Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted May 26, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted May 26, 2010 (edited) At risk of plagiarism - The hard camera is back in focus!!! I'll see you in court!! I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought Danielson vs Richards was a slight letdown. Gold Rush Edited May 26, 2010 by Dearly Devoted Dexter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted June 4, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted June 4, 2010 (edited) Epic Encounter 3 Edited June 4, 2010 by Dearly Devoted Dexter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLostScot Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 What has been the best overall ROH show, match by match, in the last year? The Big Bang looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted June 6, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted June 6, 2010 Hmmm, good question. I know Gadge disagrees with me on this, but I thought last years Violent Tendencies show was superb - solid undercard topped off by two MOTY candidates. DBD 7 Night 1 didn't feature any classics, but there wasn't a bad match on the card. GBH 8 was a pretty good show too. Havn't seen The Big Bang yet, got the two Phoenix shows to get through first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted June 8, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted June 8, 2010 Yeah, while Violent Tendencies does have KENTA/Strong vs American Wolves in a genuine blinder, the rest of the card didn't do it for me that much. Have still to see past GBHVIII, which I have watched but the review is an epic one yet to be completed. It's almost there, though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted June 8, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted June 8, 2010 OK, let's try this.. Glory By Honor VIII: The Final Countdown - Manhattan, NY - 26/9/09 Well, here we are at last, a 2-disc set to commemorate the final show in the ROH runs of Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. "We will miss you" *clap clap clapclapclap* and all that - but first, I appear to have gone slightly overboard with the analysis on this one... Colt Cabana vs Rhett Titus - What a difference six months makes for Cabana, who returned to a massive reaction in the Hammerstein Ballroom in March, and is in the opener in the Grand Ballroom in September. Titus does his usual schtick, but there's no time for too much goofiness from either man as Cabana gets the submission victory with the Billy Goat's Curse in just six and a half minutes. This was forgotten as soon as it was over for me. The Dark City Fight Club vs Cheech & Cloudy - Both teams have had competitive bouts with the Young Bucks as of late, but the size difference between the DCFC and Up In Smoke is much bigger, hence the fact their HDNet bouts have been glorified squashes. This one has a bit more to it, but is still basically a one sided beating, which the NYC crowd eats up to the point Cheech & Cloudy get booed when they make their comeback. The Greater Good gives the DCFC the win at 9:45. There's a bit more to this than the opener, but you still feel the show really hasn't got going as of yet. Claudio Castagnoli vs Kenny Omega - Now this is more like it, and if anything would have been an ideal opener. There's just a hint of wackiness early on, but as the crowd react strongly to both men they deliver with some good, high tempo action in response. Claudio's UFO gets over in a big way, and Omega puts in a strong underdog performance, countering a Ricola Bomb attempt into a cradle for a nearfall after Claudio hit the pop up European Uppercut, then kicking out of a second pop up European. It's still Claudio who gets the win, grabbing the ref to block Croyt's Wrath then hitting a low blow out of the ref's line of sight and nailing another European Uppercut for the three count at 9:37. Both men came out of this looking good. Bret Hart then makes his signature (ie short) appearance and namechecks a couple of his NYC matches before we move on... Delirious vs Sonjay Dutt vs Grizzly Redwood vs Roderick Strong - A fun four way, though bizarrely it's the Grizzly Redwood show for the most part as most of the action in the first ten minutes revolves around him. Delirious and Sonjay battle a bit, but annoyingly Sonjay is all about the strutting and stupid facials rather than wrestling for the most part. Roderick is in the background for much of the match, but comes to the party in the last couple of minutes and puts Sonjay down for three after a flurry ending in the Gibson Driver at 11:53. Ladder War II: The American Wolves vs Kevin Steen & El Generico- I don't really know what to say about this. There was almost certainly no way they were going to live up to the original Ladder War even if Eddie Edwards wasn't injured, and putting it here on the card is evidence of it. What we do get is 24 minutes of stunt based action in a fashion similar to WWE TLC matches, which is great really, but when put against Steen and Generico vs The Briscoes from Man Up, they don't even come close to the bar