Post by Brain Of J on May 6, 2009 20:29:40 GMT -5
Breaking news from the Ring Of Honor newswire!!!
In 2008, then-Commissioner Tammy Lynn Sytch declared a state of martial law when the unruly actions of Chris Hero and The Exception To The Rule had gotten too far out of hand. While it was, to an extent, successful, it set off a chain of events that led to Sytch leaving the promotion due to injury, and her replacements have been unable to return ROH to the glory of its earlier years. In the weeks following Final Battle 2008, the problems have escalated, and Ring Of Honor has been plunged into a state of existence teetering on all-out anarchy. Outside interference in matches is the norm instead of an aberration. We’ve seen JJ Dillon abuse his power to affect the outcomes of matches, Austin Aries attacking a fan, Jimmy Jacobs assaulting Eddie Kingston with a cheese grater, Edge disrupting scheduled matches and inserting himself as a replacement, and countless other acts of lawlessness and disorder. The Honor Guard blame the “outsiders” for ruining the company, and those not in the Guard, blame the Guard for plunging the into an unnecessary turf war.
The straw that broke the camel’s back came last night on Throwdown, when BJ Whitmer blatantly attacked JJ Dillon. The Commissioner—the vital link between the upper management and the active roster—is now bedridden with a neck injury, and will be unable to attend A New Level. Entities outside Ring Of Honor–powerful entities that can influence the business in unimaginable ways—have noticed the increasing chaos with great alarm, and the attack on a member of management has pushed them too far.
At A New Level, there will be three observers present at ringside. All wrestlers have been ordered, on threat of immediate termination and a civil suit being filed against them, not to interact with them in the slightest or put them in any jeopardy. The three men have the power to change operations – or suspend, or even terminate – in Ring Of Honor, and they will be there to determine if ROH requires outside intervention to save it from an unruly roster. One of the three men will be representing the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, ROH’s home state, who can take actions against the parent corporation of ROH. Another will represent ROH’s corporate insurance carrier, who can pull the policies on ROH and its wrestlers, suspending activities until ROH can find a new carrier. And the third will be a CW Network representative, who can cancel Throwdown and Unleashed if he determines the programming is unfit for their network.
The ROH audience, unfortunately, is powerless, save to write your letters and emails of support to the commissioner, the insurance carrier, and the network. Even the owner and upper management can only schmooze so much. The true fate of ROH lies in the hands of the men who have plunged the promotion into these dire straits in the first place. Often in the build-up to big events like pay-per-views, a promotion may try to say the fate of the promotion is in the hands of one match or another. It makes for a good story, but it is never really the case. We can say, without hyperbole, that the fate of Ring Of Honor rests on this entire event. If any one of the three walks away unsatisfied with what they see from A New Level, ROH events and operations could come to a screeching halt … perhaps forever. We have issued this newsletter so you, the ROH fan, can stay informed and get the clear story right from the source, not from internet rumor and speculation. Whether A New Level is just another great event in our history, or the curtain call for Ring Of Honor, we can’t know until it happens … but we still invite you to tune in and see the very best professional wrestling, the kind of wrestling you can only get from Ring Of Honor!
Your final card for
A New Level
Live, on pay-per-view
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Pre-PPV free preview match:
“Sweet ‘n’ Sour” Larry Sweeney vs. “The Professional” Scott Lost
In 24 hours, Larry Sweeney will put up 30 days of what he loves most – paychecks – when he faces “Diamond” Joey Ryan with a 30 day suspension on the line. To tune up for the big match, he’s asked for a match with someone else … someone who spurned him as a manager when Sweeney was seeking out an assassin to eliminate Ryan: Scott Lost. Lost is looking to pick up some momentum in his career, something lost since his partnership with Shelton Benjamin since Benjamin started chasing singles’ glory.
