Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Supercard of Honor II

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 08.28.2007

Supercard of Honor may have the Match of the Year again this year, only this time it's not the Dragon Gate boys.

Ring of Honor — Supercard of Honor II
by J.D. Dunn

March 31, 2007

From Detroit, Mich.

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

Jimmy Jacobs cuts another great promo about having the advantage because he fights for Love. Lacey implies that tonight could be the night he claims her heart. Why is this such a great promo? A) It's completely consistent with his character yet works in the context of the feud. B) Jimmy is ostensibly a heel, but he's cutting the promo as if he were a babyface. Keep your "good vs. evil." I'll take two guys who are totally reasonable with two different points-of-view fighting it out any day. It's like Frank Miller said about writing The Dark Knight Returns -- Batman and Superman just would not get along given their outlooks on the world. It's not that one guy is "good" and one guy is "bad." It's that Batman believes that decay and evil are the natural state of things while Superman believes that people are basically good with a few minor exceptions.

Jay Briscoe comes out to announce that Mark Briscoe is in the hospital after taking that spill the night before. A grumpy Christopher Daniels comes down and demands they get their tag title rematch anyway. Jay says Mark isn't here, but he has a partner, and if Daniels and Sydal can beat them, maybe they'll get their rematch. That leads to…

Opening Match: Jay Briscoe & Delirious vs. Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal.
Delirious' pre-match promo is hilarious. He takes on both of the heels early. They catch him on a crossbody attempt, but Briscoe dropkicks them all into the railing. Delirious does fine until Daniels knees him in the back from the outside. Delirious takes the "Bret Bump" to the corner. Daniels and Sydal work in the partner-assisted abdominal stretch. Delirious eventually gets out of trouble after a shinni no make backbreaker. HOT TAG TO JAY! A heel doubleteam backfires, and Jay hits a TOPE CON HILO! Back in, Daniels hits the uranage and an Iconoclasm. Delirious tags back in and hits Shadows over Hell. Sydal tags in, though, and gets two off the Here-It-Is Driver. He blocks the Bizarro Driver and hits a standing moonsault for two. Delirious hits a back elbow and the Bizarro Driver. Jay and Daniels slug it out, and Daniels goes to the eyes. Sydal's SSP misses, and Delirious is able to flip Sydal over and drop him on his head for the win at 18:08. Good match to get the fans into the show. ***

BJ Whitmer's promo is not as good as Jacob's. He claims he created a monster in Jimmy Jacobs, and now it's time for him to clean up his own mess.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Yamato.
Prazak says Claudio may have a new finisher to debut. Claudio calls for a test of strength to emphasize the height difference. Claudio dominates early, but Yamato hits a spear and an exploder. Sadly, no Jackhammer. Claudio comes back with an uppercut, but Yamato hits a German Suplex. Claudio gets two off the Waterslide and finishes with the Lesartest (sp?) Slam (think a gutwrench suplex where you drop the guy on his head). (6:59). *3/4

Erick Stevens vs. Mitch Franklin.
Stevens slams him off the handshake. He blocks a sunset flip and hits a TKO. The Doctorbomb finishes at 0:41. Stevens does not screw around. 1/4*

Larry Sweeney talks about hanging out with "A-list celebrities" like Scott Baio and Corey Feldman, but he and Chris Hero were having so much fun with one guy that they just had to bring him -- Johnny Fairplay. This is about as depressing as when Paul Heyman brought in Mabel to ECW. The crowd rightly chants "You're not famous!" Apparently, the only reason to have Fairplay on the show is to get some exposure on VH1 because he doesn't actually do anything except suck up all the oxygen in the arena.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney & Johnny Fairplay).
Prazak: I'd rather see Scott Baio. Even Jimmy Bower has to enter the booth to run Fairplay down in the great tradition of ICP, Konnan & Teddy Hart. McGuinness dominates early, hitting uppercut after uppercut. Finally, Sweeney earns his pay by tripping McGuinness up on his way into the ring. That allows Hero to jump him and take over. Hero hits a senton, but he stops to hug Fairplay. They should just blur him out like the WWF used to do with Flair's belt…or their logo today. Nigel fights back, but Sweeney and Fairplay block the Tower of London. Hero misses a Tracy Smothers-charge and takes a Lariat. He goes up, but Nigel catches him and hits the Tower of London. Sweeney and Fairplay pull him off the cover, though. Nigel gives chase and tracks Fairplay down in the ring. Fairplay begs off, but Nigel gives him a short-arm lariat. Hero tries to use that distraction to jump Nigel with a big boot to the face, but Nigel rebounds and DESTROYS him with the Jawbreaker Lariat at 9:40. Mini-rant time: Just because you tape commentary talking about how lame your guest star is, it doesn't mean it's any less lame that you brought him in. The whole draw of Ring of Honor is that you refuse to whore your promotion, and what are you doing – whoring out your promotion to get on VH1 in between episodes of Flavor of Love: Charm School and I Love the 1930's. This was at least as bad as "Rosey vs. Trump" because you expect Vince to do things like that. The match was actually okay for what it was. **

No Remorse Corps comes out to introduce the third member of the Corps -- Rocky Romero.

