Column of Honor: 09.24.11: ROH-CHIKARA Wrestling Odyssey

Welcome to the Column. It’s a rare event these days, but this is first of a two-parter week. Inside this column is an incredibly in-depth examination of a fantastic weekend of attending professional wrestling.

Among the many takeaways from watching live professional wrestling two nights in a row, the most important note is appreciation. It is was impossible to leave both Ring of Honor Saturday night at the Grand Ballroom in the Manhattan Center and CHIKARA Sunday evening at the Highline Ballroom without a massive amount of appreciation for what the professionals do in the ring and out of it in order to create a grand show for the fans who attend them.

What slaps you right in the face is how hard an effort the wrestlers put in on their jobs-wrestling is often called a “work” in reference to the cooperative nature of wrestling—the wrestlers working together to pull off their matches. A “work” is a show and identifies the nature of what is “the show” and what is not (i.e. a “shoot”).

Yet, I think many who comment on wrestling, whether in columns, podcasts or message boards, miss out on the simplest form of the word “work” (or “job”) when it comes to professional wrestling. Simply, putting on a show IS their work and IS their job, from the talent in the ring who put their bodies on the line, to the announcers, to the merchandise booth salespeople. It takes energy, willpower and effort from everyone involved to put on any event, whether a small wrestling show at the local Viking hall or a larger effort such as ROH and CHIKARA’s big city ventures into Manhattan.

At the end of the night, how can one deny the near-insane sacrifices of The Briscoes and The All-Night Express? When you see someone jump off a massive ladder onto someone else through a table, or bleed buckets in the name of entertainment, awestruck and impressed are only a few of the emotions running through your mind. On the other hand, CHIKARA pro wrestling featured no bloodshed and only a few moments of weapons shots, but their hard work and effort to entertain also cannot be refuted—when you walk into the CHIKARA universe the people working the shows do their best to put you into their vision of professional wrestling from beginning to the end of the show—and even during intermission, when wrestlers were walking among the fans and interacting with them as their characters-taking pictures, slapping hands, responding to “kayfabe” or genuine comments you made to them. That is a one-of-a-kind interactive experience with fans that provides the value of the ticket price all by itself.

Another lesson I’ve learned and learned well, not just this past weekend but over the many years of going to live shows would be that one can never fully depend on the fans’ live reaction to remain a constant or stable force. Fan support, especially with a vocal and opinionated (and above all else, passionate) fan base like in Ring of Honor is a malleable presence, constantly changing and shifting. It cannot be trusted to stay the same over a longer period of time. It is a wild mare to be lassoed, not to halt its progress but simply to be picked up by its pull and taken along for the ride as best as one can, hoping it doesn’t change direction before you get to where you need to be going.

There were some wild and crazy moments by fans during both the ROH and CHIKARA events, though for completely different reasons. The ROH fans were live and loud at Death Before Dishonor IX, perhaps the most vocal and energetic they’ve been at a New York event since Final Battle 2010 back in December. It may have been the difference between going from the larger, wider and more open feel of the downstairs Hammerstein Ballroom for the last event (Best in the World 2011 in June) back to the smaller and more concentrated upstairs Grand Ballroom, which seats less but always carries more volume. Ultimately the differences in reaction from one show to the next may have as much to do with the specific individuals who bought tickets to the show as compared to those who were at the last show but didn’t or couldn’t get the tickets for this one.

As well, there may only have been a few shows with a more bloodthirsty and sadistic crowd than this group in New York City. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard louder chants for blood (“Make Him Bleed” and “We Want Blood” were shouted out several times during the main event) and louder reactions of approval when they got what they wanted. They came prepared to see violence and destruction—they wanted to see a Ladder War and by god, they got a Ladder War.

Meanwhile, at CHIKARA, there were some interesting (at times outlandish, at times very hilarious and entertaining) comments and actions taking place among the fan base, despite ring announcer Gavin Loudspeaker’s early reminder of the intent of this show being family friendly. While most of the audience acquiesced to this request, a few were not so willing to follow CHIKARA protocol. This was the strongest adult showing to a CHIKARA event in quite some time. That’s what happens when you run an event on the far reaches of Manhattan’s Chelsea District in a concert hall ballroom.

There was a full working bar at the Highline Ballroom and it showed with the behavior of some fans, from the liquored-up folks in the balcony who gave Eddie Kingston a hard time before his match against Fire Ant (and he gave it right back to them in spades) to the ladies in front of me who were both entertaining and juuuust a tad over the line in their behavior. It’s not every CHIKARA show you see a girl sticking her breasts into a guy’s face and giving motorboats…multiple times. Now, don’t get me wrong these ladies were very nice in conversation with me (well, apparently not that nice I guess), but man, was that the last thing that I expected to see that evening. While most in attendance were “well behaved” (you know, given the “normal” parameters of acceptable behavior at a wrestling show) and clearly having a great time, the very peculiar and unique atmosphere is certainly not something you’d see at the Easton Fun-Plex.

I digress though, as that craziness was the middle of my weekend wrestling journey. Let’s go back to the start.

Ring of Honor – “Death Before Dishonor IX” – Saturday, September 17th, 2011

A few years back, The Manhattan Center hosted both a Ring of Honor event and a concert by renowned DJ Tiesto, creating an oddly weird confluence of Clubbies and wrestling fans being in the same building complex at the same time. That night, the ROH show had concluded and my friends and I were walking down the numerous flights of stairs in the cavernous and winding corridors of the building down to the street. We hit a landing that coincides with an entrance into the downstairs Hammerstein Ballroom where the DJ was still playing those records. We saw a couple of drunk club girls clearly feeling every bit of that intoxication and needing help from a female Manhattan Center security guard to get to the bathroom. Boy, did we feel badly for that employee.

Last weekend likely surpassed that situation as there was a Demi Lovato concert / Disney stage show taking place at the Hammerstein at the same time as Ring of Honor was running their show upstairs at the Grand Ballroom portion of the building. On one side of the line into Manhattan Center were ROH wrestling fans and on the other were tweenage girls who were waiting to see Lovato perform (she had a rough year of personal problems and was making a comeback with this tour). It was one of the more unintentionally hilarious culture clashes (and caused Jay Briscoe to question what the heck was going on through his Twitter…and with slightly more abrasive language than I’ve just suggested).

