Ring of Honor – three words that became synonymous with the independent wrestling boom of the early to mid 2000s that saw the rise of not only future wrestling superstars, but also the changing of pro wrestling’s very in-ring dynamic presentation. Using monthly issues of “Pro Wrestling Illustrated”, various websites usually connected to angelfire.com, and the trading of VHS tapes, I became familiar with names such as “Reckless Youth”, “The Fallen Angel”, Cheetah Master, and Trent Acid just to name a few.
Ring of Honor was meant to be a true showcase for all the budding or solidified indie wrestling talent. Instead, ROH turned into one of the premiere wrestling organizations in North America by capitalizing on the fall of wrestling’s “Attitude Era” with a product more similar to mixed martial arts than Extreme Championship Wrestling. Being a fan of ROH since its inception in February 2002, I’ve witnessed a majority of the company’s moments both significant and less-so live or through video. And just like any wrestling promotion, there have been decisions made and circumstances play out leaving this ROHbot wondering, “What if…?”
Today I ask: “What if Marty Scurll won the ROH World Championship at ‘G1 Supercard’?”
What Really Happened?
Ring of Honor’s relationship with, arguably, the second biggest promotion in wrestling at the time New Japan Pro Wrestling opened the doors for many opportunities on both sides. ROH gained a boost in popularity as dream matches were starting to come true and even men like KUSHIDA and Tomohiro Ishii won ROH titles. For New Japan, their time in the American live event spotlight allowed them to gain a foothold in the United States for their future endeavors of running their own shows stateside. Heading into 2019, the companies joined forces once again; but this time behind the scenes by contacting the management of Madison Square Garden with the intent of holding an event inside its hallowed halls. After much friction and even some interference from WWE in hopes of stopping something monumental in the arena long associated with the New York territory, it was announced ROH & New Japan would be hosting the “G1 Supercard” inside Madison Square Garden one night before WWE’s yearly premiere event: “Wrestlemania”.
Heading into this once-unbelievable show, ROH established a story featuring Matt Taven declaring himself as the “Real ROH World champion” having gotten a visual pin fall over then-ROH World champion Dalton Castle during a Four Corner Survival match that resulted in Jay Lethal walking away as the new ROH World champion instead of Taven. The rivalry over the ROH World title boiled over between Lethal and Taven; culminating in a match at the company’s “17th Anniversary” pay-per-view. The belief was Taven being the odds-on favorite to walk away as the new ROH World champion; only for the two to wrestle sixty minutes; resulting in a draw. After the thrilling bout that really solidified Taven as a main event star for the company, Marty Scurll staked his claim at being the next in line for a title shot. Scurll – a former ROH Television champion who became one of ROH’s most popular figures mostly thanks to his association with The Bullet Club and “The Elite” of Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks & Adam “Hangman” Page – found himself too in the middle controversy. The Elite had cut ties with ROH & New Japan in late 2018 to form their own promotion, All Elite Wrestling. The loss of The Elite created a vacuum of fan support & anticipation for what their former employers offered with “G1 Supercard” being a way to turn that negativity around in grand fashion.
While New Japan stuck to a traditional main event for their side of the show, ROH opted to present a Triple Threat Ladder Match for the ROH World title featuring defending champion Lethal, Taven and Scurll with the latter being the fan-wanted victor even though everyone knew his contract with ROH was coming up; giving him the opportunity to move on to AEW just like the rest of The Elite. ROH went against the grain or, at least, the vocal minority begging for ROH to put their most important title on, arguably, the most popular ROH wrestler on the roster in Scurll even if he was leaving soon. Instead, Matt Taven’s World title chase finally ended with him standing atop a ladder underneath the bright lights of Madison Square Garden as the new ROH World champion.
What if…?
