Firstly, this is an actual quote taken from today on the ROH messgaeboard:



You gotta be shittin' me.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. The GBH card looks quite, in spite of the complete rick made in booking Misawa. I accept that Gabe's hands might have been tied on this one, but seeing two NOAH exhibition matches doesn't really do a lot for me. Fortunartly there's enough on the cards to make up for. CC vs Marifuchi may well be the match of the weekend, Vulture Squad vs Age of Fall should be good, and the bonus match of Danielson vs Morishima is a nice addition. On the negative side, Danielson and Aries have already met far too many times in ROH, the last thing they needed was a three match series. It should also be noted that this weekend will be Kevin Steen's last weekend in ROH for a while, as I was reading somewhere (possibly PWG message board?) that he's taking some time off from wrestling due to injuries and/or the fact that his wife is having a baby in early 2008.

Also announced today, there's going to be a Trios Tourney 2007. Great. So we still don't get another RRC (presumably because it wasn't Gabe's idea?), but the Trios Tournament, which should have been allowed to peacefully die after Tag Wars 2K6, is once again flooged back into some resemblance of life. I seem to remember the whole genisis of the TT in 2005 being "let's have a Trios Tourney, it'll be great." Ironically enough with all the factions they have in ROH at the moment, they do have a semblance of justification for this one.

Other thoughts: is this the first year in terms of booking quality that ROH hasn't made progress? 2004 was better than 2003, 05 better than 04, and so on, but I'm not sure 2007 has topped 2006 in terms of storylines and matches. Indded, most will argue that ROH has made huge strides this year - PPV/ Japan etc. But I'm not so sure.

Maybe it was Yellow Michinoku Ranger vs. "Diehard" Eddie Edwards I was thinking of?

It does seem odd that Misawa has presumably demanded two NOAH exhibition matches, although he could be trying to get ROH's faithful to bump up the NOAH ratings on that Fight Network (but isn't that just Canada?) It would have been cool seeing the NOAH guys take on ROH guys, but those cards look decent too.

Talking of ROH's messageboard, Gabe admitted a love for rather excellent metal band Neurosis a while back. Cue two hundred responses along the line of "well, I've never heard them, but if you like them they must be amazing".

Re: Danielson and Aries, it could be to reintroduce Aries to ROH, giving him three matches with their top guy. Gets the TNA stigma off him (I'm guessing here) and puts him back at the top of the tree. He could be ideal to feud with Sweet and Sour Inc. for a bit, I don't know. Just good to have him back.

Hmmm, could be. I'm not sure Aries has the "stench of TNA" on him, but a program with Hero would be well worth watching.

Indeed, the GBH cards are looking good, and I havn't thought that too often so far as ROH has been concerned in the past 6 months. Be interesting to see if old man Misawa phones it in or not.

I love Misawa's 90s stuff so much that I'm a bit conflicted about seeing him here. I want him to do well but he's old and tired and not the guy he was. Danielson can work well with pretty much anyone, so it'd have been great to see both of them go at it, but we take what we can get.

I've always had a sneaky love for Hero, even when he was attracting mockery for his long dull matches with CM Punk and others. Fantastic heel too.

I'd definitely love to see Aries work with Hero. I enjoyed the Aries/Strong vs. Kings of Wrestling feud.

I think the GBH cards do look pretty, about as good as it can get with the current roster. However, I still disagree with Misawa facing NOAH guys. It was probably his decision though so it's understandable in that case.

I think the whole point of the NOAH vs. NOAH matches was 2 give the feel of a "Budokan main even match"!

Translation : Gabe trying to make the best of a bad job.

I think some of Hero's early stuff was pretty good. The Tables and Ladders match still holds up. The main problem Hero had back then ws that he was about 2 stone overweight as I recall.

at the end of november/start of december theyre doing a trios tournament

3 trios named are

The Vulture squad
The No Remorse Core
The Age Of A Fall

with 3 more trios to be named

Although I've never really liked the Trios Tournament I've got to admit that it does looks quite tempting now the 'faction wars' have been established.

I think they might add a Dragon Gate Trio to the list!

ROH Newswire spoils GBH Night 1:

[spoiler]The winner of Danielson vs. Aries is meant to be facing Morishima. The latest newswire now advertises Morishima vs. Danielson for night 2, so it looks like Danielson is winning the Best of 3 Series.[/spoiler]

I hope so. They havn't booked any Dragon Gate guys for a while, do they still have a working relationship with them?

