Justin Parker, Torch Specialist

Updated periodically, Torch specialist Justin Parker's blog will mainly focus on a pertinent topic regarding Ring of Honor. If you would like to contact Justin with a question or comment, please send an e-mail to parjustin@gmail.com.

Monday, January 28th

I know that this section is typically used for ROH-related opinions, but after reading some of the Torch reader reactions to last night's Royal Rumble PPV, I felt compelled to weigh in with some of my opinions of the show. Overall, I felt that this was a great show that was made newsworthy by the completely unexpected return by John Cena and the solid undercard that preceded it.

Cena's return and subsequent pop was one that will be remembered for years to come as one of those moments that non-PPV buying customers will be kicking themselves over not seeing live. It was a moment that is not always possible in today's high-tech communication environment, and as Wade said in his review, will be one that will sell PPV's going forward based on the "anything can happen" mentality.

As for the match itself, I feel that it ranks closer to the best, rather than the worst and the final 10 minutes was wrestling drama at its best with an electric crowd and the unique battle of three of the top stars in the company. The finish to the match has people talking about possible Wrestlemania matchups and there is spirited debate over who should be wrestling who on the card, which is a good thing from WWE's perspective as more people will be watching the TV to watch the card unfold.

Other than Cena's return, the main talking point from the PPV is Randy Orton retaining the WWE Title over Jeff Hardy. In reading some of the reactions, people are lashing out at WWE for not pulling the trigger on Hardy's title win last night based on the short term momentum he had in this month's title chase with Orton. I agree that something new is not always a bad thing, but I definitely disagree that something new is always a good thing.

If you look at last night's title win from a perspective other than Hardy got screwed and I am boycotting WWE because of it, I think that you can easily rationalize what happened as a positive. First off, Hardy was defeated on a quick pin from a finisher that can occur out of nowhere, so he has an out saying that he was in control and if I didn't make the one misstep, I would be WWE champion now. I think that once fans get over the initial shock of Orton retaining, that this win will generate more heat for Orton and add steam to his new moniker of the "killer of hopes and dreams." Secondly, now with hindsight of Cena's return, it would have been a total waste to have a hot challenger's title win be overshadowed by the biggest star in the company returning in a completely surprising fashion.

If you aren't going to have Hardy win the Chamber next month, I think Hardy's long chase of the title can be one of the dominant storylines of 2008. If you are going to have him win the Chamber match, then you have another potentially hot program with him and Edge going into Mania, but I would probably vote against that just because of potentially being overshadowed by Cena's likely win against Orton, as evidenced by Cena's title win at WM 21 being overshadowed by Batista's title win over HHH. Between Cena's win and Flair's last match likely taking place at Mania, I feel that you may be overdoing it with the memorable moments. Rather I would recommend keeping the drawing card of Hardy's title chase and eventual title win and one of the summer's non-major PPV shows in order to truly test his drawing power

With that said, instant gratification is not always a good thing in that once you get that moment, fans may feel underwhelmed by your title run and then you're exposed as not being able to carry the ball and may never get that opportunity again.

All in all, I feel that as time progresses and the story unfolds, people will feel less cheated by this decision and feel that in the long term, it is probably the one that makes the most sense.

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January 10, 2008

After listening to James and Sean's audio analysis of Manhatten Mayhem and ROH's outlook moving into 2008, one thing that was mentioned as a potential revenue stream was the option of allowing fans to download individual matches as part of an on-demand service, so I got to thinking of some of the pros and cons of offering this type of service.

ROH's business model has always been based on its ability to sell DVD's of their live events to their hardcore niche audience as well as gaining new buyers from word of mouth reviews due to the lead time that exists from the time the event takes place from when it is released. The supposed strong sales of the DVD's have allowed ROH to not live and die by their live gate which allows them to run more shows without the fear of losing their hide the more shows they run.

