supersonic

DDT4 2007 Night 2 – May 20, 2007 Taped from Los Angeles, CA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gobKLPG1P48 Tag Titles and DDT4 Semifinal Match Speed Muscle vs. PAC & Roderick Strong Just as fun as Speed Muscle’s quarterfinal match against Arrogance. But in this one, it wasn’t about who could out-heel the other, but instead Speed Muscle trying their damnedest to overcome their thrown-together opponents. In a surprise, PAC & Roderick Strong seemed much better at throwing bombs, forcing submission work out of Speed Muscle to try neutralizing them. Ultimately Strong’s rag-dolling became too much for Speed Muscle, as Masato Yoshino just got tossed and slammed around at the end. Naruki Doi was out of the equation after getting the same treatment, with PAC having just enough left in his tank to keep Doi at bay after Strong’s Tiger Driver. Also smart in the finishing stretch was PAC’s selling on a successful 450 Splash, which had been countered earlier in the match with knees to the gut, still sore on the successful attempt several minutes later. Only PAC’s botch on what looked like a Sasuke Special puts a blemish on this, but he went to work immediately with a Corkscrew Plancha rather than sulk on it. Rating: ***3/4 PWG Title Match El Generico vs. CIMA Good match although heavily disappointing, coming nowhere near their classic the year before, as well as nowhere near CIMA’s dream match 24 hours earlier against Bryan Danielson. This failed to ever get to a dramatic pace that’d earn a standing ovation, and with damn good reason. CIMA this time was just a dick, perhaps realizing he’d have to play dirty and go for Generico’s groin after having failed to defeat Danielson. He definitely took advantage of the fact that the referee didn’t wanna end this with a DQ. On the outside, Generico decided to provide a receipt by headbutting CIMA’s groin, making this match far more even from that point on. While CIMA would get plenty of deadly moves on the champion, including the Air Raid Crash, none of them were delivered with the precise authority to win the company’s top prize. This showed in the lack of electrifying for the crowd when Generico kicked out of that established finisher. Perhaps the other reason this lacked the signature drama of the year before is that nobody believed a special attraction would win the title, which is surprising coming at the time of Takeshi Morishima’s ROH Title reign. The finish was smart but lackluster, as Generico finished CIMA with 3 consecutive Brainbusters, going for a pin-fall on each one and the third being the charm. Once again, no huge standing ovation, putting the final piece of evidence on display that this failed to meet justifiably high expectations. Rating: ***1/4 Joey Ryan vs. Bryan Danielson It’s the battle of the 2 champions that dominated 2006, thus arguably being a dream match (despite it already happening in 2004)! This match was perfectly plotted for its most appropriate story. Danielson dominated earlier by being the vastly superior technician. Ryan baited Danielson into a mid-match handshake to get a cheap shot and then dominate, specifically targeting Danielson’s left arm, a brilliant strategy since that left shoulder put Danielson on the shelf to kick off 2007. Ryan was ultimately no match for Danielson, no matter how aggressive he attempted to be. Locking in the Cattle Mutilation was a futile move, and even more so when he tried it again. Going for the Crossface Chickenwing? Even more pathetic. Once Danielson got the elbows to Ryan’s head and then locked on the Cattle Mutilation, it was all over, with Ryan wasting no time in giving up. Rating: ***1/2 Tag Titles and DDT4 Final Match Briscoe Bros. vs. PAC & Roderick Strong An excellent main event and close to the weekend and tournament. It looked like this would break down to the typical indy tag team bullshit when there was a tag legality blemish; instead, from that point on went up another level, in the meantime not allowing that kind of blemish to pop up again. The Briscoes played the default heels, and it was ingenious to have them advance to this tournament final, for no team was more highly-regarded throughout the underground a decade ago, plus there were the ROH Tag Champs. When PAC hit a Shooting Star Press that also hit the Briscoe in the back of the head, it looked like a mistake that it was a near-fall as the crowd was in a frenzy. How exactly could that be topped? Here’s the answer to that question: Gutbusters from Strong to Mark. PAC hits a 720 Splash on Mark for another insane near-fall. Strong then puts Mark in the Liontamer while PAC keeps Jay at bay with a Sky Twister to the outside, leaving Mark no choice but to tap out. Such a submission finish not only kept the crowd atmosphere up to its frenzied par, but also was brilliant in Mark selling the pain his torso was in on both his front end from the gutbusters, and now the back end with his spinal cord taking severe damage. Fucking awesome main event, and for a tournament that was far from perfect, a terrific way to cap off what would become an annual tradition. Rating: **** Strong recommendation for this one even though the main event is on the first Sells Out compilation. Something for everyone on the undercard. A new annual tradition’s beginning has concluded. And now, another era also in the tag team realm begins. It’s time for the genesis of what has come to be known as a Superkick Party across the globe. Up next – Roger Dorn Night Matches will include: Tyler Black vs. Joey Ryan Young Bucks vs. Chris Bosh & Scott Lost El Generico vs. Kevin Steen vs. Davey Richards vs. Bryan Danielson

DDT4 2007 Night 1 – May 19, 2007 Taped from Los Angeles, CA     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epnnZqhaIGM   http://www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1459     Tag Titles and DDT4 Quarterfinal Match Briscoe Bros. vs. Kings of Wrestling   Nowhere near the show-stealer from Final Battle 2006, this came as a bit of a disappointment, although still turned out to be good, just not as special as one would’ve hoped.  The tag legality adherence was almost completely on point, just a minor blemish at the very end that would’ve made zero difference for the result of the match.   Unlike in ROH, there were no clear-cut babyfaces in this one, with the Briscoes even trying to be heel at some point, Mark mocking Claudio Castagnoli as he needed a hot tag.  But KOW would also bait the Briscoes on the outside after both landing feet-first with front cartwheels.  In the end, it came down to the Briscoes beating KOW to the finishing punch, landing the Springboard Doomsday Device on Chris Hero to win this and advance to the semifinals.   Rating: ***1/4   Dream Match CIMA vs. Bryan Danielson   Excellent match as expected.  The match started with mat work early, with Danielson specifically targeting CIMA’s left leg.  CIMA would eventually gain the advantage when he blocked an Enziguri and kicked Danielson’s right leg after placing it on the middle rope, the Hall of Famer assuming it’d be a clean break even after not breaking clean himself early.  However, CIMA would spend the rest of the match targeting Danielson’s left leg, and in this case that didn’t turn out to be a backfiring strategy.  Deep into the match when Danielson countered with a backbreaker on his left leg, it neutralized him.   I really appreciated the false-finish teases in this one for the big signature moves such as the Cattle Mutilation and Air Raid Crash, then the appropriate, dramatic scouting being put on display for those same moves later in the match.  It resulted in a fantastic atmosphere as these two showed that personality and storytelling are all that should be needed to tear the house down.  A great example would be CIMA’s Iconoclasm.  After Danielson drove CIMA to the outside and hit a suicide dive, he climbed to the top rope rather than back in the ring.  It turned out to be a trap as CIMA went for the Iconoclasm again, with Danielson using the positioning to lock in his Crossface Chickenwing.  CIMA’s facial expression in this submission was tremendous as he teased having his hand drop 3 times.   Danielson’s Cattle Mutilation minutes later would be another phenomenal false finish, the Los Angeles crowd biting into it and then trying to will CIMA back in once he reached the ropes.  But Danielson made the mistake trying to use it as a counter, as CIMA now had it scouted for some false finish pins and then hitting the Air Raid Crash.  The match at this point got a standing ovation when Danielson kicked out, which was blameful on CIMA’s part since he failed to pin the Hall of Famer with the appropriate authority.   Another great example was CIMA hitting the Springboard Shotgun Missile Dropkick and then going immediately for another Air Raid Crash.  Danielson turned it into a crucifix pin, perfectly setting his potential fellow Hall of Famer for elbows to the head, resulting in another fantastic near-fall, both men exhausted after the kick out.  On the other hand, Danielson brilliantly made sure to take CIMA out with a backdrop suplex before going for the Cattle Mutilation again in the final seconds, but it would be futile when he turned CIMA over for a near-fall and the 30-minute time limit expired.   This was a brilliant match, with CIMA intelligently selling his left shoulder after having it targeted with various submissions, including an Omoplata Shoulder Lock.  The standing ovation in this dream match was well-deserved, as this was a splendid piece of business that lived up to huge expectations.  There definitely better be a rematch at some point.   Is this PWG’s greatest match to date?  It is not – it’s the #2, topping Motor City Machine Guns vs. Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs.  A very brief moment when Danielson stood still and glanced backwards before a taking a Lungblower keeps this from equaling, let along topping the gritty unpleasantries and excellent tag psychology of Super Dragon & Davey Richards vs. AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels.  Nonetheless, this is PWG’s MOTY for 2007 up to this point, topping Alex Shelley vs. Rocky Romero; if this gets topped, that’ll be extremely surprising.   Rating: ****1/4   Tag Titles and DDT4 Quarterfinal Match Speed Muscle vs. Chris Bosh & Scott Lost   Quality heel vs. heel match here with Speed Muscle at first rubbing their shit in Arrogance’s faces.  That would be reciprocated later when Arrogance mocked their hulking pose.  Bosh also gave a receipt for Speed Muscle’s dirty tactics when he gave Naruki Doi his JCVD low blow; this was in retaliation to Speed Muscle hitting Lost in the groin earlier but pretending that they had been hit low.   Ultimately, no matter how dirty Arrogance could get, they couldn’t measure up to the more successful Speed Muscle, not even with Jade Chung trying to help out when Doi outsmarted her.  With her and Lost taken out of the equation, that left Bosh alone with the speedster Masato Yoshino, eating his signature moves and then admitting defeat while in the Soi Naciente.  A shame we never got Yoshino vs. Danielson.   Rating: ***3/4   Joey Ryan defeats Ronin to be the first participants in the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles tournament.  Not a blow away first entrant, but already hyping up 3 months in advance?  That’s how to get those shows over as the WrestleMania weekend of PWG.  In the post-match, Scorpio Sky returns for the first time since his defeat to Frankie Kazarian at Based on a True Story, and Ryan says he failed Arrogance and has already been replaced.  Ryan then blames Sky’s departure for him later losing the PWG Title that night to Human Tornado, calling his former stablemate a worthless piece of shit.  Sky gets the final heat.  Way to really make that Loser Leaves Town match mean something 4 months earlier.   Tag Titles and DDT4 Quarterfinal Match PAC & Roderick Strong vs. Super Dragon & Davey Richards   PAC replaces Jack Evans.  Can’t say I’m disappointed that there was no rematch from Hollywood Globetrotters.  In what sounds like pure kayfabe, Excalibur & Disco Machine on commentary claim Evans fled the country after impregnating an American.   This was just as disappointing as Hollywood Globetrotters, but in a different way.  While that particular match is just spotfest nonsense that is erroneously considered as amazing masturbation material by those who should know better, this just fell apart after the 2 big heat segments.  It was surprising for Richards to be the first to have to sell, but not so much once it was PAC’s turn.   Everything looked to be going good until the last several minutes.  There was no mega unpleasant exchange between SD and Strong as would’ve been expected; one knows that those two could’ve gotten UGLY with each other and it would’ve been beautiful.  Instead, it appeared SD suffered an injury, although there’s no report on a quick search of one.  He laid around heavily and only did an occasional spot in the closing minutes.  It’s a good thing PAC & Strong took this victory, as SD & Richards advancing to face Speed Muscle could’ve been a fucking styles clash disaster based on SD’s performance.   Rating: less than ***   PWG Title Match El Generico vs. Kevin Steen   Good close to the show with Steen dominating the match both physically and verbally, coming across as the total star that he’d later come to show on a mainstream level.  With that said, this had no business being the main event of the evening over the CIMA vs. Danielson dream match, and it shows the fear bookers have in ending shows with draws or non-finishes.  This never came close to the drama of that classic, as the Steen vs. Generico saga had yet to reach the legendary status it holds a decade later.   Mechanically, the only complaint in the match was Steen hitting the Turnbuckle Brainbuster for a near-fall.  That move should ONLY be treated as a near-fall in the absolute, most epic match imaginable, something to end a legendary rivalry, culminate a deep-seeded personal grudge, or signal a possible change and changing of the guard in an iconic title reign.  This match had none of those factors going for it, and the pop for Generico kicking out of his own finisher couldn’t match the heat in CIMA vs. Danielson earlier on the card.  At least Generico finished Steen off with the Package Piledriver, that way they didn’t marginalize both of their finishers.   Rating: ***1/2   CIMA vs. Danielson is on the first Sells Out, but the other 3 quality matches are worth seeing.  Strongly recommended for a dream match that may end up being PWG’s MOTY for 2007.   Up next – DDT4 2007 Night 2 Matches will include: Speed Muscle vs. PAC & Roderick Strong El Generico vs. CIMA Joey Ryan vs. Bryan Danielson DDT4 Final

If Heyman doesn't sign with WWF, we're looking at ECW starting its peak legacy sooner I imagine. So many talents available to book in a monopoly. Like the indies got to thrive in the 2000s, think of all the possible talent snubbed by WWF that ECW can use - Foley, Benoit, Austin, Pillman all for much longer to be featured in major storylines. If Tully gets fired, there you go for an established star attraction.

Flair defending the WWF Title in the dream match against Hogan @ WM6? We know how much Toronto loves Hogan so imagine that atmosphere. Warrior vs. Savage underneath in this scenario.

2004 Feud of the Year: John Cena vs. Homicide (ROH)

Rock's heel turn was 15 days after Austin's neck injury. I believe Bret being around keeps a sensible voice in the locker room and that DX don't succeed in sabotaging him, whether it be a burial or too-soon top push.

It'd work in context if the wrestlers treated it as seriously as athletes who get violated in closing minutes do and question the referees. It's referee incompetence to let themselves be indoctrinated by the athletes, rather than the other way around. It takes zero effort for someone to say "pin him, you're the legal one. I'll keep the other illegal guy at bay for ya." I've seen this in 3 straight Briscoes 2007 matches.

I still believe WCW implodes due to its parasites. Meanwhile in WWF, the battle becomes a bit more uphill, but Bret is kept around which pays off with HBK retiring. Bret truly becomes the Sting of WWF, never leaving. With Bret around, Rock's rise probably comes a bit sooner, which I believe puts the company ahead of WCW. HHH obviously still benefits. Taker, Foley, and Owen are still around. I think the biggest change would be Vince turning back to his comfort zone monster heel push. Kane would be busy with Taker and Sid is gone, while Vader is proven and still around. Let's also remember that Waltman soon afterward gets fired by Bischoff, allowing for a loud jumping ship moment that sends a message to WCW's disgruntled locker room.

