Ring of Honor DVD Review: Better Than Our Best, 4/1/06

Reviews, Wrestling DVDs

Better Than Our Best

On the 1st of April 2006, Ring of Honor presented its sixth show in the Milestone Series, entitled Better than Our Best. One can read my review of the fifth show in the Milestone series, Supercard of Honor here. One can also read my review of the fourth show in this series (the first night of this triple shot weekend), Dragon Gate Challenge here.

This show is named “Better Than Our Best”, because after the show took place many fans who attended it live proclaimed it as the best show in ROH history. Also, (on paper) being one of ROH’s strongest cards ever, ROH decided to name this “Better Than Our Best”. The six Dragon Gate competitors who competed in amazing matches on the previous 2 nights of this triple shot will be in action again here tonight. Since the Blood Generation (from Dragon Gate) faction defeated Generation Next faction of ROH at Dragon Gate Challenge, members CIMA and Naruki Doi will challenge the 2 members of Generation Next who hold the ROH tag titles, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong for the belts. Masato Yoshino (the other member of Blood Generation) will team with the Embassy (Jimmy Rave and Alex Shelley) to take on Blood Generation’s rival faction in Dragon Gate, DoFixer. The great Lance Storm comes out of retirement tonight, to see if he can go one more time and take the ROH world title off Bryan Danielson. Finally, the Colt Cabana vs Homicide feud will come to an end tonight, as Colt tries to end it in his home town with a Chicago Street Fight.

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.

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Current Storylines: The dissension in The Embassy is dissolving. Rave and Shelley managed to work together successfully the last 2 nights of this triple shot, defeating tag teams Bryan Danielson & Delirious and Claudio Castagnoli & Jimmy Yang. Tonight they team up with Masato Yoshino (out of the Blood Generation faction in Dragon Gate) to take on Blood Generation’s rival faction, DoFixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito).

Back at Dragon Gate Challenge, ROH Icon Samoa Joe joined the ROH side of the ROH vs CZW war, last night he successfully fought off the CZW invasion of Chris Hero and Necro Butcher. The CZW ‘wrestlers’ are not signed for anything tonight, but as we’ve seen before they could appear at any point in the show.

The 7 month long Homicide vs Colt Cabana feud will come to an end TONIGHT. Over the past 7 months, these 2 have destroyed each other in every way possible. Tonight, all the violence (and grief Colt’s suffering) should come to an end for good, in a good ol’ Chicago Street fight.

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Let’s get onto the show!
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*Colt Cabana is shown walking through the curtain (backstage) out onto the ringside area, with Dave Prazak trying to get his attention. He gets in the ring and cuts a promo about himself and Homicide. He calls out Homicide, but is met with ROH school students, who merely tell him Cide hasn’t arrived yet.

*Here are the ROH March Top 5 Rankings:
5. Samoa Joe
4. Alex Shelley
3. Christopher Daniels
2. Jimmy Yang
1. Roderick Strong.

1. Ace Steel vs Jack Evans vs Matt Sydal vs Jimmy Jacobs vs Jake Crist vs Dave Crist (Six Man Mayhem): Jack and Sydal start, doing a crisp feeling out process with flips added in. Jake Crist and Jimmy Jacobs come in. IA (Jake and Dave Crist, Irish Airbourne) double team Jacobs, but Ace Steel comes in and LARIATS Dave’s head off. People are leaving and entering this match all the time now, so I’m not gonna bother to say whether someone’s entered anymore. Jack hits Dave Crist with a SWEET standing corkscrew senton. Everyone comes in and hits their signature moves. Sydal hits a lovely standing moonsault. They do a 6 way chicken fight sequence, which ends in Jack hitting a moonsault off Ace’s shoulders onto everyone on the outside.

One of IA tries to super German Sydal, but he lands on his feet, grabs the other dude of IA’s head and gives him his reverse DDT move. He follows it up with a big top rope moonsault to the outside, onto everybody. Back in Ace Steel goes up top with everybody, and hits Sydal with a super Widow’s Peak, Dave Crist with a super Stunner and Jake Crist with a top rope leg drop, ALL at the same time! Jack hits Jake with the 630, and this match is over.
Winner: Jack Evans.

That was lots of fun. It was an all-out spotfest, but it got the fans warmed up for the rest of the show and had lots of cool stuff in it.
**1/2.

*Jim Cornette comes out to the ring and says some stuff. Colt Cabana comes out, saying he needs the feud with Homicide to end. They agree on having a Chicago street fight as the main event of the show, to settle things between Cide and Cabana.

