Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

This is the place to discuss all the latest ROH news, announcements and events!
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by Robareid »

After locking a thread I stumbled upon the fact that I can actually sticky threads, it just wasn't in the place I thought it'd be *faceplam*

Anyway, stickied on request, but also because it's brilliant and deserves eyes on it.
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by Recall »

Now this is a great thread and that is some real dedication going through all the shows in order. 2003 remains one of my favourite ROH years as it was still about the indy dream match concept and it always delivered. Have you found any new appreciation for a year or found you didn't like a year as much as you thought you did by doing these reviews? As personally I find the stuff from 2004 a little hard to sit through as compared to 2003.

Can't wait to read your next review :)
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by supersonic »

Without question, the Golden Year I just completed ultimately stands the test of time and will only shine more as the landscape changes that'll prevent any company from weaving all of those elements together.

The first year is a bit difficult due to the amateur production and horrendous commentary that I thankfully tune out.

The last few months of the RF era were getting quite stale despite the improved production that would get KILLED once ownership changed. I'm betting that's why you find 2004 difficult despite Joe, Punk, and Generation Next smashing it. From the Observer forum:
damandh wrote:The late 2003/early 2004 was a weird time. The SCS vs Prophecy didn't make sense who was faces/heels, bobby heenan was suppose to be with SCS. I hated the Pure Title Tourny, I hated field of honor and who won it. Paul London and Amazing Red was missed during this time period. I don't understand why Sabin was used more.
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by DXvsNWO1994 »

You're doing a great job with these reviews, supersonic. Keep up the good work!
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by ryanraze »

DXvsNWO1994 wrote:You're doing a great job with these reviews, supersonic. Keep up the good work!
I second that. It helps man
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by elnino14 »

I just stumbled upon this thread from Google, it's awesome.

Just wondering if you were planning on continuing or if you were done.
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by supersonic »

Not done. The anticipated return is October 6, a decade to the date of my next entry.
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by STITCHES »

Watched Round Robin Challenge 2002 today. Low Ki & Daniel Bryan were an amazing main event, but to me Jay Briscoe vs Spanky stole the show. Great stuff.

Then watched Final Battle 2014. ACH & Bucks vs Cedric & The Addiction made everyone else look stupid. Incredible 6 man tag.

Edit: watched Low Ki vs Kenta @ Final Battle 2005. Easily within my top ten favorite matches. Up there with RVD vs Jerry Lynn (5 more minutes!) or RVD vs Bam Bam for the TV Title.
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by STITCHES »

Low Ki: "I lost 10 lbs... in one hour... and I did it... for one thing!" :lol:
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by Vanilla Gorilla »

STITCHES wrote:Watched Round Robin Challenge 2002 today. Low Ki & Daniel Bryan were an amazing main event, but to me Jay Briscoe vs Spanky stole the show. Great stuff.

Then watched Final Battle 2014. ACH & Bucks vs Cedric & The Addiction made everyone else look stupid. Incredible 6 man tag.

Edit: watched Low Ki vs Kenta @ Final Battle 2005. Easily within my top ten favorite matches. Up there with RVD vs Jerry Lynn (5 more minutes!) or RVD vs Bam Bam for the TV Title.
Do you have an actual top ten list? If so, I humbly request to see it
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by STITCHES »

This, I suppose, would be my current list. If you ask me in like a month, it will probably be different (minus a few very consistent favorites, i.e. RVD vs Bam Bam is probably my all time favorite match because they're pretty much my all time favorite wrestlers). I have the same problem with music. If you ask me what my top 10 favorite death metal records are right now, it will be different by the end of the year.

Anyway, no particular order. And some of these are on YouTube or DailyMotion.

RVD vs Jerry Lynn, ECW Living Dangerously 1999
These guys are so evenly matched. Easily one of the best feuds in ECW history. Up there with Sandman vs Raven and Taz vs Bigelow or Sabu. If you can find this one, enjoy it! Sometimes you can find old ECW PPV's on Tudou, but it's a Chinese website, I believe. Not very efficient on Western browsers.

RVD vs Bam Bam Bigelow, ECW Hardcore TV 1998
I won't spoil it, but the outcome of this match enabled another great rivalry of sorts. But the action alone is gold. I've probably watched this match once a month for years.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbpgnf ... vs-r_sport

Low Ki vs Kenta, ROH Final Battle 2005
This one actually got me interested in ROH. I found it on YouTube one day and thought, "Ah, okay. I've seen some ROH stuff a few times here and there, but let's really check it out this time." I was hooked after this. Kenta and Low Ki have amazing chemistry here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGhQ2XqjVog

RVD & Sabu vs Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki, ECW Heatwave 98
RVD and Sabu were an excellent tag team combination. There's also some great matches with the Eliminators, but this one has great replay value. If you can get past Alfonzo's whistle. :lol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAhspD5QG5k

Eddie Guerrero vs Super Crazy, ROH The Era of Honor Begins 2002
I love everything about this match, even the promo after. To me, this is what ROH was all about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-tZytk0dsM

Bret Hart vs Chris Benoit, Owen Hart Tribute Match, WCW Monday Nitro 1999
I'm not by any means a WCW fan. I think they basically wasted all the amazing talent they had (Raven, Saturn, Benoit, Hart, Kidman, Guerrero, Konnan, etc) in favor of dinosaurs like Hollywood Hogan and Ric Flair hogging up TV time and the main event slot. But I was excited to see this match and felt it was a good way to honor Owen Hart.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz8d1l ... itro_sport

Yoshiro Tajiri vs Super Crazy, ECW Guilty As Charged 1999
I didn't know either of these guys going into this match and was blown away. This was my first ECW PPV before going back and watching all the old stuff I could find. After basically digesting literally every PPV I could get my hands on this, this is still one of my all time favorites. Both of these guys are still criminally underrated. Another rivalry that should be remembered as one of ECW's greatest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQCajUXsTyg

Young Bucks vs Super Smash Bros, Smash Wrestling TV 2015
Both of these teams fucking destroy in PWG, which I prefer over everything else that's currently out there right now. But to me, this match has it all. It's fast-paced, well executed and also very funny. That's something I think a lot of wrestling could use. A little humor. There's a spot here where Nick Jackson trips himself entering the ring. Fucking hilarious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUqE0tDaLoo

Taz vs Bam Bam Bigelow, ECW Heatwave 1998
This one's infamous. For many reasons. You'll see why if you can find this match.

Steve Austin vs The Rock, WWF D-Generation X 1997
Like YB vs SMB, this one's comedic genious but also a really fun match. I'm a huge Steve Austin fan but feel it's really difficult to summarize his achievements in a top ten because a lot of his best moments weren't even in actual matches. Sometimes it was just his antics and promos that made him stand out (like when he threw the Rock's belt off the bridge or his entire feud against Bret Hart).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDfpSYYQLsg

I hesitate to hit submit on this because I feel like I should include something with Chris Hero, Jay Briscoe, Kevin Steen, Legion of Doom, Kurt Hennig (vs Bret Hart @ KOTR 1993!), Sabu, Raven, the Eliminators or the Dudley Boyz. And if it wasn't for the comic relief of Austin vs Rock, I would have picked Austin vs Hart @ Survivor Series 1996. But if I have to include at least one honorable mention:

Marty Scurll vs Will Ospreay, RPW High Stakes 2016
Got into both of these guys through PWG. This particular combination of personalities and in-ring styles provides a really solid chemistry. I'm starting to explore British wrestling and this so far remains the most entertaining match, in my opinion.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3qoo13
Vanilla Gorilla
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by Vanilla Gorilla »

STITCHES wrote:This, I suppose, would be my current list. If you ask me in like a month, it will probably be different (minus a few very consistent favorites, i.e. RVD vs Bam Bam is probably my all time favorite match because they're pretty much my all time favorite wrestlers). I have the same problem with music. If you ask me what my top 10 favorite death metal records are right now, it will be different by the end of the year.

Anyway, no particular order. And some of these are on YouTube or DailyMotion.

RVD vs Jerry Lynn, ECW Living Dangerously 1999
These guys are so evenly matched. Easily one of the best feuds in ECW history. Up there with Sandman vs Raven and Taz vs Bigelow or Sabu. If you can find this one, enjoy it! Sometimes you can find old ECW PPV's on Tudou, but it's a Chinese website, I believe. Not very efficient on Western browsers.

RVD vs Bam Bam Bigelow, ECW Hardcore TV 1998
I won't spoil it, but the outcome of this match enabled another great rivalry of sorts. But the action alone is gold. I've probably watched this match once a month for years.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbpgnf ... vs-r_sport

Low Ki vs Kenta, ROH Final Battle 2005
This one actually got me interested in ROH. I found it on YouTube one day and thought, "Ah, okay. I've seen some ROH stuff a few times here and there, but let's really check it out this time." I was hooked after this. Kenta and Low Ki have amazing chemistry here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGhQ2XqjVog

RVD & Sabu vs Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki, ECW Heatwave 98
RVD and Sabu were an excellent tag team combination. There's also some great matches with the Eliminators, but this one has great replay value. If you can get past Alfonzo's whistle. :lol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAhspD5QG5k

Eddie Guerrero vs Super Crazy, ROH The Era of Honor Begins 2002
I love everything about this match, even the promo after. To me, this is what ROH was all about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-tZytk0dsM

Bret Hart vs Chris Benoit, Owen Hart Tribute Match, WCW Monday Nitro 1999
I'm not by any means a WCW fan. I think they basically wasted all the amazing talent they had (Raven, Saturn, Benoit, Hart, Kidman, Guerrero, Konnan, etc) in favor of dinosaurs like Hollywood Hogan and Ric Flair hogging up TV time and the main event slot. But I was excited to see this match and felt it was a good way to honor Owen Hart.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz8d1l ... itro_sport

Yoshiro Tajiri vs Super Crazy, ECW Guilty As Charged 1999
I didn't know either of these guys going into this match and was blown away. This was my first ECW PPV before going back and watching all the old stuff I could find. After basically digesting literally every PPV I could get my hands on this, this is still one of my all time favorites. Both of these guys are still criminally underrated. Another rivalry that should be remembered as one of ECW's greatest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQCajUXsTyg

Young Bucks vs Super Smash Bros, Smash Wrestling TV 2015
Both of these teams fucking destroy in PWG, which I prefer over everything else that's currently out there right now. But to me, this match has it all. It's fast-paced, well executed and also very funny. That's something I think a lot of wrestling could use. A little humor. There's a spot here where Nick Jackson trips himself entering the ring. Fucking hilarious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUqE0tDaLoo

Taz vs Bam Bam Bigelow, ECW Heatwave 1998
This one's infamous. For many reasons. You'll see why if you can find this match.

