Random ROH Thoughts Thread

[Wilson]

Apparently Kevin Kelly confirmed on the most recent episode of his podcast that he & Matt Striker will be returning to New Japan to do English Commentary for Wrestle Kingdom X.

Are any reports claiming this to be another hot GFW joint?

(And, indeed, the team of Kevin Kelly and Matt Striker is tragic.)

[Big Red Machine]

The Cheeseburger/Bob feud has provided two damn entertaining matches this year.

That's just two entertaining matches in a feud that has been going on since early March, and has barely moved forward.

Is that really much to bother about? This feud has had like three things - the Bob heel turn, match #1 and match #2. All roughly 2-3 months apart from each other with nothing inbetween and 2/3 of those have been tonnes of fun. It's not like they've been interfering in each others' matches and cutting promos on each other every show since this has started, that would be excruciating.

They actually have been doing that more recently on house shows, and either way, people are unhappy that it is a poor use of TV time. This is a feud that should have been confined to house shows, which would give them more time to have better matches, make the house shows more important, and save TV time for sh*t that will actually matter, help sell PPVs, or actually tell the stories they are trying to tell. Imagine if some of the time for those Bob vs. Burger matches had been used to help tell the story of Elgin's redemption or actually SHOW us Sydal "mentoring" ACH (that's what today's article called it) or whatever was supposed to be going on between them, or to show us how Jay Briscoe feels about losing the ROH World Title and losing his un-pinned, un-submitted streak.

[Burnside]

I just completely reject the idea that Cheeseburger is somebody I should still be watching at all.

I mean, the first time he was featured, in the Charlie Haas promo, I thought it was great. The second time Haas beat him up, it was still kind of a mild chuckle. It was also kinda funny when Maria shoulder-blocked him. Every single other time he has appeared, and we're now talking years of appearances, my reaction has been stone-faced boredom and bemusement that this one-note character has been left on TV this long.

This right now is my top 4 "I don't understand why this person is there" list for ROH.

4. Rhett Titus
3. Cheeseburger
2. Joey Daddiego
1. Stokely Hathaway

Honorable mention to Will Ferrara. He's much better than any of the above, but for God's sake put his head in a mask.

[Thelone]

They actually have been doing that more recently on house shows, and either way, people are unhappy that it is a poor use of TV time. This is a feud that should have been confined to house shows, which would give them more time to have better matches, make the house shows more important, and save TV time for sh*t that will actually matter, help sell PPVs, or actually tell the stories they are trying to tell. Imagine if some of the time for those Bob vs. Burger matches had been used to help tell the story of Elgin's redemption or actually SHOW us Sydal "mentoring" ACH (that's what today's article called it) or whatever was supposed to be going on between them, or to show us how Jay Briscoe feels about losing the ROH World Title and losing his un-pinned, un-submitted streak.

Glad I'm not the only one who finds this ACH/Sydal mentoring stuff a bit laughable. They never were a real team, but more like two singles wrestlers teaming up from time to time. While I'm sure they mentionned this on commentary at some point, this mentoring was never showed to us in any memorable way.

It's not the first time they have this "tell, don't show" mentality though. They just did that with Caprice also mentoring Ferrara supposedly, Elgin turning face out of the blue, and also Moose beating the fuck out of Colby and Ferrara even though "they are friends and he doesn't really want to murder them".

[DXvsNWO1994]

Apparently Kevin Kelly confirmed on the most recent episode of his podcast that he & Matt Striker will be returning to New Japan to do English Commentary for Wrestle Kingdom X.

Are any reports claiming this to be another hot GFW joint?

(And, indeed, the team of Kevin Kelly and Matt Striker is tragic.)

I think this is the same deal as King of Pro-Wrestling, where Kelly & Striker are doing the English Commentary for NJPWWorld.

[Wilson]

I just completely reject the idea that Cheeseburger is somebody I should still be watching at all.

I mean, the first time he was featured, in the Charlie Haas promo, I thought it was great. The second time Haas beat him up, it was still kind of a mild chuckle. It was also kinda funny when Maria shoulder-blocked him. Every single other time he has appeared, and we're now talking years of appearances, my reaction has been stone-faced boredom and bemusement that this one-note character has been left on TV this long.

