Right. Couldn't find the old review thead (And I looked for ages, honest) so I started a new one, with an awesome flame baity title. What better way to begin than with a rambly review from yours truely, who hates everything ever.

ROH – Hell Freezes Over.

More from that fed we all love to scream “Why must you do these things!?” at.

Austin Aries and Roderick Strong start off the show in the ring, celebrating their new Tag Title win. They look a bit gay in matching shirts and trousers, but very old school tag team. Aries sends Strong to the back and calls out Reyes, who’s been attacking his students, so we have…

Austin Aries Vs Ricky Reyes

This was alright. Aries nails his tope, which is the best you’ll see this side of Mexico, easily. Reyes fights back with his Nuevo Taz offence. It’s short, and the finish comes when Reyes locks on his Dragon Sleeper but Aries bridges back for the pin. Reyes hangs on and chokes him out after the match.

Nice little video package for the top five rankings follows,

Colt Cabana and Adam Pearce cut promos back stage. One is good, one isn’t.

Nigel McGuinness Vs Tony Mameluke

This is for the Muga Title. Nigel looks genuinely pissed off during this, so he does none of his usual All Star mugging, and instead just really lays into Mameluke. Some nice spots in this, both guys really cutting lose with some stiff offence, but Tony’s cod-MMA style and Nigel’s slippery heel matwork don’t seem to mesh well. Also, the finish is a stupid MMA style thing, as Tony goes for some ground and pound and gets caught in a Kimura. It makes no sense for Nigel to be doing these dodgy shoot work type things, and really ruined the match for me.

Jimmy Rave and Alex Shelley Vs Claudio Castagnoli and Azriel

The Embassy are wicked over as heels in ROH, Rave in particular, and they get a barrage of toilet paper as a weirdly ironic gesture of contempt from the crowd. Azriel, a wrestler without merit, is replacing the injured Colt Cabana in this match. He blows a bunch of simple stuff, and complicated stuff, and only shows a bit of fire once, when he kicks the beejesus out of Rave’s back.
Claudio is his usual consistent self, producing some fine comedy with Rave early on and his usual array of uppercuts and flash moves later. Here’s what I like about Jimmy Rave- he’s shit, and he knows it. So he uses that as part of his character, playing the guy who knows he’s out of his depth (Which he really is) and needs to take short cuts to win. This means he’s good. Did that make any sense?
Alex Shelley is the star here, as he increasingly is nowadays. He really has got those little things down that you need to be an obnoxious heel, sneering and goofing his way through a painful looking serious of moves of Azriel. He’s rapidly becoming one of my favourite guys currently working.
Pretty good match overall, worked to a simple tag structure, with the skinny spot merchant getting stretched for the majority of the match, Double C getting the hot tag and Rave winning in the chaos at the end. Nice finish in fact, as Rave can’t get his version of the Pedigree so turns it into a double arm submission.

Next up we take a step onto Planet BizarROH, for an FIP segment. From what I can tell, this is on the show so that they can get the FIP title off Homicide as quickly as possible now that his shoulder is fucked up. It’s slated to be Homicide Vs Roderick Strong, but apparently in FIP the wrestlers do all their own booking (No, that’s really what they said) so Bryan Danielson adds himself to the match. Then Colt Cabana jumps Homicide from the crowd. This is a confusing mix of storylines and characters from both shows, ouch.
Any who, Homicide gets taken to the back by his thugs, and AmDrag and Strong have one hell of an entertaining brawl through the crowd. They get back to the ring and Homicide reappears, only to get quickly taken down by AmDrag into a Fujiwara. The referee stops the match and Danielson is the new champ. The whole thing felt like it took about ten minutes, it would’ve been a hot segment, but really made no sense in the context of an ROH show…

Christopher Daniels Vs Jay Lethal

Alison Danger. Man, she’s desirable. Jay Lethal is apparently “the hottest free agent in wrestling” which is quite ironic as ROH will have let him go a month after this show. Mind you, the same commentary team once called Slyk Wagner Brown the future of ROH.
Pretty good match here, Lethal plays the cocky up and comer (And calls a guy who makes fun of his corn rows a “Racist Bigot Motherfucker”) and Daniels is the unimpressed veteran. Really neat spot early on as Lethal goes for a sunset flip from the apron and Daniels just sidesteps him and kills him with a palm strike. Lethal looks good controlling the majority of the match, that ends when Daniels cuts back a cradle for the three.
Post match, Joe runs out to attack Lethal, but gets beat down by Daniels and Lethal until BJ Whitmer appears and dumps Daniels on his bald head with an exploder. As Danger helps Daniels up, Joe hits him with a huge running kick. The way Alison dives on Daniels to defend him really makes the segment. Also, I love her.