set. Credit to Edwards, naturally, for the bumps he takes considering his injury, which the crowd responds to also. The Wolves retain, putting Steenerico at 0-2 in Ladder Wars. I think we all know where their future lies... Overall, you'll get your fair share of entertainment from this, but the Ladder War stip should have stayed retired in favour of a tag team Fight Without Honor or something. Chris Hero vs Eddie Kingston - An interesting choice to follow the Ladder War, this. I'm guessing it could also have been the post-intermission match, which perhaps would have been a good spot for Cabana vs Titus. Now, I know that Hero vs Kingston has been done fairly extensively elsewhere in the past, but I haven't seen any of it, and my expectations of Kingston from what I have heard and read haven't been met from his ROH appearances, mostly on HDNet, so far. There was some logic to his appearances mostly occurring in Philly where his appearances elsewhere occurred, but the TV show isn't the most conducive to ROH development. That said, the storyline has been done fairly well to build up to this, and the impression has definitely been made that this is by far Kingston's biggest ROH match to date, especially to the man himself. As for the actual match, well, I enjoyed it, and they kept my attention during a second viewing without the commentary on. The biggest problem is that while the action was engrossing for the most part, and they didn't hesitate to go at each other with full force, it seemed like about 1/4 of the crowd was really into it and the other 3/4 didn't care at all. There were oohs and aahs for the elbow strikes, especially Hero's signature ones, but only from a part of the paying audience. I would say that has to be down to Kingston having a niche following in an already limited audience, and the rest simply aren't convinced by him yet. It seems that the role he's playing is a bit like that of Tommy Dreamer - he's not in the best shape, he doesn't immediately jump out at you as a star, but by battling the odds (and continuing to battle Hero, I'll bet) maybe he will get there in the end. A quick mention should go to a pre-match promo by Kingston that's tucked away in the disc 2 extras, which is one of his best in ROH so far and should really have been on the DVD before the match itself. Back to the business at hand anyway - after kicking out of the Death Blow, Kingston goes to use the green elbow pad he took from Hero on HDNet, but Shane Hagadorn gets in there and takes the loaded spinning backfist instead. In the meantime, Hero has a trick of his own lined up, and unveils a golden elbow pad. One loaded elbow later, and it's a 1-2-3 in 16:10. Try again next time, Eddie... ROH World Title: Austin Aries vs Petey Williams - This one comes out of an A-Double L-Double where Aries draws Bret Hart's name out of the lucky hat, but of course he's nowhere to be found by this point. Previous occasions where Aries and Williams have been in the same ring have been based solely around one thing, the fact Aries is one of those guys who will take the Canadian Destroyer in a match, so will he here? In this match they start with some X-Division style action, then add some nice teases of Petey's other main weapon, the Sharpshooter, which is sadly let down when Aries finally does end up in the move by the fact Petey never sits down properly, and Aries never looks close to tapping as a result. Petey kicks out of the IED/Brainbuster combo, then Aries does take the Destroyer but gets a hand on the ropes before three. At this point, the crowd still seems unconvinced of any potential title change, though the match has been quite a bit better than I was expecting. In what can be only described as throwing everything out there, Aries then takes a Super Canadian Destroyer, which I would say actually looks less convoluted than the standard version as the position with Aries on the middle rope and Petey coming off the top is very similar to a sunset flip powerbomb. Aries manages to make that bump roll him all the way across to the other side of the ring and then out to the floor just before Petey can make the cover. Petey goes to try and drag his dead weight back into the ring, but Aries revives at about a fifteen count, nails him with a brainbuster on the floor, and rolls in for a countout victory at 20:00 even. Not the strongest finish for the champ, but at least he was the winner, and I guess they can then revisit Williams as a challenger if they need to. Overall, I liked this rather than loved it. The prospect of another bout between the two wouldn't offend. There's a bit of a technical issue after that, as Prazak and Hero then say The Young Bucks vs The Briscoes is next, we get a shot of Danielson warming up backstage, and the DVD then throws you back to the main menu. There's fifteen minutes left of disc one, however, and by going through the chapter menu you can access the rest... Jim Cornette's surprise return to ROH is the concluding chapter to disc 1. There's the obligatory speech about his TNA departure and mini-rant about Vince Russo, then he reveals he's the new Executive Producer