RB Report: ROH Honor Nation

*Delirious talks – well, if you can call if “talking” – about the Hangmen 3.

*The Hangmen 3 (Brent Alrbight and Adam Pearce) vs. The Resilience (Erick Stevens and Matt Cross)
Attendance looks pretty weak for this show. For some reason, the camera-work is really, really awful. Albright and Cross start. Albright slaps him and then runs away from the diminuative Cross. Pearce in. Stevens in. Stevens out-powers Pearce and backs him into the corner. Cross on and Pearce is double-teamed. Even the commentators sound insanely bored. Cross hits a standing moonsault to Pearce. Stevens and Alrbright get in and go at it. Cross gets back in and gets a bit of revenge with a slap to Albright’s mush. Eventually, the inevitable happens and Cross is isolated by the Hangmen. Cross fires back against Alrbight, but Albright uses his strength to advantage, lifting Cross and placing him back in the heel corner. Shane Hagadorn and BJ Whitmer attack Cross on the outside behind the ref’s back. Stevens eventually gets the hot tag. He throws his foes around and hits the choo-choo on Alrbight. TKO gets two. Cross dives out onto Pearce with a tope con hilo. Springboard double stomp by Cross gets two. DOUBLE NOGGIN-KNOCKER~! Stevens misses a double choo-choo and is chokeslammed. Lots of chaos. Whitmer beats Cross up on the outside. Powerslam by Stevens almost finishes Albright. It’s essentially turned into a handicap match as Albright hits the half-nelson suplex on Stevens and gets the three-count(12:08).

Rating: ***. Really good match to open the show. It was hot and they didn’t go too far with the finishers, which I always appreciate.

*BJ Whitmer calls out Delirious and out he comes.

*Delirious vs. BJ Whitmer
Delirious is mega-angry after the Hangmen tried to staple his mask to his face. He’s a house of fire and quickly clotheslines Pearce and Albright before setting his sights on Whitmer. Delirious has an answer for all of Whitmer’s offense and sends him to the outside. Big somersault from the top rope to the outside by Delirious. Back in, Delirious uses some heel-like attacks against Whitmer. ALABAMA SLAM by Whitmer. That looked vicious. Whitmer out-chops him and hits a fallaway slam. Pearce shouts at Delirious from ring-side. Delirious makes a comeback and hits a rock bottom-type slam. He drop toe holds Whitmer into the corner and hits the Panic Attack. Make it three. Delirious doesn’t want to pin. He leaves the ring and grabs a chair. Whitmer kicks him in the gut when he gets back in and powerbombs him onto the top rope. Another powerbomb gets two. Whitmer kind of misses a frog splash when Delirious doesn’t roll away fast enough. Delirious goes to the top, but Pearce crotches him and the Adrenaline Spike finishes it for BJ(9:13).

Rating: **1/2. Another good match. I’m not on the anti-Delirious bandwagon, so I still enjoy watching the guy.

*Bryan Danielson talks about Takeshi Morishima, his eye and his upcoming best-of-three series with Austin Aries to determine the “ace” of ROH.

*The Age of the Fall’s music hits. Well, if you count a woman screaming as music. Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black and Lacey come out. Jacobs says he’s targetting the Briscoes because they want the tag belts and with the belts comes power and with power they’ll be able to get their word out there. Jay Briscoe, who was hung by his feet by the AOTF at the previous show, runs out and attacks. They brawl to the back and Jacobs runs away like the little girl he is.

