Wrestling’s 4R’s PPV Edition 1.20.08: ROH Undeniable 2008
Posted by Larry Csonka on 01.20.2008
ROH once again proves that they are “undeniably” great on PPV…
How the 4R's of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R's. I will take the 4 main shows (5 if I go RetRo) of the week: TNA Impact, WWE Raw, ECW on Sci-Fi and WWE Smackdown. If we have a PPV, that show will get a special PPV edition of the R's all to its own. I then group my feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and need discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles, Diva searches and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come, unless you are TNA. They have a special R all of their own, the 6th R; the Russo-FN-Riffic~! This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a "mark" column, nor a "smark" column, my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. There are also occasions where I will bring out a 5th or even a 6th R to the column, so beware of those~! I will not apologize for my opinions, they are as they are, whether very positive or negative.
Undeniable Podcast:
411's back with another huge podcast broadcast! The Column of Honor's Ari will join Larry and the Wife for a VERY detailed breakdown of the ROH Undeniable PPV! We'll discuss the AoTF, the greatness that is Adam Pearce promos, Delirious pulling a Mike Tyson, Strong and Aries coming out of the gate with an early MOTY contender and then discuss Nigel slaying the dragon known as Morishima, his championship win and the celebration that ended the show! It's a huge 75-minute show! Check out the latest podcast of Larry and the Wife below!
TO STREAM: Simply press the play button on the podcast player.
TO DOWNLOAD: Right click on the DOWNLOAD HERE link below and then save the mp3 file to your computer.
The Age of the Fall (Jacobs and Black) defeated The Vulture Squad (Evans and Ruckus) @ 5:40 via submission **¾
Daizee Haze defeated Sara Del Rey @ 3:22 via pin *TRASH of the Night!
Bryan Danielson defeated Chris Hero @ 10:21 via referee stoppage ***¼
The Hangmen Three (Pearce, Albright and Whitmer) defeated Steen, Generico and Delirious @ 7:44 via pin ***
GRUDGE MATCH: Austin Aries defeated Roderick Strong @ 21:00 via pin to become the #1 contender for the ROH Title ****¼ MATCH of the Night!
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Jay & Mark Briscoe defeated The No Remorse Corps (Richards and Romero) @ 18:16 via pin ***¾
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness defeated Takeshi Morishima @ 14:20 via pin to become the NEW ROH World Champion ***½
The Right:
THE AGE OF THE FALL vs. THE VULTURE SQUAD: I always say that the opening match is important. It sets the pace and gets the crowd primed and ready for what it to come. I know this will sound odd, but sometimes I think ROH has done a bit too much in the openers. I am not saying that I don't want good wrestling, but you have to have a starting off point that allows others to build off of it. The opener shouldn't steal the show. It should get people hot, get them into the show while being a good match. That was accomplished here. I also loved that the AoTF was the first match and promo. They ended the previous PPV, and have now kicked off this show. They explained that they weren't some invasion. They were a revolution. They explained that the reason they attacked the Briscoe's was that they wanted power, and power comes with the tag team titles. But ROH management refused to give them the title shot until they beat some tag teams. They called out anyone and got the Vulture Squad. As mentioned, this was a good opener, I felt that Black got to look good and the AoTF got an important PPV win. We were off to a good start.
DANIELSON vs. HERO: Next we'll go to Danielson vs. Hero. After the ladies match, Claudio ate the Hero's welcome on the floor. Super Agent Larry Sweeney had masterfully put off the match, due to ROH not agreeing to his demands. This angered Bryan Danielson, who came to the ring and basically did not approve of Sweeney's capitalist point of view. This led to a match between Danielson and Hero, which was a fine grappling bout. Danielson was great as they began on the mat, Hero was Hero doing his Indy goof rolls and show off stuff, which makes people HATE him, and why he is so great at being a heel. The ROH crowd seems to be prophetic as they chanted "You're Gonna Get Your Fuckin Head Kicked In" at Hero. He then went to the ring announcer who said, "Chris Hero says that this is purely speculation." Awesome. And they were right. After a really fun match, which included Hero mocking Danielson and his former eye patch, Danielson started stomping on Hero with no end, and we would get the referee stoppage. This was a good match, and was a good rebound victory for Danielson. It also keeps Hero strong as he wasn't pinned or submitted, but also gave the crowd the satisfaction of seeing Hero put in his place.
