If there was one thing I didn't get out of this week's Ring of Honor broadcast, it was the fact that the Addiction's Christopher Daniels felt it was necessary to accompany his new associate, Kamaitachi, to the ring for his match vs. another ROH newcomer, New Zealand's Jay White. Kamaitachi had paid dividends for the Addiction at Best in the World, interfering in a tag title match. I don't know if there were any issues between Kamaitachi and White in Japan prior to the taping last month to lead to this, but the added drama, in what I believe was the debut for both, though I could be wrong, was, in truth, unnecessary.
As I wrote in the ROH report, Daniels initiated a sore loser attack after White won the match, during which his partner in crime, Frankie Kazarian, joined the fray, prompting the Motor City Machine Guns to even the sides and prompt a 6-man tag, which Team Addiction also lost. Terrific. Instant payback, but the feud between the Machine Guns and Addiction, which dates back, I think, to their time in TNA, is far from settled.
What this leads me to is this. I don't know about you, but I'm personally tired of the same old, same old. Heel champ(s) can't win the match alone, so outside help is needed. Daniels, on his 2nd or 3rd tour of duty with ROH over 14 years, should know better and pull back just a wee bit. WWE is using a similar narrative with The Club, but in doing so weakens AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, & Luke Gallows in the eyes of the audience. The Addiction, with the addition of Kamaitachi, now are looked upon as being weak, relying too heavily on outside help to win matches. Jay Lethal had that same problem before Truth Martini was written off over the winter, as you don't read about Taeler Hendrix doing anything illegal in Lethal's matches all that much. Lethal, then, is gaining credibility, while the Addiction is losing theirs.
The solution is there for the taking, obviously. Either a 2nd referee is assigned for title matches and/or non-title TV main events to checkmate any possible outside help. Of course, that's kind of hard to do when the Bullet Club is around, and they are being pushed to the moon as the nWo was before them 20 years ago, but in order to keep today's audience interested in the product, a lot of the old heel reams need to be expunged. This is, after all, Ring of Honor. What is honor if it isn't enforced? Overcome by chaos & anarchy. Just what we don't need in 2016. Or ever again.