Delirious comes out. Cornette talks to him, telling him he can have a match with anyone on the roster, but he must win otherwise he’s gone from ROH. Delirious grabs the mic and talks his gibberish, but saying “Ricky Reyes” clearly enough that we can understand he wants a match with Reyes, right now.

2. Ricky Reyes vs Delirious: This mini-feud is based around Reyes attacking Delirious the previous night (Supercard of Honor) and saying he doesn’t deserve to be in ROH because of his stupid gimmick. Jim Cornette said Delirious can have a match with anyone on the roster he chooses, but he MUST win it, or he’s out of ROH for good.

Delirious takes it right to Reyes from the start. They brawl around ringside, with Delirious dominating. Delirious hits Julius Smokes with a forearm, and he sells it ridiculously. Back in the ring Ryes cuts off Delirious with a spin kick and a neckbreaker. He works over Delirious, targeting his neck. Delirious eventually comes back, hitting Shadows Over Hell and the Bizarro Driver. It gets a 2 count. Reyes gets a trio of neckbreakers, but can’t get the pin. Delirious catches him in a grounded Cobra Stretch, and Reyes taps! Delirious gets his first win in ROH.
Winner: Delirious.

That was pretty fun. It was too short to be anything great, but it was worked well and got Delirious over big time.
**.

3. Jimmy Rave vs Alex Shelley & Masato Yoshino vs Do Fixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito): Shelley and Saito start. They trade holds and have some nice sequences, which makes me wish Shelley faced Saito in a singles match back at Dragon Gate Challenge. Yoshino and Kid come in, as Kid hits some awesome lucha moves. Genki and Rave comes in. Genki hits a few dropkicks as Rave bails. Yoshino comes in and gets elbowed by Kid. DoFixer work over Yoshino. Saito and Genki hit their nice kick to gut-bulldog to knee-bulldog-dropkick to face combo. Shelley tags in, but winds up getting isolated by DoFixer. They hit more nice double team stuff, including their triple team dropkick move. Rave comes in and gains control on Genki. The Embassy and Yoshino slow the pace RIGHT down, working over Genki for a while. He eventually comes back, hitting a back elbow. He makes the hot tag to Saito!

Rave runs into Saito”¦Belly to Belly! Kid and Yoshino come in”¦DÉJÀ VU to Yoshino! Tope from Kid! Shelley and Saito hook it up. Saito hits 2 Fisherman’s Busters, but can’t connect with the third. Shelley becomes free”¦Enziguri! BRAINBUSTER! 1″¦2″¦NO! Kid springboards”¦rana to Shelley ON HIS HEAD. Gets Rave in place…FLIPPING STUNNER! Across the ropes”¦SPEAR from Rave! Gutbuster! DDT! 1″¦2″¦NO! Rave goes for a suplex”¦STUNNER FROM KID! Yoshino springboards in…Dropkicks from all of DoFixer! Suplex from Genki. Top Rope Splash from Saito! 1″¦2″¦NO! Spinebuster. DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT FROM KID! 1″¦2″¦NO! Yoshino makes a comeback for his team with a spinning neckbreaker thing on Saito. Superkick from Shelley! Spear/clothesline combo from the Embassy! RUNNING KNEE from Rave! 1″¦2″¦NO! Saito grabs Yoshino”¦GERMAN SUPLEX! 1″¦2″¦NO! Kid springboards”¦SNAP HURRICANRANA! 1″¦2″¦NO! Rave and Yoshino grab Kid and Genki”¦STEREO LIGHTNING SPIRALS! 1″¦2″¦NO! Rave kills Genki with a clothesline, then hits Greetings from Ghana (Pedigree) for the win!
Winners: Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley & Masato Yoshino.

Great match. Not as good as last night’s 6 man, but it didn’t really have to be. This was a lot like last night’s regarding formula and all, with of course a GREAT finishing sequence. What I didn’t like here though was the workover period on Genki – the action being slowed down at that point is to be expected, but it slowed down way too much for my liking. Otherwise, this was your usual awesome multi-man match with the Dragon Gate dudes.
***3/4.

*Lance Storm is backstage. He cuts an awesome promo, saying why he’s come out of retirement purely for this one match with Bryan Danielson. He’s trained as hard as he could for 10 months, to hopefully win the one title that has eluded him all his career, a world title.

4. AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels vs Jimmy Yang (Four Corner Survival): Yang and Daniels start and have a few cool exchanges. Joe starts a good ol’ Joe combo on Daniels, but he sees a kick coming (he knows Joe so well) so he urgently tags to AJ. Joe and AJ trade kicks (with Joe winning) until AJ kills Joe’s momentum, sweeping his legs. Daniels uses his speed to take over and tags to Yang. Everyone starts to gang up on Joe. They work him over for a few minutes, hitting some nice high-impact stuff. AJ goes for a springboard move but Joe NAILS him with a kick to the gut and tags to Yang. Yang controls with kicks and tags to Joe. Joe destroys Styles with kicks and knocks Daniels off the apron. Everyone starts to work over AJ now. He comes back though, hitting the Pele kick on Joe. He makes the hot tag to Daniels!

Daniels cleans house. He grabs Yang”¦Blue Thunder Bomb! Daniels and Yang continue to fight, as AJ goes up top”¦double springboard clothesline! Joe tries to Ole Kick AJ outside, but he moves. It doesn’t matter though, as Joe hits him with a dropkick on the floor. Yang ducks a clothesline”¦over the ropes dive onto Joe on the outside! Daniels joins them”¦Arabian Press! Back in, Yang and Daniels meet up top”¦SUPER REVERSE RANA FROM DANIELS! Joe comes in”¦MURDERS AJ with Lariat! Daniels grabs Joe”¦KOJI CLUTCH! Before Joe can tap, AJ breaks it up. Daniels and Styles have an AWESOME sequence exchanging finishers. Daniels gets knocked down to the floor by Joe. AJ goes up top. Joe meets him with a kick to the face! MUSCLE BUSTAAAA! 1″¦2″¦3.
Winner: Samoa Joe.

That was very very good. The story was every man had an issue with each other — they would be too busy focusing on their one opponent (who they had an issue with) so they forgot about the other competitors in the match, which was each man’s weakness. How everyone stopped working over Joe and started working over AJ (they realised he was weaker) mid match was also good. The wrestling was top notch here (as you’d expect from who was involved) and the finishing sequence was particularly awesome. One of the best 4CS’s in ROH history.
***3/4.

*Joe gets on the mic after the match and talks about making the ROH title a World Championship. And tonight in front of the largest ROH crowd ever he announces that he wants his title back. He calls out Bryan Danielson to accept his challenge. Danielson comes out while they show a clip from the Danielson/Joe match at the ‘Midnight Express Reunion’ show. Danielson says that the title did more for Joe than he did for the title, and then starts insulting Joe about being Samoan, and about being fat. Dragon accepts Joe’s challenge for a random future date. Good segment there.

*Chris Hero and Necro Butchercome out through the crowd, and attack Joe from behind. Adam Pearce comes out to help but Danielson distracts Joe, so Pearce is handicapped. Eventually, Claudio Castagnoli comes out. He tries to save Pearce but hits him by mistake and gets pitched to the floor. Jim Cornette comes out to check on him but soon gets assaulted. An injured BJ Whitmer comes out to help (That’s 5 guys from the ROH side, compared to CZW’s 2), but Hero goes after his bad ankle with a chair. The students then come to take out the trash. That whole thing made the ROH side look very weak, but it made Hero and Necro look strong so it’s okay I suppose.

*An ad shows for ROH’s Straight Shootin’ series. Cool.

*Dave Prazak is with the Embassy backstage. They’re excited about going undefeated throughout the weekend and they’re going to go after the tag titles.

5. Austin Aries and Roderick Strong (c) vs CIMA and Naruki Doi (ROH Tag Team Title Match): This happens to be one of my favourite ROH tag matches of all time, lets see if it can hold up here. Strong and Doi start. Strong gets out of a headlock and tags Aries. Aries and CIMA have an exchange on the mat, which leads to Aries hitting CIMA with the HEADSTAND DROPKICK. Strong shoulder-blocks CIMA, so he rolls over, but Aries meets him out of nowhere with a springboard senton. That was seriously awesome. Aries and Strong do some more lovely teamwork, hitting CIMA with a perfect Hart Attack (clothesline/spinebuster combo). Strong grabs CIMA in a delayed vertical suplex. He holds CIMA up there for a crazy 60 seconds! Aries comes in, hitting his springboard twisting press and no hands Quebrada. CIMA comes back, head-scissoring Aries face first into the turnbuckle. He tags to Doi.

