wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Motor City Madness
February 8, 2007 | Posted by
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Loading...Ring of Honor — Motor City Madness
by J.D. Dunn
Delirious is coming in hot off his big win at “Survival of the Fittest.” This would be whatever the opposite of “capitalizing” is. Gowen acts like a jerk to make sure he gets heel heat (“That’s how I beat the Big Show, bitch!”), but that wasn’t really a problem. Most of Gowen’s offense is playing defense and avoiding whatever Delirious throws at him. Delirious eventually catches up with him, though, and finishes with the Cobra Stretch at 4:27. The announcers make one of the most ironic comments in ROH history by saying this proves sports entertainment won’t cut it in ROH. Uh, there’s a guy cutting a celebratory promo in Lizardese. I think the presence of sports entertainment is a foregone conclusion. Just a squash to open the show and give the fans their Delirious fix. 3/4*
Fans of Shimmer might find these pairings a bit odd, but Prazak explains that these are random pairings. One of the problems I’ve always had with ROH women’s matches is they seem to drop the characters they play in all the other matches. Only Lacey really seems to be evil bitch Lacey. Allison doesn’t seem at all like the Prophecy manager. Daizee returns to her plucky non-Embassy demeanor. The work is just fine, though, but it’s hardly up to Shimmer’s best. MsChif, who does a sort of Poison Ivy from Batman goth gimmick, hits Allison with the Obliteration (hard to explain, but like a rope-assisted Pedigree). She preps the Green Mist, but Lacey uses Allison’s face to block. That’s teamwork! Lacey spears MsChif, but Haze is able to tag herself in and finish a blinded Allison with the Heart Punch and Mind Trip (3/4-Nelson into the canvas) at 9:53. **
Claudio makes fun of the height differential early, so Davey unloads one of those stiff kicks and takes him down into a headlock. Claudio is an excellent technical wrestler, though, so it’s not long before he’s got Davey in an abdominal stretch, using the ropes for added advantage. Claudio dismantles Davey while talking to the crowd, but he gets cocky and misses a corner knee, falling to the floor. Davey follows him out with a tope to wake up the crowd. Back in, Davey stays on top with a gutbuster, but Claudio cuts off the handspring enzuigiri. Davey counters a superplex to a sunset flip powerbomb for two. Richards follows up with his running elbow and an enzuigiri, but Claudio hits him with the European uppercut for two. Davey counters the Riccolabomb to an overhand wristlock. Chris Hero runs down and distracts the ref. Davey slips out of the Waterslide (modified Burning Hammer), but Hero clocks him with the Halliburton briefcase to stagger him enough for Claudio to finish with the Waterslide at 12:20. Irritatingly WWE-ish finish. Part of the charm of ROH is the avoidance of clichés. On the plus side, it actually gets the Kings some heel heat and sets up the finish to a later match. Davey looked good, but Claudio seemed indifferent for the second show in a row. **1/4
Lacey actually signed this as a title defense, assuming Colt and Jimmy would win the titles at the previous show. The announcers make fun of Jacobs for having his vagina painted pink. Jimmy and Colt start the fun early as Jimmy tries to blow a kiss to Lacey only to have Colt catch it in mid-air and toss it to the crowd. Jimmy actually chases down the invisible kiss and throws it gently to Lacey, but Colt catches it again. I know. I can’t believe I just recapped it either. Daniels kicks Colt in the face, but Lacey grabs the Fallen Angel’s foot. Daniels gets in her face, prompting Jimmy to get concerned. Daniels sunset flips Colt, but Lacey holds on to him and gets dragged in on top of Colt. Jimmy is really concerned now, but Colt is rather enjoying it (and so is Lacey). Daniels locks in the Koji Clutch, but Lacey has the ref distracted. Daniels grabs her again, prompting Jimmy to snap Daniels’ arm on the top rope. The would-be champs take over on Daniels for a bit. Sydal gets the hot tag, though, and cleans house. Colt and Jimmy have more miscommunication problems as they can’t get on the page long enough to catch the slippery Sydal. Colt goes up top, but Jimmy dropkicks Sydal into the buckle, crotching Colt on the top. Jimmy goes for the Contra Code but sees Lacey tending to Colt and gets distracted long enough for Daniels to come in and hit the Angel’s Wings at 14:09. After the match, BJ Whitmer runs down and attacks Jacobs again. Whitmer says Jimmy tried to end his career, but it’s not over yet. He promises to haunt Jimmy until he’s healthy enough to wrestle. Much like the previous night, the love triangle overshadowed the match, but Sydal and Daniels seemed more willing to go along with it than Claudio and Chris. ***
Sydal hits the Shining Wizard early, but Hero is able to gain control. The announcers point out that this is Sydal’s fourth match in 24 hours. Hero slowly dismantles Sydal, but he doesn’t seem to have much of a strategy other than to piss off the crowd. Sydal comes back with a jumping back kick but runs right into a snap powerslam. Hero follows up with a senton and a drop suplex. Claudio Castagnoli tries to interfere this time, but Daniels drags him down off the apron. That allows Sydal to hit the Sydal Press for the win at 9:29. **1/2
