ROH 95 – Arena Warfare – 11th March 2006


So welcome to the very first McXal Tape Review of my post-university days. That’s right, as of a week ago I’ve finished the dissertation, the assessed essays, the exams. Now (pending the stuff getting marked and passing of course) I just have to wait till July to graduate and get on with my life. It’s been a tough year so far, what with losing my dad, Oxford getting relegated from the football league, my beloved car finally giving out on me etc, but I’ve survived everything that’s been thrown at me now it’s time to look forward to the future (which by the way includes me sitting front row for the ROH show in Broxbourne in August). Anyways, this is the second show in ROH’s critically acclaimed Milestone Series. They kicked things off with a low key but genuinely quality Fourth Anniversary bash, now ROH is ready to step into the notorious New Alhambra Sports And Entertainment Center (or if you prefer, the ECW Arena) for the promotions first (and only scheduled) event there. This show is generally criticised as being the weakest of the seven Milestone shows but it still looks pretty good. A Cabana/Daniels/Joe 3-Way Dance, Danielson/Shelley for the ROH Title and Aries/Sydal stand out as must-see matches but other stuff sounds pretty good. Plus this is an afternoon event with a CZW show scheduled in the same building later tonight. We all know the bad blood brewing between the two companies so expect that to spill over in cataclysmic style on this DVD. Since this is the ECW Arena we’re very obviously in Philadelphia, PA. Your hosts are, as always, Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.


We continue where we left off at the 4YA show (the ‘to be continued’ theme will continue through the Milestone Series) with Christopher Daniels outside the Murphy Rec Center. He talks about ROH’s history in that building, but no matter what they did, they were always asked if/when they’d be running the ECW Arena. He hops into a car (and is very obviously reading lines from a piece of paper) and stalls for time running through the history of the famous building as the drive there takes an eternity. Tonight it’s ROH’s turn to make their mark in the arena. That was probably the worst promo Daniels has ever cut in four years. It dragged for an eternity – but it did at least establish the importance of running the ECW Arena. Long promo doesn’t always equal good promo.


SIDENOTE – Because we have part of the CZW set up tonight there’s an amazing big screen thing going on. Unfortunately the lighting for this event is so oppressively dark you can barely see it, or anything that isn’t inside the ring.


Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Jason Blade/Kid Mikaze vs Dunn & Marcos vs Homicide/Ricky Reyes – Scramble Match

Winners get a Tag Title shot somewhere down the road, and with both the Briscoes (who only made their comeback last show) and the Rottweilers both having scores to settle with Generation Next, they’ll be desperate to get a win. Don’t forget when Jay and Mark left ROH in 2004 it was after a series of heated bouts with the Rottweilers – there’s bad blood there too. Dunn & Marcos make their first appearances of 2006 here, and once again they clash with Blade and Mikaze, who they had a couple of matches with late last year. This is the first Scramble Match in ages.


The Rottweilers and the Briscoes get in each others faces and the younger duos decide to make a name by jumping the more established teams. In the end it’s Mikaze and Marcos first, and Kid M dropping Marcos with an inverted kryptonite krunch. Blade wipes out Dunn with a springboard enziguri for 2. Homicide crotches Blade in the corner for a basement dropkick from Reyes. Mark tagged but Blade and Mikaze wipe him out using a nice double Japanese armdrag. Urinage on Mikaze turns things round in a hurry. Jay tags to bully Kid M as well. SLINGSHOT double stomp by Mark gets 2. The Rotts try to mug him but Mark springboards off the ropes with a double clothesline. SOMERSAULT SENTON by Mikaze. Mark is trying a dive but Dunn kills him with a clothesline. RING CREW STAGE DIVE! Mark calls for the SSP, only for Blade to pull him down. BLADE WITH A MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Now Briscoe is all on his lonesome and FLIES OUT WITH THE SHOOTING STAR! He brings Reyes back inside and uses a spinning heel kick to lay him out. Ricky breaks out the stiff kicks and a wrist clutch suplex. FLIPPING SECOND ROPE NECKBREAKER from Jay! Homicide takes him to the top rope only to eat a belly to belly superplex. Marcos shoves Jay off the top rope but Blade and Kid kill him with a SATELLITE LUNGBLOWER! Dunn break the pin with a Savage elbow. Gory Driver gets 2 on Jason. ELECTRIC CHAIR SENTON on Mikaze but Mark breaks the fall. SPRINGBOARD DOOMSDAY DEVICE DROPS MARCOS ON HIS HEAD! Reyes is back…DRAGON SLEEPER ON JAY! His brother is close enough to save him though. Homicide lifts Mark into a TOP ROPE LIGERBOMB by Reyes! Jay looks for the Jay Driller on Reyes BUT HOMICIDE LARIATS HIM! MARCOS EATS COP KILLA! The Rottweilers take it in 11:56.


