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THE pROHfile RETURNS LOOKING AT ROH GOING INTO 2008

I'm back with the second edition of the pROHfile, and right now I'm going to take a look ahead at 2008 and give my thoughts on where I think things are heading over the next several months.

 When looking at the future of a promotion, there's no better place to start than with the World Champion, Nigel McGuinness. Nigel has been having good to great matches all through 2007, but a large contingent of fans has turned on Nigel, mostly harping on his overuse of the lariat and the unfortunate string of injuries he's suffered over the last few months. While I'm sure he is legitimately hurt by some of what he's hearing, there is no doubt that he's also been playing into the negative reactions from a working perspective. Whether this is to build to him being a "tweener" or a possibly a full blown heel turn down the line has yet to be seen, but it looks like they're trying to turn a negative into a positive by using the injuries as a way to either garner sympathy for him or to get him more heat with the fans who don't like him.

The first, and more obvious, road I can see them taking with him is working an angle where he repeatedly runs into setbacks and freak misfortune and just keeps getting more and more frustrated until he finally snaps and goes full blown heel. However, the alternate (and more productive) angle I can see them taking is booking him in such a way that he's continually presented with no-win situations against opponents he would appear to be overmatched against (or who have more crowd support), or having to “work hurt” and have everybody keep expecting him to lose the title, only to have him fight like a warrior and overcome all odds to retain and win back the naysayers. I can definitely see him winning back that tough portion of the fanbase because there was a time in 2006 where he was really getting over with little to no real anti-Nigel sentiment, and though I think the way he was presented over the past year has changed that, I think that if he can start getting over how tough he is and build on that, those fans will start to warm up to him.

 Beyond Nigel himself is the overall ROH Title picture, which right now mainly consists of four men: Takeshi Morishima, Austin Aries, Bryan Danielson, and Chris Hero. Hero is obviously the dark horse and is seen as the least likely candidate to take the title from Nigel, whether it's because of him being a comedy character, the fact that Gabe Sapolsky supposedly doesn't see him as a real main eventer (which, by the way, is ridiculous, because if it was true then why would Hero be a featured part of nearly every ROH show and get so much exposure on the PPVs?), or a smattering of other possible reasons. But on the other hand, he's been carefully picking his spots against opponents when they're at their most vulnerable, such as when he used his Survival Of The Fittest title shot against Nigel McGuinness in Philadelphia at Glory By Honor VI Night One, and even though all his plans have fallen through so far, he's still in the main event scene as 2008 starts and I feel like all his failed plans are building to something. Plus, he has a very strong following which I'm sure hasn't gone unnoticed. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him sneak away with the ROH Title at some point.

 I don't see Morishima getting the title back. He was a real bull while he was the champion and worked really well as a Vader-esque, unstoppable monster heel champion, but from what I understand he will no longer be a regular for the company, so there wouldn't seem to be any logic in putting the title back on him. Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson are probably the two most over guys in the company right now, but I don't know if I like either of their odds of getting the title back. Danielson is still feuding with Morishima, and now that we know that feud is going to continue into the new year, I don't think he should be taken seriously as a title threat until that feud has been blown off. Aries, in the meantime, is now starting to be portrayed as the guy who used to be the man, but despite his past title run and several more years of experience, is getting frustrated because he can't win the big one anymore. He didn't shake hands after either of his matches in New York, so I'm expecting him to go into “finding himself” mode for a while before he's back in the title picture.

 So who else is in the running for a shot at Nigel? As I've already said, I think there's a good chance of Chris Hero getting the title, but I would also expect to see Claudio Castagnoli get pushed into the title picture. Claudio bounced back from being all but written out at the end of 2006 when it looked like he was leaving for WWE, and went on to get a huge push over the last year, including a good run against Morishima as well as a win over Naomichi Marufuji and several victories over former partner Hero. The crowd loves him, and as an added bonus, he and Nigel have worked together in the past and have had some great matches, so 2008 could be Claudio's year. Delirious is still over with the crowd and had a good match against Nigel back in 2006, so he'd be worth a shot or two. Jimmy Jacobs is a longshot, but he was put clean over Bryan Danielson, so I can see him at least getting a title shot on behalf of Age Of The Fall in their bid to take over ROH.

