favor and watch some of the videos they have available on the site. You can watch full matches, both new and old, and their Videowire that tells you what's been going on in the promotion. Now I'm going to give you a bit of a primer.
"It was the best job I ever had. I just left because my whole team was leaving and the new guys were coming."--Victoria Jackson
We'll start where we just finished up, as there are two great rivalries in the history of Ring of Honor that stand above the rest. One is CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe, who are now, of course, upper midcarders and former World Heavyweight Champions in the WWE and TNA respectively. One could argue that Samoa Joe's a main eventer, but if you look at the organization of the TNA roster since the Main Event Mafia was formed, I think the argument has little merit at this point. Meanwhile, CM Punk just dropped the Intercontinental Title to JBL, which may or may not be indicative of a second consecutive MITB win for him; I hate to speculate. It'll be more fun to watch. What isn't in doubt, though, is that the participants in Ring of Honor's other definining rivalry are still in the promotion and still major players. This may change soon, though, as the contracts of both Nigel and American Dragon are both going to be up within the next couple of months. Because of this, I don't know how much the two will be showcased on Ring of Honor's new show, but if they are, you'll not only see some great wrestling by two true professionals, but may also be seeing two future members of the WWE.
If you read the trilogy ofNorthern Stars subtitled "The Man," you know that my opinion of Nigel McGuinness was fairly low at the time I wrote those. I had seen little of him, and what I had seen indicated that he had the tendency to turn his wrestling matches into brawls that resembled boxing matches because he threw so many lariats--a comparison I later learned was apt because McGuinness has said of others' criticsm of the same thing, "Would you tell a boxer to quit throwing a left hook if it was effective?" Since then, my opinion has changed considerably. After seeing a number of his matches against a variety of opponents, I rank him as one of the best wrestlers in the world, and because of his style and size, I think he'd excel in the WWE, which is something that is hard to say about great wrestlers in my estimation. Some of the best are there, of course, including Shawn Michaels and Triple H, but many of them are either in the indies or TNA because the WWE emphasizes size so much--that's why I hope I'm wrong in thinking that Bryan Danielson won't find success there, though I do think he should give it a shot since he's done everything there is to do on the independent scene.
Unfortunately, one of the best tag teams in the world, and possibly the best in the promotion, though they aren't the current champions and haven't been for quite some time, also has their contract running out during the same time frame--Jay and Mark Briscoe. It's kind of an interesting time for Ring of Honor to be starting a television show, with so many unknowns at the top of the promotion, as their most well-known performers all have their contracts expiring with new ones on the table yet to be signed. Do they show the best they've got on television right now, possibly giving them a free showing for other promotions like the WWE and TNA or do they hold them off and focus on the guys that are surely going to be with them in the coming months? I'd think they'd hold them off, as I mentioned earlier, but if they don't, you're going to want to see the Briscoes in action. A lot of their matches degenerate into free-for-alls instead of true tag style matches, but they are still excellent, fun to watch, and have a variety of moves--both solo and double-team ones. Hopefully if they're shown they'll be against the current champs, Kevin Steen and El Generico called--amazingly enough--Steenerico.
Steen and Generico are an eclectic pairing that call to mind The Hart Foundation to me, in the sense that they are two guys with different body-styles that complement each other greatly. The difference is that Generico's actually a little taller than Steen, while Steen is arguably more agile than Generico. Steen is a fairly good sized guy with a bit of a gut on him, but can fly like a cruiserweight. Nicknamed "Mr. Wrestling," his Swanton Bomb is a beauty to behold, and his running cannonball in the corner is breath-taking. Like The Hitman of old, his finishers are The Sharpshooter and a piledriver, though Hart's was the traditional variety and Steen uses a package piledriver. He gave McGuinness his best series of title matches, has a great personality, and is the spokesman for his team because El Generico only says one word, "Si." Generico is actually from Canada, and is pale as a ghost, but he's called "The Generic Luchador" and is billed as being from Tijuana, Mexico. Generico is incredibly quick and utilizes a Yakuza kick and brainbuster as his finishers, with the business end of the latter occasionally done on the top turnbuckle. Steenerico also uses aerial moves in combination as finishers.
"Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety."--Francis Bacon
It seems that there's now a new team gaining some traction in ROH, as well, called The American Wolves and consisting of Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards. I don't know a lot about them as a team, because they hadn't formed, except as members of a stable called Sweet 'N Sour the last show I watched. That's another thing I think it would be good to know about ROH: they have some stables; three that I can think of at the moment. There's the Vulture Squad, which consists of high-flying Ruckus, the innovative Jigsaw, and--from time to time--Jack Evans, managed by the always illustrius Julius Smokes. There's the team of misfits led by Jimmy Jacobs known as The Age of the Fall, which is a brutal, heel faction that feels left out of society and are determined to change it. Jacobs himself is going to be in the main event of the show this Saturday against his (apparently)former subordinate and tag title co-holding partner, Tyler Black, so there should be some real fireworks there. Black is generally recognized as being the future of the company, and has received several "Next World Champ" chants, while his former leader is a vicious little man who thinks he's Bruiser Brody. Should be good stuff.
Other members of The Age of the Fall are MsChief, Delirious, Brody Lee, and Alison Wonderland(awesome fucking name,) who all have their pluses and minuses. Lee I'm especially impressed with during the limited time I've seen him(he's the newest addition) because he's so agile for a man his size, and his speed is incredible. That's one dirty mother trucker I wouldn't want to run into in a dark alley or anywhere else. The Age of the Fall is a great heel stable, and Jimmy Jacobs is a genius in the way in which he plays a gleeful, demonic messenger of destruction and change, but I still prefer Sweet N Sour, Inc., mainly because it brings to the table something not seen enough in wrestling these days--the manager. I started watching wrestling and grew up with it in the late 1980's when managers were prevalent. There was Mr. Fuji, "The Doctor of Style" Slick, "The Mouth of The South" Jimmy Hart, and the granddaddy of them all, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. The stable has a nice collection of talent, including the aforementioned American Wolves, "That Young Knockout Kid" Chris Hero, and Adam Pearce, but what I really enjoy about it is "Super Agent" Larry Sweeney.
He may go by the title of "Super Agent," but make no mistake about it. He's your old-school manager in agent's clothes. He wears 70's-style shirts, enters the ring-side area talking on his blue-tooth, is a master at outside interference, is vindictive towards those who spurn his recruitment efforts, and is a terrific spokesman for his charges. I think I may have given the impression that ROH is all about the in-ring action, but while that is their focus, there is more going on. They do offer gimmicks, Sweeney being one of them, and they do have ongoing storylines. Another gimmick is "Addicted To Love" Rhett Titus, who resembles a young Shawn Michaels, hits on everything female that moves, and even comes to the ring with his "Head of the Class" trophy, holding it out before him like a giant penis and thrusting his hips. Still another is The Necro Butcher, who comes to the ring in cut-off jean shorts and a tank-top, with no boots and proceeds to just beat the living tar out of people. Ring of Honor may have the best wrestlers(and in Necro's case, brawlers) in the entire industry, but they've also got some great, unique, edgy characters and storylines; even running a "rape" angle much of last year.
I doubt they'd be able to run the same kind of angle on their new television program, but I don't think the program should be the main font of their storylines anyway. I believe that should remain on their dvds, because a one-hour show on a network that not everyone gets( HDNET, Saturdays at 7 Central) is going to be hard to base a promotion on, but I still encourage you to watch. At least try a few episodes to see how close to your cup of tea it is. Wrestling was a lot better when the WWE had competition, and despite losing a few of their veteran guys to them over the last few years, TNA has proven themselves to not be it. Ring of Honor can be, but they're going to need your support to do so, and they deserve it. They deserve it because they're run intelligently by people that actually care about professional wrestling who have built a great organization from the ground up, provide something for every wrestling taste, and have proven that they are great scouts of talent, because the workers that they employ have gone on to great success and popularity in other promotions. The powers that be at Ring of Honor know what they're doing, folks. If you're able, give them a chance to show you.
