It’s been a while since I have posted anything on the site, but today I have a Ring of Honor show from April during the height of Jerry Lynn’s reign as champion. The show features Roderick Strong challenging for the title and a fair amount of new talent. How will they do? Read on to find out…
The program starts with Roderick Strong talking about being 0 for 10 in title matches and how tonight he will change all that. This was far from a great promo but far better than most of Roddy’s output.
We switch gears to Bryan Danielson in shaggy bearded glory hyping his match with Eddie Edwards which happens to be first. Danielson says that he has lost tag matches because he has to rely on someone else, but this time he and Edwards are all alone and he doesn’t stand a chance…awesome.
Eddie Edwards with Shane Hagadorn vs. “The American Dragon†Bryan Danielson
I kind of like that Eddie and Davey wear different tights when they tag than when they go singles. The code of honor is followed and the match is underway. Danielson proves early that he is a far superior technical wrestler, but Eddie shows a lot of resilience. Eddie’s resilience often takes the form of cockiness which is nice to prevent him from drawing sympathy. This match is a good mix of strikes and technical wrestling. Danielson snags a win after a series of roll up reversals. This was an awesome opener.
Winner: Bryan Danielson via pinfall, ***1/2
After the match Eddie smacks Danielson in a show of gamesmanship, not sportsmanship.
Four Corner Survival: “Skullcrusher†Rasche Brown vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Matt Cross vs. Silas Young
Rasche Brown informs the fans he hates everyone upon his entrance. Matt Cross has a giant Mohawk. Silas Young is generic. Claudio Castagnoli is very European. Brown is a mountain of a man and most of the match is him showing off how powerful he is. Claudio Castagnoli gets a win out of nowhere with a choke submission on Silas Young. This match did nothing for anyone involved. Cross didn’t flip enough, Brown didn’t do enough crazy strength spots, and Young lost…badly.
Winner: Claudio Castagnoli via submission, *
Jimmy Rave with Prince Nana vs. Grizzly Redwod
Jimmy Rave once again gets showered with toilet paper. A good joke never truly dies. This is a short fun squash and Jimmy Rave wins with Ghana-rhea.
Winner: Jimmy Rave via pinfall, *
After the match Ernie Osiris steals Redwood’s boots.
We get a highlight video of Injustice II.
Austin Aries and Rhett Titus vs. The Phoenix Twins
The Phoenix twins are named Dash and Tweek but they are completely indistinguishable. Aries starts on the mic and compares the clones to the Mulkey brothers. This whole match has a bit of a Memphis feel to it which is kind of fun. It’s not that fun, though as the whole match has been very slow. The Phoenix twins are really boring to boot. Aries puts a stop to the nonsense after a Muffdriver from Titus and a corner dropkick and Brainbutser of his own. Bleh.
Winners: Austin Aries and Rhett Titus via pinfall, *
<b “That Young Knockout Kid†Chris Hero with Shane Hagadorn vs. Colt Cabana
Nigel McGuinness is on commentary for this one. I would have kind of liked to see goofy Chris Hero vs. the always goofy Colt Cabana, but hyper serious Hero vs. the always goofy Cabana should still be good. Another odd coincidence is that they both have entrance music made by rapper friends of theirs. Colt gets on the mic to start the match and sucks up to the company and challenges Hero to a “catch-as-catch-can match.†Hero accepts. These two have some fun wrestling segments with Cabana maintaining an advantage. Hero takes control with his infamous rolling elbow. Hero takes it to Cabana, but Colt traps him in the Billy Goat’s Curse to get the submission victory. This match was a lot of fun, but pretty forgettable.
Winner: Colt Cabana via submission, ***
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Egotistico Fantastico
Jacobs is out there with an eye patch. These two go at each other hard with Jacobs getting the upper hand through underhanded tactics. He even goes as far as to rip the horn off of Fantastico’s mask. Ego has some fancy head drops and flying moves, but there is little else going on there. Jacobs reverses a moonsault from Ego into the Endtime and scores the submission victory. This match was OK and Egotistico Fantastico could turn into a pretty good wrestler, but it is little more than that.
Winner: Jimmy Jacobs via submission, **
Tyler Black vs. Davey Richards with Shane Hagadorn
These two had a much vaunted match at Proving Ground, but I don’t feel like it delivered as much as it could have. Not surprisingly there is an extended feeling out process, but they both do bring out the big guns early. Richards spends most of the match going to work on Tyler’s arm. They go through a lot of their signature offense, and Davey’s arm work keeps coming into play as any time that Davey gets a chance he goes for an arm submission. They go through a crazy finishing sequence with big strikes, big moves and close calls before Davey gets a rollup, a handful of tights, and the victory. This match built well but the ultimate ending was poor given the course of the match. Still it is one of the better matches on the show. Tyler vs. Davey has a long way to go before it becomes the level of rivalry that RoH wants it to be.
Winner: Davey Richards via pinfall, ***1/2
The Dark City Fight Club vs. Jay Briscoe and Kevin Steen
Mark Briscoe and El Generico were both injured thus we get an unlikely duo of Kane and RVD-esque proportions. This is punching, kicking, and bruising which should come as no surprise. It is fun to see Briscoe and Steen engaging in some of both teams’ signature spots. After a bunch of brawling and some big moves Briscoe and Steen get the win after surprise roll up. This match could have been better and really makeshift teams shouldn’t go over teams that are receiving a push.
Winners: Kevin Steen and Jay Briscoe via pinfall, **1/2
We get a highlight video of Motor City Madness 2009
Ring of Honor World Championship Match: Jerry Lynn © vs. Roderick Strong
Nigel McGuinness is once again on commentary. This is of course Roddy’s eleventh shot at the belt. The match starts pretty quickly with both men hitting fast armdrags and going for quick pins. Jerry gets the early advantage and hits Roderick with several big moves, but Roddy refuses to be defeated. Roddy goes for a huge dive to the outside but he collides with the guardrail and starts bleeding a ri-goddamn-diculous amount. Instead of quitting or passing out Roderick Strong just gets more and more angry. Both men are just getting covered with blood. Roddy throws every piece of his arsenal at Jerry Lynn and the fans keep getting more and more into it, but Jerry Lynn keeps kicking out. Somehow you have both guys telling the same individual story but Strong is gaining so much more sympathy for the blood oozing out of his head. Jerry Lynn’s kick outs start to become more believable than Roddy’s level of competition with this blood loss. Two cradle piledrivers ends up giving Lynn the victory. Overkill aside this was an extremely entertaining match.
Winner: Jerry Lynn via pinfall, ****
At the request of no one, Jerry Lynn gets on the mic and talks to the fans about how hard he works.
Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy Final Thoughts: This show was OK but other than Roderick’s ridiculous head wound it was totally forgettable. The main event may be worth going out of your way to see, but the rest of the show is nothing to write home about. It might be a good way to complete a sale and it is worthwhile as Lynn’s best title defense that I have seen, but ultimately you do not need this DVD.
