Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Ring of Honor Driven 2007 Review

Dave Prazak welcomes the audience to the show and hypes that wrestling in ROH is a sport…he is interrupted by Erick Stevens, Delirious, and Matt Cross who demand a 6-man tag with the No Remorse Corps

Erick Stevens, Delirious, & Matt Cross vs. The No Remorse Corps (Roderick Strong, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero)
All 6 men are brawling in the ring to start the match…the NRC quickly got the advantage in the match and worked over Delirious…Delirious eventually made a hot tag to Stevens who cleaned house (the match was a tornado tag for all intents and purposes after that)…Cross then wiped out Richards and Romero with a ridiculous handspring gymnastic dive…all 6 men went down at one point to a huge ovation from the crowd…Stevens and Strong then battled it out, foreshadowing their best of 499 match series that is probably till going on somewhere…Cross hit a beautiful Shooting Star on Davey but Rocky made the save…Roddy gave Delirious a brutal backbreaker on the ring apron and Davey wiped out Stevens with a tornado DDT…Cross hit a corkscrew moonsault on Romero!: 1…2…NO!…Davey out of nowhere hits the DR driver on Cross for the 3 count, and the crowd started chanting for Austin Aries on cue, and he’s HERE!…Aries then wiped out the NRC with a heat seeking missile and sent them packing…Aries then got on the mic and pulls out a ROH contract and signs the contract…he says that ROH is exactly who it says it is, and that ROH is Wrestling!

Hell of a opener…the crowd was red hot for the match and even more so for the Austin Aries promo
Match Rating: ***3/4

Video package of ROH touring Japan that ended with Japanese fans chanting “ROH” outside an arena

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne)
At the first ROH PPV, these two challenged the Briscoes for the tag titles, but they lost…Sydal apparently blamed Claudio for the lost, so he wanted this singles match

They did some awesome back and forth work early…Claudio eventually used his strength to work him over…Sydal was able to send Claudio to the floor and then hit a beautiful fosbury flop…Claudio cut him off with some wackly spinning power move and then another wacky spinning power move…Sydal came right back with standing moonsault…Claudio hit him with a big bicycle kick: 1…2…NO!…RUNNING UPPERCUT!: 1…2…NO!…Sydal came back with a beautiful hurricanranna for a nearfall…Sydal went for the same move, but Claudio rolled through for the 3 count…Larry Sweeney and Sweet ‘n’ Sour come out right after the match…Sweeney offers his agent services to Sydal, which the crowd does not like…Claudio rips the mic from Sweeney and says that Larry is a scumbag…Claudio then rips up the contract and is about to attack Sweeney, but SYDAL ATTACKS CLAUDIO AND JOINS SWEET ‘N’ SOUR!…Sweeney to Claudio: “You’re a ham and egger”

An excellent undercard match that needs to happen on WWE TV as soon as possible…the only negative about this match is that Claudio works like a little guy in this match as if he and Sydal were the same size…Claudio did not start to peak in ROH until 2010 when he started to carry himself like a proper giant
Match Rating: ***1/2

There is a Jimmy Rave video package where he says that he deserves the ROH World Title…he says he will tap out Takeshi Morishima…let’s just say that Jimmy Rave is not a master prognosticator

Naomichi Marufuji vs. B.J. Whitmer
Marufuji was actually a mainstay on ROH PPVs at the start, which should tell you all you need to know about ROH’s finances then compared to now…Whitmer was doing a losing gimmick at this point

Whitmer hit a suicide dive early, which was impressive for a man his size…Marufuji came right back with a slingshot DDT on the ring apron…Whitmer hit a superplex and the two men started trading strikes until Whitmer hit a German/Dragon suplex combo of moves…CODEBREAKER BY MARUFUJI: 1…2…NO!…Whitmer came right back with a powerslam for a nearfall…Whitmer went to the top rope but got caught in the Tree of Joey Lawrence, so Marufuji hit the Coast-to-Coast Drop kick…Superkick…Super Kick…Sliced Bread #2: 1…2…3

Marufuji is now 2-0 on ROH PPV while Whitmer is 0-2…a solid back & forth exhibition, but it did not really engage me much
Match Rating: ***

Brent Albright vs. Pelle Primeau
Albright mauled Primeau early with forearms, as the crowd chanted “Please Don’t Die” at Pelle…Albright locks in the armbar quickly and Pelle immediately taps out
Match Rating: Squash

