The Ring of Honor Reviewer– 11/25/06 in Edison, NJ- Live Attendance Review
-Pulse Glazer
A great show. Much better than last night and the crowd, unlike the Long Island crowd, was hyped for the action. As always, all live ratings are tentative. My sidekick decided to reset right around intermission so my notes were lost. It hasn’t done that in about 8 months, so of course it happened as I’m using it for notes.
We started early at 7:30
Match 1: Brent Albright vs. El Generico
Not a bad match, but more of the same from yesterday with Albright manhandling a smaller wrestler who can compete for a short while with speed. Albright won again with the German Suplex to a Tazplex and then the Fujiwara armbar.
Brent Albright defeats El Generico(Submission, Fujiwara armbar, **)
Match 2: Shane Hagadorn vs. Bobby Dempsey for the Top of the Class Trophy
Hagadorn operates as a basic cowardly heel and Dempsey as your generic superface. This is like the rookie version of Flair vs. Rhodes. Hagadorn wins by using the brass knuckles. Really short, but fun
Shane Hagadorn defeats Bobby Dempsey (Pin, Power of the Punch, *1/2)
Match 3: Jason Blade vs. Delirious
Not much here. Jason Blade wheeled out a few nice spots, but this was basically a Delirious showcase. As always, good comedy from Delirious, who is loved by the crowd. Delirious made Blade tap with the Cobra Stretch.
Delirious defeats Jason Blade (Submission, Cobra Stretch, **1/4)
Match 4: Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer
A wild brawl all the way through. BJ got a much better response than he did last night, and Jimmy got the full cell phone treatment during his entrance. He’s a born star; hopefully someone sees it before it’s too late. They threw the ref out at the start. When BJ controlled the brawl it was because he took over by using a power move, and when Jacobs did, he used speed to initiate, a nice touch that separates this from similar bloody brawls.
Eventually Jimmy got out the spike and they went to work on each other with that. BJ went after Lacey with it, but that revived Jacobs enough to fight BJ off. Lacey attacked BJ when both men were down, but Daizee Haze came out and chased off Lacey. That was it and the match was called. The trainees come out to help everyone to the back.
BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs wrestled to a draw (No contest, *** ½)
Absolutely fantastic. If this had a finish and they kept going then we’re looking at **** easily.
Match 5: Roderick Strong (c) vs. Shingo for the FIP Title
Roderick made the match no DQ, since in FIP the wrestlers make the rules. Shingo is a by the book heel with some nice psychology and power moves. Roderick looked good, but not great tonight. A nice back and forth match, but honestly unmemorable. Roderick won with a Gibson Driver on the chair.
Roderick Strong retains by defeating Shingo (Pin, Gibson Driver, **3/4)
Match 6: Matt Sydal and Christopher Daniels vs. The Kings of Wrestling (c) for the ROH Tag Team Championship
The Kings of Wrestling are amazingly over as heels, especially Hero. Several nice “Where’s your contract?” taunts at Hero. The heels attempted to keep this one grounded all match, but to no avail. Eventually, Hero took to the air to the outside, but Sydal followed that with a top rope moonsault to the floor. As soon as they got to that point the pace was speeded up and they were playing into Sydal and Daniels hands. Sydal, amazingly got up and stood on Claudio’s shoulders during a powerbomb attempt, before falling to DDT him. Sydal and Daniels finished winning the tag titles when Daniels speared and Sydal hit a hurricanrana out of an attempted KRS.
Sydal and Daniels won the ROH Tag Titles defeating The Kings of Wrestling (Pin, Hurricanrana, *** ¾)
After the match, Daniels dubs his team The Lords of the Ring.
Intermission- Not that anyone cares, but I bought the Cabana-Danielson Iron Man, Punk-Joe Shoot, and Survival of the Fittest 2006.
Match 7: Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Rave
This was fairly good, but certainly long and slow. It would have been much better, as would all of Nigel’s matches, if the long arm work actually went somewhere. Naturally once it picked up, it was very good. Rave kicked out of the Tower of London (which is officially dead as a finisher) and Nigel kicked out of the Pedigree. Rave actually looked really good here, but still lost to the rebound lariat, which I will join with Ari from 411 in calling the Off with his Head.
Nigel McGuinness defeats Jimmy Rave (Pin, Rebound lariat, **2/3)
After the match Nigel puts over Rave with the crowd, but jokingly throws toilet paper at Rave’s back afterwards. They insult eachother for awhile
Match 8: Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards
I think the placement of this match on the card foreshadows the victor. They tell a great story of one-upmanship with Aries coming out ahead early as he claims it’s the difference experience makes. Davey is able to keep up, however, and works the arm over like a champ. The double arm brainbuster only gets two on Aries and Aries traditional brainbuster only gets two as well. After this Aries goes for the 450, but misses and rolls through. He then charges Davey, but misses and hits ring post. Davey goes straight back to the earlier worked arm with a headscissor/keylock combo and gets Aries to tap. And that, my friends, is elevation.
Davey Richards defeats Austin Aries (Submission, headscissor/keylock combo, ****)
This is the reason to get this show, if you have any affinity for Davey at all.
Match 9: Homicide and Samoa Joe vs. The Briscoes
A wild brawl all over the building including using hockey sticks, powerbombs on the floor, a Mark Briscoe shooting star off the scaffolding, and many more insane high spots. The finish is a Muscle Buster by Joe on one Briscoe and a Cop Killa by Homicide on the other.
Homicide and Samoa Joe defeat the Briscoes (Pin, Muscle Buster and Cop Killa)
No scoring here as I missed a good chunk because this went all over the building. It’s at least ***
Very good show, absolutely worthy of purchase. Two great brawls, one great technical match up, and a great standard tag match. This one has something for everyone and marks the fist big ROH elevation of Davey Richards.
