10 LIVE Observations From The NJPW/ROH G1 Supercard
3. How To Not Make New Fans
The ROH component of the jointly-promoted G1 Supercard was wildly uneven in quality.
At the worst of it, and this isn't a subjective take because the sentiment was the only thing to echo in an eerily silent arena, New Japan was Ric Flair, and ROH was the broomstick. Several additions to the (incidentally top top banter) Honor Rumble looked and were received as Florida Championship Wrestling graduates. The match between Kelly Klein and Mayu Iwatani failed to sway a cold and unfamiliar but still wide-awake audience. And, insane as it was at various points, the impromptu six-man garbage match made visual every criticism I've read of ROH. It didn't persuade me to do a deep dive into the TV product outside of the must-watch PPV offerings; chronically and unnecessarily overlong, it only selectivity grabbed me.
From the outside looking in, ROH didn't do enough to submerge me into a binge. Why is everything over-thought and meandering? Is it a residual, baked-in mentality from the days in which the league excelled at long-form epics? Is it thought the crowd remains that mid-00s lot? Because it isn't: I stopped watching fervently when the quality of the roster dwindled in parallel with its influence.
With the Elite gone, better, more disciplined booking is required to maximise the value of those that remain.