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RADICAN'S TAKE
RADICAN'S RING OF HONOR 2014 YEAR END AWARDS: (pt. 4) - MVP, Rising Star

Feb 21, 2015 - 5:23:27 PM
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By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

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Part four of my 2014 ROH Year End Awards features the final categories for ROH in 2014. This final installment will look at the 2014 ROH MVP and Rising Star categories.

MVP

(1) Adam Cole: This was an easy pick for MVP. Without Adam Cole, ROH isn’t an as interesting product in 2014. In an era where heels are lacking in all major U.S. promotions, Cole manages to be a hated centerpiece top heel in Ring of Honor. Cole has refined his heel character since his turn began during the summer of 2013 and culminated when he beat Michael Elgin in the ROH World Title tournament final at “Death Before Dishonor” in 2013.

Since that time, Cole has done all the little things right to get heat on himself. He made his feud with Jay Briscoe personal and cut some really good promos leading into their matches at “SuperCard of Honor VIII” in April and again at “Final Battle 2014” in December.

It’s not just Cole’s promos that stand out, but it’s also his facial expressions and pacing of his matches as well. A perfect example of the subtle things Cole does came at “Survival of the Fittest 2014: Night 1” when he held Delirious in a figure 4 on the floor as the ref counted to 20. Cole then let go around the time the ref got to 15 and got back into the ring. Cole simply sat and faced the hard camera and smiled as Delirious was unable to get back into the ring.

Although Cole lost the ROH World Title in June 2014 at “Best in the World” to Michael Elgin just as his reign was kicking into high gear, he managed to regain his momentum quickly through a storyline where he lost his ROH World Title rematch in a Four-way match at “Field of Honor” in August. The loss put Cole to the back of the line of contenders to the ROH World Title.

Cole became the centerpiece of The Kingdom after Matt Hardy left ROH in July with Michael Bennett and Maria as his partners. Eventually Matt Taven was added to the group and they helped add a great deal of heat to the Cole-Briscoe feud with key angles being show on both nights of “Survival of the Fittest 2014” to set up Cole-Briscoe at “Final Battle 2014.”

Cole kept trying to find a way back into the title picture after his hated rival Jay Briscoe beat Michael Elgin at “All Star Extravaganza VI” in September. Cole eventually won “Survival of the Fittest 2014” and earned a ROH World Title shot at “Final Battle 2014” against Jay Briscoe in a Fight Without Honor.

Although Cole lost to Briscoe at “Final Battle 2014” and was sidelined with an arm injury at the end of the year, he proved he was someone that drew eyeballs to ROH and provided a spark to the company as heel champion during the first half of the year and then challenger to Jay Briscoe for the ROH World Title as the year closed.

RUNNERS UP

(1) The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson): Although The Young Bucks were part-time players in ROH due to their commitments to NJPW, they were an invaluable special attraction to the company that generated a lot of buzz when they appeared sporadically in ROH throughout 2014.

Their feud with ReDRagon was a major highlight for Ring of Honor in 2014. The three matches they had with O’Reilly & Fish while feuding over the ROH World Tag Team Titles generated a lot of buzz for the company, especially when both teams faced off at “War of the Worlds” and “All Star Extravaganza VI” on iPPV. Both of these matches were among the top three ROH matches of 2014 and generated a lot of buzz from the promotion.

The Young Bucks innovative in-ring offense is amazing to watch, as their timing is incredible. Nearly every time they wrestled on an ROH card, they got people talking. Although they didn’t get much aid from a storyline standpoint, they continually were a high point for the company due to their in-ring work.

(2) Jay Lethal: Lethal turned heel at “Supercard of Honor VIII” during WrestleMania weekend and joined forces with Truth Martini after beating Tommaso Ciampa in a 2/3 Falls match to capture the ROH World TV title. Lethal has held the title since that time and put on a number of very good to great matches during the year while defending the title.

Lethal feuded with Martini’s former protégé, Matt Taven for several months after “Supercard of Honor VIII” and though their feud lacked spark initially, it picked up heading into the blow off at “Field of Honor” where they faced off in a steel cage for the ROH World TV Title.

Lethal and Taven stole the show in a fantastic Steel Cage match that set the ballpark on Fire and Lethal won thanks to outside interference from the House of Truth and established himself as a great #2 heel in Ring of Honor.

Lethal went on to begin a feud with ACH on ROH TV in August. They had a fantastic 30 minute draw for the ROH World TV Title on the Aug. 25 edition of ROH TV that was one of the best matches in the company in 2014.

