ODB vs NANAE TAKAHASHI Signed for July 17th in Las Vegas

[Big Red Machine]

The summer of 2015 is getting hotter and hotter in Ring of Honor! After the success of our 13TH ANNIVERSARY in Vegas, ROH can't wait to go "all in" once again...and this time Ring of Honor will be debuting at SAM'S TOWN HOTEL & GAMBLING HALL!

SAM'S TOWN HOTEL & GAMBLING HALL
5111 BOULDER HIGHWAY
LAS VEGAS, NV 89122
DOORS OPEN 6:00PM / 7:30PM Pacific BELL TIME

We now have a HUGE update on our return to Las Vegas on July 17th. This is an first time EVER matchup between two of the two premier female athletes in professional wrestling, and a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see an international superstar!

Just signed for the Las Vegas stop on the AFTERSHOCK Tour...

NANAE TAKAHASHI VS. ODB

Joshi legend NANAE TAKAHASHI is coming to the United States! This is an incredibly special appearance by a woman who has cemented her legacy through nearly 20 years of competition. Early on, she excelled in tag team competition, but soon established herself as a singles force as well. Nanae Takahashi first made her mark in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Eventually, Takahashi ventured into her own wrestling company, Pro Wrestling Sun. She is a two-time WWWA World Heavyweight Champion and also held the WWWA Tag Team Championship an incredible 5 times with 4 different partners.

Throughout her career, Nanae Takahashi has also been active on other joshi organizations, including JWP, NEO, and Ice Ribbon. In 2011, Takahashi was integral in the founding of a brand new promotion, World Wonder Ring Stardom. For nearly five years, she competed in STARDOM, sharing her knowledge and guidance with a new generation of exciting young athletes. Now Nanae Takahashi is about to embark on her latest endeavor when she starts her own, brand new professional wrestling company to be called "SEEdLINNNG."

Her opponent on July 17th is an international star in her own right: the incomparable ODB! ROH fans have grown to love her lewd, crude, unique attitude and style. Recently, ODB has found herself preoccupied with the House of Truth. But there is no doubt ODB will be squarely focused on Nanae Takahashi when they battle LIVE in Las Vegas!

[Big Red Machine]

So they bring in this big name Joshi... and they put her in there with ODB?! WHAT THE F*CK?! You're already going way out west. Why not give use someone who we won't otherwise get to see like Candice Lerae (and who is also a million times better than ODB)? Or if you don't want to use someone a lot larger than Candice to play the monster heel, it will probably cost you just as much to fly ODB out as it would to fly out Jessica Havok or Rachel Summerlyn or whoever else is running around the women's scene nowadays. Or for G-d's sake BRING IN CLM!
GRRRR! Any one of those options will not only likely be cheaper than ODB, but will almost certainly be a better match.

[cero2k]

So they bring in this big name Joshi... and they put her in there with ODB?! WHAT THE F*CK?! You're already going way out west. Why not give use someone who we won't otherwise get to see like Candice Lerae (and who is also a million times better than ODB)? Or if you don't want to use someone a lot larger than Candice to play the monster heel, it will probably cost you just as much to fly ODB out as it would to fly out Jessica Havok or Rachel Summerlyn or whoever else is running around the women's scene nowadays. Or for G-d's sake BRING IN CLM!
GRRRR! Any one of those options will not only likely be cheaper than ODB, but will almost certainly be a better match.

ODB is really the only girl they have working on their roster, i'm not sure what ROH's relations are now a days with female wrestlers, I don't even think ROH and SHIMMER are buddies anymore ever since Prazak left ROH. I agree that ODB is not that exciting, i would have gone with MsChif since she was last in the ROH roster, but i think she had a baby

If only ROH allowed Veda to wrestle

[Big Red Machine]

So they bring in this big name Joshi... and they put her in there with ODB?! WHAT THE F*CK?! You're already going way out west. Why not give use someone who we won't otherwise get to see like Candice Lerae (and who is also a million times better than ODB)? Or if you don't want to use someone a lot larger than Candice to play the monster heel, it will probably cost you just as much to fly ODB out as it would to fly out Jessica Havok or Rachel Summerlyn or whoever else is running around the women's scene nowadays. Or for G-d's sake BRING IN CLM!
GRRRR! Any one of those options will not only likely be cheaper than ODB, but will almost certainly be a better match.

