Ring of Honour – A Quick Break Down and Random Thoughts
By Shaun Apps
I am waiting with baited breath people; Ring of Honours debut show will hit my doorstep in just over 2 weeks. But before I watch it and review the show for you all, let’s have a brief history of what ROH is.
Ring of Honour is a promoters dream. It is a small, yet up and coming promotion, which have a deal with the Texas Wrestling Academy (Shawn Michaels federation) and are backed by the largest wrestling video distributor in the USA, RF Video. That’s right Rob “I fucked Missy Hyatt” Feinstein backs this federation, you could call it his baby.
Okay, so they have marketing to all wrestling smarks down pat. But what about talent? They surely couldn’t have a roster to rival what was on showcase at King Of The Indies 2001? Wrong. It might be just that much better. On their first show they had, just to name a few, all the members of the SATs, The Briscoe brothers (I’ll get to that later…), Scoot Andrews, Super Crazy, Low-Ki, American Dragon, Christopher Daniels and the God of wrestling Eddy Guerrero. Now tell me you aren’t excited yet?
To add to that excitement, ROH’s next show will crown the first ROH champion. Think that small sample of the roster above is impressive? Already signed to compete in the tournament are:
The New F'N Show" Jerry Lynn,
"The Anarchist" Doug Williams,
"The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels,
Low Ki,
American Dragon,
Spanky "The Show Stopper",
"The Phenomenal" AJ Styles,
The Amazing Red,
"The All Around Best" Xavier,
"The Black Nature Boy" Scoot Andrews,
Jay Briscoe,
Prince Nana.
More talent is too be added to that as well. I’m guessing Juvi might make an appearance as well as Super Crazy and someone said Shane Douglas, but I’d take Douglas being on that show as a grain of salt. Douglas would not perform well with that group of talent. Not saying Douglas isn’t talented, as I love Douglas, just he works a different style to the rest of them. Maybe Guido? That would be cool. The Sicilian shooter is awesome.
How did ROH get so many stars? Easy. Feinstein is a cheating sonofabitch. He stole The Briscoe brothers away from CZW. (Please Note: Shaun Apps' opinions are his own, and not necessarily that of Pro-Wrestling Queensland) How? He told them they were going nowhere in CZW and ROH would take them places. Yes, RF have some inside connections in the WWF and I wouldn’t be surprised if the WWE decided to make ROH one of their development camps. But then RF would have the WWE on their backs about video rights and stuff, so scrap that idea. Where was I? Oh yes, the Briscoe Brothers. Leaving CZW with the brothers are the SATs who are one of the most sought after Indy workers in America and Mexico. They now are pretty much property of ROH or Feinstein’s bitches in other words.
So ROH is pretty much the promotion of the moment. Great talent, excellent exposure and they have me waiting for a tape with great excitement! Last time I was this excited over a video was the Eddy Guerrero Shoot (which is an excellent shoot by the way, I highly recommend it). I will let you all know when I get it, as I will be doing a review of the whole show to let you know if the hype is worth the wait.
Random Thoughts:
WWE Judgement Day is shaping up to be a solid PPV. Jericho vs. HHH in Hell in a Cell should be a stellar match. I’m expecting a battle of psychology in that match much like the ****1/2 effort from Taker and HBK in the original match. RVD vs. Guerrero was also signed. I was wondering why it wasn’t a gimmick match though, but Smackdown! Answered my question. It also shows the WWE have a lot of faith in those two wrestlers to let them go one on one two PPVs in a row. Last time that happened with any pair was Angle and Austin last year. D-Lo will most likely make his PPV return against Regal for the European championship. Good to see D-Lo back on TV.
Scott Hall’s release is no surprise to me. Yes, I love Razor, but he wasn’t doing anything in the ring that made me think he was worth bringing back. He didn’t even do that stamp feet and stretch arm pose any more. All I can say is RIP Scott and I can’t wait to see your shoot.
Henning’s release was long over due. He should never have been signed to a contract for more than a night. He can’t even hit his gum any more.
That’s it for this column,
Shaun
“What’s your name? Hugh Morris? Humorous? What?. Is that meant to be funny?”
– Steve Austin
E-mail: the_gr8_one1@hotmail.com
Columns | Shows | International | Australia Wide | Links |