From WorldWrestlingInsanity.com
The Corner of Honor: The Embassy, The Briscoe Boys, Chris Hero, and More
By Adam Barnowski
Oct 12, 2006 - 6:02 PM
Chapter 1 : The rise and fall of the Crown Jewel
Embassy Forever? How the mighty have fallen.
The “Crown Jewel” Jimmy Rave has a had a number of good years in Ring of Honor (hereafter RoH). Starting with his fantastic feud with AJ Styles over Jimmy’s usage of a move that he pioneered in RoH : “The Rave Clash”. AJ apparently felt this move was too similar to his finisher - “The Styles Clash” (typical Styles - the wrestling world apparently revolves around him). The two had an excellent feud which culminated in an AJ victory, but included a number of fantastic matches, and a couple of high profile wins for Jimmy over the three time former NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
After the Styles feud, Jimmy moved his focus to the “Common Man” CM Punk. Again Jimmy scored a number of victories over the man who is now the new face of WWECW. Jimmy beat Punk down a number of times before Punk came back to finish the feud off with a narrow victory in a steel cage match. However if you look closely at that feud, you can see that Jimmy clearly dominated the feud, winning the majority of the matches between the two.
Later Punk went after the RoH world title, while Jimmy began teaming with Alex Shelly and feuding with Generation Next. In my humble opinion, the Embassy team of Shelly & Rave was the best tag team in RoH at the time, and there’s no question that RoH has the most competitive Tag Team division in all of wrestling. Shelly & Rave put on a number of fantastic matches during the RoH tag team boon, and were poised to capture the gold from Generation Next. During this time fans began showering Jimmy with the infamous TP treatment, which quickly turned Jimmy’s entrance into the most dynamic and anticipated entrance in all of RoH history. However, just as he seemed to be at the peak of his RoH run, things started to fall apart for Rave.
For reasons I have yet to fully understand, Alex Shelly left the Embassy (even though he still does the Embassy pose in all of his TNA matches) in favor of hanging out with Johnny Divine and Kevin Nash in TNA (I am a huge Alex Shelly fan, but I feel that was a bad career decision). Jimmy and Nana were working on replacing Alex when, without warning, Nana packed his bags and left RoH as well. This left the crown jewel lacking direction, and since then he has been on a losing streak that has stunned his legions of fans.
He had already dropped a pair of matches to the impressive Davey Richards (no huge embarrassment there) but once Nana left, Jimmy began dropping matches left and right. His meteoric plummet to the bottom of the card has left him wrestling in six man mayhem matches with former RoH students, and total unknowns..... and still losing! Last week he was pinned by the (roughly) 4’5” 75 lb. Pelle Primeau in Detroit as I watched in horror from the front row.
Now I read that Jimmy is scheduled to face Shingo Takagi on 10/27 in Dayton, and I don’t think there’s any way, with the way things have been going recently, that he can win that match.
Six months ago it looked like Jimmy was well on his way to his first title in RoH. Now it looks like Jimmy may fall of the roster all together.
That would be a tragedy of epic proportions. It’s time for the RoH fans to rally around Jimmy Rave now. He’s been a mainstay on the roster for a number of years, and he needs our help now. I urge you to visit Jimmy’s live journal page at “xxxjimmyravexxx.livejournal.com” and let the former “Crown Jewel” know that he has your support.
Chapter 2 : 5150?
LAX has got nothing on Ring of Honors redneck maniacs : The Briscoe Boys.
Speaking of last Saturday in Detroit - I witnessed at that show what I feel was the most amazing hardcore spectacular that I have ever witnessed in my 30+ years as a wrestling fan. The final match of the evening - The anything goes, falls count anywhere, street fight between the Briscoes and Homicide & Joe was a show stealing spectacular that must be seen to be believed. It makes the current WWECW product look like a kindergarten recess fight.
The match started with a chair throwing brawl thru the crowd that left a number of fans fearing for their lives. I witnessed (up close and very personal) Samoa Joe snap power slamming Mark Briscoe thru a chair and onto the concrete floor in one of the sickest spots of the night. However it was when they decided to take the fight out onto the streets of Detroit, that the match jumped up a number of stars.