There were perky and hopelessly sunny doe-eyed teenage girls who looked down the street to find a majority rough-and-tumble male-dominated group who would soon be demanding bloodshed. They were singing—singing!—Disney and Demi songs on line. Meanwhile, in just a few hours Kevin Steen would be on the very same sidewalk property slinging expletives and practically calling for holy war against ROH officials in a viral promo building to what will likely be an in-ring return at Final Battle 2011 back at the Grand Ballroom in December. The grassroots promo made it to the internet within hours. Lovato’s concert? That made it onto YouTube as well, with at least ten-to-thirty times the viewers (depending on the video).

My friends and I walked into the Grand Ballroom in the middle of what was ROH’s “pre-show” for the internet Pay Per View special. Jim Cornette was in the ring being wished a very Happy 50th Birthday, which the crowd that was there at that point joined in with the impromptu song. Cornette was very happy and touched, but later in the show he would not be in such a good mood and would reach out and touch the interloper Kevin Steen.

Bonus pre-show matches in New York City are rare (the Young Bucks vs. Cole & O’Reilly pre-show match from June being an exception due to the complications of using talent under TNA contract), so it was somewhat surprising to see Andy “Right Leg” Ridge wrestle against Grizzly Redwood. Perhaps after watching this one, we now know why there aren’t too many pre-show matches in New York. These guys were very much off their game and it’s hard to figure out why considering both have done well enough at many ROH events over the past few years, especially Grizzly. These two were sloppy and botching spots left and right and honestly I think the fans were even a bit more lenient in their booing and criticism than I’d expect given the unspectacular action taking place in front of them. Andy, not surprisingly, used his right leg a lot, but would eventually win this match not with a right-leg kick but via a roll-up. Apparently this gives Ridge a slot in the qualifying rounds of the 2011 Survival of the Fittest tournament. I’d suggest passing on this one if it should somehow make the DVD release.

The last part of the pre-show was a promo from Jay & Mark Briscoe to build up the main-event of the show. They set up weapons and of course, ladders, in the ring, but they didn’t have too much to say other than they were going to kick All-Night Express’s ass and win. Short and to the point, I’d say.

The striking moment of this promo was not what The Briscoes did, but how the fans in the building (which by now was filling up pretty quickly) reacted to them. The Briscoes were being cheered, garnering massive pops and chants of “Man Up!” This was not the reaction I expected—to be so well liked by the fans after three shows in a row where the majority of the fan reaction was dislike and in some cases, outright hate. The Briscoes were supposed to be the heels in this situation and ANX the faces, but New York City was once again upsetting the apple cart with a reaction antithetical from the storyline that had been set up for months and in fact successfully executed in this very venue back in March.

The Briscoes being hailed so strongly foreshadowed that reactions would not augur well for The All-Night Express. It’s not that they were catcalled or booed, but on this particular night they were clearly not the ones the fans wanted to see whupping ass and taking names. They knew that was The Briscoes’ specialty and they wanted to see The Briscoes do what they do so well. It took a very, very long time for ANX to receive babyface reaction and while by the end they were over with the fans and receiving some loud chants in support, it definitely paled in comparison to the strength of support the fans had given The Briscoes already. It just shouldn’t have been so difficult to get to that point after all the build up to what was supposed to be their crowning moment.

The positive of this Briscoes promo is that it also revealed how much the crowd was jacked up and ready for this show. This was a very hot crowd from the start and with a few exceptions that energy and intensity carried through the entire night, helping to make an electric atmosphere for the main events.

A small sampling of that energy and intensity could be witnessed in their reactions to the opening match, Homicide and Jay Lethal teaming up in what was ultimately a losing effort to The Embassy of Rhino and Tommaso Ciampa. These fans were all about Lethal (who carried the ROH TV Title with him despite not winning the title for several weeks on the SBG TV show) and it was his show throughout the entire match. In fact, it was almost amazing to hear just how much his reaction dwarfed that of hometown boy Homicide, who was making his first ROH appearance since Best in the World this past June.

Homicide has been signed to a contract with Urban Wrestling Federation to appear on their Pay Per View shows, but apparently he is not exclusive for internet Pay Per View. In many ways, Homicide felt like a ghostly presence here—and not being a full-time member of the roster and simply a guest-star emphasized that notion. Homicide did have his great flip dive to the outside, but this was Lethal’s match from the opening shine with his cartwheel dropkick to his big comeback. Rhino ran through the competition and was over due to his mass and power, while Ciampa was solid but once again did little to stand out from the pack. He did nail his powerbomb-to-double-knees cleanly for the first time in New York City, which was enough to win as Homicide did the job (and good on him for putting Ciampa over since he isn’t guaranteed to be back on a regular basis). The Embassy then proceeded to gang up six-on-one on Homicide (Prince Nana, Ernesto Osiris, Mia Yim, Barrister R.D. Evans joining Rhino and Ciampa) until Lethal made a huge save by slinging the TV title over his head and chasing everyone out of the ring.

In the second match of the evening, ROH World Tag Team Champion Shelton Benjamin defeated “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett with Bob Evans. I did not see most of this match. Instead, I spent my time assisting a fan with directions to the bar / concessions area, where I downed a four dollar bottle of water and then checked out the merchandise stand, where ROH was selling their new T-shirts and hats (including a new Briscoes and WGTT shirt). I did come back in time to see the finish, where Benjamin avoided interference from Brutal Bob, whipped the manager into Mike Bennett and then laid out both men with the Paydirt as Benjamin pinned Bennett.

Even though I didn’t see the match, I did hear the audience. Bennett received the expected no reaction upon his entrance. However, during the match the fans did react to him harshly. Essentially it was “we don’t think you’re worthy and you don’t belong” hate, not “we hate you for being a bad guy” heat.

I think some readers still misunderstand my feelings about Mike Bennett even though I’ve written it several times already and spoken about it during several podcast appearances. I have nothing against Mike Bennett the person. Bennett was awesome in his recent interview with The Greg DeMarco Show—super nice, classy and very honest and forthright in his assessments of his place in ROH and his reactions to the hate he gets from the fans. In addition, I would never begrudge anyone the opportunity to progress their career.

