On the 31st of March 2006, Ring of Honor presented its fifth show in the Milestone Series, entitled Supercard of Honor. One can read my review of the fourth show in the Milestone series, Dragon Gate Challenge here. If you would like a review of a recent ROH show, check out Big Andy Mac’s review of All Star Extravaganza III (3) here.
This show is named “Supercard of Honor†because the card is a Supercard. A Supercard means the card is positively stacked with big matches, angle advancement and more. Tonight, the 6 Dragon Gate competitors who gave ROH a visit this triple-shot weekend are having a straight 6 man tag, Dragon Gate vs Dragon Gate. Roderick Strong gets a long awaited world title shot against Bryan Danielson, AJ Styles and Matt Sydal take on Austin Aries and Jack Evans, and much more.
For a non-spoiler review of this show, scroll down to the Summary section. We recognize some of you want traditional wrestling reviews and some prefer to remain spoiler free, so we here at Pulse Wrestling are offering you the best of both worlds. Remember, from now on, if you want spoiler free reviews, just scroll down to Summary.
Current Storylines: The dissension in The Embassy is dissolving. Rave and Shelley managed to work together last night and defeat the team of Delirious and Bryan Danielson. Tonight they are pitted in more tag team action, as they’re taking on the team of Jimmy Yang and Claudio Castagnoli.
Speaking of Claudio Castagnoli, he’s become a part of the ROH vs CZW war, saving Adam Pearce from a beatdown by Chris Hero and Necro Butcher back at Best In The World. His ‘best friend’ from CZW, Chris Hero, asked him to join the CZW side, but Claudio refused, and gave Hero and Necro European Uppercuts! After the CZW invasion at the end of the show last night, Samoa Joe has also joined the ROH side in the war.
The 7 month long Homicide vs Colt Cabana feud will be coming to an end soon. After the vicious chair shot and possible concussion Colt suffered the night beforehand, he isn’t scheduled in any match with Homicide. Interesting. The next night though, in Chicago (Cabana’s hometown), the feud will end for good in a Chicago street fight.
Let’s get onto the show!
*At the end of Dragon Gate Challenge, ROH Commissioner Jim Cornette found out who knocked his tooth out at the Tag Wars show, and now he tells us that it was ROH legend, Low Ki. He bans Ki from ROH for life, which is a fair reason for Ki’s absence of ROH.
*A video package is shown, highlighting the Bryan Danielson vs Roderick Strong feud. Back at This Means War in 2006, Roderick was unsuccessful in a shot against Dragon, as he tapped out to an MMA like armlock. A week later, at Vendetta Roddy got his re-match. He came even closer to gold this time, but in the end Dragon knocked him out cold with MMA style elbows to the head. Back at the Tag Wars show, in a tag match, Roderick made Danielson submit to his ‘Strong Hold’ (Inverted Boston Crab) finisher, that warranted him with a title shot here tonight. Both of their singles matches were very good, long matches (both 40 – 50 minutes in length) – lots of people expect a 1 Hour Draw from these 2 tonight, while others expect Roderick to finally take the belt. We’ll see.
*Chris Hero is shown outside the venue while a graphic comes up on-screen saying “Earlier Todayâ€Â. He gets into a pointless argument with a female ROH fan. She tries to slap him (I am clueless why), but he dodges it. He says “Missed me, missed me, now you’ve gotta kiss me!â€Â. He talks about how rich he is and how he’s travelled across the work, as the screen fades to black and he is cut off. I guess ROH didn’t want to hear any more of that.
*Blood Generation are backstage, as they cut an un-understandable promo. Even though I didn’t understand it, it was badass.
*Here are the ROH March Top 5 Rankings:
5. Samoa Joe
4. Alex Shelley
3. Christopher Daniels
2. Jimmy Yang
1. Roderick Strong.
*Bobby Cruise addresses the crowd. He says Colt Cabana can’t compete in his Fight without Honor tonight (with Homicide), thanks to the injury he suffered the previous night. (If by ‘Fight without Honor’ he meant the end to the feud) That was stupid, because the feud ending match was scheduled for the next and final night in the triple-shot weekend anyway.
