The SmarK Rant for ROH – The 100th Show (April 22 2006)
– Taped from Philly
Claudio Castagnoli v. Christopher Daniels
Interesting setup tonight with the bleachers divided into ROH and CZW sections, which makes for a pretty intense atmosphere. We get some posing to start and Daniels works a headlock, but Claudio reverses to a wristlock and forces Daniels to flip out of it. Daniels does hi own wristlock and CC does his own reversal, but Daniels armdrags him for another stalemate. They trade armdrags and Claudio bails. Back in, Claudio tries a legbar on the mat, but Daniels makes the ropes and bails to regroup. Back in, criss-cross and Daniels takes him down with an anklelock, but CC makes the ropes and bails again. Daniels takes him down with another armdrag, but Claudio reverses to a headscissors and into a very delayed vertical suplex. The CZW fans boo the minute-long suplex, which is pretty spiteful. Claudio goes to a chinlock, but Daniels dropkicks the knee and starts working on it. Nice legbar using the top rope for leverage, kind of like the Tarantula. CC comes back with forearms, but Daniels takes the leg out again and moonsaults the knee. Claudio manages to roll him over for two, but Daniels goes back to the knee again. CC blocks a legwhip attempt with an enzuigiri and slugs Daniels down with forearms, into an X-Factor for two. Daniels with the death valley driver for two. Best Moonsault Ever gets two. Well, it’s hardly the BEST, then. Blind charge misses and now Claudio is on the leg, wrapping Daniels up with a horse-collar leglock that forces him to make the ropes. Daniels misses the enzuigiri, but recovers with a rollup for the pin.
(Christopher Daniels d. Claudio Castagnoli, rollup — pin, 15:54, ***) Felt like they were waiting to really take off with it, but it was certainly a good opener. And then, finally after 100 shows, Christopher Daniels shakes someone’s hand, putting Claudio over as the future of the company. Chris Hero, he of the awesome wrestling name and spokesman for CZW, wanders out to badmouth the fans and ROH in general, which sets off a big dueling chant from the audience. Apparently, Joe is going to kill him, if I understand the situation correctly.
Jimmy Jacobs v. Jimmy Rave v. Delirious v. Jimmy Yang
There are entirely too many people named “Jimmy” in this match. If this was WWE, at least one of them would be renamed to “Garrison” or “William”. Delirious hunched over in the corner like a serial killer is hilarious, although chewing on the middle rope might be funnier. This is four corners rules, so you have to tag. Jacobs starts with Yang and they exchange headlocks, but Yang goes for Jacobs’ picture of Lacey and does bad things to it. This sets off Jacobs, who fires chops at Yang and then gets them back himself, but comes back with a rana for two. Yang comes back with a sidekick and Jacobs lets Delirious have a go. Yang decides to try confusing him, which proves pretty easy, but Delirious takes him into the corner and gets a running knee for two. Dropkick puts Yang on the floor and Delirious baseball slides him, and it’s back to Jacobs. Seated dropkick gets two. He goes up and gets caught with a sweet spinkick from Yang, and Jacobs decides to bring Rave in. Suplex and Rave pounds away on the mat, then chokes him out on the ropes. Prince Nana’s chick adds a pretty good kick on the apron and Yang hits the floor, where Rave tosses him into the crowd. Back in, Jacobs comes in with an elbow from the middle rope for two. Back to Rave, as they work together a bit and work on the bloody nose of Yang. Rave charges into an elbow from Yang, and he follows with a moonsault press as Prince Nana gets chased to the dressing room. Yang and Rave clothesline each other and it’s tags on both sides. Delirious goads Jacobs into a chase and then hits him with a lariat, and kicks him in the head for two. Rave tags himself back in and spears Jacobs for two. Yang gets in and goes low on Rave, then follows with a spinkick, but misses Yang Time. Jacobs follows with the Contra Code (Sliced Bread #2), but only gets two because he’s distracted by the thought of seeing Lacey’s boobies (no, really), and Delirious catches him with the cobra clutch to finish.
(Delirious d. Rave/Yang/Jacobs, cobra stretch — submission, 12:55, **1/2) Wasn’t really feeling this one, as it was a bit of a style clash with Delirious and Yang in there, to say the least.