*Hallowicked vs. El Generico vs. Nigel McGuinness
Gee, I wonder who’s winning this. A straight singles match with just Generico and ‘Wicked would’ve been AWESOME. Tyler Black was supposed to be the fourth participant of this match, I’m led to believe. Let me just say now that I’m thrilled just to be seeing Hallowicked out of CHIKARA, the guy’s great. Nigel makes them both look like bitches to start before letting them go at it themselves. Generico hits at tope con hilo out to Nigel and goes at it again with Hallowicked. Lariat by Nigel to Hallowikced. Generico goes for his Yakuza in the corner, but Nigel kills him with a lariat. They do a cool spot where Hallowicked, as he’s getting suplexed by Nigel, lands a ‘rana on Generico. There’s a lot of pandemonium. Everyone blows their load pretty early on BIG MOOVZ~! Generico tries to do his through-the-ropes tornado DDT on the floor, but Nigel catches him with an uppercut and hits the TOWERS OF LONDON ONTO THE FLOOR! In the ring, Hallowicked hits the Go 2 Sleepy Hollow on Nigel, but Nigel no-sells him like he’s freaking Hulk Hogan or something and hits a lariat. Towers of London ends it(8:10).

Rating: **1/2. Fun stuff. Everyone looked solid.

*Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney, Bobby Dempsey and Sara Del Rey) vs. Claudio Castagnoli (w/Daizee Haze)
Lots of pre-match antics by Hero and his little contingent. This is undoubtedly going to be the best part of the DVD. They eventually start and Hero bails after a little exchange. Hero stalls long-time. They get going again and Claudio takes it down to the mat. Hero showboats after some strikes, but Claudio hits an uppercut and mocks him. Hero is slingshotted into Bobby Dempsey, who is on the apron, and Claudio follows it up with the giant swing. Claudio tries to walk along the ropes, but Sweeney grabs his leg and Hero kicks him to the ground. Hero pounds him on the outside before taking it back into the ring. Blockbuster by Hero gets a two-count. BIG back senton by Hero also gets two. Hero methodically wears him down on the mat. They exchange chops and a diving European uppercut takes Hero down. Hero gets sent to the outside, but Dempsey breaks his fall. Claudio goes for a tope, but Hero moves and he goes straight into Dempsey. Hero leaps off the guardrail with a forearm. Hero finds a medication bottle on the ground and Sweeney claims that Claudio has been VIOLATING WELLNESS~! CRAVATE-A-PLASM gets two on Claudio. They trade blow in the centre of the ring. The Hero’s Welcome is blocked and Claudio nails an uppercut, which gets two. RICOLA is blocked, as is the Alpamare Waterslide. Back suplex by Hero gets two. We’re now at the twenty-minute mark. Hero misses a flipping neckbreaker and Claudio gets two off of a bicycle kick. He still can’t get Hero up for the Ricola Bomb. Another uppercut by Claudio gets two. FLIPPING CRAVATE by Hero into a reverse lungblower. The Hangman’s Clutch is locked in. Claudio gets his foot on the bottom rope. Hero goes up, but is caught with an uppercut. Claudio is thrown off after attempting a super Alpamare. Hero nails a missile dropkick, but Claudio gets up instantly, nails an uppercut and it’s all over(22:38)!

Rating: **1/2. Really solid match, but for a heated feud, the match was too methodical and slow for my liking. What this feud really needs is a big, heated brawl between the two, and we all know how fantastic Hero is in brawls.

*Jay Briscoe and Necro Butcher brawl out from the back and into the ring.

*Jay Briscoe vs. Necro Butcher
Necro unloads on plenty of chairshots and slam Jay onto a chair. Jay rips off Necro’s vest so he can do more damage with his chops. Jay clubs away and DRILLS Necro with a chair. Necro swiftly gets up, however, and chokes Jay with his vest. Necro’s busted open. They trade punches. Flurry by Necro. Rabbit punches. They finally make their way to the ringside area. Necro gets suplexed over the barricade. Another chairshot just levels Necro. Necro’s elbow is swollen a ridiculous amount. They finally get in the ring. Short-arm clothesline by Necro. He places a set-up chair into the centre of the ring. He slams Jay crotch-first onto the spine. DDT gets two. TIGAH DRIVAH by Necro! Jay blocks a powerbomb and lands a back suplex. Jay hits a DVD onto the chair and Jimmy Jacobs runs out and attacks him. Mark Briscoe is out, but gets attacked from behind by Tyler Black. Necro hits a side slam onto the spine of the chair and gets the victory. The Age of the Fall carry Mark Briscoe to the back after the match.

