Ring of Honor Wrestling

Two recoveries completed, but would that make a difference to the title picture? Could Jerry Lynn actually put on a good match? Would the tag teams outshine the heavyweights? Find out now!

 

We are at ringside with Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak, who hype up tonight's main event between Tyler Black and Jerry Lynn. We go straight into our first match of the evening.

The Briscoe Brothers vs Kenny King and Rhett Titus

The announcers hype this up as the first match for Mark Briscoe since his return from injury, before noting that they have a tough test to face in King and Titus.

The Briscoes gain the immediate advantage by attacking King and Titus instead of shaking their hands. They then followed up with hard kicks and strikes, allowing them to hit strong slams on both men.

The tide turned when Titus was tagged in, allowing him to attack Mark from behind, before hitting him with a series of double-team moves.

This continued for several minutes, but Mark was then able to tag in Jay, who proceeded to clean house on King and Titus. The momentum stopped however, when King hit a chinbreaker on Jay, before tagging out.

Titus immediately capitalised on a fallen Jay, hitting a huge Super Lung Blower behind the referee's back, before gaining the near fall.

Mark broke up the pin, before pulling Jay to his corner, allowing him to tag into the match. Once in, Mark cleaned house again, before hitting the Doomsday Device on King for the win.

Winners: The Briscoe Brothers by pinfall (12:00)

 

After the match, The American Wolves came down to the ring. They proceeded to verbally attack The Briscoes, saying that they were going to "cripple them again." This then led to Kevin Steen and El Generico storming the ring and attacking The Wolves with The Briscoes. The Wolves bailed, leaving The Briscoes and Steenerico to stare down each other.

Backstage, Kyle Durden is standing by with Nigel McGuinness. He asks for Nigel's views on the main event, upon which he lists the credentials of both Lynn and Black. He finished up by saying that "both of them need to keep their eyes on the ball tonight."

Next, we are shown a video of Eddie Kingston's backstage attack on Chris Hero from a few weeks ago. Prazak then mentions how Kingston demanded to meet Hero in a match tonight.

Kingston comes out first, but is met with Chris Hero's manager Shane Hagadorn. Shane tells Kingston that he hasn't done anything worthy of facing Hero, so he will face someone else instead. This leads to the arrival of Sal Rinauro.

Eddie Kingston vs Sal Rinauro

Kingston hit Rinauro with a sucker punch before the bell. Once it actually rung, he hit a spinning backfist for the fastest victory I've seen in ages.

Winner: Eddie Kingston by pinfall (0:10)

 

During the break, we were treated to a video package of the recent series of matches between Tyler Black and "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson.

Back to the broadcast, we see Nigel McGuinness making his way to the ring for his match against Aaron Scott. You could tell how this one was going to go.

Nigel McGuinness vs Aaron Scott

McGuinness toyed around with Scott, hitting a chain of moves, before grounding him with a series of arm and shoulder locks.

Scott attempted a comeback, hitting a couple of chops, followed by a dropkick, but McGuinness quickly hit a DDT for the three.

Winner: Nigel McGuinness by pinfall (4:00)

 

After the bout, McGuinness applied the London Dungeon to Scott, sending a message to the ROH lockerroom.

We were shown yet another history package, this time taking a look at Tyler Black's rise to the top level of ROH, as well as his promo two weeks ago which led to tonight's main event.

Tyler Black vs Jerry Lynn

During ring entrances, Prazak commented on how it was Black who eliminated Lynn in the three way elimination match to determine the ROH Heavyweight champion. He also mentioned how this was the third time that Lynn had faced a former champion on the weekly shows.

The match starts with both men trading holds and reversals in an attempt to one-up each other. Black finally got the advantage with a dropkick, followed up by a chain of mounted strikes.

During the beatdown, camera's showed Nigel McGuinness making his way to ringside to get a better look at both men.

Black maintained his grip on Lynn, until Lynn was able to reverse a Suplex into an Inverted DDT for the first near fall of the bout. He then proceeded to throw Black to the outside, before hitting him with a top rope cross-body block.

After fighting on the outside, Black regained the advantage with a thumb to the eye, followed up with a beautiful Springboard Lariat which led to another near fall.

Black went for a Buckle Bomb, but was countered into a Head scissors by Lynn, before being thrown into the turnbuckles. Lynn then hit a Superbomb and a TKO for two near falls.

Lynn attempted to finish off Black with his Cradle Piledriver, but was countered into a Death Valley Driver by Black, who got yet another near fall.

Black then hit Lynn with a Buckle Bomb/Super Kick combination, before going for the pin. However, McGuinness put Lynn's foot on the bottom rope to break the fall. Black began yelling at McGuinness, but was caught with a roll-up, giving Lynn the win.

Winner: Jerry Lynn by pinfall (16:30)

McGuinness backed up the ramp after the match saying "keep your eye on the ball Tyler Black, I'm not going to tell you again." The announcers then asked what would be next in Black's career.

Thoughts

This was a very hit and miss episode of ROH. On one hand, you had an incredible main event which not only re-established Lynn as a legitimate competitor for the Heavyweight title, but also set up the "passing of the torch" from McGuinness to Black. You had some fantastic video packages which did what they were supposed to in advancing many of the feuds, and a brilliant promo on the part of The American Wolves. However, the Kingston/Rinauro squash was an absolute waste of a match. There wasn't even a match! It did nothing except bury Rinauro more than he already is, without extending the feud between Kingston and Hero. Other than that, this was a good show, but wasn't as good as recent episodes.

Show Grade: This gets a B, but was only saved from a C by the fantastic efforts of Lynn and Black.