That's wrong. It was supposed to be the winner of Danielson vs Aries on night 1 gets a title shot on night 2, with the loser facing Morishima. With Nigel out, the title shot isn't happening, so they've booked Danielson vs Morishima in a Grudge match instead. Having been at the last NYC match between the two, I expect that to be quite the match.

I'd have thought there'd be a Dragon Gate team in the trios tournament. Glory by Honor weekend is shaping up well, it's a shame Nigel's missing though. The NOAH exhibition's should be good as should Aries/Danielson and Danielson/Morishima.

Ahh right, thanks for clearing that up. Yeah, it should be a cracker.

Any idea what will happen with Aries on night 2 now?

Marufuji/Claudio is gonna be off the charts really looking forward to that, overall the cards look great especially Night 2, on paper it looks every bit as good as last years.

It appears Aries role on night 2 will be depending on what happens tonight, as he doesn't have a confirmed match signed and night 1 is due to start in the next hour, I think.

Glory By Honor 6 Night One Results

[spoiler2]Preshow

1) Alex Payne defeats Kyle Durdin with a fisherman suplex.

2) Shane Hagadorn defeats Rhett Titus holding the ropes on a sunset flip reversal. Botchy but OK.


Main Show

1) Kevin Steen & El Generico defeats Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer with a Swanton Bomb on Whitmer. Hangm3n attack afterwards.

2) Claudio Castagnoli defeats Hallowicked with a European Uppercut in a good match. Crowd was on fire. Larry Sweeney offers to buy out Claudio's contract, but he refuses.

3) Davey Richards defeats Delirious via submission. Great match.

4) Jay & Mark Briscoe defeat Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero to retain with a springboard doomsday on Roderick. The Age Of The Fall attack The Briscoes afterwards.

5) The Age of the Fall defeat The Vulture Squad in a great fast paced match that had the crowd on their feet with Jacobs locking Jigsaw in the guillotine choke.

~After the match the Briscoes, NRC, Delirious, Hangmen3, Steen & Generico, and Daizee Haze hit the ring for a massive brawl with a ton of dives that brought the house down.

~INTERMISSION~

6) ??

7) Austin Aries defeats Bryan Danielson to win the best of 3 #1 contenders series with a 450.

~Chris Hero comes out and demands his title shot RIGHT NOW after winning Survival of the Fittest.

8) Nigel McGuinness defeats Chris Hero to retain the gold. Hero won the match, but Nigel had his foot on the ropes and it was restarted.

9) GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa & KENTA vs. Takeshi Morishima & Naomichi Marufuji ended in a 30 minute time limit draw.

[/spoiler2]

Isn't Nigel injured?

Thats what we were all lead to believe. Apparently the fans shit all over the finish of the main event. Quite right too.

Looks ike he wrestled with just the one arm. One armed Nigel > Chris Hero, apparently.

Way to build up probably the best heel the company currently employs. I just hope it wasn't clean, as it's going to be a tough sell if they want to keep Hero at the top after a result like that.

Or I might have no idea what's going on as I've not seen any ROH since the PPV.

I think it's worth remembering it's always worth actually watching it before actually passing judgement.

Yeah, how dare they make the World Champion go over a heel.

McGuinness has one working arm at the moment. For him to go over anyone remotely cleanly, especially one of the very few guys on the roster who seems able to generate real heel heat, seems foolish. Why do you think it's a good idea for them to have a fella with one working arm defend his title in competitive matches, after Gabe's already told the world he'll be out til Christmas?

This is based on it being a competitive match, like Lee said best to reserve final judgement til I've actually seen it.

The show sounds good but the result of the main event is very odd and makes Hero look really weak and spoils a lot of the heat he's built up for himself. It would've made a lot more sense for either Gabe to have stuck to his word and not used Nigel until he was better or have Hero win cheaply (by defeating an injured champion) further building his heat and setting up a big rematch upon Nigel's return.

Glory by Honor Six Night 2 Results


[spoiler2]Results

1) Chris Hero defeats El Generico in a good opener.

2) BJ Whitmer & Brent Albright defeat Kevin Steen & Delirious when BJ hit an exploder on Steen on a steel chair.

3) Austin Aries defeats Shane Hagadorn.

~After the match, Aries gets on the mic and announces he is disbanding the Resilience to focus on winning the ROH World Championship.

