Booked into a corner?

[WHG]

I'm curious what people's thoughts are on the World Title picture and the rest of the year.

Meltzer reported that the big build for the year appears to be Cole vs. AJ, which I think would be awesome...especially if AJ still has the IWGP title when it happens. But...

There's also a general consensus that Elgin is winning the title at BITW. It looked to me like they were setting up AJ & Elgin IV for after Elgin was the ROH World Champion.

I think it's too early to end Cole's reign (& if they do they wasted the AJ opportunity), but how could they have Elgin fail again without turning him into Lex Luger? And what does Cole do the rest of the year assuming AJ would be a Final Battle PPV match? He's burned through a bunch of contenders pretty quickly in 2014.

Interested to hear what people think SHOULD happen and what you think WILL happen...

[ROHFan25]

Elgin is not Championship material IMO. I can't really take a guy serious as a Champion if he can't cut at least a decent promo. I think Cole should hold the belt for a while. I'd like to see them build up a younger guy, or maybe build Kyle up in singles...but realistically right now the obvious way they're going is Elgin.

Elgin will give you the star rating main events, but that's all. Depends what you want from your top guy. Cole's been doing a terrific job IMO.

[DirtyDave]

Elgin should definitely get the shot at that Nashville PPV but Cole should retain and will imo

Elgin's super strong so i give him credit. and he deserves credit for being a good worker for as big as he is. and everyone thinks he's going to win the ROH title every time he goes for it so that says a lot too.

But Cole's doing a great job as champion and i want to see him continuie his reign as heel champ. i find him way more entertaining than Elgin.

The promo's and mic work is so heavily lopsided in Cole's favor... and he's younger

[lariat_tubman]

They should just take Elgin out of the title picture. Have him do some upper midcard feuds and build him back up as a challenger when they are ready to put the belt on him.

[ROHFan25]

What he said^^^

Seriously, Elgin is just the definition of boring right now.

[DirtyDave]

if Elgin was to beat Cole he'd have to take out Maria, bennett, Hardy, Cole to make him look like a complete beast and they'd say how deserving he is etc blah blah

doesn't make sense to take it off Cole though. Cole vs AJ I'd love to see down the road

[Northwoods_Nightmare]

Get Elgin over to NJPW for the summer. That way he's out of the ROH Title picture, but his stock will actually go up rather than floundering in mid-card feuds. Then he can come back bigger and better than ever at Final Battle and win the title.

Elgin's been doing basically the exact same thing for the last two years and it's starting to wear a little bit. Some time away and a fresh return would be great.

[DXvsNWO1994]

I actually have opposite feelings. It's clear that Elgin will be the one challenging Cole at Best in the World, and honestly, I think Elgin has to win the belt here. Ring of Honor really needs a big moment for their first live PPV, and Elgin finally winning the belt would be that moment (much like Terry Funk winning the ECW World Title at Barely Legal). I think the time is now for Elgin. Anytime later would be too late.

[PiledrivingMissDaisy]

Elgin's in that Tyler Black zone now where he has to win because they've gone so far with the effort put into his push, no longer because he's still the best candidate. Now we've seen all his big spots done to death, seen the Backfist/Buckle Bomb/Elgin Bomb combo a hundred times and heard him cut dozens of mediocre, unmemorable promos. The aura is fading away.

[Robareid]

And everyone thinks he's going to win the ROH title every time he goes for it so that says a lot too.

Well that's just wrong. He's had four shots:

1st at SitS against Davey, nobody thought he was winning

2nd at GBH against Steen, probably about a 50/50 split

3rd at DBD against Cole, most thought Cole would win, but around a 25/75 split

4th at FB against Cole & Briscoe, nobody thought Elgin was winning

[Robareid]

Completely disagree. Everybody seems to have soured on Elgin, yet he still puts on matches that are often MotN. I still love him. Sure he's not the most charismatic, and he can't go out and cut a great promo, but he's a damn good wrestler. Without all of Elgin's matches, the last few years of ROH would look a lot weaker than they were. I think he deserves a run with the belt. He's got a title shot, and he can't lose again, so it seems obvious he's challenging and winning the belt at BitW. And I'm fine with that.

Sure, do I think he goes a bit too no selly sometimes. Sure I do. And I'd love him to tone it down. But that's just personal preference.

[DXvsNWO1994]

I actually have opposite feelings. It's clear that Elgin will be the one challenging Cole at Best in the World, and honestly, I think Elgin has to win the belt here. Ring of Honor really needs a big moment for their first live PPV, and Elgin finally winning the belt would be that moment (much like Terry Funk winning the ECW World Title at Barely Legal). I think the time is now for Elgin. Anytime later would be too late.

Completely disagree. Everybody seems to have soured on Elgin, yet he still puts on matches that are often MotN. I still love him. Sure he's not the most charismatic, and he can't go out and cut a great promo, but he's a damn good wrestler. Without all of Elgin's matches, the last few years of ROH would look a lot weaker than they were. I think he deserves a run with the belt. He's got a title shot, and he can't lose again, so it seems obvious he's challenging and winning the belt at BitW. And I'm fine with that.

Sure, do I think he goes a bit too no selly sometimes. Sure I do. And I'd love him to tone it down. But that's just personal preference.