Rating - *** - Crazy high-spot orientated madness to start the show there, and I loved it. There were a few communication errors early but once it broke down to Briscoes vs Rottweilers (with the other two teams there to take some big bumps) it was quality. Jay and Mark again looked awesome as their return to ROH continues. Someone book Briscoes vs Homicide/Reyes in a straight tag soon. Dunn, Marcos, Blade and Mikaze all did fine. All they were there to do really was take a hammering and jump off the top rope and they’re all talented enough for that. Blade definitely looks as though he has some potential if he continues to develop. Aries/Strong defending against the Rotts should be awesome.


BJ Whitmer comes out from the back literally as soon as the eight guys in the last match clear the ring. The CZW fans in the house inform him that ‘Necro’s gonna kill’ him. Whitmer is pissed off that his big grudge match with Chris Daniels got ruined by CZW at the Fourth Anniversary. Cue duelling ‘shut the f*ck up’ and ‘BJ Whitmer’ between the rival fan groups. He calls out Necro Butcher…who doesn’t show. This seems pointless but Samoa Joe (who’s in the main event) was delayed getting back from Mexico so most of this show is stalling for time to allow him to get here. BJ went to the James Gibson school of curse-word promos.


MARCH TOP 5 RANKINGS

  1. Roderick Strong (Top after pinning Danielson in January and defending the spot last month)

  2. Jimmy Yang (Has been impressive since his return to the active roster in January)

  3. Christopher Daniels (falls after his no-contest with BJ Whitmer at 4YA)

  4. Alex Shelley (Gets his title shot after winning the Trios Tournament tonight)

  5. Samoa Joe (In the Top 5 after beating Jay Lethal last time out)


Roderick Strong vs Jimmy Yang

Rematch from Enter The Dragon where Roddy beat Jimmy Yang in a decent match. This one has extra importance because it’s a clash between the top two in the Top 5. The winner of this will surely receive a title shot at some point after this. Strong is due another rematch especially. He’s beaten Danielson, put on some stellar Tag Title matches and defended his #1 spot successfully against BJ Whitmer too.


I love the way they start with some real jostling for position as opposed to the token picturesque chaining you usually wind up seeing. It has a danger of dissolving into style over substance until Strong kicks Yang to the mat. Jimmy hits a nice dropkick to send Roddy to the floor for an ASAI MOONSAULT! Back inside he tries to wear Strong down with a grounded hammerlock only to get sent across the ring and into a tilta-whirl backbreaker. Strong ties Yang up in a nice deathlock with an ab stretch too. Jimmy gets into a position where he can trade chops with his opponent, but bearing in mind who his opponent is that’s not such a good idea. Surfboard by the Tag Champion, but the CZW fans are starting to get bored and put him off. Yang goes for a spear in the corner and collides with the ringpost. On the outside Rod drops Yang chest-first over the railings for more damage. Yang rallies back with a spinning heel kick but he’s pretty beaten up and takes a while to recover. When he does he nails another kick, this time from the second rope for a 2 count. Roderick scores with a urinage backbreaker. Half nelson backbreaker blocked for Yang to hit a third heel kick. Tiger Mask kick in the corner finds the mark but Strong runs straight out into a BIG BOOT for 2. Firemans carry gutbuster gets a nearfall too. Strong stops wresting to go and gawk and the CZW supporters. Gibson Driver blocked by Jimmy who takes to the skies with a moonsault press. Yang goes for a super rana…COUNTERED TO THE STRONGHOLD! Yang taps at 12:54.