Jack Evans Vs Adam Pearce Vs Sal Rinauro Vs Jason Blade Vs Kid Mikaze Vs Trik Davis

This was the best match ever. Actually, I think it gave me cancer.
Evans won with a 630. He also took a ludicrous bump that involved him missing a KENTA style Busaiku Knee kick and sailing over the top rope. Gross.
Adam Pearce is a weird guy. He kind of works what’s either a tribute to or a parody of a Southern Heel Style. So why not just get one of many actual Southern Heels in to do the original, and better? Strange.

Samoa Joe Vs BJ Whitmer

Mmmm, more Indy eye candy. Lacey is delicious, especially in a suit. This is a match between two guys who both take a lot of punishment and have a lot of offence, and it works how you’d expect. Lots of stiff strikes and big moves, including Whitmer nearly killing Joe with an exploder onto concrete. Joe wins by knockout with a kick to the head, and man, you believe it. Whitmer’s hard head may be his only upside as a wrestler, but he was pulled to something decent by Joe here.

AJ Styles Vs Matt Sydal

Sydal is a small guy with lots of very flashy moves and surprisingly good punches (I guess that has something to do with working for Ian Rotten a lot) He can do underdog babyface well but he’s nothing amazing. AJ…is AJ. He’s capable of being very good when his opponent reigns him in shit loads, but in an Indytastic match he’s deplorable.
I guess your enjoyment of this match is going to be down to taste. They partake in some very smooth exchanges, hit some very complex and impressive high spots and don’t blow anything. If your kind of thing is the Indy Dream Match type affair, then you’ll probably enjoy this a huge amount.
However, it did suffer from feeling a little too much like an exhibition. The commentators put over how AJ was the veteran and Sydal the youngster, but the match was fifty-fifty offence wise. They made no effort to get over how AJ was above Sydal in the match work even though they were desperate to push that aspect on commentary. In the end, both guys are capable of a lot more when faced with an opponent they can take a kicking off and fight back from, in this kind of give and take environment it’s all too sterile. After some breathtaking spots, the pick of which were Sydal’s Moonsault to the third row and his high speed Ranas, AJ won with a roll through after a Hurracanrana.
In fact, for me the most entertaining part of this was AJ’s promo, just because he somehow managed to say “Don’t worry about faggots” to the crowd.

Joe promo’s are scary when he’s really close to the camera and all you can see is his big, evil nose. Pearce also cuts a promo, another decent one, complaining that one of the “Midgets and retards” Cornette keeps booking him against kicked him in the throat. I guess it’s funny because it’s true.

Bryan Danielson Vs Chris Hero

Hero appears through the crowd with a CDR and bullies the tech into putting his music on. Nice touch. He’s got Necro and a couple of generic CZW guys with him, as well as his own ref. Ever notice how Hero looks like what you’d get if CM Punk ate Doughnuts in a cupboard for six months?
Necro’s well over. And why not. Hero apes Punk really obviously when he cuts promos, but doesn’t do a bad job I guess. He also brings the Ken Livingston, by comparing Gabe Sapolsky to Hitler. Classy. (In fact, the amount of times that CZW have mentioned Sapolsky being Jewish in this feud is verging on the worrying. I find it strange people are still convinced they’re being booked as the babyface promotion…) It’s the by the numbers invasion promo. Nothing wrong with it, nothing that’ll blow your mind.
Hero does plenty of stalling, channelling his granny baiting Dixon days. AmDrag controls much of the early going, matwork all the way, with AmDrag’s flair for being a prick, but all to the delight of the fans this time, of course. Fair play to hero, he’s willing to be a cowardly heel, which makes a nicer counterpoint to AmDrag’s dick heel then more of the same would. Contrast folks, that’s the ticket, and Hero squirms and goofs and pleads with the ref like a good un. I still find a lot of what Hero does on the mat too polished and showy and not enough like he’s actually trying to win holds though. Although some of the hand work was nice and vicious.
Danielson is great as always. Great selling, literally screaming as Hero cranks on his fingers, and super fiery comebacks.
The match seems a little under whelming, I think a lot of that is to do with a crowd that just isn’t clicking with the match, I think a lot of that is down to Hero never really looking like he has the ammo to put Danielson away. It’s by no means bad, picks up in the closing stretch and AmDrag gets a good pop for tapping out Hero with the Chickenwing. But it wasn’t the huge heat filled extravaganza I was expecting the first CZW Vs ROH match to be. I guess as this match is the start of the feud it’s good not to have it feel too climactic though.

