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Ring Crew Reviews: ROH Richards vs Daniels – 10/16/10

May 19, 2011 | Posted by Jack Bramma
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Ring Crew Reviews: ROH Richards vs Daniels – 10/16/10  

*Edit: Date added by request.

• Scheduled Card:
1. All Night Express vs. Cole & O’Reilly.
2. Ricky Reyes vs. Andy Ridge.
3. Lady Jojo and Nevaeh vs. Daizee Haze and Jamilla Craft.
4. Kevin Steen vs. Homicide.
5. Mike Mondo vs. The Metal Master.
6. Elimination Tag Team Match: The Kings of Wrestling vs. The Briscoes.
7. I Quit Match: Steve Corino vs. Colt Cobana.
8. Christopher Daniels vs. Davey Richards.

All Night Express vs. Cole & O’Reilly. Rhett and Kyle to start. Rhett goes to the hammerlock but O’Reilly takes him down to go for an armbar and Rhett makes the ropes. Rhett with a waistlock TD and the spin on top. O’Reilly with a standing reversal and again goes to the flying armbar. Rhett stacks him up for a 2 count. Rhett hits the shoulderblock and goes to the taunt. He gets another head of steam but O’Reilly takes him down with a knee to the gut and some Tajiri kicks. Now Kenny and Cole are in. Kenny goes to the arm wringer but Cole reverses to his own. Kenny handstands out, spins on top and paintbrushes to taunt. Kenny with a waistlock and Cole reverses. Kenny drop toe holds out to counter and floats off for the side headlock. Cole counters to the hammerlock. Kenny swings out of that, hits the Japanese armdrag, kips up out of it, hits a regular armdrag and goes to a modified armbar of his own. Kenny King is seamless in his transitions. He sends Cole off who attempts a hip toss only to slide through and change to a school boy for a 2 count. Cole takes him down with a dropkick and goes to his own armdrag. O’Reilly in. Kenny dodges a clothesline only to eat a kick and a leg lariat off the second rope for 2. O’Reilly works the side headlock. Kenny pushes him off but eats a shoulderblock. O’Reilly goes back to the side headlock but Rhett gets a blind tag. Kenny with an atomic drop and Rhett hits the springboard shoulderblock. And holy shit O’Reilly isn’t selling worth a crap.

• Rhett goes to the BLANTANTCHOKE. Rhett goes to the knees and gets some kind of overhead belly to belly toss for 2. Kenny in. Rhett gives O’Reilly an inverted atomic drop and King blows through him with a clothesline. Cover gets 2. Kenny goes to the ab stretch. O’Reilly knees out. O’Reilly goes back to the kicks but King blocks all of them and cuts him off with a sidewalk spinebuster for 2. Rhett in and grinds O’Reilly eyes on the ropes. Rhett works over O’Reilly in the corner with a clothesline and sends him out into a spinheel kick from Kenny. Cover gets nothing as Cole breaks it up. Kenny with a snap suplex and floats over into GnP. Rhett back in for a minute with some rights and O’Reilly is doing this weird head-bobbing thing to sell. Both heels in and they telegraph a backdrop. O’Reilly goes back to the kicks and a double Dragon Screw legwhip on both. That was nice. He makes the tag and Cole is in with dropkicks for both. He takes down Kenny with a variation on the Pele kick. Rhett is on the apron and tries to cut him off by pulling the hair. Cole floats over and takes him down with a springboard DDT into the apron. Alright, that was awesome. Kenny tries to pull him in but eats a brutal enzuigiri. O’Reilly hits a tornado DDT off the ropes. He hangs on and then hits a spike Jackhammer with Cole flying off the top for the crossbody. Cover gets a close 2. Kenny hits his own Pele on Cole and Rhett hits the somersault dropkick for 2. Cole cuts him off with a jawbreaker and O’Reilly is back in. Rhett tries fighting back but eats a series of headkicks and an STO for a close 2. Kenny in and it’s a pier 4 brawl. Kenny tosses O’Reilly to the floor and then hits the avalanche back rack and preens for the crowd. Kenny King is my hero for that. He eats a kick from Cole but Rhett reverse Snake Eyes him into the top turnbuckle and the crowd audibly groans. Kenny follows with the Elijah Express to send Cole to the floor. O’Reilly sneaks Rhett with a roll up for a close 2. He turns into a yakuza kick from Rhett, a roundhouse enzuigiri from Kenny, and a jawbreaker from Rhett and that’s enough for the 3 at 11:00. Picked up nicely down the stretch but hopefully this doesn’t set the bar too high the rest of the card for nearfalls and kickouts galore. ***

