The NWA has tried a few times to organize some smaller promotions across the country. ROH has tried working arrangements with a few international organizations. The problem is that once these second/third tier companies start pooling together, they want talent to be exclusive to them as much as possible and for the upper echelon of independent wrestlers, they make more by having the freedom to wrestle for anyone, anywhere, anytime they want. And then there's the egos involved of the people running these companies who think they are the best promoter/booker and want to put the guys they built over the wrestlers other guys/companies have built and the whole idea falls apart.

Shockingly, WWE is the closest thing to a territory system and will become even more so if/when they put together a NXT Mexico/Latin America and an NXT Japan.

For those who don’t get Ring of Honor on their local station, you can watch it on the Stadium Channel through Pluto TV. All free. Have to watch through their app, but it’s on most devices. Just found it tonight. Appears to be an up-to-date episodE, but I’m not positive.

They need to attempt to make both shows important

You should go on youtube and watch the PAC / Devitt match from NJPW. This is the match that is believed to get them both to th WWE.

In my experience, they usually cut 2-3 segments from the show. Often Divas matches.

I'm usually at work when ROH comes on, but caught the tail end of the Mschif match. Agree that Brook was terrible. Since Sharky's draft I've come to appreciate Mschif more and more, though a little too sane for my taste. lol

Title Tournament - First Round

Adam Cole vs. Mark Briscoe
Jay Lethal vs. Sonjay Dutt
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Silas Young
Michael Bennett vs. BJ Whitmer
Karl Anderson vs. ACH
Michael Elgin vs. Paul London
Roderick Strong vs. Matt Taven
Kevin Steen vs. Brian Kendrick

Predictions:

Cole over whoever he faces (I heard Briscoe is out)
Lethal over Dutt
Ciampa over Young
Bennett over Whitmer
Anderson over ACH
Elgin over London
Strong over Taven
Steen over Kendrick

Round 2:
Cole vs. Lethal
Ciampa vs. Bennett
Anderson vs. Elgin
Strong vs. Steen

Prediction:
Cole over Lethal via some nefarious "accident"
Bennett over Ciampa (I think Bennett is in line for a big push here)
Elgin over Anderson (could be a great match here)
Steen over Strong

Semi-Finals
Cole vs. Bennett
Elgin vs. Steen

Prediction:
Cole over Bennett (I do think Bennett will look great, but if Cole sticks around, this could also be the start for something for him)
Elgin over Steen (Steen beat Elgin before, I think Elgin gets the win back)

Finals
Cole vs. Elgin

I could see Cole completing the heel turn and cheating to beat Elgin. No matter how this turns out, ROH could be in good shape with Cole, Elgin and Bennett all seemingly primed to move into the main event. Now, they just have to not let their contracts run out

So MATV finally isn't showing reruns, but we've magically skipped ahead a few weeks.

Backstage stuff with who I guess is the commissioner. (a heavyset guy) with two tag teams arguing about being #1 contenders. He orders a cage match for Tonight!

Apparently Scorpio Sky beat Shaun Ricker in a Loser Leaves CWFH Match for the Heritage Title. They mention controversial circumstances. But we don't get to see it. Yet?

First match is Famous B vs So Cal Crazy, who is from Mexico. And has a nice Blonde Mohawk & a mask.

Good back and forth indy match. SCC is pretty flippy and Famous B keeps up with him.

The match is interrupted by the Family Stone. (Stu Stone, a little pipsqueak/color commentator, a black tag team whose name I forget & a decent looking big man, James Morgan, going by the nickname the Real Scrap Daddy, he took out Adam Pearce before the Red Carpet Rumble a while back) They then call out Terex, this huge 400lb Samoan-looking guy with belly fat that hangs down to his knees almost, who can do a standing moonsault. Terex takes on Cedric The Hitman from the Family Stone. Nothing out of the ordinary. It's a No DQ, so Ced can use a briefcase, but they don't make much use of the stip until the end when the rest of the Family joins in. This Big, impressive looking guy, think a taller version of Titus O'Neal, comes in and does a Heartpunch, and they try and get it over.

