Newswire For The Week Of January 2nd!!!
1/2/2005
ROH

January 2nd: We hope you had a happy and safe New Year. Everyone in ROH is very excited about 2005 and we will strive to make the product even better for you. There are so many questions going into 2005. Here are just a few:

-What kind of champion will Austin Aries make and how long can he hold the belt for?

-How will Samoa Joe react to losing the title?

-How hardcore will Mick Foley get against Samoa Joe?

-Does Jack Evans agree with Austin Aries and Roderick Strong's decision to turn on Alex Shelley?

-Can the Evans/Strong tag team survive this split in Generation Next?

-Will Jay & Mark Briscoe ever return from injuries?

-What stipulations will we see in the Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide feud?

-How far will Prince Nana take The Embassy in 2005?

-How will Pure Champion John Walters fit into The Embassy?

-Who will be the breakout star of 2005?

-What will happen in the CM Punk/Steve Corino relationship?

-Who can take the Tag Titles from Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero?

-Can Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer finally get rid of Allison Danger?

-Will major talent like Spanky and Jamie Knoble make an impact in ROH?

-Can Colt Cabana get revenge on Generation Next?

-What new towns and cities will ROH go to?

-Who will do a Straight Shoot?

-What new home release concepts will ROH introduce?

-What now for The Carnage Crew?

-Will the members of Special K finally realize their potential?

-Will Dunn & Marcos ever get off ring crew?

-These are only a few of the questions that will be answered in ROH in 2005

January 3rd: Just about everyone on the ROH roster has petitioned for a future World Title shot at new Champion Austin Aries. ROH officials will be holding matches over the first two months of the year to determine challengers. Samoa Joe has been granted a rematch because of his remarkable reign as World Champion. Joe will get his shot at the champion as the main event of 2/26 in Chicago Ridge, IL at the Frontier Fieldhouse. There is no telling if Aries will be holding the belt by then as he has committed to defend it on 1/15 in Boston vs. Colt Cabana and if he retains again on 2/19 at the RexPlex in Elizabeth, NJ

January 3rd: Two more big matches have been signed for the 1/15 Boston area show. Cambridge, MA will see a first time ever match as Spanky takes on Alex Shelley. Both men want a World Title shot and need a win here to get into title contention.

January 3rd: The Tag Team Titles will be on the line on 1/15 in Boston. After much debate, ROH officials have decided that there are three worthy challengers for the Tag Titles. Therefore, Ultimate Endurance is coming to Cambridge, MA pitting ROH Tag Team Champions Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero with Julius Smokes vs. Jack Evans & Roderick Strong vs. Steve Corino & CM Punk vs. The Carnage Crew of Loc & Devito. This is an elimination match with each fall having a different stipulation. The first fall will be a Tag Team Scramble. The second fall with the remaining three teams will be an Anything Goes. The final fall with the last two teams will be a straight up match for the Tag Titles!!!

January 3rd: The five teams for the 2/19 Scramble Cage in Elizabeth, NJ have been announced. It will be Jack Evans & Roderick Strong vs. Carnage Crew of Loc & Devito vs. Izzy & Deranged vs. Dixie & Angel Dust vs. The Ring Crew Express of Dunn & Marcos. Two teams will start out for two minutes and then the rest of the teams will enter at one minute intervals. Once every team gets in the match the first fall wins it. This is the same format as the very first Scramble Cage at "Main Event Spectacles" on 11/1/03. ROH officials are looking at adding another cage match and making it a double cage night similar to "At Our Best" on 3/13/04.

January 3rd: A big grudge match has been signed for 2/25 in Dayton, Ohio. CM Punk of The Second City Saints will take on the former Generation Next leader Alex Shelley. These two will settle their score on the second show of the Third Anniversary Celebration Week. Both men also want to get into title contention and need a victory here in order to do that.

January 3rd: Jimmy Jacobs wants one more shot at Alex Shelley. Jacobs told ROH officials that he feels he cannot get to the next level unless he gets the monkey off his back of never being able to defeat Shelley. Meanwhile, Shelley is looking for revenge on Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. However, neither seem interested in fighting Shelley as both say they have more important things to do. There is still a question as to where Jack Evans stands in the Generation Next split. Although he is scheduled to team with Strong on upcoming shows, it is unknown whether he will have any alliance to new Generation Next leader Aries. Shelley better hope that Evans still has some loyalty to him or he is out of friends and allies.

January 3rd: Full Impact Pro returns to action this Friday in Lakeland, FL and Saturday in Tampa, FL. Check FullImpactPro.com for directions and full card info. The main matches for 1/7 in Lakeland have Homicide defending the FIP Heavyweight Title vs. James Gibson (formerly known as Jamie Knoble in WWE), Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong, Jerrelle Clark & Sal Rinauro vs. Jimmy Rave & Fast Eddie Vegas with Dave Prazak, CM Punk vs. Antonio Banks, Puma vs. Azrieal and more. The top matches for 1/8 in Tampa are an anything goes match pitting Homicide & Rainman vs. CM Punk & Azrieal, James Gibson vs. Puma, Jerrelle Clark vs. Fast Eddie Vegas, Mike Shane vs. Antonio Banks plus more with Samoa Joe, Roderick Strong and others. ROH will have a table on both nights with a selection of show DVDs including the latest releases.
=====================================

Is it just me, or do they always screw Dayton out of the best title matches since Joe/Punk?

