ROH 123 – Irresistible Forces – 28th October 2006
There’s always a big stink when ROH names a show. Usually some people love them and some hate them, whilst I don’t give a toss. But this one is just lame to an extent that even I feel the need to take note of it. Hopefully the show is good though. Ring Of Honor showed signs of emerging from it’s post-GBH5 hangover at Suffocation. That show had very obvious failings but it still represented a step in the right direction, and hopefully that’s continued here. I have to say, on paper the card is VERY strong. Shingo/Strong, Corino/Delirious, Daniels/Aries, J.Briscoe/Sydal and M.Briscoe/Richards all sound like interesting singles bouts that I’m looking forward to viewing. And that’s all before the No Disqualification main event of Joe vs Danielson, a combination who always deliver. This is in Chicago Ridge, IL – a venue where ROH traditionally draws quite lively crowds, so hopefully the same will be true tonight, since the last few shows have come off like libraries. Prazak and David commentate.
ROH VIDEO WIRE (11/10/06 – 20/10/06) – See Suffocation (ROH 122) review for details.
Jim Cornette and Steve Corino chuckle about what they did to Homicide last night. Cornette asks Corino to put pay to another nuisance tonight in his match with Delirious.
Brent Albright isn’t satisfied with his impressive debut. Tonight losing is not an option, and he informs the entire roster that they have two options – ‘get out or tap out’.
Adam Pearce/Shane Hagadorn vs Irish Airborne
This is actually the most interested I’ve been in an Irish Airborne match for a while. Two of my favourite IA matches came at the Throwdown/Chi-Town Struggle weekend when they had entertaining little matches with a Hagadorn team. They weren’t must-see classics but were both solid show-opening contests. Now they’re doing it again, with the added bonus of Hagadorn coming with an established partner (as opposed to Walker or Davis). It’s the first time Shane and Pearce have teamed, but Hagadorn was officially unveiled as Scrap Iron’s “personal manservant” at Glory By Honor 5 and I think teaming them together adds an interesting new potential dimension to the tag division. We’ll see how they get along here with now-perennial whipping boys the Crists.
Unsurprisingly the heel team jump the bell to get an advantage, but they get somewhat messily dumped to the floor by the Crists. STEREO ASAI MOONSAULTS TO THE FLOOR! Jake almost caves Hagadorn’s skull in with a boot for 2. Pearce comes in but Dave monkey flips Jake INTO a headscissors on him. That was sweet, but Adam responds by catapulting Jake into a big boot from Hagadorn. Double fist drop by ‘Team Kiss Ass’ (- Jared David) gets 2. Pearce comes off the top with a big elbow drop but Crist still finds a way to get the shoulder up. Finally Jake nails a neckbreaker on Shane, but Pearce distracts the ref whilst the tag is made. The classics are still the best. Backbreaker/elbow drop combo gets 2 as well. Pearce musters up the agility to execute a spinning heel kick, which is somewhat surprising. Crist slingshots into a springboard corkscrew enzi and this time does get the hot tag to Dave. Adam Pearce hits him in the balls as the ref is watching the other men, but Pearce then accidentally clotheslines his own partner. Springboard dropkick from Dave, but Pearce shakes the rope to stop them hitting the Irish Air Raid. Hagadorn whacks Dave with knucks, which leaves him reeling for the Pearce JUMPING PILEDRIVER. It’s over at 08:35.
Rating - ** - I’d consider that a minor success, purely from the perspective that Pearce and Hagadorn immediately looked solid as a team, and will work really well in this heelish lower card team role. It was (unsurprisingly) more of the same from Jake and Dave. Some really cool spots, but lots of real sloppiness. I’d say they’re slipping off the roster fast now…
Jim Cornette runs to the ring to put over Pearce and Hagadorn, and to slip in more anti-Homicide comments. He keeps it brief though, which is appreciated.
