Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Final Countdown Tour: Chicago

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 01.21.2010

Bryan Danielson's farewell continues as he receives his last shot at the Ring of Honor World Title.

Ring of Honor — Final Countdown Tour: Chicago
by J.D. Dunn
Twitter.com/jddunn411
Brightkite.com/jddunn411
Facebook.com/jddunn411
Examiner.com

September 19, 2009

From Chicago, Ill.

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Chris Hero.

Opening Match: Petey Williams vs. Rhett Titus.
Petey busted Rhett open with an elbow the night before, forcing Rhett to get stitches. Petey opts not to go after the cut and just has a regular match. That's just bad psychology… or character portrayal, one or the other. Finally, he hits a DDT to knock Rhett's bandages off. Rhett catches him going up and hits the Super Sex Factor (X-Factor off the top). Rhett blocks the Canadian Destroyer but misses a frog splash. Titus counters the Destroyer again, this time to the Penilizer (modified piledriver). That only gets two. The Canadian Destroyer finishes moments later at 9:00. Rhett had problems selling the Destroyer, but he gave Petey a good match. Not much to say about this. It was ok. **1/2

Six-Man Mayhem: Rasche Brown vs. Alex Payne vs. Grizzly Redwood vs. Kyle O'Reilly vs. Sal Rinauro vs. Silas Young.
There actually is an issue here between Sugarfoot Alex Payne and Silas Young. It was Young who turned on Payne a few months earlier when they were tagging together. Young actually runs away from Payne becoming, as Hero points out, the first man in wrestling to run away from Payne. Brown comes in and just kills everyone dead before they team up on him. Brown suplexes Silas and O'Reilly to the floor. It comes down to Grizzly versus Brown. Brown tosses Grizzly to the floor and then adds Silas to the pile. He comes over the top with a somersault plancha. The crowd loves Brown, but they have to get him out of there somehow, so Silas and Rinauro yank him into the barricade to take him out of the match. Grizzly hits O'Reilly with a wicked Tornado DDT for two. Everyone starts hitting big moves, but there's always someone there to save. Brown recovers and watches intently from the apron. He waits until Sal is alone in the ring and then finishes him with the Burning Hammer at 8:02. This accomplished what it set out to, which was to make Rasche Brown look like a scary monster. The fans ate him up with a knife, fork and spoon. **3/4

Nigel McGuinness comes out to reminisce about a few of the matches and a few of the road stories. "I remember being able to sleep for all of 12 minutes because Eddie Edwards was in the next room with a defecating Japanese ring rat." And that's the end of Edwards' wrestling career… or the beginning of his porn career. He thanks Cary Silkin and the boys in the back.

Brent Albright & Bobby Dempsey vs. The House of Truth (w/Truth Martini).
Hero spends most of the match ripping on Bobby Dempsey. Albright actually tries some flying and winds up playing the face-in-peril. The HOT hit a double Divorce Court. Nice. Another doubleteam nearly backfires, and Brent is able to use the opportunity to tag in Bobby. I'M THE GODDAMN JUGGERNAUT, BITCH! The HOT try to attack Bobby, but they just bounce right off of him. Brent takes a breather before blind tagging himself in. He tosses Abel and throws Raymond out on him with the Exploder. Truth Martini trips Albright from the floor, so Bobby squashes the HOT with a cannonball. Back in, the HOT doubleteam Albright to take over. Bobby has to save Brent after a Sky Twister Press. Truth attacks and gets knocked right back out with an uppercut. That leaves Raymond alone to take the Half-Nelson Suplex at 12:23. The HOT are kind of the heel version of the Young Bucks – lots of great moves, lots of good bumping ability, just fun to watch. Bobby is also good in small doses. **1/2

