Second More Detailed ROH in Manassas, Virginia Report
Posted by Andy Clark on 05.10.2008
Check it out!
ROH 5/9/08
Manassas, Virginia
1) Chris Hero (w/ Larry Sweeney, Bobby Dempsey, & Shane Hagadorn) defeated Pelle Primeau with a big boot. Pre-match Sweeney heeled on Manassas and made Dempsey hide under the ring when the fans cheered his name. Surprisingly competitive match.
Sara Del Ray came out after the match and stared down Sweeney. Sweeney asked if she got her check and she said yes. Sweeney then reintroduced Del Ray as part of Sweet'n'Sour Inc. Del Ray beat up a ring technician afterwards.
2) Rhett Titus & Rex Sterling defeated Mitch Franklin & Sean Denny when Titus gave Franklin the Razor's Edge. Big reaction for local star Denny who got streamers and a
Please Come Back" chants even though he didn't do much in the match.
3) Brent Albright defeated Nigel McGuinness, Claudio Castagnoli, & Damien Wayne in a non-title Four Corner Survival via ref stoppage when he repeatedly kneed Wayne in the head. This was practically a tag match with Nigel & Albright vs. Claudio & Wayne. Wayne got a decent reaction but was surprisingly less over then Sean Denny. Lots of heat for the Nigel-Claudio interaction. Disappointing considering the talent in the ring.
4) Austin Aries defeated Erick Stevens by submission with the End Times. Before the match Aries came out in street clothes and called out Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs didn't show but Stevens did and was annoyed that Aries wasn't focused on him. Aries went nuts and wrestled the match in his street clothes. After the match Aries said that Jacobs drove Lacey away when he said that her love isn't what saved him, and that he couldn't speak the horrible thing that Jacobs did to her. He then went backstage to look for Jacobs.
5) Necro Butcher defeated Jack Evans in a No DQ Match following a sidewalk slam through stacked chairs. Wild but short match that saw Necro get busted open early from an Evans kick.
Intermission- ROH comes back to Manassas on August 1, with another Hammerstein show the next night.
6) Jimmy Jacobs defeated Jay Briscoe in a No DQ Match by submission to the End Times. Prior to the match Austin Aries jumped Jacobs. Briscoe eventually got involved and the match was made No DQ. Crazy match. Afterwards Aries returned and jumped Jacobs, but Necro Butcher made the save. Aries brawled with Necro and Jacobs until Damien Wayne, Sean Denny, and Rex Sterling broke them up. Wayne helped Briscoe to the back.
7) Bryan Danielson defeated Tyler Black by submission to a half Boston crab. Great match that was mostly Danielson with a few comebacks by Black. Black blocked Cattle Mutilation, the striking elbows, and the Crossface Chicken Wing during the match. Danielson eventually got a leglock that Black made it to the ropes for but quickly turned it into a single leg crab. After the match Danielson offered to shake hands with Black but Black spit his gum at him. Danielson instead forced the referee to chew the gum and lead the crowd in a rousing edition of "The Final Countdown."
8) Takeshi Morishima, Naomichi Marifuji, & Go Shiozaki defeated the No Remorse Corps when Marifuji nailed Rocky Romero with a buzzsaw kick (among other things). Awesome, awesome match. The beginning of the match was played for comedy, especially between Romero and Morishima, the middle of the match was largely strikes, and the end was fast and furious action. Great match.
I can't believe they are coming back to Virgina when they only drew 200-300 for this show. They lost money.
Gabe really wants to put ROH out of business. This was the idiot who nearly killed them off last year with that disastrous West coast run.
Posted By: Oscar (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 01:45 AM
hey oscar, they want to grow and they have to take risks, smart risks.
This is a smart risk, because this show breaks in the market, the 2nd show solidfies the market.
The first time in Chicago, they didn't draw a huge number. Now ROH draws close to 1000 if not more every time they run Chicago.
ROH is trying to be a national promotion, you can't be a 'nation al' promotion if you don't break in new markets and grow.
Posted By: kevin in Chicago (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 02:09 AM
Danielson beat Black with a heel hook, not a half boston crab.
Posted By: J Money (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 02:26 AM
You can't be a national promotion without TV. Good luck getting it. ROH will be out of business long before that. Even old ECW had some form of TV in the mid 90s. How pathetic is ROH that they have to use youtube to run angles? Low rent.
Gabe is too much of a wrestling mark to be a good booker. He is killing ROH money wise.
Posted By: Oscar (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 02:38 AM
Sounds worse than Smackdown.
Posted By: ManWhore (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 03:33 AM
Let's please not pretend that we have any knowledge whatsoever of how this business is run or what it needs to be successful. Conclusions are useless when you only factor in 10% of the facts. Thank you.
Posted By: Guest#8192 (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 04:03 AM
So you're ROH's accountant?
