Let’s kick off the week with quick thoughts on the ROH PPV, Take No Prisoners.
First and foremost, if you need coverage, check PK’s awesomely in depth PPV Report. I challenge you to find more in-depth, objective show coverage anywhere on the net. If you want more opinions than you see here, check Andy Mac’s Take No Prisoners 10 Thoughts.
This was the most diverse ROH PPV thus far. If you read last week’s Top 10 Shows in ROH History, you’ll have seen how highly I value this. In terms of pure quality, this probably still comes behind Man Up as far as PPVs go, but the diversity probably puts it over the top.
At about *** ½ we had a really great, character filled, almost WWE-style Roderick Strong vs. Kevin Steen match. The characters of both men came through and they showed how indy spots could easily work in a WWE-style match. This was followed by an old ECW style brawl at about *** ½ where the Briscoes showed again that they are the kings of this match type against Necro Butcher and Joey Matthews. Matthews is incredible at making his opponents look good, as is Necro, who also comes off as a big star. From here the show turned up a notch.
Aries vs. Danielson is one there for the workrate freaks. It isn’t their best encounter and felt almost a primer to their wrestling, but given their talent and skill is still around ****. The main event saw a star made in the single best underdog vs. established star that wrestling has seen in ages. That the new star (avoiding naming him due to spoilers) could be so believable with so little given to him speaks amazingly well of his future. I’m shocked how well this came off on DVD and have the main event at **** ½. This show is an absolute win and if you can’t catch the PPV replay times, then get the damn DVD, which should be out by the end of this month.
Bracketology and Preview for 6/6/08 in Hartford’s Tag Title Tournament
Block A: Jigsaw and Ruckus vs. Adam Pearce and Chris Hero
This match is a surprise since I wouldn’t expect either team to get out of the first round in normal circumstances. Pearce and Hero have, to my knowledge, yet to tag, so they will likely fall to the more experienced Jigsaw and Ruckus. The match will be flashy when Jigsaw and Ruckus control and slow when the heels control, but not very good either way.
Winners: Ruckusaw
Block B: Nigel McGuinness and Go Shiozaki vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico
A lot of people have Nigel and Go winning here, going on to take the tournament, but I don’t see it. For one, it’d be too anticlimactic since most people badly want Steen and Generico to win. For another, a pin on Nigel would set up another Steen rematch or a shot for Generico against Nigel. Either one of those could draw well, so that will likely be the result in the match of Round 1.
Winners: Steenerico
Block C: Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black vs. Delirious and Pelle
This is the shortest of the first round matches likely and I’d imagine it goes pretty handily to the former tag champs, Jacobs and Tyler.
Winners: The Age of the Fall
Block D: Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson vs. Davey Richards and Roderick Strong
Strong has the FIP belt and likely won’t add to it here, having plenty of feuds left over that belt. Aries and Danielson are sort of floundering without much to do, though both have issues with Roderick and will likely target him all match. Their superior skill should be enough to take this in a good match.
Winners: Aries and Danielson
Round 2 Match 1: Jigsaw and Ruckus vs. Steen and Generico
This will be quite good in all likelihood as Jigsaw has good chemistry with Steen and Generico, but ultimately, their team cannot match up to the best team in ROH history to never win that title. Steen and Generico will win here after a short, but intense match.
Winners: Steen and Generico
Round 2 Match 2: Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs vs. Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson
This is sure to be great and, I would guess, will lead into intermission. Tyler has a rivalry with Danielson and Aries, both of whom he wants to beat to prove himself, while Jacobs has beaten Danielson and has major hate over Lacey with Aries. This heat should keep the match intense. Team Work will prove superior to the Age of the Fall here, with Black likely dropping another fall to his rivals, but post match, I see the Age of the Fall attacking Aries and Danielson brutally.
Winners: Team Work
Finals: Danielson and Aries vs. Steen and Generico
Danielson and Aries, badly beaten, will be heavy underdogs in this match, with the crowd torn between seeing Steen and Generico finally win the tag belts or Aries and Danielson take tag gold. Aries and Danielson after a long, underdog match will prevail, again leaving Steen and Generico frustrated, though the match will be a classic.
