Paid Members gadge Posted August 26, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted August 26, 2010 The Briscoes re-signing presumably shows they're still too small and generally not WWE suitable, whether they will just keep performing for ROH at the same level, or look to do something different, or become demoralised at this point is what we'll have to wait and see next. Hopefully signing a contract with ROH means they are committed to the cause at least. Â What are the chances of the WWE not signing them being, at least partially, due to their injury record (at least where Mark Briscoes is concerned)? Wasnt part of the reason that Nigel Mcguiness ended up in TNA due to his concussion/injury history? Mark Briscoes injury history is pretty spectacular - topped off with the botched shooting star press to the floor a couple of years or so back. Â To be honest, I'd have been surprised to see the Briscoes signed even without their (well, Mark's) injuries - I don't think their size, character or style would work in the WWE. I was at the show in 2007 where Mark KO'ed himself with the shooting star to the floor, and that was a scary moment indeed, but the motorcycle accidents and knee injuries have done him greater damage and caused longer abscences in the Briscoes overall ROH run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted August 27, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted August 27, 2010 To Every Wrestling Fan Wrestling is an industry that is always changing and evolving. Ring of Honor was born out of that very idea. I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 1, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted September 1, 2010 (edited) FINALLY... Â Final Battle 2009 Â A 2 disc set for the DVD version of ROH's first iPPV, we also get the complete card from the previous night in Manassas. For some reason, the two cards are spread across the two discs in a bizarre fashion that, to watch in order, involves much to-ing and fro-ing. So, to start... Â Eye of the Storm 2 - Manassas, VA - 18/12/09 Â The first two matches from this show are in the extras on disc 1. They're not even listed on the DVD case to be fair, probably because they're both crap... Â Adam Pearce and Matt Classic vs The Set - Pearce's first in-ring ROH appearance in a year, since he was squashed by Bobby Dempsey, and yes it's that Matt Classic. The Set have had one previous ROH appearance that I remember and still look ridiculous. This doesn't start out too badly I guess, but falls apart and a mess of a finish sees Pearce pinned after a splash in 9:13. Â Sonjay Dutt vs Grizzly Redwood - Dutt looks disinterested here, taking some of Redwood's stuff in the early going then dominating, finally he hits a couple of quebradas without going for a pin and walks into a small package for the Redwood victory at 7:45. The crowd pops for that but are punished with a post-match beatdown of Redwood. That's TNA-level booking. Â A quick switch from the disc 1 extras to the main portion of disc 2, and things immediately begin to look up... Â Pick 6 Series: Kenny Omega (6) vs Rhett Titus - A fun 'opener', if perhaps a tad too long, it is still a massive relief after the action so far. Omega works much better here than he did against Roderick back in Chicago. Titus also looks good in there for the most part, he just needs to add to his repertoire during the controlling middle period of the match, as all he has are his basics and the match starts to drag until Omega fires up and they hit the decent closing stretch. Croyt's Wrath wins it for Omega in 15:45. Â Erick Stevens & Bison Smith vs Kevin Steen & El Generico - Stevens and Big, Bad Bison as a team work much better here for the Embassy than anything involving Joey Ryan. Once again, the match revolves around the state of Steen's knee, with extra emphasis from the commentary in case you're not paying attention at home. Generico gets the opportunity to show off his selling against the bigger opponents, but with Steen unable to save him due to his knee, Generico takes the pinfall after a doomsday shoulderblock, a lariat from Bison and the Doctor Bomb from Stevens at 10:31. Solid match. Â Pick 6 Series: Colt Cabana vs Chris Hero (3) - The standard fare you'd expect from these two, with them reigning it in a bit action-wise due to the small crowd but striking a good balance between Cabana's comedy and Euro-wres stylings, and Hero's flash kick and elbow strike offense. Hero wins with the loaded elbow in 12:41. Â Austin Aries & Kenny King vs The Young Bucks - Aries and King seem content to spend most of this one mocking the 80s stylings of the Young Bucks, unveiling some rad ring gear of their own at the start and doing all