Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Violent Tendencies

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 01.14.2010

The last vestiges of the Age of the Fall crumble, and the American Wolves hunt down KENTA & Roderick Strong.

Ring of Honor — Violent Tendencies

by J.D. Dunn
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This would be the first show in the Aries II Era. The change didn't seem to affect the quality (or direction) of HDNet shows much outside of the occasional Austin Aries lottery, but we'll see if the major shows pick up any.

June 26, 2009

From Detroit, Mich.

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

Pre-Show: Chris Hero (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Frankie the Mobster.
Frankie looks like Rellik (that's killer spelled backwards) without makeup. Leonard jokingly denies rumors that Frankie the Mobster might have had something to do with the murder of Dino Bravo. Wow. That's… inappropriate. Kinda funny, though. Frankie does very well for himself in the beginning, but he stops to go after Hagadorn and gets jumped from behind. Hero hits his elbow to the back of Frankie's head, but it only gets two. Frankie slugs his way back and hits the Blockbuster for two. Things get amateurishly sloppy as Hero hits his roaring elbow, which Frankie was clearly supposed to block, so they do it again. Hero has to stay folded up like a goof until Frankie gets his signature move (a wheelbarrow neckbreaker). It only gets two anyway. Hagadorn jumps on the apron and slips Hero the elbow pad. Frankie blocks the Emerald Rolling Elbow, but Hero counters his chokeslam with a bop on the head from the loaded elbowpad. That picks up the win at 9:42. I'll just say this: there's a reason why this is in the extras. 1/2*

The show opens with a second ten-bell salute to Mitsuharu Misawa.

Opening Match: Grizzly Redwood vs. Silas Young.
Young overpowers Redwood early. Grizzly's the "littlest lumberjack" you know. Silas actually has a strategy for wearing Grizzly down. Really? You're going to wear down Grizzly Redwood? He hits a lot of gutbusters, but the Griz slips over his shoulder into a rollup and gets the pin at 3:44. Grizzly is the Crash Holly of ROH, I guess. 1/2*

Rhett Titus & Kenny King vs. Brent Albright & Erick Stevens.
Lots of goofy comedy stuff in this one, as per usual with Titus. Albright yanks Titus' trunks down off a sunset flip and then drop toeholds King right into his own partner's naked ass. Never saw Eaton and Condrey doing that one, did ya! The heels take over on Albright, and the back of his head somehow gets busted open. Stevens gets the hot tag and cleans house. Funny spot as King lands on his feet off a backdrop and does the Michael Jackson dance right into a military press. The heels bust out a spiffy slingshot-into-a-neckbreaker-on-the-knees doubleteam. Stevens goes for the Doctorbomb, but King reverses to a jackknife rollup (and a handful of tights) for the win at 12:39. As usually with King and Titus, there are spots of brilliance and spots of amateurism. They're never not entertaining, though. **1/4

Ric Flair comes out to reminisce about all the poon he got in Detroit. He doesn't say that, but that's the implication. He puts over ROH owner Cary Silkin. Maybe I'm old school, but the owner of the promotion should dress better than the wrestlers. It's just good form.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli.
The announcers remind me that they have an issue dating back to the night after Nigel's title reign ended. In fact, I'm reminded that they were tag team partners during Nigel's reign. You know the booking is lackluster when you can't remember supposed major angles from seven months ago. Nigel storms the ring with a chair and chases Claudio out of the ring. Things settle down, though, and Nigel goes to work on Claudio's arm. Claudio returns the favor and actually plays the part of Nigel 2008 throughout the match. It's kind of cool to see Claudio playing Nigel. Claudio goes full weasel with it, escaping the Tower of London to the floor and trying to eek out a countout victory. Nigel storms back in at 19 and snaps Claudio down with the hammerlock DDT. That sets up the London Dungeon, but Claudio yanks the ref into Nigel to escape. Claudio runs, but Nigel tracks him down for a brawl. The ref eventually counts them both out as Nigel rips at Claudio's arm with the London Dungeon on the floor (13:00). The fans are not pleased with the result, but why not squeeze a little more out of it. **1/2

