ROH Do Or Die 4 – 19th February 2005
It’s taken me a while to get round to ordering this DVD but I have now got my hands on it so I might as well give it the once over and post some thoughts. The main focus of this show is the fourth Do Or Die event. The first Do Or Die was a main show which featured big chances for a lot of talent (CM Punk, John Walters, Jason Cross, Jimmy Rave, Frankie Kazarian to name a few) and that event gave birth to the “do or die” concept where ROH books entire shows of young up and comers and talent that hasn’t really broken through to the main roster yet and gives them a shot. At Do Or Die 2 guys like Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Hydro (Jay Lethal) shone, whilst at Do Or Die 3 we saw the much-hyped debut of B-Boy and a super little match between Matt Sydal and Delirious – both of whom have gone on to get many more bookings. The fourth Do Or Die took place before the big Third Anniversary Celebration week kick off at the RexPlex and it has a stacked line-up. Debuts for hyped talents such as Vordell Walker, El Generico, Kevin Steen and Arik Cannon. B-Boy gets another shot, and the main event features Homicide defending his FIP Heavyweight Title against Antonio Banks, another debutant. But there’s more on this DVD to enjoy. As well as the DOD4 event, we also get the convention card presented the afternoon before Midnight Express Reunion in October 2004 (featuring Walters/Shelley for the Pure Title and Punk/Andrews – Teacher vs Student), a couple of matches that were cut from the loaded Third Anniversary Part 3 show in Chicago, and to round it all off, Samoa Joe and Austin Aries have an Empty Arena Match taped at the ROH Wrestling School! There’s no commentary on any of the release. Lets head to Elizabeth, NJ.
SIDENOTE – I’m not reviewing this in the order it’s on the DVD. They start by showing the Philly convention card backwards (main event to opener) then have the bonus matches from Chicago. I’ll review them later.
Heartbreak Express vs Christopher Street Connection
It’s a debut for the Heartbreaks here. They’ve made it to main show a couple of times (Sign Of Dishonor and Night Of The Grudges 2 I think) since this show but they’re pretty bad. They are the Davis brothers, a comedy ‘sexy’ team, except Sean weighs in at around 350lbs I’d imagine. Gabe loves them in FIP though. If you wanna see them featured more prominently check those DVD’s out. The CSC aren’t really in ROH anymore, but for long-term viewers of the product, you should familiar with their comedy routine. It’s funny, you laugh, then it’s over. I thought their match against Colt Cabana at Do Or Die 3 was hilarious. This is probably the only time I’ll ever be mildly interested in seeing a match with these four in it. There’s some good comedy potential.
The Heartbreaks jump the CSC before the bell but they respond by shoving their hands in their faces. ‘Subway’ – NJ at Sean Davis. He does some sexy posing to please the masses. Buff E. tries to wrestle but can’t because Sean so damn fat. They run the ropes…well, Sean does, and he’s so big he can’t stop and runs right into his partner Phil. Both members of the HBX get whipped into the corner, with one crashing on head-first into the others crotch. Buff E. and Mace head to either end for one big spit-roast train. ‘Don’t worry, we’re swingers’ – Buff E. Mace pervs on Phil and gropes his ass. The Davis’ eventually use their power advantage to put an end to the homosexual shenanigans. Mace restarts the silliness by spanking Phil. He manages to drag both his opponents into a DDT and gets a hot tag to Buff. DOUBLE TESTICULAR CLAW! The CSC get the win with the Gay Basher at 08:58.
Rating – DUD – It could actually have been quite funny, and in places it was, but it went on far too long without anywhere near enough joke to stretch that far. Comedy wrestling can be great, but spread out over almost 10 minutes with some incredibly poor wrestling mixed in doesn’t make for good star ratings. I think the CSC are actually better wrestlers than the HBE, which should show you how good they are(n’t).
Cheech vs Vordell Walker
This was back when Special K still existed, and Cheech is representing them. Vordell makes his ROH bow here. He’s a hot prospect in FIP where Gabe seemed to love him at first, and pushed him hard. He kinda bombed once he got onto the main shows though, although I thought he did ok in a couple of 6-man tags (at Trios Tournament 2005 and Escape From New York). Apparently he’s quite impressive in this match too which is what got him called up. Smarks love Cheech. I think he sucks…
Cheech shakes hands with his buddy Cloudy instead of Vordell…so Walker kicks him in the head. HEAD DROP T-BONE SUPLEX! Cheech comes back with a satellite headscissors then pokes him in the eyes. Ocean Cyclone suplex by Vordell drops the Special K guy again. VORTEX! We’re done at 02:06. ‘Please come back’ chants for Vordell after that.
