What is Wrong with ROH Right Now

[Big Red Machine]

The following is an excerpt from yesterday's newswire (the entire first paragraph, actually):

-“Final Battle 2012” on Sunday December 16th from The Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC is our biggest event of the year and it is shaping up to be historic! ROH World Champion Kevin Steen made it a goal to destroy and deface the name of ROH when he officially returned full time almost one year ago after “Final Battle 2011”. Steen, admittedly, has done a great job causing chaos in ROH but in the process has successfully defended the title he won at “Border Wars” a half a year ago against some of the toughest challengers in pro wrestling today. Many on the inside of ROH have predicted that if Kevin Steen defeats all of the top challengers, and is still the face of the company going into 2013, that it could be the end of the company and honor as we know it. Steen has said that Doomsday is near for ROH and soon there will be no challengers left for him or for Tag Team Champions Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino to defeat. All faith is now in the man who drove Steen out of ROH at “Final Battle 2010” to bring the ROH World Championship back to honor... El Generico! Kevin Steen vs. El Generico in Ladder War IV will no doubt blow the roof off of The Hammerstein Ballroom and we believe the odds are in Generico's favor. If Generico can get the World Title off of Steen and either the Briscoes or Caprice & Cedric can bring the tag belts back home then "Final Battle 2012" will not be the DOOMSDAY Steen has predicated and Honor will reign supreme. All tickets can be purchased right here for “Final Battle 2012: DOOMSDAY” and you will be able to purchase it on iPPV right here!

ROH is doing WAY too much telling and not enough showing in this Steen angle, and as a result what might only just be a slight exaggeration comes off as ridiculously melodramatic. If they want us to believe that having Steen as the face of the company will somehow cause the end of Ring of Honor, they need to have more stories like Steen threatening the sponsor at the broadcast affiliates dinner or do more things like Steen harassing plants. In addition, they really need to drop these stupid taglines from the major shows. Not only are they extremely annoying, but due to the failed melodrama, they also induce eye-rolling.

And there are no challengers left for Steen? What about BJ Whitmer? Adam Cole? What about The Briscoes?! If ROH management needs the belt off of Steen so badly (and if they want to extend the angle as long as possible) they should be throwing absolutely everyone in there with Steen in the hopes of an upset. Coleman, Alexander, the Young Bucks, QT Marshall, the Bravados... anyone! They have been working with CHIKARA this year, so why not use some CHIKARA guys? Mike Quackenbush seems like exactly the type of wrestler that Jim Cornette loves. He is a mat-based wrestler who is a well respected veteran and a perennial babyface. Why not bring Quack in and give him a title shot? Why not bring a guy like Alex Shelley or Colt Cabana or Adam Pearce or... anyone!

While they are doing that, they should be finishing off this Jay Lethal thing and doing angles where guys are training up because they want to get the belt off of Steen, either for the sake of the glory of having been the one to dethrone Steen or in order to save the company (and, you know, because it is the ROH World Title). And all of that fails, you have Steen come out and cut a promo saying that there is no one who can beat him... THEN Generico comes out, beats the crap out of him and holds the ROH World Title high over his head. THEN you make a title match between Steen and Generico.

[cero2k]

this is what I've been saying this whole time, ROH bitches about Steen having the title, but it's not like they're really pulling all stops to take the title off from him without actually stripping him. Like i said last time, put him in a triple threat with the American Wolves, lock him up in a cage with Elgin, do a Scramble Match with half of the roster, if he can survive that, then the office can start to look desperate. Same with the tag titles.

On the other side, Steen needs to start crossing the line more, he hasn't seen like a threat since he won the title. That shit punk did on monday with Lawler, that's the thing i'm expecting from someone who calls himself the anti-christ of pro wrestling

I agree on the melodramatic, i hate to read ROH show descriptions, they come off at the level of a Dixie Carter tweet.