let's speculate a little. Who do you see taking the title off from Elgin?

at this point, i only have 3 runner ups

Ciampa - I feel like he's getting pushed to the main event, and while he already lost a title shot, i can see him coming back with a bigger feud/storyline. I also feel that ROH is high on him.

Cedric Alexander - kinda like my dark horse here, but the kid is growing a lot lately. He could definitely play out a good underdog-dream-come-true story

AJ Styles - After the previous Elgin/Styles matches, these guy will end up having a really big match coming up. NJPW has made it known that they want the ROH title defended at Wrestle Kingdom IX, so the only way i see Styles winning is for him to lose the IWGP, win the ROH at Final Battle, and defend it at WK. This is a long shot, since it requires ROH and NJPW to synchronize their booking a bit, but I just see it hard for ROH to pass up putting the title on Styles right now

What about you guys?

I don't know about Ciampa. I just don't think he's the right guy. I think taking the TV Title off of him was a big mistake because it gave him something to do that wasn't chase the world title. The problem with Ciampa is that he is one of those guys who will lose a lot of momentum each time he doesn't get the job done. I can see Elgin vs. Ciampa being a HUGE match for next year, but I don't see Ciampa taking the title from him.

I definitely agree about Cedric, although they have to be careful and not repeat the same mistakes Pearce made with Tyler Black.

AJ Styles- I see this as the most likely, although a lot of it depends on New Japan's booking. If Tanahashi takes the belt off of AJ before the dome show, I can see ROH putting their title on AJ at Final Battle (he and Elgin are 1-1-1). If New Japan wants Okada to take it form him at the dome show, I can see ROH waiting until next year's anniversary show before doing AJ vs. Elgin, and maybe even putting Elgin over. I think that the best thing Elgin's run will be a Samoa Joe-type reign of "who is going to be the guy to finally beat him?). Just keep building up challengers and having Elgin beat them until someone has both the work-rate quality and fan support behind him to take the belt off of Elgin.

Big Red Machine wrote:I don't know about Ciampa. I just don't think he's the right guy. I think taking the TV Title off of him was a big mistake because it gave him something to do that wasn't chase the world title. The problem with Ciampa is that he is one of those guys who will lose a lot of momentum each time he doesn't get the job done. I can see Elgin vs. Ciampa being a HUGE match for next year, but I don't see Ciampa taking the title from him.

I definitely agree about Cedric, although they have to be careful and not repeat the same mistakes Pearce made with Tyler Black.

AJ Styles- I see this as the most likely, although a lot of it depends on New Japan's booking. If Tanahashi takes the belt off of AJ before the dome show, I can see ROH putting their title on AJ at Final Battle (he and Elgin are 1-1-1). If New Japan wants Okada to take it form him at the dome show, I can see ROH waiting until next year's anniversary show before doing AJ vs. Elgin, and maybe even putting Elgin over. I think that the best thing Elgin's run will be a Samoa Joe-type reign of "who is going to be the guy to finally beat him?). Just keep building up challengers and having Elgin beat them until someone has both the work-rate quality and fan support behind him to take the belt off of Elgin.

(1) i guess you're right on that. i feel like Ciampa could work best like Nigel worked by taking the title our of a monster like Morishima.

(2) you mean giving it to him to soom, or what? I imagine that Samoa Joe reign could end best with Cedric than anyone else.

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:I don't know about Ciampa. I just don't think he's the right guy. I think taking the TV Title off of him was a big mistake because it gave him something to do that wasn't chase the world title. The problem with Ciampa is that he is one of those guys who will lose a lot of momentum each time he doesn't get the job done. I can see Elgin vs. Ciampa being a HUGE match for next year, but I don't see Ciampa taking the title from him.

I definitely agree about Cedric, although they have to be careful and not repeat the same mistakes Pearce made with Tyler Black.

AJ Styles- I see this as the most likely, although a lot of it depends on New Japan's booking. If Tanahashi takes the belt off of AJ before the dome show, I can see ROH putting their title on AJ at Final Battle (he and Elgin are 1-1-1). If New Japan wants Okada to take it form him at the dome show, I can see ROH waiting until next year's anniversary show before doing AJ vs. Elgin, and maybe even putting Elgin over. I think that the best thing Elgin's run will be a Samoa Joe-type reign of "who is going to be the guy to finally beat him?). Just keep building up challengers and having Elgin beat them until someone has both the work-rate quality and fan support behind him to take the belt off of Elgin.

(1) i guess you're right on that. i feel like Ciampa could work best like Nigel worked by taking the title our of a monster like Morishima.

(2) you mean giving it to him to soom, or what? I imagine that Samoa Joe reign could end best with Cedric than anyone else.

2. I mean waiting too long to give it to him. Part of that, of course, is manging his momentum until you're ready for him to be at that level. I also gree Cedric would be the best guy to end a Joe-like reign.