Meltzer: ROH is in a very weird situation, Enzo and Cass etc
Apr 12, 2019 10:50:01 GMT -5
JoDaNa1281, Gus Richlen: Ruffian, and 2 more like this
Post by octopus on Apr 12, 2019 10:50:01 GMT -5
Dave really goes to town here. Almost like he can see the drop off coming.
Also regarding the worked shoot with Enzo and Cass
Got Bully Ray written all over it.
ROH is in a weird situation. They can’t be what people want them to be and what they were for much of their history, because NXT has become that company and AEW will become another company being like that. Yes, Sinclair could upgrade them and make them more competitive, and did to a degree with the signings of Rush, Bandido and PCO in particular. Now it feels like the idea based on this show and these angles is to try and create an ECW vibe. That didn’t work before a New Japan audience, and in fact, it’s the last thing they wanted. But for ROH, this was their showcase to shoot angles before their biggest audience. The one thing people don’t realize is that if Paul Heyman was running a promotion today, it would have some elements of ECW, but in the big picture, would be completely different, because we’re not in 1998 and this is not a 1998 fan base. That isn’t to say this new philosophy won’t work, but for this show, the fan base wanted the U.S. version of Dominion and because it was MSG, they expected one of the greatest shows ever in the U.S. Perhaps that standard was too high, but they didn’t come for a 1998 ECW remake or seeing a shoot angle with WWE washouts and Impact stars from years ago. Of course, those angles weren’t booked for the live fan base, but as a way to jump-start ROH attendance. Many were saying they would no longer watch this type of version of ROH, and time will tell which side is correct. It really hurt the show, but the angles weren’t really about the show itself, or maybe it was with the feeling the crowd wants to be surprised. The fact is, bringing guys from the past back worked all week on the indie shows and always works at Mania, so maybe the idea is that since surprises work, this was the place for surprises. But this was a unique fan base that came to see New Japan Pro Wrestling deliver a pure show.
The entire ROH women’s division is a tough one and is in bad shape. Because of WWE putting so much emphasis on women, a lot of the fan base today believes you have to have women’s matches on the show in the U.S. or you are sexist. There are two problems with that as it pertains to ROH. Unlike WWE, which has some very good and even great workers who are women, and Impact Wrestling also having a strong women's division which has talent like Taya Valkyrie, Tessa Blanchard and Jordynne Grace, as well as Gail Kim in a legends role and more, ROH doesn’t have that. Instead, on every big show, it’s a women’s match that doesn’t get over at all and usually isn’t very good. On this show, they even brought in four women from Stardom, but when mixed in with the ROH women, the matches were way below the standard that fans wanted for a New Japan show in MSG. Since they can’t compete with matches people care about, the idea was to bring back The Beautiful People, who were TV ratings draws in their heyday and an over act at a time when WWE women were all based mostly on looks and didn’t have any acts of their caliber, to the point WWE tried to copy them.
The entire ROH women’s division is a tough one and is in bad shape. Because of WWE putting so much emphasis on women, a lot of the fan base today believes you have to have women’s matches on the show in the U.S. or you are sexist. There are two problems with that as it pertains to ROH. Unlike WWE, which has some very good and even great workers who are women, and Impact Wrestling also having a strong women's division which has talent like Taya Valkyrie, Tessa Blanchard and Jordynne Grace, as well as Gail Kim in a legends role and more, ROH doesn’t have that. Instead, on every big show, it’s a women’s match that doesn’t get over at all and usually isn’t very good. On this show, they even brought in four women from Stardom, but when mixed in with the ROH women, the matches were way below the standard that fans wanted for a New Japan show in MSG. Since they can’t compete with matches people care about, the idea was to bring back The Beautiful People, who were TV ratings draws in their heyday and an over act at a time when WWE women were all based mostly on looks and didn’t have any acts of their caliber, to the point WWE tried to copy them.
Also regarding the worked shoot with Enzo and Cass
Mark Briscoe started swinging wildly with a fan out of the crowd, which turned out to be the former Enzo Amore. Amore was sitting with the former Big Cass, at ringside, surrounded by some planted fans and kept disguised. The idea was to make this look like it wasn’t part of the show. Those at ringside could immediately tell it was planned because security did nothing. Security was alerted ahead of time that an angle was being planned and to let it happen but weren’t told exactly what it is. The punches being thrown were really stiff because they wanted fans at ringside to think it was real. The idea was to fool everyone but as it turned out, while some fans were, most saw through it. They went so far as to keep this a secret from almost everyone. Tonga & Loa, who had just won, were not told, nor was anyone from the New Japan side told so what you saw in that post match interview was very real. They saw it, looked like they were mildly disgusted by it, didn’t fall for it and just walked away. Multiple sources have confirmed nobody in New Japan was told about it ahead of time. Tonga even tweeted sort of about it, just saying Enzo & Cass jumped the losers of the match not the winner and called it “ROH booking at its finest.” A number of people complained that this angle being booked at this time took away from the impact of the double title change.
Got Bully Ray written all over it.