Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Insanity Unleashed

Ring of Honor — Insanity Unleashed by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Brightkite.com/jddunn411 Facebook March 14, 2009 From Indianapolis, Ind. Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Larry Zbyszko. Bryan Danielson says he usually goes into a match thinking that the person across from him just wants to see who the best wrestler is, but with a select few – Homicide & Takeshi Morishima – he feels like they’re trying to hurt him. Now, he has the same feeling going against Bison Smith. Opening Match: Nate Webb vs. Flash Flanagan. Flash is the former Slash Venom. Nate Webb is returning after being a part of the CZW invasion. Funny how forgiving they are about that. Pretty bland until Flash hits a German Suplex into the buckle that drops Nate on his head. The backpack chinbreaker gets two, but Nate comes back with a lariat. The Arachnid Kick (just a spinning front kick) gets the pin for Webb at 4:52. I don’t get the appeal of Webb… or his theme music. This felt like something that belonged in the extras. * Kenny Omega gives a very Paul Londonesque promo about the Circle of Life. Triangle Match: Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kenny Omega. Two guys in at once while the other guy has to tag in. I actually prefer these rules. Danielson and Omega lead the fans in mocking Claudio before starting the actual match. Claudio picks his spot and comes in when both guys’ backs are turned. It still turns into a handicap match against him, though. They hit SICKENING sandwich Stampede Dropkicks. That was cool. Omega “accidentally” tags himself in, though, triggering a rift. Omega busts out the stop-sign enzuigiri to save Danielson from a recovering Castagnoli. Neat. Claudio knocks Danielson off the apron and chokes out Kenny with a sleeperish move at 12:54. Fun and creative match, although I assumed the Danielson/Omega rift would lead to something further in the match. **3/4 After the match, Bison Smith attacks Danielson, triggering a pull-apart with all the jobbers coming out to pull him off. Jay Briscoe is going to MAN UP against Chris Hero. Jay Briscoe vs. Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney & Shane Hagadorn). Briscoe is just looking to get his hands on anyone from Sweet ‘n’ Sour. This is more like a boxing match with elbows, kicks and chops instead of fists. Hero takes it to the floor and works in the senton on the mat. Back in, Jay comes back and gets two off a lariat. Sweeney keeps distracting Jay. A Hero powerbomb only gets two, and Jay avoids the rolling elbow. A second on knocks Jay cold, though, and Hero gets the pin at 11:24. That was a reasonably clean win for Hero, a guy who seems to have been forgotten about. ** ROH World Tag Titles: Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Rhett Titus & Kenny King. Lot’s of goofy fun in this one. Titus dry humps Generico’s head. Yeah, it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Generico takes him down and considers doing the same, but he realizes how gay that would be. Steen calls Titus a sick bastard. Titus and King screw up some sort of doubleteam maneuver. Looks like King forgot which way to go. Usually, they’re so good at those. King Titus goes to work on Steen’s knee, as per usual. Generico gets the tag, though, and hits a somersault plancha on them. Steen sets up for the Packaged Piledriver, but King breaks it up with the springboard blockbuster. Titus gets caught up in the tree-of-woe, setting up a springboard somersault coast-to-coast from Generico. Spiffy back handspring into a flying enzuigiri by King. Titus adds a splash, but he’s not legal. Steen breaks up the Doomsday Blockbuster and Package Piledrives Titus. That sets up the Brainbuster from Generico at 17:26. Titus and King were a little sloppier than usual, but the conflict of personalities is just too fun to pass up. Steen has a low tolerance for nonsense unless it’s his own, and King Titus is all about the nonsense. *** Post-match, the American Wolves run in and attack Steen’s knee. Jay Briscoe chases them off with a chair. Bison Smith vs. Silas Young. Zbyszko compares Bison to Moose Cholak. Bison should wear a buffalo head to the ring. Larry’s comfortable enough to start in with the tea-bagger political commentary. Okay, picturing Larry the Teabagger just