411's ROH on HDNet Report 07.01.09: Episode XV (06.27.09)

Posted by Aaron Hubbard on 07.01.2009

ROH proves that they aren't immune to making their tag team champs look weak for the sake of a top rivalry.

Welcome to the ROH on HDNet report.

Dave Prazak and Mike Hogewood welcome us to the main event and hype the World Tag Team Title Match, where The American Wolves defend against the "dream team" of Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black.

Fight Without Honor: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Delirious
Jacobs sends Brodie Lee and MsChif to the back. Delirious has the red and black on tonight, so this could be pretty violent. Delirious charges and they trade blows until Delirious snaps Jacobs' throat across the top rope. A top rope lariat sends Jimmy outside, but he counters a tope suicida (mostly) and sends Delirious into the barricade. I guess not, because Delirious doesn't really sell it. They brawl around ringside until Delirious gets the Panic Attack into the guardrail. Delirious sets up a table and Jacobs is bleeding. Delirious pummels and bites Jacobs, and tries to hit the Cobra Clutch Suplex through the table, but Jacobs escapes that and slams Delirious into the post. He throws some chairs into the ring and hits a lariat off of the barricade.

Back inside, Jacobs slams Delirious into a chair, and then hits him with it across the back. He puts Delirious in the chair and hits a crossbody for two. He sends Delirious outside and goes for the pescado on the chair, but Delirious moves and Jacobs eats the chair. That had to suck. Delirious hits a flying chair shot before sending Jimmy back in. Delirious goes after the cut and then Sabus the chair to Jimmy, but Jacobs prevents a second Panic Attack with a spear. The End Time follows, but Delirious fights to the ropes. That works? Jacobs goes for a chair, nope, SPIKE! Delirious dodges the spike and connects with the Cobra Clutch Suplex! It only gets two, so Delirious goes up top for Shadows Over Hell, but now Jacobs Sabus the chair!

They fight some more, Jimmy inside, Delirious on the apron. Jacobs avoids a suplex through the table, but Delirious dodges a spear and Jacobs crashes on the table, which doesn't break! SHADOWS OVER HELL THROUGH THE TABLE! Delirious rolls Jacobs back inside and gets the three count.
Match Analysis:
I was going to give this ***, but there's a few logic issues. I haven't seen many "Fights Without Honor", but the rope break seemed out of place and rolling someone back into the ring after a finish like that seems odd. However, both guys showed a lot of move psychology (moves work once, but not twice, doing the same moves as a receipt, foreshadowing) that set this above your typical brainless brawl. Very fun opener, but Jacobs needs a win on HDNet if he's going to be taken seriously. **3/4

Jacobs grabs the spike as the fans chant "Disappointment", and he cuts himself with it. Well, this could be the next major character development in Jacobs very storied character arch. "You Sick Fuck" chants up next. Come on, at least he's not doing it to other people.

Kyle Durdan is in the back with the challengers, and asks Bryan if he and Tyler can put aside their rivalry tonight. Bryan's response: "Yes we can." Bryan the Builder! In all seriousness, seeing these two cut promos back to back really makes Bryan look good. He's intense and believable. Tyler is…passable.

We get a look at some Dark City Fight Club highlights. I could wash those guys crush jobbers every week and not get sick of it. Anyway, our newest tag team is the Young Bucks, with a promo that ends in "We'll give you more bang for your buck!" It's the Hardy Boyz with no awkward pauses, no Carolina accent, and a catchphrase.

The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. Brandon Day & Sal Rinauro
Code of Honor is followed, jobbers Pearl Harbor the Bucks. Synchronized Irish Whip reversal, synchronized missed dropkicks, synchronized knip ups, synchronized kicks. There are far worse teams to emulate than the Rockers. Alley-oop double dropkick sends the jobbers outside, double dropkick through the ropes by one of the Matt. He almost skins the cat and Nick hits a tope con hilo over his brother onto the jobbers. They might want to ditch that particular move. Inside, Nick tags to Matt and they hit a double hip toss, synchronized backflips into synchronized dropkicks. Matt gets two, and Rinauro hits a jawbreaker. He and Brandon hit typical heel jobber offense, but Rinauro works in Miz/Bourne's corner clothesline. He than actually tries to cover after a snapmare. Okay.

