--From the bingo halls, flea markets, and high school gyms of America, here comes Inside the Indies, your BoD look into the world of independent & developmental wrestling. This week we take a look at the lineup for Ring of Honor's Best in the World: Hostage Crisis and give some predictions, plug a few live events going on this weekend, and, for the first time, we take a look at The Underground, a YouTube show that exists in the universe of Jeff Katz' much-hyped Wrestling Retribution Project. All that, plus a look at some of the top names the uninitiated need to know on the independent wrestling scene...
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--ROH's iPPV Best In The World: Hostage Crisis can be seen (we hope) tomorrow at ROHwrestling.com. Fingers are crossed that people are actually able to see the show they're paying for this time around. Regardless, here's the card, and my predictions:
- ROH champion Kevin Steen vs. Davey Richards - Anything Goes in Richards' last title shot. I can't really see the Steen storyline falling apart so quickly, so I imagine that Steen retains here. I'm not exactly sure where they go next, since rehashing the same feud with Davey & Steen would get a little dull. My best guess is that they'll milk the "last title shot" stip for a while and let Davey build his way back up, and Steen will face Eddie Edwards for a while.
- ROH Tag Team champions Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) vs. The All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King). I think that ANX are destined for the tag titles at the end of this feud, but the feud needs more time to develop, so I imagine that WGTT retains here through sketchy means. Ether again, maybe?
- Fit Finlay vs. Michael Elgin. Elgin is the future, and Finlay is just basically collecting a paycheck and putting some people over in this run, so Elgin most definitely retains. I definitely think he's going to end up on the outs with House of Truth before too long, and a hard hitting feud with Rhino is most definitely in his future, followed by finishing business with Roderick Strong.
- ROH World TV Champion Roderick Strong vs. Jay Lethal vs. "The Sicilian Psychopath" Tommaso Ciampa - Three Way Dance. This feud has been all about Ciampa and Lethal, and Roderick as the champ is just kind of afloat. I really get the feeling Strong was only inserted here to give him something to do, and so that it isn't just Lethal vs. Ciampa over and over. I think Ciampa wins it here, however I don't really see it leading to anything regarding Strong.
- Eddie Edwards vs. Homicide. It really kills me that Homicide keeps doing these little spot appearances in ROH but is never involved in the TV show or any angles, because he's someone who would mean something to ROH and would be an excellent foil for Steen. Eddie wins it here to continue the Die Hard Challenge series.
- Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. The Guardians of Truth w/ Truth Martini. I don't really have a good prediction as to who the Guardians of Truth are supposed to be, so I can't really say for sure. If this is the start of a Briscoes vs. HoT angle (or, rather, a continuation of it, since they had issues months ago that only kind of blew off) then I imagine the Guardians of Truth win it to milk things.
- Hybrid Fighting Rules: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly. I missed the build to this one, but I assume Hybrid Fighting rules involves some kind of MMA. Clearly that'd be up KO's alley, but this is wrestling and in this kind of situation, the babyface needs to beat the heel at his own game. Therefore, Cole wins.
-- Enjoy the show if you're ordering, I won't be because that lineup doesn't really blow me away. And I like to actually see shows I pay for. Maybe if word is good I'll order the replay.
--I had initially assumed I wouldn't be seeing BitW because I'd be watching CHIKARA's Smack In The Middle live in Syracuse, NY tomorrow. Looks like I won't be going, but if anyone so happens to be in the central NY area tomorrow I recommend checking it out if you can get tickets. Eddie Kingston will defend his title against Dasher Hatfield, El Generico teams up with Gran Akuma and 3.0 (Scott "Jagged" Parker and Shane Matthews) to face F.I.S.T (Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano, and Icarus) and Ophidian, Soldier Ant of The Colony takes on the evil assailANT from the evil doppelgangers The Swarm while their respective partners Green Ant and deviANT square off, Jigsaw takes on HIS evil doppelganger in The Shard, The Spectral Envoy take on the Bravado Brothers, Sara Del Rey and Saturyne stand up for women everywhere by taking on Tim Donst and Jakob Hammermeier of Bruderschaft Des Kruzes, and in the Young Lions Eliminator 4 way bout you'll see Ryan Rush vs. Mark Angelosetti vs. Tripp Cassidy vs. one of my upstate wrestling scene local favorites in "Juggernaut" Jason Axe. Can't really beat that for the price, and doors open at 4pm at the Pastime Athletic Club. I wish I could be there but I'll leave it to the readership to make me proud and represent the BoD.