This right now is my top 4 "I don't understand why this person is there" list for ROH.

4. Rhett Titus
3. Cheeseburger
2. Joey Daddiego
1. Stokely Hathaway

Honorable mention to Will Ferrara. He's much better than any of the above, but for God's sake put his head in a mask.

If Bob Evans is still with the company, then he is my no. 1 draft pick.

Rhett Titus, however, is perhaps the most egregious full-time roster member, for a lot of reasons. If he didn’t look so manically depressed as the party-in-a-can tomcat then I would feel more inclined to suggest him as the first worker to be let go. There is just something so . . . so Joey Daddiego-esque about Rhett Titus that I wouldn’t be able to sleep for a week if he lost his job.

[DBSommer]

This right now is my top 4 "I don't understand why this person is there" list for ROH.

4. Rhett Titus
3. Cheeseburger
2. Joey Daddiego
1. Stokely Hathaway

4: Maybe because he's a 'graduate' of the ROH school and they want to have someone you can say, 'This can be you, so sign up.' ? Brotha, brotha, brotha.

3: He's the ultimate underdog. And people do still chant his name when he pops up at house shows at least rather than going to sleep. And Liger likes him.

2: He's a silent majority owner in SBG. (That's all I can come up with. I know I'm grasping)

1: Because the alternative is letting Moose speak.

In all honesty, I wouldn' t mind letting them all go.

As to Brutal Bob, I actually don't mind him as a lower end heel manager introducing 'new talent' (I think he's the one that's going to be pushing Tim Hughs_, and I've seen him piss off at least the ringside audience with verbal tirades. But as to him wrestling, no thanks. Not even for the post intermission match.

[trufreedom]

I can remember going to the first Border Wars, so we're talking mid-2012.

I brought three streamers, all earmarked for specific people.

One was for Kevin Steen, who won the world title that night.
One was for Lance Storm, who I've always loved but had never seen live. He's a Canadian hero.
And the other was for the ANX.

I can even remember being at the merch stand, being torn between the Kill Steen Kill shirt, or the ANX shirt.

In that moment... and I, for the life of me, can't remember why, the ANX were over as fuck in my mind,and a big draw for the show for me. I remember loving the way Rhett looked bloodied up, but beyond that, I can't remember why, but I was really into them.

My only point is, I know that there is value in that team, and by extension Rhett Titus, you've just got to find it.

[Wilson]

ANX were in an engrossing feud with the Briscoes, the latter really doing their best to put the newer tag team over. The Briscoes had been heel before, but never as vindictive and seemingly never that violent ("I ain't even bleedin'"). It was a feud that got everybody over.

I think ANX had a pretty exciting run as one of the top teams in ROH, but I also think that their gimmick is not in parity with typical babyface behavior and that Rhett Titus does not generally fit the part. It probably does not need delineating that Kenny King is the real embodiment and potential of the tag team. 2015 ANX is very clearly heading nowhere; it might be best to split the team with King as the heel either figuring things out as a singles star or in another tag team where his partner does not look like a mimetic fool.

I don't want to start a crusade for the person's head or anything, but I just don't see any intrinsic value in Rhett--and it's been that way for years and years. At his best, he was only innocuous.

[Big Red Machine]

I just completely reject the idea that Cheeseburger is somebody I should still be watching at all.

I mean, the first time he was featured, in the Charlie Haas promo, I thought it was great. The second time Haas beat him up, it was still kind of a mild chuckle. It was also kinda funny when Maria shoulder-blocked him. Every single other time he has appeared, and we're now talking years of appearances, my reaction has been stone-faced boredom and bemusement that this one-note character has been left on TV this long.

This right now is my top 4 "I don't understand why this person is there" list for ROH.

4. Rhett Titus
3. Cheeseburger
2. Joey Daddiego
1. Stokely Hathaway

Honorable mention to Will Ferrara. He's much better than any of the above, but for God's sake put his head in a mask.

