Column of Honor: 04.18.09 Part One: Caged! Collision!

Welcome to the Column. By the way I am flashing the V for Victory sign, not the English middle finger.

Caged Collision PPV Report

Just warning you guys in advance, this is a long one.

-From: Chicago, IL, originally taped on 01.31.09.

-Dave Prazak opens the PPV in the middle of the ring, and we get a nice panning shot of the crowd.

-Kyle Durden is in the back with both Austin Aries (in his new heel persona) and Jimmy Jacobs. Durden explains the match tonight as a dream tag, Jacobs states that he doesn’t trust or like anyone in the match (looking at Aries specifically, helping to define their new relationship to the PPV crowd). Aries says that Jacobs has his priorities in reverse order, that he should look to stop Black from winning the match and the title shot that’s up for grabs, first and foremost. Aries then pushes Durden down and knocks the backstage dressing over, which was a great heel move from the Greatest Man Alive.

Three Way Dance: Alex “Sugarfoot” Payne vs. Kenny King vs. Silas Young ***

This was a really good opener—one of those non-stop and full of action affairs that ROH hasn’t really done as of late. It’s a spotlight match for Kenny King, who rises to the occasion not just with his moves in ring but also with some nice cockiness, including waiting outside the ring while Young and Payne go after each other and counting a three count while in a pinfall predicament. Payne has a nice moment turning a move into a crucifix pin. Sugarfoot gets the upset the win with the Sugarcanrana in a major upset, but ROH quickly gets out of there and doesn’t let the moment sink in, which is a bit disappointing.

-Claudio Castagnoli / Kevin Steen highlight package, which includes a mix of promo work from both men (specifically about their match, which is a good thing) and a look at some of their best moves.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen ***:

Some good face / heel action in this one with Steen being immensely liked and the crowd actually booing Claudio for his heelish actions amid the constant “hey” chants of annoyance. Steen prevents Claudio from talking early on, which was pretty entertaining. He does a springboard senton into the ring for a close two before Claudio takes over with some ground tactics. Claudio doesn’t go for the big swing but rather turns inward into the sharpshooter, using one of Steen’s own pet moves against him. Steen is able to reach the ropes. Steen hits a beautiful Tornado DDT and looks for the senton but hits knees. Alapamare Waterslide gets two and then some nice back and forth exchanges using the superkick as a reverse and dodge. Steen has Claudio in the sharpshooter when Sweeney comes to distract Steen. Generico is out to chase Sweeney to the back but Claudio uses the distraction to hit a low blow and the Ricola for a three count.

-Highlight package involving the feud between Necro, Jimmy Jacobs and Delirious joining The Age of the Fall.

-Kyle Durden awaits Alex Payne, who is ecstatic about winning, but then is violently attacked by Nigel McGuinness, who gets payback from last PPV when Payne brought Danielson into the ring for a save on the countout at Rising Above. McGuinness with a great interview, calling everyone a disgrace and then going through the “I’m gonna kill you” catchphrase he ended up using for his debut on HDNet a few weeks back. Durden tosses it to the front for the next match.

The Necro Butcher & Jerry Lynn vs. The Age of the Fall (Brodie Lee & Delirious w/Jimmy Jacobs) ***1/4

