A Double winning the belt is awesome.

He is probably my favourite thing in ROH right now.

Ummmmmm............ no.

With the Flair thing, it's a case of hate to say I told you so.... I feel bad about ROH getting burnt by that prick, but it was infinatly forseeable.

Aries as champ again? Obviously I havn't seen the match, and certainly Aries is capable of carrying the belt...I'm just not sure what it achieves for ROH in the long term. The company's had a persistant problem in creating headline talent, and this isn't exactly a step towards doing that.

Wow, most shocking example of cheap heat I've heard since Orton was mentioning Eddie Guerrero in promos in 2006.

It didn't even get much heat, which just shows how stupid it was really.

PWinsider have issued something of a correction, saying ROH president Cary Silkin did know Flair was leaving, but that Flair still screwed ROH over by not participating as had been agreed (and he'd been paid up front).

According to someone on the ROH board, he's one of the ants from CHIKARA, and Butterscotch = Hydra

Thanks timekeeper man! I'm guessing Cassidy is Fire Ant then. I think Hydra's great but never twigged he was Butterscotch/Pineapple Andy.

*watches as that goes way over his own head*

I watched Final Battle 2008 today. A full review will come soon, but for now just let me say it's the best ROH DVD I've watched in ages. Almost certainly the best of the year. So, in an attempt to generate some discussion, in date order...


10 ROH DVDs you should see from 2008

1. Sixth Anniversary Show
Dearly Devoted Dexter's review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1771281
2. Take No Prisoners
Dearly Devoted Dexter's review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1781088
3. Dragon Gate Challenge II
Dearly Devoted Dexter's review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1793085
4. Supercard of Honor III
Dearly Devoted Dexter's review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1793085
5. Northern Navigation
Dearly Devoted Dexter's review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1847350
6. New Horizons
my review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1819557
Dearly Devoted Dexter's review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1849510
7. Death Before Dishonor VI
my review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1838966
Dearly Devoted Dexter's review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1861900
8. Bound By Hate
my review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1912339
9. Rising Above 2008
my review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1919865
10. Final Battle 2008
my review: http://ukff.com/index.php?showtopic=81813&...t&p=1945623

From the file marked 'Vaguely related', it seems Dragon Gate USA have taken on the 6 shows a year PPV deal ROH have just vacated.. http://www.dgusa.tv/featurearticles12.htm

I'm debating whether I want to remove Take No Prisoners from my above list and put in A New Level instead.

I was at 3 of those and can highly reccomend the 2 Orlando shows and Final Battle.

Just got back from NYC today as well. This weekends shows weren't in the league of the 3 above but they were fun live shows. Not sure how it'll translate to DVD though. SNAPMARE!!!

I was at DGCII as well. A couple of months back, I was looking into doing last weekend's show in NYC but decided against. Gutted I missed a World title change.

What's Manassas like?

Very small, quiet little place. Small setup but a packed house - I could barely see an empty seat. It was a fairly nice and clean venue with plenty of food and booze being served. The clincher was the crowd though. They were just there to have fun and fun was had by all. Rhett Titus singing his theme tune was hilarious

I just hope the "inside joke" doesn't make the DVD confusing. If they got a shot of the sign later in the show and slot it back in near the start it'll make a lot more sense. It wasn't a thing with the crowd just chanting crap, the wrestlers really played into it with Dragon, Tyler and Lynn having a lot of fun. Lynn actually closed the show by saying that his snapmares were his birthday present to us (he turned 46 on Friday)

Some interesting ROH news, the recent Canada doubleshot will be released as a single DVD with the best matches from both nights. The basic idea seems that one stacked DVD is more cost-effective than producing 2 lesser runs of shows which might not sell as well. There's an interesting debate about it going on right now in todays newswire thread on the ROH board. I know we only have a small ROH community here but what do you guys think?

Interesting idea for a test run I think. The number of die hard ROH fans who collect every show are dropping off one by one. I know I stopped at the end of FYF and some of the guys that were over there with me this week are slowly doing the same. I know if I did collect still it would be a lot more attractive buying one stacked show and losing a couple of nothing matches now that they use so many students and are testing quite a lot of random indy guys out

I really hope ROH can find a business model that works. I met with about 40-50 awesome ROH fans again that I met in Orlando and I'd hate to think that if ROH went out of business, we'd have no reason to do these things anymore

I'm still on the every show bandwagon with DVDs, but the idea of Double Feature II doesn't offend me. The Markham show of that Canada weekend looked pretty good though, IIRC. I guess with many of the recent DVDs only running 2:20 they can probably fit the vast majority of the two shows on one DVD.

Question.

ROH Matches of the Year for every year since 2002?

Last night's TV taping results, courtesy of the ROH messageboard:

I was there also. The results are correct but the show was a lot better than the person sending in the results negativity shows. Nigel/Tyler was pretty good. Not up to their Take No Prisoners '08 match, I was there for that one too. Mark Briscoe looked like a demon in the ring. He was on fire. The crowd were a lot better than I thought they were going to be, size wise and how vocal they were. There were a couple of people throwing random things in the ring which was a bit shitty but other than that a fine night was had by all around me. 'Tylers mom' was there too about 5 seats away from me so there was some nice vocal chanting by her at least.

The brawl in the Generico/Richards was off the charts. It was so intense and even made a kid cry. They were going crazy out in section D.

Plus Aries coming out to Flair's music was amazing because a lot of people thought it was going to be the silver wonder himself but I knew different.... bwahahahahaha!!! Aries on the mic was gold too!

...and last night's taping results, from here:

The second shows main event last night was crazy over. Yes even ernie and Grizzly. It was another really fun show. A couple of the squash matches didnt get much heat but they were over quickly. Aries cut an even more spectacular promo, called a guy out and asked him to jump the barrier so they could fight. Within a second there were security guys all over him. The crowd went fucking ape! It was awesome!

Hmmm.

2002 - Bryan Danielson vs Paul London (Night of the Butcher)
2003 - AJ Styles vs Paul London (Night of Grudges)
2004 - Samoa Joe vs Bryan Danielson (Midnight Express Reunion)
2005 - Joe vs Kobashi, I think
2006 - Bryan Danielson vs KENTA (Glory By Honor V Night 2)
2007 - Bryan Danielson vs Takeshi Morishima (Manhattan Mayhem II)
2008 - Bryan Danielson vs Claudio Castagnoli (Northern Navigation)

That was a struggle. I wouldn't change my picks for '02, '03, '06 or '07 but some of the others could be changable. There are plenty of much more noted matches from 2008, but I enjoyed Danielson vs Claudio so much, and watched it at least half a dozen times, which is extremely unusual for me.

Alternates:

2002 - Low Ki vs Christopher Daniels vs Spanky vs Doug Williams (Crowning A Champion)
2003 - Homicide vs Steve Corino (Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies)
2004 - Joe vs Punk II
2005 - Samoa Joe vs Jay Lethal (Manhattan Mayhem)
2006 - Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness (Unified)
2007 - Bryan Danielson vs KENTA (Driven), Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries (Rising Above)
2008 - Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness (Rising Above)

What the attendance like for the last two tv tapings?

Also, any word on how big attendance was for the last NYC show?

New Video Wire

Joey Ryan is awesome. Why on earth have ROH not used him before.

Hmm... NYC is hard to guess. Maybe 2000.

The two TV tapings were fairly full. Larger than a usual Chikara or CZW shows but a lot of the tickets were comps. I'd say it got quieter towards the end of saturday evening too. Maybe 5-600 saturday and maybe 450 friday, but thats just a really vague guess. All i can say is that there were more people in there than I expected.

Bound By Hate – 8/11/08


Davey Richards vs Jerry Lynn - ROH’s two MVP’s of 2008 predictably have a super little match. Somewhat bizarrely Lynn busts out the curb stomp at one point, but succumbs to the DR driver in just under ten minutes.

Brodie Lee & Delirious vs. Kenny King & Rhett Titus - a blah tag team match which lost all credibility after King kicked out Brodie Lee’s Black Hole Slam. They made a right balls up of the finish too. The deal was Titus runs to the back followed by AOFT, leaving King to pick up the win for his team via count out. But instead of waiting until Sinclair got to around to a 15 or even a 10 count before running to the back, they go after about five, leaving King with his dick in his hand for what seemed like forever while Sinclair made the count. The crowd weren’t impressed, and rightly so.

Go Shiozaki & Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong & Erik Stevens - has it been explained yet why Stevens and Strong are suddenly pals? Stevens looks like a complete tit with that red streak in his hair. A decent match which perked up for the finish. Strong makes Edwards tap to the Stronghold for the win.

Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs - Dog Collar Match - a solid and certainly bloody dog collar match. Predictably Jacobs jumps Aries before Sinclair can attach the collar to Jacobs. There seems to some sort of clause written into Aries ROH contract which says he has to spend at least ten minutes of his matches selling. Eventually he gets some offence in and wallops Jacobs with a chair, and Jacobs gigs himself good - his face is quite literally a crimson mask. Tyler Black gets involved at one point, but Jacobs sends him to the back. Aries wins with a chain assisted Last Chancery. A good match, but it seemed a little restrained, Jacobs blade job notwithstanding. Hopefully the upcoming I Quit match will see some full on violence.

Alex Payne vs. Grizzly Redwood - it has to be said that even by the standards of a post intermission bout for people to ignore, this match was atrocious. A skinny kid vs a midget with a beard. Grizzly Redwood’s lumberjack gimmick is about as bad as Big Josh. I skipped the finish of this one, don’t know who won.

