Ring of Honor - Respect is Earned
It's done. Finally. Goddamn do I ever hate typing up long recaps. Which is precisely why I don't recap indy shows. It's the bulk of what I watch and I'd love to do it, but just thinking about all that typing makes my head hurt. Anyway, pack a lunch before you read this, as it's really friggin' long. Sorry about that!
-Taped in the Manhattan Center, May 12, 2007. I've always liked the look of this building. It's where Raw was taped in the early days and it just comes across really well on tape.
-Show opens with BJ Whitmer in the ring. Interesting choice. I don't know that I'd have put him out there as the first face on the first PPV, but that's why I'm writing this instead of booking ROH, I guess. He tells us that Ring of Honor lets the wrestling do the talking, then proceeds to talk anyway, throwing out an open challenge…
-Opening montage with various clips of ROH in action.
-That open challenge? Consider it accepted. By the ROH World champion, no less!
BJ Whitmer v. Takeshi Morishima - ROH Title -
Morishima really does look like a Japanese Terry Gordy. That's very much a compliment. Whitmer hammers on him with some forearms, but has no effect. He bounces off the ropes, but 'Shima plants him with a sideslam. He follows up with a running Yakuza kick in the corner. He's just mauling BJ in the corner and even shoves down referee Todd Sinclair for good measure. He sets BJ up for a backdrop driver (his finisher), but Whitmer turns into it, landing on top for a one count. He ducks a lariat, dropping Morishima to one knee with a low dropkick. Running knee strike by Whitmer! Morishima pretty much no sells it, bouncing off the ropes and looking for a clothesline.
Whitmer catches it and plants him with an Exploder (his finisher)! Cover gets two. He follows up with a *hard* lariat and gets another nearfall. Whitmer heads up top and hits a frogsplash, but 'Shima again kicks out at two. Whitmer goes for a wrist clutch Exploder, but Morishima elbows free. Big boot by BJ, but Morishima won't go down. Northern lariat by BJ, followed by a second lariat. 'Shima won't even budge. BJ bounces off the ropes and eats a lariat. Running boot by Morishima gets two. He nails Whitmer with a clothesline and gets another nearfall. He quickly plants BJ with the backdrop driver and gets the win!
This was short, but all action while it lasted. Certainly effective in building up Morishima as a wrecking machine. My problem with this match tends to be my problem with a lot of ROH matches. It's not so much that they work a "Japanese" style, but they frequently take the worst parts of that style (fighting spirit, the repetitive nature of some moves, like a lariat here, for instance) and just run it into the ground. I enjoy a nice clothesline as much as the next guy, but there’s like ten here in a match that barely went three minutes. At some point, it just turns into overkill. The ROH demographic, if you will (which I wouldn't really count myself a part of) eats it up, though, so what do I know?
-Nigel McGuinness is out to challenge Morishima. He doesn't care when they wrestle. Even tonight! This brings out "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson (returning from a shoulder injury after a five month layoff). He, unsurprisingly, disagrees. He runs down the highlights of his fifteen month title reign, including wins over Lance Storm, Samoa Joe, Homicide and even Nigel himself. If anyone deserves the next title shot, it's him! Nigel is ready to rumble, by god! Danielson backs off. Nigel goes face to face with Morishima and Danielson attacks!
Nigel quickly takes over, but then Morishima jumps him as well. He and Danielson are on the same page for now and they take turns beating Nigel down. Danielson picks up the belt and stares at it. Morishima snatches it away and bails. Nigel recovers in the interim and Danielson also gets while the getting is good…
-Video package for Brent Albright. Remember Gunner Scott on Smackdown? Yeah…this is him. He's ROH's hired gun and tells us that he's willing to do pretty much anything for a payday.
Rocky Romero v. Naomichi Marufuji -
Nice touch, with a brief video highlight clip of each guy during the intros. Gives the people watching ROH for the first time at least an idea what to expect from these guys.
Opening matwork leads to a mirror sequence, as both guys end up locking the other in an Octopus Stretch, then roll it into a cover for two. Indy face-offs abound! Honestly, we get it. You're evenly matched. It's all very exciting. Now do something else, for god's sake! Why do people continue to pop for this crap? Maru catches a kick from Romero, who quickly leaps into a jujigatame takedown. Maru won't tap, so Romero eventually releases the hold and starts kicking away at the injured arm. Back to the jujigatame. Maru locks his hands to block it and rolls Romero up for a quick two.
Romero mounts Maru and rains down some strikes. The ref gets in his face and gets spat on for his troubles. At least Romero is trying to heel it up. Go him! He drops a knee and picks up a two count. Romero whips him into the ropes. Maru hangs on and Maru charges him, getting elevated onto the apron. They trade strikes and Maru leaps to the top rope and connects with a short dropkick that sends Romero to the floor. He follows, lifting Romero and ramming him knee first into the ringpost. Back in the ring, he hangs Romero's leg in the ropes and gives him a dragon screw. Nifty! He covers, but Romero is out at two.
Corner whip by Marufuji, but he ends up charging into a back elbow. Romero climbs to the second rope, but Maru cuts him off with a dropkick to the knee. Romero is seated up top and Maru dragon screws him to the mat, then locks him in a figure four. Romero manages to reach the ropes. Marufuji kicks at the leg and goes for a whip. Romero shortarms it, connecting with a spin kick to the gut. Now it's Maru's turn to reverse a whip. Romero plants him with a satellite DDT, though. He comes off the second rope, but Marufuji catches him and looks to turn him over into a half crab.
Romero powers to his feet. Enzuigiri misses, but he connects with a mule kick. Tiger suplex hook, but Marufuji elbows free. Romero springs off the second rope, planting him with a tornado DDT. He covers, but can only get two. He goes for the Tiger suplex again, but Maru flips through to his feet and hits a facebuster to the knee. They trade strikes and Maru levels him with a lariat (there's that move again!). Powerbomb is good for a two count.
Marufuji heads up top, but gets cut off. Romero does a really cool jujigatame takedown off the top that just looks all sorts of arm breaky, but Maru reaches the ropes to force the break. Romero kicks at the injured arm, but just absolutely *eats* a superkick. Not to be outdone, he spins around and connects with a wicked round kick right to the jaw! Both guys are down. Romero rolls into the corner, catching a charging Marufuji with a boot.
Maru charges a second time, springing off the second rope and nailing Romero with a back elbow. He powerbombs Romero into the corner and ties him to the Tree of Woe. Coast to Coast dropkick gets two. He hooks Romero for the Shiranui (Sliced Bread #2 for the Spanky fans among us!), but it's countered and Romero finally hits the Tiger suplex he's been looking for. Marufuji escapes at two. Romero follows up with a buzzsaw kick and gets another nearfall out of it. He's looking for another kick, but Maru blocks it and connects with two of his own. He quickly drops Romero with the Shiranui and picks up the win!
-Larry Sweeny promo. Sweeney's personal trainer, Tank Toland (one of the Dicks in WWE) is with him. Sweeney talks about the stable of guys under him, including Chris Hero, then introduces the newest addition to Sweet n' Sour Inc…Sara Del Ray! Toland makes their lackey, ROH student Bobby Dempsey do squats, because he's going to turn him into a fighting machine. Del Ray starts doing squats as well, which pisses Toland off because chicks aren't allowed to do squats. Dempsey collapses in the background after like five squats and Toland and Del Ray decide to have themselves a squat off. Good segment to get over Sweeney's personality. He's not really like anyone else in ROH, so he really stands out.
-Cut back to the ring, where Nigel is brawling with Morishima. Bryan Danielson hits the ring and we get a redux of the heel beatdown from earlier. KENTA runs out to make the save. This came off flat. It was pretty redundant, really. There's no reason at all that this couldn't have been done after the opening match.
-They run a quick website promo and shill the DVDs.
Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli v. Briscoe Brothers - ROH Tag Titles -
I believe this is the first I've seen of Claudio since he cut his hair. Looks…interesting. It's a shame that I'm not recapping his matches every week on ECW by this point, though. Oh, WWE, how you wound me.
