Official ROH Discussion Thread

[Daaaaaad!]

Can't argue with much in the End of an Age review :

 

This one is pretty much doomed from the outset

- agreed, as soon as you heard the words "non title" you knew who was going over. They should have made it some sort of gimmick match - 2/3 falls maybe?

 

I'm still not quite sure why they did the angle at the of the cage match if they were going to junk Jacobs the next night - logically it didn't make much sense.

That seemed really bizarre to me as well. The only thing I could think is that perhaps Jimmy gave his notice after the first night, so they decided to cut it all short on the second.

[cobystag]

I don't think that was the case. At the TV tapings from mid-June, Jacobs cut a backstage promo about leaving and potentially not coming back. This could have been recorded during the Detroit/Chicago weekend, but I am certain the backdrop was the same area in the Alhambra used for all the other taped promo's....... But may have been taped elsewhere.

 

As for the angle itself.... I always think they intended to do the "rebirth" the night before the AOTF abandoned Jacobs so that when Jacobs was gone, his movement/revolution was gone with him. So no one would think Jacobs would ultimately be back with the AOTF. If they put bodies physically out there the first night, they could have him shunned and abandoned the second night.

 

But still Pearce booked the two Jimmy's into oblivion last year and it looks like neither want to come back. At least Jacobs put over Tyler (and what did Pearce do with Tyler after that exactly?) but Rave put over.... The Necro Butcher? Yeah, like he needed it.

 

Speaking of Tyler, his Title shot is tonight and I'm torn.

 

After watching Aries vs Omega today, and Aries vs Richards several times over the past few days, they never even really scratched the surface with Aries as Champion. While his character and promo's were fantastic, he only really hit his stride match-wise during the FCT where his Title match against Danielson came across as the epic Title matches of old. His weekend of defenses against Aries and Omega put over Aries' wrestling ability not suffering from the character change, but if he drops the belt to Tyler tonight, ROH have really missed the boat on some of the feuds/matches this Aries could have had as the Champion against face challengers.

 

And as for the idea of Tyler as the Champ......... I'm still unsure if it'll work. At Philly he got the obligatory "Next world champ" chants, but it was 80-20 in favour of Roderick against Tyler during their match.

 

But about the Jan TV tapings, watched American Wolves vs Young Bucks II.......... Damn that match was just as good as I remembered it and probably one of if not the best match shown on free TV so far this year.

[gadge]

I love A-Double. Long may he reign. I guess we'll see tonight.

[Dil|kid]

From last nights show.....

 

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

Tyler Black beat Austin Aries in the main event to win the ROH heavyweight title tonight at the Manhattan Center

 

[close spoiler]

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Edited February 14, 2010 by joe mills

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

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

Well, Black's been given the belt in the most underwhelming way possible, I guess we'll now see if he can carry it or not. You have to wonder where Aries goes from here, he's done pretty much everything he can in the company, except maybe put Omega over at some point

 

[close spoiler]

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The Final Countdown Tour : Boston

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Glory By Honor 8 : The Final Countdown

[gadge]

Wasn't someone asking about Kenny Omega a little while back?

 

Kenny Omega Returns!

Friday, February 19, 2010

 

 

 

Here in the early months of 2010 one man has been noticeably absent from Ring of Honor due to his outside commitments: Kenny Omega. His Japanese bookings, which included debuting for New Japan Pro Wrestling, have kept him away from ROH competition since

[cobystag]

Richards/Omega II should be fantastic if the first was anything to go by.

[Oliver]

I just watched the ROH video wire from 3 days ago and saw Brian Kendrick commenting on a recent match he had with Roderick Strong.

 

Is he just working with TNA without a contract? Or are TNA permitting some of their contracted workers to do ROH shows again?

 

If so, its good news for The Young Bucks, and for their fans. That rushed 8 man tag on Impact was effing useless.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

He signed for TNA after he was confirmed for that date, so I'd say its unlikely he'll be an ROH regular. Then again, MCMG are working the May NY show, so..

[Wrestlingsnob]

I just watched the ROH video wire from 3 days ago and saw Brian Kendrick commenting on a recent match he had with Roderick Strong.

 

Is he just working with TNA without a contract? Or are TNA permitting some of their contracted workers to do ROH shows again?

 

If so, its good news for The Young Bucks, and for their fans. That rushed 8 man tag on Impact was effing useless.

