Ring Of Honor 2007

[Crippler]

So i will be review the year that was 2007 for ROH, I wish i could of started with 2006 but I've borrowed some DVD's out and apparently misplaced some too.

Don't worry faithful 2002 readers this won't take away from me watching those as i usually finish the month by Friday and I will be watching a ROH on Fridays, or Saturdays. No do not fear.

 

[Crippler]

ROH 01/26/2007 Dedicated
Braintree, Massachusetts

ROH World Champion: Homicide
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels

They do a ten-bell salute to Doug Gentry who, who died early that day. Next up Rebecca Bayless is introduced as the newest ROH interviewer. Out comes the NEW ROH World Champion Homicide! Smokes is with him, Becky says how proud she is of him. She also asks how he is feeling tonight. Homicide feels great but doesn’t get a chance to say a lot before Larry Sweeney interrupts and says his client Chris Hero is warming up in his private locker room for his ROH Title match tonight, and says it will be a huge pleasure to see the best athlete in ROH beat him for his belt tonight, since he's the most disgraceful ROH Champion ever. He wrestles in a t-shirt unlike his client. Sweeney accuses Homicide of no honor, causing J-Train to smile and throw something at Larry. Larry eventually bails and is called naughty names. “EAT MY ASS, COCKSUCKER!†that smokes he has such a way with words. Chris Hero sneaks in from the other side and delivers a huge kick to Homicide’s face. Sweeney comes in to beat down Smokes while Hero holds up the belt. Rocky Romero makes the save, then turns on Homicide and asks where he was all those months that Romero was out. Smokes yells to the camera to shut it off and says they can do this in the back.

Davey Richards vs. Rocky Romero
So this got 20 minutes, Davey is in heel mode here and this is before the NRC is formed, man I love that stable. This was such a good match to open the show and year, they just really went at each other with stiff hard kicks, chops and punches. Richards and Romero are very similar stylistically and meshed really well. I must admit as good and enjoyable that the action was it just seemed to lack heat (that might be because the crowd would pop for every impressive move. ) and it didn't have much drama this was also ruined by the no-selling bullshit by Richards. ***1/2

Jimmy Rave is backstage and cuts a promo looking away from the camera the whole time, He brags about his new submission finisher and says he's going to make someone tap in his match tonight and when he faces Homicide for the title he’ll make him tap too.

Jack Evans vs. Eddie Edwards
Man a young Eddie looks awful his hair is a KILLA', if you would of told me that this guy would of been the first Grand-slam ROH champion I would of legit laughed at you. UGH! Jack "Part-Time" Evans You know what makes this even more hilarious is that Jack pretty much carried the entire match he gave the fans it all in this, his usual Jack spots and then allowed Eddie to bend him in different places. I wouldn't call this a SQUASH! But more of an exhibition. **1/4

Delirious & Pelle Primeau vs. Adam Pearce & Shane Hagadorn
Basic and boring tag match, man I dislike all 4 of these guys. This also had it awkward moment which let’s be honest didn't help at all. I will say this Pelle's bumping for Adam & Shane was good and so was Delirious hot tag. *1/2

Backstage, the Briscoe’s cut a promo about their NOAH adventures. Mark predicts they'll win in two straight falls tonight. MAN UP! they also looked away from the camera for the majority of the promo. DA FUCK!

No-DQ Match: Colt Cabana, BJ Whitmer & Daizee Haze vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Brent Albright & Lacey
I think most of you know the history in this match, Whitmer and Cabana are still out for revenge against Jacobs and Lacey. Lacey and Haze are still feuding to be the top female of ROH, She also hired Albright because he's doing his "Gunn for hire" gimmick. The heels attack during their opponent’s entrance so this match the bell rings and that starts off this angle advancement brawl of a match, I like that they didn't do the ultra-violent match cause they know the feud isn't over yet and held back so that was nice. The match ends when Albright runs in with a chair and takes Whitmer and Cabana out. He German suplexes Haze across the ring and helps Lacey set her up on the table. Jacobs finishes her off with a top rope senton through the table to win the match. Daizee Haze was clearly the MVP as she just allowed Lacey, Jimmy and even Albright to beat the shit out of her and she even had this nasty bump/lump on her head when the match was over. Post-Match: Lacey then mocks Daizee, saying she could make a killing as a stripper, all while wearing tight gear. HAHAHAHAHA! **1/2 - **3/4

Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness
So this match is happening because Nigel is sick of Joe shit talking his second home Pro-Wrestling NOAH. Enjoyable match, but they've done better. The majority of the story-telling was good with Nigel doing the Nigel and working on the arm, but as soon as Joe stopped selling it the whole thing went down the drain. Plus I felt they didn't kick it into that higher gear down in the finishing stretch my guess it they didn't want to tire the crowd out before they even got to the main events. Post-Match: Jimmy Rave runs out, and he puts Joe in the Heel Hook! but Nigel makes the save. ***

INTERMISSION~!

Rebecca Bayless goes backstage and says "holy shit!" while approaching Daizee Haze, who is getting treated for her head wound. She doesn’t have much to say but Cabana is PISSED! He says he doesn’t want to see Jacobs picking on Daizee anymore. Wait isn't this the same guy that told Whitmer to suplex Lacey through a table. Bayless looks so clueless during this.

Four Corner Survival: Christopher Daniels (w/Alison Danger) vs. Shingo vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Jason Blade
Good Ol' ROH booking here, have 4 guys here and have nothing for them so let’s throw them in a four way match to fill time. Don't believe me then, allow me to educate you Daniels is one half of the Tag Champions but Matt Sydal is in Dragon Gate or NOAH, Shingo has extended his DQ tour because he loves ROH so much, Rave is still feuding with Nigel and Jason Blade is just looking for a job. It wasn’t a bad match, but I wasn't invested in it I clearly just didn't care what would happen because nothing would happen next. I enjoyed Jimmy Rave’s dick heel antics and Shingo being a best, Daniels kept the match together with his AWESOME! Old Mannes FUCK BLAKE! that guy sucks. **

ROH World Championship: Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney)
Hero is using "Rock 'n' Roll, Part 2" as his entrance music, GOD FUCKIN' DAMMIT that is so funny. So this was uneventful I loved the first 5/7 minutes with Hero in full on comedy/goat mode to piss of Homicide cause all he wanted to do was mat-wrestle. But then things go completely downhill and the match gets boring and dull and that pains me to say cause I love both guys but this was just painful to watch, Hero was pretty much stalling for the majority and this "babyface" Homicide act is just bad, it's like Triple H's 2002 role Cide is much better in the ring when he's in control breaking the rules and acting like a thug. **3/4

Jack Evans doesn’t know why he hasn’t been able to win gold in ROH before. And promises that 2007 will be the year of Jack Evans. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

2/3 Falls Match: Roderick Strong & Austin Aries vs. The Briscoe Brothers
Not as good as the Unified match but let’s be honest nothing they do with be on that level ever again. Some of the no-selling was a little ridiculous (such as Mark popping up from the DVD on the apron insanely quickly) but that is what the Briscoe's do. Briscoe’s win the match in two straight falls. Sinclair looked confused at the ending there and the crowd hardly popped cause they were LEGIT! not expecting that and for Roddy/Aries to get one fall. And so this the start if the Briscoe's 2 straight gimmick and the beginning of the end for Gen-Next. I guess Jay and Mark are the number one contenders to the ROH World Tag Team Titles now. ***1/2

Homicide brags about being the champion and says tomorrow night he’s going to fight Joe in Bizarre 2003 style. Joe gets into SERIOUS JOE MODE! reminds Homicide that he held the belt too and he’s getting his belt back.

Overall: This had 2 really good matches but the overall show was pretty poor, if you really want you can go find the 2 matches but if you decide not to. Don't worry you won't be missing anything. 5/10

 

[Crippler]

ROH 01/26/2007 Battle Of The Icons
Edison, New Jersey

ROH World Champion: Homicide
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels

Becky Bayless interviews the ROH World Champion, Homicide with the GOAT Smokes who trying to peek at Bayless' cleavage in the background. Homicide calls himself the most disrespectful champion of all time and he’s not letting Joe take the belt back. Samoa Joe interrupts just found out he’s on borrowed time in ROH, so this could be his last opportunity to win the title. Smokes call it the battle of King Kong and Godzilla.

No Disqualification-"I Quit" Match - Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Rave
Why would ROH tell us that this is a NoDq match, since when does "I quit" matches not been NoDq? anyway, before the match Rave make sure all the fans know about the toilet paper ban. He also mentions that Nigel likes to throw toilet paper, so he’s raising the steaks of their I Quit match. He wants it to be no disqualification :hm:, and if Nigel loses he’ll have to kiss Rave’s feet. This was going just fine until it fell apart after Rave started puking that right he puked up right in the ring, The finish also didn't help why would you book an "I quit" match just to have Rave put Nigel in the Heel Hook and Nigel says "he’ll never quit" but the referee eventually just calls for the bell to save Nigel’s career. C'MON! Such a WCW move. Great post-match sell job by Nigel as well. Fans chant "You Still Suck" at Rave and Rave tells them that come February 16th they are looking at the new ROH Champion. ***

Adam Pearce (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Pelle Primeau
Pelle making Adam's shitty old school style looking great, thankfully this was like 4 minutes. Someone should really tell Adam that he should just wrestle midgets for 4 minutes and I might enjoy him more. *1/4

The Briscoe’s cut a promo, brag about beating Austin Aries & Roderick Strong in two straight falls the night before. And how they’re not forgotten 2004 and tonight they are gonna beat the Havana Pitbulls.

Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney) vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Christopher Daniels (w/Allison Danger)
Hero is still using "Rock & Roll" part 2 MARK! And Claudio has GOAT OF ALL GOAT themes Claudio Castagnoli Theme #1 - YouTube Allison tries to unveil a new costume and accidentally unveils her new panties, YES! Man this match has quite a few side stories in it, During the ROH 100th show Daniels extended hand for the first time EVER! and actually showed respect to Claudio. Castagnoli repaid that respect by turning on ROH and joining with CZW and Chris Hero later on that same show. Hero and Castagnoli were one of the top teams in ROH for most of 2006 until Claudio signed with the WWE late in the year. But that fell apart because the idiots in the WWE office fucked it up, IDIOTS! Hero gave him a nice sendoff and decided to do his own thing because he though Claudio was gone but he wasn't and Hero still decided to not be a tag team anymore. Before the match Hero and Castagnoli make a pact and team up against Daniels. I didn't like this match at all it was rather long and boring with Hero and Claudio beating on the Old Man for 10 minutes before they fell out and then the match became slightly entertaining. **1/2

Last Man Standing Match: BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs (w/Lacey)
Jacobs is using the "Kiss2Kill" theme MARK! Whitmer attacks Jacobs with a chair on his way to the ring. In the ring he smacks Jacobs with the chair but he gets up at 8. What a way to start and thing just get even more violent after this as they just beat the living shit out of each other, e.g. Jimmy pulls out his trusty railroad spike and kills BJ with it they also did the Tully/Magnum spot with Jimmy trying to ram the spike into BJ's eye. The finish happens when Whitmer executes an exploder off the top rope but picks Jacobs up before the referee can count to 10. This would be a big mistake, because it gives Brent Albright the chance to run in and suplex Whitmer through the table. He then stands Jacobs up and Jimmy Jacobs wins. See I don't have a problem with this finish but I know other people hate it, the reason I don't mind it because this is another one of their "angle advancement" match plus adds fuel to the fire of their steel cage match which is the blow off match to stop all the outside interference. ***1/4

The Briscoe Brothers vs. The Havana Pitbulls (w/Julius Smokes)
The Pitbulls are Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero for you part-timers, and they attack the brothers during their entrance which leads to a big Indy style brawl. This was the usual good match between these four, the Briscoe’s are really showing that this could and would be their year if they find that TEAM but don't worry they find them soon Ole' Anyway the match ends when Romero gets mad at Reyes because of some miss-communication and then walks out on the match. Jay takes advantage and hits the Jay Driller on Reyes for the win. ***

INTERMISSION~!

Rebecca Bayless is backstage and she runs into Jimmy Rave. Rave explains that he put the heel hook on Samoa Joe last night because he slapped him in New York City. And now he's finished with Nigel and is setting his sights on the World Title.

Colt Cabana & Sara Del Rey vs. Brent Albright & Lacey
Del Rey is in for Daizee Haze who received a concussion the night before, which is not surprising cause of the size of that lump on her head. I have to admit this was a lot more enjoyable than I remembered it being but it was mainly due to the Lacey/Del Rey interactions, Cabana and Albright was alright. The match ends when Del Ray hits the butterfly slam on Lacey for the win. Post-Match: Daizee Haze runs in the ring and says that she’s not the stripper, Lacey is the stripper. She drops dollar bills on her and starts to take a few shots before Albright pulls her to the back. Lacey steals the show by running away screaming ‘free money’ AWESOME! **

Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Delirious, Davey Richards & Shingo
I did pop for Roderick and Jack for pretending to ride Delirious during his pre-match stuck mode :lamo Anyway this was 20 minutes of goodness with everyone putting a lot of effort and just went out there and had a good time and they didn't try to steal the show, if you know what I mean. They just went out there and it just clicked, even if it was a little spotty towards the end but that's the formula for multi-man Indy matches. I should add that everyone was great in this and this had no weak links, like Roddy/Aries are Roddy/Aries so they were AWESOME! Jack was motivated and had moments when he added real meaning to the stuff he was doing instead of doing random flips, Delirious did his stuff and added the usual comedy stuff but picked it up when things got serious, Shingo is fuckin' great and Davey is pre-ego Davey so he was selling at times and he didn't try to blow his opponents up. The match ends when Shingo is onto Strong’s shoulders and Evans springboards off of him to dive onto everyone on the floor. Aries and Strong finish Shingo off with the soccer kick-spinebuster-450 splash sequence for the win. ***3/4

Colt Cabana cuts a promo saying has had enough of the games, so he wants to finish things with Jimmy Jacobs at the Fifth Year Festival.

