ROH – Good Times Great Memories DVD Review

ROH – GOOD TIMES GREAT MEMORIES – CHICAGO RIDGE, IL – 4.28.07

Introduction

BG says: The Video Wire for this weekend’s shows starts off with Austin Aries bringing Erick Stevens into the Resilience. Next up are clips from the No Remorse Corp vs. Resilience match, Mark Briscoe’s injury during his team’s title win and subsequent return to the ring to help his brother against Kevin Steen and El Generico after the NRC took Stevens out of the match. That of course led to him getting dumped on his injured head over and over again. It wraps up with a hype job for Colt Cabana’s final matches in ROH. Once again there is no new footage shown.

ROH Owner Cary Silkin announces that ROH is going to debut on PPV on July 1st, 2007. Fans everywhere will be able to watch ROH from their home on InDemand, Dish Network and TVN systems. They show clips of what to expect on PPV. As you’d expect it’s all high impact clips and a shot of then ROH champ Bryan Danielson and then GHC Heavyweight champ Marufuji with Bruno Sammartino. They highlight current ROH champ Takeshi Morishima, Nigel McGuinness, tag champs Jay & Mark Briscoe, Bryan Danielson, Delirious, Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Rocky Romero, BJ Whitmer, Claudio Castagnoli, Brent Albright and Erick Stevens. Then for whatever reason we are subjected to a clip of a shirtless Bobby Dempsey hitting a cannonball on someone. He thanks the fans and asks everyone to order the PPV.

Rebecca Bayless is outside with the fans that are lined up for the show. She has nothing of consequence to say.

Inside Jimmy Jacobs is complaining that people are asking him what it felt like to be in the brutal cage match between him and BJ Whitmer in Detroit. He’ll have scars from that match for the rest of his life, both physically and emotionally. After the match Lacey offered him one night of physical intimacy as a reward for destroying Whitmer. Jacobs however knew that one night wasn’t good enough, so he rejected her offer. He has worked a year to impress her and he wants more than one night. He pulls out the tooth that he lost and shows off his fancy new cap to show what he’s sacrificed. Then he pulls down his pants and shows his post-op knee. It’s not pretty. He says sex is meaningless because all animals can bang, but it takes a man with big balls to love. He wants to constimate his love for Lacey. How do you constimate love?

JZ says: Rebecca Bayless makes a pointless introduction just to say that there are people in line and this is Colt Cabana’s last show. Thanks Becky!

Jimmy Jacobs is backstage, still trying to talk about what the last four weeks have been like for him. He puts over the brutality of the cage match in Detroit against BJ Whitmer and how it will change him forever, both physically and emotionally. He goes into some detail about what he and Lacey didn’t do. He says he worked much too long to give it all to one night. He pulls half his tooth out of a jar he’s carrying in his pocket. Then he shows the scars from his knee surgery. That’s gross looking. He talks about how every animal bangs, but not all of them love. Especially not the way he loves Lacey. Good stuff there.

MATCH #1: Six Man Mayhem – Gran Akuma vs. Delirious vs. Jigsaw vs. Hallowicked vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Pelle Primeau

BG says: Hallowicked looks HUGE next to Primeau. Delirious flips out at the bell and starts chanting for Colt Cabana, which prompts the crowd to do the same. Primeau and Akuma start. Akuma slams Primeau to the mat and kicks him around. They fight over a wristlock and Akuma knocks Primeau looking with kicks. Quackenbush tags Akuma out, causing Delirious to start quacking. Quackenbush waits for Delirious to stop and puts Primeau in a unique submission. Primeau can’t get Quackenbush off his feet so he tags to Hallowicked. Quackenbush and Hallowicked knuckle up and Quackenbush gets a head scissors takedown. They trade armdrags and Quackenbush tags to Jigsaw. Jigsaw hits a dropkick in the corner and hits Akuma with a head scissors takedown. Delirious tags in and slams Akuma to the mat. He hits a senton and catches Jigsaw coming off the top with a headbutt to the gut. Hallowicked comes in and Delirious convinces him to team up with him because of their green and black attire. They casually toss everyone else around the ring until Akuma knocks them into each other. Quackenbush tosses Akuma to the floor and Jigsaw kicks Hallowicked onto his shoulders. Quackenbush hits a suicide dive on Hallowicked & Akuma and Primeau hits his springboard combo on Jigsaw for 2. Delirious puts the cobra clutch on Delirious and then follows up with the Panic Attack. He climbs the ropes and hits Shadows Over Hell for 2 when Quackenbush breaks it up. Quackenbush shows off his fancy offense and gets 2 on Primeau. Akuma hits a snapmare driver on Jigsaw for 2. Jigsaw comes back with the Snow Plow for 2. Hallowicked hits a big boot and a spinebuster on Jigsaw for 2. Jigsaw comes back with a superkick but Primeau catches him with a DDT. Quackenbush hits a tombstone piledriver on Primeau. Akuma hits a powerslam on Quackenbush but Delirious catches him with Chemical Imbalance II for the win. These guys were perfectly suited for this match, since they fan fly around with such precision and without botching spots. I can’t think of a better way to start the show. Hallowicked congratulates Delirious after the match. Why not team them up? The crowd asks the CHIKARA guys to come back.
Rating: ***¼

JZ says: We go straight to the ring with no intros, which is a bit odd. Akuma and Primeau start it off and the CHIKARA veteran controls the early going. He wanders to close to Quack’s corner and he tags himself in, much to the delight of Delirious. Quack and Pelle have a nice exchange and Primeau tags out to Hallowicked. Quack soon tags out to Jigsaw and now its two masked men competing with a third one looking on. Akuma and Delirious are the next two tagged in, and Delirious is on fire tonight. Everyone starts getting involved and the multi-man spots start flying. Delirious is able to land Shadows over Hell on Primeau, but Quack breaks it up. The referee has totally lost control at this point. We see some pretty creative offense from everyone involved here. In all the confusion Delirious hits Chemical Imbalance II on Akuma to get the pin at 10:29. That was pretty fun for a six man mayhem, and I like the injection of the new blood from CHIKARA.
Rating: ***¼

Good Times Great Memories #1 – Night of the Butcher – 12.7.02

BG says: The show is filled with clips of Cabana’s history, being his last show and all. The first is a clip of the Second City Saints driving around before Night of the Butcher. Cabana brags to Punk about beating him on the show prior and then critiques Punk’s driving. Punk pulls the car over and calls Cabana selfish before walking away. Those guys always had great chemistry.

