Paid Members gadge Posted September 11, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted September 11, 2009 Thursday night TV taping results... Â TV Taping 1:Â Aries cut a promo with Kenny King about all his challengers. Tyler Black came out with a "lucky hat" of his own to pick an opponent for King in tonight's main event. The name drawn is Eddie Kingston. Â Delirious won a 4CS over Sonjay Dutt, Joey Ryan and Necro. Delirious pinned Dutt after Shadows Over Hell. Â Albright beat D'Lo Brown in a surprisingly really good match. D'Lo tapped to the Crowbar. Â Kenny King beat Eddie Kingston after distraction from Chris Hero. Â TV Taping 2: Â The Briscoes vs Young Bucks goes to a No Contest after Dark City Fight Club interfere. Really good up to that point. Dayton and NYC are in for a treat. Â Rhett Titus beat Alex Payne. This match has not progressed since their top of the class trophy days, eventhough Titus has come so far. Payne... Hasn't. Bad. Â Claudio beat Grizzly Redwood. Â Colt Cabana beat Nigel McGuinness via Colt 45. Really good match. Crowd was very emotional vocally for McGuinness before and after the match, and gave him streamers at the start. Â TV Taping 3: Â Aries again out to start. Tyler comes out. Aries hands Tyler his lucky hat to prove his choices weren't intentionally duds, Tyler takes out a piece of paper which is blank, ARIES LIGHTS THE PAPER RIGHT IN TYLER'S FACE!.... May not need the caps but it was a cool spot. Tyler's "blinded" after it. Â Steen/Generico beat Super Smash Bros in another really good match. Â Hero beat Dempsey..... Yeah, Dempsey got way too much offense, but at least Hero killed him dead. Â American Wolves beat Danielson/Strong after Strong tapped to Edwards single leg. Fantastic match. Danielson got streamers and probably more reaction than Nigel. I'm not going to overhype this. It was awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 11, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted September 11, 2009 I would agree that era in 2006 was probably the best period of in ring stuff. The summer of 2007 was pretty awesome too - the RTTT tourney, the Briscoes/ Steen and Generico feud, MM2..... Â You're probably right there... I'd say if you took all the DVDs from the Driven PPV - Man Up PPV that'd cover that period pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted September 11, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted September 11, 2009 I wouldn't have minded seeing one more Strong vs Dragon match before Danielson went, that was definatly one of my favourite series of matches in ROH history.  Which is why I am incredibly pleased I get to see it on Friday at the TV tapings. Their last match was almost two years ago in PWG, and three years ago in an ROH ring.  Strong has really stepped up his game this year, I am worried it will be limited due to the confines of the TV tapings.  Clearly I missed that. Ah well, look forward to seeing it in however many weeks  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobystag Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 Thursday night TV taping results... My Results.  The bad thing is, I got home over an hour after the show had finished - Like pathetic little marks, me and my girlfriend hung around to wait for Nigel to sign our Union Jack flag - And I was the first and only person to bother to write results up. Clearly, the hardcore net Philly ROH fan isn't posting on the ROH boards anymore.  And after watching Wolves vs Strong/Danielson, I'm less concerned about what Strong vs Danielson will be able to do as long as they get a good 20-25 minutes. The crowd was super into anything Dragon did, and I bet he'll get an even better reaction tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 11, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted September 11, 2009 Thaks coby. Much love for the results, and can you post tonight's on here for me if you do those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted September 11, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted September 11, 2009 I'm really glad they booked a Cabana vs McGuinness match as part of his farewell, as the Cabana/ McGuinness feud was the one that really establised Nigel in ROH. The WOS-style match they had at 3rd Anniversary is one of my fave McGuinness matches. In fact, here's my top ten Nigel McGuinness matches in ROH : Â 1) Nigel McGuinness vs Brian Danielson (Unified) 2) Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries (Rising Above 2007) 3) Nigel McGuinness vs Colt Cabana (3rd Anniversary Show - can't remember which one) 4) Nigel McGuinness vs Naomichi Marufuji (GBH 5 Night 2) 5) Nigel McGuinness vs Jimmy Rave (FYF: Finale) 6) Nigel McGuinness vs Delirious (Time To Man Up) 7) Nigel McGuinness vs Colt Cabana (Night of the Grudges) 8) Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries (Unscripted 2) 9) Nigel McGuinness vs Brian Danielson (Domination/ Driven) 10) Nigel McGuinness vs Jimmy Rave (Battle of the Icons) Â (Bear in mind I havn't seen the KENTA match yet) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobystag Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 That KENTA match in question is fucking awesome and my favourite match of this year (so far). A lot of people put Davey/KENTA ahead of it, but for me, especially seen as me and my girlfriend were there live - watching horrified as Nigel did look legitimately in pain and beaten to shit all the way through the match - It was just such an awesome match, especially with the added story of how torn up Nigel was by this point and how hard the two worked together to have a match that made sense, looked real and built up all the way..... One of Nigel's defining matches I feel. Especially as Champion, but period. Â Anyways, tonights results, as best as I can remember (again, I was the first and only person to post results tonight and the shows been over for over two and a half hours at this point): Â I'll be honest, my memory isn't as good tonight. Â TV Taping 1: Â Kenny King beat Brent Albright after distraction from Titus who tied the ref up, Aries then attacked Albright for King to pick up the win. Cabana ran out with a chair to chase them off. Â Nigel cut a promo and said he wanted to bring someone out from the back who really helped him out in his career, and without him, he wouldn't have made it so far. He walked out the ramp, then came back by himself, as the man who did it all for him, himself. Nigel then left through the crowd saying it was the last time you'll see him on ROH TV as he's "leaving on a jet plane".... Awesome promo. Â Then came back to cut a heartfelt promo to the crowd presumably off-camera. Â D'Lo beat Sal Rinauro(?) Â Wolves beat The Young Bucks in a great match. Would have been better on a house show, but fantastic for a TV match. Davey's a star, no doubt about it. Â TV Taping 2: Â Dark City Fight Club vs Briscoes went to a no contest after they started fighting outside the ring and started using weapons. Good for what it was, and what it builds up. I don't know whether Albright going full force into Kenny King or Briscoes and DCFC fighting it out ended up ripping our Union Jack flag, but we noticed it here. Â Eddie Kingston beat Claudio Castagnoli via Chris Hero's loaded elbow pad used during the backfist to the future. Hero was out at ringside all match. Claudio looked very impressive picking up and throwing Eddie Kingston around. Also, I have to note something I forgot last night, after Hero's match against Dempsey, Eddie came out saying he should be more like Chris Hero. So when Eddie came out tonight, Hero came out after to introduce Claudio as he "wants to be like Hero" and also explains the use of the loaded elbow pad. Â Necro & Grizzly beat Joey Ryan & Prince Nana! - Yes, he "wrestled" by avoiding Necro as much as possible. The stip was the much hyped~! beard vs beard match and as result, Dirty Ernie got shaved. Â Austin Aries beat Cabana via last chancery in the main event. Good