I'm Not Mad Just Disappointed (And a Little Mad)

Everyone shut up and let me be mad for a second alright? I appreciate it, thank you.

Hey, Ring of Honor? C'mere. Hey. What're you doing? Huh? Seriously. What're you doing? I want to know. What are you playing at?

I can't put it nicely, so instead I'll put it plainly: you fucked up.

For those of you sitting awkwardly at the internet dinner table while mommy and daddy "have a loud discussion," let me fill you in.

This past Friday, July 26, Ring of Honor put on Death Before Dishonor, one of their three annual "supercard" events, and it absolutely ruled. This show was 4 hours and 45 minutes of world-class pro wrestling joy that had me glued by the eyeballs from start to finish. Possibly my favorite show of the year so far. They stacked the card from top to bottom with banger after banger after banger (although what the heck was with that screwy finish at the end of The Kingdom vs. Kyle O'Reily and Tomohiro Ishii? That match was awesome! Why'd you end it on such a damp squib?). They featured all their best, brightest, and fastest-rising talent in a celebration of the weird, quirky, eclectic promotion the new RoH has grown into! It had all the ingredients of a perfect supercard, but man oh man did they ever drop the ball with the main event.

Not the main event match itself, mind you–the Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong main event we got was awesome–but I cannot understand why this was the match that was chosen for the main event spot. I have absolutely no criticism for either performer. They went out there and wrestled a hell of a match that would have been absolutely worthy of the main event at a show like Death Before Dishonor. And if it were the main event of any other show, I would have no objections. Not this one. This show had only one biggest match. This show belonged to Athena vs. Queen Aminata.

I know it looks awesome, but the actual match was even more awesome

Without getting too deep into the weeds (I fantasy booked an ending to the Athena vs. Aminata storyline and ended up abandoning it at 27 pages because at that point I was writing a novel because I'm the sort of person who walks straight past the weeds and into the rainforest), the Athena vs. Queen Aminata match for the Ring of Honor Women's World Championship was the third-act turn of a more than year-long storyline. This isn't just a significant turning point in a story that has been unfolding week to week on Ring of Honor. This is the Ring of Honor storyline. I am not kidding when I say that the two women's belts on the line in Athena vs. Queen Aminata and Red Velvet vs. Billie Starkz represent the two richest prizes in the promotion. Objectively speaking, the stakes could not have been higher. 

Which is why the placement of Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong as the main event was so puzzling. Again, I want to reiterate: no knock against either performer. Roderick Strong, messiah of the backbreaker? I'm a convert! Mark Briscoe, redneck kung fu black belt? I wish to join his dojo! But I cannot understand the decision to have them close out the show. Ring of Honor has three pay per views a year, and they can either send this one of off with Athena's shock title retention over Queen Aminata after an amazing 20-minute war... or Mark Briscoe showing up for only the second time since winning the belt almost three months ago. 

Seriously, though, no disrespect: this was an awesome match

Mark Briscoe could be a great Ring of Honor Men's World Champion, but he hasn't been on the show. Death Before Dishonor was only his second title defense. No knock against Briscoe–he's been handling business up in AEW and it's been awesome–but there has been zero build to this title defense. Roderick Strong won the title shot in a random match on Dynamite to little fanfare. Mark Briscoe made mention of Roderick Strong as his challenger for the belt at Death Before Dishonor once. In a promo he didn't even deliver in person. I'm just saying that doesn't exactly scream "blood feud."

Admittedly, a video package finally aired that highlighted some background about the competitors. It touched on the shared history between Roderick Strong, Mark Briscoe, and Mark's brother, the late Jay Briscoe, back in Ring of Honor's original incarnation, the in-ring history between Mark Briscoe and Roderick Strong, that this would be their first time competing with a singles title on the line in 50 encounters... and that's about it. All of this would be enough background to spin a story out of, but they aired this on the go-home show 24 hours before the match. Not a lot of time to get invested, guys! The entire "buildup" to the match consisted of Roderick Strong's friends, The Kingdom, hitting Mark Briscoe from behind, like, once backstage and then yelling at him a bit. Sorry. You can't tell me that's the marquee story. No it isn't. It isn't.