Ricky Reyes vs. Andy Ridge. Ricky rejects the code of honor and tells no one in particular to shut up in the crowd. That could be a bad sign. Reyes with an easy waistlock takedown and a taunt to some boos. Reyes with an inside drop toe hold, spin on top and some paintbrushes… just like the first match. Reyes with a side headlock and takes him down with a shoulderblock. He taunts some more but gets taken down with a crossbody for 2. Reyes comes back with the chops. He gets sent off but puts the brakes on and hits a back elbow. He gets a head of steam but runs into a kick from Ridge. Reyes takes a breather. Ridge goes for the suicide dive but eats a kick from Reyes on the way out. Reyes bodyslams him on the floor. Back in, Reyes tells more anonymous fans to shut up and goes to the Batista curb stomps. Reyes goes to the BLATANTCHOKE in the corner. He asks the crowd, “WHO SUCKS NOW!?” and to them he still does. Funny exchange. Butterfly suplex gets 2 as Reyes goes to the chinlock. Ridge fights up and gets a sunset flip for a 1 count but Reyes cuts him back off with a spinwheel kick. Reyes shitcans him and goes back to the chops on the floor. Ridge cuts him off with a chop and Reyes just tosses him back in the ring. What the hell was the point of that? Reyes looks pissed and gives Ridge some stiff knees to the back and just tries to tear his fucking face off. FACE… OFF! No more drugs for that man. The crowd hates him and lets him hear it. Reyes with a snap suplex for 2 and goes to the modified armbar resthold. Ridge comes back with some kicks, a knee and a basement dropkick for 2. Ridge gets backdropped but lands on the apron. He comes back in with a springboard Ace Crusher for 2. They exchange stiff kicks and forearms and Reyes hulks up and we’re in full on Strong Style mode. Ridge goes off the ropes but Reyes follows and destroys him with a brutal clothesline. Reyes says that’s it and hits the DemonBomb but Ridge kicks out at 2. Reyes with an enzuigiri and a brainbuster for 2. Ridge cuts him off with a kick to the back and Orton’s back/neckbreaker for 2. Ridge gives the throat slash. He comes off the ropes but gets flapjacked into a fuckin’ Wild Bomb for a rolling neckbreaker for the 3 at 8:49. Reyes showed more personality than I’ve seen out of him in a while but it’s FU heat and Ridge is too white bread as a babyface for me to care too much. **

• Post-match, Reyes gets the stick. “Please don’t talk!” and “Shut the fuck up!” chants get going for about 10 seconds a piece. Reyes runs down Ridge and says that he’ll never be anything in “his” ROH. Ridge recovers and gets him a stiff kick and exits to the back.

• Meanwhile, Daizee Haze cuts a whatever promo on Jojo and then she accepts her challenge by introducing her student. The best part is Craft appearing with mask and very politely adding in, “Yes, we accept.”

• Cole and O’Reilly cut a promo about getting knocked down but getting back up.

