Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — International Challenge Posted by J.D. Dunn on 04.18.2007
Daniels and Sydal finally defend their tag titles in the final stop before Final Battle.
Ring of Honor — International Challenge by J.D. Dunn
December 22, 2006
From Hartford, Conn.
Your hosts are Dave Prazak and the returning Lenny Leonard.
The Prophecy says their title reign may have started rocky, but they'll honor they're open contract and take on CIMA & Shingo. Sydal irritates Daniels with his cocky promo.
Larry Sweeney pops up to announce his arrival. Ever see the Michael Mann film Manhunter? Sweeney reminds me of Lounds, the reporter for The National Tattler that gets his tongue bitten out by "the Tooth Fairy."
Samoa Joe opens the show proper and apologizes for not being able to wrestle (his comment about TNA is edited), but he puts over the rest of the roster and thanks Hartford for a great turnout. The building looks great too for an ROH venue.
Opening Match: Jason Blade vs. Pelle Primeau.
Good choice for the opener. They do a token wrestling sequence, and Blade tosses Primeau to the floor. He follows him out with a nice floating somersault plancha. Blade lands on his feet off a monkey flip, but Primeau sunset flips him for two. Blade counters his rana to a powerbomb for two. A superkick sets up the Blade moonsault for the win at 4:30. Decent enough opener with lots of athleticism. **
Austin Aries vs. Eddie Edwards.
Winner gets to drop the alliterative name. Edwards is a local guy that has appeared for Pro Wrestling NOAH. He looks like a scrawny Jerry Saggs, but he has "Die Hard" written on his tights, so he wins points from me. Sadly, he tries to headscissor Austin Aries, and as everyone in ROH knows, YOU CAN'T HEADSCISSOR AUSTIN ARIES! He hits some nice chops and yanks Aries out of the corner for two. He calls for some sort of powerbomb, but Aries counters to a rollup for two. Aries comes back with his slingshot splash and quebrada. Edwards blocks the Brainbuster and avoids the corner dropkick. Whoa! A missile dropkick gets two for Edwards and he calls for the Brainbuster. Aries counters to a forearm, but Edwards hits him with a lightning legline. Edwards tries for some sort of packaged stunner, but Aries elbows out, hits the Brainbuster, and finishes with the 450-splash at 7:22. Edwards looked really solid, and he should get another shot at the main roster. **1/4
Jimmy Jacobs gets kind of emotional talking about how he loves his own blood. He doesn't love Lacey's blood, though, and that's why he wants revenge on BJ Whitmer. He promises Whitmer will live in a blood-stained world. Good promo from Jimmy.
Adam Pearce (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Delirious.
Pearce double-crosses Delirious off the handshake. Delirious takes him down with a headscissors and tries a crossbody, but Pearce catches him (saving a botched spot). They brawl on the floor where Hagadorn rakes Delirious' back. That just makes the lizard man mad, and he goes after Hagadorn. Pearce jumps Delirious from behind to take over. Pearce slap on a camel clutch and mocks the crowd. Delirious powers into a cover, but Hagadorn pulls the ref out. Delirious bites his way out of a piledriver and small packages Pearce, but Hagadorn has the ref tied up again. Delirious hits a flying clothesline and goes up for Shadows over Hell, but Hagadorn stalls him long enough for Pearce to pull out a pair of brass knuckles and hit Delirious on his way down. Pearce picks up a win at 6:13. Good heel work from Pearce. After the match, Pelle Primeau throws Hagadorn back in, and Delirious gets some revenge with a piledriver. **
Jimmy Jacobs & Mercedes Martinez vs. BJ Whitmer & Daizee Haze.
