Welcome to ROH Honorable Mention, Last Word on Sports’s look at the biggest news coming out of Ring of Honor.
A Royal Exit
Ring of Honor continued its string of compelling television once more with an episode emanating from Philadelphia. Michael Bennett developed into a legitimate star during his time at the independent company. His relationship with Maria Kanellis has been a boon to both of their careers. Her work as his valet shows no signs of being a forced pairing due to their real life relationship. In signing the pairing, TNA bolstered its roster with a ready made contender for the world title and a believable star. Kanellis has worked most successfully as a heel and this work was put on display during the tandem’s last hurrah in a Ring of Honor ring. Both Bennett and Kanellis fell victim to the whims of the victorious Young Bucks, who with the help of AJ Styles, made sure that the duo got “More Bang for their Bucks” and sent Kanellis packing with an Indietaker. During a time when WWE shies away from this type of interaction between men and women, ROH embraced the comeuppance of the heel manager openly, as the weekly installment ended with Maria laying prone on the mat. After close to 8 years with the company, ROH will need to quickly look to fill the void that has been left behind by these two top-notch performers who proved in their final moments that putting over the product is their primary goal, something TNA will no doubt become better because of. TNA would do well to not split these two up. They have been one of the most successful real-life on air pairings in recent memory, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon aside. Their work together is what has aided their rise to the top, pulling them apart for the sake of a storyline would be detrimental to the solid work they do together.
Behind the Masks
Suspensions in wrestling are generally quite laughable; they allow both and heels and faces to rile up a crowd as the powers that be never seem to be able to expose the identity of a mask man. Steve Corino has been suspended from his duties as a color commentator for his physicality with B.J. Whitmer. Luckily, ROH was able to quickly replace him with Mr. Wrestling III, who has been fortunate enough to be able to borrow Corino’s most famous catchphrases. Whitmer insists that Corino is Mr. Wrestling III, but has no way to prove it. It is an enjoyable pro wrestling trope, however it seems Ring of Honor may be content running with idea with two different on-air personalities simultaneously. McGuinness has suspended Christopher Daniels for his post-match antics during which he cold-cocked a referee and wielded a ring bell as a weapon.
According to the Fallen Angel’s twitter account, he has not been in the ring lately, but Curry Man has mysteriously appeared in his stead.
Hey, @roderickstrong, while you're defending your championship, could you grab the $ this reprobate owes me? Thanks! pic.twitter.com/bim55DWJfP
— Christopher Daniels (@facdaniels) January 12, 2016
Knowing both Corino’s and Daniels’s past, it is a bit absurd that Ring of Honor feels comfortable running these angles concurrently. The payoff will eventually be the same, with an unmasking and then a match to settle the score further down the line. Unless a different conclusion comes to fruition from these feuds, it is odd that a mere hour of television can run such similar ideas. Granted, Corino is not an active wrestler, whereas Christopher Daniels is, but it seems short-sighted to have both men play this out. The conceit in this type of story is always the same: the crowd and the antagonist of the suspended party know who the masked wrestler really is. It’ll be interesting to watch how the next couple of weeks play out; a reliance on old tropes and old wrestlers does not for new stars make, especially after the departure of two major stars.
