Is Pro Wrestling’s Third Wheel Going Flat?

Last week I got into a Facebook debate with my longtime friend, and wrestling comrade, Shaffee about the future of Ring of Honor. For those that don’t know, He is the afternoon host on 97.9 WGRD in Grand Rapids, MI. Shaffee and I also got into the wrestling business at the same time working with the PWF in 2000 & later with the Farhat family’s AWWL in 2002.  He’s the former manager of Sabu, and has wrestled for TNA at Bound For Glory against Traci Brooks. I think most of us are more jealous of the latter.  

Shaffee made the statement that Ring of Honor would be out of business by the end of 2012. It’s a bold prediction, but one he backed up. He pointed out that the promotion’s television product has its holes. For instance, the episode he recently watched involved a moment where an ether rag was used to knock out an opponent. The rag made its way into the crowd, and ROH showed fans sniffing the rag & laughing. The crowd knew the rag was a fake, and whatever loose form of kayfabe was shattered not only to the crowd but the audiences watching at home. This was one of many points that Shaffee made. That and RoH referee Todd Sinclair was bigger than most of the wrestlers.

It made me wonder if Ring of Honor, the favorite promotion of “smart” wrestling fans, was going the way of Extreme Championship Wrestling or Smokey Mountain Wrestling. Almost a year ago RoH was purchased by Sinclair Broadcasting Group, and it looked like the promotion was ready to slide into the top three behind WWE & TNA. According to SBG, Ring of Honor would reach almost a quarter of television sets in America. Yet a year later it seems that RoH has lost some of the allure it had going into the deal.

First, the biggest news out of RoH recently has been the talent that is leaving. Kenny King, current RoH tag team champion, showed up on TNA’s Impact Wrestling last week. RoH responded with a press release claiming they had been stabbed in the back by King. Yet, it was RoH who made the bush league decision to put a title on a non-contracted wrestler. Something anyone with any business logic knows is a no-no. Now a new shoot video with Kenny King is making the rounds as he doubts the vision and direction of Ring of Honor.

On top of that is the rumors that RoH poster child Davey Richards is once again talking about retirement. Richards has been talking retirement for years, but it never helps the promotion to be in limbo with one of its top stars. The constant mention of Richards walking away from wrestling can only fuel the flames of Ring of Honor not making it to 2013.

One man shoveling dirt on the grave of RoH is former WCW announcer Mark Madden. The Pittsburgh sports talk radio host has penned a few articles about his perceived problems with Ring of Honor. Madden comments on their attendance numbers being dismal, pointing to RoH drawing less than 500 in Pittsburgh. He is the most vocal of the RoH dissenters that has shed light onto talent issues such as Richards’ perpetual retirement to become a fire fighter.

Mark also points out that Jim Cornette, one of the last hold overs from 80’s territorial wrestling, is running the promotion like a small time regional federation instead of the national entity that it should be. Madden and Shaffee both have pointed to the use of local DJs or Promoters on the RoH TV product that makes Ring of Honor seem more like the small time carnival coming to town than the #3 wrestling promotion in the world. In wrestling perception still counts for something, and Cornette’s direction of the promotion has it being perceived more as a low rent indie fed barely removed from the flea market, and less like the national wrestling promotion reaching millions of viewers weekly.

The final straw might have come when Ring of Honor cancelled their tour of the Carolinas. A traditional wrestling hot bed, the cancelling of the tour might have been out of RoH’s hands but it only stokes the fires of RoH’s doubters. With talent leaving, talent talking retirement, wrestling talking heads taking shots, and cancelled tours, the demise of Ring of Honor might be over exaggerated, but the discussion is still happening. It’s a discussion that can only hurt Ring of Honor. What fan wants to invest time into a promotion that might not be around in a few months, even if it is just rumors?

