Aperama
09-18-2007, 03:50 PM
Okay, I'd like to state right off the bat, this is opinion. Nothing more. There might be some facts strewn about this next post that you're about to skim through and pretend you read fully, but those are just being used as a basis for substantiating said opinion, in no way to create an ulterior fact. Yup. That's right. I'm telling you right now that the following might well be utter bullcrap. Just makes you want to read, don't it?
Okay, it wasn't long ago now. NWA split from TNA - and as such, they had their big, grandiose tournament to crown a new champion. The incumbent was Bryan Danielson - American Dragon to some, "just fucking awesome" to others. There's no doubt in just about anyone's mind, they were going to have Danielson take on the belt. Only.. something happened. Now, I'm going to go with the aforementioned facts.
The final four of the (16 man) tournament for the gold was: Adam Pearce, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson and Brent Albright (Gunnar Scott to you WWE-o-philes out there). Now, to segway to a completely different train of thought. ROH has had very few champions in its illustrious time under the limelight. They've had brilliant workers, and the average title reign seems to have been in excess of six months, being defended constantly. The present champion, Takeshi Morishima (of Pro Wrestling: NOAH fame) is their newest 'monster'. He's basically out-Joeing (Samoa) Joe, who, not so coincidentally, is the man to have held the ROH belt for the longest period thusfar (21 months.) In fact, his first feud in ROH was *with* Joe, with him winning the majority of his matches. So, in other words, Takeshi Morishima is a stiff motherfucker who doesn't take prisoners. He also holds the belt in his mouth (It's way more awesome than it sounds.)
Now, you might ask why this is relevant to the NWA. Well, let me just go with some results.
Takeshi Morishima b Adam Pearce to retain the ROH World Championship - after he won his semi-final qualifier, literally, nights afterward.
Takeshi Morishima b Claudio Castagnoli to retain the ROH World Championship - ditto!
Takeshi Morishima b Brent Albright to retain the ROH World Championship - This was actually the night after Claudio's match. And yeah.. he'd been confirmed for the semis also.
The final one? The worst.
He [Bryan Danielson] was scheduled to face Brent Albright for the title in Puerto Rico on September 1st. However, on August 25, Danielson fought Morishima in an attempt to regain the ROH World Title. He lost in what was immediately described as one of the best matches in the promotion's history. During this match, he suffered an orbital fracture and a retina injury.
That's right, they had their stiff monster bastard INJURE THEIR CHAMPION TO BE. That's true love, folks. True freakin' love. So not only does the ROH champ squash all four contenders for the NWA belt ("We're better than you", anyone?) - but he INJURES the most likely guy to take the belt and run with it, probably for a substantial period of time given the way thy were building the lovely gentleman. I love Morishima, don't get me wrong. But this SCREAMS 'fishy' to me. So maybe it's just all a big coincidence. ROH is losing one of their biggest draws by injuring Danielson, and make no mistake about it. What I'm thinking is, maybe they told Morishima, 'Rough him up a little, make him think twice about going off to some *other* promotion and taking *their* belt and running with it' (Danielson is the second longest reigning ROH champ, hazarding a guess at 17 months or so). Now, could this be sheer idiocy? Perhaps. But I still feel there's something here, and Morishima is basically a puppy dog when he wants to be. And Danielson isn't particularly injury prone..
I'm kinda hoping for the 'cult level' feud, to be honest. It'll be quite interesting to see how they fare, with two such vastly different manners of working (NWA is lotsa different smalltime.. you know, what the NWA used to be? That!) whereas ROH tends to rely upon an existing fanbase, travelling in tight-knit groups, etc. I'm kinda hoping this comes to pass, actually, but maybe that's just the cynic in me.
Until it becomes easier to find out, may we know what on earth is going to happen to the PWG championship.
Okay, it wasn't long ago now. NWA split from TNA - and as such, they had their big, grandiose tournament to crown a new champion. The incumbent was Bryan Danielson - American Dragon to some, "just fucking awesome" to others. There's no doubt in just about anyone's mind, they were going to have Danielson take on the belt. Only.. something happened. Now, I'm going to go with the aforementioned facts.
The final four of the (16 man) tournament for the gold was: Adam Pearce, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson and Brent Albright (Gunnar Scott to you WWE-o-philes out there). Now, to segway to a completely different train of thought. ROH has had very few champions in its illustrious time under the limelight. They've had brilliant workers, and the average title reign seems to have been in excess of six months, being defended constantly. The present champion, Takeshi Morishima (of Pro Wrestling: NOAH fame) is their newest 'monster'. He's basically out-Joeing (Samoa) Joe, who, not so coincidentally, is the man to have held the ROH belt for the longest period thusfar (21 months.) In fact, his first feud in ROH was *with* Joe, with him winning the majority of his matches. So, in other words, Takeshi Morishima is a stiff motherfucker who doesn't take prisoners. He also holds the belt in his mouth (It's way more awesome than it sounds.)
Now, you might ask why this is relevant to the NWA. Well, let me just go with some results.
Takeshi Morishima b Adam Pearce to retain the ROH World Championship - after he won his semi-final qualifier, literally, nights afterward.
Takeshi Morishima b Claudio Castagnoli to retain the ROH World Championship - ditto!
Takeshi Morishima b Brent Albright to retain the ROH World Championship - This was actually the night after Claudio's match. And yeah.. he'd been confirmed for the semis also.
The final one? The worst.
He [Bryan Danielson] was scheduled to face Brent Albright for the title in Puerto Rico on September 1st. However, on August 25, Danielson fought Morishima in an attempt to regain the ROH World Title. He lost in what was immediately described as one of the best matches in the promotion's history. During this match, he suffered an orbital fracture and a retina injury.
That's right, they had their stiff monster bastard INJURE THEIR CHAMPION TO BE. That's true love, folks. True freakin' love. So not only does the ROH champ squash all four contenders for the NWA belt ("We're better than you", anyone?) - but he INJURES the most likely guy to take the belt and run with it, probably for a substantial period of time given the way thy were building the lovely gentleman. I love Morishima, don't get me wrong. But this SCREAMS 'fishy' to me. So maybe it's just all a big coincidence. ROH is losing one of their biggest draws by injuring Danielson, and make no mistake about it. What I'm thinking is, maybe they told Morishima, 'Rough him up a little, make him think twice about going off to some *other* promotion and taking *their* belt and running with it' (Danielson is the second longest reigning ROH champ, hazarding a guess at 17 months or so). Now, could this be sheer idiocy? Perhaps. But I still feel there's something here, and Morishima is basically a puppy dog when he wants to be. And Danielson isn't particularly injury prone..
I'm kinda hoping for the 'cult level' feud, to be honest. It'll be quite interesting to see how they fare, with two such vastly different manners of working (NWA is lotsa different smalltime.. you know, what the NWA used to be? That!) whereas ROH tends to rely upon an existing fanbase, travelling in tight-knit groups, etc. I'm kinda hoping this comes to pass, actually, but maybe that's just the cynic in me.
Until it becomes easier to find out, may we know what on earth is going to happen to the PWG championship.