*Note* This 'strategy guide' is being written in order to be used alongside watching the actual pay-per-view event. It is here in order to enhance the experience by better explaining the reasons for certain things the wrestlers are doing.

The official first year of Ring of Honor pay-per-view events has come to a finish, and with one show already in the can ready to begin airing to start the second year, it seems appropriate to delve back to a year ago when the ROH PPV project kicked off. Instead of going back and reviewing the six shows, I am going to do something in an attempt to help out some new or prospective fans of Ring of Honor.

There are certainly many people who held back on getting into the ROH product because buying DVDs of a company they were unfamiliar with didn’t seem like a feasible move. With the advent of pay-per-view, Ring of Honor became more accessible to fans in a number of ways. Instead of having to go online to order a show and falling in somewhere in the middle of the storylines where a fan would be expected to know who people are and what they’re doing, the PPV concept allows people to order shows directly to their televisions. On top of that, the shows set out to begin some new storylines and did a decent job of trying to introduce a new audience to people whom they were unfamiliar with.

However with only 2 hours, not everything could be properly fleshed out. And that’s where I come in. To make my overly long introduction short, the idea of this set of six articles is to help introduce characters and storylines and to fill in the blanks that may have been left ambiguous to people unfamiliar with the ROH product. In this first column, I will be covering the first PPV entitled “Respect is Earned”. I will do my best to set the stage and help people understand how the wrestlers on this show got to the point they were at. In the next five pieces I write, I will fill in the blanks and explain the developments that took place on the straight-to-DVD events that occurred between PPV tapings.

If that doesn’t make sense since I’m a long winded ass, I’m sure it will become more clear when I actually get into it. With all that said, this intro has been long enough.

The ROH Strategy Guide: Respect is Earned

BJ Whitmer v. Takeshi Morishima (ROH World Title)

* The show began with BJ Whitmer’s introduction to the audience. A quick history lesson on BJ: over the past few years, he has been a Ring of Honor loyalist. He fell into being pretty much a stereotypical tough guy babyface, willing to put his body on the line to do what he thought was right. However the fans never fully got behind him and in the months leading up to this PPV BJ had been struggling to win matches, be they exhibitions with few issues or grudge matches with his most bitter rivals.

The man who answered BJ’s open challenge was the World Champion, Japanese star Takeshi Morishima, who at the time was a rising star in the NOAH promotion. At this point he had been the Champion for 3 months and had dominated his competition.

Our Introduction to the Main Event Talent

* Following the quick match, Nigel McGuinness made his way out to the ring. Nigel has become a perennial top card guy in the company, but had not yet been able to achieve his main goal of winning the ROH World Title. McGuinness had already wrestled and lost a very tough match against Morishima, but wanted another shot, as he was easily Morishima’s toughest opponent to date. However a former champion was not going to let Nigel get his shot that easily. Bryan Danielson made his return at this show after losing his World Title and sustaining a shoulder injury. Danielson lost the belt to Homicide, who then lost it to Morishima. Danielson’s run spanned the course of 15 months, and during that time his biggest rivalry over the title was against none other than Nigel McGuinness. The two had a number of very strong contests, but Nigel was never able to wrestle the World Title away from Danielson. For the sake of PPV, Nigel is the babyface, Morishima is the heel and Danielson is a tweener. The crowd loves him, but his actions are often questionable.

The Gun For Hire

* Brent Albright is fairly simple. The video on PPV pretty much summed it up to this point. Brent was looking to make money and win titles at all costs, and had no guidance or allegiances.

Rocky Romero v. Naomichi Marufuji

* The first real match on the card featured Rocky Romero versus Naomichi Marufuji. Marufuji is another talent from Japan who works primarily for NOAH. He is a rival of KENTA, who will be introduced soon, and also occasionally a tag partner with him, both in ROH and NOAH. Marufuji is a former Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight Champion in the NOAH promotion and a big time fan favourite. Romero, on the other hand, is part of the No Remorse Corps along with Davey Richards, led by Roderick Strong. They’re a heel group who at the time were primarily focusing their efforts on The Resilience, made up of Erick Stevens and Matt Cross. Their leader, Austin Aries, was forced out of ROH by TNA, so in his absence Delirious is acting as the third member of the group, since he also has an issue with the NRC. This match has no bearing on that rivalry, but is rather just an introduction to Marufuji and Romero, two fantastic guys showing what they can do in the ring.

