ROH – A Fight at the Roxbury DVD Review

ROH – A FIGHT AT THE ROXBURY – ROXBURY CROSSING, MA – JUNE 8, 2007

Introduction

BG says: The Video Wire for this weekend’s shows starts off with Rebecca Bayless catching up with Delirious in a field in Florida for an interview. Delirious says something about Roderick Strong, but it’s actually a less coherent rambling than usual. Also included in the wire are stills from theRespect is Earned PPV, clips of Kevin Steen & El Generico’s tag team dominance, Deliroius looking around the FIP locker room for Roderick Strong, hype for Jay Briscoe’s title shot against Takeshi Morishima (including clips from the Briscoes tag title defense against Morishima & Nigel McGuinness) and a promo from Jay Briscoe in Florida promising to win the World title. Mark talks about getting revenge on Kevin Steen and having nothing to lose. They also promise to beat the Kings of Wrestling in two straight falls in their 2/3 falls match and don’t seem to be worried about facing Steen & Generico at the next PPV taping. The Video Wire wraps up with Delirious finding Strong in the FIP locker room and attacking him. Babyface Sean Davis pulls him off. Nice to see original footage back in the Video Wire.

Rebecca Bayless kicks off the show with the No Remorse Corp. They’re more interested in looking at Bayless’s boobs than talking about their match tonight. Strong does threaten to kill Delirious and then calls Austin Aries lucky for being able to hide behind his TNA contract instead of facing the No Remorse Corp. Davey Richards suggests that Bayless let Rocky Romero have some fun with her backstage, so she runs away. Cute stuff.

Bryan Danielson respects Jimmy Rave because they both like to hurt people. But last year it took Danielson over twenty minutes to put Rave away. Tonight he’s going to get the job done much, much quicker.

JZ says: Rebecca Bayless is backstage with the No Remorse Corps, who are trying desperately to be cool. Strong’s promos are still terrible, as in this one he threatens to kill Delirious, and then laughs for no reason. Strong says that Aries is running from him and the NRC, and that tonight they will be in their opponents’ asses. They said it, not me. Richards solicits Bayless for prostitution and Richards says their opponent’s shouldn’t plan on walking out tonight.

The ultra-pale Bryan Danielson professes his respect for Jimmy Rave. However, he is upset that Rave lasted over 20 minutes with him back at the Fourth Anniversary Show. It was actually over 30. Danielson promises to make short work out of Rave tonight.

MATCH #1: Brent Albright vs. BJ Whitmer

BG says: They have a slap fest to start. Whitmer hits a leg lariat and suplexes Albright to the floor, falling out himself in the process. Albright gets up first (?) and throws Whitmer into the barricade a few times. Whitmer returns the favor but gets distracted by the referee and Albright attacks him from behind. Back in the ring Albright gets 2. Albright works over Whitmer’s arm, slamming it to the mat and hitting a kneedrop on it. He goes to the eyes and tosses Whitmer’s arm into the post. He wraps Whitmer’s arm around the post for 2. Whitmer comes back with a neckbreaker for 2. He hits the Rude Awakening for 2. He hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Albright comes back with an implant DDT for 2. He hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. Whitmer ducks a crossbody and hits a German suplex. Albright hits a German suplex but Whitmer catches him with a dragon suplex for 2. Albright locks in the Crowbar but Whitmer gets to the ropes. Albright slams Whitmer’s arm to the mat but Whitmer comes back with a kick to the head and a running knee for 2. Whitmer gets frustrated and headbutts the referee, drawing a disqualification. This got the crowd good and fired up, even if it didn’t have a real finish. Whitmer has a temper tantrum after the match. I don’t get why he got frustrated before he even hit a regular exploder.
Rating: **¾

