Adam Leavelle, "The Wrestling Snob," tries to tell you why he NEEDS wrestling to be done "right." I could sum this article up quickly by answering the headline with the statement “Because she is legit as f**k,” but I’ll elaborate a little. Thunder Rosa is currently one of the most popular female wrestlers in the world today, and she got that way by presenting herself as a legitimate fighter. While she’s an attractive woman, she doesn’t shake her ass, or wear revealing gear, to get herself over to the sexually starved male wrestling demographic. Thunder Rosa has an aura that screams “ass kicker.” You just believe that she’s legitimately tough, and is a wrestler so she can beat people up. Rosa is not using wrestling to get into acting, or to further her modeling career. She’s not looking to be named the sexiest women in wrestling, or shooting to make everyone’s “Hottest wrestlers” list.
It likely helps that shortly after making her wrestling debut, Thunder Rosa made a tour of World Wonder Ring Stardom. Simply known by most as Stardom, that company has a huge reputation as having the best female wrestlers in the world. Shortly after Stardom, she became a big part of Lucha Underground, gaining more experience, and working with solid television production. With short stints in Women of Honor, and WOW Women of Wrestling, Rosa continued to gain a larger following, and a bigger reputation as an amazing wrestler. She made another tour of Japan, always a very good thing, this time with Stardom rival promotion, Tokyo Joshi Pro, where she became the very first non-Japanese talent to win a title in that promotion. When she returned, she was quickly signed by the re-emerging National Wrestling Alliance, and there, Rosa’s stock shot way up. She quickly challenged the much larger, Allison Kay, for the women’s title, and defeated her for it, becoming the first Mexican born wrestler to ever hold that title. Rosa held that title for ten months, then losing to another women’s standout, Serena Deeb. Rosa then made her debut in All Elite Wrestling, immediately becoming a main event star in there women’s division. She challenged Deeb for the NWA title on Dynamite, only to be cheated out of the victory by Britt Baker, who Rosa later faced, and defeated, in a wild and crazy unsanctioned “lights out” match, which was heavily praised by most wrestling critics across the world. That match just further cemented Rosa as being as legit as they come. Also trained in mixed martial arts, and singed with “Combat America’s” and having fought in one MMA fight to date, there is no doubt that Thunder Rosa is what women in wrestling should be about. Legitimate fighters, out to beat people up, on their way to winning championship titles. It’s a simple formula that not too many understand these days. Thankfully we have Thunder Rosa out there showing everyone how it’s done. Rosa’s current feud with Kamille, in the National Wrestling Alliance, is one of the hottest, and best presented wrestling angles in the business currently. If you want women’s “Wrestling Done Right,” look no further than Thunder Rosa!  When I look at this beautiful championship title belt, it reminds me of wrestling back when it was serious, when it was believable, when it was a sport. When I look at this championship title belt, I think of real men, men like Harley Race, Jack Briscoe, and Ric Flair. I think of men that gave their all to try and capture this title as well, men like David Von Erich, Magnum TA, and Barry Windham. When I look at this championship title belt, I think of prestige, and remember a time when I wasn’t ashamed to be a fan of professional wrestling. When I look at this championship title belt, I think of WTBS and the 6:05pm show, where men like Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, defended the world television title in ten minute matches, that didn’t have a single drop kick in them, but were still better than any match you see on TV today. When I look at this championship title belt, I think of Starcade, The Great American Bash, and The War Games! When I look at this championship title belt, I don’t think of overly choreographed matches that look more like cheerleader competitions than a fight. When I look at this championship title belt, I don’t think of goofy comedy segments, or spots, that are meant to parody what wrestling used to be, rather than making me believe it’s real. When I look at this championship title belt, I think of The National Wrestling Alliance, the company that used to define what professional wrestling really was. My plea to today’s NWA is to please be the NWA of old. My plea to today’s NWA is to look at your championship title belt and make it your mission to make all of us fans feel the way we used to feel about it, and the way we want to feel about it again!