Shingo vs Roderick Strong
Whilst not being the most spectacular or exciting wrestling match the world will ever know, I thought Shingo made a relatively solid start to his time on the active roster when he defeated Jimmy Rave at Suffocation. Hopefully the 2005 WON Rookie of the Year will break into 3* for the first time in his ROH outings here. Roderick Strong is gearing up for the big rematch with the Kings Of Wrestling in Philadelphia, but with his long run as a tag champion over, he’s also looking to solidify his spot as one of the top singles wrestlers too. I’d imagine this one will be pretty physical…
Basic feeling out process starts, but both men do a good job of getting their intensity and determination across. Shingo gets the better of a shoulder tackle trade-off proving himself to be the stronger man, so Roderick pops up and demonstrates his speed with a flurry of quick offensive moves. Shingo stands up to Strong’s chops, but takes a boot to the face and crumples down in a heap. He blocks a suplex and dishes out a SWINGING sleeper slam for 2. Strong tries another big boot but this time Takagi catches it and nails a powerbomb from that position. He drops Strong throat-first over the ropes, then stands on the throat, showing a few more heelish tendencies. He tries the Manriki (Anaconda Vice variant) but Strong is too close to the ropes. Crippler Crossface applied instead but again Strong crawls to safety. Roderick shows his fiery comeback ability with a barrage of strikes then a falcon arrow for 2. Shingo absolutely CLOBBERS him with chops, elbow smashes and headbutts though. He is definitely working heel now, mocking the crowd in between moves. Roddy stops him as he prepares for a floor dive, but Shingo ends up hanging Strong between the ropes and coming from the ropes with a leg drop to the back of the head. He nails a diving clothesline from the apron as well. Strong retaliates with an urinage backbreaker. Shingo catches him in the corner and hangs him from the ropes for an ELEVATED DDT, then a knee drop across the throat for 2. Takagi climbs the ropes again but this time gets tagged with a dropkick. Rod gets 2 with a superplex, but gets back up looking for the Stronghold for the first time. They stiff the crap out of each other before Shingo gets 2 with a STRANGLEHOLD DVD. Blood Fall blocked, and Strong hoists Takagi up for Death By Roderick. They fight on the apron, but neither man gets an advantage…until SHINGO DDT’S STRONG THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPING TABLE! Shingo finds that rather amusing, then hauls Roderick up for the BLOOD FALL! He wins at 15:24.
Rating - *** - For you half-star marks, this would easily go up to ***1/2 if I did that sort of thing. I’m totally surprised people weren’t more positive about this. Maybe it was the flat crowd, or the somewhat confusing booking of Shingo (he was a face last night, but a heel tonight?) but I really enjoyed that. Takagi looked much more comfortable wrestling with a cockier character, and his focused neck-offence didn’t go unnoticed either. Roderick is generally pretty good at getting beaten up and doing big spots so that helped too. There was also lots of tough strike exchanges too. Again, this won’t set the world on fire but it was a really decent bout. A hotter crowd would’ve made it seem even better. So much for Chicago being one of ROH’s more reliable “hot” markets.
Delirious babbles away about wanting bigger matches and facing Steve Corino. He’ll make Corino tap to the Cobra Stretch, then go on to beat American Dragon to win the World Title in Boston.
Jimmy Rave/Sal Rinauro vs Colt Cabana/Jimmy Jacobs
The Cabana vs Rave/Rinauro tags have generally been pretty good so I’m ok with seeing another one. After getting absolutely squashed by Bryan Danielson last night, you’d assume this is Sal’s last chance to convince Jimmy Rave that it’s worth them continuing their team. Not that Rave is fairing much better. He hasn’t won a match since the end of July, and is generally in a colossal slump following the departure of Prince Nana and the disbanding of The Embassy. After being pinned by Pelle Primeau in Detroit, and losing to Shingo last night in Dayton he’ll be desperate to get some momentum back. Meanwhile the capers of Cabana, Jacobs and Lacey continue, with CC and JJ forming an unlikely friendship despite Lacey’s relationship with Colt and her harsh treatment of Jimmy.
Prazak draws attention to the new friendship making Jacobs a generally much happier young man. He goes into a mat battle with Rave, with nothing of any real significance happening. Cabana gets the tag (what’s his obsession with Jim Duggan this weekend?) and Rave quickly tags out. Colt has fun at the expense of Rinauro, then gets 2 with snake eyes. Double armwrench into a double Russian legsweep on Sal, further establishing the newfound continuity of the Cabana/Jacobs team. Rave eventually connects with a cheap clothesline from the apron on Jacobs. That’s the cue for the former-Embassy to go to work on him. Rinauro gets 2 with his running moonsault press. He chokes on Jimmy after the other Jimmy had given him a back suplex. Jacobs is eventually able to evade his opponents for the tag. Colt fakes out on the quebrada press in order to bionic elbow both his opponents instead. He throws Sal’s head into Rave’s crotch for a few laughs too. Jacobs plasters Rave with a spear in the midst of this. Rinauro connects with a swinging Stunner before Rave nails the Crappy Wizard for 2. Contra Code on Rinauro so he’s out. Jacobs senton bombs Rave, and Cabana follows it up with a moonsault. That’s enough for Jimmy Rave to lose again at 13:44.
