Epitaph
05-29-2004, 12:49 PM
Credit:WrestlingObserver.com
Dan Wahlers looks at Ring of Honor and talks with Gabe Sapolsky
Wrestling You Should Be Watching: Ring of Honor
Featuring an Interview with ROH Booker Gabe Sapolsky
njguy316@yahoo.com
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past
two years, then you should be aware of the latest indy
wrestling promotion to strike a chord with a loyal
fanbase in the Northeast. Ring of Honor, based in
Philadelphia, PA is that company, and you need to take
notice of them.
If you're a true fan of professional wrestling, and
enjoy watching a solid card of hard hitting, high
flying, fast paced wrestling, then ROH is something
you need to check out. They have something on the
card for everyone, whether you enjoy a good 30 minute
technical wrestling match, or a wild, bloody brawl
that goes into the crowd. The booker of ROH is Gabe
Sapolsky, and he knows his fans have a variety of
things they like to see, and he makes sure to put
something on the card for everyone. Sapolsky can often be
seen frantically running back and forth between the
crowd, the ring, and the locker room at ROH shows.
Only after the show is over does he crack a smile, and
accept the praises from his loyal group of fans.
This past Saturday night ROH was faced with one of
their biggest challenges to date. They had a show
booked for the Philadelphia National Guard Armory, and
found out only in the days before the show, that they
would not be able to use the building because of the
National Guard being mobilized. It provided an
interesting challenge according to Sapolsky, who
graciously spoke with me this week about a variety of
issues:
"It was definitely a challenge to pull off the show.
We have a great staff that really came together as a
team to make this show happen. We had a choice of
doing the show in the tent, or canceling and we didn't
want to cancel the payday on the workers, or the show
that the fans were looking forward to and many were
traveling to. We were very lucky that we got a
beautiful night, and it made for a very cool and
unique atmosphere. I actually think it turned out a
lot better than if we were inside the stuffy and hot
building. I personally had a great time just being
outside and enjoying the show. I feel it was a
success and we gave the people their money's worth
while giving them a reason to keep following the
product."
Certainly one of the hottest angles going in ROH right
now, and one that has really sparked an interest among
many fans, is the brewing feud between the legendary
Ricky Steamboat, and CM Punk. It started in March
when Steamboat was the Special Guest Referee for the
Pure Wrestling Title Match between AJ Styles and CM
Punk, at the "At Our Best" show in Elizabeth, NJ.
Punk and Steamboat had a physical altercation after
Styles won the match, and Punk felt Steamboat had
screwed him. I was there live for that show, and to
say the crowd went nuts for it would be a huge
understatement.
The feud continued at ROH shows in St Paul, Boston,
and most recently last Saturday in Philadelphia. Punk
and Steamboat had an "in-ring confrontation" that
ended up with Punk getting the upper hand in a brawl
with Steamboat, and then pulling an old WWF angle out
of the mothballs. Punk came off the top driving the
ringbell into Steamboat's throat, the same thing Randy
Savage did to Steamboat in 1986 leading up to their
all-time classic battle at Wrestlemania 3. The use of
Ricky Steamboat has certainly added something special
to ROH shows, and Sapolsky couldn't be happier about
it:
"Ricky Steamboat is a talent that characterizes
everything that ROH strives to be. I was looking for
a hall of fame type name that could give some
credibility and attention to our new Pure Wrestling
Title concept. When you think pure wrestling, which
in ROH means competition at its purest in athletic
matches, one of the first names that comes to mind is
Steamboat. I found out he was in town for Tommy
Fierro's convention the day of our March 13th show, so
I emailed Tommy and asked if it was ok to use him as a
ref on our show for the Pure Wrestling Title match.
Tommy agreed, so we brought him in to our March 13th
show, and the angle with him and CM Punk that night
was pure magic."
Sapolsky continued, "You'll just have to watch to see
how far the angle goes. We plan on using whoever is
appropriate and needed at the time. Right now, we
have made a commitment to Steamboat, and as long as he
wants to be a part of ROH shows he will be booked. He
has been invaluable in both setting up a strong angle,
and in helping the guys learn backstage. He is a true
class act, and an absolute pleasure to work with, who
is so unselfish with sharing his vast knowledge with
everyone around him."
