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Column of Honor: 07.03.10: No Dishonor Here: Death Before Dishonor VIII Review

July 3, 2010 | Posted by Ari Berenstein

Welcome to the Column. I’m back after a week off from the column while I was vacationing in upstate New York, but as many of you may have seen it’s been a busy week for me on 411Mania regardless. There is the eight-part 411Mania 2010 Independent Draft featuring myself and eight other 411writers in our annual special. You can read the first five parts through the following links: Part One: ROUNDS 1-2, Part Two: ROUNDS 3-7. Part Three: ROUNDS 8-11, Part Four: ROUNDS 12-14, Part Five: Cards & Hype. It’s received three times the hate as compared to previous years, so it must be three times as good!

I’m also around for this week’s 411Mania Buy or Sell discussing ROH, Japan and more. So what’s the hold up? Get reading! Oh wait, yeah, first read this column…and then get reading on the others.

=No Dishonor About Death Before Dishonor VIII iPPV=

From both a creative and a financial standpoint, Ring of Honor’s third internet Pay Per View Death Before Dishonor VIII was a great success. It was a peak, but perhaps not the last one, for a company that has been on a roll since the early part of the year. ROH has spent the better part of the last six weeks pushing the event, building the focus of the show around three marquee matches—the ROH World Title bout between champion Tyler Black and challenger Davey Richards, the ROH World Tag Team Titles grudge match between champions The Kings of Wrestling and The Briscoes and the first ever singles face-off between feuding former tag team partners and now blood enemies Kevin Steen and El Generico.

All three matches delivered up to and beyond expectations, especially the two championship matches. Black and Richards had a title match so epic and so well executed that many reviewers and fans immediately labeled it a match of the year contender. The fans screamed “five star match” and “match of the year” many times throughout and while just because a live crowd chants “five stars” doesn’t make it actually the case, what those chants do tell you is how enraptured and entertained they were by watching Black and Richards fight it out. The Briscoes and The Kings bloodied and battered each other with weapons and tables, thus bringing a dramatic flourish to their rematch and bringing the fans to their feet multiple times in awe of the carnage taking place before them.

Add on to those efforts a smooth and energetic first-time match between Christopher Daniels and Kenny Omega and an undercard that ranged from solid to good and all together Death Before Dishonor VIII became an event that could be considered the best ROH show of the year thus far, if not in contention for one of the top five ROH shows of all-time. The show demonstrated that when ROH and its wrestlers focus on its greatest strengths—the wrestling and providing satisfactory conclusions to matches—that it will receive an overwhelming amount of praise, enough to overshadow most if not all of the weaknesses from the technical and production side.

Of course, these problems do not go away just because of the enormous praise and there were several that continued to exist and persist on the media platform of internet Pay Per View. The third iPPV presentation from ROH and GoFightLive went smoother than the first two efforts, but still had some kinks due to the limitations of the technology, even in 2010. The GoFightLive server crashed for about thirty seconds during the show, forcing a change in server locations. Once that went through there were no additional problems in the transmission of the feed from the server end, although issues in picture flow from the customer’s end depended on their particular internet service, computer power and the type of hi-speed connection they used to surf the web. There were also some moments of audio fuzz early in the broadcast, but that was worked out relatively quickly.

I happened to watch the Black vs. Richards match live, with no problems in reception. However, I encountered a very frustrating issue when watching the rest of the show on replay. The show would stop playing intermittently, perhaps every fifteen-to-twenty minutes or so, for no just cause. The show would be working fine and then it would just stop, thus forcing me to refresh the page and find where I had left off and continue watching again from there. The quality of the performance from the wrestlers and my enjoyment of their efforts buffered the frustration I felt from having to repeatedly reset the video, but it again underscores the very experimental nature of offering shows through this method.

Of course, the video production values were the usual level ROH fans have come to expect (although wish were improved)—which means the particular annoyances like white-lighting and white-washing were still present during many portions of the internet telecast. The ring or commentary microphones were also near one particular female fan, whose high-pitched screams and incomprehensible chants could be heard throughout the show, not just to my annoyance but to many who were there live in Toronto. They heard her and had to put up with her too, and while many fans told her to shut up, she was not listening to them even as they were forced to listen to her.

The iPPV drew higher purchase numbers compared to the previous two shows. While Final Battle 2009 had 1,200 people buying the show and The Big Bang slightly under 1,000, this beat both with an estimated 1,300 to 1,500 buys, plus more to be added with additional purchases of replays given the buzz and attention coming from the world title match and the show as a whole. All told, that would make Death Before Dishonor VIII the most successful internet Pay Per View to-date, albeit far less than even the least successful of the twelve Pay Per View shows produced for cable and satellite television between May 2007 and March 2009. Still, given the low overhead for the iPPV and that they only need about 300 buys for a break-even, there has been some solid profit from this endeavor.

The event did have somewhat of a physical price to pay for the superior match quality from these wrestlers. Christopher Daniels reportedly suffered a ruptured ear drum during his match against Kenny Omega, possibly from a strike sequence late in the match that ended in a massive and well-executed haduken (in that it hit flush and was completely believable as an imposing strike). Daniels has been told by his doctors to take several weeks off from action—but he is still listed on the July 16th and 17th HDNet tapings although not booked for the three house shows later this month. Davey Richards was reported (by Figure Four Weekly’s Bryan Alvarez) to have walked away from his hard-worked title match without any injuries, but rumors have since surfaced of Richards taking some time off due to back problems. He was just scratched from an upcoming New Japan tour and replaced with Kenny Omega. He is still scheduled to wrestle on all ROH events in July.

The show began with Cheech and Cloudy entering ringside for their “scheduled” opening match against The All-Night Express, only for El Generico to come running down to ringside to a massive roar from the fans in attendance. Generico grabbed the mic and called for “Steen! Now!”, in order to begin their hotly anticipated face-off. Steve Corino then made his presence on the stage; telling Generico that wasn’t going to happen and that from now on Steen was a “main-event player”. However, Steen also was hot and ready to fight and he ran past down his own mentor for a head-to-head with Generico. Despite Corino’s attempts to convince Steen to back down, neither he nor Generico could control their anger and they began to pummel each other. The ref called for the bell and the match was on!

