ROH 103 – How We Roll – 12th May 2006
I think this is ROH’s first New York/New Jersey double shot, as we’re in Long Island tonight and Edison for tomorrow evening. As you could probably guess from the title – this is Christian Cage’s debut with the promotion. Obviously he’s a big name release from the WWE in recent times, so getting him on a show should draw in a few extra fans…although I think myself and numerous other ROH faithful have our doubts as to his ability to adapt to the ROH-style though. Still, I’ll keep an open mind, and tonight it’s ROH Champion vs NWA Champion, American Dragon and a partner of his choice against Christian and anyone he wants to pick. And frankly, that seems to be the extent of the card – with everything else seemingly gearing up for tomorrow night’s event, with the Briscoes, Aries and Strong, Homicide, Samoa Joe and more all focused on what they’ll be doing tomorrow night with their matches this evening. So it’s to Lake Grove, NY we go. On commentary are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard but there’s a fault with the sound on this release and you can barely hear them for 2/3 of the show – which is a real shame considering this is Lenny’s last show for a long ass time. The packaging for this event is pretty goofy too.
ROH VIDEO RECAP (04/05/06) – This one starts with a video package highlighting the Dragon/Delirious match from the 100th Show. They have a rematch tomorrow night in Edison.
- Delirious cuts perhaps the best promo in a fake language ever. He complains about the disrespect he was shown and vows revenge this weekend. He almost talks in English these days…
- Jim Cornette makes an appeal to Homicide, asking him to join ROH’s side in the war with CZW.
Adam Pearce opens the show and echoes Cornette’s sentiments. He pleads with Homicide to join them as well. He begs Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli and Necro Butcher to show up this weekend as well.
Nigel McGuiness claims that Bryan Danielson didn’t WANT to get back into the ring with him in Cleveland, and soon he’ll win the World Title too.
Matt Sydal vs Jimmy Yang
Both men went winless over the Weekend Of Champions. In fact, the last time Jimmy Yang won was in February. Then again, he’s already on his way out by now. Vince is calling him back it seems. This is Sydal’s last weekend before going off to join Jack Evans in Japan for his own extended tour of Dragon Gate. He’ll want to go away leaving the fans with a couple of decent performances to further underline what has so far been an excellent year for him.
Yang seems to be taking Sydal a tad lightly so he’s probably a little surprised when he’s taken over with a hurricanrana. Yang tries to fake a handshake and kick him but Sydal catches the boot – only to get slapped instead. The Slice gets Matt a 2-count. Jimmy goes to the eyes but Sydal is still able to execute a satellite headscissors. Next Yang takes advantage of Matt giving him a clean break to hit a divorce court – and it should be noted at this point that Sydal has a taped shoulder. Yang kicks at the arm but Sydal replies with a stepping enziguri. An armbar DDT drops him again though and Jimmy follows up by throwing him shoulder-first to the post. Sydal escapes a hold on the mat so Yang repeatedly kicks the arm then armbar DDT’s him for a third time. Sydal hits a clothesline but immediately regrets it because it hurt the arm. Yang blocks the Here It Is then they both screw up kick attempts. Jimmy sneakily low blows Matt then takes his head off with a kick. Sydal sends him out with a dropkick…MOONSAULT TO THE OUTSIDE! Sydal tries to go to the top rope again but Yang hits a JUMPING ENZI! SWINGING NECKBREAKER OFF THE TOP! Yang takes a moment too long to cover and it only gets 2. Jimmy takes him to the top rope again, but Sydal blocks the super rana. SHOOTING STAR PRESS! Sydal wins at 09:26.
Rating - *** - One of the better opening matches we’ve seen in 2006. Yang surprised me by showing some real personality by working the cocky heel, and then surprised me more by working a nice match around the arm. That worked fine for most of the match, throw in a few bigger, more exciting spots in the stretch and you have yourself a solid curtain-jerker. It’s a shame Sydal is going to Japan after this weekend, he’s been a real staple of ROH’s undercards this year. By and large it’s been bank that he’ll put on a decent match. In fact, after this weekend neither of these guys will be around.
