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ROH Weekend of Champions Night 1 DVD Review

August 10, 2006 | Posted by Jacob Ziegler
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ROH Weekend of Champions Night 1 DVD Review  

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ROH – WEEKEND OF CHAMPIONS NIGHT ONE – DAYTON, OHIO – 4.28.06

Review by Brad Garoon and Jacob Ziegler

Honor Roll 58 (as voted on by The ROH Message Board)

The first number in parentheses represents the position each wrestler was in on the last Honor Roll, and the second number represents how many consecutive weeks they have been listed.

ROH WORLD CHAMPION: Bryan Danielson (since 9.17.05)
ROH PURE CHAMPION: Nigel McGuinness (since 8.27.05)
1) Austin Aries (1, 10)
2) Roderick Strong (4, 16)
3) Christopher Daniels (5, 3)
4) Jimmy Rave (2, 2)
5) Samoa Joe (3, 2)

Introduction

BG says: This DVD has a special feature, an ROH video recap. This should be watched before the main program as it recaps what has been going on in ROH. You can watch it for free by clicking here or by going to ROHVideos.com. It includes highlights from the ROH vs. CZW six-man war, Claudio’s turn, Whitmer’s injury, Jim Cornette’s reaction to Claudio’s turn, Jacobs’ explanation about his premeditated loss and Cabana’s apology for the short match he had against Danielson.

Jimmy Jacobs tries to explain to Lacey that the reason he purposely didn’t win the four way match on The 100th Show was so that she wouldn’t have to show her breasts on ROHVideos.com. Lacey explains that she made that promise to motivate him to win the match. If Jacobs doesn’t win this weekend she’s dropping him as a client.

Christopher Daniels lets a cameraman film what sounds like a pretty private conversation between him and Allison Danger on the phone. He then starts his promo and promises to win the Pure Championship from Nigel McGuinness. He’s also mad at Claudio Castagnoli because he chose him to be the first man to shake his hand and then watched him turn his back on ROH. Daniels got a lot done in that promo.

JZ says: We open with Jimmy Jacobs and Lacey outside, where Jacobs explains why he purposely lost the four-way match in Philadelphia, because he didn’t want Lacey to take her top off for the fans. Lacey says she wants him to win, or else he’s dropped from Lacey’s Angels.

Christopher Daniels is on the phone with Allison Danger, telling her not to worry about this weekend. Jimmy Bower asks Daniels if he’s ready for this promo, and he counts him down. I hate that. Daniels is facing ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness tonight; it’s his first shot at the Pure Title. He says it’s time for him to be a champion again. He changes gears to talk about CZW and Claudio Castagnoli. He says that he is coming after him.

MATCH #1: Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Jacobs

BG says: Cabana is in the opener here because he felt he had to start at the bottom of the card after losing in less than six minutes to Bryan Danielson at The 100th Show. Jacobs hasn’t been winning much either lately, but made no such promise. Cabana shoves Jacobs down to start. Jacobs threatens to unleash some nasty jabs but Cabana beats him to the punch. He puts Jacobs on the mat and gets a roll up for 2. He puts on a wristlock but Jacobs reverses to one of his own. Cabana escapes and kicks Jacobs to the floor. Back in the ring Cabana gets distracted by Lacey but its not enough to stop him from shooting Jacobs to the floor. Cabana goes after Lacey on the floor so Jacobs shoves him into the post. He presses Cabana’s head against the post and then hits it with a dropkick. Back in the ring Jacobs hits a back-of-the-head-breaker for 2. He hits a series of double stomps and a slingshot double stomp for 2. He hits a pair of high impact double stomps to the back and avoids an Asai moonsault to hit a dropkick for 2. Cabana stands strong through a chop attack from Jacobs. He chops Jacobs down and hits a series of elbows. He hits the Flying Asshole and a lariat for 2. Jacobs goes up and hits a hurricanrana and a spear for 2. He goes back up top and hits a back elbowdrop for 2. He goes for the Contra Code but Cabana reverses to a backbreaker. Cabana hits a Canadian backbreaker and a powerbomb for the win. Nice little opener there and a good start for Cabana’s trip back up the card.
Rating: **¾