match. Cabana had Aries tapping in the billy goats curse, but King and Titus ran in for interference. King was out first, but got held up by Brent Albright so Titus sneaked in for the aid. Â No five minute break at all here which caught a lot of people out including me as they went straight into the third taping. Â TV Taping 3: Â Chris Hero beat Delirious. Sonjay Dutt attacked Delirious before and after the match. Â May have been another match here.... I have no idea. Â "Skullkrusher" Rasche Brown beat jobber. Next. Â Roderick Strong beat Bryan Danielson via sick kick in a fantastic main event. Crowd was 99.9999999999999999% for Danielson over Strong, and reacted to everything. Â Afterwards, Strong got on the mic thanking Dragon, the locker room emptied out, Danielson got the mic himself to thank Cary, "management old and new", the locker room and the fans for coming out. Put over the locker room and the newer talent that are now the new best in the world, even thanking Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards kayfabely about them putting on matches of the night on a regular basis. Put over Nigel and the two got in the ring to hype up the NYC match about who will walk out of ROH as the "best in the world". Â May have missed a match in the second taping..... Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 12, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 Great stuff, cheers. I'll be seeking out Danielson vs Strong as soon as it airs i think, regardless of TV continuity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobystag Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 So I wrote up more detailed thoughts on the show that I posted on the ROH board, so I figured I may as well post them here too. Â Apologies for posting so long after the shows. They took place my last two nights in America and I was too busy Saturday to type anything detailed up before I left. And since then I've been too jet-lagged and forced to work to really get time to put pen to paper.... Or fingers to keyboard in this instance. Â I'm not one for star ratings, so if you see a chunk of text beneath a match then you won't be able to skim to the end to see snowflakes to see what I thought. Â I'm sure not much of what I say hasn't already been said by the 3 or 4 other people who have posted about the shows, but here it is regardless. Â Night two thoughts to follow and then my thoughts on the over-all direction of the company and talent at least from my impressions given over the weekend. Â Â Â Figuring that the doors usually open an hour before bell time, we got to the ECW Arena shortly after 6pm. It became obvious that getting there that early was definitely unnecessary as there were only about 25 fans there, sheltering from the rain. I had been forewarned that the TV tapings usually consisted of casual fans - Fans who could easily pick up free GA tickets from the Oregon Diner nearby - And kids. And I had been told that the crowd was a lot more sub-dued and quiet. Still, I reasoned with my girlfriend that if need be, we would bring the noise and atmosphere and just try and enjoy ourselves. Â The doors opened late - Probably 6.20 or after - But ironically, me and my girlfriend got talking to a guy in line who ended up having the seats next to us, so that was a pleasent surprise and we all shared enthusiasm over the ROH product so at least we weren't going to be sitting next to people sat on their hands. I got in and made sure to get myself and my girlfriend a Final Countdown Tour t-shirt each - Which looks cool and all those whining about 'New York, York' really need to grip and think about how special this t-shirt is going to be and such a cool item to own to say you were at one of Danielson's final ROH matches. And I ended up getting PWG's 99 and DDT4. I ordered 99 when the PWG DVD's originally went on sale on the website, but it was out of stock so received my order minus that with a refund. But I read that they've been selling 99 and DDT4 for a while at live events, but never adding them onto the website. So I had to get them while I had the chance. Â I'm not going to say too much about the pre-show matches. Not a big fan of Damien Wayne, although that leg drop in the corner while his opponent was in the tree of woe position. His opponent Gino Giovanni was terrible. Seriously. This match was a really boring WWE big man vs heel smaller guy affair (AKA smaller guy only gets offense by dirty tactics) and the fact Gino won the match was criminal. Bad start to the night, but it's the pre-show I reasoned to myself. Â Two jobbers came out next and I was expecting Alex Payne, Dempsey, Redwood, any combination of the students to face them, but instead I got The Super Smash Bros. And now I was worried that perhaps there wasn't a pre-show and this was a TV tapings - Seen as the "pre" show started after the scheduled bell time of 7pm - On account of the Smash Bros now being used, and Damien Wayne being a regular in the Virginia market. Smash Bros obviously picked up the win and it wasn't a bad match as the Smash Bros got to show off and look impressive. Still, I was worried why they were wrestling when they were advertised to face Steen & Generico...... Â The third and final pre-show match featured another two jobbers for a tag match. Now I was expecting the ROH students to make an appearence, but instead got Steen & Generico, the Smash Bros supposed opponents. Yeah, I was concerned now. But my girlfriend and the guy next to me said that if this was a taping, they would have announced it before hand. Steenerico picked up the win in decisive fashion, but I was still worried as to why they wasted the Smash Bros and Steenerico both on pre-show matches. Â But then Bobby Cruise got into the ring and announced the TV tapings were about to begin. And thank Christ for that. I would have been embaressed for ROH to present the previous three matches on their TV show, even when they featured stars like Smash Bros and Steenerico just due to how pointless the matches were. But now I'm going to use the results I typed up on my girlfriends account and just add some more thought to it: Â TV Taping 1: Â "Aries cut a promo with Kenny King about all his challengers. Tyler Black came out with a "lucky hat" of his own to pick an opponent for King in tonight's main event. The name drawn is Eddie Kingston." Â Aries definitely looks a star now, there's no doubt about it. And King as a right hand man, looks great. Unfortunately, the mic was a little low and it was hard to make out what Aries was saying at times. Tyler then came out, and the mic was even worse than him. He really sounds like a young child. Sorry Tyler, but you do, and he looked like a little boy compared to Aries mic skills. But it served it's purpose to put over Tyler as Aries' main threat while putting in a clever way for King to face a challenge for what he did to Jerry Lynn, while not having Tyler wrestle. Â "Delirious won a 4CS over Sonjay Dutt, Joey Ryan and Necro. Delirious pinned Dutt after Shadows Over Hell." Â An OK match. Necro is definitely over with the TV crowd and really wanted to hurt Joey Ryan which helped continue The Embassy versus Random people and Grizzly Redwood feud. Seriously, The Embassy needs a fully fledged team to go against instead of a juxtoposed mess of re-occuring odd faces. Sonjay... I like Sonjay. He's good as a heel and they helped push his feud with Delirious well. But Sonjay, if you're a heel, please be consistent. All too often he was going for the big spots and then after a face reaction after. I'm not saying heels should have toned down movesets. A heel can do big flashy moves, as long as he does it cockily and arrogantly and with a purpose to hurt the face. Not "big spot here, now cheer for me while I pose!". But, yeah, it was an OK match and served it's purpose well. Unfortunately, it wasn't that memorable as immediately after the next match, I'd forgotten it'd taken place and felt bad upon remembering it as I like