~Austin Aries will challenge Nigel McGuinness for the ROH World Championship at the next PPV taping in New York.

4) Claudio Castagnoli defeats Naomichi Marufuji.

5) The Age of the Fall vs The Briscoes goes about one minute, double DQ.

6) Tyler Black defeats Alex Payne.

~After the match The Briscoes run off Black and say they will defend the titles later tonight in a street fight.

7) Takeshi Morishima defeats Bryan Danielson by DQ when Danielson repeatedly curbstomps Morishima's NUTS.

~After the match Nigel comes out and gets kicked in the arm. Place goes crazy for Dragon.

8) The No Remorse Corp defeat The Vulture Squad when Evans taps to a SICK Roderick Strong Boston Crab.

~Larry Sweeney and Chris Hero came to the ring and announced that at the 12/29 PPV taping it would be Hero vs. Castagnoli. Sweeney said that it would if Castagnoli didn't win, he would be forced to leave Ring of Honor. Hero said earlier it was all fun and games but he's not happy because he should be the ROH champion because last night he made Nigel McGuinness tap out. He said ROH isn't fair because not only is he not champion but he's not even the top contender. He started beating on Bobby Dempsey out of frustration. The crowd chanted for Bobby so Hero kept beating him. Hero said that Austin Aries is supposedly the top contender, but he used to be a big deal in 2005. Compared to Hero, Aries is nothing and was the worst ROH champion of all time. Aries came out and said that Hero may have made Nigel tap out last night, but he was ROH champion. He said he earned his shot at the ROH title and he didn't have a real match tonight, so he challenges him. Larry Sweeney steps in and says if Hero wins, he gets Aries' title shot. Aries said he knew that was coming, so when he beats Hero, Sweeney has to agree to face Claudio Castagnoli at Final Battle on 12/30. The match starts.

9) Austin Aries defeats Chris Hero via submission.

10) Mitsuharu Misawa defeats KENTA to retain the GHC Championship with an Emerald Frosion in what was described as an awesome, awesome match.

11) Jay & Mark Briscoe defeat The Age Of The Fall to successfully retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships as we end Glory By Honor weekend.[/spoiler2]

That show sounds great, much better than night 1.

[spoiler2]Hero/Aries is a dream match of mine so I can't wait to see that, shame Hero lost, AGAIN, though. Briscoes/Age of the Fall should be awesome as well.[/spoiler2]

Nicolas Cage is backstage at the Ring of Honor event in New York City, researching his lead role for upcoming independent feature film "The Wrestler."

Bizarre!!

The show itself looks like a good 'un. It's been a strange year for ROH. They've put on some outstanding shows and matches, but havn't been as consistently good as they have in previous years. That said, for me they're by far and away the most watchable wrestling promotion in the States, and the only one I make a consistent effort to follow/ watch. Dreadful fans though - the logical outcome of the internet's influence on wrestling

From the Nov 5th Newswire:

was about to post that there ohwell never mind hope no remorse win it personally

I get the feeling the Colourless Muscle Boys (aka Hangman 3) will win it. Still, the rejigged format looks interesting. I always been a huge critic of the Trios Tourney, based on its crappy conception etc, but wouldn't mind seeing it in this format on a regular basis.

how the fuck is adam pearce colorless?

i reckon aotf will win it just to put them over more

Pearce is terrible! I love the way his wikipedia entry proclaims he is "one of the most hated wrestlers on the independent circuit." My ass. I had high hopes for him when he came to ROH, as I really enjoyed his feud in PWG with Frankie Kazarian. But he just bores the arse off me with his "look at me! I'm an old school heel. You know, like in Memphis" schtick. That said, he can probably cut a better promo than either Whitmer and Albright - but then so could my Mum I suspect

Review - Final Battle 2006 - 23/12/06


El Generico vs. Davey Richards vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jimmy Rave - this 4CS got off to a slow start, but picked up considerably towards the end. Some great exchanges between Generico and Richards towards the end. The finish is well thought out too - cowardly heel Jimmy Rave hangs around on the outside for an age before nipping in and stealing the victory with the Heel Hook on Generico. Afterwards McGuiness runs in and there’s a bit of argy- bargy between him and Rave, as you would expect.