Day and Sal hit a double clothesline, more jobber offense. Day spits at Nick. Nothing worth reporting, Matt lands on his feet off of a backdrop and tags in Nick. Nick hits a clothesline on Day and hits Jericho's springboard dropkick on Rinauro. Day gets a cheap shot but Nick hits an elbow, gets tossed to the apron and hits a slingshot X-Factor. Rinauro dives in but Nick catches him and hits a gutbuster, and Matt hits a corkscrew neckbreaker that also works as a backbreaker. That was sweet. Day comes back, but Matt slingshots over him and Nick clocks him with a superkick. Matt hits a Samoan Roll and lets his brother hit a 450 Splash, and Matt finishes with a moonsault.
Match Analysis:
Fun when the Young Bucks were on offense, passable when Sal was on offense, and awful when Day was on offense. I think I'd rather watch Braden Walker matches than watch Day again. The Bucks need to learn a few little things about which moves to use when (450 Splash should always be a finisher, not a set up for a moonsault), but they are fast, crisp, and creative. They could go VERY far. *1/2

Kyle Durdan is here with Claudio Castagnoli, who challenges Brent Albright to a Flag Match. Hey, that actually makes sense!

We get video of Austin Aries beating Jerry Lynn for the ROH World Title. Aries says that he accomplished everything he said he would. He says his Grandmother told him not to toot his own horn, but she's dead. Toot. Toot.

MORE interviews, with the Wolves. Davey Richards calls Bryan Danielson "Ringo Star" and Tyler Black "Jesus Christ". Eddie Edwards says he's tired of Danielson and Black saying how much they respect each other, and that tonight isn't about respect, it's about the tag team titles.

"Dirty" Ernie Osiris w/Prince Nana vs. Brent Albright
Ernie is terrified, and fan chants of "Albright's gonna kill you" probably don't help. Brent can't touch Ernie due to the smell, and Ernie licks his armpit. Thanks, didn't need to see that. Headlock by Albright, similar results. Clothesline, backdrop suplex, chops. Elbows and a corner whip by Albright gets 2. European Uppercut, but Ernie rakes the eyes and makes a Pit Stop. He tries a neckbreaker but Albright hits a club to the back instead. The Kryptonite Krunch follows. Albright lifts up Ernie in the Canadian Backbreaker and repeatedly slams him on the top turnbuckle. Awesome. Brent swings him around, HALF-NELSON SUPLEX! SLAP THE PORPOISE!
Match Analysis:
Brent really helped get Ernie's character over, which is difficult to do in a squash. This was really fun. *

Durdan is back (Ok, I'm starting to get sick of him.) Brent gives a more coherent Hacksaw Jim Duggan promo and accepts the flag match.

In TWO weeks, our main event will be Jerry Lynn, Erick Stevens and Kenny Omega vs. Austin Aries, Kenny King and Rhett Titus. That should be very fun.

ROH Tag Team Title Match: The American Wolves © (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards)vs. Bryan Danielson & Tyler Black

But WAIT!

Nigel McGuiness is here! He wishes them good luck, but points out that they need to trust each other. Oh boy…


ROH Tag Team Title Match: The American Wolves © (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) w/Sara Del Ray & Shane Hagadorn vs. Bryan Danielson & Tyler Black
Wolves are here, and they talk trash instead of shake hands. Edwards and Black start this out. They jockey for position, but they go to their corner. Clean break (with shove) from Edwards. Tyler counters a waistlock with a wristlock and snaps the arm over the shoulder. He tags to Dragon but Edwards escapes before any double teaming can happen and tags in Richards. Dragon grabs a wristlock, roll and a bridge by Davey, and he gets a kick out of nowhere. Nice. Richards grabs a wristlock, series of reversals by Dragon and a dropkick that sends Davey outside. Richards grabs a chair but thinks better of it. Richards walks it off and gets back in, but he wants Tyler in. The fans start a "Tyler Black" chant, which Davey doesn't lock, and he grabs headlock. Tyler throws him off and eats a shoulder block, but hits a pair of hip block takeovers and a headlock takeover for two.

Davey gets to his feet and backs Tyler into the corner, tags Eddie in and Eddie hits a big boot to Tyler. He smashes Tyler into the corner and chops him, but Black counters a cross-corner whip and hits a back body drop. He grabs a headlock and tags in Danielson, who hits a kick to the gut. Danielson hits a European Uppercut before grabbing a headlock, gets shoved off but hits a shoulder tackle. He catches a kick from Edwards and kicks his other leg away, but Eddie ducks a kick to the chest. Eddie takes his time before grabbing a headlock, and he tries to repeat the sequence in reverse, but Dragon kicks him with the other leg and hits the chest kick. Black tags in and hits a few stomps, but Edwards drives him into his corner. Richards tags in and hits a Snuka-style headbutt. He smashes Tyler in the corner and hits a kick, whips him cross corner. Black leapfrogs over Davey several times, hits a snapmare and sets up for the stomp, but Richards avoids it. He does NOT avoid a kick to the chest though, and Black hits the stomp anyway.

