Ring of Honor returned to its birthplace for its sixth ever Pay per View taping. The show was a little unsettled from the get go, as the main event world title match would not be set until the results of the first match, at the same time, the show had many stellar contests including yet another chapter in the Aries vs. Danielson saga, and a continuation of the Briscoes vs. Age of the Fall feud. Can this show live up to the heights of Man Up and Rising Above or would it be more on par with Undeniable? Read on to find out…
Opening Contest Dark Match: Dingo vs. Davey Richards
Dingo is a really bland Australian bloke. Davey Richards kicks people in the head. This match kind of sucked. Davey beat on Dingo. Dingo made comebacks. Davey tombstoned Dingo and locked in the kimura for the tapout victory setting a tone for the night.
Winner: Davey Richards via tapout; *
SHIMMER Dark Match Exhibition: Kylie Pierce vs. SHIMMER Champion Sara Del Rey
Del Rey is now sans Sweet ‘n’ Sour. This match was unbelievable short. Del Rey intentionally missed or messed up an axe kick and followed with another kick to the head for the win.
Winner: Sara Del Rey
Four Corner Survival Match: Go Shiozaki vs. Delirious vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Tyler Black
This was the opening for the Pay per View as the winner would earn himself a title shot at the end of the show. The match started off with Claudio and Delirious going through a comedy sequence fighting over a Greco-Roman knuckle lock. Eventually Go and Black were tagged in, and Shiozaki proved that he was a disciple of Kenta Kobashi blistering the chests of the other three competitors. After all four men traded their hard hitting best Tyler Black hit Delirious with a Phoenix Splash for the shocking win. The match was good but did not have a lot of flow.
Putting heel Tyler Black in the main event with newly turned heel champion Nigel McGuinness may not seem like the best choice, but looking at the others involved it starts to make a little sense. They want to save the Claudio match, ditto for Go. Uber-face Delirious may not have been a bad choice, but who does he beat to get there. Certainly not Claudio or Go since they are big time title matches down the line. Black is also in the midst of a push with the Age of the Fall, so losing to Delirious does not help his cause. That leaves Tyler Black as the “best†choice. It did pay off, though.
Winner: Tyler Black over Delirious; **
Kevin Steen vs. Roderick Strong
This, I believe, was taped for the PPV, and really it should be. The match has two of the heavily pushed talent involved. Steen is of course currently on a quest for RoH gold. I can only assume it will lead him there at some point. Roderick Strong is the FIP champion, but this match is not for that title. Nor should any RoH match be. I really want to see the FIP title be left to FIP, but that is another topic for another time.
The match was good and hard hitting. Steen is improving as a singles superstar, but he has a long way to go before he is a truly great competitor. He is not a great babyface in singles matches. He likes to dictate pace and for many reasons that can count as strengths is poor at drawing sympathy. Still the match was pretty solid. Strong could not get a decided advantage and Steen’s dickery kept him in the match. Steen eventually was able to score the win after the steenalizer and the package piledriver.
Winner: Kevin Steen via pinfall; **
The Vulture Squad of Jigsaw and Ruckus with Julius Smokes and Mercedes Martinez vs. the Hangmen 3 of BJ Whitmer and Adam Pearce with Shane Hagadorn
Jigsaw is real goony looking without his mask. He should have kept it on. He does have pants to match Jack now, though. This match was long and boring. Part of that could have been due to the potential appearance of Eddie Kingston. Jigsaw took the heat for a very long time, made a hot tag to Ruckus who did lots of flips. Jigsaw eventually got the win after a rollup on BJ Whitmer. The win for the Vulture Squad guaranteed them a tag title shot against Davey Richards and Rocky Romero in Orlando.
After the match Kingston, Sabian, and Joker (some reports also say Robbie Moreno was there) try to climb the guardrail. They eventually do and a brawl ensues. Nothing really happens. They get separated and that does it for that hyped segment. It was pretty disappointing if I do say so myself. Granted they didn’t go with the cliché that a wrestler who purchases a ticket can enter the ring and wrestle, but they still could have given us more.
Winners: Ruckus and Jigsaw via pinfall; *1/2
Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. The Age of the Fall of Joey Matthews and the Necro Butcher
This match started out as brawl leading from the entrance to the Armory. They brawled all throughout the crowd. Somewhere along the way Mark Briscoe got busted open badly on the side of his head and bled heavily throughout the match. Lacey and Daizee Haze also got into the mix beating each other up for old time’s sake. These two may have the longest running feud in RoH history.
The match finally settled into the ring and Matthews and Necro went to town on the Briscoes. The Briscoe brothers eventually regained control and Mark missed on a Springboard Doomsday Device attempt. They put Necro up and he counters with his trademark punch in the head. Mark and Necro brawl back into the crowd and Mark hits a crazy dive off the top of the entrance arch. In the ring Jay hits a Jay Driller on a chair for the three-count.