Adam Pearce vs. Ricky Reyes - great, another waste of time Adam Pearce segment/ match. Julius Smokes calls Pearce “Repo Man”, so presumably now in all Adam Pearce matches well have him flailing around in anger as the crowd chant “Repo Man” at him. Great. A short forgettable match ends when Pearce hits Reyes with brass knucks for the 1-2-3. Afterwards Pearce and Hagadorn give Smokes a spike piledriver. “My God, the odds are being stacked against Homicide even zzzzzzzzzz.

Jimmy Jacobs & Brent Albright vs. B.J. Whitmer & Colt Cabana - disappointing tag match-up - Albright getting heat on Whitmer is like watching paint dry. The finish is pretty spectacular though - out of no-where Albright gives Whitmer the Awesome Bomb over the top rope and through a table on the outside. He then gives Cabana five successive German suplexes, and Jacobs hits the Senton for the win. Slightly odd, but there you go.

Kings of Wrestling vs. The Briscoe Brothers - tremendous stuff, no other word for it. So good I watched it again immediately after. The last ten minutes were stuffed with excitement and big moves. And there’s probably some wanker from WWE watching this and saying “bah, its all spots, where’s the psychology? Anyway, Briscoe’s shade after a miscue between CC and Hero, leading to a simultaneous cannonball leg drop/ frog splash combo for the pin. Something I noticed during this match - when did Bryce Remsburg start refereeing in ROH?

Muchos happenings after the match. CC gets on the mike and says “so much for my WWE deal, I’m sticking around.” Larry Sweeney informs him KOW are done, and he and Hero leave. Samoa Joe then walks out, and tells CC to get the fuck out of his ring. Bit of a cheek really, considering the rather average year Joe’s had. Still. Joe then calls out NOAH again. McGuiness comes out and says he’ll relay Joes’ message to NOAH, but if they can’t send anyone else over he himself will be happy to “kick your fat arse.” Best promo of the night. We’ve had two long pieces of verbiage from Jacobs and Pearce, neither of which engaged you and neither of which had the force and believability of this. There’s a lesson there boys. Rave comes out and attacks Nigel, which after intermission leads to…..

Jimmy Rave vs. Nigel McGuiness - sorry Jimmy, you just ‘aint good enough to carry a top level program. That was my ultimate conclusion halfway through the match, and the finish reinforced this to the point that I was shaking my head when the bell rang. And this feud is really hurting McGuinness too considering the guys’ really stepped up this year, in a company that generally struggles to elevate new main eventers. Rave just doesn’t have it. Apart from his entrance music he’s changed nothing to distinguish himself from his Embassy days. Same moves, same mannerism - the disdainful state at the camera on the way to the ring etc. I burst out laughing when Lenny Leonard did the “oh my God, he kicked out of the Tower of London” routine. Newsflash Lenny, everyone kicks out of the TOL, it’s dead as a finisher. And as Rave kicks out of the TOL on the apron, and the top rope lariat, you’re not getting into it as you did when, for example, they did this routine in the Nigel vs. Delirious Pure title match earlier this year. Sorry, Rave just doesn’t have it. Rave makes Nigel tap with the “devastating” Heel Hook. At least Joe vs. McGuiness will be better.

Matt Sydal, Shingo and CIMA vs. Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Delirious - obviously an outstandingly good 6 man bout - do the Dragon Gate boys ever produce anything else? When you watch matches like this you realise how stultifyingly crap much of the tag team wrestling you watch is. (Hellooo WWE). CIMA hit’s a package power bomb on Delirious for the pin.

Homicide vs. Brian Danielson - firstly let me get the one negative out of the way. I’m settling down into my chair to enjoy this match, and I hear the dreaded words “Jimmy Bower enters the broadcast booth.” This particular Bower interpolation is classic, starting with the words “I have to convey to you what the atmosphere in this buildings’ like”; and ends with “ I can’t convey what the atmosphere in this building is like.” Stick to booking eh Gabe, as you’re incredibly bad on the mike. Anyway, the match itself is…very good. I’m not a big Homicide fan as anyone who’s read these reviews knows, but given the build-up you’d be hard pressed not to get into this match. Danielson does a magnificent job in his last match before much needed surgery to re-attach those tendons. The match starts out like a classic 30 minute Danielson title defence, until Adam Pearce and Hagadorn runs in. Oddly Sinclair calls for the DQ, then gets on the mike and says “there’s no way I’m letting this match end in a DQ.” Whatever, it’s the que for the match to step up a gear, with Danielson working over Homicide’s shoulder. Within a few minutes Danielson gets his shoulder posted, and the match is really on as both men work the injured body parts. The booking of the finish is exemplerary, as Danielson hits all his signature finishers - Cattle Mutilation, Cross Face Chicken Wing - but Homicide fights through it all. “Fuck the five count!” It looks like Homicide might “snap” after Danielson kicks out of the Cop Killa, but a minute later he hits the lariat, and its all over. Its nice to see how much winning the belt means to Homicide - a nice antidote to the likes of Khali holding the belt upside down. And so the Reign of Homicide - geddit, ROH, etc? - begins.