Rating - * - Give it a star because Walker looked awesome here. Throwing around smaller guys with his impressive spots really covers up for his greenness in other areas of his game. The same principle applied with Xavier back in 2002 before he got good. His best matches were with the likes of Red, Styles and London who could bump around his bigger offence and make him look good despite having weaknesses. Incidentally, Walker’s best main show performance came in a six man at Escape From New York when he got to do exactly this – throw around the little guys (Dunn, Marcos and Dixie in that instance). Unfortunately for him, the roster these days doesn’t have too many of them for him to bully. Stick to FIP I guess.
Davey Andrews/Anthony Franco vs Alex Law/Ricky Landell
During Corino’s stint with ROH in early 2005 his students (Law and Landell) got booked quite frequently. They appeared on this event of course, and got squash matches at It All Begins and Back To Basics. They look a cut above the ROH students (like Andrews and Franco) right now, but then they’re a lot further along. Can this all student match give these four young guys a platform to really do something impressive. CM Punk and Steve Corino are in the corners of their respective protégés.
Landell and Andrews start with some basics which are a little slow but nothing to laugh at. Law and Franco crank it up a notch by stiffing each other. Team Corino wind up abusing Franco in the corner to get a 2. He hits a swinging neckbreaker on Landell and gets the hot tag to Davey. A high knee strike from the ropes is landed as Team Punk look set to work over Landell, who puts a stop to that with a nice armwrench takedown on Anthony. Andrews drops law with a double arm DDT but gets knocked down himself with one of the worst Shining Wizards ever. Even crappier than Jimmy Rave’s, which is so bad I even call it the Crappy Wizard. Anyway, that gets Corino’s boys the duke in 06:25.
Rating - * - It probably wasn’t that good, but there was at least more wrestling than HBE/CSC earlier, and at least they showed a grasp of your basic tag formula. All four looked green and sometimes nervous. There were some tentative moments but (particularly in Davey Andrews) you can see some potential.
El Generico vs Arik Cannon vs Fast Eddie Vegas vs Josh Daniels
This is one of the matches I’m most anticipating on the whole release. I love Arik Cannon’s stuff in IWA-MS so it’s great to see him get a chance in ROH. Unfortunately, he’d only just come off a shoulder injury at this point so wasn’t in the best shape (even for him). It’s El Generico’s debut as well. The popular Generic Luchador goes on to get his chance on the main shows later in the year, although he’s still far less pushed/over in ROH than he is in most other feds in North America. Josh Daniels always pops up on these Do Or Die events. Lets face it, he’ll never get over in ROH. He’s flirted with The Embassy, he’s beaten Steve Corino, he’s always fairly decent. The problem is he’s never done anything to stand out as anything more than a solid technical wrestler. Ring Of Honor has a lot of solid technical wrestlers – the guys that get over are the ones who bring a little x-factor to the party as well. Fast Eddie should need no introduction, other than to say he’s in FIP mode tonight hence he has a surname and Dave Prazak is at ringside as his manager – he’s a part of DP Associates.
