Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

[supersonic]

Battle of the Icons – January 27, 2007

Taped from Edison, NJ

 

 

I’m once again disappointed that there was no mention or 10 bell salute for Bam Bam Bigelow, who passed away the week before this event. The failure to acknowledge his death is even more egregious than last night, for this is his home state of New Jersey. For a company that prides itself on work ethic and match quality, regardless of size, this is a black eye in its history books. While Bigelow isn’t the only athletic big man that came before ROH, who’s to say that there would’ve been a Samoa Joe without him? Who’s to say that there would’ve been a Takeshi Morishima excursion on the horizon had the Beast in the East not helped pave the way?

 

When factoring in that Gabe Sapolsky was under Paul Heyman’s wing in ECW, it’s even more puzzling that Bigelow’s death was ignored on this weekend. Bigelow was a part of some historic moments in ECW’s history, including the beginning of Rob Van Dam’s epic run with the TV Title. It’s inexcusable not to have paid tribute to one of the greatest big men in the industry’s history, and even more so when reflecting on the bits I’ve mentioned; never mind the fact that he was no jabroni as he was actually trusted enough to carry Lawrence Taylor in the main event of WrestleMania XI. While there were major politics behind that of course, it’s still quite the assignment to have been given and speaks volumes on Bigelow’s ability to be a foil to one of the greatest linebackers of all-time.

 

The DVD begins with Samoa Joe telling Homicide that “I’m on borrowed time.” It really is time for Joe’s ROH tenure to start winding down; it’s not his fault if Gabe Sapolsky doesn’t have a proper replacement for the roster, whether it’s Takeshi Morishima, Nigel McGuinness, or anyone else comparable.

 

I Quit Match
Jimmy Rave vs. Nigel McGuinness

 

One of the best openers in ROH history. McGuinness targeted Rave’s left shoulder, including body-slamming him on the floor in hammerlock position, and then driving it down with a wristlock takedown on a chair. The former Pure Champion was relentless working on Rave, pissed about the former Crown Jewel’s disrespect in recent months.

 

Rave would get a receipt by targeting the left leg of McGuinness, driving it into a barricade and using a chair for good measure, including a shin breaker on one inside the ring. Rave also had the spin around lariat scouted on the outside, preventing a McGuinness comeback. But after awhile in the ring, McGuinness managed to make it happen when Rave actually vomited as he had him in a Crippler Crossface.

 

This allowed McGuinness to continue working on Rave, including multiple crotched lariats. But Rave would dig down deep and have a rebound lariat scouted, locking on the heel hook. McGuinness would not give in as he climbed the ropes, instead telling Rave to go fuck himself. In a judgment decision, referee Todd Sinclair ended the match. That’s a clever way to protect McGuinness but the Rave push still feels very overdone without Prince Nana.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

Last Man Standing Match
Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer

 

Brutal match here with Whitmer immediately smacking Jacobs with a chair during the latter’s entrance. This saw bloodshed aplenty and Jacobs using his work at obvious times with all kinds of terrific brawling too. Whitmer was merciless to Jacobs in this one, with the highlight being a brainbuster on a chair.

 

There were other highlights too of course, including Jacobs hitting a suicide dive to the outside and crashing through a table. Later on, Whitmer had the spear-like move scouted in the ring, evading it and having Jacobs hit a chair head-first. Oh yes, there were unprotected chair shots aplenty, a sign of the times a decade ago while Chris Benoit was still alive.

 

Whitmer got too consumed with his vengeful thirst, telling Sinclair not to count Jacobs down. This allowed Brent Albright to arrive and give Whitmer an exploder through a table and then keep Jacobs up for the victory. I love that there hasn’t been a definitive finish yet between Jacobs and Whitmer; preserve that shit for WrestleMania 23 weekend coming just 2 months away in Detroit.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

In their match against the Briscoes, the Havana Pitbulls have miscommunications issues, so Rocky Romero spits on Ricky Reyes and then deserts him as well as Julius Smokes. Romero claims he can win on his own and doesn’t need the Rottweilers anymore. In retrospect, I’m actually fine with Romero getting an ROH Title match against Homicide; he’s a completely fresh opponent after being gone throughout all of 2006, and now there’s a storyline reason for it. Homicide vs. Romero isn’t a main event, but it can be a good compliment underneath.

 

Apparent Dragon Gate Rules Match

Shingo, Delirious, & Davey Richards vs. Jack Evans, Austin Aries, & Roderick Strong

 

The former Generation Next mocks Delirious during his pre-match meditation, only for Evans to apologize to him at the beginning. I love that GeNext is wearing the same color combo to display their unity.

 

I’m disappointed there’s no mention whatsoever of Richards vs. Aries just 2 months ago in this very venue at Dethroned. That’s a missed opportunity to push that despite Richards generally being on the losing end after sweeping Jimmy Rave in their program, he has hope against the former ROH Champion. I do appreciate that since his direction is that he’s in a general downswing, Richards plays the FIP early. It also makes sense for GeNext to be in control due to their superior experience teaming up.

 

I’m surprised that the makeshift team would then cut the ring in half on Aries instead of Evans. Of course, seeing Shingo and Aries go it for the last time in an ROH ring makes me sad that neither Super Dragon or Gabe Sapolsky never pulled the trigger on their singles dream match. There are tag legality changes when Richards exits the ring and Shingo comes in; nobody mentioned that this was under Dragon Gate Rules, but since it’s a trios match and all of the participants have experience with those rules, I’ll just consider it a lapse in error for it not being specified.

 

The first real highlight would be Evans going for a Sasuke Special, only for Shingo to block the concluding Hurricanrana, and instead slamming Evans into a barricade. I’m sure Samoa Joe was proud of that one in the back. After outside brawling between all six men, this turned into Evans playing the natural FIP while the makeshift trio would taunt Aries & Strong. There was a funny spot when Shingo & Delirious posed together, then disapproved of Richards joining in.

 

The cockiness of Richards was noticeable, enough to irritate Aries. This could signify a transition in his attitude from starting so humbly in the company several months earlier. Evans was brilliant with his springboard double elbow, but the crowd didn’t care about the hot tag to Strong, who came in as his usual house of fire. The match became a bit more chaotic here, but nothing overwhelming. Another highlight came when Richards gave Evans a Super Release German Suplex, causing Evans to land on Aries.

 

Aries seems to have a leg injury after eating a Shadows Over Hell, yelling “Oh fuck!” and struggling to move around. Delirious and Richards have stereo dives moments later on Aries & Strong, with Richards taking an ugly bump on his Tope Con Hilo. Aries noticeably is still limping. Another incredible highlight happens when Evans & Strong do the Ode to the Bulldogs moonsault, but Evans does it to the outside. This allows the hobbled Aries to double-team Shingo with Strong and finish it off for the victory. Good match but nothing super special perhaps due to the injury of Aries, as this never hit the fever pitch of prior trios matches in the past year. That may be a good thing though after the borderline clusterfuck at Final Battle 2006.

 

Rating: ***1/4

 

Colt Cabana says that the Fifth Year Festival will be a celebration of his fist in the face of Jimmy Jacobs. Looking forward to their obvious climax in Chicago.

 

Nigel McGuinness says he’ll finish the job against Jimmy Rave during the Fifth Year Festival, and also claims Joe will fail against the incoming Morishima.

 

The DVD closes with Samoa Joe, alongside ROH Champion Homicde, cutting a promo. He says he doesn’t have Japan or NOAH, but wants to prove himself because he left that country defeated in the past. He once again says he’s on limited time, so it’s imperative he get the job done against Morishima and McGuinness.

 

Homicide then says bring on any challengers; he’s ready for Jimmy Rave in NYC, then says he’ll take on NOAH and Dragon Gate talents too.

 

This particular weekend of events, outside of everything involving Jacobs, largely felt like guys just taking bookings instead of being part of anything special. That even includes the really good stuff all involving McGuinness. I was not in love with how 2007 kicked off, but perhaps that could all change very soon, as the Fifth Year Festival is next, complete with the beginning of Morishima’s excursion. I still have major reservations, but that plus Joe’s time coming up soon should bring some of the magic back that was missing as ROH kicked off its 2007.

 

Up next – Fifth Year Festival: NYC
Matches will include:

Shingo vs. Xavier vs. Jack Evans vs. Jimmy Jacobs
Brent Albright vs. BJ Whitmer
Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
Briscoe Bros. vs. Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness
Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima
Homicide vs. Jimmy Rave

[supersonic]

Fifth Year Festival: NYC – February 16, 2007

Taped from New York, NY

 

 

ROH Video Wire – January 31, 2007 important news (unavailable online):

Jimmy Rave vows to make Homicide tap out like a little bitch at Fifth Year Festival: NYC and walk out as ROH Champion.

Samoa Joe thanks the Honor Nation, confirming that he’s leaving ROH as the Fifth Year Festival will be his farewell tour. His promo is very heartfelt, conveying the significance the company has played in his life and career and that he’s now reached the point in which he has to leave home. He promises to bow out by leaving everything in the ring. He’s being “forced” to say farewell to “the company that I love,” but ROH has always been about new talent.
The video package is amazing for Joe’s farewell tour preview, just as touching as a decade ago.
Fifth Year Festival: NYC on February 16 – Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima
Fifth Year Festival: Philly on February 17 – Samoa Joe vs. Davey Richards
Fifth Year Festival: Dayton on February 23 – Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Rave
Fifth Year Festival: Chicago on February 24 – Samoa Joe & Homicide vs. Takeshi Morishima & Nigel McGuinness

Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool on March 3- Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness
March 4 in Liverpool – Samoa Joe’s final ROH match
This can’t be expected to measure up to the Summer of Punk, but this should be highly emotional.

 

The horrendously produced side view promos continue with Jimmy Rave saying that tonight will be his culmination, citing everyone has tapped out to the heel hook and he’s tired of being a failure.

 

Takeshi Morishima beats the shit out of Pelle Primeau in quick fashion via a backdrop driver in his official ROH in-ring debut. He wants Samoa Joe right now, which was clear when he came out to “The Champ is Here,” but Nigel McGuinness arrives to calm him down and says the big fight will be later.

 

Tag Champs Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels feel slighted and disrespected, being viewed inferior to the Briscoes and Austin Aries & Roderick Strong. They credit Aries & Strong for making the titles prestigious, but tonight in their rematch from Gut Check, Sydal & Daniels prove they deserve to be champions. Daniels is a total star here, rocking sunglasses and a goatee like Nigel McGuinness, while Sydal is very weak in comparison.

 

Xavier’s Final ROH Match – Elimination Match
Shingo vs. Xavier vs. Jack Evans vs. Jimmy Jacobs

 

Xavier is the mystery opponent, and doesn’t exactly receive a warm welcome. Then almost immeidatley, fans chant “Weclome back!” More on his tenure at the end of this review. He feels out of place here, but I’m definitely open-minded after the classics he’s had against Daniels and Paul London.

 

After a good sequence between Shingo and Xavier, Evans provides the first highlight when his Sasuke Special is avoided, causing him to crash into a barricade and have me screaming “GOD DAMN~!” The next highlight comes a few minutes later as Xavier decimates Jacobs, eats a Burning Hammer from Shingo, and then a reverse Hurricanrana Jackknife Pin by Evans to be eliminated. Xavier definitely needed to upgrade his gear, but more on him later as mentioned.

 

Shingo and Evans double-team Jacobs, but the former Tag Champ is resilient despite numerous blows, including a springboard knee strike from Evans that would make Seth Rollins proud. Shingo blocks a Shiranui and drives Jacobs neck-first onto his knee to eliminate him; Lacey is none too impressed as the crowd rallies behind Evans for the final portion of this match.

 

The Blood Generation stablemates ensure there will be no hard feelings before getting to business. The spectacle continues with numerous bombs, including a successful Sasuke Special from Evans, plus a Gordbuster on the top rope followed by a lariat that wouldn’t just impress JBL, but have him screaming so loudly as he’d mark out.

 

Evans cuts Shingo off with a front flip kick and after some more strikes including a Busaku knee, goes for the 630 Splash. Shingo tires to cut him off but Evans stops that with knees to the face and then hits the 630 to bring this nice appetizer to its conclusion.

 

While this is definitely not a classic, what I appreciate is that there were no silly tag rules. It was a pure scramble with everyone legal to allow bombs to be dropped aplenty. If ROH ever gets around to an Evans compilation, this should be be include.

 

Rating: ***

 

Bobby Cruise announces that tomorrow in Philly, Takeshi Morishima will challenge the winner of tonight’s Homicide vs. Jimmy Rave for the ROH Title!

 

Samoa Joe immediately comes out after that announcement to give NYC the first of his many farewell tour speeches. He gets the obvious “Please don’t’ go!” chants as he welcomes everyone and thanks the locker room for this opportunity to speak to the fans. Joe cools down some “Fuck TNA!” chants by saying they write his paychecks.

 

Joe thanks the fans for making ROH the most enjoyable part of his career, giving them respect for all the long road trips they took to see him as well, including the snowstorms happening in the Northeast on this date. This is basically Colt Cabana’s speech from Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 3, but with far more of a significant bite.

 

Joe is then ready to fight Morishima right now. Out comes Nigel McGuinness instead, dressed in warmup gear. He says that he respects Joe, but has no place to call out Morishima, and in fact it’s the other way around. Joe questions McGuinness of favoring NOAH over ROH, and says if “your Japanese sugar daddy” won’t come out, then he’ll kick his ass right now. Security comes out to limit the brawl, but NYC is hot for it. Why the fuck was I not seeing this feud on SmackDown a decade ago to build toward a match between them at WrestleMania 23?

 

Tables Are Legal Match
Brent Albright vs. BJ Whitmer

 

A poor, albeit spectacular, plunder match. Rather than build and develop stories to the numerous table bumps, which in individual vacuums were jaw-dropping, they spent too much time building up to spots. This took pieces of prior brutal classics of different styles, including Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind at Mind Games and Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon at King of the Ring 2001 without any of the subtlety at all. Just because the crowd popped for it doesn’t make the story any more convincing.

 

In a time when hardcore wrestling was so common, this match was really unwise in retrospect, as it was very dangerous for very little in return of terms of leaving any kind of legacy.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

Tag Titles Match
Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong

 

ROH announces its entire schedule during the entrances through June 22, including returns to New Jersey, Chicago, Manhattan, Boston, Philly, and Dayton. Looking forward to when Bryan Danielson eventually returns on one of those events, which ever it turns out to be.

 

This was a bad match. Forget that Aries slipped on a Quebrada attempt, and fortunately on his awkward shoulder bump didn’t suffer the same fate as Hayabusa. There was little heat as the challengers cut the ring in half on the cocky Sydal, and the hot tag got no reaction. There was also a tag legality issue, and I’m gonna start assigning blame for that from now on. In this instance, that goes to Daniels, and it’s not his first time letting minor league shit like that unfold in his tag matches.

 

The only highlight in this match was a botch that turned out to be chicken shit turned into chicken salad. Sydal was standing on Strong’s shoulders, and instead of hitting whatever he had planned, slipped and ate a Strong gutbuster. The finish was nothing as Aries out a Shooting Star Press and Best Moonsault Ever, although he certainly gave a valiant effort.

 

Aries & Strong are left in the ring and Davey Richards arrives, then Aries eats a backbreaker from Strong! Strong says he’s tired of being sidekick, as he’s formed the No Remorse Corps and will be the leader with Richards as his first member. Jack Evans arrives and keeps them newly formed NRC at bay, unhappy about his former Generation Next stablemates being split up like this. He’s come a long way the past couple years compared to how he treated Alex Shelley.

 

Strong says he has no problem with Evans as he leaves, but Richards spits at him. Aries is actually really good on the mic in his promo, happy to find the true feelings from Strong, but disappointed it had to be a handicap moment. Aries dares them to fight him and Evans, but Evans says he doesn’t wanna fight against him or Strong. He offers to handle this, but Aries says he’s not backing down.

 

First of all, what a disappointing match to end the epic run by Aries & Strong. Since Night of the Grudges II, they cemented a legacy as one of the greatest tag teams not just in ROH, not just on the indies, but in ALL of wrestling throughout the 2000s decade. Hopefully their run gets a compilation soon, as it was because of them that the Tag Titles became meaningful.

 

As for the angle, this is BAD, BAD, BAD idea. Now I’m a believer in offering alternate solutions, so here you go, and there will be more details to come: Richards, Aries, and Strong collectively form a heel faction called the Elitists, with their shtick being that their style of wrestling is the correct one and they dare anyone to take their spots.

 

Holy shit, does the No Remorse Corps name sound fucking horrendous in hindsight.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

Briscoe Bros. vs. Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness

 

Significantly superior tag match on this card. Everything made sense with the Briscoes deciding to be the default heels. While there were no big hot tag segments, there were also no tag legality issues, which perhaps should be credited to Cabana & McGuinness, for that was another benefit to their match against Aries & Strong 8 months earlier next door.

 

The finish was by the book and effective, bombs galore being thrown, including an assisted Tower of London, but not Colt .45, which I appreciated. Once McGuinness hit a rebound lariat not just successfully, but one that caused Jay to take a head drop bump, that was it. With the Briscoes clearly in line for a Tag Titles match after beating the Kings of Wrestling and sweeping Aries & Strong in 2 straight falls a few weeks back, this should put Cabana & McGuinness in the conversation.

 

That’s another mistake in the booking right there: McGuinness should instead be getting groomed for an ROH Title match on the final weekend of the Fifth Year Festival in Liverpool. That’s to be examined at another time.

 

Rating: ***1/2

 

Joe comes out in wrestling gear to spoil the celebration of McGuinness, attacking him. That’s definitely a bitch move to do to someone after just facing the Briscoes. But our real main event is right now!

 

Dream Match
Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima

 

 

Easily the match of the night as expected. Morishima dominated early with various blows and bombs, absolutely relentless. He wasn’t afraid to pull out any stops, including a super shotgun missile dropkick. It would take him getting overzealous on the top rope again for Joe to finally make a comeback with an appropriate Manhattan Drop counter.

 

Joe was even more vicious, truly displaying his animosity with two of the most intense Ole Ole kicks of his career as the Manhattan Crowd erupted. He was equally relentless in his attack while in control, not letting up one bit. This time, Morishima would have to regain control with his trademark side slam.

 

This would eventually lead to Morishima getting overzealous yet again on the top rope, leaving him open to an Enziguri from Joe, followed by a musclebuster for a pretty good near-fall, though not as epic as I would’ve hoped. The favor would be returned a few months later when Joe kicked out of the backdrop driver. I wouldn’t have booked that false finish.

 

Although the finish was obviously wrong with Joe going over clean, at least Morishima passed out in the Coquina Clutch, rather than tapping out or looking at the lights. This was a great match, that would grade even higher had Morishima gone over as common sense would dictate, rather than booker Gabe Sapolsky gambling that Joe would return for a rematch to put Morishima over later in the year. Think of the finish as ROH’s version of John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar from Extreme Rules 2012.

 

Post-match, both men get great ovations from the crowd, and deservedly so.

 

Rating: ****

 

Fifth Year Festival “Feuds of the Year” video package:

Jimmy Rave vs. Nigel McGuinness

Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness

Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA

Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide

Homicide vs. Colt Cabana

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Colt Cabana

Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer

ROH vs. CZW

Steve Corino vs. Homicide

Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & Homicide

Briscoe Bros. vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong

Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong

Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe

 

ROH Title Match
Homicide vs. Jimmy Rave

 

As expected going into this show, the Rave push has turned out to be a huge waste of time since Prince Nana’s departure. The first 15 minutes or so have barely any heat, and it takes Rave countering Homicide’s Super Hurricanrana attempt with a Super Styles Clash (a violation of his defeat to AJ Styles.) There was very little storytelling cohesion in this one, and Nana’s absence was very glaring, for he would’ve generated INCREDIBLE heat going up against Julius Smokes in this match.

 

The crowd reacts to Rave kicking out of Homicide’s running lariat, I guess since it’s the move that put down Danielson a couple months earlier. Unlike that match, Homicide’s lack of selling the work Rave did on his leg couldn’t be compensated for, and when it keeps him from hitting a Kudo Driver near the end, it’s too little too late. Once it’s actually hit, I’m just glad this is finally done with.

 

In the post-match commentary, Dave Prazak reveals Rave will face McGuinness in a hardcore match when ROH returns to Liverpool in a couple weeks. OH FUCK YES AT LEAST FOR THAT ONE AFTER THAT I QUIT MATCH A FEW WEEKS AGO~!

 

This is easily one of the most disappointing main events in ROH’s history. All the stock that was put into Rave didn’t deliver when it mattered most. He was fed McGuinness over and over again, including a clean submission. He was fed El Generico. He was fed Tag Champ Daniels. He went over Homicide via fluke albeit clean fashion at Black Friday Fallout, a booking that clearly should’ve been done for McGuinness instead. As I stated before, this should’ve been Homicide vs. McGuinness with a controversial finish, leading to a rematch in Liverpool for McGuinness to have his coronation in the city that saw him become a top guy. I dare anyone to make the argument that Homicide and McGuinness, the two biggest babyfaces on the roster at this time, wouldn’t have electrified NYC in the co-main event slot while Joe vs. Morishima closed out the evening (with Morishima over in that one of course.)

 

As for this match, this is further proof that Sapolsky should’ve known Homicide would need more appropriate challengers lined up, and Rave without Nana did not measure up. Homicide didn’t have the intanibles to stand on his own, he needed the right foil, and Sapolsky failed to develop that as 2006 came to an end, and then it blew up here with a lukewarm match.

 

Even had my idea of Homicide vs. McGuinness taken place here, there’s no way anything should’ve closed out this show except for Joe vs. Morishima. That match was The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan for this crowd, on this night; and thus, that made this “main event” into Chris Jericho vs. Triple H.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

The DVD closes with Becky Bayless discovering that Jack Evans has been assaulted with a concrete structure left on him. Bayless asks someone not shown on camera if they’re responsible. I hate this cliffhanger type production.

 

Avoid this show unless one is a Briscoes or McGuinness die-hard, as the real main event is available for free on YouTube, and is also on Joe’s Total Domination compilation. This was a show that largely fell apart, some of them Sapolsky’s fault, some of them not. The booking flaws are becoming more glaring with each passing month though.

