Official ROH Discussion Thread

[alexander]

Or, if you can't get a girlfriend, just add a bunch of glamour models as friends on Myspace instead.

[The Cum Doctor]

I'll take an ROH crowd over a PWG crowd though, who seem to just sit on their hands for the majority of the time. It always feels like they're sitting in a hall of about 10 people most of the time untill big moves and nearfalls happen, and suddenly the crowd feels bigger.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Or, if you can't get a girlfriend, just add a bunch of glamour models as friends on Myspace instead.

The fact that you felt compelled to visit the site is a great compliment. Cheers!

[The Cum Doctor]

ROH SCRAMBLE MADNESS

**********************

 

Ah. A show I haven't seen yet.

 

Christopher Daniels and Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Briscoe and The Amazing Red

 

The Amazing Red always makes a good guy for a beatdown in tag matches. There's something odd about this match. Don't get me wrong, it's very good, but it's awfully slowly paced considering the guys in the match. Everything is very deliberate and it just seemed a bit weird. Regardless of all of that, it doesn't make the match any worse. It's a nice wee opener.

 

Mace vs. Alexis Laree

 

Fuck off. Next ?

 

Xavier vs. Jeremy Lopez

 

You know, I was thinking that this was a good match before remembering that Lopez almost had the exact same match with Michael Shane. Not that this makes the match worse or anything, but instead shows that Lopez pretty much carried Xavier through this effort. Because of this, and the fact that it's not too long, it develops into a decent match. For the record, Xavier would improve.

 

Tony Mamaluke and Matt Thompson vs. Da Hit Squad

 

This seems to be more of a showcase for big guys doing cool moves than anything else. That being said, the biggest guy in there, Thompson, does some cool stuff. The match isn't very good for anything other than what I've mentioned.

 

Special K vs. Divine Storm, SAT and The Amazing Red in a Scramble Match

 

This is nutty, nutty mayhem from the 10 guys. Some innovative stuff from the usual suspects, and because of the time it's on for, and the number of people in the match, they're able to hide each others' weaknesses and make this a very entertaining effort, but I still don't think Chris Devine is worth much in these kinds of matches. I'd love to see more of Quiet Storm in singles efforts as I love watching him in these things. Anyways, this is great fun.

 

Dunn and Marcos vs. Samoa Joe

 

Death. Next ?

 

Michael Shane and Biohazard vs. Paul London and Rudy Boy Gonzalez in a Street Fight

 

This was much more boring than it really should have been, and any promise that I thought Biohazard had is well and truly dumped here. I thought that we were going to see much more hate and insanity. Instead, we see a bunch of crowd brawling and a hot finishing sequence. All well and good, but going on this, they really should have ended the whole thing with the Shane/London Street Fight.

 

The Carnage Crew vs. Alex Arion, Don Juan and Fast Eddie

 

TCC have added Masada. I was expecting my version of the DUD rating here, but instead, TCC keep the ass kicking long enough for me to enjoy it. Masada looked impressive, which makes a change. I guess that was the intention of the match.

 

Samoa Joe vs. Homicide

 

Basically a shorter version of their later efforts, although with more actual wrestling. Of course they have the usual hard hitting stuff, but in general, the really good stuff doesn't come untill Do Or Die. Once again, Joe looks absolutely terrific in his win, looking dominant.

 

#1 Contender's Trophy - AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

 

Hmm, because of the pace of the opener, I was sure that this would be better than it was, but Daniels never really picks it up for this match either. That being said, these two guys know each other well enough to make this an exciting and dramatic match.

 

Doug Williams vs. American Dragon in a 30 Minute Iron Man Match

 

A worthy main event to the show. Both guys put a whole bunch of cool reversals in the first half of the match, looking absolutely great in the process. Williams is absolutely in his element here, as he is the star of yet another Iron Man Match. When the match hits the second half and Williams starts chasing a fall, he gets more and more desperate and the match basically kicks up another gear. Brilliant match.

 

OVERALL

********

 

Probably the best ROH show so far. Definately far better from top to bottom than most ROH efforts. Once again, the matches at the end of the show are the highlights, as we have a great main event.