Lady Jojo and Nevaeh vs. Daizee Haze and Jamilla Craft. During the heels entrance, someone pours water down Lady Jojo’s shirt. Given the lack of payback from security and Jojo staring him down the whole way down the ramp, I’m guessing it was worked. Some fan chants something that upsets Kevin Kelly’s prestine sensibilities but I can’t make it out. Kevin Kelly gives his prospects for the upcoming match: “One thing I love about Daizee Haze: you never see two outfits that are the same, some of the most colorful and creative. Always enjoy looking at Daizee Haze.” Thanks for that. Jojo and Haze to start. Haze attacks from behind and goes to work on the arm. She torques the arm wringer. Craft in with a basement dropkick off a snapmare. Craft sorta botches the shoulder surge and tags back in Haze who gets a double ax handle. Haze works over the arm some more. Jojo cuts her off with a bodyslam but whiffs on an elbow. Haze takes back over and tags in Kraft who hits an arm drag off the second rope. She gets a crucifix for 2 and la magistral for 2. Another botched roll up gets 2 but Jojo cuts her off with a front kick like Charlie Murphy. Nevaeh in with the hair snapmare and some shoulder surges in the corner. Jojo back in with some kicks. Jojo with a series of headbutts. Jojo goes to the front facelock for no apparent reason and then switches to a rear chinlock. Kevin Kelly on the ROH women’s division: “If we’re talking about tennis, it’s like Venus, Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert – every generation’s great combined all into one…. TIMES 10! That’s how good these women are!” I appreciate a good shill as much as anyone but that’s quite the grandiloquent analogy. Nevaeh in with more generic kicks and a knee for 2. Nevaeh goes to the sleeper. Jojo shouts some pro-feminist rhetoric at the crowd. I suppose that means Haze and Craft are on the side of chauvinism. They go for a double suplex but Craft escapes and makes the tag to Haze. She goes up top and hits a double dropkick. Haze with a clothesline in the corner and a sleeper neckbreaker. She hits the armbar takedown and a beast Northern Lights suplex on Nevaeh. Cover gets 2. Haze goes for the armbar but Jojo breaks it up. According to Kevin Kelly, Jojo has a “Street Fighter streak in her.” Haze cuts off the hadouken attempt to end her combo. Haze hooks in the Muta lock on Jojo and gives Nevaeh a Flatliner at the same time. That was cool. Haze and Nevaeh slug it out. Jojo cuts Haze off by pulling the hair but eats a clothesline from Nevaeh by accident. Haze hits the Perfectplex for 2. Haze with a heart punch, Craft with a stunner over the knee, and Haze with a yakuza kick. Craft comes after a spear but Jojo breaks it up. Haze shitcans her and sorta hits a double ax handle but misjudges the distance. Nevaeh with a small package for 3 at 8:56. The forces of feminism triumph. Match was stale during the heat but Daizee stepped it up after the hot tag. *1/2

• Meanwhile, Kenny King and Rhett Titus are in the back. Kenny doesn’t know whose door they’re going to have to kick in, whose house they’re going to show up at, or whose ass they’re going to kick before they get some respect. He tells the “Queens of Wrestling” not to get it twisted because they are going to see what’s underneath that skirt real soon. Rhett tells them they are on watch and if they aren’t running with them, they better be running from them.

Kevin Steen vs. Homicide. This is the first time I’ve seen Homicide in ROH since his victory over Danielson back in 06. I missed his title defenses at the 5th year festival and his return with Hernandez in 2009 so I’m interested to see him here again. Mr. Wrestling comes out wearing Generico’s mask as a trophy from his victim ala Samoa Joe and the bloody towel in TNA 2005. Steen spits on the mask and gives it to the timekeeper. Obviously, no handshake from these two. They both come out swinging. They exchange forearms, Steen wins that one and Homicide awkwardly sells it over to the ropes. Steen then chokes him on the ropes and the fans are already in there with the “Ole” chants for Generico. Homicide cuts him off with an eye gouge, cusses some Spanish in the corner, and mounts with the 10 punches. Homicide then bites his ear. Steen responds by biting his nose. Steen quips, “You taste great!” Homicide takes offense because apparently he tastes bad and goes to the double leg. Homicide goes for the Sharpshooter but Steen escapes by biting Homicide’s fingers. Steen boots away in the corner and goes to the chops. Homicide with an eye gouge and the fans love him. Steen fights him off with boots and smack talk (“Your mama’s a punto!”). Homicide comes back with a headbutt and some rights. Steen back with a back suplex. He lowers Homicide’s bandana to “blind” him and works him over some. Homicide gets the desperation eye poke and puts the bandana over Steen’s eyes and goes to work. Homicides gouges the eyes again and Steen retaliates in kind. He wipes his ass with the bandana and then tosses it back to Homicide. Homicide with a shoulder block off the second rope and Steen takes a breather.