Kenny Omega vs. Brian Danielson vs. Tyler Black - it always baffles me slightly when a young wrestler is put in a match with someone really good and it’s hyped as a great opportunity for said wrestler to “prove himself.” I could probably have a great match with Danielson, but it doesn’t make me an automatic great. Surely a real test for an up and coming wrestler would be for the booker to send him out there with Brent Albright or someone similarly useless for ten minutes and see if he can carry him to something decent. Anyway, triple threat matches are very hit and miss, and this one was mostly miss. Not for the first time this year, Danielson looked like he was coasting. There were a few nice sequence at the end, but nothing too special. Danielson makes Omega tap to the Mutilation of the Cattle.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Necro Butcher - Necro matches should by and large be kept off the DVD’s. The crowd loves him, so it makes sense to book him on the shows but…Nigel tries to get something decent out of him, but it just isn’t happening. Necro wins by DQ when the AOTF run in.

The Briscoe Brothers vs. El Generico & Kevin Steen – although not hitting the heights of their 2007 series, this was a solid match up nonetheless. The champs retain in around 15 minutes with a Genrico roll up on Mark Briscoe.

Overall – a decent show overall in terms of match quality, but again, it fell well short of the heights of ROH of old.

Escalation – 21/11/08

Brent Albright vs. Davey Richards – Brent Albright appears to be going for some kind of gay gimmick judging by his blond hair and his tights. Richards tries to get a decent match out of Albright, but fails, and then suffers the ignominy of having to do the job. What was the point in giving Richards a clean win over Jerry Lynn only to have him lose to this clown? Albright wins with a roll up.

Nigel McGuinness comes out and states that tonight’s main event will now be non-title. I’m not sure why they booked this bizarre angle, but if you were a fan who’d paid to come to this expecting to see a world title match, you feel extremely cheated. And that’s a not good reaction for a company who’s seen their attendances drop in 2008. What was Pearce thinking?

Go Shiozaki vs. Sami Callihan vs. Grizzly Redwood vs. Rhett Titus – NOAH can’t be happy about this match – Shiozaki’s supposed to be in ROH to build him up for a main event run ala Morishima, and he’s in a match with three jobbers!! Someone described Sami Callihan as looking like a cross between Kevin Thorne and Tazz, which is quite a good visual description. This match would have probably been bearable had it gone five minutes; at 11 it was just painful.

The Briscoe Brothers vs. Irish Airborne – ROH desperately needs something to help it turn the corner at the moment, but lord knows Irish Airborne aren’t the team to do it. The only thing of note in the match is Mark Briscoe blowing his knee out. Briscoes win with a Spike Jay Driller.

Chris Hero vs. Roderick Strong – Last Man Standing – or a “Lights Out” match according the DVD case, but it’s essentially the same thing. I didn’t think this was too bad, although Strong working the back in a last man standing match was slightly odd. However, the finish had the fans up in arms, and no wonder – a DQ finish in a last man standing match? It’s hard not to utter the words “Vince Russo”. I’m guessing technically Strong won by DQ when Sweet and Sour ran in.

Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico – a bit of a nothing tag match. Rhett Titus runs in and interferes, leading to Steen and Genrico retaining. At this point I’d like to remind readers that ROH once prided itself on having clean finishes in it’s matches.

Brian Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli – a “grudge match” that was almost entirely based around technical wrestling. It wasn’t a bad match by any means, but how many grudge matches do you see finish with a small package? Well, Angle vs Guerrero for one, which suffered from the same problems this match did. Danielson wins in around 14 minutes with a small package. Poor old Claudio has been absolutely buried since his heel turn.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black - what a waste of time main event. Not only did they bone the fans by making it non title, but then they phone in a 13 minute piss poor effort. They fart about for a bit in the first five minutes with McGuinness insisting on wrestling each man individually. Then he hangs about on the outside for a bit before getting involved. The match perked up a bit in the last five minutes, but for a main event this was a disgrace. Aries wins with a brainbuster off the second on Black.

Overall – yes, this was as woeful as everyone said at the time. It’s not like ROH make much of an effort when they visit Dayton, but this was just atrocious. And not being content with this, ROH then fucked their fans even further by putting the Tyler Black vs Samoa Joe match as a bonus on this DVD. Which is fine in itself, until they also added it to the Rising Above DVD a few months later. I’m guessing a fair few people bought this DVD on the basis of the Joe match, when they might otherwise have given it a miss. By putting it on the Rising Above DVD, they essentially said to their fans, “ha-ha you silly motherfuckers, we conned you into buying a shit DVD that otherwise would have sold about ten copies.” ROH really ought to be ashamed of themselves on this one.

I'll also add my twopennth to the ROH Matches of the Year Question

2002 - Lo-Ki vs Samoa Joe. Runner Up - American Dargon vs Lo-Ki
2003 - AJ Styles vs Paul London. Runner Up - Christopher Daniels vs Samoa Joe
2004 - Samoa Joe vs Brian Danielson. Runner Up - Briscoes vs Punk & Cabana - 2/3 Falls
2005 - Joe vs Kobashi. Runner Up - Jacobs & Whitmer vs Evans & Strong
2006 - Brian Danielson vs Nige McGuinness (Unified). Runner Up - Briscoes vs Aries and Strong (Unified)
2007 - Brian Danielson vs KENTA. Runner Up - Samoa Joe vs Takeshi Morishima
2008 - (Bear in mind I'm only up to Escalation) Brian Danielson vs Tyler Black (New Horizons). Runner Up - Brian Danielson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

A couple of interesting selections there DDD... I hated Briscoes vs Punk/Cabana 2/3 falls... the 2005 tag match, however, was particularly crazy (from Manhattan Mayhem, right?).

Detroit results from last night...

They didnt destroy Jacobs. They laid into Tyler Black and proceeded to carry Jimmy out of the ring and backstage as he proclaims the Age Of The Fall "has only just begun"!!!! Yay! Jimmy!

ROH Final Battle 2008 - New York, NY - 27.12.08

ROH draws its biggest crowd ever, as the Hammerstein is packed to the tune of 2000+ for the last show of 2008.

The DVD begins with an Age of the Fall promo about how stuff is cyclical. They're stood in the dark, which means you can't see any facial expressions, and Delirious is barely visible at all.

Claudio Castagnoli vs Kenny Omega kicks us off proper. Claudio vs high flyers usually equals a good (undercard) bout, and this is certainly a hot way to start the show. The days of Claudio looking like he might main event seem a distant memory, especially when you combine trying to catch up on DVDs with watching the TV show on YouTube and seeing Claudio feuding with Brent Albright. Still, this being the opener, there's a lot to like. Claudio gets plenty of heat. Omega is still a fresh face on the ROH undercards, seems to be catching on with his somewhat goofy charisma, and hits his spots crisply. Plus, it means when Nigel's on commentary he can make Johnny Fairplay jokes. Not that Nigel has anything to joke about when Omega reverses a Ricola Bomb attempt into a small package, and gets the upset pin after 7-8 minutes. Claudio throws a wobbly on his way out. I would too if i knew I had a TV feud with Albright coming up...

Four Corner Survival action next, with Rhett Titus vs Chris Hero vs Necro Butcher vs Jerry Lynn. I'm way past the point of enjoying any of Hero's matches. Even though this is a four way, there's loads of early stalling. Prazak reels off the Titus catchphrases as he has every show since he started heel commentating. Necro seems the most over during the match. Lynn and Hero have the first proper wrestling exchanges, Lynn looks fine when Hero bumps around but Hero's offense is. So. Boring. Hero tags out to Necro and we get some comedy chain wrestling as Necro applies wristlocks and partakes in a bizarre Malenko/Guerrero sequence. We then get the obligatory pseudo tag match part of the 4CS as Hero and Titus beat down Necro and then later Lynn. Titus has more watchable offense than Hero, even though he's in the 'pushing your luck against established opponents' role. Lynn ends up making his own comeback, which looks good. Necro then ends up destroying Titus on the floor, and while that's going on, Hero tries to use the loaded elbow pad on Lynn, but Lynn ducks and nails Hero with the cradle piledriver for three at about 13 minutes. Okay match with a big pop for the finish. Jimmy Jacobs then ends up on the mic, and sets up Necro for an AOTF beatdown, until Steen and Generico make the save. We move straight on...

Kevin Steen and El Generico vs Jimmy Jacobs and Delirious for the World Tag Team Titles is based on the idea that AOTF are trying to win tag gold at Final Battle for the second year in a row. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have noticed that they have no momentum whatsoever. In fact, for the opening few minutes, Jimmy Jacobs is beaten down by Steen and Generico, with next to no offense whatsoever. It takes an intervention from Delirious when Steen goes for the running cannonball for the AOTF to take control and work on the knee of Steen. Steen's bad leg then becomes the focal point of the match, until the end when Daizee Haze/Delirious shenanigans lead to Generico pinning Delirious after the package piledriver/brainbuster combo. AOTF only looked like they might take the titles once, when Steen ate the Panic Attack/Shadows over Hell combo from Delirious and a top rope senton from Jacobs in succession for a good nearfall. Still, this was a worthy 13 minute tag title defense, and Steen and Generico didnt have that many in their reign. Jacobs berates Delirious afterwards, and walks out.

Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards and Go Shiosaki vs Brent Albright, Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens is a fairly insane six man streetfight. The music for the American Wolves is quite cool, I suppose it won't last when the TV kicks in. Everyone pulls their weight in this one, yes even Albright, and Go looks a lot better here than in many of his ROH outings. They keep this completely in the ring and ringside area, which means no brawls through back areas of the crowd where you can't see what's going on, which is always a big plus to this type of thing. Erick Stevens eats a vicious looking German suplex through a table from Go. Any exchanges with Davey and Roderick are well worth looking out for. There's a bit where Albright is worked over by all three of the Sweet 'n' Sour Inc team, and later on tables turn as Strong puts Richards through a table then Go is triple teamed by Strong, Stevens and Albright, and that's enough for the end as Albright forces Go to tap out to the crowbar. 15 minutes of full on action here. Good stuff indeed. After the face team celebrate, the Wolves have a go at Go for tapping out, and leave him in the ring alone long enough for the crowd to give him a nice ovation. That is, until he flips the crowd off, the heel that he is. While it isn't mentioned, that's the end of Go's ROH run, as he returns to NOAH from this point.

