ROH - The Chicago Spectacular Night Two DVD Review
Posted by Garoon & Ziegler on 03.28.2007
Who will survive the Chicago Spectacular?
ROH – The Chicago Spectacular Night Two – Chicago Ridge, Illinois – December 9, 2006
Introduction
BG says: ROH wants you to watch the video wire before watching the main program. Samoa Joe is the host and he has a message for Bryan Danielson. When they get into the steel cage Danielson won’t be able to evade Joe, and when he’s done with Danielson he’ll put down Ring of Homicide in his hometown of New York City. Next up are clips of the brawl between BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs at Dethroned. Both men bleed and Lacey slaps Whitmer around. Daizee Haze runs out and takes her down. Joe comes back with another message. This time he slapped KENTA so that he’d go back to NOAH and let everyone know that ROH isn’t a vacation spot. He wants them to send somebody over to respond to the slap. Homicide comes in and brags about beating the Briscoe Brothers with Joe. He tells Adam Pearce that he’s going to break him down on the way to the title. He then confronts Joe about the possibility of them wrestling each other for the title at Final Battle. He looks forward to bringing it to Joe like he did in 2003. We then get clips of Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal beating the Kings of Wrestling for the tag titles at Dethroned. The new champs cut a promo bragging about winning the belts until the former champions Roderick Strong & Austin Aries challenge them to a match for the titles. Daniels agrees since Aries and Strong once defended the belts against them. The wire wraps up with some clips of the Nigel McGuinness/Jimmy Rave match from Dethroned, along with the post-match angle where Nigel threw toilet paper at Rave and Rave flipped out. The rematch will be the first night of the Chicago Spectacular.
Shane Hagadorn tells Adam Pearce that he was inspired by his promo from the night before. He’s very excited to see Pearce get in the ring and beat him with the strap. Pearce says that actions speak louder than words but then he talks for a while. Hagadorn isn’t worried about Pelle Primeau either because for two year’s he’s beaten him wherever ROH has gone. Tonight he’s going to teach him a lesson.
Shingo says that some of his friends are coming to ROH soon. Lacey approaches him and offers him money to hurt Colt Cabana. Shingo understands and seems happy about the offer.
JZ says: We start where we left off last night, with Adam Pearce, only this time he’s joined by Top of the Class Trophy holder Shane Hagadorn. Hagadorn is all giddy about Pearce’s promo last night, and Pearce once again promises to beat Homicide. They turn their attention to Pelle Primeau, and they promise to teach him a lesson tonight.
Shingo is here to cut a promo, but Lacey interrupts him to offer money if he can hurt Colt Cabana. The two will face off in a singles match tonight.
MATCH #1: Colt Cabana vs. Shingo
BG says: Colt Cabana comes out to the ring to complain about Lacey and her alleged sexual transmitted infections. After last night’s attack he can still engage in sexual activity but it hurts to pee. He knows he has a match with Shingo tonight but he wants to fight Jimmy Jacobs first. Lacey rushes Jacobs out to the ring and they brawl for a while. She gets in a few shots of her own and attacks the crotch again. Daizee Haze runs out next and hits the heart punch on Lacey. Jacobs goes after Haze but Whitmer stops him from hurting her. DP Associates Shingo and Jimmy Rave and Bryan Danielson run out and give Jacobs the advantage until Delirious and Nigel McGuinness clear the ring of the bad guys. This segment felt very FIP influenced. Jacobs sports the bloody tears here for the first time. Cabana suggests that he and Shingo join the six-man tag match and make it an eight-man elimination match.
JZ says: Colt Cabana comes out to the ring and is walking a bit gingerly after last night’s attack on his nuts. He says nasty things about Lacey, Jacobs, and Brent Albright, and calls Jacobs out to fight right now. He and Lacey come out and Lacey grabs his nuts because she’s that much of a bitch. Daizee Haze comes out to help, so Jacobs goes after her, and that brings BJ Whitmer out, and that draws out Shingo, Bryan Danielson, and Jimmy Rave. So that brings out Delirious and Nigel McGuinness, and we’ve got a huge brawl on our hands. The babyfaces clear the ring, and Jacobs has a nasty cut above his eye and is bleeding pretty hard. Cabana proposes that they change the six-man elimination match to an eight-man elimination match for the main event. That sounds good to me.