After the match, Nana tries to buy the ROH Title from Danielson. When he gets told his Ghanaian money aint worth shit, the Embassy jump in to attack the champ. Shelley gives AmDrag the Sliced Bread Number Two, then does Spanky’s dance afterwards. Cause it’s his weakness, you see? Even though Marufuji just lost a title match to him. Oh well.

Overall, an average show. Nothing you’ll want to go out of your way to see, a couple of decent bouts and one or two stinkers.

I’ve got ROH Dissention cued up to go next, but I have a NOAH show and an FIP show as well, so might do one of those next.

Man, ROH's show names suck. How many "Night's of..." and "Warfares..." have there been?

Therefore PWG is better.

ROH would be my favourite promotion if i could afford to buy the DVD's reguarly. I love what there trying to do with the place. I just watched ' Dissension' and have fallen in love with Adam Pearce. Yes he is no Tracey Smothers but in the north east of America where people as shit as Trent Acid get regular work he is a refreashing change.

I'll run through the stuff i like and dislike rather than review an individual show if that's ok.

Like's ;

Adam Pearce . See above.

Jim Cornette ,. I love this guy and he is an awesome figure head to have when your rival promtion's are obsessed with 'spot fest's' and garbage wrestling.

The Rottweiellers. See 'Manhattan Mayhem' when they initailly come out. They really did come across as a group of thug's who wanted to hurt someone. And Julius Smokes' cheesy grin just makes the whole thing even more intimidating . Yes Low ki has left but as long as Smokes and Homicide stick around well im entertained.

Brian Danielson. The guy is fucking awesome. A wrestling machine . What a champ to have.


Prince Nana . The best manager in wrestling today. The guy is money , surely Vince will come calling sooner or later?

Honourable mention's go to Nigel Mcguinness , Ring crew Express , Generation Next and Jimmy Rave.

I also like the look. Its simple but professional . Makes the product more pleasurable to watch in my eye's.

In my opinion ROH is trying to evolve into an old school type territory and i fucking hope they succeed.

Dislike's;

Jimmy Jacobs , the man isnt a wrestler . he is a new romantic gone wrong. Sorry the huss thing was entertaining the first time but now , no matter what he does , well im just not interested.

Christopher Daniels . I HATE watching him wrestle. I dont know why i just do. He bores me senseless.

Basically apart from maybe the Generation Next members and Joe id really like them to try and stop using the TNA guy's. The more they can create their own star's , the better off they will be. I honestly dont think they need to use Styles and Daniels anymore. Sooner or later Tna will pull all it's talent so ROH would be better off pushing them out now in my opinion.

I've got Dissension and Hell Freezes Over to watch. Slowly getting back into ROH (and wrestling as a whole).

First on my agenda are the NOAH Navigation for Evolution Korakuen and Buddokan shows though, so I'll return to this thread soon no doubt. Plus countless MMA shows.

I don't think he will, but it's his loss. Nana is an old school manager, he does an awesome job. The E is only interested in eye candy divas or small wrestlers as managers. The days of the decent male manager are long gone.



I'd agree with that. I still think loads of guys do his stuff better than him (and for less money, I bet) but he is a breath of fresh air in ROH.

Speaking of ROH, who would you like to see Christian Cage have a match with?

Link

Well, it makes sense for him to wrestle someone who’s not in TNA, so that ROH can promote a match that TNA can’t. I also doubt he’ll be doing the job as he’ll most likely be NWA Champ at the time. It’s a tough one. Do you bring him in as a face against someone like Rave, and risk the anti-TNA fans turning on him? Or as a pro-TNA heel, so one of the ROH crusaders like Whitmer can get the promotion saving rub?

