Five Reasons To Watch Ring Of Honor

How Ring Of Honor’s excellent stables make for phenomenal storytelling

Many wrestling promotions try to recapture the success of WCW and older WWE. Particularly, they attempt to bring forth the age of blockbuster success wrestling stables such as NWO, Degeneration X and the Nation of Domination. But, attempting and succeeding are two very different things. Just need to look at Impact’s attempts at this during the era of Immortal and EV 2.0 to see how a lack of ability to nail it can lead to failure.

Ring Of Honor is no stranger to factions in its history, with groups like Age Of The Fall and Special K being prominent and stretching back far as most can remember. But recent groups to emerge within the promotion are nothing to be scoffed at, each one having a standout identity that makes them distinguishable from their fellows with ease.

The Foundation, led by Jonathan Gresham, is a group born out of the resurrection of Pure Rules. They are doing all they can to “bring honor back to this company” and being comprised of members such as Jay Lethal, Tracy Willaims and Rhett Titus, the core of their identity is defined by history and veteranship of wrestling.

Contrasted to this is Shane Taylor Promotions, made up of Shane Taylor, O’Shay Edwards and the tag team of S.O.S-Soldier Of Savagery-Moses & Khan. Being of much fresher talent, this quartet of men is based on the idea that winning and attaining glory is what matters in their career. They are not immoral fighters, however, often respecting the Code Of Honor and wanting to win by their own ability and skill above all. But the end goal of success is what matters most to them.

Something they share with the final faction I will mention, La Facción Ingobernables. Headed by the current ROH World Champion, Rush, and filled with his father and brother, Bestia del Ring and Dragon Lee respectively, alongside Kenny King is a group built on one thing: They are on top of the mountain that is Ring Of Honor. And they will throw down anyone who tries to climb up. Easily the most clean-cut bad guys of ROH, the headlining group puts on show stopping bouts that leave you wondering who exactly can be the one to finally dethrone them.

Ring Of Honor has shown they know the winning formula to faction warfare in wrestling. And it is identity.