all 4 guys. Â Side note, Nana/Ryan got toilet paper thrown at them by two/three people. The guy at the side of me was one of them and I tried to reason that toilet paper should exclusively be used for Rave, and the fact that the concept has taken off against Nana is such a negative thing. It goes against what the TP originally stood for and is a little bit offensive I feel.... But then I may be too PC with that. I may not be the only one tho, because for the second nights taping, TP was banned from being taken into the arena. Â "Albright beat D'Lo Brown in a surprisingly really good match. D'Lo tapped to the Crowbar." Â I'm not one who needlessly dumps on Albright, I like the guy as a big power wrestler - I do agree that when Albright wants to do mat-chain wrestling, that he probably should keep it to a minimum. He doesn't have to prove he can wrestle a Benoit style anymore, and the added muscle mass after his departure from the E was the best thing for him. D'Lo works a great NOAH heavyweight style and the two meshed well together, brawling and throwing each other into the barricade - Albright even took time to try and connect with the crowd via using my Union Jack flag and making reference of it, showing that he's not dull and charisma free (Cabana must be rubbing off on him). I was genuinely surprised at the clean finish due to how often they were brawling outside the ring, and that D'Lo had been kept relatively strong on TV so far. But the submission finish definitely made the match a lot better. I have enjoyed watching Albright's matches with Claudio, and if they were to move Albright into a somewhat fued with Brown over this match, I wouldn't mind at all to see more matches between the two. D'Lo... I'll be honest, when I saw him in March against Jay Briscoe, I wasn't impressed. And his stiffing The Unstable at Chikara KOT with Al Snow annoyed me to no end. But here he won me over. He's definitely over with the crowd and is getting a reaction. But is he a heel or isn't he? Like Sonjay, if he's booked to be a heel, then he really needs to tone down his more tweener aspects. Â "Kenny King beat Eddie Kingston after distraction from Chris Hero." Â A decent match. Not the best TV taping main event, but probably not the worst. Definitely in the bottom half tho.King just has "it". Charisma, talent, star appeal. And the partnership with Aries and tag-team with Titus is not taking any of his shine. It was an odd mix of styles, but the two made it work with King slumming it and brawling with Kingston. The distraction from Hero was a given to continue their feud, but I don't think it really hurt King on account of how Hero never got physically involved, and Aries team usually end up using outside intereference on varying levels. Â Probably the weakest taping out of the six I got to watch, but Albright vs D'Lo is worth going out of your way to see. The crowd did fill out more (250 people maybe in the end?) but there was definitely an issue of not that many enthusiastic fans there to get into the show and try and encourage others to do the same - And no, throwing trash into the ring or at the wrestlers is not being into the show. Â "TV Taping 2: Â The Briscoes vs Young Bucks goes to a No Contest after Dark City Fight Club interfere. Really good up to that point. Dayton and NYC are in for a treat." Â Definitely a good, bordering on great match, but the crowd almost killed it. The guy next to me said that Philly "deserved" Young Bucks vs Briscoes 1, but due to how dead and lifeless the crowd were at times, it must have been frustrating for all four guys to bust their ass for so little fanfare. The crowd did start to come alive at the end, by the time they were finally showing some appreciation for the Young Bucks as the vocal minority being all for The Briscoes, but then just as TYB had More Bang For Your Buck set up, the Dark City Fight Club interfere. Of course solid booking to help build up Briscoes vs DCFC the next night and not have TYB lose before their Tag Title match, but unfortunately the interference came a mile away. I really will be interested to see what these two teams can do when cut loose in Dayton and especially NYC. Â "Rhett Titus beat Alex Payne. This match has not progressed since their top of the class trophy days, eventhough Titus has come so far. Payne... Hasn't. Bad." Â I still stand by what I wrote. I don't even think of Rhett Titus as an ROH student anymore. He's really come out into his own with this gimmick, and eventhough he may not fit as smoothly in with Aries/King, he looks and acts like an ROH star. Something you wouldn't expect when seeing him in 2007 wrestling for the top of the class trophy and working security. Alex Payne.... Is still the ROH student who hasn't changed one bit since 2007. He's just plain awful. Even when doing offensive moves, he somehow manages to throw himself down hard on his back. I can only hope that he bangs the back of his head one too many times and ends up going the way of Pelle Primeau. And why the hell does Rhett have to win the match with his feet on the ropes when Payne has only been used on ROH TV as a complete and utter jobber? Â "Claudio beat Grizzly Redwood." Â Now this was an awesome match. No, seriously. Claudio just man-handled, tossed Grizzly around like a rag-doll and looked like a million bucks in doing so, even when it's only Grizzly Redwood. Just a really, really fun match. Me and my girlfriend couldn't help ourselves but cheer for Claudio and got an angry look and some stern words.... None of which I heard so I still love him. Apparently he said something about being "more European" due to my Union Jack flag - Or at least my girlfriend thinks so - But, hey, at least I still live in Europe which makes ME more European.... I may not be as very European as Claudio, but I am more European. Â "Colt Cabana beat Nigel McGuinness via Colt 45. Really good match. Crowd was very emotional vocally for McGuinness before and after the match, and gave him streamers at the start." Â Yes, when Nigel came out he got a big pop, he got the streamers treatment, he got the "Thank You Nigel" chants and it really was a moment. Colt... I'm gonna have to agree with everyone who says he's a little 'off'. It's still Colt doing what he did before he left, but... I dunno. The guy worked so hard to get his dream job only to be mistreated so bad and rejected, and since coming back to ROH he's not really had a feud or angle to really be motivated about. Really, Tyler's injury and Nigel leaving turned out to be a blessing for him this weekend as he got to re-live his 2005 feud with Nigel - This was not one of their best matches in all honesty, but still a good match. Colt brought the laughs in the early going by unintentionally being unable to kip-up, which caused Nigel to smirk and break character almost. Then they started to mat-wrestle which attracted one or two "boring" chants... Seriously, go home and watch Impact you malicious mongloids. Then Nigel started to get more serious, and Colt innovated the flying asshole to be used out on the ring apron, and almost screwed up a Asai Moonsault to the outside that just looked nasty from my vantage point. Just when things were heated and a little bit intense and really clicking, Colt won with the Colt 45. Cabana winning was an inevitability, I just wanted a little bit more. But still, a really good match and Nigel once again got the bigger ovation - I dunno, maybe that's what threw Colt off due to him being the underdog for crowd support and from what I've seen, the TV crowd haven't really latched onto Cabana at all. Still, like I said, the weekends misfortune gave him a victory over a former ROH World Champion and gave him momentum to face the current ROH Champ the next night, so hopefully, Cabana can use it to propel himself up the card. Â "TV Taping 3: Â Aries again out to start. Tyler comes out. Aries hands Tyler his lucky hat to prove his choices weren't intentionally duds, Tyler takes out a piece of paper