To me, wrestling is like a Neapolitan ice cream box, some people like Vanilla, some people like Chocolate, some people like Strawberry, some people like two or three of those. Some people absolutely hate Vanilla and like the others. Me, I love vanilla and chocolate but I can’t stand to eat Strawberry ice cream. If I had a box of Neapolitan, why would I deliberately choose to eat the Strawberry ice cream? Mike Bennett is my wrestling equivalent of Strawberry ice cream and that’s why I am choosing not to watch his matches anymore. However, I’m not saying that nobody should watch his matches and I’m not trying to start a protest movement or anything like that. Anyway, I was told I made the right decision not to watch this one.

The triple-threat tag team elimination match between Future Shock (Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole) vs. The Bravado Brothers (Lance and Harlem Bravado) vs. The Young Bucks of Matt and Nick Jackson delivered big time and put a huge smile on my face by the end of the match. This was just the sort of action and effort I want to see not just in ROH but in all of professional wrestling—high impact moves and fast-paced, crowd-popping moments. However, this was more than just a “spot-fest”-this match had an honest-to-goodness great wrestling story to it. Simply, after the DQ finish to their bonus match at Best in the World 2011, The Bucks and Future Shock wanted to go at it to prove conclusively who the better team was between the two of them. The Bravados did everything in their power to prevent that showdown from happening. They either were successful in their attempts at interruption (which garnered real and genuine heel heat from the fans) or they were dealt with by both teams. The Bravados were simply magnificent in their role here and breaking up pinfall attempts or cutting off their opponents from flying or hitting big moves added a great amount of depth and layer to the first part of the match.

There were some amazing combinations of moves, including the mixing up of patented combos from the two face teams, who cooperated as much as possible in order to deal with The Bravados first. Eventually O’Reilly and Cole were able to eliminate The Bravados. In one of the sickest moves in an evening full of them with the main-event matches, The Bucks blasted Cole with a double team tombstone piledriver (a finisher originally used by The Cutler Brothers in PWG, but since they have retired from wrestling the move was up for grabs). That could have and maybe should have been the end to the match, but O’Reilly made the dramatic save for his partner. He and Cole had one more real shot with a double submission spot where each used a triangle choke and guillotine. However, The Young Bucks would gain the win with More Bang For Your Buck.

This was a decisive finish the fans were waiting for and they hailed both teams for the awesome action. However, The Bucks walked out of following the Code of Honor handshake after the match. They had been cheered and supported by the audience before and during the match and even the fans were laughing along with them when they mocked Booker T, RVD and Goldust with their poses (as a shot to their recent “controversy” about them not shaking RVD’s hand in TNA and not shaking Booker T’s hand during a recent WWE try-out). The fans were not laughing with them now and in fact began to boo them for disrespecting another team they liked.

This decision seemingly begins a heel turn for the duo in ROH, which is actually more than fine. As great as The Young Bucks are as an athletic and fiery babyface team, they have also excelled as heels that are too big for their britches and throw their overabundance of talent in the faces of their opponents and fans so that pride in skill becomes overbearing arrogance. This has worked wonders in PWG as evidenced by their still ongoing heel run there. ROH also needs another heel team to balance out the division in the wake of losing The Kings of Wrestling and the babyface side was stacked with Future Shock, ANX and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team pushed as top faces for the new television series.

The final match before intermission was Jimmy Jacobs wrestling against El Generico. On paper this looked to be a very good match. While all of the in-ring action was on-point and executed well, it suffered from a double whammy of being placed right after the hot triple threat tag match and the expectation that Kevin Steen would be involving himself in the proceedings at any moment. Unfortunately that was the secondary effect of Steen threatening to do something during this match. Fans spent more time looking around for Steen as opposed to rooting for the match, which is a shame because both men worked hard and had some fun sequences, plus a mini-story of Jacobs going from being humored by his interactions with Generico to a more serious, focused and even aggressive stance when he found himself needing to comeback to win the match. While I wasn’t privy to the announcers’ call, hopefully they were mentioning Jacob’s journey for redemption and how he needed to control himself before he relapsed into any evil actions at this moment.

Thought there was a great contribution by the audience early on as they chanted “Little Jimmy” at Jacobs, an obvious play-on WWE’s R-Truth. Jacobs worked wonders with that chant and milked it for all it was work, including getting down on his knees and asking Generico to fight him from there.

The fans spotted Steen up on the balcony in a Generico mask, being chased by security. At first I thought this was just some people playing around with the others in their section, but after an incredible top rope Tornado DDT (which should have received a much bigger reaction given how impressive it is to do that) set the match at a stalemate, sure enough there was Steen running down through the crowd and into the ring. Then everything got really, really crazy.

Steen grabbed the mic and began to trash talk, but the mic was cut-off (yes, certainly a pull from the CM Punk angle in WWE, but what else would you expect when an unwanted person grabs the mic?) Steen still talked and yelled as much as he could before security and ROH students rushed the ring to put a stop to him. Even Delirious, who has stayed mostly behind the scenes since becoming the booker for ROH, made a brief cameo during this segment to sell the significance of this intrusion. Steen brushed as many of them off as possible, but they began to pull him out of the ring, where Jimmy Jacobs was waiting and began to attack! It seems both he and El Generico were sick and tired of Steen’s actions. Generico ran at full tilt and dived onto the entire pile, but Steen dodged it at just the last second, smartly avoiding the blow while everyone else was a direct hit.

That left Steen in the ring alone again, triumphant, when former ROH owner and now ambassador Cary Silkin walked into the ring. At this point, I was going bonkers, screaming out, “he’s gonna kill Cary!” in excitement, because truly, I expected him to wipe Cary off the face of the Earth in a manner of seconds. Cary wanted to talk things over with Steen and extended his hand, in his attempt to embrace the Code of Honor. Steen took the hand, and then pulled Cary in for a Package Piledriver! Jim Cornette had just about enough of this bulls**t and both he and another ROH staffer pulled Cary away just in the nick of time, while more staffers once again swarmed around Steen. Kevin spat violently at Cornette, prompting the ROH Executive Producer to lose his cool and take a wild punch at Steen!

Like the events of Best in the World 2011, Steen was once again carried out by his hands and legs out of the building. Meanwhile Jacobs and Cornette began to argue about how Steen had messed up his match. Unfortunately, it did not have a clean finish and while most of the time I would criticize that decision whether it was in WWE, TNA, ROH or any other promotion, here the finish worked because what happened in replace of a finish was so incredibly well done. It was gratifying to see this madness and that made up for the non-finish. Besides, I’m not sure a decisive finishing sequence would have received a hot reaction for the crowd given the lack of reaction from the fans throughout the match (even the set-up for the turnbuckle brainbuster, while decent, did not receive a reaction that compared to other times El Generico has attempted the move).