JZ says: They start it out by slapping each other and graduate up to forearms. Whitmer takes control and suplexes Albright over the top rope to the floor and Whitmer is dragged out with him. They fight on the floor for a bit with Albright gaining control. Back in the ring Albright stays in control, working on the arm to set up for the Crowbar. Whitmer fights back and goes for the neck. Albright fights back and it turns into a back and froth contest. Whitmer pulls out the German suplex but Albright comes back with one of his own. Whitmer comes back to that with a dragon suplex for two. Albright gets the Crowbar on but Whitmer reaches the ropes. Whitmer kicks Albright in the face and then hits a big knee for two. Whitmer is upset that this did not win the match for him, so Whitmer delivers a headbutt to referee Paul Turner and Albright wins the match by DQ at 9:21. Whitmer throws some chairs around at ringside and is pretty pissed off. That was good enough for the time given.
Rating: **¼

Now a word from Daizee Haze

BG says: Daizee Haze comes out to the ring to complain about Lacey. Last time ROH came through Boston Lacey gave her a concussion. That was one thing but Lacey sending her boys Brent Albright and Jimmy Jacobs after her is another. Umm, it was a mixed tag match you idiot, what’d you expect was going to happen? She’s completely leaving out the fact that Whitmer and Colt Cabana went after Lacey before either of Lacey’s guys went after her. Jimmy Jacobs limps out to the ring and patronizes Haze a bit. Haze attacks him despite the fact that he’s injured so Lacey runs out and beats her down. She’s very concerned with Jacobs but Jacobs is more concerned with her beating on Haze. Interesting roll reversal there. Lacey beats the crap out of Haze until Jacobs pulls her off. See how putting the women’s interaction into an angle that people care about makes it more worthwhile in ROH? Jacobs tells Haze how violent Lacey is going to get with her tomorrow night.

JZ says: Daizee Haze comes out to the ring to cut a promo about how much she hates Lacey. She challenges Lacey to come out so she can beat her to a pulp. The gimpy Jimmy Jacobs comes out instead, with the assistance of his cane. The crowd chants “you fucked Lacey.” I love that ROH actually has two microphones for promos like this now. Haze takes advantage of the injured Jacobs, and looks totally awkward doing it. This brings Lacey out to protect her man, and she hits a nasty looking lung blower on Haze. Jacobs encourages Lacey to go get her. She beats Haze down, Jacobs promises violence tomorrow night in Philadelphia. Lacey acting lovingly towards Jacobs is a bit of an odd sight after how mean she’s been to him in the past.

MATCH #2: Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave

BG says: Danielson takes Rave to the mat to start. Rave keeps him from dominating by putting on a front facelock so Danielson goes after the leg. Rave gets to the ropes so Danielson stands up, but he keeps the leglock on. He adds an abdominal stretch to the mix and the crowd goes crazy. Rave counters to a heel hook attempt but Danielson hits a forearm to block it. He works over Rave’s neck so Rave spits in his face. He gets a headlock takeover so Danielson spits in his face. He hits a headbutt to Rave’s face and punches his nose. Rave comes back with a back suplex but Danielson kicks at his legs and hits the Earthquake splash. He puts on a triangle choke but Rave gets to the ropes and stomps on Danielson’s face. Danielson hits a back heel kick and a side kick to the head. Rave bails so Danielson follows him out with a European uppercut off the apron. Back in the ring Rave catches Danielson coming off the top with a spear and puts on the heel hook. Danielson stands up and elbows out of it. Rave dropkicks the knee and goes for the heel hook again. Danielson rolls him up for 2. He hits a head-and-arm suplex but Rave unloads with strikes. They trade rolls ups and Danielson lays in the unprotected elbows for the win. Danielson always gets the best out of Rave, and while (like Danielson promised) this wasn’t like their epic match from 2006, it was quite good as a more abbreviated match. Rave actually shows Danielson respect after the match. That’s a great touch to remind everyone that Danielson is a very big deal.
Rating: ***¼

