The Furious Flashbacks – ROH Death Before Dishonor IV

Posted by Arnold Furious on 02.26.2009

Behold…the Cage of Death!

The Furious Flashbacks – ROH Death Before Dishonor IV

Behold…the Cage of Death!

Am I the only person who hates the music ROH uses on its DVD menus? That dance shit just pisses me off every time I put the disc in. But I guess if it was trying to make me play the show quicker it achieved its goal.

15th July 2006. We’re in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hosts are Dave Prazak and Jared David.

BACKSTAGE Adam Pearce talks about the scar he got on his head and how the ongoing feud with CZW must come to an end and will tonight in the CAGE OF DEATH! Enjoyed the booking on this feud. Perhaps not as much as some but it’s a fine demonstration of how you build up the ‘bad guys’ but don’t overdo it. Something both the WWE (WWF v The Alliance) and WCW (the eventual failure to capitalise on the success of the nWo angle by booking the bad guys too strong).

Seth Delay v Delirious

Kind of a throwaway opener but Delirious is getting himself over as a performer. Delay is one of the guys getting promoted from FIP to take an opening match job. A try-out, if you will. Delay gets immediate heat just for working an armbar because Delirious is so popular. Why TNA haven’t taken a chance on Delirious is anyone’s guess. Although they’d probably ruin him. Not really much of a match but more a chance for Delay to show what he can do while ultimately playing second fiddle to Delirious’ antics. Delay gets in some nice counters and a dive over the top. Reminds me of a new guy debuting in ECW when they felt the need to do high spots to get the crowd’s love. Of course ‘being different’ is what ultimately gets you over with any crowd. Delirious is a perfect case in point. NEVERENDING STORY! Delirious wants to finish with the Cobra Stretch but Delay sneaks out of it showing he has enough skills to not get squashed as a job guy. Delay misses with his big move; the “imploding” 450 Splash. Which is the move backwards ending in a senton. SHADOWS OVER HELL! COBRA STRETCH! Delay taps out. **. Delay showed he has potential but the difference in between the two guys is that when he was booked as a jobber Delirious still looked like a star.

BACKSTAGE BJ Whitmer talks about his memories of the CZW feud and how he’s channelling his pain into anger. He won’t be intimidated by the CZW home gimmick of the Cage of Death.

Colt Cabana/Jay Lethal v Jimmy Rave/Sal Rinauro w/Daizee Haze

Prince Nana announced Rinauro as a replaced for Alex Shelley. UNDERWHELMING! Colt is going through his autopilot phase where he was waiting for a WWE contract. Anything in the year preceding his move to the WWE is kinda hit & miss. Plus with the Homicide feud in the books he didn’t really have a lot on. Leaving him out of the main event scene for the CZW feud shows that ROH felt he was set on leaving sooner rather than later. Didn’t actually sign until April the next year. Rave’s entrance is met by around 200 toilet rolls. Superb visual. The visiting CZW fans are in good voice as they pelt the Embassy. That’s the other great thing about the ROH v CZW feud…two sets of fans! It’s like an actual sporting event! Lethal is back for a one night appearance as he was pretty much a TNA guy by this point. The Embassy hang around for ages pre-match drawing heat with Rave being a MAGNET for it. The storyline sees Rave bitchslapping Sal and leaving him to get a beatdown. After all Sal isn’t a replacement for Shelley so much as a replacement for Jimmy’s foot stool. The match is pretty sloppy and played for laughs and storyline. The only real plus is that Sal Rinauro is such a runt that he takes the beatdown with gusto. Lethal then takes some heat, which is pretty uninspiring. Colt gets the hot tag and brings the 80’s comeback stuff for laughs. One thing you can’t say about Cabana and that would be that he’s in any way predictable. He pulls so many different styles and ideas out that you can’t really pigeonhole the guy. As with pretty much every tag match in the last ten years it breaks down and tags don’t mean anything anymore. Isn’t that what the commissioner is for? Enforcing the fucking rules? Sal catches Colt with a superkick and Rave spears Colt for the win. **1/2. Standard tag match. I could have lived without the ending although putting the new heel team over is the right thing to do. After all Colt & Lethal are unlikely to ever team again.

