Death Before Dishonor V Night 1, 8/10 in Roxbury, MA
Match 1: Davey Richards vs. Jack Evans
This was fairly heated and the crowd was very into both men, with Davey getting legitimate heel heat and Jack being a very over face. This is speed vs. striking and Davey has counters prepared for a lot what Jack hit him with in NYC at Glory by Honor V Night 2 (get that show by the way), so Jack begins to use different moves. The Sasuke Special was countered so later Davey hit a Springboard twisting moonsault dropkick. Jack’s new offense prevented Davey from being able to finish properly with the stretch muffler as he did last time. Jack goes for the double knee in the tree of woe and hits, but as he goes up for the 630, Roderick Strong runs out and breaks it up.
Jack Evans defeats Davey Richards (DQ, Roderick interference, *** ¼)
This was great until the finish. Davey was clearly done, so the run in accomplishes nothing, but makes it seem ROH is scared to give us clean winners and losers, and since that’s their calling card, that’s weak. The story flowed perfectly and with a regular finish, it’d be rated higher.
Post match the NRC beat on Jack until Resilience makes the save. Jack says he doesn’t need the help and walks away.
Match 2: Shimmer #1 Contender Match: Lacey vs. Daizee Haze
Daizee dominates early with speed and counters, but eventually Shimmer Champion Sara Del Rey makes her way out distracting Daizee. Lacey takes the advantage, even doing Del Rey’s underhook finisher, but can’t put Daizee away.
Daizee made a comeback and they went back and forth for a bit, but a back cracker flowing into an implant DDT got the win for Lacey.
Lacey defeats Daizee Haze (Pin, Implant DDT, **)
Not bad, but the heat segments ran long and Del Rey’s interaction with the match was a detraction rather than a benefit. Lacey, a major heel, winning clean was a surprise, but probably necessary to build her up for the dominating Del Rey.
Match 3: Pure Rules Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. Chris Hero w/ Larry Sweeney, Tank Tolland and Sara Del Rey
Pure Rules means: Each man gets three rope breaks then the ropes become “in play.†20 count on the floor. Closed fists lead to a warning, then cost a rope break.
Sweeney gets the house mic and lists some more hilarious rules. He’s gold on the mic.
As soon as the match starts the lights go out and Project 161 is real blares over the speakers. The lights come back on and the match is on, with the ref refusing to believe Nigel used all of his rope breaks in the dark.
Nigel’s arm work has a point again, but Hero manages to work Nigel’s arm as well, preventing any lariats. Nigel goes back to his pure wrestling persona and mostly forsakes them, which will delight some fans. Nigel, however, loses all his rope breaks while Hero only uses two due to outside shenanigans of the type he used to use as a heel in his pure title matches. Hero manages to put Nigel in the Hangman’s Clutch and with no rope breaks left, that’s the match.
Chris Hero defeats Nigel McGuinness (Submission, Hangman’s Clutch, ***1/2)
*** ½ is the match rating, but the fun goes well beyond that. Hero and SnS Inc.’s antics are a pure joy to behold and not only was the wrestling very good, so was the work. I still don’t see how long Hero can remain heel while getting these reactions, but bravo either way to some great work.
Post match Nigel catches Dempsey with the Jawbreaker Lariat to get some heat back the only successful lariat of the night for him.
Match 4: 6 Man Mayhem: Jigsaw vs. Brent Albright vs. Matt Cross vs. Delirious vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Eddie Edwards
The match began with Albright being freaked out by Delirious, but the story for most of the rest was the other opponents using speed to take it to Albright. Ultimately, this earned them all half-nelson suplexes, but when Albright went for the pin, Delirious broke it up and was chased to the back. This left Matt Cross an opening for a beautiful Shooting Star Leg Drop on Eddie Edwards for three.
Matt Cross wins 6 Man Mayhem (Pin, Shooting Star on Cross, ***
A nice story for a 6 Man Mayhem so it wasn’t a pure spotfest, along with everyone being over, a feud being set up (Del and Albright) with a sweet finish mean this was a pleasant surprise.
Match 5: Austin Aries and Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero
A weird brawl starts and leads to a heat segment on Aries. At the end of it he makes his hot tag, but a major note is that the tag must be made while the audience claps or the resulting tag dies. Well, they made that mistake here and it hurt the crowd.
During the Resilience’s control period, Aries messes up his knee badly, collapsing while attempting a running dropkick. The match is a mess from here on with Aries eventually getting the pin on Romero after the regular into the 450.
Aries and Stevens defeat Strong and Romero (Pin, Aries 450 on Romero, **)
The formula was fine I guess, but nothing that would have made the match good worked once Aries’s knee was blown out. It’s a shame to penalize the match for it, but it’s only honest.
Post match Davey Richards is out and beats on the Resilience and soon the whole NRC is up and ready to take out Matt Cross. Jack Evans makes the save and says next time in Boston he’ll have his crew vs. the NRC, October 5.
Match 6: Bryan Danielson vs. Matt Sydal w/ Larry Sweeney
Danielson and Sydal make this match for double or nothing (in terms of Sydal’s take) the money they won last month in Edison.