JZ says: They start out by grappling, with Danielson clearly gaining an advantage. Rave slaps Danielson in the face, and Danielson is a little surprised. He fights back as he knows best, by going for unique submission holds. Rave tries going after the leg but Danielson will have none of that. Rave comes back by spitting in Danielson’s face and going to the headlock. Danielson returns the spit-favor, and reminds the referee he has till five while he works over Rave. Danielson goes for Rave’s previously injured jaw, just to be a dick. Rave fights back and chops Danielson in the corner. Danielson fights back and locks on a triangle choke. Rave escapes it and stomps Danielson on the face. Danielson soon comes back and lands a solid kick to Rave’s head. Rave powders and Danielson follows him out with a European Uppercut off the apron. Back in the ring Danielson tries a something off the top rope but Rave spears him in mid-air. Rave puts on the Heel Hook but Danielson escapes. Rave goes back to the hold and a nice reversals sequence results, ending with Danielson hitting a capture suplex on Rave. Danielson slaps Rave in the face multiple times. Rave tries to roll up Danielson, but it leads to him getting a series of elbows to the face instead and Rave calls it quits at 10:51. That was a really entertaining midcard style match, and it was weird to see Danielson this low on the card. Danielson tells Morishima he’s coming for him. Rave gets up and shakes Danielson’s hand and then walks out.
Rating: ***

MATCH #3: Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen

BG says: Steen has the PERFECT entrance music. “I don’t care about anyone else but me,” should be his catchphrase. He attacks Mark on his way into the ring but Mark comes back with a leg lariat. Steen goes to the eyes and hits a back elbow. Mark hits a superkick and Steen bails. Mark dives out onto him and then hits him with a senton from the second rope to the floor. He whips Steen into the barricade and goes for a hurricanrana but Steen counters to a powerbomb onto the apron. He throws Mark over the barricade with a powerbomb and then drags him deeper into the crowd. Mark goes for a vertical suplex but Steen blocks and hits the move himself. Steen hits a bodyslam and climbs a scaffold. He does nothing off of it to get under the fans’ skin and then drags Mark back to ringside. Mark regains his wits and slams Steen from the barricade to the floor before hitting a standing moonsault. Back in the ring He hits a slingshot double stomp for 2. Steen hits an enziguiri and a pumphandle neckbreaker for 2. He climbs the ropes but a Swanton Bomb hits knees. Mark hits an exploder for 2. He hits the yelping dropkick and climbs the ropes. Steen crotches him and tosses him through a table to the floor. Back in the ring Mark tries to fight back but Steen has no trouble hitting the package piledriver for the win. Mark got destroyed there. The hot crowd did a lot to make this more entertaining, as the brawling on the floor could have been dull had they been dead. This did a lot to legitimize Steen as a powerhouse and a nut job who’ll kill an opponent before losing. After the match Steen goes after Mark with a chair but Jay makes the save.
Rating: ***½

JZ says: The difference between the Kevin Steen that was in ROH in 2005 and the one that is here now is night and day. It doesn’t take long for Mark to rush the ring and attacked the man who has taken multiple cheap shots on him. They trade forearms right away and Steen wins the exchange with an eye rake. Mark is all fired up and sends Steen to the floor and hits a suicide dive on him. Mark goes up to the second rope and hits a somersault senton on the floor. This guy is nuts. Steen recovers and powerbombs Mark on the ring apron, and then over the barricade into the crowd. They fight all over the arena. Steen climbs up one of the scaffolds, but decides not to go through with it. That’s probably for the best. They finally make it back to the ring and Mark gets a two-count. Steen tries a senton off the top but Mark gets the knees up and hits an exploder for two. Mark goes to the top and Steen stops Mark by tossing him through the timekeeper’s table at ringside. That was unexpected. Steen goes right out after him and tosses him back inside. Mark gets up but is still easy prey to a Package Piledriver and Steen gets the pin at 9:44. They packed a lot into a short amount of time, and Steen’s work is a heel is excellent. Steen goes out to get a chair and Jay is out to make the save.
Rating: ***½

MATCH #4: #1 Contender Four Corner Survival – Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Hero vs. Mike Quackenbush