JZ says: Cabana gets a loud and sustained pop for his entrance. Jacobs gets a nice pop too, and then almost trips and falls on the entrance ramp. Cabana then cleverly steals Jacobs’s heat during his entrance and then says hello to Lacey. Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard are the hosts tonight. At the last show in Philadelphia, Cabana lost to ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson in about five minutes flat. He said he would start from the bottom and work his way back up, so here he is in the opening match against Jimmy Jacobs. Cabana outsmarts Jacobs in the early going and goes to work on the neck. He tries some shenanigans with Lacey, so Jacobs gets pissed and throws Cabana into the ring post and goes to work on the back. Jacobs sets up Cabana’s head next to the ring post and hits a sort of dropkick to his face. Jacobs hits several kinds of double stomps on Cabana. Cabana goes for a quebrada but Jacobs hits a nice dropkick to the midsection. Cabana makes his comeback and hits the Dusty elbows. Flying asshole and big lariat gets two for Cabana. Jacobs comes back and hits a nice rana off the middle rope and follows it with a spear and a back senton off the top rope for two. Jacobs goes for the Contra Code but Cabana counters it into a backbreaker. Big powerbomb gets the win for Cabana at 9:02. That was a fun opener with some cool spots. I think they could do better though, so it’d be nice to see them get a little more time and maybe a better spot on the card.
Rating: **½

The Commissioner is Here

BG says: Jim Cornette and Ace Steel come down to the ring to have a little heart-to-heart with Cabana. He moans about ROH’s loss to CZW in the big six man war at The 100th Show. ROH seems to be losing ground all over the place in this feud. Whitmer’s neck is messed up after being put through a table by Super Dragon, a chair shot cracked open Adam Pearce’s head, and Cornette himself has a bum knee. So he recruited Steel into team ROH and needs Cabana to help out as well. Cabana is content to only wrestle at the bottom of the card right now, but since Cornette wants him to fight CZW he’s all for it. Cornette then warns Claudio Castagnoli that if he chooses not to breach his ROH contract and show up tonight he’ll be in for some serious punishment. Cornette does a great job in making me believe that he hates CZW and Claudio for deserting ROH. I can’t say I’m excited about hearing Ace Steel on the microphone though.

JZ says: With Cabana and Jacobs still in the ring, the music of the Midnight Express plays and Jim Cornette is here with Ace Steel, who has on his ridiculous “someone’s gonna die” face. Jacobs has disappeared. Cornette starts talking about the feud with CZW and how the injury list is growing. I hate Ace Steel. They want Cabana to join the main event tonight, and he refuses. Cornette then tells him that it will be a fight, not a wrestling match, so Cabana agrees. Cornette goes on to Claudio Castagnoli, and basically says that he better watch his back.

MATCH #2: Irish Airborne vs. Jay Fury & Spud

BG says: Fury is visiting from FIP in Florida and Spud is a guest from England. The Crist boys get a nice reception from the crowd. Spud and Jake start. Spud grabs a headlock and hgets an armdrag. He hits Déjà Vu and officially takes away value from the Dragon Kid. Fury and Dave tag in and Fury gets a headlock takedown. Dave powers out and gets an armdrag. He hits a hiptoss and puts on a wristlock. He climbs the ropes and hits a really painful looking armdrag. Fury comes back with a spinning suplex for 2. Spud tags in and they go for the Fast & Furious double-team dropkick but it doesn’t work out that well. Spud climbs the ropes and hits a legdrop for 2. Jake tags in and hits a boot to the face for 2. He hits a bodyslam and a double jump moonsault for 2. Dave tags in and hits a vertical suplex for 2. Jake tags in and hits a powerslam for 2. Dave tags in and they hit a double Alabamaslam. Dave hits a crazy dropkick for 2. Jake tags in and hits a slingshot senton for 2. Spud blocks a blind charge and comes off the top rope to hit a DDT. Fury and Dave tag in and Fury takes control. He hits a pair of dropkicks and knocks Dave to the floor. Jake surprises him with a leg lariat as Spud somersaults off the top rope onto Dave on the floor. Jake hits a suicide dive on Spud and Fury follows it up with an Asai moonsault. Dave finishes up the dive-fest with a double springboard moonsault. Back in the ring Fury hits the Jaytrix Enzifury for 2. Jake hits a neckbreaker on Fury but Spud catches him with the Code Red. Dave hits Spud with a crazy suplex and the Crists hit Fury with their finisher for the win. Most of the big spots hit here and the end result was a hell of an entertaining little tag team match.
Rating: ***

