Moments Ago: The End of the Fifth Year Festival, The End of Samoa Joe in RoH, and the End of American Champions in Ring of Honor
As the Fifth Year Festival comes to a close Ring of Honor is in a huge state of flux. The three week span saw almost as many title changes as the entire year of 2006. Morishima won the Ring of Honor World Title in an event that shocked some, surprised others, made some look like geniuses, and intrigued everyone who follows RoH. Jay and Mark Briscoe won the World Tag Team Titles from Matt Sydal and Christopher Daniels. Most people expected this switch not only for Daniels impending departure from Ring of Honor, but because this was the time for Briscoes to finally summit the tag team mountain. The most shocking title change, however, was the Briscoes losing the tTag Team Titles in only their first defense to the Dragon Gate Duo of Naruki Doi and Shingo. Now all the titles in Ring of Honor are around the waists of Japanese wrestlers Where does this leave the top indy fed in the country?
It leaves RoH with a very interesting next couple of months. Ring of Honor will be without its World Champion for the remainder of March, but Takeshi Morishima will make his return in April. Luckily the Ring of Honor world title has already been defended in Japan when Morishima defeated KENTA in a paltry nine minutes. When he makes his return stateside he will defend the title against NOAH compatriot Nigel McGuinness. Many think that Nigel will be the man to finally unseat the Japanese monster; it won’t happen this soon though.
I think the Morishima will run roughshod over the Ring of Honor roster holding the belt for a long, long time, or at least until the Japan shows this summer. But I have already spoken about Morishima enough; let’s move on to the more recent title change
Shingo who has been competing in Ring of Honor regularly since late last year brought over his Dragon Gate friend Naruki Doi who impressed Ring of Honor fans during the Wrestlemania weekend last year. Doi and Shingo shocked the world upending the Briscoes, but the more important development is that it puts another Ring of Honor title in a situation where the champions may not be attending all of the shows.
The Briscoes do get another shot at Doi and Shingo during the Wrestlemania weekend in Detroit this year. Logic says that the Briscoes will regain the belts becoming unprecedent four time champions. Sure BJ Whitmer has won four tag titles, but with two different partners. I do not know what Naruki Doi’s schedule holds should he and Shingo hold the belts after Wrestlemania weekend, so it will be interesting to see what happens with the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Titles.
The question that needs to be answered is: Is having international champions a good thing for the company?
Some would argue that it is more the instability of some of the most stable belts in wrestling is the main problem. I have disagreed with this. After such a long period of strong long reigning champions a bit of a change of pace was and is needed to spice things up and add an air of unpredictability to the Ring of Honor title scene. Fans have been asking what will happen next rather than making logical predictions, because we honestly do not know. In RoH a fan could always count on great wrestling, compelling stories, and important champions, now Ring of Honor has all this plus an air of predictability not seen since the Monday Night Wars of the late nineties. It is a very good thing for the company.
Also a very good thing for Ring of Honor is the raising international prestige of the titles. The Ring of Honor World Title main events Budokan Hall show in Japan. That’s right, an American independent wrestling company’s title main evented a major venue in Japan on a show promoted by the top wrestling company in Japan. While it may anger some fans not to see the World Champion or even the Tag Champions regularly it provides for some interesting development for the remainder of the year in RoH.
In closing I just want to comment on the departure of Samoa Joe It sucks, I will miss seeing him live It sucks.
I’ll see you next time