Back in the ring, Jon Ian, the matchmaker, is out to talk about the Sky/Ricker finish. The decision stands, but Ricker is re-instated. HE gets a "You're a Hero" chant. I wonder when this was taped? He has no kind words for Ian, and calls him Re-run. He's clearly not a face, but they're making it sound like Sky is as well. Hmmmm. They are interrupted by Sky's lackeys, Big Duke and Christian Cole, who look as douchey as their names make them sound. One of them talks down Ricker. They are called the Scorpio Sky Experience apparently. They re-explain it to The Experience guys, who wonder why Ricker is still there if he lost. They mock Ricker's role on The Hero, and the predictable brawl ensues. THe 2 on 1 takes its toll and they work Ricker's knee. THe announcers sell the injury pretty hard.

A Masked guy that Shelly Martinez manages is being interviewed, then attacked by another guy I don't know yet. I wish they'd show these in order dammit.

Cage up, and its Main Event Time. PPRay, Pretty Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas vs The Rock Nes Monsters, Johnny Goodtime & Johnny Yuma, who are apparently heels now. Shame, they had such an over gimmick as faces a while back. Escape Rules match, with both needing to get out to win. The brawl begins before the teams are both inside.

A weird fade and both teams are in the cage suddenly. some nice spots, nothing unusual. They have a small ring, so the cage looks not near as menacing. Apparently, THe RNM's finisher is called Explosive Amnesia. they never hit it, but the announcers mention it twice. Nice spot has all four perched on the top ropes. PPR takes the bumps to the mat. One of the RMN guys walks the ropes around the ring to his partner, puts him in a fireman's carry, and leaps off with a flying F5-Foward roll slam hybrid, landing on one of the PPR team. Nice. It's apparently called Weapons Grade Bologna. "That was Awesome" chant well earned. THere's a chair in the ring, and it comes in to play as well. "Hollywood" Chant instead of ECW? Meh. Their cage isn't fastened together well at the top. Ray Rosas does a Snuka Leap on one of the RMN! Nice. The announcer have pointed out a number of times, one guy doesn't want to escape without his partner, as he'll leave his partner alone, but that's what Rosas does. Avalon does well for himself, and Rosas recovers and opens the door. Hope spot, and one of the RMN planchas over the ropes and out the door! down to 1 on 1. Yuma tries to strut to the open door, but get cut off. Avalon hits a face first Thesz Press type move and crawls to the top. Yuma joins him and they're straddling the top of the cage. Yuma drops, Rosas catches him on his shoulders, Avalon Drops and we have our winners, Avalon & Rosas. Not a bad finish, creative.

Not a bad way to kill an hour (or less on DVR. ) I'd like to actually see the Ricker/Sky match, but it looks like that ep isn't even online. Boo.

If they give us another new episode, I'll think about recapping it too.

Just kidding. I'm Sergei.

It's tough to describe how great the last two shows have been-- if you were ever going to start watching again, last week would be a good point to start.

Then again, June 27, 2011 would have been a good point to start back up, too. That's when I started watching again....

- we open with Steen in the ring, but as always before he can talk, Corino comes out. Steen is tired of it, the rest of SCUM comes out, and they attack Steen. Fucking blah. You take the only thing interesting in SCUM and replace it with Matt Fucking Hardy and you lose all the way around. Unless there is something big planned, ROH has destroyed this angle completely.

- Roddy Strong vs. Michael Bennett - Strong wins a boring match. Mondo was on commentary and he brawled with both guys after the match. Adding Mondo to this doesn't really do anything to get me any more interested in either one of them.

- Jorge Sonti vs. Tadarius Thomas - match never really goes anywhere because SCUM attacks (cause it was SO awesome when the nWo did that every show, we should do it again). They clear the ring and Corino confronts Nigel. Nigel proposes a match, any two of his guys against Elgin & Lethal. If SCUM wins, Hardy gets a world title shot and Corino gets to go back to the announce table, if SCUM loses, Corino leaves ROH forever. Gee, wonder what is going to happen here?

