Blue's Reviews: Ring Of Honor's debut show on HDNet

I'm a fan of Ring Of Honor... well, sorta. It's been a long time since I've bought anything from them - DVDs, PPVs, whatever. But I do follow their ongoing action through their Newswires and Message Board plus the occasional viewing of something that wasn't purchased. I know, I know - it's horrible but "in this economy" whatcha gonna do, brother?

As a fan of their shows, I was eager to see what they could put on for a weekly television show. It has always seemed to me that a "workrate" based promotion that had a business model built on having high quality matches to sell DVDs might have a problem making the jump to TV. So when it was announced that ROH had landed their own TV show, I was intrigued to see how things would shake out. I was even more intrigued to see it land on HDNet since smaller "indy" wrestling promotions don't tend to be known for their high production values.

The premiere episode was on Saturday night while I was off watching minor league hockey and this is the first chance I've had to watch it. I decided to do this as a liveblog/Blue's Review combo post so... here goes nothing!

** Opening credits are kinda cool. The style of it already makes them look cooler than TNA in my opinion. The end of the credits reminds me of the old ECW PPVs where the title sequence would end with the "E-C-DUB!" chants. This one gives you the "R-O-H" chant but it seems a little subdued. They should crank up the volume on that one a little.

** Weird piece with the announcers. The network hired a "traditional" i.e. non-wrestling announcer to handle Play-By-Play while going with ROH's regular color man. They intro'd the show wearing headsets on some green screen background. The PBP guy will take a little getting used to methinks although in a way, he kinda reminds me of an old school wrestling announcer who just seems like a normal guy stoked about the show. He keeps calling the show a "wrestling series" which is... interesting. I guess they felt they had to explain why the show's called Ring Of Honor as they're talking about the long-forgotten Code Of Honor gimmick where everyone had to shake hands before and after the match. I thought that hadn't been used in ages but... well, I guess you have to explain it somehow. Prazak, the color guy, seems really subdued. Not very colorful. In hyping the Main Event which is Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black, they didn't even mention that they're former stablemates and tag partners. I hope that changes by match time.

** They toss it to pre-match comments called "SMACKTALK!" with Delirious. I'm cool with that since I'd like to see more pre-match comments from lower card guys on the other wrestling shows. Delirious is a funny choice for this because his gimmick is that he speaks in gibberish but it's funny to see them play it straight. Nice graphic for the Smacktalk too.

** They switch to entrances which look alright so far - maybe a little indy. But the graphics during the entrance are awesome. They go MMA style with it, putting over the history of the character, his strength as a wrestler, and some of his signature moves. The split screen makes the entrance a little small but this is a perfect way to introduce new characters to a new audience. Oh, on an interesting note, they actually have Delirious listed as a former member of the Age Of The Fall which he was still in when they taped this. It'll be curious to see if they sweeten the crowd noise to adjust for that.

** Holy crap. I've never seen the ECW Arena look so good. The ring looks fantastic. The ringside area looks a little dark.

** Generic Jerry Lynn promo but it'll do. The entrance graphic is apparently called the "1...2...3!!!" which is clever. They immediately show that they're not afraid to mention the other guys by putting over Lynn as a former ECW World Champion. They also highlight his feud with Nigel McGuinness which is a nice way to put a name in a new viewer's head.

** The ring looks kinda small. Really small actually. I had read an interview with the ROH Owner saying that the show was shot "MMA-style" but that he couldn't explain what that was until you saw it but that it looked different than anything on current wrestling television. Well, he's absolutely right. It looks like it's being shot with a boom camera instead of a hard camera right now. Having a different "feel" could be huge for this show.

** The match is okay. Nothing mind-blowing but better than you'd see most of the time on the other shows. They get in a banner advertising upcoming ROH dates which is pretty cool for them. The PBP guy isn't too bad yet but he's a bit of a screamer which I may tire of if he doesn't keep it in check for when he needs it. Not much character/angle development on commentary though which is disappointing. They're calling the moves which is good but with a new audience, it helps to get over why these guys are fighting.

** Backstage interviewer! Puts over Tyler Black as the "fastest rising star in Ring of Honor." They talk a little bit about his past with Jimmy Jacobs but... it's still not really giving the history. Tyler's promo goes into more detail with it. It's not a bad promo by Tyler actually.

** Still hyping the Main Event in graphics. That's a good strategy. Try to make it feel special and make people stick around to see it.

** Kenny King vs Sami Callahan is up next. No commercial yet. There was a lot of debate as to whether or not we'd be seeing any commercials on these shows. MORE SMACKTALK!

** Heh. They put over Callahan as a brawler right when he applies a hammerlock. I really like the camerawork so far. Some unique shots getting captured. Kenny King really looks like a star in there so far. He carries himself really well. Nice spinebuster by KK. Some weird dead time on the mic there. It's almost like they don't know what to say at times if they can't call a move. To a new viewer, Kenny King looks like the biggest star on the show so far. Callahan is a good worker but he doesn't come across as anything special other than his unique look. ROH might have some money in Kenny King.

** Backstage interview with Jimmy Jacobs. Pretty effective at getting the Jacobs/Black Main Event some more hype. This is a textbook wrestling show straight out of the 80s minus the straight out squashes.

** Commercial! One commercial for another HDNet show, one for ROHWrestling.com, couple more for some more HDNet programming, and right back to action. Not bad.

** ROH History segment! That's pretty awesome. Shots of Joe, Punk, Jamie Noble, Abyss, London, Muta, etc. Lots of crazy spots. Flair! Heenan! Foley! Bruno! Low-Ki! Pretty cool segment but since it's old footage, it's not in HD which is a little distracting.

** Rhett Titus Smacktalk easily gets him over as a sleazy heel that you want to see smacked around. Putting him over as Kenny King's tag partner now. Now, that's a team I want to see. Brent Albright Smacktalk. Hint. If you have to talk about how intense you are, that might be a problem. "Get out or tap out"

** This should be a big squash. lol @ Rhett's hip swivel before going for the suplex. One-armed suplex by Albright is cool. The crowd is kinda dead for these matches, it seems. Rhett's facials are cartoonish but awesome. Rhett's coming across as a dastardly cheapshotting heel while Albright is just dull right now. I'd love to see Rhett Titus team with Jimmy Garvin in his prime. Albright gets the win with a half-nelson suplex into "The Crowbar." As much as I loved Titus' schtick, Albright would have been better served with a sub-60 second squash here.

** Highlights from Rising Above PPV to show the Jacobs/Tyler split. They're doing a great job of trying to shoehorn the history of their feud in now. Adding in the Aries element now too. Good stuff. MAIN EVENT IS NEXT! Tale of the Tape... awesome.

** TELEVISION TIME REMAINING! FUCK YEAH!

** The match is a little blah so far. After putting over the rivalry, they're not doing much to make this a hate-filled brawl. Tyler wins which is probably the right decision but the match was worked very odd considering how they were hyping it up. It ended with not some big highspot or brutal spot but with a bridging cradle.

** Nigel vs Jay is hyped for the next show and that's that. Oh, post-show PPV commercial. Cool.

Sooooo...

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty effective debut show. I would have liked to see a little more character development on the undercard and they should have had the Main Event be a little more "can't miss" I think to build some hype up.

I'm pleased and I'll be checking it out next week. The question is though... if someone who had never heard of ROH had seen it, would they tune in next week? Not so sure about that.