Ring Crew Reviews: ROH Final Battle 09: Part Two

• Aries takes the low road and takes a breather at the bell. Prazak puts the onus on Black for needing to take the championship from Aries as the champion gets to set the pace. Black boots away in the corner and Aries ducks to the outside again. “Let’s go Tyler/Austin Aries” chants. They repeat that about 3 more times before Aries cuts him off with a knee coming in and works the side headlock. Black switches to the headscissors and again Aries gets a rope break. Aries tries a shitcan but no go. Black comes back with a springboard spinwheel kick and goes to the GNP. They exchange chops in the corner. Black with right hands and Aries goes back to the side headlock. Black sends him off but Aries gets a shoulderblock. Black cuts him off with chops but Aries goes back to the side headlock. Black goes to the headscissors and they switch places this time. Black hits a dropkick out of the headscissors and again Aries takes a breather. Aries goes to the forearms. Black tries to shitcan but Aries puts the brakes on only to eat a dropkick sending him to the floor. Black sends him into the barricade and chops Aries into the crowd. Black suplexes him back onto the ringside mats. The crowd is chanting something that sounds like “Twinkies” but I can’t make it out. It’s probably some kinda fat joke for Sinclair as he’s doing the count. Tyler tries bringing him back in but Aries ducks to the outside and continues begging off and generally stalling like hell. Prazak goes back on sooth-sayer mode saying that Aries should set the pace of the match but owes it to the fans to give them the match they paid to see. Black backdrops Aries to the floor and lands on the apron on the way down. Black hits a moonsault off the barricade on the floor on Aries. Back in, they slug it out. Black goes for a springboard flying burrito but whiffs as Aries ducks to the floor again. Announcer: “How much time is Austin Aries going to spend on the floor?” On the floor, Aries gets sent into the barricade again. Black tries to go up top but Aries knocks him off. Aries gives him a hangman’s neckbreaker and drops a knee. Aries then shitcans him back to the floor and hits a double ax handle off the top to the floor.

• 10:00 minutes in and we’re still in feeling out process and just beginning the heat it appears. Aries with chops on the floor and sends Black into the barricade. Aries chokes and postures to cheers and boos. Aries continues with the forearms to the neck and gives him a knee lift to the head. Back in, cover gets 2. They slug it out and now Aries goes after Black’s knee. Aries kicks it around some and drops a knee on it. Aries with the Mongolian chop and a running basement dropkick into Black’s knee. Cover gets 2. Aries goes to the half crab but Black gets the ropes. Aries torques it some more. Black tries fighting back but Aries comes back with a back rake, a stomach rake, and a running clothesline for 2. Black tries as enzuigiri but Aries catches and rams the leg into the mat. Aries grapevines the leg but Black gouches the eye to counter. Black comes back with right hands and Aries clips the knee again. Aries tries the Figure Four but Black kicks him off. Aries ducks a chop and hits the STO. Aries goes for the pendulum elbow and talks smack to the crowd at the same time. Black comes back with a kick to Aries and a hangman’s neckbreaker to cut off. Black with chops. He sends Aries off who does the Flair spot and gets dropkicked off the apron. Black follows with a Fosbury Flop on Aries on the floor. Black goes back to selling the knee. Aries throws some streamer at Black but it’s no match for the springboard clothesline that gets a 2 count. Aries tries a kneebreaker but Black floats over into a crossbody for 2. Black with an O’Connor roll up for 2. Black with a knee strike for 2.