which is blank, ARIES LIGHTS THE PAPER RIGHT IN TYLER'S FACE!.... May not need the caps but it was a cool spot. Tyler's "blinded" after it." Â Probably more of a cool spot as I didn't see it coming. It was obvious Tyler was going to be on the receiving end of a beat down in some regards - I saw the Aries/King/Titus trio attacking him - So the flash paper was an interesting surprise and the crowd reacted entirely. The woman nearby to me was standing on her seat screaming for Aries' blood for hurting Tyler. It's still real damnit, it's still real. Â "Steen/Generico beat Super Smash Bros in another really good match." Â Really competative match, and I was so glad to see it eventually take place after being scared earlier in the night. Smash Bros really do deserve a permanent roster spot, and I wouldn't say no to a mini-feud between the two if ROH chose to focus their Tag Team division on other teams for the meanwhile to keep Steenerico fresh. Â "Hero beat Dempsey..... Yeah, Dempsey got way too much offense, but at least Hero killed him dead." Â Pointless. This match should have happened a good six months ago when it was still relevent to storylines. Selling.... Blobby Dempsey does not know it. And the fact that he's over with the crowd... Well it makes my blood boil and it's a waste of Hero. Actually, Hero was a little wasted all weekend outside of advancing his feud with Kingston. Although, with Danielson and Nigel both leaving, it really should be Hero's time to step up. Speaking of Kingston, he arrives to the scene after Hero has won to say that he should "be more like Chris Hero"...... Okay, I'll see where they go with this. Â "American Wolves beat Danielson/Strong after Strong tapped to Edwards single leg. Fantastic match. Danielson got streamers and probably more reaction than Nigel. I'm not going to overhype this. It was awesome." Â I really don't need to sell this match. Just awesome. Crowd was into everything Danielson did. Strong is such a fantastic tag team wrestler. And the Wolves..... They are the best tag team going today. Period. Everything just flows so well. They look like a team. They act like a team. They have great chemistry and fantastic double-teams. They act like brothers, which is why I will be so sad the day comes they eventually split up - Hopefully not too soon because they are putting on MOTN candidates on every single show they wrestle and they've only been together 9 months so are only just really hitting their stride and haven't peaked quite yet. Davey Richards was the star here, but then, hell, when isn't he? Do yourself a favour and check this match out. This was more of a continuation to the Danielson/Black Tag Title Classic match than Danielson/Steen at Validation. It just didn't need a table spot to take anyone out, as all four men just worked so tight and brutal. Â With my first night of TV tapings done, I was really pleasently surprised at how good it was and how much fun I had. I had heard horror stories about the kids running wild and trying to take your front row seat, trash being thrown into the ring, toilet paper being thrown into the ring at inappropriate times, and the crowd being dead. Yes, I had all of that, but I still endeavoured that I was going to have a good time, and I did. Not too much bad about the tapings outside of the pre-show and Titus/Payne, and I definitely encourage everyone to catch Albright/D'Lo, Briscoes/Young Bucks, Claudio/Grizzly, Nigel/Colt, Steenerico/Smash Bros and especially Danielson & Strong/American Wolves when they get shown (or put on rohvideos.com). Â Night two thoughts to follow. Â Â Â It was a bleak, wet, miserable. It ain't always sunny in Philadelphia, but in the two weeks I'd been there, it'd rained sparsely - Once the day I flew in (during a nor easter no less) and then the last three days I was going to be there (looked at that time that I was going to be flying out during a nor easter on the Saturday as well... Joy). So it seemed apt that the final ROH Philadelphia appearences of their two most beloved sons was such a dark day on first glance. As if the indy wrestling God's themselves were mourning the loss of what can easily be considered two of ROH's main figureheads for at least the past four years from ROH's birthplace. Or, y'know, something less melodramatic. Â We had fantastic seats right in the middle of section A. Of course we realized that meant we would take the brunt of all the action outside the ring and were expecting a few dives. We got them - And then some - So at least we were prepared and had all our stuff ready and prepared in the case of needing to get your sh*t and run when a wrestler is flying out at you. Our friend Karen had two seats right at the end of the rampway, and we were going to try and shill one to unsuspecting ROH fans outside the arena - "Be ringside right at the entranceway for Dragon and Nigel's last ROH TV matches!" - But there were no biters and seen as it was bitterly cold outside, we gave up and called it a bum deal. Â In the end, so annoyed by two children repeatedly making their way to the front of the guard rail and already standing in front of her empty seat, Karen allowed the two kids to sit down there on the condition they behave. They were as good as their word. But there really was some troubling news here - The kids were alone. They got the free tickets, came to the arena by themselves, said the parents probably had no idea where they were, and two kids on their own were allowed entry to the shows. Is it me who just see's a problem with that? I'm not saying kids shouldn't be allowed to shows - Once they sat down, they were quiet all night - But the fact that they had no parental supervision is appalling. Yes, blame the parents. But when neighbourhood kids are coming in with free tickets, no parents or guardians and (let's presume that they're the misbehaved little blighters who chuck trash into the ring, swear like sailors and have taken the toilet paper treatment to heart instead of those kids there who actually HAVE parents with them) if anything were to happen and security needed to report these kids to their parents to ensure they behave..... The parents aren't there because ROH let them in unsupervised. Surely, the parents don't know where they are, but if there's a lawsuit, you bet they won't feel like they're the ones to blame if Bison Smith kills one of their kids. Â And I'm going to resist all inappropriate jokes about former ROH owners loving the fact that young boys were coming to the arena unaccompanied....................... Yes, I'm evil. Â I really aren't going to say much about the pre-show matches this time. I tried to block out the Bobby Dempsey opening tag match, and was successful until the point where it came I had to think long and hard about what the first pre-show match was.... And then went back to supressing it. Sorry, I'm really not a Bobby fan. The second tag match featured Gino whatever from the night before, just as awful as last night, but now given a mic to introduce his partner an Evan Karagious/Chuck Palumbo's bastard son who had a fitness gimmick.... I miss Tank Toland . Their opponents were the debuting(?) Bravado Brothers, the latest two prospects from the ROH School. I'm not going mercilessly attack two young guys in their debut. The match wasn't great, but I never expected it to be. You did a good job guys. Bravo. And lastly, Rasche Brown destroyed Sal Rinauro in about a minute. I don't know why, but I like Sal. His work in FIP is solid. And here he was a great jobber. Always fun to watch someone who looks like they're getting killed. Rasche Brown.... Is good in squash matches. But I've seen him attempt a competative match, and it wasn't good at all. Â But now onto the actual TV tapings themselves: Â "TV Taping 1: Â Kenny King beat Brent Albright after distraction from Titus who tied the ref up, Aries then attacked Albright for King to pick up the win. Cabana ran out with a chair to chase them off." Â Another great showing from