JZ says: This is footage of Punk and Cabana driving together in their early days of Ring of Honor, before they got flown to the shows. Cabana irritates Punk to the point where Punk gets out of the car and tells him to drive back to Chicago on his own. This was a good segment to introduce the Punk-Cabana dynamic that would become so prevalent during their ROH careers.

MATCH #2: Christopher Daniels vs. Erick Stevens

BG says: They lock up and Stevens shoves Daniels to the floor. Back in the ring Stevens puts on a headlock and hits a short-arm clothesline. He hits an elbowdrop for 2. Daniels hits a knee to the gut and shoves Stevens to the floor. He follows Stevens out and pushes him into the barricade. He drops Stevens stomach-first onto the edge of a chair, opening a cut on Stevens’s gut. Back in the ring Daniels hits another knee to the midsection. He stands on Stevens’s stomach and frustrates the referee. He dropkicks Stevens’s leg and puts on an abdominal stretch. Danger is beyond annoying at ringside. Stevens hits a hiptoss to escape the hold but Daniels punts his ribs. He remains focused on Stevens’s abdomen, hitting an elbowdrop to the tummy. The match starts to drag as Daniels just chokes Stevens and presses his midsection against the ropes. Stevens wakes me up by hitting an overhead suplex. He hits a shoulder block and a German suplex. He hits the Choo Choo Avalanche and a lariat for 2. He hits a powerslam and a senton for 2. Daniels blocks a blind charge and hits a reverse lung blower. He hits a Samoan drop and an Arabian press for 2. He climbs the ropes but Stevens catches the crossbody and hits the TKO for 2. Bobby Cruise announces one minute of match times remain and the crowd figures out the finish. Daniels goes the eyes and unloads with forearms. Stevens hits a powerslam with 30 seconds to go. Why wouldn’t he go for a pin? Daniels blocks the Doctor Bomb until the time limit expires. This really boring when Daniels was in control and the finish was telegraphed. Sigh. Aside from that Stevens looked good.
Rating: **½

After the match Stevens takes a note from his Resilience leader and cuts an in-ring promo. He shows respect to Daniels but declares that he would have won with more time. Then he politely asks for five more minutes. Daniels refuses on the grounds that he’d rather use those five minutes to tell Stevens to leave and talk to the fans. Daniels talks about the two years he’s spent in ROH since returning, saying he should never have come back. Since he’s been back the fans act like they don’t care and like he’s inconsequential. That’s because he wrestles that way. He came back to ROH to be the champion, but he hasn’t even had a number one contender match since who-knows-when. Umm, last night you had a title match Daniels. When he was the tag team champion the fans acted like they were transitional champions (which they were). The fans gave up on him and says there is no rivalry between TNA and ROH. Well, that will soon be proven untrue. He blames the ROH fans for using up wrestlers, saying they’ve forgotten about Samoa Joe and CM Punk and that they’ll forget Colt Cabana in a week. Three years ago he chose TNA over ROH, and he’s doing the same now. That’s right, Christopher Daniels quits ROH, and he shoves Allison Danger down on his way out. That makes him a babyface with me. Fantastic promo, and a great way to leave the company. Daniels leaving is good because it opens up a spot for someone who has something to prove, and Danger leaving is good because it means I’m less likely to lose my mind.

JZ says: Danger, who wants to be taken seriously as a wrestler, has half of her ass hanging out of whatever it is that she’s wearing. Stevens gets a pretty respectable pop. Daniels tries to wear down the bigger, younger opponent, but Stevens is able to hold his ground. Stevens uses his power to maintain an advantage on Daniels. The fight goes to the floor and Daniels goes to work on the midsection, even dropping him stomach first on a steel chair. Stevens has a cut on his chest /stomach area and is bleeding. Daniels continues the assault for several minutes. Stevens finally hits a big suplex and both men are down. Back to their feet and Stevens has his second wind. They go back and forth for a few minutes and the time limit is drawing nigh. They struggle with each other all the way up to the 15-minute time-limit draw. Much like Daniels’s match from the previous night it started a little slow but it picked up right when it needed to. The psychology was sound and the draw didn’t feel forced.
Rating: ***½

Stevens gets on the microphone and says he took Daniels to the limit. Stevens wants five more minutes, just like the fans. He should really know better, being a wrestler and all. Daniels flat out says No. Daniels asks Stevens to leave because he’s got something to say. He says that he’s been back in ROH for two years, and he never should have come back. He goes on to talk about how he feels taken for granted by both the company and the fans. He says he has barely gotten shots at title matches, and given that guys like Colt Cabana, Nigel McGuinness, and Roderick Strong each got four, he does have a point. He hits the nail right on the head when he says “the only people who think there’s a rivalry between ROH and TNA are you people.” He tells people to compare his bank statement to Bryan Danielson’s, and that’s the reason he would always pick TNA over ROH. He goes into how the fans bleed the wrestlers dry and then forget about them a week after they’re gone. He then quits Ring of Honor. Allison Danger tries to talk to him afterwards and he pushes her down. Good. That was an awesome promo, one of Daniels’s best, if not his best one ever. It’s one of those that you know was great because there’s a lot of truth in it.