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The House of Truth (w/Truth Martini).
Steen & Generico come out to "Smooth Criminal" in honor of MJ. The HOT are Josh Raymond & Christian Able from AAW. This is my first time seeing them as a team, although I have seen Raymond before as "Josh Abercrombie." You might remember him from Wrestling Society X as one-half of the "Trailer Park Boyz." The HOT don't do anything particularly impressive, but they're solid at the tag team game. Kind of the anti-King Titus, I guess. Funny line from Leonard as they work in that spot where Generico drop toeholds Able's face into Raymond's crotch. Prazak: "That's unfortunate." Leonard: "Depends on which end of it you're on." Steen tags in and looks to finish with the swanton, but Raymond makes the save. The HOT nearly score a huge upset as Raymond hits Generico with the Shooting Star Bodypress. Truth breaks up the Sharpshooter, leading to the lungblower from Raymond. Steen gets the knees up to block a corkscrew senton, and the champs finish with the Packaged Piledriver into the Brainbuster at 13:19. Impressive debut from the HOT as they took the former champs to the limit. I'm curious to see more from them, which is what the match set out to accomplish. ***

Six-Man Mayhem: Austin Aries vs. Delirious vs. Rasche Brown vs. Sami Calihan vs. Joey Ryan (w/Prince Nana & Ernie Osiris) vs. Petey Williams.
Aries complains about being forced into this match in "Detroilet." Since he doesn't particularly want to get beat here, he's paid off Joey Ryan to make sure it doesn't happen. The fans love them some Peter… Williams. Aries and Ryan start and go through one of those fake DX wrestling sequences, which begs the question of why Ryan just doesn't submit for Aries. Petey, who is hugely over, cleans house on both guys once he tags in. Calihan makes the mistake of kissing a big, angry black man. You wouldn't think that would be a big issue in wrestling, but Goldust would disagree. Aries and Ryan doubleteam Brown but get double-suplexed. Everyone team up against him like he's Earthquake in a battle royal or something, but Brown shrugs them all off. Finally, Aries, Ryan, and Calihan all team up knock him silly enough to get him out of the ring. Ryan gives dry humps Delirious's face to break up the Cobra Stretch. Aries saves Ryan from the Canadian Destroyer and winds up taking it himself. Ryan prevents the pin, though. Osiris blocks Brown from hitting a dive, so Brown LAUNCHES him onto the pile. Brown goes up, but Aries shoves him to the floor. Now, Aries sets up for a dive, but Delirious cuts him off and hits the Panic Attack. SHADOWS OVER HELL! Ryan puts Aries foot on the rope, though. Delirious goes after Ryan and hits Shadows over Hell, but this time, Aries hits the Oklahoma Roll for the win at 12:30. Fun little match that accomplished everything it set out to. Aries and Ryan are weasels. Petey is super over. Brown is a bad-ass killer. Oh, and Delirious and Calihan were there too. ***

Colt Cabana vs. D-Lo Brown.
D-Lo runs down Detroit to get some heat going, so Cabana rips on him for his unoriginality. Politely, this match sucks a dick. D-Lo doesn't really seem to want to work with Colt's goofy European comedy stuff. In a big miscalculation, Colt pulls an Eddy Guerrero and tosses D-Lo the ringbell. D-Lo professes his innocence to the ref, so Colt knocks him silly with the bell. That draws the ire of the Code of Honor-respecting crowd. Colt gets the tainted win at 8:49. Disappointingly awkward. 3/4*