It was every bit the hate-filled grudge battle fans expected, with Generico actually dominating most of the match. Generico repeatedly struck with his Ole boots to the face, while Steen tried to punish and humiliate Generico through painful power moves. However, it was Generico who would be the one to use the Sharpshooter on Steen, for a moment of near-submission. Generico surprisingly proved he had the physical upper hand on Steen on this night, but he did not possess Steen’s master intellect. Steen used a distraction to grab a wrench while on the top turnbuckle, hit Generico over the head with it and then brought him crashing down with a Super Ki Krusher-like move for the three-count. Steen positions himself as a world title challenger with the victory, but Generico still looked great in his hard-fought effort. He would also exert a measure of revenge later in the evening.

Cheech and Cloudy DID indeed have their match next, a losing effort against the recently dubbed “All-Night Express” of Kenny King and Rhett Titus. While the match did complete the expected goal of refocusing the push for King and Titus, Cheech and Cloudy were not simply buried. They were given a lot of the early match offense, peaking with synchronized dives to the outside. The crowd was into their act and they were made to be competitive early on so that in the end the match helped both teams and not just one. King had a surprising botch early on when he slipped on the bottom rope at the beginning of his springboard leg drop, a common trademark spot he throws in for most of his matches these days. He knew it and the crowd knew it, but luckily they didn’t have too much time to let him hear it because both teams stepped it up and moved past the mistake. Up in Smoke’s best chance of winning came from their secondary finish, the Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Cheech. However, ANX stopped their attempt to hit the old Quebecers double team finish and hit the Blockbuster powerbomb for a close fall. They then connected with the “One Night Stand”–Demolition Decapitation knee drop for the win.

Delirious brought back the “Red Poison” costume and persona for his match against Austin Aries (a measure of his revenge for Aries having injured him and Daizee Haze on a recent episode of ROH on HDNet) and it paid immediate dividends when he sprayed the ever-dangerous blinding black mist into Aries’ eyes. Aries spent the next several moments blinded and unable to hit any effective offense as a result. The lack of sight was played up very well by Aries, who almost blasted the ref with a brainbuster and needed to go outside and wash his eyes out with play-by-play guy Joe Dombrowski’s water bottle before he could regain his eyesight. The brawl followed out to the barricade and from there the match had a very good rhythm and pace going that followed through to the finish. Unfortunately the ending to the match was a disqualification, which received some pretty audible groans from the audience. King and Titus were banned due to a pre-match stipulation, but they broke that ruling anyway and made their way to ringside, with Titus ultimately attacking Delirious to draw the DQ call. It was probably a three-and-a-quarter star match until then. Delirious attacked King and Titus after the match anyway, culminating in a dive to the outside onto Kenny King.

A decisive finish was sacrificed in the Delirious vs. Aries match in order to continue the issue between these two men, so there will likely be follow-up singles and tag matches throughout the summer. There was enough good action in this one where for me the finish didn’t take away from what had come before. At this point and given the current booking regime of ROH, I have come to accept and expect at least one disqualification, count-out or time-limit draw per show, so when it happens I am not as upset or frustrated as I was last year. Back then these finishes were happening multiple times per show and clearly demonstrated the differences in philosophy between the former and the present booking regime. ROH has dialed down these finishes somewhat since then, although they use them more heavily for their television tapings.

The second-annual Toronto Gauntlet featured a series of five singles matches, some lasting a good ten minutes and others less than thirty seconds. Roderick Strong was the last man in, defeating Colt Cabana quickly after Steve Corino took some cheapshots on him after their match resulted in Cabana winning via roll-up. Strong now has another title match in his back pocket, one outside the new restrictions of the Pick Six rankings list. Under a new rule, Strong has only one more title match with his first place ranking on the Pick Six after losing to Black at Supercard of Honor V. Now should he lose that match he could always decide to use this one and return to title contention. Interestingly, Tyler Black used a non-Pick 6 title shot (stemming from his Survival of the Fittest 2009 tournament win) to challenge then-champion Aries at Final Battle, but was then able to use his Pick Six ranking to gain one more title opportunity at 8th Anniversary Show, which he then won.

Earlier in the Gauntlet match Eddie Edwards and Tyson Dux put in some good time on the wrestling mat, which was a continuation of their battle against each other the previous night in Buffalo, New York. The reaction for the hometown man in Dux was surprisingly mixed early on, with just as many cheering on Edwards to win. However, the reaction for Dux’s comeback was a more partisan response. While Dux shows fine wrestling ability, in my opinion he is actually in the same position that Edwards was a few years back—technically solid and capable of putting on a good match, but lacking a defining character trait that makes him easily recognizable and relatable. The “textbook” nickname really doesn’t do it for me, and his look and body frame is oddly reminiscent of Billy Gunn, so that puts me off even further. Still, there’s potential there and I don’t see much harm in using him for the Canada tours.

Dux eliminated Edwards with a small package after a solid wrestling match, but then Shawn Daivari attacked almost immediately. Dux would make the comeback again but would fall to Nana’s interference on the outside. When Nana tried once again to become physically involved, Dux punched him and knocked him off the apron. Then in a finish lifted right out of Wrestlemania V, Nana would trip Dux and held his feet down while Daivari pinned him. I always liked that finish despite the flaw that the man who was being pinned could just roll up their shoulders and break the pin that way. Colt Cabana was in and within seconds made Daivari submit to the Billy Goat’s Curse reverse Boston Crab. The anticipated encounter with Steve Corino didn’t last much longer. It was down to Strong and Cabana when something seemed to go wrong and Strong came up limping. They quickly audibled to Strong distracting the referee so that his new “life coach” Truth Martini could hit Cabana with “The Book of Truth” (pretty hard too—that thing must be like, four or five-hundred pages) and Strong would capitalize and pin him, thus winning the entire series. On the newest video-wire, it was made clear that Strong did not see Truth hit Cabana with the book from behind, perhaps creating a plot point that Strong is being duped and manipulated into trusting Truth while not necessarily understanding there are underhanded tactics being used to help him win. How Strong reacts to learning that information may determine whether he returns to face status or if he accepts such help and falls deeper into being a heel.

