Official ROH Discussion Thread

[GIB]

Hmm, I'm currently getting back into ROH after neglecting it for about a year. I've just ordered about 10 ROH DVD's after some recommendations from Gadgetboy.A few questions,When did the ROH/CZW feud start and has it finished yet?Where is the cheapest but most up-to-date place to order their events? I'm using A-Merchandise but they're about 6 months behind.

Edited July 16, 2006 by GIB

[[nothing]]

When did the ROH/CZW feud start and has it finished yet?

Danielson sent out an open challenge to anyone in wrestling to come and fight him for the title. Chris Hero took that opportunity and the first in-ring match in the feud took place at Hell Freezes Over in January (although many words were exchanged in the two/three weeks before this). The feud may end tonight with the Cage of Death match at Death Before Dishonor 4, but I don't think it's finished yet (since a match at the Liverpool show is advertsised at ROH vs. CZW).

Where is the cheapest but most up-to-date place to order their events? I'm using A-Merchandise but they're about 6 months behind.

All the UK suppliers will stay 6 months behind so as not to harm the sales from ROH directly. You'll have to order from Ring of Honor themselves for the newer stuff. The service from ROHwrestling.com is fantastic however and i've haven't been stung by customs once. Edited July 16, 2006 by [nothing]

[GIB]

Thanks, [Nothing].I've really let myself get behind on ROH just now...If it's not too much trouble, can someone answer a few more questions for me?What are the other current feuds just now apart from the one [nothing] answered?What are the current top factions/tag teams?I checked OWW but it doesn't look as if it has updated as far as the face/heel division goes, and it has all the members, whether they are in the faction or tag team anymore, pretty confusing...Thanks.

Edited August 17, 2006 by GIB

[edgecrusher]

Thanks, [Nothing].I've really let myself get behind on ROH just now...If it's not too much trouble, can someone answer a few more questions for me?What are the other current feuds just now apart from the one [nothing] answered.?What are the current top factions/tag teams?I checked OWW but it doesn't look as if it has updated as far as the face/heel division goes, and it has all the members, whether they are in the faction or tag team anymore, pretty confusing...Thanks.

Colt Cabana/Homicide finished a couple of shows ago, there's a building feud between the Brisco Brothers and Aries/Strong, but the Briscos are only sporadically booked so its building really slowly, McGuinness and Danielson have an issue with each other, but really that's it. Almost all 'in company' feuds are taking a backseat to ROH/CZW, which typically takes up every or almost every non-wrestling segment on the show. There was a brief Reyes/Delirious feud, and there's an ongoing Aries/Reyes feud, but it isn't really worked with most of the time. Of course there's the slow burn of Danielson vs. Samoa Joe, too. Top faction is definitely The Embassy, since Generation Next no longer exist. Not that many factions in ROH, either.Aries/Strong are unquestionably the top team. They've been sold as utterly unbeatable, which in my opinion is coming back to hurt them because it's making their matches somewhat uninteresting. After them there's the Rottweilers, but they've been mostly in singles competition so haven't teamed much. The Embassy of Rave and Shelley are, again, probably the second best team for results and title matches.

[alexander]

LIVE RESULTS FROM RING OF HONOR'S DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR EVENT by Mike Johnson @ 11:57:00 PM on 7/15/2006 Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor in Philadelphia, PA live results: Delirious forced Seth Delay to tap out with a Crossface after hitting a splash from the top rope to Delay's back as he was on his hands and knees. *Prince Nana came out and announced he had a huge surprise joining the Embassy, which turned out to be the returning Sal Rinauro. Rinauro got on his hands and knees, acting as a footstool for Jimmy Rave. Jimmy Rave & Sal Rinauro defeated Colt Cabana & Jay Lethal after Rinauro superkicked Cabana and Rave speared him. Lethal was a last minute substitute for Jay Fury, who injured his ankle a few nights ago. He had a new look with longer hair and a white robe. ROH Pure champion Nigel McGuiness defeated Roderick Strong, countout. They did a lot of matwork early which the CZW fans crapped on. They teased a countout with Strong but he got back to the ring at 19. There were a lot of stiff chops and moves with the crowd getting into it as the bout went on. They battled up the aisle, where Nigel DDT'd Strong. They battled to make the count back to the ring. Strong went to return but Nigel grabbed his leg and pulled him back, winning by countout. The finish wasn't loved by the crowd but the match was great. ROH Commissioner Jim Cornette came out to address the fans. He said that the new ECW proved that Vince McMahon and his brain surgeons could screw up a wet dream. He said it also proved that ROH is the only hometown promotion in Philadelphia. He said that he had a few announcements. KENTA will challenge Bryan Danielson for the ROH champion on 9/16 in NYC at the Manhattan Center. KENTA will also appear on the Philly return on 11/4. Cornette then turned his attention to CZW, saying everything is going to be settled tonight. He said it all comes down to the Cage tonight and that's why JJ Dillon will be ROH's Coach tonight. He said it's 5 vs. 5 tonight and he wants Homicide to be the 5th guy but Homicide had three demands and Cornette said that would give him too much power, so there are others who would love to defend ROH. ROH champ Bryan Danielson came out. He said that Cornette keeps asking for Homicide because he's the "CZW Kiler" but no one has beaten Danielson. He told Cornette to pick him because he doesn't need chairs because he can tear tendons and pop elbows. He asked to be put on the team and said he doesn't need any favors in return. Cornette said he agrees and said he's got spot #5 on Team ROH. The Briscoes defeated Irish Airborne in a really fun back and forth tag match. They did stereo shooting star presses to the floor at one point. AJ Styles pinned Davey Richards with the Styles Clash in a good match. The crowd seems burnt out from the heat in the building. ROH champion Bryan Danielson defeated Sonay Dutt, representing CZW via referee's decision after a belly to back suplex off the top followed by a series of elbow strikes to the face. When Dutt didn't defend himself, the referee stopped the match. Danielson was announced as the "CZW Killer" after the match. The fans chanted "Don't come back" at Dutt. Cage of Death Match: There are two ladders, two tables wrapped in barbed wire, and several trash cans in the ring. JJ Dillon won the coin toss so ROH has the advantage as the entrances will be done War Games Style. The first men in are Samoa Joe (ROH) and Claudio Castagnoli (CZW). Joe hit a flying forearm out of the ring on Claudio, then kicked a trash can into his face. BJ Whitmer (ROH) was third man in. ROH beat down Claudio. Chris Hero (CZW) was out next. CZW took control. Bryan Danielson was the fifth in and cleaned house. He dropkicked Hero while Hero was on the top rope. He called for Joe to hit a muscle buster on Hero, but then clipped Joe's knee and attacked him (they have a ROH title match next month). Danielson walked out of the match while Joe was carried out. Nate Webb was next out for CZW and all three destroyed Whitmer for several minutes. Adam Pearce hit the ring for ROH and took the fight to CZW but they were overcome. Necro Butcher joined the fight for CZW. They continued the assault on Pearce and Whitmer. Ace Steele hit the ring for ROH and laid out CZW with a cowbell. CZW continued to beat down ROH. Hero began to antagonize the crowd on the mic and fans began throwing a lot of bottles and garbage in the ring. Hero said he had someone who hated him as his last partner because that person hates ROH fans more then he hates Hero...CZW's Eddie Kingston. CZW continued beating ROH, five on three. Kingston chopped Hero in error and they started getting in each other's faces shoving the other. Homicide's music hit and the place went insane. Homicide slammed a piece of wood over Kingston's head. He laid out CZW until Necro hit him with a chair. Necro charged him but Homicide tossed tacks on the mat and Necro ran across them barefoot. Homicide tossed forks to Team ROH and they went to town on CZW. Steele dove through the ropes but Kingston moved and Steele crashed through a table that was standing upright. Webb took a bump on thumbtacks. Lots of weapon shots. Homicide hit an Ace Crusher through a chair on Hero. Pearce hit a top rope elbow on Webb for a near fall. Hero teased falling through a table wrapped in barbed wire but was knocked past it, into the Cage. Whitmer hit an Exploder on the floor onto a trash can on Kingston. Hero and Pearce battled to the top of the cage. Castagnoli jumped from the top to the cage and hit a side Russian Legsweep off the top through two tables on Pearce. Hero hit a moonsault into the cage on everyone. Homicide missed a running senton. Whitmer hit a brainbuster onto a chair on Hero, but Necro hit him with a chair to break it up. Homicide and Whitmer hit a double belly to back suplex on Necro, who hit the back of the chair with the back of his head. They tried to toss Necro out of the ring onto the barbed wire table but he escaped. Whitmer put Necro on his shoulder and dove backwards through the barbed wire table. Homicide brought a barbed wire board in from under the ring. Webb tried to get him with a chair but Homicide clotheslined him. Homicide hit the CopKilla onto the barbed wire board and scored the pin for Team ROH. Notes: There are 1,000-1,100 fans in attendance including some CZW fans jeering the ROH fans...Trent Acid is backstage....They will be using the oversized Cage of Death that CZW debuted last December tonight in the main event.