ROH World Championship: Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Samoa Joe
So before the match Homicide threatens to piss in the face of a fucking smurf in the crowd, I LOVE THIS GUY. These guys have a long history together as Homicide tried to prove himself worthy during his MVP run in 2003, but Joe had a lock on the ROH Title. Then, Homicide went crazy in 2004 and threw a fireball in Joe's face. Their feud that year got so violent that ROH ruled Homicide wouldn't be able to face Joe for the title as long as he was champion. They did some stuff for the first few minutes and Joe out wrestled Cide so he was PISSED! and he went to the outside where an old woman in the crowd, gets into an argument with Julius Smokes and flips him off, prompting a "Fuck 'him up, Grandma! Fuck 'him up!" chant. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! anyway after that they have a solid/not memorable back-and-forth match nothing really sticks out Homicide hits an Ace Crusher to sets up a series of lariats to end the watch. This one got better down the stretch, but they just never clicked the way they have in the past. It was just lacking that intensity and pure hatred. Cide’s first weekend as champion has been a real bust but It's not all his fault 1st show he wrestled Hero and Hero's gimmick is "show off-super athlete" but this match should of been better but Joe wasn't motivated I guess he's upset that TNA told him he can't do ROH anymore and it's time to leave. ***

Nigel McGuinness reminds Jimmy Rave that he never quit tonight.

Joe and Cide reflect on their match together. Now that he’s failed in his bid to become ROH Champion again Joe is returning his attention to FUCKING UP wrestlers from NOAH "and he only has so much time left to settle that score". While Homicide says he’ll defeat Jimmy Rave in New York, then take on challengers from all over the world. And Joe cuts in with the “Hey, FUCK FIJI, SONâ€￾ line

 

[Crippler]

ROH 02/16/2007 Fifth Year Festival: NYC
The Manhattan Center
New York, New York

ROH World Champion: Homicide
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels

Rebecca Bayless is outside the building with the fans behind her in a line waiting to get in.

Jimmy Rave one of those weird promos where he doesn't look at the camera and says. Tonight he ensures he gets the respect he deserves by winning the ROH World Title and he is "tired of being a failure."

Pelle Primeau vs. Takeshi Morishima
Morishima comes out to Joe's music HEEL HYPE! And kills Pelle with a backdrop driver in 10 seconds. SQUASH! Post-Match: Morishima gets on the mic and cuts a promo in Japanese, I think he calls Joe out but Nigel comes out instead and calms him down. As they leave, Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn come out to no music; they mock him then beat on Primeau, who still hasn't gotten up. Delirious makes the save.

Delirious vs. Adam Pearce (w/Shane Hagadorn)
Decent, average opener Adam is Adam which means he's doing the slow old school style offense which isn't exciting to watch. I'm not a big Delirious fan except for when Danielson is beating the shit out of him or Sydal is pissing him off with his quickness or having comedy matches with Punk. So yeah I didn't enjoy the match and the feud was pretty shitty too. *1/2

Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal are cutting a promo not looking at the camera, (I totally forgot Old Man Daniels was growing a beard at the time) Daniels says according to ROH fans, the tag division only includes Aries/Strong and the Briscoe’s, but THEY'RE the tag team champions, not either of those teams. Daniels says they're both busy, but through the 5YF, they're going to prove all those people wrong. They'll beat Aries and Strong tonight, Sydal asks Aries and Strong how this role reversal feels. He shows off a belt he won in Dragon Gate, and tells Daniels to follow his lead.

Daizee Haze & Alexa Thatcher vs. Allison Danger & Sara Del Rey
This was over before it even got started. I'm guessing it was one of those "Shimmer Advancement" matches E.G. little preview but if you like what you see visit.... Oh and to Advance the Lacey/Haze feud. Anyway the match ends when Lacey runs out and attacks Haze at ringside, brawling with her to the back. Del Ray hits the butterfly slam for the win. *1/4

Xavier vs. Jack Evans vs. Shingo vs. Jimmy Jacobs (w/Lacey)
Elimination match with all four guys are in the ring at the same time. Xavier was a surprise participant in this match because Davey Richards is injured :hm: This match was short and to the point with straight crazy spots. Shingo was a beast with him power moves and just throw the smaller guys around, Evans was in gotta do spots for the sake of spots mode so that was entertaining. Jacobs being the obvious top heel in the match, so IDK why they put him in this match. Xavier was first to be eliminated, Jacobs 2nd HOLY SHIT! And the match ends when Evans hits the 630 on Shingo to win. **1/2

Bobby Cruise hypes Takeshi Morishima’s title challenge against either Homicide or Rave tomorrow night. Samoa Joe comes out and thanks the fans for their support. He confirms that he will leave ROH at the end of the Fifth-Year Festival. He talks about how far ROH has come and thanks the fans again. With all the niceties out of the way he says he got a phone call letting him know that Morishima called him out, and he’s ready to go. Nigel McGuinness comes out instead and said that while he respects Joe he essentially doesn’t think he’s on Morishima’s level. Joe asks Nigel if he's forgotten who he works for and if his Japanese sugar daddy is too busy, he'll kick his ass now. Joe and Nigel brawl and are separated.

Tables Are Legal: BJ Whitmer vs. Brent Albright
I'm guessing "Tables Are Legal" means this is a tables match but it can only be won by pinfall or tapout Albright is doing the Gunn for hire gimmick so Lacey paid him off to KILL BJ so Jimmy doesn't have to. The match starts with Whitmer posing in the corner during his entrances, so Albright throws him through the tables on the floor, HOLY SHIT! This was really enjoyable due to the fact that each tables was more violent and intense than the last. The match ends when Albright looks for an awesome bomb, but Whitmer fires back and suplexes Albright off and they both hit the tables! Whitmer somehow manages to put his arm over for the win. ***1/4 - ***1/2

ROH World Tag Team Championships: Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal (w/Allison Danger) vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
This is a rematch from a 2006 show I think it might of been "Gut Check" All I remember is that it happen in Chicago. Sydal's cocky/dick heel gimmick is great and he's got one of those faces that you just wanna punch it's already makes you hate him and find him hilarious at the same time. This was seriously enjoyable even if it did have 2/3 botches but that doesn't drag it down. I loved the early potion with Aries/Strong beating the shit out of Matt and his bumping and selling of the ribs was AWESOME! This also had one of the nastiest botches with Aries going for the “quebrada A.K.A middle rope moonsault†when his knee gives out and he lands on his head, he also injures his ankle during that too. The match ends when Daniels breaks up a double-team move and takes Aries out with the DVD. Sydal tags in and hits the shooting star press on Strong. Daniels tags in, hits the Best Moonsault Ever! And pins Strong to retain the titles! Post-Match: The "injured" Davey Richards comes out and gets in Aries’s face. Suddenly, STRONG HITS A BACKBREAKER ON ARIES! Strong proceeds to turn heel by grabbing a microphone and telling the crowd to shut up. He says he's been in the background for way too long, and it's time he led his own stable, and you all just saw the beginning of the NO REMORSE CORPS! NO REMORSE! MOTHERFUCKER! Jack Evans comes out and separates everyone, Davey wants to fight him, but Strong keeps the peace between his friends and says he has no problem with Jack. Aries takes the microphone and shames Strong for his cowardly turn. Evans tells Aries that he doesn't want to have beef with Strong, so he wants to be left out of this conflict. Evan’s wants to get to the bottom of this himself. Aries tells Evans to go his own way then, but a war has been started, and Aries isn't backing down. ***1/2

INTERMISSION~!

Rebecca Bayless is backstage with Homicide. She asks Homicide what it feels like to have made it from the first ROH show to this show and to now be the champion. Homicide is looking for a party tonight. Rebecca talks about the hot streak that Jimmy Rave has been on lately, putting him over as a threat to the title. Homicide laughs off Rave.

The Briscoe Brothers vs. Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness
Another really good tag team match, which was Briscoe’s formula heavy with no long heat segment(s) and then just an all-out crazy balls-to-the-walls ending. Nigel and Colt bring back some of their 2005 tag run moves ruled but now that both men are full blown babyfaces it missed those awkward mishaps or the one-upmanship. The match ends when The Doomsday Device misses, and Nigel rebounds off and hits jawbreaker Lariat for the shocking win. I really don't why a Nigel/Colt when over when they are both in other feuds and haven't tagged in like 2 years while The Briscoe's just beat Aries and Strong in 2 straight falls and the Havana Pitbulls. Post-Match: Samoa Joe comes down to attack Nigel, but Colt Cabana manages to separate them. Morishima walks down because he was tired of waiting. MARK! *** - ***1/4

Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima
Oh man this was great, just two heavyweight stiffing the shit out of each other. I really do wish more big-men vs. big-men matches were like this instead of terrible looking punches and rest holds. It didn't have much of a story but it worked with the feud as JOE hates NOAH and every wrestler that works for them so his just wants to fuck them up while Morishima is just defending NOAH's honor from this disrespectful ROH Legend. The match ends when Joe applies the full Coquina Clutch! Morishima passes out instead of tapping out cause he doesn't want to give Joe the satisfaction of having a tapout win over him. One thing that I find odd was Joe going over he's leaving the company and Morishima is having a world title match tomorrow night so wouldn't you want him looking strong plus Joe just beat him so wouldn't Joe take his place as number one contender? Anyway the match was fuckin' awesome and I loved it. ***3/4

A video recap of all the major feuds of 2006

ROH World Champion: Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Jimmy Rave
This was better than I remembered it being but not great. Rave was bumping, selling and flying around like he was the top heel again, but when he was on offense it was weird he would for one minute work the arm then quickly forger about it and go after the leg. The only explanation I have for it was he worked over the arm to stop Cide from using the Copkilla and the Lariat and then went after the leg for the Heel Hook. Don't worry because Cide No-Sold all of it This did have a couple of great moments like Cide bringing out the "Ghetto Fork" and stabbing Rave's head behind the refs back and Rave hitting the Rave Clash in desperation, despite it being banned, that really put over how much he wanted the title. The match ends when Rave counters the Cop Killer to the heel hook. Homicide rolls out of it and hits the Cop Killer for the in. ***1/4

Rebecca Bayless tries to get a word with some of the people backstage, but instead she finds Jack Evans laid out and unconscious. Rebecca's reaction Holy shit! The cameraman sets the camera down to go get help, and we see Rebecca asking someone off-camera "Did you do this? Are you responsible for this?" SWERVE!

 

[Crippler]

ROH 02/17/2007 Fifth Year Festival: Philly
Philadelphia, PA

ROH World Champion: Homicide
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels

This show begins where the last one left off, with Jack Evans laid out. Davey Richards smirks into the camera and says that he’s not taking responsibility but admits that accidents happen when you’re around the No Remorse Corp.

BJ Whitmer promises to do whatever it takes to kill off Jimmy Jacobs, and that hiring Brent Albright was a waste of money (Oh this was one of those "Not looking at the camera" promos)

Rebecca Bayless is with Jimmy Rave. She tells Rave that he is suspended tonight because he used the banned Styles Clash the night before. Rave has a temper tantrum but Samoa Joe interrupts. Rave and Joe play the blame game over who got out of line with the other first. Joe says he can get Rave’s suspension lifted so that they can wrestle each other tonight.

Nigel McGuinness vs. TJ Perkins
I don't wanna call it a squash because TJ got some offense in, but this was all Nigel but at least he made TJ's offense look great. I dislike that the Tower Of London has no meaning now because everyone just kicks out of it now. Nigel wins with the rebound lariat. *1/2 - *3/4

Lacey tells Adam Pearce that she’s chosen him as Jacobs’s partner because of how violent he got in the CZW feud. She promises Pearce a lot of money, then tells Jimmy to follows Pearce’s lead and then watch her take Daizee Haze out. Pearce says it’s about the money, but Jacobs disagrees. He says that “tonight we go to war with the crest of love on our shieldsâ€

Austin Aries vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Claudio is in full Heel mode here, he pissed at the crowd for stealing his HEY! Catchphrase. This was fun for 10 minutes with Aries still selling his "Ankle Injury" from last night but was still hitting big moves, so I have no idea if it was a work or if it really was injured that he was so pumped that the pain went away, it's just ashame Claudio wasn't going after the ankle enough. Aries wins after hitting the Brainbuster and 450. Post-Match: Aries gets on the mic calls out Roderick Strong he even calls Davey Richards “Austin Aries Lite.†Jack Evans instead comes out says he can't let a war start between his friends, and this can all be settled. Strong and Davey come out by the curtain and Strong says to calm down. He said he'd love to get in that ring, but fortunately for Aries, he has a match later, but in the future, he will see why he was the top member of Gen Next when he beats him. He tells Jack to stop being a peacemaker, and he's either with him or against him. Richards reveals that they are looking for new recruits and then leaves. Aries tells Evans to make his choice, but Evans won’t join either side. **1/2

Street Fight: Adam Pearce, Jimmy Jacobs & Lacey vs. Colt Cabana, BJ Whitmer & Daizee Haze
AWESOME VIOLENCE! Just a crazy brawl from bell-to-bell with non-stop action. Some of the highlights include Pearce sneaking up on Daizee and poking her in the eyes Jimmy uses the railroad spike to cut Whitmer open, though. On the outside, Lacey smashes Daizee's head into the barrier. Lacey talks trash to Cabana. He's about to smack her around, but Jacobs goes low on him. Jacobs duct tapes Cabana’s hands behind his back and jabs his throat with a high heeled shoe. HOLY SHIT! The match ends a minute later when Jacobs and Whitmer fight up top and Whitmer hits a super exploder for the win. ***

The Briscoe Brothers vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
So here it is, the "STEENERICO" debut and the start of best Tag feud since 2000 Steen isn't in full on Prick mode yet but he's is an Asshole here, and Generico is the fun loving face. If you know me you know I loved this feud with all its crazy moves and No-Sell. And this was a GOOD way to kick start this feud. But as much as I enjoyed this match it doesn't hold up like it did back in '07. They did some great double team moves but they had quite a few dead spots as well. It’s a great spotfeast match at the end that played up both teams’ strengths and that's all that matters. ***1/2

Rebecca Bayless wants to get a word with Cabana, but Cabana is still having trouble breathing and can’t comment. Whitmer sends him off to the hospital and promises revenge on Jacobs.

Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Rave
This was supposed to be Joe/Davey but Richards is still out injured and his match against Joe was pushed back to Dayton. I defiantly wouldn't of given this 16 minutes especially if Joe was gonna make him his bitch for the first 10 minutes, even if it included Joe tripping Jimmy off the apron and slinging Rave's head into the barrier. Rave attempts to works the leg, but Joe is sells none of it and this was also hurt due to the crowd not caring. The match ends when Rave goes for the Pedigree but Joe counters to the Island Driver for the win, lol Post-Match: Joe cuts a promo putting over Philly and all the memories he's had here. **3/4

INTERMISSION~!

Becky Bayless is backstage with Jack Evans. She asks him who laid him out last night. Evans knows for sure that it wasn’t Davey Richards, but he really doesn’t care. All he cares about now is getting gold in ROH, and he’s going to do that tonight with Shingo against Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal.

FIP World Heavyweight Championship: Roderick Strong vs. Delirious
Austin Aries comes out to try and attack Strong before the match, but ROH students are pull him off and Strong runs into the crowd. This wasn't enjoyable at all due to Delirious sucking and it didn't help that Roddy knocked him out or gave him a concussion at one point. The match ends when Strong gives him a Tiger Driver for two and then another one on the guardrail! And the ref counts Delirious out. Post-Match: Strong attacks Delirious in the aisle but is chased away by Austin Aries. *1/2

ROH World Tag Team Championships: Shingo & Jack Evans vs. Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal (w/Allison Danger)
Allison Danger’s 18 year old whore school girl outfit is fuckin’ phenomenal; seriously I might enjoy it more than Old Man Daniel’s midlife crisis bear. This was good but not great, for a guy who got attacked and was out cold just 24 hours ago he sold none of that at ALL! Damn that Jack. It had a slow start in the early portion and had quite a few awkward moments in-between but they made up for it by having a hot finishing stretch, kinda. Both teams had good control segments in which both team got their shit in and even showed off his cocky/pick attitude as well as crisp high flying, selling & bumping. The match ends when Daniels and Sydal team up for a partner-assisted Angel's Wings. I just realized Evans/Matt was part of GenNXT but they really didn't hype it up and have much high flying one-upmanship. Post-Match: Evans apologizes to Shingo in Japan/English for letting the team down, Austin Aries walks back down so Evans asks Shingo to head to the back and give him a minute. He again refuses to take sides between Aries and Strong, so Aries says he's going to find a crew of wrestlers that will. Jack thinks maybe he’ll need a group of his own as well. ***1/4

Rebecca Bayless is backstage with Lacey and Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs starts apologizing to Lacey, as usual, but Lacey tells Jacobs that she’s proud of him and how he jabbed Cabana in the throat with that heel. She whispers something in his ear and walks off, as Jacobs get excited

Video package showing the various "INTERNATIONAL" wrestlers in ROH over the past 5 year.

ROH World Championship: Takeshi Morishima vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes)
Morishima comes to the ring wearing a blue FAKE fur coat and cowboy hat this was really fun with and for two guys who are totally different in every way their styles seemed to mesh well. The told a great story with Cide throwing everything he could at the big monster but couldn't put him down and that allowed Morishima to pick his spots and overpower him. But I will say the highlight of the match was As was Smokes calling Morishima an "ASIAN CRACKA", shouting at him to "eat his black ass", then threatening to cut his hair. the match ends when Morishima hits his 3rd Backdrop Driver of the match and wins the title. Post-match: The lower card guys and BJ Whitmer come down to congratulate Morishima on the win. So he attacks them and laves YES! ***1/4

 

[Crippler]

ROH 02/23/2007 Fifth Year Festival: Dayton
Dayton, OH

ROH World Champion: Takeshi Morishima
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels

Dave Prazak is in the ring to interview the new ROH World Champion, Takeshi Morishima. Nigel McGuinness comes out instead and says to cut the music. We’re back to Nigel in the ring. He says that NOAH asked him to speak on the champions’ behalf, since Morishima doesn't enter the ring unless it’s to kick someone’s ass. Irish Airborne comes out to the ring for some reason. They challenge Nigel and Morishima to a tag team match, and that brings the champion out and he beats up the Crist brothers and Nigel makes a three-count. Morishima leaves and Lacey comes out with Jimmy Jacobs and Brent Albright. Lacey asks Nigel why he decided to team with Colt Cabana tonight against her guys. Lacey cuts a promo on Nigel, distracting him long enough to have Jimmy Rave come in and lock in the heel hook on him. Colt Cabana runs out for the save.

Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness vs. Brent Albright & Jimmy Jacobs (w/Lacey)
Nigel's leg is injured from the Rave attack, so Lacey's team is easily able to isolate him and go right to work on it with solid and fun leg work. Nigel's selling of it was AWESOME! As he never forgot about it, even when he was on his comeback and finishing stretch, hell even on the ring apron with Colt doing the work he would still grab at it from time-to-time. This was a really good opener match but it didn't have that hate between Colt/Jimmy when they were in the ring together, and they have a Windy City Death or Chicago street fight or a fight without honor match (IDK what the actual match is called but I know it's a street fight) the next day it this just seemed like another tag match with no intensity. The match ends when Nigel catches Jimmy with the Rebound Lariat out of nowhere for the win. **3/4

BJ Whitmer cuts a promo about how he earned this shot after all he did in 2006 (This was one of those Blue "Not looking at the camera and look at the wall promo) UGH!

Jimmy Rave vs. Sterling Keenan
Keenan gets a few moves in but this was a Jimmy Rave "get his shit in" match SQUASH! Post-Match: Nigel comes down and attacks Rave, they brawl to the back. *1/2

Daizee Haze vs. Lacey (w/Jimmy Jacobs)
Lacey coming out to ‘Kiss2Kill’ rather than Disturbed’s ‘The Game’. TERRIBLE! Decision but the backstage staff. Anyway The Haze and Lacey bringing DAT HATE! Lacey took control for 80% of the match and The Haze had nice little flurry of comebacks before Lacey cut her off with cheap great heel tactics, until the big comeback which lead to the finishing stretch. The match ends when Haze hits the heart punch and a pair of Yakuza kicks. Jacobs sneaks in and hits Haze with a spear which allows Lacey to get the win. I love how the ref doesn't wonder why Daizee was out on the mat of a sudden. **1/4

Rebecca Bayless tries to ask Delirious some questions while he's sitting in the crowd, he's still recovering from his concussion. Delirious doesn't have much to say because he's in pre-match statue mode.

Austin Aries cuts a promo and says one week ago was a turning point for him and Roderick. He says he's going to take out Roderick Strong and wage war on the No Remorse Corps, but that's in due time but first he’s going to take the Open the Brave Gate title from the cocky Matt Sydal.

Christopher Daniels (w/Allison Danger) vs. Homicide vs. Jay Briscoe
Allison Danger is wearing that barley legal 18 year old whore school girl attire again. YUM! This is pretty cool as these 3 guys wrestled on the first ROH show, and I think they are the only 3 still left in the company. This wasn't great but it wasn't bad either it's right in the middle. But when you’re given 13 minutes I don't think that's enough to tell a story with 3 men with 5 years of history. I would call it an exhibition/showcase match with each guy getting 4 minutes each to shine. The match ends when Jay breaks up the Koji Clutch, and he and Daniels fight on the top rope. Daniels knocks him off, but Homicide immediately runs up and hits the Ace Crusher off the top for the win. **1/2 - **3/4

Dragon Gate "Open the Brave Gate" Title: Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries
Another solid but unspectacular match, they didn't play into the history of both guys being in GenNXT so they know each other moves well so why wouldn't you have a counter the other guy has never seen before. E.G early in the match Matt but Aries in the headscissors but everyone knows you don't put Aries in the headscissors because he always gets out and kicks you in the face. Their match at Arena Warfare was much better than this but at least Matt got the huge clean win over Aries. It also didn't help that Aries was on-and-off selling this Ankle injury again and I still have no idea if it's LEGIT or not. Sydal’s cocky/asshole gimmick is still pretty hilarious though. And that kept me entertained. Post-Match: Roderick Strong and Davey Richards attack Aries but Delirious jumps the rail and makes the save. ***

INTERMISSION~!

Rebecca Bayless reminds us that it’s exactly five years to the date since ROH’s first show. She’s glad that she’s not in the same place she was in ROH five years ago. She congratulates Lacey on her win but chastises her for cheating. Lacey doesn’t care whether or not the match was fair, and she loved having Jacobs out there supporting her at ringside. She really liked the way he choked Cabana out with the guitar string. Tomorrow night she wants Jacobs to kill Cabana in the Windy City Deathmatch. If he does she’ll give him something that will make him very happy. Jacob's excited face is AWESOME!

Tank Toland (w/Larry Sweeney) vs. Mitch Franklin
Chris Hero is in Japan, so Sweeney introduces Toland as Hero’s new fitness instructor. Then he lets Franklin know that the reason he asked him to the ring was to insult him for having no tan and weighing as much as Toland’s left pectoral muscle. :lmoa this was a SQUASH! Match both guys suck. DUD!

Six-Man Mayhem Match: Roderick Strong vs. Shingo vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Matt Cross vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Pelle Primeau
Well this was a lot of fun, it was wild and crazy with balls-to-the-walls action throughout. Primeau got the shit beaten out of him with made the crowd fall in love with him cause it showed how much heart the kid had to the post that after the match the crowd chants “Pelle Primeau†in honor of him. Seriously he deserved hit though as everyone just took turns killing him Roddy raped his chest with chops and Backbreakers, Shingo used power moved to throw him around, Claudio especially kills him with a couple of brutal European Uppercuts, Cross was hitting high-flying moves and Mark was in Mark mode so he was doing all different crazy shit to him. The highlight was the “Chopoff†between Roddy and Shingo. The match ends when Cross tries to hit a high flying move but Claudio hits him with a sick Pop up European Uppercut for the win. ***1/2

Samoa Joe vs. Davey Richards
This is a weird one for me at the start they tried to make it like a Joe/Low Ki match with the trading of stiff kicks. Joe pretty much dominated but Richards for 15 of the 19 minutes of the match. Davey's just turned heel, but they work a face/face match this is kinda like a 2006 or 2009 Davey match where it just wasn’t to go out and do a bunch of ridiculous and insane shit, I think it was okay here as he's trying to beat a ROH Legend and end a losing streak but it was just all over the place at times, oh plus towards the ending I think he remembered he was a Heel so he starts acting like a dick and mocks Joe . It does pain me to say this with all the flaws it has but its toooo enjoyable and physical, if you know me you know I love "Hard Hitting" matches. The match also includes one of the nastiest KICKS to the back of someone’s head that I've ever seen. And it you think that's back Joe wins after giving Davey the MUSCLEBUSTER ON THE APRON! I do wanna watch their PWG match again with the story of Joe as the "asskicker" vs. Davey "the as young up and comer" Post-Match: Joe asks for a handshake but Richards spits in his face. Joe cuts a promo putting over Dayton. ***1/4 - ***1/2

A video airs of 2006 MOTYC’s according to ROH

ROH World Championship: Takeshi Morishima vs. BJ Whitmer
Morishima doesn't bother with the ring intros, as he straight up attacks BJ (I love this guy) But this went on way too long for what was nothing more than an extended SQUASH! Even with the supposed big near falls at the end, there was just no drama whatsoever, everyone already knew BJ wasn't winning and really didn't deserve the title shot. In 15 minutes BJ hit only a handful of moves and was never in control for more than a minute, but I guess they could use the excuses "that he was too focused on Jimmy Jacobs" so that's why he was off here but BJ is nothing more than a Mid-Card/Tag Wrestler at best. The match ends when Morishima gives him a 2nd Backdrop Driver for the win, UGH! **1/2

The Briscoe’s say they’re becoming 3-time Tag Champions in Chicago tomorrow night. Man up! Three times! Man up!

Austin Aries cuts a promo reminds somebody off camera of his history of taking young guys with a lot of talent to the top of the card like he did with GeNext. (Wait I thought Alex Shelley created GenNXT, and Aries kicked him out when they were already top-mid card/main event guys) Anyway, he wants to pick up some more new talent to start a new group to feud with the No Remorse Corps.

 

[Crippler]

ROH 02/24/2007 Fifth Year Festival: Chicago
Chicago, IL

ROH World Champion: Takeshi Morishima
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels

The DVD opens up with Austin Aries revealing that he was talking to Matt Cross, Trik Davis & CJ Otis. He tells them good luck and he'll be watching.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright (w/Larry Sweeney
So Larry Sweeney paid Albright to take out Castagnoli here according to Prazak. A good solid opener which was carried by Claudio but because both men are heels here this got awkward and boring at times. Plus I really can't take Albright serious as a "Gunn for hire" gimmick none of his moves except a Powerbombs look deadly or violent enough plus a "Gunn for hire" gimmick mean he doesn't care if he wins or loses he just wants to take someone out, well I don't think he's ever done that before except for when he had Homicide in an arm bar for like 3 minutes after a match but he was back the very next night. Anyway the match ends when Sweeney trips Claudio up, allowing Albright to hit the Half-Nelson Suplex. **1/4

Sara Del Rey & Allison Danger vs. MsChif & Serena
Serena is making here ROH debut here. This was a solid 8 minute effort but all 4 ladies here, Death Rey is in GOAT babyface mode here so she was hitting everything smoothly while the other 3 ladies slipped up a few times. I guess it was another one of those "SHIMMER" advertisement matches. *3/4

Colt Cabana cuts this promo as he's looking out over the snowy cityscape. He talks about his feud with Jimmy Jacobs, and what he’s going to do to him tonight in the Windy City Death Match. He says Lacey has no clue what she's talking about, and him listening her is a damn shame. He says he's ready to finish it tonight, and he's sick and tired of this new Jimmy Jacobs and his "woman"

Four-Corner Survival Match: Shingo vs. Matt Cross vs. CJ Otis vs. Trik Davis
So Aries would rather go after Cross, CJ Otis or Davis over Shingo as for the match Shingo and Cross showed AWESOMENESS! While CJ and Trik suck, seriously who booked them they must be locals. But they did have some exciting moves but in the end this was just boring for the most part. Cross wins with a Shooting Star Leg Drop. Post-Match: Austin Aries comes out and offers Matt Cross a chance to partner up with him against the No Remorse Corps. Cross says he'd be honored. Roderick Strong and Davey Richards attack from behind and the brawl for like a minute before Delirious chases them away. *1/2

BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Rave
HOLY FUCK THIS WAS BORING! These two do not have chemistry at all. *

ROH World Tag Team Champions: The Briscoe Brothers vs. Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal (w/Allison Danger)
It was slow going in the early part of the match, and the crowd didn't really seem to care who won, but once they started hitting the big high impact moves and all hell broke loose, the crowd got more and more into the Briscoe. Both teams hit a tone of sweet double team combos some I haven't seen and some that they usually do. The Briscoe's beating up and throwing Sydal around ruled. The match ends when Mark hits the Cutthroat Driver to Sydal and they end it but hitting the LEG DROP/SSP COMBO! Post-Match: Daniels and Sydal personally put the belts around the waits of the Briscoe’s. ***3/4

INTERMISSION~!