A brawl to begin this match but it settles down and Necro actually puts two monkey flips to use on Delirious and an abdominal stretch (!) Lee tries to break it up but Necro actually no sells / fires up. The money in this match is definitely between Lee and Necro and they go back and forth for a bit with Necro getting the advantage. Tag into Lynn who gets a great hurricanrana and then gets under the skin of Lee and makes the trucker expend some energy and frustrating him. Jacobs with the outside distraction to get the heat going on Lynn. Delirious and Lee work over Lynn with Jacobs at one point yelling at Delirious to stay on him, thus foreshadowing all of the abuse / make up situations that occurred in January and February. Lee with the massive big boot on Lynn. Necro is distracted and Delirious gets a panic attack to the back of Lynn out of that. Lee telegraphs the boot into the turnbuckle and gets up and over leaving the ring free and clear, but Delirious plays goal keeper and cuts Lynn off while Lee takes Necro off the apron…great heel cut off move. Back rakes and front rakes by Delirious (and this is a great move for a heel Delirious as it shows off his monstrous side). The real come back begins with a Lynn DDT on Delirious to make the hot tag. Necro and Lee go for punch for punch and then a bootless foot to Lee. Chop and punch volley by Necro and a bulldog follows up. Necrocanrana hits! Tag back to Lynn with a flying cross body, but Lynn runs right into the Black Hole Slam! Tag to Delirious but Necro boots Lee and then PUNCHES DELIRIOUS IN THE FACE AS HE COMES OFF THE TOP! That looked great. A chair shot onto Lee and Necro leg drops Lee through the table! That leaves Delirious and Lynn in the irng Shadows Over Hell is dodged, Lynn hits the Cradle Piledriver and that is three! Jacobs has this awesome sourpuss on his face as he is disappointed in his team’s loss! Instrumental Tom Petty “I Won’t Back Down”!

There wasn’t anything about that match that I didn’t like.

Jacobs pushes down Delirious and yells at him again. “I do this because I care!” He takes out a chain and threatens to hit him, but Daizee comes out to sotp it. Jacobs pushes her down, but she pulls out a spike. She peels Jacobs off Delirious and threatens him with the spike as Jacobs dares her to do it. Daizee gets angry and runs for Jacobs, but Delirious is in the way and he gets spiked. Daizee breaks down in tears as Jacobs says “look what you did!”

-Highlight package for the tag match / four way, including the Aries heel turn.

DREAM PARTNER TAG TEAM MATCH: Tyler Black & Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Austin Aries

-Aries does some mic work, expressing some vile sentiments about the “most fickle fans in all of wrestling” (well, that is the truth). Good explanation for the PPV audience.

-I like that we’re getting full entrances for this match, but we do get a bit of a continuity error when Jacobs comes out, since we just saw him in the ring before the package dealing with Delirious and Haze.

-Danielson cuts a promo stating that the other three have been involved in a lot of “emotion” in their three way feud (woah, what is this, Archie—Betty—Veronica?) and because no one can really trust each other and because he doesn’t know if he can trust Tyler, that they make this match into a four way match for the future title shot. Everyone agrees, so we get:

Four Corner Survival Match for a Title Shot: Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Austin Aries ****1/4

Nigel McGuinness joins Prazak and Leonard on commentary. McGuinness says he was stretching in the back but he is that confident in his upcoming title bout that he wanted to watch this match before heading back for his final preparations.

Danielson and Jacobs start off in the ring for some grappling and looks for an armbar before Jacobs reached the ropes. Danielson with the advantage in the early going but Jacobs escapes a massive soccer kick by exiting the ring. Jacobs wants Aries to tag in, but Aries is hesitant until Jacobs slaps him in the chest, activating a tag. That leaves Aries and Danielson in the ring and in a good nod to continuity (they’ve been frequent tag partners in PPV), Aries does shake Danielson’s hand. The crowd cants “Austin Aries” which gets under his skin, so he escapes the ring for a bit before going back to it with Danielson. Aries does give Danielson a clean break on the ropes. Danielson out-wrestles Aries and gets in the Mexican surfboard position, using a nose stretch and a crossface of sorts before stomping down on the knees. Aries backs off and reaches out to Jacobs to tag, but Jacobs walks down to the ring, meaning Aries must lock up with Danielson again. Aries tags Black in the face (and I guess tagging him in) and bails out. Awesome touch as Aries takes the time just before getting out of dodge to make the “here you go” hand gesture.