Long days, pleasant nights
The Comment Box
Cameron writes:
hey man nice column, had me interested from start to finish.
just wondering why you think big show/edge is main event quality? i consider edge a main eventer but i doubt he can carry big show to a great match. adding cena to a triple threat match however would interest me greatly...it is a resumption of a fantastic feud and i do not think they have ever faced at the big one before. adding cena can showcase big show's strength and power advantage over both men early, before edge takes a bump to the outside and stays down...cena then makes trademark comeback and edge slips in with a spear or whatever to retain. i think a match like that, while ending predictably, could be fantastic if done well, with false finishes etc. cena and edge together can carry the big show to a good match using their contrasting styles and actions to their advantage, while only one of them could not, as big show is some sort of random tweener at the moment and doesnt know if he is face or heel.
as for orton v triple h, i think its a feud that has been done before (but ended with orton's injury), but for me, the added storyline here has got me well and truly intrigued. i personally am the biggest orton fan i know and im really enjoying seeing his ruthless streak he is having at the moment. on a side note, unfortunately i think this whole IED thing needs to be gotten rid of, orton would be so much more scary if he had no doctors and lawyers and diseases to hide behind, and just didn't care whatsoever what he did or to whom. i also think legacy really has the potential to go far, but i doubt dibiase and rhodes will ever escalate to main event level status themselves. anyway, i hope they have orton winning here but i honestly can't see it happening, as they are making it look like trips will be an unstoppable tornado of rage in the ring. maybe an orton rko out of nowhere would be my way to go. fingers crossed.
and finally, i think your idea of an orton v cena trilogy is a fantastic one. i had not actually thought of it like that before, and it does make sense. these two could put on great matches over a number of years and could really put themselves in the history books. watch this space, i think you may be right.
im not sure how long your feedback is normally but yeah i rambled on a bit haha
cheers, keep up the good work.
PS - what is your take on taker v hbk? not enough time for build-up? and is there a chance that hbk stops the streak?
Mark writes:
Great column, and some really good points made. Although, for some reason, I think your style is somewhat too similar to Davey Boy's and those headings are a turn off for me. Maybe its just me. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it wasn't main page worthy, I am just saying it did not have a distinctive style and was somewhat...less entertaining.
The rest of this is my take on the WHC picture right now.
BTW I would like to question this...Edge vs Show is the 'official' match as of now...but tell me, does Show really deserve this? Lets face it, he was in a feud with Taker last year and yes, I know he's a heel but even heels can be better in ring performers, surely? Show on the other hand, has had only 2 matches worth remembering since his return- Vs Taker at Cyber Sunday, and vs Festus on Smackdown. These were the only 2 matches in which-
1. I did not feel bored or like falling asleep.
2. Show's offense looked credible, not fake, and he made his opponent look challenging too.
I am not saying he is talentless...but it is evident that he's quickly becoming boring in terms of wrestling ability, and repetitive. We've seen that Vader bomb go wrong in almost every match of his and he always does the same spot, EVERY time, with him falling in the same way, on his back, sort of. I liked that way a lot first and I guess it saves him from being injured or something, but its just repetitive now.
For me, Show's character as a tweener is pretty much underdeveloped. His numerous losses against Taker, with only 1 win against Cena, with interference, does nothing to enhance his credibility. He's only a slightly more relevant more version of Kane, at the moment. I know that with barely 5 weeks remaining, there is almost zero chance of doing anything for his character. And the way Show's been going the past year, will he able to improve enough to put on a main event worthy performance? If Edge was a face, and doing the fast paced wrestling he used to do 5 years ago, this match could have worked. But now-
1. It cannot draw on name value and paper appeal.
2. The clash of styles would result in a boring, slow paced match.
From the looks of it, Cena might be added in the match. Though that adds a certain intrigue to the match, it still is not Wrestlemania quality to me. Plus, I'm sick of 3 way matches. They've surprised with differently styled Triple threat matches over the past years but trust me, only Cena and Edge would be able to make this match exciting and not a snooze fest. Edge put on a terrific performance last year against Taker, and he had almost 70% of the offense, which looked highly credible. Edge has shown he can bring the goods to the big dance, but Show hasn't.