grossed me out. If you ever saw the Warlord vs. Jimmy Snuka, well, then you’ve seen this match. Smith kills him for a few minutes. Silas makes the comeback to make people think he has a chance. Bison ENDS him with a clothesline and powerbombs him for good measure at 4:46. Old school squash. Say, why doesn’t Danielson ever come out and attack Smith? *1/2 The American Wolves (w/Larry Sweeney) vs. Roderick Strong & Brent Albright. Roderick goes wild with chops early, which is a good thing, but he’s soon playing face-in-peril. Davey ducks his head on a backdrop attempt, though, and Roderick punts him to get out of trouble. Albright tags in but goes after Sweeney, so Edwards dropkicks his arm. That’s the in the Wolves were looking for, so the zero in on it. Roderick gets the hot tag. HOUSE CLEANING TIME! Brent breaks up the Orient Express, and Roderick hits a backbreaker off the 61Knee. Yakuza kick gets two. Davey saves and hits the Alarm Clock. The Wolves hit the Orient Express (American Express?). Everyone hits something, and everyone is down. Standing ovation for that. Roderick recovers and hits the Half-Nelson Backbreaker. Ref’s distracted, though. Sweeney slips in a foreign object, but El Generico runs in and hits Edwards with the Yakuza kick. There goes the object. Roderick collects Edwards stumbling carcass and hits the press gutbuster for the win at 13:22. Good match, especially when Roderick was in there. I think Roderick & Stevens would have even better chemistry against them, though. ***1/4 No DQ: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Delirious. Jacobs forgives Delirious before the match, saying it’s all just a conspiracy to drive them apart. Once he has Delirious listening, he suckerpunches him, of course. They take it to the floor, and Delirious misses a Panic Attack to the barricade, buggering his knee. Jimmy takes over and works the leg for a while. I miss crazy, in-love-with-Lacey Jimmy. That was good insanity. Jimmy goes for the Contra Code, but Delirious blocks and counters to the Fisherman’s Buster on a chair! Jimmy beats him down and goes for a senton, but Delirious gets the knees up. Panic Attack! Panic Attack! Panic Attack! THE INSANITY HAS BEEN UNLEASHED! And another Panic Attack! Delirious refuses to take the pin and sets up a table. Jimmy tosses a chair in his face and DDTs him through the table! END TIME! Delirious is out, so Jimmy gets the submission victory at 15:27. Whoa! It started out slowly and too one-sided, but the last five minutes or so really salvaged it, and the ending was one of the most definitive I’ve seen. You really don’t survive that, do you. ***1/4 After the match, Daizee Haze tends to Delirious. Awh. Nigel McGuinness & Austin Aries vs. Jerry Lynn & Tyler Black. Lynn gets taken down early as the heels toss him into the ringpost. That leaves Tyler as the face-in-peril. He avoids the crotched lariat and tags in Lynn. Thesz Press to Aries. AH, HELL YEAH! Talk on commentary turns to Jerry Lynn as the heels isolate him, and Larry says he was 47 when he “beat the shit out of Scott Hall.” Now if Lynn can just get Nigel drunk before the match. Black gets the hot tag as the match breaks down. Lynn gets crotched on the barricade but turns it into a tornado DDT on the floor. Back in, Lynn hits the Cradle Piledriver on Aries, but Nigel breaks up the pin. Tyler goes for a rollup, and Nigel nails him with the title belt. Cool combo from Aries and Nigel as Nigel holds Black in position for the Tower of London, and Aries hits him with the running dropkick. Lynn tags in and catches Nigel with the powerbomb. Jawbreaker attempt, but Lynn cuts him off with his own clothesline. Nigel tries it again, but Lynn spins him around and drops him with the Cradle Piledriver at 15:42! Lynn pins Nigel! This would set up the eventual rematch between the two where Lynn finally won the title (although probably earlier than they would have liked). The match was fine, but with so many shows running now, it feels like they have a lot of filler between ‘big’ matches. ***1/4

The 411: Outside of the opening exhibition, everything her was either good or good with an asterisk. I was surprised to see that they booked the Delirious/Jacobs match so soon after Delirious' face turn and even more surprised to see Jacobs get the clean win. Recommended.
Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]