Ring of Honor Wrestling

A week after the rivalry between Eddie Edwards and Kyle O’Reilly began heating up in earnest, Ring of Honor returned from Baltimore, MD. After a pair of solid shows, Ring of Honor gave us their first complete disappointment since their Sinclair debut.

Jay Lethal defeated Mike Bennett for the ROH Television Title

I love Mike Bennett. He has complete mastery of most heel intangibles. His walk displays his contempt for anyone other than himself, furthered by his constant gum chewing.

He blames his failures on others. He inspires jealousy with his Playboy-model girlfriend and anger with the fact that he doesn’t value her beyond the status she brings.

Bennett was in rare form at the start of this match. He jawed with the crowd. He offered to follow the Code of Honor before withdrawing his hand and beating a hasty retreat as soon as Lethal attacked.

It’s a good thing that Bennett possesses the intangibles because he sure doesn’t have the tangibles right now. He’s stiff, his moveset is pretty limited, and few of his matches seem to flow as well as they should.

Jay Lethal is an incredible wrestler, but he couldn’t save this match from being a disappointment.

Rematches should build upon previous encounters, but aside from one referenced spot from Final Battle, this match neither built upon anything nor added anything new.

Verdict: Thumbs Down
Best Moment: Can I make this about Maria’s attractiveness without losing all of my credibility as a thoughtful, reflective analyst?

Eddie Edwards & Kyle O’Reilly Promo

Let me summarize this segment for you. Edwards says that he’s a man and Kyle O’Reilly is not.

Kyle O’Reilly shows up, says that he’s a man and Eddie Edwards is not.

Match soon.

This segment is everything that is wrong with wrestling storytelling.

From CM Punk and Triple H in WWE to Edwards and O’Reilly here, everyone seems to be dead-set upon explaining what “a man” does. 

I’m not requiring every professional wrestler to minor in gender studies, but the idea that one cannot be a “man” unless one can beat up someone else is a distraction from intelligent storytelling.

Right now, Edwards vs. O’Reilly is about manliness. Edwards vs. O’Reilly should be about friendship, betrayal, and hypocrisy. Which of those two conflicts do you think would produce more compelling drama?

I can accept that wrestling relies upon violence as a means for conflict resolution. However, it shouldn’t be too much to ask to give people a decent reason to fight.

Verdict: Thumbs Down
Best Moment: The return of “Eddie Edwards who poops himself whenever he needs to talk in front of a camera.”

Kevin Steen & Jim Cornette Confrontation

Steen and Cornette continued their updated story of the disgruntled employee.

Steen, ever the remorseless psychopath, is a danger to everyone around him. Cornette, in a little too deep to remain objective, is trying to protect everyone around him.

As they say, something’s gotta give.

Cornette spoke of Stone Cold Steve Austin and how piledrivers can end careers. In Cornette’s mind, banning the piledriver is doing the right thing.

Of course, Steen has a point too.

Would Cornette be doing this if Steen had a different finisher?

If the piledriver is so dangerous, why has it been legal for so long during Cornette’s tenure?

ROH is telling a beautifully complex story with interesting, flawed characters. I can’t wait to see how this plays out.

Verdict: Thumbs Up
Best Moment: Kevin Steen directly insulting two fans who clapped for Cornette’s ban.

Giant String of Promos

Allowed to Speak: Kenny King, Rhett Titus, Davey Richards.

Not Allowed to Speak: Roderick Strong, Either Briscoe Brother, Either Young Buck.

Verdict: Thumbs Down
Best Moment: Mark Briscoe’s odd infatuation with peacocks.

The Briscoes defeated the World’s Greatest Tag Team for the ROH Tag Team Titles

I love Haas and Benjamin’s heel turn.

After the shower of boos they received from the New York crowd at Final Battle, they seem to have incorporated a need for crowd validation into their gimmick.

If they take every crowd to task for not cheering them, I will be one happy man.