Match Quality

1. Tyler Black vs Jerry Lynn

2. The Briscoe Brothers vs Kenny King and Rhett Titus

3. Nigel McGuinness vs Aaron Scott

4. Eddie Kingston vs Sal Rinauro

Weekly Top Five

1. Jerry Lynn

2. Tyler Black

3. Nigel McGuinness

4

Up until two weeks ago, my typical week as it pertained to professional wrestling was as follows:

MONDAY: Watch WWE Monday Night Raw, get stomach cramps, and try preventing myself from shoving my fist through the screen every time we were graced with the presence of John Cena.

TUESDAY: Cramps return as I watch Vince continue to disgrace the letters ECW, come on, ABRAHAM WASHINGTON? I rest my case.

WEDNESDAY: Reading my fellow angry wrestling fans' articles on Bleacher Report, cheap plug, and asking myself over and over again what happened???

THURSDAY: Continue to watch the train wreck that is TNA. Hey, at its start, I loved it. The X-Division, Petey Williams' Canadian Destroyer, it was a welcomed alternative.

Now, all champions are over 40, with the exception of the great Samoa Joe, oh yeah and have to mention A.J., but its going down the same road as our once-beloved WCW.

FRIDAY: WWE SMACKDOWN impresses the hell out of me. The younger talent, the innovative bookings, it jump starts my love once again for professional wrestling and makes me ponder all the great memories I have of the WWE. It also heightens once again my anticipation for Monday Night Raw.

MONDAY: Once again, John Cena, cramps, clinched fist and the whole cycle starts all over again.

That was until two weeks ago when the best "PURE" wrestling made its debut on Monday nights: RING OF HONOR WRESTLING, also known as ROH, ROH, ROH, ROH.

Now, we all know ROH was formed about seven years ago. It finally got a television contract earlier this year, on HdNET.

Actually you can't really call it a cable channel when it has only 35 subscribers. I was number 36 until May of this year when my cable provider dropped the channel because Mark Cuban is a schmuck.

Anyway, it was a great thing for this organization who has in my opinion the hardest working athletes in professional wrestling today.

This week, for example on the familiar watch of Monday Night RAW what did we get?

For the first 29 minutes a much much toooooo long birthday celebration  for the genius Vince, I give credit where its due, chock full of showgirls, men wearing really gay masks jumping around on pogo sticks, an Elvis impersonator who looked like he was on Meth and then to top it all off, fat thong-wearing oily guy jumping out of a cake.

Now, DX made me chuckle a bit, come on Shawn & Hunter are two of the best on the mic, but the rest of this charade was embarrassing.

Not just for the WWE, who brands itself as not just wrestling but sports entertainment, but an embarrassment to all professional wrestling.

If a non-wrestling fan tuned in to give pro-wrestling a chance and this is what they saw, do you think they would ever tune in again?

I can go on and on from here: the guest host shtick has got to go, Hunter won't let anyone get a decent push, don't get me started on John Cena.

I mean look at the main event this week. A 64 year old getting in the ring, Cena getting involved when he wasn't even part of the match.

I know, I know this stuff happens all the time, but there was not one memorable "WRESTLING" match, not one. Very rarely is there one.

The last great match I can remember on RAW was the match between Shawn and CENA from London. I think it was on New Year's or around New Year's. Now that was a match.

RING OF HONOR, speaking about just their two Monday night shows, have had two superb main events. This week especially was Roderick Strong vs Austin Aries. "A DOUBLE" Austin Aries is the ROH World Champion. The first two time ROH champion.

Aries and Strong were once part of the same faction known as Generation Next. They know each other very well in the ring. The match was over 20 minutes, no commercials, NONE, and they never rested for a minute. No 4 minute headlocks or chin locks on the mat to "wear down" your opponent.

I understand at times the wrestlers need a minute, it can add to the psychology and momentum of the contest, but most of the time they last way too long and ultimately ruin the match.

Austin's chest was blood red from Roderick's Ric Flair like chops. He hit Austin with about seven or eight of his backbreaker variations.

The mats were torn up and Austin received a front-face suplex on the cement. Like I said, back and forth for over 20 minutes; these athletes did NOT stop.

I won't spoil anything and give away any winners or losers, but at the end it was a four-star match on television once again from Ring Of Honor.

It's just really really great to see an organization focusing on "wrestling" again.

I miss, of course with all of us, Paul Heyman's brainchild that was ECW. Every week I would look forward, with child-like angst ,to that theme music that would signal that the most exciting hour of television was about to come on.

Unpredictable, loud, crazy, rude, crude, full of athletes who were giving it their all, week after week, for the fans and for the purpose of mastering their craft.

These are the things I see in Ring Of Honor. That's why, for me, Monday's are exciting again....

Thanks for reading and please comments and feedback are much appreciated.

Hello everyone. As always, I would like to thank all of you for spending some time with me today.

Well it would seem like to me that the ROH is in for some very key moments its history.

They have made the move to Monday night and have felt the wrath of Vince already. Now that Danielson is gone, where does this leave ROH?

It’s safe to say that losing him is a big blow but it doesn’t mean doom for the company.

It just means that others will have to pick up the slack for his departure. It’s not like the roster they have still isn’t filled with good grapplers.

The question is who will be the one that will step it up and fill in for some heavy shoes. The likely candidate would probably be Nigel McGuinness. He has been a world champion and has also held their Pure championship.

Between both runs he held the title for over 800 days. He is a mainstay with the fans and he can step up and become ROH’s savior. It will also be interesting to see if Austin Aries can step up his game and make the ROH title a hotter commodity.

It really isn’t a matter of talent though with ROH. The ROH roster in general has always been good. What will be a key factor for them is trying to keep Vince from snagging more talent away from them.

If he went in and took guys like the Briscoes or KENTA away then things could get bad. It is also not out of the realm for Nigel to follow Danielson’s foot steps if given the chance. Last I checked, he was in his 30s and the injuries were racking up.

