Official ROH Discussion Thread

[steamroller]

That dude still denies hes gay, even to people whove see him at gay bars on dates. It was sad when it was just rumours, its even sadder now when everyone knows and he still tries to make himself out to be a ladies man. The funny thing is that CSC were made faces by fans lot of places before ROH started and DHS were starting to lose their hotness, but its exactly how you describe it. Booking to the fragile minds of the ex ECW fans, ROH was saved when less philly ECW fans were the core and average indie fans started filling those seats.

[edgecrusher]

I don't see what's wrong with Ace Steele. I rather like him. The 100th Show main was indeed amazing. Anyway, my next review.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------HOW WE ROLLThe Milestone Series is dead, long live the Milestone Series! Huzzah! Whatever. There’s another video recap, I’m beginning to think that this might be a recurring theme. If so that’s cool. This one recaps Delirious’ shot against Bryan Danielson, and how the champ mauled him. Basically declaring there’s a new ‘grudge’ which I suppose is like a feud, but shorter.Following on, we have Delirious cutting a very serious, very incomprehensible promo. The gash in his hand looks fucking brutal. Surprisingly, this works. Delirious is a genius. He’s as nonsensical as always (I think he promos using garbled Mexican and English for the most part), the look on his face and the tone of his voice does the work for him.Recap moves onto the CZW/ROH feud and saying it’s going to continue, and indeed end, on May 12th/13th. JC makes an appeal to Homicide to help the gang out in the feud. Sum of it is: We might not be able to win unless you help us, Homicide. And we are in to our 8 match card! Either lots are short, or there won’t be many non-wrestling segments here. Pearce opens up immediately with a ‘commissioner’ promo, and also calls out Homicide. These guys suck. Everyone knows Homicide’d puke if he saw this stuff. They should challenge him to match, beat his head in and THEN ask him to join up. Dumbasses. Pearce’s promo is okay, though. Moves on to generally talking about the CZW feud. They’re going to keep fighting.Okay, I’m wrong. Here’s Nigel McGuinness for a promo! Nice little prick promo from the company’s PURE heel. Short promo, to the point. The rematch is going to be immense when it happens, so long as they remember to keep building it.1st Match: Matt Sydal Vs. Jimmy YangI’m not too fussed on Yang, but I like Sydal. This should be a good opener, at least. I REALLY like Yang’s entrance music. If Yang’s off to WWE as Lantern claimed a while back he’s taking his sweet time about it. The commentary is incredibly quiet for some reason.Yang does a little heeling, a few quick lockups and short technical series to open. Very different to the usual ‘showy’ opening that is common in ROH. Very nice. Yang’s pissed tonight! Going for cheap shots wherever they’re available. Maybe his wife/girlfriend pointed out his win/loss record sucks. Sydal takes over with the covers and that weird reverse DDT/leg drop thing he does. Yang gets control by poking him in the eyes. How bizarre! Yang’s actually pretty good at playing sneaky. Maybe it’s because he’s dressed in black. Commentary is still incredibly quiet. Yang starts working over Sydal’s shoulder, with armbreakers and rams into the guard rail and then, in a bit of irony, he sends SYDAL into the pole! (For those who don’t know, one of Yang’s big spots is the old missing a shoulder block in the corner spot) Sydal sells the arm very well indeed, and very consistently, too. The fans catch Yang on missing a wheel kick and give him shit for it, so he low blows Sydal then does it again and hits clean this time, using the ropes for assistance. He jaws with the crowd, too, don’t catch what he says, but from the reaction I imagine it’s a pithy come back to the ‘you fucked up’ chant. I really like this new direction for Yang. I hope it’s not a one-time deal. Yang fucking PASTES Sydal when he goes up top for something with a front enziguri thing, then hits a top rope swinging neckbreaker. Nice. He then kills Sydal with a dragon punch... er... uppercut on the top rope. Sydal actually slumps off the top rope on the apron on the first one. Yang does it again, but Sydal drops him off and shooting stars for the three count. As predicted. Nice opener, nothing too special. Possibly good things in Yang’s future, though, if he sticks with this new direction. I think the heeling ring style nicely removes his worst excesses (such as over-use of the pop-getting wheel kicks). **2nd Match: Nigel McGuinness Vs. Delirious Vs. KikutaroKikutaro is a complete unknown to me. Seems he’s going to stay that way, too, since it’s ACTUALLY Christopher Daniels vs. Delirious Vs. Nigel McGuinness. The box is remarkably wrong, wrong, WRONG. I’m already disappointed. I want to know who Kikutaro is, now. What the fuck? Now Colt Cabana’s coming out. Did the guys doing the box die mid-process or something... oh, hang on. CZW run-in? Christian’s out for a promo. Namely he’s out to ask Cabana to be his partner, and to inquire about how Delirious got to be like he is. Makes a backhanded crack at WWE’s ‘wellness program’ too. Someone shouts ‘pick Gangrel’, and Christian immediately replies ‘he’s not here’ to the fan in question before putting the question to Colt. Christian and Colt do a bit of promo comedy, it’s pretty damn good. I didn’t know Colt Cabana was Jewish. Not that it matters. Wonder if he practices... or is professional. Sorry, I’ll go kill myself later. Oh dear, out comes Danielson. He INSTANTLY gets a ‘FUCK YOU DRAGON’ chant. He smacks them down for it, of course. He’s pissed that Christian got an ovation. Turns out that this is the very building where Danielson began his World Title reign. Says he’s beaten everyone who’s ever been put in front of him (though of course that’s not quite true anymore, after his loss to McGuinness). As usual, Danielson is awesome on the mic, and the fans get pissed about it. Sorry, Danielson’s playing tweener. Delirous is apparently ‘way too crazy and weird’ to be Danielson’s partner, so he asks Chris Daniels. All four of these guys do a good job on the mic, all told. Long segment, good stuff. Upshot: Daniels gets a title shot down the line in return for tagging with Danielson. It’s cool that they freely acknowledge Daniels wrestles for TNA as well. So, after all that Daniels, Danielson, Cabana and Christian all leave. Delirious, meanwhile, just sits in the corner like a clueless fool. Kind of forlorn, really. Poor Delirious. And FINALLY, out comes the advertised people. I follow this jig now. Here’s McGuinness, and I imagine this Kikutaro dude’ll be along in a minute. Kikutaro comes out to ‘Born to be Wild’ and IIIIS... a dude in a silly mask. McGuinness doesn’t like him much. Delirious is clearly waiting for the bell to go apeshit, and he promptly explodes the moment it goes off, running around like a loon, chucking people’s hats into the ring and generally being nuts. YAY!Kikutaro, as expected, does a bunch of comedy stuff, then gets owned by McGuinness. This match is completely weird. Kikutaro and Delirious rant at each other, then start vaguely pawing at each other’s chests and slowly walking into each other and stuff. The fans chant “THIS IS AWESOME”, and for once I doubt even Leicester Lantern will mind. Delirious + Ring = Awesome. You know it’s true. Kiktaro and Delirious seem to understand each other, and get along well until Kikitaro goes for a schoolboy out of nowhere for a near fall. Delirious then points and laughs while Nigel beats up Kiki. I just noticed that the referee is Japanese. Must have been imported for this. There’s a weird comedy spot involving the ref which ends up with him accidentally DDTing Kikitaro, leading to the Cobra Stretch for the Delirious win. Well worth seeing, I’d be surprised if you don’t at least chuckle at some points.