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Greetings everybody. I’d first like to apologize for the lack of a column last week, I know it screwed all of your weekends, but I had some personal commitments which could not be avoided. But I’m back and was planning on doing a roundtable previewing this weekend’s ROH shows, but I wasn’t able to get everyone together because our schedules just didn’t line up, though we will try and get one together for Night Of Champions. I’m sure that’s a great relief to everyone reading this. But I’m here, so I decided that I’d take a one man look at ROH’s swing through the Midwest this weekend for two big shows, starting with…
Battle For Supremacy – Friday, 6/27/08 in Dayton, Ohio
Shane Hagadorn & Bobby Dempsey vs Silas Young & Mitch Franklin
I’m glad to see Dempsey and Hagadorn getting a shot on the main show, especially Dempsey. Hagadorn’s been getting enough shots on the main roster, but we really haven’t seen Dempsey do much outside of comedy roles, and after over three years in the ROH system, I feel like it’s about time we see what he can produce in the ring and whether he’ll be worth anything when the day finally comes when he splits from Sweet & Sour, Inc. My gut instinct is that Hagadorn and Dempsey will win, though I think there’s a chance Dempsey will somehow screw up and cost them the win to give Sweeney a chance to smack him around.
Tyler Black vs Delirious
No mystery here, Black’s going over. He’s on the fast track to the top, while Delirious has kind of stagnated over the last year or so. He had a great 2006 where he was in top feuds and was getting World Title shots, but spent a good chunk of 2007 and 2008 working underneath in mostly meaningless programs. I’d like to see him get back on track, but doubt it’s going to happen here.
Brent Albright vs Claudio Castagnoli vs Jay Briscoe
This is a tough one, because I think both Albright and Claudio are hovering around main event level. I suppose it’s always possible that Briscoe could sneak a victory here, but he’s just killing time until Mark’s back from injury. Albright’s getting a stronger push at the moment so I’ll pick him to win, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see Claudio go over either.
Jimmy Jacobs & Joey Matthews vs Kevin Steen & El Generico
This is the first of two non-title Steen/Generico vs AOTF matches this weekend. This would seem to mean that Steen and Generico are going to get more title shots after losing the tournament final, which I am glad to see. I think a majority of ROH fans like Steen & Generico and want to see them get the title. In building to that eventual title victory (which I expect to happens sometime in the fall or maybe at Final Battle if they want to draw it out), I expect Steen & Generico to beat both AOTF teams. I think it’d be really great if they pinned Jacobs here and Tyler the following evening, but Jacobs has a main event in Chicago and I don’t know if I see him doing the J-O-B one night beforehand.
Roderick Strong vs Chris Hero
Oh, the FIP Title isn’t on the line here? Too bad, I guess with the NWA Title on the show they decided that one meaningless hunk of tin was enough. In any event, Strong is now a babyface after Davey Richards turned on him and joined Sweet & Sour Inc. Strengely, he’s not on this weekend’s shows, and I would imagine Sweeney’s going to say he’s holding out for the right deal before bringing Richards anywhere near Strong or some angle like that. In the meantime, Chris “Treading Water” Hero is going to be the first obstacle that Sweeney throws in Strong’s path. I’m going to be interested to see how Strong transitions back into being a babyface, since I really don’t feel like he was getting over as a heel. They say that it’s a lot harder to be a good babyface than it is to be a good heel, but I definitely feel that Strong makes a much better babyface than heel, because he never quite seemed comfortable working the heel persona. Not sure who’s going over, I imagine it’ll be Strong but Sweeney might run interference leading to Hero’s “knockout” punch.
Bryan Danielson vs Erick Stevens
Stevens is in the midst of Jobfest 2008, so I don’t think for a second that he has any chance of beating Danielson. That’s what happens when you get caught pouring sugar in Gabe Sapolsky’s gas tank. I also don’t read too much into Danielson’s WWE dark match, I don’t think he’s leaving anytime soon, and I don’t think he’ll be made to job out as punishment for taking the dark match. Stevens got his wins over Aries and Danielson before Gabe found out that Stevens set his cat on fire, but Aries already squashed Stevens in Virginia, so now’s Danielson’s turn.
Austin Aries vs Necro Butcher
In terms of the in-ring match itself, this is the match I’m most looking forward to seeing when this show comes out on DVD. On the surface it seems like a clash of styles, but both men have shown that they can work “outside the box”, so I believe they’ll have a good match. Normally with a match like this one night before Aries’ big showdown with Jacobs I’d be smelling screwjob, but for some reason I don’t feel it here, and I think Aries beats Necro (who has in many ways turned into Jacobs’ policeman the same way Strong used to be for Aries) en route to the following evening’s main event.
