Pro Wrestling Ponderings

This Saturday night, I will have the unique opportunity to leave my comfort zone and attend my first out-of-state wrestling show. While I am not a fan of the direction Ring of Honor has taken over this last year, I am intrigued by the concept of Survival of the Fittest. It is one of the most unique tournaments in professional wrestling, and this is probably my best (and possibly last) chance to see this tournament.

What I love most about what this tournament offers is the unpredictability. Ring of Honor takes 12 stars that are at various positions on the card and match them up against each other. Instead of going through various rounds, each of the six winners advance to the finals and the ending is a sometimes chaotic match with all kinds of upsets and different match-ups. In 2004, during the first ever Survival of the Fittest, Colt Cabana pinned then Ring of World champion Samoa Joe in what may still be the biggest upset in the history of the competition.

Speaking of the first ever Survival of the Fittest,  it came amidst the fallout of the Feinstein scandal and turned out to be the breakout performance of Austin Aries, a man who was only a couple months into his Ring of Honor career. Aries made it to the first finals, a trend he continued through the 2005, 2006, and 2007 Survival of the Fittest tournaments. Bryan Danielson is the man who would become the first winner after having an incredible ending sequence with Aries that would be the start of one of the finest rivalries in company history. Interesting to note that the 2009 version of this tournament comes the first week after the departure of Danielson.

Roderick Strong was a man who stepped up to the plate in the first half of 2005 by having great matches with Steve Corino, Samoa Joe, Alex Shelley, and CM Punk. Unfortunately, Strong wasn’t exactly picking up a lot of victories during this period.  That all changed in the 2005 version of Survival of the Fittest as Strong stepped up to the plate and beat Austin Aries, his partner in Generation Next at that time in another excellent final sequence. Strong was considered by many to be the MVP of 2005, and this was his first signature singles victory.

The next year exemplified just how unpredictable this tournament truly is. Bryan Danielson and Samoa Joe would go to a 20 minute time limit draw. Davey Richards and Jimmy Rave, two man believed to be the favorites, lost in the first round. Two of the biggest singles stars in the company, Strong and Homcide, lost a tag team match to the Briscoes. At least Austin Aries got to continue his almost Susan Lucci like streak of making the finals but never winning. Delirious and Matt Sydal, two of Ring of Honor’s biggest underdogs, had a fantastic sequence to end the 2006 Survival of the Fittest. Sydal was primarily used in tag matches with his Generation Next teammates while Delirious was almost out of the company if not for a victory against Ricky Reyes over Wrestlemania weekend. In a year of unpredictability, it’s only Delirious came out of this tournament the winner.

In a sense, Ring of Honor took it’s biggest gamble by heading to the West Coast. Two nights before the chaos at the Cow Palace, Ring of Honor took Survival of the Fittest to Las Vegas. Chris Hero, a man who never seemed to be able to get any traction in the company, broke through in a big way by not only winning the whole thing but also eliminating the other five men. While there were no four star matches, I think 2007 is my favorite year because of how strong Hero was put over and the simple story the final told. To me, this entire tournament isn’t necessarily about having the best matches, but trying to actually put new guys over.

This leads into 2009. With new stars absolutely needed for Ring of Honor to continue its’ own survival, this might be the most important Survival of the Fittest ever. Perhaps this is a chance to elevate Kenny King or Kenny Omega over. These are two men that are highly regarded, but they haven’t won a lot of big time singles matches. Maybe Tyler Black can win this tournament and set up a world title match at Final Battle 2009, where he can once and for all take the championship he’s spent the last two years chasing. How about Claudio Castagnoli or Colt Cabana? Two guys who seem to have gone directionless the entire year. Maybe Chris Hero, Roderick Strong, or Delirious can win once again to give him something that no other Ring of Honor star can claim, being a two time winner of the biggest and most consistent tournament Ring of Honor has. Petey Williams and Rhett Titus might also win, but I’d prefer to not even think of that as a possibility.