Rating - ** - It started well and the finish was awesome (although I think a lot of the crowd thought it was a botch) but in the middle they really lost their way. The fans got to Strong who lost all his sense of purpose and direction on his beatdown on Yang. It essentially became a lengthy spot-stall-spot-stall segment instead which was a little dull. Yang wasn’t faultless either. He completely no-sold Strong’s work on the back and ribs in every offensive move he did, and by doing the same kick over and over again his comebacks became less and less interesting. I like both these guys but this didn’t work. Enter The Dragon was much better – check that one out instead. Strong will stay at #1 in the Rankings now.


Colt Cabana is all intense, just as he has been for a long while. He complains that he’s in a threeway rather than another match with Homicide who almost destroyed him at the Fourth Anniversary Show. He challenges Cide to a fight after the show.


Alex Shelley fulfils his destiny in taking the top spot in ROH by winning the ROH Title. He promises to work Danielson’s neck and finish him off with Spanky’s Sliced Bread #2.


Whitmer is in the ring again and this time has graduated to full on theft of Gibson promo lines (the ‘dick in ma hand’ one to be precise). He calls out Necro for a second time and this time he gets his wish. They have a disturbingly stiff brawl until Super Dragon (another CZW representative) comes through the crowd to jump BJ. CURB STOMP B*TCH! I love S-Drag! The ROH fans seem to be chanting ‘Super Faggot’ which gets a laugh from me (and AJ Styles). Whitmer tries to give Dragon an exploder only for Necro to make it 2-on-1. DOUBLE STOMP by Dragon. Finally members of the ROH locker room come out to run off the CZW competitors. Whitmer says it’s not over and leaves. The whole piece felt long but Super Dragon entering into the inter-promotional war works for me.


Matt Sydal vs Austin Aries

GeNext members collide here, just as they’ve butted heads a few times so far this year over Sydal’s controversial decision to form a team with AJ Styles and go after his own teammates’ titles. In the end he and AJ lost their title shot, but clearly Aries and Sydal still have an issue between them that needs to be settled for the good of the group. Aries thinks Matt is being selfish by putting his own interests before the stable, but Sydal clearly thinks Austin is being a dick and holding him down. This has been a tremendous year for him, putting on a string of good matches – now he needs a win.


If Aries came into this taking Sydal lightly that’s immediately eradicated by a few swish counters from Matt, who controls him with an early side headlock. Finally the Tag Champion has had enough and just clubs Sydal in the back. He hits the springboard reverse elbow and gives Sydal a taste of his own medicine with a headlock. They go for shoulder tackles but neither man wants to budge. Sydal returns to the headlock but Austin escapes more quickly this time. Sydal gets the grounded headscissors and rolls over so Aries isn’t able to utilise his traditional dropkick escape. In the end Aries is forced to counter it a different way, but is good enough to do so. We have a sequence of headlock counters until Aries snaps and drops Sydal with a back suplex. Austin gets sent out after the enzicanrana. RUNNING MOONSAULT PRESS BY SYDAL! He brings him back inside and drops a leg from the second rope for 2. Aries lights Matt up with chops so Sydal looks to fly again. No dice as Aries meets him up there and whacks him to the floor for a HEAT SEEKING MISSILE! The slingshot hilo finds the mark and Austin follows up with an elbow drop for 2. Aries with more chops but this time Sydal hits back with some of his own. Bridging camel clutch on Sydal, softening him up for the brainbuster. Sydal goes for a rana but Aries blocks that and then hits his usual low dropkick which gets 2. Aries blocks a crucifix with the Finlay roll and NAILS the frog splash – still only good for a near fall. Sydal kicks Aries away from the top rope to hit an ULTRA SWINGING DDT! Both men take a while recovering. Sydal looks for a springboard flying headscissors but it’s a little screwed up and they both wind up on the mat. STANDING MOONSAULT for 2. He looks for the Here It Is Driver but it’s blocked. RUNNING CORNER DROPKICK from Austin. Sydal blocks the brainbuster…HERE IT IS DRIVER! ARIES KICKS OUT! He calls for the SSP, only for Aries to roll out of the way. Aries goes for the brainbuster again AND SYDAL ALMOST ROLLS HIM UP! FACE KICK! BRAINBUSTER! 450 SPLASH! At 16:52 Aries has done enough to put his team-mate down.


