Official ROH Discussion Thread

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Take No Prisoners - 15/3/08

 

Davey Richards vs Dingo - Dingo looks a million times better here than he did at Unscripted 3, even if his gimmick is still the drizzling shits. Davey Richards meanwhile, looks absolutely white-hot at the moment, and is once again looking like a future ROH World Champion. If only he hadn

Edited September 16, 2008 by Dearly Devoted Dexter

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

FIP - Redefined - 16/2/08

 

Seeing as how FIP is being re-launched, with the intention of having its storylines run parallel to ROH, it seems like a good time to get involved and start watching it.

 

Austin Aries vs Davey Richards - wow, when did Prazak become a fat man? He used to be a slim Jim, but evidently he

[gadge]

YAY! A thumbs up!

[gadge]

- new video wireAlso, results from Japan at the weekend, via Gabe's trip diary on ROHwrestling.com ...

This is the tour journal of Ring Of Honor's trip to Japan for shows this weekend from the perspective of ROH Booker Gabe Sapolsky. It will be updated on a regular basis including results and backstage news from the shows.Thursday, 4:34pm Tokyo Time-We have arrived in Tokyo and checked into the hotel. Smooth sailing so far. The 13 hour plus flight was easier than expected except for a screaming baby seated near some members of the office staff. Now it is time to head to Korakeun Hall for tonight's Dragon Gate event. ROH President Cary Silkin is off for a live shoot on Samurai TV along with Bryan Danielson. ROH is taking Tokyo by storm!!! We are going to be all over the place for the next few days. Stay tuned for more updates when we have access to a computer. We will try to update this journal as often as possible.Thursday, 2:22am Tokyo Time-We've been going strong since 6:30am Wednesday in the United States and now it is time to finally settle down for some sleep. It was so great to see Dragon Gate live at Korakeun Hall. Being in that building was tremendous after seeing so many great matches on tape from so many promotions through the years. It is a great place to see wrestling. Dragon Gate draws a lot of women. The six man really stole the show with everyone in it looking just awesome. I can't wait to see what those guys do at our show on Saturday when we have El Generico, Shingo & Dragon Kid vs. Naruki Doi, Masato Yamato & BxB Hulk. It was nice to see such a big house for Dragon Gate. It was also nice to see the Dragon Gate crew including a big hello from Shingo and CIMA. Speaking of Shingo, he has risen to be right at the top of the company and the fans truly react to him like a star and a true champion. That is a really great story as I remember the whole purpose of Shingo's stay in the United States was to improve and then return to Dragon Gate and become a top star. He has done that and he is such a nice guy and totally deserves it. Afterwards we ate a lot of sushi, walked away a lot, drank a little and then ate some more sushi. Tokyo is an incredible place. There is so much to do and you just want to keep walking and walking around to try to see it all. Time for sleep. Tomorrow will be a lot of fun as we have a good deal of leisure time before preparing for our shows.Saturday, 10:06pm Tokyo Time-Sorry about not getting a chance to update anything yesterday, but we did about three days worth of sight seeing in one day. We went to Asakusa, Ginza and so many other places traveling via ferry, subway, taxi and foot. I won't bore you with anymore details because you probably want to hear about the show that ended about an hour ago.Results saw:1) YAMATO defeated Eddie Edwards in what might be Eddie's best match in ROH (not taking anything away from the Roderick Strong one at the Hammerstein)2) Austin Aries defeated Ryo Saito in another good match in about 13 minutes. Afterwards, Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black attacked Aries and Jacobs put him out with the End Time. Jacobs then basically said that The Age Of The Fall would cause chaos in Japan.3) Larry Sweeney was irate that Edwards lost and went off on the Japanese fans, earning their boos. Sweeney then called out Roderick Strong to wrestle Davey Richards. Strong defeated Richards in 25 minutes in a very hot match. These two tore the house down and the fans were really into it. Strong had some words for Kensuke Sasaki on the mic after the contest to build up tomorrow's match. Davey is a monster now.4) El Generico scored a huge win as he teamed with Shingo & Dragon Kid to defeat Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk in about 22 minutes. This was awesome and right up there with all the Dragon Gate six mans. I just sat in the crowd and really enjoyed this one as I love this style of match. Hulk and Shingo had some wicked exchanges and everyone was on in this one.5) Bryan Danielson defeated ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness in a non-title match in about 22 minutes. This started as a very technical match and built into a hard-hitting match. The fans really loved it. Another great match in the series between these two. After the bout, Bryan got on the mic and said he just defeated the ROH World Champion and tomorrow he will go