Rating - * - That’s the third Cabana/Jacobs tag in a row I’ve given this score to. I don’t have a vendetta against them, but all the matches have been boring, predictable and lacking any form of excitement; all ditched in order to progress storylines. I know some people will ask how I have the opening tag match 2* and this only one…but it’s really simple. That match was shorter, had more moments of excitement…and I found the Pearce/Hagadorn heel work to be more enjoyable than anything on display here. I was just about drawn into the Jacobs/Lacey thing…but the last three tag matches have somewhat killed it again.
Jimmy Jacobs gets on the microphone and tells Lacey that they’ve finally done what she asked and got a victory. Lacey quickly shuts him down by saying the win was all down to Cabana…and asks him to officially join Lacey’s Angels tonight. He refuses, and calls her an annoying b*tch. The pop for that might actually be pop of the night. Then he tries to convince Jimmy Jacobs to leave Lacey too. He’s obviously confused…but in the end he picks Lacey and attacks Cabana with one of her high heels. Colt is bleeding…but BJ Whitmer runs in to make the save before Jimmy can hit the same chair/ankle sandwich senton bomb that injured him in August. At least all the crummy matches and inane BJ appearances have finally got some pay-off. Long segment though…
Steve Corino vs Delirious
Cornette and Corino already covered why this one is taking place. Having successfully injured Homicide yesterday, Steve is out to do the Commissioner another favour, this time taking out the annoying Delirious. The Lizard-Man has his ROH World Title shot at the next event…
Corino’s pre-match jibes at the fans are always amusing. He lifts his bulk up to hit a jumping heel kick on Delirious, then starts choking with the tassels, much like Sydal did at Suffocation. Delirious eventually knocks Steve off his feet with an enziguri, but Corino again utilises the tassels for a choke session. Abdominal stretch applied, with a thumb in the asscrack. That’s…kinda predatory? Delirious escapes that, then rams the soiled thumb into Corino’s mouth. Never Ending Story clotheslines then a bulldog find the mark. Panic Attack gets 2. Corino avoids the Cobra Stretch and succeeds with a DVD, then a rapid STO. They stand around for ages doing nothing, before Delirious finally blocks the northern lights bomb. Corino kicks him in the balls and gives him a clothesline for 2. Shadows Over Hell nearly ends it. Delirious applies the Cobra Stretch, but Hagadorn and Pearce come to the ring. Amidst the distractions Corino whacks Delirious with the Top Of The Class Trophy for the win at 09:49.
Rating – DUD – As a comedy match it sucked. As a wrestling match it sucked. These are two charismatic guys, and really they’re capable of much better than this, so I’m very disappointed. Depending on who you listen to, this has been really clipped for the DVD too. I’m in no rush to see an unedited version. I’ve also heard their earlier match in IWA-MS was much better…although in fairness it could hardly be any worse. Delirious won Survival Of The Fittest three shows ago, but between this and the throwaway Gowen match, he goes into his World Title Match with zero momentum, regardless of how good his match with Sydal was. Normally I’m full of praise for Gabe but the booking surrounding him has been poor.
Post-match the referee reverses the decision and awards the match to Delirious. But Jim Cornette comes out and forces him to reverse the reversal. The point of this is that Cornette is losing the plot as Commissioner…
Austin Aries vs Christopher Daniels
Rematch from Survival Of The Fittest 2006. These two met in the qualification matches with Aries advancing, but the match was largely disappointing so I’m glad to see they’re getting another chance. They’re also both in the running for tag title shots at the Kings Of Wrestling, although Aries and Strong already have a rematch booked so.