Rating - **** - Solid match throughout that edged into 4* territory thanks to the tremendous first five minutes of mat wrestling. Sydal stepped up to his leader in GeNext with a strategy to outwrestle and prove himself from the bell, and he immediately tried to dominate him, frustrating Aries continually with his countering. In the end it broke down to the expected big move sprint (in truth, I thought Styles/Sydal did that a little better) but it had a hot finish with Sydal not letting Aries hit the brainbuster. He did a good job of frustrating Aries all the way through but in the end his physicality was too much for him. They’ve probably got a better match in them if you take away the restrictions of both being in the same faction or being stuck down in the midcard of a matinee show.


The Briscoes come out to put another beatdown on the Generation Next guys to get themselves in the Tag Title hunt. Roderick Strong comes out to help but in the end it’s Matt Sydal who helps out his partners and runs Jay and Mark out of the ring. Jay’s chest has Strong’s handprints on it.


INTERMISSION – GMC is with Homicide, talking about Cabana’s challenge to a fight after the show. Cide seems to have no problems with that. Smokes talks for almost two minutes without making any sense. ‘The two words I understood – hate and die’ – Capetta.


Irish Airborne vs Tony Mamaluke/Sal Rinauro

IA make their debut on this show, and come highly recommended from the HWA promotion (amongst others) where they wrestle as Lotus and Crazy J. Here they’ll be wrestling as the Crist brothers Jake (Crazy J) and Dave (Lotus). Mamaluke and Rinauro have jobbed like wildfire since losing the tag belts. Is it to be a big debut win for Irish Airborne or a return to winning ways for the New Age FBI on Mamaluke’s return to the ECW Arena.


Rinauro starts with Dave Crist and they throw out some counters which look a little tame after Aries/Sydal. Sal traps his opponent in a nice bridging butterfly lock though. Dave comes back with some flippy armdrag counters. Jake comes in hitting a double boot to the head followed by a nice neckbreaker for 2. Double knee gutbuster from Rinauro allows him to make the tag. Flipping neckbreaker/Russian legsweep combo by the Italians gets 2. SPRINGBOARD side headlock takedown from Jake Crist. He goes for it a second time and gets dropped on his head with a back suplex. SUPER SERIOUS knee strikes to Jake’s head. Sal hits a running victory roll and almost pins Jake with a weird crucifix hammerlock roll-up. Mamaluke hiptosses his partner onto his opponent to get a 2. Dave gets a blind tag and wipes Mamaluke out with a springboard dropkick. Double spinebuster from IA before Dave hits a pretty quebrada for 2. Sal tags and blasts Jake with his running quebrada. Suplex side effect on the Crist for a nearfall. The former champs go for the elevated DDT but Jake blocks it with a headscissors. Mamaluke traps him in the SERIOUS front choke but Jake muscles him onto his shoulders. TOP ROPE DOUBLE STOMP BY DAVE…JAKE DVD’S MAMALUKE OVER DAVE’S KNEES! THREE COUNT! Irish Airborne pick up the shock win with a b*tching finisher at 09:18.


Rating - * - That went way too long quite frankly. Irish Airborne looked very green/nervous, but they’ve got a lot more babyface charisma than for instance the Blade/Mikaze tandem, and they don’t seem quite so high spot orientated as those two. That being said, their whacky finisher was pretty cool. I think it’s safe to say Mamaluke and Rinauro are dead in the water in ROH now. Tony has been jobbed out to everyone this year. I’d like to see the Crists back, but maybe against a team better suited to carrying them and working round their weaknesses. They’ll improve. Still, pinning Tony Mamaluke in the ECW Arena – quite an auspicious start to their ROH career.