ODB is really the only girl they have working on their roster, i'm not sure what ROH's relations are now a days with female wrestlers, I don't even think ROH and SHIMMER are buddies anymore ever since Prazak left ROH. I agree that ODB is not that exciting, i would have gone with MsChif since she was last in the ROH roster.

If only ROH allowed Veda to wrestle

My point with ODB is "why is she on the roster in the first place?" Use for two or three shows to do the angle with Maria, but then there is no reason to bring her back after that. There are a lot of other options that are better and cheaper than ODB.

[cero2k]

My point with ODB is "why is she on the roster in the first place?" Use for two or three shows to do the angle with Maria, but then there is no reason to bring her back after that. There are a lot of other options that are better and cheaper than ODB.

because she's already on speed dial and payroll, I don't even know why ROH is interested in this match in the first place. I rather ROH keeps ODB in the roster than bringing stupid papa briscoe

[Big Red Machine]

My point with ODB is "why is she on the roster in the first place?" Use for two or three shows to do the angle with Maria, but then there is no reason to bring her back after that. There are a lot of other options that are better and cheaper than ODB.

because she's already on speed dial and payroll, I don't even know why ROH is interested in this match in the first place. I rather ROH keeps ODB in the roster than bringing stupid papa briscoe

I agree she's better than Papa Briscoe in the ring (though Papa Briscoe is probably tons cheaper), but I don't think the Briscoes should be needing someone like that to help them out very often.
My best guess as to why the match is happening is that Nanae was in town anyway, so ROH decided to book her. There have been quite a few people around criticizing ROH for not even making an attempt to have a women's division even though they are lugging the likes of Veda Scott and Scarlett Bordeaux around the country anyway.

[cero2k]

I agree she's better than Papa Briscoe in the ring (though Papa Briscoe is probably tons cheaper), but I don't think the Briscoes should be needing someone like that to help them out very often.
My best guess as to why the match is happening is that Nanae was in town anyway, so ROH decided to book her. There have been quite a few people around criticizing ROH for not even making an attempt to have a women's division even though they are lugging the likes of Veda Scott and Scarlett Bordeaux around the country anyway.

I wouldn't go out and say they should get a whole women's division because the roster is already packed for the amount of air time they usually get, but it does kinda suck that they only bring in eye candy and in the case of Veda, she can't even wrestle. For the promotion that brags about being the most honorable and progressive wrestling and 'creating greatness' or whatever it is, they surely suck at promoting women and women wrestling, they have 5 girls in their company, 2 are backstage/ringside hotties, 2 are bimbo managers, and the other is more of a dude than half of their roster.

[Big Red Machine]

I agree she's better than Papa Briscoe in the ring (though Papa Briscoe is probably tons cheaper), but I don't think the Briscoes should be needing someone like that to help them out very often.
My best guess as to why the match is happening is that Nanae was in town anyway, so ROH decided to book her. There have been quite a few people around criticizing ROH for not even making an attempt to have a women's division even though they are lugging the likes of Veda Scott and Scarlett Bordeaux around the country anyway.

I wouldn't go out and say they should get a whole women's division because the roster is already packed for the amount of air time they usually get, but it does kinda suck that they only bring in eye candy and in the case of Veda, she can't even wrestle. For the promotion that brags about being the most honorable and progressive wrestling and 'creating greatness' or whatever it is, they surely suck at promoting women and women wrestling, they have 5 girls in their company, 2 are backstage/ringside hotties, 2 are bimbo managers, and the other is more of a dude than half of their roster.

5? Veda, Scarlett, ODB, Maria, and who else?

Personally, I don't think it makes any sense for ROH to try to build a women's division. Women's wrestling fans are a niche of the niche that is indy wrestling, and they will get their fill the promotions that cater to them. I'm all for female characters if they are used right. Of the women they have, I think ROH has used all of them as well as they could have without putting them in the ring... which is something they don't need to do. If ROH is having a women's match I'd like there to be some sort of real story behind it (ala Maria vs. ODB or the Briscoes using Kong to counteract Death Rey). Otherwise, it had better be a dream match or it had better get, like, twenty minutes and be awesome. We don't need another random ten minute match on the undercard that doesn't do anything for anyone.

