Is Ring Of Honor A Sinking Ship?
I'm guessing a chunk of fans were like me, and didn't have HDNet. Therefore when ROH was sold to Sinclair Broadcasting, they were absolutely stoked to see ROH on national television. Unfortunately, in hindsight that may have been it's undoing.
It took me a few months to finally admit to myself that the ROH programming is actually quite average and at times, boring. But why is that? ROH used to have the best shows match for match, of any wrestling promotion.
Some people say it's the booking, and yeah I gotta say there is some truth to that. But a great roster can overcome bad booking to an extent, and the ROH roster just isn't that great at present time.
The beginning of the end was Glory By Honor in 2009. Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson both left on this night. So not only did you lose a top five greatest ROH competitor ever (Nigel), but you also lost the most beloved and influential star the company ever had (Danielson). It was an absolutely devastating blow, but with Austin Aries as the champ, he did help carry them forward as best he could.
Tyler Black and Davey Richards elevated themselves to full-time main eventers at this time. Roderick Strong, The Briscoes, Kenny Omega, and the Kings of Wrestling brought it like they always do. So in actuality, things didn't seem so bleak at the time even with the loses of Danielson and McGuinness. Unfortunately it got worse.
By the end of 2010 Aries, Omega, and Black were gone. Black went to WWE, Omega to Japan, and from what I understand ROH let Aries walk. Let me say that again, THEY LET ARIES WALK! Why would any sane company do that? In case you are wondering where Aries is now, he is the current TNA Heavyweight Champion. Yeah, big mistake ROH.
So now four former ROH champions have left in the span of a year, and the sale to Sinclair lead to the departure of long-time mainstays Colt Cabana, Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli. What a way to start off the new era!
The new era has also apparently put an end to all Japanese talent being used. I'm sure its legal reasons, and maybe them just wanting to create their own stars (which is admirable) too. Obviously Dragon Gate has been out the picture a while since Gabe Sapolsky is the booker of Dragon Gate USA, and Gabe was the former booker of ROH and was unceremoniously let go in 2008 (more on that in a second).
Dragon Gate's involvement in ROH was always very impactful- even if it was only once or twice a year. Those boys brought it. However Dragon Gate's departure wasn't as big as Pro Wrestling Noah's.
KENTA and Marufuji were regulars in the company for about three years. There were some others, like Morishima who had a ROH title reign for most of 2007. These guys mixed with any roster equals fantastic matchups, let alone a solid ROH roster. My point is, with the roster sucking as much as it does, having some Japanese guys (or guys from any other promotion for that matter) come in again could really help out the boring mess we have now.
For whatever reason, they are now trying to be an MMA-style company (many blame Davey for leading the way on this). All the wrestlers are bland and one-dimensional. This would be forgivable if it had the old roster, but with the roster at an all-time low, this can't happen. You need all sorts of gimmicks, especially for a television show. Which again, Sinclair may or may not have helped this. (I'm leaning towards "may")
So the new ROH main event scene for 2011was Davey Richards, Roderick Strong, and Eddie Edwards. All three great wrestlers, but going back to the booking issue, it was pretty much Davey vs. Eddie the whole year, with a little Roddy thrown in every now and again.
Now Davey's reign was/is still controversial. They say he is too boring. Which I don't buy that argument because he was always the soft-spoken, intense guy and everyone loved him two years prior. So maybe he needed to be a heel as champion? It also wasn't his fault he only worked with basically two people his whole reign. Again, it goes back to the booking.
He did however switch back to trunks, get a ridiculous haircut (that is fortunately now gone) and start throwing more kicks than any one man should try. I realize they quit using piledriver-esque maneuvers so his D.R. Driver was out, but he started using Tajiri's kick to the head for a finish and that pissed a lot of people off. I understand this point and don't entirely agree with it, but Davey's reign not living up to its potential can't be totally blamed on him.
So everyone turned on Davey, the top guy in the company. They inserted Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Cole into his storyline which was absolutely stupid, and didn't even have him defend the title at the 10th Anniversary Show. Why the hell not? When given the chance to branch out though, he did have two great matches, one with Lethal, and another with Michael Elgin (budding ROH star) - which got a 5-Star rating. Which should piss off the ROH following even more because he could have been doing that his whole reign like Joe, Danielson, and Nigel, instead of basically one long, drawn out feud with Edwards.
Speaking of Edwards, he is a great wrestler, but the dude has no charisma. Same for Roderick. The whole "playa" gimmick (again that was dropped) was ridiculous. Roderick is HORRIBLE on the mic. In the ring, I truly think he is one of the best in the world, but you got to hide his mic skills, or lack thereof.