There’s about to be some kind of four corner match with Delirious, Chris Daniels, Colt Cabana and someone else…but Christian Cage steps through the curtain to make his first ever ROH appearance – and his reception is actually a lot more welcoming than I’d heard/expected/feared. It’s mixed but I’d say more positive than negative. He wants to know what Delirious is smoking (‘there’s no Wellness program here is there?’ – Christian), and he wants to know if Colt Cabana will be his tag partner in the main event tonight. Colt points Cage in the direction of Homicide if he wants a smoke hehe. He wants to get back in the ring with Bryan Danielson and he agrees to be in the main event. And it’s now that Bryan Danielson decides to grace the ring with his presence. He calls himself the best World Champion around in a somewhat rambling promo about how good he is. He also stops to point out he beat Cabana in 5 minutes. He doesn’t pick Delirious as his partner because he’s weird, so decides he’ll have Chris Daniels as his partner instead. Daniels tries to wangle a title shot out of it – and Dragon says yes (provided they win). Fun segment with some great lines from all four guys…but it dragged a little.
Nigel McGuiness vs Delirious vs Kikutaro
So since Cabana and Daniels have been pulled for the main event a three-way is booked on the fly. Nigel’s Pure Title is obviously not on the line here, although if someone pins him they’ll probably get a shot down the line. Kikutaro (Ebessan) hasn’t been in for a while (I think since This Means War) but I assume he hasn’t got any new tricks and just goofs around. It will be a renewal of the comedic rivalry with Delirious that we saw born a year ago at The Final Showdown in perhaps the funniest match in Ring Of Honor history.
Nigel goes into the aisle and launches Kikutaro into the railings before the bell even rings. Delirious makes some form of save though since the bell rings and he goes mental to distract him. Ebessan starts clubbing on McGuiness but they have no effect. He calls for an arm-wrestling match instead – only to stomp on Nigel’s head. Finally Delirious decides he wants to do something – hitting a missile dropkick on the Pure Champion. Delirious and Kiku finally go face-to-face. SLOW MOTION REMATCH! Dave and Lenny are marking out on commentary. SLOW-MO SHINING WIZAAAAARD! Nigel has had enough of the lunacy and smacks Kikutaro out, then drops Delirious on his head with a back suplex. He makes his own comedy by forearming Delirious. REBOUND LARIAT gets 2. Kiku is making me chuckle on the floor by just watching. He watches Delirious hit the PANIC ATTACK…then the SHADOWS OVER HELL! The masked duo prepare some double-teaming only for Ebessan to try to sneak a pin. Now Nigel and Delirious start to team up…except Delirious screws McGuiness over and almost wins. McGuiness gets 2 with the headstand mule kick. Kikutaro rocks him with another shining wizard but Delirious re-enters before he can cover. Kiku whips the referee and Delirious…AND THE REF DDT’S HIM! COBRA STRETCH! Delirious wins at 07:55.
Rating - * - Some of it was funny but to be honest, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before with Kikutaro – and we’ve seen it done better elsewhere. Nigel was pretty funny in his attempts to dominate the two whackjobs he was in the ring was – but he was the chief exponent of the old “keep throwing one guy to the floor” school of 3-ways that I really dislike. It’s a big win for Delirious going into his title shot tomorrow night though.
Jimmy Rave/Alex Shelley vs Homicide/Ricky Reyes
Homicide is the centre of attention this weekend, as everyone involved in the fight against CZW tries to get him to join up and help. But his focus here is on The Embassy, along with his Rottweiler partner. Both teams have come up short in Tag Title matches with Aries and Strong. The winner here will surely move to the head of the queue for a rematch. This one should also be interesting since both Prince Nana and Julius Smokes will be at ringside.
Daizee Haze tries to brawl with Homicide before the bell rings. Let her go!! Watching Homicide Lariat her ugly head off would be awesome. The bell goes and Shelley takes Reyes to the mat with some decent stuff. Rave gets the tag and gets so much heat he’s the most over guy on the roster this evening. The Embassy prepare to walk out since Jimmy is so disrespected, and he continues to avoid locking up with Reyes. Eventually he does get in the ring and he tries to go for the legs so he won’t get kicked. Eventually Ricky is able to land a kick to the back though, and Jimmy runs off up the ramp again. By the way, commentary has completely faded into the background now. Homicide gets the tag and trades reversals with Rave who finally brings Alex back in. Shelley and Cide have an awesome back and forth exchange…then Alex blows his knee out botching a nip-up for the INDY stand-off. Nana sweeps Cide’s leg to give Rave an advantage…only for Smokes to do the same to him. NANA AND SMOKES WANNA FIGHT! Unfortunately their respective teams pull them apart and Jimmy uses the shenanigans to slam Homicide. The Notorious 187 responds with a belly to belly then tags Reyes for some more solid kicks. Rave gets kicked to the outside…TOPE CON HILO by Homicide! Jimmy runs at him again only for Cide to back drop him into the front row! Finally Nana lands a cheap shot on him…then gets chased around the ring by Smokes. Shelley goes to Cide’s eyes then throws him into another clothesline from Nana behind the ref’s back. Rave prepares for a superplex but Homicide shoves him away and hits a swinging DDT. He goes after the Haze on the floor but the Embassy numbers overwhelm him. Spear/neckbreaker combo has Reyes coming in to break the count. Finally Cide is able to get the hot tag to Reyes who hits a swinging fisherman buster on Shelley. Swinging neckbreaker on Rave gets 2. Shelley takes a fall to the floor and Reyes shoves Rave into the HOMICIDE LARIAT! RAVE KICKS AT 2! DRAGON SLEEPER! Nana rakes Ricky’s eyes to save. Jimmy puts Reyes in a dragon sleeper and when Smokes tries to interfere in turn, this time the referee spots it and disqualifies the Rottweilers at 19:39.