• 20:00 minutes in. Black whiffs on a Lionsault but lands on his feet favoring the knee. He still manages to hit a standing SSP for 2. Black goes for the Paroxysm but Aries flips out and this the kneebreaker/back suplex combo. Aries get a charge but runs into a big boot. Black tries a superplex but Aries counters by smacking the bad leg. LOVE that counter. Aries get the Dean Malenko on Scotty 2 Hotty top rop DDT for 2. Aries goes to the Last Chancery. Black escapes but Aries continues working him over with rights in the corner. Aries taunts to more jeers and mocks Tyler Black’s taunt but turns around into an IED. Paroxysm follows for 2. Black goes to the Last Chancery but is using his own neck in the process. Aries easily elbows the neck to escape. Black with a bodyslam and sets up the Phoenix Splash but gets knocked off the top by Aries to the floor. Aries follows with a suicide dive to “Aries” chants. Prazak goes into NOT SO SUBTLE commentator mode again by reminding us that Black MUST take the title from Aries’s to win it. Aries with the slingshot twisting bodypress for 2. Aries goes to the top rope brainbuster but Black counters to an MDK bomb attempt but Aries counters back to a Frankensteiner. Black with a Japanese arm drag into the turnbuckle. Black goes for the Phoenix Splash but rolls through. Black clips the knee again. He hits the kneebreaker, Dragon Screw legwhip and goes to the Figure Four. WOO! Awesome combos here. They tease rolling it over a couple of times before Black rolls it over. Aries finally makes the ropes. Aries comes back with some headbutts. Black puts the brakes on and hits Aries with a bunch of turnbuckle smashes and an enzuigiri to some sporadic jeers and disinterest. That sucks because the match is really hitting a groove. Aries with a gordbuster off the top. He preps something else but Black comes back with a pop up enzuigiri and Aries eats it through the ringside table. Aries is selling the shoulder and the announcers are all over it.

• 30:00 in and now things are really rolling. We’re up to 9 on the count and Sinclair just fucking stops the count to have a chat with Black. Black decides to get out of the ring and still we haven’t heard more from the count. Sinclair FINALLY restarts. Aries with chops and a right hand with his offhand to sell his shoulder. Black whips Aries into the guardrail. Back in, cover gets nothing as Aries gets his hand on the ropes. Aries takes a walk again and stalls more on the floor. Aries with a one arm whip on the inside. He works over Black with some elbows and tries a brainbuster but his arm buckles. Tyler gives him a gordbuster on the bad arm and preps the superkick. Aries rolls to the floor again to buy time. “Pussy” chant from the crowd. They slug it out on the apron and Aries hits the DVD ON THE FUCKIN’ APRON! Aries takes a victory lap to indicate he was pretending the whole time. I know it’s the same spot the Wolves used earlier but it was much more convincing here. “Austin Aries” chant for that one. Tyler Black’s portion tries chanting back but again the volume is much lower. Black makes the count but Aries goes back to the GnP knees and hooks in the Last Chancery again. Black struggles and makes the ropes. Aries shitcans him and again tries for a countout victory. Black tries coming in and Aries sends him to the floor again with a dropkick. Aries tosses him again and then knocks him down again with more Mongolian chops. Back in, Tyler Hulks up and goes to the chops but this time Aries takes a breather. ALRIGHT ALREADY. Let’s go; I get the story but the match was drifting into awesome and now we’re back to neutral. Mild “We Want Wrestling” chant going. They slug it out on the apron as Black gets the advantage with chops but it’s drown out by “This is Bullshit!” chants. Black hits his taunt in the corner and Aries tries to take a walk again but Black follows with a flip splash to a good reaction. Aries tries bearhugging the apron to get a countdown loss as Black throws him back in.

• 40:00 in and the crowd is restless. Aries takes a walk again and goes through the crowd this time. Black follows with a double ax handle and hits some chops. Prazak putting over how well prepared Black is for this match due to his matches with Jerry Lynn, AmDrag, McGuinness, etc. and how much Aries underestimated him. Aries continues trying to escape via countout and runs up the ramp and to the back. Black follows. And in a first I’m sure a “Don’t come back” chant gets going. Ouch. Black is back with Aries in a fireman’s carry and gives him an F5 on the entrance ramp. Black breaks the count and pleads with Sinclair that he doesn’t want to win via countout. Aries is busted open and Black works him over with right hands. Black hooks in the End Time submission (guillotine with a body scissors). Aries floats over and gets a roll up for 2. Tyler counters a powerbomb attempt and continues with the right hands. Aries is wiped out but manages to counter some mounted rights by dumping Black over the top. Aries crawls to the floor again and tries to escape. Black picks him up for a POWERBOMB ON AN OPEN CHAIR ON THE FLOOR! Superkick follows. Back in, cover gets a close pinfall as Aries gets the ropes at the last second. Black with a bodyslam and heads up top. He tries the Phoenix Splash but Aries rolls under. Both make it to their feet at 9 as Aries again powders out and up the ramp. Black catches him from behind but Aries gives him a brainbuster on the ramp. Aries decides he’s not that exhausted and hustles into the ring to win by countout. Black is busted open and since when do you blade on a brainbuster? Black beats the count at 19 and Aries hooks in the Last Chancery.