ROH went to intermission at this point, running a series of video packages and vignettes that had already run on the HDNet show, but were used very well here to push the top three grudges and especially the upcoming tag and world title matches. However, there was a very interesting angle that ran during this time.

ROH cut back to the live feed in-between the video packages to show that El Generico had picked a fight with Kevin Steen and was bringing him back to ringside during the intermission. Generico had the complete upper-hand during this fracas and would not be stopped by referees or stagehands. In an angle just “vaguely” reminiscent of the Bryan Danielson-Justin Roberts tie choking incident from WWE Raw, Generico would grab ring announcer Bobby Cruise’s tie (whose color is always of great import to the ROH message board) and used it to choke the life out of his former partner and now bitter enemy. Generico could not be stopped or controlled during this moment, which was definitely not PG.

I thought this was a very cleverly done angle and served as both a tip of the hat to a Ring of Honor alumni as well as a great “next step” in the Generico vs. Steen feud. This was a “Blink and You’ll Miss It” moment and if the person was away from the computer live or skipped this section during the replay (luckily anyone who ordered the show retains the rights to watch it for as long or for however many times he or she desires).

Christopher Daniels versus Kenny Omega was a first-time ever combination, but it would be hard pressed to tell. Their match was even better than expected with their similar in-ring styles meshing well and leading to several fantastic exchanges of athleticism. Both men worked really hard and it paid off with a heated crowd response that went nuts both for Daniels’ technique and agility as well as the homecountry boy Omega and his fast paced offense. Some highlights included Daniels using the headlock to work the early moments of the match, while Omega looked to use the haduken and Daniels sidestepping out of the way. I liked that Dombrowski explained and defended the use of the move as a legitimate martial arts palm strike, because while it’s silly to believe that a blue orb of energy could emerge from the power of Omega’s blow, it certainly did look legitimately devastating when he connected with it flush to Daniels’ jaw later on in the bout.

Then an entertaining little moment occurred when Omega went for his running moonsault from in the ring to the outside and Daniels stopped it by…slapping him in the ass. Well I don’t exactly think that’s what he was going for, but it worked nonetheless. Daniels then used a devastating looking neckbreaker with Omega hanging from the top turnbuckle down to the ring apron. Essentially Daniels worked the back and neck to work towards a win, including using a cool looking Arabian Press to Omega’s back and converting it right into a crossface. Later on he would use a STO into a Koji Clutch to tease a submission. Meanwhile, Omega tried to get back in the game by using the ropes for leverage for lucha passes and springboards, but Daniels proved he could play that too. During the match he had a beautiful judo evasion as well as a leg roll to separate himself from Omega. There was a really fun tease of a Super Angels Wings, which would have been basically the same as CM Punk’s old top rope Pepsi Plunge. It’s been years since anyone landed that move in ROH, so it would have been a very nice moment to happen, but Omega reversed out of it by back body-dropping Daniels to the mat. Daniels would eventually win by stultifying an Omega rush with an STO and running up to hit the picture perfect Best Moonsault Ever for the pinfall. Just a really fun match that was easy to watch and enjoy.

Announcers Dave Prazak and Joe Dombrowski teased throughout the evening that The Briscoes were being held up at the Canadian border and that there were rumors they would not make the show to fight The Kings of Wrestling for the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Though credible sources such as the Wrestling Observer cited this story as legitimate, it also seems highly coincidental that ROH would use the story to play a psych-out on the champions, as The Kings were bamboozled by a Briscoes sneak attack through the crowd. This also played up the previous trouble that both Mark Briscoe and Roderick Strong experienced the last time ROH held a show in Canada (Epic Encounter III in March), when they were both not allowed to cross the border. Regardless of whether or not the story was legitimate or trumped up, The Briscoes did make it to the show this time around.

The resulting title match was a bloody brawl that was just as great if not better than their previous iPPV title match back at The Big Bang. That match was more of a back-and-forth athletic contest, but this one upped the intensity and had a more dramatic build. The Briscoes trounced The Kings early on, gaining righteous payback for Chris Hero elbowing their father. They made Hero bleed buckets—a five-alarm crimson mask just slightly less disgusting than Jay Briscoe’s epic bloodletting back during At Our Best in 2004. Actually, by the end of the match, both Jay and Mark would be busted open and sporting horrific and bloody faces as well. Then Hero and Claudio turned the tide, thanks to help from Shane Hagadorn. They pulled Jay Briscoe outside and tied him with a rope to the turnbuckle post. Mark Briscoe was then isolated and easy prey for a two-on-one attack from the champions, though unfortunately the camera did miss some of the double teams while switching back-and-forth from the ring to the outside where Jay was struggling to break free. The cameras did catch a nice Doomsday European Uppercut Device from The Kings, a take-off of The Briscoes’ patented finisher and a nice little “F you” to their rivals. Finally, the referee found a knife and was able to free Jay in time for the big comeback, which included blinding both Hero and Claudio with a fire extinguisher in a cool looking spot.

There were plenty of crazy moments during this match, including when Mark took a hubcap—a hubcap(!)—from a fan in the crowd and just absolutely crushed Claudio in the face—it just about splintered into pieces. That was a huge mark out moment in a match full of them. Even more jaw dropping would be when The Briscoes tried to biel Claudio through a table and instead he landed on his feet and stuck the landing—I mean, picture perfect 10.0 from the German judge in the Summer Olympics. The Briscoes double shoulderblocked him into the tables anyway to a huge pop from the crowd who was with this one every step of the way. The Briscoes tried for the Doomsday Device and became distracted by Hagadorn, so they nailed him with the move instead. However, that momentary diversion was enough for The Kings to get themselves back on track. Hero took out the loaded elbow pad and used it on Jay, who barely kicked out. Then Hero and Claudio used the combination big swing and dropkick, but with Hero using the loaded elbow pad on his foot. Jay couldn’t recover from that and the pinfall was secured. The champions retained the titles in their second and most important defense of the title.