ROH World Tag Team Titles: The American Wolves (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. KENTA & Roderick Strong.
KENTA decides to hoist this show on his shoulders and build a house of awesome with the wood of greatness cut by the hand of John the Baptist. First, he boots Davey right out of the sky. Then, he no-sells Eddie's laughable (for KENTA) attempts at offense and slaps the stupid off his face. Finally, he goes crazy with kicks on everybody. The Wolves regroup and isolate KENTA for a spell. He refuses to budge on a suplex, though, and suplexes Eddie. Davey cuts off the tag, and they do that SUPERB pupil-vs.-teacher sequence where they mirror each other's kicks. Roderick gets the hot tag, and the two former No Remorse Corps members slug it out. KENTA recovers enough to bust out a SICKENING counter to a kick by bending Davey over into an STF. Edwards makes the save before getting tossed. DOUBLE STOMP! Edwards breaks up a series of kicks from the outside and gets knocked on his ass. "Man, don't you know I will rape you!" That gives Richards the opening to suplex KENTA, though. The Wolves escape double Go2Sleeps and hit superkicks. The challengers escape their clutches and go for the Go2Sleeps again, but the Wolves counter AGAIN, this time to double Dragon Screws! Roddy and KENTA counter to small packages, though. A counter of a counter of a counter of a move they've never even used? Tremendous! The Wolves hit their superkick/German/jackknife finisher on Roderick, but KENTA. Just. Makes. The. Save. DOOMSDAY BUSAIKU KNEE! ONE, TWO, THR-Richards makes the save. INSANE sequence sees Davey open a can of whup-ass on Roderick only to get MOWED THE FUCK DOWN by KENTA coming in with a flying Yakuza kick. He came out of nowhere. KENTA stand up right into a superkick from Edwards who, in turn, meets the boot of Roderick Strong. The crowd is freaking out! Roderick covers. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! The Wolves hit the doubleteam lungblower on Roderick. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Edwards turns him over into half-crab, though, and Roderick has to tap out to end a fantastic match at 21:05. Typically incredible match from these guys with literally a dozen twists and turns, few of which you see coming. I could watch these guys fight all day. ****1/2

Steel Cage Match: Tyler Black vs. Jimmy Jacobs.
After what seems like an eternity (even though, it was only about seven months prior), the Age of the Fall are finally blowing off the feud caused by their break-up. This is not quite on the level of the Lacey's Angels cage match, but at least they're finally finishing this feud. Tyler slams the cage door into Jimmy's head and rubs his face in the mesh. Jimmy misses a spear and goes headfirst into the cage. Paroxysm gets two. Tyler sets up for the Bucklebomb, but when he lifts Jacobs up, Jimmy stabs him in the face with the railroad spike. Long spikedown sequence follows until Tyler hulks up. He goes up, presumably for the Phoenix Splash, but Jimmy knocks him all the way to the floor! Jimmy goes out after him. Tyler springboards off the barricade and latches onto the cage only to jump off on Jimmy from the other side. Back to the ring, Jimmy tries a huracanrana but gets Bucklebombed. The superkick is countered to the End Time. Tyler fights it and hits a Northern Lights for two. Jimmy rolls it back over into the choke. Tyler powers up again and tosses Jimmy into the cage. Jimmy sets up for the spear and charges… right into the End Time by Black! Jimmy turns Tyler on his back for two and hits Tyler's own superkick for two. Jimmy goes out and gets a table. Doesn't that door have a lock? He sets up the table in the corner but opts to grab a second spike. Tyler has his. KNIFEFIGHT, MOTHERFUCKER! Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Lenny Leonard: "Jesus!" Tyler wins the battle of… stabbing your opponent in the face. He puts Jimmy on the table, goes up to the top of the cage á la Jimmy Snuka and splashes Jimmy through it to finish Jacobs off once and for all at 22:00. An appropriately epic finish to the feud that wouldn't die. Like me, the fans seemed burned out on the feud and just wanted Jimmy to move on to something else as the Age of the Fall fizzled after an incredible debut. That didn't stop Black and Jacobs from putting on a hell of a blowoff, though. ***3/4

After the match, dozens of anonymous Age of the Fallers storm the ring and swarm Tyler Black. It's actually quite an awesome visual as the wrestling show suddenly turns into the climax of "Day of the Locust." Jimmy lifts a page out of Terry Funk's book and screams that the Age of the Fall will live forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. The Fallers carry Jimmy off as he does the Jesus Christ pose.

The 411: The best show they've done in a while. The final two matches are easily worth the price of the DVD, and the undercard is quite solid too. If you're a fan of the Age of the Fall, the end came here, so it's also got a bit of historic value as well.

Thumbs up!

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]