the Bucks trademark poses. There's some decent tag team action here as well, but it struck me as things went along that a lot of ROH matches recently unfold in a very similar way, and it's kinda uninteresting. Three or four miscommunication spots litter the finish of this, but ultimately it's Aries and King attempting their own version of More Bang For Your Buck that proves their undoing, and then the Bucks show them how it's done and pin King at 12:56. Aries and King have a bit of an argument afterwards. Â Pick 6 Series: Roderick Strong (4) vs Tyler Black (5) - Bobby Cruise announces this as a rivalry match, which while you know what he's getting at, just sounds wrong. I decided to watch this one with the commentary off, and regretted it as the Manassas crowd decide this is the time to spend the whole match chanting for snapmares and fallaway slams - and there's a guy in the front row on the hard camera side in an orange t-shirt who spends most of the match standing up and generally being a massive distraction. Â Thankfully, Roderick and Tyler ignore the crowd for the most part and have another good match in their series. They also go against the trend I mentioned in the last match, as there's intent and good pace from the outset in this one rather than boring methodical build. Roderick is like a completely different wrestler to the one who was dominated by Kenny Omega for twenty minutes in Chicago, being much more aggressive and showing some subtle heelish traits such as working over Tyler's face. In response, Tyler doesn't let himself get steamrollered by Roderick's aggression, but does play more within the rules. They add some role-reversal spots to their developing rivalry as Tyler hits Roderick with the Gibson Driver and Roderick later uses God's Last Gift on Tyler, which is pretty effective. In the end, it's Roderick who gets the much needed win in their series, hitting the Yakuza Kick followed by two Gibson Drivers for the pinfall at 21:08. Â Rocky Romero & The Briscoes vs Alex Kozlov & The American Wolves - This looks a bit weird on paper, with Rocky Romero on opposite sides to his former tag team championship partner Davey Richards and instead teaming with the Briscoes, who ended that title reign and previously had feuded with Romero and Ricky Reyes. Still, it gives Romero a chance to work face for once I guess. Romero and Richards have some good exchanges first up, though Richards makes the mistake of using a snapmare, and by 6:00 we end up with the faces giving the heels a triple fallaway slam. Stupid Manassas. Alex Kozlov twists Mark Briscoe's knee in a painful looking way considering the previous injuries, and that gets worked over a bit ahead of the Wolves vs Briscoes match the next night. What was prolonged, decent six man action suddenly goes down to one-on-one at the end, as the Wolves and the Briscoes brawl to the back, leaving Romero and Kozlov to show off their rivalry over the AAA Cruiserweight Title for a few minutes until Romero wins with the knockout kick at 22:55. A good main event that again kept the action going all the way through. Â While Manassas and a snowstorm sounds like a recipe for disaster, and this certainly wouldn't have made a worthwhile standalone purchase, if you ignore the unadvertised chaff and take this as six tightly edited bonus matches (there are no promos) I actually felt the stuff on disc 2 was actually a worthwhile way to spend 2 hours, 7 minutes. I certainly felt like I got more out of this than Reverse The Curse. Bonus points too for Eric Santamaria on commentary here, he isn't great, but in the abscence of Chris Hero for an entire show he at least seems relaxed and gels fairly well with Dave Prazak. Now, back to disc 1 for our main attraction... Â Final Battle 2009 - Manhattan, NY - 19/12/09 Â We start with an excellent four minute video package on the Aries vs Tyler rivalry, going back to their match at the 2008 edition of Final Battle and working forward from there. One thing the package highlights is how much ROH misses Lenny Leonard on commentary... Â Pick 6 Series: Kenny Omega (6) vs Rhett Titus vs Claudio Castagnoli (1) vs Colt Cabana - Speaking of commentary just once more, even though you can see Larry Sweeney commentating with Dave Prazak at ringside, it's Eric Santamaria and Prazak on the DVD. That's OK I guess, and I know they had audio problems on iPPV, but it does seem a bit weird. Cabana and Omega open this one up with an alliance against Titus and Claudio for a bunch of comedy spots. Omega then brings most of the highlights athletically in a short sprint, with Claudio getting a big pop for the UFO then later stealing the pin with a deadlift German suplex on Titus at 6:15. A fun start. Â Tyler