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In any event, these shows are collectively going to comprise Proving Ground 2009, and indeed two guys are going to have an opportunity to prove themselves, as both Brent Albright and D’Lo Brown will step into the ring with ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness. I’m really surprised they haven’t done a McGuinness-Albright match before now, because I thought Albright could be a really convincing big gun who could make a really strong contender, and now he’s finally getting his shot. The match is non-title, so they may do a situation where Albright wins here to earn himself a title shot down the line. Albright’s one of those guys that never seems to find himself in title contention, but it’s probably a good thing for whoever the champion is because he’d probably win. Albright and McGuinness haven’t wrestled a one-on-one match since before Nigel won the title in October of 2007, but Albright won every time they wrestled prior to Nigel’s title win and has looked really strong since. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s room in the Lynn/Black grouping of people who have a really good shot of dethroning McGuinness, but I think at the very least they could get a few really good, stiff matches out of these two.
Win or lose, Nigel will go on to Orlando the following night to defend the ROH World Title against former WWF Intercontinental and European Champion D’Lo Brown. I’m not sure what to make of D’Lo in ROH just yet because I don’t know if this is going to be a one-shot deal or if he’s going to be making regular appearances, though it wouldn’t surprise me if they kept him around for at least a little while so they have a name guy on hand for their national TV debut. In any event, I don’t see him getting the title, though I think it’ll be a very good match. Besides the fact that these two are familiar with one another due to both being trained by Les Thatcher, D’Lo’s a much better wrestler than he’s sometimes given credit for, and I think that being put in a position where he has something to prove after the way he’s been booked by WWE since the Droz Incident will motivate him to really give it his all.
Despite being battered by Bison Smith during last weekend’s event in Chicago Ridge, a still-rattled Bryan Danielson will be wrestling both nights, first teaming with Jerry Lynn to take on Delirious and Jimmy Jacobs in Coral Springs, and then facing El Generico in Orlando. I don’t see Danielson losing either match unless Bison Smith gets involved. Smith is supposed to make his in-ring debut in Orlando, but one would think he’ll be hanging around both nights, and I would think that if Bison Smith is looking to quickly make himself a name in ROH by putting the hurt on Danielson, either match would be a good opportunity. Poor Danielson, first he spent half of 2008 getting beaten up by Claudio Castagnoli, now it’s Bison Smith. Can’t this guy catch a break?
Besides Lynn & Danielson, Jacobs & Delirious will also see tag team action in Orland as they face the team of former Age Of The Fall members Necro Butcher & Tyler Black. I think this will just be Chapter 5 of 23 in the feud or something like that, but this is now at least the second or third time that Black and Jacobs have been across the ring from each other since the split at Final Battle, and I think that’s given them way too much interaction before having a singles match against one another, and I think that Black-Jacobs has the potential to be a really great, violent feud like Jacobs had with BJ Whitmer in 2006-07. Hopefully they won’t have too many more tag matches before finally locking up one-on-one.
Black and Necro will also be in singles action in Coral Springs, with Tyler Black taking on Davey Richards while Necro faces Austin Aries. The last time Necro and Aries locked up, Aries let Necro knock him out and pin him. This time around, I think a more sinister Aries will probably look to use some questionable tactics to battle Necro, and I’d imagine that he’s going to pick up the win. Other than the McGuinness matches, Black-Richards is probably the match from this weekend I’m most looking forward to seeing when it comes out on DVD. I think this will be a very good, fast paced, stiff kicking match, and I have no reason to think Richards has any hope of winning. Richards, meanwhile, will take on Kevin Steen in Orlando, and I would imagine he’s probably going to pick up the win to extend the Steen/Generico vs American Wolves feud.
In Coral Springs, YRR members Kenny King & Chasyn Rance will team with Rhett Titus, who I guess is an honorary associate member of the YRR given their constant association for months now, and the three of them will take on Roderick Strong, Erick Stevens, and an as-yet unnamed third partner. The mystery partners we’ve gotten since Adam Pearce took over as head booker really haven’t impressed me much, so I wouldn’t expect whoever the third man turns out to be to be a big deal, and hopefully it won’t be Ace Steel again. Whoever it is, Strong & Stevens & the Third Man Machine will probably go over.
The rest of both shows are basically going to amount to tryouts for local Florida-based talent, as the Dark City Fight Club, Sean Osbourne, Brad Attitude, and the British Lions will all get shots on the main shows both nights. Of these men, the only one I’ve seen is Kory Chavis of the Dark City Fight Club, and he comes off as a really convincing badass. In any event, Osbourne will face Attitude in Coal Springs, before Osbourne faces Jerry Lynn and Attitude takes on Aries in Orlando. I think it’s really telling that wherever ROH has come through in the last two months or so, Lynn and Aries have been the ones facing the local guys and gauging what they bring to the table. Both mens’ opinions are obviously highly respected when it comes to deciding who is going to get a shot to come back down the line.
In tag team action, the Dark City Fight Club will get a non-title match with Kevin Steen & El Generico in Coral Springs, while the British Lions will face Rhett Titus & Kenny King in Orlando. The Dark City Fight Club haven’t had opponents announced for Orlando yet, but Roderick Strong, Brent Albright, Erick Stevens, and Bison Smith all have yet to be booked into matches either, so I would expect two of Albright/Strong/Stevens to take on the DCFC, while whoever is left over will be fed to Bison Smith in his in-ring debut.
So there you go, it looks like there will be some stuff going on this weekend to keep an eye on, but I wouldn’t expect anything earth-shattering to go down. Then again, Tyler Black does still have his title shot “In The Bank†that he could cash in at any time, but I expect that story to be drawn out a little longer before the payoff. I’ll have a hotline up in the Elite section after this weekend’s shows with my thoughts on the events of both nights, as well as other topics related to Mickey Rourke possibly working Wrestlemania and what this means for ROH, as well as the announcing situation on the HDNet show.
In the meantime, thanks for reading and as always, all feedback can be sent to stupwinsider@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you all soon!