of ROH on HDNet. This brings A-Double back out, and he actually gets the final word in as he says he's got the power, and he's going to make Cornette the first triple crown firee. Wasn't Cornette already fired from ROH, in storyline sense at least, in 2006 as a result of the Homicide angle? This is pretty good stuff here, anyway. The Briscoes vs The Young Bucks - Well, I have to say I thought this was pretty crap. The crowd are totally apathetic to the action presented to them here, which I guess is fairly fast paced and especially smooth from the Young Bucks (bar a couple of minor slip-ups). That said, as the match progresses and the crowd reactions don't come, neither team does anything to mix up their routine and get the audience more involved, and as a result everything feels really flat to the DVD viewer. There's a distinct lack of ringside brawling which usually brings the Briscoes right to the crowd, which may be one factor. There's also no sense that anyone cares about the Bucks' efforts to beat the Briscoes for the first time, after a no-contest and a Briscoes win on HDNet. They do get the win here with More Bang For Your Buck at 17:04, which gets the biggest pop of the match, but it's a million miles from the sort of reaction they got in their DGUSA matches, for example. A massive disappointment in front of ROH's biggest and usually hottest fanbase. Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness - It's difficult to know where to begin here. Let's go back to 2005. That August, a departing CM Punk bade farewell to Ring of Honor in a classic, emotionally charged 2 out of 3 falls match with Colt Cabana. It wasn't what you would call a five star match, but after Punk sobbed his way to the ring, the match they produced was perfect for the situation, as they dropped the brawling and highspots and instead had an intricate, hold for hold mat wrestling battle. ROH had almost seen a new type of match born - the departure match. Fast forward to 2007. First, Samoa Joe and Homicide had their own version of the departure match up in Liverpool, where they kept true to the hard hitting of their previous encounters but also had fun. It was simply a celebration of both men's ROH work. The following month, Adam Pearce put in a hysterical over the top heel performance for Colt Cabana's departure match. It absolutely suited the situation once again. So, what does the departure match of Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness have in store for us? The simultaneous departure of two former ROH World Champions, with a combined 33 months on top of this company, undoubtedly has a massive impact for ROH, and thankfully they leave on a high. Neither guy blubs on their way out. I was delighted that the NYC crowd showed a lot of respect for Nigel, with chants and a lot of streamers, even if Danielson (understandably) gets even more. The first ten minutes or so evoke memories of Punk/Cabana with intricate mat wrestling. Happily, not everything is ripped straight from their earlier 2006 encounters, with some real fun stuff here. What with this being Danielson and McGuinness, they're not going to settle for mat wrestling in their final battle for one-upmanship. They up the intensity, and gradually the crowd get sucked into what becomes one last quality battle between them. Danielson even ends up bleeding, which I wasn't expecting, then is pulled into the ringpost headfirst by Nigel in a role reversal of the Unified match. Nigel hits two jawbreaker lariats, while understandably not hitting any of his other lariat variations, though neither jawbreaker gets him the win. The final few minutes are right up there with their best work for me. The result, while more or less immaterial, is nevertheless the right one, as Danielson follows the MMA elbows and Cattle Mutilation with a triangle choke and even more elbows, and Todd Sinclair calls a stop to things after an epic 28:24. Of course, you can't have a departure match without some speeches, and there's a further 20 minutes with Danielson and McGuinness in front of the crowd, with McGuinness going first and Danielson getting the final word at the end of The Final Countdown Tour. I won't go into the content - go and watch it for yourselves. DVD extras aplenty adorn disc 2 of this 2 disc set. Danielson and McGuinness have 14 and 17 minute sit down interviews respectively, there's their first ROH encounter from Weekend of Champions Night 2 in April of 2006, a brief tribute to both guys from Les Thatcher, a cracking promo from Eddie Kingston that should have been in the main program of disc 1, and a trailer for the Wrestling Road Diaries project that Danielson, Cabana and a couple of others (including former Power Slam writer/ British wrestling personality John Atkins at one point, I believe) were working on that has since seemingly vanished without a trace. All of this adds up to an excellent value package for your, um, dollar. It's certainly not the greatest ROH show ever, and in fact there are some definite disappointments in the undercard, but the farewell of Danielson and McGuinness should be enough for any ROH fan