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Caged Rage
8/24/07
Hartford, CT
On the pre-show Mitch Franklin defeated Pelle Primeau to become to new Top of the Class Trophy holder. This is big for Franklin as now he can face Jimmy Jacobs the next night in NYC while Pelle will likely become a full time roster member from here on out.
Match 1: Chris Hero w/ Larry Sweeney, Sara Del Rey and Bobby Dempsey vs. Hallowicked
Hero’s antics were in full effect here, but Hallowicked consistently had a counter to them. Hero controlled much of the match regardless, but Hallow’s good selling kept him consistently getting crowd sympathy while Hero was more hated as a heel than usual. A Hero’s Welcome finished the hot opener.
Chris Hero defeats Hallowicked (Pin, Hero’s Welcome, ** ¾)
Can we keep Hallowicked on the roster full time yet? The man is great at his role. He always has at least solid matches and never shows anyone up. He even kept the Hero face reaction to a minimum.
Match 2: Rhett Titus vs. Jimmy Jacobs
This is Jacobs big return and he played a face. He was without Lacey, but came out to Ballad of Lacey again (making me quite happy). Titus is great at his “sexiest man alive†character, but needs to put more emphasis on his in ring skill. He’s solid, but not a very good seller and needs work at keeping the crowd involved. Jacobs hit some nice spots and finished with a DDT into a guillotine choke for the win. Welcome back Jimmy.
Jimmy Jacobs defeats Rhett Titus (Submission, front guillotine, * ½)
A solid enough match for what was essentially a squash to get Jacobs back out there, but it drew a “This is Awful†chant from the crowd. Please note, this was not awful and was merely the first act of a terrible CT crowd which is just as bad as Long Island has ever been and considerably worse than LI has been for the past year.
Match 3: Adam Pearce w/ Shane Hagadorn vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Delirious vs. Nigel McGuinness
This is taped for Pay Per View, though it is mostly of average quality and I sort of hope they stick with highlights of this or join it in progress. This was fun, if spotty. Nigel and Delirious were quite over. A “fire BJ†chant was unnecessary, but since he’s a heel now for all intents and purposes, it’s better than no heat. Delirious and Nigel were kept away from each other to keep both strong while the rest brawled. Pearce almost put Whitmer through a table, but was saved by Delirious, only to eat a Jawbreaker Lariat for the loss.
Nigel McGuinness wins the four corner survival (Pin, Jawbreaker Lariat on Whitmer, *** ¼)
The match was to set up the angle that followed.
Post match Pearce and Hagadorn attacked Delirious, but he was able to counter. This brought out Albright who destroyed Del and the three of them prepared to staple Del’s mask to his head after a speech by Pearce. BJ Whitmer came in, looking like he would make the save, but instead he attacked Delirious and helped staple the mask to his head, much to my girlfriend’s disgust and horror. The heels all raised each other’s arms and it looks like we have a new stable. No mention of Project 161 so hopefully that’s an unrelated surprise still on the horizon.
Match 4: Austin Aries, Matt Cross and Erick Stevens vs. Pelle Primeau Davey Richards, Jason Blade, and Eddie Edwards
If Cross or Stevens were pinned, they were out of Resilience. If Aries lost, the Resilience would end. Davey decided that no one could end the Resilience but him, so pre-match, he beat up Pelle and took his place.
The match itself was very good, with the Resilience clearly clicking as a unit and Cross finally being over, though not to the extent of his partners. The story was the new cohesiveness of the Resilience clashing with the sneakiness of Richards who was doing everything in his power to try and pin Aries and only Aries. Edwards and Blade really wanted a win to earn a full time roster spot here and their desperation really shone through. Great job by all involved.
Aries quickly figured out Davey’s strategy and showed he was still the man, beating the holy hell out of him until he walked out on his partners. Blade and Edwards fell quickly then to a double stomp from Cross while their opponent was held in assisted Tower of London position.
