RB Report: ROH Man Up PPV

Posted by Robbie Brooksbank on 03.26.2008

ROH's third PPV, featuring the Briscoe's taking on Steen and Generico in a LADDER WAR!

ROH Man Up
Chicago Ridge, Illionois
September 15, 2007


*The show opens with Naomichi Marafuji in the ring. Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard welcome us to the show. They run down the card and Nigel McGuinness gets on the mic. His road to the title is going to start in the ring tonight. "In it to win it" is an awful catchphrase. Some Project 161 goof interupts and is taken out by security.

*Intro video.

*Claudio Castagnoli is coming after Chris Hero and Larry Sweeney. TANK TOLAND SIGHTING. Dude needs to be at every show. Each wrestler has little video packages and a "goal".


*Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney, Sara Del Rey, Bobby Dempsey and Tank Toland) (goal: To show he's best athlete) vs. Nigel McGuinness (goal: Win world title) vs. Naomicho Marafuji (goal: Make name in U.S.) vs. Claudio Castagnoli (goal: Revenge on Sweet 'n' Sour Inc.)
Hero's gear is ridiculous. RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME! BWAH! Nigel and Marafuji do a cliche exchange to an INDY STAND OFF~! I thought they were above such low-down tactics. Hero gets in and gently pushes Marafuji out of the way so he can SHOWBOAT~! This man is incredible. Marafuji knows what to do to stop it - tag in Claudio. Hero quickly runs out the ring. Claudio and Marafuji go at it and Marafuji brings the awesome. They both lock each other in the Iron Claw! Or, alternatively, the KHALI DEATH GRIP~! Hero, seeing that Claudio is weakened, gets in. He gets straight back out as soon as Claudio gets back up. He and Nigel trade European uppercuts. Hero tags himself in again and stomps Claudio down. He hits the HERO'S SIDEKICK in the corner! Claudio puts a quick stop to Hero's offence and beats him on the outside. Marafuji hits a tope con hilo to both of them. Nigel teases doing something similar. He goes to the top...PLANCHA! Nigel takes an enziguri and a clothesline in the ring from Marafuji. Hero lays Marafuji out with a big roaring elbow and a release suplex. Claudio nails Hero with the ALPAMARE WATERSLIDE! Nigel in, LARIAT TO CLAUDIO! Marafuji breaks up the pin attempt. Nigel stops him when he goes up top and lands the Tower of London. It only gets a two when Hero puts a stop to it. CRAVATE-A-PLASM! He doesn't capitalise and, in true Hero fashion, decides to go to the top for a double stomp. Claudio nails a German on Hero and puts him in the giant swing. I preferred it when Claudio would do the delayed vertical suplex every match, the giant swing isn't as impressive. Claudio and Marafuji have a very nice little exchange. The Shiranui is blocked. Claudio is put in the tree of woe. Nigel blocks the coast-to-coast dropkick. Lariats all round. Claudio dumps him and hits a RIIICOOOLLAA on Marafuji. Hero breaks up the pin-attempt and Claudio is FURIOUS! Nigel gets in and he finishes Claudio with the horrible rebound lariat(18:01).

Rating: ***1/4. Really good match to open the show. It started getting too chaotic in the last few minutes for my liking, but good stuff.


*Bryan Danielson talks about Takeshi Morishima injuring his eye at Manhattan Mayhem II. Wrestling is his life.


*Tonight, there will be a best of three series between the No Remorse Corps and the Resilience. The matches are Romero/Cross, Richards/Aries and Stevens/Strong.


*Rocky Romero (goal: KO opponents) vs. Matt Cross (goal: Gain win on PPV)
Cross' goal just makes him seem like a huge jobber. Get him off my screen. Aries tells him to watch Rocky's kicks and arm submissions. NRC aren't really taking it seriously and are joking on the outside. Rocky attacks before the bell and they exchange chops. They do a quick exchange. YAY INDY WRESTLING! Facebuster by Cross sends Rocky to the outside. He fakes him out on a dive and dropkicks him. Rocky gets sent into the ring-post. Cross does the flagpole press. Back in, Romero locks in the cross-armbreaker from out of nowhere. Rocky dances. They exchange strikes again. Split-legged moonsault by Cross. Springboard double stomp and standing moonsault gets two by Cross. He misses a sky twister press and Rocky levels him with a kick to the head. He covers and it's over(4:46).

Rating: *1/2. Good, energetic sprint.


*Some shenanigans between Strong and Aries.