MATCH #1: Ace Steel vs. Tank Toland
BG says: This match is cause for celebration as it is Ace Steel’s last match in ROH… Ever… Hopefully. I think it’s appropriate that it come in the opening match against a guy with almost no fanfare in ROH. They lock up and fight on the mat. Steel grabs a headlock but can’t take Toland down with a shoulder tackle. Toland puts on a headlock but runs into a hiptoss. Toland is blown up already but he manages to get a backslide for 2. Steel gets a sunset flip for 2. They trade forearms in an exchange that Steel wins. Toland hits a bodyslam and a kick to the back. He hits an elbowdrop for 2. He hits a kneedrop but Steel comes back with a neckbreaker. Steel hits a springboard kneedrop and a double jump twisting senton for 2. Toland hits a fireman’s carry slam and a gutwrench lift into a DDT for 2. Steel hits a spinebuster and puts on the Stretch Muffler. His neck is hurt so he can’t keep the hold on. He climbs the ropes and drops Toland on the top turnbuckle. Back in the ring Steel gets a roll up out of nowhere for the win. Jimmy Bower spent the majority of the match begging Lenny Leonard to come back to ROH so that he can get out of the commentary booth now that Jared David is gone. WWE commentators used to treat Jakked matches with the same attention to detail. It was actually Toland’s fault the match started out rocky as Steel reined in the alleged comedy.
Rating: *¾
JZ says: What did I do to deserve this match? Dave Prazak and Jimmy Bower are the hosts. Bower notes that Matt Sydal is injured so their scheduled Tag Team Title defense is off, and we’ll find out about his replacement a little bit later. Bower also announces that ROH is adding another Chicago venue in addition to the awesome Frontier Fieldhouse. These guys look like they’re moving in slow motion in the early going here. Toland soon takes control with his boring offense. Steel comes back and the crowd is at least into him, which is a step up from last night. Toland regains control, and then Steel regains control. This is back and forth, back and forth. Steel gets a small package out of nowhere to get the win at 8:25. Not much happened there, but at least they kept it short.
Rating: *¾
Tag Team Champions
BG says: Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal were going to defend their belts for the first time tonight but Sydal hurt himself last night against Austin Aries & Roderick Strong. Matt Sydal has a lot of nice things to say about himself and he thinks it’s important to his investment in himself. Daniels doesn’t know how to respond to that but he does have faith that he and Matt Cross can beat the former champions in a non-title match tonight. I dig the new Sydal attitude.
JZ says: Christopher Daniels, Matt Sydal, and Allison Danger are here to talk about tonight. Sydal injured his knee last night and won’t be able to defend. Sydal gets all arrogant and cuts Daniels off, which perplexes Daniels and Danger. Daniels introduces Matt Cross as Sydal’s replacement for tonight. Sydal calls Cross “kid.” I like the new heel-edged Sydal.
MATCH #2: Six Man Mayhem – Kikutaro vs. Jake Crist vs. Dave Crist vs. CJ Otis vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Trik Davis
BG says: I have a funny story about CJ Otis. E-mail me if you’re interested. This probably has less star power than any Six Man Mayhem match ever. Dave and Kikutaro start. Kikutaro falls victim to a wristlock and swears a whole bunch. Dave hits a couple of fancy armdrags but Kikutaro hangs him upside down and kicks his tummy. Kikutaro mimics Ric Flair, and like Flair he gets slammed off the top rope. Jake and Primeau tag in and Jake gets a headlock takedown. Primeau comes back with a hurricanrana. Otis and Davis tag in and Otis suplexes him for 1. Davis gets a pin for 2. Otis strikes Davis to the floor. The Crists hit a double spinebuster on Otis. Dave dropkicks him to the floor. The Crists hit stereo dives on Davis and Otis. Kikutaro tosses Primeau onto everyone on the floor. He teases a dive himself but instead decides to slap everyone’s back. Nice. Davis hits a head scissors takedown on Kikutaro. He blocks three blind charges but when Kikutaro rams the referee into him he lets it hit. Kikutaro hits the most telegraphed Shining Wizard ever on Davis for 2. He tries to do a ropewalk armdrag but crotches himself and Davis gets 2. The Crists hit a double-team lungblower on Davis for 2. Primeau comes in and hits the stunner on Dave. Otis hits him with a German suplex. He hits a pair of forearms on Jake but Jake and Dave come back with the Irish Air Raid and Dave lets Jake pick up the win. They did a lot of cute stuff, and that’s really all you can expect from these guys.
Rating: **¼
JZ says: This is CJ Otis’s debut on the main show, and he’s wearing tights not unlike Samoa Joe’s. Dave Crist and Kikutaro start it off, and let’s just enjoy pro wrestling. Kikutaro deliberately mis-times his thigh slap on kicks, which is pretty damn funny. He then channels Ric Flair, and Jake Crist and Pelle Primeau tag in. They don’t go very long until Trik Davis and CJ Otis come in. Davis gets knocked to the floor so the Crist brothers come in and double team Otis, and he bails. The Airborne hit dives onto Otis and Davis, leaving Kikutaro and Primeau in the ring. Kikutaro military presses Primeau to the floor, and then hits his own version of a dive. Davis comes back in the ring and goes to work on Kikutaro. Kikutaro then hilariously involves the referee and hits the Shining Wizard on Davis for two. Kikutaro tries the Jinsei Shinzaki but he falls on his nuts. The match becomes significantly less funny when Kikutaro isn’t in it. The Crist brothers hit the Irish Air Raid and Jake Crist gets the pinfall at 8:17. That was pretty fun as long as Kikutaro was in the ring.