Currently, if a fan hears of a great match, such as Morishima-Dragon from Manhattan Mayhem 2, they have to go out and buy the $20 DVD (barring a sale) in order to see it. This topic reminds me of when unsigned music artists would back a P2P service such as Napster, back in its infancy, which was offering free music to the consumer. Their argument would be if someone went out and downloaded one of our songs for free and liked it, they would be persuaded to go out and buy our album. I know this is not exactly an apples to apples comparison because ROH would obviously still charge on a per match basis, but the overall effect would, in my opinion, be nearly the same.

As we can see by the continued slump in album sales, the music industry has not yet recovered from the advent of the digital download. Trying to adapt, yes. Fully recovered, absolutely not.

I think that offering matches for a price of say $4.99 hoping that a consumer that liked the match would then go out and buy that full DVD or continue to buy other DVD's due to that enjoyment would be a stretch. If you can see each match you want for a lower price, why wouldn't you just buy the matches on a one-off basis. Most fans do not have an unlimited amount of disposable income and when they have an opportunity to save a few bucks, they may take it. My suggestion, don't give that option.

For example, let's take the aforementioned Manhattan Mayhem show from August. Fans can go to pwtorch.com and see that Sean and James talked about the last two matches being above four stars and being must see matches and if they are content without having the full context of the show by owning the DVD, they go out and pay $10 to see those matches alone. I know $10 doesn't seem like much of a loss individually, but when you start thinking in terms of hundreds of thousands of people making that same decision, especially on DVD's that were sold based on the strength of one match (Joe vs. Kobashi), you start to see that it really doesn't make much sense.

In my opinion, I think that they should stay with their current way of selling their product as complete shows and work on different channels of distribution (getting their PPV DVD in big box retailers, making steps like they have done with their upcoming compilation DVD's) and upgrading the production so that first time viewers that are seeing you product due to the increased penetration, don't immediately get turned off by the way the product looks before seeing why it is that your fan base is so rabid about your product.

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Monday, January 07, 2008

After reading James Caldwell’s column regarding the Nigel McGuiness situation, I agree that the wrestling business in the last 10 years has conditioned fans to always think that everything is eventually going to turn out to be a work. There is no better example that even after 10 plus years, a stroke, and limited appearances on WWE endorsed programming, people still feel that the Bret Hart screwjob is just an elaborate work and Bret will come back to WWE in the biggest angle of all time.

Not going to happen.

This example does exemplify the attitude shared amongst the wrestling community, and while Nigel has been planting seeds of a heel turn, (and hey, what better way to get heel heat than holding the most important belt in the promotion and not defending on two of the biggest shows of the year in NYC) I feel that this would be a terrible way to jump start that turn.

Even the most despised heels have always turned heel in hopes to improve business. If the idea to appear like a "wuss" for not competing in front of the volatile NYC fans is going to start a new direction in Nigel's career, then so be it but I believe that this sets a dangerous precedent for the future.

If this is a work as has been suggested, you have now set the bar that any wrestler who does not compete due to a legitimate concussion will now be labeled as a "chickensh--" which is tone deaf beyond description, but you are also generating heel heat by screwing the fans out of what they paid to see.

In Caldwell's post, he seems to mention that the fans were skeptical that this may be an angle, and to that point, I disagree. I think that the fans were legitimately mad that they were not going to see the ROH champion compete. At that moment, I believe that there was real anger that was not tied to any work vs. shoot flashbacks, but rather in the fact that they felt screwed over for a second time and that they feel a champion should be someone who when holding the belt, should be able to compete on a nightly basis (and esp. on the biggest shows of the year), and if not drop it to someone who will, hence the chant at that show.

Not saying I agree with that thought, but that is the perceived reality from these eyes.

As I wrote in my entry last week, if this is a shoot, then I applaud Nigel for sitting out and taking care of himself long term. If this is a work, as has been suggested by some, I think that this will further not allow wrestlers to take time off so they are not labeled as inferior in fan's eyes and thus will contribute to the long term effects that we have heard so much about in the last year.

It will also begin the potentially "territory" killing trend of starting a heel turn by screwing the fans out of their hard earned money by not having the champ competing. I hope this is not the case as this may provide the ultimate heel heat: fans not showing up at all.