 La Faccion Ingobernable is the hottest heel stable in wrestling today. Coming into a place like Ring of Honor, and taking over the way that they have, is admirable on many levels. While I am not a fan of their “ungovernable” approach, to utilize it as they have, in Ring of Honor, a company founded on the principles of honorable, and respectful professional competition, is a feather in their cap, for sure. Many wrestling stables have been compared to the greatest stable of all time, The Four Horsemen, and most don’t pass the sniff test. While no one in “LFI,” is like anyone else that was ever a “Horseman,” their approach is almost exactly the same. La Faccion Ingobernable members are capable of defeating any opponent, on any given night, fair and square, in the middle of the ring. Yet they often chose to cheat, manipulate, and twist the rules. They are known for gang warfare, and proudly admit to wanting to humiliate their opponents more than they want to defeat them in a wrestling match. Ring of Honor World champion Rush, is one of the hottest young wrestlers in the world today, and could be having classic matches with many different opponents, but instead chooses to be propped up by his “familia,” much like the infamous Ric Flair chose to do in his prime. Dragon Lee is the workhorse of LFI, can hang with anyone, and really comes across as an “enforcer.” Kenny King is the Outsider that has found his place among family, that includes Bestia del Ring, is the well-seasoned vet, and a legit father figure! Top all of that off with Amy Rose, as their official manager and you have something special. Again, while I am not comparing styles to the great Four Horsemen, I am comparing the approach that LFI is using to dominate Ring of Honor. Jim Crockett Promotions was my all-time favorite wrestling period, and I can clearly see similarities. I mean if you want to be a dominating heel stable, it would be smart to copy the style and efforts of the original Four Horsemen. One thing that the Horsemen never had though was a legitimate, solid, well oiled, stable of “good guys” as protagonists. While many good guys teamed up to face the Horsemen throughout the 1980’s, there was never a group as tightly bound, and driven, to do what was right by wrestling, by JPC, or by the NWA, as the Horsemen were in doing whatever they wanted to do. This is something that Ring of Honor has, that is making all the difference in the storyline, in the angle, of La Faccion Ingobernable. The Foundation, Jonathan Gresham, Jay Lethal, Tracy Williams, and Rhett Titus are a well-oiled, strongly united, driven, and passionate stable that stands in the face of LFI, drawing a line, and daring them to cross it. Once crossed, The Foundation will never cower, never back down, never give up, and not turn on each other. I would argue that the more strength that LFI gains, the more determined The Foundation is to set things right. Ring of Honor has something the Four Horsemen never had, they have a stable of good guys determined to “do wrestling right!” Next week these two stable square off in the ring. On March 22nd, four days before ROH’s 19th anniversary show, La Faccion Ingobernable take on The Foundation in an 8 man tag match on ROH TV. If you want to see what I am taking about in this article, if you want to see one of the best heel stables in wrestling today get something the Four Horsemen never had, tune in with me, tune in to ROH TV for Wrestling Done Right!  Ring of Honor's use of LFI (La Facción Ingobernables) as real "bad guys," legit pisses me off, as a fan. It's been so long since I felt this way while watching wrestling, it feels kind of weird. Some would call me a "mark" for feeling this way, but they don't get it, at all. This is how wrestling is SUPPOSED to work. The heels aren't supposed to be cool, and likeable. They are supposed to inspire disgust, and hatred toward them, without having "go away" heat.