[cero2k]

5? Veda, Scarlett, ODB, Maria, and who else?

Personally, I don't think it makes any sense for ROH to try to build a women's division. Women's wrestling fans are a niche of the niche that is indy wrestling, and they will get their fill the promotions that cater to them. I'm all for female characters if they are used right. Of the women they have, I think ROH has used all of them as well as they could have without putting them in the ring... which is something they don't need to do. If ROH is having a women's match I'd like there to be some sort of real story behind it (ala Maria vs. ODB or the Briscoes using Kong to counteract Death Rey). Otherwise, it had better be a dream match or it had better get, like, twenty minutes and be awesome. We don't need another random ten minute match on the undercard that doesn't do anything for anyone.

That Leon chick. A women's division is not niche if you make it matter, imagine the nxt girls with a promotion with ROHs mentality. 6 top lvl chicks and they could run a strong division, easily sacrifice the random caprice Coleman match for a 20 min with the girls. They just need to give them some 'honorable' writing. The way I see it, ROH will need a women's division if the go more mainstream, no more indie mentality

[Big Red Machine]

5? Veda, Scarlett, ODB, Maria, and who else?

Personally, I don't think it makes any sense for ROH to try to build a women's division. Women's wrestling fans are a niche of the niche that is indy wrestling, and they will get their fill the promotions that cater to them. I'm all for female characters if they are used right. Of the women they have, I think ROH has used all of them as well as they could have without putting them in the ring... which is something they don't need to do. If ROH is having a women's match I'd like there to be some sort of real story behind it (ala Maria vs. ODB or the Briscoes using Kong to counteract Death Rey). Otherwise, it had better be a dream match or it had better get, like, twenty minutes and be awesome. We don't need another random ten minute match on the undercard that doesn't do anything for anyone.

That Leon chick. A women's division is not niche if you make it matter, imagine the nxt girls with a promotion with ROHs mentality. 6 top lvl chicks and they could run a strong division, easily sacrifice the random caprice Coleman match for a 20 min with the girls. They just need to give them some 'honorable' writing. The way I see it, ROH will need a women's division if the go more mainstream, no more indie mentality

I don't think they will. WWE and WCW both went without a proper women's division for years during the Monday Night Wars.

As Maria said in an interview I recently read, there just isn't enough time to do it right with just a weekly one-hour show. Until they get the time time to do it well, I just don't think it'll be worth the expense.
I'm also not sure that six women will be enough. They'd need 8-10 (at least) to properly be able to cycle people up and down the card and to keep things from getting stale when you factor in "house" show matches. It would be a pretty darn big expense, IMO.

[Big Red Machine]

According to Aries' Twitter, he's bringing Rosita with him to Vegas. I would MUCH prefer to see her face Nanae.

[cero2k]

I don't think they will. WWE and WCW both went without a proper women's division for years during the Monday Night Wars.

As Maria said in an interview I recently read, there just isn't enough time to do it right with just a weekly one-hour show. Until they get the time time to do it well, I just don't think it'll be worth the expense.
I'm also not sure that six women will be enough. They'd need 8-10 (at least) to properly be able to cycle people up and down the card and to keep things from getting stale when you factor in "house" show matches. It would be a pretty darn big expense, IMO.

but this is not 1999, this is not the attitude era, we live in a world of political correctness and gender equality and all that stuff, if they wanna grow and be seen as a credible company in the mainstream eyes, they'll likely need to introduce women. At some point people will say WWE has women, ROH doesn't. Ok, 8 instead of 6, fire all those useless roster members like Diesel, and Coleman, and Dijak, and Cheeseburger, and Mandy Leon, and Titus, and Bob Evans, that's already 7 spots for women wrestlers. 1 match per live show, making it like 1 match every 3 weeks, that good enough

[Big Red Machine]

I don't think they will. WWE and WCW both went without a proper women's division for years during the Monday Night Wars.