Whitmer accidentally spiked Lacey in the face, so she's absent tonight. The ladies take out the men in a fun, convention-shattering spot. Mercedes has a nice suicida. We go picture-in-picture with Haze and Martinez going back and forth in the ring as Whitmer and Jacobs battle into the crowd. Mercedes hits a brainbuster, but most of the fans are paying attention to the guys brawling. The men finally return to the ring. Mercedes nails BJ with a series of forearms, but he no-sells. He's about to haul off and hit her before Jacobs takes him out with a spear. Mercedes and Jimmy team up to give Whitmer a Fisherman's Buster. Daizee hits a sloppy Daizee Cutter on Mercedes. Jimmy tries to save Mercedes from an Exploder and winds up doing more harm than good as Whitmer plants her right on her face. Daizee and BJ team up for an Ode to the Bulldogs with BJ holding Jimmy in a DVD while Daizee leaps off his back into a splash onto Mercedes at 7:36. A really well-worked match, and the ladies took more than their share of licks. One of the better mixed tags in recent memory. **3/4
Hired goon Brent Albright runs down, and he and Jimmy try to spike Daizee in the face in retaliation for Lacey's injury. Colt Cabana makes the save, and we get…
Colt Cabana vs. Brent Albright.
This is, in theory, a very serious feud, but you wouldn't know it from Cabana. I realize it's just part of mind games, but Colt working his comedic style diffuses a lot of the hatred that probably should be present. That being said, there are a number of funny moments, like Colt tricking Albright into grabbing both of Colt's feet so Colt can smash his fingers, or Colt sneezing his way out of an armbar. The ref even gets in on the act as Cabana draws him in the middle. Finally, Albright takes Colt to the floor and drops his throat across the railing. Albright hits the 619 knee, but Cabana shows FIGHTING SPIRIT and rebounds with a lariat. Albright avoids a corner knee, but Cabana springs off into a butt bump. Colt gets two off a quebrada but charges right into a belly-to-belly. Brent hits a Dragon Suplex to set up the Crowbar. Cabana fights it off and eventually rolls to the ropes. Colt reverses a whip and rolls Albright up for the surprise win at 13:42. Some funny stuff in the beginning, but Albright looked flustered when the crowd started ragging on him. **1/2
The Kings of Wrestling vs. The Briscoe Bros.
This was supposed to be the last teaming of the Kings of Wrestling as Claudio had signed with the WWE. That hit what is being described as a "snag," and Claudio wound up back in ROH. Hero dominates Jay early, but he gets cocky, and Jay hits him with a leg lariat. Claudio tags in but gets caught in the Briscoes' corner, and they doubleteam him to death. Mark hits a nice roll-through Northern Lights into a jackknife for two. Hero tricks Jay into distracting the ref and snaps Mark's neck off the top rope. Formula tag follows with Hero providing the dickishness to get heat from the crowd. The Kings hit some nice doubleteams, but Mark winds up hitting a flapjack and tagging in Jay. The Briscoes hit stereo no-hands over-the-top topes in a cool spot. Claudio springs up into a headscissor takeover in yet another cool spot. Hero tags in and hits the Cravat Neckbreaker. Mark takes a page out of Toshiaki Kawada's playbook and drags his brother to their corner so he can tag him. The Briscoes set up for the Doomsday Device, but Larry Sweeney runs down and punches Jay in the face. Jay is so surprised that Hero is able to schoolboy him for the win. Not a big fan of the ending, but it's a great way to introduce Sweeney to ROH. The match was going along well until the finish. ***1/4
Delirious is angry at Hagadorn and Pearce.
Four-Corner Survival, Non-Title: Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness.
These four guys have singles matches with each other, so this is just an appetizer. Rave and Danielson are heels, so they make Nigel and Homicide start. 'Cide and Nigel do a quick little wrestling sequence before catching the heels napping and hauling them in. Nigel and Homicide team up to work over Jimmy Rave, but Danielson blocks Nigel's rebound move (just because he can). It turns into a de facto tag match with Danielson and Rave isolating McGuinness. One wonders why they didn't just do a tag match. Homicide gets the hot tag and hits a tope con hilo on both Danielson and Rave. Nigel tags in and peppers Rave with strikes. Danielson tries to make the save but clocks Jimmy instead. Nigel hits the Tower of London for two. Danielson makes the save and poses, allowing Homicide to nail him with the Ace Crusher. Danielson reverses a Cop Killa and tosses Homicide's shoulder into the ringpost. Samoa Joe runs down to check on Homicide. The ref is distracted by Joe and doesn't see Nigel covering Rave. Nigel blames Joe for costing him the match (remember their earlier argument), and that allows Danielson to sneak up and small package McGuinness for the win at 14:46. This was just here to add intrigue to the main event tomorrow and further the feud between Nigel and Joe, so there wasn't as much effort put into this match. Some good work by sheer talent level, but I don't like it when four-corner matches turn into tags. **3/4
We get a clip of Davey Richards and Roderick Strong going at it in a good match in FIP. Davey would go on to win the match. Later Roderick would defeat Bryan Danielson for the FIP title, and Richards was the first man to step up and ask when Richards gets his title shot…moments after Strong's title win. Strong thinks it's an inappropriate time to bring it up because he's celebrating and says they'll talk about it later, triggering a shoving contest between the two. And if you wanted an answer to Richards query, true believer…
FIP Heavyweight Title: Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards.
