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Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Manhattan Mayhem II

January 23, 2008 | Posted by J.D. Dunn

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Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Manhattan Mayhem II

Ring of Honor — Manhattan Mayhem II
by J.D. Dunn

So, this is the show that many are touting as the best from any promotion all year, and it certainly has a special feel to it right off the bat.

Bryan Danielson suffered a serious injury a year earlier and fought through it before finally dropping the title to Homicide at Final Battle 2006. He would be forced to take several months off to heal, and in the meantime, Takeshi Morishima took the title from Homicide and began dominating the ROH roster. Well, Danielson is finally healed and is the #1 contender, so things are about to explode.

Kevin Steen & El Generico were practically jobbers at the beginning of 2007. It wasn’t until an eye-opening match with the Briscoes that they earned credibility. That led to multiple sneak attacks and beatdowns between the two teams. Steen & Generico dominated early August, but the Briscoes came back and won inside of a steel cage the night before this show. Plus, the Briscoes had won six straight falls in 2/3 falls matches. Can they continue that streak?

At the end of 2006, it was nearly a done deal that Claudio Castagnoli was on his way to the WWE. Enter superstar agent Larry Sweeney who offered Claudio’s tag partner, Chris Hero, his services. The two have been drifting apart ever since, and it didn’t help matters when Hero tried to put Claudio’s eye out with his own Race-to-the-Top Trophy.

BJ Whitmer and his partner Jimmy Jacobs were the best of friends until their manager Lacey came between them. Jacobs loved Lacey and, despite it being unrequited, followed her around like a lovesick puppy. The rift was finally too much, and the team split. Both guys nearly killed each other on several occasions, leading to a tremendous cage match early in 2007. Jacobs won that, sending Whitmer’s career into a tailspin. In fact, Whitmer hasn’t won a match since and has been on the end of some embarrassing upsets. Then, opportunistic Adam Pearce stuck his nose in, convincing BJ that joining with him would offer an opportunity for a turnaround. Add in gun-for-hire Brent Albright, and you have the makings of a brutal heel stable.

Once upon a time, there was a vacuum in ROH caused by TNA pulling its talent from ROH shows. ROH devised a special tournament of U.S. indy talent in which the winner would receive a roster spot in ROH. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Jack Evans had different ideas, though. Instead of fighting each other, they banded together to form their own stable – Generation Next. Aries would impress immediately, taking Bryan Danielson to the limit on a few occasions and wresting the ROH Title from the seemingly unstoppable Samoa Joe.

But things weren’t all wine and roses. Alex Shelley was turfed from the group, and Austin Aries took his place as leader. Aries and Strong became one of the most dominant tag teams on the scene, but Strong was secretly tired of Aries getting all the attention as the de facto “captain” of the team thanks to his status as a former World Champion. In early 2007, Roderick turned on Aries and formed his own group – the No Remorse Corps. Aries followed suit, recruiting the Resilience, but in an ironic twist, Aries was pulled from ROH by TNA, leaving the Resilience to stumble out of the gate. Strong also turned on Jack Evans, laying him out in the back. Evans has sworn to recruit his own gang, but it’s a promise that has yet to materialize. Tonight, all three men face off in a triple-threat match.

So, with that stacked lineup in mind…

August 25, 2007

From Manhattan, N.Y..

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

In the back, The Hangman’s Three shave Shane Hagadorn’s head, so he’ll look just like Pearce. Nice touch. Whitmer says he wants Pelle Primeau.

Opening Match: Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush vs. Matt Cross & Erick Stevens.
The Resilience play subtle heels here. Stevens bulls over Quack early, but Quack comes back with lightning fast maneuvers. Hence, “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush. He puts Stevens in an Headscissor Octopus Stretch, but Stevens powers to his own corner. The Resilience isolates Jigsaw, even working in the AWA Special (with a doublestomp twist). Jigsaw gets the knees up on a split-legged moonsault and tags Quack. Funny spot as Cross keeps trying to chop Quack, but Quack has Stevens tied up and spins him around so that Stevens takes the chop. Jigsaw ranas Stevens off the top, and Quack adds a Swanton. That leads to a double cover, which the announcers rightly point out shouldn’t be counted. Stevens clotheslines Jigsaw to save cross from the “Jig and Tonic.” Oh, bruddah. Stevens backdrops Jigsaw to set up a twisting press from Cross. Stevens finally just goes nuts on Jigsaw and hits the Doctorbomb for the win at 12:27. Fast and furious opener. ***

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Mitch Franklin.
Mitch Franklin won the Top of the Class Trophy from Pelle Primeau in the pre-show for Caged Rage. I’m going to be honest with you. I can’t even tell them apart. Franklin goes after Jimmy’s injured knee, drawing boos from the crowd. Jimmy nearly takes his head off as he comes off the top, though. That sets up the head dropkick into the post spot. Franklin comes back with some convoluted moves. He’s like the master of the wheelbarrow, inheriting the mantle from Juventud. He goes for the Acid Drop, but Jacobs blocks and hits a senton. That sets up the front naked choke at 5:16. Another Jimmy squash. *1/2

Finally, after months of promises, Jack Evans reveals that he’s recruited someone for his posse. All we can hear is someone offscreen yelling, “Ca caw!” and “Ye-ye-yeaah!” Well, that last one is a dead giveaway.

