ROH 164 – Survival Of The Fittest 2007 – 19th October 2007
It’s that time of year again. It’s time for the fourth annual Survival Of The Fittest tournament. The winners of six qualification matches move on to an elimination finale with the winner being granted a shot at the ROH World Title. Over the past two years Survival Of The Fittest has tended to rank among my least favourite shows of the year. The final is normally fairly decent (although nothing has ever come close to touching the standard of 2004’s Danielson/Aries clash) but an undercard filled with short filler matches with guys saving their energy for the main event tends to disappoint. But this one could be different. It marks ROH’s debut on the west coast of the US. For years people have been crying for the promotion to expand out west, and finally they oblige. Tonight they run in Las Vegas, and in two nights time they have a show at the prestigious Cow Palace in San Francisco (as part of a major wrestling convention that turned into an absolute farce. I believe Steve Austin was there though). Normally the SOTF event isn’t one of the highlights of the Ring Of Honor year, but with their debut in a new market, you’d imagine they’ll pull out all the stops. The field is strong too. All three previous winners are here, new World Champion Nigel McGuinness is in, Race To The Top Tournament winner Claudio Castagnoli looks to win another tournament too. In non-tournament action we also have the first Briscoes/Age Of The Fall tag match as well. Lets join Prazak and Leonard in Las Vegas, NV.
ROH VIDEO WIRE (12/10/07) – No new material here. Just highlights from the last weekend.
SIDENOTE – The sound (and at times picture) quality for this show is appalling. I don’t remember it ever being this bad, even going as far back as 2002. It really is dreadfully bush-league. The crowd is also miniscule after a couple of venue changes, eventually settling on this building which has a bar less than 10 feet from the ring so only fans over 21 are allowed in. Obviously that’s shutting out a huge number of potential fans. I really don’t think ROH would’ve run here if they’d had any other options.
The No Remorse Corps are hanging out on the strip. Davey Richards is pissed off because Romero and Strong charged a bunch of drinks to his room last night. After one of them wins the tournament tonight, Roderick and Rocky are going to go celebrate. Davey has to stay back and watch their bags though.
After a decent little video package showing highlights of the past three years of the SOTF tournament, we return to more NRC shenanigans. Richards tries to hit on a girl by asking if she wants to watch the bags with him. Romero arrives and steals her with the Azucar dance.
As is tradition, the new World Champion opens the show with some promo time. The building looks really cool, totally different to anything ROH runs in. You can even see a bar very close to the ring (see why it’s 21 and over?). Just a totally different vibe to what we’re used to. The sound quality is so bad that it’s hard to make out what Nigel is saying. He does promise to be a great ROH Champion though, which brings FIP Champion Roderick Strong to the ring to insult him. Brent Albright appears and points out that he’s beaten Nigel with his Half Nelson Suplex. He then demands his SOTF qualification match with Roderick start right now.
Roderick Strong vs Brent Albright
So it seems like these two are the first men angling for title shots at the new World Champion. Roderick has proudly defended the FIP Title for a considerable amount of time now and believes himself to be a more credible champion than McGuinness, and Albright (as he just pointed out), has pinned him with his feared Half Nelson Suplex. If either man wants a shot then obviously winning this tournament would be a decent idea. Roddy knows just what that takes having won it in 2005.
This must be the smallest crowd at an ROH show since 2002. The wrestlers start with some intense mat exchanges that don’t really go anywhere. You can actually hear the crowd pretty well so I think it’s just the sound system which is awful. Albright is working on the arm which is a sound strategy given his finishers. He then hits a stalling vertical suplex for 2. Half Nelson Suplex blocked and Roderick tosses him into the turnbuckles. Death By Roderick blocked and Brent hits an overhead belly to belly. Falcon arrow gets Strong a 2-count. Albright escapes the Half Nelson Backbreaker to hit a 61-Knee then a swinging front slam. Strong hits Death By Roderick and grabs the tights to win at 09:01.
Rating - ** - This wasn’t actually a bad match, but there was absolutely nothing memorable about it either. It was, essentially, as undeniably average as a match can get. Both these guys are decent workers, but in front of a sparse crowd and with a bigger match still to come tonight, they weren’t exactly pulling out all the stops.
Delirious is another guy hanging out on the strip. He promises to ‘repeat’ his success of last year.
