Welcome to ROH Honorable Mention, Last Word on Sports’s look at the biggest news coming out of Ring of Honor.
Ring of Honor’s 14 anniversary show did not live up to hype, as you can read all about in LWOS’s own Sean Garmer’s piece here. One bright spot during the event for Ring of Honor specifically was the watching the Motor City Machine Guns reunite.
On April 1st, at Supercard of honor, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin will take on the team of the Young Bucks, as ROH announced on their website. As of late, ROH’s tag division has depleted, with the dissolution of the Kingdom after Michael Bennett’s departure and Matt Taven’s injury. Although reDragon have been involved in tag match, it seems the intention is have them pursue singles success. The return of the All-Night Express has been a boon, as was the exclusive signing of the Young Bucks, but the return of the Motor City Machine Guns into the tag title picture raises the level of competition in an exciting division that rivals that of any other televised company in wrestling today.
The two began teaming in 2006, in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Ring of Honor promotions under the name of the Motor City Machine Guns, with some variation on occasion. Shelley and Sabin signed with TNA in 2007 and were a fixture with the company until 2011, carrying the TNA Tag Team titles for 182 days, the second longest reign that the company had seen to date. the duo appeared in ROH during this time as well, until TNA pulled them from various shows. The combination of injuries after their title reign, as well as general misuse, led to the team disbanding, as Shelley went to New Japan and Sabin stayed, winning the World Heavyweight championship.
Motor City Machine Guns Reunite
Fast forward to 2015, and Sabin became a regular on Ring Of Honor cards, aligning himself with Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian. On more than one occasion, Sabin interfered on behalf of his new running mates, earning them the titles. The Addiction eventually dropped the titles and Shelley’s reemergence complicated matters for Sabin. During the 14th anniversary show, Sabin was once again reluctant to help Daniels and Kazarian beat down Shelley after the match. He eventually turned on the two, helping his former partner while setting the stage for a showdown between the reunited team and the Addiction at ROH’s show the very next night. A rebranded team of the Machine Guns bested their opponents now have their eyes set on tackling the Young Bucks at the Supercard show. Barring injury, the Guns may indeed be line to carry the titles for a while.
Last Appearance for the Last Real Man
Last week’s episode of Ring of Honor wrestling saw the last appearance, for the foreseeable future, of the Last Real Man Silas Young. His work in Ring of Honor during the past year helped elevate young stars like Dalton Castle. The long program, which saw Castle’s ringside Boys become Young’s pages, is coming to a head. Young has tweeted that he is heading off to Germany in the coming weeks and the last episode of ROH seems to corroborate this fact. During a match between the “Almighty” Christopher Daniels, Silas Young sat at the commentary table and true to his word, did not interfere in the match. After some interference from Frankie Kazarian, Castle took the loss, just as it looked like he would come away the victor.
Afterwards, Castle was heckled by Young for not winning and acknowledged his loss, blaming it on the Last Real Man. The Party Peacock laid down the gauntlet and challenged Young to a fight without honor. ROH tapings air weeks after the matches take place, but it seems that Young has “spoiled” the result of the match on his Twitter feed, mentioning his imminent departure to Germany. Although his visit to Germany may be a short one, it seems the hype he has given the move indicate that he may indeed be on an sabbatical from Ring of Honor.
https://twitter.com/lastrealmanROH/status/707324857667563520
If Young leaves for an extended period of time, it will be a real loss for the company as he has been a consistently adroit competitor, a throwback to an era when heels were truly hard-nosed grapplers that were not to be trifled with. Silas is an unabashedly politically-incorrect representation of the territory days. His dedication to his character and work-rate have made him a pleasure to watch perform. As an independent wrestler, he has put storytelling ahead of making profits, treating fans with disdain at all times and never looking to sell a shirt with a pithy catchphrase. With any luck, he will take some time to hone his craft in Germany and return better than ever in the months to come, as I believe he has not yet reached his full potential with the company. It is fitting that his last match could possibly be a fight without honor, as no match in ROH calls for a more barbaric display of grit and determination. Look for the bout to get top billing on ROH programming and to be a possible match of the year candidate for the company, albeit early in the year.
2016 Top Prospect Tournament Winner
Lio Rush battled Brian Fury, a 17 year veteran, in the finals of the Top Prospect Tournament. As he has done throughout the tournament, the high flying Rush took Fury to the limit and won the match in a bang-bang moment at the end of the match. Just as Fury seemed to cleave Rush’s head off with a clothesline, Lio was able to reverse it into his finished, driving Fury’s head into the mat and scoring the pinfall quickly thereafter. His work in Combat Zone Wrestling has proved that he has the skills to compete against wrestlers of any size, despite his thin frame. If Young’s departure is a long-term one, Rush can easily fill up the empty slot, making a serious push to be ROH Television champion in the very near future.