 

As mentioned, this was the finale for “The All-Around Best” Xavier. While a year earlier I had only mentioned that Unscripted II was pretty much his swan song, I didn’t do his time in the company justice, focusing too much on that event being the actual finale for CM Punk.

 

For OG fans of ROH, it’s no secret that Xavier is one of the worst picks to ever hold the ROH Title. The debate has gone back-and-forth for far too long; he was a poor choice to be in such a position. No argument can soften the blow; more than his inconsistent workrate, which actually DID peak with show-stealing matches during his time in the company against Paul London, John Walters, Bryan Danielson, and Christopher Daniels, his horrendous promos were a far bigger problem, in no way ever adequately conveying the emotions of his assigned character.

 

As mentioned, Xavier did show at time he was a capable hand in very different matches. The hardcore match against Walters at Final Battle 2003 is often mentioned as a favorite of that match type in the company’s history, and is very comparable to Trent Acid vs. Homicide taken place 6 months earlier that same year at Wrestlerave. Both of his singles matches against London at Final Battle 2002 and One Year Anniversary Show are highlights of his ROH Title reign, as London’s ability to generate sympathy and fight from behind against ANY type of heel (including Xavier’s chicken shit flavor of it) were the perfect complement to accentuate Xavier’s arsenal. That also speaks volumes as to how elite London was as a performer before he signed with WWE; he managed to get two compelling matches out of Xavier, which the far more decorated AJ Styles failed to do. With that said, Xavier and Styles had an excellent feud-ender tagging respectively with Daniels and Low Ki at ROH’s Pittsburgh debut in January 2003, bringing the very-hard-to-find Revenge on the Prophecy to a hot close.

 

Xavier’s match against Danielson had the potential to be a career highlight for him, but it wasn’t meant to be as Sapolsky felt the need to give it a sports-entertainment finish. In hindsight, since Xavier would only be brought back one more time, that being a year later, with no other plans at all for him, Danielson should’ve just gone over clean to make it the classic that it was looking to be.

 

Xavier’s match against former Prophecy stablemate Daniels at Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies would be my pick for his greatest match ever. It was a tremendous game of chess and scouting between two combatants that would know each other so well, both with something to prove to each other in their quest to dethrone Samoa Joe, the former Prophecy mercenary, for the ROH Title.

 

Xavier has been known to actually attend ROH events in Manhattan, and I personally him among the crowd on WrestleMania XXIX weekend. No matter how obscure he became, I believe that anyone who’s been ROH Champion shouldn’t be treated as just another fan in the audience. It’s also a shame that it looks like injuries in early 2004 derailed him, right after the feud-ending gem against Walters. Perhaps the spot that would eventually go to Jimmy Rave would’ve been his to grab onto and maximize, finally having the perfect mouthpiece in Nana to do all the talking for him while he brought it in the ring. We’ll never know.

 

There’s not much to Xavier’s body of work in ROH. There’s not even a true top 10 to be made for him. But I will present the matches that best reflect his time in the company, from the historic title changes, to the already mentioned gems, to his anticlimactic finale.

 

Xavier’s All-Around Best ROH Matches

1. Xavier vs. Low Ki – Unscripted

2. Xavier vs. Jay Briscoe – All Star Extravaganza

3. Xavier vs. Paul London – Final Battle 2002 ***3/4

4. Xavier & Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki & AJ Styles – Revenge on the Prophecy ****

5. Xavier vs. Paul London – One Year Anniversary Show ****

6. Xavier vs. Samoa Joe – Night of Champions

7. Xavier vs. Christopher Daniels – Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies ****1/4

8. Xavier vs. John Walters – Final Battle 2003 ***1/4

9. Xavier vs. Bryan Danielson – Unscripted II ***1/2

10. Xavier vs. Shingo vs. Jack Evans vs. Jimmy Jacobs – Fifth Year Festival: NYC ***

 

History is on the horizon, folks. In BOTH matches for the next event in this journey.

 

Up next – Fifth Year Festival: Philly
Matches will include:
Briscoe Bros. vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
Homicide vs. Takeshi Morishima

[supersonic]

Fifth Year Festival: Philly – February 17, 2007

Taped from Philadelphia, PA

 

 

Despite both matches being reviewed here ending up being historic, this is a lukewarm show, so some C&P treatment here from Brad Garoon & Jake Ziegler.

 

JZ says: We picked up where we left off after last night’s show by finding out that Davey Richards is the one who attacked Jack Evans, even though he denies it.

Lacey is backstage with Jimmy Jacobs and Adam Pearce, whom she will team with tonight in mixed tag team action against Colt Cabana, BJ Whitmer & Daizee Haze. Lacey says good things about Pearce (and Hagadorn makes some homosexual sounding remark), and then berates Jacobs, as usual. Pearce says it’s about the money, but Jacobs disagrees. He says that “tonight we go to war with the crest of love on our shields” and I about spit Dr. Pepper out my nose.

Aries of course can’t finish a match without cutting a promo afterward. He challenges Strong to come out, and calls Davey Richards “Austin Aries Lite.” Jack Evans comes out instead and tries to play peacemaker. Strong and Richards come out now, and Strong is sporting a nice shiner. Strong says he’d fight Aries, but he has a huge FIP Title defense tonight. He then gives Evans the “with me or against me” ultimatum. Richards reiterates that message and the two go backstage. Aries absolutely can’t leave without getting the last word in. He also doesn’t bother selling the ankle on his way to the back.

Briscoe Bros. vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico

 

At long last, Steen & Generico found their groove in ROH. Generico had individually already gotten the job done at Final Battle 2006, but for Steen the struggle was even longer, having been completely absent from ROH in 2006. There will be a column detailing the significance of this match on their careers, the Briscoes’ run in 2007, and independent wrestling in general.

 

In a vacuum, this is just a good match, but nothing special. The biggest takeaway from a storytelling perspective was that Steen was clearly less sportsmanlike than white meat Generico. This not only was a ploy to get in the Briscoes’ heads, but indication how frustrated he must have been being avoided throughout not just 2006, but the peak 365-day period from September 2005 to September 2006. Steen & Generico weren’t just stars in IWS, PWG, and IWA-MS, but in CZW as well, and yet couldn’t get recruited to represent the ultraviolent cause when it invaded ROH?

 

There was never an incredible hot tag period, although there were half-assed efforts in making it happen. The Briscoes happily played dirty as a receipt to Steen, victimizing Generico and cutting the ring in half on him. Once Generico got the tag, Steen was a house of fire with various strikes and bombs, making the most of his opportunity tonight as the commentary clearly pushed the narrative that Steen & Generico were looking to earn spots on the roster.

 

The best part of the match would be a plethora of bombs, ending with Steen giving Mark the pop-up powerbomb that would define him once his major league dreams came true. The ovation this sequence got pretty much sealed the deal for Steen & Generico, but I appreciated the protection Steen got in defeat even more. Mark evaded the package piledriver (rather than booking it to be a near-fall or even worse, a kick out spot), countering with a cutthroat driver. The Briscoes then finished Steen off with stereo shooting star press and guillotine leg drops.

 

In the post-match, the crowd makes it official as Steen & Generico are left in the ring: “Please come back!” As if that was ever in doubt after Steen’s feud of the year contender in 2005 against Super Dragon, and Generico’s performances against CIMA and Chris Sabin.

 

Rating: ***1/2

 

Samoa Joe finishes off Jimmy Rave in an anti-climactic match, further proving what a waste Rave’s huge push in the last 3 months. Joe cuts a heartfelt promo, since this was the city that not only saw ROH’s birth, but his debut and his historic ROH Title win and loss. But beyond that, and even beyond Philly being the birthplace of hardcore wrestling, this was the city that gave birth to the hardcore wrestling fans, the type of fans that demanded nothing less than excellence, and for that he is thankful. He concludes this by thanking ROH and proclaiming his love for professional wrestling. A wonderful promo, and the rest of his farewell tour has got quite a bit to love up to on the stick.

 

BG says: Bayless is backstage with Jack Evans. She asks him who laid him out last night. Evans knows for sure that it wasn’t Davey Richards, but he really doesn’t care.

After the match Evans apologizes to Shingo in Japanenglish for being the weak link. Austin Aries comes out so Evans reiterates that he’s not taking sides on this issue. Aries isn’t going to beg Evans, so considering the fact that he lead Generation Next to the top he’s going to form a new group of young wrestlers to back him up against the No Remorse Corp. Evans decides that he should probably get a crew of his own together.

The former Generation Next splintering into 3 factions? Legitimately hilarious considering the alternative I pitched already – the Elitists of Richards, Aries, Strong, and Edwards. If booker Gabe Sapolsky had more faith in Steen & Generico (and he damn well should have instead of being narrowminded about their disappointing performances in 2005), they could’ve banded with Evans coming out of this to represent a new wave of talents in the company.

 

"Rebecca Bayless is backstage with Lacey and Jimmy Jacobs. Awk-waaard! Lacey tells Jacobs that she’s proud of him for jabbing the heel into Cabana’s throat. She seems mildly turned on by the violence they committed together and then whispers something exciting into Jacobs’s ear. What a wild turn of events! Jacobs reaction is great."

 

Fifth Year Festival – International Influence

 

A neat package looking at all the Japanese and European talents utilized in the company over the past 12 months. The track used sounds awfully similar to a club scene in the first season of Dexter, and perhaps it is since that aired in late 2006. I’d have included Generico and Lance Storm in this package to complete it.

 

ROH Title Match
Homicide vs. Takeshi Morishima

 

 

Pissed off about losing to Joe, Morishima ambushes Homicide in the entrance aisle, throwing the champion around and even giving him a DDT on the floor before they get in the ring and officially start the match. But that plays to right in Homicide’s strength, as he manages to get the advantage early and ragdoll Morishima into barricades numerous times. I appreciate that as it stays true to Homicide’s character instead of marginalizing him just to showcase Morishima.

 

Julius Smokes also blatantly involved himself at points, even in front of referee Todd Sinclair at one point. Sinclair only admonishes Smokes, and perhaps Sinclair is being lenient not just based on his history with Homicide, but out of feeling disrespected by Morishima for his actions before the opening bell. This was really a competitive contest, far more than I had remembered a decade ago. This wasn’t as “decisive” as Sapolsky marketed this as being in the days after this. Homicide brought forth a tremendous effort, bloodying Morishima’s nose just like Joe did 24 hours earlier, and often knocking Morishima down, even enough to apply an STF.

 

In storyline, I believe Homicide fucked himself out of victory by giving up on the STF. Morishima wouldn’t give up, but he was unable to reach the ropes. Homicide could’ve possibly forced Morishima to pass out, enhancing his legacy as an unfuckable force to be reckoned with. Seriously, had Homicide with his much smaller size actually forced Morishima into passing out just like Joe, would anyone wanna bother trying to dethrone him and end his dream as champion?

 

But alas, it was not be. Once Morishima was back on his feet, he brushed off Homicide’s standard dropkicks much like Brock Lesnar would. The double lariat from Homicide lacked drama, which was echoed in the lack of reaction from the crowd despite it putting down Joe 3 weeks earlier in New Jersey. A part of me wishes just one backdrop driver had put down Homicide to establish it as a killer finisher, but with Homicide being such a protected, integral part of ROH’s first 5 years, it made sense for him to kick out at first, once again just like Joe the night before, with Morishima needing a second one to get the job done and make shocking history.

 

The crowd is pleasantly surprised at this title change. Who would’ve seen this coming after Joe had cleanly defeated Morishima in NYC? But in storyline, it can be argued, with the clear display in Morishima’s actions before the opening bell, that such a humbling defeat sharpened his focus, that it made him realize he was not gonna waltz into ROH and easily smoke the competition.

 

This was a very effectively laid out match, although I’m not the biggest fan of the direction in hindsight. Here are the details of what I would’ve booked on this card.

 

Homicide & Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong

Remember, Aries & Strong have NOT broken up in my scenario, instead sticking together and recruiting the tandem known today as the Wolves for a new heel faction. Homicide and McGuinness team up as a means to hype up their Liverpool rematch that I’d have on the horizon. Aries is also being groomed to earn an ROH Title match in the future.

 

Xavier vs. Takeshi Morishima

Xavier is brought back into ROH, with the hopes that like Steen & Generico, he’ll earn a spot back on the roster. Rather than winning the ROH Title in his first weekend, I groom Morishima to challenge for it in a huge match later in 2007. How so? By not just going undefeated like Goldberg almost a decade earlier, but by cleanly defeating every former ROH Champion available, with Joe and Xavier being his first victims.

 

Anyway, still a good main event that got both Homicide and Morishima over as bad motherfuckers, and that’s the least I could ask for. Easily the peak of Homicide’s short time as ROH Champion too, and although I’ve clearly explained why I wouldn’t have gone with Morishima so early, I am looking forward to seeing everyone step up to dethrone the asshole monster, who refused to celebrate with the roster as part of the post-match ROH Title change tradition.

 

Rating: ***1/2

 

As touching as Joe’s promo is on this show, it isn’t exactly Bryan Danielson’s retirement speech. So with the show-stealing tag already on 2 compilations, and the main event for free on YouTube, save your money and avoid this ultimately disappointing event.

 

We now reach literally ROH’s fifth birthday, but the show-stealer isn’t what anyone expects.

 

Up next – Fifth Year Festival: Dayton
Matches will include:

Brent Albright & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness
Shingo vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Matt Cross vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Roderick Strong vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Samoa Joe vs. Davey Richards

[supersonic]

Fifth Year Festival: Dayton – February 23, 2007

Taped from Dayton, OH

 

 

ROH Video Wire – February 22, 2007

 

 

Another lukewarm show means C&P treatment from Brad Garoon & Jake Ziegler.

 

Brent Albright & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness

 

McGuinness is already at ringside first so he’s requested by Lacey to just ditch Cabana for the night, to which he declined by calling her a slag. Jimmy Rave came out and gave him the heel hook, allowing the heels to have the early advantage even after Cabana ran out to make the save.

 

This was effective if nothing special, with the heels cutting the ring in half on McGuinness, targeting his left leg thanks to Rave’s attack moments earlier. Credit must be given though because once McGuinness got the hot tag, the crowd actually reacted to it, which is something missing from the Briscoes’ matches during this time. Cabana was a very good house of fire.

 

Once Albright was taken down with an assisted Tower of London, that took him out of the equation. His counter of the rebound lariat into the crowbar submission has me interested in a singles encounter against McGuinness though. With Jacobs down to himself, he resorted to choking Cabana with a guitar string, but that left him open to a rebound lariat. However, this should not have ended the match, as Albright was still legal.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

Lacey doesn’t care whether or not the match was fair, and she loved having Jacobs out there supporting her at ringside. She’s been more and more impressed with him lately. She really liked the way he choked Cabana out with the guitar string. Tomorrow night she wants Jacobs to kill Cabana in the Windy City Deathmatch. If he does she’ll give him something that will make him very happy. His facial expressions during his subsequent emo rant are hilarious.

Shingo vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Matt Cross vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Roderick Strong vs. Claudio Castagnoli

 

This match didn’t hide that it was gonna be a spot fest, with incredibly lax legality rules in place. Should the wrestlers prefer, they could do the standard tag, which is why the match started like that, but anyone was allowed to go in and out as they please, with no actual legalities to be enforced. Keeping it honest like that goes a long way.

 

This was more than a spot fest though, turning out to be Primeau’s career-defining performance. The first half of the match was highlighted by him being bullied repeatedly by Shingo, Strong, and Castagnoli, all of them taking turns with brutal strikes including chops and uppercuts. Primeau should’ve been given a time machine on this to late 2016, as he’d have been a vastly superior alternate to James Ellsworth. The psychology paid off in spades too, because once Primeau managed to counter Castagnoli with a head-scissors, the Dayton crowd popped tremendously for him.

 

The second half of the match just became an all-out spectacle, with everyone taking turns with different bombs, strikes, and dives. Shooting star presses, gut busters, uppercuts, Alpamari Waterslides, springboard hurricanrana pins, this was a nonstop bonanza with Dayton going crazy. If there’s one flaw to pinpoint, it would be the finish from 2 perspectives. The crowd didn’t pop as crazy went Castagnoli finished off Cross with a press-up uppercut. Based on the match’s structure, Primeau should’ve taken the fall to bring it full circle and effectively frustrate the crowd.

 

Both Primeau and Cross got over huge with Dayton in this match. While the former was far more over by putting in a peak career performance, Cross was outstanding in this as well, placed in a situation that perfectly played into his strengths and hid the weaknesses in his game that always glare in standard singles and tag matches. Hopefully booker Gabe Sapolsky doesn’t overreact to this match, but based on his past few months, I’m not counting on that.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

Samoa Joe vs. Davey Richards

 

A surprising toss-up with the show-stealer before this for match of the night, and had the Dayton crowd not sucked in this match, this could’ve actually been an excellent match. Sapolosky deserves blame for that; even in southwestern Ohio, nobody cared enough about BJ Whitmer challenging Takeshi Morishima for the ROH Title for it to headline over Joe vs. Richards. In addition, Morishima vs. Whitmer would’ve been the perfect **1/2 special cooldown match to showcase the champion as a killer in between the six-way frenzy and real main event on this card of Joe vs. Richards.

 

An example of the crowd sucking in this near-classic would be really deep into it, as Richards blocked Joe’s Superplex attempt and hit a Sunset Bomb on him to just a polite reaction. This should’ve been treated as a potential game-changer in the match on par with Aries hitting a Crucifix Bomb at Final Battle 2004. Richards also didn’t get much heel heat as I would’ve hoped when he hit some low blows. Considering this was Joe’s farewell tour, which Richards verbally shit on, the crowd should’ve been venomous towards the newly turned ROH rookie.

 

The work of the match was really good as mentioned, with Joe getting vicious in retaliation when he cut off Richards on the outside to deliver some Ole Ole Kicks. The Coquina Clutch false finishes were good stuff too, as was his scouting of the Richards handspring kick. The finish was also definitely the peak, putting Richards over strongly because of the difficulty Joe had in finishing him off, with an apron musclebuster, which finally got the monster reaction that this match deserved. This should be included on another Joe or Richards compilation in the future.

 

In the post-match, Richards opts to spit on Joe and immediately roll out of the ring. Joe explains that when you smack your bitch around enough, eventually she’ll spit on you. He then cuts another warm and fuzzy promo, citing this is where he and CM Punk said nobody would fucking stop ROH, and here they were nearly 3 years later. In addition, he correctly points out that while Dayton has been one of ROH’s smaller markets, it had wonderful fans that always came to have a great time. That was certainly true before Dayton got sadly saddled as a B-market.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

Fifth Year Festival – Matches of the Year:
The 2006 Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match
Team ROH vs. Team CZW – Death Before Dishonor IV
Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe vs. KENTA – In Your Face
KENTA & Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong – Honor Reclaims Boston
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Briscoe Bros. – Unified
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Nigel McGuinness – Glory By Honor V Night 2
Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness – Unified
Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA – Glory By Honor V Night 2
Bryan Danielson & Samoa Joe vs. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji – Best in the World 2006
CIMA & Speed Muscle vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Genki Horiguchi – Supercard of Honor

 

Considering that neither of the matches that delivered are on compilations yet, this gets a recommendation by default despite being another lukewarm show. I’m still waiting for an event from the Fifth Year Festival that could even measure up to the worst of The Milestone Series, though.

 

In hindsight, what are the changes I would’ve made to make ROH’s official 5^th birthday into something memorable?

 

If sticking with Morishima having dethroned Homicide in Philly, I’d have done the rematch here. The story can be that Homicide isn’t waiting for his traditional rematch clause, he wants it immediately. There’s the extra poetry that the OG of ROH wants to recapture his dream of being ROH Champion 5 years to the date of him starting with the company on Day 1. The three-way we got between Homicide, Jay Briscoe, and Christopher Daniels was fine in theory as an homage to Daniels vs. Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson and also build heat for the Briscoes vs. Daniels & Matt Sydal the following night, but there was no juice in it at all.

 

There’s the argument that if Homicide had still been champion, then the OGs’ three-way would’ve meant much more as the main event for the biggest prize in the company. That definitely makes sense. However, seeing how hot the six-way was that actually happened, I’d have had a six-way as the main event with what is today known as “Defy or Deny” rules. In the very building where he had earned an ROH Title shot the previous summer by pinning Danielson, Aries would do it again by beating Homicide in a match also involving the Briscoes, Daniels, and overnight Sweet ‘N Sour member, Claudio Castagnoli, who Chris Hero & Larry Sweeney would’ve had a change a heart about the prior month. How would Castagnoli have been inserted into this match? Because Sweeney would be his agent, that’s how.

 

As for Morishima, he’d continue the undefeated streak in a hard-hitting match against the newly turned Roderick Strong, continuing his streak at 3-0 after defeating Joe and Xavier in his debut weekend.

 

Back to reality. Joe’s ROH tenure on American soil now reaches its conclusion, as does Jacobs vs. Cabana. At long last as well after waiting 6 months, ROH’s hottest tag team gets their shot at the Tag Titles. Can they bring their 365^th day back in the company full circle and finally claim the silver, and in the process liberate viewers from a reign that has severely devalued everything Aries & Strong had built last year?

 

Up next – Fifth Year Festival: Chicago
Matches will include:
Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels vs. Briscoe Bros.
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Colt Cabana
Takeshi Morishima & Nigel McGuinness vs. Samoa Joe & Homicide

[supersonic]

Fifth Year Festival: Chicago – February 24, 2007

Taped from Chicago, IL

 

 

Austin Aries tells Matt Cross and 2 other utter jabronis that he may recruit them for his new stable. Oh for fuck’s sake, why wouldn’t he just wait for Kevin Steen & El Generico to return after their effort against the Briscoes, an effort that earned “Please come back!” chants?

 

Instead of the usual Frontier Fieldhouse in Chicago Ridge, this event is taking place in Chicago proper at the Windy City Fieldhouse. There is literally another sporting event going on in another part of the building and it’s hilarious to hear whistles being blown by referees. Totally bush league for Samoa Joe’s American soil farewell in ROH.

 

The interaction between Brent Albright, Larry Sweeney, and Claudio Castagnoli makes me realize that had Sweeney just recruited the Kings of Wrestling, then Albright would’ve been a perfect mercenary third wheel to complete the Sweet ‘N Sour faction.