Rating: **. Good stuff.

*Larry Sweeney interupts Becky Bayless at intermission and talks about how important he is. Jay Briscoe shows up and doesn’t say a single intelligible word.

*Mitch Franklin and Ernie Osiris vs. The Age of the Fall (Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs)
Franklin is the holder of the Top of the Class Trophy. AOTF come out to the sound of a woman screaming and enter from the backdoor. Jacobs gets on the mic and says that ROH officials told him that to get a tag title shot, they need wins. That starts tonight. They attack the students. Black sits Osiris on a chair on the outside and Jimmy hits a plancha onto him. Franklin goes for a tope, but Black catches him and slams him into the guardrail. As Jimmy locks Osiris in the guillotine choke, Black drills Franklin with the small package driver and gets the win(1:49). Jay Briscoe runs out and dem make-up-wearing faggot boys clear da damn ring.

Rating: Not much of a match. Did it’s job.

*Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson
This is the first match in a best-of-three series to determine who is truly the “ace” of ROH. I find that to be a ridiculous premise. Dual chants for both men. They cautiously lock-up and Aries shows Danielson up a bit. Both men lock in leglocks on each other and roll to the floor with the holds still locked in. They shake hands and relinquish the holds. They get back in the mat and the action is taken to the mat. Dragon gets fed up of working the mat to no avail and dropkicks Aries. They tease Danielson doing the YOU CAN’T HEADSCISSORS AUSTIN ARIES spot, but Danielson finds a more conventional method of getting out. Aries takes him straight back down and works the legs. Danielson goes to the floor, but Aries follows with an elbow off of the apron. He rolls Danielson into the ring and lands the slingshot senton before locking in a chinlock. Danielson works himself to a vertical base, only to be knocked straight back down. Aries follows a pair of Japanese armdrags with an armbar. They continue to trade holds on the mat for a while. Danielson puts a him in a really sick submission that he easily transitions into a pinning combination, which gets two. Danielson attempts to follow up a butterfly suplex with a diving headbutt, but Aries shoves him to the outside. Quebrada by Aries gets two. Uppercuts by Dragon. The third one is countered to a backslide, and that gets two. Danielson is placed on the top turnbuckle and Aries calls for a super brainbuster, but is shoved off. Roaring elbow by Danielson. Tiger suplex! That is transitioned into CATTLE MUTILATION! Aries tries to find a way to escape, but finds himself taking the repeated elbows. Danielson is backed into the corner and Aries unloads on elbows. They trade elbows until Danielson locks in the crossface chickenwing. Aries breaks free and kicks Danielson square in the head. BRAINBUSTER! 450 SPLASH MISSES! Danielson got his knees up. TRIANGLE CHOKE BY DANIELSON! The ref begings lifting and dropping Aries arm. He manages to lift it up himself the third time and rolls out of the choke. Another triangle is accompanied by elbows. Aries rolls through into a front chancery and flips over, choking Danielson. He flips back and delivers knees to the head of Danielson before going back to the choke and forcing Danielson to tap out(24:34)!

Rating: ***1/2. They had my attention completely at the start, but then they dragged that on too long and they lost me. But, by the last ten minutes of the match, they had me completley hooked. Awesome stuff. Not the classic everyone was hoping for, though.

*Austin Aries talks.

