Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Injustice II

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 05.19.2009

Will time run out on Tyler Black's title hopes?

Ring of Honor — Injustice II

By J.D. Dunn
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January 17, 2009

From Edison, N.J..

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

In the locker room, Grizzley Redwood and Alex Payne are ribbing Rhett Titus for getting piefaced by Brent Albright. Titus makes fun of Albright before realizing that the big guy is standing right behind him. Titus' uses EPIC ACTING SKILLS to convey his fear.

Elsewhere, The American Wolves prepare for their match by whipping Bobby Dempsey with straps. This was actually a little disturbing.

Opening Match: Brent Albright vs. Rhett Titus.
Titus begs the fans not to encourage Albright and then gives him a cheapshot chop in the corner. Well, that's counterproductive. Albright destroys him with power moves until Titus snaps his throat on the top rope. Titus uses a lot of cheap heat-getting moves like a good little chickenshit heel. Albright storms back, but Titus grabs the ref to block the Half-Nelson Suplex. That leads to a standing dropkick for two. Albright gets pissed, though, and finishes with the Half-Nelson Suplex at 6:52. *1/2

Four-Corner Survival: Necro Butcher vs. Delirious vs. Damien Wayne vs. Sean Denny.
Necro goes right after Delirious and takes him to the floor, leaving Denny and Wayne to renew acquaintances. Necro crotches him on the post and chairslams Delirious on the floor. Denny makes the mistake of going after Butcher and gets stomped down in the corner. Delirious tags himself in and jumps Necro from behind. Wayne tries a superplex on Denny, but Denny blocks. Necro hits a NECROCANRANA but gets knocked to the floor. That allows Delirious to hit Denny with the Cobra Clutch Suplex and finish with Shadows Over Hell at 7:55. Wayne and Denny didn't show much, but then they were really just interlopers in the feud. **1/2

Austin Aries demands an explanation from the fans for turning their backs on him. He says they've jumped on the Tyler Black bandwagon. From now on, he's wrestling for himself. In fact, he's not going to challenge Nigel on a b-show, so he's dropping out of the title match for a bigger match later on. He slaps Kyle Durden, which is NOT the way to get heel heat.

That brings out Tyler Black to offer to take his place. Jimmy Jacobs, Black's scheduled opponent, runs in and attacks him, creating a 2-on-1. Jay Briscoe makes the save and calls out Aries for being a douchebag pervert. That sets up…

Triple Threat: Austin Aries vs. Jay Briscoe vs. Jimmy Jacobs.
The common enemy brings Aries and Jacobs together. Jimmy holds Jay for a heat-seeking missile, but Jay moves out of the way. Jay fights them both off, including a spiffy Blockbuster on Jacobs. That's the way it should be done. JAY HO! They finally catch up with him and stomp him down in the corner. Aries and Jacobs eventually turn on each other, of course, allowing Jay to come back. He powers out of the End Time, but Aries saves Jimmy from the Jaydriller. Jimmy sets up for the spear, but Jay sidesteps him and Jimmy takes out Aries. Jimmy is so stunned that Jay is able to roll him up at 8:45. Brisk match that relied on characterization and solidified Aries' heel character. **1/4

After the match, Jimmy spits his gum on Aries, but Aries snags it and puts it in his mouth. Does Aries take ALL of Jimmy's castoffs?!

ROH President Cary Silkin announces that Tyler Black will, in fact, receive a title match later on tonight thanks to Aries dropping out.

Before the next match, Prince Nana jumps the rail, hoping to be a lumberjack. Security drags him away, though.

Lumberjack Strap Match: The American Wolves (w/Larry Sweeney) vs. Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens.
Can't remember the last time I saw a Lumberjack Strap Match. I'm pretty sure Russo booked it, though. The Florida boys jump Edwards right away. Funny moment as Roderick tosses Edwards to the floor, but fellow Sweet-n-Sour member Shane Hagadorn jumps in front of him and begs the others not to whip him. Davey vs. Roderick is pretty good, as usual. Stevens and Edwards tag in, and Stevens hits the tilt-o-whirl. The Wolves get sent to the floor, and Eddie scurries back in to Stevens & Strong's finishing sequence. Davey makes the save, but Stevens catches him with the German Suplex to counter the handspring elbow. Davey gets clotheslined over and whipped, but Roderick takes out the pile with a corkscrew plancha. Well, that was stupid and wreaked of "hey, let's just do a big spot instead of something that makes sense." In all the hubbub, Sweeney sneaks in with a chair. Stevens scares him off, but Richards nails Stevens with the chair for the win at 10:19. This was pretty good when it was Strong vs. Richards. The strap stipulation didn't add much until the end, although it was pretty neat to see Hagadorn trying to run interference. **3/4

Grizzley Redwood vs. Chris Escobar.
We get just enough time for Redwood to run through his goofy offense before Bison Smith does the run-in and destroys both men at 2:54. [N/R]