The Resilience defeats Jason Blade, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards (Pin, Assisted Tower of London with a Double Stomp, *** ¾)
This match did pretty much everything well, from story in and out of ring to protecting the wrestlers and getting everyone over. Unfortunately, I don’t think this will stand the test of time. In a bubble it’s ****, but it will be forgotten in all likelihood. Blade and especially Edwards impressed and should be brought in more often.
Early in the match Blade worked a headlock and the moronic crowd shouted that “I’ve never seen a rest hold so early in the match.†This led to random “rest hold†chants the rest of the night at inappropriate and stupid times. Please, learn wrestling if you’re going to yell things at the wrestlers. God, I hate Connecticut.
Match 5: Pac vs. Bryan Danielson
Bryan dominated this. I’ve never seen him give an opponent less. I have no idea what that was about but Pac’s offense was a few ineffective flips, some arm drags and a shooting star into a crouching Danielson’s back. Danielson finished by kicking Pac’s face in and grabbing a triangle choke.
Bryan Danielson defeats Pac (Submission, Triangle Choke, **1/2)
There wasn’t much here, but Pac took his beating like a champ and Danielson stretching him out was fun.
Match 6: ROH World Title Match: Takeshi Morishima © vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright
Albright is really getting over and I have no idea why. This match was a mix of both men’s singles matches with Morishima, but not nearly as good since it had to mix in a lot of stalling and lying around. Albright was eliminated first when Claudio rolled him up out of a crowbar. Claudio got some double stomps by Morishima after this and quickly fell victim to a backdrop driver.
Takeshi Morishima wins the 3 Way Dance (Pin, Backdrop Driver, ***)
Nothing to see here. A placeholder before Danielson vs. Morishima.
Next was a long intermission to set up the cage.
Match 7: Cage Match: Roderick Strong vs. Jack Evans
This was fairly slow considering who was in it and dominated by Roderick. The match lasted less than 10 minutes and Roderick won with a Splash Mountain off the top followed by a flying elbow. Weak.
Roderick Strong defeats Jack Evans (Pin, Flying Elbow, ***)
A cage match under 10 minutes? Barring injury this was hugely lame. With the Briscoe and Steenerico singles gimmick matches going short this is my least favorite new thing in ROH. Gimmick matches need to be kept special and because of this should be ensured to be great matches. These going short hurts the matches and hurts the willingness to pay to see these match-ups.
Match 8: Tag Title Cage Match: The Briscoes © vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico
They brawled outside the ring to start, which sort of defeats the purpose of a cage match, but Steen got a nice dive out of the ring tonight.
This was a good brawl, with some surprisingly good heat segments for a cage match. The finish saw Steen go through a table outside the ring and the Briscoes hit a springboard doomsday and spike Jay Driller on Generico for the win.
The Briscoes defeat Steen and Generico (Pin, Spike Jay Driller, *** ½)
This was good and intense but felt a bit short and Briscoe heavy. In all likelihood they were saving for the feud finisher the next night, but again, then don’t do the gimmick matches. This will likely be better on DVD, as both Jay and Mark cut gushers and it will add to the intensity.
The crowd was again terrible with a “This Section Rules†and “Hartford Whalers†chant during the main event. Connecticut is terrible and is officially the worst crowd ROH runs. Hopefully they get the Long Island treatment and there’s a long delay before ROH return. Disgraceful.
Solid show, but hurt again by a terrible terrible audience.
Manhattan Mayhem II
8/25/07
Manhattan, NY
Match 1: Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw vs. Erick Stevens and Matt Cross
All four men were very over, especially Quackenbush. Stevens is getting more and more over and Grut thinks Stevens is being built to be a threat to Misawa, which would please me to no end since I think Stevens is the next big thing.
There were some nice high spots to start. Stevens and Quack particularly had a nice sequence with Quack learning to work around Stevens strength. The Resilience managed a heat segment on Jigsaw which went well and Quack is great for a hot tag. He hit his running seated corner senton, Grut’s favorite move, which he calls the running dick. Class act that Grutman.