Steve Austin vs The Rock, WWF D-Generation X 1997
Like YB vs SMB, this one's comedic genious but also a really fun match. I'm a huge Steve Austin fan but feel it's really difficult to summarize his achievements in a top ten because a lot of his best moments weren't even in actual matches. Sometimes it was just his antics and promos that made him stand out (like when he threw the Rock's belt off the bridge or his entire feud against Bret Hart).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDfpSYYQLsg

I hesitate to hit submit on this because I feel like I should include something with Chris Hero, Jay Briscoe, Kevin Steen, Legion of Doom, Kurt Hennig (vs Bret Hart @ KOTR 1993!), Sabu, Raven, the Eliminators or the Dudley Boyz. And if it wasn't for the comic relief of Austin vs Rock, I would have picked Austin vs Hart @ Survivor Series 1996. But if I have to include at least one honorable mention:

Marty Scurll vs Will Ospreay, RPW High Stakes 2016
Got into both of these guys through PWG. This particular combination of personalities and in-ring styles provides a really solid chemistry. I'm starting to explore British wrestling and this so far remains the most entertaining match, in my opinion.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3qoo13
I appreciate it. I've seen 7 of 10 of these. will track down the rest and maybe rewatch some of the others. The only Ospreay I've seen is vs. Kushida.
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by supersonic »

We are a week away from this project returning, starting with TNA's No Surrender 2006. Going forward, all retro reviews of TNA, ROH, and PWG will be posted on the 10th anniversaries of the dates they occurred.

The goal is to avoid forum posts for this in favor of archiving them on Cattle Mutilation, but that's unlikely for a awhile as modifying it from a blog to an actual site (with organized navigation) is even more of a monumental, time-consuming task than I had imagined.

The annual Road to WrestleMania project will be coming in the near future as well.
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by supersonic »

Survival of the Fittest 2006 – October 6, 2006
Taped from Cleveland, OH

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ROH Video Wire – September 22, 2006







Important news/footage in the above videos:
Colt Cabana hosts the first ever Video Wire and is interrupted multiple times by Lacey. Amusing innuendo ensues from Cabana, while Lacey has secured a Tag Titles shot for him and Jimmy Jacobs. It’s hilarious to see Jacobs bite his tongue as he apologizes and says they should team up because “it would mean a lot to Lacey.” The recap ends with Jacobs stewing on the same couch as the two fuck buddies sit together in non-platonic fashion. Without question, this storyline was THE gem of a lackluster final quarter in 2006.

This being the beginning of Gabe Sapolsky’s downswing and lackluster final quarter as mentioned for 2006 means this got the hard drive treatment, so there will be some C&P from Jake Ziegler and Brad Garoon.
The Briscoes are excited to get their hands on Homicide, even if it means they have to run through Roderick Strong to do so. Jimmy Rave interrupts their promo because he knows they’re tight with Jim Cornette. He’s upset that he came back from Japan only to find that Prince Nana and Sal Rinauro are nowhere to be found. The Briscoes tell him to man up before talking to them like that.
Survival of the Fittest Qualifier
Briscoe Bros. vs. Homicide & Roderick Strong




Survival of the Fittest Qualifier
Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe


This was 20 minutes of nothing special autopilot mode. With these two involved that equates to a good match. The most blame has to be pointed to their fresh injuries; Danielson had just torn his right shoulder several weeks earlier, while Joe had gotten sciatica a few weeks after that. This was the epitome of a B-show as well, and the Cleveland crowd seemed to know that.

Cleveland is pointed to by some as well-versed as I am on ROH’s rich history for being not quite an elite market for the company. I call bullshit on that. This was the same crowd that went BONKERS for Jim Cornette’s promo on Necro Butcher, what would turn out to be the final chapter ever in the Danielson vs. AJ Styles rivalry, the first ever singles encounter between Danielson and McGuinness plus its rematch, and the Generation Next’s final stand. This time, the audience seemed to grasp that after the prior 90 days had seen the Cage of Death, Danielson vs. McGuinness II, Generation Next’s last complete match together, a historic unification, a GHC Heavyweight Title match, and Danielson vs. KENTA, they were getting saddled with an inferior event.

In particular, the crowd had little reaction to Danielson’s Rick Rude-inspired taunting, and didn’t seem to be engaged that much by Joe’s greatest hits, and yes, that’s exactly what this was for Joe. The most damning lack of reaction was the library level silence when Danielson attempted a La Tatipia surfboard, then stomped on Joe’s knees. To say that got zero reaction would be a factual statement.
For whatever reason, despite not being all that jazzed during this rematch of their Fight of the Century classic, the crowd demanded 5 more minutes when the 20-minute time limit was reached. At some point, audiences should smarten up and demand sudden death, that way their real wish comes true, which is for someone to win the match.

Danielson immediately clocks Joe with the ROH Title belt after their post-match handshake, then says the crowd can kiss his ass in regards to the request for 5 more minutes. He didn’t seem the most convincing as a heel in this segment, perhaps because deep down he knew this was just another day at the office, and his body was failing him after going through Hell against KENTA. Six months earlier, Chicago went absolutely insane when Joe challenged Danielson; now here, the crowd is treating this actual feud like any other common one.

Rating: ***1/4
BG says: Dave Prazak hypes the main event before being interrupted by Jimmy Rave. He wants to know what’s going on with the Embassy and demands that Prazak find Jim Cornette for him by the end of the night.
JZ says: Jimmy Jacobs’s music hits but Lacey comes to the ring and demands it be turned off. She wants Cabana and Jacobs to come out to Cabana’s music instead. Cabana and Lacey do some suggestive dancing, but when Cabana realizes that it hurts Jacobs’s feelings, he offers him a shot. Lacey denies him and then screams at him while the crowd boos. Poor Jimmy, he just loves Lacey so much.
Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match
Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Delirious vs. Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries


This couldn’t live up to the original, which as the years pass by seems to become even more of unsurmountable task. With that said, this was still a good addition, albeit flawed. In the first act of the match, which would be the Aries portion prior to his elimination, it was no surprise to me that the ref stopped giving a fuck about legal pins. It was a good booking that Aries went down to the Briscoes tandem though as a reminder that no individual can overcome the two of them.

With Aries out, the best part of the match came to be as Delirious convinced Sydal to form a temporary partnership against the Briscoes. It became quite the impromptu tag match within this main event, as the Briscoes did a good job of cutting the ring in half rather than deliver the typical spotfest they were more renowned for a decade ago. I was surprised Jay got eliminated before Mark, as not only is Jay objectively better in every facet, but his swagger and confidence backing up his desperate anger would’ve far more engaging, doing his damnedest to not be a victim of the numbers game.

The third act would be the next chapter of the Delirious vs. Sydal rivalry. This came nowhere close to Aries vs. Danielson 2 years earlier, however this was still an effective final stretch in an attempt to create new main-eventers in the wake of a sensational 365-day period. At the same time, this portion was far more of a spot-fest, just like their singles encounter 2 months earlier. It worked, as the crowd actually got gripped by this unlike Danielson vs. Joe.

I appreciated the teases in this match that would be delivered. Sydal went for a standing moonsault, only to get booted in the face. The crowd wouldn’t be cock-teased though, as Sydal successfully hit it later. Delirious made multiple submission attempts with his Cobra Stretch submission, teasing very good falsh finishes; once he got it locked for a third time IIRC, I knew that was the end. There was no way in Hell that such a finishing move would be diminished by being utilized for 3 false finishes. Danielson vs. Delirious III doesn’t seem quite necessary after the decisive, electrifying classic at Ring of Homicide, but there could be worse choices, and with big moves months away, it’s critical to try making new top talent.

Rating: ***1/2
Dave Prazak tells Jimmy Rave that Jim Cornette is leaving so Rave runs out to catch him. He asks where Nana is, and Cornette says that Nana tried to pull a power play so he fired him. That’s about the worst blow off to the Embassy I can possibly imagine.
Per PWInsider a decade ago, Prince Nana’s departure was due to a financial disagreement from ROH, and thus didn’t allow for a properly satisfying storyline finale for the Embassy. Definitely the end of an era, and yet another example of ROH’s creative downswing after Glory By Honor V weekend.

While the good shit on here hit ***+, this show perfectly exemplified the nosedive of booker Gabe Sapolsky, and kick-started the beginning of the end for him, which nobody could foresee at the time of course. Weak crowd, mostly weak directions, questionable match structures, iffy arc turns, a downgrade for the Tag Titles with the Kings of Wrestling as champions, and the attempt to launch new top stars at the show’s end (which came nothing close to similar booking at Generation Next), make for a glaring booking performance in retrospect. One word can easily sum it up already: burnout.