**3/43rd Match: Shelley/Rave Vs. Homicide/ReyesOhhhh, this is gonna be good. Nana’s there with Haze, the gang’s all together. You’d have to think that The Embassy is going over. ROH bookers seem determined that The Embassy is the distant No. 2 tandem in ROH. As always, Shelley and Haze are brilliant here. Rave’s the reason they throw the rolls, but in my opinion it’s Haze and Shelley that make these peculiar entrances so worthwhile. Someone randomly throws in a pink teddy bear here. Homicide is incredibly over, as always. I guess that’s what kills The Rottweilers as a tandem; Reyes just isn’t a star of the same magnitude. The teddy bear is back in the ring by the time Homicide’s made his entrance and he plays with it a while.He then starts threatening the Embassy with it, creating a thoroughly surreal image.Smokes and Nana unsurprisingly start giving each other shit. No handshakes here. Is that a “LET’S GO SMOKES” chant I hear? Commentary is STILL incredibly quiet. Shelley and Rave open up against each other, with Shelley pretty much on top, ending with him biting Reyes’ hand and tagging out to Rave, who gets more shit from the crowd than I’ve ever heard before. The Embassy start heading out because they so pissed, resulting in a thunderous “WHAT A BITCH” chant. Rave does a great job of antagonising the fans, while Haze and Smokes give each other shit. See, this is why managers at ringside is great. It just adds to the atmosphere with other personalities having a go at each other all the time. Nana shouts “Hey, I’m not the one getting paid with foodstamps, huh?” At Smokes, which gets a bunch of heat. Homicide and Shelley do one of the traditional Indy mat sequences, but Shelley badly fucks up a simply handspring, looks like he hurts his leg a little. My DVD fucks up at this point, and I have to fast forward a few minutes to get past the bad patch. Homicide hits his awesome tope con hilo into the front row, while Smokes has a little chat with the fans. Everything goes crazy when the managers get involved, ending with Julius chasing Nana around the ring. Shelley and Homicide go back at each other, so obviously Shelley wasn’t badly hurt. Shelley’s usual prickish brilliance is great to watch. Haze is a fucking awesome heel. At times its shocking to see how good a unit The Embassy are. I like their clothesline/spear combo. Reyes makes the hot tag to signal the closing stretch, some nice stuff from the Rottweilers, apparently their finisher’s a weird elbow/lariat combo. Reyes gets the sleeper on Rave, but Nana forces the break to save Rave from death. Rave then applies a dragon sleeper to Reyes, Smokes interferes, and the referee promptly disqualifies the Rottweilers.That was weird. DQ is a very rare finish in ROH. The fans chant “BULLSHIT”. Post match Homicide’s on the mic to answer the calls of Cornette and Pearce. He says... “Fuck you, and fuck this company.” So there you are.*** - maybe **** but my viewing was kinda chopped up by the 3 minute crash on the DVD. Wild stuff, for sure.Lacey’s backstage to say something about Jacobs, but they cut immediately back to the ring as Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, and the CZW ref all hit the ring. Fans aren’t pleased. Neither will I be if we don’t see what Lacey wanted to say. Hero points out that more and more people are turning their backs on ROH, pointing out that Homicide has been around since day one but he’s still thinking of jumping ship. CC and CH generally give the company shit. 4th Match: Hero/CC Vs. Pearce/WhitmerClaim that it’s their responsibility that ROH is a sinking ship. Pearce and Whitmer come out, and a brawl is on. Generally, Claudio and Chris get their asses kicked. Things then settle down when they take control, and we have a match on. Hero’s ring attire, I might add, looks awful. Reminds me of “Sparkplug” Bob Holly. The Kings of Wrestling have some slick and interesting team moves. Whitmer starts getting his head kicked him while Adam Pearce is kept out of the fight. As one-sided as the first section, just in the opposite direction. Pearce takes a MAD whip into the guard rails. Full credit to the Kings of Wrestling, they really do look refined as a tandem. My DVD spazzes out again and I need to skip a minute or so. Don’t think much happens in it, though. This is mostly a Kings of Wrestling showcase so far. Not a very heated match at all, considering its part of the company’s big feud. Whitmer fires back with an exploder out of nowhere which looks REAL nasty, dropping CC almost exactly on his head. That reverses the momentum and the ROH boys get control again. “ROH” chant starts, which is fine, but this would have been so much better if they’d booked these two teams in an intense, even fight. Instead it’s been ‘slaughter slaughter - shift - slaughter slaughter - shift - etc.’. The CZW ref prevents the ROH ref from counting three after a superplex/splash combo, and then Necro Butcher comes in to break the match down. I think I hear them calling Pearce ‘Scrap Daddy’. Yuck. Three on two beatdown with Necro in the mix. This is the first time I’ve seen them COMPLETELY screw the pooch in this feud, because this match has been really flat and the aftermath is no better. Whitmer takes another crazy bump to the outside, though after the Psycho Driver off the apron he probably feels like he’s having a day at the beach. Then, with a 3 on 1 advantage, CZW get the win with a double team Hero’s Welcome.WTF?Can tell who was booking this, can’t you?**Joe comes out, Chris Hero and Claudio drag Necro away instead of letting him go at Joe. Rousing “JOE’S GONNA KILL YOU” Chant. CZW escape through the crowd. I’m guessing this is the point where ROH got a bit tired of putting over the CZW guys, as this whole segment/match/angle really made them look piss weak. They needed a 3 on 1 advantage, biased refereeing and a massive bump to kill Whitmer in order to get the win. Joe cuts a promo: “Grrrr, ROH rules, grrr, Necro’s gonna fight me and die.”The bastards don’t show the Lacey angle, leaving me wondering what the fuck she was talking about. Delirious, however, is there to cut another serious promo. Ish. It’s strangely engrossing, even though you have no bloody idea what he’s going on about. I do make out the last words, though: “Delirious... Ring of Honour World... Champion!”. 5th Match: Samoa Joe Vs. ApocalypseWho’s this guy? Never heard of him. Someone from the crowd shouts ‘WHO THE HELL ARE YOU’ so I’m obviously not the only one who’s wondering. I’m guessing he’s gonna be squashed in preparation for the Necro match on the next show. Well, I’m wrong on the squash front. All technical at the start, until Apocalypse goes aggressive and doesn’t give a clean break in the corner. STJoe almost kills him, and Joe takes control. Apocalypse eventually gets back in with some kicks. This is remarkably pointless. I see where the complaints about ROH’s booking for workrate strategy: The fans want to see Joe kill this guy, they don’t want to see a ‘proper’ match. That’s for people they consider stars, like Bryan Danielson. On the other hand, I see their point. This way, there’s never a really bad match on the card unless you dislike the style of wrestling as a whole (see: Lantern vs. spot matches). I can’t think of a match I’ve seen on ROH where I’ve come out thinking it was actually awful. Joe inevitably hits muscle buster for the three after a while.