Sweet & Sour Incorporated

* Backstage we are introduced to Sweet & Sour Larry Sweeney, the leader of Sweet & Sour, Inc. They are a heel group comprised of Sweeney, Chris Hero, Bobby Dempsey and personal trainer Tank Toland. Sara Del Rey is introduced here as the newest member of the group. Sweeney is all about the money, and he often holds out his biggest star, Chris Hero, in order to get the money he wants for Chris’ matches and appearances.

KENTA Evens the Odds

* In a brief segment in the ring, a brawl resumes between the three men in the first segment, Danielson, Morishima and McGuinness. Danielson and Morishima to take on common rival McGuinness, so Japanese star KENTA runs in to even the odds. KENTA has had an ongoing rivalry with Danielson in ROH, as Danielson is the only person in ROH who has defeated him. KENTA and Morishima are also big rivals in Japan.

Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli v. The Briscoes (ROH World Tag Titles)

* The Tag Title match features Jay & Mark Briscoe versus Claudio Castagnoli & Matt Sydal. The Briscoes have been stars in the tag division for the majority of the existence of ROH, and are the biggest team at the moment. Claudio Castagnoli is a former tag champion with Chris Hero, and he has earned a shot at the tag belts with a partner of his choosing. He chose Matt Sydal, who himself is also a former champion along with Christopher Daniels. In fact, Sydal and Daniels defeated Hero & Claudio to win the belts, so Claudio knows Sydal is good. On top of that, the Briscoes defeated Daniels & Sydal to win the titles, and they also had a few successful defenses against Hero & Claudio, so there is plenty of a backstory to this match.

After retaining, the Briscoes are accosted by Kevin Steen & El Generico. Those two are a fairly new tag team in ROH, however a few months earlier had a very impressive debut match as a team in which they took the Briscoes to the limit and almost beat them. Since that time, Jay & Mark won the titles, and Steen & Generico want them. Always ready for a fight, the Briscoes invited them to the ring on this show, and this feud is one that will continue through the PPVs.

Roderick Strong v. Delirious

* The aforementioned Roderick Strong and Delirious are up in the next match. Their rivalry came about due to Roderick abusing Delirious and injuring him during a match. After the match, Strong continued the assault. After winning here, the same thing occurred, as Strong and the rest of his No Remorse Corps attacked Delirious again, only to be chased off by Erick Stevens of the Resilience. This feud will continue on subsequent pay-per-views.

The Psychological Scrap Daddy

* "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce is backstage, and he speaks about lost opportunities. His biggest reference here is to BJ Whitmer; as mentioned earlier, Whitmer has been struggling for a while, and now has the stigma of being known as the man who lost the first ever match on a Ring of Honor PPV. Pearce and his manservant Shane Hagadorn

Bryan Danielson & Takeshi Morishima v. KENTA & Nigel McGuinness

* The final match of the night features the main event players. Morishima & Danielson defeated McGuinness & KENTA. The aftermath is the most important thing here in a storytelling sense. Danielson is back in ROH for one thing, and that’s to get back his World Title. When he picks it up, Morishima shows his true colors by immediately turning on his own partner, showing that the title is important to him and he has no allegiances. Following that, we see a respectful Nigel McGuinness hand the belt back to Morishima, however to strengthen the previous point, Morishima lays out McGuinness as well.

In Conclusion

This is only the introduction to Ring of Honor on pay-per-view, and all of the storylines will become much deeper as the PPV lineup continues. The next show is entitled “Driven”. The next installment of the ROH Strategy Guide will bridge the gap between the straight-to-DVD events and Driven, and also explain everything in detail from that PPV offering.

You can read a very good full review of the show by following this link: J.D. Dunn reviews Respect is Earned.

If you have any questions about anything specific, you can send me an email at the86melon@gmail.com or leave a comment on this page, and I will respond to it.

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