The 9th Anniversary Show Recall:
“Nine very different years, nine very different shows, one very similar memory.”
In the name of what promises to be the promotions most noted and celebrated event,since their inauguration in 2002; this website will play host to various write-ups that reminisce, recall and HONOR, ROH Anniversary Shows of years past.
The following two quotes were published by Brad Brantley of the New York Times on June 14, 2011: “There is something to be said for those dangerous flying objects…that keep whizzing around.”
(Picture the question marks in the paragraph below as the word “what”)
“…? has entered the latest chapter of its fraught and anxious existence. After all, if you’re worried that somebody might fall on top of you from a great height, the odds are that you won’t nod off…Those adrenaline-raising acrobatics are a necessary part of the lumpy package that is…?”
If your imaginarium serves as a breeding ground of creative imagery, you may find it easy to apply Brantley’s excerpt to Ring of Honor Wrestling. Furthermore imagine the quotes were thought of immediately following Ring of Honor’s Ninth Anniversary Celebration.
The original remarks stem from Brantley’s New York Times Broadway Musical review of “Spider-Man – Turn off the Dark.”
Show reviews are a significant part of professional wrestling fandom and for the most part, always will be. Professional Wrestling CAN be reviewed unlike any other areas of sport and sport-entertainment because of the one very obvious distinction, a written script.
That one distinction is then connected by multiple others: a specific crew, a specific audience and furthermore, professional wrestling is an entire production.
For the audience members who dare to sit in the front row of an ROH event, most are, and want to be skeptical of someone falling on top of them from a great height.
On Feb. 26, 2011, at Ring of Honor’s 9th Anniversary Show live from the Frontier Fieldhouse in Chicago Ridge, IL., on iPPV, those audience members no longer seem paranoid; and my connection to Brantley’s Spider-Man remarks no longer seem like a sarcastic-pun towards the best pound for pound professional wrestling on the planet.
The most impressive bonus feature to this type of show (professional wrestling) is; it is the easiest type of story to follow. The plot is as simple as understanding the tell-tale of combat and the concept is as simple as understanding that it is a profession, conducted by professionals and mastered by superior athletes.
The shows under-card begins with the simplest story of intensity and respect. At this point in time, for nine straight years, Ring of Honor has provided the above nouns as the premise of their production since The Era of Honor Began.
To kick off the show and celebrate nine years of intensity and respect, Davey Richards brought his candid au’naturel wolf-like intensity to square off against, who once was, one of the most respected members of the entire locker room, Colt Cabana. The fact of having to write the previous sentence in past tense is unfortunate; however, it heavily resembles the subtitle of this column/event recall.
Throughout nine different years and nine different shows distinctly produced to celebrate where this company came from; loads of different talent has entered and exited the ROH-stage. Therefore, there have in fact been nine very different shows, over nine very different years, throughout the products existence.
Following a well-respected outing between Richards and Cabana, four very different members of the ROH crew, Grizzly Redwood, Mike Bennett, Kyle O’Reilly and Steve Corino; go to work by attempting to survive each other, in a four way bout, to celebrate nine years of the promotions cultural diversity.
In addition to the four-corner survival managing to display Ring of Honor’s cultural diversity among its talent, the same can be said for the contest that followed. Michael Elgin vs. El Generico served as a brief, but exact demonstration of what the ROH-crew has been known for throughout its history; solid action that leaves you wanting more.
The first-half of the 9th Anniversary Show in Chicago Ridge, IL., wraps up with a rare mid-card Barrio Street Fight for the Ring of Honor World Championship between Homicide and Roderick Strong.
Under one year ago, Strong was the Ring of Honor World Champion and Homicide was seemingly about to become a core part of the roster. Both of these facts are no longer.
As a critic I choose to point-out the tremendous under-delivery this contest consisted of; however, as a realist I choose to point-out the delivery of ever-changing talent to the ROH locker room. As Ring of Honor lives on, due to all of the changes that have occured since this show took place, this match-up may serve as something to reminisce about, rather than pout about in the very near future.
In addition to Homicide and Colt Cabana, The Queen of Wrestling, Sara Del Rey, The Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, and the Fallen Angel, Christopher Daniels; are no longer a part of the rohwrestling.com core roster. All of the above are featured at some point during this show.
Once again, through nine shows over nine years titled to celebrate Ring of Honor’s existence in the professional wrestling world, different talent must come and go.
Looking back, the second-half of the event, if not the entire show, can serve as a celebration of some of the best performers, who appear to be no longer Ring of Honor talent.
If you suffer from an itch to see the most renowned Woman of Honor compete, watch this event to get your fix.
If you suffer from an itch to watch a Kings of Wrestling match, alluding to one of the longest title reigns in ROH-tag-team history, watch this event to get your fix as they take on two of the promotions hottest-young studs, Kenny King and Rhett Titus of the All Night Express.
If you suffer from an itch to see Christopher Daniels compete in Ring of Honor during his well-noted T.V Title reign, during his short, but well-distinguished second-stint with the company; watch this event to get your fix as he takes on Eddie Edwards in a four-plus-star classic-contest.
It may seem like the talent listed above have not been gone for all that long, but the fact is; this event has many of the key ingredients needed to relive and recall, what this company looked like just under one year ago heading into the promotions decade celebration on March 4, 2012.
The main-event of this celebratory show features the self-dubbed greatest tag-team on the planet versus the self-dubbed baddest tag-team on the planet; Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin versus the Briscoe Brothers, in a first-time-ever, dream-tag-team match.
The show’s ROH has produced up to Feb. 26, 2011, throughout its nine years of existence always attempted to showcase how significant the tag-team division means to the company.
In conclusion, rewind with me to the beginning of this column/recall of Ring of Honor’s 9th Anniversary Show.
“After all, if you’re worried that somebody might fall on top of you from a great height, the odds are that you won’t nod off…”
At this particular event, if you were seated in the first few rows, on the right side of the hard-cam, Mark Briscoe probably fell on top of you from a great height.
The leap of faith Mark took MAY have COST the pioneers of the ROH tag-team division to lose the match, to a pair of egotistically-established new-comers; but the leap of faith he took DID IN FACT COST him the price of producing yet another show, in the name of HONOR.
(To complete the recall of this particular ROH event; highly comparable to a Movie or Broadway review written by a professional critic on a newspaper or website, the show score below relates to my thoughts on the delivery of the event, via a star rating out of five)
Show Score Review: * * * 1/2
Match Card:
MAIN EVENT – Dream Tag-Team Match: The Briscoe Brothers vs. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin
2 out of 3 falls for the ROH World T.V Championship: Eddie Edwards vs. Christopher Daniels
ROH World Tag-Team Championship Match: The Kings of Wrestling vs. The All Night Express
Sara Del Rey vs. Mischief
Barrio Street Fight for the ROH World Championship: Roderick Strong vs. Homicide
El Generico vs. Michael Elgin
Four Corner Survival: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Steve Corino vs. Mike Bennett vs. Grizzly Redwood
Davey Richards vs. Colt Cabana