[LaGoosh]

Eddie Kingston in ROH makes me happy.

[alexander]

Apparently, post match, Homicide told Cornette that in return for aiding team ROH, he wanted another match with Corino, a title shot and Low-Ki reinstated. Cornette refused and he and Pearce turned heel, beating down Homicide.

[LaGoosh]

Also Cornette continued tarnishing his good promos with homophobic insults by calling Homicide "Homocide".Seriously, Cornette is one of the best promo guys out there but this hwole CZW/ROH fued he just uses constant gay jokes which makes him come across as a idiotic red-neck bigot.

[edgecrusher]

Yes, yes it does. Interesting that they're turning Low-Ki's 'life suspension' into an actual angle. And Jim Cornette turning heel? Can't see that lasting. But hmm... That sounds like one hell of a match and a damn good card.My review of Weekend of Champions Night one should be up later today.

Edited July 16, 2006 by edgecrusher

[edgecrusher]

ANd here it is, my review of Weekend of Champions night one!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------WEEKEND OF CHAMPIONS - NIGHT ONEThere’s a video recap with the DVD which recaps the end of the 100th show, showing what little of the match was visible with the crappy camerawork on display, then has a great promo by Jim Cornette ripping into Claudio Castagnoli in particular, building up this weekend as the ‘nights when ROH strikes back’. I sense this will go horribly wrong and CZW will have the last laugh yet again. Jimmy Jacobs explains why he lost to Yang; great stuff. Colt Cabana then apologises for sucking so badly against Bryan Danielson. Fair dos. Decent promo. OMGZ! Lacey threatens to dump Jacobs from Lacey’s Angels if he doesn’t win this weekend! Jacobs is such a sap, but he’s so lovable! Lacey’s a great character, and Jacobs plays off her brilliantly.Some oddness with Danielson getting a phone call from Allison and saying she won’t be here this weekend. That’s right, Lantern. TWO WHOLE SHOWS WITH NO DANGER. Think it might have been a SHIMMER taping weekend, but I’m not certian. He’s then asked if he wants to ‘do this promo’ and switches into promo mode. Naughty ROH, bad kittens no cookies! Would have been much better to just go into the promo anyway. Promo’s good enough, hits on all the relevant issues. Danielson wants a title, he’s been without one in ROH for ages, and he intends to get even on Claudio Castagnoli for being the man he shook hands with who then betrayed the company. On night two C2 is up against Samoa Joe, poor sod. 1st Match: Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Jacobs‘Classic’ Colt is every bit as geeky as Rocky mark one was. How did he ever get over? Jimmy Jacobs rules. I love this guy so much. WIN JIMMY WIN! Sadly, I feel Colt might be on his ‘build myself up’ streak... Homicide, how could you fail us? Colt’s actually a lot of fun, but this pisses me off no end as he’s basically completely no-selling the feud with Homicide. It’s like nothing important happened, when the feud that nearly killed him several times ended just two shows ago. It just feels wrong on every level. And that’s the mark in me speaking, as well as the writer who hates bad plot! Opens up with some comedy, with Colt making Jacobs look like an idiot (not hard), funny stuff, before settling down into some actual wrestling. I’ve already said Lacey and Jacobs play off each other well, and it really shows in the early going with some clever working around the old ‘enemy threatening the female manager’ spot. Lacey’s her usual harridan self, shouting for Jacobs to hit Colt harder when he gets control of the match. Jacobs likes his double stomps! Hits about five in a row on Colt. Ouch. Then adds ‘the MsChif’ stomps as I call them, as well. Jacobs gets some lovely high flying offence, he’s really very slick when he gets going, while Colt hits his ‘classic’ butt bumps and bionic elbows, as well as trying a disastrously short quebrada that gets him dropkicked in the face in mid-air. Jacobs doesn’t hit his ‘no-hands’ aeroplane headscissors, unfortunately, I really like that move. Also hits a spear right into a rollup, which is an interesting variant on the move which I imagine he plans to do more often. Eventually he goes down to a simple powerbomb, not even worthy of Colt’s finisher. This is a shame, but it’s pretty obvious with the start of the show that if Jacobs wins it’ll be on Night Two.**1/2Jim Cornette’s out with Ace Steel, and he has a crutch with him. Obviously this is to set up this evening’s main event. If you’re curious how I’m writing this, I’ve got the writing document open next to my WinDVD window and I’m writing as I watch. Thankfully I’ve done enough writing in my years that I don’t even need to look at the writing screen to type. This is handy to say the least. Hence I can do all the smarky shit without it in any way influencing my enjoyment of the show at all. I’d do a dance smiley but I don’t think this site has any. Cornette lists the injuries the crew’s taken; pretty nasty. Whitmer’s in a bad, bad way apparently. Cornette wants the guys to work together harder than ever, and he’s singling out Colt Cabana. Ace Steel determines that someone’s gonna die. I approve. I likes Ace Steel, even if his match at Supercard was a bit crappy. Great character. Cabana cuts a promo about how cool ROH is, says he isn’t needed anymore, because he’s starting from the very bottom and he’s working his way up. But he’ll still be there to fight CZW if they turn up. Again, Cornette calls out Claudio Castagnoli. This is pretty much the biggest development in the feud so far, so it’s good that they’re giving it proper attention. The main event is going to be Nova-heat, since the magic DVD casing tells me he’s part of the 6 man. God I hope they’ve fixed the camerawork, else this’ll be as bad as the other one. This is a great promo all round. Yay for Cornette.2nd Match: Irish Airborne vs. Jay Fury and SpudI hear the ROH fans chanting: “LANTERN’S GONNA HATE THIS! LANTERN’S GONNA HATE THIS!” Well, actually that isn’t true. But we all know what L2 thinks of the Irish Airborne and spotfests. Thankfully, I’m quite partial to a bit of eye candy, and I like the Airborne, so I think I’ll quite like this. The Airborne don’t really have ‘a gimmick’, they’re a pair of high energy young lions (to quote Cornette) who want to prove themselves. They’re also over with the fans already, so they’re on the right track. Spud and... Dave, I think, open up with a spectacular light heavyweight series, including a deja vu from Spud. Jake and Fury them tag in for a more grounded and technical exchange... no, I’m wrong, THIS is Dave, the blond one’s Jake. Spud and Fury completely fuck up one of the Dragon Gate boy’s spots, that being the 619 around a partner into an opponent’s face. Well, Spud grazes Dave’s head, but the fans notice. The Airborne have some sweet tag team moves including a hideous double spinebuster variant. I like the cut of their jib. Spud gets dominated, he’s small you see ergo he must be dominated. Eventually Spud gets back with a sick DDT from the top rope on Jake. ROH should vary the ‘small guy is fall guy’ methodology more. Strategically it makes good sense to isolate the BIG guy, not the small guy. Logically the big guy is going to do more damage, after all. ANYWAY...While I’ve been rambling, everyone’s been diving to the outside like madmen, as any ROH match involving multiple opponents demands at least once. Dave gets the best dive with a springboard merosault, or so they call it. I like Jay Fury’s ‘Jaytrix’. Spud hits a Code Red after a couple of nice kicks, then dies to a fucking weird STO-hip-throw-face-slam thing. Airborne win with a Dave double stomp onto the head of Jay Fury who’s on Jake’s shoulders in a fireman carry, who then drops Fury over Dave’s knees on the mat. I think it’d make a better tag finisher if they just tagged a Death Valley Driver on, but I guess the move has been superceded over time. Pity. I think this is going to be Irish Airborne’s tag finisher. Good fun match, inoffensive but not brilliant, not really intended as a show stealer. **Super Dragon kills some random guy and throws him to the ringside before wandering off backstage with a chair. ROH backstage boys come after him.Nigel McGuiness cuts a fucking AWESOME promo, loaded with cockiness and