El Generico clearly has the majority of the fan support as we kick things off. Cannon and Daniels bring some nice chain-wrestling from the bell, which I appreciate all the more after the efforts of the students previously. Arik looks to control Daniels by repeatedly going to a cravat but never manages to keep it on. He goes fatty lucha on Josh with a springboard armdrag, and the Mexican influence continues as Generico tags into the ring. Vegas wastes no time hammering him to the mat. Generico rolls to the floor to kill Eddie’s momentum. Coming back he scores with a series of offensive moves, and apparently is feeling so confident he demands Eddie tag Josh Daniels in so he can out-wrestle the mini-Benoit. Josh chops the crap out of him so Generico runs away and we have tags all round. Eddie takes it to Cannon who comes back with a series of armdrags…then MOCKS HIM FOR BEING BLIND. AHHH HA HA! Arik rules. Backbreaker by the IWA and Chikara wrestler for a 2 count. He goes for a crossbody but amazingly Eddie catches him and muscles him into a death valley neckbreaker. Generico looks to strike away at Arik only to be thumbed in the eyes. Cannon has the Canadian Mexican literally writhing in pain after giving him a backbreaker. SLINGSHOT SIT-OUT PEDIGREE…for 2! YAKUZA KICK in the corner by Generico. He goes to the top but Danels grabs him up there for a superplex. MOONSAULT from Eddie Vegas but Cannon kills him with a GLIMMERING WARLOCK from behind. Eddie and Generico dropkick Cannon and Daniels to the floor then turn on each other. HEAD DROP GERMAN BY VEGAS! ASAI MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! That leaves Generico alone in the ring…DOUBLE JUMP SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! He takes Arik back inside but the Anarchist powerbombs him for 2. Eddie gives Cannon a snap Regalplex but is almost pinned by Daniels until Prazak distracts the referee. Josh eats Generico’s BRAINBUSTAAA, but Eddie breaks the pin. Daniels and Generico rumble at ringside as Eddie hits Cannon with the moonsault fallaway slam. He gets the win in 19:28 – good match.
Rating - *** - It was a little tedious in the early parts of the match but as it got going it got more and more interesting and once they threw the high spots out there in the end it was pretty fun. I may be biased since I’m a fan of the guy, but I thought Cannon was arguably the most impressive wrestler there. Despite the fact Fast Eddie was sent into the match as the main heel of it (meaning Cannon couldn’t really get over to the best of his abilities) he did some effective heel stuff, and showed some nice flashes of wrestling with Daniels. If he could drop some weight he’d be a great fit for the main roster. Generico was entertaining as well, bringing a much needed comedy element to the slow opening phases. Eddie Vegas and Josh Daniels looked as good as they usually do – which is fine, but maybe not good enough to be considered a “do” with all the talent going around.
Kevin Steen vs B-Boy
Mr Wrestling Kevin Steen has been a big hit in most of the indies he’s ventured into. His heavy hitting, head dropping moveset tends to make him an instant winner with the fans. In CZW, PWG, JAPW and his Canadian home promotion they all love him. Can he charm the ROH fans and management in similar fashion? He’d go onto get a few main card spots without ever really impressing. B-Boy is in for his second shot tonight. He was brought in for Do Or Die 3 but didn’t really impress too much against Josh Daniels. I’d suggest Steen is more his type of opponent though so, this is his chance to shine.
‘You suck’ – fan. ‘No, I rule…thank you’ – Steen. Mr Wrestling tries to control B-Boy with a headlock and immediately looks for the Package Piledriver but it’s blocked. B-Boy looks for his Shining Wizard but Steen rolls to the floor. He does ground Kevin in the corner with a European uppercut, but he rolls to the floor before B-Boy lands the facelift dropkick. INVERTED DDT ON THE APRON! Eat that Steen! Back inside B-Boy avoids a dropick and follows up by booting Steen in the face. He hits back with a neckbreaker over the knee. Flipping necksnap whilst B-Boy is sitting on the mat gets 2, and Steen stays on the body part, working a chinlock. He lands a couple of leg drops and rounds it off with a somersault leg drop, all straight across that neck. MICHINOKU DRIVER…but B-Boy kicks. B-Boy looks to trade forearm shots with Steen but gets floored with a jumping enzi. NO SOLD – LARIATOOOO! Both men feel the burn after that exchange. Slingshot swinging flatliner by Steen before he goes to the top rope He LANDS a moonsault but it isn’t enough to win. B-Boy blocks the Package Piledriver again only to be dropped on his neck anyway with a kryptonite krunch. EXPLODER INTO THE TURNBUCKLES! That’ll cut off Kev’s momentum in a hurry. FACELIFT DROPKICK! BACK DROP DRIVER for 2. Steen guillotine’s B-Boy who still manages to block the Piledriver for a third time and hit a knee strike. PACKAGE PILEDRIVER…but Steen is too worn down to cover and B-Boy slips to the floor. Steen brings him in and tries to piledrive him again but no dice. B-Boy nails a swinging DDT…CROSS-ARM PILEDRIVER! SHINING WIZARD! He gets the three count at 13:54.