Speaking of Claudio (Segues? *thumbs up*), he opens the match with Mark Briscoe. Matwork, standoff, bleh. You know, the indy standoff stuff is really just an East coast thing. It's not nearly as obnoxious in the Midwest shows or the SoCal stuff I watch. This might be why I generally prefer any random show from the Midwest to the Ring of Honor product most of the time. At any rate, Claudio armdrags Mark. He goes for a clothesline, but Mark ducks it and takes him over with a Northern Lights suplex. Claudio hangs on, though, turning it into a front facelock.
Sydal tags in. Mark escapes a headlock and makes a tag as well. Sydal and Jay trade hiptoss attempts, with Sydal finally taking him down with a headscissors. He goes for a clothesline, but Jay ducks it and connects with one of his own. Sydal reverses him into the corner, but runs into a back elbow. Not to worry, though, as he comes right back with a spinning heel kick. Tag to Claudio, who picks up a quick one count. Jay drives him backwards into the corner and makes the tag. They whip Claudio into the corner. Mark charges in with a dropkick and Jay follows with a big boot. Claudio is out at one.
He tags Sydal and they give Mark the old wishbone spot on the mat. Sydal snapmares him and scores with the cannonball legdrop. Mark comes back with strikes and makes the tag. Jay nails Sydal in the back of the head with a leg lariat, causing him to stumble into a jawbreaker from Mark. Briscoes follow with a Downward Spiral/bulldog combo. Jay makes the cover, picking up a nearfall. Dropkick by Jay for another two count. Tag to Mark. Jay lifts Sydal for a suplex, dropping his feet onto Mark's shoulders. They basically just toss him skyward and Sydal crashes hard to the mat. Cover gets two.
Mark plants him with a gutwrench suplex, then drops a knee for yet another nearfall. This is another one of my general complaints about ROH. Too many nearfalls. It's actually okay in a really fast paced match like this, but when it's match in and match out up and down the card, it's just overkill. Anyway, Jay tags in. Briscoes connect with their double shoulderblock spot and Jay locks Sydal in the Stretch Plum. He shoves Sydal into the Briscoe's corner. He tries to fight out, but Jay plants him with a quebradora. He gives Sydal a backbreaker, holding Sydal across his knee. Mark then comes in with a corkscrew split legged moonsault!
Mark tags in. He throws Sydal with a belly to belly and gets two. Tag to Jay. They whip Sydal into the corner. Mark charges, but gets backdropped to the floor. Sydal then ducks a running big boot and sits Jay up top. He leaps from the mat, taking Jay off the top with a 'rana! Claudio tags in, catching Jay with a flurry of European uppercuts. He slams him, then follows with a crab walk elbow for two. Irish whip by Claudio, but Jay hangs onto the ropes. He sends Claudio into the ropes with a drop toehold and Mark kicks him in the head.
Slingshot doublestomp by Mark. Sydal runs in. The Briscoes duck his clothesline and give him a HUGE biel out of the corner. They like it so much that Claudio gets the same. Jay whips Mark toward Sydal, who comes back with a kick. Jay then charges, but Claudio comes off the ropes, connecting with a back elbow. Sydal hits a step up enzuigiri on Mark as Claudio covers Jay for a nearfall. Fisherman's suplex follows and Claudio again gets two. Tag to Sydal. He locks Jay in a seated abdominal stretch for a bit, then tags Claudio back in. Tumbling European uppercut in the corner by Claudio. He whips Sydal into Jay and he connects with a double knee strike.
Claudio with a giant swing! Oh hell yeah! He only gets ten revolutions, though. Cover gets two. Sydal tags in and plants Jay with a springboard tornado bulldog. He follows with a springboard twisting moonsault and gets two. Tag to Double C. He comes in with a slingshot elbowdrop for another nearfall. Tag to Sydal. Claudio sits Jay up top and they go for a double superplex. Jay shoves Claudio to the mat and hits a flipping hangman's neckbreaker on Sydal! Wicked. He drops Claudio with a Stunner and makes the tag.
Mark catches Claudio with a springboard dropkick. He hammers on Sydal and drops him with an enzuigiri. He sends Claudio into the ropes and Jay ends up monkey flipping him over the top and out! He follows him out, nailing him with a somersault plancha! Back in the ring, Sydal reverses Mark into the corner. Mark leaps to the second rope. Sydal charges, blocking a boot. Mark shrugs off another 'rana attempt and goes for a sunset flip. He rolls through, though, hoisting Sydal up and powerbombing him into the corner. He follows with an Exploder and gets two.
Briscoes work a little double team, planting Sydal with a sideslam/top rope legdrop combo. Cover, of course, only gets two. They try to give Claudio a double whip, but he ends up slamming them together. He drops Mark with a kick, then slams Jay on top of him. Sydal is on top of the pile for a cover, but still…only two. Claudio tags in, spiking Mark with the Alpamare Waterslide (similar to an Olympic Slam). He covers Mark, but Jay is in to make the save. Claudio whips Mark into the corner and he leaps to the second rope once again.
He kicks Claudio, who charges back in, runs up the ropes and takes Mark over with a headscissors takedown. He follows with a big boot and gets two. Tag to Sydal. Claudio gives Mark a backbreaker and Sydal follows up with his Slice Drop (He drapes his leg across the opponent's chest and drops to the mat) for two. Standing moonsault also gets two. Claudio tags back in, whipping Mark into the corner. Mark floats over him. He ducks a clothesline and comes off the second rope with a diving forearm. Tag to Jay! He comes off the top with a crossbody. If you guessed anything other than a two count, you just haven't been paying attention.
Jay shortarms Claudio, planting him with a sitout gourdbuster. He lifts Claudio, allowing Mark to come in with a springboard leg lariat. He adds a corkscrew splash for good measure. Jay covers and you know the drill. Claudio ducks a boot and tries to kill Jay with a diving springboard European uppercut. Jay rolls out. Sydal comes in, diving off of Claudio's shoulders onto the Briscoes on the floor! He tosses Jay in and Claudio plants him with the Ricola Bomb (cross arm sitout powerbomb) for two. Mark makes the save. At two, of course.
Claudio tosses Mark out and levels Jay with a European uppercut. Tag to Sydal, who scores with a Shooting Star Press. Cover, but Mark is in once again to make the save. Claudio peppers him with European uppercuts, but ends up eating a superkick. Mark lifts him for the Cutthroat Driver (arm trap Burning Hammer), but Sydal breaks it up. Mark nails him with a superkick and clotheslines Claudio over the top. Jay presses Sydal, dropping him into a Death Valley Driver.
Plancha onto Claudio by Mark! In the ring, Jay sets up for the Jay Driller, but Sydal blocks. He hoists him up for a second attempt, but Sydal flips through into a 'rana for two. He goes for a kick, but Jay ducks it and lifts him onto his shoulders. The Briscoes score with a springboard Doomsday lariat! Jay makes the cover and picks up the win!
Great, great match. I'd actually call it a low end match of the year candidate, but I seem to be the only person rating it that highly. It must have been the right match at the right time for me. The zillion and six nearfalls did hurt it a bit, but overall this was just an awesome sprint from start to end.
-Postmatch, the announcers run down upcoming shows as the Briscoes chill in the ring. Tomfoolery awaits, I bet! As soon as I write that, El Generico and Kevin Steen hit the announce position, wondering when they'll be getting a shot at the tag belts. They charge the ring and it's go time! A cast of thousands run out to break them up. Mark Briscoe dives onto the pile in order to go after Generico. The Briscoes are finally escorted out and Steen/Generico start beating the shit out of anyone left in the ring. Steenalizer (powerbomb lift, where you then cradle the head and throw the opponent backwards into more of a suplex type move…often into the corner) on some poor sap who gets in the way!
Some other random ROH student takes a Package Piledriver from Steen, rolled into a Generico Brainbuster! Goddamn, was that ever lethal. Generico dives onto the pile. Everyone brawls to the back, with the cameras in hot pursuit. Steen splatters Mark's skull with a chairshot and leaves him laying. Seriously, this is the best pull apart sequence I've seen in *years*. Words can't describe how heated this was. Amazing segment. Kevin Steen is such a dickhead. I've never really cared for him as a wrestler (a bit too headdroppy for my taste, though I understand he's improved quite a bit), but he's a hell of a heel. He works mostly for companies I don't watch, so I'm looking forward to seeing how good he's gotten over the past year or so.