I had a feeling that they were going outside, so I maneuvered my way over to the doors and watched as the four wrestlers came my way, with a trail of about 200 rabid Detroit fans following them. When they got outside, a near riot erupted at the Michigan Mart, as these four guys pounded each other with anything and everything that they could find in the parking lot. Eventually they battled over to a Ryder truck, and I watched in wonderment as one of those crazy Briscoe boys scaled up the side of the truck and stood perched on top.
We all held our breath and wondered what he was thinking, but no one was prepared for him to launch a SHOOTING STAR PRESS off of the top of the truck, and down onto the cold hard concrete below. The crowd lost it’s collective mind, as I tried to determine if the man was dead or not. Amazingly - he got up, and the match continued. They brawled back into the building where the Briscoes eventually pinned Homicide off of a springboard spike Jay Driller.
The Detroit RoH crowd launched into an immediate “That was Awesome” chant as one of the Briscoes grabbed the microphone and left us with this pearl of wisdom : “That’s the stupidest chant that I’ve ever heard! F*&k Samoa Joe; F*@k Homicide; F#^k Detroit; The Briscoes are the best tag team in the world.... Period!” This was a fantastic closing promo to a phenomenal match. Are the Briscoe Boys really the best tag team in the business? I don’t think there’s any argument.
Hats off to the Briscoes, Homicide, and Joe for providing a spectacle that will not soon be forgotten. I strongly suggest that you buy this show when it comes out on DVD, and I urge you to get out and see Ring of Honor when they come to your town. They’ve never let us down here in Detroit.
Chapter 3 : Does Chris Hero really suck?
Is Captain Yellow Pants the worst wrestler in RoH? Simple Answer - Yes.
Let me start by saying that I like Chris Hero. He’s got that arrogant, holier than thou, condescending, cheat to win attitude, that I applaud in a great heel wrestler. He has excellent training, and has himself trained a number of solid wrestlers. I had a fantastic time standing next to him last Saturday, suggesting to him that Detroit was not worthy to see him wrestle. I tried my best to talk him into leaving the building, rather than accepting the challenge from Matt Sydal (a challenge which he did accept, and then promptly lost..... I told you so Chris) but I have to admit, I had ulterior reasons for urging him not to wrestle.
You see, the sad fact is that as much as I like Chris Hero, I have yet to see him have a decent wrestling match. I’ve seen him wrestle Sydal, Aries, Strong, Homicide, and a whole slew of other wrestlers in RoH, but I have never witnessed a decent Chris Hero wrestling match. In the ring - he sucks - plain and simple. Even his match with Brian “By God” Danielson (The Best Wrestler in the World) who can have a good match with a piece of cardboard, was boring and somnambulistic.
I know Hero has his fans, I would like to be one of them, but I openly challenge anyone reading this to name ONE good Chris Hero match (not counting the Cage of Death - which was an awesome match but not because of Hero). Until someone can prove to me otherwise, I stand behind the claim that Chris Hero has earned the title of worst wrestler in RoH.
BTW - His tag matches with Claudio Castagnoli don’t count, as Double C is fantastic in (and out of) the ring and helps carry those matches for him.
Chapter 4 : Diabolic Khaos
Masked Man has a huge break thru, and Shimmer powerhouse deserves more bookings in RoH.
I had never seen MsChif wrestle before this past Saturday. Now that I have “seen the darkness” live and in person, I am hungry for more. I will be buying those Shimmer dvds, and I urge RoH to book this gorgeous woman in black on more shows in the future. Forget puny Lacey, Allison Danger, and the anorexic Daizee Haze - MsChif is the girl I want to see. I personally would love to see a reunion of the awesome tag team of MsChif & Delirious (also know as “Diabolic Khaos”) on future RoH shows.
Back me up on this one gang, demand more MsChif from RoH, and visit the website at “www.mschif.net”
Also huge props to Delirious for his big upset win at Survival of the Fittest. Delirious has long been one of the most entertaining men on the RoH roster, but it seemed like he was never going to break out of the undercard. All that changed last Friday in Cleveland, when the masked man from the Forbidden City (near Parts Unknown) survived a field that included Samoa Joe, Brian Danielson, Jay & Mark Briscoe, Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, Matt Sydal, and more, to capture one of the most prestigious titles in all of RoH. Well done indeed and good luck in Boston against “The Best in the World”.
Questions, comments, threats, or bribes to abarnowski@comcast.net.
Thanks for reading everyone, and thanks to James and his gang for giving me a forum to rant on.
See you next time gang.
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