character. He’s got very good facial expressions, which helps a lot.3rd Match: Delirious vs. Jimmy RaveRave comes out sans Nana, with Haze. It’s just occurred to me that there’s no Shelley tonight. The toilet paper shower is still pretty cool, but it’s just not the same without Shelley and Nana there as well. Delirious is so over with the ROH crowd, and quite rightly, too. He picks up a discarded loo roll and runs around with it in his mouth. This guy’s awesome at just making shit up as he goes. Then he suddenly chucks it at Jimmy Rave, which makes Haze very angry. Little ‘DIE, JIMMY DIE” Chant. Delirious just sticks his hand out to be shaken, and Rave is really nervous about shaking hands with him, backs off the second he has, and runs away the moment the bell rings and Delirious goes nuts. As it is specifically brought up that the announcers don’t know why Nana is at ringside, I imagine that this is going to lead somewhere. The Embassy’s internal politics have been a feature of storylines for four or five shows now, so it wouldn’t be a surprise.Rave continues to run away from Delirious, especially when Delirious backs him into the corner after a lockup and just shouts in his face for a bit. There’s no matches like Delirious matches. There really isn’t. Of course they eventually lock up and get to wrestling, and since they’re both very good wrestlers it’s all good. Naturally Rave eventually gets control and goes after Delirious’ injured hand, apparently cut open on the new ringposts (they have a new ring, don’t you know) during his title match with Bryan Danielson. The posts are jagged on top, you see. Better get a member of the ring crew with a file and sort that out.Rave does lots of stuff focusing on hurting the hand, stomps, slamming it off the mat, etc. etc. Rave rips some of Delirious’ hand tape off and then ues it to tie him to the top rope, but unfortunately it seems he can’t tie a decent knot and it doesn’t stick. So he settles with punching the hand and slamming it off the turnbuckle. The fans start chanting... something. I think it’s nonsense and is thus a pro-Delirious chant. Speaking of which, Delirious sells the hand injury well. Roderick Strong should take note. Rave busts out of Delirious’ comeback by blocking his finisher attempt, and hits some nice offence including his spear and a butterfly lock. Delirious manages to get the cobra stretch on Jimmy Rave, but Daizee Haze breaks it up by distracting the referee with a chair then hitting a top rope splash on Delirious. Then the bell rings, and it turns out to be a draw.Kind of a ‘hmm’ ending to what was a rather good match. Still, the next one should rock.***4th match: Christopher Daniels vs. Nigel McGuinessGoing in, we know two things: 1. Chrissy isn’t going to win, if he did it would mess up the meeting between Guinness and Danielson, which would be stupid since it’s pretty much what Weekend of Champions is about. 2. This is probably going to be very, very good. For some reason... Nigel McGuinness is carrying an iron emblazoned with the British flag. Why is the pure champion carrying an iron with the British flag on it? I don’t know. This is very very strange. People start chanting ‘NEW CHAMP’, the fools. They should be chanting ‘WHY THE IRON?’. Duelling chants before the bell. There’s a good old code of honour handshake, but Nigel is a right bitch about it, refusing to let go and repeatedly pulling Daniels back chest to chest while trash talking him. Nice. Bit of a shove back and forth, then a Daniels-won shoulderblock sends McGuiness to the outside. The fans chant ‘TEA AND CRUMPETS’. WTF? McGuiness pulls off a very clever little trick, catching Daniels in the eye with a quick double poke, then taking him down and covering him repeatedly, pushing him across the ring until he accidentally gets his leg in the ropes, costing him a rope break. McGuiness is forced to get a rope break to escape Daniels’ Koji Clutch some time later. McGuiness gets control again with his cool handstand corner counter, and starts working hardway on Daniels’ arm. But nontheless, when Daniels gets McGuiness in a halfcrab, he forces the Pure Champ to use his second rope break. Still, he doesn’t mind, and goes right back to trying to break Daniels’ arm down into its constituent parts with a weird and wonderful variety of slams, snaps and holds. McGuiness steals American Dragon’s ‘I’ve got ‘til FIVE, referee’ spot, and the fans get it. A little heat, but it’s neither good nor bad. Daniels gets his second wind and a burst of offence, but can’t put McGuiness away. McGuiness goes for the corner handstand as a counter, but gets slapped in the chest and death valley drivered for a hot near fall. Hey, I’m watching a DVD on DVD! How clever. Daniels goes for the BME, but misses, lands on his feet, manages to come out of the exchange on top for a near fall, then goes for a seated cobra clutch that the announcers call... a shinimaki, or something. This, remarkably, forces the champ to use his third and final rope break. Daniels, meanwhile, is still on one. McGuiness does a couple of his big momentum building spots, including a little run up to the second turnbuckle into a charging clothesline, and his weird back bouncey thing off the second rope. You know what I mean. He beat Claudio Castagnoli with it. Doesn’t here. McGuiness goes for the Tower of London, but Daniels gets out and reapplies the shinimaki thing. McGuiness grabs the ropes but it doesn’t matter. However, he uses them to build up momentum and throws both of them outside the ring to break the submission. At this point, it’s looking like Daniels has the distinct advantage, but McGuiness ambushes him when he goes to get in the ring and hits a bunch of european uppercuts. They get close to a 20 count, and McGuiness suddenly grabs a female photographer at ringside and pushes her into Daniels to distract him long enough for the countout win. Gets a rousing ‘THIS IS BULLSHIT’ chant for his efforts. Interesting way to lead into Danielson vs. McGuiness...***1/2Backstage, Danielson’s with Prazac, and of course he defends his position as the best wrestler in the world. Samoa Joe comes over to be all menacing at Danielson, building up to their inevitable title match. It’s hard to believe that Danielson can stop Joe, but I hope so. 5th match: Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy YangSince when did Jimmy Yang deserve a title shot? I’ve seen him win ONE match in seven shows. I don’t even think he’s listed in the top 5 anymore. While the idea of the top 5 is great, I’m still unsure of what it actually means or how one earns a place in it. Cabana shot to no. 1 after the great feat of winning one fucking match, after Homicide had beaten him about nine times in a row and got nothing, Jimmy Yang’s in a title match despite doing nothing but lose... there’s no logic behind it if you look at the results of the shows. That isn’t good. Anyway...We all know how this is going to end. Yang’s a bowling pin for Danielson, nothing more, but we all know Danielson’s going to make him look good on the way to getting beaten. Tonight, Danielson’s ‘the best wrestler these pricks have ever seen’, and you know the fans believe it. Apparently Jimmy Yang saves his white jacket for special occasions only, such as Wrestlemania 20, his debut match in ROH, and so on. Nice touch. Kind of thing commentators are needed for.Yang controls the early going, and bails out to the floor after losing out on a moonsault exchange and taking a chop to the chest that yet again lights him up like Christmas. Danielson’s chest worries me. It seems unhealthily thin, and an infection waiting to happen. If Danielson was to get seriously injured or come down with a bad infection it would be very, very bad for ROH. Danielson does a weird dragon sleeper variant, leaning forward to link his hands behind his back, but Yang fires back with the martial arts stuff, which appears to officially be his gimmick. Then Yang again CANNONS himself into the ring post. He really DOES like that spot! Danielson takes total control, working Yang over in all the good old ways and with his usual mix of new fine detail work and signature submission spots. Yang goes for a big dive, namely the space flying tiger drop, but he goes for the handspring WAY too late, recovers very nicely and goes for