• Homicide calls for the tope con giro but Steen slides back in. Homicide steps back out to the apron anyway and they mistimed that by about a second or two. Steen elbows him onto the timekeeper’s table and Homicide slams a chair on the rail and then tosses it into the ring. I know Trips use to do that with a sledge on the stairs to prove it was legit, but what’s the point of it with a chair? To prove it’s not a fake chair? Crowd: “We want blood!” Homicide starts to tear off one of the sheet metal banners off the guard rail but quits halfway through. What the fuck is this? Homicide picks up the ringside table but Steen throws him into the guardrail. Steen lightly hits him with the banner and then gets whipped into the table. Steen now tears off a banner and botches tossing it into the ring. The crowd lets him hear it. Steen tries again and whiffs again. He tosses it down in anger and drops some elbows on it Flair style and the crowd is into that. Steen then blows a snot rocket on it as Homicide patiently watches from the other side of the ring. Crowd: “ROH! ROH!” Really? For that? Steen and Homicide try to fishhook each other in their noses. Prazak: “Nostril warfare!” This is definitely unique. Homicide goes back on the offense with more biting but gets sent into the table. I guess this is no DQ but it’s not advertised that way or as a “fight without honor.”

• Steen hits the Randy Orton taunt. He blows blood and snot on his own hand and then licks it. Steen goes for the avalanche somersault senton in the corner but eats turnbuckle. Homicide goes for a splash off the top but eats knee. Steen goes up top and goes for the Swanton but eats knee. Double clothesline and both are down. They slug it out again Strong Style. Homicide goes to the Shake, Rattle and Roll and hits a running back elbow. Steen sends Homicide off and goes for the flapjack. Homicide goes for the rana but that gets countered into a bridged powerbomb for a 2 count. Steen sets up the Package Piledriver but Homicide cuts him off with a Roaring Elbow and a hangman’s neckbreaker for 2. Homicide makes a Benoit reference to the crowd who don’t know how to react. He goes for the diving headbutt off the top but eats canvas. Steen slaps on the Crippler Crossface. Homicide manages to make the ropes. Steen continues jawing with some loudmouth in the back and the front row sides with Steen. Steen bites Homicide and then licks his face. Homicide fights him off and hits an Ace Crusher and the Lariat but Steen kicks out at 2. Homicide calls for the Cop Killa. Steen reverses and hits a brutal pumphandle neckbreaker for 2. Steen now calls for the headbutt off the top but Homicide follows him up. Steen teases a package piledriver off the top but Homicide counters with another bite. How many goddamn bites can you work into one match? Homicide with an Ace Crusher off the top and that gets the 3 at 14:55. As wrestling goes, this wasn’t very good but at least it was entertaining. The first few minutes had no flow whatsoever other than punch some, bite, choke, cheat, cutoff, and other guy goes. Homicide didn’t show me much and Steen’s shtick is great but loses his appeal when it’s like that every match. **1/4

• Post-match, Homicide gets on the stick and the fans tell him, “Welcome back.” He shoots on TNA for a few seconds and says he misses everything about ROH. He namedrops Generico and Steen comes back in wearing the mask and tackles Homicide. The students come out to break it up.