This was formula Danielson as he strapped Sydal on and carried him to a very good match by working Sydal’s speed as a counter to Danielson’s technical ability. Danielson now teases the “I have until 5 referee†heavily to the crowd’s joy. Sydal, after numerous failed attempts, got the Here it Is Driver and went up top for a shooting star. That got knees and Danielson grabbed him in a triangle choke and elbowed him until the ref stoppage.
Bryan Danielson defeats Matt Sydal (Ref Stoppage, Triangle Choke with Elbows, *** ¾)
Danielson is so money. A short match trying not to steal the show still gets nearly ****.
Match 6: Ring of Honor World Title Match: Takeshi Morishima © vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Claudio is over as a huge star here and the crowd really thinks he can dethrone Morishima. This is the only time a Morishima match has begun that way as the crowd usually assumes he’ll win and are dragged in as it continues.
The match was standard Morishima offense, with a lot of hope spot combos from Claudio who managed his major spots, like the giant spin and the Alpamare Water Slide to a huge pop. Claudio consistently used his speed to work into his power, but couldn’t hit the Riccola bomb to finish and avoid being squashed at the same time. Eventually, he sucks it up and hits the Riccola bomb, but when it gets only two, he’s prone and a backdrop driver finishes.
Takeshi Morishima defeats Claudio Castagnoli (Pin, Backdrop Driver, **** ½)
Beautiful story that worked because Claudio sold everything Morishima did like death and kept his hope spots regular so it didn’t feel like they were taking turns with their offense. This might rate higher on DVD and certainly won’t be an lower.
Match 8: Street Fight: The Briscoes vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico
This is among the stiffest brawl across the arena matches I’ve ever witnessed. These guys legit beat the hell out of each other. Mark’s dives into the crowd were perfect, as were Jay’s stiffness and blading. They fought everywhere and eventually Steen finished with a Package Piledriver onto a ladder.
Kevin Steen and El Generico defeat the Briscoes (Pin, Package Piledriver on a ladder, ****)
This brawl was certainly more than **** but it’s hard to say how much considering how limited the view of the total action is in these matches. This is the best brawl of this type I’ve ever seen.
Overall this was a fantastic show. I’d like to have seen a little more angle development out there, but the matches were great and intense and this had a big show feel.
Death Before Dishonor V Night 2, 8/11 in Philadelphia, PA
The pre-show featured chances for Cheech and Cloudy, the tag team known as Up in Smoke, and Eddie Kingston. Cheech and Cloudy work a good classic tag team style with some nice spots and I’d like to see more of them. Eddie isn’t very good in the ring at all, but he has loads of personality, so he could be used, but he might be opening a door better left closed.
The Briscoes open the show and call out Steen and Generico. This leads straight to the first match.
Match 1: Falls Count Anywhere: Mark Briscoe vs. El Generico
This was a nice spotfest-brawl mix. Mark bumped like a maniac taking a backdrop from the apron to the floor among other sick moves, but this was short. Steen tried to bring out a ladder, but was stopped. Generico still managed to win cleanrly, diving from one area of the floor through the bottom rope to the other side of the ring on the floor and DDTing Mark for three. Grut decided to jump up and down and completely mark out for the move, so you know it looked good.
El Generico defeats Mark Briscoe (Pin, DDT through the ropes on the floor, ***)
Some real pretty spots here, but it was really a spotfest and a rather short one at that.
Match 2: Jack Evans vs. Deranged
Early on a man with a megaphone was out yelling about Project 161.
This was another spotfest, except half the spots were blown. Jack hit the tree of woe knee drop and finished with the 630 (which missed).
Jack Evans defeats Deranged (Pin, 630, *)
Actively a bad match. Jack blew more than Deranged, but Deranged was sloppy too.
“Don’t Come Back†chant at Deranged post match, which was unfair because Jack was worse.
Match 3: Jigsaw and Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney, Sara Del Rey, Tank Tolland and Bobby Dempsey vs. Nigel McGuinness and Claudio Castagnoli
Claudio gets a star reception and Hero is actually still a heel in Philly thankfully. The match featured a lot of arm work on Nigel while Hero actively ran from Claudio. The hot tag to Claudio led to him cleaning house, but while Nigel chased the entourage Claudio was hit with the Race to the Top trophy and Hero managed to get three off of it.
Chris Hero and Jigsaw defeat McGuinness and Castagnoli (Pin, Trophy Shot, *** 1/4)
The arm work and Hero-Claudio heat building were very well done. SnS make any match better as well. Like the night prior, the antics were more fun than the match itself, but the match did its job well. Poor Nigel can’t buy a win. Looks like Project 161 for him.
Post match Hero smashed Claudio’s face in with the trophy and smashes the trophy, but when Nigel recovers he runs and Dempsey is thrown into Tolland in a corner cannonball. Hopefully, Claudio’s push continues because he looked great.