Jack Evans & Naruki Doi vs. Davey Richards & Rocky Romero.
Evans and Doi hold their own against the new team, with Doi hitting his senton on a stretched out Richards. Richards trips Jack up on a springboard and tosses him into the barrier. Jack is your face-in-peril. Richards stretches him out, and Romero hits a flying knee strike. Jack eventually gets out of trouble with a quebrada elbow. Doi gets the hot tag and wipes out Romero with a tope. He sets *both* Richards and Romero up in the corner and tosses Jack on top of them. Romero and Doi slap it out. Romero cuts him off with a leg sweep, and they fight on top. Romero blocks a sunset flip, so Doi settles for a German Superplex. Romero helps Richards block the Doi Five (F5, but by Naruki Doi, duh, try to keep up). Jack springboards off Richards' shoulders onto Romero, allowing Doi to hit the move. Richards and Evans slug it out, and Richards goes for the handspring elbow, but Evans cuts him off with a sliding dropkick to the face! OH SNAP! Jack hits a reverse rana and finishes with the 630-senton at 14:37. Not sure they would have the NRC lose after introducing their newest member, but at the same time Jack really couldn't afford to lose without becoming irrelevant in this war. Match was pretty good, but in one of those "put any combination of these guys together" cookie-cutter ways. ***1/2

Homicide vs. Brent Albright.
Albright is Jim Cornette's hired gun as we found out at All-Star Extravaganza III. This match barely gets started before Adam Pearce runs down and attacks Homicide. IT'S A TRAP! Albright is disqualified at 1:23. Colt Cabana makes the save and reminds Homicide about their feud that ended just one year earlier. This sets up… [N/R]

Homicide & Colt Cabana vs. Brent Albright & Adam Pearce.
Pearce and Albright are going to walk, so the faces chase them down and drag them back to the ring. Homicide and Albright get into a chair duel out in the crowd. The brawl works its way back to the ring where the match actually starts. Pearce begs off but gets his wrists wrung. Cabana clotheslines Albright over but gets whipped into the railing. Homicide hits an Ace Crusher and sets up for the Cop Killa. Shane Hagadorn breaks it up, but Pelle Primeau runs in and chases him away. Jim Cornette runs down and distracts Homicide long enough for Albright to jump him from behind. The fans chant "Fire Russo," which is pretty silly considering no one here has that power and that they were just watching Johnny Fairplay an hour earlier. Just once, I'd like to see a "Fire Gabe" chant. Not that I want it to happen, but just to keep him on his toes. Homicide is your face-in-peril. Pearce gives him a piledriver. Colt gets the hot tag and goes Dusty Rhodes on their asses. Colt hits a baseball slide on Pearce, and Homicide follows Albright out with his tope con hilo. Cornette tries to spray Cabana, but it backfires and takes out Pearce. Cabana elbows Corny back to TNA and knocks Pearce silly with the can to pick up the win at 9:01. Just a brief appetizer to let the crowd have some fun before getting serious again. **1/2

Rebecca Bayless gets a word with new talent Erick Stevens. Nothing of note.

Steel Cage Showdown: Jimmy Jacobs (w/Lacey) vs. BJ Whitmer (w/Daizee Haze).
This is the big blowoff to a year-long feud that included several near-death experiences for both men. Jimmy hits a tope on BJ as he's trying to get through the cage door. They slug it out on the outside and fight back into the cage. BJ tosses Jacobs into the cage and calls for a chair. He sets it on Jacob's face and dropkicks it. Jimmy fights back but misses an elbowdrop and gets ROCKED by a chairshot. We get a good shot of Jacobs' missing tooth. BJ sets up for a brainbuster on the chair, but Jimmy escapes and drop toeholds him into it. Jimmy calls for a railroad spike, but BJ already has one hidden in his boot! Great reaction from Jimmy. They stab each other in the face with the spikes. That's not enough, so they tattoo each other with the spikes! Both men are bleeding all over. Whitmer powerbombs him into the corner and boots him in the face. Whitmer calls for a barbed-wire bat, but Jimmy kicks it away and then uses it to block a charge. Jimmy goes batshit (no pun intended) by biting down on the barbed wire and then licking the blood off Whitmer's face. He puts BJ's face on the barbed-wire bat and then slams it with the chair. BJ fights his way back up, and they slug it out again. Jimmy misses a spear and goes headfirst into the chair. BJ catches him with an Exploder on the rebound. BRAINBUSTER ON THE CHAIR! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Whitmer goes over to talk to Haze, so Lacey slams the door on his head. Jacobs adds a bat shot to the head and dives off the top with a senton. Jacobs takes him to the corner, but Whitmer counters to an Alley Oop. That leads to a German Suplex and a Jackknife Powerbomb! ONE, TWO THRE-NO! Jacobs kicks out. BJ calls for a table, but in the meantime he takes him up for a superbomb. Jacobs counters to a rana in mid-air. He sets up for the Contra Code, but Whitmer counters to a Tombstone Piledriver. Lacey hops in, but now SHE takes Tombstone Piledriver. It would have looked better if she were not adjusting her cleavage afterward. Sometimes you just have to let the girls out for your art. BJ goes up but misses a frogsplash! CONTRA CODE! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! The staff gets the table set up in the ring as Whitmer and Jacobs tease a spot on the top of the cage (and they'll do it too!). Jacobs sets Whitmer on the table and hits a SENTON THROUGH THE TABLE! That's enough for the win at 23:42! Match of the Year Candidate? You'd better believe it. With the exception of a few contrived spots (and find me a match that doesn't have a few of those these days) this was a bloody, violent, well-conceived blowoff to one of ROH's longest running feuds. The Briscoe vs. Briscoe match may be technically better, Shawn vs. Cena may have more importance to the industry, and the ROH vs. Dragon Gate match from the night before might be more exciting, but none of them combine the drama, storytelling, action, violence and effort as well as this match. A leading MOTYC. ****1/2