 

Colt Cabana cuts an effective promo, first looking upon the light snowy weather of his hometown. He’s disappointed because Jimmy Jacobs turned down his friendship, the opportunity for Cabana to share years of experience in life and wrestling. But tonight in Chicago, Jacobs will be left emotionally broken, a crimson mask, dripping head to toe, and Cabana will no longer have to be a part of it. I’m expecting a high heel to factor in based on him referencing Irresistible Forces and The Chicago Spectacular.

 

Cross wins a nothing special four-way and is recruited by Aries to take on Davey Richards & Roderick Strong tonight. This angle is already falling apart, as booker Gabe Sapolsky has overreacted to Cross getting pops for his flippy-dos in recent months. Strong having a feud with Delirious also makes this angle lack cohesion, which is surprising because ROH has prided itself the past few years on talents having multiple simultaneous arcs.

 

Tag Titles Match
Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels vs. Briscoe Bros.

 

Outstanding tag match, even better than I had remembered. I’ll get the nitpick out of the way; what hurt this during the action-packed free-for-all third act, even with tag legalities being adhered to, compared to Aries & Strong vs. KENTA & Richards at Honor Reclaims Boston doing the same thing? This match saw referee Todd Sinclair early in the match keep one of the Briscoes from illegally entering, despite what would come in the third act as mentioned, and him calming the match down when it started hot early thanks to the participants coming and going as they pleased.

 

As mentioned, it was a refreshing surprise for tag legalities to be adhered to, and it paid off when the champs cut the ring in half on Jay and finally tagged in Mark. While it wasn’t quite the expected epic, the crowd reacted well to Mark being a house of fire. Everything in this match was just crisp and firing on all cylinders, nothing going to waste whatsoever.

 

There were plenty of highlights in this obviously, from the champs delivering an assisted pancake facebuster, to Sydal giving Daniels a hurricanrana-assisted double clotheslines off the turnbuckle, to Sydal eating a double press-up slam, to the very finish as Mark took both champs out with cutthroat drivers. That took Daniels out of the equation, allowing the Briscoes to finish off the legal Sydal with a guillotine leg drop and shooting star press. It wasn’t the stereo version they wanted thanks to Mark briefly slipping, but it was effective nonetheless.

 

In the post-match, Jay’s promo is interrupted as Sydal & Daniels grab the belts and demand they turn around. Despite Sydal’s cockiness and the crankiness of Daniels, they strapped the belts on the new champs. This was poetic, culminating the year-long journey the Briscoes had taken to finally winning the belts since their return 364 days earlier, and ended the weak run of Sydal & Daniels on a high note. The scary part though: who do the Briscoes have to defend the belts against, since even though Steen & Generico earned spots, the Briscoes had already beaten them?

 

Rating: ****1/4

 

At intermission, Lacey tells Jimmy Jacobs she doesn’t care about him winning and losing tonight. Instead, she wants someone to die, for Colt Cabana’s career to be ended, and promises him that if he gets the job done, she’ll do something nice for him. Lacey’s transformation is a sight to behold here, as she’s clearly becoming more attracted to Jacobs after all the work he’s done on her behalf. She doesn’t even mind him playing with her hair as he creepily says that when there’s death, there’s life, and tonight two lovers will unite where there’s bloodshed.

 

Hardcore Match
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Colt Cabana

 

Another excellent match on this card, bringing this portion of the Jacobs saga to its proper conclusion. This was a disgusting match, one of its time, with both men having crimson masks at different times. It’s weird to see that with 2017 eyes, but make no mistake, it certainly added to the story of how much these two hated each other.

 

There was some definite sports-entertainment thrown in. Lacey was ready to stomp Cabana’s groin but was stopped by Daizee Haze. The spot Haze did on Lacey looked incredibly awkward before chasing her to the back; looking back, it looks like Haze may have simpler just been a poor wrestler. Brent Albright also came in later to give Cabana a half nelson suplex, to be followed by BJ Whitmer to even the odds. There was nothing big done between Jacobs and Whitmer in this match, and there damn well shouldn’t have been, for they still had another 5 weeks of story left to tell.

 

Brutal highlights in this match include making me hope at some point we get a Jeff Hardy vs. Jimmy Jacobs match, as Jacobs hit a senton off of a ladder in the ring, on Cabana through a table outside. Jacobs also must have arrogantly not bothered to check his wardrobe before the match, as Cabana somehow had his trademark spike, which would later be used on the bloody head of Jacobs when Cabana found a hammer. Jacobs also broke the wooden pole of Cabana’s Chicago flag by snapping it on Cabana’s back, creating 2 wooden spikes out of it that would come into play.

 

My favorite piece of storytelling in the match was Cabana bringing scissors into the match. This was him displaying how much he learned feuding against Homicide, and it would take that kind of effort against the love-crazed Jacobs, who was no slouch in this environment himself in this city too, having put up an amazing effort against Alex Shelley in an I Quit match back in 2004. Cabana got overzealous with the scissors and stabbed it into a turnbuckle pad, wasting time trying to pull it out. That allowed Jacobs to get the upper hand.

 

Lacey would return to help Jacobs, wanting to use a high heel as I suspected. Cabana prevented it and use the shoe himself to attack Jacobs, finishing the two creepy significant others both off with Colt .45s and pinning them for the victory. Fantastic finish to this story for Cabana to put this behind him, and further ammunition for Jacobs to make things right with Lacey in his unfinished business against Whitmer.

 

Rating: ****1/4

 

Fifth Year Festival – Greatest Moments
Too many to list here, but plenty of crazy spectacles and special guest star appearances are highlighted.

 

Samoa Joe’s American Soil Farewell in ROH
Takeshi Morishima & Nigel McGuinness vs. Samoa Joe & Homicide

 

The positives of this match: nobody was buried coming out of it, and the standing ovation Joe got during his introduction was surreal, a well-deserved one And the post-match ceremony was tremendous too, with McGuinness also saying that since he beat Joe, he wants Morishima for the ROH Title the next time he’s booked.

 

This was a very disappointing main event, carried completely by being a novelty. There were tag legalities aplenty in this one; I was ready to excuse the first one after a solid brawl on the outside. But the ones later made absolutely no sense. There was never a truly cohesive, drama-building arc to this match.

 

I’d ultimately point to the booking holes as the culprit. Had Homicide vs. McGuinness with a title change been planned for Liverpool, this would’ve heated up that match. Morishima could’ve also been more steadily groomed for his inevitable shot at the title, rather than just having been thrust into the top spot so quickly.

 

Had Homicide vs. McGuinness been the planned next title change, then simply put, I have Joe vs. McGuinness wrapping up their program here with McGuinness going over, giving him that extra springboard before coming to his home country to challenge Homicide and end his feud against Jimmy Rave. Instead we got one of the most disappointing main events in ROH history, one that nobody ever talks about. All just so Morishima could defend the belt against KENTA in Tokyo.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

All of the important matches are available on compilations, so it’s a toss-up if this show is a necessity. Use your best judgment, but the 2 classic matches are definitely must-see.

 

Finally, we arrive at a double-shot of shows that actually received wide acclaim. This is the in-ring ROH that I fell in love with, and I expect the best shows since Glory By Honor V Night 2.

 

Up next – Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool
Matches will include:

Homicide vs. Davey Richards
Jimmy Rave & Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer & Colt Cabana
Delirious vs. Matt Sydal
Roderick Strong vs. PAC
Briscoe Bros. vs. Shingo & Naruki Doi
Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness

[supersonic]

Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool – March 3, 2007

Taped from Liverpool, England

 

 

ROH Video Wire – March 1, 2007 important news (unavailable online):

A nice highlight reel of ROH Champion Takeshi Morishima’s first 4 nights competing in ROH

Samoa Joe’s farewell match on March 4 in Liverpool will be against his greatest foe, now best friend in the company, none other than Homicide. That should be an emotional match for both, and it’ll be nice to compare it to CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana all these years later.

 

The DVD kicks off with a horrendous Roderick Strong promo, revealing he attacked Jack Evans in NYC and the friendship was never real. He’s sporting the FIP Title and says it becomes a world title tonight, saying he’ll break the debuting PAC in half.

 

Jimmy Jacobs says his 6-hour flight was miserable since Lacey couldn’t come along due to eating Colt Cabana’s Colt .45 last week. Jacobs is proud for giving Cabana a crimson mask, knowing that it pleased Lacey. Her mission for him tonight is to take out Cabana and/or BJ Whitmer. He vows this war of attrition ends in Liverpool, and Lacey’s whispers will all come true for him. THIS should’ve kicked off the DVD.

 

Homicide vs. Davey Richards

 

Good opener that didn’t try to be anything special even though it probably could’ve been. After some even stuff, Richards got the upper hand on the outside via kicks to the torso and then a big boot with former ROH Champion crotched on a guardrail. Richards seemed to target Homicide’s torso, going after the front end with more kicks and delivering backbreakers. But he never completely focused on the torso, going for Kondo Clutches instead of a more conducive back submission.

 

Homicide got his shit in too, not letting the newly-turned ROH rookie boost his resume at his expense. The Notorious 187 brought plenty of his trademark bombs, including Eddie Guerrero’s 3 Amigos suplex chain, some lariats, and even a frog splash for a near-fall. Honestly though, his lariats more resembled clotheslines, lacking the epic firepower to be considered true lariats. So when that was a near-fall, It made sense. But after enough blows, Richards was prone to the Kudo Driver, not being able to evade it again. Too bad we never got a rematch between these two.

 

Rating: ***1/4

 

The side view promos return! The Briscoes vow to survive Dragon Gate’s Shingo & Naruki Doi tonight, just like they did a couple months earlier against other puro stars in NOAH. There’s an open contract for tomorrow’s event for whoever wants to man up!

 

Jimmy Rave & Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer & Colt Cabana

 

The pre-match brawl was the best part of this match, although it wasn’t that special. While the crowd enjoyed the brawl, it lacked the heat that I would’ve expected at this point between Jacobs and Whitmer. Once this settled into a match, it was primarily Whitmer playing the FIP to build to a hot tag. There was of course a tag legality issue I saw. Jacobs got the pin on Whitmer via a Shiranui, which is the right move.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

2/3 Falls Match
Delirious vs. Matt Sydal

 

The major takeaway from this match is that Sydal had become even more of a cocky little shit heel. His smugness and cheating was significantly elevated. In the first fall, he hit a low-blow that was intentionally a gray area, holding Delirious in the air and kicking him low. This was a precursor to how he’d secure the first pin, this time very blatantly kicking Delirious in the groin outside referee Todd Sinclair’s vision.

 

The second fall began with Sydal using the tassels from the mask of Delirious to repeatedly choke him. But as typical in these types of matches, Delirious was able to get the upper hand, eventually leaving his archrival prone to hit a Shadows Over Hell, and then immediately follow that up with a Cobra Clutch. There were also plenty of bombs thrown in this one, with those bombs and exhaustion being sold with exception improvement comparted to their contest at The Epic Encounter II.

 

Sydal became desperate and went under the ring at one point in the third fall, but Delirious wasted not time yanking him out. This was a very good final fall with Sydal going for a Shooting Star Press and landing on his feet, having scouted Delirious evading it while in midair. This then transitioned to a great sequence with crucifix pins and Cobra clutch false submissions, and even a La Magistral attempt by Sydal being counted with a Chemical Imbalance 2, getting a standing ovation and ROH chant from the Liverpool crowd.

 

The finish paid off an earlier story in the match. Sydal had unsuccessfully gone for a Flux Capacitor but Delirious shoved him off. So at this point, Sydal shoved the ref in the ropes to force Delirious to be crotched, leaving him in position to counter the Flux Capacitor this time. Damn good stuff here.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

FIP Title Match
Roderick Strong vs. PAC

 

 

Arguable match of the night here. The match kicks off with Strong opting to spit on PAC instead of following the Code of Honor. As expected, Strong bullied PAC, who served as a perfect underdog body to help Strong’s recent transition into a jock bully heel. Strong was both merciless and condescending in this one, slapping the UK native early.

 

While PAC got enough offense in this match to be showcased, this was more about Strong as mentioned. PAC’s attempts to cut off and make comebacks were often just hope spots, especially when he went for a submission game. Strong resorted to any measure, whether it was strength, pulling hair, poking eyes, or refusing to give clean breaks, to exert his force. PAC managed to frustrate Strong at times with his acrobatic ability, which came in handy both for evasions and to drop bombs.

 

PAC’s go-to cut off would be various head-scissors, but he found himself too often caught by Strong to get tossed around. He was also very susceptible to backbreakers, including a bearhug variation that I don’t think I’ve seen before or since. But no matter the brutality, no matter how much arrogance displayed by the champ, PAC remained levelheaded, which played a huge part in the most memorable comeback spot in the match, that being a moonsault reverse DDT made famous by AJ Styles.

 

PAC also brought the forearm firepower, showing that he was more than arm drags and spectacular moves. His aggression paid off as it allowed Strong to be dazed enough to eat a Sky Twister to the outside, unable to evade or counter it. Despite how sore his back must’ve been, he also landed a Standing Shooting Star Press and Standing Moonsault Senton on separate occasions.

 

Strong made the mistake when in control of audibly calling the Tiger Driver. Giving that away allowed PAC to block it and hit a tornado DDT, followed by a gorgeous 450 splash for a near-fall and get his home country buzzing. But Strong baited him, allowing the exhausted PAC to attempt a top-rope corkscrew 450 splash, which was evaded. That left PAC completely vulnerable to a Yakuza kick and savage Tiger Driver to bring this classic to its conclusion.

 

In the post-match, Strong piles in with a Liontamer, only to be chased off by Delirious. As PAC got up, the audience chanted for his return, and I wonder why he didn’t get regular bookings after this. It must’ve been a schedule issue.

 

This was an excellent match that perfectly showcased Strong’s nasty prick attitude, while also serving as a platform for PAC to show off his resilience and creativity. A sensational contest, and why hasn’t this been placed on a compilation yet?

 

Rating: ****

 

Jacobs says his pin fall over Whitmer tonight is meaningless, as he’s supposed to end him or Cabana. He tells referee Todd Sinclair to inform Whitmer he’s waiting outside for a fight.

 

Tag Titles Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Shingo & Naruki Doi

 

A horse shit tag match. This wasn’t under Dragon Gate Rules, and even had it been, this match broke those rules over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Those who have ever listened to Bryan Alvarez’s Briscoes critques a decade ago are very familiar, and had he watched this match, this would’ve been right up there in pissing him off.

 

This match personified the worst of 2007 underground wrestling’s fetish to provide all flash and no substance. There were no hot tags built, the moves built to absolutely nothing, and there were tag legality violations galore as the Liverpool crowd erupted. Now, the same can be said about the Briscoes against Strong & Austin Aries in this same venue at Unified. Well, that match really is a timeless classic, as it had just one tag legality violation that was very minor thanks to the match overwhelmingly making up for that flaw. The moves in that match were a battle of back-and-forth competition between the two best teams going in ROH, an electrifying neck-and-neck example for the squared circle of what so many sports fans look for in the most epic sports game.

 

This was nothing but fucking moves. Just moves, moves, moves, moves. As for the tag legalities, they were getting completely ignored not even a minute after the closest thing to a hot tag in the match when Shingo finally reached Doi. That was the moment when all logic and psychology in this match completely fell apart. The Liverpool audience was none the wiser, completely distracted by the constant barrage of moves to see through this shallow excuse for tag team wrestling.

 

The title change also caused a unique opportunity to have been lost that was sitting right there. While it’s nice that we’d get a once-in-a-lifetime match the next day between Shingo & Doi and Richards & Strong, it was a huge booking flaw. A decade ago, Shingo and Doi were in opposing factions, the former in Typhoon (officially formed the same day of this event), the latter in Muscle Outlaw’z. These factions were not exactly on friendly terms. So with that in mind, here’s how the pairing could’ve made sense, and what the Briscoes retaining could’ve done.

 

Announce that ROH approached both Dragon Gate factions and negotiated for Shingo & Doi to team together. Both factions would come to the agreement that it served their mutual interests as well as the greater overall interest of Dragon Gate to challenge for the ROH Tag Titles. This puts ROH over to the Dragon Gate audience as a federation to be followed and respected, and also does wonders for the Tag Titles.

 

Now in this match, there was actually a moment when a Briscoe ducked a clothesline, causing Shingo to strike Doi. That was the moment to use the cliché of unpleasant partners breaking apart, making them vulnerable to the Briscoes. Instead of the Jay vs. Mark singles match to mutually toughen each other up the next day, they defend the belts against the No Remorse Corps, and Shingo’s next chapter in his excursion would be a singles grudge encounter against Doi, both pissed at each other and pointing fingers for losing to the Briscoes.

 

The Briscoes are a strong contender as the greatest tag team of the early 21^st Century. Shingo is always my most anticipated performer whenever I heard Dragon Gate talent is being imported. Naruki Doi is nothing short of fantastic. They could’ve done much better than this, even with the flaws of booker Gabe Sapolsky and probably even Dragon Gate to blame.

 

If the Briscoes have any aspirations of ever getting to WWE, I certainly wouldn’t let Triple H and William Regal watch this match.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

Fifth Year Festival – World Tag Team Titles

 

A nice highlight package focusing largely on the iconic reign of Aries & Strong, plus the other champions prior to February 2007, that being the Kings of Wrestling as well as Sydal & Christopher Daniels.

 

Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness

 

The final chapter in this rivalry went out with a bang. While McGuinness seemed to have hurt a part of his lower body that caused him discomfort, he was unrelenting in his pursuit of a career-defining victory at this stage of his career. His targeting of Joe’s left arm and shoulder was splendid as usual, including headbutting Joe’s shoulder. But before that, the two displayed some terrific scouting, as McGuinness avoided Joe’s Elbow Suicida. Joe motioned to cut McGuinness off, so McGuinness walked through the ropes only to get swept and then swung into a guardrail. This then left McGuinness open to Ole Ole kicks to the crowd’s delight, who were on fire for this historic match.

 

Another example of terrific scouting would be Joe never once eating the corner handstand double foot mule kick of McGuinness. Instead, just like in their prior encounters going back to their tag match involving John Walters & Jay Lethal at Weekend of Thunder Night 1, Joe canceled it out with a Yakuza kick to the vulnerable face of McGuinness. But the second time McGuinness went for it, he turned it into his signature spinal kick and forearm drive combo.

 

McGuinness also went for plenty of lariats, although didn’t rely on it as heavily as would expected in a huge match against the likes of Joe. Joe also evaded a Tower of London and went for a rear naked choke, only to actually eat it seconds later. But the third time would certainly not be the charm, as Joe scouted it once again. This led to Joe giving McGuinness a terrifying musclebuster on the apron. While Richards had taken this same move the week before and was finished from it, McGuinness landed on his side and laid on the floor, unable to move.

 

Numerous referees check on McGuinness and eventually walk him to the back, but Joe at least wants a handshake. Eventually the former ROH Champion tells McGuinness he’s a “British pussy,” which finally gets McGuinness back in the ring. The match at this point becomes an emotional roller coaster with near-falls that have Liverpool going ape shit for McGuinness.

 

This portion didn’t just have McGuinness kicking out of great moves such as the musclebuster, it didn’t just have him kick out at 1 after a lariat, to make it special. The scouting on display was something to behold as well. McGuinness countered a Uranage slam with a headlock takeover, and even outsmarted Joe by faking a rebound lariat and turning it into a schoolboy pin. McGuinnesss also rolled back during a Coquina Clutch for near-fall, but once Joe rolled over and kept the choke on, McGuinness passed out.

 

All that’s been said about this booking has been said. So instead the focus will be that this was a sensational match in front of an epic audience. In the post-match, Joe puts McGuinness over huge, saying he’s leaving ROH in great hands, making it crystal-clear that McGuinness will be ROH Champion at some point. As great as this post-match is, I can only imagine if this was McGuinness dethroning Homicide instead.

 

Rating: ****

 

The DVD closes with a Jacobs and Whitmer brawling cliffhanger.

 

Not as jaw-dropping as I’d remembered thanks mostly to the awful Briscoes vs. Shingo/Doi match, and a decade later the standards have been raised significantly for quantity of workrate on individual cards. With that said, this is absolutely a fantastic show pillared by two excellent matches that told very different stories, as well as a couple undercard goodies. Strongest recommendation.

 

An era for ROH comes to an end, the first of many to come over the next couple months for the company. What a ride it’s been to revisit Samoa Joe’s initial run in the company that put him on the map. And his initial farewell comes to be one of the most stacked match quality cards in company history.

 

Up next – Fifth Year Festival: Finale
Matches will include:

Delirious vs. Colt Cabana
Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer
PAC vs. Matt Sydal
Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe
Shingo & Naruki Doi vs. Davey Richards & Roderick Strong
Jimmy Rave vs. Nigel McGuinness
Samoa Joe vs. Homicide

[supersonic]

Fifth Year Festival: Finale – March 4, 2007

Taped from Liverpool, England

The Briscoes are pumped to toughen each other up in tonight’s singles match.

Delirious vs. Colt Cabana

Cabana pays homage to the legendary Big Daddy, which the Liverpool crowd loves, especially the actual baby doll he brings to ringside. This is a wonderful comedy match as expected, and it starts off perfectly by Cabana going crazy at the opening bell to throw Delirious off from doing it. The crowd’s pop for this is amazing. The Lizard Man is none too pleased, tossing a chair in the ring among other itmes, including the baby doll to the crowd’s disapproval and drawing a “baby killer” chant.

Cabana: “How dare you do that to my baby! I hate you!”

A fan throws the baby doll back in the ring and Delirious holds onto it with his mouth. Cabana wins the first grapple battle and uses his power to pay further homage to Big Daddy, talking trash to Delirious. Back in the ring, Delirious asks Cabana if he’s sorry, leaving him vulnerable to a more Cabana grappling and his mask being shifted.

This pays off in hilarious fashion with Delirious rolling up referee Todd Sinclair and Cabana counting near-falls, once again the crowd totally enthusiastic. Cabana mimics a 5-count in the corner, irritating Sinclair, and Delirious finally realizes who it is during a waist lock, only to get shoved back by the official, which Cabana takes advantage of for a near-fall.

Cabana mocks Delirious about his confusion, to which Delirious replies back with jibber. He finally gains the upper hand, drawing “Bah!” chants. Cabana resorts to trying to shift the mask around, but Delirious ain’t letting that happen again. Cabana tries once again and the crowd boos, so he stops to his disadvantage. Once he regains the heat though, he starts pulling tassels out, only to have more back-and-forth action. It finally ends moments later with a La Magistral cradle variation counter.