Kensuke Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Jay and Mark Briscoe is your classic, straight forward ROH of yore... "We've got imports in, lets just make sure we get a good match out of them". The Briscoes haven't had a very good 2008 compared to their excellent second half of 2006 and most of 2007, but they are on form here, and when Nakajima is in with them, the action is very good, back and forth stuff. Sasaki, being a heavyweight and also GHC Heavyweight Champion at this point, naturally doesn't do much selling, but brings the hard hitting exchanges, and the teamwork with Nakajima nicely. Jay pins Nakajima with the Jay Driller at the seventeen minute mark, then gets attacked by the American Wolves who handcuff Jay to the rope and bash Mark's leg in. This will be the last match for The Briscoes together for six months. Steen and Generico make the save but the Wolves get some shots in on Steen's knee as well, until Albright, Strong and Stevens make the save. Albright then cuts a loud, shouty promo at President Cary, and he makes Steel Cage Warfare for the Caged Collision PPV.

We then get a translated promo by Marufuji before his shot at McGuinness later in the evening, and a video promo for the DVD of Northen Navigation. It's then time for a #1 contenders match...

Tyler Black vs Austin Aries - footage of the conclusion of their pretty smart match at Wrestling at the Gateway, where Black got the pin with God's Last Gift, then Aries left with an insane grin on his face, precedes the match itself. Dual chanting haters won't like this one, but it is actually relevent to the storyline in this case. What starts as a 50/50 split in crowd support becomes more and more pro-Black, and Aries gets shown up as Black uses Aries' own dropkick out of a headscissors counter, and then avoids Aries' power drive elbow. Aries is really good at showing his growing frustration at his inability to handle Tyler, with his athleticism, quickness, heart and ever-increasing fan support in spite of his role in Jimmy Jacobs' AOTF. Aries and Black have really good chemistry in the ring, and the moves combined with the storyline of Aries mindset is very engaging. Then, in a surprising twist in the developing story, Black misses the Phoenix Splash after being distracted by Jimmy Jacobs coming onto the entrance ramp, and Aries nails the brainbuster and 450 for the pinfall.

After the match, Jacobs gets in Black's face like in the aftermath of the Aries/Jacobs I Quit match at Rising Above, only for Black to pie face him down. Jacobs changes his tune quickly, but when they seem to reconcile, Jacobs nails Black with a low blow, and the End Time. Jacobs then grabs a chair and looks to smash Black's head, Aries makes the save, only Aries then blasts Black with the chair. Aries and Jacobs double team Tyler, all the while looking at each other suspiciously, and Aries then riles up the crowd before heading to the back. So, Tyler is now a full fledged face, a role that suits him better anyway... more on Aries later. They show extended footage of Black coming to, sat in the ring bloodied and contemplative, which lets the turn sink in nicely.

Another DVD video package, this time for the excellent New Horizons PPV show, then we get some highlights of Nigel McGuinness' challenge for Naomichi Marufuji's GHC Heavyweight Title at Glory By Honor V Night 2, which is probably still ROH's best show ever. It must be World Title match time...

Nigel McGuinness vs Naomichi Marufuji was set up the previous Hammerstein show, Death Before Dishonor VI. I like the continuity between shows in the same venue, good job Nigel didn't lose the belt since then though eh? The good thing about having Marufuji in there with Nigel is that you know he's not going to stay down for too long in the predictable period of heat building, which has become all too familiar in many of Nigel's title defenses. So, during the chain wrestling in the early going, and the gradual development of the match, the story is as much about Nigel rising to the challenge of the NOAH star rather than the challenger seeking ways to dethrone the champ.

As things then escalate, the NOAH influence on this title match is obvious, as both men use finisher variations from the ropes to the floor and onto the ring apron, and Nigel somehow manages to tear his own right bicep when nailing Marufuji with a Tower of London on the ring apron. The end might then be slightly curtailed, as Marufuji gets a close nearfall with the coast to coast dropkick, then goes for a flurrry of superkicks, two of which hit, but Nigel avoids the third and hits the jawbreaker lariat for three at 18:15. Good match, but the highlights of their previous encounter made me want to revisit that one. Maybe Nigel's injury meant they shortened the end, as I said, so I can't be critical really.

Once again, we get some post-match action, as Jerry Lynn comes out to praise the match but then also get all shouty at Nigel for calling him old. Nigel ends up leaving through the crowd to get away...

The introductions for the main event are then delayed by Prince Nana jumping in the ring, failing to get the mic from ring announcer Bobby Cruise and being carried out by security. Main event time finally comes around after a build up video. Oh, how long I was waiting for this one...

Fight Without Honor : Bryan Danielson vs Takeshi Morishima - having attended the first of their matches live at Manhattan Mayhem II in the Grand Ballroom, which I think I rate as the ROH match of 2007, and followed their rematches on DVD, this was always the feud ending match that needed to be made, but was delayed due to Morishima's GHC title run and injuries.

This one is really the Bryan Danielson show. No half assing here, the lights come up during his Final Countdown entrance, and there's Danielson on the apron behind Morishima. One missile dropkick later, Morishima is on the outside. One flying baseball slide after that, Morishima's in the crowd. Danielson then springboard dives into the crowd, onto Morishima, rising to his feet just as the song hits the right point... "IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!". Oh yes.

The story of Danielson's revenge carries the match from one point to the next. Morishima has some of the match his own way, of course, and it's amazing how Danielson brings the best out of the big man, who it should be pointed out is larger than ever here. He busts Danielson open, and Danielson ends up a bloody mess, increasing the impact of his offense when he then comes back. Morishima brings a chain into play, and there's a set of spots that bring back memories of the recent Aries/Jacobs Chain and I Quit matches, but without the overcomplication. In the end, 20 chain assisted elbows knock Morishima loopy, Danielson locks in Cattle Mutilation, and scores the win by KO.

Overall, this probably isn't a top 20 ROH match, or even the best in their series. I'm a huge Danielson fan, and for those who aren't, or those who didn't follow the 2007 feud, this probably comes across a lot worse than it does in my eyes. That said, there's something for giving the fans what they want, and the largest crowd in ROH history got exactly what they wanted here.

At the end of a year where being an ROH fan was less rewarding than in the past, ROH delivered this match and this show, which top to bottom only had one weak match (the Four Corner Survival) and a rabid, record setting crowd. For the DVD viewer, it's nice to have a full length, 3 hour card too. It was like watching the ROH of old, albeit only for one night. Things aren't there yet, and there's plenty more things I know ROH get wrong between this show and where we are now (end of June '09) but at least things aren't stagnant, as they felt for much of 2008. It's a start.

Speaking of starts...

ROH Full Circle - Manassas, VA - 10.1.09

I'm not going into too much depth with this one. The first thing you notice is the miniature size of the crowd compared to Hammerstein. Still...

The opening two matches both feature ROH regulars vs Virginia area talents, as Brent Albright and Erick Stevens roll over Damien Wayne and Chris Escobar in an okay match, and Rhett Titus vs Sean Denny goes to a no-contest when Bison Smith makes his ROH debut and flattens them both.

On seeing that the next match was Necro Butcher vs Delirious, it was obvious we were going to get a finish involving Jimmy Jacobs and Daizee Haze. This time, Delirious voluntarily gives Daizee the spike instead of using it on Necro. Necro then makes him pay with a chokeslam and Tiger Driver for the pin. Twelve minutes of action was not worth watching when you could predict the finish...

Jay Briscoe and Roderick Strong vs The American Wolves is a pretty good match. Jay seems motivated, which is always something to watch for when Mark is out injured. He still takes the pinfall, though, after Sweeney hits him with a shoe and the Wolves hit a superkick/German suplex combo. As usual, watch for Strong vs Richards in this one.

Jimmy Jacobs cuts a promo in the dark. FFS. He feels underrated and underappreciated compared to Bryan Danielson, his opponent for the evening. He wants to be taken more seriously. Who cares? I can't see you...

The next match... well, some very different music plays. It's Austin Aries! What. The...? He cuts a quick, entertaining promo that just starts to reveal his new attitude after the events of Final Battle, then it's match time. Jerry Lynn vs Austin Aries doesn't go at anything like full pelt, but midcard matches generally don't in the new ROH. Not to mention, the idea is to try and get the new Aries character over, and him busting out all his spots wouldn't really enable that. For what it is, this is a watchable enough match, but it's not exactly one for repeat viewing. Lynn surprises the #1 contender with a roll-up at 15:30 for three, and earns himself a winning start to the year to follow his winning finish to 2008.

Bryan Danielson vs Jimmy Jacobs is only their second one-on-one match in ROH. Jacobs surprised Danielson with a win in their impromptu match at Unscripted III with the End Time, in a match many on the ROH boards really liked and I thought was okay but not exactly great at all. Despite his earlier promo, it's no surprise that Danielson doesn't take Jacobs seriously at all in the early going. Teasing Jacobs and playing to the crowd, it's obvious that Danielson is in coasting mode, to quote a recent DDD review here. Of course, that doesn't mean the match isn't entertaining, it's just not that heated and there's so many top quality Danielson matches out there, it's utterly unimportant, and therefore it devalues the result. Danielson eventually gets himself into trouble when he diving headbutts himself into the End Time at 14:00, then Jacobs again gets the End Time at 17:30 out of the Danielson small package, and this second time Jacobs turns Danielson's Triangle choke counter into a pin at 18:00. So, Jacobs goes 2-0 against Danielson, and it doesn't really mean anything.