Rating: **
Top of the Class
BG says: Shane Hagadorn comes out to the ring and berates Pelle Primeau. He’ll give Primeau a shot only if he takes it right now. It all turns out to be a ruse however as Adam Pearce attacks Primeau with the leather strap and the pair hit a spike piledriver. Pearce calls Homicide out for their strap match right now. Homicide comes out but Pearce bails and Homicide inserts Hagadorn into the match instead. I’m not quite sure why that’s okay for him to do but here we are.
JZ says: Shane Hagadorn comes down and mocks Primeau. Adam Pearce comes out and attacks Primeau from behind with the strap, and they deliver a spike piledriver to Primeau. Pearce calls out Homicide, and it doesn’t take long for him to answer. I think we have an impromptu match on our hands here, and Todd Sinclair calls for the bell, so here we go.
MATCH #3: Homicide vs. Shane Hagadorn
BG says: Homicide beats up Hagadorn plenty before the bell. He hits a suplex and pulls the fork out of his kneepad. Hagadorn attacks Homicide from behind and hits a back elbow. He boots Homicide’s face and hits a clothesline for 2. Homicide hits the Bad Slap and blocks a low blow to hits the Ace Crusher and the Cop Killer for the win. Squasharoo.
Rating: ½*
Pearce attacks Homicide after the match but Homicide gets the better of him. Pearce bails so Homicide suggests they change their strap match to a cage match. Did it turn out that Homicide was allergic to leather? Why do there always need to be two cage matches in a row? What’s wrong with trying something that hasn’t been done in ROH before?
JZ says: Homicide dominates and tries to pull out the ghetto fork, but luckily for Hagadorn he blocks it. Homicide is not at all selling the shoulder injury from Albright last night. He hits the Cop Killa on Hagadorn and gets the pin at 1:44. Pearce brawls with him for about 10 seconds and then bails, as the crowd calls him a pussy. Homicide then changes the match with Pearce to a steel cage match. I was kinda looking forward to a strap match to be honest, and with ROH heavily promoting it I don’t understand why it was changed. Oh well.
Rating: DUD
MATCH #4: Samoa Joe vs. Mark Briscoe
BG says: I would have assumed this feud was over after Joe and Homicide pretty much squashed the Briscoes at Dethroned but what do I know? Mark gets a double leg takedown to start. He puts on an anklelock but Joe trips him to escape. Mark puts on a wristlock and floats into a front facelock. Joe and Mark collide in some sort of horrible miscommunication but they play it off like Mark speared himself into Joe. He hits a vertical suplex for 1. Joe hits the STJoe and an enziguiri for 2. He washes Mark’s face and hits a snapmare for 2. He hits a powerslam for 2. He puts on an abdominal stretch and hits a kick to the face. Mark rolls to the floor to regroup. Back in the ring Mark opens up with jabs but Joe comes back with slaps. Mark hits an axe kick and a head-and-arm suplex for 2. He hits a leg lariat and the yelping splash for 2. I love the yelping splash. Joe dodges an axe kick and hits a lariat for 2. Mark gets a sunset flip for 2. Joe grabs the STF but Mark gets to the ropes. Mark hits a back suplex and a slingshot double stomp for 2. He tries to slap Joe around in the corner but Joe turns it around and hits the Muscle Buster. He yells “NOAH” and hits a series of strikes and a lariat for the win. Their Final Battle 2004 match was better, but this was solid in its own more pedestrian way. Really it was just a prelude to the Joe/NOAH feud.
Rating: **¾
Joe gets on the microphone after the match and talks about calling out NOAH. Nobody in NOAH has answered his challenge yet. Nigel McGuinness comes out and reminds Joe that he himself is a member of the Pro Wrestling NOAH roster. He asks Joe if he hates Japanese people because he got jobbed out in Zero-One. If Joe has a problem with NOAH he has a problem with Nigel. He’s a bit preoccupied with Jimmy Rave right now but after tonight if Joe wants to settle things he’s more than willing.