Of course, maybe they’ll just stick him against a TNA bod anyway. Him Vs Roderick Strong could be quite interesting, the recent shenanigans with Strong’s TNA suspension would add traditional ROH shoot work wank to the proceedings.

I'd love to see Cage do something with Colt Cabana actually. If it's a one time deal, and it's unlikely he'll take on a ROH guy who is also working TNA, I think Cabana is the man to go with. Would make for a good match, and should make for some good comedy too.

I think the ROH names reflect the product: Lack of imagination, stale, boring and repetitive.

Theres been 1 warfare and 2 night ofs after the first year, i know the wacky silly names are great and all but some of the "jokes" are downright corny and played . Its just wacky culture references and Chikara does it best anyway.

Smells Like Steen Spirit was still pretty brilliant.

Meh, some ROH show names are a bit crap, some are OK. Most are just names. I thought “Hell Freezes Over” was quite good. In the end, not terribly important is it?

BTW the Long Island crowd that Christian is performing for is very pro-TNA so it may be safe from an ROH fanboy anti-tna sentiment. As much a s i love Rave i think its a bad mix since neithers strength is their offense.

Yeah, I guess so. I was thinking more along the lines of who could do with the rub, and who wouldn’t be wrestling in TNA any time soon. I guess the idea is to have an Indy Dream Match~ though. So I’m beginning to think Strong would make a good choice.

No, thats why it was just a joke.

Am I right in thinking the current commentary team is Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard with the occasional bit of Gabe (unfortunatly)?

Yeah. “Jimmy Bower” still pops up every now and again as a representative of ROH management. For example, in the show I reviewed above he was present sporadically to complain about CZW cheating and put over how bad it would be if Hero won the belt.

Yup, I saw that match, just proves how good Dave Prazak is.

Dave Prazak is awesome. The best indy commentator right now. The best indy colour commentator though is Eddie Kingston. He's such a bad ass.

He's alright, shouts too much and uses the word "shoot" too much, which is always a sign of a bad commentary. Same with Eric Garguilo: "Back in the day the veterans wouldnt let people put them in this hold in fear of a shoot".

I wouldn't work, isn't Cabana currently in the middle of a feud with Homicide where he's ultra serious?

I think It'll end up being Christian Vs Danielson in some sort of inter-promotional title match but somebody will run in at the end and ruin it, like CZW or something. Preventing both champs from doing the job and looking bad.

Actually, that sounds likely. The NWA Champ Vs The ROH Champ, big time match, loads of build up…Then ruined by a CZW intrusion. That makes a lot of sense. And Christian Vs Danielson would probably be a good one.

On the topic of ROH I loved how one of the refs was laying down an ass whooping during one of the big ass brawls.

Who gives a fuck what the show names are called? That has to be the least important factor possible. Sadly i'm stuck back in July and have the dvds up to Glory By Honor 4. As soon as i've watched those i promised myself i'll get up to date (i'm waiting for a buy 3 get 1 free sale!)

I quite like the sound of a Christian/Danielson match with CZW interfering leaving both guys to fight them off.

Better than Excalibur?

Im a fan of the commentary of Chikaras Ultramantis Black, and also Larry Sweeney

Dammit! Excalibur is the better muse, he just muses... Kingston the better colour commentator.

Nah, Kingston uses all those ridiculous Mexican or Japanese names, whats wrong with just calling it what it is, an arm drag.

I think he gets across the match well and can make a poor match better and more entertaining. That's what matters to me.

Or better still an "arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm draaaaaaaaaaaaaag".

I'm still all the way back at the 3rd Year Anniversary shows. The problem is they're just producing those shows so quickly I can't keep up. I'm planning to skip the Trios tournament and Best of the USA Super J just because the seem like one off shows rather than shows with any progression.

What are ROH like for getting merch to ya time wise?

Generally about a week from America, which is quite good really.

But on didcotfc's point, we mentioned that in the old thread and we thought that it could become a problem to fans if they can't keep up with the promotion, I'm stuck in October and since then they've produced loads of shows and increased there turnaround from shows to DVDs. It could become a problem but if they still produce good shows then it won't be as much as a problem.