 That brings us to the Tag Team Title scene. Jacobs and Tyler Black upset the Briscoes at Final Battle 2007 and ended their nine month run with the title. The Briscoes are the obvious favorites to come back and regain the title from AOTF, but I would expect to see them putting over AOTF instead before getting distracted into a feud with someone else. There are plenty of other teams for Jacobs and Black to defend against since there are several factions that they can defend against various combinations of. The Hangmen Three, The Vulture Squad, and the No Remorse Corps would all make for entertaining matches, and there's enough combinations that can be made from each group to last several months. Kevin Steen & El Generico could also work their way back into contention and win the title, which would fit into the ROH booking mold of a wrestler or team being brought in and pushed hard, but have their big wins held back until at least the following year. And though I've never seen them work as a team, FIP Tag Team Champions the YRR or Sal Rinauro, Jason Blade, and Kenny King are coming to ROH in January, and even though they'd be longshots to actually win the ROH Tag Team Title, I can see them getting a shot on an odd show when AOTF has nothing else going on.

 But when they're not going to be taking turns challenging for the Tag Team Title it looks like the faction warfare between the Vulture Squad, Hangmen Three, No Remorse Corps, and I guess now the YRR will continue. I don't know if the faction warfare is building to something or if it's just to give all these guys something to do, but even though it's made for some great matches (which have also included AOTF and The Resilience in the past), I think it has to start going somewhere soon, otherwise it's going to turn into the luchadors in WCW in the late 90s. Sure, they have great matches and all, but they're spinning their wheels in what is starting to amount to endless, meaningless matches.  

These groups are mostly comprised of guys who are already established, and I think that sticking them into factions instead of letting them shine individually has hurt them more than it's helped them. Brent Albright was getting over huge as was seen as a legitimate threat to the ROH World Title, but is now playing third fiddle to Adam Pearce and BJ Whitmer of all people. The Vulture Squad has become flippy-floppy backup dancers to Jack Evans, who is getting all the cool matches against good opponents. However, the guys in the NRC have probably been hurt the worst. Rocky Romero's return was treated like a big deal last January, but then he got stuck in the NRC, and hasn't done anything of note since. Roderick Strong is no closer to being the main eventer everyone predicted he'd be back in 2005, and if anything seems even further away from it. The guy can't promo to save his life, and when he's left on his own without somebody to carry him, either in the ring or on the stick, his deficiencies really show through. I really don't think he's cut out to be the main eventer everyone expected him to be, even though he carried the FIP Title for over a year.

 Speaking of FIP, Erick Stevens is the new FIP "World" Champion, and after a year of being mired in the mess that is the faction wars, he's finally broken out on his own and has been given a pretty comfy spot on the card after being put over Roderick Strong for the title. Stevens is being thrown right into the fire, with his first two title defenses being against Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson in Boston and Edison, respectively. I don't see what the point would be in killing Stevens by having him lose to one of those guys so quickly, so we're left to assume he'll instead go over both of them somehow, which would suggest that Stevens is in for one hell of a push this year. Gabe has said in the past that he loves Stevens, and one of his favorite things to watch unfold in 2007 was when the crowd booed Stevens after he won a four way match to earn a title shot at Takeshi Morishima, but Stevens ended up putting on an awesome performance later in the night against Morishima and won the crowd over. Seems like Gabe is pretty serious about pushing Stevens, so it'll be interesting to see how those matches against Aries and Danielson play out, and how he's handled beyond.

 What's next for Sweet & Sour Incorporated? For starters, it looks like the feud with Claudio Castagnoli will continue after his loss to Larry Sweeney at Final Battle and subsequent beatdown by Daniel Puder. In fact, Daniel Puder is a huge question mark, and I'm interested to see what he does in ROH. Is he going to be a full time performer for the company, or is he just going to make scattered appearances in between his MMA aspirations? He obviously knows what he's doing in terms of MMA expertise and must have gotten at least some rudimentary wrestling training while working for WWE, but is he able to work a full, actual match up to ROH standards? Will he be working full, 15-20 minute singles matches, or will he be working squash matches and hiding out in tag matches? He comes into ROH with built-in heat, and no matter who he beats, it'll only give him more heat, but I hope they avoid presenting him as being above everyone else due to his “real” fighting experience, because it's never good to work an angle like that at the expense of the rest of the roster.