Up next – Motor City Madness 2006
Matches will include:
Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries
Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & Homicide
Last edited by supersonic on Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by supersonic »

Motor City Madness 2006 – October 7, 2006
Taped from Detroit, MI

Image

This is another largely cold B-Show, so that means hard drive plus some C&P from Jake Ziegler and Brad Garoon.
A brief but damn good video package chronicling the history of the Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries rivalry airs. Simple and effective.

Matt Cross makes his ROH debut on this event. He has been competing on the independent circuit under the name of M-Dogg 20. Not exactly Michael Elgin in 2007, but important enough to mention here nonetheless for what’s to come in the future.

ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries


Aries earned his title shot by pinning Danielson at War of the Wire II, and this was originally scheduled for Glory By Honor V Night 1 until Danielson’s shoulder injury necessitated he be preserved for KENTA at the Manhattan Center. Standard tremendous mat wrestling early with Danielson being a cocky prick as usual during this part of his career. He'd eventually target the left arm of Aries since the former Tag Champ is a Southpaw. There were a few instances in which the champ also wouldn't provide a clean break, whether he was on offense or defense.

Danielson showed his scouting skills when he prevented the signature head-scissors escape by Aries; instead of Aries hitting a dropkick from a headstand, Danielson just hit a dropkick of his own to knock him down. Another great counter came much later in the match when Danielson prevented a crucifix bomb attempt by Aries. Danielson would intelligently use the position to apply an airplane spin, only to get a taste of his own medicine with elbows to head and then Aries following up with a Rings of Saturn submission. When Danielson reached the ropes, Aries copied his "I have 'till 5" trademark to a mild pop.

At another point, a Danielson diving headbutt would be for naught, as he runs into a boot to the face to allow an Aries comeback. Later on, Aries would his back after a beautiful Frog Splash. He missed a running corner dropkick, allowing Danielson to regain the advantage with an eventual Half Crab.

Danielson had worked on the back of Aries as mentioned, so he hit a Super Back Drop Suplex when Aries when for a 450 Splash, then followed that up with his own elbows to the head, then locked on the Crossface Chickenwing for a very good false finish. Aries did his damnedest not to allow the Cattle Mutilation to be locked on, only to eat more elbows to the head for his trouble, but he then gave a receipt. A brainbuster got blocked so they had a slugging exchange; Aries finally hit the brainbuster for a great pop and tease a 450 Splash, but that's countered for the Small Package for Danielson to retain! Damn good finish to tease a title change and a good, but my pick for the worst so far, chapter of this incredible rivalry.

Rating: ***1/2

As Danielson celebrates, Joe interrupts to give a receipt for the prior night's post-match activities, but then the Briscoes come out to double-team Joe for an early advantage; credit must be given as the crowd chants for Homicide, so the Homicide push isn't a complete failure at this time.

Hardcore Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & Homicide


Much like the Shield vs. Evolution at Payback 2014, this starts as a standard tag match at the beginning for reasons unknown. I’m with the referee in not giving a shit about tag legalities once this becomes a brawl, as the rules of the match are clearly designed for that.

This was a clear contrast to the prior match, which was a purist’s dream. In this one it was just all-out chaos. The ringside brawling would make Cactus Jack and Super Dragon proud as the Briscoes took an absurd quantity of unprotected chair shots to the head. It cannot be denied that no matter the long-term risks, this was definitely a gripping spectacle. While still inside the arena, the highlight would be Jay looking to give the seated Joe an Ole Ole kick, only to eat a powerslam through the chair onto the floor. My body legitimately shuddered seeing that, although I wouldn’t be surprised if Jay was protected on it and they professionally just give it a dangerous allusion.

The brawl spilled outside the arena and the crowd followed. This portion of the match brought back memories of Rey Mysterio vs. Juventud Guerrera from their days in ECW a decade earlier. The easy highlight of this portion and the match overall wouldn’t be someone getting powerbombed on a car though; instead, a nearby heavy-type truck would be utilized. Joe gave Jay a Splash Mountain Bomb on the side of the truck, only for moments later, Mark to top that with an all-time moment in company history, coming off the top of the truck to hit the babyfaces and some students with a fucking shooting star press!!! Absolutely fucking unreal highlight there.

The SSP would in storyline cause Joe to suffer a knee injury, forcing him out of the fight and leaving Homicide to fend for himself. The Notorious 187 gave a valiant effort, utilizing his ghetto fighting roots and hatred for Cornete’s muscle team to keep himself in the fight. But once it finally got back into the ring, Homicide was proven mortal like any other individual on the roster, succumbing to a Spike Double Underhook Piledriver for the win. That makes total sense as any other result would’ve buried the Briscoes; nobody, not even Steve Austin or Brock Lesnar, would be able to single-handedly defeat the Delaware natives. Period.

Rating: ***3/4
Prazak catches up with Jimmy Rave after the show. He asks what the story is with the Embassy now that Nana is gone. Rave responds by throwing his royal robe into the trash and walking out of the building.
The double main event totally saved this otherwise shit show. Par for the course in late 2006. Both matches are on compilations, so skip this event.

The next event is an EASY top contender for the worst ROH event during the Rob Feinstein and Cary Silkin eras. It can easily be considered a top 10 shittiest ROH event to this day, and that includes humdrum episodes of SGB era TV tapings. Not one good match, not one quality moment of booking. Just drizzling, tedious shit with zero redeeming long-term value. So I’m skipping Suffocation entirely, although I’ll include the DVD cover stock photo and mention the fresh talents on that card in my next review.

Up next – Irresistible Forces
Matches will include:
Shingo vs. Roderick Strong
Jimmy Rave & Sal Rinauro vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Colt Cabana
Austin Aries vs. Christopher Daniels
Jay Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal
Mark Briscoe vs. Davey Richards
Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe
Last edited by supersonic on Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by supersonic »

Irresistible Forces – October 28, 2006
Taped from Chicago, IL

Image

ROH Video Wire – October 11, 2006



Important news/footage from the above video:
ROH Champion Bryan Danielson agrees to face Samoa Joe in Chicago on October 28, but insists it be non-title and he’s only obligated to once title defense per month, already done against Austin Aries at Motor City Madness 2006. Commissioner Jim Cornette agrees to make it non-title, but it’ll be hardcore rules without any time limit this time and there must be a winner. Bit of a plot hole for Cornette to wanna see Joe take out Danielson. Although Danielson had pissed Cornette off with his antics at Death Before Dishonor IV, Cornette was being booked as Homicide’s foil at this time. Therefore, staying true to Cornette’s motives would’ve caused the commissioner to wanna make Joe, who had befriended Homicide against Cornette and company, go through Hell, while making Danielson, who Homicide was targeting to eventually dethrone, as fresh and crisp as possible for their inevitable showdown at Final Battle 2006. Another example of burnout for booker Gabe Sapolsky. Danielson’s horrific attempts at emoting during his promo must also be mentioned; WWE did a tremendous job of polishing him in that department in the final chapters of his career.
The next time ROH returns to Detroit, it will be for a double-shot on WrestleMania 23 weekend! I’m sure nothing special is planned for that at all.

ROH Video Wire – October 20, 2006



Important news/footage from the above video:
On November 3 at the overdue return to Boston, Delirious will challenge ROH Champion Bryan Danielson in his third attempt at the title.
The Briscoes claim to be somewhere in Florida and present themselves in a fashion that legitimately makes them stand out from the rest of the roster, which is that they’re rednecks that love to drunk and start bar rights. At the end of the video, they target Davey Richards in a building as apparently they’re feuding with him; this either hasn’t been properly teased in the 3 matches Richards has had against them in ROH before this, or I missed when skipping filler segments in the post-Glory By Honor V era. Of the mentioned matches I’ll bother watching, Richards will face Mark on October 28 in Chicago. Interesting that Richards has failed to defeat the Briscoes with 3 different partners, that being KENTA, Homicide, and Matt Sydal.

On the prior night in Dayton, OH, ROH hosted Suffocation, easily one of the worst events in company history. There are 2 interesting little nuggets coming out of that show in terms of fresh talent, as Dragon Gate young lion Shingo has returned this month from injury to continue his excursion, and Brent Albright, the former OVW Champion who briefly competed on WWE’s SmackDown roster as Gunner Scott, made his ROH debut.

Suffocation stock photo – https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4306/3580 ... a4ef_b.jpg

Shingo vs. Roderick Strong

The expected stiff match from these two with plenty of good cutoffs and comeback attempts. The big takeaway for me was how much of a jabroni Shingo was being, intentionally trying to piss off both Strong and the Chicago crowd. Perhaps Shingo did his homework and saw Bryan Danielson go 4-0 against Strong thanks in large part to a similar approach. That also made sense for the crowd psychology due to Strong’s 2 classics against Danielson in the Frontier Fieldhouse, which really raised Strong’s stock in the Windy City.

The finish was the obvious highlight, as Shingo blocked an attempted backdrop suplex on the apron. He eventually dropped Strong DDT-style off the apron through a table, knocking out the former Tag Champ and then wrapping it up with the Blood Fall. Shingo is very good at continuing to be a jabroni, and no doubt it was good booking to have him go 2-0 on his return weekend against 2 top stars in the company, although I don’t see any overwhelming signs that he can get over to KENTA’s level in America.

Rating: ***1/4

Jimmy Rave & Sal Rinauro vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Colt Cabana

Even with Prince Nana gone and the Embassy no more, Rave is still quite over with the toilet paper treatment. It’s mildly interesting that Rave & Rinauro also come to the ring to the tune of Miklós Rózsa's “Parade of the Charioteers,” not quite coming to grips yet that Nana isn’t coming back.

Another good match for the evening with Jacobs & Cabana appearing to be having fun and on the same page. However, I don’t buy that Jacobs is being sincere whatsoever. There’s not much to go over in this match; it was executed just fine, paced well, and had zero tag legalities, while bringing a perfect final nail on the Embassy’s coffin thanks to Rinauro losing and Rave dropping him like dead weight afterwards. It’s quite stunning to see Rave so over, although I’d credit that to the Embassy still being fresh in the audience’s minds, especially for a market like Chicago.

