The Shimmy 5.12.08: Mayhem in Manassas

So this week will be dedicated to sharing my thoughts on my recent trip to see the 5/9 Ring of Honor show in Manassas, Virginia. This was the night before ROH’s big Hammerstein Ballroom debut and surprisingly it was a pretty loaded card. I’ve got to say I was impressed with the card they lined up for us not only being the Friday show before one of the biggest shows they’ve ever done but also for being the first show in this market. Locally we’ve done pretty well recently in terms of wrestling shows. We just had two UWF shows last week including a stop by Jerry “The King” Lawler as well as a Fatal Four-Way TNA World Heavyweight Title Match between Samoa Joe, James Storm, Joey Matthews, and Jerry Lynn (I didn’t see it but it sounds great on paper), ROH this past Friday, the big NWA World Heavyweight Title Match on Saturday between Adam Pearce and Damien Wayne, and we’ve got a SmackDown/ECW taping coming up in August in Norfolk. We also had quite a bit of wrestling action at the beginning of the year, so needless to say we’ve been pretty spoiled lately in terms of quality wrestling, especially considering we’re not a huge market. That being said I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better show then the Ring of Honor show this past Friday.

Let me start off by saying that even though ROH has gotten a lot bigger over the years, it’s still at a pretty intimate venue and that can make for some fun experiences. While I was waiting in line Jay Briscoe walked in and Jack Evans took a smoke break. It was also cool that “Sweet’n’Sour” Larry Sweeney’s aunt was in line behind us and she was bragging about her nephew. Inside the building I even ran into Damien Wayne coming out of the bathroom. I wished him luck in his match that night and also told him to kick Pearce’s ass the next night. He responded that he wasn’t sure if there would be enough of him left for Pearce the next night, and that my friends is called foreshadowing.

The venue itself wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t terrific either. It was a sports complex that it appeared had indoor soccer, volleyball, etc. Fortunately it was near a booming shopping and dining area so I had plenty of options to choose from to eat. The inside was split into two areas, what appeared to be the volleyball court and an area that was surrounded by a plexiglass wall. There was one entrance through the plexiglass wall and that is where the wrestling ring and chairs were all set up. There was no bleacher seating for the general admission seats like I was hoping, but there were about six rows behind the first four that were for us. My Dad and I chose the last row so that we could move our chairs back and give ourselves more leg room. The venue was small enough that so long as the action stayed in the ring we could see everything clearly. The crowd has been a subject of debate, and while I suck at estimating attendance figures, I will say that the place was pretty full, probably not completely sold out but close to it. Plus there were plenty of unaccounted people at the upstairs snack bar (the one with the beer) looking out over everything.

Now onto the action. Our first match saw Chris Hero (accompanied by Larry Sweeney, Shane Hagadorn, and Bobby Dempsey) take on Pelle Primeau. Before the match Sweeney heeled on Virginia and most of the crowd agreed with him. There was a loud “Bobby Dempsey” chant and Sweeney made him go hide under the ring for the remainder of the match. The match itself was surprisingly competitive. Pelle dressed and wrestled like Brian Kendrick does in WWE and looked good in there. Still, Hero was clearly the star here, and despite being the heel (including a “Fuck You, Hero” chant that including the funny nine year old in front of me) he was really over. “Chris is awesome!” may be my new favorite chant. The finish came when Hero used all of his NOAH inspired strikes and delivered a big boot to Pelle. After the match Sara Del Ray came to the ring and stared down Sweeney but apparently he bought back her services and she is once again part of Sweet’n’Sour Inc. To prove her point she beat up a ring attendant. I will say that the one drawback of the venue came during this match as there were windows in the upper portion of the building and during this match light shone in. It didn’t carry that cool “outside” vibe that light sometimes can, it just looked kind of low rate. The venue was a nice little place for a show like this but I don’t think you’ll be seeing us on PPV anytime soon.