Another of Sapolsky's many day-to-day challenges has
been dealing with the loss of talent such as AJ
Styles, Christopher Daniels, and The Amazing Red. ROH
has not been able to use this, and other talent since
the disagreement with TNA happened several months ago.
Everyone is aware of the circumstances surrounding
that incident, and it's an unfortunate situation that
Gabe hopes does get resolved some time soon. I asked
Gabe how difficult it was dealing with the loss of
Styles, and the other talent no longer able to be used
by Ring of Honor:
"Of course it is difficult not just from the fact that
they are missed in a ROH ring, but also because I
personally enjoyed working with both of them (Styles
and Daniels) and the other TNA talent. It also led to
many adjustments because they were in the middle of so
many angles and storylines. It was difficult, but we
got through it."
Gabe came up with a way to push some of the newer ROH
talent in an up and coming group known as Generation
Next. They made their debut at the Philadelphia show
this past Saturday. The group consists of Alex
Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and high flyer
Jack Evans. Names that may not be familar to you now,
but give them time. All four looked good together on
Saturday, most notably Shelley who did most of the
talking for the group, and Aries who both made good
impressions on me seeing them for the first time.
Jack Evans is amazing to see in person. He does some
of the wildest, most innovative high flying moves in
wrestling today. He has a way to go in terms of
grasping the actual "wrestling" part of the business,
but he certainly pops the crowd every time he steps in
the ring. All four of them, along with a host of
other young guys are people Gabe is banking the future
of ROH on.
"All the open spots now allow us to really freshen
things up with the theme of all the new talent like
Austin Aries, Alex Shelley, Nigel McGuiness, Jack
Evans, Roderick Strong and many others fighting it out
for the spots. There are a lot of different
directions we can go with that concept, to set up
everything from classic matches to blood feuds. We
have also been able to shake things up on top of the
card and I feel we really have some exciting things
going on."
"ROH has been and always will be about presenting the
best, hungry talent at their best so when we lose
talent there are other guys ready to step in, and make
an impression. It also keeps everything fresh. Plus
when the TNA guys return they'll all have fresh
matches and scenarios to return to."
One thing a small, but vocal group of ROH fans seem to
have is a strong dislike for WWE wrestling, and
basically anything not Ring of Honor. I found this to
be the case with quite a few people at the Philly
show. It's of my opinion that everyone is free to
like, and dislike whatever they want, that's why it's
a free country. But just because you want to be a
loyal ROH fan, which there is absolutely nothing wrong
with, doesn't mean everything else is garbage. I
sense this attitude among a small group of hardcore
ROH fans of "Us against Them", which is the same
mentality certain groups of ECW fans had back when
they were popular.
I don't get that mentality, because WWE is not in
competition with ROH. It's like apples and oranges.
WWE is what they are, and of course they are going to
have the more smoothly put together show, and the
bigger well-known stars. They have a multi-million
dollar budget, and years and years of history to fall
back on. But ROH is carving out a nice little niche
for themselves, and in many cases the in-ring action
in ROH is better than anything WWE can put on the
table. I personally enjoy the strengths of both
companies, and to me it's a win-win situation if
you're a wrestling fan. You shouldn't feel the need
to simply pick one, or the other.
Wrestling today is like an all you can eat buffet.
You go up and down the line, and take what you like
from each company according to your own personal
tastes. At the end you have a plate full of great
wrestling, and everyone wins. That's the attitude
wrestling fans should have. Not this "We're better
than them" nonsense. Don't think, "I'm a WWE fan, I
won't lower myself to watch ROH." If you have a close
minded attitude like that, you're only cheating
yourself in the end. On the flip side, if you're an
ROH fan, don't walk around dissing everything WWE, or
everything TNA, or basically everything not ROH just
because it seems like the cool thing to do. WWE
wrestling isn't everyone's cup of tea, same thing for
ROH. What I'm trying to say is if you're a fan of
one, that doesn't mean you can't be a fan of the
other. If you walk around saying negative stuff about
whatever company you don't like, all you do is make
yourself look bad. WWE and ROH may attract two
different kinds of fans, but in the end the name on
the marquee still says wrestling, and we are all
wrestling fans. It's one thing everyone reading this
column has in common.