**6th Match: Wodewick Stwong Vs. Mark BriscoeWell, this’ll be reminding people of that feud GenNEXT are having with the Briscoes. Problem is, I can’t imagine that they’d book the BBs to win, since they’re hardly ever on the shows at the minute. Still, they’re one of the only teams that haven’t been beaten multiple times by the champs, so they’ve probably got a better chance than most others. I still find Wodewick Stwong faintly annoying. The numpty also comes out wearing a fucking CZW shirt. Yeah, that makes sense. NOT. Dumbass. Wodewick controls, blatantly borrowing a move or two that Danielson used against him at SOH as he works the arm, until Mark gets into the action. Lots of good, equal exchanges and cool sequences of counter-anticipation-counter, interspersed with chopping and forearming each other’s heads in. Briscoe nearly kicks a camera on an elbow drop, while proceeding to go all thug-style on Wodewick with head butts and general violence, before missing on a springboard off the turnbuckles and getting the chops and the backbreakers for his trouble. For all that Wodewick’s wearing thin on me, there’s no doubt that he knows how to make his stuff look nasty. He tosses Briscoe into one of the guard rails so hard it knocks one fans drink and he gets it all over his shirt, so Wodewick has a little chat with him about it. He doesn’t seem to mind. The back and forth nature of the match remains, with neither man having domination, just hitting the odd big move. Stwong gets the top stuff, though, from superplexes to his signature fireman’s carry/gutbuster to Gibson Driver, while Mark hits a few nice springboard moves and suplexes. Stwong tries a top rope super gutbuster, but Mark fights free and hits a top rope ace crusher and exploder (though I’m pretty sure it’s actually a uranage) into a fisherman’s buster for a near fall. After that I’m expecting Stwong to win aaaaaand... Mark misses a shooting star press, gets a running death kick to the face, and gets locked in The Stronghold. But he doesn’t submit! Half nelson backbreaker gets blocked, and converted into the Cutthroat Driver to prove my prediction completely wrong. It does make sense, admittedly, to put the Briscoes over tonight. They have a title match tomorrow, after all. Question is, will Jay go over Aries? ***We finally get to see Lacey’s bit. Basically a pep-talk for the missing Jimmy Jacobs, saying that she wishes he was around to tell her how great she looks, but if he keeps up his winning ways you never can tell what’ll happen. I hope he’s back soon. I miss Jimmy Jacobs. Good to see he’s not just getting dropped randomly.7th Match: Jay Briscoe Vs. Austin AriesWhile I figured Wodewick would win the last match, it does make sense for both Briscoes to go over here. Gen Next have looked unbeatable enough of late. However, Austin Aries is infinitely more awesome than Wodewick and I don’t immediately want to see him lose in the same way. His entrance music is also much cooler. I personally like the Briscoes’ look. They look thuggishly tough, and their style mixes that with a flashy aerial vein. In a way they’re flagship ROH, for better or worse. I likes them, and I know I’m not alone.Jay’s the one who brings the aggro, with pie facing and shoving Aries after being frustrated on a lockup, then going in with a knee. Unfortunately for him Aries has him in his signature clinging Japanese arm drag/armbar combo. Jay gets out and hammerlocks, then slaps Aries about until he pulls a SWEET escape and bitch-kicks Jay. In a moment that Leicester’s surely going to love, Austin Aries sends Jay to the outside with a sick roaring elbow then hits his evil tope through the BOTTOM ropes. It really does have to be seen to be believed. Remarkably, Aries mostly kicks Jay’s ass. People give Aries a bunch of ‘WOOOO’s when he does his slow motion knee, before he MISSES his powerdrive elbow (first time I’ve seen that), and then Jay blocks his corner counter elbow thing and sends him into the post, then hits a shoulder breaker to get himself into the match properly. Quite a nice story of the ultra-talented elite wrestler (Aries) dominating until the underdog’s able to come up with answers and start pounding him down. Jay switches over into working the arm and shoulder. Aries tries a crucifix bomb and Jay counters into a TKO, furthering the angle that the Briscoes are starting to develop counters to all of Gen Next’s primary offence. As always, Austin’s limb selling is superb, adding a new dimension to the match with various things he can’t do. Most notably failing on the brainbuster, resulting in a falcon shoulderbreaker. He eventually does hit the Brainbuster, rolling free of an armbar to do it, in fact, then goes for the 450, but we know it’ll end in tears, and it does. Jay Driller attempt, counter into backslide for near fall, Jae Driller hit, but Aries has his foot on the ropes! Jay then switches tack, and applies a standing shoulderlock, converted into something they call a shinonamake or something like that for the submission. Good to see all that arm work come to something. Quality match. It helps that I really quite like the Briscoes, but this is a very well worked match that hypes up the Briscoes as a threat to Gen Next’s tag titles. It does it a lot better than that silly loss to Wodewick and Evans a while back. Good stuff.****8th Match: Christian Cage Vs. Colt Cabana Vs. Christopher Daniels Vs. Bryan DanielsonAnd here we are at the main event! Now, Danielson doesn’t have the most sterling record in matches where his title hasn’t been on the line. In fact I think he’s lost every single match where his title hasn’t been on the line that I’ve seen. But we shall see. Danielson’s entrance is no more elaborate than anyone else’s in ROH, but its still a very good entrance that gets the crowd well into it. Great bit when he’s announced and he catches a yellow streamer, then tosses it right back out. Someone throws a loo roll at Danielson. Good God, let’s hope that the loo roll streamers entrance doesn’t spread to Danielson. Christian’s now wearing a home-made ‘Cabanaramma’ headband. I concur with Leicester’s analysis that Cabana’s no way main event material. The fans chant ‘THIS IS AWESOME’ to a comedy spot based around Christian’s ‘That’s how I roll’ catchphrase. I know everyone hates it, but I think in this situation it adds to things. The match really comes alive when Danielson’s in the ring with Cabana, and promptly schools him, as you’d expect. He then contemptuously tells him to tag in Christian. Bastard. He doesn’t spend long in the ring with Christian, though. The moment he gets a really frustrated, he ‘power’ tags Christopher Daniels and steps out, resulting in him being called a pussy by pretty much everybody. Cabana and Christian pull off an old E & C move, before Cabana does a few necbreakers and moves, before his pratting about pisses Danielson off and he proceeds to destroy him with knees and elbows to the face. Very puro-inspired spot, that. Reminds me of a somewhat differently angled KENTA/Kobashi exchange. Danielson then causes Cabana to head to the outside and proceeds to throw him into a couple of railings while being a cocky shit towards Christian. Danielson continues to muller Cabana. Daniels hits a Death Valley Driver with difficulty after being tagged in, resulting in Danielson shouting at him “See? That’s what happens when you don’t pay attention. WORK HIS LEG!” The ongoing story is that Cabana can’t deal with Danielson in any way, shape or form. This is obviously building to the rematch of that horrendous embarassment that Cabana suffered at the 100th Show. Cabana hits an awful Asai moonsault on Daniels on the floor, where he gets almost no horizontal movement and nearly hits his head on the apron as well as Daniels clearly having to move forward to catch him. Unprettier gets converted into Cattle Mutilation, but Cabana breaks it. Christian is remarkable in how heavily he puts over Danielson. He gets outwrestled systematically and goes through both of Danielson’s primary submission finishers before Daniels gets tagged in. Christian gets a near fall off a frog splash, following a miscue, then goes for the Unprettier but gets missile dropkicked. Cabana then butt bumps Danielson before getting launched over the top rope. Daniels goes for Angel Wings, and Cage converts into Unprettier for the win. Amusingly, Danielson is in perfect position to save Daniels, but he just shrugs it off and walks away instead. Post match Christian says the match proves Danielson isn’t the best, but of course we all know he let his team lose, and he’s not impressed. Good stuff, usual superlative work from Danielson. Christian seemed a little inactive, though.***1/2Finally, Pearce and Whitmer are all pissed off about losing yet again. They want to fight CC/Hero/Butcher, anyone, everyone, they’re here to fight. And Samoa Joe’s looking for a fight, too! Scary. Next up... Ring of HOMICIDE!