a baseball dropkick into corkscrew moonsault. It didn’t really look like a mistake, more like Yang expected Danielson to move and changed up at the last second. Back in the ring, Yang hits a sick looking spinning wheel kick and goes for Yang Time, but Danielson dodges and applies Cattle Mutilation for a near win. He hits the belly to back suplex for a near fall, and now he’s into desperation covers. Yang has never looked this good before. Admittedly he is ‘on’ tonight, but it’s certainly not a coincidence. Yang hits a neckbreaker from the top for a great near fall, leading into a great sequence of strikes back and forth, ending with Danielson blocking a standing moonsault attempt and dragging Yang off into the crossface chickenwing to choke him out for the win. Great match. Bryan shakes hands after the match. No hard feelings here, seemingly. ****6th Match: Aries/Strong vs. Joe/SydalAs you can see, Generation Next consists of Aries and Strong, and two other losers who exist to either get beaten by them or take the fall for them in trios. I think Gen Next’s official break up will be good for Jack Evans at least, as he won’t be in the position of taking all their losses for the team. On the other hand, this could result in this team never losing ever, which good wear thin really fast. They’re just not as rivetting as Bryan Danielson is. Sydal continues his campaign of failing to take the tag team titles from his partners by going with someone he’s never worked with before. Yes, I’m sure he has a much better chance than he did those times with AJ.Major league ‘JOE’ chanting. Not much duelling here, Austin Aries isn’t as popular as Joe. Nobody is in ROH. Prediction: Sydal takes most of the offence for his team. Starts out with Sydal and Strong. Typical slick wrestling, nothing high impact. Joe enters against Strong and starts avoiding Strong’s chop.Joe takes control on Austin the moment Austin gets in, and starts powering through everything directed his way. Austin pulls his handstand dropkick escape from a front headlock rather than his usual headscissors, but it really doesn’t slow Joe down for more than a second. Sydal gets tagged back in for a brief spell of ground based strikes. Cool moment where Sydal splays Austin’s arms out so he can’t defend himself after tagging in Joe, and he shouts ‘OH SHIT!’ when he looks up and sees Joe about to stomp on him. Austin continues to get worked over by Joe with high impact offence and a lot of strikes.Proper duelling chans when Joe’s been killing Aries for ags. Finally a kick to the head gives Austin the chacnce to tag toutl, while of course Joe tags too Sydal. O fcourse, he has no part to play in Strong’s backbreaker-assistant offence. In a stunning turn, eventually Sydal starts getting obliterated by the champs, while Samoa Joe keeps comig in to break up submissions or pins to kick people in the head or whatever. Yay for Austin Aries’ ‘slow motion’ knee drop. Not flashy but the fans love it nonetheless. Joe tags in, and pretty much no-sells an attempt to counter his standing senton. Does a couple of impact moves on Austin, then tags out to Sydal again. On the outside, Strong drives Joe into ringpost and barricade, then goes in after Sydal. Sydal hits some decent stuff on both of them, then gets murdered by a sick diving kick to the face. They then hit him with a double backbreaker and a brainbuster/chest chop combo for hot near falls. Joe returns to the action and catches Aries with a diamond cutter off a dive to earn a nova hot near fall from Sydan’s standing moonsault. The fans chant ‘THAT WAS THREE’. Joe tries the muscle buster on Strong, but Aries breaks it up and Strong hits a VERY scrappy fireman carry gutbuster, Austin dives on Joe to put him out while they do the full nelson backbreaker/450 to finish the match. Short of Joe actually taking no offence, they couldn’t possibly have protected him any more. I think he sold about two things in the whole proceedings. Hot end sequence, but not half as awesome as the fans seemed to think it was.Generation Next need a nemesis team, one which looks like it’s going to beat them. Bryan Danielson’s long reign is working because the majority of his opponents are made to look like threats and there’s this hint of doubt that he’ll be able to win. Gen Next are REALLY losing this feel. I wish they’d make their minds up and either book them in legitimate squashes all the time, or actually give them some competition. We’ll see how the Briscoes do, and how Jimmy Rave and Shelley do on Night Two.**1/2Joe cuts a brief promo in the ring about wanting to beat someone to death, then calls out CZW. Necro Butcher, Super Dragon and someone I don’t know come out, I guess it must be Nate Webb since he’s listed on the DVD back. This brings out Ace Steele and Adam Pearce, and there’s a bit of a fight on. Colt Cabana comes out as well. Joe and Butcher go backstage, and presumably Claudio and Castagnoli take out Joe, as he never returns. LAAAAAAME. CC/Dragon/Webb/Butcher dominate for a few secs until Whitmer comes in with a chair and crushes everyone with a chair. Whitmer’s in a neck brace, so I guess he wasn’t hurt as bad as first made out. I’m amazed. CC takes off the brace and works the neck, OH, there’s Pearce. Who the hell was the other guy, then? Maybe that was Colt. Nate turns around from fighting Pearce to be fighting 4 on 1, gets hammered a bit then backdropped out of the ring. Fans chant ‘ROH’ a lot. Brawl continues, the fans are invited to get a little low-level participation by Colt and co, holding chairs up for heads to get slammed in them and in Colt’s case getting someone to throw a chair on Necro. Ace Steele fights Super Dragon, Whitmer fights CC. Camerawork is a little better than the last one, thankfully. I don’t get why Colt Cabana isn’t listed on the back of the DVD; he gets the most screen time in this match, I think. Certainly enough to be a noticeable part of the match. In the ring, Whitmer slaps the shit out of CC’s chest, then gets thrown outside and takes a tope. Unsurprisingly CC takes a bunch of nasty offence, and equally unsurprisingly Super Dragon deals it out. Eventually Whitmer and Dragon face each other again and start hurting one another. Ace Steele fights with Necro on his level, with guard rail fun and chair shots. Dragon hits a huge senton on Whitmer, but he kicks out. CZW are the ones getting the near falls in this match. But who’ll get the one that counts? I’m still expecting CZW. Dragon goes for another Psycho Driver on Whitmer off the apron, but Colt saves him and unfortunately fails to put Dragon through the table. Instead Castagnoli runs in and european uppercuts him when he tries and asai moonsault, sending Colt through it instead. Ace Steele gets taken out by Necro, Whitmer and Dragon try to kill Whitmer with a stomp off the top on a chair, but Steele saves him and hip tosses CC over the ropes to the outside. Steele and Necro go out and back into the crowd. Craziness all round. Steele suplexes Butcher off some seats onto the concrete. OUCH. Back in the ring, Claudio and Super Dragon 2 on 1 Whitmer. We know he’s fucked this time. Colt tries to save, but fails, and BJ gets killed by a top rope double stomp onto the chair off the top. Claudio then adds a muscle buster for a laugh to give CZW the win. Again. Ha. Knew it. Good stuff. I am beginning to wonder when ROH is going to achieve much in this feud. So far they’ve been getting complete owned on their TV, though I hear that they massacred CZW on their show immediately after Arena Warfare. ***1/2Whitmer does another stretcher job post match. Not surprising. Is he dead? Who knows? Since they stretcher him out on a table rather than an actual stretcher, I’m willing to say the answer’s ‘no’. Steele and Colt look really pissed off about the outcome, unsurprisingly. Whitmer’s role as ROH represtative is an interesting way to push him, it’s certainly effective. Unless I’m mistaken, Jummy Rave is one of the people coming out to check on him. Steele and Pearce finish the show with some very angriness at the camera. There will not be a third time, says they. Well; we’ll find out in a few shows’ time, won’t we? For now, this first night of the weekend is... OVER.P.s. Whitmer’s wrestling S.D. on the next night, so my prediction is that his head survived the stomping.