What is needed almost as much as a winner is a clear direction, good matches, and clean finishes. No BS. Whomever is booked to win should do it in the cleanest way possible to establish that this is a wrestler who could possibly be the world champion. Even if King or Omega have to wait their turn, there needs to be the sense that these two are being elevated and might be the ones to win the belt in 2010. I guess you could say that while Survival of the Fittest might just be the name of the tournament, we’ll find out how fit to survive Ring of Honor really is.

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09/07/09 ROH on HDNet

Welcome back readers. We are starting out with an exciting match as we have the duo of Rhett Titus and Kenny King against the returning heroes of ROH, The Briscoe Bros. A great tag team outing as for the first time we see the Briscoes as a team on HDNet, but it’s the youngin’s that are showing their mettle. Diverting attention of both brothers, making sure that their opponent is in their corner, and even then securing their dominance by practically cutting off Mark from Jay for most of the match. I’ll paraphrase D’Lo Brown from the BTR radio show this week in that the true measure of a wrestler is not about when he enters the ring and runs roughshad over his opponent, but it’s when the wrestler can make his opponent look like he’s beating him when under “normal” circumstances it wouldn’t be so. The Briscoes have always been able to do that for other tag teams. All the way to the finish the team of Titus and King looked like they were always within a hairs chance of winning, but with the Doomsday Device, the brothers secure another victory.

American Wolves come out and run down the Briscoes Bros. from the entrance way. But just to show how great the tag division is, Steenerico comes out and practically throws the American Wolves in the ring. After a short beat down, a surreal moment occurs when the team of Steenerico faces off against The Briscoe Bros. with each team holding one tag team belt as the American Wolves yell from the ringside. A great feud just waiting to happen between those three teams.

Nigel interview segment as he’s asked about Lynn and Black. Such a great promo man is Nigel and I do hope that the scripted promos in the fed don’t leech any of his charisma away. Damn I miss the spiked hairdo. The lasting moments after Durden stated that Nigel never gives a clear answer was gold, akin to The Rock staring down Coachman.

Eddie Kingston is out and ready for some action. Hero’s music blasts in darkness but of course who comes out to disappoint is the one and only Shane Hagadorn. Sal Rinauro is beckoned out by Hagadorn and once he backs into Kingston, he kneels down to pray. One spinning backfist later and the match is over as quick as it began. Furthering the fans want to see Hero versus Kingston. They have been building this since July and really this may be stretching it a tad thin as these squash matches are beginning to become redudant.

Another squash match as Nigel McGuinness takes on Aaron Scott. Nothing against Scott, but to make your in ring debut against a former great ROH champion is surely a daunting task. “Kill The Jobber” chants sound off at the beginning of this match and that is pretty much what Nigel starts doing from the get go. A great showing of what Nigel can do and obviously supposed to be a warm up, a warm up that may not get to second gear as most of the internet community knows that Nigel, alongside Bryan Danielson, is going to the WWE in principle. But that doesn’t mean he can’t give us an entertaining match up against Aaron Scott and he does just that with a great showing of his catch and submission style. Aaron gets a few moments of offense as he gets a reversal on the former champ but Nigel quickly returns to the dominant position. Glimers of hope for the young Aaron Scott but it would be Nigel who gets the win with a… DDT? Seemed to be a botched spot as Nigel was clearly going for the Jawbreaker Lariat but Scott dropped his head to “avoid” it but at the same time it did get across that Nigel can finish off an opponent with any weapon from his arsenal so perhaps the point did get across.

Great video package shown for the main event of the night of Jerry Lynn going up against the upstart Tyler Black who seemingly is the choosen one to reign as next ROH world champion. We’ll have to wait and see on that one, but I have predicted before that before or even perhaps at Final Battle 2009, we’d see Black finally reach that brass ring and win the big one. As I am going to the Sept. 19th ROH show in Chicago, I can’t wait to see Danielson and Black hook it up one last time for the forseeable future. The match begins, and as so many others that these two men have had, technical savvy is the starting point.

