wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Fifth Year Festival (Finale)
July 19, 2007 | Posted by
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| Ring of Honor — Fifth Year Festival (Finale) by J.D. Dunn Colt brings the funny right away, dressing up as legendary British wrestler Big Daddy and putting the hat on Delirious who is in his pre-match hibernation phase. Colt tops that by freaking out at the opening bell and chasing Delirious out of the ring. Leonard: You know the opponent is unorthodox when Delirious is unsure how to deal with him. Colt stomach bumps Delirious to the floor and makes fun of his mother, prompting chants of “Say you’re sorry!” from the crowd. Funny stuff. Colt offers an apologetic hug and then suckers Delirious into a wristlock. Colt twists the mask so Delirious can’t see, so Delirious gets several nearfalls on referee Todd Sinclair before realizing Sinclair is much pudgier than Cabana. They actually do some wrestling in their wrestling match. Colt hits a Tornado Suplex, and they go into a series of rollups that ends with Delirious slipping over Colt’s shoulder and schoolboying him for the fluke win at 11:43. One of the funniest comedy matches I’ve seen since Curry Man vs. Jay Lethal. ***1/4 Actually, only Danger and Del Rey are SHIMMERites, but Prazak calls this a SHIMMER special attraction, so who am I to argue? The British girls both act like Lacey, but the accents make them classy. The Angels dominate early until the “Jezebel” Eden Black knees Danger in the gut. You’d think Jim Ross would push to sign her. The match that follows is very quick if exhibitiony. Black hits Blacksploitation (the Crucifix) for two, but Del Rey finishes with the Royal Butterfly at 7:40. Average. ** They start before the DA can even finish their celebration and brawl all the way to the ring and back out into the hall. Jimmy grabs a fire extinguisher and smashes it over BJ’s back, but BJ knocks him down the stairs all the way to the lower section. BJ tries to toss him over the balcony (!) but Jacobs hangs on and battles his way back up. Jimmy gets two off a rana and goes all the way back up and hits a pescado off the balcony for two! The brawl goes all the way back to the ring where Jacobs stabs Whitmer in the head with a railroad spike. BJ has a pretty severe gusher going here. BJ goes for an Electric Chair drop, but Jimmy stabs him in the head again and reverses to a rana. Whitmer blocks the Contra Code and counters to a VICIOUS Tombstone Piledriver for two. They chop it out, a battle that Whitmer wins. They take it to the floor where Jimmy blocks a powerbomb and goes for the spear. BJ boots him right in the face, though, and hits a brainbuster on the entrance ramp for the win at 12:29. Sick, brutal match, which they would top at Supercard of Honor II. *** PAC had a great showing against Strong the previous night, but he couldn’t get it done. They open with the usual lightning fast exchange of moves you usually see from cruiserweights, and then Sydal hits his corner knee/clothesline sequence. Sydal ups the cockiness, blocking a headscissors and slinging himself into a corner dropkick. Inventive counter as Sydal goes for a top-rope huracanrana, but Pac simply ducks under him, and Sydal winds up crotching himself. Sydal misses a charge and winds up on the floor where Pac hits a corkscrew press. Back in, Pac blocks the Moonsault Belly-to-Belly and hits a twisting splash. Sydal surprises him with the Mindtrip (snapmare into the canvas) and a standing moonsault for two. Pac comes back with a rana and a Tiger Suplex for two. He goes up, but Sydal hits a surprise rana and finishes with the Shooting Star Press at 11:25. Another good showing from Pac. The match itself had a lot of pretty moves, but they didn’t really add up to much emotionally. **3/4 This was the first time these two have met in ROH since 2003. They decided that the best way to “toughen themselves up” to reclaim the titles was to kick each other’s asses into shape. Jay rides Mark down and goes for an armbar early, prompting protestations from Mark. Jay slaps him right in the face as a rebuttal. They go for a test of strength, and Mark returns the slap. Mark grabs a headlock and won’t