SHAMELESS SHILL but if you want those two shows on the cheap i've got the original dvd's for sale for 7 quid each including postage

Eddie Kingston is a good colour commentator with the potential to be a great one. He need to work on a few minor things but he is great at getting over fueds and stories which is surely the colour commentators main purpose. With some work to make him smoother and more proffessional I think him and Dave Prazak would be perfect for TNA.

I'm not sure about how Kingston talking about fucking underage girls would go over on National TV.

At least it'd be different

That's why I said he needed work. Hence me saying "more proffessional".

Anything would be better than "that was.. freaking... insane!"

Your shameless shill has not fallen on deaf ears. I'll check the old balance and get back to you



I think thats a really fair point. I'm not a completist and I dont feel the need to own every dvd but at the same time I don't like just dipping in to random shows. No matter how great a match is, its kinda out of context without seeing the build up and the reason for it all. I can't blame ROH at all for wanting to produce a load of shows (as long as quality doesn't drop) and you can only be impressed with how promptly they get them released. But I can understand the feeling that your so far behind that you just give up trying.

Fortunatly I have more determination than that. but I recon I'll always be about a year behind unless i come into a large amount of cash. If has any shows they recon are 'dispensible' I'd appreciate your advice.

http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=78899 Old thread, as last replied to on feb 16.

Anyway, nice Hell Freezes Over review lantern. You've got Dissension to review - have you skipped over Tag Wars 2006?

Not through any choice of my own. I don’t acquire ROH shows through the most…Legal of ways. So it’s often pot luck if and when I get the shows. Shame really, I heard Generation Next Vs Danielson/Lethal was a real doozy. I'm sure I'll see it eventually.

Thats the thing, to the completists that found it pretty easy to keep up they're now losing touch and becoming more apathetic to ROH (thats my feeling anyway), I feel that there's more stuff out there than just ROH and I can't keep up with that anyway, so fudge it.

I always think Chris Hero looks like he's the grown-up lovechild of CM Punk and Corey Feldman.

Anyway...

I just finished watching 'Hell Freezes Over'. Solid but unspectacular, I'd say. And I'd agree with Lantern's take on AJ/Sydal. There was a lot of hype about that match, but I think you summed it up perfectly; just a little too smooth.

Adam Pearce is interesting. I enjoy his promos a lot, and I enjoy his in-ring antics too; I just haven't seen enough of his actual wrestling to make a decision on him. He seems well-worth having around though. I just don't know on what level yet.

Who should Christian fight? I'm not sure. In all honesty the match I'd most want to see is Joe vs Christian. Christian always works better for me as a wily underdog who takes hard bumps, so who better to bring that out of him? Yes, the argument to have Christian face a non-TNA guy is a good one, but really - wouldn't you rather on his one night in ROH he had a truly memorable match? If he did fight Joe, I wouldn't be surprised if it surpassed anything TNA would book when they eventually battle. Either way, I'd rather it be good than unique.

Preferences:
1. Christian vs. Joe
2. Christian vs. AmDrag
3. Christian and AmDrag vs. The Embassy

Recieved 'Steel cage warfare' this morning and watched it already so some thought's.

The main event was totally awesome. It was one of those matches that after i'd finished watching it , i had a massive smile on my face.
M.V.P in my opinion was Alex Shelley. Until this match i've never really seen the appeal in Shelley but he ruled here. He was the total heel and was being a dick at every opportunity. Yes he was'nt as spectacular as other's but he carried the match during the slow period's.
Abyss was awesome as well . The way he would continuosly do the hand gesture if one of he's team mate's looked at him was a cool touch. Show's another side to the charachter rather than being just a 'monster'.
By the way i dont want to ruin the match so all i'll say is there is a must see moment for any 'spot monkey' fan's out there.

The undercard was good to average in my opinion. Danielson against Romero was excellant but seemed to finish too soon for me. It kinda felt out of the blue. Homicide/Corino was ok for what it was but not my cup of tea. Way too many weapon's for my liking, although that may not have been there fault as im sure this was the match Homicide did he's shoulder in.

Sal Rinauro looked way out of he's depth to me , although he has looked that way everytime i've seen him to be fair. Mamaluke look's just to fucking small to be fighting these guy's in the manner he does. Cabana and Milano ruled though so i was happy.

