wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — The Future is Now
February 20, 2007 | Posted by
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Loading...Ring of Honor — The Future is Now
by J.D. Dunn
This would be Ring of Honor’s attempt to capitalize on WWE’s “ECW: One Night Stand” PPV as they’re running just down the street from the WWE. Nice looking arena compared to some of the others they run.
Punk polished off Rave at the last show, so I guess Colt gets the scraps. Rave has no idea how to deal with Cabana’s European offense, and Colt humiliates him by yanking his pants down. Rave hits a lariat to the back of Colt’s head to take over. Colt accidentally chops the ringpost. Hey! That’s Roderick’s spot! Back in, Cabana blocks a charge and hits a missile dropkick. Colt snaps him over in a Cradle Suplex and sunset flips Rave. Rave rolls through and hits a Shining Wizard, but Colt makes the ropes to counter the Rave Clash. Rave rolls him up, but Colt reverses to his own and picks up the win at 9:34. Prince Nana cuts off Colt’s celebration and makes Jade Cheung go in the ring and slap him. Colt is about to return the favor, but he decides to teach her the Samba instead. Nana yanks her out and drags her down the aisle by the hair. The match was just okay, but any opportunity to see Colt the Superpimp is an opportunity you want to take. **1/4
Dunn & Marcos won the Scramble Cage at the first leg of the Third Anniversary Show by pinning the Carnage Crew. As a result, the CC were banned from ROH for 90 days. The joke is they hate their home lives and had to stay with their families for three months so now they’re really pissed off. CM Punk joins the commentary crew to neither confirm nor deny the rumors that he’s headed to the WWE. He says that before he leaves, he will win the ROH title to complete his indy wrestling experience. Anyway, this is just a total ass-kicking by the Crew on their return. A lot of people don’t like the Crew, and I have to say I don’t either, but I think they’re pretty good for cleansing the pallet before you get back to the real talent. Marcos takes a sick spill off the top into a ladder, and the CC hits the Spike Piledriver on Dunn at 7:35. *
Deranged ordering 6,000 shares of Doritos on his way to the ring is too funny for words. As you could probably guess by the participants, this is just an opportunity to put on a spot exhibition. Whitmer looks so out of place with these guys. Azrieal smacks Deranged right in the face. Jack, of course, is mightily over with the crowd. He works in the Space Flying Tiger Drop at one point. Azrieal hits Izzy with the double stomp for the win at 8:19. Mmm…just like cotton candy. Fluffy, sweet and completely without substance. **3/4
Well, the match barely gets started before the blaring, marijuana-induced strains of “Perfect Strangers” hits. [N/R]
Shane Douglas comes out and clears the ring of the prelim guys. He says he was offered a spot at One Night Stand but turned it down to come to ROH tonight. Of course, the fans aren’t idiots…well, not about things like this, so they chant “You’re a liar!” and “We want Flair!” Shane seems to get a little flustered, so he turns heel and says ROH is just like the WWE. It was hard to hear what he was saying because of the crowd heat, but I believe he actually had the balls to say “If you need someone to save wrestling, don’t call me.” Ha ha!!!!! That would be like calling Jimmy Olson to break up one of Lex Luthor’s plans. When the phone doesn’t ring, that’ll be us, Shane. This failed as a work, as a shoot, and as a worked-shoot.
