Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Last year, Ring of Honor took advantage of WrestleMania 22 being in one of their markets, Chicago, by pulling out all the stops for consecutive shows - full of ROH’s top names and the stars of Dragon Gate - on the Friday and Saturday before it. That plan led to two of their best shows of ‘06 and record crowds for the promotion. This year, with WrestleMania 23 in Detroit, ROH looks to employ the same strategy. As they plan to pull out all the stops on Friday the 30th and Saturday the 31st at the Michigan State Fairgrounds, we here at pwchronicle.com plan to pull out the stops in previewing these two big shows.
First, a special head’s up to the folks at ROHwrestling.com for providing the current lineups and providing info on the Dragon Gate stars (some making their ROH debuts) coming in this weekend. BS will represent Brian Streleckis and his thoughts on each match, while JP will represent John Philapavage’s reacts to Brian and his own thoughts on the card.

Friday, March 30th - “All Star Extravaganza III”
Eight Man All Star Dragon Gate Rules Match
Austin Aries, Delirious, Rocky Romero, & Claudio Castagnoli
vs.
CIMA, Susumu Yokosuka, Dragon Kid, & Ryo Saito
BS: A big interpromotional match that looks to provide some hot and heavy tag team action. Yokosuka is new to ROH and looks to impress as much as his counterparts. The Dragon Gate wrestlers in this match are all a part of the new Typhoon group, so them teaming up here makes sense. The ROH team, though, is very odd. Aries and Delirious are faces, Claudio is a heel with no other allies on the roster, and Romero is presumably a heel after returning to ROH in January (after who knows how long away due to New Japan commitments and other things) and walking out on his old partner Ricky Reyes. After touring with NOAH the past several weeks, he looks to become an ROH regular again. I expect the Dragon Gate team might win this one. I also expect Delirious to bring the crazy and Aries and CIMA continue to battle over the title of “The Man.”
JP: This is a showcase match to me. It shows off what the Dragon Gate guys can do, gives everyone a chance to get some fun highspots in, will get the crowd hot, and further a few angles. I’m with Brian on the Dragon Gate team going over, and I’ll go a step further to present a reason. They give these guys 15 minutes to each get there signature spots over and the win, and they’ll be that much more golden the next night with the same crowd. As far as the reason they’ll win, my guess would be that it will involve the faction wars starting with the former Gen. Next group. I see Romero turning on Austin Aries and Delirious, who will also be involved in a new faction, because I see Romero officially joining No Remorse Corp (Davey Richards and Rodrick Strong) the next night. I think this pushes Aries and Delirious, who has issue with Strong, to join in a faction (though I was assuming Aries would be getting a troupe of newcomers, so what do i know). What’s interesting is where Castagnoli would stand. It’s completely plausible that he’s still in a state of flux and won’t be given focus this weekend, but it would be interesting if he was somehow used in the longterm angle. I doubt it though. Dragon Gate for the win.
World Tag Team Title Match
Naruki Doi & Shingo defend vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe
BS: The Briscoes became 3-Time ROH Tag Champs when they defeated Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal on February 24th, but in a shocking turn lost them a week later in Liverpool, England, in their first defense no less, to the Dragon Gate team of Shingo & Doi. I’m guessing this was a sign of good will between the two promotions. Now, after beating the hell out of each other the day after their loss, the Briscoes look to be more “manned up” than before and win them back. I say they will, as I prefer at least one of the ROH Titles stays in ROH. Should be as impressive as their previous match sounded from reports.
JP: First of all, Brian, is it “Manned Up” or is it “Man’d up”? If the Briscoe’s start there own lingo, they should at least put out fliers that help up with usage for these write-ups. It’s an Internet-fueled wrestling company, after all.

My nonsense aside, the Briscoes to go over in another “state of the art” match, which is Gabe Sapolsky’s fetish this past year. You either see this style as evolution, or sloppy work. I fall on the side that thinks the Briscoes are the evolution, or at least a nice break from the formula tag match. And Brian nailed this as a good will move, though it has come out it’s greater motivation was as a publicity move for tough sell tickets when ROH does two nights in Japan in July. Did I mention the Briscoes are winning?
Former Partners Collide
Roderick Strong vs. Jack Evans
BS: February 16th and 17th saw Strong turning on former partner Austin Aries and forming the No Remorse Corps with Davey Richards, Aries vowing to gain revenge with his own new faction, and fellow Generation Next stablemate Evans refusing to take sides and deciding to form his own new faction. The faction wars pick up steam with this match (which got good reviews in FIP in January of ‘06). It looks very good on paper, as these two know each other well, and I’m guessing Strong destroys Jack in order to fuel his own revenge.
JP: Like Brian said, they had a well received match in Florida in front of about 10 people a year back. I’m sure they’ve worked with each other before (as in against each other), and I should mention they were one hell of a fun tag team a few years back where half their offense involved Strong throwing Jack into their opponents.