[alexander]

Nice review as always, mate.Ahhh, Kikutaro. If you’ve never seen him before…Kikutaro is the legend of Osaka Pro Wrestling, and in my opinion the greatest ‘comedy’ wrestler of all time. He was originally called Ebbessan, but when his contract with OPW ran out his boss gave the gimmick to someone else and he changed his costume, keeping the same mask. His character is based around some kind of Japanese myth of a god of prosperity (Help me, Carbomb!)As well as checking out his brilliant work in Japanese Indies, OPW and All Japan, he’s been on several ROH shows previously. Most notoriously, when Mick Foley was feuding with Samoa Joe, Foley hand picked ‘Ebbessan Jack’ (He also does great parodies) to take on the Samoan. It was a classic. They also faced each other in a Four Way that also contained Jack Evans and Delirious. Probably Jack Evans’ best match ever.Aries always hits the tope between the bottom and middle ropes. That’s one of the reasons it’s so awesome, because it always crushes his opponents against the rail instead of just making contact with a shoulder or something like most Indy topes. Aries is about the best seller in the whole company.As far as spot fests go, I don’t so much hate them as think they don’t relate to wrestling very much. I can’t see the elements of a wrestling match in a four team scramble, so it makes my head hurt trying to review them as such. They can be some fun to watch live, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a six way high flying match where the fans gave a damn about who won it more than they cared about popping for the dive chain.

[jm29195]

So I'm going up to Broxbourne next week with a fair bit of cash to spend on ROH dvds. I have everything I want up to Night of Grudges 2 from last year, so could someone who knows what they're talking about recommend me the best ROH releases from then up 'til their most current ones?cheersJames

[edgecrusher]

So I'm going up to Broxbourne next week with a fair bit of cash to spend on ROH dvds. I have everything I want up to Night of Grudges 2 from last year, so could someone who knows what they're talking about recommend me the best ROH releases from then up 'til their most current ones?cheersJames

THEENTIREMILESTONESERIES.Seriously, ROH's product is consistently good quality. They have occasional dips and occasional highs, but I've yet to see an actual bad card. The ones where the undercards are a bit cack invariably have astonishing main events (a la Arena Warfare). Supercard of Honour's must-see, and Better Than Our Best is widely considered one of the best ROH shows in history.

As far as spot fests go, I don’t so much hate them as think they don’t relate to wrestling very much. I can’t see the elements of a wrestling match in a four team scramble, so it makes my head hurt trying to review them as such. They can be some fun to watch live, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a six way high flying match where the fans gave a damn about who won it more than they cared about popping for the dive chain.

I'll agree with that, but I kind of see them as the equivalent of 'rest' matches. They're the dip before the super quality comes on. It's like in NOAH with the old fart matches. They're shit, but they're fun. This is just a different kind of fun for a different kind of crowd that dig seeing very pretty sequences and moves. I enjoy them on that level. I think when they're done right, so that they're totally chaotic with bodies flying everywhere and moves all over the place, they can be at least *** matches. I prefer sitting in front of my PC (always watch on my PC, as you know) marking a little for funky moves I've never seen than sitting with a scowl on my face as my sensibilities are bludgeoned with a hammer by the appalling piss-break matches on WWE shows. They're certainly a step up on the old ECW equivalents, and tend to have SLIGHTLY more point to them. Then of course there's the ones which actually weave a few storylines together like the one where Jacobs finally scores his win which have some legitimate emotion behind them. On a side note, I still don't get what people have against Ace Steele.

[alexander]

As you might have noticed from my reviews, I have a soft spot for Crazy Ace.

[edgecrusher]

Oh yeah, I wasn't really directing that at you. I'm wondering what OTHER people have against him. We both dig the crazy troll.

[alexander]

Oh yeah, I wasn't really directing that at you. I'm wondering what OTHER people have against him. We both dig the crazy troll.

If you haven't seen much older ROH, the Prophecy/Second City Saints wars were the golden age for Ace Steel in the company, although the Second City Saints Vs Generation Next feud featured him in some good tag matches as well.

[edgecrusher]

So.Joe vs. Danielson.Who's gonna win? Joe has looked completely unstoppable on ROH shows of late, while Danielson has been in trouble in his defences multiple times and lost to Nigel McGuinness not so long ago. The fans will be completely behind Joe, and you just know they'll probably chant "BULLSHIT" if he loses. They're ready for another Joe title run.On the other hand, Danielson's proven he can beat anybody and thrives when he's pushed to the limit. My heart goes to Danielson, but I think Joe's going to do it, although in my opinion the smart booking says Danielson should win it. Unlike Joe, he needs the title for his gimmick to really work.

[alexander]

I’m pretty split, but I think the booking might point towards Joe reclaiming the title.With KENTA owed a title shot, the match with Joe would probably be the big pay off for his involvement in ROH. It’s the match they’ve been leading up to since day one, really.The stipulation for Danielson’s match with Nigel in Liverpool still hasn’t been announced. Is this because a big change is coming soon? Like Nigel being the only guy going in with a belt?Aries is also owed a title shot, and being the man who ended Joe’s first title reign, the heat would be incredible.However, how much is there really left for Joe to do as champion? How could he follow his historic first reign and would it tarnish it’s legacy if the second was muted by comparison?I want Danielson to keep hold of it for now. I want the eventual winner to be someone like Aries, who got made in one match by winning it. Part of me doubts we will ever see a two time ROH champion, it just doesn’t seem to be in Gabe’s nature as a booker.

