Moments Ago – An Invader Winning the most Coveted Belt in North America?

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This weekend begins the Ring of Honor Fifth Year Festival. It will be another series of shows similar to the Milestone Series from last year. The shows, as of four weeks ago, were not landmark other than being in close proximity to each other and to the time that Ring of Honor celebrates its anniversary. Two things have happened since that made these some of the most anticipated shows in recent Ring of Honor memory. The first was the arrival of Takeshi Morishima which I will talk about in depth in a moment. The second was the announcement that the Fifth Year Festival would also be Samoa Joe’s farewell tour. I talked about it last week, and I will probably address it again when Joe is finally gone.

Rather than develop a full preview of the weekend’s shows, Pulse Glazer will handle those duties in his column, and I will most likely weigh in with my picks. The focus of my column is the beast from the Far East Takeshi Morishima.

He has huge matches this weekend and is undoubtedly a centerpiece of the Fifth Year Festival. His first match is against Samoa Joe; and while this is not the dream match that Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi was, it is still worthy of lots of hype. Joe is the biggest star in Ring of Honor and the biggest wrestler. Morishima is the great big hope for Japanese wrestling hoping to take up the mantle of Jumbo Tsuruta in due time. This match will be hard hitting and head-drop-tacular. It will also be one of a few match of the year candidates that could come out of this weekend. I have a feeling that it will go on last at the Manhattan Center because despite Jimmy Rave’s push he is not winning the title this weekend.

The title is the other major topic this weekend. Morishima, after he faces Samoa Joe, will challenge the Notorious 187 for the Ring of Honor title. Now, I have only seen one Homicide defense, but something didn’t seem right with the belt around his waist. The chase to the title was one of the best booked angles in Ring of Honor last year, but now that Homicide has won the match there are not a ton of places he can go with it. I think his reign is going to be very short.

His reign will not go past this weekend. He will beat Jimmy Rave on Friday, but on Saturday his title reign will make its final bow as he gets beaten by Morishima. There was a feud brewing between Samoa Joe and Pro-Wrestling NOAH, but with Joe being taken out of the equation a new focal point is needed. What better way for that to happen than for the heir apparent to the NOAH throne to take the top prize in Ring of Honor and go back to Japan.

If Takeshi wins the belt and makes it past Dayton he is not booked stateside for a while. It would be a bold move to put the belt on him for just that very reason. Ring of Honor has a strong enough roster right now that titles do not need to be the focal point. They can take a break for a little while. It would be a shame for the Wrestlemania weekend to come and go without the main belt defended, but the tag team titles are more important in RoH than anywhere else in the United States.

Ring of Honor has had one of the most stable World titles in all of wrestling for the past few years. American Dragon’s reign arguably raised the prestige of the title higher than Samoa Joe’s epic run with the belt. Long title reigns have become the norm for Ring of Honor. I think the title needs some shorter unstable reigns to add some oomph to the title scene. It seems almost impossible that someone would drop their title within a month or so of winning it right now in Ring of Honor some Homicide’s title matches have had their outcomes seemingly easy to predict. Someone beating Homicide so early during his title run could add an air of unpredictability that makes professional wrestling that much more enjoyable.

I cannot wait to see the shows this weekend and see if my predictions hold out.

I’ll see you at the shows

I’ll see you next time.