Finally, Nigel McGuinness vs Tyler Black in a non-title match. The immediate, obvious problem with a non-title match against a strong contender over 15 months into Nigel's title reign is it only telegraphs the result almost completely. This is still the best match on the show, and provides a much needed go home happy moment when Tyler pins Nigel clean after countering the jawbreaker lariat into the turnbuckle powerbomb followed up by a superkick at 17:20. It is a beautiful counter.

It's the first show of the year. It's *always* skippable. It was probably enjoyable enough as a live show but there's no reason whatsoever to own it on DVD...

Ah, I haven't checked the ROH forum yet, I just ripped that off of PWinsider.

Chicago results from last night, courtesy of the ROH messageboard:

It was 2 in the morning when I wrote that list in my defence. I guess on reflection I'd put Joe vs Punk two ahead of the DBD Tag match. Bad spelling aside I stand by the rest though. I'll try and do a bit of a write up of my choices when I get time.

EDIT - yes, it was the Manhatten Mayhem match . It's amazing when you look back that Strong & Evans never got a run with the belts when you look at some of the useless teams that have held the ROH tag titles - Carnage Crew, Maff & Whitmer, Havana Pitbulls etc

Rising Above 2008

ROH has invested in a crane and some new cameras. While they undoubtedly do make for a better picture, I can’t help thinking the money might have been better spent bringing in some guys who might help drag the company out of the doldrums.

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The Briscoe Brothers – Mark Briscoe blew his knee out last night’s show in Dayton, but they decide to have a match anyway. It lasts 6 minutes and isn’t very good. The tag champs retain when Steen hits the package Piledriver on Mark Briscoe.

Claudio Castagnoli talks about how unstoppable he is. As more than one person has pointed out, this from a guy who hasn’t won a match in over three months.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Silas Young vs. Sami Callihan vs. Alex Payne – the crowd well all over Claudio throughout this match, which injected some life into what otherwise would have been a fairly average affair. This is essentially a squash for Claudio, but it will take a lot more than this to dig him out of the whole he’s been booked into. Castagnoli wins with the Ricola on Alex Payne.

Ace Steel, Brent Albright & Roderick Strong vs. Chris Hero, Davey Richards & Go Shiozaki – bit of nothing six man to be honest. No-one cares about S ‘n’ S vs Albright – or S ‘n’ S vs Strong for that matter. After 15 minutes of average action Hero smashes Strong with a chair to get the win.

Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs – I Quit Match – like just about all of ROH’s storylines this year, Jacobs vs Aries has been overlong and tedious, mainly due to the fact that Aries is an extremely unsympathetic babyface – he reminds me a lot of Foreman in House. To compound this error, ROH then decided to make the mainspring of the feud Lacey – an equally unsympathetic woman!! Deary me. But, despite the crappiness of the feud, it has to be said this match was very good indeed. For the first half of the match Jacobs busts open and batters Aries, until Lacey runs in. Great moment, and a brilliant line from Leonard :”Jacobs looks like he’s just seen a ghost.” I don’t know if that was ad-libbed or planned, but really added to the moment. (Which makes a change – I’ll address Prazak’s silly heel commentary at a later date). The tide turns, and Aries gives Jacobs a pasting, but he refuses to say “I Quit”. Black goes to throw in the towel, but Lacey swipes it, forcing Jacobs to utter those two words, five letters. Very good match.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Brian Danielson – as good as this match was – and it was very good – I don’t want to see these two wrestle again in ROH for at least 18 months. An odd rivalry in many respects. They’ve wrestled each other 8 times over a period of 2 ½ years. 3 of those matches were absolute corkers (Unified, 6th Ani show and Domination/ Driven 07), and the rest ranged from average to dull. This one however, joins the canon of the classics. Technical wrestling, stiff strikes, high impact moves – it had it all. Admittedly the match did take a rather bizarre twist when Claudio Castagnoli and Alex Payne (of all people) got involved. With the ref distracted Castagnoli busts Danielson open somehow – the cameras completely missed it. McGuinness looked all set to win by count out until Alex Payne dragged Danielson back into the ring. From there both men beat the shit out of each other, until McGuinness scored with the Jawbreaker at just under the 30 minute mark. Two must see matches on the same card – when was the last time that happened? (New Horizons – Ed.)

Delirious vs. Rhett Titus – it’s been said before, but Allison Wonderland is so hot. Woman take note – this is the standard you need to aspire to. I don’t want to hear any bullshit about “accepting me the way I am”. Ahem. Anyway, the match isn’t much to write home about, Delirious gets the win via Shadows Over Hell, then gives Titus a pasting with the top of the class trophy afterwards. A satisfactory result.

Samoa Joe vs. Tyler Black – incidentally there wasn’t a great deal of enthusiasm for the one night return of Joe on the ROH boards prior to this match for some reason. Nor was I personally for that matter – given the depth of ROH’s current problems, a one off appearance by Joe wasn’t going to achieve much in the long run. Still, as with Homicide’s appearance a month, it was nice to hear the old music again and reminisce about the glory years. Not watching TNA this is literally the first Joe match I’ve seen since FYF: Finale, and he looks somewhat out of shape. He’s always been a big lad, but his cardio conditioning was always good. Here however, the sweat starts pouring off him after five minutes, and he slows down as the match gets longer. However, it’s still a decent effort from both men, and it was fun to see all the old Joe spots. When I heard the result I thought it was madness – Joe should clearly have put Black over, as Black’s the one who’s going to be the mainstay of ROH for the next few years. However, upon watching the match and there being no reaction whatsoever for Black hitting the Small Package Driver, the crowd would probably have farted on a Black win. So Joe wins with the Musclebuster and the choke, and we all wish it was 2005 again. Ho-hum.

Overall – Definatly one of ROH’s best DVD offerings from 2008 – which is somewhat of a backhanded compliment admittedly. The first hour of the DVD was rubbish, but the three main events all delivered, and each offered something different. Indeed, this show should probably be viewed as Gabe’s last hurrah, with the culmination of two angle’s that have been running throughout the year. Next time on PPV, Pearce is going to have to come with something all by himself.

Nice stuff, DDD.

There's a buy TWO, get 1 free DVD sale on, until Thursday afternoon, which is a particularly good deal.

On a different note, ROH now only have a double shot in Toronto at the end of July between now and the next TV tapings at the end of August before they hit the regular markets again...

Which website/shop is this and is it in the uk?

Erm, the ROH website!

Yeah, what he said. Just ordered 6 DVDs for just under £59, and I expect I'll get them by next Monday at the latest... if I'd seen the sale earlier today I may have had it shipped today and got it this week.

Thank you kind sir.

I must admit, the angle at the weekend with a gazillion AOFT members running in at the end of the cage match was the first time in ages I've thought "Ohhh, I can't wait to see that". Unfortunatly they followed it by stringing up Jacobs by his legs and intimating that the AOFT was finished. We'll see what happens I guess. As for the dearth of summer shows, if it helps get them onto a decent financial footing then I'm all for it.

Did you read the Gabe interview in Powerslam this month? A mixture of fact and fiction on his part. His comments about Cary seem to confirm that he's an odd bird (Cary that is, although the same description could be applied to Gabe). But Gabe's assertion that he was against running 40 shows a year all along seems a bit post hoc .

Buy 2 get 1 Free seems a bit tasty, I might have to take advantge of that

Wrestling at the Gateway – 5/12/08

Kenny King, Rhett Titus and Sal Rinauro form a group. Lord save us.

Kenny King vs. Kenny Omega – an ok opener that kicked into gear in the last few minutes. The slightly irritating Omega wins with a roll up. So much for King’s push.

Grizzly Redwood & Bushwacker Luke vs. Rhett Titus & Sal Rinauro – to quote Jim Ross, “Why! Somebody Tell Me Why!??”

Pearce has got a bloody cheek running an ad for the Battle for Supremacy show, given his own piss-poor performance in the main event.

Tag Team Gauntlet Match – the winner of which gets a match against Sasaki & Nakajima at Final Battle. It starts out with Erik Stevens & Brent Albright against Irish Airborne. It’s so blatantly obvious that the reason Irish Airborne have been bough back because they’ve relatively cheap to book. It also strikes me that Erik Stevens is in fact a vastly superior version of Brent Albright – he can do all the power moves that Brent can, but he can also do things like have a good match, which Brent is only able to pull off on rare occasions. And Albright’s blond streaks look terrible. I wonder what he co-workers at the chemical plant make of them? Not much happens for 7 minutes before Albright hits the half nelson suplex on Dave Crist for the pin. Next up is Davey Richards & Bobby Dempsey. Indeed, Dempsey is wrestling. This segment of the gauntlet is actually mildly entertaining, as Richards spends 50% of the match beating up the designated opponents, and the rest of time beating up Bobby Dempsey. Sweeney takes off his cowboy boot, but Stevens ends up with it, and nails Richards. Unfortunatly for him, that’s a DQ, and brings out the third team, The Briscoe Brothers. Dempsey actually gets some offence in this segment, a Vader bomb and a pinwheel slam. In spite of these momentous moves however, Jay Briscoe hits the Driller on Davey for the win. Forgettable match.