*Jim Cornette and BJ Whitmer come out. Cornette announces that the attendance tonight is the largest in the history of the venue. He says that Whitmer (on crutches) was injured by CZW wrestlers after the show the night before. He says some stuff about ‘ultra-violent’ wrestlers. He says he found a couple of those hardcore wrestlers earlier, and brought them to the show tonight. Cornette taunts them, then brings out Samoa Joe and Adam Pearce to face them.
0. Impromptu match: 2 masked ‘Hardcore’ wrestlers vs Samoa Joe and Adam Pearce: The match is a complete squash, with Joe and Pearce winning with a Muscle Buster/top rope splash combo.
Winners: Samoa Joe and Adam Pearce.
A short squash, which didn’t make me very excited about the ROH/CZW feud.
DUD.
1. Ricky Reyes vs. Delirious vs. Flash Flanagan vs. Shane Hagadorn (Four Corner Survival) : Delirious goes nuts at the sound of the bell, much to the fan’s delight. Reyes and Flash start. They do some mat wrestling, until Delirious comes in, and runs around them, freaking them out. Delirious wrestles with Hagadorn, until Flash knocks him down and everyone stomps on him. Poor Delirious. Everyone starts hitting their big moves. Reyes hits a swinging neckbreaker on Delirious then makes him submit to the Dragon Sleeper.
Winner: Ricky Reyes.
There was nothing wrong with that but it really wasn’t anything special, which is expected from the competitors involved.
*1/2.
*Post match, Reyes puts the Dragon Sleeper on Delirious again. He gets on the mic, and says Delirious shouldn’t be in ROH because of his “stupid f*cking gimmickâ€Â. Oh Dear. Him and Smokes beat on Delirious some more, then leave. The fans yelling profanity at Reyes and Smokes was the best part of that segment.
*Chad Collyer and Ace Steel both cut promos hyping their First Blood match later tonight. Ace Steel is crazy.
2. Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Jimmy Yang : Let’s see if Shelley and Rave can get along here. They start out with the usual feeling out process. Unfortunately no awesome crisp stuff from Claudio and Shelley, like we got back at the ‘This Means War’ show. The faces run wild as Claudio and Yang embarrass the Embassy, in a pretty homosexual moment. CC and Yang hit some nice double teams, including a Euro uppercut/faceplant move. The Embassy eventually gain control and work over Yang. Yang gets in a few hope spots, but as soon as it looks like he can make the tag, he gets cut off. After a long while, he hits Rave with an Enziguri and makes the hot tag to CC. He cleans house, hitting Shelley with European uppercuts and a dropkick/back European uppercut combo on Rave. All 4 men start hitting their big/signature moves. Claudio and Rave have a rollup exchange, until Rave gets a sloppy one for the win.
Winners: Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley.
Fun formula tag match. All 4 men worked well together, and there was certainly enough innovative and cool stuff to keep it interesting. However, the workover period on Yang (and the match in the general) went on too long. I don’t think we really need a 15 minute match this early on the card – it would have been better if it went 10 or so.
***.
*Post match Chris Hero runs out and grabs a mic. He complains about Claudio ignoring their friendship – not siding with him and CZW. He starts randomly throwing chairs, as the usual group of ROH students ‘escort’ him out of the building.
3. Ace Steel vs. Chad Collyer (First Blood Match) : This feud is based around Collyer making Steel bleed buckets (literally) after hitting him with a chair shot, back at Steel’s student’s last night in the company, CM Punk. So Collyer physically and emotionally hurt Ace.
They brawl to start. They brawl around some more in the crowd. They try to make each other bleed (with moves focused on damaging the head) but wrestle a bit too; with Collyer doing a bodyslam and other wrestling holds (???). Steel gives Collyer a tombstone piledriver on a steel barricade (in the ring), then nails Collyer with a steel chair to make him bleed (only a tiny bit).
Winner: Ace Steel.
That just didn’t work. Nothing in that match really clicked. Ace repeatedly yelling “YOU’RE GONNA DIE!†but not actually killing Collyer, Collyer BARELY bleeding at the end, the match not being very violent it was just a mess really.
1/2*.
*Dave Prazak interviews Homicide outside the building. They don’t call Chicago ‘the windy city’ for nothing. Prazak says Cide’s match with Colt was cancelled, due to Colt’s concussion. Cide and Smokes declare the feud is over, but I don’t think anyone believes that it isn’t.
*A video package is shown highlighting Matt Sydal and AJ Styles’s history together and their history with ROH tag team champions, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong.
4. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries & Jack Evans : AJ and Sydal faced Aries and his regular partner Roderick Strong in a classic for the ROH tag team titles back at the 4th Anniversary Show. They came up short. Tonight, seeing as Strong is challenging Bryan Danielson for the ROH world title, Aries is teaming up with his Generation Next stable-mate Jack Evans, to give AJ and Sydal a (kind-of) rematch.
Sydal and Jack start. They do some awesome flippy reversals, until Sydal cuts Jack off with a hard dropkick. Aries tags in and he and Sydal take it to the mat. Both men execute some lovely looking Japanese armdrags. Sydal reverses a headscissors and hits Aries with his own headstand dropkick! Aries does his own headstand reversal, but instead of dropkicking Sydal, kicks him hard in the chest! Awesome! AJ tags in, as he and Aries have a few nice exchanges. AJ sand Sydal eventually gain control on Aries. They do all kinds of nice double team moves. Aries comes back, getting his knees up on a Standing moonsault attempt from Sydal. He makes the tag to Jack.
Evans tags in and hits all kinds of offence on Jack. He and Aries work Sydal over, doing lots more awesome stuff. Aries hits a sick neckbreaker. Jack hits a cool kneedrop. Aries with a shoulder block. Jack with a corkscrew press. Aries with the power-drive elbow. This is awesome. Sydal reverses a suplex attempt from Jack into a SICK German suplex. AJ gets the hot tag and cleans house. He starts KILLING Jack, with all kinds of hard slams and backbreakers. He and Sydal hit a legdrop/backbreaker double team, putting Jack RIGHT ON HIS HEAD. More sick double teams. I love this. Jack gets hit with a load of sick neckbreakers. Jack flips out of a backdrop attempt, and makes the hot tag to Aries!
Aries comes in and CLEANS TEH HOUSE. He hits a Finlay roll on Sydal as Jack follows it up with a big splash for 2. Jack kills AJ with a Koppo kick. He goes for a rana, but Sydal kills him with an enziguri, while he was on AJ’s shoulders! AJ goes for the Clash, but Aries grabs him and gives him the Crucifix bomb! Sydal with Aries HERE IT IS DRIVER! That was sick. Jack dropkicks AJ to the floor and goes for his Sasuke Special into a rana but (this spot is amazing, by the way) AJ catches him, and hits the Styles Clash ON THE FLOOR! Aries wipes out AJ with a tope! But AJ rolled Jack back into the ring before he was hit with the tope, so Sydal hits Jack with a BEAUTIFUL top rope Shooting Star Press for the win!
Winners: AJ Styles and Matt Sydal.
Wow, that was excellent. I loved the story – AJ and Sydal had scouted Aries’ game (from the match at the 4YA show), so they could get Jack in alone with them alone and destroy him – kind of like a measure of revenge on Aries. As regards to tag strategy Aries was weak without Strong, and AJ and Sydal completely capitalised on it (being ahead of Aries and Jack at every turn), which was great. They also played off lots of things from the 4YA match (mostly between Aries and Sydal), which really made this match perfect.
As wrestling goes, one can’t really ask for more. The match had it all – crazy spots, fluid technical wrestling, a fast pace and a general sense of viciousness between all 4, which fit the story too. AJ and Sydal’s workover period on Jack was thing of beauty – they just destroyed him in the best way possible. The finishing sequence was great too, without going overkill at all – it was only about 3 minutes long but didn’t feel too short or anything. I’ve probably overrated this, but it was just so damn great I can’t stop myself from giving it what I consider ‘MOTYC’ honors.
****1/2.
*Chris Daniels is backstage with Allison Danger. Danger talks about her upcoming SHIMMER 6 way match, and how her and the best women’s wrestlers in the world are gonna show us what they’re all about. Daniels says things are looking up for him, as last night, he finally defeated Samoa Joe in a singles match. But the question is, when will Daniels finally shake a man’s hand, uphold the Code of Honor? He says is it tomorrow night? Is it the 100th show? The 1000th show? Only time will tell.
5. DoFixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito) vs. Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino) : Cool entrance music here. Genki and Yoshino start things. Genki gets some armdrags in. Doi and Dragon Kid come in and Kid hits some nice lucha style armdrags. Genki and CIMA comes in. CIMA hits a dropkick but Genki firs back with a hurracanrana. Saito and Yoshino come in, as Saito reverses a headscissors into a big side slam. DoFixer work over Yoshino, doing some awesome double team sequences. He comes back and makes the tag to Doi. Doi comes in and hits Kid with a bodyslam. Blood Generation then work over Dragon Kid, hitting more nice double team stuff and some power moves. Kid fights back with a spin kick on CIMA, and then makes the tag to Saito!
Saito hits a back elbow, a bodyslam and a legdrop. Doi and Saito trade overhand chops – Saito wins the exchange. DoFixer hit an awesome triple team dropkick on Doi, for a 2 count. Doi regains control for his team by pulling Genki’s hair. Yoshino does a neat headscissors into abdominal stretch on Genki. He Sunset slips him for 2. Blood Generation work over Genki, destroying him with all kinds of awesome stuff. The crowd gets behind Genki, as he makes a comeback on Doi with a vertical suplex. He makes the hot tag to Saito, and IT IS ON!
Saito catches Doi off the ropes Belly to Belly suplex! Kid and Yoshino come in DÉJÀ VU from Kid to Yoshino. Damn that looked nice. Kid and Genki both hit some nice dives to Doi and Yoshino. CIMA and Saito are left alone in the ring. Saito catches CIMA…powerbomb! He nails CIMA with 3 straight Fisherman suplexes. CIMA reverses a rollup double stomp! Blood Generation all come in, and hit a cool double bulldog on Saito and Kid. Yoshino goes up top DROPKICK to Dragon Kid! That was great. Yoshino tries to suplex Kid STUNNER OUT OF NOWHERE from Kid! Kid tries for a headscissors on Doi FACEPLANT from Doi! Genki goes for a moonsault on Doi, but he gets his knees up. Doi picks up Genki for the Doi555 REVERSE DDT from Genki! Doi then connects with the Doi555! It gets 2! DoFixer set Doi up top, on Saito’s shoulders. Kid goes up top with them ULTRA HURRACANRANA! TOP ROPE SPLASH FROM SAITO! 1 2 NO!
Kid tries to rana Doi dropkick from Yoshino! Genki up top nails Yoshino with a missile dropkick! CIMA comes in SUPERKICK! CIMA picks up Genki DDT FROM GENKI! CIMA landed right on his head! Doi throws Genki up SKY HIGH POWERBOMB! Saito comes in and hits a standing rana on Doi! Saito GRABS Yoshino GERMAN SUPLEX! 1 2 NO! Kid springboards SNAP RANA ON YOSHINO! 1 2 THR-…NO! EVERYONE thought that was it! Kid up top CIMA with the Venus! Saito tries to German suplex CIMA but can’t. In an awesome spot, Kid comes off the ropes with a Sunset flip to Saito, which gives him momentum to German suplex CIMA over! Genki grabs CIMA BEACH BREAK! 1 2 NO! CIMA must have neck problems after that. Blood Generation do a crazy triple team CIMA hits Saito with an elevated double stomp, then Genki with a corner Lungblower! That was crazy! Kid goes to snap rana CIMA CIMA catches him SCHWEIN! 1 2 NO! These nearfalls are CLOSE! Doi hits Kid with the Bakatare Sliding Kick! 1 2 NO! The crowd are going NUTS, chanting “PLEASE DON’T STOP!†Kid catches Doi up top SUPER ACE CRUSHER! Kid climbs to the top again DRAGONRANA!!! 1 2 3!! The fans go CRAZY!!!!
Winners: DoFixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito)
(I don’t think words can fully describe how amazing this match was, but I’m going to try) Wow. That was amazing. Completely f*cking amazing. These six wrestlers came in as unknowns, but by the end of the match every single fan in the building was on their feet going crazy for them. That’s success right there. The story was both teams were massive rivals in their home promotion; they came over to ROH and fought as hard as they could to get the win for their team, representing themselves in front of the foreign audience. Yeah, it’s not that much of a story, but it’s a good story to why these guys dug down and fought so hard for the win.
What makes this match better than every other multi-man match like this is the gradual build up of spots. Every spot was bigger than the last, making the fans mark out more and more, until the match climaxed in the ULTIMATE highspot, the Dragonrana. The match had some of the coolest, craziest and well executed spots/sequences you’ll ever see; all the double/tripe teams were awe-inspiring. I also don’t think you will ever a find a 20 minute match as fast paced as this. This match is the best multi-man match in wrestling history, and I don’t think I’ve had so much fun ever watching a wrestling match, before I watched this. For those reasons I’m giving this match the full ***** – that means that it’s a genuine must see match, that you NEED to see at all costs. Phenomenal stuff.