Mike Mondo vs. The Metal Master. Mondo delays the handshake to posedown. I suppose that makes him a heel. They trade trips and covers for nothing and we get the ECW standoff at 16 seconds in. They trade standing waistlocks and hammerlocks a few times. MM goes to a Full Nelson and then rolls back on it into a crucifix submission but Mondo gets the ropes. MM gets the drop toe hold and goes to the Crippler Crossface. Mondo has had enough with the chain wrestling and just clubs him a few times and shitcans. He shouts some vanilla stuff for the crowd and whiffs on a plancha. MM slides in and then comes back with a suicide dive. Back in, MM goes for a crossbody off the top but eats mat and Mondo gives him a running knee and a basement dropkick. Cover gets 2. Mondo tells the crowd to kiss his ass. “Mondo’s got spirit!” chant from the crowd as Mondo hits another basement double foot stomp for 2. Mondo goes to the chinlock. MM gets the desperation backslide for 2 and tries to put on the CC again for some reason. MM goes for a sunset flip but Mondo tries to drop down and MM avoids. They chop it out and MM gets a variation on the Maivia Hurricane. Mondo tries calling time out but MM gives him a powerslam for 2 instead. Mondo knees out of a suplex attempt, hits the rolling short arm clotheslines but whiffs on the third. MM takes over with Rolling Germans. This must be Benoit homage night. Mondo flips out of the third and lands on his feet. He goes for a standing rana but MM counters to a powerbomb for 2. MM goes up top but Mondo gets the super popup armdrag. Mondo gets a moonsault press for 2. They counter through some stuff before MM finally hits a brainbuster for 2 and locks in the CC. Mondo tries rolling through but MM keeps it on and Mondo finally taps at 7:20. Spots were fine but the match had little to no flow and no psychology behind the finish other than previous attempts to put on the move that failed. *1/2

Elimination Tag Team Match: The Kings of Wrestling vs. The Briscoes. The KOW are champs but the belts aren’t on the line. The Briscoes run to the ring and the fight is on before they get off their coats. They brawl to the floor where Claudio and Hero are thrown into the guardrail. More back and forth brawling until they send Hero into the guardrail again and isolate Claudio in the ring. Double chops for Claudio. They attempt a double hiptoss but Claudio flips over and lands on his fight only to be taken down by a double shoulderblock. After a clothesline and yakuza kick, cover by Mark gets 2. After some weak shit, Claudio cuts him off, tells the crowd to shut up and sends him into Hero’s foot. This has been some uninspired generic stuff early. Double choke from the heels. Hero goes to the knees and hits a rolling neckbreaker for 2. Hero knocks Jay off the apron allowing Claudio to choke Mark with the tag team. Hero goes to the chops but Mark, after a flying burrito, gets the tag and now Jay is in with the chops. Jay with a Bluechipper dropkick for 2. Hero cuts him off with a brutal ROARING ELBOW and tags in Claudio. There’s nowhere to go but down after the roaring elbow. Claudio with a school boy for 2 and his own Bluechipper dropkick. The crowd chanting “HEY” along to his every move is entertaining but Claudio tries to stare them down to stop and they don’t. Jay hits a bulldog and the crowd says HEY anyway. Jay hits a jawbreaker and then Mark tags in with a leg lariat. They knock Hero off the apron. They send Claudio off but he puts on the brakes and powders out. The Briscoes decide to come out with stereo flip splashes. Back in, Claudio goes for a vertical suplex on Jay but Jay slides to his back. Claudio elbows him off to counter and Hero stiffs him with another elbow. Now both in and they put the boots to Mark. Hero with a senton for 2. After a banana spliter, Claudio in with more forearms and tries staring the crowd off again to no avail. They do the big swing/basement dropkick combo for 2. Hero works the neck crank to rest. Claudio in and they hit the double big boot and Claudio gets the Atomic Leg Drop (“HEY!”) for 2, brother. Claudio: “SHUT UP!” Jay comes back with elbows and hits the Flatliner on the second turnbuckle on Claudio. Hero in to prevent the tag. Jay suckers him in and avoids the big boot from Hero and makes the tag to Mark. Kevin Kelly: “The banshee screams of Mark Briscoe.” Right. Mark rolls over a backdrop attempt and gives Claudio a spinwheel kick. He hits the karate chop on Hero and a moonsault press for 2. Jay pulls Claudio to the outside and he no sells with a pseudo Zombie situp. Hagadorn slips the loaded elbow pad to Claudio as The Briscoes hits the top rope guillotine legdrop/side slam combo on Hero for 2. The Briscoes toss Hagadorn but Hero gets the elbow pad. The Briscoes prep the Doomsday Device but Hero elbows Mark coming off the top and he’s gone at 10:34.