This match starts exactly as you’d expect – with an assortment of respectful hold-exchanges which don’t really go anywhere. Daniels is the first to land some form of noticeable offence, with a jumping heel kick going into Austin’s face. Aries tumbles into a springboard reverse elbow and they stare-down again. They continue with exchanges that prove they’re very evenly matched. Daniels hits a monkey flip, but tosses Aries away when Double A tries to execute the same move. Headscissors escape dropkick misses, so Aries throws Fallen Angel outside. Daniels knows about the Heat Seeking Missile dive, and pulls Aries to the floor to shunt him into the railings. ARABIAN PRESS MISSES…HEAT SEEKING MISSILE NAILED! See look – smart wrestling, not just copy and pasting the same old spots. Austin starts working over the arm, getting 2 with an armbar DDT. Daniels manages to lift him into a tilta-whirl backbreaker, then pauses to sell the arm afterwards. Back suplex (with arm selling again) for 2. Prazak points out that Daniels’ arm is already weakened after wrestling Brent Albright yesterday. He gets 2 again with a Samoan drop as he continues to assault Aries’ back. He goes for a surfboard now, but just when he thinks he’s done enough damage, Aries gets the knees up to block another Arabian press attempt. Aries hits a corkscrew body press then an Asai moonsault to really sell the back…not. Daniels finds 2 again with a Blue Thunder driver. He tries Angel’s Wings but Aries counters it with a rana, then nails the running dropkick. Sweet counter, but the crowd seemed totally oblivious to it. Frog splash misses, but so does the BME. Koji Clutch applied instead but there’s no submission. RINGS OF ARIES on the bad arm…still no quitting. Daniels blocks the Kick of Death, then drops to a knee to escape the Cruficix Driver. That’s AWESOME familiarity. BRAINBUSTER gets 2, and Daniels gets up before Austin can position himself for the 450. Aries thinks about the El Generico super brainbuster but Daniels has no plans to take that. ANGELS WINGS! It’s over at 18:04.
Rating - *** - A much-improved effort from the first match, largely thanks due to all the familiarity counters. These guys are major players on the indy scene, and have a number of spots that they ALWAYS do. It was cool to see these guys (mostly Daniels) come up with counters to moves they know their opponents are going to try. I loathed some of the selling though. Neither man sold their respective injury to a convincing degree and it definitely hurt it.
INTERMISSION – Dave Prazak (who looks a right state) asks Shingo why he used a table. ‘I rike table…I rike hardcore’ – Shingo. Roderick Strong gets into a shoving match with him. Shingo rules!
Brent Albright vs Trik Davis
This match is available on ROHvideos.com now if you want to see it. Brent impressed so much on his debut yesterday that he’s been booked for this event as well, and he’s faced with Chicago’s Trik Davis. He’ll be nothing more than cannon fodder I’m sure. Brent has said that losing is not an option tonight.
Albright has no problem in tossing Davis around on the canvas. Trik is able to demonstrate his quickness with a couple of speedy takedowns…so Brent launches him with an exploder suplex. LARIATOOOO gets 2. More quick headscissor attacks by Davis, and again Albright simply clobbers him. Stalling hammerlock back suplex, as Albright starts preparing for the Crowbar. Davis tries another rana, only for Albright to catch and powerbomb him. Trik gets a shock 2 count with a springing Shiranui. GERMAN SUPLEX…HALF NELSON SUPLEX…CROWBAR! Davis taps at 05:20.
Rating - ** - People have criticised this saying that Davis got in too much offence, but to me that was pretty much the perfect squash match. Any offence Davis got in was as a result of Brent getting cocky – first at the start with the mat wrestling, then when slapping Trik and yelling ‘is this the best Ring Of Honor has?’ The moves Trik succeeded did nothing to harm the credibility of Albright in my opinion, and this match made him look like a real beast. He’s had a terrific debut weekend and will be an excellent addition to the roster.
SIDENOTE – After complaining that the sound has been far too loud for ages…on this event entrance music is miles too quiet. Not at first, but for whatever reason it appears to fade right down. It’s a better problem than what we’ve been used to (up until SOTF06 weekend) but still…a little unprofessional.
Jay Briscoe vs Matt Sydal
Another interesting singles match for Jay here. He put on a solid little contest with Davey Richards yesterday, and tonight he faces Sydal, another man he’s had problems with all year going back to the issues with Generation Next. Matt lost a big match yesterday and needs to keep himself strong if he wants his team to be considered amongst the front-runners for a Tag Title match.
