Welcome to this post-Gabe Ring of Honor ROHbot Report. The news has rocked the world, similar to that of…um, what happened this week again? Something historic, I know. I just can’t put my finger on it. Whatever, I know it can’t touch what will happen this weekend as ROH heads back to Canada for a double shot in Montreal and Markham. Before talking about tonight’s event, we have to look at the results from ROH’s debut in Montreal.

Preshow) Stupefied over Excess, Dan Paysan and Green Phantom to win 4-way

Return Date is being advertised as April 17, 2009

General Rule Change Announced: Every match has a 20 count on the floor.
1) Erick Stevens over Eddie Edwards w/ Shane Hagadorn & Bobby Dempsey via Doctor Bomb
2) Jay & Mark Briscoe over Kenny King & Kenny Omega when King bailed on Omega and is greeted and high fived on the ramp by Rhett Titus. Omega is then hit with Doomsday Device and pinned.
3) Necro Butcher over Brodie Lee via DQ due to AOTF interference. Nigel comes out, trash talks Necro and Montreal. Claims he is "The Best there is, the Best there was and the Best there ever will be" to HUGE heat!
4) Jerry Lynn over Delirious via Cradle Piledriver.
5) Davey Richards over Roderick Strong w/ Shane Hagadorn & Bobby Dempsey when Edwards hit Strong and Richards nailed a Tiger Driver for the win. Shiozaki joined for a 4 on 1 post match beat down before Erick Stevens made the save. Strong and Stevens had a stare down and left separately.
6) Bryan Danielson & Austin Aries over AOTF's Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black when Aries tapped Jacobs to Last Chancery. Jacobs blamed Tyler for the loss and both left without speaking.
Steen and Generico announced first for the ROH World Title Match - SUPER OVER - fans loving the HELL out of them in Montreal!!!
7) ROH World Title Elimination Match
~elimination #1 Shiozaki pins El Generico with Go Flasher following a Nigel low blow on Generico.
~elimination #2 Steen taps Go Shiozaki with a Sharpshooter (!)
~elimination #3 Nigel McGuinness pinned Kevin Steen after a BRUTAL Jawbreaker Lariat preceded by multiple, great false finishes. Steen thanked the crowd in French and Generico spoke in French as well.

From the reports, the show wasn’t much different than most ROH shows this year, hopefully calming some of the worry that Adam Pearce would screw up everything. The twenty-count rule is good due to the fact that without the count out rule, some matches have taken a lot of time away from the ring, and the view for the fans that want to get into it. Love the planting of seeds for Tyler Black’s official break off from the AOTF. Should be a nice feud if it does happen. Nothing overly shocking about the results outside of Rhett Titus recruiting men now. I hope they’re starting a ladies’ men gimmick, because if they aren’t…

Well, enough about last night, lets look at what ROH has in store for the Ontario fans.  

ROH World Title Match
Nigel McGuinness (if still champion) defends vs. The Necro Butcher
World Tag Team Title Match
Kevin Steen & El Generico (if still champions) defend vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe
Dog Collar Match
Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs
Three Way Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black vs. Kenny Omega
Special Challenge Match
Jerry Lynn vs. Davey Richards with Larry Sweeney
Brodie Lee & Delirious of Age of the Fall have issued an open challenge!!!
Also scheduled to appear: Go Shiozaki & Eddie Edwards with Larry Sweeney; Roderick Strong; Erick Stevens; Kenny King plus more to be announced!!!

The top three matches, if they turn out half as good as I think they can, will make this show an immediate DVD purchase. Any of the three could headline the show, but I think the Tag title match should be that match. While the World title match should be the end of an event, sometimes it shouldn’t be, and this is one of those times. It’s just one of those matches you wouldn’t put at the top of a card, no matter how good it could be. The Dog Collar match is very similar to the World title match in that regard. And then there’s the rematch over a year in the making. Not only are the fans pumped to see two of the best teams go at it once again, but Steen is also the home country boy. You have to put him in the main event. Not to forget about the rest of the card, I’m really excited to hear how the triple threat turns out with Omega being in such a high profile match in his short ROH tenure. What kind of role will he play in the match could, like his teaming with King, give us some insight on where he’s going in ROH.

