Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted December 5, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted December 5, 2009 Shame - I liked Leonard, I thought he was an infinitely better babyface commentator than Prazak. Hopefully Hero will be the heel commentator know, as Prazak's attempts to be a heel were abysmal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted December 7, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted December 7, 2009 At least we get Leonard six times a year on the DGUSA shows. He's very good on the first DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emperorseb Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Is Mike Hodgwood doing the commentary on the DVD's? I was thinking about picking up The Final Countdown Tour, but I would be deterred if he was on commentary for the events? No it's been Prazak and Hero since the FCT DVD's   Hey Olly, do you get your ROH dvds from Smartmarkvideos or AMerchandise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Is Mike Hodgwood doing the commentary on the DVD's? I was thinking about picking up The Final Countdown Tour, but I would be deterred if he was on commentary for the events? No it's been Prazak and Hero since the FCT DVD's   Hey Olly, do you get your ROH dvds from Smartmarkvideos or AMerchandise   Neither, I use the official ROH website.  They have a buy 3 get 2 free deal now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Flying Tiger Drop Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Smartmark have never sold ROH dvds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted December 9, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted December 9, 2009 A Cut Above Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emperorseb Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Cabana has his usual WOS match, but that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted December 10, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted December 10, 2009 Yes and No. He's got the style down pat, but I'm not sure how his goofy personality would fitted in back then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Flying Tiger Drop Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 And he's be using all of his possible opponents signature sequences, holds and techniques. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted December 10, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted December 10, 2009 Indeed, the benefit of being a successor!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted December 13, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted December 13, 2009 I reckon Cabana could have tailored his personality to whatever role he was wanted in, and obviously can hang in the style from a technical point of view. I wouldn't have ruled out him being goofy though, I'm sure he could have got under the skins of the crowd as a heel with his usual schtick. Â DVD review of The Homecoming II almost ready for posting here shortly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_3165 Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 I don't really watch ROH at all cept the odd DVD that I pick up but I tuned into HDNETs 12/07/2009 ROH taping when Jim Cornette was picking the 6 matches for the title shot and when Aries came to the ring one thing that went through my mind was  Austin Aries is SMALLER than Jim Cornette! I didn't notice he was particularly small guy but during that segment I noticed just how small the guy appears.  Did anyone else notice this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted December 13, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted December 13, 2009 ROH The Homecoming II - Chicago Ridge, IL - 25.4.09 Â Chris Hero kicks us off with a pretty good promo about Tyler Black, then it's into the action... Â Egotistico Fantastico vs 'Skullcrusher' Rasche Brown - The previous evening in Dayton, Skullcrusher got to intimidate Claudio and muscle around two smaller guys before not being involved in the finish of his Four Corner Survival, while Ego lost to Jimmy Jacobs in a pretty good little junior heavyweight match. So, it's power vs speed here in the battle of two guys looking for their first ROH DVD victory. Brown has some wacky evil genius charisma but is lacking in technique for his twelve years experience, while Ego has some support from the midwest crowd that has probably seen him in other promotions. Brown dominates for the most part, but when he goes for a tornado powerbomb gets rolled up in awkward looking fashion (for which I blame Brown) giving Fantastico the victory in about six and a half minutes. Watchable opener to get the crowd going. Â Austin Aries and Rhett Titus vs Silas Young and Alex 'Sugarfoot' Payne - Not at all what you'd expect, this one. Silas gets another shot at Aries after their fun undercard encounter in Detroit in January, this time teaming with Chicago's favourite prelim wrestler Sugarfoot. Silas hangs with Aries in the early going, and even Sugarfoot puts in a decent underdog performance and gets to show off some offense as the match goes along, in spite of Aries and Titus displaying some double team work on his sugary foot. I'm not making this up. Young and Payne even look like closing in on victory for a bit before Aries nails the kick to the head and brainbuster on Payne and dumps Titus on top for the pin at a not at all overlong 14:25. Good tag team encounter. Â The Dark City Fight Club cut a promo worthy of ROH circa 2002 - generic tag team, dusty looking backstage area, they're going to destroy some people apparently. Â Claudio Castagnoli vs Jimmy Jacobs vs