Hit or Miss

Welcome to the first installment of Hit or Miss! Each week a series of questions will be presented to 2 of our writers and they will respond with either a hit or a miss. This week Jerome Cusson and Matt Waters are our guests so read on!

With the recent news that Adam Pearce is being replaced by Delirious as the head booker for ROH, and given the impending departures of both Ring of Honor champion Tyler Black and top level star Davey Richards, will this decision be a Hit or Miss for Ring of Honor Wrestling?
Jerome Cusson: Hit. It’s really a tough call to make, but I think Delirious can add some things Pearce never was able to. Delirious knows the student and may have a better understanding of what the Ring of Honor fans want. I also noticed that there have been a lot more clean finishes at the recent tapings and the Richmond/Charlotte doubleshot. I take this as a positive sign. Plus, Delirious works other indies and might be able to recommend quality talent to come to Ring of Honor to begin the process of replacing Davey Richards and Tyler Black.
Matt Waters: Hit, though a cautious one. It’s difficult to predict such things when they’re only just in their infancy. Tyler and Davey’s futures aren’t set in stone (I’m still the lone conspiracy nut convinced Tyler isn’t really leaving, and Davey could always change his mind), there have only been a handful of shows since the regime change, and nobody knows who might be brought in over the course of the next few months, and what long-term plans may be set up. Still, based on what we do know, so far, so good. To my recollection there wasn’t a single disqualification or non-finish at the TV tapings. This can only be a good thing, because while I love covering ROH On HDNet, I have grown a little weary of typing sentences to the effect of “but then ____ runs in and the match is thrown out.” I was also intrigued by the sound of the recent Richmond/Charlotte double-shot, and I like where the company is going from here on out.

1 for 1
Even though he was voted rookie of the year for 2009 by WON, is giving Frightmare the distinction of being the Young Lions Cup winner for 2010 going to be a hit or miss for CHIKARA Pro?
JC: Hit. Easy answer here. CHIKARA needed to give their babyface locker room some hope after having their asses handed to them by the BDK for months. Having Frightmare hold the cup is a great move to capitalize on the award he received from the newsletter and a way to keep Lince Dorado bitter at CHIKARA.

MW: Miss. I dig Frightmare, I really do, but I’ve become accustomed to the YLC being part of storylines and I don’t really want to go back it being purely a competition based title. Frightmare doesn’t talk, so all he can do is wrestle his opponents, and while he’s a fantastic little wrestler, he won’t be as interesting as Tim Donst, who was a revelation during his run with the Cup. Still, there’s nothing else they could do here, as further BDK domination would not have gone down well. From the standpoint of the overall BDK story, it’s a Hit, because it’s Chikara’s biggest victory so far and could act as the turning point towards ending the war. With UltraMantis Black and Vokodor’s mind games, and Dark Cibernetico on the horizon, things certainly became more intriguing with the BDK not winning a major match, so I acknowledge the aspects in which it is a Hit, but when looking purely at the YLC, I’m gonna have to go with Miss.
1 for 2


Given his size and mainstream wrestling typically being a big man’s world, is having Kaval win season 2 of NXT going to be a hit or miss for World Wrestling Entertainment?
JC: Miss. WWE will never give Kaval the opportunity he deserves because he’s too small. It’s stupid. It’s ridiculous, and it’s a waste of talent, but WWE has worked this way for years. Expecting them to change because Kaval was voted the winner by the fans is foolhardy. He’ll never rise above the level of lower mid-card.
MW: Miss. This was absolutely the toughest question to answer for me. For one thing it depends on what scale you judge him by. Will he be a World Champion? No, probably not. But does he have a future with the company that will see him put on good matches, make a lot of money, and wrestle in front of millions? Absolutely. With any luck he’ll also get used in plenty of storylines, and I don’t see why he wouldn’t, especially with the pre-written angle they have with his guaranteed title shot on PPV. They also have that Lay-Cool triangle thing to toy with if they want, but I have a sneaking suspicion they’ll just drop it altogether. Oh, and then there was that abysmal Nexus Vol. 2 thing that he’ll want revenge for. But why did I go with miss? Well, he shouldn’t have won. Michael McGillicutty should have, because he needed it more. Bryan Danielson didn’t win Season 1, but he’s doing just fine for himself. He was over long before the end so they took him out, and the same could be said for Kaval. He was over, so he no longer needed to win. Alex Riley has Miz and is to an extent over as a heel, but McGillicutty has been so bland without a gimmick, and if they refused to let him be Mr. Perfect’s son, then the winner of NXT was
2 for 3
With the assumption that GBH IX being Tyler Black’s last show with ROH, is booking him in a singles match against Roderick Strong going to be a hit or miss for the iPPV?
JC: Miss. Strong has been positioned as a heel by having Truth Martini in his corner. Tyler Black positioned himself as a heel at all of the August shows. Having two heels wrestle in the main event of one of ROH’s biggest shows doesn’t strike me as the best of ideas. We’ll see if they have any surprises up their sleeve, but unless they do, Glory by Honor IX’s main event might resemble the main event of Final Battle 2009.
MW: Hit. I’ll refer you to my previous comment about being the lone conspiracy nut thinking Tyler isn’t really leaving… but let’s just say he is. People really like Roderick Strong, and right now they’re hating Tyler Black (thanks to some pretty decent booking). If Tyler is leaving and people hate him and love his opponent, surely they’re going to want to see Tyler lose the belt to someone they like? Love him or hate him, Tyler Black has been a focal point to ROH over the last few years, and while he wasn’t as integral as Danielson or Nigel McGuinness, this is still an important moment in the company’s history, and one that the fans will want to witness. And anyone claiming that knowing the result of the match will hurt the buy-rate can go and have a few words with a Mr. CM Punk. Throw in the idea that Homicide may get involved in one way or another, and I’d wager this is one of the most anticipated title matches in ROH history.
2 for 4

