Official ROH Discussion Thread

[King of my World]

Nice review of the 100th show. I have that show, as well as the other shows post Arena Warfare still to watch from the Milestone Series.I watched Survival of the Fittest 2005 over the weekend, it has enjoyable qualifiers, with Milano Collection AT making his RoH debut against Samoa Joe, and a fun pure title match between Nigel McGuinness and BJ Whitmer with Nigel using the rules to his advantage as always. The Survival of the fittest match was also enjoyable, not as good as 2004's, the majority of the match is Aries and Strong working together to eliminate all the other opponents, which is a preview to future shows as they team up together on a regular basis.I have quite a few RoH shows I have which I havent got round to watching yet like Showdown in MoTown, Round Robin Challenge III, and the last five shows of the Milestone Series. I will post thoughts on them once I've watched them.

[alexander]

I'm going to confuse the hell out of everyone with some very old reviews now...

 

 

 

ROH

[edgecrusher]

Marufuji got some stick? What for? Just ordered the 2 Weekend of Champions shows, so I'll probably do reviews of them. I see no reason to let you have all the review-based fun!

[alexander]

Marufuji got some stick? What for? Just ordered the 2 Weekend of Champions shows, so I'll probably do reviews of them. I see no reason to let you have all the review-based fun!

A lot of people critised Marufuji for his performance in the match, calling him sloppy, saying he wasn't on KENTA's level etc. Morons, mostly.Yeah, do more reviews. It's more fun when there's a few of us with different views on things.

[edgecrusher]

Want me to review a couple of the shows you've reviewed? I quite fancy re-watching them anyway.I'd agree Marufuji wasn't working the same way KENTA was, but then the focus wasn't on him. It looked to me like someone very magnaminously doing a favour for a friend and letting him look like a million bucks, which makes sense since KENTA's the one ROH are most interested in (what with his little tour coming up and all).That reminds me; are they getting Dragon Gate back in later? They'd be mad not to.

Edited June 26, 2006 by edgecrusher

[stone]

Just read on either the next show or the show after American Dragon VS Sonjay Dutt for the ROH belt this is either gonna be really good or extreemly shite

[alexander]

Want me to review a couple of the shows you've reviewed? I quite fancy re-watching them anyway.I'd agree Marufuji wasn't working the same way KENTA was, but then the focus wasn't on him. It looked to me like someone very magnaminously doing a favour for a friend and letting him look like a million bucks, which makes sense since KENTA's the one ROH are most interested in (what with his little tour coming up and all).That reminds me; are they getting Dragon Gate back in later? They'd be mad not to.

Hey, if you want to review the new stuff eight months before I get round to it, go ahead. For a board this size it’s amazing the small amount of actual talk about wrestling matches that goes on, so it’s all good.Yeah, I agree with Marufuji mainly giving KENTA space to work in. People underestimate what a smart worker Marufuji has become.I’m sure we’ll see continued Dragon Gate involvement in ROH, what with CIMA getting Evans, Sydal, Strong, Aries and Rave over for the Wrestle Jam shows that Dragon gate are producing. The ROH tag belts are even going to be defended in Japan as a result. Of course, we all ready get SHINGO TAKAGI~ on all the shows nowadays.

Just read on either the next show or the show after American Dragon VS Sonjay Dutt for the ROH belt this is either gonna be really good or extreemly shite

On July 15th when ROH returns to Philadelphia you will see Bryan Danielson vs. Sonjay Dutt for the ROH World Title!!!

I’m going to go with ‘suck’, personally. I’m sure AmDrag will have a laugh pulling little bits off Dutt and eating them, and this is the “Cage Of Death” show with the CZW bleachers again, so the heat will be incredible. But come on…Sonjay fucking Dutt? The guy is a supernaturally crappy wrestler, the only enjoyment I get out of watching him is trying to guess exactly when he’ll almost kill himself and his opponent with an arm drag gone wrong. Plus, this isn’t like the Chris Hero match, where it was an outside possibility that Dragon might lose the belt, they’ll have to work damn hard to make anyone believe Dutt has a snowball’s chance in hell.Still, it’ll be fun to watch Danielson razz the CZW fans again. Anyway, more importantly...

Prince Nana sent out a press release today saying that The Embassy will introduce a new member on July 15th in Philadelphia. Nana says this will change the face of The Embassy.

Historically, Nana makes a big deal out of the people he’s bringing in and they turn out to be shit, then one time he swerved everyone by bringing in Abyss. So is this a swerve, or something awesome?

