Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Age of Insanity

Ring of Honor — Age of Insanity by J.D. Dunn We catch up with the Briscoes in Sandy Fork, Delaware, just south of the hatchery in between the KFC and Skippy’s meth lab. They say they want less combos and more brawling. That sets up the bros playing target practice with a couple of melons that remind them of the heads of Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black. Speaking of melons, Daizee Haze tries to tell us about the Ring of Honor & SHIMMER training schools, but Rhett Titus interrupts and taunts her with his sex video. Later, Rhett pushes Bobby Dempsey into hitting on Daizee. ACTING~! Recap: Daizee turns Delirious down and tells him they should just be friends. Back at Sandy Fork, Mark wanders around in the woods. FINALLY, Delirious asks to see the video, so Rhett shows it to us. Daizee has a GREAT rack… in which she keeps her many DVDs. She goes off to shower, so Rhett follows her to the bedroom and lays… buffering… on her bed. That’s the end of the video, but Rhett assures us that she rode the Jetski. Delirious is inconsolable. And that brings us to… August 15, 2008 From Cleveland, Ohio. Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard. Opening Match: Kevin Steen vs. Jigsaw. Jiggy tries to use his speed, but he gets spiked on the mat by the much larger Steen. Kevin pokes Jigsaw in the eyes and busts out the Fargo strut. Jigsaw slips out of a superplex and turns it into a Torture Rack Bomb for two. Steen catches him with a pump-handle neckbreaker after a few miscues. Jigsaw goes for the Code Red, but Steen slings him around into a backbreaker. That’s enough to set up the Swanton Bomb at 7:39. The fans love Steen, so this was a decent opener. ** Erick Stevens puts over the FIP Title and his feud with Roderick Strong. He says he will bring even more prestige to the title by being a fighting champion – and tonight, he starts with Claudio Castagnoli. Rhett Titus vs. Delirious. Delirious is still bummed about Daizee, so Rhett jumps him as he’s getting in the ring. Rhett debuts the DAIZEE HAZE TIGHTS~! Rick Rude would be proud. Delirious barely even fights back. Jimmy Jacobs and Allison Wonderland come down to ringside, and Jimmy yells that Rhett is the symbol for everything wrong in their lives. He tells Delirious to get vengeance. That fires Delirious up, and he makes the miracle comeback. Titus gets busted open, so Delirious rips at his wound. So now Delirious is the heel and Rhett is… the other heel. Back in, Rhett collapses in the corner, so Delirious just hits Panic Attack after Panic Attack until the ref stops the match at 5:10. Not much of a match, but a pretty good angle. Delirious needed shaking up. ** Jimmy announces Delirious is part of the Age of the Fall. Daizee Haze comes out and begs him not to join the AotF. She said she likes him, but she was so shocked when he asked her out that she didn’t know what to say. Jimmy tells Delirious not to listen to her because she’s a skanky ho bag. Delirious walks out with the Age of the Fall, much to Daizee’s chagrin. I think there’s a lesson here: hot chicks should always assume that their friends want to be more than friends. That way they won’t “be shocked” and not know what to say. Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny King. See, now if they’re worried about making more money, investing some time in Kenny King’s character would be a great idea. The crowd gets on Danielson for not having a tan. King establishes himself early by shoving Danielson down and calling for a test of strength. Danielson complies and then flips him over into the Triangle Choke. King makes the ropes, though. Danielson steps up to the top, but King dropkicks him to the floor. Back in, King takes over with a surfboard stretch. Danielson fights out of it and hits a dropkick. King backflips out of a backdrop, though, and fires off a few exotic kicks. Spiffy. King hits the Elijah Express and a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. King starts kicking Danielson around with about a minute remaining, but that just pisses Danielson off. Danielson takes him down into the Trapped Elbows and finishes Kenny off with the stepover armbar at 14:45. You know, in the weird world of wrestling (and storytelling in general), a loss at 14:45 in a 15:00 time limit does more for King than it would if he had lasted 15:50 in a 20:00 time limit, even though, logically he lasted longer in the theoretical match. This was good, but nothing exceptional like I think they’re capable of. **3/4 Adam Pearce (w/Sweet ‘n’ Sour Int’l.) vs. Ruckus (w/Jigsaw). Sweeney declares Pearce the best NWA Champ ever. Pfft. To be a great NWA Champion, you have to put yourself over as a booker, and that will never, ever happen. ::cough:: Ruckus dominates early with the flippity stuff, including a handspring kick. Pearce CHEATS to take over. Pearce’s usual punchy-kicky stuff after that. Ruckus comes back and hits the moonsault legdrop for two. He tries another handspring, but Shane Hagadorn blocks it. That sets up a Half-Nelson Suplex from Pearce at 6:24. Not exactly a banner night for the Vulture Squad. I was all for the Pearce/Albright feud to continue, though, considering their last match. ** Age of the Fall Rules: Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black. Aries storms the ring, but Tyler runs away and offers a “scientific battle” under “Age of the Fall rules.” Aries agrees to forego his blood vendetta. Aries dominates through most of a bland, technical match early. It picks up quickly when Tyler reverses all of Aries signature moves. Black tries a running powerbomb, but Aries blocks and counters to the Horns of Aries. Aries goes for the IED, but Black just boots him out of the air. Aries knocks him to the floor, though, and hits the suicida. Back in, Tyler hits a superkick for two. The Pélé misses, and Aries drops him with the Brainbuster. That sets up the Last Chancery at 11:28. Pretty disappointing for the first half. Aries wants revenge against the Age of the Fall for doing “whatever Jimmy did” to his girlfriend so he agrees to a match with headlocks and armbars? I don’t doubt that it makes sense from a character standpoint because his explanation was fine, but from