Welcome to the Cult of ROH review of ROH’s Dragon Gate Challenge 2, with an intro to the show and a breakdown of every promo and match. If you’d just like thoughts on whether it’s worth a purchase, scroll down to “Afterthoughts.†If you’d just like the results, scroll down to “Spoilers.†If you’re missing socks, look behind the dryer.
The Card:
-Nigel McGuinness Vs. Delirious
-Kenny King & Sal Rinuaro Vs. Ruckus & Jigsaw
-DG Challenge Match 1: Austin Aries Vs. Genki Horiguchi
-DG Challenge Match 2: Kevin Steen & El Generico Vs. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino
-DG Challenge Match 3: Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black Vs. Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk
-DG Challenge Match 4: Jay & Mark Briscoe Vs. Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito
-Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, & Rocky Romero Vs. Erick Stevens, Go Shiozaki & CIMA
Intro:
ROH continues its Wrestlemania tradition of following WWE to wherever they go and running shows in the same town Friday and Saturday. It may be parasitic, but it puts them in a huge market for wrestling fans and provides something totally different than they’ll see at ‘Mania. This was also ROH’s first show in Florida, and with over a thousand tickets sold, they had a lot to prove. The major story was a Challenge Series between Ring of Honor and Dragon Gate talent, including three top teams from each promotion squaring off in what guaranteed some intense flying action. The main event was a whole other kind of challenge as the No Remorse Corps of Roderick Strong, Davey Richards and Rocky Romero challenged stars from ROH, Dragon Gate and Pro Wrestling NOAH. Their opposition for the night would be Dragon Gate’s top man, CIMA, Kenta Kobashi’s protégé, Go Shiozaki, and Strong’s mortal enemy and former student, Erick Stevens. Even without seeing the show you could tell it was for tag wrestling fans.
The Show:
Opening Promo: The YRR is on the prowl
Rebecca Bayless attempts to introduce us to the show when the YRR’s music plays and they begin harassing fans, staff and Bushwhacker Luke, who was signing autographs. This might have been more effective if I could hear more than half of what they said, but the ambient noise, crowd sounds and house microphone conspired against the YRR this night. I’ve put the DVD on two TV’s and a computer to no avail, so unless it’s my DVD, this show has a mildly embarrassing opening.
Promo: Erick Stevens in the Back
A generic promo about how determined Erick Stevens is. He’s got talent in the ring but has a way to go in acting.
Nigel McGuinness Vs. Delirious
A ten-minute non-title match to show off how formidable ROH’s champion is and how wacky Delirious is. Nothing special and nowhere as competitive as their match of the Pure Title back in 2006, this was clearly done to showcase McGuinness before his big title match in this new territory the next night. Delirious chiding and aping McGuinness kept this fun and set an entertaining tone for the night.
Kenny King & Sal Rinauro w/ Chasyn Rance & some arm candy Vs. Ruckus & Jigsaw
Too short to pass any real judgments, other than that Kenny King is outrageously athletic, and if he can tell even a decent story in the ring he should bring that ability to ROH more often. Rinauro was not nearly as on-target, and Jigsaw barely did anything in this less-than-10-minute tag match that didn’t really even showcase the teams. Talented filler with a couple of crazy moves and a cringe-inducing ending that kept the crowd buzzing.
Promo: Larry Sweeney and Shane Hagadorn in the “private suiteâ€
Sweeney gloats over having an entire locker room to S&S. Sweeney is holding back his signed talents for more money. No Chris Hero. No Daniel Puder. Short, charismatic – your general Larry Sweeney promo. Good fun for sixty seconds.
