The Furious Flashbacks – ROH Unforgettable

Posted by Arnold Furious on 04.02.2008

Unforgettable in every way. And forever more, that's how you'll stay

The Furious Flashbacks – ROH Unforgettable

Unforgettable in every way. And forever more, that's how you'll stay

2nd October 2005.

The night after Kenta Kobashi made his debut in a Ring of Honor ring he was all set to team up with Homicide to battle Low-Ki and his opponent on night one of his weekend; Samoa Joe. Given that Kobashi-Joe on night one was one of the great clashes in ROH history we’re set for something special just 24 hours later. Also we’re set for a commissioner in ROH to control the crazy antics of the wrestlers in the company recently. ROH has been a lawless land. Time for a sheriff. Also James Gibson leaves ROH after his career reviving stint in the company.

We’re in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hosts are Dave Prazak & Lenny Leonard.

BACKSTAGE Prince Nana promises to take Jade Chung out of the business for disrespecting him and biting the hand that feeds her.

ELSEWHERE Claudio Castagnoli tells us ROH is great but it needs more Claudio Castagnoli.

ROH tag titles – Tony Mamaluke/Sal Rinauro (c) v Ring Crew Express

Yeah, THIS will help solidify the reputation of those tag titles! A team that’s had one match together against perennial underdog loser challengers. I can understand RCX being these permanent opening act but they don’t look like underdogs against Rinauro who’s even less experienced. On the upside both teams have AWESOME music; “Nothing but a good time” by Poison and the Rocky theme. We go straight into the dives because that’s the whole purpose of this match. Hit some high spots and get the crowd rowdy. Erm, rowdier. Mamaluke really should be more of a leader in terms of controlling the pace but clearly he’s been told to just go and hit spots. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a spotfest as long as the entire show isn’t spots like WSX. Mamaluke looks far more polished than the others in this match given his experience. The gulf shows although Rinauro’s spots are getting smoother. Mamaluke looks stupid selling Marcos’ kicks. He just flip bumps everything and it looks daft. Marcos doesn’t have enough impact for that. Dunn gets a tag and hits the Gorybomb for 2. They start hitting spots on each other giving up on the tag format. Yeah, I know the format can get dull after, erm, 3 minutes. Sliced Bread for Rinauro and the stage dive gets 2 with Mamaluke saving. Marcos gets dumped on his head. Dunn charges in and they fuck the finish up. Mamaluke fell over or Rinauro didn’t hear the call to go with the move. Either way they fucked it up. ½*. Spotty, messy and the finish went tits.

BACKSTAGE Jade Chung talks about how Nana abused her. She reminds everyone how she was abused in a disinterested monotone fashion. “Crying myself every night” doesn’t make sense. Just re-record the promo. It’s on tape. Or don’t cut one at all if you can’t talk. After all; the crowd liked her anyway.

Davey Andrews v Claudio Castagnoli v Jay Lethal v Nigel McGuinness

Andrews has gained an ill advised “CHAOS” tattoo on his chest. He’s somewhat out of his depth here with three relatively heavy hitters. Nigel especially who’s borderline main event and the pure champion. I still don’t like ROH’s 4-ways. I’d rather they were elimination matches to give them a sense of perspective and make it less about high spots and multiple person bullshit. But hey, the fans seem to like them. Claudio and Nigel start out with some nice chaining. They’re superior to the guys on the apron in that respect. Claudio gets “EEEEYYYY” over as a catchphrase in the process. Shouting it every time he gets a wristlock is brilliant. It’s so simple that I’m shocked no one has done it in a major promotion before. Andrews-Lethal for a less inspiring and technically sound and fun series of chaining. Lethal learned to chop! DAYUM. He chops everyone and they sound great. They run some comedy where the guys on the outside hold Claudio & Lethal and then they miss their respective chops thus chopping the guy on the apron. The whole thing breaks down and they run some convoluted set up deal where Lethal hits a quebrada on the other three. Nigel goes to IRON Lethal’s frizzy hair flat. The ring post makes the save. Nigel has to settle for a Divorce Court instead. Claudio brings the forearm uppercuts. Davey Andrews is so bland. I kind of understand why. ROH are doing this young boy Japanese style deal where the noobs just have black trunks and no gimmick. In a way I like that. But Davey sucks. He doesn’t have enough power or speed or stamina to engage the fans. And he’s too young to have great technical skills. Claudio and Nigel get into a comedy shoving contest in the ring, then the apron and then finally on the floor. This leaves Lethal to impose himself on Andrews. Spinebuster sets the flying headbutt but Nigel cuts him off. Claudio busts out an awesome springboard forearm uppercut and a tope on Nigel. Crowd goes nuts because this all cool as shit. Meanwhile Davey is back up and he superplexes Lethal into the Final Cut for 2. Andrews misses a rolling elbow and Lethal dragon suplexes him ON HIS HEAD for the win. **. Claudio & Nigel did some really fun stuff but it was still a mess making that two matches in a row.