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Thursday, January 3, 2008

The anonymous letter written to Dave Meltzer regarding the events of this past weekend’s ROH shows and Nigel McGuiness’ subsequent response have been the subject of much conversation in the last few days and I would like to throw my opinion out there because I feel that each letter has valid points as some points that I don’t particularly agree with, but it they both touch on some points that I have spoken on in my audio reviews and blog entries.

The subject of concussions has obviously been a touchy one since we have learned of the potential long term damage from the study done by Chris Nowinski’s Sports Legacy Institute. Obviously concussions need to be treated seriously and therefore wrestlers’ should not be working when there is fear of a concussion. In the original letter written to the WO, the writer states that Nigel put himself in harm’s way by doing dangerous spots, both in the match 12/29 vs. Austin Aries as well as some referenced previous matches. In Nigel’s response, he says that the spot where he received the concussion was not a planned spot and just happened.

With each point being established, I think that the initial writer needs to realize that this is wrestling and mistakes and injuries are likely to happen. Wrestlers only have a certain level of control over what happens. 2007, a year that injuries have ravaged any type of long term plans that WWE may have set, should be an example of this reality. The fact that Nigel is the champion and was not able to wrestle should not be a deterrent for you to watch the product, as you should respect the effort that is put forth by the performers (not to sound cliché). I would see your point of boycotting the product if Nigel was to no-show an important main event, but since the injury took place the first night of a double shot weekend, it is just one of the unfortunate events that takes place in this high risk business.

With that said, ROH has had a lot of high risk moments throughout the course of the year and I can see the writer’s point in thinking that he may have been concussed on a planned spot. I have always swayed to the side of the fence that you can get a crowd more emotionally involved when telling a compelling story rather than going for the holy sh—moments that can condition a crowd to wait for the next highspot and not get into the overall story. Each crowd is different so it is hard to make a blanket statement with 100 percent certainty, but that is my opinion on involvement.

The writer of the initial letter brings up that he is confused on how to react to Nigel’s promos that state that, among other things, that maybe he should be working at a job where he can walk when he is 50. Nigel, in his response, compares this to the anti-hardcore promos that Mick Foley has received massive praise for during his ECW run in 1995. The writer is failing to see the point of Nigel’s promo in that there is a double standard by the fans when it comes to wrestlers sitting out with injuries. On this site and many others, writers and fans complain out wrestlers putting themselves through too much punishment, they need to scale back their style, etc. but when they do decide to sit out to protect themselves they face the ridicule of a fan that claims that they will not purchase tickets to a show where the advertised main event does not take place (even if it is due to an injury that may have proven long term effects).

The fact that he is ROH champion should not make a difference in these isolated cases. He is ROH champion due to his merits and continuous improvement throughout his ROH career and should not have that taken away from him due to a freak accident that all wrestlers subject themselves to on a nightly basis. If you feel that you as a fan were ripped off because a wrestler wants to protect himself so that he can continue to entertain you in the way that you expect on future shows, than you should not state in your letter that you are concerned about the wrestlers health when you clearly are wishing for some type of negative punishment (dropping the title) for taking a night off. I agree with Nigel when he says that this letter is some of the driving force as to why wrestlers feel the need to work through various injuries that could provide life-long damage.

That said, I do not feel that Nigel had to justify his position with the letter that he wrote because it really will just encourage a bad trend of fans who don’t understand the business to the level necessary to call out a wrestler in a public forum (anonymously at that). Fans are always looking for a way to get themselves over, whether it be yelling distracting unfunny comments during a match or taking advantage of the internet’s readership to further their personal agenda. The last thing that I see is fans thinking that they are getting under wrestlers skin because trust me, these types of letters will increase.

I also challenge the webmasters of websites to continue to scan through these types of letters to make sure that the points are well researched and accurately represent the situation, which according to Nigel and many others that were at the show, this letter did not. This will also aid in stopping this form of unwarranted criticism.