King once again, and Albright more than held his own. Completely different from their matches the night before, and the two worked well together. I do so much prefer power-house Albright, and King did such a great job of swinging the offense back in his favour without making Albright look weak. A rather competative match that saw Albright do a suicide dive out onto the ring onto King, slamming back onto the guard rail in front of us. King work in all of his spots beautifully.... He's definitely becoming one of my favourite performers to watch. When Albright looked to have the match in hand, Titus and Aries came out with the distraction to allow King to get the win. I guess this means we'll be seeing Albright built up to face Aries for the belt.... I don't know if I'm down with that idea yet. He looks in great shape and looks all the better for being clean shaved, and he put on two great matches this weekend, but I'm pretty sure that Albright vs Aries would probably result in the ROH board exploding in rage... Well, what's left of it that is. Cabana came out at the end for the save in what was to be the set up for the next taping's main event, although allowing Colt a little promo times to challenge Aries/hype that match up really wouldn't have gone amiss. Â "Nigel cut a promo and said he wanted to bring someone out from the back who really helped him out in his career, and without him, he wouldn't have made it so far. He walked out the ramp, then came back by himself, as the man who did it all for him, himself. Nigel then left through the crowd saying it was the last time you'll see him on ROH TV as he's "leaving on a jet plane".... Awesome promo." Â Nigel first of all got a stronger reaction than the night before - Probably due to their being more people. And it would have been hard for him to get on the mic and be a heel right off the bat. So his "They've only given me three minutes to talk" intro had the fans in his hands right away. How do you sum up almost six years in three minutes? Well according to Nigel, you don't. You thank the one person that's important to you. The one person who helped you through it all. The one person you couldn't have done it all without...... Yourself. It was obvious where he was going with the premise and the lead in, but the build-up was so good. So when he one last time chooses himself over everyone else, turning on the fans that one last time, turning on ROH and leaving the building because he's decided it's time for him to go onto better things, it's pretty easy to want to hate him.......... But you don't, cos he's Nigel and you respect him for all that he's done. But he doesn't respect you and that's the point, he's so much above you. Like I said, awesome promo, and I was surprised ROH let him go out like this on TV. Â "Then came back to cut a heartfelt promo to the crowd presumably off-camera." Â Yeah, just one last out of character speech to say thank you to the fans and everyone else who supported him. I hope this ends up on a video wire or a DVD extra. Â "D'Lo beat Sal Rinauro." Â A more extended squash than Sal's pre-show contest against Brown..... Rasche Brown that is. See, this is more what I talked about in my type up from the night before's show about D'Lo supposed to be a heel, but playing it very tweener. Yes, you're a name and over with the fans. But, unless I'm missing something, you're a heel? And the whole Twitter business..... That was because you couldn't do it in the locker room? So you decided to show people up on TV while doing it while supposed to be doing your job?...... Or that was just a story to put over how 'cool' it was D'Lo took time out to make a few Twitter posts during a match. I don't get it. Are you a heel or aren't you, or does every heel want to be a bad-ass rebel without a cause who everybody loves? Â "Wolves beat The Young Bucks in a great match. Would have been better on a house show, but fantastic for a TV match. Davey's a star, no doubt about it." Â Great match. Definitely a close tie between this and Danielson/Strong for MOTN. Gotta say, I looked at GLF's times and I was surprised to see that this only went 12 minutes. They really did pack a lot into it. Since this match, I've had the opportunity to watch Steenerico vs Young Bucks from Contention, and I have to say, bias of being there live aside, this was the better match. And I really enjoyed that match too. But this.... Yes, they would have been allowed to do more at a house show. Yes, they would have had more time to build and build. But for just a damn sprint of tag team as it's finest, this really was a great match. Definitely a more enthusiastic crowd for this one, getting behind The Young Bucks - Something that probably was a lot harder when they went up against the uber-popular Briscoes on a quieter Thursday night show. The Wolves have just transformed into this fantastic tag team, like the British Bulldogs with two Dynamite Kids, whereas The Young Bucks with their high-flying offense were the perfect counter-fit to that. I said Davey was a standout, but the guy is just so untouchable right now, I am genuinely going to be shocked the time that someone else overshadows him. Eddie, a lot of guys called him bland and uninteresting when he first made his way onto the full-time ROH roster but now this guy has come from out of being under Sweeney's nuclear heat stealing, to being a compelling side and perfect fit to Davey's killer wrestling machine. Just a really, really good match. I can't wait to see the rematch on DVD if this was just the start. Â "TV Taping 2: Â Dark City Fight Club vs Briscoes went to a no contest after they started fighting outside the ring and started using weapons. Good for what it was, and what it builds up. I don't know whether Albright going full force into Kenny King or Briscoes and DCFC fighting it out ended up ripping our Union Jack flag, but we noticed it here." Â Much like the night before, an obvious no contest - Really, I understand The Briscoes having the Tag Title Shot on TV in the near future so they need to be kept strong, but DCFC had already lost to The Young Bucks on TV so a loss wouldn't kill them dead. Actually, I probably would have thought DCFC being the ones to be DQ'd after dismantling The Briscoes with weapons would make both teams look stronger. But in what was only an 8 minute contest - Really? I guess when two behemoths are fighting right in front of you and then THROUGH you, the seconds turn into hours - It was fun to see two teams just beat the hell out of each other. Like I mentioned weapons, Briscoes were the ones to start using chairs, but DCFC kept fighting back and keeping up with them.......... Yeah, that probably made The Briscoes look weaker in hindsight. Obviously these two teams will feud before Briscoes get their Title shot, so I hope they get to do more in Part 2. I could stomach another non-decisive finish or a post-match finish, but they've wet peoples appetite with a starter now, at least give them the first course instead of another starter. Â "Eddie Kingston beat Claudio Castagnoli via Chris Hero's loaded elbow pad used during the backfist to the future. Hero was out at ringside all match. Claudio looked very impressive picking up and throwing Eddie Kingston around. Also, I have to note something I forgot last night, after Hero's match against Dempsey, Eddie came out saying he should be more like Chris Hero. So when Eddie came out tonight, Hero came out after to introduce Claudio as he "wants to be like Hero" and also explains the use of the loaded elbow pad." Â Another shocker when I saw the times posted. This match went less than 7 minutes? Huh. I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent here - With Nigel and Bryan leaving, more emphasis definitely needs to be put on Hero and Claudio. Claudio looked fantastic here. I've never seen him in better shape. The bald head and stubble goatee make him look really intimidating. The power moves he executed on someone's Kingston size (and