As Maria said in an interview I recently read, there just isn't enough time to do it right with just a weekly one-hour show. Until they get the time time to do it well, I just don't think it'll be worth the expense.
I'm also not sure that six women will be enough. They'd need 8-10 (at least) to properly be able to cycle people up and down the card and to keep things from getting stale when you factor in "house" show matches. It would be a pretty darn big expense, IMO.

but this is not 1999, this is not the attitude era, we live in a world of political correctness and gender equality and all that stuff, if they wanna grow and be seen as a credible company in the mainstream eyes, they'll likely need to introduce women. At some point people will say WWE has women, ROH doesn't. Ok, 8 instead of 6, fire all those useless roster members like Diesel, and Coleman, and Dijak, and Cheeseburger, and Mandy Leon, and Titus, and Bob Evans, that's already 7 spots for women wrestlers. 1 match per live show, making it like 1 match every 3 weeks, that good enough

Was UFC not seen as cool or mainstream before they created divisions for women?


Look. I'm not disagreeing that it would be great to have and would be a good step to take. Hell, I'd even go farther and say that it's not something that should be done just for political correctness but rather that in a world where Ronda Rousey is the biggest star in MMA, that having a competitive women's division would be the cutting edge, cool thing to do. I just don't think it is practical at the moment.
Of the names you mentioned, how many of them actually work a televised match per taping? Really just Coleman and Titus, and they are both used as enhancement talent. We certainly disagree about Dijak and Coleman's value to the product, but even if you cut Cheeseburger, Brutal Bob, Diesel, RT, Will Ferrara and Mandy and cut out the midwestern booking for bullsh*t wrestlers like Cliff Compton and Beer City Bruiser...
Do you think that's enough money freed up to get 8-10 "ROH quality" indy women? And this is assuming that such a thing wouldn't cause political issues with Gabe/Prazak/Sal/WWN. Even if you could get ROH quality workers, you need to have a belt because what's the point of a division without a belt. The belt would mean that Sinclair would want the champ under contract, which would almost certainly cause problems with them getting booked for everyone else (not just Gabe and Prazak, but also AAW, AIW, ACW, WSU etc.)
Unless Sinclair is going to be willing to sink money into it (and from what we've seen, they don't seem likely to do so), it isn't financially feasible for either ROH or for the women themselves.

[cero2k]

Was UFC not seen as cool or mainstream before they created divisions for women?


Look. I'm not disagreeing that it would be great to have and would be a good step to take. Hell, I'd even go farther and say that it's not something that should be done just for political correctness but rather that in a world where Ronda Rousey is the biggest star in MMA, that having a competitive women's division would be the cutting edge, cool thing to do. I just don't think it is practical at the moment.
Of the names you mentioned, how many of them actually work a televised match per taping? Really just Coleman and Titus, and they are both used as enhancement talent. We certainly disagree about Dijak and Coleman's value to the product, but even if you cut Cheeseburger, Brutal Bob, Diesel, RT, Will Ferrara and Mandy and cut out the midwestern booking for bullsh*t wrestlers like Cliff Compton and Beer City Bruiser...
Do you think that's enough money freed up to get 8-10 "ROH quality" indy women? And this is assuming that such a thing wouldn't cause political issues with Gabe/Prazak/Sal/WWN. Even if you could get ROH quality workers, you need to have a belt because what's the point of a division without a belt. The belt would mean that Sinclair would want the champ under contract, which would almost certainly cause problems with them getting booked for everyone else (not just Gabe and Prazak, but also AAW, AIW, ACW, WSU etc.)
Unless Sinclair is going to be willing to sink money into it (and from what we've seen, they don't seem likely to do so), it isn't financially feasible for either ROH or for the women themselves.

UFC surely went from cool to supercool for doing it.

ROH has a dojo, they could sign 4 good girls, train 4 girls. I'm not saying it needs to happen tomorrow, but it should be in the works today

[Big Red Machine]

Was UFC not seen as cool or mainstream before they created divisions for women?