Ask the Revival, Kobashi, Horsemen, Cornette, Steamboat, etc. if tag legalities matter for coherent psychology.

I'll visit next year depending on the class.

Sacrifice 2007 – May 13, 2007 Live from Orlando, FL Texas Death Match Chris Harris vs. James Storm Disgustingly bloody match that never reached a fever pitch type of pace. With that said, this had its fair share of highlights to make this a good, memorable match. Harris got the early advantage when they brawled outside and then took it to the crowd, with a false finish after a crossbody onto Storm into the audience. Once it got in the ring is when the match became memorable. Both would wear crimson masks, although neither man honestly took the kinds of shots heavy enough to make the gushing faucets on their faces seem realistic, not after the past year in the business that included classics like Cage of Death, John Cena vs. Umaga, and Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer. Storm’s blood would drip on the floor deep in the match, eventually causing his valet Jacqueline to try bailing him out. Gail Kim would arrive to even the odds for Harris. The Eye of the Storm through the table wasn’t enough to keep Harris down, so the finish had to be memorable, which it admittedly was. Both men grabbed beer bottles for their final shots, with Harris beating Storm to the punch for the winning pin fall in a match that nobody in attendance will ever forget. ***1/2 Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles Another good addition to their on-again, off-again rivalry, with about the same length as their Time to Man Up main event. This had about the same pacing behind it, with it being a game of having each other well scouted and using psychology to get ahead. Styles would fake an injury and then deliver an eye poke, so in the end of the match after some quality back-and-forth action, Joe gave him a receipt by feigning a knee injury and finishing off the future Hall of Famer with a Coquina Clutch Suplex. ***1/4

Respect is Earned – May 12, 2007 Taped from New York, NY Respect is Earned (PPV) – Aired July 1, 2007 The broadcast begins with BJ Whitmer in the ring as the Manhattan Center goes crazy, stoked to be a part of history. Whitmer welcomes everyone to ROH and says the wrestling does the talking, then lays down an open challenge. A brief opening package airs before the open challenge is answered. ROH Title Match Takeshi Morishima vs. BJ Whitmer The crowd is completely behind Morishima as he unloads on Whitmer. The challenger gets some offense in, including the exploder suplex for a near-fall, and then even knocking the champ down with a lariat. That’s followed by a frog splash as the crowd now engages in dealing chants. Morishima blocks the wrist-clutch exploder suplex and takes some blows without falling down, then busts out his signature lariat counter. He gets too cocky after a couple more blows, then thinks a lariat is enough. When that proves false, he finally gets it down with the backdrop driver. In the post-match, Nigel McGuinness appears and puts the champion over. He wants the next shot at the ROH Title, any time, any place. Bryan Danielson then arrives and although the crowd reacts awesomely, this feels like the one-at-a-time cliché used on WWE TV every week. In a smart move for new viewers not familiar with the product, Danielson brags about his 15-month ROH Title reign, bragging about taking down McGuinness, Homicide, Lance Storm, and Samoa Joe. Danielson states this is why he deserves to jump ahead of McGuinness while laying his finger on him, so McGuinness warns him to not do it. They have a melee with Morishima attacking McGuinness and helping Danielson out. There are obvious tensions as Danielson grabs the belt and claims it’s his, so Morishima fucks off before Danielson takes a powder to end the segment. The crowd enjoyed the opener but it was the wrong direction to go in for numerous reasons that’ll be detailed in the future on the Rebooking ROH 2007 podcast. For God knows what reason, Brent Albright gets a video package to hype him up for a future PPV appearance. There has been nothing shown from him in the past 6 months to make him worthy of such an investment, and his run on SmackDown the year before was a cup of coffee. Rocky Romero vs. Naomichi Marufuji Romero is caught off-guard early when Marufuji outdoes him with quickness and counter mat wrestling, but then they trade different version of the Abdominal Stretch along with pinning combinations. They reach a stalemate too that earns some applause. The commentary strongly pushes that this company is focused on wrestling and championship matches. Romero gives up on a cross arm breaker he had locked in, instead opting to follow up with various strikes and kicks to Marufuji’s left shoulder before locking it back on. Marufuji counters into near-fall attempts, so Romero mounts the former GHC Heavyweight Champion to give him some face slaps. Marufuji makes a comeback by giving him a springboard shotgun dropkick to drive him off the apron. Marufuji targets Romero’s left knee to marginalize his kicks and ability to lock on the cross arm breaker. This is bringing back memories of Paul London’s strategy against AJ Styles at Night of the Grudges, although this is obviously nowhere near the spectacular work of art as that match. Romero can do nothing to stop Marufuji, not having enough time to regain control after briefly stopping Marufuji with a back elbow. Marufuji relentlessly stays focused on Romero’s left knee, showcasing why he’d been on top of the puroresu world just several months earlier. He takes too long when Irish Whipping Romero, which allows the former Tag Champ to cut him off with a spin kick and tornado DDT counter. Romero then throws out the psychology by using his left leg for offense, but Marufuji blocks a dropkick only to get countered with an Enziguri. Romero is slightly selling his left leg again as he’s back in control. Marufuji cuts off Romero after landing on his feet on a Tiger Suplex attempt, then inspires Chris Jericho’s finisher of the past decade by hitting the Codebreaker. (Will we ever get Jericho vs. Marufuji?) Romero gets the upper hand on a strike exchange, only for Marufuji to cut him off when running the ropes. Romero blocks Marufuji on the top rope and locks on the ross arm breaker for some quality drama and the crowd’s happy the ropes were reached. Romero kicks with his right leg, showing good psychology, and then hits a surprise high kick with his left leg to bring them both down. That’s actually good psychology as it sells how much energy Romero is mustering to use his damaged leg. There’s also not enough power in that limb to keep Marufuji down, making him prone to the more successful star’s arsenal, including a Coast-to-Coast Dropkick. The Shiranui is blocked with Romero turning into it into a successful Tiger Suplex and then mistakenly using his left leg for offense. Since it doesn’t have enough power, Marufuji easily blocks it to deliver a roundhouse kick and Shiranui, bringing this undercard gem to its conclusion and receiving a standing ovation. This was an excellent match with Romero actually doing a stellar job in selling his left leg and Marufuji selling its lack of firepower, and would’ve been better served kicking off the show over the glorified squash and sports-entertainment “set up tonight’s main event” post-match. Rating: **** With Tank Toland by his side, Larry Sweeney brags about his managerial process in a fantastic promo. Sweet ‘N Sour, Inc. has signed another free agent, that being Sara Del Rey. That’s a wet fart to follow up Chris Hero, as the women’s division has been borderline horrendous throughout most of its existence. Toland then shows off the obese Bobby Dempsey and that he’ll mold the ROH Wrestling Academy graduate into an “all-nature superior athlete,” having him do squats. Toland then gets sexist towards Del Rey, who lays down a squatting challenge to him personally. This is definitely entertaining as Dempsey collapses and Toland berates him, and a nice change of pace to the match that just happened. The camera cuts to ringside as Morishima and Danielson are double-teaming McGuinness, who gets saved by KENTA to the crowd’s delight. KENTA and McGuinness get the upper hand to set up tonight’s obvious dream partner tag team main event. Tag Titles Match Briscoe Bros. vs. Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli For whatever reason the challengers don’t get an entrance. Castagnoli has absolutely dreadful gear on that rivals Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 2002. This match was earned by him defeating Jay at This Means War II and hand-picking Sydal, who had defeated Castagnoli to win the Tag Titles at Dethroned, as his partner tonight. The first several minutes were competitive, only slightly blemished by Castagnoli and Jay almost fucking up a La Magistral cradle, but they quickly fixed it. Eventually the Briscoes would cut the ring in half on Sydal, taking turns on him and displaying an intelligent strategy. His performance was just as impressive as at Anarchy in the UK, but the hot tag was not just existent here, but tremendously timed after he tossed an overzealous Mark to the outside and then countered Jay’s Yakuza kick by using the momentum to seat and then delivering an ear clap head-scissors. Castagnoli was a tremendous house of fire for about a minute before getting cut off by Jay and then eating some offense from Mark. With him down and Sydal getting overzealous himself, it became divide and conquer for the champs, giving both challengers a Beal. But the challengers were resilient, taking advantage of opportunities for various counters and sustain control. This allowed Sydal & Castagnoli to cut the ring in half on Jay, who thought that aggression could provide him more than just hope spots. Despite Mark’s efforts, the challengers kept control over Jay, including Castagnoli busting out the giant swing for a near-fall, sparking ROH chants from the audience. It would take a double superplex attempt for Jay to make a comeback, including a Buff Blockbuster before the hot tag to Mark, who equaled Castagnoli with his house of fire effort. The Briscoes would monkey flip Castagnoli to the outside with Jay hitting a follow-up Somersault Plancha. This match is just off the charts at this point. Mark blocked some corner offense, including having the ear clap head-scissors scouted. I didn’t like Sydal having his head ducked for a sunset flip, but the action was quick enough to breeze past such a blemish. Mark hit some more offense including a Buckle Bomb and Exploder Suplex, then the champions took Sydal down with a side slam and guillotine leg drop combination for another quality near-fall. Castagnoli managed to bail Sydal out to get tagged in. He busted out an amazing top rope head-scissors and Bicycle kick of his own, softening up Mark to eat Sydal’s acrobatic offense. But Mark wouldn’t be victimized for long, quickly cutting off Castagnoli to tag Jay. The spectacular action would peak again with Castagnoli hitting a springboard twisting uppercut and then Sydal falling off Castagnoli’s shoulders to deliver knee strikes to the champions on the outside. Mark had two tremendous near-fall break-ups, first after a Ricola Bomb, the second after a gorgeous Shooting Star Press from Sydal. Jay would Sydal a Military Press Death Valley Deiver for yet another tremendous near-fall while Mark gave a Plancha to Castagnoli on the outside. Then the match’s top highlight came into play when Sydal countered Jay’s Butterfly Piledriver with a Frankensteiner, only for second later to eat a Springboard Doomsday Device for the finish. The Manhattan Center gives all four competitors a well-deserved standing ovation for providing the match of the night, then the broadcast turns to Dave Prazak & Lenny Leonard in a production moment paying homage to the original ECW. As they put the company over and the crowd breaks out in ROH chants, Kevin Steen & El Generico interrupt. Steen wonders when they’ll get their Tag Titles match that they earned at Fighting Spirit. A pull-apart brawl then starts in the ring between the Briscoes and Steen & Generico, a fucking fantastic one at that. Generico doesn’t come across as much of a babyface by attacking the champions with Steen after such a hard-fought title defense, but the crowd is just marking out and wants to see chaos. Steen & Generico beat up some students, then continue the brawl with the champions on the outside when Generico dives at them with a Plancha off the top rope. It spills to backstage, ending with Steen taking Mark out with a chair shot and then mocking his recent head trauma. A tremendous match, a tremendous post-match, the Tag Titles seeming important throughout this entire segment. Zero complaints here especially with zero violations of tag legality adherence. Rating: ****1/4 Delirious vs. Roderick Strong A good match but seeing Delirious in a serious business storyline is tiring, even with the audience reacting well to this. With Colt Cabana gone and Human Tornado apparently not being brought in, where’s the comedy performer to bring variety to the card? As malicious as Strong was in this match, he simply could not be as compelling playing a cocky heel against Delirious as Bryan Danielson was just 364 days earlier. This lacked the bipartisan ROH and CZW audience that brought such prickly magic out of Danielson at Ring of Homicide, as the mocking “Roderick” chants just couldn’t be anywhere near on par. It appeared Delirious would pull off the upset after about 15 minutes, but he fell into a Half Nelson Backbreaker, leaving him prone to a Yakuza kick and Tiger Driver. In the post-match, the No Remorse Corps set up a barricade platform, allowing Strong to inflict more damage with another Tiger Driver to Delirious on it. Erick Stevens took out Davey Richards & Rocky Romero before taking Strong out with a pop-up power slam. The crowd doesn’t seem to care much about Stevens. Rating: ***1/2 In easily the worst segment on the entire PPV, Adam Pearce cuts a promo somewhere in the Manhattan Center. This is fucking boring bullshit as he monotonously rambles about BJ Whitmer’s recent run of bad luck, citing the CZW and Jimmy Jacobs feuds. Whitmer’s spirit is crushed after losing the Jacobs feud and now on the wrong end of the first match in ROH’s PPV history. Pearce then consoles Whitmer. Who was expected to actually care about these two anymore? There was nothing left for Whitmer after Supercard of Honor II, and there was nothing left for Pearce after Good Times, Great Memories. This has serious potential to be the worst angle of the year, and very ill-timed to boot for the PPV era. Takeshi Morishima & Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA & Nigel McGuinness Quality main event with every matchup delivering, the best one being Danielson vs. KENTA. There was a definite blemish when Danielson and McGuinness had a strike exchange and KENTA just mysteriously feel down. Somebody botched something there, but the outstanding finishing stretch would bail them out to make this a great match to close out the PPV broadcast. This was nowhere near the Unforgettable main event pitting a heavy and a junior against a heavy and junior, and for large reason because Morishima and McGuinness didn’t have the over-the-top dynamic as Samoa Joe and Kenta Kobashi. However, the match really kicked up when those two went at it on the outside and McGuinness took an unnecessary dive into the crowd, fucking up his left elbow. That allowed the ROH Champions Club to double-team KENTA. After McGuinness desperately got his left elbow taped, he came in to have a battle with Morishima. The ROH Champion once again got cocky and took a rebound lariat, perhaps assuming that the left arm used by McGuinness would be too damaged to hurt him. Morishima was incorrect. With those two down from that rebound lariat, Danielson and KENTA had a sensational closing stretch. From KENTA countering the Crossface Chickenwing with the finishes from Bret Hart’s matches at WrestleMania VIII and Survivor Series 1996 for a near-fall, to Morishima bailing out Danielson after a Go to Sleep, this was just awesome stuff. The best part was KENTA absorbing the elbows to the head and lifting Danielson to eat another Go to Sleep, but the Hall of Famer had it scouted this time. In a repeat of what happened at Glory By Honor V Night 2, KENTA finally had no choice but to tap out to the Cattle Mutilation as Morishima attacked the left arm of McGuinness to prevent any submission break. In the post-match, Danielson puts the ROH Title on his shoulder, so Morishima gives him the backdrop driver for being so arrogant. In contrast, McGuinness hands the belt to Morishima and respectfully says he’s coming for it, only to also be attacked and the champion left as the only one standing in the ring as the PPV broadcast concluded. Rating: **** BONUS MATCH Davey Richards vs. Erick Stevens Fucking hard-hitting match here that belonged on the PPV. Richards tried getting the early advantage by declining the Code of Honor and just striking Stevens, only to get mauled for the first couple minutes, including on the outside. Stevens showed his lack of experience on this stage though, taking a moment to bask in his glory and allowing Richards to cut him off, complete with Richards Yakuza kicking him off the apron towards the nearby barricade. They had a botch that actually ended tremendously when Stevens bounced back in the ring instead of being suplexed outside, taking a bump on the canvas. Richards fucked up by going for it again, so Stevens just reversed it before they’d have a strike exchange. Stevens would win it with a Release German Suplex counter, followed up by a Choo Choo corner splash and TKO. Even with Richards getting some offense in, it was short-lived thanks to a lariat and Pumphandle Powerbomb near-fall from Stevens. What really allowed Richards to withstand the bigger Stevens was blocking a suplex attempt and then hitting a springboard missile dropkick from behind. He killed a hope spot by Stevens with backdrop suplexes and applying the Kimura Lock on the Resilience member’s left arm. That’s intelligent to take away the power asrenal of Stevens, continuing to focus on that joint. This paid off when Richards hit a tornado DDT and put the Kimura Lock on again, forcing Stevens to tap out clean in the middle of the ring. This is the result of Richards having much more substantial matches on his resume against the likes of KENTA and Low Ki. Good effort by Stevens though and his workrate is up to snuff, now he’s just need to put some real stank on it to be the next Roderick Strong that booker Gabe Sapolsky so obviously belongs he can be. Rating: ***1/2 Exclusively on Homicide: The Notorious 187 Homicide’s Farewell Speech Why this wasn’t included on the original DVD release in 2007 is a mystery. What’s a shame is that because this footage took so long to be released, Homicide’s entrance to the ring is excluded, robbing the home viewing audience of seeing his hometown pop to the tune of Beanie Sigel’s “The Truth.” This was a classy speech with Homicide doing his best to disarm the irrational resentment from the ROHbots towards TNA. Why exactly should TNA have been blamed at all for pulling its talent. Besides that, Sapolsky was running on empty for Homicide’s creative direction. Homicide puts him over as “the next Bill Watts” and vows this company will be #1 in the future. A decade later that still isn’t even close to being true in ANY category in terms of metrics, footprint, and aesthetics, but nobody had any idea that for that last category, the company had already peaked. He also puts over fellow TNA-contracted colleagues Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and Austin Aries, who’s unable to appear and bid farewell. He’s thankful for 5 years in ROH and all the support he received, then has a final embrace with Julius Smokes. Like Allison Danger 2 weeks earlier, this should’ve been the swan song for Smokes. So why wasn’t Aries on this event at all? Let’s take a look back. From his Wikipedia page: F4W Newsletter #620 – May 14, 2007 Obviously, neither were gone from ROH forever, but it’s a story to be chronicled throughout this journey. While there were alternate matches and directions to have taken with this PPV (and that will be detailed in a future podcast,) one cannot argue that what was delivered is a strongly recommended event. Three excellent matches plus a couple more good ones and a hot angle make this an easy recommendation along with its historical significance. Homicide’s farewell speech released exclusively on his compilation is a requirement as well for both his fans and those who lived through the fantastic first run he had in the company. While everything NRC-related feels like a creative anchor, and Claudio Castagnoli lacks the pizazz as a singles babyface that he had alongside Chris Hero, this PPV provided 2 directions to look forward to: the Briscoes against Steen & Generico and Morishima’s inevitable ROH Title clashes against Danielson and Morishima. Up next – A Fight at the Roxbury Matches will include: Jimmy Rave vs. Bryan Danielson Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen Chris Hero vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli El Generico vs. Matt Sydal No Remorse Corps vs. Matt Cross, Delirious, & Erick Stevens Takeshi Morishima vs. Jay Briscoe