weight) were not to be scoffed at at all - Seriously, he held him up in the air before executing a pop-up european uppercut after throwing him up in the air. He's started doing a new big swing, an airplane spin this time in torture rack position and then spinning around with his opponent still on his back HANDS FREE!....... Imagine doing that to someone like Kingston. I don't get why ROH is bringing in another big muscle bound guy like Rasche Brown or putting up with only having Bison Smith once or twice every six months, when they already have Claudio and if they let him loose, people could definitely buy him as a power house to be feared. Everything is just clicking for Claudio right now from his attire, his attitude, his facials and body language, and the way he uses his move-set. He's not the same awkward heel he was a year ago. The only thing that's holding Claudio back right now is his association with The Embassy and a potential lack of direction after the Albright feud has ended. Claudio needs to be in the upper main event, or at least have something to sink his teeth into. Â Sorry, I shouldn't have to talk Claudio up like this because anyone who's seen him lately should be able to see how big of a roll he's on right now. The match was pretty good. Claudio dominated, Eddie fought back but ultimately resorted to shenanigans to pick up the win - And get under Hero's skin. I loved the tease of a KOW reunion. Hopefully with them both being together in a 4CS, this could be elaborated on more..... Â "Austin Aries beat Cabana via last chancery in the main event. Good match. Cabana had Aries tapping in the billy goats curse, but King and Titus ran in for interference. King was out first, but got held up by Brent Albright so Titus sneaked in for the aid." Â Aries was definitely wearing some really magical pants. Shiny. Cabana... I don't know. Like I said, it feels like he's missing something. And I just can't put my finger on it. Good match, but never had any of the intensity or drama of when Cabana challenged Aries for the Title the first two times (Obviously with the second match being a Cage match and having it's own dynamic). Colt can say he beat a former ROH Champion and did have Aries tap if it wasn't for the outside interference, but this match was more about putting forward Albright into Title contention... Or at least, that's how I feel at the ending. Something that has really hurt Colt (at least from the impression I had from these TV tapings only) was that he has really lost all connection with the crowd..... I just don't get it. Â I should probably point out here that after a main event, they usually take a five minute intermission to allow people to use the rest rooms, get a drink/snack, pick up some merch, but they caught everyone out by pressing forward with the next taping immediately after. A lot of people were left scrambling back into their seats halfway during the opening contest. And it wasn't like they were really pressed for time either. Â "TV Taping 3: Â Chris Hero beat Delirious. Sonjay Dutt attacked Delirious before and after the match." Â Okay.... Allow me another tangent here. I said earlier that Claudio and Hero should be more of a focus now. Hero had a high-profile match against KENTA at the last tapings where he held his own, was over with the crowd, and looked on top of his game (At least this is what I have been told by several people who were there). So how was he used this weekend? A pointless match against Bobby Dempsey. Him and KENTA were beating the sh*t out of each other the month before, but now he's struggling to put down BOBBY DEMPSEY!???????? In a match that really should have taken place months ago. And now he faces Delirious in a random match. Furthermore, the angle isn't about Hero vs Delirious, it's about Sonjay attacking Delirious before the match to leave him in a weakened state against Hero and for the fans to get behind him fighting back against Hero - Something the fans did not do......... - The only saving grace of the weekend for Hero was the build for his match against Kingston.... But are they building to blow-off at NYC or blow-off on TV? I just don't know. Â Anyways........... Yeah. Didn't really do much for Hero, and helped push forward Delirious/Sonjay for the next tapings. Â "Necro & Grizzly beat Joey Ryan & Prince Nana! - Yes, he "wrestled" by avoiding Necro as much as possible. The stip was the much hyped~! beard vs beard match and as result, Dirty Ernie got shaved." Â An alright match. There is only one thing that stands out in my mind after this match, and it's a negative one. Joey Ryan attacked Necro outside the ring and chucked him over the guard rail into the fans. Now Necro went down into the fans.... But after a long delayed time, swung his foot back wildly and struck the guy sitting next to me right in the nose causing it to bleed. I felt incredibly sorry for the guy. Necro was already over into the crowd and didn't really need to swing his foot back the way he did, but he did and almost broke a guys nose. Sorry, but............... That just stood out to me. And why would you give your staple gun to a guy bringing in beer from outside? Staple gun + beer = good choice? Â Can Grizzly vs Ernie be over now? Please? The fans got into it and enjoyed it. But can you let it die now? Â ""Skullkrusher" Rasche Brown beat jobber. Next." Â Exact same thing he did against Sal. Except this jobber wasn't entertaining or memorable. Compare Brown's squash to Claudio/Grizzly the night before and see a world of difference. Â "Roderick Strong beat Bryan Danielson via sick kick in a fantastic main event. Crowd was 99.9999999999999999% for Danielson over Strong, and reacted to everything." Â I actually felt bad for Roderick and decided to start cheering for him.... Or at least attempting too. An amazing atmosphere. The crowd was so pro-Danielson they popped for EVERYTHING! Just really something you had to be there to witness.If you've seen Anarchy In The UK or their match at PWG's Schadenfreude, then you know these two are capable.of putting on a streamlined performance of their first three epic encounters. They just threw everything at each other. Backbreackers and chops galore from Roderick. The guy is just at the top of his game right now. Danielson gave as good as he took and did his dive into the crowd where we were formerly sitting......... I'm glad I was pre-warned that I was in the free-fly area. The only disappointment I had was the finish. The sick kick was just so... Anticlimactic. I think I and everyone else was expecting Roddy to win regardless and start this big push that we all know he deserves after his performances of late, but the air just went out of the room when the 3 was counted. I guess we were all expecting one last kick-out and then a Tiger Driver to seal Danielson's fate. But it wasn't to be. And we all just witnessed Danielson's final ROH match in Philadelphia..... And that's when it sunk in for me. That was it. That was the end. Â That was going to be the last time I'd ever get to see Danielson in an ROH ring. It sunk in that I hadn't seen him in England for over a year, and now probably never would see him again after this point. And when Nigel got in the ring with him afterwards.... I don't know why, I guess we were all caught up in the moment of his awesome heel promo and then heart-felt OOC speech it still didn't feel like he was gone just yet. But when they stood in the ring together, it was official.... And it was hard not to feel for the moment. My girlfriend next to me was definitely emotional - Nigel and Dragon are her two favourite wrestlers, and they were both leaving her the day before my flight out of the country....... So, yeah. Definitely a 'moment' you can say you were there live at. And I'm sure NYC will be off the charts for those lucky to attend. Â Overall.... I don't actually get the people praising night two over night one. I think I enjoyed night one more, but only marginally. Yes, night two had Dragon's