Thriller Ant
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This is the first of a new thread series I'll be doing here in the indy section. In these threads, I will give some history on each promotion, some names you might know who are/were associated with it, and some of the current goings on. Oh, and before someone comes in and says something about it, yes I will be using Wikipedia for help on my research. I hope you can learn something from these, please leave comments because I love discussing Indy Wrestling, and keep an eye out for the next one!
History
What better place to start than the biggest and most popular of all the independent promotions in the US, Ring of Honor. ROH began in February of 2002 with its first show, The Era of Honor Begins, featuring matches between Super Crazy and Eddie Guerrero and a triple threat match between Low-Ki, American Dragon (Bryan Danielson), and Christopher Daniels. At the company's 5th show, Crowning a Champion, Low-Ki defeated Christopher Daniels, Doug Williams, and Spanky in a 4-way Iron Man match to become the company's first ever champion.
The main thing that set the company apart was the Code of Honor. This was supposed to reflect the Japanese style of wrestling instead of the sports entertainment style seen in WWE and TNA. It was also used as a way to get heels over quickly, as breaking the code caused much more anger from the fans than it would in WWE where at least 1 match every week is a no contest or DQ. The Code was as follows:
1. You must shake hands before and after every match
2. No outside interference: no interfering in others' matches or having others interfere on your behalf
3. No sneak attacks
4. No harming the officials
5. Any action resulting in a disqualification violates the Code of Honor
In its first couple years, ROH stuck pretty much exclusively to the Northeastern US. Boston, New York, and the main location for early shows, Philadelphia. In 2003, they expanded outside the Northeast for the first time by heading to Ohio.
The company met its first major issue in 2004. Rob Feinstein, ROH's owner and founder, was caught in a sting operation trying to have sexual relations with a minor and left the company in June. In the aftermath of the scandal Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pulled its contracted wrestlers (including A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels) from all Ring of Honor shows. Doug Gentry eventually bought Feinstein's stake; he later sold it to Cary Silkin, who owns the company to this day. The silver lining came, as Ring of Honor separated from Feinstein's mail-order video company (The reason he formed ROH was to sell DVDs to make up for the money he would lose from ECW folding) and start their own, which continues to this day on Ring of Honor's website.
After overcoming the Feinstein controversy, Ring of Honor has spread across the country, and the globe. ROH became the first American company to have all of its titles held by non-American wrestlers as soon after a Japanese tour, Pro Wrestling NOAH star Takeshi Morishima was the ROH World Champion and the Dragon Gate team of Naroki Doi and Shingo were the ROH World Tag Team Champions. They follow WrestleMania the past few years, expanding into the new markets of Houston, Phoenix and Atlanta next year. Also, they have had shows in Kentucky, North Carolina, St. Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, St. Paul/Minneapolis, and probably more I can't remember.
Current State
Ring of Honor is bigger than ever right now. Last year they secured a TV deal with HDNet, giving them a weekly TV show on Monday nights. In addition, the company had the insight to realize that HDNet isn't a very widespread network, and cut a deal with Youtuber ROHBrazil to upload the show a few days after it airs onto the video sharing site. This lead to them introducing a Television Title, the first secondary title the company has had since the Pure Title was unified into the World Title in 2006. The first and current holder is Eddie Edwards, who defeated his tag team partner Davey Richards in an excellent match to win it. And here is that match:
The current tag team champions are the Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castignoli. They were tag team champions in 2006, and had gone their separate ways as singles competitors. At Final Battle this past December, they reunited and won the belts from the Briscoe Brothers in April at the Internet PPV, The Big Bang. They are on an amazing roll right now, defeating any ROH tag teams in their path, and also taking on the Motor City Machine Guns, Generation Me, and will face Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin at the next iPPV.