then cuts a pre-taped promo ahead of his main event title match, which somehow turns into a Support ROH promo. Nothing to set the world on fire here. Â Delirious & Bobby Dempsey vs Erick Stevens & Bison Smith - This was supposed to be Delirious teaming with Necro, but Necro is absent due to the weather, so Delirious starts solo, then Pelle Primeau comes out to help only to get destroyed, then Big Bad Bobby comes out. For the second night in a row, this Embassy combination actually works quite nicely as far as I'm concerned. The crowd get behind the team of Delirious and Dempsey and they actually unleash some respectable double team offense that the crowd eats up. It's not to be in the long run though, and the finish is a bit flat as Bison messily powerbombs Bobby out of the corner for three at 9:40. Â Fight Without Honor: Chris Hero vs Eddie Kingston - The way this feud has panned out hasn't been particularly great, including a surprisingly flat match at Glory By Honor VIII of which we get a clip of the finish, and I'm still not a big fan of Kingston, but this is a satisfying conclusion to the feud and a decent Fight Without Honor. The crowd are much more into things here than at GBH, which helps. They brawl around ringside in intense fashion and Hero nails a whole bunch of stiff looking elbows for the most part. Things slow down just a bit too much as Hero sets up the one big death spot in the match, but it is particularly brutal as he powerbombs Kingston off the top onto a metal guardrail rested across the ropes in the same corner, and Kingston's head just snaps viciously off the edge of the guardrail. Nasty. That gets the crowd 100% behind Kingston from there out though, and eventually he survives all Hero's offense and blasts him with a spinning backfist complete with golden elbow pad for the pin at 15:10. Happily it looks like it's onto new things from here for both guys.... Â Kevin Steen & El Generico vs The Young Bucks - The story behind this one is supposed to be that The Young Bucks are desperate to beat Steen and Generico at the third try after two previous losses, with clips of both said matches shown before we start. In actuality though, the story here is quite different. For one, the crowd are completely behing Steen and Generico, and the story that develops in the match instead is The Last Stand of Fan Favourite Kevin Steen. Credit to both teams for a cracking match, with smoother, better stuff than their previous encounters all worked around the bad knee of Steen, with his comebacks in particular getting really big reactions from the crowd. Steen even kicks out of More Bang For Your Buck at the end, before finally going down in flames - well, a massive flurry of superkicks - as the Bucks pick up their elusive victory at 17:10. Â The Bucks then scarper, and Steen begins to cut an emotional promo thanking ROH and various opponents, but notably not actually mentioning Generico, retirement or quitting. When Generico then embraces Steen at the end, Steen unleashes his revelation - "I hate your fucking guts" - and a low blow, followed by a vicious chairshot, and voila we have ourselves a mouthwatering feud for 2010. Colt Cabana comes out for the save, and gets a kiss from Steen in response. Okayyy. A must-see match and segment, obviously. Â Pick 6 Series: Roderick Strong (4) vs Kenny King - Kenny King is, for me, fast becoming the ROH version of Dolph Ziggler. There's good stuff there - the cocky persona, good physique, pretty impressive athleticism at times - but when it comes to the actual matches, I just keep finding I'm bored a few minutes in. The same happened here, I got bored, and then inexplicably King upset Roderick to get into the Pick Six with a rollup and a handful of tights out of nowhere at 10:27. I don't understand that one at all. Â Rocky Romero vs Alex Kozlov - The crowd aren't up for this at the start, as it was supposed to be a tag involving Jack Evans and Teddy Hart, but the weather had again messed that plan up. The match itself is fine, as you'd expect from two guys feuding elsewhere, though they do seem like they could have gone up one more gear under different circumstances. Romero wins with the Diablo Armbar in 11:20. Â World Tag Team Title Match: The American Wolves vs Jay & Mark Briscoe - This isn't anywhere near as good or as heated as Steen and Generico vs The Young Bucks earlier on in the show, even though the titles are on the line here and the Wolves and the Briscoes have been feuding properly for a year, mostly around the knee injury of Mark (a clip of Final Battle 2008 is shown to highlight this). It's a solid match, but they don't go in the crazy brawl direction and can't go in the insane spotfest direction. When The Briscoes then actually go and win the titles, with Eddie Edwards eating the doomsday device and Jay bundling on top for the pin at 22:52, the crowd pop big but almost out of surprise rather than because of the way the match built to the title change. Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli then jump the new champs, and the crowd probably pop more for the reunited Kings of Wrestling than anything in the match itself... Â At this point on disc 1, the DVD dumped me back to the title menu, even though there's one more chapter on the DVD before the need to move back to disc 2. So, into the matches menu i went to find... Â Jack Evans vs Teddy Hart - Not that this is really a match. The lights go out (well, are out when this DVD chapter starts) and both guys (and Julius Smokes) are in the ring when the lights come on. Both guys cut promos, with Jack Evans making the most sense and playing up to the NYC crowd, and Hart's making less sense and supposedly setting him up as a heel. Eventually they do five or six minutes of insane/stupid highspots, with Smokes as 'ref', which either sees Evans highflying or being dumped on his head. Evans 'wins' with the 630 splash, and then we get our actual "Final Battle 2009 continues on disc 2" graphic. Let's go then... Â World Title Match: Austin Aries vs Tyler Black - I'm not going into this one in too much detail, but suffice to say it's probably not ROH's finest hour in terms of booking and live audience satisfaction. The first half hour is actually pretty decent, with Aries probably stalling less in the early going than in some of his other recent matches. At the 20 minute mark they are picking up the pace and hitting several of their trademark moves, and it appears that the match is heading to the 30-45 minute mark ala the recent Aries vs Richards and Aries vs Omega matches. Â On the half hour though, Aries gets dumped through a ringside table and lays there in a heap for ages, then MUCH of the next twenty minutes involve Aries rolling from one side of the ring to the other, trying for countouts, and even going backstage, leading to a "Don't Come Back" chant. Tyler needs to come in for some criticism for the second half of the match as well - while the story of him getting frustrated by Aries tactics is there, when he actually does get his hands on Aries, there's a lack of fire and aggression from him that doesn't exactly inspire the crowd to get behind him. Â There is some better action in the final ten minutes as (after trying to get himself DQed) Aries actually starts battling to try and beat Tyler, but again the booking leaves plenty to be desired, as after spending so long trying to run away from Tyler, Aries has no real problems manhandling him when he then puts his mind to it. While he has the spirit to not be defeated, kicking out of the 450, multiple brainbusters etc, Tyler appears weak compared to Aries when it comes to actually trying to finish the match off, despite busting out Cattle Mutilation to a very mixed reaction with a couple of minutes to go. Aries kicks out of God's Last Gift with seconds to go, and the time limit expires with both men flailing away with punches on each other, then for some reason the Briscoes and the Kings of Wrestling brawl out of the crowd until Tyler and the Briscoes are left standing in the ring a minute or so later... Â So, Final Battle 2009, then. The main event makes the FB2009 card itself somewhat of a mixed bag from a booking standpoint, though I found it was a lot more watchable for an hour draw than I thought it might be from the live reports at the time. The rest of the show was more than solid, with the first half of the show especially satisfying. Â As a DVD set, however, this has to come highly recommended, with almost six hours total running time, plenty of good action across the two cards included and some key storyline points in the excellent Steen/Generico break-up and tag title change/Kings of Wrestling reunion. From the perspective of the end of this show, I'd say ROH looks in decent shape going into 2010... Edited September 1, 2010 by gadge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 1, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted September 1, 2010 Well, here it is, the best of ROH in 2009 (in my opinion obviously). I couldn't be bothered to rank the DVD matches, but I did highlight what I though was the match of the year in red. Â Best of ROH 2009 Â On HDNet : Â Â Brian Danielson vs. Tyler Black (Taped 1/3/09, Airdate 25/4/09) American Wolves vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cum Doctor Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 That Young Bucks vs. Steenerico match is brilliant, but I should recommend their