Karl Anderson vs Chris Hero
This would be the first time I’ve seen Anderson. He’s based on the west coast so you’d imagine he’d have to be mind-blowingly good this weekend to earn a permanent spot. ROH is using this stint on the opposite side of the country to check out some of the local talent, so he gets a shot. Whilst wearing his a baseball cap to the ring he looks scarily like a shorter Steve Corino. He and Whitmer should form some kind of Corino appreciation society.
The sound guy plays Romero’s music instead of Hero’s and can actually be heard saying ‘my bad’. ROH didn’t look this bush-league back in 2002. Larry Sweeney is the only member of Hero’s entourage that has been flown out this weekend. The match starts off in typical Hero fashion, with a little wrestling mixed in with a lot of showing off and ‘athleticism’. Anderson is a no-nonsense athlete and remains stoic in the face of Hero’s games to hit some basic but effective offence. Speaking of basic but effective, Hero springboards into a double axehandle smash to get an advantage. He earns respect from me for mocking Karl’s somewhat ridiculous ‘machine gun’ pose. Anderson gets 2 with a spinebuster. Gourdbuster into a low enziguri gets the same result. Hero blasts him with a Roaring forearm then hits the Hero’s Welcome. Hangman’s Clutch wins it at 07:02.
Rating - ** - Another completely average bout. Anderson looked solid but nothing overly special. I did think his no-frills demeanour meshed well with Hero’s maximum-frills character and that added to the entertainment value somewhat.
TJ Perkins vs Rocky Romero
Unlike Anderson, Perkins is a West Coast guy who does have some ROH experience. His last appearance was a 5th Year Festival Philly where he lost to Nigel McGuinness. He’s also made sporadic appearances under a mask as Puma. He’s a mainstay of the California-based PWG promotion, much like his opponent tonight, Rocky Romero. These guys have a similar style and have reportedly had some good matches against each other in the past so this could be decent.
They open with a really nifty little mat exchange ending with Perkins going for a cross armbreaker. He misses a knee drop giving Rocky an invitation to take control, which he takes with a springboard knee drop to the neck. Octopus Stretch applied but TJ doesn’t look like submitting to it. He catches himself in the ropes as Romero tries to throw him out of the ring, then comes back in to drop his opponent with a neckbreaker. Michinoku Driver gets 2. He then cleverly counters Romero’s Tiger suplex by trying to roll him up. After a few attempts, Rocky is able to hit the Knock Out Kick to advance at 06:29.
Rating - ** - Some neat little tricks from Perkins made this one slightly interesting. I think that kid has a lot of talent. He’s quick, can do some unique things and would mesh well with lots of the ROH roster. I’m sure if he was based on the east coast we’d see him far more regularly.
Austin Aries vs Delirious
This is certainly one of the more high-profile matches of the qualifying round. Delirious won the tournament last year, defeating Matt Sydal in Cleveland after a memorable exchange between them as the final two. Austin Aries has gone to the finals every year thus far, making it to the final two in 2004 and 2005. It was the 2004 event that made him a star in the eyes of many people after a memorable clash with Bryan Danielson. So who will advance? It’s between last year’s winner and the perennial Survival Of The Fittest nearly-man.
First significant blow goes to Delirious who snapmares Aries down into a kick to the spine. Never Ending Story clotheslines nailed, so Aries hits Never Ending elbows then snapmares him into a kick to the face. The Stroke scores, then the Power Driver Elbow for 2. Not time for the 450 quite yet though, and Delirious dives into a torpedo headbutt to the chest, leaving Aries down on the mat. Grounded abdominal stretch applied to do more damage to the rib region. Things get a bit messy for a while but both men keep it interesting by continually laying into one another with hard-hitting strikes. Aries finds a couple of 2-counts with the slingshot corkscrew splash/Lionsault sequence. Delirious beats him back by driving fits into the midsection again. He escapes attempts at the Brainbuster and gets 2 with the Here It Is Driver. Aries fights the Cobra Stretch so Delirious KNEES HIM IN THE FACE! That was a sick version of the Panic Attack. Shadows Over Hell misses. Cobra Stretch applied anyway since Austin takes too long to capitalise on the miss. COBRA CLUTCH SUPLEX! Cobra Stretch again but Aries rolls away. KICK OF DEATH! BRAINBUSTER! HORNS OF ARIES! Delirious taps at 12:16.