Fatal four-way tag team match:
La Raza vs. Murderdeathkill vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The CHIKArmy
Steen & Generico have been acting like ROH’s tag team division big shots for some time now, which culminated at Final Battle in an invitational tag team scramble match they organized, and lost in the first pinfall. Since then, they’ve managed to make enemies of everybody they come across, as they seek glory at others’ expense. They’ll have to go through three other teams to get there tonight: La Raza, who are coming together with their lucha-inspired offense. The new pairing of Jigsaw and Hallowicked, known as The CHIKArmy, wants to make a splash in their debut. And the third team is the team Steen & Generico have tried to get one over on for weeks now, Murderdeathkill. Justice Pain and The Messiah are looking to get back into the title hunt, and a dominating win here should be enough to push them back to the top. Only one team can win!
For a World Title match tomorrow night on Unleashed:
“The Mechanical Animal” Austin Aries vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. “Diamond” Joey Ryan vs. “The Anarchist” Arik Cannon? (pending Cannon’s medical condition)
Four men, four very different mindsets. Shelton Benjamin has been turning heads with star-making performances against the company’s elite athletes, and is poised to breakthrough. Joey Ryan, given the spot of Roderick Strong by Strong himself after he pulled out of the event, has been derailed with a war against Larry Sweeney and wants to win gold again in ROH, and this could be the start of his road back. There is Austin Aries, a broken man whose haunted existence is a threat to everyone around him. Aries has become an entirely different wrestler since Final Battle, and his domination of opponents has been as stunning as it has been brutal. And then, there is Arik Cannon, who, after suffering a brutal beatdown on Throwdown, might not even be in a condition to wrestle; if not, his opportunity will slip through his fingers, and someone else will be chosen to take his place. If he can pull it together, he’ll be a bulls-eye for sure, a position he has been in for much of his ROH career thus far. Everybody wants a shot at the ROH World Title … but only one man will get there.
Grudge match:
BJ Whitmer vs. Adam Pearce
Following the Montreal Screwjob, screwjob endings in matches became something of a fashion as tyrannical bosses and commissioners exerted their will over the wrestlers in promotions. Up until Final Battle 2008, ROH was proud to boast that office politics had never directly inserted itself into the outcome of a match. But JJ Dillon changed all that at Final Battle 2008, when he blatantly screwed BJ Whitmer out of the #1 contendership and engineered a violent divorce between Whitmer and The Honor Guard. Whitmer had been a man consumed with a quest revenge for men who had tried to injure him (Chris Hero) or he felt disrespected him (Steve Corino, Eddie Kingston). Now, his thirst for blood will only be quenched by the blood of The Honor Guard, the group who had used him as a means to an end and disposed of him when he tried to exert independence. Whitmer is not wasting time; he wants the head of the dragon. On Throwdown, he took one step towards that end, when he blatantly attacked JJ Dillon and put him in the hospital, so the Commissioner couldn’t get involved again. Tonight, Whitmer looks for vengeance against the Guard’s “field general”. Does Pearce have a trick up his sleeve, or will Whitmer exact his vengeance?
Grudge match:
Chris Hero vs. Jimmy Jacobs
Final Battle 2008 was all about The Honor Guard executing a series of brilliant screwjobs against the wrestlers they stand against, and none were more memorable than the one in the main event, when Jimmy Jacobs, acting with authorization from JJ Dillon, used his Survival Of The Fittest title shot in the middle of the ladder match between Chris Hero and Steve Corino to steal the ROH World Title. Jimmy Jacobs lost the title a mere 8 days later in his one and only defense, and Chris Hero found himself thrust in the unfamiliar position of fan-favorite when he stood beside Eddie Kingston and targeted The Honor Guard for elimination. But also driving Hero is a quest to get “his” belt back, and standing in his way is Jacobs, who also wants the championship again. The quest for gold and Hero’s grudge against Jacobs is more than enough to turn this match into a potential bloodbath.