Ring of Honor's next PPV, "Driven" premieres next Friday night, November 14th on iN Demand, The Dish Network, and TVN cable systems.

I’m really looking forward to this event for the pure fact I can’t wait to see Steenerico finally make it to the top of the tag team division. It was also reported that the show was amazing from an in ring perspective, and from a crowd perspective. I’ll make sure you know if it’s Worth Your Money.

ROH Officials have fielded several phone calls from Samoa Joe, who by all accounts sees a lot of "humor" in Tyler Black's recent blog calling out the ROH legend. Take a look at what Black had to say (http://projectonesixone.blogspot.com/) and judge for yourself.

And it begins. I think this will be a wonderful clash, not only from the point of “legend” vs. “possible future legend,” but the clash of styles will be incredible. Both men can’t help but have good to great matches with anyone they come in contact with. I’m really excited how both men come out of this possible MOTYC.  

Should Nigel McGuinness retain the ROH title in Canada, we now know who one of his two potential challengers is. Austin Aries has signed the contract and will oppose McGuinness and another opponent in Dayton on 11/21, with or without the title on the line!

They’ve had a series of great matches over the past year, and this one shouldn’t be any different. With Aries’ feud culminating match with Jimmy Jacobs happening the next night, I have a feeling Jacobs might be the reason Aries can’t become the first ever two time ROH World champion.

Speaking of Bryan Danielson, he apparently hasn't forgotten about what Claudio Castagnoli did to him several months back in New York. Also signed for Dayton on 11/21 is Danielson vs. Castagnoli!

Glad to see this match will finally happen. I have to touch on Claudio later on, though.

Speaking of Davey Richards, his challenge to Brent Albright took only minutes to be answered. Albright has signed the dotted-line and these two beasts will lock horns in Dayton on November 21st!

Two hard-hitting, workhorses. Sounds like an entertaining match to me.

Roderick Strong has a busy month ahead of him here in Ring of Honor. First, he faces Davey Richards this Friday in Montreal. Then, already signed for Dayton on 11/21, he'll oppose Chris Hero in a "Lights Out" match. Now, as we announced yesterday, he'll team with Brent Albright and long time nemesis, Erick Stevens to battle their common enemy, Sweet-n-Sour Incorporated, on 11/22 in Chicago. The ROH booking committee has indicated that BOTH sides have requested a stipulation on this match.

I knew it’d come to this, and I like it. This is the first time a man has found allies to battle Sweeney’s men. I’m looking for elimination rules, with Sweeney having to face any surviving member of Team Strevebright either that night or on pay-per-view as the stipulations. I hope they play some mistrust with Team Strevebright during the match, maybe even playing into a loss. Or they could just pull a WWE and have the former enemies act like the best of friends. Ah, you and your memories.   

ROH Officials are happy to welcome the impressive Silas Young back to ROH on 11/22 in Chicago.

I’ve seen Silas live and on DVD, and I really like the guy. He has a nice mix of power and speed, and I think he could become a nice solid hand on the ROH roster, if given the chance.

Blood boils hot in Chicago as Delirious and Rhett Titus will take their feud to another level. Will Titus once again end up a bloody mess, or will the masked Delirious find out why "the thrust is a must"? And will Daizee Haze have anything more to say on the subject?

I don’t know if we’ll see a slaughter, of Titus actually using his wits, and Delirious’ rage, to pick up the victory. Who am I kidding, we all want to see Titus bleed. It’s too hilarious. Delirious, make it so. As for Daizee, is it just me, or is she trying to hard to defend herself?

Austin Aries has agreed to allow Tyler Black to serve as Jimmy Jacobs' ring second for their highly anticipated "I Quit" match on 11/22 in Chicago. We're told that the agreement came when ROH officials agreed to allow Aries to have a second of his own for the bout. Aries has apparently made it clear that Jacobs will have to wait until Chicago to find out just who his second will be.

I see death being in Aries’ corner for, what should be, a bloody war.

