wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Chaos at the Cow Palace
February 7, 2008 | Posted by
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| Ring of Honor — Chaos at the Cow Palace by J.D. Dunn This is ROH’s California debut and was supposed to be a much bigger “dream convention” with Scott Hall and the Steiners (among many others) showing up. Some guys didn’t show up, and the promoter who put the whole thing together decided not to pay certain people and spent the weekend hiding in his hotel room. As a result, the crowd looks to be about half what a normal ROH crowd would be, which doesn’t look good at all in the 10,000+ seat arena. Alicia, who comes out the very apt “My Humps,” starts with Daizee. She is LOUD. Did Iron Mike Sharpe make a stop through San Fran about 20 years ago? Del Rey blind tags herself in and rolls over Alicia. Portia loses a one-hand-against-two test of strength to Del Rey. She comes back with a headscissors and a wheelbarrow rollup. Del Rey locks in a Haas of Pain on Portia, but Daizee breaks it up. Alicia sneaks in and hits weak double ax-handles on both Del Rey and Portia. Daizee wipes out Portia and Alicia with a dive, but Del Rey gets out of the way and hits her own dive. Back in, Alicia wakes everyone up with a chop to Portia. Daizee makes the save after a hiptoss bomb and tags herself in. Poor Portia is really taking an ass-kicking. She comes back on Haze after Del Rey and Alicia miss a doubleteam. Alicia stops to talk trash to Del Rey, and Daizee FINALLY shuts her up with a boot to the face. Daizee hits the Hart Punch and Mind Trip on Portia while Alicia keeps Del Rey from making the save (10:25). Alicia was kind of the Jar-Jar of this match, so how much you enjoy it is probably based on how much you can tolerate from her. The match ranged from okay-to-terrible depending on what was going on. * Hero eliminated Tornado first in the Survival of the Fittest finals and did so with shady tactics. Tornado frustrates Hero, so Hero goes out and kicks the barricade and hurts his own foot. Tornado impresses with the splits and knocks Hero back out to the floor. Sweeney blocks a charge and distracts Tornado long enough for Hero to sneak up and German Suplex him. Tornado knocks Hero into the ropes and tries a slingshot boot to the back, but he catches his foot on the apron and falls to the floor. Yikes! He should probably not do that again. He’d be okay, though, he’s a wrestler. Back in, Hero blocks a Tornado DDT and counters to a drop suplex. Tornado hits his full-rotation backdrop suplex for two. Hero hits a forearm and a SICK Hero’s Welcome that drops Tornado on his head. That sets up the Hangman’s Clutch at 12:27. This ranged from the hilariously sloppy (Hero’s botched handspring taunt) to the dangerously sloppy (Tornado’s nasty spill to the floor). It was like a car wreck, somewhat entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons. ** A stiff tie-up spill over into the crowd. Back in, Strong gets on the second rope and offers a test of strength. Claudio armdrags him off, though. They both seek crowd approval, and Claudio wins that one handily. Strong yanks him into a stomachbreaker. Claudio elbows out of a chinlock but runs right into a dropkick. Claudio nearly gets counted out. Back in, Claudio fires off a few uppercuts and a dropkick. The Crabwalk Elbow gets two. Strong comes back with a backbreaker and a spinning facebuster. Claudio hits another series of uppercuts and a springboard uppercut for two. A Giant Swing gets two more. Roderick slips the Waterslide and hits a Gutbuster. That sets up the Tiger Driver at 13:29. Solid psychology and work. The finish seemed a bit abrupt for some reason. After the match, Strong steals Claudio’s swank jacket and runs to the back. **3/4 These two are homeys outside of ROH. Pearce jumps Anderson from behind, but Anderson comes back with a hiptoss and dropkick. A clothesline sends Pearce over the top. Pearce threatens to walk because the fans are questioning his sexuality. Anderson sends him into the barricade and hits a flying crossbody for two. Pearce goes low behind the ref’s back. Anderson fights out of a sleeper and reverses to his own. They clothesline each other for a double KO spot. Anderson recovers first and hits a gourdbuster. That sets up a Buzzsaw kick. Anderson hits a spinebuster, but Hagadorn has the ref. Pearce hits a piledriver for the win at 7:35. These two have more of a regular pro-wrestling style rather than high-impact style that indy fans are probably used to. It’s actually kind of refreshing. **1/2 Delirious cleans house on Albright. Funny moment as Pearce threatens to punch an old lady in the front row. He trips up Delirious to prevent the Panic Attack. Albright takes over with his usual quasi-interesting offense. Albright’s new hairdo makes him look like Hercules. Delirious blocks a charge and hits a missile dropkick to come back. He hits that Panic Attack and strangles Albright with his tassels. Shadows over Hell sets up the Cobra Stretch, but Albright reverses to the Crowbar. Delirious rolls through and goes back to the Cobra Stretch. Albright taps, but Pearce has the ref distracted. Delirious enzuigiris Albright to the floor and goes for a suicide dive, but Pearce trips him up. That distraction allows Albright to hit the Half-Nelson Suplex at 8:47. The match was okay for a while, but that damned clichéd finish reared its ugly head. I don’t like it when the WWE does it (once a PPV), I don’t like it in TNA (once a week), and I don’t like it here. ** Romero