I'm fine with Cheeseburger as a jobber. I'm not disagreeing with anything you've said about him being a one-note character, but he is small enough that it's fun watching him get thrown around, and for whatever reason crowds seem to love him.

[Big Red Machine]

I don't quite get all of the hate on Rhett. He's passable in the ring and good on the mic. He's perfectly fine being one half of a tag team.
That being said, I think that the best thing to do with ANX is to build them up for a tag title shot, have them lose clean (with Rhett taking the fall), spend a few months jobbing them out to the rest of the division (with Rhett always taking the fall), then have Kenny turn heel on Rhett, have a decently short (maybe three months) feud ending in Fight Without Honor which Kenny wins and that is the last we ever see of Rhett Titus in ROH on a regular basis. I'm fine with him being a spot-filler on East coast shows, but he certainly doesn't need to be a full-time member of the roster.

[Burnside]

I don't quite get all of the hate on Rhett. He's passable in the ring and good on the mic.

Get a hold of yourself.

[Big Red Machine]

I don't quite get all of the hate on Rhett. He's passable in the ring and good on the mic.

Get a hold of yourself.

I almost always enjoy his promos, and he's good as both a dick heel and a fiery babyface. Therefore I'd call him "good" opn the mic.

[Sardonic Artery]

The best thing about Rhett Titus was the bowtie on his trunks. Yup, that's it.

Add Mike Bennett and Taven to the to-go pile.

I''m good with Coleman staying when he works good matches (as mentioned elsewhere, he's solid when he's on). I like the heart punch, too.

[Wilson]

Apparently Kevin Kelly confirmed on the most recent episode of his podcast that he & Matt Striker will be returning to New Japan to do English Commentary for Wrestle Kingdom X.

Are any reports claiming this to be another hot GFW joint?

(And, indeed, the team of Kevin Kelly and Matt Striker is tragic.)

I think this is the same deal as King of Pro-Wrestling, where Kelly & Striker are doing the English Commentary for NJPWWorld.

Ye gods—no, not NJPWWorld! I was going to subscribe to them this year to avoid last year’s abysmal broadcast.

You have stultified me once again, Striker!

I don't quite get all of the hate on Rhett. He's passable in the ring and good on the mic.

Get a hold of yourself.

I almost always enjoy his promos, and he's good as both a dick heel and a fiery babyface. Therefore I'd call him "good" opn the mic.

I don’t know how you interpret Rhett’s remote, despondent, and desperate attempt to rekindle ANX’s connection with the crowd as fiery. It’s certainly not “good”--unless he is supposed to sound like a closet racist and that this has all been some master slow play. Otherwise, Rhett Titus unintentionally comes off as a closet racist babyface and not good.

[DXvsNWO1994]

Ye gods—no, not NJPWWorld! I was going to subscribe to them this year to avoid last year’s abysmal broadcast.

You have stultified me once again, Striker!

You can still subscribe to NJPWWorld and watch the regular Japanese feed. GFW isn't doing a PPV production of the show like they did last year, so NJPWWorld is the only way to view it. I know a number of people who weren't fans of the job Kelly & Striker did on the October show, and they're sticking to the Japanese commentary this time around.

[DBSommer]

I don't quite get all of the hate on Rhett. He's passable in the ring and good on the mic.

Get a hold of yourself.

How can you say that, brotha, brotha, brotha? And check out these fine pictures I have of Daizee Haze. Take a look.

[Marketh.]

Good God, that Daizee Haze storyline. Imagine that happening with today's commentary trying to sell it.

[Wilson]

Ye gods—no, not NJPWWorld! I was going to subscribe to them this year to avoid last year’s abysmal broadcast.

You have stultified me once again, Striker!

You can still subscribe to NJPWWorld and watch the regular Japanese feed. GFW isn't doing a PPV production of the show like they did last year, so NJPWWorld is the only way to view it. I know a number of people who weren't fans of the job Kelly & Striker did on the October show, and they're sticking to the Japanese commentary this time around.

Thanks, DX. This radically alters my thoughts on purchasing the show.

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

We need to have Marketh retitle this post: ROH's Most Despised Wrestlers.