Match 4: Shimmer Title Match: Sara Del Rey © vs. Lacey
This match began with a decent back and forth, but Lacey took control with a lot of back work. Del Rey’s power consistently proved too much and not even the back cracker could keep her down. Del Rey’s comeback kept getting cut short by back attacks, but as Lacey tried a sunset flip, Del Rey managed the cradle and suplex for the successful defense.
Sara Del Rey defeats Lacey (Pin, Cradle-plex, ***)
This might even be more than that. The psychology was very good and both were crisp. The back work went on a bit long without a hope spot, but these two are both really heels, so even that’s mostly understandable. Good stuff.
The return date to Philadelphia is November 2, a Friday. I’d bet Nov. 3 is NYC and Misawa’s weekend.
Match 5: Mike Quackenbush vs. Bryan Danielson
This was your game of human chess with a lot of early counters, including a headstand handshake, until Danielson took control. He played to the crowd a lot, and Quack’s comebacks kept the crowd into it. Dragon is really focused on showing up Quack here, but when Quack comes back Danielson immediately shows that the earlier respect was not a show and gets serious, going for the finish with Cattle Mutilation. Dragon did manage to finish with the triangle choke and MMA elbows.
Bryan Danielson defeats Mike Quackenbush (Ref stoppage, Triangle Choke and MMA Elbows, ****)
The story here was great, but there should have been either more between the Cattle Mutilation and choke, or the choke shouldn’t have finished. It felt like they were just getting started when the finish occurred, but the story was so good all it did was keep it at merely great instead of classic.
Match 6: Lights Out Match: Jay Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen
Lights out is a last man standing.
This was another hard hitting match with each man stiffing the crap out of each other. Both hit their finishers, but failed to get the 10 count off of them. At this point Generico ran in and hit two sick Yakuza Kicks on Jay, and then Steen hit another package piledriver for the win.
Kevin Steen defeats Jay Briscoe (Package Piledriver, ***)
This, also, was very short. If you’re going to do the gimmick matches then they should be given time to shine. These are two big, tough guys and really should have had more time to work with if one will stay down for the 10 count.
Match 7: ROH World Title Match: Brent Albright vs. Takeshi Morishima
This was essentially the same match as Claudio vs. Morishima except Albright focused his offense on his power and as such didn’t time and build his hope spots as well. He attacked Morishima hard, then had Morishima go after him, then countered a butt bump into a German Suplex and took over with big power moves (with little selling of the offense he took, even though he got to kick out of the backdrop driver). Albright hit two half-nelson suplexes for one of the nearest near falls you’ll ever see, but couldn’t hit a third and got hit with Morishima’s regular offense of lariats into the backdrop driver to make him another victim of the monster champ.
Takeshi Morishima defeats Brent Albright (Pin, Backdrop Driver, ****)
This was a slow start, but it really picked up until the crowd was wildly behind Albright. Morishima is becoming formula, but it’s a great formula that’s leaving guys room to work and become stars. Claudio timed his hope spots better, following the Steamboat rule of never letting an opponent get more than three moves without creating hope for a comeback. Albright and Morishima seemed more like they were taking turns and no selling, but again, it’s a good formula and power on Morishima is impressive since Albright is the only guy on the roster who can make that work.
Match 8: Street Fight: Austin Aries, Matt Cross, Erick Stevens and Delirious vs. Roderick Strong, Rocky Romero, Davey Richards and Matt Sydal
Aries didn’t come out with the rest of his team prompting Strong to say he instead went to TNA begging for his job back. Aries came out from the crowd with a cane and attacked the heels. He wrestled the entire match with a cane and later a rake to help him stand and limped very badly.
This was a giant brawl around the building. One side of the building had closed bleachers. Cross and Sydal went up on that. Cross threw Sydal off onto the others in the match, then dove off the side of the wall off of the bleachers in one of the sickest spots I’ve ever seen. Cross also climbed a lighting tower and holding himself even off the side put Romero through a table. He broke a finger on that spot.
By the end of the match it was just Stevens, Strong, and Davey left standing. Aries was around but beaten badly and well, he couldn’t really walk. Stevens put on an awesome comeback and got over hugely, but was slammed into a ladder between two chairs and had to tap to the Stronghold.
The NRC and Sydal defeat the Resilience and Delirious (Submission, Strong with the Stronghold on Stevens ****)
This was probably more than **** on DVD and made stars out of Stevens and Cross if this is handled right. Hopefully no one is out for too long after this one, but it’s hard to imagine Cross or Aries will be wrestling for a bit.
Overall this was a very good show, but the last two matches weren’t as good as the same basic two as the night before. This show just wasn’t as good, particularly because the gimmick matches with the Briscoes had fun spots but failed to deliver big matches. I’m also disappointed that no major angle was set off at these shows, the first time in DBD history that nothing major has occurred. Still, Claudio is now a star and Albright is taken seriously, while Cross and Stevens can be pushed based on the weekend. Project 161 is kicked off a bit, so we’ve officially started some fun stuff and the wrestling was, as usual, top notch. Get these shows on DVD; they won’t disappoint in terms of quality.