Austin Aries Vs. Genki Horiguchi
It’s weird when ROH flies in a star from Japan only to see him outshined by home talent. This happened here, part by design, part by inevitability. Aries went out there going for an exciting athletic contest and Horiguchi went after something slower, and the two didn’t gel. The crowd loved Aries’s stuff, but Horiguchi didn’t connect and his antics were dull. Horiguchi’s offense was too limited to impress, he wasn’t nearly as conditioned and whenever he took control he was generally uninspired. His biggest moment was reversing a Brainbuster, essentially responding to Aries’s offense. I sorely miss the sympathetic face Horiguchi who connected with crowds so much better. The match became all about what Aries could do on or around Horiguchi, and occasionally what he had reversed, showcasing Aries for his title match the next night. This was very easily overshadowed by the tag matches to come.
Kevin Steen & El Generico Vs. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino
Holy crap. This match turns the show around on DVD thanks to an excited crowd and two phenomenal teams having a great night. Not everyone gels with Doi and Yoshino, leaving some of their matches really awkward. Not this one. The DG guys functioned as an agile unit, wrestling very similar and complimentary styles to each other such that if one of them was taken out the other could pick right up where his partner left off. Additionally, they were a little quicker on each other’s heels, eliminating the awkward pauses that hinder some of their performances in Dragon Gate. Steen played the power man, easily able to overcome either of the two with brute strength but unable to keep up in speed and ultimately needing to compensate, while Generico could match them for speed but had trouble with the punishment they dished out. They grabbed that dynamic and hurried towards establishing a frantic rhythm where moves that have never won them matches were believable nearfalls. With every rise and fall in the action it only became more engaging as the teams brought out bigger offense or got more desperate, without ever sacrificing timing. If anything their sense of pacing got better as the match went on, truly clicking as the second half started. With great exchanges and incredible high spots, this is worth going out of your way to see if you’re a fan of either team.
This is the best kind of match in that Dragon Gate/ROH sprint style, where it reaches a pace that’s too fast and gratifying to believe it’s choreographed, even though the action is so complex that some degree of choreography would be necessary to prevent serious injuries. They kept to that simple dynamic, leading to even more compelling stuff when multiple guys were pulling out their roles in the ring at the same time. In that framework, the real beauty of the match is how it engaged really simple characters, and expressed them through breakneck athletics.
Promo: Rebecca Bayless follows Kevin Steen & El Generico to the parking lot
Another post-match promo where Steen and Generico show the toll these kinds of performances make on them. Steen may be too hammy for some fans, but it’s a great touch. A little comedy and a lot of ranting about how great Kevin Steen thinks he is.
Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black w/ Lacey Vs. Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk
Shingo’s fire has been sorely missed in ROH. He brought it virtually every time he tagged or rolled into the ring in this match, and damn is it fun. Hulk fit right in with a good sense of timing and neat moves that always wins over an ROH live audience. Not everything he did looked like it landed (Jack Evans haters probably won’t like him), but it was pretty, it consistently won over the crowd, and led to some outstanding exchanges. Tyler Black represented his team for most of the match, probably because he could keep up the Dragon Gate crew better (no sleight on Jacobs; the Supercard 2 injury took a lot out of his mobility). Black kept up very well, particularly in giving the opponents whatever they needed, keeping things relatively (and sometimes, unbelievably) fluid.
Interestingly, while there were a few really impressive multi-man moments, this match remained mostly one-on-one with guys frequently rolling out of the ring to show the wear that this level of competition took on them. Most of the pairings (especially Hulk/Black and Shingo/Black) clicked on every iteration, building to some great nearfalls. While this started weaker than the previous tag match, it has more of the fun nearfalls. Both are exactly the kind of wild, fast-paced and innovative stuff that made the tag divisions of these two companies so popular. This show is worth the money for ROH tag wrestling fans for these two matches alone.
