Moments Ago
A Look Ahead to this Summer in RoH
Well for something slightly different instead of looking back on the impact of some of the wrestlers and angles, I am going to look ahead to what has a chance to be the biggest summer in the already storied history of Ring of Honor.
Last summer will certainly be tough to beat. It began with one of my favorite shows, Generation Next which, aside from having several stellar matches, set the wheels in motion for the most dominant faction of the year, the namesake Generation Next, and also was the very early beginning of the push of Austin Aries towards the RoH world title.
That show was followed by what turned out to be the biggest angle in RoH in 2004, the first hour draw between Samoa Joe and CM Punk. There were countless other big shows, Survival of the Fittest, Testing the Limit, Death before Dishonor, nights one and two, and Reborn: Completion. All of these show formed what was perhaps the best summer in Ring of Honor history, but this year has a chance to top it.
The starting point for the summer was, in many ways, Manhattan Mayhem on May 7th. This was an amazing show start to finish and featured perhaps the craziest move not involving tables, ladders, chairs, cages, planes, trains or automobiles (the double stomp cop killa delivered by Homicide and Low Ki to Jay Lethal).
Hereafter though, it truly promises to be one of the biggest summers ever.
There is a rumor that Samoa Joe, CM Punk, and American Dragon could become employees of TNA or the WWE. This could be viewed by some as the death knell in Ring of Honor, but last summer when the TNA guys, AJ Styles and Chris Daniels, most specifically, but also Red, Sabin, Sonjay Dutt and others were barred from RoH shows it could be argued that it was an even worse blow. RoH rebounded gave some new talent the ball and turned out amazing show after amazing show.
Since the departure of Joe and Punk is only rumored, and Dragon appears to be on at least a temporary hiatus, so we will assume the Joe and Punk will be around this summer, and Dragon will not.
That being said…
If you look ahead simply to Ring of Honor’s debut in Buffalo, which although already stacked could be the worst (and I use that term to mean least great) show of the RoH summer. It has a stellar double main event of Aries vs. Spanky and Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson (who I think they have finally stopped referring to as Formerly Jamie Noble in the WWE). It has the tag belts on the line, a continuation of the Cabana/McGuinness feud, and a lot of newer wrestlers trying to make their names in RoH: Kevin Steen, Sal Rinauro, and El Generico.
But that doesn’t even begin to talk about the biggest stories this summer.
Without a doubt the biggest news in RoH is the arrival of Matt “The Scar is the Symbol” Hardy. Hardy is definitely the biggest American star to actually wrestle in a Ring of Honor ring on what seems to be a regular basis. Now, before the hate mail starts, I don’t think he is a bigger star than Foley or Steamboat, and while Terry Funk is a legend, he only did one show and Liger only did two, and is Japanese, so yeah Matt is the biggest star. Matt Hardy, much like his brother Jeff, will bring in many new fans, but in a good way. This can only be good news for Ring of Honor as new fans mean new markets, and new markets mean more money, and more money means more success.
The two other big arrivals this summer are the apparent full time returns of A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels. I think one could speculate that Daniels will return at Death Before Dishonor III against A.J. Styles instead of in July against Matt Hardy. Regardless of who debuts when, these two big stars are nothing but good news for RoH. They will freshen up the title picture and provide finishes to feuds and a lot of other great match possibilities. A.J. Styles already has a feud going with the Embassy that we now will see come to a close, and there is a chance that with the return of Chris Daniels we will finally see the end of the CM Punk/Christopher Daniels feud. All in all, these two RoH icons promise to make the summer 2005 the best yet.
With all of the athletes returning, there is a chance that they will overshadow the ongoing storylines in Ring of Honor this summer…Well they shouldn’t because there are some very unique and interesting things happening. The most unique thing Ring of Honor is doing at the moment is the title reign of Austin Aries. Not in several decades has a champion defended his title in this fashion. Aries takes the RoH belt with him wherever he goes and already has defended the belt close to twenty times. The most unique trait of this title reign is how the Ring of Honor staff is portraying it via the newswire.
I have already mentioned the Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness angle in this column and in previous columns. This is a very unique rivalry in that it is predicated on one-upmanship rather than personal issues. It has provided several entertaining matches so far and that is not expected to change any time soon.
There is a chance that summer 2005 could belong to an athlete not even technically on the Ring of Honor roster. That man is Low Ki. According to storylines he is currently under suspension for his actions at Final Battle ’04 attacking referee Sean Hansen. That being said, he made his return on May 7th and is already booked for June 12th and June 18th despite his “suspension.” Low Ki could very possibly be the first man to win the world title a second time, while as of this writing his June 12th match against Austin Aries is not for the title, a win for Low Ki is not out of the question and as a result he could win a title shot at a later date. Either way it seems that the Rottweiler takeover of Ring of Honor could cement itself in the summer of 2005.
I am sure there are other reasons that will make this summer the best in RoH history, but that is all that I have for this week. Now on a more personal note, the wrestling federation/school that I work with out of Syracuse, New York has two wrestling rings and not enough space. It is a shame we won’t be having any war games matches. Anyway, one of those rings is currently for sale on e-bay at the following link.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5203759949&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
This ring used to be located at the Killer Kowalski wrestling school, and those of you wrestling fans of course know the legends that have come out of that school. Triple H, Perry Saturn, John Kronos and a host of others were trained in this very ring which is currently being auctioned on e-bay. If you want a piece of wrestling history or try to start your own fed this is the ring to use. It is in excellent shape and ready to go, but bear in mind that if you purchase it you must have means to transport it from Syracuse, NY to wherever you are. I guess that is it for the column this week, so as always questions, comments, and concerns can be sent to bigandymac@yahoo.com
I’ll see you next time