BJ Whitmer, Adam Pearce & Brent Albright (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Nigel McGuinness, Delirious & Pelle Primeau.
Pearce explains that BJ has finally realized he’s nothing more than a merciless killer. Delirious storms the ring, hoping for revenge. Nigel and Pelle run down and help him clear the ring. Pearce gets bombarded with moves from the babyfaces. He counters the Cobra Clutch to a chokeslam to get a breather, though. Delirious plays lizard-face-in-peril. Hagadorn, who now has a Friar Hagadorn look, gets in a few cheapshots. They work in the false tag spot. Nigel eventually gets the hot tag and cleans house on the H3. Even Hagadorn takes a lariat. He hits Whitmer with the Tower of London with Pelle adding a doublestomp. Pelle stops to celebrate and gets leveled by Albright. Everyone hits their big moves, but BJ catches Pelle with a big boot and nails him with the Adrenaline Spike (Sitout Tombstone) at 11:33. After the match, BJ beats Pelle’s face into hamburger and gives him powerbomb. Pearce adds another one, which you think would make the H3 heels, but the fans are chanting, “One more time!” so I don’t know how effective it is. **1/2

Cary Silkin (President of ROH) and Ryo Nakata (NOAH) come out for a rare onscreen appearance to announce that Mitsuharu Misawa will be appearing for ROH.

Delirious must be very upset because he’s even less intelligible than usual. Apparently, he’s still pissed about having his mask stapled to his head.

Davey Richards vs. PAC.
Pac tries to make things up-tempo, of course, hitting Richards with a dropsault and faking him out with a handspring attack. He hits a weird corkscrew shooting star press off the top to the floor. Richards finally gets a hold of Pac and starts suplexing him to oblivion. Pac comes back with a rana, but his flipping rana fails. Richards picks him up for a powerbomb, but Pac flips through and gets the rana he wanted in the first place. Pac goes up, but Richards runs up and German Superplexes him off. Pac does a nice backflip and lands on his feet, but he misses a charge and posts himself. That leads to a Tombstone and the Chimeralock at 12:42. Pac had a decent showing, but nothing that couldn’t have been done by a handful of Chikara or IWA Mid-South guys. **3/4

Jack Evans introduces the first member of his Vulture Squad — Julius Smokes. Y-y-yeah!

Three-Way Match: Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong vs. Jack Evans (w/Julius Smokes).
All three guys are former members of Generation Next. Evans and Aries push each other out of the way trying to get to Roderick Strong. They fall to the floor, and Evans tries to rana Strong. Roderick blocks and powerbombs him on the floor, though. Ouch. Strong tries to suplex Aries in but gets rolled up for two. Strong blocks the Brainbuster and hits a gutbuster, but Evans makes the save. Jack hits a double dropkick and corkscrew presses both guys. Aries catches up with him and DVDs him on Strong. Jack dropkicks Strong to the floor and sets up for a tope. Aries sneaks in and cuts him off with a clothesline, though. Strong tries to Crucifix Bomb Evans through a table, but Aries makes the save. The ref gets bumped. D’oh! Jack hits a spinning kick, but there’s no ref. Aries picks Jack up and delivers a Super Brainbuster. He sets up for the 450-splash, but Strong knocks him off the top through the table at ringside. Davey Richards runs in and beats down Jack Evans while the ref is still out. Smokes gets on the mic and calls out for a new member of the Vulture Squad — Ruckus! Ruckus makes the save, allowing Jack to come back. Aries wants to know what’s what, so Smokes tells Evans to kick his ass. Evans seems to think that’s a pretty good idea, so he attacks Aries. That brings out Erick Stevens and Matt Cross. A big-ass brawl finally clears everyone out of the ring. Strong goes low but gets hit with a chair by Stevens. That sets up the Brainbuster and 450-splash by Aries at 14:42. The match suffered from the usual triple-threat structural problems. It was a good way to introduce the Vulture Squad, though. ***1/4

Jimmy Jacobs talks about battling through depression and using the love of Lacey as his fuel. He says he has a new purpose which will revealed soon.

Elsewhere, The Resilience promises to be just as dirty as the NRC.

