Bryan Danielson responds to critics by saying he won't wrestle the way "the Man" tells him to wrestle, nor will he wrestle the way fans want him to wrestle. LOOK IN THEIR EYES, MA! YOU'LL SEE ME! Chris Sabin interrupts and irritates me by 1) referring to himself in the third person and 2) calling Danielson "brah."
Jim Cornette comes out to make fun of a fan dressed as Hulk Hogan and reminisce about Detroit wrestling. The dulcet tones of "Freebird" interrupt, and Adam Pearce offers his services to the promotion. He is the spitting image of Stunning Steve Austin, but he doesn't have the gruff voice and smart-ass attitude. The segment is clipped as Pearce rambles on and promises to earn his spot.
Opening Match: Delirious vs. BJ Whitmer (w/Lacey).
Delirious chases BJ and Lacey around the ring and gets stomped crawling back in. Delirious monkey flips Whitmer and is surprised when Whitmer lands on his feet. He turtles to confuse BJ and headscissors him to the floor. BJ blocks a rana attempt and swings Delirous into the crowd barrier. OUCH! Back in, BJ hits a sitout powerbomb for two. Delirious comes back with a flying rana and hits the Panic Attack (Cactus Knee). He calls for Shadows Over Hell, but BJ avoids it. Spinebuster gets two for BJ, so he hits a pair of suplexes (German and Dragon), but his powerbomb is countered to a jackknife by Delirious for two. Delirious gets few more rollups, but BJ explodes with a lariat and finishes with the Wrist-Clutch Exploder at 9:29. About as average as you can get. **
Top of the Class Trophy, Triple Threat: Davey Andrews vs. Shane Hagadorn vs. Derek Dempsey.
All of these guys are graduates of the ROH wrestling school. I believe Andrews and Hagadorn are Punk trainees while Dempsey is an Aries man. I could be wrong on that. Dempsey would have been huge in 1981 with his William Katt hairdo. Anyway, this is clipped all to hell. Andrews stiffs the hell out of everyone. Hagadorn gets pinned. Dempsey taps to an abdominal stretch at 1:52 (shown). Andrews is very over with the crowd because he acted like a total dick. He would get his, though. [N/R]
Generation Next promises to mess up the Embassy at Steel Cage Warfare in December. Strong cuddles with Jade as Evans looks on. I guess he gets to run the video camera.
Pure Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli.
HEY! Claudio beat Nigel in a non-title match, so Nigel busted him open with the iron the week before this. The title's on the line thanks to a misstatement by Nigel at the previous show. Claudio hits a clothesline off the handshake and gets a series of rollups. It's just a flurry of offense from Claudio early as he hits a running uppercut. Nigel bails out to regroup. Back in, Claudio wraps him up and forces him to use a ropebreak. They go into a series of sunset flip reversals, and Nigel grabs a cross armlock. Claudio uses his first ropebreak. Nigel slips over a charging Claudio, but Claudio has it scouted and hits Nigel with an uppercut. HEY! Nigel stays on top by returning to Claudio's arm. Claudio comes back with the Matchkiller (swinging facebuster) and hits a rolling European uppercut. Nigel gets caught doing the handstand, and Claudio puts him in an illegal Argentine Kneerack for a four-count. A flying European uppercut gets two, but Nigel reverses a backslide attempt to the Tower of London. ONE, TWO, THRE-Claudio grabs the ropes and uses another ropebreak to save the match. They try a spot where Claudio gets monkey flipped into the corner, but Claudio keeps slipping out of position. The ref gets knocked down, so Nigel tries to use the iron. When that doesn't work, he improvises by tossing the iron to Claudio and pulling an Eddy Guerrero. The ref recovers and sees an "unconscious" Nigel and Claudio holding the iron, so he disqualifies Claudio at 10:15. This was just the teaser, so you gotta cut them some slack. Nigel continues to be a first-class heel. **1/2
Homicide says he will not be responsible for what he does to Colt Cabana. Nelson Rodriguez?
Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Sal Rinauro & Chad Collyer.
Chad is subbing for Tony Mamaluke whose brain was leaking. Strong versus Collyer is a good matchup, so we get that first. Collyer acts like a jerk, but Strong gets the better of him. Jack tags in and gets a big pop, one assumes from his resemblance to Marshall Mathers. It's funny because Strong kind of looks like Jerry Mather. Chad pokes Jack in the eye, drawing the ire of his own teammate. Sal, who looks more like Adrian Brody, tags in and does a wholly unrealistic sequence with Jack. That's the kind of spotty choreography you'd expect from a C-level indy show. Strong catches Rinauro on a plancha and tosses him into the crowd barrier. Back in, GenNext's offense basically consists of Strong tossing Evans into people. Hey, whatever works. Strong wins a battle of chops with Collyer and hits a delayed vertical suplex. All you really need to know is Roddy hits people really hard…a lot. Strong knees Rinauro into unconsciousness, stretches him across the ropes, and backflips Jack onto him. Chad breaks up the count and clotheslines Jack out of his boots. Chad gets a little overaggressive, though, and hits his own man with a clothesline. That allows Strong and Jack to hit the Ode to the Bulldogs (with Jack hitting a Phoenix Splash!) for the win at 14:04. This was turned into fairly meaningless filler as the champs couldn't defend like they were supposed to. Good seeing Chad again, though. ***
Homicide calls out Colt Cabana before the beginning of the four-corners match, and they brawl all over the arena. Christopher Daniels one of their would-be opponents comes out and hangs back to observe the fracas. Eventually, Cabana returns the favor from This Means War by suplexing Homicide off the bleachers through a table. Commissioner Jim Cornette comes out and replaces Cabana and Homicide with hometown hero Jimmy Jacobs and whiny malcontent Adam Pearce.
