Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Steel City Clash

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 05.28.2009

KENTA returns to take on his protege in tag action. Danielson calls for a technical match against Quackenbush. And Aries debuts a new faction.

Ring of Honor — Steel City Clash

by J.D. Dunn
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March 20, 2009

From Elizabeth, Pa.

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

Bonus Match: Shiima Xion vs. Brandon Morino.
Xion has been in Chikara and DDT, and he's supposed to start with AAA this summer, so you know he's no regular ham-and-egger. He seems to have dropped his character for this match, though. Morino, I believe, is a student of Davey Richards, and he does have an array of flashy kicks. Xion finishes with a cool gutwrench facebuster at 4:04. Wouldn't mind seeing more from these two in ROH. *1/2

Bonus Match: Grizzly Redwood & Alex Payne vs. Tony Kozina & Brandon Day.
Does anyone else get Grizzly's music stuck in their head? They totally screw around during the pre-show, calling this the "pre-show main event" and introducing the ref as "Oliver Clothesoff." It's very exhibition-y until Bison Smith runs in and destroys Redwood and Payne for the DQ at 4:45. *

Prince Nana comes out and asks if this is the best ROH has to offer. That's kind of funny. Funnier still is Ernie Osiris, homeless wrestler, running in and stealing their boots. Bryan Danielson makes the save.

Sterling James Keenan, debuting his fourth new look, complains about the ROH fans not liking him. He compares himself to Jim Jones and threatens a massacre. Pretty good promo, actually.

Opening Match: Delirious (w/Daizee Haze) vs. Sterling James Keenan.
Well, Keenan was right about one thing – the fans do not like him. He suckerpunches Delirious and then bails on a Panic Attack. SJK makes the mistake of stalking Daizee, so Delirious knocks him into the barricade. Delirious outsmarts Keenan and takes a victory lap. He gets distracted by Daizee, though, through no fault of hers. Delirious comes back with the Neverending Story clotheslines. Shadows Over Hell finishes at 8:18. Maybe SJK needs yet another look. Delirious gets back on the winning track with the extended babyface squash. **

Kenny King & Rhett Titus vs. Erick Stevens & Matt Cross.
Before the match, Austin Aries comes out to apologize to Stevens and Cross for not being there for them when he was the leader of the Resilience. He also apologizes for overestimating their talent. Now, he sees talent – unfortunately, it's in the form of King Titus. King and Titus jump them from behind. This would be the formation of Aries' third faction in ROH. Sadly, they did not go with my suggestion for a stable name of "Brother, Brother, Why I Gotta Be a Brother." Roderick Strong chases Aries off, so we get a straight-up tag match. Cross plays face-in-peril as Prazak and Leonard make fun of his pea green tights. Stevens tags in and cleans house on King. Cross tags in and hits the doublestomp. SPACE FLYING CASTRO DROP! King pulls the ropes down to spill Stevens to the floor, and the uncrowned champs hit the Blockbuster Powerbomb at 9:50. Nice to see them actually doing something with the team of King and Titus. The ex-Resilience looked good together too, and I wouldn't mind seeing what Cross has to offer nowadays. **1/2

Bryan Danielson says he just likes to go out and have a good match to see who's better, and tonight he's happy to go out and face Mike Quackenbush.

Bryan Danielson vs. Mike Quackenbush.
This is just what they promised – a game of human chess, reversals and counters and blocks and exchanges of holds – that is until Danielson gets backdropped to the floor and messes up his knee. Quack goes after it, but that opens him up to Danielson's reversals. Sort of hoisting Quack on his own petards… only not. Danielson works Quack's shoulder to defend his own knee. Nice. Quack takes it up-tempo to come back and goes back to Danielson's knee. Danielson keeps on the shoulder, though, in between defending himself. Good strategies in this one. Danielson finally cajoles Quack into position and gets a flukish small package for the win at 16:38. Not just good wrestling, but good in-ring storytelling. I feel like they could have done a lot more with this, but for whatever reason, they kept it low-key. ***1/2