Good Times Great Memories #2 – ROH Reborn Stage Two – 4.24.04

BG says: Our next Cabana moment sees Punk trying to cut a serious promo after winning the tag team titles, but Cabana blows a noise maker in his face and starts the title win celebration party. Cabana flirts with Becky Bayless as Punk mopes around. What a funny guy that Cabana is.

JZ says: This is my all-time favorite Colt Cabana moment in ROH. I was at this show live and the match was great, and this celebration on tape only makes it that much better.

MATCH #3: Four Corner Survival – Homicide vs. Brent Albright vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Rave

BG says: Fans didn’t know it at the time, but this would be Homicide’s last ROH match. Albright and Rave will only shake each other’s hands. Rave and Homicide start with Rave hitting a cheap shot. Homicide comes back with a backdrop and a Manhattan drop. Albright tags Rave out and walks into a hiptoss. Whitmer tags Homicide out and hits a dropkick. Albright tags Homicide in. Homicide hits a head scissors takedown and the Three Amigos. Whitmer counters a takedown to a facebuster but Rave tags him out. Rave hits a spear and a facebuster on Homicide for 2. Homicide hits a kneedrop off the second rope on Rave and tags Albright in. Albright hits an overhead suplex on Rave and follows with the 908. He knocks Homicide off the apron so Homicide runs in and brawls with him. Back in the ring Whitmer hits Rave with an exploder. Homicide hits him with a DDT but Albright hits Homicide with a neckbreaker. Rave hits Albright with a running knee but Whitmer hits him with a turnbuckle powerbomb. Albright sends Whitmer to the floor and Homicide hits his running knee on Rave. He hits Whitmer with the topé con hilo but Albright swings him into the barricade. Back in the ring Albright sets Whitmer up top but Whitmer sets him in the Tree of Woe. Homicide hits a top rope Ace Crusher on Whitmer but Rave puts him in the heel hook. Albright breaks free and puts the Crowbar on Rave. Whitmer breaks that up with a dropkick. He sets Rave up top but Rave shoves him to the floor. Homicide runs up and hits Rave with a super chinbreaker. Albright hits Rave with a clothesline but Homicide rolls him up for 2. Homicide hits a neckbreaker and trades strikes with Whitmer. Albright bumps into Whitmer and Homicide hits him with the lariat for 2. Whitmer rolls Homicide up for 2. He hits a German suplex and a dragon suplex. He holds on and hits a powerbomb for 2 when Albright hits him with the half nelson suplex for the win. That match was crazy and unexpectedly awesome.
Rating: ***½

JZ says: Rave must have been added at the last minute after his surprise return last night. A six-way and a four-way all in one night, how do you like that. Rave jumps Homicide to start, in a rematch of sorts from Fifth Year Festival: NYC. A series of tags leads to Homicide and Whitmer going at it. These two had a pretty wicked match back at Main Event Spectacles. Rave comes back in and gets aggressive with Homicide. Soon all four guys end up fighting outside the ring, with Homicide and Albright going at it and Rave battling Whitmer. Back in the ring and the referee has absolutely no control over who the legal men are here. Rave gets the Heel Hook on Homicide while Albright is tied up in the ropes and Whitmer is out. Albright escapes and locks the Crowbar on Rave. Whitmer breaks that up and puts Rave up top. Whitmer tries an exploder but Rave blocks it. Homicide then goes up next and hits a super chin breaker and Albright hits a lariat on a guy who just had his jaw broken. Whitmer and Albright bang heads and Homicide hits the lariat on Albright for two. Rave has been out a while, and Homicide, Albright and Whitmer take turns abusing each other. Albright lands a half nelson suplex on Whitmer to get the win and give Whitmer his fourth straight loss at 10:13. That was way better than I thought it would be. Is there something in the water tonight?
Rating: ***¼

Good Times Great Memories #3 – Third Anniversary Celebration Part 1 – 2.19.05

BG says: The next Colt Cabana moment is a clip from his cage match against Austin Aries. He highlight is a moonsault press off the top rope.

The Briscoe Brothers have a message for Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin. The fact that they were the Zero-One tag champs means nothing because they’ve held belts in Japan and in ROH. They jumped Jay after a match when Mark was hurt, proving they are cowards.

JZ says: This is the end of a pretty good cage match between then-ROH World Champion Austin Aries and Cabana. Cabana was Aries’ first challenger to the belt.

The Briscoe Brothers want Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley to man up for their World Tag Team Title match later on tonight. That should be some kind of awesome.

MATCH #4: Rocky Romero vs. Austin Aries

BG says: All of Romero’s best performances have been in Chicago, which bodes well for this match. They lock up and Romero hits a cheap kick. Aries kicks back so Romero begs off. Romero hits another cheap kick so Aries comes back with a cheap forearm. They trade strikes and Aries hits an elbow out of the corner. Romero blocks the basement dropkick so Aries kicks his face. Romero bails so Aries follows him out with the Heat Seeking Missile. Back in the ring Aries hits a stunner over the top rope and a senton. He misses an elbowdrop and Romero hangs his arm on the top rope. He hits springboard dropkick to the arm and kicks the back. He hits a dropkick to the back and a butterfly suplex for 2. He puts on the octopus stretch and elbows Aries to the floor. He whips Aries into the barricade and then hits a leaping knee on the apron for 2. He hits a forearm to the back. He sets Aries up top and dropkicks him onto the second turnbuckle. He kicks Aries’s back and brings him down with a neckbreaker. He kicks Aries’s chest and stomps him on the mat. He hits a back suplex for 2. He stays on the arm but Aries catches him with a series of clotheslines and a facebuster. He hits a slingshot splash for 2. He hits a Lionsault for 2. Romero comes off the second rope with a DDT for 2. He puts on a cross armbreaker but Aries rolls to the ropes. Romero kicks the arm and hits a roundhouse to the head. Aries catches a kick and hits a shinbreaker and a back suplex. He hits the corner dropkick for 2. He hits the Finley roll and climbs the ropes. Romero cuts him off and brings him down with the Diablo Armbar. Aries counters to a pin for 2. Romero puts on the anklelock but Aries shoves him away. Romero comes back with a kick to the chest and a tiger suplex for 2. He hits another kick to the head but Aries comes back with a roll up for 2 and hits the Aries Flurry for the win. Solid match, but Aries’s selling came and went as it usually does. Still, good action was present throughout.
Rating: **¾