to want this one. The run of matches from Castagnoli vs Omega through to Aries vs Williams is the best of the rest, and the bonus material is excellent. It's no wonder they tacked a whole second show as bonus material for Final Battle later in the year. Highly recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted June 9, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted June 9, 2010 Not too much to disagree with in that review. Check out the Briscoes vs Bucks match from 2010 on HDNet, I thought it was miles better than any of the matches they had in 2009. Hero vs Kingston was a cracking match, but the crowd farted on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted June 10, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted June 10, 2010 (edited) From The Ashes – 26/3/10 Colt Cabana vs. Johnny Goodtime vs. Rashe Brown vs. Shawn Davari vs. Joey Ryan vs. Human Tornado – so HT retired, but then he felt bad about pulling out of the 8th match he was supposed to have, so he comes back for one weekend only to participate in a couple of card fillers. Yup, that makes sense. Two things struck me while watching this match : firstly, Joey Ryan has done absolutely nothing of note in ROH – what a waste of talent. Secondly, Colt Cabana is amazingly over with the fans, it’s just a shame they never do anything with him. I know he’s got a supporting role in the Steen/ Generico feud at the moment, but he deserves something better. Then again, can you blame them for not booking him in something substantial when he does the same All-Star routine every match? This match is an ok opener. Cabana wins with the Billy Goat’s Curse just shy of the ten minute mark. The Kings of Wrestling vs. Scorpio Sky & Scott Lost – the first chance the Kings have had to stretch their legs since reforming. A good tag match, although there was never any doubt who was going over. Lost hits Lost In Space on Hero, but he easily kicks out, and a minute or so later the KRS-ONE on Lost sees the Kings get the win. Rocky Romero vs. Alex Kozlov – Romero’s never really done much for me, but I like what I’ve seen of Kozlov. For some reason these two only get seven minutes here, but they tried to pack as much in as possible. Romero goes for the Diablo armbar, but Kozlov counters into a roll-up for the pin. Necro Butcher vs. Bison Smith – they brawl through the crowd for a bit, then Bison decides he’s had enough and goes to the back. What a waste of time – which indeed, is a sentence that could be applied to the entire Embassy vs. Necro feud. Kevin Steen vs. Kenny Omega – man, Steen really has piled on some weight this past few months : it’s starting to affect his speed and mobility. Still, he has a good match here with Omega, who does a good job selling his arm for the majority of the match. Steen hits Omega with a low blow, but the latter kicks out of the resulting Package Piledriver. He’s forced to tap out to the Crippler Crossface though at 17.53. I’ve never been impressed with Steen’s singles outings, but if he adopts the more technical style he did in this match, he might just keep himself afloat after the Generico feud has ended. Steve Corino vs. El Generico – Corino in the ring is average at best these days; but the guy’s a heat magnet. That’s the difference between Steen and Corino at the moment: Steen is still getting laughs while Corino gets booed. Simple but effective match : Generico shows the rest of the roster how to sell as per usual, then makes his comeback. Naturally Steen interferes, and Corino gets the pin with his feet on the ropes. After the match Cabana issues a tag team challenge for the Big Bang. Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries – this is the first of two “Personal Gauntlet” matches for this weekend. Aries comes out with Sunny as his manager, the reasons for which may have been explained in the pre-match promo which I skipped. This was never going to be in the same bracket as some of their previous encounters, but they have a damn fine ten minute match. Black rolls up Aries for the pin at 11.15. Aries batters Black after the match.... Tyler Black vs. Roderick Strong - ...and then offers Strong the chance to join him. Strong belts Aries however, and the second match is on. Again, this is probably as good a seven minute match as you’re going to see. For some odd reason Black hits the Jig and Tonic, but only gets two. Strong races through his usual finishing sequence to pin Black at 7.44. As a preview of the Big Bang this was fairly good. Jerry Lynn vs. Kenny King – No DQ – a thoroughly enjoyable hardcore match, with some innovative spots. I have to say the commentary was very good during this match too. I’m not a huge fan of the new play-by-play guy Joe Dombrowski – like a lot of wrestling commentators, he tries to imitate Jim Ross. But he does a good job of putting this match over, including taking a nice shot at WWE : “when guys bleed in Ring of Honor, we don’t stop the match and talk about it: we let them fight!!” Lynn pins King with the Cradle Piledriver through a table. The American Wolves vs. The Briscoe Brothers – I’d read great things about