Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
The time is finally here, as ROH will finally, after seven years, hold their first national TV tapings this weekend at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia. Also seemingly forgotten amongst all the hoopla of the TV tapings, ROH will be having an event tonight in Danbury, CT. Unfortunately, I think of tonight’s event as something of a lame duck show because, with all the attention on the TV tapings on Saturday and Sunday, I wouldn’t expect anything major to occur in Danbury.
* * *
For the sake of completion, however, let’s quickly preview what’s on tap for Danbury tonight. The main event is a four way elimination match for the ROH World Title with champion Nigel McGuinness defending against Tyler Black, Jerry Lynn, and Jimmy Jacobs. While I suppose it’s possible that Tyler could win the title tonight and have him as the champion going into the TV tapings this weekend, I think it’s probably more likely to have Nigel retain and save the Tyler Black title win for a bigger event, possibly a PPV, somewhere down the line.
Another interesting match has Bryan Danielson taking on Delirious, and much like Danielson’s interactions with Jimmy Jacobs over the last two months, no mention is made of their previous history together. Danielson did quite a lot to help elevate Delirious in 2006 by taking him on in World Title matches, and even though Danielson won both of the title matches, Delirious did get the last laugh by making Danielson tap out in a tag match in December of 2006, and the two have not wrestled since. This could be built up a lot better with both men feeling like they’re coming in with something to prove, but they’re not going in that direction. Both men’s characters have changed quite a bit since 2006 as well, so we’re probably going to see a bit of a different match dynamic than we did back then.
In another curious move, Kevin Steen & Jay Briscoe will team up to take on Chris Hero & Eddie Edwards of Sweet N Sour Inc. I get where they’re trying for with teaming Steen & Jay up because it makes sense that having a common enemy would be the only thing that could bring these two together (much like Sweet N Sour Inc brought Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens together), but I would have liked to have seen more of a build to it that just a mention in the rohwrestling.com Newswire. I would imagine that once we get to the match, we’re going to be looking at an obvious uneasy alliance with Steen & Jay even being suspicious while working together at first, only to grow more accustomed to one another as the match goes on. What I think would be a neat turn would be if they end up liking teaming together, so when Mark Briscoe and El Generico are ready to return to action, there’s a conflict between both sets of regular partners, and maybe we could even get something fun like Jay & Steen against Mark & Generico for the ROH World Tag Team Title.
Brent Albright and Claudio Castagnoli will rematch from their meeting a few weeks ago when Albright had Claudio in the Crowbar while Castagnoli was in the ropes, and Claudio started tapping out as the ref disqualified Albright for refusing to break the hold. Legally speaking, Paul Turner was right: the tapout by Claudio shouldn’t count because any hold applied while in the ropes is illegal, and therefore no submissions while in the ropes are valid. Very smart booking, and I’m thinking they might do another screwy finish here to give Claudio a second cheap win. I think it would be great if we got another finish that involved the ring ropes, and we could then get a Pure Wrestling Rules match so the ropes would factor in a little differently.
Necro Butcher will take on Brodie Lee in an Anything Goes Streetfight, and with it seeming like Brodie Lee is being built up to be an indestructible monster heel, I’m thinking that by hook or by crook, he’ll find some way to beat Necro, who is garnering more and more of a sympathy following an a beloved, almost mascot-esque babyface.
* * *
From there, we go to what everybody’s really focused on this weekend, the inaugural TV tapings in Philadelphia. I find it curious that they chose the ECW Arena as the regular venue in which ROH will be taping all its TV going forward because for years, ROH specifically avoided running in the ECW Arena because they were trying to downplay comparisons to ECW. They did run one show there in early 2006 in conjunction with the CZW event later in the day as that was during the ROH/CZW feud, but they did not return again until September of 2008. Now, however, the ECW Arena seems to have officially replaced the Philadelphia National Guard Armory as their preferred venue in the city.
I have to be honest, I understand the history that building has and everything, but 2001 was a long time ago, and I think the mindset of avoiding comparisons and references to other promotions is a good one, because now that they’re taping their TV in ECW’s former home, I don’t know what else you need to officially label ROH the successor to ECW. Personally, I liked the Armory better as it was a larger building that fit more fans, had better parking, and had a much better GA section. But I guess if they were looking for a TV venue, the ECW Arena would look better from a production standpoint and there would probably be less availability issues than there would be at the Armory.