BG says: Nigel and Hero are first in the ring but Hero tags to Quackenbush because he wants none of Nigel. Quackenbush puts Nigel on the mat to start. They have trouble actually getting holds locked in on each other and thus show each other respect. Nigel puts on a chinlock but Hero tags him out and blindsides Quackenbush. Hero and Quackenbush get all AAA on us and Hero tags to Claudio. Quackenbush hits a head scissors takedown and a monkey flip on Claudio. He spins around and around and hits an armdrag. Claudio blocks a crossbody and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for 2. Hero tags in as the Kings of Wrestling reunion seems to be happening a night early. Hero hits a delayed atomic toss on Quackenbush. Claudio tags in and hits the giant swing for 2. Hero tags in and the former Kings hit the double big boot for 2. Hero puts on a half nelson and rolls Quackenbush up for 2. Claudio tags in and puts on a seated abdominal stretch. Quackenbush gets a sunset flip for 2. Hero tags in and hits a bicycle kick to the gut. Toland chokes Quackenbush on the ropes, which Claudio has a problem with. Claudio tags in but Quackenbush uses some circus shit on the former Kings and tags to Nigel. Nigel hits a running European uppercut and a short-arm lariat on Hero for 2. Hero drives Nigel to the mat with a stomp off the second rope for 2. He hits the Ode to Tracy Smothers but Nigel comes back with a hammerlock takedown. Quackenbush tags in and counters a chokeslam to an armdrag. He hits the Black Tornado Slam for 2. Hero dodges a palm strike and hits a back suplex. He hits a reverse vertical suplex for 2. Claudio blind tags Hero out and hits the Ricola Bomb on Quackenbush for 2 when Nigel saves. Quackenbush blocks the Alpamare Waterslide but not the Ricola suplex, which gets 2. Quackenbush hits a snap hurricanrana on Claudio and a head scissors takedown on Hero for 2. Hero boots Quackenbush off of Claudio’s shoulder and the former Kings argue over who should win the match. Well Claudio isn’t legal so it’s not really an issue. Nigel tags in and hits the handstand kick on Hero. Claudio hits Nigel with a European uppercut but Nigel comes back with the Tower of London for 2. Claudio hits the Alpamare Waterslide for 2. Quackenbush tags in and gets hit with a back elbow. He monkey flips Claudio to the floor and follows him out with a moonsault press from the second turnbuckle. Hero flips around to bother the fans but does catch Nigel with a back heel kick. Nigel responds with the rebound lariat on the floor. Back in the ring Hero hits a big boot and his entourage keeps Nigel from hitting the Jawbreaker Lariat. Claudio hits a bicycle kick on Hero and but Quackenbush catches him with a spinning armbar takedown for 2. Claudio blocks a backslide and hits a European uppercut for the win. Great match left made everyone look fantastic. Best four corner survival in ages.
Rating: ****

JZ says: I don’t imagine it will take too long before this one gets too fast for me to keep up with. I’m a fan of all four of these guys so I’m actually kind of looking forward to this Four Corner Survival, which isn’t always the case. Quack and Nigel start it off with some mat wrestling, neither man gaining a clear advantage. Hero and Quack have a brief exchange and Hero quickly tags out to Claudio. Quack does some really impressive stuff and with him it somehow doesn’t look forced. Hero and Claudio work together a little bit, which is good practice for them since they’re re-joining forces for a tag team title shot against the Briscoes tomorrow night. Claudio uses the Giant Swing on Quack, and that move is way cooler than the airplane spin. Quack has been in the ring for almost 10 minutes now. He finally makes a comeback and takes out both the former Kings of Wrestling and tags out to Nigel, who is a flat on fire. Hero recovers and takes Nigel down. Hero channels Tracey Smothers, which is fine, but I hate it when he calls it out like that. As predicted I can’t really keep up with this one anymore, but I’m enjoying the hell out of it. Hero and Claudio continue to work together for a bit, but when time comes for a pinfall they can’t get along. Nigel takes advantage of the dissension and mule kicks Hero. Nigel tries to jawbreaker lariat but Toland and Dempsey grab him and pull him to the floor. We’re down to Claudio and Quack in the ring. Quack gets a close near fall, but Claudio comes back with a big European Uppercut to get the pin at 18:43. That was almost all action between four really talented guys. Prazak and Leonard don’t really even mention it, but Claudio just earned a shot at Takeshi Morishima and the ROH World Title.
Rating: ***¾