After all of that, Davey Richards helped Tyler Black achieve a very lofty goal—and it wasn’t just wrestling the “match of the year”, no. Together they changed the minds of many in the Ring of Honor fan base regarding Black’s role as ROH World Champion. He may have finally gained acceptance from many skeptics both online and live in attendance that he was a worthy selection for champion. They took a crowd that was as vociferous in their support of Richards to win and become “next world champ” as they were loud and clear about their dislike for Black and by the end of the match had them thanking both men for their tremendous athletic efforts and even giving Black kudos for wrestling a great match. When Richards took the microphone after the match and declared “Now you’re a champion” about Black, it was almost as if many of the fans took their cue from Richards and began to give Black more credit for what he had been doing the last several months as champion, and for what he has the potential yet to accomplish for his current title run.

The match itself was an instant wrestling classic—both men using the very best of their strengths as professional wrestlers to create a thirty-five minute breathtaking ride. It started with technical wrestling exchanges, with Richards looping around Black and tying him up in various stretches and holds, but Black holding his own and reversing out of them. Pretty soon though the match developed into a battle of survival, each ramping up the offense with more powerful strikes. Several volleys of slaps and kicks from Richards were flat-out disgusting in their intensity and full-on contact with Black’s body. The high-risk / high-reward aerial offense also played a role, with Richards losing big on a suicide dive, while Black rolled the dice and missed with a Phoenix Splash, but then scored with a jumping double stomp off the top rope to the outside late in the match.

An interesting little side story told was the involvement of Richards’ manager Shane Hagadorn. Richards had told Hagadorn and tag partner Eddie Edwards during the contract signing for the match that both should stay away and let Richards prove he was the better man on his own. Hagadorn did not seem pleased with these instructions at the time. About three-quarters of the way through the match he made his way to ringside with a chair in hand. Richards saw Hagadorn about to smash Black with the chair on the outside (and this would have caused a disqualification loss). Richards rolled out of the ring to tell him to back off. He snatched the chair, but was too slow to drop it and Black caught him with a Van-Daminator-esque superkick with the chair to the head. Richards was never the same and Black soon smothered him with high impact offense. Richards was able to withstand a bucklebomb and superkick combination and even a God’s Last Gift. However Black unleashed a new variant of his patented finisher, a wrist clutch God’s Last Gift and that would be just enough devastation to put Richards away. Seconds after the crowd cat-called Black with chants of “you can’t beat him”, Black proved that he could.

I enjoyed damn near everything about this match. There was such awesome effort from both men combined with great presentation from the commentators, particularly Prazak and Dombrowski. I did take exception to some of Jim Cornette’s carnival barker overhype of ROH during the match, but I guess that is his job. I also didn’t like or agree with what he said at the end about how Tyler couldn’t buy respect from the Toronto fans when clearly they had the turned the corner on him after the match and were giving him a standing ovation. Then again, Cornette cracked me up with the comment about how Todd Sinclair looked like he was about give birth or have a heart attack, so it may just be a wash.

So was this a five-star match? 411Mania writers Scott Slimmer and Aaron Hubbard seem to believe so, though I’m torn. It’s technically not a perfect match since Davey dropped Tyler on his first attempt at stealing the Bucklebomb, but that just sounds like an overly critical nitpick. Honestly, I wish there was a four and four-fifths stars, because it’s that close. I do believe its ROH Match of the Year for sure at this point, not to mention its certainly worth the purchase to see it as well as the rest of the show, whether it’s through replays at GoFightLive or on DVD. More importantly, this entire night was fantastic wrestling entertainment that once again demonstrated that Ring of Honor is at its very best when it focuses on letting the wrestling tell the big story and having everything else follow.


Counting down my personal favorite wrestlers and moments of the past week in wrestling:

1. Ricky Steamboat: It’s unfortunate to hear that “The Dragon” suffered some sort of illness, originally reported as a brain aneurysm (although this has been denied by Jim Ross) this past week. He has been hospitalized and has a long road to recovery ahead, but the upside is that he will be able to recover. Unofficially this event was not connected to the Nexus / NXT attack on him and the other WWE Legends on this past Monday’s episode of WWE Raw, but it’s difficult not to think that was the case given the timing. I actually just finished watching the documentary portion of the new Ricky Steamboat DVD and he comes across as such a nice guy, as much as he portrayed one on television throughout the last four decades. In 2004 when he did the angle with CM Punk in ROH, there were always the hope that he would wrestle an “official” match against him, but it was enough to see their several exchanges of chops, punches and armdrags. It was a big thrill to see him live at At Our Best, taking it to Punk, just as I’m sure everyone in attendance during Reborn: Completion that July thrilled to see Steamboat do his flying body press off the top. It was a privilege to see him come back for several matches in WWE last year and it was certainly a celebration of what he meant to wrestling as much as it showed he was still “The Dragon” in heart and mind. However, the body does eventually fail all athletes and I’m hoping this was a wake-up call for him not to participate in any more physical angles while serving as a WWE agent. Here’s hoping for the best for his recovery.

2. Jushin Liger vs. El Generico (PWG Kurt Russellmania): Just got around to watching this Pro Wrestling Guerrilla event from this past January and I was most looking forward to this match on a night filled with many guest stars such as Rob Van Dam and The Great Muta. Liger still holds up very well for his age and Generico worked hard to use his speed and impact to make the fans believe he could defeat Liger.

3. Christian & Matt Hardy on the Peep Show: Given the history between these two and their history with ladder matches, it didn’t take too much for their segment on Smackdown to reek of awesomeness. Drew McIntrye is sidelined for the short term due to his work visa issues and Christian has seemingly made it through his mini-feud against Dolph Ziggler, so why not have these two mix it up as a way to build the WWE Money in the Bank Pay Per View?

4. Velvet Sky: I attended the Brooklyn Cyclones game at MCU Field last week where Sky was there to sign autographs and promote last night’s first-ever TNA house show in Brooklyn. She also threw the first pitch of the game-a deadly strike right up the middle. Apparently Sky was quite the softball player back in the day. Of course, not too many families and children in the stands knew who she was, with the exception of just one particularly loud (and perhaps boozy) fan (not me) who shouted out for her. There’s always one in every crowd, don’t you know. Team 3-D also did a similar signing at a game a few days before the show, but no word on if they put the BC mascot Sandy through a table.

5. Kaval and “Showtime” Percy Watson: There was a look of sheer joy after Kaval won the six-man tag on NXT and when each was revealed as first and second place on the NXT Pros & Fans poll. I couldn’t help but think that each man had definitely worked hard enough over the last few weeks to deserve that moment.

