Ring of Honor Grim Review: 9/24/11 Debut of a New Brand and Start of a New Era

Hello ladies and gentlemen. My name is Alex "Grim" Baker and I would like to start off by thanking you for reading this article.

Some of you may recognize me from my TNA reviews (which have been sporadic as of late, my bad guys, I'm going to reboot them next week so be on the look out), but this article is about a different brand, a new era in wrestling and the start of what could be the spark that sets the wrestling world ablaze.

That's right everyone, a new challenger appears and it goes by the name Ring of Honor.

Over the past few months, I've been writing reviews and stories on B/R, I've noticed that most of the wrestling fans on here are looking for an alternative to the main stream wrestling scene, something different. I've also noticed that many of the writers on here tend to forget about the independent scene for a variety of reasons.

Because of this, I have decided to take up the proverbial flag and try to expose many of you to what, in my opinion, is the gateway to the hidden world that is independent wrestling, and that is ROH.

I have been a fan of Ring of Honor for several years now and have seen great wrestlers come and go. I watched one of the greatest feuds of all-time last year between El Generico and Kevin Steen and have over the years found that it as a whole offers the wrestling community a great alternative/supplement to main stream wrestling. 

Before we get started, let me explain my grading system. I grade from one to five stars, with one being Sting vs. Jeff Hardy at Victory Road and five stars being Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards at Best in the World. At the end of the show I give it a letter grade and give out a few awards that I make up on the spot.

Without further ado let me kick into my review of the debut show of the new ROH.

The show opens with several of the wrestlers shown getting ready and a few shots of the various ROH titles before we get a cut to a packed crowd that is seems psyched for some great wrestling. "ROH" chants fill the arena as we cut to the ring where Kevin Kelly is standing.

He announces that the main event for tonight's show will be The King's of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, appears this will be their last match in ROH due to the fact that Claudio signed with the WWE. No word on the status of Hero) vs. Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Hass and Shelton Benjamin) for the Ring of Honor Tag Team Titles.

He also announces that tonight there will be a brand new commentator. He is a multi-time ROH champion and one of the greats: Nigel McGuiness (a.k.a. Desmond Wolfe).

The crowd goes nuts as Nigel comes out and explains that he knew he had to be apart of the new era of ROH and that he's ready for the ride.

We then get two video packages. One from Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly talking about their role as an up and coming tag team in wrestling today. The other is from their opponents the Bravado Brothers, who emphasize the importance of a win tonight.

My Thoughts

Great way to kick off the new ROH. Nigel coming back was a huge pop and the video packages were able to introduce the two young teams to new ROH viewers, overall a very effective use of time. Side note, I'm glad that the promos and graphics look professional and high grade, production quality will be a big hurdle that ROH will have to overcome and so far they've done very well.

Match 1: FUTURE SHOCK (KYLE O'REILLY & ADAM COLE) vs. THE BRAVADO BROTHERS

The wrestlers are introduced and we get a tale of the tape. My inner old-school wrestling fan just did flips, it seems ROH is actually going to go the route of maintaining their "Wrestling is Real" and not being sports entertainment. That's awesome.

Nigel explains the two teams backgrounds and does a solid job selling both teams as future stars. So far, he's doing a very solid job as a color commentator.

The match starts with Future Shock hitting some big double team moves before sinking in a quick double submission that the ref breaks up. The match then goes into a standard tag team rhythm.

The heels (The Bravado Brothers) separate Cole and start working him over with a series of moves. The Brothers follow this up with a nice kick into a German Suplex that gets them a near fall.

O'Reilly gets the hot tag and clears house. Future Shock then hits a double team move that looks something like a Rolling Butterfly Suplex into a German Suplex that looks awesome.

Cole does a suicide dive out of the ring and takes out one of the Bravados while O' Reilly dropkicks the other one into a chair outside the ring before hitting their finisher, Ride the Lightning, for the pin.

Winners: Future Shock via pinfall by Ride the Lightning at 7:25

Rating: 4 stars

My Thoughts

Great opening match that showed what is so great about ROH's Tag Team Division. It was fast paced, showed a good sample of what these teams tend to do in the ring together and that Future Shock is a top team in the company. It made the Bravados look strong as well, overall a very solid opener to the new ROH.

During the match, Kevin Kelly introduced a new tweet of the week segment that shows how they are embracing 2011 and not 1990's crash TV.

We then get a 1980's-esq promo with Kevin Kelly and Davey Richards selling the classic "COMING TO YOUR TOWN!" line. Reminds me of WCW Saturday Night as a kid. Oh nostalgia, you make the past seem brighter.

