Roderick Strong Invititational Challenge

[Robareid]

Right, someone needed to start an actual conversation in the ROH thread, so here one is:

Since Roderick Strong is out of the title picture for Final Battle, he has issued an open challenge. Now please dont spoil this thread with spoilers, but who do you guys think will take it up.

#1 - Nigel McGuiness - This guy seems the most logical guy for me. He got in the ring to back up one of the American Wolves (can't remember which) a couple of weeks back on TV. After this, on the ROH website, Jim Cornett went on saying Nigel should not be in the ring due to him not being a member of the in ring roster. For me this screams he is coming back into the ring. He also kept taking shots at Martini when he was on commentary. That's why he is my favourite. However, he has had several health issues that nobody actually knows the full details of, so this may be impossible.

I would love it to be Nigel, he is great in the ring and even better on the mic. If it is just a one off thing then great, but him becoming a permanent member of the roster would be amazing, as it would add some much needed depth to the main event scene.

#2 - Some Japanese Star - This is a likely option. ROH has frequently utilized japanese talent through out the companies history. Depending who it was, this could vary in quality, but if they got someone big and good, this could be amazing. Giant Bernard would be pretty cool

#3 - Low Ki - How great would this be. I mean, he is on the indies, why not? Like McGuiness, it would add some much needed depth to the main event scene if he joined permanently. But, and it's a big but, he left last time due to a "disagreement in business relationships"... Need I say more...He may also have other commitments in Japan as well, not sure what he is doing over there atm.

So what do you guys think? As I said, please no spoilers

[Necroyeti]

Nigel is actually going back in the ring. He's doing a retirement tour in England throughout December (Fight Club Pro, Southside, PCW, NGW, IPW and probably more) and is in the process of setting up a website. Who knows if he'll wrestle in Final Battle, or can be medically cleared for the US, but in case anyone was wondering: He's only doing colour commentary for the TV show, which means Prazak will likely be brought in for all DVD/iPPV announcing duties.

I, for one, don't think Nigel would be suited for this match anyway - I'm fairly certain the purpose of this match is to have an Roddy put somebody over, and it doesn't seem right to have Nigel be that guy - especially in what could possibly be his last match in the states, in a company in which he was already ridiculously successful. Conversely, if Roderick were booked to win, it would be kinda pointless since he really doesn't need that kind of rub at this point in his ROH stint.

Low Ki burnt his bridges with Ring of Honor long ago. While I believe a lot of his beef was with Gabe, I'm still declaring that one not likely.

HIGHLY doubt it will be somebody that's already on the roster - the few guys in the company right now that are genuinely in or ready for the "Main-Event level singles wrestler tier" would be tied up with other matches on the card, I'd imagine. Generico or Lethal could work, but I wouldn't be that excited over it. (Especially Generico - he's wrestled Roddy at least a couple times already this year)

A Japanese star seems like something ROH would book, so that's my favourite so far. Somebody like Suzuki or Nakajima from NOAH. (Roddy already had an A+ match with Suzuki in Japan this year, they have great chemistry)

Other candidates:

- A returning ROH talent (can't really think who though... Rocky Romero? I guess there's kayfabe history there. BJ Whitmer's reappeared lately in CZW. Paul London wouldn't exactly set the world on fire, but he'd be a cool choice also. Chris Hero is a possible darkhorse. Eddie Kingston?)

- Wrestler from another indy fed making a debut (most of my popular choices like Sami Callihan are super unlikely though, thanks to Gabe and DGUSA/EVOLVE. With Cornette and all the OVW guys they've been using at TV tapings lately, though.... it's not out of the question.)

- WWE defectee (It's unlikely, but Chris Masters? I reckon he *could* be a good fit, although ROHbot type fans would probably shit all over him. Chavo maybe. Lance Archer, probably not since he's being successful as fuck in New Japan right now.)