It’s time for the World Title match, but since this whole event is in super-stall mode to give Samoa Joe time to get to the building for the main event (which is up next) Bryan Danielson decides to kill more time by riling up the CZW fans with a promo. He berates a little girl in the front row for flipping him off. ‘She’s hardcore’ – CZW fans. ‘I will punch her right in the face’ – Danielson. Dragon takes offence to ‘overrated’ chants thrown in his direction and says he’s the best wrestler ever to step foot in the ECW Arena…then goes after the little girl again. ‘That girl cannot f*ck me up’ – AmDrag. It’s stalling but it is hilariously funny.


Bryan Danielson vs Alex Shelley – ROH World Title Match

This is the next step in the Danielson/Embassy altercations which have taken place throughout the year so far. Danielson already overcame the challenge of Jimmy Rave at the last show, but he was scheduled to be defending the belt a show earlier than that against Alex Shelley – until his plane was cancelled. Somewhat comically, Shelley is blaming Rave for that, but now he has his shot. These two have met previously in ROH (at Glory By Honor 3) where Danielson won in a mildly disappointing bout. Can he repeat that feat and thwart Prince Nana’s men in their quest to take his belt?


‘I love vaginal sex’ – Shelley’s response to some suggestive chanting from the crowd. In fact, he’s had enough of their taunts and the stalling continues as now he grabs a microphone to have his say too. Three minutes into the match they eventually go into a lock-up (‘I hear he likes the cock’ – Dragon). It’s a back and forth knucklelock exchange which Danielson ends by switching to a kravat. ‘Boring’ chants start up which make Alex grab the microphone and start b*tching again, challenging a fat guy to a fight (‘lets go fat guy’ – ECW Arena). No dice on that, so he’s stuck with the World Champion. Shelley looks to work a grounded headscissors – targeting Dragon’s neck as he promised earlier. Danielson looks for a camel clutch only to have his hand bitten by the challenger. Alex lands a cheap slap in the corner, then blocks Dragon’s attempt at returning the favour to slap him again. Finally Dragon does score with a slap and Shelley scarpers to the floor. Oh GOD stop the stalling already. Shelley goes for Sliced Bread #2 but AmDrag blocks it and kicks him to the back to the outside. Danielson pisses off the ‘boring’ chanters by applying an abdominal stretch. He uses the ropes for extra leverage but is eventually caught by the official and told to break. Alex has had enough and DDT’s the leg, going to work on that body part in an attempt to halt the momentum of the champion.


Strykerlock applied at 15 minutes, then an Indian deathlock. They trade chops and slaps from the deathlock position…followed by STIFF elbow strikes. Tiger Mask flip from Danielson, into a belly to belly suplex. Shelley tries to block the Mexican surfboard so Dragon rakes at his nose. In the end there’s no surfboard anyway because Dragon likes to piss off the fans. He gets 2 with a slingshot suplex and NOW does the Mexican surfboard. Spinning toehold now as Danielson is going completely old school with his technical wrestling to work the CZW fans. Figure 4 leglock now. American Dragon ascends to the top rope for the diving headbutt which gets 2. Crossface chickenwing blocked by Shelley and he plasters Danielson with an enziguri and a tornado DDT. Cross-legged brainbuster blocked by Dragon before they go to a series of nearfalls. Sliced Bread blocked for a second time but Shelley lays Bryan out with a superkick. Now he truly is focusing on the neck, dropping the champion with a series of neckbreakers. He tries to f*ck up the arm as well, then targets both body parts together with a bridging inverted surfboard. BACK SUPLEX OVER THE TOP ROPE! Nana holds Dragon prone AND SHELLEY ALMOST KILLS THE PAIR OF THEM MISSING A TOPE SUICIDA!


