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But now it's on to this weekend's shows, first with the PPV taping in Boston on Friday and then ROH's return to the ECW Arena on Saturday for Glory By Honor VII. This is a huge weekend for ROH, especially coming right no the heels of the Japan shows.
The main draw of the weekend will be the return of Steel Cage Warfare at Glory By Honor VII, as Age Of The Fall members Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black, and Delirious will face the team of Austin Aries and the Briscoes, as well as Necro Butcher, who has entered the match on his own. This is the convergence and likely the climax of several feuds AOTF has gotten itself into in the year since their debut. This really ought to be the blowoff for the feuds with the Briscoes, which has gone on for a full year now, and also the angle with Aries, which goes back to last December. Both feuds have been going on for a long time, and I really don't see where they could possibly go from here if they were to continue. The Necro Butcher is the wild card in this match, and I don't know what purpose having him in here serves since I doubt he's going to win. The only thing I can think of is to establish him as a loner who doesn't need anyone's help, but I think there could have been other ways to go about that without sticking him in a losing situation.
Age Of The Fall will have a pretty busy weekend even putting Steel Cage Warfare aside, as the prior evening in Boston, Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black will defend the ROH World Tag Team Title against Kevin Steen & El Generico. I have no doubt that Steen & Generico are getting the belts, but even though having them win it on PPV would be great, they still have until November 21 to get the belts, which leaves ROH's swing through Canada next month. I think that as great as having them win the belts would be on PPV, it would be even better to pull the trigger on the title change in their home country. Also in Boston, Austin Aries will “face off†with Age Of The Fall. I don't know exactly what this means, but I would guess it will probably lead to a match with Delirious, who has yet to be booked into a match for Boston.
In fact, there are several announced names who haven't been announced for any matches yet, including Jerry Lynn, Chris Hero, Delirious, Daizee Haze, Rhett Titus, and Chasyn Rance of the YRR. I would guess that Jerry Lynn will be coming into the company more regularly, so I would see this as a great chance to give him a quick squash to help reintroduce him, and what better person for it to be against than Chasyn Rance who, as a member of the YRR (Young, Rich, and Ready For Action for those who don't know), could get himself into the match by ragging on Lynn for being old, only to wind up getting killed in a short match. Then again, it would also be very cool to see Lynn work Chris Hero, I can see it going either way.
As for Daizee, Delirious, and Rhett Titus, I can see their angle continuing as well. I can see them putting together another Delirious-Titus match where Delirious brutalizes Titus yet again, and Daizee desperately pleading with him to turn back to the forces of good since, after all, she didn't mean to hurt him. Since Daizee is also not booked for Philadelphia, I can see her also playing some part in Steel Cage Warfare and affecting Delrious' performance.
But getting back to the announced matches, Nigel McGuinness will have a tough pair of title defenses this weekend as he will defend the ROH World Title against Roderick Strong in Boston and then, should he defeat Strong, will give El Generico a rematch from their highly praised match from a few weeks ago at the ECW Arena. As usual, I don't see either challenger beating Nigel for the title, but if Generico's performance from a few weeks ago is any indication, we should be in for another good match in Philadelphia. As for Roderick, he's had good matches with Nigel before, but even though he's in the middle of a solid singles push, I wouldn't expect him to get the belt. He's quickly approaching Homicide's record for most failed attempts to win the ROH World Title if he hasn't surpassed him already (though I'm sure some astute reader would be able to tell me for sure), and like Homicide, if he ever does get the title, it'll be a pretty big crowning moment for what has become one of the longest and most successful runs anyone's had with the company.
This weekend will also have a very heavy Japanese influence, with the main star making the trip across the pond being GHC Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki, who will face Claudio Castagnoli in Philly. Word is that Sasaki gave Roderick Strong a lot of offense last weekend, which I didn't quite expect, so it looks like Claudio will get a pretty good run at him as well, which I think will be a good way for Claudio to win over some of those people who just think of him as the “HEY!†guy. I wouldn't expect him to win, though. But Sasaki won't be the only Japanese wrestler Claudio faces this weekend, as he'll be involved in a three way elimination match against FIP Champion Go Shiozaki as well as new GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Bryan Danielson, with neither title being on the line. I don't think anyone seriously expects Go to win this match, but either Danielson or Claudio is going to have to, so I'm going to pick Danielson to go over in this one, to be followed by another brutal postmatch attack by Claudio.