*Austin Aries (goal: Revenge on Strong) vs. Davey Richards (goal: Tap out adversary)
These goals are starting to get samey. Where are the guys that want to go to Disney Land, get laid, go to a petting zoo, to be a real boy, etc.? They start out fast with Aries hitting a pair of Japanese armdrags. He instantly targets the left arm of Richards. They trade headscissors on the mat. Davey is obviously aware that YOU NEVER PUT ARIES IN A HEADSCISSORS, because he manages to avoid the dropkick. He eventually manages to hit it to a pop from the crowd. Aries hits the slingshot senton into the ring and gets two. The hardcam seems to be pretty wonky tonight. Davey mocks Aries' swinging elbow and misses it. STO by Aries and he shows Richards' how the elbow is really done. Davey dumps him to the outside and Davey follows with an axe handle off of the apron. Davey puts the boots to Aries in the ring. They trade elbow blows and a roaring one sends Davey to the outside. TOPE! The fans start a forced "ROH" chant. Back in, quebrada by Aries gets two. Brainbuster by Richards gets two. Aries dumps him right on his head with a Saito suplex. He goes to the top, but Richards connects with a kick to the head. RELEASE GERMAN SUPLEX FROM THE TOP ROPE! ONE..TWO..NO! CRIKEY! Aries hits many rabbit punches to Richards, but misses a dropkick and eats a big elbow. He gets rolled up, but Davey only gets two. Davey takes a kick right to the dome. BRAINBUSTER! 450 SPLASH! ONE...TWO...THREE(11:58)! The series is now tied 1-1.

Rating: ***1/2. Great match, they built this one perfectly and had everyone - myself included - in the palms of their sweaty hands by the end of it.


*Erick Stevens (goal: Earn reputation) vs. Roderick Strong (goal: Prove he's better than Aries)
Strong starts quickly with chops, but the power and size of Stevens is initially too much for him. Stevens tries to finish it early, getting two of an Oklahoma slam. Strong eventually bails after a couple minutes of getting thrown round like a ragdoll. He cheapshots Stevens and hits a back suplex on the apron. Slams on the apron seem to be 2007's answer to the Shining Wizard. Strong stretches him around the ring-post. The beat-down continues inside the ring. Backbreaker by Strong. The fans get behind Stevens and a suplex gets two. Strong mocks Stevens "CHOO-CHOO" stuff and hits the running elbow in the corner. Big powerslam only gets two over Strong. Stevens attempts the Doctor Bomb, but Strong blocks. Strong nails a gutbuster and dumps Stevens right on his head. That only gets two. Stevens manages to block the Gibson Driver and they trade chops. Sit-out pump-handle slam by Stevens gets two. They go upto the top rope and Strong nails a SUPERPLEX! Stevens shows fighting spirit, but fighting spirit is no match for a kick to the mush. Half-nelson backbreaker fails to get the win for Strong. They again fight on the top rope and Stevens NAILS a SUPER POWERSLAM! That also only gets two. Again, they go upto the top. SPLASH MOUNTAIN BY STRONG! GIBSON DRIVER! That's enough to put Stevens away(14:16)! No Remorse Corps win the best-of-three series.

Rating: ***1/4. Another great match. I wasn't feeling the near-falls in the finishing stretch as much as I was in the previous match though.


*Re-cap of Delirious' feud with Adam Pearce and the Hangmen Three.


*ROH World Championship
"American Dragon" Bryan Danielson (goal: Become a two-time ROH champion) vs. Takeshi Morishima (goal: Make history as champ) (c)
Danielson lost against Morishima, getting a broken orbital bone in the process. Danielson wastes no time and attacks quickly. Unfortunately, he gets pounded down and sent out of the ring. He gets in and Morishima targets the injured eye. That is a bad, bad man. To the outside and Morishima tosses Dragon around ringside. Butt bump against the guardrail. Morishima sends Danielson into the guardrail with Danielson's bad shoulder hitting it hard. Morishima turns his back on Danielson to play to the fans and he eats a tope. Strikes by Danielson in the ring take Morishima off his feet. Danielson out-smarts him and goes to the strikes again. Danielson shows his heart, locking in a triangle choke straight after getting powerbombed by Morishima. He's told to let go, but HE HAS UNTIL FIVE, REFEREE! He can't get Morishima up for the surfboard, so just stomps the back of his legs. Bow-and-arrow surfboard. Dragon refuses to back down, but Morishima sits on him. Big boot. Danielson locks in a rear naked choke. That tires him down a bit. Dragon takes him to the top rope. SUPER BACK SUPLEX TO MORISHIMA! How did the ring not collapse?! Elbows to the head! Morishima doesn't sell them very well. Tiger suplex by Dragon only gets two. He rolls through to cattle mutilation and the fans are going insane. MORISHIMA GET'S HIS F'N FACE KICKED IN! Morishima lifts Danielson up while in the triangle and powerbombs him! Morishima NAILS a lariat, but that is not enough to put Danielson away. He even manages to get his foot on the ropes after a back drop driver. He takes off Dragon's eye patch. Dragon gets two with a small package and instantly gets planted with another back drop driver. Morishima doesn't even try to finish, instead just beating the shit out of Danielson and his eye until the referee has to put a stop to it(12:44)! Fans chant "bullshit".