Tyler goes back to a headlock for two and tags back out to Bryan, who hits a kick to the ribs, a snapmare and a kick to the back for two. He applies a chinlock, but Davey gets to the ropes. He eats a kneedrop, but he gets the ropes to avoid the surfboard. Dragon locks in a fishhook, but HE HAS TILL FIVE! Only the fans tell the ref this, however. Tyler tags in and applies a facelock, back into the Wolves corner and Edwards is in. Eddie hits a pair of headbutts and an elbow to the back of the neck, but Black gets the best of a chop war. He plays ping-pong with Danielson before tagging out. Dragon applies the surfboard on Edwards and Black hits a dropkick to the gut. That gets two for Bryan, but Eddie fights him with gut punches and gets him over to the corner. Davey gets back in and works over Dragon with punches to the midsection.

Danielson reverses a whip and hits an elbow to the face, and a kick to the back. He applies a heel lock and then the Indian Deathlock. Richards fights to get out, but Dragon fights back. He gets sick of that and bridges to get more pressure, but Edwards comes in and hits a stomp to the gut. Dragon grabs a headlock, is thrown off but leaps over Davey and dropkicks him to the floor. He looks to go for a dive but Eddie pulls him to the floor, and he looks for a dive, but Black pulls HIM to the floor, and Bryan takes out both Wolves with a suicide dive. Back in the ring, Richards hits a dropkick before Danielson can hit a missile dropkick. He throws Dragon outside and hits Tyler with an enzugiri. Black takes offense, but his distraction allows Edwards to beat up Bryan on the outside.

Back inside, Davey applies a chinlock before slamming Bryan into a headbutt by Edwards. The Wolves kick away at Dragon's head, and Davey presses his boot on the side of his head from the outside. Edwards tags Davey back in, and Richards' hits Danielson's kick to the gut/kick to the back combo. He tags Edwards back in, and Eddie lights Bryan up with chops. Dragon backflips out of the corner but runs into a kick to the back from Richards. Edwards takes out Black with an elbow strike and tags Davey back in. The Wolves try a double backdrop suplex, but Bryan lands on his feet, ducks a clothesline and hits a double dropkick. Hot tag to Black, who sends Richards to the floor with a clothesline and Edwards to the floor with a back body drop, and hits both of them with a Tope Con Hilo.

Black gets two off of a springboard clothesline on Richards, misses a quebrada but hits a standing shooting star for another two. Davey avoids God's Last Gift but runs into a boot to the face. He hits a kick to the chest and whips Black cross-corner. Tyler throws him to the apron, but the Wolves hit an enzugiri/running elbow combination. Edwards hits a back suplex into a facebuster, and Richards hits a missile dropkick, but it only gets two. Black avoids the Superkick/German Suplex combo, but Davey catches Eddie's boot. Bryan takes out Davey with a missile dropkick, and Tyler tosses Bryan off. Bryan plans out some strategy, and he and Black each hit a running forearm. Black holds Richards for Bryan's flying kick, but only gets two. Dragon goes after Richards with uppercuts but gets whipped into the barricade. Black slowly goes for the Phoenix Splash and misses, lands on his feet but gets rolled up for two. Richards runs into a boot, but Eddie is back in and he tosses Tyler into the Alarm Clock. The Wolves hit a powerbomb/lungblower, but Dragon makes the save. Danielson fights off both Wolves and dragon screws Edwards, but Davey hits a kick to the gut. He goes to the ropes but charges into Black's Pelé Kick! Hey, that DID come out of nowhere!

The four men battle, Richards takes a Black superkick but no-sells it, but a second one knocks him loopy. Danielson puts Edwards in the triangle choke as Black hits the Buckle Bomb on Davey. The superkick follows, but Richards gets a hand on the ropes. Dragon suggests the Phoenix Splash and kicks Richards head in, and knocks Eddie off the apron. Oh, but that causes Tyler to lose his balance. They argue and Richards rolls up Black, and Edwards pulls Danielson to the floor to prevent the break-up. The Wolves win the match.
Match Analysis:
I'm disappointed. I really thought this would be in TV MOTY contention, but it didn't get anywhere near that. Remember when Undertaker and Kurt Angle had the match with MNM, and they made the Tag Champs look like Tag Chumps? That's pretty much what happened here. I buy Danielson being able to fight off both Wolves (especially Edwards), but Black should not be so dominant over Richards. The Wolves really came out of this looking badly. At least the clichéd finish had some originality to it. ***1/4

Post match, Tyler looks to shake hands, and Bryan obliges, but then he slaps the taste out of Black's mouth. That should make Bryan the heel, but Tyler also couldn't accept that sometimes things happen. So, he's being spoiled, Bryan's not gonna take it. You decide who to cheer for.


All said, the show was much stronger than last week, overall. However, I really felt let down by the main event. However, all four matches were entertaining in some way, so this was good.

Remember, ROH is preempted this week, so NO report for next Wednesday.