Post by El Peregrino on May 6, 2012 6:41:01 GMT -5
My thoughts on this week's episode.
-Holy hell the recap package to start the show was long. You didn't even have to watch the Alexander/Coleman vs the Briscoes match from last week because they pretty much showed you the entire thing.
-LOL @ ROH leaving in the Lawler-esque joke by McGuinness in the highlight package. They must've been really proud of that one.
-Why is Matt Taven almost beating Tommaso Ciampa? Not every match has to be a "five star classic". Taven has been booked as basically a jobber while Ciampa has been booked as an unstoppable beast. Yet when they face each other, it's an even match? This is a problem they've had in the past with their champions (even World Champion) going toe to toe with opponents who should be way below them. As much as it brings up whoever loses a close match, it brings down whoever wins. Tommaso Ciampa should be mowing through Taven. ROH needs to make it clear a guy like Taven is nowhere near Ciampa's league. In my opinion, Tommasso Ciampa is the most valuable commodity in ROH and he needs to be protected at all costs. No way his opponent should ever get this much offense unless it's a PPV match and you want to give the people their money's worth.
-"That protective barrier's been taken away" says Kelly. True. "He's exposed the concrete" says Kelly. False. There were clearly multiple layers of protective padding for that suplex on the outside. What is the point of removing padding if you don't get the visual of a hard surface? Just looks stupid.
"Crowd going insane" says McGuinness. Sure doesn't sound like it. If this is what ROH thinks is a crowd going crazy, they're better off not mentioning the crowd at all. It just makes them look minor league. Reminds me of Showdown in the Sun when Kevin Kelly said something similar about how great and raucous ROH crowds are when it was literally one of the quietest moments a wrestling crowd has ever been on TV during a match (I believe it was during the TJ Perkins v Fire Ant match if I remember correctly).
-Speaking of Chikara, ROH is advertising Chikara wrestlers for next week without giving any specific names of who's showing up. I have no problem with ROH working with another company (though I would prefer SHIMMER), but great matches from wrestlers that viewers aren't familiar with isn't going to grow their audience. ROH only gets one hour a week (a third of that which is backstage segments). I think they should focus on fewer wrestlers and give them more time so audiences can get familiar with these guys and give them a chance to stand out.
-Just an observation but it seems like every ROH match has another wrestler come out to ringside about five minutes into the match. I don't have a problem with somebody coming out from the back but it is getting a bit repetitive.
-Another promo for Live Audio Wrestling, but no mention from the announcers this week. Good publicity for the LAW and hopefully the LAW can turn some people tuning in for WWE talk onto ROH.
-Terrible technical glitch during the Kyle O'Reilly promo, WTF? Did anybody else see that or was it just the Milwaukee broadcast? It's just another example of the inexcusable production values. The single most important thing Sinclair and ROH need to do is hire somebody who knows what the hell they're doing from a production standpoint (is Bischoff available?). It makes them look extremely minor league every time something like this happens. And I mean like low-A or rookie ball, not even Triple-A.
-Mike Bennett continues to prove why he's the best promo in the company. If he continues to progress in the ring, the guy has a chance to make a lot of money in this business. Pairing him with Lance Storm is great for Bennett. That being said, he is still (understandably) a long ways away in-ring.
-Brock Lesnar and Kevin Steen both use the F5. I guess that's the go-to move for out of control wrestlers with no respect for their authority figure.
-Really awkward post-match physical altercation after the Steen match.
-Border Wars should be good, but I'm not sure having this many PPVs this close together is a good way to build your audience from the ground up. Maybe they need the revenue from PPVs, but it's a turnoff to casual fans to miss so many shows. (10th Anniversary Show, Showdown in the Sun 1, Showdown in the Sun 2, and Border Wars all within 10 weeks).
-Holy hell the recap package to start the show was long. You didn't even have to watch the Alexander/Coleman vs the Briscoes match from last week because they pretty much showed you the entire thing.
-LOL @ ROH leaving in the Lawler-esque joke by McGuinness in the highlight package. They must've been really proud of that one.
-Why is Matt Taven almost beating Tommaso Ciampa? Not every match has to be a "five star classic". Taven has been booked as basically a jobber while Ciampa has been booked as an unstoppable beast. Yet when they face each other, it's an even match? This is a problem they've had in the past with their champions (even World Champion) going toe to toe with opponents who should be way below them. As much as it brings up whoever loses a close match, it brings down whoever wins. Tommaso Ciampa should be mowing through Taven. ROH needs to make it clear a guy like Taven is nowhere near Ciampa's league. In my opinion, Tommasso Ciampa is the most valuable commodity in ROH and he needs to be protected at all costs. No way his opponent should ever get this much offense unless it's a PPV match and you want to give the people their money's worth.
-"That protective barrier's been taken away" says Kelly. True. "He's exposed the concrete" says Kelly. False. There were clearly multiple layers of protective padding for that suplex on the outside. What is the point of removing padding if you don't get the visual of a hard surface? Just looks stupid.
"Crowd going insane" says McGuinness. Sure doesn't sound like it. If this is what ROH thinks is a crowd going crazy, they're better off not mentioning the crowd at all. It just makes them look minor league. Reminds me of Showdown in the Sun when Kevin Kelly said something similar about how great and raucous ROH crowds are when it was literally one of the quietest moments a wrestling crowd has ever been on TV during a match (I believe it was during the TJ Perkins v Fire Ant match if I remember correctly).
-Speaking of Chikara, ROH is advertising Chikara wrestlers for next week without giving any specific names of who's showing up. I have no problem with ROH working with another company (though I would prefer SHIMMER), but great matches from wrestlers that viewers aren't familiar with isn't going to grow their audience. ROH only gets one hour a week (a third of that which is backstage segments). I think they should focus on fewer wrestlers and give them more time so audiences can get familiar with these guys and give them a chance to stand out.
-Just an observation but it seems like every ROH match has another wrestler come out to ringside about five minutes into the match. I don't have a problem with somebody coming out from the back but it is getting a bit repetitive.
-Another promo for Live Audio Wrestling, but no mention from the announcers this week. Good publicity for the LAW and hopefully the LAW can turn some people tuning in for WWE talk onto ROH.
-Terrible technical glitch during the Kyle O'Reilly promo, WTF? Did anybody else see that or was it just the Milwaukee broadcast? It's just another example of the inexcusable production values. The single most important thing Sinclair and ROH need to do is hire somebody who knows what the hell they're doing from a production standpoint (is Bischoff available?). It makes them look extremely minor league every time something like this happens. And I mean like low-A or rookie ball, not even Triple-A.
-Mike Bennett continues to prove why he's the best promo in the company. If he continues to progress in the ring, the guy has a chance to make a lot of money in this business. Pairing him with Lance Storm is great for Bennett. That being said, he is still (understandably) a long ways away in-ring.
-Brock Lesnar and Kevin Steen both use the F5. I guess that's the go-to move for out of control wrestlers with no respect for their authority figure.
-Really awkward post-match physical altercation after the Steen match.
-Border Wars should be good, but I'm not sure having this many PPVs this close together is a good way to build your audience from the ground up. Maybe they need the revenue from PPVs, but it's a turnoff to casual fans to miss so many shows. (10th Anniversary Show, Showdown in the Sun 1, Showdown in the Sun 2, and Border Wars all within 10 weeks).