-Clips from the Fifth Year Festival: Philly show highlight Roderick Strong yanking Delirious off the top rope, causing him to land on the back of his head, knocking him out. Roddy then proceeds to plant him with a Gibson (Tiger) Driver onto a section of railing on the floor.
Roderick Strong v. Delirious -
Delirious goes berserk when the bell rings, of course. Makes you wonder what happens when his doorbell rings. Assuming that he doesn't live in a cave, I guess. He is half lizard, after all. Match opens on the floor with Delirious laying in headbutts. He rolls Roddy in, then gets cut off when he tries to follow. Delirious shoots him into the ropes, but gets tackled. He literally works circles around Roddy, finally hoisting Strong onto his shoulders and dropping him facefirst to the mat. He tries to punt his head off, but Roddy avoids it and puts him in the Stronghold (elevated Boston Crab). Delirious counters into a rollup and gets two.
Strong lifts him for a slam, but Delirious slips away and takes him over with a snapmare. Spine kick follows. He goes for a whip, but Roddy reverses him into the corner. He charges, running into a boot. Delirious comes off the top and snaps off a 'rana. Now it's his turn to charge. Roddy's turn to counter, as well, as he elevates Delirious onto the top turnbuckles and starts laying in chops. Corner whip by Strong. Delirious rebounds out with a clothesline. He plants Strong with a back suplex and gets two. He whips Strong into the corner, but there's no one home on the charge.
Roddy avoids another charge and just annihilates Delirious with a swinging backbreaker (almost looked like a Black Hole Slam onto his knee). Cover gets two. Delirious fires back, but charges into a boot in the corner. He reverses Roddy into the opposite corner, but again charges into a kick. Strong comes off the second with something or another, but Delirious meets him with a headbutt to the gut. He ducks a clothesline from Strong and comes back with three of his own. Delirious catches him with a dropkick to the back, sending Strong into the corner. PANIC ATTACK!
Delirious heads up top, presumably looking for Shadows Over Hell. They do a call back from their earlier match, as Strong again yanks him off the top. This time, though, Delirious rolls to his feet. He turns and Strong buries a knee in his gut. Delirious quickly recovers, spiking Roddy with a Bizarro Driver (basically a Fisherman's Michinoku Driver, though he cradles the inside leg) for two. He gets the Cobra Clutch locked in, but before he can turn it into the Cobra Stretch, Roddy drives him backwards into the corner to break. He whips Delirious into the opposite corner, but wouldn't you know it…the ensuing charge misses!
Delirious sits Roddy up top and plants him with a neckbreaker. He covers, but Strong is out at two. He manages to cut Delirious off with a jawbreaker, then lifts him onto his shoulder in a Torture Rack. He spins that into a backbreaker and picks up a nearfall. He follows with a fallaway slam off the second rope, but Delirious won't stay down for three. He counters a move into a crucifix, but Strong kicks out at two. Enzuigiri by Delirious. Up top he goes. Roddy cuts him off, but Delirious manages to shove him to the mat. Shadows Over Hell connects! Nearfall for Delirious.
Delirious floats into the Cobra Stretch, which transitions into a rollup sequence that neither man gets the better of. Roddy ends up powering Delirious up, then powerbombs him across his knees. That looked all sorts of painful. Roddy covers, but Delirious reaches the ropes. Both guys end up on the apron. Strong tries to lift him, but Delirious flips back into the ring. He dropkicks Roddy in the knees, causing him bump off the apron and hit his head. Somersault plancha by Delirious! He whips Strong into the rail…Panic Attack! He comes up clutching his knee, though.
Delirious rolls Strong in and climbs onto the apron. He catches Roddy with a back elbow and goes for a sunset flip. Roddy kicks him in the face, though. He climbs onto the apron and hoists Delirious up, dropping him straight down onto the very edge of the apron. Strong rolls him in and gets a two count. He hooks Delirious for a Gibson Driver (named after James Gibson/Jamie Noble, for whatever it's worth), but it's blocked. They trade strikes for a few seconds and Strong cuts him off with an eye rake.
Delirious comes back with an elbow strike. He bounces off the ropes, but Roddy lifts him onto his shoulder and connects with his gutbuster across the knees (almost a sitout variation of a Go 2 Sleep) Cover gets two. Stronghold is locked in, but Delirious reaches the ropes! Strong goes for his Half Nelson Backbreaker, but Delirious slips free and plants him with Chemical Imbalance II (I guess calling it a sitout double pumphandle driver will suffice) ! Cover, but Strong escapes at two! Cobra Stretch by Delirious!
Roddy manages to fight to his feet…Cobra Clutch suplex by Delirious! He makes the cover, but Strong reaches the ropes. They mistimed a spot where Delirious tries to punt Roddy's head off a bit and he continues to pound Strong down. He goes for a clothesline, but Strong ducks it and hits the Half Nelson backbreaker! He follows up with his big running boot, then quickly plants Delirious with the Gibson Driver to pick up the win!
There was something about this that was slightly off. Still a really fun match (as if there's any other sort of match involving Delirious), though. Far too much focus on corner transitions. It felt like half the match was just corner whips and missed charges. What I did like is that Delirious put Strong on the defensive immediately. It was a grudge match and he went in pissed off and ready to go. I think, traditionally, you'd expect an ROH match between these two to mostly be Delirious bumping around for Roddy's offense, but that wasn't the case here…
-Postmatch, Roddy's fellow No Remorse Corp members Davey Richards and Rocky Romero come out, carrying a section of railing. They beat Delirious down and bridge the section of railing between the apron and rail. Gibson Driver onto the railing! Erick Stevens (member of the Resilience, the counter NRC group) comes out. He catches Richards with a clothesline in the corner. TKO to Romero! He trades strikes with Roddy, then elevates him for a flapjack, then catching and powerslamming him. The NRC quickly get outta Dodge.
-Great Adam Pearce promo, talking about the history of ROH and how it's grown over the years. He says that the wrestlers have to step and ask themselves what they're willing to do to take their piece of the ROH pie, so to speak. We see BJ Whitmer in the background, sitting down with his head in his hands. Pearce talks about how Whitmer will always be known as the guy who lost the first ROH match on PPV. Pearce wonders how he'll ever find peace and says that he'll have to dig deep and find out exactly what he's capable of. Pearce knows what *he's* capable of and soon…so will we. He walks up to Whitmer and consoles him.
Pearce can pretty much do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. Great old school heel in the ring and he can just talk for days. I'm surprised that he's never gotten a shot with WWE. He's big enough. He has a decent look. One of those pro wrestling mysteries, I guess.
KENTA & Nigel McGuinness v. "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson & Takeshi Morishima -
KENTA and Dragon open the match. We get the stupid standoff sequence out of the way immediately and then they start working out of a test of strength. Dragon monkey flips KENTA, then sends him into the ropes. He tries to leapfrog him, but KENTA lays in a stiff kick to the chest. He's apparently not in the mood to be cute tonight. Both guys tag. Nigel grabs a side headlock. Morishima shoots him into the ropes. They collide, but neither go down. Nigel bounces off the ropes and we get another collision with no one budging. Morishima ducks a clothesline and tackles him. He grabs a front facelock and makes the tag to Danielson.
We get some matwork which leads to a jujigatame by Dragon. Nigel reaches the ropes. He grabs a hammerlock and blasts Dragon with a European uppercut. He sits Dragon up top. Nigel avoids a few strikes and ends up backing off a bit. Morishima distracts him, allowing Danielson to come off the second rope with a European uppercut of his own. He reminds us that he is indeed the best wrestler in the world. Nigel, however, disagrees. With a headbutt. He wins that round. Morishima runs in and levels Nigel with a lariat. That brings KENTA in, of course. Big boot has no effect, but a second manages to drop Morishima.