JZ says: Spud is extremely tiny. He looks like a little pixie or something. Irish Airborne gets a good pop and a chant. I think they’re from this area, so that would make sense that they’re as over as they are here. Spud and Jake start off and do some high flying stuff. Fury and Dave come in and they do some mat wrestling. Spud comes in and blows a spot, so the crowd lets him have it. The Crist Brothers use their superior double team skills to dominate Spud for a while. Spud hits a really nice DDT from the top rope and both men are down. Fury makes the hot tag and goes to work. He knocks Dave to the floor and goes for a dive but Jake nails him with a spinning heel kick instead. Spud hits a ridiculous dive to the outside on Dave. Jake follows him with a dive, leaving only Fury in the ring. He hits the Asai moonsault. Dave is back in the ring and he executes a springboard Merosault but it doesn’t really hit anyone. Fury hits the Jay-Trix kick but it only gets two. Spud hits the Code Red but it gets broken up. The Crists hit a sweet little double team move to get the win at 8:12. They blew some spots, but the effort was there and I like everyone in this match except Spud.
Rating: **¼

CZW Invades

BG says: After the match Super Dragon beats up a ring attendant in the crowd and dumps him at ringside before casually walking out of the building.

JZ says: All of a sudden, Super Dragon runs through the crowd and attacks one of the ROH security guards. He then goes out the side door, and the ROH students go after him. Bobby Dempsey’s existence is irritating to me.

ROH Pure Champion

BG says: Nigel McGuinness talks about this being the biggest weekend in his ROH career. He went undefeated in NOAH in Japan and he plans on remaining that way throughout the weekend. He’s going to beat Christopher Daniels tonight and then he’s going to win the ROH World Championship from Bryan Danielson tomorrow night. He doesn’t need to use chairs or tables against Danielson, he’s going to beat him with pure wrestling to prove that he’s the world’s best wrestler.

JZ says: Nigel McGuinness, reigning Pure Champion, has come back from the NOAH promotion in Japan. He says that he will beat Christopher Daniels tonight, because he’s that much better. He calls his opponent for tomorrow night, ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson a “clam digger.” That’s hilarious. He says he’s going to beat Danielson and hurt him. I really like Nigel’s promos.

MATCH #3: Delirious vs. Jimmy Rave

BG says: Rave bails after Delirious throws some toilet paper at Daizee Haze. After much stalling they lock up and Rave gets a headlock takedown. Delirious reverses to the head scissors but Rave goes back to the headlock. Delirious comes back with a headlock of his own. He reverses a back suplex to a head scissors takedown. Rave knocks Delirious into the corner where Haze kicks his injured hand. Rave follows Delirious out to the floor and slams the hand against he barricade. Back in the ring Rave stays on the hand. He hits a hammerlock suplex for 2. He fakes a slingshot move and stomps the hand for 2. He unwraps the bandage on Delirious’ hand (put there after the injury sustained during his match with Bryan Danielson) and ties it around the top rope. He drives the hand into the turnbuckle and puts on an armbar. He hits a side Russian legsweep and stays on the hand. He gets a crucifix pin for 2. He wraps Delirious’ tassels around the hand and then bites it. Delirious blocks a blind charge and hits a bodyslam. He hits a kick to the face and a leaping clothesline. He hits 22 clotheslines in the corner and a bulldog for 2. He goes for the cobra stretch but Rave fights away. He drops Rave onto the middle turnbuckle and hits the Panic Attack for 2. Rave hits a back heel kick and a spear. He hits a gutbuster and a DDT for 2. He puts on a butterfly hold but Delirious escapes and gets a backslide for 2. Rave hits the running knee for 2. Delirious hits a back elbow and a dropkick for 2. He puts on the cobra stretch but Haze hands Rave a chair. The referee turns his back on the action to remove the chair as Haze breaks up the hold. Shortly after this the fifteen-minute time limit expires. Well the finish came at a very weird time and didn’t get much of a reaction from the crowd. It certainly left me feeling deflated. Rave’s destruction of Delirious’ hand was very methodical and not so exciting. There were some fun stretches in there but nothing too stimulating.
Rating: **½

JZ says: Delirious is all kinds of awesome. Rave stalls to start as the crowd is really getting behind Delirious as of late. Sadly, Prince Nana is not here tonight. They do some chain wrestling to start and Delirious controls most of it. Delirious injures his hand outside the ring and Rave smells blood and goes right after it. That’s good strategy, since Bryan Danielson injured said hand at the last show six days ago. Delirious comes back and tries to go to work, but his hand is really bothering him. He hits the Roots Clotheslines in the corner and a bulldog for two. Rave fights back and gets a few near falls, but Delirious goes for the Cobra Stretch. Daizee throws a chair into the ring and when the referee tosses it out she hits a splash on Delirious to break up the submission hold. The bell rings a few seconds later, and we have a 15:00 time limit draw. That match was okay but it was missing something … oh yeah, Nana.
Rating: **¾