I am as hard on the high risk style as anyone, but I also understand that the wrestler’s creative freedom in that they do need their actions called out by people who do not know the full story and are merely quoting their opinion. In the future, please do some due diligence when writing to any website and webmasters, when you can tell that they the piece has been thoroughly researched and does not include errors that would completely refute the credibility of their argument, post it. By not doing this, we are setting a dangerous precedent that could be looked back on as another defining moment of the internet era, which can potentially expose the business to an even greater degree.

I also would like to know your opinions, comments, or arguments regarding the situation. Please e-mail any of these to parjustin@gmail.com

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Thursday, December 06

I’ve been watching the Caged Rage show from Hartford and I’ve noticed that ROH is continuing to focus on developing characters and personalities for the wrestlers more so than in the past. The progression that I am talking about is the advent of a backstage promo with the winner of the preceding match immediately following the match. During these promos, the wrestler talks about the match he just had, a feud he's involved with, as well as future goals that his recent win will help him accomplish.

As Jamie and I discussed in our Glory by Honor Night 2 audio, ROH needs to continue to emphasize the wrestlers’ personalities and characters if they want to hook first time or fringe viewers into the product. The same logic applies to ROH as it does to WWE and TNA (only on a much smaller scale). There are viewers that will watch the product no matter what, there are some "casual" viewers, and there is definitely a certain number of viewers who are checking out the product for the first time with each passing PPV. In order to hook those people to come back for the next installment of the PPV series, you will have to get them emotionally involved in the storylines where they will be willing to pay for the next chapter. Great wrestling will only get you so far with fringe or casual viewers.

The continued emphasis on promos shows that ROH is in a progressive state of mind and they are not content with the status quo of what has worked over the past few years. Improved character development will also take some of the pressure of the performers to kill themselves every night trying to put on the best match possible. Emotional involvement in the storylines from fans will allow the heat for a match to be on a different level than two guys who are sent out there with no history or grudge just because they can have a good match. Incorporating elements of a storyline into a match is in most cases, what takes a match to the next level.

A great example of this is the Briscoes vs. Steen/Generico feud of the year that was blown off at the most recent PPV. Each match built on each chapter of the storyline and by the end of the feud, people were emotionally invested into each of the teams and the matches and feud allowed both teams to become bigger stars as a result of the feud.

If ROH allows feuds to develop in the same sort of way with the increased confidence in wrestlers to build the feuds in other ways than a straight wrestling match, I feel that the results will be exponentially greater in terms of live gate revenue, PPV buys, DVD sales, as well as opportunities at revenue streams to grow their business.

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Thursday, November 29th

One thing that has separated ROH from the other promotions is the interaction of its booker, Gabe Sapolsky, with the fans via the ROH message board. Gabe has gone out of his way to talk to the fans in an intelligent, caring, and informative way throughout the course of ROH's history. This type of communication is what drives fans and supporters of the product to drive or fly hundreds or thousands miles to see what the next chapter of this product will be When reading some of Gabe's posts, you really get an insight as to how he is feeling at the time and it makes you feel as if you are part of this product as he is discussing his feelings on some of his different ideas. ROH has tried to leverage the growing reliance on the internet as a vehicle to promote its product, and has really been an innovator in a number of different areas.

One thing that has been a recent criticism of the WWE is that they are very reactive in their dealings with the media regarding steroids and the rest of the fallout from last summer's tragedies. That reactive, defensive nature is why a lot of people are saying that the Wellness Policy, among other things, was just a PR stunt to get the media off their back in the wake of a tragedy. So when looking at the ROH message boards recently, it was nice to read another of Gabe's posts to the fans and wrestling media that was very proactive in tone.

Gabe knows that the Ladder War which will be shown on PPV starting on Friday was a very risky match that will most likely have elements to it that were exposed as being truly dangerous in the aftermath of the Benoit tragedy. In saying that, "I even sensed that (the boys) were a little angry at me for allowing this match to happen. I don't blame them. I've been angry at myself," Gabe has proactively stated that he is aware of the risks that the match presented and that after seeing it unfold, we will not see something like this in the future.