Rating - *** - It’s a toss-up between this and Sydal/Delirious from DOD3 as my favourite DOD match. This was great – psychology, selling, big moves etc. The only reason I didn’t go higher with it was because rather than work the match at a sensible pace, it felt like they sped their way through it trying to fit as much in as possible. It just meant the match came off as a little more head-droppy, and less intelligent than it needed to be (not that that’s anything new for a Kevin Steen match). Incidentally, this is easily the best ROH performance out of either one of these. I actually think Steen has some potential on the main roster – in a Jimmy Rave kinda way. He has talent, but he also has ‘you suck, we hate you’ heat from the fans, just like Rave did before he joined The Embassy. He was given an angle that worked and booked in matches to protect his weaknesses until he developed. If Steen was given similar treatment he’d really get over. B-Boy…meh, we already have Homicide.
Homicide vs Antonio Banks – FIP Heavyweight Title Match
The Notorious 187 maybe a heel in ROH, and in February 05 may well have been embroiled in a heated feud with Bryan Danielson, but in FIP he’s one of the top babyfaces, and the Heavyweight Champion having one a tournament at the first shows with Gabe as booker. Banks would go on to become MVP. He won some form of tournament to get this shot I recall. Can he impress to add ROH to the list of places he frequently works? Homicide has Rocky Romero in his corner with him – so I’d suggest he’ll be working heel tonight in front of ROH fans.
Banks has a clear size advantage and uses it on Cide early on. Homicide goes to the floor to throw a Red Sox hat about. Antonio is naïve and chases him out though, allowing Homicide to just slide back in and stomp on his head. Using his sheer power Banks is able to take the advantage again though. Satellite headscissors from Cide, then the TOPE CON HILO! He comes off the top to drive a knee into the back of Banks’ head for a 2 count. A fallaway slam gets Antonio 2, although he doesn’t seem interested in selling the neck Homicide just worked over. Slingshot facewash as Cide hanging through the ropes. He continues to dictate the pace with a big delayed vertical suplex, but foolishly goes for it a second time. Cide knees his way free…and runs into a sidewalk slam. He eventually floors Banks with a swinging DDT from the second rope. That’s succeeded with an Ace crusher then a running knee in the corner. Banks gets 2 again with a bridging German. MESSY back drop driver by Homicide. Antonio blocks the Lariat with a Fujiwara armbar. Cide goes for a hurricanrana only to be driven to the mat again with a spinebuster. Antonio is really not too good by the way. Homicide distracts the ref and low blows the big guy. PILEDRIVERS f*ck him up some more. Banks no sells the Lariat THREE F*CKING TIMES so Cide kicks him in the balls again. A fourth Lariat means Homicide retains at a long-feeling 12:17.
Rating - * - Some good work by Homicide, as he busted his ass bumping around to play up the big man/little man dynamic – putting Banks over as a big powerhouse – even to the point that he made his own finisher look weak for him. Unfortunately Antonio kinda sucks. His offence was all over the place, he never once sold the neck which Homicide repeatedly attacked and looked clumsy at times too. He died…pure and simple. Fortunately he’d go on to become MVP and improve a hell of a lot.
This is FIP though and CM Punk continues his FIP feud with Homicide by running out from the back and stealing Homicide’s title belt. That’s kinda funny…
DO OR DIE 4 THOUGHTS – This isn’t the end of the DVD so I won’t do a rating yet, but I thought I’d pass some thoughts on the DOD4 event. It had some of the strongest matches of any of these afternoon shows. The big fourway got a lot of time, and Steen/B-Boy did great getting to work a match they’re both suited to. However, the problem is, all the guys I’d suggest “did” rather than “died” out there (Walker, Steen, B-Boy, Generico etc) have all had their shots on the main shows, and by and large didn’t deliver. Either they looked nervous, green (or both in the case of Vordell), or continually blew spots (Generico). Arik Cannon deserves a go, but until he gets into better shape he doesn’t really give himself the best chance to shine. ROH has good heels who can wrestle – why add another one when he’s not even in fantastic shape? There’s also the usual blend of don’t come back tripe on the show as well, as there has been on every DOD card. The Heartbreaks and the CSC have no place in ROH, they’re comedy BS. The students are nowhere near ready for anything yet, and Antonio Banks looked awful. However, admission to these afternoon cards is pretty cheap and I think with Vegas/Cannon/Generico/Daniels and B-Boy/Steen, the fans got their moneys worth.
