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mr heyzel

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ROH COO Joe Koff Talks Long and Short-Term Goals For ROH TV
August 11, 2016 | Posted by Joseph Lee
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In an interview with Ring Rust Radio, Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff spoke about the television goals for the company and where the product could improve. Here are highlights:

On how the ROH product could improve: “Well that’s a very good question. I would tell you that from a talent perspective, from an excitement perspective, the pure product, the craft, the art of our wrestlers, the sensibility of our fans and our relationship to the fans overall, I think we can always improve. I would never want to be at a day of work where we think we can’t get better. I think a couple of areas that I’d like to see us do better is that I would like to toy around with the idea of a two-hour program. We are a very sleek one-hour program on a weekly basis. We have fairly good distribution and I’m very pleased with that. I would like to see us get to a broader national place like we had with Destination America. Since we are not in a set place and we don’t travel with 10 semi-trailers, production will always be something we look at to improve, but a lot of that is building based. I think it’s important that we go where the fans are and that’s why we took our show on the road. I think that’s a couple of things I would like to see us do a better job with.”

On the short-term and long-term goals of ROH TV: “That’s a great question as well. First of all, there is no short-term. Sinclair Broadcasting is a broadcaster and we own 172 television stations in 81 markets. We control programming and content on over 400 channels. This is a part of Sinclair Broadcasting. The short-term is exactly as you see it. The long-term is even better even for the fan. I’m really excited about it because of the company we represent. There are a lot of companies that wait for technology to happen and we’ve always been a company that’s been very innovative. I always liken ourselves as almost a tech incubator. A lot of the things we have done with Ring of Honor have come from inside the company. One of the things technically, and I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this because I’m not that well-informed enough to talk about it, but there’s going to be a new standard of broadcasting that’s being developed and accepted right now called ATSC 3.0. It’s going to be television transmission on an IP level. It’s going to allow us as a company and anyone else adapting to it to really bring free television platforms anywhere and on any device people are viewing them on. That’s another key to Sinclair is that we are a free television platform company. So Ring of Honor is always available for free. If you can get our signal no matter where you live or get one of these signals from a station that carries us across the country, you can get Ring of Honor for free without paying anything extra for it. That is something we believe dearly in and that says a lot about us.”

On ROH’s short run on Destination America: “Well I think it was very successful in retrospect. It expanded my brand even for that short period of time that we were on and it allowed more people to see us and more people to experience us. As far as why it didn’t go longer, I think it had to do with the management shift at Destination America which is not uncommon in the programming business. We are all fighting for audience and we are all fighting to do the best thing for our station. Destination America is a programming channel and I think they wanted to go more into the, I don’t want to call it the occult, but shows like Ghost Whisperer and stuff like that. Wrestling as a product has a tendency to be an isolationist product unless you are on a full wrestling channel, which doesn’t exist except in over-the-top with the WWE or on my website or ROH wrestling on demand where you can get tons of videos on demand. It doesn’t lend itself around other products unless you’re a male oriented station or a combat oriented station. I think Destination America just made a programming choice. I was thrilled to have that exposure. With Comet TV, which is a science fiction genre channel, we are in more homes than we were with Destination America so we didn’t lose out on that part.”

On how to grow ROH’s audience: “I would like to go international and take us to more countries. We’re embarking on our first international tour that we are promoting in the UK in November. I would like to be able to get to the point where we can get into some bigger buildings and we are getting there. This has been an amazing journey, and it started in 2010 when I met with Cary Silkin, the owner of Ring of Honor at the time. I talked to him about expanding his brand and taking it to places that he was unable to do. He agreed finally and after back and forth we were able to debut a product on September 24, 2011, which is when Ring of Honor television began. We are in the 250’s of episodes and that is a lot of content we have created. That includes the videos on demand and every house show we do is recorded and is available to the fans. I think we’ve done a really good job in creating a brand, and a brand that like you said the fans love. Quite frankly that is the reason why I was so passionate about getting involved with Ring of Honor. The relationship we have with the brand and the fans. I’ve been into wrestling my entire life, I am one of those fans that never really grew out of it, and I was able to find a way to stay in it. There are moments when you go to a Ring of Honor event, and I’m sure you guys have been and if not you need to come, when the arena and the fans and the guys all become one. It’s almost like you’re an athlete getting into the zone, it just happens and then you realize you are in the zone. Those moments are magical for my wrestlers and the fans and everyone involved. That’s the magic of Ring of Honor and I want to keep sustaining that and to keep it going. I think we’ve done a very good job in doing that.”

