At this time of year, WWE tends to enter a kind of holding pattern as the Road to WrestleMania winds its way through the days and weeks to the event itself. Elimination Chamber is just around the corner, and as all eyes look to ‘Mania, WWE are left with a bit of a problem.
Rivalries for WrestleMania should either have begun weeks ago, or they can’t start til after the Chamber. As a consequence, there’s not a lot to write about at the moment, because it’s only after the Elimination Chamber itself that WrestleMania begins to take shape.
Obviously, the article I wrote a few weeks ago – where Bryan ends up in the main event at Mania – is still to come true, so I can’t even write my “I told you so” article, and apart from the main-event, the only thing to look forward to at the Chamber is the 6-man Shield vs Wyatts encounter. Everyone wants to write about that match though, so where do I look to find something to write about?
I had hoped that listening to the guys at MFX, you know the ones with the podcast you are all listening to, would give me some inspiration. Alas, talk of Scottish independence, gay nightclubs and unfinished kebabs, while entertaining, were no help.
There was no option really. I had to take one for the team. I watched Ring of Honor…
Just so you know, I’m not really a big ROH fan. The programme’s usually heavy on replays of previous shows, announcements of forthcoming shows, and in my opinion, the type of fan who gives the rest of us a bad name. The type of fan who thinks he appreciates things, and understands the subtle nuances more than the rest of us. The type of fan who slaps the boards every time someone leaves their feet.
But AJ Styles was coming back, and I like AJ, and to be honest, I needed something to write about. The first thing I wrote? I wrote off an hour of my life watching it.
AJ vs Roderick Strong was billed beforehand as an instant classic, but maybe that was going over the top. It was a better than average AJ Styles match – maybe somewhere between a BFG Series match and a BFG PPV match, apart from a couple of things that I’ll get to later.
Styles is still using his moody hero entrance, which is stupid, but the ROH crowd were hot for his return and, like a pro, AJ milked it. There was a lot of emotion around as the prodigal son tried to convince the crowd that he was where he really wanted to be and, to be fair, AJ did a great job of it.
He’s obviously been used to TNA bringing in ex-WWE stars and giving them big pushes, so on his return to ROH, he looked like he was happy to be appreciated. It’s pretty ironic though because he’s just done to ROH what the likes of Jeff Hardy, RVD, Ken Anderson et al did to him at TNA – came in and stole his spot. But back to the match…
Roderick Strong has an axe to grind. He apparently hates wrestlers who leave and return. He hates them so much that the commentary team need to tell us this. So he lets AJ know that it’s his ring, and he knows how to wrestle. This leads to the inevitable ‘amateur’ style wrestling, or, fortuitously, AJ going for a single leg take down. Strong does the same 20 seconds later, leading to the crowd going wild with a “this is wrestling” chant. Nope, it’s killing time.
The match actually builds fairly well. Considering these two will not be totally familiar with each other’s styles, we still get a lot of good spots from AJ. His dropkick, which to me is still one of the best out there, some flying through the ropes so the crowd can slap the boards again, and the trademark AJ slipping on the top rope while trying to springboard off it.
Strong also gets in a few good moves, including a gutbuster-type move off the top rope, some big running knees and a reversal out of the Calf Killer. It was turning out to be a pretty decent match. But then, the first of those things I mentioned earlier happened…
Like I said earlier, ROH fans can give the rest of us a bad name, and now I get the chance to prove it.
As Styles kicked out of a pin at two, the camera zoomed in on a fan in the crowd, clapping. He’s not the only one clapping, but I’m willing to wager a tidy sum that he’s the only one who, at the age of around 30, thought he should leave the house in a mustard coloured shirt – a REAL shirt mind you, with collar and buttons – and he completed the outfit with a pair of blue P1 AJ Styles gloves.
Honestly…that’s what he was wearing. Not only that, but when he was done clapping, he held the gloves together so you could see the P1 thing on them. Now that’s just not right. Ever. It’s hardly right when AJ does it. Fashion’s not my thing, so I generally don’t comment on things like this because I can’t really claim to be an expert. But I still know that’s wrong. The only time when it’s acceptable to wear gloves is if you’re outside and it’s cold. And they don’t have P1 on them.
The second thing of note that happened was inside the ring, and it was worrying for a couple of reasons.
AJ was the returning hero, so he was always going to win, and the ‘Styles Clash’ was the obvious end to the match. For some reason, Strong ducked his head and landed on it pretty hard. He could’ve done himself some serious damage. Had he never seen the Styles Clash before?!?!
He survived though, and AJ had a triumphant return to Ring of Honor. Hats off to ROH. They did a great job. AJ won the match, but not at the expense of making Strong look bad. The match was too close to call for long periods. Compare that to how WWE deal with their returning heroes, for example, like Batista winning the Royal Rumble. Or when TNA sign an ex-WWE guy, and he wins the title 20 minutes later.
For AJ, it was a nice introduction to his new home, although I’ve got to say that his stay probably won’t last long. Unlike others who’ve returned to ROH, Styles is probably too big for the promotion and he’ll have to look elsewhere. A betting man would be wise to stick his money on Styles reappearing in TNA, probably in about 4 months, just in time to enter the 2014 BFG Series…
I understand some of you might be ROH fans, and I might have just upset you. Feel free to leave a comment if you think I’ve done you an injustice. Unless of course, you ARE the guy in the AJ gloves, in which case, I really don’t care what you think.
You can also follow me on Twitter @grantcookdfc, but not if you want comment on an article written by someone else…
Recent Comments