Danielson and Black follow The Code and collar and lock up and a series of chain wrestling leads to a dropkick. Black reciprocates on Aries but doesn’t see Jacobs coming in and taking him to the mat. Jacobs punches Black, but Black doesn’t feel the pain. Jacobs with a combo but Black doesn’t feel I it either and gives right back. Jacobs bails and tags Aries again. Back to Aries and Jacobs and they are in the corner. Aries drives the knee into the mid section and then holds onto a headlock. Black gets the back flip and then does the Aries head scissors dropkick series! Black tags in Danielson but Aries is out of the ring. Aries tries a basement dropkick but Aries scrambles out of the way. A second one hits and Danielson tries to go up to the top but Aries scrambles in and points to his head thinking he’s smart. He doesn’t notice Aries from behind knocking him down. Kicks in the corner by Danielson and a kick to the chest. Danielson dropkicks Aries, who skins the cat in an excellent moment but gets Europeaned right outside. Danielson wants the leap to the outside but Jacobs takes advantage and pushes him right over.

Back in and Aries runs Danielson into Jacobs’ boot. A series of stomps by Jacobs and a choke with the ropes. The series of double stomps and elbows followed by a kiss to Black. Aries in with the springboard senton as they continue to work on Danielson. Aries gets payback with his series of European uppercuts. Danielson looks to comeback with the Tiger Wall Flip and runs the ropes; Black makes the blind tag, ducks the closeline and hits the closeline off the top. Black goes after both Jacobs and Black, demolishing them both. Moshpit stomps and closeline for both but he misses Danielson coming right at him with a missile dropkick. Danielson gets rid of Jacobs and Aries, slaps on Cattle Mutilation, but Black floats over right into position for the Paroxysm! It gets a two-count.

Now the pace picks up. Black preps for the Phoenix, but Aries from behind breaks it up Danielson pulls Aries off and looks for the Belly-to-back superplex. Jacobs makes the blind tag on Danielson’s shoes as Danielson completes the move! Jacobs runs in for the pun on Black for a close two. Jacobs spits in his face and goes for the Contra Code, but Black dumps him to the outside. Great angle from the crane on that one. Black preps for a dive but Aries trips him from the outside. Aries hits the missile dropkick but only gets Jacobs, wanting Black but missing and who instead crawls back in and hits a flip tope! It didn’t it clean but it knocks everyone down.

Black manages to push or throw Jacobs and Aries into the barricade and Danielson dropkicks Black into the seats and YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS! Springboard body press onto all three of them! They go down like bowling pins! Danielson takes time to celebrate but it violently pushed from behind right into the camera man. It’s BISON SMITH! He beats down Danielson and then powerbombs him right on the floor! According to Nigel McGuinness, apparently Bison Smith is a “munster”… was he the kookie uncle or the husband with the bolts in his neck?

That leaves Aries and Black in the ring and Aries has that look in his eye that he is either constipated or he wants to end it…a back and forth punch volley goes Black’s way but Aries gets the hot-shot to even things up. Aries celebrates too soon and gets caught with the leaping enziguiri and almost flops out of the ring. Black catches him and sets for the powerbomb, but Jacobs comes in and leaps into The End Time on Black. He has that sucker in tight but Black drives him into the turnbuckle to break it up. Aries tries the turnbuckle dropkick, but Black dodges and again Aries hits Jacobs! Black gets the spinning F5, knocking Aries down with Jacobs’ foot, but Ares is able to save the pin. All three are down or fighting back up. Aries sets up the brainbuster, reverses into the powerbomb in the corner but Aries sunset flips and as Black struggles to free himself Jacobs nails a sick spear! Both Aries and Jacobs are covering Black but it only gets a two and both Aries and Jacobs are beside themselves! Aries pushes Jacobs but both go back to work on Black. Danielson is still knocked out. Aries and Jacobs set up the TREE OF JOEY LAWRENCE (thanks Excalibur) and do the old Jacobs-Black corner combo they used to do together. Double pin but a kick out. Aries knees Jacobs and throws Jacobs out. Black with the corner powerbomb and nails it this time. Superkick is coming but Jacobs is rushing in, Black sidesteps him and Jacobs blasts Aries with the spear! Black rolls up Jacobs for three! McGuinness is incredulous that Nigel gets another shot at him!