utterly glorious match from PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night Two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 2, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted September 2, 2010 Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli have signed new ROH contracts. Yay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobystag Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 I thought Hero signed a contract earlier this year as I remember it being hypocritical of Gabe to have him on an EVOLVE show after he signed with ROH as that was the reason he cited for no longer having Davey Richards feature on his shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 2, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted September 2, 2010 Apparently Hero's is an extension where Claudio's is a new contract, as he hasn't been under contract for awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted September 8, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted September 8, 2010 (edited) My copy of DBD 8 is being held up by the delay in shipping the Bluegrass Brawl DVD. In the meantime.... Â TV Tapings 20 & 21 Edited September 8, 2010 by Dearly Devoted Dexter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 9, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted September 9, 2010 TV reviews? I guess I can do that... Â ROH on HDNet taping #15- 8/01/10 Â New year, briefer recap... Â Episode 44 (airdate 25/01/10) deals quickly with the fallout of the World Title match at Final Battle as Jim Cornette sets up Aries vs Black with three judges at ringside for the 8th Anniversary Show... New World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes give Cheech & Cloudy a few hope spots in a five minute, strictly fit-for-TV affair before Jay uses his military press into Death Valley Driver for the pin... The Briscoes then call out the Kings of Wrestling, only for the American Wolves to come out instead and request their rematch. The Dark City Fight Club come out as well for a three-way pull-apart.. Skullkrusher Rasche Brown, slap the porpoise, next... El Generico vs Kenny King is a decent main event in the end, once they get past Generico not having his head in the game due to Kevin Steen double crossing him at Final Battle, and King's generic mid-match offense. King wins clean with the Coronation at 12:33 to retain his Pick Six spot. Â Episode 45 (airdate 01/02/10) starts with recap of the picking of the judges for our 8th Anniversary Show main event - and then the inexplicable announcement that Tyler Black vs his choice of judge Roderick Strong is our main event. This can't bode well... Delirious vs Rhett Titus isn't exactly fresh matchmaking for 2010, but this family friendly version of their prior bouts is watchable enough. Delirious wins with the Bizarro Driver in 7:44... Steve Corino and Kevin Steen appear together for the first time in a backstage segment... Colt Cabana beats Sonjay Dutt with the Colt 45 in a dull, heat free 7:15... Eddie Kingston is jumped by the Embassy in an angle. That's a step backwards from feuding with Chris Hero. Necro Butcher makes the save... Tyler beats Roderick with a superkick in the main event in 16:00. This was good for the most part, but had shenanigans from Austin Aries in the early going and Aries came back out for the finish where an accidental collision with Aries possibly costs Roderick the decision. Both Strong and Black beat up on Aries to close the show... Â As the final episode to air before the 8th Anniversary Show, Episode 46 (airdate 08/02/10) opens with Jim Cornette and Tyler Black once again... Roderick Strong interrupts Tyler's promo and they end on a tense note... Steve Corino & Kevin Steen's six minute victory over Alex Payne & Bobby Dempsey is notable for Corino and 'Sugarfoot' looking completely awful out there... Dark City Fight Club, slap the porpoise, next... Austin Aries gets stuck with Kyle Durden for his World Title match hyping promo, and makes no bones in complaining about it... The Young Bucks beat the American Wolves in by far the best match of the tapings so far, an encounter that also gets a lot more time than their bout from episode 35 at 21:00 even. Matt Jackson rolls up Davey Richards for the pin to earn the Bucks a tag title shot at some point... Â At this point I've decided that even though taping #16 was the next night, the way this leads directly into the 8th Anniversary Show means the TVs can wait until I've seen that show on DVD. DGUSA Fearless review coming next.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted September 9, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted September 9, 2010 I'm slightly annoyed at ROH faffing with the Bluegrass Brawl DVD, means I won't get to see DBD 8 until early October.