Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

This is the place to discuss all the latest ROH news, announcements and events!

Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Same class as Xavier, Lynn, and Elgin
4
24%
Higher than that - specify the level
13
76%
 
Total votes: 17

User avatar
supersonic
Posts: 7665
Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 8:53 pm
Location: Edgar Martinez Dr S
Contact:

Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by supersonic »

Of the numerous ROH Champions in the company's 15-year history, 3 have quite easily stood out as the universally accepted bottom of the barrel, just not quite carrying themselves as truly elite faces of the company that such a position is expected to have.

Those 3 names would be Xavier, Jerry Lynn, and Michael Elgin. While there have been short, forgettable reigns such as Low Ki, James Gibson, Eddie Edwards, and Kyle O'Reilly, they were not shortened reigns due to any creative/drawing concerns, but either going for a risky shakeup, or being on the way out.

At the present time, Cody Runnels has simply not shown enough in the past year to make anyone believe he'll bring back the memories of Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Nigel McGuinness, let alone even the level of Tyler Black, Austin Aries, Kevin Steen, Jay Lethal, Jay Briscoe, and Takeshi Morishima.

So the question becomes this: when Cody's reign has concluded, will it end up being as lackluster as Xavier, Lynn, and Elgin, or can he actually manage to achieve something aesthetically higher than that? Can he actually surprise us all by adding some legitimate prestige to the belt not seen in many years?
famicommander
Posts: 3446
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:15 am

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by famicommander »

It won't be all that bad. He hasn't lit the world on fire with his match quality since leaving WWE but I think it's been better than some here are willing to give him credit for. He is at least over with the audience, and can cut a good promo. He has the athleticism and skillset, as well as the work ethic. I could see him being a good but not great heel champion when it's all over.

I really wonder what the outcome against Okada will be. I can't see Cody Rhodes actually winning the IWGP Championship, but it's also hard to see ROH letting its world champion get pinned 8 days after winning the belt. This match seems destined for a fuck finish, or a massive shock.
King of Indy Style
Posts: 639
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2016 7:50 pm
Contact:

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by King of Indy Style »

It won't be that bad. I don't think it'll be an all time great reign, of course, but Cody will work hard to show he can have a good reign. He isn't horrendous in the ring like some have tried to say, he's just good, not great. With his work ethic, promo skills and with how over he is, plus I think he'll get out a few damn good matches as Champion, I think he'll be a middle-of-the-road champion, if not slightly above.
User avatar
supersonic
Posts: 7665
Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 8:53 pm
Location: Edgar Martinez Dr S
Contact:

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by supersonic »

When I think "motivated after departing WWE," I think James Gibson, Chris Hero, and Drew Galloway, along with less prominent names such as Lance Hoyt and DBS Jr. Working harder than Ryback, Curt Hawkins, and Charlie Haas isn't worthy of much praise if any at all.

Perfect world: Cody's ability to get opportunities, with Paul London's elite-when-motivated workrate.
User avatar
Wilson
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1802
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 7:05 am
Location: US Northeast

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by Wilson »

It will probably be a reign that ends up polarizing people like Jay Briscoe's first reign or Davey Richards's time with the belt. Still, not an outright disaster like Xavier, Elgin, or O'Reilly.

He might even be champion for a while. He's pretty much the only singles star the company has continually built up this year--it's hard to imagine a scenario in which he drops the belt before Final Battle.
maxx_powerz
Posts: 406
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 4:18 pm

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by maxx_powerz »

I expect something similar to Cole's second / third. I think in a lot of ways Cody is just "playing" Adam Cole in ROH, and while I think Cole has a higher ceiling, I think both have similar strengths and weaknesses and that Cole was not super motivated (probably justifiably) the last year or so, giving Cody a more attainable target / goal.
Mr. Mojo Risin
Posts: 2400
Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2014 11:37 am
Location: Wisconsin
Contact:

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by Mr. Mojo Risin »

maxx_powerz wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:35 pm I expect something similar to Cole's second / third. I think in a lot of ways Cody is just "playing" Adam Cole in ROH, and while I think Cole has a higher ceiling, I think both have similar strengths and weaknesses and that Cole was not super motivated (probably justifiably) the last year or so, giving Cody a more attainable target / goal.
Wow. This is a perfect analysis. I can't disagree with any of this.
SweetDaddy
Posts: 298
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:13 am

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by SweetDaddy »

I'm no Cody fan but he's gonna be motivated by his first world title run. I buy into Cody more than I do Kyle O'Reilly.
Big Red Machine
Posts: 4376
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:10 pm

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by Big Red Machine »

Can I disagree with the initial premise that Lynn, Xavier, and Elgin had the worst title reigns? Even if we discount Ki and Kyle for being too short, I'd still say that Cide, Cole 3, Gibson, and Jay Briscoe 1 were all worse than Lynn, and Jay Briscoe II was just a smidge better than Lynn's (I have Xavier and Elgin right after that).

As for how Cody will do as champion... I'm not at all optimistic. Combine Cody's sub-par matches with Delirious' sub-par booking, and I think we'll be getting something that would make the likes of Magnus's TNA reign proud.
Montana
Posts: 2077
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:53 am

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by Montana »

famicommander wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2017 12:39 pm It won't be all that bad. He hasn't lit the world on fire with his match quality since leaving WWE but I think it's been better than some here are willing to give him credit for. He is at least over with the audience, and can cut a good promo. He has the athleticism and skillset, as well as the work ethic. I could see him being a good but not great heel champion when it's all over.

I really wonder what the outcome against Okada will be. I can't see Cody Rhodes actually winning the IWGP Championship, but it's also hard to see ROH letting its world champion get pinned 8 days after winning the belt. This match seems destined for a fuck finish, or a massive shock.
Agree 100%. I know the ROH Loyalist would love someone else, but i think it's a good time for a Cody reign at the moment. Looking forward to seeing where the American Nightmare character goes.
User avatar
AlexROH
Posts: 2112
Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2014 11:41 am
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Contact:

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by AlexROH »

Big Red Machine wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:13 pm Can I disagree with the initial premise that Lynn, Xavier, and Elgin had the worst title reigns? Even if we discount Ki and Kyle for being too short, I'd still say that Cide, Cole 3, Gibson, and Jay Briscoe 1 were all worse than Lynn, and Jay Briscoe II was just a smidge better than Lynn's (I have Xavier and Elgin right after that).

As for how Cody will do as champion... I'm not at all optimistic. Combine Cody's sub-par matches with Delirious' sub-par booking, and I think we'll be getting something that would make the likes of Magnus's TNA reign proud.
Yes! I cannot disgree. Elgin's reign had some good matches, as well as Lynn's. Xavier. Well, you have a buch of average matches (vs Joe, Styles, London I or Ki) and one great match with London at the Anniversary. I think Cody's reign will be similar to Cole 2 and 3. Good promo work, maybe some interesting storylines, but just average matches with (maybe) some very good ones, like Cole had against Lethal (in London) or Daniels (Anniversary).
Big Red Machine
Posts: 4376
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:10 pm

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by Big Red Machine »

AlexROH wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2017 3:53 am
Big Red Machine wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:13 pm Can I disagree with the initial premise that Lynn, Xavier, and Elgin had the worst title reigns? Even if we discount Ki and Kyle for being too short, I'd still say that Cide, Cole 3, Gibson, and Jay Briscoe 1 were all worse than Lynn, and Jay Briscoe II was just a smidge better than Lynn's (I have Xavier and Elgin right after that).