[edgecrusher]

'Fuji also took nine tenths of the offence for his team, while KENTA kicked the crap out of everyone, barring a section of offence that he took. Having re-watched the match I'd say Marufuji and Danielson were the glue holding that match together, since Joe really didn't do that much and KENTA was mostly there to look awesome and kick the crap out of Danielson (and get some shots in on Joe)I do agree that the previous match was better than it, though. I thought the main event felt too WWE-like, there really wasn't much actual team work going on, whereas the Briscoes/GenNext match felt very distinctly like a tag match... even if Evans utterly fucked up the final move. Thing is, it probably wasn't obvious that he did to the live fans.

[didcotfc]

Historically, Nana makes a big deal out of the people he

[Adam G]

Theres a pretty good match on the ROH Videos site, The Briscoes vs James Keenan and Jason Blade.

Edited June 30, 2006 by Adam Gard

[dean]

Downloadable versions of the free ROH matches and recaps are available at http://www.wrestling-downloads.com/

[Philjax]

I just watched Dissension yesterday (actually in two parts over Wednesday and Thursday because i find it hard to watch a full 3 hour block of ROH in one go) and i have to say i was very disapointed in it. Yes even the Styles/Dragon main event that everyone was raving about. Is it me. Am i burnt out from watching so much ROH (all of it) that only stuff truly blinding has any impact on me??? Please tell me that this event was one of the more mediocre ones so i feel a bit better.....Will i enjoy Unscripted II much before i get back to the good shows that follow?

[edgecrusher]

Don't think it was as good as some stuff later on, but overall you just sound burnt out.

[gadge]

Lantern isn't the only one catching up on reviews. I'll finish off the Best in the World one after this...

 

ROH: Dragon Gate Challenge - Detroit, MI, 30.3.06

 

The first part of ROH's Wrestlemania weekend triple shot, the first half hour is a lot of setup for what is to come, with interviews and a couple of short matches.

 

Continuing from the end of the 'Best in the World' DVD, Prince Nana has to threaten Rave and Shelley with pay cuts to get them to shake hands and go after the tag titles. Then, Lacey wants BJ Whitmer hurt, but she struggles to get through to Jimmy Jacobs due to his drooling. Well, almost. He asks her if she's seen the video from ROHvideos.com (also shown on the 'Best in the World' DVD) but she has no idea. Or does she, as she offers him a reward if he hurts Whitmer, and he chooses the opportunity to massage her feet. Gross, bizarre yet fun all at once.

 

Colt Cabana vs Homicide

 

Cabana interrupts Bobby Cruise's show opening, calling out Homicide for their Falls Count Anywhere match. Homicide comes out and they hit the brawling, quickly spilling into the crowd. Back in the ring, Cabana brings a ladder into play, but it backfires on him as Homicide kills him, getting a three count after sandwiching Cabana's head inside the ladder and bashing it together with a chair. Short but intense, and while the commentary proclaims Homicide to have won the feud, leaving Cabana in mental turmoil, that's not exactly likely with two shows in Chicago to come. Props to Julius Smokes screaming "IT'S OVER!" though.

 

Quick promos with Do Fixer and then Christopher Daniels, who gets criticised for his promos but at least gets over the history between Joe and himself leading into their final scheduled singles match. Daniels also teases the chances of him offering Joe a handshake.

 

Chad Collyer vs Ricky Reyes

 

I like this, it's a no frills wrestling match much like Collyer vs Romero (a great opening match in 2004 at one of the Death Before Dishonor 2 shows). Indeed, they have the crowd on it's feet near the end as Collyer's Cloverleaf narly gets the job done, but after that Collyer's attempt at a rollup sees him practically roll himself into Reyes' Dragon Sleeper which gets the submission.

 

More promos to go with the last lot, as Blood Generation diss Generation Next and Samoa Joe says Daniels will have no choice about shaking Joe's hand, as he'll be choked out on the mat. Nice.

 

Jimmy Jacobs vs BJ Whitmer

 

This is where the show really starts to pick up. Jacobs comes out to the music from 'The Ballad of Lacey', which the Detroit crowd understand. During Whitmer's entrance we get clips of Whitmer attacking Jacobs on Fox News that morning, and the breakup of their tag team at 'Dissension'. I like it when they put in clips, for the most part.

 

A technical style opening lasts no time at all as the match quickly settles into a rhythm of Whitmer destroying Jacobs with his power for the most part, beginning with him catching Jacobs off a pescado and battering him into the barriers at ringside three times. Jacobs keeps himself in things by going after Whitmer's head and neck, presumably to set up Contra Code, starting with a headscissors into the turnbuckle, a slingshot double stomp to the back of the neck from that position followed up by a dropkick sandwiching Whitmer's head into the ring post.

 

Jacobs on the advantage gets all cocky and starts blowing kisses at Lacey, then promptly continues taking a beating, but kicking out and keeping himself in with a chance with his speed and some rollups. Whitmer meanwhile can certainly give out the punishment, including a vicious snake eyes-german suplex-dragon suplex-powerbomb combo (which Jacobs somehow avoids the powerbomb part of into some rollups) and a frankly evil powerbomb onto the guardrail.

