...and the NEW Ring of Honor World Champion...

[The Show Off]

New ROH World Champion crowned
» Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
» On Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 2:44 PM EST

At last night's Ring of Honor "Supercard of Honor IV" event in Houston, TX, Jerry Lynn defeated Nigel McGuinness to capture the ROH World Heavyweight Championship. A title change was expected this weekend with the serious injuries McGuinness is going through right now.

I saw it coming once they announced the match. Good to see Jerry Lynn still relevant to a degree in wrestling. I think Lynn will probably be a transitional champ for Ring of Honor until they decide who is next to be pushed to the moon.

I'm guessing either Tyler Black or Claudio Castagnoli are next, either that or giving the title back to Austin Aries or Bryan Danielson so either of them could be the first two time champ.

Though I'd push for Jimmy Jacobs to be a cowardly heel champ for a few months.

[Droford]

Can ROH sign RVD? That would be awesome. But yeah, its cool that he won. He was one of my favorites when he was in ECW.

[Juan]

Jerry fuckin Lynn

[RGWhat316]

BOOOOOOOO!! I liked Nigel and hate that he has to drop the title with his injury. By the looks of it, he could have become the longest ROH champion, but not now. Kind of wished that Danielson or Tyler would have gotten it instead.

[Xero]

Can ROH sign RVD? That would be awesome. But yeah, its cool that he won. He was one of my favorites when he was in ECW.

Can they? Yes. Will they? Probably not.

[The Gold Standard]

I thought it was bound to happen, Lynn winning the belt. Especially since Nigel is hurt.

[What Would Kevin Do?]

Bad choice IMO. Honestly, they put the belt on a guy who is older than most of the roster, not that over with the fan base, and doesn't really show that ROH is something new/ different.

With that said, I pray he A. has a short reign, and B. Jimmy Jacobs takes the belt from him, has a great heel reign, and goes onto feud with Tyler Black into the fall.

[The Gold Standard]

I cannot wait until Tyler Black wins the belt. He is one of the best in the company now and he deserves it. Sooner or later it will happen. Hopefully Lynn is a transitional champion and Black gets the belt and runs with it.

[thedamndest]

Love Jerry Lynn. I'm just getting into ROH now and his presence really seals the deal for me.

[Juan]

Love Jerry Lynn. I'm just getting into ROH now and his presence really seals the deal for me.

Same here

[Mr. Nerfect]

I haven't seen too much of Lynn's modern ring work, but from the sounds of it, he's been up to scratch. I must agree with WWKD, though. Lynn may not be shitty, but there are far better choices for World Champion. Austin, Aries, Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black all spring to mind. My thinking is that Lynn is a transitional champ to switch the belt up to Austin Aries on either a PPV or TV taping.

If ROH did manage to get Rob Van Dam to work a number of shows, though, Lynn vs. RVD for the ROH World Title would be tremendous stuff, that could both build the company, and make Lynn look like he deserves to be at the top of a televised promotion (again).

My thinking is that ROH is just using this as a stepping stone in the title's history, and that Lynn will put someone over huge soon.

[Destor]

Lynn is the perfect choice for right now. Sorry Kev. With RoH hitting TV they need someone people can roconize as their face. Once they've established Lynn as legit they can then drop the title off on a home grown talent. That puts the company over. And it's smart booking.

[Sting Fan]

Lynn is the perfect choice for right now. Sorry Kev. With RoH hitting TV they need someone people can roconize as their face. Once they've established Lynn as legit they can then drop the title off on a home grown talent. That puts the company over. And it's smart booking.

Thats grasping, you cant tell me anyone besides an ECW Mutant or a more than casual indy tracker/watcher will know who Jerry Lynn is let alone tune into see him.

I like the guy, love his work but to call him a recognisable face to anyone but the hardcores who will tune in anyway is wrong.

[Destor]

And hardcores are there market...

[Destor]

and with five words an argument was pwnd.

[Sting Fan]

If hardcore is there market there wasting there time on t.v

[Destor]

Umm...no? By that logic either A) hardcore's don't watch TV or B) they already have every hardcore fan watching them.

Neither are correct and both are very foolish.

Stop compairing them to the heights of the WWE. Doing this shows how little you grasp of the sheer scope of the wrestling industry.