The FIP Title can change hands on a countout or disqualification. They start with mat wrestling, and Davey complains about some fan trying to get himself over, thus getting the fan over. Have we learned nothing from Steve Corino? Roderick comes back with chops (naturally). He locks in a Camel Clutch. Leonard: "He's going to break his back and make him humble!" Strong picks Richards up for a delayed suplex but decides to chop him instead. Strong tries to superplex Richards, but Davey reverses to a Tornado DDT on the apron. Strong nearly gets counted out. Back in, Davey misses a kick and takes a Falcon Arrow for two. Davey comes back with a missile dropkick, but Strong catches him in a Cradle Backbreaker. Richards hits ROLLING GERMANS! Richards plants Roddy on the mat with the DDT and goes up for the SSP. Strong gets his knees up and hits another backbreaker for two. Roddy cuts off the handspring spinkick, but Davey boots him to the floor and hits a suicida. They brawl all the way up to the entrance platform where Roderick dumps him and scurries back to the ring for the COR victory at 21:26. I went into this hoping for the match of the night, but this was pretty disappointing compared to my expectactions. From a technical standpoint, it's a brilliant match, but it exposed the fact that Strong needs someone to carry the personality of the match (as Danielson did in Strong's great singles matches, and as Austin Aries did as a tag team). Davey Richards is not that guy, despite his many other talents. As a result, the match felt more like a "look what we can do" exhibition rather than a hard-fought match. Thankfully, "what they can do" is pretty good, but this wasn't the MOTYC many thought it could be. Also, the ending, as Jim Cornette might say "sucked a dick." ***
ROH World Tag Titles: Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal vs. CIMA & Shingo.
Sydal is in a bit of an awkward position because he's a member of the Blood Generation along with CIMA and Shingo. Plus, he was scheduled to partner up with them the following night. To add intrigue, Sydal is working through a knee injury, one that derailed the champions' first title defense. The champs do a good job of isolating Shingo and later CIMA. Sydal gets cocky and calls his cannonball legdrop, so CIMA avoids it and hits a doublestomp. The Dragon Gate guys work in an AWA Special with Sydal face up. That doesn't seem as effective. What is effective, though, is CIMA's doublestomp from the same position. Shingo hits the Giant Swing by Sydal's throat. The challengers team up for a wheelbarrow into a lungblower and then into the Ace Crusher. Shingo tries another wheelbarrow, but Sydal counters to a DDT. He adds a dropkick to CIMA and gets the hot tag to Daniels. Daniels clears the ring (including a goofy spot where he forces Shingo to DDT CIMA), and Sydal moonsaults off the top onto the DG'ers. Back in, Shingo blocks a rana and holds Sydal for a CIMA dropkick. Sydal tries again but gets powerbombed to the corner. Daniels hits the Shoryuken and goes for the Iconoclasm, but CIMA uses that move too, and is able to counter and hit his own. Daniels DVDs CIMA and locks in the Koji Clutch on Shingo. CIMA breaks it up with a frogsplash, and they hit Daniels with a Crossbody Doomsday Device. Sydal just does make the save. CIMA accidentally superkicks his own man leading to the Best Moonsault Ever and the Shooting Star Press at 23:50. The last five minutes or so were just wall-to-wall action and, although it was spotty, the excitement was off the charts. ***3/4
Bryan Danielson gloats about Homicide's injured shoulder.
"Fifth Year Festival" commercial. Quite good.
The 411: I had heard that this was a blowaway show, but it doesn't reach that level. I'll go thumbs up because it has some good booking to set up the big "Final Battle" show that was nearly a year in the making. Plus, the tag matches were all worth a look.