--The Underground is a YouTube series from the forthcoming (eventually, although I guess we still don't know when) Wrestling Retribution Project universe created by Hollywood insider Jeff Katz. I gotta say, I like the look & feel of this. It's theme is an underground wrestling fight club, where the competitors are mainly competing to work toward cash prizes. I love the setting of it, mainly. That abandoned warehouse is a cool atmosphere, especially with the fans standing in the upper decks like background characters in a Street Fighter game. This particular match features PW3, a.k.a Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks (or Max Buck of Generation Me, if you prefer) facing Hayashi. One of the themes of WRP is that they act as though no other wrestling exists, so they don't acknowledge PW3 as being a former TNA & indie star, as well as not acknowledging that Stone, the "Prodigal Son" they show watching from the outside, is actually Nick Jackson/Jeremy Buck. At the end we get to see some of the future characters of The Underground, all of whom seem very young and small but have an attitude more suited toward a teen/young adult audience. However, much like the main WRP roster (which we'll see, someday, I'm sure of it, on Netflix), these guys suffer from Stupid Name Syndrome: 1600, Dread, Jobs? For that matter, what the hell is a PW3? Anyway, here it is, judge for yourself:
Investigating The Indies
--This is a feature I'm introducing where I give you a little idea as to who some of the big names in the indie wrestling world are, for those who maybe haven't checked them out yet. Let's start with a few of my favorites, AR Fox, Chuck Taylor, and Johnny Gargano.
AR Fox
--Fox is one of the breakout stars in Dragon Gate as well as EVOLVE and CZW. He briefly trained in FCW, as well. He's a former CZW Wired TV champion and has won a number of fans favor with his innovative high flying style. Gabe Sapolsky is said to be very high on Fox, considering especially that he nearly decided to stop using him in EVOLVE after missing a Canadian show due to border crossing problems. Check out a sampling of his work:
Johnny Gargano
--"The Bee's Knees, The Cat's Pajamas, The Whole Shebang". With a nickname like that, you know you're in for something good when Johnny Gargano is involved. He's a charismatic guy who makes the rounds between Dragon Gate USA, CHIKARA, EVOLVE, and others. He's a sometimes partner, sometimes foe of Chuck Taylor, and he brings a sense of fun to his moveset with names like the Hurts Donut and the Garga-No-Escape. Check him out as he takes on "M-Dogg 20" Matt Cross:
Chuck Taylor
-- Also known as "Smooth Chucky T" and "The Kentucky Gentleman", Taylor has been involved in an assortment of different teams and angles all over the indie scene, from DGUSA/EVOLVE to CHIKARA to PWG in California. He's been a part of F.I.S.T., he's been a member of The Fightin' Taylor Boys, and for a while he was doing a 90s-Nickelodeon type gimmick, calling his Omega Driver finisher the Awful Waffle (from Salute Your Shorts, of course) and coming out to the tune of "Hey Sandy" by Polaris, the theme from Adventures of Pete & Pete. He also does the move Gail Kim calls Eat Defeat, only he calls it Sole Food, because apparently that move can only be done if its name is a pun. Here's Chuck's top ten moves from YouTube:
--Anyhow folks that's it for this week. Til next time remember: support your local indie scene.
If Davey goes full-on heel I could see him beating Steen by nefarious means.
ReplyDeletejohnny gargano is a frequent wrestler of pro wrestling ohio and prime wrestling here in duh... ohio.