INTERMISSION

BG says: Rebecca Bayless catches up with BJ Whitmer during intermission to ask him why he freaked out earlier. Whitmer blows off the interview completely so Steen and El Generico run in to take over. Steen gets rid of Bayless and promises that Generico will beat Matt Sydal tonight. He says he enjoyed beating Mark Briscoe up so much that when the DVD comes out he’s going to steal a copy from ROH and use it as pornography. When he’s done with the DVD he and Generico are going to become the tag team champions. I can’t believe this is the same guy that flopped in ROH a couple years ago.

JZ says: Rebecca Bayless tries to get to the bottom of the BJ Whitmer situation, but he doesn’t want to talk about it. Steen and Generico hijack the interview time and Steen brings the awesome by saying he’s going to steal the DVD from the merch table, and then he’s going to use it like pornography. Steen promises they will become the next ROH World Tag Team Champions.

MATCH #5: Eddie Edwards vs. Pelle Primeau

BG says: Edwards grabs a wristlock to start. He hits a back elbow but Primeau comes back with a head scissors takedown. He hits another off the second rope and a springboard crossbody for 2. Edwards chops him down and hits a back suplex into the X Factor for 2. He hits a snap suplex for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Primeau escapes and hits a hurricanrana. Edwards hits a clothesline and they trade strikes. Edwards falls to the floor so Primeau follows him out with a hurricanrana into the barricade. Back in the ring he hits the springboard Thesz press and a double stomp for 2. He rolls Edwards up for 2. He hits a DDT for 2. He goes for a top rope crossbody but Edwards catches him and sets him up top. He hits an enziguiri and brings him down with a backpack stunner for 2. He hits a fisherman suplex for 2. Primeau gets a sunset flip for 2. Edwards comes back with a powerbomb for 2 and the Air Raid Crash for the win. This was fine, but I don’t get what ROH wants to get out of Edwards or Primeau for that matter.
Rating: **

JZ says: Primeau is still the Top of the Class Trophy holder. He tries to use his speed and quickness, but the much larger Edwards is able to take him down. Primeau comes back with a headscissors. A springboard crossbody block gets two. Edwards unloads a few chops, but Primeau won’t back down. Edwards hits a pretty cool looking suplex I can’t quite describe. Primeau cleverly gets Edwards down on the floor and tries a somersault dive but Edwards catches him. Primeau reverses that though, and delivers the headscissors into the guardrail. Back in the ring these guys are not slowing down at all. You can tell they’re really trying to impress the live crowd. After several near falls, Edwards finally gets the pin with a cross-legged brainbuster at 7:14. That was very much a “look at all the moves we can do” sort of match, but for the position both guys are in company-wise it’s totally understandable.
Rating: **¼