• Claudio gutwrench suplexes Jay on the floor. Mark argues with the refs as Hero hits a Russian legsweep on Jay for 2. Claudio postures for the crowd to cheers from his “hey” peanut gallery. Hero with a Batista curb stomp for 2. They wheelbarrow Jay into a sitout powerbomb for 2. Prazak and Kelly continue arguing over the elbow pad but the whole thing comes off way too contrived for me to give a shit as I don’t buy Prazak as a heel. The KOW try a double big boot but Jay fights back with elbows. He runs off the ropes but gets launched into another elbow from Hero (who seems to have discarded the loaded pad) for 2. Kelly wants the ref to go “examine” Hagadorn for the elbow pad. Apparently, Kevin Kelly thinks Hagadorn rectally imbibed it like a professional drug mule. Claudio tries to slingshot him into an elbow from Hero but Jay fights them off with a double foot stomp and kicks. He gives Hero a gordbuster onto Claudio. Jay and Claudio slug it out with elbows. Jay hits the Jaydriller sort of randomly and Claudio is gone at 13:31. Hero gets the elbow pad back from Hagadorn. Hero goes for a weak, telegraphed roaring elbow but whiffs and Jay gets the backslide for the 3 at 13:51. Disappointing. This had the 5 minute filler opening sequence like some of their other matches but the problem is that the others go 30+ minutes. Also, I didn’t care for the stip as it led to just more blatant disregard by the ref like a lot of the time for doubleteaming. If you want to do that, why not go full-on tornado like Steenerico/Briscoes Boston Street Fight? I think on paper the stip made sense because it put Jay as the babyface in peril with no one to turn to and showed he could overcome and beat both, but the drama/tension/excitement of that story was lacking from the execution. Even the crowd seemed apathetic. **3/4

• Meanwhile, Colt has Kevin Steen put in a straitjacket. Steen has quite the monologue. “You think that’s funny? [Spits] I hate you! I’m going to rip your goddamn heart out! You want me in it? FINE! PUT IT ON! You think I care? It’s not going to change a damn thing! You’re going to die tonight in your hotel room in front of your goddamned parents! You understand me? And when you do, I’m going to eat your goddamn corpse! PUT IT ON! I’LL SLEEP IN IT, I DON’T CARE! I’m going to dance on your goddamn grave and I don’t even know how to dance! I’m going to take lessons, just so I can dance on your goddamn grave, Cabana!”

I Quit Match: Steve Corino vs. Colt Cobana. Corino is accompanied by Steen in his straitjacket. They exchange right hands early and Colt gets what seems like the dozenth moonsault press of the right and floats over in an armbar attempt. Corino rolls out for a breather and talks it over with Steen. He tries to loosen the jacket but Colt is out with the chops. He tries to send Corino into the guardrail but gets countered and sent instead. Corino grinds Colt’s head and goes back to trying to untie the coat. Some kid in the front row taunts Steen and offers him a kiss. Steen obliges and kisses him right on the mouth to a pop from the crowd. Back in, Corino gets a trip and goes to the Figure 4. Colt won’t quit. Kelly: “Shades of Funk and Flair 89, their ‘I Quit’ match.” Really? We’re 90 seconds in and no semblance of a story other than teasing Steen’s eventual interference. Colt finally rolls it over but Corino breaks the hold. Colt with a back elbow and goes for the Billy Goat’s Curse but Corino rolls to the floor. Corino takes another breather and tries to untie the jacket again. Colt waffles him and then dodges a Corino right that levels Steen as well. Colt now grinds the forearm into Corino’s face. They exchange generic blows. Corino gets a chair. This is boring. Back in, Corino tries the Cobra Clutch but Colt knocks him off and rolls him into BGC. That doesn’t work, so he applies Cattle Mutilation. That gets a pop because Danielson is better than this match. Corino powers up and runs him into the turnbuckle. Corino keeps trying the Cobra Clutch but it goes nowhere. Corino takes him down with the offhand lariat and then undoes the wrist tape and chokes Cobana. Corino props a chair between the top and middle rope. Corino looks under the ring and gets a beer bottle. He busts it over the post to show it’s legit I suppose, but even if it was gimmicked it’d still break on contact.

