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2018 RING OF HONOR THREAD


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If Okada leaves, I only hope Gedo's not as spiteful as Vince, because I'm not ready for Shota Umino to start his 700-day reign at 22.

I also think the Bucks are more likely to leave than Kenny. They make a lot of money presently, but it requires way more impetus and industry on their part than WWE would, with no real change in dates or travel; and for all that we mention WWE doesn't really push tag teams, New Japan doesn't either (ROH certainly features them, but they've reached the ceiling).

Kenny, on the other hand, would have his free time greatly diminished by a change, so while he'd probably make more money, it might be a lot less "per date", if worked out in those terms. He also lives in Japan, and views being a main eventer there with more reverence and affection than any other foreign wrestler is likely to. But who knows? He may think he's done it all, and more money is more money.

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That last bit is my only worry for Kenny leaving. He knows working in WWE wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable as NJPW with the lack of freedom and booking. He would be creatively unhappy for more money. And it would have to be huge money I think.

Pretty sure Cody is still under contract through 2019. It's Bucks, Omega, AJ, and Nakamura next January with Danielson next month (pleeeeaaaaase leave!). Danielson vs. Omega in MSG?! *insert RandyMarshectoplasm.jpg here*

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AJ ain't leaving WWE, he has a whole brand built around him, and he gets to go to his kids football games easier.

 

Cody ain't leaving NJPW, he's got creative freedom and doesn't have the pesky "working far from home" thing most foreigners have.

 

Everyone else is fair game, but by the same token, I'd be amazed if both Omega and Lethal have their respective titles come April.

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I feel the the WWE roster is pretty bloated and many of their stars (Balor, Roode, Orton, Wyatt, Ambrose, etc.) haven’t been utilized to the best of their abilities (some of these guys for many years). Maybe instead of who’s joining the WWE, we should be thinking about who may be leaving to grow. Cody set the blueprint, it can be done. If ROH can get a solid national television deal, I think we may see that happen a lot more frequently. Plus with IMPACT having new people behind them, MLW catching on, WOS, LU, etc., there’s no better time in wrestling for a wrestler to bet on themselves.

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15 minutes ago, Beech27 said:

If Okada leaves, I only hope Gedo's not as spiteful as Vince, because I'm not ready for Shota Umino to start his 700-day reign at 22.

I also think the Bucks are more likely to leave than Kenny. They make a lot of money presently, but it requires way more impetus and industry on their part than WWE would, with no real change in dates or travel; and for all that we mention WWE doesn't really push tag teams, New Japan doesn't either (ROH certainly features them, but they've reached the ceiling).

Kenny, on the other hand, would have his free time greatly diminished by a change, so while he'd probably make more money, it might be a lot less "per date", if worked out in those terms. He also lives in Japan, and views being a main eventer there with more reverence and affection than any other foreign wrestler is likely to. But who knows? He may think he's done it all, and more money is more money.

The question is are The Bucks willing to give up all their artistic and creative control and most likely eventually become a throwaway mid card act if they get a big money offer?

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Just now, sabremike said:

The question is are The Bucks willing to give up all their artistic and creative control and most likely eventually become a throwaway mid card act if they get a big money offer?

If the money is right and they get to spend more time with their families, I don’t see why not. Watching BTE, you really get to see how much their family means to them. At least they’d be traveling within the US (most of the time) and not have to travel abroad as much.

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Either way, I feel like this is the end of the Bucks working 25+ days a month. They either re-up with NJPW/ROH (probably doing more NJPW dates in place of the indies) or sign with WWE.

And I agree, I feel like there's gotta be one or two more WWE wrestlers who feel like they've hit the glass ceiling and/or are tired of the booking who will leave if given the opportunity. Owens struck me as somebody who was in heaven there, so seeing him sign a 5-year deal wasn't surprising. Somebody like Rusev for example, after having been dicked around with booking and making chicken salad out of chicken shit since losing to Cena, really. Bray to a lesser extent as well but I don't know if he'd leave.

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Balor is the obvious guy I’d watch. Even disregarding his history, he’s being booked like someone they know is just finishing up. And god, wouldn’t that make the BCOG storyline better?

My ~hot take~ regarding all this is a Nak/Okada trade wouldn’t hurt New Japan at all, especially if it prompted them to really commit to Naito as the ace. Okada, for all his wins and great matches, has probably never been better than the third biggest draw in the company. (Behind Nak and Tana at first; I’d put him behind Naito and Omega now, and maybe still Tana, if his body could handle a run.)

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Meltz is of the mind that there's no way Okada's leaving. He's been wrong before though.

Balor strikes me as a guy whose dream was to make it to WWE. I think you'd have to consider his time there a mixed bag at best, even with being the first Universal champion. I don't know if he'd be happy leaving it at that. And as far as being booked like someone they know is just finishing up... Isn't that just how they book guys who aren't Roman Reigns? They think the audience doesn't remember anything we don't tell them and they can heat up whomever they like whenever they want to unless you're somebody they care about (pre-movies Cena or RR).

They DO have LegoLand resort in Japan tho, so WHO THE FUCK KNOWS?! 

I find Balor to be mechanically very good but pretty poor at drawing any emotion or deeper storytelling out of his matches. The Joe rematches were about as close as I've seen him be able to do that and it was with Samoa fucking Joe. And then there's the fact he wrestles more or less exactly the same when he's the Demon to when he's not. I may have to watch some of his NJPW matches to see if that was the case back then too, as I wasn't watching religiously until just about when he left and Kenny joined. The Apollo 55/Golden Lovers matches were insane but not what I'd be wanting to see if he has that extra depth to him I feel. Recommendations?