MATCH #6: Matt Sydal vs. El Generico

BG says: They lock up and Generico puts on a wristlock. Sydal counters to a headlock. Generico gets an armdrag into an armbar. Sydal comes back with a hurricanrana and a dropkick. He hits an enziguiri for 2. He hits two bodyslams and a side slam. He hits an elbowdrop for 2. He puts on the bow and arrow but Generico rolls over for 2. Sydal slips away and hits a legdrop for 2. Generico hits a leg lariat for 2. He hangs Sydal on the second rope and hits a Lionsault for 2. He hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for 2. Sydal dodges the corner Yakuza kick and hits a spinning leg lariat. They trade strikes and Sydal hits a leaping forearm. He hits a clothesline and hits corner combo. He climbs the ropes and drives Generico the mat with his knees. Generico dodges the standing moonsault but can’t hit the brainbuster. Sydal hits the Slice for 2. He sneaks up behind Generico and hits a crossbody to the floor. Great spot there. Sydal tries to roll Generico into the ring but Generico rolls out on the other side and dives through the corner to hit a swinging DDT on the floor. Wow, just wow. Back in the ring Sydal rolls Generico up for 2. Generico flips Sydal around and hits a powerbomb for 2. Sydal catches the Yakuza kick and hits the standing moonsault for 2. He sets Generico up and hits a hurricanrana. Generico comes back with the Yakuza kick for 2. Sydal counters the brainbuster into a hurricanrana for the win. That started a little slow but turned into quite the crazy match.
Rating: ***¼

JZ says: This is a bit of an odd dynamic, because both are ostensibly heels, but Generico in particular generates a lot of face heat. They mat wrestle to start and Generico controls the arm. Sydal comes back with a step up enziguiri and now he takes control. They continue to go back and forth, with neither man holding the advantage for very long. This turns into a kind of elevated version of the previous match, with both guys just showing off what they can do. Generico does hit an amazing version of a powerbomb but Sydal kicks out. Sydal hits the standing Moonsault and I the referee counts three even though Generico kicks out and Prazak tries to cover up for him, but he obviously just screwed it up. Hey, it happens. A few moments later Generico tries the brainbuster but Sydal is able to counter that into a hurricanrana and gets the pin at 14:06. That was all spots with no selling or psychology, but it was still pretty entertaining.
Rating: ***¼

MATCH #7: Six Man Tag Team Match – Roderick Strong, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero vs. Delirious, Matt Cross & Erick Stevens

BG says: Everyone brawls to start. Cross hits a hurricanrana on Richards in the ring but Romero nails him with a dropkick. Stevens and Romero trade strikes and Stevens hits a vertical suplex. Strong dumps Stevens to the floor but Delirious runs in and hits him with a senton. The NRC collects on the floor so Delirious dives off the top rope onto them. Cross hits Strong with a dropkick for 2. Stevens tags in and hits a side slam for 2. Delirious tags in and hits a back suplex for 2. Stevens tags in and hits a vertical suplex and a neckbreaker for 2. Strong sends Stevens to the floor where Romero and Richards beat him up. Back in the ring Strong gets 2. Romero tags in and hits a second rope dropkick. Richards comes in illegally and hits a clothesline for 2. He puts on a chinlock and then hits a bodyslam and a legdrop. Romero tags in and the NRC triple-teams Stevens. Strong comes in illegally and gets 2. He hits a bodyslam and an elbowdrop for 2. Romero tags in and kneedrops Stevens off of Strong’s knees for 1 with a cocky cover. Richards tags in and goes to the eyes after Stevens catches one of his kicks. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special and makes a switch with Strong. Stevens rolls Strong up for 2 and suplexes him across the ring. Delirious tags in and cleans house. Cross hits an enziguiri on Richards and Delirious hits a crossbody to the floor. Cross kicks Strong and hits the Space Flying Tiger Drop on Richards and Romero. Back in the ring Delirious goes for the Cobra Stretch on Richards but has to settle for a headbutt to the gut and the Bizarro Driver for 2. Romero comes in and hits a high knee. Delirious comes back with the Neverending Story clotheslines. Romero stops that from going on too long and comes off the second rope with a DDT. Romero puts on a guillotine hammerlock but Stevens rams him into the corner to escape. He hits the Choo Choo Avalanche and a pumphandle powerbomb for 2. Strong runs in and goes for the tiger driver but Stevens blocks it. Strong pancakes him and with Richards’s help he sandwiches Stevens with kicks for 2. Cross hits a handspring elbow on Strong and Delirious hits the Panic Attack on Romero. Stevens hits Romero with the TKO for 2. He goes for the Oklahoma slam on Romero but Strong blocks it with the Sick Kick. Delirious hits Strong with the soccer kick but Richards hits him with the Ace Crusher and a buzzsaw kick. Cross hits a double stomp on Richards but Romero hits him with a kick to the chest. Strong goes low Stevens but runs into a powerslam. Romero hits Stevens with a springboard swinging DDT for 2. Richards and Stevens trade strikes and Stevens hits a German suplex. Delirious follows that with the Shadows Over Hell and Cross follows that with a corkscrew moonsault for 2. Strong hits Stevens with a superplex and Richards follows that with a froggy elbow for 2. Strong forces Delirious to crotch Cross up top and Romero brings him down with the Diablo Armbar. Delirious breaks it up with a legdrop off the top. Delirious gets a crucifix pin on Strong for 2. He gets a roll up for 2. Strong comes back with the gutbuster but Delirious hits him with Chemical Imbalance II for the win. Stevens was an odd choice to play face-in-peril, but once that segment was over things kicked into high gear. Things were a tag on the chaotic side but it fit the feud.
Rating: ***½