It is going to take some hard work and money if ROH wants to make the jump to the next level. Even if they can snag the No. 2 spot and bump down TNA, it would be worth it.

I won’t pretend to know ROH’s financial state. I would think though that they must be pulling some kind of profit, even if it’s a minimal one. They can also look into taking out some loans in order to boost their product.

Let’s face facts; it usually takes money to make money. It has and will always be this way in life. Or they could sell their souls to Vince and hammer out a working relationship. They can swap talent and try to keep fresh stars coming in.

I don’t think that is the way they want to go, though. If it were, they probably would have done so already. I know people have said they can’t sign big-name talent, but I don’t believe this for a second.

If you offer anyone enough money you can secure a big name. There are lots of big names that are out in about that doesn’t have WWE on them. I have mentioned Angle before; I think he would be a good fit for them.

Think about it for a second; Kurt Angle doesn’t need the money. Maybe they can lure him in by promising a long run as ROH champ. It would certainly make Angle's legacy bigger than it already is.

They can also bolster up their women’s division. I know Lufisto has displayed interest in getting involved in the big three before she retired. I also don’t see why they couldn’t pony up the dough and sign a few of New Japan's top stars.

One way or another ROH is going to have to make some kind of move. That is unless they are content at being stuck in that three spot.

I wish ROH the best of luck in their new ventures. They are most likely going to need as much of it as they can get.

Here is a little history lesson for all of you guys. Vince McMahon took almost every penny he had and invested in Wrestlemania. How did that work out for him?

Some times in life you have to gamble a little. If you fail, at least you can say you tried.

I would like to thank all of you for spending some time with me today.

As always, have a safe and blessed day.

Welcome to the second edition of the ROH Rewind! With everything seemingly happening in the world of ROH, would this have an impact on this week's show? Would Bryan Danielson's signing into the big leagues now open up the Heavyweight Title picture? Would Jerry Lynn be forced to retire? Would this week's main event top the spectacle of McGuinness vs Black? All will be revealed!

We start this week with a video package of the history between Jerry Lynn and Austin Aries, showing Lynn's descent into a hated man when he turned his back on the fans after allowing Aries to beat Tyler Black for the Heavyweight Title.

The announcers hype up Jerry Lynn's appearance and his future in the business, as well as the main event of Austin Aries vs Roderick Strong.

Kevin Steen and El Generico vs Sami Callihan and Tony Kozina

This match was a must-win for Steen and Generico, because if they lost, then they'd lose their chance at another shot for the Tag Team Titles, currently held by the American Wolves. This led to the announcers hyping up the strength of the tag team division compared to other promotions (veiled shot at WWE, maybe?).

This match started off in the favour of Steen and Generico, as they were able to gain an early advantage over the opposition. A set of quick tags enabled them to isolate Kozina from his partner.

Callihan evened up the odds by interfering behind the referee's back, allowing Kozina to get the tag and let the fresh man in.

This then led to the typical tag team strategy of separating off the ring to wear down the opponent (in this case, Kevin Steen). However, Steen was able to counter a double team move into a sweet stacked Samoan Drop, dropping both men.

This then set up Callihan and Kozina for the finishing shot in the form of a package piledriver/brain buster combination, leading to the pin and the win for Steen and Generico.

Winners: Kevin Steen and El Generico by Pinfall (5:30)

Backstage, Kyle Durden was standing by with Roderick Strong.

He asked Strong for his thoughts on his upcoming match against Austin Aries, in which Strong rebutted by recalling a list of all the top ROH talent that he has beaten in recent weeks to earn this opportunity against the champion. He finished up by saying he'd prove himself worthy of a shot tonight.

Back in the ring, they were getting ready for the next match.

D-Lo Brown vs John Kerman 

Maybe it was because Kerman didn't even receive a ring entrance, but from the second the bell rang, you knew this wouldn't last long.

Brown got in the offense from the start, playing up the heel role by verbally attacking Kerman whilst striking him with punches and kicks. This was followed up with several power moves, which could have led to the win right then.

Brown, however, prolonged the beating, finishing Kerman off with a Sky High and the pin.

Winner: D-Lo Brown by Pinfall (3:00)

Straight after the victory, Durden came to the ring to interview Brown. He asked him his opinion on the locker room rumour of Jerry Lynn's potential retirement tonight. Brown automatically got annoyed, saying that his first segment should be about him, not Lynn.

After intimidating Durden to the back, Brown cut a promo on Lynn, saying that due to Jerry's age, he should "shrivel up and die, giving him one less obstacle in his path for the title."

Leading into the break, we were treated to a "paid announcement" on behalf of the Embassy.

Prince Nana, Claudio Castagnoli, and Jimmy Rave all talked about the elimination tag next week, highlighting each of their problems with members of the opposite team, comprising of Colt Cabana, Brent Albright, Necro Butcher and Grizzly Redwood. The fourth member of the Embassy, Ernie Osiris, just stood there.

All of this led to them hyping their win next week.

Back from commercial, Durden interviewed Nigel McGuinness about his loss last week at the hands of Tyler Black. McGuinness spent the first half of the promo admitting that he took his eye of the ball, but saying that Black was a worthy opponent who deserved to win.

He then turned his attention to Jerry Lynn, but was interrupted by Black's music as he made his way to the ring.

Black addressed Jerry Lynn and his supposed retirement, saying that he wants to follow in his footsteps by winning the ROH Heavyweight Championship. Lynn then entered the arena, to a very lackluster ovation, as he talked about what Brown said earlier.

He then remarked that he considered slowing down a bit, but was looking forward to facing Black further down the line. This was in direct response to Black eliminating Lynn in the Heavyweight tournament which resulted in Aries winning gold.

The segment ended with them both shaking hands and going to the back.