Briscoes© vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico [ROH Tag Titles]
Generico and Jay went back and forth for a while…Steen tagged in and was booed by the crowd…Mark tagged in, and then he and Steen went back and forth…Steenerico worked over Jay for a while: the crowd liked Generico but hated Steen…Generico then got worked over the Briscoes as Steen talked trashed from the apron…Generico managed to send Jay to the outside, which allowed Steen to wipe out Jay with a sommersault plancha…Mark then wiped out Steen with a sommersault plancha of his own…the match then broke down into a brawl outside the ring…Steen and Jay got back in the ring, and Steen got a nearfall with a powerbomb…Mark saved his brother, only to have Generico wipe him out with an Asai Monsault…YAKUZA to Jay; moonsault from Steen: 1…2…NO!…Mark then double stomped Steen through a table…DVD to Generico: 1…2…NO!…SPIKE JAYDRILLER TO GENERICO: 1…2…3!…Steen then attacked the Briscoes after the match with a ladder; this got massive heat on Steen
Match Rating: ***3/4

BACKSTAGE WITH SWEET ‘N’ SOUR~!
Sweeney celebrates his newest acquisition…they all make fun of Dempsey for being fat…then they eat his cookie…this was fantastic in so many ways; ROH needs to release a clip of this segment for the world to see

Takeshi Morishima© vs. Jimmy Rave [ROH World Title]
Let the record show that the first two challengers for ROH World Title in the Cable PPV era were B.J. Whitmer and Jimmy Rave

Shima immediately pounces on Rave, but Rave is able to send Shima into the barricade to get some offense…SPEAR!…Rave goes for a top rope move, but he gets caught and sent into a belly-to-belly suplex…Missile Dropkick by Shima…Running Knee by Rave: 1…2…No!…heel hook!…Shima made the ropes though…Lariat!…BackDrop Driver: 1…2…3!…Shima won in less than 4 minutes

Well that was quick
Match Rating: Squash

Cut to Adam Pearce lecturing his man servant, Shane Hagadorn…Pearce cuts a promo about how people have “needs”…basically, this was part two in a series of promos of Pearce explaining how he is getting into the mind of B.J. Whitmer to make him turn heel…Pearce walks over to Whitmer and forearms him in the face, as Brent Albright laughs…I remember reading Bryan Alvarez bashing these Pearce promos, but I thought they were really compelling

Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness [ROH World Title #1 Contendership]
ROH freely admits that this match did not take place in Chicago like the rest of the PPV…I don’t know why they didn’t just tape this at the same place as the rest of the PPV…the winner of this show got a title shot at Man Up

Dragon controlled the match in the early going, but Nigel held his own for most of the time…Dragon bitch slapped Nigel, which allowed him to land some kicks, but Nigel quickly came back with a mule kick and a divorce court

Dragon locked in a Japanese stranglehold but Nigel escaped and hit a short-arm lariat…they started brawling on the floor, and Nigel hit a rebound lariat to send Dragon into the crowd…Nigel then hit a top rope crossbody into the crowd…Dragon immediately cut him off with a forearm and worked him over in the ring for a while…Nigel came back with a massive lariat and a running uppercut…another lariat got Nigel a nearfall…Nigel caught Dragon in a powerbomb for a nearfall, and then locked in a Calgary Crab…Dragon made the ropes and nailed a belly-to-black superplex…Dragon then locked in the crossface chickenwing…Nigel managed to reverse it into a Tower of London but he was too tired to cover him…Nigel then hit a middle rope lariat on Dragon, but Dragon got his foot on the ropes before the 3 count…they then started slapping the shit out of each other and giving each other headbutts that forced them to bleed hard way…Dragon hit a Tiger suplex and then hit his Elbows , and locked in Cattle Mutilation and the ref called for the bell as Nigel was knocked out…Dragon’s head was a bloody mess after the match

This match is absolutely tremendous, but the unprotected headbutts seem really stupid in 2011…Lenny Leonard said at the end, without a hint of irony, “Bryan Danielson sacrificing his own head for a shot at the world title”…indeed
Match Rating: ****3/4

Disc 2 (Featuring the non-PPV matches that were taped at the same show)

Daizee Haze & MsChiff vs. Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew (Rain & Lacey with Jimmy Jacobs & Jimmy Jacobs’ Cane)
Lacey’s music was always pitch-perfect for her for some reason

Haze and MsChiff initially had control of the match…The wrecking crew were eventually able to isolate Haze to get the heat…MsChiff eventually made a hot tag and ran wild…MsChiff hit a standing moonsault on Rain for a two count…MsChiff eventually fell victim to the numbers game and got hit with a double team face buster move for the three count