One of the best comedy matches of the decade, a fantastic choice for the opener, and a chapter very much worthy of being included on a compilation. This smokes their Back to Basics match.

Rating: ***1/2

The No Remorse Corps promo is interrupted by Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer’s brawl spilling into their location.

Falls Count Anywhere Match

Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer

This begins as their brawl continues in the audience after a totally meaningless women’s match. This is some heated stuff with Whitmer dragging Jacobs across a stadium balcony early, and then it goes backstage again. Jacobs uses a fire extinguisher on Whitmer’s back, only to get chopped and fall down a staircase. The crowd is really behind Whitmer here.

Whitmer teases a powerbomb off a balcony, but Jacobs has none of that and even saves himself from being tossed over. He then eats another chop sending him down a staircase, but his relentlessness is on point, fighiting back and hitting a leaping hurricanrana off a table. Jacobs then channels Jeff Hardy and hits an elbow drop from the balcony, making me further wish for that dream match at some point. That near-fall leads him to follow that up with a Cactus Jack style elbow, but instead of off of an apron, he runs across stacked chairs in the audience.

The action finally gets to the ring and continues to be splendid. Jacobs has the usual railroad spike pulled from his boot, running perfectly with it to cut Whitmer’s forehead open and then spikes it on a turnbuckle pad. Jacobs wipes Whitmer’s blood on his body, including his face, telling Whitmer to keep bleeding, then wipes his own face on the blood-soaked mat. These were very different times in the business indeed compared to a decade later.

Whitmer teases a comeback, only to get literally spiked again and eat a reverse hurricanrana, but then musters up enough adrenaline to counter a Shiranui and plant Jacobs with an Owen Driver. I appreciate that Whitmer sold his exhaustion for several seconds before going for the pin. He continues selling it as they engage in a chop battle, and their pride and adrenaline keep them going with more strikes. He rocks Jacobs with an elbow.

It goes to the entrance apron ramp and Jacobs blocks another powerbomb, but Whitmer cuts off a spear and hits a brainbuster on it for the finish! Perfect booking here, as Whitmer should get this victory before Jacobs comes home to Michigan to finally conquer his arch-nemesis, as well as Lacey’s heart, on the grandest weekend of them all. This was damn good stuff too, the unrelenting hatred for each other on display.

Rating: ***3/4

Jimmy Rave cuts a good promo, despising McGuinness for being disrespected by him via toilet paper a few months back, just like the Liverpool audience before that. Tonight’s hardcore match will end up leaving McGuinness bloodied and crippled, and that Rave is the best wrestler in ROH, deserving of nothing less than respect. I expect this absurd Rave push to go out on a high note.

PAC vs. Matt Sydal

The two have acrobatic stalemates early, so Sydal pie faces the UK native to turn into a striking battle. He better be careful considering that PAC did some damage to Roderick Strong with elbow strikes the day before. With that said, Sydal gets the upper hand thanks to a leg lariat receipt, maintaining his usual arrogance and cockiness at this time in his ROH tenure.

When PAC attempts a comeback, he takes an ugly bump and botches a head-scissors attempt, allowing Sydal to maintain control. He gets too cocky though, wasting time in the corner. This allows PAC to evade a jumping Super Hurricanrana, causing Sydal to be crotched. PAC is a house of fire with various strikes including a moonsault dropkick, then once Sydal is driven the outside, PAC follows up with a corkscrew press to Liverpool’s delight.

PAC maintains control in the ring, and a fallen Sydal allows him to hit a corkscrew 450 splash off the second rope for a near-fall. But Sydal cuts him off moments later to deliver a Snapmare Driver and standing moonsault for a near-fall, drawing “This is awesome!” chants. Sydal is condescending with his attacks and eats a spike hurricanrana counter for his trouble, as well as a Tiger Suplex.

Whatever Sydal had in mind from the second rope got cut off via an ear clap head-scissors, with Sydal immediately following up that by finishing PAC with a gorgeous Shooting Star Press. Damn good stuff proving PAC had earned a spot in ROH, and this needs to be on a compilation considering the star power both have acquired since.

Rating: ***1/2

Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe

The two come out together, truly signifying this is just a special challenge match for each other. Love it. Bobby Cruise even gives them in-ring introductions, a great way to present this as historic. The crowd also gets into “dueling chants” by yelling “Let’s go Briscoe!”

Early grappling results in slaps to the face, and Mark grabs Jay’s nose to break a leg submission. He keeps up the aggression by absorbing a backdrop suplex to hold onto a headlock, and kicks Jay in the spine. It heats up when Jay clotheslines Mark to the outside, becoming a striking exchange before Mark hits a scoop slam on the floor. That bump sounded awful.

Even though in torso pain, Mark absorbs it by getting the upper hand on a guardrail whipe, then hits a moonsault off of the guardrail. When Jay’s back up, they have another exchange with Jay getting the upper hand and taking the action to the entrance apron ramp. Mark reaggravates his back pain when he drops Jay on the ramp with a vertical suplex but brings it back into the ring.

The brothers have each other naturally scouted, countering each other’s arsenal before Mark wins that battle with a spinning kick to gain control. Jay stops a springboard Ace Crusher, only to knocked down and eat a slingshot double foot stomp and springboard senton. Jay finally blocks a Northern Lights Suplex attempt, spiking Mark with a DDT counter to get control.

Jay’s control segment isn’t quite as interesting as Mark’s. He hits his standard offense, and Mark regaining control with an exploder suplex makes this a bit more engaging. Mark’s control is short-lived though as he eats a Stunner and Yakuza Kick for a near-fall, then gets placed in a Stretch Plum. This is exactly what Jay should be doing: softening Mark’s neck up to eat the double underhook piledriver.

It becomes a strike exchange and Jay blocks Mark’s springboard attempt, driving him to the floor. Jay hits a somersault plancha, something I’m not used to seeing out of him. Jay’s frog splash distance is impressive but just a near-fall. Jay goes for the finish but Mark blocks it and hits a unique bicycle kick to escape and go for Karate chops, then hits the springboard Ace Crusher that was teased earlier. This is some decent storytelling tell so far.

Another strike exchange helps Mark maintain control, hitting more springboard maneuvers for near-falls to the crowd’s delight. Jay blocks a superplex attempt, and the match is elevated when he uses the positioning to hit a Super Gordbuster. Mark is blessed enough to get a rope break after eating a Falcon Arrow, then eats another Stretch Plum as the crowd breaks out in legitimate dueling chants. Jay doesn’t let that be a submission, hitting a lariat for a near-fall.

Mark blocks the double underhook driver and hits a couple exploder suplexes for a near-fall. Mark shoves referee Todd Sinclair and then uses him as a platform to go over the top rope and take Jay off the apron onto the outside with a head-scissors. That was impressive. After getting up from their exhaustion, they have another strike exchange, only for Jay to hit his finisher… but he’s too exhausted to go for the cover! The crowd is loving this storytelling.

As they rise up, Jay smiles and the crowd eupts for this strike exchange, then applauds again when they force each other collapse. Jay gets up first and opts not to win by TKO, but that backfires as he eats a Cutthroat Driver. Like Jay minutes earlier though, Mark is too exhausted to go for the cover after his finish. Instead, both men are counted down at 10. Very brief booing quickly turns into a standing ovation, the crowd wise enough to understand these siblings were equals and would be booked as such.

This is actually a great match that started slow and told the story of exhaustion at the end, carefully teasing signature moves and delivering them. The Liverpool audience’s knowledge helped tremendously elevate the story told, which paid off at the finish. This is nowhere near AJ Styles vs. Paul London which also had a draw finish and a very different one at that, but like that all-time classic, the draw here paid off the story of equality and toughening each other up after a one-and-done reign as Tag Champs.

Rating: ****

The horrible side view promo returns, with McGuinness saying that tonight’s feud-ending hardcore match against Rave, vowing to repay respect, kick his ass, and finally get a victory in Liverpool.

Tag Titles Match

Shingo & Naruki Doi vs. Davey Richards & Roderick Strong

Another dog shit tag match for Shingo & Doi. Tag legalities? A foreign (no pun intended) in this sham of a tag match. All booker Gabe Sapolsky had to do was schedule this as a Tornado Rules match, or at the very least a Dragon Gate Rules match. This had zero psychology and was just a pile of moves, although not as quantified as the match day before involving the Briscoes. Bryan Alvarez would despise this with a fucking passion. One of the most disappointing matches during this never-ending project.

Rating: less than ***

Hardcore Match

Jimmy Rave vs. Nigel McGuinness

As expected, Rave’s big push resulted in the end of it being a high note. McGuinness pulled his groin the night before so his right thing is strongly taped. After he got the early heat, Rave kicked a chair into that leg. Unfortunately for the former Crown Jewel, he never really went to work again on that right leg, which had to be disappointing for him. The targeting of that limb was extremely minimal.

Rave made another huge mistake trying to copy Bryan Danielson at Unified and ram the head of McGuinness into a ring post. Instead, the former Pure Champion blocked it and rammed Rave’s left shoulder into it. Then this fight had an insane weapon brought into the fold, that being a solo guardrail McGuinness pulled from under the ring. McGuinness placed it as a platform on the ring apron and a standing guardrail, guaranteeing some insanity was to come.

Spots on the guardrail platform included Rave’s face getting smashed into it, McGuinness getting shoved onto it off the apron and bending it, and Rave getting backdropped into it from the ring, collapsing it onto the ground. But that wasn’t the craziest spot on the guardrail; that would come in the finishing stretch to pay off this excellent story.

For whatever reason, Rave opted to work on the neck of McGuinness with butterfly submissions and the Gonorrhea. While it’s good to sometimes bring a different game plan than what’s worked before iin case the opposition finally knows how to overcome it, Rave should’ve relied on the tried and true heel hook submission.

Another great story in this was Rave escaping the first Tower of London attempt, thene eventually eating a regular one. A match highlight for this story though was when Rave ate another one on a chair, resulting in a shocking near-fall. Right after that, Rave got his only heel hook submission of the match by scouting a short-armed lariat. This was at least great drama as McGuinness screamed in agony; perhaps Rave saw it the move as instant death, no need to work on it.

The next moment was the top highlight, paying off the story of the Tower of London, as Rave ate on on the guardrail platform that had been placed back in position. The initial referee had been knocked down so head official Todd Sinclair immediately came back out for a near-fall in the ring. They had a strike exchange, ending the match with one of the most audible, dangerous strikes I’ve ever heard as McGuinness finally put Rave to rest with a devastating rebound lariat. Rave had ever right to be pissed as reported at the time, since it broke his jaw.

An insane spectacle with terrific storytelling, and the first MOTYC for ROH’s 2007. McGuinness finally shut Rave up and got his first ROH singles victory in his home country. I can only imagine if this had been his first ROH Title defense though to elevate that title. This is my pick for Rave’s greatest match ever in ROH, better than the cage match against CM Punk or his ROH Title shot against Danielson. It’s a shame it fucked him up more than any other.

Rating: ****1/2

Fifth Year Festival – ROH World Championship

This is obviously mostly focused on Danielson, providing a terrific highlight heel for him stretching from The Milestone Series to Final Battle 2006. Homicide got a very brief highlight reel just from January 2007, and then the video shows every ROH Champion in history prior to the Fifth Year Festival, then has a montage of every relevant star to have stepped foot in ROH, finishing with Takeshi Morishima holding up the championship. Damn good video that makes ROH’s 2006 and the rest of the early years come across as epic and intimate.

Samoa Joe’s ROH Farewell

Samoa Joe vs. Homicide

Joe gets an epic entrance, juggling through his themes as the camera focuses on him in the Gorilla position, and whoever made this production decision to follow him from behind, gazing upon the Liverpool audience deserves major kudos. An absolutely epic, fantastic, historic visual. Also perfect for his juggling entrance theme to end on “Another Body Murdered,” bringing his ROH tenure full circle.

Liverpool is fantastic in their towards Joe before the ring introductions, just as much as Paul London in New Jersey, CM Punk in Chicago, and James Gibson in Philadelphia. While Homicide gets a terrific reaction himself, it understandably doesn’t compare to Joe, who gets the well-deserved streamer treatment. That brings back memories of their encounter at Generation Next, but Homicide doesn’t go for the cheap shot to kick off the match, not to his now-friend. Liverpool continues its greatness by chanting “He’s a legend!” and “Joe’s gonna kill you!”

The content of this match was good, elevated to very good by its finish. While it wasn’t the epic one would’ve hoped, one must remember that Gibson vs. Roderick Strong was an anomaly, as it’s far more common for someone out the door to have a farewell on par with Joe vs. London and Punk vs. Colt Cabana. This was ultimately better than the two farewell matches just mentioned.

If there was anything disappointing in this match, it was the lack of actual moves to serve as callbacks to their ROH rivalry, Instead, the callbacks were in Homicide cheating and Julius Smokes inserting himself at times to bail out the Notorious 187, but not being as malicious as in the past to their friend. The ultimate callback would be at the finish.

Homicide got a significant amount of control in this match, which is no surprise just a couple weeks removed from being ROH Champion and taking Morishima to the limit. Before the actual finish, Homicide got multiple lariats in the only non-character callback in the match for a near-fall, paying off their finish from Battle of the Icons. Homicide also got in Sinclair’s face at one point, paying off the moment that changed the game at Reborn Stage 1.

When Joe hit a musclebuster, the near-fall was surprising. But we should’ve all known that wouldn’t be the end of Joe’s time in ROH, for he had yet to deliver the Ole Ole Kicks. Since Smokes yanked Sinclair out to save Homicide and make it a near-fall, Joe went after him and delivered the Ole Ole Kicks, putting Liverpool in a frenzy. He overzealously went to do it again, only for Homicide to have recovered and cut off Joe with a perfectly timed Tope Con Hilo that sent Joe over the guardrail! That was a fantastic spot.

The finish finally came on the top rope, as Joe finished Homicide off just like in their first ROH main event against each other from Do or Die. Once Joe hit the Super Musclebuster, there was no turning back, securing the victory for himself and going out on top.

The roster gathers at the entrance as Joe gives a wonderful farewell speech, pointing out that ROH had many doubters during its first 5 years. But now? They weren’t at a rec center in Philly, they were at a fancy sold out Liverpool venue! Joe puts over the roster, indicating to the audience that the future is very bright, and busts out a Gabe Sapolsky joke too. After getting respect from the roster at the entrance, he comes back into the ring one last time to say goodbye, posing to the crowd.

Rating: ***3/4

The DVD closes with another fantastic video package, this one showcasing Joe’s time in ROH. No major match, no major foe, no major victory, no major moment is spared. Homicide, Punk, and Kenta Kobashi are particularly mentioned; Danielson should’ve been too. This truly marked the end of an era.

One of the greatest shows in ROH history. A shitty excuse for exciting tag team wrestling cannot weight down an epic comedy opener, substantial Jacobs vs. Whitmer chapter, high-flyer’s dream match, epic feud-ending hardcore right, and historic farewell.

This is EASILY the greatest event on this journey since Glory By Honor V Night 2. This is the quality that would’ve fit right in during the glorious 365 day period that ended with that very event. If the match quality wasn’t enough, there’s the closing video to warm the heart and water the eyes.

A decade later, this obviously turned out to not be the end of Joe in ROH. But it was very much the end of an era as mentioned, and thus there will be a complimentary retrospective coming this weekend, especially because it’s so fitting that he finally makes his long-awaited WWE PPV debut.

What a fantastic weekend to wrap up this birthday festival and Joe’s farewell tour. And Joe was right when he said not to worry, because now we arrive at another epic weekend in the Motor City. Another long journey is about to reach its finale.

But before that, we have one of the most exciting main events on paper in ROH history, one that would make current PWG bookers incredibly envious, plus a long-awaited singles encounter between two stablemates that played key parts in ROH’s survival. In addition, the debut of a pet project for booker Gabe Sapolsky that’s been a major character in FIP.

Up next – All Star Extravaganza III

Matches will include:

Homicide vs. Christopher Daniels

Jack Evans vs. Roderick Strong

CIMA, Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid, & Susumu Yokosuka vs. Delirious, Rocky Romero, Austin Aries, & Claudio Castagnoli

[supersonic]

All Star Extravaganza III – March 30, 2007

Taped from Detroit, MI

 

 

ROH Video Wire – March 16, 2007

 

 

Important news/footage in the above video:

JIMMY JACOBS. BJ WHITMER. CAGE MATCH. SUPERCARD OF HONOR II IN DETROIT. OH FUCK YES~! This is definitely the end that I saw coming for many months.

 

A nice video package for Dragon Gate stars CIMA, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, Naruki Doi, Shingo, Maasaki Mochiuzki, Susumu Yokosuka, and Yamato airs. I’ve high expectations for their trios and 8-man tags.

 

In a four-way opener involving Chris Hero and Matt Sydal, Adam Pearce gets the victory by using brass knuckles on Colt Cabana’s face.

 

FIP star Erick Stevens makes his ROH debut, squashing Alex Payne in 30 seconds. Although there are reservations about Stevens since he’s not proven to be the most interesting as a come-from-behind type of babyface, he just had a tremendous **** match against Roderick Strong in the final of the FIP Florida Heritage Title tournament.

 

The Briscoes have fun talking about their singles match from Liverpool, but are happy to get the Tag Titles back from tonight from Shingo & Naruki Doi. They assume it happens and thus have an open contract out for any tag team to challenge them. They vow 2007 will still be their year.

 

Davey Richards will team with the newest member of the No Remorse Corps tomorrow against Jack Evans & Naruki Doi.

 

Bruno Sammartino’s speech is interrupted by Sweet & Sour Inc. Larry Sweeney goes through the pleasantries, then threatens for Chris Hero to kick his ass. This would be far more epic with Tank Toland’s place being filled by Claudio Castagnoli. Nigel McGuinness comes to clean house, allowing Sammartino to punch Sweeney, and then has the crowd give the HOFer a standing ovation. Even with McGuinness being groomed to become a top babyface, I certainly wouldn’t have programmed him against Hero. A feud against Jimmy Jacobs once the Michigan native returned from inevitable knee surgery would’ve been much better.

 

Christopher Daniels reminds Homicide in a backstage promo that a year ago on this date, in this very building, he finally pinned Samoa Joe. Daniels gloats about himself further, saying he’ll prove himself as the #1 icon in the company.

 

Lacey & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Daizee Haze & BJ Whitmer serves as a good brawl between the men, not so much between the women. Lacey saved Jacobs from a Super Powerbomb to the outside, while Jacobs attacked Haze and finished her off with a spear so devastating, her shoes flew out int the crowd. Lacey is proud of Jacobs, especially since she got the pin fall. She thinks it’s time to reward him for all his hard work. The crowd hilariously chants “Show your tits!” We’ve come a long ago in the past decade when it comes to misogyny. She rewards him with a hug. She says if Jacobs finishes Whitmer off in the cage, there will be more to come. Whitmer chases them off with a barbed-wire baseball bat. Very good go-home segment.

 

Jack Evans is pissed off going into tonight’s encounter against Roderick Strong, citing all the shit he’d done just for fun, so imagine what’s coming tonight.

 

 

The Shingo & Naruki Doi vs. Briscoes rematch is a disappointment, but in a much different way than their Liverpool match. Mark Briscoe landed badly on the concrete on a Shooting Star Press attempt, and Jay mustered up enough to get the job done on his own.

 

The budget must’ve been tight, as there’s no other excuse for not having the Motor City Machine Guns work a match on this card against another team. Oh wait, that’s what happens when booker Gabe Sapolsky clears out the division and splits up BOTH the Kings of Wrestling and Austin Aries & Roderick Strong.

 

DEFINITELY amped up for the match, but inexcusable not to book MCMG for these shows in Detroit since they weren’t scheduled elsewhere.

 

Yamato makes quick work of Pelle Primeau in a cross-promotional students battle. Good effort from Primeau.

 

Homicide vs. Christopher Daniels

 

Very good match that’s surprisingly not on any compilations yet. Daniels was just miserable and got the early advantage, but Homicide weathered it, gaining control on the outside. But Daniels would stoop to anything to get the upper hand, including a chair shot to the back, eye pokes, and even chokeholds. He was equally awesome in his misery when delivering the Best Moonsault… Never.

 

There were a couple times when it seems like they came close to not being in sync, but they recovered just quickly enough not to expose the business. Homicide was great in his big comeback, hitting a T-Bone Suplex and then a Tope Con Hilo. After some more good stuff, a Kudo Driver was evaded and Daniels hit the Angel’s Wings for an incredible near-fall. But then moments after that, the former ROH Champion blocked the Last Rites, hitting a snapmare and jackknife cradle for the victory.

 

Pearce & Shane Hagadorn immediately arrive to ambush Homicide, and then former ROH Commissioner Jim Cornette makes his return to have in on the fun! I shouldn’t be in favor of this, but I’m open-minded after the goodwill of the Homicide vs. Daniels match and insane Detroit audience. Homicide gets the upper hand,, scaring off Cornette and about to use his belt. Brent Albright then arrives to give Homicide a Half Nelson Suplex and then the Crowbar submission. Colt Cabana then arrives to save the day along with other babyfaces. Cornette gets some belt licks in before scurrying away with the heels. Colt Cabana has been very forgiving of Homicide in the year since their issue was put to rest. I don’t know if Pearce’s actions earlier were enough to justify the two helping each other out like this (compared to Samoa Joe warming up to Homicide after helping out against CZW), but there’s at least a common enemy. Not completely sold on it, but whatever.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

Jack Evans vs. Roderick Strong

 

The long wait was totally worth it. Like his stable-mate Richards, Strong was very thin-skinned, allowing the audience to bother him with various taunts, which made the match far more competitive than it really should’ve been. But that made for a classic match between two completely different styles that had previously complimented each other as a tag team. Strong was merciless to his former stablemate, tossing Evans around and stretching him to his limits, including tea-bagging him at one point just like Shelley and Bryan Danielson had done in the past.

 

Evans put up a tremendous fight, having brief flurries of offense to stay in this one. His lack of experience in marquee singles matches seemed apparent in that he lacked conditioning at times, but this was a major improvement compared to his past encounters against Shelley and Danielson. For every bomb he took, including backbreakers aplenty, being tossed back-first into a ring post, dropped off the apron to the floor, you name it, Evans absorbed the punishment and refused to not come back with his acrobatics.