Jay Lethal has a little more charisma than the two aforementioned gentlemen, but still not enough to translate well for the TV show (No Machismo jokes needed). If this was the old ROH straight to DVD, this would be no big deal, but since it's on national television, these issues need to be addressed. Kevin Steen is a small savior now as champion because he can talk, and the fans have really taken to him. So that's definitely a small step in the right direction.
Other small problems with the show, for me anyway, is Kevin Kelly doing commentary. All I can think while watching it is, "Is this Sunday Night Heat?" Sorry Kevin, you don't do it for me. (Nigel on the other hand is quite good.) Getting Pryzak back would help it seem more like ROH to me, but I'm sure that won't happen. The red ring ropes kind of weird me out too. With the exception of a few shows in 2004, ROH has always been a black rope promotion. (I'm weird about ropes. Maybe no one else is, but I hated the Smackdown blue ropes at first, and I still hate the white ropes on Raw.)
So allegedly the company is also struggling financially on top of everything else. Some people aren't surprised. I hope it's not true. I want ROH to succeed, and not tank, but I do think they are going to have to make some serious changes. I know they can't go back to being exactly like they were, even with a stacked roster, and good booking. They're on TV now, they have to appeal to a much larger audience. But they can move back that direction a tad, and get back on the track that got them on TV in the first place.
Many thought the end of ROH was the firing of head booker Gabe Sapolsky in late 2008. In all honesty, it may have been. I realize at the beginning of this blog I said the beginning of the end was Glory by Honor in September of '09, but it also goes back to my point about a great roster overcoming bad booking.
Adam Pearce (Also been replaced, by Delirious, and apparently has a lot of help from Jim Cornette) took over for Gabe, and honestly didn't do that bad of job. However, it's pretty tough to screw up with Nigel as your champion. An upper card consisting of Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Tyler Black, The Briscoes. And your remaining under card guys being: Steen and Generico, American Wolves, Kenny Omega, Delirious, Kings of Wrestling, Jimmy Jacobs, etc.
My overall point is that the ROH roster has always been stacked. We aren't used to it any other way, and it's really just plain sad to see it otherwise. I went to the ROH show "Unity" in April and really enjoyed myself. It was dual show with Chikara, and the show has been one of the better reviewed ones of the year. I don't feel this was a coincidence. It needs the help. It needs a new direction. It needs to be Ring of Honor again, and not whatever mess we have now. Please ROH fix this before it's too late.
It took me a few months to finally admit to myself that the ROH programming is actually quite average and at times, boring. But why is that? ROH used to have the best shows match for match, of any wrestling promotion.
Some people say it's the booking, and yeah I gotta say there is some truth to that. But a great roster can overcome bad booking to an extent, and the ROH roster just isn't that great at present time.
The beginning of the end was Glory By Honor in 2009. Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson both left on this night. So not only did you lose a top five greatest ROH competitor ever (Nigel), but you also lost the most beloved and influential star the company ever had (Danielson). It was an absolutely devastating blow, but with Austin Aries as the champ, he did help carry them forward as best he could.
Tyler Black and Davey Richards elevated themselves to full-time main eventers at this time. Roderick Strong, The Briscoes, Kenny Omega, and the Kings of Wrestling brought it like they always do. So in actuality, things didn't seem so bleak at the time even with the loses of Danielson and McGuinness. Unfortunately it got worse.
By the end of 2010 Aries, Omega, and Black were gone. Black went to WWE, Omega to Japan, and from what I understand ROH let Aries walk. Let me say that again, THEY LET ARIES WALK! Why would any sane company do that? In case you are wondering where Aries is now, he is the current TNA Heavyweight Champion. Yeah, big mistake ROH.
So now four former ROH champions have left in the span of a year, and the sale to Sinclair lead to the departure of long-time mainstays Colt Cabana, Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli. What a way to start off the new era!
The new era has also apparently put an end to all Japanese talent being used. I'm sure its legal reasons, and maybe them just wanting to create their own stars (which is admirable) too. Obviously Dragon Gate has been out the picture a while since Gabe Sapolsky is the booker of Dragon Gate USA, and Gabe was the former booker of ROH and was unceremoniously let go in 2008 (more on that in a second).
Dragon Gate's involvement in ROH was always very impactful- even if it was only once or twice a year. Those boys brought it. However Dragon Gate's departure wasn't as big as Pro Wrestling Noah's.
KENTA and Marufuji were regulars in the company for about three years. There were some others, like Morishima who had a ROH title reign for most of 2007. These guys mixed with any roster equals fantastic matchups, let alone a solid ROH roster. My point is, with the roster sucking as much as it does, having some Japanese guys (or guys from any other promotion for that matter) come in again could really help out the boring mess we have now.