I'm not bashing Show, but I do feel that unless they have him run wild on atleast 2 brands and create carnage with a smile on his face all the way, he CANNOT look like a threat, come Wrestlemania. Show, I believe, has the potential to improve a lot. I don't mean that he should pull out flying dropkicks and risk injuries, but atleast he can mix up his moves, not make his punches suck, and earlier his chops used to look painful, now they're laughable.
Cena vs Edge also, I think could only work if they made it like- Ok, now this is the final of the final matches, and the definite blow off. And it would need a gimmick stip cuz I think a one on one match won't be good at all. Maybe something like TLC, Hardcore or Hell in A cell to keep the interference out, could work.
Jeez, that was slightly long. Shit. What is your take on this situation, Star? Please reply.
Cameron; Mark,
Thanks for the feedback, guys. Edge vs. The Big Show has several things going for it that adding Cena to the mix does not. We're talking about the 25th Wrestlemania; the Silver edition. That event should have huge matches that have never happened before. Is Big Show vs. Edge a huge match? Depends how you look at it. Big Show should always be a top contender, because he's always a threat due to his size. Do the writers always write him the way his character should be? No, of course not--that would take constant competence. Still, he has been involved in Edge's business since the Ultimate Opportunist's return, and it makes sense that they'd meet at Mania. Edge, like Benoit once did, is a guy that I believe can get something great out of The Big Show, but not in a Triple Threat match. Triple Threat matches should not be the main event of any Wrestlemania, much less this one, an adding Cena into the mix--for the second year in a row--is just a lazy way of getting their top star in a title match he really shouldn't be involved with. He's the add-in, not Show.
I think there's enough time for HBK/Taker to be built up well, given the level of professionalism of both men. With guys that weren't such veterans, they may need more time to make this successful, but with Michaels and Taker, I think it's a no-brainer that it will be great. Does Michaels have a chance to win? Of course he does, but I would still prefer that if Taker's streak ends that his brother be the one to end it.
My opinion really hasn't changed on Triple H/Orton; it's certainly more enjoyable now that the personal, formerly kayfabe stuff has been added, but I'd still rather have seen Cena/Orton and H/Edge because the one feud was decimated by injuries and the other has never happened.
Wallz writes:
Great column Xan, just thought I'd give you my theory. I think they will go ahead with Cena/Edge at Mania. And the reason I think is that WM25 is intended to be sort of a "Greatest Hits" show. Triple H vs. Orton, Edge vs. Cena, Michaels vs. Undertaker, are all past feuds that got good responses in the past. If Jericho vs. Austin happens, that would be a rematch from Vengeance 2001. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy is a spin, as it's one of the greatest tag teams of the past 10 years going at it. Assuming that they'll need a time killer, I see Tommy Dreamer challenging Jack Swagger at Mania and retiring, probably under "Extreme Rules". That way it'd be another "greatest hit", Dreamer in a hardcore brawl. Money In The Bank is all kinds of screwy so far this year, so it doesn't fit the theme, and neither would the obligatory Divas match, but overall, I see it being a celebration of the last decade or so of WWE, hence why we're getting recycled matches and feuds.
Interesting theory, sir. So far that seems to be proving out, though I'd think that if that's what they were doing they would have tried to recruit the financially strapped Hulk Hogan to battle The Big Show, instead of putting Show in a match against Edge and Cena. Plus, what percentage of the WWE audience do you think even remembers that Taker and Michaels had a feud, much less that it was against Taker that Michaels had his career ended for years? I don't know. I'd prefer that they come up with new matches in any case; a recurrence here or there would be okay, but not in the main event. That should be sacred ground.
Points of Light
I'm once again plugging the Columns Series Invitational that's currently running in the LoP Forums. Once the tournament is over, I may go back to plugging normal Columns Forum columns; it may not be possible, because lately I haven't had the time to read a lot of columns. Just giving you a heads up.
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