[didcotfc]

I hate the "this is awesome chant", whoever starts it. At that point no-one had started the chant, however it reared its ugly head several times. I agree with La Goosh's point above.

You hate it when kids do it? Its not like they're trying to be smarky or anything. Just trying to get involved by copying an admittedly stupid chant that they've heard else where.

As for all this rubbsih about "you hate kids", "get an infection and die etc" - boys, it's wrestling, meant to be a bit of entertainment. As Alan Partridge said, "why not get yourself a girlfriend?"

Yes...entertaining for kids too.

[The Cum Doctor]

I have nothing against the "This Is Awesome" chants unless they happen about five minutes into a match when it really hasn't had the time to be awesome yet.

[Big Rob]

Like when it happened during Shannon Moore vs. Sonjay Dutt a couple of years back!

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Fuck me, of all the points to get excited over... look, "this is awesome" is reflexive, and wrestling should never degenerate into the realms of postmodernism when you're watching it, pure and simple.

[didcotfc]

Fuck me, of all the points to get excited over... look, "this is awesome" is reflexive, and wrestling should never degenerate into the realms of postmodernism when you're watching it, pure and simple.

Shall I explain the folly of their ways to the ten year olds or will you?

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Fuck me, of all the points to get excited over... look, "this is awesome" is reflexive, and wrestling should never degenerate into the realms of postmodernism when you're watching it, pure and simple.

Shall I explain the folly of their ways to the ten year olds or will you?

Hmmm, point taken. I still maintain that on the whole, I'm in the right

[The Cum Doctor]

ROH NIGHT OF THE BUTCHER

*************************

 

Things are beginning to look bright in ROH land. The shows have been, while not blowaway, better.

 

Micheal Shane vs. Jeremy Lopez

 

Lopez had a good showing against Xavier and this match is exactly the same as it. Michael Shane is beginning to look more bland with every match, and this match is actually worse than the Xavier effort against the same guy. They basically run through the same motions, except Shane shows no desire to put his own stuff into the match, making this more of the Lopez Show. Decent match though.

 

Colt Cabana vs. CM Punk

 

A good spotfest from two guys who actually know what to do between spots. Both guys would go on and have far different styles as they progressed in ROH. This match was more of a "pop the crowd with moves" style match than they'd have in the future. Punk looks better than Cabana here, as you would probably expect.

 

#1 Contender Trophy Semi Final - EZ Money vs. Paul London

 

Why didn't Money get a better chance in ROH ? He certainly didn't look out of place here against London. The one gripe I have with this match is the ending. Both guys go out and pull out some big moves, and then the match has a completely anti-climatic finish. If they didn't want to do a big finish because it was a Semi, then they could have gone for a rollup or something. The finish just made EZ look weak. Anyways, decent enough match.

 

#1 Contender Trophy Semi Final - Chad Collyer vs. American Dragon

 

Solid, if a but unspectacular. The first half was dull and the second half was Collyer taking the leg of Dragon home as a trophy. Absolutely nothing else to it.

 

Special K vs. The SAT vs. Da Hit Squad vs. The Amazing Red and Jay Briscoe

 

Okay then. This match is a bit ... random. There's lots of spots and the usual nuttyness, but there's just something lacking. Oh yeah. Wrestling. Anyways, The SAT impress here as they get to show off tonnes of stuff. The Red/Briscoe team seems a bit pointless considering the potential that such a team actually has. Anyways, a spotty match but just feels a bit off.

 

Jeff Starr and Shockwave vs. Divine Storm

 

I'd give this the usual useless match rating if it wasn't for the fun beating that the jobbers took. They got massacred by a pissed off Divine Storm. Good stuff.

 

#1 Contender's Trophy - American Dragon vs. Paul London

 

One of those Dragon matches that grows on you with each watch. It's just amazingly well built, and doesn't rely on lots of nearfalls and big spots. There's just plenty of hard hitting action and bags of technical stuff and good selling to take the match through. Incidentally, London shows some signs of being awesome on the mic, while Dragon still can't talk to save himself.

 

ROH Title - Xavier vs. AJ Styles

 

Amazingly, Styles keeps the pace of this one fast, and Xavier manages to keep up. This makes for probably the best ROH Title match of the Xavier reign, although I still haven't seen the Paul London match from the anniversary show. There is still the odd mistakes from Xavier at the latter stages, but they weren't big enough to harm the match. Good to see what Xavier can do on a good day.

