Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — A New Level

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 07.11.2008

ROH takes a step up in venue. Can the show live up to the hype?

Ring of Honor — A New Level
by J.D. Dunn

This was ROH's much-hyped foray to the big boy table at the Hammerstein Ballrooom. ROH's claimed attendance is 2,300, which is pretty damned good for a promotion with no TV outside of bi-monthly PPVs. To put it in perspective, Clash of the Champions II featuring Sting & Dusty Rhodes against Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard drew 2,400 in Miami.

May 10, 2008

From New York, N.Y..

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

Opening Match, FIP Heavyweight Title Triple-Threat: Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens vs. Go Shiozaki.
Stevens attacks Strong in the aisle, and we get MANY CHOPS! Strong hits a Yakuza Kick, and it's back to the chops. Strong wins that battle until they team up against him. Stevens clubs Shiozaki for two. Shiozaki gets fired up, but Roderick rolls him up for two. Shiozaki stays with it and hits the Orange Crush. Stevens makes the save. Shiozaki misses a moonsault, and Stevens Doctorbombs him. Roderick sneaks in and rolls up Stevens for the weak ending at 6:11. That's about as good as you're going to get from a six-minute match. They chopped the hell out of each other and hit their finishers. Could have done without the silly finish, but Roderick was still a sneaky heel. ***1/4

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Davey Richards & Rocky Romero.
Davey dicks it up early, refusing the handshake and slapping Generico in the face. Steen calls Generico over and asks for the tag. Steen shows Davey what a real slap looks like. Rocky and Generico tag in, and Generico fakes him out with a dive. Steen and Generico team up for a backpack senton. The heels isolate Generico and work over his arm. Both guys' finishers put pressure on the arm, so that would seem to be a no-brainer. Generico gets out of trouble with the Michinoku Driver and lets Steen take the advantage with a powerbomb. Generico tags back in but winds up in the Chimera. Steen shoves Rocky into Davey to break it up. Steen and Generico go up, but Steen's Swanton hits Davey's knees. Romero hops up and takes Generico down in to the Diablo Armbar while Davey applies the Texas Cloverleaf. Generico makes the ropes, though. Steen Samoan Drops both Richards and Romero, and he and Generico hit the Swanton/Splash combo. Romero saves, but that sets up the Packaged Piledriver into the Brainbuster at 14:49. Really fun match. The No Remorse Corps may have been falling apart, but they're just such jerks that they continue to be entertaining no matter what direction their careers are taking. Steen and Generico are, of course, always a good time. ***3/4

Scramble Tag: Chris Hero & Brent Albright (w/Sweet 'n' Sour Inc.) vs. The Vulture Squad (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Delirious & Pelle Primeau.
How far has Delirious fallen? Now he's drinking Pelle's milkshake. Sweet 'n' Sour has Johnny Fairplay with them. In a funny moment, he tries to hump Brent Albright's chest, but sadly Albright does not drop him on his face like Danny Bonaduce did. Delirious chases Fairplay off at the start of the match. Hero overpowers Pelle early, but the Vulture Squad quickly gets involved, and they all do dives to the floor. Back in, Jigsaw and Delirious walk through a complicated armdrag sequence (doesn't anyone on the indy circuit just do an armdrag into an armbar anymore?). That leads to Jigsaw putting Delirious in a Gory Stretch and Jack coming in with a springboard senton. Sara Del Rey hops up on the apron to distract Delirious, but Daizee Haze yanks her off the apron. Delirious is so busy staring at Haze that he gets dumped. The Vulture Squad hit stereo somersaults onto the pile. Delirious blocks a Half-Nelson Suplex by thumbing Albright's eyes. That leads to Albright accidentally delivering the Half-Nelson Suplex to Hero. Delirious catches Hero with the Chemical Imbalance II for the win at 7:26. Total spotfest, but fun on that level. Delirious picked up a much-needed win. **1/2

After the match, Larry Sweeney blames Albright for the loss and tells him he can get back into Sweeney's good graces if he'll just unleash his fury on Bobby Dempsey. Why? Why not? Everyone, including a Flair-strutting Fairplay, gets their shots in on Dempsey, but Albright has had enough and DESTROYS SWEET 'N' SOUR! Hagadorn gets it particluarly badly. It's a good thing Adam Pearce is the NWA Champion; otherwise, Sweeney's investment would have been buying up Shane Hagadorn. The crowd loved Albright after this.