MATCH #4: ROH Pure Title Match – Nigel McGuinness vs. Christopher Daniels

BG says: They shove each other to start and Nigel bails. Back in the ring they knuckle up and Nigel goes after the arm. Daniels grabs a wristlock but Nigel reverses to his own. Daniels quickly gets his back on and they repeat this dance a couple of times. Nigel puts on a cravat but Daniels breaks free. Nigel gets a takedown for 1 after going to the eyes. Nigel goes for pin fall after pin fall and Daniels is eventually forced to use his first rope break to make him stop. Daniels puts on a chinlock and then goes after the neck. He hits a kneedrop to the neck and whips it for 2. He hits a back suplex for 2. He puts on the Koji clutch but Nigel uses his first rope break. Nigel blocks a blind charge and uses the handstand fake to club Daniels down for 2. He rams Daniels’ shoulder into the turnbuckle and then hits a knuckle lock suplex. He puts on an armbar and switches to a half nelson. Daniels fights out but Nigel hits an armbreaker. He stays on the arm but Daniels manages to get a half crab. Nigel uses his second rope break to escape. He hits another armbreaker and puts on an armbar. Daniels rolls him over for 2. Nigel comes back with a European uppercut and a clothesline for 2. He works Daniels over in the corner and then taunts Bryan Danielson when the referee has him break before five. Daniels blocks a blind charge and hits a neckbreaker. He hits a forearm and a clothesline. He hits another clothesline and a neckbreaker for 2. He hits the STO for 2. Nigel hits a clothesline out of nowhere for 2. He goes for the handstand again but Daniels scouts it and pulls him down with a DVD for 2. Nigel dodges the triple jump moonsault but walks into a flatliner. It gets 2 for Daniels. He holds on with a cobra clutch and forces Nigel to use his last rope break. Nigel hits the strong momentum uppercut and the rebound clothesline for 2. He goes for the Tower of London but Daniels reverses to a cobra clutch. The ropes do nothing for him so he forces them to tumble to the floor. Nigel shoves the photographer into Daniels and runs into the ring giving him a count out victory. The referee saw Nigel toss the photographer into Daniels and thus should have been disqualified, making the finish stupid. The match itself never really kicked out of first gear and bored me most of the way through. That’s two bad finishes in a row on this show.
Rating: **¾

JZ says: Nigel has been champion since 8.27.05 and this is his tenth title defense. He stalls a bit to start and they do some chain wrestling. Daniels goes to work on the arm. The crowd starts in with the dueling chants, and Nigel takes a cheap sot and goes to work. He gets Daniels to use his first rope break in a pretty cool way. Daniels regroups outside the ring. He comes back in and goes to work on Nigel’s neck. Daniels puts on the Koji Clutch and Nigel uses his first rope break. Daniels actually falls for the corner headstand. Nigel’s back in control going to work on the arm. Daniels comes back and locks on a half crab and Nigel uses his second rope break. Nigel reminds everyone that has till 5, referee. I’m pretty sure he invented that. Nigel goes for the headstand again but Daniels gets a Death Valley Driver out of that for two. Daniels puts on the Cobra Clutch and Nigel is forced to use his third rope break. Nigel comes back and hits a lariat for two. Daniels reapplies the Cobra Clutch but Nigel can’t use the ropes to save himself. The crowd is getting behind Daniels pretty good now. Nigel uses his momentum to hurl both himself and Daniels outside the ring. Nigel grabs that photographer lady and throws her into Daniels, and Nigel sneaks back into the ring to win the match by countout at 20:19. The crowd doesn’t like the finish, and I don’t like that photographer lady, but it was a good chicken shit heel way to win. The match picked up in the last several minutes when Nigel was out of rope breaks, but it never got particularly compelling or anything.
Rating: ***

Intermission

BG says: Dave Prazak is with ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson. Danielson has proven time and time again that he’s the best wrestler in the world, and he’s going to unify ROH’s two singles titles to make sure everyone knows it. Samoa Joe confronts him to tell him that tonight he’s going to win the tag team titles and run CZW out of the building. After that he has nothing else to do but go for Danielson’s title.

Full Impact Pro released Heatstroke Night 2 at long last. You can read my review of that show right here on 411Mania!