Over the years, since the near destruction of “kayfabe,” nearly all wrestling organizations across the world have struggled greatly to introduce “bad guys,” or “heels,” in their companies. For the most part, heels have been smarmy, cocky, arrogant, characters that typically attract male fans to their side. Think of “The Bullet Club” for example. Have they ever really been heels? Fans have flocked to them, and bought their t-shirts until they were out of stock. Few actually booed them, and even those who did, or do, only do so because they are popular, not because they are legitimately hated. I’m not picking on the Bullet Club though, they are just an easy example. Recently, La Facción Ingobernables won the Ring of Honor World tag titles by cheating behind the referees back, using a closed fist for the second time (something that in the Pure division is an instant disqualification) defeating beloved Pure wrestlers, the former champs, Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham, in a match of their own, a Pure Rules match up, only the second ever Pure tag team match. If that wasn’t enough, on that same program, Ring of Honor World Champion faced the much heralded, and respected, Shane Taylor, for the title. Taylor, a Ring of Honor “lifer” at this point, having worked his way up to this match, voted into it by the fans, on Ring of Honor’s official Facebook group, seemed to be a favorite going in. His longtime friend, but La Facción Ingobernables member, Kenny King, was conflicted for several weeks leading up to the match. Numerous times we saw King arguing with his faction members about fighting Taylor honestly, and honorably. It seemed King had heat with his friends for this, as they don’t care about anything but humiliating anyone that would dare cross them. After nearly 20 minutes into the brutal World title bout, Rush slammed into the referee, and got a steel chair out from under the ring, ready to wrap it around Taylor’s head. Instead, King rushed to his friend’s defense, only to then turn, and nail Taylor with the chair himself, giving Rush the win, retaining his title. While I am sure there are plenty to La Facción Ingobernables fans, I assume most are Lucha fans, supporting anyone of that style, and most others are just fans of the “bad guys” because that’s the cool thing to do. The presentation, and use of La Facción Ingobernables has been done better than any heel faction that I can recall in a long, long, time. They have legitimate “heat,” and in today’s wrestling world, that is so difficult to garner. This is simply yet another thing Ring of Honor is doing perfectly, and why they are clearly the world leader in Wrestling Done Right!  The interviews on a wrestling show, which have become known by their insider term, "promos" are as important to professional wrestling as the inside the ring work is. Sadly, they are also a lost art. During my time in the business, as a commentator, and backstage interviewer, I often struggled to get anyone to agree to do "promos." When I found wrestlers who were willing, they were almost always the same three or four guys. When I would convince someone new to do one, just about every time, they would ask for my direction, even asking me "What do you want me to talk about?" This is why I am excited over how good the promos on ROH TV, and ROH Week by Week YouTube show have been. I find myself wondering who teaches and directs promos and promo classes at ROH? Seriously, they have been so damn good. It's clear to me that they are going with the UFC's style of presentation with these things. We get insight from both wrestlers (fighters) before a match, including clips of other matches, discussions about their training, goals, and sometimes even life before wrestling, etc. It really is how wrestling should be presented in 2021, as well as moving forward. They are keeping the KEY element of promos in as well, as each wrestler will put their opponents skills, and abilities over, while telling us why they are still going to defeat them. I've also seen guys that I've never seen give a good promo, doing these things perfectly, so someone is clearly leading/directing them extremely well. Brian Johnson's most recent one about Dragon Lee is an example of the perfection of this style, but check out the interviews with Joe Keys and Dak Draper on last weeks "Week by week" to see another example of this being done to perfection. Kudos to ROH, and all the wrestlers pulling these off. They are amazing! Then we also get post match interviews, again, much like UFC does after their fights, with someone "standing by" to get the winners and losers immediate thoughts. This works, as this is when a wrestler is most passionate, I would say even more so than before a match. I've told you time and again how Ring of Honor is Wrestling Done Right, this includes the fact that they are also Promo's Done Right!  