This week for That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It I'll be telling you what I think of the current state of Ring Of Honor.

For the past five years Ring Of Honor has been the best in ring product in the United States and up until about six months ago it would be tough to argue that ROH wasn't the best in ring product in the United States but when TNA would no longer let it's talent appear on ROH shows it had a major effect on the company. The wrestlers that really built the company during it's early years were no longer appearing on shows and when you consider the WWE signing some stars ROH was in need of some new stars. While numerous TNA talent had appeared on ROH show I'm going to discuss a few of the more important wrestlers to the history of ROH. Christopher Daniels is without a doubt one of the people that helped build ROH and he's not only a former ROH tag team champion but he was also involved in major storylines during ROH's early years. Samoa Joe made the ROH title a legitimate title and in the process had one of the best title reigns in the past decade. Homicide was a member of the ROH roster since the beginning of the company and the end of his title reign was a sign that the quality of ROH shows aren't as great as years past. Ring Of Honor pushed Homicide for months and then at Final Battle of last year he defeated "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson to become the ROH champion. Homicide's reign lasted about two months and the NOAH wrestler, Morashima won the title.

I know that ROH's core audience is the smart mark audience and some people think "if he's a Japanese wrestler he must be a good wrestler" but that's not always the case. Morashima is very average at best and his matches don't really have a steady pace. Morashima is also a one dimensional champion because he doesn't do any promos and he hasn't been involved in any storylines. He just wrestles a very average match and that's about it. If ROH wants a Japanese champion there's some better choices then Morashima and Kenta would definitely be a better choice for champion. Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying Morashima is terrible and I'm not trying to bury ROH in this column. I'm just saying Morashima isn't exactly on the same level as past ROH champions and there seems to be better choices for champion. With the signing of Colt Cabana and more recently Matt Sydal to WWE developmental contracts ROH began bringing in alot of new talent and some talent have potential but other talent don't exactly have alot of potential. Tank Toland is someone that I don't think has potential in ROH and even though he appeared on the ROH PPV it doesn't seem like there's much he could do in ROH. Another wrestler that I don't think will do too much in ROH is Brent Albright, who was formerly known as Gunner Scott on Smackdown. Albright has some ability but he doesn't have much charisma and he's basically known as a Smackdown jobber. Some of the talent that I think have the potential to be successful in ROH are some of the talent that are in the new stables that have formed during the year.

While I think there's probably too many stables at the current moment, it's still a good way to introduce new talent and it will be interesting to see what these new wrestlers add to Ring Of Honor. The Age Of The Fall consist of Jimmy Jacobs, who has had some memorable feuds in ROH and two newcomers. These two newcomers are Necro Butcher and Tyler Black. Necro Butcher is known for being a death match wrestler but he doesn't need a light tube to have a good match and that's why he could be successful in ROH. I don't know much about Tyler Black but he's wrestled in IWA Mid South and from the few of his matches that I've seen he seems to have some wrestling ability. The stable debuted at a recent ROH event and it seems like they will be involved in a feud with the ROH tag team champions the Brisco Brothers. Another newly formed stable is The Vulture Squad and of all the new stables in ROH I think this stable could have the most success. The leader is Jack Evans, who without question is one of the most amazing aerial wrestlers in pro wrestling history. Ruckus is another great aerial wrestler and Julis Smokes will be the stable's manager. It's been announced that another member will be joining the group next month and I think Eddie Kingston would be a great choice as an addition to the stable. I know that Kingston isn't the best technical wrestler but he can have good matches and he's got great mic skills, which is something that ROH is lacking at this point. Kingston and Ruckus were part of the BLK Out stable in another promotion and it would make sense for Kingston to join The Vulture Squad. Kingston has got some charisma and it would be cool to see Kingston in ROH. Other noteable members of new stables are Matt Cross and Erick Stevens. Larry Sweeney is currently a manager and he is one of the most entertaining wrestlers in wrestling today if not in the history of pro wrestling. I've met Sweeney a few times at some indy shows and he's really cool. He's really nice and polite to all the fans. It's reported on internet sites sometimes that some "major" stars are rude to fans but Sweeney is polite to the fans and it's cool to see that some wrestlers are polite to the fans.

As for the future of ROH, it's really up in the air at this point because even though they are on PPV they have set a standard and if their shows aren't up to par fans might think the glory days are in the past. ROH has to prove that they can produce another generation of stars that can carry the company and not just rely on past shows to draw a crowd. That being said, ROH has a roster that's more then capable of carried the company into the future and ROH will probably continue to have great shows. The Brisco Brothers are probably the best tag team in wrestling today and ROH probably has the most solid tag division of the major companies. Delirious has a great gimmick and great skill in the ring. Both Bryan Danielson and Nigel Mcgunniess are great technical wrestlers and there's other great wrestlers on the ROH roster.

Until next week
That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It
Dr. Wrestling

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