Rebecca Bayless is backstage with Lacey and Jimmy Jacobs. Lacey reminds Jacobs about all the exciting things she’s been whispering into his ear the last few weeks. She actually doesn’t care if he wins or loses, but as long as he hurts Cabana he’ll get what he wants. Jacobs says some creepy stuff and Bayless looks disgusted.

Roderick Strong & Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries & Matt Cross
This was solid stuff, but you could tell they held a lot back as they knew this was gonna be quite a lengthy feud. But at least they teased the shit out of Strong/Aries locking up for the first time. Yeah so not much to say just a standard tag match, let’s call it an "Angle Advancement/See if Cross can handle a feud like this match" The match ends when Aries hits the usual brainbuster then 450-splash for the win. Post-Match: Aries helps Cross to the back, Strong and Richards beat up Aries and Cross. Strong exposes the barricade and gives Cross the Gibson driver to welcome him to the war. ***

Windy City Death Match: Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Jacobs (w/Lacey)
This even gets its own video recap showing highlight of the entire Cabana/Jacobs, Lacey feud. It actually isn't bad but nowhere near WWE level and that's not surprising. This isn't actually under Death Match rules; it's just a street fight. This was interesting as they wrestler more of a WWE end feud match, E.G. Jacobs and Lacey are about to KILL Colt but the Haze runs down and drags Lacey to the back, later in the match Brent Albright runs down and gives Colt a suplex, but BJ evens things up. Colt hits Jacobs with an Asai Moonsault for a 2 count. But aside from that this had a tone of hate and violence, with a ton of just brutal and violent spots like Colt sneaks some scissors out of his elbow pad and elbows Jimmy's right in the forehead to bust him open, Jimmy goes for the Contra Code, but Colt blocks, grabs the scissors out of the buckle, and stabs Jimmy in the head again. Lacey and Jimmy put Cabana on a ladder, and Jimmy sentons off the huge ladder in the ring on to Colt, Colt also has the railroad spike in one hand and a hammer in the other, he can’t decide which one to use to he hammers the spike into Jimmy’s head. HOLY SHIT! Oh I almost forgot the part when Jimmy crouching Cabana on the middle rope. He breaks the flag, AND STABS HIM WITH BOTH JAGGED EDGES! HE THEN WIPES HIS BLOOD OFF ON THE FLAG! To get some HEAT! ****

Samoa Joe & Homicide vs. Takeshi Morishima & Nigel McGuinness
This is Joe’s farewell to Ring Of Honor fans in the USA, HUGE FUCKIN' POP! Bobby Cruise has to wait at least 2 maybe 3 minutes before introducing Joe since the crowd won’t stop cheering for him. AWESOME! Joe also cried a little. The match was a little lifeless when Joe wasn't in the ring. Given that this was the END! The finish was really good and had a far bit of sweet counters but most of the match leading up to that finish was pretty lackluster, given the talent involved. It wasn't even storyline heavy like I was expecting given Morishima lost to Joe on his debut so I was expecting him to go after Joe non-stop and trying to ruin Joe's final night. And Cide lost the title to Morishima so I was also expecting him to be pissed off and try to kill him the "Homicide" way. But they didn't really do that, the match ends when Joe goes for the Muscle Buster on Nigel but Nigel escapes, they counter some moves before Nigel hits the Rebound Lariat for shocking" win but at least this adds fuel to the match they have in Liverpool. Post-Match: Nigel challenges his partner Morishima for a shot at the title. He gives Joe credit for putting up a good fight and gives him the microphone so he can say goodbye. The locker room empties and everyone takes a knee as Joe says goodbye to ROH in the US. Brent Albright is kneeling next to BJ Whitmer, C'MON! now I know this whole think is not real and booked but they have been trying to kill each other for the past 3/4 months not could at least have them stand on opposite side of the ring Also Sweeney is close to Claudio and that Aries/Delirious are in the ring with the No Remorse Core. FUCK! Why have angles if someone’s farewell is going to fuck it up. Couldn't have heels on the ramp or on the apron? OR BE HEELS AND NOT SHOW UP? Anyway Joe cuts a promo thanking Chicago and puts over. ***1/4

Roderick Strong is holding the "FIP Heavyweight Championship" he says he might tell us who attacked Jack Evans at the next show. He also says he’s only concerned with making the FIP Heavyweight Championship into a world title when he defends it in Liverpool.

 

[Crippler]

ROH 03/03/2007 Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool
Liverpool, UK

ROH World Champion: Takeshi Morishima
ROH World Tag Team Champions: The Briscoes

The DVD starts off with Roddy holding the FIP title, openly admitting that he was the one who attacked Jack Evans, the line goes "I TOLD YOU LAST WEEK THAT THIS WEEK I'D TELL YOU!" He explains that he's always hated Jack and used Evans as a doll to get ahead all those years. He then talks about how he's making the FIP Title a World Title tonight. And he’s going to break PAC in half as a preview of what he’ll do to Evans later.

Jimmy Jacobs had a terrible flight across the pond. He had to sit next to a fat guy instead of Lacey on the plane because Colt Cabana gave her the Colt 45 in Chicago. The match was a good one even though he didn’t win, because Lacey only wanted him to hurt Cabana. He then says he’s taken BJ Whitmer out once and he's gonna do it again, all the things Lacey has been whispering in his ear will come true.

Davey Richards vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes)
This was signed as an ROH World Title match, but Homicide lost the title to Morishima, The reaction Homicide got was massive, and Davey's starting to get more comfortable as a heel but he's still not doing the "Just act like a prick" mode he's more of I gotta bit all these heel tactic in this match but still be in Benoit/Dynamite Kid mode too. So it didn't look right at times. This also had quite a few sloppy moments and I felt it went on a bit too long I think this was 15 minutes. Another thing that hurt was neither man was selling shit but I was kinda expecting it as neither really do sell, we Cide does if he's in with friends. The match ends when Cide uses the Three Amigos Suplexes and a Frog splash for a two count. Homicide immediately follows up with a Cop Killa. Richards has now nine matches into a losing streak. **1/2 - **3/4

Sara Del Ray vs. Allison Danger
Death Ray is my HERO!

The Briscoe Brothers are very excited to be the new ROH tag titles (this was one of those stupid not looking at the camera promos) Tonight they’re going to put down Shingo and Naruki Doi and tomorrow they want to take on the best that Europe has to offer. MAN UP!

Colt Cabana & BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Jimmy Rave
As enjoyable as this is Jimmy and Colt ended their feud last week so why put them in a tag match a week later? I'm pretty sure there are other members of the roster that could have been used. They brawl a lot and it is pretty great, it had a ton of intensity and was brutal. Team Jimmy's heat segment was fuckin' AMAZING those guys are heat magnets. The match ends when Jacobs hits a Super Contra Code for the win. **3/4

2/3 Falls Match: Matt Sydal vs. Delirious
I LEGIT have no idea why this is a gimmick match, this took a bit to get going but once Sydal took over and seemed to carry him for the rest of the match this was pretty enjoyable. Sydal busted out some new offense which is always a treat and now that he's in full on singles "COCKY/ASSHOLE" heel mode that just makes him even more enjoyable and hate’able at the same time. I did love the story of the match with both guys knowing each other so well with both guys used new moves or transitions to get the upper hand while avoiding many of their opponent’s moves. The finishing stretch was great and the story was well told with Sydal relying on two cheap moves in order to get the victory. The first fall ends when Sydal gets in a low blow and small packages for the pin, the second fall ends when Delirious shoves him to the mat and hits SHADOWS OVER HELL and the Cobra Stretch. To even it up and the match finally ends when Sydal hits the Moonsault-belly-to-belly suplex to win. ***1/2

INTERMISSION~!

The Dangerous Angels let us know that we just witnessed women’s wrestling at its finest. But Jetta and Eden Black who are British wrestlers challenged them to a tag match for the next night.

FIP World Heavyweight Championship: Roderick Strong vs. PAC
This is the first time the FIP belt has been defended outside of Florida, Strong spits at Pac rather than shake hands… AWESOME! PAC took some huge Jack Even's level bumps; man PAC is just too good. He's more than a spotfest wrestler he's like the white young rey mysterio as yes he does flip and do amazing high flying moves but he know when to do it and not to waste shit when it isn't needed. But you know what is more impressive about him the fact that he know how to straight up wrestle too. But he was in the ring with my boy Roddy who really shines when he's just throwing motherfuckers around like "Dolls" it's remarkable the strength he has at times and some of the punishment with chops and backbreakers are just nasty good. Obviously the story of the match was Roddy tries to limit Pac’s aerial offense by working over the back. The match ends when Pac tries to one-up himself with a Corkscrew Shooting Star Press, but Strong moves out of the way and hits him with the SICK KICK! GIBSON DRIVER! combo for the win. Post-Match: Strong tries to injure Pac with the Stronghold, but Delirious chases him off. ****

Jimmy Jacobs doesn’t care that he pinned BJ Whitmer tonight. He’s disappointed he didn’t injure anybody, he only about fulfilling Lacey’s wishes by brutalizing BJ Whitmer. He shouts for Todd Sinclair to get BJ Whitmer and prepares for a fight.

ROH World Tag Team Championships: The Briscoe Brothers. vs. Naruki Doi & Shingo
This was very Briscoe/AJPW-style match, everybody kicking out of huge moves ZERO SELLING but god dammit it was so enjoyable. The main difference was the addition of a great little story to the match. Shingo used his indomitable spirit to take the Briscoe’s punishment. That caused the Briscoe’s to turn their focus to Naruki Doi, which allowed Shingo to rest. They also added a ton of new and innovative moves that I haven't seen maybe since I first watched this match back in 2007 like the Back Drop Driver, Missile Drop-kick combination, the match ends when Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick on Mark for 2. Shingo escapes the cutthroat driver and hits the Last Falconry for the win. The crowd reaction to Shingo winning is honestly one of my favourite crowd responses ever in ROH. Nobody can BELIEVE they just saw it. And to be honest I totally forgot about them winning the tag titles here too so you can believe i was LEGIT SHOCKED TOO lol. Post-Match: The Briscoes look crushed following the loss. They get on the microphone and talk about how 2007 was supposed to be their year. But they lost both the ROH and GHC Jr Heavyweight tag belts in their first defenses. Jay is so angry that he challenges Mark to a match tomorrow night, so that they can man each other up. ****+ FUCK IT!

Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness
Motherfuckin' VIOLENCE! Just two guys showing a ton of heart and desire not to lose, so they just ended up beating the fuck out of each other. And had a phenomenal story to go along with it as they kept building up Joe being able to avoiding Nigel's big offense, the Joe would disrespect Nigel to piss him off and try to take his gameplan away of working the arm. But as Joe began to get more cockier and make mistakes that allowed Nigel had some to work on the arm, and Joe's selling was great. Nigel takes some truly hellish bumps, like he does every time he's in ROH in the UK, first time it was going straight up head first into the ring post 4/5 times unprotected in the match against Danielson but this time he decides to MUSCLE BUSTER ON THE APRON like Davey did in Dayton, but the problem with that is this one was 10x more violent and sicker FUCK ME! It was so sick that they did the false finish and Referees had to helped him up to his feet. They go to take him to the back, but Joe gets on the mic and I quote "Are you at least going to shake my hand, you British pussy?†So Nigel showing the UK that he's not a "British Pussy" somehow stumbles and rolls back into the ring, where JOE OFFERS HIS HAND But Joe slaps the shit out of him which receives a HUGE POP! And the match is on again. The match finally ends when Joe makes Nigel pass out to The Choke because NO WAY IN HELL NIGEL WAS TAPPING OUT IN THE UK! Oh you know what else makes this match badass was that Nigel pulled his groin in the first minute and was still able to pull of this shit. Post-match: Joe cut a promo putting over Nigel, calling him a tough bastard. He then proceeds to say he’s leaving the company in good hands. ****1/2

BJ Whitmer arrives in the basement and the show ends with him fighting Jimmy Jacobs in the dark. WHAT?

 

[Crippler]

ROH 03/04/2007 Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool (Finale)
Liverpool, UK

ROH World Champion: Takeshi Morishima
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Shingo & Naruki Doi

The Briscoe Brothers are very upset with themselves. They decide that they’re getting soft since they’ve lost both the GHC and ROH Tag Team Titles, so they will man each other up tonight. They shove each other around to get psyched up for their match against each other tonight.