KENTA tries to kick Danielson, but he catches it and takes him down with a Dragon Screw. We get a four way standoff (!) and I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. The ref boots KENTA/Morishima, but Dragon just tags him in anyway. Butt Butt by Morishima! He chokes Nigel in the corner and tags Dragon back in. Morishima stands on Nigel's throat. Danielson climbs onto Morishima's back to add just a bit more pressure. Ref reminds them of the rules and Danielson reminds him that they have 'til five, referee! For a guy that people say has no charisma, Danielson sure has this entire crowd in the palm of his hand.
On commentary, Dave Prazak is talking about past ROH champions, which is just a cheap excuse to mention CM Punk/Homicide/Austin Aries and Samoa Joe. What…Low Ki and James Gibson aren't famous enough? And poor, poor Xavier gets no love at all. Heh. Anyway, Dragon snapmares Nigel and kicks him in the spine. He briefly locks a Dragon Sleeper, then tags Morishima. He snapmares Nigel as well. Spine kick time? Nope. Try a rolling ass attack instead! He follows with a double stomp, then stands on Nigel's chest, picking up a nearfall. Heels double team Nigel, just to be dicks.
Morishima locks Nigel in a camel clutch. Tag to Danielson. He sets up for the surfboard, but decided to just stomp down on the back of Nigel's knees instead. Love that move. He starts kicking away at Nigel, but all that's doing is firing him up. Dragon whips him into the corner, but misses a charge. Nigel plants him with his corner combo, kicking him hard in the back and dropping him with a lariat. Morishima runs in, nailing him with a forearm. Nigel rebounds, ducking a clothesline and delivering one of his own KENTA tags in. He lays in some kicks on Dragon. He follows with a springboard dropkick and gets two.
KENTA lifts Dragon for a back suplex. He rolls through to his feet and comes back with some forearms. He bounces off the ropes, but KENTA catches him with a leg lariat. They trade strikes and KENTA sends Danielson into the corner with a spin kick to the gut. Whip to the opposite corner. Dragon runs up the ropes and backflips over KENTA, then proceeds to plant him with a backbreaker. Tag to Morishima. He whips KENTA into the corner and hits a handspring forearm! He heads up top and connects with a missile dropkick. He sets up for the Backdrop Driver, but KENTA manages to elbow free.
KENTA bounces off the ropes, but Morishima scoops him up and plants him with a sideslam. Now it's Morishima who's bouncing off the ropes. KENTA kicks him…no effect. He bounces off the ropes again, and KENTA muscles him over with a powerslam. Tag to Nigel. He corners Morishima with strikes and connects with a charging Euro. uppercut. Morishima ducks a shortarm clothesline and goes for the Backdrop Driver. Nigel elbows free, but ends up running into a big boot. Morishima is up top once again and his second missile dropkick is just as successful as the first…
Or…maybe not. Nigel has FIGHTING SPIRIT! He immediately pops up and levels Morishima with a lariat. Cover gets two. Nigel goes for a whip, but gets reversed into the corner. Morishima is looking for a handspring something or another, but eats another lariat for his troubles. Cover gets two. Some really repetitive sequences here. Nigel climbs up top. Dragon grabs his ankle, but KENTA will have none of that, running in and knocking Dragon off the apron with a kick. They brawl on the floor. In the ring, Morishima sets up for a superplex.
Nigel counters, looking for a Sunset bomb. Dragon grabs Morishima and manages to block the move. Morishima then sits straight down and just smears Nigel into the mat. Ouch. On the floor, KENTA reverses a whip, sending Danielson into the rail. Back inside, Morishima pounds on Nigel, sending him into the ropes. Morishima ducks the rebound lariat (called the Jawbreaker now?) and plants him with a Backdrop Driver! He covers, but KENTA makes the save. Morishima tosses him out and heads up top once again. Nigel cuts him off this time. Tower of London connects! Both guys end up tagging.
KENTA lifts Danielson for a suplex, then just drops him across the top rope. He comes off the top with a knee strike while Dragon is hung up in the ropes. Cover gets two. KENTA rush by, err…KENTA. He bounces off the ropes, but ends up eating a forearm. Dragon with a Dragon suplex, but KENTA is out at two. Crossface Chickenwing is locked in. KENTA fights to his feet. He kicks out of the corner and lands on top (think Bret/Austin - Survivor Series '96). Dragon has to release and just barely gets a shoulder up at two.
Danielson sits KENTA up top, setting up for his back superplex. Nigel cuts him off and powerbombs him, though. That brings in Morishima. KENTA leaps off the top, but gets caught by Morishima. He plants KENTA with a release Northern Lights suplex of sorts. Elsewhere, Nigel crotches Dragon in the ropes and catches him with a lariat. Morishima tosses him out and follows him to the floor. He tries to roll him in, but Nigel rebounds off the ropes *outside* of the ring and hits a lariat. I've never seen that variation before!
Nigel tosses Morishima into the crowd. He comes off the top with a crossbody over the rail. He's a big boy to be doing stuff like that. In the ring, Dragon takes KENTA over with a snap suplex. Nigel rolls into the ring and he and Danielson go nose to nose. There's a lot of history there. They trade strikes and Dragon kicks at Nigel's injured arm. He rolls out. Dragon refocuses on KENTA, coming off the top. KENTA gets him with a boot, though. Busaiku Knee kick by KENTA gets two.
KENTA hits the "original" (so sez Prazak) Go 2 Sleep on Danielson and goes for the cover. Morishima is in with a lazy save. Remember when you actually had to yank the guy making the cover off of your partner for it to be considered a save. These days, you just have to breathe on the guy, apparently. It's another one of those, "things about wrestling that annoy Shane" moments! At any rate, Morishima dumps KENTA with a uranage.
At ringside, trainers are taping up Nigel's elbow. Ooh…dramatic! In the ring, Danielson connects with a diving headbutt on KENTA. Cover gets two. Morishima holds KENTA up, allowing Danielson to catch him with a roaring forearm strike. Lariat by Morishima is good for a nearfall. He hoists KENTA onto his shoulders as Dragon heads up top. Nigel comes in and breaks this up. He nails Morishima with a forearm, further injuring the elbow. He follows with the rebound lariat, again using his bad arm. Morishima is out.
KENTA leaps to the top rope with Dragon. Super Falcon Arrow! He covers, but Dragon escapes at two. Danielson catches a clothesline and locks KENTA in the crossface chickenwing. KENTA tries to kick out of the corner, but Dragon sits him up top and scores with his back superplex for a nearfall. Cattle Mutilation is locked on! KENTA won't tap. Dragon releases and lays in the MMA elbows.
KENTA comes back, lifting him up for the G2S. Danielson catches the knee strike and counters into a Tiger suplex! KENTA escapes at two. Danielson immediately rolls into the Cattle Mutilation. Morishima cuts off any save attempts. KENTA tries to gut it out, but he eventually taps out…
Excellent match. It was a bit too FIGHTING SPIRIT-y for me, but most of the big ROH matches are. Nigel and Dragon are on a completely different level than pretty much everyone on the indy scene. And what can I say about KENTA that hasn't been said a thousand times already. Morishima is a wrecking ball, so all of this ended up tying together. Maybe even a bit better than I expected.
-Postmatch, Dragon picks up the ROH belt. He fawns over it just a tad too much, though, so Morishima plants him with a Backdrop Driver! Nigel picks up the belt. He's just innocently handing it to the champ, but ends up eating a lariat. The champ stands tall, belt in mouth (?!) as we fade out.
I don't think I've ever hidden the fact that I just don't care much for the ROH product. It's too serious, the fans suck, some of the match run way longer than they need to, too much fascination with various stars from Japan and an overall NOAH-lite feel have kept me from really getting into it. I do enjoy it and end up catching pretty much every show (just got everything from Final Battle '06 through Fighting Spirit in today, actually), but it's well behind CHIKARA, IWA:MS and maybe even PWG on my indy wrestling depth chart.
All of that said, this was a *great* show and a really good primer on the ROH product. Just the sort of thing they needed to deliver to the PPV audience that may well be seeing their product for the first time. I'm only up to the Glory By Honor V shows right now, so I also have to mention that between then and now, the production has picked up as well. The show looked much better than normal and that's something else small that will help out *a lot*. All in all, this show is well worth looking into if the current WWE/TNA scene is boring you. You rarely fail to get some good to great wrestling on their shows and in the end, that might be what pushes them forward in the months and years to come…
-Taped in the Manhattan Center, May 12, 2007. I've always liked the look of this building. It's where Raw was taped in the early days and it just comes across really well on tape.