let go despite Jay trying to whip him off the ropes and backdropping him. Mark tries to bounce off the ropes, and Jay closes the distance and just LEVELS him with a lariat that sends them both over. They trade stiff blows and fight up to the entrance platform where Jay gives Mark a suplex. Back to the ring, Mark sets up for the Springboard Ace Crusher, but Jay has it scouted (of course), and chops him to cut it off. Mark settles for a slingshot double-stomp. He tries a Northern Lights, but Jay reverses to a wicked DDT. Jay gets two off a dropkick and gets frustrated. Mark reverses a whip and hits an Exploder for two. Jay boots him in the face and locks in the Stretch Plum. They slap it out, which leads to forearms, which leads to Mark getting knocked to the apron. He tries a springboard, but Jay cuts him off with a dropkick and hits a somersault plancha. Back in, Jay hits a frogsplash all the way across the ring! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Mark busts out his kung fu and hits that Springboard Ace Crusher he was looking for earlier. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! A springboard kick leads to a springboard corkscrew splash for two. Mark sets him up for a superplex, but Jay counters to a SUPER GOURDBUSTER! They’re both out of it in an ominous precursor to the finish. Jay recovers and hits the Sit-Out Falcon Arrow. ONE, TWO, TH-Mark has the ropes. STRETCH PLUM! Jay lets it go and gets two off a lariat. Mark counters a second attempt to a side suplex and hits a second one when Jay no-sells the first. Jay gets knocked to the apron, and referee Todd Sinclair gets in between them. Mark gets frustrated and shoves the ref to the corner and then springboards off his back to take his brother to the floor. Back in, they trade blows back and forth until Jay hits the JAYDRILLER! Both guys are out of it again, but they stagger up to their feet. SLUGFEST! Both guys go down again. Jay hauls Mark up but pays for it as Mark hits the CUTTHROAT DRIVER! That was, apparently, Mark’s last gasp because he’s out too. Sinclair lays in the count, and neither man can get up, so we get a double KO at 27:05. More patient match than their 2002 classic. Both guys’ styles have matured, and it made for a more intense (if less overtly entertaining) match. ****1/4 Doi and Shingo won the titles the night before at FYF: Liverpool, so I guess they deserve credit for defending them on the quick turnaround. This is Dragon Gate rules, so no tags are necessary as long as there are only two guys in the ring at the same time. I prefer Australian rules, but it certainly makes for a quicker pace. The crowd is immediately on fire for this, even after that last match. Shingo steamrolls Richards and poses to a big pop. The crowd mocks Davey with a chant. Doi wipes out Strong with a senton in the corner. Shingo winds up playing face-in-peril, which is silly in a match with these rules. Doi gets the hot tag and wipes out Richards with an elbow suicida. That leaves Shingo alone with Strong. Shingo no-sells a suplex and nails Roderick with a lariat for two. Richards recovers and makes the save, spelling Roderick for a moment. Furious finish as all four guys wind up in there at once. The NRC hit a wicked powerbomb/lungblower combo. Richards goes up for the SSP on Doi, but Doi gets the knees up and hits the Sit-Out F5. Richards goes up, but Doi catches him and hits the Super Sit-Out F5 at 19:33! I’ve never been a big Shingo fan, but he and Doi have great “power guy/quick guy” chemistry together. It was a fun, fast-paced match throughout. ***3/4 This is the result of Nigel teasing Jimmy with a roll of toilet paper. Nigel is coming in injured after the previous night’s war with Samoa Joe. Jimmy avoids a lariat early, but Nigel rebounds on the outside and knocks him down. Rave targets Nigel’s injured leg. He tries to yank Nigel’s arm into the post, but Nigel reverses and pulls Rave into the post. Nigel finds an extra piece of barricade under the ring, stretches it over the apron and crowd barrier, and flapjacks Rave’s face on it. Back inside, Jimmy blocks a chairshot and hits the running knee to the face for two. A spear gets two more. Nigel comes back with the short-arm lariat for two. The Tower of London gets two more. Jimmy blocks a charge and hits Ghanarrhea followed by the Pedigree, but they only get two. Nigel blocks a DDT and crotches Rave on the top rope, setting him up for the LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! They head to the apron where Nigel tries to suplex Rave, but Jimmy fights him off and hits an STO to the barricade! Nigel recovers and fights his way back in. Rave charges and gets BACKDROPPED THROUGH THE BARRICADE! Nigel drags Jimmy’s carcass back in and gives him a TOWER OF LONDON ON A CHAIR! Oh, that’s just sick. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Well, that really should have been the finish. Nigel hauls him up for the short-arm clothesline, but Jimmy ducks and trips him down into the Stepover Anklelock. The ref gets bumped in Nigel’s flailing, but Nigel crawls up the ropes and drags Jimmy onto the ropes. TOWER OF LONDON TO THE BARRICADE! A new ref comes in! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! This is getting ridiculous. The first ref is a quivering mess. Jimmy fires away, knocking Nigel back, but Nigel rebounds off the ropes and LEVELS Jimmy with the lariat at 21:14. I could have done without the multiple kickouts, which just seem wasted on someone with Rave’s stature, but I can’t fault them for the intensity and work ethic. As Bill Kurtis might say, this match was “the balls.” ***3/4 This would be Samoa Joe’s swan song in ROH, and he goes out against one of his best friends. Homicide gets the upper hand early, and Joe bails for a beer. Back in, tempers flare. Smokes grabs Joe’s leg long enough for Homicide to take over. Joe catches Homicide with an atomic drop and a senton. He hits the Facewash. Homicide avoids the Schwein and hits a sunset flip for two. A knee to the temple gets two for ‘Cide. They slug it out on the apron, and Homicide hits the Ace Crusher. Back in, Homicide grounds Joe with the chinlock. Joe sunset flips into the rolling cradle and lariats Homicide for a double KO spot. Joe misses an atomic drop but snap powerslams ‘Cide for two. A flying knee gets two more. Joe hits the STJoe, but Smokes grabs on to his leg to keep him from going up. Homicide recovers and superplexes him for two. Homicide can’t put him away, though, and Joe hits the powerbomb into the STF. Homicide makes the ropes and hits Joe with a top-rope DDT! ONE, TWO, THR-Joe gets his foot on the ropes. ACE CRUSHER! ONE, TWO, TH-NO! Joe ducks a lariat and locks in the Coquina Clutch! Smokes goes up, but Joe releases the hold and slams him off. Homicide grabs the ring bell and SMACKS Joe in the head with it! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Joe catches Homicide on top and hits the MUSCLEBUSTER! ONE, TWO, THRE-Smokes pulls the ref out. Joe gets pissed and hits Smokes with the Olé Kick, allowing Smokes to do his Terry Funk-sell. The crowd asks for another one, so Joe complies, only Homicide comes out of nowhere to cut Joe off with a rolling suicida. AWESOME! Back in, Homicide hits the lariat (which got him the win in January). ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Homicide sets Joe on the top rope and headbutts him, knocking himself silly. Funny line from Homicide: Oh, why I do dat? Joe grabs him and hits a SUPER MUSCLEBUSTER! ONE, TWO, THREE! Joe wins on his way out at 23:00. In a cool moment, Joe leans down and apologizes for the Super Musclebuster, and Homicide says, “Don’t worry about it. I’m alive. Go get your pop.” I don’t know if the camera was supposed to catch that, but I’m glad it did. Joe gives a funny speech, read from his wristband about what a genius Gabe Sapolsky is. His real speech puts over ROH as a real alternative. ***1/2 |
The 411: The DVD is worth it for Joe's historical departure, but the wrestling on this is phenomenal, with only two matches dropping below *** by my count, and one of those was just an exhibition. Although it doesn't have quite "big show" atmosphere of Final Battle 2006, the wrestling is better per capita and it's certainly the best show since FB06. Thumbs way up! |
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| Final Score: 9.0 [ Amazing ] legend |
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