Two questions regarding Roderick Strong

[bouncingskeleton]

Q 1) What direction would you go with Strong, post tournament (assuming Cole heel turn and Briscoes returning as heels)? I've been wondering if a Strong heel-turn and alliance with Cole would work. The scenario would be something like "Cole was right, only wins and losses matter here." I don't really see face Roddy versus heel Cole working as Elgin would be involved heavily in any storyline regarding heel Cole. I would, if I thought it would be booked properly, be interested in something like that; however, judging how Elgin v. Strong was handled, I don't see that happening. Is it time for Strong to fade out of the Main Event picture? He's been around for awhile, won the triple crown, and has kinda done everything. What now?

Q 2) Something that's been bugging me for some time, I figured that somebody on this forum might have an answer.
I know that Strong wears short boots, and I've seen Elgin wear them a few times (most recently against London, who also wore short boots [although they looked more like shoes]). I was wondering if there was a reason for this (kayfabe or legit), or if it was just personal preference. I have some experience with martial arts and I know that, for a lot of things that are common in RoH-style wrestling (tight to the body throws, upright chokes, clinches, tall kicks, and etc), as much ankle support as can be gained is best with none at all being secondarily favorable (i.e, tall boots or none at all). I didn't know if it is injury, or comfort, or look that made certain people prefer short boots.


Summary for lazy people:
1) How would you book Strong?
2) What's up with his boots?

[felkerpat]

1) I would love a Dojo Bros situation (heel Edwards, Cole, and Strong) but that seems unlikely at this point. I would say keep him face and give him some random feuds, he cannot really be in the title picture but shouldn't just be there guy to face outside the company competitors.

2) Personal preference I would guess as he has been wearing them for a long time, if not his whole career.

[YimYac]

Similar to amateur wrestling boots

[brian]

I remember Steve Austin wore those style of boots

[AndyDiaz]

He could be used to bring out the best in young up in comers in ROH such as Silas and Page.

I agree with you guys theres not much left for him to do, which sucks. Hopefully he could continue having awesome matches and maybe have some interesting feuds.

[Marketh.]

I agree with you guys theres not much left for him to do, which sucks. Hopefully he could continue having awesome matches and maybe have some interesting feuds.

That's the thing. When someone starts to become irrelevant in ROH, is no longer in the title picture or is just floating around or what-have-you, surely it's a simple and easy enough idea to just put him in a feud with someone? Doesn't even have to be anything particularly special, but it's something and it's not like Roddy's going anywhere anytime soon. Make up an angle for him with a guy like Silas.

Or even make it a really intense feud with a proper storyline, because why not? ROH needs more of those.

What I think they're actually gonna do is just keep putting him in short rivalries with a few matches that will be decent but ultimately meaningless.

[Thelone]

He should be used to put some new guys over. Bennett-Steen is a given (insanely over vs. get tons of heat), Mark or Rhino-Young should work just fine, then you have guys like Lethal/Strong/Whitmer on one side and ACH/Alexander/Page on the other.

I don't know about his shoes though

[Tim]

1) I would love a Dojo Bros situation (heel Edwards, Cole, and Strong) but that seems unlikely at this point. I would say keep him face and give him some random feuds, he cannot really be in the title picture but shouldn't just be there guy to face outside the company competitors.

2) Personal preference I would guess as he has been wearing them for a long time, if not his whole career.

Remember when he used to wear those ugly tights until 05? He wore long boots then to.

Roderick is a former world champ, he and Aries made the tag team championships, he and Stevens had one of, if not the most violent feud in company history, he's had some of the greatest matches in company history, won Survival of the Fittest, even won the TV Championship... I think he is in the same position CM Punk, Samoa Joe, and Bryan Danielson were in when they left, nothing left to do but have great matches.

