By Pat McNeill, PWTorch columnist

Wake the pets and call the neighbors. It's time for our semi-monthly ROH internet pay-per-view preview column!

DISCLAIMER: Projections are made by myself and for myself with absolutely no assistance from James E. Cornette, Gary Juster or The Man With The Lizard Face. No one knows the contents of these projections, but I, in my divine and mystical way, will ascertain the finishes to these matches while being several months behind on my Ring of Honor DVD's. Some of our departing contestants will receive a year's supply of Quaker's Corn Bran cereal. You'll delight in the lightly sweetened crunchy corn flavor of this wholesome cereal. Remember, this is only an exhibition. This is not a competition. Please, please, no wagering. This lineup is based on the best available information as of this writing.

Normally, the big questions going into a major Ring of Honor event revolve around the storylines. Can Michael Elgin get the better of Fit Finlay. Will the All Night Express finally capture the ROH Tag Team Titles? What's happening with Davey Richards? Why are the ROH announcers and authority figures treating Kevin Steen like he's a public menace? But this month, we have a better question. Is the stream going to work? Will people actually be able to watch the show live? Ring of Honor brought in an outside company to handle this. We'll see if it works. If it does, maybe ROH should consider bringing in outside companies to produce their television shows and DVD's.

The big news going into tomorrow's show is...Oh, just watch the main event of last week's ROH television show. It's less typing for me. Here's Roderick Strong defending the ROH Television Title against Tomasso Ciampa.



And without further ado, let's roll right into this month's Wrestling History Lesson. Before Ring of Honor, the "number three promotion" in North America was the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling. The original ECW ran from 1993 through 2001. Among the many wrestlers who passed through ECW were Steve Austin, Mick Foley and the late Eddie Guerrero. A young Gabe Sapolsky worked for the company, as did ROH founder Rob Feinstein and legendary manager Jim Cornette.

Back in the original ECW, the monthly cards at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia meant everything to the insider fans. And back on June 28th, 1997 in South Philadelphia, the ECW Arena was packed to the gills to see The Sandman & Tommy Dreamer take on Rob Van Dam & Sabu (w/ Bill Alfonso) in the main event. A familiar face drops by late in the match to say hello. Joey Styles and the late Rick Rude have the call.



And, as your free gift for viewing this column, let's take you back to May 8, 2009, and ROH "Never Say Die" in Boston, Massachusetts. Lenny Leonard & Dave Prazak had the call as the All Night Express battled the Super Smash Brothers.



On with the projections for Sunday's show!

I have no idea what the dark match will be for this show, but I hope Adam Page is involved.

Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly (Hybrid Rules Match): Apparently, Hybrid Rules means you can win a match by submission or knockout only. It does NOT men that both men will be carpooling to the Manhattan Center in a Prius. Projection Cole has O'Reilly in trouble. O'Reilly commits a foul and escapes with a disqualification loss.

Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. The Guardians of Truth (w/ Truth Martini) : All we know about the Guardians of Truth is...they're wearing masks. This doesn't have to be a long-term gimmick. In fact, you could put Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander under the masks and have it work. Let's go with that. Projection? The Briscoes win with a Doomsday Device on Guardian #2.

Eddie Edwards vs. Homicide: Eddie is trying to re-fight his way to the top of Ring of Honor by going through all the former ROH World Champions. I can't wait to see him take on Xavier. Homicide is back as a villain, which will hopefully liven things up around here. Projection? Homicide puts Eddie through his paces, but in the end, it's Edwards with the Die Hard Bomb for the victory.

Roderick Strong vs. Jay Lethal vs. Tomasso Ciampo (ROH TV Title - Three Way Dance): The storyline is that Truth Martini is allied with the Embassy, and paid off Prince Nana on last week's TV show to cost Ciampa the Television Title. Projection? Ciampa has Strong beat, but Nana pulls the referee out of the ring. Ciampa figures out he's been betrayed, and goes to tear apart Nana's crew, allowing Strong to hit Lethal with the Sick Kick and win the match.

Fit Finlay vs. Michael Elgin: Ring of Honor isn't perfect, but they've spent the past year getting Michael Elgin over as a killer. My guess? This is the next step in that plan. Projection? A physical battle that ends with Elgin hitting the spinning powerbomb for the victory.

Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas vs. The All Night Express (ROH Tag Team Titles - Disqualification Rule Waived): Now that the never-ending feud between the Briscoes and Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team is over, Kenny King and Rhett Titus are ready to start the program that was postponed six months ago. Projection? Well, the ether-soaked rag won't work twice in a row. Let's say Benjamin knocks out Titus with a tag belt, and the referee misses it. Haas and Benjamin keep the titles.

Kevin Steen vs. Davey Richards (ROH World Title - No Rules): Normally, we don't use actual, you know, facts to make these projections. In this case, let's make an exception. Davey Richards is talking about leaving wrestling to take up mixed martial arts. And, Davey Richards is not advertised for any upcoming Ring of Honor shows. Since this is Jim Cornette booking and not Vince Russo, We'll assume it's not an elaborate work. Projection? Referee Todd Sinclair gets bumped and misses Richards scoring a visual fall. After Sinclair recovers, Steen piledrives Richards through a couple of chairs and wins to keep the title. After the match, Richards storms out of the building like Bret Hart after WrestleMania XII, and we don't see Davey again for a few months.

Aftermath: There's a television taping in Baltimore next Friday, and then Steen defends the title against Roderick Strong next weekend in Pittsburgh. And on September 15th, we get Death Before Dishonor X on iPPV. Join us then.

***
Pat McNeill of Richmond, Va. has been a Torch columnist since February 2001. He asks you to support your local independent wrestling promotion, because that's where you'll see the superstars of tomorrow and the washed-up has-beens of yesteryear. He'd like to wish his nephew Gavin a happy 3rd birthday.

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