final ROH TV match (I'm tired of typing ROH Philadelphia) in what was a cracking encounter with Roderick Strong (probably a step above their AITUK) bout match, the first match between The Wolves and The Young Bucks, the first encounter between The Briscoes and DCFC (well, ROH wise as I'm sure they've faced each other in FIP? Side note, what the hell is happening to this years FIP DVD's? They sounded like they had such a strong start of the year, but the shows seem to have wound down a lot since Tyler got injured and forfeited the belt without coming back) and the 'moment' of Dragon's promo to close the show with Nigel surrounded by the locker room and then that last swan song of The Final Countdown.... In Philadelphia. Â But I thought night one was the more consistent show. It had Albright/D'Lo which surpassed all expectations. Briscoes vs Young Bucks in their first encounter. Nigel's final ROH TV appearence against Colt Cabana, and that rare moment of Nigel breaking character to smile at Colt's antics. Steenerico vs Smash Bros. And that epic main event of Wolves vs Danielson/Strong which may have been the best match of the entire weekend. Â I did promise some more thoughts about my impression of how I took things after coming away from this TV taping, so I'm just going to do some quick thoughts on several ROH roster members before launching into a pressing issue I have. Â Austin Aries: Definitely not just a star, he's THE star. Upon his first re-invention at the early part of this year, the over-selling was a bit much, but he's just refined it into such a loathable character who just oozes star presence. Definitely a worthy current ROH Champion and furthermore, he actually looks like a Champion as well, and he sounds like one. He owned Tyler on the mic in both confrontations, and that "fireball" incident was something else and unexpected (Along with the "it was an accident" crys afterwards). A solid main event against Cabana that didn't matter if the Title was on the line or not. I was under the impression that it was, but apparently that wasn't the case. Not too sure if I'm sold on the tease of Albright vs Aries..... Â Roderick Strong: May tie with Danielson as man of the weekend. Fantastic tag match and then a great singles match with Danielson. Can you believe that with Nigel and Bryan gone, Roderick and Aries are now the longest serving ROH roster members? (I'm not counting The Briscoes due to them taking a two year sabbatical or Cabana due to his two years endeavouring elsewhere). Definitely deserves everything that's coming to him with the roster re-shuffle that is bound to take place in order to try and fill (or at least cover up) those two huge holes Nigel and Bryan are leaving. Â Tyler Black: A shame that we weren't able to see Black vs Nigel in the city that gave birth to it (What do you mean they faced each other in AAW before that?..... Shut up.), and definitely a shame that we didn't get Black vs King on the second night which would have been a gem if allowed to be as good as their 2008 FIP contest. He has A look, but he just needs several tweaks and modifications before it's THE look. Most importantly is his mic work. Still, the "fireball" incident was a smart way to write him out and make people more eager to see his retribrution against Aries rather than failed Title shot #6. Â Kenny King: Just looks absolutely great. When I first heard about him being partnered up with Titus, I thought it would be a step down for him, but he's made it work and the two have become quite the cohesive tag team unit, with King undoubtably the star. I thought the alliance with Aries would overshadow him, but the fact that he's allowed to quietly do his thing in the background just shows how much charisma he has that he can be in the background, but still at the front of your attention. Two good matches. The mismatch with Kingston worked, and a great back and forth struggle with Albright. Â Eddie Kingston: I'll be honest, both of his opponents shined more than him. And Eddie excels at promo's, but he was only allowed about 20 seconds worth of time on the mic to say he wants to "be more like Hero". Definitely an interesting story emerging here. Â Delirious: I don't get why he wasn't as over with the TV crowd as I thought he would be. Still, the random 4CS that only served to push two feuds forward, and then the random match against Hero didn't exactly give him much direction other than Sonjay Dutt. Â Sonjay Dutt: Like I said from night one, if you're gonna be a heel, act like one. I'm watching him as a face from his May/June ROH run from before he turned into a heel, and he still has a lot of the "big pop" mannerisms. Â Necro: He's over and he knows what works. Still grinds my gears about how carelessly he threw his foot into that guys face when it wasn't necessary. Â Joey Ryan: Really, really needs to bring sleazy back. Such a fantastic character and solid wrestler, but is lost in The Embassy shuffle. If I may suggest something that may help out both talent in the long run, his comedy feud with Colt Cabana needs to turn serious. Real serious. Have Joey be sleazy and everything that isn't the code of honor, by just taking it too far in a return match against Cabana, burned by being treated like a fool. Colt in the meanwhile can get stuck into something more serious and hopefully get that passion back or that *something* that is missing right now. Â Prince Nana: Please stop throwing toilet paper at him. It should just be for Jimmy Rave only. Â Albright: A really good showing this weekend, but then I've always been a fan. Really surprised at how good the match with D'Lo was (mainly more due to the clean finish which is something I wasn't expecting due to Pearce's booking at times) and really does have direction and motive to a future Title shot. Of course, that is allowing the ROH fanbase doesn't threaten mass suicide as protect. Looks ten thousand times better clean shaven. Â D'Lo: Yeah... Be a heel if you're booked like one. But you won me over with your match against Albright. Â The Briscoes: ROH's tag team golden boys ended up with two no contests, both due to the DCFC. Really looking forward to return matches against both The Young Bucks and DCFC. I don't want them to cash in their Title shot and beat The Wolves tho. The Briscoes need to go a while without the straps to re-affirm their position as top dog tag team in ROH. Of course that's just my opinion. Â Dark City Fight Club: First time seeing these two and it was exactly what I was expecting. Looking forward to seeing their feud with The Briscoes progress. Â Steen/Generico: Not that much to be said really. I wouldn't mind seeing a little programme against The Smash Bros if they get brought in more regularly. Â The Young Bucks: If it weren't for The Wolves, they would be tag team of the weeknd. Two really good tag matches that set them up as stars of the ROH tag team division. I am so glad ROH started booking them and they are more than earning their roster spot. Â The American Wolves: The best tag team today, bar none. Everything works. The Danielson/Strong match was awesome. They made The Young Bucks look like future Champions, who only just lost out to the better tag team on this occassion. I know everyone is saying Davey is great and predicting the world for him. I just want them to get as much milage out of The Wolves as possible, because I don't think they've even started to really put out their best yet. Â Colt Cabana: I've said a lot about Cabana already so I can leave this brief. He just needs something to do, something that allows him to fully commit 100% all of his character, heart and soul into a programme and finally get his feet back. I would think allowing his feud with Ryan to degrade into something nasty would at least give Cabana a bigger purpose right now. And with Nigel and Bryan both leaving, we can't have a soulless Cabana. Â Claudo Castagnoli: Yeah, see my rant above. They really need to start doing something with Claudio. He