 

 

I'm pretty sure ROH announced that the Motor City Machine Guns where also coming back at their last show so it looks like TNA have given the ok for workers to appear on ROH shows again. Assume its DVD taping only and not for TV though.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Clash of the Contenders

Edited February 23, 2010 by Dearly Devoted Dexter

[gadge]

Death Before Dishonor VII: Night One - Toronto, Canada - 24/7/10

 

Straight into the action on this one...

 

El Generico vs Sonjay Dutt - The very beginning of this one has some comedy shenanigans, but it quickly develops into some nicely built junior heavyweight action - aside, that is, from Dutt stealing signature spots from Jeff Jarrett and others to keep the comedy flavour. Yeah, you got fired from TNA, we get it. Please move on now. The fifteen minute time limit runs out and we have a draw. Sonjay bails rather than accept five more minutes. Good opener.

 

Jay & Mark Briscoe vs The Super Smash Bros - More good action here. It's probably only about 75% pace compared to the very best Briscoes tags, but this is more than adequate for your second match. Mark Briscoe seems alright in his comeback, but there's still no springboard doomsday device, with the regular version getting the job done at 12:40. A good outing for the SSB, but they're too small for the tag title picture I reckon.

 

D'Lo Brown vs Frankie The Mobster - Presumably due to the major crowd reaction for him, D'Lo works full blown face here for the first time in ROH. Frankie The Mobster worked as a face in his match with Chris Hero in Montreal back in April, but doesn't have the crowd support here. The action seemed better paced than D'Lo's recent singles matches, but I was still distracted by texting someone when D'Lo get the win with the Sky High powerbomb in six and a bit minutes.

 

8 Man Elimination: Necro Butcher, Brent Albright, Colt Cabana and Grizzly Redwood vs Jimmy Rave, Joey Ryan, Claudio Castagnoli and Bison Smith - This is a deluxe, hard-edged version of what was one of the highlights of the last set of HDNet tapings. There's a little comedy first up, but it quickly comes to an end (along with the faces' momentum) when Bison Smith gorilla presses Grizzly to the floor at about 8:00, then busts him open by smashing is head into the guardrails and then with a chair. Grizzly is a surprisingly good sympathetic figure in trying in vain to make a tag, but he continues to take punishment from the entire Embassy while bleeding all over the place for several minutes until Smith finally finishes him off with a brutal powerbomb and the Bisontennial for the first elimination at 13:00.

 

Cabana capitalises almost immediately when Big, Bad Bison tries to send Grizzly flying from the ring again, and rolls him up to even things out. Both sides then brawl, and it's Rave's turn to be busted open, but he still manages to eliminate Necro with a rollup and a handful of tights. Necro responds by dragging Rave from the ring and into the crowd where he gets counted out.

 

Things slow down for awhile once it gets to Cabana and Albright vs Castagnoli and Ryan, but after Albright makes a hot tag to Cabana, the pace picks up again. Albright eliminates Claudio with the half nelson suplex at 29:00, but Ryan immediately strikes back with a superkick. Cabana then gets distracted by Prince Nana, Ryan wallops him with Nana's headdress thing, and The Embassy get the victory after an epic 30:24. A much needed victory for The Embassy in a major, meaningful match here, with Joey Ryan also getting his first real opportunity to show his stuff since his lackluster ROH debut.

 

Bret Hart doesn't really say anything of note in a brief speech to the crowd, but it's nice to see him here even is it's rendered a bit useless by his return to WWE this year. He makes a point to shake hands with everyone in the front row afterwards, which is pretty funny as the Toronto natives appear to have dress sense stuck in the 1990s...

 

Kenny Omega vs Kenny King - Considering the lack of push for this feud, they have had loads of matches by this point. It's not like Albright/Claudio, where you feel it being pushed on you and you just want it to go away, but it's hard to get motivated for another match between the two regardless. This one is still pretty good, with a few more spots based on their familiarity with each other, and Rhett Titus being an annoyance at ringside as has become the norm with recent King singles bouts. Omega still has the measure of King, despite Titus' efforts, and pins him after a nice combo ending in a Hadoken at 11:40. I guess we should just call him KEN Omega. Omega calls out Austin Aries afterwards...