January 4th: Thank you to Bob Magee of PWBTS.com, who gave Ring Of Honor its promotion of the year award for the third straight year. PWBTS.com gave independent match of the year to CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe from 10/16/04 "Joe vs. Punk II" and Punk vs. Joe on 6/12/04 "World Title Classic" in a tie. 3/13/04 "At Our Best" won independent show of the year.

January 4th: Pure Champion John Walters will defend the belt on 2/19 in Elizabeth, NJ at the RexPlex.

January 4th: ROH World Champion Austin Aries is currently negotiating with various promotions to defend the World Title in other countries. Aries insists that the prestige of the ROH World Title will reach even greater heights with him as champion. Meanwhile, Colt Cabana has dropped the comedy and is driven by anger and revenge to get the belt off Aries in Boston on 1/15.

January 4th: ROH currently has officials over in Japan to help promote the new http://www.japan.rohwrestling.com website. The ROH officials will be at the New Japan Tokyo Dome show as well as other events.

January 4th: Ring Of Honor has started a huge sale where you can get tickets to all upcoming shows and several DVDs for just $10 each!!! That's right, $10 will get you tickets to any upcoming show including 1/15 in Boston and the Third Anniversary Celebration Week. If you have a friend who has never been to ROH this is a great chance to get them to a show for cheap. Act now because this sale ends on 1/6. One of the DVDs included in the sale is 7/19/04 "Death Before Dishonor," which is a two disc set. This has been called one of ROH's best shows ever featuring Raven vs. CM Punk in a dog collar match and Paul London vs. Samoa Joe including London's farewell. Now you can get this double DVD release for just $10!!!

January 4th: Prince Nana is sending The Outcast Killaz after Jay Lethal on 1/15 in Boston. Lethal has selected Josh Daniels as his tag team partner for this bout. Both of Nana's Weapons Of Mask Destruction have failed to take out Lethal. Now Nana is counting on the Killaz. This will be The Outcast Killaz's opportunity to really shine. Daniels is a wise choice since he was once under Nana's tutelage and can possibly give Lethal some pointers.

January 4th: Allison Danger will be in Boston on 1/15. Danger has been in a great mood since hearing that BJ Whitmer would be out of action because of elbow surgery. Dan Maff is also banged up and will miss the 1/15 event. Danger says her quest to rebuild The Prophecy will begin in Boston.

January 4th: If you are looking for more impartial reviews of ROH home releases check out http://oratory.rajah.com/index.php?archive=2367 for a review of "Weekend Of Thunder: Night One" and some editions of The Straight Shootin' Series as well as Secrets Of The Ring. This reviewer has a unique system where he gives dollar amounts instead of star ratings.

January 5th: The one night six man tournament to determine who is the best team/faction in ROH has been signed for 3/5 in Philadelphia. You can now get tickets for this event as part of the $10 sale. Act now because the sale ends tomorrow. The first team entered will be The Rottweilers of Homicide, Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero with Julius Smokes.

January 5th: ROH Tag Team Champions Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero have signed for the 2/19 Elizabeth, NJ event. They will defend the belts if they make it past Ultimate Endurance on 1/15 in Boston. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer will get the shot at the Tag Titles on 2/19 based on their victory at "Final Battle 2004."

January 5th: Spanky has also signed to be on the 2/19 show, which will kick off ROH's Third Anniversary Celebration Week.

January 5th: Two new DVDs have been added to the $10 sale. The first is 10/16/03 "Tradition Continues" featuring the start of the Samoa Joe vs. Briscoes feud and CM Punk vs. AJ Styles. The other is 10/25/03 "Empire State Showdown" featuring a violent chapter of the Homicide vs. Samoa Joe feud and a must see cerebral and physical battle between CM Punk and Steve Corino.

January 5th: ROH officials are busy setting the 2005 schedule now including some new towns and cities. We will have show announcements in the upcoming weeks. ROH officials have also lined up some big shoot interviews, Secrets Of The Ring and a few other new concepts. This will be a very interesting year for home releases.

January 5th: AJ Styles is very excited about his return to ROH on 2/25 in Dayton, Ohio. Styles says he's going to show Jimmy Rave why he's the true master of the Styles clash. This is still AJ's only scheduled appearance in ROH. It will definitely be something special when Styles returns to the ROH ring. There is talk of a bus trip from Cleveland for this huge show. If you are interested email WKNR@sportstalkcleveland.com and then sit back, enjoy the ride and watch some DVDs. The bus will also feature special guests from the ROH roster.

Good god I've been out of the loop. Can we say OVERKILL on the SC? Seriously...