Well yeah. I mean, it's always fun to fantasy book guys into a new territory or promotion.

 

The thing is - the problem you're going to run into with transplanting Elgin or Moose into the WWE is the exact same problem you're already witnessing with Big E, Rusev, and so on.

 

It's a booking issue. It's a lack of commitment and conviction from the creative process on up. There's no lack of talent already there.

The reason why it's easier for JR (and others) to book these fantasy experiments with guys from OUTSIDE the WWE is because they aren't being booked into the ground yet. So yeah. It's easier to imagine a guy like Elgin or Moose coming in and receiving the "monster" treatment. But the likelihood of that happening - and NOT being absolutely demolished by 50/50 booking and bullshit - is what makes all the difference in the end.

 

It's not like they CAN'T do it. WWE is fully capable. They're a massive marketing machine. They've done more with much, much less in the past. If they'd be willing to move Samoa Joe up, bring Elgin in, or sign Moose to a deal - then yeah. They COULD book them straight into a Taker program ala the Great Khali. They could resurrect the Samoa Joe aura with a Mark Henry-like renaissance push.

 

I'm FAR from being a big Elgin fan, but the guy's improved by leaps and bounds since the New Japan tour began. And I honestly think that further removing him from the bad habits of the indy Spectacular Super Fun Fantasy Dream Match formula would probably endear him to more people. But I'd be REALLY surprised to see him get anything substantial from a WWE or NXT deal, to be honest.

 

Elgin is far more likely the next Rhyno than the next opponent for Lesnar. Moose is more likely to wind up being the next Titus O'Neil than the next Taker feud. But hey. Stranger things have happened, I guess.

It's May 23rd and they finally announced a match for the June 5th show in Columbus!

 

I bought a ticket today and could still get 3rd row. A lot of seats are still open.

Matches for Columbus are. Roderick Strong vs. Jay Briscoe, The Addiction vs. War Machine, Jay Lethal vs. Adam Page and Lio Rush vs. Adam Cole.

 

Not a bad card at all.

Oh man Cole v Rush could be really good

Pathetic tweet from Cary Silkin:

 

 

 

Cary Silkin ‏@rohcary May 25

Ric Flair and Steamboat live 7/23 at Sands in Bethlehem I will be there to collect the 41k Flair owes me #wwe @RicFlairNatrBoy @ringofhonor

 

https://twitter.com/rohcary/status/735500312396615680

 

Is it right that Flair stiffed him? No, of course not. But what did Cary expect? He knowingly did business with an alcoholic who has chronic financial issues.

 

This really makes ROH look super bush league, and it wouldn't surprise me if Cary loses his job over it. I almost think he should. What an idiot.

Oh man Cole v Rush could be really good

I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm thinking Cole squashes him in a few minutes.

Also have Stevie Richards vs. Mark Briscoe and Dalton Castle vs. Kamaitachi.

 

Overall, looks to be a good show to go to. I really thought they were going to throw a half assed card out there like the last Dayton show.

Lethal/Rush got a good amount of time and I'd expect the same thing for Cole. That's a cool one on paper.

ROH very rarely does house show squashes unless it's local talent putting over ROH talent.

That's good to know. That should be a fun show from top to bottom.

All Night Express vs. MCMG also added.

Pathetic tweet from Cary Silkin:

 

 

 

Cary Silkin ‏@rohcary May 25

 

Ric Flair and Steamboat live 7/23 at Sands in Bethlehem I will be there to collect the 41k Flair owes me #wwe @RicFlairNatrBoy @ringofhonor

 

https://twitter.com/rohcary/status/735500312396615680

 

Is it right that Flair stiffed him? No, of course not. But what did Cary expect? He knowingly did business with an alcoholic who has chronic financial issues.

 

This really makes ROH look super bush league, and it wouldn't surprise me if Cary loses his job over it. I almost think he should. What an idiot.

Clearly he isn't going to get his money back by confronting Flair. But I don't blame him for being upset about it. Flair signed an agreement to show up for 4-5 shows as the "ROH ambassador" and only showed up to one of them. How is Cary the bad guy for expecting someone to honor his word on a signed contract? He sued him over it in 2010 but Sinclair dropped the suit when they took over.

That's good to know. That should be a fun show from top to bottom.

 

I like that they got Kincaid on this Midwest weekend tour. Some really fresh matchups. I'll most likely purchase at least one of the three on VOD so they'll get my money.

I'll let you know what I think the show when I get back from it.

Ric Flair has every right to be called out for not making good on his contract. Flaking out should never been excused or covered up. If Flair owes money, he needs to pay up.

The idea that Cary is the pathetic one when Flair owes him 41 THOUSAND dollars is... pathetic.

If the roles were reversed & Silkin only owed Ric Flair 41 thousand dollars, do ya really think the Nature Boy would go quietly and NOT let everyone know about it at every available opportunity?

 

If anything, Cary's been professional enough by not mentioning it more often.

 

No sympathy for Flair on this one.

Don't get me wrong, guys - Flair deserves zero sympathy and absolutely should pay up - but Cary Silkin tweeting about it and planning a public confrontation is a total bush league move. It's, yes, pathetic.

 

That's not how professional businessmen handle financial situations. But bush league carnies do.

When's the last time that RoH had a remotely relevant episode of TV out there? I keep tuning in and it's either clip shows or shit from months ago.

This week was back to normal shows.

There's no AC in the building and Cheeseburger is wrestling the Beer City Bruiser. Truly this is hell.

Crowd killing 101. Get the crowd rocking with a great match and then have two nobodies run in and ruin it.

So let's talk about the show I attended tonight.

 

War Machine vs. The Addiction was a really good match. The crowd was super into it and things were going great. Then two guys who no one knew ran in and cost War Machine the match. You could just feel the crowd die with that result. Then they turn around with Strong/Briscoe as the main event. Crowd isn't super into it. So you do the screwjob in the co-main event so what do you do in your main event? Oh that's right, you have a ref bump cost your No. 1 Contender the match. You could feel like 75% of the crowd thinking "WTF" at the exact same time. That's some WCW level booking right there.

 

And then there's Women of Honor. If you're not going to have a division on the level of NXT then don't bother. It looks like they settled for leftovers.

 

The match times were all over the place on this show. Why the hell is Cheeseburger vs. the Beer City Bruiser getting similar time to Mark Briscoe vs. Stevie Richards and ANX vs. MCMG?

 

The Bullet Club has the dynamics of the promotion all sorts of fucked up. I like the Bucks, I really go but RoH has found a way to make them completely insufferable to even people like me that enjoy them. But past that, the heel/face dynamic is all fucked up now. The crowd cheers them but they act like heels but then they pander to the crowd. It's just an absolute mess and I don't think they have the first clue how to work through it.

Looking it up. It was Keith Lee and Shane Taylor that ran in on the tag title match.

Looking it up. It was Keith Lee and Shane Taylor that ran in on the tag title match.

 

 

These guys are good workers. I'm assumed that they are signed now. They bring a totally different dynamic to ROH. I'm guessing they're setting up a program with War Machine. They worked a Squash match here in San Antonio and Andy Dalton worked so hard to make them come across as killers. The match got over big. I've seen Lee and Taylor work the indy circuit in Texas and they have a huge upside. Lee is one of the most underrated talkers in wrestling.