For years I’ve scoured the wrestling scene for “Wrestling Done Right.” Often I’ve been ridiculed for insisting that I know what that is. I’ve taken heat from people in the business for choosing that name for my website, and accepting “The wrestling snob” as my nickname. How dare I insist that only the wrestling that I like is wrestling done right! A wrestling snob isn’t a good thing! Wrestling is for everyone! Through it all I’ve kept at it, because damn it, wrestling needs a wrestling snob to help highlight the good, true, legitimate, professional wrestling. So what is real, true, legitimate, wrestling done right? If you have to ask that question, you’ll never accept any answer I give you. Much like In 1964, when Justice Potter Stewart tried to explain "hard-core" pornography, or what is obscene, by saying, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced... but I know it when I see it ..." What is “Wrestling Done Right?” Well, I know it when I see it. Today however I bring to you a better answer. Thanks to Ring of Honor’s “Foundation,” which its leader, Jonathan Gresham himself dubbed me a part of, The Pure Division is wrestling done right! That’s not to say that I hate any wrestling that isn’t part of the Pure division, or that no matches outside of it ever qualify as wrestling done right to me, but if I am going to point to something that defines what I feel wrestling is, and should be represented by, it’s guys like Jonathan Gresham, Jay Lethal, Tracy Williams, Rhett Titus, Wheeler Yuta, Fred Yehi, and others out there like The World Famous CB, Dak Draper, and Josh Woods. I have no desire for wrestling to be presented like Saturday Night Live, or any kind of slapstick variety hour show. While wrestlers can be different, and styles don’t have to be the same, wrestling needs to be presented like a legitimate athletic contest, like a fight, like sports combat. Wins and losses should matter, weight divisions should matter, and titles should absolutely matter, and nowhere is all of those things more true than inside the Pure Division of Ring of Honor. In fact, it’s so true that the problem with having the Pure Championship is that if tends to over shadow the World championship. I would argue that this is why Ring of honor unified those two titles in August of 2006, when ROH World champion, Bryan Danielson (now Daniel Bryan of WWE fame) defeated Pure champion, Nigel McGuinness. I don’t see that happening this time because wrestling has never needed a “Pure” division more than it does now. Many fans today don’t even know, or understand, what legitimate professional wrestling is. Most fans today believe that wrestling is whatever the wrestler, or wrestling company (i.e. booker) wants to present it as. There is no standard in the wrestling business today. There’s nothing to point to and say THAT is professional wrestling! Well, I should say that there wasn’t anything. Now that ROH have brought back the Pure division, there absolutely is! Think of other professional athletics. We have the NFL, the NBA, MLB, and the NHL. While there are countless teams and league around the world playing football, basketball, baseball, and hockey, the professional leagues I mentioned are the standard by which all others are measured by. Look, I enjoy NCAA football far more than the NFL, but I am not going to say that the NCAA measures up in talent to the NFL. I have a local AHL hockey team that I love, but I am not going to insist that they measure up to their NHL franchise team. I would argue that this same thing is true of ROH’s Pure division. You have to be a special talent to find yourself in the Pure division. Many in wrestling today are afraid of it, not even wanting to try their hand at it. To be a “Pure” wrestler, you really have to know how to “work,” and in today’s business, that’s a tall order. I will go so far as to say that in order to be just a fan of the Pure division, you have to be an intelligent fan, not just a fan that wants to see moves, or “car crash” matches that you can chant “Holy S**t” to. Pure wrestling is here to save wrestling from the foolish, goofy, no sense making, parody, that it has become over the years. I am more thankful for the Pure Division, and “The Foundation,” than I can express here in this article. So let me just conclude by saying thank you Ring of Honor, and thank you to The Foundation for Pure wrestling…for Wrestling Done Right!   I’ve been a big fan of Ring of Honor since their debut in 2002. Having tired of “modern” wrestling, even before ROH came on the scene, I was willing to give this new company a shot. With men like AJ Styles, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Chris Daniels, Samoa Joe, and Low Ki, and the company’s focus of “honorable competition,” it sounded to me like something wrestling desperately needed. I traveled all over the place for ROH live shows, especially Philadelphia, and Baltimore. I met, and even interviewed numerous ROH wrestlers, and when I got into the business as a commentator, and back stage interviewer, I worked with many of them as well.
