By JSIN, Torch VIP member

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I've been a diehard Ring of Honor fan since 2003 and have yet to miss a show whenever they come to Chicago. In that time I think I can count on one hand the number of things they have done that I strongly disagreed with. Bringing in Nature Boy Ric Flair for five appearances in 2009 at $15,000 a show makes that short list.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Ric Flair fan. He is probably the best professional wrestler to ever lace them up and his promos are second to none. But $75k? The production-challenged promotion now has HDNet cameras at some events with improved equipment, but lighting, audio quality, and on screen graphics on DVDs remain nagging issues that pop up from time to time. Some of that $75,000 should probably be thrown in that direction.

It was May 2007 when ROH announced their debut on PPV and signed many of their top stars to two-year contracts. Logic would suggest that those contracts are about to come to an end. Plus we now have Paul London and Colt Cabana free to come back home to ROH and they aren't going to work for free. You'd think that when contract time comes it'd be better to hang on to some of that money and put it towards the effort to lock up guys like Nigel and Dragon.

The original proposal under the Gabe Sapolsky regime was for Flair and another all time legend Kenta Kobashi to meet in an ROH ring for a one time appearance and shake hands. With 5 appearances, I don't know it just feels redundant. Each one feels progressively less special. One appearance to properly honor a legend would have felt more significant and been more cost effective. But hey, whatever keeps Cary Silken happy I suppose, because when he loses interest, the promotion I love is done.

Anyways, seeing as how Flair sloppily called out Larry Sweeney in the latest ROH Videowire (seen here at the 3:45 mark), it appears we are going to see one of ROH's best talkers have a face to face confrontation with Flair, which should be outstanding. The obvious thing to do here is to have Sweeney and Flair have a strut off, since Sweeney has much experience with such exhibitions on the independents and is an excellent strutter in his own right.

The rumor now is that this will culminate in Flair being the special referee for a match, which would (I believe) make him the first special referee in ROH since, ironically, Ricky Steamboat in 2004. That has potential. Flair could give significant rub to upper-mid-carders - someone like Erick Stevens on the face side and someone like Davey Richards on the heel side. A one-on-one match between the two would be ideal. So despite my misgivings about it going down at all, I'm sure the actual content will be pretty satisfying.

But I swear if Ric gets all weepy during one of his promos ...

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I read that TNA has signed "Dark Angel" Sarah Stock. For those who don't know her work, she is a fantastic performer. During the SHIMMER tournament to crown their first champion, Stock wrestled 3 times and put in an excellent performance each time. It helps that she was wrestling three of the best female workers in North America (Sara Del Ray, Cheerleader Melissa, and MsChif), but her other matches in SHIMMER were great as well and I've read nothing but good things about her work in Mexico.

If TNA gave Sarah a good-faith push to the top of the Knockouts division, she has a shot at making the TNA fans forget Gail Kim ever even wrestled there. But since this is the same promotion that has Cheerleader Melissa in a burqa with some ridiculous accent, and since TNA, as Jim Cornette would say, could f--- up a wet dream, expect Sarah Stock to be debuting in her new ballerina gimmick soon.

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