• Colt puts the breaks on and takes the jagged edge. He jabs Corino in the arm with it and then grinds it in there. Holy shit, that was pretty brutal. Colt goes to the armbreaker and unrolls some of his elbow wrap. Colt still on the armbreaker and the blood is rolling out. Corino won’t quit though. Corino rolls over him and goes for a variation of the CC but Colt won’t quit. Crowd is dead, just politely watching. Off a whip, Cole gets a basement dropkick on Steen and sunset flips Corino over into the BGC. Steen gets inside the ring to distract Colt. Colt eats another offhand lariat from Corino using the bad arm. Steen chokes and Corino finally gets the straitjacket off. Colt tries fighting off both but succumbs to chops and a cannonball senton in the corner. Colt still doesn’t quit. Crowd wants Homicide; Kevin Kelly says no one has seen Generico since GBH IX. Corino continues choking him. Steen brings in a table. He props it up in the corner. Colt gets a second wind and fights back with right hands and elbows but that goes nowhere. Corino puts a knee in his back and pulls on both arms and tells Colt he’ll kill him in front of all these Chicago losers. Steen gets on the mic and tells him to quit or his entire family watches him die. These are quite the graphic, trumped up threats. Steen goes to attack but another ref and some jobbers come out. Steen gives one the Package Piledriver and tosses the rest. Corino tries a charge but eats chair bad arm first. Colt gets another chair and thrashes Steen with it. Colt then gives Corino a Sabu chairshot. Colt puts the straitjacket on Corino as the students hold down Steen. Colt gives Corino an unprotected chairshot and a Jackknife powerbomb through the table. Colt gets a wedge of the broken table and grinds it into Corino’s face. Corino tells Colt “fuck you” but Colt does it again and Corino finally gives up at 16:59. The match got a lot better once they cut out the flash submission attempts and went to work with the savage violence of the beer bottle. Didn’t have a lot of use for the Steen in a straitjacket sidebar as it just distracted and made it obvious that nothing relevant was going to happen until he got involved. ***

• Post-match, Corino has a nasty blade job and Colt gets on the stick. They agree the feud is over. Ya know, growing up and coming from a WWF background, I was never exposed to this type of agreement that a feud was over. It always seemed like the big leagues never wanted you to think an issue was entirely done or maybe they just sucked at resolution. I remember the first time I saw it in the ’98 Super Crazy/Tajiri feud when they were having the last match EVER in the feud and it was built into the stipulation and seemed so logical. I wish it was done more and not as a bait and switch.

Christopher Daniels vs. Davey Richards. This is the face-face feud of admiration, respect, and oneupsmanship. Split crowd. Surprisingly, the Daniels section is more vocal but perhaps that’s because they don’t have any ready-made dueling chants for Davey. Lock up goes nowhere. Davey gets a shoulderblock but Daniels stands stiff. CD tries one and now Davey no sells and shoves CD. CD goes to the single leg but Davey rolls him into an armbar attempt. CD floats from a chinlock into a headlock and Davey goes to a lying hammerlock and bridges over. Davey hooks the arm for a roll up for 2. CD powers up and arm drags him over and Davey takes a breather. That whole section lasted maybe a minute but it was some beautiful, seamless reversals. Back in, Davey goes to the side headlock and CD reverses to an armwringer. Davey tries kipping up but that goes nowhere. He does it again and dropkicks CD off. He gets an armdrag and holds on for the resthold and hits the howl. Davey torques the arm. CD gets to his feet and shoves off Davey who comes back with a shoulderblock. CD goes for a leapfrog but eats a spinwheel kick for 2. After a criss cross, CD gets a hiptoss and goes to the side headlock. Davey tries shoving him off but CD holds on Bret Hart style. After another series of impressive criss cross counters, CD gets a leg lariat for 1. CD goes back to the headlock but Davey gets a break in the corner. Davey decides to attack off the not so clean break but CD comes back with the chops. Davey gets sent off but backdrops CD over the top and to the floor below. Davey hops on the offense and gives him a running kick. On the floor, Davey whips CD into the guardrail and hits a yakuza kick. Back in, Davey gets the reverse figure 4 but CD gets the ropes. Davey gives him a stiff kick for 2 and goes a variation on the triangle choke. CD bridges it for 2 a couple of times. Back suplex from Davey gets 2 and he hooks in the Tequila Sunrise. CD makes the ropes. CD tries fighting back but eats another kick. Davey gets a head of steam but gets back suplexed over the top to the floor. CD tries following with a baseball slide, suicide dropkick but Davey slides in. Davey comes back out with a suicide dive but runs into a hard smack from Daniels. Nice sequence. CD hits the Arabian moonsault to the outside and the crowd is loving it. Back in, CD heads up top and gets a crossbody for 2. CD with a running knee an goes to some kicks of his own. CD gives him a stunner into the middle rope for 2. CD goes to the neck wrench. Davey tries elbowing out but CD rolls into a lying side headlock. Prazak and Kelly are rambling on about Benjamin and Haas and Cole and O’Reilly about the depth of the ROH roster for reasons that escape me and them both.

