Your ROH 2013 Report Card

[bob]

I saw #Classic Hi-Definition X did this for WWE and TNA I figured ROH should have a poll of the same kind.

How did Ring of Honor do in 2013?

[mcmahonfan85]

they started off good with the continuation of the Steen reign as champion, had the fun ROH/SCUM feud and the revitalization of Matt Hardy's career along with it, Jay winning the ROH World Championship (Twittergate or not it was still great to see him win it), kept things interesting throughout the summer and early fall with the ROH World title tournament and reDRagon's reign as tag champs, we got the slow turn of Adam Cole and his rise to the ROH World Championship, Final Battle aside i've enjoyed Outlaw Inc, we saw the long awaited return of Paul London (fyi he's been added to the roster page at ROH's website), and ended the year with the return of Hero, Hardy, Whitmer, and a new faction emerging

all in all i'd say it was a great year for Ring of Honor. maybe not up to the level of the glory days of 2004-2007, but definitely better than the last couple of years

[lovingway]

They got rid of Cornette as booker and it got better. I do feel that they are throwing out good matchups too early but the quality of wrestling is improving. I would really like to see them use their tv show better. The whole Jimmy Jacobs finding retribution angle was glossed over for the most part and could have been drawn out a bit. They need to have a better bit where they update people on what is happening with ROH as opposed to just hyping the next event with all the matches

[froggyfrog]

I think B is on point. Not Golden Age level good, but no one expected that. A marked improvement over the previous year.

[Starshine]

The Good
- A lot of unexpected and surprising events occurring. Eg. Briscoe, Taven, reDRagon, Forever Hooligans winning their respective belts, BJ Whitmer faking the injury. It almost felt like anything and everything could happen.
- Dropping the iPPV business model for a more focused VOD
- The TV show becoming more interesting and relying much less on road rage shows
- Generally strong wrestling throughout the year, and
- Good feeling of growth and development towards the end of the year
- Great use of non-regular talent. eg. Paul London, Karl Anderson etc.
- Consistently strong house shows
- Focus on the tag division and it producing very strong matches
- Stronger character development throughout roster

The Bad
- SCUM angle taking up too much of the show and generally not producing quality matches
- The title tournament was dragged out too long
- The usual iPPV technical problems
- The TV Title losing almost all worth
- Some questionable booking decisions. eg. Stripping Briscoe of the belt, general booking of the TV Champion, rushing the Briscoe/Briscoe feud, SCUM etc.

All in all, I'd say there was much more good than bad. I'd give them a B. They really improved from 2012.

[highplainsdrifter]

Voted B+, I was pretty happy with ROH in 2013.

[Deleted]

I accidentally hit B but was aiming for A-. ROH rules and I love it to death, characters are built with equal amounts of love from the bottom to the top of the card. They continue to consistently make stars and have a lot of great guest appearances too. The only negatives I can think of is that I still think their TV shows can use a little more punching up. Their PPVs are so vibrant,intense and alive but the TV shows, while good I think they come off a lot more wooden when put next to each other, but it's hard to say how to fix that because the TV shows have to play by different rules.

Also I think the SCUM angle could have been a lot better. I like the basic skeleton of it, but I didn't like how they didn't really give anyone a character but Matt, Steve and occasionally Jacobs, I don't think anyone else said even a peep on TV or even in online segments.

Looking forward to ROH in 2014. It seems absolutely stacked right now with Hero and Styles in the mix.

[Square]

Jan 1, 2014 6:44:17 GMT -5 Starshine said:

The Good
- A lot of unexpected and surprising events occurring. Eg. Briscoe, Taven, reDRagon, Forever Hooligans winning their respective belts, BJ Whitmer faking the injury. It almost felt like anything and everything could happen.
- Dropping the iPPV business model for a more focused VOD
- The TV show becoming more interesting and relying much less on road rage shows
- Generally strong wrestling throughout the year, and
- Good feeling of growth and development towards the end of the year
- Great use of non-regular talent. eg. Paul London, Karl Anderson etc.
- Consistently strong house shows
- Focus on the tag division and it producing very strong matches
- Stronger character development throughout roster

The Bad
- SCUM angle taking up too much of the show and generally not producing quality matches
- The title tournament was dragged out too long
- The usual iPPV technical problems
- The TV Title losing almost all worth
- Some questionable booking decisions. eg. Stripping Briscoe of the belt, general booking of the TV Champion, rushing the Briscoe/Briscoe feud, SCUM etc.