• 50:00 in and we’re hitting the home stretch but it’s just been too much stalling. Aries releases the hold and goes to the BLATANTCHOKE in the corner. He keeps holding on past 5 to try to get DQ’ed before Sinclair pulls him off. They smack it out in the middle before Aries upgrades to the BLATANTLOWBLOW! Aries demands that Sinclair DQ him and he’s about to before Black stops him in desperation. Aries pulls the turnbuckle pad off and rams Black into it and again stares down Sinclair demanding a DQ but Sinclair says no way emphatically. The crowd is really getting back into the match with these repetitive DQ attempts but it took way too long to get here. Aries gives Black the Russian legsweep into the exposed turnbuckle. Aries this the 450 but Black grabs the ropes at the last second. Aries threatens to hit Sinclair but instead locks in the Last Chancery again. Black elbows out. Aries rolls to the floor and gets the belt. Sinclair steals it back. Black school boys Aries for 2. They slap it out from their knees and hit the rights and forearms. They make it to their feet and continue to exchange shots toe to toe. Aries with a ROARING ELBOW but Black comes back with a enzuigiri. Aries tries the brainbuster again but Black counters to the Cattle Mutilation to a decidedly mixed reaction. Black goes to the MMA elbows and back to the Cattle Mutilation. Aries reverses out and hits a brainbuster for a narrow 2. This time as Sinclair counts the crowd derisively counts along with the phrase “hours.” They slug it out again. Black slides out of a brainbuster again. Black with God’s Last Gift but Aries kicks out at 2. They continue slugging it out as the bell rings for the time limit draw at 60:00.

• The crowd is less than thrilled but not as outwardly angry as you might expect. They went for epic and came up a short. They stretched 30 minutes of story into a 60 minute match and it just didn’t work. I get what they were trying to do, but the shitstorm of bad karma they had going with the blizzard and the Evans/Hart spotfest proceeding it just made this the wrong call. The biggest problem is that you had basically half an hour of stalling from Aries in REPEATEDLY trying to get countout victories. It makes story sense, but there are plenty of cheap heel ways at trying to avoid a decisive finish other than CONSTANTLY rolling to the floor and we saw some of them in the final few minutes. If you take the middle portion of the match from 15:00 to 35:00 focusing on the knee and neck work from Aries and Aries’ pseudo-selling of the shoulder separation and the last 5-10 minutes of Aries trying his best to get DQ’ed and Black trying to get Sinclair to keep him in the match, you have an easy half hour MOTYC for 2009. But for an hour, it’s just too long and puffed up and why not just put over Black anyway. ***1/2

• ROH Eye of the Storm 2

• This version does not have the preshow matches.

• Scheduled Card:
1. Rhett Titus vs. Kenny Omega.
2. Erick Stevens & Bison Smith vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico.
3. Chris Hero vs. Colt Cabana.
4. The Young Bucks vs. Austin Aries & Kenny King.
5. Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Black.
6. The American Wolves & Alex Koslov vs. The Briscoes & Rocky Romero.