I assume that this disqualification was supposed to continue Haas and Benjamin’s journey down the path of darkness. Unfortunately, the match was so short that it felt completely unnecessary.

You don’t bust out the chairs three minutes into a match.

There was no drama or intensity at that moment in the match. In fact, it seemed like Shelton Benjamin was more surprised that he was using a chair than he was angry at the Briscoes.

Verdict: Thumbs Down
Worst Moment: If that chair shot could “cave someone’s head in,” then I’m a Tibetan encyclopedia salesman.

Show Verdict: Thumbs Down

One match? And I refuse to count the last one. ROH needs to understand their strengths. They are a professional wrestling company. Leave the sports entertainment to WWE. Do your talking and storytelling in the ring. This was a thoroughly bad episode.

Next Week: The Briscoes take on House of Truth with a $5,000 side bet.

All photos courtesy of rohwrestling.com

Two weeks ago, Ring of Honor television returned, coming to us from Baltimore, Md. After a solid show the previous week, Ring of Honor delivered an uneven episode featuring a pay-per-view caliber main event and the cheapest attempt to build heels since Ring of Honor’s Sinclair Broadcasting debut.

TJ Perkins defeated Tommaso Ciampa

When the announcers said that TJ Perkins was undefeated on ROH television, I was surprised. I must have been confusing him with other technically gifted, but otherwise indistinguishable, young wrestlers in ROH.

He did lose this one. Tommaso put him away with a Project Ciampa after a solid match.

The most interesting part of this story is still the restructuring of Embassy. New ownership has placed the spotlight on Ciampa, rather than on Prince Nana. This week, the rest of Embassy’s entourage was sent away from ringside by Barrister R.D. Evans.

There is no way this can last and I am anxiously awaiting the power struggle between Evans and Nana.

Verdict: Thumbs Up
Worst Moment: Lawyer jokes from Kevin Kelly? I can’t wait for him to note the generally poor quality of airline food next week. Good stuff, Kevin. Keep it coming.

Michael Elgin defeated Grizzly Redwood

This was a truly baffling segment.

Before the match, we were shown a video package about the life of Grizzly Redwood. He was born three months premature and suffered stunted growth and some long-term health issues as a result.

House of Truth paid Redwood’s scheduled opponent to leave so that Michael Elgin could squash Grizzly. Elgin finally put down this wounded dog of a match after a spinning sit-out powerbomb.

Everyone loves both an inspirational story and an underdog, but this reeked of exploitation. The announcers spent more time talking about inspiration and how “every day he gets out of bed is a victory” than they did calling the match.

I was supposed to hate House of Truth because they “beat up a cripple.” I ended up hating Ring of Honor for exploiting someone’s childhood tragedy.

Verdict: Thumbs Down
Worst Moment: Truth Martini: “After this match, you will wish you died as a child.”

Kevin Steen & Jim Cornette Promos

Boss vs. Worker stories connect with us because we’ve all had a bad boss at some point in our lives. They were egotistical. They didn’t care about their workers. They let absurdly small amounts of power go to their heads.

This is the basic idea of Austin vs. McMahon and every derivation of “Good Guy” vs. “Bad General Manager” that followed. What do you do when you have a bad boss? Well, they broke the social contract, so you are justified in rebelling and fighting back.

This feud asks a different question. What if the boss is trying to protect his workers?

Steen complained that he felt caged for the last year. But given Final Battle, where Steen put three Ring of Honor wrestlers on the shelf, Cornette is justified in trying to quarantine his nemesis.

Kevin Steen is a psychopath. He is only happy when he is destroying something. He is a great heel and a fun character, so we cheer for him.

Jim Cornette is an authority figure. We don’t like him even though he is clearly justified in his actions.

It doesn’t matter for whom you cheer as long as you appreciate the story being told. In any case, it beats the heck out of “Now, wait a minute, playa! No one likes you, so I’m putting you in a match against Randy Orton/Sheamus/The Undertaker tonight!” 