JZ says: Dave Prazak and his ridiculous haircut are with ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson, who will face Jimmy Yang for the World Title tonight. Danielson says he’s going to prove who the best really is when he unifies the World and Pure Titles. Samoa Joe comes in and says that he’s going to win the Tag Team Titles and run CZW out of the building. Then, he’s coming after Danielson.

Full Impact Pro DVDs are available only at ROHWrestling.com, in case you were wondering.

MATCH #5: ROH World Title Match – Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Yang

BG says: Yang did nothing to earn this title shot, but he’s an Ohio native and all the titles needed to be defended on the show so the pieces fit together right for him. Yang gets a roll up for 2 to start. He gets another for 2 and Danielson begs off. Danielson grabs a wristlock but Yang reverses to his own. Yang hits a moonsault press for 2 and Danielson bails. Back in the ring Yang gets a headlock takedown. He hits a hiptoss for 2 and goes back to the headlock. Danielson comes back with a wristlock but Yang escapes and chases him with kicks. Danielson goes for the crossface chicken wing but Yang gets to the ropes. They knuckle up and Danielson gets a strangle hold. Yang reverses to one of his own and they trade strikes. Danielson has enough and goes to the eyes. He gets a roll up for 2 and puts on a dragon sleeper. Yang fights out. He hits a back heel kick to the face but misses a spear in the corner and hits the post. Danielson follows him to the floor and whips him into the crowd. He drops him neck first on the barricade and rolls him into the ring where he gets 2. He puts on a surfboard stretch and then rolls into a bow and arrow lock. Yang rolls over and gets 2. Danielson puts on the Mexican surfboard so Yang goes to the eyes. Danielson puts on a chinlock and uses the ropes for leverage. Yang fights out and hits a superkick. He unloads with forearms and catches Danielson coming off the top with a leg lariat. Danielson bails so Yang follows him out with a springboard corkscrew dive. Good save after the Space Flying Tiger Drop didn’t work out for him. Back in the ring Danielson gets a roll up for 2. He gets another for 2. Yang hits a leg lariat for 2. Yang Time misses and Danielson slaps on the Cow Killer. Yang gets to the ropes. Danielson sets him up top and hits a back superplex for 2. He goes for the crossface chicken wing but Yang reverses to a roll up for 2. Danielson hits a lariat and sets him back up top. Yang fights him off and hits the Duff Drop for 2. They exchange forearms and Danielson ducks a kick to hit the roaring forearm. Yang goes up top but Danielson crotches him. He pulls him down with the crossface chicken wing and Yang passes out. This was full of cool stuff like Yang doing well enough in the beginning that Danielson lost his temper and went into dick mode. More than any other undeserving challenger Yang actually felt like a threat to the title. Yang has been so hit-and-miss in ROH that this really surprised me.
Rating: ***¾

JZ says: I’m not exactly sure how Yang earned this title shot. Danielson has been champion since 9.17.05, and this is his eighteenth defense. They so some chain wrestling to start and Danielson goes to work on the arm. Yang fights back and Danielson powders. Yang gains control and puts on the side headlock. Danielson comes back and bends Yang’s wrist in unnatural ways. Danielson scooting around the ring on his butt challenging Yang is pretty funny. Danielson soon gets aggressive though and goes to work with his awesomely aggressive offense and submission holds. He uses the bow and arrow and the surfboard, among others. Yang comes back with a superkick and hits a spin kick on a leaping Danielson. He hits a corkscrew press outside but Danielson is right back on offense inside the ring with rollups until Yang hits a nice spin kick. Yang Time coming up, but Danielson moves out of the way and puts on the Cattle Mutilation. Yang reaches the ropes. Danielson hits the super back suplex, but when he goes for another one Yang hits a spinning neckbreaker instead. It gets two. Danielson locks on the cross face chicken wing, which Yang initially resists, but he soon passes out and Danielson retains the title at 20:12. That was probably Yang’s best match in his ROH run.
Rating: ***½

MATCH #6: ROH Tag Team Title Match – Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Samoa Joe & Matt Sydal

BG says: Matt Sydal had proven himself to be the worst addition to Generation Next possible when, after the feud with the Embassy ended he was convinced by AJ Styles to hook up and go after the tag titles held by his own stable mates. Recently though Styles had proven to be less than reliable as the team failed in their first attempt at the titles as well as in a match against the Briscoe Brothers. Sydal picked up the winning pin in a match against Aries & Jack Evans and then picked Samoa Joe to be his partner here. Joe, wanting to be the first man to hold all three titles in ROH, gladly accepted.