the point-of-view of the feud it certainly blunts the momentum around Aries’ revenge. **3/4 Aries tries to extract his pound of flesh from Tyler, but Jimmy Jacobs runs down. Aries fights him off, but Delirious returns and attacks Aries. The Briscoes run down to even things up. That leads to… The Briscoes vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious. The brawl powders out to the Age of the Fall doubleteaming Mark for a goodly bit. Jay recovers and makes the save. Tables get involved, which leads to a trainwreck with bodies strewn all over. Daizee Haze runs down to check on Delirious, but Allison Wonderland jumps her from behind. Back in, Allison makes her presence felt again, going low on Jay. That sets up the Contra Code, but it only gets two. Jay gets his knees up to block the senton, and that sets up the Springboard Doomsday Device at 7:55. Well, there goes the momentum the Age had from adding a new member. Hopefully, Adam Pearce doesn’t have a chubby for the Briscoes like Gabe did. All of their no-selling and constant going over in feuds was making them stale. ** FIP World Title: Erick Stevens vs. Claudio Castagnoli. You know Claudio is evil because his music is slower. Claudio jumps Erick during his entrance. Stevens slugs his way back, but Claudio goes to the eyes and teases the Giant Swing. The fans might like that, though, so he doesn’t do it. Instead, they take it to the floor where Stevens gets sent into the barricade. Back in, Stevens slugs back again and hits the Choo-Choo. That leads to a Samoan Drop for two. Stevens counters the Ricolabomb to a woeful Giant Swing. Claudio comes back with the Ricolabomb for two. Claudio lays in the knees to Stevens in the corner, and he refuses to stop. He knocks down the ref and goes back to the knees, but that draws the DQ at 11:17. Well, so much for Stevens’ momentum as champion. Remember, kids, the FIP Title is not a secondary title; it’s a second title… it just happens to be held by a schmuck. Claudio tries to wreak more havoc, but Bryan Danielson makes the save. Claudio and Erick had little chemistry and seemed to get in each other’s way most of the time. **1/4 Brent Albright & Roderick Strong vs. Chris Hero & Go Shiozaki (w/Larry Sweeney). The faces clear the ring early, but Roderick gets caught in the bad guy corner. Pretty low-tech match from the heels. Lots of clubbing and isolating Strong. Things pick up considerably when Strong blocks a charge and hits a missile dropkick on Go. Albright gets the hot tag and destroys Go and Hero with power moves. German Suplex! Powerslam! Go catches him with a German Suplex of his own, though. Strong and Albright team up for some doubleteaming. Hero blocks a boot from Roderick and hits a blockbuster for two. Hero has Roderick staggered but decides to start chopping him, and that’s Roddy’s territory. Strong chops back and drop-toeholds Hero to counter the rolling elbow. That sets up the 61Knee. Go and Brent trade power moves to set up their title match. Strong turns Hero over into the Stronghold but has to break the hold as Go comes back into the ring. That allows Sweeney to toss in a loaded elbowpad, which Hero uses to knock Strong silly at 19:37. Like a lot of ROH tag matches, this had a weird structure where they go with the usual tag formula early on and then just scrap it and throw tags out the window. It got way better once they all got in there, though. **3/4 In the parking lot, there are fireworks! No, literally. Danielson and Claudio continue to brawl. ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. El Generico. I don’t see this going well for Generico. Nigel outwrestles him on the mat and toys with him. Nigel is only slightly less dismissive of Generico’s chances than I am. Generico gets in some offense but gets snapped down with the Hammerlock DDT. Nigel zeroes in on the arm, hitting a Hammerlock STO. Generico slugs his way back and sends Nigel to the floor, but Nigel tosses his shoulder into the post. Nigel goes back to the arm on the inside, bending Generico’s arms in his modified surfboard. He stops to gloat, though, and Generico knocks him to the floor again. That sets up the springboard Asai moonsault. Back in, a crossbody gets two for Generico. The Yakuza kick misses, and Nigel clubs him down. Generico blocks the Tower of London, so Nigel makes him pay for it with the Tower of London to the floor. Nigel sets up for the crotched lariat, but Generico blocks with a dropkick. Nigel tries the mule kick but gets Yakuza kicked in the face. Nigel catches him with a lariat, but it only gets two. The Tower of London sets up the Peek-a-Boo Lariat, but that only gets two. Nigel turns him over into the London Dungeon as Kevin Steen comes down to root on his tag partner. Generico squirms to the ropes. Nigel stops to jaw with Steen and gets booted into the reverse tree-of-woe. COAST-TO-COAST! That sets up the Brainbuster! ONE, TWO, THRE-foot on the ropes. Nigel blocks the Turnbuckle Brainbuster and delivers the crotched lariat. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Another lariat! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Running lariat! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Nigel gets pissed and locks in the London Dungeon. GENERICO REVERSES! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Nigel goes back to the London Dungeon, and this time Generico is forced to tap at 25:46. Everyone knew that Generico didn’t have a prayer, but at the end, they started getting people to believe that Generico might just pull out a fluke victory. That takes a lot of skill. Almost a show-saver. ****

The 411: The Delirious turn is the big bullet point to take from this show, and it's one of those cases where it actually could have drawn out a little bit longer. He finds out on the videowire and turns pretty quickly rather than being torn about it. Besides that, any momentum the Age of the Fall had from recruiting Delirious is blunted because they got swept. It's that kind of "holding pattern" booking that Gabe slipped into over the last two years and why, while I really loved his work over the duration of ROH, I'm not terribly sad to see him go. Neutral feelings, but the main event is fantastic.

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]