 

Evans brought plenty of highlights into this as expected, all of them appropriately timed. From the Sasuke Special, to a cartwheel evasion on the apron to prepare a head-scissors, to a Reverse Hurricanrana, to a Handspring Moonsault Double Foot Stomp onto Strong, Evans certainly left everything in the ring for the most personal, important match of his career at the time.

 

Despite his cockiness, Strong just had too much of an experience and size advantage to go down on this night. Once he avoided a 630 splash about 20 minutes into this classic, everyone knew the writing was on the wall for Evans. Just like had been done to PAC a few weeks earlier, Strong unleashed a running boot, Tiger Driver, and then a vicious variation of the Liontamer, showing no remorse as appropriate.

 

An absolutely outstanding match that resulted in Evans getting a well-deserved standing ovation. Why the FUCK is that not on a compilation a decade later?

 

Rating: ****1/4

 

Becky Bayless reports that Mark Briscoe will be okay to wrestle in the future, but is doubtful for tomorrow due to a concussion.

 

CIMA, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Susumu Yokosuka vs. Delirious, Austin Aries, Rocky Romero, & Claudio Castagnoli

 

Typhoon gets their own Japanese introduction, followed by Bobby Cruise for Team ROH. This feels fucking epic as each individual gets recognized, and even Delirious, who ignored CIMA’s peeing dog taunting, relishes the crowd’s adulation when it’s his turn.

 

There isn’t much to say about this match. It’s one of the most disappointing along this journey. This isn’t a prejudiced towards Dragon Gate talent. On WrestleMania 22 weekend, they put on some of the most psychologically sound, state-of-the-art spotfests I’ve ever seen, including with the Generation Next trio of Aries, Strong, & Evans. So language barriers can’t be used as an excuse.

 

To call this a video game match would be giving it too much credit. Video games would adhere to the rules. As proven in the trios match at Battle of the Icons, had the match unfolded in a Dragon Gate Rules styles with tag legalities changing either via traditional tagging or rolling out to signal for a partner to enter the ring, I could’ve easily worked with that.

 

There was no rhyme or reason to this match. That there were FIP portions for Dragon Kid and Aries only made the second half of this main event all the more irritating. Why did the referee even bother making Team ROH a “default babyface” team by admonishing them for illegally entering, only for halfway in the match stop caring?

 

I can only imagine Jim Cornette’s reactions during this low-level at a spectacle as he sat in the back or in the crowd and watched this unfold. Any negative reactions he would’ve had are completely reasonable.

 

In addition, not once do I recall, after meticulously rewinding at certain points throughout to stay on top of tag legalities (which obviously turned out to be a futile exercise), CIMA and Castagnoli ever going at it. That’s pretty disappointing considering I don’t believe they’ve ever been on oppostie sides other than on this night. Maybe one day WWE and Dragon Gate can work something out on a Japan tour or in a global tag team tournament.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

The DVD closes with a “Prom Night” promo from Jimmy Jacobs, one of the best of his career. He reflects on the whole saga with Whitmer, who had said “I love you little brother” after their matches when they teamed up. He can’t believe Whitmer ditched him when he fell in love with Lacey, reflecting also on all the bloodbaths, the attacks on Lacey, and Dragon Gate Challenge. Jacobs says his innocence has been lost, suffering through sleepless nights while visualizing how to end this and hurt Whitmer. Jacobs puts the blame on Whitmer for bringing this down to a cage match. A pin fall won’t end this, only finishing one another will. There will be no hug or handshake, no respect earned.

 

“BJ, it’s prom night. It always ends the same. The villain gets what’s coming to him, and the hero gets the girl. I love you big brother.”

 

What a fantastic finish to this DVD after such a messy, disappointing main event.

 

Main event aside, there are plenty of fun (even though questionable) directions on this show, and the Detroit crowd really takes it up a notch, making me wish I had booked a flight a decade ago to be in Motown for WrestleMania 23 weekend. Homicide vs. Daniels exceeded my expectations considering both were directionless after their title reigns ended, and Evans vs. Strong is a forgotten classic that needs to be seen, a true breakthrough performance by Evans as he served as a perfect foil to Strong’s newfound mean streak.

 

Considering the two matches that delivered aren’t on compilations as of yet and the closing promo from Jacobs, this gets an incredibly strong recommendation. The Jacobs vs. Whitmer saga simply isn’t complete without that “Prom Night’ promo at the end.

 

At long last, another final chapter arrives. It’s a match that when deeply revisiting the Gabe Sapolsky era of ROH, turned out to actually be 4 years in the making, not just 2. That’s right, this cage match between Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer isn’t the end of a saga that started 2 years ago when they first teamed up at Best of American Super Juniors Tournament and captured the Tag Titles that were declared vacant after Dan Maff’s excommunication.

 

No, this saga started much earlier than that, before Jacobs ever even stepped foot in ROH. But that’s to chronicle in a well-deserved retrospective.

 

That’s not all to look forward to. For the first time ever, Strong and Aries go at it, with Strong putting the FIP Title on the line. Typhoon and Muscle Outlaw’z attempt to recreate the magic from a year ago between Do Fixer and Blood Generation. That’s a triple main event of epic proportions, one that runs parallel to the one taking place at Ford Field on this magical weekend.

 

It’s here. It’s the end of one of the greatest feuds of the 21^st Century, on one of the greatest events in ROH history.

 

Up next – Supercard of Honor II
Matches will include:
Jay Briscoe & Delirious vs. Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels
Jack Evans & Naruki Doi vs. Davey Richards & ???
Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer
Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries
CIMA, Shingo, & Susumu Yokosuka vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Masaaki Mochizuki

[supersonic]

Supercard of Honor II – March 31, 2007

Taped in Detroit, MI

 

 

The DVD begins with a final Jimmy Jacobs promo. Jacobs says that Whitmer fights for the fans’ acceptance, aiming for a prideful, self-absorbed desire. But tonight, Jacobs fights for the cause that great minds such as Socrates and William Shakespeare contemplated. Jacobs compares this war to the Biblical battles between God and Lucifer. “At the end of the day, love conquered all.” Jacobs believes the two of them will both be six feet under in a few years. Thank goodness that didn’t turn out to be true. Jacobs says that his love for Lacey overrides whatever Whitmer’s legacy will be. Jacobs wants to reclaim his purity and innocence, and with Lacey in his corner, he also is accompanied by love, invincibility, and eternity. “You’ve already lost, big brother.” Lacey says this could be the night for Jacobs to reclaim her.

 

A year later to the date, Dragon Gate brings six of their best to recreate the historic magic from Supercard of Honor. Excellent highlight package of one of the defining matches of the 2000s decade.

 

Tag Champion Jay Briscoe begins the live audience portion of the show. Mark is out of action tonight, so they cannot defend the belts against former champions Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels as originally scheduled, but vows once Mark returns, they’ll be fighting champs. Daniels is none too pleased, completely miserable as he comes to the ring with Sydal. Daniels says to grab the crippled Mark and honor the title match. Jay says that’s impossible since Mark is currently hospitalized, so Daniels says “you two accidental prone bastards” should fuck off and just crown Sydal & Daniels as champs. Jay declines and says he has a partner, saying if Sydal & Daniels get the job done, maybe they get their rematch down the line.

 

Jay Briscoe & Delirious vs. Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels

 

Before the opening bell, Delirious cuts a great gibberish promo, ending with that it’s time to man up.

 

This had one very minor tag legality, so that’s the one nitpick out of the way. Sydal & Daniels didn’t tag at one point in front of referee Paul Turner, but they may as well have done so. They cut the ring in half on Delirious once it settled down after being an early outside brawl, and Daniels was delightfully prickly as usual throughout the month.

 

Sydal & Daniels did such a great job making Delirious be the FIP unlike in most actual Briscoes tag matches; once the hot tag was made, the crowd actually gave a shit. Jay was a very good house of fire with various bombs. It came down to Delirious vs. Sydal, paying off Daniels saying before the match to Sydal that he had his number based on past singles victories. With Delirious this time getting the victory on Sydal with the Chemical Imbalance 2 after taking out Daniels with a knee to the skull, it’s arguable that Sydal & Daniels should now be out of title contention, but looking at the thin division, maybe not so.

 

This was a much more interesting tag match than the one involving Davey Richards in the Black Friday Fallout main event. This had the heat of Sydal & Daniels not getting their Tag Titles rematch against the Briscoes, Sydal now being a cocky prick that had just gotten a cheap 2/3 falls victory earlier in the month against Delirious, Daniels now a miserable prick rooted in his TNA tenure, and instead of being the closing match of a totally lackluster B-show, this was the opener, and a damn good one at that, of one of the biggest shows of the year.

 

Rating: ***1/2

 

BJ Whitmer says things have gone too far, and that he may have created an uncontrollable monster in Jimmy Jacobs. He doesn’t wanna take him out, but he has to.

 

Yamato vs. Claudio Castagnoli is a decisive win for the Switzerland native, although not a complete squash. Would LOVE a rematch today.

 

Jacobs & Whitmer are shown winning the Tag Titles. Not a fan of this and Cage of Death getting sporadic video highlights spread throughout. Have an epic pre-match video like Homicide vs. Colt Cabana got.

 

Erick Stevens earns another easy victory, this time over Mitch Franklin. Slow and steady with his push please. Don’t insert him into any big angles soon. Be patient like WWE would be with Braun Strowman in 2016.

 

The No Remorse Corps come out to introduce the mystery partner for Davey Richards. For those paying attention at the card a decade ago, it was pretty obvious. First, Roderick Strong vows to elevate his FIP Title by taking care of Austin Aries later tonight. The mystery partner was pretty obvious for those looking at the lineup a decade ago.

 

Jack Evans & Naruki Doi vs. Davey Richards & Rocky Romero

 

Very good match, much better than either of Doi’s matches in Liverpool. Tag legalities were adhered to at all times. While this didn’t serve as Evans getting the ring cut in half on him extensively like I would’ve expected, it instead was just a competitive match between the Muscle Outlaw’z and NRC. At this point, Richards was really starting to come across as a try-hard as a heel. At some point, it’d be interesting if he portrayed an introverted, all-business heel, rather than creepy smirks and excessively talking shit.

 

Everything was on point in this one, leading to a surprising finish. Evans actually finished off with the 630 splash. This seems like a mistake when establishing Romero as a new NRC member. Romero should’ve gotten the victory, and on Doi via submission to boot to establish himself. Evans was sticking around unlike Doi, who was a former Tag Champ in the company, so logic dictates him doing the job.

 

Rating: ***1/2

 

At intermission, Austin Aries is seen watching Erick Stevens during his brief promo. God fucking dammit, booker Gabe Sapolsky is pulling the trigger way too fast. Aries in 2007 is no Alex Shelley in 2004 to get a new faction over with unproven personalities.

 

Cage Match
Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer

 

Lacey and Daizee Haze accompany their appropriate men respectively. The Michigan crowd pretty much instantly makes it known they’re behind Jacobs, chanting “Please don’t die!” at him during his entrance and before he did anything remotely dangerous.

 

Jacobs does a suicide dive to Whitmer on the outside before the opening bell, kicking this off with an outside brawl. Absolutely love it – no pussyfooting around in this feud-ender. They also waste no time getting into the caged ring.

 

Whitmer gets the upper hand early, repeatedly tossing Jacobs face-first into the fencing. In a unique formatting, weapons get introduced when the participants request it. Once Whitmer has a chair, Jacobs futilely tries cutting off Whitmer, only to get it dropkicked in his face. However, he scouts Whitmer coming again, delivering a big boot for the successful cutoff.

 

Whitmer scouts an elbow drop, allowing his former partner to fall on the chair and then give him a spinebuster on it for good measure. Jacobs eats a chair shot to the head, although he had a hand up which hopefully was legit protection. The Michigan native sells his mouth so Whitmer works on it, but gets fed face-first into the chair via a drop toe hold.

 

Lacey demands more weapons for Jacobs, and his spike gets introduced, but Whitmer has one too in his boot. They then bring back memories of the all-time classic between Tully Blanchard and Magnum TA from Starrcade 1985, stabbing each other and now bleeding as the crowd chants for more! They then repeatedly stab each other as Detroit erupts! So beautiful, so unforgettable, and yet so disgusting a decade later.

 

Jacobs then stabs his own forehead a few times for an adrenaline rush! Whitmer gets the upper hand on a strike exchange, powerbombing Jacobs in the corner and hitting a follow-up big boot. The selling of blood loss is impressive by both men, not being able to instantly keep the punishment coming. But we’re not close to down, as a barbed-wire baseball bat comes into the fold. Jacobs avoids it but Whitmer is still in control.

 

Whitmer mistakenly calls for another forearm smash in the elbow, and he pays for it dearly as Jacobs strikes his face with the baseball bat! Jacobs keeps the punishment coming with it, then sticks the barbed wire in his own mouth and in his hair, the top half of his face a crimson mask as Detroit rallies behind him. He then digs into Whitmer’s flesh on his left bicep, triggering “You sick fuck!” chants. He then tops it by licking Whitmer’s crimson mask and spitting the blood back in his face, then uses both spikes to fuck him on the face and left bicep even more! This is fucking amazing.

 

Whitmer’s face gets shoved in the barbed-wire bat, then driven into it when Jacobs smashes the chair to the back of his head! Jacobs keeps up the carving on the same body parts, but collapses to sell his blood loss, unable to sustain extended digging. In a piece of great storytelling, as Whitmer struggles and crawls around, Jacobs talks shit and headbutts his former tag partner. The blood loss is just disgusting.

 

As they get back up, they have another strike exchange with Whitmer evading a spear. This causes Jacobs to hit the chair in the corner and then eat an Exploder suplex. Once again though, Whitmer’s blood loss is taking its toll, as he’s unable to go for the cover. This allows for another strike exchange with Jacobs getting the upper hand temporarily; his jumping head-scissors would be countered by Whitmer, getting driven head-first into the fencing.

 

Whitmer delivers a receipt, striking the torso of Jacobs with the barbed-wire baseball bat and triggering “This is awesome!” chants. As Jacobs is seated on the chair, he gets his forehead carved up with the bat, but then eats a brainbuster on the chair after a brief struggle! Detroit is just going apeshit, but Jacobs kicks out!

 

Whitmer opts to win via exit, but Lacey slams the door in his face and that’s followed up by Jacobs charging at his face with the bat again. A senton splash gets a near-fall, and the crowd energy is just off the charts in this classic. Whitmer’s forehead takes even more damage, a spike being driven into it. Jacobs wastes time blowing kisses, so Whitmer blocks a Super Hurricanrana. In an obvious nod to Dragon Gate Challenge, they tease the botch, but Whitmer gets underneath and just drives Jacobs face-first into the top turnbuckle, then follows up with a German Suplex, Dragon Suplex, and Powerbomb with a jackknife pin near-fall. Whitmer can’t get proper form, allowing this to be a near-fall.

 

A table gets brought into the ring at Lacey’s request, and this pretty much signals we’re in the third and final act of this masterpiece. They tease the infamous botch again, but a Top Rope Powerbomb is countered with a Hurricanrana; they unintentionally just a paid somewhat of an homage to Rey Mysterio’s WCW PPV classics against Psychosis and Eddie Guerrero. Seconds later, Jacobs goes for the Shiranui, only to eat a Jumping Owen Driver for a near-fall.

 

Lacey inserts himself, only to eat a Jumping Owen Driver for her trouble. Whitmer doesn’t waste much time celebrating as the crowd chants for him, instead going to the top of the cage. He misses the Super Frog Splash, but kicks out of a successful Shiranui. Jacobs is really feeling the pain in his sore left knee that’s been plaguing him in recent months, but Detroit breaks out some more “This is awesome!” chants. As Jacobs checks on Lacey, he orders the table be placed in the ring.

 

Jacobs has given his all, limping very visibly. Whitmer gets placed on the table, but has had enough recovery time to thwart whatever Jacobs has in mind on the cage. Jacobs causes Whitmer to be crotched, and once again as he limps, places Whitmer back on the table. The creep climbs to the top of the cage and delivers a Super Senton through the table, bringing this work of art and epic saga spanning for multiple years to its proper conclusion.

 

Jacobs is thanked by Detroit, as is Whitmer. The former is in VERY bad pain in his left knee, reminding me of Shawn Michaels at Taboo Tuesday 2004, but checks on his crush while Haze checks on Whitmer, who has yet to move. Jacobs is so badly hurt that the referee takes a look; Lacey selling Whitmer’s punishment is amazing storytelling; at long last, she sacrificed herself for the man that had sacrificed so much for her, not out of her own self-interest, but because she was finally falling for him.

 

She has to be carried away as Jacobs gingerly shifts out of the ring to a standing ovation. He refuses assistance once he’s on his feet, but doesn’t return the love as he limps away. Whitmer receives a standing ovation as he finally gets up.

 

This is simply the greatest cage match in ROH’s 15-year history. There’s no other in the company’s rich history that comes remotely close to this. The storytelling was perfect to bring this fantastic storyline to its conclusion, they sold their characters perfectly, they sold their blood loss perfectly, and absolutely thrived as the plunder got gradually brought into this unforgettable battle.

 

Major kudos for the right move, which was for Jacobs to go over. It didn’t matter that he would get surgery after this and that Whitmer would still be active; Jacobs had to get the elusive major victory to win Lacey’s heart. Why this didn’t close out the event is still a mystery; perhaps there was hesitation due to the legit knee injury Jacobs had coming into this, as compared to the Dragon Gate match being so highly anticipated after the show-stealer provided by that company a year ago. Nonetheless, this was the real main event, and it delivered in spades, bringing a story with multiple years behind to its emotionally satisfying conclusion.

 

This isn’t just the greatest cage match in ROH history. It’s the greatest match in the careers of Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer. Good lock to the rest of ROH 2007 in topping this.

 

Rating: *****

 

We go from a battle of former tag partners to another one. There’s no breather segment in between, which is definitely a mistake. Jacobs vs. Whitmer wasn’t just a timeless classic; it was also the end of such a lengthy arc.

 

FIP Title Match
Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries

 

Aries dominates early at every turn, eventually causing Strong to take a powder as the crowd taunts him. Of course, he can’t milk the powder like Bryan Danielson had done to him and Samoa Joe since FIP Title rules include a 20-count. Aries targets Strong’s neck, which is perfect to set up for the brainbuster, Crucifix Bomb, and Last Chancery. This should theoretically marginalize a significant chunk of Strong’s offense as well and prevent him sustaining control later.

 

Even when Strong corners and knees Aries in the gut, it looks to be for naught, but Strong survives furious chops to finally have control despite the crowd’s taunting. Aries blocks Strong’s trademark chops with some of his own, cutting off the champion. The storytelling less than 5 minutes into this is absolutely brilliant, with both men having each other so fantastically scouted and paying off teased counters such as a dropkick to the head by Aries.

 

Aries avoiding Strong’s chops early is the most brilliant piece of storytelling; this strategy paid off in the past for Danielson and CM Punk against Strong. The storytelling magnificence continues when Strong counters a springboard back elbow with a boot to the back of Aries, playing right into his strengths for what would undoubtedly come. He also finally gets a chop landed on Aries after an eye poke, but like before against Punk and Danielson, there’s no extended crowd pop since he’s the heel. Aries doesn’t allow Strong to deliver much punishment to his back, breaking submissions rather quckly only to see his comeback attempts be cut off and turn out to be hope spots.

 

That finally gets Strong in position to deliver extensive back punishment, but Aries has some quality pin counters on display. Strong allows the crowd to rattle him, but the punishment continues including his trademark brutal chops and ruthless tactics not seen from him in 2 years. Aries makes a comeback after an Irish Whip, giving himself time to recover as the Detroit crowd breaks out in dueling chants. Aries furiously delivers chops aplenty and has an answer for every Strong cutoff attempt.

 

Strong pays dearly for evaiding the slingshot senton, instead rolling out and immediately eating a Suicide Dive and Slingshot Corkscrew Press. However, Strong brilliantly scouts the Quebrada, kneeing the abdomen of Aries to set up for the gutbuster. Aries doesn’t allow the latter to happen though, cutting off Strong to regain control. Strong shoves Aries into the corner on a brainbuster attempt and then immediately hits his first backbreaker of the match for a near-fall. Aries has the Liontamer scouted, immediately reaching the ropes. Chris Jericho would be so honored by this match, and hopefully he feuds with both these men before he’s done.

 

Aries back to working on Strong’s head and neck, hitting a Quebrada on that area as Strong draped over the middle rope. The champion deadweights a brainbuster attempt, only for Aries to scout the Half Nelson Backbreaker, so Strong drives him into the corner and drops him gutfirst -on the top turnbuckle, then hits a Super Fall Away Slam for a near-fall. Awesome. Strong calls for a backdrop suplex on the apron, which is stupid to let Aries know is coming. This allows Aries to duck a chop and drop Strong just like Punk at Death Before Dishonor III, a Death Valley Driver on the apron, leading to a count out false finish. This is just fantastic wrestling.

 

Strong surprises Aries to regain control, only to get cut off and eat a brainbuster. Strong shoves the ref in the ropes to crotch Aries on a 450 splash attempt. As they battle on the top turnbuckle, Aries falls and crashes through an outside table, hurting his back, obviously playing perfectly to Strong’s offense. Strong keeps it up, tossing his former best friend into guardrails. He then tops that with a Release Tiger Driver onto another guardrail to go for a count out victory!

 

The crowd erupts when Aries breaks the count; that’s what happens when the FIP Title rules have had a few months to get established. Aries goes for a desperate small package near-fall, only to get a boot, Half Nelson Backbreaker, and another Tiger Driver, before being placed into a Boston Crab, which Strong transitions into a gorgeous Liontamer. Aries passes out to bring this classic to a finish, and Detroit is none too happy. Strong goes for another Liontamer afterwards, but is chased away by Delirious.

 

These two had quite the act to follow, which would be an understatement. They managed to bring another MOTYC to the card in a match that’s a bit under-appreciated. The storytelling in this was off-the-charts with terrific scouting all over the place and incredible strategies on display. Simply put, to find a superior match in this rivalry would be a struggle, and it’s doubtful that the rematch to come 6 months later on PPV could measure up to this.