Obviously the point to get across is that Tyler has matured in the ring and can get those elusive wins in the singles department. From a TV timeline, they are pushing that the win over Nigel is the first step, but that he has a ways to go to become a contender. I seem to remember a certain PPV match where he took then champion Nigel to the limit and really showed his potential in that match. At this stage though, the television crowd is just learning what Tyler Black bas shown fans over the last two years on DVD and on PPV. I would also like to point out that I feel the reason that some are down on Jerry Lynn is because we have seen the greatness that is Lynn and perhaps are a tad jaded and some feel that there is nothing new Jerry can show them. I’m not sold on that yet as I feel perhaps a heel Jerry Lynn could reinvigorate his character in ROH.

Great back and forth action as Jerry Lynn shows speed of men half his age mixed with respectable holds and counter holds by both competitors. You can almost feel the mood in the building change as both men really are beginning to pick it up a notch. Silently and almost as if to surprise the men in the ring,Nigel has come to ringside to not only join the spectators, but to issue out some opinions. The reasons are his alone, but it is clear that he means to make sure both men know what he’s thinking. The crowd seems to notice but at the same time can’t tear their eyes from the action in the ring. Each resounding two count earns more and more cheers from the crowd for either competitor, but it would see that while neither man wants to give up, they both don’t have much left in the tank. Turnbuckle bomb and right into the super kick but soon we see a glimor of Nigel’s plan as he puts Lynns foot on the rope for the count break. Even the kids in the front row seem to be pleading with Black to not take his eyes off of Lynn, but it could be too soon too late as Lynn gets a small package and the win. Great match to end the night and it would seem that Black and Nigel are going to have at least one face off before the ROH legend goes to the WWE. Thanks for reading folks.

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I know what you’re thinking. It’s not Saturday. What the hell is this goofball doing reviewing ROH this week? Does this guy just like seeing his name print? While that is indeed true I’m a placeholder for this week until one of our new writers joins the party. There will be a number of changes coming to “Pro Wrestling Ponderings,” changes that I’m very excited about and will be addressing on Monday. With all that being said…

ROH on HDNet for June 20, 2009

-Taped from a garbage can in South Philadelphia

-Your hosts are the tortoise and the hare

We begin proper with a graphic announcing the passing of Mitsuharu Misawa. Glad they got this in even though the show has been in the can for quite some time.

BREAKING NEWS: Austin Aries is the new world champion. Wait, didn’t they tape this before the title switch? How did they know? Wait… wrestling is planned? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

We awkwardly transition to the first match which is…

-Claudio Castagnoli vs. Necro Butcher

Great, two of my favorite guys in Ring of Honor right now. I picked a great week to review this television show. Apparently, I can follow Claudio on his Twitter. Since I’d feel like a twat for using Twitter, I think I’ll take a pass. And while I know this wouldn’t be an issue in the olden days, should we really be following heel wrestler’s Twitters? “Today, I’m going to beat up a babyface. LOL.”

We go back to last week before the match begins to when Necro saved Grizzly Redwood. I think the problem with Necro in ROH is that he’s become way overexposed and basically a cartoon character. Necro is best when he’s allowed to have wacky brawls all over buildings and take bumps. Even better is that because certain people in ROH don’t want “too much” and telling people to “Grab a hold, kid” Necro is stuck wrestling boring matches.

Speaking boring, this match was the very definition of that. Not that there was inherently anything wrong with the work, but it was so non-descript and boring that I forgot everything as soon as it was over. Necro doing a monkey flip is cute, but he does nothing for ROH (and this is very sad for the record) he’s in chair-throwing brawls and taking punishment. Jimmy Rave interferes. Claudio hits the ricola bomb for the win.

Winner: Claudio Castagnoli

-Rave and Claudio beat down Necro after the match until Brent Albright makes the save.