Larry Sweeney is in a private training facility with Sweet N’ Sour Incorporated. While Hero works out Tank Toland explains to Sweeney what he’s going to do to Bobby Dempsey. He makes Dempsey do some squats and then has him run while holding Hero on his shoulders. That doesn’t work out so well so Hero just coaches him as he runs. I love this group.

JZ says: There’s no waiting for this one, as Delirious and what’s left of the Resilience charge the ring to attack the NRC right away. We start off with Cross and Richards in the ring and quickly move on to Stevens vs. Romero. Stevens gets the advantage there and Strong comes in and tosses him out. Now Delirious comes in. He’s got Strong off guard enough to unleash quite a bit of offense on the NRC leader. The bad guys cheat to gain an advantage and go to work on Stevens. Their interactions and mannerisms as heels are all so good in the ring, it’s a shame their promos just can’t keep up. They beat up Stevens for a few minutes until Stevens hits a suplex on Strong and tries to make the tag but Strong holds him back. Stevens makes the tag to Delirious anyway, and he’s on fire. Richards and Delirious wind up in the ring together and Delirious hits a Bizarro Driver for two. This one of course gets to the point where all six guys are in the ring fighting and hitting some big moves. Richards gets isolated and takes the Shadows Over Hell and a spinning body press from Cross and Strong has to make the save. After some more all-around brawling, Romero locks the Diablo Armbar on Cross, and Delirious breaks that up with a guillotine legdrop. Delirious and Strong have an exchange, and Delirious gets the win with a Chemical Imbalance II at 21:36. That was another spotfest in a series of them tonight, but it was another good one, and this show has really been on a roll.
Rating: ***½

Super Agent Larry Sweeney is backstage to put himself over, as well as Chris Hero. Tank Toland and Bobby Dempsey are excited about the prospect of training at the private facility that they are at. In a hilarious bit, Toland makes Dempsey run while carrying Hero on his back, which he can’t do for very long. They make him run laps as punishment. This stuff is gold and makes me miss Nana less.

