Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Peak of Ring of Honor

For over ten years, Ring of Honor Wrestling has been around. And for over ten years, it has had its ups and it is down. When one looks back at the story of Ring of Honor, there was a time where there was a really hot period where the company really was hitting all cylinders. Then it really just hit a wall and slid down. There have been great matches since then peak, but everything has paled in comparison. The top superstars of the glory era have moved on and the those who have filled the void will always be looked at with indifference at best.

When Did Ring of Honor Wrestling Peak?

All wrestling companies large and small have a peak where they are the hottest that they have ever been. WWE had a couple of them, with the Rock N Wrestling Era and naturally the Attitude Era as the two periods where fan interest has been a high. WCW obviously was no more popular and beloved by their fans than during the NWO era, from around 1996 through about 1998.

ECW from about 1995-1998 was really rocking until a lot of their top stars just jumped ship. TNA has had several false starts for peaks but one might argue that 2005-2006 might be considered the golden age of TNA and the closest it has had to peaking.

When was the peak of Ring of Honor Wrestling. When did it really go downwards. The bloom started rather decaying right off the rose no sooner than 2005, with the ultra hot summer of Punk storyline wrapping up but there have been great things since then. 2006 had the CZW versus ROH interpromotional feud where things got really hot. 2007 might have the Pay Per View deal, but Samoa Joe back when he meant something left.

Then in 2008, the man who many thought was driving force behind Ring of Honor, Gabe Sapolsky, had been fired as Ring of Honor booker. Although to be fair, Gabe really was not putting his best foot forward throughout 2007 until much of 2008 and he had personally peaked(and some might argue that he is one of the more overrated bookers in wrestling, but this another discussion for another time).

2009 had the deal on HD Net but I think when Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson left, that was rather well the ship fell down. And Austin Aries, despite not really caring for a while, leaving in 2010 was a blow. Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, and Eddie Edwards were not good substitutes for these three men but much like in the same sense that John Cena, Randy Orton, and Batista would have been considered a far cry below Stone Cold, The Rock, and Triple H or some might have not liked Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels as much as the Macho Man or Hulk Hogan, thinking of them to be lesser attractions.

2005 might be a bit too early, but 2006-2007 seems to be a pretty likely indicator of when Ring of Honor has started to fall off. By 2009 it was a shell of its greatness. Still had some decent to good matches but really Ring of Honor is not what it used to be. The current crop of stars in not just the indies but wrestling in general are a far cry from the starts that can before them.

One thing is for certain, 2010-2012 Ring of Honor while having some moments, is a far cry from what it used to be and Davey Richards is the worst ace ever in a wrestling promotion and that's saying something right there.

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