What truly matters is the post-match. Lacey proposes to relaunch Lacey’s Angels with Cabana as the centerpiece, to which he declines after describing the difference between business and personal, all while Jacobs pathetically stays in a corner like a depressed puppy.

Cabana then says that despite the awesome sex, he finds Lacey to be a huge bitch, while also finding a genuine friendship with Jacobs. He tells Jacobs to stop being pussywhipped and says he has potential to become a top star; there’s no denying that as the crowd is behind Jacobs. Cabana fucks up by being a bit backhanded about it, saying Jacobs is like a “little sister” to him; this also displays that the Second City Saint quickly lost the sensitivity lesson he should’ve learned from Homicide.

Cabana wants Jacobs to toss Lacey aside for reasons that are 100% logical, but Jacobs begs for one sign that Lacey cares because he still loves her, even if it’s not reciprocated right now. Rather than oblige, she demeans him even more. Jacobs lures Cabana into a false sense of brotherhood, pulling a middle rope into Cabana’s groin as they were about to leave the ring. Jacobs goes to work while Lacey keeps demanding and one of her heels is used like Homicide’s ghetto fork, carving up Cabana’s forehead. After threatening to Pillmanize Cabana’s ankle like had happened to BJ Whitmer 2 months earlier, Whitmer himself returns and then shoves Lacey down when she talks shit in an obviously attempted distraction. I certainly wouldn’t find Whitmer guilty if he was accused of domestic violence in this situation.

Jacobs & Lacey scurry while Whitmer tends to Cabana, who is pissed and repeatedly calls Jacobs a pussywhipped little bitch. Easily the highlight of the night, and the highlight of the entire month for the company; in what was clearly a downswing from the company’s peak, this saga served as a reminder that there was still plenty of juice remaining to keep tuning in.



Rating: *** (for the match)

Brent Albright receives “Please come back!” chants after going over in an enhancement match against Trik Davis, so he’s getting over so far.

Austin Aries vs. Christopher Daniels

Nothing super special here which wasn’t the goal. Albright had targeted the left arm of Daniels the night before, so Aries made that his strategy with various strikes and submissions. Eventually he’d get the Fallen Angel in a Rings of Saturn. Despite doing plenty of damage, it wasn’t enough. My favorite spot was actually unrelated to that, as Aries scouted an Arabian Press, but was so sudden that by the time Daniels landed on his feet, Aries was already in the ring and hit a gorgeous suicide dive.

After a good 15 minutes or so from these two, the finish came when a Crucifix Bomb attempt by Aries got blocked, so he hit a brainbuster and then went for the 450 Splash. Daniels scouted it though and blocked it as they had a battle on the top rope. A palm thrust dazed Aries, leaving him prone for the Angel’s Wings for the finish. Very similar to Strong vs. Daniels at Supercard of Honor IX for me.

Rating: ***1/4

Jay Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal

Mentioned about a dozen minutes in is that Sydal will face KENTA next week in Philly. That pretty much gives this result away, but definitely looking forward to that one.

Yet another good match with Sydal getting the early heat thanks to a Corkscrew Plancha and tosses into the barricades. Eventually Jay would get the heat in a moment that amused me. Sydal would get tossed into barricades and Jay went for a count out victory, but the crowd did its own chant to troll and confuse referee Todd Sinclair. When they hit 10, Jay wanted the victory, but Sydal yelled he had until 20.

The finishing stretch was a good series of counters. After Sydal had scouted the Military Press with an awesome DDT earlier, Jay gave him no time on the second attempt, immediately turning it into a Death Valley Driver. Jay blocked a standing moonsault attempt and then went for the double underhook piledriver, only for Sydal to sweep the legs and make a quicker, successful attempt at the standing moonsault. They teased a Flux Capacitor, only for Jay to block it and hit a Super Gordbuster.

As pretty much given away by the KENTA vs. Sydal news, Sydal got the victory when he evaded a clothesline and got a cradle pin. The Briscoes are none too pleased as Mark comes out for a post-match beatdown, only for Richards to come out for his match against Mark immediately.

Rating: ***1/4

Mark Briscoe vs. Davey Richards

Decent moves in this one, but it often didn’t pop the crowd or tell much of a cohesive story. This was simply the natural result of putting 2 talented guys in the ring that weren’t seasoned enough yet to be ring generals. This was simply an inferior, less smooth version of Shingo vs. Strong earlier on the card.

Rating: less than ***

Hardcore Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe


Danielson gets some toilet paper treatment during his entrance, and he’s none too pleased. Joe doesn’t let Danielson get in the ring, punching him on the apron and hitting an Elbow Suicida for an early advantage, pissed about the past few months. Joe doesn’t let up on the outside, even throwing Danielson’s right leg into a barricade, and keeps it coming in the ring.

After a few minutes, Danielson finally got the heat by being evasive and getting a stomach shot followed by instant European uppercuts. He goes after Joe’s left arm, then yells “This is how I street fight!” Joe is in agony when his left hand is awkwardly slammed into the mat and Danielson stomps on the elbow. Joe attempts a comeback only to eat an eye poke and axe handle smash from the cocky ROH Champion.

Another comeback attempt by Joe, another eye poke for Danielson, but Joe scouts the follow-up aerial attack and hits a Uranage, only to get swept by the champ on a flying boot attempt. Joe goes to the outside so Danielson stands on the apron to hit some kicks, but Joe uses the positioning to sweep Danielson into taking an apron bump, then channels his ***** classic against CM Punk in this same building and his ****3/4 war against AJ Styles at Turning Point 2005, grabbing the champ powerbomb-style and throwing him into the barricade.

After one Ole kick, Danielson runs into the crowd when Joe goes for it again. It’s a great strategy to have Joe follow him around, as he suckers the former ROH Champ with chair attacks. They then use the environment to continue brawling, and it’s thankfully done in a safe manner as there are no insane bumps or head shots, yet it still pops the crowd and plays into their effective strategy. Danielson teases taking it outside the building, only to tell the crowd to fuck off. He returns to his strategy of targeting Joe’s left arm with weapons and submissions. Joe’s comeback is brief as Danielson uses a Billy club to keep up the left arm damage, having lured Joe. He then uses the weapon for further damage in a Crossface Chickenwing, but Joe regains consciousness before his shoulder drops a third time.

Sinclair is legally wrong when he tries to take Danielson’s weapon away, but the champ doesn’t lose an advantage during a slugfest, hitting another eye poke, only to eat a powerslam from Joe. Joe doesn’t have enough strength in his left arm on a Full Nelson, so it’s broken up and the champ goes for elbows and knee strikes to head. That’s turned into a cradle bomb and then Joe’s signature STF. After a Crippler Crossface that Danielson turns into a pin attempt, Joe goes for elbows to the head, only to eat yet another eye poke.

This allows Danielson to go for a couple different pin attempts. Joe wins a slugfest via an Enziguri, but a lariat attempt is turned into a Cattle Mutilation. That’s bad news for Joe in his journey towards another title shot, since that very move finished off KENTA the month before. Danielson turns it into a pin attempt and then steals Sinclair’s belt, which is completely legal. The belt attacks are all to the back, but Joe doesn’t allow enough to his face, scouting the attacks to regain the heat and acquire the belt to deliver receipts to Danielson’s torso.

A Musclebuster is blocked and Danielson kicks Joe in the groin, only to be choked with the belt in the Coquina Clutch! That isn’t enough to finish Danielson, but Joe is resilient even after the groin shot, locking the submission back on to choke out the champ and earn another title shot. Very fun main event that told a cohesive story and easily the highlight of the card. Joe wants his title shot the next time ROH returns to Chicago, but says it’s gonna be in a steel cage! Fantastic pop for that and after a match like this, I’m more excited than I would’ve been beforehand. When Danelson regains consciousness, he claims he didn’t tap out, not realizing he had lost consciousness, and then chases Sinclair with the buckle belt.

Rating: ***3/4

Jimmy Rave has no time for a promo, and tells Sal Rinauro “I’m better off alone.”

As teased at Glory By Honor V Night 2, Konnan is returning to support his LAX brother Homicide. The psychology doesn’t work in ROH as compared to TNA for reasons that I don’t need to get into, and what a shitty way to close out this DVD release after watching a show that brought back some faith in ROH for me.

Fun event that is easily the highlight of a horrendous month. Too bad Dayton got fed a shit sandwich the night before. There are promising fresh talents on the scene and Danielson’s feud with Joe to keep him warm for Homicide has gotten interesting again (too bad Homicide’s journey hasn’t though.) Without question, the highlight of the night was the saga involving Lacey, Jacobs, and Cabana. In the coldest period of the year for the company, Jacobs has proven to be a playmaker and 2006 MVP candidate thanks to magnificent storytelling. Lord knows after the brawls Cabana had against the Prophecy and Homicide, and the ones Jacobs had against Whitmer and Alex Shelley, that I’m now looking forward to their upcoming battles. Recommended event.

Up next – Honor Reclaims Boston
Matches will include:
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Matt Sydal
Bryan Danielson vs. Delirious
KENTA & Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by supersonic »

Honor Reclaims Boston – November 3, 2006
Taped from Boston, MA

ROH Video Wire – November 1, 2006



Important news/footage from the above video:
ROH returns to Chicago for The Chicago Spectacular double-shot on December 8 and 9. While there was a bit of a wait between Vendetta and WrestleMania 22 weekend in late 2005 and early 2006, that was justified for the obvious reasons, plus the wait was more than worth it once the goods were delivered. This particular double-shot in December means that in the 2006 calendar year, Chicago will have hosted 7 ROH events. That is quite the burnout Cary Silkin is aiming both for such an important market and booker Gabe Sapolsky.