Roderick Strong - what starts out as a tale of two injuries becomes a tale of three crowd reactions here. Jacobs comes out wearing an eye patch to sell Delirious spiking him the previous weekend in Canada, while Strong has a huge headband-like bandage after his ROH title match with Jerry Lynn the night before. All three men are in the ring at once, which is a good thing. Strong's chops get the crowd 'Woo'-ing for him. Naturally, everything Claudio does results in a 'Heyyy', especially when he reacts to it every single time. Then, someone clever in the crowd decides Jacobs' eye patch makes him a pirate. From then on, every move in the match is met with either a 'Woo', 'Heyyy' or 'ARRRRR'. I found it pretty funny, and the match isn't long enough for it to get annoying. Good action between the three men, but there's no way the match can be taken seriously with the crowd. Jacobs makes Strong tap to the End Time in what I'd make an upset in 8 minutes. Â Jacobs then begins to cut a promo, only to be interrupted by Tyler Black. Tyler cuts a surprisingly effective promo which tears Jacobs apart verbally for the most part. Tyler's voice isn't particularly great for promos but his actual delivery was good here. The segment ends with Jacobs sort of trying to spike Tyler, only to be left a broken heap as the crowd chants "disappointment" at him. Â Dark City Fight Club vs The Phoenix Twins - Rehab time for the DCFC here after a disappointing match with and loss to Kevin Steen and Jay Briscoe the night before. The DCFC pick up the win with Total Elimination in five and a half minutes, but not before giving Tweak and Dash a hot tag and a dive spot. Some reason to care about what the DCFC do is definitely required, while the Phoenix Twins make acceptable enhancement talent... Â An hour or so into the DVD, and the undercard has been a pleasant surprise to this point, much better than it looked on paper. Now here comes the real substance... Â Bryan Danielson vs Jimmy Rave - Two previous matches in ROH between these two immediately spring to mind. At the Fourth Anniversary Show, Rave challenged Danielson for the ROH title in a match that was designed to push Rave as being on Danielson's level, even though he lost in the end. Rave kept up nicely in a series of complicated sequences, but the result was the match felt a lot like a dance routine. At A Fight At The Roxbury, Danielson had just returned after his post-title loss abscence, and burned through Rave in a match about half the length of the title match 16 months prior. Â I'd say this match is better than both of those. It's certainly a lot more organic than the Fourth Anniversary encounter, with both men established in the role they are playing and working within that. Danielson controls the first ten minutes, mostly twisting Rave around by the arms, but Rave has the skill and knowledge to quickly escape or avoid Danielson's finishing stuff, especially the elbows of death. Rave struggles to get any offense and Danielson punishes him instantly when he showboats, which is quite engrossing. Dave Prazak claims on commentary that Danielson has never pinned or submitted Rave, which sounds unlikely but I haven't gone back to check the finishes of their prior matches. Rave finally gets a period of control after the ten minute mark, working towards the heel hook in a focused, convincing manner. It's not to be Rave's night though, as he ends up locked in a triangle choke and Danielson finally gets the elbows, forcing a referee stoppage at 16:10. Very good stuff. Â Chris Hero vs Tyler Black - While on commentary they mention how this is the first match back from intermission, on DVD this follows straight on from Danielson vs Rave, and my first thought was that this would never be able to follow it. The early going seems to back up this theory as they go for a fairly standard, generic feeling out process. Pleasingly, things soon pick up, and as the action intensifies, so the crowd gets more into it. Hero's moves and character are probably at the best level they've ever been in ROH, possibly bar the short Kings of Wrestling tag title run. Tyler's having a really good run of matches at this point, though no-one seemed to notice after the way he was booked at the turn of the year seemingly destroyed his potential World Champion momentum for good. Anyway, yet another good match on a so far excellent DVD ends when Hero goes for the Misawa elbow pad, only for Tyler to duck the rolling elbow and get the small package driver for the pin at 13:45. Â Jimmy Jacobs attacks Tyler on his way out, bloodying him with the spike. They go through the crowd with Tyler bleeding, which would probably have raised eyebrows with athletic commissions in other places ROH runs. When a bunch of referees seperate them, and Jacobs leaves, Tyler revives. The crowd chant for him as he threatens to kill Jimmy, though "I'm going to end his life" is a rubbish way of saying it. Foresight says this is good foreshadowing for the Jacobs/Black feud enders in Detroit and back in Chicago in June. Â The American Wolves vs Kevin Steen and Jay Briscoe - This one backs up my sentiments from the review of A Cut Above, in that the Steen and Briscoe team works better on every level against The Wolves, who put out their respective tag team partners, than against standard tag team opposiotion in a thrown together match. This match is also 2 out of 3 falls for the World Tag Team Titles. There's no mention of the long streak the Briscoes had of 2 straight fall victories in this gimmick. Â The first fall begins with Shane Hagadorn coming out of the entrance way with the tag titles, allowing the Wolves to jump the challengers