THE HANGMEN THREE vs. STEEN, GENERICO and DELIRIOUS: As we moved on, we were treated to another Adam Pearce promo. To me these have been a highlight of the PPV's thus far, as he has delivered every time out. This time he called out Kevin Steen to the ring for a talk. Pearce again tried to play his mind games as he tried to make Steen believe that Generico was the cause of them losing their shot at tag title gold. He was a masked freak like Delirious, and he could help Steen. Steen could join them and they could be the Hangmen Four. It was then that Albright and Whitmer drug out Generico, who they had beaten. The irony of them wearing masks after the speech was great. Pearce told him to take out Generico and join them. Steen refused and started to fight the Hangmen, which brought out Delirious. Delirious cut an awesomely incoherent promo as always, and Steen then said that no one beats on Generico but HIM! This led to a fun little 6-man match, with two themes. The Hangmen beating down Delirious and Delirious out for revenge for the mask stapling incident. Steen got an awesome hot tag and ran wild, and it was greatness. In the end Delirious would try to bite off the ear of Pearce, which would be his downfall as Albright got a sick half nelson suplex for the win. The Hangmen got an important win, and I liked that Albright got the pin, as he has been made to look good on PPV thus far. Another fun match, filled with good stuff.
GRUDGE MATCH – STRONG vs. ARIES: Before the match began, we were treated to a short video showing Strong turning on Aries. We have seen the evolution of the feud through the stable wars, we have seen the return of Aries on PPV and we saw the best of three series on the last show. It all built to this moment. The grudge match, the final battle to see who truly was the better man of the tag team of 2006, to see who was the better man from Generation neXt. And that is how the match and commentary build. They explained that this was personal, but not about blood, it was about supremacy. They worked that match with hatred, but controlled it. The first half of the match isn't for a lot of people, they did a lot of mat work, a lot of grappling, and a lot of strikes. It is slow, but if that isn't your deal and you can make it past that, then you are in for a treat as they really turn it up a notch and go full throttle to the end. This was a big match, they kicked out of each others finishes and they also countered each others trademark stuff, what you'd expect former tag partners to do. The end was crazy shit as Aries got the BRAIN BUSTA through a table to the floor. Karma is a bitch, and I bet in hindsight, Strong was mad at himself for setting that table up. I am also sure he didn't appreciate the 450 Knee Buster by Aries (Shades of Kurt Angle) that finished him off. In the end we got a kick ass 20-minute match, and out of the gates we get an early match of the year candidate from these two. Aries also becomes the #1 contender for the ROH World Title with the win. The only complaint is that there was no celebration time, they pulled a TNA and shot right to Dayton.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH – THE BRISCOES vs. THE NO REMORSE CORPS: Earlier in the show they had a solid and well thought out explanation as to why the Briscoe Brothers Match was from Dayton. The announcers said that due to the way the last PPV ended, with the AoTF attack on Mark and Jay, they ROH officials wouldn't allow the teams in the same building, and that we would still get to see the champions, just from another venue. I thought that it was well explained and added to the angle, just like the video cut-ins did. Damn that Age of the Fall. This was a damn fine bout, but I will say that the crowd was not into the first half much at all. Maybe it was bad card placement in Dayton, maybe a lack luster crowd that night, or maybe people really weren't buying the opponents that challenged the Briscoe's. What I do know is that the second half of this match got people off of their asses, saw great work from all four men and was very enjoyable. While I felt that this was a notch below some of the other tags we have been treated too, Romero and Richards worked very hard and I feel did themselves a lot of favors as far as looking good in the eyes of fans in general. We saw some fun and innovative spots (Ace Crusher into a missile dropkick/top rope Diablo arm bar) and it was a great addition to the second half of this show, which were three matches that delivered.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH – MORISHIMA vs. NIGEL: Now it all came down to the ROH World Title match. Earlier in the show, Nigel got some promo tie back in the majestic bathroom in Edison. Nigel described the crappiness of the locker room, but that he had been in many just like it. He had paid his dues. He's the guy that will head butt you, make you bleed and knock you out with a lariat. He had a dream of becoming a pro wrestler, and tonight he was going for the ROH Title, a title that means something and when he wins it, his dreams will have come true. I dug the promo and thought it set the stage very well. And the match was underway. First of all some will complain about "Nigel no selling the arm," well, the last time I checked basic and short lived arm work doesn't exactly kill the arm. Morishima did do damage, but it wasn't convincing enough to "take out the arm." I also felt that the arm work DID come into play, because when Nigel did hit a lariat, it wasn't portrayed as "full force." And then there are some that will also complain about the lariat usage by Nigel. As Ari and I discussed in the podcast, Nigel didn't use nearly as many lariats as most thought, and the use of it made sense as he was going for "his homerun shot." Nigel was swinging for the fences to defeat the beast. They traded their big moves, they did the big "WrestleMania" style kick outs, the crowd responded in kind and finally, the dragon was slain and Nigel stood tall as ROH Champion.