All in all, I'd say there was much more good than bad. I'd give them a B. They really improved from 2012.

Wait, wait what? BJ Whitmer FAKED his injury?!

[mcmahonfan85]

the injury wasn't fake, but all signs point to the damage (him having spinal stenosis and being forced to retire) being overplayed

[MolotovMocktail]

Overall, very good, except the Cornette run. I thought he would be a natural fit, given ROH's athleticism-first mentality, but for some reason, it just didn't click.

Main thing I'm hoping for is for ACH to become more prominent. He may be wrestling's best-kept secret right now.

[Starshine]

Jan 1, 2014 16:56:37 GMT -5 Square said:

Jan 1, 2014 6:44:17 GMT -5 Starshine said:

The Good
- A lot of unexpected and surprising events occurring. Eg. Briscoe, Taven, reDRagon, Forever Hooligans winning their respective belts, BJ Whitmer faking the injury. It almost felt like anything and everything could happen.
- Dropping the iPPV business model for a more focused VOD
- The TV show becoming more interesting and relying much less on road rage shows
- Generally strong wrestling throughout the year, and
- Good feeling of growth and development towards the end of the year
- Great use of non-regular talent. eg. Paul London, Karl Anderson etc.
- Consistently strong house shows
- Focus on the tag division and it producing very strong matches
- Stronger character development throughout roster

The Bad
- SCUM angle taking up too much of the show and generally not producing quality matches
- The title tournament was dragged out too long
- The usual iPPV technical problems
- The TV Title losing almost all worth
- Some questionable booking decisions. eg. Stripping Briscoe of the belt, general booking of the TV Champion, rushing the Briscoe/Briscoe feud, SCUM etc.

All in all, I'd say there was much more good than bad. I'd give them a B. They really improved from 2012.

Wait, wait what? BJ Whitmer FAKED his injury?!

Bad choice of words on my part. But definitely overstating the seriousness of it.

[simplydurhamcalling]

I really need to start watching again, I keep up with the results but haven't bought a show since 2010!

[Deleted]

Jan 1, 2014 17:24:41 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

Overall, very good, except the Cornette run. I thought he would be a natural fit, given ROH's athleticism-first mentality, but for some reason, it just didn't click.

I still don't really see what was so bad about Cornette's ROH. I mean I get that he didn't like Steen, Generic or Cabana and he's 100% objectively incorrect to think that, but even still Steen had one of the best title runs ever under Cornette's watch so he wasn't that out of touch.

The only things I noticed about Cornette's booking is that he seemed to do a lot of really hokey shit with live shows like local radio DJs taking part in matches as if anyone should give a shit about them.

[mcmahonfan85]

Jan 1, 2014 20:57:42 GMT -5 @nichotine said:

Jan 1, 2014 17:24:41 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

Overall, very good, except the Cornette run. I thought he would be a natural fit, given ROH's athleticism-first mentality, but for some reason, it just didn't click.

I still don't really see what was so bad about Cornette's ROH. I mean I get that he didn't like Steen, Generic or Cabana and he's 100% objectively incorrect to think that, but even still Steen had one of the best title runs ever under Cornette's watch so he wasn't that out of touch.

The only things I noticed about Cornette's booking is that he seemed to do a lot of really hokey shit with live shows like local radio DJs taking part in matches as if anyone should give a shit about them.

Steen's reign was one of the best, but the reign of Davey Richards, who Cornette was very high on, sucked big time (limited title defenses, wasn't really allowed to respond to challengers that talked shit to him, etc). then there was breaking up tag teams (i.e. The American Wolves, Future Shock) for no real reason. also there was getting rid of a lot of established wrestlers (Aries, Cabana, Generico, Necro, The Embassy, etc)

there as some things Cornette did well and some things that sucked (though a good number of that may be wrongly credited to him), but under his watch ROH had a real down period. though the whole thing is moot when discussing ROH 2013 (except for comparison purposes) because Cornette was out Ring of Honor in 2012