ROH Tag titles: Austin Aries & Roderick Strong v. Homicide & Ricky Reyes
Reyes trades wristlocks with Strong to start, and it’s quickly over to Aries, but Reyes wants none of him. Homicide takes him down with a headlock and he shows his moves, but Aries outwrestles him. Homicide tries a headscissors, but Aries turns it into a boston crab and Homicide makes the ropes. Homicide overpowers him and gets a back elbow, and takes him down with a headscissors. Aries escapes that and slugs on Homicide, and it’s over to Strong for a suplex that gets two. Aries slingshots in for two. Strong pounds him down and gets a dropkick, and Homicide bails to escape, but Aries follows with a tope suicida to keep on him. This gives Reyes a chance for a cheapshot, as he attacks from behind and takes out the knee. Back in, Homicide starts working on it with a heel hook and Reyes pounds on the knee with knees of his own. Aries manages to bring Strong back in, and he hits Homicide with an enzuigiri and throws a leg lariat for two. Blind charge misses, but he blocks Homicide’s tornado DDT and they fight on the top. Reyes brings Strong down with a backdrop suplex, and Homicide follows with a diving headbutt, and the Rottweilers take over. Reyes with a backbreaker for two for a bit of irony, and he whips Strong hard into the corner and chokes him down. Demolition Decapitation gets two for Homicide. Strong gets tossed and they whip him into the railing, and Homicide tosses a chair at his face for good measure. Back in, that gets two. Strong gets tossed again, but he moves out of the way of Homicide’s dive attempt, which just annoys him. Everyone brawls on the floor and Homicide suplexes Strong on a table and then double-stomps him through it. Back in, Reyes with the gut wrench and a nasty kick to the back gets two. He tries the dragon sleeper, but Strong escapes with a jawbreaker and makes the hot tag to Aries, who is STILL selling the leg. Teardrop suplex for Reyes and he pounds away in the corner, and then he evades a charging Homicide and dropkicks Reyes in the corner for two. Nice little sequence there. Aries makes the mistake of stopping to try a suplex, and Homicide clips him from behind and hits him with an Ace Crusher and lariat, and Reyes gets two. Strong gives Homicide a backbreaker to get rid of him, but Reyes fires the kicks at Strong in response. Strong powerbombs him and sends Aries to the top, but Homicide knocks him down and Reyes gets the sleeper on Strong. Aries recovers long enough to go up and hit a 450 on Reyes to break it up, and that’s enough to finish as well.
(Generation Next d. The Rottweilers, Aries 450 splash — pin Reyes, 15:10, ***1/2) Given I love everyone in the match, it’s no surprise that they would just work the tag team formula and have it turn out fabulous. Kudos to Aries for selling the leg injury way past the point when most people would bother.
ROH World title: Bryan Danielson v. Colt Cabana
Nice way for Cabana to recover from the Homicide feud. Danielson pauses to moon the CZW crowd, which is something I didn’t need to see. Cabana gives us a clean break to start, and takes Danielson down with the knucklelock. They fight for a wristlock and Bryan starts working the arm, but Colt overpowers him and a rolling bridge gets two. Lockup and Dragon throws chops in the corner, but Colt takes him down and rolls him up for two. Crucifix gets two. Danielson comes back with a fluke rollup to finish, however.
(Bryan Danielson d. Colt Cabana, rollup — pin, 5:00, *1/2) Well, that was certainly quick. Cabana doesn’t take the quick loss very well.
Intermission time, as Jimmy Jacobs preaches about love and Colt sulks.
Derrick Dempsey v. Pelle Primeau
This is for a trophy, which hopefully will not get smashed. They trade hammerlocks to start and Primeau rolls him up for two, then shoulderblocks him down and out. Back in, Dempsey knees him down and bitchslaps him to take over. Backdrop driver gets two. Abdominal stretch, but Primeau reverses to a headscissors and gets a high cross for two. Dempsey gets a wicked spinebuster to finish.