As for how Cody will do as champion... I'm not at all optimistic. Combine Cody's sub-par matches with Delirious' sub-par booking, and I think we'll be getting something that would make the likes of Magnus's TNA reign proud.
Yes! I cannot disgree. Elgin's reign had some good matches, as well as Lynn's. Xavier. Well, you have a buch of average matches (vs Joe, Styles, London I or Ki) and one great match with London at the Anniversary. I think Cody's reign will be similar to Cole 2 and 3. Good promo work, maybe some interesting storylines, but just average matches with (maybe) some very good ones, like Cole had against Lethal (in London) or Daniels (Anniversary).
I thought Cole 2 was, on the whole, quite good in the ring, especially when you consider the limited chances he had to deliver.
Straitjacket
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 10:20 pm

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by Straitjacket »

hopefully the idea, is for him to draw enough smark heat for being a "wwe guy" that "can't work" and build up a Homegrown ROH babyface, as super over, to take the belt of him at Final Battle. Who that is at this stage is anyone's guess, the roster currently is so thin.
famicommander
Posts: 3446
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:15 am

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by famicommander »

I don't think the roster is thin at all, I just think they have done a poor job building guys up to the next level as far as booking and perception.

There's no wrestling reason why guys like Kenny King, Dalton Castle, Adam Page, Mark Briscoe, Marty Scurll, Frankie Kazarian (don't hurt me), Silas Young, Colt Cabana, Punishment Martinez, or Matt Taven couldn't be world title contenders. It's just that they failed to position those guys to fill the gaps created by departing talent
Straitjacket
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 10:20 pm

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by Straitjacket »

famicommander wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:21 pm I don't think the roster is thin at all, I just think they have done a poor job building guys up to the next level as far as booking and perception.

There's no wrestling reason why guys like Kenny King, Dalton Castle, Adam Page, Mark Briscoe, Marty Scurll, Frankie Kazarian (don't hurt me), Silas Young, Colt Cabana, Punishment Martinez, or Matt Taven couldn't be world title contenders. It's just that they failed to position those guys to fill the gaps created by departing talent
could you honestly see any of those guys holding the title in the next 6 mths to a year, re read that list... that's your defence that the roster isn't thin... that list as World Champ???

Page and Scurll are the only 2 with any kind of push, but both are members of BC w/Cody.

Kazarian will prob be a short term feud, playing off the bullet club/Daniels storyline, but no one is buying him as champ.
King of Indy Style
Posts: 639
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2016 7:50 pm
Contact:

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by King of Indy Style »

I think Dalton is someone they could shift the title to relatively easily, and I think the same could be of Scurll. And I think Martinez will be World Title material in a few years time
famicommander
Posts: 3446
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:15 am

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by famicommander »

Big Dave with some thoughts on Cody
Cody Runnels may have lost the right to use his last name in major companies, but in a nine-day period he will have won the ROH world title and headline the first major interpromotional championship vs. championship match in the U.S. in 17 years.

Cody, despite the portrayal as the outsider heel and even shoving Cary Silkin, the former ROH owner and public face of the legacy of the company during the match, was cheered heavily in his 6/23 title win over Christopher Daniels in at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. The cheering was to the point that the company completely changed its booking direction the next day.

Cody went from being the top heel to the top babyface at television. The win sets up the IWGP champion vs. ROH champion main event for New Japan’s AXS TV special on 7/1 against Kazuchika Okada. Regarding concern that he injured his right shoulder in the rematch with Daniels at the 6/24 tapings in Lowell, MA, which he won in two straight falls, the next night after his match with Hanson while on a Northeast Wrestling show in Bethany, CT, he said that he is having an MRI on the shoulder but he’s confident he’s fine.

The ROH champions and key stars, in the recent past, due to their contracts, haven’t been able to appear on indie shows in the U.S. and Ontario. Cody hasn’t at this point signed an ROH contract, although one has been offered. He will be appearing on independent shows at least through the end of August. At one point he said that would change and had told promoters in the U.S. he had worked with at one point he wouldn’t be available past that point. He indicated different at the Northeast Wrestling show over the weekend. He noted elsewhere that he got a very generous offer from ROH, but he hasn’t decided on whether to sign a deal, which would include exclusivity in the U.S. and Ontario. He noted that the schedule he’s been working, while fun, has been vary arduous. He just lost his big toenail because it was crushed, his mouth is filled with stitches that were then reopened at the TV tapings the day after he got stitched up, and he’s got an issue with his right shoulder and deltoid muscle that was tweaked at the 6/24 tapings, so he joked that scaling back on the schedule might be for the best but no decision has been made.