It took me several viewings to really compare these two matches. They had such similar Diverse Team Vs. Unified Team stories with emphases on innovative offense and building to multi-member exchanges, and both were really well done. Don’t get me wrong: the wrestlers all executed so well and had distinct enough repertoires that even back-to-back, these didn’t feel redundant. Shingo and Steen are powerhouses, Hulk and Generico are loveable and more cruiser-centric, and their opposing teams were closer to homogeneous units. Both matches pumped excitement in ways that are difficult to logically compare, but there were two big differences. The Doi/Yoshino match had two amazing potential finishes, while the Shingo/Hulk match had a plethora of false finishes that were all exciting, but didn’t rival the heights of the previous match. The other big difference is that while both Doi and Yoshino were very active in their match, Black carried the lion’s share for his team. Most viewers will probably prefer one match over the other based on their preference for the guys involved, with the caveat that Jacobs probably wasn’t present enough in his match to sway his fans.
By the way, has anyone else noticed that Tyler Black is a mini-Great Khali? Not in his wrestling style, but in the way he’s shaped, right down to his just-a-little-too-long torso, stringy hair, the angle of his face and how his stubble forms around his semi-beard. It’s unnerving, especially when he does a flying press to the outside.
Post-match promo: Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk
Puro nerds who love Japanese wrestling so badly that they’ve learned Japanese can rejoice: this is a promo just for them. Shingo and Hulk speak in Japanese, without subtitles. They seemed to be in good spirits, though. Their one English sentence, “We come back soon,†was great to hear, though. More of either of these guys in ROH is a very good thing. It’s a crying shame they’ve broken up in Dragon Gate and probably won’t return on the same side.
Jay & Mark Briscoe Vs. Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito
Not bad, but coming after the previous two tag matches did this no favors. It would have served as a better warm-up if anything given its great ending, which almost matched the energy of the previous tags, while the body of the match didn’t come close. If you’ve seen a Briscoes match and a Dragon Kid match you could guess what this was going to be like. The Briscoes kicked the crap out of him for the majority of the match, and it really got old, especially since they were doing it with moves we’ve seen dozens of times without any special structure or story. They were essentially cheerable bullies, bigger guys who brutalized the little man, occasionally throwing in crowd-pleasing offense. Saito played a more equal player in the match but his offense was too generic to help the cause. The most deliberate tag match of the night, this teased becoming a sprint but didn’t break out until the end, with Kid & Saito’s comebacks being too few and too short to be really satisfying. The slowness in the body of the match didn’t build to that final stretch, either, making it feel disjointed. This is an acceptable ROH tag filler match with a great ending that unfortunately came directly after two of the best tag matches ROH had put on so far in 2008.
Promo: Larry Sweeney & Shane Hagadorn in the back
ROH cameras caught Larry Sweeney in a heated cell phone argument with Sara Del Rey. To get his mind off the conflict, Sweeney decides he’s going to go sign a few more free agents “right now.â€
Promo: The Briscoes in the back
Intense redneck action. They’s gonna kill them some Jimmy Jacobs, and then they’s gonna get their belts back. The same pumped up promo as always from the brothers. Brief, and engaging by their sheer enthusiasm.
Before the main event, Larry Sweeney interrupts the No Remorse Corps
The No Remorse Corps came out to the ring for their match, but Sweeney followed. He shook hands with the guys and offered to bring them in to his stable for “big money.†He said they had all the belts (Strong being FIP champ, Romero and Richards being tag champs) and could be making way more money with the right agent. Strong shut him down but Sweeney kept sweet-talking, sneaking a business card to Richards, and saying he’d talk to them again later.
Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, & Rocky Romero Vs. Erick Stevens, Go Shiozaki & CIMA
A distinctly different tag match to finish the night, and not just because there with six guys instead of four. The wrestlers carried themselves with equal or greater personality than shown in the other tags of the night and applied it to slower, methodical wrestling suited to a main event. Getting a little advantage or showing up an opponent meant a lot. They very quickly created a big match atmosphere around something I’m willing to bet most of you forgot even happened until you looked at the card listing. On a night when people very easily could have been exhausted with tag matches, they made this feel like a valid main event.