Jay lethal is the most fucking average wrestler i think i have ever seen. He just inspire's total apathy from me in everyway. Sorry i cant see the appeal.

That's all i really have to say about that show . Overall though i did enjoy it. Money well spent i think.

I thought this would be just some quick thoughts, but it turned into this...

ROH TAG WARS 2006

This is the second ROH show of 2006, from Dayton, Ohio on January 27. The main features are the 2006 Trios Tournament, which this year has only 4 teams instead of last years 8, and an ROH Tag Team Title match with new champions Austin Aries and Roderick Strong defending against World Champion Bryan Danielson and Jay Lethal.

There's some quick pre-show promos with Danielson and Lethal, and The Embassy (with the Haze~!). Alex Shelley and Jimmy Rave both talk about going for the ROH World Title.

Trios Tournament semi final - Matt Sydal and Jack Evans of Generation Next and Jimmy Yang vs Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer of Lacey's Angels and Adam Pearce

Odd teams aside, as both factions have to look to unfamiliar partners to round out their teams, this is a good sprint opener with a natural face vs heel dynamic. Melee to start. There's a fairly long mid-match isolation of Sydal which isn't particularly interesting, but the closing stages are hot, reminiscent of Whitmer and Jacobs vs Evans and Roderick Strong at Manhattan Mayhem. Three pinfall attempts aren't counted due to legal man issues, Lacey tries to interfere and Evans goes after her, which distracts Jimmy Jacobs who has fallen in love with her. Yes, really. Jacobs is then pinned after Sydal's here it is driver (pump handle half nelson michinoku driver) into a 630 splash by Evans. The crowd erupts into an ROH chant for the finish.

Trios Tournament semi final - The Embassy (Alex Shelley, Abyss and Jimmy Rave) vs Tony Mamaluke, Sal Rinauro and Jay Fury

The Embassy is showered with toilet paper on their entrance as usual. Mamaluke doesn't do the bizarre heel things he often does which combined with natural faces in peril in Rinauro and Fury make the dynamic of the match better. Fury is from FIP and other florida promotions, and looks pretty good. Rave and Shelley are MUCH more interesting heels than Lacey's Angels in the previous match, and the use of Abyss in short bursts is perfect as he comes in, destroys everything in his path and tags out. Shelley pins Fury after Sliced Bread #2, which he has supposedly learned from Spanky to help him challenge Bryan Danielson. Probably a better match that the first, but without the crazy, crowd popping finish, it's perhaps not quite as memorable, if you see what I mean.

We then get clips of the Homicide vs Colt Cabana feud with a voiceover from Jim Cornette saying that due to their unprofessional attacks on each other, they are off this show and 'Dissension' the next night as a cooling off period.

Claudio Castagnoli vs Chad Collyer, followed by
Ace Steel vs Sterling Keenan

I'm going to cover these two matches in one go as they're part of a bigger angle. They are in part to build up to Claudio and Ace vs Collyer and Nigel McGuinness the next night, but that isn't it.

Neither match is particularly eventful - in the first, Chad Collyer works over Claudio's arm in uneventful fashion. Everything is somewhat slow motion, and as Claudio starts to make a comeback, Collyer goes for a chair, which draws out Ace Steel who is looking for revenge for Chad busting him open at Punk: The Final Chapter (it's a feud limited to the midwest shows, hence it feels drawn out). Ace grabs the chair and they do a tug of war, leading to Claudio scoring a three count off a roll-up.

Then, Ace grabs the mic, insults Collyer a bit and calls out his opponent, and he and Sterling Keenan have an even slower match that really goes nowhere. Of course that's probably the idea - as Chris Hero and Necro Butcher have been in the crowd since the previous match, chanting "boring", "do something" and generally heckling to further the CZW/ROH angle. The commentators (Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard) try to ignore them, but the minute they mention Hero and Necro by name, they are magically joined by Jimmy Bower (Gabe's commentating alter ego) and told not to mention them, because in the bizarre modern kayfabe of ROH, that makes it all seem more real (which is both really good and really bad all at once).