ReplyDeletehe is ok.
i think the bookers are those wrestlezone columnists justin lebar cuz ive heard thier names a couple of times.
There's a chance I might make it to Chikara's debut Alabama show in early October. The building they are using only holds 200 and tickets are already on sale so I hope I can get confirmation soon on whether I can even go. My job is complicated that way.
ReplyDeleteGood to see you've figured out video embedding.
ReplyDeleteIf Davey and Cornette ended up in cahoots and both go fully heel afterwards, that's the only way I'd want to see Steen lose the title. But in that scenario I see Corino and Jacobs as an albatross for Steen unless O'Reily is added to the whole thing to even the odds.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, "hybrid fighting" for Cole/O'Reilly is submission/KO only to win.
ReplyDeleteAnd O'Reilly's already a heel. It's easy!
ReplyDeleteThe Underground is a good concept for a wrestling show, they're just executing it poorly. The idea of an underground wrestling circuit done in the style of a movie like Bloodsport could be awesome. But they picked some of the least intimidating looking guys EVER. 1600 looks like he's 14 years old. I don't believe he could take a punch let alone survive a match. The other problem is that all of these guys look like they're going to be wrestling the same style of match. Having a bigass goon who murders people, a high flyer, a loose cannon brawler, a martial artist, and a bunch of different styles would help add variety. Instead its a bunch of indy dudes hitting high spots.
ReplyDeleteIf they took the idea behind Bloodsport, hyped this as an annual anything goes wrestling tournament, and then built a handful of episodes around the wacky character they develop, it could be a lot of fun. They'd be able to replicate it every year since you don't need to have the same guys in that kind of environment, and really, you shouldn't; you should be bringing back one or two popular characters from "season" to "season." But this looks like Wrestling Society X without all of the goofy tacked on bullshit. Which means it looks boring.
Too bad, its like scrolling through a 411 article now...
ReplyDeleteI'll be at BitW tomorrow. I'm not sure if I like ROH as much as I like the idea of a promotion putting up a scrappy fight to present a kind of wrestling the WWE and TNA can't or won't.
ReplyDeleteGargano is awesome. Same with Chucky T. I feel like DGUSA and CHIKARA are where the awesome is at nowadays.
I find it hilarious that they have a ppv called best in the world, when all the founding fathers or greats of ROH are gone except the Briscoes.
ReplyDeleteThey really need to bail and goto TNA
It's funny the same day he posts this about Homicide not being on TV, i watch their show and Homicide is on TV assaulting Eddie Edwards. honestly i like the card, but i'm a HUGE Ciampa mark so i have instant interest in the TV tittle match. also as i said last week Kevin Steen+No DQ=Awesome in a can. I figure two matches i'm stoked for plus what's sure to be good wrestling all around and a good sized crowd for ROH (they had to open the upper balcony a few days ago cause they ran out of seats) should make for a fun show, certainly better than No Way Out
ReplyDeleteWell thank you. I guess that button that looks like.....one of those things....you chop them when you start a movie scene? I dunno anyway, I guess I should've figured that would do it.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in the iPPV tonight, and I get it for free due to the last iPPV debacle (which is awesome for me since I was one of the people who actually got to see the last iPPV as well). It almost seems like they've booked themselves into a corner now though. Steen/Davey is just about the last hot angle the company has, and unless they bounce the belt back to Davey, this is the last match they can have (as per the stipulation). This almost guarantees that Cornette has to get involved to get the belt back on Davey and turn both guys full heel, but that outcome is so obvious that they really need to put an extra twist on it to make it interesting. This could either be a really exciting match with a great finish or it could fall flat like the last encounter and like Davey/Eddie at Final Battle. If ROH wants to show everyone a glimpse of their glory years, they really need to deliver tonight.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of intrigued by the Guardians of Truth. I'm a sucker for mystery guy/team angles. Unfortunately with the indies, however, I know there's a good chance it's just going to be a couple guys I've never heard of. Or it might just be a way to put an existing team (like The Bravados or Young Bucks) under Martini's management.
