ROH 3/20/25
Satnam Singh vs Sid Ellington
MD: Satnam's come a long way in as I don't think he could have fit his part quite right in a squash like this even a year ago, even when he was having the Danielson match. Ellington was about as game as could be, quite Darby-ish in his willingness to take months off of his life in order to help put Satnam over here.
There was nothing particularly complex about this. Ellington rushed Satnam instead of accepting the handshake. Satnam brushed him off. Ellington rushed again and ducked a mammoth clothesline and got a shot in. Satnam brushed him off. Ellington tried again and basically got stomped into the mat. Now he was caught and, in a company that was once known for its biels, he ate probably the most spectacular one we've seen. Satnam chopped him a few times in the corner, played to the crowd fairly effectively about doing another, and then chucked him to the other side of the ring with another biel. Ellington managed one last gasp, by leaping onto Satnam's back. Satnam yanked him around into a press slam right into the turnbuckle which was one of the nastiest things I've ever seen, then ended him with a chokeslam.
Straightforward enough, but it was the inbetween stuff that impressed me. Well, I was impressed by the biels and the press slam into the post too. I am a human being after all and Satnam is one in a billion. But those inbetween bits, brushing off the shot, taking his time walking from moment to moment and letting both the anticipation and the aftermath of everything he did set in, interacting with the crowd, just seeming alive in there as if he was a living breathing entity reacting to what was going on around him instead of going from spot to spot to spot. That matters and it's not easy and, when married to how big and how unique he is and how well he can move for his size, it definitely makes one feel like there's something there.
The problem is that we're in 2025 and it's a weekly episodic televised business. We've been thirty years since a giant could be a real attraction. Vince, Sr. can't just send Andre around from territory to territory and then bring him back to MSG once a month. This is a company with Hobbs crashing through people, with Toa slapping the mat, with Wardlow out of action (one way or the other). It's a company with Ospreay and Omega, two guys who could be protected attractions in their own right (in entirely different ways), on top. It's a company where Mistico flies in for post-show six-mans and with Hologram back from injury, where a guy like Bill seems to have a ceiling as a heater.
If you see Satnam every week, he's no longer as special. You can build him to be beat, to be overcome, but you can only do that once or twice before he loses his luster. He'll always be a giant. He'll always be a threat. But he'll only be unstoppable until he's not. And by making him less special, unlike other wrestlers who can more easily take losses, you make everything less special, because he is so obviously special.
I'm not sure what the answer is for Bill or Toa or Wardlow. For Hobbs, it's push him as hard as you can push him. That much I've figured out. For Satnam, I almost hate to say it, but the answer is probably keeping him on ROH. He's a special attraction for the live crowd. The only people that get to see something so thoroughly amazing are the ones who pay a ticket and get there early or stick around; or that pay that extra fee for Honor Club. Just let him mow through people, do impressive things to young talent willing to enhance him.
And then, when you're sure, when you're absolutely sure, when you have that guy who needs that rub, when you get that one basket to put all your eggs in, push him forward to TV and build him up and then have him be the wall for your new hero to climb. You only get to do it once though. Until then, let him amaze the people who really care week in and week out. I'm one of them, and I was sure as hell amazed by the attraction I saw here.
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