(Derrick Dempsey d. Pelle Primeau, spinebuster — pin, 3:23, *1/2) Not much to this one, obviously. ROH is generally smart enough not to give these guys long enough to die out there, though. And after the match, Bryan Danielson saunters back out and gives it to the CZW side. They got SERVED. He suggests “You’re Gonna Get Your Fucking Head Kicked In” as a better chant than the stuff they’ve been doing, and then challenges all the winners tonight to find a challenger who will last more than 5 minutes. Whoops, already beat Daniels. Whoops, already beat Aries. Already beat Strong. Three times! So that leaves…
ROH World title: Bryan Danielson v. Delirious
Delirious’ pre-match “promo” is great stuff. Danielson immediately lays him out and chokes away, but HE HAS UNTIL FIVE, REFEREE! Bow-and-arrow and he slugs Delirious down with a forearm, into another version of the bow-and-arrow. He curb-stomps Delirious, just for the CZW fans, and that gets two. Indian deathlock, complete with hip action from Danielson, and he still has until five. Delirious makes the ropes, but gets slugged down again, and Danielson dropkicks him in the corner. Well, if it makes Delirious feel better, he’s lasted longer than Cabana did. Abdominal stretch with the ropes for leverage, and he stomps Delirious down and follows with a textbook dropkick. That gets two. To the top, but Delirious finally gets some offense in, headbutting Dragon to the mat and following with his Shadows Over Hell flying splash to the back. He dropkicks Bryan into the corner and follows with a running knee, and a small package gets two. He fires away with forearms, but walks right into Cattle Mutilation and he’s over his head, but makes the ropes. Danielson protests that Delirious tapped, but amazingly that doesn’t work. Delirious goes with an airplane spin, which is suited to him, and locks in the cobra stretch, but he’s too close to the ropes. Danielson bails and Delirious follows with the tope suicida, but gets whipped into the railing. Danielson calls for the airplane spin and then smashes his head into the post instead. That’s just DISHONEST. He rips the mask open to reveal blood, and works on the cut as they head back in. Dragon suplex and Delirous is done, as Cattle Mutilation is academic. And yet he still makes the ropes, too crazy to know when to quit. Dragon DDTs him and goes up, taking his time to pose, which gives Delirious enough time to move. He fights back with a high kick and a corner clothesline, then keeps throwing clotheslines and won’t let him out. Superplex attempt is escaped by Danielson, as he slips out the back door and takes him down with a backdrop superplex of his own, and then just brutalizes him with elbows until the ref calls it.
(Bryan Danielson d. Delirious, ref stoppage, 15:33, ***1/2) This was pretty damn cool, as Danielson wasn’t taking him seriously, and ended up taking it VERY personally at the end given the finish. Delirious was looking like a train ran him over at the end after fighting so hard to stay in the match and hang with the champion.
Jay & Mark Briscoe v. Matt Sydal & AJ Styles
I haven’t actually seen the Briscoes since the early days of the promotion, so I’m interested to see where they’ve come since then. The tattooed thug is pretty badass, gotta say, and it’s nice to see that they’ve filled out since the early days. The best thing: They wear tights in opposite colors, so I can tell them apart! Brawl to start and Styles hammers on Jay and gets a dropkick, and the faces double-team Mark with a Styles neckbreaker for two. Sydal tries a knee in the corner, but Mark chops back and the Briscoes just destroy him with a double shoulderblock for two. Jay gets a vicious corner clothesline and Mark drops an elbow for two, and a suplex gets two. Jay with a back elbow for two. Holy cow, these guys are COOL now. Sydal comes back with a headscissors and gets AJ back in, as he drops a knee and adds a backdrop suplex for two. Jay snaps him down with a drop toehold into the ropes, however, and Mark dropkicks the face and comes in with a double stomp for two. He pounds AJ into the corner with shoulderblocks, into a northern lights suplex for two. He goes for a boston crab, but Styles gets a rana from the mat to put Mark on the mat, and it’s DIVES FOR EVERYONE! Sydal sunset flips back in on Mark, but the Briscoes hit him with a double-team press slam and Mark gets two. Jay with a dropkick for two. HUGE double hiptoss on Sydal gets two for Mark. They do the beatdown on Sydal in the corner and Jay hits the chinlock, but Sydal takes him down with a headscissors and makes the hot tag to AJ. Gutbuster for Jay, inverted DDT for Mark. Suplex for Jay and he goes for the Styles Clash, but Mark breaks it up, so AJ gets a neckbreaker into a Sydal flying splash. That gets two. Another double-team with Sydal hitting a neckbreaker on Jay out of a Styles powerbomb, but Sydal goes for a rana and gets DESTROYED with a Doomsday Device, as Mark springboarded from a running start. Fucking EPIC. Jay just MURDERS Styles with a big boot, but Sydal comes back with a standing moonsault on Jay. The Briscoes, REALLY grumpy now, hit Sydal with a spike version of the J-Driller, and Sydal may be legally dead.