Ryan Murphy is the kind of "talent" that belongs on what 411 has turned into.
ReplyDeleteIf they manage to keep Steen both champion and a heel after this show then I could see the next big angle being Elgin getting a ROH title shot. He's already starting to get massive cheers and a Steen/Elgin program could be great. Now I do realize that Steen himself is getting face reactions but I think pairing him against a freshly turned Elgin will help keep him a dickhead heel.
ReplyDeleteI wrote for 411 ten years ago and I'd never go back without Widro. Nor would I go back to Inside Pulse with Widro, though he's still got me on their Facebook writers group.
ReplyDeleteBravados are at that CHIKARA show I mentioned tonight in Syracuse, so it's not them.
ReplyDeleteWell, to be fair, The Underground is just a spinoff that's kind of emphasizing the smaller & younger guys. The regular WRP will have Chris Masters & MVP & Luke Gallows and so on.
ReplyDeleteRight now I see Elgin as being in the position Tyler Black was after his breakout match against McGuiness. He's got the fans' attention but he's coming in from out of nowhere as a title contender and given the storyline that he's a part of, he doesn't quite make sense as a challenger yet--just as Black still had his AotF angle, Elgin has the House of Truth. He's also got the same grassroots support Steen has, so I'm not sure it would do either of them any favors to go against each other at the moment (plus there's the fact that part of Elgin's appeal is his freaky feats of strength which might be limited against a guy Steen's size). However, if Elgin challenged against a heel Davey, his support would flare, possibly giving him a reason to finish the turn (losing the match by interference gone awry) and begin his war against Martini and Strong.
ReplyDeleteElgin/Steen would still probably be good, but it would require some swift and effective booking to turn the fans on Steen again to the point where Elgin didn't lose his support going into the match. Plus that leaves the question of what to do with Davey. Does he go after the tag belts with O'Reilly. Does he wrestle Eddie Edwards a couple thousand more times? Does he just disappear while El Generico returns to the title hunt minus a sense of humor and plus 20 pounds of muscle and an MMA obsessed style?
Davey regaining the strap and setting up a face chase for Steen is the result that seems to have the most potential, but like I said, I hope ROH comes up with a way to do something a little less predictable and just as intriguing.
I'm live at the Hammerstein! I just wanted to post that because it's fun! I'm on the floor in Section B, Row 4, Seat 1 if anyone wants to say hi. I'm in a black ROH shirt and have longer hair than in my avatar.
ReplyDeleteSomething tells me The Guardians aren't Ron Simmons and Butch Reed.
ReplyDeleteFix The Ropes is getting the biggest pop of the night!
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't the best choice for an opener. It didn't help that the two guys under the masks didn't seem that good in the ring.
ReplyDeleteYeah they seemed really loose.
ReplyDeleteThey looked scary live because they had no give and Mark looked like he was going to kill himself when he went to the top. The ending was clearly changed from a Doomsday Device to a slam and pin.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how that Cole/O'Reily matched looked on-line, but live it began to look super intense once Cole's mouth began bleeding. People around me were losing it when he began breathing out blood.
ReplyDeleteAll I could think during that match was, for the love of GOB, someone get those teeth in some milk. Funny seeing a mock-MMA match end in a Figure 4.
ReplyDeleteHoly balls I did not expect that from Cole and O'Reily. Great job by both guys and I have a bit more hope for ROH's future now.
ReplyDeleteI think the people chanting "boring" are being jerks, but the match has definitely picked up since then. I think Elgin and Finley are a bad match. Elgin has great potential, but he's not yet at a point where he can carry an opponent he's not connecting with. Finley was just playing it too strong style. He needed to go a bit faster.
ReplyDeleteSadly the Elgin/Finlay match seemed pretty lackluster IMO and didn't do much to elevate Elgin.
ReplyDeleteYeah Finlay needed to pick up the pace during that match. Or at least it should have been about 5 minutes shorter.
ReplyDeleteOh God no. Mike Mondo? Dammit. This is not what I paid to see.