On the names that have left for WWE or TNA: “I love people that want to work for Ring of Honor and we are trying very hard to become the promotion of choice. A promotion of choice for fans, a promotion of choice for advertisers and a promotion of choice for talent. I don’t blame guys if they want to seize better opportunities elsewhere, and I think we would all do the same thing. I think we have done a very good job in creating a culture and I think our culture is definitely different than other wrestling companies and promotions. We provide steady work, we tour, we do TV, we don’t wrestle 200 days a year and because of that economically there’s going to be a difference. I certainly don’t begrudge anybody that thinks they can do better for themselves. They’re in charge of their lives and taking care of themselves and their families or whatever the decision trigger is to move to those organizations. I’m happy they were part of Ring of Honor and I hope they feel the same way.”

On WWE taking so many top ROH names: “You can’t worry about what you’re going to lose, you can only focus on what you can build. I think it’s a great draw for us. When you look at the wrestling landscape, and I just want to draw attention to even this conversation, four years ago I don’t think I would be this powerful in this narrative and I think we are there. When you talk about the names that you mentioned, I don’t think they would’ve gotten there without Ring of Honor. Ring of Honor is special and is special to the fans and special to the guys. Because of that I think we have an aspirational promotion to keep bringing in talent that may make it to WWE while some guys, and I say this with a lot of confidence, are very happy to just be in Ring of Honor. That level of talent is still going to be coveted, but may not be obtained. I have no issue with that and I’m proud of that. The guys that have worked for me and are now in WWE, I’d like to think that we played a little part in their success. I can take a lot of solace in that.”

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mr heyzel

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10 Years Later: Revisiting Danielson vs. McGuinness at ROH Unified
Posted by Kelly Harrass | Aug 9, 2016 | Columns, VOW |



“I will kill every single one of you!”- Bryan Danielson to the Liverpool fans

On August 12, 2006 Ring of Honor made their first trip out of the United States, running a show in Liverpool, England. This show would be historic for more than just this fact. In the main event, ROH World Champion, Bryan Danielson, and ROH Pure Champion, Nigel McGuinness, would meet in one of their greatest matches and only one of them would walk out of the match as champion. As the title of the show said, the World Championship and the Pure Championship would be Unified
ir
.

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[paste:font size="5"]The Road to England
McGuinness and Danielson had both picked up their respective titles in the second half of 2005 and were dominant champions. Their title unification clash was going to guarantee the first title change of 2006 in Ring of Honor. The war to determine the true champion in ROH began on April 29th at Weekend of Champions Night 2
ir
. Both titles were on the line in this one, but when it ended, no titles had changed hands. McGuinness used the Pure Championship rules to his advantage and won the match via count out after Danielson dove into the crowd and McGuinness used a chair to protect himself. Because McGuinness won by count out, the ROH World Championship did not change hands.

Three months later, Danielson defended his World Championship against McGuinness at Generation Now
ir
. With one win on his side, McGuinness didn’t have to defend his title this time around. Danielson would catch Nigel in his unbreakable small package and even up their series 1-1. With their trip to England looming, ROH knew they had to make a huge match for their first show across the pond. What match would be bigger than a title unification?

A match where McGuiness and Danielson could determine who was the better man and who was the true champion of ROH.

McGuinnessDanielsonUnified2.jpg


The Rules for the Match
This contest would be held under the special rules that accompanied ROH Pure Championship matches. Those rules are as follows:

  1. Each wrestler is only allowed three rope breaks. After a participant uses all three of their rope breaks, their opponent is free to use the ropes to their advantage.
  2. There are to be no closed first strikes to the face. The first punch would be met with a warning. The second would result in the loss of a rope break. If the offender was out of rope breaks, it would result in a disqualification.
  3. There is a strict 20 count on the floor.
This match also had special rules to guarantee that there was a winner. The titles could change hands on a count out or a disqualification. There was no time limit and in the case of a double pin or double count out, the match would be restarted. No matter how long the match went on, there would be a winner.