MATCH #8: ROH World Title Match – Takeshi Morishima vs. Jay Briscoe

BG says: Morishima attacks Jay before the bell. He brings Jay to the floor and rams him into the barricade. He hits a butt splash but Jay comes back with a big boot. Jay hits a splash off the apron and rolls Morishima back into the ring. He hits a neckbreaker and a pair of double stomps. He hits a legdrop for 2. He hits a running forearm and a dropkick and Morishima bails. Jay dives out onto him and destroys his leg on the barricade. Back in the ring he goes for a crossbody off the top but Morishima catches him and hits a suplex. Morishima hits a back elbow and knocks Jay down with forearms. He hits a legdrop for 2. He puts on a chinlock and then hits a butt butt. He hits the butt lariat and puts on a half camel clutch. He stands on Jay’s throat in the corner and hits a clothesline. He shoves the referee down and blocks a sunset flip by trying to sit on Jay’s chest (after the referee executed my least favorite spot ever). That misses completely and Jay hits a dropkick. He hits a Yakuza kick for 2. He hits a flapjack and a vertical suplex for 2. Morishima hits a sidewalk slam and the handspring avalanche. He climbs the ropes and hits a dropkick. He goes for the backdrop driver but Jay blocks and hits a superkick. Morishima hits another butt butt but Jay blocks a third with a German suplex. He hits the DVD and climbs the ropes to hit a big splash for 2. The crowd is pretty upset that Jay didn’t win it there. Morishima blocks the Jay Driller and then sits on Jay’s chest for 2. He climbs the ropes again but Jay cuts him off with a dropkick and hits a superplex for 2. Morishima pops up and hits a lariat and the backdrop driver for the win. I was expecting more of the Jay Briscoe vs. Samoa Joe vibe here and was disappointed that they went in a completely different direction. I’m actually not sure what they were going for here, as Jay was largely able to match strength with Morishima but at the end Morishima’s offense easily put him down. The action was good but the logic was a bit off for me.
Rating: ***

After the match Steen runs out and attacks Jay. That brings out Mark and Generico for a big brawl. The fight spills into the hallway of the building and goes on indefinitely as the camera cuts away.

Brent Albright cuts a promo, and for some reason still feels the need to tell everyone his name and his gimmick. We know what your deal is Albright. Tonight he beat Whitmer, and he doesn’t care that it was by disqualification. On the strength of his win he’s moved a little higher up the ROH ladder. He’s got his eye on the ROH World Championship. Yeah, you and everyone else Brent.

Sweeney catches up with Hero and Toland training Dempsey. It’s been twenty minutes and Dempsey is only halfway through his first lap. Hero is LITERALLY running circles around him. Dempsey has to stop to puke in a trash can. Once the lap is over Hero tries to encourage Dempsey to do 1,000 squats. Really funny stuff there.

JZ says: Morishima has been the champion since 2.17.07, and this is his eighth defense. The champion attacks the challenger right away and they go to the floor. Jay is getting this title shot based on the fact that when he and his brother beat Morishima & Whitmer last month, he got the winning fall. Morishima dominates the early going, but Jay actually recovers and hits some stuff on Morishima, including a dive to the floor. Jay tries a cross body and Morishima catches him and tosses him over his head in a suplex. Morishima takes over with his heavy hitting offense. They work in the stupid “wrestler hangs onto the ropes after the five-count so the referee kicks his hands” spot. I hate that. Jay lands a big suplex and the crowd is behind him. The champion soon regains control and hits his cartwheel and a missile dropkick. Jay fights back and hits a German suplex and a Death Valley Driver. He follows that with a top rope slash for a very close near fall. Jay tries the Jay Driller but Morishima avoids it. Jay lands a superplex on the champ but it doesn’t even get one. That’s it, Jay’s dead. Morishima hits a big lariat and the Back Drop Driver and retains the title at 13:28. That was another damn fine match and Morishima continues to grow on me as the champion.
Rating: ***½

After the match, Kevin Steen comes out to attack Jay, so Mark comes out for the save, and then Generico comes out for the save from that. They brawl out into the crowd and then into the backstage area.

Brent Albright cuts a promo to introduce himself for the 416th time on a Ring of Honor DVD. His promos are pretty brutal still. He says the most money to be made is in being the ROH World Champion, so that is where he is casting his eye.

We cut back to the training facility with Sweet and Sour Inc. are hanging out and Hero is literally running circles around Dempsey. This is great in so many ways.

MVP

BG says: Man it’s hard to say who the MVP on this show was as pretty much every match was really good. I’m going to go with Mike Quackenbush because he really did steal the show in the match of the night.

You can pick up this show, as well as all other ROH shows at ROH Wrestling Dot Com.

Coming soon will be our review of DOMINATION!