For Athena, Death Before Dishonor represented a particularly auspicious title defense. Coming off of an injury and with a 594-day title reign hanging in the balance, there were serious questions as to whether the champ would finally meet her downfall at the hands of the rising superstar, Queen Aminata. Athena's minion ("minion" literally being how Athena addresses her), Billie Starkz would be defending her Ring of Honor Women's Television Championship against (my girl!) Red Velvet at Death Before Dishonor as well. To add another wrinkle, Queen Aminata and Red Velvet have been battling Athena and Billie Starkz for months. The two duos have been hounding each other week after week across Ring of Honor and AEW programming, attacking each other, interfering in each other's matches, and generally making each other miserable. Death Before Dishonor would mark the first proper showdown with all four players involved. 

Look, just believe me when I say that you are peering into the face of evil; Billie Starkz (left), Athena (right)

Athena vs. Queen Aminata and Billie Starkz vs. Red Velvet should've been the main and semi-main events on that show, respectively. Those four women have been putting in a shift night after night on this storyline, and it's heartbreaking to see that not get rewarded.

You know why it bugs me this much? Why it's got me this heated? Because Ring of Honor is a great place for women's wrestling! I'm serious! It's awesome. Not even joking. If every wrestling promotion would treat its women's division the way Ring of Honor does, I would be ecstatic (although TNA's Knockouts Division has been blazing a trail since the days of Gail Kim and Awesome Kong's classics back around 2007, and as far as I know they remain the benchmark for gender parity among any major promotion)! RoH's older brother, AEW, only features one women's match per show. Two if you're lucky. Maybe. Possibly. A couple times a year. Though Ring of Honor isn't perfect, and has had a couple weeks without women's matches, most weeks it features an equal, occasionally greater, number of women's matches to men's. In terms of creative focus, women's storylines comprise a roughly equal proportion of nearly every show, and cards are put together to feature and elevate new and established wrestlers, and extending opportunities to local women's talent equally alongside the men. The process clearly works! Just look at the depth of talent and it's easy to see why RoH puts such a spotlight on the women's division. And how do you book a good wrestling show? You, uh, put your best wrestlers on the show. Like... right?? Am I saying anything crazy?? 

Ring of Honor's women's division casually puts on standout matches all the time. Queen Aminata vs. Billie Starkz, Athena vs. Hikaru Shida, and Taya Valkyrie vs. Trish Adora are recent examples of some matches with great talent that overdelivered despite high expectations. Death Before Dishonor had Leyla Hirsch vs. Diamante in a Texas Death Match that a number of pro wrestling outlets are calling one of the best matches in the promotion's history. And that match was itself the blowoff to a month-long feud that had been afforded significant in-ring and promo time, and both women came out of the match looking like total badasses. The nickname "Legit" Leyla Hirsch has never been more literal.

This is a promotion with a deep bench of women's talent that includes aforementioned Leyla Hirsch and Diamante, (my girl!) Red Velvet, Queen Aminata, Athena, Billie Starkz, Kiera Hogan, Abadon, Lady Frost, The Renegades, Trish Adora, Marina Shafir (I am going to make a post about her someday because wow is she a one-of-a-kind talent), Rachel Ellering, and a constantly rotating cast of local and enhancement talent that can be, and often are, brought back for multiple matches if they find an audience. What I'm saying is that Ring of Honor is an incredible promotion with better gender representation in terms of screen time and storylines than almost any promotion I have ever seen. You're so good, Ring of Honor, but this was a layup and you blew it. Can you just please make the layup next time? Alright? I know you're good. I love you, too.

Okay. I've calmed down now. I just had to get it out. Okay, now Ring of Honor, I did what my therapist said and wrote in my journal about my feelings, and now I'm ready to sit down and watch you again. I'm not going to hold this against you or anything. You're still my cozy promotion, okay? You're my favorite sidepiece. You just did something really stupid. Please don't let it happen again. Your women's division deserves better.