[Guest bongming]

I think Danielson will be winning, or it'll go the time limit. Either way, I can't see Joe leaving with the belt. I think Joe/KENTA may happen on 9/15, non-title. However, a 4 month reign for Joe doesn't seem too out of bounds. Looking forward, he'd replace Dragon in the Nigel match (Shane said if Joe were to win, he may make a 1 night only appearance in Liverpool. Coincidentally, Joe was scheduled to defend the belt against Nigel the show after Aries beat him), the Cabana 2-out of-3 Falls match (Cabana's the story in this, not the Champ - It's in Chicago), the Aries GBHV match (we know the build there) and the KENTA match (THE match that ROH are promoting). So if Joe wins, title booking still makes sense. Then you'd have Homicide winning SOTF (to get a shot at Final Battle), with Strong pinning Joe first. He could have filler defences vs. BJ (who he'll team with in August) and Claudio (whose match with Joe in Chicago would be cancelled due to the Cabana defence). Then the Strong defence at a Chicago show before finally losing to Homicide at Final Battle. I'm still going with Dragon, though it's very much up in the air.

[edgecrusher]

I’m pretty split, but I think the booking might point towards Joe reclaiming the title.With KENTA owed a title shot, the match with Joe would probably be the big pay off for his involvement in ROH. It’s the match they’ve been leading up to since day one, really.The stipulation for Danielson’s match with Nigel in Liverpool still hasn’t been announced. Is this because a big change is coming soon? Like Nigel being the only guy going in with a belt?Aries is also owed a title shot, and being the man who ended Joe’s first title reign, the heat would be incredible.However, how much is there really left for Joe to do as champion? How could he follow his historic first reign and would it tarnish it’s legacy if the second was muted by comparison?I want Danielson to keep hold of it for now. I want the eventual winner to be someone like Aries, who got made in one match by winning it. Part of me doubts we will ever see a two time ROH champion, it just doesn’t seem to be in Gabe’s nature as a booker.

See, I think Joe not having the title would be better for the KENTA match. Everyone'll know immediately who's going over if Joe's got the title going in. If they go in without titles, the possibility will be there that Joe'll lose, remember he lost to Kobashi last time, and that memory's sure to be hot in ROH fans' minds. KENTA is Kobashi's proteg

[gadge]

There's definitely going to be a 2-time ROH World Champion. It just won't happen this weekend.I think (and kinda hope).I'd be shocked if Danielson lost the title this close to the one year mark (he's at 321 days). I'd also be shocked if Joe won the title from Danielson here, as Joe retained in his one defence against Danielson. A Danielson win this weekend would make it 2-2 in singles contests between them, I think, so they'd still have a tiebreaker they could build to.

[edgecrusher]

