I have to get this off my chest.It could prove to be the heel turn for me, but I'm prepared to embrace it. Because when I read the comments of some wrestling fans I find myself laughing uncontrollably.
So consider this my chairshot right to the head of [loyal O Show reader] 'watch-wrestling.com' as he turns around.
It's the last thing he's expecting, I'm sure. But that's okay.
I don't have to wait until next week's show to explain my motives.
Ring of Honor is NOT the top wrestling promotion in the world.
It's not even the top wrestling promotion in the US. I'm from Philadelphia, and I'd venture a guess it's not the top wrestling promotion here either.
The greatest wrestlers in the world? Give me a break.
It's the WWE, the company with three brands that are broadcast internationally. It's the company with Triple H, RVD, CM Punk, and Chris Benoit under contract.
The company that is deep enough that it can afford to release Kurt Angle when things go awry.
It's the company that Paul London and Brian Kendrick would foresake anything to stay with.
Here's what I look at when I see Ring of Honor.
I see Bryan Danielson. The guy who less than a year ago thought he wanted to retire from wrestling. The guy who has the record for dropping title matches to Samoa Joe and CM Punk. The guy who couldn't lace Shawn Michaels' boots.
I see Jamie Noble. Hey Nadia, pull the trailer 'round. Somebody's gettin' a free title tonight.
Yeah, Ring of Honor.
I'm reminded of John Cena when I hear that ROH is the best ever. Is it because its' wrestlers are cartoons? No. Is it because its wrestlers are legitimate stars? No.
It's because you can't see ROH either.
Not unless you really like YouTube, anyway.
10 comments: on "The Turn"
ROH is so over rated
its the company for idiots who think they are too cool for the shit on tv.
I agree with both Brady and Signguy_Shooter.
While I like watching ROH, it is a long way from being the best promotion in the United States. Brady is dead on there.
On the other side of that coin though, it is a great, refreshing product to watch when you get tired of watching the same thing from the big "E" week after week. I can literally not watch Raw for a month or so (including PPVs) and not miss anything. Signguy_Shooter is dead on with his point.
But it all goes back to the old saying...."competition helps everybody".
Actually spelled Nadia, sorry.
Keep checking back for my response at some point.
Her name was NIDIA... Not Nydia or Nadia...
ROH is garbage by the way. They come out saying, we aren't about gimmicks or sports entertainment, then give us the Christopher St. Connection, which is about as much Sports Entertainment as you can get...
Yes, they have some great super indy talent. However, there are promotions drawing better than them all over. To call them the 3rd best promotion in the world is largely uniformed. They probably realistically aren't the third best promotion in the US in terms of making money and drawing crowds, and their influence is largely unfelt by their competition.
WWE has not gone to a more ROH style the way that both WCW and WWE starting doing things in an Extreme style 10 years ago.
I think it's great that ROH gives an alternative to wrestling fans, but what you watch on ROH isn't really wrestling anymore than WWE is. It's acrobatics. Guys not selling moves, and 4000 finishing moves in one match. The psychology doesn't even exist.
If I came to your house and punched you in the face, it's going to stagger you. I don't need to hit you with 5000 fantastic flippy moves to do damage. However in ROH guys will not sell damage to any part of their body. The Amazing Red is a fantastic example. Dude takes a vicious piledriver, is up and doing flippys within 10 seconds of it.
It exposes the business and it sets a standard that if the WWE were able to match, the fans will burn out on quickly and expect eve more.
It's the same as when ECW wrestlers took 10 chairshots per match. Yeah, we were excited as fans, because we could't believe it. They took WWE's major high spot and exploited the hell out of it. However, it basically revolutionized wrestling for the worse, which was the point I was trying to make when Triple H put under the lead pipe as a credible wrestling weapon. Now no one is going to want to lay down to it either...
If ROH ever gets a national cable deal (which it never will), and guys are taking WWE finishers like it's nothing, no WWE guy is going to want to lay down to that. So what's the next evolution in the business? All gimmick matches?
ROH creates a temporary boost in workrate, but eventually fans will demand more, because it will become old hat.
The wrestling in a pure wrestling sense is not better just because they do more. That's not what wrestling is about. ROH matches don't tell stories.
