The Respect is Earned II Breakdown

ROH: Respect is Earned II by J.D. Dunn Original Airdate: August 1, 2008 (taped June 7, 2008) From Philadelphia, Pa. Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard. Opening Match: Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Ruckus & Jigsaw. We JIP to Jiggy and Generico trading quick counters. Jigsaw works in his hanging headscissors. Ruckus and Steen get acquainted, and Jigsaw works in his Gory Stretch on Generico. Finally, Steen gets bored with it all and yanks Ruckus to the floor to take over on offense. Ruckus elbows out of a chinlock and kips up out of a sleeper drop right into a nice enzuigiri. Ruckus flips over Generico and nails Steen with a forearm. Jigsaw gets the hot tag, and Steen accidentally vaults him into Generico. Steen misses a charge and tumbles over the top. Ruckus adds the somersault plancha on him. That just pisses him off. Back in, Steen hits a superkick setting up the Swanton from Steen and the frogsplash from Generico at 8:42. Okay match that *really* picked up after the hot tag. **3/4 Claudio Castagnoli vs. Davey Richards. Nigel McGuinness is on commentary, mostly to run down Claudio. Davey dumps Claudio early and hits a tumbling tope, sending him into the front row. Back in, Davey goes to work on the arm in anticipation of the Chimera. Richards gets the Northern Lights into the Chimera, but Claudio is in the ropes. Claudio comes back with European uppercuts, prompting Nigel to complain that the fans don’t get on him for lack of moveset. Davey hits a huracanrana but misses a clothesline and gets hit with a flying uppercut. Claudio hits a nice German Suplex for two, but Davey comes out of it with the Chimera. Claudio makes the ropes again. Back to the armbar and into the Chimera. Claudio powers up but gets sunset flipped for two. Claudio rolls through into the Giant Swing. That disorients Davey so much that he charges blindly into a press uppercut at 8:20. Solid match from both guys. Nothing spectacular. Davey was kind of floating aimlessly at this point. **1/2 Sweet ‘n’ Sour Inc. has threats for Brent Albright. Brent Albright responds with his best recent promo about doing things under his own terms. He introduces Pelle Primeau as the first member of his army. Don’t ask, don’t tell. His next member is… Delirious. Oh, and if Sara Del Rey gets involved — Daizee Haze will take care of her. Brent Albright, Pelle Primeau & Delirious (w/Daizee Haze) vs. Adam Pearce, Chris Hero & Eddie Edwards (w/Sweet ‘n’ Sour Inc.). Big brawl to start, and the faces clear the ring. Pelle holds his own against hero, but Pearce sneaks in and nails him with a lariat. Pelle briefly plays face-in-peril, getting a small package that the ref doesn’t see. He gets the hot tag to Delirious. Delirious cleans house hitting a Panic Attack on Edwards. Del Rey trips Delirious up, though, and Hero jumps him from behind. NUMBERS GAME! The heels isolate Delirious and tripleteam him. Albright keeps coming in, Robert Gibson-style, to distract the ref and allow more tripleteaming. Delirious slips through Edwards’ legs but gets caught by the pant leg. He sunset flips Edwards and rolls into the hot tag to Albright. Albright cleans house on everyone. 61Knee! Sweeney hops up on the apron, distracting Albright while Sara Del Rey gets in the ring. Daizee dropkicks her to the floor, though. Pelle springboards into the Thesz Press and doublestomps Hero. That leaves Albright and Edwards. Edwards rolls through the Half-Nelson Slam and superkicks Albright, but Brent shrugs it off, catches Edwards with a powerslam and drops him with the Schwein. The trapped knees finish Edwards at 10:16. Good structure here, with the other two guys getting their asses kicked until the crowd wanted to see Albright destroy Sweet ‘n’ Sour. **3/4 After the match, Adam Pearce blindsides Albright with his satchel, and Sweeney declares the NWA Heavyweight Title the *real* world title. It’s just like some genius, handsome man predicted several months ago. Non-Title, Fight Without Honor: Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong. The brawl starts in the aisle, and they trade chops all the way around the ring. Strong goes to the eyes and suplexes Stevens with an assist from the railing. They pull out a ladder, and Strong gets whipped into it. Stevens takes a few chairs and nails Strong with one of them. The other, he puts in the corner and tosses Strong into it. Strong comes back and stomps a mudhole – with the chair on top of Steven’s face. Strong sets up the ladder in the corner. That is a huge ladder for ROH. He tries to whip Stevens into it, but Stevens reverses the whip and sends Strong’s face right into the ladder. Stevens sets up a chair and picks Strong up for the TKO. Strong slips off and PLANTS Stevens through the chair with a Half-Nelson Slam. To the floor, Stevens charges but gets sent into the barricade. Back in, Strong tosses a chair in and hits Stevens in the mouth. Ooooh. Stevens catches him with the Full-Rotation German and hits a running chairshot. Pump-Handle Bomb gets two for Stevens. They fight to the apron where Stevens hits a TKO from the apron onto the ladder! Back in, they chop it out again, teasing a double knockout. Strong sets up a table and a ladder, and they both go up. Slugfest at the top of the ladder, won by Strong. SUUUUUUUPEEERPLEX THROUGH THE TABLE! It looks like it’s going to be a double knockout, but Strong slips an arm on Stevens’ chest to pick up the pin at 22:49. Stiff, intense slugfest from both guys – as usual. This has been one of the top wrestling feuds over the past few years, both in ROH and FIP, and matches like this demonstrate that. **** ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Go