[alexander]

ROH Edited July 18, 2006 by Leicester Lantern

[JLM]

That's the best review of DF vs BG I've seen so far, and I've read way too many of them. It was a DF vs BG sprint that was made both better and worse by the different setting.

[edgecrusher]

WEEKEND OF CHAMPIONS NIGHT TWOJimmy Jacobs has his LAST chance to win a match, or he loses Lacey! He looks like he might CRY! WIN, JIMMY, WIN! Austin Aries cuts a promo, while Wodewick Strong stands by him trying to look like... something. Yeah, Gen Next would be the best in the world; if YOU weren’t in it, Wodewick. Actually no, they are extremely good. But I find Wodewick wearing very thin on me. He looks so... young. Aries looks great with his satan beard, Wodewick looks soooo bland, and his voice is fucking awful. Stop talking. Please. Shut up. Just stand there and rub your hands like some kind of obsessed clean freak. And it’s over.Again there’s a video recap on the DVD, covering what happened at the 100th Show. It’s the same as the one on Night One, so basically there’s no point in watching it since you’re a muppet if you just buy night two. Ring announcer announces that because of the previous night Danielson and McGuinness will be facing each other. Shock. Horror. Gasp. Whitmer interrupts this to get angry about CZW trying to kill him again. He calls out CZW, but Cornette and Pearce are out to try and insert some sanity and point out he’s half-dead. Sound’s a bit crap unfortunately, so it’s hard to follow what Cornette says. In short: “Don’t be a ‘tard, rest for a while, this fight isn’t going to be over in one night. We appreciate you being a straight up guy.” Awwww, bless. Cornette then cuts a brilliant promo about how shit WWE is and how it made him hate wrestling, and how ROH made him love wrestling again. I didn’t know Bobby Heenan was J.C.s childhood idol. He says he very much appreciates the respect he receives from the fans, and essentially puts over that ROH is at war not just with CZW but with every promotion out there who puts forth bad shows and crap Hardcore wrestling. Maybe Cornette’s got past the bad homophobic promos. I hope so, because this is great. Pearce becomes deputy Commissioner while J.C. is out of action for his knee surgery. Adam then cuts a pretty decent promo of his own. He’s cool. In case you didn’t know, he’s turned face . Still, the harmonics of the arena fuck over audibility and in the late bit of his promo he sounds like Delirious. Cornette has another go at Claudio Castagnoli. He’s gonna get killed by Joe later on...AND OUT COMES NATE WEBB! Ambushes Pearce and goes after Cornette, but Ace Steele chases him off before he can do anything else. However, Pearce I think gets busted open again. As you can see, ROH is REALLY doing a good job of hitting back so far .:/1st Match: Colt Cabana and Conrad Kennedy III vs. Irish AirborneI still don’t like Colt Cabana. Conrad looks a little bit... strange. Very subdued. Doesn’t seem to appreciate being utterly ignored in favour of Cabana. Big ‘IRISH AIRBORNE’ chant. They’re nicely over. More Colt comedy wrestling, centred around how good he is at headlocks until Jake Christ hits a very unusual springboard side headlock. Colt tags in his partner with his foot, who then puts a headlock on Jake, who breaks free and uses another springboard side headlock to take control and get Irish Airborne in the fight. I wish they’d stop bringing up the feud with Homicide. It only gets more annoying as Colt continues to wrestle like a fool. Colt starts calling shots from the corner, and CKIII goes along with his requests. Dave Christ gets tagged in and performs a standing moonsault across half the ring onto their opponents, shortly followed by a second one, quebrada style. Stereo hurracanranas lead to a couple of unique dives, including a springboard elbow drop to the outside. That’s new. It looked like he slipped for a second, but after rewinding it was clearly deliberate. Another ‘IRISH AIRBORNE’ chant. CKIII fights free of their tag finisher, then hits a really weird move which is kind of a super swinging neckbreaker, except onto the knee. You really need to see it to understand it. Unfortunately it’s on the illegal man, and they take CKIII down with their unique spinebuster and an inverted powerslam off the top, which looked awesome. Sadly, not to be for the boys, ‘cause CKIII wasn’t legal, either, and Colt wraps it up with his powerbomb. Okay, nothing offensive in it. **2nd Match: Delirious vs. Chris SabinWell, Delirious is going over here. Or at least I’d hope so, since Sabin’s Mr. X Division and Delirious is super over in ROH. No ‘hail Sabin’ music here, but a couple of guys in the crowd say it as he’s slapping hands. This should be pretty good, I think. Unfortunately, they start a ‘LET’S GO SABIN’ chant instead of ‘HAIL SABIN’ which would be far more interesting. Didn’t realise he was former ROH, so outcome not so certain. Still reckon Delirious is going over comfortably. Especially since I know Delirious has a title match two shows down the line. How the hell he earns a title shot so quickly I don’t know, after being beaten by Danielson ‘just because’ recently. Some great stuff here, with Delirious being lots of fun as always, some very intricate ground work and technical plays, with, naturally, some cool high flying as well. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: There are no matches like Delirious matches. He’s so unique and cool; a great catch for ROH. They want to book him as much as they possibly can. I think the fans chant ‘BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH’ for Delirious, though I’m not sure...This referee is a berk. Delirious counters Cradle Shock with a sunset flip for a near fall, but Sabin’s right back in control with a nasty running kick to the face in the corner. Delirious’ rather nasty looking Shadows Over Hell gets a hot near fall, then there’s a lengthy sequence of finisher fakes, with both men countering repeatedly until Delirious finally locks in the Cobra Stretch for the win. This was great, and well worth the watching. Looks like Delirious is getting pushed properly now.Post match Delirious hugs a fan at ringside holding a ‘Delirious is my dad’ sign, which Delirious puts in his mouth for a bit. ***1/23rd Match: Yang vs. Trik Davis vs. Jay Fury vs. Flash Flan. vs. Spud vs. JacobsIt’s Jacobs’ last chance, if he loses he’s gone from Lacey’s Angels, and he’s without his beloved. Could he survive without her? I’m not sure. WIN, JACOBS, WIN! He’s weird; he’s still a kind of heel, but he’s so lovable now that it’s hard to think of him as one. Trik Davis is new to me, probably usual ROH fare with some pretty moves (guess), Spud’s kind of over and has cool entrance music. He’s got a decent look, too. Jay Fury looks ‘ard. He wouldn’t look out of place in the Rottweilers, though I think he might be the wrong ethnicity. Aren’t the Rottweilers all latin American? Flash Flanagan walks to the ring looking mean. I’ll bet he’s working heel. Out comes Jacobs. I love his entrance so very, very much, and the fans dig it, too. The fans actually sing along with some of the lyrics. This was a very successful gimmick attempt. Finally there’s Yang, he always looks cool with nu-triad look, his music’s nice, and he’s a decent enough worker. Flash won’t shake hands with anybody, but everyone else happily shakes hands. Yup, Flash is working heel. COME ON, JACOBS!Jacobs suffers a major league embarassment on the first couple of moves when he does a leapfrog and manages