The Ring of Honor Reviewer: 12/22/06 in Hartford, CT Live Attendance Review

Houseshows, Reviews, Shows

Well, this was a two-hour drive from me and I’ve never felt like I got less from my time and money than tonight. A series of bad finishes coupled with a bad crowd left this show flat.

Prior to match one Samoa Joe came out and said he couldn’t wrestle tonight due to tripping on some bad booking on the way over. He got the crowd nice and hyped before the opening match, a feeling which died when”¦

Match 1: Jason Blade vs. Pelle Primeau

Pelle managed a good number of counters early, but Blade eventually had too much power and speed for the counter wrestling to effect, including a head first dive, during which Blade hurt his knee. Blade finished after a series of rollup attempted by Pelle, with a moonsault.

Jason Blade defeats Pelle Primeau (Pin, Moonsault, * ½)
A very short match, almost worthless. Blade and Rave would have been way better and these two were left to die coming out right after Joe to a markish crowd.

Match 2: Eddie Edwards vs. Austin Aries

Eddie’s Die Hard tights got probably the most heat of the night. Aries looked great here, Edwards not so much, with a generic offense and a few quick kicks. He failed to make much of an impression and this felt like Aries going through the motions, so of course he finished with the brainbuster, 450 combo.

Austin Aries defeats Eddie Edwards (Pin, 450 Splash, **)
Better by virtue of Aries’s selling mostly. Edwards yelled “brainbuster” at some point, then failed to hit one, leading the audience to continually shout for brainbusters all night.

Match 3: Adam Pearce with Shane Hagadorn vs. Delirious

Delirious looked great for most of the match, but Hagadorn’s distractions continually cost the masked lizard-faced man. Eventually Hagadorn’s distracting the referee allowed Pearce to nail Delirious with some brass knuckles for the pin.

Adam Pearce defeats Delirious (Pin, brass knuckles, **)
Weak finish #1. The old heel shtick really worked for Pearce here. Hagadorn is great in this roll.

After the match Pelle throws Hagadorn in the ring and Delirious delivers a piledriver, setting up a tag match somewhere down the line I’m sure.

Match 4: Jimmy Jacobs and Mercedes Martinez vs. BJ Whitmer and Daizee Haze

Jimmy and BJ brawled all over the place in this one, while Daizee and Mercedes stayed in the ring. Eventually the males return to the ring lead to some man to woman violence on both sides, including a sick double exploder on both Mercedes and Jimmy by BJ. The finish saw Haze hit a splash off of Jacobs onto Mercedes for the win.

BJ Whitmer and Daizee Haze defeat Jimmy Jacobs and Mercedes Martinez (Pin, Splash on Haze, **)
Dragged down badly by Haze who was missing shots left and right. Mercedes looked great, but got hurt in the match. Jimmy and BJ brought their regular fun violence.

After the match Albright and Jimmy beat on and spiked BJ. This drew out Colt Cabana.

Match 5: Brent Albright vs. Colt Cabana

Colt’s comedy in full effect for a good while at the start, and it was actually very entertaining. Lot’s of fun chants at Albright, including a “You got fired” which prompted Cabana to get the house mic and state “They determined that what I did with Lacey wasn’t sexual harassment so I didn’t get fired!” After the comedy Albright controlled, but more with brawling than his usual power game since he was so flustered. After Cabana escaped the Crowbar submission, Albright was finished with a quick rollup.

Colt Cabana defeats Brent Albright (Pin, rollup, ** ½)
Weak Finish #2. Who does this help? Colt’s (unfortunately) a main eventer. There’s no rub in beating Albright this weakly. The match itself was loads of fun with both men playing off the crowd.

Match 6: The Briscoes vs. The Kings of Wrestling

This was going great as a slow build classic tag match, with both teams hitting some pretty double team moves, until the arrival of Larry Sweeney derailed things. He punched a Briscoe; Hero with a rollup and the dream match is wasted.

The Kings of Wrestling defeat The Briscoes (Pin, rollup, ** ½)
Weak Finish #3. What was there was great. It ended with far less time than it should have received, and Hero didn’t draw his usual heat due to the fans reluctance to boo Claudio on his last weekend. Disappointing from the biggest reason I made the trip to CT. Larry Sweeney better bring the goods to make up for this.

Intermission

Match 7: Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Homicide with Julius Smokes

This became a tag match with Rave and Danielson teaming against Nigel and Homicide. Danielson avoided Homicide all night, and when he finally got near Homicide, he sent him into the post shoulder first. Homicide played up the injury outside, with Samoa Joe coming out to check on him. This distracted Nigel long enough to end up in the small package by Danielson for the three.

Bryan Danielson defeats Nigel McGuinness, Homicide, and Jimmy Rave (Pin, small package, ** ½)
Weak Finish #4. Rave and Nigel looked great. Nigel was working stiff and had the crowd involved. Rave just seems motivated again and looks like he belongs with the top of the card. Danielson and Homicide’s involvement was limited.

Match 8: FIP Title Match- Roderick Strong (c) vs. Davey Richards

Davey dominated this match. He established advantages on the mat, with speed, and even with striking, with his chops actually louder than Strong’s. Roddy had a power advantage and took advantage of the few Davey mistakes, but this was Davey’s match. He even bantered with the crowd as he was in control. Eventually, as the match started to get hot, they went outside, where they brawled up the ramp. Strong made it back; Davey did not.

Roderick Strong defeats Davey Richards (Countout, ** ½)
Weak Finish #5. Well, Davey has arrived, but Roddy didn’t look good here and I have no idea why. Could have ended up great in the pay-off portions of the match had they not went home before they had a chance.

Match 9: Tag Team Championship- Matt Sydal and Chris Daniels (c) vs. Shingo and CIMA

CIMA and Shingo playing heels here, with CIMA clearly fantastic at it. They turn Sydal into Ricky Morton for a good while before the hot tag and the spots come flying fast and furious. Once they got going, they got the crowd rocking and it ended up being a really fun match with some beautiful spots hit crisply, including a Sydal moonsault to the floor. Eventually the Best Moonsault Ever and Shooting Star Press combination by the champs put down Shingo.

Chris Daniels and Matt Sydal defeat CIMA and Shingo (Pin, SSP on Shingo, *** ¼)
This really got the crowd going with all the spots, but they didn’t go insane with the spots and the match was merely pretty good overall. Sydal looked mostly healthy, but lacked his usual speed around the ring.

5 weak finishes in 9 matches really took their toll, especially since 4 were in a row. Really, really disappointing. Thank goodness tonight is Final Battle. Recommendation to avoid.

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.