Results from Ring of Hono’s Battle of the Icons in Edison, NJ, Jan. 27, 2007

This brought out Jimmy Rave who informed the fans that they should not throw toilet paper and he will be respected. He also said that his I Quit match would also now be No DQ, which I thought all I quit matches were anyway, and that the loser would have to kiss his foot. I know he meant the loser would kiss the winner’s foot, but it came out wrong, or maybe he was just sure he would be the winner. Either way this led to

Jimmy Rave vs. Nigel McGuinness in a NO DQ I Quit Match

Interesting choice for a opener, as this could have easily come much later on the card and no one would have complained, but it started the show and drew the fans in right away. Nigel took control early and worked the arm setting up any number of arm submissions that he uses. A few fans near me didn’t understand that in an “I Quit Match” the ref needs to hold a mic to hear the words from the combatants to end the match. Rave eventually took control and a while later was able to score with the Satellite Crossface. The spinning around and Nigel trying to roll through must have been too much for Jimmy as the contents of his stomach, which luckily was mostly water emptied onto the mat, in an image I never need to see again. Still the match continued and Rave locked in his Heel Hook submission. Nigel struggled for the ropes which would not allow relief from the hold and was eventually caught in the move hanging over the top to the outside. Still he refused to quit, saying that he would never quit and had no respect for Rave. Sinclair eventually stopped the match and awarded it to Rave, though Nigel never quit.

Winner: Jimmy Rave

”Blacktop Bully” Adam Pearce vs. Pelle Primeau

Pearce had goggles on, I don’t know why either. This match was short and entertaining in its role. Pearce ended up winning with his Piledriver.

Winner: Demolition Smash I mean Barry Darsow I mean Adam Darsow I mean Barry Pearce ahh you get it.

Triple Threat Match: Chris Hero with Super Agent Extraordinaire Larry Sweeney vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels with Allison Danger

Chris Hero now comes out to Rock and Roll part Two by Gary Glitter, aka the “Hey Song” which is all sorts of awesome. I feel bad for Claudio because through no fault of his own he is left sort of directionless at the moment, but it seems a Hero feud is in the works. Allison Danger is all sorts of gorgeous, and Daniels is as over as ever. The match was entertaining and told a good story. Claudio and Hero went Kings of Wrestling on Daniels for the first part of the match, but the alliance was uneasy at best as Sweeney was outside doing his best to get a win for Hero. Hero eventually did get the win with a roll-up on Claudio while Daniels was distracted by the Super Agent. After the match Castagnoli tried to get a handshake from Daniels, but nothing of the sort was happening.

Winner: Chris Hero

Last Man Standing Match: BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs with Lacey

To quote Pulse Glazer, Jimmy Jacobs is the most ahead of the curve gimmick in wrestling today. The evolution of his character is just phenomenal. His new song “Kiss to Kill” is so fitting of his character I don’t even miss the “Ballad of Lacey” that much. This match went to all levels of brutality with spikes and chairs and a little bit of the old Ultra Violence. It seemed that Whitmer had the match won after a top rope Exploiter, but he stopped the count and attempted to powerbomb the Emo warrior through a table. Brent Albright ran in and broke this up powerbombing BJ instead. He also made sure that Whitmer stayed down during the ten count giving Jacobs the win. Colt Cabana ran in to save Whitmer from further abuse, and I thought it would lead to the tag, but they held that for later. I was not in love with the finish, but I knew that this was not the feud ending match. The heat passion and anger between these four men is off the charts, and the finish to the Whitmer/Jacobs feud will be legendary.

Winner: “Jumpin’ Jimmy” Jacobs the Emo Warrior

the Return of the Havana Pitbulls: Rocky Romero and Ricky Reyes vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe

Anticipations were high for this match, as the Pitbulls are an awesome team and the Briscoes are the best tag team going right now. The match did live up to expectations and followed the formula of an NWA style southern tag match. The underlying story here was the issue between Romero who had been absent for pretty much all of 2006 and the rest of the Rottweilers. Eventually Romero quit on his team leaving Reyes to the Briscoes. I would have liked to have seen Reyes try to hold his own against the Briscoes for a while and succumb to a series of double teams for which the Southern Delware Boys are known, but alas a J-Driller shortly thereafter ended the match and apparently the team of the Havana Pitbulls in RoH.

Winners: The Briscoe Boys done did MAN UP

INTERMISSION

Mixed Tag Match: Colt Cabana and Sara Del Ray vs. Brent Albright and Lacey

This match is of course part of the saga involving BJ Whitmer, Jimmy Jacobs, and Daizee Haze. Haze was injured at the hands of Albright and Jacobs the night before. This was a comedy match in some ways, as Colt used his shenanigans to get into the head of Albright. Sara Del Ray is great and her stuff with Lacey was awesome. She took quite a beating from Albright too. This match did exactly what it needed to do. Oh and Del Ray beat Lacey with a Double Underhook Suplex .shades of Andre the Giant.

Winner: Sara Del Ray and “Classic” Colt Cabana

Six Man Tag Team Action: Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Jack Evans vs. Davey Richards, Shingo, and Delirious

Davey, Shingo, and Delirious came out to a nice blend of all three of their themes, and Gen Next was together again if only for one night. This match was awesome. From the former Gen Next taunting Delirious during his prematch trance to Davey trying to be crazy like Shingo and Delirious to great wrestling, flying and striking, this match probably exceeded my already high expectations. Evans keeps getting better and better which is good because the Flippy McGuillicuddy stuff will not last forever, and he has more than enough wrestling skill to fall back on. Generation Next ends up getting the duke after a 450 splash from Austin Aries, and proceeds to take match of the night honors.

Winners: Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Jack Evans

The Main Event for the Ring of Honor World Championship: The Notorious 187 Homicide, Ring of Honor Champion vs. Samoa Joe

These two men have wrestled as much as any two men in Ring of Honor always to excellent results. Before I get started though, let me just say that it was weird seeing Homicide as the champion. It has nothing to do with him being unbelievable as champ, or not a credible champ or an undeserving champ because none of those are true. Something just seemed off with his as champion. You can probably chalk this up to me just not used to him with the belt as it was only his second defense, but still Homicide with the belt weird. Now onto the match

I had an odd feeling when the match started that the fans in attendance were going to be treated to an hour draw. Thankfully that didn’t happen as I had a long drive home to make. The match itself for me just didn’t click. On my long drive home I pondered what the reason for this was. One possibility was that this is probably the second time they have wrestled without any real hatred behind it. Another possibility was the extreme unlikelihood of Homicide losing the belt after just one defense. Whatever it was this match did not blow me away like I was expecting it to. It could be that I did not see the brawling on the outside which could have added to the story telling and drama. Still Homicide won with a series of Lariats. I thought the pop for his victory was underwhelming too. I hope that this doesn’t make the RoH front office second guess making Homicide the standard bearer for the company, because I think he can do some great things with the title. Either way Homicide is still the Ring of Honor world champion.

Winner: The Notorious 187 Homicide, ps I hate the song “We Fly High”

Final Thoughts

This was an entertaining show, and match for match better than anything any wrestling company on TV is doing. Pretty much every match on the show was entertaining, and I did have fun, and will attend future Ring of Honor shows. Until then

I’ll see you next time