Sydal is the more popular athlete, but Briscoe takes advantage of his posing by mugging him in the corner. Matt drags a rope down to send Jay to the outside for the RUNNING MOONSAULT! This is the best opening sequence to an ROH match in ages. Sydal starts throwing his opponent into the railings which keeps the crowd hot. Standing Cannonball leg drop gets 2 before the initial pace finally slows. Sydal slingshots into an awesome basement dropkick in the corner but misses the regulation Cannonball as Jay scoots aside. It’s Briscoe’s marauding power which starts to get him an advantage, eventually clobbering Matt all the way to the floor. They trade chops out there, then Jay decides he doesn’t like that and attacks Sydal as he tries to get back into the ring. He tries the military press DVD, but Sydal COUNTERS with a DDT. The crowd has done a total 180 now, and Jay is actually more popular. Here It Is Driver blocked so Sydal runs into a quebrada Slice for 2. Briscoe runs at Sydal with a big Yakuza kick, only for Sydal to back drop him over the ropes right after. MOONSAULT TO THE RING FLOOR! That found the mark, but just like earlier Sydal tried to follow it with a few guardrail shots and this time Briscoe reverses it. PRESS SLAM DVD gets 2, as the crowd are starting to really rag on Sydal. Jay FIVE STAR FROG SPLASHES into Sydal’s knees. STANDING MOONSAULT GETS BOOT! Jay Driller countered to the STANDING MOONSAULT for 2. Briscoe holds onto the ropes as Sydal goes for his vertical leaping super rana and does it again as Matt tries the moonsault belly to belly. SUPER GOURDBUSTER NAILED! Jay tries a lariat, but Sydal RIDES IT into a flash roll-up for 3 at 14:45.
Rating - **** - Well, that caught me a little off guard and absolutely ruled. Both guys have had terrific weekends with two great singles matches. There wasn’t anything amazingly clever about this match, but it was totally different from the “ROH formula” match, combining wonderful fluency and smoothness with non-stop spots, many of which were fresh on me. The crowd response to Sydal was interesting. He seemed to be trying a little too hard to get them cheering for him and it backfired. Between that and his heelish antics against Delirious yesterday, I’d suggest he have a heel turn somewhere down the line. It might finally add some real character to what has been a superb in-ring year for him.
Toothless Mark Briscoe runs out to help his brother put the boots to Sydal, but Davey Richards quickly follows and we slip straight into the next contest…
Mark Briscoe vs Davey Richards
We already saw on the Video Wire how the Briscoes attacked Richards in FIP to set up their singles bouts with him this weekend. They’ve had problems with each other for a while so this weekend those issues get settled. Davey beat Jay at Suffocation with the DR Driver, and will look to do the same here.
Richards is all set to nail some of his kicks but Mark runs to the outside, and that’s when the bell rings. Briscoe immediately slows the pace by going for headlocks. Overhead belly to belly from Richards, then he is able to hit chops into a stepover kick. Prazak suggests Mark replace his front teeth with gold ones like Julius Smokes which is quite funny. Briscoe knees the stomach to block a DR Driver but he misses a slingshot double stomp. He knees Davey in the head and gets the double stomp second time of asking. Mark uses his usual gutwrench suplex/knee drop sequence then returns to his slowing Davey’s pace gameplan with a chinlock. Samoan drop scores, as does a belly to belly suplex before Briscoe goes to a rear chinlock. Urinage suplex blocked allowing Richards to execute an enzi then a springboard dropkick. More kicks score, then a northern lights for 2. Richards tries the handspring enzi, but almost vaults straight into the Cut-Throat Driver. Urinage suplex NO SOLD…so Briscoe grabs Davey again for a HEAD DROP urinage that gets 2. Mark springboards into the ring but right into a Fujiwara armbar. No submission, so instead they opt to knock the crap out of each other with strikes. Simultaneous clotheslines leave both wrestlers on the black. Davey with an STO but Mark sweeps his legs before he can get to the top for an SSP. SPRINGBOARD ACE CRUSHER for 2. Now Briscoe thinks about a moonsault and he gets caught. ROPE RUN GERMAN SUPERPLEX! Briscoe blocks the DR Driver, so Davey hits a double underhook DDT instead, then applies a weird double underhook submission (which Prazak calls the 14:59) to win the match by submission. 13:39 is the time.
Rating - *** - Not as good as Jay/Sydal or Jay/Richards from yesterday but it was a fun, competitive wrestling match which showcased the abilities of both men. At this point I think Jay is the more accomplished Briscoe in terms of singles wrestling, but Mark is no slouch and he showed it here. His character shone as he worked over Richards, and this made Davey’s sometimes one-dimensional offensive retaliations seem far more meaningful. I like his new finish incidentally (the DDT into a submission). I criticised Delirious’ booking earlier, but I’ll praise the use of the Briscoes here. They’ve lost all four of their singles matches this weekend, which only serves to amplify and draw attention to their tag team prowess.
Samoa Joe vs Bryan Danielson – No DQ Match
This is a non-title match, but after wrestling to two time-limit draws in 2006 (Fight Of The Century and Survival Of The Fittest) this match has no time limits, and Jim Cornette has given his personal assurance that if Joe can beat the World Champion here he will get a rematch for the ROH Title. He’ll also be looking for revenge for the savage post-match attack on him at SOTF, when Danielson beat him down with the title belt that he made famous with his run in 2003/4.