With all eyes on the stars of ROH and New Japan, it was management that eventually got the most backlash specifically on the ROH side. Even with some bad decisions beforehand including the bringing in of Enzo & Big Cass – two controversial wrestlers who were recently fired from WWE – for an impromptu brawl with ROH’s top team The Briscoes, the fans hoped for the best as Scurll would leave MSG as the new ROH champion. Instead of Taven knocking Lethal off the main ladder with a thunderous shot via the hanging World title belt, it would be Scurll who last squares off with the champ. With Lethal knocked backward and hitting the ladder bridge below, Scurll reaches up to attain the ROH World Championship belt to, what one could only assume would be a deafening positive response. With the question of Scurll’s contractual status sill permeating wrestling, the leader of Villain Enterprises (a faction consisting of Scurll, former WWF Tag Team champion PCO, and potential superstar Brody King) would be his generation’s version of CM Punk if he wanted to be – threatening to take the ROH World title to AEW and lay it at the feet of The Elite.
Though dubbed a “villain”, damaging Scurll’s popularity at the expense of promoting another wrestling organization that hadn’t even gotten off the ground yet wouldn’t be best for business. Instead, ROH would have Scurll be a fighting champion; defending the title against all comers including former titleholders & rivals Lethal, Dalton Castle, and even New Japan talent like KUSHIDA – the man responsible for ending Scurll’s ROH World Television title reign two years prior. All the while Taven, who didn’t get pinned or submitted in either of his 2019 World title opportunities, hounds Scurll for a championship shot; going as far as to attack Scurll after Marty’s matches and setting up big six-man clashes featuring Villain Enterprises and Taven’s The Kingdom trio.
A little over two months after “G1 Supercard”, ROH would hold its “Best in the World” pay-per-view – the perfect setting for Scurll-Taven for the gold. After twenty minutes and a bit of shenanigans including the arrival of new VE member Flip Gordon to stop The Kingdom’s Vinny Marseglia from brutalizing Scurll with Marseglia’s infamous ax, Taven hits his inverted DDT finisher The Climax to pin “The Villain” to win the ROH World Championship. Almost a year to the day after Matt gained a visual pin on Castle that started his march toward becoming an official, undisputed World champion, Taven would be the king he’s always proclaimed himself as being.
Remain or Change?
ROH found itself in the middle of no-win situation coming into “G1 Supercard” in regards to who should win the ROH World title. To put the title on Scurll would be doing something that has come back to haunt ROH management in the past as non-contracted talent left with an ROH championship. With no one but ROH knowing the truth about Scurll’s contractual status, they went with Taven as the fans assumed by the month of May Marty would show up at AEW’s first “Double or Nothing” pay-per-view. But as the weeks turned into months and Scurll was still around it became obvious Scurll’s time in ROH was lasting longer than expected – making many question why ROH, at a time when they needed all the fan support possible, wouldn’t put the focus on their most popular wrestler even if that wrestler was once associated with individuals who were no longer around. To have Scurll win at “G1 Supercard” and drop the title to Taven at “Best in the World” would have served both masters as the fans would see the moment they wanted play out in MSG and Taven would finally take the throne atop the ROH mountain.
Though Taven’s reign would be cut short by two months, a majority of what happened during that time wasn’t necessary in the grand scheme of things including Taven’s defenses against PCO and Mark Haskins even if those were two of the better defenses associated with Taven’s time as champion. ROH was also building up the newly-signed Mexican-born RUSH in preparation for him to dethrone Taven – an act that would still easily happen if Taven won the title at “G1 Supercard” or “BitW” considering the build to Taven versus RUSH didn’t officially start until August 2019. With ROH introducing a top contender title tournament for “Final Battle”, Scurll making it to the finals before losing to PCO would’ve meant so much more as Scurll’s chance to regain the title was cut off by his own man – a person he brought into ROH from a story perspective to fend off any trio including Taven & The Kingdom.
Another positive from Scurll-Taven happening at “Best in the World” would be the lack of hot-shooting Jeff Cobb into the World title picture. Cobb gained a title opportunity out of nowhere after losing the Television title in a multi-man match. This allowed for Taven to defeat Cobb in underwhelming fashion at “Best in the World”; ending Cobb’s impressive undefeated streak in the process much to the disappointment of ROH fans. In the end, ROH could have had its cake and eaten it too by giving Scurll a short reign ended by Taven with the intent of Taven losing to RUSH in September.