Four-Corners Survival: Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels (w/Allison Danger) vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Adam Pearce.
Jacobs goes back to babyface for this match, complete with Stan Bush and "hussing." I suppose if he's in front of the hometown crowd it's best he doesn't play heel. He's really just in there to get Pearce over as a heel anyway. Pearce arrogantly tosses him around until Jimmy tries to bite his fingers off. Daniels tags in and gets headscissored by Jacobs. Joe tags in, giving us the big feud of the match. The usual Joe vs. Daniels match follows with Jacobs and Pearce simply looking on. Daniels slips off the ropes on a quebrada attempt, but he counters the STJoe to an armdrag. Pearce tags in and tries a crossbody, but Joe just walks out of the way. Jimmy plays face-in-peril as Daniels edges toward heeldom for this match. Now that I think about it, Pearce looks like a little like Nikita Koloff. He powerslams Jacobs for two, but Joe makes the save. Daniels helps work over Jacob's back as it leans toward a tag match with Daniels and Pearce teaming up, forcing Joe and Jacobs into an alliance. Jacobs hits a desperation spear on Daniels and rolls into a tag to Joe. Joe kills Pearce with a lightning boot and a senton. Daniels is the legal man, though. Daniels charges in and gets powerslammed. Joe segues to a cross armlock, but Daniels is in the ropes. Daniels blocks the STO and hits the Flatliner. BEST MOONSAULT EVER! Jacobs saves the pin and husses up. Jacobs tosses Daniels but misses a tope and goes facefirst into the railing. OH SNAP! That leaves Pearce and Joe. Pearce goes low and sets up for the piledriver, but Daniels knocks Adam out with the enzuigiri and finishes Joe with the Angel's Wings at 17:11. Boring in parts, but it accomplished its goals of putting more heat on the Daniels vs. Joe match and getting Pearce over as a heel. **3/4
Prazak tells Claudio Castagnoli he thinks he got screwed. Claudio wants a rematch.
Allison Danger vs. Daizee Haze.
This is a SHIMMER exhibition to put over ROH's sister promotion. Most fans probably know Daziee as Matt Sydal's manager, but she's a decent wrestler with a pothead gimmick. Well, I suppose she could be using it for glaucoma. Allison springboards into an armdrag and catapults Haze into a half-crab. Haze knocks Danger to the floor and hits a bodyblock off the top. Back in, Danger hits a forearm and goes for the STO, but Daizee blocks and hits the Daizee Cutter (3/4-Nelson facebuster) at 3:24. Didn't really do much to sell me on the promotion. I want some Cheerleader Melissa, dammit. *1/2
Grudge Match: Austin Aries (w/Jade Chung) vs. Alex Shelley (w/the Embassy).
This is a year in the making as Shelley was turfed from GenNext by Austin at Final Battle 2004 and eventually joined the Embassy in retaliation. These two met at Manhattan Mayhem with the face/heel orientation reversed, but now all is right with the world. Lots of humiliation early as Shelley spits in Aries' face, and they blow snot on each other. Shelley headscissors Aries and spikes his head into the mat, but YOU CAN'T HEADSCISSOR AUSTIN ARIES…for long. He pops up and hits a dropkick. Nana trips him up, but Aries backdrops Shelley on top of the Embassy and picks up the spare with a tope. Back in, Aries hits an elbow and seems to hurt himself, so Shelley goes up and double-stomps the arm. Shelley takes over and alternates between the back and arm. A bridging hammerlock works the arm further, and Shelley gets arrogant(er). Arrogenter? Aries' arm is hanging by a thread, so he kicks his way back. Shelley gets the Border City Stretch, but Aries reverses to the armbar and fishhook. Todd Sinclair makes him break it up, though. Nana tries to interfere, but Jade sneaks in and gives him a lowblow. Aries rolls up a shocked Alex Shelley for the win at 14:39. The fact that this was just a microcosm of the GenNext/Embassy feud instead of the blowoff to a singles feud hurt this one. Not as good as their Manhattan Mayhem match. Fun for what it was, though. ***
Aries tries to fight off the Embassy after the match, but Abyss joins in. AJ Styles and Matt Sydal make the save, and Shelley and Aries brawl all the way to the back to leave…
AJ Styles & Matt Sydal (w/Daizee Haze) vs. Jimmy Rave & Abyss (w/Prince Nana).