During this period Lethal went on to feud with the likes of Cedric Alexander and Matt Sydal. Lethal proved himself to be a credible champion capable of putting on very good to great matches in 2014 and his lengthy reign with the ROH World TV Title continued throughout the rest of 2014 after he beat Sydal at “Final Battle 2014.”

Honorable mention: Jay Briscoe, ReDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish), A.J. Styles

Rising Star

(1) Jay Lethal: 2014 was the year Lethal finally ridded himself of the stigma of being a comedy act in TNA doing a Macho Man knockoff character. Lethal gained some steam late in 2012, but never really fully established as someone that could be looked at as a credible top-tier future star in Ring of Honor.

Lethal had some very good outings in the ring in 2013, but after turning heel and joining the House of Truth, Lethal found his spark as long-term ROH World TV Champion. Lethal improved his promos and it helped add heat to his act to have Truth Martini speak on his behalf as well.

Lethal truly stood out having a number of very to great ROH World TV title defenses against the likes of Matt Taven, Cedric Alexander, and ACH. He has proven to be a key player on the ROH roster and big things should be expected of him in 2015.

Runners up

(1) ACH: ACH established himself as a versatile player on the ROH roster in 2014. He could be depended on to set the tone for the show in an undercard tag or multi-man match and set the crowd on fire with his high-flying offense.

ACH ended up breaking out as a singles act when he faced Jay Lethal for the ROH World Title on the Aug. 25 edition of ROH TV. They had an incredible match with ACH fighting from behind and then going back and forth with Lethal in a match that culminated in a 30 minute time limit draw. He was set up top be a key player at ROH’s “All Star Extravaganza VI” in a rematch with Lethal for the ROH World TV title, but ended up missing his flight to Toronto.

ACH cooled off for a short time, but management ended up giving him another push towards the end of the year. In October at “Champions vs. All Stars,” ACH broke out by pinning ROH World TV Champion Jay Lethal and ROH World Tag Team Champion Bobby Fish during the Champions vs. All Stars 8 Man Elimination match. He ended up going one-on-one with ROH World Champion Jay Lethal, as they were the last two men remaining in the match at the end. ACH gave Briscoe all he could handle, but Briscoe eventually finished him off to win the match.

As a result of his showing in the Champions vs. All Stars match, ACH was granted a shot at the ROH World Title at “Glory by Honor XIII” in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. The storyline going into the match was that ACH wanted to prove he was a man and not just a talented undercard act. ACH cut a good promo heading into the match that can be seen on the bonus section of the DVD releases talking about how he was going to show the ROH audience that he was ready for the main event scene. The crowd was behind ACH during the match and although he lost, Briscoe put him over after the match.

Heading into 2015, ACH’s future is bright. As he continues to grow as a performer in the ring and on the microphone, the sky is the limit for him and ROH booker Delirious seems keen to put him in big spots where he can succeed and climb the ladder in ROH.

(3) Hanson: After his tag team partner Raymond Rowe was injured, Hanson received a strong push on the ROH undercard during the second half of 2014. Hanson got his biggest opportunity facing A.J. Styles on ROH TV that was taped on Oct. 25 and aired on Nov. 22. This was Hanson’s first competitive outing against a top-flight name and his momentum picked up from that point forward.

Hanson received a strong push during ROH’s two night “Survival of the Fittest” tournament in early November. He beat ROH World Champion Jay Lethal at “Survival of the Fittest 2014: Night 1” in a Survival of the Fittest Qualifying match to advance to the Six Man Elimination Survival of the Fittest 2014 finals.

At “Survival of the Fittest 2014: Night 2,” Hanson received his strongest push to date by lasting until the end of the Survival of the Fittest finals. Cole targeted Hanson’s knee throughout the match and Hanson also was attacked by The Kingdom during the match as well. Hanson ended up going one-on-one against Adam Cole at the end. Hanson showed great fire against Cole and kicked out of one Florida Keys German suplex before Cole finally put him away with a second one to win the match.

Hanson’s future is certainly bright heading into 2015. He still hasn’t fully developed a connection with the crowd, but he’s an impressive and athletic big man with a unique look. Hanson moves amazingly well for someone his size and it will be interesting to see how far he can ride his momentum coming out of 2014 into 2015.

Honorable mention: Cedric Alexander, Adam Page

For more information about ROH, visit ROHWrestling.com.

***

Please click HERE; and click “like” to join the Radican’s Wrestling Community Facebook fan page.

Follow Sean on Twitter at Twitter.com/SeanRadican
Email Sean at PWTorchSean@Gmail.com


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