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Ring Of Honor returns to action this weekend with debuts in two new markets, as they will first set up shop in Collinsville, Illinois in the St Louis area on Friday before moving on to TNA’s backyard of Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday. We’re going to see some pretty big matches this weekend, so let’s dive right in and see what we’ve got in store.
The main focus of the weekend revolves around four men: Bryan Danielson, Jerry Lynn, Claudio Castagnoli, and ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness. First in Collinsville, McGuinness and Castagnoli will team up to take on Danielson and Lynn in a main event tag team match, and then they will split off into singles matches on Saturday, as McGuinness defends the ROH World Title against Lynn while Danielson and Claudio lock up yet again, this time in a No DQ match. I think the finish to this match could play out a couple of ways. First, I think that to build steam for their title match the following evening, Jerry Lynn could catch the fall on McGuinness. Remember, Lynn has already lost to Nigel once a few months ago in a non-title match, and losing again here will not make Lynn look like much of a threat to Nigel when they lock up again one night later. It’s possible that Nigel pins Lynn to build up the idea that Lynn is no threat to Nigel, only to have Lynn score the upset win for the title the next night, but I highly doubt we’re going to see that given the recently-announced match between Nigel and Naomichi Marufuji for Final Battle.
The other way I see that tag match playing out is Claudio using some kind of chicanery to catch a fall on Bryan Danielson leading into their match the next night. This would lead you to believe that, given the generally balanced nature of wins and losses in most wrestling feuds these days, Danielson would win in the No DQ match, but I don’t see that happening. I think the No DQ stip will actually benefit Castagnoli, who will now be able to cut loose and work Danielson over as much as he wants without having to worry about getting disqualified. I think Claudio will use this to his advantage to beat Danielson and build to a final, conclusive match between the two sometime in the early part of 2009.
Also being featured this weekend is the continuing struggle of Age Of The Fall against Austin Aries and the Necro Butcher. You would think that after beating Jimmy Jacobs in their Best Of Three series, Aries would be done with Age Of The Fall, but I guess not just yet. First, Aries will take on Tyler Black on Friday while Necro teams with Crazy Ace Steel to take on Jacobs and Delirious, then they swap off in Nashville as Aries and Necro team up to face Black and Jacobs.
Here’s how I see this whole mess playing out: first, I can see Tyler beating Aries and picking up his first big singles win over an established ROH star in the process, while Jacobs and Delirious lose to Necro and Steel, and then the following night Jacobs and Black lose to Necro and Aries. Then after the match, Jacobs starts going off on Tyler Black and accusing him of being more focused on his singles glory than the good of the group. I think this would be a good way to continue the breakup of AOTF while also starting to give Tyler that big push to the top.
But that’s not all for Age Of The Fall, as their SHIMMER Champion MsChif will be in action both nights, first defending the SHIMMER Title against Daizee Haze on Friday before going on the next night to take part in a Four Corner Survival match with Haze, as well as Serena Deeb and Sara Del Rey. I think these will both be good matches, but I wouldn’t expect anything major to happen with them, they’ll likely both just amount to exhibition matches for the SHIMMER product. I’m sure MsChif will retain over Daizee Haze, though if the title is not on the line in Nashville (which I haven’t seen anywhere that it will be) the result could be a bit more up in the air.
Rounding out the weekend will be a whole mess of tag team matches. It all starts in Collinsville with a four team Gauntlet Match between Brent Albright & Erick Stevens, Jay & Mark Briscoe, Irish Airborne, and an as yet unnamed fourth team, with the winners going on to face Kensuke Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima at Final Battle 2008. I wouldn’t bet on anyone other than the Briscoes to win this match. Sasaki & Nakajima vs Irish Airborne? Not likely, no matter how nice it is to see them get another shot in ROH. As for the mystery fourth team, I would expect it to consist of some combination of members of Sweet & Sour Inc, as none of Sweeney’s men are booked anywhere else on the show as of now. It would be nice if we could find out the entire roster that will be at the shows ahead of time so we have some idea who’s going to show up, but that’s something Adam Pearce hasn’t been too good about since taking over.
Case in point, the following night Albright & Stevens will face “a team representing Sweet & Sour Inc†in a tag match. It’s hard to give any thoughts on what will happen if I don’t know who’s even in the match, but I would imagine that the Sweet & Sour team will go over again to build more heat to whatever blowoff match they end up having at Final Battle. The vagueness of both those matches would suggest that they don’t actually have their final lineup booked, which seems silly for a company that’s known to really have its stuff together as ROH does, but you never know what the plans are, otherwise I guess there would be no point in going.
Also in Collinsville, we’re going to see a grudge match between Kenny Omega and Kenny King, who walked out on Omega and left him high and dry after walking out on him during a tag match against the Briscoes. Omega will go for revenge in Collinsville, and then go on the next night to team with the Briscoes to take on the team of King and his cohorts Sal Rinauro & Rhett Titus. I think this is going to be Kenny Omega’s weekend to shine, and though I think there’ll be a 50/50 chance of him beating King on Friday, I’d be pretty certain that he and the Briscoes are going to pick up the win on Saturday.
Finally, another team that will be in action this weekend is the amazing duo of Grizzley Redwood and Bushwhacker Luke, as they take on Rhett Titus & Sal Rinauro in Collinsville, and then Irish Airborne in Nashville. Anyone else think it’s criminal that they’re not involved in the Gauntlet Match to face Sasaki and Nakajima? Seriously, these are both going to be comedy matches and I’d be surprised to see Redwood and Luke pick up the win in either match, but they’ll both be fun to watch.
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So there you have it, it’s going to be interesting to see how ROH does in these new markets this weekend, but in any event I’ll be back sometime next week with my thoughts on both shows, so until then thanks for reading and as always, all feedback can be sent to stupwinsider@yahoo.com and you can catch me on Myspace at www.myspace.com/stupwinsider. Take care, everybody!