- Matt Taven vs. ACH - TV Title match. Decent match, but nothing great really. I like Taven, but he really feels like a place holder until they put the title on Briscoe, because the Briscoes are supermen and can do anything. Taven wins. At least ACH still teams with Tadarius, that could be a good team in the future

- we open with highlights of Jay Briscoe beating Kevin Steen for the title. SCUM tried to interfere, the ROH locker room came out to stop them, Steen kept Hardy from hitting the Twist of Fate, Jay hit a package Piledriver and got the win

to me the title change is a whole lot of meh. It feels like ROH hotshotted the title onto Briscoe for no particular reason. I have had this argument with Sop and Doug, and they say it is the culmination of Briscoe being in the company for eleven years. That would be great......if ROH had played that up in anything more than a passing mention. Essentially, a month ago - when SCUM added members and seemed to become a credible threat to ROH - Nigel rallied the troops and said Jay had been here since day one, so he would get the title shot. After that, it was barely, if at all, mentioned. Then Mark got hurt and didn't do anything for a month.

So, you have Mark being given a title shot out of the blue, just because he was there a long time, and then in his first match against Steen in over a year, he does what no one else on the roster could do in a years time - beat Steen for the title.

I have no objection to Jay winning the title, but this all felt incredibly rushed, and to me - someone who doesn't know the 11 year history of Briscoe in ROH, as I would imagine goes most new fans are since they got the TV deal, it felt very much like the Rock in WWE. He wanted the shot, he got the shot, he won the title.

Now, I get that they have been teasing dissention between Steen and SCUM, and that is fine, but if you are going to build Lethal for two to three months just to have him lose, then give Jay a month with no real build up, it just all feels like the very anti-climactic end to the story. Maybe they have something more in mind, but as it is right at this moment, it feels like SCUM has been pretty well killed. The Briscoes beat SCUM for the tag titles, then Jay beats Steen for the world title. Evidently SCUM was a threat to everyone in ROH other than the Briscoes.

- Eddie Edwards vs. Bobby Fish - Should have been a really good match, but they just didn't seem to click. Too many chops and kicks through this match. Fish wins with a roll up. Very underwhelming.

- Alabama Attitude vs. QT Marshall & RD Evans - I was excited to see Evans since I had seen some of his CHIKARA stuff, but this match was blah. RD and QT won, but they are already teasing dissention between them, so, whatever

- Scramble for a TV Title shot - Mike Mondo vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Mark Briscoe vs. BJ Whitmer - another match that just really did nothing for me. Nothing wrong with it I guess, though I fast forwarded through most of it. Mark Briscoe wins and gets a title shot. I have to assume that before the PPV someone from SCUM beats Matt Taven for the TV title so Briscoe can beat another member of SCUM and the Briscoes can continue to look invincible.

Not your best effort ROH

03/30/13 ROH TV

Tonight, it's all ROH vs. SCUM

C+C Wrestling Factory vs. Rhett Titus & Cliff Compton

Nice long match, C+C have really gelled as a team. Compton and Titus could be a good choice for the obligatory SCUM tag team I think. Compton and Titus get the win via nefarious means. After the match, SCUM attacks, Mike Mondo makes the save, which leads to......

Mike Mondo vs. Jimmy Jacobs

Not a bad match really. Jacobs still hasn't done anything to impress me other than being amusing while others promo. Still, decent enough match. Jacobs wins with his feet on the ropes

Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal & BJ Whitmer vs. Rhino, Matt Hardy & Steve Corino

Pretty much a brawl for the entire match, which is what it should have been. SCUM wins again, completing the sweep of the evening. I honestly don't remember how it ended, I am fairly positive SCUM cheated and got the win on Whitmer. Could be wrong there

BONUS COVERAGE!

ROH House Show - Asheville, NC 03/30/13

Doug, Sop, Pun and I were at this one. It was a whole lot of fun

Michael Elgin vs. Adam Page

Page is going to be the next Adam Cole I think, but not tonight. He got some hope spots in, but Elgin wins fairly easily. Elgin's chops are disturbingly hard. Highlight of the match was the crowd chanting for the buckle bomb.