ROH has it's audience, and that's fine. However the constant IWC comparison of ROH to WWE is ludicrous. The ROH is the X Games to WWE's Olympics. There is really no comparison to be made.
Comparing Bryan Danielson to top WWE stars is crazy, because Danielson has not made any real money nor drawn any crowds in this business. Yes he might go balls to the wall every match, but he can't accomplish the magic that Hogan/Rock or Hogan/Andre captured, and no one will argue they are the best in ring guys of all time.
I respect ROH guys for putting it all on the line, and for giving an alternative product, but I think the diehard ROH/ anti WWE fans are pretty ridiculous...
Then I guess I slapped Jamie Noble in the face... I guess also that he sold out when he came back to the WWE.
However, Noble must know what I know, and that is ROH will never really be competition for the WWE. If it was, Noble could have led the charge. I mean, they pushed the crap out of Jamie Noble.
I really liked Jamie Noble during his first WWE run, and being a fellow West Virginian didn't hurt his cause. I still do like him. Was the smartest move he could have made was leaving ROH? Hell Yeah. Would getting all emotional about it help keep his ROH fanbase when he moved. Sure would. Is that to say I think his tears were a work? Not necessarily.
Velocity no longer exists, and I am not being reactionary. I first saw ROH years ago, and I've maintained my opinions on ROH for years. ROH had more of a buzz then than it does now. The company is stagnant and will remain at their current level of success.
Being pissed at Jarrett for running TNA the way he does and being insistent that a national promotion should run on ROH guy and ROH style wrestling is absurd. If it were possible, ROH would be on spike Tv, and not TNA.
The Samoa Joe experiment is fun for now, but we'll see what happens when Joe finally achieves the title, rather than chases it. When his fat frame is on the posters, how seriously are casual fans going to take TNA. How long before fans are chanting Same Ole Shit at Joe? Joe can break a glass cieling, but what stops him from getting cut up in the aftermath. Putting a belt on Joe will expose him as not being the savior the IWC has made him out to be, much like putting the belt on Christian Cage (and I was a huge Christian fan) proved that WWE was right not to give him a higher spot that he had, because his TNA run was clamored for and fizzled in mere months.
To clarify, you are more than welcome to have your favorite promotions. That is an opinion. To say however that those are the five best promotions in the US, let alone the world is just wrong.
I can't believe I long for the days when people were all about Japanese wrestling and said they hated WWE. At least Japanese wrestling draws crowds and money.
If you remember WCW solely by the last few years of it's existance, that is sad as well.
Ok, clarification: I didn't argue with your favorites list. I said you are entitled to that opinion. However the point was made because higher in this thread someone called ROH the 3rd best promotion in the world.
WCW was good at various times when it wasn't under the NWA name.
I don't say WWE is better than ROH because it has TV. It's better because it is. A lot of what's on WWE is crap, but it's still better than ROH. The original ECW did get a national TV deal, and fell into the shitter. The new ECW, like it or not, will make more money, give more wrestlers careers where all they do is wrestle, and have a larger audience than the previous incarnation. It's wrestlers will also last longer, and the product won't put under the other two brands that don't have 50 chairshots per match.
I didn't say I prefer Noble's WWE run. I only mentioned I liked his WWE run, because I am not trying to make this about whether or not I like Noble or Christian or Samoa Joe or anyone else. Also, I am the one that said Noble sold out. That is if he really loved ROH so much.
I have my opinions, you have yours. I am not denouncing yours. I am disagreeing and stating my reasoning for why I disagree.
Okay...I saw a "Top 5" list, that's the internation sign for me to jump in with mine.
1)New Japan Pro Wrestling
2)WWE
3)ECW
4)All-Japan Pro Wrestling
5)World Class
You are all crazy.
Look for my new column after my romantic weekend with my girlfriend.
I won't be watching the shows while I'm gone either.
by romantic do you mean mcdonalds and a movie?
by weekend do you mean as long as it takes for your weiner to get some touching?
by girlfriend do you mean boyfriend?
by not watching do you mean you are gay?
Anonymous,
I'm not into that stuff, so you are going to have to ask around. Good luck.
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