In the opener, the mystery opponent for Nigel McGuinness is Boston native and former Pure Champion John Walters, making his return after an 18-month absence from the company in what would turn out to truly be a one night only return, as this would be his final ever ROH appearance. Historical value here for those who grasped what Walters brought to the table in terms of workrate and being a terrific hand to make Generation Next look like a million bucks on day one. If only he’d been around to help out the Embassy in 2005 against GeNext…

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Matt Sydal

This match starts immediately after Castagnoli’s fellow Tag Champ and King of Wrestling Chris Hero is pinned by Sydal’s current regular tag team partner Christopher Daniels.

Sydal gets the heat early but is eventually cut off by Castagnoli’s size and power advantage when he gets pancaked. At times Castagnoli lets the crowd get in his head, coming close to allowing Sydal comebacks. Sydal eventually makes brief comebacks thanks to quick strikes in the shortest opportunities, only to still keep getting cut off by the Tag Champ.

Sydal of course eventually made a substantial comeback, including a running dropkick with enough force to knock Castagnoli to the outside. After some outside dives, it got brought back into the ring. The highlight would be when the artist currently known as Cesaro pulled out something that modern WWE fans have gotten to enjoy in recent years, that being the standing push-up counter into a European Uppercut. If anyone looks better at eating that than John Cena, it may actually be Sydal.

Despite the power and size advantage, Sydal was still able to make more comebacks by being too quick and preventing Castagnoli from getting a hold of him during head-scissors attempts. Even in a corner, Castagnoli lost his grip on a military press move, allow yet another head-scissors so Castagnoli would lose his standing base advantage.

After a Ricola Bomb would be a near-fal, Castagnoli went for a Super one on the top rope, but Sydal knocked him down to the mat and wasted as little time as possible going for the Shooting Star Press. Now that Sydal & Daniels have swept KOW, there’s no denying a Tag Titles match for them.

Rating: ***1/4

ROH Title Match
Bryan Danielson vs. Delirious


Danielson tries to mock the running around routine of Delirious before the bell rings, so the challenger surprises the champ with a leg takedown. The champ has no answer early to cut off Delirious. After a couple minutes though Danielson targets the left shoulder of Delirious, setting him up for Cattle Mutilation and the Crossface Chickenwing.

The match never got super heated as their prior 2 earlier in the year. That could be for a number of reasons. For one, nobody believed that a title change would be happening here thanks to Homicide’s chase and even the scheduled cage match against Samoa Joe to a smaller degree. It just wasn’t happening.

So even a good story being told here, such as Delirious not being able to lock on the Cobra Stretch until the closing minutes of the approximately 20-minute match, these two were simply handicapped. I appreciated that both displayed they could withstand each other’s submission maneuvers, whether it was reaching the ropes or regaining consciousness. I even liked Danielson copying Bret Hart’s finish from WrestleMania VIII and Survivor Series 1996 while in the Cobra Stretch. This showed another layer of brilliance the champ carried to make the inevitable showdown against Homicide even more dramatic, while once again to an even smaller degree, sending a message to Joe, who had proven in the past to be susceptible to pinning combination counters against Colt Cabana.

Rating: ***1/2

KENTA & Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong

A shame we never got this match with Naomichi Marufuji involved instead of Richards, and I’m not just saying that due to the stark difference in quality in the Briscoes’ matches against them and KENTA at Time to Man Up and Glory By Honor V Night 1. Perhaps at some point in WWE developmental? This match is also a result of Aries & Strong wanting to get a victory over KENTA, and since they’re the obvious tag team of the year thanks to their epic Tag Titles reign, they rightfully believe a tag match will get them that victory against the former GHC Jr. Champion.

This is truly among the greatest tags in ROH’s history, even better than I had remembered as just a MOTYC-level classic a decade ago. If there was any complaint to pinpoint in this match, and it honestly feels like it arguably shouldn’t be, it’s that the referee allowed the nonstop action to start a little bit too early into the match. It started about halfway into it, rather than in the closing few minutes.

This was certainly on par with KENTA’s classic against Marufuji several days earlier, and this match truly felt like it was far more belonging on a bigger NOAH stage than in front of this sub-1,000 audience in the suburbs of Beantown.

There were a number of things that set this apart from the majority of ROH’s vaunted tag matches. KENTA and Aries channeled one of my favorite moments of the only ROH tag match I have ahead of this one for now, that being Low Ki & Samoa Joe vs. Homicide & Kenta Kobashi at Unforgettable. Like Joe and Kobashi in that electrifying work of art, the two of them had a staredown across the ring on the aprons, accusing each other of trying to get into the ring without being legal and threatening to offset each other. It truly sold the competitive spirit between the two stemming from their breathtaking classic at Chi-Town Struggle, and gave this a major league feel like Joe and Kobashi had done the year before.

There were different types of psychology going on in this one. From a crowd perspective, these four were brilliant in popping the audience with numerous examples of strike exchanges, the participants doing their damnedest to prove whose figurative dick is bigger. Another layer of psychology was the ring being cut in half at different times, first on Richards to build to a hot tag for KENTA, showing a lesson had been learned from the complete mess at Time to Man Up. Later on, Strong would be the victim of cutting the ring in half, as KENTA & Richards just brutalized him and cut off any fighting spirit comebacks on his part.

In addition, another reason this truly belonged on a major league stage is that tag legalities were remembered by all four participants. Unfortunately, the camera crew didn’t seem clued in on this, missing some outside action when KENTA continued working on Aries instead of staying in the ring to work on the illegal Strong. This would indicate that whoever was in charge of production needed additional training to be properly ready to showcase tag team wrestling when its rules are followed properly. It was a breath of fresh air during the bomb-throwing in the second half of this match for legalities to be remembered, and it presented opportunities for smarter wrestling than I’m used to seeing in indy tags.

My favorite moment was in the near-fall extravaganza in the closing stretch. Richards went for the Shooting Star Press, only for Aries to knee him in the gut. Strong then immediately hit a gutbuster on Richards to follow up and allow Aries to attempt a dramatic near-fall. Aries & Strong’s mindset coming into this would then prove to be correct, as they divided and conquered the mentor/protégé tandem. KENTA would be damaged enough to the point that once he was knocked to the outside, he had nothing remaining to save Richards from the stomp to the back, kick to the head, flapjack slam, and 450 splash.

This was a pleasant surprise in its excellence, strong enough that I recommend this event for it alone. The tag legalities playing so strongly into this one puts this ahead of Aries & Strong vs. Briscoes III, which is nothing to scoff at. Incredible action that had purpose, tremendous competitiveness, cutting the ring in half, this really had everything that I love to see in tag team wrestling. This is easily gonna be in my Top 10 matches of 2006 at the end of the year. I can only imagine if Marufuji had been in the match instead of Richards, but on this night, there was no reason to even think about that.

Rating: ****3/4

Three quality matches of various flavors, including an all-time tag classic for the company to cap off this overdue Boston return make this an easy recommendation. Factor in this being the final ever appearance for hometown boy John Walters, and this gets a thumbs way up. Very, very refreshing after a largely cold October.

Up next – The Bitter End
Matches will include:
KENTA vs. Matt Sydal
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by supersonic »

The Bitter End – November 4, 2006
Taped from Philadelphia, PA

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This show is horrendous outside the match I’m reviewing, so C&P treatment from Jake Ziegler & Brad Garoon once again.
[Samoa] Joe also says he has a going away present for KENTA and his NOAH buddies. This puzzles [his partner and] NOAH wrestler [Nigel] McGuinness.
Matt Cross has a decent showing against Tag Champ Christopher Daniels in a losing effort.

KENTA vs. Matt Sydal

This seems to have obviously been booked due to KENTA and Joe causing real injuries to each other in their showdowns earlier in the year. Sydal is accompanied by Daniels.

This was the obvious good match that never got to be blow-away, which was to obviously be expected as well. There are no complaints to be had about the work, and with Sydal not quite over enough yet to be truly taken seriously, they optimized the work, although admittedly this is a slight notch below his show-stealing match 10 months earlier in this building against AJ Styles.

It was impressive to see Sydal win a strike exchange early, forcing KENTA to take a bump from one of his chops. That certainly seemed far more organic and believable as an attempt to raise Sydal’s stock than BJ Whitmer kicking out of Homicide’s Kudo Driver 3 years earlier at Main Event Spectacles. It was also impressive when Sydal got advantages later on via an ear clap head-scissors and moonsault to the outside.

Ultimately though, despite Sydal’s remarkable improvement throughout 2006, he just couldn’t measure up in both delivering and withstanding as much punishment as KENTA. The kicks KENTA executed were just brutal, as were a number of suplexes, including a Tiger Suplex into the corner that saw Sydal fall on top of his head. KENTA also did a great job picking up on Sydal’s habits, countering a head-scissors attempt into a powerbomb near-fall.

The biggest praise of the match would be the last 30 seconds or so, meaning this ended at the perfect time to elevate this into very good territory. Sydal managed to counter the Go to Sleep with a hurricanrana pin near-fall that had Philly rocking, although I wouldn’t say as much as he had done when countering Styles with the same move in this building at Hell Freezes Over. KENTA managed to withstand the surprise counter, blocking an aerial attack and countering it with an Ace Crusher, then finishing him with the Go to Sleep.

In the post-match, Samoa Joe interrupts to say KENTA earned his respect throughout 2006, and wanted him to deliver a message to NOAH for 2007, particularly for Takeshi Morishima and even to Kenta Kobashi to grant him a rematch. What a crazy concept – Joe is deep down still unhappy about losing to Kobashi, rather than just be thrilled to have had the opportunity to push the Hall of Famer to the limit.