Strong and Sydal start. Strong gets a hammerlock and suplexes Sydal out of nowhere. They fight it out on the mat until Strong goes to the ropes. Sydal grabs a headlock and hits a pair of armdrags in to an armbar. Sydal goes up top and gets a head scissors takedown for 2. Strong catches him with a chop and Sydal tags out to Joe. Smart boy. Joe dodges the chop for a while but can’t stay away from it for too long. Aries tags in and puts on a headlock. He can’t take Joe over but he does hit a springboard back elbow. He uses the turnbuckle to get Joe on the mat with the headlock. That was a neat throwback to Joe’s need to avoid headlocks to win matches. Joe comes back with a front facelock but Aries escapes and hits a dropkick. He hits a slingshot elbow but Joe comes back with slaps. Joe hits a snap powerslam and tags to Sydal. Sydal hits the elevated legdrop and pounds away. Joe tags in and hits the Big Joe Combo for 2. Sydal tags in and hits a second rope legdrop for 2. Joe tags in and pounds Aries down in the corner. He hits a running forearm and an enziguiri for 2. Sydal tags in and hits a leg lariat for 2. Joe tags in and hits an elbowdrop. He rams his knee into Aries’ head and tries to wash his face but Aries blocks it with a drop toehold. He hits a dropkick and tags to Strong. Sydal tags in but Strong is in control. He blocks a backslide and hits a gutbuster. He hits a flipping backbreaker for 2. He hits a butterfly suplex for 2. Aries tags in and they hit the Hart Attack for 2. Aries hits the Finlay roll and tags to Strong. Strong hits a second rope elbowdrop for 2. He hits a bodyslam and puts on the Mexican surfboard. I’m begging him to take the title from Danielson. Joe breaks up the hold with a kneedrop to the groin. Strong covers Sydal for 2. Aries tags in and they hit a double back elbow. Aries hits the power drive elbow for 2. Strong tags in and they hit a double back suplex for 2. Strong puts on a chinlock and hits a dropkick for 2. Aries tags in and they hit a double hiptoss. Strong hits a standing moonsault and Aries hits the playback kneedrop for 2. Aries ducks an enziguiri and hits a shinbreaker and a back suplex for 2. Strong tags in and chops Sydal down. He hits a backbreaker and puts on a chinlock. Sydal comes back with a neckbreaker and tags to Joe. Aries tags in but Joe is busy cleaning house. He hits a Manhattan drop and a big boot for 2. Aries blocks a senton with his knees but walks into a powerslam for 2. Sydal tags in and Joe hits Strong with a suicide dive. Sydal hits the pumphandle piledriver on Aries for 2. Strong knocks Joe into the barricade and hits a missile dropkick on Sydal for 2. Strong and Aries hit a double backbreaker and Strong chops Sydal into a brainbuster from Aries for 2. Joe hits Aries with an Ace Crusher and Sydal hits a standing moonsault for 2. Aries stops Joe from hitting the muscle buster on Strong and Strong hits the gutbuster on Joe. Aries hits Joe with a suicide dive and Strong hits the half nelson backbreaker on Sydal. He hits him with another and Aries follows up with the 450 splash for the win. Everyone got to hit all of their trademark stuff and did so in entertaining fashion. Joe never felt like a significant part of the match however, which kept this from being as good as it could have been.
Rating: ***½

Joe stays in the ring after the match and says that since he didn’t get a chance to beat the hell out of Strong or Aries that he’s going to stick around and wait for CZW to attack him. Necro Butcher, Nate Webb and Super Dragon all come out and beat him down. Cabana and Steel run out to even things up. Joe and Necro fight to the back as the Second City Saints work over Dragon and Webb. Necro returns from the back joined by Claudio Castagnoli. BJ Whitmer runs out win a neck brace with a chair and destroys it over the heads of the CZW wrestlers. Adam Pearce joins to even things up and we have ourselves a match.