Grudge match – if Shawn Michaels wins, Bryan Danielson is removed from tomorrow’s Rumble Royale:
“American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels
Since Shawn Michaels has come in, Bryan Danielson has been bothered by his old teacher. Michaels has tried to take the high road, but Danielson has egged him on time and again. Michaels believes Danielson is being used by The Honor Guard, and Danielson believes Michaels is just jealous of Danielson’s accomplishments. Danielson has taunted Michaels by wrestling a match his Michaels’ style, and humiliated former fellow students in a public workout. All the while, Michaels has stayed on the moral high ground, only striking back when pushed to the brink. That air of diplomacy comes to an end at A New Level in a dream match like no other. One of the greatest wrestlers of all time will face his greatest student, who is quite possibly the best wrestler in the world today. And even though Danielson’s participation in the Rumble Royale hangs in the balance, for Michaels, it isn’t about that: it’s about teaching his student one more lesson, a lesson in respect. For Danielson, it’s about showing a teacher he’s become antiquated, and worse, passed by.
For the ROH Wrestler’s Choice Championship – Street-Style:
“The Notorious 187” Homicide (c) vs. Ruckus
Ruckus’ reign as Wrestler’s Choice Champion was frustratingly short: less than a half an hour, before The Honor Guard played fast and loose and screwed him out of the title at Final Battle. Ruckus has been focused on one thing ever since: being ready to take the title back, by punishing Homicide in ways nobody could or would imagine. But at A New Level, Homicide will make the rules, and he’s chosen a “street-style”: no rules, no pinfalls, no count-outs, ref stoppages or disqualifications. Only surrender or staying down for a 10-count will win the match. And true to the name, it won’t be fought in the ring: it’ll start out in the parking garage, and continue wherever the fight takes them until one man stands as champion. Has Homicide put Ruckus in an unwinnable situation? Or is Ruckus, the protégé and carrier of the torch of Taz, starting a new Path Of Rage?
For the ROH World Tag Team Championships:
The Elite (c) w/Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin & ?
For months, we have seen the slow dissolution of the Motor City Machine Guns. Miscommunications, jealousies, suspicions and disagreements have piled up, creating a mountain of resentment between the two. Somehow, they pulled together to win this title shot, but at the cost of Alex Shelley’s leg. Nevertheless, Chris Sabin decided to use the shot, and that was the final straw. As Sabin tried out prospective partners, Shelley stunned the world by suddenly aligned himself with the men who had sown the seeds that had begun the slow-motion demise of the MCMG’s: The Honor Guard. Shelley will be at ringside with The Elite to see his former partner take the title shot they won together with a new partner, while he nurses an injury. Who will Sabin pick? Will Shelley get involved? Will Sabin be able to make it work with someone else, or is this a wasted opportunity?
For The ROH World Championship – Triple Threat Theatre match:
“The Last Of A Dying Breed” Eddie Kingston (c) vs. “The King Of Old School” Steve Corino vs. Nigel McGuinness
On the first PPV event of 2009 for Ring Of Honor, a new match will bow its head: the Triple Threat Theatre, where a wrestler must get decisions over both his opponents to win, but a decision does not eliminate a wrestler. Into this new battlefield will be three men: former ROH World Champion Steve Corino, looking to regain what was stolen from him a month ago. Nigel McGuinness, the Honor Guard’s “crown jewel”. And the ROH World Champion, Eddie Kingston, whose out-of-the-blue title reign has vaulted him into a position that makes him both the envy and the target of everyone in the company. McGuinness “won” the shot at Final Battle thanks to machinations by JJ Dillon, something that Corino took exception to. The former champ bulldozed his way into the match with two missions of equal import: either win the title, or keep McGuinness from doing so. In the middle of this is Kingston; he tops The Honor Guard’s hitlist. And thanks to a misunderstanding, he and Corino are now at odds, dividing both the fanbase and the locker room between the reigning champion and the company’s most accomplished and tenured veteran. The ROH locker room is falling apart amidst the chaos brought forth by The Honor Guard, and this could be the final straw … unless, somehow, either Kingston or Corino can pull it together with a win.