Look. I'm not disagreeing that it would be great to have and would be a good step to take. Hell, I'd even go farther and say that it's not something that should be done just for political correctness but rather that in a world where Ronda Rousey is the biggest star in MMA, that having a competitive women's division would be the cutting edge, cool thing to do. I just don't think it is practical at the moment.
Of the names you mentioned, how many of them actually work a televised match per taping? Really just Coleman and Titus, and they are both used as enhancement talent. We certainly disagree about Dijak and Coleman's value to the product, but even if you cut Cheeseburger, Brutal Bob, Diesel, RT, Will Ferrara and Mandy and cut out the midwestern booking for bullsh*t wrestlers like Cliff Compton and Beer City Bruiser...
Do you think that's enough money freed up to get 8-10 "ROH quality" indy women? And this is assuming that such a thing wouldn't cause political issues with Gabe/Prazak/Sal/WWN. Even if you could get ROH quality workers, you need to have a belt because what's the point of a division without a belt. The belt would mean that Sinclair would want the champ under contract, which would almost certainly cause problems with them getting booked for everyone else (not just Gabe and Prazak, but also AAW, AIW, ACW, WSU etc.)
Unless Sinclair is going to be willing to sink money into it (and from what we've seen, they don't seem likely to do so), it isn't financially feasible for either ROH or for the women themselves.

UFC surely went from cool to supercool for doing it.

ROH has a dojo, they could sign 4 good girls, train 4 girls. I'm not saying it needs to happen tomorrow, but it should be in the works today

UFC didn't go to supercool for having a women's divisions. They went from cool to supercool for having Ronda Rousey, who has starpower and charisma out of the wazoo.

I agree that something like that should be in the works, but if you don't have a timeline, how can you know when to start. What happens if you train the girls and you don't have the TV time or roster space to use them? They leave and go work for someone else, and then you're back with nothing. If i were them, I'd wait until I have ninety minutes or two hours of TV before doing it. MAYBE it could work as a house-show product with a random match here or there on TV that was really blow-away during which you push the house show DVDs VERY hard.

[cero2k]

UFC didn't go to supercool for having a women's divisions. They went from cool to supercool for having Ronda Rousey, who has starpower and charisma out of the wazoo.

I agree that something like that should be in the works, but if you don't have a timeline, how can you know when to start. What happens if you train the girls and you don't have the TV time or roster space to use them? They leave and go work for someone else, and then you're back with nothing. If i were them, I'd wait until I have ninety minutes or two hours of TV before doing it. MAYBE it could work as a house-show product with a random match here or there on TV that was really blow-away during which you push the house show DVDs VERY hard.

I can totally agree with the budget issue, but time shouldn't be an issue if they're wasting time in matches like Dijak vs Briscoe or War Machine vs C&C at their second biggest show, those matches were TV show lvl segments

[Big Red Machine]

UFC didn't go to supercool for having a women's divisions. They went from cool to supercool for having Ronda Rousey, who has starpower and charisma out of the wazoo.

I agree that something like that should be in the works, but if you don't have a timeline, how can you know when to start. What happens if you train the girls and you don't have the TV time or roster space to use them? They leave and go work for someone else, and then you're back with nothing. If i were them, I'd wait until I have ninety minutes or two hours of TV before doing it. MAYBE it could work as a house-show product with a random match here or there on TV that was really blow-away during which you push the house show DVDs VERY hard.

I can totally agree with the budget issue, but time shouldn't be an issue if they're wasting time in matches like Dijak vs Briscoe or War Machine vs C&C at their second biggest show, those matches were TV show lvl segments

Briscoe vs. Dijak was a good match to do in the run-up to the title vs. title match, but they should have done that by not having ODB there and instead having a Book of Truth shot from Truth cost Mark the match to set up Nigel barring Truth from ringside in the main event so that match could be totally clean.

The C&C thing shouldn't have been on the PPV, but if they were doing this angle as best they could have, Cedric turning heel and beating Moose would have been on the PPV.

Hidden text.

Then you would have Caprice ask to team up with him at the TV tapings and later in the tapings have them win a tag team when Cedric gets a roll-up by pulling the tights (probably over Dijak & Diesel so that Caprice can be distracted by Truth and not see the cheating). In Hopkins, you have them beat War Machine via wrench-shot from Cedric which Caprice doesn't see and have Rowe get color from it. Then, in Vegas, you put Cedric and Hanson against each other in the first round of the TV Title Tournament with their partners at ringside. You do some pre-match yelling from War Machine at Cedric and have Cedric play a bit of a chickensh*t in the match, getting a cheap count-out win by luring Hanson away from the ring and out-racing him back. Have War Machine shout at Cedric that "you aren't so tough now without your wrench, are you?" and have Rowe show off his stitches (or worked stitches or whatever) and have Caprice ask Cedric what they are talking about. You then do an article on the website saying that Caprice offered to give War Machine a rematch and War Machine said they wanted it so ROH has booked a War Machine vs. C&C rematch for DBD and then you give us the match they did at BITW.