Rating: ****. I loved the ending and the entire match was just fantastic. Not quite as good as their first encounter, but absolutely terrific stuff here. One thing that really annoyed me was Morishima just getting owned the entire match. It should've been Danielson making the little comebacks throughout the match, not the over-three-hundred-pounder Morishima. I realise Danielson was supposed to be pumped and angry, but come on. He should be using his ground-expertise and speed to overcome Morishima, not stand toe-to-toe with him.


*Great re-cap of the Briscoes-Steen/Generico feud.


*LADDER WAR
ROH World Tag Team Championships
The Briscoe Brothers (c) vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico
I must say, I haven't cared for this feud for a long time now, but that re-cap has really made me pumped for this match. Mark throws the ladder that's in the aisle into the ring and both teams brawl. Lots of unprotected chair shots and bumps onto the ground. Jay gets busted open from a chair shot. Steen takes an ace crusher off the guardrail to the floor from Mark. Generico and Jay go at it in the ring. I wonder if they ca go at this ridiculous pace for the rest of the match. They both can't send each other into the ladder and Jay gets sent to the outside with a dropkick. Mark gets in with Generico, but is sent head-first into the ladder. Jay gets in and lays Generico out with a gordbuster. He attempts to climb, but Steen stops him. They block each other's finishers. Steen drops him over his knee and scales the ladder, but Mark dropkicks him off. Mark gets stopped from grabbing the belts by Steen. He uses the ladder to send Mark to the outside. Steen tells Generico to try and get the belts because he's not going up there. He gets double-teamed by the Briscoes and they hit the double biel into the ladder in the corner. Sick. They pull a bigger ladder out from under the ring. Jay begins climbing, but Steen pushes the ladder over and it sends Jay into the broken ladder in the corner. Christ. That's the first "this is awesome" chant I've heard in a long time. I hate that chant. Jay gets dumped onto the ladder. Generico puts Jay on the ladder and hits a split-legged moonsault onto it. Mark busts out some redneck kung-fu on Steen, but is taken out by Generico. Generico with a ladder-assisted Yakuza kick to Jay. Steen tries to powerbomb Mark onto a ladder on the ground, but he misses the ladder and Mark just lands HARD on the floor. Steen begins his sllllooow climb to the top. Jay pushes Generico into the ladder and the way Steen falls off is just disgusting. Generico takes a sick t-bone suplex onto a ladder. DVD by Jay onto Steen on the edge of the ladder. Mark puts a ladder on top of Generico and hits an SSP onto it which is probably the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Jay with a legdrop through a table onto Steen. Wow, I can't believe this match has been on for twenty minutes already. Mark climbs the ladder, but Generico pushes it and Mark falls off in a similar fashion to what Steen did earlier. Jay tells the fans to get a huge maintenance ladder and surf it towards the ring. Mark sets it up in the ring. Jay gets Generico up on his shoulders and Mark springboards UNDER the ladder and hits the Doomsday Device. AMAZING! Steen bridges the giant ladder and the turnbuckle with another ladder. He and Mark fight for possession on the big ladder and Steen hits a PACKAGE PILEDRIVER ONTO THE LADDER! Generico takes the opportunity to climb, but he gets a ladder launched at him by Jay. Jay positions the ladder much like the way Steen just did. JAY DRILLER THROUGH THE LADDER! Both Jay and Steen climb the ladder. They trade punches at the top. Steen eventually falls off onto a ladder and that leaves Jay to grab the belts. He spends forever trying to get the belts down and eventually manages to do it(25:22). Fans chant "match of the year". Steen shoves Generico away from him before retreating.

Rating: ****1/2. Absolutely terrific match, even the botched ending couldn't have hurt it. Seriously off-the-hook bumps here. The world has been waiting for a great ladder match for years now and it's finally been delivered.


*After the match, the sound of a woman screaming echoes throughout the building and some Project 161 goofs show themselves. Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs come out. From the other side of the crowd, behind the Briscoes comes THE NECRO FUCKING BUTCHER! He beats the Briscoes down with his barbed wire-wrapped fist. Black hits a small package piledriver to Jay. Lacey is now out with them. "I TOLD YA, IF YOU LET ME OUT MY CAGE, I'M GONNA PILE THE BODIES TO THE SKY!" Necro is fantastic. They hang Jay by his feet from the thing that was holding up the belts. Disgusting. The show ends there. NO! That was seriously great.

The 411: Absolutely great show. Every was good, nothing was bad. The two main events were tremendous and I loved the angle to end the show.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]