this match, but I found it slightly disappointing to be honest. It was good, but no classic. Again, one of the main problems comes from the fact that the Briscoe’s can’t sit still and sell for more than a couple of minutes. Richards gives Jay the Dragon Screw over the second rope : but after a couple of minutes work on the Jay tags out. Then they have a nice spot where Jay gets launched into the crowd, leaving Mark to fight on his own. Good stuff – let the Wolves get some steam on him, then Jay can make the hot tag. Note to Jay – when you get in the ring, stomp the guy for a minute, then go back out and make the tag, it doesn’t really count as a hot tag any more. As I’ve said before, the Briscoe’s are trying to put on those production finishes that made their 2006-07 run so compelling, but it just isn’t coming off this time around : mainly due to the fact Mark is a shell of his former self. Was it just me or did anyone else think he’d gained weight looking at him here? All four guys worked hard, but I didn’t really get “into” the match at any point, which ultimately was its failure. The Briscoe’s hit the Doomsday device on Edwards for the pin. Overall – traditionally the Wrestlemania shows have been some of ROH’s biggest cards of the year, but with no Japanese talent on the card, this one felt more like a super-stacked B-show. Indeed, the card was geared more towards promoting the Big Bang than anything else – and as far as that goes it did a good job. There’s enough good stuff on here to warrant a purchase, but if you choose to skip the show you won’t be missing anything essential. Edited June 10, 2010 by Dearly Devoted Dexter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted June 13, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted June 13, 2010 ROH: Clash of the Contenders - Collinsville, IL - 9/10/09 ROH returns to the St. Louis area. The crowd seems of a reasonable size for a smaller market - more on them later. Grizzly Redwood vs Tony Kozina - I only mention this four minute pre-show match from the bonus section of the DVD because Kozina takes a crazy stumble-tumble bump to the floor when Grizzly does the rolling log. It's brilliant. Grizzly wins with a rollup after Kozina takes another comedy bump into the turnbuckles. Kevin Steen vs Roderick Strong - The DVD proper starts with a brief recap of GBH8 in New York, which touches on the departures of Danielson and McGuinness but looks more at the failure of Steen and Generico to win back the tag titles in the Ladder War. This includes a post-match promo, then segues into a solo Steen promo where he laments being too focused on hurting the Wolves and now having no way back to the titles. Plus, as Generico is in Japan, he is stuck in singles here. The match with Roderick is very much an opener in structure - the pace is good, but there's nothing too in-depth. Roderick goes for the chops and backbreakers (and flying kicks to the head) offense, while Steen hits his trademark big moves - Swanton, Sharpshooter and finally package piledriver. After the last of those, the pain in Steen's knee and back means he's slow to cover, and when he does Roderick cradles the arms for the three count at 10:23. Pretty good match overall, but the crowd are overly generous with the post-match "That Was Awesome" and the commentary from two ROH staffers is dreadful. Steen's downhill slide continues... MsChif vs Nicole Matthews - Six minutes of standard Women of Honor action, not much more. Dave Prazak and Chris Hero are back on commentary here, which is better than Eric Santamaria and whatevertheotherguy'snameis but still not brilliant. I miss Lenny Leonard. They do comment on this being MsChif's first appearance since Age of the Fall broke up. 'Chif wins with the Desecrator. Austin Aries then comes out and draws Daizee Haze's name out of the hat in the A-Double L-Double. Delirious doesn't like that, and neither does Jim Cornette who exercises his power and makes Aries vs Delirious for the World title in our main event. An effective enough segment. Claudio Castagnoli vs Colt Cabana vs Petey Williams vs Ace Steel - Bonus points for the pre-match "Press Conference" where Castagnoli speaks in a mixture of languages to an audience of one (Mr. Ernesto Osiris, who was definitely the beneficiary of losing that beard vs beard match on HDNet). Claudio looks in a league way above everyone else here without doing anything extra special in particular. Cabana and Steel bring back some memories of 2003 by teaming up for awhile. As usual, Petey could be anyone apart from the bit where he hits the Canadian Destroyer (on Cabana, which did surprise me). That would have been the end, but Claudio grabs Todd Sinclair's hand before he can count three, then pins Ace with the Ricola bomb soon after. A short, inoffensive Four Corner Survival. The Briscoes vs The House of Truth - Either I must be having a phase of not liking the Briscoes, or they're just crap at the moment, as i thought this was pretty tedious for the most part. There's literally nothing about them that appeals at this point. House of Truth are OK, but not bursting with charisma, and