After the match Strong runs out and puts the boots to Aries until Delirious and a chair make the save.

JZ says: This is No Remorse Corps versus Resilience. This one is high energy and lots of kicking from the get-go. Romero takes the first prolonged advantage, working over Aries with strikes and suplexes. Outside the ring Romero continues the abuse on the leader of the Resilience. Romero works on the arm for a while. Aries makes a comeback and starts hitting his signature stuff but he can’t put Romero away. Romero cuts Aries off and goes back to the arm, trying to get a submission. Romero finally cinches on the Diablo Armbar but Aries is able to turn into it for a near fall, but Romero gets the ankle lock straight out of that. Romero hits a Tiger Suplex for two. Aries makes the comeback and hits his combo to get the pin at 12:28. That was also better than expected, and I noticed something kind of funny. That was almost exactly like a Hulk Hogan match. Aries got dismantled for a good portion of the match, had a hope spot or two, made the comeback and hit his clothesline, big boot the face, and legdrop combo to get the pin. It worked for him.
Rating: ***¼

Good Times Great Memories #4 – Night of the Grudges II – 8.20.05

BG says: The next Cabana memory is a clip from the Soccer Riot match against Nigel McGuinness. The joke there was that Nigel had cheated all over the place in their European Rounds Rules match so Cabana made up the rules to this match as it went along. It got the crowd heavily involved and was a great way to end the feud.

JZ says: This was the feud-ender for one of the better ones in 2005. It was a fun match, but far from the best the two would do together.

MATCH #5: ROH World Title Match – Takeshi Morishima vs. Shingo

BG says: This match was a big deal as it was the first time a Dragon Gate wrestler took on a NOAH wrestler in ROH. Shingo feels so strongly about the politics behind the match that he vowed to leave the United States if he loses. Morishima overpowers Shingo to start. Shingo’s shoulder tackles have no effect but Morishima’s work in a big way. Shingo gets a big head starts and tackles Morishima to the floor. He dives out onto him and whips him into the barricade. Back in the ring Shingo gets 2. He puts on a chinlock and hits a fistdrop and a kneedrop for 2. He hits a DDT and a senton for 2. Morishima gets fired up and hits a butt butt. Shingo bails so Morishima follows him out with a forearm from the apron. He hits two Olé butt splashes, which unlike the Olé Kick makes full contact. Back in the ring Morishima keeps Shingo down with kicks. He hits a pair of short-arm clotheslines and works the neck. He hits the butt lariat but Shingo fires back. They trade strikes and Shingo goes down. Morishima puts on a camel clutch but Shingo gets to the ropes. Morishima hits a handspring avalanche and tells the referee to count him down. Shingo gets up and goes for a suplex. Morishima counters to a suplex of his own. Shingo hits a Manhattan drop and a clothesline in the corner. He hits a vertical suplex and the crowd explodes. They fight to the apron where Shingo hits a DDT. He hits the DVD on the floor and both men are down. Back in the ring Shingo gets 2. Shingo hits a backdrop driver for 2. Morishima hits a huge palm strike and beats Shingo down in the corner. He tosses the referee away and beats on Shingo some more. He hits a big boot in the corner and Shingo goes down. Morishima climbs the ropes but Shingo cuts him off and hits a superplex. Morishima gets right back up so Shingo hits him with the Last Falconry for 2. He hits a lariat for 2. He sandwiches Morishima with clotheslines but the champion comes back with one of his own. He hits the uranage suplex and another lariat for 2. Shingo counters the backdrop driver to a crossbody for 2. Morishima blocks a powerbomb and sits on Shingo’s chest for 2. He hits a lariat for 2 and the backdrop driver for the win. This was a fantastic strong style match, and a fine match for Shingo to go out on.
Rating: ***¾

JZ says: Morishima has been the champion since 2.17.07, and this is his fifth defense. This is a NOAH vs. Dragon Gate match, which seems like it might be some kind of big deal. Shingo’s on his way back to Japan after this match and I must say that his stay in ROH was pretty fruitful for him. He’s wrestling the champion, he held the tag team titles, was on the shows in England, and even appeared in three main events. Shingo is the aggressor early on, as Leonard explains that Shingo will go back to Japan if he fails to win the ROH World Title tonight out of shame, so disregard what I said earlier. Morishima is giving Shingo a lot of offense. The champion shrugs off some strikes and hits a butt-butt. The champion then commences the beating. They get into a forearm exchange and Morishima obviously wins that one. Shingo fights back and stays persistent and finally hits a suplex on the champion. He hits a DDT on the ring apron and a DVD outside the ring. Back in the ring Shingo hits a Back Drop Driver on the champion for two. Sinclair tries to get Morishima to break and he pays for it. Shingo recovers and hits a superplex but Morishima just doesn’t care. Shingo hits the Last Falconry but Morishima kicks out. Big lariat by Shingo also gets two. Morishima comes back and hits a big lariat for two. Morishima tries a back drop driver but Shingo reverses it. Shingo hits a lariat and tries a powerbomb but ends up receiving an Earthquake splash. Another huge lariat by Morishima gets two. A big back drop driver is enough to get the pin at 15:22. Shingo really put it all out there for his last ROH match (as a regular anyway) and really made Morishima look great. Now if Morishima just had a little more natural charisma, he could start having four and a half star matches instead of just four star matches. It’s a big difference.
Rating: ****

Good Times Great Memories #5 – Dragon Gate Invasion – 8.27.05

BG says: Our next Cabana memory is his World title match against James Gibson at Dragon Gate Invasion. More than this match or his World title cage match against Aries and more than any of his challenges against Danielson I preferred his title match against Samoa Joe at Death Before Dishonor 2, Part 2.