Rating - ** - Weird, chaotic, uncoordinated and ultimately a bit of a mess that dragged on for a long time there. Some of it was entertaining – such as the interaction between Nana and Smokes, and some of the teamwork by Rave and Shelley was great (when isn’t it). But without any real semblance of structure it just ambled on for almost 20 minutes, and the outside interference got ridiculous. There was a somewhat convoluted crowd reaction too – since this was essentially a heel/heel match, except Homicide is getting huge face reactions now, whilst Reyes barely gets a reaction at all (which sucks since I like the guy. They could’ve shaved at least five minutes off that and made it better. This is Shelley’s last ROH match for a while. He missed a few shows with various injuries then finally quit to concentrate on his TNA work which is fair enough. His TNA commitments basically meant he’s been under-used since 2004 anyway.
Homicide is pissed off at the decision and gives ROH the big ‘f*ck you’ before walking out.
Lacey starts a promo but we cut back to the ring where the Kings Of Wrestling (Hero and Claudio) have arrived through the crowd. Hero gloats that Homicide has walked out on ROH. Castagnoli calls Jim Cornette a coward for not showing up. Whitmer and Pearce show up and it’s time for a match…
Kings Of Wrestling vs BJ Whitmer/Adam Pearce
This is the first time Hero and Claudio have teamed in ROH but everywhere else in the indy world they’ve been successful. They’ve won CHIKARA and (I think) CZW Tag gold, and have impressed on tours to places like Mexico too. BJ Whitmer appears to have made a miraculous recovery from his neck injury and is now working neck-brace free.
BJ dishes out the MACHINE GUN CHOPS on Hero as Pearce slings Castagnoli around ringside. Adam winds up for a TOPE SUICIDA! Whitmer gives Hero a rana and takes him to the floor whilst Pearce gets 2 with a spinebuster on Claudio. But the KOW soon isolate Whitmer with a nice double boot into a roll-up. DOUBLE forward rolling shoulder charge in the corner from Hero and Claudio gets 2. They’re working to keep BJ in the ring whilst restricting Pearce to the floor and it’s working well. More somewhat awkwardly executed but well-intentioned shoulder-charge double teaming scores before Hero and Double C go after the Scrap Daddy on the floor again. The ROH and CZW referees start arguing as Hero monkey flips Claudio into a splash for 2. HEAD DROP EXPLODER ON CASTAGNOLI! LARIAT ON HERO! Pearce can finally get into the ring again and he wipes out both men with a missile dropkick. Hero applies a cravat on the top rope but gets pulled off and given a back drop driver by Whitmer. He superplexes Castagnoli into the SUPERFLY SPLASH! But the CZW ref breaks the count at 2! The ROH ref gets knocked out in the melee and Necro Butcher runs through the crowd to make it 3-on-2. Necro and Pearce do more of their boxing stuff, except it’s nowhere near as cool as the 100th show match. Hero takes Whitmer to the top…SNAPMARE THROUGH A TABLE! DOUBLE HERO’S WELCOME ON PEARCE! CZW win another one in 14:14.
Rating - ** - Just like the last tag match. There was some exciting stuff in there, but lots of awkward and hectic moments, too much sports-entertainment goofing off and just not enough substance to make it worth the extra star. I liked the way KOW worked over BJ whilst keeping Pearce on the floor – but my real problem with them is that their double-team moves are so ridiculously contrived it just looks silly, and they kept taking ages to decide which one they were going to use THEN almost screwing it up. Exciting finish though with Necro’s appearance, another crazy table bump from BJ then the Double Hero’s Welcome which IS a cool finisher.