Title For Title: ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness vs NWA World Champion Adam Pearce
I’ve thought a lot about this one, and I’ve decided on a few things. Number one: Adam Pearce doesn’t have a shot in hell of becoming the ROH World Champion. Number two: the NWA, which has been struggling to regain momentum for the better part of fifteen years, could do worse than to have its title on the ROH World Champion and have him booked on NWA shows. I think the exposure of having the belt in the one promotion which is all about the wrestling and whose fans are the only fans still around who might understand and respect the NWA name is a shot the NWA would be willing to take. All this would point to Nigel McGuinness beating Adam Pearce and unifying the titles, yet I have this strange feeling like we’re not actually going to see a title unification. For all the benefits there would be to Nigel holding both belts, the NWA Title has just made its way into ROH, and I think it would be better to give it a life of its own for at least a few months before unifying. Also, if Pearce loses the title right out of the gate, then that would make Sweeney and Pearce look pretty stupid. I hope to hell we don’t get a one hour draw because I don’t think anyone could stay awake through an hour of Adam Pearce even if he’s in there with Nigel, but there will be some kind of screwjob non-finish.
Vendetta II – Saturday, 6/28/08 in Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Delirious vs Silas Young vs Rhett Titus vs Alex Payne
Remember what I said about Delirious falling in the ROH hierarchy? This is just going to be another chapter in the Delirious-Daizee-Titus Chasing Amy love triange story, and I’m going to predict that Titus steals the win out from under Delirious’ nose while pretending it was an accident or something.
Jay Briscoe vs Erick Stevens
Let’s see, do I go with the guy who’s killing time or the guy who’s career is being killed? Since Briscoe’s going to be getting the gold back as soon as Mark’s healthy, I’m going to go with him since Stevens is still being punished for putting a bucket of water on top of Gabe’s office door.
Lights Out Match: Chris Hero vs Pelle Primeau
This match is all about getting over Hero as a knockout artist, and even though he’s come a long way and is well beyond the point of being seen as another ROH school graduate, I don’t see him getting a win here. Then again, if you want to be REALLY cute, have six foot-whatever Chris Hero get knocked out cold by tiny little Pelle Primeau and WHAMMO, instant feud where Primeau embarrasses Hero time and time again. I think I’d enjoy that story more than the almost certain Hero victory we’re going to get, but we’ll see.
Kevin Steen & El Generico vs Tyler Black & Necro Butcher
As I said before, I’m picking Steen & Generico to beat both AOTF teams this weekend en route to finally getting the ROH World Tag Team Title later in the year. Also like I said earlier, I think it’d be great if they pinned Jacobs on Friday and Black on Saturday, but both those guys are on hot streaks, so them pinning Necro is a lot more likely since the guy has eaten a lot of losses lately and it hasn’t hurt him a bit. Well, the matches he’s lost have probably hurt a lot, but the losses themselves haven’t.
Adam Pearce & Mystery Partner vs Roderick Strong & Brent Albright
No idea who the mystery partner could be, but unless it’s somebody really huge, I don’t see how Strong and Albright lose this match.
Bryan Danielson vs Claudio Castagnoli
As has been advertised, this is a first time ever in ROH match, and it has the makings of a great technical showing. Danielson’s obviously higher up on the card, but I think a win here would be huge for Claudio and would help propel him toward the ROH World Title shots I expect him to get down the line. At first glance it wouldn’t seem likely that Claudio could beat Danielson, but Claudio’s already gone over both Aries and Marufuji, so I think it’s entirely possible. This match has the potential to be the show stealer.
Non Title: ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness vs Jerry Lynn
It’s no secret that ROH has been looking for a veteran presence to be a regular in the locker room and help guys develop, and literally a week or two before Lynn’s appearance was announced, I wrote about how I thought he would be the perfect guy for the role. He’s been in the business more than long enough to have the experience to be a really positive influence in the locker room. Remember, he also spent a frustratingly long amount of time as an agent for TNA before he finally returned to the ring a couple of years ago. The best part is that even though he’s not that young anymore, he can still bring it in the ring. This is being advertised as a one-shot deal, but I’d be really surprised if this didn’t turn into a more regular thing for Jerry Lynn. To that end, he’s got to go over here, the match is designed for that simply because it’s non-title. Jerry Lynn could be the KENTA of 2008 in that he’ll repatedly beat the ROH World Champion in non-title situations, before finally doing the job with the title on the line.
Austin Aries vs Jimmy Jacobs
After months of sneak attacks and mind games, Aries and Jacobs finally hook up one-on-one in the main event. Sounds like a big culmination of events, but it won’t be the end of the feud. If we’ve learned anything from Booking Blood Feuds 101, it’s that feuds in which the guys want to kill each other never end in a regulation match. This is going to keep going until we get to a cage match or something equally brutal, but for now I think the best thing to do would be for Jacobs to beat Aries, albeit in cheap, violent fashion. Not only would this prolong the feud, but it would throw more fuel on the fire for all the fans who hate Jimmy Jacobs.
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Obviously, this is looking to be a very interesting weekend for ROH, in particular for Age Of The Fall as they are in most of the marquee matches of the weekend. Also, Kevin Steen & El Generico, Claudio Castagnoli, and Jerry Lynn all have opportunities to get some very important wins. I’ll be keeping my eye on the events of this weekend for sure and will probably have some thoughts in the next edition of the pROHfile, but feel free to send in your pre-show predictions, post-show thoughts, and anything else you might have on your mind to stupwinsider@yahoo.com. In the meantime, if you’re going to the shows, enjoy, and if not, have fun reading about it until the DVDs come out! See you soon.