For whatever reason, they are now trying to be an MMA-style company (many blame Davey for leading the way on this). All the wrestlers are bland and one-dimensional. This would be forgivable if it had the old roster, but with the roster at an all-time low, this can't happen. You need all sorts of gimmicks, especially for a television show. Which again, Sinclair may or may not have helped this. (I'm leaning towards "may")
So the new ROH main event scene for 2011was Davey Richards, Roderick Strong, and Eddie Edwards. All three great wrestlers, but going back to the booking issue, it was pretty much Davey vs. Eddie the whole year, with a little Roddy thrown in every now and again.
Now Davey's reign was/is still controversial. They say he is too boring. Which I don't buy that argument because he was always the soft-spoken, intense guy and everyone loved him two years prior. So maybe he needed to be a heel as champion? It also wasn't his fault he only worked with basically two people his whole reign. Again, it goes back to the booking.
He did however switch back to trunks, get a ridiculous haircut (that is fortunately now gone) and start throwing more kicks than any one man should try. I realize they quit using piledriver-esque maneuvers so his D.R. Driver was out, but he started using Tajiri's kick to the head for a finish and that pissed a lot of people off. I understand this point and don't entirely agree with it, but Davey's reign not living up to its potential can't be totally blamed on him.
So everyone turned on Davey, the top guy in the company. They inserted Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Cole into his storyline which was absolutely stupid, and didn't even have him defend the title at the 10th Anniversary Show. Why the hell not? When given the chance to branch out though, he did have two great matches, one with Lethal, and another with Michael Elgin (budding ROH star) - which got a 5-Star rating. Which should piss off the ROH following even more because he could have been doing that his whole reign like Joe, Danielson, and Nigel, instead of basically one long, drawn out feud with Edwards.
Speaking of Edwards, he is a great wrestler, but the dude has no charisma. Same for Roderick. The whole "playa" gimmick (again that was dropped) was ridiculous. Roderick is HORRIBLE on the mic. In the ring, I truly think he is one of the best in the world, but you got to hide his mic skills, or lack thereof.
Jay Lethal has a little more charisma than the two aforementioned gentlemen, but still not enough to translate well for the TV show (No Machismo jokes needed). If this was the old ROH straight to DVD, this would be no big deal, but since it's on national television, these issues need to be addressed. Kevin Steen is a small savior now as champion because he can talk, and the fans have really taken to him. So that's definitely a small step in the right direction.
Other small problems with the show, for me anyway, is Kevin Kelly doing commentary. All I can think while watching it is, "Is this Sunday Night Heat?" Sorry Kevin, you don't do it for me. (Nigel on the other hand is quite good.) Getting Pryzak back would help it seem more like ROH to me, but I'm sure that won't happen. The red ring ropes kind of weird me out too. With the exception of a few shows in 2004, ROH has always been a black rope promotion. (I'm weird about ropes. Maybe no one else is, but I hated the Smackdown blue ropes at first, and I still hate the white ropes on Raw.)
So allegedly the company is also struggling financially on top of everything else. Some people aren't surprised. I hope it's not true. I want ROH to succeed, and not tank, but I do think they are going to have to make some serious changes. I know they can't go back to being exactly like they were, even with a stacked roster, and good booking. They're on TV now, they have to appeal to a much larger audience. But they can move back that direction a tad, and get back on the track that got them on TV in the first place.
Many thought the end of ROH was the firing of head booker Gabe Sapolsky in late 2008. In all honesty, it may have been. I realize at the beginning of this blog I said the beginning of the end was Glory by Honor in September of '09, but it also goes back to my point about a great roster overcoming bad booking.
Adam Pearce (Also been replaced, by Delirious, and apparently has a lot of help from Jim Cornette) took over for Gabe, and honestly didn't do that bad of job. However, it's pretty tough to screw up with Nigel as your champion. An upper card consisting of Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Tyler Black, The Briscoes. And your remaining under card guys being: Steen and Generico, American Wolves, Kenny Omega, Delirious, Kings of Wrestling, Jimmy Jacobs, etc.
My overall point is that the ROH roster has always been stacked. We aren't used to it any other way, and it's really just plain sad to see it otherwise. I went to the ROH show "Unity" in April and really enjoyed myself. It was dual show with Chikara, and the show has been one of the better reviewed ones of the year. I don't feel this was a coincidence. It needs the help. It needs a new direction. It needs to be Ring of Honor again, and not whatever mess we have now. Please ROH fix this before it's too late.
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