Jed Shaffer
~GET IN YOUR PICK 'EMS NOW!!!
In 2008, then-Commissioner Tammy Lynn Sytch declared a state of martial law when the unruly actions of Chris Hero and The Exception To The Rule had gotten too far out of hand. While it was, to an extent, successful, it set off a chain of events that led to Sytch leaving the promotion due to injury, and her replacements have been unable to return ROH to the glory of its earlier years. In the weeks following Final Battle 2008, the problems have escalated, and Ring Of Honor has been plunged into a state of existence teetering on all-out anarchy. Outside interference in matches is the norm instead of an aberration. We’ve seen JJ Dillon abuse his power to affect the outcomes of matches, Austin Aries attacking a fan, Jimmy Jacobs assaulting Eddie Kingston with a cheese grater, Edge disrupting scheduled matches and inserting himself as a replacement, and countless other acts of lawlessness and disorder. The Honor Guard blame the “outsiders” for ruining the company, and those not in the Guard, blame the Guard for plunging the into an unnecessary turf war.
The straw that broke the camel’s back came last night on Throwdown, when BJ Whitmer blatantly attacked JJ Dillon. The Commissioner—the vital link between the upper management and the active roster—is now bedridden with a neck injury, and will be unable to attend A New Level. Entities outside Ring Of Honor–powerful entities that can influence the business in unimaginable ways—have noticed the increasing chaos with great alarm, and the attack on a member of management has pushed them too far.
At A New Level, there will be three observers present at ringside. All wrestlers have been ordered, on threat of immediate termination and a civil suit being filed against them, not to interact with them in the slightest or put them in any jeopardy. The three men have the power to change operations – or suspend, or even terminate – in Ring Of Honor, and they will be there to determine if ROH requires outside intervention to save it from an unruly roster. One of the three men will be representing the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, ROH’s home state, who can take actions against the parent corporation of ROH. Another will represent ROH’s corporate insurance carrier, who can pull the policies on ROH and its wrestlers, suspending activities until ROH can find a new carrier. And the third will be a CW Network representative, who can cancel Throwdown and Unleashed if he determines the programming is unfit for their network.
The ROH audience, unfortunately, is powerless, save to write your letters and emails of support to the commissioner, the insurance carrier, and the network. Even the owner and upper management can only schmooze so much. The true fate of ROH lies in the hands of the men who have plunged the promotion into these dire straits in the first place. Often in the build-up to big events like pay-per-views, a promotion may try to say the fate of the promotion is in the hands of one match or another. It makes for a good story, but it is never really the case. We can say, without hyperbole, that the fate of Ring Of Honor rests on this entire event. If any one of the three walks away unsatisfied with what they see from A New Level, ROH events and operations could come to a screeching halt … perhaps forever. We have issued this newsletter so you, the ROH fan, can stay informed and get the clear story right from the source, not from internet rumor and speculation. Whether A New Level is just another great event in our history, or the curtain call for Ring Of Honor, we can’t know until it happens … but we still invite you to tune in and see the very best professional wrestling, the kind of wrestling you can only get from Ring Of Honor!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your final card for
A New Level
Live, on pay-per-view
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Pre-PPV free preview match:
“Sweet ‘n’ Sour” Larry Sweeney vs. “The Professional” Scott Lost
In 24 hours, Larry Sweeney will put up 30 days of what he loves most – paychecks – when he faces “Diamond” Joey Ryan with a 30 day suspension on the line. To tune up for the big match, he’s asked for a match with someone else … someone who spurned him as a manager when Sweeney was seeking out an assassin to eliminate Ryan: Scott Lost. Lost is looking to pick up some momentum in his career, something lost since his partnership with Shelton Benjamin since Benjamin started chasing singles’ glory.
