Monday, MAY 4 – 10:30 AM (CT)

-My week has jumped out to a not so great start. First of all, I lost my checkbook. Who loses their checkbook? Well, me I guess. I write checks for two bills. One of them is to a personal party, but the other one needs to get on board with direct withdrawal. Secondly, somebody stole my chair from my desk at work. That's irony for you; I work at a jail and somebody that works here stole from me.

-Anyway, I could go on about my day or even my weekend, but this is a professional wrestling site, so let's talk about Ric Flair. We all know Flair's asking price for appearances and he is obviously making great money on the independent scene. I was not so sure about ROH bringing him in, but I saw both sides of the argument. Those in favor said ROH needs a big name that will attract new viewers. Those not in favor said ROH should focus on the talent they already have.

Well, after seeing a mere advertisement for ROH on HDNet with footage of Flair, I was immediately on board. Then I watched the show and I actually felt like a kid again watching Flair open the broadcast with a subdued, but very good Flair promo. Ric Flair was not there to put over Ric Flair, Ric Flair was there to put over ROH and specifically, their champion Jerry Lynn.

I mentioned this in the ROH Hitlist, but Flair's appearance on the show made the show look major league. Flair will always be old school and ROH is as old school as it gets in this day and age. If Hulk Hogan or even Steve Austin went to ROH and put over their talented roster, it would not mean as much as Flair doing it. When Flair said he respects and appreciates ROH and their roster, I completely believe him.

While the segment with Flair put over ROH and produced the best mic work of Jerry Lynn's career, the man who came out of the segment looking like a huge superstar was Austin Aries. Aries came out and played the perfect heel to both Flair and Lynn. He played the arrogant heel but still managed to mention he respected both Flair and Lynn. That was well done.

Beyond that, Aries confidently put himself over as the top guy of ROH's past and the top guy of ROH's future. He mentioned he was a former ROH Champion and he was gunning for Jerry Lynn's title in an attempt to become the first two time ROH Champion. The best part of the segment for me was Flair saying, "I love your attitude" to Aries. It almost felt like a shoot moment to me because I think it was Flair basically saying, "I see a lot of myself in you."

So, with one segment, ROH established that Flair could make future appearances by naming him the "ROH Ambassador." They also set up a likely program pitting Lynn against Aries for the ROH Championship. Later in the show, they announced a rematch of last week's show that will see Bryan Danielson taking on Tyler Black to determine the number one contender for the ROH Championship.

With the awesome main event of Aries vs. Roderick Strong, ROH now has four people who can claim they belong in the title picture. Aries, Danielson, Black, and Strong would all make strong challengers for Jerry Lynn. Aries is the lone heel here so he will probably stand out from the group a little bit. Nonetheless, ROH did a lot of things right with their first show of the second set of tapings, and the thing that got the ball rolling in the right direction was the inclusion of Ric Flair.

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