Overall - a decent addition to the Final Battle canon, with a classic main event.

I also really enjoyed Final Battle 06 when I watched it the other day. KOW/Briscoes was excellent, the 6 man was really great and the main event was awesome with great heat. One of the best RoH shows I've watched recently. I also agree with your point about Rave, I don't like him, I don't think he has it and I'm glad he's gone from RoH. I watched the first night of the fifth year festival the other day and putting Rave/Homicide on after Joe/Morishima was a big mistake as the crowd just went dead, Rave should never main event a show, ever.

I've been trying to get through the FYF just lately. I'm up to Dayton but there's been very little to really excite me so far. Mind you, I heard a heckle that reminded me why people hate ROH fans.
During the Tank Toland vs Mitch Franklin squash..."Do a transition move!"
Words can't express how stupid that is.

I just ordered some stuff from the ROH site. $2.04 to the £ with paypal, which is insanely good. The buy 3 get 1 free on ROH DVDs finishes in about an hour, too...

There's now a 25% off anything offer on, it only lasts till 10am tomorrow US time though, my girlfriend just got me an RoH hoodie for xmas

Bless. I have no girlfriend, so may buy myself an ROH hoodie!

Dedicated Review- 26/1/07

What a dreadful show name. It means nothing to anyone. Who’s “dedicated”? The wrestlers? The fans? Both?

New interviewer Becky - sorry, Rebecca - Bayliss is introduced. Her first assignment is to interview new ROH World Champion Homicide. Sadly her first question isn’t “so, when are you dropping the belt D?”

Rocky Romero vs. Davey Richards - I don’t think anyone really missed Rocky Romero since he left ROH, but we’re getting him back anyway it seems. A dull, uninspiring match that went on forever. Romero eventually wins with the ankle lock, while also stomping on Richards arse repeatedly. Prazak: “what a start to 2007!” Its clichés, but 2007 in ROH started not with a bang, but a whimper.

Jack Evans vs. Eddie Edwards - Yay! Jacks back. And they’ve considerately fed him a jobber for his first appearance of the year. Although Evans’ offence still looks a bit flimsy in places, obviously he’s come on in leaps and bounds (no pun intended) since he’s been wrestling in Dragon Gate. A decent match, although Edwards has still yet to show me anything to convince he deserves a spot in ROH. Then again, it hasn’t been a problem for B.J. Whitmer. Evans wins with the 630 splash.

Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn vs. Pelle Primeau and Delirious - Christ Almighty, you gotta be shittin me. Two equally dire teams square off in tag team competition. Primeaus’ such an annoying little fart, yet Pearce and Hagadorn are so equally crap that I can’t enjoy their extended beat down of the shrimp. Delirious cleans house after the hot tag, making Hagadorn tap with the Cobra Stretch.

B.J. Whitmer, Colt Cabana and Daizee Haze vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Brent Albright and Lacey - a last! A match which I settled back into my chair to watch thinking “I’m going to enjoy watching this.” And while it was the best match of the night thus far, those expecting a ball to the wall cracker will be disappointed, as these were clearly being saved for the blow off matches to this program. Instead we got a No DQ Match Lite, which did however perk up a bit towards the end. First Albright smashes the fool in the head with a chair, then Jacobs puts Haze through a table with the back Senton. Daze has a hell of a lump on her head afterwards.

Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness - another match that disappointed. I was looking forward to a hard hitting cracker, and it looked promising when after the first exchange Nigel cracked Joe with a resounding slap. But then it descended into a typical Joe match with Nigel having to sell for the best part of ten minutes. When Nigel finally did start to get some offence in, he seems to think that rather than defending the pride of NOAH he’s wrestling for the Pure title again, and starts working the arm of Joe. After the obligatory kick out of the Tower of London though, the match does pick up, with Nigel kicking out of the Muscle Buster and a Lariat. Joe eventually wins with the Choke. When was the last time Joe had a cracking single effort? After the match Jimmy Rave attacks Joe with the Heel Hook in the millionth attempt to get his ‘new’ gimmick over. Nigel makes the save, and he and Joe shake hands. So much for Joe vs. NOAH.