This angle all happened within a matter of minutes and produced some of the wildest and out-of control moments in ROH to-date, and that is saying something considering all the craziness that Kevin Steen has been involved with over the years. Kevin Steen is just absolutely brilliant as this wild-card agent and as a true madman—he whips everything into a frenzy and then makes his exit with destruction (and buzzworthy moments) lying in his wake.

Though he wouldn’t be seen again inside the Manhattan Center for the rest of the night, this was not the last of his unpredictable actions. After the show, Steen would make an appearance on the steps of the Manhattan Center entrance and began to street preach to the ROH fans still outside. Like the group of Israelites who were preaching about The White Devil on 33rd Street and 7th Avenue (a block away from both Hammerstein and Madison Square Garden), Steen was preaching against a white devil of his own-Jim Cornette and of course all of Ring of Honor. He even invoked the name of Vince Russo, hated scourge of the IWC fan who believes in logical professional wrestling booking.

Steen boldly predicted that if Russo and Cornette were to fight that Russo would kick his ass. Then he encouraged fans—these same “smart” fans who often excoriate TNA in the building because they seemingly hate the product which Russo books…to chant for Vince Russo and…some of them actually did! It just goes to show the power of a charismatic figure and the mass group effect can lead to some amazing results. God forbid Steen encouraged these fans to do some actual crimes-the NYC police would have had their hands full. He then challenged someone, anyone to a fight at Final Battle, whether it was Cornette, Cary or anyone else.

The speech was captured on several dozen smart phone recording devices and uploaded to the internet within a matter of hours. This guerilla marketing of Steen as an outsider, while a brilliant idea, also has been benefitted by the modern era’s explosion of technology and social media—it would be far more difficult to create and execute this angle without the knowledge that so many people have these devices and can spread the word as fast as possible worldwide.

Unfortunately, the ROH fan base was very slow to recover from the expenditure of energy and volume for the Steen angle even with the inclusion of an intermission, to the detriment of the Charlie Haas vs. Michael Elgin match. The fans just could not get it up for the first two-thirds of this bout, despite both men working very hard and having a well-wrestled back-and-forth affair. It was just the luck of the draw as far as where they were placed, because what they were doing would have been well-received if it was on earlier or later in the evening.

Truth Martini came out in an all-white outfit with what appeared to be ruffled bird-feathers on his shoulders. I dare this man to wear that in front of The Israelites. Come to think, it is New York City and he could probably get away with it.

Elgin used his power game while Haas countered with his amateur wrestling skills to start and then suplex variations as the match wore on. The fans began to come around on the match after a huge top rope superplex from Haas. Surprisingly Haas got the duke with of all things a hard running closeline, which I don’t think many were expecting to put a big man like Elgin down. It also continues the run of different finisher usages from WGTT, though I guess this was a measure of protection because they may not have wanted Elgin to tap out to the Haas of Pain submission and this was a pretty brutal lariat.

All-told, I’d have to think that a tag team match with Haas and Benjamin together would have turned out better than the sum total of Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team wrestling in singles matches on this night. Hell, if they had combined the singles matches and had Mike Bennett and Mike Elgin team up as Mike-and-Mike, even I would have watched that one.

The Ringmaster’ Challenge stipulation match between Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong may have been saddled with an abysmally bad name, but it turned out to be the surprise hit of the evening- a kick-ass, take-names, physical encounter between two of ROH’s top contenders. I’d even go so far as to suggest that it may have stolen the show from the main event Ladder War, or at least should be considered neck-and-neck with it as match of the night.

To further evidence the difficulty in judging consistency with audience reaction, the NYC crowd was distinctly split between Edwards and Strong for much of the first half of this match, just slightly leaning towards Edwards the more the match wore on. The NYC fans were definitely in the pro-heels category on this night, but then again that’s always been a pattern with ROH fans in general throughout the history of the promotion.

I was skeptical of Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong going at it in a long and protracted battle during the Ringmaster’s Challenge,going so far as to suggest in my column last week that they keep the first two falls short because many people already believed the two-out-of-three falls match was guaranteed to go the full three. However, not only was I more than pleasantly surprised by what they gave the fans in the first two falls, but I completely and totally fell in love with this match, both the in-ring action which was nonstop and downright vicious at times but with the booking of the finishes and how one led to the next.

The first fall was pinfall only, and both men made that easy to follow as they never went for a submission move during this fall. They went a good long time here, almost ten minutes or so. The technical exchanges were well done, with both men trying to out-wrestle each other in holds and grapples. There was some very suspenseful Malenko-Guerrero like roll-up / counter variations which went for a long time but kept the fans biting because it seemed like at any moment one of them could be the deciding fall.

Strong turned up the heat and just became beastly savage with his attacks, whether it was vicious chops (which Edwards naturally gave right back), stomps to the head and body or throwing Edwards outside and being relentless in his assault. Edwards came back with high-impact offense, gaining traction with a flying codebreaker, but Strong would roll up Edwards for the pinfall, which was almost surprising considering momentum was back in Edwards’ favor.

There were supposed to be thirty-second rest periods in-between falls, which ring announcer Bobby Cruise announced their beginning and ending. However, Strong did not adhere to these rest periods and sneak attacked Edwards here. That led to a continuous assault on Edwards back in an attempt to set-up the Stronghold for the submissions-only fall of the match. Again both men did a great job of following the psychology for the match by going for moves which would lead to being able to use their pet submission hold for maximum effect. Edwards had a brief moment where he was able to catch Strong in an STF, which some fans continue to think John Cena invented but has actually been in usage for at least several decades now, going back to Masahiro Chono in Japan. Eventually, Strong did apply the Stronghold, but Edwards was able to reverse out of it and shortly after maneuvered into his Achilles Lock hold. Strong tried to grab the ropes, but was pulled back to the middle. He had no choice but to tap out the second fall at about the twenty-one minute mark, forcing the final fall which would be a fifteen-minute Iron Man match.