 

Rating: ****1/2

 

As Haze consoles Whitmer, whose head is bandaged, he simply laments on his failure and leaves the building. Simply but effective.

 

Dragon Gate Rules
CIMA, Shingo, & Susumu Yokosuka vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Masaaki Mochizuki

 

Yet another Dragon Gate match in ROH that just can’t measure up to Blood Generation’s work of art trios matches in spring 2006. Once again, this match failed to have the cream-of-the-crop rules adherence to seamlessly blend in with the breathtaking fluidity of nonstop action defined by Dragon Gate. With that said, while this is another disappointing match to revisit a decade later, it still has its charming upsides.

 

This is a bit better than the trios match at Final Battle 2006, but cannot honestly be considered superior to the forgotten one at Battle of the Icons. The exchanges between Shingo and Mochizuki brought back memories of Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe, and modern-day fans of talents such as Katsuyori Shibata and Tomohiro Ishii would likely enjoy it too. Yokosuka and Kid had obvious chemistry, one comparable to Kalisto and Alberto Del Rio.

 

The action was crisp throughout despite the failure to adhere to the very simple rules, resulting in Detroit going insane as expected. However, there was a missed opportunity to have Kid play a genuine FIP role with Typhoon playing utter cunt heels, manipultating the rules in their favor and getting in Saito and Mochizuki’s heads. This would’ve really enhanced the finish that was blatantly a sequel to the Do Fixer vs. Blood Generation masterpiece finish, Yokosuka scouting Kid’s Springboard Hurricana Pin and winning with a Susnet Flip counter.

 

This match does have some charm, but doesn’t measure up to its MOTYC legacy handed out at the time, and certainly doesn’t belong in the same conversation as Blood Generation against Do Fixer and Generation Next. There were simply too many psychological holes in this one for that. At least it got a positive reaction though, with the Detroit fans wanting a return from the Dragon Gate stars.

 

Rating: ***1/4

 

The DVD closes with Jacoba and Lacey consoling each other backstage, not asying a word as Becky Bayless tries to get a comment from them. They are too physically and emotionally traumatized, but they have each other as Lacey embraces the arms of Jacobs. Brilliant finish to the DVD to follow up the night before, and the message is clear: Jimmy Jacobs was THE star of this weekend for ROH, not anyone else.

 

This is certainly a fantastic show. Most will still give the closing match MOTYC reviews even though it’s not deserving of such distinction. Even if it had managed to reach that level though, the main event clearly should’ve been Jacobs vs. Whitmer. It didn’t matter that Jacobs was hurt. It didn’t matter that Do Fixer vs. Blood Generation won the 2006 Match of the Year in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards. This was the cage match to end a saga that had its seeds unknowingly planted 4 years earlier through a sequence of events, coming to its first chapter 2 years earlier, and then unfolding from there.

 

Any show that has the greatest cage match in company history, plus a fantastic technical wrestling match to compliment it, and a couple fun tags, plus a trios match that most will adore, gets the strongest recommendation. But had the trios match been the pre-intermission main event, with the FIP Title and cage matches serving as the 2 closers, then this would be as well remembered as Better Than Our Best and Glory By Honor V Night 2, while having a double closer compared to Unified and the latter.

 

Those looking for a dissection of the Jacobs vs. Whitmer saga, be patient. A special 10-year retrospective is imminent. What a journey it has been.

 

After a month away, Takeshi Morishima returns with the ROH Title. Who will be able to step up and get the job done now that Samoa Joe is gone, and the likes of KENTA, Homicide, and BJ Whitmer have failed?

 

A rebirth unknowingly looms for the company. But before then, faction warfare hits its next chapter. Does this particular portion hold up well a decade later? Or will it succumb to being as limp as everything in the storyline so far that has preceded it?

 

It’s also the advertised farewell tour of a company legend. Other stars are also finishing up in the company as eluded to with the unforeseen “rebirth.” But what no one knew a decade ago: the return of a former Pure Champion would mark his final weekend ever in ROH.

 

Up next – This Means War II
Matches will include:
Delirious vs. Colt Cabana
Brent Albright vs. Homicide
The Resilience vs. No Remorse Corps
Takeshi Morishima & Chris Hero vs. Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness

[supersonic]

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.

 

Austin Aries comes out after the match. He congratulates all four guys on a match well fought, and then berates someone in the crowd for expressing his opinion. He calls Stevens back into the ring and offers him a spot in his horribly named group, The Resilience. Stevens accepts the offer and Aries compliments his haircut. I really don’t find Aries funny. Roderick Strong comes out and Stevens for joining Aries’ group, and then the rest of the No Remorse Corps come out and we’ve got a pier-six brawl, to set up for the six-man elimination tag match later tonight.

 

 

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 21^st 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.

 

After the match Claudio challenges the Briscoes to a tag title match. Mark accepts on behalf of his brother. He says Claudio will have his tag title shot as soon as he heals up. Kevin Steen and El Generico rush the ring. Steen talks about almost beating the Briscoes and teases Mark for missing his shooting star press. He wants a title shot too. Mark’s says his memory may be screwed up since he bumped his head, but he remembers beating Steen and Generico cleanly. He doesn’t think it’ll be hard to beat them again so he grants their shot too. He calls Steen fat, so Steen hits his head. Mark goes down like a rock so Jay and Claudio brawl with Steen and Generico. This angle is great.

 

 

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

[supersonic]

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

[supersonic]

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.

[supersonic]

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

[SmartMark15]

 

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 atUnified. 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: *****

 

I rewatched this a few weeks ago and recall being entirely unimpressed with it. Just a lot of fast action that refused to switch up the pace and built up to pretty much nothing. Even in my younger days as an ROH fan, I recall not quite understanding the hype behind this match.

 

***1/4

[supersonic]

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

[supersonic]

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:

 

On April 18, 2007, Starr was suspended for ninety days. On May 7 it was reported by The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the suspension stemmed from TNA asking Austin to tape promo vignettes on a day he believed to be his day off. Starr did ultimately agree to do the vignettes but TNA saw this as a bad attitude and was reason for his suspension.

 

F4W Newsletter #620 – May 14, 2007

 

Homicide and Austin Aries were both pulled, the latter of which was irate since he's already suspended for 90 days by TNA.

 

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

[supersonic]

The following is also available on:

Reborn Again

From Love to Hate: The Jimmy Jacobs Story

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cul6TSWq4Gk

 

The following is also available on:

Respect is Earned

From Love to Hate: The Jimmy Jacobs Story

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDp50GI5pnU

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZv5aGlpYYI

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x21MIfeGPOc

 

The big takeaway: the true colors and intentions of Jacobs come through in his “stay at home” comment and facial expression after finally bedding Lacey. Not just a creepy motherfucker, but a sexist one at his core that played the long game to mold her into his fantasy; unfortunately for him, she’s failed to live up to his expectations, but he’s succumbed to the sunk cost fallacy now that he realizes he’s got her in the palm of his hand, so why not exploit her after allowing himself to have been exploited by her for the past year and a half?

[supersonic]

A Fight at the Roxbury – June 8, 2007

Taped from Boston, MA

 

 

ROH Video Wire – May 29, 2007

 

 

Important news/footage in the above video:

Delirious crashes the locker room looking for Roderick Strong at an FIP event. Instead, he runs into Tyler Black, making his canon debut for ROH.

June 8 in Boston – Takeshi Morishima vs. Jay Briscoe for the ROH Title

June 9 in Philadelphia – Briscoe Bros. vs. Kings of Wrestling for the Tag Titles in 2/3 Falls

June 23 in Chicago (PPV) – Briscoes Bros. vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico

In their promo also filmed in Florida, the Briscoes vow to take care of Morishima and Steen in Boston, sweep the KOW 2-0 in Philly, and then handle Steen & Generico in Chicago. All quality matches on paper, that’s for sure.

 

In discussing their trios match tonight against Matt Cross, Delirious, & Erick Stevens, the No Remorse Corps claim Austin Aries is hiding behind his TNA contract. They also perv on Becky Bayless.

 

Bryan Danielson is unhappy that he had a grueling ROH Title match against Jimmy Rave last year at the Fourth Anniversary Show. Tonight, it’ll be quick, no classic match.

 

Daizee Haze calls out Lacey, but Jimmy Jacobs answers instead. Haze won’t let him cut much of a promo, grabbing his walking cane. Lacey then arrives to help Jacobs, giving Haze a Lungblower. She’s far more concerned about Jacobs, who has much more confidence now as displayed in his apparel and body language. At his request, Lacey finishes Haze, but is still focused on his well-being. Just a segment to display how the roles had been reversed for Lacey & Jacobs since their dates.

 

Jimmy Rave vs. Bryan Danielson

 

Very good and much shorter match as promised by Danielson. He targeted Rave’s previously broken jaw to dominate most of this match. In addition, for everything Rave pulled off, Danielson would have an answer, including faking a dive to psyche out Rave and then hit a running forearm. All that jaw work came into play at the end during some crucifix pins, as Danielson used the positioning to finish Rave off with elbows the head.

 

In the post-match, Danielson tells Morishima that he’ll suffer the same fate. We shall see about that.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen

 

Steen declares himself the future of ROH during his entrance. He’s right on the money there.

 

This was just a totally awesome match that started in a hurry, Mark wasting no time engaging in fisticuffs in the ring to kick it off. They’d go to the outside, with Mark eating 2 powerbombs, first on the apron, then being tossed into the crowd onto some chairs. It’d continue into the crowd, my favorite moment being Steen teasing a dive off a camera post, then just so arrogantly choosing not to follow through on it. Once they got back to ringside, Steen took a moment to gloat, paying for it by taking the trademark Ric Flair bump on the floor when Mark press slammed him.

 

The match was equally sensational back in the ring with Steen gaining the upper hand after a step-up Enziguri. However, his Swanton would backfire when Mark put his knees up. Once Mark went up top though, Steen cut him off, then shoved the Tag Champion off the turnbuckle and onto a nearby table as well as some chairs. After feigning concern, Steen brought Mark back in the ring to finish him off with the Package Piledriver, bringing this piece of chaos to its conclusion.

 

In the post-match, Steen cuts a promo at the camera, telling his mother that he’s a winner. He tries to dish out more punishment with a chair, but Jay arrives to stop that shit to an incredibly pop, then Generico shows up to keep Steen out of anymore trouble. Tremendous stuff here.

 

Rating: ****

 

ROH Title Shot Match
Chris Hero vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli

 

Hell of a match that would’ve been tremendous had the officiating not been so atrocious. Officiating will be harped on because as in any sport, when it’s shoddy, the most well-versed, objective viewers of them are going to point that shit out. KOW actually worked together, although Castagnoli didn’t get along with Sweet & Sour Inc. The real star of the match was Quackenbush as KOW cut the ring in half on him for about 10 minutes.

 

Once Quackenbush got the hot tag to McGuinness, the match looked to kick up a notch, but that’s when referee Todd Sinclair became forgetful of tag legalities. This was especially dubious because at one point, he used that very reason to not make a pin in Castagnoli’s favor, but did so against him later. This could’ve actually been an opportunity with a booker NOT burned out like Gabe Sapolsky for the commentary to push that perhaps there was STILL resentment towards Castagnoli for betraying ROH in favor of CZW; while that may seem far-fetched, imagine how much additional historic emphasis that would’ve placed on such a special saga.

 

Sinclair should be pleased that Castagnoli ended up winning the match, because any other result and Castagnoli would’ve had more than a fair case to make about being screwed. This actually only makes the decision to have split away from Chris Hero all the more foolish, because Larry Sweeney could’ve been lobbying for him had such an injustice occurred. In fact, this match would’ve been better served as reuniting KOW anyway and having Castagnoli welcomed into SNS, since they were already scheduled to reunite the next day against the Briscoes for the Tag Titles. There’s nothing wrong with fixing a mistake, but Sapolsky was just too burned out at this time to figure that out. Castagnoli could’ve then earned his ROH Title shot by different means later.

 

Now as for the finish, it capped off what was supposed to be an excellent match based on the action. After such highlights like Hero eating a rebound lariat from McGuinness on the outside, Castagnoli hitting a surprise rolling uppercut to McGuinness, and Quackenbush pulling off all kinds of spectacular counters, many of them arm drag variations that’d make Ricky Steamboat blush, the bar had been set. In this case at the finish, Quackenbush did multiple head-scissor rotations around Castagnoli’s head, drove him down, then turned him over for a crucifix pin near-fall. Quackenbush attempted to then finish Castagnoli off via a backslide pin, over the backslide to be reverse and Castagnoli instantly hitting an uppercut that Quackenbush sold like a million bucks for the finish.

 

In the post-match, SNS is none too pleased as Tank Toland tells Sinclair he’s fat like Bobby Dempsey.

 

Rating: ***1/2

 

At intermission, BJ Whitmer has nothing to say to Becky Bayless, but Kevin Steen is more than happy to cut a fantastic promo without her around. With Generico by his side, he says his partner will defeat Matt Sydal tonight, then boasts his actions towards Mark Briscoe. “I enjoyed it so much… You know what I’m gonna do with that DVD? I loved it so much, I’m gonna use it as if it were pornography.” He then vows that they’ll dethrone the Briscoes for the Tag Titles later. Fuck, how much I would love for KOW to dethrone the Briscoes so that KOW vs. Steen & Generico can happen. Just once is all I ask for.

 

Eddie Edwards gets a standing ovation in his hometown of Boston after defeating Pelle Primeau. Enough pussyfooting, push the motherfucker and make him cut off those dreadful dreadlocks too.

 

El Generico vs. Matt Sydal

 

The show-stealing MOTN, feeling like it was straight from a PWG All Star Weekend or Battle of Los Angeles card. Sydal played the cocky, more successful shit while on offense early, and had plenty of terrific counters to cut off Generico’s hope spots. Perhaps he got trips from CIMA to explain him tugging on Generico’s mask tassels, although he proudly states he has experience doing that when referencing his series against Delirious.

 

Generico was equally terrific with his counters to cut off Sydal too, the peak being deep in the match on the outside when he gave Sydal no time to escape the through-the-ropes tornado DDT. Before that though, they had a strike exchange that the Boston crowd was totally into as Sydal gained the advantage, ending it with a top-rope double knees press near-fall. Sydal also brilliantly evaded many of Generico’s signature moves, including the various Brainbusters.

 

Generico showed his inexperience at this level when he wasted time running the ropes, allowing Sydal to drive them both out of the ring. Perhaps that ultimately explains why Sydal won this contest, even though this moment allowed for the through-the-ropes tornado DDT that had Beantown rocking. Generico managed to surprisingly hit his trademark Double Pumphandle Vertical Suplex Powerbomb for a near-fall. But Sydal was on point, blocking the Yakuza kick, sweeping Generico, and hitting a Standing Moonsault for a dramatic false-finish.

 

Sydal’s attempt at the Flux Capacitor could’ve easily been turned into a Top Rope Brainbuster, but instead Generico just shoved him off. Sydal’s Ear Clap Headscissors backfired as Generico rolled through and hit the Yakuza kick to another good near-fall. However, Sydal would NOT allow a Brainbuster, using the momentum to hit a Frankensteiner pin for the victory.

 

As mentioned, a terrific match that had Boston rocking, paid off teased signatures, and told a layered story. Sydal would NOT allow Generico to hit a Brainbuster, and this strategy plus superior ROH experience got him the victory when Generico kept going back to that well. In the process though, Generico’s stock took an upswing in defeat by taking Sydal to the limit. This is EXACTLY what motherfuckers fucking demand from 205 Live. How is it so fucking difficult?

 

Rating: ****

 

No Remorse Corps vs. Matt Cross, Delirious, & Erick Stevens

 

A total fucking mess of a trios match. For one, it was idiotic to have Stevens play the FIP; this is an incorrect route to take if the goal is for him to fill the powerhouse void left by Samoa Joe, or even to be an evolved Roderick Strong. That’s especially true with the significantly smaller Cross and Delirious on his team to play that role. Stevens was nothing more than a hard-hitting powerhouse at this time and had not shown the sympathy charisma whatsoever in ROH or FIP up to this point to be in this role.

 

The action itself was perfectly executed. There were no actual botches. The crowd even loved it. But the crowd was looking at this through layman’s eyes. There have been many exciting contests in other sports that to the layman, one not looking through an analytical lens, comes across as a classic. To those pundits though that can identify shoddy coaching and officiating, the games simply don’t measure to such acclaim.

 

This match is a wonderful example. For whatever reason, this was not referee Todd Sinclair’s finest night of performances. Having already tainted what should’ve been a classic four-way earlier on the card, he wasn’t done shitting it up. In this one, he did nothing to enforce tag legalities whatsoever, and for as much of a well-oiled machine the NRC was, they weren’t the Rottweilers or Generation Next deliberately confusing him. It looked like Davey Richards would help pacify this piss-poor officiating by channeling the days of Jim Crockett Promotions and slapping his hands to audibly signal tags, but that didn’t strategy was dropped as well.

 

The officiating wasn’t the only part of this match that sucked shit. As mentioned, shoddy coaching can prevent a contest from truly being worthy of acclaim. In this case, since this is a worked performance art, the coaching inefficiencies would fall on booker Gabe Sapolsky.

 

THERE. IS. NO. GOOD. FUCKING. REASON. WHATSOEVER. FOR. RODERICK. STRONG. TO. TAKE. A. CLEAN. FALL. HERE. THE. EVE. TO. HIS. ADVERTISED. ROH. TITLE. MATCH. ESPECIALLY. WITH. THE. DEFENDING. CHAMPION. SO. OBVIOUSLY. BEING. THE. MONSTROUS. TAKESHI. MORISHIMA. WHAT. THE. FUCK. IS. THIS. GODDAMN. BULLSHIT. BOOKING? WHY. DIDN’T. CARY. SILKIN. FIRE. SAPOLSKY. RIGHT. AFTER. THIS?

 

As stated, had Strong just taken a fuckload of bombs, perhaps it’s explainable. It can even be explained that he had gotten so cocky since forming the NRC that his arrogance cost him, a stern reminder the night before facing Morishima. After all, similarly happened to Morishima just 4 months earlier. However, with how exciting the NRC was in pacing their work and having been established as the company’s top faction at this time, a booker NOT burned out would’ve seen the money in having them go undefeated in trios action until the time was right to finally pull off the upset. Such a defeat needed to mean something and resonate, rather than the show just jumping to next segment seconds later after the match’s conclusion.

 

Don’t believe me? Go on the WWE Network. Pull up the June 14, 2013 edition of SmackDown. Tune into the main event of The Shield vs. Team Hell No & Randy Orton. Then compare it to this horseshit.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

An outstanding segment arrives to take the viewer’s mind off the booking and officiating disaster just witnessed. SNS force Bobby Dempsey to run laps with Chris Hero on his shoulders at a nearby indoor track, with Tank Toland vowing to turn him from fat and flab to natural superior athleticism. Dempsey collapsed as Toland goes drill sergeant on him, then Hero berates him as he continues trotting to the delight of Toland and Larry Sweeney.

 

ROH Title Match
Takeshi Morishima vs. Jay Briscoe

 

Good close to the show with Jay putting on a surprising performance considering how dominant Morishima was at this time. However, it shouldn’t have been when reflecting back on Jay’s matches against Samoa Joe a few years earlier. Morishima immediately went after Jay and took it the outside, then delivered an Ole Ole Hip Attack. His mistake was arrogantly going for another one, allowing Jay to cut him off with a Yakuza kick and an apron splash, bringing the action back into the ring as the crowd was behind him.

 

This match was far more competitive than it should’ve been in kayfabe, and that’s thanks to the already mentioned arrogance of Morishima. He seemed to forget that he was a marked man, no matter how much of a successful monster heel he was a decade ago. Everyone was gunning for him to capture the title and knock him down a peg, to do what only the iconic Joe had been able to pull off so far. On the other hand, it’s a testament to Jay that he made this more than a glorified squash, and in fact, I’ll be a peacock displaying my feathers right now: I was the ONLY motherfucker a decade ago that pitched the idea of Jay dethroning Morishima for the ROH Title. Jay Briscoe as ROH Champion? Didn’t sound so plausible a decade ago.

 

Jay’s fatal flaw after a commendable effort was going for his Butterfly Piledriver, failing at that, and then thinking he could hit a Sunset Flip on the superheavyweight, getting sat on for his trouble. Although he’d hit a Superplex on the champion, it was immediately a kick out by Morishima, who got an adrenaline rush as Jay kept decking him. Jay mistakenly ran the ropes, leaving himself open to eat Morishima’s standing lariat and then the backdrop driver for the finish.

 

Kevin Steen immediately comes to attack the fallen Jay, with Mark Briscoe then making the save. Generico shows up to even it, leading to a brawl that went backstage to close out the show for the live audience. This brawl happening at this point of the show seems to telegraph the main event of Boston’s next ROH event, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

 

Rating: ***1/2

 

Brent Albright nearly puts me to sleep by claiming he’s coming for the ROH Title. After 6 months, he’d yet to deliver a ***+ match, so why exactly wasn’t he tossed aside after Good Times, Great Memories?

 

Sweeney comes back to the indoor race track. Toland claims that after 20 minutes, Sweeney had to finish a lap, while Hero had already done 5 and is now running circles around him. This is just incredible stuff as Sweeney giggles with such glee. Really hope these segments were included on Ring of Hero, and incredibly glad this closed out the DVD instead of that ennui-inducing Albright promo.

 

Five quality matches, including two terrific show-stealers make this an easy recommendation. This is also a tremendous night to look back at to see that the writing was on the wall for booker Gabe Sapolsky. He was fucking toast, done, running on fumes. Such a shame that a fresh replacement wasn’t in charge so that the booking could’ve matched up with the workrate and put this show in the same breath as similar in-ring quality events like The Final Showdown.

 

Up next – Domination
Matches will include:
Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
Briscoe Bros. vs. Kings of Wrestling
Takeshi Morishima vs. Roderick Strong

[fakeplastictrees]

Just finished reading some of the reviews here. Good stuff. My favorite ROH matches of all time involve Morshima/Nigel (all encounters) and Morishima/Danielson. Just overall good stuff and really the definition of ROH to me.