Shingo vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Jason Blade - typical 4CS match - fairly dull while the heats building, but once all four men get in the ring and start going for it it gets quite exciting. Obviously the sole purpose of this match is to give Jimmy Rave another win, which he does, with the Heel Hook on Daniels, who had the Rolling Ground Octopus on Jason Blade at the time. “Jimmy Rave makes ANOTHER wrestler tap with the heel hook“, etc.

Chris Hero vs. Homicide - Hero tries to get something decent out of Homicide, but doesn’t quite succeed. Homicide wins with the Cop Killa.

Austin Aries and Roderick Strong vs. The Briscoe Brothers - 2/3 Falls - at last! I get to say something positive (contrary to popular belief, I haven’t spent £1000’s on ROH DVD’s over the past five years purely so I can have a good whinge). Match of the night by a country mile, two of the best teams in the world once again show how good they and, and just why you can’t take that shit you see on a Monday or Thursday seriously. Loads of highlights, including Total Elimination by the Briscoe’s, and a super stiff Heat Seeking Missile from Aries. The stunned silence from the crowd that greeted the second fall was great two - yes, they did just beat the former tag champs two straight. Man Up Boys, Man Up!

Overall - a truly woeful start to the year - well, woeful by ROH standards anyway. I seem to be saying that a lot these days. In fact, the excellent main event only underlined how lacklustre all that preceded it had been. Still, 2005 started with the equally crap “It Begins Again”, and that turned out to be a good year, so we’ll refrain from any hasty predictions.

I've not got the patience to write a full review of the 6 fifth year festival shows so here are some of my thoughts:

- Davey Richards is awesome, I was quite suprised when reviewing my favourite matches from the 5YF how many of them he was in. He's a great young talent and having seen some of his stuff from later this year he's got a massive future ahead of him.

- Delirious~! The man's great, always has been. For me he's one of the most constantly enjoyable wrestlers working in RoH.

- I really HATE Jimmy Rave and don't care in the slightest about his matches no matter who he's facing and I'm glad he's gone. When he main event the first show in the festival against Homicide it brought the show to an end with such an anti climax. Should never have been on after Joe/Morishima.

- Speaking of Morishima, I don't get it, I'm not really a fan. I've seen a lot of his defences from later in 2007 as my viewing of RoH this year has been in two phases thanks to whats been available on XWT (I catching up on inbetween late 06 and mid/late 07 now) and I just can't get into his matches.

- Tag team wrestling in RoH is fantastic. Most of my favourite matches from RoH from 05 to the present have been tag team matches. The Briscoes, Shingo/Doi, Aries/Strong and now Strong/Richards (the powerbomb/lung blower combo they did on Shingo was awesome) are all excellent teams who have had several match of the night matches and I never tire of watching tag matches in RoH.

- I'm not too disappointed Joe's gone. The only match of his on the tour I particularly enjoyed was the one with Davey Richards. On the whole I've found Joe a bit stale and boring recently and far prefer watching other people like Hero, Aries, Strong, Castagnoli and so on.

- I starting to really like Pelle Primeau, he's got a good under dog gimmick going on, the crowd like him, he's a decent little worker and he can take a lot of punishment. I even popped for him when he beat Whitmer in RTTT and I like Whitmer.

- Jimmy Jacobs' emo gimmick is great, he's a great little heel, from what I've read he still is although I've yet to see any Age of the Fall stuff yet. The feud of Lacey & Jimmy vs Whitmer & Cabana yielded quite a few entertaining contests and provided something different on the shows.

My favourite matches over the 6 shows are as follows:

- Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe (RoH 5YF - Finale)

- The Briscoes vs. Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal (RoH 5YF - Chicago)

- The Briscoes vs. Shingo & Naruki Doi (RoH 5YF - Liverpool)

- Shingo & Naruki Doi vs. No Remorse Corps (RoH 5YF - Finale)

- Samoa Joe vs. Davey Richards (RoH 5YF - Dayton)

- Pelle Primeau vs. Roderick Strong vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shingo vs. Matt Cross vs. Mark Bricose (RoH 5YF - Dayton)

On the whole there weren't any matches that I particularly didn't like, I just can't stand Jimmy Rave and I find Sydal a bit dull. A good series of shows, perhaps not up to the standards of old but some exceptional matches on there never the less.