Fatal four-way tag team match:
La Raza vs. Murderdeathkill vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The CHIKArmy
Steen & Generico have been acting like ROH’s tag team division big shots for some time now, which culminated at Final Battle in an invitational tag team scramble match they organized, and lost in the first pinfall. Since then, they’ve managed to make enemies of everybody they come across, as they seek glory at others’ expense. They’ll have to go through three other teams to get there tonight: La Raza, who are coming together with their lucha-inspired offense. The new pairing of Jigsaw and Hallowicked, known as The CHIKArmy, wants to make a splash in their debut. And the third team is the team Steen & Generico have tried to get one over on for weeks now, Murderdeathkill. Justice Pain and The Messiah are looking to get back into the title hunt, and a dominating win here should be enough to push them back to the top. Only one team can win!
For a World Title match tomorrow night on Unleashed:
“The Mechanical Animal” Austin Aries vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. “Diamond” Joey Ryan vs. “The Anarchist” Arik Cannon? (pending Cannon’s medical condition)
Four men, four very different mindsets. Shelton Benjamin has been turning heads with star-making performances against the company’s elite athletes, and is poised to breakthrough. Joey Ryan, given the spot of Roderick Strong by Strong himself after he pulled out of the event, has been derailed with a war against Larry Sweeney and wants to win gold again in ROH, and this could be the start of his road back. There is Austin Aries, a broken man whose haunted existence is a threat to everyone around him. Aries has become an entirely different wrestler since Final Battle, and his domination of opponents has been as stunning as it has been brutal. And then, there is Arik Cannon, who, after suffering a brutal beatdown on Throwdown, might not even be in a condition to wrestle; if not, his opportunity will slip through his fingers, and someone else will be chosen to take his place. If he can pull it together, he’ll be a bulls-eye for sure, a position he has been in for much of his ROH career thus far. Everybody wants a shot at the ROH World Title … but only one man will get there.
Grudge match:
BJ Whitmer vs. Adam Pearce
Following the Montreal Screwjob, screwjob endings in matches became something of a fashion as tyrannical bosses and commissioners exerted their will over the wrestlers in promotions. Up until Final Battle 2008, ROH was proud to boast that office politics had never directly inserted itself into the outcome of a match. But JJ Dillon changed all that at Final Battle 2008, when he blatantly screwed BJ Whitmer out of the #1 contendership and engineered a violent divorce between Whitmer and The Honor Guard. Whitmer had been a man consumed with a quest revenge for men who had tried to injure him (Chris Hero) or he felt disrespected him (Steve Corino, Eddie Kingston). Now, his thirst for blood will only be quenched by the blood of The Honor Guard, the group who had used him as a means to an end and disposed of him when he tried to exert independence. Whitmer is not wasting time; he wants the head of the dragon. On Throwdown, he took one step towards that end, when he blatantly attacked JJ Dillon and put him in the hospital, so the Commissioner couldn’t get involved again. Tonight, Whitmer looks for vengeance against the Guard’s “field general”. Does Pearce have a trick up his sleeve, or will Whitmer exact his vengeance?
Grudge match:
Chris Hero vs. Jimmy Jacobs
Final Battle 2008 was all about The Honor Guard executing a series of brilliant screwjobs against the wrestlers they stand against, and none were more memorable than the one in the main event, when Jimmy Jacobs, acting with authorization from JJ Dillon, used his Survival Of The Fittest title shot in the middle of the ladder match between Chris Hero and Steve Corino to steal the ROH World Title. Jimmy Jacobs lost the title a mere 8 days later in his one and only defense, and Chris Hero found himself thrust in the unfamiliar position of fan-favorite when he stood beside Eddie Kingston and targeted The Honor Guard for elimination. But also driving Hero is a quest to get “his” belt back, and standing in his way is Jacobs, who also wants the championship again. The quest for gold and Hero’s grudge against Jacobs is more than enough to turn this match into a potential bloodbath.