-Show opens with BJ Whitmer in the ring. Interesting choice. I don't know that I'd have put him out there as the first face on the first PPV, but that's why I'm writing this instead of booking ROH, I guess. He tells us that Ring of Honor lets the wrestling do the talking, then proceeds to talk anyway, throwing out an open challenge…
-Opening montage with various clips of ROH in action.
-That open challenge? Consider it accepted. By the ROH World champion, no less!
BJ Whitmer v. Takeshi Morishima - ROH Title -
Morishima really does look like a Japanese Terry Gordy. That's very much a compliment. Whitmer hammers on him with some forearms, but has no effect. He bounces off the ropes, but 'Shima plants him with a sideslam. He follows up with a running Yakuza kick in the corner. He's just mauling BJ in the corner and even shoves down referee Todd Sinclair for good measure. He sets BJ up for a backdrop driver (his finisher), but Whitmer turns into it, landing on top for a one count. He ducks a lariat, dropping Morishima to one knee with a low dropkick. Running knee strike by Whitmer! Morishima pretty much no sells it, bouncing off the ropes and looking for a clothesline.
Whitmer catches it and plants him with an Exploder (his finisher)! Cover gets two. He follows up with a *hard* lariat and gets another nearfall. Whitmer heads up top and hits a frogsplash, but 'Shima again kicks out at two. Whitmer goes for a wrist clutch Exploder, but Morishima elbows free. Big boot by BJ, but Morishima won't go down. Northern lariat by BJ, followed by a second lariat. 'Shima won't even budge. BJ bounces off the ropes and eats a lariat. Running boot by Morishima gets two. He nails Whitmer with a clothesline and gets another nearfall. He quickly plants BJ with the backdrop driver and gets the win!
This was short, but all action while it lasted. Certainly effective in building up Morishima as a wrecking machine. My problem with this match tends to be my problem with a lot of ROH matches. It's not so much that they work a "Japanese" style, but they frequently take the worst parts of that style (fighting spirit, the repetitive nature of some moves, like a lariat here, for instance) and just run it into the ground. I enjoy a nice clothesline as much as the next guy, but there’s like ten here in a match that barely went three minutes. At some point, it just turns into overkill. The ROH demographic, if you will (which I wouldn't really count myself a part of) eats it up, though, so what do I know?
-Nigel McGuinness is out to challenge Morishima. He doesn't care when they wrestle. Even tonight! This brings out "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson (returning from a shoulder injury after a five month layoff). He, unsurprisingly, disagrees. He runs down the highlights of his fifteen month title reign, including wins over Lance Storm, Samoa Joe, Homicide and even Nigel himself. If anyone deserves the next title shot, it's him! Nigel is ready to rumble, by god! Danielson backs off. Nigel goes face to face with Morishima and Danielson attacks!
Nigel quickly takes over, but then Morishima jumps him as well. He and Danielson are on the same page for now and they take turns beating Nigel down. Danielson picks up the belt and stares at it. Morishima snatches it away and bails. Nigel recovers in the interim and Danielson also gets while the getting is good…
-Video package for Brent Albright. Remember Gunner Scott on Smackdown? Yeah…this is him. He's ROH's hired gun and tells us that he's willing to do pretty much anything for a payday.
Rocky Romero v. Naomichi Marufuji -
Nice touch, with a brief video highlight clip of each guy during the intros. Gives the people watching ROH for the first time at least an idea what to expect from these guys.
Opening matwork leads to a mirror sequence, as both guys end up locking the other in an Octopus Stretch, then roll it into a cover for two. Indy face-offs abound! Honestly, we get it. You're evenly matched. It's all very exciting. Now do something else, for god's sake! Why do people continue to pop for this crap? Maru catches a kick from Romero, who quickly leaps into a jujigatame takedown. Maru won't tap, so Romero eventually releases the hold and starts kicking away at the injured arm. Back to the jujigatame. Maru locks his hands to block it and rolls Romero up for a quick two.
Romero mounts Maru and rains down some strikes. The ref gets in his face and gets spat on for his troubles. At least Romero is trying to heel it up. Go him! He drops a knee and picks up a two count. Romero whips him into the ropes. Maru hangs on and Maru charges him, getting elevated onto the apron. They trade strikes and Maru leaps to the top rope and connects with a short dropkick that sends Romero to the floor. He follows, lifting Romero and ramming him knee first into the ringpost. Back in the ring, he hangs Romero's leg in the ropes and gives him a dragon screw. Nifty! He covers, but Romero is out at two.
Corner whip by Marufuji, but he ends up charging into a back elbow. Romero climbs to the second rope, but Maru cuts him off with a dropkick to the knee. Romero is seated up top and Maru dragon screws him to the mat, then locks him in a figure four. Romero manages to reach the ropes. Marufuji kicks at the leg and goes for a whip. Romero shortarms it, connecting with a spin kick to the gut. Now it's Maru's turn to reverse a whip. Romero plants him with a satellite DDT, though. He comes off the second rope, but Marufuji catches him and looks to turn him over into a half crab.
Romero powers to his feet. Enzuigiri misses, but he connects with a mule kick. Tiger suplex hook, but Marufuji elbows free. Romero springs off the second rope, planting him with a tornado DDT. He covers, but can only get two. He goes for the Tiger suplex again, but Maru flips through to his feet and hits a facebuster to the knee. They trade strikes and Maru levels him with a lariat (there's that move again!). Powerbomb is good for a two count.
Marufuji heads up top, but gets cut off. Romero does a really cool jujigatame takedown off the top that just looks all sorts of arm breaky, but Maru reaches the ropes to force the break. Romero kicks at the injured arm, but just absolutely *eats* a superkick. Not to be outdone, he spins around and connects with a wicked round kick right to the jaw! Both guys are down. Romero rolls into the corner, catching a charging Marufuji with a boot.
Maru charges a second time, springing off the second rope and nailing Romero with a back elbow. He powerbombs Romero into the corner and ties him to the Tree of Woe. Coast to Coast dropkick gets two. He hooks Romero for the Shiranui (Sliced Bread #2 for the Spanky fans among us!), but it's countered and Romero finally hits the Tiger suplex he's been looking for. Marufuji escapes at two. Romero follows up with a buzzsaw kick and gets another nearfall out of it. He's looking for another kick, but Maru blocks it and connects with two of his own. He quickly drops Romero with the Shiranui and picks up the win!
-Larry Sweeny promo. Sweeney's personal trainer, Tank Toland (one of the Dicks in WWE) is with him. Sweeney talks about the stable of guys under him, including Chris Hero, then introduces the newest addition to Sweet n' Sour Inc…Sara Del Ray! Toland makes their lackey, ROH student Bobby Dempsey do squats, because he's going to turn him into a fighting machine. Del Ray starts doing squats as well, which pisses Toland off because chicks aren't allowed to do squats. Dempsey collapses in the background after like five squats and Toland and Del Ray decide to have themselves a squat off. Good segment to get over Sweeney's personality. He's not really like anyone else in ROH, so he really stands out.
-Cut back to the ring, where Nigel is brawling with Morishima. Bryan Danielson hits the ring and we get a redux of the heel beatdown from earlier. KENTA runs out to make the save. This came off flat. It was pretty redundant, really. There's no reason at all that this couldn't have been done after the opening match.
-They run a quick website promo and shill the DVDs.
Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli v. Briscoe Brothers - ROH Tag Titles -
I believe this is the first I've seen of Claudio since he cut his hair. Looks…interesting. It's a shame that I'm not recapping his matches every week on ECW by this point, though. Oh, WWE, how you wound me.