after the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title.6) Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe to retain the ROH World Tag Team Titles. This match was a total brawl that got some "holy s***" and "ROH" chants from the Japanese fans. The final three matches all contrasted each other perfectly.I will go on record right now and say that this show was better than both of our shows last year in Japan. The crowd got more enthusiastic as the show went on and they all seemed to have a really good time. Differ Ariake is a great place for wrestling. I was fortunate to be able to sit in the crowd for several matches and just enjoy the matches. Samurai TV did a great job and I think you'll really dig these DVDs when they come out. The people here are all very nice. So far this has been an amazing trip and it should only get better tomorrow. I have eaten a lot of sushi and I plan to eat more. Right now I'm kind of tired so if I think of anymore details I'll jump back on with them. Thanks for reading this.Sunday, 12:01pm Tokyo Time-Just waking up after the first full night of sleep here and getting ready for what should be a big show tonight. Last night I pulled a Scarlett Johanson from Lost In Translation and put on my ipod, got on the train and found someplace to just walk around including going in a gigantic arcade. The oddest thing there was one area where people were putting their feet in a tub of water with a lot of fish swimming around. I guess the fish were ticklish cause they were all laughing uncontrollably. Japanese tee-shirts with English on them are hilarious too. My feet are sore today, but I'm still on a high from last night's show. We are expecting a bigger crowd today and it is shaping up as a good old ROH marathon show. We are all really proud of the fact that we are able to put five promotions together on one show tonight as the Japanese keep telling us that no other company could put this card together. We have a ROH World and GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title Match, the GHC Champ on the show, NOAH vs. ROH and of course the match I'm looking forward to the most with DDT, Kensuke Office and NOAH joining forces as Ibushi & KENTA take on Marufuji & Nakajima. I'm told these four are really ready to tear the house down as there is a lot of pride on the line here. Well, it has been about 12 hours since my last sushi meal so I better take a shower and try to find some before the NOAH bus leaves for the building. Actually, for some reason the McDonalds downstairs is looking tempting. I wonder if the hamburgers taste the same. I guess I'm beginning to miss home a little although I still need to hit that famous fish market before our flight leaves tomorrow. Thanks for reading.Sunday, 8:31pm Tokyo TimeWe just rolled in from the show. I wish we could call this one Supercard Of Honor because it was really a supercard in every sense of the term. There was a bigger crowd tonight and they seemed to have a great time. It was really something seeing all these promotions come together on one show. It was my first time meeting Sasaki and Nakajima and they are both really looking forward to coming to Philadelphia next week. Everyone is ready to go out so I'll make this a quick update. Here are the results of the show:1A) In the dark match Tetsuya Naito & Yujiro defeated Genba Hirayanagi & Kotaro Suzuki in a wild match. This will be a bonus on the DVD of tonight's event.1) The lights went out and the music started and the ROH show was underway. Austin Aries crashed Bobby Cruise's open and after the happenings of last night demanded that his match against Tyler Black start immediately. Aries defeated Black with the Last Chancery, but after the match Jimmy Jacobs put out Aries with the End Time and promised more chaos and said that he would win the World Title in the main event.2) Kazushi Miyamoto defeated Eddie Edwards when Larry Sweeney's interference backfired. The fans really got into Sweeney. After the match it looked like Sweeney and Edwards might have been on the outs, but they made up with a big hug. The Japanese fans really reacted to that.3) Taiji Ishimori defeated El Generico in a really athletic match.4) Davey Richards debut his new finisher to earn him and Takeshi Morishima a win over Jay & Mark Briscoe. After the match, Jacobs and Tyler Black attacked The Briscoes.5) Bryan Danielson defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title in just over 20 minutes. This was a great match and I was fortunate to just sit in the crowd and watch it. The fans were really behind Bryan and when he won they were overjoyed and surprised. It was really a genuine moment when he won as everyone was really happy for Bryan. There aren't a lot of moments like that and I don't know if it will come across on the DVD, but live it was something I'll never forget.6) Things got turned up a notch after intermission with the dream tag. KENTA & Kota Ibushi went to a 30 minute draw vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Katsuhiko Nakajima. They then went to a 5 minute overtime, which ended in a draw. This was just unreal. I don't want to hype it too much as I'll let you just watch it for yourself. I've never heard kicks like Nakajima's. This was the most