This week for That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It I'll be telling you what I think of the Ring Of Honor Man Up pay per view.

Before I discuss the actually show there's a few things to mention so that the timing of the matches makes sense, The show originally debuted November 30th but I didn't catch the show because Dr. Wrestling and a wrestling crew of fans packed into a car for a four hour trip to Dayton, Ohio to ironically enough see a Ring Of Honor show. It was a fun trip but my advice to anyone is NEVER to go Ohio because some of the horrible things we seen at random gas stations were so outrageous they can't be mentioned in this column. The bottom line is Ohio is a goofy place and I doubt I'll be brave enough to venture back there anytime soon. Anyway for those that don't know Comcast is the major cable company for most of western Pennsylvania and it features an On Demand service similar to many other cable companies but ROH PPVs are not available to be ordered anytime someone wants to watch them. Instead they are aired on scheduled times according to Comcast's PPV schedule. Well, I don't know who actually determines when is a good time to air a wrestling PPV but to make a long story short with all the random times it took Dr. Wrestling almost a month to actually get to watch the show. I was able to catch the show last friday and it was one of the last scheduled showings of the PPV but if you missed it you can always purchase the show on DVD from the ROH website. Another thing to mention is that ROH PPVs are taped two months ahead of time, which doesn't make sense to me but it should be noted that Nigel McGuiness is currently the Ring Of Honor World Champion and not Morashima, who was the champion at the time the show was taped. Now let's discuss Ring Of Honor Man UP.

The show started with a four corner survival match that featured Chris Hero, Claudio Castognoi, Naomichi Marufuji, and Nigel McGuiness with the winner getting an eventually shot at the ROH World title. I'll take a minute to mention some things about each of the wrestlers in case anyone reading this might not be familiar with them. Chris Hero is a really good technically wrestler and what some would call a "student of the game" as he's trained with many different wrestlers including William Regal and Finlay. Hero is also known for his classic series of matches with CM Punk, including a match that went ninety five minutes when Hero defeated Punk to win the IWA Mid South title. Hero has wrestled a variety of places including the independent scene all across the United States as well as wrestling for various promotions in Japan. Claudio is a really great European style wrestler, who actually was signed to a WWE developmental contract a one point but was released before ever having an official match in OVW. I have to say it seems like a major mistake that the WWE wouldn't even give Claudio a chance because he has all the tools necessary to be a star and when I asked Claudio about his release at an indy show a few months ago he told me he didn't know why but that he would rather have fun wrestling then being miserable in the WWE so even though Claudio didn't get a fair shot to show the WWE what he can do, he's still a very talented wrestler. Marufuji is a former GHC Heavy Weight champion for the NOAH promotion in Japan and he has really good technical skills as well as some good aerial moves. As I said , Nigel McGuiness is the current ROH champion and he's also a great technically wrestler. His combination of mat skills and strikes make for some really good matches but Nigel has paid a price for his physical style as he currently has several different injuries including a concussion and a partial torn bicep, which he has continued to wrestle with despite the danger of further injuring his arm. Nigel definitely deserves to be the champion but it might be wise for his to take some time off to heal from his various injuries. A side note about Nigel is that while at the ROH show in Dayton he talked with all of us and was very polite, taking pictures with us and signing autographs. As for the actually match it featured alot of great action with many near falls. The match built well and was a solid way to open the PPV. Nigel got the victory and his title win will be featured at ROH's next PPV, Undeniable", which debuts later this month.

The next match featured a best two of three match series between two stables. It was The Resilience v.s. The No Remorse Corp. "M Dogg 20" Matt Cross representing The Resilience would battle Rocky Remero to start the best of three series. Cross is known for his gymnast background and displays some athleticism during his matches but at this point hasn't developed much of a character in ROH other then being someone that is a side kick for Austin Aries. Rocky Romero is a former member of The Rotweilers and is known for his stiff kicks. The match itself was good with Romero getting the victory to give the No Remorse Corp the 1-0 start in the series. Next up was the leader of the Resilience, Austin Aries v.s. Davey Richards. It was another good match with Aries getting the pin to tie up the score. There's a few things I have to mention about each wrestler before discussing the final match of the series. Austin Aries was known as Austin Starr in TNA and I think TNA made a major mistake not keeping Aries on the roster or atleast attempting to keep Aries on the roster because Aries is a great wrestler that could have really done alot in the X Division to help TNA. That being said, Aries is a former ROH champion and he's one of the top stars in ROH so it definitely benefits ROH to have him on the roster. Davey Richards is another great all around wrestler and he's done a good job developing a heel character. Although his heel character still needs some work, he still has shown alot of good effort to become a heel in ROH and he's a great wrestler so it's definitely possible he could be a future ROH champion. The final match of the series was the leader of the No Remorse Corp, Roderick Strong v.s. Erick Stevens and it was a good match with Strong getting the victory with the Gibson Driver. The No Remorse Corp won the best of three series and it was a good decision to give each match a good amount of time to develop instead of rushing the matches because each individual match was made to seem important instead of just the overall best of three series.

Before the ROH World title match former champion, Bryan Danielson, who is known more for his in ring ability then his mic skills had a really good promo that added alot to the match. The actual match was really good with alot of brutal and stiff strikes. I'm not a fan of Morashima and as I've said I think he's very average at best in the ring but he really stepped up his game for the match with Danielson. Morashima would defeat Danielson at Man Up to retain the title but would be defeated by Nigel McGuiness a few months later. I have to say, I think it was a good decision to have Morashima lose the title because even though he's very agial for his size, he just wasn't on the same level as former ROH world champions. Speaking of former ROH champions, Bryan Danielson probably had the second best title reign, second only to Samoa Joe's epic title run that gave the ROH title credibility and made it a world title. I'd expect Danielson to continue to play a major role in ROH and it's possible he could reclaim the ROH title.

The main event was a "Ladder War" for the Ring of Honor Tag Team titles that featured The Briscos v.s. El Generico and Kevin Steen. The Briscos have been wrestling in ROH since the beginning of the company in 2002 and within the past five years have become probably the best tag team in wrestling today. Their matches always have some great moves and are always entertaining so it's hard to argue that The Briscos aren't the best tag team in wrestling today. Generico and Steen are a young up and coming tag team that have proved they are also one of the best tag teams today with their series of matches with The Briscos. The "Ladder War" was a really great match that features some insane and innovative spots using the ladders. It could definitely be considered one of if not the best match in any company in 2007. The Briscos were able to retain the titles but both teams deserve alot of credit for the effort shown and the risks they took in the match to have a great match.

Overall ROH Man Up was a great PPV and it was probably the best overall PPV that I've seen in the past year. I also got my money's worth from the ROH PPV and that's something that can't always be said for WWE or TNA. The PPV was also very affordable costing just $14.99 and it's good to see that atleast one wrestling company isn't charging a ridiculous amount to watch a PPV.

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

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