Speaking of Claudio (Segues? *thumbs up*), he opens the match with Mark Briscoe. Matwork, standoff, bleh. You know, the indy standoff stuff is really just an East coast thing. It's not nearly as obnoxious in the Midwest shows or the SoCal stuff I watch. This might be why I generally prefer any random show from the Midwest to the Ring of Honor product most of the time. At any rate, Claudio armdrags Mark. He goes for a clothesline, but Mark ducks it and takes him over with a Northern Lights suplex. Claudio hangs on, though, turning it into a front facelock.
Sydal tags in. Mark escapes a headlock and makes a tag as well. Sydal and Jay trade hiptoss attempts, with Sydal finally taking him down with a headscissors. He goes for a clothesline, but Jay ducks it and connects with one of his own. Sydal reverses him into the corner, but runs into a back elbow. Not to worry, though, as he comes right back with a spinning heel kick. Tag to Claudio, who picks up a quick one count. Jay drives him backwards into the corner and makes the tag. They whip Claudio into the corner. Mark charges in with a dropkick and Jay follows with a big boot. Claudio is out at one.
He tags Sydal and they give Mark the old wishbone spot on the mat. Sydal snapmares him and scores with the cannonball legdrop. Mark comes back with strikes and makes the tag. Jay nails Sydal in the back of the head with a leg lariat, causing him to stumble into a jawbreaker from Mark. Briscoes follow with a Downward Spiral/bulldog combo. Jay makes the cover, picking up a nearfall. Dropkick by Jay for another two count. Tag to Mark. Jay lifts Sydal for a suplex, dropping his feet onto Mark's shoulders. They basically just toss him skyward and Sydal crashes hard to the mat. Cover gets two.
Mark plants him with a gutwrench suplex, then drops a knee for yet another nearfall. This is another one of my general complaints about ROH. Too many nearfalls. It's actually okay in a really fast paced match like this, but when it's match in and match out up and down the card, it's just overkill. Anyway, Jay tags in. Briscoes connect with their double shoulderblock spot and Jay locks Sydal in the Stretch Plum. He shoves Sydal into the Briscoe's corner. He tries to fight out, but Jay plants him with a quebradora. He gives Sydal a backbreaker, holding Sydal across his knee. Mark then comes in with a corkscrew split legged moonsault!
Mark tags in. He throws Sydal with a belly to belly and gets two. Tag to Jay. They whip Sydal into the corner. Mark charges, but gets backdropped to the floor. Sydal then ducks a running big boot and sits Jay up top. He leaps from the mat, taking Jay off the top with a 'rana! Claudio tags in, catching Jay with a flurry of European uppercuts. He slams him, then follows with a crab walk elbow for two. Irish whip by Claudio, but Jay hangs onto the ropes. He sends Claudio into the ropes with a drop toehold and Mark kicks him in the head.
Slingshot doublestomp by Mark. Sydal runs in. The Briscoes duck his clothesline and give him a HUGE biel out of the corner. They like it so much that Claudio gets the same. Jay whips Mark toward Sydal, who comes back with a kick. Jay then charges, but Claudio comes off the ropes, connecting with a back elbow. Sydal hits a step up enzuigiri on Mark as Claudio covers Jay for a nearfall. Fisherman's suplex follows and Claudio again gets two. Tag to Sydal. He locks Jay in a seated abdominal stretch for a bit, then tags Claudio back in. Tumbling European uppercut in the corner by Claudio. He whips Sydal into Jay and he connects with a double knee strike.
Claudio with a giant swing! Oh hell yeah! He only gets ten revolutions, though. Cover gets two. Sydal tags in and plants Jay with a springboard tornado bulldog. He follows with a springboard twisting moonsault and gets two. Tag to Double C. He comes in with a slingshot elbowdrop for another nearfall. Tag to Sydal. Claudio sits Jay up top and they go for a double superplex. Jay shoves Claudio to the mat and hits a flipping hangman's neckbreaker on Sydal! Wicked. He drops Claudio with a Stunner and makes the tag.
Mark catches Claudio with a springboard dropkick. He hammers on Sydal and drops him with an enzuigiri. He sends Claudio into the ropes and Jay ends up monkey flipping him over the top and out! He follows him out, nailing him with a somersault plancha! Back in the ring, Sydal reverses Mark into the corner. Mark leaps to the second rope. Sydal charges, blocking a boot. Mark shrugs off another 'rana attempt and goes for a sunset flip. He rolls through, though, hoisting Sydal up and powerbombing him into the corner. He follows with an Exploder and gets two.
Briscoes work a little double team, planting Sydal with a sideslam/top rope legdrop combo. Cover, of course, only gets two. They try to give Claudio a double whip, but he ends up slamming them together. He drops Mark with a kick, then slams Jay on top of him. Sydal is on top of the pile for a cover, but still…only two. Claudio tags in, spiking Mark with the Alpamare Waterslide (similar to an Olympic Slam). He covers Mark, but Jay is in to make the save. Claudio whips Mark into the corner and he leaps to the second rope once again.
He kicks Claudio, who charges back in, runs up the ropes and takes Mark over with a headscissors takedown. He follows with a big boot and gets two. Tag to Sydal. Claudio gives Mark a backbreaker and Sydal follows up with his Slice Drop (He drapes his leg across the opponent's chest and drops to the mat) for two. Standing moonsault also gets two. Claudio tags back in, whipping Mark into the corner. Mark floats over him. He ducks a clothesline and comes off the second rope with a diving forearm. Tag to Jay! He comes off the top with a crossbody. If you guessed anything other than a two count, you just haven't been paying attention.
Jay shortarms Claudio, planting him with a sitout gourdbuster. He lifts Claudio, allowing Mark to come in with a springboard leg lariat. He adds a corkscrew splash for good measure. Jay covers and you know the drill. Claudio ducks a boot and tries to kill Jay with a diving springboard European uppercut. Jay rolls out. Sydal comes in, diving off of Claudio's shoulders onto the Briscoes on the floor! He tosses Jay in and Claudio plants him with the Ricola Bomb (cross arm sitout powerbomb) for two. Mark makes the save. At two, of course.
Claudio tosses Mark out and levels Jay with a European uppercut. Tag to Sydal, who scores with a Shooting Star Press. Cover, but Mark is in once again to make the save. Claudio peppers him with European uppercuts, but ends up eating a superkick. Mark lifts him for the Cutthroat Driver (arm trap Burning Hammer), but Sydal breaks it up. Mark nails him with a superkick and clotheslines Claudio over the top. Jay presses Sydal, dropping him into a Death Valley Driver.
Plancha onto Claudio by Mark! In the ring, Jay sets up for the Jay Driller, but Sydal blocks. He hoists him up for a second attempt, but Sydal flips through into a 'rana for two. He goes for a kick, but Jay ducks it and lifts him onto his shoulders. The Briscoes score with a springboard Doomsday lariat! Jay makes the cover and picks up the win!
Great, great match. I'd actually call it a low end match of the year candidate, but I seem to be the only person rating it that highly. It must have been the right match at the right time for me. The zillion and six nearfalls did hurt it a bit, but overall this was just an awesome sprint from start to end.
-Postmatch, the announcers run down upcoming shows as the Briscoes chill in the ring. Tomfoolery awaits, I bet! As soon as I write that, El Generico and Kevin Steen hit the announce position, wondering when they'll be getting a shot at the tag belts. They charge the ring and it's go time! A cast of thousands run out to break them up. Mark Briscoe dives onto the pile in order to go after Generico. The Briscoes are finally escorted out and Steen/Generico start beating the shit out of anyone left in the ring. Steenalizer (powerbomb lift, where you then cradle the head and throw the opponent backwards into more of a suplex type move…often into the corner) on some poor sap who gets in the way!
Some other random ROH student takes a Package Piledriver from Steen, rolled into a Generico Brainbuster! Goddamn, was that ever lethal. Generico dives onto the pile. Everyone brawls to the back, with the cameras in hot pursuit. Steen splatters Mark's skull with a chairshot and leaves him laying. Seriously, this is the best pull apart sequence I've seen in *years*. Words can't describe how heated this was. Amazing segment. Kevin Steen is such a dickhead. I've never really cared for him as a wrestler (a bit too headdroppy for my taste, though I understand he's improved quite a bit), but he's a hell of a heel. He works mostly for companies I don't watch, so I'm looking forward to seeing how good he's gotten over the past year or so.