Posted By: KX (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 04:17 AM
It's not a coincidence that they are running such a new area the day before their Hammerstein show. The plan is spread the revenue out over the weekend. That's why they are going to do it again in August. The Hammerstein show will probably have the largest crowd in the company's history, so the profit from that will defer the losses from the Virginia show. Shrewd move.
Posted By: Guest#6928 (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 05:27 AM
Reading 411 comments is almost as painful as reading Youtube comments.
Posted By: Guest#9557 (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 08:15 AM
Dear RoH,
Please hurry up and announce where you're running in Toronto, so I can book my tickets.
Love, Canada.
Posted By: Chris Lansdell (Registered) on May 10, 2008 at 09:11 AM
Oscar, if you hate ROH so much just say it. Don't post on here like you know everything there is to know, because you don't. It was their first show in Virginia and of course they weren't gonna sell out tonight. ROH really breathes on the word of their fans, bringing friends to shows and helping it grow. Sitting there and writing about how Gabe is a mark and he will never be successful is pathetic and childish. ROH is the best wrestling promotion out there, if you wanna watch storylines turn on USA if you want to watch wrestling buy a ROH dvd.
Posted By: pdiggins (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 09:27 AM
Oscar, you have no idea what you're talking about.
ROH has always handled it's business smartly. When they take risks they make sure they are prepared enough to handle things if the risk doesn't pay off. Unlike Heyman, who's extreme risk-taking killed ECW, Gabe and Cary progress things slow. ROH is not dying and is not in financial trouble.
Posted By: Wade (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Despite the crowd not being huge (rarely does anything draw big in VA except the E...even TNA only draws "maybe" 1000), the show came off great and everyone I talked to after the show is ready for them to come back. And BTW, the 4-way ended screwy because Damien Wayne and Brent Albright have an NWA VA match tonight.
Posted By: Ramsey (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 10:52 AM
This is directed at Oscar mostly, but since Gabe is the ROH BOOKER, why do people think that he controls the money too?
Posted By: Kevin (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 11:10 AM
A west coast run is two shows on back to back nights? If you saw the stack of DVDs they had at the beginning of the Vegas show and what was left at the end of the show..20 bucks a pop..they made a little bit of cash.
Posted By: Amp (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Were any of you actually AT the show? It was SOLD OUT with standing room only. Some people even had to plant themselves inside the sky box where they sold food to watch the show below! So for a venue a tad smaller than Edison, it means at least 700. Possibly more.
Posted By: nomark (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 02:13 PM
Why do ROHbots always have to lie? Now it's 700. Why not say 10,000? The crowd was anywhere from 200-400 paid. You can never believe ROHbots about ROH.
ROHbots have to realize that they can't believe the stuff that spews from Gabe and Cary Silkin. Sheets that cover the business say ROH is living month to month and is having to cut DVD prices because they need more income. They are in a rut. You know why Daizee Haze showed up on TNA? Because ROH can'r even afford to give her, Sara, and Lacey a contract.
They couldn't even afford to bring in any sucky TNA talent like Fat Joe or MCMG for NYC.
Two 180 pounds indie guys running around for 30 minutes only appeals to a small group of internet fans. ROH has no chance of growing when they look so low rent and cheap. They'll be out of business by late 2008. When ECW ran the Hammerstein in 2000, they were out of business six months later. It will be the same for ROH.
Then the ROHbots will have to find some other low rent meaningless indy to fanboy. Meanwhile Vince McMahon laughs all the way to the bank.
Posted By: Oscar (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 02:51 PM
Perhaps, ROH could do some local advertising for the next Manassas show. I live in Centreville just up Route 28 and only heard about the show through the Internet.
Posted By: Guest#7091 (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 04:29 PM
Dear Oscar,
You are a know-nothing.
Your Friend,
Pat.
p.s.- Using the term "ROHbot' several times in your comment really just brings you further from any point you wanted to make.
Posted By: pdiggins (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 04:29 PM
Oscar's inane rants translated for normal people:
"I hate indy feds for being indy feds. Clearly they should be just like WWE despite not having millions of dollars to spend on production."
"Oh, and everyone in the fed is 180 pounds. Except all the guys that aren't."
Posted By: Wade (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 08:01 PM
I helped set up the chairs and the ring with the ROH ring crew in Manassas. There were exactly 500 seats around the ring. 100 on the ramp side, 100 each to the left and right of the entrance and 200 directly across. And like someone said there were people who didn't have seats and were in the sky box area for concessions. Had to be more than 500.
Posted By: Jack (Guest) on May 11, 2008 at 12:41 AM
Oscar sounds alot like Glen Gilberti.
Posted By: Danny P (Guest) on May 11, 2008 at 01:23 AM
Truth hurts, does it Oscar?
Posted By: nomark (Guest) on May 11, 2008 at 05:30 AM