Both of these guys are frustrated with recent events. Homicide lost out to Danielson in their best-of-five series while Gibson missed out on two opportunities to win the ROH title. They go through a long feeling-out sequence where Homicide tries his usual mindgames. Smokes gets in an argument with a fan and then tells Homicide that Gibson has no conditioning because he’s been in the WWE. For some reason, I find that really funny. Probably because it’s Smokes saying it. Gibson goes after Homicide’s injured neck with a neckbreaker and a legdrop, but Homicide hits an Ace Crusher on the apron to take over. Smokes threatens to burn Jamie’s Confederate Flag. Homicide hits his tope con hilo all the way out into the audience. Gibson comes back with a snap powerslam and goes up, but Homicide catches him and delivers a Butterfly Suplex. A diving headbutt misses, and Gibson hits a running knee to the head. Gibson with a brainbuster, but Homicide comes back with the Ace Crusher. Jamie counters the Cop Killa to a German Suplex for two. Gibson floats over into a Guillotine Choke that segues to a Butterfly Lock then into a Tiger Bomb! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Jamie chokes Homicide out on the ropes, but the referee pulls him back. Gibson gets so frustrated that he tosses the ref down. Homicide takes the opportunity to hit a low blow and finish with the lariat at 21:16. After the match, Gibson attacks Homicide and chokes him with his bare hands. Smokes makes the save and hits a piledriver. Homicide sets up a table, but Jay Lethal stumbles out to make a weak save and put Homicide through the table. The rest of the Rottweilers chase Lethal out into the crowd. That save was really poorly executed as they hit Lethal’s music thinking he’d get a big pop, but it didn’t happen. Then, Homicide and Smokes had to pretend they didn’t know he was coming down, despite the fact that it was his music and light show. To top it all off, Lethal’s clothesline on Homicide was Ultimate Warrior-worthy. The match itself was okay, but for something that could have been a main event a few weeks earlier, this didn’t have much intensity between the two wrestlers. It just felt more like an exhibition until the end, which is not at all where the story was leading them. ***
Strong really started to become a star in mid-2005 by acting as Austin Aries’ own personal enforcer. Before a big title defense, Aries would always send Roderick out to soften up the opponent to ensure an easier match. Punk, who has just finished off his big feud with Jimmy Rave, is now on a beeline to a title shot with Aries a week after this. Punk not only wants to keep momentum here, but he has to do it without getting injured. Punk is a step ahead early on, avoiding Roddy’s press gutbuster and grounding him with the Anaconda Vice. Strong makes the ropes, but Punk continues to ground him and work Roderick’s arm. They take it to the floor where Roderick misses a chop and hits the post. Back in, Punk slaps on a keylock to continue the work on the arm. He goes up, but Roderick dropkicks the ropes to crotch him and take over after 10 minutes of getting his ass kicked. Strong utilizes his wide array of backbreakers to set up the Stronghold. Punk gets a brief flurry, but Strong counters his Shining Wizard to a backbreaker. Strong locks in the Stronghold (Liontamer) but Punk makes the ropes and hits a Guillotine Legdrop. Strong kicks out, but Punk immediately segues to the Anaconda Vice. Strong makes the ropes and goes low, but Punk hits the Shining Wizard and locks in the Anaconda Vice for the submission for real at 24:08. Solid match that served two purposes: 1) to make Punk look like a badass by bitchslapping one of the hottest wrestlers in the company, and 2) to ensure Roderick wasn’t buried in the whole ordeal. You’d think those would be mutually exclusive, but Roderick actually came out of this okay because he was just coming to injure Punk, not to pin him. ***1/2
Punk gets on the mic and asks for the three fans who hate him to stand up. He tells them they paid for their ticket, so they can say what they want, but he has the microphone. Sadly, you can still hear them because of the intimate nature of the arena. He also tells Roderick that he failed to cripple him and gives him a message to tell Aries that his days with the title are numbered because Punk will hold the title next week no matter which company he works for. He puts Roderick over as the future of the company, though. Important promo for Punk, as everyone knew he was on his way out, so this put a lot of heat on the title match the next week. It’s also important, for reasons you’ll see in the “Death Before Dishonor III” review, that he pointed out the fans who hate him.