I asked Sapolsky about his thoughts on current WWE,
and they are not unlike a lot of WWE fans these days,
"I have been following Raw lately. I usually watch
half the show pretty closely, and have it on in the
background the rest of the time. It has been a really
good show lately, and I've enjoyed it. I can't watch
Smackdown anymore because nothing on the show
interests me, which is a shame because Eddy Guerrero
is one of my all time favorites. I wish during that
draft thingy that they switched Cena to Raw, and
Jericho to Smackdown to feud with Eddy for the title,
but now I'm playing armchair booker."
In the end, I asked Gabe to explain the differences
between ROH, and the other major wrestling companies.
I asked him why a non-ROH fan would enjoy one of his
shows:
"I could write a book about the major differences
between ROH, WWE and TNA. It really comes down to an
energy, a spirit and an atmosphere that is unique and
special to ROH. ROH is like the Broadway Theater.
It's where the best come to perform their art form in
front of the best fans. You will see things on an ROH
show that you won't see anywhere else, and a unique
style that is often imitated these days, but never
duplicated. You will go on a roller coaster ride at a
ROH show, and will see it play out before you like a
movie. Most importantly, you will see some incredible
wrestling in all different styles from blood feuds to
technical wrestling to spotfests to the point that you
can never predict exactly what you'll witness."
I have been to four ROH shows in the last year, and I
can honestly say I have had a great time at every
show. The talent in ROH put their asses on the line
every night, regardless of how many people are in the
building. They never mail it in, or don't show up on
a particular night. Every guy from the top of the
card to the first match has one goal in mind, and that
is to make sure the fans get their money's worth.
They are accessible before and after shows to talk to
fans, and pose for pictures. They truly care about
what they're doing, and the fans are some of the most
loyal, hardcore wrestling fans you will find anywhere.
Hope everyone enjoyed the column this week. It was
something a little different from what I normally do,
but a topic that needed to be talked about. I'll be
back next week with an update on what's going on in
the current wrestling scene, with another WWE PPV
looming in just about two weeks. Thanks for reading,
have a great weekend. As always, feedback is
welcomed, and appreciated.
Dan Wahlers
Interesting Read IMO.
Thought's?
Dan Wahlers looks at Ring of Honor and talks with Gabe Sapolsky
Wrestling You Should Be Watching: Ring of Honor
Featuring an Interview with ROH Booker Gabe Sapolsky
njguy316@yahoo.com
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past
two years, then you should be aware of the latest indy
wrestling promotion to strike a chord with a loyal
fanbase in the Northeast. Ring of Honor, based in
Philadelphia, PA is that company, and you need to take
notice of them.
If you're a true fan of professional wrestling, and
enjoy watching a solid card of hard hitting, high
flying, fast paced wrestling, then ROH is something
you need to check out. They have something on the
card for everyone, whether you enjoy a good 30 minute
technical wrestling match, or a wild, bloody brawl
that goes into the crowd. The booker of ROH is Gabe
Sapolsky, and he knows his fans have a variety of
things they like to see, and he makes sure to put
something on the card for everyone. Sapolsky can often be
seen frantically running back and forth between the
crowd, the ring, and the locker room at ROH shows.
Only after the show is over does he crack a smile, and
accept the praises from his loyal group of fans.
This past Saturday night ROH was faced with one of
their biggest challenges to date. They had a show
booked for the Philadelphia National Guard Armory, and
found out only in the days before the show, that they
would not be able to use the building because of the
National Guard being mobilized. It provided an
interesting challenge according to Sapolsky, who
graciously spoke with me this week about a variety of
issues:
"It was definitely a challenge to pull off the show.
We have a great staff that really came together as a
team to make this show happen. We had a choice of
doing the show in the tent, or canceling and we didn't
want to cancel the payday on the workers, or the show
that the fans were looking forward to and many were
traveling to. We were very lucky that we got a
beautiful night, and it made for a very cool and
unique atmosphere. I actually think it turned out a
lot better than if we were inside the stuffy and hot
building. I personally had a great time just being
outside and enjoying the show. I feel it was a
success and we gave the people their money's worth
while giving them a reason to keep following the
product."