Now, when the inevitable criticism comes, he will be in a position to say that he understands the criticism and the issue has already been addressed. This statement has allowed me to watch the match with a whole different mindset than I would have if nothing was said at all, as I know that this is a once in a long time match that will provide closure to the feud of the year in ROH rather than something that could potentially become a common match.

If they were going to do this match once, this is definitely the feud to do it with, as they have constantly raised the bar for themselves and this feud has elevated both teams. I understand that there could have been dual intent with this message to promote the PPV as being extraordinary, and a once in a lifetime occurrence but I feel that this was a genuine attempt to get out in front of the inevitable criticism and show a level of self-awareness that is sadly lost in today’s environment.

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Monday, November 5

Well, one of ROH’s most historic weekends has come and gone and I have read a lot of mixed reviews on the shows, so I wanted to weigh in here in print form to hit on some of the main talking points coming from the weekend. A more detailed analysis of each show can be found on my audio reviews with Jamie Penick which should be posted in the coming days.

I will start with adding perspective to one of main points coming from Saturday's show in NYC, the amount of promos and angles that took place on the show.. This show has drawn mixed reviews, but overall I thought the show was one of the best ROH shows I have seen all year and one of the most brilliantly booked shows that I have seen in a while. Fans on the ROH boards and various other reviews are in an uproar about the number of angles and promos that were on this show and to them I say that this is pro wrestling. Pro wrestling will always be driven by the strength of the characters and the issues that exist between them in order to draw the fans in emotionally to where they want to pay money to see a resolution. If those issues can be settled in awe-inspiring matches, then that is just a nice bonus that we have come to expect from ROH.

This was one of the first shows that I have seen from ROH that really focused on in-ring promos and let some of the better talkers (Aries, Sweeney, Hero) go out and hone their craft in front of a live crowd. This will only benefit ROH in the long run as there have not been very many, what I would call great talkers that have come through the ROH pipeline. Fans who only want to see "****" matches are really missing what the essence of pro wrestling is. It is one of the main complaints that I have had throughout the year during the faction wars. Characters' motives and personalities have not been established so wrestlers like Matt Cross who we know nothing about, is sent out there as part of the Resilience and does some flippy spots that the crowd pops for and chant, "This is awesome" at, while adding some depth to his character is completely overlooked. Fans were very apathetic when Aries was trying put Cross and Stevens over in his promo that disbanded the Resilience and he even called a fan out when he made some comments about the duo.

This is one of the main reasons why the NRC-Resilience feud has fallen flat and has proceeded to get everyone involved, excluding Aries, less over than when the program began. This feud has officially ended as of this show since Aries has now disbanded the group to focus more on his world title chase which will culminate at Final Battle weekend in December. Think about this, one of the planned major storylines of 2007 has been dropped with no real blowoff match or anything signaling finality which is not exactly how you would ideally want a feud to end. Why did this end feud so abruptly? Lack of character development for the babyfaces and the lack of strong heels to carry the program, which all goes back to better utilization of promo time for the NRC and the babyfaces and some angles to really get them over.

I am thankful that ROH is now allowing its wrestlers, who can go out and have great matches, to develop their personalities and with that, let the fans get emotionally invested in the storylines. Now that ROH is running more shows, I would take some of the less important shows and use them to build up their characters and build with angles and/or increased promo time. On these shows, they should allow nearly everyone who is involved in main feuds to have some promo time on the release. Even if they have to cut down on the amount of matches that are crammed into the DVD, I think that it would be worth it to allow the wrestlers to expand their characters. Differentiation is always a good thing, and even though people tune in to ROH to get their workrate fix, I think that if they effectively built angles and paid off those angles with great matches that were built through an increased emphasis on promos on the releases, fans would grow accustomed to this approach. In the long run, the extra 15-20 minutes devoted on the DVD to getting the main players over through promos would be much more beneficial than just throwing out a four way match between wrestlers who have no issue simply because, "it will be a great match." Since ROH is focusing more on the faction warfare, I would like them to include promos with all the members of the faction at once, like the Horsemen back in the NWA days, that clearly establish each member's role in the group, motivation, issues, etc.