JZ says: I’m not sure why this is included. It’s a fine match but I barely remember it and it wasn’t part of a bigger feud or anything.

INTERMISSION

BG says: Rebecca Bayless catches up with the Motor City Machine Guns at intermission. Sabin is confident that they’ll win. He says it’s the north vs. the south and the north will win again. Shelley hates rednecks and tonight he’s going to put both of them in the hospital. Sabin is a little gay for Shelley.

JZ says: Bayless is backstage with TNA superstars Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley. They cut an awesome promo that makes it blatantly obvious that TNA has no idea what to do with these guys. It’s like they know they should push them but have no idea how for some reason.

MATCH #6: Alex Payne vs. Bobby Dempsey

BG says: Before a Bobby Dempsey vs. Alex Payne match can begin Tank Toland comes out to ringside. He calls himself “all natural” which is of course a huge joke since he’s as wide with muscle as he is tall. Toland says that wrestlers should be athletes and that neither Dempsey nor Payne look like athletes. Payne looks like a prepubescent girl and Dempsey is so fat he probably wants to eat him. He’s so unbelievably mean to Dempsey about his weight that it crosses the line into hilarious territory. He tells Dempsey that he wants to take him under his wing as his weight loss project. He’s going to make Dempsey look just like him. To show him why he should follow him he’s going to take his place in the match and beat up Payne for him.

JZ says: Tank Toland interrupts the match before it can get started. He puts himself over as an all natural athlete. I love how freely he jokes about it. He proceeds to denigrate both men’s appearances. He’s particularly hard on Dempsey, on account of being so fat and all. Toland says he loves a challenge though, so he wants to take on Dempsey as a project. Dempsey agrees, and then lets Toland take his place in the matchup.

MATCH #6: Alex Payne vs. Tank Toland

BG says: They lock up and Toland tosses Payne around. Payne goes for a wristlock but Toland is too strong for it to matter. Payne puts on a headlock but Toland casually tosses him away. Toland hits a bodyslam and does jumping jack double stomps onto him. He hits an elbowdrop and tells Dempsey to work on his grip strength. Payne starts to fight back and hits a leg lariat. He hits a clothesline but Toland comes back with a one handed spinebuster for the win. Between the promo and the match Toland has become quite the comedian. Before Dempsey can give Toland an answer Toland pushes him to the back and tells him he’ll be his protégé.
Rating: *

JZ says: Toland dominates with his strength. Payne makes a brief comeback with a few lariats, but Toland hits a big slam for the win at 2:40. I don’t think much of Toland the wrestler, but Toland the trainer is pretty damn funny.
Rating: ¼*

Good Times Great Memories #5 – Fourth Anniversary Show – 2.25.06

BG says: The next Cabana memory is the fallout from the I Quit match with Homicide at the Fourth Anniversary Show. A bloody Cabana gets on the microphone and tells Homicide he wants some more. He calls for the match to be restarted and they brawl some more.

JZ says: This was Cabana at his toughest, getting beaten by Homicide multiple times with a coat hanger but coming back and asking for more. This was a feud that started off kind of awkward, but got better as it went along and didn’t overstay its welcome. It’s definitely one of ROH’s best.

MATCH #7: Roderick Strong vs. Jack Evans

BG says: Strong attacks Evans on his way into the ring. Evans comes back with a cartwheel kick and a basement dropkick. He hits a roundhouse kick and Strong bails. Evans follows him out with a double jump somersault dive. Back in the ring Strong hits a bodyslam and an elbowdrop for 2. He pokes Evans in the eyes but Evans comes back with a spinning kick. He hits a double stomp and a standing moonsault for 2. Strong bails so Evans follows him out with a slingshot dropkick. Evans tries to dive off the barricade but Strong kicks it, sending Evans to the floor. Strong rams Evans into the barricade and the post and then hits a backbreaker on the barricade. He rams Evans against the post again and then wraps him around it. He casually tosses Evans from the apron to the floor and tosses him back into the ring. Evans hits his springboard spinning back elbow but Strong counters a handspring elbow to a facebuster for 2. He ties up Evans’s arms and legs and puts on a NASTY chinlock. He hits a slap to the gut for 2. He hits a butterfly suplex for 2. Evans gets a roll up for 2. Strong comes back with a crazy German suplex for 2. Evans hits a chinbreaker and a springboard kick. He hits a handspring elbow and a springboard knee. He hits a northern lights suplex and a fisherman suplex for 2. Strong comes back with the gutbuster for 2. He dumps Evans hard to the floor and then drops him on the apron with a back suplex. He sets Evans up top but Evans hangs him in the Tree of Woe and hits the Ong Bak kneedrop for 2. He climbs the ropes but Strong cuts him off and brings him down with a fall away slam for 2. Strong blocks the reverse hurricanrana and hits a backbreaker. He puts on a Boston crab but Evans gets to the ropes. Romero kicks Evans’s head and Strong hits him with a spinning Ace Crusher for the win. Cheap finish aside the match was very good.
Rating: ***¾

After the match Strong holds a chair against Evans head and Romero kicks it into his face. They put the boots to him until Delirious saves with two handfuls of chairs.