Delirious vs. Colt Cabana
Colt is paying tribute to the British wrestler Big Daddy by coming out to his music and all his gimmicks. a straight up comedy, which plays up their strengths plus it's always nice seeing Colt playing the goofball. The story of the match was Colt using the British style to confuse and piss Delirious off with. I think this might be the 3rd best ROH comedy match in ROH 1st being Delirious/Ebessan/Evans/Joe four way and 2nd being Curry Man/Jay Lethal, which makes it hard to rate as there was barely any actual wrestling. IDK I'm just gonna call it tones of fun.

In the back, the No Remorse Corps plans on getting gold. Strong says he can't wait to become a double champion when they win the tag belts tonight, and Davey can't wait to win his first ROH title. Their promo is cut short as Jacobs and Whitmer brawl through the room.

Allison Danger & Sara Del Rey vs. Jetta & Eden Black
Death Rey RULES! Danger is meh! And the British wrestlers showed that they are clearly not on Death Rey's level. *1/4

Jimmy and Whitmer brawl out through the crowd, and it looks like the match is on!

Falls Count Anywhere Match: BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs
The was fuckin' brutal and violent. They elevated their hate here and looked like they really wanted to kill the other, it's just AMAZING! I can't believe I forgot about this. They did some sick shit like Whitmer throws him down an entire flight of stairs, then a minute later he tries to throw Jimmy off the balcony. The continue to brawl to a bar, where Jimmy climbs up the wall to hit a FLYING HEADSCISSORS! He climbs the stairs again and does a FUCKIN' PLANCHA OFF THE BALCONY! The eventually get to the ring and Jimmy pulls out the railroad spike and spikes BJ in the fuckin' head. Whitmer's blade job is EPIC! It’s literally pouring out of his head, so Jimmy who is so proud of this starts rolling in it on the canvas, he even lays on the mat to BJ can bleed onto him and rubs the blood on himself as war paint. I LOVE THIS GUY! Next BJ goes for an Electric Chair drop, but Jimmy stabs him in the head again and reverses it into a rana. Whitmer blocks the Contra Code and counters to a VICIOUS Tombstone Piledriver for two. The match finally ends when BJ blocks Jimmy’s spear with a knee to the head and gives him ABRAINBUSTER ON THE FUCKIN' RAMP. Just 14 minutes intense crazy stuff, and you know what else is crazy they would top this later the same month. ****

In the back, Jimmy Rave cuts a promo recapping the history of his feud with Nigel McGuinness. Apparently Rave hates toilet paper more than anything else in the world. hey have a Fight without Honor tonight, and Rave says he will leave McGuinness bloodied and crippled. And he will get the respect he rightfully deserves.

Matt Sydal vs. PAC
This was pretty enjoyable as they packed a lot into a short amount of time and. Both when were crisp with the high-flying and the straight wrestling too, I would love to see these two go again with more than 10 minutes to play with. I forgot to add PAC had a bad botch, but Sydal covered it up kinda by mockingly applauding and shoving PAC away like he was a bitch HAHAHAHAHA! The match ends when Sydal hits a surprise rana and finishes with the Shooting Star Press. ***1/4

Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Briscoe
The whole point of this match is to bring the best out in each other, and to show the other that they have not gotten WEAK~! Like a bunch of school girl pussies wearing leather. And boy did they deliver or what, seriously they started off really good mat work, who knew? They built it up to neither guy being able to out-wrestle the other so "FUCK IT!" let's get physical and stiff the fuck out of each other with the next move being more brutal than the last, at one point in time The Jay Driller is blocked and Mark nails him with REDNECK KUNG FU STRIKES. SPRINGBOARD ACE CRUSHER, late in the match Mark shoves the ref down as Jay stands on the apron so he gives his own brother a FUCKIN' HEADSCISSORS OFF THE REF’S BACK TO THE FLOOR! The bump they took landing on the wooden floor was really sick. Both men get to their feet and again tag each other with some stiff forearms, Jay hits the JAY DRILLER but collapse cause they've been going at it for 30 fuckin' minutes. The match officially ends when both me STRAIGHT SHOOT PUNCH THE OTHER IN THE MOUTH! BOTH MEN DOWN! They get up again, this time feeling their jaws. Jay hits the ropes but gets caught. CUT-THROAT DRIVER! BUT NOW MARK CAN’T COVER! Both men are down and the ref counts to 10. WHAT? I know people didn’t like the finish, but it was perfect for this situation as it showed that both men are tough bastards and are on the same level. ****1/4

Nigel McGuinness cuts a promo saying he’s finally going to get a big win for the UK fans at the expense of Jimmy Rave tonight.

ROH World Tag Championships: Naruki Doi & Shingo vs. Roderick Strong & Davey Richards
It was very entertaining and the crowd was into it from bell-to-bell. But for some reason I was still overly exhausted from marking out to the Jimmy/BJ and Briscoe's matches. But with that being said both teams hit some really sweet double team moves. But the main thing holding this down was the silly "Dragon Gate" rules so no tags are necessary as long as there are only two guys in the ring at the same time. This match wasn’t as good as the tag title match from the night before what with the botched spots and the match taking longer to kick into high gear. Still, they put on a hard-hitting, high flying. The match ends when Richards goes up to the top rope, but Doi catches him and hits the Super Sit-Out F555 ( Fireman's Carry into an X-Factor) for the win. ***1/2

Fight Without Honor Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Rave
Nigel injured his groin in the match against Joe just 24 hours ago, and has it taped up. So Rave goes right at it, and this is how you know the injury was LEGIT Nigel was just screaming out times and looked like he could barely was even during the comeback. This was entertaining and some of the bumps were spectacularly brutal. It’s a hell of a match, it's not quite a MOTY but it is still the 2nd best Rave match ever. I think the Tower of London on the guardrail would have been a more fitting ending instead of the Jawbreaker which really did break Rave's jaw. This did have some really fuckin' nasty bumps like Rave charges at Nigel but gets BACKDROPPED THROUGH THE BARRICADE! On the outside. Nigel then gives him the TOWER OF LONDON ON A CHAIR! Did i mention that Rave did actually break his FUCKIN' JAW. **** - ****1/4

Samoa Joe vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes)
This was a lot better than the Battle of the Icons match, Joe's bumping big and both men are really putting on a hell of a match for Joe's final match. Both men get their shit in and Joe does the usual killing which included the Ole' kicks. Obviously this wasn't on the level of some of their matches during their 2003-2005 feud, but this was a completely different time. As back then that was a hate feud with Cide doing all he can to be the most HATED man in the company, hell he even threw a fireball in his face. But now you can see Cide/Joe are now boys so they didn't need to go out and attempt to kill one another, don't get me wrong I would of loved to of seen it. Hell 50% of me wished they would of brought the intensity and hate. Oh well, the match ends when Joe gives him the SUPER MUSCLEBUSTER! and no it wasn't on the ring apron but this one was off the middle rope. Anyway After the match was the best part as Joe leans down and apologizes for the Super Muscle buster, and Homicide says, "Don't worry about it. I'm alive. Go get your pop. I don't think the camera man was supposed to get that. Joe gives a final farewell speech in the ring as the roster watches on from the ramp (Jacobs and BJ are standing within arm’s length of one another AHHHHHHHHHHH!) He reads off of his wrist tape the pre-written speech he wrote for the occasion. ROCK STOLE THE WRIST-PROMO FROM JOE HOLY SHIT! Joe kisses the mat. He walks down the aisle but comes back for an encore. ***1/4

The DVD ends with highlight a video of Joe’s run in ROH.

 

[Crippler]

ROH 03/20/2007 All Star Extravaganza III
Detroit "Motor City," Michigan

ROH World Champion: Takeshi Morishima
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Shingo & Naruki Doi

Bruno Sammartino is at the autograph table and Rebecca Bayless interviews fans waiting in line to get an autograph from Bruno Sammartino. She asks them where they’re from. One guy say "he's traveled from Israel to be here"

Colt Cabana vs. Matt Sydal vs. Adam Pearce (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney & Tank Toland)
Really fun match to open show and it would of been more enjoyable is Pearce wasn't in wrestling was just trollin' the other guys. Hero is in GOD! Comedy best athlete in the world mode so he was just hilarious and with Sweeney at ring side too it just made it better. Colt was funny as always so I really don't need to point out that and Matt is still in cocky dick heel mode so he had some great moments too. But the match wasn't all comedy as it did have some really good exchanges by 3-of-the-4 guys’ involved, Adam still sucks but he does win the match when he hits Cabana in the face with the brass knucks. **3/4

Erick Stevens vs. "SUGARFOOT" Alex Payne
This is Stevens’s debut and Payne doesn't even get an entrance, Steven hits him with a powerslam at the bell. He hits an avalanche and a gutwrench powerbomb AKA the Doctor Domb for the win. DUD!

The Briscoe’s cut a Briscoe’s style promo backstage, they reminisce about their match and how much they manned up and now they’re going to get the tag titles back from Shingo and Naruki Doi. They then go on and make an open challenge to anyone in the World who wants to come and ROH to wrestle them.

Davey Richards vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
Really Good match here with and I like that they kept is short with the 9 minutes, but with that you knew Davey was gonna get in a shit ton of unnecessary shit and especially now that he's facing a Japanese guy the NO-SELL WOULD BE INSANE! I did laugh when Davey calls him a "peace-of-shit jap" which leads to Mochizuki kicking the shit out of him for a bit. As you can imagine this was stiff as fuck which included strikes to the FACE! And both men trying to give the other concussions with kicks to the other guys’ heads. The match would end when Mochizuki would kick Davey in the back of the head, to knock Richards out for the win. **1/2 - **3/4

Dave Prazak introduces Bruno Sammartino. He praises ROH and its hard-working, talented locker room for being a real alternative to the WWE, but when he got a look at the action, they earned his respect. Larry Sweeney, Chris Hero and Tank Toland interrupt to introduce themselves. He claims Sammartino is only a living legend because Hero was born 50 years too late. Bruno laughs off Hero's challenge of an arm-wrestling contest and threatens to put him down. Bruno says that he’ll kick Hero’s ass, despite his age. It looks set to be a 3-on-1 until Nigel McGuinness makes the save. He holds Sweeney open for a Bruno right hand which gets a huge pop.

Mixed-Tag Street Fight: Jimmy Jacobs & Lacey vs. BJ Whitmer & Daizee Haze
More AWESOMENESS! With these 4 as they continue to elevate their hate and the brawls just get better and better. The Lacey/Haze stuff was great when Lacey was in control as she didn't give a fuck, but in a professional way. E.G. all the shit she did was stiff and brutal but it was safe, but the Jimmy/Whitmer brawling is amazing, still to this date everything is just so violent and hateful. The match ends when Jacobs knocks the Haze off the top rope and FUCKIN' KILLS HER WITH A SPEAR! The best part of it was her shoes went flying in the air. But that wasn't enough so he feeds Haze to Lacey who hits the implant DDT for the win. Post-Match: Lacey gets on the mic she offers to give Jimmy a reward, prompting a classy chant of "show your tits." He really made her proud, so he deserves a hug. She gives him said hug, and even puts one of her legs up. She promises more if Jimmy can take out Whitmer in the cage tomorrow night. ***

ROH World Tag Team Championships: Naruki Doi & Shingo vs. The Briscoe Brothers
UGH! It was just getting going when Mark decides to kill himself and botch the SSP and land on his FUCKIN' HEAD! Which does force Jay to go it alone. Shingo and Doi who worked damn hard to make the best of a bad situation and try to get everyone back into the match, but aside from popping for Jay’s against-the-odds victory it was pretty boring at times. The crowd was totally out of it too as they were probably wondering if Mark is dead. I really wished the ref and he backstage management would of called an audible and called for the end with Jay winning the titles like 3 minutes after the incident not 8/9 minutes later. The match ends when Jay hits the Jay Driller on Shingo for the win. Post-Match: Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley storm the ring,:wank: Sabin says he respects the Briscoe’s. Clips of Sabin and Shelley’s World title match against Bryan Danielson are shown, as part of ads for the DVDs they’re on. Shelley mentions that aside from the Briscoe’s he and Sabin are the only to hold tag gold in Japan. Well that’s just not true. At any rate they challenge the Briscoe’s to a tag title match in Chicago after Mark is healed up. Jay accepts the challenge. Shelley and Sabin shake Jay’s hand and then beat him down. Shelley calls Mark an idiot for going for the shooting star press and tells Jay that if Mark can’t make it to Chicago Jay will have to defend the belts by himself. Shelley also name-drops "He's gotta leave now, cause he's got a flight to catch to ORLANDO!" for some HEAT! **

INTERMISSION~!

Rebecca Bayless tries to talk about Mark Briscoe, but Larry Sweeney interrupts her, and he’s all kinds of pissed off about what Nigel McGuinness did to him earlier tonight. He promises that we have not seen the end of him tonight.

Yamato vs. Pelle Primeau
They packed a shit load into 2 minutes but it was a SQUASH! for Yamato. *1/4

Nigel McGuinness vs. Brent Albright (w/Larry Sweeney)
Larry Sweeney comes out and says that he paid for Albright’s services to take out Nigel. This was okay but they didn't mesh well at all, Nigel controls the first 2 minutes and that was really good but then when Albright took over he slowed it down and was really boring. Thankfully this went around 10 minutes, the match ends when Chris Hero runs down and distracts him long enough for Albright to hit the half nelson suplex for the win. **

Homicide vs. Christopher Daniels
Daniels attacks Homicide from behind to start because he somehow became a heel, if you remember during this time. Must of been the face paint But in all seriousness this was really fuckin' bad and I’m a fan of both guys but this didn't need 15 minutes at all and it felt like they were costing by with rest holds and stalling, I don't wanna talk about it anymore. Post-Match: After the match: Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn run out to attack Homicide now. Jim Cornette makes a surprise appearance he tries to whip Homicide with his belt but Homicide fights off Pearce and Hagadorn and gets the belt himself. Before he can whip Cornette Brent Albright runs out and hits him with the half nelson suplex and work over Homicide’s arm, but Delirious and Colt Cabana come out to make the save.