(The Briscoes d. Sydal & Styles, Jay double underhook piledriver — pin Sydal, ****) I heart the new high impact style of the Briscoes, as they were just offense on top of offense, and the finishing sequence was sick as all hell. Put the tag belts on them and leave them there for a good long while.
ROH v. CZW: Samoa Joe, BJ Whitmer & Adam Pearce v. Chris Hero, Super Dragon & Necro Butcher.
Big brawl to start, with Joe going after Hero as promised while Whitmer beats on Dragon outside. Hero bails and Joe hits him with a dive. Claudio runs out and steals the barbed wire baseball bat from CZW mouthpiece John Zandig, then takes off again. Necro Butcher, looking like Krist Novocelic from Nirvana, beats on Pearce with a chair and draws a gusher early on, and everyone heads into the crowd. Joe and BJ double-team Dragon and suplex him on some chairs, and Joe returns to ringside to beat the living snot out of Butcher. In the ring, finally, Pearce powerbombs Butcher on a pile of chairs while Super Dragon debates fans at ringside. This gives Whitmer a chance to hit him with a chair, and from there Joe is more than happy to brutalize him. Butcher finally stops Joe’s rampage by hitting him with a chair, while Whitmer suplexes Hero for two. Dragon goes up, and BJ brings him down, but a senton splash gets two for Super Dragon. A blind charge misses and Dragon goes into the post and out. Butcher sets up chairs and tries to powerbomb Joe on them, but c’mon. Joe fires off the elbows and then suplexes him onto the chairs, and he’s pretty much done. It only gets two, however. They head out and Hero takes over on Whitmer in the ring, while Joe retrieves a table. Hero boots BJ down for two and a neckbreaker gets two. They head out and it’s Butcher v. Pearce, as they slug it out and each one goes down and gets counted by the ref. Hero breaks up the fisticuffsmanship, but gets suplexed by Pearce. Meanwhile, on the floor, Joe suplexes Dragon through a table, and then returns to the ring to put Hero in his place. Running knee in the corner and facewash, but the other CZW guys jump him and toss him. Butcher whips him with the belt, while Pearce hits Hero with a spinebuster in the ring and goes up with a flying splash that gets two. Dragon breaks it up with a double stomp. Dragon curb stomps him to follow up, but stops to pose and gets KILLED by Whitmer with a lariat. He follows with an exploder on a chair and gets two. Butcher lays him out with a chair while Joe beats on Hero outside, but luckily Pearce has his own chair and takes Butcher out with it. Dragon puts BJ on a chair and stomps him from the top, but only gets two. Burning Hammer through a table on the floor follows. Holy shit indeed. In the ring again, Hero takes on Joe with a chair, but now John Zandig comes into the ring and gets jumped by Joe as a result. The CZW squad beats up the ROH ref, but Claudio Castagnoli comes in to save the day! Well, until he turns on ROH and hugs Hero. Pearce tries to save and gets laid out as a result, and Hero and Claudio hit him with a double-team neckbreaker to finish.
(CZW d. ROH, Hero neckbreaker — pin Adam Pearce, 25:19, ****) Well, they had to go that route, since the heel side needs the big win to really make the fans want to see the blowoff. Looked like a crappy brawl to start, but the intensity kept building and building and there was all kinds of crazy shit leading up to the big turn for Claudio. Not the kind of thing I’d want see on every ROH show, but it fit the spirit of the show, for sure.
The Pulse:
A very enjoyable change of pace, with the kind of big angle you don’t usually see from this promotion to cap it off. And hey, two Danielson matches for the price of one, can’t beat that. Recommended.