This time it was Edwards who would not give his opponent time to rest in-between falls and he went right back to the attack, or at least tried to, but Strong cut him off. From here, Strong turned up the intensity even more with some crazy moves like his top rope backbreaker. Then he took Edwards outside and absolutely plastered him with a Gibson Driver on the steel stage, the thud of Edwards hitting the ramp being one of the most ungodly awful sounds one could hear at a wrestling event. Strong was obviously trying for a count-out win , but Edwards made it in at the last second. The fans were chanting for Twinkies as well (and I don’t think that is ever going to go away, unfortunately) but really, they were popping for so much during this match and being enveloped in the craziness of the battle between the two men that it is forgivable, this time.

There were five minutes remaining in the fifteen-minute period, which gave the creeping feeling that this final fall was not going to have any decisive conclusion. However, Strong reversed an attempt at the 2K1 Bomb (Die Hard), leading to several reversals and ending when Strong managed a backslide and Truth Martini held down Edwards’ leg so that he couldn’t kick-out (a variation of the classic Warrior-Rude finish from Wrestlemania V where Bobby Heenan held the legs). Strong was up by a fall with the clock ticking. Edwards’ look of incredulity about Truth’s actions was a nice touch and he immediately got out of the ring and chased after him. This distraction looked to be a detriment for Edwards, but Truth Martini got into the ring with his Book of Truth and inadvertently plastered his own man with the pages of enlightenment. What else can be said, but the Truth hurts. Edwards was able to cover Strong for the three-count, bringing the score to 1-1 in the Iron Man portion and 2 falls apiece overall with time drawing near. The Truth giveth and The Truth taketh away. Both men were too tired to get up for the final thirty seconds and the bell rang with both men down on the mat.

Initially the fans booed this decision and of course went to the “five more minutes” chant. Jim Cornette rushed out and said he wanted a clear and decisive winner and that if both men wanted it, they would continue all night until one man won it. So, the match went into sudden death overtime, with no time limits. Edwards and Strong slowly got up and then, composing themselves, launched right at each other and began to blast with forearm shots to the head, all to the crowd’s delight. Edwards even chopped Strong right in the freaking head (which looked amazingly brutal).

One might think this is where a quick decision would be rendered, but no, these two went at it full-tilt for another ten-plus minutes, unleashing even more savage attacks, going through their finishing sequences and just doing their best to survive and outlast the other. The booking was centered on Edwards once again proving the motto at the start of his theme song- it’s about how much you get hit and keep moving forward. There were some fantastic and dramatic close-calls here and both men had their opportunities in that regard.

At one point late in the overtime, Edwards got up to the top rope and absolutely squashed Strong with a double stomp that I could have sworn landed right on Strong’s face and nose. It was one of the most visceral visuals I’ve seen in quite some time. Edwards was rocketing forward with momentum and strung together a series of big moves, another double stomp, a powerbomb, a sit-out powerbomb, a massive lariat and finally the Die Hard to win the match. It took almost everything he had, but Edwards had won the Ringmater’s Challenge and the right to a future ROH World Title match.

The length of the Ringmaster’s Challenge rang up to forty-three minutes by the final bell, but unlike the four-way elimination tag back in June, time absolutely flew by quickly and the match never felt boring or lackluster. Ultimately, this match became not a two-out-of-three falls match but a best three-out-of –five and I have always wanted to see something like that happen live and in-person. Perhaps one of the only criticisms of the match I can come up with is that Strong used too many high knees to the jaw (the move which upset the apple cart right away during their Supercard of Honor VI encounter) and the kick-outs were maybe way too overboard in the final fall. Aside from those small notes, the sheer effort these two men put out, from the hardest of hard-hitting strikes to Strong’s arrogant swagger to some very high risk and special moves all led up to this being a very special match.

In my 411Mania Instant Access report I marked this one down as ****3/4 stars and I’ll stipulate to the possibility that I was too caught up in the “live high” of being there in-person for such an awesome match. I will need to take another look at the match once it’s released on DVD before making the final call, but I still believe a week removed that this one ranks up there with some of the best ROH matches to take place not just this year and in the history of the promotion, both for its in-ring quality of wrestling but the storytelling of the finishes to each fall and how it all added up to essentially a best-of-5-falls match.

However, it is now clear that Edwards has Strong’s number, having won ALL of their matches in the history of their ROH encounters going back to 2008, so hopefully it will be some time before we see another iteration of this series.

All of that in-ring action led to the main-event of the evening, a finale of the months-long feud between The All-Night Express and The Briscoes in the third-ever Ladder War match. Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure that these teams could top what had just happened in the Edwards-Strong match. It turns out, both teams knew what was required of them for a match of this extreme degree and they spent the next thirty-minutes delivering on those expectations.

The New York City crowd was certainly ready for the match and they let both teams know it from the get-go. They screamed out “We Want Blood” within the first minute of the match-setting the stage for some of the most intense bloodlust at an ROH show, and that includes some very savage blood feud series such as the ROH vs. CZW feud, Generico-Steen and Austin Aries-Jimmy Jacobs. This was a sadistic and blood-thirsty audience and they didn’t care who knew about it.

A manila-envelope containing a contract for a future title shot hung through a wire from the ceiling, but neither team went after the envelope until deep in the match. Instead, they spent the first-half brutalizing each other with chairs, guardrail shots, throwing each other through tables and using the ladders as weapons of destruction. It was both expected and yet a horrific and macabre display.

It was The Briscoes who drew first blood on ANX, throwing King through a ringside table set up at a forty-five degree angle and then bloodying Rhett Titus within minutes by launching a steel chair at him repeatedly. This was the first time ROH talent used direct-shot chair shots to the head in a long time (even the famous chair shot in the Steen-Generico finale was more to the side of the head than a direct-hit). Of course, both Jay and Mark Briscoe were expected bloody mess before long as well. Jay has such a long history of ungodly blood lettings in Ring of Honor that they should sell crimson masks of him in a bloodied state like CHIKARA sells mock-copies of masks of their characters.

The All-Night Express tried to go aerial to fight back, only to be smashed to bit with pieces of ruined table and more steel chairs. The ANX were in a desperate way, so they turned to the ladders to help them, hip tossing and body slamming the Briscoes onto the dangerous metal. Then, during a later comeback, they used the propped up tables to turn the tide, including Titus hurling Mark to the floor through a waiting table and then smashing Jay to pieces with an awesome double team blockbuster powerbomb through a table.