BONUS! ANTI-FAVE 1—Ashley Valence: I was thinking horrible thoughts within thirty seconds of listening to her on NXT giving the most obviously scripted speech in the worst “I’m reading off a script” tone of voice. It sounded condescending, annoying and most of all, fake. Luckily I just changed the channel so I could avoid most of the remainder of it, but clicked back just in time for Michael Cole to remark he wished she could be voted off the show. I agree.


As of 07/03/10


ROH World Champion: Tyler Black (champion since 02/13/10, 6 successful defenses)

defeated Austin Aries on February 13th, 2010 in New York, NY to win the championship.

Next Defense: vs. Kevin Steen (Chicago Ridge, IL on 07/24/10)

–Tyler Black defeated Austin Aries & Roderick Strong in a Triple Threat Match in Phoenix, AZ on 3/27/10
–Tyler Black defeated Austin Aries & Roderick Strong in a Triple Threat Match in Charlotte, NC on 4/3/10
–Tyler Black defeated Kenny King in Dayton, OH on 4/23/10
–Tyler Black defeated Chris Hero in Chicago Ridge, IL on 4/24/10
–Tyler Black defeated Roderick Strong in New York, NY on 5/8/10
–Tyler Black defeated Davey Richards in Toronto, Ontario on 6/19/10

ROH World Tag Team Champions: The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) (champions since 04/03/10, 2 successful defenses)

defeated The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) on April 3rd, 2010 in Charlotte, NC to win the championship.

Next Defense: vs. TBD

–Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin by DQ after The Briscoes interfered in New York, NY on 5/8/10
–Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in a No DQ Match in Toronto, Ontario on 6/19/10


ROH World Television Champion: Eddie Edwards (champion since 03/05/10, 2 successful defenses)

defeated Davey Richards in the finals of the HDNet Tournament on March 5th, 2010 in New York, NY to win the championship.

Next Defense: vs. TBD

–Eddie Edwards defeated Colt Cabana in Philadelphia, PA on 3/6/10
–Eddie Edwards defeated Petey Williams in Mississauga, Ontario on 3/20/10

Pick 6 Series

Rankings as of: 06/22/10

1. Roderick Strong
2. Christopher Daniels
3. Kevin Steen
4. Chris Hero
5. Davey Richards
6. Kenny King

The Pick 6 Series matches scheduled for July are as follows:
July 22 – Louisville, KY
(4) Chris Hero vs. Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana

July 24 – Chicago Ridge, IL
(1) Roderick Strong with Truth Martini vs. Austin Aries

“ROSLER”

Much better Tyler.


-Ring of Honor is bringing back “Tag Wars” for 2010, but this year it’s more than just one show, rather a series of matches spread out through several upcoming events. The ultimate goal would be to push one or more team up the ranks to challenge The Kings of Wrestling for the ROH World Tag Team Titles, as there doesn’t seem to be an immediate and obvious challenger for the belts following The Briscoes loss at the iPPV. Although the format of such a series (whether it’s a tournament or rankings system or just a sequence of matches) has yet to be announced or explained, the concept is beginning with the Chicago show on July 24th with four tag team matches including Generi-COLT vs. American Wolves and the All-Night Express vs. Jerry Lynn & Delirious.

Pick Your Poison DVD –April 23rd, 2010 Thoughts

Sami Callahan vs. Metal Master: Learning the story behind the Metal Master mask—given to him by Great Sasuke and Jinsei Shinzaki (Hakushi)—actually is pretty cool and lends some credibility to the outfit. I just wish ROH had mentioned that fact in the first place when reporting he would be coming in on the newswire. Callahan looks thinner and more muscular on this go around—good for him for getting into better shape, even more so than his initial weight loss (you can definitely tell the difference from his matches on the independents several years ago compared to his first run in ROH and now this set of appearances). Both work really hard and provide some fun back-and-forth action, which should be the hallmark of an effective opening contest. Dombrowski on commentary once again begins to annoy me, comparing Sami Callahan’s lariat ability to Stan “The Lariat” Hansen—trouble is I don’t think he was being facetious about it. The final moment gets just a tad sloppy as they lose grasp and over-rotate on some rollups, but they get it back together without much trouble and Metal Master wins with a roll-up clutch. I know I’ve seen someone else in past ROH history use that move, I just wish I could place my finger on it. Dombrowski annoys me again with an out-of-nowhere put down of Callahan as a “piece of garbage.” Geez, I know he was the heel in the match, but he honestly didn’t do anything warranting that kind of comment. What did he do, rob Dombrowski outside the building?

The Embassy of Shawn “I’m an American” Daivari & Erick “I have a Mohawk again” Stevens against Skullkrusher Rasche Brown & Necro Butcher: This is the expected brawl around the ring match, although it’s far more spirited and lively than other Embassy vs. Necro bouts we’ve seen over the past year or so. There’s also a decent amount of psychology as the heels attack the established injured body parts of the faces—Necro’s knee (which was a point of attack for The Embassy going way back to the beginning of the feud) and the ribs of Rasche Brown (taped up but never really explained how they were injured). Brown wins the match for his team with his flipping spear. I wonder if he can add a flipping jackhammer to his repertoire and then go on an undefeated streak. Necro wants to do his running sideslam into the two chairs on Nana, but Stevens targets the knee again and then he, Nana and Daivari run roughshod over the Student Spirit Squad. Stevens powerbombs Necro on the back of those two chairs, thus putting him out of action. Daivari actually shows a bit of charisma when he flashes a wide and bright smile of evil glory for hurting Necro. Dumb Dombrowski comment number three: Necro’s body “gave into the elements.” So, what, he was fighting snow and hail in this tag match?

Chris Hero (3) vs. Petey Williams: No promo for Petey, which makes me a happy man. Williams looks really good in the ring on this one, which makes me think that the less he speaks on a DVD, the better he wrestles. Williams hurricanranas and moves that involve motion and momentum really shine here, and Hero is of course his great Hero self—makes it so easy you sometimes forget all the effort he puts into these matches. Score one for Dombrowski when he mentions a great point that Willilams, the smaller wrestler of the two, has to strike from upwards and that dilutes the damage being done, thus Williams should want to avoid a strike-for-strike strategy.

