Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Fifth Year Festival (Chicago) Posted by J.D. Dunn on 07.16.2007
Samoa Joe says goodbye to ROH in America.
Ring of Honor — Fifth Year Festival (Chicago) by J.D. Dunn
This would be the infamous show where ROH tried to expand into a new venue, the Windy City Fieldhouse, in order to take advantage of one of their best markets. Unfortunately, they picked a day when volleyball games were happening in the next gym over, so the entire event is marred by distracting referee whistles.
It ain't easy bein' an indy promotion.
February 24, 2007
From Chicago, Ill.
Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.
The previous night: Austin Aries offered an opportunity to join his new group to Matt Cross, Trik Davis or CJ Otis, depending on who impresses him on this show.
Opening Match: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright (w/Larry Sweeney). Larry Sweeney paid Albright to take out Castagnoli, which would explain why this odd match-up is happening. Claudio offers Albright double to go after Sweeney, but Sweeney reminds Brent that they have a binding contract, so Albright agrees to go through with it. Albright attacks Claudio and overpowers him. Sweeney gets in a few shots on the outside. To the floor, Claudio reverses a whip and sends Albright into the railing, but Sweeney grabs Claudio's ankle long enough for Albright to jump him. Claudio comes back with a jawbreaker and uppercuts. Albright blocks a Waterslide, but the second attempt hits. The Ricolabomb is blocked, and Albright reverses to a Crowbar. Claudio makes the ropes in spite of Sweeney's cheating. The 619 knee sets up a neckbreaker for two. Claudio comes back with a springboard uppercut for two. They exchange uppercuts, and Albright locks in the Crowbar. Claudio reverses to the Ricolabomb for two. Claudio signals for the lariat, but Sweeney trips him up, allowing Albright to hit the Half-Nelson Suplex at 11:39. Good enough for an opener. **1/4
SHIMMER Exhibition: Sara Del Rey & Allison Danger vs. MsChif & Serena.
I'm not a big fan of 30 Seconds to Mars, but I have to say "Oblivion" is awesome entrance music, and it actually makes me look forward to seeing the Dangerous Angels entrance. Serena is making her ROH debut here. She shows some good mat skills and great armdrags. MsChif and Allison get in a screaming contest. The Dangerous Angels do a neat move where they tie MsChif in the ropes and Allison spears her. MsChif comes back with Code Green and tags Serena back in. Serena and Allison try to work in the rolling small package reversals, but they're in the ropes. Del Rey finishes with the Royal Butterfly at 7:28. Solid match, and Serena Deeb had a good debut. **
Great promo as Colt Cabana looks out over the snowy cityscape and talks about giving Jimmy Jacobs a helping hand, but Lacey got in the way.
Four-Corner Survival: Shingo vs. Matt Cross vs. CJ Otis vs. Trik Davis.
Shingo is kind of the odd man out because he's a mid-carder while everyone else is a JTTS. He hits Cross and Davis with a DDT/Flatliner combo. Otis hits Davis with a pair of running forearms and a Fisherman's Suplex, which is kind of funny because you can hear a guy in the crowd yelling "Give him a Perfectplex!" during the intros. Shingo hits Cross with a sit-out spinebuster into the STF. They all fight to the floor where Cross hits a Space Flying Tiger Drop. Shingo and Otis team up on Cross, but neither one wants to let the other get the win. I'm not sure why, but the crowd hates CJ Otis almost as much as they hate referee Todd Sinclair. Davis wipes out Shingo with a suicide dive, enabling Matt Cross to hit the Shooting Star Legdrop on Otis to pick up the win at 11:03. **1/2
After the match, Austin Aries comes out and offers Matt Cross a chance to partner up with him against the No Remorse Corps. Cross says he'd be honored. Roderick Strong and Davey Richards attack from behind with NO REMORSE! Delirious, who is intent on getting his hands on Strong after suffering a concussion in Philly, chases them away. What was with Strong's bandana?
BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Rave.