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The World’s Best Pure Wrestler vs. the Best Wrestler in the World
When the match begins, it’s clear that this crowd is behind their countryman. The fans sing along with The Final Countdown, but they go nuts for McGuinness when F**kin’ in the Bushes (one of the most underrated entrance themes of the modern era) hits. This match isn’t only on Nigel’s home turf, they’re playing by the rules that Nigel has become accustomed to. Because the Pure Championship rules limit the amount of rope breaks a wrestler gets, it forces them to be more creative when trying to get out of a hold. They could reach for the rope when it might help them right now, but that could doom them later.

Early on in the match, Danielson attacks the left arm of McGuinness, trying to take away one of Nigel’s greatest weapons; his lariats. Bryan gets McGuinness in an armbar, forcing him to use his first rope break. Nigel takes control of the match for a short time, rocking Danielson with uppercuts. McGuinness attempts a short arm lariat, but Bryan ducks it and uses Nigel’s momentum to take him down and lock in Cattle Mutilation. It’s fairly early on in the match, but McGuinness has to use his second rope break. Danielson knows that his early submission based strategy has paid off and put him in the lead. Even though Nigel looks absolutely crushed when he lifts himself off the mat following the rope break, he doesn’t let it get to him. The cocky Danielson goes to the top rope and a quick as lightning McGuinness catches Bryan and spikes him with a Tower of London. Nigel goes for the pin, but Danielson gets his foot on the ropes to use his first of three breaks.

McGuinness knows that he’s taken control and he doesn’t let up. This time he gets into Danielson’s head by using his own move against him. The still dazed Danielson finds himself face down on the mat as McGuinness hooks his arms with Cattle Mutilation. Rather than try to break out of his own hold, Bryan uses his second rope break. Just like that, things are even once again.

After a brief battle on the outside where Danielson attempted to get a count out victory, the two men make their way back into the ring and exchange a series of forearms and pin attempts. Bryan manages to get the advantage and put the Crossface Chickenwing on McGuinness. This hold forces Nigel to expend his third and final rope break. From this point on, the ropes are in play for Danielson, who takes this opportunity to gloat. No one is better at being the Best in the World than Bryan Danielson is. The fans don’t take kindly to this and Bryan responds with the quote that opened this piece. McGuinness and Danielson proceed to have a brutal slap exchange, which McGuinness comes out on top of. He crotches Bryan on the top rope and then takes his head off with a lariat. Nigel goes for the pin and Danielson uses his third and final rope break to stay alive in the match.

The ropes are now in play for both men and the first wrestler to use them to his advantage is Danielson, who gets McGuinness in the Crossface Chickenwing while they’re both sitting on the top turnbuckle. Nigel struggles to get out of the hold as the fans plead with him, screaming “Please don’t tap!” McGuinness slips out of Danielson’s clutches and once again plants his head into the mat with a Tower of London. Nigel goes for the pin and Danielson kicks out at the count of two. By using his rope breaks on pins earlier in the match, Bryan didn’t have to expend the energy to kick out then, giving him a slight edge at this point in the match.

Both men roll to the outside and what follows is perhaps the most memorable spot in the match for many reasons. McGuinness grabs Danielson by the wrists and slams his shoulder into the ring post. He attempts to do it again, but Bryan blocks it and pulls McGuinness face first into the post. Nigel’s head is slammed into the post four times until he hits hard enough to finally draw blood. While this spot may have been awesome in 2006, it’s gross and upsetting to watch ten years later. This was before the Benoit tragedy took place and wrestling started to take head injuries seriously. Both men in this match had their careers cut short, most notably Danielson’s career ending because of concussion related complications, which makes it even worse when the commentary team casually talks about Nigel having a concussion from those collisions with the post.

Blood is gushing from McGuinness’ head as he stumbles around the outside. Danielson knocks Nigel into the crowd and then uses his body as a projectile when he hits a springboard summersault tope into the first three rows. Danielson recovers from the dive first and makes his way back into the ring. When Nigel gets to his feet, his eyes are glazed over and he’s wearing the crimson mask. The crowd wills McGuinness back into the ring and with their help, he’s shaken off the cobwebs and is fired up. What comes next is something else that these two men probably regret as they exchange a series of headbuts that all have little to no protection.

