Meltzer on ROH, WWE, Bullet Club, and Omega (and New Japan)

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Big Red Machine
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Meltzer on ROH, WWE, Bullet Club, and Omega (and New Japan)

Post by Big Red Machine » Oct 19th, '17, 18:30

October 23, 2017 WON wrote: There’s no arguing that ROH is the strongest it has ever been. And the merchandise lines for the Bullet Club members have been such that it only seems like the tickets are being sold more for meet and greets, since people wait in line for hours for photos, as the matches themselves are secondary. What that means is uncharted because it’s really never been like that in wrestling.

Indeed, for Global Wars, while most of the matches were good, it was clearly not the lure of the matches themselves, but the idea of the event that was the draw. It was the most big-time ROH has ever felt as far as this iPPV went, with improvements in production and micing the crowd.

The wrestling was good, but there was a lot of shtick, really more than any ROH major show I’ve seen. It’s clear that the talent is more over as stars, meaning they can get away with doing less, and they have go-to- spots that aren’t going to break down their bodies like a break-neck attempt to do the best pro wrestling match possible will do.

Omega, without the belt itself, retained the U.S. title in the main event beating Yoshi-Hashi. A lot of people complained ahead of time that this was the wrong opponent, and well, it was. Yoshi-Hashi never turned it in like someone in his position should have. Omega didn’t treat this with the urgency of a normal big match. It’s too bad in a sense, because if the Juice Robinson match would have taken place on this show, with this hot of a crowd, it would have not only torn the house down, but made Robinson into a star in Chicago, where he’s from, and elevated his name to the hardcore audience. But it took place in Kobe instead.

Still, the main event ended up being really good, strangely, because of all the outside interference among Bullet Club and Chaos members, as well as Flip Gordon and Chuck Taylor, as opposed to having to overcome it.

The show seemed to have had a purpose of a few things. One is trying to position themselves as the hot up-and-coming alternative to WWE, the position ECW tried to position itself in the late 90s. That does lead to stronger reactions and fan loyalty to the brand, but the long-term of that mentality is tougher. The other purpose of the show seemed to be to get new talent, in particular Adam Page, Shane Taylor, Jonathan Gresham and Gordon over, with various degrees of success. In the case of Gordon, who lost to Will Ospreay in the show-stealing match, he came across like a guy who is probably two years away from superstardom. His athletic ability is off the charts and just needs experience and some work on connecting with the crowd, and he’s very much like Ospreay himself was not that many years ago.

The anti-WWE movement was clear, from the start of the show with Cody, as the brand champion, pushing the company’s current success and taking shots at WWE’s face, Roman Reigns. There were all kinds of teases about what could and couldn’t be said regarding “Too sweet,” there were “cease and desist” signs and gimmicks all over the place. There were “F*** the Revival” chants at several points during the show. And the show ended with Jimmy Jacobs, recently fired by WWE, making a cameo by coming out and shooting a photo of the Bullet Club celebration.

It’s good marketing. From a WWE standpoint, the attempt to bully them into quieting down clearly backfired and made them bigger stars. The firing of Jacobs probably did the same. Reigns actually responded just hours before the show to a comment by Cody that gave them ammo for the opening segment. If this encourages WWE to go after more talent, that would at least be in the talents best interest.

The real question that can’t be answered regards Omega’s staying power. When he comes back to markets a second time, will there be a similar run on tickets? And there is no way of knowing that. And, at least in theory, if Omega does get a run as IWGP champion, which would make sense to happen in 2018, will that increase his drawing power or will that title not matter. And some of that is New Japan, as New Japan really should be planning a major event in 2018 in the U.S. with Tetsuya Naito vs. Omega, before G-1, in a major arena and make people think that’s the title switch, to really gauge exactly what their limits in the market are.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

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Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: Meltzer on ROH, WWE, Bullet Club, and Omega (and New Japan)

Post by Big Red Machine » Oct 19th, '17, 18:31

October 23, 2017 WON wrote: There’s no arguing that ROH is the strongest it has ever been. And the merchandise lines for the Bullet Club members have been such that it only seems like the tickets are being sold more for meet and greets, since people wait in line for hours for photos, as the matches themselves are secondary. What that means is uncharted because it’s really never been like that in wrestling.
This was the part that interested me the most.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

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