Week in Mondo: March 1 - March 9 Ring Of Honor 13 Overshadows Wrestlemania Build

One week ago was Ring of Honor’s first Pay Per view event of 2015, their 13^th 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

Welcome To The New (Japan) World

At the start of 2015, signs really do seem to be suggesting that wrestling is entering a new world. Yes, that’s a reference to New Japan Pro Wrestling and its WWE Network-like streaming service, launched at the tail end of 2014 and likely to have received a boost in subscribers with the occurrence of Wrestle Kingdom 9; but it goes beyond this. A startling number of outlets for quality wrestling are orbiting the once unparalleled WWE, with increasing velocities and more than a slight chance of causing some collisions. Although WWE is still the biggest fish in the pond, other organizations, with their growing prominence, have potential to exert a force from without on the WWE, hopefully leading them to up their game. If not, fans have the option to take their chants and go home. And dedicate their viewing to more exciting territories.

It’s as good a time as ever to start looking at a few of the varied promotions out there and highlight what’s going down by reacting to the highs and lows. By no means will I try to be first with reviews nor am I interested in breaking news. There are plenty of places out there for that with far more experience and resources. What I hope to bring is some interesting takes on what’s out there from one singular perspective and build a community of likeminded fans with some critical thoughts and a bit of a sense of humor.

This week has been extremely eventful for the promotions I hope to keep track of with NJPW having their biggest event of the year, made available to international audiences via Pay Per View and New Japan World for the first time, TNA airing their first episode of Impact on its new host station Discover America, and Lucha Underground holding a critical show in its narrative, one which would name their first championship belt holder. I find I cannot just ignore the WWE so I also plan to give a look at a few of the goings ons over there and, like other proponents of NXT, I’ll treat it as a separate program as well. Despite the fact that it is under the WWE umbrella, its uniqueness and high quality earns it a distinct look. I’d also like to include Ring of Honor in the mix, though the challenge of getting eyeballs on their product will be a theme I revisit, as I am not in range of their tv show and find accessing the re-broadcasts on the website to be a less than stellar experience.

And now, the good, the bad, and the weird for the week of January 4 – January 11, starting with New Japan Pro Wrestling.

The Good

NJPW Far be it from me to offer anything all that different from the heaps of praise already bestowed upon the increasingly hot promotion and this powerhouse, delivering a solid card of technical wrestling and two main events that have many describing as match of the year candidates. The one that took top honors in my book, and quite possibly being the best pro wrestling match that I feel I have ever seen is Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kota Ibushi. It starts with the creative and intensely charismatic entrance of Nakamura, bringing out the ‘King’ in his ‘King of Strong Style’ moniker, and doing so with peculiar flair that many would shy away from. Then, the realness of the rivalry between him and Ibushi came right out with Ibushi shoving away Nakamura’s patented leaning head clean break, and then Nakamura returning the favor by suckering him in with an insincere handshake and a stomp to the back of his head. Ibushi would continue with several taunts, mocking the intercontinental champion’s numerous mannerisms. Both would begin hitting each other with alarmingly stiff shots, specifically a series of punches that actually gave credence to the old school rule of closed fist punches being an illegal maneuver. Ibushi also not only recovered from some of Nakamura’s most intense throws, but did so with a maniacal grin spreading across his face. One jaw-dropping sequence found Ibushi hitting Nakamura with Nakamura’s own back drop suplex, mimicking some of Nakamura’s trademark ring entrance theatrics, and then delivering a running knee at such high speed, the camera couldn’t keep up fast enough to show the point of impact. These two pushed themselves and the art of choreographing a dramatic and physically demanding fight simulation. Their continued confrontations will no doubt be legendary and highly sought after on whatever platform its available.   

I’m gonna give a couple more mentions, though keep in mind, I am pointing out a couple of extremely strong points amidst a whole show and roster of strong points. No way to report it all, these are just a few personally highly reqarding aspects. First goes to the team of Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly, Reddragon, who are tag title holders in both ROH and NJPW. In a four way tag team match filled extraordinary coordination and technically impressive feats, I was glad to see Reddragon come out on top, with their style combining quick paced high impact strikes and sharply executed throws. In the final minutes of the match they pulled off a number of impressive double team maneuvers beginning with Demolition’s classic finisher with the elbow from the second turnbuckle replaced by a stomp. Then, they pulled off a dizzying multi-step sequence with O’Reilly hitting a double underhook DDT as Fish assisted by hoisting the opponent up by his legs; then off the impact of the DDT, Fish lifted the opponent up into a vicious back suplex as O’Reilly kicked him up and away. Finally came their often used finished, Chasing The Dragon, in which O’Reilly holds an opponent up in a suplex position, Fish hits a roundhouse kick to the back of the opponent’s head, followed by O’Reilly doing a brainbuster. The kick comes across like an executioner hitting the switch to trigger a guillotine to come crashing down, precise and brutal. Very impressed by this team and looking forward to more in Japan and the US.

Another honorable mention goes out to jr. heavyweight challenger and now champion Kenny Omega, now ‘The Cleaner,’ who prior to Wrestle Kingdom 9 joined the Bullet Club and adapted anew heel persona. He fuly owned the sleazy look and mannerisms of his newly invented character and they were highly entertaining. While working a style that involves cheap shots and dishonorable tactics, Omega found well placed spots to hit impressive maneuvers in line with the cruiserweight style, including a lightning quick snap full-nelson suplex and a fantastic finisher that takes his opponent from the top of Omega’s shoulders and flips him into a driver-like slam. Kenny Omega looks to bring some heated storytelling top the Jr. Heavyweight title scene along with a very impressive arsenal of moves.

     

The Bad

NOTHING on this show struck me as outright bad. I could see how the Omega’s opponent Ryusuke Taguchi lacks direction, with a move-set that is all over the place, echoing several American wrestlers, but without a clear unifying aesthetic of his own. This has been brought up by the hosts of JAW (Japanese Audio Wrestling), a great show that airs monthly on LAW Radio, and perhaps the notion got into my head while watching this match. It definitely came through as he tried to mock Omega’s heelish posturing. It came off as lacking in passion as the villain in the fight an circles around him in the charisma department.

The Weird

Minoru Suzuki’s opponent, Sakuraba brought an MMA background to a match that was supposed to bring the influence of that style of combat heavily into the mix. He himself is a pretty diminutive figure and without much background on him, it could be difficult to be engaged by his appearance or grappling style. The mask he wore out to the ring seemed like a nod to old school Scifi superhero shows. I wonder what effect that has on the audience in Japan but it was a little difficult to grasp a vibe from for me.

I watched the show on New Japan World and after the impressive show, which had so many more bright spots than the ones mentioned above, I will check out all future events that are aired. If this quality level continues, and I see no reason why it wouldn’t, there is potential for New Japan to bring a few shows to the US via Pay Per View per year. I would not hesitate even a little, though, to pick up ‘World to fill in the gaps.

That’s it for now. I hope to weigh in on this Lucha Underground and TNA’s first offerings of 2015.

There’s no community without an ‘I’ and a split apart ‘you’ so please bring your opinions, dissent, hat tip, ridicule, questions and what have you to the comment section below.

Shout at me on twitter at @mondcurrymark.

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