American Wolves vs. Dark City Fight Club received a lot of hype and fan acclaim in the days after the Dayton event. This was one of those matches where I wasn’t so impressed in the beginning of watching it, wondering what all the hype was about, and then half-way through the match just kicks into gear and doesn’t let go. By the end of it I could definitely see why it had people buzzing. It’s certainly one of Dark City Fight Club’s better efforts in ROH. Eddie Edwards also more than proved why he is getting the extra attention. I do have to criticize the Wolves at the beginning for being just a little fast and loose on their punches and boots, but the double teams at the ends, including coordinated kicks and the throw alarm clock—are all on-target. I loved the reversal of Project Mayhem—Eddie Edwards uses the momentum of the throwing motion that begins the move and turns it into a hurricanrana, at the same time Richards clears Davis with a German Suplex. The lead-up to the finish, with Richards assisting Edwards in working on the leg and knee was very smart as was the finish with Richards using the flying headbutt as Edwards uses the Achilles Lock to put the final touch on the match. I don’t think the match cleared four stars (probably just under it), but it certainly continues the trend of really good matches on the disc. Halfway through and as expected, this is looking like one of the better Dayton shows in quite a while.

There goes another jealous boyfriend freaking out about Titus giving his girl the fake hotel key card—although now that it’s happened twice I am becoming somewhat suspicious that this guy in particular was a plant. Anyway, I absolutely adored the first half of Austin Aries & Rhett Titus versus The House of Truth. This is the second heel vs. heel team match the House of Truth are involved with in ROH—the first coming against Titus & Kenny King on an episode of HDNet. The idea of the heels trying to out-heel each other is a lot of fun in my opinion, although the Dayton crowd didn’t share that thought because they were mostly unresponsive during this match with the lone exception of light cheering for Austin Aries. I’d have to interpret it that the audience didn’t want to see a more “thematic” match like this, preferring to see a more physical type of match on this night as evidenced by their extra attention and reception to the Wolves vs. DCFC right before and Generico vs. Strong right afterwards. When heels fight each other, the crowd is supposed to pick which one they hate the least and which one they’d like to see get some just deserts, but I don’t think they wanted to do that at all here. That’s a shame, because all men involved included Truth Martini were very game in the beginning to do just that-out-tricking the other teams with misdirections, false claims of pulling the hair, true claims of pulling the tights, back rakery, choking behind the refs back, etc. It was very entertaining, if not very crisply executed. The match gets ugly and falls apart in the end, as Aries and Able especially seem to be on the wrong page and struggle to get through their interaction. That’s a shame as well, because if there was follow through to end this could have ended up becoming a very well-remembered comedy match. The best moment comes when Aries, through some Rube Goldbergian maneuvering, accidentally puts the brainbuster on Titus. The House of Truth pulls out the mild upset win with a pinfall over Titus.

If you want to see extra-hard chops, painful backbreakers and mind-blowing transitions into gutbusters, then El Generico versus Roderick Strong is the match for you. This is the best match of the show thus far, with Strong unleashing on Generico and the crowd pulling for the masked luchador to take it and fight back, which he does very well late in the game. Before then though, Strong has an incredibly painful looking backbreaker on the guardrail outside, leaving a huge discoloration and pockmark on Generico’s back for the rest of the match. That very real physical effect actually helped add to the psychology of Strong working the back through his impact moves as well as looking for the submission with the Stronghold. Funniest out of context quote of the show has to go to Strong, who yells at a downed Generico: “Colt Cabana said you had balls, show them to me.” Well then. Generico roars back with the expected boots and spinning DDTs. Generico’s flip dropkick looks especially damaging since Strong sits up on it and the boots smack him higher up than it would usually hit for that move. Strong manages to drop my jaw and pop the crowd like crazy with a wicked, never-before-seen (at least for me) suplex release variation of into the double knee gutbuster. Seriously amazing. Strong wins it with a deadly combination of press gutbuster, Gibson Driver and Sick Kick (TM Brad Garoon).

The Dayton crowd is conflicted—they chant “Next World Champ” for Strong, but that’s the third guy they have shouted that for tonight including Hero and Richards. So which one is it?

Afterwards, Generico wants a handshake, and while Strong gives it to him, it’s just as Steen and Corino run from the stage to the ring for the ambush. Strong does NOT help Generico. He just hops out of the ring and walks to the back, claiming he is only out for himself now. Steen and Corino mock Generico for daring to show up at an ROH event without Cabana there as back-up, but The Briscoes run down to put a stop to any further damage as well as to provide the transition into their scheduled match against Steen and Corino. Dombrowski, who was getting back on my good side throughout the last several matches, once again irks me when he says “fortunately another poison has been introduced into the equation.” So, poison would be a good thing then?

The Briscoes start it off with a really intense brawl through the crowd—I imagine for Steen and Corino this will be to help put over the kind of chaos they will be getting involved in the next night in the Chicago Street Fight. it’s been a while since there’s been a whole bunch of chair demolition, but Steen goes through rows of chairs twice in the span of five minutes, including one time being bieled by the Briscoes into a string of four lined-up all in a row. Corino spends a lot of time on Mark’s leg and its sold very well (sometimes The Briscoes can be iffy on that, but here they really did justice to it-which helped in the lead in to the hot tag). Insane Steen moment of the match: biting Mark Briscoe’s knees. I know that kids are sometimes called “Knee-biters”, but I never knew that it could be taken literally until now. The finish is The Briscoes looking for the Springboard Doomsday but Steen cuts off Mark and Corino rolls up Briscoe and hooks the tights for three. I really enjoyed this one as well.

There is someone in the crowd with some sort of bucket on his head and another person who is dressed up as Paul Heyman Jr., New York Yankees hat, blazer suit with no tie, VIP pass on his neck and all. STRANGE OHIO PEOPLE. Steve Cook, what is it with wrestling fans in your state?