CLIPS – 4th Anniversary Show with Hero provoking Samoa Joe into a fight and Arena Warfare where BJ Whitmer took a beating from the CZW guys.

Pure title – Nigel McGuinness (c) v Roderick Strong

In retrospect this whole Pure title run for Nigel was just a trial to see if they could put the big title on him. IE; could they keep him interesting as a champion? After all Strong has followed him up the card and become a regular challenger. I’m glad they got shot of the Pure title although the concept was neat for a while. It’s the same as the X division. So, there’s no weight limit but you have to wrestle a certain way. What’s to stop someone from not? And who defines what a style is? The X title is probably a better example but if something in wrestling doesn’t make sense why do we just accept it? At least the Pure title has some different rules to encourage technical wrestling (the 3 rope breaks means you have to wrestle out of a hold, together with the limited punching). I like Strong’s intensity and that comes to the forefront here. Nigel tries to wrestle a technical match but Strong goes for the kill right from the off and Nigel gives up two early rope breaks. Nigel works the arm thus drawing the ire of the CZW fans who don’t seem to understand the concept of ‘wrestling’. Strong comes back with more intensity and slaps Nigel into the “Gibson Driver”. I know he was your champion and all but it’s a fuckin’ Tiger Driver. STRONGHOLD! Nigel gives up his last rope break and makes perfect use of it by hanging on for as long as he can. STRONGHOLD! No breaks left! Nigel opts for dragging himself out of the ring instead. Presumably you can’t get a submission on the floor. Wouldn’t be very “pure” would it? Strong is doing a good job of continually selling his arm just to remind the fans that it’s hurt. Nigel breaks out some innovation by snapping the top rope back into Strong’s face. NICE! Strong clearly takes exception and BACK SUPLEXES NIGEL ON THE APRON! Ow! That leaves Nigel open for some CHOPS~! This match just hit a higher gear. Nigel shows his game plan by throwing Strong into the crowd and then jumping back in the ring looking for the count on. Strong times his return perfectly. He’s really grown on me over the years. Nigel catches Strong out with the headstand but Strong uses the ropes to get out of the pin. Now it’s not just Strong with the strikes and Nigel is dishing out abuse too. Nigel goes for the headstand again. Another trip to the well sir? BOOT TO THE FACE! Another one sends Nigel into the ropes BUT HE REBOUNDS OFF…LARIATOOOOOO! Rope break! Crowd thinks “this is awesome”. It’s certainly been very hard hitting. Nigel looks for a senton but Strong gets his knees up to that already injured back! Nice psychology there. Nigel abuses the rules by grabbing the ref to set up the TOWER OF LONDON! Strong kicks out! Nigel’s nose was bloodied by one of those kicks earlier. Nigel takes it to the floor perhaps hoping for a DCO. Strong has to boost him up to get them both back in the ring but that sets him for Nigel to counter into a DDT on the floor! This is over. Crowd doesn’t like it and Nigel beats the count to retain. ***1/2. Good match, soft ending. After a slow start they really upped the ante. The striking and intensity rose notably when Nigel took the bump on the apron.

CLIPS – Necro Butcher & Adam Pearce brawling at Supercard of Honor. We also see Adam Pearce at Better Than Our Best where Claudio Castagnoli “misses” and accidentally hits Pearce before “injuring” his knee.