FIP World Heavyweight Title: Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries.
These two actually met in the tournament to crown the first FIP Champion. Of course, in ROH, they were close friends until Strong decided to assert his independence at the expense of Aries. Lots of reversals early, and Strong even avoids the "you can't headscissor Austin Aries" dropkick. See, they know each other. Strong hits a chop after being blocked by Aries three times. He cuts off Aries springboard back elbow to take over. Strong controls with the usual while jawing with the crowd. He hits a slingshot suplex. Aries comes back and hits the suicida, but Strong goes back to working the back. Aries catches Strong coming through the ropes and hits him with a quebrada. Strong puts Aries on top and hits a Super Fallaway Slam to toss him 3/4 of the way across the ring. Aries responds with a DVD on the apron. Strong teases a countout but comes back in with a press gutbuster. Aries comes back with a flying clothesline and goes up, but Strong shoves the ref into the ropes, crotching Aries on the top. They fight on the top rope, and Strong slips off, falling through the table below. Strong tears apart the barricade and gives Aries a Tiger Bomb on the railing! Aries just makes it back in but takes a boot to the face. Strong hits his series of backbreakers and a Tiger Bomb into the Stronghold at 21:45. Aries passes out from the pain, but Strong has NO REMORSE and puts him in the Stronghold again. Delirious makes the save. These guys went full-tilt for 22 minutes, and this is a case where you could argue that a little restraint would have made the match more dramatic. ***3/4

A distraught BJ Whitmer kicks himself for not being able to get the job done.

Dragon Gate Rules: CIMA, Shingo & Susumu Yokusuka vs. The Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Masaaki Mochizuki.
This is very close to being a rematch from last year's Supercard of Honor show. While it's a quality match, it's not quite on the level of that match, which received MOTY votes from just about everybody. Dragon Kid still looks crisp, though. Saito gets caught in the wrong corner, and CIMA works in his "dropkick their neck into the buckle" spot. Saito blocks a lungblower and tags in Dragon Kid. Saito holds CIMA on the apron, and Masaaki delivers a kick that sends CIMA into the barrier. CIMA makes his own save, Tombstoning Dragon Kid onto Saito. Well, that's just crazy. Shingo hits Dragon Kid with a spinebuster into a half-crab. They take Kid to the floor and ram his crotch into the post. CIMA hits the Ode to the Bulldogs move into a lungblower on DK. He puts Kid in a shoulderbreaker stretch, Saito makes the save. They try a powerbomb, but Dragon Kid reverses to a rana and tags out. They set up for a trainwreck spot, but CIMA breaks it up with a Venus Punch. That leads to a series of moves and ends with CIMA hitting a cross-ring dropkick. Everyone starts hitting finishers. Shingo hits a Cradle Shock on Dragon Kid, but Kid's teammates make the save. Kid counters the Schwein to a Crucifix Bomb. He gets too cute, though, and tries a springboard rana on Yokusuka. Yokusuka rolls through for the win at 27:17. Not quite on the level of last year's main event, but Dragon Gate always seems to deliver no matter how many times you've seen their signature moves. ****

In the back, Rebecca Bayless finds Lacey and Jimmy cuddling. Wow, she did get hit hard on the head.

The 411: As usual, the big shows deliver. Jacobs versus Whitmer is my early candidate for Match of the Year because it had a year-long build, several offshoot storylines, and it delivered in the ring. Strong versus Aries and the Dragon Gate match are great too, making this an easy recommendation.

Thumbs up for Supercard of Honor II.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]