Reborn Again – May 11, 2017 Taped from Hartford, CT ROH Video Wire – May 5, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NIu5rpP8jo Important news/footage in the above video: Larry Sweeney gets marquee attraction treatment for ROH’s imminent rise to PPV, and Bryan Danielson gets a nicely done return package as well. As a result of ROH’s move to PPV and now signing numerous talents under contract, Good Times, Great Memories wasn’t just the swan songs for Shingo, Colt Cabana, Allison Danger, and Christopher Daniels, but also TNA’s Homicide and Austin Aries. Shane Hagadorn & Adam Pearce make a mockery of Danielson’s return, so he arrives and beats the fuck of them in consecutive singles matches. The first evidence that Pearce should’ve been gone as well. The No Remorse Corps attempt to recruit Danielson, which if the company had been loaded with hot top babyfaces, maybe wouldn’t have been the worst idea in hindsight (Danielson could eventually usurp Roderick Strong as the NRC leader, which would be karma for the events involving Aries and Strong both at Final Battle 2004 and Fifth Year Festival: NYC.) He of course declines and then gets backed up by the diet version of Jack Evans & Roderick Strong known as Matt Cross & Erick Stevens. No Remorse Corps vs. Matt Cross, Erick Stevens, & Bryan Danielson Quality trios match with NRC cutting the ring in half on Cross. While his spots were spectacular, he proved himself the Diet Jack Evans while selling, for he could not use the cream-of-the-crop body language and facial expressions to generate sympathy. Meanwhile when Stevens got play a bit of the Roman Reigns role, he also proved himself the Diet Roderick Strong, because his spectacular power of moves as a house of fire lacked the explosive malice. There was very little action from Danielson in this one, and those in Hartford had to be disappointed after he just had consecutive meaningless singles matches that combined for just over 5 minutes. Perhaps the company was just being cautious returning from such a major injury, as obviously the next day at the Manhattan Center was the higher priority. The NRC were the real stars in this, not surprisingly getting the victory. While watching them display quality chemistry was enjoyable, they felt like a template to be improved upon years later when WWE debuted the Shield. As mentioned numerous times, Davey Richards just felt unnatural being a chatty shit-talker unlike Seth Rollins years later. If anything, Rocky Romero was already available to fill that position for the NRC. Rating: ***1/2 Matt Sydal vs. Naomichi Marufuji The expected good match between two quality workers. Marufuji proved to be superior with his experience in major matches as well as being a former GHC Heavyweight Champion. His submission work was more extensive, he was better at capitalizing in brief moments to do so for comebacks and cut offs, and most importantly he avoided the Here It Is Driver. Sydal’s failure to act quickly cost him in the end. After shrugging off a Shiranui, he went for a Moonsault Hamstring Takedown, but his second of hesitation was all Marufuji needed to be successful on another Shiranui attempt. Someone should book this rematch sooner rather than later, and this belongs on a compilation, but ROH continues to pussy-foot around with releasing one about either’s body of work. Rating: ***1/2 KENTA vs. Delirious Mechanically fine but a total waste of a KENTA appearance and his performance felt very phoned in. This never reached a fever pitch and why Hartford gave them a standing ovation afterward is a mystery. None of the near-falls were ever taken seriously. Delirious should’ve been way down at the bottom of future KENTA opponents, with no consideration whatsoever until much more fitting workers available on this card such as Jimmy Rave, Kevin Steen, El Generico, and Claudio Castagnoli faced the ROH 2006 juggernaut first. KENTA vs. Steen sounds like the perfect match actually for KENTA to kick the shit out of the arrogant breakout. Instead we got 20 minutes of nothing special, comparable to Aries vs. Richards the year before also in Connecticut. Rating: less than *** Tag Titles Match Briscoe Bros. vs. Takeshi Morishima & BJ Whitmer Morishima was to team with Nigel McGuinness, who had earned this along with Cabana by defeating the Briscoes at Fifth Year Festival: NYC. McGuinness is suffering from an injury so he’s being preserved for the next night. Whitmer is a terrible replacement for star power. Another quality match on the card, making for a solid trio of matches that couldn’t come close to overcoming such a filler B-show. Whitmer chose to be default heel along with Morishima, even making wisecracks to shit-talking fans. This match wasn’t much to write about – all of it mechanically good, decent pacing, Morishima protected by not taking the pin, and tag legality adherence from start to finish. Worth seeing but not a must. Rating: ***1/2 The lack of detail given into the matches reviewed on this show reflect the effort put into this card. No matter how historic the next night was, there was no excuse for repeating many of the same mistakes from International Challenge. Like that show, this was in Hartford on the eve of a far more historic event at the Manhattan Center. This also featured two quality puro imports. This had some new blood brought in too. But this had the advantage of Danielson’s first match since Final Battle 2006, and instead of it being treated as a historic moment to truly convey the Reborn Again name, it was executed with as much meticulousness as his return from injury on WWE TV in January 2015. That the only match reviewed on here available on a compilation is a phoned-in effort from KENTA is insulting. This show will get a mild recommendation for delivering 3 ***1/2 matches, but they should’ve all been on compilations by now so customers don’t have to bother spending money on this show, or even the fossil fuels involved in having it delivered to their physical mailboxes. Moving on, it’s time to make history. There will be a different format in reviewing PPV events. Considering that PPVs were a major portion in analyzing ROH’s booking, the entire PPV portions will be reviewed. Anything else beyond that will just be the quality stuff. A decade ago, Respect is Earned was the precursor to the PWG staple that has become Mystery Vortex. All that was known at the time was the talent list; everything beyond that would be found out when the event took place. So that’s how this will be too. Up next – Respect is Earned Matches will include: The entire PPV portion All of the reported good shit taped for DVD, including a farewell bid