QT Marshall vs. Some Guy

Never caught the other guys name, but it was someone I had never heard of. Marshall was on the mic FOREVER before the match going on and on. The crowd shit on him, it was fun. Decent enough match, but it ended in a no contest when SCUM interfered. Not really sure WHY SCUM interfered in this particular match, but they did, which led to.....

Grizzly Redwood & Mike Mondo vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Jimmy Rave

Pretty good match here too, Redwood really IS a tiny guy. Jacobs and Rave won via shenanigans, though I forget exactly what shenanigans those were. SCUM attacks again, which leads us to.....

BJ Whitmer vs. Rhett Titus

Kind of a meh match here, nothing stood out. fun enough match, Titus wins via KO punch using a roll of quarters

American Wolves vs. C+C Wrestling Factory

Match of the night, hands down. this one probably got 25-30 minutes easily, and there was no down time at all. Wolves won, but C+C looked great in the loss. Fantastic match

Charlie Haas vs. JLN(?)

Never did catch the other guys name. This is the match we have mentioned on FB and OO. Haas came out before the match and said he was tired of seeing friends die. He put over the locker room big, and told Kevin Kelly and Delirious to fuck off. It was a short match and JLN got a surprise rollup win out of nowhere. Clunky match. Afterward, Haas said he was retiring and thanked the crowd. They wouldn't give him a mic for any of it. Seems legit now, but who knows, this IS wrestling after all

reDRagon vs. Alabama Attitude

Champs retain fairly easily, though it was a pretty good match. I really dig Fish and O'Reilly

Matt Taven vs. Roderick Strong vs. ACH vs. Jay Lethal - Proving Ground Match

Really good match here. The winner would get a future TV title shot (unless Taven had won, then I guess no one would get one) you would think ACH was there to take the pin, but he surprisingly got the win. Fun match. The highlight was when Taven went to the outside and was telling the fans to take off their pants, then looked at a couple ring rats/skanks who had been trying to get backstage the whole time and said "not you" great stuff. Taven and Truth are gold together. Oh, and Taven's Hoopla Hottie is smokin. I think she is Scarlett Bordeaux, but I am not sure if that was her or not

Kevin Steen vs. Mark Briscoe

Really good match, the crowd was hot for Steen. Since Steen vs. Jay had already been announced, the result of this one wasn't much in question. Still, a good match with Briscoe getting several near falls. To combat SCUM interference, Papa Briscoe and some other guy were out there, and eventually Jay was out there too, his arm still in a sling. Steen wins and after the match the Briscoes give Jacobs the Doomsday Device

ROHTV 04/06

ACH & Tadarius Thomas vs. Adam Page & Mike Sydal

I was expecting a lot more from this one, but it looked like Page may have legit reinjured his hand (don't remember if he had a cast on at the Asheville show or not) so this was fairly short, and ACH and TD pick up the win. I think ACH and TD can be a pretty damn good team in what is shaping up to be a damn fine ROH tag division

WOMEN OF HONOR

Athena vs. Cherry Bomb vs. MsChef vs. Scarlett Bordeaux

Good enough match, though being a womens match it still has the same complaint from me. Men's action can be non-stop and fast, but women's matches all seem to be moving at 3/4 speed. Still, a good match with Athena getting the win. The story here was that Scarlett is not a real wrestler and this ends MsChef's ROH undefeated streak. After the match Veda Scott tried to talk to MsChef, but she gets a face full of GREEN MIST! instead. Awesome. I love MsChef a little more now

Pepper Parks vs. Roddy Strong

Roddy wins fairly easily. Evidently Parks had been in ROH before, and wore pigtails at the time. Ok then.

reDRagon vs. Forever Hooligans

Really good match here. Forever Hooligans are Rocky Romero and Alex Kozlov. Red Dragon gets the win, and American Wolves, who were on commentery put both teams over big. With reDRagon, American Wolves, C+C, whatever SCUM combination they use (I would go Rhett & Compton) and TD/ACH, ROH could have a damn good tag division

No mention of Haas or highlights from the Asheville show

The difference between SCUM and Aof8 as I see it:

Not an exceedingly slow build. Mind-numbingly slow. OMG Who's going to be in it next? Let's wait 4 weeks between reveals until no one cares and you stretch what limited credibility there is (how do they keep getting in the building?) beyond the amount of logic anyone with a brain can suspend.