Danielson takes an eternity getting in the ring as he argues with fans throwing toilet paper, so Joe massacres him with an ELBOW SUICIDA! He gets knocked around out there before the match enters the ring with the Samoan still in control. Dragon rolls away as Joe goes for the running facewash and he continues to crawl across the ring to avoid his opponent. Eventually he connects with a couple of armbreakers, then grabs an armbar yelling ‘this is how I street fight’. Kneeling crossface applied as the World Champion continues doing damage to the arm and shoulder of Samoa Joe. He hits some old-fashioned double axehandle smashes to the shoulder, but goes to the well once too often and jumps into an STJoe. Danielson shows some familiarity by avoiding the senton splash that usually follows Joe’s running boot. Joe still manages to sweep Dragon’s legs on the apron, then swing him into the guardrails as he did to CM Punk in their trilogy of matches. Naturally that leaves the champion groggy, which is perfect for an Ole Ole Kick. Danielson runs off into the crowd to avoid a second one of those, but since this is no DQ Joe has no problems following. Danielson finds a chair and starts wearing out his opponent with it. Joe puts Danielson on top of a crate and wheels it right into a wall which is pretty brutal. But he’s still got that bad arm and Danielson goes to that again by slamming it on another metal crate, then cracking it with a fan (of the cooling variety, not a member of the public). Metal pipe to the arm as well as the brawl goes ringside again. Crossface Chickenwing applied with the pipe but Joe refuses to be choked out. The pipe drops to the floor and Joe immediately storms back on a now weapon-less American Dragon. Danielson captures the injured arm for the MMA elbows, but Joe sweeps out his legs and locks in an STF, then a Crippler Crossface. MMA Elbows on Danielson, although at one point Joe was using his injured arm which REALLY annoyed me. CATTLE MUTILATION by the champion, into the Mutilation pin for 2. Dragon steals the ref’s belt and starts flogging the Samoan with it, but once again tries a double axehandle and once again finds it countered, this time with a jumping knee strike. Joe steals the belt now, and whips the sh*t out of the pasty Dragon. He tries a Musclebuster only for Danielson to kick him in the balls. Mexican roll-up countered with a BELT-ASSISTED CHOKE! Danielson fights it, but he’s unconscious at 21:31.
Rating - **** - It’s the usual goodness you’d expect from these two, only with a few unique weapon additions as well. Nothing like an MOTY, and nothing like the quality of the Fight Of The Century match, but this was still pretty good. I thought Joe’s selling of the shoulder was very patchy, but that’s my only real complaint of any great note. I’d rather see these guys wrestle, but this was something fresh from them and they made it work well. Bryan Danielson’s work as a heel is often brilliant, and this match is a typical example – bragging about street fighting with wrestling holds, then relying on weapons for most of the match simply to keep Joe at bay for instance.
Samoa Joe gloats about winning, and says he wants his World Title shot next time in Chicago…in a steel cage match. Understandably the pop for that is pretty big…
Jimmy Rave refuses to cut a promo, but he does inform Sal Rinauro that he’s going solo from now on.
Show ends with a still shot of Konnan…apparently The Revolution is coming to ROH.
Tape Rating - *** - Best ROH show in AGES, even with two sucky matches in the midcard, and the lengthy Jacobs/Cabana/Lacey/Whitmer angle which dragged. Danielson/Joe and Jay/Sydal both hit 4* and are well worth a watch, with three other solid 3* matches and an entertaining Albright squash as well. This is the first show since Glory By Honor 5 that I’d actively recommend the majority of people get. It looks like the promotion are emerging from their slump. Up next is the Boston return show which is getting a lot of hype, then onto Philadelphia for KENTA’s last appearance of 2006, the Homicide/Corino feud-ender and Konnan in attendance (which is what that still was for).
Top 3 Matches
3) Shingo vs Roderick Strong (***)
2) Matt Sydal vs Jay Briscoe (****)
1) Samoa Joe vs Bryan Danielson (****)
Top 5 Suffocation/Irresistible Forces Weekend Matches
5) Homicide/Samoa Joe vs Steve Corino/Adam Pearce (*** - Suffocation)
4) Davey Richards vs Jay Briscoe (*** - Suffocation)
3) Matt Sydal vs Jay Briscoe (**** - Irresistible Forces)
2) Samoa Joe vs Bryan Danielson (**** - Irresistible Forces)
1) Delirious vs Matt Sydal (**** - Suffocation)