Big Andy Mac’s Live ROH Review: Manassas, VA 8/1/08

Houseshows, Reviews, Shows, Top Story

Ring of Honor found a new stop on their loop south of the Mason-Dixon Line with their debut “Southern Navigation.” This was a solid show and a great way to debut in a new market. The bar was set fairly high for the follow-up, read on to find out if the bar as cleared…

Opening Contest: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn

Truth be told, poor directions prevented me from arriving in time to see this match. The Briscoes were able to get the very surprising win.

Winners: Jay and Mark Briscoe; NR

Rex Sterling vs. Pelle Primea

Again lateness prevented me from seeing this one too. Both of these matches happened within 15 minutes so I cannot imagine I missed much, and the RoH messageboard reports that there was nothing to miss in this one either. Pelle won.

Winner: Pelle Primeau

Delirious vs. “Addicted to Love” Rhett Titus

This was the first in ring contest in the progressing storyline between Titus and Delirious. At the bell, Titus informed Delirious that he wanted a competitive match with no chicaney, shenanigans, or tomfoolery. It didn’t take long for Titus to start going with closed fists, mask pulling, and so on. Eventually Daizee Haze comes out, and while Rhett Titus tries to use her as a shield, Delirious tries to save her from harm. The match is pretty standard fare and Delirious is able to get the win with the Cobra Stretch. It was a fun match, there was just enough comedy to keep it afloat, and the feud has not turned hate-filled…yet. I am sure it will get there. After the match Daizee Haze told Delirious that he is a great friend and kissed him on the cheek.

Winner: Delirious via submission; **

Relaxed Rules Match: Roderick Strong vs. the Necro Butcher

Necro came out to the Age of the Fall’s music adding further intrigue to where he stands with Jimmy Jacobs. The match itself was pretty much what you can come to expect from the Necro Butcher. His brawls follow a similar format almost every time out, but at this point it stays fresh. That is probably because they beat the holy hell out of each other in this one. There were a couple of innovative spots including a running ace crusher onto chairs. Roderick ended up getting the win after a backbreaker through the upright chairs (which only got a two count) and a Gibson Driver. I think they could have left out the near fall from the backbreaker and done the two spots in a row for greater effect, that being said the match was still a ton of fun.

Winner: Roderick Strong via pinfall; ***1/2

Tag Team Dream Match: The Motor Murder City Machine Guns of Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley vs. Austin Aries and “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson

To say that the bar was set high for this match is a bit of an understatement. Shelley and Sabin are without a doubt one of the top teams in the world, which is precisely why TNA is teasing dissension in their ranks. Aries and Dragon are pretty much the two top workers in Ring of Honor and a pretty damn fine tag team in their own right. With that being said, as soon as Bobby Cruise announced that this match had a 20 minute time limit I knew that it was going to a time limit draw, and it did. Those 20 minutes though were pretty gosh darn impressive. There was great double teaming, great mat wrestling, but not a ton in the way of story. It was definitely an exhibition. As time ticked down, Aries and Dragon had the advantage, but that time ticked all the way down and the fans were left with a draw. Shockingly, they actually extended the match for five more minutes. These five minutes were certainly action packed, and the Machine Guns had the advantage as time expired the second time. I was certain they would go five more minutes to get a decisive winner, but it seemed as though the match was going to end. We didn’t get an answer though as the Age of the Fall made their presence felt and tried to beat down the combatants. They were eventually run off and Aries asked Alex Shelley to let bygones be bygones, Shelley walked out instead. The match was very good, there is no doubt about that, but maybe my expectations were to high, or there was something working against it, but the match was not a classic or even particularly memorable. It was a lot of fun, but probably the “worst” outing of the Guns yet. It is still very, very good. It just falls short of great.

Result: Time Limit Draw; ***3/4

***Intermission***

Intermission was only 15 minutes this time, maybe some of the muckity mucks at the RoH offices read my reviews last week. 15 minutes is a perfect length of time. It lets the fans get a drink, a smoke, a DVD or four and not lose their momentum.

