A lot of people who were there are touting this as ROH's "WrestleMania X-7" or "Great American Bash '89." That's a lot of hype to live up to, but with a raucous sellout crowd and a title match that was nearly a year in the making, it certainly has a lot of things in its favor.
December 23, 2006
From Manhattan, N.Y..
Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.
Both participants wordlessly arrive at the arena. Great idea to put over their intensity by not having them speak.
Santa and his elves toss T-shirts out to the crowd, but the Briscoes, who are in a Grinchy mood ever since being screwed by the Kings of Wrestling, come out and destroy them. They DEMAND a rematch with Hero and Castagnoli.
Jimmy Jacobs is upset because Colt Cabana "took Lacey's purity." (**snicker**) He lived for the beauty of love, but now he has nothing to live for. YOU BROKE MY LIFE!
Opening Match, Four-Corner Survival: Christopher Daniels (w/Allison Danger) vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Davey Richards vs. El Generico.
You know you're in for one of those nights when the entire arena is singing along to "Ole!" by the Bouncing Souls. Girl Scout uniform for Allison tonight, prompting a "We want cookies!" chant. It looks like she gives the off-camera side much more than that. Daniels isn't carrying his tag belt, a fact that the announcers point out. The fans are just all over Rave from the very beginning, so everyone targets him. Generico does a series of armdrags with Richards and then continues it with Daniels. Rave low-bridges the ropes, spilling Daniels to the floor. Generico comes over to protest, so Rave tags himself in and rams Daniels into the barrier. So, despite Rave being in a 3-on-1, it's virtually even on brain power. Daniels hiptosses out of an Abdominal Stretch and tags Richards. Richards peppers Rave with chops and kicks. Rave runs away and tags in Generico, who promptly gets killed by Richards. Richards hits the Alarm Clock and a sitout powerbomb, but Daniels makes the save and tags himself in. A backbreaker sets up the uranage and Best Moonsault Ever. Generico comes back in with a Tornado DDT on Daniels. Daniels whiffs on a crossbody attempt but hits Richards with an enzuigiri. Generico and Daniels clothesline each other for a triple KO spot. Richards hit the handspring kick and T-Bones Generico into the corner. He goes for the SSP, but Daniels cuts him off long enough for Generico to hit the turnbuckle brainbuster. Rave tags himself in, though, and finishes an unsuspecting Generico with the Stepover Anklelock at 17:48. Rave says he wants the ROH World Title, but Nigel McGuinness answers instead and challenges him to a fight. Rave didn't figure in much until the end, with good reason. Everyone else looked good, though, and this was a fine opener. ***1/4
Adam Pearce (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Ricky Reyes (w/Julius Smokes).
Pearce dedicates tonight to Jim Cornette and promises Homicide will not win tonight. Julius interrupts and calls Pearce the Repo Man. See, I'm not the only one. I said "Krusher Kruschev," though. Reyes is here to neutralize Pearce and ensure a level playing field. Hagadorn trips up Reyes, allowing Pearce to hit the spinebuster. Pearce chokes Reyes out with the strap on his tights, revealing his man-titties. The crowd gets on him for those, so Pearce strokes his own nipple. I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing that. Reyes counters a slam to a Dragon Sleeper, but Hagadorn has the ref distracted. Smokes takes out Hagadorn, but Pearce loads up his fist and knocks out Reyes for the win at 3:21. To continue the bad night for the Rottweilers, Pearce and Hagadorn drop Smokes on his head with a spiked piledriver. Just a quickie match to get more heat on the main event. Got its point across. *1/2
Colt Cabana & BJ Whitmer (w/Daizee Haze) vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Brent Albright.