Now we’ll go to the convention card before Midnight Express Reunion. Remember, this is not the order these matches are shown on the DVD. I’m reviewing them in this order because it makes so much more sense than the way ROH have organised it.
Special K vs Dunn & Marcos
Representing the K are Cloudy and Deranged. This was in the midst of the Special K losing streak angle which stretched on several months after Carnage Crew hammered them inside the Scramble Cage in March. Now they’re so depressed they come out with no music and will be desperate to pick up a win against ROH’s resident JOB squad, currently embarked on the ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore Tour’ for 2004.
Cloudy and Marcos start with a test of strength from which the RCE member almost pins his opponent. He fakes out on a springboard crossbody attempt and almost rolls Cloudy up for a second time. Shortarm scissors locked in next – Marcos has done more wrestling in the opening minute of this match than he’d done in the past two years with the promotion. Dunn flips him into a rana on Deranged before they make the tag. Deranged and Dunn have a nice little lucha sequence before Marcos hits the ring again to hit their traditional kick sequence. Corkscrew enziguri from Deranged puts Marcos on his back for 2. He nails a nice springboard double stomp as well. A running knee strike in the corner connects with Marcos’ jaw then Deranged tries to prove he can wrestle by working a headlock. He misses a dropkick in the corner but recovers with a hurricanrana and a rather botched hiptoss driver. Hot tag to Dunn who lays out Deranged with the Gory driver. PSYCHO DRIVER ON CLOUDY…FOR 2! That was so close the ref rang the bell. Quebrada into a swinging DDT by Deranged but Marcos arrives and the RCE nail the assisted Shiranui. Electric chair senton finishes him off at 08:51.
Rating - ** - Taking them off the main show and removing the pressure on them to get in there quickly, pop the crowd with big spots and crazy dives, then get out again actually showed everyone that Dunn, Marcos and Deranged (Cloudy looked SO green it was untrue) could actually wrestle. That was a nice, brief, formulaic tag. There were a few screw ups but the good by far outweighed the bad here. In early 2005 Deranged would show what a good tag wrestler he was in the series of tag matches that followed the eventual Special K split.
CM Punk vs Davey Andrews
Davey was the top pupil under CM Punk’s tutelage in the first class at the ROH Wrestling School, now he gets a chance to show what he can do against his teacher.
A criss-cross gets us underway, followed by a series of hiptoss counters. It’s basic but Davey looked smooth and didn’t screw it up. They trade holds on the mat next and again it’s all fairly basic but by and large well-executed. Punk gets 2 with a vertical suplex but Andrews hits back with a dropkick. He goes to the well once too often though, misses the kick and Punk drops down into a deathlock. That’s nicely countered by Davey and he dropkicks Punk’s legs before going into a leglock. Punk runs out of the corner straight into a powerslam. Andrews eats a mule kick then the Shining Wizard. Punk wins it in 05:19 with the Anaconda Vice.
Rating - * - I don’t want to DUD it because Davey had barely been a wrestler for three months by this point and even from this you can see he has potential. There’s nothing elaborate, fancy or spectacularly technical in this whole match but there’s no enormous or consequential f*ck ups either.
Carnage Crew vs Shane Hagadorn/Matt Turner/Jesse Robinson
This is a handicap match, the Crew haven’t drafted in one of their remaining extra member Justin Credible, who hasn’t been in ROH since the Reborn shows, and won’t be back any time soon either. Hagadorn, Turner and Robinson are all students of Punk’s as well. The only one I’ve never seen is Jesse, and he needs to get into better shape, and get a better haircut. Now over a year later the only one of the three you even occasionally see on ROH events is Hagadorn so…
Turner has friends in the front row so he is way over. Loc silences the pro-Turner chants with a few chops. DeVito decides he wants to piss off the Turner fans and lays in some chops too. Loc applies a sweet butterfly deathlock but rolls too close to the ropes. Hagadorn tags and acts all tough…so Loc pokes him in the eyes. CROSSFACES from DeVito. Robinson tries to interfere and gets taken to the floor and introduced to the guardrails. Loc nails a swinging neckbreaker on Matt then drags him to the outside as well. Hagadorn takes an absolute pasting in the corner but manages to land enough offence to tag in Jesse. Carnageplex for him – which is lucky because he sucked. Splash Mountain neckbreaker on Turner. Loc hits a couple of Saito suplexes on Hagadorn thus rendering him unconscious. DeVito with a Burning Hammer on Robinson. SPIKE PILEDRIVER on Turner. He wasn’t the legal man, but who cares. Carnage Crew have successfully destroyed all three of the students at 06:52
Rating - * - A squash but it was surprisingly enjoyable. Turner’s friends in the front row gave the crowd a lot of energy and the Carnage Crew responded to a much hotter crowd than they were expecting by dishing out an entertaining beating. It’s no wonder I hadn’t seen Robinson before nor since, he looked absolutely terrible.