Grudge match – if Shawn Michaels wins, Bryan Danielson is removed from tomorrow’s Rumble Royale:
“American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels
Since Shawn Michaels has come in, Bryan Danielson has been bothered by his old teacher. Michaels has tried to take the high road, but Danielson has egged him on time and again. Michaels believes Danielson is being used by The Honor Guard, and Danielson believes Michaels is just jealous of Danielson’s accomplishments. Danielson has taunted Michaels by wrestling a match his Michaels’ style, and humiliated former fellow students in a public workout. All the while, Michaels has stayed on the moral high ground, only striking back when pushed to the brink. That air of diplomacy comes to an end at A New Level in a dream match like no other. One of the greatest wrestlers of all time will face his greatest student, who is quite possibly the best wrestler in the world today. And even though Danielson’s participation in the Rumble Royale hangs in the balance, for Michaels, it isn’t about that: it’s about teaching his student one more lesson, a lesson in respect. For Danielson, it’s about showing a teacher he’s become antiquated, and worse, passed by.
For the ROH Wrestler’s Choice Championship – Street-Style:
“The Notorious 187” Homicide (c) vs. Ruckus
Ruckus’ reign as Wrestler’s Choice Champion was frustratingly short: less than a half an hour, before The Honor Guard played fast and loose and screwed him out of the title at Final Battle. Ruckus has been focused on one thing ever since: being ready to take the title back, by punishing Homicide in ways nobody could or would imagine. But at A New Level, Homicide will make the rules, and he’s chosen a “street-style”: no rules, no pinfalls, no count-outs, ref stoppages or disqualifications. Only surrender or staying down for a 10-count will win the match. And true to the name, it won’t be fought in the ring: it’ll start out in the parking garage, and continue wherever the fight takes them until one man stands as champion. Has Homicide put Ruckus in an unwinnable situation? Or is Ruckus, the protégé and carrier of the torch of Taz, starting a new Path Of Rage?
For the ROH World Tag Team Championships:
The Elite (c) w/Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin & ?
For months, we have seen the slow dissolution of the Motor City Machine Guns. Miscommunications, jealousies, suspicions and disagreements have piled up, creating a mountain of resentment between the two. Somehow, they pulled together to win this title shot, but at the cost of Alex Shelley’s leg. Nevertheless, Chris Sabin decided to use the shot, and that was the final straw. As Sabin tried out prospective partners, Shelley stunned the world by suddenly aligned himself with the men who had sown the seeds that had begun the slow-motion demise of the MCMG’s: The Honor Guard. Shelley will be at ringside with The Elite to see his former partner take the title shot they won together with a new partner, while he nurses an injury. Who will Sabin pick? Will Shelley get involved? Will Sabin be able to make it work with someone else, or is this a wasted opportunity?
For The ROH World Championship – Triple Threat Theatre match:
“The Last Of A Dying Breed” Eddie Kingston (c) vs. “The King Of Old School” Steve Corino vs. Nigel McGuinness
On the first PPV event of 2009 for Ring Of Honor, a new match will bow its head: the Triple Threat Theatre, where a wrestler must get decisions over both his opponents to win, but a decision does not eliminate a wrestler. Into this new battlefield will be three men: former ROH World Champion Steve Corino, looking to regain what was stolen from him a month ago. Nigel McGuinness, the Honor Guard’s “crown jewel”. And the ROH World Champion, Eddie Kingston, whose out-of-the-blue title reign has vaulted him into a position that makes him both the envy and the target of everyone in the company. McGuinness “won” the shot at Final Battle thanks to machinations by JJ Dillon, something that Corino took exception to. The former champ bulldozed his way into the match with two missions of equal import: either win the title, or keep McGuinness from doing so. In the middle of this is Kingston; he tops The Honor Guard’s hitlist. And thanks to a misunderstanding, he and Corino are now at odds, dividing both the fanbase and the locker room between the reigning champion and the company’s most accomplished and tenured veteran. The ROH locker room is falling apart amidst the chaos brought forth by The Honor Guard, and this could be the final straw … unless, somehow, either Kingston or Corino can pull it together with a win.
Jed Shaffer
~GET IN YOUR PICK 'EMS NOW!!!