to rip a hole in the crotch of his tights. Could be intentional, though. Lacey, of course, is disgusted. Trik Davis proves to be exactly what I expected. Typical ROH job-boy; some pretty stuff, but nothing special. Jacobs is tagged out by Yang, and gets pissed at him, starts slapping him across the face, so Yang, ever the unflappable cool machine, rupes his trousers off when he turns around. Yeah, the trouser split was intentional. Nice four-man spot with Spud, Flash, Jay Fury and Yang, before Yang blocks the jaytrix/enzifuri combo and hits a nice kick, followed by a punch and asai moonsault to the outside after being back bodydropped to the apron. REALLY slick stuff here. Yang’s on a real ‘on’ night here. Jay Fury hits a diving spinning thing to the outside that I have no idea how to how to name. Trik goes for a dive, but the trouserless Jacobs nails a spear for a flash near fall. Spud dives to the outside after putting Jacobs down, somehow Flash Flanagan has busted his nose up. Jacobs gets hurracanranaed from the top rope to the outside onto all the other guys by Trik Davis; nice. I liked that. I’m really enjoying this. Back in the ring there’s a bunch of missed splashes from the top, including a merosault and a Yang Time attempt. Finally Jacobs blocks an attempt by Yang to catch him on the way down with a spinning wheel kick only to walk into a superkick. Man this is great. This is EXACTLY what such a match should be. Chaotic, spectacular, and action-packed. Way better than the usual attempt. Jay jaytrix’s out of a spinning Spudline, and nails the enzifury. Trik gets a near fall on Flanagan, Jacobs hits a lovely combo of elbows into a Contra Code effort, but Trik gets a near fall on Jacobs. Jackobs stops him following up, goes up after him, then hits a top rope Contra Code on him to finally take the win! YAY! Lacey is stunned by the outcome. “I can’t believe you won, you never win. I don’t know what’s going here. Pull your pants on!” she cries at ringside, but unfortunately the words are kinda killed by the camera because you can tell she wants to smile. It’s funny; Jacobs ignores the code of honour by leaving immediately and flipping everyone off but nobody cares. Flash does it and gets some heel heat. Jacobs is so over. YAY FOR JACOBS! Still no ‘no-hands’ headscissors, though. Nonetheless, I loved this.***4th match: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Samoa JoeClaudio is seen up in the stands, and introduces himself despite a loud ‘SHUT THE FUCK UP’ chant and an equally loud ‘JOE’S GONNA KILL YOU’ chant. He’s heeling it up all the way here, and it works wonders. He’s way better at this than Chris Hero already. He challenges Joe to ‘just wrestle’ him, going hold for hold. Unsurprisingly, he’s more than happy to meet that challenge, and out he comes. I’m pretty sure that Joe switches languages while talking to Claudio (at the same time mocking him for his accent). Is Joe bi-lingual? I didn’t know. I don’t usually like Joe’s mic work, but this is actually very good. Joe swears he’ll wrestle and when the fans start a thunderous ‘JOE’S GONNA KILL YOU’, Joe shushes them and tells them to switch, so they start chanting ‘JOE’S GONNA WRESTLE YOU’, which I personally found very funny. Claudio then comes down from the stands, walks up the aisle, and does his entrance. Now, the fans constantly proclaiming ‘HEY’ as he goes by pisses him off. Sensible psychology from Claudio. He’s a good heel. Follows the code of honour, and Joe nearly crushes his hand in the shake. There’s this weird angle where Joe looks really short in comparison to Claudio. Then they get to wrestling. Interesting, of course, because Claudio insists on wrestling, when CZW/ROH has been all brutality and brawling up to now.Opening section has some play around some nice tecnical sequences with Joe ending by doing something horrible, like grabbing him by the nose or sticking his hands in his mouth and clawing. Nasty looking stuff. Joe no-sells a european uppercut and proceeds to kick his head in. Proof positive that monsters ALWAYS get over in wrestling. A series of Joe european uppercuts are punctuated by ‘HEY’s from the crowd. Claudio starts trying to crawl out of the ring to escape from the very match he asked for, but Joe puts his foot on his leg to stop him. This isn’t the Joe demolition we were expecting, but it’s a demolition of a different sort. Claudio manages to hit a move before Joe counters, and this is the general flow of the match. Joe massacres and out-wrestles, Claudio hits a move, Joe counters the next one and goes back on offence. Claudio finally pokes him in the eye and hits a neckbreaker, then celebrates like he’s done something massive, finally giving him some sustained offence after about ten minutes. It’s not long before Joe’s back in with his snap powerslam into powerbomb/STF combo. Claudio hits about ten successive european uppercuts, but two big slaps from Joe knock Claudio right back down. He goes for the muscle buster, but here come Nate Webb and Necro. We all know Joe was gonna win. Essentially a squash, though an entertaining one. From the way Joe has been booked, I’m willing to say that there’s a written in part of the agreement between the companies that Joe be booked like God at all times.**Out come Pearce and Steele, and they’re going at Webb and Butcher respectively. Steele is as cool as ever. Oh, and angry. Pearce is wearing a bloodied head bandage, showing that he was ‘re-busted’ earlier in the evening. This is a great way to get Steele over properly, and I think he deserves it. He’s at least got intensity going for him, and he’s well suited to these violent brawls. Intensity’s more than a lot of ROH wrestlers have. Pearce hits a horrible looking release dragon suplex on Nate Webb in the ring into the buckles. OUCH. Necro, of course, does nought but brawling. Webb takes a piledriver on the wooden boards. In the ring, Necro goes to powerbomb steel onto a pair of chairs, but Pearce blocks, Ace turns the chairs around so they’re pressed back to back instead of seat to seat, and they powerbomb him onto them with Ace’s cry of ‘HE’S GONNA DIE!’ Webb nearly gets inverted piledriven from the top rope by Ace, but Super Dragon’s in to save the day and proceeds to help Webb fight Steele and Pearce. Doesn’t help Webb, who still gets killed by a powerbomb onto a chair. Whitmer hits the ring to go after Dragon despite Cornette’s earlier orders, and I have the feeling this isn’t going to go well, either. Steele, Webb and Pearce vanish through the crowd, and we see Steele walking along with a pair of chairs in hand, chasing Webb out onto the street. Meanwhile, it’s just Whitmer and Dragon in the ring...5th Match: Whitmer vs. DragonStarts off with brawling, which Dragon wins after some very hard elbow strikes. Takes Whitmer down on the outside with a diving rope senton thing. Tope atomico? Dragon then nails Whitmer with a chair. I’ll be honest, I’m stunned that Whitmer HAS avoided injury ater both the Psycho Driver and the chair stomps. Dragon clearly knows how to do those ludicrous moves ‘safely’, if such a word can be used for it. Dragon continues to work on Whitmer with chairs. A double stomp on Whitmer’s neck gets the announcers riled up. Curb Stomp on the chair, face first, kills Whitmer. See, I knew this wasn’t going to work out well. Nonetheless, Whitmer kicks out of Dragon’s one finger pin; I love Dragon’s mask. He sets Whitmer up for another super double stomp onto the head, but Whitmer gets a burst of life. Tries the