Verdict: Thumbs Up                
Best Moment: Steen implying Jim Cornette suffers from erectile dysfunction. That should be another bad joke, but Steen somehow keeps it from overpowering his message.

Mike Bennett & Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team Promos

Mike Bennett is usually a pretty good talker, but I couldn’t focus because Maria Kanellis’ terrible acting was so distracting. I think Maria taught Eve everything she knows.

Shelton Benjamin needs to stop talking.

Verdict: Thumbs Down         
Worst Moment: How does a Playboy model not know how to smile in an alluring fashion?

Davey Richards & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Coleman & Alexander

This was the best interview segment Ring of Honor has done since their Sinclair debut. The back and forth responses from Eddie Edwards and Kyle O’Reilly concerning their budding rivalry were spliced perfectly.

O’Reilly believed that Edwards betrayed Davey Richards by training with Dan Severn. Edwards believed that O’Reilly is a suck-up just waiting to score points with his trainer and idol. Everything Edwards said and everything O’Reilly said proved Edwards right.

Edwards drove his point home by asking about Future Shock and O’Reilly’s lack of loyalty to Adam Cole. O’Reilly said that he talked to Cole first, but it’s obvious that O’Reilly would ditch Cole in a heartbeat if Richards asked him to.

I wish they would have left it at that, but then we were treated to Davey Richards’ “Aww, shucks, these guys are like brothers to me” routine. In the end, however, he sided with Kyle O’Reilly.

I watch Ring of Honor for matches like this. Great storytelling. Great wrestling. Everyone looks good at the end of the match. You don’t really need to worry about bad booking when it looks like every wrestler in the match is pushed to their limits.

Verdict: Thumbs Up
Best Moment: Caprice Coleman hitting a spinning heel kick on Richards in the turnbuckle and rolling it into a moonsault onto O’Reilly on the outside.

Show Verdict: Thumbs Up
Some surprisingly good promos and a fantastic main event saved the cheapest heat this side of a “You People” WWE promo.

Next Week: Kevin Steen debuts and the Television Championship goes on the line.

All photos courtesy of rohwrestling.com

Ring of Honor returned to television January 21st after giving ROH personnel some time off with their families over the holidays. This was the first television episode since Final Battle, where Davey Richards retained the ROH Championship, the Briscoes won the ROH Tag Team Championship and Kevin Steen declared his intent to take down Richards, whom he sees as Jim Cornette’s puppet.

Eddie Edwards defeated Mike Mondo

This was a pretty good match after two incredibly awful promos. It’s tough for Mondo to sell the “crazy guy” persona in the same company as Kevin Steen and Eddie Edwards looks like he is going to poop himself every time someone turns a camera on him.

Edwards pinned Mondo after a Die Hard. It was a quick match that established Edwards’ renewed focus after a disheartening loss to ROH Champion Davey Richards at Final Battle.

Verdict: Thumbs Up
Best Moment: Eddie Edwards selling limb damage. Final Battle convinced me that he couldn’t do that.

Haas & Benjamin and Briscoes Promos

Talking is typically not a strong suit for Ring of Honor. The announcers are okay and Jim Cornette is great. However, most of the wrestlers are neither of those adjectives. If they were, they’d probably be in WWE.

That said, Haas did a nice job explaining how the Briscoes took them out of their game at Final Battle. It’s refreshing to hear thoughtful analysis from the wrestlers themselves. Haas sounded like he tried to understand why he lost so they could avoid similar mistakes in the future. Isn’t this what every professional does? It’s all about the details, people.

Also, Shelton Benjamin should be seen and not heard. The more I hear him speak, the less upset I am that WWE released him.

Verdict: Thumbs Up
Best Moment: Thinking

Roderick Strong defeated Ricky Reyes

I have always said that any story is only as good as its villain. Without a good antagonist, a story seems pointless. The House of Truth has been the featured heel stable since ROH’s Sinclair debut. Here, they dialed it up a notch.

