Ring Of Honor wanted to get off to a good start for the brand new year by heading into Detroit, Michigan and blowing the roof off of the building. I couldn’t think of a better way of making that start then by putting Bryan Danielson into the opening match of the event and getting the crowd seriously into it. That’s a great start, but could they possibly keep the intensity up for the rest of the card?
~ Bryan Danielson Vs. Rhett Titus
Danielson is curtain-jerking now? Anyway, this is not your typical Danielson match by a long shot as it isn’t overly long and doesn’t have nearly all the big spots and action we are accustomed to seeing. Most of the match is actually stalling yet Danielson still manages to get a fun and good performance out of Titus, but there’s no way he can keep up with the Dragon.
Winner: Bryan Danielson
~ Austin Aries Vs. Silas Young
Austin Aries puts down the fans here before the match, but I have a feeling that he is gathering a reputation much like that of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Not as big a following of course, but the whole “no matter what he does, the crowd will still cheer him” type of thing. The match itself is a rather basic back and forth toss-up until Young just can’t keep up and Aries begins to dominate.
Winner: Austin Aries
~ Necro Butcher Vs. Brodie Lee
It barely takes any time whatsoever for this match to go out of the ring and into the crowd. Both men use any weapons they can get their hands on and before long we are treated to a double count-out. The crowd is not happy with that at all and neither am I.
Winner: Double Count-Out
~ Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens Vs. The Age Of The Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious)
Rather basic tag team match here that sees both teams battle it out pretty well for a while and just let the action control things. The crowd fails to ever truly get involved until the action heats up near the end of match and even then it just has a bit of an underwhelming feel to it all. I wanted to like this one so much more then I do, but found it hard to really ever get into it.
Winners: Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens
~ Claudio Castagnoli Vs. Brent Albright
Castagnoli and Albright start off really slow but then start heating it up only a few minutes in. It is rather back and forth, but once Albright gets the upper hand in the match, he simply holds onto it. The ending comes rather abruptly though as Albright gets disqualified for holding onto a submission maneuver after Castagnoli reaches the ropes. A few minutes went by before I realized it was because it held it on longer then the ref’s five count, but it was a very quick count. Kind of strange.
Winner: Claudio Castagnoli
~ Jerry Lynn Vs. Tyler Black
Jerry Lynn has a lot of “go” left in him for a long time and I hope that he continues in Ring Of Honor for a lot of years to come. I also like the chemistry that he and Black have together in the ring because they play off of one another perfectly. Lots of big spots and the action never slows down past a quick sprint because they just constantly keep it rolling along. I really hate the finish though as a pin is broken up and then the damn time limit just runs out and leaves us hanging. That makes three matches on this card with really crappy finishes.
Winner: Neither (Time Limit Draw)
~ Non-Title Match: Nigel McGuinness Vs. Jay Briscoe
Since I’m not always able to keep up with Ring Of Honor, I’m not entirely sure why Jay Briscoe is working alone but I do believe something was mentioned about an injury to Mark. These two have totally different styles which is evidenced by the moments throughout the match when they get the upper hand. McGuinness rules the ring when it comes to technical wrestling ability while Jay can’t be beaten when it is straight-up brawling. Not a bad match, but nothing overly exciting.
Winner: Nigel McGuinness
~ ROH World Tag Team Title Match: Kevin Steen & El Generico Vs. The American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards)
For a card that has been overly lackluster, this main event really needed to raise the bar and let the fans leave happy. Steen and Generico could wrestle invisible dinosaurs and entertain anyone as they are quickly becoming one of my favorite tag teams. The American Wolves do a great job though of giving it all to the champs and making this the best match of the entire event. Near falls, broken up pins, humor, hard hitting, and so much more makes this an absolute must-see and a lot of fun. Oddly enough the crowd hadn’t yet fallen asleep either as they were very into this bout and all showed their enthusiasm the only way ROH fans know how.
Winners: Kevin Steen & El Generico
None.
Wow, this is the first Ring Of Honor DVD that I’ve watched which did not really blow me away. I’ve seen some with a few mediocre matches here and there since I started watching a little over a year ago, but this one just flat out sucked. The Danielson/Titus match started things out pretty well even though it wasn’t a classic by a long shot. All fire just fizzled out and the event just completely died after that until the final two matches, but most of all the main event. Don’t bother picking this one up but do what you can to see the tag team main event because it’s a great watch. I sincerely hope this isn’t a sign of things to come for 2009 or else it’s going to be a long-ass year for Ring Of Honor wrestling.
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Ring Of Honor Home Video presents ROH Motor City Madness 2009. Featuring: Tyler Black, Nigel McGuinness, Jerry Lynn, Kevin Steen, Brent Albright, Delirious, and more. Running time: 180 minutes. Rating: PG. Available at ROHWrestling.com