Doi cleans house with some elbows, but gets hit with a Back Suplex by Strong. Blood Generation hit a pair of dropkicks then stereo topes. CIMA must have caught Aries HARD in the face, ‘cause Aries’ nose is bleeding BADLY. Blood Generation live up to their stable name, dominating Aries’ (most likely) broken nose. Blood Generation then work over Aries, completely destroying him in every way they can. Man this match is good. Blood Generation hit a sick dropkick/Backdrop Driver combo. Doi sunset flips Aries off the top rope, getting him in powerbomb position. He then gives Aries a SICK running powerbomb, right into the turnbuckles. Aries is dead, and I’m loving it. Blood Generation kill him with more double teams, including a top rope double stomp to the ribs from CIMA, while Doi was holding Aries on the ropes. Aries catches a kick from CIMA, and hits the shinbreaker/Backdrop Driver Combo! He makes the HOT tag to Strong!

Strong deeply CLEANS house, killing everybody with everything. Strong has one sweet hot tag. CIMA shoves Strong down”¦double stomp! Picks him up”¦Michinoku Driver! 1″¦2″¦No. Aries tries a springboard”¦ACE CRUSHER FROM CIMA! CIMA tries to Lungblower Aries in the corner”¦Backbreaker from Strong! Strong off the ropes”¦SKY HIGH FROM DOI! Doi grabs an elevated Aries”¦REALEASE GERMAN SUPLEX! 1″¦2″¦NO! CIMA comes in”¦Superkick on Strong! He puts Aries in reverse tree of Woe. He goes to the other side of the ring”¦VAN TERMINATOR TO THE BACK OF ARIES’ HEAD! He pouts Aries up top again”¦VENUS! ICONOCLASM! The tag titles are in JEAPORDY here! CIMA comes off the top with the Mad Splash”¦ARIES GETS HIS KNEES UP! Yes! Strong grabs CIMA”¦GORILLA PRESS GUTBUSTER! Doi grabs Strong”¦DOI 555s! BAKATARE SLIDING KICK! 1″¦2″¦Aries breaks it up with a FUCKING SICK kick to the back of Doi’s head! That made a horrible thud. Aries grabs Doi”¦BRAINBUSTER! CIMA grabs Aries”¦FALCON ARROW! 1″¦2″¦NO! This is f*cking awesome. Strong grabs CIMA as Aries goes up top. DROPKICK/POWERBOMB TO KNEE COMBO puts CIMA RIGHT on his head! HALF NELSON BACKBREAKER TO CIMA! BIG BOOT TO DOI! 450 FROM ARIES!!!!!! 1″¦2″¦3!!
Winners, and STILL ROH Tag Team Champions: Austin Aries and Roderick Strong.

That was amazing. Everything about this match is awesome. The story of the match was both teams barely knew each other. The challengers used whatever advantages they could (ie going after Aries’ nose), but in the end Aries and Strong were just a better team, and their unstoppable double team work put CIMA and Doi down. Add on one of the best face-in-peril/workover periods ever with great comeback spots from Aries, and you’ve got one hell of a match.

Like all Aries/Strong defences, the finishing sequence was only a few minutes long here, but it was still absolutely awesome (unlike certain teams nowadays who need an 8 minute finishing sequence to be as good as this). It also contained the awesome build up of spots, which made it all the more great. There weren’t any major botches, only a few miscommunications, but that’s more than understandable with the language difference between both teams. This still remains as one of my favourite matches in ROH history, and was a definite MOTYC for 2006.
****1/2.

6. Bryan Danielson (c) vs LANCE STORM (coming out of retirement) (ROH World Title Match): They feel each other out to start. Danielson goes for a dropkick but Storm moves out of the way. Storm gets a fireman’s carry into an armbar. They trade some holds on the mat, with Storm getting a 2 count off a pin attempt. Danielson gains an advantage with a dropkick to the face. Storm is quick to fight back though, hitting a dropkick of his own, making Danielson bail. Back in they wrestle on the mat more, with no man getting a clear advantage. Storm hits a stalled suplex, then starts working over Dragon’s neck. Danielson comes back with his speed, and starts working him over, typical Dragon style. He does the “I have till 5!” spots and whatnot. Storm comes back out of nowhere with his beautiful rolling Half Crab, but Danielson reaches the ropes. He bails. Storm follows him out and rams him into the rail. Storm dominates Dragon in the ring and goes to the second rope. Again, Dragon uses his speed, nailing Storm with a big forearm while he was perched on the top rope.