Speaking of fans, it might be their fans that are doing the most damage. Ring of Honor is the haven for “Smart” fans. The fans who believe they know more about the wrestling business than even the wrestlers or the promoters. A perfect example is the end of the recent Ring of Honor iPPV, “Best in the World”, where Kevin Steen takes a 5 minute shit on the fans. He cuts a promo that would have caused a riot in New York if done fifteen year ago. Instead as he runs down the fans they continue to cheer Steen. They’re smart fans and they’re not going to get tricked into booing for this man because they know better. Only proving they don’t know shit.

What they’re really doing is sending a confusing message to regular wrestling fans trying to watch the RoH product for the first time. Why are these fans cheering a man who is calling them a bunch of names and insulting them to their face? Because new RoH fan, Smart Wrestling fans are the dumbest fans around. They think they know best, which usually means they know nothing. In the end not going along with the show to prove something is only going to prove people like Shaffee & Mark Madden right. That being, Ring of Honor isn’t long for this world.

When your audience won’t let go of the Cult persona, neither can the promotion. This is the smart fans wrestling promotion, and nobody is going to change it. Which means when RoH tries to go national, its fan base can’t adapt to being the #3 wrestling promotion in the world. It’s the basic theory of evolution, when you can’t adapt you die. Smart wrestling fans won’t let RoH adapt. They won’t buy into Kevin Steen as the bastard trying to close down Ring of Honor, in fact they’re helping shut the door.

Ring of Honor has a lot of problems, as any company going from small business to national entity does. The biggest is their fans, and their lack to truly support the product by being wrestling fans again. Their need to prove they are smarter than the average fan only lends to smothering the promotion. It won’t be Kenny King or Davey Richards leaving that kills RoH. It won’t be Mark Madden or Shaffee doubting the promotion that will kill RoH. It won’t even be cancelled dates that does in the promotion. It will be their fans and their inability to be simply fans that will snuff out Ring of Honor. Until the real fans outnumber the smart fans, Ring of Honor will be a small fish in a big pond. And what happens to small fish in big ponds? They get eaten alive.   

TNA Impact Wrestling: Rollercoaster Wrasslin’

TNA has been up and down lately; usually in the same episode. Last night was a step in the right direction. The go home show before Destination X put the finishing touches on what should be an entertaining Pay Per View. Also having a current Ring of Honor champion wrestle on the show created a buzz on the internet, and creating a buzz is never a bad thing. It wasn’t all peaches and cream as there were some road bumps, but compared to last week this was a step up.

The best part of the night: there was no Boobs Hogan. The Hulkster’s spawn didn’t make it on TV this week, and that made the episode better. Absence makes the heart grow fonder … of not having her on my TV. Not to say the Knockouts didn’t have their own dumbass moments.

Madison Rayne has been swooning over a mystery man for weeks. This week we found out the payoff for this storyline was elderly referee Earl Hebner. The man who screwed Brett, is now the man who wants to screw Madison. Angles involving refs are moronic, especially ones with this much build. How does this help build characters? Where does it really go from here? Does it help bring in ratings watching grandpa make out with a fake beauty queen? It is wasted television time, and wasted talent. Let your refs call the matches, and let your wrestlers handle the stories. They missed a golden opportunity to elevate two male talents using Madison Rayne as the middle piece of a twisted love triangle.

Here let me book this on the fly for you. Madison falls for guy X, then guy Y thinks it should be him who she goes for. Guy X isn’t as into Madison as Guy Y, but being hard to get makes Madison want Guy X more, which pisses off Guy Y. Guy X and Guy Y fight. Madison, being an egomaniac, loves the attention. Eventually Guy X falls for Madison and defeats Guy Y, leaving the door open for a variety of angles such as Madison not wanting Guy X anymore in favor of Guy Y, Madison screwing both of them over by debuting Guy Z, Madison celebrating that Guy X loves her back, etc. Now we just have Madison & one half of the grumpy old men. This is a prime example of why TNA falls on their face.