Final Battle 2008 weekend just got even BIGGER. Last week we announced that Naomichi Marufuji, Kensuke Sasaki, & Katsuhiko Nakajima would be wrestling in Philadelphia, PA on 12/26 and New York City on 12/27. Just announced earlier today on the main page at www.rohwrestling.com is the return of former ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima. Matches featuring these amazing international talents will be announced in upcoming weeks.

Huge, just huge, and I’m not talking about Morishima’s waistline. Talk has been running around that we’ll finally see the conclusion of the Morishima/Danielson saga. I really think that there’s no better show to do it at than Final Battle. As for the others, I’ve touched on Sasaki and Nakajima already, and Marufuji is always a delight to watch. I guess that the Japanese import spirit hasn’t left ROH just yet.

Pleasing as those announcements are, I can’t help but be a little perturbed by the current situation a rather large ROH name is currently stuck in. For those who have been keeping up with the Reports, you know who I’m talking about. For those who don’t, I’ll give you a hint: he’s a loser. Wait, don’t think I’m bashing the guy, or hating on him for no reason. I’m a fan of this guy, been one for a while. But lately, the way he’s been booked, I wouldn’t think of him as anything other than a loser. The man I’m referring to is Claudio Castagnoli.

Lets take a trip down memory lane. Last summer, Claudio was on the rise to, what we all thought, a nice title reign. After a year of losses and frustration, Claudio snapped at Death Before Dishonor VI, stomping Bryan Danielson’s head in with a steel chair. I was really excited about this shocking turn of events. Claudio, while unable to wrestle the ROH World title from Nigel McGuinness for several months, began to vent some frustration. The frustration boiled over into a psychotic rage that, I thought, would lead to an immediate series of matches with Danielson, or some slaughtering from Castagnoli before seeing the Danielson/Castagnoli series continuing. Instead, we’ve seen Claudio lose time and time again. Actually, I looked it up and found that Claudio hasn’t won a match since Vendetta II back in June. Even before the heel turn, Claudio’s been seen as a loser.

I wouldn’t feel this way if his heel turn actually brought forth good results in his win/loss record. It hasn’t helped him, and it certainly hasn’t made him look any better. Claudio is in worst shape than he was this time last year. Claudio’s in worse shape than he was six months ago. It was six months ago when Claudio was headlining “A New Level” in ROH’s Hammerstein Ballroom debut. Now he can’t even win one of those wacky six ways. And look at his opponent from “A New Level”, Nigel McGuinness. Nigel has been the complete opposite of Claudio in terms of a heel turn. Both men faced the same frustration of not being able to win the ROH World title, with both concluding with a heel turn. Yes, Nigel won the belt, but he’s looked vulnerable in almost every defense since winning the belt, for real reasons and from great booking. Claudio hasn’t looked vulnerable because he hasn’t looked credible. He hasn’t appeared credible because he can’t win a match. His heel turn should’ve caused him to change his in ring perception, causing him to win a majority of his matches leading up to the inevitable Danielson clash.

I know you’re probably thinking that I think a win over Danielson will make everything better. It will help, but it won’t erase the erosion of Claudio’s losing streak. ROH is going to have to put some work in to get Claudio back in the position he was last year this time. A high intense, and more importantly victorious, feud with Bryan Danielson should be the first step. While this is going on, Tyler Black rises to ROH supremacy as the new World champion. And the rest writes itself. Who knows, with this plan, Claudio could become one of the hottest heels in ROH history…or it could lead to the end of another era in Ring of Honor.

Well, that’s all for those ROHbot Report. Just a little call to arms for some of you ROHbots out there, I’ve been having trouble logging into the ROH message boards since the board went down during Gabe-Gate 2008. This has prevented me from posting the Kevin Steen interview for the rest of the ROHbot nation to read. So if you have an account, help a brotha out and post the link of the last ROHbot Report on the ROH message board. Big thanks to everyone who’s reading, and make sure you thank ROH for providing us a true alternative by going over to their site and check out their latest sales, Videowire (with Nana goodness), and news. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week.

Till Then.

Oh, right, and Paul London got fired, so that’d be a sweet return, don’t you think?