• Rhett Titus vs. Kenny Omega. Kenny King and Rhett Titus were storyline proteges of Austin Aries so Prazak is playing up Rhett using Aries’s tutelage possibly for this match. “Hepatitis” chant for Rhett. Omega steals Rhett’s phallic armbar taunt. Rhett tries to back elbow out of a waistlock but Omega stays on the tights. Rhett with a side headlock but Omega headscissors and Rhett begs off. “Omega” chant going. Rhett ducks a leap frog and boots Omega to avoid a monkey flip. Omega works the armbar and goes to chops and headbutts. Omega with some hiptosses. Rhett blocks the third and they reverse a few times until Omega hiptosses him over the top. Omega follows out with a suicide baseball dropkick. Back in, cover gets 1. Omega makes Rhett pantomime giving him head and then gives him a dropkick to the head. Omega with an atomic drop and an inverted atomic drop. Omega goes for a charge but Rhett distracts with the ref and gets a Bluechipper dropkick for 2. Rhett chokes for a while and goes to chops. Rhett slingshots him into the bottom rope and drops a knee on his head. Omega comes back with kicks. He tries an O’Connor roll up but Rhett chokes him with the top rope and hotshots him for 2. Omega’s got a very good comedic (over-)selling style. Rhett gives him a yakuza kick on the apron. Rhett with the hair toss overhead throw for 2. Rhett goes to the chinlock as some of the fans from different sides of the ring argue with each other over something and the rest quietly watch the match. Omega tries to elbow out but Rhett pulls him down by the hair and goes to the triangle choke. The crowd is seriously more interested in themselves than this match. Omega gets to his feet and the slug it out. This slug it out sequence has gone on too long. Rhett with a jawbreaker but runs into a dropkick. Omega with the deadly POLISH HAMMERS and a spinwheel kick. Cover gets 2 as Rhett has the ropes. Omega goes for a uranage but Rhett counters. He goes for the Sex Factor but Omega comes back with a Kotaro Krusher. Cover gets 2. Omega with a badass uranage for 2. Omega goes for his finisher but Rhett escapes by pulling the ref in front of him, gives him a low blow, and hits a blockbuster and covers WITH THE FEET ON THE ROPES for 2. That’s some quality cheating by Rhett. They botch something in the corner as Omega goes back to a chop. Omega with a running back elbow, springboard double foot stomp, and a release Dragon suplex gets a very near 2 count. Omega goes up top but Rhett hits the Super Sex Factor for 2. Rhett comes off the top but flies into a hadouken. Omega hits Croyt’s Wrath and that’s enough for the 3 at 15:47. That’s a little too long for these guys. The match was decent but had a vanilla first half and their eccentric styles too closely mirror each other and wind up exposing the flaws. **

• Erick Stevens & Bison Smith vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico. Kevin Steen of course has the knee injury here. “Ole” and “Mr. Wrestling” chants. Stevens and Generico to start. Nana mouths off with some guys in the front row and then tells Stevens to get to work. Stevens overpowers a couple times early and gets a shoulderblock to boos. Generico with some arm drags and chops. Generico runs into a knee and Stevens hits the Embassy taunt. The crowd wants Steen but Generico says he can size up with Bison. Generico eats a shoulderblock and Bison tells the crowd to SHUT UP! Generico wants one more shot and eats more shoulderblocks. Generico stomps his foot instead and off a blind tag Steen is in with a shoulderblock. Steen whiffs on an enzuigiri and sells the knee. Steen and Bison trade suplex attempts for half an hour before Steen finally hits the vertical suplex. Steen with a right hand off the top and Biscon goes back to no selling. Bison with a flapjack. Bison shitcans Generico and the Embassy works him over on the floor. Bison gives him a running tackle into the crowd. Steen tries to jump Stevens but he goes to the knee to cut him off. Stevens in with a bodyslam and an Embassy elbow for 2 and he goes to the chinlock. Blah. Generico hits an elbow but Stevens goes to a fucking bearhug to complete the unholy hoss trinity of CLUBBINGBLOWS, bearhug and shoulderblock. Generico with a sunset flip for 2 and Steen is in with a second rope dropkick and a Cannonball on Stevens. Generico with a drop toe hold on Bison and Steen with the frontflip legdrop. Generico with a plancha on Bison. Steen with a pumphandle, package shoulderbreaker on Stevens but his knee gives on impact. Cover gets 2. Steen goes for the Swanton but eats knee. Generico in with the tornado DDT for 2. Steen heads up top but Nana clips the knee. Generico comes off with a crossbody but Stevesn catches him. Generico comes back with a yakuza kick. Bison cuts him off and puts him in the Electric Chair position. Stevens off the top with a shoulderblock Doomsday Device. Stevens with the Doctor Bomb and Steenerico jobs at 10:31. Bison and Stevens get a pass for the odd set up at FB, but they were pretty weak in this match and their pairing does nothing for me. Ordinarily, I’d be up in arms about Steenerico jobbing to these guys but it makes foreshadowing sense for the Steenerico break up at FB. **1/4 Post-match, Steen runs them off with a chair.