from behind. They don't have the advantage for long though, and the action spills out into ringside brawling straight away. The challengers manage to keep the momentum going more or less continuously up to a first fall victory, Kevin Steen foiling Eddie Edwards attempt to break up a sharpshooter on Davey Richards by turning his missile dropkick into a powerbomb, then applying the move on Edwards for the submission at just over ten minutes. Nice sequence to highlight the fall. Â The Wolves naturally get to take command during the second fall. Steen's knee is a predictable target, and one that eventually costs them the fall, Richards making Steen tap to the cloverleaf at the 19 minute mark. The final fall is short but all action. Briscoe takes the role of El Generico in a swanton/big splash combo for a convincing nearfall. There's a good double submission spot leading to Steen giving Richards the package piledriver, and the Wolves almost win with their superkick-German suplex combo. It's the lack of tag team continuity that hurts the challengers in the end, as Steen tries to give Edwards a receipt for an earlier low blow, only to boot Briscoe in the knackers. One doomsday ace crusher later, the move that won the Wolves the titles, and it's all over at 24:30. Steen and Briscoe have a shoving match afterwards, so it looks like their makeshift team is over. That's probably for the best, though this is an extremely proficient match and another highlight in what is becoming an excellent title reign for the Wolves. Â ROH World Title: Jerry Lynn vs Colt Cabana - As you'd expect, Cabana gets a big reaction and a load of streamers from the Chicago faithful for his homecoming here. He puts his european style skills to good use early on, though facing Lynn here rather than the likes of Hero or Claudio make this match flow differently to recent Cabana bouts. It makes sense really, as the champ isn't a heel, and shouldn't be embarrassed by Colt wrestling circles around him. Â One of Colt's weaknesses seems to be the middle of his bouts. After the opening few minutes, there's always a stage of filler that isn't nearly as interesting as the early going, and here is a good example as the crowd go pretty quiet for a portion of the match. Colt's in control of Lynn for much of this part as well, but there's no feeling that Cabana is building towards winning the title. They get the crowd back in the last third, but it takes a sudden jump to finishing type moves to do it. Cabana manages to prevent Lynn from applying the cradle, but still takes a regular piledriver. Lynn escapes the Billy Goats Curse (which Cabana doesn't apply with the tightness of when he made Hero submit to it in Dayton, which removes some tension). After a couple of reversals, Cabana hits Colt 45 but only gets two, then steals the Pepsi Plunge for a nearfall that wasn't as dramatic as you might think. Lynn then hits a reverse rana and the cradle piledriver immediately afterwards, and gets the pinfall at 17:30. A good match overall, with solid action, but not one that really felt like a title change was a possibility. Â Overall, this is a very good show with no bad matches, in fact a whole succession of good ones. Not quite essential, though... It's definitely down to a lack of storytelling flair. Worth picking up if you want some good wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted December 13, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted December 13, 2009 (edited) I'm about halfway through the Homecoming 2, can't disagree with much of what you've written so far, except that I thought the opener was dire. Re DCFC's promo - I always remember the Briscoes' promo from Era of Honor that appeared to have been filmed in the toilets!! Ah, those were the days... I'd forgotten that Danielson took Rave 30 mins at 4AS. Â Anyway, a belated response to Cobystag in the 20 Nigel McGuinness matches DVD Â Nigel McGuinness vs. Homicide - Midnight Express Reunion Nigel McGuinness vs. Colt Cabana - 3rd Anni Show Pt 2 Nigel McGuinness vs Colt Cabana - Manhatten Mayhem Nigel McGuinness vs Samoa Joe - Dragon Gate Invasion Nigel McGuinness vs Roderick Strong - GB4 Nigel McGuinness vs Claudio Castagnoli - Enter the Dragon Nigel McGuinness vs Delirious - Time To Man Up Nigel McGuinness vs Brian Danielson - Unified Nigel McGuinness vs Naomichi Marufuji - GBH 5 Night 2 Nigel McGuinness vs Jimmy Rave - Battle of the Icons Nigel McGuinness vs Jimmy Rave - SYF : Finale Nigel McGuinness vs Brian Danielson : Domination/ Driven Nigel McGuinness vs Takeshi Morishima - Live in Tokyo Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries - Rising Above 2007 Nigel McGuinness vs Brian Danielson - 6AS Nigel McGuinness vs Claudio Castagnoli - A New Level Nigel McGuinness vs Jerry Lynn - Vendetta 2 Nigel McGuinness vs Claudio Castagnoli - New Horizons Nigle McGuinness vs Brian Danielson - Rising Above 2008 Nigel McGuinness vs Jerry Lynn - Supercard of Honor 4 Edited December 13, 2009 by Dearly Devoted Dexter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted December 13, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted December 13, 2009 Bloody hell, I don't remember half those Nigel matches. I do remember the 3YA Cabana match, which I thought was definitely better than the Manhattan Mayhem one. I'd probably have picked the Soccer Riot match for a second match between the two, just because it was so different. Not sure about the first of the Rave matches, and I'd probably have gone for the Morishima match at Fighting Spirit over the Tokyo one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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