There’s this weird mixture of interest and apathy that combines in the ROH World Title match as Black gets a mixed to dulled reaction in the opening moments of this match, but so does King. All due credit to both Kenny King and Tyler Black though, as they are able to bring the crowd up several notches in interest and volume by the half-way point due to their athleticism and tenacity and they keep them going through to the finish with some really well-done sequences and near-falls. There’s quite a bit of technical chain wrestling to start the match, which I always appreciate. There are also several clever moments where King and Tyler stop each other‘s offense, staying one step ahead of the other. Black WAY overshoots on a top con hilo outside, but it’s not to the detriment of the overall match. Some very smart roll-ups at the end are also fun to see, including King being caught holding onto the ropes for one of them, being kicked off and into a sunset flip. Dombrowski channels Joey Styles on a God’s Last Gift kick-out. SIGH. They bring back some of the more athletic spin-outs and transitions into the F5 and Royal Fliush from their previous matches. Black overwhelms him with major impact offense, using a double stomp and the Paroxysm. Then there’s a very cool reversal sequence as Black plants his feet as King rolls away from the Phoenix, King tries for the Double Knees but Black catches him in mid-leap and rushes him into the turnbuckle for the Buckle Bomb and a superkick attempt is spun away from into a rotating kick. NICE. King gets a VERY (and I mean VERY) close call with The Coronation (Burning Hammer variant). Black does his excellent superplex into God’s Last Gift sequence for another very close two and again Dombrowski channels Styles. RRRRRRR. Superkick to the head and that’s it for three. That was a really nice defense that put over both the champion and challenger to close a very high quality show. VERY RECOMMENDED.

Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2 DVD –April 24rd, 2010 Thoughts

Rasche Brown vs. Sami Callahan: Apparently “The Last House on the Left” now has a hometown—”South New Jersey”. Yeah I know of that place, sounds appropriate enough. Then again “Gary, Indiana” doesn’t send shivers down my spine like South Jersey does. Kidding folks, kidding. Maybe. Really enjoyed this one—shouted “wow” a couple times at the volume of the hard shots and some of the more impressive moves. I was surprised with just how physical this match was—Sami threw down some big chops to the face and mid-section (where Rasche still wore his protective wrap) whereas Brown took every opportunity to chuck Sami around the ring. There was a massive chokeslam throw at one point where Sami took some serious air. The crowd was very into this one as a result of the hard work and effort from both men. I’d love to see Sami continue to be featured in the undercard of ROH shows—it seems he’s really worked hard to get in shape and has improved even more than before. I think that hard work should be rewarded. Rasche gets a massive snapping BURNING HAMMER for three—probably the best one I’ve seen from him in ROH.

Dark City Fight Club vs. Bravado Brothers: Lord let this one be quick, for the sake of The Bravados anyway. Joe and Dave spend some time apologizing and rationalizing The Bravados existence here, which endears both of them to me greatly. Bravados do stick it out longer than expected, but mostly are shut down or no sold whenever they attempt offense. Jon Davis look of “are you kidding me?” after a chop is very entertaining to me. One Bravado is feeling very suicidal and slaps Jon Davis in the mush. Points for chutzpah, none for intelligence. Davis proceeds to kill him with the rotating powerslam, sliding knee strike and then HELLACIOUS HEADBUTTS which forces the referee to stop the match. An act of mercy, really. DCFC hit Project Mayhem on Other Bravado to drive the point home even more.

Eddie Edwards vs. Metal Master: This is a non-TV Title match. It’s enjoyable enough, good wrestling and a good showcase for both men, though Metal Master isn’t as on-point with his some of his stuff as he was on the last show against Callahan. I do continue to like his twists on the bulldog and DDT. He also gets a wicked hammerlock crossface that is very impressive. Other than that, there’s not much else to comment. Edwards wins after counter a powerbomb into the Achilles Lock, dragging Master back to the ring and putting the knee to the back. Master taps out.

The House of Truth vs. Erick Stevens & Daivari: This is now the third heel vs. heel tag match involving The House of Truth—puzzling decision, but I’ve enjoyed the first two, so hopefully this one entertains as well for similar reasons. Nana tosses water at a fan or something, whatever it was it pops the crowd something fierce as he gets a full blown “Nana chant” for the first time since he brought back The Embassy. Some more fun out heel the heel moments, particularly from The House, well at least until Nana pulled Raymond off the ropes after an attempted springboard. Actually, this one is far more physical and well executed compared to the Aries and Titus match and the Chicago crowd is far more into the heel-heel dynamic, playing along with it and popping for both the action and Nana’s verbal taunts. Truth Martini is surprisingly tepid for this one and while he reacts to seeing his men having the advantage or disadvantage, I wish he was more involved against Nana on the outside of the ring. Just like the match with Aries and Titus though, the match seems to become a bit too sloppy in the end, and then my awaited Nana and Martini face-off is just a bit ill-timed. The ref stops the action and rules the match a DQ win for Daivari and Stevens, as Martini does a tilt a whirl headscissors right in front of the ref. Yeah, it was pretty blatant.

Pick 6: Roderick Strong (1) vs. Davey Richards (4): Yeah, this pretty much ruled. They tear each other apart pretty much right from the start, showing each other, well, no remorse. Yeah, I went there. Now I watched this match after Richards vs. Black from Death Before Dishonor VIII and its worthy of note the similarity of some of the technical sequences early on in this one were used for that iPPV match. Although Richards and Black probably outdid Richards and Strong here and this is remarkable given the quality of the sequences here. The chains and escapes early on get a very sizable pop from the crowd, who are supportive the whole way through. Strong uses a high-angle DDT on the floor, draping Richards from the ropes and planting him down in a beautifully hideous moment. Richards’ best attack moments come in his slap volleys and his combination of kicks that plaster Strong in his thigh, mid-section and head. Deadly. The turning point comes when Richards attempts his suicide flip dive into the crowd, but Strong evades and Richards not only whiffs, but his back hits the metal edge of the guardrail on the way down. Good lord that looked sick. Hopefully he won’t take that kind of bump off that dive too often. Richards barely beats a dramatic twenty-count (as much as I hate the count-out finish is how much I love the dramatic tease of a count-out finish, especially how its executed in ROH). Strong takes advantage by working on the back and cranking on the Stronghold. Richards comes roaring back late in the match and has Strong reeling with some more kick combinations, then a massive knockout kick to the head, but the bell rings signaling the twenty-minute draw. Damn it. This match was rocking and with a clean finish would have landed in the top ten for the year, but as is no doubt is one of the upper-echelon bouts for both men in 2010. I like that Richards expects Strong to approve of five more minutes, but his expectations are seriously dismantled when Strong acts selfishly and denies the OT. The fans were into both men during this match, but Strong denying the extra time turns him in front of this crowd and continues his downward spiral to another trip towards heeldom.