Colt Cabana has already earned a shot at the winner of this match with his victory over Rave. Nigel frustrates Joe with mat wrestling, so Joe just bull rushes him to the floor. Back in, answers Nigel’s forearm with an enzuigiri. Nigel blocks the Facewash, but Joe blocks Nigel’s attempt and knocks him into a security guard on the floor. Nigel is groggy, but he gets in. Nigel hits a hammerlock DDT and locks in an armbar right next to the ropes to make Joe use the ropebreak. An armscissors makes Joe use a second ropebreak, and Joe gets a warning for using a closed fist. Nigel rebounds off the ropes and knocks Joe down with a lariat. A hammerlock makes Joe use a final ropebreak as Bower notes Joe is also receiving interest from the WWE and TNA. Wonder how that’ll work out for him. Now, if Joe uses another closed fist, Nigel will take the title. Nigel’s handstand backfires as Joe boots him right in the face, bloodying Nigel’s nose. Nigel counters the STJoe with an armdrag, though. To the floor, Nigel utilizes a figure-four against the ringpost, but Joe holds out for a 19-count, forcing Nigel to get back in the ring. Joe blocks a hammerlock DDT and forces Nigel to use another ropebreak. Nigel rebounds off the ropes again, but Joe catches him in a powerslam. Joe no-sells the Artful Dodger and hits the Muscle Buster for the win at 19:44. Good strategy by Nigel, but it looks like they scrapped a planned ending and just went home for whatever reason. ***
After the match, Shane Douglas comes out to yell at the crowd and says he’s convinced of Ring of Honor’s quality. This was just an attempt to salvage his appearance, and it didn’t really work, so the rest of the exchange with Joe was cut from the final release.
Earlier, Ki interrupted the Channel 11 exhibition between Austin Aries and Azrieal to pick a fight with the champ. We get this match as a result. Ki is still suspended for beating up the referee at Final Battle 2004, hence the non-sanctioness. Ki attacks Aries before the bell, but Aries snaps back. Smokes interferes and gets tossed early. Ki gets frustrated and tries the Hanging Triangle Choke, but he’s forced to drop it when the ref counts to four. Back in, Ki tries to break Aries down out of a bridge by giving him stiff kicks to the leg. Ouch! Ki tries that handstand kick of his, but Aries cuts him off with his low snap dropkick. Nice counter with one guy using his signature move to counter another guy’s signature move. Ki chops Aries up against the ropes…HARD! Aries comes back with the Finlay Roll, but Ki gets the legs up to block a frogsplash. Ki tries the headscissor choke, but that segues to the headscissors, and YOU CAN’T HEADSCISSOR AUSTIN ARIES! Irritating moment as two dipshits in the crowd whine all over Todd Sinclair for reprimanding Aries because it’s non-sanctioned and “there are no rules.” No. Non-sanctioned just means it doesn’t count toward Ring of Honor standings. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the match that Ki and Aries agreed to has no rules. If that were the case, there would be no need for a three count to end the match. So, pretty please, with sugar on top, shut the fuck up and just watch the match. Ki cuts off a tope with a high kick and takes over. Back in, Ki blocks the Crucifix Bomb and counters to a double-stomp. Aries suddenly hulks up and hits a kneebreaker into a backdrop suplex. The corner dropkick gets two. A German Suplex Bridge gets two more, but Aries can’t hold the bridge because of the bad neck. Ki hits a beautiful springboard enzuigiri that knocks Aries to the floor. Back in, the double-stomp misses, but Ki forces Aries into the corner with a gun packet dropkick. Ki locks in the Dragon Clutch before deciding on going for the Ki Krusher. Aries fights out of it, though, and hits a brainbuster for two. They fight on the top, and Aries hits Ki with his own Ghetto Stomp. It looks comparatively weak, but the thought was there. Ki knees out of another brainbuster and hits a Kappou Kick. Aries kicks him right back and goes up, but Ki kicks Todd Sinclair into the ropes to crotch Aries on the top rope. SUPER KI KRUSHER! That’s enough to put the reigning champ away at 22:00, but most importantly, Aries neck is buggered all to hell for his title defense against CM Punk next week. Homicide comes out, and the Rottweilers go for the Cop Killa/Double-Stomp combo that injured Jay Lethal. Jack Evans and Roderick Strong make the save before Aries is crippled, and Jay Lethal returns to give an unsuspecting Low Ki the Dragon Suplex. Not necessarily epic or anything, but energetic and fun. ***1/2
The 411: Another one of those shows that exists to set up a bigger show down the line, but this one does it quite well. Most importantly, it created the storyline with Aries' neck injury and Punk's laser-like focus on winning the title before he leaves for the WWE. Thumbs up. |
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| Final Score: 7.5 [ Good ] legend |
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