PROMO TIME – Jim Cornette. Not sure why he feels the need to stop off and talk about ECW & Vince McMahon but he uses that to claim ROH is Philadelphia’s only real hometown promotion! Cornette never liked ECW anyway. Cornette puts over KENTA and mentions his future dates including one in Philly AND he’s got a title shot at whoever is champion in New York City beforehand. Cornette gets to the point and we’re missing a man in the ROH Cage of Death team. He’s got JJ Dillon to coach the ROH team. Cornette had a spot on the team open for Homicide BUT Homicide requested that Cornette give him “three wishes” to take part in the match. Cornette thinks that’s too much power so won’t give in to Homicide. So out comes BRYAN DANIELSON! He calls the CZW fans “sad, little people”. Danielson says that Homicide has been the CZW Killer but no one from CZW has beaten Danielson either AND he’s the world champion. He says he doesn’t need weapons to cripple someone and make them submit. He promises to defend Ring of Honor “like a man”. He doesn’t expect any favours. Cornette gives him the open spot.

That was remarkably like the WWE. Setting up storylines & the main event with a promo with an authority figure. How’s about that? Worked too.

CLIPS – From the 100th Show where Super Dragon murders BJ giving him a Psycho Driver through a table. And Claudio turns heel on ROH.

Irish Airborne v The Briscoes

This is a fine example of something I think ROH does wrong. Does anyone actually think Irish Airborne has a chance at winning this? Then why is it 15 minutes long? Sure, it increases the reputation of Irish Airborne that they can last that long with the Briscoes but since when did that ever work? You can show the crowd they’re good enough by giving them a few near falls and doing an 8-minute bout at a quicker pace. That’s what a big league company would do. The good thing about ROH is that they give up and coming wrestlers the chance to work long matches against established and talented wrestlers. But that doesn’t mean I enjoy watching it. It doesn’t help that I don’t think IA are ready for this kind of exposure. They’re decent at spots but you need to be able to chain smoothly before you get a shot at anything more in ROH and they’re just not clean enough. Also the Briscoes just seem to be going through the motions out there. Selling for the sake of it. When they take over it feels like they were just toying with IA and taking moves for their own amusement. Which is weird because some of the things IA are doing are fun! Like the boost into the super rana. A few years back people were creaming for stuff like this but without the polish they’re just another spot team. And nobody does spots better than the Briscoes. Everything in between is kinda loose. Too much of IA’s offence requires a Briscoe to stand there and watch as a move comes towards them. Like a flying crossbody and there’s Jay staring at it coming like a total idiot. Mark & Jake both hit SSP’s to the floor at the same time, which is pretty crazy. But that’s the problem. Every once in a while something cool happens but there’s nothing connecting it. Kudos to the announcer for calling the “Black Tiger Bomb”. Someone has been watching Japan tapes. Splash Mountain is a better name for it though, really. So the match carries on. High spot. Kickout. High spot. Kickout. It’s all so emotionally detached. As per usual the match breaks down and everyone spills in for the messy conclusion. Jay hits a Cutthroat Driver and that finishes. So what makes that high spot any different to the dozen high spots that preceded it? *. Meh. Isn’t it time people just gave up on tag team wrestling? It’s a dead art form.

Sidenote – I appreciate the efforts of a lot of tag teams (Aries/Strong in particular) but I just feel every form of tag match has become cliché and there’s really no rescuing it. More storyline is needed and less spots. And certainly losing the ‘heat segment’ and the ‘crazy finish’ would be a nice start. Weird that I’m a sucker for the ‘hot finish’ in a singles match though.

BACKSTAGE Ace Steel, who I’ve liked for some considerable time, cuts a pretty lousy promo. He needs to tone it back about 25-50%. Mr Kennedy benefitted from it, Ace can too. Although “Bunkhouse Bell Billy” nearly saves the entire thing.

CLIPS – Claudio using the Muscle Buster. That jerk.