Samoa Joe’s music hits but the CZW representatives bail before Joe can get his hands on them. He promises that tomorrow night in NJ he’ll beat the sh*t out of Necro Butcher.
INTERMISSION – More lizard-musings from Delirious. He won again tonight and he’s coming for American Dragon tomorrow night. He promises to be the next “Ri O Hona Worl Hea-vee-way CHAMPIAAAAA”
Samoa Joe vs Apocalypse
Joe is working injured at the moment as he’s still struggling with some knee problems (which in storyline are the fault of the CZW gang). That means he’s being saved for tomorrow night’s showdown with Necro Butcher. Tonight he faces the debuting Apocalypse – a big buy in a cape who looks surprisingly like Necro. He’s from Canada and in all likelihood won’t be in ROH again (oh come on!). This is taped for ROHSquashmatch.com…
Apocalypse cartwheels and flips to counter a wristlock to show that he’s one of those “agile for a big man” workers. He doesn’t give Joe a clean break as he looks to seize his big chance in ROH and starts raking at his face in the corner. He then proceeds to run straight into the STJoe which negates all the work he’s done. Joe brings the striking power then an OVERHEAD enziguri in the corner. This takes Apoc down for the bootscraping fun to begin. CHOP DUEL! Apocalypse actually gets the better of that exchange with a nice corkscrew kick to the head for 2. He chinlocks the Samoan then goes to the eyes when he starts to fight out of that. Joe gets 2 with his powerslam and I notice he doesn’t shoot straight into the cross armbreaker – how bad is the knee? SIDEWALK BACKBREAKER by Apocalypse! Joe reels off the atomic drop/boot/senton sequence which does enough damage to soften Apoc up for the MUSCLEBUSTER! Joe wins an entertaining little match at 06:29.
Rating - ** - I’m going to be a tad generous with the ratings since that was about as good a six minute squash as you could expect. Basically it was your copy and paste Joe iMPACT match, starting hard, letting his opponents get a few moves in then coming back to decimate them. However, Apocalypse impressed me and together with Joe they put together a fast-paced big-man match with him pulling out some impressive stuff. I could actually see him getting a call back if there were more big guys on the roster for him to work. Definitely much better than I expected it to be – and it’s only the second time tonight I can say that.
Mark Briscoe vs Roderick Strong
Tomorrow night in New Jersey sees the Briscoes finally get the ROH Tag Title shot they’ve been fishing for since they made their big comeback in February. They’ve repeatedly attacked GeNext from behind and put in some impressive performances whenever they’ve stepped into the ring. It was their big win over AJ Styles and Matt Sydal at The 100th Show that secured this shot. Tonight it’s singles action with Mark/Roddy now and Jay/Aries next.
These two start slow feeling each other out, with Mark avoiding a couple of back suplexes by headlocking Strong. Briscoe misses a springboard tumbleweed which allows Roddy to land his first backbreaker. He uses the guardrails to inflict more damage to the back, and that’s followed by a camel clutch. Mark goes back on offence by landing a springboard dropkick. Strong lands a couple of chops then gets choked in the corner. Next he hits a clothesline only for Mark to rake his eyes. This is starting to get a little aimless but Briscoe slows the bout down with a chinlock. He lands his second gutwrench suplex of the match but gets caught going to the top rope by the tag champion – who takes him over with a superplex. Briscoe tries to trade stiffness with Strong which of course ends up with him getting chopped. He crotches Roddy on the top rope and springboard clotheslines him outside (except it was a bit clumsy). SOMERSAULT HILO TO THE FLOOR! It’s hardly selling the back but it was at least mildly exciting. Rod has a bleeding nose but he’s able to land a firemans carry gutbuster then the Gibson Driver for 2. He takes Briscoe to the ropes again only to be caught with a SPRINGBOARD Ace crusher. Mark urinages Strong and gets 2 with a fishermans DDT. He climbs up again only to miss an SSP. Stronghold locked in but Briscoe finds the ropes. Briscoe counters a half nelson backbreaker with the CUT-THROAT DRIVER and wins at 15:47. I suppose that’s quite an upset.
Rating - ** - Ouch, that was pretty brutal. I don’t think these two could have had a worse match if they’d gone out and intentionally tried to suck. You’d think this would be simple. Mark used to be one of the best guys at selling injuries in ROH (check out Briscoes/Saints from Round Robin Challenge 3), Roddy’s whole gimmick is that he murders backs. But instead neither guy worked an especially focused game, and neither guy remembered to sell ANYTHING. Mark tended to work around the neck which Strong never reacted to. Any work he did in turn to Briscoe’s back was completely no-sold. They ambled from one spot to the next with really clunky transitions and pretty much bored everyone to tears for fifteen minutes.
