For the first time in this run of columns, I finally make it two weeks in a row. Hooray for me. Ring of Honor has a big weekend of shows furthering the Road of Homicide as they march towards final battle. I promise I won’t predict Austin Aries to win every match, just half of them”¦
Ring of Honor News
Many sights are reporting that Kurt Angle will not be appearing in Ring of Honor any time soon. While this is unfortunate for Ring of Honor, it is the right move for TNA. It is not the right move for Angle’s health, but more for the business side of things. Angle has several money matches, and it would be foolish of TNA to allow a smaller indy fed the chance to cash in on matches like Angle vs. Joe before TNA can. On a side note, I think TNA is making a mistake delivering Angle vs. Joe as Angle’s first program, but that is the fed I am discussing.
Most of the other news concerning RoH deals with the upcoming events this weekend so away we go”¦
Upcoming Events
Ring of Honor returns to the Midwest for a double dip of shows in Dayton, OH and Chicago Ridge, IL. RoH has traditionally delivered some of their biggest moments at these shows, and his promises to be no different.
The line-up for Dayton looks this way:
Tag Team War
Homicide & Samoa Joe vs. Steve Corino & Adam Pearce with Jim Cornette
Rematch Of Survival Of The Fittest Finals
Delirious vs. Matt Sydal
Grudge Match #1
ROH World Tag Team Champion Claudio Castagnoli vs. Austin Aries
Grudge Match #2
Davey Richards vs. Jay Briscoe
Special Challenge Match
Christopher Daniels vs. Brent Albright
Special Attraction Match
Jimmy Rave vs. Shingo
Four Corner Survival
ROH World Tag Team Champion Chris Hero vs. Roderick Strong vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Tank Tolland
Non-Title Match
ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson vs. Sal Rinauro
Tag Team Attraction
Colt Cabana & Jimmy Jacobs with Lacey vs. Irish Airborne
The biggest match is of course the Tag Team War as Homicide and Steve Corino build towards what should be the end of their feud in the Fight without Honor in Philadelphia. Other interesting stories in this show are Matt Sydal and Delirious continuing their rivalry. The focus of this match is certainly competition, and it will be interesting to see if they go into a more personal route or keep this a professional feud.
Tank Tolland and Brent Albright, two recent WWE cast offs better known as Gunner Scott and one of the Dicks (James I think), make appearances in RoH. Albright had done some amazing things in OVW but never found his niche on Smackdown. Tolland I cannot comment too much on, since his work on the main roster was lackluster at best, but I have heard good things.
Other feuds are also being addressed at this show. Davey Richards continues his beef with the Briscoes in singles competition against older brother Jay, and Aries and Strong will get a chance for some measure of revenge against the Kings of Wrestling. Bryan Danielson continues his “only defending the belt once a month as per his contract” gimmick against Sal Rinauro and Jimmy Rave tries to define himself post Embassy with a win over Shingo. All in all the Dayton fans are in for a real treat.
The Chicago Ridge Show is shaping up like this:
No DQ, Must Be A Winner, Non-Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe
Special Challenge Match
Austin Aries vs. Christopher Daniels
Special Attraction Match
Steve Corino vs. Delirious
ROH Commissioner Jim Cornette Will Be In Attendance
Grudge Match #1
Davey Richards vs. Mark Briscoe
Grudge Match #2
Matt Sydal vs. Jay Briscoe
Tag Team Challenge Match
Colt Cabana & Jimmy Jacobs with Lacey vs. Jimmy Rave & Sal Rinauro
Bonus Match
Roderick Strong vs. Shingo
Tag Team Attraction
Irish Airborne vs. Adam Pearce & Shane Hagadorn
While the other matches look great the big story is definitely Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson. It will be interesting to see how the No DQ stipulation plays out as Danielson rarely does much out and out cheating despite his heelish leanings. My guess is the match will be more physical than their other encounters. The winner of this match is truly up in the air. The non-title aspect makes it seem like Joe will win, but a case can be made that Danielson will need some momentum going into his title defense against Homicde at Final Battle.
New Faces in RoH
Not since Generation Next has Ring of Honor seen a huge influx of talent and talent that have been around for a while stepping up than it has or will have in the closing months of 2006. In the late Spring and early summer of 2004 Ring of Honor saw Jimmy Jacobs and Alex Shelley step up into major roles, Nigel McGuinness start to become a top name and the debuts of Ricky Reyes, Rocky Romero, Roderick Strong, and Austin Aries make their main show debuts as well as Jack Evans become a regular performer. Of those wrestlers only Shelley and Evans have not as of yet held titles. That is a fairly impressive crop of talent.
The group of wrestlers that seem to be given the chance now could end up being just as impressive. Davey Richards has already been a breakout newcomer to RoH this year, and Chris Hero had been the biggest name on the indies not in Ring of Honor, but he has been invaluable to the company this year.
This crop of talent sort of piggybacks off of a story on www.rohwrestling.com that took a look at some of the newer talent who want to make a name for themselves.
I have already mentioned Brent Albright, who I think will make a good impression, but odds are he will be back in the WWE sooner than later especially if he delivers in Ring of Honor. He had a great feud with CM Punk in OVW, which probably helped him get a chance in RoH, and I am looking forward to seeing him.
Stars that are now being given the chance to step up are Irish Airborne, Delirious, and Matt Sydal. While Sydal and Delirious have main evented shows, it has usually been in one shots without a real program surrounding it. Now they have an upper card feud against each other to prove if both are worth being treated like major stars. Irish Airborne has been doing a decent job against students and have looked like world beaters against the Briscoes. They need to polish up, but they should become major players in the tag team division.
All in all the new crop of talent in RoH is the best since 2004. Any one of these guys could be champions this time next year or sooner.
I’ll see you next time