Seems they’ve decided to include Video Recaps on all their releases from now on. This one first recaps Delirious’ match with Danielson and getting his head smashed in. CZW beating ROH yet again. Also includes Jim Cornette’s promo towards Homicide. End. Nothing new, basically.And we are in to Ring of HOMICIDE!!!! Sorta.First we get a shot outside the building, and a BJ Whitmer interview. Whitmer’s pissed that Homicide told the company to go fuck itself. Recaps a little history between them. Whitmer asks him ‘as a man’ to come join the fight. It’s a much better pitch than Cornette/Pearce. Embassy interview. They’re not happy with Mr. Yang. Apparently he has Ninja friends, and Rave wants Haze to watch out for them.1st Match: Kikutaro vs. Colt CabanaNow this is Colt’s territory. This should be superb. Somehow, though, I doubt it will be as good as the last show’s match with Delirious, they played off each other so very well. With the memory of Colt’s supposedly life-changing feud behind me I’m not so burnt by how badly it’s been treated in the aftermath. He does indeed look very natural, happy and OVER. The fans like Colt a lot. So much so that Kikutaro goes to walk out. Kikutaro shows he knows a bit of English with a little bit of mic work. Prazak has a new pal in the broadcast position. Some nice play around some high/low five spots, then a weird arm wringer-based dance. Match goes on with all kinds of hijinx, including both Colt and the referee getting crotched on the middle rope, before Kiku botches Shinzaki’s rope walk spot. The shocking thing here is that it’s actually a well constructed match. Just a very silly one. Kikutaro shockingly hits a serious move with a dragon screw into shining wizard. The referee (same guy from the previous show) ends up clotheslining Kikutaro, leading to Colt’s powerbomb-assisted victory. Funny stuff, well worth seeing at least once. Kikutaro is indeed very funny.**1/2 2nd Match: Homicide and Ricky Reyes Vs. Dunn and MarcosApparently D and M are called the something-something express. I do wonder why they don’t advertise them as that tandem name. It’s not as if any of their fans aren’t going to know who is in what teams, after all. Ricky “Mr. Charisma” Reyes continues to look pissed off at the world, while Homicide eclipses him in a similar manner to a nuclear bomb vs. a firecracker. Far from shaking hands, Homicide spits in his guy’s face, and Reyes just stares. Friendly as always.RING CREW EXPRESS! That’s what it is. Nice. Homicide pulls a Blood Generation spot with a super-ultra-duper-mega rope run into a face dropkick in the camel clutch position. Homicide pulls a fuckin’ ROLLING superplex into a falcon arrow. Super-awesome. Still, this is traditional ROH tag material, more move based than anything else. As always, Ricky Reyes looks like he knows how to hurt people and intends to do exactly that. Rottweilers isolate Dunn, and start kicking and hammering him to death. Dunn breaks free from Reyes and tags in Marcos, who goes at Reyes. Some lovely stuff. The new play-by-play man sucks. He sounds FAR too similar to Prazak. Homicide kills Dunn with a lariat, then kicks Marcos to set him up for the dragon sleeper. I don’t think this match went over 10 minutes. Closest thing to a TOTAL squash that ROH is likely to book.Entertaining, nothing special. Too short.*1/2Post match, out comes Pearce in a fucking weird glittery outfit. He talks to Homicde and tries to appeal to his sense of home. Homicide immediately replies “Oh, not this shit again”. Know why? Because the office is being LAME. Homicide plays this great, he looks incredulous that Pearce is even talking to him. Pearce gives him the mic, he lifts it to speak... then drops it and walks off. Probably the best possible way they could have booked this segment. The ongoing theme is that Homicide doesn’t give a toss about... well... anything, but ostensibly he does like the company. If he gets involved, though, it’s obvious it’ll be on his own terms.3rd Match: Jimmy Rave w/Haze and Nana Vs. Jimmy YangThe toilet shower isn’t the same without Shelley. It’s just not. Wonder where he is? Haze, surprisingly, doesn’t get involved at all here, playing peacemaker and trying to calm Rave down. Jimmy Yang’s weird. His music is awesome, he’s obviously very charismatic, he definitely has the look, but the whole doesn’t click together. It’s a pity. He definitely has the potential to be mega in ROH, considering how over he is despite a consistent losing streak and a series of so-so or subpar matches. Will he heel it up again, though? I hope so. Yang has no ‘ninja friends’ I might add. Handshake and we’re on, but for the crowd heckling pissing Rave off something rotten.Prazak reminds us that Yang beat Rave recently, and Rave wants his win back. My DVD then inexplicably freezes solid. My task manager suggests the program is playing silly buggers. It then does it again in the same fucking spot, and a little bit of my soul dies. What the hell is up with this little batch of DVDs? I skip ahead by about ten seconds and all is cool. I think Rave runs out to the entrance ramp after pissing Yang off. Back in, Rave goes back to pissing off Yang with slaps to the back of the head off a takedown, then gets bitch slapped on his way out of the ring and heads to the entrance again. Rave looks flustered, but it’s pretty obvious he’s trying to annoy Yang, who simply sits down in the middle of the ring and waits. Lockup and Rave goes behind, slap up the head, leaves the ring again. Yang follows him around the ring for a bit before heading back inside and waiting again. Yang gets some sustained offence in, pitches Rave to the floor, and throws him into a few of the guard rails for vengeance. Well, I say ‘some’. I mean ‘all’. Yang’s back on his face game here. Pity. Haze comes in and LEGITIMATELY outdoes Yang on a brief exchange, planting him with an inverted DDT. This gives Rave control of the match. Rave hits some good, hard offence. Yang slips free of a sunset flip-esque pin to dropkick Rave square in the face, getting back on the aggro. Yang slightly messes up a moonsault off the top, forcing Rave to take a little step forward to catch him. Then in comes Nana to rake the eyes, and receive one hell of a low blow, complete with comedy over-selling. Rave takes a superkick, but Haze SWEETLY pulls his leg out from under him, none of this pausing crap, she just leaps up on the apron and yanks his leg free. It looks BRUTAL. Greetings of Ghana, three count. Rave steals an undeserved victory. I have to say, Rave’s gimmick works so much better in ROH, where almost everyone gets clean, well deserved wins whether they be face or heel. As a legitimate cheater and ‘dishonourable’ wrestler, Rave attracts legitimate hatred from a crowd that STILL cares about the ‘Honour’ part of their company’s name. This one’s a good match, still, not stellar.**4th Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. Jay LethalDon’t know Lethal well, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen. I’m not sure whether to say that this is looking like a relatively poor card so far or not, to be honest. Nigel cuts a good promo, starting with a joke about him not knowing where he’s wrestling and being corrected by the referee. “I thought New Jersey was just a smelly part of New York” Goes on to talk about how people can’t decide who the best of the best champions in ROH is, and how he has beaten EVERY other title holder in the company, and that his reign is longer than theirs is. I didn’t know that. I think Danielson’s got more defences, though, due to Nigel’s long stint in Japan. He opens a challenge to the entire world to take him on for his title. Which is cool. Wonder if they’re going to start the whole ‘cross-promotional’ defences for McGuinness, too. It’s done wonders for the profile of Danielson’s title reign and career.Oh yeah, I know Lethal. Got beat by Joe a few shows ago. Gets a “WELCOME BACK” chant. I forget sometimes what a big guy McGuinness is. He definitely has ‘the star’ look about him. Nigel controls the opening stretch without difficulty. The top wristlock is McGuinness’ poison of choice in the early going. Uses some sneakiness to get a punch in behind the ref’s back, then blocks about a dozen chops from an incensed Jay, before pronouncing Bret Hart’s old catchphrase for some boos. I really do like Nigel McGuinness. He’s silky smooth, intricate, and cool. And he calls people ‘wankers’ on a regular basis. He’s also far more agile than he looks as he demonstrates by cartwheeling out of a scissors throw attempt. Lethal eventually gets control with a hip toss/cartwheel/dropkick combo. He then locks in some weird ass submission based on a russian leg sweep to force Nigel’s first rope break. Nigel immediately hits back into it, then pulls a beautiful headstand spot. I love Nigel’s headstand spots. He always changes what he does. The only thing I’ve seen twice is his mule kick. Here he kicks Jay in the back of the head then practically caves his chest in with an elbow OF DOOM. McGuiness then applies a top wristlock into a takedown to start working on his arm more intently than earlier in the match. As you’d expect he comes up with all kinds of fun and original stuff to hurt the arm, eventually using his repeat-o-pin sequence to get Lethal to use his first rope break, and runs him down as he stands up with contemptuous little kicks like a total bastard. “Look at you, in front of all your friends and family, too. You’re embarassing yourself” Git. Lethal, however, escapes a Tower of London, hits Nigel a bunch and hits a diving wheel kick to knock him down and get some severe momentum going. This unfortunately culminates in him getting crotched on the ropes before getting his head lariated off. This apparently results in him using another rope break. Lethal goes for the win with a dragon suplex, but it ends up with a rope bounce lariat OF DOOM and McGuinness gets a heart in the mouth near fall. I was sure he had it there! This is great. The fans are totally behind Lethal. McGuinness drags the referee in the way to stop a top rope move, then runs in and hits the Tower of London... FOR A NEAR FALL! But number two kills him, and Nigel gets the win. Fucking awesome. If this hadn’t been a match that had no build it would undoubtedly have been five stars.