Lacey comes back to cut her promo again. Jimmy Jacobs is off training after his win at the last show. That’s…pretty much all she has to say. Who the hell cares Lacey!
Jay Briscoe vs Austin Aries
Same deal as before, this is the other half of the warm-up for tomorrow night’s title match. Hopefully it goes down better than Mark/Strong though. Seeing as Mark pulled out the upset there’s extra pressure on Aries to get a win back on his brother and try to halt some of the Briscoe’s momentum.
Jay signals his intentions by pie-facing and shoving Aries then kicking him in the stomach rather than locking up. He gets a hammerlock and starts slapping him in the head as well – awesome. Aries rolls into a springboard reverse elbow and tries to use a headlock to control Briscoe’s early tenacity. Jay gets Austin in a headscissors, and when he puts his hands up to block the dropkick Aries boots him in the chest instead. A roaring elbow sends him outside for Aries’ HEAT SEEKING MISSILE! He brings it back inside for the instant replay knee drop which scores 2. Jay tries to fight back and he successfully avoids the Power Drive elbow then the slingshot version in the corner. He manages to get Austin’s shoulder to collide with the ringpost and goes right after that with a shoulderbreaker. To ringside again where it’s Briscoe using whips into the rail to soften it up further. He hammerlocks Aries into the ringpost again before they get back inside again. HAMMERLOCK vertical suplex gets 2. Briscoe cools it up again with a spinning armhold on the canvas. Aries is a lefty so this onslaught on his arm takes on an even greater meaning. He attempts the crucifix driver but he doesn’t have the strength so Jay counters with a TKO ON THE ARM! He nails a hammerlock powerslam then armbars Austin again whilst the crowd rallies behind him. Aries hits the shinbreak back suplex is slow to capitalise. He hits a clothesline and is immediately wracked with pain. Briscoe drops the arm over the top rope…but Aries is able to muster up a guillotine then the slingshot corkscrew splash. He’s too injured to use the brainbuster and Briscoe lifts him into a SUPLEX SHOULDERBREAKER! He goes upstairs for a butterfly superplex but Aries is able to counter with a missile dropkick followed by the RUNNING DROPKICK for 2! He’s thinking about the brainbuster again only for Briscoe to counter with a rolling armbar. BRAINBUSTER!! But that hurt so much he can’t cover right away and Jay kicks at 2. 450 Splash misses and he lands right on the shoulder. JAY DRILLER!! ARIES GETS A FOOT ON THE ROPES! Jay COBRA CLUTCHES Aries who taps at 18:32. The champs go 0-2 for the night.
Rating - **** - Just as I start struggling to come up with any reasons to recommend this tape at all these two come out and put on a great wrestling match – the best of the night by some distance. It wasn’t exactly rocket science, but then again, wrestling doesn’t always need to be. Jay came up with some awesome ways to work the arm, whilst Aries sold it to perfection throughout (including yelling whenever he was whipped). Plus, unlike the last match, these two brought some real personality to the ring. It actually looked like the Briscoes have been jumping Aries and Strong from behind for months and there’s some heat between them. Jay was the aggressive, cocky returning former champion, Austin equally adept as the determined title-holder not wanting to relinquish what he has. On a night where almost everything has disappointed this was a totally refreshing match. Aries’ awesome 2006 goes on.
Christian Cage/Colt Cabana vs Bryan Danielson/Christopher Daniels
So after a somewhat mediocre night of ROH action it’s now time for Christian to make his in-ring debut. It’s a dream clash of the NWA and ROH World Champions that makes the headlines but the partners add something to this match as well. Christian’s partner Cabana lost to American Dragon in five minutes a couple of shows ago, whilst as we saw earlier, Daniels needs to make sure his team wins this so he can get another shot at the World Title. For those keeping score, three shows ago Cabana vowed to drop to the bottom of the card. He’s now main evented two of them…
For some reason Cage doesn’t have the his belt with him. The crowd is in full on asshole mode now, although a few amuse me with a ‘CLB’ chant. Daniels does a forward roll to demonstrate how HE rolls so Cage threatens to do a BME. Cabana gets in on the fun with some forward rolls of his own. Almost five minutes in and Daniels starts landing a few higher impact moves on Colt. Danielson tags in to attempt to beat him in record time again. He rolls into a triangle choke but it’s too close to the ropes. Christian comes in for the first time and does the inevitable forward roll. Dragon promptly tags out and declines the opportunity to wrestle the NWA Champion. Instead it’s Cage and Daniels running through some basic back and forth stuff. 10 minutes in and precisely NOTHING has happened. Christian chops the Fallen Angel and gets 2 with a powerslam. Danielson distracts him allowing Daniels to hit a stepping enziguri from behind. Now Cage is down Dragon willingly tags in with him. BRIDGING cravat applied but soon Christian dives out of the corner with a swinging DDT. Cabana comes in for a sidewalk slam/reverse DDT combo. He tries to playfully work the neck but Dragon gets up and UNLOADS forearm strikes to knock him the f*ck down. Cabana grabs Daniels and does the same vicious strike dealy on him – so Danielson drags him to the floor and sends him into the rails. In the end it takes his partner to stop the assault.