In another example of the audience’s thirst for blood, when they noticed Kenny King had not yet had the claret flowing there were long and loud shouts for The Briscoes to “Make Him Bleed”. God help Kenny, and he tried, but really couldn’t get a good gig going-and honestly, I don’t know if it was that necessary. When the crowd chanted “You Sick F**k” at some point during this contest for some crazy barbaric move or another, I couldn’t help but think they were chanting it at themselves.

As expected, both teams went through several ladders, bending and undoing their stability, before later carrying the super-mega ladder out to ringside for usage in the final moments. The match slowed down somewhat, with the damage taking its toll on everyone, but only to set up the biggest, most death-defying moment of the match. Jay put Rhett Titus on a table near the stage and then Mark Briscoe proceeded to climb up the mega-ladder, which reached the height of the balcony in the Grand Ballroom. Then, without hesitation, he hurled himself off the giant ladder and flew all the way down, down, down, through Titus, the table and all. In the “Briscoes = Violence” promo released last week, Jay and Mark Briscoe talked about how they were influenced by the original ECW and all the craziness they saw on those shows. Needless to say that this moment was inspired by ECW’s extreme highs, like New Jack’s balcony dives and The Eliminator’s bad-ass beat downs. This was a moment in time that will surely live on in many ROH highlight reels, but good lord was it ever one hell of a risk.

That big spot took out Titus and Mark for the rest of the match, and rightfully so. It left Jay Briscoe and Kenny King in the ring to duke it out for the win. King thrilled the fans with his Shooting Star Press (excellent form). Then, both men would head to the top of the giant ladder for the final throw down, both men blasting each other with punches. King would be the one to hit hardest, knocking Jay down and giving him enough time to reach the contract.

Jay Briscoe lay downed on the mat. The pool of blood that poured from the back of his head could have been enough to drown a man.

The All-Night Express had won Ladder War III and King punctuated the victory by signing his team’s initials on the envelope in blood. They now earn the right to challenge Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team for the titles at Glory By Honor X in Chicago, Illinois on November 19th, 2011.

As far as violence, madness and crowd-popping theatrics, this match had it all in spades. It lived up to the moniker of Ladder War, which is rarely used as a stipulation match in Ring of Honor and judging by the carnage left in the wake of this one, with good reason. It was definitely better than the second Ladder War and right in-line with the first one.

As far as the overall feud psychology, I really wish The Briscoes could have spent some time discouraging the fans from cheering them, either reminding them back at the beginning of the show or right before the match began that they hated New York City and its fans and they didn’t want them to cheer them on. Instead of discouraging the fans, the Briscoes actually did several things to encourage their support, including some cheerleading with their hand motions for crowd noise and their positive reactions to the “Man Up” chants. This is the one negative to the match-that it should have been a more pro-ANX crowd and it wasn’t quite what it should have been in that regard. Still, it is very understandable that it’s hard to hate on these guys or anyone who both gives their all in matches like this one and only gave the fan what they came to see.

Reading reports from those watching at home noted that the video feed was the best yet for an ROH iPPV. However, there was a momentary loss of audio feed from Kevin Kelly and Dave Prazak’s commentary during the Edwards-Strong match when a fan errantly dislodged the connection. I noticed that a staffer was furiously working on fixing a potential problem during that match, as he was doing his best to both hide from camera shot and crawl under the ring apron where the announcer’s table was situated.

Death Before Dishonor IX was a heck of a good time live and in-person. Thanks to the great crowd reaction for the big moments the show came across as far more important than it felt in the weeks leading up to the event, where it seemed to be somewhat irrelevant coming right before the Sinclair Broadcast Group television debut. Even though it didn’t look like the best ROH show of all-time, when it came to in-ring execution, the wrestlers delivered and in the case of the main-events, perhaps even over-delivered upon expectations. There were some weak moments in the show, however. The Haas and Benjamin singles matches were misses and unfortunately so considering the former had good in-ring action but poor crowd reaction and latter had in-ring limitations. Jacobs-Generico was also better than the reaction it was given, but then again that was collateral damage in furtherance of the spectacle that is Kevin Steen. In the end, fans saw Steen kill and in the process create a very exciting buzz about his future role in the promotion. No wonder then, that Final Battle 2011, which takes place right back here at the Grand Ballroom in the Manhattan Center, is already sold-out.

CHIKARA – “Martyr Yourself to Caution” – Sunday, September 18th, 2011

It was definitely an interesting session of people-watching as I stood on the corner of West 16th Street and 9th Avenue (right in front of the famous Buddakhan restaurant) while waiting for my friend Paul to arrive so we could head into Highline Ballroom (where my tickets were waiting at Will Call). If you knew what to look for, you could see the people who were CHIKARA fans making their way through the neighborhood. Chelsea and West Village residents along with tourists of many varied accents walked up the streets and would occasionally remark about the huge line of people situated halfway down the block. “What are they on line for?” a woman would ask her boyfriend, and in response he speculated “Western Beef”, which was a supermarket right next to the Highline with the only huge awning one could see from that perspective. However, they weren’t waiting to shop for food and beverages, but to enter the CHIKARA universe-for the first time situated within the crazy and special environment of Manhattan, home to a cast of characters almost as colorful and dynamic as CHIKARA itself.

Previous to this, CHIKARA had run two shows in Brooklyn at The Warsaw, a Polish Veteran’s Hall now used as concert and entertainment events venue. This was the next step up in a New York takeover, running directly in the city in one of its more fashionable and vibrant districts. Their fans showed up here just as they did in Brooklyn, and the room soon filled up in seats both on the ground floor and up top in the balcony / lounge section and even had an overflow of standing room attendees, filling out around entrance and bar areas.

The show began with some warming-up of the crowd, first by Brendan, who is the official greeter for the promotion. He talked about some of the matches in store for the evening. He also said if anyone had any questions for him about the promotion, who to cheer or boo (which was a clever remark), to come find him and tap him on the shoulder. I didn’t see the guy for the rest of the night. Brendan turned it over to the official “Rock & Roll Ring Announcer” Gavin Loudspeaker, who actually is quite talented with a guitar. His rendition of Green Day’s “J.A.R.” to start The Case of the Bulletproof Waldo in Chicago from this past June was spectacular. Therefore it was a tad disappointing to see him not sing or play at all in New York City, which obviously has a plethora of music inspiration to pull from for a CHIKARA-parody song or even just a straight-take on say something like “New York, New York” or “Empire State of Mind”, etcetera. Maybe I should have found Brendan to file a formal request. Maybe next time.

