ROH Contenders Tag Team Lottery

[The Bearded One]

ROH will present its first ever tag team lottery at the Richmond, VA show on July 8. Eight teams have been entered and four of those teams will be selected at "random" to compete in a one night tournament with the winners of the tournament getting a future ROH tag Team Title match.

The eight teams eligible are:

King of Wrestling
Briscoe Brothers
American Wolves
All Night Express
Cole and O'Reilly
Bravado Brothers
House of Truth
Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander

The current champions, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin, lose their titles Sunday at "Best In The World 2011," then they will replace whoever the new champions are in the tournament.

So far two teams have been drawn. The first team to make it is Cole and O'Reilly. ROH announced earlier today that Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander have also been added to the tournament.

I think the final two teams will be the All Night Express and the Briscoe Brothers. I see this as a tool to really get over the younger, less-established tag teams. I know the Briscoes have been around forever, but it will further help cement whoever beats them as an elite team in ROH.

I think the favorites to win this are Cole and O'Reilly. They have been on the verge of a push for several months now and have been delivering gret matches since their debut. I see this as a perfect launching pad to get them into tag title contention.

 

[The Bearded One]

The four teams for the ROH Contenders Tag Team Lottery have been announced. Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly will face off with Caprice Coleman and Cedrick Alexander. In the other first round match the Briscoes will wrestle the Bravado Brothers.

I think it's pretty obvious that it will be the Briscoes and Cole and O'Reilly in the finals of this mini-tournament, but it is a little tougher to predict who will win. The Briscoes obviously have a feud brewing with Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team and by winning this they would get a shot at the belts. Cole and O'Reilly have been one of the most impressive teams to come along in a long time although they've lost to all the big name teams. A win here would really establish them as a credible team in ROH and would allow them to get away from the Bravado Brothers feud.

Ultimately, I think the Briscoes will take this to set up the tag title match against Haas and Benjamin, which will most likely happen at the first set of TV taping. They will make Cole and O'Reilly look like a million bucks in the process and help get them over as a competitive team that way.

Who do you think will win the ROH Contenders Lottery?

 

[Thriller Ant]

It's not necessarily as cut-and-dry as you make it sound. I could easily see the Bravados lucking into a win against the Briscoes and have them face off against O'Reilly and Cole to further their feud. Or the Bravados costing O'Reilly and Cole their first round match is a possibility. It may seem simple, but that feud will have a major impact on how this mini-tournament will play out.

 

[The Bearded One]

Or the Bravados costing O'Reilly and Cole their first round match is a possibility.

I considered this and it is a real possibility it will happen. I do think the Bravados are going to get involved in the Cole and O'Reilly match, but I see them failing to cost them the match. I think Cole and O'Reilly will face the Briscoes in the finals of the mini-tournament becuse who wants to see the Briscoes wrestles Coleman and Alexander? Nothing against those two guys, but I'd much rather see Cole and O'Reilly. If the Bravados are going to cost Cole and O'Reilly a match, I think it would be in the finals when they almost have it won. That would give them more of a reason to go after the Bravados for revenge.