• Chris Hero vs. Colt Cabana. Apparently it’s Cabana’s birthday because he’s wearing a birthday hat and puts one on Sinclair as well. Cabana has a luchador mask in his boots from an earlier match that Sinclair finds. Cabana goes to the side headlock but Hero gets a break. Hero jaws with the same yokels in the front row that Nana was mouthing with earlier. Cabana gets the advantage off some chain wrestling and goes to the top wristlock. Hero goes to the side headlock and works the 2 count a few times before Cabana switches to a headscissors. Hero tries escaping a few times but Cabana keeps it locked on. Hero escapes only to put himself back in the hold to avoid a Mongolian chop. Hero finally gets a rope break. Hero gouges the eye but eats some paintbrushes with the feet and Cabana gets a small package for 2. Cabana with a backdrop and a Ho Train in the corner. Cabana goes for whatever but Hagadorn trips him up. Hero with a yakuza kick on the apron. Hero with more boots and the boot turnbuckle smash in the corner. Hero with an elbow for 2. Hero with another elbow and a senton for 2. This is really boring so far. Cabana comes back with some chops but runs into another elbow as Prazak keeps talking about how much better shape Hero is in than the past. “Hero’s boring” chant gets going but Cabana hasn’t done shit either. Hero with a chop and a boot and more elbows. Hero goes for a blockbuster but whiffs. Cabana telegraphs a trip by a mile and Hero looks like an idiot by falling into it for a roll up for 2. Cabana blocks the roaring elbow and gets a back slide for 2. Cabana with the Dusty elbows for 2. Cabana goes for the Billy Goat’s Curse but Hero boots him off. Cabana with an jawbreaker on his shoulder and a roll up for 2. Hero gives Cabana a running boot and knocks him off the top. Hagadorn works him over with boots. Hero with another elbow and the ROARING ELBOW for 2. Hero with more elbows but runs into double chops. Hero goes for a kick or some shit and misses by a football field. Seriously? I get that that was the called spot but it looked awful. Cabana rolls him up for 2. Hero avoids a charge to hit a ROARING ELBOW for 2. Cabana comes back with a butt bomb for 2. Colt with another butt bomb off the 2nd turnbuckle. Hagadorn tries stopping him but gets tossed. Hero gets the loaded pad and hits Cabana with it a couple times for the 3 at 12:40. What a lazy, uninspired mess that was. There were moments where their timing was so off it had to be due to miscommunication and the match just had no rhythm. I like both guys especially Hero but that was just not good. 1/2*