over match of the night with the fans. These guys are really the new stars in Japan.7) Kensuke Sasaki defeated Roderick Strong in a very even match in about 12 minutes.8) Nigel McGuinness retained the ROH World Title against Jimmy Jacobs in a classic heel/face match that the fans got into. I have to be honest. I feared for these guys. This was a long show with a lot of great stuff on it. I figured the crowd would be tired and knew they would have a tough time. Instead, they told a great story in the match and the fans totally got into it. Hats off to Nigel and Jacobs.I have a lot of other thoughts, but people are waiting to go out. Sorry if there are any typos, but I wrote this in a hurry. I'll try to have another entry before I get on the plane tomorrow, but don't know if that will be possible. I need to eat some more sushi now. Thanks for reading.Tuesday, 2:39pm, back in Philly -Everyone has arrived safely back home from our second successful trip to Japan. I can't wait until next year and am already ready to go back. However, there is no time to think about that now as we have perhaps the biggest weekend of the year coming right up this Friday with the PPV taping in Boston and this Saturday with "Glory By Honor VII" in Philadelphia. Personally, this weekend means a great deal to me. I grew up in Boston so being able to put on a show as important as a pay-per-view in Boston is very special to me. In fact, I saw a NWA show in 1989 in the same complex so it is really cool that we are able to promote a PPV there. If you told me when I was watching Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger at BU in 1989 that I would be a part of a promotion running a PPV from the same location I would have thought you were crazy. Of course, I have a million memories from the former ECW Arena in South Philly. It is humbling to walk into that building with all the history there and all the personal history I have in that building. It feels like home there for me. It is really important that we add to the legacy of that building on Saturday. Anyway, sorry for the tangent. Here are a few final, random thoughts from the Japan shows: -I had an opportunity to see El Generico perform in front of three different crowds and he was immediately over with each crowd. I mean he is just genuinely liked by the Japanese fans, just as much as he is by the ROH fans. They really wanted him to pull out the pinfall on last Thursday's Dragon Gate show and the fans were really happy for him when he scored the pinfall at last Saturday's show. Generico as ROH World Champion is definitely an interesting possibility. We'll see what happens Saturday. -I have to admit that I marked out when we met Akira Hokuto. Anyone out there remember when Dream Slam happened? -Naomichi Marufuji has a great mind for the business. It was really nice finally seeing KENTA back in a ROH ring. I still can't get over that tag on Sunday. I am trying to be careful not to over hype things, but oh my god. -Bryan Danielson is so respected by the Japanese fans. He is really seen as a superstar by them. I got goose bumps by the reaction the fans gave him when he won the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title. It was such a moment in time. You don't see very many moments like that. The finishing sequence of Bryan vs. Kanemaru was amazing. -I was pleased at how different both shows are. I believe there were plenty of fans that came on both nights and they saw two unique cards. The second half of Saturday's show was perfect in my opinion. You had three quality matches that completely contrasted each other and brought three different styles to the show. I really love it when things come together like that. -I have learned the difference between the Boeing 777 and Boeing 777-200. We had the 777-200 on the way home with over 250 movies and lots of TV shows on demand. Being able to watch "30 Rock" and "Taxi Driver" on the way home sure made the flight a lot easier. -If you like sushi you need to make the pilgrimage to the Tsukiji fish market. -I fear for both Bryan Danielson and Nakajima this Saturday. Bryan requested the match and said it would be a war and after seeing Nakajima in action in person I believe him. I'm beginning to question Bryan's sanity for requesting a match against Nakajima. -It didn't take long for both Roderick Strong and Kensuke Sasaki's chests to become red in their match. Strong was there blow-for-blow with Sasaki. -Yamato has a really cool look and gear now, much different than the last time I saw him. It is good seeing him climb up the ranks like that. -Austin Aries' pendulum elbow is over with the Japanese fans. They ate up that move each night. -Larry Sweeney got under the Japanese fans' skin pretty quickly. They also got into Jimmy Jacobs' Jerry Lawler like use of a chain. -I'm going to be really interested to hear your opinions on whether you like the Dragon Gate six man from Saturday or the KENTA & Ibushi vs. Marufuji & Nakajima tag from Sunday better once you see the DVDs. That's about it. Thank you to everyone who made the trip possible and most of all thank you to each and every one of you because this trip would not have been possible without your support. I hope the DVDs make a good reward for you. Thank you.