AJ Styles v Davey Richards

Davey has been making Jimmy Rave his personal bitch thus far in ROH career so it’s time to step up and face some real competition. AJ is a benchmark for quality so you can make a name by going toe to toe with the guy. I like Davey. I think he has a big future. He seems to have a very rounded style for a guy so early in his career. Both guys are very good at striking and Davey lands the first one, thus upsetting AJ and causing him to strike back. STIFF KICKS. AJ with the chopping and then he steps up to forearms. I love a good fight. AJ eventually gets fed up with taking the abuse and dropkicks the knee out. AJ then goes to town with kicks on a downed Davey. “What did he do to you AJ?” – fan. Not as funny as the “why are you so mean?” question of Super Dragon in PWG. That made me chuckle more. AJ gets focused and works the leg. The match then kinda loses its way. They cock something up on the apron and then Davey spikes AJ with a vicious DDT onto the floor. That ended the Pure title match so I’m not sure I agree with repeating the spot here to lesser effect. Although there IS no count out in normal matches. CZW fans mock the lack of count out rule. Davey seems less effected by things going wrong, which is bizarre with him being the inexperienced one. AJ is prone to the odd clanger but usually he comes back strong to prove he can. Davey comes back with a bunch of kicks, which look to have this finished and the German suplex gets….2! AJ blocks into a hammerlock back suplex, which isn’t really in line with his leg work. Sometimes he goes onto autopilot and forgets what his focus was. Because it’s not always in line with whatever big move he wants to do next. Davey comes back with the KAWADA KICKS! AJ looks sluggish and this breaks down again. Maybe he’s taken one too many head shots? AJ’s Torture Rack powerbomb looks a bit off too. I think he’s a little dazed out there. If his head wasn’t hurt a sick WILDBOMB almost certainly does some damage. AJ’s head bounced off the mat on that one. If it was storytelling I’d appreciate it. Davey kinda heels it up by mocking AJ’s pose. Pele Kick and AJ can barely get over on a jack-knife pin and we thankfully go to the Styles Clash to finish. Geez, that went to pieces. I’m certain AJ suffered a blow to the head that left him fuzzy during the match. **1/2. Still the opening was fun with the striking until AJ got tagged.

BACKSTAGE Samoa Joe says in the past CZW have gone after his weaknesses but they’ve got nowhere to go in the cage. He points out that Danielson is next. Oops.

CLIPS – From May where CZW were just about finishing the ROH guys off. HOMICIDE makes the save to the biggest pop of his career.

ROH title – Bryan Danielson (c) v Sonjay Dutt

This is all part of the CZW vs ROH deal as Sonjay made his name in CZW before going to TNA. The match really isn’t a contest as a result. Like with Briscoes v IA. Only much, much worse as Sonjay has no chance whatsoever of winning. BUT the difference is the crowd support. This is a setup for the raucous atmosphere in the main event. It doesn’t matter who the competitors are. This is clear cut ROH v CZW match before the war. An appetizer before the main course. The CZW fans insist on chanting “over-rated” and the ROH fans retort with “shut the fuck up”. Then “you’re gonna get your fuckin’ head kicked in”. HAHA, it’s like being on the terraces! What’s next? “You’re goin’ home in a fuckin’ ambulance?” Danielson shows technical dominance in the early going while the CZW fans chant “same old shit”. I hate that chant. You know why? Because it could be applied to any wrestler or any company ever. If you think a wrestler is doing the same moves it’s because they are. That’s why they’re his signature moves. That’s how you establish psychology and familiarity with multiple matches. Otherwise there would be no ‘scouting’ and then you change it up after repeated matches with the same person because you need something different. But then I wouldn’t expect some fans to understand psychology. Not a knock on CZW fans by the way. I’ve met some very well informed and intelligent people who follow that company. Danielson breaks out the Rolling Mexican Surfboard to another chant of “same old shit”. Yeah, because you see him do a rolling surfboard ALL THE TIME. Perhaps the chants could be a little less smarky. Fucking Internet. Sonjay gets a dive in and the ROH fans retort with “same old shit”. While I appreciate the fans getting energised and all that this match has been incredibly frustrating to watch. The wrestlers can’t get anything going because the crowd doesn’t want to see this match. They just want to get themselves over. But that doesn’t mean they need to give this THE BEST PART OF TWENTY MINUTES. Third match tonight that’s had far more time than it actually needed. Dutt by the way has become somewhat obsolete on the Indy scene because he basically does Jack Evans moves only with less flips. His added personality has helped him remain a talent though. After all Jeff Hardy did precious little wrestling to get himself over. He just fell off high up stuff and wore wacky clothing. Can you tell I’m not enjoying the match? Danielson eventually gets fed up of working around Sonjay’s flips and rolling forearms him into the Cattle Mutilation. Sadly Dutt gets the ropes and this match rumbles on. Moonsault stomp gets 2. No one is buying that as a near fall though. No one. Danielson comes back and hits a back superplex. That leaves Dutt completely exposed and Danielson elbows him into submission. COOL! *1/2. The finish makes up for having to sit through a mostly pointless match.