ReplyDeletePlease God do not let this be the start of a Mondo push unless they seriously retool his character. Maybe proud New Yorker will be the way to go for him?
ReplyDeleteI think WWE should give Mikey one last shot if only to improve the legacy of the Spirit Squad. Jeter disappeared, Nicky left wrestling, and Kenny turned out to be an absolute dick in real life who doesn't deserve to be successful no matter what Scott thinks.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I just despise Ken Doane.
Ken Doane seems kinda bitter. I think he'd be better served leaving wrestling alone for a while or embracing the indie world and ignoring the WWE. Either way, he needs to let go of the resentment a bit.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Mikey pulls it together now in ROH with a new character. His old persona was awful. I like the spark he showed tonight.
The 3 way dance for the TV title seemed like a missed opportunity. All 3 of the men involved can wrestle a great match, but it felt like it was too focused on getting angles advanced to the detriment of the match quality.
ReplyDeleteTag title match was OK. Seemed a bit too long with a few sloppy spots but I'm glad the WGTT dropped the titles.
ReplyDeleteThe main event was awesome live. It definitely lived up to the hype for the crowd here. The heel speach at the end didn't quite turn Steen heel but definitely quieted a lot of the crowd, although some of the crowd was still with him.
ReplyDeleteIt's telling when he's threatening to kill the company and is STILL cheered. Maybe they're mindset is "There's always Chikara"?
ReplyDeleteKinda funny....I just overheard some of the production guys talking about how funny it is the crowd just won't turn on Steen. I guess the plan was for the crowd to really hate him at the end.
ReplyDeleteWhen Doane tried indy wrestling the crowds usually booed him out of the building because deep down he's a talentless hack with a great top rope legdrop.
ReplyDeleteThat heel turn went over worse than Austin's at WM 17
ReplyDeleteBoy, I called that wrong. I guess they're going with Steen as the champ who hates the fans before they can hate him. I guess that was supposed to be a heel turn, but the crowd didn't want to cooperate. Maybe the thing with O'Reilly was supposed to make Davey more sympathetic. I'm curious to see how the company handles this. Are they just going to keep feeding him face challengers, knowing the fans will always pick Steen (not that there are that many "made" challengers right now)? I'm guessing Homicide will be getting a shot based on his victory over Eddie, and Elgin seems like the first new guy who can be a serious contender. The potential doesn't seem limitless, but at least they've finally figured out a new twist on the crowd turning the champ heel angle.
ReplyDeleteIt works really well though since the story was O'Reily is the MMA fighter, and Cole is a good ol' fashioned Pro wrestler
ReplyDeleteAnser, it looked fucking awesome online, totally stole the show
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they never should have tried to turn him heel in the first place lol, I think Steen could have killed a puppy in the middle of the ring and the crowd would have cheered
ReplyDeleteI called them as transitional champs as soon as they won the belts back
ReplyDeleteI'd say ten shorter personally, 20 minutes is a long time with a 53-year old wrestler involved
ReplyDeleteWell he's got a whole season's wortha of WRP in the can so he's probably banking on that bieng a big deal.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. Cole's victory was a great move to build O'Reilly's heel character as well. I thought the promo before the title match was probably the best work he's ever done, just like that gash was about the best thing that could have happened for Cole's ROH career.
ReplyDeleteJust wanna say thanks to you guys for talking ROH on here. I'm proud to be the go to guy for ROH/indie coverage on here and I'm glad so many of ayou enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI just read on 411 that The Guardians were The Headbangers, Mosh and Thrasher. If that's the case, it's kind of stupid that they masked them; why not take advantage of their name value? I just listened to the Art of Wrestling with Mosh and I would have marked out if I'd known that was him. Funny how they're back to doing The Spiders after all these years.
