wrestling / TV Reports

The Rising Above Breakdown

March 8, 2008 | Posted by J.D. Dunn

Ring of Honor — Rising Above
by J.D. Dunn

Original Airdate: March 7, 2008 (taped 12.29.07)

From New York, N.Y..

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard who announce that ROH has placed cameras throughout the backstage area to get a look at the goings on.

Kevin Steen and El Generico join us from the crappy bowels of the arena. I think Candyman used to live there. They say they love it because it reminds them of home.

Adam Pearce interrupts from the ring and calls out Delirious. We see clips of some of the bad stuff Delirious and the Hangman Three have done to each other. Brent Albright reveals that he’s wearing Delirious’ stolen mask.

Opening Match: Delirious vs. Brent Albright (w/Adam Pearce).
Delirious debuts the new red look as he storms the ring and mists Adam Pearce. He blocks Albright’s charge and hits a flying clothesline. He rips off Albright’s mask, and damned if it’s not Brent Albright under there. Finally, Albright has had enough and hits a pair of backbreakers to set up a Dragon Suplex. That stops Delirious cold. He tosses Delirious across the ring and catches him with a belly-to-belly as Delirious is charging to the corner. A snap suplex sets up a diving headbutt, but there’s no water in the pool for Albright. Delirious hits the Panic Attack and Shadows over Hell to set up the Cobra Stretch. Oh, but Albright reverses to the Crowbar! Delirious shifts his weight and rolls him up for two, and when Albright goes to bodyslam him, Delirious pulls a Ricky Steamboat and counters to the small package for the win at 6:09. Brisk, well-executed match with Delirious offsetting Albright’s size advantage by being totally batshit crazy. **1/2

The H3 put the boots to Delirious, but Kevin Steen and El Generico make the save.

The Age of the Fall come down during the chaos to call for New Yorkers to join the Age of the Fall revolution, but the Vulture Squad interrupt them to put out the challenge for a four-way tag team scramble. Oh, you know that’s going to be chaotic.

Four-Way Scramble Tag: The Age of the Fall (w/Necro Butcher & Lacey) vs. The Vulture Squad (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Steen & Generico vs. The Hangman 3 (w/Shane Hagadorn).
Jigsaw gets us underway with a somersault plancha and to Necro, and it’s on like neckbone. Jacobs and Black hit stereo dives. Everyone takes turns pairing off. Generico vs. Whitmer. Generico vs. Pearce. Pearce vs. Steen. Steen crotches Pearce and enzuigiris him to the floor. The Age of the Fall put Steen in the tree-of-woe and give him double dropkicks. The V Squad make the save and doubleteam with lots of springy stuff. Jack hits a handspring elbow to Jacobs, but Generico follows him right in with a Yakuza Kick. That sets up a double Samoan Drop from Steen. The H3 hit a Decapitation move, but the whole match just breaks down into chaos… more so. Pearce hits a piledriver on Jacobs, but he’s so exhausted that he just Flair Flops. Evans hits the 630-senton on Whitmer, but Steen jumps him for the Packaged Piledriver. Jacobs makes the save with a spear, but Generico jumps him and puts him on top. Black tries to make the save but falls victim to a Tornado DDT. That sets up the Packaged Piledriver and Brainbuster at 7:15. Steen & Generico pick up the win in a match so filled with action that it was exhausting to keep up with. This was a good place and time for this. The crowd was rockin’ after the match, setting the tone for the rest of the show. ***1/4

The Briscoes are going to MAN UP tonight and (eventually) get revenge on the Age of the Fall.

Lacey vs. Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey.
We JIP to Lacey getting tossed and Del Rey whipping Daizee around like a rag doll. Lacey tries to pick her spot and sneak attack. Del Rey gets tossed to the floor, but Haze dropkicks Lacey off a splits dropdown. Tammy Sytch looks on. Mmmm. Del Rey suckers Lacey into a charge and then double-crosses her and puts her in an Indian Deathlock. Daizee adds an Octopus for one of those wacky double-submission spots that the crowd loves. Daizee tries a Codebreaker, but Del Rey just shoves her away. They set up for the Tower of Doom spot, but Daizee adds the twist of hitting a rana to break it up. Del Rey grabs BOTH women in the Royal Butterfly. DEATH REY, FTW! She can’t hold it forever, though, and Daizee is able to hit the Mind Trip. Lacey misses Haze and dropkicks Del Rey to the floor, and that allows Haze to finish Lacey with the Mind Trip at 6:21. Del Rey looked like a beast (and I mean that in a good way) in the loss while Daizee showed she could get by on pluck. I still think Lacey needs to develop a personality more in line with the Age of the Fall rather than just wearing new clothes and dying her hair. Maybe she needs to go a little more hardcore, because right now she’s just the same old “cheating bitch” Lacey that she always was. **

We get clips of the No Remorse Corps showing NO REMORSE in injuring Erick Stevens’ arm.