• Davey elbows out but runs into a body slam and another Arabian press for 2. CD goes to the chops and hits a hard running clothesline on Davey and hits the taunt. CD tries another but eats a kick from Davey to cut him off. Davey with a hard running forearm and a snap suplex and hits the howl again. Davey with a diving headbutt ¾ of the way across the ring for 2. Davey puts him up top. They jockey for position for forearms and headbutts. Davey hits the top rope superplex for 2. He rolls right over into the anklelock but CD gets the ropes. Davey goes to the kicks and soaks in some cheers. Davey goes to the throat slash but CD comes back. They slug it out with stiff forearms. Now they degenerate into smacks. CD goes to the palm strikes and Davey to the Kawada kicks. Davey gets the Alarm Clock (flapjack into a sidekick) but CD comes right back with a Blue Thunder Bomb. Neither makes a cover. Davey runs off into an STO from CD and hooks in the Koji Clutch. Davey reverses into the anklelock. CD rolls through into his own anklelock and Davey rolls through to kick him to the outside. Davey flies out with the tope con giro and the momentum sends him into the front row. Back in, they exchange kicks and chops but Davey comes back with the Damage Reflex for 2. Cue the dueling chants again. Davey hooks for a German but CD elbows out. Davey kicks him again and puts him on the top rope. CD elbows him off but Davey runs up for the MOTHERFUCKIN’ pop-up, top rope, overhead release German suplex for 2. Davey heads up top but CD meets him. They slug it out and Davey headbutts him off. He goes for the SSP but misses by an inch and CD slaps on the Koji Clutch again. Awesome. Crowd: “Please don’t tap!” Davey makes the ropes and rolls to the ringside table. CD tries some chops on the apron but runs into a big boot. CD fights back and gives him a DVD ON THE APRON! CD slides in. Davey comes to and asks Kyle O’Reilly, “What happened?” because he’s so out of it from the move. Nice character work in the moment. Davey finally breaks the count at 19. CD goes back to the palm strikes and smacks him to the floor. Davey Hulks up and comes back with his own but eats an Angel’s Wings for 2. CD hits the uranage and goes up for the BME. But now this time, HE misses by a fraction of an inch and lands into Davey applying the anklelock. Unbelievable. CD rolls through for a close 2 count. Davey takes him down with LARIATO for 2. Davey gives him the maniac enzuigiri for 2. DR Driver gets 2. Davey goes back to the anklelock. CD tries rolling under but Davey keeps it on. CD tries kicking him off but Davey counters back into the reverse figure 4 and CD taps at 28:40. Excellent match with some phenomenal spots and callbacks especially the missed top rope maneuvers into each other’s submission specialties. Would have liked a tad more selling and match story other than, “Who’s the best?” but I am damn satisfied. ****1/2

The 411: In my ROH Big Bang review, I was salivating over the potential for a Davey/Daniels match and it more than lived up to the hype for me. But because ROH has set the bar so high in my eyes, a show like this on the back end of a double shot with some average matches winds up being disappointing. Outside of the excellent main event and a solid opener, everything else is skippable.
 
Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]  legend

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Jack Bramma

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