JZ says: Evans high tails it to the ring and goes right after Strong. The initial flurry doesn’t last long, as Strong quickly overpowers Evans and starts going to work on the back. I love how Strong takes cheap shots, even when he’s winning. Evans fights back and Strong bails, but Evans will not be denied. Evans tries to springboard off the guardrail but Strong kicks him down and Evans takes a spill. Strong continues to dominate. Strong locks on some nasty submissions, stretching Evans into unnatural shapes. Poor Jack. Evans makes a brief comeback but Strong cuts him off. Every time Evans tries something Strong has a counter to it, like a nasty looking German Suplex. Evans finally nails a springboard spin kick and both men are down. Evans hits a combination of suplexes for a near fall. Evans tries to hit something else, but Strong hits a gut buster to regain control. Strong tosses Evans over the top rope in unceremonious fashion. A back suplex on the apron does even more damage to Evans’s back. Strong tries a superplex but Evans reverses it to the Bomb Jack for two. Evans goes to the top but Strong knocks him down. Strong hits a super fall away slam for a near fall. Strong is finally able to hit a half nelson backbreaker and put on the Strong Hold but Evans reaches the ropes. Strong distracts the referee, allowing Romero to kick Evans in the head. Strong follows that with an Ace Crusher variation to get the pin at 15:10. It wasn’t as good as their match in Detroit, but it’s obvious that these guys have chemistry as a team or against each other. Strong and Romero attack Evans after the match until Delirious makes the save.
Rating: ***½

Good Times Great Memories #6 – Gut Check – 8.26.06

BG says: The next Cabana memory is from his 2/3 falls World Championship match against an injured Bryan Danielson. All Cabana had to do was keep Danielson from winning a fall before the sixty-minute time limit ran out, but he couldn’t do it.

JZ says: This was the second straight 60-minute, two out of three falls match for Bryan Danielson. Cabana came close that night, but couldn’t quite win the title.

MATCH #8: ROH World Tag Team Title Match – Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley

BG says: Sabin and Mark start. Sabin grabs a headlock leading to a hold exchange on the mat. Mark slaps Sabin, forcing him to retreat. Sabin puts on a wristlock but Mark gets to the ropes. Sabin flips around and pokes Mark’s eyes. Mark comes back with a leg lariat and a hurricanrana. He hits a bodyslam and a back bodydrop. Shelley and Jay tag in. They trade holds and Shelley hits a cheap shot. Jay comes back with a forearm rub to the face. Shelley kisses Jay’s boot and then spits water in his face. Jay returns fire with forearms and puts on a headlock. He gets a head scissors takedown but Jay comes back with a hurricanrana and a leg lariat. Sabin tags in and gets caught in a chinlock. He gets to the ropes so Jay tags to Mark. Mark hits a bodyslam and a fistdrop for 2. Sabin hits a clothesline and a back elbow. Shelley and Jay tag in and Shelley chops both Briscoes. They come back with a big boot/Complete Shot combo for 2. Jay hits a clothesline in the corner and a basement dropkick for 2. He hits a bodyslam and tags to Mark. Mark comes in with a slingshot double stomp for 2. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special but Shelley gets to the ropes. Jay tags in and hits a back elbow. He hits a snap suplex and tags to Mark. Shelley hits a side Russian legsweep and a rebound kick for 2. Sabin tags in and hits the Ace Crusher and a dropkick to the face. He rubs some spit on Mark’s face and tags to Shelley. They hit a double hiptoss and a double fistdrop and then sandwich Mark with kicks for 2. Shelley hits a snot rocket and a spinebuster. He hits a Lionsault for 2. Sabin tags in and they hit a double vertical suplex and rapid fire legdrops for 2. Sabin puts on an octopus stretch but Jay breaks it up. Mark returns fire with a forearm off the second rope and tags to Jay. Jay hits a dropkick and a stunner. He hits a Yakuza kick for 2. Shelley dropkicks Sabin by mistake and Jay hits Sabin with a backdrop. Mark comes in and they launch Shelley into the air. Shelley pulls Jay to the floor and Sabin hits a big boot in the corner on Mark. He sets Mark up top and hits a hanging neckbreaker. Shelley and Sabin both hit Tree of Woe dropkicks of Mark and follow the Briscoes to the floor with stereo suicide dives. Back in the ring Jay gets double-teamed in the corner. Mark runs in and sends Shelley to the floor. Sabin puts a cloverleaf on Jay and Shelley puts the Border City Stretch on Mark. Mark fights out and frees Jay. Mark misses the slingshot double stomp but Jay hits a Yakuza kick and Mark hits the yelping splash for 2. Jay puts Sabin in the Stretch Plum but Shelley breaks it up.