Bryan Danielson vs. Naomichi Marufuji.
No reason for this other than they're two of the top wrestlers in the world. Lots of mat wrestling early as they do the Flair/Steamboat sequence off a wristlock battle. Marufuji slingshots himself and DDTs Danielson on the apron. That seems to daze Dragon a bit, and Marufuji stomps his face into the mat to follow up. Marufuji takes him down into a variation of the Cobra Stretch. Danielson blocks a charge and hits a lightning legline to come back. That sets up a missile dropkick, but Marufuji blocks a charge himself. He goes for a Shiranui, but Danielson just dumps him to the floor. Marufuji blocks a dive, though, which conveniently sets up the coast-to-coast dropkick. Danielson ducks a swing and hits the Butterfly Bomb into a cross armlock. He switches up to a leglock, but Marufuji is in the ropes. Danielson hits the tree-of-woe dropkick, but Marufuji slips out from under him and goes for another coast-to-coast. Danielson pulls himself up this time and goes for Cattle Mutilation. Marufuji blocks, though, and puts Danielson on his shoulders for two. Danielson locks him in the Triangle Choke and adds the elbows. Marufuji squirts out and kicks Danielson right in the head. They exchange trapped elbows, and Marufuji hits the Tiger Suplex. ONE, TWO, TH-NO! Danielson hits his own for two and rolls Marufuji over into Cattle Mutilation for the win at 21:20. The usual fantastic match between these two. I got the feeling they were sleepwalking through this one, and they still put on a must-see match! ****

Daizee Haze announces a new attendance record for ROH. Delirious comes out with a red rose hidden behind his back. He asks her to dinner in his own way. Rhett Titus struts down and interrupts. I've been racking my brain trying to think of who he reminds me of, and John Gregory summed it up perfectly by asking if Jimmy Garvin had any kids. "Have you seen the size of these thighs? The thrust is a must! Tell me what you wanna do!" Daizee: "I wanna leave." Delirious leaves the rose in the ring in a poignant image – the fans, as if taking in Delirious' heartache and realizing the symbolism of the fallen flower rise in one voice… to chant "you got cockblocked."

Non-Title: Takeshi Morishima vs. Necro Butcher.
This will either be great or the biggest trainwreck I've ever seen. They slug it out early, and Morishima stomps Butcher's bare feet. Necro hits a right cross and chokes him out with a tablecloth. He rips up the mats and sets up for a piledriver, but Morishima backdrops him on the concrete and shoulderblocks him down. Morishima squashes him against the railing and tosses him back in. Necro collapses under a slam attempt, and Morishima squashes him again with the handspring avalanche. Necro avoids the missile dropkick and gets two off a flying bodypress. He's like a drunken, homeless Ricky Steamboat! Necro DDTs him on a chair for two, but Morishima blocks his chairshot and nails him right in the head with the chair. Morishima sets up the chair and delivers the backdrop driver through the chair. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Morishima NAILS him with a lariat and hits the real backdrop driver for the win at 9:53. Morishima didn't really give Necro much and pretty much squashed him. Necro gets a good round of applause for taking a beating. **1/4