JZ says: This should be the conclusion of the Joe and Homicide versus Briscoe Brothers feud. I believe their last singles match was in December 2003 at Final Battle. They wrestle on the mat to start as Bower goes over how Joe’s feelings about NOAH do not reflect the feelings of Ring of Honor. He also announces that the Briscoes will face the Kings of Wrestling on the next show, and it will be Claudio Castagnoli’s last weekend in ROH. It’s all Joe in the early going here. Mark finally makes a comeback and hits a yelping springboard splash for two. Mark’s control doesn’t last long and Joe hits the Muscle Buster then picks up Mark and yells “NOAH!” before hitting a huge lariat for the pin at 9:58. That was a total squash for Joe and never got all that interesting. He gets on the mic after the match and calls out NOAH again, saying they have not answered him yet. Nigel McGuinness comes out and talks all quiet like so I can’t even hear him. Why does he do that?
Rating: **½
MATCH #5: Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Christopher Daniels & Matt Cross
BG says: Sydal accompanies his teammate to the ring. Strong and Daniels start. They lock up and Strong works Daniels over in the corner. They dodge each other’s chops until Strong stops short of a leapfrog and chops Daniels down. Daniels gets an armbar so Aries tags in. Aries puts on a headlock but Daniels reverses to one of his own. Aries hits a basement dropkick but runs into a leg lariat. Cross tags in and dodges Aries’s offense until Aries changes it up and hits a clothesline. Strong tags in and hits a dropkick on Cross. Cross hit one too but Strong didn’t seem to feel it. Cross hits a neckbreaker and tags to Daniels. Daniels hits a dropkick for 2. Cross tags in and they hit a double vertical suplex. Cross hits a leg lariat for 2. Daniels tags in and hits a bodyslam. He this an Arabian press for 2. Cross tags in and hits a weird looking head scissors takedown. Strong bails and Cross dumps Aries to the floor but Aries pulls him out and swings him into the barricade. Back in the ring Strong gets 2. He hits a fall away slam and tags to Aries. Aries hits a slingshot senton and an elbowdrop for 2. He puts on a chinlock and hits a clothesline. Strong tags in and ties Cross up in a submission. Aries tags in and hits a slingshot elbowdrop for 2. Strong tags in and hits a delayed slingshot suplex for 2. Aries tags in and they hit a double atomic drop and a double back suplex for 2. Strong tags in and crotches Cross on the second turnbuckle. Cross hits an enziguiri and tags to Daniels. Aries tags in but Daniels is cleaning house. He hits the STO on Aries and a DVD on Strong. He hits an enziguiri on Aries for 2. He hits the Arabian press on Strong on the floor but Aries catches him with the Heat Seeking Missile. Cross climbs the ropes and dives onto everyone with a shooting star press. Back in the ring Daniels hits Aries with the blue thunder bomb for 2. Cross tags in and hits a suplex/crossbody combo with Daniels for 2. Strong tags in and hits a double clothesline. He hits the gutbuster and a tiger driver on Cross for 2. Aries and Strong hit a dropkick and the Sick Kick on Daniels. Cross avoids a combo and hits a hurricanrana on Strong for 2. He hits a DDT for 2. Strong and Aries shove Daniels out of the ring and finish Cross off with the soccer kick-spinebuster-450 splash sequence. This didn’t really pick up until the last few minutes but even leading up to the hot streak it was solid. Cross is pretty impressive.
Rating: ***½
JZ says: Daniels and Strong start it off, as Jimmy Bower announces that Daniels and Sydal will make their first title defense at the next show against Shingo & CIMA! Allison Danger is busy trying to pull off the schoolgirl thing. Daniels controls the early going with armbars and such. Strong soon tags out to Aries. He and Daniels chain wrestle for a few minutes. Bower takes time out to ogle Danger, who I thought was supposed to be a proponent of women NOT being treated as objects. Cross finally gets tagged in and he’s been really impressive since showing up back in October. Strong gets tagged in and he and Cross dropkick each other at the same time, and only one of them sells it – guess which? I take that back though, as Daniels and Cross go to work on Strong. Bower wonders what happened to Donovan Morgan in a very snide way, I wonder if there’s heat there. Cross gets an awkward headscissors that sends Strong to the floor and he teases a dive, so Aries illegally comes into the ring and but Cross dumps him too. He tries a headscissors on Aries but pays for it when they both grab him and throw him into the guardrail. Danger shrieking at ringside is even more annoying when she has that stupid sucker in her mouth. Back in the ring Aries is going to work on Cross. The former tag team champions take turns abusing him for several minutes, and Cross takes a really good beating. He finally hits a big kick to the head and tags Daniels. He hits some big moves on both opponents. He hits an Arabian Press to the floor on Strong, which gives Aries the chance to hit the heat seeking missile. Cross hits a beautiful shooting star press to the floor on both Aries and Strong. Back in the ring Daniels hits the Blue Thunder Driver on Aries for two. The referee loses control and all four men are in the ring. Strong hits a huge boot on Daniels, who rolls to the floor. That leaves Cross alone in the ring with the former champs. He hits an awesome DDT on Strong for two. A sweet finishing sequence leads to Aries hitting the 450 on Cross for the pin at 18:48. That was a swank tag team match and Matt Cross more than held his own.