The FIP Title and GHC Junior Title aren't going to be on the line in Boston, but both will be defended in Philly, as Shiozaki defends the FIP Title against Kevin Steen and Danielson defends the GHC Junior Title against Katsuhiko Nakajima. For the FIP Title defense, I like how they're teasing us by giving Steen a million title shots leading up to Dayton and leaving us wondering which is going to be the one, but I don't want to see him get the FIP Title because, quite frankly, it's below him. FIP is like ROH's developmental territory, and the FIP Title is kind of like the same thing the FCW Title would be to WWE. Save that big win for Canada. As for Danielson, I was surprised he won the title in the first place and wouldn't be surprised if they it as a short term deal with the knowledge that he would drop it to Nakajima a week later. Nakajima sounded impressive from Gabe's blogs while they were in Japan, and he made it sound like Nakajimia was on Danielson's level, so having absolutely zero knowledge of the Japanese scene, it sounds to me like we may get a new champion. Then again, I could be completely wrong, which happens every ten years or so.
Speaking of champions, NWA World Champion Brent Albright will be at war as usual with Sweet & Sour, Inc this weekend, teaming with Erick “Tommy Rich†Stevens to take on Sweet & Sour's Adam Pearce & Eddie Edwards on Friday, then going on to defend the NWA Title against Pearce in Philly. I don't like Albright's chances in Boston since he's teaming with Erick Stevens, who's seen more ceilings than Michelangelo, but I'm really looking forward to the title match with Pearce. I was there for the match in New York where Albright won the title and it was the best match on the show, so even though Glory By Honor VII has a loaded card, this may still be the sleeper hit of the show. The NYC match was even enough, but I don't know if I see Pearce getting the title back here.
Speaking of Erick Stevens, he will be taking on Rhett Titus in Philly, and I think he might actually go over in this one. Normally I would be expecting Stevens to end the match counting the lights like usual, but ROH Wrestling School Rule #1 dictates that ROH school students are really just marks who get a chance to live their dream long enough to job to all the real wrestlers for a year or two before quitting the business in shame. You think WWE has a glass ceiling? Try spending three years being presented as an ROH school greenhorn like Pelle Primeau did and then try and get over and see how easy it is.
Also in Philly, Jerry Lynn will take on Kenny King of the YRR. Even though King's training is well known since he was on Tough Enough, it's not mentioned in every match the guy has, so people find it easier to take him seriously. He also seems to be the one in the YRR that management (aka Gabe) sees something in above what the others have, so this match with Jerry Lynn is probably the Barometer Match to see how well he can hang with the big boys.
Finally, we get to the Vulture Squad Throwaway Match portion of our preview, as Ruckus and Jigsaw will be jobbing in a four way scramble match against the Briscoes, Kenny King & Jason Blade of the YRR, and Necro Butcher (again going solo) before going on to Philly to put over Chris Hero and Eddie Edwards. As soon as Evans left the company yet again, we should have known what was in store for these two, but they left us with false hope that the group might continue until Smokes and Mercedes Martinez skipped town too, and now they've become Dunn & Marcos. I think if you threw together a match with Erick Stevens, Ruckus & Jigsaw, and any ROH school student, their combined forces would create a Black Hole of Jobbing from which nobody could escape. Just think about it, a whole parallel universe where nobody could go over. It'd be like one big Triple H match without Triple H. But I digress.
And not only do I digress, but I'm done! Like I said at the beginning, I'm going to both shows, so I'll be back at some point next week with live thoughts, so make sure to stay tuned. As always, feedback can be sent to stupwinsider@yahoo.com, so feel free to drop me a line and let me know what's on your mind. I'm like Dr Shoe, not only does 555-SHOE spell 555-SHOE, it also spells 555-PIMF, 555-RIND, and 555-RGNE, so if you'd like to talk to me about RGNE, send that feedback to stupwinsider@yahoo.com. Thank you for stopping in, and I'll see you all next time. Oh, and don't forget to listen to my hotlines on the Elite site where I talk about other cool stuff besides ROH. Later!