The announcers hyped up next week's main event of the elimination tag match between the Cabana and the Embassy. They also talked about Sonjay Dutt vs Delirious. This led to this week's main event.

Austin Aries vs Roderick Strong

This started off in Austin's favour, as he agressively attacked Strong from the bell. Not even five minutes into the match, Aries locked in the Last Chancery submission, but Strong got his foot on the ropes before rolling to the outside.

After going back into the ring, Strong hit Aries with a solid backbreaker before following up with Ric Flair-style chops across the chest.

It all spilled over to the outside, where Aries regained his advantage with a shove into the ringpost, followed by a double axe handle off the top rope. Aries then rolled Strong back in the ring.

Aries capitalised on his advantage by hitting Strong with a series of strong strikes, but Strong came back with a rally of shots. Aries shut this down quickly by countering an attempted half nelson backbreaker into a crucifix pin, earning a two count.

This led to a back and forth sequence, with both men trying to get one up on each other. After being beaten down for a few minutes, Strong attempted to come back yet again.

Aries gained the upperhand with his patented Heat Seeking Missile to the outside, before rolling Strong in and going for a second double axe.

This time, Strong was able to counter in mid-air, hitting Aries with an outstanding backbreaker, leading to the near fall. However, Aries recovered fast enough to lock on the Last Chancery for a second time, but again, Strong reached the ropes.

Strong got back to his feet and hit a beautiful slingshot suplex before following up with a gutbuster and a set of knees to the back of Aries' head. This led to another two count for Strong.

He hit another backbreaker before going for a Boston Crab. However, Aries was able to slither into a pinfall, gaining the pin after holding his foot on the bottom rope for leverage.

Winner: Austin Aries by Pinfall (17:30)

This led to Austin celebrating over the body of Strong. The announcers hyped up the win, as well as next week's show.

Thoughts

This was almost a very TNA style episode, with the focus mainly being on sub-par promos and very little wrestling. Despite this, the main event was an outstanding competition which helped to both develop Austin as an unstoppable performer, as well as elevate Strong in defeat.

The Lynn/Black segment was a nice bit of continuity, but begs the question of whether or not Lynn will be able to perform to a high standard after his severe arm injury. The squash match did what it was supposed to do, nothing more, nothing less, whereas the opening bout showed a small taste of the excellent tag team division that ROH has.

Next week's episode looks to be back on track, with Sonjay Dutt vs Delirious, as well as the eight man elimination match between the Cabana and the Embassy being highlighted as featured events. All in all, an OK show that helped to develop all the feuds in the right direction.

Show Grade: I'll award this a B-, due to the lack of wrestling, but a good show from the matches featured anyway.

Match Quality

1. Austin Aries vs Roderick Strong

2. Kevin Steen and El Generico vs Sami Callihan and Tony Kozina

3. D-Lo Brown vs John Kerman

Weekly Top Five

1. Austin Aries

2. Roderick Strong

3. Jerry Lynn

4. Tyler Black

5. D-Lo Brown

Until next time, this has been Hayley Graham, and that was the ROH Rewind!

Welcome to the first edition of the Ring of Honor Rewind! This new series will focus on the weekly HDNet shows, recapping the matches, offering my opinions on what happened and giving each shows an overall grade. There will also be a weekly ranking of the matches in order of quality, followed with a ongoing list of the top five wrestlers and tag teams! A lot to do, but ROH is worth it!

The show opens with a video package of the spectacular brawl that followed last week's main event of El Generico vs Davey Richards, followed by the introduction to the first ever Monday night show for ROH.

The announce team, consisting of Mike Hogwood and Dave Prazak, welcome us and begin to talk about the brawl, as well as hyping up the main event of Tyler Black vs. Nigel McGuinness. This leads directly into the opening bout.

Eddie Edwards (w/ Shane Hagadorn) vs Kevin Steen

From almost the second that Steen hits the ring, he and Edwards begin to brawl, throwing kicks and punches at each other. This is nice continuity from last week when they squared up in the finale fight, something you don't tend to see in WWE.

After a couple of minutes of this, Steen threw Edwards through the ropes to the outside, leading to Hagadorn distracting Steen.

In a very generic tag team move, Steen went after Hagadorn, only to be attacked from behind by Edwards.

This led to an absolute beating on Steen, with Edwards ramming him into the barricades twice, before leaving him on the outside, hoping for a countout victory.

Steen finally got back in the ring at the count of 18. (Side note: ROH doesn't work to a 10 count, but a 20 count.)

Edwards followed up with repeated kicks to the head, before Steen hit him out of nowhere with a sick flipping jawbreaker off the ropes and two successive cannonballs.

Just when it seemed like Steen was getting back in the match, Edwards stunned him with a running neckbreaker, before positioning him on the top turnbuckle for a Code Breaker, leading to a nearfall.

Edwards attempted an Irish Whip, but was countered with an impressive Pumphandle Neckbreaker, again only garnering a nearfall for Steen.

This led to Hagadorn distracting the referee, whilst sliding a chair in for Edwards to use. However, Steen beat him to it and proceeded to hit Edwards with two of the most sickening shots over the head I have ever seen.

After this, Steen took to the air with a Swanton bomb, leading to the three count and the win.

Winner: Kevin Steen via Pinfall (Around 10 minutes)

After the match, we were treated to a couple of promo's from Tyler Black and Nigel McGuinness regarding their main event match. This was very well set up, as it showed some video clips from over the past couple of weeks, starting when McGuinness distracted Black, leading to Black getting knocked out by Austin Aries. McGuinness finished up by saying that Tyler didn't deserve his reputation as a future champion.

Backstage, Kyle Durden interviewed the Dark City Fight Club. He said that he didn't know why they were here, considering Jon Davis (one of the members) wasn't medically cleared to compete due to an injured arm. Davis then rebutted, saying that "They don't need medical clearance to kick someone's ass."