[supersonic]

Domination – June 9, 2007

Taped from Philadelphia, PA

 

 

Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico

 

Phenomenal match here that got going when Steen individually decided to cut the ring in half on Jigsaw, mocking the need for a hot tag. Quackenbush was also brilliant when he got baited in the ring, drawing referee Todd Sinclair’s attention; instead of bitching, Quackenbush just stood there to keep Sinclair from counting a pin fall in Steen’s favor. Now that’s veteran tag team psychology from a babyface, a rarity. The hot tag to Quackenbush would finally come after Jigsaw hit a step-up Enziguri and gorgeous tornado DDT counter.

 

Once Quackenbush came in, he was the appropriate house of fire as Steen also got tagged in. Anyone that appreciated the Daniel Bryan era in 2013-14 would love Quackenbush’s arsenal here. Eventually the match would return to being even with Steen giving Quackenbush to signature Ric Flair counter, that being the press slam off the top rope, but Quackenbush rolled through it, only to eat a Pop-Up Powerbomb and Generico splash for a great near-fall. Once Jigsaw was tagged back in, he ate knees to the gut on a splash attempt, but avoid Generico’s Yakuza kick, which struck Steen instead. In what could’ve been a highlight in a normal match, Jigsaw took Generico down with a Torture Rack Sit Down Powerbomb Drop, followed by a Quackenbush Swaton, followed by a Jigsaw Guillotine Leg Drop, followed by Quackenbush Double Knees Drop. Steen brilliantly yanked Jigsaw out for what would’ve been the surefire finish, then got the tag after putting Generico back in the ring.

 

Quackenbush seated Steen on the turnbuckle and Jigsaw went for a Hurricanrana, but Steen blocked it. Generico hit a Van Terminator to take advantage, then Steen followed up with a Super Sit Down Powerbomb. When Quackenbush broke it up, that was the true highlight as the crowd erupted for this timeless classic. With Generico taking a down to the outside, that took out Quackenbush. Jigsaw was then prone to a Package Piledriver and Brainbuster for the finish, leaving the crowd in amazement to deliver a standing ovation.

 

In the post-match, all four men shake hands but the Chikara tandem is weary of the abrasive Steen. He proves them right when he tosses Jigsaw out and then takes a powder from Quackenbush, who is pissed. Steen awesomely says that he followed the Code of Honor, but Jigsaw took too long to break the handshake.

 

Absolutely fantastic piece of business here that has fallen under the radar for God knows what reason. Perhaps we should’ve known this would be off-the-charts since it marked Steen & Generico’s return to the very building where they finally earned their full-time spots. Sensational tag team wrestling.

 

Rating: ****1/4

 

In a four-way match, Brent Albright earns an ROH Title match. Time for him to finally deliver when that happens, as he’s been a disappointment so far with more than half a year spent on the roster.

 

Tag Titles – 2/3 Falls Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Kings of Wrestling

 

While Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli are cordial, they’re certainly not best friends again, as Castagnoli has little patience for Sweet ‘N Sour, Inc. and gets chastised when he tries hazing Bobby Dempsey by Tank Toland. Meanwhile the Briscoes are treated like total rock stars and Hero is drawing mega heat, no surprise with this being Philly. Makes me think this may have been the best night to have booked the KOW vs. Steen & Generico dream match that’s yet to happen a decade later.

 

The dueling chants at the start are amazing, perhaps indicating CZW fans have been hooked into the product after the white-hot 2006. Dave Prazak pushes on commentary this is Castagnoli’s reward for having a show-stealer alongside Matt Sydal against the Briscoes at Respect is Earned. That’s an odd explanation for this, but whatever.

 

The rivalry between these 2 teams peaked here for the time being, smoking their acclaimed encounter at Final Battle 2006. This one had far deeper storytelling and tag team psychology, with the impressive dynamic of this being another clean 2-0 sweep for the Briscoes and the second fall being treated so seriously by the Philly crowd. While the Briscoes hot tag didn’t get quite the reaction hoped for after Mark had the ring cut in half on him by the obnoxious KOW, Jay was a tremendous house of fire to hold up his end of the deal.

 

Although not pushed on commentary, the narrative looked to be that after Hero took the first fall thanks to Jay’s Butterfly Piledriver, he’d be out of the ring unconscious and Castagnoli would have to channel Colt Cabana’s inspiring performance from Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1. However that would not be the case as Hero did regain consciousness in time to turn this into a barn-burner, perhaps the greatest 2/3 falls match to ever end in a 2-0 sweep. Hero perfectly timed a dive to the outside and turned it into a front somersault to land on his feet and take Mark out with a Yakuza kick, leaving Jay to eat Castagnoli’s Alpamari Waterslide for an excellent near-fall.

 

The writing was on the wall there as Mark countered Hero’s Irish Whip on the outside and Jay this time had the Ricola Bomb scouted. But as Jay went for the Butterfly Piledriver again this time with Mark in motion to help, SNS grabbed Mark’s leg, so the younger Briscoe took them out via an Asai Moonsault to Philly’s delight, landing on his feet just like Hero minutes earlier. Castagnoli would hit a springboard uppercut and Ricolo Bomb this time, but Mark arrived to break it up, then they surprised Castagnoli with a sudden Springboard Doomsday Device to bring this timeless classic to an end, matching the other tag team classic earlier on the card, and making me further wish KOW vs. Steen & Generico had happened. (WrestleMania 34, pretty please!)

 

In the post-match, Hero and the rest of SNS display disgust with Castagnoli, as if he has solely responsible for the clean sweep. Such a shame that booker Gabe Sapolsky saw this in the long-term as just another means to advance the Hero vs. Castagnoli program that never got over, rather than bringing the team back together after such an excellent match.

 

Rating: ****1/4

 

The semi main event of the evening would be taped for PPV and not available on this home video release. Live reports at the time indiciate that the PPV announcement cranked up Philly even more. That would then be heightened when Larry Sweeney revealed to Nigel McGuinness his mystery opponent for the evening, none other than Bryan Danielson, with the winner earning a future ROH Title match.

 

Since the match would only be available on the event known as Driven 2007, there will be no spoilers or discussion of Danielson vs. McGuinness V here. However, those in attendance said that had the match been included, this is an easy show of the year contender. With that in mind, this show will be assessed as a home video release in this review, and then with Danielson vs. McGuinness included in the Driven 2007 review for full live report assessment, with both versions being considered for the end of year awards as well.

 

The assessment that can be provided is this: Sapolsky wanted Danielson vs. McGuinness to be on the second PPV, but wanted that show in Chicago for whatever reason. He also wanted the KENTA vs. Danielson rematch to happen in Chicago, and that was the only Chicago event all year that both KENTA and Danielson would both be booked on. That’s what I call a recipe of stubbornness with a lovely dash of burnout flavor.

 

In hindsight, this Philly event should’ve just been the fucking PPV taping since the third PPV would be in Chicago anyway. Spread the brotherly love, motherfucker. If Driven 2007 is entirely filmed on June 9 in Philly, then KENTA vs. Danielson can still be in Chicago as desired. However, if Chicago on June 23 just HAD to be a PPV event even though that market was hosting the following PPV a few months later, then just book Danielson vs. McGuinness to happen there rather than being a previously recorded add-on. KENTA vs. Danielson can then take place the next time they’re both available for ROH, which would be Glory By Honor VI Night 1 on November 2 in Philly, and when including their NOAH encounter, pushed as a huge rubber match the night before their huge matches that’d turn out to be against Mitsuharu Misawa and Takeshi Morishima.

 

And now, the actual main event both in person and on home video.

 

ROH Title Match
Takeshi Morishima vs. Roderick Strong

 

Yet another tremendous match to close out the show. Strong managed to give an effort just as admirable as Shingo, Austin Aries, and Nigel McGuinness, topping Jay Briscoe from the night before; perhaps he was humbled by taking the fall to Delirious, although that wasn’t mentioned whatsoever.

 

Strong seemed to have everything scouted. The backdrop driver, the standing lariat, the sit down crush, he evaded all of Morishima’s signature moves and found a way to get back into this after being dominated in lengthy fashion by the champion. Morishima was equally resilient albeit arrogant as always, going straight at Strong to start the match and paying for it, but weathering that storm.

 

What bit Strong was that he fell into the trap of Morishima’s signatures after having successfully scouted them earlier. Despite all the punishment he managed to deliver to Morishima, including a side slam on the outside to soften Morishima’s back, a superplex, and even delivering a gutbuster that had been teased earlier, nothing could keep the monster down for long enough. After the suplex, Morishima kicked out at one and took care of Strong with a lariat. At this point I saw a strategy that someone needed to implement, and it’ll likely take a smaller opponent to do so: when Morishima stands like a statue, instead of just hitting upward strikes, a challenger should go for his legs instead to surprise him and bring him down to size; this will also allow the challenger to evade Morishima’s standing lariat.

 

It was surprising to see Strong get his arm on the ropes to break a pin after eating a backdrop driver, but it only made the Philly crowd even hotter after sitting through a tremendous live event. However, once the second backdrop driver was hit with Strong landing in the middle of the ring, that was all she wrote. Outstanding main event as mentioned.

 

Mentioned in commentary is that the next event will be headlined by Morishima teaming up with Naomichi Marufuji to take on Danielson & McGuinness. OH FUCK YES~!

 

Rating: ****

 

As a home video release, this gets an easy recommendation since it also includes a good match between Bryan Danielson and Jay Lethal from FIP to make up for the absence of Danielson vs. McGuinness. That along with the Briscoes vs. KOW classic makes for the exclusive stuff not anywhere else as of yet; for those who don’t bother with compilations, the other two excellent matches in Morishima vs. Strong and Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Steen & Generico make this one of the best shows of the year event without the acclaimed PPV match.

 

Now had that PPV match been included, would it have topped the best contenders so far in 2007 such as Fifth Year Festival: Finale, Supercard of Honor II, and Good Times, Great Memories? Perhaps, but difficult to really say since half of this show was just disposable filler. This was definitely a great show though and will be in consideration at the end of the year, with the live report assessment in a couple weeks only enhancing it.

 

The time for uncertainty is done with. A question is about to be answered. A dream partner tag match has arrived stemming from the events of Respect is Earned. All on the eve of a crazy PPV taping and rematch everyone’s been dying to see for the past 9 months.

 

Up next – United We Stand
Matches will include:
Matt Cross & Erick Stevens vs. Davey Richards & Roderick Strong
KENTA vs. Rocky Romero
Takeshi Morishima & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness
Briscoe Bros. vs. Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli

[supersonic]

United We Stand – June 22, 2007

Taped from Dayton, OH

 

 

Matt Cross & Erick Stevens vs. Davey Richards & Roderick Strong

 

A well-paced match that fell apart since nobody could be bothered to remember tag legalities, not even referee Todd Sinclair, who has proven to know better. For those who deem this to be nit-picking, this is a genre of entertainment in which the viewer is supposed to suspend disbelief, in which we are to buy into this being a legitimate contest. That includes officiating being up to par. How important is officiating to upholding the true value of a contest? Well this is being written the night of Game 4 in the 2017 NBA Finals, and based on social media, that game was severely tainted by officiating problems.

 

The real takeaway is the post-match as Austin Aries sat front row and Strong called him out. Quite obvious that Aries got his release granted by TNA and is now back. Cross has negative charisma when verbally standing up for Aries as the Resilience leader, supposedly not allowed to do more than be a spectator, dares Strong to take this issue outside the building. Good on TNA to do the right thing, and it might be the only one that company did in 2007.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

At intermission, Larry Sweeney reveals that Chris Hero has now signed an ROH contract, and Sweet ‘N Sour Inc. forces Bobby Dempsey to perform jumping jacks. Sweeney is astonishingly magnetic here.

 

KENTA vs. Rocky Romero

 

Very good match here with Romero showing plenty of counters to go along with his cockiness. His trademark arrogance though should’ve honestly been toned down against the former GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion, because KENTA isn’t someone to fuck with for someone on Romero’s level. The Dayton crowd absolutely loved this as Romero managed to get the cross arm breaker on a couple times, including one off the top rope and another as a counter to a cross arm breaker by KENTA.

 

Romero’s stock went up by kicking out of the Busaiku knee, but his fatal mistake was on KENTA’s first Go to Sleep attempt. Instead of hitting a crucifix move like Austin Aries or Bryan Danielson would do in the same position, Romero countered with a traditional roll-up that led to the cross arm breaker counter. This allowed KENTA to eventually lift Romero up while in the submission, hitting the Go to Sleep on the exhausted former ROH Tag Champ for the victory.

 

In the post-match, Davey Richards arrives so the NRC can feign respect, only to sucker KENTA before getting chased off by Delirious, Cross, and Stevens. Get Delirious out of this shit ASAP.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

Takeshi Morishima & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness

 

Danielson & McGuinness showed quite the chemistry here. Once Team NOAH got the ring cut in half on Danielson, there had to be some concern based on how easily Danielson cozied up to Morishima just 6 weeks earlier. But the faith Danielson had in Morishima would be justified, ending up with a hot tag after Danielson ate plenty of offense in his first in-ring action against the ROH Champion.

 

Everything in this was just crisp, and the ROH dream team was on point, bailing each other out when the time called for it, whether it was Danielson in a neck-and-shoulder submission that had been used by Jay Lethal at Manhattan Mayhem (someone book Lethal vs. Marufuji at some point btw), or Morishima needing to be missile dropkicked by Danielson to not hit the backdrop driver on McGuinness. The last several minutes in particular were off the charts, especially for the finish.

 

In a moment 4 months in the making, the monstrous ROH Champion finally ate his first loss since his debut against Samoa Joe, but of course the company realizes that was a fuckup so the commentary pushes this as Morishima’s first defeat in ROH. McGuinness went for all kinds of lariats but like always, Morishima wouldn’t go down. It’d take a superkick by McGuinness to be the final blow to stagger Morishima, with a Marufuji superkick giving McGuinness the momentum necessary to land the victorious rebound lariat while Danielson kept the former GHC Heavyweight Champion at bay. Just an excellent match with a rousing standing ovation afterwards, and Morishima vs. McGuinness II should be a doozy.

 

Rating: ****

 

Tag Titles – 2/3 Falls Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli

 

A definite stepdown from their show-stealer the month before as well as the 2/3 falls match involving ¾ of these men a couple weeks earlier. This never came close to a fever pitch, with the first fall’s solid story being everyone going for a quick fall, which the Briscoes were successful with after isolating Sydal. Out of desperation, Castagnoli chose to forgo the rest period and go right after the champs in what turned out to be a lengthier second fall. However, there was no drama here unlike the prior match and real main event – everyone knew this would be a sweep after the Briscoes’ quick first fall, and fans even called it at the beginning of the match.

 

There’s something to be said for booking such dominant champions, and in fact it was because of both the Briscoes and Morishima that the prior show was called Domination. So with that in mind, the main event on this show should’ve just been Morishima & Marufuji vs. Danielson & McGuinness, as McGuinness going over Morishima would’ve been a tremendous way to close out the show. Oh yeah, in addition, it was explained that this was Sydal cashing in on entitled rematch after the show-stealer at Respect is Earned. That shows the confidence Sydal had that if the Kings of Wrestling would’ve dethroned the Briscoes he could’ve found someone else, and who could blame him after he and Christopher Daniels had already gotten the job done against them?

 

Rating: ***1/4

 

The DVD closes with a very brief Brent Albright promo, who’s salivating now that Morishima’s proven to be vulnerable and looking forward to cashing in his ROH Title match.

 

Recommended for the triple main event, although it may be better just to get the compilations they’re on, including KENTA, Danielson vs. McGuinness, and Creating Excellence respectively. Nothing of else on this show is worth the money.

 

And now, perhaps the best pro wrestling PPV of 2007, along with an anticipated rematch.

 

Up next – Driven 2007
Matches will include:
The entire Driven 2007 PPV broadcast
Chris Hero vs. Nigel McGuinness
KENTA vs. Bryan Danielson

[supersonic]

Driven 2007 – June 23, 2007

Taped from Chicago, IL

 

 

Driven 2007 (PPV) – Aired September 21, 2007

 

Dave Prazak kicks off with a rah-rah promo in front of the rabid Chicago audience, but gets interrupted by Matt Cross, Delirious, & Erick Stevens, who want the No Remorse Corps right now. After the PPV intro, the challenge is answered.

 

Apparent Scramble Rules Match

No Remorse Corps vs. Matt Cross, Delirious, & Erick Stevens

 

The commentary mentioned midway through this frenzied opener that referee Todd Sinclair was being lenient and seemed to opt for scramble rules. That was perfectly timed because the established tag legalities went out the window immediately afterward, having been adhered to up to that point. The makeshift babyfaces got the upper hand at first until Delirious played the Ricky Morton role, but it was too brief to build up to much of a hot tag, not that it mattered with this becoming a scramble spotfest.

 

Chicago absolutely loved the insanity in this one, and why ROH hasn’t released a Trios Matches DVD yet with this included (as well as its equally hot post-match) is a mystery. With this being a glorified spotfest, that allowed Cross to shine the brightest thanks to a perfectly timed Sasuke Special and also a Reverse Hurricanrana to Davey Richards. But perhaps that was the poetry with Richards finally finishing off Cross with the Butterfly Driver, just moments after Cross failed to finish Romero with a Corkscrew type of press.

 

Austin Aries arrives from the crowd and chases off the NRC to prevent the usual post-match attack, then cuts a tremendous rah-rah promo putting ROH over as THE wrestling company at the time, and signs his ROH contract. Immediately once he signed it, a graphic appeared with his name in a nice instantaneous touch, and as the crowd welcomed him back, so did company owner Cary Silkin in a handshake.

 

Rating: ***

 

An advertisement for the company’s Japan debut aired from Tokyo and Osaka, having been filmed prior to this PPV broadcast. The production looks top-notch and had I been in charge, Tokyo would’ve been the PPV over this Chicago event.

 

Matt Sydal vs. Claudio Castagnoli

 

Quality match between the two with chemistry akin to Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero and Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio. At some point, it’d be nice to see Cesaro vs. Evan Bourne in an opportunity to have the classic they’re capable of pulling off together. Like before, Castagnoli was the perfect base for Sydal’s feisty quickness and bomb-like counters.

 

The major highlights were Sydal using the momentum of a Castagnoli power counter attempt and pressing off to hit a twisting head-scissors, a gorgeous one at that, as well as some good storytelling. Sydal hit a Spike Hurricanrana pin for a near-fall, a move that had been Castagnoli down back in November 2006. Not only did Castagnoli have the werewithal to kick out of this, but he managed to then counter it for the finish, rolling over for a jackknife pin.

 

Castagnoli was an idiot in the post-match. Sweet ‘N Sour, Inc. arrived with Larry Sweeney offering Sydal a contract, and Castagnoli tore it up. Who the fuck is he to make a career decision for someone else like that? Sydal was justifiably pissed and decided to join them anyway, attacking Castagnoli as they all left him laying alone.

 

Rating: ***1/2

 

A highlight reel for Jimmy Rave airs, with ROH having offered him an ROH Title match for God knows what reason, and he’s cashing in tonight. Fucking wretched booking.

 

BJ Whitmer vs. Naomichi Marufuji

 

Good mechanics, not the least bit interesting as a matchup. Considering that Chris Hero was involved in the prior segment, how about just having him stay in the ring and Sweeney tells Marufuji to get his ass into the ring to face his top signing? To nobody’s surprise, Marufuji won after a competitive match with the Shiranui, and the lack of frenzied audience engagement spoke volumes that nobody was dying to see these two collide.

 

Rating: ***

 

Brent Albright vs. Pelle Primeau

 

Just a squash match in Albright’s favor. Although the idea is obvious to get Albright over, this would’ve been the perfect for him to face Takeshi Morishima after having earned an ROH Title match a couple weeks earlier at Domination.

 

Tag Titles Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico

 

Very good match only held back by not substantial hot tag moment, although there were times that Jay and Generico were isolated. The real takeaways of the match came in the last several minutes, not that the first dozen minutes or so weren’t quality stuff. Steen’s dive on Jay was topped with a diving response from Mark on him; Mark had also hit a moonsault off a barricade to Generico.

 

There’s an argument to be made that a title change should’ve been booked here when Generico got hot, Yakuza kicking Jay and feeding him to Steen for the Package Piledriver. It also seemed like that may be the case when Generico had a dramatic kick out, but once the Spike Butterfly Piledriver was implemented after Mark had driven Steen through a table, there was no going back.

 

In the post-match, Steen attacks the champions with a ladder, telegraphing a ladder match on the next PPV. He tells Generico this is the kind of ruthless aggression he should be displaying before blowing snot on the Briscoes. There’s still plenty of juice left in this feud for sure.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

A tremendous Sweeney promo airs gloating about Hero and Sydal, promising the latter many great financial opportunities. Tank Toland berates Bobby Dempsey on an ab machine in a segment that I really hope is on Ring of Hero. Just fantastic stuff all around. Some food for thought: considering that Toland was ashamed of Dempsey’s obesity, what would he have to say about Kassius Ohno today?

 

ROH Title Match
Takeshi Morishima vs. Jimmy Rave

 

Just a few minutes, but Rave got in his fair share of offense and evasions; this was surprisingly an enjoyable glorified squash, and a much more engaging match than Rave’s ROH Title match against Homicide a few months earlier. The crowd was totally into both, and thus it made it official: Morishima was now genuinely over.

 

The commentary claims to be “out of time” or such bullshit, saying they have a special match to show that’s airing from Philly. Nobody is fooled by this false attempt to be multi-location like Starrcade 1985, WrestleMania 2, and Starrcade 1986. So here’s a copy and paste of the convoluted decision of booking this PPV main event 2 weeks earlier in the City of Brotherly Love.

 

 

The semi main event of the evening would be taped for PPV and not available on this home video release. Live reports at the time indicate that the PPV announcement cranked up Philly even more. That would then be heightened when Larry Sweeney revealed to Nigel McGuinness his mystery opponent for the evening, none other than Bryan Danielson, with the winner earning a future ROH Title match.

 

Since the match would only be available on the event known as Driven 2007, there will be no spoilers or discussion of Danielson vs. McGuinness V here. However, those in attendance said that had the match been included, this is an easy show of the year contender. With that in mind, this show will be assessed as a home video release in this review, and then with Danielson vs. McGuinness included in the Driven 2007 review for full live report assessment, with both versions being considered for the end of year awards as well.