 

Then comes the big fall.

 

An unlikely attempt by Jacobs to superplex Whitmer sees Whitmer counter and go for a top rope powerbomb. Except, when he gets onto the top rope and lifts Jacobs, he falls straight to the floor, cracking Jacobs in the powerbomb position, head first across the apron. It's kind of like when La Resistance tried to powerbomb Spike Dudley over the top rope through a table and he fell short, only looking much, much worse.

 

Somehow, they both continue. Whitmer gets up first though with obvious ankle pain, and rolls Jacobs into the ring for an unbelievable nearfall. As Whitmer wonders "what the fuck?", Jacobs somehow comes back with the Contra Code, but while he seemingly has the unlikely victory in his grasp, Lacey doesn't want the win, she wants Whitmer destroyed. So, Jacobs has to set Whitmer up for a senton off the top through a table, at which point he gets carried away blowing kisses at Lacey again, and Whitmer revives, taking Jacobs off the top with an overhead belly to belly suplex, then finishing him off with a sick lariat for three.

 

Thoroughly gripping stuff that, a match that was progressing nicely without the big fall, yet will probably be forgotten with the exception of the fall in the end. Afterwards, Jimmy Jacobs refuses to shake the hand of Whitmer, and the fact that the handshake part of the Code of Honor can still draw crowd heat after 4 years is pretty shocking.

 

Jimmy Yang vs Ryo Saito

 

This is the first of three ROH vs Dragon Gate matches on the show. Saito is the Open the Dream Gate champion in Dragon Gate, and from the moment that is mentioned on commentary it makes the outcome more predictable. This match is solid yet unspectacular for the most part, Yang puts in a better performance than most of his 2006 ROH matches, and Saito looks good. The action is pretty much back and forth, Yang hitting his kicks while Saito is more of a suplex based wrestler by the looks of it. At the end, Yang only half connects with Yang Time and Saito kicks out, then Saito wins with a bridging Dragon Suplex called the Premium Bridge.

 

Jimmy Rave and Alex Shelley vs Bryan Danielson and Delirious

 

Yet more Jimmy action, this time with Rave. This is moving the Embassy from the Danielson matches (both losing singles title matches) towards getting a Tag Title shot, while Danielson said he can beat both Rave and Shelley with any partner, so Prince Nana chose perennial loser Delirious, who in storyline needs a win on the triple shot or he's dropped from ROH.

 

The early part of the match is a lot of the usual Delirious comedy shenanigans, which naturally works great with the Embassy to sell it, culminating in Delirious having a go at an aeroplane spin on Rave which Danielson then has to show him how it's done.

 

The Embassy don't really get any control of the match until about half way, when distractions from Prince Nana and the Haze lead to Danielson getting isolated for a good five minutes, the end result being an unlikely hot tag to Delirious. Delirious cleans house nicely, until the Embassy try to play the numbers game and Danielson comes back leading to a double Cattle Mutilation spot that goes down nicely. Danielson dives onto Rave on the floor from there, though that spells the end for Delirious as another distraction from Nana leads to Shelley pinning him after Sliced Bread #2. Good match, though obviosly not up to Danielson's other recent ROH stuff.

 

Intermission time, as Colt Cabana tries to cut a promo challenging Homicide in Chicago, but it's abandoned half way through as he tries to get intense and his head spins due to 'concussion'. While I appreciated most of the feud, at this point I'm getting a bit fed up of Cabana in this persona and I hope the blow off to the feud is worthwhile.

 

From there, the post intermission match is a modified squash they say is taped for ROHvideos.com (though it isn't on there) as Claudio Castagnoli pins Shane Hagadorn with the something or other waterslide, and it turns into an angle as Chris Hero and Necro Butcher come out. Hero runs down his history with Double C, then BJ Whitmer runs in. The CZWers quickly overwhelm Whitmer as Castagnoli watches for a bit, then teases joining in, before making the save (though he only actually lands one blow on Necro before they scarper). So the crowd pop for the save, but Double C didn't really do anything. The plot thickens...

 

Dragon Kid and Genki Horiguchi vs AJ Styles and Matt Sydal

 

The Dragon Gate Challenge continues with ROH needing a win to keep the series alive, so again the outcome is pretty predictable. Sydal and Horiguchi start out with some quickfire basics, then Styles tags in for a bit. AJ going against Dragon Kid is what the crowd want to see, and we get it but only for a few moments at that point. There's a great submission/pose double team by the Do FIXER combo, then we get a load more Sydal vs Horiguchi, which is all pretty good stuff. We also get a HAGE chant, which is good.