Dragon stomps Colt’s face before pulling out the surfboard-fake knee stomp. Daniels muscles Cabana into a DVD but gets ordered to work the leg by the World Champion. He obliges with a Figure 4. AmDrag gets a tag and dropkicks the leg whilst it’s hung up in the ropes. DEATHLOCK ARMBAR! That is why Danielson is the best wrestler in the world! MMA ELBOWS but Cabana manages to escape before they can do more damage. He lariats Daniels and inches towards the hot tag to Christian. Danielson tries to run away but Cage lands a series of right hands on him. Dragon Sayama flips into a SPEAR for 2! Cabana hiptosses Daniels to the floor for an ASAI MOONSAULT! Danielson and Christian trade forearms until Danielson rakes the eyes. Unprettier…COUNTERED TO CATTLE MUTILATION! Cabana slides in to break that. Christian reverse DDT’s Dragon for 2. He sets up for a frog splash but is distracted by Daniels allowing Dragon to hit a superplex. CROSSFACE CHICKENWING! KOJI CLUTCH ON CABANA! Cage is able to find the ropes though. Danielson lands a diving headbutt. BME…but Cage kicks out. Danielson accidentally knocks Daniels out with a roaring elbow (just like he did at Night Of Tribute). CAGE LANDS THE FROG SPLASH! Dragon missile dropkicks him before he can hit the Unprettier though. Daniels goes for Angels Wings…BUT GETS DROPPED WITH THE UNPRETTIER! Danielson thinks about saving again – but walks off instead. Christian gets the victory at 28:25.
Rating - *** - After an incredibly boring first 10 minutes that actually got really good. Bryan Danielson pretty much carried this match on his shoulders after that in another amazing performance. He built a great heat segment around his issue with Cabana, was the consummate heel (despite the sucky crowd) in his interactions with Christian and his indifferent relationship with Daniels was nicely paid off at the finish when he didn’t make the save in order to avoid having to give him a title shot. Christian got a lot of criticism – and most of it underserved. I’ll admit his style just isn’t really what ROH is about but he’s a good tag wrestler and did fine here, working his sports-entertainment offence in limited amounts to stop it getting repetitive. Had it not been so long (at almost 30 minutes this felt like a bit of a chore) and had Cabana remembered to sell the leg that Team Dragon had spent 10 minutes working over we would maybe have been talking 4*.
BJ Whitmer and Adam Pearce don’t know if they’re more angry about losing to the KOW tonight or Homicide walking away. They promise that they’ll be coming back for more tomorrow…and so is Samoa Joe!
Tape Rating - ** - In 2002 this show would’ve probably made it to 3*. In 2003 it would’ve been pushing it. But after the incredible shows ROH has made a habit of putting out in 2004/5/6 this simply doesn’t meet the high standards. I’ll admit that as an ROH fan I’m spoiled but this is an advisory review and there’s no way I can recommend this show over some of the fantastic quality of other recent releases. Whilst nothing is DUD bad, a lot of the marquee matches don’t deliver (Embassy/Rotts, ROH/KOW, Briscoe/Strong) and the whole event seems entirely perfunctory, and secondary to tomorrow’s show in Edison. Jay/Aries and a decent main event do redeem it somewhat but unless you’re a completist or a big Christian mark you can skip this. There are far better shows out there. The crowd is lousy too. The Long Island crowd always blows though.
Top 3 Matches
3) Matt Sydal vs Jimmy Yang (***)
2) Christian Cage/Colt Cabana vs Bryan Danielson/Christopher Daniels (***)
1) Jay Briscoe vs Austin Aries (****)