Cheech and Cloudy vs Tony Kozina and Sal Rinauro 

This match never even got out of the starting blocks, as about two minutes in, Dark City Fight Club ran down to interfere, causing the DQ.

Every wrestler bailed from the situation except for Kozina, who ended up on the wrong end of a DCFC beating.

No Contest via Interference (Two minutes 30)

To the backstage again, where Durden is standing by with "The original playa from the Himalayas" Sonjay Dutt, who talks about bringing colour and charisma back to ROH.

Coming back from commercial, we are greeted by the arrival of the Necro Butcher, signifying the start of the next match!

Necro Butcher vs Sami Callihan

Necro Butcher came out with his ankle wrapped in electrical tape, apparently to do with his recent run in with Jimmy Rave.

Butcher gained the early advantage over Callihan, attacking him with strikes and throws. However, Callihan was able to work his way back into the match by attacking Necro's damaged ankle with a series of well aimed shots.

This comeback didn't last long, as Necro went to attack Callihan with his signature Staple Gun. The referee intervened, but that didn't stop Necro, who finished off Callihan with a beautiful Tiger Driver for the three.

Winner: Necro Butcher via Pinfall (About six minutes)

At the end of the bout, Colt Cabana, Brent Albright and Grizzly Redwood came down to the ring. Cabana cut a promo praising Necro Butcher for all of his hardcore styling and skill. He then proceeded to ask him if he would become the fourth member of their team in the eight man elimination tag team match against the Embassy. Necro responded by putting a staple through Callihan's head, prompting Cabana to say: "A yes would've sufficed!"

Cutting to backstage, Durden is standing with the current ROH champion Austin Aries. Aries spent the time belittling Durden, before saying that everyone in ROH has taken their eyes off the prize by becoming focused on things like the main event and Jerry Lynn (who suffered a severe arm injury after a botched driver, leading to nerve damage). He ended the segment by saying that the ROH championship was the most important thing.

Back to ringside, where the announcers begin hyping next weeks main event of Austin Aries vs Roderick Strong, as well as an appearance by Jerry Lynn.

This leads to the main event.

Tyler Black vs Nigel McGuinness 

After a very slow start to the match, consisting of many ringouts and taunts, Black began to build momentum by working over the leg of McGuinness.

McGuinness, however, began turning the tide in his favour with a series of Hammerlocks and armbars to weaken Black's arm, which was the beginning stages for McGuinness's Tower Of London finisher.

This led to the crowd loudly cheering on Black, urging him to come back and beat McGuinness.

Just as McGuinness set up for the TOL, Black countered with a dropkick, followed by a 360 flip to the outside and then a moonsault off of the ring barrier.

After rolling back into the ring, McGuinness began to build an advantage after a missed moonsault from the top. McGuinness then locked in the London Dungeon, but Black was able to force a ropebreak.

McGuinness, visibly frustrated, hit yet another TOL on Black, before attempting a second London Dungeon submission. This time, Black countered with a kick to the head.

This led to an incredible looking sequence where Black countered McGuinness's Jawbreaker Lariat into a small package for the pin

Winner: Tyler Black via Pinfall (17 minutes)

The announcers hyped up Black's victory by saying that he was now the logical number one contender for Aries's title.

Thoughts

This was an average episode of ROH, which was saved by the fantastic main event, which was by far the highlight of the night for me. Despite the hype over ROH's tag team division, they weren't shown to be the jewel in the crown after a missed opportunity for a fantastic match. The promo work was faultless this evening, with each segment being used to build up characters and rivalries to the point of perfection, a rarity in other promotions. With all the hype for next weeks main event, I can see it being a must not miss match that could surpass this weeks if done right. Trust me, with two fantastic athletes being showcased, that could be the case!

Show Grade: I'll give it a B. Good work, but could've been better.

Match Quality

1. Tyler Black vs Nigel McGuinness

2. Necro Butcher vs Sami Callihan

3. Eddie Edwards vs Kevin Steen

4. Cheech and Cloudy vs Tony Kozina and Sal Rinauro

Weekly Top Five

1. Tyler Black

2. Nigel McGuinness

3. Austin Aries

4. Necro Butcher

5. Colt Cabana

Until next time, this has been Hayley Graham and that was the ROH Rewind!

Matthew Hester invited me to get involved in a series called Spotlighting the Indies to expose up-and-coming talent and to showcase independent wrestlers. Evidently I accepted, or you wouldn’t be reading this.

As of now, Matthew Hester, Scott Beeby and I are involved and it is a pleasure to work with them on this. I encourage you to read their work on this series. You can read Matthew Hester's spotlight on Jack Evans here.

I first discovered this talent through Steve Corino’s LiveJournal a long time ago and I got interested, so I’ve been checking in on what he has done from time to time.

I found that he is one of the guys out there that has gone relatively unrecognised despite the number of big names he has faced and his general level of quality.

At 25, he still has many years ahead of him and Sterling James Kennan is one name set for the rise, especially now that he has an opportunity with Ring of Honor. 

SJK is well known for his work both in the UK, notably in One Pro Wrestling and in the US, most notably in the International Wrestling Cartel.

From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, born on Feb. 24, 1984, SJK loved wrestling from an early age. No doubt his father, a big pro wrestling fan, helped SJK to not only get exposed to pro wrestling, but to embrace it as well. As a child, SJK was raised on Hulkamania, but became a big fan of the Ultimate Warrior when he appeared.

As he grew older, he moved away from being a fan of those wrestlers, instead being awed by The Great Muta, who was appearing in WCW at the time, as well as getting behind Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Ric Flair, which may readers will be able to identify with.