The next match was a tag team match that featured two ROH students and two local stars. ROH student Rhett Titus teamed with local Rex Sterling and ROH student Mitch Franklin teamed with local star Sean Denny. I wasn’t too familiar with Sterling, but Denny has proven to be very good, having a good series of matches with Bryan Danielson over the summer. Denny got one of the louder receptions of the night and even got streamers. If you would have told me that the most WWE-ready guy on the show was a student I would have told you that you were crazy, but Rhett Titus is perfect for the ‘E. He’s got a look, he’s got a gimmick, (think Stevie Richards doing Rick Martel), he’s even got a catchphrase with his “Whassup” sounding “Sexiest man aliiiiiiiiiive!” The match was decent, but Denny didn’t get to do much. It was mostly a showcase for Titus, which was fine, and he won the match with a Razor’s Edge on Franklin. Even though he didn’t get to show off his abilities that much, Sean Denny still got a “Please Come Back” chant from the local crowd.

Our third match had some more local flavor as the aforementioned Damien Wayne took on ROH Champion Nigel McGuinness (who wore his belt backward to the ring), No. 1 Contender Claudio Castagnoli, and Brent Albright in a non-title Four Corner Survival. To tell you the truth it was pretty disappointing. Wayne got a nice reaction and even streamers but not up to the level as Denny, pretty surprising actually. For the most part the match was a tag team type affair, with Wayne and Claudio taking on Nigel and Albright, and most of that match saw Wayne get his ass kicked. They teased interaction between Nigel and Claudio for the next night in NYC and the crowd was hot for that, but the rest of the match kind of dragged. Albright got the win after cinching Wayne in and repeatedly kneeing him in the head until the referee stopped. So much for Wayne getting a big debut.

The next match was scheduled to be Austin Aries vs. Erick Stevens, but Aries came out in street clothes and called out Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs didn’t show but Stevens did, but Aries kept trying to brush him off. Stevens got mad at being disrespected and went after Aries, so Aries just decided to kick his ass. While Stevens got in some offense it was pretty much all Aries. I’ve got to say, Stevens getting his ass handed to him by a guy in street clothes didn’t look great. Aries got the submission win with the End Times choke, Jimmy Jacobs finisher. After the match Aries called Jacobs a bitch and said that he drove Lacey away when he said that her love isn’t what saved him. The crowd got into it with a “Sloppy Seconds” chant but Aries just said that they were seconds that they would never have. He then went backstage to find Jacobs. I’ve got to say that I know people hate Jacobs for his whole emo thing, but Aries is really unlikable in this role and comes off as more of a heel then Jacobs in my opinion.

Our last match before intermission was Necro Butcher vs. Jack Evans in a rematch from Final Battle 2007 but this time under No DQ rules. I haven’t been a big Necro fan since I wasted 15 minutes of my life watching that “classic” match with Samoa Joe, but I like the Age of the Fall so I cheered for him here. Necro got busted open hardway early on which may be a problem because I believe you’re not allowed to bleed in Virginia. The match was wild but short and Evans bounced around like a rubber ball for Necro’s offense. Necro beat Evans with a sidewalk slam through two unfolded chairs.

After intermission we were supposed to get Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jay Briscoe, but when Jacobs came out he was jumped by Austin Aries. The two brawled and eventually Jay Briscoe came out and took over. Apparently during all this the match was made No DQ because they started beating the hell out of each other. I couldn’t really see the first part of the match because they were brawling at ringside and everyone was standing up, but once they got in the ring I was good. The crowd really got on Jimmy and Briscoe had a lot of support. This was another wild match, crazier than the Necro-Evans match. Jacobs eventually got the win with the End Times but Aries, like the punk coward he is, jumped Jacobs from behind after the match. Necro made the save but Aries continued to brawl with both men. Eventually the three local guys came out to separate everybody and they sent Aries back to his skank girlfriend.

