[ROH] Results from Morristown, NJ Shows

Archive

ROH report from August 20 in Morristown, NJ, according to John Siska, WrestlingObserver.com:

The “Do Or Die V” Afternoon card saw:

1) Sal Rinauro defeated Antonio Blanco

2) Steve Madison defeated Davey Andrews

3) Claudio Castagnoli defeated Rainman

4) Jerelle Clark defeated Jay Fury in the best match of the afternoon

5) Smash Bradley and the Dempsey Bro’s defeated the Heartbreak Express and Shane Hagadorn in a terrible match

6) Lacey defeated Sumie Sakai

7) Outcast Killers defeated EC Negro and Pele Primo (sp?). Primo was this short, skinny kid who looked to weigh about 120 pounds out of the ROH wrestling school and got his ass handed to him.

8) Sterling James Keenan defeated John McChesney in a match for the Pittsburg-based IWC promotions title.

9) Sal Rinauro defeated Steve Madison, Claudio Castagnoli and Jerelle Clark to win a roster spot on upcoming ROH shows

NOTES: The basic concept of the afternoon Do or Die shows is to showcase new talent that may be brought in for future ROH shows. Unfortunately, this was probably the weakest Do or Die show to date as basically everyone “died” and no one “did” (or ‘do’ed, whatever?). But for only a $5 admission charge, it was a more than fair price and while the matches weren’t very impressive, it was still entertaining.

The evening show saw:

1) Dunn and Marcos defeated the Carnage Crew in a weapons match. One of the weapons was a WWE toy ring. Everyone was bleeding and this was a good fight.

2) Azrieal defeated Jerelle Clark in a really good match. Clark was probably the most impressive on the afternoon card, which is why he got a match in the evening. Finish saw Azrieal come off the top with a double stomp to Clarks head. I think Azrieal’s eyebrow piercing got ripped out as he was bleeding from that area after the match.

3) Jay Lethal defeated Ricky Reyes (w/Julius Smokes and Grim Reefer) in a good match.

4) Colt Cabana defeated Nigel McGuiness. These two have been having a good fued the past couple of months and it ended tonight. Cabana said that closed fists were legal, so he punched Nigel. He said headbutts were legal, so he headbutted him. He said low blows were legal, and you get the picture here. It was an anything goes match basically. They fought all over the building. Towards the end, Cabana took a header off the top rope through a table at ringside which looked nasty. Both men shook hands after the match out of respect.

5) James Gibson vs Spanky vs Homicide for the ROH World title wound up being a no contest. Spanky came out first and got good heel heat since he turned on Gibson last weekend in Chicago. Homicide was DQ’ed for using a chain on Gibson and the fans crapped all over it. Spanky was hanging by his leg from the turnbuckle as the DQ was announced and was said to be injured, so the match was thrown out. The crowd crapped all over this, chanting for Homicide. Most of the ROH wrestling school students hit the ring and a brawl ensued, with Steve Madison and Homicide fighting into the crowd and up to the bleachers. I belive those two are currently fueding in Florida’s FIP promotion. The match was good up until the DQ and then stoppage due to “injury”.

6) Heartbreak Express vs Lacey’s Angels (Cheech and Cloudy) as a bonus match never even started as Gibson ran back out and beat up both teams. Gibson cut a promo saying he didnt’ want his first title defense to wind up the way it did. Gary Michael Cappetta came out and said that Spanky would be ok to finish the match later in the evening, which was met with a gigantic “Homicide” chant. But we weren’t getting that, we were getting Gibson vs Spanky. Well hey, Cide did get DQ’ed which did justify this I suppose.

INTERMISSION~!

7) Generation Next of Austin Aries and Roderick Strong defeated The Embassy’s Jimmy Rave and Puma in a good match. Alex Shelley was supposed to be in the tag match and was there at ringside, but Prince Nana gave him the night off for whatever reason (this was quite disapointing as I really like Shelley), so Puma took the spot. Good match. Prince Nana had Jade Chung wrapped up in a blanket and had a dog collar on her.

After the match, Nana was blaming Jade for the loss and was about to hit her. Mick Foley stormed out, with his new book “Scooter” in hand of course, and saved her. Foley got some cheap pops, of course, and told Nana he would not let him continue to abuse Jade, and told her that she had a choice to stay with Nana or be set free. The crowd started chanting “Happy Ending”, which was hilarious. Shelley attacked Foley from behind, and the Embassy started a beat down on him, but Aries and Strong returned and took them out. Foley then gave Nana a DDT onto his book.

8) James Gibson defeated Spanky to retain the ROH World title. Good match. Spanky came out limping, selling the leg from earlier. As the match started, the crowd erupted into another gigantic “Homicide” chant. It eventually died down as the match got underway. Spanky sold the leg for several minutes, and then eventually caught Gibson and showed that he was faking it all along and started jumping up and down and yelled “It’s a miracle!”. That was funny. Finish saw Gibson win with a rollup.

Afterwards, as Gibson made his way to the back, Homicide ran out to a huge pop and ran Spanky off. Cide got on the mic and told the fan’s that he was “the bad guy” and we should be booing him. The fans chanted for him anyway. Eventually he just laughed and said “oh f*ck it”, and walked off.

9) Samoa Joe defeated Christopher Daniels to retain the ROH Pure title. This match was great and worth going out of your way to see. Both men lost all three of their rope breaks, and Joe caught Daniels in the ropes with a submission for the tap.

NOTES: Joe and Daniels basically saved this show, as much of the undercard was pretty underwhelming. It was the first ROH in ages that I can recall being indifferent to, but in the same sense it was still leaps and bounds better than most products today. The attendance was about 600. They announced a New Jersey return, this time to Edison on 12/17 for Final Battle 05.

Credit: John Siska, WrestlingObserver.com

Matthew Michaels is editor emeritus of Pulse Wrestling, and has been since the site launched.