During this weekend, I have noticed that there is a lot to talk about in terms of ROH's future direction and I am hoping to get a blog out daily to address some of these issues. In the meantime, check out the audio reviews that Jamie and I will be doing for both the Philly and NYC shows as well as the Death Before Dishonor Night 1 DVD from Boston. As always, your feedback is appreciated and can be mailed to parjustin@gmail.com.


Friday, October 26th

I just went back and re-watched Live in Tokyo as my first viewing was not as dedicated as I would have liked. Anyways, I would like to say that while the Japanese crowd does take some getting used to, IMO, this is probably the best show I have seen this year aside from maybe Driven.

The Dragon-Go match is a masterful showcase of timing,selling, psychology, and storytelling that all aspiring wrestlers (or even most on the ROH roster) should look at to see how to effectively sell and tell a story within the context of a wrestling match. This is on a short list of MOTY contenders.

Also, the Nigel-Mori match is amazing as well. This match is loads better than their Fighting Spirit match and is similar to any GHC title match in NOAH in terms of being a epic, "fight until someone can't fight anymore" type of match. This is one of my favorite title defenses in Mori's reign and a def. must-see match. Most of the criticisms I had on the first match were addressed and it made for a much more realistic match.

Other must see matches include the 6 man tag semi-main as well as the Fight Without Honor if you are into the Strong-Delirious feud.

Overall, highly recommended show that I would place at an 8.5 or maybe even a 9.0 upon a devoted, second viewing based on the overall strong card and a few other standout matches that are must see.

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Wednesday, September 19th

Part two of my blog will focus on other talking points regarding the PPV taping last Saturday in Chicago Ridge.

Taping the PPV in the first half of the show

As much as I try and think about this, I really do not understand the logic in doing this. From all reports about this show I have received, everyone has said that the second half of the show was awful due all the big matches and angles preceding it during the first half. If the logic behind this is so the DVD release still has “main events” on it, that doesn’t really hold much weight because everyone knows the main draws for that show all took place in the first half.

This format also makes the DVD suffer from lack of crowd heat on the “main events” of the release. As witnessed countless times before, a dead crowd can make a good match seem average and an average match seem awful, so I would hope they know what they are doing when they tape like this.

Another scenario that I was thinking about would be including these matches along with the other non-PPV half of the last Chicago show. I don’t know if this is possible due to talent potentially being in more than one match, as well as continuity issues but it seems like a novel idea to try and splice two shows’ undercards together in order for that DVD release not to feel like filler.

Continuity Complaints

I have also heard reports that there were some problems with Lacey coming out for her tag match later on in the show and basically playing her old act during the match. This would be fine if she had not been out there an hour earlier completely transformed as a part of the Age of the Fall. This type of flip-flopping does not allow fans to get emotionally invested in character because the characters really do not have an identity but rather are just acting two different parts, thus killing believability. It would be like Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind playing Joel Barish then mid way through the movie slipping into playing Lloyd Christmas. People really wouldn’t know who he was and would rather see Jim Carrey as just an actor palying the part, rather than being emotionally invested in the character and its motives.

This has not been a problem and may have just been something that was overlooked, but I have heard a lot of people talking about it, so I did want to mention this. ROH has not had many problems like this within the context of their promotion, but I just hope that this is an isolated incident and not the product of oversight due to being stretched too thin.

Tag Team Title Ladder Match

I know I have been hard on the brutal style that this feud is being contested in, but I have heard nothing but rave reviews on this match. I believe that ROH has protected this gimmick match by not having it for over five years, and this didn’t sound like it disappointed in the least. This match will be a big draw for the PPV, and I am looking forward to getting a chance to check this out when it is finally shown. From the reports, I would suggest that if you have never seen ROH, that this may be the PPV to finally give them a try.