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dil|kid Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 I'm slightly annoyed at ROH faffing with the Bluegrass Brawl DVD, means I won't get to see DBD 8 until early October.... Â Â They were allowing people to swap dvds in order to get orders out. Ive decided to give this show a miss anyway and am waiting for the next two pre-orders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 9, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted September 9, 2010 I actually had an order arrive up to and including DBD8 this week. Shame I've only seen up to So Cal Showdown so far... Â Dragon Gate USA: Fearless - Chicago, IL - 23/01/10 Â When it comes to turning a PPV into a 2-disc DVD set, it's certainly a lot easier to watch these DGUSA efforts than it was ROH Final Battle 2009. Admittedly, the pre-taped PPVs put out by DGUSA are only two hours, so there's plenty of room for expansion when it comes to the DVD version. Â The DVD begins before what aired on the PPV, with Jon Moxley and Brian Kendrick storming the ring to ridicule/call out Tommy Dreamer. I like them as a duo, as it takes the unusual Moxley character and helps give it the rub of the established Kendrick. Of course, there's no sign of Dreamer as the PPV taping hasn't started yet... Â TJP vs Gran Akuma - This is announced as "one more dark match before the PPV starts" though the crowd are all in by this point (premium ticket holders got a couple of other matches which are on the bonus disc). It's a solid encounter, that warms the crowd up nicely without being too spectacular. There's some nice technical leg work from both guys, a few bigger spots towards the end then a popular victory for TJP when Akuma taps out to a figure four deathlock at 8:56. Â Davey Richards cuts a pre-taped promo ahead of his FIP title match with Masaaki Mochizuki later, then we inexplicably get to see the ring announcer counting down the PPV opening rather than just going to the opening match... Â CIMA and Super Crazy vs Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw - There's a fun story to this, as CIMA is trying to "squash" the CHIKARA guys in general and rile up Quackenbush specifically for some (unclear) reason related to the stuff with Skayde on the last show. That strategy doesn't work all that well early on as Quackenbush and Jigsaw fall back on their experience as a team, and though Jigsaw works most of the match it's a rounded performance and isn't all as a face-in-peril. Eventually, of course, Quack does get the hot tag and things heat up for the hot concluding minutes. Quack pins Super Crazy with a rollup after an accidental superkick from CIMA at 17:50, and while CIMA jumps Quack 'n' Jig afterwards, they soon level him with superkicks. In a promo later, Quackenbush and Jigsaw say CIMA is now behind them, and they now have YAMATO and Gran Akuma to deal with - along with maybe being the best team in DGUSA. This was a good opener focused nicely on story more than moves. Â Brian Kendrick vs Jimmy Jacobs - Kendrick brings out Lacey as a valet here, in a weird "yeah, so this is a different promotion, but you've all seen their stuff Gabe booked in ROH, right?" moment. While there is 6:44 of match here, this is really more of an extended angle, as Kendrick beats a befuddled Jacobs down, and when Jacobs finally gets some momentum going and locks in the guillotine choke, Lacey gets in the ring and Jacobs is distracted long enough to get hit by Sliced Bread #2 and pinned. Jon Moxley then comes out to help Kendrick celebrate, Jacobs grabs the mic and brings up Kendrick's former Tough Enough alumnus wife Taylor, and Kendrick responds to that by threatening to "break Jacobs heart". He looks like he's going to make out with Lacey, only Moxley blasts her with a clothesline instead, which gets a "That Was Awesome" chant from the crowd and for some reason that's also enough to bring out Tommy Dreamer. Kendrick and Jacobs brawl to the back and that leaves Dreamer and Moxley to brawl through the crowd and around ringside for five minutes or so, until Dreamer hits his DDT and Lenny Leonard gets the chance to go "Dragon Gate USA just got extreme!" on commentary. Okay then. Â FIP World Heavyweight Title Match: Masaaki Mochizuki vs Davey Richards - Compared to other people I know who watch more DG, I'm not a massive Mochizuki fan from the little I've seen of him. The amount of seemingly random kicking in his offense kinda killed the flow of his ROH match with Davey back in Detroit in 2007 that I was at live. This match is much better, as you'd expect from the Davey of 2010. There's some