Ace Steel & Necro Butcher vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious – Ace Steel’s another guy that no-body particularly wanted to see back, but we’re getting him anyway. His “Crazy” Ace Steel moniker seems to stem not from any in ring insanity, but rather due to the fact he glares at the camera and says “someone’s gonna die” a lot, despite no-one ever actually dying in one of his matches. Not too much worthy of note happens in this, aside Necro Butcher giving Jacobs a Monkey Flip. They brawl on the outside a bit towards the end. Jacobs hands Delirious the spike, but Daizee Haze runs out and begs him not to use it. So he doesn’t, and get’s a Tiger Driver and a pinfall loss from Necro for his troubles.

Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black – a solid match, with a very nicely worked finish. Black hit’s his leaping enzuiguri; Aries responds with a kick to the head. Aries then tries to hit the brainbuster, but quick as a flash Black synchs in and hits the Small Package Driver for the one-two-three. After the match Aries grins like an idiot as he leaves the ring.

Nigel McGuinness & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brian Danielson & Jerry Lynn – great moment before the match starts where the crowd chant “best in the world”, and quick as a flash Nigel says “thank you, thank you.” A solid main event tag to end the show with some good tag psychology. Alas, poor old Claudio does the job yet again, succumbing to Lynn’s Cradle Piledriver. Still, a good preview of tomorrow night’s two singles clashes.

Overall – despite the last two matches being good, the rest of the card was abysmal. That’s two C-shows that Pearce has put on since taking over the book. The future does not look good.

Southern Hostility – 6/12/08

Kenny King, Rhett Titus & Sal Rinauro vs. The Briscoe Brothers & Kenny Omega – what the hell has happened to Sal Rinauro?!?! If his new tights and haircut were supposed to make him look like an 80’s jobber, mission accomplished. He also has to suffer the indignation of botching a leapfrog spot. Kenny King must look at the two guys he’s been paired with and think “there goes my ROH push.” A forgettable six man, enlivened slightly by such of Omega’s high impact moves. Omega pins Rinauro with the release Electric Chair German Suplex (I think that’s how you describe it.) On a side note, Prazak’s “heel” commentary is terrible. If you look at all the great heel commentators – Ventura, Heyman, Heenan – they all played it straight and still managed to get humour out of it. Instead Prazak puts on a silly voice and pretends he’s announcing IWA Mid-South again. Great.

Alex Payne vs. Delirious – I’m sorry, I just can’t take Alex Payne seriously as a wrestler, and it’s somewhat gratifying to hear the crowd boo him in this one. While it was good thing that the industry as a whole moved away from the idea of muscle bound behemoths (except in New York obviously), you have to a least have some vague sign of strength. Payne looks like a skinny 16 year old, and it’s hard to believe he could beat up my mum, let alone anyone on the ROH roster. Delirious eventually wins an interminable match with Shadows Over Hell.

Erik Stevens & Brent Albright vs. Davey Richards & Larry Sweeney – once again Davey proves why he is the main man in ROH in 2008, as he bumps his ass off and turns what should have been a snooze-fest into an extremely entertaining match. It was supposed to be Richards & Dempsey in this one, but after Sweeney get barred from ringside he inserts himself in the match, and does the classic heel-manager in a tag match thing. I can even overlook the ref bump. Sweeney accidentally wallops Richards with a chair, allowing Alright to get the pin.

There’s a rare laugh out loud ROH moment when Kyle Durden asks Claudio Castagnoli if he’s pushed Danielson too far. Claudio says “speaking of push”, a pie-faces the hapless Durden, sending him flying. Good stuff.

Grizzly Redwood & Bushwhacker Luke vs. Irish Airborne – it’s not often I feel sorry for Irish Airborne, but having to bump for this shit can’t be much fun. The fans boo the “faces”, and can you honestly blame them? Luke pins Dave Christ with the battering ram after 7 minutes of quite frankly painful action.

Austin Aries & Necro Butcher vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black – now this really annoys me. Jacobs and Aries have the blow off match to their feud at Rising Above. SO WHY THE FUCK ARE THEY WRESTLING EACH OTHER AGIN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS LATER?!?! You fucking idiot Pearce. Second gripe – at the start of the match Jacobs pushes Black into the path of Necro to save his own skin. But face commentator Lenny Leonard doesn’t pick up on it. What’s the point of the guys trying to tell stories if the commentators don’t pick up on it? The match got off to a slow start, but was just starting to pick up a bit with a brawl out on the floor when the referee ended the match via a double count out. Fuck me, “the Pearce finish” in full effect.

Brian Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli – No DQ – a highly entertaining No DQ match. Claudio busts Dragon open early, but Dragon makes a comeback, and they trade some fantastic near falls before Danielson gives Claudio some vicious stomps to the head and locks in the triangle choke for the win. Great match.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Jerry Lynn – another very good match between these two. It’s quite funny how Prazak harps on about McGuinness not running out of steam in his title run like Danielson & Morishima did, when it’s quite obvious he’s suffered some sort of bicep tear, again. Another great Lynn performance, and McGuinness holds his end up too. At one point Lynn is able to hit the Cradle Piledriver, but McGuinness gets his foot on the ropes. Nigel eventually wins with the alligator press and a hand on the ropes. Afterwards he blisters Lynn on the mike, calling him an old, washed-up never-was.

Afterwards Randy the Ram – sorry, Jerry Lynn- goes nuts in the locker room, complaining it’s not the same business anymore.

Overall – another dreadful undercard, saved by the last two matches. Relying on Danielson and McGuinness when both their contracts expire in six months isn’t very bright though, is it Mr Pearce?

Good review man, agree thoroughly with your views on Davey and its sad how ROH is less of an ensemble piece these days and would really suffer without Dragon, Nige and Aries.



Save yourself typing - it's called Croyt's Wrath.

All Star Extravaganza IV – 26/12/08

Kenny Omega vs. Rhett Titus – I’m not overly keen on either of these two to be honest, but they have a decent opener. Omega wins with the “Croyt's Wrath” – thanks to UKFFer air raid crash for that titbit

Chris Hero vs. Erik Stevens – Hero is now sporting a beard, presumably going for the Bruiser Brody look. A decent little match from two guys who should be two of ROH’s top guys by now, had they not been booked into oblivion for the best part of 2008. Hero wins by somewhat bizarrely putting the “loaded” elbow pad on his foot and booting Stevens in the face.

Brent Albright & Roderick Strong vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima - picture the scene. Before the match Pearce goes up to these four. “Ok guys, remember what I said about crowd interaction right? That’s the key to this match.” Sasaki says “you know I killed a man once right?” Pearce : “on second thoughts, you guys do whatever you see fit.” So they go out there and beat the piss out of each other for twenty minutes in what is easily one of the best matches I’ve seen in ROH this year. It also made me realise just how bad some of the stuff ROH has served up recently was. Sasaki pins Albright with the Northern Lights bomb. Tremendous match.

Go Shiozaki vs. Takeshi Morishima - a short but satisfying scrap from the two NOAH guys. Shiozaki dominates the first two thirds of the match, despite sustaining a nasty cut from one of the guardrails. Eventually Morishima decides he’s had enough of this nonsense, and hits all his party pieces, nearly decapitating Shiozaki before hitting the match winning Backdrop Driver.

American Wolves vs. The Briscoe Brothers vs. Nigel McGuinness & Claudio Castagnoli - Jesus, poor Davey Richards can’t get a break. His reward for being probably ROH’s most consistent performer in 2008 - consistently good performer that is, there’s been a few consistently crap ones - is to be stuck in a waste of time tag team with Eddie Edwards. A decent three way tag outing. Edwards rolls up Castagnoli for the first elimination, then after a decent scrap Jay hits the Jaydriller on Edwards for the win. Seems like the thing to do would have been to give the Wolves a win on their first outing, but what do I know?

Austin Aries vs. Naomichi Marufuji – you would have thought that these two were incapable of putting on a bad match, but in these topsy-turvey times in ROH you never know. Fortunately they have a great match, to prove there are some constants left. Chain wrestling, some great sequences where they avoid each other’s signature moves... Aries is acting up in a way that suggests a heel turn is imminent, but seeing as how there’s no apparent motive, no-one’s too fussed at the moment. Marufuji wins with a front flip snap-mare driver, which is apparently called the Shiranui Kai. So there you go.

Kevin Steen, El Generico & Necro Butcher vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black & Delirious – though nothing mind blowing, a decent enough six man scrap. Daizee Haze gets involved and poor Delirious gets chokeslammed again as a result. Then Davey Richards runs in and whacks Steen in the knee with a pipe. Looks like the Wolves are working a tag title program with Steen & Generico in the not too distant future. Jacobs makes Steen tap to the End Time.

Jerry Lynn vs. Brian Danielson – amazingly, this is the first time these guys have wrestled ever. McGuinness provides commentary, and adds nothing. A great main event, every bit as fluid and crisp as you’d have expected. The only slight gripe is the finish – both guys reverse a small package and then the bell rings with no-one sure who won. The announcement is eventually made that Danielson got his shoulder up and is therefore the winner, but it absolutely killed a crowd that had been really into it for most of the match. Can we blame Pearce?

Overall – easily one of the best ROH shows of 2008. It’s nice to be able to write something positive for a change.

Injustice II - Edison, NJ 17.01.09

Before I go into any depth, I'll mention that this is the show which was scheduled to have Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries for the title, only for them to switch it up, leading to Nigel McGuinness vs Tyler Black in a one hour draw that only went 48 minutes amidst much controversy about the booking. If you're still interested, here's the review...

Brent Albright vs Rhett Titus is set up by a pretty bad show opening backstage segment also involving the not exactly famed acting of Grizzley Redwood and Alex Payne. The match itself is an acceptable opener, the result is never in doubt but the match is certainly not a squash, and Titus is developing into a guy capable of having a watchable competitive match. Albright wins with the half nelson suplex out of nowhere.