Matt Sydal v Jimmy Rave w/Prince Nana

Sydal is kinda connected to Generation Next or what’s left of it so he goes up against Gen Next’s main enemy; the crown jewel of the Embassy. PINK toilet roll for Jimmy this evening. Sydal wins babyface points by throwing a roll at Rave’s face. They start out with some pleasant enough basics. They’re both competent but I feel Sydal’s inexperience has been offset in terms of push because he’s willing to turn up anywhere and has a lot of high flying stuff. He is getting better though, which is promising for his future. Rave charges him and Sydal pops off a spinning heel kick out of nowhere. Rave bails so Sydal hits a superb moonsault to the floor. While its technically sound it is entirely ridiculous because it requires Rave & Nana to stand there and catch him. I’m liking that spot less and less the older I get. Rave lariats him in the back of the head. What I like about Rave is that regardless of who he’s wrestling he still gets heat. The crowd genuinely dislike him. Although you’d question how much of that is heel heat and how much of that is Justin Credible heat. The “this guy doesn’t belong here” heat. Only with Credible it was because he was the champion while with Rave it’s just because he’s in the company. Rave really heels it up by using a MASTERLOCK. WWE moves will make you a heel in ROH. Again, this is great stuff from heel Jimmy because he’s working the smarks. And he goes right back to it when the full nelson is broken. Sydal meanwhile comes back with step kicks and headscissors. Wonderwhirl gets 2. Standing moonsault gets 2. He’s really popping off the high spots to try and put Rave away. Sydal tries to come off the top but Rave spears him for 2. If that was Edge it was a finish. Which shows how daft Edge’s spear is as a finish actually. Rave comes back and hits a brainbuster for 2. I don’t like them using so many finishers when they don’t need to. Jimmy goes for his bootlace but JADE CHUNG runs in from the audience to take it off him and Sydal rolls Rave up for the win. **1/4. That was solid and got two characters somewhat advanced in their storylines as well as the ex-valet. Sydal continues to improve and Rave is a heat machine. I really only see positives from this.

Ricky Reyes w/Julius Smokes v Derek Dempsey

As with last night Reyes is being rebuilt by squashing jobbers. Dempsey looks like he dropped out of the 1980’s. Imagine a small version of Curt Hennig. Reyes dismantles Dempsey and breaks his back with the dragon sleeper in about 30 seconds.

POST MATCH Smokes gets on the mic and issues a warning to Colt Cabana. Bobby Dempsey complete with horrible acting “I-I-I-I t-t-t-t-th-think you killed him” arrives to ask for an Undertaker. This brings out PAUL BEARER. Ahem, PERCY PRINGLE. He says he’s not here to “bury anybody”. He claims he’s the new commissioner in ROH. That gets a sizeable pop. His squeaky voice tells the crowd to shut up and listen to him. It’s funny so it doesn’t draw any heat. But out comes JIM CORNETTE. Both are wearing company red btw. Pringle all over. Cornette just the tie. Babyface Cornette no less as he’s slapping hands and having fun. Cornette talks about the Midnight Express Reunion the previous year and managing against Bobby Heenan. Bearer is so funny in this segment. Cornette talks about a great wrestling manager “is his name Paul?” says Bearer. “No” says Cornette. He’d rather be in the ring with Percy Pringle. Cornette talks about ROH being about winners and losers and no interference. Which is funny because there was interference in the last match and it got popped. Cornette puts the company over at great length saying there’s no nepotism and the best athletes rise to the top and no one gets held back. Cornette says he’s the commissioner not Paul Bearer and “Percy Pringle” agrees with it. Cornette says he’ll rule with a boot and a slap. Before leaving he promises there will be no one at ringside for the main event citing Julius Smokes in particular. In fact he invites him out here to tell him that immediately causing heat between Cornette’s commissioner office & the Rottweilers. He says if Smokes comes out here later he’ll never be in ROH ever again. In fact if they don’t get out of here by the time the crowd counts to 10 they get $1,000 fine each. I like how Smokes really has to run for it to get out of there at the end. Sure was a long segment though.