Certainly one of the hottest angles going in ROH right
now, and one that has really sparked an interest among
many fans, is the brewing feud between the legendary
Ricky Steamboat, and CM Punk. It started in March
when Steamboat was the Special Guest Referee for the
Pure Wrestling Title Match between AJ Styles and CM
Punk, at the "At Our Best" show in Elizabeth, NJ.
Punk and Steamboat had a physical altercation after
Styles won the match, and Punk felt Steamboat had
screwed him. I was there live for that show, and to
say the crowd went nuts for it would be a huge
understatement.
The feud continued at ROH shows in St Paul, Boston,
and most recently last Saturday in Philadelphia. Punk
and Steamboat had an "in-ring confrontation" that
ended up with Punk getting the upper hand in a brawl
with Steamboat, and then pulling an old WWF angle out
of the mothballs. Punk came off the top driving the
ringbell into Steamboat's throat, the same thing Randy
Savage did to Steamboat in 1986 leading up to their
all-time classic battle at Wrestlemania 3. The use of
Ricky Steamboat has certainly added something special
to ROH shows, and Sapolsky couldn't be happier about
it:
"Ricky Steamboat is a talent that characterizes
everything that ROH strives to be. I was looking for
a hall of fame type name that could give some
credibility and attention to our new Pure Wrestling
Title concept. When you think pure wrestling, which
in ROH means competition at its purest in athletic
matches, one of the first names that comes to mind is
Steamboat. I found out he was in town for Tommy
Fierro's convention the day of our March 13th show, so
I emailed Tommy and asked if it was ok to use him as a
ref on our show for the Pure Wrestling Title match.
Tommy agreed, so we brought him in to our March 13th
show, and the angle with him and CM Punk that night
was pure magic."
Sapolsky continued, "You'll just have to watch to see
how far the angle goes. We plan on using whoever is
appropriate and needed at the time. Right now, we
have made a commitment to Steamboat, and as long as he
wants to be a part of ROH shows he will be booked. He
has been invaluable in both setting up a strong angle,
and in helping the guys learn backstage. He is a true
class act, and an absolute pleasure to work with, who
is so unselfish with sharing his vast knowledge with
everyone around him."
Another of Sapolsky's many day-to-day challenges has
been dealing with the loss of talent such as AJ
Styles, Christopher Daniels, and The Amazing Red. ROH
has not been able to use this, and other talent since
the disagreement with TNA happened several months ago.
Everyone is aware of the circumstances surrounding
that incident, and it's an unfortunate situation that
Gabe hopes does get resolved some time soon. I asked
Gabe how difficult it was dealing with the loss of
Styles, and the other talent no longer able to be used
by Ring of Honor:
"Of course it is difficult not just from the fact that
they are missed in a ROH ring, but also because I
personally enjoyed working with both of them (Styles
and Daniels) and the other TNA talent. It also led to
many adjustments because they were in the middle of so
many angles and storylines. It was difficult, but we
got through it."
Gabe came up with a way to push some of the newer ROH
talent in an up and coming group known as Generation
Next. They made their debut at the Philadelphia show
this past Saturday. The group consists of Alex
Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and high flyer
Jack Evans. Names that may not be familar to you now,
but give them time. All four looked good together on
Saturday, most notably Shelley who did most of the
talking for the group, and Aries who both made good
impressions on me seeing them for the first time.
Jack Evans is amazing to see in person. He does some
of the wildest, most innovative high flying moves in
wrestling today. He has a way to go in terms of
grasping the actual "wrestling" part of the business,
but he certainly pops the crowd every time he steps in
the ring. All four of them, along with a host of
other young guys are people Gabe is banking the future
of ROH on.
"All the open spots now allow us to really freshen
things up with the theme of all the new talent like
Austin Aries, Alex Shelley, Nigel McGuiness, Jack
Evans, Roderick Strong and many others fighting it out
for the spots. There are a lot of different
directions we can go with that concept, to set up
everything from classic matches to blood feuds. We
have also been able to shake things up on top of the
card and I feel we really have some exciting things
going on."
"ROH has been and always will be about presenting the
best, hungry talent at their best so when we lose
talent there are other guys ready to step in, and make
an impression. It also keeps everything fresh. Plus
when the TNA guys return they'll all have fresh
matches and scenarios to return to."