Then it was time for the first half of our double main event, Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black in a rematch of their MOTYC at Breakout. I really like both men (yes, I’ve gotten over my Danielson hate from his title reign) so I was looking forward to the match. I finally got to hear the “You’re gonna get your fucking head kicked in” chant after hearing about it for so long. My analysis of this match is going to sound kind of odd. The match was really good and really exciting, definitely one of the best of the night. And Tyler Black had some big moments like blocking the Cattle Mutilation, the MMA elbows, and the Crossface Chicken Wing. But even after all that it didn’t seem like he was getting much over on Dragon. He wrestled a largely defensive match and even when they were exchanging blows he sold Dragon’s like death and Dragon kind of no sold his. Still, small nitpicks aside it was a great match. I didn’t see their Breakout match but I imagine it was better but this was still a great effort. The crowd was kind of distracted early on as there was a very vocal Tyler Black supporter in the audience that got a lot of the attention (and heel heat). Danielson got the win with a heel hook (I sent in half Boston Crab in my report earlier). After the match Danielson offered to shake hands with Black but Black spit his gum at him. As a consolation prize Danielson made the referee chew the gum while he lead us all in singing the chorus to “The Final Countdown.” Is there any better wrestling music then that?

And then for our main event, the No Remorse Corps of Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, and Rocky Romero vs. team NOAH of the GHC Champion Takeshi Morishima, Naomichi Marifuji, and Go Shiozaki. Surprisingly the NOAH guys all entered together, although their music was pretty cool. I was disappointed that Morishima didn’t bring his GHC Title belt with him. The heel team got plenty of heat and Morishima and Marifuji were very over. This was my first time seeing Rocky Romero and I’ve got to say he’s got more charisma then most of the roster combined. The match was a great blend of stiff chops, fast action, and comedy. Yes, comedy. This is a DVD must buy if only to see Morishima mocking Rocky Romero’s dance early on. There were plenty of comedy spots in the match, and Go lit everybody up with chops, especially poor Davey. The final few minutes of the match were off the charts and saw Marifuji get the win by delivering a buzzsaw kick and the shiranui (among other things) to Rocky. This was the loudest the crowd got all night and they chanted for both ROH and NOAH after the show. Between seeing the original Dragon Gate six man tag at Supercard of Honor and this match I think my Dad is perfectly content coming to ROH shows with me so long as they have Japanese wrestlers on them.

I’ve got to say that the first half of the show didn’t impress me that much. The Necro-Evans match was certainly a step in the right direction but the second half of the show had to really deliver for the show to be worth it. It definitely did that. While this won’t go down as one of the all time great ROH shows I think it’s definitely worth a DVD purchase if only for the main event, and there are bound to be people that enjoyed Dragon-Black more than I did. ROH announced that they would be returning on August 1 and if I can afford it I would very much like to return. I know they got a lot of ticket purchases at the show. All in all it was a really fun show and I’m glad that ROH decided to make their way into the commonwealth. No we just need them to go a bit further south because we’ve got a great little venue here in the capital with their name on it.

Andy Enjoyment Index:

1) Six Man Tag
2) Jacobs-Briscoe
3) Danielson-Black
4) Necro-Evans
5) Hero-Pelle
6) Titus & Sterling-Franklin & Denny
7) Four Corner Survival
8) Aries-Stevens
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Andy! Andy! At Last You Have Some Feedback!

With the addition of the comments section I haven’t gotten too many e-mails lately, but last week I got one.

Suren de Mel takes issue with my rant on Triple H winning the title at Backlash:

who do u excpect to win the title????when one is shooting a movie, the other wants time off …. what do u do then huh???? give it back to JBL?????.. i
guess if HHH won it at WM the whole “smart IWC”??? will be screaming with there keyboards..saying oh look HHH did a ego trip at WM….

Actually I’m quite OK with Triple H winning the title, I just think that if the were going to go that route that they should have done it at WrestleMania. I would have been fine with Cena winning at Mania too but I think Triple H was the right choice. I wish people would stop hiding behind the fact that Cena is shooting a movie. Guess who owns the move they’re shooting? If you said WWE then you’d be right. Vince can do whatever the hell he wants to in production. Even still, I was cool with Triple H winning the title, it just should have been done at WrestleMania and in the main event. You’re probably right that the IWC would have flipped but they do that from time to time. It’s best when you can expect it and just ignore them.

The Shimmy Likes It Raw!