That message was one Joe said would be universal across all languages; that would be a slap to the face, causing a pull-apart between the two. It’s a damn shame this match couldn’t happen, and a decade later seeing the careers of Bryan Danielson, Christian, and Corey Graves come to an abrupt end, it’s incredibly understandable not to have pulled the trigger and instead transition the KENTA vs. Joe direction into building up other matchups.

Sydal was simply put not the optimal matchup for KENTA on this show, as he just wasn’t at the point in his career to have an off-the-charts, highly dramatic and competitive match with the NOAH juggernaut. So what would I have booked instead? Since Joe is off the table and looking at the card, my first instinct is to pick Nigel McGuinness for a dream match that had yet to happen, and would be a showdown between the two defeated men from the double main event of Glory By Honor V Night 2. A rematch against Danielson obviously has to be preserved for a bit, especially due to Danielson’s shoulder injury and lone big match remaining for 2006 against Homicide.

Speaking of Homicide, he’d have been a great choice rather than tediously going to the Steve Corino well one too many times. A victory for Homicide over KENTA would’ve been an amazing chapter for the Notorious 187’s path to Final Battle 2006. I'm 99.9% sure that NOAH politics would've vetoed that result though, even with KENTA leaving ROH for many months after this. Perhaps a singles match then against Chris Hero or Claudio Castagnoli would’ve sufficed; KENTA’s victories over Austin Aries and Roderick Strong in singles didn’t taint their Tag Titles reign at all, so there was precedent.

However, the best matchup for KENTA on this night sans Joe was actually glaring right there during this whole segment for both the live audience and DVD viewer. I refuse to believe that even a decade ago, anyone ever saw real money in Matt Cross, so instead of giving him a fantastic veteran to hold his hand, I’d have booked Cross vs. Sydal to open this show and have a **3/4-*** level spofest. My mentality would’ve been that it’s sink or swim for Cross; I’m handing you my roster’s best high-flyer, so go out there and put on a fun little spectacle.

So that leaves a dream match that never happened, and both were right there interacting with each other to a small degree in the post-match: KENTA vs. Christopher Daniels. I imagine that ensuring Cross had a veteran hand in Daniels for his first ROH singles match is why this one didn’t happen, and I could see health playing a factor too. Politics seems like it could be a factor too, however that seems unlikely if I was forced to make a solid speculation.

I firmly believe KENTA vs. Daniels would’ve torn the house down for Philly and been a great complimentary semi-main event to Homicide vs. Corino on this show. KENTA can win over Daniels without anyone’s stock being harmed, and I envision that KENTA’s physical style would get under the Fallen Angel’s skin, bringing out a cranky side not seen since he was the Prophecy’s leader. If Sydal getting a big match is a necessity, then there’s the compromise of Sydal & Daniels vs. KENTA & Davey Richards, which would present nothing but fresh matchups and be a surefire show-stealer.

I’ll even take it a step further: with what we know now that was stirring behind-the-scenes which would lead to another major roster shift, I even think that KENTA vs. Daniels along with the post-match segment involving Joe could’ve made for an interesting dynamic. With AJ Styles now gone due to what was said both on and off-screen to be strictly financial reasons (no ill will in this instance), how about Joe and Daniels play the gimmick of uppity, high-maintenance TNA stars that are looking to stir shit up and use ROH as a means to sabotage NOAH? Homicide can do his own thing, but perhaps Joe tries to persuade him into thinking it was a mistake to back ROH against CZW, especially in light of Jim Cornette’s true colors coming to fruition, even pointing out Cornette’s position in TNA. Just spitballing ideas here and I’ll stop at this point.

Very good match elevated by a fantastic finish; just obviously not the epic semi-main event that could’ve been presented had a booker not suffering from burnout been in charge.

Rating: ***1/2

There is absolutely no fucking reason at all to get this show. Daniels vs. Cross is available for free on YouTube, and KENTA vs. Sydal is on KENTA’s compilation. Don’t waste your money on this shit-show; stay the fuck away and use the other legal avenues available to catch the good shit.

Up next – Black Friday Fallout
Matches will include:
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Nigel McGuinness
Delirious & Davey Richards vs. Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

Post by supersonic »

Black Friday Fallout – November 24, 2006
Taped from Long Island, NY

Image

ROH Video Wire – November 8, 2006



Important news/footage from the above video:
ROH confirms for the DVD/YouTube audience the remaining live event schedule for 2006.
Friday, November 24 – Long Island, NY
Saturday, November 25 – Edison, NJ
Friday, December 8 – The Chicago Spectacular Night 1 in Chicago
Saturday, December 9 – The Chicago Spectacular Night 2 in Chicago
Friday, December 22 – East Windsor, CT (Greater Hartford Area)
Saturday, December 23 – Final Battle 2006 in New York City

ROH Video Wire – November 16, 2006



Important news/footage from the above video:
Roderick Strong has dethroned Bryan Danielson for the FIP Title at All or Nothing and has made some rules changes, including a 20 count for count outs and title changes in the events of counts outs or DQs. He will be defending it in ROH, starting against Shingo on November 25 in New Jersey. Yet another sign of burnout for booker Gabe Sapolsky, as he also had the book for FIP at this time. This reeks of a lame attempt to offset the Pure Title's retirement and the fact that Bryan Danielson's shoulder injury is preventing him from having nightly classic ROH Title defenses. Danielson being gone in late November and early December for a NOAH tour is another likely reason for this too.
November 24 in Long Island - Delirious & Davey Richards vs. Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels
November 25 in New Jersey - Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries; Kings of Wrestling vs. Sydal & Daniels for the Tag Titles (if KOW still champs); Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & Homicide in a Survivor Series Style Elimination Hardcore Match

Another overall lukewarm show here, so once again C&P treatment of Brad Garoon and Jake Ziegler.
The Kings of Wrestling kick off the show with a press conference. The media in attendance are apparently not fans of Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. They tell us to get used to them saying whatever they want, whenever they want as often as they want because they’re the tag champions. Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal are very over with those in attendance. Those two teams will be getting title shots, and so will the Briscoe Brothers. Tonight it’ll be a No DQ match against the former champions.
KINGS OF WRESTLING VS. THE BRISCOES~! OH FUCK YES~!

Gauntlet Match Final
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Nigel McGuinness


There is nothing on the line or up for grabs stipulation-wise in this. Yet another obvious sign of burnout for Sapolsky.

Right before this final portion, BJ Whitmer went over Brent Albright to close out a tedious piece of shit segment in this gauntlet match, and the crowd’s reaction reflects that. Jacobs then makes quick work of Whitmer after hitting him with a low-blow, and the crowd is ecstatic! They fucking should be as Jacobs talks shit to one of his two career-defining archenemies, and the crowd chants his name before McGuinness comes out for a rematch from Generation Next.

This was an improvement upon their prior singles encounter in ROH, expectedly so. This match makes me disappointed in retrospect that these two never had an actual program. Simply put in late 2006, there were no 2 better mic workers on the ROH roster than Jimmy Jacobs and Nigel McGuinness; not Hero, no the Briscoes, not Colt Cabana, not Danielson, and certainly not Aries yet. These two could’ve done some tremendous lengthy business, with either both continuing their roles at this time as creepy jabroni Jacobs against freshly-turned bad-ass McGuinness; or possibly the other way around in the same vein that Danielson would have several years later against Triple H– the undersized babyface Jacobs standing up to the smug prick McGuinness. They certainly wouldn’t have had any issues taking risks and making each other look strong at this point in their careers either. There’s also the dynamic of how many verbal zingers McGuinness would’ve thrown at Lacey too.

Nonetheless, this match was a good sample of what could’ve been. I loved that McGuinness outclassed Jacobs early by targeting the left arm, brilliant to set up the London Dungeon while also hoping to marginalize any Shiranui attempts. Jacobs was impressive though getting some control with a headlock later on, although never for a great length of time. More than his left arm being targeted, Jacobs perhaps cost himself a career-defining victory at this point by focusing on Lacey. McGuinness was clearly a hot hand even after losing his 2006 program against Danielson and then another big match against Naomichi Marufuji, so any wasted second was crucial.

McGuinness was great selling the strikes of the smaller Jacobs, going out of his way to make his smaller but very talented colleague look formidable. That’s something I greatly appreciate and is a mentality that makes me miss both him and Batista as in-ring performers. I also appreciated that McGuinness was willing to pull the hair of Jacobs at times. This was him showing to Jacobs that he’ll play dirty if necessary, while also stating that he still had some ruthlessness in him from his Pure Title run. I liked later on when Jacobs countered the rebound lariat with a spear too, making we wish we had seen McGuinness or Dean Ambrose against Edge; McGuinness vs. Goldberg or Roman Reigns could’ve been super fun too.

The highlight of the match was Jacobs avoiding a top-rope lariat while crotched by McGuinness, only to get hit with the Tower of London from that position for a near-fall. Lacey was going crazy at this point, and it created some sense of doubt that Jacobs could pull off the upset against one of the hottest hands on the roster at the time. But the damage to his left arm would be for naught, as when he went for the Shiranui, he didn’t have the strength to be as sudden with it as he’d hope. McGuinness used the mid-air positioning of Jacobs to crotch him , hit the top-rope crotched lariat, and finish Jacobs off with a traditional Tower of London. It’s no surprise that McGuinness was able to sniff out the Shiiranui, and perhaps he could’ve actually done so without even trying to marginalize it, thanks to his classic match 2 months earlier against Marufuji. If ROH ever releases another Jacobs compilation, this really should be on it starting with the end of the Albright vs. Whitmer portion of this gauntlet match, as this served as not just a good match, but quality character and storyline advancement for the Jacobs direction.