Strong is gonna kill Jack, Jack will get some great comebacks, and a logical clean finish sees Strong (as the heel) going over. A bigger question might be if this is where Rocky Romero comes out to make his presence known as a member of No Remorse Corp? Perhaps a surprise member for Jack’s group makes the save? And maybe all this speculation might lead to your expectations being unrealistic.
ROH vs. Dragon Gate
Davey Richards vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
BS: Mochizuki, another Dragon Gate star new to ROH, is said be a very heavy striker. The newly heel Richards is also a heavy striker. This looks to be stiff-tacular, and I’m gonna guess Mochizuki takes the win (so we’ll only see ROH defeat Dragon Gate where it really counts: for the World Tag Team Titles).
JP: I don’t know much about Mochizuki, and Brian has a point about Dragon Gate going over strong and ROH getting ONLY the one win (which fits into Sapolsky’s usual thought process of making things stand out), but if Strong goes over, combined with no one knowing Mochizuki, it could mean him going over. More then likely though, the formula will be another favorite of Sapolsky’s: New guy comes out and shows ALOT of great offense, sells for a bit, and then kicks out of some finishers before losing. Then he’s given his own minute alone in the right after selling the finish to get an ovation. Yeah, I’ll say Richards goes over strong.
Special Attraction
Christopher Daniels vs. Homicide
BS: A match between two big names who were on the first ROH show. These two, besides tying up in TNA, had a ROH match in March of ‘03 that disappointed (I think some of it was clipped on the DVD) and were part of a three-way with Jay Briscoe February 23rd in Dayton, OH that delivered. These two know each other better now, so it should be totally solid. I say Homicide wins, as he’ll probably be in ROH longer than Daniels and will probably get back on track for the World Title.
JP:So far we’re pretty like-minded about this show. I see Homicide going over for similar reasons. Homicide is not far removed from being the face of the company, plus he just put over Joe. Of course, half the fun of being a fan of this smart mark promotion is having brain teasers like this one. Both TNA guys could job to the other, and there’s always the chance of Daniels going over, but Daniels has become the veteran measuring stick for young guys, and he’s not at a place where going over helps him here. Homicide to cover the spread.
Anything Goes Mixed Tag Team Match
BJ Whitmer & Daizee Haze vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Lacey
BS: Aside from time off for injury and feuding with CZW, Whitmer has been feuding fairly consistently with Jacobs & Lacey since leaving them last January, and this night would mark one year since the first Whitmer-Jacobs singles match (featuring that frightening slip from the top rope). Haze, on her own since the demise of the Embassy, got dragged into this in November when Lacey tried to show her dominance over her as the top female in the promotion. With the men set to settle the score the next night by themselves, I expect more involvement from the women. Haze beats Lacey to settle the score as the men brawl elsewhere and await the cage.
JP: The only thing I’m confident in is that the finish will be a woman pinning a woman. I’m perplexed as to who goes over, because I don’t think they’ll let the men play into the finish to effect the next nights cage match. I’m polarized on this because I could care less about the women’s portion of this feud. Haze has been uninspiring to me, and her being written to this feud was weak to me. Lacey, when I first saw her, made me think “It’s a young Tammy Sytch. i love watching talent develop”. Years later I’m still sitting hear waiting for all the pieces to fall together for her verbally and character-wise. Basically, I’m saying this is an irrelevant match, though Jimmy Jacobs is always amusing to me. My magic eyeball says Jimmy pins Haze, hows that?
Four Corner Survival
Matt Sydal vs. Colt Cabana vs. Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney vs. Adam Pearce with Shane Hagadorn
BS: Crazy miscellaneous fun. Cabana recently won his feud with Jacobs & Lacey. Pearce recently lost his smaller feud with Delirious. Hero, returning from NOAH this weekend, looks to become a major singles star, with Sweeney doing a fine job as his agent. Sydal, a recent ROH World Tag Team Champion and Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate Champion, is showing some subtle heel traits and may set off on a new path. I say Sydal wins here to start this path, but it could very well be Hero too.
JP: Brian put it best, “Crazy miscellaneous fun”. I’ve always defended these Four Corner Survival matches to the snobbier portion ROH’s fanbase. They’re always action packed and interesting. Not only that, Sapolsky and the wrestlers use these matches as excellent platforms for character development and storyline movement. A heel goes over here, and I think Hero needs the win. It’s enough for Sydal just to screw over one of the faces, like Cabana, to continue his slow heel turn on partner Chris Daniels.
ALSO: Bruno Sammartino, a previous guest September 16th at “Glory By Honor V: Night 2″ in Manhattan, is back this night to meet fans, sign autographs, and possibly say some more kind words towards the promotion, maybe sticking it gentler to WWE than Jim Cornette did a year ago. Nigel McGuinness (recently the victor in a feud against Jimmy Rave), Brent Albright, ROH Student Pelle Primeau, and Dragon Gate prospect YAMATO are advertised without matches. We could be seeing Primeau vs. YAMATO and McGuinness vs. Albright, or we could see some of these guys (especially the latter two) or others cause some trouble elsewhere on the card.