*****.
*An advert airs for Full Impact Pro (FIP) wrestling. It’s only available at ROHwrestling.com folks.
*Nigel McGuiness is in Pro Wrestling NOAH, out in Japan. He cuts a fairly long promo, saying he’s the best champion in ROH history, listing the people he’s defeated, etc. Maybe it’s some special Japanese soap or something, but Nigel’s face looks so much younger/cleaner there, I think him working the stiffer style with all the headbutts etc has literally messed up his face.
*End of Disc One.
6. MsChif vs. Cheerleader Melissa vs. Allison Danger vs. Daizee Haze vs. Lacey vs. Rain (SHIMMER 6 Way Match): This is an exhibition match for the ladies, and MsChif’s ROH debut. Everyone goes for roll ups on everyone to start. The match then goes into a repetitive formula – one woman comes in, hits a move, then another woman comes in, hits that woman with a move, etc. They do some usual multi-man (well, woman) spots – a 5 way submission move and a few dives to the floor. Back in the ring they go back to the formula of one person coming in and hitting a move, then getting hit by a move by another entering person, etc etc. They start hitting some finishers. All get 2 counts. Melissa puts a sick cloverleaf move on. MsChif hits a DDT variation on Rain, and gets the pin.
Winner: MsChif.
That was some fun fast paced action, but was pretty anti-climatic and disjointed at times. The ‘Best in The World’ 4 way SHIMMER match had a basic structure, this one was just (sometimes disorganised) spots. It was still pretty fun to watch though.
**.
7. Homicide vs. Mitch Franklin: Cide controls the whole match, apart from Mitch getting in a top rope cross body. The COP KILLAH ends it about 2 minutes in.
Winner: Homicide.
Squashie squash squash.
DUD.
8. Homicide vs. Colt Cabana: Colt comes out from the back, on the mic, saying he’s not gonna let a concussion stop him from ending this, in his hometown of Chicago. Colt hits a butt butt and a big boot. They fight on the floor where Colt dominates. He backdrops Homicide through a table at ringside and they go back into the ring. Colt hits a missile dropkick then a gutbuster. He goes for the Colt 45 on Smokes, but Cide cuts him off with a chair. Cide sets the chair up in the corner and drives Colt’s head into it. He brings a ladder into the ring. Cide DDTs Cabana on the ladder and, just like the previous night, places Colt’s head inside the ladder and hits it with a chair. He does it repeatedly, until Colt stops moving. He gets on the mic, insults Colt and the crowd, then leaves.
Winner: No Contest.
That was a fun brawl. It wasn’t really a match though, so I’m not gonna rate it.
N/A.
*Post match Hero and Necro come out, ‘invading’ the ROH show. Adam Pearce comes out, and this brawl/match thing is on.
9. Adam Pearce vs. Necro Butcher: Pearce grabs Necro on the apron and throws him back first onto the hard wood floor. That was quite sick. They brawl into the crowd where Necro gets control with chair shots. Pearce hits a suplex on a few chairs. Back near the ring area Pearce tries to suplex Necro through a table but Hero hits him in the back with a chair. Necro side Russian-leg sweeps Pearce from the apron, through the table on the floor. Jim Cornette comes out with his baseball bat and smacks Necro in the gut with it. Hero puts Cornette in an armbar but Samoa Joe comes out to break it up. BJ Whitmer comes out with a chair, to cut off Hero’s escape route through the ‘back’ (locker room area). Cornette gets on the microphone and says Pearce, Whitmer and Joe are Team ROH.
Winner: No Contest.
That was a pretty fun way to get over the ROH team in the feud. Just like Cide/Colt, no rating.
N/A.
*After that, Joe gets on the mic and says something about bubble gum then something about Christopher Daniels. I guess our next match is now.
10. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jimmy Jacobs : Joe and Daniels brawl with each other to start, ignoring Jacobs. Jacobs steps on both their feet and dropkicks them. He hits an elbowdrop on Daniels and puts on a headlock, but Daniels comes back with a leg lariat. In a cool spot, Daniels grabs Jacobs and Urunage slams him into Joe, giving Joe a reverse DDT at the same time. Daniels hits an Arabian press on Joe for 2. Joe comes back on both men, hitting Daniels with the STJoe and Jacobs with a jumping knee strike. Joe hits Jacobs and Daniels with a MASSIVE tope outside. He gives Daniels the Ole kick while he’s out there. Daniels goes for a DVD on Jacobs but Joe mafia kicks him in the face, as he falls he hits Jacobs with a Samoan drop! Nice spot. Daniels hits an enziguri on Joe, then the blue thunder bomb for 2. Joe does his powerslam/cross armbreaker combo, but Daniels reaches the ropes. Jacobs cleans house, hitting Daniels with a spear and Joe with a double stomp. He hits the top rope senton on Joe and an STO on Daniels, and then Lacey’s Implant DDT on Daniels for a 2 count. In another cool spot, Jacobs reverses the Angel’s Wings into a hurricanrana. Joe superkicks Daniels out of the ring, then reverses Jacob’s Contra Code into the Choke for the submission victory.
Winner: Samoa Joe.
That was a good match. I liked how they focused on the Joe/Daniels feud but still kept Jacobs in the match, it made for some cool 3 way spots. I don’t have much else to say about the match unfortunately, it was a really fun 3 way that served its purpose well.
***1/4.
11. Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong (ROH World Title Match) : Damn. Play by play. For this match. It’s gonna be a long ride folks, please stay with me. The match starts off slow. For the first 10 – 15 minutes they trade holds on the mat, with neither man gaining a clear advantage. Nice mat wrestling, I might add. Strong hits a few HARD chops, and Dragon bails to the floor, killing Strong’s momentum. He goes to the back, so Strong (on the mic) tells him to get back in the ring. Back in they wrestle on the mat some more, until Danielson gets an advantage. He works over Strong, tying him up in a variety of different holds and at times just striking the crap outta poor Roddy. Strong gets a brief comeback with a heel kick, backbreaker and a lariat, but Dragon cuts his flurry off with a stiff second rope European uppercut.
Danielson goes back to working Strong over. He puts some abdominal stretches on for a long time. He gets carried away taunting the fans when going for his top rope Diving headbutt, giving Strong the opportunity to roll out of the way. Strong gets a few rollups for nearfalls then hits a nice capture backbreaker. Strong puts Dragon up top SUPERplex! Strong puts on the Stronghold! Dragon reaches the ropes, Strong hasn’t done enough work on his back to go for that hold yet. Dragon bails again, but this time Strong follows him out with a diving forearm strike! Back in the ring Dragon hits a trio of German suplexes, for a nearfall. Strong hurts his leg/knee on the ropes, so Dragon goes straight to work on that.
He works over the leg for a few minutes, until Strong hits a sick powerbomb into backbreaker, but can’t follow it up because of his hurt knee. Dragon goes back to working the leg. Strong comes back, getting out of a Boston crab and putting Dragon in his own Cattle Mutilation hold! Dragon fights Strong off to the apron, but gets suplexed to the floor. Strong chops Dragon about the floor. He tries to chop Dragon against the ringpost, but Dragon moves (brace yourself here) and Strong chops the ringpost! I’m sure that doesn’t sound like much, but when you see it on DVD I guarantee you’ll cringe. Strong’s hand is completely destroyed after that, so Dragon being the smart man he is works it over.
Strong eventually comes back with some left handed chops, so Danielson bails. They brawl on the floor and Strong winds up in the crowd. Dragon goes into the ring, springboards, then connects with a SUICIDAL suicide dive onto Strong, in the crowd! Back in Dragon hits a top rope missile dropkick. He goes for the Crucifix elbows (how he beat Strong in their previous match), but Strong gets him up in his shoulders GORILLA PRESS GUTBUSTER! Strong can’t follow up instantly though, due to his hurt knee! Strong eventually shakes it off BIG BOOT! ANOTHER one! TIGER DRIVER! 1 2 NO! Damn that was close.
