Saturday week ROH will host HonorCon – which they are promoting under the hashtag #HonorCon; I have little clue as to why but lets just go with it – a free admission event where fans can come before the TV taping, interact with the talent, purchase rare merchandise, take a photo on the ROH stage, partake in a Q&A with select talent and if you purchase a VIP wristband get as many autographs and photos as your heart desires.
The most anticipated aspect of this event however is the special announcement ROH COO Joe Koff will reveal following the Q&A. There are some rumors making the rounds on what the answer could be and some of them could have big implications on setting the standard ROH must meet for the remainder of 2014, something I spoke about in my latest article entitled, “Setting the Bar: Why Styles and Strong’s Clash Is What ROH Must Aim For In 2014″.
So, with this said I feel It’d be wrong for me not to have some fun with this, so lets begin with some of the humorous possibilities that could come from the big announcement Sinclair Broadcasting and co. have planned for February 21.
Cornette Face’s At The Ready!
The unlikely hood of this is near indescribable levels following the recent events which have transpired between Jim Cornette and Ring of Honor – or more specifically, Kevin Steen, who has acted as the voice of ROH during this entire ordeal mostly due to his dislike of the way Cornette booked the company during his tenure there.
Jim Cornette has voiced his own transgressions with how Sinclair Broadcasting dealt with both him and the business of ROH following their purchase in 2011. Hes recited multiple stories during shoot interviews, podcast appearances and even on his own podcast, The Jim Cornette Experience of the traumas he dealt with while booking ROH between the summer of 2011 and winter of 2012.
Whether it be his hatred for Sinclair’s financial analyst Greg “The Office Boy”, who forgot to order the pipe and drape – he seemingly forgot to order bleachers for Wrestling’s Finest in Pittsburgh considering the crowd was so far back they were using binoculars to watch the matches – or how he thinks fans would prefer to watch Mike Mondo and The Headbangers over Super Smash Brothers (because apparently they wear pajamas), Cornette’s second tenure with ROH eventually broke his spirit.
So imagine, if Saturday week, Joe Koff comes to a stand, microphone in hand, waves his arm to a curtain positioned to the side and welcomes back Jim Cornette, what terrors will run through the minds of those of us who consistently watched during his tenure at the top of the promotion. I’ll have nightmares of The Battle of Richmond for months!
Luckily, this is probably not going to happen. Cornette would probably try to kill Kevin Steen on first sight of seeing him again. Greg “The Office Boy” would genuinely fear for his life. Fans would condemn the decision because of how good a job Delirious has done restoring the company’s image, and Jim has already stated hes done with wrestling, but it’s a definite hypothetical possibility.
-10.666% Chance Of It Happening
This can’t happen, but man, I’d love if ROH had the balls to tease something like it.
Before he was cutting “pipebombs” and knocking people out with the Go To Sleep, CM Punk was wearing the colors yellow and black in ROH rings across the Northeast, as the Straight Edge preaching, ROH World Championship wearing, Second City Saint with a mouth that could run for its own country in the Olympics and an attitude like he was on the verge of taking over the world.
Nowadays of course Punk is seated on his couch in Chicago, probably listening to some obscure punk music, healing his wounds after walking out on the WWE two weeks ago, reportedly fifteen minutes before Monday Night RAW was to go live in-front of the world, causing mass panic behind-the-scenes and receiving the “Chris Benoit Treatment” as his name was removed from countless topics of discussion and even his face was taken from the opening signature at the start of the show.
The longest reigning WWE Champion of the modern era is currently under contract until at least July so this isn’t legal, ethical, or possible, so it’s befitting of the highly unlikely if not, “definitely not going to happen, but I just wanted to throw it in here anyway” category. But man, think about the buzz that could be created simply from ROH releasing a poster for their Manhattan Mayhem show with simply a red “X”.
“We Need a Wrestling Show, Not a Talk Show!”
Joe Koff is seated next to a large velvet rope. When the time comes to make the special announcement, without even standing, his big spectacle covered eyes look up, his hand takes hold of the rope and he pulls it, a curtain falling to the floor behind him to unveil the Ring of Honor logo with the Spike TV symbol beneath it, as they announce the two have agreed a deal.
Once again, no chance of this happening, for a number of reasons, but we’re having some fun here.
Imagine a Spike TV director is sitting at home during the weekend and flicking through channels, before suddenly he stumbles upon this wrestling show hes never seen before and it’s just beginning. So for an hour, he sits on the edge of his seat watching as Tommaso Ciampa hits Matt Taven with Project Ciampa to retain the ROH World TV Championship, even wiping his eyes at what hes just seen before removing his phone and making a quick call to the head of Spike TV.