• The Young Bucks vs. Austin Aries & Kenny King. Front row tries to get an “Awesome Aries” chant going but tells them to shut up and says he’s glad to be back in “Man Asses.” Aries says that the YB have some hideously 80s matching gear but he says Aries and King will never be outdone in any capacity, so they take off their track pants to reveal matching red and yellow, Hogan themed, leopard skin tights. This is already better than the last match. The two teams trade cliché poses to try and one down each other. The faces try to get a sympathy clap going already and Aries intentionally claps offbeat to kill it. Aries is now another of my heroes. Aries with a waistlock and tries the anklelock. Matt escapes but Aries pulls his boot tassels off for good measure. Aries puts them in his tights to save for later. Aries with an overhand chop in the corner. He tries to offer a clean break after the break but Matt shoves him. Aries with a boot to the gut. Matt tries to kip out of a arm wringer but Aries pulls him down by the hair. Matt gets his own arm wringer and Aries tries the same but gets chopped down. Matt now takes the tassels out of Aries’s pants and gives him the mandible claw with them. That’s original at least. Kenny in. Kenny with some right hands but runs into a Japanese arm drag from Matt. Nick in with a double ax handle and they trade a few until Aries comes in to break it up. Kenny shoves Matt into Aries boot in the corner and now the heels do the double ax handle spot. Aries gets a clap going and some fans actually clap along but not the front row smartasses. Aries goes for the double foot stomp but lands on King. Aries whiffs on a charge and the YB hit stereo dropkicks. The YB go back to the same exact fucking spot with a double ax handle and this time they hit the double foot stomp. They hiptoss Aries over and hit another double dropkick. King in but he eats a gutbuster/neckbreaker combo. Matt with a baseball slide dropkick on King but Aries lowers the bridge and dumps Nick. Aries boots Matt a few times and sends him into King’s boot in the corner. Aries and King take turns choking and cover gets 2. Aries and King with a double trip and a cartwheel elbow drop combo to mock the YB the cheers. They do another cartwheel and take a victory lap. Aries goes to the chinlock but Matt counters with a jawbreaker and an enzuigiri. Matt tries to make the tag but Kenny is in and knocks him off the apron. Kenny with a flying hip chick and a clothesline for 2. Kenny catapults Matt into right hands from Aries and Aries in with a slingshot spinning splash. Aries with the big boot and King follows with the Atomic Leg Drop of Doom and hits the mandatory Hogan poses. Kickout at 2 by Matt. Aries and Kenny both try charges but Matt gets the boot up and then hits a Diamond Dust on King. Nick in with clotheslines on both and a backdrop on Kenny. Matt alley oops Nick over to hit a dropkick on Kenny. Aries and King on the floor. Matt with a baseball slide dropkick on both and Nick follows with a no hands flip splash on both. Nick with a slingshot X Factor on Kenny. Nick in with a gamengiri. The YB hit a double foot stomp/reverse DDT combo for 2. Aries in with a back rack and a IED on Matt in the corner for 2. Aries dumps Nick and hits a Finlay Roll on Matt. Kenny follows with a horrid Swanton. Aries tries a 450 but eats knee. The YB try a team enzuigiri but King pulls Nick in the way to eat the kick. Aries tries an IED but hits King instead. Matt with a superkick on Aries. The Bucks hits the More Bang for Your Buck (Finlay Roll, 450, Moonsault) on King and it’s over at 12:56. Good mix of comedy and formula tag wrestling. I’m not sure how much sense a Rockers/RNR Express and a Hulk Hogan combined parody makes but it was fun to watch. ***1/4

• Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Black. Black with a waistlock and Roddy switches to a lying hammerlock but Tyler gets a rope break. They do the Greco-Roman knuckle lock up and Roddy switches it to a straitjacket on Tyler. Black switches and does the same to Roddy. Roddy rolls through for a cover at 2. More feeling out and Roddy chops like a heel without a clean break. Roddy boots away in the corner and gets a bodyslam and elbow drop for 1. Roddy goes to the rear chinlock already. Tyler elbows out and they exchange forearms in the middle until Roddy cuts him off with a boot and a vertical suplex for 2. Roddy goes to the ab stretch with another resthold already. Tyler elbows out and goes back to exchanging shots in the middle but Roddy gets the Bluechipper dropkick for 2. Roddy goes back to a Camel Clutch. I’m not sure these guys even have a match in mind yet. Roddy comes down hard on the back for 2 and goes to some kinda Figure 4 chinlock. This is like 6 restholds in a few minutes. Tyler fights out and comes back with chops and some double chops and a clothesline. Tyler runs out of the corner into a powerslam for 2 from Roddy. Roderick with a modified backbreaker for 2. Roddy with another for 2. Roddy now goes to the lying waistlock and I think we’ve ran out of variations on this shitty hold. Tyler fights out and they exchange chops. Tyler ducks what seems like the umpteenth dropkick attempt and gets a running knee strike instead. Tyler with the Alabama Slam and a Lionsault for 2. Tyler gets backdropped to the apron. He tries coming back in with a slingshot clothesline but Roddy catches him. He tries a uranage but Tyler counters with an armdrag. Roddy tries a flapjack but Tyler counters with a dropkick. First awesome sequence of the match but it was good. Roddy rolls to the floor for a breather but Tyler follows with a flip splash. Back in, Roddy gets a Falcon Arrow for 2. Roddy with a forearm, knee, Regalplex backbreaker and a uranage backbreaker for 2. RegalPlex gets 2. Black goes for Paroxysm and Roddy counters to a Blue Thunder sideslam for 2. Tyler comes back with upkicks and a small package for 2. Black with a standing SSP for 2. Black with a Ho Train and a Tornado DDT for 2. Roddy tries a backbreaker on the top turnbuckle but Black elbows out and hits a springboard clothesline, superkick, and an F5 for 2. Roddy rams Tyler into the turnbuckle and hits a uranage backbreaker and a spinning Ace Crusher for 2. Roddy with a fireman’s carry neckbreaker but Tyler no sells and comes back with a handspring Pele. Roddy no sells but runs into a Gibson Driver for 2. Black with a sunset flip for 2. Black gets a head of steam but runs into a few kicks and a Torture Rack backbreaker for 2. They slug it out on the apron and Roddy gives him the badass apron backbreaker for a narrow 2. Black counters a Gibson Driver attempt but Roddy hits Black’s own God’s Last Gift on him for another close pinfall. Black shoves him off and hits an enzuigiri and a handspring Pele. Roddy no sells and hits a yakuza kick. They botch a Gibson Driver into a huracanrana so Roddy hits another Gibson Driver for the 3 at 21:07. Another match that took a while to find it’s stride. The first 10 ish minutes were dull but the reversals sequences to show how well they know each other and the high impact moves taking it home raise it enough to be worth checking out. ***1/4