This is probably the first time in the U.S. where a match has been promoted ahead of time with the world champion of two different promotions against each other since the Ric Flair (WCW/NWA champion) vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (IWGP) title match in St. Petersburg, FL, program in 1991. Flair vs. Fujinami was a two-match series where Fujinami pinned Flair at the Tokyo Dome on March 21, 1991, but in the U.S. it was ruled a DQ finish because of an over-the-top-rope call beforehand but in the building Fujinami was announced as double champion. It created the strange situation where Fujinami was billed as IWGP and NWA champion in Japan (since the NWA name meant more than the WCW name at the time in Japan) while in the U.S., it was portrayed that Flair had retained the WCW title (at the time they weren’t mentioning the NWA title any longer) via the screw job. Flair pinned Fujinami, with only the WCW & NWA titles at stake, in a rematch in St. Petersburg on May 19.

In 2000, on Smackdown, there was a match with WWF champion HHH beating ECW champion Taz in an unadvertised Smackdown television match on April 18, 2000 in Philadelphia, the home base of ECW. This was during the brief period where Taz, as a WWF contracted wrestler, was brought to ECW to win the title from Mike Awesome, who was the champion but had quit to sign with WCW, but in a battle with Paul Heyman against WCW lawyers over tampering, the agreement was WCW had to send Awesome to ECW to drop the title and WCW had to put over ECW on its television show (which Tony Schiavone was told to do and refused to do which led to more issues). It was a heavily questioned booking decision that I never understood, in the sense booking a WWF undercard guy as your champion and giving WWF the ability to make your title look like crap, even though they claimed they were allies, because they couldn’t help themselves, especially in that era where there was more competition.

With WWF having the ECW champion, a guy who was an ECW legend but a guy WWF at the time wasn’t pushing, they then booked him to lose to HHH on television in ECW’s home city, and not only that, but HHH also laid out Tommy Dreamer, who was to be the next ECW champion as he was scheduled to and did beat Taz for the title a few days later. The message was as extremely clear as it could be to the hardcore fans, that HHH not only beat Taz like nothing but both ECW champions and legends got laid out at his hands.

And it was just for the hardcore fans as Taz was never billed on WWF television as the ECW champion. Taz also did jobs at house shows, including Madison Square Garden to Eddy Guerrero, during that brief period, as WWF was clearly sending a message to hardcore fans, and it was a bad idea in hindsight. Dan Severn, as NWA champion, also did jobs to WWF talent while champion but the NWA really wasn’t anything close to a major organization at the time.

Worldwide, the last example appears to be the IWGP champion vs. Triple Crown title match champion matches in 2005 with Satoshi Kojima (Triple Crown) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (IWGP champion) when Kojima was under contract to All Japan. Kojima became the first and only IWGP & Triple Crown champion at the same time on February 20, 2005, winning via knockout at Sumo Hall in 59:49 in a bout with both titles at stake. This set up a rematch on May 14, 2005, at the Tokyo Dome, where only the IWGP title was at stake and Tenzan regained the title for New Japan while Kojima went back to All Japan keeping his title. Kojima remains the only person to hold both of those titles at the same time.

Cody has become an interesting and polarizing person. If you read social media and message boards, you would read that his post-WWE run has not been successful and people upset that he’s been promoted as hard as he has been. If you talk with people in the industry, particularly independent promoters, and the other performers, you get a different viewpoint, as he’s perhaps the most sought after wrestler on the independent scene who is well regarded for his professionalism. The fan response to him is in direct contrast to what is being written, as even for an all-star show like Battle of Los Angeles in front of the most hardcore crowd around, he and Jushin Liger got the biggest responses of anyone.

The ROH crowd was completely behind him for his title win to the point of booing Christopher Daniels, a performer everyone respects for his long tenure in the business.