really could be a big man power house.... He looks more impressive at it than Rasche Brown ever did and right now he looks the best he ever has in his entire career. Â Chris Hero: Speaking of looking the best he ever has in his entire career.... It's Chris Hero. I do find it funny that both former KOW members have stepped up their game in several levels, but it's only Hero's who's being appreciated for doing so. But while he's feuding with Kingston, it's still no excuse to put him in two random matches. This guy should be one of those at the top of ROH right now. Â Okay, that's that. Â Now..... Â I had a thought after the TV tapings about the crowd change and the current ROH fanbase in Philadelphia. It's no secret that there's a lot more casual ROH fans who take advantage of the free tickets they can be found around the area. And we all know that fan attendence is dwindling - Especially when ROH continue to run on a Thursday and Fridays..... Even the next tapings in November are Thursday and Friday, during school term? - And that a fair amount of the ROH "hardcore" fanbase have stopped going to the shows. Well that was definitely obvious at these two tapings. Now, I was at Dover, NJ for Double Feature during The Wrestler taping so my first ROH experience included dead, apathetic crowds who had no idea who anyone was. And while the TV tapings weren't *THAT* bad - I don't think anything will come close to ever being that bad - It wasn't a crowd that felt passionate about the product or involved in it at all. Sorry for feeling that a lot of these fans were there for the "TV" taping aspect and the fact that they can get free tickets. And I guess that the ROH fans who have been following ROH for a while are a little disheartened at the product and fanbase they have now, so aren't as invested or enthusiastic as they once were. Â Now... My thought is this. What happens if HDNet cancel their TV deal with ROH after the year is up? What if ROH no longer has the financial backing to run shows in the arena, and are forced to pay for them off their own backs? Yes, we'd get the "house/super" shows again, but do you think the ROH fanbase would come back? Do you think that the people who went to the tapings, let's say they bought cheap tickets instead of getting in for free, do you think they would go to a "regular" ROH show with an increased ticket price to help cover the costs? Â Do you think that if ROH ran the arena with the exact same roster they have now, but followed the house show format - Let's say Philly would be more equal with an Edison, NJ than a NYC or Chicago - That the old ROH fanbase would come rushing back? Â .......... I don't know. Â I think if they ever had to run "house shows" in Philly again, every 3-4 months, they would have to bring something big each time in order to even draw a crowd now. I don't know. I just had that thought and it depressed me. I loved Take No Prisoners 08 and I loved Glory By Honor VII. I enjoyed 7th Year Anniversary, but obviously something was different due to the change in product. And I had a lot of fun at the TV tapings, and I saw a lot of great matches, but the attitude of the crowd at times depressed me a little. Â I didn't want to end this on a downer after writing so much about how much I enjoyed myself, and about what went right and why. But I do now wonder what would happen to the birth place of ROH if the TV tapings were to ever be cancelled for whatever reason. Â Fire back with your thoughts if you have any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 18, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2009 I really like the analysis of the ROH roster at the end. I love Aries' new character, and my DVD watching is still in April, so I can't wait to see him as ROH Champion again. Beyond the champions, in Aries as World Champ and the Wolves as tag champs, however, there is indeed way too many guys who have just had no sense of direction. With that, people aren't really embracing any characters, and when they do, they don't seem to go anywhere. Even established acts like the Briscoes and Steenerico seem to be a bit lost from a booking standpoint. They seem to have most people on the right side of the fan favourite/rulebraker divide, Roderick is benefitting a lot from being back as a face, for example, there's just no real compelling rivalries for the fanbase to really get their teeth into. Â Regarding ticketselling in Philly, I miss the house shows in the National Guard Armory so much, and I've never even been there. The Arena is so crappy for atmosphere via TV/DVD now, it doesn't draw on ECW Arena name value, I just don't get it. I hope HDNet is at least covering ROH's expenses for the shows there, I really do. Should HDNet abandon the promotion, I would hope ROH would see sense to go back to the Armory, and they'd probably have to cut back to a couple of shows a year there only, to try and make it feel special again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted September 19, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted September 19, 2009 Good stuff Cobystag! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C/WMark Please! Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Very good read Cobystag, sounded like you had a great time. Â I look forward to seeing Albright/D'Lo Brown, sounds like a cracking match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 19, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted September 19, 2009 Dayton results from a combination of sources on the ROH forum... the show appears to have only drawn ~300 fans, and the return date isn't until April 23rd...  Preshow Match - Tony Kozina & O'Reilly d. Bravado Brothers: O'Reilly made one of the brothers tap out  Preshow Match - Tim Donst & Bobby Dempsey d. Andy Ridge & Jordan McIntyre  Preshow Match - Sal Rinaruo d. Alex Payne: bigstu, who's sending me the results as well, said "I missed the finish, was blinded by Sal's bare ass"....  1) Eddie Edwards vs Brent Albright. Edwards wins with help from Davey.  2) Dark City Fight Club d. House of Truth - said to be a good match  3) Jimmy Rave vs Grizzly Redwood ends in dq nana interferes and necro saves  big post match brawl for like 5 mins  4) Davey Richards beats Claudio Castagnoli via pinfall after super awesome code red  5) Jay and Mark Briscoe over The Young Bucks via Dooms Day Device.  Aries, Brown, and Silas Young just arrived due to car trouble  6) Rasche Brown beats Silas  7) Austin Aries and Rhett Titus lose to Petey Williams and Colt Cabana. The 300 peeps in the crowd liked it. Colt pinned Titus. Petey hit a flippy piledriver on aries prior to victory. Someone on twitter posted "Rhett Titus busted open the hard way. Freak blood."  8) Hero pins B-Ryan after rolling elbow to back of B-Ryan's neck.  rjmc101's results on the forum make it sound like a show booked so no-one really cared about many of the matches, though other reports put Briscoes/Young Bucks, Davey/Claudio and the two final matches as really good.  Danielson's lost to Strong and Hero in succession, there's no way he's beating Aries for the title tonight, I'd guess he'll also put over Davey in Boston before beating Nigel in their last night in NYC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted September 19, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted September 19, 2009 I don't know why they bother running running Dayton, they never draw there. 350 people for one of Dragon's final matches? *shakes head* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobystag Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 I thought it was obvious that Danielson's final countdown would be the "laid on back" tour, not the Joe's "run through everybody putting no one over" tour. Â Beating Danielson will hopefully be a big thing for Strong, Hero and Davey. All three of them deserve that push into the ME scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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