John Walters vs Alex Shelley – ROH Pure Title Match
This match is arguably one of the selling points of the DVD. ROH really gave Walters the Matt Stryker treatment with the Pure Title – pushing him so hard that the fans started to resent him for it. It was this same Philly crowd that really turned on him hard later this very same day during an eight man tag against Generation Next. At this time Shelley was the leader of GeNext, and with that tag match coming up on the main show later, Alex will no doubt be looking to give himself the psychological edge by taking home his first ROH gold.
Walters picks at Shelley’s arms but Alex is more than capable of working out of that predicament. It’s Walters that continues to be the aggressor though and he captures Shelley in an STF, only to have his hand bitten. Shelley wrenches the arm but John grounds him again in a head capture deathlock. You can tell when I’m enjoying a mat-wrestling sequence because I do play by play on it like this. Alex drops down to avoid a running Walters and the Pure Champion knee drops him in the back. He uses a surfboard to take two of Shelley’s ropebreaks in quick succession. His back is worked again with a Boston crab and he has no choice but to use his last break. Shelley enzi kicks Walters in the head then SKULLF*CKS him for 2. Walters’ title reign was blighted by neck problems and Shelley is working the neck now. BORDER CITY STRETCH has Walters taking his first break. The two athletes collide in mid-air going for crossbody blocks and both go down. Walters can’t hit the Hurricane DDT with his bad neck but he manages to block Shellshock and score with a powerslam. Shelley blocks a superplex and comes off the top with a knee to the neck. He again applies the Border City Stretch but again Walters is able to make the ropes. Shelley misses a double stomp and takes a Lungblower as a result. A swinging DDT gets him another close 2 on the champion though. HURRICANE DDT…for 2. Walters locks in the Sharpshooter and Shelley is out of breaks. He taps at 14:31.
Rating - *** - Not overwhelming in how good it was, and not a patch on Shelley’s two Pure Title matches with Doug Williams during the summer but it was a solid effort. You should know the drill – one guy works one body part, his opponent works another. It sets up for their finishers etc. In the end Walters’ ability to take more of Shelley’s ropebreaks away meant he was able to pull out the win.
SIDENOTE – Even here the crowd hated Walters and loved Shelley. I can’t believe Gabe still went ahead with pushing Walters as the main babyface in the elimination 8-man later in the night. That whole match was KILLED by the hatred for Walters. He should’ve gauged the crowd reaction here and changed the booking of the match, making Jimmy Jacobs or CM Punk the last man for Steamboat’s team.
Allison Danger vs Daizee Haze vs Lacey vs Traci Brooks
This is from the Third Anniversary event in Chicago Ridge, although technically it’s from the pre-show as indicated by the house lights and small crowd. Allison and Daizee have heat coming into this because Daizee almost caved in Danger’s face with a missile dropkick spot during the womens fourway the previous night in Dayton. That match actually made the show, this one is supposed to be better.