Good Times, Great Memories – April 28, 2007 Taped from Chicago, IL The DVD begins with Becky Bayless showing the crowd lined up for Colt Cabana’s farewell. Jimmy Jacobs speaks for several minutes about the past 4 weeks of his life. The cage match against BJ Whitmer has changed him forever, causing a partial tooth loss and requiring major knee surgery, and he shows the physical price. But Lacey also offered one night of sex for him winning the big one, which he rejected. Unlike the rest of the locker room, he’s put in all the time, blood, sweat, and tears because he loves her, not just lust. He senses love will come soon for the two of them. Very good promo to get over how frustrated he is that others don’t understand his goals. Mike Quackenbush vs. Jigsaw vs. Delirious vs. Hallowicked vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Gran Akuma Not on par with Primeau’s six-way a couple months earlier in Dayton, but others will get more out of this. Once again, while the action was all pleasing to the eyes and largely smooth, it had the flaws of the established tag legalities being completely thrown out the window, as well as coming nowhere near as smooth as what Blood Generation and Do Fixer did in this building 13 months earlier. The Chikara talents got “Please come back!” chants which are understandable, but in hindsight, this match shouldn’t have happened. To make this THE sexiest card of 2007, throw out the lone squash match later on the card involving Tank Toland so that Primeau vs. Akuma can fill that role. This opening match would then be a guaranteed ***+ as Incoherence battles Jigsaw & Quackenbush. Although this doesn’t crack ***, it’s recommended for getting over the Chikara talents and having enough highlights that are worth seeing, including Delirious adding his child-like marking out for the uber-serious Quackenbush, and Akuma helping Quackenbush deliver a Doomsday Suicide Dive, which I don’t recall seeing at all in ROH up to this point. Rating: less than *** Good Times, Great Memories: Night of the Butcher Just Cabana annoying CM Punk in the car on the night of their double debut match on a cold, snowy night in Philly, causing his friend to walk instead of carpooling. Erick Stevens vs. Christopher Daniels Good match here that went to an unestablished 15-minute time limit. Before that, Daniels played the ring general by targeting the midsection of the younger Stevens thanks to suplexing him into a seated chair. Stevens wasn’t very compelling while selling for Daniels, not to the level of the comparable Roman Reigns, and certainly not to the level of all-timers in that regard such as Jeff Hardy and Bryan Danielson. But his comebacks were great thanks to his power moves, and perhaps it’ll turn out as the year continues that he should have just been heavy hitter like Shingo and Michael Elgin. Daniels was tremendous as the prick, including spitting on the rules by stepping on the midsection of Stevens and using one hand a time on the top rope for leverage, forcing the 5-count to restart. His strategy ultimately paid off when Stevens couldn’t break the leverage Daniels had in blocking the Doctor Bomb, causing the time limit to expire. That the 15 minutes weren’t established prior to the opening bell is the biggest flaw. The takeaway is in the post-match as Stevens wants 5 more minutes, but Daniels plays the veteran card because he has something to get off his chest. Stevens respects his request to leave while Allison Danger is baffled by what Daniels is doing. Daniels says he should’ve never returned, because he bent over backwards to do so and is now unappreciated. He feels taken for granted by the company and the fans, now seen as irrelevant. He cites that instead of even getting recent opportunities to earn ROH Title shots, he’s placed in filler matches to tread water. He’s also pissed that he and Matt Sydal weren’t taken seriously as Tag Champs, knowing the fans wanted that reign to end so quickly. Daniels wonders if his TNA status caused him to fall off in the fans of ROHbots. He says he still busted his ass all the time in ROH despite that; only the fans believe there’s a rivalry between the two companies, not the office or the wrestlers. He says he’s never been restricted and feels penalized for leaving 3 years ago; in hindsight, he’d do it all over again saying it was the correct decision. He pulls the bank statement card to make his case, citing a six-figure salary and millions of weekly viewers in TNA. He says chants like “This is awesome!” don’t do shit to feed his family, nor does rating matches. This is just a fantastic “you’re not in the business” promo. He refuses to fully commit and not be used up in ROH like Samoa Joe, saying TNA pulled him away to protect him. Daniels feels the fans are too demanding and just move on to the next toy, also citing CM Punk and that they’ll also forget Colt Cabana. Daniels says he’s fucking off and will no longer be bled dry by the ROHbots. His farewell tour starts right now and ends once he reaches the curtain, stating this is final ROH match. He even shoves down and berates Danger. That’s finally enough for the fans to stop appreciating this great promo and give him some actual heel heat as he rants while leaving. FUCKING FANTASTIC PROMO that got chicken salad out of the chickenshit booking Daniels had gotten over the past 6 months, complete with twisting things to ensure he was ranting. Obviously, he had put in some phoned-in efforts since his 2005 return, including matches against Christian, Matt Hardy, and Samoa Joe, and his tandem with Sydal should’ve never resulted in a title reign. Without mentioning his name, this angle actually put booker Gabe Sapolsky on blast for how he had so badly misused Daniels for months, and was a perfect swan song for the Fallen Angel. Why in the fucking fuck is this match and promo not on a Daniels compilation yet? Rating: ***1/4 Good Times, Great Memories: Reborn Stage 2 Cabana interrupts Punk’s self-importance promo to celebrate them winning the Tag Titles. Brent Albright vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Homicide vs. BJ Whitmer Like the six-way opener, tag legalities were forgotten but without any of that match’s spectacular charm. This was just four guys in creative limbo thrown together to do a match of no consequence, a poetic placement on the card to immediately follow Daniels ranting. Whitmer took a bump on the top of his head from Albright on a half-nelson suplex for the finish. Yeah, nobody cared and this should’ve been Homicide wrapping up loose ends against Rocky Romero instead. Rating: less than *** Good Times, Great Memories: Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 1 Colt Cabana shrugs off Austin Aries in their cage match for the ROH Title, then hits a springboard moonsault from the top rope. The Briscoes say it’s time to man up tonight in their dream match for the Tag Titles against the Motor City Machine Guns. It truly is a dream match considering their ties to NOAH and Zero-One. Austin Aries vs. Rocky Romero Good match with Romero controlling most of it to get him over in defeat. For once he had a sound strategy, targeting the left arm and shoulder of the Southpaw Aries. This would pay off near the end when Aries was on the top rope but Romero jumped up to yank him down a cross arm breaker attempt. The submission couldn’t be kept on but Romero’s intended rise was on display. For all of Romero’s great strikes and submission work, he had no answer when a roll-up pin left him prone to a kick to the head, followed by a brainbuster and 450 splash. But this was his best effort without the Tiger Mask persona against an established top guy in the company. In the post-match, Roderick Strong attacks Aries only to be chased away by a chair-sporting Delirious. Rating: ***1/2 Good Times, Great Memories: Night of the Grudges II Shown is the beginning of the feud-ending “Soccer Riot Match” between Cabana and Nigel McGuinness. ROH Title – Dream Match Takeshi Morishima vs. Shingo Shingo dominates early, using his power and explosion to take Morishima off his game. Unlike Aries the night before, Shingo wasn’t looking to be a house of fire out of necessity; he just used natural abilities to get the upper hand at first. Morishima would eventually use his superior size though, including Ole Ole style hip attacks on the outside. This was really a story of Shingo not succumbing to the size difference. On numerous occasions he found fighting spirit to keep coming back and looking for power-based hope spots, including a successful superplex that had the Frontier Fieldhouse rocking deep into the match. They teased the Last Falconry and then delivered it later, paying that off with an excellent near-fall as well. The huge mistake Shingo made was thinking he had enough strength to let Morishima be upright to take more strikes, failing to realize that it was an opportunity for the champion to hit his surprise lariat. While a sound, confident strategy, Shingo should’ve first attacked Morishima’s legs to take away the monster’s base, then go for the various strikes to knock the champion down. Shingo’s attempt at the backdrop driver was also just a standard backdrop suplex too due to the size difference. That was another sign that Morishima was the superior combatant. The final mistake was Shingo going for a powerbomb, only to get flipped over and sat on. Once he got back up, he didn’t have enough to escape a lariat; his kick out spent his last energy, leaving him prey to the backdrop driver. They got a standing ovation as they also engage in respect, and the champion leaves first to allow Shingo to have an adequate curtain call with the fans. This was a terrific once-in-a-lifetime match that considering its political implications, elevated the ROH Title, and served as a splendid finale to Shingo’s excursion. Damn a rematch would’ve been awesome. Rating: **** Good Times, Great Memories: Dragon Gate Invasion Shown is Cabana getting Gibson’s trademark guillotine choke locked on in their ROH Title match, as well as some action that spilled outside the ring. This is nowhere near a highlight for either man in ROH, as it was mis-booked as serious business instead of Gibson going back to his Jamie Noble roots to make it more of a comedy match. At intermission, the Motor City Machine Guns say they’ve been looking forward to tonight’s dream match against the Briscoes tonight for quite some time. They cite this as a North vs. South match, and Alex Shelley threatens the champions that they’ll be sent to the hospital. The Tank Toland segment is fucking horrendous. While this served its purpose in kicking off the Bobby Dempsey saga, this didn’t belong on such a historic show. This belonged on the next event, a totally obvious B-show in Hartford. This segment along with the multiple-man singles matches keep this show a far distance from challenging Better Than Our Best and Glory By Honor V Night 2 when ranking the greatest events in ROH history. Good Times, Great Memories: Fourth Anniversary Show Shown is Colt Cabana refusing to forfeit his I Quit match against Homicide. Jack Evans vs. Roderick Strong Nowhere close to the Detroit match a month earlier, but still quite good. Evans had great comeback transitions including a springboard moonsault back elbow, but the story was that he’d take too much punishment to sustain control. Just being rag-dolled around by Strong and taking so much to the back couldn’t allow him to exploit his superior acrobatics. Just as a fuck you when Evans clearly had nothing left as he reached the ropes to break up a Boston Crab, Romero kicked him in the head. Strong then picked the bones and hit a Splash Mountain Ace Crusher, then the No Remorse Corps attacked Evans with a chair. Once again Delirious chased them away, and his involvement is wearing thin. Although he was tremendous in his series against Danielson, Delirious isn’t a top guy and should be treated as Cabana’s comedy replacement, not trying to also replace Cabana’s occasional serious business against Homicide. Rating: ***1/2 Good Times, Great Memories: Gut Check An excerpt from the sensational closing stretch of Danielson vs. Cabana airs. Tag Titles – Dream Match Briscoe Bros. vs. Motor City Machine Guns Note: the above video has none of the traditional but effective post-match. Before the match starts, Chris Sabin mocks Mark’s recent injury, so the two of them begin the match. One of the major takeaways from this match is that teaming with Alex Shelley brought swagger to Sabin that had taken several years. Sabin truly felt like a legitimate star in this match, at a level he could never reach on his own, and moving on with the same kind of confidence sometimes as the man that had inspired Shelley, that being Chris Jericho. While this was far from a traditional type of tag team match seen during the heyday of Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat, this belongs in that conversation. Perhaps an MCMG staple considering prior work in PWG, tag legalities were never an issue, which was refreshing. This truly felt like a major league match from every angle, belonging in WWE or NOAH a decade ago as a result of the work, storytelling, timing, and tag legality adherence. In a surprise, the totally babyface Briscoes would be the first to gain a lengthy advantage, cutting the ring in half on the cocky Shelley. Despite the roles not being typical, this was totally engaging, even though Shelley was far from sympathetic like Ricky Morton was in popularizing the FIP role in a tag match. Perhaps this was engaging not just because Shelley is capable of selling at length even though he’s more natural as a cutthroat douche-bag heel, but it was a bit of karma for most of the time Shelley had spent in ROH from 2004 to 2006. Shelley wasn’t sympathetic at all in this match, in fact tricking Jay by playing the faux mercy card like Ric Flair before spitting water in his face. MCMG were also terrific in consoling each other, adding to their default heel roles for the match. This is probably why when Sabin got tagged in, it wasn’t treated as a hot tag but he was definitely on point with his offense on Mark. This would lead to MCMG cutting the ring in half on Mark, which was also a splendidly effective segment, complete with Shelley blowing his snot on the younger Briscoe. Shelley mixed in a Jericho homage with a Quebrada and “King of the World” pose before tagging in Sabin. Their crisp double-team offense was so smooth and capped off with the two marking out over their work, coming across as total stars. Why exactly were they paying dues still on the underground instead of killing it against the Hardy Boys and Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin a decade ago? Mark’s hot tag to Jay didn’t get a memorable reaction but that was fine since MCMG didn’t work their control segments quite like the Revival. Instead at this point, the rest of the match was amazing stretch of action. Shelley prevented the Briscoes from playing the numbers advantage on Sabin, yanking Jay out. Instead MCMG would have the advantage on Mark, taking turns on him as he was in the Tree of Woe, then tossing Jay out to deliver stereo suicide dives on the champions. MCMG’s advantage on Jay was short-lived thanks to Mark, who failed to break a Texas Clover Leaf with karate chops, instead being placed in the Border City Stretch, but then breaking it and saving his brother. Shelley would be taken out, allowing the Briscoes to take advantage on Sabin but he still broke up a near-fall attempt. He then saved Sabin again, this time with fingers to Jay’s eyes, just pissing off the older Briscoe. With Shelley taken out again, that made Sabin prone to more Briscoes double-teaming. Sabin would make a comeback by evading a spear from Jay, taking him down with a Tornado DDT and kicking Mark while in the air. That allowed a hot tag to Shelley, who almost saw his momentum backfire when Jay reversed his crossbody. This only fueled Shelley to be a house of fire on the champions, but would then get crotched on the top rope. Whatever Jay had in mind to take advantage was for naught, as Shelley gave him a Super Manhattan Drop. Shelley then had Sabin jump off him to dropkick Mark off the apron, only further making a program against the Hardyz at the time all the more appetizing. MCMG once again brought their crisp double-teaming back into the match on Jay. Their chemistry was truly state-of-the-art here, completely polished above every tag team in the business a decade ago. Jay would finally get a hot tag after avoiding corner moves and ramming Sabin’s head into Shelley’s crotch via a drop toe hold. Mark was an awesome hour of fire himself, but Shelley still had plenty of gas left in the tank to tag in Sabin, who immediately ate an Overhead Uranage Suplex. With Shelley knocked off the apron by Jay, the champs double-teamed sabin for another terrific near-fall after an assisted neckbreaker. Shelley delayed Mark on a Springboard Doomsday Device attempt, allowing Sabin to clothesline Mark in midair, then giving Jay a Reverse Hurricanrana. Mark continued taking punishment, including an assisted Standing Shiranui for an awesome near-fall. Sabin assisted Shelley with a top rope splash but Jay made the save. Chicago then erupted and with good reason because this is fucking fantastic shit. Mark blocked Shelley’s Air Raid Crash attempt and the Briscoes took turns with dives to the outside on the challengers to another brief round of applause. “This is awesome!” breaks out for obvious reasons as Shelley blocks Jay’s double underhook piledriver, not once, but twice (the second time with a back heel to Jay’s face); likewise Jay blocked a superkick and delivered a Military Press Death Valley Driver, which was then followed up by Mark with an outstanding timed Shooting Star Press. That’s masterfully broken up by Sabin and Chicago is on its feet as ROH chants break out. The action continues between Jay and Sabin, hot and heavy as has been the trend in this match. Jay gets taken out so Sabin looks to go for a moonsault on Mark, but that proves near-fatal. Mark goes for a Super Cutthroat Driver, only for Shelley to strike him from behind, forcing the younger Briscoe to eat a Doomsday Missile Dropkick, superkick, and Air Raid Crash for a fucking phenomenal Holy-fucking-shit-why-didn’t-I-fly-to-Chicago-to-experience-this? near-fall. Shelley cannot believe that was a near-fall, but wastes very little, instead hitting the Shell Shocked (Sister Abigail) on Mark, but Jay comes to the rescue just in time. Sabin yanks Jay out as Shelley goes for a Shiranui on Mark, but he gets driven into the turnbuckle, and a cutthroat driver is yet another excellent near-fall. Shelley showed tremendous grit here, having to kick out as Jay kept Sabin from the save. As the crowd continued erupting, Jay took Sabin out with an Irish Whip to a barricade, allowing the champions to retain when Shelley ate a simultaneous combination of guillotine leg drop and Cutthroat Driver. Holy shit this was exhausting for all the right reasons. All four men obviously get a post-match standing ovation, and why not? This is in the conversation for the absolutely greatest match in Frontier Fieldhouse history, right up there with Joe vs. Punk II, Danielson vs. Strong II, and Do Fixer vs. Blood Generation. The respect has been earned, with the fallen challengers taking a moment in front of the crowd as there are “Please come back!” chants. Damn right we need more of this, Chicago. The MCMG shake hands and then grab the belts away, opting to snap them on the champions for such a well-deserved victory, then all four pose together, knowing they put on a masterpiece for the ages. There is no debate: with this match having no flaws, building to its finishing stretch, top-notch tag legality adherence, engaging control segments, and tremendous character work as well, move over Low Ki & Samoa Joe vs. Homicide & Kenta Kobashi; this is the greatest tag match in ROH history. That the greatest tag match in ROH history wasn’t just a special attraction, but for the Tag Titles, only further enhanced the prestige of the championship. The MCMG gave absolutely everything to win the big one and earn full-time returns, and Shelley had to be extra motivated considering how much tenure he had in the past without ever winning gold. There have been quality tag matches aplenty in ROH up to this point. As mentioned, there was the previous greatest tag match in ROH’s history, that being the main event of Unforgettable. There was the third chapter in the Briscoes against Aries & Strong when the company makes its UK debut at Unified. There was the company’s Beantown return when Aries & Strong collided against KENTA & Davey Richards in a match belonging on a much grander NOAH stage. To say that this chef d’ouevre belonged on a major league stage is an understatement. Fuck that. This match should’ve taken place 4 weeks earlier in front of what would’ve been an incredibly partisan crowd in favor of MCMG. This belonged in front of approximately 80,000 spectators inside Detroit’s Ford Field at WrestleMania 23. That is the biggest compliment given to any ROH match up to this point. Think of all the works of art that covers. Perhaps since then this match has been topped as the greatest tag team contest in ROH history. It certainly wasn’t anything the Wolves would do, for even their best match had obvious flaws. It wasn’t the dream match that would come later for MCMG, for that would have a shitty finish. Maybe it was the Manhattan Center contest for these same titles when ROH got brought back into the inter-promotional game in May 2014. However, although yours truly has yet to see that match, it’s difficult to imagine it as surpassing the first-ever meeting between the Briscoes and Motor City Machine Guns, for while it has been universally praised as a terrific match, it has not been so in terms of an all-time classic that deserved consideration for the Wrestler Observer Match of the Year. This definitely deserved that. Is this ROH’s match of the year over Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer, the greatest cage match in ROH history? To say with confidence would be a lie, but leaning towards yes. We shall see if this is topped by anything else, including what ending up winning the Wrestling Observer Match of the Year. Rating: ***** Good Times, Great Memories: Fifth Year Festival: Chicago Cabana is shown winning the feud over Jacobs, getting the last laugh over his former tag partner as well as the sociopathic Lacey. Strong & Romero brag about what they did to Evans, with the former warning Delirious to stop fucking with him. Strong isn’t alone in wanting Delirious to stop feuding with him. Colt Cabana’s Independent Farewell Adam Pearce vs. Colt Cabana Cabana gets a ridiculous amount of streamers, which Pearce says to keep in the ring. This backfired on Pearce when Cabana wrapped them around his ankles, then easily pushed him down to the canvas. I’d have strongly preferred for Cabana to use the countless wrapped streamers like ropes, tripping Pearce down to truly embarrass him. As expected, this was a pure comedy match and nothing to gush over. It perfectly served its purpose though, with Shane Hagadorn eventually being thrown out as Cabana outsmarted him, taking a page out of Eddie Guerrero’s book and pretending that he’d been attacked with a chair so that the scrub would be ejected from ringside. Pearce was then no match, especially since he wasn’t smart enough to avoid falling for Cabana’s comedic manipulations. This was no squash match though, as Pearce brought Gold Bond powder into play to pay homage to the Gold Bond Mafia (something the Chicago natives called their clique several years earlier along with Dave Prazak and CM Punk). That backfired on Pearce as Cabana used it to take control. After some control by Pearce, he eventually succumbed without hesitation once in the Billy Goat’s Curse, tapping with the same rapidity as Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam 1991 and Dave Finlay at Judgment Day 2006. Cabana puts Pearce over, saying he’s a major reason why he succeeded in moving on to WWE, but Pearce chooses to spit in his face and fucks off. Many babyfaces come out along with Cabana’s parents. Cabana puts over the entire company, and says that he’s proud of the stardom he achieved in ROH. He also states that no matter what happens for him in WWE, he still has the goal of becoming ROH Champion. I love that statement, as it shows how important that belt is and that in storyline, it’ll always eat at the on-screen character. Little did he know how true that statement would become too. This segment wasn’t just a farewell for Cabana, but proved to be Allison Danger’s final appearance in ROH of her career, while also being a swan song of sorts for Shingo and Homicide. Marvelous, very high-class farewell segment, concluding with Cabana spending time with front row fans while Billy Joey’s “The Entertainer” blares from the speakers. Awesome stuff. The DVD has one more extra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idgzsd6tjUU This failed to be on par with Better Than Our Best and Glory By Honor V Night 2. To think of that as a criticism would be stating that a PPV didn’t quite live up to Great American Bash 1989 or WrestleMania X-Seven. Let’s get the faults out of the way. By early next year, I will host a podcast in which I (and hopefully at least 1-2 other contributors) rebook ROH 2007. At this time, I will share how I would’ve perfected this card, because there was forgettable stuff on here. As mentioned, the Chikara six-way is scrapped. I’d mentioned Incoherence vs. Jigsaw & Quackenbush plus Primeau vs. Akuma as a glorified squash instead. But I’d actually turn everything but the triple main event (Pearce vs. Cabana; Briscoes vs. MCMG; Morishima vs. Shingo) upside-down. Chikara would’ve been showcased in the opener as a four-way, including everyone that was in the six-way except for Quackenbush and Primeau. The latter wouldn’t be on this card at all, and in fact there would be no squash matches either. This card is getting stacked to the fucking gills. As for Quackenbush, he would compete in a dream match against Aries. Homicide would be against Romero to tie up that loose end, and since a game-changer was about to force Homicide out, Romero goes over in a huge upset over the former ROH Champion. The Strong vs. Daniels match wouldn’t be in Minnesota, but on here as the swan song for Daniels. Strong’s physicality and being a superior asshole would be the final straw for Daniels, who’d be left broken and having a post-match adrenaline rush as he finally lashed out and fucked off. Stevens would face Evans on the undercard. (In place of Strong vs. Daniels in Minnesota, Daniels would’ve faced Quackenbush in another dream match on that card.) So in simple form, here’s the perfect card using the same pieces that were available: 1. Jigsaw vs. Delirious vs. Hallowicked vs. Gran Akuma – Free For All 2. Jack Evans vs. Erick Stevens 3. Mike Quackenbush vs. Austin Aries – Dream Match and Possible Swan Song for Aries 4. ROH Champion Takeshi Morishima vs. Shingo 5. Roderick Strong vs. Christopher Daniels – Swan Song for Daniels 6. Homicide vs. Rocky Romero – Homicide’s In-Ring Swan Song 7. Tag Champions Briscoe Bros. vs. Motor City Machine Guns 8. Adam Pearce vs. Colt Cabana – Cabana’s Farewell and Main Event In addition to Shingo, Homicide, and Cabana, this also would’ve been Pearce’s swan song. Simply put, there’s nothing interesting left for him in ROH to justify his position as a full-time roster member, and he’s one of the absolute last performers I want with the company now expanding to national PPV. He can be brought in for occasional undercard spots and nothing more. Also as shown on that lineup, no Albright, Rave, or Whitmer. There just isn’t room for them on this card. With all of that said, what Good Times, Great Memories brought in reality was fucking tremendous and earns my strongest recommendation. Historic swan songs all over the place, including what might be the greatest promo in the storied career of Christopher Daniels. The greatest tag match in ROH history. A dream match for the ROH Title that would be impossible to fathom happening elsewhere, and being a doozy of a swan song to boot. A farewell match that lived up to everyone’s emotional expectations. Throw in a couple quality undercard matches and an opener that most will appreciate a bit more than I do, and this is easily a contender for ROH’s 10 greatest shows ever. The best comparison to it so far? I’ll go with Ring of Homicide. This didn’t turn out to be quite the overnight end of an era as expected a decade ago, as that came after Glory By Honor V weekend. But major changes are here nonetheless, and as shown in the PPV video, BRYAN FUCKING DANIELSON IS BACK~!~!~!~!~!~!~! Not only is Danielson back, but so are some regular special attractions. It’s time to see the game-changer that was moving to cable PPV, but not in the game-changing way that everyone had hoped, especially booker Gabe Sapolsky. Up next – Reborn Again Matches will include: No Remorse Corps vs. Matt Cross, Erick Stevens, & Bryan Danielson Matt Sydal vs. Naomichi Marufuji KENTA vs. Delirious Briscoe Bros. vs. Takeshi Morishima & BJ Whitmer

