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But for right now, let’s take a look at some of the latest and most noteworthy events in the ROH Galaxy, and these days nothing is more noteworthy than Ric Flair announcing at last week’s TV tapings that he has decided to leave ROH behind and focus on his continuing career in WWE. I spoke to a couple of people at the tapings, and the feeling I got was that this didn’t come as a huge shock, and that everybody figured he’d move on eventually and they would try and see what they could do with him until that time came.
That said, I think this also came a little more abruptly than ROH management thought it would, and some of what we’ve seen since Flair informed ROH of his departure would seem to bear that out. For one, Flair’s address to the crowd at the tapings was a dark segment, and at no time did he appear in a segment that would air on TV. Also, his planned role as the special referee for the heavily hyped Lynn-Aries match in New York City next weekend has changed, as he will now be an “outside the ring official†rather than the main referee for the match.
Personally, I don’t see this as a major loss for ROH. He did help boost some live attendance figures (including doubling the house in St Louis from their previous visit), but that’s about it. He was obviously had no enthusiasm for, or familiarity with the ROH product, and that lack of enthusiasm or familiarity (as well as zero effort to get to know anyone or anything in ROH) was blaringly obvious every time he showed up. If he would have wrestled in ROH that could have been different, but I don’t think anybody believes that was ever going to happen. The way I see it, this was done for two reasons: a paycheck, and an opportunity to get Reid some experience and exposure. Once Reid’s little snafu with the cops a few weeks back destroyed any chance he had of getting into Ring Of Honor, I suspect Flair’s interest in working with the company took a nosedive. From that point on, I think Flair was just looking for any excuse to get out, and I’m left with the feeling that even though everybody’s putting a happy face on the situation, Flair big leagued ROH.
I’m not sad to see him go. I highly doubt ROH was getting their money’s worth out of the guy, and even thought he was appearing regularly, he wasn’t really a true part of ROH at any point. In fact, I think the only reason he’s fulfilling the appearances he’s already agree to is that ROH actually sold tickets to Flair signings separate from the tickets to the actual shows he’d be appearing at, and there was no way they could back out of it. For ROH’s part, I have a lot of respect for them not burying Flair on the way out the door even though they really have every right to.
But with Flair leaving, his last appearance (unless I missed something) will be on Death Before Dishonor weekend in Toronto, with Flair appearing Saturday night and Bret Hart appearing Friday night. It’s no secret that Bret and Ric don’t care for one another, and as much fun as I think it would be having both appear the same night, I can see why they were booked separately. I hope that Bret doesn’t big league ROH like Flair did, and maybe even use Flair’s obvious apathy toward ROH as motivation to take the high road and go the extra mile, whatever it may be, to give the ROH fans their money’s worth where Flair did not.
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But speaking of Bret Hart, I can draw a pretty good parallel between Bret and current ROH World Champion Jerry Lynn. How’s that, you ask? Well, let’s go back to the Fall of 1997 when Bret Hart was in his fifth reign as the WWF Champion, but even though he held the top title in the company, he was constantly working underneath while Shawn Michaels was main eventing PPVs. Now look at Jerry Lynn who, like Bret, holds the top title in his company, but is working underneath while the American Wolves are the real main eventers in ROH. I don’t think it’s any secret to anybody who’s read my columns that I haven’t been on board with the Jerry Lynn title run, but his situation is strikingly similar to Bret’s, especially when you look at it in terms of both of them being older veterans whose time may very well have passed them by, and are therefore taking a backseat to the younger generation.
For example, take a look at the most recent set of TV tapings: while the American Wolves main evented both evenings, Jerry Lynn worked a TV main event against Chris Hero that was as throwaway as they come, and then worked an undercard six man match at the second night of tapings. I recognize and appreciate how hard Lynn works, but the guy is just not main event material. He’s got great workrate, but also has the personality of a rock, and while he’s good for a short term boost up the card to move things along in an orderly fashion, he’s not a guy you can build a company around.
In any event, it looks like this isn’t an argument I’ll have to make too many more times, as Lynn is about a week away from finally main eventing a major ROH show in Manhattan, NY as he will defend against, and very possibly lose the title to, Austin Aries. With Aries on a roll after completely reinventing himself, as well as Nigel McGuinness at ringside, all signs are pointing at Aries becoming the first two-time ROH World Champion in New York. After that, I don’t know what else there is for Jerry Lynn to do in ROH.
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On a more positive note, I’m happy to see the renewed push Tyler Black has been getting in recent weeks. First he was a part of that terrific main event against the American Wolves in Ontario, and then from there he scored his first ever singles win over Bryan Danielson at last weekend’s TV tapings, and now it’s been announced that he will face KENTA at the next event in Chicago Ridge. I was worried for a long time that Black’s momentum coming into 2009 would be hurt by spending months in the midcard going nowhere, but it looks like he’s finally getting back on the right track.
Let’s not forget, he still has that title shot that he can take anywhere, at anytime. In fact, I think that Black once again being positioned as a title contender lends more credence to the theory that Aries will get the title next weekend. Aries has been a thorn in Black’s side going all the way back to Final Battle 2008, and it would be poetic justice for Black to come full circle and finally fulfill his destiny by beating Aries to win the title.
While it’s possible that we may see Aries win the title and then Black immediately cashes in his title shot and beats Aries, I think it’s more likely that Aries will make it out of New York with the title, and then have Black start chasing him. According to my calculations, Black’s win over Danielson will air on July 11th, so if we’re trying to keep the TV storylines in sync with the normal shows, it would make sense to insert Black into title matches after that date. After that, I can see them stretching the feud out all the way until Final Battle, and have Black get the title there one year after the issue with Aries began. How’s that for long term planning?
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One last thing to cover today, as Mark Briscoe has finally been cleared to return to the ring following knee surgery, and will have his first matches at the next set of HDNet tapings on June 19th and 20th in Philadelphia. The obvious feud for the Briscoes to get inserted right into will be against the American Wolves, and I’d be very surprised if they didn’t go in that direction. However, the Wolves still have an outstanding issue against Kevin Steen & El Generico, two guys whom the Briscoes have definitely had their share of battles with. Even though Steen and Jay played nice while Generico and Mark were sidelined, I think it would be cool if the hostilities broke out again and it turned into a three way feud, with both the Briscoes and Steen & Generico fighting each other to be the first to put out the American Wolves, with the Wolves playing them against one another the whole time. If they go in this direction, the best thing in ROH all year could get even better.
Beyond all that though, I really hope Mark is able to stay healthy this time. The guy’s hada ton of injuries, and even though he’s an amazing (and I think vastly underrated) talent, he’s only 24 years old, and I’d hate to see injuries curtail an otherwise promising career. As long as he’s lucky and he TAKES IT EASY, here’s to hoping he’ll remain injury free from here on out.
That’ll do it for me today, thanks as always for reading, and in case I haven’t pimped it enough, make sure to check out my ROH On HDNet report on the main site every Sunday starting this weekend. Take care, have a good weekend, and I’ll see you next week, when we get to do it all again!
Stuart Carapola can be reached at stupwinsider@yahoo.com.