top rope exploder suplex, Dragon fights off and goes for the senton, but lands on Whitmer’s knees. Exploder suplex (must be Whitmer’s finisher) gets a HOT near fall. Whitmer brings a table into play. Tries to Exploder him over the ropes through the table, but Dragon neckbreakers him over the knee. Lots of play around the table, but nobody goes through and Dragon gets a near fall after a springboard spinning wheek kick to the back of Whitmer’s head. Gets a top rope spinning powerbomb on Whitmer for another close near fall. Okay, I was wrong, this might turn out okay for Whitmer in the end. I thought it was over after the Curb Stomp. Dragon brings another table into play. Oh dear. They have a mad spot planned... The tables get set up diagonally from the ring. This could be nasty.Dragon goes for a top TURNBUCKLE Psycho Driver, but it’s Akiyama time, and Whitmer puts Super Dragon (and himself) through the tables with a top turnbuckle Exploder. Nice. Whitmer, however, is clearly suffering post-landing. Looks like his neck landed on a bit of the frame, and his back is lacerated. This is good, in a way, because it actually makes the tables look a lot more dangerous. Dragon doesn’t kick out when he’s rolled back in. A very satisfying conclusion, and ROH finally gets one up on CZW.***Whitmer asks for the trash to be taken out. Super Dragon continues to sell the Exploder like it killed him, totally dead weighting as Ace and Pearce dump him over the guard rail and drag him away. Quality. They take Super Dragon outside and just leave him on the sidewalk. There’s a cop out front.Prazak is backstage with The Embassy and asks about Prince Nana. Apparently he’s in Ghana, starting the party because he knows the gang are gonna win. Daizee Haze is there, though. It’s not the same without Nana, though. I guess that shows how good he is, because I never really noticed what he put into The Embassy until it was gone. I feel so under-appreciative.6th Match: Christopher Daniels vs. Generation Next’s bitchSeriously, HOW many times has Matt Sydal been beaten by his teammates now? It’s got to be getting into double figures. Daniels follows the code of honour again. Good lord. Will wonders never cease? Unfortunately, it seems Sydal fucks his leg up on a simple Daniels leg trip. But it might just be an angle. He limps at first, then stops, does a handspring without any faltering. Nah, I think its worked. Daniels takes control early, working Sydal over with simple holds and moves. Sydal gets control by sweeping Daniels’ legs out while he’s climbing the turnbuckles and dropkicks him to the outside. Nasty. Sydal hits some good stuff while he’s in charge, but the fans are ominously silent for a few stretches. Sydal’s not so good on offence. Duelling chants break out, and I sense Lantern going into a rage. Daniels takes control again, and gets a brilliant near fall from a B.M.E. near the end. Back and forth over a turnbuckle situation, until Sydal wins by charging and shining wizarding Daniels off to the floor, following up with a moonsault. This is, as the fans are keen tell us, Awesome. Sydal tries a series of packages and rollups for near falls (very different to ‘the indy series’ pin sequence), then nails a great diving DDT off the top for a great near fall. Sydal blocks the arabian press with his knees, then hits his great frog standing moonsault. Goes for his weird driver move, but Daniels blocks and knocks him off, blocks a headscissor attempt, and instantly counters with Last Rites for the finish out of nowhere. Great match. Much better than I expected. It’s a ‘flashy Indy match’ great, though, so bear that in mind. I’m rating it based on what I think of it and also how I think it measures up to others of its ilk. ****7th match: Nigel McGuiness vs. Bryan DanielsonSomething’s up. There HAS to be a reason that this isn’t the main event. My guess would be CZW interference, or McGuiness going for a countout win again. Why the fuck’s he got that IRON? This should be amazing. My bet is on CZW interference. Fought under Pure Rules, so I’m looking forward to this a lot. Nonetheless, a missed opportunity. This is title vs. title. Since it’s under Pure rules, I’d have thought it makes most sense to have a match for the Pure title (with Guiness winning), then one for Danielson’s title (Danielson’s winning), and THEN a title vs. title match. But that’s just my feelings, and I’m not a booker.Rather aggressive handshake between them to kick off. Don’t like each other much. Nigel’s huge in comparison to Danielson. This starts off slick, and doesn’t stop. Nothing flashy, just believable, clever technical wrestling, with all kinds of wonderful counters and reversals, showing how well matched the two of them are with Danielson maybe marginally ahead, getting a lengthy edge with a cravatte front headlock, both standing and on the ground. McGuiness can’t find a way to break it, and is tempted sorely to use a rope break. He finally breaks free with a forearm, but it just results in a harder one right back, and straight back into the cravatte. In the end, even despite Danielson’s taunts, McGuiness does in fact use a rope break, much to his irritation.McGuiness then hits back sharply with some aggro, forcing Danielson into the corner, then punching him in the face (behind ref’s back) to get Danielson to punch him, get seen, and eventually lose a rope break due to this. McGuiness then takes over by working over Danielson’s arm. Eventually he uses a version of Danielson’s own elbows stoppage finisher to force him to use his second rope break. McGuiness continues to dominate, there’s a bit where you can see them spot talking to each other (can’t hear it, though, that’s traditionally a WWE mistake), but Danielson’s momentary break doesn’t last long, and McGuiness takes him down, after a dropkick, with an armbar. It’s all looking grim for the World champ, as even when he escapes a long armbar for a second he’s rolled right through into a headlock/hammerlock combo. He still refuses to use the ropes to escape, though, and manages to roll McGuiness into his signature cocky surfboard, only to find his worked over arm too weak to do it. He falls back onto his favourite standby; the double stomp on the back of the knees. But yet again, McGuiness gets back on the arm. At this point, McGuiness looks like he has it sorted. Unfortunately, Danielson hits back with a release german suplex to get back into it.Dragon gets back into control, hits his big diving headbutt, then locks on the chickenwing, forcing Nigel to use a rope break to escape from Danielson’s deadly primary finisher. He starts slapping Danielson about, but it’s pretty obvious that Danielson’s arm is fucked. McGuiness uses a handstand in the corner - dropkick to take Danielson down, then hits the Tower of London out of nowhere (NOT a move I thought you could deliver quickly), and Danielson is forced to use his third and final rope break. McGuiness has one break left. Danielson has none. The champ is in dire straights indeed...After some wrangling and blocking, McGuiness goes for the Tower of London to win, but Danielson manages to lock on Cattle Mutilation, and forces McGuiness to use his last rope break. The field is even. The announcers mention that if Danielson is caught using another closed fist he will be disqualified. Oh dear. I’m getting a bad feeling about this...McGuiness suplexes Danielson outside the ring, and they’re both dead. This has been the rocks so far. McGuiness cleans up a table to use to choke Danielson