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COMPLETE ROH CINCY DEBUT DETAILS, GENERICO, THREE RECENT ROH POSITIVES YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT AND MORE

As we've noted, Ring of Honor will debut in Cincinatti, Ohio this Friday 2/17 at the Masonic Hall.  The promotion has announced the complete lineup for the cards, which features a lot of local and OVW talent getting the chance to make their mark here, so it's something of a scaled down show with the undercard made up of "unproven" talents and the top matches being "ROH stars." One thing that will be good there is you'll see a lot of guys working their ass off trying to earn a regular roster spot. The official lineup:

*ROH Tag Team champions Jay & Mark Briscoe defend vs. ROH champion Davey Richards & Kyle O'Reilly
*ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. BJ Whitmer - Proving Ground
*Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong - No Holds Barred
*Michael Elgin with Truth Martini vs. Adam Cole
*One Night Tag Tournament featuring: Shiloh Jonze & Rudy Switchblade, Sean Casey & Chris Silvio, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls, Alabama Attitude (Mike Posey & Corey Hollis with the premise being the winners can make a name for themslves in ROH and earning a non-title bout with the Tag champions.
*Mike Mondo vs Samson Walker

El Generico is not signed to a deal here currently, but is expected back down the line.

Tickets for the 4/29 Dayton, Ohio return go on sale Saturday.  They will be debuting in the Hara Arena, which hosted the best top to bottom ECW PPV, Heatwave '98. 

Rhett Titus worked some indy shots recently to test his knee and will be back in the ring here in March.

A few things to go out of your way to see:

 One, The most recent Briscoes promo is off the charts awesome.  They are total redneck, throwback, "kicking ass and taking names" sort of brawling personas that you just never see in professional wrestling anymore.  They are going to end up super anti-hero babyfaces over the next year just based on those promos and their working ability, which has always been insane. 

Two, the last few weeks of television has been a huge step forward in terms of the storylines, although they are moving much slower than you'd experience on WWE or TNA TV, which is a positive.  The Jim Cornette-Kevin Steen interaction has been very, very good.  Eddie Edwards vs. Kyle O'Reilly on the most recent TV was just awesome.  The Inside ROH segments are the best thing every week on any TV show and are a nice throwback to the days where promotions would spend time giving you insight and understanding into different personalities and conflicts.  The real star of the show in a lot of ways, for me anyway, Jay Lethal.  Every week, his work and his promos are strong.  TNA really blew it letting him go.   If and when Sinclair upgrades some of the production and/or gets the show on in some of the larger markets, I expect we will see a lot more buzz for the TV show, but they are doing everything right based on the last few episodes.   The one thing I am really hoping to see is a few more cliffhangers from week to week, but the more recent TV tapings had a lot more in the way of run-ins and chaos, so that may be where they have gone.  You can find a listing of where the show airs at this link

Finally, the 80 minute elimination tag featuring Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin & Eddie Edwards, & El Generico vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe & Michael Elgin, & Roderick Strong from Greensboro, NC is AWESOME.  The longest bout in ROH history, the first third of it is just all this insane brawling until it finally settles down into a great back and forth match.  It's easily the best match in the company since Best in the World and absolutely fun and well worth going out of your way to see.  It's available on the Battle of the Carolinas DVD.

 

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