The later stages of the match were more chaotic, with two guys fighting for a minute, the guy getting the lowerhand disappearing and being replaced, and so-on. Unlike the typical chaotic matches, though, many of these pairings clicked, keeping the big-match feel. Richards was everything each opponent needed him to be: vulnerable but technically superior for Stevens, eating offense for CIMA, and too egotistical for his own good for Go. Romero was more on-task than usual, gelling very well in his encounters with Go Shiozaki and CIMA. CIMA didn’t play nearly as big a role as I expected, but always came in with gravitas, and had something interesting to do. Stevens and Go picked up the slack for CIMA, with Stevens selling really well and showing some good passion in his comebacks, and Go really embracing the powerhouse role that he almost has to play in Ring of Honor, where his average opponent is far smaller than in Pro Wrestling NOAH. While nowhere as fast and riveting as the Challenge Series tag matches (or what the Supercard of Honor 3 trios tag was probably going to be like), this was still nowhere as mechanistic or perfunctory as the No Remorse Corps Vs. The World match from Live in Osaka. This was a necessary match for the No Remorse Corps, making them all look like they belonged in main events against domestic and international stars, even when they weren’t in control.
Afterthoughts: Skippable? Borrower? Wait for a sale? Buy it now?
This is a definite buy for fans of the Ring of Honor and Dragon Gate tag wrestling styles. Steen & Generico Vs. Doi & Yoshino and Jacobs & Black Vs. Hulk & Shingo are amazing sprint-style matches, while the main event is a different, more methodical and meaningful trios tag. The Briscoes Vs. Kid & Saito is an okay match with a great finishing stretch. If you love the No Remorse Corps then you will be happy with their performance in the main event. If you wish ROH would push Steen & Generico as a tag team and quit this singles title nonsense, get this to see them at their best. If you got into ROH because of how important their tag division felt, then this is for you.
Because of the tag-heavy card, don’t expect much from the singles matches. If you’re buying DVD’s just for Aries, McGuinness and Danielson (who was absent), then this isn’t for you. Aries Vs. Horiguchi and McGuinness Vs. Delirious were simple, short (10-minute range) and solid matches. Ruckus & Jigsaw Vs. The YRR is even shorter and is filler, testing out the four guys in a brief exhibition. This stuff fills out the show nicely but isn’t an attraction for it.
Fans of angle advancement may also want to pick this up for the beginning of Larry Sweeney’s attempts to court the NRC, but it is not a huge element of the show, and it is the only piece of substantial plot development.
If Supercard of Honor 3 is anywhere near as good as most of the reviews say, then this will be a very worthy companion purchase when you order it. It’s not great top to bottom, but three great matches and a solid undercard make it one of the more entertaining shows ROH has put out so far this year.
SPOILERS:
-Nigel McGuinness forced Delirious to submit to the London Dungeon hold.
-Ruckus & Jigsaw defeated Kenny King & Sal Rinauro of the YRR with a scary Double Stomp Jig ‘n Tonic combination on Sal Rinauro, with Jigsaw picking up the pinfall.
-Austin Aries forced Genki Horiguchi to submit in the Horns of Aries, which commentators are now calling the “Last Chancery.†This put ROH 1-0 against Dragon Gate.
-Kevin Steen & El Generico defeated Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino when Generico hit Yoshino with a Brainbuster for the pinfall, putting ROH 2-0 against Dragon Gate.
-Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk defeated Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black when Shingo pinned Black with the Last Falconry pumphandle driver. This put Dragon Gate at 1-2 against ROH, giving them the chance to finish the series with a face-saving tie if they won the next (and final) match.
-The Briscoes defeated Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito when Jay Briscoe pinned Saito following a Springboard Doomsday Device, giving ROH the win in the Challenge Series 3-1. That’s pretty huge for ROH.
-Erick Stevens, Go Shiozaki & CIMA defeated Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, & Rocky Romero when CIMA pinned Roderick Strong with the Crossfire double wrist-clutch leg-hook powerbomb.