Age of the Fall Angle to be Shown on the Video Wire>

To follow up on Monday’s entry, it was announced yesterday that this angle will be shown (in what capacity is unknown) on the ROH Video Wire this week, which is available at www.rohvideos.com. This is exactly the right thing to do in my opinion as this angle has been the talk of the ROH boards and the internet this week. Everyone is frothing at the mouth to see this angle and the saying “strike while the iron’s hot” has never been more true. This angle will most likely help sell tickets to the upcoming October and November shows so I commend ROH for putting this out there for us to see as soon as possible. The question is how much of it are they going to show.

Please check out Jamie Penick and Sean Radican’s VIP Audio show reviewing the May 11th event, Reborn: Again, now playing in the VIP Audio Section of Pwtorch.com.

Any feedback, please send to parjustin@gmail.com.


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*WARNING: This post contains spoilers for ROH’s 3rd PPV. If you do not want to be spoiled, please do not read any further.

This is the first part of a two or three part series covering the main talking points coming from ROH’s third PPV taping Saturday night in Chicago Ridge.

September 17, 2007

After this weekend’s taping for ROH’s third PPV, tentatively titled “Man Up,” possibly the worst PPV name ever, there are more questions than answers that have been created. For today’s blog, I want to touch on the first of the main talking points coming out of this weekend’s PPV show.

1) The Age of the Fall (P161) revealed its members and did a subsequent angle with the Briscoes. If you are reading this, I’m guessing you know the events that took place and rather than recap, I would like to provide some analysis over what has turned into an angle with a wide range of opinions of it. This angle sounds like it has potential to be great if played out the right way. After today’s announcement that the angle will not be shown on the PPV I now have my concerns. Gabe has earned the credibility to not critique his angles until they are completely played out but I can’t help but at least throw a few opinions on the table.

First, if they are only putting this angle on the DVD release there are some positives and negatives to this decision. The positive is that this is a very graphic angle and you do not want to send the wrong message to a first time viewer that this is what your promotion is all about, and I understand that philosophy. One the other hand, this seems like it is the beginning of one of the major angles that will take place in ROH going in to the fall/winter season and to not showcase it on this PPV seems like a bad decision. Now if they are going to have a cliffhanger and open up the 4th PPV with this angle, I completely retract my last statement. I don’t think that ROH should be presenting straight wrestling 100% of the time on their PPV’s, as only a certain percentage (a small one I believe) want to see 100% percent wrestling (albeit good wrestling) on these PPV’s. I believe there has to be some kind of storytelling aspect to turn first time viewers into regular viewers. Storytelling obviously can be done many way, one of which being that the angle can play itself out during the matches, but I feel that something like this could be a nice change of pace for the PPV. If the decision not to air this angle has to do with a decision to not have too many angles on the PPV, I completely disagree with the decision.

There is another school of thought that they will not showing the angle due to ROH “trying to silence” the group. This is another angle that I am not a huge proponent of as the work/shoot aspect of the angle just doesn’t do it for me. Unless executed near flawlessly (as Gabe often does), there are a lot of holes that presenting it as a work/shoot can produce. That being said, ROH’s most successful feud had a work/shoot aspect to it, so I guess if anyone can pull it off, it would be Gabe.

One of the main things that I have to commend them on, and I don’t know if this was the plan all along or if something had changed, is the tie-in with the whole Jimmy Loves Lacey angle. As Jamie and I discussed on our audio last week when discussing the Fight and the Roxbury show, this angle has come full circle and continues to be one of the highlights of ROH. The fact that the formation of this group came when Jacobs realized that all he strived for wasn’t what it was cracked up to be ties this in flawlessly and gave a sense of purpose to each chapter of that angle. Knowing what has currently went down, it would be interesting to go back and watch those shows to see if there was any foreshadowing of this type of twist to the whole angle. As a lot of people have said, the evolution of Jacobs’ character is quite astounding to watch and really puts in perspective that you are watching superstars being made when you watch these ROH releases and it continues to be very rewarding for the long-time viewers.

This kind of speculation that the angle has sparked, as well as the number of unknown aspects are good for ROH in that this angle has people talking and I for one am anxiously awaiting seeing this play out.

I will be back tomorrow with my second talking point. Have feedback? I would love to hear it at parjustin@gmail.com. Thanks.

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