411’s Live ROH Chicago Ridge, IL Third PPV Taping Report 9.15.07

Four Corner Survival: Nigel McGuinness vs. Marifuji vs. Chris Hero vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Thoughts: One of the better four corner survival matches. The whole first half of this show could be summarized as being non-stop action, and this match definitely got the ball rolling. There were some very good segments among the four. I’m not sure how many of these types of matches Marifuji has been in, but he didn’t stick out like a sore thumb at all. The wrestling was very good here, and Nigel pinned Claudio with the jawbreaker lariat for the win.

Winner and Rating: Nigel McGuinness, ***1/2

Next up was the challenge series between the No Remorse Corps. and The Resilliance. They held a coin toss, with the loser having to announce the man they would put in the matches first. The heels won. I know, I’m as stunned as you are. This led to the first match.

Rocky Romero vs. Matt Cross

Thoughts: Too short to really mean anything, although there was nothing all that bad about it. Romero puts Cross out of the match, and some of the ROH wrestling students help Cross to the back.

Winner and Rating: Rocky Romero, *

So the NRC is up 1-0. Roderick Strong flies into the ring, but quickly jumps out when Austin Aries also gets in. Instead, it’s a re-match from Dethroned As Davey Richards will take on Aries.

Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards

Thoughts: A good match with a lot of very stiff shots, although it would pale in comparison to the following match. Still Aries is very popular with the Chicago crowd very good at keeping the crowd into a match. Aries wins with the 450 splash.

Winner and Rating: Austin Aries, ***

Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens

With just two guys left, this became a showcase for Erick Stevens. He had what I considered to be his best ROH match to the point. This came off as a very Pro Wrestling NOAH like match with a lot of stiff shots and not a great deal of psychology. Strong wins with a razor’s edge from the second rope and then a Gibson driver. Stevens really came out the winner in this match though with a very impressive effort. His name was chanted after the match so he really earned the fans of Chicago’s respect.

Winner and Rating: Roderick Strong, ***3/4

ROH World Championship Match: Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson

Thoughts: I sort of figured this would be the fifth match and not even the main event of the Pay-Per-View, but it was still quite strange seeing a world title match in this position. Danielson is the man. No two ways about it. He wrestled this match with an eye patch. I could deal with the disappointment of seeing Danielson lose and this match being short because of the level of effort shown here. The “Thank You Danielson” chants were well-deserved. If it wasn’t for the upcoming match, I’d have an easy choice for M.V.P.

Winner and Rating: Takeshi Morishima, ***1/2

ROH World Tag Team Championship Ladder Match: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico

Thoughts: Before this match, if you had asked me what an ROH ladder match, I would have said something good but unspectacular. It just seems like everything that can be done with a ladder had been done. This match proved me so wrong. There were so many “Holy shit!” and “Oh my God!” moments that I knew the second half of the show had no chance of succeeding. The sacrifices these four men made probably shouldn’t be applauded because of all the talk about concussions and unnecessary chances taken, but to hell with it I will anyway. This match almost has to seen to be believed. Unfortunately, there were a few awkward moments with the ladder and Jay Briscoe’s inability to grab the belts at the end of the match. Steen also snapped at one of the ladders. Damn ladder wouldn’t stay so it deserved everything it got. To call this a MOTYC is tough with these botched spots, but I will certainly need a second viewing to make a better call.

Winners and Ratings: Jay and Mark Briscoe, ****1/2

Here’s the good part. These moronic fans or plants or extras or whatever they hell they are came in their bandannas and their ski masks. Then they move to the front and start pissing off The Briscoes. Then the fun really begins as Tyler Black, The Necro Butcher, Jimmy Jacobs, and a new gothed up Lacey jump over the guardrail. They are what “Project 161” and now the “Age of the Fall” group are all about. They hang Jay up by his feet and Jacobs cuts a promo. Blood, not sure if it was real or not, poured onto Jacobs and his white jacket. The crowd rewards this new group with a “boring” chant, something very rarely heard at and ROH event. Honestly, they deserved it too. The house mic not working didn’t help matters. This seems like a rip-off of things that C.M. Punk and The Prophecy have done before. It’s all well and good that the blood was dripping onto him when the promo is going on, but when you can barely hear what he’s saying and what you can hear sounds like stuff that’s been said by anti-ROH wrestlers before, it kinda loses its’ edge. Also, if these are the only three wrestlers comprising the group, then this is going to be a big disappointment. I heard a lot of silence and saw a lot of ambivalence within the crowd. Maybe it’s my own bias, but after a great first half of the show this was not a sterling way to end it.
The second half of the show wasn’t bad per se, but the crowd was very dead. You could understand after the ladder match and world title match. There was no way these five matches could live up to what had just happened.

ROH Top of the Class Trophy: Mitch Franklin vs. Alex ‘Sugarfoot’ Payne

Thoughts: Short match. Payne needs to buy a house in Chicago because of his continued inexplicable popularity here. A student should not be getting streamers either.

Winner and Rating: Mitch Franklin, *

SHIMMER Tag Team match: Amazing Kong and Daizee Haze vs. Lacey and Sara Del Rey
Thoughts: By far, this is the best SHIMMER showcase ever seen on an ROH main program. This got the crowd into it, and even got multiple “SHIMMER” chants too. Kong was impressive of course, but Del Rey was no slouch either. A very good old school type tag team match.

Winner and Rating: Daizee Haze and Amazing Kong, ***1/2

Jack Evans vs. Tyler Black
Thoughts: A special bonus match as the “Age of the Fall” returns to more ambivalence. Short match as Necro and Jacobs interfere and a singles match becomes a six-man tag.

Jack Evans and Irish Airborne (Jake and Dave Crist) vs. Tyler Black, Necro Butcher, and Jimmy Jacobs

Thoughts: This was a brilliant idea. After a brutal chair-throwing ladder-wielding match, we get much of the same here. All six of these guys pretty much get wasted as the match is thrown out after the new group attacks referee Paul Turner. Get this. Even though Jacobs, Butcher, and Black attacked Turner, he ruled it a no-contest. One of the rare times I can say that ROH pulled a WCW.

No-contest

Brent Albright and B.J. Whitmer vs. The YRR of Kenny King and Chasyn Rance
Thoughts: Kenny King’s botching of a move and the new hair colors of Whitmer/Albright are the only memorable aspects of this match. Pretty much a squash-a-roo victory for the tag team, who along with Adam Pierce are calling themselves “The Hangman Three.” The positive is that “Age of the Fall” is no longer the dumbest group name in Ring of Honor right now. The negative is Whitmer was allowed to cut a promo, not a good night for those.

Winners and Ratings: B.J. Whitmer and Brent Albright, DUD

Main Event: Matt Sydal vs. Delirious

Thoughts: This match deserves a second viewing because this was nowhere close to what the main event of a card like this should have been. It was solid as a comedy match, but nothing spectacular happened. The Chicago fans were very classy with “Thank you Sydal” chants before, during, and after the matches. Delirious was quite good here in his role, but I don’t feel comfortable rating this match yet.

Winner: Delirious