 I've already talked about the direction I see Chris Hero taking, so let's look at the rest of the group. Is 2008 the year Bobby Dempsey pulls a Virgil and stops taking the abuse dished out to him by the others? He gets a really good crowd reaction wherever he goes and can be said to be way over, but can anyone seriously see him as legitimately able to compete against Hero, Puder, or Toland on his own? If he breaks off from the group, he'll most likely get jobbed out, and then what's next for him? Is Tank Toland going to spend more time in the ring this year, or will he continue to spend his time as “moral support” for Hero? Sara Del Rey seems to be leading a Chyna-esque double life in ROH these days. She works as a babyface when she's wrestling and doing undercard matches with the SHIMMER Title, but then she'll come out later in the show with the rest of Sweet & Sour Incorporated and she'll be a heel and interfere in Hero's matches. I expect her focus will continue to be working as a member of S&S Inc, because she really doesn't have an angle when appearing by herself as the SHIMMER Champion.

 This is also traditionally the time of year when some new talent starts making their way into ROH. I guess the most obvious name to expect to make an impact in ROH will be Human Tornado. I haven't seen much of him, but I have seen enough to say that he's got a great gimmick and has an entertaining ring style, and he'll only get better working in ROH. I also heard the names Karl Anderson and Tony Kozina being thrown around after ROH's swing out west late last year. I don't know anything about Anderson, but I have seen Kozina wrestle and I think he'd make a great addition to the roster. I don't know what kind of charisma he has in terms of working the stick, but the guy can flat out work, he's a really good technician and I'm frankly surprised he hasn't gotten a real shot in ROH by now because he did spend some time down in FIP a couple of years ago under the eye of Gabe Sapolsky. It's also possible for some names to make their return to ROH, and while I have absolutely no idea if the returns of any past names are in the works, but some names I'd like to see get another shot are guys like Dunn & Marcos, John Walters (whose full time return was teased over a year ago and never followed up on), and Tony Mamaluke, who is now free and clear of WWE and I think is capable of way more in terms of in-ring ability than he's ever had a chance to show in ROH. I absolutely do not want to ever see Jerrelle Clark or Azrieal in ROH ever again.

 Finally, what's going to happen for the company from a business perspective? 2007 saw them make several big moves, such as making decisions to no longer run markets that weren't making them money, expanding their live presence in other markets, both domestically and internationally, and of course the big move to Pay Per View. They've already made the announcement that ROH DVDs will soon be available in retail stores, but what else could be in store? Having lost their promoter in Great Britain, I would expect them to look at finding another promoter either there or in another international market, perhaps Canada. A return to Japan is almost a certainty, as is a return to the west coast, despite the money losers the Las Vegas and San Francisco shows will be. ROH has also announced that they'll be running in Orlando, Florida in March to piggyback off of Wrestlemania as they have for several years now. I'll be interested to see what other regions of the country they start looking at, because they've pretty much hit the wall in terms of viable markets in the northeast and upper midwest. One move I don't see them making is trying to score a TV deal. As good as the ROH product is, they're able to pretty much do whatever they want because they don't have a network telling them what they can and can't do, which is one of the things hurting both WWE and TNA right now. Also, they'd most likely get a one hour slot at most, which would put some handcuffs on their ability to tell the kinds of stories with their matches that they do now. The in-ring product is what ROH is selling, and a short timeslot would absolutely compromise the quality of their top selling point.

 That's it for now, thanks for reading, and as always, all feedback can be sent to stuwrestling@hotmail.com. I'd love to hear your take on my thoughts, and also send in your own thoughts on ROH's year to come, and if I get enough good stuff maybe I can make a column out of it in the near future. Thanks again, and see you soon.