He has trained under Dory Funk Jr. at the Funkin’ Conservatory, as well as under Boomer Payne and Mad Mike. SJK has said that he doesn’t intentionally be like anyone else, but he has seen himself use small elements from Randy Savage, Ric Flair and The Rock.

As a wrestler, he is very much an old-school style wrestler and is recognisable for his myriad tattoos. His persona can be described as a temperamental, frequently angry-at-the-world rock star.

SJK said he was terrified when it came time for him to make his debut but once he walked through the curtain, the terror just melted away. SJK has always been good at playing off the audience and this has allowed him to gain many fans.

He has wrestled against such names as Abyss, Steve Corino, CM Punk, Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Sabin and 2 Cold Scorpio.

After pro wrestling training, he mainly appeared in NWA East, a.k.a. Pro Wrestling eXpress in Pittsburgh. After he had been wrestling there for just under a year, he felt it was time to move on because he wasn’t learning any more as a wrestler and wanted to be exposed to other wrestlers.

Since he had friends in the International Wrestling Cartel (IWC), he was able to get his foot in the door and was soon taken in.

The IWC is where SJK has found some of his greatest success so far. He has held the IWC Heavyweight Championship there three times and their IWC Super Indy Championship four times.

He also has had quite the feud with Fabulous John McChesney, which lasted for the better part of the year. The two had also feuded in 2003 in the Union of Independent Pro Wrestlers (UIPW) promotion in Canada.

At 1PW's All or Nothing Night 2 Show, held on March 5, 2006, he faced 2 Cold Scorpio, one of his toughest opponents, in a match that was very well-received by the audience. Some sped-up footage from that match can be seen here.

You can see his match against Necro Butcher from FNW Battle At Saddle Ridge, held on April 6, 2006, here.  

SJK began making occasional appearances in Ring of Honor, partly due to his work with the IWC. At ROH's In Your Face event on June 17, he teamed with Jason Blade to face The Briscoe Brothers in an impressive showing.

WWE also began to take notice, with SJK being invited to train with Ohio Valley Wrestling, then a WWE Developmental Territory.

He never actually had any try-out matches, appearing as a jobber both in dark matches and on WWE Velocity, as well as working as a security guard and doing backstage work.

In October 2005, SJK debuted in One Pro Wrestling (1PW), appearing from their debut show. SJK teamed with Abyss, similar to James Mitchell/Abyss relationship the two had in TNA.

SJK did whatever he could to get the fans to boo him, but at 1PW the fans just kept cheering for him, indeed cheering him even more as time went on, in spite of, or perhaps because of, his heel actions.  As Steve Corino, the then-booker put it,

 “…SJK was the Stone Cold Steve Austin of 1PW. Hell, I even had him beat up a handicapped guy and the fans cheered.”

In 1PW, Steve Corino and Spud have been two recurring opponents, as well as Abyss after their partnership broke down. There’s also a bit of a story about a big match that was going to happen, but then didn’t.

 

In late 2006, 1PW promoter Steven Gauntley, wanted a big draw for the January 2007 show, as the TNA stars, which had been big draws, couldn’t make it.  He wanted a Japanese star to be that big draw- and no less than The Great Muta, who is as big a star as it gets.

There was a bit of a mishap but things were worked out and The Great Muta agreed to appear. 1PW offered him what would be for most wrestlers a fair amount of money, which was all 1PW could afford, but Muta made more money doing autograph signings.

He agreed to appear so that the UK audience would get to see The Great Muta, accepting a substantial pay cut in the process.

Muta wanted to play a heel and elevate one of the younger talents. For Corino, there was only one person he immediately considered as worthy and capable enough in 1PW to face The Great Muta and that was Sterling James Keenan.

The match was announced via the titantron after SJK’s match at IPW’s Anniversary show. As SJK put it at the time:

 

“I wrestled a six man with Team Supreme, against Spud, Darkside, and Samoa Joe. I… pinned Darkside, and was in the ring, doing whatever the hell it is that I do, and the lights went out.

Assuming this was yet ANOTHER error on the part of the sound/video guy, I started to get out of the ring. This video is playing on the wall, so I figured I'd let the fans watch.

However, as I get about half way down the aisle, about 10 guys are screaming at me to get back in the ring.

So, I lean in the corner, watching the video, and his face appears. Muta. The Great Muta. My ****ing hero. I watch the video, wondering what the hell this has to do with me, until the end... ‘The Great Muta is coming to 1PW...He's coming for SJK.’

So yeah...I get to wrestle my all-time favorite wrestler, in England. And nobody bothered to tell me this. I legitimately learned about it in front of 1,800 people in the Doncaster Dome.”

 

As Steve Corino remembers, “It was magic to see his face.”

Unfortunately, 1PW soon hit financial troubles and went into liquidation, a week before the match was to occur. The show was replaced with a tribute show, though 1PW was restarted later that year on April 6, 2007. The Great Muta ended up appearing for Real Quality Wrestling instead.

On April 18th, 2007, SJK was fired from the ICW. Keenan believes this might have been due to personal grudges a certain promoter had with him.

SJK soon got some exposure in Japan, starting with a tour for Big Japan Pro Wrestling. On May 1, 2007, he realised one of his dreams by wrestling in the legendary venue, Korakuen Hall.

As a wrestler, he has put on some impressive stuff, and is generally at a high level, on the mike and with in-ring skills, but he is still a little inconsistent and needs to develop himself further. Still, even now he has the skills to become a big star at higher levels.

Sterling James Keenan has improved and should he continue to improve, he has what it takes to become a major star. He has already proved he can be popular with the fans.

His appearances in ROH, if they continue, could prove in time to be his chance to rise even further.

Sterling James Keenan is one of the independent wrestlers to keep an eye on.