Roderick Strong vs. Jack Evans
I can watch Roddy bend and attempt to break every bone in Jack's body every day, it's so hilarious seeing him act like a dick and try to cripple him. Now normally in a grudge hate match I would be pissed that they did the "mat wrestling" game but if you think about it, it made sense as Roddy didn't want Jack to start high-flying and start hitting him with all these moves out of nowhere so Roddy kept him grounded and frustrated Jack to try and get him pissed off, and that would allowed to put in his game plan and Roddy to gain full control and beat the shit out of him. And when I mean beat the shit out of him that is exactly what he did if you've seen Roddy vs. smaller guys you'll know what I mean. He pretty much slamming him to the floor from the ring apron, giving him a fall-away slam into the ringpost, stretching him until his foot touched his head, it's just so AWESOME! Jack's comeback was great but Jack being Jack is he pretty much no-sold the beating and only sold the exhaustion part of the match, which was upsetting. The match ends when Strong avoids the 2nd 630 of the match and puts Jack in the Stronghold for the tapout, no questions asked this is Jack's best one-on-one match ever and I doubt he will ever come close to topping this. ***3/4

Becky Bayless gives us a update report on Mark, he's now fully mobile although he did suffer a serious concussion and he won't be wrestling at Supercard of Honor II tomorrow night.

CIMA, Susumu Yokusuka, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito vs. Austin Aries, Delirious, Rocky Romero & Claudio Castagnoli
Lenny Leonard notes the irony of Castagnoli appearing on Team ROH, after he fought so hard against them during the CZW war. Which I thought was AWESOME! This was pretty much 25-30 minutes of mind-blowing crazy fuckin' action. It was pretty much flawlessly in-terms of the spotfest moves, but I wish it would of had more storytelling and selling but that's DragonGrate rules for ya' CIMA was the clear star of the match as he definitely knew when and where to pick his spots and had some really fun interaction with Delirious. Claudio and Dragon Kid also had some really fun sequences as they were the most mismatches guys based on size. There really much to add apart from the spots are insane the double/triple/whole team moves are ridiculously AWESOME! And if you love all out crazy shit this is for you. The match end when Cima hits Delirious with the CROSSFIRE BOMB for the win. ***1/2

[video=dailymotion;x112gld]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x112gld_roh-all-star-extravaganza-iii-jimmy-jacobs-promo_people#.UcI8JPnVDoI[/video]
JIMMY JACOBS JUST CUT THE GREATEST PROMO IN ROH HISTORY! FUCK THAT PUNK HOBO.​

 

[Crippler]

ROH 03/31/2007 Supercard of Honor II
Detroit "Motor City," Michigan

ROH World Champion: Takeshi Morishima
ROH World Tag Team Champions: The Briscoe Brothers

[video=dailymotion;x113on8]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x113on8_roh-supercard-of-honor-ii-jimmy-jacobs-promo_people#.UcORb_nVDoI[/video]
JIMMY JACOBS IS AT IT AGAIN!​

Jay Briscoe comes out to announce that his brother, who injured himself last night, very unlucky, and says that there’s no place Mark would rather be than right here but he's in a hospital bed instead, and that when he heals he’ll come back as crazy as ever. Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal come out to the ring Daniels tells the crowd he "Knows his name, so you idiot can stop chanting it" what a heel. They demand their title shot, even in Mark’s absence. Jay says no, so Daniels says the Briscoe’s should forfeit the belts. Jay says no to that too, Jay says there will be no title defense tonight, but there will be a match, because he has a partner. It’s Delirious! The then cuts a "Delirious" promo which gets the crowd pumped for the match.

Jay Briscoe & Delirious vs. Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal
This was really solid stuff here nothing AMAZING aside from Matt and Daniels asshole/cocky heel tactics. It started off slow but then things began to pick up when all hell broke loose which lead to the extremely hot finish that set the crowd up nicely for the show ahead. This match got all the time it needed to tell a good story without going so long that it felt like it dragged but I feel they didn't really utilize it well at all you was given 18 minutes and the best story they came up with was a basic formula tag match. The match ends when Matt misses the SSP, which allows Delirious to hit him with the Chemical Imbalance II for the win. ***

Yamato vs. Claudio Castagnoli
The height advantage Double C has in this match is pretty funny, Yamato isn't Dragon Kid small but I’ll say he’s maybe a couple inches taller. This was short like 6 minutes long and they had Double C control like 4 and a half minutes of it. I loved the test of strength comedy stuff to start, kinda wish we got more of that. Anyway the match ends when Double C hits him with his new finisher "gut wrench into a piledriver" **1/2

Erick Stevens vs. Mitch Franklin
Stevens slams him off the handshake, hits a TKO and kills him with The Doctorbomb. DUD!

Larry Sweeney comes down to the ring and he introduces their new “A-List celebrity†friend Johnny Fairplay. Chris Hero accompanies Fairplay to the ring to get some HEAT! The crowd rightly chants "You're not famous!" Fairplay insults the crowd. Hero gets on the mic and talks about how he would have had Bruno Sammartino last night if not for Nigel McGuinness, so he calls him out for a match right now.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney & Johnny Fairplay)
This was nothing more to get over Sweeney and Fairplay being hilarious. And to further more put over Hero as this goofy prick that does hilarious stuff like pretending to be a super athlete. IDK what it was but the past 2 shows Nigel have been in 3 moves of doom match "uppercuts, lariats and the Tower of London" oh and the occasional kick. The match ends when Nigel hits a Jawbreaker Lariat for the win. The best part of the match was Nigel FUCKIN' KILLING Fairplay with a lariat. **

Roderick Strong and Davey Richards come through the curtain next. They’re here to announce the newest member of the No Remorse Corps, Rocky Romero!

Jack Evans & Naruki Doi vs. Davey Richards & Rocky Romero
You know what hilarious, Rocky teamed with Aries last night and showed no signs of "friction" happening, Just hilarious booking. You know what else is hilarious the fact that you debut a new member to a heel faction and have them lose but aside from that this was really fun, it was like one of the DragonGate spotty matches but just involving tags. This did have one thing i love and that's double team moves, and sick combos like Evans & Doi hitting this ridiculous "POWERBOMB MOONSAULT DOUBLE STOMP" The mini-heat segment on Jack was really good too, but Davey and Rocky are not Roddy so they didn't try and kill him. The match ends when Jack hits the 630 on Davey for the win, and gives Davey his 12-straight loss HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ***1/4

Homicide vs. Brent Albright
Cornette's hired Albright to take out Homicide cause his track record with taking guys out is so high , like a minute and a half in Adam Pearce runs down and attacks Homicide for the DQ, but Colt Cabana makes the save.

Homicide & Colt Cabana vs. Brent Albright & Adam Pearce
Pearce and Albright were about to leave but get dragged to the ring and forced into the match, the brawling portion on the match was really fun cause it covered up the lack of wrestling these 4 have don't get me wrong I'm a Colt fan and at one time was a HUGE! Homicide fan but I’ve noticed when they are not in the ring with a Nigel or Danielson things are pretty terrible and same goes for Albright and Pearce, but Albright and Pearce rarely have good matches anyway. So yeah the brawling was fun but when it settled down into a legit tag it was boring as fuck. Pearce & Albright's heat-segments are terrible and can't draw heat for shit. The match ends when Pearce holds Cabana for Cornette to hit, but Cabana blocks it and hits Cornette with an elbow and uses Pearce’s brass knuckles for the win. **

INTERMISSION~!

Steel Cage: Jimmy Jacobs (w/Lacey) vs. BJ Whitmer (w/Daizee Haze)
Still holds up as my favorite ROH steel cage match of all time and quite possible my favorite Indy cage match too, hell this whole feud was one of my favorites period. The fact that they kept it going a whole year but added other guys in the mix to keep it going and fresh, AMAZING! But yeah this was an great way to end the feud. Because it had it all, prom hatred-passion-intensity-violence-all the moves were spot on and it never got boring once. The match starts off with Jimmy making his way to the ring and during the entrance the crowd were chanting “please don’t die†Jacobs dives through the door onto Whitmer before the bell and start brawling for a while they would eventually make it back into the ring and from that every spot would be even more violent than the last, you don't believe me then 2 minutes with being into the cage BJ kills Jimmy with a steel chair to the head which actual chipped Jimmy's fuckin tooth, true story. Jimmy would gain control after BJ tires to give him a brainbuster on a chair but Jimmy counters it with a drop-toehold onto the chair, like Raven does it. He then orders Lacey to get a weapon from security. The kid comes back with a spike. Whitmer pulls a spike out of his boot and we have a standoff. So naturally they have a fuckin' SPIKE DUEL! And just spike eachother in the head, get up and do it again. Then they just start stabbing eachother in the head countless time, so you can just imagine both men are pretty much bleeding like horror movie and the crowd pop was insane. Jacobs spikes himself in the head and Whitmer hits a turnbuckle powerbomb, and then asks the Haze to gets him a fuckin' barbed wire bat. But Jacobs gets to it first, and he hits BJ right in the bloody head with it. AND HOLDS THE BARBED WIRE IN HIS MOUTH! He licks the blood off of Whitmer’s face and spits it back at him. Now he’s got both railroad spikes. STABS TO THE HEAD AND ARMS! He lays BJ down with his head in the barbed wire…CHAIR SHOT TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD! But that wouldn't be enough to keep BJ down, he then tries to spike him again but BJ counters it by powerbomb into the cage. He hits Jacobs with the barbed wire bat on his stomach and his back. But decides he's not done so he BRAINBUSTER JIMMY ONTO AN OPEN SITTING CHAIR! Which only gets a 2 count, fun fact this is like 15 minutes in and that was the first pinfall attempt. The match would eventually have some really great back-and-forth big moves without weapons like, when Contra Code but Whitmer counters to the Adrenaline Spike for 2 when Lacey breaks it up. Whitmer hits the Adrenaline Spike on Lacey and climbs to the top of the cage. He goes for a frog splash but misses and Jacobs hits the Contra Code for 2 but Jimmy looks like he would hurt his knee here so he orders one of the students into the ring I think it was Rhett to help set up a table and then puts Whitmer on it. He climbs to the top of the cage but Whitmer goes up after him. Jacobs knocks Whitmer down and puts him back on the table. And finally KILLS BJ WITH A FUCKIN' SENTON BOMB FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE THROUGH THE TABLE! I should add that the cage senton was when Jimmy tore his ACL or MCL i forget which one. But yeah WOW! WOW! WOW! One of the most violent things I've ever seen. ****1/2

FIP World Championship: Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries
This is my 2nd favorite FIP title match, with Strong/Stevens from Redemption being first. This match was good on so many levels. Don't get me wrong i do agree what it was too early in the feud to have that first Roddy/Aries match but considering what would happen with Aries and TNA I think it was a great time to have the match, now. I fuckin' loved that they that they didn't just go balls to walls and kept it simple with the story of the match being "They were a tag team for a year maybe 2, so they know what the other is gonna do before he does it" so that being the story lead to allot of moves I've not seen them do which I thought was great but the crowd was really dead for this. I'm guessing it was because Jacobs and BJ had a FUCKING AMAZING cage match before this. The match would end when both men are fighting on the top rope and I don't think it was intentional but Roddy shoves him off the top rope and he crashes through the timekeepers table. Roddy then tearing out the guardrail and gives Aries the GIBSON DRIVER ONTO A RAILING! he then gets into the ring hoping for the countout but Aries manages to get into the ring at 19.999999 so Roddy tries to end it with Aries' own move the Brainbuster but Aries counters it into a small package, for a great near-fall. Roddy gets back to his feet first and decides FUCK! THIS! And KILLS HIM WITH A FUCKIN' HALF NELSON BACKBREAKER-GIBSON DRIVER-STRONGHOLD and Aries is out cold so the ref calls the match. Post-Match: Strong applies the STRONGHOLD! Again, but Delirious makes the save. ****

Dragon Gate Rules: CIMA, Shingo & Susumu Yokusuka vs. The Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Masaaki Mochizuki
"Dragon Gate Rules" means no tags are necessary. This wasn't even close to the "Supercard of Honor I" match a year ago, yes the spots are fuckin' ridiculous and insane but it just seemed to be lacking that thing the match at SOH one had. So yeah if you love that cruiserweight craziness this is for you, not much to add I would of loved to mentions spot but shit was too fast for me to write down, lol. ****

Becky Bayless is backstage and is looking for an interview but finds Lacey and Jimmy cuddling. You would have thought they would have left for the hospital by now.

 

[Crippler]

Gonna be honest I really can't sit though some of these shows so from now on I'm just gonna watch the matches I wanna watch and that look good on paper.