Shiozaki. I predict stiff shots. Go chases Nigel to the floor and nails him with a chop. He tosses Nigel onto the barricade and adds more chops. Back in, Nigel kicks him down with the handstand mulekick. He walks around arguing with the fans, though, and Go is able to catch him with a backdrop suplex. Nigel heads to the floor but cuts off a tope and turns it into the Tower of London. Nigel goes to work on Go’s shoulder to set up for the London Dungeon, but it has the added benefit of neutralizing the chops. Nigel makes the mistake of slapping Go around a bit, which just fires Go up. Go comes back with strikes, but Nigel nails him in the arm. Nigel bends Go’s arms with a hammerlock/armbar combo. Go keeps coming back, but Nigel keeps winning the strike battles. Nigel sets up for a superplex, but Go knocks him back. Nigel stays with it, but Go uses FIGHTING SPIRIT to no-sell and German Suplexes Nigel into the turnbuckle. Shiozaki hits a superplex this time and sets up for the moonsault. It misses! Go blocks the Jawbreaker Lariat, though, and hits his own. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! The moonsault hits this time. ONE, TWO, TH-NO! Nigel blocks the Go Flasher and turns Go over into the London Dungeon. Go reverses to a rollup! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! GO FLASHER! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Go hits a superkick, but on his second one, Nigel rebounds with the Jawbreaker Lariat. That sets up the London Dungeon at 16:25. Go had a good showing, but no one really bought him as a serious contender, so the crowd heat suffered. ***1/2 Recap of Jimmy’s efforts to recruit Austin Aries into the Age of the Fall blowing up in his face. Instead, Jimmy’s girl Lacey ran off with Aries. ROH World Tag Titles: Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson & Austin Aries. Jimmy and Aries immediately get disqualified for using chairs, but the ref waives it off and offers to restart the match. Danielson restrains Aries and tells him the best revenge is taking the titles. Black tells Jacobs he can’t get revenge on Aries if he gets disqualified. Black and Danielson start with Black stomping a mudhole. Danielson gets miffed and stretches Black out. Aries tags in and works in his usual array while occasionally going after Jacobs. Danielson and Aries work over Black until Black backflips out of a German Suplex attempt and tags in Jimmy. Jimmy eschews Danielson and charges Aries, but he pays for it with a German Suplex from Danielson. Danielson misses a Swandive Headbutt, but AGAIN, Jacobs goes after Aries. Danielson makes the save, but Jacobs and Black hit him with a double tree-of-woe dropkick. The champs set Danielson up for the Contra Code Bomb, but Aries saves. The challengers hit sandwich kicks, and Aries goes up. Black makes the save, though, and blocks Danielson’s Airplane Spin. That sets up Jacobs’ spear. Jacobs boots Danielson’s head into the post for two. Black readies for a springboard clothesline, but Danielson dropkicks him out of the sky and tags in Aries. Aries beats down Jacobs, but Jimmy goes to the eyes. Aries comes back with a missile dropkick and the IED. Black makes the save but takes the knees. Jimmy tries to save but winds up spearing his own partner. Aries puts Jacobs in the Last Chancery, but Black breaks it up before Jimmy taps. That sets up an Age of the Fall doubleteam sequence that leads to the End Time. Aries starts to pass out, but Danielson breaks it up. Tiger Suplex on Jimmy gets two. Jacobs blocks the trapped elbows, though, and counters to the Contra Code! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Danielson avoids Black’s Small Package Driver and traps him in the Triangle Choke (with added elbows). Jacobs tries to break it up with a spear, but Aries intercepts him with a Last Chancery. Jacobs rolls to the floor and comes back in with a senton to break up the Triangle Choke. Aries wipes out Jimmy with the heat-seeking missile tope, but Jacobs spears him on a follow-up charge. Jacobs and Aries fight all the way to the back. That leaves black and Danielson. Black goes up, but Danielson drags him off with a belly-to-back superplex. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Elbows set up Cattle Mutilation, but Black gets his toe on the bottom rope. Black elbows out of another attempt and enzuigiris him. Danielson small packages him for two and ties him up with a wristlock. Black forces his way up and hits the Small Package Driver! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Black goes up, but Danielson keeps grabbing at him. Black drops that and just superkicks Danielson in the face. That sets up another Small Package Driver and the Phoenix Splash! ONE, TWO, THREE! Black and Jacobs retain at 23:48. Great back and forth action, and the match told a fantastic story that tied together Aries’ feud with Jacobs, Black’s relationship with Jacobs, Aries’ uneasy with Danielson, and Black’s one-upsmanship feud with Danielson. For those who have asked why Black looks better than Jacobs, I’d compare it to the old G.I. Joe cartoon. Cobra Commander was the leader, but he was clearly emotionally and intellectually weaker than Destro. Same dynamic between Black and Jacobs. Anyway, this is another strong PPV MOTYC from ROH. ****1/4 After the match, Nigel McGuinness says Dragon doesn’t deserve a title shot until he can defeat everyone Nigel has defeated. The 411: ROH delivered where it counts – on the upper half of the card. The undercard is solid, but unmemorable, but once we got the revelation of the NWA Heavyweight Title (itself a pretty big announcement), it took off from there. Another easy recommendation for ROH. Thumbs up