Strong won after a rollup that included fistfuls of Reyes’ tights and a blurry circle over Reyes’ backside.

The House of Truth, while never above cheating to win, now preaches the Code of Honor before cheating to win. It’s a nice move to keep building the House of Truth as both heels and as threats.

Verdict: Thumbs Up
Worst Moment: Nigel McGuinness negatively referring to Strong’s manager Truth Martini as his “life partner.” When did CM Punk start commentating? It’s 2012. Calling someone “gay” as an insult stopped being a thing five years ago. At least it should have.

Kevin Steen & Embassy Promos

Kevin Steen is fantastic. Everything about his promo shows why he might be the best thing in the company. He is the best heel in professional wrestling today. He is a destructive force. He is completely focused. He will destroy anything in his path to achieve his goals. He is without remorse.

No cowardly retreats. No “You People” promos. No cheating to win.

Just one man waging total war on ROH. I half-expected him to quote General Sherman.

Barrister R.D. Evans is the big change for The Embassy. He interrupted Prince Nana to put the focus on Tommaso Ciampa. This is an interesting setup. Nana seemed okay with being out of the spotlight, but one has to wonder how long that will last.

Verdict: Thumbs Up
Best Moment: Steen wearing a shirt from his days tagging with El Generico to “show support."
Worst Moment: Steen inexplicably slipping more and more into an Irish brogue as the promo went on.

Matt Jackson defeated Kenny King

TNA released the Young Bucks and WWE released Kenny King? There are at least three mistakes featured tonight’s main event.

Speaking of which, what does it say about Ring of Honor that they can take two of their tag team wrestlers and have a better match than most on WWE television?

A great story is emerging between the Young Bucks and the All Night Express. The Young Bucks mercilessly tormented the injured Rhett Titus, even using one of his crutches to secure the win.

This was the ideal match. The bad guys made you hate them. The good guys became more sympathetic. Everyone came out of the match looking better.

Verdict: Thumbs Up
Best Moment: Matt Jackson’s springboard DDT to King, who was dropped from the apron to the floor.

Show Verdict: Thumbs Up

Overall, the show was solid, but unspectacular. The main event was the only truly “great” part of the show, but everything else served a purpose.

Next week: Davey Richards and Kyle O’Reilly in tag team action.

All photos courtesy of rohwrestling.com

Imagine a Star Wars movie where the Jedi and the Sith are dueling. They both stab each other with their lightsabers. They wince in pain, but do not die.

That ruins the scene, right?

That actually undoes the reality of that entire universe, right?

At Ring of Honor’s Final Battle, Eddie Edwards challenged his former tag team partner Davey Richards for the ROH Championship. It was the rubber match between the two, determining once and for all who was the better man.

Their match at Final Battle was a masterpiece of technical wrestling, but it came at the cost of their universe. They played the role of Samson and pulled down the temple around Ring of Honor.

Bear with me a moment.

Pro wrestling hinges on the suspension of disbelief. We know that the moves, while probably painful, don’t deal the damage that they seem. But we ignore that so that we can be told a story.

This means that there is an implicit contract between wrestling companies and viewers. Viewers suspend their disbelief as long as the companies regulate the amount of damage a wrestler can take before losing. No kicking out of finishers on television. One finisher kickout at pay-per-views, two for extraordinary circumstances.

You can’t sell the brutality of a superplex and then have someone roll through a superplex like it doesn’t hurt at all.

You can’t sell a running boot to the face like it’s a slap, especially not after it was used to defeat someone two matches earlier.

You can’t deliver a super hurricanrana, two powerbombs, a superkick, a Tombstone Piledriver and a finisher over the span of three minutes, and then have your two wrestlers jump up and trade Dragon Suplexes like they are clotheslines.

Needless to say, Richards and Edwards committed all of the abovementioned violations of good storytelling.

If nothing hurts, there’s no reason for a viewer to invest in a match. We accept that these men and women can absorb superhuman amounts of punishment and can bear pain we could only imagine. However, at some point, we can no longer suspend belief.