Winners: Jay and Mark Briscoe via pinfall; *** (It may be more after the PPV is released.)
***Intermission***
Shane Hagadorn vs. Bushwhacker Luke
This match could have been a fun short comedy match. Instead they worked it legit and it went way too long. Luke won with an elevated DDT.
Winner: Bushwhacker Luke via pinfall; DUD
The Larry Sweeney Show starring Larry Sweeney
Larry Sweeney talks about his hostile takeover. He says he is signing everyone and selling their contracts to Vince. He brings out his newest signees: The Hangmen 3. Adam Pearce announces that the Hangmen have sold out. Whitmer and Albright don’t exactly seem pleased, but neither is speaking up about it. Erick Stevens makes his way out the ring and gets offered a scale contract from Sweeney due to lack of experience. Stevens said he wanted a match against Daniel Puder, but Sweeney’s chicanery made that an impossibility. This leads to…
Brent Albright vs. Larry Sweeney
I like both guys; Stevens probably more than Albright, but I think both of them have a large upside. The early goings of the match go to great lengths to show just how evenly matched these two bulls are. The basic story here was two big strong guys beating each other up. It was pretty simple, granted, but I don’t think either one of them is that smart. Still the story worked and the match was pretty entertaining. Stevens, who plays his role of a heroic babyface to perfection, got distracted by Sweeney allowing Albright to hit the half-nelson suplex for the victory.
Winner: Brent Albright; **
Special Challenge Match: “American Dragon†Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries
The show had been pretty lackluster up until this point. The tag brawl was awesome, but nothing else set the world on fire, until this match. Aries is now sporting eyeliner and painted fingernails. Danielson is looking a lot more like his 2002 self as his hair has grown out a bit, he still bravely sports the maroon gear though.
These two have some of the best chemistry of any wrestlers in RoH history. Every time they enter the ring together they tear the house down. I have yet to see them wrestle as a tag team, but I am sure that is pretty amazing too. This match had a different tone than some of the others. Nothing was at stake here, just a match to see who is better. This match also had the most body part psychology I have seen them put together in a match yet. Aries mercilessly went after Dragon’s neck to try and take away the Cattle Mutilation, which of course requires a bridge. Dragon went even harder after Aries’ left arm hitting with almost every arm submission he has ever used. The selling psychology and pace in this match were just spot on. Normally, I don’t complain about a match being too short, but this is a match that could have used maybe five or six more minutes to truly drive it to classic status. As it stands it is a four star match, and worth purchasing the Pay per View for. Danielson was able to get the win after a seated Fujiwara armbar. Aries refused to shake hands after the match continuing his poor sportsmanship.
Winner: “American Dragon†Bryan Danielson via submission; ****
Ring of Honor World Title Match: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Tyler Black
Tyler Black is clearly a heel, and so is Nigel, but for reasons I explained before this is still a good choice for the main event. Tyler Black has been building up a ton of credibility, and without his Four Corner Survival match victory, he would not be a plausibly contender to the throne. Nigel got significantly more boos than cheers which is a good thing. Philadelphia likes to cheer heels, but they like to boo champions even more. It is probably why their sports teams haven’t won in quite a while. If they were winners, they would get booed more than they do. Actually, I think Philadelphia just likes booing people.
Tyler Black was just obliterated by Nigel in the early stages. He sold everything Nigel hit him with like death. For the first several minutes it seemed like the match would just be a squash. Tyler had a few comebacks, but nothing ever would up successful. Eventually they went to the outside and Tyler started to get an advantage. Nigel attempted to hit him with a chair, but Black superkicked the chair back into Nigel’s face sending him over the guardrail. Tyler took this opportunity to go back into the ring to set up a dive. It didn’t work though, because as he sailed over the ropes Nigel recovered a teed off on him with a chair shot.
Tyler spent several minutes convalescing on the floor. I actually thought that they were going to stop the match. They didn’t, and Tyler recovered. He kicked out at 2 and the fans in attendance started to believe that we could be witness an upset in the making. Nigel literally threw everything he could at Black, and Tyler kept kicking out. Tyler was able to hit his big moves as well, and every near fall was bought almost 100% by the Philadelphia faithful. Nigel also locked in the London Dungeon submission several times, but never scored the tap out. After a fourth lariat and another application of the London Dungeon, Tyler did finally submit. This was a great dramatic story. Tyler’s stock significantly rose from the defeat and Nigel proved he was a great heel by making a fellow heel into the top babyface in the company if only for one match.
Winner: Nigel McGuinness via tapout; ****
This show started out inauspiciously. Nothing was actively bad, but nothing was that good either. Nothing really stood out. The last two matches, though, were simply great. Aries and Dragon put on a technical masterpiece and McGuinness and Black showed just how wrestling can work as a drama play. The show is certainly worth buying for the last two matches. It is not their best Pay per View ever due to the average stuff in the beginning, but it is still a great show.
I’ll see you next time…