They went spot for spot until a Lariat Yoshi-tonic combination by Resilience and a phoenix splash for a near fall by Cross. A doctor bomb finished by Stevens on Jigsaw.
The Resilience defeat Quackenbush and Jigsaw (Pin, Stevens Doctor Bomb on Jigsaw, *** ½)
I loved this match. Everyone looked great and the spots were perfect. The match hyped the crowd and was solid tag formula. Everything you could ask in an opener. My only real complaint was the Phoenix Splash is way too wicked to be just a near fall.
Match 2: Mitch Franklin vs. Jimmy Jacobs
Jimmy worked basically the same match as the night before, but Franklin sold better. Jacobs new spots, a dropkick of the head into the ring post and one where he holds both of his opponents arms and slams his head into the mat, reminiscent of a curbstomp without the kick. Jacobs finished with the guillotine choke again.
Jimmy Jacobs defeats Mitch Franklin (Submission, Guillotine Choke, **)
Squash, but a fun squash. Jacobs got the reception he deserved here unlike CT, unsurprisingly.
Match 3: Adam Pearce, Brent Albright and BJ Whitmer w/ Shane Hagadorn vs. Delirious, Nigel McGuinness, and Pelle Primeau
Delirious was clearly upset after having his mask stapled to his face and so was reckless and got caught in the heat segment. The hot tag was to Nigel who cleaned house, but really wasn’t in much. Del stopped selling too quickly after his beatdown and came in to help out his team. In the chaos Pelle took an Owen Hart style piledriver by BJ who finally got a win.
Pearce, Albright and Whitmer defeat Delirious, McGuinness and Primeau (Pin, Whitmer Inverted Piledriver on Pelle, ** ½)
This was fairly generic, but everyone knew each other well and it showed. Delirious is really over with the NYC crowd and Whitmer is drawing serious heel heat.
Post match Pelle takes a heel beatdown until Nigel saves with a very non-threatening pink cushioned chair.
ROH Owner Cary Silkin and a NOAH representative come out to announce that Misawa will be in Philadelphia and NYC November 2 and 3 for Glory by Honor VI.
Match 4: Davey Richards vs. Pac
How do you draw heel heat in pro wrestling? Dress and act like a child killer. In remarkably bad taste, Davey dresses like Benoit, wears a vest to the ring, chops in the corner and does a variation of repeating German suplexes. It’s WCW Era Benoit, but it’s still unnecessary and if it continues I’ll just be ignoring Davey’s matches. Grut looked utterly disgusted when the crowd began chanting “Benoit†at Davey and I can’t blame him one bit.
This match was terrible. Pac blew spots left and right after a boring opening with mat wrestling that went nowhere. Pac flipped for everything. He’s a bad cliché. The twisting shooting star to the floor was impressive.
A release German from the top saw Pac land on his feet, but get posted anyway and then after a tombstone, tap to the keylock.
Davey Richards defeats Pac (Submission, Keylock, -**)
I’ve never given negative stars before. This is my least favorite ROH match ever for many reasons. Never let this happen again.
Match 5: Jack Evans vs. Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong
Pre-match Jack says he isn’t very motivated so he got someone to help motivate him and calls out Julius Smokes, which was called by Shawn Smith of Broken Dial fame. Good to see Julius back.
Roderick is destroyed by both men early, but divides and conquers, setting up the table. The match went along fine until a ref bump, which lead to Strong putting Aries through a table and Davey Richards coming out to attack Jack. Jack called out his first wrestling member of his stable, Ruckus who took out the NRC and then Aries until Resilience made the save. Stevens hit Roderick with a chair. Brainbuster and 450 on Strong and Aries won.
Austin Aries defeats Roderick Strong and Jack Evans (Pin, 450 Splash, *** ¾)
Overbooked, but well overbooked with a very good surprise in Ruckus. Its hard to rate this kind of flustercluck, but the match was very good.