Strong DESTROYS Dragon with 3 more backbreakers! STRONGHOLD! Dragon reaches the ropes! Strong goes up top Dragon cuts him off BACKDROP SUPERPLEX! 1 2 NO! CATTLE MUTILATION! Strong reaches the ropes to a huge pop. Dragon starts KILLING Strong with sick forearms and knee strikes. DRAGON SUPLEX! CROSSFACE CHICKEN WING! Strong fights it, but Dragon wraps his legs around Strong! Strong eventually gets a leg free, and puts it on the ropes! The crowd goes NUTS! Strong puts Dragon up top SUPER GORILLA PRESS GUTBUSTER! Awesome! Strong is too tired to follow up. He eventually does COVER! 1 2 NO! Strong grabs Dragon STRONGHOLD! Dragon flips over ROLLUP! 1 2 3!!! Dragon retains!
Winner, and Still ROH World Champion: Bryan Danielson
That was excellent. The story was a little disappointing – there was no awesome theme like Dragon stealing Strong’s moves (ie their match back at the ‘Vendetta’ show), or anything to strongly (pardon the pun) draw me into Strong as a challenger. Basically, most of the things that made the story of their ‘Vendetta’ match so great were left out here. Don’t get me wrong, the story here was good (Strong learning from their previous encounters, Dragon’s evasion of Strong’s offence), but nothing really spectacular that we’ve had in their past matches.
The match was mostly wrestled slowly on the mat, which at times worked and at times didn’t. It didn’t really work as Strong went to wrestle with Dragon on the mat instead of taking it straight to him, which worked for him in their previous matches. It worked as Dragon produced some awesome psychology, taking out Strong’s body parts as soon as he gained any momentum.
Everything else here was perfect – the build-up to the Stronghold at the finish (with all of Strong’s backbreakers), Dragon’s body part work, the brutal-ness and the crowd – it was all great. I’m not a fan of long matches at all, but this match kept me interested (for the most part) for nearly a whole hour, which in conclusion shows how great the match was. The second best match of this show, and definitely the best match of the famous Dragon/Strong trilogy.
****1/2.
Best Match: DoFixer vs Blood Generation (*****)
Worst Match: 2 Masked Jobbers vs Samoa Joe and Adam Pearce (DUD)
Overall Show Thoughts: This was an excellent show. Look at the ratings here – a whopping 3 matches are ****1/2+ – this show has 3 MOTYCs on it. Also, with a ***** match this show warrants an instant ‘must buy’ from me. The lower quality stuff is mostly fun, although at times it did feel like a chore to sit through (to get to the good matches). There’s a ton of angle advancement, a hot Chicago crowd and 3 MOTYCs on here, I give you no reason not to buy this show.
Overall Score: 9/10.
As always, check out rohwrestling.com if you’re interested in picking this show up.
The Inside Pulse
Summary
1. 2 Masked Jobbers vs Samoa Joe and Adam Pearce – DUD (Complete squash)
2. Ricky Reyes vs Delirious vs Shane Hagadorn vs Flash Flanagan – *1/2 (Generic worthless 4 Corner survival)
3. Rave & Alex Shelley vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Jimmy Yang – *** (Fun tag match, went a little too long)
4. First Blood match: Ace Steel vs Chad Collyer – ½* (Nothing worked here)
5. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries & Jack Evans – ****1/2 (Completely amazing tag match, watch it after watching AJ and Sydal vs Generation Next from the 4th Year Anniversary show to fully appreciate how great it is)
6. DoFixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito) vs. Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino) – ***** (Best multi-man match in wrestling history, must see)
7. MsChif vs. Cheerleader Melissa vs. Allison Danger vs. Daizee Haze vs. Lacey vs. Rain (SHIMMER 6 Way Match) – ** (A fun showcase match, nothing more)
8. Homicide vs Mitch Franklin – DUD (Squash)
9. Homicide vs Colt Cabana – N/A (Fun brawl, I can’t rate it because it wasn’t really a match)
10. Adam Pearce vs. Necro Butcher – N/A (Same as Homicide/Cabana)
11. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jimmy Jacobs – ***1/4 (Fun little sprint match)
12. Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong (ROH World Title Match) – ****1/2 (Excellent wrestling match, if you have seen their previous matches you’ll definitely want to see this one)
Overall Thoughts: This show has some amazing stuff. If you look at the ratings, the show has a whopping 3 matches that are ****1/2+. That’s 3 Match of the Year Contenders right there. The lower quality stuff is mostly fun, but can feel like a chore to sit through at times. Make sure you buy this show though, the 3 quality matches make it worth more than the price tag. 9/10.