on the floor, then runs into ring at the 17 count, hoping that the choke will have kept him down - nope! Danielson’s in at 19. The fans are all behind him now, McGuiness is unhappy. Prazak comes out with the very odd comment of ‘we are over 22 minutes in, so we have to start thinking of a 60 minute draw between these two men’ ... ... um... why? Stuff happens, backslides and lariats and roaring elbows and McGuiness’ rope rebound thing into lariat ahoy-hoy, and Danielson rolls him through into Cattle Mutilation! He can’t rope break, but he can slowly, meticulously drag himself all the way out of the ring, threatening submission over and over again, working the fans up into a frenzy, until he finally slides out to the floor, escaping the Cattle Mutilation. What can he possibly do to recover from the damage, though? Danielson follows him out with a tope, and they’re both down. Can McGuinness pull off what he did with Daniels the previous evening? Nope. Chucked into the crowd, he ends up taking a springboard dive from Danielson... only McGuiness has a chair in the way! McGuinness is going to make it into the ring, Danielson’s vaguely moving. The ref’s at 18... McGuinness wins! McGuinness wins by count out!However, the referee 180s and as the announcer declares a new World Champ, the ref says that only the PURE title can change hands through count out. What a load of bollocks. Not quite a Dusty finish, but they totally 180ed on what they were offering. I guess I’m right; McGuiness will surely get a straight World Title shot now... or... thunderous ‘FIVE MORE MINUTES’ chant. Danielson’s well up for it. McGuiness seems less keen, and in fact refuses, satisfying himself with his victory. Danielson’s been beaten in a singles match, and he’s not happy about it. Okay, my suspicions were all off. I’m happy my cynicism was disappointed.****1/2Feud video for GenNEXT vs. The Embassy. It’s kinda crap, though, and just basically says: They’ve wrestled a few times. It doesn’t even indicate which team or persons won the previous matches, so there’s not even an indication of which team has the edge coming into this match, in terms of win/loss record. So it’s... uh... utterly pointless. Oops.8th Match: Aries/Strong vs. Rave/ShelleyAgain; NO NANA! What a pity. But Daizee Haze is there, and she looks good. She says stuff at the camera, but sadly we can’t hear. As always Alex is the best at the toilet paper shower. I think he provokes someone into nailing him right in the head, and promptly acts like he’s been shot. Unfortunately it happens off-camera! Fools! This happened at Supercard of Honour, too, despite the fact Shelley is the only one who really changes his act up each time. I so want The Embassy to win here. I know it isn’t going to happen, but I want it to happen. If nothing else it might make that cocky shit Strong cry. He’d make a much better heel than face. There’s something about him that I find generically objectionable. Still, the fans love him, and a duelling chant starts out... between Aries and Strong supporters. Shelley has a little chat with the camera about how childish the toilet paper showers are, which gets a counter comment from Aries about TNA fans. I’m now officially mystified by this as the main event. The whole title of ‘Weekend of Champions’ is clearly angled towards the Danielson/McGuiness match.The Embassy are total pricks at Strong for a while, until the chops get laid in on Rave and everything breaks down. Embassy get wiped out on the side by stereo dives to the outside. Shelley actually sells Aries’ chops better than Rave sells Strong’s, by screaming like he’s been hit with a sledgehammer. Didn’t realise that Alex Shelley was originally in GenNEXT. Strong has a word or two with Haze, but she isn’t impressed. I’m not surprised, either, he has an incredibly unthreatening voice.Rave takes a brutal double team from GenNEXT, as well as the powerdrive elbow, before Aries tries to chop, realises he sucks, then tags in Rod to do it. However, this inspires him to try again, and does a little homage to baseball after a great buildup to an overhand chop. Welcome to why Austin Aries is the heart of GenNEXT. However, this gives Haze a chance to run in and low blow Aries, which Shelley follows up with by simply grabbing his crotch and grinning like an idiot at the fans. He then continues the groin ofence, before pretending to tag so Rave can attack Aries. Shelly also mocks Strong across the ring, which I greatly approve of, and when he’s tagged in he takes this a step higher with the kind of cockiness that would make even the great KENTA think: “My, what a cock”. Except in Japanese, obviously.A repeatedly frustrated Strong eventually runs in and chops Rave across the back, sending him scurrying over to tag in Shelley again. Haze assists on an abdominal stretch while Rave gets Rodders to try and get into the match again, because he’s a total gimp. Embassy domination continues, hurting Aries a lot, setting Strong up for his super aggro save. Shelley puts Aries in a Steiner Recliner, Rave distracts the ref, and Haze comes in for a dropkick, but both Shelley and Aries duck. However, it looks like Haze lands on Shelley a bit awkwardly. Aries makes the tag, though, and Strong proceeds to kill The Embassy. Kicks, backbreakers, chops, Gibson Driver, we know how this goes. The double backbreaker and chop/brainbuster gets a near fall, Shelley breaks, Rodders tries the half nelson but it’s blocked, blocked again and countered into an Air Raid Crash. Aries goes for the roll, but Shelley blocks and The Embassy hit a cool spear/clothesline combo. Rave hits Ghanarea, and it’s a near-fall (that’s a lovely move). Shelley tries Sliced Bread, takes an inverted piledriver. End of match. Usual way.Nice stuff, but pretty much lacking significant drama and not booked very well. Horrible choice for the main event.***I say it again; this is getting boring. These titles are suffering from total fucking inertia. The World Title is still invigorated by Danielson’s amazing performances, and the Pure Title is defended only semi-regularly, so it remains significant. The ROH tag titles feel stagnant, not like the crappy WWE title, that’s much worse. The problem here is that there’s no credible challengers. They’ve MASSACRED everyone. No wonder they didn’t put any effort into the feud video; it’s irrelevant. Final segment backstage between Danielson and McGuinness, with McGuiness coming out on top after Delirious has a go at Danielson for... something. I am now convinced; GenNEXT MUST lose the tag titles to keep this ‘division’ alive. It’s stupid as it is. They’ve ANNIHILATED every team in the company. Someone needs to beat them. I HOPE it’s the Briscoes, but as the BBs are booked really sporadically (they appeared on neither of these two shows) I really can’t see them being given the titles since they won’t be there to defend them. I can’t think of ANY team that has been put over strongly enough to make an even remotely credible threat to Aries/Strong. In ROH, without such an intense feud structure as WWE to provide reasons to believe one team can win, that’s a fatal flaw. All we’ve got is the strength of the wrestlers’ in-ring performances, most of the time. Gah. We’ll see.

[Dr.Fever]

Im glad Roderick String getting recognition at last in ROH, he been underated for too long.

[alexander]

The latest Online show is up on ROHVideos.com, with loads of clips from the Cage Of Death. It looks awesome, especially Ace Steel going old school with the cowbell~!