Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Validation

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 11.04.2009

It's not just about parking anymore!

Ring of Honor — Validation

by J.D. Dunn
Twitter.com/jddunn411
Brightkite.com/jddunn411
Facebook.com/jddunn411

May 9, 2009

From Edison, N.J..

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

The Embassy talks about being back on the scene.

Eddie Kingston talks about his history with Ricky Reyes and how things will be different. He promises to take out his frustrations with Hero on Reyes.

Opening Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Ricky Reyes.
Reyes attacks Kingston during the pre-match patdown. STRONG STYLE~! Sort of. A surprisingly entertaining slugfest erupts, and Reyes gives as good as he gets until Kingston catches him with a rather flukish backfist at 7:14. I had this figured for a squash, but once again, Reyes held his own. **

Chris Hero answers Kingston's call and warns him not to bark up a tall tree.

The Super Smash Bros. vs. Erick Stevens & Brent Albright.
Albright is all fired up until the Smash Bros. blitz him with doubleteams. That just pisses him off, and Player Dos winds up taking the worst of it. The fans get behind the Smash Bros. because they have actual personality and all. It doesn't matter much because they only have their jobberific offense to match up with the muscle of Stevens and Albright. I guess we're pushing 'hosses' now. Dos falls victim to the Half-Nelson Suplex at 8:51. The SSB entertain in the loss. **

Chris Hero (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Sonjay Dutt.
This is a "first time in ROH" match, and it's pretty damned good. Hero is quietly putting together a quality series of matches here. After an initial sequence where Hero overpowers him, Sonjay blitzes him with overly complicated armdrags (Seriously, who does a somersault plancha into an armdrag? That's like firing an ICBM with a fist on the end of it so that it just punches whoever it lands on.) Hero ROCKS Sonjay with a surprise forearm to take over again and taunts him as he works him over. "Slumdog" is a good insult for Sonjay. Sonjay survives a Lygerbomb and counters a rolling elbow to a backslide for two. Hero hits on the second try, though. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Hagadorn sneaks in the elbowpad, which Hero puts on his foot. That leads to a big boot and the win for Hero at 12:40. Hero has really come on and, despite his tendency for goofy moves, Sonjay really held his own as the overmatched little guy. ***

Jimmy Rave & Claudio Castagnoli (w/Prince Nana & Ernie Osiris) vs. Delirious & The Necro Butcher.
Is Nana calling Necro "the Negro Butcher?" Now, *that* would be a gimmick to generate some interest. Not good interest, mind you. Necro actually wrestles here, drawing praise from Leonard ("He's like a young Ricky Steamboat!"). Necro dominates and hits the Necrocanrana, but Jimmy tricks him into giving chase. That allows Claudio to recover and take his head off with a clothesline. Necro comes back with a "Steamboatesque" (/cough/cough/) crossbody. The match breaks down, and Jimmy tries to scramble Necro's brain with a chairshot. I'll let you guess why that doesn't work. Jimmy is so shocked at Necro's no-selling that Delirious is able to sneak in and roll him up at 14:25. Not exactly a technical classic. How much you like this depends on how much you think it's clever that Necro gets laughs by wrestling because, get this, he's not a wrestler. **1/2

Colt Cabana just got a Twitpic from his shawty. LOL, smiley face. LOL, smiley face. He stops looking at it to run down Joey Ryan.

Bryan Danielson and Kevin Steen talk about teaming up to take on the American Wolves, despite their differences.

Kenny King & Rhett Titus vs. Grizzley Redwood & Alex Payne.
And now we hit our second in a series of three consecutive comedy matches. What the hell? Grizzley tries to saw Titus' head off with his saw hand. King gets tired of seeing Rhett dominated, so he crotches Sugarfoot on the top. Grizzley cleans house after a hot tag, which is just wrong on so many levels. Sloppiness ensues. C'mon! Looks like a buncha retards trying to hump a door knob! A blocked rana leads to the springboard blockbuster from King Titus at 7:34. This was pretty awful at times, looking alternately sloppy and contrived. *

Colt Cabana vs. Joey Ryan (w/Prince Nana).
Ryan does the ball-scratch before the pre-match handshake, so Colt makes him pieface himself with the tainted hand. Total comedy match here, and it's much better (and funnier) than the one they had on HDNet a few weeks ago. Todd Sinclair gets in on the act, kicking Ryan's and Nana's hands apart and falling on his ass when he tries the same thing with Cabana. See, I appreciate twists on an old spot. Ryan gets depantsed at one point. By the way, why do "pantsed" and "depantsed" mean the same thing? That's like "flammable" and "inflammable." They do some actual wrestling along the way, and it's not bad, but it's not as entertaining as the comedy. Colt wins with the Billy Goat's Curse and then beats up Ernie Osiris for fun. (14:15) Light-hearted fun, but I wish Ryan was brought in with a little more gravitas. He should be Rick Rude, not the Duke of Dorchester. **1/4

ROH World Tag Titles: The American Wolves (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Bryan Danielson & Kevin Steen.
Big brawl around ringside to start, and that lasts for nearly five minutes before the match actually starts. Steen gets put through a table to take him out of the match for a bit. Danielson absolutely BUZZSAWS Edwards' head with a soccer kick. That's one of those kicks where you mark out and then feel kind of bad about it. Like watching Joe Theismann's leg snap. The Wolves prey on Danielson's leg in between knocking Steen off the apron. Edwards, again, is made to look like the goat of the team as Danielson is always able to come back against him until Richards comes in. If nothing else, Davey looks like a worldbeater in comparison. No wonder he's having a great year. Steen gets the hot tag and cleans house. Cool spot where the faces lock the Wolves in the Triangle Choke and Sharpshooter, but Richards flips over and covers Danielson so Steen has to drop the hold to make the save. Steen clotheslines Davey over, and Davey nearly breaks his leg by landing on the broken table. Meanwhile, Danielson is busy turning Eddie into his bitch at every turn. Richards breaks it up with a German Superplex and then wipes out Steen with one of those rolling suicidas where he lands in suburban Trenton. That leaves Danielson alone with Edwards, which normally would spell death for the Wolves, but Danielson's knee is messed up from all the work they did. That allows Edwards to hit a few Dragon Screws and finish with the half-crab at 17:31. Davey continues to look like the heir apparent to Danielson, and the Wolves are, once again, the most entertaining act on the roster. Good psychology surrounding the knee, and the faces never really got out of the blocks, so it was fun watching the Wolves dismantle Bryan Danielson. ****

ROH World Title: Jerry Lynn vs. Jay Briscoe (w/Mark Briscoe).
The fans chant for Nigel, which is kind of like going on a date with a girl only to have her talk about her ex-boyfriend the whole night. Maybe I'm projecting. Another "respectful" match from Lynn, and it occurs to me that he didn't really have any proper feuds during his reign. Jay survives the Cradle Piledriver and hits the Jaydriller to put some heat on the finish. It doesn't work. Lynn recovers and finishes with the Cradle Tombstone at 16:01. Didn't have a lot of heat thanks to everyone knowing Jay wouldn't take the world title, but it was a solid enough contest. Lynn's matches have a sort of sameness to them – which, I suppose, you could say about anyone, but in this case it just keeps things middle-of-the-road. ***

Lynn rips on an overly negative fan and puts over the Briscoes for their heart.

In the back, The American Wolves talk about dominance.

The 411: I'd call it a one-match show, but that's kind of unfair considering the rest of the show isn't actively bad or anything (outside of that King Titus tag). The American Wolves were, by far, the best thing going over the summer, though, and everything else just kind of pales in comparison.

The tag match earns this a solid thumbs up.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]