Of course, it's all for nothing as Ace and Keenan eventually stop wrestling altogether, and Ace grabs the mic and starts badmouthing the CZWers. Hero and Necro then come to the front row and jump to ringside, at which point Gabe spazzes out on commentary, and the locker room empties to get rid of them. The chaos of the entire ROH staff ejecting the CZW two takes an interesting twist as they go through the backstage area and we find Jim Cornette bleeding from the mouth having been blindsided by a mystery attacker. Cornette has a backstage shouting match with Gabe (who barely makes the camera shot as he's never before put himself in an angle like this, and by not actively being on camera makes it more realistic as he shouts "They're Not Booked!" at a furious Cornette) then Cornette comes to the ring to cut a scathing promo on the hardcore style, but says ROH will win 'in a fight'.

From there we go to intermission while they sort out the chaos, and Dave Prazak is with Generation Next. Aries and Strong have a go at Sydal for agreeing at Hell Freezes Over to team with AJ Styles to go for the tag titles in the future. Prazak looks for Sydal's response but Evans takes Sydal to prepare for the final of the Trios Tourney. We then get clips of Bryan Danielson vs AJ Styles from Main Event Spectacles in 2003 with a voiceover explaining that Danielson has offered Styles a title shot the next night, as Danielson has lost their 2 previous ROH encounters and wants to prove he can beat Styles.

Nigel McGuinness vs Delirious

This match can also be viewed for free (without commentary) at ROHvideos.com. Nigel's Pure Title is not on the line. Delirious does his comedy schtick, then it settles into a reasonable match with Delirious getting plenty of offense but losing in the end to the Tower of London. Entertaining post-intermission match.

Grudge Match: Christopher Daniels vs Low Ki

This was supposed to be the first of two Daniels vs Samoa Joe matches but Joe was sidelined with a staph infection, so instead we get a rematch from the second ROH show, Round Robin Challenge. It's a sign of ROH's success that they can go back to a feud from 2002 and the majority of fans understand the significance of the match, and later the post match angle. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The match itself is really good. The ring entrances give it a big time feel. Daniels (with Allison Danger in her nuns outfit) is definitely better off from being a face, and Low Ki is obviously great in his gangsta persona. What I liked the most about the match is the knowledge work - both men know each others finishers and also their smaller trademark moves, so unlike say Matt Sydal vs AJ Styles at the previous show where everything was showy and super smooth (which isn't necessarily bad, just different), here both men have to work like hell for their advantages, and lots of moves are avoided or countered. It also means neither man get an extended advantage for too long, and it's even reflected in the finish, as Low Ki counters the Angel's Wings with a back body drop into a bridge for a quick three count.

The match isn't perfect or MOTYC or anything, (hate duelling chants? stay away) but the average fan should get plenty of enjoyment out of it.

Post match, Daniels grabs the mic, and talks through his history with ROH and Ki specifically, turning down his handshake after the three way main event of the first show, then Daniels disappearance from ROH and how he fought to get back into ROH. He talks about how he hasn't had the success he envisioned on his return, and how the battle to return to ROH made him see that he has changed... and Daniels offers Ki his hand in respect to the man that pinned him(!). Ki's response is to note how history sometimes comes full circle... and walks out without shaking his hand. Interesting angle, that might have led to Daniels and Ki teaming up at least once if it wasn't for Ki falling out with ROH management again the week later

Trios Tournament Final

Another toilet paper shower for The Embassy's entrance. Amusingly, encouragement from Alex Shelley sees Abyss (eventually) join in on Rave's throwing the toilet paper back into the crowd, then applauding himself for 'getting it'. The announcers note this is the first time that Matt Sydal and Daizee Haze have been involved in the same match since she turned on Gen Next at Vendetta, but little comes of it. The two Jimmys (Yang and Rave) have some good interaction at the beginning. Yang, Evans and Sydal control early but then Sydal gets isolated (again), this time in a much more interesting manner than the semi final. Shelley and Rave are such a good heel team. Yang gets the hot tag and cleans house until Abyss (naturally) cuts him off. The Embassy control some more, then Evans makes the hot tag and the final stretch begins.

Even triple teaming doesn't work very well against Abyss, and Abyss then teases a dive, and Shelley stops that by blind tagging in, and Abyss teases a face turn (to a big reaction). Shelley manages to beg off until Sydal dropkicks Shelley into Abyss, and there's a crazy exchange of moves by everyone until Evans misses the 630 and falls victim to a superkick and sliced bread #2 from Shelley, then Rave steals the win by hitting the Greetings from Ghana (Pedigree) on Evans for the pin.

