Report of Ring of Honor in Woodbridge, CT, according to Joe Gagne, WrestlingObserver.com:
Crowd looked to be around 550-600
1. Nigel McGiness defeated Claudio Castignoli: A little slow to start, but a good opener. Claudio went up top but got cut off, and Nigel hit the Ace Crusher with Claudio draped on top.
2. Austin Aries defeated El Generico: Good match, and the crowd got into into it as it went on. Generico missed a 450, allowing Aries to hit the brainbuster/450 combo for the win.
3. Homcide defeated Dixie, Kevin Steen, and Azrael in a four corner match. Homicide went right after Steen at the bell. Good match, with everyone looking good, except Steen’s clothesline’s looked really weak tonight. Homicide landed the Cop Killa on Dixie for the pin. Dixie looked to have landed awkwardly on his shoulder and had to be helped to the back.
CM Punk came out for a promo. Fans chanted “Sunday Night Heat” at him. James Gibson came out and tried to take the belt, but was stopped by a referee, which allowed Punk to bloody Gibson with a chain.
4. Ultimate Endurance: Carnage Crew vs. Dunn & Marcos vs. Cheech & Deranged vs. Fast Eddie & Matt Striker. First fall was a scramble match that saw Eddie and Striker eliminated first. Second fall was anything goes, and Deranged and Cheech were gone next. Third fall was a straight tag match, and the Carnage crew pinned Dunn to retain after the Super Spike Piledriver. Much better than you might think.
5. Roderick Strong vs. AJ Styles: AJ got a huge pop, but Roderick had a sizable amount of support as well. Roderick just layed a beating on AJ, but eventually got hit with a Styles Clash for the loss. Hell of a match, maybe the best all night.
Intermission
6. Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Rave for the Pure title: The crowd wanted Joe to kill Jimmy. The crowd got its wish. Rave finally came back with a low blow, and choked Joe for several minutes with a piece of wire. Joe used all his rope breaks, but came back and won with the muscle buster. At one point Joe yelled out “Hashimoto” and hit a DDT.
Afterwards Prince Nane blamed Jade Cheung for the loss, and was about to hit her when the lights went out, and when they came back on Matt Hardy was in the ring. Hardy cut a promo saying he was glad to be in a company that knew how to put on a good show, and got a “F*** Johnny Ace” chant started. Crowd was very supportive.
7. Matt Hardy vs. Chris Daniels: Crowd was split, as a lot of people were happy to see Daniels wrestle again. Finish saw CM Punk come out and hit Daniels with a chain. Hardy hit a Twist of Fate, but Daniels kicked out. Hardy hit another TOF, and added a guillotine for the tapout.
Punk got on the mic and said Daniels would never get a title show now, and he was leaving ROH. Gibson came out, head bandaged, for the title match.
8. CM Punk vs. James Gibson: The show had reached the 3.5 hour mark, and the crowd began to lose its steam. Still a good match, with some excellent nearfalls at the end before Punk rolled up Gibson and pulled the tights for the win.
Afterwards Punk said he was leaving ROH for good, until he was interupted by Daniels. Daniels knocked him out with a belt shot and stole the belt, saying if he ever wanted to see the belt again he would come back for one last match.
A few people threw plastic bottles at Punk as he was selling the shot, and he apparently jumped into the crowd and chased one fan into the parking lot.
Excellent show, one of the better ROH shows I’ve attended. Steven Richards was there but was not a part of the show. ROH returns to CT on 10/29.
Credit: WrestlingObserver.com