****1/25th Match: Bryan Danielson Vs. DeliriousI predict that this will rock. Delirious, underneath all the nutty antics, is actually an excellent wrestler, and Danielson could probably have a decent wrestling match with Margaret Thatcher if it so pleased him. Delirious is bouncy and happy to be with the people as always, and it seems he’s hungry for green streamers as he puts one in his mouth in the corner. Wonder if he’ll go nuts at the bell like he always does? Danielson looks like a superstar, as always. It’s amazing what lighting can do to a man. Look at HHH, who’s entrance is completely shit but for the cool lighting he gets given. Danielson’s given the mic, and awesomeness ensues. Rags on the fans for being interested in Christian Cage and having the gall to chant for American Dragon AND the other guys in the back. Pisses the fans RIGHT off. “I’ve got the microphone, and there’s nothing you idiots can do about it. I was actually going to shut up right there, but since you people want me to shut up so badly, and I do things the way I want to do, I will talk all night long.” The number seven cannot contain the awesomeness of Dragon. I’m not sure that any number can. Delirious then grabs the mic and cuts a super awesome incomprehensible promo of his own that riles the fans up rotten in a completely different way before proceeding to attack the champ. Brilliant build to this match.The CZW fans typically ruin the fantastic atmosphere by chanting ‘OVERRATED’. Why is this ruining? Because the ROH fans IMMEDIATELY rally by chanting ‘SHUT THE FUCK UP’ in reply. Pity, but predictable. Delirious ends up getting dominated, of course, which makes sense. He works as a brilliant underdog challenger. When he does get control, it’s with a fabulous headscissor counter out of a backdrop which has to be seen to be believed, before hitting a big clothesline and choking Danielson with one of his mask tassles, then losing control to... um... getting hit in the face. Danielson’s good that way. The match settles into back and forth, with Delirious’ much wilder offence contrasting nicely with Danielson’s mostly aggro offence. Which is another awesome thing about Danielson: He can adjust his style to his opponent. Here, where a technical masterclass isn’t appropriate, he switches to a more brawling, strike-based assault. Delirious twats him with a chair and rams his head into a chair held by a fan, before Danielson gets pissed and absolutely BLATHERS him with a chair of his own. Back in the ring Danielson goes for his surfboard, for a rousing chant of ‘SAME OLD SHIT’, which of course he eats up, taunting the fans with a cry of ‘What are you gonna do about it?’ before, naturally, proceeding to change up his old surfboard with a couple of Lyger’s old surfboard variations. After a bit of choking, he then puts Delirious on the apron and damn hear cracks his head open with a running forearm. This has been awesome so far. Danielson is being BRUTAL in this match. The CZWankers start chanting ‘TNA REJECT’ so Danielson corrects them with ‘I don’t know if you heard, but I rejected TNA, so fuck you. Besides, they wouldn’t let me do the same old shit’. It’s exchanges like that where you understand the sometimes crawling reactions Danielson gets from sections of the ROH fans. I don’t know of anyone in ROH who plays off, against, and with the fans like Danielson does. He works them with his style, with his voice, with his spots, with everything. He really is the total package. Anyway, aside from increasing my ‘worship-o-meter’, he tortures Delirious a bunch with some submission holds, before getting launched outside and toped into the guard rail by Delirious, who is in full suicide mode. Dragon takes control again, but his diving headbutt gets countered with an ace crusher. After a complicated series, Delirious hooks in the Cobra Stretch, but Danielson makes the ropes. Again, Danielson OBLITERATES Delirious with sick running forearm shots, then hits a roaring elbow and dragon suplex for a near fall. The response after he’s hooked the chickenwing and Delirious hits the ropes is heartwarming, and says a lot about the success of this match. Delirious takes a little, before hitting Shadows over Hell, the Cobra backbreaker and the Cobra Stretch again, but Danielson makes the ropes. When he misses a second Shadows and gets put in Cattle Mutilation, you can feel and hear how badly the fans want Delirious to get the ropes, and he does, then escapes the USB elbows (which beat him last time) to a massive fan response. Delirious goes apeshit with a pair of fucking sick soccer kicks to the face, then gets snap-rolled into a small package and Danielson gets the the three count. This was fucking awesome, and the people who chant ‘OVERRATED’ in the audience need to die.This match and the preceeding one are both must-sees, IMO. ****1/2There’s some intermission here, with Julius Smokes dressed up weirdly in a baseball outfit. He basically says ‘well, you fucked us on a title match, screw you all’. Samoa Joe’s in to go ‘grrrr, there’s a fight going on.’ Smokes agrees to chat to Homicide about the matter over tea and scones. Well, not exactly. I’m sure scones will be involved, though.6th Match: Matt Sydal Vs. Christopher DanielsNo. 1: This is not going to be as good as the previous two matches.No. 2: Lantern’s gonna hate this.No. 3: I’m going to rather like this match.Sydal enters the ring, sans anything interesting. Daniels makes his cool entrance with his great lighting, cool dramatic music and good routine. No Allison Danger. I wonder where she is? Oh, I do believe I remember a phone conversation a show or so ago where she said she’d be absent. Maybe it’s to do with that. It’s weird that Daniels is so much more over with the ROH crowd than AJ Styles is. You can tell. It’s the way ROH doesn’t book Styles half the time and book Daniels on almost every show. Though Lantern would debate it, I think it’s because Daniels is just a better wrestler, certainly more reliable, and definately better able to connect with the fan base.Handshake, ‘cause we’re both faces here, and Sydal explodes like a firecracker all over Daniels’ face. Niiiiice. Unfortunately, this is doomed. The explosive beginning can’t help but be compared to the previous match’s start, and it pales. Here, Sydal’s in control early trying flash pins and stuff. I really believe ROH would improve if they booked the wrestlers to kick out at one at the beginning of matches. SO MANY ROH matches involve flash pin attempts that the use of one counts would actually have an automatic and positive effect, IMO. Sydal hits a nice running clothesline in the corner combined with a jump through the ropes. If he can master that it’s the perfect ‘combo linker’ for possive signature spots. In ROH, that’s goldust. Even the crap performers have SOME cool looking moves, so finding ways to differentiate is vital. Danielson gets control and goes hard with bully boy offence, mostly based around kicks and violence, which is a very sensible way of working. Instead of going for spot obsession, his own more grounded offence gives Sydal more room to shine. Smart work. Sure enough, after a long period of offence Sydal fires back with a headscissors and spinning wheel kick, then a half twisting dive over the top rope. This match, especially in comparison to the previous one, epitomises the ‘pretty but vacant’ style that often permeates ROH cards. The fans pop, but are almost silent when they’re not popping. The work doesn’t truly connect. It’s weird. Delirious is so much newer to the company than Sydal, but he has infinitely more star potential. He sells better, naturally incites sympathy, is completely unique, and tends to be (ironically) a much smarter worker despite his humourous antics. The only issue is whether you find said antics annoying or not. Daniels gets locked in his own Koji Clutch, which earns a few claps, but is populated by silence. Compare to Danielson in the Cobra Stretch for context. The announcers build this as an important match for Sydal, as he’s going to Dragon Gate and a victory over Daniels will really put him over; but the fans aren’t feeling it. Sydal blocks a hurracanrana and hits a jumping ‘rana for another near fall, then rolls through a top rope toss and cradles for another one. Counters the STO and goes for Angel’s Wings, before Daniels counters it into a cradle of his own and gets the three count, beating Sydal at his own match-long game.There’s no doubting it’s high quality, but the lack of crowd reaction and its placing really kills it. This is undercard stuff, not main event.