Match of the night right there but given these four men, should anyone be surprised?

-Highlight package involving McGuinness vs. Generico and their previous two title bouts.

-Kyle Durden Interview with Jerry Lynn who discusses McGuinness as a champion. Lynn tells McGuinness that he is proud of what he is accomplished and he isn’t going away any time soon. He then gets a nice put down of McGuinness by taking him to task for his new “I’m gonna kill ya” tag line. “Lighten up, Francis.” That’s pretty good for a chuckle.

ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness defends vs. El Generico ***3/4
-Ah, didn’t like that these two didn’t get an entrance…it’s an ROH World Title match for godsakes, even if it is outdated, it should get the full out treatment, entrance and music, etc.

-McGuinness goes rudo right out with a Tijuana sneak attack, kneeing Generico as the challenger was looking at the belt, so that the belt goes right into Generico’s face. That’s a new one and a good one. Generico is on the outside and McGuinnss gets the Tower of London on the floor! The referee begins to count (a twenty count will result in an easy title retention for McGuinness). Steen is out as the ref counts fourteen, rallying Generico up and Generico breaks the count by getting in the ring. Leonard mentions something interesting, that Steen is encouraging “his brother”. This is the first time Generico and Steen have been identified as such…interesting if I didn’t mishear it.

From thereon in its Generico making the underdog comebacks, including a springboard dropkick to the outside, but McGuinness cuts it off again and uses the ring barricade to his advantage until Generico reverses it. Yakuza attempt dodged, then McGuinness kicks Generico in the back of the knee to bring him into a kneeling position, and pushes him head first into the barricade! OUCH! That was another new one and a good one! Generico in at about 18 but right into the London Dungeon, but Generico makes the ropes. McGuinness works the arm with his offense as the match settles in, including the spine push down thing he likes to do. Generico rolls out and fights back with some punches with his good arm, but McGuinness pushes him right down and back to the Dungeon. A Generico rally is stopped when McGuinness throws Generico’s shoulder down. The comeback works the second time though as he maneuvers into the top rope hurricanrana. That buys him time. Generico nearly dies off an attempted springboard moonsault but he saves it by turning it into a crossbody and lands safely onto McGuinness…that was a breathe hard moment.

Crossbody into the ring gets a close two, and Generico preps the kick but is stopped again. And a second boot but Generico maneuvers into the Michinoku for a close two. Yakuza dodged again (as has been the pattern most of this match) and Nigel counters with his turnbuckle kick and downward blow combo. Tower of London in the ring for two. Generico counters the turnbuckle lariat with a boot but the Yakuza in the corner is dodged yet again and Nigel sets up a DEVASTATING Tower of London from the top from to the edge of the ring apron. Steen cheerleads an “Ole” chant in Generico’s time of need as the ref begins a double count. Generico is cut off by McGuinness, who pushes him back into the barricade. At the very very last second Generico leaps and rolls back into the ring. Okay, that was freaking awesome and now the crowd is into it. Brainbuster and the crowd goes one, two, but no! Kick out. Yakuza kick is finally nailed and Generico goes for the Turnbuckle Brainbuster… you can hear Steen scream out to Generico “kill him”, but Nigel maneuvers out of it. Lariat off the top gets a tow count. Back to the London Dungeon and Generico looks like he would tap, but he maneuvers into a jackknife cradle again for a close two. Lariat takes his head off and into the Dungeon again and Generico hesitates, but finally taps.

I definitely don’t like the title match being so outdated, but Generico’s babyface act made me forget several times that he wouldn’t win this one, and that’s a huge testament and compliment to how they laid the match out.

-Black is out to cut McGuinness off before he leaves and he wants his title shot right now. However, he gets ambushed by both Jacobs and Aries and McGuinness uses it as a convenient opportunity to get the heck outta there. Jerry Lynn and Necro come back to cut off Aries and Jacobs from doing any further damage to Black.