ROH Fighting Sprit 2007 - Jay Briscoe & Erick Stevens vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
Mark is still out after almost dying, so Erick is taking his place and this is a non-title match. Jay really wants to get to Steen since it was him that put Mark in hospital again, but he’s forced to start with Generico. DICK! Steen heel work is great, the first 1/3 of the match was really good and solid back-and-forth action with Erick getting the better of Generico until Steen tags in and as he’s a bigger man that allowed him to take it to Stevens and just beat him up, but still take little cheap shots at Jay letting him know we still know he’s in the match. Mid-way through the match; The No Remorse Corps (Roddy, Davey & Rocky) appear at ringside and attack Stevens. Roddy Powerbombs him into a guardrail, and that’s him taken out of the match. The next portion of the match is pretty much Jay wrestling by himself; just like he was when he won the tag belts in Detroit. I have to admit the heat-segment, 2-1 against Mark went on a bit too long but I’d say judging from the crowd reaction when Mark came through the crowd, that everything was paced just right. Steen is hilarious during the 2-1 attack, so Steen lays the boots to Jay and then goes over to Jay's corner and desperately reaches for a “Hot-Tag†to taunt him. Anyway, the 2-1 last around 8/9 minutes until Jay hits a Falcon Arrow Brainbuster for two on Generico. Suddenly, Mark Briscoe hops the rail in his street clothes and hops on the apron and begs for the tag. And his own mother beg him to get down But him being a Briscoe he doesn't listen so HOT TAG TO MARK! And it’s AWESOME! As he comes in with DAT “RED NECK KUNG FU†The match would breakdown like a traditional Briscoe/Steenerico match would and both teams would hit a ton of double teams and near falls. This match also included a Generico hitting a half nelson suplex, followed by a Yakuza Kick and another half nelson suplex. Just for MARK BRISCOE NO SELLS IT! And come back with a clothesline but Steen drags him to the floor and rams his head into the barricade. Back in, and Steenerico hit the PACKAGE PILEDRIVER! BRAINBUSTER! Combo for the win. ***3/4

ROH Fighting Sprit 2007 - ROH World Championship: Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness
I love how all Morishima matches start with him trying to fuckin’ kill you within 30 seconds of the match. The match was very “Japanese Puro, Heavyweight†Match, as every strike, submission hold was stiff and brutal; then as the match went on neither guy would sell a thing. I would say this was Nigel’s best “underdog†performance since the “Unified†match in the UK, as he gave Morishima a hell of a fight even though even in defeat. I don’t think the match ever crossed the line into feeling epic or “big-time†though. But I also do feel this is their best match together. The match would end when Morishima hits the missile dropkick but Nigel no sells it and hits a lariat. Nigel’s realizes he needs the Jawbreaker Lariat and NAILS IT! But Morishima kicks out and the crowd is pissed. Nigel tries it a second time but Morishima hits a series of strikes for a two count. Morishima hits a Back Drop Driver, and Nigel no sells it he tries another Lariat but Morishima hits another Back Drop and that finally gets him the win. ***1/2

ROH The Battle of St. Paul - FIP Heavyweight Championship: Roderick Strong vs. Christopher Daniels (w/Allison Danger)
Really fun match here and a lot better than I remembered it being. The first opening minute or so was Daniels (Who is rocking a sweet beard) showing how old he is and frustrating Strong. His game-plan was pretty much headlock to wear down Roddy as well as "If he keeps Roddy on his back and grounded, means no chops or backbreakers" Roddy would get out of it and try to quicken the pace but Daniels would keep applying the headlock until he hit a Arabian press. Minutes later Daniels would try an Angels Wings to the floor but its Strong that manages to drop him back-first onto the hard part or the ring apron. And you know what that means! He would hit backbreakers over the guardrails and throw him into the ringpost; apron and railings show why he's in the NO REMORSE! But that was all fun but the best part of the match by far was "Strong does a Scott Steiner bicep-kissing elbow drop then the push-up pose" AMAZING! Roddy's heel-segment lasts a good 7 minutes and was fun; it was all back work and submissions. With Daniels hitting maybe one move but Strong would use his somewhat quickness to gain control again. At one put Strong puts on a Stronghold but Daniels gets to the ropes, he goes to pull him back but Daniels gets a roll up for 2. Daniels blocks the Gibson Driver and hits the Complete Shot into the Koji Clutch but Strong gets to the ropes, AWESOME! Sequence. Strong would leave the ring and to catch his breath/stall so Daniels follows him out with a baseball slide. Strong shoves him into the barricade but Daniels beats the count back in. back in, and then spill out again off a clothesline So Strong just tosses him into the ringpost as well, then drags out a guardrail section looking for the GIBSON DRIVER ON THE STEEL! But Daniels counters to a backdrop on the floor. Daniels goes for the Angel’s Wings on the barricade but Strong blocks and chops Daniels down. Daniels’s foot gets stuck in the barricade, Danger tries to help out, and they free Daniels from the railing, but he can't make it before the 20 count. Not a big fan of the cheap finish especially since Daniels is leaving soon but I guess TNA didn't want him to lose and ROH didn't want to put the belt on him, aside from that just a really good back-and-forth match, with no move being wasted and everything meaning something. ***1/2

ROH The Battle of St. Paul - ROH World Championship: Takeshi Morishima vs. Austin Aries
That was an awesome match, they work the "Big-guy vs. little-guy" match. I loved how they emphasized the size difference between the two by making Aries fight and scrape for every offensive move he could, whilst Morishima was able to dominate with ease at times. Another thing I loved is that Aries has been watching tape so he knows that Morishima likes to come out and "FUCK YOU UP!" Within the first 30 seconds of the match. So what did he do he came out with a ton of energy and took it to Morishima in the corner. He tries to use his speed to his advantage but it takes him well over a minute of non-stop strikes to get Morishima down. But that doesn't last long as he boots Aries to the floor and pulls him back into the ring. Morishima starts using the size difference and begins to methodically take Aries apart and using his body-weight to hurt Aries even more. At one point in the match Morishima hits the butt, butt lariat and puts Aries on the apron. Aries comes back with bell ringers and then low bridges Morishima to the floor. He follows him out with the Heat Seeking Missile but Morishima comes back with an Irish whip into the barricade and an Olé butt splash. Aries dodges a second butt splash attempt and hits two dropkicks into the guardrail. Aries thinks about trying to string together his patented finishing combo but doesn’t look capable of lifting Morishima off his feet and Aries runs right into a Bossman Slam. He then goes for a missile dropkick but that misses, Aries again goes for the sequence of moves that put Joe down. But Morishima counters, the finish of the match happens when Aries finally hits the Crucifix, kick to the head and tries the brainbuster but he can’t do it. So he kicks him in the head instead and this time hits the brainbuster. He goes up for the 450 and hits it but Morishima gets his foot on the ropes. AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME! False finish. Aries goes to the top rope and Morishima follows him and hits a SUPER BACKDROP DRIVER! But Aries kick out after 2 which looked like it was 3. Morishima looks pissed and hits another BACK DROP DRIVER! For the win. ***3/4

 

[Crippler]

ROH Good Times, Great Memories - Erick Stevens vs. Christopher Daniels (w/Alison Danger)
This is Erick Stevens’ biggest match to date. Not only does Daniels have his sweet beard on but now he’s supporting make-up around his eye, and Allison Danger is dressed up as a sexy evil nurse. The early couple of minutes was Stevens showing his strength against Daniels while Daniels tried to keep him grounded and slow the pace already. But that doesn’t work so Daniels pushes him into the barricade, then drops Stevens stomach-first onto the edge of a chair, opening a cut on Stevens’ gut. He begins to relentlessly begin working the midsection to weaken the much larger Stevens. And also softening him up for the “Angels Wings” Weird thing is 10 minutes have gone by already but it only feels like 5. Stevens does begin his comeback now hit a desperation belly to belly suplex and a release German suplex. Later in the match Daniels would hit a Samoan drop and an Arabian press for 2. Then climbs the ropes but Stevens catches the crossbody and hits the TKO for 2. AWESOME! Bobby Cruise announces one minute of match times remain, the ending happens when Daniels blocks the Doctor Bomb until the time limit expires. Solid effort from both men, Daniels worked exceptionally hard to get Stevens over and give him a good match, Stevens’ selling of the ribs was awful. Post-Match: Erick asked for 5 more minutes but Daniels turned FULL BLOWN HEEL! ***

Austin Aries vs. Rocky Romero
Rocky is part of the NRC while Aries is the leader or the “Resilience” So this is an angle advancement, stable war match. They trade kicks and forearms early on which looks AWESOME! Rocky applied a headscissorslock, but we all know you can’t headscissorslock Aries so he breaks free and dropkicks him in the face, Romero bails so Aries follows him out with the Heat Seeking Missile. Rocky would gain control when Aries goes for an elbow drop but Romero hangs his arm on the top rope. Then springboard dropkick to the arm and another one to the back, I would have liked Rocky to work on the arm for the match especially when he was using an armbreaker as his finisher at times but he just seemed like all he wanted to do was kicks. Rocky hit a butterfly suplex for a nearfall, and he applied an Octopus stretch and elbows Aries to the floor. A few minutes later Aries would catch him with a series of clotheslines and a facebuster. Then a slingshot splash and a Lionsault for which both get two. Rocky comes off the second rope with a DDT for 2, and applies the cross armbreaker but Aries rolls to the ropes. Romero kicks the arm and hits a roundhouse to the head. But Aries fires himself up and hits the corner dropkick. Aries goes up, but Romeo cuts him off and takes him down into the Diablo Armbar! Aries counters to a pin for 2. Romero puts on the anklelock but Aries shoves him away. Romero comes back with a kick to the chest and a tiger suplex for 2. Rocky would hit his 16th kick to the head but Aries comes back with a roll up for 2 then fully rolls Rocky forward and kills him with the boot to the face followed but the Brainbuster and ends it with the 450 splash for the win. Aries No-selling the arm and Rocky working the arm when he felt like it really hurt this. But it was solid. ***

ROH World Championship: Takeshi Morishima vs. Shingo
This is NOAH versus Dragon Gate, so the match does have some sort of backstory. Apparently Shingo has vowed to return to Japan if he doesn't win tonight :hm: Morishima overpowers Shingo to start and begins to brutally kill him to the best of his abilities. Shingo’s shoulder tackles have no effect so he gets a big head starts and tackles Morishima to the floor and whips him into the barricade. Back in, Shingo hits a DDT for two, but Morishima suddenly hulks up and starts no-selling. He hits a butt bump and divebombs, so Shingo bails and Morishima follows him out with a forearm from the apron. He hits two Olé butt splashes; he whipped Shingo into the guardrails. In the ring, Morishima hit some kicks, and he choked Shingo in the ropes. A few minutes later; Morishima puts Shingo in a camel clutch but he manages to gets to the ropes. Morishima hits a handspring avalanche and tells the referee to count him down lolwat. Shingo makes it up and goes for a suplex, but Morishima reverses to his own. Shingo hits a Manhattan drop and a clothesline in the corner then a vertical suplex. Morishima rolls to the apron, but Shingo follows him out and hits a DDT on the ring apron. He then decides that isn’t good enough for Shingo, and knows that wouldn’t get the job done so he DVD’s him on the floor and both men are down. They would eventually returns to the ring and Shingo hits Morishima with a backdrop driver! But that only gets a two, Shingo then tries the Last Falconry but that gets blocked and hits a huge palm strike and beats Shingo down in the corner. He tosses the referee away and beats on Shingo some more. He hits a big boot in the corner and Shingo goes down. Morishima climbs the ropes but Shingo cuts him off and hits a superplex. Morishima no-sells a superplex, but Shingo nails him with a lariat and hits the Wrist-Clutch DVD for the best near-fall of the match. Shingo fires up and hits a lariat for two, another lariat for 2. Morishima explodes with his own lariat. Which leads to Shingo getting fired up, and he hits another lariat. He tries a piledriver, but Morishima backdrops out of it and tries a back drop driver but Shingo reverses it, he nails another lariat and tries a powerbomb but ends up getting killed with an Earthquake splash. Another huge lariat by Morishima gets two but this time Morishima is able to get the back drop driver for the win. Very physical/brutal title match. They worked the Japanese style as expected and it was great. It’s a shame Shingo is now gone as a regular but he went out giving his beat performance to date. ****

Jack Evans vs. Roderick Strong (w/Rocky Romero)
Jack doesn’t even do his usual “Breakdancing act” and takes it right to Roddy but that doesn’t last long and Roddy kills him with chops. Evans would use his quickness to hit a basement dropkick and some quick kicks, then a top-rope flip dive to the floor. He tries to moonsault off the guardrail but Strong kicks it, causing him to tumble to the ground. Strong attacks the back for the first time, ramming it against the ringpost repeatedly. But Jack is able to back flip out of a slingshot suplex attempt and tries a handspring elbow only to be caught and dropped on his face for 2. Roddy then begins to tie up Evans’s arms and legs and puts on a NASTY chinlock. So his leg is touching his head OH SHIT! Strong would hit a butterfly suplex for 2. Jack would begin a mini-comeback just like 4 springboard moves but Roddy would catch him with a gutbuster for 2 then dumps him out of the ring again and then drops him on the apron with a back suplex. But Strong makes the mistake of going to the top rope with Evans, and gets himself caught in the tree of woe and hits the Ong Bak kneedrop for 2. He climbs the ropes but Strong cuts him off and brings him down with a fall away slam for 2. Gibson Driver blocked but Strong catches Evans as he tries a reverserana and hits a back suplex backbreaker. Boston Crab applied but Evans makes the ropes. Rocky Romero is on the floor and he delivers a kick to Evans “shades of last night” Strong hits him with a spinning Ace Crusher for the win. No denying Roddy/Jack have chemistry but I do like the first match more as Roddy stretched him out like a toy while this one was more back-and-forth. The finish with Romero interfering was a bit unnecessary, but the NRC sticks together. ***1/4