Mark tags in and the Briscoes hit a double Japanese armdrag. They overwhelm Sabin with double-team maneuvers and Mark hits a senton for 2. He puts on a half crab and tags to Jay. The Briscoes hit the double shoulder tackle and Mark tags back in. They hit the double toss and Mark hits a kneedrop. He rolls Sabin up for 2. Jay comes in but Sabin sends him into Mark and kicks off Mark to hit a swinging DDT on Jay. Shelley tags in and comes off the top with a crossbody but Jay rolls through for 2. Shelley hits a roundhouse kick on Jay and a back heel kick on Mark. He hits a Complete Shot on Jay into the corner and climbs the ropes. Jay crotches him but Shelley brings him down with a Manhattan drop. Sabin jumps off Shelley’s chest to dropkick Mark to the floor and Shelley hits a German suplex on Jay for 2. Sabin tags in and hits an elbowdrop. Shelley puts on a chinlock and Sabin hits a dropkick to the face for 2. He hits a backbreaker and a double jump elbowdrop for 2. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special but Mark breaks it up. Shelley tags in but Jay forces Sabin to dropkick him. He drop toeholds Sabin into Shelley’s crotch and tags to Mark. Mark hits a dropkick on Shelley and an ax kick on Sabin. He hits a double jump moonsault press on Shelley but Shelley comes back with an armdrag and tags to Sabin. Mark hits Sabin with a T-bone suplex and hits the powerbomb/neckbreaker combo with Jay for 2. The Briscoes go for the Doomsday Device but Sabin swats Mark down and hits a reverse hurricanrana on Jay. The Guns hit a series of kicks to Mark’s head and Shelley hits the assisted Sliced Bread #2 for 2. Shelley tags in legally and the Guns come off the top rope with a big splash/legdrop combo for 2 when Jay saves. Jay tags in and hits a Cactus clothesline on Shelley. Mark hits a plancha onto Sabin. Back in the ring Jay hits the DVD on Shelley. Mark tags in and comes off the top with the shooting star press for 2 when Sabin saves. The crowd loves that Mark pulled off that move. Sabin clotheslines Mark and trades forearms with Jay. He hits an enziguiri on Jay but Mark crotches him on the top rope and goes for a super cutthroat driver. Shelley pulls Mark away and the Guns hit a Doomsday dropkick. Shelley hits a superkick and the Air Raid Crash for 2. He hits the Shellshock for 2 when Jay saves. Mark blocks Sliced Bread #2 and hits the cutthroat driver for 2. Jay puts Sabin down on the floor and helps Mark hit the cutthroat driver/top rope legdrop combo for the win.

Sam Berman called this the match of the year when we saw him at the ROH Driven a couple months ago, and with that he proved he knows how to pick a good match. There’s not much I can say about the match that he doesn’t say in his extended review of the match, so check that out.. It’s rare that you see a great, long tag team match but this was just that and it made both teams look great. These were four men on top of their games, and why the Machine Guns aren’t the TNA tag champs I just don’t understand. This match never slowed down for 40 minutes, and between this and the Briscoes’ title drop to Ricky Marvin and Kotaro Suzuki I just can’t see an argument for any other team being the best in the world. The crowd chants for Sabin and Shelley to come back, but TNA would make sure that never happened. They do perform like class acts on their way out and strap the title belts on the champions. All things considered I can’t think of a single thing that wasn’t amazing about this tag title match, and I’m hard pressed not to go all the way with the rating. So hard pressed in fact that I won’t. Best ROH match in years.
Rating: *****

JZ says: The Briscoes have been champions since 3.30.07, and this is their second defense. Sabin and Mark start it off with some mat wrestling. Mark gains the advantage with some high impact moves, and Sabin tags out to Shelley. The TNA tandem stalls a lot early on, trying to avoid the Briscoes. Shelley and Jay have an exchange that leads to Shelley getting dumped to the floor. They continue to go back and forth, with the Briscoes taking the first real advantage. The Guns come back with some dirty tricks, including Sabin rubbing his spit all over Mark’s face. Mark is able to make the hot tag to Jay, and he cleans house on the challengers. The referee allows rampant double teaming with no count whatsoever. The Briscoes get tossed outside and the Guns hit stereo suicide dives. The action in this one is getting hard for me to call. The Briscoes regain control and work on Sabin for several minutes. Shelly gets tagged in and the match turns into a big brawl with Shelley dominating. The action in this one just never stops. The Briscoes finally get the win with the legdrop / cutthroat driver combination at 34:17. Wow, that was just all out balls to the wall tag team wrestling for over half an hour. My words don’t really do it justice, but this is only the second time in ROH history that I’m giving a match the highest rating it can give.
Rating: *****

Good Times Great Memories #7 – Fifth Year Festival: Chicago – 2.24.07

BG says: The final Colt Cabana memory sees Cabana ending his feud with Jimmy Jacobs and Lacey. He grabs Lacey’s heel beats Jacobs with it until he can hit the Colt 45. He hits the move on Lacey and puts her over Jacobs, pinning them both to pick up the win.

Strong and Romero brag about putting Jack Evans out tonight. But Strong isn’t as happy as he could be because Delirious keeps coming after him. If Delirious comes after him again he won’t be held responsible for what he does.

JZ says: This is clips from the feud ender to the great Jimmy Jacobs vs. Colt Cabana feud. Cabana gave Lacey what she deserved and got the big win in the end. Four star match, too.

Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero are backstage to mock Jack Evans and for Strong to threaten Delirious. Strong gives him one warning to stay out of his business.