I haven’t seen Hagadorn since he was a prelim guy, but I can only assume he’s become a big TAKA Michinoku fan, given the entrance and hairstyle. The Crists are an impressive indy tag team known as the Irish Airborne. Rave is all alone tonight. Pelle is one of those guys you just can’t help but root for. He’s a graduate of the ROH school and can’t be too much larger than Finlay’s leprechaun, but he’s got moxie. The problem is, they already have a Jimmy Jacobs, and that’s basically the role Pelle’s playing. Hagadorn tosses Pelle out as the announcers call Shane a “bully.” Yes, it’s crept its way from Smackdown to ROH. Rave hits an STO on the apron. Cross fakes him out a few times before getting sent to the floor. Rave cuts one of the Crists off on a dive, but the other one hits a somersault plancha. The other Crist dumps Rave and hits the move anyway. Cross one-ups him with the Space Flying Tiger Drop. Pelle tries a charge but gets speared by Rave. Cross hits Rave with an enzuigiri and a Fireman’s Carry Neckbreaker. The Corkscrew Moonsault gets two, but Hagadorn breaks the count. The Irish Airborne returns and hits Rave with the Irish Air Raid (DVD onto the partner’s knees). Hagadorn takes them out of the picture, allowing Pelle to run in and roll up Rave for the upset win at 8:10. Just a collection of spots outside of Rave looking lost without Nana to guide him. **1/4
These two have met three times before: once in a 70+ minute classic at “Testing the Limit, at “Nowhere to Run” when Aries was champion, and then again at “Enter the Dragon” when Danielson was champion. Their demeanors are different here, as Danielson is cocky and enjoying his life as a champ while Aries looks decidedly worn. Compare that with their appearances at “Nowhere to Run.” This one looks to go fairly long as well as they open with an extended feeling out period. Finally, Danielson knocks Aries off the apron into the crowd barrier. He rams Aries’ back into the barrier and works it over once they get back in. Aries gives him a taste of his own medicine with a Camel Clutch and gets a nod to internet wrestling lore by screaming, “I’ll make you humble!” Danielson is able to use Aries’ bad back as a defense as well. He utilizes a bear hug to work it further. Aries explodes with a Finlay Slam and a frogsplash for two, but Danielson avoids the corner dropkick. Aries kicks him in the head and hits that corner dropkick anyway. Aries’ attempt at a Crucifix Bomb is countered to the Airplane Spin by Danielson, but Aries elbows out of it and winds up with a reverse armlock. Danielson makes the ropes. Aries reminds the ref he has ’til five! Little irony there. Danielson crotches Aries on the top and locks in the CFCW. Aries appears to be out of it but manages to burst toward the ropes. Aries keeps rolling through the Cattle Mutilation and hits his brainbuster. He goes up for the 450-splash, but Danielson rolls out of the way and small packages him for the cheap finish at 22:48. Although I hate the finish (which is the whole point), I love the chemistry these two have with one another. The only trifle I have is it was a little too tilted toward Danielson, but then again there’s a reason he’s champ. ****
Samoa Joe comes down to get him some of Danielson. The champ takes a lariat but escapes when the Briscoes arrive on the scene. That leads right into…
Joe and Homicide dominate for the early part of the match until Joe stops to slap Jay on the apron, allowing Mark to hit him with a spinkick from behind. Jay grounds Joe with a chinlock, but it’s Joe so he’s able to power up and slam his face into the mat. Homicide tags in because it’s time for bitches to die. He brawls with Jay on the outside as Joe slaps the shit out of Mark. Mark flies out with a no-hands over-the-top tope and knocks Homicide into the barricade. Joe heads out into the crowd and launches an entire section of chairs at Jay’s face one by one. Homicide one-ups him by suplexing Mark through chairs, not once but twice! Jay charges Joe and gets powerslammed on a chair. Prazak sounds like he took a half dozen ludes, though, so he seems really unimpressed. They brawl all the way out to the parking lot where Joe Crucifix DDTs Jay into the side of a truck. Mark disappears under the truck and emerges on top to hit a silly Shooting Star Press that takes out Joe, Homicide, and a few of the other people who had collected around them. Joe reinjures his knee on the spot and has to be taken out of the match. That leaves Homicide at the mercy of the Briscoes (at least, in theory). They brawl back into the arena where Homicide puts them both through a table. They finally get back to the ring where Homicide fights out of the Springboard Doomsday Device. Jay is able to slip out of the Cop Killa, though, and the Briscoes bring back the Spiked Jaydriller to knock Homicide silly for the win at 18:50. Well, it was certainly different than the previous match. It had a very ECW-ish feel, but what really made it fun was the utter hatred. There wasn’t a moment that I didn’t feel the two teams actually wanted to kill each other. That’s no mean feat to get someone who watches as much wrestling as I do to suspend his disbelief. I could have done without the goofy SSP spot, which is there just because it looks cool rather than to add anything real to the match. The rest was a great brawl, though. ***3/4
The 411: The new undercard that has been shuffled in to replace all the defections and injuries didn't really get the job done, but the usual suspects delivered in spades. The final two matches, in particular, kicked ass and put this over into an easy recommendation. Thumbs up for "Motor City Madness." |
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| Final Score: 7.0 [ Good ] legend |
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