problems - Davey gets his leg worked over, and sells it quite heavily for quite an extended period of time, which just made it more and more obviously wrong when he suddenly does the obligatory full pelt tope suicida into the crowd among other things. Davey works Mochizuki's arm in response, setting up several attempts at using the Kimura for the submission that aren't that effective because you never get the feeling Mochizuki's arm is actually in any pain. That all said, the crowd get still get into things in a big way when they kick in the fighting spirit and the big moves, and a really excellent counter-wrestling sequence for the finish sees Davey take his belt back when Mochizuki taps to a triangle choke at 19:09. A good match, but not at the level of the best matches on earlier DGUSA shows. Â The Young Bucks vs SHINGO and YAMATO vs Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino - This is fought under three way elimination rules, with one member of each team legal at all times in theory, but the actual match structure fluctuates a few times as it goes on and it makes it feel a bit weird overall. Anyway - SHINGO drafts in his regular tag team partner YAMATO for a sort-of-rematch from the absolute blinder at Open The Freedom Gate (Dragon Kid has moved stables to Warriors-5 in the time since) and The Young Bucks are thrown in as well, seeing as how they challenged Speed Muscle in the aftermath of that bout. Â The proper three-way action is nice to start, with alliances formed and broken in seconds, then a five way headscissors which confuses SHINGO in ridiculous (but good) fashion. I started not getting what was going on when SHINGO and YAMATO isolate Nick Jackson, while World-1 sit out altogether in their corner. Once the hot tag to Matt is made, the first elimination comes at the end of a sequence that actually starts with More Bang For Your Buck wiping out YAMATO, but World-1 come in and rather than taking advantage of that, they instead focus on eliminating the Bucks, Doi 555 followed by the Lightning Spiral from Yoshino seeing Matt pinned at 14:55. With the pesky Americans out of the way, Doi and SHINGO go back to battering each other in the usual fashion, until Yoshino makes SHINGO tap to Sol Naciente at 18:58. The Yoshino push - and also my desire to see SHINGO vs Yoshino one-on-one - continues. Overall, I enjoyed this but probably would have preferred a straight tag match with two of the teams (and Speed Muscle vs Young Bucks would probably have made more sense). As it is, the changes in flow just made it feel a bit weird, as I said. Â Open The Freedom Gate Title Match: BxB Hulk vs Dragon Kid - A first time ever match here to really push BxB Hulk's first defense of his title in the US. I really like the way this is structured, it feels like a major singles title match should and plays out a bit like a WWE PPV main event. After some feeling out process, BxB Hulk controls Dragon Kid for the most part of the match with his kicks in particular which he hits with precision. Dragon Kid settles expertly into the Rey Mysterio role of selling well and coming back here and there with his quick, sudden offense. Hulk nicely sells some neck weakness after the Cristo submission and the Ultra Huracanrana, but that's it for Kid's best nearfalls, and while he manages to survive EVO off the top and FTX it's not long before EVOP gets the job done for BxB Hulk at 17:09. Â Before BxB Hulk gets a chance to celebrate his title defense, YAMATO, Gran Akuma and Davey Richards jump the ring and lay a beatdown on him, Kid and CIMA, SHINGO comes out and doesn't save Kid to cement the fact they've broken up, and eventually it takes the CHIKARA boys to come and save Hulk from the 4-on-1 pasting before CIMA comes back out with a broom to clean house. Yes, really. CIMA puts over the upcoming Phoenix shows, and we're outta here. Â While the matches are not quite at the same level as previous shows, Fearless is another strong show from DGUSA. The storylines are flowing really nicely from show-to-show with the characters, factions and rivalries clearly defined and there's signs of fresh talent ready to come up from the undercard as well in a way that ROH is lacking. Excellent stuff. DVD run time is 2 hours, 16 minutes. Â Bonus DVD Â As well as a highlight package of the show, PPV preview and promo spots, we have four bonus matches here. First up are the two pre-show matches... Â Jon Moxley vs Arik Cannon vs Kyle O'Reilly vs Johnny Gargano vs Lince Dorado vs Brad Allen - This is a straightforward six man elimination, which is a lot more watchable than the FRAY! matches they were doing on the first couple of shows. Moxley gets himself DQed by going on a rampage almost immediately