• The American Wolves & Alex Koslov vs. The Briscoes & Rocky Romero. Davey and Rocky to start. They feel out with kicks and wristlocks. Davey handsprings out of one and snapmares Rocky over. This gets a rousing ovation from some marks in the crowd begging for the move all night including bringing a sign for it. Davey is surprised about the whole thing but stays on the hold. Rocky escapes a chinlock by snapmaring Davey over to the floor and apparently they were paying attention. Davey rings the bell for some reason and now is back in the ring. Davey no sells a pair of shoulderblocks and spits in Rocky’s face. Rocky responds with a smack and a Frankensteiner and a flying armbar. Davey stacks him up and counters to a Texas Cloverleaf. Rocky counters to a roll up for 2. They both go for dropkicks at the same time and it’s the ECW standoff and THAT was good. Eddie and Mark in to smack it out. Mark gets the advantage with a flying burrito out of the corner and a vertical suplex for 2. Jay in and hits a running clothesline, snapmare, and a yakuza kick for 2. Eddie cuts him off with a jawbreaker and Koslov is in. They do a criss cross with some counters and Koslov gets the Hand of Koslov to stop Jay in his tracks. Koslov gets a “Russia” chant going but eats a kick from Jay. Eddie and Davey in and they get backdropped and all get fall away slammed for a huge pop which was another lower level move clamored for all night. Davey gets the belts and puts on Koslov’s ushanka and says they are talking a walk. The crowd tells them to man up and they come back out. Davey in and he and Jay matwrestle until Jay powers him into the corner and Rocky comes in with a shitty jawbreaker and dances some. Mark in with some chops and now Davey runs him into the corner and Eddie is in with some headbutts. Mark tries to fight off the Wolves but gets Dragon Screw legwhipped in the ropes by Davey. Koslov goes to work on the knee with spinning toe holds and a leg grapevine. Davey in and goes to the reverse Figure 4. Mark gets the ropes but Eddie dumps the others off the apron and the ref misses it. Koslov in with a knee drop for 2. Davey dumps Mark so that Eddie can send him into the guardrail. Davey goes to the leg grapevine and Mark gets the ropes. Davey rolls through the wheelbarrow position and applies a badass reverse Texas Cloverleaf but Mark makes the ropes. Mark this some karate chops and an enzuigiri and tags in Jay. Jay with a series of clotheslines and a dropkick on Davey. Jay with a yakuza kick and hits a gordbuster on Eddie that lands him on Davey. Rocky hits a crossbody off the top on both. He dumps Eddie and follows with a splash on the floor. Jay with a splash on Davey for 2. Jay goes for the JayDriller but Davey backdrops him over and hits a chest kick to cut him off. Eddie in with chops. The rest of the guys are just laying on the floor and resting at this point.