And just to really piss me off the announcers sign off before the main event. Why don’t you just fucking call it? Does ROH have no confidence in its announcers at all? Doesn’t commentary ADD to great moments? “As God is my witness he’s busted in half”!

BACKSTAGE Gary Michael Capetta interviews Nigel McGuinness. He says he’s the best champion in ROH. He calls Danielson a “pretender” and says he’d have won the tag titles if he didn’t have such a bad partner and Colt Cabana overhears him. Colt says they should have one last match for the Pure title.

CLIPS – Homicide hitting Hero with the Tope Con Hilo. Claudio chop blocking Joe’s bad knee in Chicago.

CAGE OF DEATH

JJ Dillon comes out to call the coin toss and ROH wins. The cage is somewhat different to the one CZW uses. It’s more like the Octagon. Only with space around the ring as the ring only has four sides and the Octagon doesn’t. Because the cage is on the floor it’s almost level with the top rope. I like ROH’s “it’s basically War Games” introduction of the rules.

Samoa Joe starts for ROH and they’ll have the first two on one because they won the coin toss. Starting for CZW is Claudio Castagnoli. The atmosphere is electric and I’m hyped for this. “You sold out” chant the ROH fans, which is ironic because his gimmick is that of a Swiss money man. Of course he sold out! “Joe’s gonna kill you”. Claudio, perhaps foolishly, attempts to lift the Musclebuster again. That upsets Joe somewhat. ELBOW SUICIDAAAAA! Claudio ends up in the fence and Joe spots an assortment of PLUNDA! PLUNDA FOR CLAUDIO! Claudio on a chair. Joe with the run up. OLE, OLE, OLE, OLE KICK! There’s much more space on the one side of the cage I notice. The crowd are really making this in the early going. Because it’s not your usual divide of smart/male fans Vs women/kids. It’s two sets of fans rabidly supporting their guy and their company. Claudio tries to no sell AND JOE KICKS HIM IN THE HEAD! Try no selling that ya Swiss fuck! FACE WASH! This match really could benefit from some commentary. They dropped the ball on that one.

ROH’s second man is BJ Whitmer. And he looks revved up. Shame he has to bring the gimmicked punches rather than some actual intensity. That always annoys me. BJ is getting one of the loudest chants of his career just for turning up though. Claudio starts striking anything that moves because that all he can do. But BJ reverses a whip and Claudio gets run into the ST.JOE! Now the dynamic is a little skewed as the heel (from ROH’s POV) gets a 2 on 1 beating.

CZW’s second man is…CHRIS HERO! He gets the concept a bit better and tosses a chair in there before going to the eyes. Cheating is fine in this match and that’s something both Joe & Whitmer would do well to remember. The Kings of Wrestling have teamed enough to take over the match here (they’d already held gold in CZW as a team).