Rating: ***1/2
Gary Michael Capetta and Shane Hagadorn make vaguely gay comments about Adam Pearce. GMC wants to know what Pearce is thinking, and I’m not sure why he doesn’t just ask Pearce. He will wrestle Homicide in a strap match in Chicago coming up.
Speaking of Homicide, a major upset occurs on this card when Jimmy Rave cleanly defeats him via an inside cradle. This is yet another sign of Sapolsky burnout. While it’s very wise to have at least 1 challenger for Homicide when he very obviously enters 2007 as the company’s top singles champion, Rave doesn’t seem like the best choice now that there’s no more Embassy and Prince Nana is gone. It’d have been much wiser to go with Hero as a heel to cleanly beat Homicide, since Hero never needed a mouthpiece to elevate his connection level with the audience. I say that as someone who has presented a factual case that Rave is the greatest heel in ROH's history; that case isn’t true without Nana to have complimented Rave though. Now with my idea of Hero getting the nod instead of Rave, Hero doesn’t even need to win in 100% clean fashion; he can do something underhanded to give Homicide an out. With certain directions that would soon to be taken too, Hero going over Homicide here could be magnified very soon to build to a title match between the two in 2007.

I’ve no problem at all with Homicide cleanly losing a singles match just once en route to Final Battle 2006. I could actually even see an argument for losing 2 singles matches tops (the other defeat would’ve been to McGuinness to set up a huge match for the planned UK return.) There’s the reason of grooming a challenger for Homicide, but just as important to me in storyline is showing that the Notorious 187 is mortal, no matter how much momentum he’s had in recent months. I speak on this from the perspective of a Seahawks fan, and it’s not a shoehorned comparison either. I’m not 100% sure that the Seahawks would’ve gone on to win Super Bowl XLVIII had they (with a playoff spot already locked up) not suffered a stunning, humbling defeat at home several weeks earlier to the Arizona Cardinals in December 2013. It’s a reminder that the favorite to win it all must stay focused, and that every opponent will bring their absolute best in every contest to make a statement and obtain the bragging rights of derailing that favorite. That’s what happened to the Seahawks 3 years ago, and I see the same thing happening here a month before the biggest guaranteed match of Homicide’s career.

Tag Titles Shot Match
Delirious & Davey Richards vs. Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels


The title shot stipulation is announced from the commentary team at the start of the match. The kneejerk reaction is to ask why it wasn’t announced beforehand, but the answer is obvious. Had it been announced going into this match or even to the live audience, then the result clearly would’ve been Sydal & Daniels going over since they were a regular team and had victories over the Kings of Wrestling. This dilemma is arguably another sign of burnout for Sapolsky. The bookerman has actually been on commentary for this event, so I presume that Jared David (Mister Saint Laurent) must’ve parted ways, and Sapolsky mistakenly references Gut Check instead of The Epic Encounter II when talking about the Delirious vs. Sydal rivalry. That’s not his only mistake as the match kicks off, as he erroneously states this is the first time Richards and Daniels collide, without specifying that he means in ROH. I sure hope he was only specifically referring to ROH.

Richards and Daniels have trash-talk early while evading various blows. Delirious and Sydal get tagged in quickly and have a terrific segment that ends with Sydal finally getting the upper hand via a monkey flip to the middle of the ring. Daniels practically plays quarterback early when Richards tags back in, cutting the ring in half on him.

Daniels even tries to taunt Delirious while he and Sydal work on Richards, which the crowd doesn’t seem to care about. Richards finally cuts off Sydal in a strike exchange with a spin kick to the gut, then following up on that body part by dropping Sydal on it on the top rope. This is when Richards went for what’s supposed to be a hot tag, although there’s no drama to it despite the psychology being mechanically sound and the Long Island crowd’s lack of reaction reflects that. Daniels practically confirms that he and Sydal are the de facto heels when he illegally comes in to cut Delirious off, but that doesn’t work out for him. I’m not a big fan of that story since Sydal & Daniels are supposed to be a babyface tag team that’s been gunning for KOW. This isn’t a hometown match for Delirious or Richards either to make an excuse for that, as they’re both Midwest and West Coast guys respectively at this point in their careers.

Sydal would have the ring cut in half on him, which he’d finally break free of by countering a handspring kick attempt by Richards with a spin kick. Daniels was fine as a house of fire, but since Sydal never had a major FIP segment either, the crowd doesn’t get as hot as I would want at this point in the match. The highlights would come in the closing minutes as Delirious and Sydal were legal. Delirious dropped Sydal with a Richards-assisted draping DDT for a great near-fall. Sydal’s selling is acceptable as he’s unable to get a nonstop comeback due to the pain, and those split hesitations allow Delirious to block a Flux Capacitor and Richards hits a Super Overhead German Suplex on the future Evan Bourne.

In addition, Sydal is easily cut off by Delirious due to his neck pain and playing the FIP earlier. As Richards and Daniels battle on the outside, the archrivals go at it. Daniels has gotten the upper hand and saves Sydal from a top-rope move, which leads to the finishing sequence. Delirious eats a Uranage, BME, and shooting star press, confirming the obvious that Sydal & Daniels would win this based on the KOW match already being announced ahead of time for tomorrow night, and then the added stipulation per the commentary team on this DVD release.

This was a good match with tag legalities surprisingly being adhered to, yet a horrible choice to main event this show. Anytime a booker says “this is your chance to see new talent headline” is generally a red flag that the card and/or roster depth is weak, and this was no exception. This never got super heated as would’ve been hoped, and it makes me just wish that this match would’ve happened a few weeks earlier with KENTA involved instead of Delirious. Richards could’ve taken the fall just like he had done against Austin Aries & Roderick Strong to not make him seem too over-pushed, while also further grooming Sydal & Daniels for KOW. I enjoyed Jacobs vs. McGuinness significantly more than this, and unlike that match, I’m not too surprised now that this match hasn’t been included on any compilations yet, although if a Sydal compilation is ever released, I’m sure this will be featured. I certainly would’ve just preferred another singles encounter between Delirious and Sydal on this card, with Richards and Daniels having a first-time ever singles encounter too.

Rating: ***1/4

The DVD closes with Lacey berating Jacobs, as she puts herself over for winning her match and is unimpressed by him defeating Whitmer in the gauntlet match. She wants Whitmer to be maimed, and she expected Jacobs to pull off the upset against McGuinness. The brief segment ends with Jacobs, like a depressed puppy, saying “I love you” after Lacey has stormed off. Fucking creepy and pathetic, and an excellent choice to close the DVD release with this after a not-so-hot, yet mechanically good main event.

This was an awful show, with a good but cold main event as stated. That isn’t necessarily the fault of anyone in particular. The crowd never fully recovered from an abysmally tedious piece of business between Albright and Whitmer, but the card didn't do any favors for itself either.

Even with what I said earlier on this review, I’d have gone with Homicide vs. McGuinness as this show’s main event. It’d be a huge match between two of the hottest hands on the roster, in one corner the man seemingly on his way to the top, in the other corner the man who had recently been eliminated from competing for the tippy-top. McGuinness goes over in a shocker to groom him for a title match in 2007 should Homicide dethrone Danielson; Homicide faces mortality to keep him focused before his epic opportunity; and perhaps most importantly from a business perspective, Long Island has a match that’s worth buying tickets to see live. Long Island doesn’t continue to feel like a B-market, which has been the case for an entire year (having a memorial for Eddie Guerrero doesn’t hide that fact.) Have Delirious vs. Sydal and Richards vs. Daniels as I stated, and since Jacobs wouldn’t be facing McGuinness, I have him lose to Shingo. It accomplishes the same storyline goal of Lacey berating Jacobs, this time for failing to win a match that could’ve gotten him on Dragon Gate’s radar, and Shingo has a good match that he wins the night before challenging Strong for the FIP Title.

I dare anyone to look at the card on the attached DVD cover and try to tell me that my alternative of Shingo vs. Jacobs, Delirious vs. Sydal, Richards vs. Daniels, and Homicide vs. McGuinness, along with the gauntlet match being completely scrapped, wouldn’t have significantly upgraded this awful event.

Avoid this event, but find a way to catch Jacobs vs. McGuinness.

Up next – Dethroned
Matches will include:
Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer
Kings of Wrestling vs. Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels
Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries
Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & Homicide
Last edited by supersonic on Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Project Rewatch - ROH: The Good Shit

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Dethroned – November 25, 2006
Taped from Edison, NJ

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Another overall lukewarm show here, so once again C&P treatment of Brad Garoon and Jake Ziegler.

Some masked dude named El Generico returns for the first time in 15 months in a losing effort to Brent Albright. Must largely be due to his matches in a certain West Coast tournament or something that he’s been invited back after a cold 2005 from him in the company.

Davey Richards is determined to finally beat Austin Aries. He’d already done that in the West Coast tournament I just referenced, and that was less than 90 days ago, so it isn’t impossible regardless of how much more acclimated Aries is in ROH.

Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer

There’s never an official bell since referee Paul Turner is attacked numerous times by both, including getting spiked on the forehead and cut open just like the combatants. This isn’t the typical brawl, as it’s lengthy and gets back into the ring eventually with a handful of actual wrestling moves being performer. The sickest moment of the early outside brawling is easily Whitmer powerbombing Jacobs on the top of a guard rail.

The crowd ate this up as the two just wailed on each other with everything possible while Lacey urged it on for Jacobs, albeit from a negative reinforcement perspective towards him. These two very clearly despised each other and magically weaved in the occasional wrestling moves in a manner that didn’t detract from that fact. I even appreciated Whitmer’s selling here from when he hit a desperation lariat after being dropped head-first via a reverse hurricanrana. He used the momentum from that bump to smack Jacobs down, but sold his blood loss by being unable to follow up.

