Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Ring of Honor Wrestling


Coffey

Recommended Posts

What should ROH be doing though that Sinclair is hampering them in? Are you talking spending money? If so I would have agreed with your statement a couple years ago but given that the production is improved and they have enough clout to keep NJPW (and hopefully now CMLL) happy, I'm not sure what more they could be spending money on.

 

Exposure maybe? Then I would agree with you. I had heard months ago that Sinclair was going to rebrand The Tennis Channel as American Sports Network and rumor was that ROH was going to have a 2 hour slot on there. ASN has been a thing for 2-3 years now but was more a content provider and not its own channel and SBG was looking to change that. Whether ROH benefits from a 2-hour cable slot in an already crowded cable TV industry is also debatable.

 

I agree that the booking is stale & uninspired & my interest in ROH is probably at an all time low, but I think ROH has kind of settled into "they are what they are" at this point. Certainly they are going to be a breeding ground for guys on the rise to bigger & better things & use the occasional guy on the way back down. They are the only place to go to see NJPW & CMLL guys, so they have that niche. IF either of those is a money making niche at this point is debatable. They are laughably losing the battle of getting dream match indy guys now. It's been years, you could argue the entire Sinclair era, where PWG (and now Evolve) are totally blowing them out of the water with giving exposure to indy guys with actual buzz. So yeah the product & booking is stale but they seem to enjoy the spot they are in. It's more of a Japan booking philosophy where you kind of have to build a career there in order to reach the top of the card. Look how long it took Cole & O'Reilly to reach the top there. Whether that philosophy is conducive to the fast paced world of 2016 where guys look to make a name for themselves & move on in a few years, is debatable as well. But ROH has chosen a path and I would assume they are doing ok with it.

 

 

Sinclair doesn't seem to see much point in signing guys to bigger money deals. You have guys leaving to go to TNA, which can't even afford to run their TV tapings/PPVs unless Billy writes another check, which tells me ROH isn't making much effort to keep guys. They seem to bank on guys who get over signing a deal with NJ to split the costs.

 

It's not like it's the biggest issue with booking but it can't be easy to try to do the long term stories they like to do not knowing if the guys involved will still be around by the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 2.4k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

It appears that ROH is finally getting serious about adding new talent to the roster. I would assume that Kevin Kelly has taken over the creative side of the company . So things seem to be getting done , while everything was seemed to be in a free fall before Kelly went full time and relocated to SBGI HQ

 

. Keith Lee and Shane Taylor are finally get on A PPV and seemed to be full time , Lio Rush is full time Jason Kincaid has returned , Bull Dempsey is now being booked , Punisher Martinez is getting a small push and at least 3 more new talents are being add via the Kingdom gimmick.

 

If ROH is to survive and grow developing new talent is imperative. Let's face ROH has not been proactive in adding new talent during the Delirious era ,.Gabe has been using his or Heyman's and/or Danielson WWE ties to kick ROH 's ass in the area of new talent development . Losing out on guys like Matt Riddle , Jeff Cobb, Tracy Williams and Fred Yehi , just to name a few , has been a big blow to ROH 's growth . Hopefully things are things around for the company.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a link to that Christopher Daniels promo that I was talking about on the previous page. Like I said, Daniels is a guy that I enjoyed as a performer back in the early days of Ring of Honor and then kind of lost track of during his time in TNA. Haven't thought much of him during this tag run with Kazarian, but this promo made me pay attention.

 

https://youtu.be/55Y_RKL4dK8

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All Star Extravaganza is well worth checking out for anyone who hasn't.

 

Kamaitachi vs. Dragon Lee continued their rivalry with a show-stealing match early in the card. Crazy brutal spots and hopefully these guys can be a focal point in ROH going forward.

 

Ladder War was an amazing spectacle with some legitimately scary and brutal spots. It felt dangerous and important and was a breathtaking close to the show.

 

Kyle O'Reilly and Hangman Page had a very solid little match. The six-man tag and four way tag matches were fun and showcased everyone involved. I would've preferred Dijak to beat Fish for the TV title but still a good showing for both guys in a good opener.

 

Lethal going over Naito so strongly says good things about the relationship with NJPW and it was absolutely the right circumstance for Lethal to gain that kind of big win. This was a really good show and although the company has its share of faults, this show delivered in a big way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I love that Daniels promo.