-Clips from the Fifth Year Festival: Philly show highlight Roderick Strong yanking Delirious off the top rope, causing him to land on the back of his head, knocking him out. Roddy then proceeds to plant him with a Gibson (Tiger) Driver onto a section of railing on the floor.
Roderick Strong v. Delirious -
Delirious goes berserk when the bell rings, of course. Makes you wonder what happens when his doorbell rings. Assuming that he doesn't live in a cave, I guess. He is half lizard, after all. Match opens on the floor with Delirious laying in headbutts. He rolls Roddy in, then gets cut off when he tries to follow. Delirious shoots him into the ropes, but gets tackled. He literally works circles around Roddy, finally hoisting Strong onto his shoulders and dropping him facefirst to the mat. He tries to punt his head off, but Roddy avoids it and puts him in the Stronghold (elevated Boston Crab). Delirious counters into a rollup and gets two.
Strong lifts him for a slam, but Delirious slips away and takes him over with a snapmare. Spine kick follows. He goes for a whip, but Roddy reverses him into the corner. He charges, running into a boot. Delirious comes off the top and snaps off a 'rana. Now it's his turn to charge. Roddy's turn to counter, as well, as he elevates Delirious onto the top turnbuckles and starts laying in chops. Corner whip by Strong. Delirious rebounds out with a clothesline. He plants Strong with a back suplex and gets two. He whips Strong into the corner, but there's no one home on the charge.
Roddy avoids another charge and just annihilates Delirious with a swinging backbreaker (almost looked like a Black Hole Slam onto his knee). Cover gets two. Delirious fires back, but charges into a boot in the corner. He reverses Roddy into the opposite corner, but again charges into a kick. Strong comes off the second with something or another, but Delirious meets him with a headbutt to the gut. He ducks a clothesline from Strong and comes back with three of his own. Delirious catches him with a dropkick to the back, sending Strong into the corner. PANIC ATTACK!
Delirious heads up top, presumably looking for Shadows Over Hell. They do a call back from their earlier match, as Strong again yanks him off the top. This time, though, Delirious rolls to his feet. He turns and Strong buries a knee in his gut. Delirious quickly recovers, spiking Roddy with a Bizarro Driver (basically a Fisherman's Michinoku Driver, though he cradles the inside leg) for two. He gets the Cobra Clutch locked in, but before he can turn it into the Cobra Stretch, Roddy drives him backwards into the corner to break. He whips Delirious into the opposite corner, but wouldn't you know it…the ensuing charge misses!
Delirious sits Roddy up top and plants him with a neckbreaker. He covers, but Strong is out at two. He manages to cut Delirious off with a jawbreaker, then lifts him onto his shoulder in a Torture Rack. He spins that into a backbreaker and picks up a nearfall. He follows with a fallaway slam off the second rope, but Delirious won't stay down for three. He counters a move into a crucifix, but Strong kicks out at two. Enzuigiri by Delirious. Up top he goes. Roddy cuts him off, but Delirious manages to shove him to the mat. Shadows Over Hell connects! Nearfall for Delirious.
Delirious floats into the Cobra Stretch, which transitions into a rollup sequence that neither man gets the better of. Roddy ends up powering Delirious up, then powerbombs him across his knees. That looked all sorts of painful. Roddy covers, but Delirious reaches the ropes. Both guys end up on the apron. Strong tries to lift him, but Delirious flips back into the ring. He dropkicks Roddy in the knees, causing him bump off the apron and hit his head. Somersault plancha by Delirious! He whips Strong into the rail…Panic Attack! He comes up clutching his knee, though.
Delirious rolls Strong in and climbs onto the apron. He catches Roddy with a back elbow and goes for a sunset flip. Roddy kicks him in the face, though. He climbs onto the apron and hoists Delirious up, dropping him straight down onto the very edge of the apron. Strong rolls him in and gets a two count. He hooks Delirious for a Gibson Driver (named after James Gibson/Jamie Noble, for whatever it's worth), but it's blocked. They trade strikes for a few seconds and Strong cuts him off with an eye rake.
Delirious comes back with an elbow strike. He bounces off the ropes, but Roddy lifts him onto his shoulder and connects with his gutbuster across the knees (almost a sitout variation of a Go 2 Sleep) Cover gets two. Stronghold is locked in, but Delirious reaches the ropes! Strong goes for his Half Nelson Backbreaker, but Delirious slips free and plants him with Chemical Imbalance II (I guess calling it a sitout double pumphandle driver will suffice) ! Cover, but Strong escapes at two! Cobra Stretch by Delirious!
Roddy manages to fight to his feet…Cobra Clutch suplex by Delirious! He makes the cover, but Strong reaches the ropes. They mistimed a spot where Delirious tries to punt Roddy's head off a bit and he continues to pound Strong down. He goes for a clothesline, but Strong ducks it and hits the Half Nelson backbreaker! He follows up with his big running boot, then quickly plants Delirious with the Gibson Driver to pick up the win!
There was something about this that was slightly off. Still a really fun match (as if there's any other sort of match involving Delirious), though. Far too much focus on corner transitions. It felt like half the match was just corner whips and missed charges. What I did like is that Delirious put Strong on the defensive immediately. It was a grudge match and he went in pissed off and ready to go. I think, traditionally, you'd expect an ROH match between these two to mostly be Delirious bumping around for Roddy's offense, but that wasn't the case here…
-Postmatch, Roddy's fellow No Remorse Corp members Davey Richards and Rocky Romero come out, carrying a section of railing. They beat Delirious down and bridge the section of railing between the apron and rail. Gibson Driver onto the railing! Erick Stevens (member of the Resilience, the counter NRC group) comes out. He catches Richards with a clothesline in the corner. TKO to Romero! He trades strikes with Roddy, then elevates him for a flapjack, then catching and powerslamming him. The NRC quickly get outta Dodge.
-Great Adam Pearce promo, talking about the history of ROH and how it's grown over the years. He says that the wrestlers have to step and ask themselves what they're willing to do to take their piece of the ROH pie, so to speak. We see BJ Whitmer in the background, sitting down with his head in his hands. Pearce talks about how Whitmer will always be known as the guy who lost the first ROH match on PPV. Pearce wonders how he'll ever find peace and says that he'll have to dig deep and find out exactly what he's capable of. Pearce knows what *he's* capable of and soon…so will we. He walks up to Whitmer and consoles him.
Pearce can pretty much do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. Great old school heel in the ring and he can just talk for days. I'm surprised that he's never gotten a shot with WWE. He's big enough. He has a decent look. One of those pro wrestling mysteries, I guess.
KENTA & Nigel McGuinness v. "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson & Takeshi Morishima -
KENTA and Dragon open the match. We get the stupid standoff sequence out of the way immediately and then they start working out of a test of strength. Dragon monkey flips KENTA, then sends him into the ropes. He tries to leapfrog him, but KENTA lays in a stiff kick to the chest. He's apparently not in the mood to be cute tonight. Both guys tag. Nigel grabs a side headlock. Morishima shoots him into the ropes. They collide, but neither go down. Nigel bounces off the ropes and we get another collision with no one budging. Morishima ducks a clothesline and tackles him. He grabs a front facelock and makes the tag to Danielson.
We get some matwork which leads to a jujigatame by Dragon. Nigel reaches the ropes. He grabs a hammerlock and blasts Dragon with a European uppercut. He sits Dragon up top. Nigel avoids a few strikes and ends up backing off a bit. Morishima distracts him, allowing Danielson to come off the second rope with a European uppercut of his own. He reminds us that he is indeed the best wrestler in the world. Nigel, however, disagrees. With a headbutt. He wins that round. Morishima runs in and levels Nigel with a lariat. That brings KENTA in, of course. Big boot has no effect, but a second manages to drop Morishima.
KENTA tries to kick Danielson, but he catches it and takes him down with a Dragon Screw. We get a four way standoff (!) and I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. The ref boots KENTA/Morishima, but Dragon just tags him in anyway. Butt Butt by Morishima! He chokes Nigel in the corner and tags Dragon back in. Morishima stands on Nigel's throat. Danielson climbs onto Morishima's back to add just a bit more pressure. Ref reminds them of the rules and Danielson reminds him that they have 'til five, referee! For a guy that people say has no charisma, Danielson sure has this entire crowd in the palm of his hand.