Where to start with this one. Whitmer and Jacobs were once tag team champions, and Lacey promised she could take them to the top. Jimmy fell in love with her, driving a wedge between the team. Of course, Lacey didn't give a damn about him, and started hooking up with Colt instead. When Colt broke it off, Lacey decided to break "it" off and use Jimmy Jacobs to do it. Brent Albright is just a gun-for-hire, and Lacey has deep pockets. Colt and BJ come through the crowd and knock Albright to the floor. Jimmy isn't intimidated, but moxie doesn't help him much. Whitmer and Cabana continue to annihilate the heels. Colt: "This is gonna suck, Jimmy!" He whips Jimmy into an Exploder on the ramp from Whitmer. They set up to put Jimmy through a table, but Albright makes the save. Whitmer plays face-in-peril as the match settles into the normal formula. Colt gets the hot tag, but Albright and Jacobs cut off the Bionic Elbow. Colt has to settle for the quebrada and a series of buttbumps. Albright knees Cabana in the head, setting up a spear from Jacobs. The Colt/BJ Doomsday Device misses. Jacobs hits Colt with the Contra Code (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B + A, Start). Albright powerbombs Whtimer over the top through the table, drawing a huge pop. Colt: "Oh…shit." Albright hits ROLLING GERMANS, setting up a Jacobs senton for the win at 13:49. Jacobs gets a measure of revenge for his beautiful and beloved Lacey. Good, solid tag formula with big spots that actually meant something (as opposed to when Team 3D does a table spot 3-4 times in a match). ***1/2
Chris Hero announces that he's hired Larry Sweeney as his agent, which you probably knew if you read my review of "International Challenge" (available at finer websites everywhere). He makes fun of the Briscoes for losing last night, and that leads to…
The Kings of Wrestling (w/Larry Sweeney) vs. The Briscoe Bros.
Claudio was supposed to be on his way to the WWE at this point. Jay and Mark storm the ring. Mark dives off onto Claudio and then moonsaults onto him again early in the match. Jay winds up as the face-in-peril. Hero works in his Jeff Speakman-like martial arts skills. The Kings unleash their usual array of smooth doubleteams. Jay reverses a double-suplex and tags Mark in. Mark T-Bones Hero over and goes for a springboard splash, but Hero gets his knees up. Claudio hits the Ricolabomb for two. Jay tags in and hits the gourdbuster, but Claudio reverses a whip and hits the Matchkiller. Jay goes up but gets hit with a step-up enzuigiri from Claudio. The KOW hit the superplex/splash combo for two. Claudio goes for a Dragonrana off the top, but the Briscoes break it up, and Mark ranas Claudio off Jay's shoulders. Claudio blocks a reverse rana, and Hero sets Jay on his shoulders. Claudio does a cool sort of double giant swing with both Briscoes. Now, THAT'S an innovative spot! It gets two. Everyone boots everyone else in the face and starts hitting finishers. Jaydriller. Waterslide. Cutthroat Driver. A heel miscommunication leads to Claudio knocking out Hero with the Halliburton briefcase. Mark knocks Claudio to the floor, and the Briscoes finish Hero with a Shooting Star Press/Guillotine Legdrop combo at 16:01. This was a great match that combined old-school tag formula with state-of-the-art wrestling moves. Highly entertaining stuff. ****1/4
After the match, Claudio explains that he'll be sticking around for a while and that the Kings of Wrestling will be dominant in 2007. Larry Sweeney grabs the mic and kicks Claudio out of the Kings because he and Hero have plans. The WWE is nuts if they don't jump on Sweeney as a manager. Claudio asks Hero to make a choice, and Hero sides with Sweeney. I was hoping for a big beatdown on Claudio to set off a feud, but it doesn't happen.
Instead, Samoa Joe comes down. Claudio tries to make nice, but Joe tells him this ain't MySpace, and he ain't his friend. Great line from Joe. Joe calls out NOAH's best for February 16. Nigel McGuinness answers the call and accepts his challenge, threatening to kick Joe's fat ass. Jimmy Rave attacks Nigel from behind and gets bitchslapped by Joe. Joe calls for a Rave vs. McGuinness match.
Gary Michael Capetta learns from Adam Pearce that Julius Smokes has fractured vertebrae.
Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Rave.