 

Lance Storm & Kevin Steen vs Chris Hero & Davey Richards - For what is billed as a Grudge match, there's way too much technical stuff going on here. That and a hint of rust from Storm aside, this is still a real good match that naturally has a lot of crowd heat. Stereo sharpshooters almost get the job done for Storm and Steen, then Hero accidentally blasts Richards with the loaded elbow pad, and Storm pins Hero after a superkick and a Hart Attack at 20:01. Feelgood stuff.

 

ROH World Title: Austin Aries vs Tyler Black vs Jerry Lynn vs Nigel McGuinness - This is basically a DVD version of the four-way from episode 12 of the HDNet show. I'm not keen on the removal of tags from Four Corner Survivals - this makes a one fall match like this into a WWE-style Fatal Four Way, which isn't bad per se, though the WWE stylings seep through into the action here as well.

 

I noticed a lot of the middle of the match was built around Nigel rather than Aries controlling things, almost like he was the champion still. That breaks down when Nigel blasts Lynn with a Tower of London through the timekeepers table at 12:00, then Aries almost takes Black down with a belt shot, and the finish of the HDNet match is revisited for a very close nearfall. Finally, Tyler looks to have the match won with all three of his opponents down, but Kenny King runs out to prevent him hitting the Phoenix Splash on Nigel, and Aries instead hits Nigel with a botched 450 (he ended up hitting a front flip legdrop off the top) for the win at 16:10. This was a fairly exciting match overall, but it's far from must-see and the interference for the finish was pretty tiresome.

 

DVD run time is 2 hours, 50 minutes. It's a very solid show all around, and an excellent piece of Canadian fan service. It's just missing an absolute classic match, but there's several real good ones here.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

It's a very solid show all around, and an excellent piece of Canadian fan service. It's just missing an absolute classic match, but there's several real good ones here.

 

That's a pretty succinct summary of DBD 7 Night 1. No match of the year candidates, but in terms of a qulaity card from top to bottom , the only I've seen that beat it 09 so far was the DGUSA show.

 

It's not like Albright/Claudio, where you feel it being pushed on you and you just want it to go away

 

I liked this sentence too, I felt the same way about that program. It's kind of funny though, they canned Albright after he'd had probably his best in-ring year in ROH - which isn't saying a great deal admittedly, but still...

Edited February 26, 2010 by Dearly Devoted Dexter

[gadge]

Death Before Dishonor VII: Night Two - Toronto, Canada - 25/7/10

 

We actually get some promos on this show, but with none on last night's show and the abscence of any Video Wires, it's kinda telling that this was the last weekend of DVDs produced by Sal and the FIP crew. D'Lo promises to win the Toronto Gauntlet...

 

Kevin Steen and El Generico vs The Super Smash Brothers - Almost a match of two parts, this. While it wasn't a comedy match, the first ten minutes were not very serious at all - like Steen and Generico were having a gentle warm up. Then, suddenly they went full-on for about four minutes, and Player Uno scores the upset pin with a jacknife cradle on Steen at 14:02. The crowd hilariously chant "You beat Bowser!" at the SSB. The story is much more Steenerico losing than SSB winning though. Good action albeit with a weird, relaxed vibe.

 

Frankie The Mobster vs Bison Smith - From a face vs face tag bout to a heel vs heel battle of the bulls... except Big, Bad Bison makes FTM look small. Not what you'd expect from a ROH match, but solid enough, Frankie does get to hit some suplexes and a suicide dive, in between the Bison dominance. Frankie ends up waistlocking ref Todd Sinclair to try and avoid Bison, who then gets DQed because his response is to chop Sinclair at 8:10. Ha. Nana saves Sinclair from a post match powerbomb, much to the crowd's chagrin.

 

Claudio cuts a promo from the trash dump that was the Markham venue car park due to some city workers strike. The camera is clearly not set up to handle daylight, which was all I could focus on...

 

The Toronto Gauntlet is up next. This was like 2004 TNA so keep up... Jerry Lynn vs D'Lo Brown is up first, and is going at a decent pace when Lynn eliminates D'Lo with a crucifix bomb at just 3:19. Sonjay Dutt is next, and again things are going nicely, then BANG!, one cradle piledriver and it's over for Sonjay at 7:18 (net). Jimmy Rave (the TNA rejects continue...) is out next and weakly dispatches the presumably tired Lynn with Ghanarrea, even though we're only at 10:26 total.