Roderick Strong v James Gibson

We get clips of Gibson facing Strong back in April and against Aries in May. They’re not enemies tonight though. Both babyfaces and Gibson specifically asked for Strong for his last match. BJ Whitmer accompanies Gibson to the ring for some reason. Streamers for Gibson and a “please don’t go” chant. They love this guy. Its taken the WWE a good long while to figure out his appeal. I noticed the “Jamie Noble” chants at the Royal Rumble (2008). The commentators talk about who the MVP is in ROH in 2005. Crowd even chant “MVP” at Gibson, presumably, but Strong is also a contender thanks to stepping up big time in 2005. Prazak reminds us that this match happened in Full Impact Pro down in Florida just a month previous and they had a real barnburner. This one starts out a little slower but the counters on the mat are really nice. Gibson goes after the leg to a degree where Strong has to bail out to buy himself some recovery time. They trade on monkey flips and roll out of leg holds. Strong shows his strength by boosting Gibson up into a backbreaker. He looks for a Stronghold but Gibson gets out into a high crossbody for 2. They’re running really smooth match, which shows how well they like working together. Strong bails again but Gibson doesn’t want him to get breathing time and hits a pescado. BUT Strong catches him and throws him into the rail. That’s why they call it high risk. I like the whole idea at play behind that sequence. On the floor they start trading with great forearms before Strong, losing, has to drive Gibson back first into the rail. Strong chops away and this has become a really hard hitting battle. They go back to the mat and Strong chinlocks before it’s reversed into a rowboat by Gibson and he gets his own chinlock, Austin Aries style, before hooking up the Mexican Surfboard. Gibson pins himself and has to roll with it but as soon as Strong gets loose he starts firing off strikes. This is a great match because its got heart and its technically sound. They run some more counters standing and there’s another backbreaker from Strong. Gibson forgot his leg focus from earlier but Strong doesn’t need to remember what body part he’s working because he always targets the back. It comes from most of his moveset and it makes psychology a natural occurrence for him. Which is probably why he’s progressed as such a rate. Compare him to the more experienced BJ Whitmer who’s never made it up to this level. Strong goes for a gutbuster but Gibson counters and Strong leaves himself open for the Texas Cloverleaf. Luckily the ring positioning is close to the ropes so he’s able to get out quickly. That’s another nice little sequence that shows both guys working at the other’s strengths and weaknesses. That time, unlike with the rail, Gibson came off looking like the smart guy. Gibson does some neat selling where he’s rubbing his lower back during a double down. That stops him being able to get the tiger driver so he opts for easier on the back knee strikes. Not quite Samoa Joe in terms of stiffness. He charges looking for a big one but gets caught in TWO backbreakers. Strong goes for the Stronghold but Gibson fights it and despite Strong’s best efforts gets the ropes to survive. Strong makes a huge error though when he chops the ring post. Gibson’s speed allows him to avoid it. But Gibson also lacks focus here and doesn’t take advantage of the injury. Damn goody two shoes. I retract that as Gibson rams the hand into the rail three times and then stamps on it repeatedly. Gibson takes it back inside and hits a brainbuster for 2 before going back to town on the hand. Gibson hits a great flying knee for 2. He looks for the tiger driver again but Strong has too much left and backs Gibson into a tree of woe before basement dropkicking him twice. Gibson is lifeless and has to be dragged into the middle of the ring for 2. Prazak talks about Strong not being able to hook the leg because of his bad hand. I’m rather frustrated with how much Strong is using the bad hand to set up a superplex. Couldn’t adjust the game plan a little bit? Gibson avoids a second superplex and hits a diving knee strike. Gibson catches Strong with a DDT into the choke. Strong tries to roll Gibson over then just POWERS HIM UP. Beautiful. Gibson opts for the Rolling Germans instead. Gibson is a fucking machine! They’ve been wrestling over 20 minutes and he just pops off 8 straight German suplexes for 2. BELL RINGS. Ref waves it off. Only a two count but it was THAT close. Strong ignores his hand injury to hit a half nelson backbreaker for 2. Looks like we’re into the finisher segment of the match with both guys sufficiently worn down. Strong goes for the half nelson again but Gibson counters into a crucifix and hits his own half nelson backbreaker INTO THE TIGER DRIVER. That gets 2. Crowd goes nuts. They’re loving this. Great build up for that move only for Strong to kick out. Gibson takes it to the top looking for the super tiger driver. Strong fights it and moves out underneath into a GUTBUSTER off the top. STRONGHOLD! Gibson taps right away due to the back abuse he’d suffered and to stop the crowd chanting “please don’t tap”, which they surely would have done. Great stuff from Gibson. He REALLY put Strong over on his way out. ****1/4. Great match. I could have lived without Strong’s failure to sell the hand at all Otherwise it was gold.