-Highlight package for Steel Cage Warfare, including Albright’s rebellion from Sweet & Sour Inc, the Davey Richards and Roderick Strong issue, Albright vs. Pearce and the fireball, Erick Stevens being jumped by S&S, Briscoe joining in.

-Kyle Durden with a pre-match interview with Sweet & Sour Inc. Sweeney promises the world will feel their wrath.

– STEEL CAGE WARFARE: Roderick Strong, Erick Stevens, Brent Albright, Ace Steel, & Jay Briscoe vs. Sweet ‘N’ Sour Inc. (Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Tank Toland, Adam Pearce and Bobby Dempsey ***1/2

The initial timeframe is three minutes for the first period and one minute intervals thereafter. I don’t know if I like that set up…one minute intervals is way too fast for a match like this. A pin or submission cannot be counted until all men have entered the match. This isn’t elimination rules like the previous two Steel Cage Warfare matches. The crane shots of the cage kick all sorts of ass.

Davey Richards is in first for Sweet & Sour Incorporated and kicks a child’s arm… DUDE, YOU KICKED A CHILD! Now THAT is No Remorse! Roderick Strong is in first for the good guys as these two take their rivalry without remorse! (See what I did there?) Lots of chops and forearms and the crowd loves Strong just whipping ass on Richards. Richards and Strong exchange strikes but Richards with the chin breaker. Strong stops Richards from sending him to the cage mesh and knocks him down. Snapmare and kick by Richards (gotta love that one even after all these years). Richards sends Strong to the turnbuckle but Strong dodges the running forearm and gets a NICE leaping enziguri that makes a very loud smack! Richards goes into the steel, but gets a snap suplex. Roderick again blocks a move to mesh, but Richards gets some LIVER punches (Bas Rutten: hit him in the liver!). Richards with the back body drop and its countdown time as Strong hits the backbreaker on Richards.

In a funny moment for long time ROH shows attendees we get the audio clip that counts down from ten to one to begin the live shows is what is used to countdown the entrants into the cage. Tank Toland is in at number three as a surprise participant (although I like Toland, it’s about as good as a surprise as finding naked pictures of an immediate family member) and he gets in his workout volley of jumping jacks and stomps before lo and behold, it’s time for another entrant!

Ace Steel is in at number four overall and his prices are so insane THEY’RE CRAZY! Steel with a rush on Toland and Richards and sends both of them over the top rope so they are sandwiched between that and the cage. Steel gets the fans to clap along and then in a clever moment Strong chops along in time with the fans’ claps, then both hit stereo running dropkicks to their opponents.

Eddie Edwards is out as number five, but instead of jumping in he grabs a chair and kneels down outside. Everyone in the cage is fighting it out by standing on the turnbuckle and engaging in chop battles and punch battles. Davey crotches himself, then pushes Strong down into the crouch position. Ace Steel is crotched by Tank as the countdown reaches zero.

Jay Briscoe is out for the good guys, but Sara Del Rey is there to attack him from behind. Edwards smacks him kinda weakly with a chair and then attacks the knee (a Wolves trademark). The chairshot to the knee is much better. I don’t like that Prazak gave away both Sara Del Rey’s involvement and Eddie Edwards taking out the next man to come out from Strong’s team. I think it ruined the drama of the moment and the element of surprise. Not only that but it creates a four-on-two advantage for the added help of…Bobby Dempsey? That doesn’t work. I mean, I get the whole Dempsey story and his rebellion from the Inc, but…how smart is Sweeney that he planned to gain the advantage like that and of all people he expects Dempsey to help him with that? Where has he been the last few years?

Of course Dempsey spends the next few minutes, really the rest of the cage standing like a log or trying to avoid as much as action as possible. Edwards with the sit out facebuster while Dempsey gets in a weak shot or two on Ace Steel. Strong is busted open and Richards hits some crossfaces on him.