[dopper]

Just been reading through this topic to see a few 2007 reviews, and came across this from the ROHwrestling.com 2007 Year-End Awards.

What The ROHBots said.....Whose Star Shines The Brightest In 20081) Chris Hero2) Claudio Castagnoli3) Erick Stevens4) Jimmy Jacobs5) Mike Quackenbush

I haven't seen any 2008 stuff yet, but for the regular viewers: how accurate were those predictions?

[DOB]

Just been reading through this topic to see a few 2007 reviews, and came across this from the ROHwrestling.com 2007 Year-End Awards.

What The ROHBots said.....Whose Star Shines The Brightest In 20081) Chris Hero2) Claudio Castagnoli3) Erick Stevens4) Jimmy Jacobs5) Mike Quackenbush

I haven't seen any 2008 stuff yet, but for the regular viewers: how accurate were those predictions?

I'm only as far as the April shows,but from what i've seen Claudio,Stevens and Jacobs have probably had the most success,Quack hasn't been in ROH much and Hero hasn't done anything that big of note from what I've seen anyway.

[gadge]

Jacobs and Claudio have done the most, definitely. I'm just about to see some Claudio vs Danielson matches that lead to an awesome sounding Claudio heel turn. Jacobs meanwhile has been leading the Age of the Fall in many identikit brawls with the Briscoes and co, but seems to be getting more of a singles push in his feud with Aries, and he just got a title shot at Nigel in Japan. Hero has had a more serious edge, but results wise isn't doing great, while Stevens is still in FIP title related feuds.

[gadge]

Ring of Honor - PPV Taping

September 19th, 2008- 8:00pm belltime

Boston University (Case Gym)

285 Babcock Street

Boston, MA 02215

 

Results

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

 

~ROH returns to Boston on May 8th, 2009.

 

Preshow

 

1) Ernie Osiris defeats Frankie Aereon with his feet on the ropes.

 

2) Brutal Bob Evans defeats Alex Payne with a powerslam.

 

 

Main Show

 

~Mitch Franklin is out in the ring dressed as a lumberjack. He says his name is "Grizzly Redwood" and that it's time to get his career back on track.

 

1) Chasyn Rance defeats "Grizzly Redwood" with a piledriver in an entertaining match. Crowd was really in to the lumberjack deal actually.

 

~Austin Aries is out to start the PPV taping. He calls out Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs comes out and gets Aries' attention while Delirious attacks from behind.

 

2) Austin Aries defeats Delirious with the Last Chancery. After the match the AOTF gang up on Aries and lay him out on the outside of the ring on a table. Jimmy Jacobs comes off the top with a senton laying Aries through it.

 

~SNS Inc. are now out. Sara Del Rey squashes some nameless jobber who got no introduction.

 

3) Brent Albright & Erick Stevens defeat Adam Pearce & Eddie Edwards when Albright hits Pearce with a half nelson suplex for three. Fun old school tag match.

 

4) Chris Hero defeats Jerry Lynn in a decnt but disappointing bout with a loaded roaring elbow.

 

5) Bryan Danielson defeats Claudio Castagnoli and Go Shiozaki in a three way elimination match. Claudio got DQ'd first for attacking the referee and had to be restrained by students. Laid out Dragon before he left. Dragon and Shiozaki go at it, with Dragon trapping Go in the Triangle Choke for the win.