 

Then there's a hot tag to Dragon Kid, and after Styles blocks a headscissors in a way that looks so strange the crowd craps on it, we start heading for the finish, with Dragon Kid and Horiguchi hitting dives which results in a not-so-good this is awesome chant. Styles hits his German suplex-front suplex combo on Horiguchi, but turns around into Dragon Kid's Dragonrana for a two count, which annoys me as I mark for that move. He then kicks out of Horiguchi's trademark Backslide From Heaven too, which annoys me even more. Sydal takes out Dragon Kid with a dive with then leaves Styles free to pin Horiguchi after a rollup sequence into a Styles Clash.

 

Good match, but I would have hoped for more than 12 and a half minutes, and what follows totally eclipses it. I'm not too annoyed with Styles getting his Dragon Gate competition win back after losing to CIMA at Dragon Gate Invasion, but kicking out of two finishers was a bit much.

 

Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, and Masato Yoshino) vs Generation Next (Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Jack Evans)

 

I honestly don't think I'm capable of doing this match justice in words, so instead, some highlights:

 

- The opening section with Roderick Strong vs CIMA is better than any of the previously mentioned CIMA vs Styles match.

 

- Bloody hell, how fast is Yoshino?

 

- Gen Next isolate Yoshino for a bit, and look good doing so, very good by US standards but...

 

- Blood Gen rip the advantage away by isolating Jack Evans, taking things to the next level. Evans may miss his crazy moves as often as he hits them due to the fact they are so OTT, but he also takes beatings like a man, and that combination is compelling viewing, especially in multi mans like this.

 

- Austin Aries makes the hot tag and everything breaks down into literal total non-stop action as the Dragon Gate guys really shine and Gen Next do really well just to keep up. It's almost as if Blood Gen have an extra man, as they always seem to have three men pulling off triple teams while Gen Next only have one man in the action at once.

 

-The good thing about the speed of everything, the fans have no time to do anything but gasp, and it's not until the match finishes that we hear "That was awesome" - and for once, they're right.

 

Oh yeah, Jack Evans takes the pin after CIMA hits him with the Shrine, the same move Finlay is using as a finish on Smackdown, which i thought was kind of weird. Still, great match. I've no idea how I'm going to review the six man Dragon Gate match on Supercard of Honor, as I watched it through once and oh... my... god.

 

Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels

 

The pre-match video proclaims this to be the longest running feud in ROH. I guess now Low Ki is gone, that's probably right. Aside from going a bit long and a lack of any footage of their World Title match at Glory By Honor 2, it's an excellent recap of everything from 2002, 2003 and the rekindling of the feud in 2005.

 

This has all the feel of a big main event, the hype video, and great entrances, as Joe comes out first to 'Mama Said Knock You Out', then Daniels comes out to 'Disposable Teens' but pauses on the rampway and starts taking his Fallen Angel gear off, to reveal the TNA X Title just as the music changes to 'The Champ Is Here'. Naturally, Joe doesn't appreciate this and charges up the aisle, and they brawl around ringside for a bit.

 

They eventually get into the ring, at which point the bell rings to start the match. This almost feels like something out of Joe's title reign, as the big question is will Daniels finally pin him in a one-on-one match? Joe uses his size to control things, but Daniels gets his fair share of offense, most of which is familiar watching due to the number of matches they've had in ROH, TNA and everywhere else. That doesn't lessen the drama though, as Daniels gets a particularly close nearfall off a Blue Thunder Driver that has the crowd jumping up and down, and near the end he hits a Angels Wings for a close two in a moment right out of the Glory By Honor 2 match. Daniels doesn't complain though, capitalising on Joe being down with three Best Moonsaults Ever for the pinfall.

 

As Daniels celebrates, the commentary speculates as to whether Daniels will finally shake Joe's hand, only for Chris Hero and Necro Butcher to once again jump into the ring. Daniels stares them down, but Allison Danger begs and pleads until he leaves the ring. Hero calls out anyone, and Joe rolls back into the ring, and they brawl with Joe taking charge until Necro joins in, when BJ Whitmer comes back out and creams Necro with a brutal chairshot. The CZWers retreat again, and Joe gets on the mic to say they've finally got the attantion of ROH's big guns, and the fans go home happy to Joe's ROH battle cry.

 

Good main event, not the best match on the show but one of Daniels and Joe's better matches and a good conclusion to the show.

Edited July 2, 2006 by gadgetboy

[LaGoosh]

July 3rd: On August 5th in Edison, NJ KENTA will really get to test Richards. It will be KENTA vs. Davey Richards. The newcomer Richards has already proved himself against Jimmy Rave. On August 5th he will be faced with the biggest match of his life.Courtesy of ROh newswire.This match is going to be off the charts in insanity. Davey Richards is getting the superstar treatment in ROh are deservedly so.