Whitmer tapped to Rave's Stepover Anklelock at The Chicago Spectacular, Night Two after Jimmy Jacobs softened up Whitmer's ankle with a chair. Whitmer wanted a one-on-one chance to redeem himself, so here we go. Rave attacks during Whitmer's entrance and doesn't let up. The crowd just dies outside of people calling for Jimmy's death. BJ eventually comes back with a suicida to wake them up. He sets up for a piledriver on the floor, but Rave backdrops him over. Back in, Diarrhea gets two. Hey, until someone at ROH comes up with a new name, that one stays. Rave comes off the top right into an Exploder for two. A sunset flip bomb into a jackknife gets two more. Rave can't lock in the Stepover Anklelock, so he settles for a schoolboy with his feet on the ropes to pick up the win at 10:52. Boring, sloppy, and without much chemistry. *1/4
ROH World Tag Titles: Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal (w/Allison Danger) vs. The Briscoe Bros.
Sydal cracks me up by going over to the cameraman, looking over his shoulder at Daniels, and casually saying, "That's my partner," as if Daniels is only a bit player in The Matt Sydal Story. Quick sequence to start with everyone trading moves to a stalemate. Jay controls with a headlock until Daniels hits him with a flying kick. Jay briefly plays toothless face-in-peril until Mark trips up Daniels from the outside. The next few minutes progress with neither team really gaining a clear advantage. The Briscoes hit a series of doubleteams on Daniels, and Jay locks in the Stretch Plum. Daniels plays face-in-peril (Sydal is really the only heel in the match, although Daniels eventually starts cheating too). Daniels gets out of trouble with an enzuigiri, and Sydal cleans house with his spunky little offense. He hits that twisting over-the-top plancha that's become his trademark. Daniels and Sydal team up for a Decapitation legdrop move to mock the one the Briscoes worked in earlier. That's some good, cocky heelwork. Sydal gets cocky, stopping to pose to the crowd after hitting his corner clothesline, so Jay grabs him and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. Sydal prevents the tag and pulls Jay back to the corner. Jay blocks the Iconoclasm and counters Sydal's huracanrana to a sitout super gourdbuster. HOT TAG TO MARK! Mark cleans house with his kung fu. SON OF IRON FIST! Sydal accidentally hits Daniels with a back elbow. The Briscoes toss Sydal all the way across the ring, and Jay plants him on his head with a side suplex. Sydal ranas Daniels into a double clothesline on the Briscoes. Mark falls to the floor, and the champs set up for the Sydal's SSP on Jay. Mark blocks, but the Briscoes are unable to hit the Doomsday Device. The champs use that partner-assisted Angel's Wings on Jay. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Mark just makes the save. Crowd thought that was it. Mark puts out Daniels with the Cutthroat Driver. Another one to Sydal sets up the splash/SSP combo for the win and the titles at 24:59. It was slow going in the early part of the match, and the crowd didn't really seem to care who won, but once they hit the closing stretch, the crowd got more and more into the Briscoes. Daniels and Sydal strap the belts on the new champs in a show of class. ****
Lacey tells Jimmy Jacobs she doesn't care who wins in the Death Match tonight. She just wants someone dead.
Roderick Strong & Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries & Matt Cross.
Big brawl to start, and the No Remorse Corps get chased to the aisle. Strong and Richards agree to charge the ring, but only Richards follows through. Strong plays a good cowardly heel, waiting for Richards to take advantage on Aries and then tagging in. Aries fights back, so Strong tags out again. Funny stuff. Traditional formula follows. Cross winds up playing face-in-peril, allowing the NRC to display their brand of stiff ass-kickery. Richards mocks Aries' pendulum elbow, drawing big heat. Cross finally comes back with a DDT and gets the hot tag to Aries. Aries cleans house with his usual, but Strong trips him up on the quebrada. Richards hits him with a handspring kick and an assisted DDT. Cross makes the save and goes up, but Richards shoves him to the floor. Strong stops for a breather, so Cross hits a corkscrew quebrada, landing himself in the crowd. Aries hits the brainbuster, climbs up, and finishes Richards with the 450-splash at 14:40. I guess M-Dogg 20 is paying dividends. After the match, Aries helps Cross to the back, but the NRC attack, and Strong powerbombs Cross on the railing! ***1/4
Recap of the problems between Colt Cabana & Jimmy Jacobs.