Match 6: Eddie Edwards vs. Ruckus
Ruckus unfortunately comes out to “Fly High†immediately making him one of my least favorite guys on the roster. He was very flippy and Edwards was very crisp and probably a better wrestler who’s exceedingly close to breaking out. Big Andy Mac thinks he’s one match from really fully breaking out. Ruckus finished a fun match with the Spiral Tap.
Ruckus defeats Eddie Edwards (Pin, Spiral Tap, ***)
Better than it had any right to be since it was just introducing Ruckus who’s basically just a black Jack Evans
Match 7: Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney, Sara Del Rey, and Bobby Dempsey vs. Claudio Castagnoli
This was great face vs. heel stuff and Hero’s flippy parody stuff is especially amusing after watching Pac, Jack and Ruckus back to back to back. This match was built around counters and each man knowing the other well, but Hero had an advantage due to his entourage, which drew out Daizee Haze, heat leech. She leeched off the hot Jacobs vs. Whitmer feud and now this. Enough is enough.
The finish, fittingly enough, was Claudio countering a Hero’s Welcome with a springboard European uppercut and a Ricola Bomb.
Claudio Castagnoli defeats Chris Hero (Pin, Ricola Bomb, ****)
Both men were over like stars here and the counters and crowd play were brilliant. I can’t wait to see more from the former Kings of Wrestling.
Match 8: ROH World Title Match: Takeshi Morishima © vs. Bryan Danielson
That this isn’t last on the card seems to telegraph the victor a bit. Dragon spent the match attacking Morishima’s legs while Takeshi was trying to clobber Danielson into submission with as many strikes as he could, including new stiff kicks, including an Ole kick that destroyed Danielson and led to him working the face all match. Danielson controlled much of this one, using speed and strikes to wear down Morishima, but after MMA elbows and the Cattle Mutilation failed to finish, he went for the super backdrop. This proved to be a mistake as Morishima landed on Danielson’s face. A lariat and backdrop driver later and Morishima had successfully retained.
Morishima defeats Bryan Danielson (Pin, Backdrop Driver, **** ¾)
Fantastic match. This is the best match of the year besides Danielson vs. Nigel from Driven, outstripping Nigel vs. Morishima I, Briscoes vs. MCMG, and Danielson vs. KENTA III. Danielson hit Morishima with nearly everything here, except he never got to try his new triangle choke. Hopefully a rematch is brewing where that will be the difference. The crowd ate this up with a spoon and it’s the best ROH Title Match since Glory By Honor V Night 2’s Danielson vs. KENTA.
Match 9: 2/3 Falls ROH World Tag Team title Match: The Briscoes © vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico
This was a tag formula for fall one, which ended with a moonsault by Mark then Jay hitting a splash while Mark dove onto Steen outside. Jay got the three on Generico in the meantime.
The second fall was a giant spotfest with the best being a diving swanton to the floor by Steen followed by Jay DVDing Steen on the apron, a roll through the ropes DDT by Generico and Mark hitting a diving hands free hurricanrana on the floor. Filthy stuff.
Steen refused to lose, kicking out of the springboard doomsday device, but Steenerico seemed more about survival than winning in the Briscoes trademark match. The flipping Van Terminator by Generico stopped that, but Jay broke up the Package Piledriver into Brainbuster combination and the Briscoes turned it into a Jay Driller to a Cuthroat Driver for the three and straight falls victory.
The Briscoes defeat Kevin Steen and El Generico 2 falls to 0 (****)
This was very good, but these two shows make the Briscoes decidedly the better team in sort of anticlimactic fashion. The crowd was also tired for this after the greatness of the match before, which surely hurt.
Post match Steen attacked the Briscoes with a ladder and stole the belt, although Generico was very reluctant.
That ends one of the better ROH shows ever and the best this year. A hot crowd, classic matches and angles advancing with only one thing to mar them that will hopefully be excluded from the DVD release. Highest recommendation to buy.
