Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Looking to 2007 For Ring of Honor Wrestling
First off, let me preface this by saying that anyone who is a real wrestling fan and doesn't follow indy wrestling should seriously have their head examined (Just Kidding). Seriously though, if you like wrestling for wrestling, indy wrestling (especially ROH) is for you.
In this article I'm going to look at the positives and negatives in ROH and what to look forward to in 2007.
ROH: Positives of 2006:
Coming out of 2006 ROH had another very strong year as far as match quality. As far as the booking goes, it wasn't anything ground breaking and there wasn't anything that was truly innovative. 2005 had the awesome CM Punk title reign but nothing in 2006 came close to that.
There was the ROH vs CZW feud which was booked really good and booked theway the WCW/ECW invasion angle should've been booked in 2001 but that was just common sense booking rather than anything truly innovative. ROH in
2006 was highlighted by some really memorable awesome matches but not by
anything from the booking department.
Highlight of 2006: Moving to the Manhattan Center
ROH's biggest achievement of the year (and arguably the company's history) was moving to the Hallowed Halls of the Manhattan Center. I've already stated in previous articles that I consider this building the best in the U.S (ECW Arena comes close second, MSG third). The building has a lot of history dating back to the birth of Monday Night Raw, the birth of ECW on National TV in Feb. 2007, The Farewell to ECW at One Night Stand 2005 (The Best wrestling show I've ever attended and the eternal highlight of wrestling in the building), etc.
Now ROH can lay claim that they have planted their flag there as the company's homebase building. ROH may not have shattered any attendance records this year but moving to this building definitely made them more big-time than anything else in wrestling sans WWE and TNA. They started off with a huge home run in their debut in September highlighted by two of the best matches I've ever seen live (Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA and Nigel McGuinness vs Naomichi Marafuji) and a great NYC homecoming for Bruno Sammartino. They followed up with an equally impressive show in December highlighted by Homicide finally winning the ROH Title in his hometown of NYC. The big question is will they be able to follow up on this when they return on a Friday night in Feb 2007? The marquee match is Homicide vs. Jimmy Rave which doesn't bode well in my opinion, but it looks like they've added Samoa Joe vs. a NOAH wrestler to make up for the lackluster title match.
I really hope ROH does well in 2007 in the Manhattan Center and runs shows there for years to come, and I hope Homicide has a long run as ROH champ because he
definitely deserves it and earned the prestige and recognition of holding the best protected title in the business.
Looking forward to 2007, The Positives:
- Homicide's title reign: Hopefully Cide will get a long run with the belt, he deserves it. The first few title defenses signed are a mixed bag he has a rematch of his 2003-2004 feud with Samoa Joe which will be an awesome match in Edison NJ, but then they're running Cide vs Rave in the Manhattan Center which is a totally stupid and stubborn booking move. Jimmy Rave is like an NYC cockroach, no matter how hard you try to get rid of them they'll always be there. In my opinion, the fans don't buy him in this role, don't want him in this role, don't accept him in this role yet he is still being pushed in this role. I guess you got to take the bad with the good.
- The ascension of Brent Albright, Davey Richards and Nigel McGuiness. Hopefully Albright will get the push he deserves. Even if WWE ends up signing him why can't he be at least used to his potential in ROH untill his time comes up? Build him up as an unstoppable wrestling machine from now until June then when Danielson comes back have that big Dream Match. Richards is kind of filling the void left by Low Ki but isn't in Low Ki's league in my opinion. Hopefully he'll get a good program this year and not just be put in random matches with no meaning. Nigel had the best year of his career in 2006 as he became a legit bonafide main eventer and showed he is one of the top workers in the company at the same time. Then all of the sudden at Final Battle he loses to Jimmy Rave... He lost a ton of momentum with that loss in my opinion. Hopefully he'll be back where he belongs and that's in a program with Samoa Joe.
- More shows at the Manhattan Center: The Manhattan Center is absolutely the pinnacle of professional wrestling in the United States, Madison Square Garden included. if ROH can run there at least once a month that is a great thing.
Top Draft picks I'd like to see in ROH in 2007
1. Human Tornado
2. Mercedes Martinez
Top 3 guys ROH needs to bring back fulltime
1. Low Ki
2. Steve Corino
3. AJ Styles
Top overpushed guys in ROH that don't belong on the roster in my opinion:
1. Jimmy Rave
2. Adam Pearce
Next guy in line for a run with the ROH Title:
1. Nigel McGuinness