Windy City Death Match: Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Jacobs (w/Lacey).
Slugfest to start, and Cabana dominates until he decides to get him some of Lacey as well. That allows Jacobs to recover and attack him from behind. Jacobs and Lacey are about to mete out some punishment, but Daizee Haze runs down and drags Lacey to the back, making it a one-on-one. Cabana gets dropkicked while going for a ladder, but Colt sneaks some scissors out of his elbow pad and cuts Jimmy's forehead open. Cabana misses a stab at Jacobs and gets the scissors stuck in the turnbuckle pad. Jimmy whacks him with a chair, but he can't find his railroad spike. Turns out Colt was one step ahead as he pulls it out of his own boot and jabs Jimmy in the head. Jimmy crotches Cabana with the middle rope and busts him open with the railroad spike. Huge heat as Jimmy wipes the blood off his face with the Chicago flag. Jimmy goes for the Contra Code, but Colt blocks, grabs the scissors out of the buckle, and stabs Jimmy in the head. Hired gun Brent Albright runs down and gives Colt a suplex, but BJ Whitmer evens things up. Colt hits Jacobs with an Asai Moonsault. Colt sets up the ladder in between the railing and apron and goes up, but Lacey returns and shoves him off the top. They put Cabana on a ladder, and Jimmy sentons Colt off the ladder! Lacey loves it. Jimmy sets up to spear Colt through a table, but Colt dives out of the way. COLT .45 TO JACOBS! COLT .45 TO LACEY! He puts Lacey on top of Jimmy and gets the pin at 22:54. Very WWE-ish match, like something you'd see the McMahons taking part in at WrestleMania. Nothing wrong with that, and it's good to see Colt get some revenge after months of taking abuse to the groin. ***3/4
Samoa Joe & Homicide vs. Takeshi Morishima & Nigel McGuinness.
This was Joe's last U.S. appearance for ROH, so he's a little emotional…and OVER! Homicide stalemates with Nigel, and then Morishima tags in for a big staredown with Homicide. This was their first meeting since Morishima came out of nowhere to beat Homicide for the title. Homicide gets all psyched up for a charge and…tags out to Joe. Things get a little sloppy as Morishima messes up the STJoe, and then Joe catches his foot on the ropes on a tope. All four guys brawl all over the building and back to the ring. Homicide locks McGuinness in a Mr. Salty. Joe adds a senton for two. Morishima tags in, and it's an entirely different story. He no-sells everything and powerbombs Homicide. He adds a running boot as an exclamation point. McGuinness gets in a few shots on the floor as Morishima jaws with Joe. It's too bad Joe was on his way out because they did a great job of building another match between them. You can tell with every lumbering, cheap heel move that the fans are just begging for Joe to smack Morishima around. The finish sees Morishima firing off the big moves and going up. Joe cuts him off with the kick and the Musclebuster, but Morishima rolls under the bottom rope. Joe is forced to turn his aggressions on Nigel. Nigel flips out of a Musclebuster. Joe blocks a kick and nails Nigel. Nigel's first rebound is met with a forearm, but he hits a lariat on the second try and…picks up the win? (23:10) The fans are not happy with that finish. After the match, Nigel puts Joe over and challenges Morishima to a title match the next time he's in ROH. Joe gives the requisite "you fans are the best" promo in front of the entire locker room. This tended to move in fits and starts, depending on who was in there. At times when I thought they were really going to cut loose, they pulled back, and the ending just deflated everyone for the sake of building a singles match in Liverpool. ***1/4
Roderick Strong says he might tell us who attacked Jack Evans at the next show.
To be continued…
The 411: In spite of the problems with the venue, I thought ROH rebounded in a big way after disappointing Philly and Dayton shows. It starts slow, but the last four matches are all worth your time. I continue to be more intrigued by the Cabana/Whitmer/Jacobs storyline and the No Remorse Corps than by anything Joe is doing, and maybe that's by design. At any rate, thumbs up.
Solid recommendation for FYF: Chicago