JZ says: The challengers are an interesting pair to say the least. Joe graciously allows Sydal to start the match. Strong and Sydal start it off and Strong runs him off with chops. Joe comes in through, and this is one of the potential one-one-one matches that ROH fans are salivating to see. It was certainly pretty good when they did it in FIP. Strong gets a few chops in before tagging Aries, who was the man to end Joe’s World Title reign. The challengers take control and go to work on Aries. Joe and Aries fight for a while until Strong and Sydal are tagged in and I just feel bad for Sydal at that point. Aries comes back in and goes to work on Sydal, and the double teaming continues. Sydal is just being abused here. Aries’ instant replay / slow motion thing is stupid. Sydal finally makes the hot tag and Joe is destroying the Champs. Here It Is Driver on Aries gets two while Joe and Roderick are battling outside the ring. Strong toes back in the ring and kills Sydal with a chop and a kick to the face off the second rope. That could have ended it. Sydal gets a near fall on Aries after a big Ace Crusher by Joe. Now everyone is either hitting big moves or reversing big moves. Sydal becomes victim to two half-nelson backbreakers and a 450 splash from Aries and the champs retain at 24:41. That was a really fun tag team match and Sydal and Joe had several believable near-falls. The champs take on Alex Shelley & Jimmy Rave tomorrow night. Joe gets on the microphone and says he isn’t satisfied, and he challenges CZW to come out and fight.
Rating: ***¾

MATCH #7: Anything Goes Match – Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer, Ace Steel & Colt Cabana vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb & Super Dragon

BG says: Webb gets left alone in the ring with all four ROH wrestlers and is consequently brutalized. Whitmer goes out to brawl with Claudio and ends up getting his neck targeted. The Saints brawl with Dragon and Necro and Pearce beats the tar out of Webb. Dragon goes after Pearce so he blasts him with a chair. Cabana tosses chairs onto Necro as Pearce piledrives Webb on the ramp. Cabana and Steel hit Cactus elbows on Necro and Dragon. Necro sandwiches Cabana between two sections of the barricade as Whitmer finally starts to make a comeback against Claudio. Claudio goes to the eyes to cut him off and hits a suicide dive. Necro cracks Steel with a chair and then hits his chair bodyslam for 2. Cabana hits Necro with a dropkick and the Saints hit a double back suplex onto the upright chair for 2. Cabana blocks a blind charge from Claudio and hits a chair into his face with the Flying Asshole. He goes for the Colt 45 but Dragon stops that with a chair shot. Whitmer and Dragon trade strikes and Whitmer hits an exploder for 2. He sets Dragon up top but Dragon fights him off and hits a senton for 2. He goes for the Psycho Driver from the apron through the table but Cabana makes the save this time. He pounds Dragon onto the table and goes for an Asai moonsault. Claudio cuts it off with a European uppercut and Cabana goes through the table himself. Claudio puts Whitmer’s head into an upright chair and holds him for Super Dragon but Steel crotches Dragon to make the save. Steel and Necro brawl into the crowd where Steel hits a superplex off the bleachers, hitting his head on a chair on the way down. Back in the ring Claudio and Dragon achieve what they were trying for before, a double stomp to Whitmer’s head as it’s being wedged into an upright chair, held by Claudio in a pendulum hold. Whitmer just can’t catch a break in this feud. Claudio follows it up with a muscle buster for the win. This actually had more creative spots than the brawl from the previous show and really served to make Claudio stand out as a key player in the feud. It took longer to get going and it wasn’t as intense, but for an impromptu main event it did a nice job.
Rating: ***½

After the match Steel annoys me by talking into the microphone and Whitmer is taken out on a makeshift stretcher. Pearce and Steel complain about losing before the fadeout.

JZ says: Claudio, Necro, Webb, and Dragon all attack Joe until Ace Steel and Colt Cabana come out to make the save. Necro and Claudio incapacitate Joe backstage, so back in the ring it’s a four-on-two handicap brawl. The severely injured BJ Whitmer and Adam Pearce come out to even the odds. This is just a big brawl like the main event of The 100th Show. Dragon tries to give Whitmer another Psycho Driver through a table, but Cabana breaks it up. Cabana is the one who winds up going through the table via Claudio. Claudio holds BJ’s neck inside a chair, and Dragon comes off with a big double stomp right on the neck. Claudio and Dragon put him up to the top rope and Claudio hits the Muscle Buster to get the win for Team CZW at 19:37. That was a wild brawl with the right team going over. It wasn’t quite as good as last week’s main event, but it was pretty fun. Ace Steel cuts a stupid promo followed by Pearce saying ROH won’t lose a third time.
Rating: ***½

MVP

BG says: I have to go with Whitmer again due to his insane willingness to kill himself for the feud. Jimmy Yang gets an honorable mention for stepping up his game big time for his biggest match in ROH to date.

JZ says: Samoa Joe, for taking part in the best match of the night (Tag Titles) and jump starting the main event by taking on four guys at once.