 

~After the match Dragon says he's done what Nigel wanted, and he challenges him for the title in Chicago in November.

 

6) Jay & Mark Briscoe defeat Ruckus & Jigsaw, Necro Butcher, and the YRR when the Briscoes hit a doomsday device on Blade. Fun spotfest to end the first half.

 

 

~INTERMISSION~

 

 

7) Daizee Haze defeats Madison Eagles in a decent match with the Mind Trip.

 

8) Rhett Titus defeats Josh Daniels by reversing a roll up for a three count. Funny match.

 

9) ROH World Championship: Nigel McGuinness defeats Roderick Strong with a Tower of London to retain the ROH World Championship. Match started slow but really picked up towards the end.

 

~After the match, Nigel accepts Dragon's challenge for a title match in Chicago.

 

10) ROH World Tag Team Championships: Kevin Steen & El Generico defeat Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black to win the Championships with a Package Piledriver/Brainbuster combo. Incredible match, "Loundest pop I've heard since Homicide at COD.

 

[close spoiler]

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[dopper]

If, like me, you've often wondered who the best talker is out of Austin Aries and Ricky Reyes - then Final Battle 2005 is the show for you.I was so impressed with Aries, and at Reyes in their clash that I had to type it up so everyone could enjoy:

(Reyes spits at Aries).Reyes:"Fuck you motherfucker!"Aries:"What the fuck? Are you trying to give me AIDS?"Reyes:"What? What motherfucker? What? You wanna fucking go with me? C

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Dragon Gate Challenge II - 28/3/08

 

Apologies if I

[gadge]

I remember liking Bedlam in Beantown. Never mind... good reviews as always. Especially DGCII, brings back good memories

 

Congratulations to Nigel McGuinness on making it to the one year mark as ROH World Champion today

 

Finally, everyone should check out this trailer for FIP Southern Justice 2008. It certainly looks like a show with an eclectic mix of talent... and the vid is funky

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Injustice - 12/4/08

 

 

El Generico vs. Jack Evans - a short, but fun opening match-up, which is noteworthy if only for the fact that Generico actually hit

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

FIP

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

There's a thread on the ROH board about great matches that never happened. There are a couple that spring to mind immeadiatly. I guess the two most famous are the matches Lo-Ki pulled out of. He was supposed to wrestle Homcide at Main Event Spectacles, but was unhappy about the proposed finish ( a 15 minute draw). He was also supposed to wrestle Roderick Strong at what became Unscripted ", but was unhappy about doing the job, and walked again. I really think Gabe dropped a huge bollock in not booking Joe vs Hero in the ROH/ CZW feud, that match would have shifted a shitload of DVD's...can't understand why he didn't do it.

[gadge]

There's a thread on the ROH board about great matches that never happened. There are a couple that spring to mind immeadiatly. I guess the two most famous are the matches Lo-Ki pulled out of. He was supposed to wrestle Homcide at Main Event Spectacles, but was unhappy about the proposed finish ( a 15 minute draw). He was also supposed to wrestle Roderick Strong at what became Unscripted ", but was unhappy about doing the job, and walked again. I really think Gabe dropped a huge bollock in not booking Joe vs Hero in the ROH/ CZW feud, that match would have shifted a shitload of DVD's...can't understand why he didn't do it.

Not quite a proper answer, as the matches did happen once, but there were also a couple of potentially huge Low Ki rematches that didn't happen because of either Gabe waiting too long or the Low Ki departure in January 06, in Ki vs Joe II (which was probably never booked because their matches outside of ROH reportedly didn't quite recapture the magic of the original Glory By Honor one, though I've not seen them myself...) and Ki vs Danielson vs Daniels II (which would have been nice because the original is completely unwatchable due to the hyperbolic commentary).I agree about Joe vs Hero absolutely, as I did see an IWA:MS match from May 2004 (I think) that was really, really good (it aired on TWC loads of times, back when the channel was watchable). Are there any matches that should have happened that still could happen? Edited October 16, 2008 by gadgetboy