March 31st - ”Supercard of Honor II” (one year since the first “Supercard of Honor”)

Currently, there’s only six matches announced. Rocky Romero, Delirious, Colt Cabana, Nigel McGuinness, Chris Hero (with Larry Sweeney), Adam Pearce (with Shane Hagadorn), Claudio Castagnoli, Pelle Primeau, and YAMATO are all advertised without matches, with the promise that they’ll get some based on what happens the previous night. I certainly have one idea.
Dragon Gate Rules Six Man Match Of The Year Rematch
CIMA, Shingo & Susumu Yokosuka vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Masaaki Mochizuki
BS: Last year’s “Supercard of Honor” had a Dragon Gate six man tag between Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino) vs. Do Fixer (Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Genki Horiguchi). ‘Twas a first rate spotfest that took Match of the Year honors from both the Observer and the Torch. This six man isn’t quite a rematch, seeing how some guys from last year are replaced with other guys, but it has good of a chance as any as striking the same lightening. Dragon Kid’s team won the match last year, so what the hell, I say they’ll get it again this year.
JP: I understand why this match was booked but I’m surprised. Sapolsky usually doesn’t like to take a chance of messing with the memory of a great match, yet he’s really doing it here. For so many reasons (different time, different players, different moment) this won’t be nearly the match that last year was. Saying that, I beg them to prove me wrong, I really do. This is there to get “ohs” and “Awws”, but not for a storyline. It really doesn’t matter who wins this match, it’s there with the hopes the crowd acts electric thinking about what happened last year, and somehow Dave Meltzer pimps it in his newsletter.
FIP World Heavyweight Title Match
Roderick Strong defends vs. Austin Aries
BS: A big grudge match I’m really looking forward to. Strong putting his FIP Title on the line kind of gives away he might win this, but for the sake of the feud, he might as well. One other downside would be this ending in some big schmozzola, possibly including run-ins from each man’s new stablemates. Again, for the sake of the feud, it would have some silver lining in introducing new members to the faction war.
JP: For those new to my opinions, here’s one to file away. I think the FIP title on ROH shows is about as valuable and of interest to me as the WWE Hardcore title. That said, I think Brian’s right about the two possible finishes here. I don’t think it matters if Aries wins the belt (even to FIP), as more then likely this will develop into a faction war out of a match. I think some sort of surprise debut will be given to make up for a non-finish. Yes…. definitely true!
Steel Cage Match
BJ Whitmer w/Daizee Haze vs. Jimmy Jacobs w/Lacey
BS: Kudos to ROH for not only keeping this feud fairly consistent for a year, but also for not watering down the steel cage gimmick as WWE and TNA have. Here, it’s a be-all, end-all. Adding to the fun is that there will be no escape rule for this match, and Haze and Lacey will be at ringside to give weapons to their respective men on request. Hopefully a wild and crazy end to this wild and crazy feud. With Jacobs Lacey instigating things and taking credit for putting Whitmer on the shelf, the babyface Whitmer should come out on top. Trouble is, I find the Jacobs/Lacey act a lot more compelling, but they could always continue it following the loss. If Whitmer attempts to powerbomb Jacobs from the top of the cage, may it go smoothly.
JP: Something tells me with no title match and a cage needed to be set up, this may be your main event. If I’m ROH, I’d take a strange pride in knowing that for the second straight year I’m closing out my big weekend with a long-term feud coming to it’s conclusion. In both cases (last year was Homicide and Cabana) you have a gimmick match between guys that should really be having a dead mid card feud, but it’s been built so well that with gimmicks this will again (theoretically) be a worthy main event.