The Battle of St. Paul – April 27, 2007 Taped from St. Paul, MN ROH Video Wire – April 18, 2007 Important news/footage in the above video: A brief video packaged titled “Steen & Generico have arrived in ROH.” No shit they have. Colt Cabana’s farewell weekend is tagging with Homicide against Brent & Albright & Adam Pearce at The Battle of St. Paul, and then a singles swan song against Pearce in their hometown of Chicago. Looking forward to the latter. A very generic grappler named Michael Elgin has his first ever ROH match against Rhett Titus, but it’s meaningless when Jimmy Rave spoils it. Elgin gets a bit of offense but is quickly dispatched by Rave. The Briscoes defend the Tag Titles in an Ultimate Endurance against a number of debuting Chikara talent. Opponents include Incoherence, Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush, and Mitch Franklin & Pelle Primeau. Jack Evans vs. Delirious vs. Erick Stevens vs. Rocky Romero Fun four-way match with Romero as the odd man out, having pissed the others off as a member of the No Remorse Corps. The early story was him avoiding everyone and playing the opportunist, including taking advantage of the idiocy of Evans to turn his back to him, kicking him right in the hamstring to marginalize his acrobatics. Stevens was once again the real star of the match, having a good slap exchange with Romero and busting all numerous power moves. As expected, legalities got thrown out about halfway into the match; while making this a free for all would’ve just allowed for pure insanity, adhering to legalities could’ve enhanced drama and created opportunities, such as Evans playing a Sasha Banks or Rey Mysterio role to hit sudden high spots, or Romero taking advantage of an emotional babyface questing the referee to blindside someone with more devastating kicks. Considering that the obvious goal seems to recapture the Rottweilers via the NRC, it was no surprise to see Romero win. Rating: *** FIP Title Match Roderick Strong vs. Christopher Daniels Good match between two quality hands, although it severely needed more personality from both. While Strong was mechanically terrific controlling most of the match, making Daniels the default babyface, it didn’t serve either’s direction very well. The count out finish as well, with Daniels getting his foot caught in a detached part of a barricaded guard rail, came very flaw to the Minnesotans in attendance, showing that neither should’ve been cast as the default babyface in this contest. It didn’t help that there wasn’t dramatic count out teases earlier in the match either. The match deserves credit for being one that all aspiring wrestlers should study for mechanical reasons, but it should be studied in the downfalls of not maximizing personas. With Strong a cocky jock faction leader and Daniels a cranky red-ass at the time, this would’ve been far better suited as a matchup between two brash trash-talkers attempting to one-up each other and pissing each other off in the process, resulting in numerous cheap shots and blatantly physical blows. In short, this needed to be chippy and testy, with the crowd perhaps rallying behind Daniels by default when he’d join along in mockingly chanting the champion’s name to get in his head. As stated, still a good match that could’ve been very good or possibly even excellent had this been a battle of two assholes trying to prove whose dick is bigger. Rating: ***1/4 ROH Title Match Takeshi Morishima vs. Austin Aries The match starts with Aries using his same strategy from Final Battle 2004, an immediate house of fire on the champion. This didn’t have the same impact on Morishima, who was only a couple months into his reign, not having anything close to the mileage Samoa Joe had after 21 months. This allowed Morishima to easily weather the challenger’s flurry, gaining the heat. Morishima had an extensive heat segment as Minnesota was firmly behind the man that been introduced as having trained in the Twin Cities (and thus making his ROH debut to have NOT been at Reborn Stage 1 a few years earlier a missed opportunity.) It would be several minutes before Aries made any real hope spots, but the real story here and throughout the rest of the match was that no matter what, he was not gonna fall prey to the backdrop driver. That story in fact allowed Aries to make a comeback when Morishima tried deadlifting him off the apron for another backdrop driver attempt, only for Aries to sandbag it. He ear-clapped the champion and eventually got him to the outside, then capitalized immediately with a perfectly timed suicide dive to get the Twin Cities crowd erupting. But Aries in control would be short-lived on the outside when he attempted to Irish Whip Morishima into a barricade, instead it being reversed. Morishima hit a hip attack to a seated Aries, but mistakenly went for it again, displaying too much cockiness in own strategy instead of changing shit up to avoid Aries picking up on any habits. That allowed Aries to avoid the second hip attack and then once again channel Final Battle 2004, hitting a dropkick on the seated Morishima. Back in the ring it became a bit even with Aries also hitting a crucifix bomb, but struggling to execute a brainbuster which would allow Morishima to regain control. Aries pulled out some more of his arsenal from his historic ROH Title acquisition, kicking Morishima in the head multiple times to finally deliver a brainbuster and then follow-up 450 splash for an outstanding near-fall. Aries had also made the mistake of running the ropes to add fury to his discus forearms that had helped dethrone Joe; it wasn’t a mistake due to Morishima scouting it, but because it allowed Morishima to cut him off with a lariat. Although Aries was not present at Fighting Spirit, he should’ve studied the raw tape of Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness that way he would’ve known to at least duck when Morishima went for the lariat cutoff. His fatal mistake would be going for another top rope maneuver, for now Morishima had it scouted. A Super Backdrop Driver would be delivered, although Aries landed on his side instead of his neck and shoulders, so it’d result in a near-fall. Morishima dealt another blow than a standard backdrop driver, and everyone knew that was the ballgame. Excellent main event that is must-see with a clear story, partisan audience, signature moves being teased and then delivered, and a dramatic closing few minutes. It was the correct booking call to have Aries get his title match during Morishima’s reign here, but got the story over that it was far too early to recapture the magic of the day after Christmas 2004. Rating: **** Gonna recommend this one due to a great main event, a semi main event worth studying for its mechanics, and a four-way that others will get more mileage out of, along with some debuts that make for nice trivia. And now, another big one. A card that at the time delivered in all but one match, which was just a quick squash. It’s time for swan songs aplenty, it’s time for a puroresu dream match, it’s time for some killer promos, and it’s time for what could damn well be the absolute greatest tag team match in the 15-year history of ROH. Lest we forget – the game is about to change for ROH too. Up next – Good Times, Great Memories This show was so fucking good and consistent a decade ago that it’s getting the same treatment as Better Than Our Best and Glory By Honor V Night 2. That’s right, it’s getting reviewed in its entirety.

Lockdown 2007 – April 15, 2007 Live from St. Louis, MO Lethal Lockdown Christian Cage, Tomko, Abyss, Scott Steiner, & AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle, Rhino, Sting, Jeff Jarrett, & Samoa Joe Hell of a War Games style match, taken down just a bit by an anticlimactic storyline finish. Steiner and Joe came into the match as great houses of fire; in particular, Styles was excellent making Joe look like a million bucks, whereas Steiner threw overhead belly-to-belly suplexes aplenty, then provided an early highlight by giving a Super Hurricanrana to Rhino. Abyss would bring thumbtacks into the equation courtesy James Mitchell, who would be taken out by Harley Race. Those thumbtacks definitely came into play, although they couldn’t close to being as epic and meaningful as Necro Butcher’s tacks 9 months earlier at Death Before Dishonor IV. Once everyone was in the match to begin the Lethal Lockdown portion, Angle and Styles went on top of the cage structure to battle. As they engaged, Rhino speared Tomko out of the ring through the cage door, allowing the action to spill to the outside. This benefited Styles when he lost the striking battle to Angle on top, flipping off the cage in exhaustion onto a pile of his contemporaries. Christian took a bump he honestly didn’t need to take, but showed what a team player he was during his 3 years in TNA, when he ate a double chokeslam onto the first bag of thumbtacks. This made the bump Abyss took at the end of the match more meaningful, as he used the second bag of thumbtacks to load Jarrett’s guitar. This backfired when Sting subdued him, and then Jarrett finished Abyss off, and allowed Sting to get the pin, earning an NWA-TNA title match against Christian next month at Sacrifice 2007. Don’t care at all about Jarrett becoming a reformed, altruistic babyface, but Hell of a spectacle. ***3/4