Three-Way Match: Jerry Lynn vs. Brent Albright vs. Claudio Castagnoli.
The rule of thumb is that, if two guys are feuding and have a three way with some third guy, the third guy wins. Let's see if that holds true. Lynn spends most of the match trying to sneak in rollups, hoping for a flash pin. This irritates Brent, who seems to think they have a deal to focus on Claudio. Claudio goes for the Ricolabomb but gets rolled up by Lynn. Albright makes the save, but Lynn rolls up Claudio for two more. He is a sneaky little bastard. Albright gets tossed, and Claudio actually rides Lynn down into the Crowbar! Lynn has to tap at 11:30. Huh. Guess I was wrong. I'm surprised that Lynn not only didn't win but did the job as well. The rebuilding of Claudio has been one of the early bright spots for ROH this year, and I've actually liked his feud with Brent Albright. **1/2

Falls Count Anywhere: Necro Butcher & Tyler Black vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Brodie Lee.
It feels like I've seen some combination of this match a thousand times. Sometimes Delirious is involved, I guess. The sad thing is all of the matches just kind of blend together into a meaningless din. They really could have put Brodie Lee over as the killer Jacobs was going to unleash on those who turned on him. Instead, they treat Lee as "the only guy Jimmy has left," which, I guess, is exactly what he is. Thankfully, this particular match stands out with its violence. They brawl out into the merchandise stand at one point, and Jimmy goes for the End Time on Tyler only to have Necro PASTE him with a right to break it up. Too much chaos to recap, but Brodie actually seems to come into his own here. He Boss Man Slams Necro on the metal ramp (ouch) and nails Black with a chairshot out of nowhere to break up the Phoenix Splash. Black lands in the End Time, and that's all she wrote at 14:32. Good brawl thanks to the intensity of moves and not the reliance on setting up spots. ***

Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong.
I've always been disappointed by the one-on-one matches between these two, but I thought that, since they reversed the face-heel polarities, this would be a much better matchup. I was right! The story revolves around Strong's attempts to chop Aries and Aries finding every single way to duck, block, avoid and otherwise stymie Roderick's chop. I wrote in my Judgment Day 2009 review of Jericho vs. Mysterio that it's little things like that that turn a routine move into a storyline in itself and make the move much more interesting. Not only does Aries avoid Roderick's chops, he keeps hitting his own and then running away. Roderick gets frustrated at not hitting the chop, and that distraction allows Aries to take over on him. Finally, when Roderick does get the chop, Aries sells it like a cannon blast. AWESOME~! Roderick is able to go into the rest of his offense and has Aries locked up in the Stronghold when Rhett Titus and Kenny King run down and hop in the ring. Since Roderick goes after them, Aries doesn't get disqualified and is able to hit the IED. That sets up the Brainbuster at 15:23. Kick-ass storyline made for a fun match. Sadly, I don't see Roderick being pushed at all, so this is kind of a one-off. ***1/2

KENTA & El Generico vs. Nigel McGuinness & Davey Richards (w/Sara Del Rey & Shane Hagadorn).
What a weird combination. I realize it sets up the following night, but… well, what a weird combination. Davey makes a dick out of himself by nailing an unsuspecting KENTA on the apron. Dude, he was just minding his own business. Do you have to be "that guy?" Generico makes him pay for it by nailing him while Davey's on the apron. Generico plays face-in-peril for a while, and Davey cheapshots KENTA again. KENTA finally gets in and goes to work. Man, he really is head-and-shoulders above most of the roster. I remember when the roster was so thick with good wrestlers he was just another cog in the wheel. Now, he really stands out. Nigel turns him over into the London Dungeon, but Generico makes the save before getting yanked out and held back by Invisible Davey. No idea what was going on there. Nigel tries to reapply the hold, but KENTA reverses and picks him up! GO2SLEEP! ONE, TWO, THREE! KENTA picks up a big win en route to his showdown with Nigel at the Seventh Anniversary Show. (19:36). This was a fine match, especially from Davey and KENTA, but it didn't really accomplish what it set out to, which was building Nigel vs. KENTA and the Wolves vs. Steen/Generico. In fact, it just made me want to see Davey vs. KENTA again. ***

The 411:  Breezy little show with nothing that stood out, but nothing that was actively horrible or disappointing. Danielson/Quackenbush and Strong/Aries are good enough to earn a recommendation from me.

Thumbs up.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]