**1/27th match: GenNEXT Vs. The BriscoesI’m going to like this. I like the Briscoes and their slightly scuzzy, street aggro look, especially compared to the super refined GenNEXT elitists. I HOPE they’re going to build from the previous evening’s double jobs, and we’ll see all those usual GenNEXT spots being challenged or blocked. Lots of handshakes at the start. Lots of ‘NEW FUCKIN’ CHAMPS’ chants, so the Briscoes are well over as a threat. Jay and Wodewick start off, pretty much even. Mark gets tagged in and does not fair so well, leading to GenNEXT taking control and going to work on his arm. Probably a sore point after the previous evening’s loss. Lots of fine technical work with the fans intermittently well into it and quiet. Briscoes take over on Wodewick, attacking his leg, but that last about five seconds before GenNEXT are back in command and working Jay Briscoe’s arm. Blind tag to Mark gets the Briscoes back in control. Which, again, lasts not very long at all. Despite multiple switches of momentum, GenNEXT seem to be the ones scoring the bigger hits. Aries hits his Death Tope on Mark, but he seems to hurt his shoulder and has Wodewick launch Marky Mark into the barricade while he shakes his arm out. Also possible he’s just selling the work from his loss the previous show. Either way, GenNEXT continue with getting the important hits. Hart Attack clothesline on Mark and Aries again sells the shoulder, and then the first of Wodewick’s chops is doled out. So far the BBs aren’t doing very well. They’re basically trying to outdo GenNEXT at their own game and failing miserably. Aries gets blasted by Jay on the slow motion knee, then hit with a spinning wheel kick to get Jay tagged in and the BBs on aggro again. Typically, they’re A LOT less slinky than GenNEXT with their tag moves, including a rope choke/stand on the back spot and the old partner-assisted abdominal stretch. That gets some boos. Double shoulder block knocks Aries flat, and some fucking berk in the crowd is repeatedly shouting “<something> is a phony”. Die, prickboy. Aries gets worked over behind the referee’s back, gets a near fall off a sunset flip, but gets mowed down by a lariat. Good spot were Mark Briscoe stops Aries from tagging by clinging to his tights, and when he finally elbows him off Jay comes charging in and yakuza kicks Aries right in the side of the head, leading to a springing double stomp. OW. Aries finally tags in to Wodewick, who of course proceeds to beat both Briscoes down. Big flying death kick gets a close near fall, and the fans are properly into things again. Irish whip into dropkick goes to uranage backbreaker for a near fall, then a Mark Northern Lights gets a near fall, immediately followed by a Jay diving leg drop for another one. Aries breaks up a backbreaker/knee pin at one, then kicks the crap out of both Briscoes, leading to a double backbreaker and a chop/brainbuster. Finally, GenNEXT’s finisher is blocked and a spiked Jay Driller leads to a double pin, one on Wodewick and one on Mark, for two three counts. However, Wodewick wasn’t legal and Mark was, so GenNEXT win. I did like this, but as is typical with GenNEXT the Briscoes really didn’t look all that competitive. If they had won it would have looked like a fluke, because GenNEXT had almost all of the big hits. If they wanted to build this up to a return match (obviously they do, such finishes have no point otherwise), the Briscoes should have looked equal, or at least looked like they would have won on this one night, all things being equal. Yes, GenNEXT are unbeatable. I get the point. Why do I care when they’re defending the titles, then? The basic point of the previous evening appears to be that while the Briscoes have answers to Aries and Wodewick individually, they have none for them as a team. So what was the point of the weird finish?Aside from my growing boredom with GenNEXT’s reign, it’s a poster-child for why Danielson is working better as champ. Anytime GenNEXT lose, it’s swiftly depicted as making no difference, as it was here after their singles losses. When Danielson loses, it usually ends up meaning something, and his opponents are always kept strong to a degree. The fans genuinely believed Delirious could beat Danielson earlier in the card, and Danielson’s win was believable but hardly dominating. I don’t think that anyone really thought the Briscoes could do it until they’d hit the Jay Driller. Domination’s fine on a short run, but where are they gonna go once they’ve conclusively beaten everyone? With Danielson, the rematches still have plenty of heat in them, for the most part.***8th Match: Samoa Joe Vs. Necro ButcherThe CZW/ROH feud continues. Joe and Necro destroy each other’s referees, first. Joe opens up dominating Necro until Chris Hero interferes and attacks him, but Joe fires back before long and smacks him about a bit. Joe beats up both Hero AND Necro for a while, then out comes Claudio Castagnoli and blathers him with a chair shot. Three on one, maybe they have a chance. Unsurprisingly this makes the fans angry. Then out come Whitmer and Steel, sending CC and Hero running for their lives. Hero plays terrified really well, here. Claudio gets chased around the ring, then goes to escape underneath it, but gets dragged out and tossed into the crowd. Joe gets taken off to the back. Riiight. So a single chairshot is enough to take out Joe, now? Joe the ultra-invincible superman? Sense making much? Necro gets powerbombed really scrapily onto a pair of chairs, which looks horrible. A general back and forth brawl goes on, 3 on 2 of course, with chairs being the weapon of choice and lots of fighting in the crowd. In the end they all end up in the ring, where CZW takes over properly. Double Hero’s Welcome kills Pearce, and Whitmer gets hammered down by Hero and CC while Butcher continues to attack Pearce. Then... the lights go out, and Homicide’s music hits. Things are hitting high gear. The response when he attacks Hero and CC is immense. Things work out with Homicide facing Necro Butcher, and everyone else gone. Talk about a bait and switch. What the fuck is up with Samoa Joe, of late?In the fans, Necro pelts Homicide with chairs before dragging him off and getting suplexed onto a half dozen other chairs, then getting blasted with a bunch of others. The fight heads back to ringside and Homicide continues to attack a now bloody Necro. He then appealsto the fans to launch their chairs, and Necro ducks and covers while he gets buried under thrown chairs. One hits the camera and we switch angle. I have no idea how many chairs are in the ring, but it’s a lot. Necro is fucking INVISIBLE. Homicide eventually gets on the mic to get it to stop. “Alright, alright, this guy’s fucked up already, he got the fucking deal, there’s too many chairs in the ring”. Unbelievable. The chair throwing visual I think will remain one of wrestling’s most unique, treasured things. Homicide then digs Necro out and piledrives him on the chairs for a TWO! The bell rings, but the ref corrects, and Necro hits a fucking TIGER DRIVER on the chairs. This has got to feel like hell for both of them. ROH students are down to drag some of the chairs out of the ring so its vaguely safe. Necro goes up and gets tossed onto chairs for another two, the fans are majorly into this whole thing, as you’d expect. Necro tries a few moves on the apron but gets blocked, including a piledriver, suplex and DDT, before finally getting suplexed off onto the chairs that the students had pulled out of the ring! Holy christ this is madness! Homicide splashes Necro through a table, the one move since the chair throwing that DIDN’T land on chairs, then proceeds back in to a ring finally cleared of steel for another shocking near fall. Necro fires back with punches, then gets kneed in the gut and killed with a running lariat to give Homicide the match-winning three count. Homicide’s joined the war, and he’s on ROH’s side. But he says he’s not for ROH, he’s for himself and nobody else. In fact the ROH chants seem to piss him off. ****Madness. Watch this show. The undercard’s a bit below par, but the main event and the two singles titles matches are absolutely immense.

[King of my World]

Really enjoyed reading the reviews in this thread. Always a good read. I might have a look in my RoH DVD collection in a bit and write a few reviews.I think Danielson is keeping the title tonight. I think this is the right way to go, but I do think that Danielson defends the title too often, and even though the matches are always very entertaining, nine times out of ten it is extremely obvious his opponent is not going to win. Nice review of 'Ring of Homicide' edgecrusher, I am tempted to get this on DVD, but with the number of shows increasing I dont have the funds to buy regularly, so I might wait until a must see event comes along, possibly Death Before Dishonor IV with it sounding a great event from live reports.I have all the 2006 DVD's up to the 100th show and it has been another really good year so far for RoH.