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The weekend will mainly revolve around the special appearance of LAX: Homicide and Hernandez. This weekend is being played up big time as a homecoming for Homicide, who is coming in with something to prove. ROH has already assured us that we’re getting the authentic ROH Homicide experience, with the classic Homicide entrance music and lights and everything. Oh yeah, and he’ll have Hernandez with him.
LAX will be in the main event both nights, first in an Iron Team Match in Danbury against Age Of The Fall’s Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black, Larry Sweeney’s duo of Chris Hero & Davey Richards, and ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen & El Generico, with the team scoring the most falls within the 30 minute time limit winning the match. This is an interesting combination of teams because you have LAX which, while technically tied to ROH due to both men having worked there before, coming in as an outside team to work two of ROH’s top teams over the last year or two in AOTF and Steen & Generico. LAX is not the Motor City Machine Guns, and I wouldn’t expect to see them losing many falls in this match. In fact, I wouldn’t expect to see them drop any. Will they win, though? It depends on whether this weekend really is a one shot deal or if LAX is already planned to return somewhere down the line. I think if a return is in the cards, we might see them go over, but if not, maybe they might score a fall on AOTF or Hero/Richards, but either AOTF or Steen & Generico will pick up the win. I don’t think it would be a good idea to have LAX beat Steen & Generico here, because it would just make Steen & Generico look like inferior champions right out of the gate. Though I think a Steen-Hernandez power showdown is inevitable, I would highly advise against LAX beating Steen & Generico, and actually I would avoid having either team beat the other given that LAX is going to be in a high profile main event just one night later.
Which brings us to the main event in Edison, which is a dream tag match between LAX and Jay & Mark Briscoe. I really have no idea who to pick in this one, because while I might think that it would be common sense for the Briscoes to go over on their home turf, it again depends on whether LAX will return down the line. There is the possibility that LAX could sweep both matches, and come back a couple of months later demanding a title shot since they essentially beat all the top teams in ROH in one weekend. More likely, though it will definitely deflate the crowd, I would think we might be looking at a time limit draw here. This would protect both teams, and still give us a nice, long, good match. That said, I think it does speak a bit to the positioning of ROH tag teams that the Briscoes are main eventing while the ROH World Tag Team Champions are working underneath in Edison. Nothing against Steen & Generico, they’re a great team, but the Briscoes are as made as you can get in ROH, and much like Bryan Danielson on the singles side, they’re always going to be the go-to guys for these kinds of special appearances.
Speaking of the Briscoes, they’re going to be split up into singles action tonight, as Jay Briscoe will face Brent Albright for what I believe to be the first time those two will be working together, while Mark will be involved in a No DQ three way match against Necro Butcher and Delirious. Starting with the three way, this is a continuation of the Age Of The Fall feud, and as I’ve said before, it might be about time to move the Briscoes away from AOTF and on to something else. Instead, I think it’s time for Necro to kick his own feud with his former partners, which is still in the early stages, into gear. I’m thinking Necro will probably pick up the win here. As for Jay and Albright, it’s going to be a great match and either man could believably walk away with the win, but I would give it to Albright since he’s got more momentum behind him as a singles guy right now.
Conspicuous by his absence this weekend is ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness. I don’t know why he won’t be there, presumably he has bookings elsewhere, but I think it’s a good idea to give him the weekend off since, as I’ve said previously, he really has exhausted almost all of his truly credible challengers, and it might not be a bad idea to give him a bit of a break before he comes back for his much-hyped match with Bryan Danielson and the looming specter of Naomichi Marufuji.
But even without Nigel, there will be a pair of alleged World Title defenses, as FIP Champion Go Shiozaki faces a pair of stern tests in the forms of Austin Aries in Danbury and Necro Butcher in Edison. After spending a lot of time putting people over earlier in the year, Go has been on fire since winning the FIP Title and, in spite of what I personally think of him as a worker (which isn’t much), they have had the good sense to put him in there with people who will make him look good, and Aries and Necro are two such guys. I doubt either man will win the title because they really need to start having SOME FIP Title changes actually happen in FIP and not ROH, but really it wouldn’t make any storyline sense for Shiozaki to drop the title right now. And as much as the Powers That Be might not see it that way, winning the FIP Title would be a step back for Aries. Now watch him drop the title just to spite me.
Moving right along, Jerry Lynn has stated in the most recent ROH Video Wire that after nearly beating him a few months ago, he has made Nigel McGuinnes his target and that he is coming for the ROH World Title. I’d love to see him get a serious run at the title and maybe even win it, it would make a great feel good story for a guy his age to come back and regain the glory that many thought lost to him forever. First, though, he has to get through a couple of tough customers in Claudio Castagnoli in Danbury, and then Tyler Black in Edison. Even though I’m holding out hope for Jerry Lynn, who looked like a million bucks when I saw him in Boston and Philly a few weeks ago, to get that big run, he has suffered some suspect losses lately, including an undercard loss to Chris Hero. Given that, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one or both of these guys beat Lynn, as they’re both getting strong pushes right now. But if Jerry CAN beat both of them, he can make a strong case for the beginnings of the fairytale push.