Rating - *** - That was the most enjoyable Delirious match in ages. Nothing flash from these two but this was a really competitive back and forth match that really got the crowd going. Lots of stiff strike exchanges, a nice sub-plot of Delirious targeting the ribs for his Cobra Stretch (or Shadows Over Hell) and exciting final few minutes. I was surprised by how decent this was.
Backstage Austin Aries thanks Delirious for backing up The Resilience when he was stuck in TNA and says he escaped the Cobra Stretch because he’s been working hard on submission counters to make sure he wins his Best of 3 Series with American Dragon.
Davey Richards vs Claudio Castagnoli
Perhaps the biggest question to be answered tonight is the issue of whether Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero will let Davey off bag-watching duty and let him come party with them if he wins the tournament tonight. The SOTF tournament has a history of turning people into stars and that could happen to Davey this year. But his opponent has already experienced tournament success. He won the Race To The Top Tournament in July and after that victory and an impressive performance in his ensuing title match with Takeshi Morishima, his stock in ROH has risen higher than ever. Winning this event tonight would cap a remarkable year for Double C, and earn him another World Title shot.
Claudio’s entrance music cuts out halfway through the ‘We Will Rock You’ intro. Between the sh*tty PA system and all the music screw ups, the sound guy is having a lousy night. Davey starts looking like he wants to kick/forearm Castagnoli’s head off, but finally gets taken down with a big European uppercut. Richards attacks Claudio’s leg but the RTTT winner still has enough to spring from the turnbuckles into another uppercut. Crab-walk elbow drop (with leg selling) gets 2. Riccola Bomb countered with a hurricanrana and Davey drops Claudio down again with a dragon screw. Horse Collar submission applied, inflicting more damage to the bad leg. He tries the handspring enzi but Castagnoli uppercuts him in the neck. Alpamare Water Slide gets 2 but Claudio’s leg is really starting to hamper him. He tries to do drop Davey from the top ropes but Richards punches at his leg then hits a sunset flip powerbomb. That move does some serious damage to the head and neck, and Davey tries to attack that too. Claudio hits the Riccola Bomb almost out of desperation and advances at 08:04.
Rating - *** - The finish was sudden and I could’ve lived with these guys getting another couple of minutes to progress the match a little further. Given that the total run-time of the DVD is only around the 2 hours 30 minutes mark I don’t see why they couldn’t have had it either. Still, the work here was fine, particularly from Richards who really busted his ass. Back to bag-watching for him now.
In another backstage interview, Claudio reveals that he injured his neck taking that sunset flip bomb but won’t let it stop him winning another tournament.
Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness
This is your final SOTF qualification match and Nigel’s newly won World Title is not on the line. Historically ROH has a tradition that if the champion is pinned in a non-title match than the victor will receive a shot at a later date though so the stakes are even higher for 2004 winner Bryan Danielson. This is Nigel’s first entry into a Survival Of The Fittest, so it’s unfortunate that he’s been draw with AmDrag in the first round. He hasn’t beaten Danielson since their first match way back at Weekend Of Champions Night 2.
Obviously these two are used to wrestling with a much longer time limit (SOTF first round matches have a 20-minute time limit) so they don’t waste any time before getting down to the mat and trading holds. Nigel goes for a cross armbreaker and Danielson grabs for the ropes in rapid fashion. He comes up feeling the arm but quickly regroups to go after Nigel’s leg, hanging it in the ropes then dropping all his weight across the knee. As if that wasn’t enough, he lines the leg up again then hits a running Earthquake butt drop onto it. Next he delivers a series of kicks to the exposed limb with Lenny Leonard pointing out that even if he does advance, Nigel will have his work cut out to win the tournament with an injury. The World Champion targets Danielson’s arm again. He succeeds in hurting Dragon, but Danielson saves himself further damage by countering a bridging chickenwing into a half crab on the bad leg. Mutalock applied next but Nigel brilliantly counters by grabbing Danielson’s arms and stretching them. Both men come back to their feet and noticeably favour their respective injuries. Figure 4 Leglock by Danielson as the time approaches 15 minutes. That doesn’t work, and both men seem aware that time is running out and start going for big strikes. Nigel drops Dragon down with a McLariat to the back. Tower Of London blocked but Nigel reverses Danielson as he looks for Cattle Mutilation and drops him with the hammerlock DDT. Jawbreaker Lariat blocked with a dropkick to the knee. Danielson goes for a diving headbutt…and Nigel HURTS HIMSELF blocking it with his bad leg. He manages a back suplex (dropping Danielson straight down onto his bad shoulder) and both men are slow to get up. 1 minute remains in the time limit. McLariat blocked…CATTLE MUTILATION! But Nigel can roll out due to the bad arm. MMA ELBOWS, Nigel is stuck in the ropes. The bell rings as McGuinness looked set to hit the Tower Of London. It’s a 20-minute time-limit draw.