MATCH #9: Colt Cabana vs. Adam Pearce

BG says: This would be the final stop on Cabana’s farewell tour, and it’s the “all about Cabana” stop. Pearce should come to the Spiderbait cover of Black Betty for big matches like this to give him a bit more of an edge. The friend of Cabana’s that sang the rap version of his theme music actually sings the song live during Cabana’s entrance. Cabana gets at least as many streamers as CM Punk did at his farewell show. Pearce attacks Cabana before the bell in the sea of streamers. Cabana comes back with a backdrop and wraps Pearce’s legs in the streamers before lightly touching him to knock him over. Pearce bails and Hagadorn pulls the streamers off of him. Pearce gets on the microphone and threatens to leave if anyone chants for Cabana again. The crowd of course does just that so Cabana goes out and chases Pearce back in. Pearce starts to gain some steam so Cabana trips him. He embarrasses Pearce with his usual antics and gets a head scissors takedown. Hagadorn trips Cabana and Pearce clips his leg. He puts on a leglock and Cabana screams like a two-year-old. Cabana gets Pearce’s attention and casually pulls his arm off his leg. Hilarious. Hagadorn pulls Cabana to the floor and goes for a chair shot but Cabana gets it away from him. He hits the apron with the chair and fakes like Hagadorn hit him. The referee has no other recourse but to send Hagadorn to the back and threatens to disqualify Pearce if Hagadorn doesn’t leave. The big security guard actually carries Hagadorn to the back as Cabana rolls Pearce up for 2. Great stuff. Pearce undoes Cabana’s boot and kicks his head when he tries to lace it up. He hits a clothesline and tosses Cabana to the floor. Cabana fixes his boot as Pearce pulls a bottle of Gold Bond from under the ring. Cabana gets it from Pearce and hits him with it. Back in the ring Cabana opens up with elbows. He slugs Pearce down and hits a moonsault press. He gets a roll up for 2. Pearce hits a spinebuster and puts on a figure 4 leglock. Cabana reverses the pressure and then rolls to the ropes. He blocks a blind charge but Pearce counters the Flying Asshole to a back suplex. Pearce climbs the ropes and hits a legdrop for 2. Cabana channels Tatanka to get fired up so Pearce goes to the eyes. Pearce tries to skin the cat but Cabana slams him off the top rope. He unloads with jabs and hits the Bionic Elbow. He hits the Flying Asshole and puts on the Chicago crab for the win. Short match, but so much more enjoyable than any other farewell matches that I can think of. It showcased everything we’ve loved about Cabana which is exactly what it set out to do.
Rating: ***½

JZ says: Cabana is of course insanely over in his hometown, and on his final night in Ring of Honor. Pearce jumps Cabana while the streamers are still in the ring. Pearce soon bails to the floor, and threatens to leave if the crowd continues to favor Cabana. Jimmy Bower joins the booth to put over the ROH tenure of Colt Cabana. Cabana tries to have some fun, and Pearce gets frustrated by it. Hagadorn gets banished from ringside. They brawl for a bit and end up on the outside of the ring. Pearce tries to use Gold Bond Medicated Powder, but Cabana turns the tables on him. They trade suplexes and such, with Pearce winding up in control. He hits the Illinois Jam for two. Cabana comes back and locks on the Billy Goat’s Curse and Pearce taps out at 13:31. The match was nothing special except for the fact that it was Cabana’s last match; which is special enough, given that he was one of the most consistently entertaining performers ROH ever gave us.
Rating: ***

Aftermath

BG says: After the match Cabana puts Pearce over for helping him get started in wrestling. He wants Pearce to be a good sport about losing so that he can leave with the respect of someone he looks up to. Pearce grabs the microphone and talks about how nice Cabana’s family has been to him and how great a wrestler he’s become before spitting in his face and walking out. See, not all angles have to go on hold because someone leaves the company. Cabana is upset but the rest of the locker room comes out to cheer him up. Actually it’s just the babyfaces, which is also a nice touch. His parents are also in the ring. He thanks Cary Silkin for buying and saving ROH. He references Paul London’s classy exit from ROH when he kissed the ROH logo on the mat. He wants to do something equally iconic but can’t think of anything. He talks about thinking he was too fat, too short and not well enough connected to be a professional wrestler but he worked hard and did it anyway. He puts over his family for being supportive and puts over ROH for making him a star. He’s not going to call Gabe Sapolski a genius or talk about how great ROH is because he knows everyone in the crowd already knows. The only thing he didn’t get to do in ROH was to represent the company as the champion, so one day he’ll be back to win that title. You know, I was actually getting sick of Cabana before his farewell tour, but it went off so well and finished off with such a fun match and such a fantastic farewell speech that I just can’t imagine this promotion without him.

JZ says: Cabana gets on the microphone and wants no hard feelings between him and Pearce. The vile Pearce refuses to shake Cabana’s hand, and brushes him off instead and heads toward the back. The locker room empties as everyone comes to the ring to pay tribute to Cabana. He proceeds to give an awesome speech, quite possibly the best farewell ever in ROH. It ends with Billy Joel’s “The Entertainer” playing. Cabana shakes hands with a lot of fans around the ring. His farewell tour was about a million times better than Joe’s. He put people over, and looked like a true class act the whole time.

MVP

BG says: There are so many guys I could give it to, and since everyone in the unbelievable tag match deserves it on the same level I’ll give it to Cabana for leaving ROH in a more classy way than any other wrestler.

You can pick up this show, as well as all other ROH shows at ROH Wrestling Dot Com.

Coming soon will be our review of REBORN AGAIN!

The 411: BG says: Firstly the show is significant for having the final appearances for Cabana, Daniels and Homicide and being the last stateside show for Shingo. Secondly the show has what is in my opinion only the third ***** match in the company’s history (after London vs. Styles and Joe vs. Punk II). The World Championship match was breathtaking and fine way to see Shingo go, the four corner survival was great and a great way to see Homicide go, Daniels went out with a great promo and Evans and Strong beat each other up for everyone’s enjoyment. The one match with a low rating is part of a hilarious under card angle. Quite simply this is one of the best ROH shows ever. JZ says: Just by looking at my star ratings anyone could tell how much I loved this show. It had a lot of different styles of matches, including a historically significant ROH World Title match, as a Dragon Gate wrestler fought a NOAH wrestler for the first time. I could gush about the Tag Team Title match some more, but just suffice to say that it’s the second best match in ROH history (just behind Joe vs. Punk II). It was the last ROH shows for Homicide, Christopher Daniels, and Colt Cabana. I don’t think they quite knew that Homicide was leaving yet, so he didn’t get as much of a sendoff as Daniels and Cabana did. Those were on opposite ends of the spectrum but were equally awesome. Cabana’s farewell tour was so much better than Joe’s; I’ll actually miss Cabana now that he’s gone. I think Manhattan Mayhem has been defeated – this is the best show in ROH history.

Final Score:  10.0   [ Virtually Perfect ]