So we agree that Elgin should win the belt at Best in the World but for different reasons?

[Thelone]

To be fair, Elgin lost points when, not even a month after his loss against Cole, he was in a random tag team with Lethal going after the tag titles after months of "I don't care about anything but the world title". Then he got stuck in mid/upper-card limbo because the Cole-Briscoe feud was going strong (and he ate the pin at FB) and only now, he seems to be back up there, but no one cares because it's too late.

After DBD week-end, I would have stopped booking him until FB (how can we miss you if you don't leave ?) and instead of Hero making the save, have him do it. Then from FB until 12th Anniversary, have him make key appearences, but still not wrestle. After that, I think he's been booked just fine and have him beat Cole at BitW.

[TYFDK]

I'm honestly at the point where I kinda don't want Elgin to win. I think Cole should hold it past BITW. But who it goes to? No clue.

[MythRush]

Driving 5 hours to see the ROH PPV! Cant wait! Tennesse here I come. Doesnt matter who Cole faces, he is walking away champion. Glad to be part of this site now!

[supersonic]

I hope SBG works with WWE so that Michael Cole and Joey Styles call this match.

[Robareid]

I actually have opposite feelings. It's clear that Elgin will be the one challenging Cole at Best in the World, and honestly, I think Elgin has to win the belt here. Ring of Honor really needs a big moment for their first live PPV, and Elgin finally winning the belt would be that moment (much like Terry Funk winning the ECW World Title at Barely Legal). I think the time is now for Elgin. Anytime later would be too late.

Completely disagree. Everybody seems to have soured on Elgin, yet he still puts on matches that are often MotN. I still love him. Sure he's not the most charismatic, and he can't go out and cut a great promo, but he's a damn good wrestler. Without all of Elgin's matches, the last few years of ROH would look a lot weaker than they were. I think he deserves a run with the belt. He's got a title shot, and he can't lose again, so it seems obvious he's challenging and winning the belt at BitW. And I'm fine with that.

Sure, do I think he goes a bit too no selly sometimes. Sure I do. And I'd love him to tone it down. But that's just personal preference.

So we agree that Elgin should win the belt at Best in the World but for different reasons?

Sorry, quoted the wrong person.

[Big Red Machine]

And everyone thinks he's going to win the ROH title every time he goes for it so that says a lot too.

Well that's just wrong. He's had four shots:

1st at SitS against Davey, nobody thought he was winning

2nd at GBH against Steen, probably about a 50/50 split

3rd at DBD against Cole, most thought Cole would win, but around a 25/75 split

4th at FB against Cole & Briscoe, nobody thought Elgin was winning

Tyler had eight title shots, and aside from the four way match at DBD VII: Night 1 and maybe the match at and Take No Prisoners 2008, people went into every single one of those matches thinking Tyler was going to win. People only started to sour on Tyler because of the circumstances of the match at Final Battle 2009 (that match was great until that horrible period of stalling, and the fact that they did it in the middle of a blizzard was pretty dumb), but he got through a whole lot omre title shots than Elgin has had while retaining steam.
I don' think Elgin is in that much danger of losing steam, and I think that AJ beating Cole in Nashville and then Elgin eventually beating AJ at a big show like Final Battle 2014 would probably be the best scenario for both ROH and Elgin.

[jordidebaas]

And everyone thinks he's going to win the ROH title every time he goes for it so that says a lot too.

Well that's just wrong. He's had four shots:

1st at SitS against Davey, nobody thought he was winning

2nd at GBH against Steen, probably about a 50/50 split

3rd at DBD against Cole, most thought Cole would win, but around a 25/75 split

4th at FB against Cole & Briscoe, nobody thought Elgin was winning

Tyler had eight title shots, and aside from the four way match at DBD VII: Night 1 and maybe the match at and Take No Prisoners 2008, people went into every single one of those matches thinking Tyler was going to win. People only started to sour on Tyler because of the circumstances of the match at Final Battle 2009 (that match was great until that horrible period of stalling, and the fact that they did it in the middle of a blizzard was pretty dumb), but he got through a whole lot omre title shots than Elgin has had while retaining steam.
I don' think Elgin is in that much danger of losing steam, and I think that AJ beating Cole in Nashville and then Elgin eventually beating AJ at a big show like Final Battle 2014 would probably be the best scenario for both ROH and Elgin.

Styles becoming champion wouldn´t be good for ROH at all, since he´s not going to be here a lot

[Burnside]

I think Meltzer is wrong about the big build being AJ/Cole. Both are heels, AJ isn't (and won't be) under contract, and after Saturday AJ isn't booked on any ROH shows from now through August.

Elgin I think is winning the belt in June. The only thing is that I don't see who his compelling challengers are going to be. Maybe Daniels and Kazarian will join the House of Truth and Elgin will defend against them and Lethal.

Seems to me like the most logical build is AJ beats Elgin this Saturday, Elgin beats Cole in June, AJ drops the IWGP belt sometime in the next 6 months in Japan, and then comes back to (unsuccessfully) challenge Elgin at Final Battle with the angle being that AJ is 2-1 against Elgin and beat him in NYC in May.