It was announced this week that Austin Aries and Jimmy Jacobs have agreed to a three match series to settle their feud, which will play out over the next several shows. The first of these matches will take place in Edison, as Aries and Jacobs meet in an Anything Goes match. This seems to be right up New Jersey’s alley, as it seems like there’s always some kind of brutal brawl when ROH comes to Jersey. I think Jacobs will probably take advantage of the Anything Goes stip and have some of his AOTF cronies run in and help him pick up the win over Aries.
In another long running feud, despite Adam Pearce leaving ROH, Brent Albright will continue his war with Sweet & Sour Inc as he takes on the returning Davey Richards in Edison. Richards has spent the last three or four months in Japan, and word is that he’s improved quite a lot, so we’ll see how well he matches up with Albright this weekend. If nothing, I expect this to be a fun match between two guys who have a lot of power and can hit really hard. Albright’s lost a bit of momentum in the feud after losing the NWA World Title back to Pearce, and I’m not sure if this is where he gets a win to help build back his momentum or if this is where Richards picks up a win to show off what he picked up in Japan. If I had to bet money, I would guess Richards wins via some sort of screwjob involving interference from Sweet & Sour Inc.
Between the Iron Team match and Albright-Richards, Larry Sweeney is going to be well represented this weekend, but there will be more featuring members of Sweet & Sour Inc, as Sara Del Rey will be in SHIMMER action against Portuguese Princess Ariel, and Chris Hero will be in a Six Man Mayhem match against Ruckus, Claudio Castagnoli, Rhett Titus, Jason Blade, and an as-yet unnamed sixth wrestler (more on that in a bit). Ariel hasn’t gotten much exposure in ROH, and has been on the lower end of the card in SHIMMER, so I would pretty much expect Sara to roll right through her. As for Hero, this is the first time since their feud that he will be in the same ring as Claudio Castagnoli. Could my fantasy booking be coming true, and we are looking at some form of a Kings Of Wrestling reunion? I would love that more than words can describe, and since Hero and Castagnoli are the only top names involved in this match, I can guarantee you we’ll see some form of interaction between them.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Edison will see a pair of tag team tryout matches, as ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen & El Generico will take on the Osirian Portal, and a team from Age Of The Fall will take on the returning Cheech & Cloudy. I don’t know anything about the Osirian Portal other than they’re supposed to be funny, so we’ll see what they’ve got tomorrow night. The other match is a little more intriguing, as Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black are both already booked into other matches, leaving Delirious as the only other member of AOTF who does not yet have a match. Could we see a new member of AOTF, or is Jimmy or Tyler going to pull double duty? As for Cheech & Cloudy, this is the first we’re going to see of them in ROH in about three years. Word is they’ve improved a lot since they’ve been away, and Cheech also had something of a cult following back in 2005, so it will be interesting to see what kind of reception they get tomorrow night, and also what they bring as wrestlers in the here and now.
So getting back to the unnamed sixth wrestler in the Six Man Mayhem in Edison, it was supposed to be Jigsaw, but it was announced that he’ll be missing this weekend’s shows, so he’s out of Six Man Mayhem and his match against YRR member Jason Blade in Danbury is off. No word yet on who is taking his place in either match, but with the increasingly popular Grizzly Redwood also yet to be slotted into a match on either night, could we see the Grizz step in and take advantage of the opportunity? Jigsaw’s partner Ruckus, in the meantime, will still be making his scheduled appearances in the Six Man Mayhem and also against Rhett Titus in Danbury.
Finally, Daizee Haze will be appearing both nights, and we will find out what’s next for her after being attacked in Steel Cage Warfare by her former friend Delirious. One would think that we haven’t heard the last of that saga, nor has she gotten the last word on Rhett Titus, who has gone around bragging about a relationship with Daizee Haze which Daizee insists was never there.
This is going to be a loaded weekend, and I think the next few shows will probably be a bit more stacked than usual, just because they now have to fit all the stuff planned for the Florida shows into what remains of their schedule. Enjoy it, because I will as I’ll be at both events live. Danbury is only about a 45 minute ride from my home and Edison about an hour and a half, so for the first time ever I won’t be driving all day and all night to get my ROH fix. I’ll have live reports from both nights, and for Elite members, I’m planning on doing a post-game hotline with my thoughts on the events of the weekend. Until then, thanks again for reading and I’ll see you all soon. In the meantime, feedback can be sent to stupwinsider@yahoo.com. Take care, everybody!