Action was executed well, but it didn’t especially flow well from my perspective
Match Rating: **

Nigel McGuinness vs. Chris Hero (w/ Larry Sweeney, Tank Tolland & Bobby Dempsey)
Hero in 2007 is a much better (& comedic) version of Tommaso Ciampa today: ROH pays 3 guys and 1 woman to come to the ring with him so that he can have 3-star matches or squashes

Hero is about to shake Nigel’s hand but instead decides to shake Sweeney and Tolland’s hand: fantastic…Hero escaped a hold and then did a bunch of wacky flips and rolls to the delight of everyone…Nigel does his headstand in the corner, so Hero decides he is going to do it too; only for Nigel just to casually toss the headstanding Hero onto Dempsey on the floor…Nigel got distracted by Sweet ‘n’ Sour, which allowed Hero to get the advantage and work over Nigel…Nigel came back with some uppercuts and a big lariat…they went back and forth for a little after that, but there was no sense of urgency to anything that they were doing…Sweet ‘n’ Sour grabbed Nigel during a rebound lariat, but Claudio Castagnoli chased them off, which promptly allowed Nigel to hit the Tower of London for the win

This was a frustratingly long match…the big takeaway was that Hero was capable, but he only stayed in the match as long as he had Sweet ‘n’ Sour with him…unfortunately Sweet ‘n’ Sour was more of a nuisance as opposed to costing Nigel the match, so that message did not come through as strongly as it should have
Match Rating: ***

Adam Pearce came out…The fans keep chatting “Repo Man” at Pearce…because of the fans disrespect towards him, Pearce announces that Chicago is no longer his hometown, which delights the fans…he lays out an open challenge and it is accepted by TAKESHI MORISHIMA…the fans chant “YOU FUCKED UP” at Pearce

Takeshi Morishima© vs. Adam Pearce (w/ Shane Hagadorn) [ROH World Title]
Shima sends Pearce ass over tea kettle on a running body block…ass over tea kettle again after a missile dropkick…Pearce hits a spinning kick and sends Shima to the floor…Pearce actually hits a standing suplex and a top rope leg drop for a nearfall…Pearce went for a top rope splash, but Shima rolled out of the way and then went back to mauling Pearce…Pearce pulls out a Repo Man mask but he gets nailed with a lariat and a Backdrop driver for the 3 count…Shane Hagadorn attacks Shima after the bell for some reason, and Shima dispatches Shane with a backdrop driver (and pins him for good measure)

This was not as much of a squash as I expected, which saddened me…I enjoyed it though as Pearce almost always entertains me
Match Rating: **

Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA
These guys had a 5-star match in 2006, but I have not heard a lot of buzz about this match

They go back and forth with holds and strikes for a while with neither man keeping an advantage for very long…Dragon was eventually able to get the advantage and worked over various body parts of KENTA…KENTA came back with an ace crusher on Dragon when he came off the second turnbuckle…the two guys then went back and forth again after that…Dragon went for a suicide dive, but he was met with a kick from KENTA for his troubles…Dragon came right back with a belly-to-bell suplex from the apron to the floor…back in the ring, Dragon delivered some big forearms and locked in Cattle Mutilation…KENTA was able to make the ropes to break the hold…they then started trading head-dropping suplex variations much to the dismay of their brains…they followed that up with trading some strikes, until KENTA hit his flying knee…KENTA locked in Cattle Mutilation and hit a Tiger Suplex for a nearfall…KENTA hit a Buckle Bomb with such momentum that he sent himself through the ropes to the floor…another flying knee from KENTA got another two count…KENTA got a sleeper, but Dragon hit a Go 2 Sleep; KENTA shrugged it off only to run into the MMA Elbows…Dragon blocked a Go 2 Sleep and hit a Tiger Suplex: 1…2…NO!…MMA Elbows!-Go 2 SLEEP!!!!: 1…2…3!…wow, what a match!

The fans chant “Match of the Year”…I am really surprised by the result as KENTA did not get another title shot I think until 2009, and Dragon was the #1 contender at the time…the match was as physically impressive as their 2006 match but it did not have the stakes or the great injury angle of that match
Match Rating: ****1/4

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The 411: I've heard that ROH has put this show up on their website for "Ringside" members and if that is true, you should definitely check the show out. If you're not a Ringside member, than I suggest tracking this show down on Amazon or eBay as it was one of the best cable PPVs that Ring of Honor ever did. Plus, the DVD has a KENTA/Danielson match, which is never a bad thing.
Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]