No, you have here one wrestler with a 'legitimate' beef (Steen) and then two lackeys. Then all of a sudden you introduce the rest of the stable (after Steen has apparently decided he's bored with it?) TA DA! Big OMG moment, and we can get on with the story line.

You also have current ROH wrestlers as part of the stable, not hires from other promotions (I don't think, off the top of my head), people who would have legitimate beefs with Nigel and the board (Hardy's misused, Titus has no tag team partner, etc.) or people from backstage. Moving Corino into the suit-mouthpiece position saves me from ever seeing him wrestle again (I hope).

Also, SCUM has Jimmy Jacobs.

All that aside, still No. Too many Heels on the Upper half the card. They're having to shoehorn Big Show in on the face team for WM vs Shield. Punk has Taker. Brock has HHH. That's three regular face 'slots' that are unfilled as we speak. Jericho is facing a nobody, so he could fill one, but that's it.

Compton was either Deuce or Domino. I forget.

Also, please do these again. I was keeping up with ROH this summer, but havent been able to since August.

Going on memory here........

- Rhyno and Corino beat some team I have never heard of. Wonder if they will be the new muscle of SCUM?

- Pauley Shore, errrrrr, Matt Taven sells his soul to the House of Truth. I thought he was supposed to have signed with WWE?

- Grizzly Redwood is supposed to face someone, I don't remember who, Kevin Steen comes in and tells Mr. Nobody to piss off, he doesn't so Steen murders him. Steen then gives Redwood a match, and of course wins, no surprise there

- Matt Hardy carries the TV title to the ring, I suspect because he can't actually wear it, and Nigel tells him he will get a match against Cole in two weeks, and it will be a title match IF he can survive a four corners match against Elgin, Strong and Richards. One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong.

- The Briscoes beat Worlds Greatest Tag Team in a Titles vs. Team match when Haashole turned on Shelton "WWE Bound" Benjamin. Pretty predictable outcome there, would have been nice to have Charlie explain it post match, but I am sure we will hear from him soon enough

Good show

..a shame, really. Not. From Inside Radio:

Former Chicago Bear Steve "Mongo" McMichael has relinquished his sports analyst job at “ESPN Radio 1000” WMVP, Chicago after filing to run for mayor of the Illinois village of Romeoville. The resignation occurred after an attorney representing one of McMichael's opponents requested equal airtime for his client, according to the Chicago Tribune. McMichael was a longtime member of WMVP’s Bears pregame show.

Link to the Tribune Story:

www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/romeoville/chi-mongo-mcmichael-radio-show-20130102,0,4897703.story

All of Cena's Make a Wish awesomeness doesn't compare to this act of kindness by DB!

withleather.uproxx.com/2012/12/wwe-daniel-bryan-visits-kid-with-cancer-no-lock-video

Davey vs. Elgin was damn good, made Elgin look like a million bucks. Davey sure has been doing a lot of jobbing since he came back

I don't like the new color guy

Lets see what I can remember

- Davey Richards is back, and he still doesn't sell anything. Highlight of the match: Nigel noticing that Maria was dressed up like a cat, and saying "I always wanted to see her pussy" It got bleeped, but I almost fell out of my chair

- Barrister turning on Ciampa was kind of a surprise, though I think Ciampa will be WAY over as a face. Putting QT with him makes sense too, I haven't seen much of him, but I think QT can amount to something. I don't think there was any doubt that Lethal was winning this one.

- Surprised Steen made such quick work of Titus. Not exactly a squash, but the end was never in question. Loved the back and forth between Nigel and Corino

Not being in one of those markets that have ROH-TV but I try to follow them, I was surprised to see this:


This seems to be to be the writing out of Cornette and/or Steen, and maybe a Lethal push, but maybe I'm just thinking two smarky. Any thoughts?

Suffering, Chaos, Ugliness, and Mayhem.