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Jerry Lynn came to ROH with a lot of fanfare, as he’s a guy who’s long had a lot of street cred with the indy crowd, and had extra momentum behind him due to the perception of a lot of fans that his talent was wasted in TNA, and now he would have the chance to show what he could do for a company that would use him properly. If Gabe Sapolsky had gotten his way, the fans wouldn’t have liked where Lynn’s character would have gone, because he was going to book Lynn to lose to Nigel McGuinness, then join Age Of The Fall. Fortunately for Lynn, Sapolsky was out and Pearce was in, and in the time since he had a strong build over several months before winning the ROH World Title from Nigel McGuinness in Houston over Wrestlemania weekend.
Problem was, Lynn was a great contender, but a lousy champion because even though he’s great in the ring, he’s too bland as a character to hold people’s interest in the way a World Champion needs to. He had a nice, two month long run with the title before losing the title to Austin Aries in New York City. Now with the obvious “old guy wants one last chance to show he can be a champion†storyline behind him, where do you go with Jerry Lynn from here?
As for Danielson, he’s got a lot more history behind him in ROH than Lynn does, a history which included a 15 month run with the ROH World Title, as well as FIP and Pure Title victories to his credit, and a Survival Of The Fittest win as well. He’s had countless great matches against every opponent imaginable, he’s one of the few guys who’s been there since the company opened and is still around and relevant, and he’s consistently been a strong contender for the ROH World Title ever since he lost it two and a half years ago.
However, his stock has slipped over the last eight months. After a long build to a PPV title shot against Nigel McGuinness, he lost the match and hasn’t been a serious contender since. On top of that, he’s refused to sign a contract renewal with ROH, and even though he’s assured them that he’ll continue to work with them as a professional, his contractual situation has left ROH hesitant to put him back in the main event picture. He’s been used to put over Tyler Black and has challenged for the ROH World Tag Team Title, but he’s probably not headed back into a top singles spot unless he signs a contract. Like Lynn, it’s a little unclear where you go with Danielson from here.
I think at this point, having told all the stories you can really tell for these two as singles wrestlers, the best way to go forward with them is to put them together as a tag team. It would work for a number of reasons.
First, Danielson has already had several shots at the American Wolves, with the storyline being that the only thing he hasn’t done in ROH is win the tag title. The framework for a prolonged Danielson tag title chase is already there, now all you need is a regular partner for him. That’s where Lynn comes into the picture, and he would be the perfect guy because a)he’s probably never getting anywhere near the ROH World Title again, and b)he and Danielson have had two singles matches against one another in December and January, with each man getting one win. Because of this, they have a built-in respect for one another, and Lynn could use the tag title chase as the next step of his quest to prove he still has it.
I think this would be the perfect thing to do with both guys, and the only reason it probably won’t happen is because the American Wolves already have several strong challengers that will probably keep them busy through the end of the year. But hey, if Jon Davis’ wrist injury doesn’t heal up as well or as quickly as hoped, and if they want another team to throw into the mix of an already overflowingly awesome tag division, a Danielson/Lynn team would be a great card to throw on the pile.
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Moving on, I wanted to talk a little about Bret Hart and what we might be in store for when he makes his way to ROH for Death Before Dishonor VII weekend and how it’ll be different than what we got from Ric Flair. I think that after the debacle that has been the Ric Flair In ROH Saga, Bret is probably going to be a refreshing change. Say what you will about his ego and high opinion of himself and whatever delusions he may have about how others see him, he’s a guy who sees himself as a hero to wrestling fans and he takes that role and his reputation very seriously. I think that where Flair was obviously disingenuous and apathetic toward ROH and its fans, Bret will go the other way and make sure that he gives the fans his money’s worth and make them feel like he cares about being there.
Another difference between Bret and Flair as it relates to ROH is that Bret doesn’t have any hidden agendas. Flair was glad to take ROH’s money (and not give it back even though he said he would), but the other reason for Flair being there was to get Reid into the company, and once Reid got busted for being a dopeheadand his run with the company was cancelled, Flair lost whatever interest he had for working with the company. Bret only had one kid who even expressed an interest in getting into the business, and it disappeared pretty quickly and he’s made no effort to get back in the game since. It’s all about Bret when he comes to ROH.
Another reason I think we’ll get better out of Bret is that he’s making this appearance in Canada, and for as much as he goes out of his way anywhere else, he always goes the extra mile in his home country because he’s a legitimate sports star there. He obviously won’t be wrestling so I’m not sure what we can expect from Bret at Death Before Dishonor VII, but being that fellow Canadian (and Hart Dungeon trainee) Lance Storm will be appearing as well, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bret get involved in Storm’s as-yet unannounced match for the evening.
Bret has already been announced for a second appearance when ROH makes its return to New York City in a few months, so I would think that whoever Bret gets involved with in Toronto, the issue will be continued in New York City. Being that Austin Aries has yet to be booked into a match in Toronto, I think it would make perfect sense to have Aries wrestle and defeat Storm, and with Bret in Storm’s corner this can lead to an ongoing angle involving Bret at odds with Aries, perhaps because he feels Aries is a disgrace as a champion and if you really want to dig the claws in (and if Bret’s okay with it), you can even have Bret say that Aries reminds him of Shawn Michaels.
I think the potential is there to do some cool stuff with Bret, whether it’s the scenario outlined above or something else like having him become someone’s mentor, perhaps someone Canadian like Steen & Generico or Kenny Omega. Since there are no other shows between this weekend and Death Before Dishonor VII, I would imagine we’ll start to hear more about Bret’s involvement sometime after the start of next week.