Some other recent favourite matches of mine from other shows I've watched recently have been:

- Chris Hero vs. Nigel McGuiness vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quackenbush (RoH A Fight at the Roxbury)

- Kenta vs. Delirious (RoH Reborn Again)

- Naomichi Marufuji vs. Matt Sydal (RoH Reborn Again)

- The Briscoes vs. Kings of Wrestling (RoH Domination 2/3 Falls & RoH Final Battle 06)

- Austin Aries vs. James Gibson (RoH The Final Showdown)

- Austin Aries vs. Spanky (RoH New Frontiers)

- Austin Aries vs. CM Punk (RoH Death Before Dishonor 3)

- Austin Aries vs. James Gibson vs. Samoa Joe vs. Homicide (RoH Sign of Dishonor)

- Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Delirious vs. Blood Generation (RoH Final Battle 06)

- Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Briscoe Brothers (RoH Ring of Homicide)

- James Gibson vs. Samoa Joe (RoH New Frontiers)

- Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide (RoH Final Battle 06)

- Bryan Danielson vs. Delirious (RoH Ring of Homicide)

- Bryan Danielson, Cima & Naomichi Marufuji vs. No Remorse Corps (RoH in Osaka)

- El Generico vs. Davey Richards (RoH Race to the Top)

- El Generico vs. Claudio Castagnoli (RoH Race to the Top)

As you can probably tell I've been playing catch up quite a lot as I'd not watched anything for a good couple of years so there's a fair mix of matches from 2005 to 2007 there. I think the show's as a whole were better in 2005 when Aries was champion and then Punk but I have enjoyed the shows from this year. The fifth year festival was good, Domination was good, Reborn Again was very good and a Fight at the Roxbury was quite strong. I've got quite a few more to watch from this year lined up, finding the time to watch them might be tricky though!

Sorry to post twice in a row but it's a seperate subject. Just read on RoH's website on the trios tourney:



Who do you think will be the partner? I'd guess Austin Aries unless he's still away with Dragon Gate as recently he said he'd be focusing all his attentions on regaining the RoH World Title, even disbanding the Resilience to do so (a move I thought was pretty strange considering the stipulations attached to the tournament).

Bobby Dempsey is awesome!

November 13th: Bryan Danielson has been in a fighting mood lately. He wants to prepare for his next battle against Takeshi Morishima by taking on one of ROH's toughest brawlers. The Necro Butcher has stepped up to the plate. 11/30 in Dayton will see Bryan Danielson vs. The Necro Butcher with relaxed rules. This will be a fight.


Oh My, if there PWG match was anything to go by(which was one of the most realistic matches I've seen in a while) this should be great.

Fixed!

Bryan Danielson vs. The Necro Butcher is gonna be awesome!

Battle of the Icons Review - 27/1/07

Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Rave - No DQ “I Quit” Match - I’m liking this - kicking off the show with something decent instead of some predictable opener. In spite of Rave’s previously discussed failings, this is a very good match indeed. Nigel works the arm, Jimmy works leg; both men’s selling is very believable. Obviously the highlight of the match is when Rave - who has Nigel in a crossface - spews vomit all over the canvas. Yuck. The finish - a very good finish - comes when Rave locks in the Heel Hook, and McGuinness says what amounts to “fuck you- break my ankle - I’ll never say I quit.” The referee stops the match and awards the win to Rave, which the fans predictably shit all over. Still, a fine opener.

Pelle Primeau vs. Adam Pearce - is there anyone - excluding the families of the wrestlers involved - who gives anything remotely resembling a shit about this match? Adam “one of the most hated wrestlers on the independent circuit” Pearce wins with a piledriver.

Chris Hero vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Christopher Daniels - another very good effort, and a fine piece of storytelling too. The Hero/ Claudio relationship came to an ambiguous end at Final Battle, but for the first ten minutes of this match they double team Chris Daniels, who takes a tremendous beating. Gradually though, moves get mistimed, and then the cause of all the trouble to start with - Larry Sweeney - gets involved, and the rift is now seemingly irreconcilable. Daniels performs his role in all of this superbly. Finish comes when Daniels is distracted by Sweeney on the apron, and Hero rolls up Claudio for the win. Brilliant piece of booking.