I could do without the ladies handing weapons to guys in the cage - they are in a cage for a reason after all - but I’ll forgive them. ROH, bizarre as this may sound, lucked out with a botched powerbomb a year back, Whitmer being more over and preoccupied thanks to the CZW feud, and Jimmy upping his stock in the interim. Here’s what this comes down to for me. I haven’t seen a match I really enjoyed out of these two one-on-one since last years match, but I thought last year’s match was the best version of smaller Undertaker vs even smaller Shawn Michaels you’ll ever see. This one ends with a powerbomb off the top, and even if Whitmer is the babyface, it’s Jimmy’s hometown, and he’s the more over act. I guess if it closes the show Whitmer goes over, but it should go one 3rd from the top, and Sapolsky’s version of Tommy Dreamer should be counting the lights.
Fifth Year Festival Rematch
Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe
BS: The first match, on February 24th, saw the Briscoes defeat Sydal & Daniels (SyDaniels?) for the World Tag Team Titles. Presuming the Briscoes really do regain the Titles (and with the current champs tied up in other matches this night), this match will be a natural role reversal. I predict the Briscoes will win again and Sydal will sooner or later turn on his veteran partner, as has been teased.
JP: Brian nailed this one. It’ll be a title match, it’ll be solid, and if it’s not a Sydal turn (probably not just yet), I think it’s definitely him being a heel that costs them the match. Briscoes win! Briscoes win!
Special Challenge Tag Team Match
Jack Evans & Naruki Doi vs. Davey Richards & the newest member of the No Remorse Corps
BS: Evans & Doi together here makes sense as they are currently stablemates in the Muscle Outlawz in Dragon Gate. It also helps that Doi is pretty awesome, and his teaming with Evans could be as good of Power Guy/High Flyer team as Evans & Strong was. As for who could join Richards in the No Remorse Corps, I think Romero with his striking and killer attitude fits perfectly. I suspect the Corps to be victorious and stay strong, but if Evans has some friends waiting for him, I wouldn’t object to it.
JP: If Brian and I were going to Vegas, we’d be betting the house on Romero coming in and a No Remorse sweep this weekend. Still, i think this match will debut a surprise. Just a hunch.
Grudge Match
Homicide vs. Brent Albright
BS: These two first wrestled December 8th at “The Chicago Spectacular: Night One,” but it was more of an angle than match. The “Gun For Hire” took a payoff from Bryan Danielson to injure future challenger Homicide’s bum shoulder, taking a DQ loss to give the then-World Champ better odds. Again, Homicide could win it here so as to get back on track for the World Title, and he could use some revenge, but a feud with Albright before facing Takeshi Morishima again would be fine by me.
JP:Albright needs the win, and Homicides slowly on the way out. I’d like to see Albright go over, and move on to bigger and better things, and I don’t see this as feud material (I’m also not in charge of ANY decisions). I’m more interested in Albright against Danielson or Morishima before Homicide, but I’ve had 5 plus years of Cide and he really climaxed as a character for me w/ his title win. So I’ll say Albright for the win.

Not only should there be some extra matches, as Brian mentioned earlier, but we could see things change up the second night of the card before we even get these exact matches. Two days is good enough, as last year doing this style three straight days left the crew dead. We should see the best matches in Detroit on these two shows, much like Chicago last year. I’d also expect a few surprises, and that’s even being teased by news sources who don’t wanna spoil things. At the very least I’d expect Joey (Matthews) Mercury to make a surprise return (he was an early part of ROH, and for you newsletter geeks like me, Punk will be backstage w/ Maria, be seen by all the fans, and get heat for it by Sunday’s big show. That is all.

Big Thanks to Brian Streleckis for being the lead writer on this preview. Unless you saw JP in front of it, Brian most likely wrote it. a great first week aboard. We’ll see you the next few days with more features.