The current title holder is Tyler Black. Now, before I get into this too far, Ring of Honor is known for its long title reigns. Men have held the title for well over a year, but no one has actually ever held it for a calender year, January 1 to January 1. Tyler Black, after being built up and getting chants of "Next World Champ" for months, finally achieved this goal at the 8th Anniversary Show in February. He defeated the only 2 time ROH World Champion in the company's history, Austin Aries, a personal favorite of mine. He has been a fighting champion, taking on any and all comers, and is enduring some fans turning against him, an unfortunate fact that faces most or all World Champs. His main rivals during his reign, who may both be doing some of the best work of their careers, have been Roderick Strong and the man who may be the best in the world right now, Davey Richards.
There are other feuds in the fed, but I'll leave them for the official ROH thread, which you can find elsewhere in this section
Famous Names
I'll link to some famous current roster members and alumni's wiki pages, listing their ROH accomplishments:
-Tyler Black: Current ROH World Champion, 2x ROH Tag Team Champion
-Austin Aries:2x ROH World Champion (Only 2 time champ), 1x ROH World Tag Team Champion
-Briscoe Brothers: 6x ROH World Tag Team Champions (Most all-time reigns)
-Kings of Wrestling: 2x ROH World Tag Team Champions
-Davey Richards: 2x ROH World Tag Team Champions, 2009 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Tag Team of the Year American Wolves
-Roderick Strong: 1x ROH World Tag Team Champion
-Colt Cabana/Scotty Goldman: 2x ROH World Tag Team Champion
-CM Punk: 1x ROH World Champion, 2x ROH World Tag Team Champion, 5* Match Joe vs. Punk II
-Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan: 1x ROH Pure Champion, 1x ROH World Champion, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year (2007) vs. Takeshi Morishima
-Nigel McGuinness/Desmond Wolfe: 1x ROH Pure Champion, 1x ROH World Champion
-Samoa Joe: 1x ROH Pure Champion, 1x ROH World Champion, 5* Match Joe vs. Punk II, 5* Match Joe vs. Kobashi, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year (2005) vs. Kenta Kobashi
-Low-Ki/Senshi/Kaval: 1x ROH World Champion (Inaugural)
-Christopher Daniels: 2x ROH World Tag Team Champion
Other Links
ROH Web Site
Official Youtube Channel
ROHBrazil Youtube Channel
ROH Wiki Page
Past Event Results
History
What better place to start than the biggest and most popular of all the independent promotions in the US, Ring of Honor. ROH began in February of 2002 with its first show, The Era of Honor Begins, featuring matches between Super Crazy and Eddie Guerrero and a triple threat match between Low-Ki, American Dragon (Bryan Danielson), and Christopher Daniels. At the company's 5th show, Crowning a Champion, Low-Ki defeated Christopher Daniels, Doug Williams, and Spanky in a 4-way Iron Man match to become the company's first ever champion.
The main thing that set the company apart was the Code of Honor. This was supposed to reflect the Japanese style of wrestling instead of the sports entertainment style seen in WWE and TNA. It was also used as a way to get heels over quickly, as breaking the code caused much more anger from the fans than it would in WWE where at least 1 match every week is a no contest or DQ. The Code was as follows:
1. You must shake hands before and after every match
2. No outside interference: no interfering in others' matches or having others interfere on your behalf
3. No sneak attacks
4. No harming the officials
5. Any action resulting in a disqualification violates the Code of Honor
In its first couple years, ROH stuck pretty much exclusively to the Northeastern US. Boston, New York, and the main location for early shows, Philadelphia. In 2003, they expanded outside the Northeast for the first time by heading to Ohio.
The company met its first major issue in 2004. Rob Feinstein, ROH's owner and founder, was caught in a sting operation trying to have sexual relations with a minor and left the company in June. In the aftermath of the scandal Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pulled its contracted wrestlers (including A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels) from all Ring of Honor shows. Doug Gentry eventually bought Feinstein's stake; he later sold it to Cary Silkin, who owns the company to this day. The silver lining came, as Ring of Honor separated from Feinstein's mail-order video company (The reason he formed ROH was to sell DVDs to make up for the money he would lose from ECW folding) and start their own, which continues to this day on Ring of Honor's website.