Kevin Kelly then narrates some footage of the Best in the World PPV and tour. It shows Richards beating Edwards for the belt and the after match speech. If you haven't seen this match, you need to, it is currently my ranked as the best match this year by me and worth the $15 for this DVD alone.

We then get Jim Cornette and Kevin Kelly (who's getting a ton of work done tonight), introducing a new segment where they will go inside ROH every week. This week it's the Code of Honor, which are:

Cornette explains that the Code is there to make wrestlers respect each other and show sportsmanship. He also adds that wrestlers don't have to follow the Code, but if they don't management might not consider them deserving of shots down the road and the locker room might dislike them.

This is followed up by a taped segment where Jay Lethal challenges El Generico next week for his TV Title and puts over Ring of Honor's focus on wrestling instead of 90's nostalgia (a little jab at TNA there).

My Thoughts

  Another good use of time. Everything they were trying to accomplished was done and it helped new fans understand an integral part of Ring of Honor, while announcing the main event for next week, again no complaints. Also, Kevin Kelly just sold me on going to another ROH house show, he is really a talent on the mic.

We then get a video package of the WGTT winning the four team elimination match at Best in the World. We then cut to Nigel who asks a fan who he think will win tonight's main event. The fan picks Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team.

Both teams make their way down to the ring.

Match 2: ROH Tag Team Champions CHARLIE HAAS & SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. KINGS OF WRESTLING (CHRIS HERO & CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI w/Shane Hagadorn and Sara Del Rey) for the ROH Tag Team Titles

Wow, that was a mouth full. Anyone else think The Kings need a couple more members to the posse, maybe another manager or two, because I don't think they have enough people at ring side for this match.

The Code of Honor is not followed this time, as these two teams "Just plain don't like each other."

Claudio and Hass start things off before Hass blind tags in Benjamin. Benjamin hits a series of clotheslines before Claudio grounds him and tags in Hero. Benjamin hits Hero with an Arm Drag to maintain control and works him over until the Kings double team him while the ref is distracted by Sara Del Rey (but in all honesty, who wouldn't be).

Kevin Kelly then once again does a fantastic job of selling the importance of staying tuned. He has once again proven that he is the best announcer in wrestling today.

We return from commercial break to get a video showing us Claudio dominating Benjamin during the break. 

Benjamin hits a stiff inverse enziguri and tries to tag out but Hero pulls Hass off the apron to stop it. Hass then tries to come in but the ref stops him and Hero hits a big Rolling Elbow on Benjamin while the ref has his back turned.

Benjamin then reverses a double suplex into a double neckbreaker and tags out to Hass who comes in and cleans house. He hits a big time release German suplex on Hero and a T-Bone suplex on Claudio for a near fall. Hero gets the tag and stats hitting Hass with vicious elbows and then hits a Helicopter Crash that has to be broken up by Shelton.

The Kings went for the KRS-1, but Benjamin ran in and hit a big spear on Claudio before hitting the World's Greatest Finisher on him to retain.

Winner: WGTT via pinfall by Wrestling's Greatest Finisher at 15:28

Rating: 3.5 stars

My Thoughts

Not their best match, but a good main event for TV. If this was the Kings last match in ROH then it was one to be proud of, good job guys, to me you are one of, if not the best, tag team in the world. So for possibly the last time I'll say this: KING'S REIGN SUPREME!

The show ends with Hass and Benjamin celebrating with fans and holding their belts up victoriously.

Final Thoughts on the Show

 A very good way to start off a new era of ROH. They showed that they will be focused more on the wrestling as opposed to the WWE or TNA who are more about the sports entertainment side of the business. The matches were good, and got enough time, I just wish they had maybe had one more match in there, but it's only one hour so I'll take what I can get.

My biggest problem with the show was that the matches they showed had been done before and were nothing new, but at the same time were done well. Another problem I had was with the lighting in some of the shots, you can tell that their production budget is nowhere near the WWE's, but this should fix with time.

Overall, it was a very good opening show that gives me hope for the new era of wrestling.

Final Grade: B+

Awards

Used Car Saleman of the Night Award: Kevin Kelly who sold the hell out of this product

M. Night Shamalamadingdong Award For Biggest Twist: Nigel McGuinness returns

Psycho Sid's Broken Leg Award for Stiffest Move: Shelton Benjamin's Enziguri of Death on Claudio, I thought he knocked the guy out. Not Very European Shelton.

Shockmaster Award for Most "Shocking" (Best) Match: Future Shock vs The Bravados

Thank you for joining me and as always be sure to comment bellow.

See You Space Cowboy...