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He had the WK showcases against Ibushi and Ibushi/Low Ki. You can probably about figure what those are like. He’s also got a fun NWA match against DBry and BOSJ match against PAC on YouTube. I’ve heard good things about his Progress match against ZSJ, but actually haven’t seen it. I also like his junior title defense against DDT Kenny, and there’s a random house show match where they fight into the street and then use a ladder in the crowd.

A lot of the BC stuff... well, it’s not to the extreme that Tama takes it now, but there was often too much fuckery—especially if you’re just watching to see a good match, in hindsight. (His super juniors final against Alex Shelley is like that. You can’t ask for a hotter crowd for all the bullshit, but still, it’s a lot of bullshit.) At the time, though, there was something novel about the whole thing, and he was really compelling as the little preening pretty boy who acted like the toughest guy on earth because he had backup. His two singles matches against Tanahashi are of that type, and pretty great, as is his title challenge against Okada. There’s also a really fun singles match against Gedo, where the old cheater tries to stay one step ahead. 

There’s also always this;

 

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1 hour ago, Oyaji said:

Either way, I feel like this is the end of the Bucks working 25+ days a month. They either re-up with NJPW/ROH (probably doing more NJPW dates in place of the indies) or sign with WWE.

I thought the Young Bucks schedule for the last two years have been New Japan, ROH and PWG exclusively?

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33 minutes ago, Web Conn said:

I thought the Young Bucks schedule for the last two years have been New Japan, ROH and PWG exclusively?

This year it seems like they're working fewer dates, but last year they worked What Culture, House of Hardcore, The Crash among other indies. Cagematch only has them working WSW and a match in Costa Rica in addition to ROH/NJPW/PWG. That's surprising because they're always complaining about how little they see their families in BTE but their schedule doesn't look that hectic unless Cagematch is missing some of the smaller shows they're on.

@Beech27 I remember the Okada match and it being pretty good even with the fuckery. I don't mind it in small doses and if the crowd reacts accordingly. Will check out the Tana and Gedo matches once the G1 is over (nooooo).

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Out of The Bucks Kenny and Cody I only see Kenny potentially signing with the E come January.

Cody isn’t going back ... yet he still has more to do. He should beat Aldis at All In then if I was Corgan and Lagana I’d give Cody a long ass reign.

The Bucks I cant see them go to the WWE full time that schedule is a killer. I think they are either going to sign to NJ senmi full time  and only do big ROH shows (AS, SCOH, BITW, DBD and FB) or they sign with ROH and just do the big New Japan shows. 

Kenny is tricky the big question is how long does Gedo want this reign to last. If Nakamura doesn’t resign and returns definitely it should be Kenny vs Nak at next years Dominion with Nak Winning the title in his return home. 

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4 minutes ago, mattdangerously said:

Kenny isn't leaving New Japan, guys. Ya'll are just setting yourselves up to be disappointed.

I would actually be more disappointed if Kenny did leave New Japan. Out of Cody, Kenny, and the Bucks; the one I could see eventually going back would be Cody.

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2 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I would actually be more disappointed if Kenny did leave New Japan. Out of Cody, Kenny, and the Bucks; the one I could see eventually going back would be Cody.

I could see the Bucks going, since that's really the only thing left for them to do. But Kenny moved to Japan; became fluent in Japanese; his best friend/life partner(?) is a native; he's the top gaijin wrestler in the country; he hasn't even been IWGP champ long enough to have a high-profile title defense (Cody doesn't count, he's a midcarder in Japan); and his time working for the WWE in the past was probably the low point of his career. He ain't going anywhere.

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I just don't see the Bucks wanting to give up doing things on their terms, conforming to the system of a promotion that doesn't place a great value on tag team wrestling. Plus, the money they're bringing in from the Hot Topic deal would be kaput. Maybe I'm wrong. Who knows?

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I can definitely see the Bucks going to WWE for a big money final run before retirement. Omega would be offered a boatload of money, so he may eventually go, but Cody? He is definitely better off as a bigger fish in a smaller pond. If he went back to WWE, there's no way he would be above the midcard, which was the same spot he left.

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Kenny was talking before the San Fran show about his ideas of how he'd handle shorter TV matches and such. It certainly sounded like he was at least thinking about jumping.

Or he was angling for leverage on NJPW. But, like a great man once said, everybody's got a price.

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To me it seems like the one that will definitely be in wwe at some point is the young bucks. I could see them trying to do their thing for one more year though, but eventually they will definitely be in wwe. Really they are all in such a great position right now, I’m sure they’re rightfully trying to play the sides against each other and bump up the offers from both sides. 

From wwe’s perspective, the best way by far to do this would be to get Kenny, Cody and the bucks to debut at the same time as an invading faction. I’m not sure if they even care about business potential though, it’s all just about playing defense and treading water for them now. 

Of course I hope no one goes to wwe and Roh and njpw start actively signing people from wwe, but we’ll see how this all plays out. Interesting times for sure. 

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I imagine that All In has to be a factor in all of this. From what I gather it is YBs and Cody's project. First one sold out, I think it would be weird if they didn't want to have another go and see if they can grow it into something bigger, like having more expensive tickets and still getting 8-10k people. Yes, WWE can offer lots of money, but we really have no idea what kind of money can they get if All In turns out to be more than just one time thing. I suspect they want to find out.

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