Last Wrestling Match Watched 2.0

[Kiffy Lube]

ROH The Nightmare Begins: ROH Title Match- Eddie Edwards v.s Kevin Steen(c).

Damn this was a quality fight. It wasn't even intended to be a title match until Jim Cornette threw his weight around. Edwards came right at Steen who just fired back with bigger and more powerful stuff all while being that cocky, anti-authority champion around ringside. Not only is the action in the ring top notch and the brawling outside adequate we also got to hear Steve Corino and Cornette bickering at the commentary table. Oh my this was grand fun. Since Steen is barred from using the Piledriver late in the match he hits a nice combo of moves that ends up finishing Edwards. It looked pretty effective but knowing Edwards has been in many kick-out until your dead kind of wars I did think he'd get the shoulder up. In the end though it looked much more realistic then some of those affairs. I think anybody that is an ROH fan currently and is only watching PPVs or their weekly show should check this out seeing as it's a pretty important match.

***1/2

 

[Crippler]

ROH Northern Navigation 2008 - Chris Hero w/Sweet 'n' Sour vs. Ruckus

This is Hero's 2nd or 3rd show as "That Young Knockout Gimmick" They packed quite a bit of action into these 6 and a half minutes but it was done so nicely that it didn't seem overdone. Hero was over and showed he can go because before he started this gimmick people were starting to doubt him. **1/2

 

[Crippler]

ROH Northern Navigation 2008 - Delirious vs. Kenny Omega

This is Kenny's debut in ROH if i remember correctly, Omega looked good even in the loss shit he looked better the Delirious but tbf everyone looks better then the masked man with the win or lose. **1/2

 

[AZUCAR!]

PAC vs Ricochet vs Rich Swann - DGUSA Uprising

 

[Crippler]

ROH Northern Navigation 2008 - Erick Stevens vs. Go Shiozaki (w/Larry Sweeney & Shane Hagadorn)

15 minutes of good solid hard hitting, hard-fought chopfest, with VERY good aftermath. The match goes to a draw. The crowd and Stevens want five more minutes… Stevens gets on the mic and demands five more minutes. And when Sweeney refuses…we have someone in the back who wants to convince him. LANCE STORM is here! He wants to see five more minutes too. Sweeney sucks up to Lance…until Hero emerges from the back to attack him. Shiozaki beats down Stevens whilst Hero does a number on Storm. That is until Storm and Stevens combine to hit STEREO SINGLE LEGGED CRABS! Lance rounds the segment off by clearing Hagadorn’s clock with a superkick. Stevens, until Storm and Stevens are able to fight back and lock in stereo Calgary Crabs. ***1/2

 

[Crippler]

ROH Northern Navigation 2008 - Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli

This match was fucking tremendous, the counter they used were smooth and the story of them knowing what the other ones moves were gonna be so they countered that move into something new, PURE SEX!. This is one of the best mat back and forth wrestling matches in ROH history, and it helped that the crowd was awesome. ****1/4

 

[Crippler]

ROH Northern Navigation 2008 - Roderick Strong vs. Naomichi Marufuji

They worked well together with Strong constantly working toward a submission move and Marufuji just looking for an opening for the Shiranui. Marufuji is just awesome in this match, busting out some great moves and Strong more then held his own too putting a good performance of his own, but it was just lacking that something to make it feel special. ****

 

[Crippler]

ROH Northern Navigation 2008 - ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Kevin Steen

Kevin Steen is obviously hugely over with his home crowd. Nigel gets a lot of heel heat too. And with that result with both guys manly over in their roles we get a fanfuckingtagtic match full of drama with Steen fighting his heart out against that evil bastard Nigel. It was probably a hint WWE style in the way they worked it, playing to the home town fans, multiple finisher spots etc…but they did such a phenomenal job. The crowd started hot for Steen, but to keep that energy up from a small, smarky independent crowd for 30+ minutes. ****1/4 Nigel throwing Steen off the guardrail into the side of the ring, has to be one of the most nastiest things ever. I remember in one of the Steen shoots he couldn't move for 2 weeks after that and it took about a month for his back to get a little bit better.

 

[Crippler]

ROH Northern Navigation 2008 - Non-Title, No DQ: Jay Briscoe & Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black

I don't wanna say this match suffered because of the the 3 matches before it cause the talent was here, but it really did suffer. This was more of an angle advancement match on "who's side is Necro's soul on" and if that was the case this had no business being the main event. Don't get me wrong it was a crazy brawl with a lot spots and INTENSITY because of the AWESOME Jacobs/Aries stuff they were doing at the time. ***1/4 - ***1/2

 

[Rated R Superstar]

Survivor Series 2001: Team WWF vs Team Alliance.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

ROH Live Strong: Kyle O'Reilly v.s Jay Lethal.

It wasn't a too bad back and forth match up. They had some nice exchanges and some decent storytelling going. It's just it was about to go to another level but instead of doing so it just ended. Yeah, it wasn't allowed to get going. You have the talent in there to put on a pretty special match but I guess these two are now headed in two different directions in ROH. Maybe they'll get another chance because they had something going here until the ending that just seemed out of place.

**1/4

 

[Kiffy Lube]

ROH Live Strong: Pepper Parks v.s Adam Cole.

First off I'm going to say I was impressed with Pepper Parks. I am also already a fan of Adam Cole and his crusade. So this was just a fun match up for me. Pepper proved he should already be on the roster just like Christian York dictated the pace in his match Zema Ion on a recent Impact. You need established veterans. These guys deserve their shot. These hot guns like Cole might run their course before they are ready but Parks and York have shown they can take the test of time. Let's see what happens but I think ROH should book Parks more. I quite enjoyed this outing.

**3/4

 

[Kiffy Lube]

ROH Live Strong: Four Corner Survival- Mike Mondo v.s Mike Sydal v.s Kenny King v.s Mike Bennett.

Yeah, I know Mike Sydal sucks. This didn't show that as well as I thought though. Most of the in-ring action was controlled by King and Bennett and occasionally Mondo. Mondo is showing he can handle himself in the ROH environment. I'll keep giving him a shot but I think his past representation might hurt him. This was an unique match to say the least. I guess ROH was scouting the future by putting them in a role they haven't gotten to. I don't know about you but ROH has made 4 Corner Survival matches a special match. Not just adding guys that don't have matches but it has to led to some surprising good matches. This match did it's best but it still seemed awkward at points. Maybe some matches between the 4 guys afterward will loosen things up.

**

 

[Kiffy Lube]

ROH Live Strong: Thomasso Ciampa v.s Eddie Edwards.

What a contest. They all put on some good match. I hope they have the chance later on to put something like this for a title. The finish also didn't hurt this match it was a good end to this fight. These two have bright futures not only in ROH but everywhere they may well go. This was a great match for an ROH show. It had great back and forth wrestling with good counters and a finish that worked decently well into what they were trying to accomplish.

***1/4

 

[Crippler]

WWE Royal Rumble 2003 - WWE Championship: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle

Just an absolutely awesome 20 minutes match, everything was crisp, smooth, technical just like every other Benoit/Angle match in the past. My only problem with this was the length of the chinlocks in the middle of the match. But other then that these two traded back and forth between anklelocks and crossfaces and just absolutely ruled, hell even Cole and Tazz did a wonderful job telling the story of the match and showed they did have what it takes to be the best commentary team if they wanted to. To me this match proves you don't need weapons, gimmicks or blood to get the crowd the size of the WWE audience invested in a match. ****3/4 After the match the crowd then shows huge class and gives Benoit a standing ovation after the match for the effort.