Erick Stevens vs. Davey Richards.
Stevens is coming for revenge, despite the Resilience being disbanded. They chop it out, and Stevens pummels Richards on the mat. Another chop knocks Richards off his feet. Richards comes back with a surprise Dragon Screw and stomps Richards down in the tree-of-woe. He tries to pepper Stevens with kicks, but Stevens grabs his leg and spikes him down. That sets up a backbreaker. Daniel Puder appears in the crowd, signing autographs and hanging out with the lost Kardashian sister. Stevens is so distracted that Davey is able to jump him from behind. Stevens catches him with a belly-to-belly suplex and a Protobomb. Richards blocks a superplex and sunset flips over him to lock in the Chimera. Cool spot. Stevens powers out once but turns to argue with Puder again. That allows Richards to hit a missile dropkick and finish with the Chimera at 8:45. It’s hard to get into either guy. Stevens is much better suited for FIP. Richards is usually one of the few heels to get actual heel heat, but he was getting cheers from the crowd here. The match was okay, but it was overwhelmed by the Puder presence. **3/4

After the match, Stevens questions why Puder would be such a douchebag as to show up his match. The fans taunt Puder with a “You’re not tough enough” chant. Stevens wants Puder right now, but Larry Sweeney interrupts and tells Puder to go chill in Sweeney’s private dressing room so he doesn’t have to hang around with the rohbot scum.

Claudio Castagnoli comes out and chases Sweeney into the ring. Tank Toland and Bobby Dempsey attack, distracting Claudio long enough for Chris Hero to jump Claudio from behind.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Hero (w/Sweet ‘n’ Sour Inc.)
If Claudio wins, he gets a match with Sweeney. If Hero wins, Sweeney gets Claudio’s contract, and he’s already said he’ll sell it to Vince. How is that a threat, really? If he really wanted to punish him, he’d sell it to TNA. Hero controls with a lot of moves starting with “cravat,” but he stops to do his athletics exhibition, and Claudio catches him with a forearm uppercut. Hero lands on Bobby Dempsey’s shoulders Doomsday Device-style, so Claudio hits a tope into Dempsey’s gut, toppling them over. Back in, Claudio hits the Matchkiller, but Hero comes back with a Blockbuster and a Cravat Suplex. Castagnoli hits a springboard uppercut out of nowhere and gets two off a German Suplex. The Giant Swing sets up a Bicycle Kick for two. Hero counters the Ricolabomb to a rana that plants Claudio on his head. That gets two. Claudio blocks the Hero’s Welcome, but Hero counters the Apomari Waterslide to the Cravise. Claudio holds on and powers up into the Ricolabomb at 9:13. These two fought so much in 2007 that they all kind of bleed together. Hero didn’t do nearly as much shtick, probably to keep the fans on Claudio’s side. The result is a solid-but-unspectacular match. While they’ve had classics as a team, they’ve never really been able to replicate that against one another. ***

The Age of the Fall joins us from the basement. Necro Butcher has a Kucinich for President shirt on. Wow, he *is* sick.

Relaxed Rules: Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson.
Talk about your blood feuds. Morishima accidentally broke Danielson’s orbital bone in their first match and targeted the injury in the rematch. When the two met a third time, Danielson stomped on Morishima’s testicles. Danielson storms the ring but immediately gets cut open, giving us the story of the match. Danielson staggers through the early going, unable to recover. Morishima hits him with a missile dropkick and starts peppering him with kicks and stomps to the head. Danielson blocks a charge and knocks the big guy over with the lightning legline. Morishima powers out of the Triangle Choke and hits the Backdrop Driver. Danielson staggers up into the LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THR-FIGHTING SPIRIT! Danielson takes him down into the trapped elbows, but Morishima rolls him over and punches him in the side of the head. The ref keeps scolding him, so Morishima stomps Danielson in the crotch in retaliation for earlier in the year. The ref tries to stop him again, so Morishima shoves the ref down for the DQ at 7:50. Using a sick brawl to build a hot blood-feud made a lot of sense, but they kept letting it cool off instead of just blowing it off at Final Battle, which would have made that show feel so much bigger. This was a heated brawl from two guys who look like they actually don’t like each other, though, something we need more of in wrestling. ***

After the match, Danielson grabs the ringbell hammer and tries to cut Morishima’s eye out with it. That’s good feudin’.

We get a split-screen of the back. The Hangman Three blame the Vulture Squad for their loss and are going to do something about it. Meanwhile, the Vulture Squad chills out in the back.