Four Corner Survival time for match 2. I wasn't desperate to see Virginia-area guys Sean Denny and Damien Wayne again, but I guess they were booked for the weekend, and their participation is solid. Delirious and Necro Butcher round the match out. Necro goes straight after Delirious around ringside, so Denny and Wayne get some ring time to themselves early on, and of course no-one is watching because Delirious and Necro are the ROH mainstays with the storyline going. Then, they switch round with Denny and Wayne going to the floor and Delirious and Necro moving into the ring.

Neither pair really interact much bar Necro blasting Denny with some punches, and the finish where Wayne takes Necro out for a bit by slingshotting himself over the ropes into a legdrop on the floor (which looks like it hurts Damien Wayne's ass mostly), and Delirious nails Denny with a Cobra Clutch suplex-Panic Attack-Shadows Over Hell combo for the pin. More watchable action.

The comes Austin Aries's explanation for turning on Tyler Black (fickle fans, etc) and the announcement he didn't want to main event a B show and would take his title shot when he wants. The promo is pretty good but not great, at least he takes time to punch Kyle Durden before he finishes. Of course, Tyler then comes out and volunteers himself for the title shot, which draws Jimmy Jacobs out for a 2-on-1 beatdown of Tyler. This is actually playing out fine, but somehow this then leads to...

Austin Aries vs Jimmy Jacobs vs Jay Briscoe in a three-way match, which is just odd. I'm tired of anything resembling handicap matches (must be all the WWE I watch...) and three-ways that basically play out as 2-on-1 are just as bad, if not worse. The action isn't dreadful, I guess. Briscoe actually gets the win, as Jacobs accidentally spears Aries and then gets rolled up for three. Because Jacobs and Aries aren't allowed to trust each other, either, see. This does nothing to help Aries or Jacobs look threatening to Tyler, who at this point is still looking as threatening to the main event level as anyone.

After everyone leaves from that match, ROH owner Cary gets Bobby Cruise to announce that due to the refusal of Aries to take his title shot and Black's non-title victory the previous night in Manassas, it will be Nigel vs Tyler for the World Title in the main event. The crowd likes that. The crowd also likes it when Prince Nana jumps into the ring, even though he just gets escorted out.

The road to the Caged Collision PPV continues as The American Wolves face Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens in a Lumberjack Strap match. Good filler match in the feud here. The usual problem with Lumberjack matches is that the match suffers due to bad working of any Lumberjack spots, but they do well to avoid that pitfall here. The other problem going in is that the Strong and Stevens team have only had a half hearted push and have been mixed with Brent Albright, when they actually look pretty damned good as a team. Stevens looks much better for the return of his mohawk. I know that sounds silly, but image is everything. The Wolves continue to get better as a team too, Eddie Edwards pins Stevens after a Larry Sweeney distraction allows Edwards to blast him in the head with a chair after Strong dived onto the mass of lumberjacks when they were whipping Davey.

Chris Escobar vs Grizzley Redwood features a couple of minutes of Grizzley's comedy spots, Escobar showing not a lot of anything, and then Bison Smith comes in from the crowd and destroys them both. I'll take that as a finish, thanks.

Bryan Danielson vs Jerry Lynn is your semi-main event, and a rematch from ASEIV conveniently reviewed by DDD directly above. Clips of that match air first, which looks great... funny how I really don't remember it at all. Maybe I'll rewatch it later. This match is a bit more Lynn-style than Danielson-style if you get that, the pace is good, and the action is crisp once again. This time round, Lynn gets the win after managing to not tap to the triangle choke or Cattle Mutilation, then pinning Danielson with a tornado DDT, clothesline, cradle piledriver combo for a convincing three count.

ROH World Title match: Nigel McGuinness vs Tyler Black

Right, where to begin... the crowd are very pro-Tyler and the fairly impromptu nature of the match gives them that potential title change feeling. There's certainly a major match atmosphere. They hit the floor almost immediately, with Nigel jumping Tyler at the bell and controlling to start, then attempting to walk out when Tyler turns the tables. Bryan Danielson comes out into the aisleway and puts a stop to that around the 6:00 mark, and Nigel heads back into the ring.

Usual Nigel title match stylings unfold from there, with a feeling out process, and Nigel working over Tyler's arm, which he does with more vigour and variation than usual. At 21:00, Nigel throws Tyler over the top rope and he crashes over the timekeepers table and across the chairs there, doesn't get up, and the referees eventually start to walk Tyler out. Nigel gets on the mic saying that's it, the match is over, and Tyler about-turns and things kick up a notch around 24:00. Then, at 29:00, just as Tyler is going for the Phoenix Splash, Jimmy Jacobs distracts the referee, and Austin Aries shoves Tyler to the floor and nails him with a brainbuster on the floor.

Mayhem then ensues as Jay Briscoe attacks Jacobs then Aries, Jerry Lynn runs in and nails Nigel with the cradle piledriver, the American Wolves jump Briscoe and Lynn, bringing out Albright, Strong and Stevens to attack them. As everyone brawls with everyone, Danielson comes out and orders everyone to the back, as this isn't what a ROH Title match should be about, only for Jacobs to jump him from the mass brawl. More dives follow, concluding with Danielson diving on everyone in the crowd. There's then an announcement that Todd Sinclair and Cary have agreed the match MUST CONTINUE~!

It's 34:00 gone by this point, and the rollercoaster ride booking at least then gives Tyler and Nigel the spotlight at the end. Lariats, London Dungeons, God's Last Gift, kicks to the head, and some highflying from Tyler and plenty of other potential conclusions come and go. Tyler misses a Phoenix Splash right on the 45:00 mark, which would have been a tremendous ending to a 45 minute draw. The actual end of the match comes when Nigel eats the turnbuckle powerbomb-kick to the face combo that polished him off the night before, but the bell rings at about 48:15 before Tyler makes the cover. The crowd is understandably annoyed, the announcement merely states "the time limit has expired" without referencing 60 minutes, and when Tyler pleads for five more minutes, Nigel teases accepting before bailing out. Nigel briefly resurfaces on commentary, which is unintentionally hilarious due to the post-produced nature of the the commentary.

This is actually a decent match for one of it's length. The use of booking to help fill the time can work well, and in fact I'd say it mostly does, though the actual finish is head scratching, as there's no sign of what it's aiming to achieve. Certainly, if this had been the night Tyler won the title, the rollercoaster ride would have been fitting and kept the storytelling options for the beginning of Tyler's reign wide open.

Overall, Injustice II is a watchable show that highlights how lethargic Full Circle was the night before. That said, the first few shows of the year are usually largely forgotten by the end of the year, and I can't see this one being much different. Thumbs in the middle.

Toronto results from the ROH forum...

Night 1 -



The report into night 1 on PWinsider has quite a different opinion on some of the matches.

Night 2 -

Motor City Madness 2009 - Detroit, MI 30.01.09

Two of the pre-show matches are on the disc as bonuses, Kenny King beats Alex 'Sugarfoot' Payne in about five minutes in what was nothing more than the warm-up match it appears, and Irish Airborne vs Grizzley Redwood and Andy 'Right Leg' Ridge barely even begins before Bison Smith destroys all four men. Total DVD time allocated to bonus matches: less than 8 minutes. Pointless.

Bryan Danielson vs Rhett Titus gets us going properly. A recent DDD review here brought up a point along the lines of such a match not really offering the younger wrestler a chance to prove themselves, as someone like Danielson could carry a broom to a good match. Well, if as a young wrestler you're going to move up the card, you're bound to end up facing better wrestlers, and it has to help you if management know you're not going to be the weak link in a more major match.

Anyway, this is A LOT of fun. Lenny Leonard gets bonus points for mentioning very early on that Danielson lost both his matches on the ROH's opening weekend of 2009, and therefore has something of a point to prove, while it may provide 'Addicted To Love' with an opportunity. Early going is more about Titus doing his usual schtick, and the crowd dying for Danielson to indulge them with a 'Sexy Party'. Titus turns an armbar into something rather disgusting, while Danielson finds cool ways to stretch the parts of Titus that Titus really doesn't want stretched. Much like his match with Brent Albright on the previous show, Titus gets his fair share of time in control of the bout, which is certainly not a squash. That said, there's no way Danielson is losing, and eventually Titus annoys him to the point he indulges the crowd in a Sexy Party en route to a victory with the elbows into Cattle Mutilation. Good stuff from Titus here in what was a really enjoyable opener.

Rather worryingly for the top of the card, Austin Aries is next out of the gate. He interrupts Silas Young's entrance to cut a good promo ending in "if you get injured here, I'll take good care of your wife and kid for you" which causes Silas to completely snap in the early going, though once he regains control, Aries dominates most of what is a solid undercard encounter, scoring the victory with the brainbuster into the Last Chancery.

Necro Butcher vs Brodie Lee is punches, kicks, headbutts, then a double countout, then a 3-on-1 beatdown when Jimmy Jacobs helps Brodie then Delirious comes and joins in too. So we continue...

Jimmy Jacobs and Delirious vs Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens follows straight on from that. The southern tag formula is followed to the letter here, the Age of the Fall team begging off early, getting beaten up for a bit, then taking control before falling in the end when Erick Stevens pins Delirious after a big boot/powerbomb combo. After a good victory in Four Corner Survival the previous show, Delirious looks weak here cowering in the early going then being scared of Jimmy freaking Jacobs after taking the fall. Strong and Stevens take some momentum into Caged Collision. Not much heat for the main part of this match, which wasn't particularly good to be honest.