Overall, this year's Trios Tournament was more fun than last year's with no burnout from an overload of hot tag spots, three solid matches and plenty of places to go with The Embassy's victory, with Shelley and Rave teasing dissension.

ROH Tag Team Title Match
Austin Aries and Roderick Strong vs Bryan Danielson and Jay Lethal

Wow, this is a fantastic main event. Once again, the ring entrances give it a real big match feel. Danielson and Lethal embrace every pure heel trait ever, and even manage to outdo Shelley and Rave for shenanigans. Lethal is wearing ridiculous sunglasses for starters. We get some brief clips of Danielson vs Strong at This Means War and Vendetta, then Danielson slaps Strong at the pre-match handshake, and they lock up... only for Danielson to chop Strong once and immediately tag out. Lethal then freaks out when Strong messes with his hair(!), then kicks Strong in the shin and high-fives Danielson, and Strong punishes him with one backbreaker and one chop.

And so it goes on, until Strong is finally doubleteamed with Lethal taking advantage of Samoa Joe's abscence due to injury by stealing the bootscrapes and ole ole kick, and also riling up Aries by stealing his powerdrive elbowdrop. Danielson rakes Strong in the face and chokes in the ropes, repeatedly doing the "I've got til five referee" stuff. Danielson and Lethal then do some bodyslam-tag-bodyslam-tag stuff, until Strong escapes and starts throwing chops until he is double teamed some more. Aries gets a hot tag, then he and Strong steal Danielson's airplane spin (doing a few rotations each with tags inbetween!). Aries then gets his turn as the face in peril, until Danielson and Lethal pay for their cockiness when they take too long on stereo diving headbutts.

Finally, Strong survives Danielson's back superplex and Cattle Mutilation, and keeps himself out of the crossface chickenwing, and while Aries keeps Lethal at bay, Strong hits a series of big moves in the firemans carry gutbuster, two big boots, a tiger driver for a two count, the half nelson backbreaker then goes to the stronghold, and Danielson taps out. Strong grabs the mic and notes Danielson now owes him a title shot, which is currently scheduled for March 31 (this friday) in Chicago.

Great match, probably the best match across the two shows so far in 2006.

Backstage, BJ Whitmer confronts Jimmy Jacobs over his lack of focus and Lacey over something she said on the Buffalo Stampede DVD, but they are unified at least into their tag title shot tomorrow night at Dissension.

Finally, Dave Prazak catches up with Matt Sydal and asks him for his response to Aries and Strong's suggestion that he pulls out of teaming with AJ Styles. Sydal says he's never backed out of a match before, but he will make some calls and sleep on it. Tune into Dissension to find out his response...

I love ROH's show to show storytelling.

Anyway, I ended up spending hours on this, too tired to write much more. It's a good show overall, though the middle drags a bit. Great main event though.

Nice review Gadge. I’ll be putting my own up at the weekend, recently got that show, as well as Dissension and Unscripted 2.

ROH Results from last night…


Apparently a very good show, I imagine in large part due to the awesome Dragon Gate guys. Common consensus puts Gen Next Vs Blood Gen as MOTN. This particulary amused me…

Been waiting for someone to do that to Joe for ages…

Woah, that's hilarious.

Delirious was pinned He needs a pinfall this weekend or else he's being 'dropped from the roster'.

Can't wait to see the Dragon Gate matches. Interesting to see KENTA in the midwest - the next Detroit show is on a friday so it should draw better (though 400-450 is good for a thursday night).

I wonder if KENTA will get a title shot against AmDrag? Or maybe one on one with Joe? Either match would be big DVD sales methinks.

I’m sure Delirious will get a win this weekend, and the pop will be huge. He’s too over to drop from the roster whilst keeping on Sterling James Keenan, surely?

I’m well up for those Dragon Gate matches. Not too sure about the Sydal/Styles one, although I can watch anything with Genki in, but the six man sounds great and Yang/Ryo just has to be good.

Any ideas on the stipulation for the last Homicide/Cabana match on Saturday? I’m convinced it’ll be Loser Leaves ROH…