That knocked Storm out of the ring, so Dragon follows him out and rams him into the barricade. Back in Dragon works over Storm. He hits all the usual Dragon offence; suplexes, backbreakers, kneedrops, submissions, etc. Storm tries to come back with a leg lariat, but Dragon is quick (metaphorically AND physically) to cut off his momentum. Storm comes back again, with an enziguri and a back elbow. He continues his flurry with a clothesline and a leg lariat, for 2.

He grabs Dragon”¦Tiger Driver! 1″¦2″¦No! Powerslam! 1, 2, no. Storm jumps for a rana, cut Dragon catches him and snaps him down to the canvas with a powerbomb. Folding bridge! 1, 2, no! Storm gets out of a submission predicament…SUPERKICK! 1″¦2″¦NO! They wind up top. Dragon reverses Storm”¦Backdrop Superplex! 1″¦2″¦No. Danielson climbs the ropes. Diving Headbu”¦Storm moves out of the way! Storm grabs Dragon”¦CRADLE PILEDRIVER! 1″¦2″¦NO! HALF CRAB! Dragon gets to the ropes, but Storm pulls him back to the centre of the ring! DRAGON ROLLS OVER INTO A ROLLUP! 1″¦2″¦NO! That was how he beat Strong last night. Danielson dodges a superkick”¦ROARING FOREARM! REGALPLEX! 1″¦2″¦NO! CATTLE MUTILATION! STORM ROLLS OVER! 1″¦2″¦NO! Dragon holds onto the arms”¦TIGER SUPLEX! 1″¦2″¦NO! CATTLE MUTILATION AGAIN! Storm fights it, but eventually he succumbs to the pain and taps!
Winner, and STILL ROH World Champion: Bryan Danielson.

Excellent match, especially since Storm hadn’t wrestled for 10 months before this. The story was good — Storm was the veteran knowing Danielson’s moves, but Dragon was stronger and faster, and used his physical ability to cut Storm off when he gained too much momentum. In the end, Storm’s intelligence fell to Dragon’s physical power (with how long the match went on and all). Also, with lots of crisp technical wrestling, the match holding my interest for 25 straight minutes and Storm being a potently credible challenger, this match was that damn good.
****.

7. Colt Cabana vs Homicide (Chicago Street Fight): They show a long video highlighting the Colt/Cide feud before this match. Nice stuff. Colt gets ht early advantage and chokes Cide with his ring jacket. He hits a back bodydrop and dumps Homicide to the floor. Back in the ring Colt hits a big boot, and Cide bails. They brawl up the ramp and then go back to the ring. Cide comes back and tries to choke Colt with a coat hanger. Control shifts as Colt gets the coat hanger, but Cide tosses him to the floor before he can use it. TOPE CON HILO! They get a ladder out and out it in the ring. Colt hits an Alabama Slam and then catapults Cide into the ladder. Cide comes back, hitting a tornado DDT onto the ladder! It gets 2. On the floor Julius Smokes takes a long time setting Colt up on a table, before Cide hits a MASSIVE splash from the top rope onto it! 1″¦2″¦NO! They get out a barbed wire board and tease using it, but no one feels the wire. Colt gets out Cide’s ghetto fork and starts to stab him with it! He viciously stabs Cide’s forehead all around the ring, making Cide bleed profusely. Homicide dumps Colt to the floor and pulls Drano out from under the ring. Instead of scaring him, the Drano angers Colt, and he goes right after Cide! He hits a stunner like neckbreaker, with Cide draped across the top rope. Colt gets rubbing alcohol and throws it in Cide’s face! That’s gotta sting. And indeed it did, as Cide goes crazy in pain. Cide regains control with a low blow, and then goes to the outside. He throws a few chairs into the ring. He talks to the fans, telling them to throw THEIR chairs into the ring! And they do, as Chicago witnesses the second ever chair riot in ROH history!

Both Cide and Colt get hit with flying chairs. Colt puts Cide up top”¦SUPERPLEX ONTO THE SEA OF CHAIRS! 1″¦2″¦NO! That was crazy. Todd Sinclair clears some chairs out of the ring, but so do Colt and Cide. What the hell? Colt tries another superplex, but Cide low blows him, and hits a Pepsi Plunge, onto the mat (the chairs have gone by now). 1″¦2″¦NO! Colt still has fight left in him. Cide comes off the ropes”¦LARIAT! 1″¦2″¦NO! Colt grabs Cide”¦SNAP CAPTURE SUPLEX! Colt brings a table in the ring (taking his time while doing so) and sets it directly over the barbed wire board (which we’ve all forgotten about by this point). They both go up top. Cide goes for a rana”¦Colt catches him”¦SUPERBOMB THROUGH THE TABLE (and sorta on the barbed wire)! 1″¦2″¦NO! Colt sets up Cide”¦LARIAT! 1″¦2″¦NO! COLT 45 (w/ Colt yelling “Please, Please!”)!! 1″¦2″¦3!
Winner of the match, and the feud: Colt Cabana.