Another head scratch moment was when Gail Kim used her lawyers to get her out of a Knockouts Title match this week, and she’s not the champion. So she doesn’t want to wrestle for the title? Who waits a week for their shot at the strap? And why make it next Thursday and not this Sunday at the PPV? The tag match between the Knockouts was good for what it was. They kept Gail and Tessmacher apart during the finish to protect their future match up. I still don’t see why Gail Kim gave up a title shot, especially against somebody like Brooke Tessmacher, who isn’t exactly the most threatening champion in the world.

Speaking of Lawyers, I really dig Joseph Park. Having met Abyss when TNA was running the Nashville fairgrounds on Wednesday nights, it really is cool to see him evolve as an all-around worker. Plus I think Bully Ray is the bee’s knees. His persona, mic work, and physical style make him an asset to the company. Nothing against the two, but I hope this feud ends soon so Bully can make his way into the main event picture against somebody like an Austin Aries. He is that damn good.

The restraining order came off a little low rent. Who goes to jail for life for violating a restraining order? I don’t mind the use of the restraining order to keep “Abyss” out of the match, but put some reality into it. It’s a minor hiccup, and as good as these two are, it really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

What does matter in the grand scheme of things is the wrestling. Devon and Crimson had a good match, but it seemed really rushed. It felt like an enhancement match more than a TV title match. Also why does Crimson get a title match when he lost at the last PPV to James Storm? Then again he was undefeated for 18 months so one loss shouldn’t drop you to the bottom of the basement.

Storm vs. Hardy was a really good match that had the crowd going nuts. I can’t deny that both are over like Grover with the fans. I still can’t stand the Bound for Glory series. I have said that it is over booked wrestling, but it does give good matchups every week. Who knows it might actually grow on me, until I am forced to do math, then I will hate it again.

The X-division tournament was two totally different matches. Flip Cassanova & Dumbshit Darsow should never come back to TNA. That was the sloppiest spot fest I have seen since that movie the backyard. Darsow is lucky he only walked away with a broken nose. Flip has a good look but he is dangerous in the ring. He will hurt somebody in a real bad way if he keeps wrestling like that. Just awful stuff.

On the other hand Kenny King delivered on all fronts. In the ring he looked crisp, and light years ahead of the three other x-division workers tonight. Add in the fact that he is one half of the current Ring of Honor tag team champions, and his debut had tons of sizzle. He got to cut a promo after, plus a backstage segment. I’m not a betting man, but I think KK will be in the Ultimate X match finals on Sunday. Hell, I think he is my pick to win it all.

King appearing on the show and the PPV this Sunday won’t help the rumors going around the internet that Ring of Honor is going out of business. Mark Madden, former WCW announcer, has been leading the charge that RoH is on their last leg. The promotion just cancelled a whole run of shows in the Carolinas. Now one of their champions appears on the competitors show only weeks after winning the belt. No matter the truth, this is a dark time for Ring of Honor.

The darkest time is what has happened to AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels … I can’t even talk about this. Pregnancy angles never work in wrestling. Mae Young giving birth to a hand thinks this storyline is stupid. The only excuse for this is if later it comes out the whole storyline was written by a mentally handicapped child as part of a make-a-wish, but that can’t be it because even the mentally handicapped community thinks this angle is retarded.

The exact opposite of Styles & Daniels is the world title match at Destination X. Robert Roode and Austin Aries is going to be so good. They have done a great job of building to this match. Roode abusing Sabin, and kicking a cripple cemented him as king asshole in TNA. It also allowed for Aries to get the upper hand at the end of the show, and not make it feel like AA was dominating the night. The two have been booked to seem neck & neck, which makes Sunday a toss-up. That helps a buy rate, which is the reason TNA is in business.

The shot of Aries and Hogan at the end with both titles raised high is a great closing moment. Hulk Hogan has really embraced this back seat role. It looks like it may not last with the playing cards & sting’s attackers beginning soon. I hope Hogan realizes less is more in the coming weeks. 10 minutes of the Hulkster is good, and 40 minutes of Hulk is bad.

Impact Wrestling was an entertaining show this week with ups and downs like a rollercoaster. In the end I almost a puked a few times, but when it was done I was glad I went along for the ride.