 

Unsurprisingly, the Necro Butcher feud continues next, but after a couple of minutes of Rave being pasted around ringside, Nana grabs the foot of Necro just long enough for him to be counted out at 13:06. In the highlight of the card so far, Necro goes mad afterwards and blasts timekeeper Guiseppe Di'Lorento with a chairshot before leaving.

 

Finally, from 2004 TNA to 2006 ROH as we finish with Jimmy Rave vs Davey Richards. Both guys have almost identical gear, which is distracting. There's some real good striking and wrestling, then a submission exchange ala Benoit/Angle which I could take or leave, before Davey polishes things off with the DR Driver into a Kimura for the submission at 21:10 total. A pretty good finale that only went about 6:45 in itself, but whetted my appetite for Rave vs Richards in proper singles action again.

 

Next up is Ric Flair time. He has a more watchable segment than usual, and the Toronto fans appear to be wearing more modern attire than they did for Bret(!), but there's nothing to really write home about.

 

The first half concludes in the worst way possible with an unwanted Claudio Castagnoli vs Brent Albright - European Rounds match. The three minute rounds gimmick kills the crowd absolutely dead, and even with a reasonable in ring effort from both guys compared to some of their efforts there was no way to recover. They work in some Euro spots in for effect in a tiresome fashion, with Claudio using closed fists that the ref doesn't see, only for Albright to get a yellow card for a blatant fist in response. Claudio gets a cheap win at 1:16 of round 4, then the Embassy run in for a beatdown and Team Cabana save. That would be a good setup for the 8 man elimination, but they already did that the night before.

 

The camera follows Brent Albright backstage so he can challenge Claudio to a Cage match. Hopefully that means there's a finale to this dreck in sight..

 

Tyler Black vs Tyson Dux kicks off the second half, with Dux replacing McGuinness who got a stinger from the conclusion of the previous night's main event. Poor Nigel. For the post intermission spot, this ended up surprisingly good after a slow start, though the result is always going to Tyler. God's Last Gift finishes at 9:13.

 

Colt Cabana vs Joey Ryan - A comedy promo from Cabana somehow makes this into a No DQ Grudge match. Despite the stip, all we get is yet more comedy from Cabana as he dominates for the most part. Joey is dull as ditchwater when he does go on offense. A chairshot finishes the bout in Cabana's favour after what felt like a lot longer than the 12:34 it went...

 

Kenny Omega, Jay and Mark Briscoe vs Austin Aries, Kenny King and Rhett Titus - This is set up in spontaneous fashion after Aries calls Omega out to offer him a title shot "here in Toronto" only to make it "not tonight" just as Titus and King jump him from behind. I like them as a faction, but the team of Aries, King and Titus doesn't work as well as you'd expect in actual six man matches. Things only really get good after a cool spot where Aries and Omega are taken out in quick succession by the doomsday device of the Briscoes and the springboard blockbuster of King and Titus. The IED-brainbuster combo has the win in the bag for Aries, but he pulls Omega up after two, and gets small packaged for the upset at 16:10. That's a finish that gives Omega the win, but makes him look like a lucky loser - I don't like it. Overall, this goes down as a disappointment.

 

Lance Storm vs Chris Hero - I got what I expected from this one. Sound technical wrestling for the most part, Storm has the nous to time his comebacks against Hero well and not be dominated, and then get his spots in for maximum effect. Hero also comes through well, with his striking as good as ever, and Storm does the honours of staying down after a second rolling elbow (complete with green elbow pad, of course) at 16:46. Not as good as the Danielson match in 2006, and the crowd don't like Storm losing, but it's the right result. Storm cuts a "maybe I'm finished, maybe I'm not" thank you/support ROH speech, and we're done.

 

Overall, this was an enjoyable show, but various things take it several notches below the night before's show. DVD runtime is 2 hours, 55 minutes.

 

This is the end of the line for Lenny Leonard's excellent commentary and the production crew from Florida working with ROH, but I'll comment a bit more on that shortly. I have the Final Countdown tour DVDs to watch, but also four more HDNet TV tapings from August/September before that are vying for my attention. In the mean time, it seems I have a good excuse to watch DGUSA's debut show, also from July 25th, once more and get a review of that up to compare with a solid effort from ROH in Canada which is once more in something of a groove now they've got well past the Gabe era...