Sources: Steve Corino's LiveJournal, Sterling James Keenan's LiveJournal, 4th November 2006

Interview by Wrestling Caricatures, which can be read here, 4th November 2006 Interview by The Wrestling Voice, which can be read here. Image Credit goes to Online World of Wrestling.

How Ring of Honor could up star TNA in the battle against World Wrestling Entertainment.

Yes, I said it: ROH could be the next up star company. ROH currently has 32 performers on their roster listed on their Web site. Now having said that, I know maybe 10 to 15 of these guys couldn't hold a candle to most of WWE or TNA's performer's.

So the No. 1 problem is that ROH needs better competitors. So here's what they should do: First pick up talent WWE has mishandled or talent WWE has neglected to look at.

So let's see, here's a few that come to mind right off the bat: Buff Bagwell—the current NWA mid-atlantic Champion. The former WCW star is now 39-years-old and could play the veteran role for ROH.

Elix Skipper—former TNA and WCW star showed excitement in the ring when he performed. He could bring a cruiser-weight division to ROH, which would be very different than anything WWE is doing since they currently do not have a light-heavyweight champion.

Elijah Burke—the former WWE star, as part of the ECW show. He is being rumored to be heading to TNA, but is a guy ROH could use to up the excitement.

Vampiro—best known for his feud with Sting in 2000-2001 before WCW folded. He worked as main-event talent for a company which I can not remember that aired on MTV at like 3 a.m., but point being he would bring experience to ROH could help new talent develop.

Sean Waltman—yes I said Walman. Yes X-Pac Syxx, whatever you want to call him. Waltman could help the cruiser-weight division if ROH even want's to try in start one. Walman has worked for about every company out there, so why not try another run.

Mark Jindrak—former WCW tag team champion with now MMA competitor Sean O'Hare. He could make a team with someone like a Chuck Palumbo or a Shawn Stasiak—either one would be a good fit and are former WWE and WCW guys.

Shannon Moore could help the cruiserweight division if—and that's a big if—ROH wants to go in that direction. Moore is excitement in the ring and a daredevil.

We also have people like Rob Van Dam, Steve Corino, and there are also numerous NWA and other regional wrestlers that would love to work for the promotion—hell I'll even volunteer.

ROH could also try in bring in a Sid Vicious or Randy Savage as they have with Ric Flair and Bret Hart to help promote the company, and if they were able to be a viable entity in pro wrestling, they could bring in a Eric Bishoff to run the bookings and creative department. He did build WCW before it's demise. Heck even Paul Heyman could help.

ROH would need to sign a better T.V deal. I mean who gets HDnet anyway? But at least they are able to have that for now, work with it, and then get noticed and move from there.

I know several of you are probably like this guy is nuts, but hey TNA started from almost nothing and look were they are today and ROH has already produced the like of Samoa Joe and C.M. Punk and has had Jeff Hardy wrestle for them and etc.

Ring of Honor is sent out a press release stating August 17th they will be moving to Monday nights.

This is great news for all 32 people who have HDNet.

Seriously though, this is great news for ROH. The days that families gather around the TV on Saturday nights are far behind us. So even though they were in prime time, nobody was home to watch it.

Moving to Monday nights is about as good as it gets for Ring of Honor right now. Now don't be foolish enough to think that the Monday night wars are back. This is far from the truth so move on peeps.

In fact, ROH will be able to piggy back on Raw's crowd. Right now there isn't a whole lotta things to watch at the eight o'clock hour, at least not in my household, so this is a great stepping stone for those looking for something before Raw starts.

Now that might seem a little insulting, and unfortunately it is, but right now it's the truth. Many wrestling fans still only know ROH by name, but this is slowly changing thanks to HDNet or more accurately YouTube.

Unfortunately we are still years away from the Monday night wars fans long for. First off, ROH wisely doesn't go up against the WWE so the true war of head to head won't exist.

And secondly their numbers won't come close to Raw's, so it would be more like a one punch knockout instead of a Monday night war.

But the war isn't the point of the story. Not yet. Many people have smelt blood in the water with Ric Flair pulling out, ROH cancelling tapings, and other murmurings. But all of this is Internet nonsense.

Bret Hart, or another legend, may soon step into Ric's slot. Hart is already doing appearances for them and ROH has enough tape in the can to last until September. No use in wasting money no?

I'd argue that this announcement is the biggest thing since word got out that ROH is going to be on HDNet. There are more people home on Monday nights and they are now on "THE night for professional wrestling," it doesn't get any better than that.

TNA had to wait like two-three years before they could land a weekday prime time spot, ROH has done it in two-three months. Granted it's on a lesser viewed station, it's a small win none the less.

Look for big things to continue to pop off for the self-proclaimed "pound-for-pound the BEST wrestling program on television today" and make sure you tune in (whether it be in HDNet or YouTube) and support Ring of Honor.

You can read the complete press release below.

For years now in the United States, Monday night has been considered THE night for professional wrestling, and Ring of Honor is now poised to continue that tradition. Together, ROH and HDNet are very happy to announce that effective Monday, August 17th, the acclaimed ‘Ring of Honor on HDNet' will now air each and every Monday night at 8pm EST!

With this transition to a prime time slot, ROH is now in a position to kick off your Monday night wrestling viewing with a humongous bang, as we bring you what we believe is pound-for-pound the BEST wrestling program on television today. This move places ROH on HDNet in a position to gain more viewership, particularly among fans that are already accustomed to watching on that night. And for those fans that are unable to view the program at 8pm EST, HDNet is going to replay all of the action again at 11pm EST!

Please join ROH on August 17th as we make the jump to Monday night, and if you can't watch HDNet in your area, now is the time to contact your local cable provider and let them know that you want your ‘Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDNet' – COMING TO MONDAY NIGHTS STARTING AUGUST 17th

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Check out HitTheRopes.com as we have the new interview with ECW star CW Anderson. And this week's show features an interview with Truth Martini (trainer of Alex Shelly, Jimmy Jacobs and Zach Gowen) and the return of Turnbuckle 2 Turnbuckle.