Fighting Spirit – April 14, 2007 Taped from Edison, NJ The DVD begins with the wonderfully returned SIDEVIEW PROMO from Nigel McGuinness. He compares the importance of tonight’s main event, challenging Takeshi Morishima for the ROH Title, to perhaps the biggest, greatest match in UK history, that being Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith at SummerSlam 1992. That classic he experienced in person at Wembley Stadium inspired him to pursue the dream of being a pro wrestler, and here he is 15 years later. He’s paid his dues and made his sacrifices, proud to now be a pro wrestler, and now the next dream is to become ROH Champion to build his legacy. In what rings very true a decade later, he questions how much longer he can do this since his body is beginning to break down. That makes his goal that much more important – no longer to just be in great matches, but to actually win those great matches. Tonight is special. Credit to McGuinness for overcoming the awful camera angle choice and getting me to take this match seriously. Claudio Castagnoli blames himself for the Kings of Wrestling losing the Tag Titles 5 months ago, citing that he was negotiating to leave. Now that he’s stuck around and was offered an olive branch by ROH, he’s gonna take advantage and improve. He’s happy to now have a Tag Title opportunity in the bank, but says the mystery remains who he’ll pick as his partner. Fucking boring as a solo babyface. Rocky Romero vs. Claudio Castagnoli Good stalemate early, and Castagnoli would rub Romero’s arrogance back in his face, mocking his lack of height. In retaliation, and perhaps showing Castagnoli shouldn’t have succumbed to such trolling, Romero kicked his legs, leaving the taller Swiss man prone to be knocked down with a shoulder charge. Romero was very good in using his submission expertise to counter Castagnoli’s power move attempts, including evading the Alpamari Waterslide. Castagnoli relied primarily on press-ups and uppercuts to keep him in the match. That wasn’t enough for him ultimately though, because Romero once again countered for the finish, this time with an inside cradle after about 10 minutes of good but nothing special action. Rating: *** Jay Briscoe & Erick Stevens vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico A match of 3 easily distinguishable acts. The first would be with Stevens involved, which was fine stuff and showed he had decent chemistry with Jay as a tag partner. It would prove ultimately meaningless when the No Remorse Corps attacked him to take him out of the equation. Davey Richards truly comes across as an artificial extravert, rather than playing the more natural introvert we saw out of Chris Benoit during his days as a Horsemen that I believe he’s far better suited for. This wasn’t an effective way to take Stevens out of the match either. Instead of the NRC severely targeting a body part, they just shoved him into the guard rail and made his back sore. This is the kind of shit that got Roman Reigns even more heavily booed in the 2016 Royal Rumble match – we’ve seen too many gutsy efforts under far more trying circumstances to accept that THIS is enough to take someone out of battle. The story would’ve been more effective with Stevens having his knees fucked up by the NRC, taking away his ability to stand and walk, and that could’ve played into future matches for him as well since he’s so reliant on power moves. The second act would be Jay having to play solo against Steen & Generico, and he put forth a good effort. Steen continued to be a marvelous troll, mocking that Jay was outnumbered, while Generico was simply focused on just winning this competition and nothing more. But it became clear after several minutes that unlike when he and his brother had the numbers advantage against Colt Cabana at Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 2, he wouldn’t be able to get a fall on his own. The third and by far hottest act would be Mark arriving from the crowd in street clothes to be his brother’s impromptu partner, despite their mother protesting the decision. The crowd was totally into this, and he was tremendous playing a wounded yet still fresh substitution to the match. The concussion storyline was incredibly effective, with the crowd not caring for Steen or Generico doing any damage to his head at all, and Mark sold it incredibly well. One would hope that the concussion was being exaggerated, although considering this was 2 months prior to the 9/11 of pro wrestling, it very well may have been real and it was decided to incorporate that dangerous reality into the match. This finishing stretch had some brilliant stuff in it, including Mark preventing Generico from hitting a Super Ace Crusher, instead hitting one himself on the Generic Luchador. Steen had definite malicious intent when he brought Mark to the outside and threw him around, drawing out Jay to be driven hard into a guard rail to be taken out of the equation. This left the damaged Mark all alone to eat a Package Piledriver and immediate brainbuster for an excellent finish. In the post-match, Generico plays the good sport in showing concern for Mark, while Steen is quite callous and nonchalant. Tremendous dichotomy at play between the two here. This was excellent tag team wrestling in front of a hot crowd and obeying tag legalities, which ELEVATED the drama in the match and proved why that’s such an essential component to being an expert tag team competitor. As for the concussion angle, which was pushed on commentary as LIFE-THREATENING, it’s difficult to really gauge how much criticism it deserves. Considering this DVD release was available prior while Benoit was still alive, such commentary proves that everyone knew better. But at the same time, progress is a difficult path to embark on – as Bruce Wayne stated in Batman Begins, “People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy.” This has personally applied to me in becoming far more concerned about the negative impacts of my own choices once I had them clearly on display for me to see. Rating: **** Doug Williams’s Final ROH Match and Colt Cabana’s East Coast Farewell Doug Williams vs. Colt Cabana Good comedy match for Williams to have as his swan song. The comedy highlights were Cabana having Williams standing split-legged over the middle rope and when the referee idiotically put himself in the same position to tell Cabana to step back, both of them were victims to a crotching by the former Tag Champ; and Williams bridging himself as Cabana sat on him, finally wiggling himself to break Williams down for the cover, only to be countered into a crucifix pin. In addition to the comedy, the actual wrestling was top-notch technique. That some of the spots appeared to be sloppy told the story that Cabana wasn’t gonna allow himself to so easily fall prey to the cream-of-the-crop mechanics of Williams. There were pin counters aplenty in this one, but eventually Cabana ran out of ways to use his technique, leverage, and positioning to keep himself at an even keel with Williams, succumbing to the Chaos Theory. I was very glad this wasn’t a near-fall and then a flatter finish following up as was seen in the first night Williams had in ROH against Bryan Danielson at Road to the Title. Nobody knew at the time this was the end of an era for Williams, so he shook hands and then left Cabana to cut a promo since he was the one advertised to be out the door. More on the former Pure Champion that also participated in the first-ever ROH Title match at the end of this review. Cabana is clearly bothered by someone in attendance, showing perhaps a very brief peak at what may be a irrationally contemptuous viewpoint that Scott Colton has for wrestling fans just like his best friend in the business that he references in this promo. He says he isn’t moving up or down in reference to WWE, just that he’s moving on, and compares it to Burger King vs. McDonald’s. He somewhat contradicts himself by then saying ROH is a mom-and-pop operation and that he’s “moving up,” but the point was effective as he put over ROH as the best pure product in the business. Even with all of ROH’s growing on-screen flaws, considering that TNA had dumbed itself down with Vince Russo on the booking team, WWE having its head generally up its ass in the talent hiring department, PWG still quite a way’s away from becoming what it is today, the UK scene not even close to booming yet, and NOAH no longer having the peak championships prestige or up-and-down card consistency of its first 6 years, ROH deserved to be patted on the back by Cabana here. Rating: ***1/4 Kevin Steen interrupts Chris Hero & Tank Toland’s intermission interview with Becky Bayless. He cuts an awesome promo putting himself & Generico over, who is awesomely sporting an lWo shirt. They demand their “well-deserved” shot at the Tag Titles. Hero dismisses their claim due to being “brand-new.” God fucking dammit why have we still a decade later never gotten the Kings of Wrestling vs. Steen & Generico? Jack Evans & Delirious vs. Davey Richards & Roderick Strong Another quality tag match for this card, with it starting as a brawl. It eventually broke down correctly into Evans playing the Ricky Morton role; he’s superior at selling, while Delirious is the superior house of fire utilizing his insanity persona. The NRC were vicious to Evans, tossing himself in and out of the ring and delivering various blows, but once again Richards just comes across as way too much of a try-hard expressionist with his mannerisms instead of even playing a Dean Malenko-like role that would likely better suit him and get him over as a truly cold motherfucker. (For evidence on how effective Malenko was, turn on Spring Stampede 1999 and listen to Tacoma’s reaction to just him simply standing on the ropes totally stone-faced to delay the beginning of his match.) Evans would finally manage a comeback with a springboard back elbow on the NRC, and I was pleasantly surprised to see tag legalities adhered to in the finishing stretch. Evans did his best to keep Strong at bay, including a Sasuke Special, while Delirious was to deal with Richards as the legal men in the ring. If there’s one real lowlight to the match besides Richards over-expressing his heel persona, it was when he hit a low blow on Delirious for a near-fall to a lukewarm reaction. That Delirious would kick out of that and need to eat a chair shot to the head before being finished with a Butterfly Driver is foolish on multiple levels; first of all, taking the chair to the head of course. But with Cabana on the way out and just giving the rub 24 hours earlier to Delirious clean in the middle of the ring, the Lizard Man should be getting groomed to fill the frequent comedy role on the card that provides variety and a refresher between all the serious business matches that ROH is largely founded upon. If there’s any valid excuse to strongly push Delirious as an upper mid-card babyface instead of Cabana’s comedy void replacement, it would be to bring in Human Tornado pronto to fulfill that void. We shall see if that actually happens. Rating: ***3/4 ROH Title Match Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness Morishima totally dominates the first few minutes, not being thwarted by the challenger’s strikes whatsoever, instead driving him to the outside with a shoulder tackle and then tossing him around ringside. The champion is relentless, further showing the lesson he learned in his debuting defeat against Samoa Joe. But the challenger proves himself having learned from his series against Bryan Danielson, weathering the storm and capitalizing on the brief time he had to hit a spinning apron lariat to gain control and then sustain it, even pulling out a rare splash from the top rope to the champion on the outside. McGuinness even baits Morishima into attempting a comeback, causing the champion’s left arm to strike the ring post on a clothesline attempt, and the challenger targets that joint like white on rice. That’s the shit I wanna see from McGuinness – showcasing why he’s easily the second-best technician in ROH, instead of spamming strikes as hard as he can. But he fucks up going for a sunset flip on the outside, which Morishima blocks and then sits on his sternum to regain the heat. Morishima comes across as a total natural in his brief expression of heel mannerisms, a staple of puroresue at least throughout the 2000s. His agility is even more impressive than Joe’s and Steen’s, being a bigger body and delivering top-rope moves like very few his size. Gabe Sapolsky appears on commentary and delivers great news, which is that Austin Aries will challenge the winner of this match for the ROH Title when Minnesota hosts the next event in 13 days. OH FUCK YES~! The champion mistakenly went for a handspring corner splash, making it easily scouted by McGuinness for a Tower of London near-fall. There was no reaction to that near-fall, but in this case, the move wasn’t marginalized; it simply wasn’t believable that Morishima had taken enough punishment yet for anyone to buy into a title change. They eventually have a strike exchange that Morishima wins when he counters a rebound lariat with a side slam. But the champion takes too long going to the top rope, so McGuinness hits a Superplex, which only gives the champion fighting spirit. That’s for naught though as McGuinness shrugs off a big boot and hits a nice lariat that takes them both down. The crowd is fairly behind McGuinness as he drives Morishima to the floor via an apron Tower of London. This could possibly backfire since there’s no count out and a title change only takes place in the ring. Rather than exploit the rules, Morishima roles in to be a fighting champion and the backdrop driver is blocked, but his fighting spirit returns as McGuinness continuously superkicks him, then he knocks the challenger down with a lariat and successful backdrop driver. That proves to be a near-fall and the crowd is buying into McGuinness, although there doesn’t seem to be the level of electricity that indicates a genuine belief that history will be made. McGuinness absorbs a shotgun missile dropkick using fighting spirit once again, thus giving this event its official name. He immediately hits a lariat for another near-fall that nobody bought. Nonetheless, the stock of McGuinness is definitely rising here. They have another strike exchange with Morishima landing a hip attack and McGuinness uses the momentum to hit a furious rebound lariat for a near-fall that the New Jersey crowd finally bought into. The reaction to this one is just tremendous, with the fans now convinced McGuinness would finally reach his culmination. He goes for the rebound lariat again only to eat some blows from the champion for a near-fall, and the crowd is getting hotter. McGuinness absorbs a backdrop driver, goes for a rebound lariat, gets blocked, and falls victim to another backdrop driver, having spent all his energy by trying to hit his new finisher after just eating Morishima’s. Everyone knows that’s the finish, which indeed it is. Tremendous main event, although nowhere near an all-time classic. The match definitely justifies the name of this event and elevated the stock of McGuinness, who had the crowd chanting his name as he congratulated on a hard-fought title retention. Morishima also showed his resilience, not falling to the early work on his left arm and absorbing the challenger’s blows, showing a greater abundance of fighting spirit to continue his reign of terror. Morishima vs. Aries should be a doozy. Rating: **** The DVD closes with the No Remorse Corps having a verbal circle-jerk over winning all of their matches this weekend. Strong initiates a 3-on-1 assault on a ring crew member. This is such a poor man’s version of the Rottweilers, as Richards has nowhere near the magic of being vocal like Julius Smokes, nor does he come across as frightening as Low Ki. Strong is no Homicide either; although a certified bad-ass, he doesn’t induce the chaotic terror of the Notorious 187. Pathetic way to end this event for the DVD viewing audience after a great main event that capped off a very good night of wrestling. Strongest recommendation possible for 2 great matches, as well as 2 tag matches that showcase that it’s not difficult to have a gripping match while adhering to the essential components of drama and psychology that are a part of that genre’s foundation. This also has the historic impact of being the final ROH appearance ever for Doug Williams. If there’s anyone that truly defines the term “under-appreciated” in the history books of ROH, there is truly no better candidate (among many) than Doug Williams. In and out of the company for 5 years, he was never around enough to be a franchise player or get involved in substantial storylines. What he managed to accomplish and contribute though more than made up for that. For anyone who became an ROH consumer in the past decade, they never got to experience what was special about Williams, how he was a key contributor in defining ROH’s identity. The best comparison to make would be Jushin Liger’s time in WCW. Like Williams, Liger was never a full-timer, but he made a tremendous impact, including winning championship gold. More often than not, when Doug Williams was scheduled for ROH, fans knew they were destined to see one of the finest technicians on the planet. What he lacked in the personality department, he made up for by using his grappling to troll, frustrate, and piss off opponents, especially cocky, arrogant heels such as CM Punk, Homicide, Alex Shelley, and Christopher Daniels. When Williams made his debut at Road to the Title in June 2002, booker Gabe Sapolsky wasted no time in showing the audience that this was a player to take seriously, having him go over Jay Briscoe in the opening quarterfinal round, and then pulling off the upset of the evening later on the card by going over established main-eventer Bryan Danielson. This then thrust Williams to headline Crowning a Champion the following month, competing in a unique four-way 60-minute Iron Man match against Low Ki, Daniels, and Brian Kendrick to determine the first-ever ROH Champion. All four men would have a spectacular performance, even with the closing minutes coming down to Ki vs. Daniels since they were the top storyline focus for the company’s first year. It was a masterpiece of a match, never once getting dull as the Murphy Rec Center felt the summer heat, all 4 competitors certainly dropping plenty of water weight throughout the hour-long classic. That would not be the only meaningful contribution for Williams in ROH though. Just like Liger was integral in WCW with establishing the Lightheavyweight Championship, Williams was chosen to fulfill the vacant role as Pure Champion, an important role to be slotted in after AJ Styles had chosen to stick with TNA and forfeit the title in light of Rob Feinstein’s ephebophilia scandal. Williams would win a qualifier four-way to get into the vacant Pure Title match, then went over Alex Shelley in the show-stealing classic at Reborn: Completion. For the next several weeks, Williams would have a brief but effective reign as Pure Champion, having quality technical wrestling matches against Shelley, Aries, and John Walters, who would defeat him at Scramble Cage Melee. The mentioned title match classics weren’t the only great matches Williams had on his resume in ROH. Perhaps the most under-appreciated match in the entire 15-year history of ROH would be the work of art against Christopher Daniels at Night of Champions in March 2003. An event that’s far more remembered for Samoa Joe dethroning Xavier for the ROH Title as well as the junk spotfests pitting Low Ki against Jody Fleisch as well as Styles & Amazing Red against the Briscoes, anyone with the proper mind for the business knows that Daniels vs. Williams was the true gem on the card. A rematch to their disappointing main event at the inaugural Glory By Honor, the two ring generals went above and beyond to make up for it, this time competing for the FWA Title and the right to an ROH Title match. It was technical at its absolute finest, with Philadelphia being lit up by the breathtaking submission work on display. The only criticism that can be thrown at the match, and it is arguably an unnecessary nitpick, was that neither provided a maximum engagement with the crowd to blend in emotional energy to go with the state-of-the-art mat work and body part targeting in the ring. Williams would win the match, becoming FWA Champion, earning a match for the ROH Title, and also erasing their first ROH match, which had forbidden Williams to follow the Code of Honor. The other outstanding ROH match for Williams would be a surprising show-stealer against Homicide at Nowhere to Run. In reality, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Homicide had a very good match several months earlier against Nigel McGuinness at Midnight Express Reunion, playing the perfect chaotic, irrational foil to the mat work of McGuinness and then being on the wrong end of a huge upset. So it made sense that Homicide would have even better chemistry with Williams in yet another under-appreciated match for the former Pure Champion. Williams would not succumb to the mind games of Homicide, keeping himself even-tempered, but having learned from losing to McGuinness, the leader of the Rottweilers played dirty to get the much-needed victory after having just losing his program against Danielson 24 hours earlier. Williams would also be featured on ROH’s debut weekend in the United Kingdom, although neither match of his contributed much of significance. The tag match in Liverpool was a sloppy disappointment considering he was going up against SUWA & Go Shiozaki, but at least his match in Broxbourne against Jimmy Rave would be fun, and also had the historic significance of being the end of Prince Nana’s epic tenure as the greatest manager in company history. When Williams returned for what turned out to be his last ROH weekend in April 2007, he was nothing more than a depth attraction. There was at least one fan on the original ROH message board that stated he bought a ticket as soon as Williams was confirmed. And why is that? It’s because of the fact that while Doug Williams is far from the first name that comes to anyone’s mind when discussing the bygone golden era of ROH, he was always someone that when his name was added to a card, everyone knew that he fucking belonged. He was simply good for business, as his cream-of-the-crop technique personified ROH’s primary identity at the time as being legitimately the finest pro wrestling company on the entire planet as pointed out by his final ROH opponent Colt Cabana in what was his own farewell tour promo after their contest at Fighting Spirit. Since April 2007, Williams has associated with ROH, even challenging Jay Lethal for the ROH Title. But those were on co-branded events with Preston City Wrestling, and it’s that company which holds the video and historical rights to those events. So in the history books of ROH’s event, Doug Williams unknowingly walked into the curtain, never to step foot in an ROH ring again after he shook Cabana’s hand in New Jersey at Fighting Spirit. If Doug Williams ever reads this, thank you for your part in establishing the ROH Title as a belt to be respected from its very inception. Thank you for stepping up in a very trying time to be Pure Champion and delivering matches that completely smoked the disappointment of CM Punk vs. AJ Styles when the belt was first established. Thank you for providing quality doozies to ROH and playing a key supporting role in showcasing the company as the best damn in-ring product provided on the planet throughout the Gabe Sapolsky era. Thank you for being a reliable hand that could be counted on to bring his working boots. And thank you for being the most under-appreciated contributor in the 15-year history of ROH. Doug Williams’s 10 Greatest ROH Matches 1. Doug Williams vs. Low Ki vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Christopher Daniels – Crowning a Champion ****3/4 2. Doug Williams vs. Christopher Daniels – Night of Champions ****3/4 (William’s greatest ROH match) 3. Doug Williams vs. CM Punk – Second Anniversary Show ***3/4 4. Doug Williams vs. Jay Lethal vs. John Walters vs. Nigel McGuinness – Reborn: Completion ***1/2 5. Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley – Reborn: Completion **** 6. Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley – Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1 ***1/2 7. Doug Williams vs. Austin Aries – Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 2 ***3/4 8. Doug Williams vs. John Walters – Scramble Cage Melee ***3/4 9. Doug Williams & Colt Cabana vs. Chad Collyer & Nigel McGuinness – The Final Showdown ***1/2 10. Doug Williams vs. Homicide – Nowhere to Run **** As if the unexpected finale of Doug Williams wasn’t enough for April 2007, we got some more roster shakeup coming before the end of the month. It’s time for swan songs aplenty and a game-changer to be thrown at Sapolsky. Whether it’s the advertised farewell weekend for Cabana, or perhaps departures that are a bit more sudden, history is about to be made once again. Up next – The Battle of St. Paul Matches will include: Jack Evans vs. Delirious vs. Erick Stevens vs. Rocky Romero Roderick Strong vs. Christopher Daniels Takeshi Morishima vs. Austin Aries