With the KOW going over the Briscoes in Ultimate Endurance a couple weeks ago, is the feud between the Briscoes and the Kings turning into a hit or a miss for Ring of Honor?
JC: Hit. I like that KOW is doing some other things, so their feud with the Briscoes can continue to simmer. I think a break serves both teams well. They can always go back to it during the fall or even extend things to Final Battle 2010. With both teams recently re-signing with the company, this feud can safely be extended without fear of a departure. I expect some sort of “Fight without Honor” or cage match to settle the rivalry once and for all.
MW: It’s heading in the direction of a Miss, by which I mean it’s been a Hit thus far, but at this point in time it’s looking to be fizzling out into irrelevance. If Pearce were still in charge I could picture this feud ending at Final Battle to do the whole one year in the making thing, but it seems Delirious and Cornette have other plans for the champions. Ultimate Endurance sounds like a bit of a buzz-kill thanks to poor stipulations (did the fans REALLY vote for them?) and the final match ending (Hero KO’ing Jay seconds after the second fall), and a waste of the weeks of Tag Wars, and the Briscoes being put down one more time makes the fans start to think that as much as they like the Delaware natives, maybe they just can’t beat the Kings, and when your fans don’t believe in the babyfaces, it’s bad news. I believe the Kings defeated the Briscoes at the recent TV tapings too, so they’re 4-1 in this feud, with the one loss coming via ninja-based confusion. Now I haven’t seen Ultimate Endurance or this tag match, so it could turn out one or both was epic and a fitting end to the feud, but to me it seems the Kings have just silenced the Briscoes and are now moving on to a feud with the American Wolves, so based on the angle not having a pay-off and people losing interest, I’d have to go with Miss.

3 for 5

With such limited tv exposure, and with most of their events being live shows, has the introduction of the TV title been a hit or miss for Ring of Honor?

JC: Miss. A thousand times miss. The television title has meant absolutely nothing for Ring of Honor. A lot of the problem has been the inability to decide whether Edwards is a heel or babyface. Edwards not being the most sterling performer hasn’t helped either. With Edwards appearing to be a babyface, you’d think that would alleviate the problem. Then Ring of Honor decides to book Edwards in matches with the heat killers known as the Embassy. Bad times for Ring of Honor’s second singles championship.
MW: Thus far it has been a Miss, but I firmly believe it will be a Hit in the long run. I’m well aware of Jerome’s feelings about Eddie Edwards, the TV Title, and the the 10-Minute Hunts, but I will have to respectfully disagree. 2 years ago Edwards was a solid but generic young prospect, and now he gets genuine pops from the crowd and just main evented a show against the World Champion. The American Wolves put him on the map, his numerous tours of NOAH seasoned him, and breaking his elbow and then wrestling a ladder match bought him some respect, but winning the TV Title Tournament has gotten him over as a legit singles star with the fans. Now sure, the belt has been defended a grand total of…. 1 time, and it wasn’t even on TV. That sucks (though there are two more title matches coming up at live events). But these 10-Minute Hunts have made Edwards look a million dollars. Killing jobbers never hurts when you need to point out to the fans that you’re a good wrestler, and Edwards has stomped heads in, tapped fools out, and cut more and more time off the matches to the point he beat Mike Sydal in 30 seconds. Real competition is just on the horizon and Edwards is now a mid-card babyface with a heel mentality, which is the ROH faithful’s favorite kind of babyface. I can see the argument against all of this, which is why I said it’s been a Miss so far, but let’s face it, World Titles are just not defended on television. The HDNet show has done a lot for advancing storylines, but you need to reward fans by giving them something other than build for a match they may never see. The TV Title is there for exactly that. It’s a belt that can be defended on television, and if it changes hands it won’t set the world on fire, but it’ll feel just big enough for the TV audience to care. Besides, ROH has needed a second singles title for wrestlers not quite at the main event level for a long, long time.
4 for 6

That’s it for this week! Jerome and Matt went 4 for 6 this week. Join us next week to see who our guests are! Be good everyone!