ROH World Tag Team Championship: Murder City Machine Guns vs. The Briscoe Brothers
Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin made an unexpected return to ROH at All Star Extravaganza 3. That was the night Mark almost killed himself and Jay won the tag titles singlehandedly. Anyway, Post-Match: The Guns challenged then to a match and then beat him up. The early stages are very cautious, but it does not take long for a fast paced exchange between Mark and Chris. But before that Sabin acts like he’s going to do some flippy/floppy wristlock counters, but instead pokes Briscoe in the eyes Mark gets the advantage and Sabin goes running to his partner for consolation. Shelley and Jay tag in. They trade holds and Shelley hits a cheap shot. Jay comes back with a forearm rub to the face. Shelley kisses Jay’s boot and then spits water in his face Jay returns fire with forearms and puts on a headlock. He gets a head scissors takedown but Jay comes back with a hurricanrana and a leg lariat. Sabin tags in and gets caught in a chinlock. He gets to the ropes so Jay tags to Mark. I’m gonna skip forward like 4 minutes where Shelley chops both Briscoe’s, but they come back with a big boot/Complete Shot combo for 2. Jay hits a clothesline in the corner and a basement dropkick for 2. Mark comes in with a slingshot double stomp for 2. Jay tags in and hits a back elbow. He hits a snap suplex and tags to Mark. Shelley hits a side Russian legsweep and a rebound kick for 2. Sabin tags in and hits the Ace Crusher and a dropkick to the face. He rubs some spit on Mark’s face and then would exchange some of the worse slaps so Sabin tags in Shelley wat? They hit this AWESOME! Double team that included a “double hiptoss and a double fistdrop and then sandwich Mark with a kick to his chest and one to the back” Shelley would hits the snot rocket and a spinebuster but decides that wasn’t good so he hits a Lionsault for 2 and possess like Jericho. Sabin tags in and they hit a double vertical suplex and rapid fire legdrops for 2. The guns would work over Mark for a couple minutes longer and Jay gets the tag and takes it to the pair of them. Shelley takes the big double-pancake into the sky, but he manages to save Sabin from the splash mountain neckbreaker. Shelley and Sabin both hit Tree of Woe dropkicks of Mark and follow the Briscoe’s to the floor with stereo suicide dives. Back in the ring Jay gets double-teamed in the corner. Mark runs in and sends Shelley to the floor. Sabin puts a cloverleaf on Jay and Shelley puts the Border City Stretch on Mark. Jay manages to break it up, while Mark misses the slingshot double stomp but Jay hits a Yakuza kick and Mark hits the yelping splash for 2. This would allow Jay puts Sabin in the Stretch Plum but Shelley breaks it up. 21 minutes have past already JESUS! The Briscoe’s hit a team Japanese Armdrag. Mark hit a springboard senton for a nearfall, and he applied a half-crab, but Sabin reached the ropes. The Briscoe’s hit the double shoulder tackle and Mark tags back in. They hit the double toss and Mark hits a kneedrop, Jay comes in but Sabin sends him into Mark and kicks off Mark to hits a swinging DDT on Jay. Shelley hit a top-rope crossbody, but Jay rolled through and got a nearfall, Shelley hits a roundhouse kick on Jay and a back heel kick on Mark. He hits a Complete Shot on Jay into the corner and climbs the ropes. Sabin hit a basement dropkick to Jay’s exposed face for a nearfall, then a backbreaker and a top-rope elbow on Jay for a nearfall. Sabin accidentally hit a dropkick on Shelley, and he fell on Shelley’s groin Mark made the hot tag, he hits a dropkick on Shelley and an ax kick on Sabin. He hits a double jump moonsault press on Shelley but Shelley comes back with an armdrag and tags to Sabin. Mark hits Sabin with a T-bone suplex and hits the powerbomb/neckbreaker combo with Jay for 2. The Briscoe’s go for the Doomsday Device but Sabin swats Mark down and hits a reverse hurricanrana on Jay. The Guns hit a series of kicks to Mark’s head and Shelley hits the assisted Sliced Bread #2 for 2. Jay tags in and hits a Cactus clothesline on Shelley. Mark hits a plancha onto Sabin. Back in the ring Jay hits the DVD on Shelley. Mark tags in and comes off the top with the shooting star press for 2 when Sabin saves, he goes to the top rope again, and Shelley gets Mark on his shoulders. DOOMSDAY MISSILE DROPKICK! AIR RAID CRASH! Mark kicks out at 2. Shelley hits a superkick and the Air Raid Crash for 2. He hits the Shellshock for 2 when Jay saves. Mark blocks Sliced Bread #2 and hits the cutthroat driver for 2. Jay puts Sabin down on the floor and helps Mark hit the cutthroat driver/top rope legdrop combo for the win. Post-Match: The Guns take the Briscoe’s belts away from them, but they just want to put the straps around the waists of the champs. The fans chant, "Please come back." As much as I enjoyed it has its flaws but GOD DAMN IT! That was fucking AMAZING! It’s one of those guilty pleasure matches that you shouldn’t enjoy that much but it has everything “spots, fast-paced, crisp tag moves, psychology” The first half 20 was all feeling out with neither guy gaining the advantage but the last 15 was just insane shit of one up-manship. ****1/2

 

[Crippler]

ROH Respect Is Earned 05/12/2007 - Rocky Romero vs. Naomichi Marufuji
This was a real good match but it may have been a little too long, but it was a nice way of introduce the world to what Ring Of Honor wrestling is all about at the time. They start off with some solid mat-work but it wasn’t anything memorable and it felt like a filler on time. They did do this cool sequence at the end of it where Romero puts on the octopus stretch and rolls Marufuji up for 2, then Marufuji puts on an abdominal stretch and rolls Romero up for 2. All of a sudden they start dodging each other’s stiff kicks then try to trap each other in submission hold, which I thought was weird. Romero goes after the cross armbreaker. Marufuji gets to the ropes. Romero kicks Marufuji’s arm and drops a knee on it. He goes back to the cross armbreaker but Marufuji rolls him up for 2. Marufuji springboard dropkicks Romero off the apron and then sends Rocky knee-first into the ringpost. He brings him back into the ring and starts working on the knee by dragon screwing the knee over the middle rope followed by a dropkicking it and hitting a dragon screw off the top. Figure 4 leglock applied but Romero gets to the ropes. He drops a leg on Romero’s knee but Romero comes back with a swinging DDT. Marufuji catches him coming off the top rope but Romero hits an out of nowhere Rocky tilta-whirls into a DDT . Marufuji tries a half crab but Romero blocks it with an enziguri. Tiger suplex blocked but Rocky hits a springboard DDT for 2 (lol 3 DDT’s in 1 minute) Marufuji hits a chinbreaker on his knee but Romero comes back with a knee to the face. Marufuji hits a clothesline and a powerbomb for 2. He climbs the ropes but Romero brings him down with the Diablo Armbar, but Marufuji gets to the ropes. Romero kicks the arm again, and then delivers a KNOCK-OUT KICK to the side of the head which floors him. Marufuji hits an elbow in the corner and a turnbuckle powerbomb. He sets Romero in the Tree of Woe and hits the corner to corner dropkick for 2. Romero hits a tiger suplex and a buzzsaw kick for 2. Marufuji hits a roundhouse kick and the Shiranui for the win. The NO-SELL at the finishing stretch was ridiculous, but overall this was a good match. ***1/4

ROH Respect Is Earned 05/12/2007 - ROH Tag Title Championships: The Briscoe Brothers vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Matt Sydal
This was a great match with really exciting moves and a hot crowd that was on the edge of their seats during the final minutes. Claudio and Mark start the match and they trade crisp holds until holds until Mark hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Sydal and Jay both tag in and say fuck this mat work and they go balls-to-the-wall much faster pace wrestling. Jay puts on a headlock but Sydal comes back with a cheap shot and a head scissors takedown. Jay hits a hurricanrana but runs into a leg lariat. Claudio tags in and rolls Jay up for 2. He gets a crucifix pin for 2, Mark tags in and hits a climbing dropkick. Jay hits a Yakuza kick and Mark gets 2. Sydal tags in hits the cannonball legdrop for 2. A few minutes later and Briscoe’s toss Sydal into the air for 2. Mark hits a gutwrench suplex and a kneedrop for 2. Jay tags in and the Briscoe’s hit the double shoulder tackle. Jay puts on the Stretch Plum and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He holds on and Mark hits a guillotine split legged moonsault for 2, Jay tags in but Sydal tosses Mark to the floor and hits Jay with the standing frankensteiner. AWESOME! He finally hot tags in Claudio who hits a bodyslam and an elbowdrop off the second rope for 2. Out of nowhere Mark hits him with a knee from the apron then a slingshot double stomp; The Briscoe’s then pick up Sydal and hit a HUGE BIEL! Guy when ¾ across the ring and they try to do the same thing to Claudio but he counters with A FUCKIN’ SPRINGBOARD EUROPEAN UPPERCUT! While Sydal hits an enziguiri on Mark. Claudio hits a fisherman suplex on Jay for 2. Sydal tags in and puts on a seated abdominal stretch. Claudio comes back into the ring and hits a European uppercut. Next, Sydal hits a double knee strike and a clothesline and Claudio gets a few rotations on the giant swing for 2. Sydal tags in and hits a springboard bulldog then a springboard corkscrew senton for 2. Claudio tags in and hits a slingshot elbowdrop for 2, Jay starts to fight back and hits a stunner on Claudio and tags to Mark who hits an axe kick on Sydal and Jay monkey flips Claudio to the floor before diving out onto him. Sydal goes for another standing frankensteiner but Mark blocks it and hits a double springboard sunset flip for 2. Mark would then hit a buckle powerbomb and a t-bone suplex for 2. Jay would come back into the ring and they would hit a side slam/legdrop combo for 2. Claudio comes back and drops Jay on top of Mark, that’s not good enough for him so he picks Mark up and gives him the Alpamare Waterslide. He hits a head scissors takedown off the second rope and a bicycle kick for 2. Sydal tags in and hits the Slice for 2 then his standing moonsault but that gets a 2. Claudio tags in and walks into a forearm. Jay tags in and hits a crossbody off the top for 2. He hits a facebuster and a springboard kick Heart Attack with Mark which gets a 2. Claudio hits a springboard European uppercut on Jay and tosses Sydal onto the Briscoe’s on the floor. Back in the ring Claudio hits the Ricola Bomb for 2, Claudio then would nail a European uppercut and tags to Sydal. Sydal hits the shooting star press for 2 when Mark saves. Mark hits a superkick and clotheslines Claudio to the floor. Jay hits the military press DVD on Sydal for 2. Sydal hits a snap hurricanrana on Jay for 2. Jay ducks a kick and the Briscoe’s hit the springboard Doomsday Device for the win. HOLY SHIT! This was jam packed and sure it has the normal Briscoe’s crazy formula but it also showed that dem boyz can wrestle too. I forgot hot enjoyable Claudio/Matt was as a team they had the perfect combination at a team and I really feel if Steenerico wasn’t so hawt they would of gotten the feud. ****1/4

ROH Respect Is Earned 05/12/2007 - Takeshi Morishima & Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA & Nigel McGuinness
Each team came out together, but I would have preferred if each guy come out separately to further emphasize the "dream match" aspect. Prazak astutely noted that Morishima "hits people hard and dumps them on their heads." Danielson and KENTA start Danielson hits a monkey flip on KENTA but KENTA comes back with a kick to the midsection. Nigel tags in and he and Danielson have an AWESOME! Mat-work. Morishima distracts McGuinness, allowing Danielson to dive off the top rope with an uppercut. Nigel hits a headbutt so Morishima attacks him from behind. KENTA knocks Morishima down and everyone stands at attention. Morishima tags in and hits the butt butt and proceeds to stands on Nigel's throat in the corner and tags to Danielson. Morishima gets back on Nigel's throat and Danielson gets on Morishima's back to add weight Nigel is isolated from his partner, Danielson kicks Nigel's back for 2. He puts on a dragon sleeper but Nigel rolls over for 2. Morishima tags in and hits the butt lariat. He hits a double stomp and stands on Nigel's stomach and goes to the eyes before puts on a camel clutch. They continue to work on Nigel and cutting the ring in half, until Nigel hits him with the corner combo and hits a short-arm lariat on Morishima. And finally gets the hot tag to KENTA who hits a big boot followed by springboard dropkick for 2. He hits a leg lariat for 2. Danielson does a Sayama flip and scoops Kenta into a backbreaker to cut off his momentum. Morishima then flattens him with the cartwheel body avalanche/mega-missile dropkick combo. He hits a sidewalk slam but KENTA comes back with a powerslam. Nigel tags in and forces Morishima into the corner. He hits a running European uppercut but walks into a big boot. Morishima climbs the ropes again and hits another dropkick. Nigel pops up and hits a lariat for 2. Morishima goes for another cartwheel avalanche but gets met with lariat for 2. He climbs the ropes but Danielson grabs him, but KENTA knocks Danielson away and Nigel goes for a sunset bomb on Morishima. Danielson helps Morishima block it and Morishima hits the Banzai Drop. He hits the backdrop driver for 2 when KENTA saves. Morishima dumps KENTA and climbs the ropes again, but KENTA no sells and pops right back up and stops him from diving which allows Nigel to hits the Tower of London. KENTA and Danielson both tag in and trade strikes. Before, Kenta hangs him in the ropes and nails a flying knee drop for 2. But Danielson would come back with a roaring forearm and a dragon suplex for 2. He puts on the crossface chicken wing but KENTA uses the turnbuckle to roll Danielson up for 2. Danielson sets KENTA up top but Nigel blocks the superplex with a sunset bomb. KENTA tries to leap off but Morishima catches Kenta for an effortless suplex before tossing him to the floor. He follows Nigel out and gets hit with the apron lariat. Nigel dumps him into the crowd and hits him with a crossbody off the top rope. Danielson hits a butterfly suplex on KENTA. Danielson would then block a lariat from Nigel and snap kicks his arm. He climbs the ropes but a diving headbutt hits KENTA's feet. KENTA hits the Busaiku knee kick for 2. He hits Go2Sleep for 2 when Morishima makes the save. Morishima hits an urinage supple to KENTA as Nigel gets his arm bandaged on the floor. Danielson hits a diving headbutt on KENTA for 2 then the roaring forearm and Morishima hits a killa lariat for 2. Danielson climbs the ropes but Nigel crotches him and hits the rebound lariat on Morishima, further injuring his arm. KENTA hits a top-rope Falcon Arrow on Danielson for two. Danielson gets Cattle Mutilation on KENTA. KENTA fights out and tries Go 2 Sleep but Danielson reverses it and puts on Cattle Mutilation again, while Morishima just pummels McGuinness and KENTA TAPS! What can I say about this match, it was fucking AWESOME! Every guy got in all their signature spots, this was so good. Danielson is the GOAT and showed that even though he took 5 months off with a separated shoulder he doesn’t get ring rust, what a guy. Morishima is a motherfucking monster killa and showed that if you get in his way you will get fucked up. KENTA was KENTA showing how enjoyable he can be when in with the right guys’ especially Danielson, but as for Nigel he had a good performance but I felt he was the weak link to the match and showed all he had was “lariats” and in the end it cost him. Post-Match: Danielson grabs the ROH World title, so Morishima gives him a Back Drop Driver. Nigel picks up the belt because he’s different and hand Morishima the belt but Morishima hits him with a lariat. I LOVE THIS GUY! ****1/4