So another Saturday night. Another Edison show from Ring of Honor. Last time in Edison they had the horribly awesome mess that was the Tyler Black versus Nigel McGuinness time limit draw debacle. This time the main event was the new Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Champion, Jerry Lynn, going up against one half of the best tag teams in the world, Jay Briscoe.
The show started off with Eddie Kingston going up against Ricky Reyes. I really wish Reyes would have played more into his drunken “Rick Noon” character but that never really happened. Instead Reyes played the mean tough asshole going up against street wise Eddie Kingston. The majority of the match consisted of stiff strikes and suplexes from one man to the other and was overall an enjoyable opener. Nothing great but it worked well enough to keep the Edison crowd interested. More interested than they’ve seemed in a Ring of Honor show in a long, long time. Kingston picked up the victory when he knocked Reyes out with a spinning backfist that came out of nowhere. Overall a decent enough opener for a relatively hot crowd.
Next up was Brent Albright and Erick Stevens going up against the Super Smash Bros. Albright and Stevens were as unimpressive as ever but the Super Smash Bros. were really enjoyable to watch. Player Dos had some really great facial expressions but overall they really didn’t get much of a chance to show what they had ringwise. The finish came when Albright cause Player Dos on the the apron and half-nelson suplexed him back into the ring.
Chris Hero versus Sonjay Dutt came next. The crowd got quiet during this match but were still relatively interested in what went on. Hero and Dutt put on a good match and Dutt really impressed in spite of his back acne. The crowd remained torn between both guys with Hero yelling off “Chris is Awesome” chants and Dutt getting cheered for all the fast paced action he was providing. Finish came when Hero set the loaded boot on his face and zonked Dutt with it using a running boot.
The final match of the first half of the show featured Delirious and Necro Butcher against Jimmy Rave and Claudio Castagnoli. Rave got bombared with toilet paper. More than I’ve almost ever seen in my life short of a super market aisle. Rave spent the majority of the match dodging Necro while Necro used arm drags on Castagnoli. The match was overall unremarkable and nothing of much interest took place short of the toilet paper bombardment towards the start. Necro no sold a solid chairshot and punched Rave in the face who was then rolled up by Delirious for the win.
Kenny King and Rhett Titus after the intermission against Grizzly Redwood and Alex Payne. The match was relatively simple with an emphasis on entertainment. Still the match accomplished what it set out to do and there was laughter for all. King and Titus won with their Blockbuster/Powerbomb combo.
Colt Cabana and Joey Ryan was next. Ryan spent the majority of the match showing his crotch off to the audience and Colt spend the majority of the match keeping us laughing. The second best match of the night, this match was superemely entertaining and I can’t wait to see more of Ryan in ROH. The finish had Cabana catch Ryan in the Billy Goat curse for the tap out victory. After the match Ernie Osiris tried attacking Cabana only to get a reverse Colt 45.
The American Wolves took on Bryan Danielson and Kevin Steen next. The match was utterly fantastic and supremely entertaining. That said, it also showed the Wolves and Danielson were on another level compared to Kevin Steen, who spent the majority of the match on the aapron huffing and puffing. The three men put great effort to give Edison a solid match and it was noted by all in attendence as awesomeness. The finish came when Edwards got Dragon to tap to a half Boston Crab after attacking Dragon’s leg all match long.
The main event was a solid but lifeless affair. Lynn and Briscoe put on an uninspiring match with next to no new or interesting spots. The only thing of note was that Lynn debuted his new Tombstone Cradle Piledriver in ROH for the win after Briscoe kicked out of the regular Cradle Piledriver. Overall I know that Lynn has been putting on some special matches but those seem to fall on a Friday and Lynn might just be spent on delivering the goods for the Saturday shows.
Nevertheless, this was a good show and enjoyable show. The audience was relatively alive and I had fun. Here is looking to the next ROH show in NYC.