But regardless of how I feel, the ECW Arena it is, and they’re going to kick it off this weekend with six officially announced TV main events. With nothing else announced for me to work with, I figured I’d just go through each of the main events and give my thoughts:
Main Event #1 - Tyler Black vs Jimmy Jacobs
Tyler Black is going to be heavily featured on the first set of ROH tapings, having two major matches over the course of the two days of tapings, and in fact he will be in the first ever TV main event, taking on former partner Jimmy Jacobs. This match was scheduled to happen back in January, but got changed and even though they’ve met in tag team matches, this is going to be their first singles match in ROH. It’s obvious why this is going to be the first ever main event, Tyler Black is the star of the future for ROH, and they want to introduce him immediately to the home audience. I would normally say that this should go to a DQ finish of some kind to build to a later blowoff, but with this being the first ever TV main event, I wouldn’t think they’d want it to end with some screwball finish, so I would have Tyler Black going over via pinfall, only for Jimmy to attack him or commit some other dastardly act after the match that will prolong the feud.
Main Event #2 – ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness vs Jay Briscoe (non-title)
I think the fact that Nigel is in the second main event while Tyler Black is in the first tells you something about where the company’s going. I’ve thought for a while that whenever Nigel loses the title that there might not be much left to do with him, and Gabe Sapolsky bore that thought out in his Book Of Secrets DVD, saying that it might have been time for Nigel to go after the big money contract elsewhere once he dropped the title. But he is the champion for now, and this match really should just be a showcase for Nigel McGuinness where Jay will get in his share of offense, but mostly have Nigel crush him en route to victory. It’s a shame that Mark is injured because since this will mostly amount to an enhancement match for Nigel, Jay Briscoe (and his brother by proxy) will not be making as good of a first impression as I would have liked.
Bryan Danielson vs Austin Aries
This is the longest running feud in ROH, going back almost five years now, between two guys who have ROH running through their veins, so it makes sense to showcase this match and send a message of “this is ROHâ€. It’s also their first match in about a year and both men have matured as wrestlers since their last meeting, so I’m looking forward to this match and seeing how Danielson meshes with Aries and his new, cocky persona. I would have them do a time limit draw, for a couple of reasons. First, it would get over that ROH is presented as more os a sport than entertainment, and therefore draws CAN happen. Also, I don’t see the benefit of having either guy lose to the other right now, and if they do a draw it’s a match you can come back to in a few weeks and revisit if you want to build a storyline for the TV only audience.
Jerry Lynn vs Brodie Lee
I have to admit that I’m a bit puzzled by this one, which seems to me to be the strangest pairing of the six announced main events since there’s no real storyline connection between these two guys. This should just be Brodie Lee destroying Lynn the whole match until Lynn starts to make a comeback, but before he’s able to beat Brodie, Brodie comes in with a chair or something and gets himself disqualified. I know that around ROH, we’re not big on DQ finishes and some might think there have been too many of those types of finishes in recent months, but I would think this would be an appropriate place to use one because you’d be getting Brodie Lee over as a monster by having him totally pummel a well-respected veteran, but not make either guy take a fall.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Brent Albright
At one point I thought Albright was on the fast track to the top and would surely be a main eventer and probably ROH World Champion, but sadly it’s starting to look more and more like that ship has sailed. On the other hand, Claudio’s a guy I thought was pretty much done in ROH after the end of the Bryan Danielson feud, but he seems to be getting a character rejuvenation with his new “very European†character that I’ve enjoyed from what I’ve seen on the last couple of Video Wires. They are wrestling in Danbury a couple of nights earlier and I guess it’s possible that something could happen there to turn this into a more prolonged feud, but in general I’d expect Claudio to come out of this looking better than Albright.
Tyler Black vs Bryan Danielson
This one holds a lot of interest for me, as these guys have had several matches against one another and, except for one tag match, Black has never been able to beat Danielson. Is this going to be the match where Tyler Black finally gets a win over Bryan Danielson? I’m going to say no, I think Danielson should win this one and save Black’s big win over Danielson for a bigger event down the line, like maybe a PPV match or something. It’s going to be another great match, I’m sure, but I still think Danielson’s going to win, and I would guess there would be some kind of interference from Jimmy Jacobs and Austin Aries that will cost Black the match. Black’s going to get to that level, but he’s not QUITE there…yet.
So there you go, just a quick preview with thoughts on this weekend’s events, and for a little something different, I will be providing live coverage of all three shows as they happen, and that coverage should be up on the main site while each show is going on. I’m planning on having at least one, but possibly two postgame hotlines up on the Elite site after the events are over, so keep your eyes peeled for those.
As always, if you have any feedback, please send it along to stupwinsider@yahoo.com. Thanks again for reading and I’ll see you all soon!