One thing a small, but vocal group of ROH fans seem to
have is a strong dislike for WWE wrestling, and
basically anything not Ring of Honor. I found this to
be the case with quite a few people at the Philly
show. It's of my opinion that everyone is free to
like, and dislike whatever they want, that's why it's
a free country. But just because you want to be a
loyal ROH fan, which there is absolutely nothing wrong
with, doesn't mean everything else is garbage. I
sense this attitude among a small group of hardcore
ROH fans of "Us against Them", which is the same
mentality certain groups of ECW fans had back when
they were popular.
I don't get that mentality, because WWE is not in
competition with ROH. It's like apples and oranges.
WWE is what they are, and of course they are going to
have the more smoothly put together show, and the
bigger well-known stars. They have a multi-million
dollar budget, and years and years of history to fall
back on. But ROH is carving out a nice little niche
for themselves, and in many cases the in-ring action
in ROH is better than anything WWE can put on the
table. I personally enjoy the strengths of both
companies, and to me it's a win-win situation if
you're a wrestling fan. You shouldn't feel the need
to simply pick one, or the other.
Wrestling today is like an all you can eat buffet.
You go up and down the line, and take what you like
from each company according to your own personal
tastes. At the end you have a plate full of great
wrestling, and everyone wins. That's the attitude
wrestling fans should have. Not this "We're better
than them" nonsense. Don't think, "I'm a WWE fan, I
won't lower myself to watch ROH." If you have a close
minded attitude like that, you're only cheating
yourself in the end. On the flip side, if you're an
ROH fan, don't walk around dissing everything WWE, or
everything TNA, or basically everything not ROH just
because it seems like the cool thing to do. WWE
wrestling isn't everyone's cup of tea, same thing for
ROH. What I'm trying to say is if you're a fan of
one, that doesn't mean you can't be a fan of the
other. If you walk around saying negative stuff about
whatever company you don't like, all you do is make
yourself look bad. WWE and ROH may attract two
different kinds of fans, but in the end the name on
the marquee still says wrestling, and we are all
wrestling fans. It's one thing everyone reading this
column has in common.
I asked Sapolsky about his thoughts on current WWE,
and they are not unlike a lot of WWE fans these days,
"I have been following Raw lately. I usually watch
half the show pretty closely, and have it on in the
background the rest of the time. It has been a really
good show lately, and I've enjoyed it. I can't watch
Smackdown anymore because nothing on the show
interests me, which is a shame because Eddy Guerrero
is one of my all time favorites. I wish during that
draft thingy that they switched Cena to Raw, and
Jericho to Smackdown to feud with Eddy for the title,
but now I'm playing armchair booker."
In the end, I asked Gabe to explain the differences
between ROH, and the other major wrestling companies.
I asked him why a non-ROH fan would enjoy one of his
shows:
"I could write a book about the major differences
between ROH, WWE and TNA. It really comes down to an
energy, a spirit and an atmosphere that is unique and
special to ROH. ROH is like the Broadway Theater.
It's where the best come to perform their art form in
front of the best fans. You will see things on an ROH
show that you won't see anywhere else, and a unique
style that is often imitated these days, but never
duplicated. You will go on a roller coaster ride at a
ROH show, and will see it play out before you like a
movie. Most importantly, you will see some incredible
wrestling in all different styles from blood feuds to
technical wrestling to spotfests to the point that you
can never predict exactly what you'll witness."
I have been to four ROH shows in the last year, and I
can honestly say I have had a great time at every
show. The talent in ROH put their asses on the line
every night, regardless of how many people are in the
building. They never mail it in, or don't show up on
a particular night. Every guy from the top of the
card to the first match has one goal in mind, and that
is to make sure the fans get their money's worth.
They are accessible before and after shows to talk to
fans, and pose for pictures. They truly care about
what they're doing, and the fans are some of the most
loyal, hardcore wrestling fans you will find anywhere.
Hope everyone enjoyed the column this week. It was
something a little different from what I normally do,
but a topic that needed to be talked about. I'll be
back next week with an update on what's going on in
the current wrestling scene, with another WWE PPV
looming in just about two weeks. Thanks for reading,
have a great weekend. As always, feedback is
welcomed, and appreciated.
Dan Wahlers
Interesting Read IMO.
Thought's?