the long beating they inflict on Mark plays out before near silence. There's some bigger moves from both teams near the end, with the crowd springing to life and inflicting "This is Awesome" on us again, until the Briscoes pick up the win with the spike Jay Driller at 14:42. Meh. Davey Richards vs Kenny Omega - Now, this looks like a tasty piece of matchmaking. Omega cuts a pre-match promo analogy where Richards is the Big Bad Wolf and he's Little Red Riding Hood, and actually makes it work, believe it or not. There's no messing around here as they start off with a flurry of duelling big kicks and just keep going at it full pelt for the duration. The crowd, which were over generous with the chanting earlier, break into a ridiculous "This Is Wrestling" chant half way through here. And there I was looking for the ballet... Anyway, the action just keeps building, with both guys chaining some massive offense for very, very close nearfalls, before Omega avoids the DR Driver and gets a small package for the three count at 20:31. Yet again the crowd break into "That Was Awesome" afterwards, which with this match is probably justified but is cheapened by the fact it's the third match on the card to get the same reaction. What is this, the iMPACT zone? Cracking match despite the stupid crowd, though I was bemused by Richards shouting that he kicked out at Cary Silkin and in a backstage promo immediately afterwards, as the camera angle used doesn't back that up at all. Kenny King & Rhett Titus vs The Young Bucks - This is more of a sprint than the Briscoes match earlier, and the Bucks bring the smoothness, which is nice, but at 10:07 this is certainly nothing to go out of your way to see. Curiously, after knocking off the Briscoes in Manhattan, The Bucks fall to defeat here when legal man Titus rolls Matt Jackson up with a handful of tights after Kenny King is blasted with More Bang For Your Buck. With the American Wolves having to wait for Eddie Edwards arm to heal, the tag division is just lacking a bit on this show. Tyler Black vs Chris Hero - Going into this one, I remembered comments from after the show happened that Tyler seemed tentative here in his return from his neck injury. Happily, what then unfolded in watching the match was some good storytelling and nothing more. Hero blasts Tyler in the back of the head with one of his rolling elbows really early on, Tyler goes down seemingly in agony, and then gets his neck worked over for the rest of the match. Tyler comes back with his usual offense and some fighting spirit, and eventually picks up the win by avoiding the Death Blow and hitting God's Last Gift for the pin at 16:46. A good clash of the contenders, albeit nowhere near the level of Richards vs Omega earlier. ROH World Title: Austin Aries vs Delirious - Thankfully, the home area man Delirious getting a title shot elicits proper crowd reactions for this one rather than horrible chanting. The whole thing therefore has a different vibe to the rest of the card, though the in-ring is pretty similar to Delirious' other World title matches from his ROH tenure. The only thing really letting the match down is that even with the home crowd vibe, there's never a sense that Delirious has a shot of winning. Things do really pick up in the final five minutes when Aries wipes Daizee Haze out with the heat seeking missile(!!), then when Delirious checks on her he gets nailed with the same brainbuster on the floor that saw Petey Williams counted out against Aries on the last show. Delirious just makes it in on 19, and gets an extended stint in control of Aries with the Cobra Stretch, but Aries counters Shadows Over Hell with a kick to the stomach and hits another brainbuster, this time in the middle of the ring, and that's our lot at 21:06. Nice to see Aries get a clean pin for once, and this was a good main event overall if not the best match on the card. Clash of the Contenders is a solid start to the post-Danielson and McGuinness period for ROH, with one excellent match in Richards vs Omega and a couple of other good singles bouts on top, but it isn't essential and the crowd are off putting even by ROH standards. DVD run time is 2 hours, 42 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted June 13, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted June 13, 2010 Either I must be having a phase of not liking the Briscoes, or they're just crap at the moment For me they've been a shadow of their former selves since Mark came back from his last knee injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted June 14, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted June 14, 2010 (edited) Phoenix Rising 27/3/10 Rocky Romero vs. Kenny Omega Romero with hair just looks wrong. Indeed, Romero as babyface just looks wrong. An fast paced, enjoyable opener. Romero chips away at the leg for most of the match, but Omega hits a one-legged version of the Whats The Frequency Kenneth? for the pin. Shawn Davari vs. Human Tornado dull match with a crap finish. Someone tell Pearce that in 2010, putting your feet on the ropes for a pin isnt much of a way to draw heat particularly with a wrestler that no-one cares about anyway, i.e. Davari. Kevin Steen vs. Scott Lost well, Kevin Steen is supposed to be a heel, and he spent the entire match making the crowd laugh to the point where they chanted Steen is awesome. Come Pearce, you proclaim on your Wikipedia page what a bloody great heel you were, how about taking him aside and showing him what hes doing wrong? Lost does ok here, a fact that gets lost in the comedy show. Steen wins with the Package Piledriver. Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Necro Butcher & Rasche Brown vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Bison Smith, Joey Ryan & Prince Nana an enjoyable eight-man outing. Hero injured himself last night, so Nana takes his place for the Rudos. At one point they do the classic Chikara spot with the abdominal stretch. Everyone has a bit of a dive, then the Briscoes hit the Spike Jay-Driller on Claudio for the three count. Kenny King vs. Scorpio Sky does Scorpio Sky remind anyone else of Trevor Nelson? A good post-intermission match, with a fast pace and good chemistry between the two. King wins with the second rope Royal Flush. Steve Corino vs. Jerry Lynn Hardcore Match before the match Lynn says Cary, youre my friend, can we make it a hardcore match? Reports that Silkin said if you want the belt again Jerry its yours are unconfirmed. A very enjoyable ECW-style match, one of the few times Ive seen it successfully replicated outside of ECW itself. Its also the best Corino match Ive seen him have in ages the ring-magician Lynn does it again? All sorts of insanity here : a Lynn crossbody off the hard-camera scaffold, Corinos patented suplex-onto-the-guardrail spot, a spear through a table...After interference from both Steen and Generico, Lynn hits a Cradle Piledriver on a chair for the victory. Colt Cabana & El Generico vs. The American Wolves an ok tag match livening up by an exciting finish. As usual Richards takes the turnbuckle brainbuster, and Cabana slaps on the Billy Goats Curse on Edwards at 14.11 for the tap out. Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong the second of this weekends gauntlet matches starts out with Aries and Strong. They have a decent five minute scrap, then in a very clever spot Strong gives Aries a Tiger Driver off the top rope and sends himself crashing through a table in ringside as a result. Strong is ruled unable to continue, and Aries demands a title match, which Black grants. Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black these two wrestle for a couple of minutes, then Roderick Strong comes out and complains Aries didnt actually pin him. So Cornette decides to make it a three way. Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black vs. Roderick Strong so essentially we get an eight minute preview of the Big Bang, and it was quite entertaining for what it was. Black hits the Small Package Driver on Strong, then applies an armbar to Strongs shoulder (injured when he went crashing through the table) for the win. This was actually very clever booking on ROHs part they gave the fans something without actually giving them anything, if that makes sense. Overall as with last nights show, nothing amazing here, but a solid card overall. All eyes turn to Charlotte. Edited June 14, 2010 by Dearly Devoted Dexter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted June 16, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted June 16, 2010 Apparently American Dragon has been added to EVOLVE 4 on July 23rd and then the DG:USA 1st Anniversary show the next night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harlow2 Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 If he is working in July, than I guess its true that due to the crappy circumstances in which he was let go, the WWE was nice enough to waive his 90 day no compete clause. Although I'd imagine there was something in there about not letting him go to TNA for 90 days (like he'd go there). Can't see him doing much, especially since the WWE will probably just bring him back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oaktree500 Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 If he is working in July, than I guess its true that due to the crappy circumstances in which he was let go, the WWE was nice enough to waive his 90 day no compete clause. Although I'd imagine there was something in there about not letting him go to TNA for 90 days (like he'd go there). Can't see him doing much, especially since the WWE will probably just bring him back From what ive heard, he has to ask to work for certain companies until his 90 days is up. Basically to stop him doing PPVs/TNA. For example his match with DGUSA is a dark main-event, so wont be taped i beleive. So sucks to be him at the mo. He can work, but has to ring the guy who fired him to ask if he can work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harlow2 Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 (edited) that is a shame man. Edited June 17, 2010 by harlow2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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