Purgatory:
NADDA~!:
The wRong:
HAZE vs. DEL REY: I now that this won't be a popular opinion here, but after some thought I felt that it had to go here. I just had issues with the match. By no means was it a bad match, for the time given they worked hard and did what they could. That isn't the issue. The issue is that they stated that, "This was the first women's match on ROH PPV." I have said time and time again for various things that "There is only one first." Ring of Honor does a lot of things right, they make the things that are important seem important, so when I heard about the match I assumed it would be treated as important and get time, I was wrong. Also, I feel that what also devalued the match was that it was a backdrop for Claudio being taken out, and moving on to Danielson vs. Hero. I would much rather they have Claudio come back out, challenge Hero, he get jumped, Danielson make the save and then the challenge. The other point is that Sweeney had hyped Del Rey as a big time signing, the best in the world and she loses in three minutes with a fluke roll up deal, I didn't like that. In the end I feel that they blew the first time women's match and really devalued it, which thus far on PPV has been a rare thing for ROH.
The Ridiculous:
NADDA~!:
Closing Thoughts:
What can I say, really? This was another great PPV effort from ROH. No booking that insults your intelligence, no run ins, no ref bumps, just good wrestling, solid story telling, a memorable title change and in the end I don't feel as if I wasted my money. That's what I want from PPV. Overall I will go with a 8.5 out of 10 for the show, making this the early leader for PPV of the year and a show that will be hard to top.
2008 PPV Rankings:
-ROH UNDENIABLE {8.5}
-TNA FINAL RESOLUTION {6.75}
This is a little added deal I started last year, as I feel that there are some other things that should be mentioned from the PPV's. Not every PPV will have one, it just depends on who I think steps up and deserves some extra recognition.
- TNA FINAL RESOLUTION: Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong (Making us Care about Women's Wrestling on the National Stage)
-ROH UNDENIABLE: Strong vs. Aries (The Grudge is Settled)
Great stuff as always, but couldn't you give Ari a few pointers on how to record while he was on the phone? It's kind of sad to see his efforts on his own podcast?
Posted By: Guest#9949 (Guest) on January 20, 2008 at 01:30 AM
=-(
Posted By: Ari Berenstein (Registered) on January 20, 2008 at 02:35 AM
Ari you have a good podcast going and I have faith you'll get the audio problems figured out.
=)
Posted By: Ryan (Guest) on January 20, 2008 at 03:12 AM
Don't worry, Ari. I still love you!
Posted By: Registered (Guest) on January 20, 2008 at 03:16 AM
inb4WWEfanboyscomplainaboutROHpraise
Posted By: JJ (Guest) on January 20, 2008 at 07:24 AM
It's hard to know what to think of Ring of Honor. Here on 411, they are clearly a pet favorite and their pay-per-views routinely outrank anything that WWE or TNA offer. They are covered like a major federation and given just as much time as WWE or TNA, but in the mainstream media, WWE is the only game in town and TNA has barely a sliver of recognition. If it weren't for this Web site, I never would have heard of ROH. It gets under my skin a little that they are held up as being on equal footing with these other two federations when ROH has not nearly the recognition, but I understand 411's desire to celebrate a good product wherever it might be found. Let me ask you this-- if you're going to do it that way, why not give other indy feds some love here, too? I'm sure Florida Championship Wrestling is worth checking out, and here in Louisville OVW has an hour-long show weekly. Sure, they're no PPV efforts, but I'd like to see the love spread around as far as it can be spread. We all share a love of wrestling, after all, so why not do as much as possible?
Posted By: Jennifer (Guest) on January 20, 2008 at 08:33 AM
i have never heard of ROH in Asia before i came to this site.. but here everybody lick ROH's backsides as if the are the best promotion in the world.. its a place for stiff duded and spotmonkeys
Posted By: Chibai Chin (Guest) on January 20, 2008 at 10:12 AM
elsewhere on the site there is coverage of IWA-MS, Chikara Pro, PWG and even Furious breaks in with the UK stuff. There is plenty of Indy coverage going on. The fact is that in its own way ROH is putting on a product of a level above most indy feds and barring production details, not far behind the major feds the now. I would love to read an Indy news thread ala the COH, but otherwise I think the nature of coverage is good.
Posted By: Skintymcedger (Guest) on January 20, 2008 at 10:27 AM
whats wrong with the opening match stealing the show?.....fuck it
Posted By: huh (Guest) on January 20, 2008 at 11:53 AM
while jennifers point is good, I believe that like ECW was the underdog that aimed high and painted itself as a national (and in some cases international) fed, ROH as a wrestling promotion is looking to do the same. the elements that elevate it above a reigonal fed are there, and because perhaps its a fed less 'extreme' and possibly less polarizing than Paul Heyman's merry band, there may be a brighter and more successful future for ROH. Then again good quality wrestling may be a polarizing thing among the fair-weather WWE fan.