The opening contest was 12 Large: Summit tournament action (to crown the first-ever CHIKARA singles champion) as Sara Del Rey took on the serpentine Ophidian. Del Rey was superbly over with the fans and rightfully so-she has been on fire in CHIKARA over the past few months. Big wins over the likes of Icarus and Claudio Castagnoli have made it to where not only is it completely believable that she can compete with the men in the promotion, but that she can defeat them and is in some cases is the favorite in an intergender face-off. She may just make it to the finals of the tournament or even win the whole thing—and you know what? I would completely support that. I even want to see Del Rey win the first-ever singles title for the promotion (Mike Quackenbush and Eddie Kingston are also the other major front-runners for this tournament at this point). It is a move that is right down CHIKARA’s alley to do something different like that and would give them a great hook for the first shows of the 2012 season.

It is just fantastic entertainment to see Sara brutalize her opponents, male or female, with huge kicks and suplexes. They went back and forth in a long match with plenty of dramatic moments and nearfalls. Del Rey smashed Ophidian in the head with several brutal axe kicks, but Ophidian made a few comebacks due to his stamina and dexterity. He had Del Rey in trouble with the Ophidian Death Grip submission. She seemed to be fading away, but held on tight to reverse the leverage and convert into her Royal Butterfly finisher for the pinfall victory (and a great roar of approval from the audience). She is now tied with Mike Quackenbush for six points in their Block of the tournament field, moving into the homestretch of the series.

Next up was a technico vs. technico tag match between The Colony of Soldier Ant and Green Ant up against The Throwbacks of Dasher Hatfield and Sugar Dunkerton (replete with gear in homage to The Harlem Globetrotters). The Throwbacks were in search of their third point towards tag team contention (you need three to qualify for a tag title shot). This was a pretty simple back-and-forth tag contest with plenty of frequent tags mixed in with some comedy (though no baseball bat or basketball spots, to my personal dismay). Referee Nick Papagiorgio became upset that he couldn’t play their reindeer games, so he walked out, spurring the fans to chant “please come back” at him and then both teams began to count him out. Referee Jonathan Barber came in to replace Papagiorgio and soon enough the match headed towards a finish with The Throwbacks finding a clean and technical solution to winning. They now have their three points and have earned a future shot at the Campeones des Parejas.

“The Handicapped Hero” Gregory Iron (with wheelchair accessible logo on his tights and knee-pads) and Icarus wrestled in their rubber match for their 2011 series. Iron was competent and never seemed out of place in the ring, but Icarus shined greater with his interactions with the fans. As usual he walked through the crowd and mocked fans during his entrance, pretending to not know where the ring was and when we directed him to it he told us “don’t patronize me!” Well then. The fans just absolutely react to Icarus with positive heel heat, whether it’s their begging him not to take off his ring jacket to chanting “Worst in the World” at him and legitimate boos for his cheating. Iron flustered Icarus early, prompting him to threaten to leave, which only generated cheers from the fans when he walked out. He played with that reaction for awhile, the fans booing when he turned to go back into the ring and so on. After Icarus took the heat, Iron came back with a spectacular crossbody block dive onto Icarus who was on the stage (there wasn’t a lot of flying to the outside during this show due to the limitations of the set-up, though this point did play into a very important part of the show later on). Iron would soon pin Icarus, who was flabbergasted that he once again took the loss.

The last match before intermission was The Young Bucks (playing complete faces before, during and after the match despite the heel tease at last night’s ROH show) taking on the BDK unit of Tim Donst and the massive Tursas. The Bucks worked their great tag combinations against Donst early, but had a harder time when matched up against the more imposing Norse God of Something. Tursas had a great showing here with some vicious suplexes and throws.

The Bucks did manage to knock him outside at one point, but they were cut off from some dive sequences (again, I think, owing more to the limitations of the small ringside area, but it did have the secondary benefit of putting over the heels’ cunning). The Bucks made their comeback with a multiple superkick sequence against both opponents, and their combination superkicks on Tursas popped the crowd fiercely. They eventually got into position where they were able to convert the More Bang For Your Buck on Donst for the pinfall.

Intermission was a super entertaining time, with many of CHIKARA’s technicos milling around ringside, amid the fan and in the lobby. The amount of personal interaction one could have with them was amazing, from taking pictures with The Colony, or doing crazy poses with Dasher Hatfield, to having a short scare-off with Frightmare and so on. Jakob Hammermeier was not on the card as either BDK’s ring announcer or as an active wrestler. However, he made a successful entertaining showing in the lobby during intermission, both humorously mocking fans while simultaneously enticing them to buy his shirt and support the BDK. The coolest personal moment was helping Dasher Hatfield walk the chairs of my section so that he could get to the lobby and then a minute later slapping hands with Sugar Dunkerton (who was incredibly giving to many of the fans during this intermission). The level of intimacy and moreover, fun, to be had during this break in wrestling action is to be admired and praised. I wish I could have bottled the cool vibe of this moment or that it could have somehow lasted forever.

The BDK began the second half with Ares and his pet monster Delirious in tow (a bit surprising he didn’t wrestle on the card) matching up against “Mr. M-80” Marshe Rockett of Da Soul Touchaz. This pairing was a sort of epilogue of the feud between the two stables that had a decisive conclusive in the favor of the technicos back in their hometown of Chicago (at the aforementioned Bulletproof Waldo event). Marshe is far more bulked up than I would have expected, especially in the shoulder, traps and biceps, but he still has a sleek, agile style in the ring that got him over with the crowd-still, Willie Richardson and Acid Jaz were missed and really help to complement the entire Soul Touchaz package.

Ares dominated much of the match and eventually won with the Tiger Driver, giving the BDK at least one win on the evening. However, the last word was not from Ares but from Ultramantis Black, who rushed out immediately afterwards and blasted his enemy with a vicious Praying Mantis Bomb (ROH fans would recognize this as a Jay Driller). Mantis has been demanding another match with Ares for months now, taking apart members of the BDK one-by-one. This time he went for a more direct approach and forced the BDK leader’s attention with this statement of intent.