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And finally, a quick preview of this weekend’s events in Detroit and Chicago Ridge. As I mentioned before, each show has a strong double main event, and one main event from each show will be a major singles match for Tyler Black. First in Detroit, he battles his former tag partner Jimmy Jacobs in a steel cage match that will presumably blow off their feud. I say presumably because they’ve faked me out before and dragged this feud out way longer than it needed to go, but Tyler’s clearly ready to get back on the hunt for the ROH World Title, so I would be surprised if this wasn’t definitively it for Tyler and Jimmy’s feud. I said earlier in the week that in order for Tyler to truly succeed as ROH World Champion, he needs to develop a sadistic edge, and I think a match where he liberally and shamelessly brutalizes Jacobs en route to victory would be just what the doctor ordered. I don’t think anyone expects Black to lose this one.
In Chicago Ridge, Black will face KENTA in what I believe will be their first meeting anywhere. I’m not so sure Black wins here, because KENTA’s a guy who doesn’t drop a whole lot of matches in ROH. I think he’s suffered a grand total of four losses since he first appeared in ROH in 2005, and one of those losses was just three months ago to Nigel McGuinness. I’m thinking that if they’re going to put Tyler over KENTA, the smart thing to do would be to have KENTA win a close match here to show that Tyler can beat him, but came up just short, and then have them rematch in October or November and have Tyler win there. In any event, KENTA’s proven that he can have a good match under pretty much any circumstances, and Tyler’s a guy who can always keep up with the big guns, so this is one I’ll be looking forward to getting on DVD.
The other two main events will both be title matches, starting with the American Wolves defending the ROH World Tag Team Title against KENTA and Roderick Strong in Detroit. This was originally scheduled to be KENTA and Bryan Danielson challenging, but then Danielson suffered the staph infection and Strong had to substitute in. Regardless, I think we’re going to see the same type of match as we would have: a really hard hitting, stiff match where nobody holds back or worries about laying it in too hard. I thought before that Danielson would be taking the fall in this match, and I think that Strong will be taking his spot in doing that as well.
Finally, ROH World Champion Austin Aries will defend the title against former champion Nigel McGuinness in the second main event of the Chicago Ridge show. These guys have had three amazing, amazing matches and just seem to get better every time out. At this point, it’s been over a year since they’ve wrestled in a singles match even though they were advertised for a match in New Jersey back in January that ended up getting changed the night of the show. I expect this to live up to what we’ve gotten in the past, though I would expect some chicanery in the ending that will lead to Aries retaining.
Besides wrestling one another for the title, both men have other interesting matches in Detroit, as Nigel McGuinness will face foe turned friend turned foe turned friend turned foe Claudio Castagnoli in a grudge match stemming from Claudio’s attack on Nigel the night after he lost the title. This is going to be interesting because you would think Nigel would be the face in this scenario, but he really isn’t, and judging from the events of recent HDNet tapings, isn’t going to be turning face anytime soon. Nigel’s won pretty much every important match between the two so far, and even though this would be an opportune time to finally give Claudio a solid win over Nigel, I don’t see Claudio moving back up the card anytime soon, while Nigel will be in the main event scene for at least the next couple of months. Therefore, I expect Nigel to pick up another win over his fellow European In Detroit.
As for Aries, he’ll be taking part in a Six Man Mayhem match against Joey Ryan, Delirious, Sami Callihan, Rasche Brown, and the returning Petey Williams. The title is not on the line in this match, though if Aries doesn’t win, whoever does will get a title shot down the line. There are enough respectable names here that it’s conceivable that Aries won’t win, plus it’s an easy way to set up a one-off challenger down the line. I’m mostly interested in two things in this match: seeing how Petey performs and what kind of reaction he gets, and also seeing how Aries interacts with Joey Ryan in a potential battle of the sleaze.
Also of note is a non-title match in Chicago Ridge between the American Wolves and Kevin Steen & El Generico, with the stipulation that if Steen & Generico win they’ll get another title shot, but if they lose then they’ll never get another title shot for as long as the Wolves hold the title. With the benefit of HDNet taping foresight, we already know that Steen & Generico’s feud with the Wolves will continue for at least the next month or two, so unless they plan to do some creative booking to throw us off, it’s pretty obvious Steen & Generico get the win here.
The esteemed D-Lo Brown will be taking on a pair of rematches this weekend, facing Colt Cabana in Detroit and Roderick Strong in Chicago Ridge. D-Lo came in with some moderately high hopes, but really hasn’t connected with the ROH audience, so I hope they’re not paying him much. He’s also seemed to be playing the part of the arrogant yet cowardly veteran who’s not as far ahead of the youngsters as he likes to think, and has to cheat his way to victory even though he shouldn’t need to. In that spirit, I’m predicting two wins for D-Lo this weekend.
Finally, Colt Cabana and Brent Albright’s feud with the Embassy continues in Chicago Ridge as they face Claudio Castagnoli & Joey Ryan in a Chicago Street Fight. This one can go either way, but being that this is in Cabana’s hometown of Chicago, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that Cabana & Albright get the win here, though I guess it could just as easily be the Embassy since there is no more heelish act in wrestling than beating someone in their own hometown!
All that plus several undercard matches, and it’s looking like we’re in for two of the stronger cards in recent memory this weekend. We’re looking for live reports, so if you attend either show, please send them along to me at stupwinsider@yahoo.com and I’ll make sure they go up on the main site.
Well, that about does it for me today. Thanks as always for reading, and have fun if you’re going to either or both shows this weekend. I’ll be back next week with thoughts on both events, as well as some fresh discussion of Dragon Gate USA, FIP, SHIMMER, and much more. Take care and I’m out!
Stuart Carapola can be reached at stupwinsider@yahoo.com.