Rating: ***¾
INTERMISSION
BG says: Dave Prazak wants to know about Jimmy Jacobs’s bloody tear cut. Lacey won’t let Jacobs comment on the cut because she’s too busy telling him to destroy Whitmer and Cabana. Jacobs finally gets a few words in. He says that Whitmer destroyed his soul but that it was Cabana who did the damage to his heart.
JZ says: Dave Prazak is with Jimmy Jacobs, who has a nasty cut above his eye with the blood all dried up and sick looking. Lacey is there to yell at him of course. He says that the eyes are the window to the soul, and he’s bleeding because that window has been broken. That’s pretty convenient that he started bleeding from there and pretty clever that he came up with that for his promo.
MATCH #6: Steel Cage Match – Homicide vs. Adam Pearce
BG says: They brawl to start and try to ram each other’s faces into the cage. Both men block and continue to slug it out. Pearce hits an avalanche but Homicide comes back with a clothesline in the corner. Pearce hits a low blow and a vertical suplex for 2. Homicide hits the Three Amigos and looks for his Ghetto fork. He can’t get it from the referee (who took it from Samoa Joe the night before) so he settles for a hiptoss. A fan throws a fork into the ring but Todd Sinclair throws it out of the cage. Pearce hits a clothesline as the crowd turns on Sinclair. Pearce yells for Hagadorn to come out. Hagadorn gives Pearce the leather strap and slams the cage door in Homicide’s face. Homicide bleeds quickly and badly. Pearce rams his head into the cage repeatedly. He bites the wound but Homicide comes back with a sleeper hold. Pearce hits a back suplex to escape. Homicide catapults him into the cage and grabs the strap. Pearce bleeds as Homicide slugs him down with a fistful of leather. He rakes Pearce’s head against he cage on each side because the fans ask for it. I guess Pearce lied when he said Homicide doesn’t care about the fans. Pearce tries to climb out but Homicide crotches him on the top rope for 2. He covers up his own wound with his bandana and Pearce elbows the referee down. Homicide hits a low blow and gets his ghetto fork back from the referee. He jabs Pearce down with it and then carves up his forehead. Pearce comes back with a low blow and a powerbomb into the cage. He pulls Homicide off the cage wall with a suplex and then grabs the fork. He takes off the bandana and jams the fork into Homicide’s head for 2. He tries to escape over the cage but Homicide puts the bandana back on and follows Pearce up. Pearce goes to the eyes and hits a hiptoss off the top for 2. He sets Homicide on the top turnbuckle but Homicide fights him off and hits a swinging DDT for 2. Pearce hits a spinebuster for 2. He puts on the figure 4 leglock but Homicide rolls it over. Pearce gets it back on and they go back and forth until Pearce lets go. He pulls Homicide to the top but ends up getting superplexed for 2. Pearce rams him into the cage and goes up top. Homicide brings him down with an Ace Crusher and hits two lariats for the win. This was violent, intense and concise, just the way a cage match should be. The bandana and fork bits were particularly creative. Some more heat would have been nice but the Chicago crowd has been uncharacteristically quiet the entire weekend.
Rating: ***¾
JZ says: The commentators offer no real explanation as to why this match was changed from a strap match to a cage match when they had been heavily promoting the strap. They have a camera man inside the cage now for the first time to provide a better view of the action. I really wish Homicide would sell his shoulder injury from last night, he’s making Albright’s attack last night look pointless. Homicide wants to use the ghetto fork but Todd Sinclair won’t let him. Pearce takes control of the match finally and he calls for Shane Hagadorn, who brings out a leather strap. Hagadorn slams the cage door into Homicide’s head and that makes him bleed right away. Pearce gets busted open too and Homicide starts using the leather strap on him. Homicide accidentally knocks Sinclair down and grabs the fork from him. The crowd is pretty into this one. Pearce gains some control and uses the figure-four leglock but Homicide reverses it. Homicide hits a superplex for two. A few moments later Homicide hits the big lariat to get the pin at 15:23. That was a good enough brawl, but I’m just not as into Homicide as the storyline requires me to be. I think it’s because he’s played more of a superman character than an underdog character and that makes the title win so inevitable that there’s no drama to it.