B.J. Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs - Last Man Standing Match - Last Man Standing isn’t the greatest concept in wrestling, especially with someone like mediocre-at-best BJ Whitmer involved. Fortunately, the main man Jimmy Jacobs is on hand to bump his ass off and save the match. Actually this is probably the best type of match for Whitmer to be, as his one talent seems to be that he can take stiff shots with chairs. Classic moment during this match comes when my Dad looks at Whitmer’s back and asks me, “is he on steroids?” Indeed he is Dad, indeed he is. Jacobs takes a tremendous pasting in this match - a spine buster onto a pile of chairs, a Brainbuster onto an opened chair amongst other things. Finish comes when Brent Albright runs in and puts Whitmer through a table, then hauls Jacobs to his feet so he can beat the ten count. At 9, Whitmer looks like he’s going to get up, but fortunately Albright boots him in the head to prevent this happening. Your winner, Jimmy Jacobs!

Havana Pitbulls vs. The Briscoe Brothers - I don’t like to use these reviews to make pops at other companies - they’re about ROH, not anyone else. But after watching another stellar tag team effort from ROH, I find myself thinking two things. One is the rather obvious point that if you want to see the best tag wrestling in the US today, you’ll find it in ROH. The second point - after watching something like this, how the fuck am I supposed to get excited about the Highlanders/ Cade and Murdoch et al? Can’t be done. This is a match for those of you who love HEAT, as the Pitbulls use all sorts of devious tactics to delay the hot tag, so as when it finally comes, you (figuratively) pop your nut. Then you get o see Mark go ballistics with his 100 mile a minute offence. Great stuff. The Pitbulls look really good here in their first match in a while. Which is somewhat of shame, because after a blown double team manoeuvre, Romero walks out on Reyes. One Jay Driller later, the Briscoe’s have their win, and Reyes ROH career is over it seems. It never quite happened for him as a singles guy in ROH. After seeing him have some great singles matches in PWG in 2004/05, I had high expectations for him. But apart from a brief program with Austin Aries, he did little of interest. Ah well.

Lacey and Brent Albright vs. Colt Cabana and Sara Del Rey - you can tell by the crappy disco music that the next match involves a woman’s’ wrestler (or Jimmy Yang). However, after a dreadful start in which Cabana and Albright attempt to do some comedy, and fail miserably, this actually turns into a pretty decent match, with Albright and Lacey beating down Sara Del Rey for much of the match. As I’ve said before, I’m not that keen on women’s wrestling, but I’ll say this - they may not be as crisp as their male counterparts, but the girls in this match bump their asses off. Del Ray and Cabana win after Del Rey hits her finisher on Lacey. After the match Daizee Haze runs out and tries to stuff some dollar bills into Laceys’s tights, as a result of Lacey calling her a stripper last night.

Shingo, Delirious and Davey Richards vs. Jack Evans, Roderick Strong and Austin Aries - SUPERB six man tag, thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. I also realised how important Jack Evans was to Generation Next. I was never really a great fan of the Aries/ Strong tag team as I was of Strong/ Evans. They had solid matches, but didn’t really have much spark about them. But back together for one night only, it was just like old times. Delirious et al do their bit too, including a great pose down with Delirious and Shingo where Richards tries to get in on the act and is chastised by Delirious for doing so. Gen Next with after Aries and String hit their finish on Shingo.

Homicide vs. Samoa Joe - hmmm. Ok, I guess, which tells you all you need to know about these guys form as of late. Responsible for some belting matches in 03/04, the two “icons” have been living off those earlier efforts for a long time now it seems. That said, this match didn’t suck, and the finish was quite good. But for these two it should have been better. Homicide wins after repeated lariats. After a couple of quite intense promos between these two leading up to the match, we get a return to their shitty “buddy” promos from autumn of 06. Great.

Overall - Slightly disappointing main event aside, this has to be on of the best ROH shows I’ve seen in ages - maybe since Glory by Honor 5? The fact that this show came just one night after the dire “Dedicated” event gives some indication of what a Jekyll and Hyde promotion ROH has become lately. That said, this re-demonstrates that when they hit top gear, ROH is the best wrestling company in the States bar none. Sorry TNA fools - that’s just the way it is. Roll on FYF!!