RoH is a niche product. Comprehend this, embrace it. Maybe a day will come when they become something more and can make strides to gain some casual views, that time isn't now. Now they need to build on the hardcore cult following and attrack even more veiwers to get this snowball rolling all the faster.

You are very wrong. Thanks for playing.

[Sting Fan]

I disagree, ROH had a nice little racket going running in the black selling tapes, im not going to knock that no point really as it worked for them.

That setup made them a niche product mainly unique to indy watchers and hardcore fans.

Nowadays when wrestling isnt cool if you want to survive on t.v. you had better be aiming for more than hardcore fans, Like it or not your little niche product must become somewhat mainstream to survive on t.v. If your not aiming to go a little mainstream and gain casuals safe in the knowledge you have the hardcore fans sown up you have failed and you may as well go back to selling tapes off your website and run in the black a while longer.

And none of this really changes the fact that my point is Jerry Lynn is NOT a recognisable face. Shit Lynns most recent success I can think of off the top of my head (not being an indy nut) is a run in the X Division of TNA. Not exactly huge time stuff.

But its ok, I will leave you to argue with yourself now because judging by your attitude from post one you dont want a discusssion on a discussion board, heaven forbid :wave:

[Volare]

I'm calling 4 months before ROH can say they are the number 2 promotion. (In my mind they already are...but this is just for ratings sake.)

[The Show Off]

I really hope that Tyler Black doesn't get the title from Jerry Lynn...

I love the move to give Lynn the title it's almost like ECW giving the strap to Terry Funk (to a much lesser extent), but I don't think Tyler should be the next guy. Don't get me wrong Tyler is a tremendous wrestler and he has a connection with the fans that is undeniable if you've been to a ROH show, but I just think he needs more seasoning. I think for the most part he's been living off working with Jimmy Jacobs for the past years, and I think he should be out on his own for a year or so to prove he can handle being alone and still getting people over.

I think a lot of the good will he has on him is because Jimmy Jacobs is such a good heel that he's completely detested by ROH fans, hence anyone Jimmy bullies in Age of the Fall or bullied in Age of the Fall will instantly get over with the crowd. He got Necro Butcher over huge with the ROH crowd who used to hate Necro because he was from CZW. He got Delirious over even more when they split up.

I think the most logical step is to give the title to Jimmy Jacobs and have him weasel out of championship matches for a couple of months before Aries turns on him and takes the belt for the second time.

[Innovator]

I was thinking that Dragon would take it back.

Not that I hate Lynn being the champ, Jerry motherheheh Lynn

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm sorry, Destor -- while I can appreciate what you are saying about ROH being a niche product, I think the company needs to adapt a little bit to appear accessible to your average wrestling fan. And I can't for the life of my figure out how Jerry Lynn is exactly a recogniseable face. We're not exactly talking a big star here.

Jerry Lynn appeals to the same audience that pretty much anyone in ROH would appeal to. Lynn's not likely to draw for the company in any sense.

[Mooияakeя™]

What injuries does McGuinness have? What is the expected time-frame he's out for?

[Innovator]

torn bicep...in both arms

[St. Jimmy]

torn bicep...in both arms

Jesus Christ...

[What Would Kevin Do?]

And he wrestled like that two. Dude is a tough bastard.

[Blitz]

I fucking love Jerry Lynn.

[The Show Off]

And he wrestled like that two. Dude is a tough bastard.

Yeah and his match against KENTA at 7th Anniversary Show was incredible.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

I've got to agree with Destor here. Jerry Lynn had a cup of coffee with the WWF and that easily makes him the most recognizable face in all of ROH.

Opening yourself up to a national, albiet limited audience, you have to put some sort of name recognition out there, no matter how small. You're not hurting yourself by putting Jerry Lynn as champion. Nobody is going to tune in and say "What? Mr JL is champ? Fuck that I'm not watching." However, you do open yourself to grab at least a couple fans who remember Lynn from his light heavyweight title run and that's a couple more fans than you'd have with anyone else holding the belt.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Would putting the belt on D'Lo Brown have been a good move?

[Chavo Classic]

I've got to disagree with the ridiculous notion that Jerry Lynn is recognisable. He was one of the top guys in a small fed which folded 8 years ago and spent a year jobbing on Heat for the WWE.