POST MATCH the crowd want to hear from Gibson. He puts over Gabe and the fans for resurrecting his career. He’s visibly moved by a “we will miss you” chant. He says this last year has been the most fun he’s had in wrestling. He hopes to come back here one day and calls this the “greatest wrestling company in the world”. He names Roderick Strong the MVP of ROH and says ROH has the future of wrestling in its locker room. As they head into the back Jimmy Rave attacks Strong and Gibson gets to say goodbye by helping the angle.

BACKSTAGE Gary Michael Cappetta, with a LOUD fucking mic, introduces the new tag team champions. Mamaluke & Rinauro say they shocked the world and they’ll keep doing so. Rinauro says the division is in disarray and promises to take it back to the top before singing “We Are the Champions”.

We get news that Steve Corino has secured a title match with Bryan Danielson courtesy of a contract Danielson sent to Dream Stage in Japan. Shame we don’t get a Corino interview to confirm this.

Jack Evans v Colt Cabana

Bit of a change of pace from the last match. Colt in particular is up for some comedy bringing a Hoganesque “YOOOOUUUU” complete with pointing before he’s even in the ring. Cabana also brings a really complex handshake. Prazak makes me laugh by lifting “Corkscrew Schultz” off CM Punk. Evans breakdances. Uh oh. Someone got served. Colt flips him around until he gets dizzy and falls over. Funny. He tries it again but Evans flips out and lands on his feet. “And you know this…man” – Prazak. They both hit dropkicks and Evans nips up but Colt can’t do it despite trying five or six times. He brings Evans in to help him but ends up kicking Evans in the back of the head. Sucker. Evans takes a bit too long to flip back at Colt making the big man look like a chump for just standing there and taking it. Springboard knee strike. That’s a popular move tonight. At least he did that one quickly. Evans fucks up a rope flip ahead of a dive that never happens as a result. Colt just walks away but eventually gets caught with a diving rana but Colt blocks it and throws him head first into the post. Colt starts throwing Evans around now pitching him as far across the ring as he can. Evans gets himself folded up like a Twinkie. Stupid customer, you can’t hurt a Twinkie! The second hold, a Gory Special under the arm where Evans’ foot is touching the back of his head. That’s disgusting. And unnatural. Evans escapes an Airplane Spin. Makes you wonder why Colt didn’t just hit the Colt 45 seeing as he was up there. Evans with a twisting standing splash but he does another one when Colt power kicks him off. That’s brilliant and realistic. For once. Jack with a 630 Splash but Colt has plenty of time to move and Colt just KILLS Evans with an enormous LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. **1/2. Mostly fun comedy stuff but we needed that after the last match. I like Colt stealing Homicide’s finisher and hitting better than him. Evans gave him a huge sell on it too.

POST MATCH Julius Smokes makes his way out here to tell him he has a free pass tonight because Homicide is main eventing. Smokes tells Colt he’s a dead man before making some noises. BRRRRRRRAP. I hear ya.