This match reminded me that wrestling is fake. I don’t think wrestlers, or wrestling, can commit a graver sin.

Madame de Stael said, "In life one must choose between boredom and suffering"

De Stael is dead. There's always an alternative.

CHIKARAPRO.COM

Hello again my dear fans (there's that one guy in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada) and friends. If you're like me then you're tired of raspy-voiced authority figures, botch-filled diva matches, a funkasaurus telling us to call his momma and little bastard leprechauns. Are you fed up with absurd storylines, swerves that happen for no reason and a man giving out footballs during a WRESTLING show.

Well now, you happen to be in luck. I have the answer to all your problems—Ring of Honor and Chikara Pro.

They've got every style on display that you could think of—lucha libre, technical mat wrestling, American Strong Style, European, Japanese and a good dose of comedy.

These top Indy Promotions came together last month at RoH's Homecoming 2012 show in Philadelphia, when the Chikara team of Jigsaw and Hallowicked won a Proving Ground match against the current RoH tag team champions, the Briscoe Brothers. These Chikara warriors went into unknown and hostile territory, but they weren't alone. Mike Quackenbush, The Colony, Ultramantis Black and Dasher Hatfield made their way down to the ring to support their Chikara brethren.

Some of the chaos and the outcome of the match can be viewed here.

On April 28, at the Frontier Fieldhouse in Chicago, IL., Ring of Honor Wrestling and Chikara Pro will come together once again as they present Synergy. This double card will start off with Chikara's Hot off the Griddle and then Ring of Honor's Unity. It will be during Unity that the RoH tag titles will be on the line against Hallowicked and Jigsaw. There is a lot of time between now and then, so will the Briscoes still be champions?

There are no matches announced yet for Hot off the Griddle and only the tag title match is scheduled for Unity, but as the date gets closer and both cards are announced, I'll be the first (and only) to cover it.

Please check out RoH if you haven't already and SUPPORT INDEPENDENT WRESTLING!

The one true home of professional wrestling in the United States, Ring of Honor Wrestling, is proud to present: Homecoming 2012!

Coming to you on Friday the 20th from the city of extreme, the birthplace and mecca of  independent wrestling, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania National Guard Armory surely will be packed for this supercard house show. The event begins at 8, so East Coast fans don't be late.

7 hard-hitting matches are scheduled for the show, and every style of professional wrestling will be on display.

Now on to the matches...

Four corners survival match

"The Dominant Male" Tommaso Ciampa looks to impress and please Embassy leader Prince Nana, but he will have his work cut out for him in this four corners survival match.

Ciampa will be up against three other men: Grizzly Redwood—this little lumberjack has a lot of heart and is the constant underdog.

"The Prodigy" Mike Bennett will no doubt have his girlfriend, "The First Lady of ROH" Maria Kanellis and his trainer, Brutal Bob, by his side to help him during this match.

Andy "Right Leg" Ridge will also be taking part in this match as he tries to score an upset over the bruising Ciampa and Bennett, and the resilient Redwood. 

Kenny King vs. "Wrestling's Worst Nightmare" Kevin Steen

Kevin Steen is back in ROH with a vengeance and has his eye on the ROH world title; he promised Davey Richards back at Final Battle 2011 that he'd be champion in 2012.

Kenny King, a former Tough Enough contestant and member of the All Night Express, has other plans for Steen and won't lie down to be used as a stepping stone. Expect a brawling and high-impact match between these two.

Steve Corino discusses his future in ROH

The "King of Old-School Wrestling" has traveled the world over and racked up titles in every promotion he's worked for. The years are catching up with Corino, and many want to know what his future role will be in ROH. Never one to hold his tongue, expect this King to set us all straight.

Proving Ground match: ROH Tag-Team Champions The Briscoe Brothers vs. Chikara's Jigsaw and Hallowicked.