On commentary, Dave Prazak is talking about past ROH champions, which is just a cheap excuse to mention CM Punk/Homicide/Austin Aries and Samoa Joe. What…Low Ki and James Gibson aren't famous enough? And poor, poor Xavier gets no love at all. Heh. Anyway, Dragon snapmares Nigel and kicks him in the spine. He briefly locks a Dragon Sleeper, then tags Morishima. He snapmares Nigel as well. Spine kick time? Nope. Try a rolling ass attack instead! He follows with a double stomp, then stands on Nigel's chest, picking up a nearfall. Heels double team Nigel, just to be dicks.
Morishima locks Nigel in a camel clutch. Tag to Danielson. He sets up for the surfboard, but decided to just stomp down on the back of Nigel's knees instead. Love that move. He starts kicking away at Nigel, but all that's doing is firing him up. Dragon whips him into the corner, but misses a charge. Nigel plants him with his corner combo, kicking him hard in the back and dropping him with a lariat. Morishima runs in, nailing him with a forearm. Nigel rebounds, ducking a clothesline and delivering one of his own KENTA tags in. He lays in some kicks on Dragon. He follows with a springboard dropkick and gets two.
KENTA lifts Dragon for a back suplex. He rolls through to his feet and comes back with some forearms. He bounces off the ropes, but KENTA catches him with a leg lariat. They trade strikes and KENTA sends Danielson into the corner with a spin kick to the gut. Whip to the opposite corner. Dragon runs up the ropes and backflips over KENTA, then proceeds to plant him with a backbreaker. Tag to Morishima. He whips KENTA into the corner and hits a handspring forearm! He heads up top and connects with a missile dropkick. He sets up for the Backdrop Driver, but KENTA manages to elbow free.
KENTA bounces off the ropes, but Morishima scoops him up and plants him with a sideslam. Now it's Morishima who's bouncing off the ropes. KENTA kicks him…no effect. He bounces off the ropes again, and KENTA muscles him over with a powerslam. Tag to Nigel. He corners Morishima with strikes and connects with a charging Euro. uppercut. Morishima ducks a shortarm clothesline and goes for the Backdrop Driver. Nigel elbows free, but ends up running into a big boot. Morishima is up top once again and his second missile dropkick is just as successful as the first…
Or…maybe not. Nigel has FIGHTING SPIRIT! He immediately pops up and levels Morishima with a lariat. Cover gets two. Nigel goes for a whip, but gets reversed into the corner. Morishima is looking for a handspring something or another, but eats another lariat for his troubles. Cover gets two. Some really repetitive sequences here. Nigel climbs up top. Dragon grabs his ankle, but KENTA will have none of that, running in and knocking Dragon off the apron with a kick. They brawl on the floor. In the ring, Morishima sets up for a superplex.
Nigel counters, looking for a Sunset bomb. Dragon grabs Morishima and manages to block the move. Morishima then sits straight down and just smears Nigel into the mat. Ouch. On the floor, KENTA reverses a whip, sending Danielson into the rail. Back inside, Morishima pounds on Nigel, sending him into the ropes. Morishima ducks the rebound lariat (called the Jawbreaker now?) and plants him with a Backdrop Driver! He covers, but KENTA makes the save. Morishima tosses him out and heads up top once again. Nigel cuts him off this time. Tower of London connects! Both guys end up tagging.
KENTA lifts Danielson for a suplex, then just drops him across the top rope. He comes off the top with a knee strike while Dragon is hung up in the ropes. Cover gets two. KENTA rush by, err…KENTA. He bounces off the ropes, but ends up eating a forearm. Dragon with a Dragon suplex, but KENTA is out at two. Crossface Chickenwing is locked in. KENTA fights to his feet. He kicks out of the corner and lands on top (think Bret/Austin - Survivor Series '96). Dragon has to release and just barely gets a shoulder up at two.
Danielson sits KENTA up top, setting up for his back superplex. Nigel cuts him off and powerbombs him, though. That brings in Morishima. KENTA leaps off the top, but gets caught by Morishima. He plants KENTA with a release Northern Lights suplex of sorts. Elsewhere, Nigel crotches Dragon in the ropes and catches him with a lariat. Morishima tosses him out and follows him to the floor. He tries to roll him in, but Nigel rebounds off the ropes *outside* of the ring and hits a lariat. I've never seen that variation before!
Nigel tosses Morishima into the crowd. He comes off the top with a crossbody over the rail. He's a big boy to be doing stuff like that. In the ring, Dragon takes KENTA over with a snap suplex. Nigel rolls into the ring and he and Danielson go nose to nose. There's a lot of history there. They trade strikes and Dragon kicks at Nigel's injured arm. He rolls out. Dragon refocuses on KENTA, coming off the top. KENTA gets him with a boot, though. Busaiku Knee kick by KENTA gets two.
KENTA hits the "original" (so sez Prazak) Go 2 Sleep on Danielson and goes for the cover. Morishima is in with a lazy save. Remember when you actually had to yank the guy making the cover off of your partner for it to be considered a save. These days, you just have to breathe on the guy, apparently. It's another one of those, "things about wrestling that annoy Shane" moments! At any rate, Morishima dumps KENTA with a uranage.
At ringside, trainers are taping up Nigel's elbow. Ooh…dramatic! In the ring, Danielson connects with a diving headbutt on KENTA. Cover gets two. Morishima holds KENTA up, allowing Danielson to catch him with a roaring forearm strike. Lariat by Morishima is good for a nearfall. He hoists KENTA onto his shoulders as Dragon heads up top. Nigel comes in and breaks this up. He nails Morishima with a forearm, further injuring the elbow. He follows with the rebound lariat, again using his bad arm. Morishima is out.
KENTA leaps to the top rope with Dragon. Super Falcon Arrow! He covers, but Dragon escapes at two. Danielson catches a clothesline and locks KENTA in the crossface chickenwing. KENTA tries to kick out of the corner, but Dragon sits him up top and scores with his back superplex for a nearfall. Cattle Mutilation is locked on! KENTA won't tap. Dragon releases and lays in the MMA elbows.
KENTA comes back, lifting him up for the G2S. Danielson catches the knee strike and counters into a Tiger suplex! KENTA escapes at two. Danielson immediately rolls into the Cattle Mutilation. Morishima cuts off any save attempts. KENTA tries to gut it out, but he eventually taps out…
Excellent match. It was a bit too FIGHTING SPIRIT-y for me, but most of the big ROH matches are. Nigel and Dragon are on a completely different level than pretty much everyone on the indy scene. And what can I say about KENTA that hasn't been said a thousand times already. Morishima is a wrecking ball, so all of this ended up tying together. Maybe even a bit better than I expected.
-Postmatch, Dragon picks up the ROH belt. He fawns over it just a tad too much, though, so Morishima plants him with a Backdrop Driver! Nigel picks up the belt. He's just innocently handing it to the champ, but ends up eating a lariat. The champ stands tall, belt in mouth (?!) as we fade out.
I don't think I've ever hidden the fact that I just don't care much for the ROH product. It's too serious, the fans suck, some of the match run way longer than they need to, too much fascination with various stars from Japan and an overall NOAH-lite feel have kept me from really getting into it. I do enjoy it and end up catching pretty much every show (just got everything from Final Battle '06 through Fighting Spirit in today, actually), but it's well behind CHIKARA, IWA:MS and maybe even PWG on my indy wrestling depth chart.
All of that said, this was a *great* show and a really good primer on the ROH product. Just the sort of thing they needed to deliver to the PPV audience that may well be seeing their product for the first time. I'm only up to the Glory By Honor V shows right now, so I also have to mention that between then and now, the production has picked up as well. The show looked much better than normal and that's something else small that will help out *a lot*. All in all, this show is well worth looking into if the current WWE/TNA scene is boring you. You rarely fail to get some good to great wrestling on their shows and in the end, that might be what pushes them forward in the months and years to come…
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