AJ is an honorary member of Generation Next for the feud with the Embassy, which is kind of ironic because GenNext only started when its members were booked to replace Styles and Daniels. Rave and Sydal do a brief sequence before Styles tags in. Rave dives away and tags Abyss. AJ uses his quickness to stay a step ahead of Abyss. Abyss eventually catches up with him and press drops him. Sydal charges and gets the SUPER press drop. Styles and Sydal hit a pair of enzuigiris to send Abyss to the floor. AJ tosses Rave over, but Abyss catches him. AJ and Sydal hit dives on top of the Embassy and isolate Jimmy Rave. Sydal gets tripped up as Prazak puts over Haze as his manager. Hmm. What an out-of-place thing to say. The Embassy isolates Sydal, who plays the plucky babyface roll well. Sydal tries a flying clothesline and literally just bounces off Abyss. Abyss hits an avalanche, but AJ saves the pin. Sydal counters a Rave backdrop attempt to a backslide and tags AJ. AJ cleans house and hits a sweeeeeet springboard forearm on Rave. Sydal tags back in and launches AJ into a Pelé on Abyss. Abyss breaks up an AJ Argentine Backbreaker and drops him with one of his own. Rave hits Sydal with the spear, but Sydal flips out of Ghanarrhea and gets two off the standing moonsault. Rave reverses a whip and drops down, and when Sydal leaps over he finds himself in the BLACK HOLE SLAM! AJ hits Abyss with the Styles Clash and the Spiral Tap, but Jimmy knocks him silly with the running knee. Sydal jumps Rave, though, and finishes him with the belly-to-belly moonsault superplex at 14:19. Really fun and energetic match. AJ and Sydal sold as they pleased, but it worked in the context of the match, so I won't complain too much. Another good addition to the Embassy/GenNext feud. ***1/2
Nigel McGuinness doesn't think Claudio deserves a rematch after assaulting him with the iron the way he did.
ROH World Title: Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Sabin.
Sabin signed one of those "open contracts" Danielson sent out. They don't say which promotion Sabin is representing, but it's pretty obvious – Border City, baby! Like Jacobs, Sabin is a hometown boy and, like Jacobs, he doesn't stand much of a chance. The announcers spend a little time putting over his win at the Peterson Memorial Tournament, but it's mostly to hype the DVD on sale at rohwrestling.com. Danielson takes him down to the mat and controls early. YOU CAN'T HEADSCISSOR…Chris Sabin, though, as he reverses to a headlock. Danielson slaps Sabin in the face. He busts out that flippy-floppy roll into a dropkick to get out of a wristlock, so Sabin returns the favor and slaps him in the face. Well, you know that won't go unanswered. Danielson takes him down and rips at his nose. Sabin comes back with a rana and then hits one off the apron to the floor! Back in, Sabin hits the tree-of-woe dropkick. Danielson tries to avoid another, so Sabin stops and gives him a neckbreaker. Nice. Danielson gets rough with a trio of European Uppercuts. He gives Sabin a pair of backbreakers in a message to Roderick Strong and has words for the crowd. Sabin tries to slip out of a hold only to have Danielson rip at his nose again. More backbreakers and an abdominal stretch with a handful of ropes. Another backbreaker sets up the Canadian Backbreaker, but Sabin slips out of it and hits a flying heel kick. A neckbreaker and a pair of kicks to the neck set up the LYGERBOMB by Sabin. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Sabin springboards off the ropes…right into Cattle Mutilation. Danielson rolls it over into a pinning attempt for two. Sabin rakes the eyes to get out of a surfboard. Danielson complains about it and hits another backbreaker. What an asshole. Sabin avoids the swandive headbutt and hits a Tornado DDT for two. Danielson bites his way out of a bridging chinlock in a reversal of Sabin using the eyes. Sabin tries his piledriver, but Danielson reverses to the crossface chickenwing attempt before settling on a German Suplex. CFCW, but Sabin reaches the ropes. Sabin blocks the Regalplex but gets forearmed into the corner. He blocks a charge but slips off the ropes on a missile dropkick attempt. Did someone grease the ropes tonight? Danielson takes a dropkick but comes back with the lariat anyway. Sabin recovers and hits a Handcuff Piledriver for two. Danielson fights Sabin off and hits a backdrop superplex. STRONGHOLD! That gets the submission at 24:25. Sabin played the part of designated punching bag but got in some good offense of his own. Make no mistake, though, the whole point was to build to Danielson vs. Strong at Vendetta. Danielson ripping off Strong's moveset the whole match did an incredible job at that. ***1/2
Roderick Strong pulls himself away from Jade Chung long enough to say he'll have his answer in the ring.
The 411: Most of the matches were good on their own or built nicely to Vendetta, which was the whole point of this show. Don't get this one without getting Vendetta, but this is definitely worth a viewing too.
