Last Sunday evening CHIKARA held their highly anticipated Never Compromise iPPV which was rumored as their last. Some believed due to reasons outside owner Mike Quackenbush’s control but seemingly it’s taking a hiatus for an angle – yes, the promotion may be gone to sell an angle, having canceled all their future events including King of Trios which Ring of Honor competitors routinely featured in.
I’m not one to disrespect that which is gone but I do feel like the closure of CHIKARA benefits other promotions due to a number of their top talents presumably now free to pursue other bookings. Since the cancellation of all future events several talents including Eddie Kingston, Tim Donst and Jigsaw have tweeted that they’re available for independent bookings in July and August, so with the hiatus or closure of CHIKARA, comes opportunity for Ring of Honor.
CHIKARA and Ring of Honor have previously co-promoted an event and swapped talent. ROH have sent teams to the King of Trios competition and of course the 2012 Synergy event which looking back on knowing the manner in-which Jim Cornette ran ROH, how did that get the approval to go ahead? Delirious must have caught him on an extremely good day.
We’ve seen Eddie Kingston challenge for the ROH World Champion and Kevin Steen challenge for the CHIKARA Grand Championship at a CHIKARA event, so immediately wouldn’t the first talent ROH management should look at be Kingston? Eddie’s past in Ring of Honor was nothing short of unique, appearing in wild brawls, fighting with stable members from other promotions and of course the Fight Without Honor match with Chris Hero at the first ever ROH pay-per-view Final Battle 2009.
Another popular talent to feature for Ring of Honor in the past who is now seeking independent bookings is Jigsaw. Known as Rubix (seriously, he has a jigsaw piece on his mask, come on TNA) to Impact Wrestling viewers the high-flyer has been a staple of CHIKARA since the very beginning and like Kingston is a recognizable face to ROH fans. He is one-half of Pieces of Hate with The Shard who are the current Compeonatos des Parejas, CHIKARA’s version of tag team titles.
I’ve been of the opinion for a few months now that ROH needs a new tag team or two to freshen things up. Had The Bravado Brothers been kept on I feel they would have been ideal for the position on the roster as a young tag team trying to climb the rankings, but now we have TaDarius Thomas and ACH whose in-ring styles have me occasionally referring to them as the Fast and the Furious. A new team could and would make the division much more competitive, say Scott Parker and Shane Matthews, 3.0?
In Highspots.com’s Steen Versus Richards shoot Kevin Steen names them as two talents he would bring into the promotion or that he sees getting a chance. The duo had a match at ‘Killer Instinct’ last year in a losing effort to The Bravado Brothers but have continually improved in CHIKARA and are currently one of the top tag teams on the independent circuit.
As far as singles talent goes, one person in particular who I wrote about in a thread on the ROHWorld forums a few days ago is Tim Donst. Donst has been one of CHIKARA’s most hated heels since his initial appearance in the company, whether he be playing the cocky and brash amateur wrestler, psychopath or depressed and brooding loner Donst delivers in the ring and on the microphone. With a good look and a ton of personality Tim Donst is a guy that a few years ROH would have jumped to get their hands on and today I feel they should be doing something similar.
Mark Angelosetti is another young talent very obviously going places. While his future may lie with the Wrestling Is… brand I’m not aware if they have contracts, if they don’t I think a deal to bring him to Ring of Honor could add someone different. While some ROH fans will say his gimmick is “too much” for the company, El Generico’s gimmick was also something different and look where he’s got to… Mexico, helping orphans. Not a great example.
There are several other talents I could mention who Ring of Honor could capitalize on, Saturyne is a prime candidate to feature in the Women of Honor matches. If you’re going to bring in Jigsaw why not let The Shard tag along? Ring of Honor has opportunities here to add bodies to the roster, and while I would love Ethan Page, Josh Alexander and Kyle Matthews to receive opportunities where better to bring in a few CHIKARA talents then Philadelphia for Death Before Dishonor XI?
CHIKARA may be gone for now, but Ring of Honor has a chance to bring in some great talents, not like Delirious doesn’t know this.