That was very good. From a story aspect, it was excellent. Colt getting revenge on Cide (doing what Cide did to him, ie forking his forehead), Colt yelling “PLEASE, PLEASE!” after hitting the Colt 45 (showing how much he wanted to end the feud) and Colt not caring about the Drano (he wanted Homicide so badly he was willing to ignore his biggest fear) were all really good touches. Unfortunately, Cide using the Pepsi Plunge made no sense at all. The story of this match was built fully around hatred (ie them wanting to kill each other), not disrespect – there was no need to steal a move or anything like that.

What wasn’t so great however was the match didn’t fit the gimmick (Chicago Street Fight) very well. Lots of the big spots with weapons took WAY too long to set up, the barbed wire board was pointless (they played it off loads but didn’t use it for ages, then when they used it we got one spot that barely involved it) and both wrestlers clearing the chair-riot chairs OUT of the ring was stupid — I thought they would want to kill each other on them! Apart from those problems this was a very good intense brawl, ending the 8 month feud well.
***1/2.

*ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson is in the ROH Wrestling School with another man. He’s signing a contract. Just about as we’re going to see what it’s for, the camera fades to black. To be continued”¦

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Best Match: Aries and Strong vs CIMA and Doi (ROH Tag Team Title Match) (****1/2)
Worst Match: Ricky Reyes vs Delirious (**)

Overall Show Thoughts: This was an excellent show. There are no major standout matches (well maybe the tag title match), but nothing here was bad; everything was good to great. If you look at the ratings, you’ll see matches 3 — 7 are ALL ***1/2+ (That’s 5 great matches STRAIGHT), which is quite damn impressive. From a storyline perspective this is great too, having the CZW war advancement, the last appearance of the (awesome) Dragon Gate guys for a while, Lance Storm’s one and only ROH appearance and the big blowoff to the 8 month Colt/Cide feud. Very strong recommendation for this show (and the 2 nights before it, the whole triple-shot weekend was superb).

Overall Score: 9/10.

As always, check out rohwrestling.com if you’re interested in picking this show up.

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Summary

1. Ace Steel vs Jack Evans vs Matt Sydal vs Jimmy Jacobs vs Jake Crist vs Dave Crist (Six Man Mayhem) – **1/2 (Fun 6MM to start the show)

2. Ricky Reyes vs Delirious – ** (Nothing great, but did what it was set to do well)

3. Jimmy Rave vs Alex Shelley & Masato Yoshino vs Do Fixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito) – ***3/4 (Like the Dragon Gate 6 man the night before, but not as good)

4. AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels vs Jimmy Yang (Four Corner Survival) – ***3/4 (Nice story between all the competitors and plenty of great action made this one of the best 4CS’s in the history of ROH)

5. Austin Aries and Roderick Strong (c) vs CIMA and Naruki Doi (ROH Tag Team Title Match) – ****1/2 (Like every other Aries & Strong tag in the Milestone series”¦FUCKING AWESOME! Make sure to see this match)

6. Bryan Danielson (c) vs LANCE STORM (coming out of retirement) (ROH World Title Match) – **** (Excellent match that ticked all the boxes)

7. Colt Cabana vs Homicide (Chicago Street Fight) – ***1/2 (A few problems here and there, but overall a good, intense way to end the 8 month long feud between these two)

Overall Thoughts: This was an excellent show. There are no major standout matches (well maybe the tag title match), but nothing here was bad; everything was good to great. If you look at the ratings, you’ll see matches 3 — 7 are ALL ***1/2+ (That’s 5 great matches STRAIGHT), which is quite damn impressive. From a storyline perspective this is great too, having the CZW war advancement, the last appearance of the (awesome) Dragon Gate guys for a while, Lance Storm’s one and only ROH appearance and the big blowoff to the 8 month Colt/Cide feud. Very strong recommendation for this show (and the 2 nights before it, the whole triple-shot weekend was superb). 9/10.