After overcoming the Feinstein controversy, Ring of Honor has spread across the country, and the globe. ROH became the first American company to have all of its titles held by non-American wrestlers as soon after a Japanese tour, Pro Wrestling NOAH star Takeshi Morishima was the ROH World Champion and the Dragon Gate team of Naroki Doi and Shingo were the ROH World Tag Team Champions. They follow WrestleMania the past few years, expanding into the new markets of Houston, Phoenix and Atlanta next year. Also, they have had shows in Kentucky, North Carolina, St. Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, St. Paul/Minneapolis, and probably more I can't remember.
Current State
Ring of Honor is bigger than ever right now. Last year they secured a TV deal with HDNet, giving them a weekly TV show on Monday nights. In addition, the company had the insight to realize that HDNet isn't a very widespread network, and cut a deal with Youtuber ROHBrazil to upload the show a few days after it airs onto the video sharing site. This lead to them introducing a Television Title, the first secondary title the company has had since the Pure Title was unified into the World Title in 2006. The first and current holder is Eddie Edwards, who defeated his tag team partner Davey Richards in an excellent match to win it. And here is that match:
The current tag team champions are the Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castignoli. They were tag team champions in 2006, and had gone their separate ways as singles competitors. At Final Battle this past December, they reunited and won the belts from the Briscoe Brothers in April at the Internet PPV, The Big Bang. They are on an amazing roll right now, defeating any ROH tag teams in their path, and also taking on the Motor City Machine Guns, Generation Me, and will face Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin at the next iPPV.
The current title holder is Tyler Black. Now, before I get into this too far, Ring of Honor is known for its long title reigns. Men have held the title for well over a year, but no one has actually ever held it for a calender year, January 1 to January 1. Tyler Black, after being built up and getting chants of "Next World Champ" for months, finally achieved this goal at the 8th Anniversary Show in February. He defeated the only 2 time ROH World Champion in the company's history, Austin Aries, a personal favorite of mine. He has been a fighting champion, taking on any and all comers, and is enduring some fans turning against him, an unfortunate fact that faces most or all World Champs. His main rivals during his reign, who may both be doing some of the best work of their careers, have been Roderick Strong and the man who may be the best in the world right now, Davey Richards.
There are other feuds in the fed, but I'll leave them for the official ROH thread, which you can find elsewhere in this section
Famous Names
I'll link to some famous current roster members and alumni's wiki pages, listing their ROH accomplishments:
-Tyler Black: Current ROH World Champion, 2x ROH Tag Team Champion
-Austin Aries:2x ROH World Champion (Only 2 time champ), 1x ROH World Tag Team Champion
-Briscoe Brothers: 6x ROH World Tag Team Champions (Most all-time reigns)
-Kings of Wrestling: 2x ROH World Tag Team Champions
-Davey Richards: 2x ROH World Tag Team Champions, 2009 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Tag Team of the Year American Wolves
-Roderick Strong: 1x ROH World Tag Team Champion
-Colt Cabana/Scotty Goldman: 2x ROH World Tag Team Champion
-CM Punk: 1x ROH World Champion, 2x ROH World Tag Team Champion, 5* Match Joe vs. Punk II
-Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan: 1x ROH Pure Champion, 1x ROH World Champion, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year (2007) vs. Takeshi Morishima
-Nigel McGuinness/Desmond Wolfe: 1x ROH Pure Champion, 1x ROH World Champion
-Samoa Joe: 1x ROH Pure Champion, 1x ROH World Champion, 5* Match Joe vs. Punk II, 5* Match Joe vs. Kobashi, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year (2005) vs. Kenta Kobashi
-Low-Ki/Senshi/Kaval: 1x ROH World Champion (Inaugural)
-Christopher Daniels: 2x ROH World Tag Team Champion
Other Links
ROH Web Site
Official Youtube Channel
ROHBrazil Youtube Channel
ROH Wiki Page
Past Event Results