Rave attacks off the handshake, but McGuinness fends him off and comes back with forearms. Jimmy blocks a charge, knocking Rave loopy. Rave takes him to the floor and tosses Nigel into the barrier. Back in, Rave controls with a CFCW. Nigel comes back with a sickening armstretch. Jimmy spears him to take over again. Nigel gets two off a small package, but Jimmy spears him and hits a running knee. Nigel rebounds off the ropes and hits a lariat. The pace has been, to put it diplomatically, calculated. To put it another, more honest way – lethargic. More clotheslines set up the Tower of London for two. Rave snaps the ropes into Nigel's face, a move he lifted from Nigel. A Tornado DDT sets up Ghanarrhea. The Pedigree only gets one. Ooooh. Rave brings back From Dusk 'Til Dawn (the tilt-o-whirl into a Crossface). Nigel thinks about tapping but gets his foot on the ropes. Nigel no-sells a backdrop suplex and slingshots himself into a lariat. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Nigel hits the Tower of London on the apron! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! He crotches Rave on the top and hits the lariat. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! They trade forearms, and Rave trips Nigel up off the rebound, putting him in the Stepover Anklelock. That's enough to get the submission at 17:00. This was a tale of two matches. The first half was clunky and boring, but it picked up when they started unloading finishers on each other. It felt like the blueprint for a great match but lacked the pacing to really get there. Rave challenges the winner of the ROH Title match for February 16. ***
Dragon Gate Rules: Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Delirious vs. CIMA, Shingo & Matt Sydal.
Sydal is actually carrying both ROH World Tag Titles, explaining why Daniels didn't carry his to the ring. Well, actually it just raises more questions, but that's beside the point. Delirious and Sydal start out, fulfilling their contractually mandated once-a-month faceoff. It's the usual good sequence, but Sydal changes things up by doing his cocky heel persona. Delirious takes both of them to the floor with a crossbody. Strong and Shingo go next, and Strong gets in a chop before they both fall to the floor. No tags necessary, by DG rule, so Aries and CIMA go toe-to-toe. Crowd is split. These two might be the most explosive men in wrestling. CIMA rebounds off a forearm and hits a dropkick, but he headscissors Austin Aries, and YOU CAN'T HEADSCISSOR AUSTIN ARIES! GenNext isolates CIMA in their corner. They have such a wide array of doubleteams that it never gets boring. Plus, this kind of tag is old hat for CIMA. He slings Delirious' boot into Strong and doublestomps them both. Sydal gets cocky after a crossbody on Strong and Delirious, so Aries pops him. Shingo powerbombs Aries, though, and now it's Aries who is caught in the wrong corner. CIMA dropkicks his neck into the buckle, and Sydal hits the cannonball legdrop. Shingo uses a traditional atomic drop, which is the first time I think I've seen that in ROH. Weird, huh? Sydal slingshots himself into a doublestomp on Aries in the corner, and the Blood Generation works in the AWA Special/Doublestomp sequence. After what seems like more punishment than any human being can take, Aries comes back with a quebrada and gets the hot tag to Strong. Strong and Delirious clean house, and CIMA gets triple-teamed. The brawl spills to the floor where Sydal hits a moonsault onto the pile. Back in, CIMA puts Aries in the Indian Deathlock and adds a suplex on Delirious as he snaps back on it. The final stretch is just INSANE wall-to-wall action that I'm not even going to try to recap. Highlights include (in no particular order) Strong and Aries teaming up for the chop brainbuster. Shingo JACKING Strong with a lariat. Sydal springing up on Strong's shoulders and into a neckbreaker. The gutbuster sets up Shadows over Hell, which sets up the 450-splash. Blood Generation hits the Doomsday Crossbody. Delirious rolls Shingo over into the Cobra Stretch in one fluid motion. Would you have thought he was this good a year ago? The finish sees a big brawl on the outside, leaving CIMA alone with Delirious. The Schwein gets two, and CIMA finishes with the packaged piledriver at 24:04. Everyone gets a standing ovation, and CIMA puts over the promotion, promising to come back in 2007. Well, what can I say? Just a crazy amount of action down the stretch. Everything was so fluid and crisp. Each nearfall at the end was met with breathless anticipation. This was just great tag team wrestling. I didn't think it could happen, but they actually topped the earlier tag match and put on something close to the highly touted Blood Generation/DO Fixer match early in 2006. An early MOTYC for 2007. ****1/2
Jack Evans is returning in 2007. YES! And you know this…mayne.
ROH World Title: Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide.