ROH’s next man is BRYAN DANIELSON, the heavyweight champion. He cleans house and the ROH fans are buzzing as he takes apart the Kings of Wrestling. Now here’s a guy who knows the value of cheating. He and Joe dismantle Hero for all the nasty things he’s done. Danielson convinces Joe to Musclebuster Hero but then TAKES OUT THE KNEE! THAT SON OF A BITCH! He only went in there to injure his future opponent!

CZW’s next man is Nate Webb. Nice tache, haha. So Joe is down and hurt. Presumably unable to walk after that assault. Danielson walks out while Cornette tells the champ that he’s “stabbed me in the back”. Now BJ is left 1 on 3. Oops! And the CZW guys know how to use their plunder. Webb goes coast to coast on a moonsault w/chair. BJ is cut!

ROH’s next man is Adam Pearce and if there was ever a time for him to start kicking ass for ROH it’s now. Spinebuster for Claudio! He cleans house and helps BJ back up. Now ROH has that fighting spirit of disadvantage. In theory they’re down to 3 on 5 for this thing. Weight of numbers is already in favour of CZW and they take over with numbers alone. Guts will only get you so far.

CZW’s next man is NECRO BUTCHER. He doesn’t have to do much other than kick the crap out whoever is already done. Crowd is already biting on the assist coming from Homicide and chant his name. Necro tries for a pin, haha. Hero is just using this whole segment as an excuse to abuse the crowd and pose while the others dish out abuse.

ROH’s last man is Ace Steel. Oh, they’re boned. But Ace knows his way around plunder too from his time in IWA-MS. He comes in with BILLY and COW BELLS THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYONE. Those shots sound awesome. DING! MORE COWBELL! Kinda hard to follow what’s going on now where action taking place around the ring on all sides and in it. Necro got busted by that cowbell. Pearce is also bleeding. Webb is cut. It wouldn’t be War Games without blood. Hero gets the mic and leads a “CZW” chant and gets pelted with crap while he cuts a mid-match promo. Ace Steel cuts him off with a trashcan shot to the back of the head. It seems Chris Hero’s war on ROH is at fruition. He says his 5th man is someone he hates and the ace up his sleeve is…

CZW’s last man is EDDIE KINGSTON! Apparently he hates ROH more than he hates Hero. “Fuck you Eddie”. CZW now just dominate and put out that 5 on 3 beating that was predicted earlier. Pearce and Necro are both working on gushers out there. JJ Dillon shakes his head. Crowd really wants Homicide to come out here now. Hero & Kingston gets into a heated debate to prevent them winning this match. And whattayaknow!

HOMICIDE IS HERE! The ROH fans who’ve hated this guy for YEARS treat his arrival in this match like the second coming of Christ, which should tell you how well timed his face turn was. He’s also ideal for this kind of match. He breaks a board over Kingston’s head immediately. Then empties tacks onto the floor in front of the charging bare-footed Necro Butcher. BJ is back up. EXPLOIDAAAAAAAA! Ref is in! ONE-TWO-TH…NO! Kingston is bleeding and Homicide has the GHETTO FORK! Make that GHETTO FORKS! Use the forks, Luke! Pearce PILEDRIVES Claudio on the floor. Claudio is BUSTED off that. One hell of a piledriver. Necro gets tangled in barbwire and this match has gone nuts since Homicide came out here. Pearce presses Nate Webb over the top and he eats a table. Hold the mayo. “Ring of Homicide” chant the fans. He’s turned the tide. Ace gets Webb and Stunners him off the top onto Kingston. Ace Steel somewhat fucks up a dive by clipping the ropes. That looked pretty dangerous. DANGEROUS! Speaking of which BJ whirlybird slams Webb head first into the tacks. FUUUUCK! Homicide suplexes Kingston through a table. He’s taken a few nasty bumps already. There are bodies lying broken around the ring. This is war! Hero uses a chair to stand on and apply a cravat. Haha. Homicide grabs him though – ACE CRUSHER THROUGH THE CHAIR! Homicide’s back took most of that. Todd Sinclair won’t even get in the ring now. He’s making the near fall counts from the apron. Hero is bleeding now. Lots of plunder on the floor. BJ grabs Kingston; EXPLOIDAAA ON THE FLOOR! Hero tries to escape the cage in a moment of cowardice. Pearce goes after him and Claudio brings the WOW moment by jumping onto the cage and Russian legsweeping Pearce off through a table. That was COOL! Homicide hits the TOPE CON HILO. Hero goes up top of the cage. What’s he doing up there? MOONSAULT! Pretty much everyone is down bar Hero & BJ Whitmer. BJ grabs Hero – IMPLANT DDT ON A CHAIR! A set up chair no less. Necro makes the save with a chair. He tries to kill BJ but Homicide comes in – DOUBLE BACK SUPLEX ON THE SET UP CHAIR! Necro actually kicks out of that. There’s still another table set up. That can’t bode well for someone. And a barbwire board is in the ring. BJ lifts Necro up and throws him into the table. BJ went over too and they both look hurt. Webb singles out Homicide, which isn’t what the fans were expecting. Chairsault misses so Homicide kicks the chair back into Webb’s face. Webb escapes the Cop Killer and it’s countered back around. COP KILLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH ON BARBWIRE! Pin is academic. ROH wins the Cage of Death. ****. A great spectacle rather than a great match but a fine viewing experience nonetheless.

