Reported by Mike Siciliano of WrestleView.com
On Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 3:13 AM EST

On February 20, 2005, I was given the chance that I have relished for some time. Paul Nemer saw fit to give me a columnist position here at Wrestleview, and The Palace was born. I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Paul, Adam, and the boys at Wrestleview for allowing me the chance to have this forum. 234 times I have come to you on this site with a smile and an opinion, and I hope I have made you think, feel, or laugh, sometimes, hopefully, all at once.

Now, 235 chapters later, I begin year 4 of this thing, and I do it in a fit of extreme anger. I apologize to those people in advance who may think this is incoherent whining on my part. I think it needs to be said, so let's set the stage, if you will.

Most of you know since July of 2005, I had been attending live Ring of Honor shows near my hometown. Recently, they have gone to the Manhattan Center in NYC, and I have attended more than my fair share of shows there. On nearly every occasion, I don't remember one I missed, I wrote detailed reviews and sometimes blow by blow recaps of each show. I felt I was obligated to do so for you, my readers, to see what you can't see through my eyes. I've had a blast doing it. I will continue to do so.

Over time, I have begun posting the columns elsewhere, and posting a link to the reviews here at WV on various boards, such as the notorious ROH message board, as I did this past week following the Sixth Anniversary show.

Most ROH veterans will know of certain fans that have a "character" of their own. While my beef is not with this man per se, I have to acknowledge who he is, because it's necessary to explain the story. The "Green Lantern Fan" does match times at the shows he attends. I've seen him at numerous shows. I don't know him from a hole in the wall, outside of that.

When he posted his match times, I was the first person to reply, because I had just finished posting my review, and was surfing for a while. He noted on his time list he missed the first two matches. While that is, in the grand scheme of things, meaningless, i asked the question of why he did. I was a little abrasive in my language, saying, "if you're the super uber fan that everyone claims, why didn't you make it for the opening bell?"

I thought it was a legit question. Yes, I am angered by fans who think they're on par with the wrestlers, and although I have zero to back it up, I think this guy considers himself on that same plane. Hence, the abrasiveness of my question, and if that is considered degrading, well, so be it, I apologize.

However, I thought it was a legit question, as I, a paying fan, sitting in the back of the crowd, was on time for the pre show match, and stayed in my seat from bell to bell, even going so far as watching Dragon get carried out of the ring. If the poor ordinary schlub with a forum can be there from bell to bell, why can't the legendary Green Lantern Fan?

But that's not my beef, and like I said, I have no personal beef with the GLF, so if this guy comes to me saying otherwise, I'll apologize on the spot. My beef lies elsewhere.

Running a message board is never easy. Sometimes you get an idiot, and have to deal with it. I am learning that the hard way running the Palace Project, although all my members are class acts. Sometimes things need to be done. But there's a way to conduct business, even if its of a "disciplinary" nature, with regard to conduct on a message board. The way not to do it is to post a statement saying that the fan, me, is out of line, for what I said.

Excuse me, did I curse? Did I insult someone? Did I say something offensive? Abrasive, maybe, but it is freedom of speech, I thought, and it's allowed for one person to question another, or is it ROH by laws to not touch the so called legends of the company?

I find the booker of the company commenting on a discussion in a message board thread repulsive. It shows a bias towards other people that may be closer to the individual in question, and it does not show any professionalism whatsoever. It's degrarding, and it's wrong. I can accept the board as a whole being idiots and ripping me for allegedly insulting their God, Green Lantern Fan, and that's something I have zero problem with, although that was the furthest from the truth. But, when the management of the company is siding with one fan over another over something that doesn't exist, that's something that I cannot, and will not accept.

It'd be one thing if I cursed, it'd be one thing if I had been a new registrant on the board, or a million other conditions. I've been on the board since 2005, I have 400 posts there, and I believed I was justified in asking that question.

With all this being said, if ROH thought I was out of line for what I said, have the courtesy to come to me, and tell me as such. I have made myself pretty damn easy to find, I think, and I don't hide behind nicknames or firewalls, or phony email addresses. This is where I am, and this is who I am.

My questions are simple. Doesn't ROH promote free speech in America? And doesn't ROH believe in due process, or are they going to listen to their so called uber fans over the bulk of the people that they desperately need to keep their company alive, people like me, who have gone to bat for this company for 3 plus years, without question, but now, after four words by their booker who needs a serious professionalism check up, will rethink his opinions of the comapny as a whole.

Not the talent who work in the company, but the company themselves.

I'm not sure where this goes from here, but rest assured, it's not something I am going to forget any time soon.

Note: This column is the viewpoint of Michael Siciliano solely, and nobody else. Do not send any correspondence to any website administrator in response to this column. If you don't like what you read here, email ME, directly. I'll respond to anything I receive.

Click here for my blog. The thread I am referring to in this piece from the ROH boards is linked to my blog.

Click here to email me.