Traci and Daizee start so it’s the heels on the outside and we kick off with some respectful canvas to-ing and froing. That goes on a little too long before they break into a fast exchange of pinfalls. Tags all round for Lacey to put the boot to Allison. STIFF FOREARM DUEL! Danger clubbers Lacey down and she quickly tags out to Haze. Grounded abdominal stretch applied on Daizee but she fights free with a vicious snapmare. LARIATOOO gets Danger 2. Allison is stiff man! She drop toeholds Daizee over the bottom rope then BOOTS HER IN THE HEAD! Lacey tags in and continues where Allison left off, pulverising the Haze with kicks to the neck and back. A swinging neckbreaker finds the mark for 2. Danger re-enters with rolling suplex and a weird bow and arrow which Traci has to break up. After getting into it with Brooks Danger returns to Daizee with a neckbreaker over the knee. The Haze musters up the strength to hit a missile dropkick and gets the tag to Traci. She hits a tornado facebuster from the ropes on Lacey, who goes to the outside and starts laying forearms in on Danger. PESCADO TO THE FLOOR BY HAZE…BUT THEY THROW HER INTO THE FRONT ROW! Back inside Allison STO’s Traci into a DDT on Lacey. IMPLANT DDT on Danger! Lacey wins in 10:47.
Rating - *** - That rocked, and in half the time these four women accomplished more than four guys did in 20 minutes a week earlier at Do Or Die 4. Allison Danger stole the show here with her Samoa Joe-like stiffness and brutality in everything she did. Daizee reminded me off Matt Sydal (the guy she regularly valets for) in that she was so easy to sympathise with during the heat segment, but just forgot to sell that neck a little bit during the big spots. It’s a shame Lacey didn’t get to do more, despite winning, since she’s the best worker of all of these girls, but the story was Allison/Daizee from a week ago, Danger had to be the one doing the bulk of the damage – Lacey was there to be a fellow heel doing the working over, Traci, the least capable of the four, was there to provide a good hot tag when the time came. A wonderful advertisement for women’s wrestling – if you liked this check out Dave Prazak’s SHIMMER Women’s Athlete’s promotion. They’ve got some talented females and give them a chance to show what they can do. I’ll have a review of SHIMMER Volume 1 up soon.
You know what rules? Sitting front row for ROH’s show at the Broxbourne Civic Hall on August 13th! That’s right, McXal is front row at ROH baby! I can’t wait…see y’all there!
Dunn & Marcos vs Delirious/Golden Vampire
This was from the main show but got clipped from the DVD release due to time constraints. Live reports indicated it was fun so I’m glad it’s seen the light of day on this collection of odds and ends. Dunn & Marcos are 1-1 so far at the 3YA weekend. They won the Scramble Cage in Elizabeth but then got beaten by the Air Devils in Dayton last night. Golden Vampire is Davey Andrews dressed up like one of Los Conquistadors.
Delirious and GV argue in tongue’s about who gets to start. Clearly Vampire had the more convincing argument, and he breaks out the LUCHA forward rolls to freak out Dunn…and dizzy himself up. Tag to Delirious, who brings no more sanity to the ring. He tries to power out of a waistlock by Dunn but makes too much of a spectacle of it so Dunn just takes him down instead. AIR GUITAR! Dunn stops to high-five the ref and eats a clothesline…then Delirious tries to eat his fingers. The RCE dish out simultaneous bulldogs to their masked opponents, before Marcos takes over on Vampire with stomps to the feet. ‘Golden Shower’ – Chicago wiseasses. Marcos takes the shower down with a nice headscissors. Vampire responds with the worst rope-walk armdrag ever and Marcos simply drags him off the top rope. Dunn tags only for GV to soften up his ass with an atomic drop/ass dropkick combo. Delirious actually roughs up Dunn quite a bit with a throat chop flurry and a kick to the head. Gory Driver by Dunn allows him to make the tag out. Davey Andrews is selling Marcos’ offence like a million dollars. Delirious heads upstairs but MISSES Shadows Over Hell and Dunn Cactus clotheslines him outside. SUPER ELECTRIC CHAIR SENTON on Vampire. RCE take it at 09:01.
Rating - ** - Maybe the Christopher Street Connection and the Heartbreak Express watched that. A comedy match which was actually good AND funny AND managed to fit some semi-decent wrestling in there as well. I have to say, the main show didn’t really miss this but it was enjoyable stuff, and on a DVD where a lot of stuff has been poor, that’s a welcome relief.
9th March 2005 - Samoa Joe wanders around the ROH Wrestling School and stumbles across Austin Aries training the students. He says Aries is running from him and naturally Austin isn’t all that happy (having beaten Joe twice). Joe challenges him to a fight and Aries agrees – as long as it’s non-title. He agrees to give Joe another rematch if he can beat him. 15 minute time limit…this is all quite gentlemanly.