Lacey eventually interjects and slaps Whitmer, who continues to sell the blood loss and can’t respond to her in any way. Daizee Haze comes out to even it against Lacey, and this catfight is certainly as over as Alexis Laree and Allison Danger at One Year Anniversary Show. Lacey takes a powder and Haze is concerned for both combatants, requesting assistance from the locker room to end this brawl. This was a hell of a chapter for the Jacobs vs. Whitmer saga, without either having to job yet.

Rating: ***3/4

Tag Titles Match
Kings of Wrestling vs. Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels


During the entrances, ROH’s on-screen graphic confirms every event through the first quarter of 2007, and an extra one too.
January 26 – Boston
January 27 – New Jersey
February 16 – NYC
February 17 – Philly
February 23 – Dayton
February 24 – Chicago
March 3 and 4 – Liverpool
March 30 and 31 – Detroit (WrestleMania 23 weekend)
April 27 – St. Paul

Easy highlight is after a hot tag, Sydal being pressed up by Claudio Castagnoli, landing on the champ’s shoulders, and then using the momentary stunned status of Castagnoli to plant him with a DDT.

Referee Todd Sinclair enforced tag legalities as should be the case far, far, far, far more often in the minor leagues of the business. Then 2-3 minutes later, he inexplicably forgets about it.

The highlight ignores tag legalities at the end, but is definitely spectacular. First, Castagnoli counters Sydal’s shooting star press with an uppercut. When KOW set up Sydal for a KRS-One, Daniels spears Chris Hero, which allows Sydal in mid-air to pin Castagnoli with a hurricanarana for a title change.

I don’t have much very much to say about this match other than it was good but highly flawed and disappointing, which is a poetic book-end to KOW’s good but highly flawed and disappointing title change victory over over Austin Aries & Roderick Strong 2 months earlier. Although the fans in attendance gave KOW some heat, it never felt like visceral heat on par with the Summer of Punk or what Hero was getting during the white-hot CZW program. Even the pop for the title change feels very much like one that’s a result of a company that had done a phenomenal job building rapport with its audience in recent years, rather than for this being a historical moment on its own. This is a title change that nobody talks about and for damn good reason. This moment absolutely pales in comparison to much more significant moments that took place in the same building over the past year prior to this, including KENTA vs. Low Ki, CZW crashing ROH’s Fourth Anniversary Show, Homicide inserting himself against CZW, and even Bryan Danielson and Samoa Joe bringing the crowd to a fever pitch at the end of a 60-minute Broadway.

Sydal & Daniels never got over as a babyface team to any significant degree, but I can’t entirely fault booker Gabe Sapolsky here. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were thrown together due to the departure of AJ Styles a few months earlier, who seemed a much more natural partner for Sydal earlier in 2006. That’s certainly a what if scenario – imagine Styles instead of Daniels being in this direction alongside Sydal, and how much little tolerance he’d have for KOW’s goofy heel bullshit and Poor Man’s CM Punk smugness. That would’ve given us Castagnoli colliding with Styles too instead of waiting so long for it to happen in WWE. I have to imagine Styles & Sydal winning the titles here would’ve been a much more exciting match, without the lameness of Daniels labeling himself as “Lords of the Ring” with Sydal in the post-match. Oh yeah, Sydal & Daniels say they’ll be honorable champs. We’ll see about that especially since there are major red flags in regards to their babyface stock.

I know that shortly before this, Castagnoli and TJ Wilson (better known as Tyson Kidd) were offered WWE developmental contracts. A decade later, it’s poetic that the two of them would receive such opportunities simultaneously, having no idea of the natural chemistry they’d have as a tag team. Segueing back to tag teams, I still say that this particular title change was a bad idea, so I’ll offer an alternative in the overall show review.

Rating: ***1/4

Nigel McGuinness defeats Jimmy Rave, then they actually kick off a program.
After the match Nigel gets on the microphone and tells Rave that he respects him. He gave him a run for his money and now he wants to shake his hand. Rave shakes his hand and both men wave to the crowd. Nigel gets silly and throws a roll of toilet paper at him. Rave loses his temper and shoves Nigel around. The chatter between the two of them is exactly the kind of stuff you hear from people who are about to get into a real fight, which is another nice little touch. Christopher Daniels breaks it up for reasons I don’t understand. Rave gets his bags and leaves the building.
Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries

Another good match on the card but with a colder crowd than one would hope. Sapolsky on commentary really shoehorns out of nowhere that Aries is on the cusp of being a company legend like Ki, Joe, and Danielson. Not once do I recall this narrative being pushed in the recent matches I watched involving Aries at Survival of the Fittest 2006, Motor City Madness 2006, Irresistible Forces, and Honor Reclaims Boston. Putting Aries over to this degree isn’t a problem at all, as it in fact is quite accurate. It’s just something that should’ve gotten pushed immediately in the aftermath of Glory By Honor V Night 2 after he and Strong had their epic Tag Titles reign ended.

Richards was very intelligent in targeting the left arm of Aries, since the former ROH Champion is a southpaw. This attempts to marginalize so much of the offense for Aries, including the brainbuster, pendulum elbow, slingshot corner elbow, Last Chancery, and crucifix bomb. While this brilliance on the part of Richards didn’t completely neuter Aries, it did a masterful job of containing a man that was now getting the respect he had earned since his main card debut at Reborn Stage 2.

Aries would attempt to improvise due to his left arm being targeted, but he never had a real answer for Richards in this match. Even with the two having each other well scouted, Richards just had the superior game plan, fueled by losing so many matches against bigger-name opponents such as Aries, Strong, KENTA, the Briscoes, and even Sydal & Daniels the night before. Once Richards was able to get his version of the Kimura Lock comfortably in place on the left arm of Aries, there was no choice but for the established ROH legend to tap out. I’m not so sure about giving Richards his first big singles victory here, especially since the crowd didn’t react to it as a major deal. I wanna see the follow-up before completely commenting on this decision. Good match nonetheless though.

Rating: ***1/2
Lacey is disappointed in Jimmy Jacobs again. She doesn’t care that he’s in the hospital getting stitches. She’s going to need someone bigger, strong and smarter to get rid of Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmer.
Hardcore Survivor Series Style Elimination Match
Briscoe Bros. vs. Samoa Joe & Homicide


This holds up much better than I expected. This was just a fun, chaotic brawl to close out the event, and it was a good sign when near the beginning, the dream team hit a stereo Suicide Elbow and Tope Con Hilo on the Briscoes. These four just then threw each other around ringside on top of chairs, keeping the crowd entertained in the process.

With this being a recreational arena that includes hockey set-up, Joe wore a helmet and used a stick at one point. While that was noteworthy to me, nothing compared to the highlight of the match, which was Mark walking the top of the entrance stage like a tightrope, and then hitting a Shooting Star Press. Although I don’t really mind moves being copied on the same card, because the storyline goal of everyone should be to do whatever it takes to win, including copying moves and game plans from peers, I gotta give kudos to whoever convinced Sydal to not hit an SSP earlier on the card so that Mark’s moment stood out there. As mentioned on commentary, this was actually more impressive than his SSP at Motor City Madness 2006 due to the walking balance he needed, although I say coming off of a box truck was more spectacular.

Julius Smokes lit a cigar and gave it to Homicide, who used it on a Briscoe and put him in position for a Kudo Driver. The Notorious 187 waited for Joe to get his hands on the other Briscoe that was seated on a turnbuckle, so they could be in stereo like they were at the beginning, simultaneously hitting the Kudo Driver and musclebuster for the victory.

In the post-match, Homicide promises a party come December 23 in NYC at Final Battle 2006. Joe says it will be a party, but Homicide will be facing him for the ROH Title, reminding everyone that no matter how unlikely it seems Danielson will be dethroned by anyone but Homicide, anything can happen.

Rating: ***1/2

Much better show than the night before, albeit a B-Show with numerous flaws. Jacobs vs. Whitmer is a must-see segment, but for the rest of the card, I’m not sure what a better alternative would’ve been for certain puzzle pieces. I guess the only alternative I could see since Sydal & Daniels weren’t truly clicking, while the Briscoes were gonna remain over despite being swept by Joe & Homicide, would’ve been to cancel the Tag Titles change on this card. Just go with the KOW vs. Briscoes dream match at Final Battle 2006 and have the title change take place there; make that show even more special to have what would’ve then looked to be more than one title change that night. It’d be a redemption to close out 2006 for the Briscoes, and there’d be the ready-made challengers in Aries & Strong, who they had failed to beat in 4 other title attempts during their reign.

Yes, Castagnoli was on his way out thanks to WWE recruiting him after a tryout the month before in Deep South Wrestling. I don’t accept the excuse of having Sydal & Daniels dethrone KOW on this night just to avoid a supposed lame-duck status of the belts, or that it’ll become too obvious that they’ll be dethroned soon. Have KOW go over here, and they can borrow a part from CM Punk’s farewell tour ROH Title reign. Since Punk threatened to take the belt hostage once he got bored, do something similar with KOW. But rather than taking it hostage, KOW vows that WHEN they close out 2006 still the tag champs of this company, they will simply force the company to retire the belts just like the Pure Title a few months earlier. Hero can explain that they won’t relinquish the titles to crown new champions, oh no no. Instead, Castagnoli’s advancement to WWE will allow the Kings of Wrestling to forever reign supreme as the final tag champions in wrestling history. I’ll go into a bit more detail once I get to ROH’s final weekend of 2006, but at Final Battle 2006, the Briscoes complete their babyface turn by stepping up as the last resort and dethroning KOW as mentioned, bringing their 2006 run in the company, which had started with their long-awaited return at the Fourth Anniversary Show and their Tag Titles intentions being made clear that night, to its proper culmination.

Up next – The Chicago Spectacular Night 1
Matches will include:
Matt Sydal & Shingo vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe
Last edited by supersonic on Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:31 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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