But the point is that while ROH's execution of those matches/segments at BITW wasn't ideal, there was something in those storylines that should have had that spot on the card, so the spot on the card wasn't available.

[cero2k]

Briscoe vs. Dijak was a good match to do in the run-up to the title vs. title match, but they should have done that by not having ODB there and instead having a Book of Truth shot from Truth cost Mark the match to set up Nigel barring Truth from ringside in the main event so that match could be totally clean.
it was a good match, but not necessary, Mark/ODB could have easily been the ones to take out Diesel and Dijak from the main match and just have Nigel take out Truth. There you have a spot for a women's match.

But the point is that while ROH's execution of those matches/segments at BITW wasn't ideal, there was something in those storylines that should have had that spot on the card, so the spot on the card wasn't available.
But it became filler to fill out the card, if you have a storyline for women, you just add that match and have less filler to add. This likely applies to every show, there are always some filler match to 'get everyone a paycheck'

[Big Red Machine]

Briscoe vs. Dijak was a good match to do in the run-up to the title vs. title match, but they should have done that by not having ODB there and instead having a Book of Truth shot from Truth cost Mark the match to set up Nigel barring Truth from ringside in the main event so that match could be totally clean.
it was a good match, but not necessary, Mark/ODB could have easily been the ones to take out Diesel and Dijak from the main match and just have Nigel take out Truth. There you have a spot for a women's match.
So you're going to put a match with no storyline between women you've never promoted before in any way on your PPV?


But the point is that while ROH's execution of those matches/segments at BITW wasn't ideal, there was something in those storylines that should have had that spot on the card, so the spot on the card wasn't available.
But it became filler to fill out the card, if you have a storyline for women, you just add that match and have less filler to add. This likely applies to every show, there are always some filler match to 'get everyone a paycheck'

C&C vs. War Machine was definitely not filler. It was meant to be an important part of Cedric's story.

You can argue that Dijak vs. Mark was filler, but at least it had some storyline to it (there was something about the House of Truth having attacked ODB at the Nashville show, plus there is the heat between the House of Truth and the Brisces). And suppose you do cut this for a women's match, what does that get you? Nine minutes. Are you really going to only give them nine minutes. They'd be undercard. You're not going to stand out from WWE or TNA by using your women as undercard fodder in a nine minute match.

[cero2k]

Briscoe vs. Dijak was a good match to do in the run-up to the title vs. title match, but they should have done that by not having ODB there and instead having a Book of Truth shot from Truth cost Mark the match to set up Nigel barring Truth from ringside in the main event so that match could be totally clean.
it was a good match, but not necessary, Mark/ODB could have easily been the ones to take out Diesel and Dijak from the main match and just have Nigel take out Truth. There you have a spot for a women's match.
So you're going to put a match with no storyline between women you've never promoted before in any way on your PPV?


But the point is that while ROH's execution of those matches/segments at BITW wasn't ideal, there was something in those storylines that should have had that spot on the card, so the spot on the card wasn't available.
But it became filler to fill out the card, if you have a storyline for women, you just add that match and have less filler to add. This likely applies to every show, there are always some filler match to 'get everyone a paycheck'

C&C vs. War Machine was definitely not filler. It was meant to be an important part of Cedric's story.

You can argue that Dijak vs. Mark was filler, but at least it had some storyline to it (there was something about the House of Truth having attacked ODB at the Nashville show, plus there is the heat between the House of Truth and the Brisces). And suppose you do cut this for a women's match, what does that get you? Nine minutes. Are you really going to only give them nine minutes. They'd be undercard. You're not going to stand out from WWE or TNA by using your women as undercard fodder in a nine minute match.

I'm not saying that they replace those specific matches in that specific show, they're just examples that ROH has filler in their shows even PPVs, that IF they had a women's division, there is no problem finding a spot in the cards. They don't need to increase to 2 hours