Rating: ***¼
MATCH #7: Davey Richards vs. Jay Briscoe
BG says: They trade forearms to start. Jay hits a hurricanrana and a leg lariat. Richards falls to the floor so Jay goes for a dive but misses. Richards unleashes the kicks and rams Jay into the barricade. He boots him into the crowd and rams him into the barricade again. Back in the ring Richards hits a top rope crossbody for 2. He hits a bodyslam and a legdrop for 2. He puts on a cravat and then releases to kick the chest for 2. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special but Jay gets to the ropes. Jay comes back with a clothesline. He puts on the Stretch Plum but Richards gets to the ropes. He hits a knee to the gut and a dropkick for 2. He hits a snap suplex and puts on a chinlock. He hits a back elbow but Richards comes back with a suplex to the floor. Jay forces Richards’s neck over the top rope on the way down, dazing him. Back in the ring Richards hits a springboard dropkick for 2. He unloads with kicks and hits a side suplex. He hits a German suplex for 2. He hits a hurricanrana but Jay catches him with the DVD for 2. Richards hits the Alarm Clock and a hammerlock DDT for 2. Richards has a bloody nose. He sets Jay up top but Jay comes back with a top rope facebuster for 2. Richards hits a double arm DDT and puts on 14:59. Jay gets to the ropes. He no sells Richards’s kicks but gets nailed with a handspring enziguiri. The camera clearly catches Richards selling a phantom Yakuza kick and both men are down. Jay beats Richards down in the corner and sets him up top. Richards fights him off but a shooting star press hits knees. Jay boots him down and hits a falcon arrow for 2 and the Jay Driller for the win. I REALLY like that this match didn’t start with an exchange of holds like every other ROH match does. The finish was great and the match leading up to it was a neat throwback to early ROH matches. I guess Richards broke the promise he made last night.
Rating: ***¼
JZ says: Richards tries to be funny by tying a streamer around his head. Keep trying, mate. It doesn’t take long for these two to lose their tempers and start throwing hands. The fight spills to the floor and Richards really is one of those guys that screams when he does stuff to prove that he’s “intense.” He maintains control for a few minutes but wastes a lot of time playing to the crowd before pinfalls; Gorilla Monsoon would not approve. Briscoe takes advantage of that and goes on offense. He controls for a few minutes until Richards gets a suplex all the way to the floor and that looked pretty nasty (in a good way). Richards hits a springboard dropkick and yells some more. He tries the DR Driver but it gets blocked, and “now it’s on.” I LOVE the things wrestlers say. Briscoe takes advantage again and delivers a Death Valley Driver. Richards hits what looks like the DR Driver but I guess it’s not. They go up top and Briscoe hits an awesome looking gourdbuster for a near fall. Richards puts on the Chimura lock but Briscoe reaches the ropes. Richards hits some kicks but Briscoe Mans the Fuck Up and doesn’t let them affect him. Richards hits that kick I don’t like and Mark Briscoe comes down to ringside to help his brother Man Up. Richards tries a beautiful shooting star press but Briscoe gets the knees up and hits a falcon arrow for two. He follows that with the Jay Driller and that’s it at 15:11. That was a really good match, as everything the Briscoes touch continues to turn to gold.
Rating: ***½
MATCH #8: Eight Man Elimination Match – Bryan Danielson, Jimmy Jacobs, Jimmy Rave & Shingo vs. Delirious, BJ Whitmer, Colt Cabana & Nigel McGuinness
BG says: They never really explained why Danielson and Delirious were still feuding. It should have been over considering Danielson beat Delirious three times pretty definitively. Delirious’s team comes out to a medley of all of their entrance music. The heels do the same but it doesn’t come together nearly as well. Jacobs still hasn’t cleaned the blood off of his face. Cabana and Shingo start and Cabana makes the referee search Shingo’s mullet. Shingo grabs a wristlock and then puts on a leglock. Cabana grabs the mullet and hits a hiptoss. Cabana plays to the crowd and gets nailed with a forearm. Jacobs tags in and brawls with Cabana. Danielson tags in and gets wristlocked by all of his opponents. Nigel goes for his modified Rings of Saturn but Rave breaks it up. Whitmer tags in and hits an armdrag into an armbar. The heels pull him into their corner and Rave tags in. Rave works the arm and hits a back heel kick. Jacobs hits a cheap shot but it doesn’t stop Whitmer from hitting an exploder. Everyone comes in and brawls. Jacobs pulls out his spike but Cabana keeps him from using it on Whitmer. Whitmer grabs it but misses Jacobs and hits Lacey with it. Jacobs rips off Bobby Dempsey’s shirt and wraps Lacey’s head with it before carrying her to the back.