Bryan Danielson vs. Jerry Lynn.
This is a rematch from All-Star Extravaganza IV where Danielson squeaked out a victory. Lots of counter wrestling to start, including a goofy snapmare battle. Lynn is actually the first one to go dirty, not giving Danielson a clean break. They do a nice job of building Danielson as the physically superior athlete as he catches Lynn's frankly pathetic attempt at a sunset-flip shoulderblock and knees him in the back of the head. Lynn is wily, though, and stays ahead of Danielson at every turn, constantly countering his usual offensive moves. Danielson goes for a lightning legline, but Lynn rolls through into the half-crab. Danielson blocks the sunset bomb and turns it into the triangle choke. Lynn makes the ropes, though. Lynn hits a big clothesline (which Danielson WAY oversells) and finishes an upset with the Cradle Piledriver at 16:38. The fans had a lukewarm reaction to Lynn, and the match was middling for Danielson. It all made logical sense, though. ***1/4

ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Tyler Black.
Nigel is upset because he's ill-prepared for Tyler. He offers a handshake and then nails Tyler from behind with a clothesline. To the floor, Nigel tosses Tyler into the barricade a few times, but he stops to jaw with the fans, allowing Tyler to springboard back in with a dropkick. To the outside again, Tyler sets Nigel in a chair and springboards over the barricade into the audience to wipe him out. Nigel has had enough and threatens to walk out. Bryan Danielson blocks his path, though, and threatens to kill him if he tries to leave. Well, that pretty much settles that. Back in, Tyler hits a blockbuster and ties up Nigel in the tree-of-woe. That sets up a dropkick for two. Tyler gets knocked to the floor but comes back in with a slingshot legline for two. Nigel tries a headscissors, but YOU CAN'T HEADSCISSOR TYLER BLACK! Nice play on Aries dropping out of the match, but the announcers puzzlingly don't bring it up. Nigel sees his own blood and gets mad. He makes the comeback and tries to rip Tyler's arm out of its socket with an armbar. That sets up more armbars, which start to get tedious. Tyler fights back and stomps Nigel in the face. To the floor, Nigel tosses him into the ringpost and takes a picture with a fan's camera – and then tosses the camera! What a dick move! Ha ha! Back in, Nigel tosses him over the top onto the table. Black has a hard time getting up, so the refs help him to the back. Oh, but Nigel wastes some time jawing with the fans. Tyler staggers back to the ring, and Nigel gets two. LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Tyler hits a desperation belly-to-back suplex for two. The quebrada misses, but the SSP gets two. Chinbreaker, but Nigel rebounds with a lariat attempt. Tyler ducks that and hits a crucifix neckbreaker. That gets two. Nigel desperately trips him up and hits the Tower of London on the floor. Black just beats the count back in. PÉLÉ! That sets up the Phoenix attempt, but Jimmy Jacobs runs in and distracts him. The ref goes to admonish Jacobs, which allows Austin Aries to jump Black. The locker room empties with everyone who has an issue with anyone jumping in and causing a huge brawl. Finally, Bryan Danielson comes down and admonishes everyone to get to the back. Jimmy attacks him from behind, though. After some measure of order is restored, Cary Silkin and Todd Sinclair agree that the match must continue. Black charges and hits a corner clothesline. Nigel goes for the Tower of London, but Black slips out and counters to the PAROXYSM! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Tyler rolls to the apron. The springboard lariat misses, but the Pélé hits! That sets up a successful springboard clothesline! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Tyler runs right into the lariat! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! The crotched lariat misses, so Nigel switches up with the Tower of London the apron. Tyler just makes it back in at 19. Nigel turns him over with the London Dungeon, but Tyler gets his foot on the ropes. Nigel goes back to it, but Tyler kicks him in the head. Nigel falls back and rebounds with the JAWBREAKER LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THRE-foot on the ropes. Tyler gets two off a kick. GOD'S LAST GIFT! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Nigel counters another attempt to the small package! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! PHOENIX SPLASH… MISSES! Nigel gets two. He goes up, but Black slams him off. FROGSPLASH! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Black can't get him up for the piledriver but tilt-o-whirls around the lariat and hits the TURNBUCKLE POWERBOMB! SUPERKICK! Oh, but he's too exhausted to cover. Slow crawl, but the bell rings at 48:15. Zuh? Prazak immediately starts comparing it to other great 60-minute matches, which is a nice touch. Lenny Leonard isn't having it. Of course, it was later revealed that there were shenanigans, which kind of makes Danielson's mid-match speech about what the title means seem silly. Then again, the fact that they had a lecture in the middle of a title match in the first place is rather counter-intuitive. Anyway, this is somewhat reminiscent of Flair/Sting from Clash of the Champions I in that Tyler really did look like a legit threat to take the title, but Nigel came through with chicanery. Not nearly the epic classic they probably wanted, but it was plenty good for a main event. ***3/4

The 411: It takes a lot of chutzpah to spend most of the match touting how the title revolves around honor and sportsmanship only to end with a Montreal-esque screwjob. The main event is good, but probably not going out of your way for, and the undercard is nothing to write home about.

Thumbs down.

Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]