Posted By: kinglothar32 (Guest) on January 20, 2008 at 12:41 PM
It looks like you accidentally pasted your last few Nigel winning the world title sentences to the end of the Haze vs. Del Rey section. Seeing these WWE marks and their arguments that RoH is inferior because they are not on TV gets very tiring. Not all promoters are billionaires or spend all of their money and wind up losing much more than they gain. RoH has a sound monetary strategy and they tailor to wrestling fans who starve for quality wrestling and angles. It's going to be awhile before RoH ever becomes mainstream, and that's fine by me and many other RoH fans as we have faith in the success of RoH, not worrying about when it'll go out of business like ECW did. It's easy to not click on a link containing something about RoH in the title, and there's plenty of WWE and TNA coverage on this website to satisfy the sports entertainment fans who just seem to go out of their way to whine about RoH wherever they can. RoH also does more to keep their fans up to date and have more coverage on the internet, which is why you see more coverage of them here than other independent feds, who also get their own video reviews and news & notes in several columns.
Posted By: RavenTazECW (Registered) on January 20, 2008 at 03:10 PM
To: RavenTazECW - Thanks, I don't know what appened there.
Posted By: Larry Csonka (Registered) on January 20, 2008 at 03:22 PM
Undeniable was OK. I wasn't as big a fan of the show overall, but there were some good things.
First, Hero/Danielson was fantastic, and my match of the night. Hero's cockiness and Danielson's no-nonsense approach made it a fun match. However, why would Hero take a match with Danielson on short notice and duck out of a match with Claudio? Larry Sweeney should have demanded at least some prep time for Hero to face Danielson to get even more heat on Sweet And Sour, and to negotiate a fair price for a huge match for his client.
I liked the Steenerico promo with Adam Pearce. The aftermatch was fine, but H3 outside of Pearce do nothing for me. Albright the juiced John Belushi and BJ Whitmer (Mr. Kennedy Jr.) are boring wrestlers.
As for Ring of Honor trying to differentiate their wrestlers, I like the little wrestler logos they had during the "Goals" package. However, that seems to be the only personality some of the wrestlers demonstrated all night.
Purgatory was the Strong/Aries match. I liked the finish with the brainbuster on the table and the botched 450. For trying to prove who the better man was, and given the footage of the turn, I felt it should have had more intensity and anger from Strong and Aries.
The wrong: boy did the opening of the show make Claudio out to be a complete retard. They have him dance around the ring like a jobber without any kind of introduction only to be brushed aside by Sweeney and dismissed. Later on he eats the hero's welcome that puts him in the hospital.
The AoTF stuff was very distracting and ROH's tampering with their videos came across as cheesy and forced. That and it seems to me AoTF shouldn't be as flashy as they are in-ring if in fact they are a revolution.
I just can't into the Briscoes at all. I hate the gimmick. And what was up with Mark going all Bruce Lee on Davey Richards?
Nigel vs Morishima was good. It had a good story but the post-match is a wrong. For being Nigel's biggest win in ROH, he sure didn't come across as being really happy that he had become the champion. Perhaps he had a premonition of what he would be put through by the fans later on in his reign. The lack of emotion on Nigel's part took away from the "big moment" defeating Morishima was supposed to be.
The ridiculous was the ladies match. Way to job out the Shimmer champ who has defended their title on the same ROH shows that the PPV tapings take place in. It makes Sweeney look sillier than Claudio for bringing her into the fold and losing to Haze.
Good job with the R's even though I don't necessarily agree.
Posted By: J. Corzo Cubby (Guest) on January 21, 2008 at 03:10 AM
I was a little let down with this show after Man up but is was still a good ppv Austin Aries vs Roderick Strong was okay but imo McGuinness vs Morishima was the MOTN
Posted By: PunkHead (Guest) on January 21, 2008 at 02:08 PM
I didn't see the show but hero/amdrag only getting 10mins with little hype seems really anti-climatic considering what they are capable of. I realize that they are prolly gonna do it again down the road. I mean they could of put both men in seperate matches and accomplish hero being a Dick and amdrag getting back into form.
Posted By: Eddie Chicago (Guest) on January 21, 2008 at 05:42 PM
Hey at least ROH keeps the original ECW template alive:
ECW - DDTs and run-ins by one and all
ROH - Chops and lariats by one and all
Posted By: Arthur D (Guest) on January 22, 2008 at 12:42 AM
Copyright (c) 2011 411mania.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
Click here for our privacy policy. Please help us serve you better, fill out our survey.
Use of this site signifies your agreement to our terms of use.