Dog-Collar Match: The Necro Butcher vs. Jimmy Rave (w/Prince Nana)..
Nana tells us Jimmy Rave was injured the night before in Dayton, so he'll be taking Rave's place. Of course, once Necro is convinced, Jimmy runs down and attacks him from behind. He smashes Necro in the head with the chain, ripping him open. Grizzly Redwood runs down for moral support, but Necro is gushing blood now. Finally, Necro crotches Jimmy with the chain and yanks him into the post. They brawl up into the crowd near the wall where Necro smashes Jimmy's bloody head into the cinderblocks and then licks the blood off. That's hardcore. Back to the ring, Nana grabs Necro's foot while Rave nails him in the head with a chair. That gets two. Spiffy spot as Jimmy puts Necro's foot in the chair and then hits a somersault senton on it. HEEL HOOK! Necro powers up and backdrops Jimmy onto a piece of barricade he and Grizzly set up earlier. Grizz tosses in a few chairs, and Necro sets them up back to back, but Jimmy gives him the STO on the chairs! YEOOOOOWWCH! HEEL HOOK! Necro makes the ropes and uses the chain to whip Jimmy in the ear to make him let go. That sets up the TIGER DRIVER! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Jimmy kicks out, so Necro wraps the chain around Jimmy's neck and face. Grizzly keeps Nana from interfering, and Jimmy has to tap at 18:11. A great exercise in brutality from both guys. Jimmy seems to be regaining the form he had in 2005-06, and this is Necro's best performance in months. Most importantly, it was just a collection of spots – each segment built on top of the last one to a brutal conclusion. ****

Bret Hart comes out to reminisce about beating Steve Austin in Chicago. The crowd gives him a nice thank you.

The Young Bucks vs. The Dark City Fight Club.
Okay, the Fight Club are back to being heels. All is right with the world. The Jacksons beat the DCFC on HDNet, so this is the rematch. The Jacksons blitz the DCFC with doubleteams, and the Fight Club look a step too slow. The DCFC shake things off, and Davis whips Nick into the corner so hard that he flies over the top. Matt tries to help out but get sent into the barricade. Nick is your face-in-peril, and boy does the word "peril" ever fit. Nick sends Chavis into Davis and hits a spinning kick. HOT TAG TO MATT! Matt cleans house and spears Chavis. Uh, yeah. Whatever. The Jacksons hit a splash/quebrada combo, but Davis ENDS Nick with the POUNCE! Matt is alone, so Davis hits a spinning rackbomb. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! The Wheelbarrow Cutter gets two as well. Okay, Matt's Superman act is a little silly. He's not John Cena. The Bucks catch Matt and toss him in the air for Project Mayhem, but Nick takes out Chavis in mid-move while Matt counters to a huracanrana on Davis for the shocking win at 11:20. Another good match between these two teams. Matt hitting power moves and surviving vicious doubleteams stretches credulity. Not that the Jacksons shouldn't be able to hold their own against larger opponents, but it should be done in a way that showcases their resourcefulness. Thankfully, the ending did just that with Matt fluking out another victory. ***1/4

Claudio Castagnoli (w/Prince Nana) vs. Colt Cabana.
Claudio smacks him in the face in lieu of the handshake, so it's on like Donkey Kong. Cabana takes it to the mat early, and each guy controls for a while. Cabana goes up tempo with the Flying Apple. Castagnoli comes back with the spinning torture rackbomb. Colt falls to the floor and gets something from under the ring. The Ricolabomb only gets two because they're too close to the ropes, so Claudio grabs a chair. The ref takes it away from him, but Claudio uses that opportunity to go low. Colt no-sells and reveals a cup… the protective kind, not the drinking kind… although, I guess you could if you wanted. I digress. Colt tosses it to referee Todd Sinclair who freaks out and puts it aside. Colt turns the tables and punts Claudio in the nuts for the win at 9:09. Typical Colt Cabana since he came back. Not much of a wrestling match. Just mildly amusing shtick. **1/2