That was seriously terrifying. Danielson throws them both into the crowd. SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT SENTON INTO THE FRONT ROW! Back in the ring Dragon nails a Misawa dropkick then nips up to complete the neck no-sell. CATTLE MUTILATION! Because bridging on an injured neck is easy. Shelley blocks a superplex and scores with a frog splash for 2. Dragon gets plastered with another superkick then ROLLING BRAINBUSTERS! BORDER CITY STRETCH! Dragon isn’t tapping away his World Title yet though. Sliced Bread blocked for a third time and Danielson takes us upstairs for a BACK SUPERPLEX! SHELLEY ROLLS THROUGH CATTLE MUTILATION! Sick sick sick counter! ELBOW STRIKE DUEL! Shelley low blows…SHELLSHOCK for 2. BORDER CITY AGAIN! Dragon just about makes the ropes. Danielson lands a roaring elbow but he walks into another superkick. SLICED BREAD #2…NO, DANIELSON COUNTERS TO CATTLE MUTILATION! CM PIN WINS IT! 32:31 is your time.


Rating - *** - Aside from the occasional complete no-sell of the neck from Danielson, the last 15 minutes of that were incredible. They’d worked the crowd with the slow pace of the first half so much that when the bigger moves came and the finishers were traded, everyone in the arena was literally electrified. My problem with this is – I absolutely HATED the stalling of the first 15 minutes. Danielson’s promo was funny, but it just dragged on and on. They traded superficial counters and mat techniques for no real reason other than to kill time and drag this one out. I know this had to be done because we’re waiting on Joe but that still doesn’t make the first half any better. I was all set to go a lot lower on the rating until the final 10 minutes of fantastic wrestling. I’ve seen people rate this at 4*, or even 4.5*…are you nuts? It’s good in the end but it ain’t half tedious. For my money the worst match of Danielson’s title reign (and it’s still pretty decent in the end!). That’s six months as champ now.


Colt Cabana vs Christopher Daniels vs Samoa Joe

As a tribute to ECW and the building they’re in tonight, ROH was going to main event their first ever show here with a traditional ECW-style Three Way Dance, but as the dragging nature of the whole event is testament to, Samoa Joe isn’t here, which means Cabana and Daniels are left starting by themselves. You’d assume if Joe makes it in time he’ll be invited to join in. Which renders this main event somewhat pointless. Cabana is embedded in this feud with Homicide which is scheduled to end at the forthcoming Wrestlemania triple shot. Daniels is coming back from injury and has scores to settle with BJ Whitmer and Samoa Joe. Cabana did participate in the Second City Saints’ destruction of The Prophecy back in January 2004 which led to Daniels being put out of ROH for a lengthy stretch though. Will he be going for retribution again here? These two wrestled before at Sign Of Dishonor last July in a match which ended in controversy when then-World Champion CM Punk interfered.


Prazak announces that Joe should be here in time and will make his entrance when we have a winner in this match. Cabana is all business and looks to dominate the Fallen Angel from the outset. Daniels is no slouch though and manages to provide counters to everything his opponent throws at him. Jimmy Bower arrives on commentary to update us and Samoa Joe has now arrived as Cabana nails a satellite headscissors. Spinning double knee gutbuster by Daniels leaves both men down. He is first up though and stays on the midsection with shoulders and a knee strike. He hangs Colt over the middle rope and sits down on him, further hurting that exposed injury. Cabana goes for a sunset flip but Daniels counters with an elbow drop to the sternum. Abdominal stretch applied with an air of inevitability as the ribs continue to take a pounding. Cabana looks for another sunset flip and this time when Daniels attempts an elbow drop Colt rolls him over with a pinfall. Back to the abdominal stretch goes Daniels but Cabana bites the hands to loosen the grip. Arabian press scores and does even more damage before he applies the ab stretch for a third time. Finally Colt is able to escape and hit a quebrada – which hurts himself as much as his opponent. Daniels kicks out of Cabana’s lariat at 2. Canadian gutbuster from the Chicago-native gets a nearfall too. Blue thunder driver from Daniels. He drops Colt again with a DVD but still can’t get the win. Cabana avoids the BME and flies off the top to nail a missile dropkick. Daniels counters Colt 45, but Cabana avoids Angels Wings. He gets a desperation roll up and the three count at 13:46…enter Samoa Joe! He comes in, street clothes and all and decimates Daniels. BIG BOOT for Cabana! Cabana fires back with the LARIAT for 2! He makes the mistake of going to the top rope. MUSCLEBUSTER NAILED! BUT CABANA KICKS OUT! CHOOOOKE! CABANA MAKES THE ROPES! E HONDA SLAPS…but Colt hits back with right hands and a low blow. JUMPING ENZIGURIII! MUSCLEBUSTAAAAA! This time Joe does win at 16:38.