Rating - **** - That was probably the best match at an SOTF event since Danielson/Aries in 2004. These guys have had a fine series of matches over the last couple of years and this was a worthy addition. This time they knew they were working with a shorter time limit so there was no lengthy, hesitant, tactical feeling out process from the bell, they got straight into the action and didn’t let up once in twenty minutes of engaging technical wrestling. And it was a match I’d like to show to all the Nigel doubters out there. He connected with just ONE lariat in the whole match, and even that was with his right, rather than his usual left arm. He sold the leg superbly well too, and his selling is something I’ve had an issue with in the past. They didn’t quite time the finish but that’s really my only complaint. Otherwise it was a fantastic match.
It’s the second year in a row that Danielson has been eliminated in the first round of the SOTF tournament after a time-limit draw. Both he and Nigel demand 5 more minutes, and Nigel traps Danielson in the London Dungeon (his new submission finisher – it’s basically a wristlock camel clutch), forcing him to tap out. But Todd Sinclair refused to restart anyway. Both men are out.
Tony Kozina vs Human Tornado vs Shane Hagadorn
This was initially scheduled to be a non-tournament triple threat match but after the last match ended in a draw ROH officials have decided that the winner of this one can go to the Survival Of The Fittest finals. That means a huge opportunity for one of these three. Kozina was at Do Or Die 3 back in 2004 (I think), but didn’t make much of an impression. He’s made a few appearances for FIP since then and must be based on this side of the country. Tornado is someone that ROH fans have wanted to see for a long time. His work in PWG has made him very popular and coming to the West Coast has, at last, given ROH a chance to book him. Of all the local talent getting a chance this weekend, he probably has the best chance of earning a flight ticket to more shows, based on popularity alone.
Hagadorn now wrestles in an Adam Pearce-style singlet. Kozina hammers Shane, then spins Tornado into a boot to his head. Tornado manages to send both men down into the corner and dances whilst booting them into the corner. Kozina doesn’t take too kindly to that and clobbers him with a lariat. Ogawa boot stomp in the corner by Hagadorn then a butt ugly inverted DDT gets Tornado a 2. Kozina hits a moonsault press to take out both opponents. DND wins it for Tornado at 03:26.
Rating - * - Short and pretty pointless, but I took a few impressions away. Firstly I thought Hagadorn looked more polished than he did last time we saw him in a match on the main show. It’s good to see he’s still improving since I like him. Kozina brought a decent amount of intensity and was better than I remember him as from the Do Or Die 3 event. I haven’t seen too many Human Tornado matches (I don’t follow PWG very closely) so I’ll reserve judgement on him until I’ve seen him in a longer match, but he looks like he could be fun.
Jimmy Jacobs/Necro Butcher vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe – Street Fight
Age Of The Fall haven’t done enough to earn a shot at the Tag Titles yet, but that doesn’t stop both teams wanting to get their hands on each other for a fight so that’s what we have here. The Briscoes are desperate for revenge after the AOTF’s bloody debut at Man Up, then abducting Mark at Honor Nation before returning him covered in barbed wire at Undeniable. And for Jimmy’s troops, who are already bitter that the Briscoes have been bred for success in ROH since 2002 whilst they have struggled just to get a spot on the roster, a win here would surely guarantee them a title shot down the line.