Claudio Castagnoli vs Brent Albright - At the point of watching this match, I'd already seen two bouts between them on the TV show, neither of which was anything special. This match is longer, and worse for it. It starts out okay, with chain wrestling between the men who once upon a time looked like future headliners, say during their title shots vs Takeshi Morishima in consecutive nights in August 2007. Then, Albright starts taking bumps from the ring to the floor that get funnier every time. The one where he almost decapitates himself on the ropes is a highlight, along with his miserable attempt to take a DDT on the ring apron.

We head towards the relief that is the end when Larry Sweeney comes out on the stage to watch, and Albright is almost distracted, but manages to counter Claudio's attempt at a pop-up European Uppercut into the Crowbar. For no reason I can decipher, he refuses to let go when Claudio gets to the ropes, and is DQed even though Claudio taps just before the five count. That controversy is the motivation behind their TV feud. Not exactly an encouraging sign...

Jerry Lynn vs Tyler Black features two guys without a loss between them in 2009 despite their opposition being Austin Aries, Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. Not an easy match to predict an outcome, then, even without anything on the line. The match starts out quite slowly, and with two fan favourites, the crowd aren't sure who to cheer for. Then the pace starts to pick up, and the crowd get into the action. Old man Lynn shows Brent Albright how to take a DDT on the ring apron. Both guys get to their big moves as they hit top gear - an Air Raid Crash from Lynn springs to mind - and the crowd are rabid. "One minute remaining in the 20 minute time limit, less than one minute." The crowd deflates, both guys try to find something out of desparation, but the crowd are chanting "five more minutes" even before the final bell rings. Excellent athletic match to reignite the crowd after three iffy bouts.

Nigel McGuinness vs Jay Briscoe - non title - Nigel has his right arm taped here. It's noticable that they've stopped saying how Nigel is getting stronger with every match as champion. Jay is pissed about not getting a title shot, according to a promo earlier on, and is all fisticuffs and fire to start, but then when Nigel takes control Jay gets his arm picked apart, just like pretty much all Nigel's opponents. When Nigel finally hits a lariat, using his untaped left arm, he comes up struggling with that arm too. Jay thinks he's going to get the win with the Jay Driller, but the foot is on the ropes and Nigel hits the jawbreaker for the three quickly afterwards. He doesn't look like a winner massaging his taped arm afterwards, though. Nigel is clearly fucked. The match was alright.

Kevin Steen and El Generico vs The American Wolves - ROH World Tag Team Title Match

A worthy, almost 20 minute main event. The first half is mostly built around Steen and Richards trying to out-dick each other, which is proven to entertain. The Wolves get better as a team, with Richards doing the stuff you notice and Edwards going about his business in the background. Generico gets to take the Wolves beatdown, as you'd expect, before Steen flies out of the blocks when he takes the hot tag. Things really build nicely, though the last minute is a bit of a letdown as Sweeney's attempt to interfere is stopped by a stumbling, bumbling Brent Albright, and then the Wolves misfire with Sweeney's boot and Edwards gets nailed with it for the pin. Real good stuff here though, in a match that's really a precursor to these teams' feud.

The DVD ends with Jerry Lynn cutting a short promo to "throw out there" the idea of a no time limit match with Tyler. Yes please.

There's a big chunk of midcard dross that's very skippable, but overall the opening match, Aries' stuff in match 2, Tyler and Lynn's blinder and the main event make Motor City Madness 2009 a thumbs up show from me. Thankfully, it's time for the PPV and the end (finally) of the Albright/Sweeney feud next.

Seven months into 2009, I finally finish 2008's shows....

Final Battle 2008 – 27/12/08

Kenny Omega vs. Claudio Castagnoli – a decent opening match, which naturally poor Claudio loses. Then again, it’s the only way his 2008 could have ended really. Omega wins with a small package. The fans seem to like Omega, so 2009 could be a good year for him. Claudio on the other hand, went from being a potential headliner to losing on the opening match of the card. To an extent, 2009 can only be an improvement for him.

Chris Hero vs. Necro Butcher vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Rhett Titus – an ok four corner survival. Chris Hero’s another guy who should have moved up to potential headliner status in 2008, and he finds himself making up the numbers in a filler match. Not much else happens, apart from Necro doing a fairly bad hurricarana from the apron. Lynn pins Hero with the Cradle Piledriver.

Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico – I noticed a couple of boils on Jacobs back – he on the gas? Anyway, this was a very good tag match. I don’t have a lot of time for Steen, but his selling of the knee is very very good. Once again there’s some shenanigans with Delirious & Daizee Haze, which leads to Steen hitting the Package Piledriver for the champs to retain. After the match Jacobs complains the AOTF is going to shit.

Roderick Strong, Erik Stevens & Brent Albright vs. Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards & Go Shiozaki – New York Street Fight – Strong wrestles this match in a dreadful looking pair of tracksuit trousers, which pretty much sums up his year. Predictably the American Wolves music features a wolf howling. The amount of boils on Edwards back suggest he’s been on those protein shakes. A dull brawl which never gets out of first gear, mainly due to the fact that no-one remotely cares about this feud whatsoever. Mercifully it will come to an end at the January PPV. Shiozaki taps to the Crowbar giving the faces the win. Afterwards AW walk out on Go, so the crowd can give him a decent send-off as he heads back to Japan.

Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. The Briscoe Brothers – a very good tag team match – probably the best Briscoes match I’ve seen in 2008. The Kensuke Office pair work Mark’s knackered knee for most the match, and there’s an awesome sequence at the end where Nakajima peppers him with superkicks – proper superkicks, not the shitty kind that virtually every indie wrestler uses. The brothers prevail however, when Jay hits the Driller on Katsuhiko for the win. Afterwards the American Wolves run in and work over Mark’s knee. See you in the summer kid. Albright then runs out and asks Cary Silkin for a Cage Match against S’n’S. Silkin says “I like Jerry Lynn!” Albright interprets this as a yes.

Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries – very good match indeed between these two. Aries seems narked about the fan support Tyler gets, and plays the heel during the match, which he does very well – almost enough to make you forget those awful “grinning” segments. Black has been ROH’s only breakout star in 2008, and he enters another sterling performance here. Too bad that Gabe got fired – apparently he was scheduled to win the ROH belt at this show. Instead, he falls to the 450 splash and Aries gets the win. I’d typed out the words “his time will come though”, but then with Pearce and Silkin at the helm, maybe that sentence needs to be qualified with a “surely”.

After the match Jacobs berates Tyler and gives him a beating, only for Aries to come back out and...and hits Tyler with a chair. Both men then dish out some punishment to Tyler. Be interesting to see how they explain the Aries/ Jacobs alliance.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Naomichi Marufuji – Marufuji is a bit like Brian Danielson in the sense that even when he’s working at half steam, he still gives you a better match than most guys could going all out. It’s a good match, but no-one believes the belt is going to change hands, and at times the match has an exhibition feel. Still, an entertaining match, which McGuinness wins after about 18 minutes with the Jawbreaker.

Brian Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima – to extent this match is a throwback to the very first Fight Without Honor. Granted, they do some stuff with the chain - but still, it’s very much a Lo-Ki/ Samoa Joe affair of two men battering each other senseless. Morishima reminds me a lot of Vader, in the sense that if it looks like hurts, it probably does. Danielson gets busted open early on, but fights back to eventually win with Cattle Mutilation. That hair and beard combo look dreadful though.

Overall – in a perverse world, ROH ends one of its most difficult years critically with of the best in-ring shows in its history. However, they did have the help of four Japanese fly-ins. When they put on a show like this with all home grown talent, then we will now they’ve turned the corner.

A pretty fair review of the show there DDD. It was nice to see ROH ending the year resembling something good and hot and with a big crowd. The line about Cary saying "I like Jerry Lynn!" almost made me fall off my chair, so thanks for that

EDITED to add some news...

As the rat said at the end of the first Turtles movie, "I cracked a funny!"

The move to Monday's isn't a bad idea - presumably they think they can bootstrap a few viewers from either side of Raw? Can't hurt to give it a shot.

While I'm making references to films, I saw a photo of Bret Hart on the main page - he looks like the evil painting in Ghostbusters 2!!!

Due to a brisk bout with insomnia, and having finally finished watching 2008's shows, here my top 20 matches of 2008. I stand by the order of the top 5, but arrange the rest to suit to taste....

1) Brian Danielson vs. Tyler Black – New Horizons, 26/7/08
2) Adam Pearce vs. Brent Albright – DBD 6, 2/8/08
3) Nigel McGuinness vs. Brian Danielson – 6AS, 23/2/08
4) Brian Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli – Northern Navigation, 25/7/08
5) Brian Danielson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima – GBH 7, 20/9/08

And the rest...


6) KENTA & Kota Ibushi vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Katsuhiko Nakajima - Tokyo Summit, 13/9/08
7) Erik Stevens vs. Brian Danielson – Transform, 12/1/08
8) Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries & Jay Briscoe – A New Level, 10/5/08
9) Jimmy Jacobs vs. Austin Aries – Rising Above 2008, 22/11/08
10) Erik Stevens vs. Roderick Strong – Respect Is Earned 2, 7/6/08
11) El Generico vs. Kota Ibushi – Return Engagement, 19/4/08
12) Roderick Strong vs. Kensuke Sasaki – Tokyo Summit, 14/9/08
13) Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong – Battle of the Best, 13/9/08
14) Briscoe Brothers vs. Murder City Machine Guns – Return Engagement, 19/4/09
15) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Masato Yoshino & Ryo Saito – Dragon Gate Challenge 2, 28/3/08
16) Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. BxB Hulk & Shingo – Supercard of Honor 3, 29/3/08
17) Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs vs. The Briscoe Brothers – Supercard of Honor 3, 29/3/08
18) Brian Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima – Final Battle 2008, 27/12/08
19) Nigel McGuinness vs. Brian Danielson – Rising Above 2008, 22/11/08
20) Brent Albright & Roderick Strong vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima – ASE 4, 26/12/08

A few quick thoughts looking over the list - once again Brian Danielson was the main man in ROH in 2008. Considering it was his potentially his last full year in the company he wasn't booked in any major programs, save the abortion of a feud with Castagnoli. The absence of McGuinness from much of the list is telling, given his billing at #2 in the PS 50. The fact is that unlike Danielson, McGuinness isn't able to carry inferior opponents, and too many of his matches were over-long formula affairs. The miracle that was Adam Pearce vs Brent Albright almost got to number one, but in the end wasn't quite as good as Danielson vs Black. I think I read somewhere that one of Pearce's aims was to cut down on flyin's in favour of home grown talent. Looking at the above list, such a policy would seem to be commerical and aesthetic suicide...

