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| He's blowin' up! Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein |
Yesterday, I ragged on Ring of Honor quite a bit. They deserved it, don't get me wrong, but in today's theme of "Nobody's perfect," I feel like I need to accentuate the positive as well. I mean, I did order their iPPV and enjoy it, and they have quite a few things going forward that are going to keep me interested in what they have to offer. Here are six:
1. The Continued Meteoric Rise of ACH
It's not going to take long for ACH to be on top of the heap in ROH. Yes, right now, he's in a tag team with Tadarius Thomas, but he's getting main event reactions. If you purchased Border Wars, you know his chants blew the doors off the Ted Reeve Arena. It's only a matter of time, and then he'll get to do his thing against guys like Kevin Steen, Jay Lethal, or either one of the Briscoes. Speaking of them...
2. Briscoe vs. Briscoe: #DemBoys Divided?
Apparently, at the tapings that happened the day after Border Wars, Mark Briscoe called out big brother Jay for a title shot. A Briscoe Brothers showdown for the ROH World Championship? That sounds hella intriguing from where I sit. They've been a team for so long that it's almost incomprehensible to think of them on either side of the ring. However, you know brothers fight with each other. They've scrapped at Sandy Fork, and I think it would be a damn fun spectacle to see it happening in a real live wrestling ring.
3. The Women of Honor Take Shape
Currently, women don't have a whole lot of agency in ROH, but that's been changing. It's been a bit too slow for my liking, but apparently, the division is going to become a lot more than just MsChif sooner rather than later. With Athena, Cherry Bomb, and possibly Allysin Kay coming in, the beginnings of a bona fide push for women seem to be brewing. Those four women aren't a bad base to build upon, if you ask me.
4. RD Evans vs. Tomasso Ciampa? I'm Listening
Evans has been in Ring of Honor for two years now, and he's only recently had his first match. Better late than never, I always say. The prospect of him in a prolonged feud with the Sicilian Psychopath sounds very appealing to me. Ciampa showed me a lot last year before he went out with his injury, and I dig the prospects of him tossing around Evans like a sack of flour. Evans will make him look like a Champ as well. The question mark is QT Marshall. I haven't heard good things about him, but I haven't heard good things about a bunch of guys that I've ended up digging.
5. Kevin Steen's 180 Turn
This is going to be amusing at the very least. He's spent the last two or so years as an anti-establishment bringer of hellfire and brimstone (metaphorically, he's not Kane), and now, he's against the group that wants to shred ROH from the inside. That doesn't necessarily mean he'll be fighting for the future and life of ROH right now, but it's going to be awesome to see how they play off that dynamic. I know I'm more of a Kevin Steen fan than some of you out there, and that's because I know that when he gets in a story, he really gets in it. This is one of those things that might end up being an all-time great story, just because of what a guy like Steen can do.
6. Who's Guesting Next?
Karl Anderson. Taiji Ishimori. Paul London. It seems like ROH is getting some pretty heavy-hitting guest stars to come over for not only the big iPPV events, but also for the TV tapings they do afterwards. They've always been on the cutting edge of importing Japanese stars for guest appearances, and this recent spate shows they're not going to stop. Hopefully, they also look stateside, especially for ex-WWE and TNA guys who can go. While I'm not sure they can fiscally rely on Chris Masters to do an entire tour with them, I'd dig seeing him for a match here and there, for example.
1. The Continued Meteoric Rise of ACH
It's not going to take long for ACH to be on top of the heap in ROH. Yes, right now, he's in a tag team with Tadarius Thomas, but he's getting main event reactions. If you purchased Border Wars, you know his chants blew the doors off the Ted Reeve Arena. It's only a matter of time, and then he'll get to do his thing against guys like Kevin Steen, Jay Lethal, or either one of the Briscoes. Speaking of them...
2. Briscoe vs. Briscoe: #DemBoys Divided?
Apparently, at the tapings that happened the day after Border Wars, Mark Briscoe called out big brother Jay for a title shot. A Briscoe Brothers showdown for the ROH World Championship? That sounds hella intriguing from where I sit. They've been a team for so long that it's almost incomprehensible to think of them on either side of the ring. However, you know brothers fight with each other. They've scrapped at Sandy Fork, and I think it would be a damn fun spectacle to see it happening in a real live wrestling ring.
3. The Women of Honor Take Shape
Currently, women don't have a whole lot of agency in ROH, but that's been changing. It's been a bit too slow for my liking, but apparently, the division is going to become a lot more than just MsChif sooner rather than later. With Athena, Cherry Bomb, and possibly Allysin Kay coming in, the beginnings of a bona fide push for women seem to be brewing. Those four women aren't a bad base to build upon, if you ask me.
4. RD Evans vs. Tomasso Ciampa? I'm Listening
Evans has been in Ring of Honor for two years now, and he's only recently had his first match. Better late than never, I always say. The prospect of him in a prolonged feud with the Sicilian Psychopath sounds very appealing to me. Ciampa showed me a lot last year before he went out with his injury, and I dig the prospects of him tossing around Evans like a sack of flour. Evans will make him look like a Champ as well. The question mark is QT Marshall. I haven't heard good things about him, but I haven't heard good things about a bunch of guys that I've ended up digging.
5. Kevin Steen's 180 Turn
This is going to be amusing at the very least. He's spent the last two or so years as an anti-establishment bringer of hellfire and brimstone (metaphorically, he's not Kane), and now, he's against the group that wants to shred ROH from the inside. That doesn't necessarily mean he'll be fighting for the future and life of ROH right now, but it's going to be awesome to see how they play off that dynamic. I know I'm more of a Kevin Steen fan than some of you out there, and that's because I know that when he gets in a story, he really gets in it. This is one of those things that might end up being an all-time great story, just because of what a guy like Steen can do.
6. Who's Guesting Next?
Karl Anderson. Taiji Ishimori. Paul London. It seems like ROH is getting some pretty heavy-hitting guest stars to come over for not only the big iPPV events, but also for the TV tapings they do afterwards. They've always been on the cutting edge of importing Japanese stars for guest appearances, and this recent spate shows they're not going to stop. Hopefully, they also look stateside, especially for ex-WWE and TNA guys who can go. While I'm not sure they can fiscally rely on Chris Masters to do an entire tour with them, I'd dig seeing him for a match here and there, for example.