 

The assessment that can be provided is this: Sapolsky wanted Danielson vs. McGuinness to be on the second PPV, but wanted that show in Chicago for whatever reason. He also wanted the KENTA vs. Danielson rematch to happen in Chicago, and that was the only Chicago event all year that both KENTA and Danielson would both be booked on. That’s what I call a recipe of stubbornness with a lovely dash of burnout flavor.

 

In hindsight, this Philly event should’ve just been the fucking PPV taping since the third PPV would be in Chicago anyway. Spread the brotherly love, motherfucker. If Driven 2007 is entirely filmed on June 9 in Philly, then KENTA vs. Danielson can still be in Chicago as desired. However, if Chicago on June 23 just HAD to be a PPV event even though that market was hosting the following PPV a few months later, then just book Danielson vs. McGuinness to happen there rather than being a previously recorded add-on. KENTA vs. Danielson can then take place the next time they’re both available for ROH, which would be Glory By Honor VI Night 1 on November 2 in Philly, and when including their NOAH encounter, pushed as a huge rubber match the night before their huge matches that’d turn out to be against Mitsuharu Misawa and Takeshi Morishima.

 

Before getting to the main event from Philly, a promo by Adam Pearce airs that I cannot fathom a single fucking person on the planet giving a single solitary shit about a decade ago. This was just the drizzling shits booking by Gabe Sapolsky. Absolutely fucking pointless and horrendous.

 

Of course you care about that, so here are the details: Pearce talks about satisfying need before approaching a depressed Whitmer and striking him, then Albright appears besides Pearce. Just riveting stuff here, folks. To quote Dave Meltzer in a 1998 newsletter: “Hold off your votes for Feud of the Year.”

 

ROH Title Shot Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness

Taped June 9, 2007 @ Domination

 

An absolutely stellar match here to put the Domination live event over the top (recall that card already had 3 existing ****+ matches included on its DVD release) and bring this PPV to a close. For anyone that loved the atmosphere of the John Cena vs. AJ Styles trilogy, they need to hear the Philly audience in this one as it was a fever pitch at the beginning.

 

The big criticism is obvious, in that after a few minutes of mat work at the beginning, it became largely a strike-fest which ultimately shortened their careers. Rather than display the state-of-the-art technical wrestling that these two had displayed at Weekend of Champions Night 2, Generation Now, and The Epic Encounter II, they went with the Unified big match direction, which should’ve been left alone for their own long-term career value.

 

That’s not to say that the strikes were dramatic and excellently timed. Perhaps had the match even focused a bit more on throwing bombs instead of strikes, it wouldn’t have been so traumatic for their careers while also being equally dramatic. They deserve credit for the incredible heat on a half crab false finish, Danielson struggling to reach the ropes. With that said, such a safe move like that generating so much heat further emphasizes the incorrectness of not relying on mat wrestling as the primary story.

 

Another tremendous moment in this instant classic was McGuinness struggling to lift Danielson up for a Tower of London, finally being able to do, collapsing from exhaustion, and the crowd erupting as McGuinness didn’t have the energy to go for a pin fall. Perhaps no moment in this match told the ultimate takeaway coming out of this match – after 5 ROH Title matches and 2 PPV main events, McGuinness had yet to win a major match in the company. He simply just wasn’t on Danielson’s level yet, and in fact pushed Danielson to the max, something only KENTA and Roderick Strong could also claim in the past couple years.

 

For both positive and negative reasons, the legitimate headbutts following the slap exchange became the biggest takeaway from this match in the short and long term. Undoubtedly, these dangerous decisions brought Philly to a frenzy, allowing the match’s final couple minutes to close out with a bang. On the other hand, there’s the obvious fact a decade later that both are retired with this match playing a significant reason as to why. As for the past couple minutes, it was insane (again both good and bad) to see a bloodied Danielson (that we’d find out the next day in PWG was also concussed) have the drive to go for the Cattle Mutilation.

 

McGuinness would use the momentum of the Cattle Mutilation to get a sensational near-fall on Danielson, only to succumb to the elbows to the head just like at Unified. As stated before, McGuinness was in canon becoming known as someone who needed a career-defining victory on his resume, even with him on an obvious ascent to soon become ROH Champion. But having gotten the victory over Morishima at United We Stand, his opportunities were far from expired, and now both of these ROH icons had guaranteed shots at the ROH Title.

 

Rating: ****1/2

 

BONUS MATCHES

 

Chris Hero vs. Nigel McGuinness

 

Good match although never reached anything special. While Hero was certainly over in this role as well McGuinness, looking back it did a poor job of grooming McGuinness for his obvious ascension. This was a definite step down after his Pure Title reign and program against Jimmy Rave. This was an easy story of McGuinness dominating early due to Hero being too cute, SNS helping Hero gain the advantage, Hero daring McGuinness to have a strike exchange to allow a comeback, and McGuinness eventually wins.

 

Rating: ***1/4

 

KENTA vs. Bryan Danielson

 

Phenomenal main event and a bit better than the Philly match placed on the PPV portion of this event. The lone criticism will be acknowledged right now: while KENTA’s head pain selling in the post-match displayed that the last minute or two was him weathering it all to finally pin Danielson in an ROH ring, there’s preference for KENTA to have sold the Go to Sleep implemented on him just a bit more, perhaps with both collapsing in exhaustion to sell it, and then having one last closing exchange afterwards.

 

Even with that said, there’s so much to love about this rematch. Danielson’s suicide dive being blocked by a KENTA kick that connected with the previously injured right shoulder and teasing a retelling of their Glory By Honor V Night 2 story; Danielson answering that by giving an overhead belly-to-belly suplex off the apron and forcing KENTA to land on the padded floor; Danielson scouting the Busaiku knee after having already been brought down by it, and turning it into a beautiful O’Connor Roll; KENTA’s Cattle Mutilation being turned into a Tiger Suplex that ironically lost its bridge on Danielson’s right shoulder, allowing for a kick out. This was just simply breathtaking to watch.

 

These two gave so much that when KENTA landed the Buckle Bomb on Danielson, it caused the former GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion to continue flinging forward with Danielson and having to take a dive out of the ring to save himself. Thankfully KENTA landed just fine as the Chicago audience applauded for this masterpiece of a wrestling match. Another bright spot was Danielson going for aggressive forearm smashes, reminding me of AJ Styles getting furious on Low Ki at Honor Invades Boston. Anything that reminds me of that classic match is a definite thumbs up.

 

As for the finishing stretch, there was Danielson applying the Go to Sleep as mentioned for a hot near-fall, and then going for the elbows to the head. Had Danielson ever gotten to face Brock Lesnar, this match gives a pretty good idea of what would’ve happened had he gone for the elbows to the head while in position to eat an F5 from the Beast Incarnate: like KENTA here, Lesnar would’ve withstood the pain and kept his eyes on the prize against his fellow Hall of Famer.

 

After all the strikes to Danielson’s head, and the fact that KENTA was mustering everything to not succumb to the same, the inevitable became reality as the Go to Sleep inventor applied his finisher, finally securing the victory over the face of ROH for the first time on this side of the Pacific Ocean since Best in the World 2006.

 

The post-match is also textbook yet so effective, receiving a standing ovation as they shake hands and bow towards each other in respect. KENTA is welcomed back anytime by the Chicago audience, and why wouldn’t they, considering this topped his classic that took place just 364 days earlier in this very same building against Aries? Just like that match, this one makes the KENTA compilation worthy every penny too.

 

Rating: ****3/4

 

Firstly, a word on Domination as an entire live event now that Danielson vs. McGuinness has been reviewed. It’s a definite show of the year contender in that the good shit REALLY makes up for the useless shit, including Danielson vs. McGuinness, Briscoes vs. Kings of Wrestling, Morishima vs. Strong, and Steen & Generico vs. Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush. Does it deserve show of the year so far? That’s difficult to say since it wasn’t consistent, but it’s in the running.

 

Taking out Danielson vs. McGuinness, the Driven 2007 live event gets an easy recommendation, even though the 3 Chicago matches that truly matter are on their own compilations, but others will absolutely salivate over the action-packed opener along with its molten post-match angle, and there’s the novelty of finally seeing Morishima be truly over after 4 months as the top champion. Undoubtedly, this was an excellent show on its own.

 

When factoring it how the PPV was formatted and then adding the live event bonus matches, this one’s a no-brainer for the reasons listed in the previous paragraph. It doesn’t matter that both Danielson matches are compilations; this was the most highly-sought DVD of 2007 at the time of its release due to the novelty of having 2 incredible matches, displaying 2 of Danielson’s greatest rivalries every.

 

The company now makes its Japan debut, but there is a tragedy that must be addressed.

 

The 9/11 of pro wrestling was happening the nights of these particular events in Dayton and Chicago. Nobody could’ve seen the horrors that were about to be discovered in Atlanta. While it won’t be a part of this project, there WILL be a retrospective on the events surrounding the man that inspired more wrestlers on the 2007 ROH roster more than anyone else, that being the Hall of Famer Chris Benoit. Every wrestling fan a decade ago lost pieces of their soul that are never coming back, and with fresh eyes the experience deserves to be revisited to truly understand what we learned from it.

 

Up next – Live in Tokyo
Matches will include:
Go Shiozaki vs. Bryan Danielson
Briscoe Bros. & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Ricky Marvin, Matt Sydal, & Atsushi Aoki
Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness

[supersonic]

Live in Tokyo – July 16, 2007

Taped from Tokyo, Japan

 

 

ROH Video Wire – June 26, 2007

 

 

Important news/footage in the above video:
July 16 in Tokyo – Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness for the ROH Title

 

KENTA is injured from his MOTYC tag the day before; he’s being replaced tonight in his scheduled trios match against the Briscoes & Naomichi Marufuji by Atsushi Aoki with Ricky Marvin & Matt Sydal, and tomorrow’s dream team with CIMA against Davey Richards & Rocky Romero is also scrapped. Aoki is nowhere near a suitable replacement.

 

The DVD kicks off with Nigel McGuinness arriving to the building, followed by a promo by Morishima. The production is a huge improvement, solidifying my stance that this show should’ve not just been the company’s second PPV taping, but McGuinness being dethroned by the undefeated Morishima in the main event. Even with this crowd not being anywhere near as rowdy as throughout America, one can only imagine a red-hot champion in McGuinness against the undefeated monster challenger Morishima, being a homecoming for the latter and the audience knowing this would air on PPV.

 

Bryan Danielson has a pre-taped promo, talking about testing Go Shiozaki to say if he’d be worthy of an ROH excursion in the future. Danielson also says he has his eye on Morishima vs. McGuinness.

 

Go Shiozaki vs. Bryan Danielson

 

This told a very simple yet so incredibly effective story. Danielson successfully targeted Shiozaki’s left arm and shoulder early, his usual target to set up for the Crossface Chickenwing. But this allowed the right-handed Shiozaki to control the match for a lengthy period with nonstop chops after evading a Danielson dive on the outside. Once Danielson managed to regain control, he did something that all of his peers need to see – he adjusted his strategy.

 

To marginalize Shiozaki’s overreliance on chops, Danielson targeted his right arm and shoulder, even modifying his usual positioning once he got the Crossface Chickenwing on later. But this was to be Shiozaki’s coming out party with the hopes of earning a future excursion, and his efforts with hope spots did not disappoint. His selling was also tremendous, selling both of his right limbs (the leg having tape on it coming into this match), stalling a Moonsault attempt that allowed Danielson to land a Backdrop Superplex for a near-fall.

 

Shiozaki would manage to reach the ropes on a Cattle Mutilation attempt, but Danielson had enough confidence that he’d worn down the relatively greener opposition and went for it again. This would pay off when Shiozaki finally had nowhere to escape, taking way too much punishment and finally tapping out. As for the best storytelling moment of the match, it came in the middle when Shiozaki went for chops again after being softened by Danielson, and those strikes were at best incredibly lukewarm, drawing cocky reactions from the Hall of Famer. It must also be mentioned though that Danielson should’ve found a physically smarter, more subtle way to pay tribute to the freshly cremated Chris Benoit than a diving headbutt just 3 weeks into the Post CB world.

 

Everyone needs to go out of their way to witness this classic, as it’s great studying for aspiring wrestlers, earned Shiozaki a future excursion, and made Danielson out to be a bonafide star for the ROH brand in the eyes of the puroresu audience, with him wanting the winner of Morishima vs. McGuinness.

 

Rating: ****1/2

 

Nigel McGuinness has a pre-taped promo citing that now’s his time to finally dethrone Morishima, having earned tonight’s rematch after pinning the ROH Champion at United We Stand.

 

Briscoe Bros. & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Ricky Marvin, Matt Sydal, & Atsushi Aoki

 

Good trios match that never reached a sensational peak, with the finish lacking the climactic reaction that would’ve been expected. Aoki paid some dues here but in no way was the star, and neither was Sydal, as he didn’t really get involved until the closing stretch. Marvin turned out to be the star for his team, even having a callback involving the referee to his match against the Briscoes the day before this.

 

Jay ate a couple nasty DDTs at different points but nothing earth-shattering, although it looked like Sydal almost had him near the end upon ducking a Springboard Doomsday Device and rolling him up with a jackknife cradle pin. But once Marufuji helped Jay lift Sydal up and Marvin & Aoki both out of the equation, Sydal had no choice but to fall victim to the triple-team Doomsday Device, although it surprised the crowd as mentioned.

 

Rating: ***1/2

 

ROH Title Match
Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness

 

Very good main event that never got significant crowd heat until the last few minutes. Had it gotten heated a bit earlier, this would deserve to be regarded as high as their Fighting Spirit classic. Morishima surprisingly got some heel heat in this one, but perhaps that’s a testament to his Super Dragon style arrogant body language as well as the charisma and work ethic of McGuinness. It was refreshing to see Morishima have McGuinness scouted early, especially with the rebound lariat early, but McGuinness had the backdrop driver easily scouted too.

 

No matter how prepared the champion was, eventually the challenger would cut him off with a rebound lariat on the outside, but the challenger’s submission work wouldn’t prove enough at all. The champion would have 2 tremendous cut offs, one fairly early by blocking an outside Sunset Flip and sitting on the sternum of McGuinness, the other by improvising with a side slam onto the floor from the apron upon the backdrop driver being blocked.

 

Morishima also had the top rope lariat scouted, ducking a second one deep into the match, and perhaps that’s what helped him compensate for the surprisingly resistant native Japanese crowd; his scouting bailed him out this time, as should’ve always been the case rather than just relying on his size advantage. In the post-match, Danielson claims the ROH Title is his and slaps Morishima, only for McGuinness to be pissed and strike him for ruining their moment; in contrast, McGuinness congratulates Morishima for the victory.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

Brent Albright to have heard Morishima is so afraid of him that the champion lobbied for their match not to happen in Japan, so that a dethroning could be avoided. But the match is happening in Philly.

 

The next double-shot in Long Island and New Jersey is a “Race to the Top” tournament. Lots of promising names; can this measure up to the 2001 King of Indies and annual Battle of Los Angeles?

 

Recommended show for the 3 quality matches, one of them an incredible MOTYC. The trios match also got yanked off YouTube recently, so this show is the only way to see it, although it’s not must-see.

 

Up next – Live in Osaka
Matches will include:
Speed Muscle & Delirious vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Matt Sydal

Briscoe Bros. vs. Shingo & Susumu Yokosuka

CIMA, Bryan Danielson, & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Davey Richards, Rocky Romero, & Massaki Mochizuki

[supersonic]

Live in Osaka – July 17, 2007

Taped from Osaka, Japan

 

 

So-show show here so the usual C&P treatment when applicable.

 

The live event kicks off with a sports-entertainment type segment to rebook the event in light of CIMA & KENTA vs. Davey Richards & Rocky Romero being scrapped due to KENTA’s injury. It’ll be a trios match of CIMA, Danielson, & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Richards, Romero, & Masaaki Mochizuki.

 

The airlines apparently lost the Tag Title belts. That’s wonderful but the Briscoes will still be fighting champions tonight.

 

Dragon Gate Rules Match
Speed Muscle & Delirious vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, & Matt Sydal

 

Standard good trios match that couldn’t follow its Lucha style rules, once again making for another Dragon Gate contribution in this company that cannot measure up whatsoever to the Chicago masterpiece that solidified this inter-promotional relationship. There were entertaining moments in this, as well as some unnecessary sports-entertainment interference from the Muscle Outlaw’z of Jimmy Rave & Genki Horiguchi, but this was ultimately solid.

 

If there’s one thing to nitpick in this match, that’d be its failure to intensify the Delirious vs. Sydal saga considering that Sydal cheated the last they faced off in Liverpool. That could’ve made this more actually meaningful instead of just a pleasant but nothing special spotfest, while upping the drama. With Sydal being a babyface in Dragon Gate too, he could’ve played the Kevin Steen heel to his partners’ El Generico babyface role while getting dirty on Delirious.

 

Rating: ***1/4

 

Tag Titles Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Shingo & Susumu Yokosuka

 

Another disappointing Briscoes vs. Dragon Gate match. Not only did this lack tag legality adherence (which was unacceptable for referee Todd Sinclair since this match never came close to a breakneck pace), but even worse was that since the Briscoes were not yet established in DG, the crowd didn’t give a shit about Shingo saving Yokosuka from a Butterfly Piledriver about 15 minutes into this. In hindsight, the title defense for the Briscoes should’ve been in Tokyo since they were much more established in NOAH, while sticking them in a trios or 8-man tag for this card.

 

Rating: less than ***

 

CIMA, Bryan Danielson, & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Davey Richards, Rocky Romero, & Masaaki Mochizuki

 

Very good trios match that blew away the earlier one and even the Tokyo trios. Like Tokyo, tag legalities were adhered to at all times, showing that it can always be done. Danielson and Romero found themselves being the FIP victims, while the Mochizuki vs. Marufuji matchup was a nice appetizer for if that dream match ever takes place in singles competition.

 

Osaka was a bit of a disappointing crowd when Romero kicked out of CIMA’s Air Raid Crash, showing that perhaps the lack of pop for the Butterfly Piledriver near-fall in the prior match was their fault and not anyone else’s. Danielson almost fell victim to Romero’s various arm bar submissions thanks to his left shoulder being targeted, but CIMA would bail him out and after Marufuji got an assisted Standing Shiranui, Romero was done with a follow-up second Air Raid Crash.

 

Rating: ***3/4

 

Are you a completionist for the Delirious vs. Sydal rivalry? Do you have a copy of Danielson vs. The World? Those are the 2 questions that determine if this show is worthy of your time. A bad show overall that needed some severe tweaking on the card to stand out, and there were so many possibilities. Shingo vs. Marufuji? Yoshino vs. Danielson? Briscoes vs. No Remorse Corps? Doi vs. McGuinness?

 

Up next – Race to the Top Tournament Night 1
Matches will include:
Mike Quackenbush vs. Matt Sydal
Briscoe Bros. vs. Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness

[supersonic]

Race to the Top Tournament Night 1 – July 27, 2007

Taped from Long Island, NY

 

 

ROH Video Wire – July 25, 2007

 

Important news/footage in the video:
Takeshi Morishima’s upcoming ROH title challengers are Claudio Castagnoli on August 10 in Boston, Brent Albright on August 11 in Philly, and Bryan Danielson on August 25 in NYC. OH FUCK YES~!

 

Horrible show here so the usual C&P treatment.

 

 

JZ says: Steen and Generico open the show, and I don’t understand Steen’s shirt. I’m guessing that makes me the doofus. Steen’s excitement about this being a wrestling tournament and not a running tournament is tremendous. So is his not letting Generico take one second of spotlight.

 

Race to the Top Tournament Quarterfinal 1^st Round Match
Mike Quackenbush vs. Matt Sydal

 

Larry Sweeney verbally fellates all over Sydal in the pre-match, cocky that Sweet ‘N Sour Inc. won’t even be needed at ringside. That ultimately backfires as the right decision is made for Quackenbush to go over, which makes sense due to Sydal flirting with WWE. The match was simple but effective – Quackenbush dominated at first, Sydal made a comeback to gain control, and then his Standing Moonsault was scouted.

 

Even with a second Standing Moonsault much later being successful by Sydal, he had no answer for Quackenbush’s supreme mat wrestling techniques, falling victim to the Black Tornado Slam and Crucifix Variation pin for the finish. Would’ve loved these two to rematch in the Battle of Los Angeles.

 

Rating: ***1/4

 

Jimmy Rave has an unexpected swan song in a four-way for the FIP Title involving champion Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, and Gran Akuma. There was honestly nothing left for him after losing the feud against Nigel McGuinness, and that was a miracle last substantial drop to milk out of Rave after Prince Nana had left. Although there were other circumstances, this swan song was a few months past due.

 

Tag Titles Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness

 

Long Island is really grating by failing to slap the barricades in tune with “The Final Countdown.” Starting to see why ROHbots had a shitty reputation during the Gabe Sapolsky era. Danielson has Bobby Cruise introduce him as the next ROH Champion. Great way to sell tickets for August 25 to this Tri-State crowd, but what about THIS title match?

 

Horrendous booking here. After a damn good 15 minutes or so for this main event, including a very creative McGuinness assist in sabotaging the Springboard Doomsday Device so that Danielson could turn Mark’s position in midair into a Cattle Mutilation, it went not just with a sports-entertainment finish, but a poorly executed one to boot.

 

This devalued the Tag Titles even more after the pre-match intro, as the Briscoes ducked strikes from the challengers; this caused Danielson to expose the business by having to very obviously propel forward to strike McGuinness; one of the challengers, if not both, was clearly out of position for this finish, and considering that they are BRYAN DANIELSON AND NIGEL MCGUINNESS, that’s inexcusable.

 

There was no need for this finish; all that had to be done was for McGuinness to eat the pin not because of poorly executed miscommunication booking, but because the Briscoes simply are the superior team over the 2 singles all-stars. Danielson still gets protected to prepare for the dream match against Morishima, as there’s no shame in a singles act admitting defeat outside his realm.

 

Rating: ***1/2

 

Get a copy of the Danielson vs. McGuinness compilation and just wait for Sydal to get one of his own with his match against Quackenbush included. Horrendous show.

 

Up next – Race to the Top Tournament Night 2
Matches will include:
Chris Hero vs. El Generico
Mike Quackenbush vs. Claudio Castagnoli
The semifinals and final of the Race to the Top tournament

Team Danielson vs. Team McGuinness in a $10K Tag Team Challenge Match