The guardrail is practically next to the ring apron so it doesn’t take that much for the match to spill into the crowd. Mark is still limping badly. There’s no way he’s fully recovered from the dislocated foot that kept him out of action the last ppv weekend. That doesn’t stop him fighting with Jacobs on top of the bar. Necro tries to powerbomb him off the stage but Jay makes the save. There’s a table set up next to the stage so quite a few spots get teased before Necro chokeslams Mark off the stage and through it. That leaves Jay to fight alone against two opponents. Butcher gets 2 with the chair slam. TIGER DRIVER on the chair gets 2 as well. More double teaming follows before Jay finally starts to fight back. Jacobs rakes his eyes…but Mark reappears at ringside and hits him with a chair. CHAIR DUEL between Mark and Necro. Deciding his hands are more lethal than any chair, he drops it in favour of REDNECK KUNG FU! Jay gets in on the act too by throwing Butcher through an open chair. That’s not enough…DOUBLE BACK SUPLEX THROUGH ANOTHER CHAIR! Necro took that bump with his head. Jimmy saves his partner and eats the splash mountain neckbreaker onto a chair as punishment. Necro saves Jacobs by chair smashing Jay off the top. Jimmy grabs Mark for a DDT into a chair. END TIME! Age Of The Fall get a huge victory at 12:42.
Rating - *** - Considering the lack of crowd heat and the fact that Mark Briscoe was 60% fit maximum, that was probably better than it had any right to be. And in fairness to the crowd heat thing, it’s not that the crowd weren’t hot for it. They were, it’s just that this kind of brawl really looks better when it’s not taking place in front of less than 200 people. So considering all the obstacles they had to come, this wasn’t bad. There were some neat spots and memorable moments (most notably Mark deciding he’d rather kung fu the sh*t out of everyone than use a chair), and I’m sure better matches will come later in the feud.
Roderick Strong vs Chris Hero vs Rocky Romero vs Austin Aries vs Claudio Castagnoli vs Human Tornado – Survival Of The Fittest 2007 Final
Moreso than perhaps any other year, there are lot of different feuds being brought together in this Survival Of The Fittest final. Austin Aries and the No Remorse Corps are big enemies, and since the NRC’s Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero are both in this match, you’d imagine that issue will come to the boil. In 2005 Roddy and Aries double-teamed their way to the final two Is this a strategy and Strong and Romero will consider? Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli are another former tag team now at war with each other. Castagnoli has won both their singles matches so far so Hero will be keen to at least end Claudio’s hopes of winning the tournament. As if that weren’t enough, it was Hero and Castagnoli (as the Kings Of Wrestling at that time) who cheated to win the Tag Titles from Austin Aries and Roderick Strong a year ago at Glory By Honor 5. So there’s lots going on here, and that’s before you include the wildcard sixth entrant (Human Tornado) on his first night in ROH.
Strong comes out wearing a Nigel McGuinness t-shirt, making the point that he wants a match with the new champion. Hero decides he’d like to start the match by sitting up on the stage with his agent. Strong and Romero team up on Aries from the bell. Double A fights back with a Heat Seeking Missile into the crowd. Hero ventures into the ring to think about a dive of his own but runs into Claudio. The Swiss man gets in some offence before Hero retreats up the ramp again. Tornado drops Castagnoli into the crowd with a headscissors. He then runs into a SOMERSAULT PLANCHA THAT WIPES OUT EVERYONE! Except Chris Hero who was hiding on the stage of course. He sneaks into the ring and hits the Hero’s Welcome on Tornado. He eliminates HT at 03:58, then heads back to the stage again. What an awesome strategy. Inside the ring an impromptu tag match develops with Aries and Claudio teaming up against the NRC. Aries puts Romero in the Stronghold to taunt his former partner. Meanwhile Chris Hero is still on the stage getting a massage and chanting ‘this is awesome’. The No Remorse Corps have got the advantage on Aries now and are, as predicted, working as a team. Austin manages to wipe them both out with a quebrada and gets the hot tag to Claudio who takes it to both members of the NRC. Aries gets 2 after Castagnoli nails the Alpamare Water Slide. Claudio and Strong brawl onto the stage, which is obviously inconvenient for Hero since that’s where he’s been holed up. He has to hide by sitting down in a corner of ringside instead. Inside Aries hits the BRAINBUSTER on Romero, then the 450 SPLASH!