with Brian Kendrick encouraging him on. Consistency of character is a good thing. In a similar fashion, Gargano eliminates Brad Allen with a handful of tights next. The best of the action comes between the other four men, though one sequence between Gargano and O'Reilly seems particularly rehearsed. Cannon eliminates first Dorado then Gargano with the Glimmering Warlock, before falling to the convoluted tornado DDT-brainbuster combo of O'Reilly at 11:45. Fun match, though I'm still far from convinced about O'Reilly. Â AAW Heavyweight Title: Silas Young vs Hallowicked - Yay for Illinois indy championships! Or not actually, as this is a blah match that actually seems to get less exciting as it builds to a conclusion. Silas retains his title with the headstand into arabian press at 9:12. Â We then get two title matches from Dragon Gate's 'Gate of Generation 2009' show in Hokkaido, Japan on 6/12/09... Â FIP World Heavyweight Title: Davey Richards vs Masaaki Mochizuki - This is arguably a better match than the one on the PPV, mainly because Mochizuki doesn't work Richards' legs apart from right in the early going. It's Richards who has the long control segment of the match, working over Mochizuki's taped left arm, and looking for submissions with the Kimura and cross armbreaker. While this is going on you can believe in Richards gradual recovery from the early work on his legs, as he doesn't do the stupid dive for one thing, and Mochizuki makes his comebacks not by targetting the legs but by blasting Richards with heavy kicks to the head. It's obviously a good strategy, as it's one more devastating kick to the head that KOs Richards for the title change at 19:07. Good stuff. Â Open The Freedom Gate Title: BxB Hulk vs Susumu Yokosuka - Hulk's very first title defense, this really wasn't what I was expecting going in, mainly because Yokosuka is suddenly a member of Real Hazard after a Korakuen Hall show from a couple of days before saw several realignments in the various factions. The end result of that is a LOT of outside interference from Real Hazard, and Hulk spending ages getting his knee worked over by Yokosuka, the rest of Real Hazard and various foreign objects including the dreaded blue box. Hulk's World-1 associates in his corner eventually have to step in, Hulk's legs recover enough for the fiery exchanges of massive offense in the closing stages, and Hulk overcomes the odds with H-Thunder at 22:07. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dearly Devoted Dexter Posted September 9, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted September 9, 2010 (edited) I'm slightly annoyed at ROH faffing with the Bluegrass Brawl DVD, means I won't get to see DBD 8 until early October....   They were allowing people to swap dvds in order to get orders out. Ive decided to give this show a miss anyway and am waiting for the next two pre-orders.  Indeed, I did see that, but I still want the DVD, and in any case I like watching these things in order. At the moment I'm re-watching some old PWG from 2004. It's an interesting experience - matches I remember raving about six years I now find somewhat average. I guess I'm more cynical about things these days....  in a weird "yeah, so this is a different promotion, but you've all seen their stuff Gabe booked in ROH, right?" moment  EDIT : Just seen that Kyle O Reilly has been signed to face Aries on Friday. Good to see ROH bringing some new guys in; but they need more than O Reilly, Cole & Bennett. I know I've said it before, but I'd love to see the Cutler's get a shot at some point Edited September 10, 2010 by Dearly Devoted Dexter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted September 10, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2010 (edited) At the moment I'm re-watching some old PWG from 2004. It's an interesting experience - matches I remember raving about six years I now find somewhat average. I guess I'm more cynical about things these days.... EDIT : Just seen that Kyle O Reilly has been signed to face Aries on Friday. Good to see ROH bringing some new guys in; but they need more than O Reilly, Cole & Bennett. I know I've said it before, but I'd love to see the Cutler's get a shot at some point  Indy matches can seem to depreciate in value, so to speak, especially the spotty ones. That's why there's only select early ROH stuff I'd go back and watch now.  I don't really know much about any of those new guys you mention. I guess I'll find out in time.  SoCal Showdown review should be up by lunchtime before I head to Broxbourne for some live Dragon Gate Edited September 10, 2010 by gadge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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