Full Circle – 16/1/09

Damien Wayne & Chris Escobar vs. Brent Albright & Erik Stevens – ROH begins the year in typically spectacular fashion, with local job boys Wayne and Escobar taking on Stevens and Albright. Stevens must be reflecting that on ROH’s first show of 2008, he had a scorching singles match with Austin Aries which portended big things, and now he finds himself stuck in a waste of time tag team with Albright. Albright pins Escobar with the Half Nelson Suplex.

Sean Denny vs. Rhett Titus – it was a shade surreal to see Denney come to the ring wearing a Newcastle United shirt. He’s got potential, but needs at least another year of polish on the basis of this match. Titus does his usual opening match comedy act. Just when you think things can’t get any worse, Bison Smith runs in. Jesus, ROH needs this fool like a hole in the head.

Delirious vs. Necro Butcher – an ok match, nothing special. For the third straight match Delirious succumbs to the distraction of Daizee Haze and gets hit with the Tiger Driver as a result. I love the interaction between Delirious and Jimmy Jacobs, the abuser and the abused.

Jay Briscoe & Roderick Strong vs. American Wolves – bit of a disappointing match. Richards looks good as usual, but the match comes across as four singles guys trying to have a tag match. Edwards just doesn’t do it for me, and a couple of times he’s caught out of position and looks a touch lost. Thank God for him sake he’s got Richards to carry him. Remember back in 2005 when Roderick Strong looked like he was going to be the future of the business? At the moment he comes across as one of Pirandello’s characters. Maybe after Caged Collision they’ll give him something to do. The Wolves win after around 13 minutes when Sweeney whacks Briscoe with his boot.

Austin Aries vs. Jerry Lynn – Aries comes out with some new music and a new look, thus eschewing ROH’s traditional policy when they present a heel turn by sending the guy out with the same music, but played at ½ speed. Despite this promising start, it’s quickly apparent that Aries is going to play a comedy heel character, with comic facial expressions and muchos talking to the crowd (“look Adam, I’m interacting”). It doesn’t look promising. Lynn enters his usual dependable performance, and pins Aries with a small package.

Brian Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs – Danielson’s haircut is so dreadful it’s unreal. He looks like a caricature of a 1970’s footballer. In fact, I’m not quite sure what Danielson’s character is supposed to be at the moment. He seems to start every match sort of larking about, before steeping up a gear at some point just to prove he’s still the best wrestler in the company by a mile. Although there’s some nice psychology behind his knee injury, I simply don’t buy it on the grounds that Danielson never blows a springboard, unlike say CM Punk, who regularly comes tumbling off the top rope. Still, it sets up a decent match. The thing that was very noticeable in this one was Jacobs heel character – after watching Aries clowning in the previous match I gained new appreciation for it. In a mild upset Jacobs gets the win with a small package, in what was, despite all the pontificating above, a good match.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Tyler Black – having lost the #1 contenders match at Final Battle, Black gets a non title match with Nigel McGuinness?? Remind to search the old newswires to see how they justified that one. Again, Prazak insists that unlike previous champions McGuinness has gotten stronger throughout his reign, in spite of the massive bandage on McGuinness right bicep. This turns out to be a cracking little match. Watching it I thought back to all those dull 25 minute matches Nigel had during 2008 – if he’d have trimmed them by five-ten minutes, then the results might have been something like this. Black looks good during this one, although he needs to drop that stupid spot where he turns his back on his opponent so he can stamp the mat a few times. Black hits the turnbuckle powerbomb and the superkick for the win – which was surprisingly coming in the fashion it did, though I suspect many assumed that Black was going over as soon as the words “non title” were uttered.

Overall – somewhat of a pattern seems to have emerged with the Pearce booked shows – largely disposal undercards that rely on the final two/ three matches to try and salvage the show. One of the great things about ROH used to be how sometimes the opening match or a lower card match could steal the show. Nothing lasts forever I guess.

i have been trying to catch up with the HDnet show anyone know of a good place i could watch it?

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ROHBra...;view=playlists

I know I haven't reviewed Caged Collison yet, but that one's going to require an essay and I have bite size thoughts to offer on the show after...

Proving Ground 2009: Night One - Coral Springs, FL - 6/2/09

ROH tries to run Florida without a Wrestlemania weekend to piggyback... Delayed once from the previous October, the draw here isn't huge but isn't embarrassing either, and the crowd are into everything. The Proving Ground gimmick means some new talent given a chance to shine. That's the theory, anyway...

First out of the gate, Brad Attitude's victory over Shawn Osborne isn't like a standard ROH match at all. Both guys are FIP regulars, have WWE worthy physiques, and work a match style similar to many WWE developmental graduates. Neither man appears particularly charismatic, but the work is certainly solid. Good opener, says I.

I really don't like Sal Rinauro, which means seeing Bison Smith destroy him in 2 minutes was something I could get a kick out of. Bison wins with the Claw Slam, not using the Bisontennial (Styles Clash) here.

Kenny King, Rhett Titus and Chasyn Rance vs Roderick Strong, Erick Stevens and Bobby Dempsey is where the proper ROH action kicks in. King and Titus are working quite well as a team, and Chasyn Rance isn't the worst YRR guy to round the team off. Strong and Stevens have the home state support, but this is only undercard shenanigans, and so it's Big Bad Bobby who scores the win with a Death Valley Driver on Rance. Watchable action.

Austin Aries vs The Necro Butcher doesn't have a lot of storyline progression relevence. Aries gets to continue bedding down his new character, and Necro is once again cost a match by a distraction from Jimmy Jacobs (and a chairshot from Delirious), which Aries follows with the brainbuster for three. Blah.

Following on, but not segueing straight from the previous match, is Jimmy Jacobs and Delirious vs Bryan Danielson and Jerry Lynn. A good, solid twenty minuter, that could have been better if the Jacobs/Delirious team weren't so standard in their southern style beatdowns when they isolate someone. Jacobs is the one guilty of the AOTF team's downfall this time round, as he accidentally spears Delirious and then taps out to Cattle Mutilation, giving Danielson a measure of retribution after his singles loss to Jacobs the previous month. Delirious then finds the courage to have a go at Jacobs afterwards, but of course gets talked round...

Nigel McGuinness vs Brent Albright is the first of two non-title matches on the show due to the Proving Ground gimmick. Who wants to see Albright get title shots, anyway? The start of the match is Albright's dream, as he gets to show his technical proficiency going hold for hold with the champ. Which... isn't very exciting. Both guys have arm submissions to work towards, so we get plenty of arm work, but it's not all from Nigel, which is a bit different at least. Credit where it's due, as things become better as they pick up the pace towards the end, and Albright looks like he might get a submission victory with the Crowbar (which the crowd is ready for), then Nigel sneaks a rollup with a handful of tights for a three count. Ha ha, in your face Albright. Not a match to go out of your way to see, but alright.

Kevin Steen and El Generico vs The Dark City Fight Club is your second non-title match. At the point of seeing this, I'd already seen a few DCFC squash victories on the TV show, but I've not seen any of their matches in FIP where we are informed they are undefeated. From this match, I'd say they seem worthy of a place on the card, and their power approach brings variety to the tag division. Unusually, it's Steen who gets isolated from his team, not Generico, but the DCFC are larger than him so it works. The final five minutes or so when Generico gets the hot tag are pretty damned fine, though they leave room for more from future matches. Steen and Generico score the win with the package piledriver/brainbuster combo.

Davey Richards vs Tyler Black is your main event. Yes, really. A chance for them to prove themselves, see? In the early going, some of my main problems with Davey were still obvious. I just don't get the fluctuations in character, from kicking fans hands away, to posing on the ring barricade just during his entrance, then being all badass one minute and then the next trying to kiss Tyler's feet to create a chance to take a cheap shot. Tyler on the other hand has his role down just fine, and his selling as Davey works his midsection is really good.

As the pace picks up, there's one or two bits where they don't *quite* gel. They hit full pace some way before the end, though, with some really nice exchanges. Larry Sweeney, who is dressed shambolically and just looks dreadful out there, thankfully is banished to the back before they get to the hot final stretch. Davey manages to avoid God's Last Gift and counter the Phoenix Splash with knees to Tyler's hurt midsection, but in the end falls to the turnbuckle powerbomb - superkick combo as Tyler wins in about 18 minutes. Certainly the right result, I'd say.

Overall, Proving Ground : Night 1 is a watchable show with a hot crowd, though the nature of the Proving Ground show means there's no big marquee match. Given their chance, Davey and Tyler have a good main event, the best match on the show, but initial reports from the weekend definitely overrated the match. Not a huge surprise, with it being a new market, really. Thumbs in the middle for the show - DVD completists will enjoy, otherwise there's better out there to choose from...