He has yet to have, at least on a big national ROH show, that blow away match, past reports of his matches from his big matches against top names like Kurt Angle on Northeast Wrestling and him having a great match with Pentagon Jr. that tore down the house on a live show that I saw.

This week will be interesting because he’ll be performing in front of a fly-in audience and a national television audience against one of the best wrestlers, perhaps the best wrestler, in the world in a big show main event.

There was a lot of negative said online about his getting the Okada match on the AXS show, with the idea fans would rather see a guy who has a history of blow-away performances or a New Japan full-timer in that spot. But still, it’s about telling stories and the Dominion show opened up a lot of different stories long-term with Okada, Kenny Omega and Bullet Club for down the line. The title vs. title program is theoretically strong for the ROH/New Japan alliance in North America. It’s the type of program that New Japan has done many times historically.

Title vs. title also brings up a lot of questions regarding the finish. A double count out, the usual historical finish of this type of match, would be a disaster live, as would a DQ on either man. A 60:00 draw, another favorite finish of this type of match was just done at Dominion and while it went over great, it’s still a very risky proposition in this day and age. A win by Cody opens up more storylines, but Okada is having a legendary run and big show business is up in New Japan. Still, Cody as champion opens up the whole New Japan roster as potential challengers as the Bullet Club is the key act for New Japan in the U.S. market. Gedo is willing to take risks even though very few ever get to be IWGP champion, as in the last. In the last six-and-a-half years, the only champions have been Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, A.J. Styles and Tetsuya Naito. Because it’s limited to only elite class wrestlers, it makes the title seem more important than any other. For what it’s worth, the IWGP champion is always in G-1 and Cody is not in the tournament.

Gedo went with Okada when it was heavily criticized and before Okada had made a name. In fact, Okada was a young boy who had never gotten a major push, coming off a terrible run in TNA. Okada was made quickly into a top act by getting the title. He went with A.J. Styles, a great worker, but small by the standards of a traditional American headliner in Japan, and even though he had great matches in TNA, he did not have the aura of a superstar to anywhere near the degree until he got the belt and had the kind of matches he did as champion. Okada has been established by this run as New Japan’s best native, and him in the chase situation isn’t the worst thing, particularly if he wins G-1. Cody is not over in Japan at the level of most of the people who get to be world champion, but neither were Styles and Okada when they were first given the title. In hindsight, both of those risks paid off greatly. And Okada did not have the history of great matches that Styles did when he was put in that position.

The shows in Long Beach sold out before anyone knew who was in the main event. Whether Cody just winning the title leading into this main event strengthens the television numbers and interest in the televised version will be interesting, as will be the crowd reactions, and match quality.

The 7/1 show airs live on AXS TV at 8 p.m. Eastern. If you don’t get AXS TV, you can order Sling TV for a free weekend and get the show. It also airs on The Fight Network in Canada. It will not air on New Japan World live in the U.S. (it will in Canada and the U.K.), although the 7/2 show will.

The match order for the first day is Mark & Jay Briscoe & Will Ospreay & Rocky Romero & Baretta vs. Young Bucks & Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll, Jushin Liger & Volador Jr. & Dragon Lee & Titan vs. Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi, Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page (U.S. title tournament), Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Juice Robinson (U.S. title tournament), Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kushida & Jay White & David Finlay vs. Billy Gunn & Yoshitatsu & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka, Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa vs. War Machine for the IWGP tag titles, Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii (U.S. title tournament)), Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega (U.S. title tournament) and Okada vs. Cody, with only the IWGP title at stake.

There were only 44 tickets for the first day and 35 for the second day available on the secondary market and price for entry of $110 for the first night has gone up since the card was announced, while the second night it has stayed basically the same at $100. The secondary market isn’t as crazy as some WWE shows or the Nakamura debut on NXT, but higher than any non-WWE U.S. show in recent memory. SummerSlam, in a far larger arena and with far more tickets available, is still at$110 on the secondary market.