The match I'm looking forward to the most is the seven-time ROH tag champs, The Briscoes, taking on the high-flying lucha team of Chikara's Jigsaw and Hallowicked.

If the Chikara luchadores can win the match or if the match goes to a time-limit draw, then they get a future shot at the ROH tag titles. Hopefully this will be the start to a working agreement between these top two independent promotions.

Gateway to Honor rematch: Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas vs. Future Shock, Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly

Both teams suffered a loss at Final Battle and look to start the new year off right with a big win in ROH's Philly homecoming. These are two of the best tag teams in wrestling right now, and this match will not disappoint.

Chris Hero vs. "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin

The returning Chris Hero, fresh off of a WWE rejection, should be fired up in his match against House of Truth member Elgin. Truth Martini will be in Elgin's corner, giving him an advantage as he tries to spoil Hero's return.

No Holds Barred match: "Die Hard" Eddie Edwards vs. House of Truth Member Roderick Strong

Two former ROH World Champions will wage war all over the Armory—and the Philly crowd wouldn't have it any other way.

Edwards failed to take the ROH world title from his American Wolves partner, Davey Edwards, at Final Battle 2011; a win over Strong should put Edwards back on track.

Strong will have the backing of Truth Martini and the rest of the House of Truth during this match; the numbers might be too much for Edwards as I expect Strong to pick up the victory.

Champion vs. Champion match: ROH World Champion Davey Richards vs. ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal

The main event of the evening and possible match of the night.

ROH World Champ puts his American Strong style against Lethal's high-flying technical skills. Richards is in his first run as ROH World Champ, has Daniel Bryan's approval of being Best in the World and looks to prove that he is worthy of the title.

Lethal made his ROH return in May of 2011 and it's as though he never left, winning the ROH TV title from El Generico in August. He's out to prove that he is the better champion, and this dispute will be settled at Homecoming 2012!

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out my first article on Homecoming 2012.

Ring of Honor Wrestling, the one true home for pure professional wrestling in North America, presents The Homecoming 2012. Taking place on January 20th in the city of the Indies, Philadelphia, PA, Ring of Honor will put on one hell of a show.

RoH has strong roots in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory will no doubt be packed with the most hardcore of wrestling fans.

Only two matches have been announced for the upcoming card with more TBA.

The first is a champion versus champion match, as Ring of Honor world champion Davey Richards is set to take on Ring of Honor television champion Jay Lethal. Will Richards' American Strong Style be too much for Lethal or will the high-flying star be able to pull an upset?

The second match announced will feature the current Ring of Honor tag team champs, the Briscoe Brothers, challenging the Chikara roster to MAN UP and send two of their best to accept the challenge. The team representing Chikara is unknown as of now, but with their talented roster of tag teams, any team will certainly be able to hold their own against one of the best tag teams in professional wrestling.

Kevin Steen is also scheduled to appear. Mr. Wrestling is coming off a brutal win over Steve Corino at Final Battle 2011 and made a promise to Davey Richards that he will be Ring of Honor's world champion in 2012.

The event will definitely be full of great tag action as The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin), The All Night Express (Kenny King and Rhett Titus) and Future Shock (Adam Cole and Kyle O' Reilly) are all set to appear. All three teams lost at Final Battle and our looking to start strong in this new year.

"Die Hard" Eddie Edwards couldn't take the world title from former partner Davey Richards at Final Battle. What will his role be at Homecoming?

Other great RoH wrestlers like Roderick Strong and recent WWE hopeful Chris Hero are also set to appear and more details and matches will be announced in the upcoming week.

click here for more info on the event.

Feedback, comments and questions are all welcomed.

I'm trying to find more fans of Roh, Chikara and the Indie scene, so spread the word.

When you think of a typical pro wrestling feud, it is usually based around two opponents who don't like each other and a story of betrayal, assault or just flat-out hatred.  Then there's the main event of Ring of Honor's biggest show of the year, Final Battle.