[SeanWrestling]

Since him and Lethal are kinda in the same position, veterans with nothing to do, I would have Lethal win the TV title and have them feud with eachother over that. I know they had a feud last year, but Strong was heel at the time. This time around, it can be a competitive feud between two ROH pioneers tryna elevate the TV title. Either that or make them a tag team and have them feud with reDRagon. The matches would be awesome. Ultimately, I think it's time for him to move on from the company. I would like to see him in TNA but I'm not confident in how they'll use him, if ever.

Concerning the boots, I'm pretty sure he wears them because he finds them comfortable to wrestle in. As much as I love them, it's actually quite refreshing to see an indy wrestler who doesn't wear kickpads.

[Northwoods_Nightmare]

Saying that "he's accomplished everything, there's nothing left for him to do except have good matches" is a total booking cop-out. Does he need to win more titles? No, but you can always come up with interesting things for him to do. Perhaps this means evolving his character if it has become stale, or just getting behind him on something. He's had a number of random title matches of course, but he hasn't seriously been a Title contender for quite a while.

I'd like to see a focused, determined Roderick Strong again instead of party boy Roderick. Or put him in a tag team (although I don't know who I'd like to see him with).

[Tree]

is there any logic in putting Strong and Lethal together as a team, two vets gunning for the straps?

[Marketh.]

is there any logic in putting Strong and Lethal together as a team, two vets gunning for the straps?

Not really, but surely it can't take much? I'd have them each lose to the champ (Cole, I assume) in title shots, put them in a couple multi-man matches that sees them unexpectantly showing chemistry and inventing a couple double-teams "spontaneously". A promo or two later and you have your team.

Do it for no reason other than to give them something new and interesting to do and the potential matches.

vs. Outlaw Inc. (what a fun brawl that could be)
vs. reDRagon
vs. Adrenaline RUSH
vs. The Young Bucks

[DXvsNWO1994]

I'd actually be in favor of Strong spending time in the Tag Division. He really hasn't been in a true tag team in awhile and as Marketh said, it would create a load of potential new matches. Who would be his partner is definitely an interesting question. I personally like to see the pairing with Eddie Edwards as the Dojo Bros but a team with Lethal sounds intriguing as well.

[Tree]

there's no question a Strong/Edwards team would be huge for the tag division, but between the uncertainty of Edwards' status, combined with the complexity of me wanting Richards to find a partner that makes sense in order to have EPIC tag wars with Strong and Edwards, i'd prefer something totally new like Strong/Lethal.

as an interesting storyline twist, i am fairly certain that Roddy's first non do-or-die/pre-show/whatever ROH match was a six-man that included Lethal (than wrestling as Hydro), so there is an interesting twist there. Lethal has already passed the 10th anniversary of his first ROH match (whoa), and Roddy's is approaching.

i think that tandem could do a LOT in the tag division, and seriously make some noise with the right story telling.

[Marketh.]

Plus it's easier to explain in the world of ROH than the Dojo Bros, considering Eddie and Roddy have been on opposite sides of several feuds - Sweet 'n' Sour Inc. vs ROH, American Wolves/Team Ambition vs House of Truth. Not to mention Eddie taking Roddy's title and the series of matches that followed and continued until last year.

And it's not like you can really say "Oh, but that's just competitiveness, they're actually friends off-screen." They've gone at it in promos and segments a bunch of times.

For it to work, I think they need to be forced into a team (because...wrestling!) and gradually realise they're not so different and then become the Dojo Bros.

[bouncingskeleton]

The more I ponder it the more Lethal/Strong makes sense to me.
Two veteran wrestlers that have good skill and lack direction right now.

And seriously? No one knows on the boots? I'm a little surprised.

[Northwoods_Nightmare]

I like the idea of Strong/Lethal teaming. I would like to see them not entirely trust each other, and have an undercurrent of animosity towards each other, but continue working together to try and capture the titles.
It's definitely nothing new, but it would be something different from the other teams and something we haven't seen in ROH in a little while.