Unfortunately Hero has tagged himself into the match and he steals the pin on Romero at 13:33. That’s two guys he’s eliminated without doing anything. Naturally he leaves the match afterwards. Strong and Aries fight now…but Hero blind tags in and rolls up Aries to eliminate him at 15:38. Aries once again fails to win SOTF. Roderick looks like he wants to fight Hero. BUT SWEENEY GIVES HIM MONEY! Strong pockets the cash and forms an alliance to work over Castagnoli. At least that means that, for the first time in the match, Hero actually gets some decent in-ring time. Strong nails Claudio with the Gibson Driver, but Hero stabs him in the back with another Hero’s Welcome. He eliminates Strong at 19:49…THEN STEALS SWEENEY’S MONEY BACK! We’re down to two and it’s the former Kings Of Wrestling colliding again. Hero goes for a series of sentons,dropping all his weight south into Double C’s ribs. Claudio nails a springboard uppercut but finds his Riccola Bomb countered with a cravat. Alpamare Water Slide blocked too, with Hero nailing a Roaring forearm then the CRAVAT SUPLEX for 2. Remember Castagnoli came into this match with an injured neck. He blocks Chris’ release suplex. DEAD LIFT GERMAN SUPLEX for 2. Hero has been so entertaining in this match he’s more of a babyface than Claudio by this point. Riccola Bomb blocked and he hits the HERO’S WELCOME! TWO COUNT! HANGMAN’S CLUTCH! Castagnoli makes it to the ropes then gets up to hit the RICCOLA BOMB! Now it’s Hero’s turn to kick out at 2. Probably because he’s so fresh after barely wrestling for half of this match. Cravat neckbreaker out of the corner by Hero, followed by a double stomp. Hangman’s Clutch again. Claudio is out at 27:42. Chris Hero wins the 2007 Survival Of The Fittest tournament and he eliminated everyone in the match.
Rating - **** - This match went almost 30-minutes, yet it never once felt dull. To me, that makes this a good match. My biggest complaint about the first three instalments of this tournament has been that none of the finals have taken advantage of the unique six-man format of the final (although 2005 did have the nice story of Aries and Strong working together), with most of the eliminations rushed through to get to the exciting final two. Looking back over the three previous finals, everyone remembers Danielson/Aries, Strong/Aries and Delirious/Sydal, but what preceded them is a bit of a blur. That certainly won’t be the case with this one. Chris Hero’s antics were a brilliant way to link the whole match together. He spent the first half of the match out of the way whilst Human Tornado got his pop, then the NRC/Aries battle took centre stage. When people looked set to get fed up with him hanging out on the stage he came to the ring and paid off opponents, whilst the final 5 minutes with him and Claudio going at it were really good, with lots of focus on the injured neck that Claudio came in with. As a 6-man elimination match, this is the most COMPLETE of all the Survival Of The Fittest finals. In terms of quality it probably doesn’t top the 2004 final, but it’s definitely my second favourite.
Rather annoyingly, Dave Prazak babbles over Chris Hero’s celebration by hyping Misawa’s matches at Glory By Honor 6 weekend. Never mind, since we catch up with Hero and Sweeney later at the night taking a victory stroll around Las Vegas. ‘Why did they move the Statue of Liberty to Vegas?’ – Hero whilst pointing at a replica. Some drunks interrupt his promo and don’t know who he is. Nonetheless, Chris and Larry leave chanting ‘Chris is Awesome’.
Tape Rating - *** - I’ve seen some really scathing reviews of this show, and I’m not sure why to be honest. Admittedly the production is so bad it’s almost funny, and that, coupled with the tiny crowd, made it feel like a house show. But some of the B-shows this year have been a real chore to sit through. Not the case here, I was entertained for the full two and a half hours and I can’t say fairer than that. Only two matches on the show went particularly long, and they were both very good. Everything else was kept short and sweet so the show moved on at quite a pace. That kept things interesting for the crowd, and though they lacked numbers, they were responsive and into the action from start to finish. The building was really different to anything else ROH has run in recent years, so that just added a fresh new vibe too. I’m not going to say this show will blow you away because it won’t. Whilst there are a few good matches, nothing approaches MOTYC good. If you only collect the ‘major’ DVD’s then you don’t need this one. But this was a fun wrestling show and I had a good time watching it.
Top 3 Matches
3) Jimmy Jacobs/Necro Butcher vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (***)
2) Hero vs Castagnoli vs Strong vs Aries vs Romero vs Tornado (****)
1) Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness (****)