I want to start this week with a bit of personal news. Last week I had to go visit my doctor. This is not something that happens often, but is kinda relevant I think. I have spent most of my life playing football, and by football, I mean REAL football, not that hand-egg game they play in America. As a result, my knees and ankles are not in great shape, and have been getting worse.
Throw in some Sciatica, and I was in need of something to kill the pain a bit. So here is the thing that matters. To kill the pain totally, I need two of the bad boy painkillers the doc prescribed. If I take two, I end up a bit ‘RVD’. One does not kill the pain, which makes me even more grumpy.This was written just as I decided to take a second, so may go from grumpy to stoned, and back again at any given time.
With not a lot worth writing about in TNA or WWE this week, writing an article about either company, or anyone in those companies seemed like a bit of a waste of time to me. Last weeks aborted attempt to watch Raw live, coupled with the constant crap being served up by TNA means that I think I have wasted enough of my time actually watching shows to be bothered wasting more time writing about them.
But fear not. This week saw an IPPV by ROH/New Japan, and with a card that TNA would kill for, it was time for me to take a second look at ROH. The first time I watched was the début of the returning AJ Styles, and lets face it, I totally ripped on some guy in the audience wearing P1 gloves, and didn’t really talk about the product all that much.
At first glance, this PPV looks pretty good. As I said, this card had a lot of talent, many of whom I cant spell the names of.Of the ones I can, Jay Lethal, Gen Me, Alex Shelley and AJ Styles are all going to be pretty familiar to anyone who watched TNA a few years ago, and I suspect if the money was there, all guys who the company would re-sign in a heartbeat. Add to that Adam Cole, Michael Elgin and Kevin Steen, who even this non fan of ROH has some knowledge of, then just for fun, throw in some Jushin Liger into the mix.
That is a pretty awesome looking card, with something for everyone, and with the addition of some New Japan stars I had never heard of or seen, I was quite interested to see how it would go.
This was in Canada, and I dont know if that really should make a difference, but this crowd seemed very ‘marky’. From the opening bout, they were really into it, and as I said in my last look at ROH, that annoys me a bit. Not everything you see is brilliant, and while a crowd like that can make a show, too much of it kills it for me.
In the opening bout ACH, someone I have never heard of, pulls off a move which is pretty cool, he steps onto the middle rope, then goes over the top to land on Michael Bennet. That was great, his reaction to it was to go high five the crowd… not great. And once I get annoyed, I go looking for it just so I can be annoyed. I am Scottish, it is what we do…
In the second match, Michael Elgin pulled out a superbomb type thing off the top rope. The ring sank about 18 inches in the middle when it landed, I don’t think they stopped bouncing for about 3 minutes. Again, that annoyed me. Then I started looking for other things.
Why is the arena lit so badly? How come the ring ropes don’t look straight?, and why do the wrestlers sink into that ring?
I am being particularly petty here, but if ROH wants me to watch, these are things that need to be addressed. I totally understand that ROH will not really care if I watch or not, and certainly wont be reading this and thinking changes must be made, but in my opinion, it ruins the whole look of the product, makes it look less professional.
And that is a shame, because some of these matches were good, certainly better than anything TNA has done in about five years. The fatal four way for the TV title was, like the triple threat tag team match, chock full of high spots which suited this crowd down to the ground. Jay Lethal wins, but the ending was pretty lame, with Taven completely oblivious to the fact a match is going on for some reason, as he looks into the eyes of Lethals buddy Martini
The Young Bucks were slightly disappointing, when they left TNA, they looked like a team that needed a bit of time to mature, and they still look the same. Their style may well work in Japan, but looks way too choreographed for me to believe in them. That being said, they were in with Shelley as part of the Timesplitters,so I can let that slide a bit, although I was not too sure about the ‘Russian’ thing from the Forever Hooligans.
Jushin Liger got the biggest pop of the night, and then, with Tanahashi put on a great tag match against Jado and Nakamura. Liger may not have done as much as the younger guys, but still put in a decent shift. Everything about the character is awesome, the ring music, the costume and the aura of the man make him pretty much untouchable as far as I am concerned. If only I could see properly…
AJ Styles did what AJ does, nothing new here, and a first look for me at Okada who looked good as well. The match was pretty decent, and with Elgin doing colour commentary, set up the match next week between AJ and Elgin pretty well. The main event Cole v Steen followed it, and I know something of these guys, so was expecting a pretty good match.
To be fair, it was alright, but Steen decided for some reason, in a title match, to play the comedy card. And that is one of the problems with a crowd like this. Wrestlers are tempted to play to the crowd in the arena, and forget this is a PPV, and the people watching at home don’t really get the atmosphere in the arena, and dancing round the ring does nothing for the TV audience, doing it while wearing a shirt that says ‘Kill Steen Kill’ will never make it any better.
All in all, this was an OK PPV, certainly better than Sacrifice, and probably on a par with Extreme Rules. Given that the budget for this PPV was probably lower than either of those, all in all, ROH did not a bad job.While my drug addled/deprived mind may have picked at some of the details, only one of the matches had a really bad ending, and that match apart, I was pretty happy with most of what went on.
But it is all in the detail, the bouncy ring and the shadows around the ring spoiled it a bit for me. Spoiled is maybe too strong a word, but it moved this from ‘highly recommended’ to ‘better than Sacrifice’, and that is a shame.
The show next week, which they promoted all the way through this event looks like it could be an absolute belter, with AJ defending his title, and Liger appearing again. Honestly if the show was better produced, I would absolutely be watching. If I am on two painkillers, I probably will watch it. If I go for one painkiller however, I may go on a one man riot…
Having said all that, I feel it is important to point out that drugs are bad mmmkay, and choose life, just say no, and any other anti drugs message you may have heard before. I also feel a bit guilty writing this while under the influence, and possibly not giving ROH the credit they deserve because of that.
Bryan Rose has a report on the PPV right here on SLTDwrestling.com, and for anyone who wants to know how the show went from the perspective of someone who knows more about wrestling than me, that is the place to go. Bryan is not alone in writing some great stuff right here, and i would once again urge you all to check out all the great articles featured.
I would also point out that the MFX podcast is also available right here, and would like to thank my fellow SLTD writer Duckman for his efforts in getting me ahead in the twitter war that is me v my girlfriend, and congratulate him on a fantastic podcast. Sir Ian on the other hand….
You can join the war by following me on twitter @GrantCookDFC I am currently ahead by about 20, so lets make this squeaky victory a landslide please?
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