ROH World Tag Titles, No DQ: Jay Briscoe & Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black.
The champs storm the ring right off the bat. Aries goes after Jimmy while Jay pairs off with Black. Black moonsaults Jay, but Aries runs over and saves. They pull a table out, and Aries brawls with Jimmy up to the top rope. They both fall off and go right through the table. Jay gets back in with Tyler, but Jimmy recovers and stabs him in the face with the spike. Black knocks Aries out again, allowing Jimmy to stab Jay again. Blood quickly POURS out of the wound. They hang Jay in the tree-of-woe like a stuck pig. Aries recovers and hits a corner dropkick. That sets up the Last Chancery on Black. Jacobs escapes Jay's attempts to hold him back, though, and makes the save. Aries lands on the apron, so Jimmy spears him right into the crowd barricade. HATRED~! Jay struggles up and brings Jimmy back in with the Falcon Arrow for two. Black recovers and makes it a two-on-one, and the Age of the Fall hit the Doomsday Contra Code. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Aries shoves Black through a table at ringside, and the champs team up for the Spiked Jaydriller on Jacobs! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Jimmy kicks out. He's fueled by rage and hatred! Necro Butcher runs down and brawls with Aries. That leads the injured Mark Briscoe to run down and chase Necro off. Jay sets up Black, and Mark hits the one-armed Doomsday Device. Jay gets the pin at 14:12. Ah, intensity and hatred. Two of my favorite things – in a wrestling match… or on a date. The intensity really lifted this from just a good match to almost being something really special. If it had a little more time, it might be a MOTYC. As it is, it's just another great match in the tableau of Jacobs/Aries. ***3/4

After the match, Jacobs has the AotF drag Aries into the ring. He threatens to kill him before deciding to let him live knowing what Jacobs has done to Lacey. After Aries recovers, he tells Jimmy (via the camera) that he should have done it when he had the chance.

ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli.
This has been a feud that has been going, on and off, for nearly three years when they feuded over the Pure Title. Lots of stiff jockeying early as neither guy wants to give an inch. Claudio knocks Nigel on his ass with an uppercut. Nigel hits an armdrag and gives us THE DEMONSTRATIVE CELEBRATION! Claudio returns the favor and follows Nigel to the floor. Nigel tosses him into the barrier, though, and slams his shoulder into the post. Back in, Nigel goes to work on the arm with a hammerlock and the sick leaning armbar. Claudio gets a glimmer of hope with a bridging suplex for two. Nigel clubs him in the corner, though, and takes things to the floor. Claudio gives Nigel a taste of his own medicine with a rebound uppercut. Nigel stays on top with the lariat, though. The fans are all over him for that. Claudio comes back with a Bicycle Kick and an elbow suicida. Back in, he hits a crossbody and a flying uppercut. He should have sold the arm at least once in there, even if he was trying to use the good arm. Nigel catches him going up and hits the Tower of London for two. Claudio tries the Springboard European, but Nigel shoves him to the floor. Back in, Nigel locks in the London Dungeon, but Claudio reverses to the Giant Swing for two. Claudio powers out of the London Dungeon but runs into the mulekick. He catches Nigel with the press uppercut. They fight on the top rope, and Nigel hits the flying lariat. Nigel hits a superplex, but Claudio cradles him Dynamite Kid-style for two. Nigel misses a lariat, and Claudio hits the RICOLABOMB! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! They do an awkward sequence where Nigel trips over Claudio but DDTs Claudio fro two. Claudio gets two more with a German Suplex. Nigel hits a lariat for two, though, and turns Claudio over into the London Dungeon for the win at 24:55. Fairly disappointing considering this was arguably the biggest show in ROH history. Nigel's work on the arm wasn't very meaningful to the body of the match, only to the ending. They had the fans rocking during the nearfall portion, though, redeeming the match at least somewhat. ***

The 411: Not the blow-away show that ROH was probably hoping for, but solid nonetheless. The crowd looks fantastic in this venue, and hopefully they can keep it filled for future shows – which, I'd suggest, should be the bigger shows like Glory By Honor and Final Battle.

Thumbs up.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]