Erick Stevens is in to rush everyone, knocking them all down and Dempsey drops down to avoid getting hit. Davey is begging for mercy. Stevens grabs his hand and applies pressure, then tosses him into the cage and then suplexes the hell out of Edwards. A double team by the Wolves is run through and Stevens hits the double closeline. Stevens javelins Edwards into the cage and does the same to Richards.

Chants of Repo Man fill the arena as the last man for Sweet & Sour Inc. is Adam Pearce! Stevens makes a beeline straight for him and takes control, ramming him right into the cage. So much for a five-on-three advantage. Pearce is absolutely no help to his men and gets run right over by a Stevens’ closeline! The countdown is back and the last man is Brent Albright! Closeline to Pearce. Throws Pearce in the ring. Chairshot by Steel to Pearce. Javelin to Edwards into the cage. Its total domination by the faces as a chair shot by Strong onto Toland and then flips it onto Edwards! Sweeney tosses Toland’s flexor into the ring, but that does him no good either. Strong with another chairshot. Will Dempsey be next? He begs off and Stevens takes a bit out of crime…er, Adam Pearce. The Inc is in major trouble. Edwards sent headfirst THROUGH the cage door!

The action spills outside as Strong and Pearce brawl on top. Albright from behind crotches Pearce onto the turnbuckle. Pearce breaks free of Steel’s grasp and climbs up to punch Albright. Strong catches him with a top rope powerbomb. Big elbow to Albright!

Outside its Edwards suplexed by Albright and Pearce sent headfirst into the door. Nothing is going right for Sweet & Sour Inc. Pearce has been busted open. Strong with massive chair shot on Edwards that send the back of the chair flying off! HOLY SHIT! Another one for good measure! Strong and Steel force Edwards to the apron with a suplex while Pearce gets the first heel offense in five minutes with a chairshot on Stevens.

Suddenly the Briscoes’ music hits and Jay is limping back to action, pushing away the refs and making a beeline to the ring. He goes right after Dempsey to a mix of cheers and boos—the fans really don’t want to see Dempsey caught up in it but Briscoe just wants to beat the hell outta someone and Dempsey is caught in the fray. Briscoe bloodies up Dempsey with a throw to the cage. The odds are even, although, really, the good guys didn’t really need the added assistance. The battle continues as Briscoe slowly climbs up and jumps off the top of the cage with a senton onto EVERYONE! Good lord those Briscoes are crazy. Lots of replays on that one, good thing too.

Pearce is thrown back inside and he is cornered by Albright and Ace Steel. Pearce is walloped by everyone! Dempsey is down in the corner and can’t help. Massive repeated forearms and running dropkick into a chair by Steel! CHOO CHOO by Stevens. Double knee gutbuster by Strong! Half Nelson Suplex by Albright for three! Mercifully this one is over!

Sweeney is in the cage to complain to the ref as Pearce makes tracks outside. Sweeney singles out Dempsey for being a failure in the match and slaps him not one but twice and then spits on him! DEMPSEY HAS HAD ENOUGH! He slaps Sweeney. Strong runs him into the cage and again, now Steel gets his turn. Dempsey rips off his shirt and workout suit! EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION! DEMPSEY SMASH! CANNONBALL! Leonard: “Dempsey is becoming a man before our very eyes!” (well no, that was Sixth Anniversary Show) DEATH VALLEY DRIVER! All the faces celebrate with Dempsey as he takes his bows (and nearly losing his pants).

Okay, as much as I enjoyed the ending with the babyfaces getting all sorts of retribution and payback, the logic of the match from the Briscoe attack onwards to his return didn’t work so well for me. Briscoe getting taken out of the match had no discernable impact whatsoever because the good guys were never at a real disadvantage afterwards. In fact the four on two advantage wasn’t ever an advantage for the bad guys. You’d think even a short segment where the bad guys dominate and overpower the faces would have worked, because then Albright would have come in and even things up, and Briscoe coming back in a time of need would have meant something. From that point on you could have done the complete domination of the heels (which I loved to see mind you) and told the story with Dempsey not helping Sweeney’s side out to get to the post-match.