Ultramantis did not revel in his attack but instead he and Hallowicked again confronted the enslaved Delirious and tried to make him remember who he was, once upon a time. Delirious again reached for ‘Wicked’s stem as if remembering that he once teamed with him and together they were CHIKARA Campeones de Parejas. Once again, before any revelations could fully sink into his lizard-brain, the proceedings were interrupted, in this case by Kizarny Sinn Bodhi and his Dark Army of The Batiri (Obariyon and Kodama) and the goblin-masked Kobald.

That attack led to a hot start for the eight-man tag between The Spectral Envoy and The Dark Army, a fast-paced fight that went all over ring side and never let up from bell-to-bell. Ultramantis had a mystery partner involved that turned out to be Crossbones, his former servant who had not been seen in quite a while. The loyal CHIKARA fans in attendance had a very good memory and gave him a nice welcome back reception.

It was difficult to see a lot of the action since it was happening everywhere and the battleground was not contained within the ring (the referee growing increasingly more and more apoplectic, basically begging someone, anyone to get back in the ring). That chaos and uncertainty actually fed into the environment and crowd reaction, making for a more suspenseful match. The Batiri had a sick combination of impact moves ending in Obariyon’s Flying DDT. Ultimately, The Spectral Envoy was victorious after Mantis put his rival Sinn Bodhi to rest with the Cosmic Doom piledriver to the fans’ immense approval.

The semi-main event featured the CHIKARA tag team championships on the line as Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw defended against the F.I.S.T. unit of Johnny Gargano & Chuck Taylor. My spider senses were already tingling when I noticed that crooked BDK referee Derek Sabato was going to be throwing the arms to the mat for this one. I was on full alarm after Quack and Jig easily dispatched their opponents in the first fall of this two-out-of-three fall contest. They landed the double team Jig’n’Tonic within two minutes for the pin on Gargano. The previous modus operandi of defenses for Quacksaw had been the other way around—they would lose the first fall somewhat quickly and then fight from behind to hold onto the belts. Something was definitely up.

Team F.I.S.T. connived their way to winning the second fall when Chuck Taylor faked a low blow and Sabato saw him slumped on the mat in “pain”. He disqualified Quack and Jig, evening things up at one fall apiece. The best part about this was Taylor’s combination of working the pain of being hit in the junk and cracking a mile-wide smile and laughing in the audience’s direction because he had got away with it. The fans, needless to say, were not happy with this turn of events and Sabato’s ineptitude.

There was a frenetic final fall with Quackenbush and Jigsaw slowly losing grip of the match. Gargano and Taylor used many dirty tricks to isolate one or the other. Gargano trapped Jigsaw in the Garga-NO Escape (a variation of Alex Shelley’s old Border City Stretch submission) and Taylor locked Quack out of the ring so that he couldn’t break the hold. Jig had no choice but to tap out, meaning F.I.S.T. had just won the CHIKARA Campeones de Parejas. Unfortunately, the finish was slightly off in fan reaction and didn’t get much of a pop, as I guess they expected Quack to make it back into the ring to stop the submission and didn’t expect that to be the end of the bout. However, F.I.S.T.’s fantastic heel celebration after the bell was quite worthy of the moment.

Finally, the main-event of the show was more 12 Large: Summit tournament action as “The King of Diamonds”, Yonkers’ own Eddie Kingston matched up with Fire Ant. Most of these tournament matches have placed tremendous emphasis on in-ring action, with a mix of plenty of technical action, hard-hitting, even strong-style-esque moments and high flying. The atmosphere was interesting, because Kingston was very over, but the fan sentiment was not universally for him. Fire Ant had a good amount of supporters (and rightfully so, the guy can flat out go in the ring and his assortment of offense combined with charisma definitely wins people over). As noted earlier Kingston even had a few detractors, but his fan base was more than ready to fire back and keep the support going for him in his time of need.

This was a back-and-forth contest with Kingston beating down Fire Ant with hard shots and big suplex throws, while Fire Ant fired back with great tactical combinations and some big dives that unsettled Kingston. Furthermore, a running theme throughout was Kingston’s weakened knee, which had been attacked several times over the course of the past few CHIKARA shows by Vin Gerard.

The climactic moment of the bout featured two spectacular dives by Fire Ant onto Eddie Kingston right into our section of the audience. These garnered some of the best reactions of the evening since they were the only major dives out into the fans. Not so coincidentally, Vin Gerard would appear after this dive sequence. He emerged from the entrance to the lobby behind me screaming and hollering along with the rest of the audience. However, unlike the rest of the audience, he had a chair in hand, and he rested it over his head. He then rushed through the crowd and attacked Kingston in the leg with that chair and then he ran right out back where came from. No doubt, Kingston and Gerard will face-off soon and it won’t be pretty.

Fire Ant took control for a period after this turn of events, but Kingston did not die and refused to lose. He rampaged back, including smashing Fire Ant with the Backfist to the Future and the Sliding D (a running and sliding forearm to the forehead) for nearfalls. When neither of those worked, he went with a Sliding D to the back of the head (what is being referred to on CHIKARA’s Twitter as an “American D”) and THAT was finally enough for the pinfall. Kingston picks up another two points in the tournament and lead his tournament block with eight points, almost assuring himself at least a tie for a spot in the finals for CHIKARA’s first-ever iPPV, “High Noon” on November 13th in Philadelphia, PA.

At the end of the night, the audience cheered for both Eddie and Fire Ant. CHIKARA itself will be back at the Highline Ballroom on Sunday December 4th, 2011 for the third night of their “Joshimania” series.

CHIKARA definitely put on a very good show, emphasizing their presentation of wrestling and creating an environment where their wrestlers maximized the value of their interactions with the audience during and after the show. Nothing on this show could compete with the over-the-top violence of the Ladder War or the hard-hitting forty-plus minute showdown between Strong and Edwards, but the card as a whole may have come together better than ROH’s event. Everyone on the show put in a great effort and the fans were into almost everything. What they did present, their unique brand of fun characters combined with well-wrestled featured bouts, was more than worth the cover price. Therefore this is without a doubt a recommendation to see once it comes out on DVD through Smart Mark Video.

Two very fun and yet different nights of professional wrestling in The Big Apple were at an end. I came home with the memory of unique experiences and spectacular in-ring moments. I was very satisfied with what I saw in each show and appreciative that both Ring of Honor and CHIKARA have worked their way into New York City on a regular basis.

Thanks for reading this mammoth wrestling-event recap and for the feedback. I hope you join me in Part Two of the column discussing the latest ROH news and updates!

–Ari–