After last nights somewhat polarizing show I think its becoming more and more clear that ROH just sucks.
Whats interesting is that when you look at it from both match quality and crowd interest POV its clear that the MSG show was basically a bunch of NJPW fans with little interest in ROH that came. On top of that ROH did there best to deliver a crappy product that really bogged down the beginning of the show compared to how awesome the NJPW stuff was. Even the best ROH match (ladder match) really dragged and had a weak finish.
Its clear that most people that went to MSG wanted NJPW and after the show I am sure they left thinking ROH was even worse that when the show started.
Of course now the have Enzo and Cass. And Beautiful People aka Allure. So I guess it can get worse?
I am wondering if now is the time that NJPW moves on and starts to work with AEW and lets ROH go die in some corner.
Can you imagine the MSG show without the nonsense we saw at the start instead filled with AEW? Imagine replacing the Bully Ray and womens match and instead having Jericho and Kenny and Pac and the Bucks in there. It may have beaten Takeover and likely sold more tickets. Also lets assume that going forward even more talent like a possible Dean Ambrose are available.
With the G1 Dallas show struggling I am wondering if now is the time that NJPW finally makes the AEW deal and brings in a few guys to start building for more super shows and talent exchange going forward.
The G1 Supercard was the first NJPW program I’ve followed closely since Wrestle Kingdom.Time wasn’t on my side so I could only watch a few matches in the New Japan Cup. I also rarely if even follow ROH.
The Jeff Cobb / Ospreay match I really enjoyed but most of the cross overs fell short for me. I felt the Honor Rumble showed the lack of chemistry between NJPW and ROH talent in most cases. Whenever a NJPW star entered they looked lost even Ishii took time to lock up upon coming into the ring.
The ROH bouts took away from showcasing NJPW stars a bit more. I felt bored for the most part when watching a match from ROH. By the time the ladder match started I had lost interest in the PPV and turned it off without watching either main event. I will go back and watch the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match sometime this week.
This joint card showed me that ROH doesn’t hold up quality-wise in their mid-card to NJPW. A lot of the ROH talent we see show up in NJPW shows are upper mid card talents from what I can tell.
I don’t think this means the relationship should end but I don’t get this same feeling watching NJPW and CMLL work together.
Here’s the thing that you have to remember. ROH has a t.v. deal. They have run a p.p.v. they have a roster, they have a business plan, the have belts. And while I think that AEW will be more successful (in a few years) than ROH, they haven’t done anything yet. NJPW wouldn’t just get behind a company that really hasn’t done a single thing. So, let’s wait until things play out a bit
I’m a bit torn with ROH. I want to support them. I trust they’ll figure it out as they have in the past. But this time it feels like they aren’t even sure what they should be doing and more than ever it felt like they desperately needed New Japan to feel big league. Or maybe it was that they filled the Garden and they just shouldn’t be there. I don’t know but if I’m NJPW I have to agree with the OP: imagine a show that had Omega and Jericho and the Bucks and Page. It’s really going to be interesting. Maybe everyone should just be friends.
Well they had All In which is similar. The show Double or Nothing will be fine. It has Jericho vs Omega lol. We know the smarks will love it and the reality is it will be an above average wrestling show hopefully this time without dick jokes
I see the future of ROH looking stale. I’m not saying they’ll fall but I don’t see them growing to what AEW will reach. NJPW would be weasels if they back out from being associated with ROH. Talk to me again in 3 years tho and I might have a different opinion.
I don’t have the knowledge to second that completely, but I do know that I gave up on watching the weekly ROH show after a couple of months. Boring matches and I was expected to know who all of the wrestlers are from the indies - which I don’t follow at all. Say will you will about WWE spouting repetitive phrases about their talent, but you’re not going to see a guy work three matches on Raw and not know a thing or two about his character.
Yeah it’s true. There is also a lot of Bully Ray who is old and sucks and the women’s division that honestly is garbage next to WWE and NXTs women let alone Japan
ROH has been eroding for years. WWE/NXT has been picking up their talent for the last 5 years, and have been particularly aggressive the last 2 or 3. AEW starting up was the kick to the face.
Less than 5000 seats sold for a 15,000+ arena a month after initial on-sale when the card is featuring every top talent and exact matchups don’t matter because it’s the G1 is troubling. Agree can’t call it a failure yet but…it’s a fail
Per Wikipedia, the Cow Palace capacity is 16,500. Not sure what exact capacity is for it’s “pro wrestling configuration” but WCW Superbrawl had 13,000+ and 12,000+ announced attendance when it ran there in 1997 and 1998, respectively.