Back in the ring Rave pins Whitmer for 2. Whitmer catches him with a spinebuster but Jacobs runs in with a chair and takes out Whitmer’s ankle. The referee disqualifies Jacobs but that doesn’t stop him from destroying Whitmer’s ankle with the chair. Cabana gets the chair away from Jacobs. Rave hits a dragon screw on Whitmer and puts on the heel hook to eliminate him. Nigel runs in and hits a running European uppercut on Rave. He hits a lariat for 2. He sets Rave up top but Shingo blocks the Tower of London. Nigel puts Shingo and Danielson down. Danielson tags in legally and stomps the heel. His team makes frequent tags and keeps the pressure on the ankle. Rave hits a dragon screw and keeps but misses a boot to the leg. Nigel hits the corner combo so Danielson and Shingo pull his team off the apron to keep him from making the tag. Nigel hits an armbreaker on Rave and European uppercut on Danielson. He hits a hammerlock takedown on Shingo and Danielson absorbs a rebound clothesline for Rave. Rave doesn’t let the sacrifice go to waste as he immediately eliminates Nigel with the heel hook.
Shingo tags in and brawls with Cabana. Shingo hits a clothesline for 2. He accidentally forearms Rave on the floor. Cabana tries to clean house with elbows and Delirious hits a clothesline on Cabana. Delirious and Cabana sandwich Danielson with Neverending Story clotheslines. They hit a double clothesline to the floor and Delirious follows Danielson out with a suicide dive. Cabana catches Shingo with a roll up to eliminate him. Now it’s a straight up tag team match as Cabana puts the Chicago crab on Rave. Delirious puts the Cobra Stretch on Danielson. Rave gets to the ropes and the referee tells Danielson and Delirious to get out of the ring. Danielson hits a low blow on Cabana and Rave rolls him up to eliminate him. Danielson and Rave clobber Delirious down. Danielson puts on the Mexican surfboard and Rave hits a dropkick. Rave tags in and they hit a double shoulder tackle. Rave gets rammed into his gut. Delirious rolls Rave up for 2 and spears Danielson. He makes Rave spear Danielson and then rolls up Rave for 2. Rave hits a spear on Delirious for 2. Danielson tags in and chokes Delirious with his own tassels. Rave tags in and they set Delirious on top to hit a double superplex for 2. Rave goes after the ankle but Delirious gets to the ropes. Delirious comes back with Chemical Imbalance II out of nowhere to eliminate Rave.
It’s one on one now. Danielson hits a running forearm and a roaring forearm. He hits a dragon suplex for 2. He puts on the crossface chicken wing but Delirious gets to the ropes. Danielson sets him up top but Delirious counters the back superplex to a crossbody for 2. Delirious gets a roll up for 2. Danielson counters a clothesline to the Cow Killer. Delirious gets to the ropes. Danielson starts laying in the elbows but Delirious counters and hits elbows of his own. He hits a pair of soccer kicks but Danielson dodges a third and hits a pair of roaring forearms. He sets Delirious up top and hits the back superplex for 2. Danielson goes back to the elbows but Delirious gets to the ropes. Danielson hits a tiger suplex for 2. He puts the Cow Killer back on but Delirious powers out and hits Chemical Imbalance II for 2. He puts on the Cobra stretch but Danielson gets a roll up out of the corner for 2. Delirious hits a cobra clutch suplex for 2 when Danielson gets his foot on the bottom rope. Delirious puts the Cobra Stretch back on and Danielson taps. The crowd absolutely explodes for the first time all weekend.
Rave ended up looking great because he made all of the eliminations for his team. My problems with the match were that it was just a little too chaotic for a straight up elimination match and the roll up eliminations felt forced. It really felt like an FIP match all around after the Jacobs/Whitmer angle was no longer a part of the match (good thing I like FIP). The final stretch between Danielson and Delirious was more exciting than pretty much anything in their first three matches however and bumps this up quite a bit. Also, I’m kind of a sucker for elimination matches.