ReplyDeleteI dunno. I think there's two things at play. One is the cult of personality with Steen. He's an interesting, fun, dynamic character that really stands out from the generic tough guys of ROH. The other is just the boredom that comes with the same old, same old. Steen's story is something new and interesting and the crowd is really behind it. There don't seem to be any other angles in ROH, so it kinda makes sense people would get emotionally involved with the one hot one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving us a place to chat. It's kind of stupid how ROH took down their message board and isolated their fans from conversing about their product, makes me suspect that they were getting kind of insecure.
ReplyDeleteI agree on both points, that gash will make Cole's victory legendary and that was DEFINENTLY the best Kyle O'Reilly promo i've everseen. by leaps and bounds actually
ReplyDeleteYour super welcome, I love your columns. so i'm curious, when might we get to hear your thoughts on that Maligned Heel turn from Steen lol
ReplyDeletewhen they unmask they should have facie paint that ;ooks just like their maksks.
ReplyDeleteI can only imainge since I know Scott is on some WWE guys's radar that ROH guys must read me, I wonder what they think. At this point we might be the main ROH people on the IWC, since I dunno who's still folowwing along with Ziegler on Pulse or whoever on 411 or wherever else.
ReplyDeleteThanks to you, Ryan, for providing us with a platform to discuss indies and ROH and for giving us the excellent columns each week. Just please untie Colin Reinhart?
ReplyDeleteI would love for Colin to post more since I don't really cover the iPPVs. I think he's more loyal to 411 or wheever he writes though.
ReplyDeletegot my modem sitioutationm straightened out so I think I might go back to the ROH recaps next week or the week after.
ReplyDeleteWoohoo!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say no other storylines, every match but Elgin-Finlay got build on the show
ReplyDeleteI really got upset with the crowd for chanting "Boring" at Finlay vs. Elgin. Maybe it was because it followed such a high pace match, maybe it was because Elgin is hard to sympathize with when he's fighting from underneath, but I really dug the "Experience trumps Youth" storyline Finlay was working.
ReplyDeleteI feel like they gave into the crowd and put on a power move match at the end that didn't really logically follow from the rest of the match, and that hurt it.
I thought it was a great way to acknowledge the cycle that seems to play out with every champ. ROH fans love to "Cheer the heel and boo the face" so this is a monkey wrench in that dynamic. What will they do when the heel refuses to accept the face turn that they try to foist on him (like they did with Black and Richards). At first I thought Steen was straight up turning face when he gave Davey his due, but instead he stuck to his guns and used Davey to prove his point. I'm genuinely interested in seeing how this experiment plays out, especially how ROH will handle his challengers.
ReplyDeleteYeah, for the match that preceded it I didn't like how the finish was just Elgin kicking out of everything and hitting his finisher for the 3 immediately. I felt like that end cheapened the story that preceded it, though I guess that was a good way to build Elgin's 'unbreakability'. Some of the restholds did last a little long, but not to the point where the match deserved to be disrespected. Finlay is just an odd fit on an indy card; his matches require a bit more patients. It was great seeing him bust out his old Tombstone though.
ReplyDeleteWasn't great for Kevin Kelly who had to scramble for a kayfabe explanation of why it wasn't an automatic DQ!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, now that makes sense. I forgot about that whole thing and didn't get what he was talking about. You think "Because he's mother f'n Finlay" would have sufficed.
ReplyDeleteHonestly i don't think chanting was nessesary but... i kinda agreed with them. the match went 10 minutes to long, tell the same story in 10 or 11 minutes you've got a nice little match but 20 minutes was a bit much in my opinion
ReplyDeleteThing is i don't particularly want to boo OR Cheer heel Steen (if we get that kind of Promo every night) I liked face Steen, but don't hate OR love a fan hating Steen... if that makes sense
ReplyDelete-Note I'm only judging based on one promo, my feelings on Heel Steen could change so (i can't believe I'm saying this) I'll let it play out and see where the character goes but...I'm concerned
An ass-kicker vs. ass-kicker match is hard to pull off. It's much easier to gel as a cohesive unit when someone's an ass-kicker and sympathetic babyface or cowardly heel.
ReplyDelete