-Back to last week again as Austin Aries hit then world champion Jerry Lynn with the belt. They promote the fact that they’ll have PHOTOS of Aries of champion. Guess they don’t want to hurt the replay.

-The high comedy of the week comes next as Nevaeh cuts a promo. I remember her cutting a promo at a CHIKARA show and thinking it was one of the worst promos I’d ever heard and no way should this amateur hour ever be showcased again. Well, not only it is showcased , BUT ON TELEVISION. This promo was no buys. Least she’s hot.

-Non-title: MsChif (w/Jimmy Jacobs) vs. Neveah

-After that sterling promo, I’m pumped. Although compared to the DIVAs on WWE, this was a borderline classic. Still non-descript and boring though. The Crowd was not into this at all. At all. There wasn’t any cheering or booing. I heard a few catcalls, and that’s about it. This was just an extended squash. The ending comes when Jimmy Jacobs tries to get in the ring but MsChif sprays mist into the eyes of Neveah. She hits The Desecrater for the three count. If that sounds familiar, it’s cause it’s similar to how the first match ended. Let’s move on.

-Colt Cabana joins us for “The Art of Pro Wrestling” with Brent Albright. It’s just an excuse to shill for DVDs, but I was actually entertained and I hope to see more of these guys together. Albright answering Colt’s question of what to do with people who ask questions by saying “Punch them in the balls” is the funniest line of the week.

-Winner: MsChif

-We get to see PHOTOZ! of the title switch.

-Highlights of Ric Flair’s final speech to the Philadelphia crowd. Don’t care.

-Kenny King (w/ Rhett Titus and the ho train) vs. Kenny Omega

-Mike Hogewood says he talked to the ladies before the show. Wonder he let them slap his porpoise. We backtrack four weeks to see Kenny Omega upset King in a three-way match beforehand. I actually like both guys and see a ton of potential in Kenny King, so this could be the best thing about the show.

King’s cockiness once again gets the best of him, and he falls to the Omegaplex. This was probably the best non-main event on any of the HDNet shows. Great athleticism and reversals with a couple highspots for good measure. I’d really like to see a regular program between these two because I could see them elevating each other. Good little match… finally.

-Winner: Kenny Omega

-Eddie Kingston vs. Andy “Right Ledge” Ridge

Let me get this straight. Neveah gets a promo, but Eddie Kingston doesn’t? Who is writing this show? Ridge looks like a Low Ki rip-off. This was a squasheroo with extra roo. Always fun to watch Kingston beat people up. Hopefully this feud with Hero, something that’s basically exclusive to television, turns out well.

Winner: Eddie Kingston

-A look at the history of Delirious and Jimmy Jacobs since they have a “Fight Without Honor.” This leads into a promo as Kyle Durden interviews Jacobs. I mentioned this in my review of “Take No Prisoners,” but Jacobs has gotten so mundane and the promos have not been anywhere close to what he was doing in 2007.

-Roderick Strong vs. KENTA

-Main event time and the crowd finally wakes up from their slumber. What a brutal start with chops and kicks being exchanged between these two. I did notice the time and was well aware right away that they wouldn’t get a chance to tell a proper story. They just had to include give matches on this week’s show instead of the usual four. Don’t get me wrong. This was easily the best match of the show and very entertaining, but I’ve seen KENTA have better matches with far worse opponents because he was given the time. This felt like KENTA/Strong-Lite… although KENTA’s purple chest would make you think otherwise. KENTA wins with the Go 2 Sleep. Least it was solid and clean.

Winner: KENTA

Final Thoughts: This very much felt like a television product as opposed to a wrestling product. There was way too much going on in this 50 minute period with five matches, promos, and even some discussion about the world title change that took place last week. I think next week is going to be worlds better with a double main event of Delirious/Jacobs and the tag title main event. But alas, we’ll have a new writer beginning next week. Until then, see you this weekend for what could be my last Smackdown review.

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