ROH World Tag Titles: The American Wolves (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. The Briscoe Bros.
Jay accuses the Wolves of ducking them, so Creepy Uncle Cary Silkin okays the title match from ringside. Cary is jealous of Necro Butcher's wardrobe. The Briscoes jump Edwards and isolate him. The Wolves look off their game thanks to the last-minute stipulation. The Briscoes are able to have their way with them early. Prazak and Hero talk about what a great manager Hagadorn is. Finally, Davey gets pissed and unloads with kicks. Things get rather bogged down, which is way disappointing. It becomes a disjointed Briscoes match rather than a match guided by the Wolves pinpoint style. That's not to say that it's unentertaining, but it's just move-to-move stuff. Edwards catches Mark with the Dragon Screw on the middle rope to turn the tide. Ahhh, now that's the good stuff. Edwards super ranas Mark into a Texas Cloverleaf from Davey. Davey has to let it go to give Jay the Exploder, though. Everyone hits each other with high impact moves, putting everyone down. The Wolves hit the doubleteam lungblower for two, and Edwards bends Jay over into the half-crab. The superkick/German goes horribly awry leading to the Jaydriller. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Davey saves at the last second. DOOMSDAY DEVICE ON EDWARDS! Davey makes the save… by missile dropkicking referee Paul Turner for the DQ at 18:08. You had to know that was going to happen when Cary made the last-minute switch. Exciting match, but the Briscoes unwillingness (or inability) to sell anything for more than three seconds really dragged this down from the MOTYC I thought it could be. Hopefully, some better pacing and storytelling emerges when they hook it up again. ***1/2

After the match, the Briscoes dive out on the Wolves to continue the brawl.

ROH World Title: Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson.
This is Danielson's last shot at the title. I'd argue that Aries is perhaps Danielson's best rival in ROH. Danielson was KO'd by Chris Hero the night before, so he doesn't have the momentum. First thing you'll notice: Good Lord, the editing is awful. As per recent trend, the hard camera is blurry, so the crack staff uses the Wayne Campbell "camera one, camera two, camera one, camera two," method of cutting the match. It's so rhythmic, it's not only distracting, it's disorienting. Aries matches Danielson move-for-move until Danielson catches him going for a leapfrog and snaps him down by the leg. The crowd gets to remind Todd Sinclair that he has 'til five for old time's sake. Aries isn't going down without a fight, though, as he blocks the superplex and shoves Danielson to the floor. We learn that YOU CAN'T SUNSET FLIP AUSTIN ARIES! The same thing happens as when you headscissor him. We also learn that Aries knows the stump-puller and he also has until five. Great spot as Danielson meets the heat-seeking missile with a high knee. He comes off the top and proves YOU CAN HEADSCISSOR AUSTIN ARIES! That sets up the springboard plancha into the crowd. Aries counters CATTLE MUTILATION to THE LAST CHANCERY. That goes back and forth a few times until Danielson traps him with the elbows. They collide mid-ring for a double-KO spot. The finish is amazing, with Aries going for the 450-splash only to get caught in the Triangle Choke as he lands. Brilliant! Aries rolls him up, but Dragon kicks out and small packages him for two. Aries punts him in the head on the kickout and hits the IED. AVALANCHE BRAINBUSTER!!! That leads to the LAST CHANCERY! Danielson loses consciousness at 24:45. The first 10 minutes or so were paint-by-numbers for these two, but once Danielson cut off that heat-seeking missile, it was GOLD. The 450-splash into the Triangle Choke was an amazing spot. It had all the usual great "I'm going to reverse this but I'm going to do it in a wholly unique way" spots we're used to seeing too. A good match to leave Chicago on. ****

After the match, Aries wishes Danielson the best of luck and then suckerpunches him.

Danielson makes it to his feet amidst chants of "please don't go." Yeah, I'm sure that'll make him change his mind. He fakes leaving without a speech before finally thanking them for their support over the years.

The 411: A kick-ass show with everyone who you'd expect to deliver delivering. The main event and tag title matches bring the goods, and the dog-collar match surprisingly nearly stole the show.

Thumbs up!

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]