Samoa Joe vs Austin Aries – Empty Arena Match
We’re calling this an Empty Arena match but really it’s just taking place in front of the students at the wrestling academy. Obviously we know the whole Joe/Aries back story from that little confrontation there. Aries was the guy that finally ended Joe’s 21 month title reign at Final Battle. He was the guy that handed Mick Foley a chair to hammer him with at It All Begins, and he snuck past the Samoan again in their rematch at the Third Anniversary show in Chi-town. As specified, if Joe can beat Aries he’ll get another championship match. Throughout the match it freezes and clips away to Joe and Austin explaining why they perform certain moves and what effects they have on their opponent. It’s an interesting insight into what goes on during a match, and I’m sure greatly benefited the students.
They circle each other like lions, and the empty arena concept means you can hear how INSANELY squeaky the ring at the school is. Joe immediately uses his power advantage to front facelock the World Champion. All the chain-wrestling they go for seems to be based around the similar plot of Joe over-powering Aries and trying to make him tap, only to be out-manoeuvred by his defensive opponent. Joe breaks out the Samoan crab but way too close to the ropes. Aries initiates a test of strength and uses that as an avenue to dropkick Joe in the knee and immediately snatches the advantage. He attacks the leg straight away with leglock variants but the Samoan isn’t tapping yet. RUNNING CORNER DROPKICK nailed before he stomps on the knee some more. E Honda slaps bring Joe back into the match (awesomely demonstrated in a clip form on one of the students). He hits the chop/kick/knee drop sequence and pauses for some leg-selling before making the cover. The running facewash leaves Austin hurting but Joe has to sit down his knee is so busted. Four minutes to go in the time limit apparently. Aries scores with a slingshot reverse elbow…BRAINBUSTER! Joe kicks out at 2. He calls for the 450 Splash but Joe pops up. LEG-SELL MUSCLEBUSTER! Austin grabs a rope to survive, then kicks out at 2 as Joe hits him with a powerbomb. Aries hits the injury again with a Russian legsweep. 450 SPLASH despite the low ceiling of the room. Joe kicks at 2, and we’ve got a minute to go. Joe reels off the powerslam (which he explains in a clip is his go-to move when he’s on the back foot) but is winded from the 450. CHOKE! But the time limit expires. Aries has squeezes past Samoa Joe again – this is a time limit draw.
Rating - *** - VERY basic compared to their two big matches on the main shows (and their Pure Title match from July 2005 in Manhattan) but it’s an excellent stage to show some of the fundamentals to the young wrestlers. However slow and methodically paced it seemed, everything was done for a reason. The whole opening of the match Joe was continually the aggressor and Aries was on the back foot, so he worked the leg to even things up and negate Joe’s power. Joe’s selling of that was awesome. He showed that you can still hit your trademark moves, just sell the goddamn body part whilst you do. The way he didn’t pin straight after the powerslam because he was gasping for air from Aries’ 450 was an awesome touch too. Don’t expect one of their classic main show matches, but it sure was interesting and something different to round off the tape.
Tape Rating - ** - As a “do or die” release, I’d say it’s far inferior to the DOD2&3 release. There isn’t anywhere near enough decent young talent given the chance to show themselves and what they’re about. What you’ve got in that department is way too many of the friggin’ students who are too green to make it worth your while. As a collection of random stuff you haven’t seen before and wasn’t included on other releases, it’s ok. The DOD4 fourway and Steen/B-Boy are decent Do Or Die matches, the women’s fourway, Walters/Shelley and Joe/Aries are good too and there’s a couple of entertaining Dunn & Marcos tag matches. Walker/Cheech is a great squash too. Unfortunuately there’s a load of green crap that has no business being anywhere near ROH and that holds this down. One for completists only I reckon, but there’s enough on here to earn it a VERY mild (lukewarm? Almost cold bathwater?) recommendation. Especially check out Joe/Aries if you’re an aspiring wrestler, it’s informative stuff.
Top 3 Matches
3) Samoa Joe vs Austin Aries (***)
2) Lacey vs Traci Brooks vs Allison Danger vs Daizee Haze (***)
1) B-Boy vs Kevin Steen (***)