Ruckus (w/Julius Smokes & Jack Evans) vs. Eddie Edwards
Ruckus is from CZW (among other places). Just imagine the black Jack Evans… if Jack Evans was actually black. He hits a few nice flippy moves early, but Edwards hits a Packaged Stunner to come back. Ruckus rolls through a sunset flip and stomps Edwards. He hits a moonsault legdrop, but Edwards rolls through for two. Ruckus gets two off a rolling Fisherman’s Suplex. He fights out of a superplex and finishes with a corkscrew senton at 6:09. He may not be a great seller or have much in the way of psychology, but Ruckus’ offense is fun to watch. Edwards gave him a little too much trouble for his debut, though. **

Chris Hero (w/Sweet ‘n’ Sour Inc.) vs. Claudio Castagnoli.
Hero attacks from behind, but Claudio steamrolls him with a shoulderblock. They take it to the floor where Sweeney distracts Claudio long enough for Sara Del Rey to get involved. Daizee Haze wanders out to counteract Del Rey. Hero has already taken control, though. Hero stomps him down, but Claudio hulks up and hits a suicida. Back in, Claudio Giant Swings Hero and knocks him into next week with a forearm uppercut. Hero goes up but gets rocked with another uppercut. Claudio runs up the ropes and takes him off with a headscissors. Hero misses a charge, and Claudio tags him with a flying European Uppercut. That sets up the Ricolabomb at 15:59. These guys have great chemistry together, but I never really bought that Hero was anywhere near winning. Hero takes out his frustrations on Bobby Dempsey after the match. ***1/4

ROH World Title: Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson.
Here we go, baby! The crowd is amped for this one because, thus far, Morishima has looked indestructible. The opening sees Danielson luring Morishima in and then kicking his legs out from under him. Morishima occasionally catches up with Danielson and clubs him down. He boots Danielson right in the face, breaking Danielson’s eye socket. To the floor, Morishima Olé kicks Danielson right in the face. Danielson guts it out and tosses Morishima into the crowd. He goes up and dives off the top onto the champ. Back in Danielson hits a missile dropkick, but it’s no sold. Morishima shrugs him off and NAILS him with a lariat. Danielson reverses a Backdrop Driver for two. Danielson goes back to the legs, taking Morishima down and applying a side leglock. Good stuff. Morishima powers up into a German Suplex and slams Danielson down with the uranage. Danielson goes back to the anklelock and then the half-crab. Morishima rolls over and boots him in the face. Danielson gets pissed and rattles off a few forearms. He gets two off a small package and two more off a German Suplex. ELBOWS! Morishima powers up, but his bad leg buckles. Danielson starts stomping his face in. ONE, TWO, TH-NO! Dragon rolls over into Cattle Mutilation! Morishima counters a backdrop superplex and squashes Danielson. Dragon gets fired up but gets NAILED with a lariat. That sets up the Backdrop Driver at 20:17. Half the people in the crowd are pissed, and the other half have a newfound respect for Morishima. I liked this match even better than their PPV rematch because of the strategies employed by Dragon here, and, more importantly, they didn’t overwhelm the match. Great match, and it’s nice to see Morishima coming into his own. ****1/4

ROH World Tag Team Titles, 2/3 Falls: The Briscoes vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico.
First Fall: Big brawl on the floor to start. Mark suplexes Generico on a chair and then tosses the chair at his head. The match settles down with the Briscoes isolating Generico. Steen interferes, and the challengers take over on Jay. Mark gets tag, but Steen and Generico toss him and doubleteam Jay some more. Mark eventually makes the save, enabling Jay to hit the DVD and a frogsplash on Generico at 11:04.

Second Fall: Steen tries to take on both Briscoes, but they destroy him with doubleteam maneuvers. Steen takes a DVD on the apron, but Generico slides through the ropes and takes Jay out with the DDT. Mark slings over the top rope and ranas Generico to the floor. Back in, Jay goes up but gets caught by Generico. Generico goes for the Turnbuckle Brainbuster, but Mark recovers and hits the springboard Ace Crusher. That sets up a Guillotine Legdrop for two. Mark gets the knees up to block a Swanton. Steen misses a moonsault and gets suplexed. SPRINGBOARD DOOMSDAY DEVICE! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Steen kicks out! Generico tries to get in but gets tossed right back out. The Briscoes hit the Jaydriller and Cutthroat Driver to finish Steen off once and for all at 24:42. That’s two straight and eight straight falls in 2/3 falls matches fro the Briscoes. The match was good, but it was obvious that they were running out of shtick to do together at this point. I could have done without the balls-out pace for the entire match. After the match, Steen offers a handshake and then kicks both brothers in the nuts. ***1/2

The 411: Just about everyone who's seen this show calls it the card of the year, and it's hard to argue with that. The atmosphere is, as usual, great from the New York crowd. Most of the matches are big blowoffs or part of a larger feud, making everything seem important. The in-ring performances have probably been matched on other shows, but the vibe and the storylines put this one over the top.

Highly recommended.