Much of what ROH did was excellent, some of it wasn’t, but overall I remained a big fan and supporter, up until Cody Rhodes, and The Young Bucks pretty much took over the company. I enjoyed those times for a while, but it eventually got tiresome. This just wasn’t the ROH I had grown to love, and while I didn’t “hate on them” on social media, or anywhere really, I slinked away to enjoy some wrestling in Japan (Puroresu, to the IWC) companies like Stardom, AJPW, and NOAH. After the founding of AEW, taking “The Elite” away from ROH, I was ready to get back on the ROH train, but then I read that Marty Scurll would be booking the company. Knowing “Party Marty’s” willingness to silly things up, I decided to stick with my Puroresu. Not long after, Marty got swept up in the “Me too” movement, and Delirious was back to booking ROH. I knew then was the time to get back to ROH, but soon after, the Carona Virus Pandemic hit, and wrestling companies all over the world began altering their schedules, and even shutting down, including Ring of Honor. During the pandemic I relied on watching old shows, until eventually came news that Ring of Honor would “restart” in empty arenas. I wasn’t real enamored with the idea of empty arenas, so I held off a bit longer. As I began to hear, and read, that ROH was the best at putting on “empty arena shows,” I jumped in with both feet, and am I ever glad that I did! If you want wrestling that is presented in a serious manner, where you don’t have to be “in on the joke” to enjoy it, then Ring of Honor is for you. If you’re disappointed that AEW hasn’t given you a real “sports based, alternative” to sports entertainment wrestling, then Ring of Honor is for you. If you enjoy multiple styles of wrestling, without that meaning foolishness and cringe worthy presentation, then again, Ring of Honor is for you. If you want a good jumping on point, start with the amazing “ROH Final Battle,” 2020. I’ve spent years searching for “Wrestling Done Right” in the United States. I’ve gained a reputation as being “the Wrestling Snob,” because of my high standards, and expectations. I’m proud of that. If I put something or someone over, fans that love serious, and as realistic as can be presented wrestling, can know that they can trust that is what they will get. My fear though is that a company will back away from what first drew me to them, falling back on silliness, and “sports entertainment” in an attempt to draw in more “fans.” I’ve recently been the victim of that by another American company that I heavily promoted. Let me tell why I don’t believe that will happen with ROH…Cheeseburger! Yes, the silly, gimmicky, goofy, eye rolling, Cheeseburger. You see, Cheeseburger was the one thing in ROH that always made me cringe. While I understood the man behind the gimmick, Brandon Littlejohn, was a great guy, a passionate guy, a dedicated like no one else guy, none of those things mattered to me. The man dressed in goofy gear, wearing a cheeseburger hat, taking bumps from men five times his size, and kicking out of their pin attempts, as the big men look perplexed, wasn’t ROH, and he wasn’t “Wrestling Done Right.”. While I understand an underdog gimmick, this one was just too much for me. Today, in ROH’s renewed push to bring us a sports based alternative, to show us an athletic competition, very much presented like UFC, where wins and losses matter, where titles have legitimate ranking systems, and serious factions join forces for the betterment of all members, what has sold me the most on ROH being serious, about being serious, is the return of…not Cheeseburger, no, not this time, this time it’s the re-debut of a man once known as Cheeseburger, now billed as The World Famous CB! CB’s pre match interview was excellent, and set the tone for why this was happening, what it meant, and why it mattered. CB not only has a new name, he has a new look, that includes more muscle mass, solid new gear, that includes kick ass entrance gear, and a swagger unlike we’ve ever seen from him, which to be fair, wouldn’t have worked under his old gimmick. To their credit, the commentators, Ian Riccaboni, and Caprice Coleman, sold this like a million dollars, explaining how CB’s size mixes with his style, in a way that makes preparing for a match against him difficult. This is exactly the kind of commentary a debut of this kind needs, and it helped a lot. CB will also be part of the “Pure” division, which will, for the most part, keep him away from facing monsters in the ring. While still smaller than New Japan’s Zack Sabre Jr, comparisons can be made, and make sense. World Famous CB works a technical style that would actually be damaged by putting on too much size. His smooth style is aided by his lean look, contributing to his ability to evade, and escape, in ways that he couldn’t, if he were bigger. The fact that ROH allowed, and maybe even encouraged, Cheeseburger to get more serious, to evolve into The World Famous CB, is a strong sign to me that I don’t have to worry about ROH going down the silliness rabbit hole. That I can have faith that an American company isn’t going to embarrass me, and that they aren’t going to make me hide the fact that I am a wrestling fan from the general public. The fact that Cheeseburger (this will be the last time I refer to him with that name) gave me any kind of assurance is mind-blowing to me, but that’s the very reason it brings me comfort in saying that once again, Ring of Honor is Wrestling Done Right!  Coming soon, The WDR Network presents "Not your mother's basement," with the Wrestling Snob, Adam Leavelle, a weekly VLOG covering ROH Wrestling! "Not your mothers basement." A spin on the popular insult about wresting internet fans, posting their opinions, and thoughts, from their "mothers basement." Adam indeed broadcasts from a basement, or as he calls it, a FOUNDATION, his foundation, not his mothers, or anyone else's. Adam worked hard for his house, and he is proud of it, including it's FOUNDATION, the same way he is proud of ROH's "FOUNDATION." The first episode will drop soon, and will be covering ROH TV from Monday, February 15, 2021.
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