The match will feature tag team partners colliding for the third time as ROH World Champion Davey Richards defends the title against the man he beat for it, Eddie Edwards.  Instead of the two men feuding over an extreme dislike for each other, this match is about competition and the world title.

Edwards wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'm pretty happy with the way it's gone," Edwards said.  "It's not a matter of hatred, but a matter of who is the better man.  We're bringing the wrestling to the forefront of this."

Edwards and Richards have faced off twice before in Ring of Honor.  The first time was in the finals to determine the inaugural ROH Television Champion and Edwards was victorious. 

Their second matchup was in June, at the Best in the World show, when Edwards, then the ROH World Champion, defended against Richards and Richards won.  This is the rubber match.

Both wrestlers bring a style that features a lot of hard-hitting strikes and submissions, not unlike those in mixed martial arts.  The feud has added other elements of MMA including Richards forming a training camp, Team Richards with trainer Tony Kozina and protege Kyle O'Reilly, leading up to the match at Best in the World.

Edwards has taken it to another level going into Final Battle when it was revealed that he had enlisted the services of Ultimate Fighting Championship legend Dan Severn to help him train for the match.

With interest in MMA at a high level, Edwards said he hopes his match with Richards will bring in fans of that genre.

"It's definitely a different way to go," Edwards said.  "We already have ROH fans, who are the greatest fans in the world, but now we hopefully can bring in some MMA fans as well."

For Edwards, working with a legend like Severn has been a great experience.

"It's been awesome," he said.  "He's a nice guy, but he's getting me prepared for more than just the physical for this match, he's showing me how MMA fighters prepare for the mental game as well."

Edwards said that Severn has gotten him more focused than ever and has helped him take the feelings of friendship he has for Richards out of the equation.  For Severn, being involved in Edwards' training has brought back memories of arguably the most important feud of his MMA career.

In a recent ROH videowire, he compared the Edwards/Richards rivalry to his own against Ken Shamrock.  Unfortunately, that feud ended with each man winning one fight each as there never was a third match.

Edwards was honored by the comparison.

"It's a huge compliment when you consider the fact that feud was a huge part of MMA history," he said.  "It was the feud that got a lot of people into MMA and to have a rivalry you're involved in be compared to it is an honor."

Unlike Severn/Shamrock, Edwards wants to prove he is the better man by winning Edwards/Richards III.  Although Edwards currently sits in the ROH record books as the only Triple Crown Champion (having held the tag titles, TV title and world title), it is Richards that gets most of the attention.

Edwards holds no ill will towards Richards for that.

"I owe a lot to Davey and my time as one-half of the American Wolves," Edwards said.  "Prior to that, I couldn't really seize opportunities like I did after I won the tag titles and that enabled me to win the TV title and the world."

Edwards said it was the confidence he earned by being tag champions with Richards that kept his momentum going.

However, it was what Edwards put on the line in one particular match that really earned him the respect of the fans and made people realize he was going to be a force in Ring of Honor.

In September of 2009, Edwards wrestled Kevin Steen in an Anything Goes match in which he suffered a broken elbow.  He wrestled the following night, teaming with Richards in a successful tag title defense against Steen and El Generico in the one of the most violent matches in ROH, a Ladder War.

"I just wanted to show what ROH represents, it wasn't really about what I was capable of," Edwards said.  "I just wanted to represent the company the best I could."

From there, Edwards was off towards completing his Triple Crown run, a run that was recently chronicled in a Best of DVD titled Eddie Edwards: Road To The Triple Crown.

"I was pumped when I heard about it," Edwards said of the DVD.  "It's something I couldn't have even imagined a few years ago."

Edwards hopes to add another great match to his collection on Saturday with Edwards/Richards III.

"Hopefully, when it's all said and done, people will look back on this as a great wrestling feud," he said.  "We're going to deliver a great match, and I feel we've grown in every one."

Final Battle is live from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Friday, Dec. 23.  You can watch the show live on Internet pay-per-view.

Darryn Simmons is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes and were obtained first-hand.

