02.01.2004, 04:00
-Homicide war fuer ein Dark Match bei der WWE vor Raw am 29.12.03 in San Antonio eingeplant.Der grund warum Homicide kein Match bestritt ist das er keine Freigabe der WWE Aerzte bekam.Homcide hatte sich 2 Tage zuvor eine Gehirnerschuetterung zugezogen bei seinem ROH Match gegen Satoshi Kojima
-Jerry Lynn wird am 29.1.04 zu ROH zurueckkehren.In einem Match zusammen mit Samoa Joe wird er auf die ROH TT Champions The Briscoes treffen,Laut 1wrestling.com wird Jerry Lynn ab jetzt haeufiger fuer ROH antretten.
-ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky hat auf dem ROH Forum nun folgendes gepostet zu dem neuen Pure Title und der neuen Division:
"I've always loved the idea of having one title and felt a secondary title was pointless. I mean why should something designate you as second best? Samoa Joe has been a true champion and has brought prestige to the world title so there was no need for another champion. Samoa Joe is the man. It's that simple.
When the ideas started flowing for 2004 I really wanted the pure wrestling division to be a focal point of the company. I am a big fan of it, but it was put on the backburner for the Field Of Honor. Now that the FOH is about to end, we have the spot open to push pure wrestling again. It is true to our roots and what all of you have been with us since the beginning enjoy. With ROH featuring more storylines and characters and going in a number of different directions, it was very necessary to have something big that showed that we remain true to what ROH is always based on- great athletic wrestling.
I really enjoyed what we called "pure wrestling" matches that we had in ROH this year. The Matt Stryker vs. Chad Collyer series, Tom Carter vs. Matt Stryker, John Walters vs. Matt Stryker, BJ Whitmer vs. Matt Stryker (boy that name sure pops up a lot- what a year he had!), Doug Williams vs. Chris Daniels and several other bouts were among my favorite matches of the year. I know I'm missing a few in that list too.
So now you have a pure wrestling division and more than enough talent to have quality matches forever when you count a few names that will be returning in 2004 (wait and see!). So what's the point of this division? You have great, competitive no frills matches, but why? Well if you give the matches a deep storyline you are just taking away from the pure wrestling element that you were trying to push in the first place. If you give it a subtle storyline like wrestler A defeated wrestler B and now B wants the pin back, it's cool, but would get old after a while. What these guys need is something to compete for. I mean this is supposed to be competitive, athletic wrestling.
What is more perfect to compete for than a new title belt? However the problem is once again presented to us that we don't want a secondary title. If we are going to have a title belt, it has to be important. I hate cruiserweight or lightweight titles because they go against everything ROH is based on. ROH isn't about weight classes, its about skill level. Plus, the term cruiser and lightweight have a bad stigma and most fans can't look at them past a midcard title since they have been so abused everywhere else.
OK, so we have decided that a belt is the best thing for the pure wrestlers to fight for, but we don't want it to be looked upon as a secondary title and we obviously can't have two world titles. Now comes in the different set of rules. It will be these rules that make the belt different from the world title. While the world title might feature things like post match attacks (Joe attacking Mark Briscoe on 10/16, Prophecy attacking Joe on 4/26, etc), the pure wrestling title will be straight, no frills, nothing but competitive action bell-to-bell action.
So now we have a reason for pure wrestling matches, we have differentiated it enough so its not a secondary title and we have something that our core base will enjoy because it is the epitome of why ROH was formed in the first place.
The night that the Pure Wrestling Title is decided will be historic and the start of a new chapter in ROH. The Pure Wrestling matches might not be for everyone, but neither is ROH. We are for the diehard wrestling fan and this Pure Wrestling Belt will play a major part in ROH."
-Jerry Lynn wird am 29.1.04 zu ROH zurueckkehren.In einem Match zusammen mit Samoa Joe wird er auf die ROH TT Champions The Briscoes treffen,Laut 1wrestling.com wird Jerry Lynn ab jetzt haeufiger fuer ROH antretten.
-ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky hat auf dem ROH Forum nun folgendes gepostet zu dem neuen Pure Title und der neuen Division:
"I've always loved the idea of having one title and felt a secondary title was pointless. I mean why should something designate you as second best? Samoa Joe has been a true champion and has brought prestige to the world title so there was no need for another champion. Samoa Joe is the man. It's that simple.
When the ideas started flowing for 2004 I really wanted the pure wrestling division to be a focal point of the company. I am a big fan of it, but it was put on the backburner for the Field Of Honor. Now that the FOH is about to end, we have the spot open to push pure wrestling again. It is true to our roots and what all of you have been with us since the beginning enjoy. With ROH featuring more storylines and characters and going in a number of different directions, it was very necessary to have something big that showed that we remain true to what ROH is always based on- great athletic wrestling.
I really enjoyed what we called "pure wrestling" matches that we had in ROH this year. The Matt Stryker vs. Chad Collyer series, Tom Carter vs. Matt Stryker, John Walters vs. Matt Stryker, BJ Whitmer vs. Matt Stryker (boy that name sure pops up a lot- what a year he had!), Doug Williams vs. Chris Daniels and several other bouts were among my favorite matches of the year. I know I'm missing a few in that list too.
So now you have a pure wrestling division and more than enough talent to have quality matches forever when you count a few names that will be returning in 2004 (wait and see!). So what's the point of this division? You have great, competitive no frills matches, but why? Well if you give the matches a deep storyline you are just taking away from the pure wrestling element that you were trying to push in the first place. If you give it a subtle storyline like wrestler A defeated wrestler B and now B wants the pin back, it's cool, but would get old after a while. What these guys need is something to compete for. I mean this is supposed to be competitive, athletic wrestling.
What is more perfect to compete for than a new title belt? However the problem is once again presented to us that we don't want a secondary title. If we are going to have a title belt, it has to be important. I hate cruiserweight or lightweight titles because they go against everything ROH is based on. ROH isn't about weight classes, its about skill level. Plus, the term cruiser and lightweight have a bad stigma and most fans can't look at them past a midcard title since they have been so abused everywhere else.
OK, so we have decided that a belt is the best thing for the pure wrestlers to fight for, but we don't want it to be looked upon as a secondary title and we obviously can't have two world titles. Now comes in the different set of rules. It will be these rules that make the belt different from the world title. While the world title might feature things like post match attacks (Joe attacking Mark Briscoe on 10/16, Prophecy attacking Joe on 4/26, etc), the pure wrestling title will be straight, no frills, nothing but competitive action bell-to-bell action.
So now we have a reason for pure wrestling matches, we have differentiated it enough so its not a secondary title and we have something that our core base will enjoy because it is the epitome of why ROH was formed in the first place.
The night that the Pure Wrestling Title is decided will be historic and the start of a new chapter in ROH. The Pure Wrestling matches might not be for everyone, but neither is ROH. We are for the diehard wrestling fan and this Pure Wrestling Belt will play a major part in ROH."