Winners of the Tag Titles: Danielson and Aries
Three Way: Erick Stevens vs. Necro Butcher vs. Brent Albright
This match looks stiff and awesome, but I wish it wasn’t booked. Stevens, going into major matches with Roderick Strong the next night and Bryan Danielson later in the month cannot afford to lose momentum. Brent Albright, a huge face after turning on Sweet and Sour, looks like a monster and also should not lose. That leaves Necro taking the fall, but Necro was beloved at the Hammerstein, where he took it to Morishima and a push should have come of that. He will drop the fall since he appears immune to ill effects from jobbing, likely to Albright who needs the momentum and credibility more.
Winner: Albright over Necro
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Edwards
Edwards is very good at these short matches and Claudio is quite entertaining. While this is a sure Castagnoli win, the match will be better than anyone likely expects.
Winner: Castagnoli
Preview for 6/7 in Philadelphia, PPV taping
Nigel McGuinness defends the ROH World Title against Go Shiozaki
These two had a match in NOAH that was an extended squash to set up Go coming to America. Expect this to be the match to show what Go has begun to learn. It should be a great match, but Nigel is tailor made to take out Go. Go relies on chops and strikes, while Nigel’s arm work and striking neutralize Go’s strength. Nigel will win and Go will be forced to continue to get better to take it to the ROH champion.
Winner: Nigel McGuinness
Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black
Unless I’m way off, this will be for the tag titles, one way or the other. Either way, there will be a tag title switch here, as well. I’d expect Danielson and Aries to come in with the belts and lose them to the Age of the Fall here. The match should be epic, but Team Work should be worn down by too many big matches in too short of a timeframe.
Fight Without Honor: Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong
This feud is absolutely epic with numerous great matches already. I’m tempering expectations to a **** match here, but when the low end is an excellent match, you know you have a truly special feud. I could not possibly be looking forward to this more. Stevens will win to move into the upper echelon of ROH talent and the brawl will be worth admission alone.
Winner: Stevens
Kevin Steen and El Generico vs. Ruckus and Jigsaw
This could be an easy tag title defense for Steen and Generico, but more likely will be a normal easy win to begin to rebuild Steen and Generico after the night before.
Winners: Steen and Generico
Non-PPV Falls Count Anywhere: Jay Briscoe vs. Necro Butcher
Jay and Necro will destroy each other all over Philly and the live crowd, unless they want to chase the action, will miss much of it. This will be good… on DVD. Necro should finally get a big win here.
Winner: Necro Butcher
The Return of the Kingston… sort of
Eddie Kingston, one of independent wrestling’s biggest names and best workers, will be wrestling his second ever main show ROH match on Saturday. He will be facing Jigsaw in the non-PPV portion of the show. This is huge for ROH for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, no one in ROH has Kingston’s intensity. He legitimately makes crowds believe he hates his opponent on a regular basis. The intense, cross-promotional Chris Hero feud is the easiest example, but the Hallowicked matches are another good example of this hatred.
Kingston’s other major, unique attribute is his promos. The promos Kingston cuts are second to none in all of wrestling, any promotion. He plays an angry madman with amazing precision. His delivery, pace, and tone even interest notoriously hard to impress independent wrestling fans at live events where they usually find promos to be detracting from the action. No one can talk up a feud, make it seem like he cares and the fans should care, like Kingston.
Lastly, in the ring Kingston has proved to be quite versatile. He’s best at intense brawls, but he has shown in Chikara that he is fully capable of being someone for cruisers to bounce off of, a bully heel, an everyman face, or even throwing some stiffness around while going hold for hold. He’s quite unconventional and takes some getting used to, but the stories he tells are unique and top notch. This wasn’t always true, but his recent improvement has lead to him being the most booked man in the indies, with spots in FIP, Chikara, CZW, IWA-MS, PWG and, now, ROH. He’s working all the time, improving all the time, and now, ROH fans get to witness it first hand.
There’s a lot more to be booked, which will likely be a surprise for the PPV. Check back here over the weekend for full coverage of both show.