Jay Lethal has been back with Ring of Honor for only a few months, but a lot has changed since he was last with the company.

It is now owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group and the company is doing shows in different markets and has a weekly television show. Going into the company's biggest show of the year, Final Battle, Lethal couldn't be happier.

"I love it (being back)," he said.  "I've made the comparison to the company being the same car with a new engine because Ring of Honor has always had the best product, because they focus strictly on wrestling, but they didn't have that tool to get it out there.  Now they do with Sinclair and I'm excited to be a part of it."

Lethal returned to ROH for the first time since 2006, at the Best in the World show in June. In August he won the ROH Television Championship by defeating champion El Generico. He'll defend that title against Generico and "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett at Final Battle.

Lethal said being with the company is ten times better than it was before due to the increased exposure. While there were growing pains at the start of the Sinclair ownership, Lethal said things are looking great going into 2012.

"We're doing phenomenal," he said.  "I was looking at our schedule for next year and, not to give anything away, but man it's going to be great."

For Lethal, the greatest thing about returning to ROH is that the company's focus on wrestling allows him to focus on the same thing. At his previous stint with TNA Wrestling, Lethal was more known for his impersonations of "Macho Man" Randy Savage as the "Black Machismo," and Ric Flair.

"It's amazing," he said.  "I got to work with El Generico, I won the Honor Rumble that gets me a title shot at (Ring of Honor World Champion) Davey Richards, who is incredible.  I'm loving life right now."

Lethal isn't downing talents like Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley and Sonjay Dutt, who he wrestled in TNA. He said it is the style of wrestling that sets ROH apart.

It is also the style that has Lethal feeling the heat.

"I don't feel the pressure to steal the show (at Final Battle), but coming off my time in TNA I'm definitely feeling the pressure to show I can compete in a company that's all about wrestling as opposed to being about entertainment like TNA and WWE are," he said.  "So far, I think I'm holding up pretty good."

Lethal has had to hold up wrestling with a variety of styles, which is something he'll really be challenged with at Final Battle against two different wrestlers with two completely different skill sets.

"Generico has more of a lucha style that I would really like to wrestle more of and Bennett is more of a classic old-school heel and even has an old-school heel manager," Lethal said.  "Bennett's style is more of what I faced at TNA and Generico wrestles a style I enjoy more so I'm going to have to figure a way to tie both together.  My brother said I have to be a chameleon."

While adapting to a more challenging wrestling style, Lethal has also had to focus on a change in cutting promos. Where he was mainly doing impersonations in TNA, Lethal has had to find his own voice in ROH.

"I admit that when I was doing the impersonations (in TNA), I was a lot more comfortable," he said.  "It's been really tough to find myself (in ROH) but working at it will make me a better wrestler."

Lethal admits that he would be even more shy in front of the camera if he hadn't had the chance to portray "Black Machismo" and do the Flair impersonations in TNA, but now he's ready to focus strictly on being Jay Lethal.

One way Lethal wants to continue that focus is by taking on the best Ring of Honor has to offer, and there's no doubt about who is at the top of his list.

"Number one is Davey Richards," Lethal said.  "He's labeled as the Best in the World and, if you're not striving to be that in this business then I don't know what you're doing here.  At one time, Ric Flair was considered the Best in the World, and I wrestled him, but for the era I grew up in, it's Davey Richards."

Another guy Lethal said he'd like to face in Ring of Honor is someone he's faced before, Roderick Strong.

"When we wrestled before, he was a lot heavier, but he's lost a lot of weight, looks great and we're both a little smarter now," he said.  "I'd love to go the distance with him."

Whoever he faces in the future, Lethal knows that he has to take his in-ring game up a notch now that he's back with Ring of Honor.

"Being with this company forces you to dig down deep," he said.  "I'm having to bring something out of me that I haven't had to in awhile and it feels great."

Final Battle is live from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Friday, Dec. 23. You can watch the show live on Internet pay-per-view.

Darryn Simmons is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.