This Means War II – April 13, 2007 Taped from Long Island, NY ROH Video Wire – April 7, 2007 important news (unavailable online): April 13 in Long Island – Brent Albright vs. Homicide; No Remorse Corps vs. Matt Cross, Austin Aries, and a mystery partner in a Survivor Series Style Elimination Match April 14 in New Jersey – Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness for the ROH Title. OH FUCK YES~! The reviewed matches were saved on the hard drive, so C&P treatment yet again from Jake Zeigler & Brad Garoon. And we start with a C&P doozy in the post-match of El Generico vs. Jason Blade vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Erick Stevens. GOD FUCKING DAMMIT BITCH CUNT BASTARD BULLSHIT Booker Gabe Sapolsky is already reaching not just with Matt Cross in the Austin Aries-led Resilience, but the newcomer Erick Stevens. Even though Stevens is just a month removed from a **** match against Roderick Strong in FIP, he’s otherwise shown very little charisma on the microphone and when selling underneath as a babyface. There’s the what if scenario had Cross & Stevens been left jerking the curtain until they truly proved themselves. You know who already had and would’ve been far superior recruits for Aries? One of them in that very fucking match that just took place, Kevin Steen & El Generico! Or how about recruiting Edwards since Aries is impressed by what he’s seen since his debut a few months back, a debut that was against the former Generation Next leader actually? Instead we’ve got Sapolsky going with handpicked choices instead of the outsiders that crushed the deck stacked against them, and I demand better from ROH. Handpicked bullshit already makes audiences suffer in WWE and TNA, as well as the deceased WCW. This is supposed to be a legitimate alternative, not a low-rent version of what’s on cable. Delirious vs. Colt Cabana Not quite on par with the Liverpool match, but another quality comedy match nonetheless. Highlights include Cabana scaring the shit out of Delirious by wearing a Matt Classic match, followed up by Delirious wearing that mask while Cabana wore a Delirious mask, and numerous spots involving referee Todd Sinclair, who was sensational with his timing in this match. Regarding Sinclair, he saw himself got shoved down, rotated around to literally kick Cabana’s rear end, and even be used by Delirious to give Cabana a Manhattan Drop. As mentioned, all of the timing in Sinclair’s spots were on point, adding to his resume as a top contender for greatest referee of the early 21st Century. With this serving as the beginning of Cabana’s farewell tour since he had just signed with WWE, business was done the right away unlike a couple months earlier, with Delirious going over. It is absolutely critical that Delirious manage to get over with the range of character work to blend in with his comedy to fill Cabana’s void, unless Sapolsky intelligently were to bring in Human Tornado of course. Before and after the match, Cabana got “Please don’t go!” chants, and unlike his best friend in the business, gave a much more satisfying farewell moment for these Long Islanders, hugging those in the front row before heading to the back. Rating: *** Claudio Castagnoli defeats Tag Champion Jay Briscoe in singles competition, and there are a couple post-match directions. Brent Albright vs. Homicide This was simply about 15 minutes of nothing special. While nothing was mechanically bad in this match apart from Albright very briefly mistiming his selling of a strike, there was just no starch to anything whatsoever in this match. While the audience popped at times, particularly for the crowd brawling, there was never much of an engaging story told throughout this contest. I was glad to see Julius Smokes tossed out when he attacked Albright, a rarity to see for the babyface side in this business. But it didn’t matter, because whatever advantage there could’ve been for Albright to tell an engaging story in setting Homicide up for the Crowbar submission, he failed to target the shoulder that struck a ring post in the finishing stretch. That Albright won clean proved to be mute. Shane Hagadorn attacked Homicide immediately in the post-match, drawing out Smokes to even the odds. The Rottweilers then gave Hagadorn a spike piledriver on a chair to leave with the last laugh. For all of Albright’s weaknesses, there was no good reason to take away his heat from the clean victory here, no matter how lukewarm it may have been, and with the company in dire need of new top talent now that Cabana is on the way and Samoa Joe is gone, it’s imperative that big upset wins like this are treated with the utmost care to get them over. Either go all the way in or just play the safe hand with Homicide winning. Dare I say… burnout? Rating: less than *** Survivor Series Style Elimination Match The Resilience vs. No Remorse Corps Really pleasant surprise here with much of this match being simply too good for this storyline. The weakest part would be the middle as Cross played the face-in-peril to pay his dues and get Aries over for the hot tag. But that turned out to be a mistake. Before Stevens got eliminated via multiple finishers, he was a fantastic house of fire in the same vein as Roman Reigns during the days of the Shield, busting out bombs left and right aplenty. Not only was the audience fully engaged, but they were connecting with him, chanting “Choo choo!” right along with him and even in anticipation as well. The NRC getting a clean sweep was a good idea since it was 3 established stars against Aries and 2 newcomers that had done nothing of note yet. Aries was fine playing the 3-on-1 underdog, although once again in hindsight on this night, with how over Stevens got, it would’ve been best to have him as a bad ass that just didn’t have enough to take down the hottest faction in ROH at the time (that’s not high praise.) What wasn’t a good idea? Delirious making the save for Aries in the post-match to unmercifully continue his program with Strong that nobody gave a shit about. This match definitely deserves inclusion on a compilation at some point, and while Stevens still needs to prove himself quite a bit more as a personality, he delivered in this big spot. It’s too bad that I only care about some of the individual parts in this program, rather than the actual whole. Rating: ***3/4 Takeshi Morishima & Chris Hero vs. Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness Good main event taken down a bit when McGuinness mysteriously became legal in the last few minutes. Before that though, the Brits did a good job breaking down Hero, specifically targeting his left arm. Considering how much time was spent on that, I’d have strongly preferred for McGuinness to have finished him off with the London Dungeon on that shoulder rather than the rebound lariat that had recently broken Jimmy Rave’s jaw. Morishima didn’t contribute much standout content in this match. Williams failed to make the save when Hero pinned McGuinness after a backdrop driver, thus failing to protect Morishima’s finisher as McGuinness had to kick out since that wasn’t the planned finish. That took the match down a bit further. The highlight would be the Towers of London, first on Morishima when Williams prevented him from landing a missile dropkick, and Hero eating one later in KRS-One fashion. The post-match is generic with Morishima and McGuinness going face-to-face for tomorrow night’s main event, and McGuinness threatens that the rebound lariat can get the job done. Yeah, I’m looking forward to him dumbing down his offense to lariat spamming, putting the health of both himself and his colleagues at further risk, rather than a much safer, far more cerebral shoulder submission story that could pay off with the London Dungeon. As stated in the Unified review, Steve Austin got over at WrestleMania 13 by just lying on his belly while in the Scorpion Deathlock, as he didn’t need to take a crazy bump to make Bret Hart look like a million bucks. Rating: ***1/4 Recommendation to avoid overall. The trios match is worth seeing but everything else is only a must for the most diehard of ROH consumers. This is it. At a time when everyone was focusing on Cabana’s farewell tour, and something else brewing behind the scenes that had yet to hit the public, it’s the final ROH match ever for Doug Williams. It’s also time to get the ball rolling on the feud of the year, and does the main event still hold up as a classic, or is it just another good match that doesn’t stand out in any special way? Up next – Fighting Spirit Matches will include: Rocky Romero vs. Claudio Castagnoli Jay Briscoe & Erick Stevens vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico Doug Williams vs. Colt Cabana Jack Evans & Delirious vs. Davey Richards & Roderick Strong Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness

HBK vs. DiBiase Flair vs. HBK

All Star Weekend V Night 2 – April 8, 2007 Taped from Los Angeles, CA Hardcore Match Kevin Steen vs. Joey Ryan Good plunder match to finally put this issue to rest stemming from Chanukah Chaos (The C’s Are Silent). Only about a dozen minutes, Steen dominated early when he interrupted Ryan’s story time promo attempt, unloading fury on him and taking it to the outside as well. Ryan would gain some heat when Steen took too long to set up a diagonal guard rail platform, hitting the potential future Hall of Famer with a plastic garbage can, and then deadlifting Steen onto that guard rail to counter a Package Piledriver attempt. However much pain he was in, Steen was resilient with anger, not allowing Ryan to sustain momentum and even running up the guard rail to deliver a blow. Having not learned from taking too long earlier, Steen would take too long to insert a chair and chain into the match, allowing Ryan the opportunity to superkick him. This led to Ryan punching Steen with the chain and choking him with it as well, but Ryan didn’t seem driven enough either. There isn’t much to complain about here, as it was just meant to be a good but not great conclusion to this program, hence why it was so early on the card. But the segment of the match involving Ronin and Karl Anderson did nothing to enhance the match, and in fact felt very low-rent and unnecessary. It didn’t exactly devalue the match either. Once Steen quickly enough set up 2 chairs to deliver a Package Piledriver on them, that was the ballgame. This went exactly the length it needed to without ever feeling like a forced epic, and that’s very much worthy of praise. Rating: ***1/4 Alex Shelley vs. Claudio Castagnoli Another quality match on the card as would be expected. The first couple minutes were equality-establishing chain wrestling, then it got good when Shelley targeted Castagnoli’s neck to soften it up for the Shiranui and Border City Stretch. However, while Shelley would land many blows, counters, and various submissions, he never got a sustained strategy on display to that body part. That Castagnoli would win was a surprise as it appeared Shelley had his number, but he was resilient. The most shining example of Castagnoli’s resilience was when Shelley hit a Senton, only for the future Cesaro to suck up his pain and exhaustion, very quickly capitalizing as Shelley was seated to deliver a basement uppercut to the neck and shoulders. This softened Shelley up later for the Alpamari Waterslide and Ricola Bomb, but those would just be near-falls. Shelley ate too many uppercuts after a dozen minutes or so, no longer having enough to engage in a strike exchange, and succumbed to a springboard uppercut from Castagnoli for the minor upset. Rating: ***1/2 PAC vs. Kaz Hayashi Hayashi played the default heel, not even agreeing to respect at the beginning of the match. He was quite vicious, targeting PAC’s right shoulder after it struck a ring post and delivering a shoulder breaker. Hayashi was relentless as a submission artist in this one going after PAC’s upper body, and also tremendous in cutting off any comebacks including hitting an Ace Crusher. Hayashi also seemed to go into WCW alumni tribute mode, hitting a Quebrada and then applying the Crippler Crossface. I would not have minded seeing a Neville vs. Chris Benoit match, that’s for sure. Once PAC reached the ropes, he finally managed a remarkable comeback with a leg lariat and head-scissors, then followed up with a dive to the outside. However, Hayashi evaded that and hit a superkick, only then eat the top of the guard rail to make the match even with both men on the outside. Back in the ring, PAC retained control, delivering blows and bombs, although the Tiger Suplex attempt was blocked, allowing Hayashi to go for a near-fall pin, superkick, and Air Raid Crash. No matter what, PAC just couldn’t maintain very lengthy control, even with various counters. For every few moves PAC would hit, Hayashi had more either in quantity or devastation to cut him off. The highlight of the match had to be Hayashi’s Splash Mountain Powerbomb for a near-fall, and PAC was incredibly in trying to evade it. PAC managed to hit a superkick and then a successful Tiger Suplex for a near-fall. But once again, that wasn’t enough. PAC took too long on the top rope, so Hayashi shoved him to get crotched, only for the Super Splash Mountain Powerbomb to be countered with the Hurricanrana for a near-fall, bringing back memories of Psychosis vs. Rey Mysterio from Bash at the Beach 1996. PAC learned his lesson and hit a Shooting Star Press for a good near-fall, and at this point the crowd was getting legitimately engaged. He FINALLY has real momentum, blocking numerous cut-offs and counters. They had a very engrossing near-fall exchange, but PAC made the final mistake. A Standing Shiranui would be turned into a Tombstone Piledriver by Hayashi, who then hit the Final Cut for the victory. The submission work early was mechanically good but not very engaging, and this picked up once the bombs were being thrown. PAC’s improvement in recent months is quite noticeable, and working with a WCW alumnus like Hayashi will only help in that regard. Rating: ***3/4 Samoa Joe’s Final PWG Match Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe Quite the poetry that Low Ki would be Joe’s ROH debut opponent, and now serves as his final PWG opponent. This couldn’t measure to Glory By Honor, but damn was this still an excellent match. The early strikes and evasions were marvelous to see, along with Ki getting on the ground but keeping on the defensive. This is the type of match I’d like to see Joe attempt to have in WWE, although I imagine someone like Matt Riddle would need to be signed to pull this off as Ki will probably never sniff the opportunity again. The work on the outside was really good, with Ki cutting off the Ole Ole Kick and then Joe delivering it the second time they were outside, paying off that particular tease. That wasn’t the only tease either, as Joe went for a musclebuster only for it to reenergize Ki, who snapped on a cross arm bar submission in the ropes. While Ki was on top of the underground in 2002, that wasn’t the case here 4.5 years later. Joe managed to survive an extended heat segment by Ki, including a shotgun dropkick in the corner, somersault front face kick, and Ki Crusher for a tremendous near-fall. Ki thought he had his Zero-One contemporary figured out, going for a top rope Dragon Sleeper, but Joe cut it off, delivering the musclebuster for the finish that had been teased earlier. A decade later, it’s a bit surprising this would serve as the final PWG match in Joe’s PWG career considering the hot-and-cold relationship the federation has had with TNA, as well as his brief free agency period in 2015. However, this was a fitting swan song against one of his greatest opponents, one that will always be a staple in his career. Rating: **** Strongest recommendation possible for 4 very different quality matches, closing out with what turned out to be a historic swan song. Due to PWG’s style of booking, Samoa Joe would never come close to the staple that he played in ROH. But he did leave some footprint in the company, delivering some great matches in the first few years of the company. His farewell against Low Ki marks the 10th PWG match of his to get at least ***, and with that in mind, this review ends with a tradition only seen in the vintage ROH journey so far. Samoa Joe’s Ten Greatest PWG Matches 1. Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson – The Musical ***3/4 2. Samoa Joe & Ricky Reyes vs. Bryan Danielson & Christopher Daniels – The Reason For the Season ***1/2 3. Samoa Joe vs. Super Dragon – The Secret of the Ooze ***3/4 4. Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson – Uncanny X-Mas **** 5. Samoa Joe vs. Super Dragon – All Nude Revue ***3/4 6. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles – All Star Weekend Night 1 **** (Joe’s greatest PWG match) 7. Samoa Joe vs. Kevin Steen – All Star Weekend II Night 1 ***1/4 8. Samoa Joe vs. Davey Richards – Astonishing X-Mas ***1/2 9. Samoa Joe vs. Rocky Romero – All Star Weekend IV Night 1 ***1/4 10. Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki – All Star Weekend V Night 2 **** An annual tradition begins to crown new Tag Champions, along with a singles dream match that anyone who followed the indies in 2006 is simply salivating over. Up next – DDT4 2007 Night 1 Matches will include: Briscoe Bros. vs. Kings of Wrestling CIMA vs. Bryan Danielson Speed Muscle vs. Chris Bosh & Scott Lost PAC & Roderick Strong vs. Super Dragon & Davey Richards El Generico vs. Kevin Steen

All Star Weekend V Night 1 – April 7, 2007 Taped from Los Angeles, CA Rocky Romero vs. Roderick Strong Romero went for an early advantage flurry but Strong weathered it twice thanks to chops and other blows. He intelligently scouted Romero’s second spinning head-scissors attempt, blocking it to avoid another Romero cut off. Strong brings the heat with his chops, being welcomed by Romero for more of it, and the strike exchange proves to be a mind game for Romero to cut Strong off and toss him down on a leapfrog attempt. But Strong doesn’t succumb for very long, getting a comeback thanks to a press-up power slam. For once in the match it’s a sustained heat, with Strong bringing the pain and backdropping Romero on the apron, but Romero positions himself to land on his leg instead. Strong ensures some back pain is delivered via a Gorilla Press Toss onto a guard rail. Strong keeps the pain coming, remaining focused on Romero’s back as the crowd gets behind the NJPW Dojo trainee. Strong’s refusal to accept a potential count out victory almost costs him when Romero gets a near-fall. Romero sees an opportunity to apply a cross arm breaker counter when Strong blatantly chokes him, and that’s an excellent hope spot as Strong quickly gets a rope break and goes back on offense. Romero comes back after a submission attempt, getting Strong back in the cross arm breaker for a quick rope break. But Romero can’t sustain a comeback, eating a suplex and cutting off Romero once again. At this point the crowd broke out in dueling chants, very deservedly so for the intelligent story this match is telling. Romero blocks a Super Fall Away Slam by Strong, finally getting a real comeback. Although a struggle, Romero stays in control and gets the cross arm breaker back on, but Strong once again gets a quick rope break. Strong regains control, hitting a backbreaker and putting Romero in the Liontamer. Strong takes too long to apply a Tiger Driver, allowing Romero to deadweight it and position Strong into an ankle lock submission, but Strong yet again gets a quick rope break. Romero holds onto his heat, booting Strong in the corner and landing a leaping DDT. However, Romero is too fatigued to keep it going, getting cut off when Strong stomps his foot and then delivers a boot for a near-fall. Strong takes too long to set a Super Gut Buster, and Romero taps out Strong instantly with a cross arm breaker than landed in the middle of the ring. Very good stuff that sold how deadly Romero’s finisher was if the ropes weren’t so quickly nearby. Rating: ***1/2 Human Tornado vs. Claudio Castagnoli Before the match, Candice LeRae foolishly accepts Tornado’s apology for his prior actions, only to get bitch-slapped and called a “stupid bitch.” I’ll be avoiding this angle as much as possible going forward. Castagnoli declines Tornado’s offer to degrade LeRae, who gets shoved into a ring post. What a God awful fucking angle in 2007, and much shittier a decade later. Tornado uses Castagnoli’s humane concern to get an easy cheap shot before the match officially begins. Castagnoli cuts off Tornado to get control, hitting a delayed vertical suplex. Castagnoli applies a wacky, contrived leg grapevine and cravate submission combo, showing he had plenty of room for improvement after being declined by WWE a few months earlier. Tornado hits an eye rake to gain control, driving Castagnoli out of the ring via a body-scissors counter. Tornado keeps Castagnoli outside by tossing LeRae onto him. Who exactly thought such a blatant domestic violence storyline was a good idea in the first half of 2007? Who thought it would make PWG not come across as insensitive carny trash aimed at the lowest common denominator? The match is getting skipped now. Matt Classic vs. Kikutaro Classic is “replacing” Colt Cabana, who was unable to appear due to weather. As expected, this was a perfectly acceptable comedy match with Kikutaro almost manipulating Classic and the referee to grapple. Kikutaro pretends to event want an arm wrestling contest to gain advantage, and then rolls the ref too much that he gets physically driven back for it. Kikutaro gets vengeance though when he kicks ropes into the groin of both the ref and Classic. Classic’s arsenal is a sight to behold, putting on a clinic for all to study and admire, bringing a vintage approach rivaling that of Bryan Danielson a decade ago. The technique, the blows, and his choice of being a rules stickler truly brought tears to my eyes as he desperately tried to overcome Kikutaro’s shenanigans. Perhaps the highlight of the match would be the bearhug Classic placed on Kikutaro, proving to be a truly dramatic false submission finish. But Classic could only take so much, hitting a low blow of his own, then the ref eats one too and all 3 men involved in this match collapse! The referee is too sore in his groin to finish counting to 3, which causes Classic to shove him. The ref shoves him back and Kikutaro takes advantage to win this sensational MOTYC. Rating: *** Jack Evans vs. Kevin Steen Glorified squash for Steen, as he dominated and Evans only got sporadic comebacks that were never sustained. This was fine to get Steen over, but by no means anything memorable as the message of the match got loud and clear at end, Steen choosing not to end it with the Package Piledriver and instead wanting one more big blow. Rating: less than *** Kaz Hayashi vs. Alex Shelley Hell of a match as expected. Shelley’s early work on Hayashi’s right arm would never really come into play, as the former WCW veteran instead had more control segments for submission work or just trade bombs. Hayashi would substantially target Shelley’s left knee, relentlessly weakening in hopes of taking away the Shiranui. Perhaps it worked, for when Shelley hit the Shiranui, Hayashi’s bump was very pedestrian instead of high-impact that most opponents would be forced into taking. Despite tremendous cut offs and locking on the Border City Stretch, Shelley was outmatched by the more established Hayashi. Once Hayashi hit his various Final Cuts, there was no turning back. One can only fathom what a tremendous Cruiserweight Title program this could’ve been had WCW avoided death 6 years earlier… Rating: **** Low Ki’s PWG Debut Low Ki vs. Davey Richards This was surprisingly the Davey Richards Show as he dominated most of it, shining and getting to play the default heel as usual in 2007. While Ki would win as expected, Richards was tremendous in cutting off the more successful, experienced Ki throughout the contest, and at no point did this match deliver a kicking exchange as anticipated like these two had against KENTA in the past. While Richards dominated and Ki isn’t the most sympathetic seller, this was never a squash. Ki stayed in it thanks largely to Richards trying to build his stock through trash talk, as well as Ki’s habits of striking kicks and locking on submissions from anywhere. In honesty, Richards lost this match more than Ki won it. Perhaps if Richards actually went for a finisher instead of trying to use his mouth to come out of this with more attention, he’d have gotten the biggest victory of his career up to this point. Rating: ***3/4 PWG Title Match El Generico vs. PAC After some even stuff, PAC would gain the advantage and cause Generico to take a powder and regroup. Several minutes would pass in the match until Generico finally cut PAC off effectively via a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Generico would capitalize on his advantage, delivering various strikes and slams to disorient the high-flying challenger. PAC had hope spots and would finally get one thanks to a spike hurricanrana, but would miss a Standing Moonsault Senton, allowing Generico to cut him off with a lariat. Whatever Generico had in mind as he climbed the top rope would be for moot, as PAC capitalized and hit a Super Hurricanrana. A strike exchange would be won when PAC hit a Blue Thunder Powerbomb and Phoenix Splash for a couple near-falls. Only about 10 minutes in and both are exhausted. PAC blocks a Half-n-Half Suplex and goes for a Handspring Swinging DDT, only to eat a Rotating Powerbomb. He’d then avoid a Yakuza kick to hit a Reverse Spike Hurricanrana, only to then eat a running boot from the champion. After driving Generico to the outside, PAC went for a Sasuke Special and almost turned it into a Scorpion Death Drop as they fell down. Back in the ring, PAC hit a Shooting Star Knee Drop for a near-fall, and this is getting potentially spectacular. PAC tops himself with a Dragon Rana, and the crowd is loving this shit. After both get up from exhaustion, Generico avoids a strike and executes a corner exploder suplex, Yakuza kick, and Half-n-Half Suplex for another wonderful near-fall. The match kicks up a notch when PAC counters a Top Rope Brainbuster into a Body-Scissors Bomb, then hits a Sky Twister for a fantastic near-fall. The match really is difficult to predict now. Generico avoids a Super 720 Senton Splash, causing PAC to take a hell of a bump. This should pretty much end it for PAC if Generico can recover. The champion goes for the pin but it’s not enough yet. The battle goes to the apron, and a Half-n-Half Suplex on it is only good enough for another great near-fall. PAC tries shoving Generico off at the finish, but after a Yakuza kick, he’s no choice but to eat the Top Rope Brainbuster for the finish. Excellent main event. Rating: **** Quality matches all over the card that are very different. Strongly recommended. Up next – All Star Weekend V Night 2 Matches will include: Kevin Steen vs. Joey Ryan Alex Shelley vs. Claudio Castagnoli PAC vs. Kaz Hayashi Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe

One of the very best. Since I had nothing to contribute, I'd love a 1994 sequel with this match in mind for Starrcade: Chris Benoit vs. Ricky Steamboat Obviously it may fall apart, but damn.

CIMA vs. AJ Styles Styles needed to experience his NJPW run to best compliment CIMA's bump-centric philosophy. Instead they just did moves with zero meaning in 2005.

Give me the ROH dream match of Noble vs. Morishima!

If I'm Bischoff, I want Starrcade to become THE annual event in all of wrestling. Although 8 months later, there's a huge opportunity, and an easy one at that, to completely shit on WrestleMania IX. So I want the card to be stacked. I'll have to take another close look to go into detail, but having Benoit, Steamboat, Austin, Foley, Pillman, Regal, Rude, Davey Boy, there's no excuse for the shitty undercard that was bailed out by Vader vs. Flair.