Rating - *** - What’s weird is I’ve heard a ton about how good Danielson/Shelley was and ended up mildly disappointed, and heard precious little about the main event and actually found it pretty effective. Under the circumstances it was never going to be a classic but it did a great job of telling a story and putting over Cabana’s resilience. He overcame the rib abuse of Daniels to sneak a big win, then incredibly survived both of Joe’s big finishing moves before finally being put away. That’s quite the rub going into his feud ending (and perhaps career-defining) series with Homicide. I do mean what I say, either Cabana ends the year as ROH Champion, or he’ll be in the big time. He continues to get better and better. Underrated main event there, making the best of a bad situation.


BJ Whitmer is in the ring again as Samoa Joe marches out into the crowd and literally picks a fan up and hands him to security to throw out. Joe + jet lag = scary. Whitmer points out that he and Joe are still in the mood for a fight and calls out the CZW locker room again. And you know what…IT’S F*CKING ON! Necro leads the charge and what ensues is nothing short of absolute mayhem. Super Dragon is there, the BLK OUT is there, Generation Next, B-Boy, Sonjay Dutt, Chris Daniels, the Briscoes…now the entire ROH and CZW f*cking locker rooms are out there! THIS IS MADNESS I TELL YOU! Is that Allison Danger kicking ass too? ZANDIG AND WIFEBEATER ARRIVE! Wifebeater chases people like Joe away with a MOTHERF*CKING WEEDWHACKER! Meanwhile in the ring Necro and Super Dragon have taken Whitmer hostage and tape him to the ropes. There are skirmishes all over the building now…as Zandig starts abusing BJ with a barbed wire bat. HE STAPLES A CZW TICKET TO HIS HEAD! YOU SICK F*CK! YOU SICK SICK F*CK! Whitmer is being turned into a sacrificial lamb right there in the ROH ring! Zandig goes nWo and spraypaints CZW on the canvas, BJ’s back, anything he can really see. The CZW theme plays as the promotions troops stand triumphant at the end of ROH’s show in their own building. Jimmy Bower orders them to cut the feed before Zandig gets a chance to speak…to be continued.


Tape Rating - *** - Based on live reports, it probably is safe to assume this is perhaps the worst show of the Milestone Series, and as you can tell from the rating, it still isn’t bad. The show doesn’t flow very well (Whitmer coming out over and over again, the Danielson/Shelley stall-fest and the interrupted main event etc) but there is enough stuff here to make it a worthwhile purchase. Aries/Sydal is the standout match of the show in my opinion, although others rate the World Title match far higher than I do. The opening scramble and the main event three-way are also worth a look. However, if you’re buying this, you’re buying it for the chaos that ensued after the main event with CZW putting Whitmer to the sword (and making him a huge player in the process). I think ROH made a mistake by cutting some of the inter-promotional fracas out (they’re shown on the next DVD in the series) but what’s here is still damn effective. The site of Wifebeater chasing Samoa Joe up the ramp with a weedwhacker has to be seen to be believed. It’s not the best show out there…in fact, it’s possibly the worst show of the year so far, but I’d still have a hard time not giving it the 3* treatment. Call it borderline…


Top 3 Matches

3) Samoa Joe vs Colt Cabana vs Christopher Daniels (***)

2) Bryan Danielson vs Alex Shelley (***)

1) Austin Aries vs Matt Sydal (****)

 

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