ROH World Tag Titles, 2/3 Falls: The Briscoes vs. Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero.
First Fall: The Briscoes have not lost a fall in a 2/3 falls match since 2004, according to Leonard. It’s a stalemate until the Mark gets a blind tag, and the Briscoes doubleteam Roderick to take over. Jay stomps a mudhole in him, and the Briscoes hit double Facewashes. Strong stomps on Mark’s toes to get out of trouble. He snaps Mark’s throat on the top rope, allowing Romero to hit a springboard Tornado DDT. Mark blocks a charge and hits a moonsault press. HOT TAG TO JAY! Jay cleans house and wipes out both No Remorse Corps members with a somersault plancha. Back in, Jay gets two off the Press DVD, but Roderick saves and gives him a backbreaker. The Briscoes go for the Doomsday Device, but Roderick blocks, and the NRC hit their own version of the Doomsday Device with Romero hitting a knee to Jay’s face. The NRC break the Briscoes’ long streak of consecutive falls at 11:43.

Second Fall: Jay continues to play face-in-peril until he slips out of a second Tornado DDT attempt and hits a desperation Falcon Arrow. Mark gets the hot tag. He misses the karate kick but tags Roderick with an elbow. A springboard splash gets two. Roderick goes for the Tiger Driver, but Mark rolls through to a Jackknife to even things up at 16:00.

Third Fall: Both teams slug it out to start the third fall. Mark misses a moonsault, but Jay saves him from the Tiger Suplex. Mark tries to fire back but gets hit with a dropkick to the face. Mark hits Roderick with the Springboard Ace Crusher and gets two. SPIKED JAYDRILLER! ONE, TWO, THREE! The Briscoes retain at 20:09. The NRC’s first-fall victory was a sign of things to come. This was a formula match without feeling formulaic. Each team controlled at different points, and while it had some “face-in-peril” moments, it didn’t hit all the key Rock ‘n’ Rolls vs. Midnights beats that you see from most big tag contests. That’s either a positive or a negative, depending on how you look at it. ***3/4

We get a four-way split-screen, making the PPV look like a low-rent version of “24.”

ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries.
Nigel is working through an arm injury, so it’s no surprise that Aries immediately targets the arm. Nigel bails to jaw with the fans, so Aries hits him with a tope in the back and knocks Nigel’s face right into the top of the barrier. The replay makes it look that much sicker. Nigel staggers around in a daze but hits a rebound elbow to buy some time. Back in, Aries tries to go back to the arm, but Nigel gives him a taste of his own medicine by giving him a snap arm twist and ramming his shoulder into the buckle. Nigel defiantly blocks the “you-can’t-headscissor-Austin-Aries” dropkick for a second time. Nigel tries a shinni no make, but Aries counters to a Mr. Salty and clubs Nigel in the back of the head with his leg. Nigel makes the ropes and tries a headstand, but Aries has it scouted and hits the running corner dropkick. He tries the suicida, but Nigel blocks with an uppercut and hits the Tower of London to the floor. OUCH! Back in, Nigel hits a European Uppercut and a lariat for two. Aries blocks a second Tower of London and hits a missile dropkick. Nice psychology as he punches Nigel’s injured arm to counter the Tower. Nigel gets his boot up to block the corner dropkick and hits the Tower of London anyway. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Nigel can’t believe it. Aries blocks the Jawbreaker Lariat and slingshots into a double ax-handle on Nigel’s chest. Back in, Aries fires off elbows and goes for the Brainbuster. Nigel blocks and sets him on top for the LARIATOOOOOH! Aries gets spun backwards off the top rope to the floor. On the floor, Nigel charges, but Aries blocks and hits a Brainbuster on the guardrail! The block was awkward, but the Brainbuster was sick. Back in, BRAINBUSTER! Aries goes up for the 450-splash… NO! Nigel gets the knees up. Nigel locks in the Stepover Armbar, but Aries rolls through and hits ANOTHER Brainbuster. HORNS OF ARIES! They’re in the ropes, though. Both men stagger up and slap it out. Nigel falls back for the Jawbreaker Lariat, but Aries catches him first. Aries tries another lariat, but Nigel ducks and nails him in the back of the head. Nigel goes back to the Stepover Armbar, but Aries blocks and shoves him away. Oh, but Nigel rebounds and ENDS HIM with the Jawbreaker Lariat at 23:13. I’m thoroughly impressed by Nigel’s ability to put on a fantastic match through a number of injuries and what looked to be a severe concussion. Aries adapted well, and they turned in an early Match of the Year Candidate. ****1/4

In the back, all four factions get into a huge brawl. NECRO HAS A POTTED PLANT! DANGERROUSSS!

Elsewhere, Nigel is a bloody unresponsive mess after the match.

The 411: Nigel vs. Aries is a brutal classic that really is worth the price of the PPV alone. The rest of the matches fall into that “okay to pretty good” range. Certainly, there’s nothing to make you want to hit the fast-forward button, and at a brisk 2 hours, it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Once again, Ring of Honor delivers the best wrestling matches to PPV.

Easy thumbs up.