 

The Carnage Crew vs. Homicide and Abdullah The Butcher

 

This is not nice viewing. I can't even imagine this being comfortable viewing when seeing it live. A useless weapons brawl that should not be the main event of a show.

 

OVERALL

********

 

Once again, there wasn't much in the blowaway department, but the crap was kept to a minimum and there was a consistant level of decent wrestling.

[Philjax]

I still can't believe grown men chant at wrestlers. You're all sad. Applause as a sign of respect and thanks for the entertainment you're watching is about the only acceptable behaviour of an adult.

[The Cum Doctor]

ROH FINAL BATTLE 2002

********************

 

Decided to watch this instead of Scrubs last night.

 

Colt Cabana vs. CM Punk

 

Having been spot heavy in their last match, this time they decided to wrestle a bit more, and that didn't go down too well with the crowd, who were pretty silent throughout the opening minutes. When the guys realised this, they went into a complete overkill on the big moves in the second half, and wouldn't you know it, the crowd seemed to sense this and woke up from their lumber. A good match, and IMO, better than their Night of the Butcher match.

 

Simply Luscious vs. Alexis Laree

 

Fuck off. Next ?

 

Anyways, after Christopher Daniels helps his valet, he decides it's good time to cut a promo and Corino decides to join him for a surprisingly boring 15 minutes. The reason I've told you about this promo is because it's rather long, and isn't worth much at all.

 

Special K vs. The Backseat Boys vs. Da Hit Squad

 

This match kicks off at the rate of a plane on a runway. It's also one of the few Scramble matches where the big moves actually built and built, instead of just randomly coming out with spots. The only problem is Special K running in a lot. However, don't under estimate the pure fun of this match.

 

ROH Tag Team Titles - The Prophecy vs. SAT in a 2/3 Falls Match

 

This is the first time that you get a real taste of what the SAT are all about. ROH didn't make the mistake of putting them in this position a lot. They DID make the mistake of booking them though. They should have kept the 2/3 Falls out and had them just go out there for 10 minutes. It would have made SAT look good and would have made for a solid defence of the titles. However, it was long, botchy and The SAT looked waaaaaaay out of their depth.

 

Christopher Street Connection vs. The Carnage Crew

 

Fuck off. Next ?

 

Jody Fleisch vs. The Amazing Red

 

A supposed high flying dream match. However, you could see what was coming a mile away. Red is good with a good opponent, but Fleisch is NOT that opponent. There's some big high flying moves, but you'd expect some great sequences from a "dream match".

 

Anyways, Jody joins Special K.

 

ROH Title - Xavier vs. Paul London

 

It's great to see someone use Xavier's tactics against him. Anyways, another good Xavier match, and another improvement from the champ, which is nice to see. Still lacking the pure excitement of the Styles match, but there was a great amount of heat as the fans really believed that London could end the reign of Xavier. The heat made this match dramatic all on it's own. A very good ROH Title match.

 

#1 Contender's Trophy - Steve Corino vs. Samoa Joe vs. American Dragon vs. Low Ki

 

45 minutes of incredibly good action. Most of the match seen great exchanges between all four men in one on one scenarios. The best of which came from Dragon and Joe. Thankfully ROH took note, but more of that later. There's also some good hate between Corino and Low Ki, which I can only assume is based on the Homicide/Corino thing that is gradually building up. The final stretch is great, as all four men interwine and everything runs smoothly. Can't ask for more than that, and in the end, we have the match of the night. Good fun.

 

OVERALL

********

 

A solid show with a good double main event. The undercard has some solid stuff, but the craptastic short matches made a return on this show. However, there weren't many, so not many complaints.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Fifth Year Festival - Finale Review - 4/3/07

 

 

Colt Cabana vs. Delirious - really enjoyable comedy match to kick things off with. Of course, on paper you

[alexander]

I hate that Briscoe/Briscoe match so, so much. Like going to a restaurant and ordering desert for every course, then smoking a trifle instead of a cigar. The excellent Rave/Nigel match absolutely destroys it.