I've been going back and forth with this one for a while now, is Ring of Honor still considered an Independent Organization or is it in the big leagues?

I mean, what exactly classifies a wrestling promotion as an independent anyways?

Most fans would agree that ROH is an unchallenged number three, but there's a bigger gap between two and three than there is one and two.

While ROH has steered away from the old school big names for the most part, or vice versa, TNA has used them to catapult the organization to the national spotlight.

But it's strange to me how ROH could even be confused with an independent promotion when they share such a similar start as TNA.

Both organizations got their start back in 2002; TNA on weekly PPVs while ROH focused on live shows and DVD sales.

Similarly TNA and ROH both focused on the talented stars of the Indy scene, but that's where the similarities stop.

TNA brought in big names like Ken Shamrock, Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race and the NWA to attract more casual fans. Then they lured in Sting to help them jump from a mid-day broadcast on Fox Sports to Spike TV. From there on they were considered a legit number two.

ROH on the other hand took the slow and steady route.

They had big names like Eddie Guerrero here and there, but there focus till this day remains on making stars out of those on the Indy circuit.

And despite having a roster filled with stars who currently reside in the big two like CM Punk, Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Homicide to name a few, they were always the underground promotion.

But things finally changed in their favor when the signed a deal earlier this year to bring ROH into millions of homes by the way of HDNet. ROH now has access to state of the art camera equipment and they are broadcasted all over the country, if not the world.

Unfortunately for ROH, because more homes don't have Dish than do, ROH is still only on the lips of hardcore fans who find themselves savoring the darkest corners on the net looking for the next big thing.

We've just recently seen a surge of ROH related articles on Bleacher Report thanks to JLB (who started months ago), Ray and a few others. But when I did an interview with then ROH Champ Nigel McGuiness back in January, it barely got 200 reads. But what was worse was many folks had never heard of the guy and definitely hadn't seen an ROH show.

Fast forward seven months and nothing much has changed. There was an ROH breakthrough as ROH has its own community, but Ray wrote several informative articles and they barely garnered a buck fifty views. What's up with that?

So back to my original question, is Ring of Honor still an Indy promotion despite being considered a part of the big three? If so, what makes them big leagues?

There are other promotions that have TV deals on the local level with rock solid talent, but you might not even have heard of them. Vanguard Championship Wrestling comes to mind. They've had Flair and Raven on their program and they've got Sid Vicious scheduled next month. They have a 1 a.m. local TV deal, but they are definitely are considered Indy.

So is it the national TV deal, being promitely covered by media outlets (we've got ROH owner on HTR tonight), or does it take big name stars like former ambassador Ric Flair and Bret Hart?

Does anyone know, if so do share. I consider them a big boy despite the gap between them and TNA because of the above mentioned reasons, what about you?

 

Check out the new site Hit The Ropes.com. And join us today at 6pm when we present the 1st annual Ropey Awards and interview ROH owner Cary Silken.

"He's very European." That is a phrase that is often said of Claudio Castagnoli (who I will be referring to simply as Claudio from now on due to the complexity of his last name).

This phrase is due to the fact that he is from Switzerland. However, there are many other words that would fit in that phrase.

Claudio is also very powerful. Standing at six and a half feet tall, he is what would be considered more of a power moves-based wrestler. Despite this, however, he has the agility to move quickly and the ability to perform top rope moves when needed.

Claudio is also very conceited. He looks down on Americans (and everyone else for that matter) and treats them as if they are his subjects. Now, conceited leaves one to think that Claudio is a heel, and he certainly plays that role well.

Since around January of this year, Claudio has been involved in a feud with Brent Albright. This started over a controversial call in a match. These two wrestlers have put on great match after great match with each other and shown how a feud should be run (*cough* pay attention WWE *cough*).

In the last two singles matches between the two, Claudio has gotten the best of Brent in true heel fashion. In the first of the two matches, Claudio got the pin after rolling Brent up and holding on to the ropes. The ref did not notice the rope hold however, and Claudio was announced the victor anyway.

In the following match, Brent had Claudio locked into one of his finishing holds, the crowbar, and it looked as if Claudio would tap soon. There was outside interference, however, when Ernie Osiris threw a shoe at Brent causing him to break his hold.

While the ref was distracted with Ernie, Claudio delivered a low blow and was able to get the pin. This introduced The Embassy into the feud.

The feud is now dwindling in a way, since more wrestlers have been introduced, including Colt Cabana and the Necro Butcher.

As I mentioned already, Claudio is a power moves-based wrestler. He uses European uppercuts frequently (another reason he's very European) and even incorporates them into one of his finishers, Swiss Death. In this move he throws the opponent up and then delivers a European uppercut to them.

This usually is followed by his other finisher, The Ricola Bomb. This is a modified powerbomb in which Claudio first crosses the opponent's arms and then delivers the powerbomb usually pinning them immediately after.

*Fun Fact* Claudio was going to join the WWE but was released before he ever wrestled. He was however featured in backstage segment involving DX. Watch it here. Claudio is the second cop seen. He doesn't actually do anything but it's interesting to see him on WWE.

As always thanks for reading and feedback is greatly appreciated.

Ray Bogusz has been promoting RoH a lot lately, and I would like to help. This is the ending to his latest article. I'm giving credit to Ray for this ending and getting me into RoH. Thanks again Ray!

Ring of Honor can be seen on its YouTube channel, or on HDNet. While you're clicking on all these links, why not join the ROH Community?

See also:

Grizzly Redwood

El Generico

Davey Richards

Delirious

MsChif