Rhett Titus vs. Petey Williams: A much better match than anticipated, as once again my thoughts are confirmed that no talking from Petey leads to a good match. Dombrowski wins me back with his Abbott and Costello reference and for bobbing and weaving Dave Prazak’s attempt to box him into a corner regarding comments about Rhett Titus and Austin Aries’ relationship. Titus gets the win with a counter off a sunset flip powerbomb attempt, using the ropes as leverage to block a bridge-up from Williams for the three.

Austin Aries & Kenny King vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe: Aries cut a promo before the match saying he heard that Jay and Mark had drunk too much last night and gotten into a fight in the parking lot. Jay & Mark use that to set up Aries and King, hitting each other inadvertently and getting testy about it…then, ambushing them from behind. I liked that when Jay sends Aries into King’s groin Aries comes up selling one of his eyes. Think about it for a second, I’m sure you’ll get it. Mark’s redneck-fu is particularly entertaining this time around, as his shouts of “waahhhhh” while hitting both Aries and King were hilarious. Also had a hell of a double DDT there. Dombrowski is now FULLY back in my good graces with his “Shades of Haku” reference. WIN! King’s inadvertent Royal Flush on Aries is also amazing. GREAT moment of smarts and thinking for The Briscoes! The follow it up with the Doomsday Device on Aries for the win. A really fun tag match right there-I think I’ll be remembering this one at the end of the year. Afterwards it looks like Aries, King and Titus are going to be the ones breaking up, but they all make up in the end, the old Midnight Express trick that fans also saw in New York City back at Supercard of Honor V.

ROH World Title: Tyler Black vs. Chris Hero: Hero is at his most impressive and most imposing in a match when he combined his knock-out elbows or kicks with some downright virulent trash-talking. In this match he not only immediately hits the flash kick when Tyler barely makes a twenty-count, but then while whupping Black he repeatedly calls out “I’m not Bryan Danielson…boy! I’m not Austin Aries…boy!” as to differentiate himself from other wrestlers Black had previously bested in the ring. It makes Black’s comeback even more compelling when he dumps Hero out of the ring and hits the flip dive. While the crowd is mixed but leaning partial to Hero in the beginning of the match (though Black does not get booed when introduced as the champ and raising the belt), they get behind Black more and more as the match wears on (that’s become a bit of a pattern as of late). Hero brings back the CRAVATE for this one, using it as a submission and then as a Cravate Crusher for a very close fall. Excellent finish sees Black block the Deathblow with a Pele, then superkicking Shane off the apron, superkicking Hero and then getting the God’s Last Gift for three. Ultimately an emotional, passionate and compelling title defense here from Black, as he shows a ton of edge and attitude early on and then brains (luring Hero in on some of his trademark sequences and then tweaking them) and heart (withstanding some powerful shots) late in the match. His post-match celebration also has plenty of energy and fire. Much kudos to Black for this one—he didn’t just look like the champion, he acted like one too. Also of note is Dombrowski is flat out awesome with his call during this one—he definitely gets it right here as both Hero and Black go toe-to-toe in the closing moments. This one may get lost amid the buzz of Black vs. Richards, but it certainly helps add to the value of this DVD purchase.

“Come As You Are” Chicago Street Fight: El Generico & Colt Cabana vs. Kevin Steen & Steve Corino: There were several times when I leapt out of my seat for this one, or shouted “wow”, or just screamed. When a match gets those kinds of reactions from me, there’s no doubt about its quality, but this one isn’t just about being a great wrestling match; this is a wrestling war. It’s by far the most-hardcore ROH has been since Ladder War 2 in September 2009. By the end of this match, Corino is a freaking bloody mess; Steen has been busted open, Cabana too. People have gone through tables, double stacked tables, taken chair shots in the head and even one on the ass (from Cabana to Steen), been run into chairs, suplexed onto chairs, run down, run over, driven headfirst through ladders, ole kicked to hell and maybe even had a kitchen sink thrown at them (my head was turned for half a second, so it is possible).

The little touches at the beginning also go a long way, like Corino wearing an all-white suit (because he has been shown wearing a suit on HDNet, but also because red-on-white looks even more brutal) and Generico pacing back and forth while waiting for Cabana to accompany him down to the ring. Steen is just as violent and repugnant as ever, from taunting Cabana with his own chant to biting Generico in a very naughty place.

My mouth was wide open when Generico used the scaffolding structure as his own personal jungle gym, running into and through it to deliver his swinging DDT onto Corino, both landing on the arena floor. Then Generico swiftly bounds up the scaffold to do one-on-one battle against his former tag partner. The fans go apoplectic. Then Steen flat out kills him with a Michinoku Driver on the wooden palette-the heavy thunk sound can be heard by everyone. Those are but two of the sickening yet riveting moments of this tag brawl, but perhaps the sickest one involves Corino jabbing Cabana in the head with a broken beer bottle. That and what follows in the seconds afterwards from Corino and then Steen probably amounts to the craziest, most out-there moment in ROH this year. It’s definitely not PG.

The finish involves Corino, head entrenched in a baseball bat spooled with barbed wire, with Generico standing above him and holding a steel chair. I’ll let you use your imagination and connect the dots.

This is a must-see match for any Ring of Honor fan, no doubt about it. It will go down as one of the most memorable matches of the year. Moreover, this tag team fight is as important as the first singles Steen vs. Generico match that took place last week at Death Before Dishonor VIII. I’d actually recommend anyone who purchases this DVD to watch the match without commentary, just like the old school days when Gabe Sapolsky or whoever was doing commentary would duck out to let the match speak for itself. It makes the action that unfolds even more dramatic.


That’s it for this week’s edition, thanks for reading!

BROOKLYN!
–Ari–

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Ari Berenstein

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