*Scramble Match
The Vulture Squad (Jigsaw, Ruckus and Jack Evans) vs. No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards, Rocky Romero and Roderick Strong)
Evans calls Jigsaw “the final piece of the puzzle” and I cringe. You see, this is Jigsaw’s first match as a member of the VS. The greatness of Jigsaw and Ruckus manages to negate the immense shit-itude of Evans, so this should be okay. The fans are annoying Strong before the match even starts. Fans get behind Jigsaw a surprising amount. Strong and Jigsaw start. Jigsaw busts out his lucha and Strong bails. Ruckus and Davey go at it. Romero and Evans’ turn. Lots of fast-paced stuff that I can’t keep up with follows. Davey brings the awesome, taking out all three members of the VS. The NRC begin the isolation of Evans. NRC have some cool triple-teams down. Evans manages to tag out to both his partners. I don’t think Ruckus has done a move the entire match that doesn’t involve a flip. Clothesline by Davey turns Ruckus inside-out. German suplex only gets two, so he goes up top, but Ruckus stops him from doing anything. Jigsaw leaps all the way to the top rope with a hurricanrana and a tornado DDT gets him two over Davey. Rocky unloads on kicks on Jigsaw and a knee strike gets two. Standing Phoenix splash by Evans to Rocky gets two. All of the faces hit dives to the outside. And Rocky. Back in, Strong takes big moves from all of the Squad. Jigsaw takes a beating and when they try to cover him, Ruckus is there to stop it. Jack hits the tree of woe knee drop to Rocky and Ruckus follows it with a coast-to-coast missile dropkick. Evans finishes Rocky with the 630 splash(14:16).

Rating: *1/2. Nope, I really wasn’t digging this one too much. I realise the point in this match was to work the fastest-paced match possible with as many high spots and flips possibly, but I’m just not a fan of that style of wrestling, unless it’s done absolutely perfectly.

*ROH World Heavyweight Championship
Takeshi Morishima (c) vs. Kevin Steen
Steen’s had a haircut. OMG! Apparently, this is the biggest match of ALL TIME! Steen attacks Morishima while he’s getting in the ring. He can’t make Morishima budge, so he hits an enziguri and another shoulder block sends Morishima to the floor. PLANCHA out of Steen. Steen lands some headbutts on Morishima. Steen rolls him back into the ring and follows with a slingshot senton. Big somersault legdrop across the back of Morishima’s neck. Morishima counters a whip and hits the butt bump. Steen regroups and trips Morishima. He drags him over to the corner and wraps his legs around the post. Steen hits his leg with a chair and slams it across the apron. Steen decides he’s going to focus on Morishima’s left leg. He slams it against the guardrail a couple times before stomping it. Back in the ring, Steen BITES the knee and Morishima sells it like death. Steen continues to focus on the leg and does a little dance for the fans. Ain’t that nice? Steen’s getting cocky, he thinks he has this one in the bag. Morishima fights through the pain and gets to a vertical base. Steen charges at him, but is caught with a side slam. Steen is thrown to the outside and Morishima decides to batter him out there. Back in, Morishima hits the avalanche in the corner. I really wish Dave Prazak would cheer up a bit, the guy sounds so damn bored on commentary. Where’s the fun IWA:MS Dave Prazak? Morishima clubs him in the corner. Yakuza in the corner connects. Steen blocks the back drop driver and a springboard cross body gets two over Morishima. Steen blocks a Yakuza and goes back to te leg. Dragon screw causes Morishima to fall right on top of Steen. Steen goes for another, but it’s countered to a German suplex. Morishima misses the missile dropkick and Steen locks in a Sharpshooter. El Generico is now out to encourage Steen. Steen tries to whip Morishima, but his leg gives way. Leg kicks by Steen and a superkick levels Morishima. SWANTON BOMB! FROG SPLASH! ONE-TWO-NO! Steen was so close there. Steen misses the moonsault and gets nailed with a lariat. They go up top and Steen hits a superplex. Morishima exhibits fighting spirit, but takes a spinebuster. Steen gets a very close two-count. He can’t get Morishima up for the Package Pileriver. Morishima backdrops him and sits down across Steen’s chest. Steen charges at Morishima, but takes a clothesline. Lariat almost finishes Steen, but only gets two. BACK DROP DRIVER! That’s enough to put Steen away(18:42)!

After the match, Generico tries to help Steen, but is shoved away. Generico quickly pulls Steen around, but is shoved to the ground. DISSENTION~! Generico is sad. 🙁