Brent Albright vs. “That Young Knockout Kid” Chris Hero

The crowd was completely dead for this match, which makes no sense as I really liked what was going on. Chris Hero showed a lot more audience interaction than he had previously since his serious turn. He mugged to the crowd, and showed his hatred for whoever had the misfortune of being his opponent. Before the match Larry Sweeney decided that he was going to leave Hero with Sara Del Rey and he would hang out in the limo. While he was trying to make his exit Albright’s music hit and Sweeney had to high tail it out of there to avoid an Albright ass whuppin’. Hero was able to cut off the former Gun for Hire and the match was underway. The story for the match was pretty simple. Hero wanted to knock Albright out and spent the vast majority of the match raining haymaker forearms on the Tulsa native. Albright simply would not stay down, and was able to score a surprise half nelson suplex for the victory. I really enjoyed this match, but the crowd for whatever reason sat on their hands for the majority of it. It was fun, and hopefully will translate better on DVD.

Winner: Brent Albright; ***1/2

Ring of Honor World Championship Match: Ruckus vs. Nigel McGuinness©

I think RoH was counting on the Baltimore native, Ruckus, getting a bigger reaction than he did. The fans were behind Ruckus, but it seemed like it was more of a side effect of Nigel’s amazing heel charisma. This match was squash city. It could be because Ruckus appeared to get a back injury during one of his flips where Nigel blocked him. Nigel exploited this injury with some innovative submissions. He eventually got the tapout victory with the London Dungeon.

Winner: Nigel McGuinness via submission; **

Ring of Honor Tag Team Title Match: Go Shiozaki with Larry Sweeney and Naomichi Marufuji vs. The Age of the Fall of Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs ©

Sweeney did not get a chance to be in the corner for his charge Go because Roderick Strong ran him off out of nowhere. This was probably a good thing as it allowed the match to come off without any shenanigans, tomfoolery, or chicanery. Everyone in the match played their role to perfection. Go was the young buck with something to prove. Tyler was somewhat the same, but he has the belt around his waist. Marufuji was the veteran star who knew how keep the upstart tag team champions in line, and Jimmy Jacobs was the cowardly heel who did his best to pick his spots and capitalize on every little opportunity that came his way. In a match with essentially three heels they managed to tell a solid story. Go did play more of a face, though. He has a long way to go in terms of telling a story, but he has proven with this match just how much more effective he is as a babyface. In some ways, this is the match that should have taken place between the Murder City Machine Guns and Aries and Dragon, but this match was in the main event spot and lived up to its billing. Shiozaki and Black were the stars of this match. It was Go’s nearfalls and his new dragon sleeper submission that made it seem that the Age of the Fall would drop the titles. Tyler Black was able to get the victory with the Phoenix splash. This was a great match and pretty much the match of the night.

Winners: The Age of the Fall via pinfall; ****

After the match Alex Shelley comes out to try and exact some revenge on the Age of the Fall. He succumbs to the numbers game, but Austin Aries runs into the ring in the nick of time. Alex Shelley admits he made a mistake earlier by not shaking Aries’ hand. He gives Aries his handshake and tells Austin that he owes him one.

Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy Final Thoughts: This show falls a step behind “Southern Navigation,” but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a fun show. There is nothing exceptionally memorable, but nothing offensively bad either. The tag matches were the highlight of the evening, but that should come as a surprise to precisely no one. This is probably worth a gander when it comes out on DVD as I am sure some, hell many people are going to rave about the Machine Guns vs. Aries and Danielson. Something about the match just didn’t do it for me though. It was a ton of fun, sure, but it should not be coming up in match of the year discussion. The seeds are sewn for a rematch between MCMG and Dragon and Aries. I think the most likely scenario is that Alex Shelley will come to Austin Aries aid in New York City. Either way, the show was fun if forgettable.

I’ll see you next time…