A guy like Aries or Rave is easily more recognisable.

The average fan is going to look at Lynn, fail to draw any parallels with the over-the-hill underdog story they've recycled from The Wrestler, and dismiss the entire promotion because an unknown 40 year old is the champion.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I agree with Chavo in the sense that I disagree that Lynn is recogniseable. I would not say that Aries or Rave is more recogniseable. Well, maybe Rave is, because he was on TNA recently, and had about as big a role as Lynn in the WWE, and is fresher in people's heads.

But yeah, it's not like Lynn is a name. Nor is he a star. He was a lower-card guy in the WWE. That isn't someone you want to be carrying your company. And while there might not be anyone more recogniseable than Lynn, I don't think recogniseable is what ROH should be going after.

I mean, people that thought Lynn was cool are going to check out ROH to see him mingle in the main event scene there, anyway. Him being ROH World Champion isn't likely to draw more than 200 people to watching their YouTube shows. Someone like Bryan Danielson might be a complete unknown to someone, but he's got the pedigree that a top guy needs, and there's no previous exposure in the WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA or whatever to hold him to.

[The Mackem]

It's not like ROH will say 'this guy was in WWE but barely saw TV time despite being a champion and in a Smackdown game'. The label ex- WWF/ECW champion will suffice and the fact that he can wrestle extremely well is a big plus. Point being they can't really do wrong with whatever they are planning on doing with Lynn. He stands above all lot of the 'unknowns' on the shows at the moment but will most definitely pass the torch and help those guys get established. I prefer this over hiring in some ex-WWE champion and putting the belt on him from nowhere.

[thecc]

I really hope that Tyler Black doesn't get the title from Jerry Lynn...

I love the move to give Lynn the title it's almost like ECW giving the strap to Terry Funk (to a much lesser extent), but I don't think Tyler should be the next guy. Don't get me wrong Tyler is a tremendous wrestler and he has a connection with the fans that is undeniable if you've been to a ROH show, but I just think he needs more seasoning. I think for the most part he's been living off working with Jimmy Jacobs for the past years, and I think he should be out on his own for a year or so to prove he can handle being alone and still getting people over.

I think a lot of the good will he has on him is because Jimmy Jacobs is such a good heel that he's completely detested by ROH fans, hence anyone Jimmy bullies in Age of the Fall or bullied in Age of the Fall will instantly get over with the crowd. He got Necro Butcher over huge with the ROH crowd who used to hate Necro because he was from CZW. He got Delirious over even more when they split up.

I think the most logical step is to give the title to Jimmy Jacobs and have him weasel out of championship matches for a couple of months before Aries turns on him and takes the belt for the second time.The problem with waiting a year to give Tyler the belt is that he could face the same problems with Claudio. They waited so long for the big title match with Nigel that by the time it happened no one cared.

[Mooияakeя™]

I like McGuinness' work, but ffs, him being English, for me is uber.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm already sort of over the idea of Claudio Castagnoli winning the ROH World Title. I'd much rather see him and Chris Hero form a tag team again. Of course, with ROH implying that tag team wrestling is actually important, and that there is no shame in making it your specialty and winning its World Championship.

The Mackem did a good job at selling me on Lynn as champ, but still -- I would have gone with someone else. Austin Aries seems like a really good pick right now, although they might be using Lynn to transition the belt to him.

I would kill to see Rob Van Dam work some dates with ROH, and put Lynn over in a series of matches. As a former WWE and ECW Champion, RVD has enough draw to his name to make people see Lynn as the best in the world, regardless of what they remember about his past.

[ron the dial]

Colt Cabana wins the title at The Homecoming 2 (i hope so because i'll actually be there for the first time in a while)

[thecc]

I really want Tyler Black to win it. He's pretty much been the star of the company since last April.

[thecc]

seriously
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and he's improved so much since then.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I can't see Colt Cabana winning the ROH World Title next. I love the guy, but he's just returned to the company, and people probably still connect him to "Scotty Goldman." It'd be interesting to see him work with Lynn, but I think Mr. JL does retain the ROH Title against Roderick Strong and Colt Cabana successfully in his next defenses.