TAKE PWTORCH
WITH YOU! Get our iPhone App (FREE!): Click Here Or enter "PWTorch.com" on your Blackberry or other Smart Phone browser for mobile-version of PWTorch.
RADICAN'S TAKE
VIP - RADICAN: ROH Analysis - Driven PPV, Little Things, Building for Future (PWTorch Newsletter #992) Sep 26, 2007 - 2:16:19 PM
VIP - RADICAN: ROH Analysis - Driven PPV, Little Things, Building for Future (PWTorch Newsletter #992)
VIP EXCLUSIVE - From PWTorch Newsletter #992...
Radican's Focus
By Sean Radican, Torch columnist
Original Headline: ROH Analysis - Driven PPV, Little Things, Building for Future
Originally Published: September 29, 2007
PWTorch Newsletter #992
THOUGHTS ON DRIVEN
As much as I thought "Respect Is Earned" did a good job of representing the ROH product on PPV, "Driven," ROH's second PPV offering, hit on all cylinders and showcased most if not all of the best attributes of the company.
ROH is known for having strong champions and current ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima came off like a monster during his short match with Jimmy Rave. For the second straight PPV, Morishima had a short back and fourth match with a contender to his title and looked dominant. ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky is doing a good job of highlighting Morishima's ability to shake off the sustained offense of an opponent at a moments notice and end a match with his backdrop finisher.
ROH is also popular for developing strong feuds that build to a big payoff in the end. Although there have been some missteps during the NRC-Resilience feud, both factions came off well during their opening contest on "Driven," which featured the NRC taking on Matt Cross & Erick Stevens of the Resilience with Delirious as their partner. Their six man tag was heated from start to finish, but what made the feud seem really important was the return of Austin Aries from ROH after he was able to get out of his contract from TNA.
Aries got a superstar reaction from the crowd as they became unglued when he hit the ring as the NRC attacked a wounded Matt Cross. He cleared the ring and then hit a dive through the ropes to wipe out the members of the NRC taunting him at ringside. The entire scene represented an important plotline in the ongoing storyline between the NRC and the Resilience and signaled to fans viewing the show they were seeing something important. I also enjoyed how the announcers played up how Aries wasn't supposed to be running into the ring to play into the realistic aspects of him being pulled from ROH by TNA once ROH made the move to PPV earlier this year.
"Driven" also took ROH back to basics, as the announcers talked about the importance of wins and losses during the course of the PPV. One thing I felt ROH had gotten away from that I really enjoyed during the past was the emphasis on wrestling as a sport. During the B.J. Whitmer-Naomichi Marufuji match, the announcers talked about Whitmer already having one loss tallied on PPV and how he needed to pick up a win in this match to stay out of danger of losing his spot on future ROH PPVs. This was just a small touch, but mentioning wins and losses and their importance is just another quality that sets ROH apart from other wrestling promotions.
It will be hard for ROH to top the atmosphere and match quality coming out of the Nigel McGuinness-Bryan Danielson #1 Contender's match that main evented the show. ROH management didn't tell the crowd in Philadelphia ahead of time they were getting a Danielson-McGuinness match taped for PPV. The surprise announcement resulted in a rabid atmosphere that has to be seen to be believed. It is one of the best atmosphere's I've ever seen for a pro wrestling match. It's no small thing that this wasn't even a title match, but instead was two of ROH's best fighting for a shot at the title. If ROH's business grows as a result of going to PPV, the Danielson-McGuinness match will likely be the one that sends first time buyers to ROH's website to search out more of the product the company offers. Although the head ramming spot added a lot to the end of the match, I think it should be something wrestlers stay away from in the future with all of the recent research on the effects of concussions.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
From an in-ring standpoint, "Driven" was a top-notch show from top to bottom, but I think ROH could make a couple of key improvements to their PPVs to inform fans new to the product exactly what they are getting into. Two of the keys to ROH being successful are......
The rest of this article is available exclusively to PWTorch VIP Members as part of this week's new PWTorch Newsletter. The 16-page print newsletter is also published online at PWTorch.com's member's website each week featuring the VIP-exclusive Newswire, Wade Keller's cover story, Torch Talk interviews, other exclusive staff columns, Keller's VIP-exclusive PPV and TV reports with match star ratings, Wade Keller's End Notes, and more. VIP membership also includes:
-The Daily Keller Hotline and over 30 other VIP Audio Shows per month.
-Eight complete PWTorch Newsletter back issues from "Five Years Ago This Week" and "Ten Years Ago This Week" posted online for the first time ever, joining hundreds of other previously posted PWTorch Newsletter back issues dating back to the early 1990s through the early 2000s.
-Access to the PWTorch VIP Forum with daily interaction with the PWTorch staff and other well-informed PWTorch VIP members.
-Access to the PWTorch Appendix with a wide variety of reference articles and collections.
-Access to hundreds of previous audio updates, audio shows, and Torch Talk interview audio files.
-An ad-free version of the PWTorch.com Main Listing.
-VIP Email Express reports PPVs and TV shows by Wade Keller and VIP-exclusive Roundtables reviews PPVs and TV shows, plus occasional "Breaking News" emails for the biggest stories during the year.
For VIP subscription pricing info and to learn how to get Four-Days-Free of VIP membership, click here.
Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business...
Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?
AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?
