One week ago was Ring of Honor’s first Pay Per view event of
2015, their 13th Anniversary special. It was excellent, featuring a
range of match situations: face vs face with emphasis on technical prowess,
more heated grudge matches, multi-wrestler matches that often broke down into
chaos. Throughout there was a strong emphasis on athletic ability and in-ring
storytelling. Whether finishes occurred by straightforward means or by way of
cheating, there was a decisive victor to every match. No roll ups off of
distractions. Ring of Honor is pretty much the only company with high profile
that special need to be ordered via Pay Per View. WWE and New Japan both have
streaming services that include access to their major events, and TNA and Lucha
Underground do not hold special events. Actually TNA does, it seems, but with
hardly any promotion and little bearing on storylines, while all of the
significant happenings take place on their regularly scheduled Impact tv show,
so what’s the point? It’s a bit of a risky gambit, asking for quite a bit more
than fans are growing accustomed to having to pay for an event, but the quality
of the wrestling made this show worthwhile. I still maintain, to make the PPV a
more desirable expenditure for more fans, they should focus on getting more
eyeballs on their product, and that means making the weekly tv shows available
to people for free on a timely basis, not one week behind schedule for those
who don’t have access to their cable outlet (this includes people living in
major cities, such as New York).
An MVP of the show that got my attention was Tommaso Ciampa,
who competed in the 4-way main event for the ROH Heavyweight championship. He
has a hard hitting style, throwing himself at opponents with high impact and
seemingly little regard for his physical well being. Following him on the TV
show, I’ve come to be a big fan of his entrance music, “They Are Lost” by Last
Remaining Pinnacle. It’s a dark, brooding number that could be from a Spaghetti
Western soundtrack or Giallo film, suggesting an approaching storm cloud. His
entrance at the last special took presentation a step further, perhaps
influenced by Prince Devitt/Finn Balor, as he entered donning a metal mask and
hood. It had a bit of a comic book feel to it, but brought some intrigue to
setting up the match. It even echoed the appearance of mysterious hip hop
artist MF DOOM, who never appears in public without his own stylized Doctor
Doom inspired headgear. Thus far, the ‘psycho’ part of the ‘Sicilian Psycho’s
persona has been emphasized, with Ciampa flying off the handle and attacking
referees and wrestlers to the point of disciplinary actions (in story). I’d
like to see a more calculating mental game added to his character, to go with
the entrance music and occasional grand entrance, to perhaps make him a big
player on the promotion’s main event scene.
A major part of the Ring of Honor pay per view feeling
special was the presence of the Bullet Club, which has been a dominant faction of
growing popularity in NJPW. This really
feels like a move that is mutually beneficial to both companies, giving ROH an
edge and a bit of a cool factor by featuring the BC on their shows, while also
sending US wrestling fans to check out NJPW, either on their weekly wrestling
program on AXS or y subscribing to their streaming service NJPW World. It also
gives Ring of Honor a feel of legitimacy to be involved with talent that is
known elsewhere. This is also true in the case of working with Alberto El Patron
(formerly Del Rio), who is currently active in Triple A, and as a result, Lucha
Underground. It creates a nice buzz of cross promotion for these budding
companies, while making more traditional organizations like WWE and TNA seem
insulated, less exciting in comparison.
My notes from RAW, perhaps owing to having to follow the
excellent ROH show the night before, is that nothing of consequence really
happened. John Stewart was there and was entertaining, but that really doesn’t
do much for building intrigue about programs for Wrestlemania 31, which is
drawing ever closer. What I liked about RAW boiled down to Paul Heyman’s promo.
Someone talking. And that talking was even more electric than usual. It is the
kind of promo that emphasizes competition over silly storylines and, dare I
say, is better suited to a company like ROH or New Japan. But RAW has the gift
of this very talented performer who understands the power of straightforward
hype by saying ‘my guy is going to kick your guy’s ass’ in convincing fashion.
They should try to capitalize by getting other performers to follow suit.
On the flip side there is a main event of Seth Rollins vs
Roman Reigns, which would be a great draw under other circumstances but was
just flat here. That is a terrible waste. Circumstances really matter in making
a match soar, not just the wrestlers involved, who quite frankly really did not
put a very good match on in the ring. If these two were still a part of the
Shield, or had kept apart from each other for a while, it might feel special.
Instead, it is a transparent part of a build to Wrestlemania, with us knowing
that whatever happens in the match, it really won’t affect what’s ahead for
either one.
I find myself seething in rage over the stupidity of the
intercontinental championship, where all of these wrestlers suddenly want it so
badly they are taking it from each other without actually winning it. I can't
get over, either, how some fans on social media seem to be buying into it and
actually see it as a raise of the profile of the title. Let’s be real. It is
nothing more than an excuse to put a bunch of wrestlers without anything going
on in one match on the Wrestlemania Card. That might be a very good match
afterall, but it’s no excuse for coming up with such a stupid concept:
wrestlers running around and taking a belt from each other, which does not make
them any more a champion by holding it. It makes all involved look like
buffoons at best, or weaklings at worst (I cringe every time I see a once
domineering force like Wade Barrett being directed in storyline to plead for
his belt back instead of smashing people in the face with the once mighty
Bullhammer finisher. Anyone stealing a belt that they did not win should be
fined. The story doesn’t make the belt look any higher in profile, it makes it
look like a joke.
A good way to lead up to this match would be to have the
numerous players involved fight each other one on one and in tag teams, have
GOOD matches that make all involved look strong, not like a bunch of goofs as
they are doing with R-Truth for cheap comedy.
This seems indicative of a negative trend in WWE programming
at large: make heels look more bumbling than threatening. Looking back at very
wrestlers who have had very successful heel runs (Edge, Jake “The Snake”, CM
Punk to name a few), were they made to look like idiots on the wrong end of a
joke? Maybe occasionally, but not so often. Did all of them have an offensive
arsenal that seemed powerful? Yes.
Going back to ROH, the Reddragon vs Young Bucks rematch from
last years amazing War of the Worlds show is a great example of heels being
both conniving and displaying the
prowess to be considered legitimate threats. In their match, they cheated,
which good heels should do. But they didn’t win with a roll up and then run
away leaving everyone dissatisfied with the match finish. They still had plenty
of intense wrestling maneuvers that left fans without question of their
ability.
WWE should try making their heel wrestlers both dastardly
and impressive in the ring, and not just the wrestlers at the top of the card
like Lesnar, Rusev, and Seth Rollins.
NXT had a few shining moments this past week, particularly
in the women’s title rematch between Charlotte (Flair) and Sasha Banks. The
submission maneuvers involved in this match were incredible, looking extremely
painful as Sasha contorted Charlotte’s body in seemingly impossible ways. Both
of the wrestlers sold the pain of being put through submission holds as well as
anyone on the current main WWE roster, if not better. Lucha Underground, take
note: If you really want to push female equality, which Vampyro keeps insisting
on commentary that you do, try 1) hiring more female wrestlers, 2) put them in
matches against each other of this
level of quality, showing their championship is just as valid as the men’s.
It was nice to see Adam Rose’s gimmick going over better
back on NXT. I for one thought the heel change would’ve gone well had WWE tried
to make him look strong, beating up members of his entourage to display a mean
streak. But seeing him do that…and continue to lose was just depressing. Far
more entertaining to see him in a smaller setting, having his lively entrances
get over with the hipper NXT crowd.
All for now. Do comment, disagreements and smack talk are
welcome.
Twitter: @MondocurryMark
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