Rating: ****
JZ says: It’s a good thing the ROH music guy had time to make an amalgamation of everybody’s music for this impromptu match. Jacobs still has the blood on his face. I love that ROH can put all eight of these guys in one match and still have a really good undercard. I also like everyone in this match, which speaks to the strength of ROH. Cabana wants the referee to check Shingo’s mullet. These two were supposed to meet in a singles match, but it got changed to this. It’s a good change. They start out the match to give us a taste of what it would have been like, and Cabana brings the comedy early on. Shingo doesn’t approve and goes to work on Cabana and brings him over to the corner for some heel chicanery. Jacobs is in for a little bit and then he tags out to Danielson, who makes a rookie mistake with Cabana, and the babyfaces are all over him. They’ve all lost title shots to him this year so I’m sure they’re enjoying giving him a beating. Whitmer gets pulled back into the heel corner and they take some cheap shots. For no real reason everyone gets into the ring and are soon on the floor except Jacobs, Whitmer, and Cabana. Jacobs tries to use the spike but Cabana stops him and Whitmer gets the spike. Jacobs challenges Whitmer to come and get him, while Lacey and Haze fight on the apron behind him. Whitmer charges and Jacobs ducks and Whitmer spikes Lacey! Jacobs is distraught and picks Lacey up and brings her to the back. Rave and Whitmer are battling in the ring. Jacobs comes back out and hits Whitmer in the ankle with a chair and gets promptly disqualified at 8:52. He continues to go after him with the chair, especially on the ankle. That leaves Whitmer easy prey to Rave’s new ankle submission and he’s eliminated at 9:31. McGuinness and Rave are in the ring now, and it’s three on three. The heels soon take over on McGuinness and work on his ankle. He tries crawling over for a tag but the heels are relentless. McGuinness gets close to making a tag so Danielson and Shingo go over and remove Cabana and Delirious from the apron. I think it might be time to stop using the rebound clothesline, it too frequently takes too long to deliver while the opponent is just standing there waiting for it. Rave locks on his ankle lock and McGuinness taps out for the second night in a row and he’s eliminated at 15:32. Cabana and Shingo are in now and they have a nice exchange with Shingo staying in control. Cabana and Danielson are in the ring now, and soon Delirious joins them and the babyfaces deliver clotheslines to either side of Danielson. Danielson gets knocked to the floor and Delirious hits a big dive on him. Cabana is left with Shingo and Rave and is able to get a pin on Shingo with a sunset flip at 17:58. We’re back to Even Steven. Cabana gets the Billy Goat’s Curse on Rave and Delirious puts the Cobra Stretch on Danielson. Rave reaches the ropes. Cabana goes for the Colt 45 on Rave but Danielson kicks him in the balls and Rave rolls him up and pins him at 19:07. Rave has now eliminated all three of the babyface members. Delirious is now facing two-on-one odds. Rave and Danielson work well as a team and they have a double sexy party. Delirious gets a hope spot in but the heels are soon back in control. Delirious hits a Chemical Imbalance II out of nowhere to pin Rave and eliminate him at 26:00. Now we’re down to one on one and the crowd is solidly behind Delirious. Danielson gets extremely aggressive and goes for the Cross Face Chicken Wing. Delirious escapes but Danielson tries the super back suplex but Delirious avoids that with a cross body and they go back and forth. Delirious tries a leaping lariat but Danielson is able to avoid it and lock on cattle mutilation. The masked man reaches the ropes and the crowd is into every move. Danielson actually hits the back suplex this time but only gets a two count. He goes for the elbows and Delirious rolls right into the ropes. Danielson hits a Tiger Suplex for two and rolls right into Cattle Mutilation. Delirious escapes it and hits Chemical Imbalance II but Danielson kicks out. Delirious rolls right into the Cobra Stretch and he will not let go. He hits a Cobra Clutch suplex and Danielson gets his feet on the ropes. We go back to the Cobra Stretch and this time Danielson taps out to a MONSTER pop from the crowd at 32:59. That was a tremendous match with good booking all the way through (especially the Jacobs-Lacey-Whitmer stuff in the beginning) and the crowd finally woke up after two uncharacteristically quiet nights.
Rating: ****¼
Aftermath
BG says: Davey Richards cuts a promo with a busted up face and neck. He’s been in ROH for half a year but lately he’s been on a bit of a losing streak. Man his ear is all kinds of messed up too. Tonight he learned that in ROH a lot of people have backup, and that’s something he’s going to need. Solid promo from Richards there, a heel edge suits him well.
We go back to the ring where Delirious soaks in the cheers from his fans for an extended period of time. He’s the only thing they got really hot for all weekend.
JZ says: Davey Richards has a disgustingly bloody ear and cuts another sub-par close-up promo. He says he needs someone to watch his back. I say he needs someone to teach him how to talk. What’s Bryan Danielson up to these days?
We cut back to Delirious celebrating for the Chicago crowd. His celebration includes taking some dude’s shirt off hockey fight style. The people love Delirious!
MVP
BG says: Tonight it goes to Delirious, for capturing the imaginations of the seemingly bored Chicago fans and wrapping up the main event in style by making the champion tap out.
JZ says: Delirious is an easy choice, he carried the main event really well and finally got a big win over the ROH World Champion.
Coming soon will be our review of INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE!
The 411: BG says: Everything from the tag match on is ***¼ or better, making this one of the better shows of the year. That’s a huge improvement over the night before, which had some good matches but mostly disappointed. This gets a pretty strong recommendation from me even though the main event felt a little out of nowhere.
JZ says: This is a terrific show and much better than night one. It flows really well and showcased how deep and talented the ROH roster is. There’s lots of new blood on the show too, from the six man mayhem match to Matt Cross, Shingo, and Davey Richards getting a lot of time. The main event was booked tremendously and I love the progression in Jacobs/Cabana/Lacey/Whitmer. If you can only get one Chicago Spectacular, make it this one.