POST MATCH Homicide is the focus of the fan’s love. Jim Cornette comes out and wants to talk to winners. He thanks Adam Pearce and also Homicide. He tells him he has the heart of a warrior and didn’t want to let his hometown team down. He asks Homicide what his three wishes are. 1. He wants Steve Corino in the ring, again. Cornette ok’s it. 2. An ROH title shot. Again, not unreasonable. Cornette says he’s over so he has a shot when he wants it. 3. Re-instate Low-Ki. Now this one irks Jim as he kicked Ki out of the promotion “forever”. And this is the point where Cornette goes from crowd pleasing babyface commissioner to heel power-crazy commissioner. Cornette tells Homicide that’s not for Homicide that’s for Ki and he hates Ki for knocking his tooth out. Homicide tells Cornette he’s a goddamn liar and needs to cough up his third wish. Cornette doesn’t like being called a liar and calls Homicide “Homocide”. Uh-oh. Homicide spits in his face. Cornette sets Pearce on him before breaking out the mace. JJ Dillon LOCKS THE DOOR! And Pearce gives Homicide a beatdown! Cornette than crosses the line somewhat by having Homicide tied to the ring post and HITTING HIM WITH HIS BELT. I dig that they set up the next major angle in the process of blowing off this one. Although rogue superstar versus authority figure is too much of an Austin-McMahon re-hash for my liking. The crowd support for Homicide is so strong that I have to feel they’ve done something right by booking it this way.

The 411: Certainly not a great show from a wrestling perspective but perhaps ROH has learned a great deal over the years. And having a great wrestling show top to bottom doesn’t necessarily make it memorable (Manhattan Mayhem for example, what main evented that show?) What this show has going for it is the blow-off to a lengthy and intense feud and they got it right. A great atmosphere was created going into the match and the storytelling throughout it was a bonus. I like that they didn’t go full on with the plunder shots as it distinguished itself from CZW’s Cage of Death matches by doing so. The undercard isn’t a total loss because of the burgeoning rivalry between Nigel & Strong. Their match, had it had an ending, was almost the best on the card. The great thing about the booking is not only does it give us an ending but several new beginnings. Just from this show’s booking you’ve got Homicide v Pearce, Danielson v Joe, Davey v AJ (re-match where AJ isn’t fucked), Nigel v Cabana again and an assortment of fresh talent from the CZW pool who I’m sure would love to get involved on a more regular basis. Considering they’d just come off a few hot storylines (Homicide v Cabana hadn’t long finished and had been their hot feud) this does set them up well for the future.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]