Final Score: 7.5

I don’t get the criticism with this being a “weak show”. I thought as a complete package it was a damned fine show. It’s hard to come down from the high of the two main event matches from Rising Above (Danielson vs. McGuinness; Aries vs. Jacobs) but ROH handles it pretty well here. There isn’t anything below a value of “good” and “fun” on this show and the last hour as always comes through with worthwhile wrestling action. The undercard is stronger on this show than it has been on previous PPVs. The PPV peaks with the four way match, but the main event is great to see for what it is essentially a babyface rout of the heel Sweet & Sour Inc. team that was a long time in coming. The PPV ends with the good guys winning and the bad guys (Sweeney in particular) were getting what’s been coming to them for the last two years or so. I love to see the good guys win in the end, so that was a personally enjoyable way to end the show.

My biggest problem for Caged Collision is in its timeframe and relevancy to the ROH product. It is really hard to deal with the near three-month disparity between the time the show was taped and the time it made air. There were events, wrestlers and champions that were now out of date with current events in ROH. Any fan with even a passing knowledge of ROH would have either been confused or upset about the inconsistencies, and that can get in the way of viewer enjoyment. A few examples: Nigel McGuinness is no longer ROH World Champion and therefore presenting him in a title defense two weeks after losing the title in a high profile match is approaching heights of ridiculousness. It underscores the unfortunate situation of continuity problems for ROH and regardless of how good that match is, the effort of the wrestlers in the match and how much I am willing to suspend disbelief, other fans will likely not be able to get past that. Delirious is also shown here as a part of Jimmy Jacobs’ Age of the Fall when he has long since passed being a part of that stable. Even the ROH HDNet tapings have mentioned several times on the “1-2-3” feature and in commentary that Delirious is no longer a part of AotF. Then to see a show where he is still very loyal to that faction would have to be confusing, especially to newer fans who have watched the TV show and put down the money for this one. I don’t know that ROH can completely rid themselves of this continuity problem, but they can make better efforts to time the release of the PPVs closer to the date of its taping. There was a period in mid-2008 when ROH was releasing the shows to PPV within a five to six week period of the taping. ROH needs to get back to that kind of schedule as quickly as possible if they wish their PPVs to retain a sense of relevancy as well as establish to fans that they “need” to see the show on PPV. In many ways, ROH fans will not be missing much if they skip out on ordering this show, and I don’t think I’ve ever written that or felt that way about any of their previous PPV efforts.

There were quite a few positives this time around. ROH has finally learned to better fill the time in-between matches. For the very first time on an ROH PPV, there is no serious clustering of matches back to back to back. Therefore at no time did I feel tired or worn out from watching this show. The use of the interview segments with Kyle Durden were smart and well placed and definitely helped to enhance the stories being told (Aires and Jacobs in particular were in very different situations from this PPV to last, and the promo time at the beginning dealt with it smoothly and logically). The highlight packages before the matches gave a good sense of what happened with these issues and why they were occurring. The camera work and use of the different angles have been fully incorporated into the production of the show. ROH on PPV looks and sounds a hell of a lot better in 2009 than when they started out in 2007.

The one thing I want readers to remember as I finish this review is that the fun of watching Ring of Honor is still there with this show. I enjoyed the heck out of the undercard, especially Kenny King and Kevin Steen’s acts, the Age of the Fall vs. Lynn and Necro was very enjoyable and so on. I also really got into the four-way match and felt everyone was on point in their roles in the match. I think with all of the complaints about ROH over the last several weeks about the TV shows and whatnot (some of it well warranted) that some fans are forgetting or ignoring what makes these shows enjoyable. This show along with Proving Ground 2009 weekend makes for some really enjoyable wrestling programming.

I’ll have news and features in PART TWO of this week’s column.