So, here it is. It's a match nearly a year in the making, and even further if you want to take it back that far. Both of these guys have been with ROH since the beginning, but Homicide has never carried gold before. After several near-misses against Samoa Joe and a failed attempt to end Danielson's reign earlier in 2006, Homicide promised that if he didn't win here, he'd leave ROH. Both guys are coming in with injured shoulders, and both have been putting off surgery. Homicide is clearly the hometown favorite, and Danielson doesn't endear himself any, calling the fans "wannabe thugs" and flipping off Homicide in lieu of a handshake. Homicide holds his own in a mat-wrestling battle, taking Danielson to a stalemate and applying several leglocks. Danielson comes back with a Mexican Surfboard. Danielson abuses the ref's count and slingshot suplexes Homicide. He works in a Goku-Raku Stretch with his knees in Homicide's back. It gets reversed on him, and Homicide tosses him to the floor. Back in, Homicide hits the Triple Verticals and goes up, but Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn run down and hit Homicide with the Spiked Piledriver for the DQ at 10:50. Julius Smokes returns and clears Pearce and Hagadorn out of the ring, but Danielson retains the title on the DQ and walks out with it.
Yeah, right. At the biggest show of the year; are you kidding me? Referee Todd Sinclair says there's no way in hell he's accepting that finish and restarts the match, going from the most hated ref in the promotion to the most beloved. Homicide hits a running knee in the corner, but Danielson targets Homicide's injured shoulder. He goes up for the Swandive Headbutt, but Homicide catches him with the Ace Crusher. Homicide hits a tope con hilo and falls into the crowd. Dragon tries a forearm shot but only connects with the post. Back in, Homicide hits a sick hammerlock suplex into the armbar, but Danielson reaches the ropes. Danielson hits a flying forearm and, this time, the Swandive Headbutt hits. Fans chant, "You're not Benoit!" They trade blows, knocking each other loopy, but neither man can knock the other down. Homicide spears the champ to the floor but gets clotheslined into the crowd. Danielson goes old-school American Dragon by springboarding and turning himself into a missile to wipe Homicide out. Back in, Homicide shifts his weight to counter a backdrop superplex, but Danielson rolls through for two. Danielson tries again, and it hits. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Danielson fires off the elbows, which caused the ref to stop the match at "Destiny." CROSSFACE CHICKENWING! Homicide fades, and his arm drops three times, but he grabs Sinclair's pant leg before Sinclair can signal for the bell. Great, dramatic moment as Homicide reaches the ropes, and Danielson refuses to release the hold, screaming, "FUCK THE FIVE COUNT!" Sinclair has to pull Danielson off of him. Homicide applies the STF and then the Regal Stretch. Danielson rakes the eyes and flips out of the Cop Killa. CATTLE MUTILATION! Danielson rolls over and hits more elbows before going back to the hold. Homicide tries the Bret Hart counter, but it only gets two. Danielson with a forearm. And another. Homicide ducks a third and hits THE COP KILLA! He got him! ONE, TWO, THRE-Danielson grabs the bottom rope. The crowd is on fire at this point. Homicide thinks about using the ring bell (á la Roddy Piper), but Todd Sinclair takes it away from him. Danielson punts Homicide right between the uprights as Sinclair is putting the bell away. SMALL PACKAGE! That's his move! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Homicide's lariat attempt is blocked, but a second try ENDS Danielson. ONE, TWO, THREE! New champion! Homicide gets his first title at 30:37 (total time). The locker room empties to celebrate as Danielson hands over the title belt and shakes Homicide's hand. Great moment as it dawns on Homicide that he is the champion. Danielson tried everything that worked in the past: getting disqualified, elbowing his opponent unconscious, the small package. In the end, none of it worked. Homicide overcame it all and won out in the end. All blowoffs should be like this. ****1/4
And the video closes out with an awesome tribute to Homicide's ROH career. It doesn't have the production values of a WWE piece, but it rivals anything they've ever done in terms of emotional impact.
The 411: It may not be the top-to-bottom best wrestling card ROH has ever done, but in terms of markout value and importance, this one can't be topped. For all those people who wonder what is the show to get, now you have your answer. The only minor gripe I have is that Homicide's title win didn't wind up amounting to much in the long run, but who cares. It was such a great moment. Make no mistake; this is the new gold standard for ROH.