“Sir”, he says, “sorry for interrupting you on your day off, but I’ve just seen the most amazing thing… no, not Jones’ wife, although I’ve heard she’s pretty hot; that’s not the point! I’m after watching this thing called Ring of Honor Wrestling, and sir, you should have seen it, it was wrestlers like… wrestling, like actually wrestling! I’d not seen stuff like this since Christian Cage left sir, I mean this was… phenomenal!”
In the coming weeks Spike TV drop Impact Wrestling from the schedule, replace it with Ring of Honor Wrestling and attach the slogan, “Wrestling Matters Here; No Really, We Mean It This Time, These Guys Actually Care”.
Obviously none of this is going to happen as TNA and Spike have a deal through until the fall of this year, and breaking it would be illegal, but man, a guy can dream. Not even cause I like Spike TV, I’m from Ireland, we don’t have it, but more-so for the irony of the whole situation.
The Return of the iPPV
Now that we’re into the genuinely likely possibilities, lets start with with iPPV.
ROH’s issues with iPPV comes in all different shapes and sizes. Whether it be through secondary sources such as GoFightLive.tv, or their own means, Ring of Honor and iPay-Per-View go together as about as well as Psycho Sid, Arn Anderson and a pair of scissors. Unless barely anybody purchases it the bandwidth will stretch and the feed will lag.
Last time ROH tried iPPV was Death Before Dishonor through GoFightLive.tv. The first part of the show was in many peoples eyes, flawless. Following intermission however things took a turn and the problems returned with a vengeance. What these problems do is take away from the product, it took away from Adam Cole winning the ROH World title that night as it did when Steen won the title at Border Wars in 2012.
If over the past few months ROH have been experimenting with different methods of effectively streaming iPPV’s or have came to an agreement with a television pay-per-view provider, then surely it’s worth another go. While the VOD events are good, nothing beats watching it live, and that’s the one aspect ROH is missing out on right now.
The Phenomenal One Is Here To Stay!
Following his successful and highly praised return against Roderick Strong from Ring of Honor Wrestling two weeks ago, AJ Styles’ stock may have actually risen, showing that he could help draw a big crowd into Nashville for the TV taping and that he’s willing to put it all on the line to contribute to ROH.
What many ROH fans feel though is that while it’s great having him back, seeing him leave would be difficult. Styles spent so long with TNA that in the end, it was as though he wasn’t appreciated anymore, like people just saw him as being “there”, but didn’t give him the credit he deserves. While in ROH, he’s shown true appreciation from not just the fans but the company.
If the announcement was that AJ Styles was either going to be appearing at Supercard of Honor VIII on WrestleMania Weekend, or was signing a contract with Ring of Honor, that’d more then meet mine and the expectations of many in-context to this announcement.
NUU JAPAN PRU WRESTLING!!!
As I reported here a couple weeks ago, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer has stated that Ring of Honor has been in negotiations with New Japan Pro Wrestling about bringing in some talents for events later this year, one talent specifically named being Hiroshi Tanahashi, the face of Japanese wrestling and the current IWGP Intercontinental Champion.
One of ROH’s biggest influences in Japanese wrestling. Throughout the years many of Puro’s finest have graced an ROH ring, from legends like Kenta Kobashi and Misawa to the new generation such as Go Shiozaki and KENTA. Only last year Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Taiji Ishimori made his way to Ring of Honor for Border Wars where he faced Eddie Edwards in a losing effort and Roderick Strong the following day at the TV taping in a successful match, and KUSHIDA, who appeared at All Star Extravaganza.
NJPW has a number of talents who could contribute significantly to the ROH product, from top names such as Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada and Naito, to junior heavyweights like IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Kota Ibushi, Prince Devitt, Alex Shelley and others. An aspiration of many ROH fans would be a crossover event pitting the two promotions against one another which would create a lot of buzz in the wrestling community.
Potential matches to come from this could see Hiroshi Tanahashi versus Michael Elgin, Kazuchika Okada versus Adam Cole, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson versus reDRagon, Shinsuke Nakamura versus Tommaso Ciampa, Ibushi versus Jay Lethal, Prince Devitt versus AJ Styles and Chris Hero versus Naito.
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Whatever the announcement is, I hope it delivers the fans a reason to get excited and a reason for people who don’t view the product to do so. Whether it be someones return, ROH’s return to a multimedia platform, the incoming of performers from another promotion or otherwise, something big is being announced on February 22, and I for one can’t wait.