Following the headbuts, McGuinness’ cut is bleeding even more. Danielson is staggered from the blows and leaves himself open to a rebound lariat. Nigel has expended a massive amount of energy and he struggles to reach Danielson for the pin. Bryan kicks out and transitions into Cattle Mutilation. McGuinness reaches the ropes with his feet out of instinct, but it does absolutely nothing. Nigel manages to work his way out of the hold and pin Danielson. Danielson forcefully kicks out and transitions into a position where he is able to rain down elbows on Nigel. After dozens of elbows, McGuinness loses consciousness and the referee calls for the bell. Covered in the blood of his opponent, Bryan Danielson is named the true champion of Ring of Honor.

10 Years Later
Danielson/McGuinness at ROH Unified is an amazing, yet very dated match. The performances that both men put in were incredible. These weren’t just wrestlers going out there to have a match, they made you believe that this was something that they absolutely had to win at any cost. There would be no giving up for either man. McGuinness never quit, he kept fighting until he lost consciousness. Nigel showed so much heart that Danielson said in his post-match promo that it was his toughest title defense and then offered him a rematch down the road. While this wasn’t the end of their classic series of matches, the match at ROH Unified may have been the best.

While this match is a classic that has a ****3/4 rating from Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer and a 9.67 rating on CAGEMATCH, it’s also hard to watch at times.

Any match with this many unprotected headshots would be blasted today. It was reckless and completely unsafe. The most that can be said is that they didn’t know any better. In the past ten years there has been a lot of developments in research on head trauma. When this match took place the wrestling industry had yet to be rocked by the deaths caused by Chris Benoit. Little did we all know that ten year later neither of the men in this match would be wrestling anymore, both because of different aspects of the match. Danielson’s many concussions led him to hang up his boots far earlier than he wanted. McGuinness had a history of concussions as well, but that wasn’t what ended his run. Now Nigel is one of the biggest advocates for the removal of intentional bloodshed from wrestling because it led to him contracting Hepatitis B, the true cause of his retirement.

The match may not be timeless, but the main event of ROH Unified is a classic. Arguably this is two of the best wrestlers to ever step into Ring of Honor having a match at the peaks of both of their careers. McGuinness and Danielson both poured everything they had into this one. There may be regrets to be had about the things they did, but the story they told was a masterpiece. Every great work of art has a flaw. The only thing we can do about it now is appreciate these men for putting their bodies on the line for us and enjoy the show.

Thank you, Daniel and Nigel, for all the great matches, especially this one.
 

Silkk

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^One of the best feuds in wrestling history. Those are the type of legit in ring beasts that ROH is missing today.
 

Tide Run This

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@Silkk I been saying to my boys all week ROH needs to give Joey Styles whatever to take over PBP Kevin Kelly is :trash:


What time does ROH come on in your markets? We get it at midnight tonight on our local affilate I botched and only caught the Lethal/Cabana match last weekend after coming in from my man's that was a dope ass match. Have they had any women of honor action on TV lately?
 

Silkk

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@Silkk I been saying to my boys all week ROH needs to give Joey Styles whatever to take over PBP Kevin Kelly is :trash:


What time does ROH come on in your markets? We get it at midnight tonight on our local affilate I botched and only caught the Lethal/Cabana match last weekend after coming in from my man's that was a dope ass match. Have they had any women of honor action on TV lately?
Idk about Styles, but after watching the G1 they need to get Corino ass back on commentary ASAP.

My sinclair affiliate plays the episodes randomly as fukk. I've seen it air on mondays, wednesdays, fridays, & sundays.
 

mr heyzel

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Pure rules:ohlawd:

lts my favorite concept in the last 10-15 years in wrestling. They should bring it back.

As for ROH timeslot I get it at 1AM on Saturday Night's/Sunday morning.

hell yeah I was about to post the same thing the pure rules matches was the shyt and it would give people like ach,adam paige and Caprice Coleman a lane
 

TBdaGhost

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This week's tv episode was really good.

Lio Rush and Dijak had a great match. Best match I've seen out of both of them possibly .

Young Bucks Vs RPG Vice for number 1 contenders match

Lethal and Cole contract signing which was great. I'm hype for that match. Cole is supposed to spend alot of time in Japan soon. So this outcome probably has alot to do with that. I don't know which way it's going to go.

Death before dishonour should be good
 
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