Jimmy Yang v Christopher Daniels w/Allison Danger

Yang is getting treated like a star still thanks to a decent match with Gibson the night before. I personally am not a fan. I think he’s too prone to mistakes and his flashy style isn’t flashy enough compared to the more modern stars (Jack Evans, Pac etc). So he needs more gimmick, less moves he’s liable to blow and all this suits him and the WWE down to the ground. He’s fine there. On the Indy circuit he’s not technically good enough to hang with the best. Daniels meanwhile is treading water and has no real angle or feud or focus. Yang with a springboard dropkick to begin his high flying. Daniels finds himself run into the rail shortly afterwards. Yang almost heels it up by not whipping Daniels into the rail when the fans were asking for “one more time”. Daniels looks for a crossbody but Yang dropkicks him in the gut. I sense the crowd are anxious to see the main event and this match is suffering the dead spot before it. They’re having a match and its fine but I don’t really care. Blue Thunder gets 2. Yang wants Yang Time but Daniels cuts him off. There’s not really been any flow here. Just move after move. Sure, the execution is fine but I need a reason to care. Daniels does a great job of blocking a spin kick because he’s already seen it and Angels Wings gets 2. Daniels unphased counters into the Koji Clutch. Yang, who tapped to Gibson last night, refuses to give it up but he’s out so the ref calls for the bell. **. It was a match. Some stuff happened. I like Yang not wanting to tap two nights straight in his debut weekend but having him do that more than once and actually wrestle out of it beforehand then get further worn down would have been better than all the basic stuff they were doing beforehand.

BACKSTAGE Lacey calls a meeting of Lacey’s Angels to discuss the future of the group. Lacey fires the Angels and replaces them with Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer. A beatdown ensues. Bye Deranged. See you later. Jacobs eyeballs Lacey foreshadowing the future angles.

SHILL – Straight Shootin’ series.