 

Maybe I should watch ROH? I only caught one episode randomly about 6 months ago and it was highlights of a big show with a lot of Japanese guys.

 

Eh... Their TV is frustrating as fuck to follow. They'll be getting into a good groove heading into a big show and then you have to deal with a month or two of old content.

 

 

That did happen this year, an unfortunate cost to budgeting a trip to Japan for shows (this is one that peachchaos caught - they were not good). But outside of using that footage in advance of Global Wars, they've covered post PPV tv gaps pretty well. The tag team turmoil episode, the philly tapings had two TVs in the bank to air after DBDH and now the Field of Honor shows.

 

The deal with syndication is TV takes two weeks. Best solution there is an extra TV taping - the Philly one was perfect to keep all the momentum from the Best in the World tapings going through September.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lethal going over Naito so strongly says good things about the relationship with NJPW and it was absolutely the right circumstance for Lethal to gain that kind of big win. This was a really good show and although the company has its share of faults, this show delivered in a big way.

 

This was amazing to me - only because it seemed like Elgin dropped the IC belt because they knew he'd be jobbing to Cole. So to see Lethal go over Naito - man, I *really* hope this retires the narrative that ROH is NJPW's bitch (which is an ice-cold take anyway).Timothy and I talked about this on a Clotheslines & Headlines show back in August - Global Wars on has seen a stark shift in the booking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a link to that Christopher Daniels promo that I was talking about on the previous page. Like I said, Daniels is a guy that I enjoyed as a performer back in the early days of Ring of Honor and then kind of lost track of during his time in TNA. Haven't thought much of him during this tag run with Kazarian, but this promo made me pay attention.

 

https://youtu.be/55Y_RKL4dK8

 

Daniels has had a really underrated 2016 imo. His singles work (mainly on their house shows + the exceptional match with Fish at SCOH N1) has been great. Tag work with MCMG, i thought they were the better team and really put together nice work earlier the year mixing it up with the Bucks (Philly 3/12 show with the triple threat tag).

 

This ladder war was the cherry on top for both guys. They went balls out on the way to losing the belts. I went ****1/4.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It appears that ROH is finally getting serious about adding new talent to the roster. I would assume that Kevin Kelly has taken over the creative side of the company . So things seem to be getting done , while everything was seemed to be in a free fall before Kelly went full time and relocated to SBGI HQ

 

Agreed. A lot of people are holding onto the (legit at the time mind you) grumblings back before Global Wars, but their solution was KK full-time to ease the load on Delirious and be a liaison to talent. That really started with The Best in the World TV tapings and the product has been exponentially better since.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

If you listen to This Week in Wrestling, Pete has really covered the whole War Machine vs. Lee and Taylor stuff - great feud that is def one of the more interesting things in the ROH product right now.

 

TV match was very good and I like the booking. War Machine needed a win, it was a little out of nowhere and then Lee and Taylor immediately got the heat back with the chair. Pretty straight forward stuff.

 

They did announce that these teams face-off in SanAntonio during SOTF weekend - no rules match, which feels like a No Contest building to a Fight Without Honor (third for the company this year) at Final Battle ,which would be exactly the same type match but with a definitive finish.

 

I like that they're taking it on the road because you only have so much TV time per taping for everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That feud is my favorite thing going right now in ROH. The booking is right out of Crockett . It also helps that one of the teams is fresh in ROH. It seems ROH is going bigger in the talent dept. For example , Lee and Taylor, Punisher Martinez, and Jax Dane is working the Texas loop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This freshened up War Machine a bit also. They've had an interesting year - that on paper seems really solid.

 

They won the belts at Final Battle but really had tepid reactions from the crowd in the shows after. I haven't seen the ANX street fight, but they do a long and decent build to the Briscoes title defense (and validation of them as champs). That match is still my ROH match of the year for 2016 (I'm on an island!). So they peak as champs there and then cycle away from the belts , losing the next show to Addiction, but then segue into the Lee and Taylor stuff.

 

The run seemed to stop abruptly, but the Lee/Taylor stuff certainly does not need a title involved. Kind of smart in hindsight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Outside the War Machine vs. Lee/Taylor match -- this week's show caps the Lowell tapings pretty well with two of the best from that set. Dragon Lee/Fish is solid, but a lot purposely left on the table for their Final Battle match and the Kingdom/Bullet Club match got a lot of time (with a payoff to the Taven/Cole stuff from March).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...