defeated Perkins in the SotF tournament, so they start here. Perkins looks so crisp in everything he does. Perkins and Kozina actually make a good little team for the first part of the match, hitting doubleteams on Davey. Richards drives Perkins into the ropes, but Perkins gets out of trouble quickly. Perkins and Richards exchanges shoulderblocks, and Richards ends the standstill with an STO. The NRC takes over. They hit a double gourdbuster, but Perkins avoids the sandwich kicks. Kozina gets the hot tag and takes on the NRC by himself. He hits Richards with a cool slingshot bulldog. Perkins adds a Michinoku Driver, setting up a frogsplash. Romero makes the save and kicks Perkins’ head off. That sets up a German Suplex and running knee. Kozina recovers and ranas Romero to the floor. Perkins hits Richards with a stiff kick, but Richards shakes it off and hits the Alarm Clock. That sets up the Tombstone and Chimera 10:36. And here I thought it was going to be a squash match. Perkins and Kozina more than held their own and had me buying an upset late in the match. **3/4 The NRC hit their sandwich kicks on Necro early. The match spills out into the arena. Jacobs crotches Davey on the railing. They trade off, and Romero beats Jacobs onto a table. Richards wipes out the Age with a moonsault off the railing. The crowd generously chants, “Holy shit.” Back to the ring, Richards and Romero start doubleteaming. Romero springboards into a knee, setting up a powerbomb from Davey. Necro tosses a chair at him to save. Romero kicks a chair into Necro’s face and reverse kicks Jacobs. Jacobs spears him, though. Richards goes up for the SSP, but Necro knocks him off with a chairshot. That allows Jacobs to hit the End Time at 10:06. The usual all-over brawl plus some decent spots. **1/4 Aries is up one to nil. Lots of mat wrestling to start. Danielson has a slight edge there and works Aries’ arm. Danielson tries to send him to the floor, but Aries lands on the apron and sneaks back in with the powerdrive elbow. The battle on the mat again. Aries rolls through a sunset flip, but Dragon avoids the low dropkick. Dragon works the legs with an Indian Deathlock. Aries makes the ropes, but Danielson claims his leg is stuck and can’t release the hold. Danielson goes for the Crossface-Chickenwing, but Aries runs him to the floor. Danielson comes back in with a sunset flip, but Aries rolls through and hits the dropkick he was looking for earlier. Aries goes for the running dropkick, but Danielson boots him out of the air. Aries blocks the CFCW again and hits his shinbreaker-to-backdrop suplex. That sets up a successful running dropkick this time. Good stuff there as Dragon keeps countering something the first time, but Aries will hit a move that enables him to get the move he was looking for in the first place. Danielson catches him on the top and delivers a backdrop superplex. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Danielson rolls over into Cattle Mutilation. Aries rolls through but gets elbowed. He powers up still and backs Danielson to the corner where he fires off elbows of his own. ARIESLOCK! Danielson refuses to give it up this time. Aries flips back over and gives him a few knees to the face, hoping to knock him loopy enough to get the submission like he did last time. Danielson grabs Aries’ knee and rolls him over into the small package at 18:58. Another fine match from the two best wresters in ROH. This one had a better storyline with Dragon being able to counter all of Aries’ best stuff – once. **** Jay needed something to do while Mark’s foot was healing from a non-wrestling-related injury, so here we are. Things get testy early, as they get into a shoving match. Nigel zeroes in on the arm early, hitting a hammerlock DDT and an arm twist. Jay comes back with a Dragon Screw and stomps on Nigel’s legs, exploiting the work that American Dragon did earlier in the week. Nigel rolls to the floor for a breather, but Jay slams his knee into the barricade. Back in, Jay locks in a leglock, but Nigel makes the ropes. Nigel hobbles around and chops his way back into the match. Briscoe stomps his leg and hits a Sitout Gourdbuster for 2.75. A missile dropkick sets up the Jaydriller attempt, but Nigel blocks. Jay Flatlines him into the buckle. To the floor, Jay sets up a table (with obvious help from Nigel) and kicks it into Nigel’s leg. Back in, Jay locks in the half-crab. Nigel makes the ropes and cuts off Jay on the top rope. TOWER OF LONDON! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Jay ducks out of the way of a clothesline. Nigel goes out after him and threatens a Tower of London off the apron, but Jay shoves him into the barricade. Back in, they fight on the top rope. Nigel gets the upper hand and hits the Tower of London on the apron. Nigel drags him back in and locks in the stepover armbar for the submission at 18:13. As much as the Briscoes are maligned in some circles for not having the ability to work with psychology or transitions, Jay Briscoe gave Nigel a hell of a match. ***1/2 |
The 411: This show had a lot going against it other than the problems with the convention. Many of the matches were wrestled by guys who either hadn't wrestled each other before or had no backstory for wrestling here. The result is a show that feels like another Unscripted. The final two matches almost save the show, but not quite. Thumbs down. |
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| Final Score: 5.0 [ Not So Good ] legend |
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