Samoa Joe/Low Ki v Kenta Kobashi/Homicide

“Baddest motherfucker aliiiiiiiive” – Joe on his way out. Everyone gets a good reception but Kobashi’s is off the chart. You don’t get enough robes in wrestling nowadays. That black robe is PIMP. Odd choice of having Ki tag with Joe. So the Rottweilers are on opposite teams. Kobashi gets a ring full of streamers. Jimmy Bauer joins the announce team for this one. Everyone shakes hands thus messing with kayfabe a bit. Joe and Kobashi eyeball each other right from the off. Joe is still sporting the wounds from the night before. Kobashi insists on starting but Homicide wants a piece of Joe. Kobashi INSISTS. Joe & Kobashi jostle for position and Joe doesn’t slap Kobashi on the opening break. Kobashi sportingly gives Joe a break. Joe bounces off on a shoulderblock. “COME ON, JOE” – Kobashi. He does and knocks him out of the ring. ELBOW SUICIDAAAAA! Kobashi just got Misawa’d. Joe decides he wants to inflict some chop damage of his own this evening. Kobashi shrugs them off. CHOP OFF! Joe resorts to punching. FIGHTING SPIRIT! TOTALLY NO SOLD! CHOPS! Joe with forearms. Ki tags himself in. He tries a chop and begs Kobashi to fight him. That’s just ASKING for trouble. The size difference is clear cut now but Ki uses his martial arts to tie the arm up in the ropes. Kobashi sells the shit out of that. Ki with the headstand kick TO THE ARM. Neato. Kobashi decides to take a breather and Homicide is in. HOMICIDE V LOW KI! This is new. The Rottweilers explode! They’re less aggressive and go for technical counters, which look great because they’ve wrestled each other 500 times. They even cover for mistakes, which is possibly even more impressive. That they blow something and make it look like they didn’t. Joe tags himself back in. Chop, kick and kneedrop. Kobashi is halfway down the apron looking concerned. Joe kicks away in the corner. NO SOLD! EYE RAKE! There’s your fighting spirit. Kobashi tags himself back in and hits one of the hardest chops, EVER, on Joe. He brought that from so far back. Just to prove it was no fluke he follows up with another. Then some knees and another chop across the neck. Homicide back in and they’re working as a team. Kobashi sneaks in another chop during the 5 count. Joe fires up and lays into Homicide with some stiff kicks to the back. Ki in to kick at him some more. There’s more aggression than earlier. Homicide NO SELLS EVERYTHING AND PIEFACES LOW KI! Holy shit. That was awesome. Homicide throws Ki out to Kobashi who KILLS HIM with a chop. You can see Ki just preparing for the chops and he has this look of fear on his face. DDT ON THE RAMP! Kobashi is so awesome. Because there are no count outs in ROH this is all fine. Kobashi chops Ki over the rail and then points at Joe to remind him of how he did that last night. Kobashi psychology for the large Samoan. Homicide calls Kobashi in and they use Joe as distraction for him to come in and chop Ki in the camel clutch. The second one is FANTASTIC. Homicide looks for the tope con hilo but Ki kicks him in the head in between the ropes. Homicide with a sunset flip but Ki double stomps him. Kobashi strolls in to chop Ki and Joe doesn’t like that so they both come in for a superb brawl. Joe leaves Kobashi down and walks off as if to say “yeah, don’t interfere again bitch”. Joe chops at Homicide as the crowd chant “this is awesome”. Joe avoids the Ace Crusher into a great bridging DVD for 2. Kobashi makes the save. Ki and Joe take it in turns to kick fuck out Homicide. That’s weird considering their allegiances. Homicide thumbs Ki in the eye and hits a tornado DDT. Ki is on the ropes though. To the ropes and they run the spot where Ki double stomps Homicide while he’s in the tree of woe. That’s a finish. That’s how he beat Homicide over in England. That gets 2. Should have been a save really. Sick spot. Joe back in and Homicide needs a tag. Homicide also has a bad shoulder, which nearly kept him off this show. Perhaps if he was in a lesser match. Homicide crawls over to tag Kobashi. CHOPS! CHOPS! CHOPS! Ki saves Joe so Kobashi racks ‘em up and CHOPS THEM BOTH! More chops for Joe! Fucking hell. MORE CHOPS! SPINNING BACK CHOP! Joe elbows out of the Kobashiplex but gets caught in the SLEEPERPLEX! Ki dives at him – KOBASHIPLEX! Get out of the ring, you fucking midget! Joe starts firing back but Kobashi chops at him. Joe with a powerslam into an armbreaker! Homicide saves by kneedropping Joe. POWERBOMB into the STF! The crowd are thinking Kobashi MAY return the job for Joe here. But Kobashi got out last night and he gets out again by using the ropes. HEAD DROP BACKDROP DRIVER. DANGEROUS! Joe just killed Kobashi. “This is awesome”. Joe takes it to the ropes – MUSCLEBUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! ONE, TWO, TH-NOOOOO! Joe just cannot beat Kobashi. He just can’t. Ki tries for a double stomp but Kobashi moves. Ki opts for kicking him in the head instead. Ki wants the Ki Crusher. Never! Kobashi obviously blocks it. Ki goes for a dropkick instead. I like how when he can’t get the big spot he opts for just hitting anything to keep momentum. Of course it is Kobashi so that won’t stay that way. Ki tries to tap him to a standing armbar but Homicide dives in and ACE CRUSHERS Ki off Kobashi’s shoulders. Joe isn’t happy about that though and stops the double team only for Ki to accidentally springboard Enzuigiri him. Joe falls outside. TOPE CON HILO! Thank you Homicide. It also leaves Kobashi one on one with Low Ki. Tidal Crush gets stopped with a CHOP. That was AWESOME. You can flip all you like but when you’re in mid air you’re an easy target. POWERBOMB gets 2. Ki can always say he kicked out of that. Probably not much else though. ORANGE CRUSH gets 2. Joe just makes the save there. Kobashi is fixing to chop Joe some more but Homicide comes through AGAIN to stop Joe and force him outside. Kobashi lines up Ki and just murders him with the Burning LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO for the win. ****1/2. Great spectacle. The match the night before was better IMO. But there was a lot of psychology and storytelling going on. You’ll notice that Homicide won the match for his team because he was the junior guy best equipped to take out the big man on the opposing team. Ki looks great in the loss and everyone in the match had a character arc.

POST MATCH Kobashi shows respect to his partner and opponents. Digging the “arigato” chant. Joe gets the mic to put over Philly where ROH was born. He thanks Kobashi for his presence here in ROH. Handshake. Bowing. Joe is very respectful and asks for Kobashi’s music. STANDING OVATION. Kobashi is loving this. There’s a nice spot where Ki and Homicide bow before Kobashi on the way out. Kobashi once again makes a point of putting over Homicide again by raising his hand.

The 411: Two great matches on this DVD. The main event and Gibson’s farewell were both really well handled. Easy thumbs up. Most of the card is relatively unimportant but most cards in general suffer from that. Another great use of a star coming in for one weekend too after the great use of Jushin Liger they got their money’s worth from Kenta Kobashi. That main event could have gone on for 2 hours and I wouldn’t have gotten bored.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]