THE FOLLOWING MATCH IS NOT ON THIS DVD

BONUS MATCH: #1 Contender’s Trophy and FWA Title Match – Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams, Night of Champions, 3.22.03

BG says: They shove to start and Williams grabs a headlock. He hits a shoulder tackle and Daniels bails. Back in the ring Williams gets a roll up for 2. He gets another for 2. He channels Johnny Ace and gets another for 2 and Daniels bails. Back in the ring Daniels grabs a wristlock. Williams reverses to his own and catches Daniels with another roll up for 2 when he tries to escape. That was amazing. Williams puts on a stranglehold and wrenches Daniels’ neck. He gets another roll up for 2. Daniels goes to the eyes and puts on a headlock. Williams reverses to a back suplex and puts on a chinlock. He hits a kneedrop to the neck and hits a neckbreaker. He hits another kneedrop to the neck for 2. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special and then switches back to the chinlock. He hits a backdrop but Daniels shoots him to the floor by his tights. He follows Williams out with a baseball slide and then rams his midsection into the apron. Back in the ring Daniels goes after the torso with a knee to the gut. He hits a gutbuster for 2. He hits a bodyslam and a slingshot elbowdrop to the stomach for 2. He stays on the abdomen and blocks a sunset flip to hit an elbowdrop to the injured area for 2. He hangs Williams on the top rope and the DVD freezes. That’s annoying. It comes back as Daniels and Williams are brawling on the floor. Back in the ring Daniels catapults Williams’ tummy into the bottom rope. Williams dodges a blind charge and hits a high knee in the corner. Daniels cuts off his momentum with a knee to the gut for 2. He puts on an abdominal stretch but Williams escapes. He hits a knee to the face and climbs the ropes. He misses the Bomb Scare but gets a roll up for 2. He hits a big clothesline and an overhead suplex. He hits a fisherman buster for 2. Daniels blocks a swinging DDT and sets Williams up top. He hits a palm strike but Williams blocks the Iconoclasm. He hits a tornado DDT for 2. Daniels comes back with a flatliner for 2. Daniels tries to put Williams in place for the triple jump moonsault but Williams grabs his arm and catches him in a crossface. Daniels gets to the ropes. He hits another gutbuster and the triple jump moonsault for 2. They trade strikes and Daniels hits a uranage and locks in the Koji clutch. Williams reverses to a cravat and goes for the Chaos Theory. Daniels blocks and goes for the Last Rights but Williams blocks that and hits a cobra clutch swing. He climbs the ropes and hits the Bomb Scare on the back of the neck for 2 when Daniels gets his foot on the bottom rope. Daniels does the smart thing and goes for the Angel’s Wings but Williams is just much better than him on this day and he reverses it to the Chaos Theory for the win and the title. This was much better than their match at Glory by Honor and is a criminally forgotten gem in ROH’s history. I’m so excited to see Daniels in ROH again when the UK DVDs come out!
Rating: ****

JZ says: I’m a pretty big Doug Williams mark, by the way. Chris Lovey and ? are on commentary here. Winner of this match will get a shot at the winner of the Xavier versus Samoa Joe match later on this show. Williams uses his superior British style to frustrate Daniels with a series of near falls. Daniels of course uses cheap tactics to gain an advantage. Williams works on the back of the neck, and Daniels works on the midsection. Lovey calls this a human chess match. They move their pawns and rooks around for a while and it’s the crowd is staying into it. Williams goes for the Chaos Theory, which gets reversed to the Last Rites, which gets reversed to a swinging cobra clutch. That is neat. Williams hits a big knee to the back of the head for two. Williams hits the Chaos Theory, one of my favorite finishing maneuvers, to get the pin at 19:11. Lovey calls it a “sleeper match of the year candidate.” It certainly was very good.
Rating: ****

You can pick up this show, as well as all other ROH shows at ROH Wrestling Dot Com.

Coming soon will be our review of WEEKEND OF CHAMPIONS NIGHT TWO!

Have any thoughts, comments, or concerns? Like how we’re doing our reviews? Let us know!

E-mail Brad at [email protected]
E-mail Jacob at [email protected]

The 411BG says: The first couple of matches gave me a pleasant surprise. There was a bit of a let down in the next two more mat-based matches but then the show really hit its stride in the second half. There are no blow away matches but I didn’t give anything less than **½, so for three hours of quality wrestling this is the way to go. Just don’t buy this if your standards have been permanently spoiled by the Milestone Series. JZ says: This isn’t a blow away show or anything, but it has three excellent matches past intermission, so that’s just about enough to warrant a recommendation. I like that CZW was kept strong in the absence of their leader, Chris Hero, and all of the champions looked good on the show named after them.
 
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]  legend

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Jacob Ziegler

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