The second night, which airs live on New Japan World and the following Friday on AXS TV, won’t have the lineup announced until the day of the show past Young Bucks vs. Romero & Baretta for the IWGP jr. tag titles and Tanahashi vs. Gunn for the IC title, with both the semifinals and finals of the U.S. title tournament.

The Cody title win over Daniels in many ways resembled the type of title match TNA usually books and WWE does often as well, with the ref bumps and outside interference. Cody suffered a split lip early on when Daniels’ head hit him in the mouth when they did a shoving spot early in the match. Both Marty Scurll and Frankie Kazarian got involved in the match. The match went 19:16, but was scheduled to go considerably longer. The undercard went long and they had to adjust as the match went on because of the strictness of the three-hour PPV window. It was very good, but had to follow a crazy Young Bucks match which tore the house down. You could argue the Young Bucks should have gone no last, but the flip side is the Bullet Club celebration of Cody winning the title should have been the final scene of the show.

In a conference call to promote this weekend’s shows, he said that he hasn’t shut the door on returning to WWE, but said he would have demands that they would never meet. He said leaving WWE has been lucrative for his soul, but he’s also making more money than he made there.

If one considers the ROH title as a significant world heavyweight championship, then the Runnels family joins very few father-son combinations that have held significant world titles.

Dusty Rhodes was a three-time NWA champion. The only other father-and-son holding major world titles were the Von Erichs. But Fritz Von Erich only held the AWA title from July 27 to August 8, 1963, trading with Verne Gagne, and Kerry Von Erich only held the NWA title from May 6 to May 24, 1984. Kerry also held the World Class title four times (and brother Kevin held it once), but that was never considered a true world title with national recognition, although one could argue World Class was as significant as ROH even when past its prime and it had its own title.

A note on that is that the big storyline in Texas for roughly 20 year was the Von Erichs chasing the world title. Fritz’s AWA title was never mentioned and only when fans found out about it did he address it on TV. He said he won it, but downplayed it, saying the NWA title was the major world title and no Von Erich had ever won it until the Kerry win at Texas Stadium over Ric Flair.

The only other ones I can come up with are Brazo de Plata and son Maximo, who both held the CMLL world heavyweight title, and Dos Caras, a multi-time UWA heavyweight champion, and son Dos Caras Jr./Alberto Del Rio who has held CMLL, AAA and both WWE versions of the world title.
Interesting that he says ROH is drawing better now than ever, then immediately mentions the disappointing TV audience. The big shows this year have all drawn very well but maybe they need to start running a smaller venue for the TV tapings after major PPVs.

Also interesting that the live cable PPV three hour time limit significantly shortened the ROH World Title match. Maybe should have gone without the WOH recap and other hype videos.
BurningHammer
Posts: 2160
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:58 am

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by BurningHammer »

I think ROH certainly needs to look at doing something for the TV after PPV'S even if it's just halving ticket prices, especially when considering the time of when said TV tapings usally begin after the PPV's. I think they had a very good draw at the Philly tapings the night after Final Battle so moving to a new venue has shown to work, but that doesn't seem to change how things are being done, so they need to start to be creative if they want better draws at these shows, espeically if they are going 4 hours and have matches that will be to a certain level.
User avatar
Wilson
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1802
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 7:05 am
Location: US Northeast

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by Wilson »

I'm still utterly baffled why creative would opt into having their champion lose such an advertised program one week into their reign.

Not to feed only into antagonism, but does Cody's loss to Okada seem to anyone else a form of Deliri-ism (compare to: Inoki-ism)? How does ROH address that Cody lost clean in the biggest match of his career? He is two weeks into his title reign, and I fear that he may already need building back up to the general audience, especially if ROH is keen on making him babyface--which may or may not be what was indicated during the tapings. And how do you go back into building up the top belt? In and out of kayfabe, the ROH World Title feels completely inconsequential.
famicommander
Posts: 3446
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:15 am

Re: Will Cody's ROH Title reign be bottom of the barrel or better?

Post by famicommander »

Gedo would never allow it, but there should be a return match. Okada's victory should earn him an ROH World Title shot, which he should lose cleanly to Cody.
Post Reply